AN: Holy SHIT, I was not expecting such an enthusiastic response to just my first chapter! I don't remember the last time I got such an overwhelming amount of comments on a fic's debut…I guess Shadow Monarch came close over on QQ.
To those who pointed out/complained that the first chapter felt like a speedrun through the start of Level Up, I can definitely understand why you might have felt dissatisfied with that setup. My thinking was that I wanted to do as little retreading of Level Up 'canon' as possible. The last thing I want is to get potentially accused of plagiarism by You Know Who. Thus, I decided to hit the basic notes of how the story began, and did my best to start changing things as soon as possible.
"Speech"
Text/System
Thoughts
Team Chat
Super Form
Super Move/Skill
Chapter 2: Live and Learn
"...And so, because of all that, the National Diet then updated the code to include foundations made from Quirk-generated materials…"
Izuku liked to think he was a decent student at worst. Sure, his Quirk claimed that his lack of self esteem and habit of second guessing himself had turned his highest stat into a downside, but even then, even his own worst enemy couldn't deny that he was smart. …All that said, even he could barely stand to listen to more than two minutes of his teacher's droning, especially with everything else on his mind that day.
Two days ago had seen the most activity out of his Quirk he'd ever seen in his life. One moment, it was nothing but meaningless quests and nonsensical stats, the next, he was bombarded with unlock after unlock. After over a decade of the same damn thing…what had changed? Why was his Quirk only now deciding to grow and reveal new parts of itself?
All Victories must be rewarded.
He paused in his scrawling, still paying his teacher half an ear as that message from his dreams drifted to the forefront again. The memory of those scrambled, distorted and glitchy messages made the skin on his back crawl unpleasantly, and he shuddered. All Victories…does that mean, if I accomplish something, the system will change to accommodate? A lifetime of receiving precisely nothing for his efforts made that sound highly unlikely. But the other message, the one that had come to him when he tried to access the Dev Console…
All is not as it should be.
Was there something actually wrong with his Quirk? Was the frustration and belittlement he'd suffered through since he was four something that wasn't supposed to happen?
He opened up a new notebook, one that he'd decided to use for anything involving his Quirk, and wrote Parasite? Withholding rewards? What are the glitches? Subconscious parts of my Quirk?
As he wrote, he couldn't help but think back to the catalyst for his discoveries, namely the Shark Villain and…Kendou.
[Opening Video Chat with Man-hands!]
No, I didn't want-!
A screen flashed open, giving him a slightly overhead view of the ginger girl he'd befriended, and he put his face in his hand, stifling a groan of frustration, closing the window quickly. Unfortunately, a moment later, he received a text message instead.
Kendou: Hey, did you just do something?
Me: Yeah, I was just thinking, and then my stupid Quirk tried to open a video chat.
In the middle of class.
Good thing I was able to close it and that no one else can see the windows. I would've died of embarrassment.
Kendou: Yikes.
Me: So yeah even thinking your name causes the chat to open without any real input from me, sorry.
Kendou: Don't apologize for something you didn't mean to do, yeah? It's your Quirk's fault. And…you were thinking about me, huh?
He ducked his head, his face heating up.
Me: Well, you're my newest/only friend, so it's only natural…
[+5 Affection with Kendou Itsuka out of pity for your lack of friends!]
Kendou: Awww…well, I'm glad to be your friend.
Izuku couldn't help the smile that spread across his face at her words, and had to stifle it before anyone noticed and tried to make fun of him for randomly smiling in class.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen, eyes on me!" The teacher called out. "Pop quiz time!"
While the rest of the students groaned, Izuku merely leaned back. If it was Quirk history, then he'd have nothing to worry about. And indeed, he found himself breezing through the handed-out sheet with very little difficulty. He finished quickly, and heard Bakugou loudly flipping over his paper a few moments behind him. Yeah, of course he'd want people to know that he finished before them, thought Izuku, rolling his eyes.
Glancing at the back of the paper, he read the extra credit problem. How many of the 189 vigilantes in Rhode Island became registered as the first Pro Heroes? What happened to the rest?
Izuku frowned, scratching the back of his head. A Hero Sociology question? On a history quiz? he shook his head, but answered anyway with 7. Everyone else was recognized as Villains.
When the teacher came by to collect it, he sat back in his seat, ruminating some more on his asshole of a Quirk. Will I actually get anything from this quiz after my experience got locked? What about what the glitch said, 'all victories must be rewarded?' Does this count?
Judging by the window that stuttered open in front of him, it did. The fluffy-haired boy blinked in surprise, and then his eyes widened as he read what was on it.
[Achievement Unlocked: Orientation
I guess you finally qualify as a student, or something…
Reward: Class Change - Student]
[Only took you 13 years…]
Fast as thought, Izuku commanded his status menu to open up, and stared in abject shock at the change at the very top.
[Midoriya Izuku - Lvl 1 Student.]
The green-haired boy trembled, bringing his hands up to cover his mouth as tears welled in his eyes. He'd always been one to cry easily, but today it felt warranted. He didn't even care if his level had been bumped down again; he'd been stuck at Level 2 for so long that it meant nothing to him. At last, at long last, his class had changed from a Weakling!
With a herculean force of effort, he choked down sobs of joy, not wanting to get laughed at for seemingly crying at a simple pop quiz. His mind was awhirl as he slowly calmed himself, taking deep, slow breaths. Alright. I'm finally making progress. I've become a Student… His thoughtful frown returned with a vengeance. Why now, though? I've been going to school and doing well for years. Has my Quirk been holding this back all along? It wouldn't surprise him. But if so, what changed?
He hunkered down and wracked his brains. Okay, all of these changes started two days ago, let's start there. What happened then? I got that achievement and formed a Party with Kendou-san. The thing that's holding me back…I need a name for it…the Bug? The Bug might have trouble keeping track of progress for both of us. He began writing all this down, frowning. Could be, but that doesn't feel right. The EXP we were rewarded had too much of a disparity. After that, there was the Dev Console, and the glitched messages…
He narrowed his eyes, pencil making steady progress along his page of notes. I got the Student class, but what was different about this pop quiz compared to last week? Or the week before that? His brows furrowed as he thought of over a dozen differences between the last handful of quizzes he'd been given. None of them seemed important enough to make a difference, except… Is it really as straightforward as knowing about it? Or is intent more valuable? This time I knew I should be rewarded for putting in work, for trying and committing to the test with the goal of getting better at academics. So, is it because I knew I would be rewarded at all, or because I had a solid idea of what I wanted out of it?
He brought a hand up to scratch the side of his nose idly. If either of those matter it doesn't look good. I won't always know what I'm working towards, not specifically. If that's how it works, what's the metric for success? How specific do my desires need to be? I received that quest to do research when I decided that I'd do it.
He tapped his pencil against the page a few times before drifting over to draw a question mark at the end of each entry. I could be fully wrong, of course. This needs more research. Maybe Kendou-san knows more?
He sent her a message.
Me: Hey, can we meet up after school? There's some stuff I wanna ask you, if it's not too much of an imposition.
Or maybe I can just ask now: what do you think are the benefits for someone having the 'Student' Class?
Kendou: ?
Sorry, I mean, why the sudden question?
Me: I finally changed my class. I'm a Lvl 1 Student now.
Kendou: Oh, so you're not being called a Weakling anymore? That's awesome! So, you wanna try and figure out what's different now?
Me: Yeah…I can't really ask my Quirk for advice, it'll just tell me to fuck off passive aggressively.
Kendou: …Are you okay…?
No, sorry, probably doesn't help to ask that.
Well, let's think it through. What does a Student do? Like, normally.
Me: Well, a student learns, I guess. Or at least tries to. I'm pretty good at studying and picking stuff up, I guess.
His lifelong hobby of writing down Quirks and details that caught his eye came to mind.
Maybe it makes me better at learning something? What would a video game consider worth learning, though?
Kendou: Well…in certain games, when you learn something important, it's usually a Skill, or Technique. Maybe you'll be better at picking that up?
Me: Hm…when you leveled up yesterday, it mentioned that you had some Skill Points that you haven't spent yet. I think you're onto something.
In fact…could he try and access those Skills somehow? Find a list of them? He glanced around to make sure no one was paying him any attention. Fortunately, everyone was chatting up their friends between classes, getting ready to go have lunch, and he began packing to do the same.
Kendou: Yeah…the question is, what kind of skills would you be able to pick up?
I mean, anything could be considered a skill. Weapon mastery, cooking, martial arts…
Me: !
Sorry, dunno how that came out.
But you know martial arts, right? I mean, you were wearing a Karate gi when we met yesterday. Were you at a dojo beforehand?
Kendou: I was, yeah.
My family owns one, so I've been doing it for years.
Wanna come over? I can at least show you the basics, and my parents would be happy to meet a friend of mine.
Me: I don't know how much more besides the basics I can learn with my stats…
But yeah, that'd be great! I hope it's not too much of an imposition.
Kendou: Pfft. I offered, so it's not. I'll talk to my parents.
Izuku allowed himself a smile as he bought a sandwich from the cafeteria. It seemed that things were finally looking up; no longer would he be stuck spinning his wheels with no sign of progress.
[New Quest Acquired: I Know Kung-Fu! I Think…
It's time for you to get off your ass and actually learn something useful!
Acquire at least one (1) new Skill
Reward: Unlock Skill menu and Skill Point allocation.]
He blinked at the notification, but quickly wrote it down in his newer notebook. Either his Quirk was willing to throw him a bone, or he was doing the right thing to trigger this Quest. Or his Quirk was fucking with him, which wouldn't be out of the question. Regardless, there was only one way to find out.
DC
Once school let out, he texted his mom to tell her that he'd be out for the afternoon visiting a friend. Of course, he'd immediately been bombarded with excited responses, delighted that he'd found a friend after so long. He boarded the train, heading for Yongen-Jaya, where Kendou had told him her family's dojo was located. Sadly, his Quirk didn't give him a highlighted path to follow like when he would go to school or home. Interesting. Maybe it can't show me locations I've never been…or it's being petty again.
Surprisingly, he got an answer when he arrived at the address Kendou had given him, causing a prompt to appear. [New Location Unlocked. Directions to Kendou Dojo are now available]
Filing that away for later, he approached the window to the dojo to see what he was in for. He happened to catch a familiar redheaded visage going through what he presumed were simple katas. Mimicking her movements were two younger teens, students of hers going by the Purple color of the belt she was wearing compared to their wearing white and yellow. Off to the side was an older red haired man in a more formal gi, bearing a black belt, clearly the dojo master.
Before he could look away, the master glanced around, spotted him through the window and spoke to Kendo, before approaching Izuku. "Can I help you young man?"
"Ah, j-just a moment…" Izuku quickly finished writing down what he was watching and turned, glancing up over the man's head. As expected from his hair, his name was Kendou Tanjirou, Lvl 20 Karate Instructor, obviously related to the girl. "I'm Midoriya Izuku, a friend of Kendou-san. She told me that I could drop by…?" He shifted nervously under the older man's gaze.
The man stared at him for a long moment, his eyes boring into him and making him squirm. Then he smiled. "Ahh, I see…you're the one that yanked Itsuka away from training yesterday."
Izuku cringed. "Y…Yeah, that was me. I'm sorry about that…"
"She already explained what happened. I am glad you both are unhurt, but man, that's some Quirk you've got. She said it acted on its own, right? And that she'd never met you before."
"That's right," he confirmed, nodding, "Two days ago was the first time I met her."
Tanjiro hummed thoughtfully. "Is that so…either way, are you here to hang out or were you thinking of actually trying this?" He indicated the dojo.
Izuku bowed quickly. "O-Of course, I was thinking of learning!" he stammered, "K-Kendou-san, um, I mean Itsuka-san…she gave me some help with understanding her Quirk, and I thought that trying to learn something would help me…unlock part of it."
Tanjiro raised an eyebrow. "I see…well, I don't really get it, but by all means, you're welcome to come in and learn the basics." Then he smirked. "Don't think that being my girl's new friend means that I'll give you a discount. You don't have to pay for today, but after that…"
"Of course! Thank you for this opportunity," Izuku said brightly, bowing quickly and following the man inside. Moments later, he came out of the men's locker room, now clad in a white gi and white belt.
Itsuka noticed him and waved him over. "Oh, there you are!" she greeted him, grinning, "So obviously, this course is for the beginners, you'll fit right in."
"Beginners?" Izuku asked.
She pointed at the belt. "White's the lowest we do, most arts follow a similar system. This is a class to show the basics of what we practice. As you climb the ranks, the techniques get more difficult and it requires more commitment. The fact I'm not yet a Brown belt shows how long that can take."
"Brown is?" Izuku wondered.
"One step below black. But that's for a different day, I'm gonna show you the basics."
She showed him her first stance and had him try to copy it. When Izuku threw a punch, the red head winced. "Have you ever thrown a punch before?"
"I mean…" Izuku thought back to trying to stand up to Bakugou in his youth. "...Kinda? I don't think so."
"I'll assume no. Most people don't try to learn much unless they're training to be Heroes." As she corrected his stance, she could see something spinning up in his head. "Hey, don't think about it too hard. Just throw the punch…you're not gonna master this in a day. Now, when you punch, you wanna pull your other fist back and down to your hips. Like this!" She jabbed out a sharp punch, pivoting her shoulders slightly. Izuku adjusted his posture and started to copy her. "Yes, just like that! Pretend that you're gripping a rope on a pulley with both hands, and when you punch out with one, you're pulling on the other end of the rope."
Tanjiro watched her from the corner of his eye, smiling slightly as he observed and corrected the other students. It did him proud to see his daughter already taking so well to teaching others. It was a shame that she wanted to pursue a career as a Hero over taking the Dojo from him, but that was her choice and he'd respect it.
DC
An hour later, Izuku sat down heavily on a bench by the wall, his arms hanging limp. "So…So how'd I do…?"
Kendou sat next to him. "For a first timer, you didn't do that bad. But you clearly haven't thrown a punch. Or trained in anything."
"Not for lack of trying," he replied, a reflexive flare of irritation spiking through his exhaustion, "Anything I did, my Quirk either made fun of me and did nothing else, or took it away."
She grimaced. "Right. Sorry. So, I'm guessing it hasn't done anything after all this?"
"Nope. I probably haven't 'mastered' this enough to qualify as a skill yet."
"Hey, even getting the basics down is important for this kinda stuff!" Kendou told him bracingly, "You know the moves, now you just gotta practice them! Like, an hour a day is fine, though obviously it's good to take breaks sometimes. There was some ancient master, don't remember his name, but he said: 'I fear not the man who has done 10,000 different punches. I fear the man who has done one punch 10,000 times.'" She snickered, grinning. "Dad's always quoting that one."
"Right…All Might said something similar in the past," muttered Izuku, pulling a notebook from his backpack to start sketching the forms she'd been having him do, "Even if the basics are all you can do, you can still polish them…" Nodding slowly, he wrote down the quote, Saving, and glanced up. "What else can you tell me about skills?"
Kendou shrugged. "Well, they can be anything. There's no reason why you can't try something else when you're not practicing. Like, uh…" She crossed her arms, brow furrowing. "Hmmm… how about cooking?" she finally suggested.
"Huh?" The green haired boy asked.
She began counting off her fingers. "It's simple, it's a life skill, and who knows how useful it will be to your Quirk?" Then she gave him a wink. "Also, pro tip: lots of girls like a guy who can cook."
He blushed, but when she put it like that, there seemed to be no downsides. Izuku sighed. "Yeah, I'll try that next. I'll ask mom for help."
Kendou nodded. "In the meantime, practice those punches and kicks. You don't need the complex stuff yet and I can always give you pointers when we meet up. Plus, y'know." She tapped her fingers to her temples and grinned, "You can chat me up from anywhere!"
[Quest Updated: Complete at least one of the following tasks
Punching: Throw 500 Punches correctly
Cooking: Learn 1 recipe]
DC
As expected, when he asked his mother if she could teach him how to cook, she teared up in joy and babbled that of course she'd help him. She started with simple dishes, like eggs, noodles and rice. Eggs and rice, she told him, were some of the most versatile ingredients one could ask for as there were many ways to prepare them. Izuku was shocked when he found a video on making eggs in various ways as well, most of which well out of his means to make. After teaching him the basics, she had him try noodles, starting with spaghetti and ramen noodles, as they didn't need much prep time and didn't require too much else to make presentable. He also learned how to peel and chop vegetables neatly, an action that felt almost therapeutic to do.
On the weekend, he insisted on making his own breakfast and lunch, much to his mother's approval. For his breakfast, he decided to go simple and try sunny side up eggs. Adding butter to the pan and melting it, he then cracked an egg right into the pan. He tossed a little salt in and waited for a couple of minutes before taking the pan and letting the now solidified egg slide out onto a plate, to join some toast and fruit. It took a few tries but he felt confident this egg would be satisfactory enough for the Bug. But then, after three days…
[Congratulations! You have created a mediocre dish! Rank Up! You are now a Beginner Mediocre Chef!]
Izuku glanced up, wiping his forehead as he finished plating up another egg.
[Quest Complete! You have mastered one of the easiest dishes known to man! Somehow, this qualifies as being skilled. Karate Punches done: 475/500. So close…
Reward: Skill Menu Unlocked! You can now allocate skill points into skills that you possess!
New ability unlocked: Food Appraisal. You may now know the quality of food, up to your level of expertise, as well as divine some of the effects it might bestow.]
[Item: Beginner's Basic Mediocre Sunny-Side Up Egg of Mediocrity.
Category: Food (Questionable), Consumable
Effects: +5 HP, -3 to cleanliness
High Chance of eggshells
Other effects may be randomized due to user's skill level
Created by: Midoriya Izuku]
Izuku sighed. "As if I would merit anything else from you. Whatever."
[User has Achievement One Big Ass Mistake. Personal Skills will be auto-filled by the System-]
He snarled. Of course his Quirk would try to screw him over and take his choices away from him before he could even see what his Skills were!
But then, with a harsh buzz that made him jump and almost drop the plate, the message glitched and warped.
[skill poinTs will be Allotted to suggested sKills. plEase aCcess skill menu tO fiNalize choices and To incRease yOur skilL proficiency.]
Izuku quickly opened up the menu to see what his Quirk was trying to give him, and noticed a new tab at the top, labeled Skills, and instantly tabbed over to it. When he opened it, he was presented with a list of what he supposed were skills, with Cooking at the very top. Its Rank, marked in green, was currently 4, but he noticed a set of buttons next to it, bearing a plus or minus. Even a newbie gamer like him could understand that he was meant to add or subtract points using them. "So….that's where you wanted my skill points huh? Nice try, but I'll decide that for myself!"
He subtracted the points, putting Cooking back at Rank 1, and began perusing the list of his list of skills. Most of them were even more minor than that, however, such as Handwriting, Speech, Knowledge (just general Knowledge? Then why was it so low? He knew more things than was reasonable, having researched everything there was to know about nearly every Hero in Japan and outside!), Perception, Masturbation-
Blushing, Izuku gritted his teeth when he saw that that one was ranked at 6. Common Sense was labeled as -9999. Sadly, the minus button for that one was grayed out, or he would have tried to see if he could try to loop it back around somehow. Either way, he could tell that it was bullshit. If his Common Sense was that absent, he wouldn't have thought to look up video games, even with Kendou helping him!
He also saw, at the very bottom, Martial Arts at Rank 0. Unfortunately, the Plus button was grayed out for it, and when he tried pressing it anyway, he got an actual explanation.
[You can't put points into a skill that you don't have yet~]
Begrudgingly, he decided that that made SOME sense. In the end, he put two points back into Cooking, but put the last into Perception, bumping that up to 2, before hitting the Confirm button at the bottom.
[Upgrades confirmed…As expected from the lowest Common Sense skill, you ignored the system's generous advice.]
"Advice?" asked Izuku, sitting down to eat his newly made breakfast, "From something that has never done anything without insulting me? Who's the one with negative common sense again?"
The system remained quiet to which he was grateful for. As he ate his supposedly mediocre meal, he thought about the message after the system tried to screw him. It changed its mind too quickly to be a coincidence. Whatever's going on with my Quirk, the parasite might be starting to lose its grip.
As he ate, he received the usual notification of gaining the 'Well Fed' status effect. This time, however, he also received another one. [Random Status bestowed: Luminous Hair (5:00:00)]
Inko almost spat out her tea when her son's fluffy, dark hair suddenly began glowing, shedding a gentle green light, while he sighed. "Could be worse," he told her, much to her confusion and worry.
DC
Two more days later found him standing in the park. The balmy spring air made it ideal for him to keep practicing his punches. Left. Right. Left. Right. Once he reached Rank 1 of the Martial Arts Skill, presumably after satisfying that original goal of five hundred punches, he felt himself becoming aware of how his body moved. How his spine twisted, shoulders rotating to deliver each punch, even how his legs worked to push off the ground and deliver more force. No doubt his abysmal Strength wouldn't let him do anything much, but most likely if he punched a shark in the schnoz again, it'd do more than just make it pause.
Kendou: So something strange happened with your Quirk?
Me: Yeah, like right as it was telling me that it couldn't trust me to allocate my points, it suddenly changed to say that the choices weren't finalized. I kinda…lemme see if I can…
[Screenshot uploaded]
Izuku blinked. Huh. I don't even remember taking a screenshot of that, but I guess my memory will do. Now that I think about it, yeah, the capitalization was all weird.
Kendou: Interesting. Do you know what these letters mean?
Me: Well, my English isn't the best, but let me see…
Taking a break from his punching, he pulled out his notebook and wrote down all of the capitalized letters in order.
…Oh yeah, there's definitly some major weirdness going on in my…head? Body? Soul? Wherever the hell my Quirk is stored. It says TAKECONTROL.
Kendou: Oof…is your Quirk haunted or something?
Is it safe to use this chat? Is it listening in on us?
Oh god, is reality just a construct with something mysterious and big going on behind the curtain?!
Izuku felt a fresh bead of sweat roll down his temple at his friend's increasing levels of panic.
Me: Yeah, it probably is listening, but it doesn't seem able to do all that much. I mean, it seems like it's been trying to tamp down on my progress actively, but ever since I learned about that 'rule…' it seems to be losing control more and more.
It's like the system has a virus, and my Quirk's immune system is starting to fight back against it.
Kendou: Huh…so I wonder what will happen if you could control it?
Me: What do you mean?
Kendou: If I had the power of a video game, do you know how much I could abuse it? I guess being in the same game as one might work too.
I mean, depending on the limits, you could learn pretty much any skill that's humanly possible. Even besides ones that would require a specific Quirk, that's a HUGE pool to pull from.
And that's even before you consider what Classes do. In a lot of games, different Classes offer really powerful specialized skills that could almost be like Quirks themselves.
Me: …Yeah, that would be something.
Izuku finished his punches with a powerful stomp and Kiai, holding the final position and breathing lightly, his body covered in sweat. Me: Alright, that's my sets done. I'm gonna head home.
Kendou: Nice nice. Get that work in!
He snorted.
Me: I just did! Anyway, think I'll head home now and shower. Wanted to look at that Elden Ring game.
Kendou: Ooh, that's a good one. An old classic. FromSoft had to try REAL hard to top that.
Izuku smiled as he closed the chat window and shouldered his backpack. He'd come straight to the park after school to practice, but now, it was time for studying. With more pointers from Itsuka, he had thrown himself deeper into the wide, wide world of video games. He had to admit, he might be discovering a new fascination to go with his love of analyzing Heroes and Quirks. Though, a lot of the 'classic' shooter games like Call of Duty (which had somehow persisted into the modern era) just didn't hold a lot of appeal to him, with a few exceptions. The more comedic gameplay videos he found on the old archives were more about the interactions between players than the actual gameplay most of the time.
With the thought that he could theoretically learn any non-Quirk skill with his power (assuming it would cooperate, which admittedly was a big ask), he could see learning how to use a gun…if it weren't for the fact that this was Japan. Even Heroes had to go through a rigorous vetting process to obtain a firearm license, and the number of those Heroes could be counted on both hands.
As he ruminated on this, mind spinning off trains of thought that would inevitably start spilling from his lips, he failed to notice a passerby crossing paths with him until she walked right into him, sending him stumbling. "Oh, sorry!" he gasped, stumbling, only to grimace as the intense cold soaked his shoulder. Looking around, he saw that the girl he'd bumped into was holding a cone of bright red ice cream, a good amount of which was now smeared right into his sleeve. Oh great, now I'm hot, sweaty, AND sticky! he groaned internally. He looked up to see who he bumped into, hoping she wouldn't be TOO mad.
She was just a little bit shorter than him, with pale, ash blond hair that hung down to her shoulders, and her honey-colored eyes fixed on him in a jittery sort of way. She was gripping her ice cream cone tightly, and her face seemed fixed into a smile that even he could tell was pretty forced. "N-No, it's okay!" she assured him cheerfully, "I didn't see you there!"
They stood there, watching each other for a moment. His eyes flicked up over her head, as was his custom, to see that her name was Toga Himiko, Lvl 5 Masked One.
[Awkward Moment established. Dear god, someone get these people some social skills!]
Izuku winced, but quickly recovered and answered, "Well, I wasn't really looking where I was going either, and you were already on the sidewalk…" Where the hell was he going with this?! "Sorry about your ice cream. It's uh…a nice color?"
Fortunately, she latched onto the non-sequitur just as eagerly as he hoped she would. "Thanks! It's Pomegranate gelato, one of my friends got it for me! The color's super pretty, yeah!"
[Warning: This vapid conversation is in danger of lowering your INT. Get out now while you still can.]
His Quirk was being more rude than usual, and not even directly towards him this time! Feeling particularly spiteful, Izuku decided to keep going. "I don't think I've ever had pomegranate-flavored anything. Oh yeah, I'm Midoriya Izuku. What's your name?" Of course, he already knew it, but he also knew from experience that acting like he already knew someone's name was just asking to be accused of stalking.
"I'm…Toga Himiko. Just on my way home, I guess…you, um, you been working out?" she asked, her golden eyes flicking up and down his body, "You're all sweaty and-" she swallowed slightly, "L-Looking kinda…flushed."
Said flush only intensified under her scrutiny, which seemed to bore right into him in a way that belied her small, pleasant smile. Maybe it was the extra point he'd put into Perception, but something about this girl seemed…off, somehow.
"Yeah, just trying to get in shape… Um…is everything alright?" he asked her.
Toga blinked, and her smile seemed to shrink a little, before returning so quickly that he almost thought he'd imagined it. "Yes, of course!" she chirped, but he noticed her pupils narrowing to slits, "What on earth could've given you the impression otherwise? I'm just a normal schoolgirl on her way home!"
Izuku suppressed a shiver; her cheery personality was so forced that it was downright uncanny. Every alarm in his brain was screaming for him to choose his words carefully. "Um…okay, right, of course. I mean, I guess that kinda came outta nowhere, and maybe I'm being a busybody, but…"
She just watched him, for a long, long few moments, as his mumbling finally petered out. Then…
[+3 Affection with Toga Himiko for being a pushy snoop.]
"Tell you what?" she said finally, her smile disappearing. She didn't quite glare at him, but her eyes still held that glint of something that had his guard up. "If I ever do have a…problem, I'll call you about it, okay?"
Izuku did a little mental stumble. That had actually worked?! "Oh! Okay then!" he said, reaching into his pocket, "We can exchange numbers, if that's okay with you?" He held up his phone meaningfully, almost ducking his face behind it bashfully. Ahhh! I'm exchanging numbers with a girl!
[+5 Affection with Toga Himiko for not being scared off by her weirdness. Oh, the foolishness of youth…]
[Achievement Unlocked: Moshi-moshi~
Acquire a girl's digits by sheer charisma…or probably just luck. But who am I kidding, you'll never use this number for anything good.
Reward: Voice Chat unlocked! Team Chat can now use audio instead of text and/or video! Ain't technology great?]
Slowly, Toga pulled out her own phone, holding it up to his, and with a ping, they exchanged numbers. "Nice to meet you, Iz…Midoriya-san!"
"Y-Yeah! Take care! I don't know how much help I'd be, but I'll at least listen if you have a problem!" he assured her.
The blonde cocked her head at him, studying him with those unnerving eyes. It was almost like being examined by a mantis. "Hmm…you really mean that, I suppose. Alright then. I'll take you up on that sometime. By now!" And with that, she strode past him, heading away down the sidewalk.
Letting out a sigh, Izuku watched her go. That had been one of the most nerve-wracking experiences he'd ever had…well, besides explaining everything to Kendou the other day.
And then another message popped up.
[Hidden Quest received: You've Got A Little Red On You.]
Izuku paused. 'A hidden quest?' Then he read the description and the results and paled.
[You REALLY should have just left well enough alone, but now you're on herradar. Try to navigate the minefield that is Toga Himiko with your sanity intac- nope, too late. Whoops.
Reward: Toga Himiko joins the Party. Large increase in Affection.
Failure: Toga Himiko's Affection becomes Max. Status: Exsanguination.]
DC
AN: And like that, the butterflies just keep on gathering.
UO: Our spite is strong. Much like the Force.
The spite is strong, but the knowledge of what words to use is weak…
Anyway, this time around, Izuku perseveres in learning, and finally manages to change his class. He still can't Level Up for the time being because Menu-chan is petty, but it's still something.
I honestly liked Izuku being able to cook stuff in Level Up, and the food having various effects. That was fine. What I was NOT fine with was his food being absolutely useless for anything except that one bit where he went to disaster relief…even though he was a Student at the time. Also, I like cooking in general, so I'm not going to get rid of that aspect.
There is literally nothing Menu-chan can do to stop Izuku from learning at least the basics of a given martial art, especially with her control slipping.
Suffice it to say, Menu-chan REALLY doesn't want Izuku getting with Himiko. Unfortunately, Izuku has long since run out of fucks for what she wants, and his extra point in Perception has him picking up the fact that this girl needs help…
Anyway, next on my agenda is Shadow Monarch. Look forward to it.
