"Let Deku touch your horns."
In just five words, Ashido's plan crumbled into nothing, and shock washed over her face.
"What a masterstroke by your counterpart, Uraraka!" Setsuna declared with a gleeful grin, rubbing her hands together in an almost cartoonishly villainous way. "Now we'll finally get to see who the real 'shy little flower' is, won't we, Mina~?" she added, dripping her tone with exaggerated sweetness
Both her and Izuku whipped around to look at Uraraka. She had a smile on her face that fit slightly more on Miruko as she stared at Ashido, as though she was daring her to chicken out.
Mina, on the other hand, shot Setsuna a sharp glare before whipping it toward Ochako, who looked way too smug for her liking. In the end, though, there wasn't much she could do to shut down Setsuna's teasing or wipe that smug grin off Ochako's face. Because deep down, Mina knew that as mortifying as the idea of letting Izuku touch her horns was, neither she nor her counterpart was the type to chicken out of a dare. Especially not with Ochako's counterpart staring her down with that bold, challenging look, practically daring her to fold. And hell, if Mina Ashido was about to give her that bragging right.
Ashido broke away from the staring contest first, electing to instead turn back to Izuku. Her cheeks had darkened to magenta, and Izuku's own face heated up in response. He had overheard her talking before about how her horns were sensitive, but he had never gotten the chance to find out what exactly that meant. Judging by his pink classmate's nervous smile, he probably shouldn't have found out at all.
"Ohh~ this is going to be so much fun," Toru said, her voice bubbling with excitement as she practically bounced in her seat. As Mina's closest friend, she'd been subjected to more than a few rants about just how ridiculously sensitive those horns were. Which was exactly why she was grinning ear to ear, as the invisible girl waited with barely contained glee to see what kind of face Mina's counterpart would make when it was Izuku doing the touching.
"Of course you'd want to see that, huh?" Mina muttered, shooting an irritated glare in her invisible friend's direction before her annoyance softened and her eyes drifted toward Izuku's counterpart on the screen. 'Silly Midori, you finding out about my sensitive horns isn't the real problem. The real nightmare is you figuring it out in front of this pack of devilish women,' she thought with a weary sigh. 'But then again, with all the sins I've piled up myself, how could I possibly ask them to stop teasing me without getting laughed at right back?'
Slowly, Ashido approached Izuku, clearly trying to fight off her blush by adopting a mischievous look. "Please be gentle, Midori, this is my first time~" The voluptuous woman rested her hand against his chest as she stared right into his eyes with sensual, half-lidded ones.
"Aww~ our shy little princess is trying to act bold and sensual just to cover up how embarrassed she really is," Jiro teased, sneaking a sidelong glance at Mina with a smirk tugging at her lips. "But honestly, there's no need for her to put on all that bravado when she could just say no and duck out of the dare."
"Oh, please, Kyoka, unlike you, I'm not a scaredy-cat who'd back down from a challenge and then dress it up with excuses to save face," Mina replied haughtily before grinning back at Kyoka. "Besides, my counterpart at least has the guts to go through the dare despite all the embarrassment. But unfortunately, I can't say the same about you or your counterpart, you know..." she shook her head slowly, putting on a mocking, pitying sigh, "...I mean, we all know neither of you would ever willingly put yourselves through what my counterpart is doing right now. You'd just hide behind that temper of yours, snap at everyone, and storm out before anyone could pin the blame on you for ruining the game. Go ahead, Kyoka, tell me I'm wrong."
"Yes, you are!" Jiro snapped, glaring at Mina, though the blush creeping across her face completely betrayed her. "I would never—"
"Sorry, Kyoka, but Mina's not exactly wrong," Momo interjected softly, giving an apologetic smile to Jiro, who whipped her head toward her with a betrayed look in her eyes. "I'm not trying to take sides, but you do have a tendency to lash out without meaning to. And if that keeps happening, it could really hurt you down the line, especially if you end up wounding someone's feelings just because you don't know how to handle being teased. We don't want that, do we now?"
"...No. I don't," Jiro muttered reluctantly, her voice lower than usual. She wanted to bite back, to defend herself, but Momo's reasoning was too spot-on to deny. The worst part was that Jiro knew... she knew that Momo was right, and that this flaw of hers could be a real problem if she didn't get a handle on it. Shoulders slumping slightly, she finally exhaled and added quietly, "I'll work on it."
"No, we will," Momo corrected gently, her expression softening into a warm smile as she reached out and placed her hand over Jiro's. The simple touch broke through the earjacked girl's defensive shell, and slowly, almost reluctantly, her scowl melted into a faint smile of her own.
The Izuku an hour ago would have sputtered a few apologies and asked for a different dare, no doubt to Ashido's delight.
'For the flustered part, yeah, I would've loved to see that,' Mina thought, nodding along with on-screen Izuku's thoughts while her lips quirked into a small, amused smile. 'But asking for a different dare? Hell no. Even if it's embarrassing for me too, there's no way I'd let us back out now. If anything, I'm actually kind of hopeful... because as awkward as this might get, I've got a feeling it'll end up bringing us a lot closer in the end.'
The Izuku that Mina had her hand on, however, decided to try something a little different. He smiled at her, definitely just as nervous as she was, and said, "Don't worry, I've been told I'm very good with my hands."
Watching panic flood Mina's void black eyes as her blush grew to encompass the entirety of both cheeks made the comment completely worth it.
"Whoa, now that's what I call making moves," Setsuna wolf-whistled, grinning as she watched Izuku's counterpart flip the tables on Mina's counterpart. "Now, that's the side of Izuku I'd love to see more of."
"I know, right?!" Pony chimed in with delighted glee. "I didn't even know Mina could turn that shade of purple, but Izuku just made it happen!" she laughed, clapping her hands together.
"Hmm... I'm more curious to know if the scars on Izuku's fingers feel textured when they're inside..." Yui deadpanned, in her usual low, calm voice, causing several heads to whip toward her immediately, some eyes going wide with shock while others glimmered with amusement. Her flat tone and lack of any mischievous intent made the question sound completely genuine, which only made the whole thing ten times funnier for the girls who couldn't hold back their laughter at everyone else's horrified reactions.
"Yui... et tu," Itsuka sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she fixed the stoic girl with a disappointed look. "It seems that after Pony, you're well on your way to becoming a full-fledged member of the indecency club."
Determination swelled within the entrancing black holes and stamped the panic down in a single moment. Mina wouldn't give up so easily, especially not before Izuku had even started. She tilted her head forward slightly, signalling that she was ready for the man to begin.
Izuku raised his hands slowly, his attention flicking between the yellow horns that poked through Mina's bubblegum-pink hair and the woman's face. Her own gaze was firmly placed on his bare chest, unable to look at him just yet. Still, she didn't pull away, so Izuku reached out and gingerly pinched the tips of both horns with two fingers each. He watched Mina's breath get caught in her throat, and her fingers tensed against his chest. Izuku waited a moment for the woman to protest.
"Th-They're not gonna break," Mina stuttered out. She glanced at his face for a moment before her eyes returned to her hand. "They're springy, so you can, you know..."
Izuku nodded and looked back up to Mina's horns. With his left, he used a single finger to tilt her horn towards him. He had seen Hadou do the same thing in their first year, and he was amazed at how springy, as Mina put it, the horns were. He rocked the horn gently, feeling it shift naturally under his touch. Mina's breathing began to pick up as he did so, silently taking deeper and deeper breaths as Izuku toyed with her horn. Yet she did nothing to stop him, so Izuku turned his attention to her right horn as well. It felt smooth and firm, like the rest of Mina, but still had a slightly bumpy texture. Izuku blinked at the last fact. He never would have guessed the bumps by how it looked. Curious, Izuku gently ran his fingers down the length of her horn, marveling at the minute ridges that were nearly invisible to the naked eye.
Suddenly, the air in the room grew heavy and stifling, a heat settling over the group as most of the girls exchanged uneasy glances, their eyes locked on the on-screen interaction between Izuku and Mina's counterpart. The hesitant way Izuku fumbled as he tried to figure out how to touch her horns. The fleeting, almost sensual brushes of his fingers. The lingering, needy gazes they shared. Every small detail dripped with a tension that went far beyond the surface, and the undeniable sexual charge bleeding through the screen was now rippling into the room itself, stirring restless butterflies in the girls' stomachs and igniting sparks of excitement they couldn't quite shake.
"You know... even though I'm well aware this whole exchange is just part of a dare, and technically he's only touching a visible, totally non-sexual body part, it still feels like we're intruding on the prelude to something a hell of a lot more intimate," Reiko admitted, in a hushed voice as a faint blush spread across her cheeks.
"Yes... it really does feel as though things are slipping into something deeper, even if neither of them has realized it yet," Ibara sighed, her own face flushed crimson. For once, though, she didn't launch into her usual tirade about indecency and impropriety. Even she could recognize that this wasn't about lustful intent. The two of them looked so hopelessly lost in their own little bubble, so unaware of how their hands were moving, that it was impossible to believe any of it was deliberate.
Mina, meanwhile, was practically deaf to all of their commentary. Her brain was too overloaded by the sight of herself on-screen, caught in a trance she couldn't snap out of. Every glance, every touch, every silent beat between her counterpart and Izuku's made her heart pound louder in her chest. That said, with how flushed her face had become, there was no way she could've retorted even if she wanted to, because the sheer embarrassment of all those girls sneaking glances at her would've left her tongue-tied anyway.
Mina's fingers tensed further, and Izuku felt her nails touch his skin. He looked down and saw her biting her lower lip, her blush having grown even more to encompass the bridge of her nose as well. Something uncurled and heated up deep within Izuku's core, and he was careful to avoid letting his body reveal it. Was this what Mina felt when she flustered him? He could finally understand why the pinkette did it so frequently. He didn't even try to stop the soft smile that blossomed on his face.
"Ohh~ it looks like there's something else rising besides the usual stuff," Setsuna snickered while Itsuka rolled her eyes at her. "But honestly? I think it'd be hilarious if Izuku's counterpart ended up awakening some hidden mischievous side of himself after all this."
"I'd honestly love to see that," Toru chimed in eagerly. "But what I really want to see is him turning the tables and teasing those girls from the other departments. You know, the ones who keep coming up with the dumbest excuses just to hit on him. That would be hilarious to see."
"Well, as entertaining as it would be to watch him toy with those poor souls, I think it's best for all our sakes if he doesn't," Jiro cut in dryly. "Green's already going to blow a gasket when he finds out that thirteen girls are already pinning after him. Trust me, the last thing any of us needs is any more additions to all our clutter."
"You know what? You're not wrong, Jiro," Setsuna admitted, nodding thoughtfully. "The only reason we're handling this as civilly as we are is because we're close friends who've shared life-and-death situations out in the field. Otherwise, we'd probably be pulling each other's hair out, screaming at everyone to back the hell off the boy we love."
"That honestly sounds like something straight out of a school romance novel," Momo said with a soft chuckle, recalling a few titles from her own collection. "Although, I should point out that more often than not, the character who yells 'back off' usually doesn't end up with the partner they wanted. So in a way, it's a blessing that none of us are falling into that archetype."
Deep black eyes jumped up to meet Izuku's own. There was that look again, almost the exact same one Yaoyorozu had given him when the sleep mask was pulled away. Mina's lips parted slightly as she breathed out a little heavier than before, and Izuku could have sworn he saw her glance at his own lips for a moment.
As Izuku's thumb brushed up Mina's horn, he watched (a moment too late, perhaps) Mina smile, sharp and mischievous. She took a deep breath and moaned . Her voice was dripping with needy lust, her eyes screaming such a personal message Izuku wouldn't ever hear, and Izuku's body froze on instinct.
Once again, Izuku had no idea what he was supposed to do in this situation. Does he let go? Should he apologize? He should, he just—
Mina's smile. She did it on purpose. Mina wanted him to pull away first. She wanted him to admit defeat.
"Yes, Izuku! Don't back down now!" Setsuna cheered loudly at the screen as she egged on Izuku's counterpart. "Come on, buddy, man up and turn the tables on that girl who suddenly thinks she can play brave!"
"I mean, if he really wanted to one-hit K.O. her, he could just..." Pony cut in with a sly grin, puckering her lips and making kissy gestures with her fingers.
"Oh, now that would be even better," Setsuna replied, her eyes lighting up with mischief as she leaned forward. "That would strip every last ounce of bravado right off her face in an instant."
Izuku turned off his brain and let his hands do most of the talking. His fingers traced down the length of both of Mina's horns, feeling each bump and ridge on them. They didn't match each other, and Izuku desperately wanted to map them both out. For now, words came to his mind and he uttered them without hesitation, his voice low and husky, "Told you I was good~"
Whether it was how he spoke or what he said, Izuku's last boast was the final straw for Mina. Her eyes widened and her entire face turned a deep crimson. In a flash, both her hands shot up and knocked his own away from her hair. Both of them took a step back from each other and Mina exclaimed, "DARE'S DONE!" Her voice cracked twice, clearly overwhelmed by Izuku's bold actions. Without waiting for anyone's permission, Ashido spun around and fled towards the opposite side of the hot spring.
"Haha~ so much for being brave!" Jiro cackled, pointing a finger straight at Mina.
"Dammit, Kyoka!" Mina snapped, whipping her flushed face toward the ear-jacked girl. In her mind's eye, Jiro had already morphed into a chibi version of herself, doubled over and laughing with tears in her eyes. Shaking off the ridiculous and, annoyingly, kind of cute hallucination, Mina glared daggers at her. "Quit laughing at me! Like you'd do any better in my shoes!"
"Oh, I know I wouldn't," Jiro admitted shamelessly, still snickering, "but that doesn't matter, because right now, we're laughing at you." She grinned wickedly and clapped her hands together. "'DARE'S DONE!' Hah! Look at her, trying to bolt from Green just because of a little teasing!"
"Well, at least now we know Izuku has a Dragon Slayer hidden inside him," Momo said with a knowing chuckle, glancing at Mina, Setsuna, Toru, and their newest addition, Pony. "One who can easily slay the mischievous dragons in our class."
Setsuna opened her mouth, ready to fire back with a smug comment about how she wasn't like Mina and wouldn't crumble over some minor embarrassment. But the words died on her tongue as she froze, realizing the obvious truth that she and her counterpart weren't exactly immune to getting flustered either. Boasting now would be asking for karma to slap her across the face later, especially if Izuku's counterpart did something on-screen that left her own blushing mess of a counterpart exposed. For once, she decided to keep her mouth shut.
An apology jumped to the tip of Izuku's tongue. He should apologize for making her so uncomfortable, for touching her like he did, for toying with something so sensitive.
But Pony said no more apologies.
Izuku swallowed his words and lowered himself back into the water, resting his back against the stones once more.
Tears welled up at the corners of Pony's eyes as she clasped her hands together like a proud parent at graduation. "I raised that boy," she declared in an overly dramatic tone, her voice heavy with emotion as she pointed at the screen.
The other girls just stared at her, confused, silently trying to figure out what the hell kind of bit she was even going for this time.
Now that Izuku was able to focus on something other than Ashido, he drank in the reactions of the other women. More than a few had several different intensities of blush, for some reason, but every one of them were smiling or laughing at Ashido's panic. Izuku felt powerful, and he wasn't even using One for All.
"Heh, what's new? Even dogs can laugh at a tiger when it's locked in a cage," Mina scoffed, her tone dripping with arrogance as she watched her counterpart being laughed at. "That said, Midori's counterpart isn't wrong. The boy really does have a way of making girls look like Water Hose heroes with just one glance," she added, waggling her brows at the screen and throwing in a sultry look for good measure.
"Mina..." Momo cut in, fixing the pink-skinned girl with a long, withering stare, "...be mindful of what you joke about."
"What are you—" Mina began, her teasing tone faltering as realization crashed down on her. Her eyes widened, and she winced like she'd just bitten into glass. "Oh. Right. Mandalay's nephew, Kota... his parents were Water Hose. They're dead... killed in a villain attack. Shit. I really shouldn't have joked about them, especially like that," she muttered, guilt heavy in her voice. Slumping back, she rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "Thank god that kid isn't here to hear my stupid mouth, or he'd never look at me kindly again."
"Ah," Uraraka sighed, resting her cheek against her hand as she watched Ashido give in, "Revenge is like a mochi: so sweet and best served cold."
Ashido whipped around and glared at Uraraka, her look of anger entirely ineffective thanks to her raging blush. "Shut it! You wouldn't be laughing if Izuku was fondling your, your finger pad things!"
Uraraka snorted. "Finger pad things? Come on, Mina, I know Deku's good, but did your brain really melt from just a little curiosity?"
"You!" Ashido jammed her finger at Uraraka to emphasize her words. Izuku desperately tried to stifle his laughter as Ashido floundered for control once more. He really understood her now.
"Is it just me, or is Ochako's counterpart getting more and more chaotic and kinda vindictive toward Mina's counterpart?" Toru asked with a hint of amusement in her voice.
"I mean, she finally admitted her feelings for Deku. That must feel like a massive weight off her chest," Ochako said, casually stepping in to explain her counterpart's behavior. "Now that she's not drowning in all that emotional baggage, she's free to get some payback on Mina for two years' worth of nonstop teasing."
"Makes sense," Jiro said with a nod. "Guess this is what they call karma, it seems."
"Oh, shut the hell up, Kyoka! I'll show you what real karma looks like," Mina snapped, shooting daggers at the earjacked girl before whipping around to glare at Ochako. "And you! You think what I've done so far was bad? Please. You haven't even seen the big guns I've got saved up."
"Oh, please, do your worst," Ochako said with a dismissive wave of her hand, looking utterly unbothered. "Now that I'm not stuck moping over my own feelings, you're never gonna wring the reaction out of me you're looking for."
Mina's eye twitched at that, and she took Ochako's dismissal as a direct challenge to her pride.
"Don't! Know! What! It's like! In fact, truth or dare!"
"Dare."
"Let Midori play with your—"
"Beans," Uraraka interrupted Ashido and stood up. Izuku did not look away. "I call them beans, like a kitten's toe beans."
"And that's another clean strike from Uraraka's counterpart," Setsuna whistled, drawing out the sound like a referee calling a point. "Didn't even give Mina's counterpart the chance to so much as swing back," she added with a sly grin, snickering outright when Mina turned to glare daggers at her.
The brunette walked up to Izuku, holding his gaze firmly until she arrived at his left side. She sat down beside him and held out her right hand for him to take. "Deku, if you would?"
Izuku offered Uraraka a kind smile and accepted her hand. "I would be honored." Her giggle only served to widen his smile.
Unlike with Ashido's dare, Uraraka was calm when she looked away, entirely unafraid of whatever Izuku had planned for her hand. Judging by Ashido huffing and crossing her arms, Uraraka probably shot her a wicked smile, knowing she had won the exchange.
Not wanting to waste time, Izuku pressed his thumb against hers and felt the bean squish a little. It was still firm and rough, yet more than soft enough to give in to the pressure of Izuku's touch, just as Izuku remembered from the multitude of times Uraraka had touched him to use Zero Gravity on her best friend. Wanting to feel how rough the surface was, Izuku turned his right hand over and brushed three of Uraraka's beans against the back. They scratched at his skin like, well, like the pads found on animals like cats.
"Wait a minute! Uraraka, don't misunderstand me, I'm not accusing you of anything, but your counterpart looks a little too comfortable with that dare," Ibara said with a slight frown as she turned her head toward the brunette. "Have you perhaps... done something similar with Midoriya in the past?"
"Sorry to crush your little fantasy, but unfortunately, I have not," Ochako said with a chuckle, waving her hand dismissively. "As for why she looks that comfortable, your guess is as good as mine, but I think it's because the beans on my palms aren't as sensitive as Mina's horns. Honestly, when someone touches them, it feels the same as touching my regular skin, so there's no way I'd be moaning, shivering, and getting all flustered just from Izuku brushing his fingers over them." Her voice softened as a smile tugged at her lips. "That said, I don't know how true this is for my counterpart, but I definitely trust Izuku to know my limits and not push me further than I'd want to go, unlike what he accidentally did with Mina's counterpart."
Izuku hummed in approval at how apt her nickname was.
The hum drew Uraraka's attention, and she hummed inquisitively. Izuku shook his head and flipped his hand back over to squish the beans sequentially, starting with the one on her pinkie. "Nothing, just thinking about how fitting it is to call these 'beans.'" Idly, Izuku brought Ochako's hand up to his cheek and leaned against it. He smiled when he felt her subconsciously raise her pinkie to avoid activating her quirk.
"I was young when I came up with it," Ochako explained. Her permanent blush had grown slightly larger, almost impossible to tell for anyone who hadn't spent countless months around the heroine. "I had a friend who owned a cat, once upon a time, and my fingers matched. Cats have toe beans, I've got finger beans."
"Oh wow, that's actually really cute!" Toru said enthusiastically. "But I've gotta say, I totally agree with your counterpart, calling them beans just sounds so fitting!"
"Thanks," Ochako replied with a light laugh. "It started as this silly little thing from when I was a kid, but the name just stuck. My mom and dad found it hilarious, and honestly, their laughter made it worse because I started calling them that even more. It got so bad that even my official quirk registry lists the pads on my fingers as 'beans.'" She shook her head with a fond smile. "Mom still laughs about the poor official's face when tiny me proudly told him about that part of my quirk like it was the coolest thing in the world."
She suddenly glared at Izuku, though the look was lacking any real heat. "And before you ask, no, I don't have toe beans. I checked a long time ago."
Izuku chuckled and pulled Ochako's hand closer to his eyes, fingers still prodding her scratchy beans as he watched the texture and how the protrusions reacted to contact. "I may be curious, but I don't particularly have a thing for feet." He gave in to the urge to tease, the sensation already growing familiar to him. "Might've had something for your's, though, if they did have beans."
Izuku felt a smile grow in his face as he felt Ochako's heart race from the contact with her hand. Even if she managed to keep most of her composure.
"Oh, please, don't tell me our green-bean Broccoli Head has a foot fetish now," Setsuna groaned, recoiling slightly in disgust. "I mean, I'm the last person who'd kink-shame anyone, but still... feet? Eww~ no thank you."
"Relax, Setsuna," Ochako said with a small laugh. "As far as I know, Izuku's never shown the slightest interest in feet. I've spent plenty of time with him, and not once have I caught him looking at them. Now, if it were for a quirk-related reason, then maybe..." she said, dragging out the last word.
"Well, it's okay, I guess..." Setsuna said, shrugging a little. She knew that only Tsu and Pony had different kinds of feet because of their quirks, and those, at least, she could tolerate.
"Also, thank you for the information, that's going right into my notes," he added, and Ochako hummed in response, deep in thought. Then her eyes got a glint he couldn't quite place.
Ochako surprised Izuku with a sudden scritch-scritch against his cheek and he recoiled automatically. "Ah! Hey!" He shot Uraraka a glare of his own, but all she did was laugh. Much of the other women watching joined in her amusement, and Izuku didn't have it in himself to even fake being angry. Still, he'd rather avoid getting scratched again, so he lowered her hand and chose to rub his thumb against hers instead.
"How nice," Ochako muttered under her breath, a faint edge of envy slipping into her tone as she watched her counterpart share that warm, couple-like moment with Izuku on the screen. But then, her gaze softened, and a shy smile tugged at her lips. "Maybe I could too..." she whispered, her cheeks blooming pink at the thought.
"You were asking for it, buster!" He really was, he had to admit. "Also, truth or dare?"
"Da—" Shiozaki's towel. Ashido's horns. Uraraka's beans. Each of the recent dares would spell disaster for Izuku. He closed his mouth with an audible click before he cleared his throat and tried again. "Truth."
"Booo~" Setsuna and Mina jeered at the on-screen Izuku's response, both of them dramatically giving thumbs-down gestures toward the screen.
"You two are just mad your counterparts can't give Green any more obscene dares," Jiro said dryly, shooting them a sidelong glance.
"Yes," Setsuna and Mina replied together, grinning without a hint of shame, owning up to it, while Jiro just rolled her eyes.
"Tell us about your kinks." Scratch that, anything Tokage could think of would spell disaster for Izuku. "You said you didn't have a foot fetish, but everyone's got at least one weird kink."
"First of all, thanks for the compliment, Green," Setsuna said, tossing her hair smugly as a few of her friends scoffed at her blatant narcissism. "And second, I swear my counterpart on the screen has to be linked to me somehow, because she immediately followed up with the exact question I was wondering about."
"No, Set, I think you and your counterpart just share the same wavelength when it comes to stirring up chaos," Itsuka said, rolling her eyes.
"Indeed, Itsuka. The same obnoxious, annoying wavelength that can't stand peace and quiet and absolutely must come up with new ways to embarrass people," Ibara added primly, folding her arms. Setsuna's eye twitched at the double hit, hearing her two friends' pointed remarks.
Izuku was on a roll, and perhaps some day he'd look back at this evening with pride. At the moment, he had to break his confidence streak and lower his gaze to Uraraka's hand, already feeling embarrassment light up his cheeks. "I, well, you see..."
Tokage laughed at the bashfulness that overcame Izuku. "Aw, come on, you were doing so well! Here, I'll go easy on you. Name your biggest fetish. Just the one." Izuku barely heard the sound of Tokage's limb detaching before her hand raised his chin to force their eyes to lock from across the bath. "What is it that makes your heart really pound ?"
Izuku's mind flashed for a few seconds, trying to piece together every single way this could go wrong at the speed of light, but then another part started buzzing.
A part that had been ignored for so long had enough of that noise, and finally slammed on the 'Fuck it' button.
"Yes!" Setsuna cheered, throwing her hands in the air. "Well done, my counterpart! You finally made Green hit his 'fuck it' button! I'm so damn proud of you, girl!"
"I hate to admit it," Momo said, rubbing her chin thoughtfully, "but maybe Setsuna's style of flirting really is the most effective way to get Izuku out of his shell." She sighed softly, glancing at the screen. "Not just Setsuna's counterpart, either. We've seen it work with mine, Ochako's, and even Yui's counterparts. They all managed to get through to him the moment they took the lead, before he had time to overthink everything and convince himself that we were just being nice to him out of pity or friendship."
"What I'm saying," Momo continued, looking around at the others, "is that maybe it's on us to take that first step, to make him see how we actually feel before he talks himself out of believing it. Only then can we even think about walking that future path together," she concluded, giving the girls around her a lot to think about.
"Quirks," Izuku hummed out in a moment of pure and utter self assurance. "Physical mutations and using quirks to be sexy, or during, you know..." His face grew brighter with every passing syllable, like a raging inferno akin to Endeavor's Prominence Burn, but he didn't break eye contact, even grabbing a hold of Tokage's detached hand. "I've always loved quirks, and I never realized just how much until I found some... interesting things once puberty hit."
And with that last word in, his self assurance returned to its hibernation, leaving him with the growing feeling of dread and bone-rattling doubt. He didn't like the growing silence as everyone just stared at him, not even moving enough for water to splash. He let out a quiet "so, uh, yeah," to fill the void. It took him an embarrassingly long time to realize he was still holding both Tokage's disembodied hand and Uraraka's hand. He let both of them go and returned his own hands to his lap where they couldn't dig his grave any deeper, hopefully.
"Oh, that sounds pretty in line with the Izuku we know, ribbit," Tsu said after hearing on screen Izuku's reply.
"Yeah, actually, I feel kinda stupid for not realizing it sooner," Ochako admitted with a laugh, shaking her head. "Izuku having a fetish for quirks was so damn obvious. It's been right in front of us this whole time, practically smacking us in the face! We should've known even before he said anything."
"Well, Ochako, to be fair, most of us don't exactly sit around discussing or analyzing each other's fetishes, you know," Momo pointed out dryly, raising a perfectly shaped eyebrow.
"Oh. Right," Ochako said with a sheepish grin, scratching the back of her head. "Yeah, that… that makes sense."
"Oh," Ashido squeaked. The lovely shade of crimson from earlier returned in full force, and Ashido found herself entirely unable to speak. Izuku should probably feel bad about the thoughts the pinkette was grappling with, but he couldn't find it within himself to apologize. Speechless was a good look for her, after all.
"Oh, right! Mina's counterpart just let Izuku get off on her horns!" Setsuna announced with a huge, shit-eating grin. "Fuck! We were joking that their interaction looked like foreplay, but who knew it actually was foreplay!"
"No, it wasn't!" Mina shot back, her voice rising with irritation. "You guys are just making crap up!"
"We're definitely not making anything up, you know," Toru said in an overly sweet, sing-song tone. "Now that we know Izuku's got a fetish for quirks, your counterpart's reaction to him touching her horns just makes the whole thing ten times better!"
"She really did look like a bride on her first night," Yui said quietly, but just loud enough for everyone to hear. The words hung in the air for a beat before the entire room erupted into laughter.
"Perfect, Yui! I couldn't have said it better myself!" Setsuna howled, doubling over and slapping her knee as she laughed. The rest of the girls joined in, their laughter echoing around the room. Meanwhile, Mina sat frozen in place, her face burning bright red as she glared daggers at them all, silently fuming at the girls laughing at her counterpart and, by extension, at her.
Shiozaki unfortunately reached a very similar conclusion that Ashido had, and a heavy blush decorated her own face. With two women wrestling with Izuku's confession, another apology leapt to the tip of his tongue. It died pathetically when he watched Ibara's vines recede from her body to expose her entire midriff. What little vines that remained on the christian heroine served only to protect her breasts from his vision. Through great force of will, the man ripped his eyes away from Ibara, almost missing her sultry smile in the process.
Suddenly, the laughter in the room died off all at once, replaced by stunned silence as every girl turned toward Ibara. The vine-haired girl looked just as shocked as the rest of them while watching her counterpart on the screen. The sultry, mischievous smile her other self wore was something none of them had ever imagined seeing from her, let alone the fact that she was deliberately showing off more of her body.
"Well, that is most assuredly an expression I never imagined gracing your face, my friend," Reiko said after a beat, casting Ibara a sidelong glance. Her tone was teasing but laced with genuine disbelief. "That being said, it hardly ill becomes you, merely feels... most incongruous upon someone I have known for two years."
"I cannot claim to know why my counterpart is behaving in such a manner," Ibara began primly, folding her hands in her lap, "but if I must defend her actions, I would argue that the atmosphere of the moment and the 'wonderful'..." she paused to make exaggerated air quotes, "...company she is surrounded by, are influencing her behavior. In short, I blame Setsuna and Mina, and rest my case," she declared self-righteously, conveniently ignoring the fact that she had just pinned all the blame on the usual suspects.
"Like hell we're to blame!" Mina and Setsuna shouted in perfect unison, but Ibara merely pretended not to hear them, keeping her gaze fixed firmly on the screen to avoid bringing attention back to herself by arguing with them. However, this time her strategy failed as every girl in the room had already caught on to her little trick and now stared at her with identical flat, unimpressed expressions, and the weight of their collective judgment made Ibara visibly squirm in her seat, her vines twitching in embarrassed defeat.
"Oh shit." Jirou's exclamation was quickly followed up by unabashed laughter from the rocker. "Holy shit, Mina! You just, you just let Green go to town on your horns, too!" She continued to laugh, hard enough that she had to lean against Yaoyorozu for support.
"T-That wasn't like that-" he managed to squeak out, but too low to be heard by anyone in the commotion.
"Sorry, Green, but no matter how much you try to deny or defend Mina, it doesn't change the fact that you just went to town on her horns!" Jiro howled with laughter, clutching her stomach as she nearly doubled over. Her teasing only grew worse as she pointed at the screen. "What's even funnier is that our shy little princess clearly enjoyed having her horns played with!" she added, breaking into another uncontrollable fit of laughter that had her practically wheezing by the end.
Mina, however, was far from amused. Her face had turned crimson as she clenched her fists, already gearing up for a seething retort, but before she could even get a single word out, her counterpart on the screen beat her to it and said...
"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Ashido shrieked. "At least I didn't write a passionate love song about Izuku!"
Izuku's brain screeched to a halt and emptied faster than a broken sieve. A love song? About him?
As soon as those words left Mina's mouth, Jiro's laughter stopped dead like someone had hit pause on her entire body. She froze mid-breath, every muscle in her stiffening as the realization hit that every single person in the room was now staring straight at her. The weight of their collective gaze pressed down like a physical force, and she could practically feel the secondhand embarrassment radiating off them. Momo and Mina, however, stood out among the crowd their eyes weren't filled with shock or confusion like the others, but with thinly veiled amusement that made Jiro's stomach twist even tighter.
"Well, well, well, Kyoka, how the turns have tabled," Mina drawled with a grin that could only be described as downright demonic. "Writing love songs, huh? Even I'm not that mushy. But I guess it makes sense that a coward like you can only confess to the guy you like in a fantasy world instead of doing it in real life."
Mina's jab hit Jiro right where it hurt, making her whole body tremble with a mix of anger and humiliation. Yet, despite how much she wanted to fire back, no words came. After all, she'd been the one relentlessly teasing Mina up until now, taking every opportunity to get under her skin, and Mina was simply returning the favor, just like she'd promised.
Kyoka's laughter was silenced by a coughing fit. "How the hell did you know about—" She cut herself off and her jacks writhed like angry snakes. "I did fucking not!"
Izuku blinked. She's hiding the song. She actually wrote one?
"Oh?" Yaoyorozu cooed. "So you were singing about a different man 'who's gnarled scars told a story, a story of power, of pain, of a desperate plea to save~'"
Izuku's twisted fingers and the ugly patch on his upper arm couldn't possibly be what the lyrics were referring to.
Kyoka sputtered, unable to decide between several different accusations and denials.
"Damn it, Momo! Why?!" Jiro snapped, shooting her best friend a sharp look. "You're supposed to take my side, not hand them more ammo to make fun of me!"
"Kyoka, I'm sorry, but the way you've been taking shots at Mina has been way over the top and honestly, borderline vindictive, so I really can't say my counterpart did anything wrong by teasing you a little," Momo said calmly, folding her arms beneath her chest. "Besides, what kind of friend would she be if she just let your counterpart keep bottling up her feelings and lashing out at others just because she can't handle her own crush?"
"Whatever, Momo. Just because you're smart and good at arguing doesn't mean I have to agree with you!" Jiro grumbled, crossing her arms and looking away. She wasn't in the mood to get schooled by logic... not when she was already emotionally unstable at the moment.
Izuku, however, finally found enough brain cells to speak in the rocker's place. "Th-There's no way, there's absolutely no way she wrote about me, must be another of our classmates." At least three pairs of eyes snapped onto Izuku as though they just remembered he was there. "I mean—" Izuku laughed awkwardly as the words rushed out— "who would like me enough to write a love song? It's gotta be someone else, right?"
For the third time in a row, the laughter in the room died, but this time, it wasn't shock that froze everyone. Instead, frowns spread across the girls' faces as they watched Izuku's counterpart unravel before them, unable to believe that he was the one Jiro had written the song for. Over and over, he insisted it must have been meant for someone else.
Even Jiro had completely forgotten her own embarrassment, her tantrums abandoned in an instant. All her attention shifted to Izuku, worry etching deep lines across her face as she tried to understand why he couldn't accept that the song she had poured her heart into was meant for him and him alone.
Uraraka jammed her finger in Izuku's chest with a fire in her eyes. "And just what the hell do you mean by that? Why would you ever think that no one liked—? Izuku, I kissed you!"
"On a dare!" Izuku shot back, a part of his brain deciding to ignore the full truth in his attempt to crush any possibility of romance. He knew it would never happen, anyway, he learned that much a long time ago.
"Oh, Izuku, you were doing so well..." Ochako murmured, her voice soft but tinged with sadness. "We've both come such a long way in accepting our feelings. So why are you retreating back into your shell now? Can't you just accept that so many girls care about you? That all of us really love you?"
"It's not entirely his fault, Ochako," Momo said gently, placing a comforting hand on the brunette's back. "His reaction clearly shows signs of some deep-seated trauma from his past. It's not that he hasn't noticed all the affection our counterparts have shown him; his thoughts make it painfully obvious that he's actively trying to ignore it, crushing any possibility of romance before it can even start. And the worrying part is his follow-up thought: that he 'learned that much a long time ago.'"
'Bakugo, you are going to answer some of my questions, asshole, no matter how much you hate it!' Mina thought fiercely, determined to get answers from the explosive boy.
"Momo wasn't dared to do anything when Reiko pulled your mask off," Kendo hollered as she rapidly approached Izuku, looking just as offended as Ochako. "She was seconds away from kissing you too, how do you explain that?"
Momo made a sound that looked somewhere exactly in the middle of denying it and agreeing with it.
"Why are you acting like this now, honey?" Momo asked with a wry smile, her eyes fixed on the comically awkward expression on her counterpart's face. "You've been so bold and upfront all this time, so what's the point of suddenly freezing up when it matters the most? Just be bold and say you wanted to kiss him, what's there to lose?"
Izuku threw up his hands, gripping onto the last logical explanation he could get while still sticking to his old lessons, and retorted, "I thought she was messing with me! Mina does it all the time, I thought Momo wanted to— I don't know!"
"I tease you because I LOVE YOU, DUMBASS!" Mina's shout silenced the entire hot spring and every thought Izuku could ever have.
"Finally, sister!" Mina exclaimed, looking at her counterpart with the pride and adoration of a mother. "Maybe say it a little louder this time, so it really drills into that sweet, heroic dumbass's head, then he won't be able to ignore or refuse our love ever again!"
While Mina beamed with excitement, Ochako sulked quietly, silently cursing her counterpart for not taking the initiative to say those three magical words first. Now, Mina's counterpart had the honor of confessing first, and Ochako Izuku's first and closest friend couldn't help feeling she should have had that privilege instead.
All he could see was Mina. Her cheeks were flush with equal parts frustration and embarrassment. Her eyes were fixed on his own, the endless voids filled with, dare he think, love .
"L-Love...?" Izuku whispered. The word felt foreign to him, yet something felt so right about it.
"Oh lord, nobody should have that lost, longing look in their eyes when being confessed to," Ibara sighed, a genuine pang of sympathy for Izuku's counterpart tugging at her chest.
"Don't worry, Ibara," Itsuka said brightly, trying to lighten the mood. "By the time this video ends, we'll have definitely brought back the spark a boy adored by thirteen girls should have in his eyes."
"Exactly, Prez!" Setsuna chimed in, always eager to chase away any lingering gloom with her humor and infectious energy. "By the time we're done with him, he'll be brimming with confidence and a heart overflowing with all our love!"
Apparently, he didn't know jack shit about his female classmates. But he was about to learn way more than he ever thought he would.
All the girls chuckled at Izuku's thought, though they couldn't help but agree with him as well.
To be continued...