The cat café was unusually lively that afternoon. Several customers sat around the café, drinking coffee and enjoying the company of the cats wandering between their tables.
However, despite the adorable animals running around, quite a few customers had completely forgotten about them. Their attention had been drawn toward one particular corner table, where an unusual group had gathered.
From a distance, the scene looked almost as though it had been taken straight out of a harem movie, with four cute girls surrounding one rather short boy who seemed to have absolutely no idea how he had ended up in this situation.
Mineta, meanwhile, had a small bead of sweat running down the side of his forehead as he looked across the table.
Sitting in front of him were Mei, Himiko, and Toru, all three of them casually drinking their boba while occasionally glancing toward the newest addition to their group.
Sitting beside Mineta was Nejire Hado, who was also drinking boba while staring intensely at the cup in her hands.
"Hmm..." Nejire muttered, moving the straw around in her drink. "The tapioca pearls are chewy, but why does the sweetness feel different from the one I had yesterday? Is it because they changed the syrup? Or maybe the temperature affects the texture? Hmm..."
Mineta slowly turned toward her. 'She's been doing that for five minutes.'
He sighed internally before pointing toward the blue-haired girl sitting beside him.
"Alright, everyone, let me properly introduce you to our newest friend. This is Nejire Hado. She's a third-year student at our school, and she's a friend I made yesterday."
Nejire looked up from her boba and gave everyone a cheerful smile. "Hello!"
Mineta continued before she could begin another interrogation.
"She's our senior, but she's also rather innocent and extremely curious about basically everything. She loves asking questions, sometimes a lot of questions at once, so don't worry if she asks something that sounds strange or even a little offensive. She genuinely doesn't mean any harm."
Nejire tilted her head. "Why would my questions be offensive?"
Mineta gave her an awkward smile. "That's exactly what I'm talking about."
Himiko giggled into her drink while Mei snorted.
Mineta then pointed toward the three girls sitting opposite him.
"And these are the friends I told you about. This is Himiko Toga. She's a second-year student at our school."
Himiko lifted her cup and gave Nejire a bright smile. "Nice to meet you, Nejire-senpai!"
Mineta then pointed toward the empty-looking space beside Himiko. "And that's Toru Hagakure. She's a first-year student in our school."
A pair of invisible hands appeared above the table as Toru waved enthusiastically. "Nice to meet you too, Nejire-senpai!" Nejire's eyes widened slightly as she stared at the floating sleeves.
"Whoa! You're invisible! Is your entire body invisible? Can you see normally? Does light pass through your eyes? Do your clothes become invisible because of your quirk? or can you—"
Toru immediately raised both hands. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! One question at a time!"
Mineta quietly covered his face. 'And here we go.' He then pointed toward Mei.
"And this is Mei Hatsume. She doesn't attend our school, but she's still our friend."
Mei casually lifted her boba cup. "Yo."
Nejire stared at her. "Which school do you attend?"
"I don't."
"Why?"
"Because I don't need one."
"How do you learn things?"
"I invent them."
"How many inventions have you made?"
"Enough that I've lost count."
"How many of them exploded?"
Mei's eyes sparkled. "Now that's an interesting question!"
Mineta immediately placed his palm against his forehead. 'These two are going to be dangerous together.'
He took a deep breath before smiling at everyone. "So... can I ask you guys to let Nejire join our friend group?"
For a moment, the table became quiet as Mineta looked at the three girls.
Himiko smiled first. "Why not? Of course she can join us."
Toru's invisible hands waved enthusiastically. "Yeah! The more friends, the better!"
Mei shrugged. "Sure. I don't see a problem with it."
Nejire blinked before her face slowly brightened. "Really?"
Mineta smiled. "Really."
That was all Nejire needed as her eyes practically lit up. "Then can I ask everyone questions?"
Himiko smiled nervously. "Sure."
"What is your favorite food?"
"That's easy. Blood."
Nejire froze. "Blood?"
Himiko nodded innocently. "Yep!"
Nejire's eyes widened with fascination.
"Why blood? Is it because of your quirk? Does your body process it differently? Does the blood type matter? Can you taste the difference between different blood types? How much do you need?"
Himiko's smile slowly became stiff. "Uh..."
Toru immediately leaned backward. "That's a lot of questions!"
Nejire turned towards her.
"Sorry! What about you? What does being invisible feel like? Can you see your own body? Do mirrors work? Can cameras see you? What happens when you blush?"
Toru's invisible face practically turned red. "I... I don't know how to answer all of those!"
Nejire immediately turned toward Mei.
"What about you? What's your strongest invention? What's the most dangerous thing you've built? How many explosions have you survived? What's your IQ? Can you build a laser? What about a plasma weapon? Can you make robots? How small can you make a machine? Can you build something that flies?"
Mei's eyes began sparkling brighter with every question. "Finally! Someone who appreciates my genius!"
Mineta stared at the scene. 'This is exactly what I was worried about.' Yet, despite his concern, he couldn't help smiling.
The three girls had initially been overwhelmed by Nejire's endless questions. Himiko occasionally struggled to keep up, Toru kept asking Nejire to slow down, and Mei was happily answering every technical question she received while adding several of her own.
However, rather than becoming annoyed with one another, something unexpected began happening. They started getting comfortable with eachother.
Himiko began asking Nejire questions of her own. Toru joined in whenever she could. Mei started explaining one of her newest inventions, and Nejire immediately became fascinated by it, firing questions at her faster than Mei could answer.
Soon, the conversation stopped feeling like four strangers sitting together and started feeling like four friends who had known each other for much longer.
"So if you change this part here..." Nejire said while pointing toward one of Mei's designs, "wouldn't the energy output become unstable?"
Mei's eyes widened. "Exactly! That's why I added a stabilizer here!"
"But wouldn't that increase the weight?"
"It would, unless I replace it with this material."
"Oh! That's clever!"
Himiko leaned closer to the blueprint.
"Wait, does that mean it can become smaller?"
"Yep!"
Mineta stared at them as the discussion soon turned towards how big of an explosion Mei can make.
"Please don't give Mei more ideas."
The girls burst into laughter.
A few minutes later, the conversation somehow shifted toward the infamous jetpack incident.
Mineta's expression immediately changed. "Wait. Why are we talking about that?"
Himiko pulled out her phone with a mischievous grin. "Because it's funny."
"No."
"Yes."
"Absolutely not."
Nejire leaned closer. "What are you showing us?"
Himiko pressed play.
The recording showed Mineta flying uncontrollably through the sky, screaming as the jetpack carried him farther and farther away from Saitama. The footage captured his desperate attempts to control himself, his accidental encounter with the two purse thieves, his flight over the ocean, and eventually his unexpected collision with the villain in Mie prefecture.
Nejire watched with enormous eyes. "Whoa!"
Mei covered her mouth while trying not to laugh.
Himiko completely failed.
Toru's invisible shoulders shook as she laughed.
Mineta's face turned bright red. "Stop watching that!"
Nejire pointed at the screen. "You were really flying that whole time?"
"I was not willingly flying!"
"But you went from Saitama to Mie!"
"I KNOW!"
"And you defeated a villain!"
"The jetpack defeated him!"
"And you rescued a lady from thieves!"
"THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT!"
The four girls burst into laughter again.
Mineta lowered his head onto the table. 'Why does everyone enjoy watching my suffering?'
Despite his embarrassment, however, a small smile eventually appeared on his face.
He raised his head and looked at the four girls sitting around him.
Himiko was laughing openly.
Toru was giggling.
Mei was excitedly explaining something to Nejire.
And Nejire herself was smiling brightly while asking another question.
The lonely girl he had encountered on the street yesterday was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, there was the cheerful, curious, talkative Nejire he remembered.
'So this is what she needed.' Mineta smiled quietly. 'She didn't need someone to change her. She just needed people who would accept her.'
Across the café, several customers who had been watching the group had reached a completely different conclusion.
One man leaned toward his friend and whispered, "I thought those four were going to gang up on that kid."
Another customer nodded. "Same. I was expecting some kind of spicy confrontation after seeing him surrounded by four girls."
A third customer sighed. "Disappointing."
They watched as Mineta sat peacefully with the girls, occasionally getting dragged into their conversation.
One customer clicked his tongue. "That grape-haired kid..."
Another shook his head. "He really is something."
The first man gave Mineta a suspicious look. "He's only a middle schooler, but he's already surrounded by four girls."
His friend laughed quietly. "Natural Born playboy."
Meanwhile, completely unaware of the ridiculous assumptions being made around him, Mineta continued sitting with his friends.
For once, he wasn't worried about the future.
He simply smiled as the four girls continued talking, laughing, and enjoying their drinks together.