Meiji's POV
That evening, Meiji sat at the kitchen table with his homework spread out in meticulous organization—notes color-coded by subject, textbooks arranged by priority, a detailed schedule for completing each assignment. It was the same system he'd used at UA, efficient and thorough, designed to maximize learning outcomes.
Lady Nagant paused in her dinner preparations, looking over his shoulder at the elaborate setup. "Meiji," she said gently, "you know you don't have to treat every homework assignment like it's a hero mission briefing, right?"
Meiji looked up from where he was creating an unnecessary comprehensive outline for a simple book report. "But this way I won't miss anything important," he said, genuinely confused by her comment. "I mean... isn't it better to be prepared?"
Lady Nagant smiled, the expression both fond and slightly sad. She pulled out the chair beside him and sat down, her movements still careful and deliberate—the way she'd learned to move around him in those early days when sudden gestures could trigger panic responses.
"Can I tell you something?" she asked. "When I was your age, I used to just... do my homework. No color-coding, no schedules, no big analysis. I'd sit at my desk, read the assignment, and write down what I thought about it."
The concept seemed almost incomprehensible to Meiji. "But how did you make sure you covered everything? How did you know if it was what the teacher wanted?"
"I didn't, really," Lady Nagant said with a soft laugh. "Sometimes I did well, sometimes I didn't. That's part of being a student—figuring things out as you go, making mistakes, learning what works for you personally rather than following some perfect method."
Meiji stared at his carefully organized materials, trying to process this. "So... normal students don't analyze everything and make plans for how to do it best?"
"Some few might," Lady Nagant said, reaching over to ruffle his hair affectionately. "But most just wing it a little bit. And that's okay too."
Before Meiji could respond, the doorbell rang. Lady Nagant's expression immediately shifted to alert awareness—a residual habit from their more dangerous days—but then she relaxed as she remembered they were expecting company.
"That'll be Toshinori," she said, getting up to answer the door. "I invited him for dinner. Hope that's alright?"
All Might's POV
Yagi stood on the doorstep holding a bag of takeout from Meiji's favorite restaurant, his skeletal form bundled in a oversized sweater that had seen better days. When Lady Nagant opened the door, he was struck once again by how much she'd changed since those early days when she'd first agreed to become Meiji's guardian.
Gone was the cold efficiency of the former HSPC assassin, replaced by something warmer and more genuine. Motherhood, he reflected, had been as transformative for her as it had been healing for Meiji.
"Uncle Toshi!" Meiji's excited voice called from the kitchen, using the nickname that never failed to make Toshinori's heart swell with warmth.
"My boy!" Toshinori called back, making his way to the kitchen where he found Meiji surrounded by what looked like a small educational command center. "How was your first day at—" He stopped, raising an eyebrow at the elaborate homework setup. "Are you planning to take over the school or just finish your assignments?"
Meiji looked genuinely confused by the question. "I'm just trying to make sure I do everything right," he said seriously. "Is that... weird?"
Toshinori exchanged a glance with Lady Nagant, who shook her head with fond exasperation. "Meiji," Toshinori said, settling into a chair across from the boy, "do you remember when we used to work on hero theory together?"
"Of course. You taught me how important it is to really think things through."
"I did," Toshinori agreed. "But do you remember what we did after our lessons?"
Meiji's brow furrowed in concentration. "We... went over everything again to make sure I understood it?"
"We watched terrible movies and ate too much ice cream," Toshinori corrected gently. "We played video games. We talked about completely random stuff like whether cats or dogs make better sidekicks."
"Those weren't really part of learning though," Meiji said, still seeming puzzled.
"No," Lady Nagant said, bringing plates to the table. "They were just... fun. Because sometimes the point isn't to learn something or get better at something. Sometimes the point is just to enjoy yourself."
Meiji stared at them both like they'd started speaking a foreign language. "But how do you know if time spent like that is... worth it?"
Mama Nagant's POV
Watching her son struggle with the concept of doing things purely for enjoyment broke Lady Nagant's heart in ways she couldn't fully express. She'd known, intellectually, that his early years of experimental conditioning and then his protective but structured life at UA had left gaps in his normal development, making him too logical to defend himself from the outside world. But seeing him genuinely confused by the idea of unproductive fun caved in just how much he'd missed.
"The worth," she said carefully, "is in how it makes you feel. In the time you spend with people you care about. In making valuable memories you wont forget. And in learning who you are when you're not trying to be perfect at something."
They ate dinner together, and Lady Nagant made a point of steering the conversation toward completely mundane topics—the weather, a funny commercial she'd seen, speculation about whether their neighbor's cat was planning world domination. She watched Meiji struggle to engage with discussions that had no clear purpose or educational merit, his responses careful and formal compared to his natural eloquence when discussing academic subjects.
After dinner, Toshinori suggested they watch a movie together, something Meiji rarely did unless it was for cultural analysis or language practice.
"What should we pick?" Meiji asked, already moving toward their small collection of DVDs with analytical intent. "A Documentary? Or maybe something that would showcase pop culture references?"
"How about we just pick something that looks fun?" Lady Nagant suggested.
"But how do I know what counts as 'fun'? Like, what makes a movie fun instead of just... good?"
"Meiji," Toshinori interrupted gently, "try closing your eyes and just pointing at one."
The suggestion clearly horrified Meiji. "That's completely random. There's no way to know if it'll be any good, or if I'll like it, or—"
"Sometimes," Lady Nagant said, sitting beside him on the couch, "random is exactly what you need. Sometimes the best experiences come from not planning every detail."
Eventually, they settled on a lighthearted comedy that Meiji endured rather than enjoyed, spending most of the movie trying to analyze the plot structure instead of simply watching. But when Toshinori made a ridiculous joke during a particularly silly scene, Meiji laughed—a genuine, unguarded sound that made both adults exchange hopeful glances.
Meiji's POV
Saturday morning found Meiji standing in front of his closet, staring at his limited selection of casual clothes with intense focus. What was he supposed to wear to a study group? Should he dress nicely to show he was taking it seriously? Casually to show he understood it was supposed to be relaxed?
He'd been invited to Yuki's house at two o'clock for what she'd described as a "casual study session" for their upcoming quirk theory test. The phrase "casual study session" seemed like a contradiction to him—how could studying be casual? Learning required focus, preparation, going through material systematically.
After way too much thinking, he settled on dark jeans and a plain button-down shirt—nice enough to show he cared, casual enough to fit in. He packed his bag with three different notebooks, color-coded pens, highlighters, sticky notes for cross-referencing, and a detailed study schedule he'd prepared the night before.
"Ready for your study group?" Lady Nagant asked as he came into the kitchen, her eyes taking in his carefully assembled academic arsenal.
"I think so," Meiji said, double-checking his bag contents. "I made review materials for everything we might cover, plus a timeline for the best way to go through it all, and I organized discussion questions from easy to hard."
Lady Nagant paused in her coffee preparation. "Meiji, sweetheart," she said carefully, "do you know what most kids do at study groups?"
"Study?" Meiji replied, genuinely uncertain why she was asking.
"Well, yes, but also... they hang out. They eat snacks, they joke around, they talk about things that have nothing to do with school. The studying is just part of it."
This shocked Meiji. "So learning isn't the main point!?"
"It's one point among several," Lady Nagant explained. "Think of it like... making friends who happen to also be studying, rather than studying that happens to involve other people."
The distinction was subtle but seemed important, though Meiji wasn't entirely sure he understood what it meant practically. "Should I bring different stuff? Do things differently?"
"Maybe just bring yourself," Lady Nagant suggested gently. "And try to remember that not everything needs to be perfect. Sometimes something 'decent' is actually perfect."
Yuki's POV
Yuki Matsumoto stood in her family's kitchen, arranging homemade cookies on a plate and trying not to overthink the afternoon ahead. She'd hosted study groups before, but never with someone quite like Meiji. There was something about him that suggested he might approach even casual socializing with the same intensity he brought to classroom discussions.
"That's a lot of cookies," her mother commented, watching Yuki add yet another plate to the growing spread of snacks. "How many people are you expecting?"
"Just three of us," Yuki admitted. "But I want to make sure there's enough, and Nejire mentioned that Meiji really likes sweet things, and I don't know what kind he prefers, so I made chocolate chip and sugar cookies and those little jam ones that—"
"You're nervous," her mother chuckled with amusement.
"I'm not nervous," Yuki protested, then reconsidered. "Okay, maybe a little. He's just... different. In a good way! But I want to make sure he feels comfortable."
Her mother smiled knowingly almost smirking. "Different how?"
Yuki struggled to put it into words. "He's incredibly smart, but sometimes he seems surprised when people want to be around him. Like he expects everyone to get bored or find him weird. And he takes everything so seriously—not in a bad way, just like he's not used to things being casual and fun."
The doorbell rang at exactly two o'clock, which somehow didn't surprise Yuki at all. She opened the door to find Meiji standing on her doorstep with perfect posture and what appeared to be enough school supplies for a small army, Nejire bouncing beside him with her usual infectious energy.
"Hi!" Yuki said brightly. "Come on in! I hope you're hungry—I might have gone a little overboard with snacks."
Nejire's POV
Following Yuki into her family's cozy living room, Nejire couldn't help but smile at the elaborate spread that awaited them. The coffee table was laden with plates of cookies, a pitcher of fresh lemonade with actual lemon slices floating in it, small bowls of mixed nuts and crackers, and what appeared to be homemade sandwiches cut into neat triangles.
"Wow, Yuki-chan," she said admiringly. "This looks amazing!"
But it was Meiji's reaction that caught her attention. He'd stopped just inside the living room, staring at the casual abundance with something approaching confusion.
"You made all this for us?" he said, his tone suggesting he was trying to figure out some kind of puzzle.
"Well, yeah," Yuki said embarrassedly, suddenly looking uncertain. "I mean, we'll be here for a while, and I thought we might get hungry..."
"You didn't have to do that," Meiji said distressed. "I didn't bring anything. Should I have brought something? Is that what we're supposed to do?"
Nejire and Yuki exchanged glances. It was like watching someone discover a completely foreign social custom and try to figure out the rules.
"It's not a rule," Nejire said gently. "Yuki just likes taking care of people. And you don't need to bring anything—that's not how friends work."
"But if she does nice things for me, shouldn't I do nice things back?" Meiji insisted, looking genuinely worried. "Isn't that how relationships work?"
"Meiji," Yuki said, settling onto the floor beside the coffee table and patting the space next to her, "the only thing I want you to bring is yourself. And maybe your brain, because I'm definitely going to need help with quirk classification theory."
Slowly, Meiji sat down where she'd indicated, his posture still straight despite the laidback setting. Nejire plopped down across from them and immediately reached for a cookie.
"These are incredible, Yuki-chan! Did you make them yourself?"
"My mom helped with the jam ones," Yuki admitted eager to have them try them, pouring lemonade into three glasses. "But the chocolate chip cookies are all mine."
She offered a glass to Meiji, who accepted it with careful politeness. "Thank you," he said. "This is really nice of you."
"It's just lemonade," Yuki laughed, but there was warmth in her voice.
Meiji's POV
The lemonade was perfect—tart but not too sour, sweet but not overwhelming, with a fresh brightness that made Meiji realize he'd never actually had homemade lemonade before. At UA, drinks came from the cafeteria or vending machines, nutritional and perfect. This was... different. Homemade, the word clicked in his brain.
"Should we start studying?" he asked, reaching for his carefully organized bag. "I made a schedule that covers all the important topics with time for questions and review."
He pulled out his color-coded notes, detailed timeline, and multiple textbooks, arranging them on the coffee table with the same precision he might use for a battle strategy.
Yuki and Nejire watched this display with fascination, but Meiji couldn't help noticing that neither of them had brought anything approaching his level of preparation.
"Or," Yuki said carefully, "we could just start with whatever we're most confused about and see where it goes?"
The suggestion was so different from proper study methods that Meiji actually felt a moment of panic. "But without a plan, how do we make sure we cover everything? How do we know if we're actually learning it right?"
"We... figure it out as we go?" Nejire suggested, reaching for a sandwich triangle. "Like, maybe we talk about what's confusing us, help each other understand it, and see what happens?"
Meiji stared at them both, trying to process this completely informal approach to education. "That seems like... it would take forever. And we might miss important stuff."
"Maybe," Yuki agreed cheerfully. "But it also seems fun. And honestly, Meiji-kun, you explain things so clearly that I think we'll learn plenty no matter how we do it."
The compliment made Meiji flush slightly. "You really think I'm good at explaining things?"
"Are you kidding?" Yuki laughed. "Yesterday you made quirk-emotion interactions make sense in like two minutes when I'd been struggling with it for weeks. You have this way of breaking down complicated ideas that just clicks."
"Plus," Nejire added, "you get this really cute excited expression when you're explaining something you love. It's like watching someone find buried treasure."
Meiji looked down at his elaborate study materials, then at his friends sitting casually around the snack-laden coffee table, and felt something shift in his understanding. Maybe the point wasn't doing everything perfectly. Maybe the point was... this. Sitting in a sunny living room with people who seemed to genuinely enjoy each others company, sharing food with some knowledge and laughter.
"Okay," he said slowly, closing his detailed timeline and reaching for a cookie instead. "What do you want to start with?"
Yuki's POV
What followed was unlike any study session Yuki had ever experienced. They did cover the material—Meiji's natural teaching ability made even the most complex concepts accessible—but it happened normally, woven through conversations about everything and nothing.
When Nejire mentioned struggling with the relationship between quirk types and career applications, Meiji launched into an explanation that somehow evolved into a discussion about their own future hopes and dreams. When Yuki asked about mutation quirk psychology, it led to sharing stories about their families and childhoods.
She watched Meiji gradually relax as the afternoon progressed. His posture became less rigid and more calm. When Nejire made a joke about their teacher's questionable fashion choices, Meiji actually laughed—not the polite chuckle he'd offered in class, but a real, delighted laugh that transformed his entire face.
"You know what I don't get," Yuki said during a lull in the conversation, "is why some people think quirk counseling should be mandatory in elementary school."
"Because catching problems early prevents worse issues later," Meiji replied automatically, then paused. "Though I guess there are good arguments about letting kids figure things out naturally and not making everything into a big deal."
"See, that's exactly what I mean!" Yuki said excitedly. "You always see both sides of things. Most people just have biased opinions, but you actually think about the complicated parts."
Meiji looked genuinely surprised by this observation. "Doesn't everyone think about both sides of the coin before saying what they think?"
Nejire nearly choked on her lemonade. "Meiji, most people barely think before deciding what they think."
"But that's... that seems like a bad way to do it," Meiji said, clearly struggling with the concept. "How do they know if they're right?"
"They don't," Yuki said simply. "Most people just go with their gut feeling and hope for the best."
The idea seemed to physically pain Meiji. "That seems like it would lead to chaos."
"It does," Nejire agreed cheerfully. "That's why having you around is so great—you help us think things through properly."
As the afternoon wore on, Yuki noticed small changes in Meiji's behavior. He started reaching for snacks without asking permission first. He interrupted conversations with spontaneous thoughts instead of waiting for the perfect moment. When her cat wandered into the room, he automatically reached down to pet it, his face lighting up with simple pleasure.
"I think Whiskers likes you," Yuki observed as the cat settled purring in Meiji's lap.
"Animals usually respond well to calm energy," Meiji said, but his tone was softer than his usual analytical observations. "Though I've never really had much chance to be around pets."
"Never?" Yuki asked, surprised.
"My... situation wasn't really good for owning a pet," Meiji said carefully. "Though I think I'd like to try someday."
It was such a normal teenage thought—wanting a pet—that Yuki felt a warm glow of affection for this boy who seemed to be discovering ordinary desires for the first time.
Nejire's POV
By the time they packed up their books (Meiji's materials still looked pristine despite being completely unused), Nejire felt like she'd watched her best friend take another crucial step toward something approaching normal teenage life.
"We should do this again next week," Yuki suggested as they gathered their things. "I mean, if you want to. We could rotate houses, or meet at the library, or..."
"I'd really like that," Meiji said, and Nejire could hear the genuine warmth in his voice. "Though maybe next time I could bring something too? I feel like I should contribute more somehow."
Yuki laughed. "You can bring something if you want, but you already contributed plenty. I can finally understand our homework for once!"
As they walked home together in the golden late-afternoon light, Nejire bumped Meiji's shoulder with her own. "So? How was your first real study group?"
Meiji was quiet for a moment, thinking it over with his usual carefulness. "It was... different than I expected," he said finally. "Less organized, but somehow more... I don't know, satisfying? I'm not sure I get why."
"Because learning with friends isn't just about absorbing information," Nejire explained. "It's about connecting with people, sharing ideas, discovering things about yourself and your friends. And the best part? The best kind of learning happens when you're relaxed and happy."
"That doesn't really make sense from an scientific standpoint," Meiji said, but he was smiling.
"Maybe not," Nejire agreed. "But it works, doesn't it? You had fun today. You made Yuki happy. You learned things about quirk theory and also about friendship and what it feels like to just hang out with people who like you."
Meiji considered this as they turned onto their street. "I did have fun," he admitted, like the realization surprised him. "Is that... normal? To enjoy things just because they feel good?"
"Incredibly normal," Nejire assured him. "In fact, I'd say learning to enjoy things just because they feel good is one of the most important life skills there is."
When they reached Meiji's house, Lady Nagant was waiting in the garden again, her subtle smile suggesting she'd been waiting for their return.
"How was the study group?" she asked as Meiji approached.
"Educational," Meiji said, then paused and reconsidered. "And fun. I think I'm starting to understand the difference between doing things the logical way and doing things in a way that feels good."
Lady Nagant's smile looked radiant. "That sounds like a very important lesson."
"It was," Meiji agreed, heading toward the house with his unused study materials and what Nejire suspected were some very new ideas about what learning—and living—could actually look like.
As Nejire continued to her own home, she felt deep satisfaction knowing that her best friend was not just healing from his past, but actively discovering the joy that had always been waiting for him in the simple, unplanned experiences of normal life.
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AN: Heyo! I'm planning on editing the names of the novels, a friend told me I did a great job at them but at the same time made the names too generic, which is why a direct title of a new ff I did attracted more people than those for this one (which is my oldest and largest ff novel)
My friend with his perverted nature suggested to name it something with Mama Nagant...
and I figured it could be named "Those days with Mama Nagant", though sadly its misleading and I don't really wanna trick ya'll since ofc, I'm not gonna write that kind of ff.
[Any suggestions pretty please? Promise a chapter if anything's good]
Thank you all for your support!
truthfully been busy with life as its taking away my time ruthlessly...
And while I never encourage you to use powerstones I'll still feel flattered to receive them (even more so when I haven't updated in a long while hehehehe...)
So since I always check my notifications, seeing those powerstones made me feel emotional as I pretty much hadn't updated in a while yet still 'em constantly, as thanks for the continued faith and constant giving of those of Damian_Recio and 1_hate_harem heres a chapter fellas.
( I always appreciate any recognition / messages, you may all give me, it doesn't have to be power stones or golden tickets, just comments are fine as I'm more than happy to read 'em and any ideas too )
Also of course I saw many others who showed your support and I appreciate it, its just that these two fellas have sent too many powerstones x'd... and yeah... I felt bad for not updating.
please, do not waste money for this though, as it helps me in no way whatsoever, if ya'll wanna gimme money I won't decline it but you don't have to, even if you don't I'll still keep updating this and the other stories so don't worry fellas, lets just leave good content out there (hopefully it's good) for everyone.
Right, heres a discord if ya'll wanna suggest something but comments are too much of a hassle:
https://discord.gg/NC5SCYr7vm