Chapter 14
I closed all of the text boxes I'd gotten now that we were back at Yuuei, the police were done taking our statements, and just waiting for our parents to show up on account of the fact that they didn't want to let us go just yet unless it was with a relative. My level jumped from twenty-eight straight to thirty-six after taking out the Nomu. It made sense, it was so above my level that I couldn't even see how much it was above my level. Plus I got another title, Giant Slayer, for having beaten more than one opponent with a level at least fifty over mine, the other one probably being the zero-pointer. It gave me a small offense and defense boost for every level over mine an enemy was, which I knew almost immediately would get less and less useful as time went on, even if it was very good at the moment. I was already level thirty-six, and it was the first semester. Not to mention, depending on how it worked, it was entirely possible that it'd make me weaker against weaker opponents. Of course, I wasn't the only one who leveled up in the USJ. I looked over at Uraraka, who was sitting next to me.
Megalovania
LV 23
Uraraka Ochako
Apparently she'd stopped Kurogiri for so long by using gravity to slam him into the ground and then making him fall in another direction whenever he tried to make a warp gate to get away. It was apparently really effective, at least until he managed to trick Uraraka into throwing him into a portal. She had a really intense look on her face still, and I could feel my weight fluctuating from the gravity mana she was unconsciously releasing.
"I apologize deeply for not being able to help more," Iida said to Uraraka.
She sighed and lightened up. And I mean literally lightened up; the gravity effect stabilized, causing her chair to stop creaking. "No, you did fine. I just couldn't help feeling like... Like maybe if I noticed that portal sooner, I would've been able to do cancel out Thirteen's Black Hole..."
"I-I'm sorry!" Nebula said.
Uraraka smiled and ruffled her starry hair. "No, you're fine."
"B-but I couldn't help at all, you did everything..."
"There'll always be next time," she said. Nebula sniffled. "Let's... change the subject for now. What the heck was that thing you did to the giant monster?"
"Yeah," Kirishima shouted, quieting the general conversations that were going on, "that was super manly!"
"I would also like to know," Tokoyami said.
I felt my face heat up a bit and rubbed the back of my neck. Almost everyone who was still there was staring intently at me as they waited for my explanation. "So, you guys know how my Quirk works like a video game, right?" They nodded. "So one factor of this I almost never use is that I get points for leveling up that I can use to raise my stats, and I used that to raise my WIS, which gave me three new skills. One of those was Duality, which raised my elemental affinity and gave me access to secondary elements, one of which was lightning."
"I told you, Kaminari!" Jirou shouted, pointing at him. Yaoyorozu smiled awkwardly and put her arm on Jirou's shoulder.
"And then I got a much better version of Elemental Aura from raising its level enough called Elemental Embodiment when fighting the Nomu, which was what I used to beat it."
"So that's why it looked like you were teleporting," Hagakure said.
"Yeah, though it wasn't really teleportation," I said. "I just spilled a lot of water on the floor and conducted myself through it in Lightning Embodiment."
"Dang, that's pretty awesome," Kaminari said. "I wish I could do that."
"Well if you practice Lightning Aura enough, you might be able to do it. To use Elemental Aura, you infuse your body with elemental mana. Elemental Embodiment is just that, but... more," I explained. "Sorry I can't give you more for that, but I only used it three times in the middle of battle and the downside of automatically learning things with my Quirk is that it's a little hard to explain how to do them sometimes unless I concentrate really hard on what I'm doing."
"Nah, it's cool, man. I'm sure I can figure it out eventually."
"And by the way," Kacchan said. "You probably shouldn't use a spell that makes you generate electricity all over your body anywhere near anything sensitive to electricity. Not at first anyway." He paused for a moment. "Actually with your Quirk, you should probably know how the fuck that shit goes."
Kaminari gave a thumbs-up. "Don't worry, I learned that lesson already."
"What were the other two?" Sero asked. "You said you got three WIS skills, right?"
"Yeah. There's Tactician, which just lets me think better and automatically gives me information on my skills as I need them, but only when in a battle or crisis. The other one..."
Mantra (Passive) LV1 EXP: 52.19%
Mantra is a sacred utterance, words to live by. This skill represents the ability to change one's meditation into an internal mantra when not in danger, providing some of the benefits of meditation without the downside.
Allows the use of Meditation as a passive when not in times of high exertion and/or stress, but with 1/5th the effect.
Stacks with Meditation.
"Mantra is interesting. I can't use it in battle, but it basically turns another of my skills, Meditation, into a passive at the cost of some of its effect. That pretty much means that my HP and MP regenerate a bit faster and, even more usefully, I can automatically train one stat aside from LUC at a time."
Slowly, we broke back up into our smaller groups and started talking to each other. "Hey Deku," Uraraka said, then pointed to Tsu, who was sitting alone. "Is it just me, or is Tsu-chan shaking a bit.
I winced. "Oh," I said. I'd asked her if she was okay after everything was over, on account of the part where she almost died, but she just said she was fine and I didn't even think to Observe her to check to see if that was the case. Though in hindsight doing that might have been an invasion of privacy. "She... almost got her face disintegrated. I think I might need to talk to her."
Uraraka got up, a serious look on her face. "No, I'll go."
xoxoxo
Tsuyu Asui felt like she couldn't breath, and her heart was pounding. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see that man's hand in front of her face. Her hands kept on shaking, even when she tried to stop.
"Are you okay, Tsu?" a familiar voice asked. "Deku said something about your face almost disintegrating, which sounded like it was really scary," Uraraka said.
Tsu took a deep breath, and tried to steady herself. She didn't want to worry any of her classmates. "I-I'm fine, Uraraka."
Uraraka sat down next to her. "You can call me Ochako, if you want. It's okay if you're scared, Tsu. I was terrified, and I didn't even get attacked." Tsu bit her lip. Her vision started to blur, and a hot tear rolled down her cheek. Ochaka held her arms out, offering a hug. "Do you want to cry on my shoulder." Tsu let out a small kero and leaned into her embrace, pressing her face to Ochako's shoulder. She sobbed and let the tears flow. "There," Ochako said. "Feel better?" Tsu nodded, face still on her shoulder. Ochako rubbed her back lightly. "That's good."
xoxoxo
"I feel shame as a class representative that I didn't notice how Asui was suffering," Iida said as he watched Uraraka comfort Tsu.
"Maybe you could see if anyone else needs a hug?" I offered.
"Ah, thank you, Midoriya. I will do that."
"Just remember," Kacchan said, "if someone's on the verge of a fucking panic attack, make absolutely fucking sure to use your fucking indoor voice."
"I know that," Iida said using his fucking indoor voice. He looked over at us. "Bakugou, Midoriya, are you two alright?"
"Oh my fucking what," Kacchan said flatly. "I'm pretty sure we're both fine!" He shooed Iida off. "Go, ask how everyone else is!"
"We're good, Iida," I said. "Koda looks a little nervous, maybe start with him?" I gave Iida a thumbs-up as he walked over to Koda.
I heard the tapping of a certain needle cane. "Midoriya-kun!" Recovery Girl said as she entered the room. "I'd like you to come to my office. I've patched up Erasor Head and Thirteen enough that I'm willing to let you get some hands-on experience."
"Right," I said. "I'm coming."
"Izuku!" my mom shouted, then grabbed me in her death grip of motherly worry. "Are you okay? I was so worried!"
"Katsuki!" Auntie Mitsuki shouted. "You damn well better be alright!"
"I'm fine, ma!" he shouted back to her.
"So you two must be Midoriya-san and Bakugou-san," Recovery Girl observed. "If you don't mind, Midoriya-san, I'd like to take your son to my office for a bit."
Mom stepped back a bit and inspected me. "Is Izuku hurt?"
"M-mom, I'm fine!" I said.
"Sorry, I think I should've worded that better," Recovery Girl said. "Midoriya-kun is fine, but I'd like to have him help with the actual wounded. He's taking my support hero courses, remember?"
"Oh, right!" Mom said. "How is my dear Izuku doing, by the way?"
"He's doing pretty well, which is why I want to borrow him for a bit. Plus, his healing spell can be safely used on people I've used my Quirk on because he's the one providing all the energy. I still need to learn it..."
"Right," I said. "If you don't mind, Mom, I'm going to go with Recovery Girl. I'll see you when I'm done."
She smiled at me. "Go on, sweetie."
xoxoxo
I looked over my new elemental affinities.
Air: 20
Earth: 20
Fire: 30
Water: 30
Bio: 20 (earth+water)
Ice: 20 (air+water)
Lightning: 20 (air+fire)
Molten: 20 (fire+earth)
Sonic: 20 (air+earth)
Vapor: 20 (fire+water)
I'd tested each combination of elements in Illusion Barrier just in case any of them were immediately explosive. The only one that did anything close to exploding, though, was sonic, which caused a low humming sound when I used it. Bio was... worrying at first, but I found that all it was was a combination of poison and plant, though I felt like maybe there might have also been some flesh manipulation in it that I wasn't quite willing to mess with just yet. It was interesting, though, using the secondary elements. Now that I was out of danger and able to properly concentrate on my magic, I noticed that it wasn't exactly fusing the elements together as I thought it was. If anything, it was more like using power that was less fragmented than the primary elements. It was odd but that was the best analogy I had. "Right," I said. "Is everything ready?"
"You do realize that this probably isn't the best idea, right?" Blaise asked, referring to the six ritual circles equidistant to my bed and in particular the molten lava and cup of boiling water he was keeping warm.
Halitus nodded. "Agreed."
"I'm going to be out of it either way, might as well speedrun it," I responded.
Rayne grinned widely. "I like it! We get all of the new weapon buddies at once!"
"Yeah, weapon buddies!" Dune agreed, happily pulling the cord on my I Am Here All Might action figure (with kung-fu grip).
"Right, let's start this," I said. I placed my hands in front of the circles, had Dune put the Laughing All Might in the empty circle to provide the sonic element, and activated the six rituals at once. "I, Midoriya Izuku, call upon the ancient contract of ages past to summon thee."
xoxoxo
I stirred from my sleep to the sound of a familiar explosion. "Suck it!" a slightly less familiar voice said. I opened my eyes to see several children that looked like they were roughly twelve, along with one girl who looked like she was ten, in varying states of corporeality. The boy whose voice I heard looked like he could have easily been Kaminari's younger brother, except for the odd-looking ears, the red spots on his cheeks, and a strange lightning-bolt tail. He had a yellow jacket with two brown stripes on it. My new lightning elemental, Raimon. He was holding one of the controllers of my Switch, and judging from his furious button presses he was the one who was playing the Pikachu that was winning. A lot.
"Cheater," Rayne whined. She'd gained even more dark blue on her clothes and hair, and she now had blue fingerless gloves with white knuckles. It looked like she was playing as Greninja. She wasn't very good with Greninja, though. I couldn't help but notice how Raimon and Rayne resembled the characters they were playing as. "I knew I shoulda picked the sword guy..."
"Which sword guy?" my vapor elemental, Claude, asked. He wore light, red body armor, had three spikes in his red hair, and for some reason reminded me of a lobster. "Aren't like half of them sword guys?"
"Thirteen of seventy-four," Halitus corrected. Halitus had changed a lot, actually. His hair was now sky-blue instead of his robes, and he had two long ponytails. His robes were fully made of the cloudy material with the exception of five blue tassels in the back that might have actually been some weird tail. He now had patches on his cheeks like Raimon, though his were white.
Claude rolled his eyes. "Same difference."
"Not even close, bro," the biggest of the elementals, Iggy, said. He was my new molten elemental. He had a red long-sleeved shirt with three blue circles on the sleeves and two large brown lumps on the back. His hair was also red with a few spikes, so he and Claude almost looked like they could have been brothers if not for his... camel ears? He had a red tail as well. "And I think it's my turn now." He put his intangible hands on Rayne's controller, and I felt a weird shift in the mana that was automatically leaving my mana pool as he and Rayne switched between being partially summoned and fully summoned. "Who else wants a go?"
Mifuyu, my ice elemental, switched with Raimon. "That would be me." Oddly enough for an ice elemental, she had dark red hair, eyes, and two tails. She was dressed in dark blue ninja clothes, like Rayne, but in a different shade. She had a small yellow gem on her forehead. Mifuyu picked Shiek and Iggy picked Dedede.
"So how are you guys able to summon yourselves?" I asked.
"That would be from my help," Pyra said. "It seems we elementals can summon ourselves, partially or fully, so long as our summoner can bear the strain of our summoning without a noticeable decrease in mana. Master Kacchan gained the strength to handle me recently, and it seems your current limit is three. With Sonia out regardless to allow us to be as loud as we want without waking your mother up, that meant that we've mostly been playing doubles matches."
"You're welcome, by the way," my sonic elemental said. She had a purple shirt, a black scarf, and black jeans. On her nose she had rounded triangular purple sunglasses that you could still see her golden eyes through and over her ears were some expensive-looking purple headphones. "Yeah, after the primary elementals filled us in on everything, Pyra showed up and told us how to summon ourselves so we could play some games to wait for you to wake up on your own."
"We did have some fun with a party game earlier," Juniper, my bio elemental, said. She had a blue-green dress with darker green patches on it. Around her neck she had a scarf that appeared to be made of green fronds, with a sort of brooch on the form of a pink bud. Her eyes were red, her hair was green, and she had pointed canine teeth. "I hope you don't mind too terribly. We didn't mess with anything and made sure not to mess with your saved data."
"Actually, if you guys want to make an account on that you totally can," I said. "I'm pretty sure that'll give you guys save files separate from mine."
"Let's do that later, then," Blaise said. His shirt darkened and the sleeves now had small patches of light blue on them. His scarf had changed to have long red ends with a few black dots on them. "For now we're just playing Smash."
"Can I join in next round?" I asked.
"Sure," Sonia said. "We still have an hour or so 'til morning, according to a few of your neighbours' clocks anyway."
"Hey, can I play next too?" Dune asked. Her clothes were now half camo and half solid black.
We played until the sun rose. It was fun.
Chapter 15
"So now you have ten elementals?" Kacchan asked as we walked. We had a day off from school because of the USJ incident, so Kacchan and I decided to go to an arcade to have some fun and play games.
I nodded. "Yeah, with the six elements I got from Duality. I did all six rituals at once, actually."
"That was probably a fucking stupid idea."
"That's what Blaise said, though with more cussing."
"No shit," Kacchan said. "Seriously, what if that put you in a fucking coma!?"
I shrugged as we started to cross the street. "I felt less tired after summoning the higher my skill level was, and even beyond that Duality raised all my-"
I was cut off by a speeding van ramming into me. It made me take a step back and I took a hit to HP, but otherwise it was the van that was broken by the collision. I pried myself from the dent I made in the car and ran to the driver's side door. "Oh my gosh, are you guys okay!?" I asked. The door opened, and the man inside punched me in the face, which surprised me more than anything, and grabbed me by the neck. "Oh," I said as I felt him hold a knife to my neck.
"Alright, nobody move or this freak gets it!" the criminal yelled. His accomplices got out and brandished knives as well, though thankfully they didn't grab any other hostages. I heard a motorcycle coming.
Kacchan laughed. "You fuckers do realize that you just took the guy who unintentionally totaled your car by getting fucking hit by it hostage?"
The motorcycle sound screeched to a stop, and Present Mic ran up. "Hey! Stop!"
"We've got a hostage, jackass!" one of the villains jeered.
"Hi, Mic-sensei!" I said, waving at him.
Mic-sensei grinned. "Hey, listener! You okay?"
"I'm fine," I said. "Hey, can I ask you something about Quirk usage laws?"
"Sure!"
"I know people are allowed to use their Quirks to get out of situations where there is a danger to themselves, but I... don't actually feel threatened at the moment, so I don't know how legal it would be."
"I'll show you threatened!" the man holding the knife to my neck shouted, then tried to stab me. I say tried because apparently I couldn't be stabbed by normal people anymore, though to be fair the man was trying really hard. I noticed a text box that was probably the reason for that. It looked like I got it when I got hit by the car and just didn't hear it over the sound of metal hitting me. "The fuck?"
"What did I fucking tell you?" Kacchan said.
"I mean, they are trying to stab you..." Present Mic said.
"And let's just say," I continued, "that in my attempt to get away from the person threatening me with a knife I 'accidentally' incapacitate all three of them, can I be arrested for that?"
Mic-sensei chuckled and said, "Technically, you're good because you're being attacked by a weapon."
I nodded, then exploded into electricity. I arced through the three villains with exactly enough voltage to knock them over without causing lasting damage and reformed next to Kacchan. "That good?"
"Great! I'll need to snag you for a couple minutes for some paperwork, though."
xoxoxo
"Okay," I said, coming back to Kacchan. "So where were we?"
He stared at me for a bit as we started walking again. "You're fucking unbelievable," he told me. "You were just hit by a fucking car, then stabbed. What the fuck?"
"Physical Endurance prestiged and I wasn't actually stressed enough for Mantra to deactivate."
"Are you okay, kero?" a familiar voice asked me. I turned to see Uraraka and Tsu walking up to us. "That looked like it hurt," Tsu said.
"Thanks, but I'm fine," I told her with a smile. "As I was explaining to Kacchan, a passive skill of mine that reduces physical damage just reached max level, which means that I now take one fourth damage from any and all physical attacks."
Uraraka whistled. "That's pretty broken."
"Plus, because it maxed out, I got a new passive, Damage Reduction."
Tsu put her finger on her lip. "I think we already have a general idea, but what does that do, Midoriya?" She asked me.
"I'll have to test it, but judging from the description it removes point-five percent of my HP from all damage, which doesn't sound like a lot, but with my VIT that's a lot, especially combined with Physical Endurance. And assuming it levels linearly, that means that at max level it'll take an attack that does more than half my HP without the skill for me to actually feel it, which is pretty good."
"Deku's Quirk is fucking broken, who would have fucking guessed?" Kacchan said.
I chuckled. "Let's talk about something else, though. I take it you like space, Uraraka?"
"How'd you know?" she asked.
Kacchan snorted. "Gee I fucking wonder." Uraraka was wearing a galaxy-print skirt, a JAXA shirt, and a moon-shaped pendant. "Where the fuck did you get that necklace anyway? No offense, but isn't your family poor?"
"This?" Uraraka asked, pointing to the pendant. "It was a birthday gift from my cousin Shōta. He doesn't visit us often, but he always sends us stuff like this." She chuckled. "Mom's always worried he's spending too much on us, though."
"Though seriously, maybe you should've seen about staying with your cousin before you decided to get your own apartment?" Tsu said. "Didn't you say he lives somewhere near here?"
"You fucking what?" Kacchan asked.
Uraraka blushed. "S-so, my parents live in Mie..." Kacchan slapped his face.
"And that's why I brought Ochako-chan home with me, kero," Tsu said with a tone of... something in her voice. Annoyance?
Uraraka blushed a little. "I-it wasn't quite like that..."
Tsu nodded. "So luckily both of our parents were visiting yesterday-"
Kacchan glared at Tsu. "What," he demanded, causing Tsu to make a startled croak.
"My parents' jobs mean they aren't home all the time," she explained, a little faster than normal. "They leave me in charge of my siblings, but at the same time literally the entire neighborhood looks out for us, so don't worry about it, kero. They didn't leave us to fend for ourselves in an unfamiliar environment with no adult supervision Ochako-chan. So I may or may not have not been in the best state at the time, so because I was clinging to Ochako-chan we decided to just have lunch at my house. At some point Ochako-chan's... living situation... came up and now she lives with us. Our parents banished us from the house while they're moving Ochako-chan's stuff into our spare room. So where are we going, kero?"
"Kacchan and I were going to go to an arcade," I said. "You don't have to come."
"Nah, that sounds pretty fun and neither of us had actual plans other than the fact that I wanted to see if I could spot Ochako-chan's cousin in the wild, kero."
Uraraka made a little noise and pressed her index fingers together. "We have several thousand yen in coins, Deku's Quirk counted. Don't fucking worry about it, Uraraka."
"Thanks..."
xoxoxo
"Damn it!" Kacchan groaned after I beat him easily yet again in the old Street Fighter game. Tsu and Uraraka went elsewhere after Kacchan challenged me. "How the fuck are you so good at this all of a sudden, Deku?"
"Sorry, Tactician keeps activating," I apologized.
"Well I'm gonna fucking beat you anyways! Let's go again!"
I opened the skill boxes for Tactician and Mantra and read them closely. "Hang on, I might be able to cheat the system."
Kacchan snorted, then put another coin in the machine. "Whatever." I took a deep breath, then chose my character. As the match started up, I reminded myself that it was just a game, and that I didn't need the boost. Even when Kacchan got me locked in a combo, I never got the same feeling of clarity and rush of information that I became accustomed to with the repeated activations of Tactician. I just barely managed to beat Kacchan, and by the time I was done Mantra and Tactician both leveled up despite the fact that Mantra wasn't that near level up and I specifically didn't use Tactician. "I'll get you next time, Deku." He put in more coins for a rematch.
"So apparently Ochako-chan's actually monstrously good at fighting games," Tsu said once we were done. It was even closer, but I still managed to beat Kacchan.
"I might have almost accidentally used my Quirk on the machine once or twice," Uraraka added, blushing slightly. "That would've been bad..."
Kacchan stared at Uraraka for a moment, then popped some coins in the machine. "Right, I wanna see this. You and me, Round Face."
I don't think Uraraka had actually played Street Fighter before. She messed around in the character selection screen for a bit before picking a character at random. When the match started, she hit random buttons and just let Kacchan get some hits on her. "Oi Round Face, you're supposed to fight back," Kacchan said after stopping. "Have you not played Street Fighter before?"
Uraraka pressed the jump button a few times. "In my defense, my family doesn't have a lot of money, so I never really went to arcades. My cousin did get me a couple Pokémon games for birthday and Christmas presents, though." She started doing some attacks.
Kacchan twitched. "'Kay, no offense, but I don't really feel like curbstomping a total newbie right now. 'Specially one I'd actually be willing to call a friend. Might feel a little bad."
"Oh, don't worry. I think I've figured it out now." Without any more warning, Uraraka launched a near-perfect series of attacks on Kacchan. To be fair, I think it was more Kacchan's sheer astonishment than anything else that made him unable to fight back, but Uraraka still wiped the floor with him.
"Yeah that was my first match with her too," Tsu told me when the round ended. "The next couple rounds are even better." As Tsu said, the next round was a close win for Kacchan, followed by a close win for Uraraka in the tiebreaker. In the rematch, Kacchan didn't even win once, even if he came close. Kacchan's really good at Street Fighter, so that was impressive.
"Damn it. 'Nother round?" Kacchan asked.
Uraraka nodded. "I'm having fun." Kacchan grumbled, but put another coin in. That time it wasn't even close.
"How the fuck are you so good?" Kacchan asked.
Uraraka shrugged. "I have no idea but I'm not complaining."
"Right, much as I hate to admit it, you're too good for me." Kacchan looked over at me and grinned. "So's Deku, so let's see how you two fight."
"I'm fine with that if you are, Deku."
I nodded. "Let's go, then." Before we started, Kacchan cackled maliciously and whispered in Uraraka's ear.
"He told her some combos, by the way," Sonia told me. Oh boy. At first I tried to keep from using Tactician to be fair to Uraraka, but after losing a somewhat short first round I changed my mind. Even with Tactician automatically giving me both characters' entire movesets and each button she pressed on the controller, it was surprisingly difficult. I think that the only thing that let me win in the end was the fact that my DEX leveled up from the frantic button pressing and the Mantra I'd been using earlier.
"That was intense," Uraraka sighed.
"I know. Even with Tactician, you almost won," I said.
Tsu smirked and pointed at something. "Hey Ochako-chan. There's a flyer for a tournament over there. Says it's a week from now and there's a cash prize, kero."
Uraraka's head snapped over to where Tsu was pointing. "Cash prize?"
"Dammit, I was gonna compete..." Kacchan sighed.
xoxoxo
Aizawa Shōta sat up in his bed. Recovery Girl would probably have scolded him for doing that if she hadn't stepped out, but between her Quirk and the healing spells Midoriya had taught her, he was mostly just sore. He reached out with his good arm to grabb his phone from where Hizashi put it and opened up his photo album to a picture that he looked at often, even if he had a framed copy back home. It was twelve years ago, a few months before his mother's accident. She'd dragged eighteen-year-old him down to Mie for his cousin's third birthday, and they decided to take a family picture. He sighed at the younger Shōta who looked like he'd rather be anywhere else in the world than next to his mother. His gaze drifted over to his aunt, uncle, and cousin. His uncle was a large, burly man with light brown hair, while his aunt looked almost exactly like his mother, though her eyes were a different color and lacked the ability to erase the gravity of whatever she was looking at. Even if his mother was older, they were always mistaken for twins. And his cousin... Sweet, young Ochako already looked so much like her mother, even as a toddler. The only difference was the age and the fact that she had her father's hair. Aizawa looked at a few later photos, pictures of Ochako that his aunt and uncle sent him. He laughed at a picture of Ochako with her sixth birthday cake all over her face.
"What are you looking at?" Thirteen asked him. He always thought they looked a little odd outside of their containment suit, all thin and with pitch-black skin.
"Pictures of my cousin," he responded.
"Ah. Your cousin. You never talk about her much."
"I don't talk to most of my coworkers in general. No offense."
"None taken. So what's she like?"
Aizawa thought for a moment. He really was too secretive. Perhaps it was the concussion or the near-death experience, but he felt like he should change that. "You've met her."
"Oh? When?"
"Yesterday."
Thirteen shot up, then winced and gingerly touched the bandages on their back. "Ow... Who was it?"
"The girl who asked for your autograph."
"Ah. If you don't mind me saying, I didn't exactly... get that impression from you two, if you take my meaning."
Aizawa shrugged, then winced from the pain in his bad arm. He slowly lowered himself back down on his bed. "I see you almost every day and this is the longest we've talked, after we both nearly died. My family lives in Mie. You do the math."
"I see. I always see you with Kayama and Yamada, though."
"I've been friends with them since I was a student here and they basically adopted me with joint custody. They keep dragging me out to do things."
"So she hasn't met you?"
"No, she has. I don't visit often, though, and the last time I visited... Was it really four years ago?" Thirteen stared at him. He couldn't really tell what they were thinking, their face was too alien. "I send them money, though. My family isn't in the best of financial situations, and they don't let me spend too much money on them, but I send as much as they'll let me."
"So if they live in Mie, where exactly is your cousin staying? Mie isn't exactly a short train ride from Musutafu..."
"I... Son of a bitch."
"They told you she was fine and you bought it, didn't you?"
"Shit."
They chuckled. "I take that to be the case." Aizawa reached for his phone again. "Do it later. Hopefully she'll be fine for a day, and if not then at least she has friends, right?" Aizawa nodded. She was getting along well with Tensei's brother. "You, on the other hand, won't be fine if Shuzenji-baasan finds out you've been exacerbating your injuries by yelling at your relatives over the phone." Aizawa blanched and lowered the phone.
"Do you... drink?" he said after a while.
"I think if I didn't I'd die rather soon."
Aizawa rolled his eyes, then winced because his eye still hurt. "I meant, do you drink alcohol? Sake?"
"Ah. Hang on for one second." They sat up slightly, enough to take a sip of the water by their bedside. Then they spat it out. "Are you sure you didn't get hit too hard?"
"Ha ha," Aizawa deadpanned. "I absolutely did, though. It made me introspective. Want to get a beer sometime?"
"Absolutely, but clearly only after the both of us are out of the infirmary."
"Obviously."
"You're getting out tomorrow, yes? I mean, Shuzenji-baasan won't like it, but with her healing you'll be well enough by then and you aren't going to miss your class, are you?"
"No, I won't."
"What will you do, then?" Aizawa picked his phone back up and reopened his photo roll. Then he changed the picture because the picture of Ochako with chocolate icing on her forehead was horrible for any serious insight.
He stared at the family photo from over a decade ago. Ochako looked so young, so happy. And yesterday, she could've died. Aizawa could've, almost did die, before she even got to know him. "Learn more magic, for one thing," he decided. "I'm going to talk to Midoriya."
xoxoxo
I sneezed. Odd, it wasn't that cold and I didn't have allergies. If I was more superstitious, I'd have suspected someone was talking about me.
"How the hell did you still manage to beat me at DDR that last time?" Kacchan asked Uraraka. "You were sneezing up a fucking storm!"
Uraraka sniffled. "I habe no idea."
"Right, I should probably take Ochako-chan home," Tsu said. "It's probably going to be dinnertime by the time we get home anyway. Bye, you two."
"Oh, actually!" I said. "Before you two go, could I ask a favor?"
"What's up, Deku?" Uraraka asked as she rubbed her nose.
I pulled a scroll out of my "pocket." "This scroll contains knowledge on the Illusion Barrier and Space Invader spells. When Kacchan and I defeated each of our bosses for the first time, we got scrolls that I could use to learn a skill related to the boss. We have no idea if it's a side effect of my Quirk or not, though."
"So you want to see if that happens if we go in without you, kero?" Tsu asked.
"'Course, we didn't give it to any of our classmates because my Illusion monsters were made of fire, meaning it's entirely possible for the monsters to counter the user's element. That's not really a concern with Round Face, though. I didn't see it in person, but I heard you were fucking awesome in the USJ. Protect Tsu, won't you?"
Uraraka beamed at the compliment and saluted Kacchan. "Roger!"
"And Tsu should probably be able to do something about whatever the fuck gravity monsters Uraraka's insane magic spawns."
"I'll take that as a compliment, kero."
"Yeah most of the time Kacchan compliments people like that..." I said. "You two will do fine, though maybe Tsu should get a water elemental?"
"Yeah, I got one, kero. I was gonna show everyone tomorrow. Though if I may ask, how did you have that scroll on you?"
I chuckled. "That's actually from an elemental that Irecently summoned," I said.
"One of six," Kacchan interjected. "All at the same time."
"That probably wasn't the wisest idea," Tsu said.
"I KNOW!"
"Right, so as I said," I said, then sent a mental command to Sonia. She nodded, then "materialized" a pair of floating turntable-like devices. "Huh. At least now I know who was reading Homestuck on my phone," I thought. She started fiddling with the records and gave me a very Strider-like nod. She somehow managed to mess with my BGM in addition to setting up a very subtle noise distortion field like I asked. "One of my elementals, Juniper, can control any organic material, with enough control that she can turn part of a tree into a pre-written scroll. Add that to the fact that my most recent upgrade to Summon Elemental actually granted my elementals some of the benefits of my Quirk, which includes shared Inventory when in range of me, and I was able to get that scroll for you guys from a nearby tree."
"You really play it fast and loose with Quirk usage laws, don't you, Midoriya?" Tsu said. Kacchan snickered.
"Yeah, that's fair." I had Sonia cut the field, causing me to hear a scratch that was hopefully just my Quirk before the normal BGM resumed. "Right, good luck you two."
"Try not to die," Kacchan added.
"We won't," Tsu said.
Uraraka waved at us as she started to walk away. "Bye!"
Chapter 16
"So did you do it?" I asked Tsu and Uraraka when I saw them by the front gate.
"No, not yet," Tsu said. "We're still practicing with the spells, kero."
"Oh, and I think I found a new element!" Uraraka added. "I remembered how you said you had more fire and water affinity because of your parents' Quirks, and I asked my dad about the specifics of his Quirk. Turns out his fingerpads actually latch onto things using some kind of magnetic thing, which means I can use some kind of weird magnet element!"
"So what, like electricity?" Kacchan asked.
"Not exactly," Uraraka said, then pulled out a small metal ball. "Watch." The ball started floating.
"No offense, but that isn't exactly a new trick for you," I said.
She grinned. "Yeah, but what about this?" The ball glowed lightly around the middle, then split cleanly in half. "I did say it was a weird magnet element, remember?"
"Did you just break the bonds between its atoms down?" I asked. "Uraraka, please be careful with that."
"I know what happens when you split an atom, Deku. Oh, and also I got another elemental, so that's a thing."
"Cool," Kacchan said. "How 'bout we get to the classroom so you can summon them."
xoxoxo
"So you have how many elementals now?" Jirou asked me.
I summoned them, pulling out materials when needed. "Ten."
"Sup," Iggy said.
"Right. Hey, can I have the elemental spell? I was gonna ask you at the USJ, but..."
I nodded. "Oh, yeah, totally. Hang on." I pulled a leaf out of my inventory, giving it to Juniper. "Watch this." The leaf expanded and changed into a piece of wood, which paper then sprouted from. There was just something really cool about handing people scrolls with spells written on them. When Juniper was done, I handed Jirou the scroll.
"Little overkill, but thanks. I take it she's your plant elemental?"
"Bio, but yes," Juniper said.
"Can we show you our elementals now?" Tsu asked. I nodded. Tsu summoned a ball of water and Uraraka created some form of almost-visible ripple in the air that I could feel with Fuckery Detection. It definitely wasn't gravity, though. The water and ripple both expanded and turned blue, becoming humanoid. Tsu's water formed into a small boy with dark blue hair and clothes, though with a lighter blue ruffle on his collar.
"Hi, everyone!" he said with a bright smile. "I'm Bubbles!"
"Bubbles?" Kirishima asked.
"Yeah!" Bubbles created a white bubble wand with a pink loop for the bubbles. He waved it, forming some oddly thick bubbles that looked like they were made purely out of water. "Bubbles!" The water bubbles floated like normal bubbles, though.
Meanwhile, Uraraka's ripple formed into an androgynous child that also had blue hair and clothes, though theirs looked... metallic, I guess? Their eyes had black sclera and red irises. "Greetings," they said. "My name is Ion."
"Didn't you already have an elemental, Uraraka?" Yaoyorozu asked.
"Yeah. Nebby's a gravity elemental, but Ion here's..." She paused, then looked at Ion. "Actually, what element are you, exactly? I know you're some kinda magnetic element, but..."
"My element has had many names in the past because of its seemingly erratic nature," Ion said, closing their eyes. "Alchemy, matter, reality, chaos, cataclysm, destruction, attraction. These names are a result of people at the time not knowing what exactly it affects and not thinking to ask. However, it does have a true, proper name: particle. Think of it like a culmination of the three fundamental forces of nature that are not gravity, as it allows for the manipulation of the electromagnetic and nuclear forces." They opened their eyes. "Is that a sufficient explanation?"
Uraraka looked a little worried. "Those... Were words. That you said. So like, Full Metal Alchemist plus magnet powers?"
Ion blinked. "I do not know what this Full Metal Alchemist is, but I assume so. In fact, a rather simple application of it is the spell Compass, which allows one to feel magnetic fields, including Earth's."
"Actually," Yaoyorozu said, "I think I might also be able to use this... particle element."
Ion nodded. "My senses indicate you to be right. Perhaps you might be willing to demonstrate?"
"Of course." Yaoyorozu made a small cube of what my Observe told me was wood with her Quirk, then used magic on it, reshaping it into a sphere.
"You are correct. That was an application of particle magic, Quirk and spell both."
Yaoyorozu nodded and pocketed the ball. "Thank you. Jirou, could I please borrow that scroll Midoriya gave you when you're done with it?"
"Sure," Jirou said.
"I can make another if you need," I said.
"No, that's fine."
"Classmates!" Iida shouted as he burst through the door. "Class will start soon! Take your seats!"
I looked around. Aside from the elementals, who didn't have seats, the only person who wasn't sitting was Iida. "Umm... I guess we should probably unsummon the elementals too?" I said.
He sighed. "Yes, Midoriya, I see my mistake." He walked to his desk as our elementals said goodbye.
"Hey, so who's going to be teaching today?" Ashido asked as she leaned back in her chair. "Aizawa-sensei's probably still out, so..."
The door opened. I facepalmed when I saw Aizawa walking through the door. "Alright, class. I'm glad to see you're in your seats already." He had bandages wrapped around his eye and one of his arms was in a sling. I noticed that, with the level ups I'd gained from USJ, I could see his title and level now.
Eraser Head
LV 79
Aizawa Shōta
"Aizawa-sensei, are you sure you're good to be teaching," I asked.
He stared at me, raised his hand, and did he just cast Regeneration? "I'm fine, Midoriya. And Recovery Girl insisted on teaching me healing spells just in case. Now, the first item on the agenda. The school's counselor, Hound Dog, would like me to remind you all that there is no shame in visiting his office after a traumatic event, and that it doesn't make you any less of a hero. In fact, I'm going to see a therapist soon, though that's more because of my tendency to isolate myself leading to the degradation of my relationship with my family than anything else... Next, I'm sure you've noticed by now that one of your classmates isn't here."
A wave of confusion rolled over the class. We were? I couldn't think of anyone who was gone, and it seemed that neither could the rest of the class. "Wh-For the love of..." Aizawa sighed. "Mineta. It's Mineta. After the USJ incident, he decided to transfer to the general education course." I winced. That might've partially been my fault... "On to better news, then... The last thing I have to say for today is that we will be having the Yuuei sports festival in a few weeks."
"Yeah, the sports festival!" Kaminari shouted.
"Is it really a good idea to still have the festival after what happened?" Jirou asked.
"C'mon, Jirou, don't ruin this..."
Aizawa nodded. "It's a fair concern, but Nedzu seems to think that this'll show the public that we've dealt with the problem. And we're going to up our security, so we are dealing with the problem. I feel I should remind you all, this is probably your best opportunity to get scouted, so put your best foot forward. And finally, Bakugou."
Kacchan perked up at the sound of his name. "Yeah, teach?"
"Because you had the best score in the entrance exam, you're giving the speech at the beginning. If you need any tips, ask the principal or All Might. Class dismissed."
A buzz of excitement filled the room. The sports festival! Yuuei's sports festival was seen around the nation, and even in other countries. "Everyone's fired up, huh?" I said.
"Of course we are!" Kacchan shouted. "It's the fucking sports festival!"
"Of course!" Iida agreed. He was excitedly fidgeting in a way that made it look like he was dancing. Or he was doing some kind of happy dance. "Our goal is to become heroes! This is our chance to prove ourselves to the hero agencies of Japan!"
"I'm fired up!" Uraraka shouted. She had the most intense face I'd ever seen on her. A visible glow of pink surrounded her, and I could feel the gravity fluctuations from a few meters away. "I'm gonna win this thing!" She punched the air above her, and a wave of altered gravity rattled ceiling.
"Not if I beat you!" Kacchan shouted.
"You're pretty excited, huh, Ochako-chan?" Tsu commented.
"Yeah, that excitement's pretty manly!" Kirishima cheered.
"Uraraka, I understand your excitement, but please curb your magic before you destroy something!" Iida shouted.
It was then that she noticed the gravity she was putting out. "Oh. Sorry."
xoxoxo
"So..." I said later, when we were in the hallway. "Why are you so determined to win, Uraraka?"
She stopped. "Um... Well..." She hesitated.
"Are you okay, Ochako-chan?" Tsu asked.
She nervously touched the tips of her fingers together. "Well... it sounds kinda bad..."
"I'm sure it's not that stupid," Kacchan said. "Fuck, the grape said he was only in it for the ladies. Can't be much worse than that."
She blushed. "Well, see, the thing is that I'm kinda... in it for the money..."
"Yeah, I can see that," Tsu said.
Her blush deepened. "D-don't get me wrong! I also wanna help people, but..."
"Your family," I guessed. "You said that money's tight, so you want to help them out, don't you?"
"Yeah," she said. "Cousin Shōta sends us some money, but we only accept so much because he'd probably not leave anything for himself if we didn't. I want to be able to support my parents and make sure Shōta doesn't have to worry about us at all, so I need to sign with a good agency."
Iida started clapping. "How inspiring! A truly selfless goal! I am sure you will do magnificently!"
She smiled. "Thanks, Iida."
"If you wanna learn some hand-to-hand, I'll help," Kacchan offered.
"So will I, kero," Tsu added.
"Yeah, I'm sure I can help you with your magic," I said.
She smiled. "Thank you all."
xoxoxo
I opened the door to the teachers' lounge. I thought back to earlier, when I was about to leave the classroom.
I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Midoriya," Aizawa-sensei said. "I'd like to speak to you, when you have the time."
"Is something wrong?" I asked.
"No, everything's fine. I'd just... like to get your opinion on something."
So I excused myself during the lunch break to see what he wanted. I saw that he was on the phone, so I decided to politely wait for him to finish. "It wouldn't have been a bother at all, Obasan," he growled to whoever was on the other side of the phone, presumably his aunt.
Sonia offered to give me the other half of the conversation, but I declined.
"In fact, I would've loved to have her over." He made a frustrated noise, then took a deep breath. "Yes, I haven't visited in a while. I apologize for that. But I would have preferred she been with me than having noone in an unfamiliar environment." He scoffed at something his aunt said. "Okay, she's with a friend now, but what about before then?" He sighed. "Well, just so you know in the future, it wouldn't have been a bother at all. You're family. Goodbye." He hesitated for a bit. "Love you too," he sheepishly added, then hanged up. He sighed. "Why is my entire family so damn selfless..."
"Um..." Aizawa turned to face me. "I think maybe you are too," I said. "You should probably be in the infirmary still."
He pointedly cast Regeneration again. "I'm fine. Now, I'm sure you want to know why I wanted to talk to you?"
"Was it related to magic?" I asked.
"Yes. I've managed to figure out some simple strengthening magic, and now I suppose I know some healing spells." He frowned. "Saying this out loud feels like I'm playing some kind of RPG, but I guess that's life now."
I laughed. "Tell me about it, my Quirk is literally video game logic." I thought for a bit. "Aside from elemental magic, I do have a few spells I could give you." I took out another leaf and turned it into a scroll.
"Showoff," he said as he placed it on his desk.
I shrugged. "Juniper, my new bio elemental, can make scrolls really fast."
"I guess that makes sense."
"This scroll has some non-elemental spells you might find useful. Next, do you mind if I use Observe on you?"
"Didn't you say you couldn't use that on me?"
"I can now because I leveled up enough."
He nodded. "Well then do it."
"Observe," I said. Oddly enough, he had ten fire affinity. "Did your father have a fire Quirk?" I asked.
"That's literally the only thing I knew about the bastard, why?"
I blinked. I was not expecting that. It was also kind of a coincidence, considering my father... "Well, you... have some fire affinity..."
"I see."
I made another scroll. "These are some fire spells. Speaking of your parents, what's your mother's Quirk? That might open up another elemental affinity for you."
"My mother's Quirk was Graviteyes. It let her erase gravity from an object by looking at it. I don't know where the Quirk-erasing part of my Quirk comes from, but I at least know that my mother's Quirk was the reason my hair floats when I use mine." His mom's Quirk reminded me of Uraraka's, actually...
"Are you related to Uraraka?" I asked.
He blinked. "How did you know?"
"Yesterday she said something about a cousin Shōta who lives around here. You just said your mother had a gravity-nullifying Quirk, like hers, and I just heard you talking to your aunt about a situation that sounded a lot like Uraraka's." And then I pointed at what looked like a family portrait. "And in hindsight, that little girl in the picture looks a lot like a young Uraraka."
"Yeah." He sighed. "She doesn't recognize me, though... I'm kind of a bad cousin."
"Well, I can't tell you much about gravity magic that you probably wouldn't be able to guess on your own because I don't have it yet, but Uraraka could." I smiled." And at the same time, I'm sure she'd love combat lessons from her cousin, especially with the upcoming sports festival. She wants to do good so she can help support her family."
He grinned. Then he started laughing. "You're good, problem child. I'll talk to her."
I nodded. "Then for the moment, let's start you off on fire. Make a ball of mana, then concentrate on merging it with fire."
He made the ball of mana and closed his eyes. After a few moments of concentration, the mana ball became a fireball. "There. What next?"
His level jumped up by one just from using fire magic for the first time. I'd noticed first with my classmates; it seemed like levels worked differently for people who weren't me. "That's a basic fire spell right there. Just play around with that and other spells and you should be good." I made another scroll and put it on the growing pile of scrolls on his desk. "Aside from that, you might want to consider contracting elementals. They have trouble translating their magic to something we can learn sometimes, but they do help a lot."
He stared at his fire. "Thank you, Midoriya. Your help has been invaluable." His level wavered for a moment. "This fire... No, this magic, I feel like I should be able to..." The fire changed colors to indigo and black as it roared to new heights for a moment before he got a hold of it again. Aizawa's level started scrolling up and up until it reached eighty-six, where it turned back into question marks. The heat from the fire felt... deeper than normal fire.
"That's... not normal fire," I said.
"Obviously."
"No, but even in terms of magical fire, your level increased enough that I can't see it anymore. Sure, you were apparently only seven levels from it before, but... to level up seven times at least from simply gaining the ability to use some kind of magic and not mastering it..."
He closed his hand, snuffing out that arcane fire. "So are you saying I got stronger by simply using this blue fire?"
I shook my head. "Not exactly. You might have, but it's more likely that it's just symbolic of how bad of an idea it would be to fight you. Levels seem to work that way for other people. But still, to gain so many levels at your level... The one thing I know for sure is that if you learn how to properly use whatever magic you just did, you probably won't have to worry about becoming more powerful anymore."
He stared at his hand. "Is that so? Thank you, Midoriya."
"Now could you please talk to Recovery Girl when you're done with work for the day."
He snorted. "Fine, problem child."
xoxoxo
Class was over for the day, so Uraraka opened the door to leave. She stopped, though, because there was a crowd of students in front of the doorway. "Why are you all here?" she asked.
"Do you need us for something?" I asked.
"They're scouting the competition," Kacchan said as he walked up to them. "Checking out the class that fought a bunch of villains and won, right?"
"So this is class 1-A," a voice from the back said. A very tired-looking boy with purple hair wilder than mine stepped forward.
Drowse
LV 11
Shinsou Hitoshi
He sneered. "You know, I wanted to be in the hero course, but my Quirk wasn't suited to the entrance exams. Did you know that if someone from gen ed does well enough in the sports festival, they can get transferred to the hero course? In other words, I've come here as a declaration of war. I'll be gunning for one of your spots in the sports festival."
"Oh hey," I said. "We actually had someone drop out after... well... you know, so you might get in if you try hard enough!"
He sighed. "Damn it, I was trying to be all cool..." He shrugged. "Well, I guess that's ruined. Just know that I'm hoping to become one of your class..."
"Good luck!" Uraraka said.
"Yeah, yeah..." He waved as he walked away.
"So! You guys're class 1-A, huh!?" someone else shouted.
Kicking Your Can All Over the Place
LV 26
Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu
He had silver hair and... I think that was fur around his eyes? "You guys were the ones who were in that villain attack, weren't you!?"
Kacchan glared at him. "What of it?"
"I'm from class 1-B, and I'm here to check out the competition!"
"You are class 1-A!" a third person shouted, a blonde this time.
Copycat
LV 22
Monoma Neito
He sneered at us. "How arrogant. First you hoard all the magic to yourself, then you hoard all the media attention to yourself."
"Okay what the fuck was that last bit?" Kacchan asked.
He gave an arrogant pose. I'm pretty sure he copied that from a JoJo villain. "Of course, you jerks of class 1-A just so happened to gain the attention of the media within the first month of class. How arrogant."
An audible snap could be heard, followed by an oppressive, sweltering heat filling the room. An aura of fire surrounded Kacchan. "What. The fuck. Are you talking about?" He ground his teeth together. He looked like he was about to explode in more ways than one.
"You know what, fuck you all. I'd have told you all how to do some magic. It's only fucking fair. But if this is how you fucking react to a fucking class getting attacked by fucking villains, then fuck you. People almost fucking died, I don't think fucking anyone in the class would've actually asked for a fucking villain attack, and here you jackasses are throwing yourselves a fucking pity party over how you didn't get your five seconds of fame! Fuck off!" He vanished. With a low application of Space Invader, I was able to tell that the Illusion Barrier he made was filled with fire and he'd already left. Most of the crowd softened a bit after having been told off.
"Okay, you might have gone a bit too far there, Monoma..." Tetsutetsu said. Monoma harrumphed.
"If you guys wanted to learn magic, you could've asked," I said.
"Aren't you worried about your friend?" Monoma sneered.
"His temper can be a little explosive at times, as you just saw. It's best to give him a few minutes of alone time to cool down first. Now, just a quick show of hands, who wants to learn some basic magic." I counted the hands raised, then made a sheet of paper for each. "These are some basic nonelemental tricks and how to use affinity if you think you might have it. It might be a bad idea to disseminate some of the more advanced tricks to people without knowing how well they can be trusted with them, but at the very least this is more than enough to, if you're good enough, figure out something good." I placed the papers on a nearby desk. "Now I should probably go talk to him." I entered Kacchan's still-active Illusion Barrier.
xoxoxo
"Hey, Kacchan," I said quietly, and sat down next to him. I could guess from the ruined and smoldering building we were sitting in, but... "How are you feeling?"
He sighed. "I fucking exploded again. It keeps on happening." He played around with a tiny, candle-sized flame, changing its shape and color. It didn't do anything like Aizawa-sensei's fire, though. I guess it was special or something. I'd have to ask him about it later.
I shrugged. "Well you did get angry because someone called the class arrogant for getting attacked by villains, which is probably among the better reasons to get angry. And you did manage to blow up in here, where you can blow off steam without damaging anything in the real world. Probably a lot better than getting into a fight or something..."
He chuckled. "What the fuck did I do to deserve a friend like you?"
"Absolutely nothing."
This made him laugh even more. After a while, he said, "I'm probably going to take up Hound Dog's offer."
"Cool," I said. "I'm going to try to find that one Shinsou guy who walked off and see if he wants to learn magic. He might be fun to have in class."
xoxoxo
Uraraka walked into the teachers' lounge with Tsu. "Heeeey, little listeners!" Mic-sensei said when he noticed them. "What brings you here?"
"Aizawa-sensei asked to talk to me when class finished?" Uraraka said.
"Oh, is Shōta finally talking to her?" Midnight-sensei butted in.
"Wait, what?" Uraraka said.
"I knew it," Tsu said, looking at something. Uraraka followed her gaze to Aizawa-sensei's desk, where she saw a family portrait. The same family portrait that was hanging on her family's wall, one of the few photos they had with both her and her cousin... Shōta...
"Oh..." Uraraka said. Then it hit her. "WHAT!?" she shouted, then felt her face heat up a bit. She slapped her hands to her face. "How did I never notice that!? I even knew his Quirk!"
Tsu patted her on the back. "It's okay, Ochako-chan. Nobody wants to believe that their cousin is a scruffy, grumpy hobo..."
The door to the teachers' lounge closed, and Uraraka turned to see Aiza- cousin Shōta. "If I knew I was going to come back to my cousin's girlfriend calling me a scruffy, grumpy hobo, I'd have listened to more of Shuzenji-san's rant..."
Uraraka felt her face heating up, and Tsu quickly removed her arm from her back. "Ribbit," she whimpered, her face bright red.
"Ah, i-it's not like that," Uraraka said a little too quickly. "I-I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to... but she and I aren't..." She stopped when she heard Mic-sensei and Midnight-sensei laughing.
"That was a joke," Shōta grinned. Then his face fell. "Sorry for not visiting ever... I don't really have an excuse."
Uraraka shook her head. "No, it's okay. So uh, what did you need me for, or was that what you wanted to talk about?"
"No, I was actually going to talk about magic, though I was hoping to bring that up if I saw the opportunity. Did Midoriya tell you elemental affinity can be inherited?"
She nodded. "Yeah, I got something called particle affinity from Dad. I'm guessing you want tips on gravity?"
"Yeah. I'll help you with fighting, too. I have it on good authority that you want to make a splash in the sports festival."
Uraraka smiled. "Sounds great."
"If you don't mind, I'd also like some tips," Tsu said.
Chapter 17
In the weeks leading up to the sports festival, we saw a surprising amount of magical advancements in the world. Supernatural healing, which was once considered rare and often involved some sort of caveat that meant it couldn't be used freely, turned into a matter of training, skill, and mana, even if it was weaker. I actually did some volunteer work helping some local hospitals out with the spells, as well as the regular medical help I needed to do for Shuzenji-sensei's healing course.
While only lightning mana could be directly converted into electricity, special generators were built to use other kinds of mana as fuel, meaning more people could work at power plants and more clean energy. There was probably also research being done to use mana as it was. More water-users meant improved water services. Construction businesses flourished with earth mages. Apparently Uraraka's parents in particular gained some profit because she was able to use her elementals to get her parents a few interesting spells in their elements. She and Aizawa were really happy about that, actually.
Conservation only benefited from a new wave of bio-elementalists and other kinds of magic-users. In fact, I heard there was a group that was in the process of getting permits to use magic to deal with the trash in the sea and on the beaches better. Not to mention, even unaspected magic was incredibly useful in agriculture, so farms were able to produce more crops. I even heard about some experiments in infusing plants with magic, which sounded interesting.
While there was, unfortunately, a bit of a rise in villain attacks with the advent of magic, pro heroes were better able to combat it with the fact that hero agencies had more or less turned into modern-day mage guilds. I'm sure there was someone out there biding their time until they learned how to cast Ultima or Raise Greater Undead, but at the same time pro heroes were organized, well-funded, and now produced their own spells, so they could handle it. I even saw on the news that the Wild, Wild Pussycats now had a series of cat-themed spells.
There were still some limitations on dissemination of magical knowledge to the general public, but a few weak spells were made available to everyone. With the buzz about magic, I heard there were talks about reducing Quirk- and magic-usage laws, which was exciting. I mean, I may or may not have been using my magic in public a bit already, but it'd be nice to be a bit less sneaky about it...
xoxoxo
"Poor thing," I said as I looked at the small, gold-furred cat that Juniper alerted me was in a nearby alley. She was missing part of her right foreleg, and the stump was bleeding. She had a few more scrapes, and her fur was dirty. She gave me a weak meow. I'd always liked cats, so I felt a pang in my heart to see one so hurt. "What happened to you?
Stray Cat
LV 6
Kitten
I reached my hand out to her, but she shied away. I concentrated, trying to use Magycked Words to put my intention into what I was about to say. "I want to help," I murmured in a soothing tone, then closed a popup for a new skill, Animal Whisperer. She looked a little bit calmer now. "Good, now just hold... still..." I slowly reached my hand out to her, whispering affirmations to her. She let me touch her, and I activated Healing Hands. "That's a good girl. I'm healing you now."
Unfortunately Healing Hands couldn't do much for her missing limb, but at least it wasn't bleeding anymore. After her wounds were dealt with, I gave her a quick rinse to clean her off, making sure to dry her off completely before she could get cold. Oddly enough, though, her temperature didn't drop at all from the water. She purred at me, now doing much better. She didn't have a collar, but... "Does she have a chip on her, Raimon?" I asked.
"I don't... think so?" he said. "I can't find anything like that on her."
I grinned. "Then I guess you're coming with me, girl." I picked her up. "A cat with golden fur... I think I have the purrfect name for you." She purred, and her fur... glowed. She got really warm. "Okay nevermind Yang it is," I said.
Stray Cat
LV 6
Yang
A cat with a Quirk... I'd heard of people having pets with Quirks before but I wasn't entirely sure what the rules were. I assumed I'd have to register her, though.
"Don't you still have school today?" Claude asked.
I bolted up. "Crap! School!" I looked at the time. Kacchan was probably looking for me. I looked around for a place to put Yang, then had an idea.
xoxoxo
"The hell were you taking so long?" Kacchan asked me when I ran up to him.
"I, uhhh... had a magic thing?" I said, then rubbed the back of my head.
Wait crud that's was the wrong hand! I quickly lowered my arm, but not before a meow escaped from my sleeve...
"Why the fuck did I just hear a cat?" Kacchan asked.
"Oh I don't know, maybe there's a cat nearby?" Kacchan looked around, then focused on my sleeve. I acted totally natural, nothing up my sleeves at all! For a second I felt like he would buy it.
He didn't buy it.
"Oi Deku, what's up your sleeve?" He grabbed my hand a bit more forcefully than I'd have liked, causing it to fall out of my sleeve. "...What the actual fuck," he said after a few moments of holding my disembodied right hand.
"Stupid Rayman limbs..." I muttered.
"Meow," Yang said as she poked her head out of my sleeve. To be honest I wasn't entirely sure how my sleeve was staying in proper shape considering most of my forearm was made out of air, but it was. Somehow.
"Did... Is your arm a cat now?" He looked between my still very much real hand and the cat's head coming from my sleeve. "You know what, I'm going to hold your hand hostage until you fucking explain."
"Not my hand!" I shouted. "I need that to not get arrested." I started trying to fly my hand out of Kacchan's grasp. Because my hand was attached to a body part I'd turned to air, it could fly. Somehow. It wasn't strong enough to escape Kacchan, though. Actually, I wondered how much of my body I had to turn into air before the rest would fly. I'd have to test that later...
"Stop muttering and answer the damn question."
"I wasn't just going to leave Yang there! She lost a leg."
Kacchan facepalmed, letting go of my hand. It floated back to Yang, and I scratched her chin with it before nudging her back so I could put my hand back in place. She was taking Air Embodiment surprisingly well. I was actually a little worried she'd activate her Quirk... "You named her already. In hindsight, though, I'm more surprised you haven't done something like this already. Actually, is it okay that the cat's breathing your arm?" He stopped walking and just rubbed his temples. "Hang... hang on, I just need a fucking moment to process how fucking absurd that last sentence was."
"I've confirmed that it's perfectly safe for both me and whatever's breathing me. Same for other elements. And I'm sure someone's said something like that before."
He started walking again. "Right. Your life is fucking weird. Not gonna give myself a headache. So how long can you do that?"
"Partial Embodiment is a lot less taxing than Full Embodiment, so it's just slightly more than what Mantra gives me back. In fact, if I get another point of INT, then it might just break even. If I use Meditate every so often, I'll be able to keep this up until we get home. Assuming we don't have practicals in Hero Studies today."
He shrugged. "Fuck it, good for you. Now we should probably hurry as fast as we can without you jostling the cat. We're already a little late."
xoxoxo
I was walking in the hallway on my own when I heard a meow. I froze and so did Aizawa-sensei, who was walking past me. I silently pleaded with Sonia to help. She gave me a grin. A grin I could almost describe as like the Cheshire Cat's...
"Meow," she said. Audibly. Even with Gamer's Mind, I could feel my heart pounding. I tried not to let it show on my face. I tensed up, though, when Yang meowed again. Though I noticed that Aizawa also grimaced. Yang pushed my hand out of the way, but at the same time a black cat with golden eyes poked her head out of Aizawa-sensei's capture weapon.
Alley Cat
LV 4
Blake
I nodded at him.
He nodded at me.
Yang and Blake meowed at each other.
I offered Aizawa-sensei my right arm in an invitation to pet Yang. He gratefully did so, then pointed to Blake. I used my floating right hand to pet her.
We nodded to each other, then gently nudged our cats back into their hiding spots and walked away. I had to Meditate in the bathroom for a bit because the stress of the moment deactivated Mantra, though.
We never talked about our encounter, though we did trade a few cat puns later in the day. I'm not an expert, but I think that makes us brothers.
xoxoxo
"Hey mom?" I said as I opened the door. "I have something I'd like to ask you about..."
"What is it, sweetie?"
I brought Yang out from behind my back. "Her name is Yang."
Mom sighed. "Honey, you know a cat is a big responsibility..."
"I promise I'll take good care of her!" I promised.
She frowned, then nodded after a moment of thought. "Alright, you can keep her."
"Thank you!" I shouted. "Oh, uh... By the way, she has a Quirk..."
"Izuku..."
xoxoxo
As it turned out, the Japanese government is very approving of Quirky animals being pets with responsible owners, though there was some red tape surrounding it. It made sense that they wouldn't want animals who had no concept of Quirk usage laws just roaming the streets... First I had to get her registered and fitted with a special chip that could withstand a lot more heat than normal chips thanks to her fire-based Quirk. Then we had to go to specialized classes for us to be able to deal with her if she activated her Quirk. I also got a good prosthetic for her with some of the money I got for various prizes related to discovering magic.
Thanks to Animal Whisperer I gained an increased understanding of all animals. After a few talks with Yang, I could pretty much speak cat, which was neat. I was hoping to get a familiar skill, though. Even if I never used Yang like a proper familiar, a familiar skill might give me access to her Quirk, I Burn, which would be nice.
For my preparation for the sports festival, I decided to focus mainly on DEX and INT. Because I was more or less indestructible due to Damage Reduction and Elemental Embodiment, I didn't need to worry about VIT at all. Because of that, I decided to focus on my original idea I'd had before Roaring Muscles to train my DEX, though with INT training as well to power up my magic. It was close, but a few days before the sports festival I got both above one hundred.
DEX gave me three skills, Light Step, Flash Step, and Weird Flex. Light Step was the next version of Fleet Foot and Flash Step was, well, a Flash Step. I could use MP to cross a few meters in the blink of an eye. Weird Flex... had a fitting name. It seemed to just make me disturbingly flexible. The flavor text implied that it was what made contortionists contortionists, and I couldn't really disagree with that. It seemed like it'd be useful, though, because it was a passive that didn't use MP.
Raising INT gave me Mana Talent, Eye for Magic, and Open Mind. Mana Talent, like Light Step, was a better Mana Affinity. Eye for Magic, which I got because I had an eye-enhancing spell, was a spell that allowed me to "see" magic, which was absurdly useful. I could probably copy spells just by looking at them, for one. It gave me really bad eye strain, though. Open Mind was also a potentially useful spell. The flavor text said it was mind magic, which was useful in and of itself because it gave me a base for mind magic, and it allowed me to hear other people's thoughts. When I used it, I was able to hear the internal monologues of everyone in the spell's radius, and could hone in on one person in particular. I wouldn't use it much because it was clearly an invasion of privacy, but I was sure I could put it to good use.
With my stats where I wanted them, I spent the rest of the time before the sports festival practicing various spells and skills. The day of the sports festival, I knew I was ready.