Chapter 7: Digital Fury! A Rookie Heroine's Pride and the Art of Tactical Relaxation!

Yu Takeyama was lying face down on the bed, her face buried in the pillow and her phone buzzing nonstop on the side of the mattress. Every vibration was a precise reminder that her life was falling apart in real time, and there was absolutely nothing she could do to stop it.

"This can't be happening," she mumbled into the fabric, her voice muffled. "Seriously, this seriously can't be happening."

She reached out, grabbed the phone, and opened social media at a speed that bordered on desperate. The name "Mt. Lady" was sitting at the top of the national trending list, and not exactly because of her debut kick.

"No, no, no! They can't be talking about this right now!" She bolted upright, holding the screen in front of her face in horror. "I've got a photo shoot the day after tomorrow, and the whole country is only talking about a stupid plate of katsudon!"

She swiped her finger without stopping, reading comments, headlines, and articles that were multiplying every second. The photo from the restaurant was popping up everywhere, grainy and shot from a ridiculous angle, showing her leaning toward Izuku while laughing with him in complete complicity.

"Who the hell took this picture?" she snapped, waving the phone in the air in search of a culprit who wasn't there. "Izuku picked the most discreet restaurant in the whole district, a place that doesn't even show up in food guides! How did this end up on the internet?"

She refreshed the screen one more time and froze in the middle of the bed.

"...Hold on. Are people saying I look good with him?"

She frowned and read more closely. Several comments said things like "they look adorable together" or "Mt. Lady looks so pretty without the suit on." Others were way crueler and tore into the guy, claiming he was too ugly to be seen with a heroine at her level of beauty.

"No!" she scolded herself, shaking her head hard. "Focus, Yu! You can't get distracted by nonsense right now. If the agency thinks this is hurting my image, they're gonna hang me in the public square and use me as an example of everything a rookie hero should never do."

She leapt off the bed and started pacing back and forth across the room, clutching the phone to her chest while her brain ran at full speed.

"Okay, think clearly. Do I deny it all? Do I say it was a work meeting between a heroine and her assistant? Or do I let the rumor grow on its own?" She bit her lip, torn between options. "If people keep talking about me, I stay relevant, and as long as I'm relevant the brands won't drop me. But if it looks like I'm hiding something, the vultures are gonna smell blood and it's over."

She stopped dead in the middle of the room and let out a growl of frustration.

"I hate having to think about PR!" she shouted at the ceiling before dropping back onto the mattress. "Why couldn't I have been born in the old school hero era? They only had to throw punches and look imposing on posters. Now you have to watch what you eat, who you date, what you do on your day off, and even how you breathe in front of a camera."

The phone buzzed against her hand again. This time it was an article from a cheap gossip site, with a headline in giant letters: "Did new heroine Mt. Lady get a boob job? The proof nobody saw coming."

Yu stared at the screen with her eyes so wide they looked like they were about to pop out.

"...WHAAAT?!" The scream came straight from the pit of her stomach as she shot upright. "A boob job?! It was that idiot assistant of mine who left them this big! I didn't ask for any of this, it's not my fault!"

She got up again and resumed her pacing around the room, now with her hands tangled in her hair.

"What a massive lack of respect!" she huffed, her cheeks burning with indignation. "I don't need to go under the knife to look this good, thank you. Can people not accept that a girl just naturally has a nice body? Unbelievable, seriously!"

She planted herself in front of the full length mirror, looked at her chest in profile, and her indignation mixed with a far more earthly annoyance.

"And on top of that, my jacket doesn't even close right anymore. It cost me a fortune and now it's tight everywhere."

Two sharp knocks came from the apartment door.

Yu glanced at the clock on the wall and saw it was nine on the dot. She let out a long sigh, smoothed down the baggy T-shirt she slept in, and went to answer, because only one person in all of Musutafu knew her address and had the nerve to show up that early in the middle of a crisis.

She opened the door already braced for the worst. Izuku was going to walk in, drop one of his impossible to argue with comments about how careless she'd been to let herself get photographed, and she'd have to sit through a full masterclass on operational security for heroes at nine in the morning.

But Izuku was just standing in the doorway, his notebook tucked under his arm and the same calm as always.

"Good morning, boss. Nine on the dot, just like you ordered last night before slamming the door in my face," he said, with a small bow. "I'm ready for my first official day. I'm excited to work with you."

Yu stared at him slack jawed.

"Are you seriously gonna stand there so calm?" she asked, grabbing his arm and yanking him inside. "Didn't you see social media? Didn't you see what they've been saying about us since last night?"

Izuku blinked a couple of times.

"Ahhh, social media," he said, nodding slowly. "No, boss, I don't have any of that. It seems like a huge waste of time to me, and to be honest, I wouldn't have anyone to add anyway. I barely have any friends, so I never really saw the point in collecting followers."

Yu went quiet for a second, not sure whether to pity him or strangle him.

"What do you mean you barely have any friends? No, you know what? We'll talk about that later." She shook her head and shoved the phone against his chest. "Look. Look closely at what your beloved celebration dinner caused."

Izuku took the device and swiped his finger across the screen, reading each headline with genuine concentration. His eyebrows lifted a little when he reached the restaurant photo, and then his gaze dropped to the comments section.

"Wow. We came out pretty well in the picture, considering it was taken in secret with bad lighting," he commented, zooming in with two fingers. "Your laugh looks real, boss. That sells way more than any pose."

"This isn't the time to talk about my laugh!" Yu protested. "Did you read what people are saying?"

"I'm getting to it." Izuku kept scrolling, and suddenly a small smile crept onto his face. "Ah, look at this one. 'They make a cute couple, hope that's her boyfriend.'" He looked up at her, satisfied. "See, boss? There are still people with good taste in this country."

"AAAGH!" Yu snatched the phone back, spun around, and threw herself headfirst onto the bed, burying her face in the mattress. "I can't stand it! I don't know if this is good or bad for my career and it's driving me crazy! I want the public spotlight, I want it with all my soul, but not like this!"

She squirmed against the sheets, kicking with childish frustration, and with the movement the baggy T-shirt rode up her back until it exposed the round curve of her behind, barely covered by her underwear.

Izuku stood beside the bed in complete silence for a long second.

"Boss," he finally said, in a strangely formal tone. "As your assistant, your analyst, and your trusted gentleman, I feel it's my duty to inform you that the view from here is, shall we say, fairly erotic at this moment."

Yu turned her head slightly on the pillow, one eye half open and her expression resigned.

"You know what, Midoriya? Today I don't have the energy to be bothered by that," she muttered, waving a hand in the air without conviction. "Enjoy the view if you want. The whole country is already weighing in on my body anyway."

She shifted on the sheets again and gave her hips a light shake, making the view even more tempting, without lifting her face from the mattress.

Izuku let out a sigh.

"Look, I'm not gonna lie to you, I'm genuinely appreciating it, with all the respect the subject deserves," he said, reaching out toward a folded towel on the nearby chair. "But today isn't the time for this. You're in the middle of a crisis and I'm a professional first and foremost."

He picked up the towel and carefully draped it over the lower part of her back, covering her up until she was decent again.

"There," he said, giving her a soft pat over the fabric. "Dignity restored. Now we can actually focus on your problem without distractions in the way."

Yu turned her head all the way and looked at him from the pillow, not quite deciding whether what she felt was gratitude or the urge to throw the towel in his face.

"You're the weirdest pervert I've ever met in my life," she said.

"Thank you," Izuku replied.

Yu sank her face into the pillow again and let out a long groan.

"I wanted to make a good impression, you know?" she said, her voice muffled against the fabric. "I've been preparing for this for years. One shot at a debut, just one, and I ruined the whole thing on day one. First I face plant in front of half the city, then a paparazzi hunts me down eating like a peasant, and now the whole country thinks I went under the knife."

Izuku walked around the bed and sat on the edge, level with her feet. Without asking permission, he took one in his hands and started pressing with his thumbs in slow, gentle movements.

Yu tensed for an instant, ready to protest, but the massage won the battle before she could even start it.

"The worst part is that disguise you praised so much was completely useless," she went on, relaxing into the mattress without realizing it. "It was perfect, and Nemuri still spotted me right away while I was chewing on breaded pork. If she saw me, anyone with a phone could see me."

"The disguise was good," Izuku said, pressing a low point on her foot. "The problem is that Midnight-san has been reading people for years. She didn't recognize you by the cleavage, she recognized you by the attitude. You walk like a star even when you're eating in a hole in the wall."

"...Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"Well, it's an observation," he replied. "Though you can take it as a compliment if that makes you feel better."

Yu let out a short giggle against the pillow.

"And then there's the dumb surgery thing," she picked up again, indignation creeping back into her voice. "What a lack of respect! I don't need surgery to look like this." She crossed her arms under her chin, still face down. "Can people not accept that a girl just has a good body, period?"

"In your defense, boss, you did get a touch up last night," Izuku commented, moving to the other foot. "Except I was the one responsible, the clinic was your living room, and the tools were these two beautiful hands."

"Don't say that out loud!" Yu lifted her head and glanced toward the door, alarmed the neighbors might hear. "If anyone finds out you did this to me, they're never gonna find your body, I swear."

"Professional secret," Izuku said, unfazed, going back to his massage.

Yu watched him for a moment from the bed. The guy was still focused on her feet, pressing with a dedication that didn't fit anything that had happened that day. There was no mockery on his face, no intention of getting something in return, just a weird assistant rubbing the feet of a heroine in the middle of a nervous breakdown, at nine in the morning.

He seriously doesn't get anything that goes on around him, she thought, and yet he's the only person who's bothered to make me feel a little better today.

"You're so weird," she murmured, letting her forehead drop onto the pillow again. "But thanks."

She paused, and immediately raised a finger in warning, without looking at him.

"And don't you dare tell anyone about this, you hear? I have a reputation as a proud, untouchable heroine to maintain. If word gets out that I let my assistant comfort me by rubbing my feet, I'm completely done for."

"Your reputation is safe with me," Izuku said. "Although for the record, you let me do it without putting up the slightest resistance, so the word 'let' falls a little short."

"Shut up and keep rubbing."

After a while, Izuku gave her a couple of soft pats on the heel and stood up.

"Alright, boss, therapy's over. Time to train."

Yu lifted her head, disheveled and confused.

"Train? I just had the worst morning of my adult life, and you wanna train?"

"That's exactly why," Izuku replied, picking up his notebook. "We made a deal yesterday, remember? You help me understand my Quirk, and in exchange I help you improve as a heroine. While the rest of the country argues about the size of your chest, we could be turning you into someone nobody would dare underestimate."

Yu sat up on the bed, hugging her knees, settling the towel over her lap.

"And why do you care so much about me getting better?" she asked, narrowing her eyes with suspicion. "I landed on top of you by accident less than a day ago. You don't owe me anything."

Izuku shrugged.

"Because you have talent, for starters," he said. "And because heroes need support, nobody reaches the top completely alone, no matter how strong their Quirk is. And also because, well... you promised me a salary, didn't you? I've got bills to pay and a work history to rebuild after losing three dogs in a single day."

Yu burst out laughing.

"Aha. So in the end this is all about money."

"Money is a perfectly reasonable motivator," Izuku admitted, without a hint of embarrassment. "But it isn't the only one."

"Oh, really?" Yu rested her chin on her knees. "What's the other one, then?"

Izuku stayed quiet for a moment, looking at her with a seriousness he hadn't shown all morning. When he spoke, he did it without dancing around it.

"I think you can become a great heroine. And I'd like to be close enough to watch it happen with my own eyes."

Yu opened her mouth to crack some joke, some line to deflect the moment, and found that nothing was coming out. The words got stuck in her throat, and an uncomfortable heat crept up her neck to her cheeks.

Why does he say things like that with such a serious face? she thought, looking away toward the window. One more comment like that and I'm gonna end up actually believing it.

"...You're a cheater," she finally said. "You drop stuff like that without warning and then just sit there like nothing happened."

"I'm only telling the truth," Izuku replied, offering a hand to help her up. "It's an ugly habit of mine. Now go put on something comfortable, boss, because we're gonna rent a private gym. One with reinforced walls, preferably, in case you lose control and grow all at once. I'm not gonna end up crushed twice by a giant butt in the same week."

Yu took his hand and got up, slowly recovering her usual smile.

"Just so you know, getting crushed the first time was the best thing that's ever happened to you in your life."

"On that," Izuku said, stepping aside to let her toward the hallway, "we're in complete agreement."

***

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Nemuri Kayama was stretched out on the couch in her apartment, phone held up high and a satisfied smile painted across her face. The message she'd sent Yu a little earlier was a small work of art, not too affectionate, not too cold, with just the right touch of teasing and support to keep her good and bothered for the rest of the day.

"The girl has potential," she said to herself, twirling the phone between her fingers. "Pity she also has a natural talent for getting into trouble of epic proportions."

She settled deeper into the cushions and recalled the scene from the night before at the restaurant. The way Yu had turned bright red the moment she spotted her, the way the boy, Midoriya, had defended her without breaking a sweat, dropping that absurd explanation about what was or wasn't a date.

"A date with her own assistant," she murmured, amused. "Oh, Yu, you're a magnificent disaster. You have no idea how entertaining you've gotten."

Her smile didn't last long. She stretched her arm toward the coffee table and picked up a magazine she'd bought on the way home, one of those gossip publications with Yu's photo on the cover. She turned the page, started reading the article inside, and as she went on, the amusement slid off her face.

The insinuations got dirtier and dirtier. The article wasn't content to just speculate about the relationship, it turned Yu into an object, presented her as an easy trophy to be won, and dropped comments about her body with a vileness that turned her stomach. Professional rivalry was a game Nemuri enjoyed, competing for a cover, for a higher spot on the rankings, for the cameras' attention. This was nothing like a game.

"They're vultures," she said quietly, closing the magazine. "They live off destroying other people's lives to sell a few more copies."

The paparazzi who had taken those pictures was a parasite, and even though Yu's situation had its comically unfortunate side, the article crossed a line Nemuri didn't like seeing crossed. She felt, almost in spite of herself, a protective instinct toward her rookie rival. Yu was impulsive and, sometimes, too naive, too confident in her own image, and even so there was something about her that was worth looking after. A scandal of this scale, this early in her career, could leave her with a stain that would never wash out.

She picked up her phone again, hesitated for a second over the screen, and started typing a different kind of message, without a single joke this time.

***

Far from Musutafu, on the lonely summit of I-Island, the afternoon sun bounced off the metal and glass surfaces until it created a blinding glare. Inside a maximum security laboratory, the only sounds were the soft hum of the servers and the occasional beep of a monitor. David Shield, with his glasses and blond hair, watched with concern the holographic screen flickering in front of him, where the gaunt image of his best friend appeared from thousands of miles away.

"I don't understand it, Dave." Toshinori Yagi's voice was a hoarse whisper, almost drowned out by the noise of the laboratory. A dry cough cut him off and shook his frail body, distorting the image for an instant. "I've truly searched. I went through UA's best candidates, read files on young heroes, observed dozens of aspirants with powerful Quirks and good hearts. Young Mirio Togata is the perfect example of all of that. He's brilliant and strong, with a spirit that doesn't break in the face of anything. He's the very picture of hope."

He paused to catch his breath.

"But..."

"But he isn't the one?" David finished gently. He adjusted his glasses and leaned toward the projector, trying to somehow close the distance that separated them.

"Don't misunderstand me, young Mirio is worthy," Toshinori clarified, slowly shaking his head. "If something were to happen to me tomorrow, he'd be the best choice without question. But he lacks that spark, that necessary touch of madness. Do you know what I mean, Dave?"

David nodded, and an old memory drifted into his thoughts.

"The kind of madness that had you leaping from one rooftop to another using unfinished prototypes, just because it seemed faster," he said, with half a smile.

A tired smile crept onto Toshinori's lips.

"Exactly. Mirio is an exceptional young man. He analyzes the situation, weighs the risks, and makes brilliant decisions. He's everything one would expect from a great hero!"

He lowered his gaze for a moment before continuing.

"But One For All... has never been a power that chooses with the head alone. It's a flame passed from one generation to the next. And that flame needs a heart willing to protect others, even before thinking of itself."

His eyes recovered their old shine.

"When a building collapses on a civilian, I'm not looking for someone who calculates all the possibilities first. I'm looking for the person who's already running toward the danger."

He smiled sadly.

"Someone whose instinct to save is so strong... that it pushes even their own fear into the background. And though I've known many extraordinary heroes... that impulse is still something very hard to find."

"Have you thought about expanding the search beyond the hero academies?" David asked, changing tactics. "Sometimes the best material doesn't come polished. Sometimes it's raw, waiting for someone to find it."

"I've tried. I've watched school festivals, I've read news stories about ordinary people who risked their lives for others... I've even gone through incident reports from all over the country." Toshinori let out a sigh and ran a hand over his gaunt face. "But I haven't found anyone. No one who makes me feel... 'that's him.'"

He kept silent for a few moments before continuing.

"Maybe this generation has learned to be more cautious. That isn't a bad thing... but One For All has always chosen those who throw themselves into action even when logic tells them not to. And," he managed a tired smile, "I'm afraid my time is running out."

"Don't say that, Toshi."

"It's the truth, my friend," Toshinori continued, lowering his eyes slightly before raising them again with determination. "I can feel it. The air has shifted... and that's never a good sign. There's a silence that unsettles me, the same one that comes before great storms. The small criminal groups are disappearing one after another; some are absorbed, others simply cease to exist. This isn't happening by chance. Someone is gathering the pieces in the shadows... and when they're done moving them, the blow they'll try to deliver will be enormous."

David frowned.

"Do you think it's him? All For One?"

"That day, I defeated my enemy... but I couldn't end everything he represented," Toshinori murmured, his gaze far away. "There are shadows that remain even after victory. I can feel that evil still spreading its roots, corrupting everything it touches."

He paused before going on.

"That's why I have to find my successor as soon as possible, Dave. Our time is running out. The next generation will have to face a darkness far greater than anything you and I knew in our best years... and when that day comes, they need to be ready. They have to surpass even All Might."

The laboratory fell silent, with the hum of the servers as the only company. Thousands of miles away, in a small room in Musutafu, a green haired boy was putting away a notebook full of notes on the Quirk of a vain heroine, without the slightest idea that the entire world was about to change, and that he was standing right at the center of it all.

*******

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