It had been months now. The entrance exam was in a week and a half and it seemed every day Izuku's chances of getting in multiplied. 

Chiharu wasn't blind. Far from it. He could see the added muscle his friend had gained. 

Although he didn't really notice it until after school one day. A girl in their class, Hana, dropped her phone out the window and it landed on a lower awning. She was one of the few people that didn't completely ignore Chiharu or bully Izuku, so naturally Chiharu volunteered to climb down and get it. The teacher wasn't even there, so no one would stop him.

Except the moment he climbed into the window frame, Izuku looped his arms around his waist and pulled him back. He didn't even fall over doing it, they both stayed perfectly upright.  

Now, no offense to Izuku in saying this, but since Chiharu was attracted to him, he didn't really think he had a thing for muscles. But he was wrong. Boy was he wrong. That simple action flustered him so much Izuku thought he had actually managed to hurt his friend. 

"You're spacing out again." Hawks observed, "Something on your mind?". Chiharu startled a little then realized that he had been basically daydreaming about Izuku's muscles while doing pull ups and got even more startled and flustered. 

"I guess." He said, vague as usual. "Worried about the entrance exam?" Hawks asked, "I don't think you have much to worry about. Just do what you did in training and remember-". 

" 'If my body can be a shield it can be a weapon.' Yes, I remember." Chiharu interrupted. He sighed a little and dropped from the bar. "I'm not super worried about that. What happens happens you know? But its just been stressful, what with school and training and work and extra studying." He could have rambled on for a while, but the look his mentor was giving him made him stop, his last words trailing off a little. 

"Work?" The hero parroted. Chiharu nodded. "I was gonna take you there after training today, you know, as a little break the diet treat." He explained. Takami didn't speak but he continued to give Haru the same look. 

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"Haru!" One of his many co-workers, a high school boy this time, called out. Chiharu smiled and waved as he and Hawks entered the shop. 

"When the hell did you meet the no.3 hero?!" Satuso asked, his mouth agape. Haru just laughed a little and shrugged. "I ran by him one day, or fell I guess." He answered, walking behind the counter. 

"I'm using my free drink thingy now by the way." He said, reaching for two cups. "What sort of drink do you want? We have pretty much everything.". 

Hawks looked a little startled still but answered nonetheless. "Just jasmine milk tea, please.". There was a brief moment of silence while Satsuo continued to gawk before Takami spoke again. "So you work here? How often?". 

"Pretty much every day except Fridays and Saturdays. I can't exceed part time hours. Especially since they don't pay me for full time work." Chiharu said honestly. "I come here after school and work for a little while, then I meet up with you for training." He explained as he made up the drinks. One jasmine milk tea for Hawks, one strawberry for himself. What could he say? Sweet things were his weakness. 

"Why are you working here? Is it for extra cash?" The hero pressed. He looked a little worried, but Haru couldn't for the life of him figure out why. 

"No, I'm saving up for high school. Don't rat me out by the way, I know I'm not really supposed to be working." He said, his tone half joking, half serious. 

"So you're saving up to do fun things in high school?" Takami asked, still not getting it. Chiharu sighed good naturedly and smiled at his mentor. 

"No, 'cause then I would just work during high school like a normal person, not start early. I'm saving up for tuition. My parents can't even afford normal school costs, let alone whatever comes with an elite school like U.A." The middle schooler explained, handing Hawks his drink and making his way to the other side of the counter. "Lets get out of here before the place gets packed. Its usually super crowded around this time of day, and since you're a celebrity I don't think you'll appreciate people mobbing you.". 

"That I wouldn't." Hawks answered, his face softening a little bit. 

--------- --------- --------- -------- -------- -------- ---------

 So Takami may or may not have interrogated his pupil for details about his homelife while they sat in a park. He didn't mean anything bad by it, but there was something just off about the way Chiharu described his life. 

Hawks had wondered before why their training sessions were able to leak into dinner time with no calls or texts from the kids parent. Sometimes if they were somewhere more public than their usual park, they would wait until it was very late to start training. Like 9pm. 

Logically Takami knew that he could have just told his parents that he was training for U.A or even that he had joined a sports team so they wouldn't call or text him while training, but Chiharu had said they knew nothing about it. 

Just how absentee were these parents then if they didn't know their son was working and training for U.A? When was the last time Chiharu had actually seen his parents? Had it been hours? Days? A week? It bothered Hawks that he didn't know and that he couldn't get his trainee to answer. 

--------- --------- --------- -------- -------- -------- ---------

Meanwhile Haru was completely unaware of his mentor's strife. He was trying to figure out how, now that he was at said boy's house, he was going to break the news to Izuku that he was trying to get into U.A. 

"I'm nervous for the entrance exam." The green haired boy confessed, "What if I don't pass? I'll be disappointing All-myself. I'll be disappointing myself.". Haru didn't know what to make off that slip up. What was he going to say? Was it the old man who was training him? That would make sense. 

"Don't worry." Chiharu said, giving his best friend a smile, "I believe in you. You don't need a quirk to do everything, especially not after all the work you've put in. I bet half the people there think their amazing quirks are all they need to pass.". Sure, Izuku did actually have a quirk now, but he couldn't know Haru knew that. 

Izuku huffed out a laugh and gave Chiharu a lopsided grin. "Thanks Haru. You're the best.". 

"You are too, Izu." The black haired teen replied, not missing a beat. The words 'I love you' were on the tip of his tongue, but he held them back. 

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We're almost to the entrance exam! Please have patience with these early chapters, I've got a lot to set up so I'm sorry if they're a bit boring. 

I'm hoping to update a few more books today, so keep an eye out for those! 

Stay Tuned!