''Me too! You've been practically family for years now.'' She could imagine Jeong and Lucas's kids growing up to be confused that Auden wasn't actually family since he was such a close friend to their parents. ''More than four kids? I don't think it ever occurred to me to ask!'' She chuckled, ''four kids seem like a lot of work, but I guess we can't know for sure. They're still young after all.''

Humble as always. She couldn't help but laugh with Auden as he downplayed his own achievements. ''That's right! Even waaay before he moved to Japan and started at UAU, he always wore sweaters year round.''

She nodded her head, agreeing with Auden as she crossed her arms. ''That's a wonderful idea. Gifts that are connected, and they do get a lot more snowfall out there than we do here in the city.'' She stopped in front of a store that had a bit of everything and motioned for Auden to follow her. ''How about we check in here first? They sell all sorts of things here, and the deals I saw online looked pretty sweet.'' Her eyes immediately wanted to a kid's clothes section when she saw a row of cute, cozy winter hats. ''For hats, we might need to modify them to make room for ears and antlers.'' Assuming that the kids had mutations as visible as their parents. She held her hands up to her head to mimic a pair of antlers to underscore her point.

Auden

''Is that so? ~ Then I'll have to give it my all!'' She held up a fist, channeling that UAU Plus Ultra upbeat energy she used for work too. ''Absolutely! It's our job to spoil those little ones, I can't wait to check out the toy stores.'' She wasn't a mother herself, but she could absolutely see the appeal of being a parent every time she visited Jeong and Lucas in the countryside. Maybe one day she could start her own little family...

''Hm?'' She blinked her eyes and leaned in a bit to look at what Auden was showing her on his phone. What an adorable hoodie! ''That's so cute! The holes for the ears must feel nice too, that actually gave me a good idea for what to make him. I'll crochet him some gloves, do you mind if I color coordinate them with the hoodie so that they match?''

When Auden joined her she would start walking. ''A gift that says here's a little slice of Tokyo. Nostalgic gifts like that are always a safe bet.'' As they walked up to the first store to check out she looked over at Auden. ''I was thinking of getting Lucas something practical too.''

Auden

She opened her arms to Stellar and hugged her right back. ''Those students, always trying to push beyond their limits.'' She chuckled at Stellar's response before taking a seat next to her. ''Thank you kindly, I'll get the next one!'' She put her hands together for Stellar and offered her a wink as she paid for their first round.

''Usually I would say things are the same at UAU, but we've been redesigning the curriculum after the Elementals attack. With how active the villains have become it's clear we need to follow suit and prepare our next hero generation for the worst!'' She took a sip of her own drink, tasting absolutely nothing but still enjoying the light buzz. ''I ran a bomb defusal exercise and it went quite well. Two teams got in a fight, but it was just a misunderstanding we were able to resolve altogether.'' Although she had been asked about school, in truth, all that was on her mind was the fact that Diego had come to Japan, and that he was evil as always. She frowned a bit thinking about it. Why was her heart unable to move on when he had already turned his back on hero society?

Keeping her chin up she quickly smiled back at Stellar. ''So, um, what have you been up to?? You're always so social, Stellar-chan, I bet you've got some great stories to share!'' She smiled at her coworker expectantly as she took another sip of her Bloody Mary.

Stellar

[attr="class","likedo"]

Shake-Up clenched his fists as Sora confirmed he didn't know him either. He was clearly bothered by the fact that they weren't taking him as seriously as someone like Bakuretsu or Djinn. ''What's so funny, you bastard!'' The villain pointed at Sora. ''I haven't heard of you either!'' He flinched and eyed the dark cloud nervously as he took a couple of steps away from the wall. ''..Do you think that intimidates me? I'll bury you with my tremor powers before you can send that cloud after me!''

''You should listen to him.'' Lucille said from behind Shake-Up with her arms crossed. ''He's much meaner than I am. ~ Real villains know they should fear the name, Fae King'' She teased, grinning from ear to ear as it really seemed to bother the villain. ''B-But...'' He swallowed and backed away from Sora as he started approaching, occasionally glancing over at the dark cloud too. ''Why isn't the building collapsing? I used my quirk, it's strong enough!'' He was trembling at this point. ''Gah! Whatever! I'll make my debut killing heroes instead!'' He charged forward, aiming to swing wildly at Fae King trying to punch him out of the way.

This was exactly what she had been waiting for. Gathering sludge spit in her mouth, Lucille circled around to the side of the villain and spat it onto the ground in front of him. Normally her sludge acted as a trampoline when hit or stepped on, but given that this was such a small amount, the moment Shake-Up stepped on it, it didn't send him flying. It only lifted him about a foot off the ground as it threw him off balance. ''Fae King, you're up!'' She exclaimed, leaned back and activated her quirk to transform her arms into wings prematurely, just in case she needed to take flight.

Sora Lucius

She took a deep breath. Just dial someone from Maxima, they would handle it more professionally than her. As things were right now she was compromising this whole thing because she let her feelings get mixed into her work. Usually she didn't have this problem, but with the villain being Diego... She looked back up only to notice that he was on the move again. No wait... Wasn't he speeding up? She started walking after him, faster this time so she could keep pace, but it got harder and harder, especially with the crowd of people that were out here shopping just like them. ''I can't lose sight of him!'' As soon as he rounded the corner she entered into a full sprint, spitting a glob of bouncy sludge onto the floor in front of her so that she could use it as a trampoline to jump over the crowd.

As soon as she had taken her jump she made sure to dissolve the sludge too, falling down into a perfect shoulder first rolling landing before coming to a stop. ''Whew!'' She sighed, turning to look where Diego had disappeared down... Only to find that not only were there no people here... There was no Diego. ''Eh?'' She stood up and looked around, scratching the back of her head. ''Eh?'' She walked forward, noticing the wrapped gift box. ''Where did he go? He was here just a second ago...'' She squatted down to pick the box up and gave it a careful shake. Was this a bomb? No, even if he was a villain that was so unlike Diego that it couldn't be. Besides, why put a bomb down in an empty hallway like this one? She had no other choice, she needed to confirm the contents before she proceeded any further. With a careful pinch she tore the wrapping off.

''A puzzle box?'' Her eyes lit up. She loved puzzles, and she had been eyeing this one for a while now! ...But wait, why did he leave a wrapped gift here? Was it for her? Could it be that he had... She sniffled, entertaining the possibility that he had gotten her a present for a moment before wiping her tears away with her sleeve. ''I'll be confiscating this...'' She nodded to herself. ''It's... Critical evidence in the case against Manticora.'' And rather than bring it into the agency, it would be much safer back at her apartment, where she could really inspect all the intricacies of the puzzle's mechanisms in peace. Diego got away again, but that was hardly new to her. Before she turned and walked away she looked down the empty hallway and smiled. She didn't know why, but she just had a feeling-

''Thank you!'' She called out to no one in particular, before giving up her pursuit and taking her new present home.

Diego Ibarra