Text"It doesn't strike me as too likely that Sir will be willing to accept two of you! He'll interrogate just one of you hard enough!"
That had been… About what Izuku had expected. Part of him wished that it hadn't been delivered in such a happy-go-lucky sort of way. This wasn't exactly news that he was happy to hear.
The last couple of days had been a mishmash of calls and connections and talking to people to try to arrange some sort of internship for both him and Mina. From Gran Torino, he had gone to All Might. From All Might, he'd ended up looking into other options himself. From there, the next day, he had been summoned into the same room where All Might explained One For All's Origins to him, and there was Mirio Togata, called in as well. Initially, Izuku hadn't been sure why.
They talked. All Might couldn't speak to Nighteye – Well, he could, but he was too awkward to do so, on account of… Something which had apparently happened between them that he didn't want to go into right now. But Mirio – Mirio was already interning with the former sidekick. If there was someone that could get Izuku and Nighteye introduced, he was probably going to be the person to do it.
Mirio was a kind of… The best way that Izuku could describe him was eccentric and energetic. A bit like his first impressions of Mina had been, only this time, they were accurate. He carried a sense of maturity about him though, like all the third years did, despite their various personality ticks. Experience made them emit an aura in their own right, even when they didn't mean to… And really shouldn't. He was a friendly guy though, and he seemed open enough to introducing Izuku to his mentor, just because he had been asked to, and seemed to see some potential in the teen in question.
And then, Izuku had had to ask about the chances of two people getting internships there. He explained to Mirio why he was asking, and what his eventual goals for the future were - Haphazard and everywhere as they were – And he wanted to know if there was a shot at Nighteye taking both he and Mina on.
He hadn't been expecting much, and he'd gotten just about what he expected.
Asking for an internship at all was an upwards pitch to begin with. Even if they weren't being paid, it needed the Hero in question to go out of their way to find work for the intern, make sure they understood what they were doing, could do it competently, and teach them the ropes as they did it. Internships needed to Pro in question to throw a spanner in their normal routine, for the benefit of someone who could end up working at a completely different company for all they knew. Depending on the Hero in question, that could be a far harder pitch than with others.
With the way All Might and Mirio spoke about Nighteye, Izuku could already tell he would be in for a tough time, even if he went alone. Going with two people would be impossible, no matter how slim a chance anyone else said it would be.
Izuku sighed, and felt his shoulders drop. Just because he hadn't gotten his hopes up, that didn't mean that he wasn't disappointed. He'd fully admit, if he could have the chance to work with All Might's former sidekick, he would take it, without any hesitation. The things that he could learn, the kind of Hero he could meet, and see what he himself could become if he continued to learn from All Might. He could reap the benefits of learning from someone who learned under All Might while he was still in his hay-day. Mirio was, and while his Quirk had a ton of disadvantages, he was still one of the strongest Heroes-in-training Izuku had ever seen. He could take out an entire classroom of aspiring Heroes like it wasn't even a mild threat, and he credited his internship for that, for giving him the experience he needed to master his Quirk. He was an example of what Nighteye might be able to do for him.
This was a rare opportunity. An exceedingly rare one. Maybe even a once in a lifetime opportunity. Izuku knew this.
…It wouldn't be fair though. And it wouldn't be right.
"But hey! It's not impossible!" Mirio cheerfully suggested, almost like he sensed the disappointment as a physical entity and wanted to expel it from the first year sat next to him. "I don't know if it's all that likely, but it can't hurt to try, can it?"
All Might nodded at his protégé, like he was trying to encourage him not to lose faith. He had fallen silent when Izuku mentioned that he wanted Mina to go along with him. Hero teams had still been a reasonably common thing back when he was starting out as a young Hero, mainly due to the necessity in a chaotic world. Nowadays many wanted glory and fame and money, all of which was fine so long as they continued to help people, but it did come with the caveat of Hero teams becoming more and more out of fashion, and seen by some as pointless. It could even be a hindrance when starting out. Some saw co-operation as a sign of weakness. That was just the world they lived in.
It never bothered Izuku though. He was never in it for the money or the glory. He was only in it because of a desire to help. His Hero Team with Ashido was solely based on the fact that the two cared for one another, and wanted to work together, popularity be damned.
He could see the answer coming a mile away. And before Izuku even opened his mouth, All Might felt pride.
"…Thank you, Togata… But I… I have to decline."
Mirio's smile faded and his eyebrows rose up, and he looked at his junior with a curiosity. He glanced at All Might, who just gave him a small shrug, and then turned back to Izuku.
"I-I'm grateful, really…. But it's just… M… Mina and I, we… I can't expect her to just take a back seat while I'm getting some incredible opportunity. I know she wouldn't mind, and I know it must sound like a really weird reason to turn down an introduction to someone like Sir Nighteye… But it's just not fair. Not to Mina." Izuku explained. He felt a small bead of sweat run down his forehead, and a kind of awkward-based seat stick to the inside of his clothes all over, but he kept talking. "I… I owe her a lot. I…. Feel like I owe a whole lot of my progress to her, and… We agreed to be a Hero Team. I… I'd like that to be reflected in our internship… And I think you and All Might both know Nighteye wouldn't go for a Hero Team. So… T-Thank you, but…. No, thank you."
He couldn't tell if his reasoning made any kind of sense to anyone other than himself, or if he'd managed to get his point across at all. The look on Mirio's face didn't give much away. A first for someone who seemed to be expressive by default.
All Might let out the smallest of sighs himself. He had seen the entire process in its stages from the moment Izuku had walked through the door. The confusion, excitement, pragmatism and his firm, final conclusion. Izuku was a principled person. An idealistic person. He could be completely unpredictable sometimes, and other times, completely predictable, when all the pieces were in play. It didn't make him less proud. Rather, his sigh had been one of contemplation, trying to figure out what other options his inheritor had before him, and what would work for him and his team.
"You're a weird guy, and like I said, your goal seems kind of… All over the place." A sort of bemused smile had made itself present on Mirio's face. "But you seem like you know exactly what kind of Hero you want to be! There's bound to be a Hero Agency somewhere that'll be able to suit you!"
The compliments made Izuku scratch his head and smile, bashfully.
"You wouldn't happen to know any Hero agencies that would be open to a Team Internship, would you, Togata?" All Might asked. "I'm sure Nighteye has all sorts of connections to specialized teams. You wouldn't happen to have come across any?"
"I haven't run across any personally." Mirio admitted. "Truth be told, there aren't that many Hero teams left. Even a partnership that isn't a Hero-Sidekick situation is rare."
"C-Can't we intern with a single Hero?" Izuku asked. "You didn't mind suggesting trying Nighteye, and I know Kirishima and Tersutetsu and Yaoyorozu and Kendou both interned under one Hero."
"Back when I was younger, and when Hero teams were more commonplace, Hero Teams were really the only groups that could train other groups that had already decided on forming a Team. The training and methods that you need to learn are very different to that of a solo Hero. The same is true now, except the difference is mot Heroes go solo. Teams haven't been seen as necessary in decades." All Might said. "In both of your classmates' cases, they were picked by Heroes who saw individual potential in them, and they could both benefit under them individually – Not as a team. Were they both in teams, I don't think it would be too likely they would have been selected. Not by the Heroes who did select them, at any rate."
Izuku let out a small sigh and nodded. That made sense, he supposed. Hero Teams were a rarity these days. Plus, if the stories from his various classmates were anything to be believed, some of the internships had been… Less than valuable.
"I would suggest going to the Hero Team Enrichment Group." Mirio said, holding his chin with his hand like it was going to help him spark an idea in his mind. "But I don't think you'll find anyone right now. It's mostly second and third years, and we're all putting everything into our academics now we're in the second semester. Some of us have internships of our own to focus on."
That was another idea Izuku had which had been shot down. He bit the inside of his lip to stop him from vocally expressing his quickly growing frustration and disappointment. There had to be someone around who could take them on, right?
"There's only really the Pussycats that I can think of, and they've lost an active member recently. You would've been involved in that incident, wouldn't you?"
"Yeah…" Izuku nodded. He shivered as he remembered the attack and everything that he'd gone through in that entire incident. Though they were pro's, given everything that had happened, Izuku wouldn't be surprised if they had been just as traumatized as he had been. He certainly wouldn't have been able to blame them...
So where did that leave him? No one had any real ideas, and he couldn't think of any alternatives that hadn't already been suggested.
"...Leave this with me, Midoriya." All might suddenly said. Izuku looked up at his mentor to see him with the tip of his thumb between his teeth as he thought hard about what options there were. "I'll look through my old contacts, see if I can find anyone suitable for you. I'll let you know what I find, and you can make a decision from there."
Izuku blinked. "A-Are you sure, All Might? I-I don't want to bother you like that..."
"Don't you worry about that, my boy. I'm sure Aizawa is going to be putting you through the hoops now that you have your Provisional License. you focus on getting a bit of rest and I'll find some people who might be willing to take you and Ashido on. I'll let you know in a day or two, okay?"
Part of Izuku was prepared to protest, and insist that All Might didn't need to go out of his way like this for him. this was supposed to be something he did on his own, wasn't it? That was part of what a Hero needed to be - Self sufficient, and able to make contacts and connections, and reach out to people as they needed to, without someone else being around to do it for them. A part of him felt weird, almost lazy, for relying on All Might for something like this, and bothering him like this felt... Rude, really.
Then again, what Gran Torino had said to him rung true now. Asking All Might for help, when he was so dedicated to helping him reach the absolute fullest potential. And All Might had said himself, back in the hospital after his rescue, that he was devoted completely to helping him become the best Hero that he could be. He couldn't reject that help.
He'd grown a lot. Enough that he knew that he had, whenever he thought back to how he was at the start of the year - But that didn't mean all his traits had changed.
...There wasn't much else he could do either. So, he decided to nod his head, and smile, thankfully.
"Thank you."
"You two got freakin' scouted by that hyper third year?"
"Kind of ironic for you to talk about someone being hyper like it's a bad thing, Ashido."
"Yeah, you're kind of the epiphany of 'hyper.'"
"Still!" Mina pouted slightly, and folded her arms. "Me and Izuku're actually looking, and she just came up to you two both and just asked if you wanted to work with her?
"She said we'd be a good fit." Tsuyu explained simply. "I guess the third years are allowed to scout people for the Heroes they work with."
"We're meeting up with Hadou tomorrow, and she's gonna take us to meet with Ryukyu." Uraraka said, her hands balled up with excitement. "I still can't believe it - She's one of the top Heroes in the country!"
"We still need to actually be accepted by her, Ochako." The short girl reminded her friend. "It's not a sure thing yet."
"I know. Doesn't mean I'm not excited though!"
Mina couldn't help but feel sightly jealous of her friends for already having a meeting with a Hero who might be willing to intern them. Well, perhaps jealous wasn't the right word. Envious? She didn't have any bad feelings towards either of them, not by a long shot. She was happy for them even. Maybe irritated worked better.
Her own Sports Festival internship tutor hadn't wielded her any good results. Heator was apparently already doing work with other interns. Really, she shouldn't be surprised, and she knew she really shouldn't. Heator was one of those Heroes who believed in training the next generation as much as possible, so he was constantly taking on new interns whenever he got the chance. If anyone had been going to help them out, it would have been him. But he already had his hands full.
Meanwhile, Uraraka and Tsuyu hadn't put in any special effort, but someone had offered them an internship together by sheer chance. They were lucky, and it was a great opportunity the pair of them would be insane not to take up if they were officially offered. Still, for the searching Acid Quirk user, there was just a bit of irritation at the irony here.
While the third years demonstration had been incredibly effective at convincing some that they would benefit intensely from the hands-on experience, there were a few people who opted not to go down that route. Some felt that a continued focus on academics was what was best for them at the current moment, and that an internship right now they needed to narrow their focus. Mina wondered if she would have made the choice to try to improve her grades if she and Izuku hadn't made a Hero team. Then again, if she and Izuku hadn't made a Hero team, chances were that they wouldn't really be dating, and she probably wouldn't have as decent grades as she did before they started going out. So she might not have had much choice.
At this rate, she was gonna be lucky to find an internship though.
"No luck with you and Midoriya then, I'm guessing?" Tsuyu asked.
Mina took a slow, long drink from her mug of sweet coffee. There was a part of her that wondered if they were pushing things, trying to get an internship as a Hero Team. Yeah, Hadou had scouted Uraraka and Tsuyu, but they weren't a Hero Team. They were individually being trained, so maybe that had something to do with it? Hero Teams just weren't common any more. Would anyone really be willing to take them on?
She let out a loud sigh once she finished her drink, and then looked at her friends sat opposite her. "Let's just say I'm a bit jealous of you two getting one more or less brought to you."
"That bad?"
"No one takes Hero Teams anymore!" Mina explained with a dejected groan. She leaned back into the lounge sofa and crossed her legs. "I know the times've changed, but you'd think there's one or two Team Agencies left! The Pussycats are out because of what happened to Ragdoll, and Izu's even talked to Iida about his brothers agency, and they're still trying to reorganize after that whole incident with Stain. they're all either not taking Teams, or they've recently just taken a major hit."
"Hero Teams are pretty rare these days." Uraraka nodded.
"You're telling me." Mina nodded back. "I knew they were rare when me and him decided to make one. Don't think I realized just how rare they are though."
"You can't just take separate internships?" Tsuyu questioned, tilting her head slightly. "If it's getting to be that much of an issue..."
Taking another swig of coffee, Mina just shrugged. "It's Izu's idea. He's the one who wants to intern together badly."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. I mean I'd love to, hell yeah, but if we just can't do it, I'd rather we get... A internship than no internship, y'know?" Another drink - This time, finishing the coffee off. She leaned forward, and put the empty mug on a drink mat on the table. "He got called into All Might's office, so, maybe he'll be able to help."
Both the other girls nodded, and simultaneously took swigs of their own drinks. Even though everyone had accepted and offered their support to Izuku, Mina could still sense a hint of... She wasn't sure if she could call it discomfort. Maybe that was part of it, but people seemed more either just unsure of what to make of the situation, or were still processing it. Izuku's inherited Quirk was a pretty groundbreaking revelation in the name of... Well, everything they had grown up believing as fundamental truth in their society.
In relation to Quirks, anyway.
Some of them just didn't know entirely what to say when it came to Izuku. not that they were afraid of him, or distrusted him. They were all still friends, and no one liked him any else. It was just a matter of...
Where do you go from fundamentally breaking one of the few established truths about Quirks?
They just needed time. The shock would wear off eventually.
"Yeah man, I got the whole thing sorted with Fatgum earlier today!"
"Already? But we only heard about them a couple of days ago..."
As if on cue, Mina heard two voices she immediately recognized. Izuku's and Kirishima's. Both were in one of the corridors, headed towards the lounge room she and the other girls inhabited. She turned her head in the direction of the corridor she heard their voices from.
"Fatgum seemed really into the whole idea! I really gotta thank Amakiji for introducing me!"
Both of them entered sight at the same time. Behind the pair of them, Kaminari and Sero seemed to have tagged along and just been letting the two of them talk without interrupting them. Perhaps they had been part of the conversation before they had come into earshot.
"I just hope All Might can help us - Oh!" Izuku made a small noise when he saw the three girls all looking at the four of them as they entered the room. He raised one of his hands in greeting and gave them all a gentle smile. "Hey, you guys."
"Hey Deku, everyone." Uraraka greeted cheerfully, giving him a slight wave back.
"Hey Izu." Mina smiled.
There was a single moment, one insanely short, brief, but tense moment where Mina and Kirishima looked at one another. They didn't say anything to one another, and unless someone was especially watching for it, no one would notice in the slightest. No one could notice for how short a moment it was.
It wasn't more than a glance. It conveyed the intent well enough though.
To Kirishima, anyway. Maybe he had planned on saying something if he caught her on her own - Their last conversation had been interrupted, after all - But right now, there were people around and neither of them wanted this to be a big, public thing... Whatever it was that was going on, anyway. If nothing else, the glance the pair of them gave one another confirmed that in lieu of some kind of formal agreement.
"Alright, you guy's have fun." Kirishima said, patting Izuku in the shoulder. "I've gotta get an early night if I'm gonna be with Fatgum and Amakiji tomorrow!"
"Huh? It's like, six in the afternoon!" Kaminari pointed out, raising an eyebrow.
Kirishima just shrugged, and made his way towards the nearest staircase. "I've got a feeling I'm gonna need the rest!" With that, he disappeared up the stairs just as quickly as he'd shown up. His sudden departure had left a few people... Confused, to say the least.
"So... You reckon All Might'll be able to find anything for us?"
"He said that he'd look and if he found anything he'd let us know." Izuku scratched the side of his cheek awkwardly. "It... Still feels kind of... Wrong almost, relying on All Might for something like this."
Looking around his room, Izuku laid eyes on one of the limited edition posters he'd gotten his hands on years ago. He just looked at the Heroic figure of his favorite Hero, his mentor, like the poster would reveal the secrets of whatever it was he was thinking or doing right now.
Predictably enough, no answers came.
"Maybe he's already got something in mind and wants to surprise you!"
The green-haired teenager laughed softly, and sat down on the side of his bed. "I... Kind of doubt that's the case, Mina."
"Hey, y'never know!" She said, cheerfully, and optimistically as always.
As Izuku had suspected, Mina hadn't had any luck with her connections either. Finding placements willing to take students on at all was proving to be a trickier goal than one would have expected, never-mind finding an organization willing to take on actual proper duos.
This had been so much easier after the Sports Festival, when they actually had a list of people who they knew would be interested in hiring them.
As first years, their options were limited, and first years breaking off from their classes to get involved in internships was severely limited. First years didn't have a ton of connections, and typically, they didn't head out for internships this early. Everything had to be pushed forward for this years batch though. They needed to learn as much as they could, as quickly as they could.
"As for All Might... Don't worry about it, dude." Mina carried on, putting her hands behind her head and leaning back into her hands. "He probably just wants to help. and after everything you went through..."
She stopped herself before she could finish her sentence. She'd spoken without thinking. Essentially, she'd just borderline implied that All Might had felt guilty about not being at the Lodge to stop the Villains from kidnapping both him and Bakugou.
Somehow, she had a feeling that was at least a little bit the case though. When she spoke to the universally beloved Hero back at the hospital, before the Rescue operation, that was the feeling she got from him. Guilt and shame for not being able to be there to protect people who needed him. Maybe in his own way, this was him trying to pay his protege back for letting him down, and letting him get taken by the Villains along with Bakugou.
He probably didn't need that on his mind though.
Izuku tilted his head and looked at her, but he then shrugged slightly and decided not to question further into what she meant. Or maybe he'd picked up on the implication but had just decided to not let it bother him. Either way, Mina gently exhaled through her nose. "...You know All Might better than I do. But from what you said, it sounds like he does really just want to help. Just... Try not to feel bad, I guess."
"It... Doesn't work like that."
"Yeah, I know..."
"...Thanks though." Izuku smiled at her gently. "You're... Probably right."
His smiled faded quickly though, returning to a look that was a lot more serious than he normally looked. His expression was easy to read to anyone who knew him, especially to Mina.
Something was still bothering him.
"You okay, Izu?" Mina asked, tilting her own head slightly. "You look kinda down."
For a moment, Izuku just remained silent, like he hadn't even heard her. He didn't even really move all that much for a couple of seconds. Internally, he was debating if it was something he should bring up.
His debate with himself didn't last long.
"Mina... What's going on with you and Kirishima?"
Mina's own expression dropped, and she blinked at him, hard. The question had caught her off guard. "Eh?"
"You two've been acting... I don't know, standoffish, for a few days now?" Izuku explained in as best terms he could. "You try and avoid him, and he makes an effort to stay away from you, or leave whenever you happen to be around. I thought you two were friends?"
"...Has he said anything to you?"
"I asked him. He pretended that he didn't know what I was talking about. He isn't exactly a good liar."
The pink girl blinked, and then looked out the window. That would explain what he'd been doing with Kirishima, Kaminari and Sero. They weren't exactly common people for him to hang around, but if he'd wanted Kirishima's perspective on things, it'd be another story.
She'd really, really hoped that he hadn't noticed it. There were more important things for the pair of them to be concerned about than this issue she had with Kirishima. Some people might even call her issues petty.
But they weren't. Not to her, anyway.
Getting onto his feet, Izuku found himself looking at the back of her head. He'd opened up something she really hadn't wanted him to, he could tell. The polite part of him, the part that was telling him that he should be minding his own business and not prying into something like this, was surprisingly quiet. He didn't have any doubts that this was something Mina needed to tell him, and that he wanted to know.
He remembered their promise to be up front and honest with each other.
And despite not wanting to bother him with it, Mina did too.
"...Y'know what my problem with him is?" She said, sighing. She turned around to look at her boyfriend, with deadly serious eyes. "The guy I used to know back in middle school hated bullies. He at least tried to do the right thing. I barely even knew the guy existed and I could tell that. You don't go up to three strangers and apologize for being too scared to do anything a crook four times your height that's threatening you if you don't have that kind of attitude - And when we're at Yuuei, he goes off and decides to be buddies with the biggest prick he could find!"
Bakugou, Izuku noted
"But y'know, I could forgive that. I could - He didn't know what Bakugou was like. All we really knew about him was that he was angry and vicious. We didn't know just how personal his problem with you anyway." Mina's words were tumbling out by now. She didn't think she could stop even if she wanted to. "Except I call bullcrap on him not knowing how much of a jerk Bakugou is when he's more or less told flat out by your old classmates!"
"Huh?"
"He told me that back before we went to the lodge, he and Bakugou wan into some of your old classmates, and they more or less admitted to treating you like crap because you were Quirkless, and for some insane reason, Kirishima just thought Bakugou was the exception - When he was the ringleader and treated you like crap since the day we all got here! How the hell did he not put two and two together then?!" She was yelling at this point. "And then, after all that shit, he goes right back to being buddy-buddy with Bakugou?! What am I supposed to think about him?! From where I'm looking, he's the biggest hypocrite I've ever met - And this is someone I used to think of as alright, maybe even a friend!"
Izuku didn't say anything for a few moments. Nor did Mina. After yelling all that out, she found herself needing to catch her breath.
There was about half a minute of silence. And then Izuku broke it.
"...Oh."
Oh. Oh?
"Oh?" Mina raised an eyebrow. "Oh... What?"
"Just... Oh."
"What'd'you mean, 'Just oh?!'" Mina asked, exasperated. Her eyes opened up wider and she just looked at him, like she was looking at something that had arrived from another world. "How are you not more pissed off about this?!"
The freckled teenager let out a long sigh. "...Mina, I'm glad you told me about this. Really. But... I... Just can't get upset over something like this."
"Can't get - How?!"
"He helped you escape from the lodge to come and find me during the attack. He helped you rescue me. And he... Convinced Bakugou to apologize to me. He's done so much to help us - "
"None of that makes it okay to just run back to him the first chance he got like nothing ever happened!"
"...Maybe not... But I don't think he did any of it to be malicious." Izuku explained, a lot calmer than Mina was able to be. "He was thinking about his friend. you were there. When we were training. I told him I thought people could change. I encouraged him to give Kacchan another chance... And I don't regret that."
"It's just... It's not right." Mina exclaimed with a sigh. "It's messed up... And it's not exactly gonna be easy to look at him the same way after knowing all this crap he's pulled."
"I don't... Know exactly what to make of Kirishima either. But... I like liking him a lot more than I like the idea of hating him... I-If that makes sense."
Another sigh. Most the the pent up anger, she had gotten out of her system. Now she was just... Deflated, she supposed. Maybe she had just had more things pile up onto her without having a way to vent them. She was still upset, she knew that much. But it wasn't starting to pile on anymore. It hadn't gotten too bad. And she was still angry.
Just... The right amount of angry now, she supposed.
"I... Guess it does."
"...Are you alright?"
"...I don't know. Tired, mostly, at this point... I uh... I'm sorry. For, y'know. Shouting."
"It's alright."
Izuku ended his sentence by pulling her into a hug, as warm and comforting a hug as he could manage - An arm around her waist, and a hand holding her head close to his chest. It took her a moment, but she returned the hug, wrapping her arms around his torso, and grabbing onto his clothes with balled up fists. Right at that moment, she felt weak, and so did Izuku, but they kept one another up.
This... This was good. It was better than what had happened last time, when everything built up into a powderkeg of phobia and stress and worry. This... Worked.
"...I am sorry for yelling. Really." Mina muttered into his shoulder. "I'm not just saying it..."
"I know... And I mean it when i say it's okay. I... Am also sorry for not being a bit more tactful."
"Nah, Izu. You took it about as well as anyone can expect... Given how I just kind of... Lost it."
"...What do you want to do about this whole Kirishima mess?"
"I... I don't know." She admitted. "I don't know... I... I guess I need time to actually... Figure that out. I guess."
"Can I tell him he doesn't need to keep avoiding you, or would you prefer he keep his distance?"
"...I guess he doesn't have to avoid me. But... I don't want everyone else knowing that this is a thing. I've had enough of my problems becoming public knowledge for one eternity."
Izuku couldn't stop himself from laughing softly at that. And that made Mina laugh too. It felt... Really good.
At that moment, Izuku's phone went off. For a couple of minutes though, the pair of them just ignored it, and focused on hugging one another tightly.
When they separated, Izuku checked his phone. And read the message aloud, his expression showing a little bit more surprised as each word left his mouth.
"Hello, Midoriya. Glad to hear that you've been settling back into life at Yuuei after everything that happened. All Might tells me that you've been looking for a place to perform an internship with a Hero Team. Normally we wouldn't do this, since we're still dealing with everything that happened, but I figured we owe you one. Let me know when you've seen this, and we can arrange to meet tomorrow. Bring your Partner as well. We'll see if we can set things up..." Izuku's voice trailed for a moment, as it fully began to click who this message was from. The final lines confirmed it. "...I never got the chance to thank you for saving Kota in person. I'm hoping now I'll get the chance.
... -Mandalay"