My Old Hero

166: Maria

Izumi slowly walked out of her room, she didn't seem to be in a rush to get to work that morning. 

"Good morning, Izuku, did you get enough sleep?" Inko asked. 

"Yeah- just a little tired from last night." Izumi said, rubbing her head. 

"Last night, what did you do last night?" her mother asked, and Izumi froze. 

Izumi went and did hero activity the night before and has yet to tell her mom that she went back into doing this kind of work. 

"Uh- I was working on a little project for work last night! I lost track of time and fell asleep pretty late!" Izumi said, trying to avoid her mom's eyes. 

'Please don't ask me more about it.' Izumi thought. 

"As long as you get enough sleep, you need to be careful, Izuku. I don't want you to get sick because of your work." Inko said. 

'Phew, that was close.' Izumi thought with a sigh.

"Do you think it's safe for you to go home now?" Inko asked. 

"Not really sure, I haven't heard anything from Emra, so I might be back home tonight. I'll let you know." Izumi said. 

"I'm sure you would want to go back home too, and I'm sure Bakugo is tired of this too." Inko said. 

"Yeah, Kacchan does like some peace and quiet. Well, I better get to work before the airport gets busy." Izumi said, changing her clothes and putting her shoes on. 

"Just be careful getting to work, Izuku. And don't stay up so late." Inko said. 

"Thanks mom, I'll talk to you later!" Izumi yelled, running out of the house.

"Izumi, you got here on time?" Melissa asked. 

"Yeah, it seems no one was following me to work today. I wonder if what happened Friday caused all this." Izumi said. 

"Ah- I think you should think about it again." Melissa said. 

"Huh? Why?" 

Melissa pulled out the same exact magazine that had Izumi on the front cover and held it up to her. 

"Seems everyone saw this first." Melissa said. 

Izumi looked at the cover of the magazine and her eyes lit up. 

"Wow- Selena did a really good job on this picture!" Izumi said, grabbing the magazine. 

"Uh- am I missing something?" Melissa asked. 

"Oh yeah, I guess I should explain how this happened." Izumi said with a chuckle.

"You did a photoshoot Saturday and took these photos?" Melissa asked. 

"Yup, and Emra did some alongside me. It was actually pretty fun once I got comfortable doing it." Izumi said. 

"But- I thought you said you were self conscious about your body. This is the opposite from what you've said." Melissa said. 

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I didn't want to try. I just wanted to show that I have changed and that I've matured. I wanted to prove that this is the real... me." Izumi said. 

Izumi looked up and saw tears in Melissa's eyes.

"M-Melissa, why're you crying?" Izumi asked, going into panic. 

"Because, you're just so pretty in all these pictures!!! I've never seen you look so confident before, and that says something for me!" Melissa cried.