"Yes," Haru said.
Toru froze.
"…What?"
"Yes," he repeated. "I'll try dating you. Let's see if it works out or not."
Her face flushed instantly—even without seeing it clearly, he could tell by the way her shoulders stiffened, and her breathing hitched.
"Wait—hold on," she said quickly. "You should know—I'm bad at expressing feelings, I overthink, I get jealous sometimes, and—" She hesitated. "You… still don't know what I look like."
Haru watched her fidget.
"What if I'm ugly?" she asked quietly. Due to her quirk, she doesn't even know her own appearance.
"We've talked about this before." Haru sighed.
She nodded.
"I'll say it again anyway," Haru continued. "I don't care."
She stilled.
"Even if you looked like a pig," he added dryly, "it wouldn't change anything."
"…That's not reassuring."
"Our relationship," he said, steady now, "has never depended on appearance. I'm not starting now."
He looked at her.
"I like who you are," Haru said. "That's the part I'm choosing. And I want to keep it like this in the future."
Then—The door slid open.
Sayaka Hado stood there, still in her hero suit, visor still on. One arm slinged. She had come here immediately after getting medical treatment.
Her face twisted as if she had eaten dog shit.
She closed the door. Immediately.
"…Mom," Haru called, going after her.
***
The room was in an awkward silence. Being in the presence of Sayaka was nothing foreign to Toru. She had spent a large portion of her childhood playing with Haru at his house.
It was just that, it was her first time, she felt this nervous. Haru also felt a bit uncomfortable.
"So, Mom. Guess you fought All F—that boss villain with All Might. Didn't expect you to break your arm. Age is really catching up to you."
Haru started his attempt in conversation; however, the first thing he did was fumble with All For One's identity. Haru Hado wasn't supposed to know the name of All Might's long-time nemesis.
'Fuck. Fuck. Did she notice?' Though his mom wasn't as sharp as his dad, she was still a pro hero. A top one.
Haru maintained his teasing smile as he gazed at Sayaka, who was staring back with a gaze as if she could see even his deepest secrets.
Her visor was long removed, revealing her beautiful face, along with lustrous periwinkle hair. Despite being in her 40s, she looked as if she were around 20.
Sayaka smirked. "I know, right. This weak old woman suddenly got a call in the night, saying that her child, who was enrolled in U.A. and the one who was the runner-up of the sports festival, totally unlike his older sister, had been kidnapped."
Haru's face fell. His mom really liked to mention that he lost whenever the opportunity presented itself.
Sayaka continued. "So, when the opportunity presented itself, I rushed to rescue my child. So, just imagine my surprise when I found my child, only to be surrounded by villains, present on the back of a naked girl. You must have had fun, no?"
Haru's face slightly reddened. "It was not by choice! Plus, she's invisible. So, it doesn't matter." He turned to Toru for support. She was now his girlfriend, so she would support him, right?
What he didn't expect that the first betrayl would come so soon.
"I know, Auntie. He was definitely making use of the situation. He even groped me there. Ahh..." Toru even moaned to exaggerate, while putting both of her hands on her chest.
"..."
"..."
She looked at the mother and son, who were looking at her with a judgmental look.
Haru then looked at his mother with an accusatory look. "See, I told you she was a closet perv. The magazine you found was given by her. I hadn't bought it."
Sayaka had a regrettable look on her face. "My bad. And I thought among the two, you were the bad influence." She shook her head.
"Wait, which magazine?" Toru shot a baffled look. 'Who the hell buys magazines in the age of the internet?'
"No need to lie. Your image won't change now, Toru-chan." Haru shot her a smile.
"Anyway, your classmates seemed nice. Aren't most of them already discharged? Yet, they are present here." Sayaka changed the subject.
Haru nodded. "Well, from what I heard, some of them are still present for observation. Others had arrived just now, after they got the news about my rescue."
"You should bring them home sometime." Sayaka then inquired about Toru's condition and his own before she left. She had a full health examination still pending.
For the next hour or two, Haru and Toru just chatted normally with their other friends, who had now entered.
"Oii Haru, you might want to come out for a bit. There's a person who seems to be looking for you. She's even wearing a U.A. uniform." Eijiro called him from the door.
"Our school? Is it somebody from 1-B?" Haru got up.
"I don't know."
'Though I did save some people from class 1-B when I was trying to find Katsuki during the camp, I didn't expect one of them to approach me.' Haru walked to the door before suddenly stopping.
'Don't tell me, it's going to be another confession? Oh my god, has my luck with women finally shone? Is this going to be my first rejection?' Haru, unusually, got excited. He didn't even do a double-take on his absurd thought.
He closed the door behind him and turned—only for his vision to be replaced by periwinkle blue as somebody tightly hugged him.
"Are you okay—like actually okay or just pretending okay? Nothing broken? No internal bleeding? They didn't inject you with anything weird, right? Or mess with your head? Did they hurt you a lot—wait, did they even give you food? Water? When was the last time you ate? Did you sleep at all? Did they let you go to the bathroom? Please tell me you at least got to bathe, you smell like hospital antiseptic. And—hold on—did your quirk really awaken? Like, properly awaken? What does it do now? Is it stronger? More dangerous? Who did you fight—what quirks did they have? Was it really that creepy guy from U.S.J.? Did any of them touch you—no, don't answer that yet—did Toru-chan really get attacked with a sword? A real one? Where did it hit? Is she okay now? Awake? Does she know I'm going to yell at her later? And—wait—did she really confess to you? Like, seriously, confess? In the middle of all that? What did you say? Did you reject her? Hesitate? Accept? Don't tell me you froze up—Haru-chan, what did you do?" Nejire shot him question after question.
Haru patted her back quickly. "Nee-chan, you are squeezing me too tight."
"Oh, my bad, sorry." Nejire quickly released him from the hug.
Haru cleared his throat. "As for your questions, I am alright, both physically and mentally. I checked my body, and I don't seem to be injected with something weird. Same with my mind, I don't see any signs of tampering. I wasn't really tortured. Though there was mental coercion, it wasn't anything physical. They only gave me water to keep me alive. I just ate now. Most of the time, I was kept unconscious, so I guess that counts as sleeping. I went to the bathroom 3 times, though I was accompanied by a guy. I haven't taken a bath since being kidnapped. Yes, my quirk did awaken. It's more dangerous now, as its range has increased, and I feel like it has potential for the range to increase more, so I can get stronger. I fought with a guy who could replicate humans with his quirk. A girl who can throw knives and seemingly wants to suck blood, her quirk is probably related to that. A reptilian guy who uses swords. A guy who, after touching people, can put them in marbles, trapping them effectively. A person who has a magnetic-type quirk, turning people into magnetic poles within a 4.5-meter range. Lastly, the creepy guy, who can disintegrate anything with touch. The same one from U.S.J. Toru got impaled in the gut by a real sword. Luckily, she's awake and okay now. She probably doesn't know you will yell at her. She did say that, but I didn't reply then."
Like Nejire, Haru answered her in the same manner, in one breath.
"Damn. And I thought Haru asks so many questions. She is just like him." Sero was amazed.
"What do you mean like him? He doesn't ask this many questions, and in one breath." Ashido corrected him.
"How did even process all that so quickly?" Momo blinked.
"Why didn't he tell me that he had such a cute sister? That also in U.A.," Kaminari complained out loud.
"Of course, he would not tell you. Perv." Jiro retorted.
"I am not a perv!"
Midoriya glanced at Todoroki, who was in deep thought.
"What are you thinking?"
"Seeing how their hair is similar and their speech patterns, it's obvious."
Midoriya nodded. However, Todoroki's next words baffled him.
"She must be his dad's or mom's secret love child."
"..."