Chapter 21: Chapter XXI: 16th Birthday
The constant chatter of people could be heard at all times as the group made their way past all the colorful stores under the open roof.
A peddler in front of a store called out to the UA students, "Hey kids, we have a unique apparel for all of you! Six arms? Got it. Giant motor calves? Easy. Duck head? We got you covered!"
Sasuke glared at him as they continued walking. Some of the students snickered. Some younger kids approached them, "Yo check it out! Aren't those the guys from the Sports Festival? Yoooo."
Uraraka looked over her shoulder at them, "There are people who still remember us?"
Jiro turned to Momo, "For now, I need a big carrying bag."
"Why don't we look for one together then?"
Kaminari said, "I don't have any outdoor shoes, so I'm gonna go get some."
Hagekure replied, "Me too!"
Iida stepped in, "The guide said to only get what you're accustomed to!... But maybe it would be best to choose something with the most utility..."
Kirishima stated, "It looks like we all have different things we're looking for, so why don't we split up?"
Mina smiled deviously and put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, "Hey, Sasuke! I need help picking out clothes! You can get some too, come with me."
Clothes? I have enough al—" Mina grabbed his hand and dragged him away, leaving Midoriya and Uraraka alone.
"What kind of clothes did you need anyway?"
Mina put a hand under her chin, "Hmmm, I have enough shirts and shorts already. How about this place?" she smiled and pointed up at a store named: Victoria's Secret.
Sasuke's eyes went wide and his cheeks turned red, "W-wait a minute you don't need me in here! I can't help you with this!"
"Really? Hm, oh c'mon with how popular you are with girls I bet you've been to one of these at least a couple of times."
"No. I never entertained any of those girls."
Mina smiled and thought, 'For some reason, I'm happy you didn't.' "Well, I'll be your first then! Come on!"
She pulled him into the store and started searching around, frequently looking back at Sasuke. Sasuke had his hands in his pockets and kept slightly fidgeting around, looking around the store casually with a cool expression while his cheeks glowed. Mina covered her smile and squealed in her head, 'He's so bad at hiding it, it's adorable!'
She pulled out an underwear set from a rack and held it over herself. "Hey Sasuke, do you think this would fit me? Don't look away!"
Sasuke's mouth wavered and he glanced at Mina before darting his eyes away, "Yeah... You don't have a boyfriend you can do this stuff with?"
"No, that spot is pretty open." She looked off to the side outside the door.
Sasuke thought, 'It's open... Why did she say it like that? Saying it's open to me? Am I reading too much into this? Yeah.'
While Mina looked out the window she spotted Kaminari's spiky bright hair as he strolled alongside Iida and Hagakure. Mina tensed up and dropped the set on the floor, 'Ah! Oh no, I can't be seen here with Sasuke! They'll totally misunderstand this!'
She grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him further into the store. "Huh? Is something wrong?"
"N-no nothing. I just saw something I really liked further in the store." She frantically looked back, 'No one saw us right? No, I don't think so. Phew, can't have them thinking he's my boyfriend or something.'
Her heart panged, but her stomach also grumbled, "Hey you know we should go eat. Let's get out of here."
She pranced out of the store and Sasuke followed, 'She didn't even buy anything, but whatever. Hope we don't do that again, what was she thinking? She always does this kinda stuff to me.' He thought back to the store and awkwardly kicked out his legs before continuing.
"Sasuke, what do you wanna eat? I got some ideas."
"Oh, anything is fine... Can I have your number?"
Mina froze in place and smirked. She cheekily put her hand on her chin, "Huh? Are you asking me out?"
Sasuke blushed, "No! It's just convenient."
"Hehe, I know I'm just messing around. Here." She winked and took his phone, entering her information.
She handed him back his phone and they kept walking. A hooded figure passed by them and he felt a chill run down his spine. He stopped in his tracks and his head jolted to the figure who already disappeared in the crowd.
"Oh hey, Midoriya, Ochaco. What's up?"
He turned back to see Ochaco calling the police and Midoriya coughing. He ran up to them, "Hey, what happened?"
Midoriya looked up at him, "Sasuke. *cough* it was Shigaraki."
Sasuke's eyes turned red and he turned back to the crowd. Mina put a hand on his chest, "Woah, what are you about to do?"
"I'm gonna find him before he gets away!"
"No, you're not! We don't have a license for quirk use in public."
Midoriya rubbed his neck, "Yeah, and he threatened to kill dozens of people in the crowd if we caused a scene."
Sasuke gritted his teeth and his eyes turned back to normal. 'Stupid quirk laws... Those really should change.' He twirled back around to the group and asked, "What did he want from you?"
"He uh... Wanted me to tell him why I think people pay attention to Stain and not him."
Mina tilted her head, "Huh? That's kinda... Childish for a psychotic murderer."
Sasuke asked, "Midoriya, you ok?"
Midoriya released his throat and smiled, "Yeah. He didn't hurt me. And he got his answer too, he thinks it's all about All Might."
Soon after the mall shut down temporarily and Midoriya was questioned about his encounter. More than three weeks passed and Sasuke was doing someone's arm pull-ups in his room when he got a call. He wiped some sweat off his face with a towel and saw that it was Mina. He answered, "Hey."
"Happy 16th birthday! You know what happens in a week?"
"Thanks."
"Know what happens in a week?"
"Your 16th birthday."
There was a small pause, "Wow, you really remembered. Hehe, well anyway since our birthdays are so close to each other, why don't we celebrate with each other today?"
Sasuke strolled through the house and leaned on a wall, "Won't you have some party on your birthday?"
"Well yeah of course, but I know you're not gonna go to a party, so I thought we could do it separately with just us two!"
Sasuke paused and thought, 'Why would she go out of her way to do that with me?' He sighed and smiled, "You don't have to do that for me."
"Well too late, because—," Sasuke's front door opened, "—I'm already here!"
Mina had a bag of snacks and a gift box with her, but her excitement turned into a shy blush when her eyes glued to Sasuke's shirtless, chiseled, pumped-up, sweaty, v-taper. "AH!"
Sasuke thought, 'At this point, I should have seen this coming.'
'Since when was he so... Hot? Is that an 8-pack?! I can see his veins! He's even more ripped than Kirishima! I...' She shook her head aggressively. 'Calm down Mina! He's the one that's supposed to get flustered! Not me.'
She points at him and forces a mischievous grin, "Heh... Looks like I caught you at a bad time, eh?"
He looks down and wipes the sweat off, "No, I just got done working out for now."
Mina yelled in her head, 'Don't wipe it away! Ugh, why is he not flustered at all? He's shirtless with a girl in his home! Whatever.' She looks away, "Can you put a shirt on?"
"I was just about to... Also, how did you get in here?"
"You did the cliche key below the rug. Haven't you seen any movies besides Sci-fi and horror? Someone could break in here at any time."
Sasuke slipped a blue shirt on and walked back in her line of sight. "I'll work on a better spot. Is that a gift?"
He approached her and she handed the gift to him. "Yup, Kirishima told me any man would love to have this. Something called… Creatine? I think that's how it's pronounced."
Sasuke lifted the top off the box and took out the container. His expression glowed up some, "Nice, thanks. I haven't had the chance to buy any of this before. I'll get you something by your birthday."
He walked off again, "So since you're here, what did you plan on doing?"
Mina began exploring his home, "How about a movie marathon? Let's go through the Alien movies again!"
Sasuke thought, 'Good thing I finally bought some furniture, or else there would only be my bed.' "Sure. I'll set it up."
Sasuke went to the living room, and in the meantime, Mina kept exploring his house, "Sasuke, is this an apartment or one of those bedded rooms? You have like no pictures or decorations anywhere."
"No need for them, I'm usually only in my room anyway."
"Of course, you would say that," she mumbled to herself and rolled her eyes. She opened a door to what looked like his bedroom. She smirked, 'Sasuke's bedroom! Something that isn't completely empty for once.' She approached his dresser and her smile disappeared as she looked at the picture of his parents. 'He hasn't mentioned it in a long time, but I'm sure he still thinks of it every day... I really can't imagine what that would be like to lose both parents. It's made him seem borderline suicidal sometimes... I hope I'm helping him well enough.'
Sasuke got onto the main menu of the movie and pulled the snacks out of her bag, setting them out properly on the coffee table. "Hey, Mina. We can watch it now."
"Coming!" Sasuke sat on the couch and looked where the voice came from. He heard some footsteps getting closer until Mina turned the corner with a big blanket and wearing an oversized shirt with a red and white symbol(the Uchiha Crest) that went down to her mid-thighs.
'Wait, that's my shirt.' Sasuke asked, "What are you doing in my shirt?!"
Mina jumped over the couch and sat down next to him, covering herself up to her nose with the blanket, "I was looking for something comfortable. If you want it back maybe you should take it from me. Hehe."
Sasuke couldn't see her mouth, but from her eyes, he could tell she had a devious smile on her face. Sasuke blushed and turned back to the TV. "Let's just watch the movies."
As the hours went by, the mood evened out and the snacks slowly disappeared. They talked and reminisced a lot, but over time said fewer and fewer words as they thought more and more about what they were doing. Alien Resurrection started playing and Mina inched a little closer to Sasuke. Her arm touched Sasuke's. She stiffened up and focused on the movie, 'What Kirishima said at the Sports Festival... he was right, but what about Sasuke? He seems too... Uh, revenge-oriented? I don't know...'
Sasuke occasionally looked down at her, 'Why does she go out of her way to do all this stuff for me? Just cause we were friends as little kids? Is she really just trying to be a good friend? All of that teasing though... Was it flirting? I'm probably putting too much thought into this... Even if she was... AFO comes f'—
They both caught each other staring at the same time and locked eyes. "Mina..."
Mina blushed, "Sasuke?" She thought, 'Come on you big dummy, say something!'
The sound of the movie was slowly blocked out as it became just her and him. At least until her phone rang. She saw that it was her father and maintained composure, but was screaming like a bat out of hell on the inside. Sasuke turned away and she picked up the phone. "Yeah, Dad?" 'WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! YOU RUINED THE PERFECT MOMENT!'
"Hey Mina, it's getting late, and you still had to help your old man with some of these decorations, remember?"
"Oh yeah! Sorry, I lost track of time." 'I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BEST TIME OF MY LIFE AH!'
"It's fine, well I'll see you soon. Love you, Mina."
"Alright, love you too, Dad." 'I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU! YOU RUINED IT UGH!'
She shoved the phone into her pocket and shot up. She took off the oversized shirt and stretched, "Sorry, gotta go. Don't forget to get me a present, alright?"
"Yeah... Bye." Sasuke held the shirt and accompanied her to the door.
After stepping out she paused for a moment before continuing off. "Well see ya."
Sasuke closed the door and slowly walked back into the living room to shut everything off. He plopped down on the couch and held the shirt. He sighed, "Mina. What have you done to me?"
A week later, Mina held her birthday party with a bunch of friends and family. After going through a bunch of the presents, she got to Sasuke's and pulled out the same shirt she wore at Sasuke's place. Her expression glowed and she held it out in front of her and laughed. Her dad who had normal skin and horns put a hand under his chin, "Heh, I think one of your friends got the wrong size."
She held the shirt to herself and shook her head, "No, It's perfect."
Another couple of weeks passed and it was time for the school trip. Class 1-A and 1-B were driven out to a spot above forest and mountains and were greeted by the Pussy-Cats. After an eccentric introduction, the one with brown hair pointed a paw at a spot in the forest, "This entire area is more or less our domain. The place you'll be staying at is at the base of that mountain."
Sasuke looked back and forth between Aizawa and the other adults. 'They're purposely making distance between us. This is a trap.'
Uraraka asked, "Huh? Then why did we stop if we're only halfway there?"
Sero sweated, "Can we head back to the bus please?"
The pussy-cat stated, "It's about 9:30 am right now. If you all kick it into high gear it'll be about 12."
Kirishima said, "Oh no...!"
Kaminari shouted, "Let's make it back to the bus! Hurry!"
"The kittens that don't make it there by 12:30 won't eat."
Sasuke braced himself for whatever was about to happen as the other students tried to run for the bus.
Aizawa said, "Sorry, everyone, but your school trip has already begun."
All of the dirt they stood on erupted like a volcano and sent them off the side of the cliff into the forest. "Feel free to use your quirks in our domain as you please! You have three hours! Use your feet to get to the facility through the forest of magic beasts!"
Everyone recovered from the landslide and Midoriya spit dirt out of his mouth, "Forest of magic beasts?"
Mineta gripped his crotch and ran off, "I held it... I held it through all that!" He was stopped in his tracks by a grainy monster with a huge mouth and no eyes."
"Magic beast!" some of the students screamed in unison, and Koda stood forward, "There there beast, just calm down and fall back please."
The beast didn't show any response and raised its hand to smash Koda.
In the monitoring facility, the Pussy-Cats and Aizawa observed everything. "This is a pretty insane Itinerary you got going here, Aizawa."
"Well, the plan was always to put them on an accelerated learning course usually reserved for second years in their first terms. So things are bound to get hectic from here on out. Their quirks which were reserved for emergencies now get to go all out and mimic pro-heroes. With the villain's increased activity, the first years will be looked upon to start fending for themselves."
A combined attack from Todoroki, Bakugo, Iida, and Midoriya eviscerated the beast in an instant, making it crumble into dirt. At the same time, another beast tried to trample on them all, but Sasuke, Tokoyami, and Mina melted and sliced it up before it could even touch the ground.
Less than two hours later, everyone made it to the facility with disheveled appearances. Once they arrived, the blonde pussy-cat welcomed them, "Looks like there wasn't much point in threatening to deprive you guys of lunch."
Sero grunted, "Little over two hours my ass."
Kirishima whined, "I'm gonna starve to death."
The brown-haired one put a paw on her chin, "Sorry, we meant by our standards."
Sasuke cracked his neck and took a deep breath, "You're just boasting then?"
"No, you guys really did come here a lot sooner than expected," the blonde licked her lips and pointed, "To have figured out my awakened Earth Beast quirk so easily, you guys are good. Especially you seven." She emphasized Sasuke, Mina, Tokoyami, Iida, Todoroki, Bakugo, and Midoriya.
"The lack of hesitation you all displayed, I take it that comes from the experiences you all acquired? Especially you Sasuke, You looked like you knew what would happen as soon as you got off the bus."
Bakugo sneered at the extra praise Sasuke got and was about to say something, but then the blue-haired pussy-cat member came over to them. "I'm anxious to see what'll become of you guys three years from now! I call dibs right now!"
Sasuke took a glance at Mina, 'She held her own and stayed at the front of the class with the rest of us. She really must be taking her training seriously now... I wonder if she brought the shirt with her for this trip?... I don't really care, but—'
—His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed Midoriya getting kicked in the balls by a small kid. Iida rushed to Midoriya's side, "Midoriya! Hey you! The nephew, going for his family jewels is just cruel!"
The kid glared and didn't even bother looking back at him, " I'm not going to fuck around with a bunch of losers who want to grow up to be corny-ass heroes."
Bakugo smirked, "Kid thinks he's an adult."
Todoroki replied, "Yeah, reminds me of someone I know."
Bakugo's head snapped toward him, "Huh?! He's nothing like me! At least I don't bottle up my emotions like a certain someone."
Todoroki rolled his eyes, "Relax, it was just a joke."
Sasuke stared at the kid as he walked off, 'That look in his eyes... I can recognize that from anywhere.'
Later that day after finally eating. Everyone went to the bathhouse under the night sky. Everyone relaxed and rested in the steaming water, but Mineta stood next to the wall separating the boys and girls. "What we seek, is beyond this wall."
Midoriya stared at him, "What are you going on about, Mineta?"
Mineta pressed his head against the wall to hear the girls on the other side. "You see. ...Even nowadays it can happen when the Gods smile down upon us. An occasion where the boy's and girls' bath schedules overlap. An accident, this is a most joyous, happy accident."
Everyone's eyes turned to Mineta in a mixture of confusion and disgust. Iida did his signature arm-point, "Restrain yourself! This bridge you're about to cross is beneath everyone here! Not to mention it'd be frowned upon by the girls!"
Sasuke thought, 'If he tries to peek at them... He'll see Mina naked... And the other girls.' Sasuke's eyes glowed red, "Scale that wall, and I'll kill you."
Mineta took on the expression of the Buddha, "Fricken prudes." In the blink of an eye he was using his sticky hairballs to scale the wall, "This wall is worth dying for me to scale! Plus Ultra!"
"Stop desecrating our school rules!"
Mineta was about to make it to the top, but once he got up there, Kota glared at him and pushed him off, "Learn how to be a decent human being before aiming to be a hero."
The girls thanked Kota; He looked back at the girls, and whatever he saw stunned him and caused him to tip over and fall off. Midoriya and Sasuke rushed to save the kid and Midoriya got him first. Mineta, who was also falling, almost landed on Sasuke's face, but he slapped him to the side. Mineta hit the ground and grunted in pain, not getting back up as Midoriya and Sasuke landed safely.
Both Sasuke and Midoriya took him to get checked out by one of the Pussy-Cats; she cleared their worries about his health and Midoriya said, "Kota, he doesn't seem too keen on the concept of heroes. I grew up around a lot of people who wanted to become heroes, myself included. A kid this young, but so jaded... It's not something I've seen before."
Sasuke stared at the unconscious child, "You guys mentioned how he's a nephew. Are his parents out of the picture?"
The blonde cat member entered the room, "Yeah. Both of his parents were heroes who lost their lives on the job two years ago. They both died heroic deaths trying to protect civilians."
"Although... A kid just starting to understand his surroundings isn't going to care about that. His parents were his everything. I doubt he's fond of us either, but with no other relatives, he probably feels obligated to follow what we say. From his point of view, heroes are a disgusting, incomprehensible sort of creature."
Sasuke turned away, 'He chose to blame the hero society as a whole over the one directly responsible for his parent's deaths?... Maybe I was wrong about the look in his eye.'
The next day, Aizawa took them to the field and explained what they'd be doing to gain their temporary licenses after having Bakugo redo the ball throw test with minimal improvement, he explained, "In three months, you have all gained a lot of experience, and of course, you have certainly grown, but that growth for most of you has primarily been emotional and technical. Now the time has come to focus on physical improvements as well. As you can see, your quirks have only marginally improved, so today, we will focus on upgrading your quirks. I will be pushing you beyond your limits. So try not to kick the bucket on me."
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Just to make it clear in case anyone was worried, the romance isn't gonna start overshadowing the overall plot. I just thought it fit well here to have a focus on it since there's more than a month gap between the end of term and the school trip. And if you look it up, their birthdays happen to coincidentally be really close to each other. Sasuke's on July 23rd and hers on July 30th. Hope it was entertaining to read their dynamics though.
Also since I'm getting into this arc, I was considering Sasuke interacting with Muscular, who murdered Kota's parents, but I'm not sure. If anyone thinks it's a good or bad idea they can say something.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone