Any feedback, suggestions, compliments, or questions would be appreciated.

___________________________________________

~{Saturday-10:15 AM}~

"WHAT DO I WEAR!?!"

Izuku literally swam in the waves of clothing scattered in his closet.

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod! My d-d-date with Mina is today!" He started flinging clothes all over the room. "I got up so early because of how nervous I am but I didn't even plan what to wear!?"

He stopped searching through his clothes and put his hands on his head with swirling eyes.

"Th-This isn't a real date anyway, is it!? She said it was just a meet-up, so why am I so nervous!?"

He fell backwards into his piles of clothes.

"How do I act!? Should I bring a gift?!"

He furiously scratched his head.

"I don't know! Who can I talk to about this!?"

Izuku stopped as he thought of the first person that came to mind.

He dove out of the clothes and grabbed the phone from his nightstand, calling someone as he paced around the room.

After just one ring of the phone, the person picked up.

"What is-?"

"ENSO!" Izuku interrupted. "I need your help!!"

Somehow, a virtual punch hit Izuku from his phone.

"Stop shouting, you idiot." Enso said with irritation. "What do you want?"

Izuku wiped his cheek as he nervously shivered. "D-Do you remember that d-date I agreed to go on with M-M-Mina?"

"Say no more, I can't help you."

"PLEASE!!" Izuku begged.

Another virtual punch came from the phone and knocked Izuku to the floor.

"Shut it."

Izuku shakily got up as he heard his mentor sigh over the phone.

"What makes you think I can even help you? I thought you'd assume that I've never even gone on an actual date before."

"B-But you're good at keeping your cool and always seem to know what to say to someone!" Izuku said.

"Izuku, you realize that everything I've said to people was to purposely make them angry or criticize them, right?"

"Exactly! So I'll know what not to say!"

Izuku could swear he heard Enso break something.

"I understand what you're saying... but I can't help but feel very irritated by it." Enso muttered over the phone.

"P-Please help me! I don't know what to wear or how I should act!" Izuku begged.

He heard a rather long sigh come from the other side of the call.

"Fine... Just get over here right now." He reluctantly answered.

"Thank you!" Izuku hung up the phone and dove into his wave of clothes, then coming out with a new set of casual clothes. He rushed out of his room and was planning to just leave right there.

But he stopped when he saw his mother cooking up breakfast with a rather depressing look.

Izuku stared at his mother with a worried look, yesterday's events still lingering in his mind.

He clenched his hands tightly.

"I said... I said some terrible things..."

Inko noticed his presence and turned her head to him, still maintaining her depressing look.

"Are... Are you heading out?" She asked him.

Izuku was silent for a moment before answering.

"Um... I could stay for breakfast."

Inko simply turned back to the pan rather uncaring. "It'll be done in a minute..."

"..." Izuku sat down at the table with his head down.

The two of them ate in a rather depressing atmosphere of silence. Izuku occasionally rose his head to glance at Inko, but he would always see her keep her head down as she ate.

After a few more minutes of this atmosphere, Izuku knew that he had to say something.

"Mom... I-"

"I know." Inko interrupted before he could even say anything. "That wasn't you talking... At least, not all of it..."

Izuku could feel himself freeze.

"Your quirk makes you unreasonably aggressive, doesn't it? That's why you spoke the way you did yesterday...?" Inko asked before eating some eggs.

"At first I thought she figured out that I had another person in me... I don't want to worry her that some kind of person of anger is in me..."

"W-Well... My quirk does cause me to get really angry, but I still talked to you in a way I never should... I know you've always worried about me, I know you always thought about me and just wanted me to be happy. Yet I took this for granted and started causing you to worry more than I should've let you... I-I'm sorry mom..." Izuku bowed.

Inko formed a small, but sad smile. "It's alright Izuku... But you were right. I never did support you to become a hero, I never encouraged you at all... And I've never once said that I was proud of you..."

Izuku got up from his seat.

"Th-That's not your fault mom! I didn't have a quirk then and still wanted to be a hero, so of course, you didn't want me to become one! You were only worried about me! It was reasonable, but I was just selfish!"

Inko shook her head in disagreement. "There's nothing selfish about wanting to become a hero just for the sake of helping others. I know that would be the only reason you wanted to be one. To be like All Might and save everyone with a smile. I was happy to hear that you finally manifested your quirk, but I was also scared... I've always seen heroes getting hurt on T.V, heroes getting killed, so even though you wanted to go to U.A, I was always scared. Even now I keep on worrying..."

She stared down at her plate.

"At first, I thought it'd be fine. I thought you'd be completely safe in U.A. Yet... villains came into the school, and knowing you, you'd just jump in to save anyone. But the one that seemed to cause the most pain to you... was just you. Breaking your arms so many times... I-I just kept getting scared. And now I have to worry about a new problem with your quirk... What's going to happen to you now?"

Izuku was momentary silent as he stared at his mother with a sympathetic expression. He knew that he had caused her so much distress by everything he's done. He's made everyone in his class worry multiple times and had promised them that he would make sure not to do those things again.

So he had to do the same for his mother.

He formed a small smile and walked around the table to her, then wrapping his arms behind her neck and holding her close.

"Mom... I know just how worried I made everyone, especially you... I promise that I'll learn to control my quirk and get stronger to become the best hero. You're the most important person to me mom, and I don't want to make you worry about me anymore..."

Feeling his warmth on her, Inko formed a pure smile.

"Oh Izuku, I'm always going to worry about you."

Izuku chuckled, "Well I'm going to make you worry less about me."

"Not gonna happen."

They both laughed.

___________________________________________

~{11:43 AM- Enso's Headquarters}~

"U-Um... Enso? Wh-Why am I tied to a chair?" Izuku nervously asked as his mentor wiped his dagger.

The boy was tied down to a chair right in the middle of the dojo arena, a large white cloth wrapped around his body to only leave his head poking out.

"You wanted me to help you out, didn't you? So I'm helping you out."

"B-B-But wh-why do you have your d-dagger out?"

"I'm gonna cut your hair." Enso said as he flipped his dagger.

Izuku turned blue.

"Wh-What?"

"Not too much, don't worry. I'm just gonna sharpen the edges a bit."

"SHARPEN MY HAIR OR YOUR DAGGER!?!" Izuku cried out as Enso's knife sparkled.

"Hold still."

*Slice!* *Slash!* *Slice!*

The area flashed in white with each slice before Enso appeared right behind Izuku with traces of green hair on the floor.

Izuku was white with his soul visibly leaving him.

"Maybe this was a bad idea..."

Enso's dagger disintegrated in his hand as he pulled a handheld mirror out of nowhere.

"How does it look?"

Izuku shakily raised a hand up and took the mirror, taking a closer look at himself. His hair didn't look that different, yet it also had noticeable changes in the form the edges of his hair trimmed.

"I-It's fine... I-I have most of it still at least." The boy muttered, still recovering from the frightening experience.

"Good. Now..." Enso took off the white sheet around Izuku and tossed it to the ground, then pulling out a pair of blue latex gloves and putting them on.

"Eh?" Izuku blinked and lost the color in his eyes at the sight of Enso putting on the gloves. "Wh-Wh-What a-are-?"

"Time for a shower." Enso said as he pulled his glove down on his right hand and let go with a snap.

Izuku had comedic tears in his eyes as Enso's shadow started enveloping him.

"N-No... H-H-Have mercy!"

With the light over him, Enso was a black silhouette with red eyes.

"We're going to clean every spot of you."

Izuku's pupils shrunk.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!"

His screams rattled the neighborhood.

__________________________________________

~{12:23- Downtown Musutafu, Peace Cream Ice Cream Parlor}~

Izuku trembled as he stood in front of the place that Mina had asked him to meet her for their date. He was hugging himself with all the color drained from his eyes as he remembered the traumatic experience worse than anything in the world so far. He did ask Enso for help in getting ready, but he had never expected anything like how he had helped.

He had even dressed the boy in a certain style of clothing based on what Izuku had told him about wearing something 'comfortable.' Izuku had on knee-length, dark green shorts and a short sleeve completely black shirt. Included with this was a thin, dark blue sweater and his signature red boots. The outfit was easy to move around in and did feel satisfying for the warm weather of the outside. And knowing Mina, it also wasn't too over the top and would be what she'd expect.

People passing by gave odd looks to Izuku holding himself with a shiver, wondering what happened to him.

Izuku felt his phone go off, causing him to flinch.

He carefully pulled out his phone and saw that Enso was calling, making him turn slightly pale as he answered.

"Y-Y-Yeah?" The boy whimpered.

"Would you stop being such a baby? Ashido is going to arrive soon?"

Izuku shook his head and regained the green of his eyes, then getting annoyed.

"Do you know how much you terrified me!?!" Izuku snapped at him through the phone.

"Yes, you were squealing like a schoolgirl in any anime where the protagonist walks in the room."

"What's with that example? You actually watch anime?" Izuku deadpanned.

"Nevermind that. I've called to give you advice on your date. I've only cleaned you up."

Izuku blinked as he realized that they didn't even talk about how he should act on the date.

"You couldn't talk to me sooner!?"

"Not really, what you should do isn't hard to know or hard for you to do."

He blinked in confusion. "What do you mean? What should I do?"

He heard Enso sigh over the call.

"Just be yourself."

"Eh?" Izuku was somewhat shocked, he thought that being himself should be the last thing he should do.

"If Ashido invited you out, then that means she knows exactly who she's asking to be with her. She knows you, and all she expects is you. Don't go changing how you act, that would only creep her out."

Hearing this insight brought new light to Izuku about himself.

"She only... expects me? W-Will b-being 'me' really be okay?"

"Idiot... It's because you're you that she asked you on this date."

Izuku looked down at the ground while forming a small smile.

"Thanks, Enso... That actually makes me feel better going into this."

"Save your thanks for when it goes well. Now, look into your pocket."

"Hm?" Izuku raised an eyebrow and glanced around at his short's pockets, feeling his wallet, keys, a pack of cash wrapped in a rubber band-

"WHAT!?" Izuku gawked at the stack of bills.

"Don't show it, you idiot."

Izuku fumbled as he stuffed the cash back in his pocket, then tightly gripping his phone.

"Is this all from you!?"

"Yes, it's just some I saved up from gambling. Use it well."

"I don't need all of this!" Izuku declared.

"You never know. Even if you're being yourself, you can still show her a more gentleman side to you. Offer to pay for what she wants, start off by buying her ice cream at that parlor."

Izuku had another comedically emotionless look on his face.

"Wait, how do you know that I'm near an ice cream parlor?"

Izuku was met with silence on the other side of the line, with the added sound of a small cough.

"Are you watching me!?!"

Izuku frantically searched in all directions of his surroundings.

"What kind of mentor would I be if I didn't examine your progress in what I've taught you?"

"But you didn't teach me anything! All you did was slice my hair and give me a shower!"

Izuku realized he said that a little too loud and blushed as some more people gave him odd looks.

"Oh, would you look at that, your pink girlfriend is coming now. See ya."

"What?! Hey-!?"

Enso hung the phone hung up.

"That little-!"

"Hey, Midori!"

Izuku flinched as he heard a cheerful voice coming from the direction behind him. He awkwardly turned around with a nervous smile.

"H-Hey Mina-!"

Izuku froze when he saw her coming down the sidewalk. Along with dark pink shoes she was wearing, the girl also wore a dark purple tank top along with some rather short jeans of the sort. She was clearly showing more skin than usual and her tank top pressed up against her curvaceous figure.

"Doesn't that seem a little TOO casual!?!" Izuku thought with a maddening blush.

Mina ran towards the boy with the brightest smile he had ever seen from her. She was waving her hand ecstatically to him and Izuku remembered what Enso had said.

"If Ashido invited you out, then that means she knows exactly who she's asking to be with her. She knows you, and all she expects is you."

Izuku smiled as he waved back at Mina, indicating that he had indeed seen her. However, he noticed that Mina wasn't slowing down as she was getting closer to him.

In fact, it looked like she was speeding up.

Izuku's smile faded. "Uh oh."

Sure enough, when Mina got close she dived forward grinning with eyes closed and her arms reaching out.

"Midoriiiiiiiiiiii!!"

Izuku's eyes widened as he opened his arms up in worry to catch the girl. Mina slammed herself against Izuku and the boy slightly stumbled back but managed to spin the girl in the hug to keep his balance. He planted her to the ground, yet Mina snuggled her head on his shoulder and kept a hold on him with a giggle.

"Nice catch!"

"M-Mina! We could've fallen over!" Izuku uttered with a large blush as he felt Mina's assets pressed up against him.

Mina removed her head from his shoulder let him go while backing up with a grin.

"I knew you wouldn't fall over! You're built like a god!"

"I don't think that's the right scaling..." Izuku sweatdropped.

"With these guys, there was no way you'd fall over!" Mina said as she used her hands to feel upon Izuku's chest.

Izuku flinched and grabbed Mina by the wrists, holding them away from himself. "M-Mina! That's embarrassing!"

Mina just giggled and leaned her body closer to him with a flirty smile. "Your reactions are so cute Midori."

Steam erupted from Izuku's head.

"Th-Th-That's... L-Lets just go!" He let go of her and turned his body around to hide his embarrassment.

Mina jumped excitedly. "Gladly! This here ice cream parlor has some pretty great flavors! Let's go get some! My treat!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him inside.

A little bell rung as they went through the door.

"Y-You don't have to pay for both of us Mina! I have more money than I thought I had, so I could pay for both of us. I would feel bad if I let you spend money on me like that."

They got in line and Mina pat the boy on the back. "Awww, you're so sweet Midori. There aren't many guys that would offer to pay for a girl unless he had some sort of goal in mind."

Izuku turned his head curiously. "What kind of goal?"

Mina frantically waved a hand in front of him with an awkward laugh. "Don't worry about it! It's something that someone like you shouldn't know."

She then turned away from Izuku and sighed, "He really is innocent for his own good."

Izuku had question marks over his head.

The menu of the ice cream parlor not only had the basic cones and scoops for ice cream but also some combinations of ice cream and ice cream desserts. Mina ordered a fresh mint chocolate chip ice cream sundae while Izuku ordered a sorbet style of ice cream with strawberries on top. The tables they sat at were placed along the walls. And although there were two sides of long seats on the table, Mina had decided to sit right next to Izuku, getting so close that her arm was touching his.

Izuku shivered as he held his spoon and slowly turned his head to an innocently smiling Mina.

"M-Mina? A-Are you sure that you don't want to sit on the o-other side? Th-There's more space..."

Mina just seemed to purposely lean on his shoulder. "Nah, I like it right here next to you." She took a spoonful of her sundae and continued to snuggle against Izuku.

"If this is how the rest of the day is gonna be, I might not make it!" Izuku shook.

Mina moved off of Izuku's shoulder and got another spoonful of her sundae, raising the spoon near Izuku.

"Try some of mine Midori, it's pretty good! Say 'ahhhhhh!'"

Izuku could barely take anymore so early on. "B-B-But!! Y-You um, th-that was- You already-!"

"What?" Mina grinned.

"Y-Y-You... u-u-used it..."

"And?" Mina almost seemed to challenge him right there.

Izuku didn't know what to do. Was she really alright with that? Maybe he was just overthinking it?

But then he took a look at her sundae and realized something.

"Y-You have another spoon!?"

Mina giggled, "Seems like you figured it out!"

Izuku sighed, "D-Don't tease me like that, please..."

"Heh, sorry about that. But now say 'ahh!'" She moved the spoon to his mouth.

Izuku opened his mouth and took the spoon, then appreciating the cool taste of mint.

"Mm... Itsh gwood!"

"I know right?" Mina smiled. She turned back to her sundae put the spoon Izuku used onto a napkin and picked up hers.

But then she noticed that her spoon was completely clean, no signs of being used at all.

"Wait a second..." She turned to the spoon Izuku just used, then back to the unused spoon. "I fed him the one I used!" She formed a lilac blush and nervously faced her sundae.

"I-Isn't this what they call... an indirect kiss!?"

Izuku didn't notice her blush and continued to happily eat his ice cream.

Mina pouted, "Why am I the one feeling embarrassed!? That should be him!" She turned to the boy and noticed some ice cream on his cheek.

She stared at it for a few seconds before getting an idea to switch the roles of embarrassment. She grinned mischievously as she moved her face closer.

"Hey Mi~do~ri."

Izuku flinched at how she said each syllable.

"Wh-What?" He turned to her.

"Hold still." Mina reached her face up to his and licked the ice cream off Izuku's cheek.

Izuku dropped his spoon, then scooting as close to the wall away far away from Mina as he could get with his face steamed in red.

"Y-Y-You just-!? Wha-what-!?" He couldn't find his speech as his eyes bulged.

Mina giggled at Izuku's reaction, "Sorry Midori. You had some ice cream on your face."

Izuku didn't move back, he just reached out, took his ice cream, and remained by the wall with nervously staring down at it. "P-Please d-d-don't t-tease me like that... J-Just tell me next t-time..."

Mina just scooted closer with a smug grin, "But where would be the fun in that?"

Teasing Izuku was one of Mina's favorite things to do, whether in school or not. She genuinely loved to see the nervous boy's reactions and panicked expressions, she loved seeing him fumble with his words, and she loved how adorable he acted around girls. His innocence overall was something that she really loved about him. Everything the boy did or said was always out of pure, honest intentions.

After finishing their desserts, Mina suddenly grabbed Izuku's hand.

"Come on Midori! This was only the first place I had in mind!" She yelled as she started dragging the boy down several streets, ignoring the looks people gave them as they ran past.

"Y-You don't have to hold my hand!" Izuku stuttered in an embarrassed tone as Mina pulled him.

"What's wrong with it? You shy Midori?" Mina laughed as she neared her destination.

The two of them stopped in front of a place of several colors.

"An arcade?" Izuku muttered as he gazed at the many machines inside.

"There's a game that I really want to play against you in!" Mina pulled Izuku through rows and rows of games.

"Mina, we shouldn't run in here!"

His warning went ignored as Mina brought him to a rather large machine finally releasing the boy's hand.

"Here we are!" She presented proudly with a wave of her hand.

Izuku turned to the large machine that contained two dance pads on the platforms connected to it, indicating that it was a multiplayer dancing game.

There was a big lit-up sign on top of the machine that read, "Dance Dance Revolution A" Izuku realized instantly what they were going to be doing and started sweating buckets.

"U-Um, M-Mina? I-I don't think-"

"Come on Midori, play against me! I wanna see how good you are!" Mina said as she jumped onto one of the dance pads.

"B-But... I've never played one of these before..." Izuku embarrassingly admitted as he fiddled with his fingers.

"Don't worry about it! You can dance already, can't you? So this should be easy for you!" Mina reached over and pulled him up with her.

"O-Okay..." Izuku got onto the second dance pad.

Mina put some tokens she already had on her into the machine, starting it up.

"Now... Let's start off with something to warm up." she said as she began to press a few buttons.

Izuku glanced at the screen and saw Mina pick a song, but she set it on the highest difficulty.

"U-Um... Mina? You put it on the hardest mode."

Mina smirked, "Yeah, I did! Now get ready!"

"EH!?! But I thought you said that we were gonna warm up!?!"

Mina grinned, "We are! This is the easiest song to play on the highest difficulty!"

She then basically slammed the button, "Now let's go!"

Izuku didn't have time to argue with her as arrows came flying up the screen.

"Wah!?" He barely reacted on time as he started stepping on the buttons on his dance pad to match the arrows. He was clumsily doing so at first and didn't even look like he was dancing, but as the song progressed, Izuku managed to keep a continuous streak of perfect matches with flowing moves and fast footwork.

When the song was over, the results showed that Mina a higher score than Izuku.

"Wow, Midori! For your first time playing on one of these, you were great!"

Izuku panted before accusingly pointing a finger at the girl. "No fair Mina! You started it when I clearly wasn't ready!"

Mina laughed and playfully smacked his back. "Hey, heroes always have to be ready, since villains won't give them a chance to prepare!"

"Sure..." Izuku agreed rather sarcastically. "Although, I think I may have already gotten the hang of this game."

Mina's face lit up as she went back to the machine. "Well in that case..." She rapidly started pressing several buttons. "Then let's do the hardest song in the game!"

"Already!?!" Izuku's eyes widened.

"Yeah! I think you can handle it, but..." She put a finger on Izuku's chin and leaned a little too close to the boy. Her beautiful black eyes staring into his glimmering emerald eyes. "How about we add some stakes to it?"

From how calm she sounded, Izuku shivered. "Wh-What do you h-have in mind exactly?"

Mina's finger trailed up from the boy's chin to his cheek, then to his forehead mischievously.

Her eyes showed a dangerous look in them. "How about this? If I win, then your gonna have to do one thing I say, no matter what it is?"

Surprisingly, Izuku didn't panic and just had a blank face, "Those stakes are too high and you know it."

"Aw, pooey... He didn't freak out." Mina pouted.

Her smile returned as she thought of something else, "Fine, fine. If I win, then buy me a bowl of Natto after we leave!"

"I guess that sounds reasonable enough... And what about if I win?"

Mina leaned her head closer so that her mouth was near his ear. "Then... I'll kiss you." she whispered.

Izuku turned beet red with his mouth agape as Mina moved back with a smug grin. "Wh-Wh-What!? I-Isn't that a l-l-little-!?!"

"No time to think, let's go!" Mina cut him off as she slammed the button to start.

"W-Wait-!!!"

The song immediately started at a very fast pace, but luckily, Izuku reacted quick enough to set a good pace on the arrows as they blazed up the screen. Izuku forgot all about the 'bet' with Mina and instinctively focused himself to keep up with the song. Starting from the very beginning, Izuku managed to react to each arrow that appeared on the screen with a step on the same arrows below him. Even though the song was only about five minutes long, the fast pace he went at just made it feel like not even a full minute had gone by.

By the time the song was finished, Izuku had sweat trickling down the side of his head and panted as he held himself up with the bars of the machine. Although the dance was nowhere as intense as Enso's training exercises, it sure lasted long enough to give him a great workout. He then heard cheers and a few claps all around him, which caused him to slightly jump and turn around to see a crowd of people that had been watching them.

"Wow, those two were great!" One spectator shouted.

"Hey, that's Izuku Midoriya! The kid who blew his arms up in the sports festival!" Another added.

Izuku flinched. "Is that what I'm going to be known for?"

"Oo!! Mina Ashido is right next to him!" A female squealed.

"They got some moves!!"

Izuku heard Mina giggle next to him, prompting him to turn to her. The girl was smiling and looked pretty impressed. "Congrats on a perfect score Midori."

Izuku blinked and turned to the screen, seeing that he had taken the number one spot for the game.

"I got a perfect score!?" Izuku was black in white in shock by this news.

Everyone else started clapping and cheering.

Izuku turned red and covered his face in embarrassment with one hand while the other shyly waved at the crowd.

"Th-Thank you..."

"Kawaii..." The crowd and Mina all thought with flowery aromas.

After a few more compliments from people, everyone that had gathered around went back to whatever it was they were doing before, leaving Izuku and Mina alone together.

As the two started making their way through more rows of games, Mina playfully hit Izuku's back, "Wow Midori, are you sure that was your first time playing a game like that? I've played it so many times in my life yet you totally smoked me!"

"S-Sorry..." Izuku uttered out to her nervously.

Mina rustled Izuku's soft hair, appreciating every moment of the feeling. "Hey, you don't have to be sorry about it! It just means that I have someone to practice my skills against! Next time I won't lose!"

"I-I'm glad to have made you happy then..." Izuku said as he got her hand off him and fixed his hair.

"Yeah, so far I'm having a blast-!" Mina suddenly got quiet and stopped walking.

She then placed her hands and face on the glass of a crane game, staring at a particular item that had caught her eyes.

Izuku curiously went over to her and peeked at what she was staring at within this particular game. There were several stuffed bears inside, so Izuku wasn't exactly surprised that the girl would want one, but he was surprised by how each stuffed bear looked.

Each one was made to resemble someone in his class, even with several copies of all of them in the machine. Each one wore a small U.A gym uniform and the one Mina was attracted to were two bears. One was 8-inches tall, pink, and fluffy, even including horns like her and the other was a simple green bear with added green hair made to look like Izuku's

"They're made to look like us so soon? Wait, can they even do that without letting us know?" Izuku sweatdropped.

He decided not to think too much about it and went up next to Mina. "Looks like we really became popular after the festival. Do you want to get yours?"

Mina turned to him with a somewhat embarrassed smile, "Er, not mine... Um, actually..."

Izuku blinked as he saw Mina glance from him, to the green teddy bear that resembled him.

He started sweating nervously and shakily raised a finger to point at the bear of himself, "U-U-Um... D-Do you want th-that one?"

Mina shyly blushed as she nodded, "I guess that you can say that I'm kind of a fan of you... You've done a lot of cool stuff after all."

"I GOT A FAN!?!" Izuku blushed hard as he couldn't really believe that Mina found him to be that impressive.

"Midori? I kind of suck at these games so, um... Can you get it for me?" Mina's eyes now resembled that of a puppy.

"I'll get it!" Izuku didn't waste time answering the adorably needy creature in front of him.

"Really!?" she asked enthusiastically with stars in her eyes.

"Y-Yes!" Izuku nervously went up to the machine and put in some change, but before he started it up, he put a hand on his chin and started to analyze multiple components of the crane game.

"Let's see... The best one to try to get is no doubt the bear in the middle where there aren't many other bears to get in the way. I have to take into consideration the volume of the claw itself and how it'll wrap around the bear when dropping at a certain pace and have to take into account how loose the grip of the claw really is and how much it'll shake as it comes up-mutter mutter mutter..."

Izuku continued to voice his thoughts aloud as Mina watched the words float up while maintaining a comically blank expression

"Scary... But amazing..."

Once confident in his calculations, Izuku started the game and immediately started to repeatedly tap away at the arrows to move the claw.

"Why are his hands moving like he's playing a bullet hell!?" Mina's eyes bulged with an agape mouth.

Izuku looked surprisingly serious as he tapped the buttons to make the crane jerk in one direction and then stop, before then jerking again until being right above the green bear.

He then abruptly stopped and had a close-eyed smile.

"Boop." He said as he pressed the drop button.

The claw went down, picked up the bear in a perfect grip, and raised it over to the prize box before dropping it down.

Izuku picked up the stuffed animal from the opening and handed it over to Mina with a heartwarming smile.

"There you go."

Mina felt her heart skip a beat as she saw the gentle and loving smile that Izuku was displaying. She received the bear from the boy and hugged it tightly in her arms.

"It's soft..." She smiled.

Izuku started to feel somewhat nervous again as he curiously asked, "M-Mina? Wh-Why did you want that bear of m-m-me?"

Mina just gave him a sweet smile, "Because it reminds me of you. Isn't that a reason enough?"

Izuku turned around and covered his completely red face with both of his hands.

"What kind of reason is that!?!"

Noticing how flustered he was, Mina's mischievous side kicked back in.

"Awwww, are you blushing Midori? How cute~"

Steam erupted from the boy's head.

"Whoops, I might end up making him pass out." Mina giggled. She walked forward and grabbed his hand, then yanking him to a run. "Let's go Midori!"

"Eh!? Where now!?" Izuku cried out as he struggled to gain his footing.

They ran out of the arcade and kept going deeper into town. Izuku saw orange and yellow colors starting to go down on the horizon.

"There's one more place that I want to go!" Mina responded as she tightly held the stuffed bear in her arm.

Mina pulled him into an alleyway and then past another few streets of the city. After a while of running, they finally arrived at their destination.

She let go of Izuku's hand and waved an arm to present the area in front of them. "Here we are Midori! This is what I like to call my home away from home!"

Izuku turned and saw a two-story building with smooth black walls and many different colored lights shining around the top. The entrance consisted of two big, red doors with gold-colored handles, along with a red carpet that was rolled along the side of the wall of the place. On the red carpet was a bunch of different people waiting in line, some dressed in fashionable clothing, others with casual, and even some with rugged clothing.

At the doors of the place was a bouncer who had his arm crossed, he was looking over and letting people in. At the top front of the building read a neon sign that said, "Club Stardust." lit up in blue colors, and underneath it read a slogan, "Dance within the galaxy." all lit up in green colors.

Once reading the sign, Izuku knew exactly what the club was. "E-Eh!? Th-This is a nightclub isn't it M-Mina!? C-Can we even go inside?!" he stuttered.

To answer his question, Mina walked up to the bouncer, who was nearly as tall as All Might and had visible muscles. He wore a tuxedo with a red tie and had dark brownish hair, looking mighty threatening with his arms crossed.

"Hey Gado! How've ya been?" Mina asked him casually with a grin.

As the bouncer spoke, he had a deep voice, "I've been fine Mina, although it's been a while since your last visit."

Mina rubbed the back of her head embarrassingly. "Sorry! I've been caught up with a lot of school work recently." She then pulled Izuku right next to her. "This here is my friend Izuku Midoriya, Midori, this is Baunsa Gado, he's the bouncer here!"

"N-N-Nice to meet you!" Izuku uttered out with a bow, very nervous and intimidated by the bouncer's appearance.

The bouncer curiously stared down at Izuku, "Hm, this wasn't really what I expected from a kid that broke both of his arms... I honestly thought he'd be scarier."

Izuku flinched and sweatdropped, "So this is what I'm known for now?"

"Well, a friend of Mina is a friend of mine. You kids can go in."

"Eh?" Izuku didn't get to say anything before Mina grabbed his hand while tossing the bear to the bouncer.

"Thanks, Gado! Hold this for me while I'm in there!" The girl smiled as the bouncer fumbled to catch the bear.

"What!? Hold on now-!" But before the bouncer could continue, Mina ran in while dragging Izuku behind her.

The bouncer sighed and could feel his cheeks warming, what kind of bouncer holds a teddy bear in the front of a professional establishment?

The rest of the night was going to be embarrassing.

Mina pulled Izuku down the hall as he asked:

"Mina? How do you know that guy? And is it really okay to cut in front of all those people?!"

Mina glanced back at Izuku with a grin, "Oh, don't worry, my dad is a personal friend of the owner of this club so I can come in here anytime I want!"

She stopped running for a moment and looked more serious than before, "As for Gado... I met him when he was getting picked on by some thugs. He was kind of depressed so he wasn't even trying to fight back... Then I got involved because I really don't like bullying, so they tried to go for me."

Izuku looked shocked.

"One of them pulled out a knife, but then Gado snapped out of his depression and fought them all. That's when I learned that he lost his job and his home was blown up from a villain attack. So I got the owner here to hire him, he's really grateful to me."

Izuku looked down as he thought about that. Mina stood up for someone in need, which could've resulted in those thugs hurting her. He thought of when he stood up to Bakugo when he and his lackey were bullying one kid at a playground, resulting in them only picking on Izuku.

"I wonder... What would've happened if someone stood up for me?"

Izuku recalled the burns he got and the verbal abuse he always went through.

Despite such terrible memories, he formed a small, sad smile. "It's probably better that no one did, otherwise, they probably would've gone through something similar that I went through..."

Mina saw the look in his eyes and realized that she might've made him remember something bad. She grabbed his hand and quickly forced a smile, "L-Let's keep going! It's just up ahead!"

Izuku detected that slight stutter but wasn't able to ask about it as he got pulled to two black doors.

"This is it! One of my most favorite places in the world!" Mina proudly yelled as she pushed open the doors.

Izuku was blinked by many moving colors, blinking multiple times as his eyes adjusted to the sight in front of him.

He saw people, so many people. Some of them were sitting down at round tables by the walls while others were dancing in the middle of the room. There was a large dance floor with many colors lighting up with the addition of purple dimmed spotlights pointing down at everyone while. moving. There was a stand where someone, who appeared to be a DJ, was working his magic with the music, stairs on both sides of the room that led to the second floor where a bar was located, and everyone was just moving anyway they can to dance.

"That's... A lot of people..." Izuku nervously shivered.

"You may have beat me in that game Midori, but this place is another home for me! See if you can keep up!" She yelled over the music and pulled him to the center of the dance floor.

When Mina let go of Izuku, the boy just froze there more nervous than ever.

"M-Mina! B-But... I-"

Mina didn't want him to chicken out, so she put her hands on his shoulders and got close to his ear. "Come on Midori, you were fine dancing at the arcade! What's so different about here!?!"

"Um, the larger amounts of people, I have to think of my own moves, and the fact that I didn't even know people were watching last time." Izuku didn't hesitate with a deadpanned expression.

Mina pouted adorably, "Midoriiiiii!!!!! It's not hard to start!!" She let go of the boy and backed up to an open space, staring at him with a smile.

She then moved her feet in a pattern of one step forward and then back, then doing the same for the other. Then she suddenly jumped with a spin, flipping her body upside down and landing on one hand.

She then proceeded to spin her legs in the air.

"Break-dance! Break-dance!" She yelled as if cheering for Izuku to join.

People around her saw her breakdancing and cheered.

Mina finished pulling off many spins and turns before using her hand to push herself off the ground and flip back to her feet. She landed perfectly and even struck a pose as she stared at Izuku with a grin.

"Come on Midori! Your turn!"

Izuku then remembered the training that he did with Enso, remembering all the different movements he had learned for breakdancing. He had only learned how to implement it with his fighting but had never actually once used his dancing to simply perform in front of others.

But he guessed it was time.

"A-Alright!" Instead of letting his brain think, Izuku did a big brain move and turned it off, only letting his body do the thinking of movements. He jumped with a spin and got on a hand like Mina had done, then letting his back fall to the floor where he proceeded to perform a bunch of windmills.

"Go Midori!!" Mina cheered right before getting on the floor and mimicking Izuku's movements.

People cheered as the two took a chunk of the dance floor.

After spinning himself for a few more seconds, Izuku ended it off by spinning his body straight while balancing himself off the ground with both hands, then pushing himself off to land on his feet. As for Mina, she simply spun back to her feet and finished with a cool pose.

"You're not bad Midori, but can you really keep up?" Mina taunted.

"Mina, you're saying that to a guy that broke all of his arms but still kept going!" Izuku laughed over the beats of the music.

"...Don't break them here!!" Mina warned him.

Both then proceeded to move in every way they possibly could in their arsenal of movements.

Who knows how much time passed as Mina and Izuku frantically moved. Neither of them paid attention to the gazes directed at them, both ignored the sweat that had started to fly off of them, and both just felt any previous worries disappear from their heads.

It wasn't until Izuku felt some stress in his arm when he snapped out of it and realized that many different were clapping for him. Izuku turned red and frantically glanced around until he caught sight of Mina sitting at a round table by herself with a drink.

The boy bowed in thanks to the people cheering for him and he quickly made his way over to his date while slightly panting. "Why, *pant* did you stop dancing?"

Mina saw him and giggled, "Midori, you didn't even notice me when I stopped. You were dancing for so long that I thought your bones would melt any second!"

Izuku blushed in embarrassment. "S-Sorry..."

Mina nudged him with her arm, "You need to stop apologizing Midori, I'm glad you were having such a great time! Sit down next to me and have a drink!" She waved to catch the attention of a waiter that wandered around the club.

"U-Um Mina?" Izuku noticed the pink drink in her hand, and the drink the waiter dropped off. "A-Aren't we too young to be drinking!?"

Mina laughed and playfully slapped him on his back. "Calm down Midori! It doesn't have any of that stuff! One reason this place is popular is because of the variety of drinks! They don't just have alcohol! Try it!" She passed him a drink.

Izuku eyed it suspiciously before taking a sip, then raising an eyebrow. "Pink lemonade? They really have something basic like this in a nightclub?"

"Yup! But enough about that, tell me how it felt Midori? To let loose and dance like there was no tomorrow?" Mina scooted closer to him.

Izuku's cheeks turned red when he felt Mina's shoulder press against him. He rubbed his hands together nervously with an awkward smile. "U-Um... I-It felt like... All the pressure of the world disappeared... I felt happy just to, um... 'let loose' I guess. Dancing like that helped me forget all of my worries..."

Mina let out a cheer. "I know right!? That's why I love dancing so much! And it's even better dancing with friends!" Mina said as she clapped her hands together repeatedly.

Izuku stared downward with a smaller, more emotional smile.

"Thank you, Mina... I've never had a day like this before..."

Mina's smile instantly faded.

Her head face down and her eyes shadowed. "Because... Of Bakugo... Right?"

Izuku tensed up and turned back to Mina in shock.

Mina raised her head to stare at him. Izuku felt chills up his spine as he saw a look he never thought he'd see on the girl.

A look of hatred.

"The others and I were planning on talking to you about this when we got back to school, but I-I have to just say something now that you're already here with me... Will you listen?"

With the help of the music changing to a quieter volume for slow dancing, and from how close the two were each other, both could hear what the other said easily.

Izuku gulped air, "O-Of course I'll listen..."

Mina got closer to Izuku, her hands pressing up against his chest.

"A-After the festival, Aizawa had some of us stay to go over Bakugo... It was Enso, Yaomomo, Uraraka, Jiro, and me..."

Izuku's eyes widened, "This happened? Why didn't Enso tell me?"

"W-We all told him what we knew about you and Bakugo... And although some of us didn't know much, w-we learned more... from Yaomomo..."

Izuku could feel some of his fear grow at the topics that Momo could've brought up. He was so shocked that he didn't process that Mina had slightly lifted up his shirt and examined his body closely.

"I-I knew it... There had to be at least a few scars..."

Izuku felt her touch and quickly pulled his shirt down, "Sh-She told you guys everything!?"

Mina nodded, "W-We heard that he used his quirk on you... H-How he burned you..."

"I-It wasn't as bad as she made it! The stinging was usually gone the next morning!"

That just seemed to make Mina turn paler.

"It's not alright Midori! You went through that for years! You were alone! How could Bakugo hurt someone like you!?!" Mina shouted right in his face.

Izuku was stunned to silence by this cry.

Mina's eyes started turning watery.

"Midori... I usually try to get along with people. But the one thing I hate more than anything in the world... are bullies."

She slightly lowered her head, creating shadows over her eyes.

"I hate them Izuku... I hate how they call other people names to make them look bad, I had how they harm others just to prove that they're better than everyone, and... I-I hate how they treat others as something they're not... Judging people from their looks, calling them some sort of monster, a-always pushing them away ande making them feel so scared... so alone..."

Izuku looked horrified as he tears go down Mina's eyes, coming to a realization about her.

"You... You were bullied too?" He asked in a scared voice.

Mina's gaze rose to stare at Izuku with a look of fear. Water came down her eyes when she suddenly saw so many vivid images flash through her mind.

Izuku instinctively wrapped his arms around her and held Mina as tight as he could, feeling his own tears forming as he realized that another had gone through the same pain he had.

Mina returned the hug just as tightly, letting out sobs of pain as so many memories flooded to her.

"Ugh... *Sniff* Mi... *Sob* Midori!!" She wailed.

They stayed this way for several minutes, both not showing any signs of releasing the other. Izuku waited until he heard Mina's crying die down before he reached a hand behind her head and gently caressed her hair.

"Wh-When... W-Was it..." He was almost too afraid to ask.

Mina was quiet for a moment before responding with, "E-Elementary..."

They were quiet once more.

"C-Can I ask about it?"

He heard Mina take a deep breath and felt her body shift against him.

"Freak... Alien... M-Monster..." Her hug tightened. "V-Villain..." She whimpered. "Every day... Every day that was all I heard. That was all I was treated as..."

Izuku continued to stroke her hair, with his own tears nearly stopping.

"D-Did you ever get hurt?"

"No... I-I think everyone was just scared that I would do something back..."

Izuku let out a breath of relief. At least she didn't go through anything physical like him.

"I had no idea, Mina... I-"

"Shhhh..." Mina hushed him. He then felt fingers gently brush through his own hair. "Just... Just let me stay like this..."

So he did.

She felt so soft in his arms. Such a cheerful, outgoing girl was crying with him. He didn't think he'd ever see her the way she was now, in such a vulnerable state. He couldn't believe that such a sweet girl had gotten bullied before because of her looks.

On one hand, Izuku could understand how the youngest of children could be scared of a person's skin and eyes that they've never seen or had any knowledge about before, but on the other hand, a young girl going through such an experience of discrimination and anxiety could've traumatized her to be just as timid as Izuku was. No confidence, nervous all the time, a pushover, she could've turned into that.

So Izuku was so glad that the girl had still ended up somehow becoming the way she was now.

"Midori..." Mina whimpered.

"Yeah, Mina?"

Mina finally backed up from the hug, staring her watery black and yellow eyes into Izuku's emerald irises.

"Do you...*sniff* think I'm ugly?"

Izuku didn't miss a beat. "I think you're beautiful."

Mina felt her heart flutter.

"But..."

Then she felt it choke in worry.

But that worry disappeared when Izuku's fingers gently wiped away the tears in her eyes with the purest of smiles.

"You look the best when you're smiling."

Mina stared at him with a lilac blush, but couldn't keep herself from laughing right there.

"Wh-What's with that cheesy line?"

Surprisingly, Izuku didn't look embarrassed at all, he just looked glad.

"There we go... just like I said."

Mina let out a small sniffle before letting out one last giggle. "Oh, you..."

The girl then rested her forehead against Izuku's chest and rested there, calming herself down just a bit more as Izuku held her.

"How are you feeling?" He asked her after some time.

"Way better... I'm sorry about that. This wasn't supposed to be about me..."

Izuku just patted her head. "It's okay Mina. I'm glad to make you feel better, you don't have to worry about me. Really I-"

"No!" Mina raised her head so that she was glaring at Izuku. Better than crying, he guessed. "You may be fine now that we're here, but why is Bakugo still being allowed in U.A!? Why are you letting him stay!?"

Izuku became nervous now, "N-Nezu told you about that?"

"Yeah, he did! You're literally the only reason that kept them from kicking him out! Why... So why did you let him stay!? After everything he's done to you, and everything he's said, why help him!? You even heard him during his final fight against Enso, he doesn't view you as a friend anymore! So why!?"

Izuku just looked down with a sad smile and sighed.

"Yeah... I know that we'll probably never be friends again, I know that he's the reason I suffered so long, but... I guess you can say I still kind of need him here."

Mina's eyes widened in confusion. "Need... him? For what!?"

Izuku gazed back up to her with the same smile, "Kacchan was one of my biggest inspirations to becoming a hero. Not exactly in the case that I wanted to be like him, I wanted to be more like All Might, but he was my inspiration of winning. Kacchan always won, he always did his best to win, he became my definition of winning. I've never looked down on him, I always thought he was one of the best around, so... I wanted to overcome the 'best.'

Izuku's smile turned into a serious and determined look.

"I still have to prove to myself that I'm better than him. You all may think that I'm already better than him, and that's probably right. You all say that I beat him during the first hero lesson we had, but I wasn't even in control. I have to beat him with my own strength. I have to control my quirk and beat him when I'm at the peak of my abilities. I don't want him to get expelled, I have to prove to him that he was wrong all those years. Whether we're friends or not, I have to be the one to beat him, my definition of winning, and become what it means to win and save. I need him there to prove him wrong and become the number one hero."

"So you just want to rub it in his face?" Mina made out from all that.

Izuku flinched, "E-Er... That sounds really mean from the way you put it... B-But... I guess?"

Mina looked down, looking somewhat sad. "So... It wasn't just because you wanted to be friends with him again..."

She then formed a small smirk. "I guess it would be nice to see the look on Bakugo's stupid face when you kick his ass... But can't you just fight him again right now and beat him? Then you could say you're better."

Izuku shook his head in disapproval. "Kacchan and I can both still grow stronger than now. And who knows? He could actually end up stronger than me at one point. But... that's why I need to beat him in the number one spot. That's what's important to me, that's what I think as the finish line."

"...Oh Midori. You really are an idiot, you know that?" Mina giggled.

"So I've been told..." Izuku sighed with a smile.

Mina leaned on his shoulder and both rested on the comfy seats.

"...I-I also don't wanna risk Kacchan becoming a villain by getting him expelled, even though I'm sure he wouldn't. That would really make me feel bad." Izuku joked.

Mina giggled. "Yeah... I guess that would be bad now that I think about it.

Both felt their eyelids starting to drop from exhaustion. All their crying and talking had sure tired them out with the addition of all the dancing they had been doing moments ago.

Mina yawned, "Midori...?"

Izuku breathed slowly, "Yeah Mina?"

"Can I just... sleep right here?"

Izuku was too tired to realize the embarrassing position of a girl resting on him. "Yeah. I'm gonna take a small nap too."

Mina formed a large smile as she closed her eyes. "Thanks..."

Both then started slumbering away.

But it wasn't even a few minutes before Mina mumbled in her sleep.

"Midori..." She whispered.

"I..."

"Love..."

"You."