Whew, got this one out. Apologizes for the month-long gap. I got caught up in watching some things, as well as irl being hectic.
I forgot to say this last chapter when I first published it, so I'll say it again: This story is now on AO3! If, for whatever reason FanFiction decides to experience issues, you can check it out there!
Slight Spoiler Warning: This chapter contains a very brief mention of a character from the New Testament novels.
That's all I wanted to say here. More on the bottom note. Now, onto the chapter!
Normal Text - Story telling
"Hey there!" - Dialogue
I like cheese - Thoughts
"I will kill that bastard!" - Whispering and/or mumbling.
("That shirt looks ugly") - Small Flashbacks and/or comments
BEEEEEEP - Sound Effect
Chapter 05 - The Experiment
"..."
The first thing Izuku noticed when he regained consciousness was the softness of his sleeping spot. It was rougher than his bed at the dorm, but softer than the couch or floor. Where was he sleeping?
He opened his eyes to an unfamiliar white ceiling. Bewildered, he shot up and whipped his head back and forth. The room he was in was definitely not anywhere at UA.
"Where am I?!" What happened last night?! Was I kidnapped? Or am I-
As his brain was thinking of the worst possibilities, his memories returned to him.
R-Right… I'm with Yomikawa in her apartment. I'm using a spare bedroom until I can find a way back home.
His mental dilemma resolved, Izuku pulled himself out of the bed. The sun was shining through the windows, seemingly haven risen not very long ago. He could have gone back to sleep, but he was not feeling very tired. That fact surprised him, considering that anyone else probably would have gotten little sleep.
Guess it showed how comfortable he was in that bed.
He picked up his new phone, which was sitting on the nightstand next to his bed and checked the time. It displayed 5:34 AM, which was much earlier than any time Izuku woke up back at UA.
It's still really early… I wonder if Yomikawa is still asleep?
He wandered out of his bedroom and into the main room, expecting it to be empty and quiet. Instead, Yomikawa was in the kitchen, cooking breakfast. She had a plain green shirt on and her hair was down. If Izuku had not just woken up, he certainly would have gotten flustered just from looking at her.
When she heard his footsteps, her head turned away from the rice cooker and towards the green haired teen. "Huh, you're up early."
"Good morning…" He ignored the comment and instead greeted the apartment owner. He walked over to the couch and sat down, sinking into it.
"Did you sleep well?" Yomikawa called from the kitchen.
"I-I guess." He had zero memory of what his dream was about, but he did not wake up that tired, so it had to have been good, right? "What's for b-breakfast?"
"Steamed Rice!"
Well, that's pretty normal for a Japanese breakfast. Guess that means Academy City doesn't have unusual foods for the general public.
The two did not say any other words to each other after that, but it was a comfortable silence. Izuku's brain was still slightly sleepy, so he simply sat on the couch doing nothing except for staring at the black tv screen in front of him.
After about ten minutes, Yomikawa called out from the kitchen. "Breakfast's ready! I'll bring the stuff over to you."
"Okay."
A minute later, the food was placed on the table in front of the couch. Izuku moved his body up and grabbed the bowl of steaming rice. He could feel the heat pouring off and hitting his face.
"Thank you for the food." With those words spoken, he picked up a pair of chopsticks and dove in.
He must have been hungrier than he expected, because it did not take Izuku very long before he reached the bottom of the bowl. He frowned slightly, which did not go unnoticed by Yomikawa, who was sitting on the other couch.
"Already done? You really enjoyed my cooking, I bet?"
Izuku's cheeks turned slightly pink. "Y-Yeah. That was good!" He could totally go for another one, but he did not want Yomikawa to force-
"Want more? I have some extras left over."
"No! I-I mean, I want to let you take it instead." It was her food, so naturally, she should be the one to eat it, right?
"It's alright, Midoriya." Yomikawa stood up and walked towards the kitchen again. "I have enough. You're a young boy, so you need to fill yourself with nutrients!"
For some reason, something felt off about the way she said that, but Izuku dismissed it. What was suspicious about nutrients anyways?
She returned shortly after with another bowl of rice. It was placed in front of the green haired teen, so he grabbed it and dug in. He ate the rice like before, although by the time he was done, he instead had a grin on his face.
"Mmm! That was better than the first bowl! Yomikawa, you're good at this!"
Yomikawa grinned back. "Of course! I'm your caretaker for the time being. If I was a terrible cook, our days wouldn't be very enjoyable and we'd have to go out all the time."
After both of them completely finished breakfast, Izuku stood up and walked back into his bedroom to change into his clothes for the day.
His new clothes were in the corner of the room, since his room lacked a closet. He walked over the corner and began searching for something good.
When he came upon the broccoli shirt, he briefly thought about wearing it, but quickly rejected it. He would have been way too embarrassed wearing that in public.
Eventually, he settled on a plain light-blue t-shirt with black shorts. They were simple and looked fairly nice for a simple day in the city. Well, hopefully a simple day.
Once he was happy with his clothes, he grabbed his backpack from the nightstand and walked back into the main room. If he had an unexpected chance to return to his own world, he'd rather not leave behind his items. Better safe than sorry!
Yomikawa was still sitting on the couch, but the bowls and chopsticks from breakfast were gone. She had changed from the clothes she was wearing into the uniform Izuku saw her wearing on the day she visited the hospital.
"Oh, Midoriya. Can you come sit over here?"
"H-Huh? Ok…"
Slightly concerned, Izuku walked over to the couch and sat down in the same place where he ate his breakfast. What did Yomikawa want to talk about?
She let out a sigh, before turning her head to look at Izuku. "We need to continue our conversation from yesterday."
G-Gah! I forgot about that!
He suddenly became very uncomfortable, but he refused to abruptly leave. It would not be fair to Yomikawa if he did that.
"I already scolded you about your actions yesterday. This is not about that." She noticed Izuku had tensed up, so she aimed to relieve his worries. "I mostly wanted to talk about what kind of training you had with your… 'Hero' stuff."
Izuku relaxed slightly. "O-Oh, ok. What did you want to know?"
And thus, Yomikawa began asking questions relating to his fighting, his power and what his opponent was like. Some of the questions were able to be answered, while others received no answer.
For example…
"What is your power exactly?"
"Eh? W-Well, It's a stockpiling ability. I can power up parts of my body or spread out my power all over it. But if I use too much power, it injures me."
"That sounds pretty concerning. Please avoid doing that, I'd rather not have to see you in a hospital again."
"I'll try…"
And…
"Do you know martial arts?"
"Um, not really? At least, I think I don't. I'm not sure if my fighting style would be classified as a form of that."
"I can figure that out for you later. I've gotten Anti-Skill training, so I've seen many different kinds of martial arts."
"Really? Thank you!"
And…
"You got any girls after you? Or boys for that matter?"
"HUH?! W-W-W-What i-is that s-supposed t-to m-m-mean?!" Izuku's face rapidly turned red as he rapidly waved his arms around.
"Gahahahaha! That reaction was golden!" Yomikawa was howling with laughter. She could not help it, his reactions were too hilarious!
When she calmed down, she apologized for laughing at Izuku. Of course, he immediately insisted that it was no big deal and that he did not mind.
It was a good thing that he already faced a fair amount of harmless teasing from his classmates, because if not, his middle school experience may have given him the wrong idea.
"Hmm, that's all I wanted to ask." Yomikawa stood up from the couch. "Thanks for answering my questions, Midoriya."
"Ah, it was no problem!" Izuku stood up as well. "You're the one letting me live here!"
"I'm glad you didn't mind! I have to get going now though, Anti-Skill is brutal with being on time." She walked over to the door and put on her shoes. "I'll still let you go out, but I'd rather not see you get into a fight again."
"I-I'll try to avoid them!"
"...Somehow, that doesn't give me much confidence. But I'll trust that you don't do anything stupid. See you later!"
After a wave, Yomikawa quickly walked out of the apartment, which left Izuku alone in the room. Silence quickly filled the place.
...What do I do now?
He could try investigating ways to return to his world, but where would he start? He did not know his way around the city, he was still uninformed about espers, and he had no one to guide him now that Yomikawa was gone.
"Guess I'll try to do more research." As he was about to sit back down on the couch though, his phone buzzed. "Huh? Yomikawa already texted me?"
Izuku pulled out his phone and flipped it open. There was a message from an unknown sender.
8:00. Go to this address. It is time to fulfill your part of the deal.
"Huh? Who is this? Did they get the wrong number?" His phone buzzed again as he said that to himself. Another message from the same number showed up.
Do not tell your caretaker yet. Nor anyone else. We will inform them when the time is right.
Do not respond to this message.
"W-What? I don't remember making any deals- Wait."
Izuku recalled that he was only allowed to live in the city in exchange for allowing scientists to experiment on him. The thought of that made his stomach twist.
If it's anything like that scary scientist from before… grk! I-I don't want to do it!
But if he did not go… they could easily kill him. Or even worse, they could kidnap him from the apartment and torture him. They somehow got his phone number, so doing that was likely just a step away. He was in a precarious position and his options were severely limited.
At least if he went, he could maintain his freedom outside of the experiment times. He could see if the experiments were truly terrible, or if they were relatively tame. The dog claimed that he would only experience "Mild Pain", but who knew what that meant.
The green haired teen looked above the text message, which displayed the time 6:47 AM. He had over an hour before he had to be there. He did not know how long it would take to get there though, so he opened up the GPS function and inputted the address he was given.
Hmm… It's in District 7. That's where I am, right? Ok, it's around the middle of the district. That's actually fairly close to here. Still, it might take me a while to walk, so maybe I should leave now. Yeah, I think that's what I need to do.
With a decision reached, Izuku picked up his backpack and a coat that he got yesterday. It may have been warm outside, but the experiment place might be cold, so he decided it would be necessary. Once he got his shoes on, he departed the apartment.
On the way to the destination, he got to experience Academy City a little more. It was becoming clearer each day that this place was for students, even though it was still early in the morning. He saw several people walking around with what looked like school uniforms, despite the fact that it was summer break.
Actually, is it summer break for them? Maybe it's different here.
Other than that though, there was not much else that Izuku did not see yesterday. He already saw the excessive amount of wind turbines and the flying news blimps, although they continued to fascinate him. Internally, he wondered how the city was able to do that so easily without having to worry about damage to them.
When he arrived at the address, the time on his phone displayed 7:55. In front of him was a normal looking building, about six or seven stories tall. It had the name "Kageyama Psychic Corp" plastered over it.
Izuku walked inside, which had a normal reception desk and a few people walking around. They looked like young adults who just got out of high school.
He walked up to the reception desk, which had a man with a suit, sunglasses and brown hair manning it. They displayed a neutral expression, not unlike government agents. Although, were the sunglasses really necessary indoors?
Right as the green haired teen walked up to the desk, the man spoke. "Welcome to the Kageyama Psychic Corporation. How may I help you?"
"Oh, I-I was told to come here. My name is Midoriya, if you need that."
"Ah, I was told about you. Please wait here for a moment." The man picked up the phone that was sitting on the reception table and dialed a number. He brought the phone to his ear and spoke. "This is security. The subject has arrived."
"..."
"Understood." He put the phone down and bowed to Izuku. "Please come with me." The man walked to the left of the desk towards one of the hallways. With no choice, the quirk user followed close behind.
They passed a few people who seemed very busy, as they carried around papers and other objects to the numerous rooms lining the hallway. Who knew what made them move in such a hurry?
It did not take them very long to reach an elevator. The man pressed the button that called for the elevator and simply stood there. Izuku stood next to him, grasping his backpack while they waited for it to arrive.
"...Um… C-Can you tell me anything about this?" the green haired teen nervously asked the man.
"Everything will be explained." As the man said that, the elevator doors opened. No one was waiting inside, so the two walked into the chamber.
The elevator doors closed behind them, which was when Izuku realized that there were no elevator buttons. Huh? How does this elevator work?
His question was quickly answered when the man stated his position. "I am security officer 4RC."
Then, to the green haired teen's shock, the elevator spoke back. "Analyzing facial structure… Analysis complete. Analyzing eye type… Analysis complete. Analyzing fingerprint… Analysis complete."
W-What?! How is this elevator able to do that without contact? So cool!
"Confirmed identity. Where do you wish to go?"
"Take us to floor 7L."
The elevator suddenly started moving, which nearly made Izuku fall over. He caught his balance before he could though. Of course, the man remained standing still without a hint of surprise.
It only took about ten seconds before the elevator slowed down to a halt. The doors opened up and the two walked out into another hallway. Unlike the previous hallway, it did not look like something out of an office building.
The floors and walls were blank white. Lights placed on the ceiling illuminated the hallway and there were numerous security cameras perched on each side. There were a few doors along the walls, but the biggest one was at the very end.
The security man and the quirk user walked down the hallway, with no words spoken between the two. The only noise that could be heard were the sounds of their footsteps. To Izuku, it was very eerie and it scared him slightly.
Before long, the duo reached the door. It was made out of metal, which gave it a look of heaviness. It looked tough to open, yet the security man was able to open it without exerting much effort.
Then again, Izuku was pretty strong at this point, so he probably could have done the same. But it still impressed him how little effort was used.
The two walked into whatever laid beyond the door. The green haired teen did not know what to expect. It could have been a lab similar to his own world, it could have been another elevator, or it could be...
...a huge dome?!
They walked into what appeared to be a viewing room. The walls, floor and ceiling were dark grey. Computers and people dressed in lab coats filled the space off to their left. To the right was a set of stairs, along with another door that lead into a separate room. And directly in front of them was a glass window that allowed them to view whatever was on the other side.
Beyond the glass window was a huge dome-like room that appeared to be mostly empty. Huge light structures illuminated the room and several cameras were placed along the walls, likely to monitor whatever was inside.
Whoa! What is this place? It seems super cool!
As Izuku's eyes wandered over the room, a sudden voice spoke out of… the ceiling? "Good. The test subject has arrived on time. Please prepare him for the experiment."
Three people in lab coats suddenly walked up to the green haired teen and bowed. "Follow us, please."
Izuku glanced at the security man, who simply nodded. He returned his eyes to the lab coats, who were walking towards the door on the right. He followed them into the new room.
The new room had blank white walls, similar to the hallway before the viewing room. Instead of computers though, there was only a huge door that seemed to lead into the dome. It looked like an extremely tough metal that could keep in or out anything.
The scientists turned to the quirk user and expressed their intentions. "Leave your belongings here. Once the experiment is completed, you may retrieve them."
"W-Wait, what am I doing exactly?" He had zero idea how this was going to go.
"That will be explained once you enter the experiment area. Now please leave your belongings here."
That did not satisfy him at all, but sadly, he had no choice. Izuku relented and took off his backpack and coat. He placed the objects along the wall furthest from the door.
Internally, he observed that the lab coated people seemed to act emotionless, similar to a robot. Then again, they only had one conversation, so maybe they just wanted to get this over with.
Once he was ready, the three adults left the room through the side door again and closed it firmly, leaving Izuku alone. Until the main one opened, there was not a lot he could really do.
Let's hope this goes well. It doesn't seem terrible so far, but who knows what will happen.
It was silent in the room, since everything was well sealed. So quiet, that it was making Izuku tired. His eyes started to feel a little heavy, his muscles weakening-
BEEEEEEEEEP
The sudden noise of an alarm startled the green haired teen out of his tiredness. He was thankful for that, because who knew what would happen if he fell asleep before the experiment began.
"MAIN DOOR D4 IS OPENING. MAIN DOOR D4 IS OPENING. MAIN DOOR D4 IS OPENING."
In front of Izuku, the large door to the dome began to slide open. The noise of the metal moving was shockingly loud compared to the silence that preceded it. He covered his ears and closed his eyes, in order to stop himself from losing his hearing.
It took a few seconds for the grinding of the metal to come to a halt. He opened his eyes to see a wide open room beyond the door. Even just viewing it from the viewing room did not do it justice.
"Subject Izuku Midoriya, step into the experimental area. We will begin shortly." The same voice from the ceiling earlier spoke again.
He obeyed and walked into the large dome. It felt like he was walking into a smaller version of the UA stadium, which was quite the feat. As he observed earlier, it was empty except for the light structures and the various cameras.
Behind him, the metal door started closing, although there was no alarm this time. The metal grinding was still loud and clear in his ears however.
When the door closed, the voice from earlier spoke up again, much louder than it was earlier.
"We will now begin experiment 001 of subject Izuku Midoriya. Before we begin, run preliminary data analysis on the subject. Subject, do not move."
Like the voice said, he became unmoving, like a statue. There was no way he was going to mess up their experiments on purpose. Unless, of course, they tried something very bad.
Sweat started to drip off his forehead, however. His nerves were not exactly cooperating with him right now.
He remained like that for about two minutes, before the voice spoke again. "Analysis is complete. No AIM field has been detected. Data has been saved to database. Experiment will now begin."
Suddenly, a door on the other side of the dome opened. Out came a small robot, similar in size to the UA health robots. It was plain white and had blue "eyes", with wheels and arms similar to a human.
"This is Academy City's most basic fighting robot. It will not move or attack back. Subject, use whatever you can to fight it."
Is this the experiment? Just fighting robots? I can do that!
He would rather avoid using his quirk, but he was not sure if he could manage that. All of his training was with One For All, so he never really got any training without it. It occurred to him that UA really should have trained more in quirkless combat.
Still, he wanted to see how well he could do without his quirk, so Izuku kept it unactivated. He ran straight at the robot and threw a punch at the head of the robot. Such a move would not have worked in a normal fight, but it was an unmoving object that would not counter him, so it was fine.
His right fist made contact with the robot's head and crushed it slightly. The robot was pushed back, its head having taken a good amount of damage. But it was not yet destroyed.
Also, his fist was not feeling very good.
"Gah!" That hurts! Note: Do not punch a robot with bare hands while quirkless!
Ok, I damaged it pretty badly though. Since I'd rather not use my quirk yet, I'll try punching it again without it! Sorry for this, right hand!
He performed the same move and was able to damage the robots head enough for it to fall to the ground and shut off. Unfortunately, his fist heavily disagreed with the decision to not use his quirk. It was swelling slightly and felt sore.
"Basic Robot Mark I has been defeated. The subject has sustained injuries to their right hand in the process, likely from the hardness of the metal. No power usage was detected."
Another door right next to the first door opened up. A robot rolled out, looking identical to the previous one. "Basic Robot Mark II will be your next target. It has the same properties as the previous, except that it will attempt to dodge your attacks. Subject, you may continue."
Izuku tried to perform the same move as before, but the robot dodged to the right. Which was not very surprising, considering how much he telegraphed the attack.
Do I try to fight it quirkless again, or do I use One For All? I really don't want them to learn more about my power, but what can I do about it?
Hmm… well, I don't want to injure my fists too much. Maybe I'll trick them by using only 5%.
The quick user brought forth One For All at 5%. He normally had no reason to use lower percentages, but this time was different. It was slightly out of character for him, but he wanted to trick them into thinking he could control less power than he actually did.
He pushed power into his legs and launched towards the robot. In less than a second, he smashed the robot's head clean off. Its dodging programming never stood a chance against the power of Izuku's quirk.
"Basic Robot Mark II has been defeated. No additional injuries have been sustained. No power usage was detected. Analyze data for further review."
Just like before, another door slid open and a new robot rolled out. "This is Basic Robot Mark III. It contains the same properties as Mark II, but it will now attempt to attack you. Subject, you may continue."
Only a few seconds after that statement, the robot was utterly destroyed. The basic level AI could not keep up with even 5% of One For All. Izuku took in a deep breath and internally congratulated himself.
"Basic Robot Mark III has been defeated. No additional injuries have been sustained. No power usage was detected. Analyze data for further review."
Unlike last time however, no new doors opened up right away. Maybe they're moving on?
"Data analysis suggests that continuing forth with the initial plan will provide less than suitable data. Moving on to phase 2."
Phase 2? What-
Before Izuku could finish that thought, a much bigger door opened to the right of him. His head met what was beyond it, causing his eyes to widen in shock.
A huge robot that was half as tall as the zero pointer from his entrance exam walked into the dome. It was pure black metal, had red "eyes" and could easily crush anything under its foot.
"This is Enforcer Type-IV Mark I. A prototype robot made by Academy City. It will attempt to fight anyone that it recognizes as a threat. We have modified the coding so that the subject is the only threat in its eyes. Subject, you may proceed."
T-This is overkill! How did we jump from that small robot to THIS?!
Out of the robot's right arm, a black gun emerged. With no warning whatsoever, the gun started firing bullets right at Izuku. If he was not already paying attention to the robot, he would have certainly been struck many times over.
He dodged to the left, but a trail of bullets followed. He continued to run, not stopping for a second. If he did, he was going to get obliterated!
He needed to beat this robot quickly before his stamina ran out. The quirk user pumped One For All into his legs like before and jumped right at the robot's head. He pulled his left arm back and performed a 5% smash.
Due to its size, he was able to easily make contact. The robot's head was dented in severely, enough for it to normally stop functioning. But once Izuku landed back on the floor, he realized it was not enough. It stumbled for a second, before it returned into its normal standing position.
That wasn't enough?! Even the typical UA robots would have stopped working after taking that much damage. It must be pretty durable…
Well, let's try again!
The quirk user once again jumped at the robot with a 5% smash. But unlike before, it was able to dodge the attack by shifting its body. Izuku zoomed right past the head.
E-Eh?! It dodged it!
Izuku was able to land without injuring himself, but it was not the prettiest landing that he could have done. He looked back at the robot, which was turning around to face the green haired teen again. The gun on its arm had stopped firing and retracted back into the arm.
Only to be replaced by a different looking gun. This one was red with white markings on it. It made him curious what that one would do.
He quickly got his answer when instead of bullets, it started firing literal lasers. It moved so quickly that Izuku would certainly have been struck, had it not missed his arm by inches. Lasers were not the most accurate projectiles yet.
The quirk user momentarily panicked and jumped backwards, out of range. He was not expecting that to happen. But he quickly calmed his mind down. He needed to focus on defeating the robot.
"It seems like it has gotten smarter, since it was able to dodge my attack. So should I attack the head? But this is an advanced robot, so what if it's not enough? Maybe I need to attack the chest area…"
Not realizing he mumbled that out loud, Izuku got himself into a fighting position. Well, no matter! I'll start with the head! If it doesn't work, then I'll think of what to do from there.
Once again, he pumped One For All into his legs and jumped right at the robot, whilst dodging the lasers. Just like before, he went for the head with his arm reared back. And, just like before, the robot dodged it.
Unlike last time however, this was planned.
Izuku had angled his jump and body so that he would gradually rotate as he flew through the air. Thus, when he whizzed by the head, his left fist was still pulled back and aimed at the back of the robot.
One For All, 5% Detroit Smash!
He pushed his arm forward into the back of the head, completely destroying it. Wires and sparks sputtered out of the broken metal, nearly electrocuting the green haired teen. The firing of the gun halted and the robot seemed to stop moving.
Similar to before, he landed on the floor behind the robot, albeit much closer than the first time. He pumped a fist in victory, glad that his quickly-thought plan worked out. I did it!
Crrkkkkkkkkkk
...Or not. Dang it!
The robot was still moving slightly, although its movements were definitely much more unusual compared to earlier. Its arms were moving erratically and it kept moving from side to side. It was not functioning as intended anymore.
But it was still functioning.
Well, shoot. Should I try punching the chest area, or should I try taking out its arms? I don't know how it's still functioning!
Hmm? It's not turning around? Oh, then I guess I can try punching the back area?
Izuku walked up to the back of the robot and reared his arm back. Just like every other time he dealt a punch, he charged it with 5% of One For All, jumped up and smashed his fist right through the robot. More sparks and wires emerged out of the open area of the robot.
He pulled his arm out of the robot and stepped backwards, out of range. If it fell, he would rather not get crushed by heaps of metal.
The robot continued to move erratically, even more so than before, when it suddenly halted all movement. Literally. It was as if it was frozen in time.
"Enforcer Type IV Mark I has suffered enough damage to render it useless for future data collection. Subject, refrain from any further damage to the prototype."
Suddenly, the floor directly below the robot began to sink below the ground. Seeing that shocked the green haired teen, because there was no indication that the floor could fall anywhere in the dome.
A few moments later, the robot was completely under the ground and… the floor covered the hole? Truly, Academy City's technology was something that could not be underestimated at all.
"Due to a lack of preparedness, further testing cannot be performed. Thus, experiment 001 will now conclude. Subject, leave the testing area through the passageway used when entering. The testers will assist you there."
Huh? That's it? It's already over? That felt very short… Well, he wasn't complaining!
Off to Izuku's left, the door he used to enter the dome was opening once again. It made the grinding metal noise from earlier, but it did not bother him as much as it did originally. The hecticness of the robot fights was probably responsible for that.
He walked into the room and noticed that his backpack and coat were, thankfully, still sitting there. The experiment was not just an excuse to steal his belongings while he fought for his life.
Well, that might be exaggerating it… They wouldn't have allowed me to die, right?
The metal door began closing as Izuku picked up the backpack and coat. He was sweating and still warm from the fights he just had, so there was no reason to wear the coat yet.
Shortly after the metal door closed, the same three lab coated people entered the room. One of them was holding a strange pointy looking device. It was white with red markings on it, the inverse of the colors on the laser gun from earlier.
Wait, was he about to get shot by more lasers?!
"Welcome back, subject. We need to use this device in order to ensure that your levels are normal. Please stand still."
Before Izuku could even protest, the person holding the device pushed it against his arm. He was prepared to step away from them, but surprisingly, the person stepped away first after only a few seconds.
"Everything appears to be normal. You are free to leave now, subject. Please allow 4RC to take you back to the surface. Thank you." Just as quickly as they arrived, they departed the room, leaving the quirk user alone.
...That was really weird. And kind of suspicious too… Hopefully I'm just overreacting.
With nothing else to do, he exited through the door that the lab coats just used. He was back in the viewing room, which looked exactly as it did earlier. Only this time, the same security man from earlier was standing right outside the door.
"Please follow me, Midoriya." He did not give the green haired teen any time to rest before he walked towards the doors they used to enter the viewing room. Since he would rather not be trapped here, Izuku followed.
That experiment… could have been worse. I only had to fight robots, even if one of them was scary. I think I can deal with this.
Meanwhile, below the ground of the dome, there were two lifeforms analyzing the remains of a robot.
One of them was a golden retriever dog, who held a cigarette in their mouth. This dog was known as Kihara Noukan. He was in charge of conducting the first experiment on Izuku Midoriya.
The other was the dog's student, Kihara Yuiitsu, a human who wore a cheap-looking suit along with a lab coat. She was one of the scientists assisting with the experiment.
The dog was walking around the robot, taking in the damage it sustained. "This is beyond what I had expected. That boy…"
"Sensei, do you know who that test subject is?" His student asked, interrupting his musings. But it was no big deal.
"I know of some details. Sadly, even I am perplexed by what happened. The data confirmed that no AIM fields were emitted by the subject."
He had predicted the boy would not emit any, but he had to show some surprise. For some reason, Crowley wished for his origins and previous information to remain secret for the time being.
It seemed out of character for the superintendent of the city, but Noukan had no problems following through with the request. It would not do it any good if his… relatives learnt about this right now.
Kazuma was already a major concern, considering that his attempts at experimentation were messy and not well thought out. To be fair though, the boy was a very interesting subject. Had Noukan witnessed the security footage himself, he may have been tempted to find the boy himself.
Of course, he would have simply asked the boy upfront, rather than kidnapping them. It would not do anyone any good if they became distrusting of the city.
The dog continued to walk around the robot and observed the damages. His eyes caught the head, which was about to fall off.
"...Romance. I can feel it."
"Sensei?"
The first experiment did not have much of a plan with it. To fulfill his curiosity, the dog placed the boy against robots, just to see a little more of his power and personality. What he saw was quite satsifactory.
The dog walked a little closer to the robotic head. "That boy holds a sense of that beautiful romance. I could feel it in the experimentation area, and I can feel it in this damage." He observed the little details on the head, like the wires jutting out of it and the occasional spark.
"Sensei, what does that head have to do with this beautiful romance?" His student asked. It was understandable, given that she had yet to grasp the true meaning of romance.
"One day, my hope is that you will be able to truly see what romance really is. But that is currently not important. For now, we must dismantle this lump of metal."
"Thank you for the help!" Izuku bowed to the security officer.
"It's only my job," the officer replied. Still, he gave a curt nod to the green haired teen.
They were back at the entrance, where the man had been working before Izuku showed up. Shockingly, only an hour had passed since the experiment had begun. It was far shorter than he had expected it to take.
He would have liked to ask some questions, but he figured that the guy had a job. He did not want to get in the way of that, so instead, he gave a goodbye wave and walked through the door leading to the outside.
Now I can see why the dog said "Mild pain". Getting struck by robots would certainly hurt, but probably not as much as… that s-scientist.
Outside, there were more people than there were earlier in the day. It made Izuku wonder what the residents of this city even did in their free time.
Of course, there were shopping malls and restaurants, but there definitely had to be more than that, right?
Hmm, maybe I can explore the city a little bit. I have nothing else to do right now, and it might give me a look at other esper abilities too!
His next course of action was quickly decided: he was going to explore the city more and find out what else it held.
And completed!
Thank you for 100 favorites (and 145 follows)! I'm glad that you guys thought the story was good enough to favorite! It makes me glad seeing that people enjoy my story.
If it's not clear already; there is no update schedule for this story at all. I go with the flow that my brain takes me, which can either be really short or really long. Hell, from March 26 to April 16, I only had about 1k words for this chapter typed up. Then I randomly got a sudden urge to write a bunch on April 17 and it just kept going until I finished this chapter yesterday.
It probably helped that I had to go back to full online for school for two weeks, eh?
Now, let's talk about this chapter.
The usual banter between Izuku and Yomikawa. I don't really have much to say there. Some of you may wonder why she would still let him go out, even after the events of last chapter, but to me, she strikes me as someone who wouldn't forbid that kind of thing, unless it keeps happening. And, since it was the first time, she let Izuku off pretty easy.
Next: The Experiment! When I first thought about how I would go with the experiment, I was thinking more of something like an actual lab room, with lab work and that kind of testing. Pretty last minute though, I completely changed course and decided to go with something different: a big fighting arena. I mean, that's basically what it is.
I think it makes for a far more entertaining chapter to read instead of a lab. Although for a first experiment, it's admittedly a bit weird to do that, since the information they have on his power was still pretty limited. To compensate, I had him fighting robots that could be scaled down or up depending on how it went for Izuku. Which, as you saw... yeah.
After that, there was a conversation between Noukan and Yuiitsu, who is another Kihara. I think I was able to keep them in character well enough (I'm not terribly confident with Yuiitsu, but she doesn't have a ton of dialogue, so it's not a big deal), but let me know if you disagree!
And then... yeah that's all I got.
Thus, it's time for the review response!
ProjectIceman - Well, shockingly, Izuku gets off pretty easy! I'm glad to hear that you thought I portrayed Kuroko fine considering the circumstances. Good thing Izuku got lucky with that timing, since if they had that conversation the night before, it could have been more stressful for our green haired broccoli man. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Kamijou Touma1 - He's naturally shy, but yeah the stuttering may have been a little excessive. It's far less pronounced in this chapter. And you can see his smartness shine here, with his move against the robot.
Kisame Hoshigaki - Yeah, I found that out after I posted the chapter. If (when) I rewrite chapter 1, I'll probably mention the "super" thing. I'm glad that you think this looks pretty good so far, so I hope you enjoyed this chapter too. That Izuku and Accelerator meeting... ooh boy.
Good to hear that my Kuroko portrayal was in character! I think you're right about the shoot first thing as well. We'll see what happens with the Judgement stuff!
craytherlay - Glad to hear that my writing seems to be improving! The LNs were pretty good, but some were obviously better than others (I mentioned that last chapter I think). Othinus is definitely one scary character, considering what she made Touma face in NT9. That was... damn. What do you mean by promotion though? I'm not sure what you're talking about with that.
patiphat1998 - If that happens, he'll be very fascinated with the process, but I also think he may be slightly disgusted by it as well.
blackberry1773 - I have plans for that, so I won't say much about it. But I think you'll like what I go with! Well, maybe. I don't know. lol.
bees be beein - Yeah, he would definitely be considered a candidate. I have plans for those two characters, so you'll definitely see their interactions soon enough! Aogami is definitely one of the funniest characters in the series, so I'm particular excited to write that.
Huh, I actually just realized that. I forgot that they're second years, not first years. You can still argue putting Izuku in that class though, considering that UA's curriculum is likely more advanced than A Certain High School's, so he would be a year ahead. I'll have to double check that though.
Yeah, no one in that city is sane at all. Other than Saten probably. Touma is saner than some, but he's definitely crazy regardless. I dunno about that comment with him wanting to be a hero in MHA world though, since all he wants to see is someone smiling. In MHA, being able to save people would do that job just fine.
Heh, I can see why you're probably shocked as to why I skipped those. Truth is, I just didn't want to read it lol. Probably NT19's fault, because I didn't really like that one very much. I did read the summary of it, so I do have a basic idea on what happens, but I'll likely try to read it sometime. I'll probably read the OT novels that S3 adapted, considering that I literally didn't know what was going on there in the anime.
Trado - Thanks for the review! I don't think I'll really do a story with Accelerator in the MHA world, partially because I'm not the biggest fan of him. I really like his character, but I don't think I could write a story about him. Sorry about that! As for other MHA characters, I currently plan to not bring any over, but that is subject to change. Right now, it's only going to focus on Izuku.
Guest (1)- Yeah, you're correct. I've already had plenty of reviews with that, so it shouldn't be an issue.
Kadzuki Kurokami - Those questions will likely be answered eventually, in the future! I'm not 100% set on how that will work yet, but I'm leaning towards (SPOILER). So, you'll see then!
TrainerRed164 - Well, good news, it's not dead! I hate leaving stories abandoned without a word on what happened. If I was to leave a story, I would at least put a note at the end explaining my reasoning. I hope that the story you create goes well!
Ships? Oohhoo, that's an interesting topic. I don't have any in mind really. Hell, I'm not sure if I will have any ships in the end, but I can say that some... developments may occur will some characters. That idea about Izuku and Saten though... that's actually a really good idea. They are totally a good fit for each other. But we will see how that ends up!
Guest (2) - Huh, you make a good point about Aleister. Still, I think he'd interfere a bit, considering Izuku's power isn't neither esper nor magic related. Hamazura, on the other hand, is just a Level 0 with no power, so I can't see why Aleister would try to interfere.
Last chapter, Izuku technically did use the internet! But it was for research on esper abilities, not on who the level 5s are, so we'll have to see how that ends up. I do think it's weird how no one recognizes the level 5s until they say who they are, so I agree with you!
And thank you for the very kind comments! Truth be told, your review (and TrainerRed's) actually gave me a big boost in motivation in writing this chapter, so I heavily appreciate it!
That's it for my review response! I have no idea when the next chapter will be, but it will likely be a bit before it comes out, thanks to school.
Before I go, did anyone catch that Mob Psycho 100 easter egg? If you did, props to you!
Final question: What's your opinion on a discord server for this story? I've been considering it for a little while now, but I'm unsure if I'll go forward with it. There's issues with moderation and all of that. Even if most of you would join it, I'm still not sure. I'd like to hear your responses to that!
With that said, I bid farewell! See you next time!