Four days later was followed by a great victory. You successfully pinpointed, planned, and now presently dragged a certain doctor through one of Kurogiri's portals. He landed directly in the middle of your father's office of sorts, which was now a little more cleaned up but still a terribly broken down place.
"Ouf!" The doctor fell over. He chuckled as the portal closed, rolling over easily and picking himself up casually. "I knew you would come for me, All For O--" The man choked on his own words after glancing up at you. He dragged the glasses down his nose. "(Y/n)?.. YOU saved me!?! WHY!?"
"Chill out, Old Man, I'm only doing this because I found out I needed a favor from you." Hands tucked tightly into your gray hoodie pockets, you didn't dare make eye contact with this disgusting man.
Pushing the glasses up his nose, "Oh~?"
"Yeah. I want you to quit with the Nomu stuff and work on the body enhancing thing already. That way I can be a little stronger even without any quirks."
"Problem. I've been using my Nomu as test subjects for exactly that."
"Hhggghhh, do you have any left?"
"Thankfully I remembered to store some here.. Wait a minute." The man turned left and right frantically. "Was this place raided too?"
"Nah, my dad just had a Kylo Ren moment followed by a Darth Vader moment last week. I promise most of your stuff is still in tact."
"Oh thank heavens.." The bushy stashed man sighed. "I'm also going to need one more human subject. But don't worry.. I plan for that part to all be voluntary."
You nodded stiffly. "I'll allow it."
"Yussss!"
"-(Y/n)?" AFO dragged his slippered feet into the mess of a room. He was presently in his pajamas, crusty eyes squint as though he'd only just woken up. "What are..-- Dr. Garaki?" The doctor waved at his nearing boss. "(Y/n), did you-?"
"-Yes, I did." You stood confidently, choosing to forget for now that you had just broken many laws and released one of the top most dangerous criminals in the country. Luckily, you had taken extra special precautions to not be seen by snagging the young Hagakure's quirk before this mission. "He's helping me with that power buff thing now, though."
"Oh? I thought you'd lost interest in that."
"Well now it's back. And, um, yeah." You gruffed, rubbing the back of your head. "Yeh." AFO felt he knew the reason well enough. He hummed dissatisfactorily as the memories came and went like that.
"Well then... Would you like to hear what my new plan is?"
Your whole mood picked up in interest. "Yeah?" You were surprised to hear he had come up with something so quickly--
"-My new plan is to purchase the planet."
-_- "...Wait what? Did I hear that right?"
"That is right. It is time I modernize my approach through capitalistic means. Like you, I already own quite a bit of real-estate."
"Wait what? I only own a couple rental houses to make extra cash."
"And I own several estates and complexes."
"Weird flex but okay."
"The point is..." Your dad brushed a hand through his messy hair while flashing you a tired grin. "..if you're so determined to fight crime, then I better up my game and find a way to conquer the world legally. That way you won't have anything to arrest me for but some old rumors and accusations." He smirked. "I have plenty of time, anyways. Being truly immortal and all really gives one a new perspective to scale. But that's not all~ From there, I can simply buy all the hero organizations out and change the definition of right and wrong." Your jaw clamped.
Crap, Capitalist AFO still might be a bit of a problem...
But! At least he wasn't speaking of murder like before, so guess that makes two villains you won't have to worry about for a while now.
---------------
Funny how easy it was to spot now that it had been pointed out to you. You were always pretty dense when it came to flirting and crush drama. Guess you could also give yourself a little slack for being too busy to even consider romance. But boy was Tenko obvious now that you knew!
"For this assignment, you all will need to pair up." Cementos stood with the aim to leave for a moment. "I will give you all fifteen minutes to discuss." As he was leaving, many classmates were already standing up and moving around. Tenko was one of them.
He threw a bunch of different papers and pens onto your desk and stood on his knees beside it. "I was thinking we could write something like a screenplay for our project. Then, instead of a boring read in front of the class, we can present it like a two person play!" You rose a brow but nodded along. He didn't even ask to be your partner... Oh well. His idea at least sounded pretty interesting. But why was he so excited about going above and beyond for a simple project as this??
You scanned across the classroom at Iguchi after a little bit, seeing he'd partnered up with Kobayashi. Caught him occasionally glancing your way, since he looked bored out of his mind.
Tenko took the brunt of the responsibilities for this project upon himself even though you offered to do more. Normally, you'd assume he was just being nice like usual... But, now you knew the truth... He was trying to impress you, wasn't he?
Crap, now you were overthinking everything. Crush drama really sucks, doesn't it? You liked Tenko as a friend, but nothing more! On top of that, you were also technically engaged already. But you couldn't exactly explain that part to him now could you? He'd flip out and demand to help you take down the Yakuza involved no doubt.
For now, you'd just have to deal with the little things. The tiny, miniscule battles of the every day interactions. Specifically, letting Tenko down kindly without breaking his heart. Making it clear to him you had no interest in him as any more than a friend but without losing the friendship part. Something like this would require the precision of a scalpel dissecting a worm, which was made doubly hard thanks to your difficulty discerning the platonic from the romantic.
"After that, you can voice Li's wife and I can voice Li for the brief scene-"
"-Actually.. can I voice both?"
"Huh?" Tenny stared up at you with the biggest, puzzled eyes.
You cleared your throat. "You already have a lot of lines. And.." You looked around the class. No one was paying any attention to you or your partner, but you still felt now might be a good time to make this point. "..I don't really want people to think we are a thing... Y'know.. like a couple..."
---√\/-^---- θ‿θ "Wh-what do you mean by that, (Y/n)?" Oh no. He took that a lot closer to heart than you intended. Switching it up, you quickly scratched the back of your head while chuckling nervously.
"Oh, you know! I- I'm just not really interested in drama is all!"
Tenko laughed along dryly. "Ahah.. I see. Yeah, that would be pretty big news.. You...me.. dAtiNg.. Psh." Looked like he was beginning to zone out a little. Crap, was he imagining the two of you as a couple now!? You placed your hand on his arm, hoping to drag him out of his wild fantasies.
"We only have a couple minutes left.. Let's finish up with the roles, then we can work out the rest tomorrow!"
Snapped out of his daze, Tenko nodded and smiled. "Mhm! Sounds like a plan!" By the way he looked away from you, though, you could clearly tell he had love on his mind. You frowned slightly... Did you just make things better or worse?
-------------------
You snuck into the quaint suburban house, which was actually laid out a lot like your old house, and crept into the little Hagakure's room. There in her the bed the little girl lay. The invisible girl now visible. You reached your hand out. Though you couldn't return some, your intention was never to keep stolen quirks forever! Your palm started to glow as it neared the girl.
But! Before you could hand her back her quirk, the door to her bedroom creaked open. Thank the heavens there was a corner separating you from the newcommer's sight. You fell backwards into the closet and hid amongst the clothes as the girl's mother stepped into the room.
"Hey, Toru, sweetie~!" The girl's mother chimed. The young mint green haired girl's eyelids fluttered open, revealing some of the world's most beautiful eyes.
"Mmh? ...Mommy?" Still sounded like she was recovering from that fever.
"Awe, still haven't recovered your quirk yet?"
"No..." The woman with bright teal hair sat on her child's bed and brushed her fingers through the young one's locks.
"Well... I'm just happy I can see my beautiful baby again~"
"Mooooom!"
She chuckled. "It's true! You are the most beautiful girl in all the world." The girl giggled some, though there was some clear sadness through it. Softer, "You know... I think this illness was a blessing in disguise."
"I won't get to be a hero, though..." The little one pouted.
"You can always be my hero. And your Daddy's hero. And your little sister's hero. And your grandma's.." The woman placed a soft kiss on her daughter's head. "Besides... You know I don't want you out there fighting scary villains day and night. Not my little girl..." The mother then hugged her child and sighed, swaying them both side to side slowly with her chin resting on the little one's head. The young one was clearly still sad, but, leaning into that hug.. it looked like she was willing to give that dream up for more of this.
Bearing witness to such a loving, gentle, kind mannered mother filled your heart with a terrible ache. Head filled with memories of your own loving mother. The fleeting, now so distant memories of a time back when you were loved unconditionally and cared for so genuinely. It...hurt to be brought back to those times again. To think you couldn't simply go back home and find Chloe there waiting for you. The fact that being dead meant she was indeed never coming back... It burned away at your insides.
How cruel it was for death to be so permanent.
You had to wait for Toru to fall back asleep before sneaking out again. You decided to keep her quirk. She would be fine without it; maybe even better off. And besides... with a loving mother like that, she wouldn't need superpowers. She wouldn't need all these quirks to fill the ever-growing gap in her heart.
Nah, she had enough.
But you didn't. And you knew you never would. That was your reality.
--------------------
""You guys really need to be more responsible with your bedtime."" Iguchi said over chat, agitated as he left the game Tenko'd just started even after his friend's warning.
"Psh. I'm used to going to sleep at midnight by this point." You rolled your eyes, controller in hand.
""Yeah, same."" Tenny added on. ""And it's still only nine.""
""You guys can be as irresponsible as you want. But I'm going to get some shut-eye."" What annoyed you most was this was likely all just an excuse to rest up after that victory in the ring last night, but of course you couldn't bring that up while Tenko was still in the call.
Iguchi left the VC, leaving you alone with your childhood friend. You played silently as a pair, listening to nothing but breaths and button mashing over the mic. Occasionally, one of you would curse under your breath or sigh over a victory...but that was it.
That was, until Tenko died one too many times for him to take. ""### ####### #### ##!!"" He threw his controller down. You were distracted at the perfect time to get sniped around the corner. You didn't press reset after that. Tenny clutched his headphones, torn between throwing them off and not. ""Why can't it be like in the movies, huh?? But no, it has to be humiliating on top of everything else!""
"Wh.. what's the matter?"
""Depression and s###."" The teen whined. You rolled your eyes and pressed restart, ready for a long rant. At least he was finally opening up. Weird timing though. ""Like, the more I see how it's portrayed on TV, the more it makes me sick. They never talk about how hard everything is."" You killed a foe in-game. ""How much effort it takes to convince you waking up is even worth it every morning."" Headshot another one. ""Even with my quirk, there's no telling whether or not I'm mentally strong enough to handle all of this."" Shot up another guy and danced on his corpse. ""I'm going to screw everything up, aren't I? I should have never accepted this-- this.. uhuhhh..."" He pulled his legs in close, voice muffled by his knees.
"This quirk?" You left the game before you could claim victory. Plain voiced as you were, you did care. Tenko was silent. You realized this lie of his might be hurting himself more than anything. It was a terribly heavy weight placed upon such a young, troubled kid after all. Now that you thought about it, him not being able to tell you especially what brought him so much grief was probably the cause of all this. Or...at least most of it. You exhaled loud and slow. "...Listen. I know about One For All."
""Y-you do!!?""
"Yeah. And I've known about you having it since day one too. Since the entrance exam, I mean..."
Tenko grew pale for how long he held his breath. "...Oh." He exhaled defeatedly. "And yet.. you never told anyone?... Not even your dad?"
You leaned back against your bed, breath cracking. "Why would I? Finding it is his problem. Not mine... You've known about my dad this whole time, haven't you?"
His breath was shaky. ""...Yeah.""
"Mh..." Made sense. You'd received a few hints here and there that he knew the truth. Just didn't want to believe it. After all...you.. didn't want to lose him in the drama. "...So... What are we going to do now that we know we're basically enemies?"
""We're not enemies.""
"Huh?"
""You said it yourself, (Y/n).. That your quirk doesn't define you. I've always believed you can become a hero, and I still do. We can still become the greatest heroes this world's ever seen.. together."" As nice as his words were.. there was something empty about them. They did nothing to change your mood whatsoever. If anything, it sounded more like a threat to your ears.
You dropped the controller on the floor and folded your hands behind your head, staring up at the ceiling. In your darkened bedroom, Toga was the only one in here, and she was fast asleep on your bed already. Eyes heavy and ready for some sleep yourself, your voice dragged on through the conversation. "....While we're going over useless secrets, Spinner told me about your little crush a few days ago."
"On who!?"
"Me. And the only reason he tattled was because you told him about my true quirk.. Thought it was more fair that way."
""Hhooww darreee he-""
"-It's true, isn't it?"
""Ts! What!? No! No-no-no-it--
...
...Hhh, alright fine. I've...had a little crush on you ever since we were kids."" He crossed his arms and planted them atop his knees, then resting his chin on said arms. ""I just...didn't want you to treat me differently...""
"I get that." You followed it up with a loud yawn.
...
""..So...?""
"So, what?"
""How do you feel?.. Ab- about me?""
You paused for a moment to think up a proper response. As much as you wanted to lie to make him feel better... lies were clearly getting neither of you anywhere.
"To be honest.." you breathed "...I've never felt romantic towards anyone really... I'm sorry. But, I can only see you as a friend."
""I see...""
"I still love you, man; just not in that way."
""Iguchi was right.. I should probably just go to bed...""
"Tenny?"
""Yeah?"" He stopped mid tearing his headset off.
"...I don't want our relationship to change either. I..hope it doesn't."
Tenko wiped some of the moisture out of his eyes. He had one thing to be grateful for. At least he was able to feel something today. ""..M' glad... Good night, (Y/n)chan.""
"You too, Tenny." He left the call, leaving you alone with a remarkably hollow feeling inside.
Sure would suck if this was the end of your friendship.
--------------------
"Wait, so you guys actually talked about your feelings last night? For real??" Iguchi hovered around Tenko's desk, which the dark haired boy casually sat on.
"Hhh, yeah." Tenko punched his friend's side. "That's for telling her."
"Hey! She deserved to know after you so haphazardly told me all her secrets!"
"I did not!!" But Iguchi just gave him the look. "..I don't remember doing that." Tenko crossed his arms, looking up as far away from his friend as possible. The pink haired one rolled his eyes.
"What did she say?"
Tenny immediately deflated. "Ffffff.. She turned me down big time, man."
"Wow. What a shocker." Sarcastic.
"Apparently she hasn't had romantic feelings for anyone, but still.." Now, he was practically melting.
"So, are you going to try to play it cool, or try something else..?"
Tenko shook his head. "Nahh, and to be honest, it was never really like I wanted to date her officially or anything anyway. At least not while we're still in highschool. Ya know?"
"Yuh?"
Dragging a hand down his face, "In fact, it's probably better this way. Now I can focus more on my own training. I somehow unlocked two quirks last night, so that'll keep me busy for a while."
"OoOo~? Which ones?"
"Their names escaped me..." He touched an index finger to his chin. "Hmmmm... --Oh! And you wanna know what my new friendship goals with (Y/n) are?!"
"Since when have you had friendship goals?"
"Since I decided to~!. And if (Y/n) really doesn't have any interest in me!" Tenko hopped down from the desk and placed a hand on his chest. "Then my next goal is to be her man of honor for when or if she does get married!" Bro was legit beaming about this, already imagining how proudly he would stand in the background of your hypothetical wedding. "Even if she makes me wear a dress, I'm gunna rock it so hard!. And since (Y/n) doesn't have any siblings, that means I'll be the one to interrogate anyone she goes on a date with!" He had a rather villainous grin. The pose as well. Slumped over some invisible magic orb between his hands.
Iguchi was not amused. "I'm pretty sure (Y/n) can defend herself just fine on her own."
"Yeah but eMoTIonAlLy!!?"
The animorph combined a chuckle with a sigh as he dropped his hand on Tenko's shoulder. "Goals are goals I guess." Tenko was being so real though and the pink haired one knew it. Genuinely, Tenko was happy with just being your best friend. He didn't require anything deeper to be happy.
Just then, you entered the classroom. Tenko spun around and waved at you frantically. "Morning, (Y/n)chan!" You stopped at the door wide eyed for a moment, readjusted your bag, and entered. A smirk crawled up your lips as you waved back.
"Morning." Tenko shuffled to greet you at your corner seat and began to check with you that you had everything ready for that partnered project today. It was strange at first. You expected him to treat you differently after last night.. but he didn't. He loved you all the same, but there was no longer that tightness in your chest. No more sensation of guilt, so to speak. You wound up smiling brighter than you had all week.
This was so great!
---------------
"Calm down, (Y/n). That bowl of soup isn't going to interrogate you or anything." You blinked, mind suddenly in the present. You stared down at a fancy bowl of...was this even soup!? Looked more like some fine delicacy from five worlds beyond. Something even God would hesitate eating so casually. You grabbed your chopsticks again and wiped the sweat of your brow onto your sleeve before it could drip into your food.
Ms. Yamashi was the spitting image of perfection next to you: the walking talking emotional wreck. Her eating the soup beside you helped to illustrate how it was meant to be done. You sat up straighter and copied her behavior. It began to look as though everything was fine!.. until your skin started to go transparent. The lady elbowed you harshly. "Stop turning invisible!" She hissed.
"Sorry sorry!" Your body returned to normal, but you were still shaking a little bit.
This wedding was fancier than you'd even imagined one could be. So elegantly decorated. A mix of western modernism and traditional Japanese which somehow blended quite beautifully. The color scheme was primarily white, meaning you had to be extra careful not to dirty the shimmering bright table cloth before you.
You wore a little gray veil over your eyes to both shield your identity as well as hide your crusty face from the world. It brought an aura of mystery to your figure. You overheard many making mention to your arrival and whereabouts. This...didn't ease your anxiety any. You just wanted to go home.
But, at the same time, there was a certain thrill you got out of this as well. With high stakes came high reward. And as a reward for being at such a fancy event, dining on such fine cuisine, you felt super cool! 😎 When~ you weren't actively embarrassing yourself at least. 🤡
Nothing particularly remarkable happened at that event, but you managed to pass the strict woman's test by the end of it..just barely.
Good enough for you! However, since most of your problems stemmed from anxiety, the woman determined to take you with her to eat out more often to better ease those nerves in time. This was both a win and a lose in your book.
What you were most excited about was finding people to show off your super fancy kimono to!
-----------
The next day, after shopping with Himiko for a brand new wardrobe of clothes for her, you left her at the base to sort through everything and put them away in the dresser you previously bought her as well. Since there were still so many hours before Sunday was up, you dressed again into your kimono and had Kurogiri portal you to Tenko's house. If he read that text right, he should be already expecting you.
You knocked on the front door and stepped back, fixing your posture to look all formal. Tenko's mother was the one to answer. "Hello? Oh! Who is this?" The older woman fixed up her own posture automatically and bowed respectfully. You bowed to her as well, giggling.
"Don't you recognize me, Ms. Shimura?"
The woman gasped. "(Y/n)! Wow, you look like a proper lady in that outfit!" You hummed a gentle laugh. "Come inside! And what's the occasion?" The mother stepped to the side and you followed in after. She shut the door behind you.
"Nothing, really. I just got back from a fancy party is all. Wanted to show the kimono off~"
"Well I can see why~ It's gorgeous!"
"Awe, thank you!"
"-(Y/N)!" Tenko's feet came rapidly stomping down the hall, still out of sight. "(Y/n)-(Y/n)-(Y/n)-(Y/n)-(Y/n), I bought the new game tha--" The moment he slid around the corner to spot you, he wound up doing a lot more slipping than sliding, the finishing act being a rather painful looking face-plant into the hard wood floor!
"Oh my gosh! Tenny, are you okay?!" You hurried his way cautiously. "Let me help you up!"
"Nah, it's fine... This is where I belong."
---------------
"So, can you talk to the vestiges of your quirks too?" Tenko asked. The two of you sat on the floor in his bedroom, a controller in each hand as you played a new racing game together. You were falling behind all thanks to one stupid squirrel!
Your whole body leaned with the controller as you made a sharp turn. "Sort of? It's a little different."
"Psh, how do you know what it's like for me?"
"Intuition, plus I tried to take my mom's quirk back one time."
"Oh..."
. . .
"No need to get sad about it. It was about time I let that quirk go anyway.."
"I see... But still.. I'm sorry."
. . .
You chuckled and nudged Tenko right as he was about to make a turn, sending him off a cliff instead. "He-hey, no fair!" He burst into semi-hurt laughter. You smirked and chuckled. The other retorted by shoving your arm aside while you were aiming for a power up. You reached your arm out and pushed his face away. He kicked your knee. This little game turned into an all-out tussle, finishing up with you as the victor by pinning your opponent down.
"Hahah! You may have won the tournament, but I'll win at everything else!"
Tenko went from elated laughter to a face flushed red pretty fast. As he looked up to lock eyes with you, you could pretty clearly tell his thoughts had shifted. Chuckling weakly, "You know you're not making this easy on me."
"What are you talking about?? I'm winning!" You grinned, reminding the other that your knee and arms were rendering his own limbs useless.
"Teh.. Are you?" Such a sly smile he suddenly showed while his face was absolutely coated in red. The more you thought about it, the more your own face and ears started to heat up. After a pause, you crawled off of him quickly and sat back down, trying to return to normal as though nothing had happened.
"...Sorry..." You mumbled. Guess you could see why him having a crush on you wasn't entirely his fault. You were so foreign to the world of romance. The thought that men could actually find you appealing was still a weird one. Because of that, you'd always just acted like 'one of the bois!' Never realizing how many boundaries you were accidentally crossing for people like poor Tenny.
Tenko sat himself up shakily and grabbed his remote again. Both of you had lost. "..It's- it's okay-"
"-No, it's not. I was the one who friend-zoned you, so I should be the last person to go pushing your boundaries like that."
"(Y/n)chan, seriously, it's okay. Look at me." Serious, the boy leaned forward. You turned to stare into his deep red eyes. "..Listen, my feelings are my feelings. I-if you ever want a boyfriend, then I would hope I'd be the first one on your list but-- Hhh, I honestly don't care much about that. After all, I didn't become your friend because I wanted to date you or anything! You've always been my best friend, who I've always known I can rely on no matter what; when I'm around you, it's like my problems shrink so much I almost forget about them! And I don't need us to be any more than friends to feel that... Besides, I know how stubborn you can get. And if you really don't like me that way, then, well.." His eyes trailed back to the TV screen. "I respect that." He smiled subtly, but it was so genuine.
His whole speech was so sweet! Your mouth dropped open. Your love and respect for this guy grew even more! Was it the romantic kind, though..? Eh, not likely. But, you definitely knew that you never wanted to put an end to this friendship. Tenko exhaled loudly, no doubt his heart still beating wildly in his chest. "Whew!.. I need.. I need some water." Tenko stood up and left the room. You sat there stupidly, still unable to think up a proper response. Luckily, out there Tenny just so happened to run into Iguchi fresh from work, so he was able to join you guys for the second half of your visit. It was all fun-and-games from there!
---------------
You were thankful for Ms. Yamashi's recommendation to that sewing place, because you had a useful but weird request.
You arrived at the front of a small, family owned, high quality sewstress shop. There, you proposed something rather strange to them as your next helpful purchase. You slid a large bag of your own hair over the counter and asked them to sew it into some simple, flexible underwear and sports bra. As expected, they questioned why, to which you explained that your quirk was invisibility. Though, your quirk did not affect your clothing. Taking a clue from Mirio in the Anime, you thought it would be a genius idea to have some clothes made out of your own hair for just in case you ever needed to rely on invisibility for anything. And you were NOT stripping for that!
Plus your hair was also fireproof and all-around extremely resilient! So this would be good for emergency situations.
The lady was understanding. Apparently, they had made a few strange articles of clothing like this before, and so already had some experience... Yusss!
You left them that hair, which you'd been collecting for years in case of this exact situation, and struck a good deal for them as well. You'd start with the absolute bare minimum of under garments, but would slowly build from there as you trimmed off more hair until finally you had a whole outfit.
That was your end goal at least. Think smarter, not harder, kids.
In fact...with the direction everything was going in, you were on track to becoming the most powerful being alive~ Especially with your dad locked away safely within Tartarus.