~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The front door suddenly swung open and I looked over from my spot on the couch, assessing my mother's disheveled appearance. Her hair was in a loose pony with plenty of strands sticking out and she was breathing heavily, her heels were also held in one hand, she stood there in bare feet. 

"Hey," I casually said, putting down the comic book I had borrowed from Kuse. "What's up?"

"I... Saw the... News..." She huffed, taking a moment to catch her breath. "Are you... Are you okay?"

"Just peachy," I shrugged, flipping to the next page of my comic. "Other than a small cut on my lip I'm good."

She seemed to relax after that answer. "My boss gave me the rest of the night off, should I order takeout or something?"

"Sure," I replied. "Chinese would be good."

She nodded, making her way inside the apartment and to her room. I went back to reading, my mind flashing back to how shaken my mother had seemed. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Despite how traumatized I probably should've felt, I found myself wanting it to be Monday already so I could go back to school. There was nothing for me to do at home while Kuse was at school. I would just sit at home and read or listen to music until it was time to go get Kuse from school. And as proved by me in the past, boredom could be dangerous. Anyway, because the principal wants to put extra safety measures into effect or something like that, I was stuck at home on this wonderful Friday afternoon instead of at school.

Tenya's family also attempted to invite me over for dinner several times after Tensei put a good word in for me, now his parent's really wanted to meet me. Technically speaking I have no reason not to go, but I don't want to give his parents a bad impression. So I've been telling Tenya to tell them that I'm busy taking care of my little brother.

My phone went off, bringing me out of my thoughts. I checked the display, dismissing my alarm for getting Kuse from school. I rose from the sofa, stretching for a moment before I pulled on my Nirvana hoodie and headed for the fire escape. Once I was at ground level, I headed towards Kuse's school, my hands shoved into my pockets.

It was a weird feeling heading to Kuse's school from home instead of my school, but hey, things were weird in general nowadays. Part of me still couldn't get over the fact that I was now considered a hero in training. But knowing my luck I'll get kicked out eventually because someone dug up information on my past. I've never actually been arrested or caught, but there were now way too many people who knew about the stuff I used to do. To be more specific, Tenya and Midoriya were the first to find out, with Kaminari, Kirishima, and Bakugo also getting caught up in my bullshit at some point. And most recently, Todoroki and Hagakure now know about my past. Honestly, it wasn't a reassuring thing knowing that this many people held my future in their hands. All it would take is for one of them to tell Mr. Aizawa or Principle Nezu about this and I'd be ruined.

Of course, I trusted Tenya and Midoriya, Kaminari, Kirishima, and Bakugo also don't seem like the type to spill. But I know the least about Todoroki and Hagakure. Todoroki and I had maybe one conversation, and Hagakure is the type of person I could never see myself hanging out with. She usually hung out with the rest of the girls in the class, but I don't quite fit into that group. Momo, Jirou, and Uraraka were the only ones I really talked to.

My feet instinctively brought me to Kuse's school and I sat down on the front step. Around a minute later the bell rang, and Kuse appeared only a few minutes after that.

"Hey, sis!" Kuse chirped, his hands holding onto the straps of his backpack.

I waved. "Hey, how was your day?"

"Good, in science we got to do an experiment!" He grinned.

"That does sound pretty cool," I said, nodding my head in agreement as I got up from my seated position. "Anything else happen?"

"Nothing exciting," He shrugged shaking his head. "How was your day?"

"Boring as hell," I groaned. "Seriously, there's nothing to do at home, I must've read the comic book you lent me at least three times."

Kuse laughed. "You must be an expert then!"

"I could probably recite each page word for word," I huffed. "I really need some new reading material."

"We should do some quirk training then!" Kuse suggested cheerfully. "We haven't been to the beach since you started school."

"Alright," I agreed. "But let's go home and have dinner first, training on an empty stomach wouldn't be a good idea."

Kuse nodded.

We continued on our walk home until I noticed something. There was a car following us, a silver SUV with tinted windows. I didn't say anything to Kuse yet because I didn't want to alarm him. The car suddenly pulled in front of us, the front window rolling down to reveal one unfamiliar face and one very friendly face.

"Hello there dear," The woman in the driver's seat greeted us. "I'm Mrs. Iida, Tenya's mother, I would love it if you two could come over for dinner."

"Ah, we really should be getting home though," I said, noticing Kuse scoot behind me. "Our mother will be expecting us."

The back window then began to roll down. "Aw, but I promised Kuse I'd let him wear my helmet."

Kuse came out from behind me, his eyes sparkling as he looked up at me. "Please Tora! Come on, we could go to Ingenium's house!"

"Sorry Tora," Tenya said apologetically from the passenger's seat. "I tried to stop them."

I sighed, walking towards the car and opening the back door. "Come on Kuse, get in, I'll text mom and let her know."

"Yay!" Kuse exclaimed, jumping into the seat next to Tensei.

I slid in after him, closing the door behind me with a sigh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first thing we noticed when we arrived was that Tenya's house was gated and absolutely huge. We also soon found out that they had an entire parking garage below their house. In short, they were absolutely loaded, which I already knew, but seeing a house this big in person was intimidating to say the least.

"I hope you two will make yourselves at home!" Mrs. Iida chirped, leading us all into an elevator.

A few moments later we emerged on the main floor in a room with a high ceiling. I found myself a little spooked by the sheer size of what I assumed was their front hall.

"Wow, I think your front hall is bigger than our whole apartment!" Kuse gasped. "The ceiling's so high!"

I didn't say anything, but I agreed with him entirely.

"Come on Kuse," Tensei chuckled, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Why don't you come with me to our armory? It's where we keep all of our hero costumes and support items."

"Okay!" Kuse chirped, glancing at me for confirmation.

"Go on Kuse," I chuckled. "I'll see you when it's dinner time."

"Speaking of dinner," Mrs. Iida butt in. "Tenya, why don't you and Tora help me in the kitchen?"

I flinched, holding my hands up in defense. "I don't really cook, so I'm not quite sure if I'd be any good at it."

"Nonsense," She chuckled. "Tenya can show you the ropes, I just need you guys to peel and cut the potatoes and carrots."

"Do you mind?" Tenya asked. "My mom can be quite persistent."

I chuckled. "Alright, I'll help out."

The three of us headed to the kitchen and put on aprons, Mrs. Iida passing me a hair elastic. I put my long lilac hair up into a bun, rolled up the sleeves of my Nirvana hoodie, and took the vegetable peeler that Tenya handed to me. After a few minutes of Tenya teaching me how to peel vegetables, I fell into a steady rhythm, finding myself smiling to myself softly. Maybe today wouldn't be so bad, helping Mrs. Iida cook made me think that maybe I could cook for Kuse like this.

Any conversations in the kitchen died out as we listened to the sound of meat sizzling in the frying pan and the rhythmic peeling and cutting of vegetables. I found the silence oddly pleasant as I focused on my task, stopping once I had peeled and cut the last carrot.

Mrs. Iida took over from there, throwing the carrots into a steamer and boiling the potatoes in water.

"How about you two go see what Tensei and Kuse are up to?" Mrs. Iida suggested. "Just be back in fifteen minutes for dinner."

"Alright," Tenya nodded, removing his apron. "We'll see you at dinner."

I did the same, also taking my hair out of its bun as we made our way through the huge house.

"Sorry about jumping this on you," Tenya chuckled sheepishly. "I really tried to stop her."

"It's alright," I replied softly. "I actually had a lot of fun helping your mom cook, I've never experienced something like that. Though I guess this is just what it feels like to have a normal family."

Tenya frowned. "Tora-"

"Sorry," I said softly. "I'm being a downer, let's just go get Tensei and Kuse."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"-And then, he let me try on his helmet!" Kuse said excitedly, retelling the tour that Tensei had given him of their armory. 

"Yeah, but his head was a little too small," Tensei chuckled. "He looked like he was going to fall over with how much it weighed."

"Was not!" Kuse retorted, sticking his tongue out.

Mrs. Iida chuckled. "Now, now boys, let's not fight, just enjoy dinner."

Kuse huffed, shoving a carrot into his mouth.

"Make sure you thank Tensei for showing you around, Kuse." I said, taking a bite of mashed potatoes.

"It really wasn't a problem," Tensei shrugged. "I like kids, Tenya's not really a kid anymore though."

Tenya's cheeks flushed a little and he silently went back to eating.

"Anyway, thanks for inviting us over for dinner Mrs. Iida." I said politely.

"It wasn't a problem, come over anytime you like, both of you." She smiled. "Hopefully next time my husband will be able to join us."

"So I can come over again?" Kuse asked.

"Yep," Tensei chirped. "Next time maybe you can tell me more about your quirk."

Kuse grinned, nodding his head.

"I guess we'll have to come back sometime," I chuckled. "I think Kuse's starting to like Tensei more than me."

Everyone at the table laughed, and for once in my life, I felt normal. Almost like I had a normal family.

I felt at home.

A/N

Sorry guys, this is basically just filler, but next chapter we get to start talking about the sports festival and stuff, so hopefully, y'all are looking forward to that. As promised in the last chapter, here is the best reference for what Kuse looks like that I could find, so hopefully this gives you a better idea of what he looks like!

(Edited 2022.08.04)