Sunday came around far too quickly for Izuku's liking. The tests to go on the trip started on Monday, and he didn't feel like he'd been able to cover as much as he would have liked to in regards to both his studying and his physical fitness. He'd been training all week constantly, like it was the only thing keeping him sane in the build up to the examinations, but he still felt like he was lacking a lot of the know-how and skills he was going to need to succeed. When the day came around, he would face it head on, confident with what he had at the time, but he would still fret until that point, that he was still on the verge of failure. That had been what had kept him going for over a decade of being Quirkless, fighting until the bitter end and facing his challenges with whatever he had.
He couldn't be over prepared. That wasn't a possibility. No one could over prepare for an examination such as this. They'd need everything that they could possibly get to even have a chance at passing. Yuuei didn't mess around when it came to things like this. They were expected to put in as much work as any scholar. Heroes had too large a role in society to allow for the next generation to work at anything less than the absolute best of their abilities just wasn't something that they could afford to do. They had to be the best that they could be, both in the mind, and in the body.
Izuku had gone out of his way to study material that he struggled with. The Hero course stuff he didn't struggle with much as all. Certain elements of it he didn't quite understand, but it was by far and away his strongest subject on the course, as one would hopefully expect from any given Hero course member.
He struggled with some of the elements of the core subjects too. He was good at both Maths and English, understanding them very well, but he went over them again, to try and improve on his weaknesses. With his left hand, his weaker one, he held a grip booster, which he kept periodically using to help maintain the muscles he had in that particular arm. Doing so would help cut down the time he would need to spend training his body, which could help give him more time to study the bits of work he needed to in the textbooks.
His entire week had been filled of this sort of routine. It reminded him of his training with All Might, when he had been overworking himself to an unhealthy degree in the pursuit of his dream. Not that he regretted doing any of that in the slightest, but the parallels were there. Although now, he wasn't some skinny Quirkless runt of the litter anymore. He was one of Yuuei's students, and if he wanted to keep that privilege and not get thrown out by Aizawa-sensei or anyone else who didn't think he had a chance, he had to work harder than ever before.
He'd worked so hard to get into Yuuei. He couldn't allow himself to fail now.
It was only eleven when Izuku contemplated this, and he'd been diligently at work for the last two hours, three if a morning walk counted, during which he compiled a list of all the information he needed to learn and what tasks he needed to do once he got home in his head. He'd kept himself focused, allowing himself short breaks from either physical training or studying to relax for a few moments so he didn't overwhelm himself before he got right back into it.
"The Ethical use of Quirks came into practice after the initial development of Quirks, just after society had adjusted to the change and what Quirks exactly were. Hero as a profession didn't start being publicly acknowledged until the third generation, but the government of Japan outlined several laws of appropriate Quirk usage before this, one that was agreed and adopted by many other countries around the globe." He quietly muttered aloud as he read up on some of the history knowledge that he was expected to know. "The public use of Quirks were totally forbidden, except for situations of self-defence, or the defence of others, exceptions were made for Mutant types. In the interest of equality, discrimination again Mutant types, who were typically the most targeted group of Quirk users by anti-Quirk sentiment, were protected by law."
It was bizarre to Izuku to think of a world where Quirks just simply didn't exist. He'd been Quirkless, sure, but the idea of them just not existing at all was something that was utterly unthinkable to him. He'd grown up around Quirks. They were just the norm for him.
For a while, he kept up writing, pushing his thoughts aside about the world he lived in as he revised all the information that he needed to know for the examinations. He'd resigned himself to a full day of this, so he had the best chances of passing the written examinations. They were the only thing he could really practice for, given what was known about the exams.
He found himself jumping in surprise when he heard his phone going off next to him, the ringtone far louder than he remembered setting it. When he reached for the phone, he saw Mina's number, as well as her self-inserted first name with two wavelengths either side of it. Izuku blinked a few times, questioning just what the heck it was that Mina wanted. As far as he was aware, she was supposed to be studying with Yaoyarozu and that small study group.
That was what she had been doing yesterday, anyway. He hadn't heard from her since then, snd he'd assumed it was because she had been busy studying and getting everything ready. Perhaps she needed his help on a particular subject, or something like that?
...Or she just wanted to speak to him. He didn't put that thought past her either. Now that he thought about it, he'd be surprised if that wasn't what she wanted.
Still, he answered the call, put the phone to his ear, and spoke. "Hello?"
"Izuku, you gotta heeeeeelp me here, man!" Mina groaned through the phone, like she was in genuine pain. Her syllables were long and drawn out, and she sounded less alive than Izuku had ever heard anyone sound in his entire life.
"W-What the hell, Mina?! What - What's going on?!" He asked, suddenly very concerned for his girlfriend's general health. "A-Are you okay?!"
"So I've got another one of Yamomo's study sessions today, yeah?"
"Yeah?..."
"Here's the thing though - I was so freaking bored yesterday I thought I was gonna pass out!"
Izuku nearly dropped down onto the floor right there and then in exasperation. "Wha - Are you kidding me?!" While he was so very grateful beyond words that there wasn't anything really wrong with her, that she was just being as dramatic as she liked whenever she was bored or excited or whatever mood hit her at the time, he almost felt the warmth of anger hit him that she'd had him worrying like that over nothing.
Then again, that was something that she'd do.
"I wish. I mean, I understand it, sort of, but it's just so mind numbingly boring it makes me wanna cry." Mina explained herself to a still shocked Izuku. "Yamomo looks like she's having fun, but this is just painful for me."
"Well, you are there to study, you know..."
Izuku knew that Mina wasn't an academic sort of any kind. Her strength lied with her physical capabilities, something else that paralleled the two of them. At least right now, he shone in intellectual situations, but fell short in physical ones. Mina was the opposite. She couldn't deal with academics to save her life. She wasn't stupid, by any means, but she just wasn't book-smart.
He sighed and calmed himself down, resting his head in his right hand and hiding a smile, finding at least a bit of amusement in the whole situation, although he was at a loss as to what Mina possibly expected him to be able to do. He wasn't exactly good at being entertaining on demand. Did she expect him to start juggling books and rulers or something? "I - I don't see how I'd be able to help you there though..."
For a short moment, Mina didn't say anything, contemplating what he actually could do. She had clearly called him up without actually planning much further ahead. Her hums could he heard down the line as she contemplated what options there were, before she finally responded, peppy as ever. "Ooh, ooh, I know, you could come along with me to Yamomo's study session!"
That hadn't been an option Izuku had thought of, and he was hesitant to accept it as a possibility. While it would actually be a good option now that he thought about it, there were a couple of reasons why he wasn't too keen on it. Mostly because he hadn't been invited to do so, and just showing up randomly would feel like he was intruding. "B-But she didn't ask if I wanted to go."
"I'll call her, clear it up with her if you wanna! She likes doing this sorta thing, she'll be cool with it!" Cheerfully, the Acid Quirk user reported down the line. Izuku imagined her doing a little dance on the spot, since that seemed like something she would do. "C'mon, think about it! Yamomo's awesome at this academic stuff! You'd probably learn some stuff from her too!"
"But... Then wouldn't you still be bored? I-I mean, I won't have done anything, I'd just be there."
"Yeah, but you being there makes things fun!"
A sudden blush made its way onto Izuku's face, and he moved to hide it, even though Mina was on the other side of a phone and had no way of seeing her. She was able to say such things so easily, it made Izuku wonder just where her limits rested at times. He wasn't sure if that was a part of her that he loved, or a part of her that he found painful.
A bit of both, when he thought about it. More so the latter, since she tended to use that particular trait of hers to mess with him.
Still, when he thought about it, it wasn't like it was the worst idea that he'd ever heard. Yaoyarozu stood at the top of their class academically, acing every mock test, pop quiz, and literally anything else regarding the intellectual aspects of the Hero course, from Hero Ethics and history, to the more fundamental subjects like Maths and English. Though she seemed to lack any sort of confidence in physical abilities, she excelled in written work, which made her similar to Izuku in that respect. Going to this session could possibly help him improve his own grades.
Plus, it would, according to Mina, help her focus. Although he didn't quite get the logic of that. Maybe she was just saying that so that he'd actually go. Or maybe she just liked him being around, which was a really nice thought to have.
There didn't seem to be any downsides so long as Yaoyarozu was fine with it, which Mina claimed she would be.
Not a whole lot of reasons to decline the idea.
"...Okay then." Izuku agreed after a pause in the conversation.
"Yahoo!" Mina cheered down the phone, and Izuku pictures her throwing her hands up into the air in celebration like she always did. "Awesome! This'll be fun!"
"B-But we have to study. We can't just mess around, you know. The semester finals start tomorrow."
"Alright, dad, chill." Joked his girlfriend. "I'll text Yamomo and stop by your place in about an hour, sound good?"
"S-Sure."
"See you in a bit then!" And with that, Mina hung up the call just like that.
Allowing himself to sigh in the smallest bit of exasperation, Izuku managed to smile lightly too. His girlfriend's endless energy really did do wonders for when it came to making him smile.
And to an extent, he did agree with her.
Just being near her made things a lot more fun for him, too.
"Izuku!"
"Hey, Mina - Aaaah!"
The moment Izuku opened the door to his and his mother's apartment, and before he'd even finished greeting her, he was tackled by Mina giving him the biggest hug he'd received yet from her, though it wasn't as tight as normal, since Mina was trying to avoid hurting him like her hugs sometimes did, but it was enough to knock Izuku back a few steps, past his mother who was there to see him off.
All her weight was suddenly transferred to Izuku as she essentially threw herself at him and let him hold her up, letting her feet drag along the ground while Izuku suddenly had to deal with another human being's mass added to his own that he had to manage.
Quickly, the young boy managed to regain his footing after stumbling for a few moments, and standing upright as Mina found her footing again. The two of them stayed like that for just a few brief moments, Izuku finally stable enough to return the hug, his mother squealing in the background silently so as not to disturb them. When Izuku saw her face again, it was plastered by the trademark Ashido grin.
"Hi."
"H-Hey."
Showing off all her teeth with her smile, Mina then caught a glimpse of Izuku's mother just to the side of her. She gave her a more polite smile, and greeted her. "Oh, hello Mrs. Midoriya."
The older woman looked like she was on the verge of squealing and about to burst into tears at the sight of the affection that Mina showed towards her son. She was the peppy and upbeat kind of person that shed hoped her own son would still be able to be when it was revealed he was Quirkless. Whenever Izuku spoke of her, once he'd gotten past all the blushing and embarrassment and attempts to get out of the conversation, it was so obvious that he cared about her very deeply. He was totally in love with her, there wasn't any doubt of that in Inko's mind. And he wasn't the sort of person that would just lose those feelings, or call off a relationship because he was bored of someone.
She knew her son was totally serious about the pink girl who currently had her arms wrapped around his neck. He was completely dedicated to her. It was because of this knowledge that she never pushed him into saying anything that he was uncomfortable saying.
But she knew that he loved his girlfriend, and from her displays of affection, it was clear Mina felt the exact same way about him.
That was what made Inko come close to squealing like a schoolgirl. "Oooooooooh, you're both absolutely adorable!"
In what was practically a trademark at this point, Izuku's entire face felt like it had just erupted into flames as he blushed, trapped between either looking at his girlfriend's close and cute face, or his mother's sparkling and internally adoration mode screaming one. He wasn't sure which one he preferred.
Okay, that was a total lie. Mina won that round no matter who she was up against, but still, it wasn't going to do much for his scarlet face right now.
While Mina also blushed, her upbeat and cheerful attitude meant she didn't feel much embarrassment from the statement, and instead just returned the smile with an equal amount of energy. She quickly turned to look at Izuku, his awkward blush still fierce. For a moment, Mina was tempted to kiss him, just to see if she could spark an even brighter blush from his face, and to see how his mother would react... But she decided against it, mostly for Izuku's sake. She wasn't quite that cruel.
Though she made a mental note to one hundred percent do that at some point in the future.
"C'mon, Izuku, my dad's waiting to take us over to Yamomo's!" Mina informed her boyfriend, releasing his neck from her hug, and grabbing one of his hands tightly. It didn't matter how often she would grab his hands, they were always soft and warm, and brought her great comfort. She began to pull at him, tugging for him to come along and to hurry up so they wouldn't be late. "We gotta be at hers by half past or we're gonna miss out on stuff!"
Izuku suddenly found himself being dragged out of his home and down the walkway and towards the steps before he'd even replied to much of what she'd said. He'd grown used to it by now, but it wasn't like he wouldn't appreciate a warning now and then.
"Have fun!" He heard his mother calling for them and probably waving them goodbye, but he didn't dare turn his head towards her, for fear of ending up whiplashed by the sheer speeds that Mina could move at.
About twenty seconds later, and three flights of stairs gone, Mina finally slowed down, and then came to a total stop. Unlike Izuku, she barely even looked like she'd run out of breath at all. Then again, she hadn't just been dragged out of her house at Mach ten speed without warning and essentially dragged down a flight of stairs.
Not that Izuku held it against her at all. That was just how she was. It was cute, he thought, if a little exhausting at times, such as this.
Still, for some reason, she seemed to be moving at a record breaking pace, barely even greeting him before dragging him away for the various misadventures that they would encounter today. It would be more understandable if they hadn't seen one another in a while, but it had only been a day since they had last spoken, each of them busy with other activities. They had been distracted, so there wouldn't have been much time to contemplate on one another.
Then again, he wasn't sure if Mina, a person who was very openly non-studious, would be distracted by books, of all things.
"M-Mina, what's the rus -" He was cut off by Mina swiftly and quickly pressing her lips against his, silencing him both physically and cutting off whatever his brain was thinking. He'd kissed Mina plenty of times, and she'd kissed him even more, so there wasn't any particular reason for this to be surprising him, but it was nonetheless. He felt the same rush he had when she'd kissed him for the first time, like it was an exact duplicate feeling.
Everything about it felt like the first kiss they'd shared. The feel of her lips was soft and warm, and they tasted so sweet, like caramel. Izuku etched the taste into his memory whenever he could, and savoured it whenever they shared a kiss. Through lots of teasing and miniature interrogations, Mina had managed to get him to admit that he liked these things about her kisses, and she seemed to be using this knowledge in the current kiss. The rush and the heartbeat increase Izuku felt was there too. He could swear that his heart rate was going at a thousand beats per minute.
Everything about Mina fell into focus. As she deepened the kiss, Izuku felt her closing the gap that still existed between the two of them, pulling herself closer towards him, as opposed to pulling him closer to her. He felt her chest pressing against his, and her waist joining against his. Izuku would have gasped of he'd been physically capable of doing so.
Not that the kiss was bad at all... Just unexpected.
It was nice... Once he'd gotten over the initial shock and returned the kiss.
He wasn't sure how long she'd kept the kiss gong, about twenty seconds possibly, though it felt a lot longer. So much longer, when she finally moved away, he'd found that he'd totally forgotten how to breathe, or what breathing even was.
"Wh-Wha?..."
"That was nice." Mina chimed happily, taking a step away and showing off her smile.
"Wh-What was... T-That for?..." The stunned green haired boy questioned, wide eyed. He recovered quickly once his brain had processed everything, though he was still lacking a bit of oxygen when he asked.
Mina's response was to just shrug. "Eh, just felt like it mostly. I missed you."
"We-We've only not spoken for one day."
"Yeah, that should give you an idea of how fond I am of you" His girlfriend replied quickly and without any hesitation whatsoever. "Yamomo's cool with you coming along to the study session, like I told you she would be." She bounced onto the next point, without even waiting for him to reply.
If Izuku didn't know her better... He'd say there was something wrong with her. Like she was... Distracted. Thinking about something that was messing with her and her ability to focus.
Still, she jumped back and forth from things on a regular basis, so it wasn't like it surprised him all that much. Then again, her kiss had taken him by surprise.
For some reason, for the first time, Izuku felt that something was wrong. And it was all unfamiliar to Izuku.
He was still new to the whole prospect of having a girlfriend. It was still probably one of the most shudder-inducing experiences that he'd ever had in his entire life. The gaining of One For All was probably the only thing that was greater. It was a simple feeling, but one that not only had the greatest impact on his life, but also came with a huge number of complications.
So far, everything between them had been totally fine, smooth sailing. A little too perfect by a lot of peoples standards, but there was nothing suspicious about it. The two of them weren't putting on an act, nor were they over-expressing any emotions that they felt for one another. Everything that they said, that they did, was all because their feelings for one another were totally genuine. There wasn't anything more to it than that.
Izuku loved Mina, and Mina loved Izuku.
So... Why did something, however inexplicable the reason why, feel like...
It wasn't explainable... But Izuku felt like something was wrong.
"A...Are you okay, Mina?" He questioned.
When she heard him, she tilted her head backwards and bent her back, so she would look at him. Though from his perspective her face was upside down, there wasn't any mistaking that she was still wearing her usual bright and beautiful smile. "Hmm? Yeah, I'm totally fine, why?"
Words weren't a viable way to explain exactly what it was that Izuku felt in that moment. Dull would be the closest. Damp also worked. Words that described a certain level of nullified emotion and a heavy slog through oil were the best ways, all wrapped around his heart. Izuku barely even knew what his own way of describing the feelings meant himself.
To put things as simply as he could...
It just felt weird... Like Mina, genuine as her affection, personality, kiss, and everything else was, was hiding something. She was acting more like Toru would act, as opposed to how she would act. Mina was excitable and social... But she did remain focused on one thing as it showed up.
It was like... She was moving things forward. Wasn't waiting, or didn't want to wait for a second longer than necessary. Was she that eager to get to the study session and get the information that she desperately needed to pass the exams? Was it because she was nervous? Because she was anxious about the tests?
He didn't know... But something seemed different about her. It wasn't anything that was obviously noticeable, or something that seemed to be affecting her in any particularly large way... But it was subtle. Someone who didn't know her - Or love her - like he did would notice.
But it was there... And it didn't look like she wanted to discuss it. Carefree a girl as she was, she probably didn't even notice it herself. With a personality like hers... She'd tell him.
She'd tell him if it really became a problem. Izuku trusted her to do that if she needed to express something. If Mina felt something was really wrong, and that it needed to be addressed, she wouldn't keep it to herself.
He hoped.
He trusted her.
"Oh, n-nothing." He smiled, pushing the idea to the back of his mind. "Hey, if something was wrong... Y-You would tell me, right?"
"Of course." Mina responded, with a quirked eyebrow. "Whats uh, where's this coming from, Izuku? You sure you're okay?"
"I-I'm okay. Really."
"You're a dork." She teased, before standing upright and suddenly latching herself onto Izuku's arm with a silly smile still etched onto her lips. "C'mon, let's go!"
Suddenly, everything felt back to normal.
Whatever the feeling Izuku had was, or what it meant, it was gone now. It had just been blown away, like the wind had taken it away. Everything was back to the way it was before Mina had kissed him. While that in itself brought its own questions... Izuku chose not to question it. Perhaps that was just a thing that happened to people when they were in relationships. Sometimes they felt momentary doubt or something else, and it went just as quickly as it came.
He blinked twice, before allowing himself to smile. He was worrying over nothing. "Yeah, let's go."