I'm so out of practice holy shit what the fu
Even after centuries of regulated Quirk usage, human experimentation was still illegal.
I know, if this were a story then that statement would have been quite the twist. Nobody could have seen such a daring assertion in this day and age. What was the government thinking, and whatnot.
The real twist was what I said just now? Yeah, that was a fucking lie.
Pre-quirked, the laws had been very different. The good old days, some might call it. In the 21st century, cutting people up and seeing what made them tick in an effort to improve them wasn't just unethical, it was unnecessary. At that point, medical science had advanced enough in the prior years to make the insane doctor shtick more of a hobby than a career.
If we're talking about the 24th century, on the other hand? Generations after some woman shat out a bioluminescent baby and changed the entire course of history? You'd better believe tax money is going towards carving members of the populace up like a thanksgiving turkey.
It wasn't something that was talked about in general circles, which wasn't a surprise in the least to find out, but it was something that certainly happened. There were rules, and regulations, and so much legal bluster that I'd need a college degree to even care about half of it, but the fact of the matter was that research into biology had gotten a bit too enthusiastic for comfort and not only did people know about it, they were fine with it.
The sensibilities of a new society were scary, to say the least.
But Mineta, you're probably thinking to yourself, how did you come across information like this? You're no scientist, and you barely ever leave the house, so it's not likely you found this out by talking to people!
First off, rude. Second, correct, but still rude. Third, it really is the funniest thing. Despite this information being open to the public, I'd found out about it from the man who spoke to me the least.
I'd never made it a secret in the past how little Katsushika played a part in my life. Sure, he'd played a part in bringing me into this world, but that was honestly all I'd thought we had in common. Turns out, just like I'd come across a sudden interest in genetic alterations when I realised I didn't want to grow up to be a goblin that cucked himself regularly, so too did Katsushika see the light in such an activity.
Considering the little I could remember of my mother, the inevitable cucking was probably hereditary too, but hopefully I'd managed to erase that part of the DNA with the rest.
The idiot, once again, had forgotten to turn off his computer or lock his study door. The only difference that happened today was that I'd been left alone in the house (due to a late babysitter), and finally had the chance to sneak in and get some answers.
Considering the fact that it was approaching my 14th birthday and I'd been looking for answers for over a decade, this felt like a momentous occasion.
And damn, was I right.
"Quirk erasure…" Katsushika was a damned fool. You knew it, I knew it, I'm fairly certain the entire neighbourhood and all the people in my middle school knew it. He'd only gotten worse over the years, sometimes outright forgetting to open doors before trying to walk through them. There was forgetting your head if it wasn't screwed on (which was distressingly common in the modern age), and then there was forgetting to cook a steak before you tried to eat it.
And despite everything, apparently that man was one of the few qualified in Japan for this kind of work.
The first thing I'd done after reading the term 'Quirk Erasure' the third time was scan all five documents I'd found for any mentions of children that could rewind time. It had been a relief when I'd come across absolutely no mention of Eri or Eri's Quirk. Katsushika may have been the kind of guy to pick his nose with his toothbrush before putting the toothpaste on (and hadn't that been a demoralising thing to witness first thing in the morning), but he wasn't malicious in his stupidity. The only person he ever seemed to go out of his way to hurt was himself.
Well, and me, if you counted the neglect.
The depressing thought that the man was so fucking dumb that he'd been conned by the Yakuza remained, even after finding the official stamps and a signature from the current Prime Minister. Even if he was ripping a child apart at the atomic level, part of me would still be worried about him.
Even so, opening and reading these files had opened my eyes to a second, even more terrifying reality.
Mineta was smart. Like, really smart. Smart enough that I was starting to get scared of my own brain, even though I'd been in possession of it for years.
Being at least a little bit bright was to be expected. I'd been a sharp kid, and some of that had carried over into my old age of about twenty the first time around. Humanity, either in spite of or because of Quirks, had also steadily been increasing in average fitness and intelligence as the decades went by. Average life expectancies had jumped ever higher, and from what little I'd cared to research, test score averages had been on the incline so much over the last fifty years that the entire education system had been revamped to smooth it out.
Mineta, on the other hand, seemed to be approaching a different level altogether.
There hadn't been anything out of the average when I'd first started reading. A few of the more complicated formulas that periodically speckled the pages had flown over my head, but a few more that I shouldn't have been able to understand flew through my comprehension without a second thought.
Well, whatever, right? Pattern recognition is a thing, congratulations on knowing how to read. Trust me, I would be the first one writing myself off before I got to the seventeenth page.
It had presented a quandary that I'd seen before in my perusal. Katsushika, with more clarity than I would have expected from him, was setting up an experiment. The Quirk Factor he'd harvested (and wasn't that just a whole topic waiting to be picked apart later) was set to react to a combination of saline and mercury. He'd been hoping, based off the results of previous tests, that it would result in the Quirk Factor being temporarily deactivated, until the oil of a pepper that only grew in the south of Brazil was introduced.
Look, I don't fucking know, ok? Quirks are weird. What I did know, almost instinctively, was that the experiment would flop and Katsushika would have about half a minute to get the fuck out of his lab before the air became unbearably toxic.
The document would go on to bemoan the fact that nobody could tell what had happened to have such an adverse effect, and I'd finally caught on to what my own brain was telling me. Ironically, it had been right in the middle of an insult.
"The temperature of the room was too high and you were using a mutant Quirk you fucking mor… wait."
That had only been the start. The further in I'd gotten, the more I began predicting how things would end. Experiments would succeed or fail, and I would get steadily better at foreseeing the results each time. Mistakes would be made, and if Katsushika and his colleagues didn't pick up on them over the course of the events, then I more often than not would.
Eventually, I'd forced myself to stop. An hour had already passed without me realising, and even with how quickly I could read, I wasn't even close to done with looking over the results of my father's research. Someone would be along soon to look after me, as they typically were on a Saturday, and the last thing I needed was to try and lie my way out of this one. I couldn't even hide who ate the chocolate mint ice cream from Aizawa on a good day, and seeing as he'd expelled his entire hero course at the beginning of the school year, he was usually the one showing up.
Cleaning up any evidence that I'd been in the study was easy enough. While my email handled the transfer of top secret government information, I unplugged the mouse and threw it back into the corner it'd been forgotten in. That was really all it would take, as my phone dinged to inform me a new message had shown up in my inbox.
For once, I wasn't jinxing myself when I said that nobody ever suspected a thing, as I closed the door behind me and left to kick Mei's ass in the latest MMO that had managed to catch our interest. The day passed normally; I gave Aizawa some chocolate mint ice cream after lunch so he didn't beat the shit out of me quite as hard while we trained, and then I tried not to dwell as Katsushika waved absently at me, grabbed the pizza I'd left out on the counter for him, and locked himself in his study.
I didn't begrudge him for it, not after all I'd read. Having my father barely acknowledge me hurt, yes, but it didn't hurt more than not understanding the final line I'd read this morning.
'What do you mean, you're running out of time?'
XxX
"Are you sure you should be showing us this?"
"You already know the answer is no, don't act like that stopped you from reading it."
"I think it's kinda cool!"
"Haa… you would."
It had been years since I'd made that declaration to Shoji, while he'd made sure I could still breathe after my first training session with Aizawa. Sure, things had changed a lot since then, now that he'd grown up a bit and come to understand that my fellow insomniac wasn't just trying to hurt me all along, but every good kid remembered to come through on the pinky promises they made.
And yeah, sharing top secret information like this was likely grounds for immediate arrest, even though we were all minors, but I had a great defense against that. It goes as follows; Ahem, shut the fuck up, narc.
The mall we were sitting in was absolutely crowded, typical for a Sunday. I hadn't gotten any sleep the night before, too busy staying up so I could read through all the files without the threat of adult supervision, and the very next morning I'd called the only other people my age that I regularly talked to out for a light breakfast and maybe some treason. My treat, of course.
Shoji agreed for breakfast. Mei hadn't wanted to leave her inventions until I mentioned the treason. I was telling myself that I was too tired to read into that, but really I was just trying not to think too hard about it. The bustling cacophony around us was doing wonders to drown out the curious thoughts, and also keep me awake. 24 hours was difficult on the mind and body no matter how used to it you were.
`"Erasing Quirks permanently…" Shoji curled three of his arms around the cup his orange juice had been served in, glancing along them with an unreadable gaze. His eyes had always been difficult to read when he was put in a tough situation, and the mask only added to the mystery of exactly what was going through his head.
Honestly, I couldn't really tell. Obviously he was thinking about the possibility, but what direction were his thoughts going? Did the idea fill him with dread? Or was he maybe thinking about there being a day where he wouldn't have to leave the house while hiding his face?
"And your dad is involved in this?" Mei's eyebrows hadn't smoothed out since she'd started reading, which meant she was actually putting some effort into thinking through what I'd shown them. The girl was a genius when it came to mechanical engineering, practically without equal even now, but that intelligence didn't extend too well to chemistry or biology.
Her test scores were proof enough of that.
"Not just involved, he's pioneering it. And some of the stuff they've already come across is pretty much groundbreaking." I flipped my phone back around, quickly scrolling through the pages until I came across the one I'd deemed the most fascinating. There wasn't much on it in terms of writing, just three diagrams stacked atop each other that were accompanied by some formulas, but even in their simplicity lay brilliance.
Spinning the phone back around, I handed it over to Mei, watching her face as a generated arm poked over her shoulder and opened an eye. Neither of their expressions lit up with any recognition, which didn't surprise me as I leaned across the table and spoke in a soft voice. The chances of us being overheard in the mid-morning rush was practically non-existent, but even in my less than stellar state I didn't want to take chances.
"Those are the structures of the different categories of Quirks." I could see the exact moment the gears turned over in Mei's head. Her Quirk activated immediately, and she began scanning the page once more, committing everything on it to memory. Shoji hadn't shown the same level of enthusiasm in his reaction, but I could see that even he understood the significance of it.
Everyone was taught as early as their second year of schooling about the different types of Quirks. Mutant, Transformative, Emitter. There were others, but they were always shuffled into one of the three columns and never really looked upon again. Everyone who made it far enough into advanced science studies, on the other hand, were taught that even though they could be divided, no true differences had ever been found on a molecular level.
It might have been true, or it might have been some hippie bullshit about how we're not all that different from each other even though we look different, but the point still stood.
"Most of the results they've had have been negatives, things aren't working for them and they can't figure out why." With some prompting, Mei relinquished my phone, which I tucked back into my pocket. The one with two zippers, which would force any would-be pickpockets to cop a feel of my ass on the way down. Hopefully, they'd either be dissuaded in their attempts or I'd feel them getting a bit too adventurous in their crimes. "But I think I've cracked the code."
"Just from this?" Shoji shot me a skeptical look. Mei, on the other hand, had the same expression that she'd been wearing when she found out that I'd helped save her mother.
"Their work is half finished, but I figured it out from that. Give me a thermometer, some water after it just boiled pasta, and a kitchen sink, and I can deactivate someone's connection with their Quirk Factor for half an hour." I very carefully did not grin maniacally at the thought while I leaned forward, but it was closer than it had any right to be. I would need some sleep soon. "That's not even the most of it though. I have scans for the different Quirk Factors in the brain. I know what tools I'd need to harvest the Quirk Factor and I've already figured out what I'd need to build them. Hell, they managed to surgically implant the Quirk Factor into another living being, and that was the easy part!"
At this point, I had to admit that Katsushika was kind of brilliant. Just a part of him, though. Maybe the part that didn't give a rat the ability to breathe fire without considering the adverse effects it would have on such an undeveloped brain. For all the scientific advancements I'd been privy to, that part had read like the script for a family oriented comedy.
"Erasing Quirks is the end goal, but what if you went the other way?" The manic grin I was holding back finally appeared, except it was on Mei's face instead of mine. Shoji just let his head fall into his hands, most likely already knowing where this was going. "Quirk Factor is in every part of the body, but a lot concentrates around the area of the Quirk and most of it is in the brain. I don't think I can give someone multiple Quirks without cutting them up," or being the number one villain in history, "but I definitely think I can modify Quirks with the right set-up."
"And what exactly are you planning on doing with that right set-up?" Shoji muttered, his voice muffled under the many layers of arms that were desperately attempting to hide him from reality.
I looked over at him, seeing that despite it all, he'd still made an ear to hear my thoughts and an eye to glare at me tiredly. Mei was practically vibrating in her seat, ideas no doubt flying through her mind at speeds comparable to mine. There was a reason we got along so well.
The grin finally, finally spread across my face, no doubt looking unhinged after I'd held it in for so long. Despite his general air of reluctance, I could tell that Shoji was returning it at least partially by the way his eyes, both on his face and his arm, crinkled up slightly.
"I am going to make my fucking hair ex-"
BOOOOOM!
Instantly, people around us were screaming, pushing at one another to get away from the plume of smoke that was suddenly and violently curling into the air. Our small table felt like a port in the storm, the crowd seamlessly curving around us and leaving everything untouched.
The smile had frozen on Mei's face. Shoji's eyes had lost their amused air, and were now staring blankly at me. My grin, once worn with pride, was starting to twitch uncontrollably at the edges.
Because as if I needed any more evidence, after all this time, that the universe was always fucking with me.
"...plode."
