---

Friday, May 15th

"Shinso-san, you still haven't joined a club. Are you having any trouble?" asked her teacher. If the man was naïve or just annoying, she wasn't sure.

After meeting Izuku and all that followed, she had completely forgotten about it.

To begin with, she wasn't interested in joining a club at all. And no clubs were interested in her joining...

Well, maybe that was a lie. Since the Sports Festival, her classmates were less annoying than before, but that didn't make them her friends.

The idea of having them around her longer than necessary, forcing themselves to be friendly when they didn't really mean it, was nauseating.

It would be torture for all the parts involved, and she wasn't THAT evil.

"No. I just forgot. I'll do it tomorrow, Sensei."

"Fine." The man sighed. "Make sure of that. If not, I'll have to put you in any of the clubs that need members." She nodded and exited the classroom.

She had to solve this. And she could only see one possibility...

---

"Are y-you free this afternoon?"

Hitomi stared at him, speechless, her cheeks warming up despite her best effort to act smug about it. "What? Are you inviting me somewhere?" she teased him. "If that's it, I'll be in your care."

"Eh?" It took him a moment to catch her drift. "N-no, It's not that! I mean, it k-kinda is." He shook his head. "It's about your training in the Dojo. I told Kendo-san about you, and she s-said we could go today if you had the time."

"Oh."

"It's fine if you c-can't this time. I know it is very sudden."

"Nah. It's fine. I'll just tell my parents and see if they give me the green light."

'Good luck on your date. Remember to bring your mother a souvenir' was her father's answer.

She would strangle someone when she came back home.

---

Fifteen minutes traveling on train and a short walk later, they arrived at Kendo's place.

"This was the real deal, after all," she muttered, genuinely impressed.

Down the long stairs in front of them, there was an old building. It looked just like a classic dojo from a martial arts movie. It was amazing despite its obvious age.

"Let's go, Shinsou-san." Izuku went ahead, and she followed after him.

"Now that I think about it, it's kind of weird."

"What?" He looked at her with curiosity.

"Aren't dojos usually at the peak of the mountains? Like, you have to climb up a ridiculously long stair to get inside. But this is the opposite."

"I g-guess that only happens in manga," commented Izuku. He looked worried, though, as if he knew something she didn't.

The dojo's big double-doors were open, so she took a look.

Inside, there were half a dozen people of various ages -some were barely a couple years older than them, while others were around the same age as her parents- clothed on karate-gis, imitating the movements of the two individuals in front of them with total synchrony.

On the right stood that girl from Class 1-B, Itsuka Kendo. While on the left was a bulky and tall man -taller than her-, with short red hair and beard. His face was marred by an ugly scowl and complemented with his deep-green bulging eyes and thick eyebrows.

The man looked like an oni.

"Let me guess, the angry daruma over there is your Sensei." Izuku almost chokes because of her commentary.

"P-please, don't call him that where h-he can hear you!" he chided her, divided between nervousness and amusement.

Once they walked inside, Itsuka smiled at them and approached.

"It's great to see you guys could come." The girl looked at her. "My name is Itsuka Kendo. Midoriya-kun told me about you. It's nice to meet you," said the girl with a level of energy Hitomi couldn't even dream to match.

"Hitomi Shinso. A pleasure to make your acquaintance." For some reason, the red-haired girl found her lacking response funny.

"You remind me of Kodai-chan and Yanagi-chan."

"And that's good?" She had no idea who those people were.

Itsuka covered her mouth, trying not to laugh. "S-sorry. I kinda imagined you three doing karaoke and I just couldn't..." Itsuka shook her head, managing to dispel that weird scenario from her thoughts. "Hah. Just follow me." She guided them to a separate room. "Okay! Until we cover the basics, we'll train in here."

"We?" she repeated, looking at Izuku.

"I'll assist Kendo-san," he added.

"Am I supposed to call you Midoriya-sensei then?" Izuku blushed like a tomato while trying to answer, just as she expected and liked.

Even though they didn't realize, Itsuka paid special attention to their exchange.

"This is going to be entertaining," muttered the girl. She never met a pair of people that were so obviously into each other.

---

"You are tall, so tell me if there's any problem with the size," commented Itsuka, while Hitomi changed into the karate-gi the girl had given to her.

"Hmm. Can I make you a question?"

"Of course. What is it, Shinso-chan?"

"Izuku told me about the fee for assisting to the dojo, and it was a LOT lower than I expected, so I was wondering…"

"If there was any catch?" continued the girl.

"I guess I'm not the first one to ask that?" Hitomi poked her head out of the dressing room's curtain.

"Neither the first nor the last. And no, there's no catch. The fee is cheap because Dad doesn't do this for the money." Itsuka probably detected her incredulity, because she added, "Really. Dad teaches PE in a middle school of the neighbor, and he loves his job. This is simply an extension of that he does as a hobby."

"I see. I just found it weird there were so few students with the fee being that cheap... Also, the top part of the gi is a bit small."

"Oh, try this one." Itsuka gave her another. "And well, about that, we used to have more people in the dojo before. We even had a website and got new visitors all the time…! But they always left us sooner than later."

"Weird."

"Not really. Most of them underestimated Karate and weren't as committed to it as Midoriya-kun or me, so when things got tougher than they expected, they simply stopped assisting... Dad didn't take such a thing nicely."

"He went that mad?" she asked, imagining a guy so menacing as Itsuka's father angry at her.

"He cried."

"In anger…?"

"No. He just cried."

She poked her head out again. "I can't possibly conceive that ever happening."

Itsuka snorted. "Dad isn't as scary as he looks. He is really sensitive to stuff like that. For that reason, I had to put down the website. Now we get by ear-to-ear recommendations. It gets us fewer students than before, but the ones we get take us seriously. So it's fine."

"You'll hate me then," she muttered dispassionately and moved the curtain out of the way.

"Do you feel comfortable with that one?"

"Yeah."

'Wonder how Izuku looks with a gi? '

"Also, what did you mean by hating you?"

"Ah. You heard that." She scowled. In this situation, she could simply lie, and be free of troubles, but after Itsuka was so open with her, that didn't feel like an option anymore, even if she came out as rude. "You see, I didn't choose Karate. Midoriya recommended it to me and I decided to give it an opportunity because I trust in him. That's all… I wanted to learn how to fight and didn't really cared if it was Karate or another martial art. Anything would have worked for me."

"You just wanted to get strong… Because you want to be a hero, right?" If Itsuka was bothered by her admission she wasn't showing it. Her expression was neutral.

"Yeah. I'm not doing it for the love of Karate or any deep reason. So sorry if that puts me on your black-list."

"I see... Answer this, Shinso-chan. Are you going to give up when things get tough? "

"No," she answered immediately.

"Because they will." Itsuka's expression turned stern. "Classes will get more difficult progressively. They will be exhausting and painful. And the exigencies won't ever stop increasing. You'll spill blood, sweat, and tears from beginning to end."

"Do you mean it figuratively or-?"

"Literally!" Itsuka interrupted her. "You'll reach a point when you'll regret ever accepting Izuku's invitation. So rethink about it, and tell me, are you going to give up?" The easygoing friendly girl that welcomed Izuku and her had disappeared.

This was the heir of the dojo, in all her might and solemnity.

"Of course not!" She answered with just as much passion. "I'm too stubborn for that... I will probably complain a lot, though. But I won't give up. I can't give up." 'Not when people -the ones who actually matter- believe I can do it'.

"Well said." Itsuka expression softened. "I think we'll get along!" The girl smiled and extended her hand to Hitomi, who shook it immediately.

She thought the same.

---

Meanwhile, in the males' dressing room…

Despite being a teenage boy, Izuku always felt proud of being able to keep his hormones under check. But now he couldn't but look at the wall in front of him and be hyper-aware of the fact Hitomi was changing clothes just on the other side of it.

His stupid mind was playing tricks on him.

---

Itsuka laughed awkwardly while observing her friend and Hitomi just standing there shyly as if it was the first time they met.

'She/He looks hot!', they were probably thinking something like that while observing how the other looked in the karate-gi. Their feelings were so transparent it was funny.

Unfortunately, being a third-wheel was quite uncomfortable.

"Okay, we should start!" She clapped with enthusiasm. That seemed to take them out of their reverie. "Let's stretch first, then learn some basic movements and finish with some sparring. What do you think?"

"If I spar with any of you guys, you'll kick my ass," commented Hitomi, flatly.

"That's the idea!" Hitomi glared at her. "There's not a better teacher than defeat!"

"It's fine, Shinso-san. We are j-just starting today, so don't worry," added Izuku.

"If you say so." Hitomi sighed and looked at her. "You are the 'senseis' right now."

"Yeah, I guess we are." Most of the time she was her father's right hand. So being the one in charge was always a great experience. "This is going to be fun!"

"Right. That sure didn't sound ominous at all..."

---

"Okay, that's it!" Itsuka exclaimed as they stopped today's session.

Hitomi took that as the sign to let herself fall on the mat.

She was exhausted. Practically all her body ached.

It wasn't fun at all.

"W-well d-done, Shinso-san," said Izuku, extending a hand to help her stand up again. He looked as handsome as always, while she was a sweaty mess.

"What part of that was 'well'? I was awful." She felt frustrated.

"That's expected," recognized Itsuka. "You can't just be perfect from the start. It's practicing which makes perfection."

"Does that includes you?" she asked Itsuka.

"Especially me." The girl blushed slightly but kept her smile. "I was a complete crybaby when I was a small kid. Always cried my heart out when I wasn't strong enough to do something. But I got better."

"And you?" She turned at Izuku.

"I, eh…" He seemed to want to say something, but his embarrassment was stopping him.

"If I'm not wrong Midoriya-kun ended up throwing up on his first day. So you made a nice job in comparison."

"Really?" She smirked and looked at Izuku, who looked away in shame.

"Yeah, just in the spot you were laying down a moment ago, I think," added Itsuka with amusement.

She immediately stepped aside and glared at the girl "You are evil." Then she looked at Izuku again. "Correction. You two are evil."

"E-EH?! Me t-too?!"

"Yes. You too..." She sighed. "I was naïve enough to expect you to go easy on me. But you two completely wiped the floor with me, just as I predicted."

"About that. Don't get angry with Midoriya-kun, okay? It's kind of my fault," Itsuka intervened

"It is...? How?"

"At first he had this really bad habit of getting his ass kicked for pulling his punches every time he sparred with me or another of the girls." Suddenly Itsuka's smile lost its friendliness. "So I had to convince him to stop with that nonsense and fight seriously."

Izuku shuddered at that, and she didn't blame him.

This friendly, energetic girl seriously was the devil.

---

"You knew this was going to happen, right?" she asked Izuku once they exited the dojo.

In front of her were the stupid stairs from before -which suddenly seemed twice as long- and she just didn't have the energy to climb them up.

"Y-yeah." Izuku nodded. "I had problems going up when I started too."

"Damn. It's going to take me forever..."

"I could just help you," Izuku mumbled. He didn't mean for her to hear him.

"What? Like a piggyback ride or something?" she said that with the only intention of making him blush. And yet...

"If y-you w-want…?" he asked, flustered but decided.

"What?"

She and her stupid mouth.

---

They looked ridiculous.

That was natural, with her being huge for a girl while Izuku was barely on the average height for a boy his age.

Add to that the close physical contact -the sparring didn't count, they were trying to beat the crap out of each other then-, and both of them were too flustered to say anything.

Fortunately, it didn't take that much for them to make it to the top.

So they sat on a nearby bench, to wait for the bus.

Managing to dispel her embarrassment, she re-started the conversion, "Hey Izuku. Can I ask you a favor?"

"A favor?" he repeated.

"Another one, I mean… Eh…" She frowned, as some obtrusive thoughts poked their ugly heads. "Now that I think about it, I'm constantly asking you for stuff, right? First to analyze my Quirk, then to help me to practice with it…"

"I would do that f-for anybody. And I was the one to ask you to use me to practice. You were reluctant about it at first, remember?"

"Yeah. But people usually don't go out of their way to help me as you did... Meanwhile, you had me bothering you all week and didn't complain even once." She appreciated it. But thinking about it, and knowing Izuku liked her, made her feel a knot in her stomach.

"You were not bothering me!" He was sincere... And that just showed how of a good-natured fool he was.

"Of course I was, even if you don't consider it as such." It made her uncomfortable, but it was the truth. "I can't imagine someone like you have that much free time to waste on me. It wouldn't surprise me if you neglected your club stuff or schoolwork to help me… Tell me I'm wrong." She wanted him to do it.

But he couldn't.

"I… I had a report about the Sports Festival I had to finish..." he recognized, averting his eyes for a moment. "But I d-did it at my home so it wasn't a problem. R-really!"

She sighed. What an amazing fool he was.

"Izuku, you told me about this place." She pointed in the dojo's direction. "And as devilish as Kendo is, in just one day she convinced me that training with her and her father can work for me."

"I would tell anyone who needed it about the dojo. It was nothing special."

"And do you give piggyback rides to anyone who needs them too?" she asked, in part as a jab, and part as a serious question. She wasn't sure how she would react if he answered yes.

"Of c-course not!" he answered immediately. "I m-mean, it's simple g-gentlemanship, but I wouldn't, eh..."

She decided to take him out of his misery and intervene, "Yeah, I got it. But anyway, it's fine. Forget what I said." And she prayed that he did. Even knowing he was too goddamn stubborn to do that.

"What favor did you want to ask me?" he asked, leaving his curiosity to take the steering wheel.

She closed her eyes and sighed.

So foolish...

"Just forget it. It's not that important."

"Please," he muttered, in a tone that broke through all her defenses like a battering ram against a house made of crystal.

Who was the fool again?

"I wanted to ask if I could join your club," she babbled, feeling like slapping herself after every syllable.

"Ah?" His eyes widened, and his expression turned incredulous but hopeful. "R-really?"

"Kinda." Was he doing it on purpose? She just couldn't THINK properly when he looked at her like that. Suddenly she felt like a criminal confessing all her bad deeds to an infuriatingly attractive detective. "As much as I want to transfer to the Hero Course, as part of the General Department I'm obligated to join a club. But I have not the time to waste on clubs aligned to my hobbies, nor the energy to take part in any competitive clubs if I seriously intend to join the Hero Course. Besides that, I don't want to impose my gloomy self on others if I can. And joining a club just to be a ghost member -which seems to be the only possible solution to my dilemma- is a thing I would hate to do."

"But you want to join m-my club…?" He and his stupid green eyes were making her head feel fuzzy.

"That's what you are going to say? I basically made a whole case of why YOU should NOT want me in your club!" In which kind of bizarre world she lived to get angry at someone who wanted to help her without expecting anything in exchange...?

"You want me not to accept you?" he asked in confusion.

"Of course, I d-…" She covered her face with her hands, trying to reorganize her thoughts into something that made sense. "I would be okay, even if you said no. More than anything, I just..." She didn't want to say it. It was both too embarrassing and stupid to say it out loud.

"Y-yeah?"

"I don't want to feel like I'm just using you." There. Someone with a brainwashing Quirk admitting they didn't want to use someone for their own benefit.

What a stupid crazy world, indeed.

"I never saw it in that way," said Izuku. "I m-mean, I've helped a lot of people before and never expected anything from them beyond a simple thanks. And even without it, I was satisfied with just having helped." Izuku looked down, blushing furiously. "Shinso-san, I'm aware I've probably done m-more for you than for anybody else before. The thing is, um, I'm especially i-invested in you..."

"How?" She had to pat her own back for keeping her voice even and not stutter like the blushing idiot she was at the moment.

"Because I want you to succeed…" He looked at her again. His green burned with belief and warmth. "I believe you can be a hero. A great hero. And it f-frustrates me that I'm apparently the only one who notices. So I'll do anything in my power to give you a hand. It's that simple." For someone like her, it was overwhelming to be the target of such words. "And in a-any case… It's nice to have you around." And that was like the killing blow to her heart.

"I see." She must have looked like an idiot because Izuku relaxed after seeing her reaction.

"Can I a-ask you something?"

"Sure."

"If joining a club at all was so inconvenient for you, then why joining m-mine specifically?"

'Because you were there,' she almost said. "Because if I had to join a club anyways, I at least wanted to join one where I could learn something. And in yours, I'm constantly doing that; it doesn't matter if we are discussing Quirks, training mine, or just talking about random stuff." That was the rational reason for joining the Quirk Research Club. Unfortunately. It caused the ugly knot in her stomach to appear again. "Additionally, you are also a really pleasant person to have around," she added in a whisper, and when Izuku smiled, the uncomfortable sensation disappeared.

---

Some minutes of pleasant silence passed until the bus arrived.

"So you are not coming?" asked Hitomi, noticing how he was still on the bench.

"No. I still h-have some errands to do," that was a white lie. After their conversation and finally recruiting a new member for his club, he was simply so happy that needed a moment alone to relax.

"Hmm. Okay, see you tomorrow, President." She smirked and gave him a mock salute.

"Ahaha. You know you'll be the c-club Vice-president, right, Shinso-san?"

"Oh." It seemed she had not realized. "Dammit." The bus' doors closed, and he laughed softly as it moved away.

"Hmm. For a moment I thought you were going to confess to her." He turned around in a panic, just to find Itsuka standing there in casual clothes.

"Eh?! S-since when-…?" The girl giggled while watching him stumble with his words.

"I've been by the stairs for a while already. You guys just didn't notice."

"Spying is rude, Kendo-san," he scolded her.

"I know. But you two had a really nice mood going on and I didn't want to interrupt." She took something out of her pocket and throw it at him. "Catch it!" When he looked at it, it was a cute-looking purse with the form of a kitty. "Shinso-chan left that in the fitting room." He felt incredulous for just a moment, before accepting the little thing was indeed one of Hitomi's belongings. "Give it back and you'll surely get some points with her."

"I don't k-know what you are talking about…"

"Come on, Midoriya-kun. I knew you had a thing for her since the first time you mentioned her."

He was left speechless for a moment, processing what had said one of the few people he could call a friend. "Am I that obvious?" She nodded.

"And you are lucky. She likes you too," added the girl with a smile.

"I'm n-not sure about that," he said, even when he had a goofy smile on his face.

Even though Hitomi seemed to regard him with affection, his inexperience in love made him especially careful about how to act. After all, he didn't want to be rash and assume his feelings were reciprocated only to discover it wasn't the case.

But if even Itsuka said something like that, maybe he actually had a chance.

"Fine." Itsuka sighed. "Take your time. Just don't wait too much to confess. You don't need to know someone for years to date them."

"Ah. I only met her this Monday."

"What?" The girl seemed surprised. "Really?" He nodded. "Damn. If you keep at the pace you are going you'll be married by the end of the year."

"D-don't be absurd!"

He ended up dreaming about Hitomi and him marrying that night.

---

---

Hitomi: Hmm, being your "right hand" could be interesting?

Izuku: Do you think so?

Next chapter: Test by fire - Vice-president´s duties

Hitomi: It's a good excuse to be stuck to you all day if I want to.