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Izuku sat down next to Mina's bed as he said. "Eri wanted to come see you and Toru, but she was scared. Also, Toru is getting her final check-up, so she'll be stopping by later."

Mina hummed, and Izuku watched as his girlfriend kept a hand over her bandaged arm. He had heard from her the extent of her injuries and from their time sleeping together, he knew how sensitive she was about the scar on her back.

"Mina. Can I take your hand?" Izuku asked softly. She tensed slightly before letting go of her bandaged arm and letting Izuku take her hand.

As he held her hand gently, he said. "You know you're beautiful no matter what. The scars don't change that. Toru and I love you no matter what."

Mina squeezed his hand. "I-I know... I just-I hate this. I'm already called out at times because of how I look. Scars... they just draw more attention, and people judge you for having them. Especially those with mutant quirks."

Izuku squeezed her hand as he said. "I don't know how that feels, but I can tell you that no matter what happens and no matter who tries to bother you because of how you look, Toru and I will be there to back you up."

Mina chuckled and squeezed Izuku's hand. "Yeah... I know. I love you."

Izuku grinned. "Love you too."

Toru eventually made it to Mina's hospital room and showered the pink girl with love and concern. Once Toru was done kissing and reassuring Mina, the trio sat and spoke about the raids for a bit before Toru and Izuku had to head back to UA.

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A couple days later, Mina was back at UA and lying in bed with her partners. Toru and Izuku were cuddled into her sides. Izuku's thumb was gently skirting near the new scar that ran up her forearm. Mina sighed. "I can't believe so soon after getting back I have to be in charge of the dance team. Guess the fact that you two are helping is good, though."

Toru hummed. "Yeah. it's gonna be a lot of fun putting on a concert."

"It's a lot of work." Izuku groaned as he rested his head on Mina's shoulder. "You guys just have to worry about dancing, but I have that plus class rep stuff, and Jiro asked me to teach her how I organize my notes."

Mina patted his head gently. "Poor Izu. Maybe we should have put you in the middle."

Toru tightened her grip on Mina. "No. You're stuck in the middle till Izu, and I decide otherwise."

Mina sighed. "Toru-"

"No. you're in the middle, and we're gonna cuddle you whether you want it or not." Mina couldn't see her girlfriend's face right now, but she could tell Toru had her determined glare on full blast.

"Fine, I'll stay in the middle," Mina said as she relented and sank deeper into the bed. "We do need to get up soon, though... I don't wanna."

Izuku chuckled and kissed Mina's cheek. "We have like ten minutes, and we'll be so busy the day will fly by, and then we'll be right back here getting ready for bed."

Mina sighed and hummed. "I guess you have a point. Oh yeah, how's little Eri doing?"

Toru sighed. "She's doing good. Togata is watching over her a lot since, in his own words, he's useless when it comes to getting ready for the cultural festival."

"Is she gonna be ok with the crowd?"

"She seemed nervous but looking forward to it. Especially after I told her about us doing a concert." Toru said as she looked over and saw Izuku had fallen asleep. "He fell asleep."

Mina hummed. "He's been running around a lot. Let's try to get out of here and let him sleep."

Toru nodded and slipped out of bed, shortly followed by Mina. The two girls got dressed for the day and slipped out of the room, leaving their boyfriend to sleep.

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"You wanna do what?" Nemuri asked as she lay in bed and looked at Hirooki.

"Winter camping," Hirooki repeated. "I did it a lot in junior high and high school. It's fun, and there aren't a lot of people, so there are fewer people who might notice you."

Hirooki scooted closer as they wrapped their arms around Nemuri. "Also, you get to eat lots of hot food and wear a bunch of blankets, and it's so quiet and pretty in the mornings."

Nemuri hummed. "That does sound nice." Nemuri cuddled closer to Hirooki as she said. "When should we go and where?"

"After Christmas. I know a camping spot with a nice view of Fuji. We can spend three days camping and be back before New Year." Hirooki said as they planted kisses on Nemuri's neck and jaw.

Nemuri hummed happily as she said, "Sounds good to me. What are we gonna need?"

"I'll make a list, and we can start getting everything together," Hirooki said as they started to get up, making Nemuri whine and pull them back down.

"No, it can't be time for work already. I wanna lay in bed more." Nemuri said with a pout making Hirooki chuckle and lean down to kiss Nemuri.

"Five more minutes then we need to go. We have a lot of work to do for the festival."

Nemuri smiled triumphantly as her lover laid back down and cuddled closer to her. She was so glad she had gotten together with Hirooki.

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Nemuri felt good. Her plans with Hirooki were coming together, and the festival prep was going well, so of course, as she rounded the corner towards UA's entrance, she spotted two people who immediately ruined her mood.

A shorter woman with dark purple hair spotted her and ran over. "Nemuri, there you are. Oh, are you ok? You haven't been answering our calls."

Nemuri bit back a sigh and wished she had gone to the teacher's entrance with Hirooki. "Hello, mother. Yes, I am ok."

"Well, you could answer your phone and let us know." the taller man with short gray hair said as he approached.

Nemuri bit back her immediate response. "I am fairly busy, father. I have a lot of responsibilities as a teacher and hero."

"Yes, I'm sure you are." her father managed to sound as condescending as always. "We're here because of an article about your son and the fact that you have been ignoring your mother's calls."

Nemuri thought back to the interview Izuku gave after they had arrested a villain while on patrol. She had found the magazine that had the interview and read it. She was glad about how well it had been done and found no fault with it, but then again, she knew what her parents wouldn't like about it. "What about it?"

Nemuri crossed her arms. "The reporter did her job honestly and reported the truth of what Izuku said. I read it, and I don't see a problem with it."

"S-so it's true? About him dating those two girls and that they're dating each other?" Her mother looked ready to faint by the mere notion of it.

"Yes, mother, and they're all very happy in their relationship."

"This is ridiculous." Her father huffed. "The boy needs to stop leading those two on and pick one. Honestly, making those two girls date each other. If you had put more time into raising him properly and dropped that whole Midnight thing then-"

Nemuri sighed loudly, cutting her father off, and started walking past him as she said. "I don't have time for this shit. I'm going to work. You two can just go home and leave my family and me alone."

Nemuri's father stepped forward to try and stop his daughter, but Hound Dog by the entrance stepped up as Nemuri crossed the threshold. "Sorry, sir, you need to apply for a visitor pass before you try to enter UA."

Nemuri looked back and said. "Don't bother Hound Dog. I've already told Nezu to blacklist them. I don't need them coming near my son."

She didn't care that her mother looked hurt or that her father was seething, trying not to make a scene. They didn't seem to care about how she suffered growing up, so why should she care now if they have a problem with how her son lives his life. "Have a safe trip, mother and father; please never come back."

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The days went on, and UA got closer and closer to the start of their cultural festival. When the day finally arrived, Eri fidgeted as she clung to Mirio. He had been carrying her around so that she wouldn't get too tired. Mirio smiled "you ready to go see class A? I know I'm pumped to hear their song."

Eri nodded hesitantly. "I-I'm ready."

Mirio flashed another smile which helped ease Eri's nerves as they entered the gym. After a couple minutes, the lights turned off suddenly, making the small girl jump a bit before her eyes were locked on the stage as class A came on stage. She immediately spotted Toru, Mina, and Izuku.

As class A started their concert out in the woods surrounding UA, Hound Dog sat on an unconscious man while Ectoplasm clones restrained the crying young woman with him and went through her laptop. Ectoplasm spoke. "I recognize him. He has a youtube channel where he posts his crimes."

"What?" Hound Dog said with disbelief as he looked at the man. "And they haven't caught him?" the dog man growled. "The hell are the other heroes doing?"

The third clone spoke up. "The HPSC trials have caused a lot of waves. Small fry like him are not much of a concern."

Hound Dog grumbled and huffed as he smelled the police officers approaching. "The police are here."

As the police took Gentle Criminal and La Brava away, class A's song came to an end, and in the crowd, Eri was wearing the biggest smile ever, and Mirio felt like he was gonna cry seeing how happy she looked.

As the crowd cleared out, class A set about cleaning up the mass of ice Shoto had made. Toru smiled as she watched Eri excitedly explain the concert and how she felt. The invisible girl bounced in place along with the small white-haired girl.

Toru giggled as Eri's explanation came to an end. "I'm glad you enjoyed it, Eri. stick with Togata a bit longer, and once we're done cleaning up, we'll walk around the rest of the festival with you."

Eri nodded excitedly and took Mirio's hand as the older student started to walk off. "Come on, Eri, let's go check on Nejire."

Class A worked quickly and efficiently so that they could get out there and see what the rest of UA was up to for the cultural festival. Toru and her partners found Eri and Mirio waiting by the beauty pageant stage.

Izuku stepped away from his partners and stood next to Minoru and Denki. "Hey."

Minoru looked over. "Hey, what's up?"

"Nothing. Just impressed how well you're doing."

Minoru scoffed, and Denki chuckled. "Yeah, man, Mineta has matured a lot. Could you imagine how crazy the beginning of the year Mineta would be with the beauty pageant?"

Izuku chuckled. "We'd need Sero to come and restrain him."

Minoru crossed his arms and huffed. "I admit I was kinda crazy back then, but you wouldn't need Sero to restrain me."

Izuku smiled. "Maybe, but better safe than sorry."

Minoru rolled his eyes but dropped the conversation as the pageant started. To no one's surprise, Nejire came out on top and won. What was surprising, at least for Itsuka, was the fact that she had come in second. The orange-haired girl seemed confused as her class swarmed her with praise and congratulations.

Izuku rejoined his partners and Eri as they said bye to Mirio, who needed to run off to his class's exhibit. As they explored the festival, Izuku carried Eri and kept the small girl distracted so she wouldn't notice Toru slipping away to work on a surprise they had decided to make after hearing about the small girl's love of apples.

Eventually, Eri clutched Izuku's shirt a bit tighter as she looked around. "W-where's Toru?"

Izuku smiled as he spotted his invisible girlfriend rushing back to them. "Looks like she's back, and I think she has something for you, Eri."

Toru bounced on her feet a bit as she said. "So they weren't selling any at the festival, so I worked with Sato to make this for you."

Eri's eyes lit up as Toru pulled a candy apple out from behind her. "Tada a candy apple for the sweetest girl at UA."

Eri took the apple and inspected it before looking at Izuku. "Candy apple?"

Izuku nodded. "It's an apple covered in candy. It's super sweet and tasty. I think you'll like it."

Eri tentatively took a bite, and Mina giggled as the small girl's eyes lit up and she looked at Izuku again. "It's really good. I love it."

Izuku chuckled. "Then make sure you thank Toru."

Toru smiled as Eri looked at her and thanked her before taking another bite of the apple. The trio continued to explore the festival with Eri until the small girl started to get tired, and they decided to take her back to the teachers' dorms.

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As Izuku, Mina and Toru were headed for the door, Izuku spotted Hirooki with their helmet off, taking a break. The space hero motioned for Izuku to come over. At the same time, Toru and Mina spotted Hawks landing outside.

"We'll go see what he wants. You talk to Hirooki." Toru said as she and Mina headed for the door.

Izuku nodded and walked over to Hirooki. "Hey, how's security going?"

Hirooki chuckled. "Don't tell anyone, but we arrested a YouTuber who was trying to break in."

Izuku raised an eyebrow as he sat across from Hirooki. "What?"

The space hero waved the question off. "It's not important. What is important is..."

Izuku watched as Hirooki blushed a bit and fidgeted. "Well. Did Nemuri tell you about the vacation she and I are going on?"

"Uh... yeah." Izuku nodded as he remembered the text he got after waking up. "She said you two are going camping after Christmas?"

"Yeah, we are, and well... ya know she and I have been dating for a bit."

Izuku's eyes widened as it hit him. "Are you gonna ask her to marry you?"

He took Hirooki's flinch and subsequent shocked look as a yes. "How?"

"It makes sense. I mean, you two have been dating for a while, and you're adults with your lives figured out." Izuku rubbed the back of his head. "And I guess since I'm her only family, you wanted to run it by me?"

Hirooki sighed and seemed to relax a bit as they nodded. "Y-yeah. I just wanted to make sure you were ok with it?"

Izuku smiled. "You make her really happy, and that's all that really matters. I think it's a good idea, and I hope it goes well."

Hirooki smiled. "Thank you, Izuku."

As Izuku left the teacher's dorms, he spotted Hawks taking off after finishing his conversation with Toru and Mina. "What did Hawks want?"

Mina grinned as she turned, and Izuku could tell from Toru's posture that she was just as happy. Mina said as she took Izuku's hand. "He said the doc is gonna get here sooner than expected. Himiko can get her treatment started before Christmas!"

Izuku's face broke out in a huge grin as he hugged his girlfriends. "That's amazing news."

Once the three separated, Toru asked what Izuku and Hirooki talked about, and Izuku gladly told them about Hirooki's plan. Toru and Mina were very excited to hear about how it went.

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Garaki sighed as he swiveled in his chair and looked over at the various nomu in his lab. Things had not gone as planned at all. All for One and Tomura were both locked up, and the doctor was left with a choice. He could use the nomu to attack the prisons that the League of Villains had been put away in. Hell, with all the high-end and near high-end nomu, he could attack Tartarus. Throw Gigantomachia into that, and he could guarantee All for One's freedom but would that be what his master wants?

Garaki hummed and turned back to his computer. Freeing Tomura and his underlings could work. The release of so many criminals would help sow the seeds of chaos and make it easier for Tomura and company to go into hiding, and then once the time was right, they could prove themselves.

Garaki scoffed. "I hate that brat, though."

The doctor swiveled around in his chair as he thought through his options and the pros and cons to each of them. "Such a troublesome problem I've been left with."

Notes:

hey, so I was sick for a while and kinda tired after as well so I took my time writing this chapter. things were going to end after the Cultural Festival with a bit about Himiko getting better and then maybe a flash-forward chapter of Izuku and his partners grown up. that's changed obviously. I plan to do more for Hypno so I hope you enjoy it.

I had stuff I was gonna say but I forgot a lot of it so whoops.