The Lemon and the Grape (DISCONTINUED FOR NOW)

by JonathantheStanley

Summary:

On one foggy night, Mineta Minoru is on his way back to the U.A dorms until he is unexpectedly confronted by a villain. But it was no ordinary villain. The villain almost felt... otherworldly.

Notes:

tw: emotional manipulation

Chapter 1: Unexpected Confrontation

It was a quiet, but foggy night in Musutafu, Japan. Most people were in their homes by now, either watching TV, hanging out with their friends or lovers, or sleeping the night away. And most would avoid walking around at this time, especially with fog around and are alone.

 

Unfortunately, there was one person who was doing exactly that: Mineta Minoru. 

 

Mineta is the short, purple haired, perverted student at the hero school known as U.A High, residing in Class-1A. Due to his lecherous behavior towards women, he wasn't very popular. However, he didn't mind it all that much. Sure it would be nice to be popular with hot chicks, but at least he had his best friend, Denki.

 

And speaking of the Pikachu boy, Mineta had a hangout with him not too long ago, along with Midoriya, Shoji, Tsuyu, and Jiro. Though, Jiro only went for two reasons: 1. Denki invited her. And 2. To keep both him and Mineta in line with Tsu. 

 

Unsurprisingly, the two perverts spotted some girls that wore rather revealing clothing and and attempted to interact with them, but the music and frog girls kept them at bay, much to their dismay. Apart from those few incidents, the two, Mineta especially, didn't try anything else. The two girls kept their guards up just in case, but they all had fun hanging out.

 

Midoriya, Shoji, and the girls ended up leaving a bit early due to their phones alerting them of some slight fog rolling in soon. Denki and Minoru, however, hung out a bit more before deciding to leave. Denki was originally gonna walk back to the dorms with his buddy, but he insisted on walking alone as he wanted to enjoy the scenery on the way back. 

 

Kaminari was hesitant about it, but the grape boy insisted that he'll be fine and said he'll use his quirk if he needs to. He still didn't like the idea of the short boy walking around on this foggy night alone, but accepted it anyways. The two then went their seperate ways, leading up to the present time.

 

Mineta looked around his surroundings, seeing how spooky everything looked now with all the fog everywhere. At first, he thought the scenery would be relaxing to look at on the way to the dorms. But now, everything just looked spooky. He thought the alert said there would only be SLIGHT fog in the area?

 

"Damn weather app..." He grumbled, a bit upset that the weather app had lied to him. He was starting to regret not letting his best friend accompany him. 

 

"Next time, I'm not gonna insist on walking alone on foggy nights." He noted to himself as he continued to walk. Suddenly, he heard the sound of grass crunching nearby, startling him to a stop and quickly look in the direction of where he heard it.

 

'Wh-What was that?! ' He thought, a bit scared. He stood there for a few seconds to listen for if anyone else was nearby. When he was met with silence, he slowly resumed his stroll, but looked around every few minutes.

"M-Maybe that was just me hearing things..." He said to himself, hoping that his mind was just playing tricks on him. Being followed was the last thing he wanted right now. 

 

Unfortunately for him, he heard some more nearby footsteps, a bit closer this time, making him stop again and look in the direction where he heard it. His heart was pounding now. More so, when he heard them again.

 

"Ok, nope, it's not my mind fucking with me! If that isn't it, then ma-maybe it's just an animal?" Yeah… Yeah! That had to be it! The footsteps belong to an animal passing by, that's all, nothing to be afraid of. … Oh, who was he fooling? The crunches were too heavy sounding to be an animal! 

 

He started to speed walk now, not wanting to stick around any longer, looking around every few seconds to make sure no one was following him. However, he stopped when he realized something: He was a hero in training! He shouldn't be running away from the creep following him. Instead, he should defeat them. It's what Midoriya would've done in this situation. Plus, there's a chance he'll be popular with the girls if he takes this villain out!

 

He heard the footsteps for the fourth time, but they were much closer than before now. Still feeling scared, but now determined, he popped off one of his balls and turned around.

 

"H-Hey! Whoever's following me, you better sh-show yourself now! I-I'm a hero, and I'm not a-afraid of you!" He exclaimed in an attempt to sound brave. Unfortunately, his stuttering wasn't helping the brave face he was putting on.

 

"Are you sure you're not afraid, little grape? You stuttered a few times just now."

 

Mineta froze when he suddenly heard someone speak up behind him. The voice sounded normal, but it had a slight echo to it. 

 

He didn't know why, but he suddenly had a dreadful feeling about whoever was behind him. He didn't want to turn around and wanted to run away instead. But… he needed to be brave! As a hero, he needed to stop being a coward. 

 

So, gulping down his dread, he slowly turned around to face his assumed follower.

 

He wished he hadn't.

 

There, standing a few feet away, was a creature he had never seen before. The creature had a black body with pinkish purple scribbles, stubs for his hands and feet, a neck that was the same color as the scribbles, and a lemon for a head. However, that wasn't what horrified Mineta. No, it was the creature's face that scared him.

 

The thing's face consisted of huge, light pink eyes with enlarged pupils, light pink teeth, and a big, open grin. The under part of his eyes and his teeth were soaked in dried blood, which disturbed him the most as he could already tell why this monster's teeth was soaked in it.

 

The grape boy stood there, frozen, eyes wide in fear at the unsettling sight before him, the ball in his hand dropping to the ground. One thought that decided to appear at a bad time came to mind in his moment of fear. 'Why does it sound like that one pre-quirk era musician, Neil Cicierega?' 

 

Nevertheless, the demonic figure's grin seemed to widen at his expressed fear.

 

"Ah, delicious fear…~ It never gets old~ However, I'm not here to feed on your fear. No, I'm here because I'm rather curious about you, little Mineta."

 

That comment snapped him out of his horrified state. He was still scared, of course, but now it was mainly confusion.

 

"Wh-What do you mean? And h-how do you know my name?!" He questioned, wondering why this demonic looking villain was interested in him. Better yet, HOW does it know him? He's never heard of nor seen this guy around before! … And come to think of it, this creature seems… off. Like it doesn't belong here in this world, or something.

 

The thing spoke up, bringing him out of his thoughts. "I've been watching you and your classmates for a long time now, ever since the incident at the rescue training ground that was ambushed by villains."

 

Mineta's eyes widened. 'It's been watching us for THAT long?! Well, that explains how it knows me. I don't think I wanna know how it's kept its eye on us all this time, though…'

 

"While that answered how you knew me, it doesn't answer my first question. Why are you so interested in me that you decided to come to me? What makes me so important to you?" Mineta's fear had gone down some now, but didn't dare drop his guard.

The Lemon Demon, that's what he's calling it now, seemed to grin more, making the grape boy cringe. He does not like how he grinned wider. Not one bit. But what else can you expect from a villain?

 

"I will not explain why you're important to me, but I can explain why you interest me. While I was observing you, the first thing I noticed was how you have an uncontrollable, lecherous thirst for females, your lust resulting distrust, dislike, and discomfortability between you and them."

 

Mineta narrowed his eyes at the demon's words. "What the hell are you talking about? They don't dislike nor are they uncomfortable around me! I'll admit that they don't trust me, but I won't let you think I'm disliked by them in my class!" All the leftover fear he had before was now gone and replaced with anger. 

 

"... Who said I was talking about your class?"

 

Mineta's anger died down some at that. "What?"

 

"I never stated that the women in your class disliked and were uncomfortable around you, little Mineta. All I stated was that your actions resulted it in between you and the opposite sex, nothing more."

 

"Can you stop calling me little?" He gave the Lemon Demon an annoyed look. 'He's right, though. He never specified if he was referring to my female classmates or not. … Well, that's his fault for not specifying in the first place!' The grape boy looked more annoyed now. The Lemon Monster ignored him and continued.

 

"Anyways, as I was saying, your lust caused this infamy in female groups, mainly your school. But it applies around the world too, thanks to the Sports Festival. You are quite the controversial and questionable hero because of this, my grape friend. And it intrigues me why you want female attention so much, but I won't get into that right now. Despite your lewd desires, you are also one of the smartest heroes in your class, aside from the rich girl. Which brings up part of the reason why I'm curious about you. Your desperation for female attention and cowardice makes you seem like an easy target, yet when your smarts come into play, you reveal how difficult of an opponent you can be. So I must ask: Why waste most of your intelligence on lustful schemes when you can do so much more than that?"

 

The grape hero seemed to go into thought at his question. '... I could just give him a vague answer or something similar, but I don't want to get on his bad side, so I'll give him an actual answer. I still don't understand why this should matter to him, but I'll play along to see where this goes. Not like my class, except for Denki, is gonna notice me still gone anyways…'

 

"... I don't always use my smarts for my perverted antics, you know, but I mostly use it there because 1. Who doesn't like eyecandy? And 2. What else can I use my intelligence for, other than the obvious school and hero work? In case you haven't noticed, not many people go to me, other than my best friend at times, for help on difficult studies or anything else. They mainly go to Yaoyorozu for that. And if you're trying to suggest I should use my intelligence for villainous schemes, you've come to the wrong person. I may be a pervert, but I draw the line at becoming a criminal!"

 

The Lemon Demon chuckled at his words. A sound that sent shivers down the grape boy's spine. 

 

"Little grape, I may look like a villain, but do you really think I'd consider something so easy and predictable? I've got other ideas in mind for what your intelligence could be used for."

 

'Yeah right… says the Neil Cicierega persona with blood soaked teeth…' The ball headed hero thought with a mental eyeroll.

 

"Now then, your answer to my question is much appreciated. Let's go ahead and move on to the main part of my curiousity. Your cowardice."

 

His… cowardice?

 

"Why is my cowardice the main part you're interested in? I thought you'd be more interested in why I lust over girls so much than that." He pointed out, confused.

 

"Well… you aren't wrong, but there's a reason why your cowardly nature intrigues me. In fact, not too long ago, you were more than ready to run away when I was toying with you with my footsteps, yet you stopped and chose to play the brave card, even after seeing my appearance. That, right there, only interested me more. Last I checked, cowards, most of the time, aren't exactly known to fight back against dangers nor scary things. So tell me… Why are you, a coward, striving to be a hero? Surely you know the dangers and horrors of hero work, right? It's no place for someone like you."

 

The Fresh-Picked Hero gritted his teeth in anger at the taunt used by the Citrus Spectre, but held himself back from flying off the handle at him. He had to remember the danger he was facing. So he took a deep breath to calm himself down. It worked, but he was just irritated now.

 

"A coward I may be, but I'm aware of how dangerous this job is. And I'm well prepared for whatever I face in the future, both in my training and career. After seeing Midoriya in action, I'm willing to put my cowardice aside if it means saving others." 

 

"... And picking up chicks." He added a second later.

 

'I believe you aren't mentally prepared for what your future hero career will be like.' The Lemon Demon thought, knowing fully well how being a hero will be like being a soldier in the military. "An expected response, but I suppose I can admit that you do have your brave moments. Little Midoriya must've inspired you this much if you're willing to put on a brave face in dangerous and scary situations."

 

"I guess he has…" Mineta admitted, not too thrilled. Now normally, he'd be more than happy to admit this. But because he's talking to a demonic entity that eats people… not so much.

 

"Now, with the main part of my interest out of the way, let's go back to your perverted nature. Your out of control hormones are the most infamous part of you, as I've mentioned before. Any time there's a girl showing even the slightest of skin, you proceed to drool all over her as if she showed more than that. Not only that, but you also make lecherous comments about her, which makes her uncomfortable. I find it fascinating how you freely speak your mind without thinking nor caring much about the consequences."

 

The grape flinched at that, then looked away. Looks like the lemon had struck a nerve.

 

The entity's grin widened a little at his reaction, enjoying the delicious guilt that appeared on his face.

 

"Oh, but don't mistake this as me trying to change your ways. I wouldn't have dreamt of doing something so boring and tasteless as reforming someone. No, little hero, I don't care if you continue to lust over women. Afterall, it's not my problem."

 

Mineta was shocked. Usually when he pervs on girls, he gets punished and lectured for it. But here, this lemon doesn't care if he does it! 

 

He should feel relieved that someone wasn't gonna lecture him about his pervertedness, but he didn't. Why didn't he feel relieved? Was it because this demon said? Or was it because… of the guilt?

 

Lemon Demon took his silence as a sign to speak more. "From what I've seen, you would sometimes peep in on your female classmates, whether it's in the locker rooms, or baths, like at the summer camp."

 

"Don't remind me…" Mineta replied, looking away, remembering what happened when he tried to peep on the girls bathing. That horned kid told him to be a 'decent human being' before pushing him off, causing him to land on poor Iida's face. The humiliation he felt after that was something he'll never forget…

 

"Another thing you'd attempt is peeking at their chests and under their skirts. These many attempts have always made me wonder why the women of your class haven't bothered wearing shorts to hide their underwear if they didn't want you peeking underneath, aside from that one time where the pink girl breakdanced. Perhaps they secretly like it, but pretend to not like it? Forget to do so? Haven't thought about doing it before? Or, maybe, they just aren't that smart for not choosing the logical option. Who knows, these are just mere guesses. Their reason for not hiding their underwear doesn't matter to me. Afterall, I'm not the one with the dirty mind, you are." He pointed a stub at Mineta's head, who waved it away with annoyance.

 

As much as he didn't want to admit it, these were pretty good guesses as to why they didn't bother wearing shorts if they so badly didn't want him peeking there. It's not his fault that they don't pick the smart option! Although… the idea that they were pretending to not like it did sound pretty hot.

 

"Anyway, your attempts would always result punishment and lectures. Yet, despite that, you continue the actions that result this. Surely you know continuing this behavior could result you expelled, right? I'm surprised you aren't kicked out already, after the first few times during your first year. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Humans are foolish creatures, afterall. And the staff at U.A High are no different." He shook his head in mock-disappointment.

 

The grape boy seethed at the demon's insult. How dare this fucker insult U.A?! 

 

"Shut up, you lemon bastard! I don't care if you're a people eating monster, I will NOT tolerate you insulting U.A! The teachers may have their flaws and I may not understand why I haven't been expelled yet, but that doesn't mean they're foolish! They might have a reason for keeping me at U.A. Kami knows what it is, but all I know is that, at the end of the day, they always have the best intentions!" He yelled, glaring angrily at the monster in front of him. 

 

The Pop-Off user didn't know what he was expecting, but he certainly wasn't expecting Lemon Demon to chuckle. 

 

"Wh-What's so funny?!"

 

"Hmhmhmhm~ Oh nothing, my grape friend. I just think it's naive of you to believe that they always have the best intentions. If they truly did have the best intentions, then they would've attempted to stop you from continuing your behavior. Or expelled you a long time ago. Why do you think I called them foolish, little Mineta? That wasn't just me calling them foolish because of humanity's decreased intelligence over the past few centuries, you know. Had they expelled you, you wouldn't be here right now, heading back to the school's dorms after spending time with some of your classmates. Including spending some more time with your electric friend. And little Kaminari likely would've taken your place as the class pervert, but tame. If not, then that brainwashing fella would've been your replacement. Not as the class pervert, but in general."

 

Mineta glared at him again. "You're w-wrong! They would never allow me to be replaced! And Denki especially wouldn't allow it!" He says it with confidence, and yet… why is doubt starting to seep in now? And that stutter on the 'wrong' part didn't do him any favors.

 

Monster noticed this as well and could tell he was starting to get through to him, so he kept on going.

 

"Are you sure, little grape? How can you know for a certain that they wouldn't allow your replacement? They could be pretending to tolerate you when, in fact, they hate you and are just waiting for you to be kicked out and be replaced with someone better. With all of the complaints the girls in your class have made and the way they complained about you made it sound like they didn't like your presence."

 

W… Was that true? N-No! It couldn't be!

 

"Y-You're lying! You have to be…" He said, trying to sound confident, but failed to, due to him thinking back to the disgusted expressions on the girls' faces after doing something perverted around them. Even the boys' expressions after he attempted to peep in on the girls bathing at the summer camp. All of this resulting more doubt.

 

Citrus Spectre's bloodied grin stretched widely. "Oh, but am I?~ What if I was speaking the truth? Think about it, you've done nothing but see the girls as objects for yourself. Why wouldn't they wish for someone who'll treat them with respect? Take a look at your friend, little Denki." He used his hallucination powers to make an exact copy of the grape's best friend appear before him, a grin on the Kaminari clone.

 

"He's beloved." He then made copies of the Class 1A girls appear around the cloned electric quirk user, all of them wearing smiles and happy expressions while Kaminari looked happy as well, his mouth moving as if he were chatting with the girls, but no words came out.

 

"Respected." The Class 1A boys soon joined the girls and Denki, all of them laughing at what appeared to be a joke made by the electric boy. 

 

"And above all, isn't out of touch with his lust." Lemon Demon then played many clips of Mineta's perverted moments, then compared them with Kaminari's moments. 

 

Mineta watched with horror on his face. "N-No…" He whispered, not wanting to believe that they actually hated him behind their neutral faces when he's not doing anything creepy. 

 

His friends stopped laughing after a bit then turned their heads and looked down at him. Their smiles and happy expressions had all dropped into the same look that shared 3 emotions: hate, disgust, and even murderous.

 

Seeing such expressions on his friends', especially Midoriya's, faces terrified him, so he took a step back, staring up at them with a look of fear, almost swearing that their eyes glowed red for a second. The fog didn't help the scene, only made them look much scarier. He knew that they weren't real, but the way they looked at him…

 

It almost seemed genuine. 

 

Then, their mouths opened, and actual words came out.

 

"You're a worthless hero, Mineta."

 

"You could never be a hero!"

 

"You should've been expelled!"

 

"Shinso would've made a better hero than you ever could."

 

"You don't deserve to be in U.A!"

 

"You're unflattering!"

 

"Disgusting gremlin!"

 

"Creep!"

 

"Die, you scumbag of an extra!"

 

All of his classmates, except for Denki and Tsuyu, kept on calling him names, insulting him, and more unflattering things. 

 

The purple haired hero stood there, shaking from both fear and the painful words of his cloned friends.

 

"St-Stop it! They would never say these horrible things!" He attempted to beg for the Lemon Demon to stop, but his friends yelled to drown out his pleas. 

 

He pressed his hands against his ears tightly, closing his eyes, trying to drown out the hurtful words, but it did him no good. Their yelling only got louder and louder, until it suddenly stopped. He opened his eyes and unplugged his ears, thinking it was over until his best friend finally spoke up. Looking up at Denki, he hoped that he would say something nice.

 

Wishful thinking on his part, and the electric user's words proved that. 

 

"At least I never told a 6 year old girl that I 'couldn't wait to see her in 10 years'. 

 

Mineta could feel his heart shatter at that sentence, tears forming at the corners of his eyes. Hearing his own best buddy say that stung HARD. And what Tsuyu says next doesn't help it.

 

"I should've left you behind with those villains at the rescue training facility, kero."

 

"N-No… No! No! NO! I don't believe it!" He fell to his knees, hitting his fists on the ground, tears pouring down his face as he stared down. 'I can't believe it! I won't believe it! … Bu-But what if…?'

 

As his tears hit the concrete below, the lookalikes soon disappeared, leaving only him and the Monster.

 

He stared down at the ground, still crying as the Citrus Spectre walked up to him, got down on one knee, and used his stubby hand to lift Mineta's chin up, making him look at the demon's face.

 

"Chin up, little Minoru. I understand that the truth hurts, but you must accept it as reality. Those were your friends' true thoughts."

 

Mineta stared at Lemon Demon, wanting to say something, ANYTHING, to rebut that. Yet, he couldn't get a word out. A part of him was starting to believe it now.

 

LD pulled away his hand and stood back up, staring down at the emotional grape themed hero.

 

"I believe this calls for a remedy to help ingest the truth. How about we have a rap battle?"

 

"A… rap battle? W-Why a rap battle of all things? And how would that help? You know I can't sing, right? Let alone rap." He slowly stood up, wiping the tears from his eyes.

 

"Don't worry, my purple haired friend, I can teach you. Just follow my lead and you'll be fine. This song will be a good way for you to get away from all of your troubles."

 

'I sure hope so… I don't trust this guy at all, but I'm willing to try anything after what was shown to me.' Mineta thought as he waited for the lemon to start singing. 

 

To be continued...

Chapter 2: Update on the story

Hey guys! Been a while, hasn't it? Anyway, I'm gonna get straight to the point and say that I'm probably not gonna be continuing this story anytime soon. I lost interest in the MHA fandom, and I don't have a lot of motivation for writing. However, if I ever feel like writing the final chapter for this story, then it'll be posted. But for now, it's discontinued.

Thank you all for enjoying this story, and sorry for disappointing you all with this news.

Notes:

Poor Mineta ;-; Surely he knows that his friends would never say that, right?

Right...?