Chapter 90: Cupid Candy Chaos Part 1

"Hmmm." Yami looked at the picture on Mina's phone, that being a Xenomorph from an alien. "Have to make some changes. Not enough bones, but could make it."

Mina's smile widened, she had come to Yami's room to see if he could make this movie monstrosity, and it seemed like there in fact hope.

Knock Knock.

"Come in," Yami said.

The door opened, and Shiruku came in, bringing Amai behind her.

"Yami, I brought you, friend, here," Shiruku told him politely.

"Hey Yami!" Amai greeted him cheerfully. "I came for our trip to lighting up the city!"

Ever since Yami and Amai had gone to the city that one time to give people joy candies, they had decided they would do this every now and then.

Today the two had decided to just that, with Izuku's approval, although they would have to decide on who would supervise them.

"You have candies?" Yami asked.

Amai nodded and opened her basket, showing off all the mood candies that were inside.

However, something was off about them.

Yami took one of the candies and noticed that it was pink rather than yellow. "Different color."

Amai's eyes widened, as she realized what had happened, and saw Yami about to eat one. "Wait Yami don't!"

But it was too late, he had already popped one in his mouth.

The moment he did he felt a wave of warmth wash over him, a pleasant feeling that washed over all his other emotions.

He looked up at Amai, and then suddenly, he couldn't stop.

Now he liked Amai. She was his first friend(not a sibling or whatever Ken and Nara were to him) and she was very pleasant to be around.

But for whatever reason, he liked her significantly more now. Just seeing her gave him a happy feeling, and he was really glad she was here.

Also, she was just very nice to look at. She was just very pretty, and her bright blonde hair just radiated joy.

And that adorable red blush was also adding to his desire to keep looking at her.

However looking past that, he could see that she seemed to be distressed. That bothered him. It really, really bothered him.

"Upset. What's wrong." Yami said, getting really close to her, and looking her in the eyes.

"T-Those were love candies!" Amai stuttered, as her face turned as red as a tomato. "I must have accidentally made those instead of happy candies!"

"Love candies?" Mina and Shiruku's interest was piqued.

"Like candies that make you fall in love?!" Mina grinned, getting several ideas already.

Shiruku was in the exact same boat. "Is that why Yami can't look away from you right now! Did he fall in love with you?"

Yami tired his head. Love? Was he in love with Amai right now? This feeling was certainly similar to how he felt about Izuku but different. It was love but a different kind of love.

Still, he didn't have the urge to kiss her or anything like he saw in fiction. He was just very fond of her right now. And thought she was very pretty.

"No nothing like that!" Amai shook her head flusteredly. "The love candy boosts the affection you feel towards the first person you see! But it doesn't have to be romantic. It can be the love you feel for a parent, or a sibling, or a friend! Y-Yami probably just thinks I'm a very good friend right now!"

"Hmmm." Yami hummed. That seemed accurate.

"That doesn't explain why he's looking at you like that," Shiruku said with a smug look.

"I just think she's very pretty," Yami answered honestly.

Amai made a high pitch whining noise, as her face somehow got even redder.

"I know exactly what to do with these," Mina said, staring at the basket with a mischievous gleam in her eye.

"I think we have the same idea," Shiruku said with a creepy grin.

Amai looked at them nervously. "Whatever you planning, please don't. The power of love can do terrible things in the wrong hands!"

"Oh come on, we're not gonna do anything that bad. Just some pranks." Mina said. "Lighten up a bit. No one's gonna get hurt."

"Yeah we'd never hurt anyone here, you know that. We're just gonna have some fun." Shiruku said. And see some ships sail.

"Hmmmmmmm." Amai still looked unsure.

"Please! I'll make you a dress! Free of charge!" Shiruku pleaded.

"And I'll give you…" Mina fished around in her pocket, before taking out some cash. "1000 yen!"

Amai hesitated for a second but eventually took the money. "Deal!"

Shiruku swiped the basket, and she and Mina looked at the candies with glee.

"By the way, how long does the effect last?" Mina asked.

"Well how long the effect of my candies last, depends on how I was feeling at the time I made them, and how hard it is to shake off that emotion," Amai explained. "Love is super powerful, so it takes a while for it to wear off, it'll probably last for a few hours."

"Neat. This is gonna be super fun!" Mina said. "Come on girl! Let's go play cupid!"

"I can't wait!" Shiruku responded as the two left the room to start their spree of terror.

XXXXXXXXX

"You know I kind of wish Ryukyu was in this game," Ochaco said.

Ochaco and Izuku of them were currently, in Izuku's room, sitting on his bed playing Super Hero Bash together.

Izuku was once again playing All Might, and since Ryukyu was in fact, not in the game, nor her actual favorite hero Thirteen, Ochaco was playing Mirko.

"I mean, I understand why Thirteen isn't in here, she's a rescue hero, but Ryukyu is a combat hero," Ochaco argued.

"Yeah, it would be really cool to play as her, but how would she even work?" Izuku asked while playing the game. "I mean she's a massive dragon. I can't imagine how you would design a playable character like that."

"I mean couldn't they shrink her down?" Ochaco counted.

Izuku shook his head. "I think a lot of Ryukyu's power and intimidation factor comes from her size, it would be like trying to shrink down Mt. Lady. I just don't think it would be a good idea."

Ochaco sighed. "I mean I guess. I just wish there were more female heroes in the game."

"I agree." Izuku nodded.

Knock Knock.

"Come in," Izuku said.

Mina came into the room, with a grin that was a bit too wide.

"Hey, guys! Hanging out!?" Mina asked. "Glad to see you're getting some R&R!"

"Yeah, it's been a while since I got to lay back and play video games." Izuku smiled back at her. "Thank you for all the help by the way."

"No prob!" Mina waved it off. "Hey Ocha, Amai just showed up and brought some joy candies. You want one?"

Mina offered Ochaco a love candy, which she had covered in edible paint(courtesy of tricking Momo) to make it look like a joy candy.

"Oh, thanks, Mina," Ochaco said, taking the candy.

"Welp guess I better go! See ya!" Mina quickly got out of the room, her grin widening as she exited.

Huh. That was weird. Ochaco shrugged, as she popped the candy into her mouth, before turning to Izuku. "So what were we-"

Ochaco froze.

Izuku was smiling.

This was no surprise to her, Izuku had been smiling for a while now since they'd started playing. And she was very relieved to see him genuinely smile once again.

But for whatever reason, right now it was making her heart skip a beat.

She just couldn't look away from his face right now. His dark green, messy hair, his deep green eyes, all complimented his smile perfectly. It was so bright, it was like staring at an emerald sun.

Then Izuku turned his head and looked at her. And their eyes met

And so they stared at each other for a bit, until Izuku started to blush intensely, causing Ochaco to blush as well as she realized she was being really weird for whatever reason.

"U-Um, so what were we talking about!?" Izuku quickly turned his head away, his face now super bright red.

"I uh...uh-uh…" For some reason Ochaco couldn't pull herself together, she barely managed to tear her eyes away from Izuku, and she couldn't even rember what they were talking about mere seconds ago. "I-I-I don't rember."

"Oh. W-well it probably wasn't very important." Izuku responded. "S-So how are you, parents?"

Ochaco paused. For a moment she managed to get past the love candy's effect and think about her parents...and Izuku.

A gentle smile came to her face as she recalled her last few visits to her parents' new house. "They've been great. Better than ever. Thanks to you."

"Aww well, I only did what any good friend would do." Izuku's blush deepened.

Ochaco actually laughed at that, even though her heart was beating much faster for some reason. "Freinds spend stupid amounts of money to get their friend's parents' work, even though they're almost on the other side of the country? I don't think so. What you did was beyond helpful! Finally, they don't have to wake up in the morning and figure out which meal they have to sacrifice to save money. Or spend all day having to make calls to try and find work. Or any of the other thousand stupid things we had to suffer through because we didn't have money. Now they can just, be happy! You have no idea how much that means to me. Honestly, I'm so happy I could kiss you I-"

She froze. The moment she realized what came out of her mouth, she froze, and her face got so red, she was worried she might pass out with all the blood going to her cheeks.

And Izuku was in the same boat.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Ochaco screamed internally. Why did I say that!? I mean I wouldn't mind kissing him but wait!? What am I thinking!? We're just friends! Just very, very, very close friends. The closest friends. Friends for life! Oh god, why does that feel wrong!? What is happening!? Wait a minute! I only started feeling weird after Mina gave me that mood candy! She must have something to do with this! I knew that her smile was a bit too wide! Oh when I get my hands on her I'm going to-

Knock Knock.

Suddenly there was someone else knocking on the door, interrupting Ochaco's inner monologue.

Unfortunately, had crashed so he wouldn't be responding for a little bit.

"C-Come in!" Ochaco responded, hoping that this could break up the weird tension in the room.

Todoroki came into the room, looking stoic as normal. He took one look at Izuku, who was still frozen, and completely out of it. "Uraraka, is Midoriya alright?"

"Y-Yeah he's fine," Ochaco said. "Right Izuku?"

Izuku didn't respond.

Ochaco reached down, and grabbed Izuku's hand, shaking him a bit. "Hey, Izuku."

Izuku jolted into alertness the moment their hands met. "Huh, what? Huh?"

"Midoriya?" Todoroki said, to get his attention.

"Huh? Todoroki?" Izuku finally became aware of his surroundings again, although the blood rushing to his face was not helping him reorganize his thoughts. "Wh-What did you need? Sorry I was a bit out of it."

"I could see that." Todoroki noticed. "Anyway, I have the sudden urge to see my sister. I don't know why, but I want to. I wanted to ask permission to go home and see her for a day."

"O-Oh that's fine!" Izuku approved. "Go ahead."

Todoroki nodded and took his leave, closing the door behind him, and leaving the two alone together again.

There was an awkward silence that permeated the room for a few minutes, as the two sat in silence with completely red faces.

Eventually, Izuku broke the silence. "So um uh...y-your hand is...still on mine."

Ochaco's eyes widened, and she realized that her hand was in fact still touching Izuku's, and she quickly pulled it away. "Sorry!"

"It's...It's fine," Izuku responded, looking away from her.

"Um, I have to go do something real quick!" Ochaco said, practically jumping from the bed to the door, so fast you'd swear she was using full cowling. "See ya!"

Ochaco left the room in a hurry, ready to go murder her pink classmate.

XXXXXXXXXX

"I don't understand how you don't understand this!" Nara admonished her brother. "It's a simple equation!"

"You're calling this simple!" Ken held up the book they were working in. "This is a monster equation! Look how stupidly long it is!? Are we ever going to actually use this in life!?"

The two siblings were currently in the library, with Nara tutoring her less academically gifted brother, with great difficulty.

"You might have to use to determine something important later as a hero. You never know?" Nara said, frustration sinking into her voice. "Also, you have to know this stuff to get into a hero school in the first place."

"That's so lame!" Ken groaned as he leaned back in his chair. "Why do things have to be so complicated!?"

"It's really not." Nara scoffed, rolling her eyes at her brother's overdramatic behavior.

Ken glared at his sister. "Easy for you to say miss know it all."

Nara was about to give a scathing rebuttal when Shiruku scuttled.

"Hi," Shiruku said, before dropping the candy in front of Ken, and then leaving.

Both siblings watched her go and then kept their eyes on the door she just left from, confused as to what just happened.

"Ok, that was weird," Ken said, not hesitating too much in popping the candy into his mouth.

"Yeah, weird." Nara squinted at the candy with a look of suspicion. "Ken are you sure you should be eating that?"

Ken shrugged. "Candy is candy. If she gave it to me, I'm gonna eat it."

Nara sighed. "Fine. Let's just get back to work."

Ken groaned, and looked back at his sister...however something seemed off. He couldn't muster the same feeling of annoyance that he did usually, and instead, he was focused on how...determined she looked. "Uh, sure. Whatever."

Despite Nara's best efforts, Ken couldn't really focus too much on the work itself.

Rather, ironically, he was more focused on how hard she was trying to tutor him. How much effort she put into trying to make him understand the things on the page.

It made him feel like a dick for being so dismissive and rude earlier.

This distraction did not go unnoticed by his sister, however.

"Alright what's going on," Nara said, putting down the book, and giving her brother a frustrated look. "You've been giving me weird looks for the past half hour."

"I don't know," Ken said, blushing as he turned his head away from his sister. "It's just...your working really hard to try and teach me this huh?"

Nara raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. Obviously. Not like it's easy to get all this through your thick skull."

Ken sighed. "I guess...sorry for all the...unnecessary comments, I guess. It's just...this is really frustrating and really, really boring, and I'm just venting out you even if you don't deserve it."

Nara gave him a dumbfounded look, just staring at him in shock and confusion for a bit before expression shifted to that of concern. "A-Are you ok?"

"Aside from feeling like a jerk, yes," Ken said sarcastically, before lightly hitting the side of his head. "Here I go again! It's like the only way I know how to handle frustration and anger, is with rude and sarcastic comments."

Ken sighed, putting his head down on the table. "...I don't get it. Why do go so far for me?"

"I wouldn't say this is going so far," Nara said, started to get really concerned about her brother's suddenly odd behavior.

"I'm not just talking about this," Ken told her, picking his head up, and looking her in the eyes. "I'm talking about everything! All the times you stood up for me in front of mom and dad, and at school, and you even came with me when D.O.C. took me away. And in return, I treat you like garbage! I…"

Ken paused again, his frustration and anger fading, into a sad, somber expression, as he looked down at his Omnitrix. "I almost suffocated you in your sleep."

"Ghostfreak almost suffocated me in my sleep." Nara corrected him firmly.

"Stop that," Ken told her weakly. "Even now you still defending me. Pretending that Ghostfreak is some separate person that takes over my body. He's not. It's me. It was all me. All being Ghostfreak does, is make me angrier. It was still me choking you. Because at the time, I wanted to do it. Even after all you did for me...all because I was jealous."

"Jealous?" Nara questioned. She'd never heard about this before. "You were..jealous?"

Ken paused again, before answering. "Yeah, I was jealous. How could I not be? You were always so much...better than me. Or at least everyone always seemed to think that. You were smarter than me and more popular than me, and whenever something went wrong, it was never your fault. Always mine. They'd always accuse me! And I...I know it's not your fault. I know that. But I just kept feeling this...this anger bubble up for you, that didn't deserve. And I always knew you didn't deserve it, and that just made me even angrier!"

He paused again, and Nara just sat there and processed all this new information, with a thoughtful, yet concerned expression.

"But you were all I had." Ken continued. "And you knew that. That's why no matter how many times I told you to go away, you stuck around. And...thank you for that. I can just never say this for some reason, but thank you. I don't know why that's so hard but it is. And it makes me wonder why you put up with me...and when you're going to have enough one day."

"Don't talk like that idiot!" Nara scolded him. "I told you didn't I?! I'm not leaving you alone!"

"That's an easy thing to say, but we all know how unbearable I get," Ken told her. "I don't even really have a right to complain as much as I do! Have heard about what happened to the other people living here? What happened to Eri!? I just…ugh."

"Is that why you've been avoiding her?" Nara had been meaning to ask him about that for quite some time now, and it seemed like she was finally gonna get her answers.

"I just…can't stand to be in the same room as her." Ken sight looking a bit guilty. "She went through all that, and she doesn't complain, or get angry, or anything. And I get upset whenever Izuku makes me eat vegetables. It just doesn't feel right."

Nara winced a bit, knowing the feeling, or at least part of it. When she'd heard about Eri's background she felt a lot of things. Horror. Disgust. Anger. Pity.

But she also felt, small.

Nothing she ever went through would compare to what Eri experienced. And so how could she complain, or want for something, when in the same room as a person who literally died multiple times, via having her body ripped apart on a molecular level.

It almost felt uncomfortable to be in the same room as her, because all she wanted to do was apologize to the poor girl for everything she'd been through. Even if she seemed mostly fine right now.

Honestly, Eri could stab her with that horn, and she'd still feel sorry for her. And she didn't really know to handle these feelings.

But she did know that Eri herself wouldn't want to be treated any differently, so she tried to keep everything the same with her…emphasis on try.

But now wasn't the time to think about that. Right now Nara had to worry about whatever was going on with Ken.

Clearly, something had been done to him. No doubt thanks to that strange candy Shiruku had left. And Nara was definitely going to have a long discussion about not drugging her brother without her permission.

But that Candy didn't put these thoughts in her brother's head. It just brought them to the forefront, and finally made him admit all this to her.

And now that she knew about it, being the good sister that she was, she had to fix it.

"Listen, just because someone else has been through something worse than you, that doesn't mean everything you've been through doesn't matter," Nara told him. "The two of us, you especially, have been through the wringer. And we've suffered our fair share. It's fine to be angry or upset about what happened to you. Maybe you could be a bit less of a jerk about it, but overall, some people have responded to what we've been through, way worse than you have. At least you're not trying to use a sucky childhood as an excuse to hurt people."

"You're saying I haven't hurt you?" Ken asked skeptically.

"Not in any way that's mattered to me." Nara shook her head. "Do remember back a couple years ago, when that boy tried asking me out, and then got way too pushy after I rejected him?"

Ken's face contorted in disgust. "Oh yeah, that creep. Ugh."

"And do you remember what you did when you saw him trying to hold my hand?" Nara asked with a slight smirk.

"I transformed into Four Arms and threw him to the other side of the playground." Ken chuckled for a second before grimacing as he recalled what happened next. "Then I almost got expelled, and mom and dad beat the crap out of me."

"Right. It was stupid, it was beyond unnecessary." Nara smiled at him. "And it genuinely sweet. Your not a bad person Ken. Far from it. You just have some issues. And if you have that much of a problem with yourself, instead of mopping, you can actually improve yourself."

"Easier said than done." Ken sighed.

"Yeah, but you're not alone. And I don't just mean me." Nara pointed out. "Izuku genuinely cares about us and will do everything in his power to help. So if you want to do something about yourself, asking him and me for help is a good way to start."

Ken didn't respond for a bit. Taking a moment to think over what Nara had told him, before smiling at her. "Thanks, sis, I…seriously what is up with me right?"

"I think it had something to do with that suspicious candy Shiruku put in front of you with no explanation, and that you ate without absolutely hand hesitation," Nara told him.

"I swear if she drugged me with candy I'm gonna kick her spider butt!" Ken said, getting up and running out of the library to look for the six-legged girl.

Nara sighed and laid her head down. He's such a handful. Still, I should probably tell Izuku about this. He should know stuff like this when gets us a therapist. Whenever that's happening.

Feeling tried, Nara decided it was best to go to bed. Which was probably for the best.

If Shiruku was going to start messing around with more of those candies, she had a feeling things were gonna get chaotic, real quick.