The place Izuku led Toga to wasn't a noisy restaurant or an anonymous noodle stand. It was a small, family-run spot hidden in a quiet alley, with a single paper lantern illuminating a wooden sign that read: "Hana's Haven." The aroma of frying katsu and miso soup wafting from inside was a warm embrace that contrasted with the stench of trash in the alley.
As soon as they entered, a middle-aged woman, plump and cheerful, with her hair in a graying bun and an apron dusted with flour, came out from the kitchen.
"Izuku-kun! What a pleasant surprise!" she exclaimed, her eyes lighting up. She wrapped Izuku in a hug that smelled of home and bread dough. "How's your mother? Is she still plowing through those protein shakes that taste like garbage?"
Izuku laughed, returning the hug. "She's unstoppable, Mrs. Hana. I think she'll soon be able to lift the counter with you on top of it. Uh... a table for two, please?"
Mrs. Hana's eyes shifted to Toga, who had remained standing near the door, clutching her notebook like a shield, her yellow eyes scanning the cozy space with an almost animalistic distrust. Mrs. Hana gave her a maternal smile.
"Oh! And you've brought a friend? What an adorable young lady!" she said, pinching Izuku's cheek playfully. "Is she your girlfriend, Izuku-kun? It's about time!"
Izuku's brain weighed two options: the awkward and complicated truth, or the simple and shameless lie. He chose the latter without hesitation.
"Yes, she is!" he said with a beaming smile and completely unashamed pride, wrapping an arm around a totally rigid Toga's shoulders. "She's a little shy."
"Wait, what?" Toga muttered, just low enough for only him to hear.
"Just follow my lead," he whispered back.
Toga looked at him, saw the goofy, confident smile on his face, and a strange, twisted amusement took hold of her. She relaxed under his arm and gave Mrs. Hana a sweet, slightly manic smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Izuku-kun has told me so much about your katsudon."
"Oh, what a charmer!" Mrs. Hana said, clearly won over. "Of course, of course! The best table for the young couple! By the window!"
She led them to a small, secluded table covered with a checkered tablecloth. The lanterns in the restaurant cast a soft, warm light, highlighting Toga's wary eyes and Izuku's easy smile. This place, for now, felt safe.
Mrs. Hana served them two steaming plates of katsudon and two tall glasses of iced tea. For the first few minutes, they ate in silence. Izuku devoured his food with the appetite of a teenager who had burned through all his adrenaline. Toga, on the other hand, poked at her breaded pork cutlet with a fork, moving it around the plate without taking much of anything to her mouth.
Izuku noticed and set down his chopsticks.
"You don't like it?" he asked quietly. "We can order something else."
Toga shook her head, not looking up from her plate. "It's not that. It's... good. Too good. I'm not used to it."
"To good food?"
"To this," she said, making a vague gesture that encompassed the table, the warm glow of the lantern, and the murmur of the other families dining. "To sitting down. To someone serving me. To some weirdo who tried to kill me buying me dinner and lying to the owner that I'm his girlfriend."
Izuku blushed slightly. "The girlfriend thing was a tactical improvisation."
"It was a good one," she admitted with a small smile. Then, it vanished. "My Quirk showed up really early. When I was little. As soon as the other kids saw what I could do, how I liked blood, they called me 'vampire.' 'Monster.'"
She speared a piece of pork, her fork trembling slightly. "The teachers told my parents. And they... didn't help. They looked at me differently. Like I was broken. Like I was something that needed to be fixed or hidden. So one day, I ran away."
Her voice was low, a matter-of-fact telling devoid of self-pity. "I did bad things to survive. I stole. I hurt people. I liked it. Or I thought I did. Now the cops are after me. That's why I don't go to public places. I'm a ghost."
Just then, a distant siren wailed in the night. Toga tensed instantly, her body going rigid as her eyes locked onto the door. Izuku saw the pure panic on her face.
He placed his hand over hers on the table. "Easy. It's just an ambulance. It's far away. You're safe here."
His touch seemed to ground her. She slowly relaxed her shoulders, but didn't pull her hand away.
"That's rough," Izuku said, his voice filled with an empathy that disarmed her. "Really rough. But you have to listen to me, Toga. What you did, that need you feel... that's not you. It's your Quirk's wiring. It's a glitch in the system, it's not your fault."
She looked up, her yellow eyes searching his, full of disbelieving surprise. "You really think that? After I tried to stab you?"
"I saw it," he affirmed with absolute certainty. "I saw the manual. I saw the feedback loop. You're not an addict because you're weak, you're an addict because your own power is poisoning you. And we can fix it."
A single tear slid down Toga's cheek. She quickly wiped it away with the back of her other hand, embarrassed. No one had ever spoken to her like that. No one had ever looked past the monster.
To break the heavy atmosphere, Izuku decided to change the subject by resorting to his best tool: absurd self-deprecation.
"Besides, you can't trust my judgment," he said with a grin. "The codename I gave my Quirk, 'Booster,' was completely wrong."
Toga blinked, confused. "Wrong?"
"Yeah. I've realized it doesn't exactly 'boost.' It's more like it... guides. I've been thinking about it, and its real name, the one they gave me when I was a kid, is much more accurate. Though it's also much more pathetic."
"And what is it?"
Izuku leaned in as if sharing a state secret. "It's called 'Coach'."
Toga stared at him for a second. Then, she let out a laugh so loud she choked on a grain of rice. She started coughing, pounding her chest, her face red from laughter and suffocation.
"Coach?!" she managed to get out between coughs. "Like for dogs?! You're kidding me! Your Quirk is for training puppies!"
"And cats! Don't forget the cats!" Izuku added, laughing as he handed her his glass of water. "I know, it's pathetic! But it makes sense! I coach people on how to use their Quirks better. I'm like a dog whisperer, but for superpowers!"
"You're the boob whisperer!" Toga laughed, now recovered, her eyes shining with genuine amusement.
"That too!" he admitted without shame.
"Seriously, though," she said, her smile turning slyer. "You're really not in this hero thing for justice and saving the innocent and all that crap?"
Izuku shrugged, completely sincere. "Sure, saving people is great. It's a nice bonus. But my main motivation, my ultimate goal... is to bury my face in the thighs of a giant heroine. Specifically, Mt. Lady's."
Toga stared at him. And then she roared with laughter, a laugh so loud and genuine that Mrs. Hana glanced over from the kitchen with an amused smile.
"YOU'RE A PERVERT! A COMPLETE AND TOTAL PERVERT!" she exclaimed, wiping away tears of laughter. "But at least you're an honest pervert! I like that!"
She leaned over the table, her face now a mask of mischief. "And that brings me to something else. Your little 'theory.' The one about the big heart. When you attacked me, you muttered something about a 'small heart, bad sign.' Do you really believe that nonsense?"
Izuku blushed again. "Well, it was a working hypothesis. My case study A, Uraraka, validated it perfectly. So I assumed that a smaller chest size, like yours, would indicate less of a predisposition for kindness."
"So you were judging me by my boob size while I was trying to kill you!"
"I was gathering data in a high-stress situation!" he defended himself. "But I was wrong! After our... analysis session... I had to re-evaluate. And looking now..." his gaze flicked down to her chest for an instant, a quick, almost clinical gesture, "they're not that small. They're... perfect. Compact and efficient. My theory needs more nuance."
Toga stared at him, dumbfounded, and then let out a huff. "Stop staring at my boobs, you weirdo!"
"I wasn't staring, I was scientifically re-evaluating!" he protested, waving his hands and knocking over his water glass, spilling the rest of it on the table. Mrs. Hana appeared as if by magic with a cloth, cleaning up the mess with an "oh, young love" smile.
When they finished eating, the atmosphere was light and comfortable. The tension was gone, replaced by a strange camaraderie.
"Hey, Toga," Izuku said, his tone turning serious again. "What I offered you in the alley... I was serious. You could train with me and my friend, Ochako. We practice most afternoons after school. It's an abandoned beach, no one ever goes there, so it's safe. We'll help you control your Quirk. We'll teach you how to follow the manual."
And how the hell am I going to explain this to Ochako? he thought for a split second. "Hey, partner, I recruited a fugitive from the most-wanted list who tried to murder me. She wants to join our super-secret training club. Oh, and I asked her to sit on my face." Yeah, that'll go over well.
He pushed the thought aside. One problem at a time.
Toga's smile faded, replaced by a vulnerable expression that made her look much younger. "No one..." she murmured, looking at her hands. "No one's ever offered to... help me. Only to judge me."
He saw her bite her lip, a familiar thirst beginning to gleam in her eyes. The emotional stress of the day, the confession... the feedback loop was starting.
Izuku acted on instinct. He grabbed the butter knife from the table. It was dull, but it would do. He made a small cut on the pad of his thumb. A bright, red drop of blood welled up under the lantern light.
He held out his hand.
"Here, pretty girl," he said with a calm smile. "Your dose. To hold you over until we get the supplements."
Toga looked at him, surprised by the nickname and the gesture. A slow, provocative smile spread across her lips. "'Pretty girl?' What a bold move, hero boy."
She leaned in and, with a delicacy that contradicted her reputation, took his thumb and brought it to her lips. Her tongue, warm and wet, licked away the drop of blood. She closed her eyes, a soft, satisfied hum escaping her throat.
"Mmm..." she murmured against his skin. "Tasty. A very tasty hero."
Izuku's face became a nuclear inferno. His free hand gripped the edge of the table so tightly his knuckles turned white.
"I-it's just... science!" he stammered, his brain struggling to stay composed. "To stabilize your hemoglobin levels! Nothing more!"
She pulled back, licking her lips. The thirst in her eyes had subsided. She looked at him, her expression now soft, almost gentle. "No one's ever done that for me, either."
They stayed a while longer, with Izuku awkwardly explaining some of the "evolution paths" from the notebook. When he finally paid the bill—insisting despite Toga's protests—they stepped back out into the cool Musutafu night.
"So..." Toga said, hugging the notebook to her chest. "You really think I can... stop needing it?"
"I'm sure of it," Izuku replied. "But it won't be easy. You'll need discipline. And help."
She looked at him, a genuine and slightly sad smile on her face. "You're weird, Deku. Really weird. I might... I might just stop by that beach of yours."
"Great!" he said, his face lighting up. "My team is growing! At this rate, if I don't end up with Mt. Lady, at least I'll have my own squad of cool and dangerous girls!"
Toga laughed. "Keep dreaming, hero boy. Keep dreaming."
They stopped at a crossroads. "I have to go this way," she said, her tone turning serious again. "And hey. Don't tell anyone you saw me. Not your big-hearted partner, not anyone. To the world, I'm still a ghost. Got it?"
"Got it," he said. "Your secret's safe with me."
She nodded, and with one last curious glance, she melted into the shadows of an alley.
Izuku watched her go, the small bag from the pharmacy swinging in his hand. He pulled out his phone and sent a text to his mom.
Be home late, Mom. The mission got extended. But I'm bringing you something you'll like.
He put his phone away, a determined smile on his face. His original plan was simple: get strong, become a hero, and get Mt. Lady. But the universe, it seemed, had stranger and more complicated plans for him. And, to his surprise, he liked the idea. He liked it a lot.