Ochako POV:

After being given the awards, Aizawa had us all come back to the class to explain that we had the next two days off to rest and heal. For the most part, we weren't in bad shape in technicality. Other than a few scrapes and bruises, we were all fine. Iida on the other hand had some kind of family issue to force him to leave early and I haven't heard what happened after. But my main issue wasn't that. It was what happened to have me win and Midoriya's comment. When Aizawa cleared us to leave, I followed Midoriya out of the classroom and grabbed his arm. "You and I need to have a chat." I walked him to an empty hallway where I pushed him near a wall. "What the hell is wrong with you!? You think I'm that weak to not even take me seriously!?" I was fit to be tied. Not only did he refuse to fight me, he forfeited after letting me literally beat him bloody for five minutes. "TALK! WHY DIDN'T YOU FIGHT ME BACK IN THE FINALS!?" He looked at me with a cold stare before answering. "Because I didn't want to be what you think I am."

"W-wait. What are you talking about?" "What I did when we were kids was wrong and I'm not saying it wasn't. What you've been doing because of that accident back then is wrong even if you have the reason to. But there's one thing that I refuse to do and is exactly why I wasn't going to fight you." "Which is?" He stared at me before answering. "Harm someone that doesn't deserve it." This comment was somewhat scary for me as he explained. "The reason I couldn't give you back your quirk when we were little was because I was kidnapped the day of with my mother dying." I remembered the story Nezu told me to know where this is going. "When I woke up, I found out that Overhaul killed my mother just because she wanted to protect me. Unfortunately, my issues didn't stop there. When my father had me, he forced quirks inside me and made me hurt people because he just wanted to make me into a monster. But I never wanted to be a monster like him. I just wanted to be me and nobody else." I was kinda surprised that I heard this now from two different people with no real difference between the two stories.

"When I was finally free thanks to Tenko, him, me, and Nezu were able to live in freedom. Obviously this wasn't going to make the years of torment go away. We all have tried to cope with this the best we could in our own ways." I remained silent up till now before asking. "W-what was yours?" "I tried to find a way to first find out what happened with my mother only to realize my father wasn't lying. After, I began to find ways to cope with my mind being turned into the hell hole it was. I still suffer through several cases of PTSD due to this. Not only that, but I try to make the best I could out of the situation I have." "What do you mean?" "I have an armada of quirks. If I can use these for what they should've been done for, then maybe I can make what happened to me a benefit for everyone." "So you plan to use them for what they should've been used for." He nods before I get to a point I wanted. "So you gave up because you didn't want to prove to me you were the monster your father is even though you could've beaten me." He nodded for me to walk away. "I'll tolerate that answer for now, but don't think I'm going to accept that next time."

As I walked away, I noticed the Shiozaki girl come over and talk to Midoriya. "Excuse me Midoriya, but I wanted to ask you if you are free tomorrow." I stopped in my tracks when I heard the comment. Looking back, I started to hide near a corner to overhear what was happening. "I-I don't." "Well, would you mind going out and spending some time with me?" 'IS SHE ASKING MIDORIYA OUT ON A DATE!?' "U-uh, sure." She took out a piece of paper to hand to Midoriya. "That is my cell phone number. If something comes up, please inform me. If you are still able to, I shall meet you at the Kiyashi's shopping mall district at 11." She walks away for Midoriya to look at the piece of paper with a deep red blush on him. I was amazed of what I had witnessed before hearing Bakugou behind me. "Oi. Uraraka, what are you doing-" "You and me are going to watch Midoriya tomorrow." "Why?" "That Shiozaki girl just asked him out and I don't trust him to not do something to hurt her." I lied to Bakugou for some reason I'm not entirely sure why before he grinned. "If he steps out of line, I'll fucking blow him up." "Good for you Pomeranian."

The next day, Izuku POV:

The day after the Sports Festival came with me promising to meet with Shiozaki at the Kitashi shopping mall. To be entirely honest, this is the first time I was asked out by a girl with it only being us there. It was a little uneasy on me because of that. 'I hope I chose something ok to wear.' I came home yesterday to explain the situation to Tenko and Nezu with both immediately freaking and saying things like 'I'm going through the change' and 'Izuku is finally taking a step to adulthood'. It was a little irritating especially when Tenko's girlfriend Miruko came to help pick out a pair of nice jeans and a button up black shirt for me. Still can't believe he's dating the rabbit hero. I mean the first day he brought her home, I honestly asked her if she was paid to say that. Strangely enough, she didn't hate the idea of dating him after working with Tenko a few times. Easily put, I like the two of them. They make a cute couple.

"Midoriya." I glanced over to see Shiozaki come over with a light green forest looking dress with a dark green sash around her waist. "I hope I had not caused you any trouble with waiting." "You didn't. I just got here." 'Damn that's so old of a comment.' She held her arm out for me to hold mine out for her to grab it and come close to me. 'Why did I expect her to be an old fashioned girl?' She gave me a pleased smile before we continued into the mall. However, I had the unsuspected feeling of someone watching us. I just played it off as nothing and began talking with Shiozaki. "So where do you wanna go first?" "I had heard there was some new additions to a book store on the second floor of the mall in their library department. Would you mind if we started there?" "Sounds like a plan to me."

Tenko POV:

"Are you sure this is right to do Rumi. I mean this is Izuku's date." "Positive. The kid didn't seem to be the romantic type, so a little nudge by us would help-" Rumi stopped her sentence for me to look over to her. "What's wrong?" "Seems we weren't the only ones following hedge head." 'I wish you wouldn't call Izuku that name even if it's true.' I glanced over to see Kirishima, Ashido, and Jirou on one side of the mall following, as well as Uraraka and Bakugou on the other. "*sigh* Of all the people to run into, we run into those two." I pinched the bridge of my nose for Rumi to question. "You know them?" "Yeah. The three on the left are Izuku's friends, and the two on the right are some of the kids that make his school life a living hell." "Wanna scare the shit out of them?" A smile came on my face before nodding. "You go pick up those two and I'll scare the other three." "Oh you're speaking my language albino." 'Again with the nickname? What the hell?'

I walked over to the three who were preparing to go up the steps. "They went to the third floor." "Let's follow." "And just who are you three following?" They jumped a foot hearing my voice before turning to see me rather annoyed. "M-Mr. Shigaraki sir. W-what a pleasant surprise." "Save it Kirishima. I know you all are spying on Izuku. But then again I've got no room to judge being here and doing the same exact thing with Rumi." "Rumi?" The trio questioned before we heard shouting. "PUT ME THE FUCK DOWN YOU BITCH!" "WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING THIS!?" "Got em." Rumi came over with Bakugou and Uraraka being held by their shirts up before the ash blond started to put his hand near her face. "You do that Bakugou, and you officially open fire on a hero and you'll be charged with using your quirk without authorization." I stated this before he would do a thing with everyone looking at Rumi realizing who she was. "THE RABBIT HERO MIRUKO!?" "SHHHH! You want everyone in the mall to realize who I am and that we're spying on hedge head!?" "Wait, who?" Jirou asked for Rumi to roll her eyes. "Izuku! We're all spying on Izuku!"

"Oh please, like I'd come here to spy on the villain. I'm here on a date with Urara-" "Before you even finish that sentence, let me just clarify that I wouldn't date him if we were the last two people on this planet and I had a month to live." "WHAT THE HELL ROUND FACE!? YOU JUST BLEW OUR COVER-AHH!" Rumi smacked both their heads together before dropping the two teens. "Look. We're all here to spy on Izuku and make sure he has a good time on the date, so let's just do that together. If you don't wanna, you can just go home." Everyone thought of this before agreeing for the seven of us to start walking up the stairs and into the library. Once there, we spread out a bit to find them. I was actually able to notice them in a fantasy section where I overheard them talking. "So the holy maiden has a soft spot for the fantasy world. That's something I didn't expect from you." "I-it's not like that. And besides, we live in fantasy in all technicality." "Honestly, I think our way of life is more of that off an old DC or Marvel comic book where everyone has powers instead of those getting bitten by a radioactive spider or is a literal alien that came here as a baby."

I overheard their comments to hear them start laughing a bit to themselves. Out of the corner of my eye though, I noticed Bakugou looking down at them through an opening in the books. One of them though was pushed rather close to the edge to make me motion to him. 'Get the book! You're gonna get us caught dumbass! Grab the book!' I tried to motion to him with the little punk flipping me off. The book unfortunately fell and was coming down at them. Fortunately, Shiozaki wasn't so deep in their conversation to grab the book with her quirk and put it back on the shelf and accidentally hit the ash blond with it in the face. I had to hold back my urge to laugh as this happened before seeing the two heading out to go somewhere else after paying for their books. I walked over to Bakugou to see him with the indent of the book still on his face. "No offence man, but that was karma paying you back for the finger. No respect for your elders. How disgraceful." "Fuck you ya emo chapped asshole." We reunited with everyone before going out to see them stopping at a small shop for what we assumed lunch.

When we got close, we started to hear what they were saying. "So you've come here after church for how long?" "For as long as I can remember. My mother and father are good friends with the man that runs the shop and he truly is a kind soul." "He did seem to put a little more in my sandwich than everyone else's." They started to laugh after grabbing a few sandwiches and heading over to a bench to eat. I noticed Izuku was a little uneasy around all the people for Shiozaki to pick up and walk him to a farther bench away from the crowds. 'Such a nice girl.' "She seems to understand Midoribro a lot. I hope things go well for Shiozaki and him." KIrishima spoke up with Ashido watching with a bit of excitement. "Seems you wanna see something good." Rumi stated this with the two of them watching and noticing Shiozaki wipe the side of Izuku's cheek that had a little food on it. "I so wanna see something good happen. Come on Mido, give me something to help ship the two of you." "Give me a chance to do a double date with the two of you with me and Tenko. C'mon kid." "Is that really what you want to happen Rumi?"

I decided to head over and grab some lunch with Jirou and Uraraka following. We got a few sandwiches and a few carrots for Rumi before heading back. As we did, I noticed Uraraka was quieter than I expected. "What's wrong? You're normally more talkative and wanting to kill Izuku." She turned away before saying anything. "It's nothing important." I ignored it and started to notice Izuku and Shiozaki continuing to somewhere else. "They're on the move, let's go!" Jirou shouted for us to follow suit not far behind her.

Time skip to the evening, Ochako POV:

After following both Midoriya and Shiozaki the entire day, they began to head near an apartment complex that we kinda assumed was Shiozaki's home. I could barely hear jack of what they were saying for Jirou and Miruko to speak up and explain what was happening. I couldn't take hearing the mushy crap from a second hand source and wanted to actually know what they were saying. So when they stopped at the complex, I got as close as I could to hear with everyone else staying back. "I must thank you for the day Midoriya. It truly was a nice day out." "My pleasure. I also learned a lot about you and well...it was really nice." 'Oh gag me with a spoon.' I started to gag a bit before overhearing something that kinda got to me for some reason. "Hey Midoriya. What exactly do you think of me?" I listened closely for Midoriya's answer. "I uh...I don't know how to answer that." "Very well. Then allow me to change how it is said." Shiozaki took a deep breath before asking.

"If I were to ask you if you would be willing to date me, would you?" Immediately, any light in Midoriya's face was turned to that of a saddened image. "I don't think I can do that. I don't think I can even be capable of thinking of having a relationship yet." "But why do you think this?" Midoriya looked away before answering. "When the USJ attack happened, I became a monster that literally tore myself apart. It scared people. It scared me. The only way I was able to go back to normal was forcing several hundred quirks into Te-I mean Shigaraki and ripping them back out again. That alone is tormenting on someone and puts them into unbearable pain. This happened because I wasn't strong enough and I'm scared that the same could happen to you." "But you do not have to worry about me. I can prevent that by doing things to avoid that from happening to you." "Maybe, but I hurt someone a when I was a kid because I just wanted a friend for her to hate me. I don't think I can take it if someone were to hate me again or get hurt because they were too close to me. I'm sorry, but I don't think it's right for me to date yet."

Shiozaki said nothing as she held her head down to walk in. What I saw though that nobody else did was a single tear falling off her cheek. Midoriya held his head down to start walking home. As he did, we all decided to call it a day and head home. On the way, me and Bakugou began to talk about the day. "So the loser can't even get the balls to accept someone's confession. What a loser." Bakugou kept laughing while the image of a distraught Midoriya and a heartbroken Shiozaki kept playing in my head. Both hated the fact what was said was said, but maybe it should be like this. All I knew was I felt like shit for some reason and never could understand why exactly I hated this thought. Midoriya was kept away from being close to people he could hurt and understands my issue with feeling alone. But why do I feel like garbage for this?

And that finishes this chapter. So Izuku unfortunately had to deny Shiozaki's offer to become a couple because he felt it wasn't a good time for him. See how Ochako and Izuku handle this next time with the work study coming for everyone in class A. Hope you all enjoyed and thanks for reading.