United States...of Japan? Part I

Throughout dinner, Inko noticed that Izuku wasn't eating, and was just staring at his food with a strange expression on his face. "What's on your mind?" she asked with a bemused expression.

This seemed to snap Izuku out of his thoughts, as he quickly went back to eating his rice. "Uh, it's n-nothing. Sorry about that."

Inko's eyebrows furrowed as she remembered how he acted like this a few weeks before, on the night his acceptance letter came in. "Did something happen at school?" Oh dear. Did Izuku get in trouble standing up to a bully? She knew that he and Katsuki had a problem with bullies in their previous schools, although Izuku would sometimes get in trouble for actually trying to fight them a few times.

"Uh, no, it wasn't anything bad, but..."

"Is it a girl?" she asked suddenly. When she saw how Izuku froze up, the gears in her head continued to turn as she came to a conclusion. "Wait, is it that girl from yesterday?"

"What? No!" Izuku spluttered, but Inko just kept looking at him with a raised eyebrow. They continued like that for several moments, with Izuku fidgeting under her unconvinced stare, before he sighed. "...yes..."

Inko grinned. Looks like her son has a crush. "What was her name again? Uraraka?"

"Uraraka Ochako..." Izuku quietly replied.

Inko hummed as she ate some rice. "So...anything interesting happen?"

"N-nothing happened!" Izuku stammered out, but Inko just stared at him unconvinced. "Well, we kinda sorta...already gave each other our numbers," he admitted, before hesitating on his next words. "And she also, uh...kissed me."

...

Okay, wow, he works fast. She liked to think that she and Hisashi hit it off pretty quickly, but that was after a few weeks of interacting with each other in a business setting before he finally asked her out, and Izuku's only known this girl for a few days and she's already kissed him, and oh dear she got lost in thought and Izuku's just looking at her and-

"Uh, mom?"

"Sorry, honey, I got a bit distracted. You said she kissed you?"

"W-well, on the cheek."

Inko continued to stare at her son, before getting up out of her chair and moving to hug Izuku, with tears of happiness welling up in her eyes. "My baby boy has a girlfriend!" she exclaimed. "First you get into a hero school, and now you're already in a relationship. Oh, you really need to invite her for dinner one of these days. I'd really love to get my future daughter-in-law."

"Mom," Izuku said, his face being overcome with a blush. "I've only known her for two days. It's too early for you to think of Uraraka-san like that!"

Inko smirked as she twisted her son's words. "Oh ho, so you're saying it's gonna happen?"

"Mom!"

---

Izuku idly played around with a small ladybug that he had transformed from a button, watching as it repeatedly flew in and out of the spaces between his fingers. Since overthrowing Diavolo and taking direct control over Passione, things had been going swimmingly, to say the least.

For the first few months, he was met with subtle resistance from the other capos when he first attempted to put a stop to the narcotics operation, but after a few displays of Gold Experience's Life Giver (as well as a few 'subtle' threats), he had earned their begrudging respect after the respective revenues from their other sources had increased, which didn't exactly effectively mitigate the loss of billions of lira, but it was a start.

He had originally wanted to make Mista his underboss, but he still had that strange fear of the number four (tetraphobia, if he remembered correctly), so the position instead went to Polnareff, who he had already made his consigliere, thereby combining the two positions. In the end, Mista had agreed to become a capo and his third-in-command, and took over the responsibilities Bucciarati had once briefly shared with Polpo.

Eventually, the sound of the meeting room's door opened, and in walked Shiela E. - one of his personal bodyguards and a close friend. "Signore Kujo has arrived, messere," she said.

Oh good, it was finally time for his appointment. "Grazie, Shiela," Izuku replied, to which she bowed and left the room. A few moments later, another person had entered the room, this time a tall, well-built man who wore a white overcoat and hat, along with a purple shirt underneath.

This man was Jotaro Kujo, and if the information Polnareff had given him was correct, also possessed quite the powerful Stand that had the ability to stop time.

It was a shame he didn't have the Requiem arrow on his person.

Stopping at the front of the room, the man gave Izuku a light nod as he began to speak. "Good afternoon, Don Giovanna," he greeted.

Izuku's eyebrow rose as he noticed how crisp and clear the man's Italian had sounded. He was fully prepared to have a conversation in English, but it seemed as if the man had lived in Naples his entire life. Perhaps it was due to some Stand ability. "The pleasure is mine, Dottore Kujo," he replied. "Now, what is it you would like to speak to me about? I have duties to attend to, after all."

Jotaro stayed silent for a moment before he cleared his throat and answered. "I was...wondering if you had an answer concerning my offer." Oh right, that. Well, it was only a matter of time before it would have been brought up, he supposed. Growing up, he had assumed that Dio Brando was just someone his mother either had a one-night stand with or had abandoned them, but when Polnareff had told him of the situation surrounding his feud with the Joestar family and his true nature...

'Bizarre' didn't even begin to encompass the outlandishness of the tale. However, considering the nature of Stands, Izuku supposed that Vampires weren't entirely out of the question.

He had feared Polnareff's ire from being sired from the man who was directly responsible for the deaths of his sister and friends, but the man (or ghost, now) had assured him that he was a better person compared to Dio, and that he would not blame their deaths on him.

"I do," Izuku replied, before leaning forward in his chair. "But tell me, signore, why is it that I should accept it?"

To his credit, Jotaro didn't back down from intimidation, and even met his gaze evenly. "I suppose 'a chance to connect with long lost family' isn't the right answer?"

Izuku chuckled at the question, and leaned back into his chair. "I suppose not," he answered. "After all, when concerning the circumstances of my upbringing, family - at least blood relations-" he fought the urge to spit the two words out as he was reminded of his mother and stepfather. "-isn't exactly high on things that I cherish. In truth, I consider the companions I've made since joining Passione and taking over as its Boss more as my true family."

He felt the tension in the room increase tenfold as he saw the other man's body language grow increasingly cautious, as if he were waiting for an opportunity to summon his Stand. Well, at least the message got through to him. "But seeing as how Polnareff speaks very highly of you and your grandfather," he continued. "I am willing to take a chance. I will attend this 'Joestar family reunion' of yours, and I will be bringing two of my comrades along with me. But in doing this, I would like you to do something for me in return."

Jotaro stared at him intensely for several moments - possibly to consider his options - before finally speaking up. "All right."

"I'd like for you to tell me what you know about Dio Brando and Jonathan Joestar."

---

Ochako woke up to the sound of the alarm on her phone blaring from on her desk. She reached over her side to silence the offending device, while squinting from the screen's brightness. Setting it down, she stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, before taking a moment to stretch, groaning at the slight pain of having slept uncomfortably. With a sigh, she lifted herself out of bed, and walked to the bathroom to get ready for school.

As she absentmindedly stared at her reflection while brushing her teeth, her mind was suddenly filled with a strange but familiar image. 'What...'

She had another dream. One that she could still vividly recall due to her REM sleep cycle being interrupted. With haste, she finished brushing her teeth, before quickly walking out of the bathroom and back towards her desk, where she found the composition book she ended up calling her 'dream journal', where she recorded every dream that she thought was important.

Picking up a pencil, she flipped to a blank page and started to write. It's happened again, she began. I had another dream about the Blond Man. This time he was acting the same way Deku did yesterday, and even said the same things. I don't know why I keep dreaming about him, but for some reason he made me feel the same way I felt when Deku said them.

The Blond Man was a strange person Ochako would repeatedly have dreams about. His face was unknown to her, but she remembers feeling an odd feeling of familiarity in each dream she had about him, which she found odd. The only person with blond hair she actually knew currently was Katsuki Bakugō, but that didn't make any sense - she was in a...wait, what should she call what was happening between her and Izuku? She knew that she wanted to see if it could develop into a relationship, so it was...the beginning of one?

But those were questions for later. Now, where was she? Oh, right, the Blond Man.

The most recent dream she remembers having had before waking up was of Izuku having, uh, confessed (?) to her the day before, but with the Blond Man doing everything in his place. To be frank, it weirded her out. But the prospect of feeling that way towards a stranger aside, the man felt like everything but one.

As if...as if she had known him all her life.

When she closed the notebook, she took a moment to stare at its cover. While Uraraka Ochako was what was clearly written in kanji, the line above it was a scratch mark made with a pen in an attempt to conceal the mistake made, but the faint letters from the Roman Alphabet could still be made out, if one were to look carefully.

Trish Una

With a sigh, Ochako realized that she was running out of time, and dispelled herself from her thoughts, before standing back up to continue getting ready for school.

---

Class 1-A's third day of school passed by without too much fanfare, if the reporters' miraculous ability to destroy the school gate was not considered. Izuku was even somehow elected Class Representative, with Momo Yaoyorozu as the Deputy, but after Tenya had managed to calm down the panicked students during their struggle to leave the cafeteria, he felt that the position would be better suited to his friend.

On the fourth day's Basics of Heroics class, it was expected that the number one hero would announce himself again, but the class was instead met by the bored expression of their homeroom teacher. "All right, listen up," Aizawa began, as he moved to stand in front of the podium. "Today, we'll be going over some basic rescue training. Myself, All Might, and another teacher will be overseeing you."

At seeing several students start to become excited from the news, he held a hand in the air to silence them, before continuing. "I know that there are some of you that think your Quirks are better suited for rescue work, or that they're better suited for engaging with Villains, but the truth of the matter is that your Quirks can be good for both, if you put your mind to it and think outside of the box. That's what the focus of today's training will be on. Now get dressed; we leave in thirty minutes."

With that, he opened the compartment that housed the students' costumes and proceeded to leave the room, with everyone dutifully standing up to bring their cases to the nearby locker rooms. Thirty minutes later, everyone had changed into their hero costumes from the previous days, and were now idly standing at the front of the school.

"Hm?" Ochako tilted her head in mild confusion as she noticed how Katsuki wasn't wearing certain equipment on his arms. "Are you not gonna be using your 'grenade gauntlets', Bakugō-kun?"

Katsuki shrugged. "Thought about it," he replied. "Doesn't look like it'll do much for rescuing civilians."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Ochako hummed, before snapping her attention to the sound of a whistle, with Tenya going over his plan on how to smoothly get everyone seated on the bus.

---

"All my hard work...and it was all for nothing..."

Katsuki grunted as he spared a side glance to Tenya's lamenting form. "That's what happens when you overthink things."

On the other side of the bus, Ochako was having an internal debate on whether or not to make conversation with Izuku or her other classmates, when she suddenly found herself with a mild case of sleepiness from having stayed up the night before. Set on making a bold approach, she decided to lower her head until it was resting on Izuku's shoulder. The boy in question froze at the sudden display of affection, but soon relaxed into her touch, and even returned the gesture by interlocking her hand in his.

However, the brief exchange between the two happened in full view of one Mina Ashido. "Aww, you two look so adorable together!" she exclaimed, leaning forward in her seat. "How long have you been dating?"

"About two days," Ochako replied nonchalantly, nearly failing to suppress the yawn that threatened to escape her. Izuku hummed in response as he rested his own head against hers.

"Wait, really? How long have you two known each other?"

"Since the entrance exam."

"What?! And you're already in a relationship? You're telling me you skipped all the juicy buildup and just immediately went for it?!"

Ochako gave Mina a half-shrug as her other side was snugly tucked against Izuku. "Well...yeah. And I don't know about Deku-kun, but things just kinda clicked into place for me." She couldn't really come up with the right words to describe the strange connection she felt towards him.

"Yeah, that's kinda what happened with me, too," Izuku spoke up.

"It's love at first sight!" Tōru Hagakure exclaimed from her seat. "Like the red string of fate!"

Beside her, Momo fervently nodded in agreement. "Just like in romance novels..." she quietly said.

Izuku let out a small smile as he felt Ochako tense up beside him, but briefly tightened her grip on his hand. "Yeah, I guess you could say that," he said sheepishly.

With the conversation having now ended, several moments of silence passed between the students, before Eijirō spoke up with his own question. "Say, Midoriya," he began. "What exactly is your Quirk?"

Izuku sat up as he turned and leaned forward to face the boy, with Ochako making a small noise in annoyance from the cease of contact and having to change her comfortable position. "I call it 'Life Giver'. I can create any plant or animal I want, but I have to have a basic understanding of their biology. Plants are much easier for me to make, though."

"Sucks you can't make dinosaurs," Denki Kaminari interjected.

"Oh, believe me, I've tried," Izuku agreed. He considered telling them about how he could somewhat create humans as well, before changing his mind and continuing with his explanation. "The other part of my Quirk is called 'Gold Experience'. I can summon a sort-of 'spirit-guardian' that obeys any command I think of, but I'm not sure why I'm the only one who can see it."

"Like Tokoyami's Quirk, then?"

"Kind of? They're really similar in function, but I don't really know all the differences between ours."

Eijirō nodded in understanding as he looked down at his hand, briefly activating his own Quirk and holding it up in the air. "Still though, it's pretty nice having a flashy Quirk like that. Hardening is pretty effective and all, but it looks pretty boring."

"No way, your Quirk is perfect for both offense and defense!" Izuku exclaimed. "And besides, you don't need a flashy Quirk to inspire others and do good."

"Well if anyone's gonna be popular with flashy Quirks," Denki began. "I'd say it's Bakugō and Todoroki. They've both got that dark, broody, mysterious type going on, and a lot of girls actually dig that kinda thing."

"Does everything you talk about have to be about girls?" said Kyōka Jirō, who had looked up from idly browsing on her phone in annoyance at his words.

"Hey, I'm just stating the facts!"

"Pfft, I'm aiming for the top of the rankings," Katsuki replied. "I don't have time for any distractions like that."

"But Bakugō-kun," Tenya spoke up, having decided to add in his two cents. "Didn't you say you were - and I quote - the 'captain of the ship'?" This ended up getting a few laughs out of the other students, with Izuku and Ochako growing slightly embarrassed from the information.

"Wanting two people to get in a relationship is different from wanting to be in one yourself," Katsuki sighed, as he looked down at the floor and crossed his arms. "I just don't see it in my future, is all."

He was met with a comforting hand on his shoulder from Mina. "Don't be like that, Baku-kun! I'm sure you'll find the right person for you, someday!"

"Oi, quiet down," Aizawa finally called out from the front of the bus. "We're here." All conversations between the students then ceased, as they collectively turned to the windows to see a large, dome-like structure in the distance.