POV - Emmy
The next day came far sooner than I'd expected. I'd barely woken up enough for Ms. Joke to get some takeaway food into me before making me shower before sleeping again. She even gave me some night clothes to wear so that she could wash and dry the clothes I'd arrived in, overnight.
She also let me know that she'd booked an appointment with some people who now knew of my situation. Hopefully, they'd be able to help. That wouldn't come till later in the day, though, so when she dragged me out of the realm of sleep to a quick breakfast before heading out, I was a little bit miffed.
"So, what are we doing out here?" I'd left a duplicate behind in the apartment to help clean up the leftover dishes and maybe the rest of the flat, but Ms. Joke wouldn't let me stay back as well. The duplicate had only been allowed to stay under the condition that she didn't leave the apartment.
"Well I still need to do my patrol, I gotta get paid, y'know? Leave your hood down, though. If you jump into any villain fights, you will actually get in trouble now that you're more aware of our laws." Her tone was lighthearted, even when her eyes were continually scanning around her.
"Yes, yes, but then why am I out here with you?" I whined. "I could be sleeping on that delightful couch right now." It really was a comfortable couch. I actually felt ten years younger. Which was great, because being homeless felt like it had aged me around ten years so I figured it evened out.
"Because you're an unknown entity, possibly from a different universe or reality. You've also been seen by the law to have violent tendencies. If I'm not seen to be supervising you 100% of the time, and something bad happens that's linked to you in any way, you might get labeled a vigilante, if not an outright villain."
She gave me a wry smile before going back to scanning our surroundings.
"At that point, it will be out of my hands, and I'll be forced to stay away from you in case I 'let you get away' when trying to apprehend you."
I ducked my head, cheeks reddening slightly.
"I'm not blaming you or trying to be mean, sweetheart," she softly spoke, placing a tender hand on my shoulder, "but if we are going to help you, then we just gotta be careful, yeah?"
Thankfully, 's patrol had been relatively quiet, only interrupted when she had assisted police in stopping a nearby robbery. She had made them laugh so hard they fell over and couldn't stop themselves from being arrested but that wasn't even the most exciting part. Her puns turned out to be just as bad as her jokes: "Ooh, a centipede. Get a hundred of those, and I'd have a dollarpede!"
Good thing she had a quirk that forced people to laugh her dumb puns. No comment on whether or not she did that to me.
The rest of the time, we'd spent talking about the world I had found myself in. I'd avoided talking too much of where I'd come from, only having given Ms. Joke the basics in our short time together. Ms. Joke didn't seem to mind. Chances were, I'd have to tell her and whoever else eventually. Just… Not right then.
This world, though, was fascinating. The time-period, in particular, really surprised me. As far as I knew, I'd come from the 21st century, with the last date I remember being in 2018. This world, however, was almost to the 23rd century already!
It confused me a bit that their technology wasn't much further along, but for all we knew, our worlds had very different time scales. While it might be the year 2185 here, that could just be because some guy decided to count from a couple-hundred years later than my world.
Ms. Joke did also note that technology did also slow down a bit with the advent of quirks, something that confused me when she also mentioned that the support industry for heroes was huge. So many of the items she described sounded like they would work great if tailored for public use, especially for those people with disabilities or movement impairment.
"Hey, you ever think about trying to become a hero like me?" Ms. Joke startled me out of my thoughts.
"A hero? What, run around in some weird outfit like you?" I teased.
Not that I was really opposed to the idea. My friends from back home had spent more time trying to keep me out of trouble, it was refreshing to have someone ask me to get into more of it. Stark, mother hen that he was, would probably have had a fit if he knew I was planning to put myself in danger regularly again.
"Pfft, I look awesome, don't deny it! Besides, you'd do great as both a front line hero or in support!" She appeared to get more and more excited as she worked herself up. "Your quirk is great! They don't normally let people take the national hero exam until they come of age. Still, if we send you to a hero school, you could probably get your license earlier."
"School?" I let my nose wrinkle in disgust. What kind of kid would want to go to school?
"I'm not exactly the bookish type, . Attempting to put me in a school and expect me to perform well may be asking too much."
"Hey, hey! No more 'Ms. Joke', at least in my off duty hours. We're friends now, right?"
"Fine. Fukukado."
She pouted before continuing, "Good enough, for now, I guess. Well, the way I see it, if you're staying here in Japan, you're going to have to do some learning anyway. The language, if nothing else. I won't always be around to translate for you, y'know? Then there are things like getting a job, which again would likely need you to be able to speak the language. I'm happy to put you up at my place for a bit. We might be able to get the Hero Commission to help pay for some fees, thanks to your unconventional way of arriving here. Still, any extra spending money will have to be earned by you personally."
"I can provide for myself!" I insisted. And I wasn't lying. I'd lived on the streets for years by now. Excluding the handful of times that I'd been able to stay with friends, there had been few options available. Though it had been more frequent before this mess and getting ripped away to another world.
"I know you can, sweetheart." In an attempt to soothe me, she reached a hand over to ruffle my hair.
"I would just prefer if you didn't have to fend for yourself. You might not like hearing it, but you're still underage. You shouldn't need to live on the street. I'm a hero, y'know? Stuff like kids being forced to beg or steal or sleep out in the cold doesn't sit right with me."
"Besides, if you do get to share memories with your duplication quirk, learning should be a breeze for you! I would have given a lot to cram days worth of revision into an hour. Maybe then I wouldn't have struggled so much with calculus!" She laughed.
I just sighed, "But… school?" It'd been years since I'd attended classes regularly.
"School can be fun too! You might even make some friends your own age. Plus, with a flashy quirk like yours, you'd probably become pretty popular as well once you go pro! At least try it. For me? It's the holidays at the moment, but I could try to get you enrolled where I work."
"Assuming the school lets me, they might call it a conflict of interest or something if you end up in one of my classes. Failing that, we can always try to send you to UA. I'm not a fan of the elitism there, but it'd be worth it if you can mess with Eraserhead". She looked at me, eyebrows waving up and down in goofy fashion.
I felt a few giggles pass through me (probably not as a result of Ms. Joke using her quirk), before aiming a weak glare at her. "Just before, you said that going to school would be the faster way to get a hero license. What's the 'slower way'?"
"There are a few ways," she mentioned, while offhandedly pulling me out of the way of a stranger. Oops. I probably should have been looking at where I was going. "As I said before, there's the national hero exam, which you wouldn't be able to do for a few years. Even if age wasn't an issue, I'm not sure if you'd be able to pass without some formal hero training. They're pretty strict and really put you through your paces based on dozens of possible scenarios."
Well, that one is out then.
"Interning at a hero agency for a few years is the common one, assuming you could even find one willing to take you on. Usually involves doing grunt work for the most part. Once they know what you're capable of, they allow you to help with bigger and bigger things before deciding you're ready and can sponsor you. Another option that likely won't work for you since they'd want some identification. That's assuming they would even take you on. They usually just take interns straight out of the hero schools." An apologetic look crossed her face. "We don't know what your legal status as an alien would even be here since you'll likely have no records."
I let out a small sigh. Briefly, I wondered how I'd gone from being convinced to go to classes to learn the local language, to being convinced to go down the path of a hero. Ms. Joke was smooth, I'd give her that.
I was quiet for a few blocks, paying little attention to my surroundings as she led me towards the destination of our appointment.
"You doing okay, kiddo?" Ms. Joke was looking at me, concerned.
"Yeah, Miss Fukukado, I'm doing okay. Just a bit overwhelmed is all." I tried to raise a smile, but I'm not sure how convincing it was.
"I'm not surprised, really. It'd be a lot for anyone to take in. Also, call me Emi!" Ms. Joke demanded, and I appreciated her changing the subject.
"I told you!" I protested, playing along. "It's too close to my own name!"
"Well, at least give me a nickname or something!" she said, pouting. "We're going to be friends! That means familiarity, right? Especially if you're going to be living with me from now on."
She had a point though, that just brought my mind back to the problem I was thinking about.
"Speaking of… are you sure these people are really going to be fine with me living here with you? Are you really going to be okay with me living with you? Not that I'm not grateful, but I hardly think you woke up yesterday intending to get a flatmate in the form of some teenaged girl. I'm just some kid you only just met…" My voice was getting quieter, tapering off entirely by the end.
Warm arms encircled me as I was rocked gently. My chest felt tight as I was holding back tears. I hated feeling weak in front of others, but for the second time in two days, here I was. Crying again. Brought low once again by simple human contact and kindness.
Her fingers threaded through my hair as she hummed softly. Eventually, she spoke. "I'm helping you because I want to help, Emily. I don't know for sure if they will let you stay with me forever, assuming that's even what you want, but I'm fairly confident. I told them the truth."
She gave me a small smile.
"I told them that I gained your trust and if they're worried about you being dangerous, better to be living with a hero who can keep an eye on you, eh?"
The corners of my lips tugged upwards, and I dried my eyes on the arm of my, now thankfully clean, hoodie.
"Plus, if you go down the hero route, that will make them feel even better. Let me worry about the home situation for now. No point planning for the worst yet when it might not be needed, right?"
I couldn't help but ask, "But what if I do something that makes you regret taking me in?"
This had been bothering me. People don't just trust blindly.
"I hope you won't, but I'm not going to stop trying to help you just because you might decide to betray my trust. You don't seem the type, though." Keeping one arm wrapped around me, she spun me to face back towards our destination.
"Come on, we're here anyway. Time for us to see what we can do to help you settle into this new world, eh?"
She pulled me gently with her toward a massive compound, the letters 'UA' proudly resting atop the gateway.
And waiting at the front doors was a familiar tired-looking man in a scarf.
POV - Shota Aizawa | Eraserhead
It hadn't taken long for Aizawa to organize this meeting between Nedzu and the problem child. When the rat heard about the possibility of interacting with a cross-dimensional traveler, he'd been ecstatic. He was practically jumping at the chance to bring this kid into the fold. Especially when he learned that the kid's quirk was self-duplication that let her create perfect autonomous doubles AND also keep the memories that they accumulated.
Personally, Aizawa was betting that Nedzu was just wanting a little more chaos to add to his calculations. It was one of the few reasons why he figured Nedzu went along with the suggestion of leaving the girl in Emi Fukukado's care. The alternative of just moving her into UA's student housing would have been less appealing.
"Looking good, cutie, you come here often?"
"I hate you," Aizawa replied, without missing a beat.
Aaaand there they were now. Slightly late, now that Aizawa checked the time, but Nedzu probably planned for that anyway.
"No, you don't!" Smiling, the Joke Hero pounced towards Aizawa, missing and falling to the ground as he sidestepped out of the way. He tagged her with his erasure quirk, just to make sure she wouldn't be able to get him that way either.
Undeterred, Emi Fukukado picked herself up off the ground, shrugging as she called over her shoulder. "Sweetie, don't be shy, come here and say hi to Shota Aizawa!"
The girl in question made her way forward, and Aizawa got a much better look at her.
"Eraser… head," the girl said, nodding at him. Well, she remembers his hero name, at least.
"Yo."
She just waved back, a neutral expression on her face.
The young girl looked notably better than she had a couple days prior. She was clean, for one. Her hair was no longer greasy, and her clothes far less stained. Now that it wasn't dark and she wasn't wearing the hood, he could make out her facial features. Pale blue eyes, almost gray, were set in a lightly tanned face, which in turn was framed by close-cropped, obviously self-cut, brunette hair. It looked like she'd just pulled her hair back into a ponytail and then chopped it in one fell swoop.
While it was hard to tell through the hoodie, now that he got a closer look at her, she seemed too… tiny. Even accounting for the fact that she must barely be 5"2' tall. Far skinnier than a few days lacking food before Ms. Joke found her could account for. Concern flickered through him briefly before fading away. She would be fine. She had some people looking after her now, and hopefully, she would take Nedzu's deal.
"Come on then," he called to Fukukado, letting them through the gate before heading towards the front doors at a sedated pace.
"You're a little late," he noted, "Nedzu and the others will already be waiting in his office."
"Yeah, well, we got caught up. What others?"
"Nedzu liked your idea of being able to keep watch of her by enrolling her here. He wanted to make sure to get other opinions of her." Fukukado just hummed noncommittally in response.
Glancing back at the girl, he noted with some small surprise that there were now two of them. Same red hoodies with the strange design on them and everything. One of the girls seemed lost in thought, while the other waved at him brightly. How odd that they could look so similar but act differently.
Well, if she felt safer by having an extra copy with her, it didn't bother him. Much of the teaching body of the school was going to be in the office, she wouldn't be able to do too much damage that couldn't be fixed.
As he led them through UA, letting Emi Fukukado jump from one topic to another, he wondered if the girl, Emily, would take Nedzu's deal. She seemed like a sensible kid. If you could call someone whose first instinct was to run towards villains, rather than away from them sensible. Good hero instincts, assuming they could be trained, at least. Probably a result of not needing to worry about dying if her clones took all the damage.
Likely, if she made it through the exams, she'd get put into his class. He always got the problem children. He'd have to stress the importance of collateral damage. However, from what he'd heard of the fight she'd had with Finger-Guns, she'd put most of her effort into getting the civilians to safety. He was still quietly impressed by that.
Noting the quiet conversation between the two versions of the girl behind them, he got their attention. "We're here," gesturing towards Nedzu's office where the rat and other members of staff would already be waiting. He opened the door for the girls before motioning for them to enter. It barely crossed his mind that they didn't share a common language.
One of the girls glanced curiously at him as they made their way past and into Nedzu's office. The other copy just ignored him. Such perplexing differences between two entities that should otherwise be identical.
While he was distracted, Fukukado pinched his butt, before winking at him and rushing in behind the girls.
With an annoyed huff, he followed, closing the door behind him.
POV - Emmy Duplicate | Emberly
UA was a lot bigger than I'd expected for a college. We had followed Aizawa through the massive hallways, noting that some of the doors here were absolutely huge! It wasn't so much the fact that they had doors big enough to account for people who may need it, so much as it was that they existed at all.
Once again, this society was proving to be far more accommodating to people who had different physical needs compared to most standard humans.
Ms. Joke seemed very amused by my reactions, but I couldn't help but gawk, and I knew Emmy was the same. I was reasonably sure I had seen a city district out one of the windows. Inside the UA compound itself. Just what kind of school was this?!
When we arrived at our destination, I let Emmy lead me through the door opened by Eraserhead. It was a beautiful office. Very tastefully furnished, an excellent desk, full bookshelves, and some very comfortable looking couches. One of which seemed to be occupied by a small creature in a suit drinking tea. Wait…what?
"You may be wondering, am I a mouse? A Dog? A Bear?" the white-furred… thing asked. In flawless, if lightly accented English.
I couldn't help myself. Ignoring Emmy's warning glares, I spoke up.
"Before I make an absolute ass of myself, because I really don't want to be rude, do you accept head scritches?" The words were falling out of my mouth in a rush. I felt my fingers wiggling in anticipation. Even, or maybe especially, with the scar over his eye, he looked adorable. Especially in his little suit and booties!
Emmy smacked me on the arm, and I finally caught her glaring at me. I rubbed my sore arm, though she hadn't hit me anywhere near hard enough to pop me with how much energy she had invested in me, it still hurt.
Knowing I was a duplicate gave me a certain amount of freedom that the original could never have. However, Emmy certainly enjoyed living vicariously through us. As such, I was going to take every chance I got.
"You're a person, at least as defined as an entity that has their own morals, reasoning, and ability to make your own life choices. Beyond that, I'm not sure it really matters what you are," Emmy noted, responding to his question.
I was kinda surprised. That was a lot deeper than I'd expected. Maybe Emmy was trying to impress him?
"Ohohoho! I like it. That's an answer I haven't heard before, and to answer your question, young lady! You may not," taking a sip of his tea while motioning us to sit. "Though I can understand your desire, my diet of naturally occurring keratin does keep my fur luxuriously smooth. Though it wouldn't do the same for you humans, I'm afraid," he said, seeming genuinely apologetic.
"Of course! Apologies, sir." Heat flushed through my cheeks, and I knew that rose would be tinting the tips of my ears.
"Not at all, not at all! Now let us introduce you to the others in the room", gesturing broadly around the office to reveal several other people occupying chairs or wall space. I'd been so wrapped up in how cute the Lil' white talking animal was, I hadn't even noticed weren't not alone. Oops.
"Of course, you've already met Aizawa on your way here, as well as before that." Eraserhead was nodding in acknowledgment.
"You may also remember Hizashi Yamada from the event of your… arrival." He gestured towards a man in a leather jacket, his blond hair tied up in a loose ponytail.
'Oh right,' I thought, snapping my fingers. "The cockatoo hero with the speakers in his costume and the weird mustache!"
Emmy smacked me again, harder this time, while the man in question burst out with a "Hey!". Must have said that out loud, double oops! The guy was without what I later understood to be his hero costume. It wasn't my fault; he looked so different without his fancy duds!
Nedzu just continued on, ignoring the commotion. "And this gentleman here goes by Ectoplasm and is someone I'm sure you'll be very interested in talking to later on." The lipless smile the spectacled guy gave was a bit unnerving, but really no weirder really than much else I'd seen both before and after coming to this world. I sent him a friendly wave in return.
"And I am Nedzu! The Principal of UA!" The fuzzy friend finished brightly. "Not everyone here speaks English, of course, but I'll do my best to be translating for people as needed."
Nedzu began shuffling through the papers before him, taking a moment to find what he needed before continuing.
"Ms. Joke has been able to explain some of your... situations, and quite surprisingly, cross-dimensional travel has never happened to our world before!" The principal seemed ecstatic from the concept of something utterly new happening.
I watched as Emmy sent a questioning glance at Ms. Joke.
"You slept a while, silly, and I had to wait for your clothes to finish washing before I could put them in the dryer."
Oh.
Getting our attention again, Nedzu continued. "Now, since you've arrived here as the result of a villain's quirk, I had to bring it to the attention of the Hero Public Safety Commission. I've spoken to my contacts there, and we have good news! They're willing to leave you to your own devices for the next few years so long as you have heroes to keep an eye on you!"
"Told ya." A smirk was lining Ms. Jokes' face as she folded her arms in front of her.
"Quite! Now naturally, this has to come with some caveats. As principal of this prestigious hero academy, I get a certain amount of leeway in how I can go about helping you. After talking it through with some of our staff here, this is what we would like to offer you: We will require you to attend UA for some time."
"As the school year has already started, we won't put you in this year's class, but we will try to get you up to speed on the education you have missed out on. In the short term, this will include things like learning Japanese, recent world history, math, and whatever other classes that it turns out that you are behind in. All of this to help acclimatize you to living here in Japan."
I was kinda relieved that we wouldn't have to jump feet first straight into classes with other people right away, but I couldn't help but ask. "What if we don't want to do all this? I don't mean to be rude, but is school really the only option? Plus, all of this sounds like a lot of money…"
"I imagine it has to come from somewhere," Emmy added, agreeing with me.
"Quite right! To answer your first question, I rather imagine you will enjoy school here far more than your previous schools. The hero course tends to bring a certain element of excitement that you won't find in your usual classroom. Which brings us to the money side of things. You're right, it does come from somewhere. We would cover all the fees, with the expectation that you eventually pay it all back. No interest charged, of course."
Stifling my interruption before it left my mouth, Nedzu pushed forward. "We won't leave you in the lurch with a debt you can't repay! Assuming you can pass the practical entry exam, of course, we will be wanting to place you in the Hero course." I watched Emmy's eyes narrow slightly at that, then relax, likely coming to the same conclusion as me.
There would be no point putting us through this hero course if we couldn't show we'd be worth the investment in the first place. Fair was fair, after all. They were basically offering a scholarship.
"Of course, if you choose not to, we can always help get you back to America. It won't be the same as what you're used to, but at least it will be rather more familiar than here where you don't speak the common language", Nedzu added.
"This feels a bit like blackmail. 'Do things this way, or else we'll leave you worse off than you are now,' ya know?" Emmy whispered to me. Evidently, not quietly enough.
"Look at it this way, little listener!" The cockatoo spoke up. "Within 24 hours of you arriving here, you've helped take down two villains. Even if it was just a case of right place at the right or wrong time, that's still impressive for someone your age!"
"Basically, we think you're a good fit to be a hero and want to help you succeed in that goal, sweetheart."
Ectoplasm said nothing, though he seemed to be following the conversation well enough, nodding in agreement.
Eraserhead was… drinking from a juice pack? I knew he didn't speak English fluently. I was guessing he'd been kept up with the conversation via the cockatoo, who apparently knew how to be quiet when he wanted since I didn't remember the guy speaking.
"So basically" I said, "It's either do this school thing, committing myself more or less to 24 hour surveillance and showing that I can be trusted by putting myself through your hero course. OR basically getting left on my own in a world, I am not familiar with."
"Rather succinctly put!" Nedzu praised, though I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic. "That seems to cover it, yes. Basically, if you want the help of the government, then the government requires you to go through this to prove yourself. You get a fresh start and a chance at a career, and our society gets a capable hero out of it who has the potential to do a lot of good. Well worth the investment, in my opinion!"
"Well, when you put it like that…" I trailed off. Room AND board were a lot better than I'd had in the past, even without the scholarship. Assuming these heroes were really on the level and could be trusted, having to go to school for a few years wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen to me. I could look at it as a job that I would occasionally have to use my brain for.
Decision made, I glanced at Emmy. She nodded back at me.
"Great!" Ms. Joke declared, "I'll figure out what we need to do to get you settled in then. We'll likely need to send you somewhere to brush up on your Japanese, so you can at least read and write. I can help a little, but it might be best for you to take some classes while I'm at work."
"We'll also need to register you so that you aren't here illegally," Nedzu added. "Don't worry! With your unique abilities, we will have all the paperwork done in no time."
Then I realized the massive mountain of paper stacked in the corner of the room was what he was referring to as 'the paperwork.' And he wanted to get through all of it right now.
"Now, if you'll just make an orderly line of thirty or so of your sisters, we can get started."
Emmy let out a sigh, though I smiled at Nedzu's acknowledgement of the duplicates as individuals.
Then we began to split. 'Sooner begun, the sooner done,' after all.
POV - Emmy
Hours had gone by, reading and signing documents, detailing what I could and could not do as a resident of this universe. It was actually kinda startling how much paperwork Nedzu had already had there ready, considering his words of us being the first interdimensional traveler.
I'd made the mistake of helping sign things myself, which meant that by the time I noticed my hand was cramping, it was too late.
By the end of it, though, everything was finalized. I wasn't going to be sent into foster care or left out on my own again. I would even get to stay with for a while longer.
It all depended on me passing this 'hero entrance exam' they kept mentioning, but so long as I managed that and kept my grades up, I would have a 'free' ride for the next few years. I would actually come out with real job prospects too!
Things finally seemed like they were looking up. When I fell asleep that night on Ms. Joke's sofa, I had a smile that felt permanently stuck on my face.