章 2080: 10
Chapter 10: Friends
Chapter Text
Izuku and Toru stood by Dagoba beach. They had their workout schedule set. The two of them would work out here for three days a week every other day. The days they weren't here would be for rest or non-strength training.
Toru smiled before looking over and cocking her head to the side. "That wasn't there last time."
Izuku stopped and looked at the dumpster "weird... who do you think put it there?"
"Ah, that would be me. I got it put here a couple days ago." The two teens turned to see a skeletal man standing by an American pickup truck.
Toru waved, "Oh hi, Mr.Yagi. why'd you put a dumpster there?"
The man walked up. "Well, I figured you could use a place to put trash, and when I'm here, feel free to put larger things in the back of my truck, and I'll get rid of them for you."
"Wow, thanks. Mr.Yagi." Toru said before looking at Iuzku's confused face "oh right, Midoriya, this is Mr.Yagi. I met him here at the beach. Mr.Yagi this is Izuku Midoriya. He's my best friend."
Izuku blushed a bit as he gave a small wave, and the man chuckled, "It's nice to meet you, Young Midoriya. I hope you two have a productive training session."
With that, Mr.Yagi left them to their workout. The two started small, just trying to clear out an area for them to set up. Once they had a good clear spot, they moved onto sorting the garbage. "We should probably bring garbage bags next time," Izuku said.
"There's a convenience store down the street. I can see if they sell them." Toru said as she piled up some plastic bottles.
"Let's both go. We can grab some waters and stuff."
As the two walked, Toru said, "man, we forgot to prepare a few things for this, didn't we?"
Izuku nodded. "I think we were just a bit too eager. We didn't think everything through, but hey, at least we're doing this now and not when we're exhausted and smell like garbage."
They entered the store and started looking for what they needed. As Izuku came back to the front, he nearly ran into a pink girl who smiled "wow, sorry didn't see you there, green bean."
Izuku blushed a bit "ah no, sorry I wasn't paying attention."
Izuku nearly dropped the water he had when he heard Toru gasp, "Hey, it's you! Um, Ashido, right?"
The pink girl smiled "oh hey, it's the invisible girl. Your name is Hagakure."
Toru nodded "it's cool to see you again."
Izuku smiled "oh, this is the girl with the cool eyes you were talking about, right?"
He flinched as Toru punched him, and Mina laughed. "Thanks. I think my eyes are pretty cool, so who's the green bean?"
Toru cleared her throat "this is Izuku Midoriya, my best friend. Midoriya, this is Ashido, the girl I helped before school."
Izuku smiled shakily "it's nice to meet you."
Mina nodded. "Same, so what are you two doing with... water bottles and garbage bags?"
"We're cleaning up Dagoba beach. It'll be a good workout, and it'll help the community." Toru said.
"Nice. I'd offer to help, but I'm here picking up stuff for my sister, so I don't got time, but hey, how about I give you two my number, and you can text me when you'll be there next time." Mina said, flashing a smile that made Izuku and Toru blush. The three quickly exchanged numbers before Izuku and Toru left to actually start their workout.
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The night after their first workout left Toru lying in her bed groaning. Parts of her hurt that she didn't realize could hurt. The beach cleaning definitely used muscles she didn't use often, and with such a varied amount of lifting and dragging they had to do meant all of her hurt. All she wanted to do now was go to sleep, but her phone chimed, and she considered ignoring it until it went off again. Toru rolled onto her side with tremendous effort and grabbed her phone before laying on her back again and opening it to see a new group chat in her messages.
Ashido: Yo! It's me. Here to make sure I got these numbers right and to chat with you two.
Midoriya: hello Ashido. You got the numbers right though Hagakure was groaning a lot after our workout, so she might be passed out by now.
Hagakure: I'm here; it just took a moment to get my phone. Hi, again, Ashido.
The three spent some time texting. Toru found it strange how quickly Mina was willing to hand out her number to a couple people she didn't really know, but Toru was also finding it really easy to talk to Mina. The pink girl had even agreed to show up for their next workout session, as it turns out she also wanted to be a hero. Before any of them knew it, almost an hour went by before Mina said she had to go help her mom with dinner.
Toru huffed as she stared at her ceiling. She enjoyed talking with Mina and Izuku, but now it was over, and she was bored and sore. Before she could sulk for long, someone knocked on her door. Tortu groaned loudly "come in."
Achi poked his head in, "yo, how was your day?"
Tortu groaned "everything hurts."
"Well, that happens when you work out." Achi laughed as he sat down on the edge of her bed "find anything interesting in the dump? Maybe a body?"
Toru squirmed "ew no. That's so messed up. It was all just junk... though something interesting happened when Midoriya and I went to the convenience store."
"Oh, do tell. Was there a villain attack? Or some weird customers?"
Toru giggled. "No. remember the pink girl I told you about."
Achi nodded "yeah, you wouldn't shut up about how cool her eyes were."
She tried to punch her brother but couldn't muster the energy to actually reach him. "We ran into her at the store. She traded numbers with us, and I just got done texting her and Midoriya a bunch."
"Sounds like you got a new friend," Achi said, poking her forehead a little off-center.
"Yeah... she's really cool. She even agreed to join up with us next time we're at the beach."
Achi laughed as he stood up "does my sister have a crush?"
Toru blushed hard and was thankful her brother couldn't see it. "No! I don't even know her that well... I'm just- I'm glad I'm making another friend, is all."
Her brother chuckled. "I know, I know. Besides, you're not allowed to get a crush on anyone unless your big brother gives the ok."
Toru groaned "ugh, you're so extra sometimes."
Achi winked as he left "it's why you love me, little sis."
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Nemuri smiled "so why are you smiling so much?"
Izuku stopped eating "am I smiling a lot?"
Nemuri hummed, "yeah... I'd say so. You got home and then started using your phone a bunch, and you're still smiling after putting it down."
"Well... I told you how Hagakure saved that one girl before school ended?"
Nemuri nodded, and Izuku continued, "we ran into her before our workout, and she gave us her number. The three of us were talking for a bit when I got home. Her name's Ashido, and she agreed to join up with us on our next workout."
Izuku looked up and sighed, seeing Nemuri's smug face. "Wow, Izuku, you got a girl's number the first time you met her? Hagakure is a hell of a wing woman."
Izuku blushed "ugh, come on. It's not like that... I'm just making another friend. Which is interesting."
Nemuri smiled softly. "I'm glad you're making more friends. Hopefully, you'll keep doing that as time goes on."
Izuku nodded. "I hope so too."
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The next time Izuku and Toru were at Dagoba beach, Mina joined them a few minutes before they started and showed off of her acid quirk, which Izuku found amazing like he did every quirk. He took several notes and started muttering up a storm about possibilities until Toru elbowed him in the ribs. Izuku apologized before Mina waved it off, and the three got to work.
Several hours and most of their trash bags later, the three collapsed on patch sand they had cleared. Mina groaned "ugh, I'm all sweaty. I don't think I've ever felt this gross before."
Toru nodded "same. Why did we agree to this again?"
Izuku groaned as he stretched "first of all, i-it was your idea, Hagakure. Second, we need to be fit to stand a chance at UA."
The girls groaned but didn't argue. Mina stared up at the clouds, "you guys said you had days off; when are they?"
Toru hummed. "I think two days from now? Is it two days from now, Midoriya?"
"Yeah. Y-you're going to whoever it was you said trained you in stealth tomorrow, and Nemuri and I are doing quirk training. then we rest the next day."
"Ms.Kyuchi." Toru said as she weakly reached for a water bottle.
Mina raised an eyebrow "who's Nemuri?"
"A-ah um, she's my foster mom." Izuku explained as he pushed the water bottle towards Toru. "she and I have similar quirks, so she's helping me catch up to where I should be. I kinda... didn't use my quirk for a long time before she adopted me."
Mina hummed and knew she shouldn't push that topic too much, so she hopped back to her original reason for talking. "You guys wanna hang out on your day off?"
Toru drank half the bottle of water before saying, "sure. I'm game. How about you, Midoriya?"
Izuku sat up. "Y-yeah... I'm game. W-what do you have in mind?"
Mina smiled as she got up "it's a secret for now. I'll text you two the deets later."
The three teens made their way off the beach and said their goodbyes before going their separate ways.
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Izuku arrived at the meeting spot Mina had told them to and wasn't surprised to see Toru was already there. He tried not to stare too much as he saw her. Toru was wearing a light pink and white striped sundress that stopped above where he guessed her knees were. It had thicker shoulder straps than the usual style. The dress was pleated and had two little bows on her hips. Toru's hands were in the dress's pockets, but Izuku could see her usual silver bracelets. She wore a pair of beige strapped flat sandals.
Toru spotted Izuku coming and had to hold back her giggling when she saw the red shirt with white text that read 'cold soup.' along with that, he had on a pair of black cargo shorts and his usual red shoes. "Heya Midoriya."
Izuku smiled "morning... Ashido isn't here yet?"
Toru shook her head "Nope, not yet... speaking of Ashido. Is it weird how quickly we became friends? Cause I consider her a friend."
Izuku shrugged. "I don't know. I consider her a friend too, and it's not like we knew each other very long till we consider each other friends."
Toru hummed before leaning to the side and muttering, "Oh wow."
Izuku turned and again tried not to stare too much as Mina ran up with a huge grin on her face while apologizing for being late.
Mina was wearing a black tank top with a loose-fitting holey white crop top over it and a simple silver necklace around her neck. Her dark wash bluesman shorts drew the other's attention to her toned legs, and the two teens quickly pretended they weren't about to start staring at them. To finish it off, she wore a pair of black sneakers.
Toru recovered first "no problem, I usually end up getting places early anyways. Y-you, look good, by the way."
Mina grinned brighter somehow "thanks, it took a bit to find the right outfit today. I like what you two are rocking as well... although Midoriya, what's up with the shirt?"
Izuku blushed and cleared his throat "um, it's one of the weird shirts I own."
Toru nodded "he has a bunch. This is the first time I've seen the cold soup shirt, though."
Mina giggled as she started walking, motioning for them to follow. "Well, I like it."
Izuku managed to say thanks without tripping over his tongue, which he felt mildly proud of. He felt a bit nervous, and not just because his stupid teenage brain kept dragging his eyes over to his two friends who were chatting happily but because he was still processing how a couple days prior, Toru said he was her best friend, which was wild to him. He hadn't had a best friend since he was four, and that had ended horribly. This was different though he was certain Toru wouldn't end up like Bakugo, and he was pretty confident Mina wouldn't either. She already knew his quirk and had still invited him to hang out, so things were going well.
Toru nudged Izuku gently. "Midoriya, you there? You got quiet on us."
Izuku jumped a bit and blushed as he saw both of the girls staring at him "ah, um, sorry. Just lost in thought and all that. Nemuri had me training pretty hard yesterday, guess I'm still recovering."
Mina nodded. "I know what you mean. My dad helps me with my training since I get my quirk from him. He's so laid back when he isn't working, then we train, and he's such a taskmaster about it. My hands are usually raw for a couple days after."
Toru axed the conversation about training before it could really start because this was an off day so even talking about training was off-limits in her book. The conversation then turned to heroes and the ones that inspired the teens. Mina grinned as she said, "Oh, I've got two that I love. Xeno King is so cool. He's mutated but has an emitter quirk just like me, and I really like that he has a youtube where he dances to music. He's what introduced me to the idea of being a hero and also got me into dance."
Izuku scratched his chin "dance lessons make a lot of sense for you. You said you could produce your acid from anywhere, so being flexible and agile like a dancer would make sense. It definitely would give you an edge in combat."
Toru sighed as Mina chuckled. "He's kinda rambling."
Toru nodded "yep. He'll keep doing it for a while, too, unless we stop him."
Mina grinned as she slowed her pace to be next to Izuku before poking him in the ribs. The boy jumped and let out an eep that sent the pink girl into a fit of laughter as Izuku blushed and apologized. Toru spoke once the other two had calmed down "so who's the other hero you like?"
"Oh, Midnight's the other one."
Toru thought she was going to have to catch Izuku had he nearly tripped over his own feet. "M-midnight?" he asked as he reimagined his balance.
Mina nodded "yeah, she's so confident and kinda sexy, and she knows it. There's something empowering about owning your body like that. Knowing what you got and not being afraid of it. I think that's awesome."
Toru giggled. "I can see that. You know Midoriya is a fan of Midnights as well."
Mina smirked, "every teenage boy is."
Izuku blushed. "N-no, just no, not like that. It's... I was always told I was gonna be a villain because of my quirk, but Midnight has such a similar quirk. I see her as proof that I can be a hero too."
Mina smiled softly and patted Izuku's shoulder. "Sorry, you had to deal with that. I'm glad you found a role model of sorts, though."
Izuku nodded. "Y-yeah."
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It didn't take long for them to arrive at their destination. Mina gave a grand gesture as she announced, "Welcome ladies and gents to the Kiyashi shopping mall. Opened a few months ago, it has some of the best stores ever. I figured as a first time of us all three hanging out, it would be a good idea."
Toru and Izuku both shrugged, and Toru said, "I don't think either of us has really been to the mall before, but it sounds like a great idea."
Mina gasped "never been? Well, I'm glad you're both on board because I am going to show you just how great this place is."
Mina took her two friends into the mall to show them all they had been missing. Izuku was surprised by the hero merch stores but refrained from buying anything. He was so used to not having much in his room it felt weird to change it now, but he did send a few pictures to Yasuda and told her about it.
Toru was ecstatic at the variety in clothing stores and was quick to find things to try on. Mina was a ball of energy that kept up with Toru easily, and Izuku found himself feeling more energetic and willing to follow along with them.
The three ate lunch in the food court before Mina suggested seeing if there was a movie that looked interesting to the three of them. The other two agreed, and they headed to the movie theater in the mall to see what was playing. Izuku was surprised that when he suggested the hero movie that was playing, Mina had agreed with him stating her sister had gotten her into these kinds of movies and had said this one was worth the watch. Toru relented and agreed to see it as well.
Once the movie was finished, the three teens left the theater and wandered around a few more stores and window shopped till deciding to call it a day and go their separate ways home.
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Nemuri bit her lip as she stood on top of a roof and stared at her phone. She was done with her morning patrol, and she knew Thirteen wasn't busy, so it should be a simple text to ask if they wanted to spend some time together. Nemuri sighed as she stared at her phone "we're more than work associates, right? Are we friends? I know they've said some things before, and they wanted to go out for tea..."
Nemuri was about to curse her inability to be an adult about this. she nearly dropped her phone as it went off. She fumbled with it for a second, and her heart picked up as she saw Thirteen had texted her.
Thirteen: hey, I was wondering if you'd like to get some lunch. I figured you were getting close to being done with morning patrols and might be looking for something to eat.
Nemuri wanted to scream as she pumped her fist. Luck was on her side today as she shot off a confirmation that she would like to have lunch. Nemuri felt a bit bad she couldn't actually be the one to ask, but she wasn't about to let this chance slide.
Nemuri quickly headed back to the agency building she shared with Present Mic to change. Nemuri's civilian clothes drew a lot less attention than her hero costume since she wore glasses, put her hair up, and usually wore oversized sweaters or shirts that hid her figure. She was kinda glad that the place Thirteen had suggested was close by. Nemuri had meant to check out the little cafe, but she never found the time during the school year.
Nemuri entered and looked around for Thirteen. She frowned when she didn't spot them and was about to pull her phone out when a familiar voice spoke up, "you got here quicker than I thought. I figured I'd be able to find a good spot before you showed up."
Nemuri jumped a bit and turned to see Thirteen. "Ah, Thir-"
Thirteen raised an eyebrow, and Nemuri bit her tongue, remembering their time getting tea. They had asked for Nemuri to refer to them as Hirooki if they're not at work. "Hirooki, I was uh... yeah, I got here kinda quick." 'Smooth Nemuri, you're really a master at conversation when they're around.'
She stopped worrying when Hirooki smiled softly "it's alright. Come on, I see a good spot over there. Should keep too many people from noticing you."
They sat in a secluded corner of the cafe, away from the few other customers. They looked over the menu and ordered quickly. As they waited, Hirooki asked, "so, how's work been so far?"
Nemuri hummed, "pretty slow. A few rowdy customers but nothing I couldn't handle myself. How's your day off been?"
Hirooki chuckled "oh, you know, slept in for a whole ten minutes before I remembered the chores I needed to get done. Spent my morning putting my apartment in order, and now I'm getting to have a nice relaxing lunch with you."
Nemuri blushed a bit as they smiled. She managed to pull herself together enough to keep the conversation going. They avoided talking about work anymore and stuck to more mundane topics. Nemuri couldn't help but talk about how happy she was that Izuku had made another friend and was apparently hanging out with them today.
Hirooki smiled "you seem to have a handle on the whole mom thing now. I'm glad to see you're doing so well now."
Nemuri chuckled. "I wouldn't say I have a handle on it now. I mean, I don't know what I'm gonna do if he comes to me wanting relationship advice."
"Oh, the great Kayama doesn't know how to give relationship advice? I thought you'd have the best advice."
Their food arrived as Nemuri blushed a bit. She spoke up once the waiter had left "well, I mean, I've kinda dated a bit, but when I got into UA, I didn't have time then I became a hero and a professor, and you know how busy we get so I'm... rusty when it comes to dating."
Hirooki smirked, "well, I think you're doing great so far."
Nemuri stopped short of shoving a piece of french toast in her mouth and stared at Hirooki. "W-what?"
Hirooki put their elbow on the table and rested their chin in their hand. "I'm just saying if you don't mind, I wouldn't mind calling this a lunch date."
Nemuri looked down at her loose shirt and baggy shorts. "I uh feel kinda underdressed for a date."
Hirooki smiled. "I think you look cute." Nemuri blushed at the compliment. "It's a very Kayama look. I don't get to see it enough."
'Alright, Nemuri, be cool you got this... probably.' Nemuri smiled. "I guess you'll just have to ask me out more often."
"I don't think that'll be a problem, though I'd love to see what you'd do for a date."
Nemuri bit her lip. "How about I text you later today, and we can find a day we're both off, and I can take you on a date."
Hirooki grinned "sounds like a plan. Now, why don't we actually eat before the food gets cold."
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