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Chapter 36

"Young Okuma, I'd like to speak to you privately before you begin." We all fell silent as I stared back at the man occupying the doorway.

"Sure," I glanced at Iuzku who reassuringly nodded at me as I began walking away.

I followed All Might through the hallway, the only noise was our shoes clacking against the metal ground as we walked at an unusually slow pace. Finally, he pulled me into a private room. He steamed, allowing himself into his small form before closing the door and urging me to take a seat as he circled around a table, sitting across from me.

"What's going on? Why are you being so... weird?" I cocked my head at him, suddenly fearful he was about to drop some sort of bomb on me five minutes before my first debut to the world of heroes. "Why didn't you ask for Izuku to come with us?"

"This doesn't concern Young Midoriya. I need to discuss something with you specifically." He interlocked his fingers, sighing as he sank onto the table and stared me down.

"If this is something that serious can it not wait until after the festival? You've already made me feel like throwing up."

"If I don't do this now, it'll get in the way of your chances of winning." He sighed, twiddling his thumbs as he glanced up at me, something on his face telling me he was already regretting what he was going to say.

"Well spit it out, I've aged ten years."

"I know about you and Young Midoriya." His words were stern, challenging.

"What is there to know?"

"You two have become a thing, haven't you?"

"No."

"Young Okuma."

"He's my best friend."

"Don't lie to me like I haven't got eyes." He was scowling at me, his hands angrily lying flat on the table as he drove himself from his chair.

"Are you that interested in teenage crushes?"

"So you do have a thing?"

"No. What would it matter anyway?"

He sighed, getting up as he began pacing around the room and rapping his fingertips together as if trying to calm himself down. "You're supposed to be the next Symbol of Peace. I can't have you two flirting and concentrating on anything besides school and hero work. I chose you two because I knew you could do it and already had the drive. The focuses. That can't all be thrown down the drain when you two have some horrible high school break up and you're too angry and he's too upset to focus on what's ahead of you." He'd began constructing his voice, a now pleading sort of tone.

"You think I'm so weak that I'd get all pent up over some breakup and give up on my job? If you think I'm so vulnerable then you should've chosen someone else to take this position. I'm not even with him to begin with. He's not distracting me and I'm not distracting him. I've been getting my work done haven't I?"

"You're too quick to throw yourselves in front of each other during fights. If you're too focused on each other then everyone will best you, even if you two work as one." He was massaging his chin as he mumbled and paced more, completely disregarding my retorts as if he were speaking to himself.

"We're not even together! What is your problem!?" I was standing up now, beckoning for his attention.

"He told me, Asami. Midoriya came clean about... kissing you." He made a face of revulsion, waving off any disturbances that idea had caused him to undergo. "He tried to take the fall for all of it but I'm not so easily fooled." He had stopped pacing, glowering at me as I circled the table to stand in front of him.