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Time flew by quickly, and in the blink of an eye, the entire afternoon had slipped away.
By the time the sun dipped westward, its golden rays painting the streets in a warm glow, they had already bought everything they needed. But when they returned to the meeting spot, they found someone was already there waiting.
Under the lazy, amber hues of dusk, a girl with waist-length, blue hair sat casually on the edge of a flowerbed. Behind her, people bustled through the streets, their hurried silhouettes bathed in that same golden light.
Bathed in the lazy, amber hues of dusk, the scene was so captivating it made everyone—even Midoriya—instinctively slow their steps, as though afraid to disturb it.
And then, just like that, she completely shattered the serene atmosphere herself.
Noticing their arrival, Konata tilted her head back, gulped down the last sip of her soda with a dramatic flair, then casually tossed the empty bottle aside. The bottle arced through the air perfectly and landed right in the trash can nearby. She hopped to her feet and waved at them with a grin.
"…No way."
Everyone froze, stunned—not by her casual skillful shot, but by the sight of the pile of shopping bags stacked at her feet.
"Konata… how did you even carry all this by yourself?" Yaoyorozu finally asked, unable to contain her curiosity as she eyed the dozen or so bags scattered around.
"A kind stranger helped me," Konata said seriously, raising a finger in front of her lips like it was some big secret. "We really got along. If it weren't getting so late and he didn't have to head home, I might've even treated him to dinner."
Yaoyorozu: "…"
The day wrapped up as expected. They had dinner together before everyone headed their separate ways.
Originally, Konata had planned to hand out her gifts right there, saving herself the trouble of carrying them home. But then she figured that would feel way too half-hearted. So she decided to take them home, pack everything up nicely, and hand them out later.
Sure enough, the next morning, as everyone trickled into the classroom, they were greeted with neatly wrapped gift boxes sitting on their desks.
"Gifts?"
At the doorway, Todoroki paused when he saw Konata dozing face-down on her desk. From Yaoyorozu's quiet explanation, he finally understood what was going on.
He looked at the gift box in front of him. It looked fairly large, but when he picked it up, it was surprisingly light.
Opening the outer layer, Todoroki found… another box inside.
And when he opened that box? Yet another box.
By the time he finished unwrapping the final layer, his expression had gone completely dark—though, outwardly, his face remained as unreadable as ever.
Fourteen layers. A literal Russian nesting doll of boxes.
"…A pendant, huh."
Inside the smallest box sat a crescent-moon-shaped key pendant. After staring at it for a moment, Todoroki quietly slipped it into his pocket—just in time to hear Bakugo's loud voice from the front of the room.
"THE HELL IS THIS?!"
Opening his own box, Bakugo found… a durian. Yes, an actual durian fruit, sitting there like some kind of cruel joke. He glanced around the room, saw everyone else's gifts, and felt his blood pressure skyrocket.
If he hadn't noticed the tiny key pendant tucked beneath the spiky fruit, he would've been absolutely convinced Konata was trolling him on purpose.
And to be fair… she kind of was—but not just him.
In truth, the key pendants were cheap, so Konata had tossed one into every box as a bonus.
As for Todoroki? She'd had no idea what to get him, so she just stuffed one of the pendants into a ridiculous stack of boxes, hoping the theatrics would make up for it.
At least Bakugo had a durian. Todoroki had nothing but layers and layers of cardboard.
Midoriya glanced at Konata's sleeping figure, then carefully placed the All Might figurine from his gift box into his bag. He held the little pendant in his palm for a long moment, his thumb brushing against the smooth surface.
It wasn't just Class 1-A, though—even the teachers got something.
Aizawa, for example, wordlessly slipped the razor he found in his gift into his pocket and, with his usual deadpan, jabbed Konata awake when she started dozing off in class again.
Before long, finals ended, and summer vacation officially began.
Principal Nezu's closing speech was as stiff and formal as always, but they endured it patiently. Then, at last, summer was here—though not for long.
Because of the upcoming training camp, their "vacation" was barely a week.
"It's such a shame," Yaoyorozu sighed. "I was hoping to at least spend a week in Venice."
Everyone: "Rich people problems."
On the second day of vacation, Konata's phone rang. The caller ID was blank.
She answered without hesitation.
"AFO?"
"That's right. I need to talk to you."
"…I'm broke," she replied flatly. "But I have this one classmate who gets a monthly allowance in the millions—"
"You know I have no income of my own," she continued seriously, "so for the sake of maintaining a good cooperative relationship between us, could you maybe loan me another hundred thousand yen? I swear, once I've got cash again, I'll—"
Toot-toot.
The line went dead.
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When Midoriya Izuku jolted awake from that suffocating, almost despair-inducing dream, he realized his entire body was drenched in cold sweat.
Sitting up in bed, he leaned back against the headboard, one hand pressing against his forehead, eyes shut in exhaustion.
Ever since that day they'd gone shopping at the mall, something had been gnawing at him.
What he'd seen back then—was it a hallucination that felt real, or a reality that felt like a hallucination? He didn't know.
But his heart hadn't calmed since. He'd catch himself zoning out while eating, while training… like some subconscious part of him sensed something was about to happen. And before he knew it, he was dreading the upcoming training camp.
Not that he even understood why.
Maybe it was just his mind playing tricks on him—thinking too much during the day and carrying it into his dreams at night. Just now, he'd had a nightmare so real it had terrified him… but the moment he'd woken up, the dream had slipped through his fingers, leaving nothing but scattered fragments he couldn't piece together.
All that remained was the echo of emotions that clung to him like chains—rage, helplessness, pain, and despair.
What had he seen in that dream to make him feel that powerless? That hopeless? He had no idea.
"...Haa." He exhaled slowly. "Guess I've been too wound up these days. It's just a dream. Just… a dream."
He went to the bathroom, splashing cold water over his face before meeting his own reflection in the mirror, drawing in a deep breath.
Malice was lurking in the shadows. All Might's remaining time was running out. And all he could do was grow—grow as fast as possible, before that malice finally came for them.
No excuses. No time to waste.
Just as he was about to head back to his room to resume his workout routine, the doorbell rang.
When he opened the door and saw the two people standing there, Midoriya blinked in surprise.
"Uh… Kaminari, Mineta? What brings you here?"
Kaminari Denki, in his head, was already grinding his teeth. God, I still wanna smack that blue-haired gremlin…
Even though U.A.'s semester had officially ended and summer vacation had begun, the teachers weren't exactly on break. They were busy preparing for the training camp—chief among their responsibilities, keeping the camp's location an absolute secret.
After all, the League of Villains was still lurking in the dark, plotting who-knew-what. If the location leaked, it was only a matter of time before the villains struck again.
Later, at the teacher's office, Aizawa glanced at the paperwork in Kaminari and Mineta's hands and then at Midoriya standing with them.
"This is about your pool-use request from the other day, right?"
When all three nodded, Aizawa gave a quiet sigh.
"Approval came through. You have access until seventeen hundred hours." He lowered his gaze to the papers again. "If I remember correctly, you wanted to use it for endurance training? …Then train hard."
"Yes, sir!"
Kaminari Denki—quirk: Electrification. Nickname: Pikachu.
Mineta Minoru—quirk: Pop Off.
Nickname: Grape Juice.
Together, they were basically the living embodiment of teenage male desire. During the Sports Festival, they'd already managed to get every girl in Class 1-A into cheerleader uniforms so skimpy that even Sero had been embarrassed—and got thoroughly beaten for it afterward.
This time, their enthusiasm for "training" had a much simpler reason.
Just before break, Mineta had caught wind of a little secret from the girls' circle: Class 1-A's girls were planning to hit the school pool together during vacation. And to maximize their odds of success when requesting pool access, the two perverts had dragged Midoriya into their scheme.
What they hadn't expected was for Midoriya to send a group message to everyone in class, inviting the entire squad.
And that… was how they'd lost control of the situation.
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From the edge of the pool, Konata's eye twitched.
Because walking out of the locker room, one after another, were shirtless muscleheads—her male classmates, casually showing off physiques honed by daily hero training.
She glanced at Tsuyu, who was calmly doing the breaststroke nearby.
"Oi, Tsuyu… did you also invite the guys, or…?"
"Kero," Tsuyu croaked, tilting her head toward the pool entrance. "They're probably here to train. It's summer, and we can't use our Quirks outside school grounds. If we girls thought of this, some of the guys definitely did too."
Konata blinked, then flopped backward with a groan.
"Whatever… I just didn't expect every guy in class to be ripped under those uniforms. This… this is starting to feel like some kind of philosophy meme pool party."
Too tired to keep complaining, she lay down by the edge of the pool and yawned.
"I'm gonna nap for a bit. Wake me up when it's my turn to swim."
After getting spammed with nuisance calls from All For One yesterday—and being harassed nonstop by her system—she hadn't slept a wink.
No one knew what the hell had gotten into that usually cold, aloof system. It had been badgering her endlessly, urging her to "take advantage of the training camp opportunity to seduce Midoriya and leave a bloodline in this world."
As if.
Whatever schemes the system was plotting, there was no way in hell she'd trade away her dignity and virtue for that nonsense. Death would be faster and far less humiliating.
But just as she was closing her eyes, someone grabbed her ankle.
"Huh—?"
Before she could react, a sudden tug sent her plunging into the water with a splash.
And in her ears, like the voice of a demon, came Tsuyu's calm but chilling tone.
"Konata… it's rare for everyone to come to the pool together. Sleeping isn't very polite, kero~."
"Glub-glub-glub—"
The girl, now thoroughly drowned, drifted like a stunned corpse.
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After nearly being forcibly drowned and then dragged out by Tsuyu Asui, Konata sat quietly in a corner, hugging her legs.
She didn't know if Tsuyu realized what she'd done, but the sudden scare had completely blown away any trace of drowsiness she'd had left. That said, while the sleepiness was gone, the pool itself now carried a solid dose of trauma in her mind.
She had considered pretending to faint, maybe even wrangling an excuse for some dramatic mouth-to-mouth CPR, but… somehow, she could already imagine how that would turn out. So instead, she'd brushed it off with a flimsy excuse—something along the lines of,"My poor, fragile soul is in desperate need of healing time after such a traumatic scare"—and quietly slipped away to sit by herself.
The pool, naturally, was split right down the middle: the girls on one side, the muscle brigade on the other.
Before, when everyone was always in uniform, the guys' builds weren't obvious. Now, with shirts off, Konata realized that almost every single boy in Class 1-A was ripped. Midoriya Izuku was a given; after months of brutal training, his frame was steadily inching toward All Might-level muscle density—even if that baby face made for a weird mismatch. Even Tokoyami, who she'd pegged as the lean, brooding type, was surprisingly cut. Eight-pack abs, it turned out, were basically standard issue in Class 1-A.
As for a certain grape… does he even count as a guy?
After staring for a moment, Konata quickly looked away. No idea why, but watching a group of sweaty, flexing muscleheads wasn't exactly her idea of a good time. Come on, brain, she muttered to herself, this is the time to be looking at cute girls, not beefcakes.
God, she was tired again.
Her eyes drifted to the floating swimsuits scattered lazily across the water, then closed with a sigh. Hugging her knees, she rested her chin and let her mind wander. There was too much to think about, too much to do.
Yesterday's cryptic call from All For One hadn't lasted long—barely a minute before the line went dead—but she didn't need him to spell it out. She knew exactly what he wanted: information about the location of the upcoming training camp.
Not that it mattered. She didn't know the location herself. And even if she did, there was no universe where she'd hand that information over. Her time was already running out—barely a month left, if that. And the camp… that camp would be her last chance to relax, to pretend things were normal, even just for a week.
No one's ruining that for me, she thought.
At some point, her thoughts dulled, and she slipped into sleep.
She didn't know how long she was out—maybe twenty, thirty minutes—before her eyes blinked open again. Rubbing the blur from her vision, she spotted Iida by the pool, wearing a swim cap and handing out drinks. Without thinking too much about it, she walked over and held out a hand.
Iida blinked at her for a second, then, ever the gentleman, handed her a can of Fanta. "If you just woke up, you might want to be careful. Too much cold soda could upset your stomach."
Konata cracked the can open and tilted her head back, downing it in long gulps.
Iida could only stare. "...Did she even hear a word I just said?"
The casual swimming practice had apparently gotten too dull, because before long, someone—no one knew who—suggested a race. And just like that, everyone was hyped for an impromptu freestyle competition.
Everyone except Konata.
Still, it gave her the chance to witness something she wasn't prepared for. Midoriya swam the race the normal way—powerful, clean strokes slicing through the water. But Bakugo? Bakugo just launched himself like a freaking missile, practically flying to the other end. Todoroki? He froze a path across the surface and skated across like it was nothing. And Iida? Well… running on water apparently counted as "freestyle."
"So… freestyle swimming basically means… anything goes?" Konata thought, staring blankly. "Huh. Learn something new every day."
By the time the "race" narrowed down to a heated showdown between Midoriya, Bakugo, and Todoroki, Aizawa arrived to shut everything down. The "winner" was never determined—not that it mattered to her.
"Another completely pointless day," she murmured later, standing in the school hallway. Stretching lazily, she glanced at the golden sunset painting the sky outside. Her shadow stretched long behind her.
Maybe humans only learn to appreciate things when they're about to lose them. With less than a month left, Konata suddenly found herself savoring every mundane moment.
Just as she was about to turn and head home, a familiar voice called from behind her.
She turned, tilting her head, as Midoriya skidded to a stop in front of her, slightly out of breath.
"Konata," he said, catching his breath, "there's something I need to tell you."
She blinked, curious, as he straightened, eyes serious in a way she wasn't used to seeing.
"Couldn't you have said whatever it is earlier?" she teased, her voice half-lazy, half-wary. "I've got anime to catch up on, you know."
"Then… could you spare just a few minutes?" His words tumbled out fast, almost too fast. "Because before… I didn't have the courage. But now, if I don't say this—"
"Is it the question that's important to you," she interrupted softly, her gaze locking with his, "or my answer?"
"Your answer," he said without hesitation, his voice steady even as his cheeks flushed.
"Maybe it started during the USJ attack," he admitted, "or maybe even earlier. But somewhere along the way, I realized… something's changed. And I know this might make things complicated, but I—"
"After the training camp," Konata cut in, her tone quiet but firm.
He blinked, caught off guard.
"After the camp," she repeated. "Whatever it is you want to say, tell me then. And when that time comes…" Her eyes softened, just a fraction. "I promise I'll give you an answer. No matter what."
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