42

And so here we are with the special Valentine's Day chapter! I hope you all enjoy it!

P.S. As for this chapter's place in the timeline of this fic, it's still uncertain. Is it canon? I don't really know. I guess I'll just see how things end up in the future to determine the status of this chapter.

Chapter Text

Chapter 42: Ingenue ~ A Valentine's Day Special

"In other news, there are talks of a new villain rising within the ranks of terror in and around the Musutafu area. Named 'Heartstroke' by the police, this new villain has been preying on people of all ages, shape, and form. Be warned, this villain's looks are quite deceiving; while she may be a young gi—"

The TV screen blinked off in a line of static, startling the group of boys who were watching the broadcast.

"Enough of that depressing stuff!" Ashido exclaimed, TV remote in hand. She appeared almost in an instant, planting herself in between the television and its all-male audience. "Don't you guys know what today is?!?"

The gathered audience stared at her dumbly. Izuku and Todoroki merely shifted in confusion, while some others like Kaminari and Aoyama grew to complain about the news being teared away from their viewing.

"Sheesh!" Ashido shook her head in disbelief. "Don't you all know? It's Valentine's Day!" 

Izuku was the first to speak up. "It is?"

Ashido nodded her head up and down, almost fast enough that it seemed as if her head would fall off of her shoulders. "And you know what that means, right?!"

Izuku blinked. "Uh… no?"

Ashido's eyes widened. "What do you mean no ?! Have you never celebrated Valentine's Day with someone, Midoriya?"

Izuku scratched his head. "Uh, well…"

Ashido interrupted him before he could continue. "No matter! The thing is, I have a whole bunch of stuff for you guys! Made by yours truly!" 

She walked over to behind the couch and pulled out a sack. Opening the bag revealed an assortment of various chocolates that she began handing out to everyone.

"Wow!" Kaminari exclaimed. "Did you make these all yourself?"

Ashido giggled. "Of course not!"

The boys looked over in her direction. "What is that supposed to mean?" Ojiro asked.

Ashido giggled even more. She went back around and pulled out another bag, that one being a whole lot smaller than the other. "This one's mine!"

Sero raised an eyebrow. "Then whose are these?" He gestured to the rest of the chocolates.

"The other girls', of course!" Ashido explained as she began distributing her own chocolates, each person getting around five or so boxes.

"Ashido!" Iida interrupted. "What is the meaning of this? If the others were the ones to have made these, shouldn't they be the ones handing them out?"

"Well, duh." Ashido waved him off. "But normal handing out is boring! So I thought this up last night on a whim! As of now, we're playing Secret Cupid!"

"Do the others know about this?" Kaminari asked, looking behind his shoulder. 

"Of course not!" Ashido announced. "I had to sneak into their rooms last night so I could swipe the chocolates! Now we get to play the game of who gave what! It'll be fun!"

"Wait, how do you even know that these are going to the right people?" Sato asked.

"They each have their own little notes!" Ashido explained. "It was rather convenient for m—"

"Hold up, wait a minute!" Mineta shouted, jumping in his seat. "Why didn't I get any?!" He looked Ashido right in the eye. "I demand to know!"

"Gee, I wonder why, Mineta?" Ashido mocked. "Surely it can't be anything that you've done recently?"

Mineta froze up on the spot. "Now hold on just a second, you and I both know that was an accid—"

"Wait a minute, look!" Kaminari cried out. "Midoriya's chocolates are way better looking than mine! They look like honmeis!" Kaminari turned. "And Todoroki too! But he has two boxes!"

"Wait, wait, what!" Ashido screamed. She pushed her way towards the aforementioned boys, her eyes widening in horror when Kaminari's words were proven true. "No! No no no! You're kidding me!"

"What is it, Ashido?" Iida asked.

"Dang it!" She banged her head against the wall. "I don't recognize them! I was in such a hurry to get in and out of everyone's rooms that I didn't pay attention to who had what! I should have paid attention!"

"Ashido! What are you doing!?!" rang out Yaoyorozu's voice. The gathered audience looked behind them and found Yaoyorozu and the rest of the girls having just arrived, looking at the scene with varying states of emotion.

Yaoyorozu's eyes fell to the vast array of candies set out before the boys. "You're the one who took all of our chocolates!" she accused.

Ashido completely ignored Yaoyorozu's accusation. Instead, Ashido ran over and fell to her knees, grabbing onto the ream of Yaoyorozu's skirt. 

"Yaomomo!" Ashido screamed. "You didn't happen to make any honmeis, did you?!?" She turned her gaze to the rest of the girls. "And how about any of you?!?"

The girls didn't respond back; some averted their gazes, while others flushed and stuttered. The reactions meant only one thing to Ashido.

"Noooo!!!" Ashido fell to her back, her arms slamming against the ground. "Now I'll never know! I know those faces! None of you are going to admit it! All of that juicy gossip, lost down the drain! I should have just let things be!"

As Ashido's tantrum continued, Izuku looked at the box of chocolates in his possession. A quick scan of the others around him revealed that his chocolate box was, in fact, objectively fancier than the rest. The only exception were two of Todoroki's boxes, which could arguably be just as fancy.

"I don't really understand what's happening," Izuku suddenly said. "What exactly is a honmei? Does it have to do with the fact that it looks like my chocolates were worked harder on?"

Almost everybody shot surprised looks at Izuku's upon his admittance.

"You mean you don't know what it is that you're holding in your hands?!?" Kaminari yelled.

"No…"

"You're serious?!?" Mineta screamed. He jumped out in front of Izuku and grabbed his shoulders, shaking him back and forth.

"Honmeis are made by girls to indicate how much they like you! Unlike giris, which are just made for platonic relationships, honmeis indicate romance! In fact, the girl in question just might even want to—"

Mineta was smacked in the face by Tsu's tongue, knocking him to the ground with a thump.

"Don't go around poisoning Midoriya's mind, Mineta." Tsu croaked. "That's not what honmei means."

Izuku shook his head, reorienting himself after Mineta's erratic treatment. "Then what does it mean?" Izuku asked.

"Oh! Mineta was actually right on that part!" Hagakure said.

Izuku raised an eyebrow. "Which… part?"

"The liking part!"

Izuku blinked. "You mean…"

"Romantically!"

Izuku looked down at his box of chocolates — filled with exquisitely decorated candies made with obvious care — and then back up at the girls of his class. It took him a few moments to take it all in, slowly coming to realize the truth of the facts laid out before him. 

"Oh."

There was a loud thump as Izuku fell to the floor.

"Ah! Midoriya fainted!"

"So you really fainted just because of a box of honmei?" Manga asked.

Izuku didn't respond, instead diverting his gaze to the ground as he walked.

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about, Izuku!" Pony reassured. "Manga got some too, after all! And he was shaking in absolute joy! He basically almost fainted on the spot!"

(￣■￣;)

"I was not!"

"Oh yes you were," Setsuna interrupted. "It was kinda cute, ya know. You and—"

"Please stop," pleaded Manga, his voice wavering. "It was nothing like that!"

"But it was!" Pony exclaimed. "It was so cute!" She planted a finger on her lips, going deep in thought. "Hmm. Makes me wonder who was the one who gave Izuku the honmei."

"Pfft. I don't understand why all of you are getting so worked up over this," interrupted Mei. "It's just some boring old chocolates!"

"But it means somebody like Izuku!" Pony said.

"Please! Candies are boring! Why's it all matter if somebody wants to give him some vague messages of possible attraction! Hmm?"

Setsuna laughed. "I see what's happening here. You're just jealous!"

"Keh-wh-What!" Mei stuttered.

"You are!" Setsuna laughed. "But I know you, Mei. This isn't some normal form of jealousy. You're probably scared that he'll be spending less time working with you on your inventions if he goes gallivanting off with a girlfriend!"

"Please." Mei scoffed. "As if! Izuku won't leave me alone for some random girl!" Mei then suddenly reached into her back pocket, taking out a brightly pink chocolate heart.

"On the other hand, I don't want to be outdone by a buncha girls from your class! So here ya go!" 

She shoved the chocolate heart in Izuku's hands. However, after a few seconds it was obvious that the piece of chocolate wasn't an edible one. The heart immediately began to shake, vibrating in Izuku's hand until it exploded into dozens of confectionary pieces.

A small mechanical spider arose from its remains. Gears and cogs made up much of its torso, with dozens of little cameras dotting up its eyes. The little spider waved.

"Oh, cool," muttered Izuku.

"Hold up! We're getting off topic here!" Pony interjected. "I want to know who was the one who gave Izuku the chocolates."

"But isn't it obvious?" intoned Setsuna. Her hand floated off of her wrist and began tapping Pony on her head. "Come on, Pony. Use that head of yours. Who would like Izuku enough to send him Homnei?"

"Umm…" Pony shook her head. "I don't know! Tell me!"

"Nope." Setsuna smirked. "You'll have to figure this out yourself."

Pony turned towards the green-headed boy that was currently the center of conversation. "Izuku! Who would most likely wa—"

An obnoxious ringing suddenly blared into life, startling the group of friends. However, while the sound may have been a simple ringtone to most, the sound meant something entirely different to one individual of the group.

"I'm just gonna go now! See you all later!"

Meanwhile, Manga, Pony, Mei, and Setsuna were left stunned and confused. It took them all a moment to regain their bearings and attempt to make sense of what had occured.

"You think that that might have been the girl calling?" Pony asked.

Izuku turned a corner and leaned against the wall. He took a moment to catch his breath before reaching down into his pocket for his headset. Closing his eyes, he moved to place the device on his ear to answer the incoming call.

"Yes, Kaniko?"

"Ah, Midoriya!" Kaniko's voice rang from the headset. "I was getting a bit worried there when you weren't answering. Are you alright?"

"Uh… yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Just making sure, ya know? There have been reports of Heartstroke sightings around UA, after all. I wanted to give you a heads up. Just in case."

"Heartstroke?" Izuku asked. "You mean that villain on the news?"

"Mhm!" Kaniko responded. "I'm sure that you know of her capabilities?"

Izuku nodded to himself. "Yup. Makes confectionery sweets that turn people that eat them into zombified drones that follow her every whim. And as a strange side effect, those who eat the sweets end up getting a power boost of their quirks. Thankfully, the effects wear off after a day or so, so the victims need to constantly be eating her sweets to stay under her control."

Izuku let out an exasperated sigh. "Wait, you're telling me that she's been seen around the perimeter of UA? So now I have a villain threat on top of everything else that's already happened today?" 

Izuku sighed. "Today is getting a bit too much for me to handle."

"Oh?" Kaniko asked, obviously interested. "Why? What happened today?" She paused. "Does it perhaps have anything to do with it being Valentine's Day?"

Izuku huffed. "Yeah. You know how those h— Wait up a second. Somebody's coming."

A quick shuffle on the ground caught Izuku's attention. His eyes shot open to assess the disturbance, even though he already knew the source of the sound due to his bugs.

"Hi Jirou. How's it going?"

The girl in question snapped her head over in Izuku's direction. Once Izuku was in her sights, she instantly set her path towards him, not stopping until she was only inches away from Izuku. 

Once Jirou was in front of him, she raised her hands and planted them on the wall, trapping Izuku between herself and the wall.

Izuku gulped. "Uhh… Jirou?"

Jirou didn't respond, instead tilting her head in observation. One of her head jacks reached out behind her and plunged into her backpack. When it slithered back out, a piece of chocolate was staked on its end. The head jack was motioned towards Izuku's mouth.

Izuku froze. He managed to fixate his gaze straight into Jirou's. What he saw filled him with dread. Izuku whispered into his headset, making sure to keep his mouth as close to closed as possible. 

"Kaniko," he began, "glazed eyes and heart shaped pupils are symptoms of being under Heartstroke's influence, right?"

"..."

"Kaniko?"

His ears were met with static. 

"Shoot."

His bugs picked up on some other incoming individuals. He recognized some, like Kirishima, Kaminari, Tsu, and Uraraka. However, the girl they were protectively surrounding wasn't familiar.

She was rather short, with pigtails of rainbow colored hair streaming down her head. She wore a pink fluffy dress, and in her hands was a basket filled with a variety of sweets. As for her face, well Izuku had to admit that she looked rather cute. Not cute in an attractive way, necessarily, but more as in something you would hug and cuddle for how adorable it was. 

It didn't take him long to match the face with a name. Heartstroke.

"Oh! Hi there!" Heartstroke greeted as she turned the corner. Her voice was rather cutsey, sounding soft and soothing to the ears. However, knowing what he did, the cutesy image broke down for Izuku when he considered the zombified states of his classmates that flanked the villain.

"I see that Miss Jirou found somebody else!" Heartstroke gushed. She hurried over to where Izuku was still trapped. "Hi mister! What's your name?"

Izuku's eyes shifted between the zombified Jirou and the villain in front of him. A quick look behind Jirou and towards Kaminari revealed a piece of equipment on the electric boy's head. Izuku's guess was that Kaminari was blocking out any outgoing signals. Meaning that It would be a while before backup would be alerted and arrive at the scene. 

Izuku began gathering a swarm. And then he turned back to face the villain. "Uh, hi. My name's Izuku."

Heartstroke's mouth grew into a bright smile. "Ooh! That's a nice name! My name's Kuroko! Nice to meet you!"

"Uh, yeah. Same."

"I'm glad you think so! But, um… Mister Izuku sir? You wouldn't mind eating one of my chocolates, would you? I promise that they taste really good!"

Izuku looked back at the sweet that the controlled Jirou was still offering. "I'd rather not, thank you."

Heartstroke's — Kuroko's — expression slightly dimmed. "Huh? What was that?"

"I'll pass on the chocolates, Kuroko. Thank you for the offer, though."

Kuroko's eye twitch, her head jarring to its side. "Oh, no no no no no no no no no. You can't do that. You have to eat my sweets! I made them myself, after all! For you. For everyone. Everywhere. All over."

"Yeah, no." 

Izuku ordered the swarm to reveal itself, aiming a large portion of them down directly onto his location. The swarm was enough to down Jirou, or at least keep her pinned until the crisis was over.

Kuroko screamed, though Izuku noted that it was mostly due to Tsu's sudden appearance and subsequent use of her tongue to extract Kuroko away from the swarm. Tsu immediately began to run in the opposite direction, Uraraka and Sero not far behind. However, Kuroko's distress wasn't enough to hinder her ability to make orders.

"Kiri! Make sure the bad man stays away! Or better yet, knock him out and then bring him to me back at base!" 

Kirishima saluted off in her direction. As he turned toward Izuku, he began to armor up. However, Izuku noticed that instead of his normal hardening, Kirishima was in his unbreakable form. And he didn't seem to be showing any signs of trouble in keeping up the form.

"Right, enhanced quirks. Great. Just great," Izuku muttered.

Kirishima roared, charging forward towards Izuku. Izuku dodged the attack and instantly set his swarm onto the enraged Kirishima. The bugs did little in penetrating the hardened skin, but then again there was a single weak point that could be exploited, and Izuku did just that.

Izuku set the bugs off towards Kirishima's eyes. He took care to only send bugs that would secrete irritants, keeping away any bugs that could permanently damage Kirishima's eyes.

The end result was a completely blind but berserk Kirishima that continued to ram into various walls.

"Huh. That was easier than I thought it would be." Izuku shook his head. "Sorry, Kirishima. I promise that I'll get Recovery Girl to fix you up later."

Izuku then sprinted off in the direction of where Kuroko had gone. A quick survey with his bugs revealed Kuroko tucked away in the bowels of Ground Beta, surrounded by various students alike.

Izuku stopped around a corner just before the aforementioned battleground, taking in all that he could see. "Are you kidding me?!? How the heck did she gather so many people so quickly? There were dozens of students that she had as her thralls! Where the heck are all of the teachers?! They should be on this!"

Meanwhile, at the UA staff's Valentine's Day party…

"I don't know, Nezu. I feel like something's wrong back at the school. I think that we shoul—"

"Now now, Toshinori. I promise you that it's nothing!" Nezu pulled a small device out from his pocket. "You see this? I have surveillance feeds from all over campus. I'd know right away if something bad was happening!"

The Symbol of Peace shook his head. "But then how about this tingly feeling that I'm having in my stomach? I had the same one back when USJ happened!"

Nezu laughed off All Might's worries. "That's just the lobster, my friend! I promise you, everything's all right. I'll be the first to know otherwise. Now, go enjoy the party! You need to spend some time relaxing and not worrying about your students!"

All Might sighed. "Oh, alright Nezu. If you say so. I'll be by the punch bowl if you need me." 

Once All Might was gone, Nezu turned on the small device in his hands. He smirked upon seeing just what was happening on the surveillance feeds. However, Nezu was specifically paying attention to a certain feed that was showcasing a specific green-haired boy. 

"Hehe. I wonder how you'll be getting out of this one, Midoriya. I can't wait to see."

"Okay, let's see. She has 1-B and 1-A under her control, so I'll have no help from there. Mei's fine and in her lab, but she'll be of no help. She's in one of those intense inventing states again. None of the teachers are on campus, as far as I can determine. And she also has various students from other classes under her control."

"Best guess is she mixed in her chocolates with everybody else's… somehow. I wonder how…" Izuku shook his head. "Doesn't matter for now. What matters is getting in there and knocking her out. With her out of the picture, her drones will just be standing around lifelessly until the effects of her food wears off."

"The way I see it, I can flood the immediate area in a swarm as large as my radius can reach. I run in, blending in with the swarm while tracking her with my bugs, and then I'll— No wait. Todoroki's under her control too. The fire will just decimate all the bugs. And I don't have any sedatives on me. So, what's next?"

"Come in through the sewers? I can set up an ambush, spring all the insects all at once from the storm drain to overwhelm them all at onc—"

Izuku shook his head. "No, no. That's a stupid idea. I'm doing it again. Okay, okay. Let's see. Umm… Aha! What'd she say earlier? Knock me out? That's perfect. But I just need to find—" His bugs spotted a prime target that fit right into his makeshift plans. "Oh, yes. Definitely you."

Izuku played the part of his own plan. He was currently "unconscious" and being carried right into the lion's den. However, he was somewhat regretting his choice in his chosen abductor, especially since the zombified Mineta was only able to drag his body around on the ground. The result was a couple bruises and bumps that Izuku would need to take out on the boy later.

It wasn't too hard to trick Mineta into believing he had taken him out. Simply falling flat on his face as Mineta shot his balls straight out from his head was enough to fulfill the ruse.

Nevertheless, it didn't take long for Mineta to have dragged him right in front of Heartstroke herself. Just as he had planned, she was alone in the room. All of the guards were stationed outside.

Although Izuku needed to keep his breathing slow and his eyes closed to keep up the act, he wasn't blind as to what was happening around him. He had eyes everywhere due to his bugs, after all. Thus, he watched Kuroko as her eyes widened and her smile brightened upon seeing Mineta carrying in his prize.

"Oh? What's this? You brought me the strange bug boy! I'm so proud of you, Minoru. I never thought that you would have been capable of such a thing." She patted him on the head.

"Here, have another cookie. You've earned it." Mineta eagerly gobbled down the sweet. When he was done, Kuroko immediately pushed him away. "Now shoo. Continue with your patrols. I want to have some alone time with my new guest." 

The villain's face held a rather innocent looking smile that Izuku never would have attributed to a villain. If anything, it was just another reminder to never judge something by first impressions. Like all those times he ended up facing down Toga.

After Mineta left, Kuroko crawled over to where Izuku's body laid flat on the ground. Her smile widened as she floated over him, revealing her teeth. 

"My my, you've caused some trouble, haven't you Mister Izuku? I mean, you hurt Kiri! And then you dodged a dozen or so of my other guards!" She giggled. "But then you go and get caught by Mister Grapehead? You're a weird one."

She pulled on Izuku's body, lifting him up and positioning him so that he sat against the wall. Once he was in position, Kuroko placed her hand under Izuku's chin and slightly lifted his head up, moving it side to side in quiet fascination.

"You really are a cutie. You may be a bit rough around the edges, but it goes well with the little bit of a bad boy vibe that you have hanging out around you."

Bad boy vibe? Is she serious?

"Don't worry though! It won't be long now. In just a bit, you'll get to join the family! In fact… Hmmm…. Aha! I have just what you need!" She dug around in the bag on her side, pulling out a neatly shaped heart shaped chocolate.

She raised the hand that held the chocolate, using the other to open up Izuku's mouth. "Now all I need to do now is pop this in your mouth and—"

Izuku shot his own arm out, gripping the villain's arm that held the offending treat. "Wha-Huh?!? Wait a minute! You're aw—"

Izuku didn't give the villain a chance to talk. His other hand tightened into a fist and struck Kuroko straight across the face, effectively knocking her out.

"Phew," Izuku sighed. He took out some spider silk strings he had tucked away and began restraining the villain's arms and legs. When he was sure she was secure, Izuku walked out of the room and took an immediate right, bumping right into Kaminari.

The zombified drone merely stared blankly back at Izuku, no longer powered by the orders of his master. With a lack of resistance threatening him, Izuku plucked off the device around Kaminari's head and smashed it to pieces.

When Izuku put his headpiece back on his head and dialed for Kaniko, he was relieved to get a dialing tone.

"Oh, hey Midoriya! How's it going? Called back so we could continue having that talk we were having just a little a while ago?"

Izuku smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that. But uh," he looked at his surroundings, "if you wouldn't mind, could you send some cops over first? I have Heartstroke restrained here of UA grounds, and I'd rather have her out of the school before nightfall. Oh! And a couple medics too. She dronified a good portion of the student body too."

Notes:

Yeah… So, the plot for this chapter kinda sorta ran away on me. But if I'm going to be honest? I like the end product. Hope some of you do as well.

And don't worry for all of you who are reading for the main plot. The real story continues next week!

As a side note, I don't promise that chapters like this won't happen in the future. In fact, they probably will happen again. They'll just be few and far in between… Probably certain holidays. So stayed tuned for those.