lunch break trouble

Away from Ai and his friends' table sat the two perverts of Class 1-A—Minoru Mineta and Denki Kaminari.

Earlier, the two had been ranking the girls in their class for the seventh time this week, with the latest category being: Who has the softest ass?

As always, their unsuspecting vice representative, Momo Yaoyorozu, took first place—for the seventh time.

The two boys were just about to start another list with a completely new category when a group of people entered the cafeteria.

Passing by their table was a group of girls from Class 1-B, happily chatting with each other as they made their way to grab food—courtesy of Lunch Rush's cooking.

Unaware of the eyes following them, the girls sat at their usual spot and happily enjoyed their lunch, discussing various random topics. To most, they looked like just a normal group of friends.

But for those with lecherous minds and a hint of jealousy, it wasn't just a bunch of girls having lunch. No, their eyes were locked onto the lilac-haired boy in the middle, whose attention was completely absorbed by his handheld device, ignoring everything around him.

Because of that, the girls had to guide him toward the table, making sure he didn't bump into anything—or anyone.

Mineta squinted his eyes, watching the scene unfold in front of him.

The shortstack and the white-haired chick were holding the boy on both sides, dragging him gently to the table.

The vine-haired girl went to the counter to get his lunch, like a doting wife.

And the ponytailed one? She literally tried to spoon-feed him, seeing he was too engrossed in his game to even touch his food.

"The fuck is happening here? It's just the first week of the school year and someone already started a harem? Before me? And they're all hot babes too? Lucky asshole…"

Kaminari looked worriedly at his friend, who seemed like he was about to combust right there in his seat, eyes burning with jealousy as he stared at the group of girls in front of them.

He was about to say something when the shorter boy suddenly grabbed him by the collar, pulling him in close until their faces were almost level.

"Bro, I'm telling you—that dude is building his own harem! He's always surrounded by sexy babes wherever he goes! At first, it was just the vine-haired babe, then the shortstack joined in, and lately that white-haired chick's been dragging him all over campus. Oh, and the ponytail cutie? She's always around him too! I'm telling you, bro, that asshole's been monopolizing all the sexy babes in his class! It's only a matter of time before the rest of the girls kneel in front of him! GUH! Why is that asshole so lucky?! It should've been me!"

"Bro, let go of my collar, you're gonna ruin my uniform," Kaminari grumbled, trying to pry the smaller boy off of him.

"Why are you so sure that guy is dating all those girls? The school year just started—there's no way he's that smooth," Kaminari said as he fixed his wrinkled collar.

Mineta slammed his hand on the table, his jealousy practically oozing from his pores.

"You don't understand, Kaminari! I can smell a chick magnet when I'm near one—and that dude is definitely one. He's just one ask away from enjoying those glorious jugs right in front of him! And here I am, still dreaming about feeling Yaoyorozu's ass. How is that fair!?"

Kaminari sighed. Even though he didn't completely believe Mineta's harem theory, he had to admit—whenever he saw that lilac-haired guy, he always had a girl by his side. It did make him a little jealous. Since day one, none of his pickup lines worked. Uraraka literally ignored him when he asked her out—right after she spotted Midoriya, which only frustrated him more.

Well… at least Jiro seemed easy to talk to. She laughed when he short-circuited himself that one time. Maybe he could start there. He'd also seen her try to strike up a conversation with Yaoyorozu a couple of times—who knows? If they became friends, maybe he could use that to get closer to the hot chick.

Kaminari's eyes drifted back to the table of the lilac-haired boy. That's when an idea popped into his head. All he needed to do was… nudge the situation a bit.

He took a bite of his sandwich and glanced at his still-fuming friend. "Bro, calm down. What are you gonna do—go to their table and start harassing him?"

Mineta gave him a dirty look.

Kaminari raised his hands. "Okay—okay, jeez! I'm not gonna go over there either! I'm not Bakugo. There's no way I'm brave enough to just walk up and start a fight," he chuckled awkwardly.

Mineta sulked, poking at his food.

Kaminari looked toward Itsuka's back. Based on what Tsuburaba and Kaibara had said, she was the one who ranked first during the practical exam. He chuckled inwardly, remembering how Bakugo was fuming over "a bunch of extras stealing his rightful glory."

He just hoped Mineta got the message.

After all, he hated both Bakugo and that lilac-haired boy anyway—might as well introduce them to each other.

Kaminari looked at Mineta and pretended like he just remembered something.

"By the way, isn't that the girl with the orange ponytail who got first place in the practical exam? God, she's probably strong."

Mineta nodded. He remembered the two guys in 1-B mentioning that she and someone else got first and second place in their class during the practical exam.

"She's freaking hot too," Mineta added.

Kaminari chuckled, his eyes squinting mischievously toward Ai's table. A sly glint flashed in them as he turned to his smaller friend.

"So that's the chick Bakugo hates, huh? The one who 'stole his rightful spot.' What do you think'll happen if Bakugo finds out who she is? You think he'll storm over there and start a fight like he did with Midoriya? And what about that lilac-haired dude—think he'll defend her, or just fold like a punk? Man, the girls would totally be turned off if they saw him wimp out."

Kaminari laughed inwardly when he saw the glint of wicked excitement in Mineta's eyes. The shorter boy immediately stood up and headed straight for Bakugo's table.

"So easy," Kaminari smirked, sipping his drink. "Sometimes I'm just a genius." The cafeteria was about to get lively again.

Meanwhile, Kinoko giggled while glancing at the boy beside her. Ai looked like he was on the verge of tears while playing his game. She couldn't really follow the plot, since he was so engrossed in playing that he hadn't spoken a word to her. Ibara had warned her that he'd be like that until the next chapter of the game released.

Itsuka, on the other hand, was literally trying to shove food into Ai's mouth. He wasn't eating at all, and they had Heroics class later that afternoon—possibly a sparring match—so she wanted him to fill up on energy just in case. She was determined to fight him at full strength again.

Kinoko side-eyed Ibara. The vine-haired girl was suspiciously calm about Ai not touching his food. Normally, she'd be the one force-feeding him by now. Kinoko had a feeling that Ibara had let Itsuka take on the job this time. Maybe because the orange-haired girl was so set on dragging Ai to train with her, and Ibara had simply used her concern as an excuse to hand off the responsibility of feeding him.

Kinoko watched Ibara enjoying her lunch while reading a book. She definitely looked suspicious.

Everyone was enjoying their lunch break peacefully when a spiky blond guy stomped toward their table and started running his mouth at Itsuka, accusing her of stealing his glory and looking down on him. He challenged her to a fight and even started calling her names like "bitch" and "whore."

Obviously, Itsuka wasn't about to let that slide. She stood up, grinning, and called him an insecure baby who couldn't live up to the hype his loser friends fed into his ego, and now he was trying to fix it by barking like a dog that couldn't bite.

The cafeteria erupted in a chorus of "Ooooh!"—the perfect cherry on top.

Kinoko, worried for her friend, glanced at Ai. He was still playing his game.

"Ai-no, I-Itsuka's in trouble..." she whispered.

Ai gave her a calm smile.

"Don't worry, Ki-chan. Itsuka's strong. She can handle the rabid dog just fine. She doesn't need anyone's help to protect her. Just sit down and finish your lunch, Ki-chan."

Kinoko nodded. He was right. Itsuka was strong—especially with her new move that she'd excitedly shown them recently.

The insults kept flying, but Itsuka's comebacks were clearly more creative. The "rabid dog" just repeated the same tired curses and appearance-based jabs. The cafeteria wasn't reacting to anything he said, but every one of Itsuka's lines landed hard.

The more she humiliated him verbally, the more visibly furious he became—drooling with rage like a wild animal.

Eventually, when it became clear he had nothing new to say, Itsuka gave him a smirk and said,

"Go back to your table and look up some fresh material, 'cause these middle school-level insults aren't cutting it here at U.A."

Then she turned her back on him and returned to her meal like nothing happened.

But the rabid boy had a different idea.

Kinoko watched as the rabid dog lifted his hand—palm sparkling—and swung it toward the unsuspecting Itsuka. The trajectory of the hit was aimed at Itsuka's nape.

Instinctively, Kinoko's body moved on its own. She stood between Itsuka and the rabid boy—

BOOM

She was sent flying to the floor. The left side of her face stung from the sudden hit.

Things became blurry after that—maybe due to a concussion. All she could remember was Aino wrapped in vines, falling to the floor beside her. Itsuka punched the rabid dog in the chest, sending him flying into a table where a blond-haired guy had been sipping his drink. Suddenly, a hobo-looking man wrapped Itsuka in some kind of white cloth, pinning her to the ground.

And then—everything went blank.

"You're awake. That's great. I'll give you a small test to see if you still have a concussion. Can we do that?"

Kinoko nodded, and the nurse asked several questions before clearing her.

"Okay, dearie, you're perfectly fine. Other than the fact that you probably need a new haircut. That bandage on your face is just there to soothe the pain. You don't have to worry about scarring—none of the explosion directly touched your skin. But even so, he will be in big trouble for this."

Kinoko looked at herself in the mirror. The left side of her face was covered in a bandage. Her bangs were a complete mess, and they smelled burnt. She definitely needed a haircut.

"W-What happened to everyone?" she asked.

The nurse handed her a gummy, which Kinoko threw into her mouth.

"The boy who attacked you is facing a month-long detention. His parents were called to the principal's office, and now he has a permanent assault case on his record. That's going to hurt him later if he became a pro. The media will use it as ammunition against him—even Endeavor doesn't have that kind of record on his file."

Kinoko nodded, but honestly, she didn't care about the rabid dog. She was more concerned about her friends.

"Your friend Kendo also got detention for hitting the boy, but it was ruled as self-defense. So she's going to be fine. Your friend Itami—"

Kinoko blinked. "Aino!? Why is Aino part of this? Did he do something?"

Recovery Girl sighed in exhaustion and slumped into her chair.

"Your friend kicked Eraserhead in the face when he was pinning Kendo to stop the fight. Eraserhead was livid and wanted him expelled."

Kinoko's eyes widened in horror at both what Aino did and the punishment.

"So he was expelled—for ten minutes. Until the World Hero Organization called Nezu and literally forced him to reconsider the decision. Or else U.A. would have a tiny, eensy bit of a problem renewing our international hero school standard

license. And U.A. can't afford that."

"Because," she added, "you can't really call U.A. the No.1 hero school in the country when your alumni have to apply for international hero work permit every time they work outside Japan. while, Shiketsu alumni don't have that problem."

If Kinoko's eyes could bulge out of her sockets, they would've already flown across the room.

"Oh," Recovery Girl added, "and Eraserhead has to reapply for his hero license if he wants to return to patrolling."

"…What the fuck is happening?" Kinoko muttered, looking absolutely done with everything she just heard.

"First of all, deary—language! Second, you and me, deary, you and me... Well, that at least confirms what kind of connection your friend has with the World Hero Organization," Recovery Girl said as she opened the door for Kinoko. "You can go back to your friends now, deary. We've already called your parents—they're aware of what happened, so you can relax."

Kinoko got up from the nurse's bed and walked toward Class 1-B's room, only to stop in her tracks when she saw Ibara, Itsuka, Rieko, and Aino waiting for her. She smiled the moment she saw Ai grin and wave at her. Kinoko threw everything she'd heard from Recovery Girl into the garbage bin of her mind and decided that her friends were just a perfectly normal group—the kind of friends she'd always wanted.

"Guys, I'm still hungry. Aino, you have to treat me a mushroom pizza," she declared.

The group left U.A. to get Kinoko some pizza.

---------

Later that night at LaBrava's penthouse.

"You know you can't just come in here and ask me to do all this when I'm already drowning in work! WHO is throwing case after case at me, and I can't even enjoy a cup of tea with how much I'm dealing with. Then you just show up and want to add more to my plate, Aichan!"

The lilac-haired boy only nodded at the small woman typing away at her computer. He had come to her with a request: hack into a middle school's security system and find surveillance footage involving one Bakugo Katsuki.

At least he brought pizza—she was starving.

The search turned up a total of 2,000 video files. All of them showed illegal Quirk usage, bullying, assault, and student-on-student violence. Honestly, some of the villains she'd helped put behind bars looked like amateurs in comparison to the blond-haired brat. Two thousand videos in just three years. Why the hell is this kid in a hero school in the first place?

"So, you're going to out him to the public in revenge for what he did to your friend?"

Ai cackled. "Yep! But not now. I'll wait until everything is within his grasp. Just imagine it: all his dreams, all his goals just one step away... and boom! Suddenly, news leaks that he suicide-baited his classmates, followed by thousands of clips of him beating and blowing people up going viral across the internet."

He grabbed a slice of pizza, set it on a paper plate, and placed it on LaBrava's table.

"I'll wait for now. Who knows? Maybe he'll make friends. Maybe he'll grow, become a better person, a promising hero even," Ai continued.

LaBrava looked at him, recognizing that sadistic grin. It was the same one he wore the day he made her bullies wet themselves and vanish from her life. They had locked her on a rooftop and suicide-baited her—but Ai showed up, and he made them disappear.

"That's when I'll deliver the most pain," he said calmly. "When his friends find out his skeletons, when the public brands him a villain, and the hero society turns its back on him. That's when he'll finally understand—if you give pain to someone, you should be ready to receive their pain in return."

LaBrava shook her head. The world had no idea how lucky it was that Ai wasn't a villain.

"I hate you, you know," she muttered, tossing him the flash drive.

Ai caught it with a laugh and headed for the door. "You know that's a lie, Minami-nee. Your Quirk works on me, remember? I know you love me."

He left her alone in the penthouse.

Ai was troublesome. But she couldn't do anything about it—he was her little brother, after all.

She winced when another wave of files from WHO hit her inbox. "Goddammit. I should've just taken that job at Wc-Donald's. At least I wouldn't be stuck tracking villains all day..."

But truth be told, she couldn't complain. She loved this job. Loved the fact that, in her own way, she was a hero—helping heroes across the globe locate their villains.

All of this... was thanks to the weird boy who found her crying a year ago. She didn't know what her life would be like if she hadn't met her little brother.

Though... she really would love a vacation right about now.

End of chapter 25