As part of a project for a high school health class, Kuwazu Miyo had kept a daily food journal on a blog. For one whole month, Miyo had diligently posted, but when the project was finished it got pushed to the side. Afterwards, Miyo largely left it alone, only logging in every now and then to post little mundane things: some spring flowers waving in the breeze, a cute cat that let her pet it, care packages from her grandparents that were bursting with farm-fresh produce, and little treats that she cooks up here and there. It continues like this through college, the blog largely left to collect dust save for the occasional log-in every couple weeks. The contents were largely the same: new flowers, new cats, but the same plentiful care packages and the snacks that she cooks up from them. She doesn't have a lot of followers, but it's nice to see the same couple people commenting on the rare post. At some point, she even slaps a cute little theme to her homepage, and renames it to pay homage to her favorite motif: the fuzzy hard-working honeybee. And thus, Mii Bee's Cooking is born.

And then. Then, Miyo decides to try a food challenge.

The challenge is a cute one, really. Every once in a while the buzz that sweeps through social media is to make some sort of hero-themed dessert. Miyo spends weeks scrolling through jaw-dropping photos of desserts like a Lemillion-themed pie and killer-cute Mirko cupcakes, complete with little rabbit ears (rabbit ears!). She wants to make something too, and rolls around on her bed for a while before finally committing to an idea, devoting her next off day to baking and accidentally going overboard. Three hours later, she has a perfectly round chocolate raspberry cake that smells divine, which she carefully—cautiously—pours a mirror glaze over until it looks like a little galaxy. It's garnished with little sweet rice balls because Miyo doesn't do things half-way, at least where food is involved, and the end result is so pretty she could cry. She dutifully takes more pictures than necessary from every which angle, putting her favorites to her blog so her usual readers can see her masterpiece and maybe stroke her ego a bit. Then, she faces a conundrum: what is she going to do with the entire cake?

She ends up calling her boyfriend, who is completely unimpressed with her problem or with the fact that she can't eat it all herself, even going as far as to click his tongue when she points out that, of the two of them, he was the one with the highly regimented diet. "It's a lot of cake," she huffs into the phone, voice just borderline a whine, and there's a lot of shuffling and a few muffled curses on the other end of the line before he finally heaves a very put-upon sigh.

"Bring the cake over here then," he finally says, "These ungrateful hooligans will eat it up to the last crumb."

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Mii Bee's Cooking I wanted to join the hero desserts bandwagon! Uravity is still a side-kick right now but one of these days she's going to be one of the greatest Pro Heroes! I know it in my bones. This is a chocolate-raspberry cake with raspberry jam, and the little planets are dango. It was my first time making dango myself and I admit I sneaked about half the bowl before I was even aware of it; they're just so chewy and yummy.

23Peas Wow that looks amazing!

Mii Bee's Cooking Thank you! Putting the glaze on was possibly the most stressful thing that I've ever done in my life, and I have been stressed many times before.

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Miyo's Uravity-themed cake balloons in popularity overnight. Not that she's aware, at all—she's far more preoccupied with getting her cake to her boyfriend's place in one piece. There are a few close calls on the way but she makes it in the end. It's her boyfriend's best friend who lets her into the apartment, sharp-toothed grin full of excitement that doesn't dim even when his friend yells at him to hurry up and shut the door. She ends up spending the night, and when she wakes up the next day she has to do a double-take at the sheer number of reblogs her cake has. She shoves her phone in her boyfriend's face when he comes back from his morning jog, making little squeaking noises in lieu of actual words in her excitement, and he rolls his eyes so hard it's a wonder they don't pop right out of his eye sockets.

"What are you so surprised about?" he asks gruffly, batting her hands away like a cat who's only half-committed to destroying a toy. "Your food's good."

"Oh my god," Miyo whispers, smiling so wide it hurts. "Today is such a wonderful day."

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Despite the people in her ask box asking her to make another mirror glaze cake (most popularly: for Deku's signature green lightning), Miyo doesn't make another hero-themed food item in months. That's because she's too busy job-hunting and running around to job interviews. Her hard work finally pays off though, and if she wasn't in training then she was fighting with her computer at her desk. As such, she was on a bento kick for any Mii Bee's Cooking content and trying very hard to leave a good impression on her new coworkers.

She's just about settled into her new role when she gets caught up in a villain attack. Heroes had been in hot pursuit of an armed trio who had robbed a jewelry store, apparently, and one of them had broken away from the pack to sprint through a main street, hoping to lose their pursuers in the crowd. The attempt hadn't done more than leave a jagged line of destruction, but thankfully Miyo had just been on the outer edges of the attack and so avoided the worst of the damage. It certainly helped that Red Riot had swooped in and hauled her and another equally hapless civilian out of the way. Maybe it's the adrenaline talking, or maybe it's the sheer power of his concerned yet dazzling smile, or maybe—dear god—it's the sheer muscle on him, but Miyo swears she's never seen anyone cooler. It leaves her a bit dazed, in all honesty.

So it's not really her fault that it's the only thing she can think or talk about for the next several days. It gets to the point where her boyfriend ends up pointing a wooden spoon at her, shaking it aggressively instead of using it to stir the soup he's got cooking in the pot. "For fuck's sake," he gripes, all bark and no bite. In fact, she'd almost say he seems amused by how she can't shut up about Red Riot. "I thought your favorite was space cheeks."

"My heart is big enough for many faves!" Miyo cries dramatically. It's true. She loves Uravity and Froppy very much. There are rumors that both of them are finally breaking out of the sidekick gig and being brought on full-time at rescue agencies by the end of next month. She hopes it's true. "Also don't call Uravity space cheeks. You can't keep substituting some other word in front of cheeks every time you don't want to say her name."

"I do what I want," he snipes back. She slices his slice of toast a little thinner in retaliation and then there's a squabble for the thicker cut of toast when they sit down to dinner. But still, she's happy and feeling generous, so when he sprawls on the couch and arches one brow in a challenge after the dishes are cleared away and the kitchen is spotless, she curls herself up at his side rather than suiting up to go home.

In the morning, she gets up with his alarm, despite how abysmally early it is. She makes breakfast for two, then lunch for three, packing an elaborate spread into a bright red lunch box that she steals from his cabinets. Bright bold colors pop out of the box, the omelette is chocked full of good things, and although it takes some finangling she finally manages to write out UNBREAKABLE RIOT, the saucy letters standing out on a golden yellow blanket of egg. In a stroke of genius, she even layers grilled meat onto a bed of rice to mimic Red Riot's Unbreakable face, consulting frequently with her phone as she works.

"Now you're just playing favorites," her boyfriend grumbles, grabbing the little container of sauce from her so that he can decorate his own lunchbox. His brow is furrowed, but he says nothing as she snaps pictures of the lunch and even helps her rearrange items on their counter and spread out a dishcloth for a more aesthetically pleasing photo. If that means she has no control over what he writes on her lunch, well, it's a small price to play for the gorgeous shots.

"Do you think Red Riot will accept fan-made lunches?" Miyo asks as they start to clean up. "Maybe this is overstepping."

"He keeps everything," her boyfriend says flatly. "A three-year-old once sent him a picture of a giraffe and he cried for five minutes before wasting twenty more finding it the perfect spot to live on his desk. All food items have to be vetted but he tends to share with the office, so if he dies we all die, I guess." He wraps up his lunch and the Red Riot lunch. "Don't worry. If he tries to share this with the office I will kill him myself."

"It's so nice to have a boyfriend who's in," Miyo sighs dreamily. She yelps in mock outrage when he flicks her on the forehead. "See if I ever make a lunch for you ever again."

"Say that after you've finished making me a lunch," he huffs. "Also, you're going to be late if you keep this up." This time she shrieks in actual outrage, scrambling out of the kitchen to find her cardigan so that she can rush back out the door. Just for his cackling, she refuses to give him a goodbye kiss, but when he presses her lunch into her hands and grins at her, boyish and bright, her resolve crumbles like a sandcastle under a wave.

"Just this once," she mumbles, pecking him sweetly on the lips.

"Sure." His lazy smirk is infuriating. "Now get outta here." She gives him a mock salute, jams her feet into her flats, and scurries off to work.

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Mii Bee's Cooking So last week I had the misfortune of being caught up in a villain attack (you know, the runaway jewelry heist). Fortunately, the most banged up I got was a bruise and a few scrapes. But that's not the important thing. The important thing is that Red Riot came to my rescue (Red Riot!) and I might have driven my boyfriend crazy with how much I gushed about him all week. So strong! So dependable! And with the sweetest smile despite those signature sharp teeth! Amazing. Anyways, here's an appropriately themed lunch box for the new love of my life. Keep up the good work, Red Riot! I'm rooting for you!

No1Riot yassssssss Red Riot! What can that sweet sweet man not do?

23Peas I hope you're ok! The scene looked nasty from what they showed on TV.

KadoKatt Are those… are those carrot-shaped band-aids.

Mii Bee's Cooking They are indeed! How can you be sad at the ouchies when you're plastered in carrots? You can't.

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If Miyo's humble little blog had gotten a boost in popularity with the Uravity cake, it really caught people's attention with the Red Riot lunch box. Here's what happens: her boyfriend, as promised, brings the lunch box to work with him. It passes the food inspection (although Miyo worries sometimes that Red Riot, as a personal rule, tends to be a bit lax about what kind of gifts from fans he'll accept). According to eyewitnesses, Red Riot opens the box and immediately bursts into (manly) tears, to the point that he has to step away for a moment to compose himself. Apparently this is when his coworker Chargebolt swoops in for the kill, snapping a picture (or two, or three, or 50, but who's really counting?). With Chargebolt's own electrifying seal of approval, it makes the social media rounds. Some of them inevitably trace the lunch back to her blog, so she gets a sizable boost in followers. More messages pop up in her ask box for other hero-themed munchies. Deku comes up a lot of times. So many times. Eventually, she caves and joins in on one of his most popular memes and posts a picture of a piece of broccoli that she had blanched and then painstakingly arranged on a dish so it could stand upright, bold and green. She swears she killed her boyfriend that night with how much he howled with laughter.

Spring bleeds into summer, and with it comes the first of the summer festivals. Her grandfather celebrates his eightieth birthday so she goes home to the countryside for the celebration. Her boyfriend, unfortunately, is on call that weekend, and makes up for his lack of attendance with a bottle of very nice Japanese sake that's smooth as silk as it slides down the throat.

Right before Obon, her boyfriend asks her to move in with him. He's a stilted conversationalist and awkward to boot through it all, but his eyes are very bright and earnest. It makes her thankful for her 16-year-old self, who had unknowingly started turning the gears for this relationship ever since she smashed an umbrella onto a purse-snatcher's head. She listens to him talk and then takes a bite out of the dinner that he made, and the affection that bursts over her tongue on top of the flavors of a perfectly cooked meal seal the deal for her. There's something special in the way that his shoulders straighten up and how his eyes brighten like summer fireworks when she says yes.

Miyo's lease ends in August, so the last weekend of July sees her, her boyfriend, and a small handful of their friends boxing up the last of her items and ferrying them to their new home. Chie-chan, her best friend from high school, even comes up from Musutafu to help out, lugging a pot she had made in her ceramics class as a housewarming gift. It's the most normal gift of the bunch. It's also frankly a wonder nothing breaks on the move—her boyfriend's friends are rowdy when they all get together, but her's are equally dramatic. But it's highly entertaining to watch them all needle her boyfriend for pizza when the last box is hauled up until he finally throws his hands up, roaring at them to do "whatever the hell you want!" as though he didn't already have a very large and specific order in mind. The speed at which he rattles it off into the phone is nothing short of impressive.

Miyo's boyfriend lives in a sizable two-bedroom apartment. The only thing to complain about is how one of the rooms is smaller than the other, but he had been living alone ever since he signed the lease and so the smaller room had been converted into an office with little fuss. His apartment is lived-in but furnished for efficiency, sentimental items to reflect that he actually has a personal life few and far between and selected with the utmost care. Miyo keeps a clean home herself, but she has far more sentimental knickknacks, and over the course of unpacking they keep popping up until he gives up trying to fend them off. Her pictures and prints join his on the walls. There's a childishly bright rainy day coat hook set up in the entryway. Her favorite fleece blanket makes it onto their new shared bed, and her tiny plush frogs settle down on the shelves. There are two toothbrushes on the bathroom counter and nearly no room in the medicine cabinet after she arranged all her skincare products next to his.

The place that Miyo is most keen to make her mark, though, is the kitchen. Miyo's old one had a good layout, because she had been determined to have plenty of counter space and good cabinetry. But her boyfriend works in heroics, and even as a sidekick his salary had been higher than hers. His kitchen feels like a luxury as far as rental units go. Miyo's beehive cookie jar quickly finds a new home on his spotless counter. They now own a towering collection of pots and pans and bakeware. All the spices and condiments and utensils have to be reshuffled constantly to find a layout that doesn't drive either of them crazy, so for two weeks there's general confusion as they get used to the new arrangement, with no one quite knowing where anything is. To top it all off, evern few days he'll tease her by putting something on the top shelf and watch as she works herself into a quiet rage trying to get to it.

"I really want to show it off," she announces one day. They've unearthed his hot plate that afternoon trying to find the bigger clay pot, so dinner is okonomiyaki, happily sizzling away. He gives her a Look, little spatulas poised and ready to flip their latest creation, and gestures widely to encompass the rest of their kitchen.

"This piece of rental garbage?" he asks, as though he also wasn't pleased with the kind of kitchen he had landed for himself. "Why?"

"Why not?" she asks. "It's clean and the appliances are new and I might have also gotten some Sugarman kitchen merchandise to show off."

"Oh my god," he groans, flipping the pancake more aggressively than needed.

"The whisk has a very nice grip, OK?" she asks petulantly. Sometimes you just needed to hand whisk things and you didn't need a whisk with a poor handle that was going to kill your hand in addition to your arm. And she's seen him use it multiple times already! All the items also followed a cute buttercup yellow color scheme. There were even sugar cubes embroidered onto the apron and she had scored an additional little jar of decorated sugar cubes. They now sat next to her ceramic beehive and were simply too cute to drop into her tea.

"Oh my god," her boyfriend says again, slicing into the cooked pancake. "Do whatever the fuck you want. Just don't go overboard or whatever." Miyo hums cheerfully, slides over a bottle of homemade spicy mayo, and happily tucks into her slice of dinner.

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Mii Bee's Cooking's readership knows that she has a boyfriend. He shows up every now and then as a throwaway mention in her posts or her captions, but he's a private person, and so she's stingy with what she says about him. The ones that have hung around from the beginning know bits and pieces, like how he's a first-responder, how he has a terrible habit of chucking his nice watches to one side and forgetting about them the next morning, and how he claims to hate that one stray cat that hangs around their apartment building yet always seems to have a scrap of chicken at hand to feed it. Now they'll also know that he's a spice-collecting fiend on top of it all, as Miyo opens one of their cabinets to showcase the staggering collection of spices, herbs, and seasonings on the spice rack.

"Ok," Miyo says as the video shows her moving a few of his precious spices around so that the names were visible. "I mean, I also brought a good amount of seasonings with me but his collection is staggering. This little corner right here is specifically for his spicy curry. I've never seen him use them in anything else." She lightly taps the lids of seven or so dangerously red bottles. "One of his friends got him a three-month trial of a monthly hot sauce subscription as a birthday gift and honestly? I'm more upset that I didn't think of it first rather than the fact that we now have way too much hot sauce in the house."

The next cabinet housed their dry staples, followed by their cans. On the bottom shelves are their pots and pans. "Ah, these are the ones I brought with me," Miyo says, pulling out a set of sleek white pans to lay out on the counter. "The handle is removable so you can also use them for plating too. The largest one is about the size of our donabe, so it's nice when you want to give your hotpot party a modern and simplistic flair. But I wonder where we put the donabe. I was really hoping to find it in the course of this video since it's been missing for a few days now..."

On the counters, she shows off their new microwave oven that had replaced her boyfriend's old toaster oven. "Sometimes you want to bake! Not just toast," she says. "My boyfriend was actually able to bake in the toaster oven, but I always burn things when I try. Hopefully there'll be no more of that!" She gives the red microwave oven a loving pat on the top. Then there is their trusty rice cooker, also recently upgraded to a larger model, followed by a sleek induction cooktop, the fish grill, and then their sink, complete with a bowl of clams that she's degritting and with the built-in dish rack installed overhead.

"Our fridge is pretty standard I think, except with this model you can open the door from either direction. So that's pretty cool. All these containers are frozen food prep items. It's just personal preference, but I like stainless steel for the vegetables and silicone for the meats. You can use the smaller containers to portion out meat for stew and curry! Otherwise, I like to wrap larger cuts of meat individually in parchment paper, then layer them into the larger container. The parchment paper keeps the pieces from sticking together." She pulls out one such container, peeling the lid off and showing the neat rows of parchment-wrapped items. "When you prep them, cut them while they're still partially frozen, and then let them finish thawing afterwards."

The rest of the fridge was stocked as expected, if not fit to bursting, with more meal prep containers and fresh produce and even some rare regional specialties sent over by her grandparents. There was even a box of cake that her boyfriend had picked up the other day, since a friend had given him a voucher. Milk and juice and cans of beer are also neatly lined up on the shelves along the door. Miyo shuts the fridge and repositions the camera on the counter to peek into it.

"And that's that!" she says cheerily. "It'll probably take a while more to get used to where everything is in this kitchen, but I just really wanted to show it off because it's nicer than what I had in my old apartment. Also, some people have been asking me about what I do for meal prep, so I hope what we went over today was helpful to you! There are other methods too, but these were the ones that worked really well for me in my old kitchen. I'm sure as I get used to the new setup some will hold and others will have to be scrapped."

The rattle of the front door in the background catches her attention, and tired and grouchy-sounding "I'm home," filters into the kitchen.

"Welcome home!" Miyo chirps back dutifully, and then she turns back to the camera. "This was actually rather fun for my first video! I hope you enjoyed it, and if you didn't—"

"If you didn't then fuck you!" comes the grumpy background voice. There's a scramble from Miyo, an aborted but ultimately not offended "oh my god," and then the video cuts off.

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Mii Bee's Cooking Doing a video to show off my new kitchen! Come join the tour as I show off our collection of too-many-spices, forget where we put that One Specific Pot, and talk about how to make the most of your kitchen space! (The answer is: containers, containers, containers)

Jam4Days Wth why are you so cute? Who gave you the right?

Hotmessexpress Is that a Frontiers Rescue hoodie?

Mii Bee's Cooking Yes! I was lucky enough to receive an updated design with the new galaxy print and patches. They also added Uravity's name to the Pro Staff on the back!

GravityGurl OMG didn't Uravity just join last month!?

23Peas Was that your boyfriend at the end?

Mii Bee's Cooking Yes, that was Mr. VK in the flesh. Or as close as you can get without actually seeing him.

Hotmessexpress Kudos to him for telling the haters where it's at.

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When Miyo opens the door her face splits into an immediate grin. "Shin-chan!" she exclaims. "What a surprise! I haven't seen you in forever!" She hastens to usher her friend into the house, beaming all the brighter when he lets himself be pulled in good-naturedly. She lets go only when he nudges a paper bag into her shoulder enough times for her to actually take it.

"Souvenirs from the last job," he remarks at her quizzical look. "Also, I helped you move."

"That was months ago," Miyo shoots back, peering into the bag and making a pleased noise at its contents. "And then you just dropped off the face of the world, it seemed."

Her lanky friend ducks his head, shrugging his shoulder up until it seems like he's trying to hunch up and curl in on himself. "Sorry. It comes with the job and all…"

Miyo's expression softens, and she reaches over to squeeze his arm. "I'm glad you're back safely," she says, "and I'm honored that you decided to stop by and visit. Can I get you some tea? If you've got time before you have to run off I can also whip up something to snack on."

"I'll stay as long as you'll have me," he says honestly, sinking into the couch with a groan of relief.

"You know I love your company." Miyo's response is muffled, accentuated by the soft clink and clang of tea tins and cups as she bustles around the kitchen, fussing with the kettle.

"Ah, then; correction: I'll stay as long as your noble beast will tolerate me."

Miyo clicks her tongue to stave off a giggle. "Oh, don't say that! You make him sound like a dragon on a hoard of—oh, I don't know—spices? Hot sauce? Classic All Might merchandise?"

"Oi!" comes a shout from the noble beast himself, and then Miyo's boyfriend comes stomping out of his office. "My collection is tasteful and carefully curated. Quality over quantity only in this house! If you want to mock someone's All Might collection take that beef up with Deku."

Miyo doesn't even have to turn away where she's pouring water into the teapot to know that Shin-chan is rolling his eyes. "Everyone and their mother knows that Deku has a staggering and embarrassing amount of All Might merchandise," their guest drawls out, settling more comfortably down into their couch cushions as he does so. "You, though. I bet no one knows that you have the director's cut edition of the official All Might Documentary, in addition to a signed poster of All Might with all four of his major costumes, each in their respective victory poses."

Tentatively, Miyo slides the tea tray onto the coffee table. There is silence for ten blessed seconds as her boyfriend blinks, flabbergasted and stunned into one of his rare moments of genuine speechlessness. Then his eyes narrow sharply. "Oh, you're dead," he hisses, voice laden with such rage that it physically could not get any louder. "I'm going to murder you, and then I'm going to squash that traitorous nerd because he's the only one of those assholes to know I have that."

"Do you really want my death on your record?" Shin-chan asks flatly, completely unconcerned as he fixes himself a cup of tea. Miyo beats a hasty retreat back to the relative safety of the kitchen. She's feeling a little peckish. Maybe she'll make some tea sandwiches, and use those cute little sandwich cutters she bought the other day. By the time she finds the nice platter, makes the fillings, cuts and plates everything, they'll be done killing each other in the living room, and then they can all sit down and have a snack.

God, a girl can hope, can't she?

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Mii Bee's Cooking A very good friend of mine from high school dropped by recently after having been in Hokkaido for work! Since he had time to stay for tea, I put these tiny sandwich cutters to good use. The Shiroi Koibito cookies are his souvenirs for us, and so I think this is a good blend of sweet and savory options. Sandwich fillings are: salmon cream cheese; brie, ham, and honey; and crab and cucumber salad.

23Peas I've seen these sandwich cutters used by other people like BentoBento and JPNLunchtimeRush. Do they cut well?

Mii Bee's Cooking These cutters actually crimp the edges so you shouldn't overstuff your sandwich! Personally, I like the simpler cutters where you'll still be able to see the filling, since it'll give a nice color contrast, but luckily I had enough designs that each flavor could be its own design.

Hotmessexpress Um… not to sound creepy or anything but is that Mindjack reflected in their TV?

GravityGurl omg I didn't notice before but now that you mention it… yeah that really looks like him (compared to the few professional pictures of him that I could find, I mean)

SourBoshi Don't be stupid why would Mindjack be hanging out at some random civvie who runs a cooking blog's house?

Hotmessexpress I mean… It's not rocket science to find out that Mindjack started his heroics education in UA's general education course, and since Mii said it's a high school friend, it could happen.

SourBoshi OK but how many of you actually hang out with your high school friends?

GravityGurl Some of us actually made impactful friendships in high school. There's no rule that you can only hang out with the people you met in college or beyond for the rest of your life. Yikes.

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The unpredictable fluctuation of autumn weather catches Miyo unprepared, and so she greets October knocked out with a terrible cold. She can't even whine pitifully about her misery because her throat is shot to hell. It hurts to even swallow water, and so she fumbles miserably with the cold medication until she can finally muster up the courage to choke it down, discomfort be damned. She curls up in bed alone and naps, waking up intermittently in a painful haze. Sometimes it's to a hand brushing against her forehead. Most of the time it's because she's coughed herself awake. She's vaguely aware of waking up once just to hang limply over the edge of the bed, head positioned over a washbasin trying to decide if she wanted to hurl or not (she did not, thankfully). A slightly better but no less vague memory of wakefulness was leaning against a strong shoulder being fed canned peaches, cold and sweet from the fridge and dripping with juice.

Thankfully, by the third day she's just feeling tired, rather than like she's actively dying. The light that manages to sneak in through the crack in their curtains doesn't make her feel like a vampire threatening to combust. Her throat is scratchy from disuse but doesn't put up a fight when she downs the glass of water put out on the bedside table.

When she stumbles out of the bedroom, empty glass and dry towelette in hand, she's greeted by low hissed murmurings in the living room. Her boyfriend is apparently holding court from the loveseat, arms folded over his chest as he glares at his friends. The coffee table is littered with binders and papers and pens. Plates full of crumbs and cups filled with the last dregs of coffee are scattered on the floor.

Miyo tries to greet them, except what comes out is more of a croak rather than an actual word. It's both fascinating and creepy to see all their heads turn as one in her direction. Her boyfriend is on his feet in an instant, picking his way through the mess and bearing down on her. He's mindful not to stomp.

"You look like shit," is the first thing he says to her. There's a squawk of protest from his friends, but Miyo shrugs, relinquishing the towel and empty glass when he pulls them out of her hands.

"I feel slightly less like it." Unconvincing, but this time it was less croak, more words.

The glass is refilled and pressed back into her hands. He's watching her with a sharp, narrow-eyed glare. "I can kick these losers out if they're too loud," he offers. Miyo shakes her head. She knows how loud they can get, and right now they're being their equivalent of so quiet that a dropped pin could be heard.

"Just wanted some water. And a walk or something. I don't know."

"You can walk yourself right back to bed then," her boyfriend says gruffly. "Wanna eat? We finally found the missing donabe pot so I've got okayu if you want any." He's already shuffling into the kitchen before she can even nod, so she just hangs out at the edge of the living room with his friends while he heats it up. Her nose is too stuffy to smell the soft rich notes of miso that he's spooning into the congee or the acid bites of the pickled vegetables.

"What're you working on?" she asks their friends as she sips on her water. "I see a lot of forms."

"Ugh," groans the only other girl in the group. "Bureaucracy is going to kill us one day." Her mess of pink hair is ruffled affectionately by her neighbor.

"We're bouncing some costume modifications around," he says. "I can't speak for the rest of them, but mine got a bit banged up after my last scrap. Since I have to send it in for repairs I figured I'd request some upgrades. I don't really like how my current bracers are distributing my weight when I move—they don't really offer enough support when I turn so the tape breaks easily and I can't really have that with the jobs I'm taking right now."

"Spiderman sure makes it look easy," comes a wistful sigh from a pile of books.

"Well, if it didn't come out of my elbows maybe it'd be easier, but I still need to bend my arms. Really bad of my joints to try to do their job while I try to do mine."

"That's why I'm saying," Miyo's boyfriend snarls, marching out of the kitchen with a full tray. "You gotta ditch the agency-assigned designer they've got you on. That novice is terrible with accessories; I don't see why they think he can handle work on his own."

"That's harsh, man."

He grimaces, but it's more of a sneer. "It's the fucking truth. He nearly got that sidekick killed with a quick-release valve that jammed. It worked in testing, my ass. They tried it out again when he got back to the agency and it failed every single time. I wouldn't trust him with any of my equipment."

He shifts the tray so that it can balance precariously in one large hand, freeing up the other so that he can jab a finger aggressively at his friend. It's only the residual cold that has Miyo entirely unconcerned with the possibility of the entire tray smashing to the ground. "Look, Shield's looking to build up a portfolio that caters to the Japanese market. Tell your agency to shove it and that you're just going to file with them instead. Now you—" Miyo blinks as the finger suddenly shifts to point to her, "Eat this, then go back to bed."

"Looks yummy," Miyo says, as cheerily as she can get with a stuffy nose, sore throat, and the remnants of a migraine. She settles at the breakfast counter, happily digging her spoon into the soft rice, and lets the hushed sound of the paperwork argument resume behind her.

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Mii Bee's Cooking A compilation of the flu fighters courtesy of Mr. VK.

GravityGurl I'm more of a tinned mandarin girl myself.

Hotmessexpress Oh cool looks like you finally found that pot.

Mii Bee's Cooking Mr. VK had some friends over and their combined might apparently coaxed it out of hiding. You really can't beat the taste of rice out of donabe.

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"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the year-end Hero Billboard Chart JP!"

Miyo turns off the tap and puts the last clean dish onto the dishrack, flicking the last of the soapsuds down the drain. On TV, Tokyo Stadium is thronging with visitors who care little for the early December chill. Flashing lights abound from reporters and excited fans apiece, hoping to catch the last of the invited heroes on their way in. Miyo had watched a lot of big names walk past the screen while eating a lonely dinner for one. Her boyfriend had gone this year, and while Miyo had been offered a ticket to go with him, she was technically still on probation at work.

She scoots under the kotatsu with a pot of tea and helps herself to a clementine from the bowl while an excited reporter bounces back onto camera. "If you're like me, then you must be abuzz with excitement even if you're watching the rankings from the comforts of home! This year, we've seen a lot of great work from many wonderful Pro Heroes, but I'm sure we can all agree that the above-and-beyond performance of this year's rookie crop really captured our attention, both at home and abroad! We're entering the fifth year following the graduation of U.A.'s most iconic graduating class, and this year marks the first that every single member has been promoted from sidekicks into full-fledged Pros of their own rights. I have it on good authority that many members of that illustrious class will be receiving honors at today's ranking."

Miyo nods along, popping another piece of fruit into her mouth. She's so stoked for Uravity and Froppy to get the recognition that they deserve. They might have only been fully pro for half a year, but they were both popular with stellar track records. Some people even went so far as to argue that Uravity could break into the top 20 this round, beating even Ground Zero's record.

She sighs unhappily, dropping her head into her hands, "I wish I was there, too! I want an autograph from Uravity and Froppy and a picture or two or five! How unfair." Grumpily, she starts peeling another clementine, stuffing the pieces into her mouth as the program moves into the stadium. She definitely can't count on her boyfriend for these sorts of things since he thought they were a huge waste of time. What was the literal point of him being at this event if he couldn't even bring back a measly autograph (or two, if she dared to be greedy?).

"—thank you very much for taking the time to chat with us, Deku-san," the reporter is wrapping up a short interview on screen. Deku smiles a little bashfully.

Suddenly, Deku glances to the side and the camera pans over to Ground Zero, fully kitted in his bracers and gauntlets, red eyes shining out against the black of his mask with the force of his glare. He looks thoroughly annoyed to be there, and even more so when the reporter immediately thrusts her microphone into his face. "Ground Zero, sir! Like Deku, you easily broke into the top 30 your first year as a full Pro, and your rank has continued to shoot up since then. Fans have even speculated that this might be the year where you break into the top 10! Could we have a moment of your time regarding this matter?"

Ground Zero's gaze slices over to Deku, who just offers a crooked little smile and a half-shrug. The explosive hero's frown deepens. "I have nothing to say that my work hasn't said already," he growls out, and then pauses as if he's contemplating tacking on another quip that's very Ground Zero-esque and borderline rude.

The reporter is saved from that addition by Red Riot popping onto the scene, casually slinging an arm over Ground Zero's shoulders and smiling bright enough to rival one of the stage lights. "Aw, man! You can afford to drop the big-bad-tough-wolf act for one night!"

"Get off me," Ground Zero snarls, shrugging his friend off. Red Riot goes willingly. "You can entertain these vultures if you're so keen to do so." Eager to leave this brewing trainwreck behind, the reporter jumps on the opportunity to interview Red Riot, leaving Ground Zero free to slip away.

Miyo gets up to make another pot of tea and toss her clementine peels. She sets the bath to fill up, stretches out the kinks in her back, and finally wanders back to the warmth of the kotatsu after the commercial break signifies the start to the Countdown. She sits through a tediously boring speech by the Hero Commission of Public Safety, perking up only when the stiffly dressed lady walks offstage and is replaced with the much more upbeat MC.

"As always, we start from the bottom of the Final Countdown and work our way up!" the MC shouts to rousing enthusiasm from the gathered crowd. "Breaking in at Number 10 for the first time in his career: this man has repeatedly shown us his tenacious spirit, which is supported in his resolved incident records! Among his notable jobs in the past year is his role in the Tohoku Shinkansen Derailment Incident, where his quick thinking stopped the runaway train from dealing massive damage to the surrounding town, allowing rescue agencies like Frontier Rescues to conduct a seamless evacuation. The aspiring Symbol of Peace, PRO HERO DEKU!" Deku stammers through his thanks until he gets to the part where he talks about his greatest role model and mentor, All Might. It's cute, Miyo thinks, even as the MC eventually has to gently cut off Deku's rambling and wave him away from the microphone.

"Number Nine! This man has been making a commotion long before his debut, and he's proved his worth time and time again in cases where serious firepower is needed! His collateral damage reports could use some improvements, but his performance in crises like the Tokyo StarLand Takeover have shown the entire country that he's a hero determined to win and save them all! Also breaking into the Top 10 for the first time in his career, the indomitable Symbol of Victory, PRO HERO GROUND ZERO!"

Ground Zero doesn't walk onto stage as much as he stalks on, looking like a predatory cat, if predatory cats came strapped down with ammunition. He glowers over the crowd. "Don't think this is the end," he snarls into the microphone, before he passes it back to the stunned MC and marches off to stand by Deku.

Honestly, the rest of the countdown passes in a blur. She takes a bath and goes to bed after they announce Number 5. The next morning, there's a text from her boyfriend saying that he'll be back on the afternoon train. She fries an omelette for herself while she taps back a reply, asking him to stop by the store on his way home and pick up a few things. And then, just because she can, she asks what he thought of Ground Zero's iconic thank-you speech.

She only gets an angry sticker in reply.

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Mii Bee's Cooking To celebrate the wonderful, wonderful news of the Wonder Duo both breaking into the Top 10, I've also decided to challenge myself with bread! The bottom plait is filled with pesto chicken in honor of Deku, and the top plait is spicy curry for Ground Zero! Some of my other favorites have also broken into the Top 50 for the very first time: Whiplash, Red Riot, Froppy, Cellophane, and Uravity. I'm so glad that there's a highlight on heroes who specialize in rescue in this roundup. Many, many congrats and thanks to these heroes for their tireless work. You all deserve it.

Jams4Days I can barely do a 3-strand braid in hair, let alone do it in bread WOW

Smolmight OMG ARE THOSE THE GACHAPON RESOLUTE MINI FIGURINES

No1Riot I heard Ground Zero is so hard to get that people are spreading rumors that he isn't in the release. Not that I don't like who I've gotten so far, but I don't need 3 P. H. Shotos

Smolmight PLS I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR GZ FOREVER I WILL TRADE YOU GALE FORCE FOR HIM.

Mii Bee's Cooking Sorry, Mr. VK is a big Ground Zero fan so I'm afraid he's never leaving my collection. I actually got him on my second try, but it took me a whole week to get Froppy (there's an elementary school nearby so I try to limit myself to one draw a day so the kids can take their spins)

Smolmight Sorry I got a little over-excited back there. But if not Gale Force would you accept Resolute Tsukuyomi and Dark Shadow for Ground Zero.

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Miyo is wrestling with a stubborn block of chocolate when her friend heaves a soft sigh. "Are you sure this is OK?" he asks, and Miyo looks up from the annoying sweet with a questioning hum. He gestures vaguely to himself, then at her.

"Uh, you're going to have to be more specific than that," she says, even as he repeats the same movements.

"Are you alright with me using my quirk on you," he finally grits out. Miyo sneaks a bite of chocolate in lieu of answering immediately just to watch him squirm. Finally, she grins.

"Yeah," she says, offering him a piece as well. "I wouldn't offer if I wasn't alright with following through. I'm a girl of my word, after all. Plus, I think it'll be interesting."

"Well, that's putting it mildly," he grumbles, but ultimately relents.

"Trust me," Miyo says, a gleam in her eyes. "We support equality and honesty in this kitchen, so if I get to taste the feelings in your chocolates then I think it's fair that you do the same with mine." The calendar on the fridge mocks him with its brightly marked Valentine's Day, just a week away.

"I'm never coming to you for holiday help ever again."

Miyo shushes and elbows him in one smooth move. "None of that now," she tuts. "Why're you being so meek, anyway? It's unlike you. This isn't the first time you've gotten Kendo-san chocolate."

"Itsuka," he murmurs, distractedly rolling an egg around the counter. Ah, Miyo thinks. So they were finally at the stage where they would use given names, but it was still new enough that he takes every opportunity to savor hers on his tongue. Not like Miyo has any room to comment, although she supposes she'd also be at the given-name-phase if only she could kick the habit of always tacking on an honorific. "And you know I don't… make things. And with that I'm going to put an end to this distasteful conversation. Tell me about your quirk."

The about-face is startling and leaves Miyo floundering, but she recovers quickly. "Um, it's called Soul Food, and it lets me taste the emotions of cooks from their food. The more time and care that's put into the preparation, the more pronounced the flavor, and it only applies to the last person who handled the food." She ticks things off on her fingers. "So like, if you gave me an apple I'd taste nothing because no preparation was done, but if you sliced it I could pick up something, but faintly, unless you're feeling particularly strongly about something. If you took that same apple and made it into an apple pie, it'd be easier to get a reading even without being really happy or such. And if, say, I sliced the apples but you finished off the pie, I'd only be able to read you since you were the last person to work on it. Conversely, if you sliced the apples and I finished the pie, I'd still only be able to read you because I can't taste my own feelings in my own work. It's classified as a Mutant type because it's so passive and I can't turn it off."

"So you're telling me that no one's ever tasted the true depth of your affections before?"

Miyo frowns at his unnecessary dramatics. "I've made chocolates for my family before. My dad and grandmother have the same quirk as I do."

"How sweet of you," he simpers, patting her on the head. "But this is chocolate you also plan to give him, isn't it? Aren't confessions supposed to be private and intimate?"

"Oh my god," Miyo mutters, flushing bright red. "I like my boyfriend very much and I have nothing to hide. Just touch me and let's get moving so you can focus your energies on something other than teasing me."

"Kinky."

"No!" She smacks him with her bee-patterned spoon.

He puts both hands up in surrender and nearly drops the eggs. "Just kidding," he laughs, slipping the eggs safely back into their basket and holding out his hand. "High-five." Miyo scrunches up her nose but paps her hand against his. "And then, what? Try a bite of the tester?"

"Bingo! Not that I don't trust you or anything, of course." She slides over a bowl of caramel popcorn, and his hand dives in without hesitation to pop a sizable clump into his mouth. "I made these for movie night last weekend."

His brow furrows while he chews. "Weirdly enough, something feels like it's tingling?"

"I was very excited about our movie choice."

"Hmm. And then at the end, something spicy with an ending bitter note."

"The popcorn kept sticking to the pan so I was upset about the prospect of scrubbing it later."

"Totally fair." He swallows and grins. "This is really cool, actually. It's not often that I get to copy something that's not all flashy and in-your-face. Now! What're we making today? I also see a lot of wrapping stuff, like ribbon and gift bags."

"I thought we'd make brownies!" Miyo says cheerfully. "I pared down each batch so we can mix and match flavors. And they're a dream to package. So here's what we do first—"

An hour later, they high-five again in a chocolatey apartment as they carefully cut the brownies into small pieces. Miyo bites down into a dark chocolate fudge piece and makes a pleased sound at the rich burst of flavor on her tongue. It's just as flamboyant and dramatic as her friend is, and laced with a soft undercurrent of gratitude that really mellows out the rich chocolate. Next to her, a chili-chocolate brownie disappears into her baking partner's smiling mouth. Miyo's fingers clench down nervously around her teacup.

Finally, after an excruciating amount of time, his teasing grin mellows out into something soft. "I always thought it was a gross exaggeration when people said that love could be tasted," he says. "This is one of the few instances where I'm happy to be wrong, though."

He sneers out into the living room. Or more accurately, at the cracked door leading to the converted office. "Our Mii is wasted on you!" he shouts, "But then again, we've known that for years!"

There's a muffled thud, then the door swings open violently to reveal her enraged boyfriend. "You wanna say that to my face, copycat bastard?" he snarls, shoulders tight and brought up to his ears until he resembled a puffed-up cat. Miyo drops down behind the counters on pure instinct as her friend cackles in glee at the challenge. There's some more yelling, a lot of stomping, a muffled "oomph!" as someone's face is nailed with a cushion.

Well, there's no helping it, she thinks. It's probably not safe to stand at full height and bag the brownies, so she carefully eases each pan and plate and bag down to join her on the kitchen tile. At least now she could sneak as many treats as she wanted. All the crispy edges were now free for her taking, and she never backed down from an opportunity to snack well.

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Mii Bee's Kitchen If you want to add a little more substance to your chocolate, then brownies are a great way to go! Monoma Neito-san (some of you might know him as Phantom Thief) was kind enough to join us in a special Mii Bee's Video. Since Valentine's Day is all about putting your heart on your sleeve, we thought it would be a fun twist to have him copy my Soul Food. These brownies are perfect for giri choco, honmei choco, tomo choco, or even just for everyday snacking. Our flavor combinations are: dark chocolate fudge, chili choco, and peanut butter choco.

Sourboshi Please tell me how you know Phantom Thief I MUST KNOW

23Peas Maybe I'll make these for my kids this year! I usually just get each a box of Pocky because the crowds at the chocolatiers are intimidating.

GravityGurl I feel like chili choco would be really refreshing. Like mint choco.

MaybePeanuts They're cut pretty small, I feel like I'd accidentally eat the whole pan in one sitting (or is it an accident?)

Mii Bee's Cooking Mr. VK doesn't have a very strong sweet tooth, so being able to portion something on the smaller side is a big plus in my book! Because you bake these in a single sheet, you can also cut bigger pieces for your other chocolate-loving friends. That's true personalization!

Hotmessexpress Ok but… Phantom Thief? Is weirdly a lot more chill and low-key than I thought he'd be.

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Miyo's phone is buried somewhere underneath the mess of blankets on their bed, so when it starts to ring, she almost misses it. In fact, she only manages to catch the jaunty little tune when she trots past the open door, laden down with clean laundry. It takes some fumbling, but she eventually manages to wedge the phone between her ear and shoulder, hobbling back out of the bedroom with the laundry basket balanced on her hip.

"Hello? Kuwazu speaking," she chirps, and then promptly squeaks as she trips over their roomba.

"I was gonna ask why it took you forever to answer but I see that you've been busy turning our house into an obstacle course," comes the flat voice of her boyfriend.

"Now, look here," Miyo huffs, nudging the wayward little robot back onto the right path, "It's not my fault that the roomba moves." She gets a scoff for her complaints. "What's up? You usually don't call on your shifts."

"Yeah. Just givin' you a heads up that I'll be back late, if they let us go today at all."

"Oh," Miyo says, pausing with a black tank top halfway on the hanger. "Double shift?"

"Agency got a tip off. Can't say any more than that."

"Oh, no, no, nonono!" Miyo stammers, hands automatically flailing to emphasize her point, the shirt flopping about wildly. "The job comes first, after all. Stay safe, OK?"

"Who do you think I am?" is the answering growl. There's a muffled shout from the other end of the line. "That's all I had to say. I'll see you when I see you." A click, and then the call drops, leaving Miyo alone on the veranda with the rest of the laundry. She's only a little disappointed. It was her day off, with nothing interesting planned since there were house chores piled up that needed to be done. But her boyfriend's shift was supposed to finish at three, so she had really been hoping that they could go out and get tempura for dinner. If he thought he'd get back late, or not at all today, then that kind of killed those prospective plans.

"Well, it's still too early for those sad and depressing thoughts," she says decisively, snapping the wrinkles out of another shirt. "Oh, but if I went out to dinner on my own, then no one can stop me from stopping for extra dessert afterwards. Ooh! Now that's a good thought!"

Pleased, she finishes hanging up the rest of the laundry. Her head's floating away in chocolate mousse and fruit tart bliss when she goes back inside, so of course she promptly trips over the roomba again and falls flat on her face.

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Miyo's lonely dinner for one ends up turning into a cheery party of three in a happy twist of coincidence. Two of her college friends had escaped a goukon early, disappointed by the venue and the selection. Miyo had been just about ready to head out to dinner when they both stormed her phone with messages, so she had just sent them the location of the tempura restaurant and promised to buy them both the first drink.

It's a fun night out. The food is delicious and the craft beer is refreshing for the muggy July weather, and there's a lot to catch up on in the few months that they didn't see each other. They're contemplating adding more to their order when a salaryman at the table behind them suddenly stands up.

"Hey," he says to a passing waiter, "Excuse me, but could we turn on the volume for the news?"

"Why would you want to go out just to watch the news?" one of Miyo's friends asks, only to get slapped on the arm by the other, because the news in question is… kind of terrible actually. A frazzled reporter stumbles onto the camera as an explosion sounds somewhere off screen.

"This is Skylark News reporting from the Kiyashi City, Tokyo," the reporter shouts. "Twenty minutes ago, this news agency received a tip-off about a large amount of explosives planted within several major buildings in this neighborhood. Local authorities were alerted immediately, and Pro Heroes have assembled on the scene. Currently, Red Riot and Ground Zero are among the first responders on location at Wookiees, a multifunctional complex featuring both residential and commercial spaces that replaced the old Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall three years ago. It is currently unknown just how many villains are involved—"

A bang and the crashing sound of glass being forcibly blown out suddenly cut her off. The camera swings to the side. Ground Zero explodes out of a pile of rubble, one gauntlet down, mask hanging on by a thread that snaps when he gives a violent shake of his head. There's an answering rumble from a nearby pile, and then a hulking villain bursts into view, rebar and chunks of concrete sliding down a reinforced hide. Ground Zero blasts off without hesitation, cannonballing into the villain and sending them both flying into the dust and smoke.

The reporter—bless her—is trying her best amidst the chaos and darts back into the camera's line of sight, one hand jammed against an earpiece with the other white-knuckled around her mic. "We've just received word that Pinky has arrived on the scene and is assisting with the collateral damage control." Behind her, there's a blur of bright pink throwing up a large net of acid, neatly catching the falling glass shards and dissolving them in mid-air.

Two arms suddenly extend and whip past the screen, retracting in short succession with a stunned child in hand. Uravity and Cellophane dart through immediately afterwards under cover of another explosion courtesy of Ground Zero. Whiplash pops up next to the reporter, tapping her on the shoulder. "We're going to extend the perimeter, so I'm going to have to ask you to step back."

He doesn't wait for a response; just turns around and runs off, legs stretching out to give him a height boost so that he can take two more civilians that Uravity floats to him. The camera wobbles violently as the news crew moves back as directed, but it still manages to catch the distinctive green flash of Deku leaping into the scene with a screech, nailing the villain in the shoulder and bouncing off. The sound of the impact is loud and clear even to the televised audience. Red Riot punches out of one building, shouting into an earpiece and laden down with civilians, and Uravity is suddenly there at his side, armed with pieces of Cellophane's tape.

It ends up turning into a livestream that attempts to follow Deku and Ground Zero hounding the villain. Miyo honestly wishes that they'd just turn it off. She liked heroes as much as the next person, but watching them in action, especially when it got bad, and knowing that the consequences were very very real was just several steps above what she could handle. At home, she avoided watching live broadcasts if she could help it. She couldn't even handle being her boyfriend's primary emergency contact—she was somewhere around #4, which meant that his best friend usually called her if her boyfriend was in a serious scrape.

"You OK, Mii?" her friend asks, reaching over to fold her hands over Miyo's. "Your cousin is Whiplash, yeah? I remember you mentioned that in school because he opened his own hero agency." On screen, Whiplash transitions smoothly from rescue to offense as a sidekick runs to help Deku. No one can get a good visual on Ground Zero, but his angry explosions pepper the background, chased by an AP Shot that slices through the ground like a laser beam.

"On my mother's side, yeah," Miyo mumbles distractedly. Firefighters were now on the scene with Wash and Backdraft.

Her friend gives her hand another comforting squeeze. "Normally I'd offer to take you home, but this probably backed up all the traffic. But I can offer you another drink. You know. For the nerves." Miyo gives her a wobbly smile of thanks. Cellophane is forced to make an awkward turn mid-jump, throwing his shoulder out to block a deflected attack so that it doesn't hit the civilian in his arms. Whiplash's arms are instantly there to break his fall, yanking both hero and civilian harmlessly out of the way of more falling rebar. There's a crackle of green energy from the ground, and then Red Riot is launched into the air like a human torpedo. He careens head-on into the villain just as Ground Zero darts underneath, and both of them go crashing back to earth. Red Riot gets back up, but the villain stays down.

"Oh my god," says the salaryman sitting behind them, "Did they just crush Ground Zero!?"

An explosion bursts forth a little ways away from the downed villain. Ground Zero stumbles out, blood trickling sluggishly down the side of his face, remaining gauntlet threatening to crumble but otherwise still in one piece. His left leg drags as he picks his way across the rubble. There's a feral snarl on his face and a small child cradled awkwardly in his arms, dusty and battered but alive. Deku meets him halfway across the field at the fastest limp known to man, and only then does Miyo allow herself to let out a shuddering sigh of relief, burying her face in her hands.

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Private message from 23Peas: Good afternoon, Mii-san. I apologize for the sudden message, but two days ago, my son, Souta, was injured in the Kiyashi Incident. Thankfully, he will make a full recovery, but he will be in the hospital through the rest of this week. I've always really enjoyed your hero-themed food posts, so I was hoping to get some inspiration for a lunchbox modeled after his favorite hero, Ground Zero, in order to cheer him up. If you could recommend some recipes, I would be very grateful.

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Miyo's boyfriend is sporting more patches and bandages than she's honestly comfortable seeing on him, but otherwise he's the picture of good health, thanks to accelerated healing on behalf of the staff at Kiyashi General Hospital. They'd kept him for observation overnight, fearing a concussion, but his discharge the next morning had been smooth sailing up until the police and his paperwork had caught up with him. By the time he had finally managed to crawl back home, he was exhausted and cranky, with a protesting leg and aching eyes. He'd put up virtually no fight when Miyo sat him on the couch to administer his prescription eyedrops—"I'm gonna have to file for a new mask because if they keep breaking like that I'll go blind before I go deaf; fuck!"—and had then gone straight to bed. With the next day being his off day, and considering how he wasn't naturally a morning person, Miyo lets him sleep in, taking the rare opportunity presented to her to make a full breakfast spread. The rice is fluffy and perfectly steamed. The clams in the miso soup have all popped open beautifully. Then there's the grilled fish, and golden rolled omelettes, and small dishes of natto and an assortment of her grandmother's pickled vegetables. It's the full traditional breakfast that she only wished that she had enough time to eat whenever she wanted.

The bedroom door creaks open and her boyfriend shuffles out, lazily raking a hand through his bedhead disaster. "Smells good," he mumbles around a yawn, pulling out their first aid kit and settling down to change his bandages. Miyo grins from where she's leaning against the counter.

"I went all out! But in return, we have to do french toast this weekend."

His face momentarily twists in distaste. "Ugh," he mutters, hissing as he swipes an antiseptic wipe across one of his bigger scrapes. "Lemme guess. You made the omelette sweet today."

"Bingo!" She finger guns at him and gets her hands swatted down for her efforts. "Oh, by the way. When are you going to visit the hospital?"

"Probably noon?" he answers, crumpling the empty bandage wrappers and tossing them into the trash. "Don't look at me like that. If you've got something you want to say just say it."

"I look perfectly normal! I'd even say I look very cute!" Miyo protests, slapping a wandering hand away from where it's trying to pilfer an omelette. "Wash your hands first. I was actually wondering if you could deliver a lunch for me?"

"No," is his knee-jerk reaction. "Who's it for when no one you know is currently even in the hospital?"

"Well, I mean—I know them but I also don't?" Miyo tries. He goes through the most aggressive set of hand-washing motions as he glares at her. Miyo confesses in a quick rush: "It's 23Peas from my blog. Her son was caught up in the Kiyashi attack and is in the hospital. From what I could tell from her message, he'll heal just fine, but he's going to be stuck there for a while and she wanted to cheer him up. Apparently, Ground Zero is his favorite hero."

Her boyfriend hums thoughtfully around a bite of the now-allowed omelette. "How old is he?"

"Eight, I think?"

"Guess they did a partial quirk-assisted healing on him then," he says dismissively. "Better to let them finish the rest on their own when they're that young, otherwise it screws with their bones. What'd he have?" Miyo shows him their conversation in lieu of actually answering, and this time when he grimaces, it's with sympathy.

"I've packed the lunch already, and I'm going to post it to the blog later like I promised, but I just thought it'd be a nice surprise for him to have it to eat now, too. It's probably nothing more than the placebo effect, but maybe he'll heal faster if he's happier."

"Sounds like something you'd say." He slurps at his soup, thumbing through her photos. There are several pictures of the lunchbox in question: an elaborate nori mask edged with ham, a pair of riceballs fashioned in the image of Ground Zero's iconic gauntlets, grilled mini sausages mimicking the smaller grenades, carrot and radish slices cut to look like little explosions. He chuckles dryly. "Well, here's a GZ shrine if I've ever seen one. This kid isn't going to know what hit him."

"So you'll deliver it?" Miyo asks hopefully, taking her phone back.

"Yeah, whatever," her boyfriend says dismissively, plonking natto onto his rice and then shovelling it into his face. "Not like it's the first time I've delivered something for you. I'm being treated like a glorified errand boy." Miyo rolls her eyes. As if they both didn't know that he only did what he wanted.

"You're the best," she says instead, grinning as she watches him preen.

"Hell yeah, I am!"

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Mii Bee's Cooking A special request from 23Peas that was incredibly fun to make: a Ground Zero bento! Asides from the mask, which was kind of annoying to cut out, this lunch is quick and easy to throw together. There are plenty of opportunities to hide veggies in here too, which is great if you're trying to sneak them past picky eaters (how successful you'll actually be is a different story, of course). Wishing Souta-kun a speedy recovery, and a big thank you to Ground Zero and all the other Pro Heroes for their spectacular performances in the Kiyashi Incident.

Explodo What's the point if it's not spicy?

Mii Bee's Cooking This was made specifically as an idea board catered towards an 8-year-old boy. You can certainly make any of these individual components as spicy as you want, but a bento that can't be eaten by the intended recipient is rather a waste.

MaybePeanuts The carrot explosions are kind of genius actually

No1Riot Honestly I don't know which was more heroic during that fight: Cellophane turning himself into a shield, Deku-powered Red Riot cannon, or Ground Zero's final rescue.

GravityGurl Um let's not forget my girl Uravity who was a BOSS ferrying people out of the danger zone. Also so glad we saw more Pinky in action she's always a joy to watch no matter how dire the circumstances

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Three Peas in a Pod Ground Zero visited my 8-year-old son in the hospital today. My family has already been overwhelmed with love and support from our family and friends following the Kiyashi Incident, so to have my son's savior and favorite hero stop by felt like the cherry on top, and really brightened both of our days. He stayed for nearly an hour just chatting with my son, and even brought him a note and a lunchbox. I've never seen Souta so starstruck before.

ChocoHero Wishing your son a speedy recovery! GZ personally visiting the kids that he's saved at least once after the fact is honestly such a nice policy of his.

BentoBento Correct me if I'm wrong but that looks like a Mii Bee's Cooking bento.

Jams4Days That doesn't look like it. It is it.

KingKatsu How good of a friend do you have to be with Ground Zero in order for him to hand-deliver your lunches to kids

BakedPotoooooooo OK but real talk. You know that Mr. VK that Mii is always talking about? Mr. VK = Ground Zero

BoomBoomHero NO

BakedPotoooooooo Things we know about Mr. VK: he's a GZ fan, he definitely could pull off GZ's speech patterns, he's a spice fiend, he's a first responder AKA he's a hero AND he has to work at the same agency as Red Riot because that Red Riot lunch box that Chargebolt fawned about? Yeah I remember that. Pls, Red Riot will eat anything but I'm sure even he has to draw the line at a whole boxed lunch unless it's from someone he trusts.

KingKatsu What the heck is VK supposed to stand for then?

BakedPotoooooooo idk, villain killer?

Hotmessexpress omg how have I been so blind

BakedPotoooooooo That would also explain how she got all that nice merch like that SYMBOL OF VICTORY / SYMBOL OF PEACE poster I'm not bitter you're bitter

GravityGurl Isn't that the poster that Mr. VK hates because he doesn't want Deku's face staring down at him anywhere in the apartment?

BakedPotoooooooo Look, when you have That History of Rivalry with Deku (whatever that encompasses because I swear that the media didn't give us the full story) would YOU want to have that guy's face staring straight into your soul in the safety of your own home?

Hotmessexpress Fair.