Chapter 3: Genetic Journals
It wasn't until Friday morning that Izuku finally garnered the unwanted attention of his school's faculty, for better or worse. Why? A sudden influx of straight "A"s on an elementary school report card would make anyone suspicious, especially if the person in question was the supposedly quirkless Izuku.
Papers with the messy scrawl of the elementary school student in question were strewn about the table, each coming from not only tests, but also homework assignments and the like.
Nothing about this sudden outcome made sense and the teachers made it their goal, no, their mission to crack the code as to why this happened.
"How is Midoriya doing so well now? Is he using one of the students to help him study or something?" One of the teachers commented.
Another one asked, "What if that thing on his wrist is some sort of special small computer?" This argument was shot down by, "I never heard of a support item like that, last I checked anyway."
A seemingly endless stream of questions of this caliber buzzed around in the confines of the faculty lounge. Unstoppable, that is, until one voice cried out, "If he's doing so well, let me ask him about it." Everyone turned their heads towards the one who spoke up, namely the substitute teacher.
"Someina? But you're a substitute. How do we know you won't slip up?" A portly middle-aged man asked.
"Uh, no offense, but we don't usually let substitute teachers look into this kind of thing." Another one of the teachers says bluntly.
A gentle chuckle came from Taro, who simply replied, "You're supposed to be the one teaching science, don't you remember the method of getting answers, bud?"
A stunned look was what the balding, bulbous skeptic could muster as he stood with his mouth agape.
"Figures, just let me talk to the kid and I'll get the answers you desperately need to know. It's so simple, even someone like you could do it, big guy." Someina stated as he walked out the door with a smug grin.
Another teacher, a woman, asked, "Wait, what are you gonna do?" "My job." Was all that could be said before he walked out the door.
During their squabble, Taro was the only one to notice a rather peculiar piece of paper, the back littered with a multitude of unfathomable questions and equations. And what was the name of this astounding discovery, you may ask? "The Explanation on What Happened to Me, by Izuku Midoriya."
Why did Izuku write that atop his handiwork, you may ask? It was his hope that someone could at least understand who left behind such advanced mathematics or maybe help him somehow grasp the questions he couldn't solve alone.
The saddest thing was that such a compilation was left unfinished and thus unsolved. Mr. Someina planned to rectify this the only way he knew how.
"Mr. Midoriya, could you step out into the hall, please?" He asked, opening the door to his student's classroom just a crack.
A choir of "ooh"s echoed through the class, no doubt from misunderstanding. "Jeez, Deku, what did you do?" One of the students asked. "Probably gonna get a lecture from all the scores he's gotten lately." Another one replied.
Before anyone else could throw another accusation on the table, Mr. Someina groaned and stated to his class, "I just wanna talk to Izuku about something, kids, calm down." The class immediately settled down after hearing Someina's words. Amazing what the authority of a teacher can do, isn't it?
Anyway, the young boy was understandably anxious like his classmates about why he was sent out to the hall. "Mr. Someina, what's this about?" he asked.
Reaching into his coat pocket, the substitute pulled out a rather interesting piece of paper. "Oh man, I did that bad on last week's pop quiz?" Izuku asked, before realizing who's sloppy handwriting it actually was.
"Poor Kacchan", he remarked, which then got Taro realizing, "Oops, dug into the wrong pocket." Digging around, he finally found the paper in question in his back pocket.
A rather embarrassed, but still determined, Someina then started his investigation. His opening statement was as such, "Okay, champ, mind telling me why this was on the back of your worksheet? Not a lot of kids in that class could even begin to grasp the math that was poured into it, not without some pretty lengthy and pricey tutoring anyway."
Finding himself in a tight pinch, but with someone that seemed trustworthy, Izuku came clean. Besides, the truth was much better for his record than detention, after school work, or worst of all: the dreaded phone call to his parents!
"Well, it started a few weeks ago", Izuku began. "Yeah?" Taro asked, asking him to continue, focusing his attention on the young Midoriya.
"I found this...thing that landed in my backyard. It could've been anything, really, but I wanted to make sure it was okay." The little boy continued, with the listening teacher beginning to really listen to the student beside him. A little bug-eyed, he motioned to Izuku, begging him to continue.
"Before I knew it, the thing jumped at me and landed on my arm. Kinda looked like a watch, a really fancy one too." Izuku stated, kinda hesitant to continue, having seen Someina keen on learning the truth.
Noticing Izuku's reluctance, Taro then told him, "Look, all the teachers here are worried about you, kid, myself included. We just want to understand why you're suddenly so good at all your classes, OK?"
Breathing in deeply, Izuku then answered, "This watch turned me into all kinds of weirdos. Last night I turned into this fish man by accident, I'm kinda glad I was in the tub when it happened."
Laughing a little, Taro then asked, "Which one of those guys made you so good at math then?" Coming in closer, Izuku whispered, "Some tiny frog thing, kinda grey, makes me pretty smart though."
"Could you show me?" Intrigued, Taro gently tried to persuade the young boy into shifting forms. Figuring it couldn't hurt, Izuku pressed a button on the watch, ready to transform.
Blushing again, Izuku hesitated. "Now what's up?" Mr. Someina asked, only to be retorted with, "I can't do it while you watch, if you'll pardon the pun, sir."
Nodding, the substitute chuckled a bit as he granted the little guy's request (his words, not mine). In no time flat, standing in the spot young Midoriya once stood was a familiar little frogman.
He then stated to Taro, "Now then, you can now grasp what I went through on a surface level. The question still remains, however, on the full details of this metamorphosis."
Putting the six-inch tall amphibian in a safe spot, namely a nearby desk, the substitute then placed the piece of paper in question near his student.
"Okay, kid, finish the equation." He said reassuringly. With a nod of assurance, young Midoriya soon got to work, even if it was kind of hard to grip the pencil now that he was at least six inches tall.
In a few minutes, three to be precise, the small genius finished at last. "Alright, we have the who, the what, and the how. The only things left are where and why." Taro explained.
"I finish my assignments at home like the others, the actual hard part is to explain the process to my human self before I change back," Izuku stated.
To a degree, Taro agreed, kids might be smarter than they seem, but they don't always grasp what's in front of them. "Well, aren't you just a regular Flowers for Algernon," he remarked.
Sending the young boy back to class, after he changed back into his regular self, of course, Mr. Someina and Izuku went to the teacher's lounge, thankfully easing the minds of the faculty with the confession Izuku gave.
However, Taro kept the equation away from his fellow teachers, dead set on proving himself right about something.
During breaks, he read the conglomeration of numbers and equations up and down until he thoroughly memorized them.
When he began searching for a similar equation online, Taro realized a key component: the beginning numbers were actually the formula for Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine, and Guanine. Why is that relevant? Because those are the building blocks for DNA, that's why!
Anyway, that wasn't it, however, as the rest of the equation soon showed Taro what exactly happens to DNA according to Izuku, the DNA for himself becomes reconfigured into that of other lifeforms, and ones not from Earth that the kid could recognize.
Mr. Someina, however, did and he knew exactly what to do. Grabbing the phone, he made a rather urgent and very important call that afternoon.
"Hello, Inko Midoriya speaking." The recipient replied. After a lengthy amount of time, for a ten-year-old anyway, Mrs. Midoriya told Izuku, "Honey, it's from the school, one of your teachers wants to talk!"
Carefully grabbing the phone from his mother, Izuku began to listen to Mr. Someina as he discussed his findings. " You know your little wrist thing makes you into guys with Quirks, right?" He asked.
"Yes, sir," Izuku replied, followed by Taro explaining, " I did some digging and found out something very interesting."
"What do you mean?" The kid inquired. " After almost an entire hour crunching those numbers you showed me this morning, it turns out your little super toy doesn't just alter your genes to give you powers, it makes you into something else entirely."
Izuku froze for a second, bracing himself for what his substitute teacher was going to say next. "Look, it's not my place to tell my students how to run their lives outside the classroom, but you should probably get me some more data on this watch thing you're wearing." Mr. Someina explained.
Before Izuku could reply, his teacher advised him, " If anybody asks, tell them it's for a school project this summer. I heard about your little habit with journals from the other teachers, they'll understand."
Figuring he had no other choice, and because he wanted to have fun this summer while also learning more about his new device, Izuku simply told his teacher, "Okay, I'll do my best sir."
Chuckling at the statement made by the spunky ten-year-old, Taro told Izuku, " Go beyond on that assignment, kid, Plus Ultra!"
Both sides hung up the phone, knowing the die had been cast. Izuku grabbed a freshly opened journal and wrote "Summer Project: Genetics Journal" on the brightly colored cover, as well as the symbol his watch had.
Taro Someina, meanwhile, simply dialed another number on the phone. "Hey, it's me." He told the other line. After almost getting his ear ruptured by his friend's excessive shouting, the substitute calmly stated, "Yeah, yeah, I should've called before, but I'm sure of it this time."
Opening a new app, Taro was in command of a few little robots, each resembling a relatively harmless and unnoticeable animal, but looked more like a menacing theme park animatronic. All of them, however, was built for a singular purpose: monitoring. Monitor what, or who in this case, you may ask?
A certain kid, of course. Inputting the available data he had on his target, Mr.Someina had him sighted under his nose.
With a constant eye now firmly placed on the young Midoriya, all Taro could say, unintentionally in unison with his student, "This is going to be fun."