Chapter 2 – Six Years of Training
It was a good thing I met Harry Dresden in the summer time. It meant I didn't have school to interfere with my magical studies. Magical studies... it sounded just like how I'd imagined quirk studies to be in my head. Like I was already at U.A. and preparing for hero work.
"You getting this down my young padawan?"
A very good thing. For the whole of the first week Harry had drilled the basics into me, starting with what he called the seven laws of magic, as laid down by the White Council.
We were sitting at the dining table in my apartment, doing school work on a beautiful summer day. I take it back, we could have done this in school time without a problem, and now I'm missing my summer.
On the plus side, I was not taking those beatings from Kaachan anymore, so there was that. "The first law: never use magic to kill another human." I recited. He was adamant that I remember these before we started learning to cast.
Harry just took a sip of tea, grimaced and nodded, "that's right, and remember that even the self defence argument doesn't really work." he added to my answer.
Like a good student, I diligently took notes, but I had to ask why. It seemed unjust that, even in self-defence that you couldn't use your power to save yourself. And his answer only made me more concerned about this magical community I was becoming part of.
"The laws aren't supposed to be just, they're supposed to prevent the abuse of power."
Of course, that was totally different from the laws of japan... except it wasn't, weren't hero laws the exact same?
Now I'm going to interrupt myself here and skip ahead, since the first week was just more of this, and me being randomly quizzed on the laws, what they meant and what sanctions I could expect from the White Council for infringing them.
Honestly it was soul destroying, and not just for me. It was obvious that Harry resented having to start with these rules and he'd been surprisingly forthcoming when I asked him why.
Harry had broken the first law back when he was only fifteen, about 280 years ago by his estimate. He'd been taken by the Wardens of the White Council and nearly sentenced to death.
"I lived under the Doom of Damocles, for about 10 years after that. One wrong move and that was it, off with my head. It was only thanks to McCoy that I lived. A lot of my own lessons were learnt from him."
There was more to it than that, not that it's really my place to share, you'd have to ask him yourself. But I don't think he did the wrong thing.
But enough about that, the point is that it was a boring week for the both of us and we were only too glad when we moved onto the fun part of my training.
Once again we were at the table, with Harry giving me a tutorial on what magic actually was. "Magic, also known as mana, juju, chi, the Force, is both a source of power, and the word used to define using that power. It is life-force, emotions, the soul and all of those things all wrapped up together, only to be given direction by a practitioner."
I raised my hand, like I was in class. He smiled "Yes, grasshopper?"
"can only wizards use magic? Or can other people use it too?" I asked.
He was on the ball since he was able to answer almost before I'd finished asking the question. I'll spare you the exact details and give you the gist of it, he explained to me how, before the age of quirks there were many practitioners who were really just one trick ponies. Many mediums, psychics and fortune tellers were just people who leveraged their talents for their own gain. Many more lived their whole lives never really knowing they had the talent, just letting it influence their lives subtly, like an especially astute detective, or a mother with very good intuition.
"But there hasn't been anyone born with the talent since the age of quirks began. At least no talent that looked different from a quirk." that was of course the other thing I had thought of for myself when we started my training. How could anyone really tell if magic was any different from a quirk?
"Magic is essentially fuelled by your belief in it, getting stronger if you're invested in it." Okay, so belief in myself. Two weeks ago, that might have been a problem. "But be careful, your emotions don't only power it, they to an extent control it. If you have bad intentions, then bad things will happen."
He was staring at me with an intensity I'd never seen before, not quite meeting my gaze. Actually, I couldn't recall him ever looking me directly in the eyes, a fact that would bite me on my first day back in school after the summer break. In fact, let's fast forward to that.
As my classmates... and teacher... and mother can attest to, I mumbled, a lot. And now was no exception. Instead of running around and trying to play with my classmates, I was pacing around the edge of the grounds, mumbling and fidgeting my hands. "Harry said that this week we would start work on my first foci. It should be something that I can easily carry around but strong enough that it can take a few hits. Maybe-"
And as per usual, when I mumbled, it was some kind of violent action that snapped me out of it. And that action as usual came from my 'friend', one Katsuki Bakugou or Kaachan. I was thrown from my thoughts by the bright flash and loud bang of an explosion lancing into my path, knocking me back onto the playground err... ground.
"what are you muttering about there, Deku?" There was that name again: Deku. It was based on a misreading of the kanji for my name, it didn't actually mean anything until Kaachan decided that it meant useless, that I am useless.
Now you may have noticed my sarcasm when I mentioned my friendship with Kaachan. Last time we talked I mentioned taking a superpowered beating from him, and that beating lead to the best day of my life. So, thanks Kaachan!
But now I have a new lease on life, and a very proactive teacher in Harry Dresden. Unlike my mum, who wanted me to go to her for help Harry realised the less than fit state I was in and decided to act. He told me to stand up to the problem, and that if I want to be able to use magic I would have to build confidence in myself or it just won't work.
What that all means is simple: I just picked myself up dusted myself down and looked straight at Bakugou. I locked eyes with him and stared him down... and that's when it happened.
Those seconds stretched out into what felt like an eternity, and I felt a presence enter my being, altering what I saw while our gazes were locked. Behind Kaachan was... his profile? It looked almost identical to my profile for him in my Hero Analysis notes, only with a few more details. The strange thing was that they were details that I couldn't possibly know.
Perhaps this was some kind of magical effect, and was this why Harry avoided eye contact? It had seemed rude to ask, but I should have just listened to my curiosity and asked him anyway.
The image of the profile burned itself into my mind, like a song playing on loop in my mind, and accompanying that image was a sense that I had just learnt something profound about Kaachan.
And I had, I could feel his pride in his power and his perceived position, his supposedly preordained greatness. But there was something else, something that surprised me: fear and doubt. Was he not certain that he good enough, that he could reach the heights he was aiming for? But most surprising was how he felt about me.
He was scared that I would try to be a hero. Not that I would overshadow him, but that I would get hurt.
I blinked and the connection was severed. As I blinked, I saw Bakugou staring at me, like he'd seen a ghost... or…?. Could he have felt the same connection? He blinked, and then walked off without saying a word. Now that was different, Kaachan, speechless? Was the sky falling? I'm not afraid to admit that I checked for myself!
Other than that, my day at school had been relatively normal, except for Kaachan ignoring me; usually there would be at least some violence or loud-mouthed anger. But there was only furtive sideways glances from him, and I wasn't sure if this wasn't worse than the usual negative attention. I wasn't sure how to react to this if at all.
I still had my magic lessons to focus on, and today we were starting on making my foci. This would be the second truly magical thing I did in my training, the first was establishing a circle. Harry had explained to me that both were invaluable tools in the magic user's arsenal, the circle especially.
It confines magic and provides a limit for the power to work within. There is a lot to it and even Harry had told me: "never assume you know everything about circles." they're ubiquitous in the magical space. I expect that I'll be doing a lot of circle making in my life.
But the topic of today was the foci. The foci, like the circle, is a tool used to bind magical power. The difference between the two is that foci are generally designed for specific tasks. We were jumping straight into designing a shielding foci, and we would be focusing on that until we got it right.
Of course all of my thoughts on the matter were side-tracked by what had happened earlier in the day, maybe I should focus on that first.
After school I went to meet up with Harry, not at the apartment but rather at the beach. "Dagobah Municipal Beach. God I love this country! It's run by nerds and it's great." Harry had been around when the Starwars films had been new, and was apparently a fan to this day. Honestly, they felt a bit dated to me but I held back from saying so to him.
I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being followed the whole way there, but glancing over my shoulder didn't reveal anything so the best I could do was just hurry. "Dresden-sensei!" I called out when I arrived at the beachfront.
"This again padawan? I told you to call me Harry!" he called back from his hiding spot. And he was right that he'd told me to call him Harry. Sometimes I forgot or slipped back into what I'd already learnt.
"Sorry, Harry." I replied before pausing, scanning to find him but I couldn't actually see him anywhere. "Um... where are you?" I called out jumping down from the beach walls onto one of the few patches of open sand.
"Where do you think I am?" he asked me. He sounded weird now that I was on the beach. His voice was muffled and echoing from every direction. When he spoke I was aware of a tingling sensation. I turned around to find him but the sensation stayed in the same position, like a compass pointing north.
"I think you're in front of me." I answered uncertainly.
There was a rippling in the air as Harry became visible. "Tell me, how'd you find me?"
"I could feel the magic keeping you hidden."
"That's... so unfair." he mumbled to himself while walking towards me. "You're not even six years old and you're already better attuned than I was at twenty." Although that sounded slightly resentful, I could also feel a tinge of admiration in his voice.
"Um, really?" I couldn't help but blurt out the stupid sounding question. Harry seemed incredible to me, but that's with centuries of experience. But then I suppose I have no idea what normal is for a wizard so...
"Oh yes! Honestly your progress is insane, most people didn't develop their power at all until they were going through..." he paused and seemed to think better of what he was going to say. "Nevermind, let's do what we planned on."
"Before that, can I ask you about something that happened at school today."
"Oh? Make a new friend? Meet a girl?" Harry asked me.
"A girl? No... why would you. Never mind" Keep on topic Izuku. "It happened when I looked straight into Kaachan's eyes."
He stopped moving for a moment, then slapped his face in an almost comically with the palm of his hand as something dawned on him. The action left the mark of his palm over his cheek and right eye. "I can't believe I forgot something so basic."
"You mean you know what happened?" I asked. I certainly hoped he did. I could still see the image from Kaachan in my mind's eye, and it was... pretty distracting.
"Yes, and I can't believe I forgot to tell you about it." And that's how I learnt of the soulgaze.
It turns out, the eyes are in fact the windows to the soul, and as a wizard, I can see souls. No seriously, when I lock eyes with someone, I get a snapshot of their soul ingrained into my mind's eye. It'll always be there as vivid as the first time I saw it.
This of course means I have to be careful not to look anyone in the eyes for too long, since I don't have any control over when it happens. Not to mention the other hazards.
Harry told me of his unintentional soulgaze with a crimeboss almost 300 years ago, one 'Gentleman' John Marcone, a rather famous (or rather infamous) character from Chicago. From that moment he had had a near perfect understanding of the man... but unfortunately so did the criminal Marcone of him.
They had spent their whole lives dancing around one another in confrontation, taking the role of both enemy and ally, never fully resolving their differences. This stalemate went on until... Marcone just died, not in a blaze of glory befitting his notoriety in life but just his mortality catching up to him.
I got the message: be careful about who I soulgaze with, because you never knew who might be looking in. Harry got lucky that Marcone was just some mundane, relatively harmless mortal. If it had been a demon it could have been much worse.
Oh yeah, this is when I learnt that demons are a thing, and from there we touched on the terrifying yet awe-inspiring truth that every creature of fairytale and myth, of legend and folk lore, well, they all exist – imagine!
We almost forgot to find something for me to use in my shielding charm, so engrossed were we in our conversation.
"We'll cover the creatures of the Nevernever later on. For now, we need to get back to work." By this time the sun had set and we only had the street lights to work by. "So, you're confident in your shield charm?"
I'd spent the whole time talking with him while carving the sigils and icons into the crude bracelet, all the while investing it with my energy exactly as Harry had taught. "Yes, so how are we going to test it?"
"I'm going to throw this softball at you." I must have looked wide-eyed and alarmed because Harry was quick to clarify. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna hit you, that kind of stuff comes later."
Well that wasn't reassuring at all, but he was confident so I should be too. I held up my days' work and channelled my will into it.
To my surprise, the effect was obvious. I appeared to be surrounded by a blue luminescent sphere, not quite opaque, but certainly clouded by solid patches of colour.
"Well at least you're not perfect, I'd feel pretty humble if ya got that right first try." I could just about hear Harry mumble to himself, then more loudly, "Nice work for your first try, now let's test it's effectiveness."
I felt my nervousness change to panic when Harry underhanded the ball and my shield instantly cracked like glass then shattered. And it wasn't just the shield, the charm became hot in my hands and I quickly dropped it as it started to glow with the heat.
"About what I expected for your first try." I heard Harry say as he approached.
"What did I do wrong?" I asked, eager to learn. Harry drilled this into me as i studied during the summer: keep studying, learn from failure and keep going.
"Take tomorrow off to think about it. We'll meet up at your house the day after to discuss it."
Think on it, that probably means he's mentioned something in our lessons earlier- "you're mumbling again." I must have been saying that aloud.
I covered my mouth in embarrassment at his remark, and never noticed the new pair of eyes on me and my teacher.
It was the next day that I discovered I was being watched at the beach. I was taken by surprise when Kacchan cornered me in the yard of the school. The other bullies, his sidekicks were nowhere to be seen and that was weird.
"Deku, that thing that happened yesterday… you have a quirk don't you?" It was more a statement of fact than a question.
I blinked, remembering vividly the soulgaze. "Yes" I admitted slowly, "I got it in the summer. On the day I stopped coming outside."
"What does it do? Is it just that… mind thing? I can still feel it like it's still happening, like a song stuck on repeat." He obviously felt uncomfortable from the experience. He looked into my eyes like before, but there was no chance of a repeat performance since a soulgaze can only be performed once by a wizard on the same person.
I felt unsure as to how much I should be telling him. "I'm not exactly sure, my quirk seems to do a lot of things, I spent the summer trying to learn and I still don't really get it…." I explained. I couldn't just tell him that I'm a wizard, not until I understood the extent of my power and what my magic can do.
He just stared hard at me, then pivoted the conversation to an altogether unexpected topic. "Who's the tall guy with the black jacket?"
My heart raced for a moment in near panic, until I remembered what Harry and I had agreed on a cover. "He's a friend of my Dad. His quirk is similar to mine and he's helping me figure out what it does."
"What's his quirk?" Why was Kacchan giving me the third degree? It wasn't the usual hostility - more curious.
"He calls it 'Magic', and it lets him do a bunch of things, like summon up fireballs or track people with bits of their hair."
He looked at me for a moment, then spoke. For a moment I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Cool quirk." He just complemented someone! "And, I'm sorry for what I put you through."
I felt like I was in the Twilight-Zone, (one of the few classics both Harry and I agree on). Where was this coming from? Then he continued.
"Look, I'm not very good at apologising, and we both know I can't really talk about my feelings. So can we put it behind us?" He held out his hand to me, and I almost cried.
"Okay" there was never any doubt, it's what All Might would do, it's what Harry would do. Forgive him.
"But now you have to tell me about your quirk, and about the things you learn." We were back to how we were before, talking about quirks and the heroes who used them. It's good to have my friend back.
Life after that conversation had grown much more enjoyable. When I told mum and Harry about it there had been a small party, which was enhanced enlivened by the addition of some creatures from Faerie, the little folk.
It turned out Harry was something called the 'Za-Overlord', and all of the little folk in the world owed him loyalty, so long as he continues to pay the tithe of pizza. And there was a lot of pizza in this little celebration. Those fairies were what eventually lead to the next topic; the Nevernever.
This was after about four months of training in the basics of magic. I talked with Kaachan more often, and eventually got around to explaining some of the things my 'quirk' could do. This then led into other things like costume design and hero names.
One day we talked as we walked beneath the safety of the flood barriers along the path that hugged the riverbank tightly on the way home from school to his house.
"The problem you have, Deku, is that your quirk relies a lot on the gear it can make. If you prepare you're great but if you're caught off guard you have a serious problem." Katsuki explained, after the most recent discussion about my quirk.
"That's the same problem Harry has, he reacts to problems instead of seeking them out like street heroes, and does investigation work on the side."
"If you can't keep up there's no chance you'll be able to keep up with me, let alone aim for the top." and that was what Katsuki always aimed for, the ultimate prize, being the number 1 hero like All Might.
I was about to respond when I noticed something pop its head out of the river, distracting my train of thought. It had a plate on its head, like a flat tortoise shell and wide, front facing eyes dominating its green face. I could see the beginnings of a beak not quite poking out if the water.
I stopped walking and stared at the… what was it – a person? No… I could sense something from it, a true metaphysical presence, like that fey creature that tried to abduct me, or my much more imposing teacher.
Luckily for me, I was prepared. Harry told me that I should learn about myth and folklore in my spare time, since all such creatures exist, or are likely to exist. I knew exactly what this thing was. I nudged Bakugou and pointed at the creature, "do you see that?"
He turned his head and must have caught a glimpse of the creature before it dived back into the shallow river. "What the hell was that?"
"I think it was a kappa." I said without hesitation, "it must have sensed something it liked… don't fall in the water."
"A kappa? You mean like those old stories about yokai?" I couldn't blame him for being sceptical, but he was someone who believed his own eyes. "Is this something to do with your quirk."
I looked at him, thinking about how best to explain. I soon settled on an answer. "Yes, here's the thing. All of the supernatural world, things like demons and yokai, they're all real."
"What?" Again, he was sceptical.
"Look…" this was difficult to explain, and I didn't like leaving out the truth to my friend. "It's difficult to explain properly, mostly because I'm not sure that I should."
I then had to preempt an explosive outburst by clarifying, "I mean that Harry is cautious about telling people. Look, I'm meeting him tomorrow, if I can convince him then I'll tell you everything."
Look, it's a long story, the path of reconciliation between me and Kaachan that is, and I'm trying to fit the next six years into this chapter of my life. With that in mind, I'm giving you the short version, I told Kaachan everything eventually.
Strangely enough, the thing he had a hard time with wasn't the existence of the magical world and all of the creatures of myth. His problem was that he didn't believe that I don't have a quirk, and that I was just a wizard. And honestly his argument was very compelling.
"What's the difference?" that one sentence stumped both me and Harry. As far as the world was concerned, being a wizard may as well be a quirk. That was how Harry was explaining away his own powers after all.
That of course didn't change the fact that the existence of the Nevernever and all of the folktales may be a bit much for most people to handle. In the end we adopted the stance that it's a problem to unravel later.
And so the years went by with Harry teaching me to control my expanding powers and to think like a wizard. I learnt about the power of a true name, and instantly became terrified. Anyone OR anything could easily gain access to my full name. I was only saved when mum assured me that I have my dad's middle names which didn't appear on any kind of document, you can imagine my relief.
Seriously, the ability to launch attacks at someone from anywhere in the world was quite terrifying.
Other things like wards and tracking came up, not to mention both summoning creatures from the Nevernever – and opening what Harry called 'a way' into the Nevernever.
The former of those two things seemed more trouble than it was worth; just summoning up a potentially dangerous creature in the hope that you can convince it to help you, no thanks!
Of course, Bakugou had a different opinion.
"If it doesn't want to comply, we can always beat the hell out of it!"
That just sounded like it would add problems rather than solve them to me. Then there was Harry's comments about the Nevernever, scaring me off of ever trying to open a Way.
"Honestly if I were you kid, I'd avoid opening a Way unless you know exactly what's on the other side. Careless wizards have died by opening a Way, then just falling into a pool of magma."
So a useful skill, but that warning drove the point home, no playing around with the Nevernever.
But all of this pales in comparison to my first ever brush with true danger, (Garfield not withstanding). It was in the fourth year of my training, I'd just turned 10 and Harry had to resolve some issue.
In other words it was just me and Bakugou.
By this point we were basically joined at the hip, and you would be hard pressed to ever tell that our friendship had once been broken.
We were on our way to get the new All Might poster (limited edition) along with the other merch. Being the completionist that I am, I had never missed out on one of these events and I wasn't going to start now.
Bakugou had taken little convincing to come along. And with only a minimum of muttering. "Damn Deku, threatening to expose my All Might collection to the school."
Very little convincing required. We were at the open-air Mall, the one near UA. It was absolutely packed and I was surprised that we weren't crushed in the tide of people.
"What's with the rush?" I heard Bakugou ask.
"Maybe they're all here for the event?"
"No way, we've been to a bunch of these and not once has it been this busy."
He wasn't wrong there, something was clearly happening. It was so distracting that I almost missed it.
Bakugou and I made our way to the edge of the crowd when I sensed something. It was similar to the fey creature I'd met all those years ago, but with a very different twist on it. It was so startling that I had to stop, causing Bakugou to bump into me.
"What the hell?" He grumbled.
"Something's here, weaving power." And it was everywhere, attracting people and keeping them here, like an invisible net.
It felt malicious. Without thinking, and against Harry's wishes I activated my Wizard's sight.
With my third eye open, the source of the magic of was obvious. Not 30 feet away was a creature, humanoid, but with red skin and a pair of horns protruding from its forehead.
It wasn't his physical features that my sight revealed – they were obvious to all. No, the thing that gave it away was the cloud of dark smoke that seeped from his enormous mane of white hair.
It was making its way away from us around the crowd, heading towards one of the narrow turn offs. "There, I see it."
I hurried off after it with Kacchan on my tail. I struggled to keep him in sight, having closed my third eye for safety. But he was nine feet tall and wearing a traditional yukata robe so not hard to keep track of.
"What is this guy?" I heard Kacchan ask me. He was neck and neck with me now as we separated from the crowd.
"He looks like an Oni." I fired back as we turned the corner to follow the creature.
"Like an ogre?"
"The same, a Japanese ogre."
We slowed down as the Oni did, keeping our distance.
Then I caught sight of what was in its hand. It was a carrier cage, like the ones used to transport pets. And I had a clear view into this one.
Inside was a fox - with 2 tails. Why would a creature from the Nevernever care about some animal? even if it has a quirk?
I flashed my third eye again and saw that it wasn't a true fox. Inside of that cage was a small, terrified child. Her eyes were full of tears and she was shivering. The cage must have enchantments on it.
"That's not a fox." I mutter to Bakugou as we walk calmly towards the oni. "She's a kitsune. A pup by the looks of it."
"Well she's in trouble, no matter how you look at it." Bakugou replied.
"We should go get a hero." I urged him.
"And tell them what? That an oni has kidnapped a fox?" He responded.
It was annoying that he was correct. From the normal hero's perspective he just looks like a guy with a hetermorphic quirk, with a quirked fox in a carrier.
Not exactly the height of criminal activity.
"We have to do it ourselves, since that teacher of yours ain't around."
I nodded and steeled myself, before remembering to cast a veil behind us. No need to seem like a vigilante. I wasn't very good with veils, relying on my power to overcharge it rather than have it be subtle.
Then I was caught by surprise when I turned back. The oni was looking right at us. I suddenly felt very small and weak.
"Why you following me Wiz… eh? Brats?" His voice sounded like the bass had been turned all the way up, far deeper than even something of his size had any right to be.
"You've got that girl in a cage." I said back, channeling my inner Harry and All Might.
"Let her go and we don't have ta get rough with ya." Bakugou added while letting off a few bursts from his hands.
"You brats have no idea what you're messing with. Leave and I won't grind your bones into dust." The more I listened to him, the more he sounded like some old Japanese aristocrat, a real life Samurai.
As the red man spoke he pulled out an enormous broadsword with teeth. A large heavy mass with jagged shards of metal poking out from its edge – one mean looking club!.
I reached to my belt where I kept my most recent rods, in my left hand I had my blasting rod. A pale imitation of Harry's, but it would have to do, while in my right was something of my own design. My striking rod.
"I'm afraid we can't do that villain, you've kidnapped someone. As future heroes we have to stop you." I know Harry always preached caution, but she's in trouble! I'm sure he'll forgive me.
"He! You mortals have changed so much since your powers emerged… you have grown arrogant with your talk of heroes. But tell me, how did you know I'm a creature of the beyond?"
That's odd. Almost everything from the Nevernever could sense my magical power so why couldn't he?
"None of your business." Kaachan replied. He was even faster on the uptake than me and he knew how often magical creatures came snooping around for me. No need to tip this one off if we can avoid it.
"Well I suppose the how does not matter. It is against the code to kill children without just cause, so I shall ask you one last time. Will you stand aside?"
"Not a chance." This time it was both me and Bakugou who spoke, our words perfectly in sync.
The oni set the cage down on the ground and stepped forward. "Brave, but foolish. I will remember your faces and take good care of you in the afterlife."
And like that the battle began. Bakugou launched himself to the right as I pointed my striking rod forward and channelled energy into it. "Voltaus!"
Don't laugh! When casting magic it's important to shield yourself from the energy in the incantation which means using words that don't come up in conversation, like nonsense words.
As I spoke a few small sparks leapt weakly from the tip of the rod, then my power surged out as a bolt of electricity of my finger shooting from the tip of the rod towards the oni.
To my surprise he made no attempt to move, simply allowing the attack to strike him. In fairness it was lightning, pretty difficult to dodge that. But he didn't even need to!
When I was sure it struck him the bolt arced down into the weapon he was casually dragging along the ground, leaving an inch deep trench in the concrete.
The sparks jumped down the weapon before earthing in the ground. "Ah, so that's-" the oni was cut off by Kaachan's attack, blasting him on the left side of his face.
My friend's cocky grin however was wiped from his face as the smoke cleared. Aside from a few singed hairs, Kaachan's attack had done nothing. Even his face had the same expression.
"So that's how you knew what I am. You are magi, one of the wise. Though not quite. Simply an apprentice, trying to imitate the master."
Suddenly I felt like I was going to die. I needed to do something and quickly before I was cut in two. "Duck!" I yelled out in an attempt to warn Bakugou, though I didn't need to. His combat instincts were better than mine and he had already dropped to the ground. I swiftly followed him just in time to feel a gust of wind as that jagged blade swung over my head.
I glanced up to the wall and saw a trench carved into the wall to my right. I couldn't feel any magic from that attack, so that was all done with brute strength alone! Guess that's what an Oni can do.
"Accelerus! This was one of my other spell ideas I got after trying the force spell I got from Harry. Unlike that spell, which launches a blast of concussive force, this one applies that force on me in a certain direction.
I used it to launch myself back upright from my prone position. But there was a problem, unlike my striking rod I wasn't nearly so confident in this power, and with good reason. My spell overbalanced me and I would have fallen on my back if not for Bakugou catching me having blasted himself off and back to me.
"I wanted to go after the cage, but he has this… presence. If I try to get past him I'll die." That was rare, Bakugou admitting his limitations. And he was right, I could feel a kind of pressure, like out of some anime. It made me want to run.
But then I'd be leaving that girl to whatever fate the oni had in store for her. No, save people with a fearless smile, just like All Might. "The problem is that we aren't developed far enough, your quirk's still too weak-"
"Deku…" He growled as I said that.
"-Oh come on, your blasts are tiny! And I'm still using training weapons, nothing I've invested power into."
We were literally children taking on a monster, we just didn't have enough power. The oni was back in his relaxed stance, with his weapon dragging on the floor.
"Do you wish to admit defeat?" He… taunted? The words were mocking but he said them with a conviction I didn't expect. "Sometimes caution is the better part of valour children. You are not bound by bushido, or the hero code. No one will think any less of you for retreating."
"You'd like that wouldn't you tusk face!" Bakugou spat contemptuously as he stepped to the side, his quirk popping off small explosions.
He turned and regarded Bakugou, then took his time looking between us. "Honestly yes, killing, or even just maiming children is frowned upon in the culture of Shin no Nihon. I can assure you both that harming either of you would be bad for everyone. Even more so for the one I am transporting."
"And why should we believe you?" I asked.
"On my honour as a Samurai of the Daimyo Yama Shura, you have my word that if you walk away no harm will come to either yourselves or the girl."
When he said that I paused, remembering one of my lessons. If a creature is willing to swear on their power, then that's as good as it gets. "Are you willing to swear on your power?"
"Yes." That was fast, almost like he was trying to hurry this along. And it was at this point I found out why.
"What the hell are you two doing here." The voice came from behind me and I knew exactly who it belonged to.
The oni looked over my head to see Harry walking up behind me, then took a step back. "Now you were what I was expecting. Tell me, do you often send your students to fight your battles?"
I wanted to snap at him, yell that Harry was a great Sensei, but I had this feeling that it was a bad idea. In less than a second, the Oni had gone from utterly confident to retreating. I guess that's just how far ahead Harry is, and from the tone in his voice he was annoyed. Not angry, just annoyed.
"As it happens, Gizagiza, I have no idea why my student is here, why either of these two are here. They can expect the smack-down of a life-time when we're done here." I didn't turn to meet Harry's gaze, even though I knew for a fact that he was glaring at my back. "Just hand over the Kitsune and be on your way."
I hadn't noticed it in the moment, but Harry had used the creature's true name when he addressed it. As soon as he did that, all of the confidence was gone, and it nearly dropped its sword. A true name grants enormous power to the person who knows it, and a master wizard could do untold damage.
"You would dishonour me by threatening me with my name. Face me like a warrior!" Gizagiza roared in anger.
"You're not worth my honour. I have no patience for anyone who kidnaps little girls." Harry responded with a steady, clam voice. "If it makes you feel any better, you can tell your daimyo that you were driven off by the winter knight."
Gizagiza just snarled and his hair erupted from his enormous mane, engulfing him. At first I prepared to dodge but it was clear he wasn't attacking. The mass of hair shrunk itself down, before it blew apart and small individual hairs blew away in an errant gust of wind. That was one of the more elaborate ways into the Nevernever I'd ever seen.
Without confirming that it was safe, I ran forward to where Gizagiza had left the cage. Without my third eye open she just looked like a fox with 2 tails, trapped and shivering. I reached for the latch when I felt something grab my jacket from behind. "What do you think you're doing! Stars and stones Izuku, you have no idea what kind of traps could be left on that thing."
Harry was angry, the angriest I'd ever seen him. He pulled me behind him while he knelt down and pulled out some of his tools. For a few moments there was silence. "You two are lucky the enchantment he put on the crowd was so strong, that veil wasn't particularly good." He darted at me.
I stayed silent. His criticism was well founded. Bakugou not so much, "We did the right thing, not backing down in the face of danger is part of being a hero." he had that defiant scowl on his face, the one that says he knows he's in the wrong, but won't admit it.
Harry just shot a glare over his shoulder, "You two aren't heroes yet. Just look at the damage he did with one swing! He could have smeared you two along the concrete easily! Then I would be the one who had to tell your parents how you died!"
He looked back to his work and nodded, picking up the cage and speaking into it. "Your dad was so worried, I'm going to let you out and we can go back to the shrine." his voice was calm now, without any kind of anger in it. And that explained why Gizagiza thought there was a wizard following him. Harry said he had a job to do and he didn't know when he'd be back - it must have been this. Then he opened the cage door and the fox rushed out, letting her tails sway wildly in the wind.
And, in a flash she changed her shape, and both Bakugou and I had to cover our eyes as a naked girl about our age appeared where the fox had stood. I heard Harry sweep his duster off and drape it over her shoulders. Then we looked back to her.
She was the quintessential foxgirl, with two large furry ears and in this case a pair of soft, fluffy, bushy tails each almost half as long as she was tall. She clutched the duster over her shoulders and sniffed as though she had just stopped crying. Her eyes were still red and the remnants of tears could still be seen streaking down her face.
"Thank you for saving me, kind sirs." she bowed her head as she thanked us. Her voice and tone were strange, and she spoke Japanese in a very old fashioned way.
"Don't mention it kid." Bakugou said while looking away.
"That's fine miss, it's just what a hero would have done." I also said. She looked up and into my eyes, forcing me to blink and look away to prevent an accidental soul-gaze.
Harry put his hand gently on her shoulder, "Let's go, all of us." and so we did. Harry lead us to a rental car and ushered us in. Bakugou and I in the back and the Kitsune in the front, both of her tails curled round and resting on her lap.
"Where we headed?" Bakugou asked. He was looking out of the window, balancing his head on the palm of his hand.
"Inari no wakai jinja." Harry said simply. "I think that's how you say it."
"Why are we going there?" I asked, I hadn't earnt about Kitsunes yet in my studies of the yokai.
"That's where I agreed to drop her off with her father."
I hadn't noticed Bakugou looking at the Kitsune for a moment, "The young Inari shrine? As in the Kami?" as soon as he said that she gasped awkwardly.
"That's the one kid. Her dad's some bigshot Samurai in the service of Inari." Harry explained.
The car was silent for almost half an hour. I was thinking about what Harry had and Gizagiza had said. Samurai, it clearly wasn't exactly like it was in feudal japan... and that could probably be attributed to the nature of the Nevernever.
The mortal belief in what something is has an effect on the actual thing in the Nevernever. And Japan's inundation with anime and manga has shaped what people think Yokai, and the Kami are. After all there was no such thing as a fox-girl in traditional Yokai lore, but Kitsunes were absolutely a thing.
But that fed right back into my thoughts: what exactly was a Samurai in this context? I'd ask Harry later. I had this feeling that the Kitsune would rather not talk about the Samurai, considering she had just been kidnapped by one.
Before long we were arriving at the shrine. It was one of the few places in Musutafu where the urban sprawl hadn't overtaken nature. All around the wooden structure were trees, packed together more densely than I'd ever seen. Above the path from the parking lot to the shrine were ten, evenly spaced Torii gates. I could feel the power flowing through this place and it was stunning.
"Stay within arm's reach of me boys, we're about to do something I'd normally have you avoid." Harry said as he helped the little Kitsune out of the car. The two of us silently did as commanded, then followed as we stepped through the first of the gates.
I felt the change immediately, behind me I could still see the car and the parking lot, but the very air around me thrummed with power. Even Bakugou felt something change as he started looking around everywhere. We all kept walking.
As we walked the distance between the gates seemed to grow, and the light of the sun seemed to dim, even though there was plenty of light left in the day. The forest deepened, and as I stepped through the ninth gate, I could see many pairs of glowing eyes, surrounded by shadows, each with a set of swaying tails.
"Where are we?" Bakugou whispered to me.
"I think this is the Nevernever." I replied in just as low a voice.
Ever since that kappa had shown itself to us all those years ago, we had discussed the Nevernever in as much detail as we could, given that we'd never actually been there. Now that we were here, it felt... like every other place I'd ever been to. We passed through the 10th gate, and as we did so the Kitsune rushed off and jumped into the arms and tails of another.
"Father!" She cried out with tears of joy as she leapt into the larger Kitsune's arms, and he gratefully received her, wrapping his nine tails protectively around her. Nine tails, he must be incredibly old and powerful.
"I'm so glad that you are safe Senko." he said as he squeezed her to his chest. "Don't you ever scare me like that again!"
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." her apologies disolved into sobs as he patted her head.
Eventually, the nine tailed kitsune lifted his head and spoke. "I thank you Wizard Dresden, for bringing my only daughter back to me."
"It was the least I could do, Kurama" Harry replied before reaching behind himself and pushing me and Bakugou forward. "But it wouldn't have been possible without the help of these two."
Kurama looked down to us, and his red eyes pierced into us. Not a soul gaze, but something close to it. His eyes lingered on me for a moment longer than my friend, and then he spoke. "And what are your names?"
We hesitated for a moment, then decided to just give our first names.
"I appreciate you're hiding your true names, so I won't pry further. Like your master I cannot thank you enough for helping to bring my daughter home."
"We were just doing what a hero is supposed to do." I said in answer. As I said it his grin widened.
"Well you have earned my gratitude, and that of the entire Fusashita clan." Bushy Tail clan? For some reason I expected something a little more imposing. "I will speak well of both of you to my Daimyo."
"If it please you Kurama, we must be going. I have to return these two to their parents." Harry said.
"Of course, stay safe wizard, stay safe heroes."
And that concluded, my first brush with... well, I'll call it hero work, even if I don't think that's what it really is, Supernatural Hero work. I don't think you need to hear about the scolding that Harry gave us after that, or the scolding that Mum and aunt Mitsuki gave the two of us – you can imagine both!. All I care to remember of it myself were the final words Harry said to me that day.
"I concede that If you two hadn't delayed him for that minuet that you did, he probably would have escaped. So good work."
It's nice to know I made a difference.
And so, time went on, and before I knew it, six years had passed since the best day of my life, and the day came when Harry had to leave. He was the Winter Knight after all, and it was a miracle that he was able to spare six whole years to train me.
Now he was leaving me with gifts and reading material. "If you absolutely need my help, summon me as you would any creature from the Nevernever." Of course that had a double meaning, since Harry had always stressed the need to avoid summoning anything from the Nevernever. "Oh, and I have one last gift."
"What is it?" I asked as he pushed his arm into... nothing? How did he do that? I never got to ask how he did that before he pulled out a skull. "This is Bob."
"Damn it Harry! I told you I hate staying in the dimensional space!" The skull spoke. I frowned and looked at it with my third eye. It was a... spirit? A Fey creature, and judging from its aura, a creature of winter.
"You can see out of it." Harry defended himself from the skull's verbal jab.
"But nobody can hear my amazing life-style commentary."
"That's only a problem to you Bob."
"A serious problem! A few more minutes and I would have gone insane!" Bob cried out in indignation, ignoring Harry's point completely.
"Well you're out of there now so stop complaining." Harry turned the skull so its little red glowing eyes were pointed at me. "This is-"
"Izuku Midoriya, that apprentice of yours that you wouldn't shut up about. What gives with taking this long to introduce me to him, and why couldn't you have picked a pretty girl for your new apprentice?" Bob cut him off.
Harry just sighed and ignored it, instead continuing on, "I'm not just introducing you to him, I'm palming you off on him."
"You mean-"
"I can't be here to advise him forever, so I need you to help him. Let's call this my final request, from me to you my friend." Harry almost sounded emotional.
"Oh, Harry. You really do consider me your friend, you're so sentimental. Of course, I'll help the boy."
"You're the best Bob." If I didn't know better, I'd say that Harry's emotion was excitement, like he couldn't wait to be free of Bob. Then he turned to me, "Bob's perhaps the most capable spirit of intellect in the world. He's older than I am and knows a lot more about the finer details of magic than any wizard I've ever known. He'll be able to help you now that I'm leaving."
Harry was about to step away when Bob made an 'eh-hem' noise, looking at Harry expectantly. "Oh, and you'll need these, just to keep him entertained." as he said that he started pulling paperback books from wherever he'd pulled the skull from.
"My books! Come to daddy!" Bob yelled as Harry set them down next to me. I looked at the one atop the pile. I still wasn't great with English but I could just about make out the title:
'Loose Lips Sink Ships'
"Um, what are these?" I asked Harry reaching for the book, only for Harry to put a hand on top.
"You shouldn't read these until you're older." Then he put down the last one. "These are Bob's paperbacks, I used to pay him with these."
"Some of the best smut I've ever read!" Bob helpfully chimed in... wait. Smut?
"Well, I'd best be off, Mab's expecting me back within the hour. Good luck kid, and tell your Mum I said goodbye. Oh, and say hi to your Dad for me!" that last one was over his shoulder as he stepped into his car. Say hi to my Dad... I'll do that, if he ever comes back! In all the time I've been training with Harry, not once has he come home! The only reason I don't think he's abandoned us is that Mum speaks to him every now and again.
"So, new boss, what's the plan? Got a hot date coming up?" Bob asked from his place on top of his paperbacks. And that's when it hit me, this guy was one of those people. "Say, this is Japan, has Miss Midnight been making any arrests recently?"
And so, my partnership with Bob the Skull began. Explaining him to Mum was hard, and explaining the books was even harder, considering she had an excellent grasp on the English language, and she knew exactly what was up. Luckily for me Bob's had my back, "Hellooo, mama Midoriya, I say it's-" I tuned out the rest of what he said, I didn't need to hear him making a pass at my Mum.
Which brings me to the last highlight of my time before UA. The day after Harry left, the school had a trip for all the first years. And you'll never guess where we went.
"It's been a while since we were last here, eh Deku?" Bakugou commented from behind me as we stared at the Torii gates. This was the same shrine that we left Senko at two years before. The first person both I and Kaachan saved.
"It sure has, I hope she's doing okay."
"She's fine! There's no way that Kurama guy's letting her out of his sight again." Kaachan replied. And he was right, I don't know how Gizagiza managed to kidnap her back then, but it certainly wouldn't happen twice.
The rest of the class by this point had already started making their way down the path, admiring the shrine temple and the scenery along the way. I don't think I did this place justice earlier, the lush nature aside, the temple was massive and beautiful, a wonder of traditional Japanese design. The two of us hurried to catch up with the class...
And that's when we walked right into it. From the first step into the second gate we stopped, noticing the same effect that we had last time. "Guess that means it wasn't a coincidence."
"Do not be alarmed, Izuku and Katsuki." The voice came from right in front of us. It was a man's voice, though there was a resonance to it that made it strange to listen to. Then from down the path came a Kitsune. This one wasn't in his humanoid form but rather a traditional fox form, with two additional tails that is.
"I welcome you back to the shrine, and apologise for the ruse in getting you here." The fox bowed its head and spoke again, "My name is Akaruime and my Daimyo has requested your presence."
Ruse in getting us here? That sounds dangerous, and Daimyo? Given where we were, that could only mean one thing.
"Inari wants to meet us?" Kaachan voiced my thoughts with his words.
"Indeed, young ones. Do not be alarmed, she has wished to speak to you, ever since you assisted her most valued samurai." That would be Kurama Akaruime's talking about.
"Do I have your word that no harm will come to us?" I asked. After all, when dealing with a creature from the Nevernever, its word is usually excellent.
"You have my word that no harm is intended upon you. But, of course, we will defend ourselves from attack." As he said that, the tips of his tail caught alight. Not with any normal flame, but the ghostly blue flame that kitsunes were said to be able to summon at will. "The laws of hospitality will be extended to you."
"That'll do, but what about the class?" I asked.
"You will be gone for no more than a few seconds, so Inari has willed it."
Oh, yeah. Inari is basically a god, not quite, she's a Kami which doesn't quite fit but still. The fact that she could so easily alter the flow of time within the Nevernever was extremely intimidating.
"Let's do it then. I was worried this trip was gonna be boring as shit." Bakugou said from beside me.
We followed the fox to the end of the path, and then into the temple. Except this was a temple in the Nevernever, so it was far more impressive than the one in the material world. The temple must have been a thousand feet high, and shaped like those pre-Meiji Pagodas. Although the light was like twilight here, I had no trouble seeing.
Along the path to the temple there were many Kitsunes, some in human form, others as foxes. There were kits playing and adults working. The ones in human shape had shrine clothing, straight out of the major temples. Though I was sure that some of the shrine 'maidens' were in fact very much not that.
"Please make sure to remove your shoes before entering." Akaruime said as we climbed up the stone steps to the temple. We complied, Bakugou didn't even put up an argument. Sometimes I forget that he's grown up learning this stuff with me, even if he was without the power of a wizard. His quirk was strong, and he could help me here in the supernatural world. He just viewed them as people from another country.
As soon as I stepped through the door a small bundle of fur and energy ploughed into me, nearly causing me to fall backward. "Izuku! I've missed you!" I recognised that voice, it was Senko. I was able to stabilize myself and look down into her face. She hadn't grown at all in the last two years, so I now had a few inches on her.
I heard Bakugou growl under his breath. Was... was he jealous? Senko also heard it and detached herself so she could grapple with him as well. "I missed you too Katsuki."
"It's good to see you Senko." I said while Kaachan tried half-heartedly to separate her from him. "Have you been well."
"Hmm, never better. Though I wish you had come to visit once in a while." She puffed out her cheeks and pouted and my god it was so adorable. "But you're here now and Lady Inari wants to see you!"
"About that Foxy, do you have any idea why she wants to see us?" Bakugou asked. Luckily Senko seemed to like her new Kaachan approved nickname so she responded with all the cheer I'd come to expect from her.
"I think it has something to do with my dad praising you two, talking about how he thinks you're going to be the next big heroes to come out of Japan, so naturally Inari is interested. Honestly all of the Kami might be interested."
All of the Kami might be interested? That sounds more like a hazard than a complement. It's never a good thing to have so many powerful entities interested in you. Harry's a walking case study in this.
"Miss Senko, we must move on without delay." oh yeah, I forgot Akaruime was here. Senko separated herself from Bakugou and bowed again to the two of us. "My apologies for delaying you. Please follow us, Lady Inari has been waiting."
As it turned out, Inari was on the top floor of the pagoda, and it took almost ten minutes of climbing the stairs to reach her. Not that I could tell from how easily and energetically the two kitsune's leapt up the steps. At the top there was a small landing and one of those old-style sliding doors.
Akaruime made a low howl, some kind of announcement I assumed. And as soon as he finished, I heard the voice.
It was beautiful, and melodic in a way and beyond my description. The closest comparison I could make... would be my mother's voice, when she comforted me during the worst time of my life. "Come in."
As the voice spoke, the door slid to the side revealing... an ordinary looking woman. She knelt on a pad with a low table in front of her, a tea set being attended to by a human form kitsune. To the left of the room as we entered I saw a face and set of tails I recognised. It was the dirty orange of Kurama.
He sat in a casual pose with an arm resting on his knee and his tails lazing around behind him as he sat. "Hello boys, it's good to see you again."
The two of us nodded to him and I spoke, "it's good to see you too Kurama."
"I hope my daughter didn't delay you for too long." He said as Senko knelt down next to him, her twin tails swaying from side to side in harmony as a smile graced her face.
"she was fine." Bakugou said while turning to look at the normal one in the room. He opened his mouth to speak but I interrupted him before he could say something less than diplomatic.
"We are honoured that you would wish to speak to us, Lady Inari." I bowed at the waist as I spoke. Trying to remember everything I could from our history classes, especially the customs of the time when Japan had daimyo ruling everything.
She just smiled at me and spoke. "What a polite young man, but you need not worry. I won't become upset if you don't follow the customs of old. I invited you here after all."
"How'd you do that anyway?" Bakugou asked.
"I'm a Kami, I have a lot of influence in the mortal world. A few inquiries and promises made, and your class had a trip to one of my shrines." She explained, her smile never leaving her face. "Now please sit, I want to know more about Japan's upcoming heroes."
As soon as she said that, I took note of the details in the room. There was a futon at the back, but across the walls were... posters. Hero posters, the whole All Might collection, as well as some others, Crimson Riot, even that brand-new hero Mirko, I didn't even know she had merch out yet.
"I, like most of the Kami have enjoyed keeping up to date with Japan and current events. Especially since the advent of heroes." The Kami were hero nerds? That... feels so wrong. "And I want to be able to tell Amaterasu that I met you in person. She'll be so jealous."
We sat down, and as soon as we did, we were inundated with questions: what were our quirks, who our favourite heroes were, why we want to be heroes. The sort of questions that heroes get asked all over the news. Through the whole conversation, I could feel Senko staring at me, it was especially intense when I explained that I am a Wizard now without a teacher, and I think I caught the edge of a smile on her lips.
"That's all very good to hear boys... now I have only one last question. Normally I wouldn't ask this of boys so young, but Kurama insisted it was a good idea, especially considering the rumblings from wider Shin no Nihon about you two. You especially Izuku." That sounded ominous.
Bakugou had a different thought though, "Just spit it out," Ever the blunt one.
"Would either of you be interested, in becoming Samurai in my care." There was stunned silence from the two of us. I was fairly certain my eyes had grown as wide as saucers.
"Samurai? Like that oni we fought?" Bakugou asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Exactly, though he serves Yama Shura, a daimyo far more belligerent than I." Inari explained.
"Why? I mean, if you don't mind me asking." I asked.
"Word of the world's newest wizard has started to spread across the Nevernever. A boy with green hair and eyes, along with his ashen companion." I could tell Bakugou didn't like how we were being ordered here. "You were at first under the protection of Wizard Dresden. A man with a legendary reputation and a just as legendary list of achievements to back it up."
"But Harry's gone now..." Ah, I get it now.
"Exactly, and while you may be strong for children your age, there are still things that will seek you out. That is unless you have the backing of a major faction in the Nevernever. A faction like mine."
"So it's to protect us?" Bakugou asked, a scowl now replacing his raised eyebrow. "Humans have been safe from the myths before now. And this is the age of heroes, do you think they, we, can't handle it?"
It was me who answered this one, "Kaachan... Think about it for a moment. What you're saying is true but I'm a unique prize remember, no-one with even a little talent has been born since quirks came around. No one until me, and remember what Harry said about my power, normally wizards are about 15 before finding out they have any kind of talent, but I have so much energy that it was leaking, and I could perform magic when I was 5."
"I get it, you're a prodigy."
"I'm a target." I corrected. Then turned to Inari, "What exactly do you expect from your Samurai?"
"Honestly, aside from the occasional request, not much. Shin no Nihon is at peace for the most part, so as long as you keep to the Hero Code, or the Code of Bushido, or well – as long as you don't do anything horrifying, I will call you samurai in my care." Well that was a casual response, but Harry warned me about this sort of thing, I needed specifics.
"So, I have no responsibilities to you, beyond the requests? That's a bit vague."
"Let me be honest, that business with the oni may not be the end of it." Now Inari looked me straight in the eye and I quickly averted my gaze. A creature as old and powerful as is likely to be dangerous to gaze at with my third eye, regardless of how benign she appears right now. "The oni have always been a little belligerent, and your interference with one of their samurai may have repercussions down the line. But I swear on my lands and wealth and name, that I will do everything in my power to aid you and shield you, if you become samurai in my care."
She swore on everything she has and is, that's a very good sign. "Oh, and I want the bragging rights of being the first Kami to have modern heroes in her court." So there was some selfishness in there too.
"What do we get out of being samurai, other than your protection I mean?" Bakugou asked.
"You get a Soul Katana." with a snap of her fingers, a pair of long curved katanas appeared, floating in the room between us. I couldn't see the blades themselves, being held in their sayas as they were. But I could sense that they had magic flowing through them. "These are weapons that all samurai wield. They are said to reflect the heart of their wielder, and take on aspects best suited for them." then as quickly as they had appeared, they vanished. "Katanas aside, you also have free range of my lands in Shin no Nihon."
"I'll do it." I said. Now Harry would say that this is needlessly reckless, just accepting a deal like this. But he himself admits that his experience with the Nevernever has always been poor, considering how the fey seem to thrive on screwing people over. Not so with the Yokai. I can't live on in fear of what could come, better to be prepared and face it head on.
"Tch... fine, I'll do it as well."
Inari smiled, and suddenly I felt a power rush into my body. It surrounded and embraced me. "Now one last thing, before I return you to your class." Inari pointed to where Senko knelt. "I believe young Senko has a request of you, Izuku."
I frowned curiously and turned to look at the girl. She blushed and averted her golden eyes for a moment. Then looked up at me, seeming to resolve herself. "Izuku... I have a request," then she blushed, realising that she had just repeated Inari. She shook off her nervousness and looked me in the eye. "I want to be your familiar."
I blinked for a moment, then I understood what she was asking. "Why do you want to bind yourself to me?"
"You saved me, and I, well I want to help you become the best wizard you can be. And also if I help you, you'll help me grow, and-" As she was speaking, she was speeding up and panicking, so I decided to take it easy on her.
"U-um, if you want to be my familiar, then I guess I'm okay with it." I'll just pretend I didn't notice the smirk that appeared on Kurama's face.
And that's how Senko wormed her way into my life. Of course, explaining her was difficult. In class I had her just take on her fox form, and said that it seemed to be a development of my wizard quirk. But Mum was harder to convince, so I told her everything, having Senko reveal herself.
As the middle school years passed, Senko became one of the family, and I tried my best to treat her like a little sister. All the while both Bakugou and I practiced and prepared, having access to Inari's domain was very helpful as it gave us a place to cut loose and push ourselves to our limits.
And soon the dream was upon us, the day of the UA High entrance exam.