The finals between Midoriya and Todoroki were explosive.

  Boa sat in the stands beside Katsuki, their classmates surrounding them. Despite Recovery Girl's healing, every muscle in her body still ached, but she refused to show it.

  "You should be down there," she said quietly to Katsuki as they watched Midoriya and Todoroki clash in a spectacular display of power.

  "Should've, would've, could've," Katsuki muttered, his jaw tight. "But I'm not. So I'll just have to destroy them both next year."

  On the field, Todoroki was using both his ice and fire now, creating massive attacks that Midoriya barely managed to counter with his own Quirk. Each time Midoriya used One For All, his body took more damage, bones breaking under the strain.

  "He's going to destroy himself," Boa observed, wincing as Midoriya's arm bent at a wrong angle.

  "Idiot's always been like that," Katsuki said, but there was grudging respect in his voice. "Doesn't know when to quit."

  The final exchange was catastrophic. Both fighters poured everything they had into one last attack—ice and fire meeting green lightning in a collision that shook the entire stadium. When the smoke cleared, Midoriya was outside the boundary, unconscious and broken.

  "TODOROKI WINS!" Midnight announced.

  The crowd erupted in cheers, but Boa noticed something. Todoroki stood in the center of the arena, staring at his left hand—his fire side—with an expression that was hard to read. Not triumphant. More... contemplative.

  "He's still not at peace with it," she said.

  "His fire?" Katsuki asked.

  "His power. His father. Himself." Boa watched as medical staff rushed to collect Midoriya. "He won, but he doesn't look satisfied."

  "That's because half-and-half's got his head up his ass about his old man," Katsuki growled. "Can't be the best if you're fighting yourself instead of your opponent."

  Boa glanced at him. "Is that what you think I was doing? Fighting myself?"

  Katsuki met her eyes. "Not anymore. Not after today."

  The medal ceremony was awkward.

  All Might presented the medals, but the first-place podium had to restrain Katsuki with literal chains after he'd thrown a fit about not winning. Boa stood on the third-place podium beside Tokoyami, who'd also been knocked out before the finals.

  She accepted her medal with quiet dignity, but internally, she was processing everything that had happened.

  The Sports Festival had changed something fundamental in her. Not just her relationship with Katsuki, but her understanding of her own abilities, her own limitations.

  She'd used her emotional manipulation more in that one fight than she had in her entire life. And it had worked. It had been powerful, effective, intimate in ways that both terrified and thrilled her.

  But it wasn't enough.

  Katsuki had been right—she'd been holding back for so long that her Quirk had stagnated. She needed to evolve. To push past her current limitations.

  The question was: how?

  The next few days at school were strange.

  The Sports Festival had made Class 1-A famous. Everywhere they went, students from other classes stared and whispered. Some with admiration, others with jealousy.

  Boa found it exhausting.

  "Stop looking so annoyed," Katsuki said at lunch, where they'd resumed their usual seats together. "You're the one who decided to go all out on national television."

  "I'm not annoyed. I'm... adjusting."

  "You hate the attention."

  "Yes."

  He smirked. "Get used to it, Empress—" He caught himself. "Boa. We're gonna be pro heroes. Attention comes with the territory."

  She noticed the slip—he'd almost called her Empress out of habit, then corrected himself. In public, they still maintained some distance, still used last names. But in private...

  "Have you thought about your hero name?" she asked, changing the subject.

  "King Explosion Murder."

  Boa stared at him. "That's not a name. That's a threat."

  "EXACTLY! IT'S PERFECT!"

  "It's terrible. Midnight will never approve it."

  "Like hell she won't!"

  Spoiler alert: Midnight did not approve it.

  The next day, they had their hero name selection class. Midnight walked them through the process, explaining how their hero names would shape their public image.

  "Remember," she purred, "your hero name is a representation of who you want to become. Choose wisely!"

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Boa stared at her blank board. Who did she want to become?

  She thought about her Quirk. About its potential. About how she'd been named after her mother's dying wish—for her daughter to be loved and protected.

  The Mero Mero no Mi abilities. The power to petrify through attraction, to manipulate emotions through touch.

  She wrote on her board: Pirate Empress

  It was a reference to nothing anyone would understand, but it felt right. Regal. Powerful. A little dangerous.

  When Midnight came around, she looked at the name and smiled approvingly. "Oh my! How bold! I love it! Very fitting for your elegant fighting style and your... let's call it 'imperious' demeanor."

  Across the room, Katsuki had just been shot down again. "LORD EXPLOSION MURDER IS PERFECT!"

  "It's still violent, Bakugo!" Midnight scolded.

  Boa watched him struggle, a small smile tugging at her lips. Eventually, with much protesting, he settled on "Ground Zero"—still aggressive, but at least approvable.

  "Pirate Empress, huh?" he said afterward, having seen her board. "Sounds like you."

  "Thank you."

  "Wasn't a compliment."

  "I'm taking it as one anyway."

  He snorted but didn't argue further.

  That evening, Boa stayed late in one of the training grounds. She needed to work on something that had been bothering her since the Sports Festival.

  Her emotional manipulation worked by touch. Direct skin contact. But what if she could extend it? What if she could imbue her attacks themselves with emotion?

  She'd done something similar with Pistol Kiss—projecting kinetic force through heart-shaped bullets. But those were just physical attacks. What if she could make them carry emotion too?

  The feeling of adoration, she thought. If I could make my targets feel overwhelming adoration toward me in the moment of impact...

  It was based on a theory. Her Quirk worked through emotions—specifically, the target's attraction or the emotions she pushed into them. But what if she could trigger that attraction herself? Make them feel it involuntarily through her attacks?

  She started with a training dummy, enhanced her leg, and delivered a Perfume Femur kick while focusing on projecting adoration into the strike.

  Nothing happened. The dummy just dented from the physical impact.

  Of course, she thought. It's not alive. There are no emotions to manipulate.

  But the principle was sound. If she could perfect this with living opponents...

  "Working late?"

  She turned to find Katsuki entering the training ground, gym bag slung over his shoulder.

  "I could ask you the same thing," she replied.

  "Can't sleep. Too wired from everything." He dropped his bag and walked over. "What're you working on?"

  "A new application of my Quirk." She explained her theory—imbuing her physical attacks with emotional manipulation so the impact itself would trigger feelings in the target.

  Katsuki listened, his expression thoughtful. "So instead of having to touch them and then push emotion, you'd do both simultaneously with an attack."

  "Exactly. More efficient. Less vulnerable."

  "Smart." He grinned. "You need a test subject?"

  "You're volunteering to let me kick you while manipulating your emotions?"

  "Hell yeah. How else are you gonna know if it works?" He took a fighting stance. "Come on. Give it your best shot."

  Boa hesitated. "This could be... intense."

  "I can handle it. Stop stalling and hit me, Boa."

  The use of her first name decided it. She enhanced her leg, focused on projecting adoration—specifically the feeling of being captivated, unable to look away, drawn to someone irresistibly—and delivered a controlled Perfume Femur to his shoulder.

  Katsuki's eyes widened. He stumbled back, not from the physical impact but from something else entirely.

  "Holy shit," he breathed. His face flushed red. "That... that worked. Really well."

  "What did you feel?"

  "Like... like I couldn't look away from you. Like you were the only thing in the world that mattered." He shook his head, clearing it. "It only lasted a few seconds, but damn, Boa. That's powerful."

  "But it required direct contact," she noted, examining her leg where it had struck him. "The emotion transferred through the kick, but I still had to touch you."

  "Still more efficient than grabbing someone mid-fight." He rolled his shoulder. "Try it again. I wanna see if I can resist it this time."

  They spent the next hour training. Boa practiced imbuing her attacks with different emotions—adoration, confusion, fear—while Katsuki worked on building resistance, on pushing through the emotional manipulation through sheer willpower.

  It was grueling, intimate work. Every strike required her to project feelings into him, and every time he resisted, he had to fight against emotions that felt startlingly real.

  "This is insane," he said after she'd hit him with a particularly strong dose of adoration that left him staring at her for a full ten seconds. "If you use this in actual combat..."

  "They'll be vulnerable," Boa finished. "Even for just a moment. Long enough for a follow-up strike."

  "Or to escape. Or to set up a trap." Katsuki's grin was fierce. "You're becoming a real problem, Empress."

  "I thought you were calling me Boa now."

  "In private, yeah. But when you're being all tactical and scary? You're the Empress." He wiped sweat from his forehead. "One more thing though. You should work on your stage presence."

  Boa blinked. "My what?"

  "Your stage presence. Your persona." He gestured at her. "You've got this regal thing going on, right? The whole Pirate Empress vibe. But in combat, you're still too... reserved. Too quiet."

  "What are you suggesting?"

  "I'm suggesting you lean into it. Be arrogant. Commanding. Make your opponents feel like they're beneath you." He smirked. "Hell, you already act like that sometimes. Just amp it up. Make it part of your fighting style."

  Boa considered this. It went against everything she'd taught herself—stay quiet, stay separate, don't draw attention.

  But Katsuki had a point. Her Quirk worked through emotions, through attraction and projection. If she could make herself more captivating, more commanding in combat, her opponents would be more susceptible to her abilities.

  "You want me to be more... theatrical?"

  "I want you to be yourself, but bigger. Louder. More confident." He stepped closer. "You're powerful, Boa. You're beautiful—yeah, I said it, deal with it—and you've got a Quirk that literally makes people feel things for you. Use all of it. Make your enemies so focused on you that they don't see the attack coming."

  It was strategic. Psychological warfare combined with her Quirk's natural advantages.

  "I'll consider it," she said.

  "Good." He glanced at the clock on the wall. "It's late. We should head back before Aizawa-sensei finds us and gives us shit for being out after curfew."

  They gathered their things and walked back toward the dorms together, falling into their comfortable silence.

  "Katsuki?" Boa said as they neared the building.

  "Yeah?"

  "Thank you. For helping me train. For pushing me to be better."

  He looked at her, something soft in his expression despite his usual scowl. "That's what we do, right? Make each other stronger."

  "Right."

  As they entered the dorm, they ran into several classmates in the common room. Kirishima waved enthusiastically.

  "Hey! You two were training late! Manly dedication!"

  "We're just committed to improvement," Boa said primly.

  "Sure, sure," Ashido giggled, waggling her eyebrows. "Training. Is that what we're calling it?"

  "OI! WE WERE ACTUALLY TRAINING!" Katsuki exploded.

  "Of course you were!" Ashido's grin was mischievous.

  Boa felt her face warming slightly but maintained her composure. "Good night, everyone. I'm going to bed."

  "Night, Hancock!" several voices called.

  As she headed toward the stairs, she heard Katsuki grumbling at Ashido about "making weird implications" and "minding her own damn business."

  In her room, Boa looked at herself in the mirror. She thought about what Katsuki had said—about being bigger, bolder, more confident in combat.

  About using everything at her disposal, including her appearance and demeanor, as weapons.

  It was a shift in mindset. But if she was going to evolve, if she was going to become a top hero...

  She needed to embrace all aspects of her power.

  Even the ones that scared her.