"You really came here, damn deku."
Bakugo Katsuki turned his head, lips curling into a grin that was just a little too vicious. Hearing Midoriya Izuku's voice here wasn't even a surprise—like he'd been expecting it all along.
"What? You avoiding me now?"
"Kacchan, I wasn't—"
Midoriya quickly reached out, wanting to explain, but Bakugo clearly had no interest in listening.
Instead, his eyes shifted toward Konata, who was sitting on the bed inside the room.
"So, what do you say? Mind if I borrow him for a bit?"
"Uh…"
Konata looked at the durian sitting in front of her, then decisively shook her head.
"He's not my property. If you've got business with him, why would you need my permission— But hey, school rules say no fighting on campus, are you even listening to me?"
"That can wait. I'm leaving."
With a lazy wave of his hand, Bakugo grabbed Midoriya and hauled him straight out.
"…Completely incomprehensible." Konata watched Bakugo arrive and leave like a summer storm.
Her gaze fell back on the durian. After thinking for a moment, she picked it up and placed it carefully on the bedside table.
To her, durians were terrifying. Sure, people claimed they "smelled bad but tasted good," but just taking that first bite required more courage than most heroes had.
"Mm… I'll just give this to Recovery Girl later. I'll tell her it's from a certain durian-headed person."
Muttering to herself, Konata set the spiky fruit aside, then flopped onto the bed like a starfish, pulling the blanket over herself without much care. She turned toward the window and spaced out.
The weather today was perfect.
School was over, the campus quiet—so quiet she could hear her own breathing.
As the setting sun painted everything in a warm golden glow, Konata's thoughts drifted lazily:
There's nothing more beautiful than the sunset.
Sometimes, you just want moments like this to last forever. Or at least… a little longer.
Her eyelids grew heavy, and before she knew it, she'd fallen asleep.
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When she woke again, the sky outside was already dark. The infirmary lights were on.
Stars twinkled faintly outside the window.
"You're awake? Then let's head back together. Sorry for making you wait so long."
Midnight, who had been chatting with Recovery Girl, stood up immediately when she saw Konata stir.
"What time is it?"
Konata sat up, pressing a hand to her temple—her head felt a little fuzzy, like she'd just traveled through time in her dreams.
"Half past nine," Midnight replied casually, before turning to the old lady with a smile.
"Then, I'll leave that matter in your hands."
"Don't worry, I'll take care of it," Recovery Girl said warmly as she walked over to Konata.
"How was it? Did you sleep well?"
"Uh… I guess. Though I had a weird dream." Konata frowned slightly as she swung her legs off the bed and slipped on her shoes. But just as she was about to leave, something occurred to her.
"Oh, right. That durian on the table—it was sent by a certain durian-headed person, just for you."
"Durian?"
Recovery Girl glanced at the table, an amused glint in her eyes.
"And the green apple next to it—was that from him too?"
"Green apple?"
Konata turned, and sure enough, beside the durian sat a convenience store bag containing a green apple… and a bottle of cola.
"…Cola?"
Her brows furrowed.
Apple and cola? What kind of cursed combination is that?
Bakugo showing up with a durian was already weird enough—oh, wait. He hadn't come for her. He'd been looking for Midoriya.
Which raised another question—how did he know Midoriya would be here?
No… actually, the bigger question was—why did Midoriya come here in the first place?
"This was from Midoriya," Recovery Girl explained with a smile.
"…He came to see me?" Konata pointed at herself, clearly baffled. "Why?"
The question caught Recovery Girl off guard for a moment, but she quickly smiled again.
"Mind if I ask you something first?"
"Go ahead."
Konata glanced at Midnight, who stood nearby with her arms crossed, before looking back at the old lady. For some reason, she felt there was something… knowing in both of their expressions.
"What do you think of Midoriya?"
"Obviously I look at him with my eyes. It's not like I've got some built-in radar."
Her tone turned wry.
"He's still weak now, but his potential's huge. If he'd just stop letting his emotions control him in battle, he'd already be hero material."
And once she started, the complaints came out in a rush.
"You have no idea—this is the second time! The first was during the League of Villains invasion. If he'd kept calm, I could've captured their leader alive. I even told him afterward: stay calm. But no, he didn't listen. Honestly, he's worse than Bakugo."
Her face twisted into pure grievance.
"I mean, I was literally the hostage, right? Who charges in like that when the hostage is still in enemy hands? Wasn't he worried I'd get killed? The way he rushed in, it's like he wanted to take me out along with the enemy! Is that what they call eliminating the hostage so you can fight at full power?!"
"…"
Recovery Girl suddenly had no idea how to continue the conversation.
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In the end, Konata still had no choice but to with a shopping bag in one hand and follow Midnight-sensei back home.
Well… she had been hoping to leave the durian with Recovery Girl.
"Hey, Little Konata, want me to carry that for you?"
Midnight smirked mischievously at the girl walking ahead with two big bags.
"Midnight-sensei, could you please drop the 'Little' part?"
"Sure thing, Short Konata."
"…Midnight-sensei."
"Hm?"
"…Just call me Little Konata again."
Midnight suddenly realized… teasing this tiny girl walking ahead of her was actually really fun.
They say lolis have three virtues: soft voice, soft body, and easy to push down.
She had already confirmed the first two yesterday while bathing. Now she was tempted to test the last one.
So she did.
"Want to take a bath together?"
Midnight pushed the bathroom door open, holding her clothes.
Konata, who was nearly submerged with only half her face above water, immediately sank the rest of it under the surface.
Bubbles gurgled up, mixing with the foam.
"Blub blub blub not blub blub blub"
"I'll take that as a yes."
"Blub blub blub blub blub!"
"Want to sleep together?"
Midnight pushed open Konata's bedroom door, hugging a pillow and wearing pajamas.
Konata silently unplugged her hair dryer, then walked up to Midnight, looked up, and held out her hand.
"Midnight-sensei, could you give me my room key?"
"Sure… but I'm scared of the dark, so can I sleep with you instead?"
Midnight ruffled Konata's hair with a smile.
"I kick the blanket off in my sleep."
"Perfect—your cold isn't better yet, so I can tuck you in."
"I also sleepwalk."
"That's fine. I'll keep you safe."
Konata: "…"
And so… she spent the entire night not sleeping.
The next morning, Konata staggered into class, flopped onto her desk, and wore the face of one whose soul had left her body.
By all rights, Midnight-sensei should've slept like a baby, but for some reason Konata just couldn't sleep—especially when she realized she'd been used as a human pillow.
"Figures… bad luck just sticks to me…"
As the minutes passed, her classmates started arriving. Thanks to living with Midnight, Konata had come early—hoping to sneak in a nap before class started so she wouldn't nod off later.
If she remembered right, the first two periods today were Present Mic's English class. And if you dared to nap, he would serenade your ear with "heartwarming" raaa noises.
But her plan was doomed. Barely ten minutes into her nap, Bakugo Katsuki's voice yanked her back into reality.
"You said you'd teach me combat techniques?"
Leaning back in her chair, Konata yawned.
"Yeah. Name your conditions. Since you were willing to teach that damn nerd, I figure you won't mind—"
"Honestly, with your Quirk, you don't need combat lessons. You've got talent. So why—"
Konata rubbed her eyes and looked at him.
"Tch. If you don't wanna teach me, then—"
"Come see me this weekend. Ask Deku for the location. Bring food. You're covering my meals for the day. Now let me sleep, I'm dying here."
She dumped the entire sentence in one breath, then collapsed forward onto her desk and shut her eyes.
Bakugo: "…"
She didn't get much rest. When the bell rang and Present Mic came in, her head felt like it had been filled with lead. The whole morning, she drifted through class like a ghost.
Her notes? A disaster—scribbles from muscle memory that looked like a doctor's chicken-scratch, completely illegible.
By lunchtime, she finally jolted awake.
"…Ugh."
One glance at her notebook confirmed the tragedy—squiggly lines and circles everywhere.
"Forget it. I'll just borrow Yaoyorozu's notes later. Food first."
Three seconds of thought later, decision made.
"The world's big, but food's bigger. Man's made of iron, rice is steel—skip a meal and you're dead."
Bakugo watched her hurry to join Uraraka's group.
"This idiot…"
To be fair, living with Midnight had improved Konata's quality of life a lot. Bathing in a bathtub, sleeping in a big soft bed instead of a hard board, and no more worrying about meal costs—it was heaven.
With housing and food covered by U.A., she no longer had to go out at night hunting delinquents… though she still didn't sleep well.
But lately, she'd noticed something strange. Other students from other classes seemed to be… watching her.
When she leaned in to eavesdrop during lunch, she caught a few words—
"That blue-haired ahoge girl—"
Her face darkened instantly.
So… this nickname was never going away, huh?
…Damn it.
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After secretly eavesdropping from around the corner long enough to get the gist of things, Konata Izumi finally understood the situation.
The annual U.A. Sports Festival was only a week away, and Class 1-A, having survived a villain attack as a group, was already attracting plenty of attention even before the event began.
This year's sports festival was sure to be a rare spectacle. If one could perform outstandingly and catch the eye of the pro heroes in attendance, their future would be nothing short of bright.
Somehow, without even realizing it, she had been pegged by the bored folks in the Management Course as their top-seed candidate, even being rated as having combat ability on par with a pro hero despite still being a student. If she were a big burly man, maybe it wouldn't be such a big deal, but unfortunately for her, she happened to have the appearance of a cute little loli.
Strong, skilled, and cute—of course she was going to draw attention.
But when Konata caught wind of this, she immediately felt her whole day sour.
Especially when she overheard people talking about "how cute she was"—she nearly wanted to dig a hole and bury herself in it. The embarrassment was off the charts! Even with the training she'd had working at a maid café, she couldn't handle it right now.
Konata Izumi was a loli outside but an old man inside—no, a truly old man at heart. So this was all part of your plan from the start, wasn't it, JoJo?!
Because of this, she spent the entire day listless, even during All Might's Hero Basics class in the afternoon.
It wasn't until after school that her mood started to pick up.
But when she reached into her desk and found several love letters, her mood crashed right back down.
Expressionlessly destroying every trace of the letters, she grabbed her bag and prepared to leave. She'd already gotten the key from Midnight yesterday, so unlike before, she didn't need to wait until after nine to get going.
However, when she opened the classroom door, she found a crowd packed tightly into the hallway outside. The moment she appeared, the people crammed by the doorway took a step back.
Konata's face instantly darkened.
Some were clearly here to gather intel, while others seemed to just want to get a look at the "blue-haired ahoge girl." Yesterday she'd been out sick after returning from Musutafu City and had stayed in the nurse's office, so today was probably their chance to openly snoop while all of Class 1-A was together.
"What's going on?"
Uraraka Ochaco, right behind Konata, looked startled—it was probably her first time seeing a door-blocking crowd like this.
"May I ask what business you have with Class 1-A?"
Iida Tenya began his standard formal questioning, but Mineta Minoru quickly cut in with a loud complaint.
By the way, among everyone in Class 1-A, Mineta was the only person Konata could stand next to and actually feel tall.
"What the heck, you're blocking the doorway! None of us can get out! What are you—"
"They're here to challenge us."
Before Mineta could finish, Konata cut him off sharply, her eyes scanning the crowd with a solemn expression.
"If I'm not mistaken, one of you organized this, right? So do me a favor and step forward. I don't have the time or energy to waste here—my mood's already lousy. Well? Not coming out?"
"Ah, I just wanted to see what the famous Class 1-A was really like. Calling it 'organizing' makes it sound like I stirred them up on purpose."
With those words, a purple-haired, dead-eyed boy stepped forward from the crowd.
"So you're the mastermind, huh?"
Narrowing her eyes, Konata gave him a once-over, her tone clearly unfriendly.
"Riling up students to block our door—believe it or not, I could tell the principal about you."
"I told you, they came here of their own accord. It's got nothing to do with me."
Scratching the back of his neck with one hand, the boy replied with the same flat tone.
"There are a lot of students here who didn't make it into the Hero Course and ended up in General Studies or other departments, you know?"
"Yeah, I know."
Konata answered with the kind of "are you stupid?" look that made her tone sound almost obvious.
"So? You trying to say you're here to complain because you didn't get into the Hero Course?"
"Of course not. I just want to make one thing clear."
The boy showed no sign of anger, speaking in the same tone.
"Everyone who applies to U.A. dreams of becoming a hero. Even if we didn't get into the Hero Course, the school still left us a chance. If we perform well at the Sports Festival, they might consider transferring us into the Hero Course. Where there's an 'in,' there's an 'out.'"
His eyes swept over the classroom.
"And yes, you're right—I'm here to declare war on you Hero Course students. Even if you're Class 1-A, I'm confident I can stand against you."
"Unsteady footing, weak stance, loose muscles, sleep-deprived, dead-fish eyes, receding hairline—you clearly haven't trained properly, have you?"
Rolling her eyes, Konata replied with open disdain.
"For you to talk that big, I'm guessing you're relying on some strong Quirk, right? But have you ever heard of a hero who made it just by having a powerful Quirk? Even if you're here to challenge us, at least put in some effort. Instead, you come here spouting a bunch of crap—"
Swinging her bag over her shoulder, Konata's voice turned impatient.
"So can you all move? I've got things to do and need to get going."
Her verbal barrage left the boy momentarily stunned, clearly not expecting that kind of response.
"You—"
"You what? Don't you think this is childish? The Sports Festival's right around the corner, yet instead of training, you waste time coming here to challenge us. Still stuck in your chuunibyou phase, huh?"
Sighing, Konata turned to glance at her classmates.
"As far as I know, every single person in this class is working hard for the festival—whether developing their Quirks or training their bodies. They don't have time to issue pointless challenges, because in the end, it's results and skill that matter, right?"
She turned back to the boy, speaking seriously.
"Now do you get why we're Class 1-A?"
"General Studies, Hitoshi Shinso."
After a pause, the boy introduced himself.
"Good, Shinso Hitoshi. Now, could you move? You've already wasted enough of my time."
Glancing at the clock on the wall, Konata's voice took on a sharper edge.
"If I'm any later, I'll miss my weekly episode of anim—training."
Catching herself mid-sentence, she awkwardly corrected her wording, but the unnatural shift was obvious to everyone present.
Everyone: "..."
So, after praising all of Class 1-A for working tirelessly on their training, turns out she's in a rush to get home and watch anime.
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Alright, so… you guys have been pretty vocal about my chapter lengths lately.
And after reading a few of those comments, I had that "Huh… they're actually kinda right" moment.
So from here on, I'm aiming for 2.5k+ words per chapter. Yep, we're going full stamina mode. More content per update, more Konata antics, and hopefully less of that "Wait, that's it?!" feeling at the end.
Of course, longer chapters = more coffee (and maybe my sanity slowly leaking away), so if you're enjoying the story, don't forget to drop those power stones. I've decided on a little deal:
📜 Every 200+ power stones in a week = 1 extra chapter
You give the stones, I'll give the goods.
Let's see if we can keep the pace up and push this series even further! Thanks for reading, for commenting (yes, even the "too short" ones), and for sticking with Konata's chaotic journey. You guys keep this fun.
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