Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Vongrak.
Miorine Pov. – October 17, 2xxx
"Goodbye, Father," I said, staring at the screen. Just as I expected, Father didn't even say goodbye before ending the video call. I stared directly at the phone for a few seconds before clicking my tongue wearily as I finally massaged my temple. Talking to Father always gave me a headache, even when he was a continent away.
Luckily, they were only weekly updates, and it wasn't like anything major was happening at UA. It was also lucky that Dad hadn't actually put me in charge of the Benerit Group's expansion in Japan, so I didn't have to worry about that either.
With a final sigh, I picked up the phone before putting it away, then looked around at the greenhouse that was mine. Principal Nezu had allowed me to place it inside UA, near the first-year dormitory in the administration department.
Well, after paying a fee and paying for the construction of the greenhouse out of my own pocket, which, although it was somewhat expensive, was money well spent to have a greenhouse and be able to take care of my tomatoes without having to leave campus.
It wasn't as big as I'd liked, but it was enough to satisfy me. I checked the time on my phone before standing up and starting to tend to the plants and check that they were growing properly. Half an hour must have passed before the greenhouse door opened. I glanced at Izumi, who was leaning against the doorway with a smile.
"Miorine." Izumi said with a nod as he looked around. I gestured for him to come in.
"Thank you for coming," I said to Izumi as I entered the greenhouse. "Don't touch anything." I narrowed my eyes at him. He just smiled amusedly as he raised both hands.
"So, what did I come here for? Besides, apparently, being a cute decoration among your tomatoes? " Izumi asked playfully. I glanced at him. He was cute, I'd give it to him, but I wouldn't say it out loud. His ego was already huge enough without him making it any bigger.
"We have a couple of things to talk about," I said easily while continuing to carefully inspect the tomatoes.
"No good conversation starts like this." Izumi snorted playfully before starting to move around the greenhouse. I stopped to watch them as he bent down and began touching some ripe tomatoes.
"I hope you're not enhancing my tomatoes with your quirk without my permission," I said cautiously, narrowing my eyes in his direction. Izumi just hummed as he tapped one of the tomatoes.
"Oh no, I can't do that," Izumi said easily. "I can't improve any fruit, vegetable, legume, grain, seed, herb, or anything that comes from a plant, as long as my brain still perceives it as a 'plant.'" Izumi said easily. I stopped and looked at him, confused.
"Wait, how does that work?" I asked curiously. Izumi just shrugged.
"My quirk is mostly mental. My mom's is too. It's like... a mental block or something. I can enhance anything I subconsciously consider 'food,' while my mom can enhance anything she considers 'desserts.'" Izumi hummed. I stopped and looked at him.
"And can that be changed?" I asked, genuinely curious. Izumi nodded.
"Oh yes, it's possible, but it takes time. My mother spent years re-educating herself; she had to convince herself for many years that some of the things she prepares to sell counted as 'desserts,' mainly by eating them in normal situations as if they were real desserts. After a while, weeks or months, it stops being a conscious thing. Her brain simply began to unconsciously classify them as 'desserts.'"
"Like cookies, or different kinds of bread that aren't really desserts. We had to eat cookies and bread for over a year after lunch or dinner as a child to achieve it."
"And the same goes for my quirk. And you can't imagine how broad the concept of 'food' is. Even something that's harmful to the body, if it can be consumed, is food." Izumi said playfully. I raised an eyebrow.
"But not plants. Apparently." I said dryly, and Izumi nodded.
"Not as whole 'plants'." he replied. "And that's the problem. It's mostly unconscious; plants don't go down as something edible. At least not for me." Izumi said easily. I stopped and frowned.
"Plants is a very general and very, very vague term," I pointed out, and Izumi nodded.
"And you're right. That's precisely why I can't improve it. Take lettuce. There's a small difference between lettuce, which is a plant, and lettuce, which is a ready-to-eat vegetable. The former still has the root, and for that reason alone, I can't improve it. That is, I can only improve it when something goes from being 'a plant' to being 'food' in my brain."
"Or if you want to go further, even if the root were edible just like the top part, I would need to separate both in order to improve them. And the same goes for any fruit, for example, as long as it's part of the tree or plant, it's still part of the whole. An apple is still part of the apple tree, and I definitely can't improve an apple tree."
"The same goes for live animals. Or even their carcasses. They have to be processed, or at least the meat separated, until I can actually improve them." Izumi shrugged, and I looked at him in surprise.
"That... I guess that makes sense." I said, surprised, before shrugging. There have been much more random quirks with more complicated rules. "But if you can really 'convince yourself' that something is 'food,' or not, you could basically enhance anything that way?" I asked quickly. He shrugged.
"Yes and no," Izumi said with an amused smile. "I mean, I have been able to enhance rocks. It's something that happens when I see someone with a quirk that allows them to eat or digest certain impossible objects. It's like my brain temporarily flips a switch and recalibrates that new object as 'food.'"
"But it never lasts. Sooner or later, that item goes back to the 'non-food' category." Izumi said with a smile. "I can also be easily fooled, if I think something is edible when it isn't and all that. I explored its limits a lot for years." Izumi said with a nostalgic smile.
"Tell me you didn't eat that rock." I said immediately with a grimace. Izumi smiled broadly.
"I licked it," Izumi said playfully. I snorted loudly. "Mom looked terribly confused and scared watching me lick one rock after another," he said, grinning. I sighed in relief and laughed.
"You're ridiculous." I said, shaking my head. Izumi laughed mockingly.
"I'm sure my mom didn't find it funny when she grounded me for it," Izumi said dryly. I just laughed even harder. "So, what did you want to talk about?" Izumi finally asked as he leaned carefully against one of the walls. Instead of answering, I grabbed my phone and started playing the video of Izumi singing to Eri. Izumi raised an eyebrow before coming over and watching the video next to me.
"Oh?" Izumi asked curiously. "Did someone record me?" he asked curiously.
"One of the nurses," I said immediately. "And they brought it up without permission. Don't worry, I already took care of her," I said easily. Izumi raised an amused eyebrow.
"I'm sure that sounded like something a mobster would say," Izumi said playfully. I raised an eyebrow at him.
"I'm an heir to the Benerit Group, it's almost the same thing," I said dryly, and he burst out laughing.
"Touche," he said, chuckling. "But about the video, I'm sure my job comes with public exposure, I don't see the problem." He said playfully. I shrugged.
"It was just a small fine, nothing important. If you'd actually been dressed as a hero, it wouldn't have mattered, but you were in civilian clothes, comforting a minor, a patient at that hospital who had suffered trauma. There's something called privacy and professional confidentiality, especially for a minor patient and on the part of one of the nurses. She deserved it." I scoffed. Izumi just looked at me before shrugging.
"You're the leader." Izumi said, leaving all the responsibility to me. I just strutted slightly.
"Of course," I said petulantly. "Even so, the video had already gone viral enough that it couldn't be deleted, at least not without intervention. I could bring in Grupo Benerit's legal team, but that would be too much trouble."
"Besides, I was sure you wouldn't mind, so I just made the nurse delete it and then re-uploaded it to your accounts, with Eri's face censored." I explained easily. Izumi just nodded.
"So everything was sorted out then, I guess, but I still don't understand why I'm here. I mean, you could have just texted all that," Izumi said with a hum. I raised an eyebrow at him.
"Wow, it almost seems like you don't want to spend time with me, your fiancée." I dragged out my words sarcastically. Izumi chuckled.
"On the contrary, I enjoy spending time with you," Izumi said honestly, looking intently at me. I looked at him in surprise before blushing slightly. "What I don't enjoy is talking about business," Izumi said with a glint of amusement in his eyes. I composed myself and cleared my throat.
"As I was saying, Taylor also sent us those recordings from your karaoke night, specifically of you singing." I said simply before playing one of the recordings Taylor had sent to the whole group.
As Izumi's fiancée, I was immediately added to the messaging group. It was a group where all the girls who were dating Izumi or their fiancées were, plus Izumi himself. That is to say, about 10 people, including me. Izumi, Taylor, Ruby, Azula, Darkness, Mai, Maki, Tanya, Viktorya, and me. And Jinx or Louise would possibly be added in the not-too-distant future.
So yeah, 10 people messaging each other constantly, all the time, was really overwhelming. I really didn't understand how even people who shared classes needed to send so many messages a day. Or even why, if two people needed to talk to each other privately, they did it in that group chat and not in a private chat.
The thing is, the group chat would get flooded with messages frequently, and I couldn't keep up with all the conversations. But it was also a good way to share important things.
Like that damn announcement that he's going to Jeju with Taylor. Oh, that caused all of us to gather and for the two of them to end up telling us everything that happened with Nezu.
We all ended up really angry about it. I may not be a hunter, or even know what the real danger was on Jeju Island, at least not like the other girls, but I still knew it would be terribly dangerous, especially if a monster stronger than an S-rank was created and Izumi was forced to fight it.
So yes, I was angry too. And I wasn't the only one; all the girls were, actually. Mainly at HPSC and the Hunter Association. I couldn't help but grimace in disgust; these tactics were the same ones I'd see from the higher-ups in the Benerit group.
I was no stranger to those intrigues, and I also knew that what Principal Nezu had proposed was actually one of the quickest and cleanest solutions he could achieve. But I had another option. I could pull the full weight of the Benerit Group. We might not have as much influence as one would expect outside of Europe, but when the fiancé of the group's heiress is involved in an assassination attempt? Oh, I could definitely mobilize a large number of people to dig up everything I could from both organizations.
But the last thing we needed was an international scandal. Although, if anything happened to Izumi or Taylor, I wouldn't hold back at all. And neither would the other girls. Some had already floated ideas about attacking the HPSC or the Hunter Association, though we managed to calm them down enough for the time being. Some were still upset and very worried, myself included.
But putting all that aside before it bothered me again, I went back to thinking about the videos of Izumi singing that Taylor sent there one night.
"So, I need your approval to publish, register, and market the songs," I finally said. Izumi raised an eyebrow.
"Do you want to be my manager?" Izumi asked playfully. I snorted and looked at her petulantly.
"I'm already your manager, but yes, I also want to manage your music career," I said easily. Izumi paused momentarily before looking at me curiously.
"You want more work? And here I thought you came here to escape all that," Izumi said playfully. I just sighed wearily.
"Oh, believe me, I did it, I succeeded." I said with a sigh. "But I really didn't think being free from my father's dealings and the Benerit group would be so... boring." I said with a grimace. "It's not bad, but without having to watch over myself or prepare for power games, even with the students, I suddenly find myself with a ton of free time." I sighed wearily. Izumi laughed amusedly.
"The suffering of peace, who would have thought it." Izumi said playfully, and I rolled my eyes.
"As I was saying, I need to be doing something, and while managing and maintaining your social media and everything related to your name takes up some time, the truth is, since you're not a full-time hero, I don't have much to do."
"Even after having to fix everything you upload with your ridiculous videos—and don't think I don't know that 'The Truth' video was uploaded to upset someone—I don't know who it was, but I'll find out." I said, narrowing my eyes and pointing my finger at him. He just smirked. "But like I was saying, I have a lot of free time, especially now that the internships are over and you don't have as many public appearances." I shrugged. "So yeah, I need something to do." I added.
"And you decided that dabbling in my music career was a good way to pass the time?" Izumi said playfully.
"Exactly," I said without any embarrassment. "Besides, it serves as a project for my classes," I said, shrugging. "We have to help or run some profitable business during our time at UA. Most try to make connections with hero companies or agencies, or help junior heroes establish themselves as public figures and everything that comes with it."
"But since I'm already doing that for you, it wouldn't hurt to add a music career." I said easily. Izumi hummed.
"Very well, although… I have some non-negotiable demands," Izumi finally said. I looked at him curiously. "First, no my real name or face anywhere, everything under a pseudonym without exception. I really don't want anything to do with that kind of fame," Izumi said with a grimace.
"Wow, rejecting fame?" I asked with a raised eyebrow; he shrugged.
"I'm a hero and a hunter, not an idol. I like music, yes, but not the fame and attention it brings. Besides, I don't want to take up all my time with it. I'll record the songs and you can take care of the rest." Izumi said, and I just nodded.
"Very well. It will be more difficult to start from scratch without all the followers you have available, but not impossible, especially with the quality of the songs. I'll have to spend a little on advertising, but it can be done," I said immediately. Really, what he was asking for was quite reasonable and not difficult to fulfill. We would have to be careful, especially to make sure no one tried to connect our voices, but it wouldn't be difficult. Besides, later on, if he wanted, he could easily reveal his face.
"And the second. The songs will have dedications; it won't make sense to anyone, but it's important to me," Izumi said firmly. I stopped and looked at him curiously. Then he began to explain where the songs came from, and I stopped stiffly.
That… was truly surprising and very controversial. I could understand why he wanted the dedications.
Now… could we be sued for posting a song that someone else hasn't even written yet, but might in the future? There would have to be laws regarding future-seeking quirks. I'd have to review them quickly. After going over everything, I stopped abruptly before registering one of the words he had said.
"Wait, you're telling me... that you had... hundreds of these kinds of songs... and you only uploaded those ridiculous videos?" I asked slowly and incredulously. "Are you an idiot?" I asked completely seriously, looking at Izumi. The bastard had the nerve to burst out laughing.
"You know, you're the second person to tell me exactly that." Izumi laughed amusedly.
"It's because it's stupid!" I snapped angrily, making Izumi laugh even more. I glared at him. "Fine, we'll do it your way. I'll have to check a few things, but I'll take care of everything. I don't know anything about music, or how to record it and all that, so you'll have to record it yourself," I finally told Izumi. He just nodded.
"Hmm, I could bring Jirou. She could help. Record everything and maybe sing. It would be good to have a second voice, specifically a female voice; some songs would sound better." Izumi said, and I just frowned.
"Whatever you want. They're your songs, I'll make sure to prepare some contracts for her to sign if she agrees," I finally said. Izumi nodded contentedly. "And since we're bringing people in, I might as well bring Tanya," I said with a hum. "We had a good chat about business and ideas, and she'd like to get involved," she said, shrugging. Izumi burst out laughing.
"Go for it, I'm sure Tanya will be thrilled," Izumi said playfully. "I'll let you know when it happens. We'll have to get used to it a bit, but maybe we can finish several songs a week," Izumi said easily. I nodded and started planning.
"I'll make sure to create an upload schedule. Uploading everything at once won't be cost-effective, and neither will waiting too long between uploads, especially with the number of songs you say you have. Even uploading one per week would only be about 50 songs per year; you'd have enough songs for more than a decade." I said easily, and Izumi shrugged.
"Maybe more," Izumi said brazenly. I just snorted.
"Just make sure you record them, I'll take care of the rest. I also want the contracts for all the songs created, and for the people who created the instrumental parts of those songs."
"We'll have to give them an NDA to prevent your information from being leaked when they recognize the songs they recorded themselves. I mean, if you used your real name and face to buy those songs." I hummed before looking at him. Izumi grimaced. "I figured. It'll prepare the NDAs," I said easily.
"Okay, try not to scare them, they've been helpful for years," Izumi said with a pout.
"Hmm, if you want to continue working with them so much, we could hire them long-term, so they can keep creating the instrumental parts and all that," I said easily. Izumi wrinkled his nose.
"I'll think about it. First I'll talk to Jirou, to see if she'll join, then we'll work out the rest," Izumi said, and I just nodded contentedly.
"Fine," I finally said. We both remained silent while I continued tending to my plants. "And by the way, I'm also going to manage your porn videos," I said suddenly. Izumi stopped stiffly.
"Do you know about them?" Izumi asked as a smile began to spread across his face. I snorted and glared at him.
"Of course I know about them, you shouldn't have shared the damn links in the group chat if you wanted to keep them secret." I snapped at him, he just shrugged nonchalantly.
"I wasn't trying to keep it a secret," Izumi said playfully. "At least not from you girls. I try not to keep secrets from you," Izumi said gently.
"It would be touching, if we weren't talking about you being a famous porn actor." I said dryly, and Izumi burst out laughing.
"Yes. Is there a problem with Aika?" Izumi asked playfully. I shook my head.
"Not really, actually, she's done an excellent job editing the videos and managing the accounts and earnings of those questionable sites. But it's my job to look after and manage your public image, even if it's as a porn actor, apparently." I said dryly. "So I'll hire her and put everything in writing so there won't be any problems." I added, shrugging. Izumi smiled broadly.
"Oh? 'Excellent job editing the videos'? So, you're admitting that you watched the videos? AND? What do you think of them? Did you like them? " Izumi asked with a huge, wide smile. I blushed even more as flashes of the videos came rapidly to mind.
"No comment." I groaned, embarrassed, trying to stop thinking about them.
"Oh come on, I need feedback." Izumi laughed, his eyes sparkling with amusement. "How else am I supposed to know how to improve my performance without constructive criticism?" he asked mischievously. I snorted.
"Considering Darkness is the one who ends up fainting in every video, you don't need to improve." I said dryly before stopping, realizing what I'd just said. Izumi obviously noticed too. His smile widened even more, and he grinned as if he'd caught his prey.
"Ha! So you did see them." Izumi said with that chilling smile. I could feel my face getting even hotter.
"No, I didn't see them!" I blurted out forcefully, Izumi just burst out laughing.
"Oh come on, don't lie, you saw them, you liked them!"
"No comment! And get out of my greenhouse!"
"You're not going to get rid of me before you admit that you saw them and enjoyed them, maybe even at night, you 'enjoyed' them."
"Die, Izumi!"
"And deny you your favorite porn actor? That would be a crime! "
"You're an idiot, go to hell!"
"You know, if you asked me, I could film any scene or fantasy you wanted with Darkness."
"wha- you-, gah!"
"Ha!"