Jpx0999 - Let's just say that we're barely starting to dig out mysteries concerning Izuku's very nature xD

Shahryar - Aww Tsu indeed.

Detrametal - Yeah, it was intentional xD Bakugou has no idea how ironic his words. And yes, the frog deserves the head pats. The frog receives the head pats. Also you're correct on both accounts :v

Yomunot: Frog gacha the best gacha lmao. Also yes, guns will be there, although whether Izuku will actually run into something killable with it remains to be seen.

(***)

"What about Tsuyu, then?" Midoriya decides to ignore the terrifying revelation for a moment and focus on something else.

"What about her?" Yagi asks.

"Now that we know that she can talk, will… I mean, are you going to do anything about that?" Midoriya asks. He… doesn't like the look of sadness that Yagi adapts. "I mean, I get it that the demis can easily become not very human, but she…"

"Young Midoriya." Yagi cuts in. "Yes, she did prove that she is more human than we all assumed. But please, tell me, which part of your experience with the world of Initiates made you think that being a human entitles you to anything?"

"That's…" Midoriya replies. "... cold."

"I am aware, my boy." Yagi sighs. "And I assure you that I don't like it either, but such is the world. Human rights are a concept rather lost on the Initiates. There is no governmental agency that defines you as a human or not. Being able to speak won't result in you receiving an ID card, you won't get access to free healthcare. There is no 'demihuman rehabilitation' program in the works."

"So, she is going to just… stay that way?" Midoriya asks. Yagi nods. "Can't you, I don't know, do something on your own? There is no 'public' help in that, but I don't think that there is an issue with private initiative in that field, and…"

"I, theoretically, could," Yagi replies. "But I won't."

That was… strange. Midoriya did end up picturing Yagi as a Good Guy™ by this point, and this…

"Why?" Midoriya asks him, clear shock visible on his face.

"Let me explain it to you this way," Yagi replies. "Have you ever read a fantasy manga? The one where the local economy seems to be basically run on the basis of the goods provided by the adventurers?" Midoriya, despite his surprise at a change of subject, nods. "They are extremely unrealistic. Do you know why?"

He more or less knows.

"You can't sustain a settled civilization with what's the facto a foraging industry," Midoriya replies. "Before humans moved towards farming, the biggest permanent settlements were counted in hundreds of inhabitants. Every adventurer can only harvest and carry so many materials a day, you'd need ninety-five percent of people to be adventurers to let the remaining 5% work other jobs."

"Partially correct answer," Yagi replies. "The other counterargument to such a system are the risks involved. It takes years for an adventurer to be trained, but seconds, if things go bad, for him to die. No human population can maintain itself purely on hunting things that are actually capable of preying on them. Now, a mental exercise. Imagine that Tsuyu is dying."

"I… don't like the way it's going," Midoriya replies. Yagi nods.

"Understandable." The teacher adds. "Neither do I. Now, imagine that there is something that you can do, some object that you possess, that can heal her. Would you use it?"

"O-of course?" Midoriya replies, stammering slightly in shock. "Why wouldn't I?!"

"Now, imagine that said object can be used only once," Yagi adds. "And it has to be recovered from an Elsewhere. Meaning that securing another one carries a significant risk of people dying, up to and including a total party-wipe. We talk about, let's say, 50% chance of someone dying to recover another healing item, perhaps a 50% chance of someone dying to recover the one you were using. 25% of more than one someone, and 10% of the entire party being wiped out." He pauses for a second, before continuing. "Now, imagine that the item in question can heal ANY injury. Such as the one that will be suffered by your fellow Initiate in combat eventually, one that would kill them or put them out of service. And we talk about a fellow Initiate, like you, who treats keeping the Non-Initiated in their area safe seriously. Would you still use this item?"

"I…" Midoriya pauses. What's the right answer? On one hand, there is someone dying in front of him, on another, helping them means endangering a lot of people and… "Wait a second. This is the trolley problem, except with a frog and some eldritch abominations."

Yagi almost chokes with laughter. Midoriya gives him a slightly insulted stare before he manages to get himself under control.

"Y-yes, in a way you are correct with that." He eventually says. "The thing is, resources among the Initiates are scarce and sometimes bought with human blood. So yes, I could spend hours on a daily basis trying to rehabilitate Tsuyu into a more or less working member of society. However, this means hours that I don't spend on dealing with various nasty things that sneak into the town, hours that I don't spend maintaining the UA security and trying to help some prospective students become powerful Initiates. Which, in turn, means fewer people out there taking the heat off the non-Initiated that can't defend themselves." He looks at Midoriya with that… rather solemn look on his face. "Do you still think that doing it is morally right?"

"I'm… honestly not sure about that anymore," Midoriya replies after a few seconds of thinking. "I mean, I hate seeing her live like that, but…"

"Then if you want a last final push, ask yourself this question." Yagi cuts in. "Do you think that she wants that?" Midoriya blinks at him in surprise. "You're acting as if 'making her live like a human' was of an unquestionable benefit to her. Are you sure about that?"

"She's a human, why wouldn't she…"

"She's a happy half-animal, especially when you're around." Yagi cuts in again. "Do you think that taking her out of her natural habitat, making her wear clothes, and forcing her to fend off numerous nasty things out there would make her happier than she is right now? Not to mention the fact that no matter how much effort I put into rehabilitating her, she'll always lack common sense and experience in dealing with other humans. She'll always be easy to exploit by people, so you'll practically have to stay around her to protect her until death. Yes, in her current state she can't read books, can't play video games, but do you think that changing that is worth leaving her a perpetual cripple in a foreign environment?"

Silence. Eventually, Midoriya shrinks in front of him.

"... I hate this world." He announces. He realizes Yagi's position and… might even be sharing it now. What's the point of raising her expectations when you're practically sure that you're incapable of meeting them?

"I don't think that there are many reasons to like it," Yagi replies with a grimace of sadness on his face. "But we can't exactly change it, so we had to live in it as it is. And while remaining a good guy despite all of that is a completely valid option, you always need to consider the result. Because there is always a price to pay, and if you don't take that into account, your act of kindness might turn out to cost others dearly. Now…" He pauses his lecture for a moment. "... this doesn't mean that we can't improve her… current accommodations, so to speak."

"Huh?" Midoriya didn't expect that change of subject.

"We've only ruled out full rehabilitation as impractical and at best questionably good for her, Young Midoriya," Yagi replies. "This doesn't mean that we can't make other changes. We might, for example, intentionally leak the fact that she has… please don't kill me for the wording… became pretty much your pet, meaning that mistreating her might bring Toga on your head."

…

"That sounds very, very wrong," Midoriya replies. "A pet, seriously? She can speak human language! She looks fairly human, that's just borderline disgust…" He pauses when he sees Yagi's perfectly neutral face. Too neutral. "... please tell me that this isn't considered 'normal' among the Initiates."

"The concept of 'normal' is a bit wonky among them, to begin with," Yagi replies, and… yeah, that makes sense. "I'd say that on a weirdness scale of 1 to 10, that's a four at best. Although the fact that she's capable of vocalization and has thus been proven to not be fully bestial moves it up to five."

"Oh god, this is just freaking terrible," Midoriya replies while staring at Yagi in shock. "So people just… keep the devolved demihumans as pets?!"

It feels like some extremely twisted take on pokemon, honestly. Or the 'fully domesticated catgirls for domestic ownership' except with a solid chunk of existential horror at the realization of the fact that said catgirls descended from humans that lost their humanity and, eventually, sapience.

"If it makes you feel any better, doing anything even remotely sexual with them kicks the whole thing to a solid nine or ten, even if it's not technically illegal," Yagi replies. "It's all because the Initiates' definition of 'human' is rather different from the one of the non-Initiates. More bestial demihumans are de facto animals that just vaguely resemble humans and are typically very easy to train. For the overwhelming majority of the Initiates, having sex with them is like having sex with a normal animal, and that's as big of a no-no as it is among the mundanes."

"Small mercies." Midoriya mumbles. "Also I'm never going to see the whole 'monster girls' thing in the same way ever again."

(***)

"I'm back," Midoriya announces once he returns to his cabal (plus Todoroki). "Did I miss anything?"

They are all sitting in a circle on the grass. Toga, Kacchan, Todoroki, and Uraraka, with an open space between Bakugou and Todoroki, probably for the missing Deku.

"Nothing, we were just waiting for you," Bakugou replies. "We have loot to distribute and so on."

Oh, right. The frog gacha results.

"So, what do we get out of it, exactly?" Midoriya then asks, while sitting with them. "Todoroki?"

"First magic book," Todoroki replies. "I believe it to be connected to the Archon of Sacrifice. His magic tends to be powerful, but…"

"... self-sacrificial?" Midoriya asks. Todoroki nods.

"Well, we're certainly not giving it to the nerd," Bakugou announces. "Stupid Deku and his stupid bleeding heart with self-sacrifice magic? Fuck no."

"Kacchaaan!" Midoriya mock-punches him in the side. "That's rude!"

"You know I'm right, so fuck off," Bakugou replies. "Why are you staring at me like that, Round Cheeks?"

"I, err, I did?" Uraraka freaks out a little. "No, uhm, I just thought that you might have a point with that."

"Huh?" Izuku stares at her in surprise.

"I mean, your only spell hurts you and you still used it against those spiders rather than risk an open fight with them which might end with some of us being bitten and…" She replies while shrinking a bit under their stare. She pauses entirely when Bakugou starts laughing.

"See, Deku?" He says through laughter. "She got you all figured out in a fucking record time!"

"Thank you, Kacchan," Izuku replies dryly. "And thank you, Uraraka." She looks dejected about being called out like that. Toga looks amused but doesn't say anything about it. "Alright, so what do we do with it? What are the options on the table?"

"Option one, learn from it," Todoroki replies. "Option two, turn it in to the school for contribution points. Option three, store it as an asset for future usage."

"Define option three, please," Midoriya says. He isn't sure what Todoroki meant by it.

"Initiates tend to gather things like that," Todoroki replies. "Think of it as a basis for your own small library of magical books that you can use to obtain other things. Someone you meet in the future might possess something that you need, while being interested in learning more about the lore of the Archon of Sacrifice, for example."

Oh, it makes sense.

"Wait, those books aren't one-use-only?" Bakugou asks. Yeah, the whole concept of 'learn spells from spell books' sounds kind of Skyrim-ish.

"Not really, no." Todoroki surprises them. "We could all use it. But, as stated, you typically need to read multiple things to notice an actual development in yourself. And reading a book twice yourself won't work. Besides, reading everything that falls into your hands is considered a bad decision, unless we talk about learning complete basics."

Right, you might be noticed and that's bad news unless controlled. Midoriya remembers that bit.

"I think that none of us is actually volunteering to use it," Midoriya says while looking around the group. They all nod. "And we got a lot of contribution points today, so… any problems with me taking it home? Due to, errr, circumstances I have a free room that I can use to store our special stuff."

Sounds like a logical use of the special room. Shame that the exclusion glyphs were erased, that would have helped him a LOT.

"Nah, that sounds like a decent idea," Bakugou says surprisingly calmly. "Round Cheeks?"

"Y-yes?" She is still rather reserved around him. At least when surprised. "I see no problem with that. Why ask me?"

"Well, we don't know what sort of magic you're planning to focus on," Bakugou replies. "So?"

"Err, I like space and stuff like that, so…" She seems vaguely uncomfortable talking about it. Then again, she is revealing sensitive info to the cabal that she was pretty much 'on probation' in. And quite early. "... I think that I'm focusing on the gravity aspect of the Shaper of Laws."

"It's not just for the artificers?" Midoriya asks. What Yagi said earlier made it sound that way.

"No, it isn't," Todoroki replies for Uraraka. "It's just one application of their powers. Before Mankind developed our technology and knowledge enough, we used Primordials in a similar vein. Think about employing the magic of Primordials of Fire, Water, and Air to develop a hyper-efficient magical steam engine and so on."

Oh, that makes sense.

"I don't know a lot of magic, yet," Uraraka says, looking vaguely ashamed of it. "The only spell I know is called Zero Gravity, and it lets me make things I touch weightless for some time."

"That's actually crazily useful," Midoriya replies. She looks at him in surprise. "I mean, you could just float something heavy above something we were fighting against, and then drop it on their heads. Or make someone weightless to be able to climb an otherwise impossible to scale wall to avoid the enemies, or…"

There is a growing smile on Uraraka's face when he lists the usages of her only spell. Does she feel insecure about her own abilities?

"Alright, alright, we get it." Bakugou cuts in. "You found a completely new thing to nerd about, it's not just horror films, games, and books anymore, it's also magic. Now, please, can it. Or we'll never fucking finish this meeting. Actually, if this is magic reveal time, then what about the Messy Hair?"

"What about me?" She gives him a look of surprise.

"What's your fucking magic, why do I even have to tell you that?!" Bakugou replies, raising his hands in an expression of pure disappointment. "We don't fucking know what you can do, Messy Hair!"

"Oh!" She almost facepalms at that. "Right! I never told you that. Well, I can cast four spells of the Ancient of Flesh. Skin Removal is an offensive one, I just have to touch a target with a finger to instantly tear a solid chunk of their skin around the point of contact." … that's freaking terrifying, Izuku concludes. Also probably useful in butchering her victims to eat them. "Then you get the Mend Flesh, which is a weak healing spell that lets me repair minor wounds. Scratches, bites, generally stuff when there aren't too many things missing from the body. For that, I have the Regrowth spell, which makes you regenerate major injuries, up to a missing limb."

… right, she was WAY more experienced in this world than the rest of them combined.

"You're a fucking broken character, Messy Hair," Bakugou announces after a few seconds of silence. "Like, seriously."

"Well, larger Regrowth usages really mess up your corporeal stability." Toga replies. "Like, a lot. And using my magic makes me hungrier, so there are limits to that. Also, my fourth spell is Impersonate, it lets me impersonate someone for as long as I have at least a bit of their skin to wear on myself. Which actually works quite well with Skin Removal."

Right. That's what Yagi meant when he said that Toga killed Togeike and impersonated her to get one of her cabal mates off-guard.

On the other hand, they have a healer. Yeeeeah, awesome.

"Y-yeah, let's leave that aside for now," Midoriya replies, all while Uraraka and Kacchan are giving Toga some rather worried looks. "The other book, Todoroki?"

"Archon of Defiance," Todoroki replies. "I suggest giving it to Bakugou. It'll fit him quite well."

"Are you picking a fight with me again, like that screw, or what?" Bakugou asks him. Rather aggressively. Midoriya doesn't enjoy sitting between them when that happens.

"I do not," Todoroki replies. "This magic is greatly reliant on one's willpower and stubbornness. Imagine magic that lets you temporarily no-sell all but the most powerful of attacks on the downside that you still feel all the pain that you would feel if not for the magic. The only thing that can defeat you in that state is giving up."

"... side effects?" Bakugou asks, his eyes narrowing.

"Well, the magic is already mostly about being too angry to die or give up," Todoroki replies calmly. "It might make you more stubborn and angry. If you overuse it, that is."

"Now I really want to veto it." Midoriya cuts in. "If me getting more self-sacrificial is bad, then what about this?! Kacchan is going to become even more of a Kacchan!" He makes a very fake shocked gasp.

"Fuck you, nerd," Bakugou replies smugly. "That's just the magic I fucking need. Gimme."

"... you do realize that the chances of you actually learning a spell out of your first book ever are rather small?" Todoroki replies. "If not non-existent?"

"Well, time to fucking prove to you that I'm as good if not better than the shitty Deku," Bakugou replies. "As I said, give it to me."

Todoroki looks at Midoriya. Midoriya shrugs. There is no fighting Kacchan when he is this pumped-up about it. He'd probably just keep pestering them about it for days until they finally give up and give it to him.

Giving a book about magic that scales up according to how stubborn you are to someone literally worse than a goddamn donkey on that field sounds like a brilliant idea. Especially as the 'too angry to die' component makes it sound even more Kacchan-like.

Midoriya has a weird feeling that they are creating a monster, though.

"Alright." Todoroki hands him the book. "Deliver it to Midoriya's soon-to-be magical library afterward."

"Fuck yeah, Library Freak." Bakugou grins at them while putting the book in his backpack. "That's more like it."

"What about those, err, trinkets?" Midoriya asks. "How do they even work?"

"Typically by making you slightly more attune with your patron," Todoroki replies. "So, for example, if you were wearing a ring connected to the Primordial of Fire on your right hand, you could make your spells fired from that hand slightly stronger. Of course, most magical jewelry will make it a few percent stronger at best."

Makes sense. Sounds like pretty standard fantasy RPG rings/amulets.

"They can also be used to assist you in the learning process of new magic." Todoroki continues. "For example, donning several trinkets dedicated to the Primordial of Ice will improve the chances of learning a new spell of his from a book you read, at the cost of increasing the risks of side-effects or gaining more attention. Generally speaking, more than one or two things at once is considered to be too risky, unless you're using some very minor things that do not amount to much. Attention gain scales faster than the chances of learning new magic."

"Sounds useful," Midoriya replies. "Although now I can't help but remember playing Skyrim and using all those Alchemy or Smithing boosting enchanted items while cycling between them like crazy when moving from one crafting table to another."

Todoroki gives him a death stare. Like he always does, honestly, but this time he doesn't say anything. Uraraka lets out a brief pffft that dies when Midoriya looks at her. Kacchan looks ashamed of knowing him.

Damn.

"Others can have certain magic imbued into them, but it's typically costlier and rarer." Todoroki decides to break the awkward silence by continuing. "Think of a ring that lets you cast a certain spell once or twice a month, or some defensive magic that fires up automatically in certain circumstances before the energy is spent and the trinket stops being magical."

"Sounds super cool," Midoriya replies. "But I somehow doubt that someone threw something like that into a lake."

"Correct." Todoroki agrees with him. "Those things are valuable. If someone threw them into the lake, you can expect people to don scuba diver suits and start combing it until someone scores a hit. There is also a third category of trinkets, ones that are genuine artifacts capable of 'acting' as a magical book on touch, but those are even rarer. Also…" He pauses for a moment. "... stronger magical books can be used as grimoires. So, pretty much a handheld magical trinket amplifying your magic. Think of a mage standing with an open book in one hand, firing spells from another, that's kind of how it works."

Midoriya decides to not ask if the books they recovered could be used that way. This sounds powerful, and he's fairly certain that it's way too early for them to get 'powerful' things.

"The things Tsuyu recovered for you…" Todoroki replies. "... are all from the first category. You got three rings, a bracelet, a crucifix necklace, and a normal necklace. If I identified things correctly, it goes as follows. Rings are dedicated to the Ancient of Night, Ancient of Filth, and the Shaper of Laws. Bracelet is dedicated to the Ancient of Strife. Crucifix is dedicated to the Archon of Life. The normal necklace is dedicated to the Ancient of Cogs. Aside from the third ring, those are all misses for you."

"So we can either turn them up for contribution points or store them in my totally-not-a-magical vault room for a potential trade with other Initiates," Midoriya replies. Todoroki nods. "I guess we'll go for the later, just… I don't think that it is very secure. If someone truly wants to break in, he'll."

At least, when magic was involved.

"Consider getting someone to teach you how to do a basic Restriction Glyph," Todoroki replies. "It's like a Warding Glyph, except it works only for the non-supernatural. It will only delay the thief for a bit, however. It works mostly by acting as an invisible wall. In the end, though, your best defense is still Toga. Unless the goodies you store become tempting enough, people won't risk making her their enemy."

Alrighty then. One final thing to do.

"Which one is the gravity ring?" Midoriya asks. Todoroki, without a word, gives one of the rings to him. It's… just a normal silver band. But when Midoriya touches it, he… yeah, he feels it. It's like a vague feeling of being light for a second before it vanishes. He then hands it over to Uraraka. "Here, that's for you."

Uraraka goes beet red. Midoriya realizes why a second later - yes, he just gave a ring to a girl. Bakugou groans loudly while facepalming - and Toga starts laughing.

Ugh. This is confusing.

(***)

"I…" Aizawa says to him once Yagi is back in the Black Course teacher's lounge. "... have questions."

"About?" Yagi asks.

"About your problem children," Aizawa replies. Oh, of course, it's about that. "You're babying them, Yagi. Especially as you're clearly permitting Todoroki to hang out with them."

"Todoroki is there as an observer, mostly," Yagi replies. "I don't think he does anything, aside from trading some of his knowledge for entertainment. Which, I'd like to point out, is a perfectly valid behavior for Initiates."

"It takes all out the risks involved," Aizawa replies.

"The Black Course, nominally, lasts for up to five years," Yagi replies. "Shoto Todoroki finished it, with top grades, in two. The only reason he is hanging around is that he has family issues and enjoys the freedom to do whatever he wants. He'll probably end up becoming the youngest magister in the contemporary history of Japan. Helping him at least partially get over his… emotional issues before that happens sounds like a good idea to avoid a disaster or a few in the future. He's actually showing genuine interest in something and… we both know that for all his stumped ability to express himself and feel emotions, his current behavior when around Midoriya's cabal is extremely emotional for him. And I hope it lasts."

"You…" Aizawa replies after a few seconds of silence. "... always have an answer for everything, don't you?"

"Eventually." He replies. He still has a lot of questions to find answers to, especially when Young Midoriya is involved.

(***)

World of Initiates is... confusing, ngl. On so many levels.

Well, that's it. Expect interesting things to be happening soon :P