Kaede's alarm woke her up with the catchy tune of a pop song Risa recommended to her. Her first few attempts at shutting it off with her right hand ended in failure, so she switched to using her left hand. However, she forgot that she slept with her shield in her hand again, and as a result, her phone ended up getting smashed under the weight.

"I need to stop doing that," Kaede said. Breaking her phone was one thing, but fixing it meant that she had to waste one of her slots first thing in the morning. Sighing, Kaede had one of her ten slots filled—a red gem appearing on her shield in response—and left the rest of them open for later. "Alchemy!"

The single jewel on her shield shimmered. Kaede put her hands together for a second before slamming them against her broken phone. Blue lightning shot about for a brief moment, and once it faded, Kaede's phone was good as new.

With that taken care of, she crawled out of bed and got ready for another day in the life. It took as long as it normally did, though that was still rather slow; when she stepped out of her house to head for school, Risa was already waiting for her, and probably for a while.

"Fashionably late as ever, I see," Risa said. "There's a jewel on your shield, I see. The alarm clock, again?"

"Yeah. Isuzu-chan's not gonna like that," Kaede said, her shoulders falling into a bit of a slouch.

"Oh well, nine isn't that different from ten, anyway. We can still get a lot done with this."

"Yeah!" Kaede Honjo—age eleven—pumped her fist in the air in excitement. Today was going to be even better than the day before, she was sure of it.

In the seven years since she first obtained Devour, Kaede had learned a lot about how her Quirk worked. Very fortunately, the first thing she figured out were the mechanics behind the "inventory" that some of the Quirks she copied went into, which turned out to not be as inaccessible as she initially thought. The way it worked was that whenever she fell asleep for at least one hour, the Quirks installed into her shield would be taken out, and she could then manually install new Quirks into it from her entire stock. She was free to put in ten Quirks right from the start, but she could also put in fewer than that—even none at all—so she could immediately use any new Quirks she obtained during the day. The most useful part of it was that even if she didn't fill up her shield right when she woke up, she could still add Quirks to it from her inventory throughout the day until she hit ten Quirks through a combination of either old Quirks or new ones.

That was good and all, but what Kaede liked the most was the new information regarding the increase to her physical defense it provided. At some point, Kaede had discovered that the boost in defense would increase as she amassed more and more Quirks, and that was simply perfect for her. Her goal for being a Hero was to have as many Quirks as possible so no one could hurt her, and if pursuing that goal had the added effect of making her body too tough to be hurt, then it meant that all of her bases were being covered.

It truly was the greatest Quirk a person could have.

"You keep saying it's the greatest Quirk, but how is it possible that you can't stop it from breaking your phone all the time?" Risa asked as she and Kaede walked through the halls of Barosa Elementary.

"That's my fault, not my Quirk's! Don't blame Devour for my mistakes!" Kaede said.

"Okay, okay, sorry." Kaede held her shield up in front of Risa's face.

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to Devour!"

"No."

"But you hurt Devour's feelings!"

"Inanimate objects don't have feelings, Kaede."

"Tell that to Wash!"

"Again, he's not an actual washing machine." Kaede still had her doubts about that, but Risa was adamant in her opinion, and since they had arrived at the school science lab, she had no choice but to let it be. Having lunch with friends was probably more important, anyway.

"Hi, Isuzu-chan!" Kaede said as soon as she and Risa entered the room. Sitting at one of the lab tables with a large assortment of machinery and devices was a girl with long, blue hair wearing a pair of goggles on her head and a brown overcoat over her body.

"Isuzu, you in there?" Risa asked. Isuzu said nothing as she pressed her hands against some pieces of machinery, causing blue lightning to shoot out for a brief moment as they all combined into a spherical device.

"Okay, if I mapped things out right, this one should have a wider explosion radius than the last model, and the activation time should be long enough for someone to take cover in case they throw it at a bad angle. Wait, will shrapnel be a problem? The increase in power might make that a risk. Better make sure to test for that—" Kaede tapped the girl on the shoulder, putting an end to her ranting as she pulled up her goggles and turned to face her and Risa. "Oh, when did you two get here?"

"Just a second ago, but still, try to pay more attention," Risa said.

"Once again, hello, Isuzu-chan!" Kaede said.

"Hello to you two, too," Isuzu Haganeno said with a bit of a laugh. Kaede and Risa had first met Isuzu near the end of the previous year when a drone of her own design had flown into the back of Kaede's head and smashed to bits against it. Isuzu apologized for that, but any thoughts of guilt faded away once Kaede explained how she managed to avoid getting hurt in the slightest. From there, she just kept talking about her Quirk, and Isuzu immediately jumped on the chance to be friends with her, something Kaede was more than happy for.

"We brought you a sandwich. Bread was cut into triangles, just the way you like it," Risa said as Kaede pulled out the aforementioned sandwich. "You know, you shouldn't get so into your work that you forget to eat."

"I'll try to remember when I'm dead."

"Yeah, that's what'll happen." Isuzu shrugged her shoulders and took a bite.

"So Isuzu-chan, who looks good today?" Kaede asked as she pulled out two more sandwiches identical to Isuzu's, one for her, one for Risa.

"I was able to find a lot of potential targets for today," Isuzu said. She pulled out a manilla folder from her backpack and opened it to reveal a series of photographs. "There's a boy who shoots tape from his wrists, three different types of fire users—I'd suggest getting those first and combining them, since you already wasted a slot on my Quirk, then there's a girl who can split her body into multiple sections—"

"Oh, let's start with her!" Kaede said, pointing to a picture of a girl her age with green hair and a large fang. "If I had a Quirk like that, then I could just hit people with my shield without even moving! Wait, would I still get teleported right to my shield in that case?"

"That's a good point. Your Quirk and hers would make for a rather unique combination."

"Well, there's only one way to find out!" Kaede stuffed the rest of her sandwich into her mouth and headed for the door.

"Wait, at least wait for Isuzu to say what class she's in," Risa said. "You're not gonna find her just by taking a step outside!"

Kaede encountered the girl with the body-splitting Quirk after taking two steps outside the room.

Immediately upon seeing her, she touched her with her shield and gained a copy of her Quirk.

"What do I know, I guess?" Risa asked as the girl fell to the ground, exhausted. Kaede reckoned she knew a lot, if she was being honest.

After copying the Quirk she quickly learned was named Lizard Tail Splitter, Kaede left with Risa and Isuzu for their now daily routine of Quirk Hunting. Ever since she became her friend, Isuzu would use surveillance equipment of her own design to search the school for people who had potentially useful Quirks for Kaede to copy—emphasis placed on ones with defensive capabilities—and the three of them would spend their lunch break looking for the targets so Kaede could copy their Quirks. Most of the Quirks she copied at Barosa Elementary weren't much to write home about, but they became useful once she combined them into new Quirks, something Isuzu was more than happy to see. Sometimes Kaede felt that Isuzu was too obsessed with seeing what sort of combinations she could come up with, but at the same time, every new Quirk meant that her defense would get just a little bit better, so she wouldn't be one to complain.

If she could keep doing it unimpeded, she'd be invincible in no time.

"A cease and desist letter?!" were the words that came out of Isuzu's mouth one day when she and Risa were hanging out at Kaede's house.

"My parents got one from the school today. They said that I can't do anymore Quirk Hunting or I'll be expelled," Kaede said.

"Why would they do that?!"

"Mom and Dad said that the school was getting a lot of complaints from parents about someone attacking their kids and draining their energy like a vampire."

"That's completely—Wait, now that I think about it, that's sort of kind of exactly what we were doing, isn't it?" Isuzu asked. It was, and Kaede took offense to being called a vampire. It wasn't as if she was biting people to copy their Quirks. Not since confirming that that didn't work, at least.

"The letter also said that I was technically violating the laws about using Quirks in public without a license, and that was bad too. Am I a bad guy? I don't want to be a bad guy!" Kaede felt like crying, but Risa patting her on the head quickly put a stop to that.

"Feel better?" Risa asked. Kaede nodded her head. "That's good."

"This certainly puts a damper on things, though," Isuzu said. "If Kaede can't copy Quirks on school grounds anymore, it'll be all the harder for her to add to her inventory. And there were still so many people we had yet to look into. So many possible combinations that will never come to pass. What a shame!"

"Even worse, this means it'll be easier for me to get hurt!" Kaede said. "My defense won't get higher if I don't get more Quirks! I don't want a splinter, you guys!"

"At this point, I think the only things that could hurt you are far stronger than splinters."

"Like a thumbtack?!" She didn't even want to think about something so horrifying, yet Isuzu was making it happen.

"Come on, don't provoke her phobia like that, even if it is all in her head!" Risa said.

"A little contradictory, aren't you?" Isuzu asked, earning her a glare from Risa. "Okay, I'm sorry. You know I'm on Team Kaede, just like you."

"No, not just like me. No one cares more about keeping Kaede happy than me, you know!" Risa stopped patting Kaede's head and backed away from her at the same time that Isuzu started wearing a big smile on her face. Kaede didn't get what was going on with that, and if it wasn't for the thumbtack thing, she might have put a little more thought into it.

"A-Anyway, we need a new plan for Kaede to get Quirks!" Risa said.

"True, true," Isuzu said. "Obviously, we have to go outside the school for this, but Kaede-chan just using her Quirk on random people on the streets would probably stir up the same problems."

At that moment, Kaede came up with an idea.

"What if it wasn't random?" Kaede asked. "What if, instead of us going to people, people came to us because we have something they want?"

"You want to sell Devour to people like we're running a lemonade stand?" Risa asked.

"Yeah!"

"I'm all up for doing things that can earn us money, but what would be the selling point of your Quirk?" Isuzu asked.

"A really good one!" Kaede was beaming with pride as she basked in the glow of her own brilliance.

"Can you tell us what it is?" Risa asked.

"Oh, right, I forgot that part." And she did tell them.

The next day, Kaede, Risa, and Isuzu made their way to the local park to put Kaede's plan in action. Risa planted a furled up flag she made herself, and to draw people's attention, Isuzu created a megaphone using a speaker, some batteries, and a megaphone.

"Would you care to do the honors, Risa-chan?" Isuzu asked. Risa nodded her head and Isuzu handed her the megaphone.

"Who here wants a Quirk Formulation session?!" Risa shouted into the megaphone. Some people ignored her, but about a dozen or so passersby stopped to listen to what she had to say. Phase One of Kaede's plan was complete.

"Little girl, what exactly do you know about that stuff?" a man in a suit asked.

"I know plenty! Quirk Formulation refers to when a man and a woman go see a Quirk specialist to try and determine what kind of Quirk their child might have."

"It's hardly a perfect process, of course," Isuzu said. "While scientists can make semi-accurate predictions of what a child's Quirk will be, technology hasn't progressed to the point of being able to perfectly predict how two Quirks will interact with each other."

"You're not seriously saying you can do that, are you?" a woman with the lower half of a horse asked.

"You bet we are, and it's all thanks to this girl right here!" Risa said, pointing a thumb at Kaede.

"Are you some sort of child genius, little girl?" asked a man with polka dots all over his body.

"I wish, but I still know what I'm doing," Kaede said. This brought them into Phase Two of the plan: actually telling people what they were doing. "My name is Kaede Honjo, and I have a Quirk called Devour. One touch from my shield will let me copy the Quirks of you and your significant other, and after that, I can combine them to see what kind of Quirk they'll combine into. Your kid's Quirk might just be one of yours, or they might even be Quirkless, but at least we here at Maple Tree Industries can do better than your doctor!"

With her speech completed, Kaede enacted Phase Three of her plan: unfurling Risa's flag to show the name of their business written in Risa's cute glitter paint. Of all the Phases, Phase Three was her favorite.

"How many tens of thousands of yen do you pay a guy who had to go to college to just guess at this stuff? Leave it to us, and we'll only charge a thousand yen a couple!" Risa said.

"Or whatever food you might have on you. We're not too picky," Isuzu said.

"So who's first? Step right up and I'll give you a thorough examination!" Kaede said, patting her chest for emphasis. Now would be the beginning of Phase Four: people going along with the master plan.

"This is a scam, right?" one person asked.

"Even if that shield can copy Quirks, there's no way it can do something like make new Quirks out of them," another person said.

"What do a bunch of kids know about adult stuff like this, anyway? They're probably just saying random crap so they can earn money for some new All Might figmas," a third person said.

It wasn't working. Phase Four wasn't working, and Kaede didn't have a backup plan for that. It should have been foolproof, yet it was falling apart. Kaede couldn't stop herself from feeling nervous, and the looks on Risa and Isuzu's faces made it clear that they felt the same way. At the rate things were going, it would completely fail, and from that point, it would only be a matter of time before she was getting splinters.

"Just how far has society fallen that a child's earnest attempts of entrepreneurship go unappreciated?" a confident and dramatic voice cut through the crowd of naysayers. Everyone turned their heads as a pair of people made their way through the crowd. One half was a tall man holding a cane who bore a jacket sporting incredibly large collars and coattails, a purple scarf and gloves, and white hair that made its way into a fashionable mustache and beard combo. The other half was a small girl with long, red hair done up in pigtails wearing a white bow, white gloves, and a white and purple outfit that featured a variety of heart symbols.

"You wanna go along with this, man?" one person asked.

"And why shouldn't I? These children are trying to make their way in the world at such a young age, so the least we can do is reward their spirit by helping them onto the path of success!" the mustachioed man said. "Also, La Brava wants to try it out, so it's out of my hands."

"Because it's so exciting, Gentle!" the girl, La Brava, said. "Just think about it! If what they're saying is true, then we can know what kind of Quirk our future child will have! I'll love them even if they're Quirkless, but it'll still be great to know how our genes will mesh together!"

At that point, everyone in the crowd was staring at Gentle, with a few people pulling out their phones and dialing.

Am I in the middle of a Dateline-type thing? Kaede thought.

"Before anyone does anything they shouldn't do, I would like to point out that my wonderful assistant here is seventeen," Gentle said as sweat dripped down his brow. "More importantly, I have never once touched her in a sexual manner."

"It's true, he hasn't! Even though I keep trying super hard to get him in the mood," La Brava said.

"That sort of innuendo-esque statement might not be the best thing to say right now, La Brava!"

"Um, it's okay, I believe you!" Kaede said. "I don't think you're doing anything wrong, and even if you are, we're doing doctor stuff without actually being doctors, so who are we to judge, right?"

"I feel like someone should still be judging something, but probably not anyone here. You're fine with me," Risa said.

"Maple Tree Industries is a judgment-free zone, as of this moment," Isuzu said. The crowd started turning away from Gentle and La Brava and started looking at the members of Maple Tree Industries

"Thank you for your kind and helpful words, children," Gentle said with a bow. La Brava then pulled out a wrinkly thousand yen note with Gentle's face drawn over Dr. Noguchi's and handed it to Risa. "Now then, I believe we requested your services."

"Okay!" Kaede said. She stepped over to Gentle and La Brava and touched each of them with her shield to copy their Quirks. Gentle stumbled back a bit from the energy drain while La Brava somehow made herself jump up into Gentle's arms.

"Now for the main event. Elasticity plus Love equals Plastic Love!" One of the jewels on Kaede's shield vanished. The remaining one shimmered as a pink wave of light shot out from her chest that spread out for a few seconds before disappearing. When it faded away, Kaede, Risa, Isuzu, Gentle, and La Brava's bodies were all smooth and shiny, and Kaede's left arm seemed to be stretching down towards the ground.

"Whoa, the kid wasn't lying!" the man in the suit said.

"What's the new Quirk do?" asked the woman with the lower half of a horse.

"Plastic Love emits a wave of energy with a radius of about ten meters, and if someone you care about is hit by it, then their body becomes super stretchy, and that includes yourself. The more you care about someone, the stretchier they'll be and the longer the effect will last!" Kaede said.

"Oh my God, Gentle! Our baby's gonna have such an amazing Quirk!" La Brava said as she hugged Gentle.

"All in due time, La Brava," Gentle said. At that moment, the sound of police sirens filled the air. "Well, that's our cue to leave. Kaede Honjo and the rest of Maple Tree Industries, thank you ever so much for what you've shown us. If you ever find yourselves in trouble, know that this era's Wonder Man, Gentle Criminal, will be in your corner! Let us get together for a cup of tea, someday!" The ground underneath Gentle's feet went through a wave-like motion as he and La Brava were suddenly propelled into the air. Kaede stretched her head upwards to see a police car doing what it could to chase after them.

"Were those two Villains?" Isuzu asked.

"Maybe? They seem too silly to be threatening, if you ask me," Risa said.

"Hey kid, do us next! We're trying to have a baby, and we want to know what kind of Quirk they'll have!" a man said as he rushed over with his wife.

"My honey and I need to know if our baby will be a future Hero!" a woman said as she stepped over with her husband.

"I wanna know if I should stick with my boyfriend for the long haul or just dump his ass," a woman said, earning a dropped jaw from the man standing next to her. More and more people came over with similar comments, and within a matter of seconds, the crowd had more than tripled in size.

Phase Four was a rousing success.

"Okay, okay, one at a time! Seriously, don't crowd her, big numbers sometimes spook her," Risa said.

"Have your wallets out! It's first come, first serve!" Isuzu said. Both girls took advantage of Plastic Love to stretch their arms out into a barricade between Kaede and the crowd of people; Risa's armed stretched the furthest between the two, and she seemed embarrassed when Isuzu brought it up, for some reason.

Kaede didn't care, though. Her plan was back on track, and she even got a Quirk that could be used for defense. It was more or less the best she could ask for.

Maple Tree Industries quickly became a major success, or at least as major a success a business could be when the product only cost a person the price of a large coffee and a scone at Latte Larry's. Through simple word of mouth and some good social media management on Isuzu's part, everyone learned about the little girls who could tell you what Quirk your kid would have with perfect accuracy. Business would always be set up in the same park, only ever moving when some of the less lenient members of the police showed up, and they would keep at it until it either got too late in the day or Kaede had too many Quirks she didn't want to get rid of to make room for more. Regardless, she was accomplishing her mission of gathering as many Quirks as she could and making her defense as high as possible.

"And earning some money and the occasional meal while doing that isn't bad either, of course," Isuzu said as Risa counted the day's profits while she ate a corndog someone gave her.

"Especially with the new Gamesphere right around the corner," Risa said. "Kaede, you plan on spending your money on anything?"

"I don't know. I mean, charging people was your idea, so I don't really have a big need for it," Kaede said.

"Really? I was only doing this to see what kind of Quirks you could make, but I'm not turning down the profits, any time soon," Isuzu said as she ate a bag of jellybeans.

"I think I'm just happy making other people happy," Kaede said, earning a smile and a head nod from Risa. "Still, I wonder if there's a way to go a little further with it."

"Isn't it enough that we're giving them a service at a fraction of what licensed professionals charge?" Risa asked.

"Yeah, but this is only helping them in the future. I just want to know if Maple Tree Industries can do something for them in the present with all of the services it provides."

"I guess that'd be nice, but there's not really a whole lot you can do for a goal like that. Nothing I can think of, anyway. Still, if you come up with anything, Isuzu and I will be with you all the way." Isuzu nodded her head in agreement, the girl unable to give a verbal response as she ate a taco. That would be enough for Kaede at the moment, but she still wanted an opportunity to do some good in the present to present itself.

"Hey, you're the girls who do the matchmaking thing, right?" Kaede's attention was brought to a group of six people—five girls and one boy—wearing a uniform Kaede recognized as belonging to a junior high school a few train stops away.

"That's not the intended use, but yes," Risa said.

"Awesome! You totes gotta do it with me and Saito-kun!" said the girl who had long, black hair.

"No, it's gotta be Saito-kun and me!" said a girl with a short cut of brown hair.

"I'm way better for him!" said a girl with a long neck and a mouse-like face.

"H-Hey now. Let's all get along, girls," said the one boy in a sheepish tone. He had to be Saito, Kaede surmised, and he seemed to be quite the ladies man. It had to have been quite the achievement, considering that he didn't seem like all that interesting a guy, what with his bowl cut, nervous smile, and coke bottle glasses. Some people were just born lucky, she supposed.

"Saito-san, we can only do one pairing at a time, so you need to pick someone to do it with, already," Isuzu said.

"But I like them all too much to choose!" Saito said.

"Aww, you're so sweet!" said a girl with puffy blue hair and a pair of white feelers sticking out of her head. Three of the four other girls made similar comments, which led to another fight that Saito did a poor job of diffusing.

"Gross," was all Risa had to say about it.

"Okay, executive decision time!" Kaede said. "I, Kaede Honjo, will start with Saito-kun and, um, you! The one who hasn't talked at all!" Kaede pointed to a girl with messy blonde hair and bags under her eyes.

"Yay!" the girl said with a smile that showed off elongated canines.

"Himiko-chan's going first? No fair!" said the girl with the puffy blue hair. The other girls had similar comments, and Saito more or less just let it happen.

"This is so exciting, isn't it, Saito-kun?" Himiko asked with a smile. Saito barely gave a response as he handed Risa the money and Kaede used Devour to copy their Quirks.

"Huh?" Kaede asked as Himiko and Saito fell back a bit from the energy drain. "A Quirk where you have to drink blood to activate it?"

Himiko's left eyebrow twitched a little.

"You really can copy someone's Quirk! Sorry you had to start with something gross like Himiko-chan's!" the brown-haired girl said with a laugh.

"Yeah, what even is your Quirk, girl? Sure, Vlad King works with blood, too, but he doesn't have to drink it, or anything! I feel totes sorry for ya!" the long-haired girl said with a giggle.

"Yeah, I guess I drew the short end of the straw on that one. But if anyone's at fault, it's my stupid, stupid, stupid parents, right?" Himiko asked. She smiled and laughed along with the other girls, almost as if they were all in on the same joke.

It didn't feel that way to Kaede.

"Okay, so, here I go now," Kaede said. "Charm plus Transform equals Beautification!" One of the jewels on Kaede's shield vanished and another one shimmered red. Kaede pointed a finger at Risa and shot a red beam of light at her. It enveloped her body, and when it faded, Risa was a little taller with longer hair and slightly more muscle definition. "So the way Beautification works is that it lets you alter someone's appearance for a few minutes, but it can give you a bloody nose if you use it too much, and the changes are only in reference to what you find attractive."

"Oh? Is that right?" Isuzu asked.

"I'm already working out a bunch, but I guess I can grow out my hair more," Risa whispered. "I mean, neat!" The second statement was louder than the first.

"Wow, that's so cool! Himiko-chan, isn't it great that your baby might not have a Quirk as gross as yours?" asked the mouse-like girl.

"Totally!" Himiko said, her left eyebrow twitching again.

"The nosebleed is still pretty bad, but at least no one would have to actually drink blood!" the long-haired girl said with a laugh. Himiko and the rest of the girls laughed, but no one seemed to notice how Himiko's eyebrow kept twitching or how her fingernails dug a bit into her palm.

"You know, maybe it's not my place to say anything, but I don't think there's anything wrong with Himiko-san's Quirk," Kaede somehow managed to say, the statement killing the laughter in an instant.

"You don't?" Himiko asked. Her smile was no longer present, and her tone of voice sounded less chipper than before.

"Are you crazy? Did you forget about the part where she has to drink blood? There's nothing grosser than that! Right, Saito-kun?" the brown-haired girl said.

"I-I mean, it's not the most pleasant thing in the world—"

"See? Even Saito-kun thinks it's gross!"

"Is it that big a deal, though? Lots of Quirks do weird stuff, but we're supposed to accept them as just being a part of life. Why is Himiko-san's Quirk any different?"

"Because, well, because it just is, that's why! Look, we're not here to have some debate on morality, or whatever. Now it's my turn to—"

"Hey girls, I don't know if you saw it, but we passed a food truck selling those crepes we all like. Don't you think Saito-kun would want to share some with you all?" Himiko asked.

"Oh yeah, let's do that!"

"With everyone? But that's so much sugar!" Saito's protests were ignored as all the girls dragged him away from the scene. All the girls except Himiko, who said she was feeling tired and would catch up with them.

Something about the blank look on her face made Kaede feel nervous. Risa must have noticed, as she put her new tall and muscular body a little in front of her.

"Did you mean what you said? About how you don't think my Quirk is gross?" Himiko asked.

"Y-Yeah! I did! Just because you have to drink blood doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with it, after all," Kaede said. Himiko just stared at Kaede for a bit before her blank expression morphed into a toothy grin that stretched from ear to ear.

Kaede missed the blank expression.

"Exactly! So what if I have to drink blood and I like how it tastes and I like looking at things covered in tons of blood? There's nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all!"

"Well, parts of that, anyway," Isuzu said.

"No, it's all good! Kaede-chan gets it, don't you, Kaede-chan?"

"Huh? U-Um, to each their own?" Kaede prayed that was the right thing to say.

"Yes, and to hell with anyone who says different!" Himiko laughed in a way that was different from her previous laugh. It sounded heavier and with more genuine emotion, for better or for worse. "You're the only one who's said anything like this, you know. My parents, my friends, even Saito-kun all think this stuff is gross, so they make me join in their little game of laughing at it like it—like I'm something so pitiable, but it sucks! It's like, this is just how I am, so why is it so funny to you people?!"

"That does sound pretty bad," Kaede said.

"It just makes me so mad, having to play along with their stupid little script all the time! Do you ever feel that way?"

"I think we all feel that way sometimes." Kaede truly felt that way.

"And doesn't it make you want to just stab people? That's how I feel all the time, and you know what? I'm gonna do it. I'm just gonna stab everyone in the fucking throat!"

"What, no!" Kaede truly felt that way.

"No? I thought you said you understood what I was saying."

"She did, right up until whatever this is supposed to be!" Risa said. Kaede could see Isuzu moving her fingers around in her coat pocket. She couldn't figure out what she was doing, but hopefully, it related to the clear and present danger in front of them.

"I don't get it. First, you say there's nothing wrong with me hating that I can't be myself, then you say I can't stab people. Why are you contradicting yourself, Kaede-chan?" Himiko asked.

"I'm not! It's just—Shouldn't there be a middle ground between forcing yourself to be something you're not and stabbing people?" Kaede asked. It felt like a question that didn't need to be asked, yet she was doing it, anyway.

And Himiko wasn't smiling, anymore.

"Oh, so that's how it is. You get me to open up and talk about how I really feel as if it'll mean anything, but it was all just a bunch of lies. Just a bunch of patronizing drivel you wanted to spew to make yourself feel like a good girl. It's just so easy for you to spew out all these empty platitudes, isn't it?"

"I didn't mean to—" Kaede stopped talking when Himiko pulled out a knife.

"Let's see how easy it is when you have to breathe through a tube!" Himiko lunged at Kaede with her knife, but Risa wasted no time in sending a kick to her jaw that knocked her onto her back.

"Stay behind me, Kaede!" Risa said. "Isuzu, call the police!"

"Already did," Isuzu said, pulling her phone out of her coat pocket. "I thought things might go this way, so I dialed 1-1-0 and had them listen in on this. They'll be here any minute."

"Um, guys—" Kaede was cut off by Himiko screaming as she jumped off the ground and charged forward. Isuzu threw a makeshift smoke grenade, but Himiko knocked it aside and it exploded away from her. Risa ran in with a pair of quick jabs, and while the first one hit, Himiko managed to dodge the second one just in time and rush past Risa, leaving no one between her and Kaede.

"From now on, this is what happens to all the people who try to keep me down!" Himiko said as she thrusted her knife at Kaede. Kaede closed her eyes and winced as she prepared for the worst, praying that the worst wouldn't be that bad.

The worst was apparently the blade of the knife breaking off against her skin, with Kaede not feeling a thing.

"What?" Kaede asked. "Did that really happen?"

"Kaede, are you all right?!" Risa asked.

"It would seem so, surprisingly," Isuzu said. Just then, Himiko pulled out another knife and tried to stab Kaede with it, but it also shattered.

"Guys, guys! Knives don't work on me! I'm knife proof! Being knife proof is a thing, and it's what I am!" Kaede said with a smile.

"Stop ignoring me!" Himiko said, pulling out a third knife that quickly met the same date as the other two.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to. So about the stuff you said—" Himiko pulled out a fourth knife that quickly shattered.

"You better leave her alone before I—" Risa was cut off by the sound of a fifth knife breaking. "Huh."

"As I said, the police will be here soon, and Kaede-chan doesn't seem to be in danger, so we can relax, right?" Isuzu asked. After a few moments and a few more broken knives, Risa agreed and deactivated her Quirk.

"We're right here if things go pear-shaped, okay?"

"Okay!" Kaede said as another knife shattered against her face. "So Himiko-san, do you think we can—" Another knife broke against her face. "I really think we should—" Another knife broke against her face. "How many knives do you have on you?"

Himiko patted her uniform in desperation. That more or less answered the question.

"So now that we're done with that, can we—"

"Die!" Himiko jumped onto Kaede and wrapped herself around her as she started biting her head like a dog. Naturally, it had no effect on Kaede, so she just stood there while Himiko slobbered all over her face.

"If the knives didn't work, why does she think this will?" Risa asked. Isuzu shrugged her shoulders. At that point, Kaede's face was drenched in saliva, and there was only so much of that a girl could take.

"Okay, knock it off!" Kaede said. She tapped Himiko with her shield, copying her Quirk and draining her of enough energy to make her lose her grip and fall to the ground. "Himiko-san—"

"I don't want to hear it!" Himiko said. Kaede could hear police sirens in the distance. "You suck, Kaede-chan. You made me forget how things worked for a second, and now everything's ruined."

"No it's not! You didn't actually stab me or anything, so I'm sure that'll help you get off easy."

"That's not the point! Now everyone will know what I'm really like, and they're all going to hate me!" Himiko's angry screams turned into pained cries. "I didn't like having to be fake around everyone, but it was still nice to have anyone, you know? But that only worked because the Himiko they liked was a big faker. Now that's all gone and I'm not going to have anyone. Because no one's okay with the real me."

"I'm okay with it," Kaede said.

"What?" Himiko asked.

""What?"" Risa and Isuzu asked.

"I mean, I'm not a fan of all the stabbing stuff, obviously, but I wasn't lying before. It's fine to be who you want to be, not who other people want you to be. Even if these people think the real you is creepy, I'm sure that one day, you'll meet lots of people who are fine with the real you. For right now, though, you've got a friend in me!" Kaede puffed out her chest with pride, though on the inside, she honestly felt a little nervous. This was her first time giving an inspiring speech of hope, so she was worried that it would either be too cheesy or not cheesy enough.

Himiko, still crying, sat up and hugged Kaede's legs. It was safe to say that it worked.

The police arrived on the scene at about the same time that Himiko's friends finally returned. The girls just looked confused by the sight in front of them, but Saito gave an empty speech about how Himiko should have told them that something was wrong in the name of their friendship. Himiko, to the surprise of the girls, just brushed him off as annoying. Himiko was then taken away by the police, but not before thanking Kaede for accepting the real her. Kaede was happy to hear it and told Himiko that she hoped she could see her again soon.

"So they put her in an asylum?" Risa asked in the science lab a week after their encounter with Himiko.

"That's what that police officer said when he called me," Kaede said. "It sounds like they're going to help her be more comfortable with being herself in a way that, you know, doesn't involve stabbing people."

"We certainly want to avoid that," Isuzu said as she ate a sandwich Kaede brought her.

"Either way, I hope I get to see her again. I think she can be a good person if she tries, you know?" Kaede asked.

"If you say so," Risa said. "You know, I never got around to asking you, Kaede, but how'd it feel to give someone help they could use right away instead of who knows when?"

"It felt great! This is definitely what it feels like to be a real Hero, and I wanna do it again! I think. It was kind of scary, after all. Well, it'd probably be fine, I guess."

"The perks of being indestructible."

"No, the perks of having you to protect me." Risa spat out a bit of her drink. "Isuzu-chan, too." Risa seemed to recompose herself a bit after that.

"You know, it's an important life skill to know when to stop talking," Isuzu said with a smile.

"No, it isn't!" Risa said. A part of Kaede felt like she was missing something, but another part felt like it wasn't that important.

Either way, she was just happy for her halcyon days of yore.

Name: Kaede Honjo

Quirk: Devour

*Creates an indestructible shield that attaches itself to her left hand. If Kaede is ever more than a meter than a half away from her shield, either the shield will be teleported to her hand or she'll be teleported to the shield.

*Holding the shield causes Kaede's natural defense to increase and make certain attacks painless. The boost in defense increases as Kaede increases the number of Quirks she copied.

*If the shield makes contact with a Quirk user, their energy will be drained and Kaede will obtain a copy of their Quirk, along with complete knowledge of how it works. Once she has copied ten Quirks, all new Quirks are sent into an "inventory" for later use.

*When Kaede falls asleep for at least one hour, all of the Quirks in her shield are taken out and put into her inventory. Kaede is then free to install as many Quirks as she wants into her shield, and she can keep taking Quirks from her inventory over the course of the day until the first time she reaches ten Quirks.

*Copied Quirks can only be activated by saying their name out loud. In addition, Kaede can combine her Quirks into new ones. Quirks used for this are immediately erased and have to be copied again to be usable.

*Kaede's Active Quirks:

**Alchemy(Isuzu Haganeno)

**Transform(Himiko Toga)

*Quirks in Inventory:

**Long Neck(Random kid)

**Muscle Growth(Random kid)

**Glamour(Random kid)

**Earphone Jack(Random kid)

**Longevity(Kyudai Garaki)

**Bouncy Laser(Sugiko Honjo)

**Stretchy Fingers(Friend of pomeranian boy)

**Puffy Cheeks(Random kid)

**Rock Fist(Random kid)

**Hair Extension(Random kid)

**Nitro Wings

**High-Speed Portal Cutter

**Shield(Crust)

**Top Gear(Risa Shiramine)

**Burning Letters(Shy)

**Gas(Spirits)

**Restaurering(Lady Black)

**Sleeping Strike(Meng Long)

**Big Step(Rapid Rabbit/Big Sis Hayate)

**Stinger(Honey Trap/Big Sis Hani)

**Tape(Random kid)

**Triple Spark

**Lizard Tail Splitter(Random kid)

**Plastic Love

**Centaur(Random customer)

**Minotaur(Random customer)

**Leap(Pop Step)

**Slide and Glide(The Hauler)

**Earth Flow(Pixie-Bob)

**Gatling(Gunhead)

**Lip Service(Random customer)

**Book Maker(Random customer)

**Angry Umbrella(Random customer)

**Duto Dodge(Random customer)

**Beautification

**Etcetera, etcetera

*Discarded Quirks:

**Explosion(Pomeranian boy)

**Wings(Friend of pomeranian boy)

**Knives Out(Matsuda Honjo)

**Warp(Kurogiri)

**Spark(Random kid)

**Matchstick(Random kid)

**Lighter(Random kid)

**Elasticity(Gentle Criminal)

**Love(La Brava)

**Charm(Saito)

**Etcetera, etcetera

***Updates on all information pending.

Name: Isuzu Haganeno

Quirk: Alchemy

*Allows Isuzu to either repair broken machinery or combine pieces of machinery into a new device.

*To create new machinery, Isuzu must have a clear image of what she wants to create in her head and how it can be created.

*Alchemy does not work on organic beings and cannot be used to revive the dead.

**Updates on all information pending

Well this certainly took off.