5 Birthday "Break"

You know… I've been training for a while. I've been busting my ass trying to fight against monsters like Nejire Hado and Mirio Togata for the last three or so months. Not to complain, only god knows how much those two have helped me get stronger, but honestly, I'm kind of over the whole "train to become the strongest as fast as possible" phase.

At the end of the day, I'm still very much human and doing nothing but training and homework after I get out of school has become very much a tedious cycle. Sure, having and seeing my powers grow was satisfying for a time, but that's in the past now.

Today especially, my birthday, is cause enough for me to take a break and find something other than training to do for fun or relaxation.

"Alright Izukun, lead the way for a fun filled day of excitement!"

Of course, with Nejire being the insatiable ball of curiosity that she is, I should have expected her to have inquired about my birthday and remember it.

With a tired sigh, I didn't even try to put up a fight. "You know," I started as we walked from the front of my apartment over to the nearest train station, "you and Mirio are like the only two friends I have."

Nejire's bubbliness seemed to tank as she lost the bounce in her step.

"What I'm trying to say is, I'm not exactly qualified to take myself to a fun or exciting place; nevermind, the two of us."

For a second, Nejire scrunched her eyes close as if in deep concentration, before she reached out and grabbed my arm and said, "That just means it'll be up to me to liven up your special day!"

Without another word and without offering me the chance to retort, Nejire dragged me to… somewhere.

Not an hour later, Nejire had surprisingly brought me to take a cooking class with her, of all things. How she managed this, I wouldn't question. But if one thing's certain, it's the fact that she had not turned to her phone since she started dragging me around.

Fortunately for me, I actually enjoyed the free lesson on Italian cuisine. It was a fun and productive way to kill an hour and a half and at the end, we got to eat the plates of carbonara we'd been making.

"Holy… No wonder you suggested this," I said after taking a forkful of Nejire's pasta and looking at her in shock. "So, you've actually been a really good cook all this time."

Nejire seemed smug about my praise as she hummed, "Nah, I just get a lot of practice on weekends like these."

"Well, whatever the reason, I'll envy the bastard that ends up married to you. I'd die happy if I got to eat things like this everyday going forward."

Was I flirting? I'd like to think not, but the pink dusting that now covered Nejire's cheeks was a clear sign of my words having some effect.

"Well… I don't know about every day… But, how about I start bringing some bento boxes whenever we get together after school for training?" Nejire was still very red in the face.

"Hmm, let's try doing that but only every other day." Nejire looked confused until I added, "That way we can alternate between who gets to cook and that'll give me a chance to practice and catch up to you."

Something about that caused her presumed embarrassment to spike, seeing as she became almost completely red for a second. But after that tense second, she quickly calmed herself and said, "I'd really like that!"

With that decided, we finished our carb-heavy lunch before Nejire started dragging me around the city once more. She seemed to have a fascination with nature, or maybe just plants in general, as she took me from park to park to just look at the various lilies that colored the greenery.

Was it a waste of time? Perhaps. I could have been training, but then again, that would defeat the purpose of taking the day off; even if it boiled down to walking around, looking at some plants.

It was also interesting to see a new, more calm, side to Nejire when we stopped to take in the sights. She was almost like a normal girl. Almost.

"Did you know that depending on the species, lilies can grow between two to six feet?"

"Lilies are also ranked as the fourth most beautiful flower on the planet."

"Ah! You see that cluster of lilies?! Oh my god, there're like seven different kinds all packed together! There's a White Lily of Modesty, an Orange Lily of Passion, a Yellow Lily of Gaiety, and… is that a Buddhist Tiger Lily?!"

Maybe asking for even a temporarily calm Nejire was asking for too much.

...

As evening was starting to settle into dusk and soon night, Nejire suggested we go to a teahouse before going our separate ways and turning in for the day. Of course, when I agreed to her suggestion, I wasn't expecting her to bring me to anywhere near as fancy as the place we currently stood before.

"Do you know if they have bubble tea?" I asked, hopeful at the possibility that this place would cater to casuals tea-drinkers like me.

"Oh yeah. They have all the tea! Green tea, black tea, white tea, oolong, milk tea, bubble tea… You name it, they got it!"

"That's… good to know."

We entered the fine establishment and immediately I prepared my wallet for the worst. There was only one other girl in the store, which indicated to me that this would be a very expensive ordeal. But then again, it was almost night, so maybe it was just far from the peak hours of operation for the teahouse.

'Let's see, bubble tea, bubble tea… Ah! A twelve ounce cup of bubble tea goes for… 1,000 yen?! It's fucking 300 extra if I want it flavored! Fuck!'

My disappointment was immeasurable and my day was ruined; figuratively speaking, anyways. But, since we were already here and Nejire was about to finish with her order of Jasmine Tea, I bit the bullet.

"...And what will you be having, sir," the tea-barista, or whatever they're called, asked.

"Yeah, can I get an Ube Bubble Te—"

"Alright motherfuckers, hands up!" A group of three robbers came out of nowhere.

'You have got to be fucking kidding me,' I thought as I joined Nejire in putting my hands up. 'What choices does one have to make in life to end up robbing teahouses of all places?!'

"You brats can go fuck off over there, while you—" the presumed leader of the robbers pointed his shotgun at the woman that had been taking my order behind the cashier, "—you can start filling up my bags with money from the register and your finest tea!"

As one of the other robbers shoved and pushed Nejire and I over to where the other girl had been calmly drinking her tea and reading, I shot Nejire a very clear signal.

I subvocalized, 'Synergist.'

With all the training I'd done, after my Brands reached Stage 4, I learned how to change Paradigms tracelessly. I could do so without making a sound or glowing like I did in the past. But, to make sure Nejire understood my intentions, I both mouthed my Paradigm Shift and let a purple glow glint across my eyes for a split second.

She started sweating buckets, looking at me like I was about to do something irredeemably stupid. So, to calm her, I didn't do anything that could even vaguely be perceived as a threat until the robber in charge of isolating us customers turned her back to us.

"Bravery, Faith, Haste, Shell," I casted onto Nejire in the span of two seconds before getting close to her right ear and whispering, "I'll stay with this girl as a Sentinel while you go do your thing."

'Sentinel,' I even cued her into my Paradigm Shift before moving away from her.

For a time, Nejire couldn't do a thing. There were three robbers of which only one stuck around to make sure we didn't run off or call for help. Of the other two, one was hastily trying to empty out the register of all its cash, while the other was presumably with the cashier/barista gathering the store's insanely overpriced miracle tea.

Yeah, I kind of had a grudge after I almost paid 1,300 yen... for a twelve ounce drink!

Eventually though, the robbers would get what they came for. But just as they were about to leave, Nejire sprung into action; quite literally, I should add.

When the robbers were all near the exit, Nejire shot towards them with a blast from her vitality. To help her however I could, I internally spammed, 'Provoke.'

It was an ability exclusive to the Sentinel Paradigm that had a chance at apparently triggering the people I targeted into believing I was the most threatening thing to ever exist. There was a chance it failed, usually the weaker a person was compared to me the more likely the ability would work, thus, I spamed it five times in the two seconds Nejire had been airborne.

Fortunately, it seemed that all three robbers would be ensnared by my provocation. Unfortunately, that meant I now had a shotgun and two pistols aimed at me and the girl behind me.

Good thing I was already in the Sentinel Paradigm, since all it took was the mental command, 'Steelguard,' to assume a defensive stance and bolster my already ridiculous levels of defense to insane levels.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

I got shot, at least a couple dozen times, if the stinging bursts of pain all over my body were any indication. But the pain was superficial at best; like getting shot by paintballs while wearing at least three layers of regular clothes.

"Eep!" The girl behind me suddenly cried out in pain and I knew I fucked up.

"Shit..." I muttered, but kept my focus on the three robbers and on keeping up my Steelguard until Nejire finished knocking them all out.

Upon turning around, I paled and started sweating in a panic as I hurriedly shouted, "Medic! Cura!"

A moment later, after I'd calmed down, I would learn that the girl behind me had only been grazed by a bullet across her cheek and my casting of Cura was beyond overkill to her scratch of an injury. But after seeing the blood dripping down from her face, could I be blamed for my panic? My actions had come dangerously close to endangering someone's life!

"Izuku! Relax, man. Relax. Everything is alright, ok," Nejire came nearly sprinting with concern after directing the store owner to call the police.

"Ok? I almost got someone killed!" And that was definitely not ok.

"You shielded her from a hailstorm of bullets!"

"But I should have moved out of the way before I provoked them into shooting at me!"

"What gave you that impression!?" Nejire grabbed my arms to stop me from gesturing like a madman, "What do you think would have happened if you moved out of the way and you failed to provoke all the robbers? What would have happened if even one of them wasn't caught by your spell and they only saw their companions shooting in your direction?!"

'They might have gone for the girl and without me in the way...' I paled even harder at the thought. 'Fuck, this hero business is much more stressful than I imagined.'

"Izuku, something you're going to have to get used to if you want to become a hero is the uncertainty of the job; of your actions and those of everyone around you." Pulling me into a comforting hug, Nejire added, "Just be glad no one was truly hurt and the robbers were stopped."

I'm not going to lie, I really needed that at this moment.

"Please do excuse me the interjection, but to whom do I own the thanks for saving my life?"

Why did that voice sound familia—

'Of course, it would be Momo Yaoyorozu...'