Finally, a new chapter!
Sorry for the wait, I could have gotten this out earlier, but I got sidetracked from watching different animes.
I cross-posted this fic on AO3! I forgot to say that when I first posted the chapter, whoops. If for whatever reason you prefer reading on there, well now you can!
No warnings this time, so I hope you enjoy!
Normal Text - Story telling
"Hey there!" - Dialogue
I like cheese - Thoughts
"I will kill that bastard!" - Whispering and/or mumbling.
("That shirt looks ugly") - Small flashbacks and/or small comments
Chapter 04 - The Walk Outside
After Izuku and Yomikawa finished eating their lunch, the two discussed their plan for how they wanted to go about with finding esper abilities.
At first, Izuku wanted to just go out and find out about people's esper abilities, but Yomikawa quickly shot that down. For one, it was not clear who had an ability and who did not. If they happened to ask a Level 0, the reaction would likely be pretty disastrous.
And two, who goes around asking what abilities people had in the first place?
(Izuku let out a nervous laugh at this).
Thus, instead of deliberately finding Espers, Yomikawa would guide Izuku around the city to show him what it had. At the same time, they would watch for any possible situations where an esper would use their powers.
This was fine for Izuku. He would get a chance to see what the city held, while still having the opportunity to see the esper abilities.
Once they decided on a course of action, the two left the apartment and ventured out into the streets of Academy City.
Yomikawa apparently already had a whole route planned out. She would take him through some of the housing areas, then the shopping areas before finally going by the schools.
Most of the housing looked… surprisingly similar to his own world. From the outside, their appearance was similar to any normal apartment building or dorm complex. It seemed like something that could fit back in Mustafu.
Of course, that did not include the many wind turbines that were slotted between the buildings.
Right now, they were near the District 7 underground mall. They just finished looking at some of the other shops in the area, when Yomikawa suddenly pulled him towards a park. She explained that there was a large mall here and that she was curious if Izuku wanted to get anything.
The two were sitting on a nearby bench to take a small break from walking before they would enter the underground mall. Since it was mid-afternoon, there were a decent amount of people walking in and out of the stairwell that led down to the shopping area.
"T-This city is… really technologically advanced," Izuku commented after seeing a flurry of cleaning robots race by.
"Yup! I don't remember if I already said this, but Academy City's technology is speculated to be twenty to thirty years ahead of the rest of the world," Yomikawa explained. "No idea how that compares to where you're from, but it must be similar if you're surprised by all of this."
Izuku simply nodded without a response. He was too busy staring at the city around them.
I-If Hatsume was here… I fear for what could have happened.
A few minutes passed in silence between the two, before Yomikawa stood back up. She turned to Izuku with a grin on her face. "Ready to go check out what our shopping malls are like?"
"S-Sure!"
The two walked away from the bench and approached the stairwell. Izuku took a closer look at the stairwell, perhaps to see if there was anything special about a public staircase.
To his slight disappointment, it was just a normal stairwell. There was nothing special about it.
Well… what else would stairwells have?
They walked down the steps until they reached the bottom. In front of the stairwell was a large hallway with shops on the sides.
"Here we are! This is the District 7 Underground Shopping Center, Midoriya. I don't know how it compares to where you're from, but it's just like any other underground mall outside of Academy City."
There were many different shops visible, including a bakery, a convenience store and others that Izuku has never seen before. People stood in front of them, looking through the windows to decide whether the items inside interested them.
The pair walked through the large hallway while glancing at the stores next to them. Occasionally, they would see one that caught their interest and take a closer look at the items inside. But they didn't buy anything until they reached a supply store.
Why a supply store of all places? Simple: They sold notebooks.
When Izuku passed by the supply store, he stopped in place. They had a notebook shelf right by the window, showcasing "Academy City's #1 Rated Notebook!".
#1 Rated? What makes it any different from the others?
His curiosity, however, was piqued. He used a lot of notebooks back in his old world, thanks to his hero notes. Those ones were written down in general notebooks that one could find anywhere.
So, how did these ones compare?
"Interested in those notebooks?"
Izuku gave a slight jump when Yomikawa spoke from next to him. "N-No! I was just l-looking!"
She tilted her head slightly. "I don't know about that. I've seen that notebook inside your backpack. You probably want to compare that one to yours, don't you?"
Am I that obvious?
He let out a sigh of defeat. "Y-Yeah. I'm curious i-if it's any different."
"Well, let's go check it out. It's not like you've bought anything yet, so I have no problems getting one of those."
Izuku felt guilty about making Yomikawa use her money to buy something that he felt was not necessary, but he was slightly reassured by her saying it was no problem. He just had to make sure to not buy anything else.
The two walked inside the store and glanced at some of the supplies they were selling. There were shelves selling writing utensils, measuring devices and other items found in a supply store.
But Izuku gave them only a passing glance before reaching the notebook shelf.
On the shelf were different brands of notebooks that Izuku had never heard of before, but he was focused on the "#1 Rated" notebook. He looked over all of the different colors, before picking out one with an ordinary-looking blue cover. Plastered over the cover was the brand name, simply called "Number 1". A bit on the nose, but most notebooks in his world did the same. Was that as far as the ordinaryness went though?
He opened it up, expecting some normal paper after seeing the cover. Instead, when Izuku felt the paper, his eyes widened in surprise. It was a very high quality, higher than any paper found in his own world.
It was firm and hard to pull on, yet it felt like that it would be very easy to write on. It was such a foreign feeling that he had never felt on any other paper.
"Wow! This is really nice! I shouldn't need to worry about accidentally breaking the paper after I write too fast now!"
"Was that actually a problem you had?" Yomikawa overheard Izuku's mumbling and couldn't help but ask.
"Ack!" He jumped slightly. "D-Did I mumble t-that?"
"Mhm. Seems like that you have a habit of doing that. You've been mumbling about a lot of things ever since we left the apartment."
Izuku sighed. That was one habit he tried to get rid of, but progress was slow. It wouldn't bode very well for a fight if he just mumbled his plan to beat a villain out loud.
"Anyways, do you want to get that notebook? You've been feeling the pages for the past minute as if it's a brand new toy you just got," Yomikawa said in a teasing tone.
"W-What?! Was I seriously doing that?!" Izuku shrieked, dropping the notebook on the floor. Thankfully, the shriek was not very loud, so no one else noticed the sudden girlish scream coming from a boy.
A roar of laughter came out of Yomikawa's mouth. "Oh man, that reaction! Haven't laughed that hard since the drinks from three days ago!" Her back swung back as she laughed. "Whew… I really needed that."
"H-Huh?"
"Ah, sorry Midoriya. I just- pfft- couldn't help it. I didn't mean to laugh at you for that."
"Oh! N-No no, it's ok!" Izuku rapidly waved his arms back and forth. "I-It's nothing new for me." After all, that was his entire middle school experience, was it not?
Yomikawa suddenly sobered up. The way he said it brought some concerns to her mind, but she did not want to make Izuku feel uncomfortable by just randomly bringing up. Instead, she filed it away for later.
The two walked to the counter and bought the notebook. The person manning the counter was a little curious about why some of the pages seemed bent, but they chalked it up to the stocker being rough with it.
After that, they left the store and looked if there were any other stores that caught their eyes. There were a few clothing stores that Yomikawa dragged Izuku into, including one that was selling shirts of broccoli.
When he asked why she wanted him to have that shirt specifically, she let out a laugh.
"It fits you!"
"H-Huh?"
Despite his classmates often joking that his hair looked like broccoli, he just could not see it. Thanks to his obliviousness, the joke went right over his head.
Even so, Yomikawa insisted on it and Izuku decided to relent after a short argument. It was only broccoli, after all.
I wonder what she would say about my wardrobe back home…
Once they finished checking out the stores, the two decided to head back up to the surface. The mall was supposed to only be a short visit to purchase any new items for Izuku. No esper activities would occur inside a massive public place like that, so there was no reason to stick around longer than necessary.
On the surface, it looked mostly the same as it did when they first entered the shopping area. There were still people wandering around the entrance and exits, although there was a little less than there were earlier.
Yomikawa appeared to be in thought as they stepped off the stairs. "Hmm, I'm trying to think, but I don't think there was anywhere else shopping wise I wanted to show you…"
Izuku remained silent to let her think. He was not the one in charge.
"...Yeah, that's it. Let's head over to the schoo-"
An explosion suddenly rang out. Bewildered, Yomikawa and Izuku whirled their heads around to find the source of the noise. It did not take them very long to locate the culprit.
Across the street from the shopping center was a restaurant. He remembered passing by it earlier. At the time, it seemed like a nice small place to eat a quick lunch.
Now it was in smoke and flames.
Izuku's eyes widened in shock. Why would someone just blow up a restaurant like that?
Yomikawa was already running frantically towards the restaurant while pulling out a walkie talkie. Even though she was technically off-duty, there was no way she was going to use that as an excuse to do nothing to help.
"Stay there Midoriya!" she shouted back before Izuku could move to help her. This was a job for Anti-Skill, not for a boy who's still confused about where he is.
But… I guess… it's not my responsibility…
He desperately wanted to rush in and help, but if he was explicitly ordered to stand still by someone who was generous enough to let him live in her apartment, then what was he supposed to do?
No! I have to do something about this! Just like Yomikawa, he refused to stand still when something could be done. But before Izuku could move towards her, he noticed something in the corner of his eye.
Someone appeared to be sneaking away while carrying a bag of... something. Normally, Izuku wouldn't have worried about them, but because of Yomikawa's "order", he instead decided to pay more attention to the mystery person.
From a distance, all he could see was that they had brown hair and a red shirt. They seemed pretty normal at first glance.
After a few seconds of observation though, he could tell that something was off with the person.
Their walking speed seemed a bit… speedy, although that could have just been wanting to get away from the explosion. Still, his instincts were saying that the person was suspicious. It could not be explained.
Izuku glanced back at the restaurant, which now had a small crowd gathered around it. He could see the shape of Yomikawa running inside, before running back out while carrying someone.
She… seems to be doing alright. Besides, she doesn't want me to help her there, so my only choice is to check out that person.
He dropped his backpack and ran across the street, going in the same direction the mystery person went. Unfortunately, in the short time he glanced at Yomikawa, he lost track of the brown haired person. He was frantically searching for the person among the people on the sidewalk.
It didn't take him very long before Izuku spotted the person again, just as they abruptly turned into an alleyway. His suspicions increased when he witnessed that.
Who just walks into an alleyway like that?
Izuku walked up to the alleyway, but did not enter it. Instead, he hid off to the side while peeking his head in. People continued to walk by him as he did that, although a few of them gave him weird looks.
The alleyway was pretty dark, but he was still able to make out the form of the mysterious stranger. They walked further in, before stopping suddenly. The bag he held fell to the floor and the person crouched down to rummage through it.
Deciding it was safe enough, Izuku tip-toed his way into the alleyway, getting closer to the stranger. He didn't get very far before he began to hear words.
"...Yes… yes! I knew that his information would come in handy!" The person shouted with a masculine voice. "Maybe I'll finally get that promotion!"
Huh? He's acting suspicious, but it could be something else, right?
The man continued to rummage through the bag, until he suddenly cried out in victory. "It even has a Level Upper from a few weeks ago! With this, there's no way I won't be rejected for promotion now! Who would have thought that a restaurant would have one of these?!"
Nearly everything he said confused Izuku, but the one thing he said that he did understand confirmed his suspicions. Confident now, he made his move.
"Stop right there!" Izuku shouted. The man in front of him stiffened and turned around to face the green haired teen with a glare.
"Oi, who the hell are you? I'm busy here!"
"I heard what you said! Did you blow up the restaurant?!"
The man flinched, but his voice remained steady. "Of course I didn't! What kind of dumbass asks someone if they blew up something?"
Unfortunately for the man, Izuku was pretty good at reading body language. Hence, when he saw the body flinch, he became confident that he had the right guy.
"That's a lie! Why did you do it?!"
"Grr! Screw you! I'm sick of being disrespected by everyone!" The man abruptly stood up and threw out his arms. "You're probably some bastard Level 4 who thinks they can do no wrong! I'll show you that us lower levels can beat you up!"
Fire suddenly spewed out of his hands, raising the temperature of the alleyway around them. Sweat was already starting to drip off Izuku's forehead, but he simply wiped it off.
A fire ability? Just like Todoroki, huh?
Now that he thought about it, he and Shoto Todoroki never had a rematch after the sports festival. Izuku had a plan for how to deal with him if they ever did that rematch.
Right now though, he had an even simpler plan than that.
His thought process completed, Izuku abruptly charged up One For All at 8%. Green sparks quickly began to erupt off his body as he pointed his hand at the fire ability user.
For a second though, he got slightly worried about any collateral damage, but quickly dismissed it due to there being no flammable items in the alleyway. Aside from maybe the bag, but the man was blocking it in a way so that the flames would (hopefully) be blocked.
One For All: Delaware Smash Air Force!
Izuku raised One For All to 20% for just a second and flicked one of his fingers. A wind attack suddenly flew towards the fire user, blowing the flames backwards along with it. The man appeared shocked that his attack was fruitless.
"Oh come on! A stupid wind power? Screw that shit!"
The wind didn't last very long, so the man tried to use his flames again. But Izuku shot another wind attack, having the same result as last time.
G-Gah! I forgot that I'm not wearing my gloves! His attacks weren't as efficient as they normally would be, due to the lack of special gloves made by Hastume. In addition, his finger was becoming slightly bruised.
He wasn't going to give up though. It was only minor damage, nothing compared to the damage of a 100% smash.
"Give up! Those items aren't yours to keep! Just return everything and I'll let you go!" Izuku shouted.
The fire user let out an odd laugh. "Yeah right! I'm not falling for that bullshit! This is why I hate Level 4s so much!"
This guy has a serious grudge against Level 4 Espers. Why though? And why does he think I'm a Level 4?
"I'm not a Level 4! What did they even do to you?"
"Bullshit!" The guy shouted, completely sidestepping his question. "I've seen your type before, and they're all Level 4s! Nothing else! Screw you!"
...He sounds a bit crazy now…
The man grabbed his head with his hands. "That's right… it's all your fault! I hate you! My plan is ruined! Why must you all ruin everything?!"
Izuku remained silent, his arm still raised and pointed at the man. U-Uh… he technically hasn't been defeated yet, so why is he acting like it's all over? I-I mean, I hope it is, but it's weird!
"GRAHHHH!" He suddenly screamed into the sky. "All I wanted was to finally reach my rightful place! But you ruined it!"
The quirk user became defensive at the very strange accusations. "W-What do you mean? You're the one who broke into the restaurant! That's a crime!"
"Shut up! Just shut the fuck up! You think you can be a hero stopping the big evil villain?! Bad news kid: I'm the hero!"
W-What's with the sudden jump in conversation all of sudden?! This guy makes zero sense!
The man raised his arms up towards the sky. Small flames appeared on his palms, but were quickly starting to grow in size.
"I'LL KILL YOU WITH THIS!" The fire user cried out. Above him, the flames were merging together to make a large ball of fire. It was as if he was holding the sun in his hands.
If Izuku didn't do anything, he would be burnt to a crisp.
O-Oh crap! I can't let him fire (heh) that! He quickly estimated that the fireball would be too big for the alleyway to contain in about fifteen seconds. The man would likely throw it at him before that, maybe around… ten seconds.
Izuku, however, only needed three.
One For All was already activated from earlier, so all he needed to do was apply some force into his legs and...
Suddenly, he was right next to the fire user. His arm was reeled back in anticipation of his next move. Time seemed to slow down as the man's eyes widened in shock.
"HUH-"
The fire user barely got a word out before Izuku rammed his face with a 20% uppercut punch. The guy flew backwards and landed on the ground some distance away with a loud thump.
Why did he use a 20% punch instead of the standard 8%? Simple: wind pressure. There was a literal ball of flames above the flame person and it would not have just disappeared if Izuku punched him normally.
By using an uppercut, he was able to create a burst of wind that shot the fireball up into the sky. It flew up above the buildings before dispersing and falling apart.
G-Gah! T-That hurts…
While the effects of 20% One For All were nowhere near as body damaging as 100%, it still caused his entire arm to feel sore from its use. If he used 20% too much, it might eventually damage his body pretty badly.
The good news was that he wouldn't have to use it again anytime soon.
When Izuku moved his eyes to the fire user, he discovered that he was unconscious. It turned out that he accidentally knocked the fire user out.
He did not intend on doing that. But other villains he fought usually continued to remain standing even after doing that, so it skewed his perception of power.
He's not a supervillain though… he's just a small criminal. Sure, he did blow up a restaurant, but if no one died, then it shouldn't be a big deal, right?
Although, that did beg the question: Why did the fire ability user blow up the restaurant in the first place?
Izuku figured that part of the answer was likely in the bag in front of him. His prediction from earlier was correct: the man blocked the flames from reaching it, so it suffered little damage.
He reached for the bag and was prepared to check inside. Before he did though, he stopped himself. Was it ok for him to check inside a restaurant's private (probably) belongings?
I-I'll check on the esper guy first! Yeah, that sounds like a good idea!
The green haired teen moved away from the bag and walked to the unconscious form of the fire ability user. He checked his heart rate and looked over his body to see if there were any injuries. The only one he could find was his chin, which was bruising in the spot where it was punched.
That doesn't look very good… I guess I'll have to call someone about this. Wait, who do I call?!
Izuku wasn't sure if he should call the ambulance or Anti-Skill. Then again, he didn't know either of their numbers and he couldn't be certain that it was the same as they were in his world.
"This is Judgement!"
An unexpected third option joins the fray!
Izuku's head whirled around. He remembered that Yomikawa mentioned judgement very briefly while she was guiding him through the city. From the sounds of things, it seemed similar to Anti-Skill, except instead of adults, it was composed of espers.
Standing at the entrance of the alleyway was a girl with tawny hair tied into two pigtails by two red bows. She wasn't very tall and looked like someone who had just entered middle school. She appeared to be wearing some sort of uniform along with a green armband that displayed a shield along with white stripes.
"We've received eyewitness reports of a large fireball being fired from this alleyway. Please cease any resistance and submit to questioning!" She shouted, holding out her judgement band.
"A-Ah! Ok!" Izuku was startled, but he didn't do anything wrong, so there was no reason to resist, right?
The girl blinked. "Huh, that was easier than I expected." She lowered her arm and placed a hand on her hip. "Mind telling me what that was about?"
"O-Ok!" Relax Izuku, it's just a g-girl! Nothing to worry about! Pretend you're a hero explaining the incident to the police! "U-Umm… there was an e-explosion over at the restaurant nearby. As I was looking, I saw someone suspicious walking away with a bag. I followed them into this alleyway and fought them."
"...And this person? Where are they?"
Izuku turned around to look behind him. Thankfully, the fire ability user was still there lying knocked out.
"He's right there," he said, pointing at the body. "I accidentally punched him a little too hard, but he's just unconscious."
The girl narrowed her eyes. "So, that fireball was a result of you two fighting?"
That tone sounded kind of scary!
"Y-Yeah!" Izuku fidgeted his hands slightly. "The guy had a fire qu- ability. He tried to make a fireball and shoot it at me, but I kind of punched him first and launched it into the sky. O-Oh, speaking of that, can we get this guy an ambulance?"
"There should be one nearby already due to that explosion nearby. But you mentioned a bag though, right?"
Izuku nodded. "It's also behind me. I-I didn't check inside though."
"Alright. You'll still have to come with me, but it won't take very long." And suddenly, the girl disappeared from Izuku's eyes.
"E-Eh? W-Where did she go?"
"Right behind you."
"Gah!" Izuku jumped forwards and whipped his head around. The girl was carrying the bag in her hands and was standing over the fire ability user. She touched the man on the shoulder, before disappearing again. The bag and man also disappeared with her.
A-A teleporting esper? The scientist who kidnapped me did mention that, I think...
"I'm over here!" the girl called from the entrance of the alleyway. Izuku turned back towards her. "Let's go, we have some things to deal with."
He mentally shrugged to himself and walked towards the entrance. Though his mind was bursting with questions about the teleporting ability, he held them back. It wouldn't help him if he accidentally made a (semi) police officer mad, especially if they could teleport.
Back in the sunlight, there was a small crowd gathered around the alleyway. Izuku figured that they likely saw the fireball being fired from here, so they were curious about what happened.
"Midoriya?! What did I tell you?!"
A familiar shout came from the crowd. His heart dropped when a tall woman ran towards him with a furious expression. Her clothes were slightly burnt and her hair was disheveled, but that did nothing to stop Izuku's fear from rising.
"Y-Yomik-kawa? H-H-Hey…"
"I go deal with the restaurant situation and you just disappear!" Yomikawa shouted out. "When I finally returned and saw your backpack all alone, I was really worried! And then when I saw that fireball, I expected the worst!"
"..." Izuku dipped his head in shame. That's something he completely forgot about. Yomikawa was his caretaker for the time being, so if he ended up injured or worse… how would that make her feel?
"What were you-"
"Excuse me." The judgement girl suddenly cuts in. "Are you part of Anti-Skill?"
Yomikawa blinked in confusion and turned away from Izuku. "That's correct. Actually, I made the call for backup with the restaurant explosion nearby. You're part of Judgement, aren't you?"
"Yep. I was told by this person that there was someone suspicious involved in the incident. I haven't received the details completely though, so you might want to ask him."
Yomikawa turns back to Izuku with a raised eyebrow. "Huh, is that so?"
He gave a timid nod. "I-I.. er, f-followed someone w-who was walking away from the explosion. It turned out t-they stole a bag full of stuff from the restaurant." He pointed to the bag the judgement girl was carrying. "I didn't look inside though."
"And what makes you sure that they took it from the restaurant?"
"I o-overheard the guy talking to himself. He mentioned something called a 'Level Upper' and commented about a restaurant having one. S-So… I kind of ran in…"
Talking about it now, it just occurred to him that he may have overreacted. But the dots did connect, and it wasn't like the person denied it when confronted either.
Izuku didn't notice both Yomikawa and the judgement girl's eyes widening in surprise. The Level Upper was dealt with not that long ago, so they did not expect to hear the name again. They remained calm though by assuming that it was one that was never used or found.
"Well then, that was very reckless of you, Midoriya. But, good job nonetheless." Her expression had softened from earlier, though there was still a hint of anger on it.
"O-Oh!" Izuku was surprised at the praise from his caretaker. "I-I just did what you guys would have done."
"Heh, you remind me of someone I know. I can tell that you two act pretty similarly." Yomikawa turned back to the judgement girl. "I can take that bag over to the Anti-Skill station. I'm technically off-duty anyways, and you probably still have things to do."
"Yeah, that works for me." Right as she passed the bag, her phone suddenly rang. "Uiharu? What is it now?"
"..."
"Another situation? Got it!" And without another word, she disappeared.
"...So that's judgement…" Izuku was actually somewhat interested in them. It was like if those with a provisional hero license helped out the heroes everyday.
"We'll have a talk about what you did later." Yomikawa cut in. "For now, let's go get your backpack. Bet you don't want to lose the notebook you got, right?"
"Mhm." He nodded, before a sudden thought came to mind. "Wait, I didn't get to ask questions about the teleportation ability! Darn it!"
"Haha, you really want to know more about espers, don't you?" She said that with an amused expression. "I guess it makes sense after all, considering you've never seen them before."
"Y-Yeah." It was like he had to learn about quirks all over again.
"Well, if you see her again, maybe you'll get your chance to ask." Yomikawa jammed a thumb in the direction of the mall. "Let's go get your backpack now."
Thankfully, Izuku's backpack was still there. Everyone was too focused on the restaurant explosion to even think about stealing it.
Once he retrieved it, Yomikawa dragged him back to the apartment. When they arrived, they got into her car and drove to the Anti-Skill station. There, she dropped off the bag and gave some information about the restaurant explosion that she gathered.
The side adventure did not take very long, so the two returned to the apartment. There, he received a scolding for going off on his own, especially since he got into a fight.
"Right now, no getting into fights! It's one thing if it's self-defense or if someone's in danger, but that was not the case. You can't just go after people who look suspicious!"
Izuku nodded, although he felt like he heard this before. It took him a second to place the familiarness of the conversation.
Right… Chief Tsuragamae told us about vigilantism after the fight with Stain.
Vigilantism was illegal back in his world. So much so, that if it was not for the interference of the police force, he, Iida and Todoroki would have faced severe punishment. It likely would have put a bad mark on his future as a hero.
After the scolding however, Yomikawa let out a sigh. "Well… while I hate doing this, I do have to give you credit for taking them down. If what you said was true, then you have a good sense for these things."
"...W-Well, I did have training…" Izuku timidly explained.
"Right, you had a 'Hero license' or whatever it was called. Speaking of which-"
Before Yomikawa could continue, her cell phone suddenly rang. With a slightly exasperated expression, she pulled it out of her right pocket and answered the call.
"This is Yomikawa Aiho."
"..."
"Seriously? What the hell do you mean?"
"..."
She suddenly threw her left arm up in anger. "Today's supposed to be my day off! I only dealt with the restaurant because I was right there! And I was just over there too!"
"..."
"Oh come on! I have to look after this kid! You know, the one that came in earlier today."
"..."
"...Really? It's that serious?"
"..."
Yomikawa sighed. "Fine. I'll be there in a few." She ended the call and pocketed her phone. "Sorry Midoriya, but I have to head back to the station. Something relating to the restaurant explosion just popped up, and my superiors really need me."
"Ah, t-that's ok!"
Since they very recently just returned to the apartment, Yomikawa did not have to spend much time getting ready. Within a minute, she was already by the door and ready to head out.
"By the way Midoriya, no leaving this place. If you have any issues, try calling me." And before Izuku could protest, she was already out of the apartment.
"Oh..." His arm was outstretched towards the door, but she left so quickly that it was just uselessly hanging there now.
Well, he apparently could not leave now. For the time being, he was all alone in the apartment.
What to do… maybe I can write about that ability I saw earlier?
He was, of course, referencing the fire ability that the man he fought had. When bored, Izuku always tended to resort to taking notes about heroes and quirks.
He reached into his backpack and pulled out the new notebook that he just purchased. He opened it to the first page and prepared to write down all of the information his brain gathered from the fight.
One problem though: he had nothing to write with.
His eyes wandered across the room, looking for any pencils or pens that were laying around. It only took him a few seconds before he spotted a pencil sitting on the kitchen counter. That's convenient.
He put the notebook on the table and walked over to the counter. Observing the pencil, it looked like any normal pencil that he used back in his world, with yellow wood and a pink eraser.
W-Wait, why am I describing a pencil?
Shaking that thought out of his head, he grabbed the pencil and returned to the couch. He sat down and grabbed the notebook off the table.
At the top of the page, Izuku wrote "Fire Ability", before writing down a basic description of the power.
If this was his hero notebook, he would create a drawing of the person's hero costume and make notes on how it can be improved. But, well, this person was not a hero.
Besides, heroes (as a job) did not exist here. In addition, he could not recall what the person looked like, since he mostly saw them in the dark alleyway.
Even if he did remember though, Izuku would have been concerned about getting the details wrong. He preferred having the details as accurate as possible.
I-I'll think about that later.
Moving on, Izuku began thinking of theories on how such an ability worked. Unfortunately, due to a lack of information, he did not have a lot of information on the workings of espers.
With that thought, he decided to make a new page, whilst leaving the current one blank. This new page would be dedicated to any information about espers. It would admittedly be weird to not start with that page, but it was too late.
He placed the pencil on the page and began writing. At the same time, he began to rapidly mutter his thoughts out loud.
"Ok, what do I know? The majority of espers develop their powers by undergoing a curriculum. Will need to learn more about that. All espers have an ability rating, ranging from 0 to 5. I don't know how they determine that, maybe ask Yomikawa. Oh yeah, something about AIM fields. Note to self: do more research."
And… that was it. Izuku was severely uninformed when it came to espers.
...I really need to research more.
Night had fallen onto the technologically advanced city when Yomikawa finally returned to the apartment, looking very exhausted.
"Hey Midoriya. Sorry about being gone for so long. They had some serious business that I had to deal with. How's…"
She trailed off when she noticed what Izuku was doing. He was nose deep in his notebook, writing at a speed that very few could match. At the same time, he was mumbling so fast that she only barely made out the words.
"AIMfieldswhichstandsforaninvolluntarymovementareinvisibleenergyfieldsemittedfromanesper'sbodyandarethesourcesofanesper'sability. Byusing- AHHHHHH!". Izuku screamed when Yomikawa suddenly poked him on the shoulder. "O-Oh, it's just you…"
"Wow, you were mumbling up a storm just now. I'm honestly pretty impressed with that." She said that with a grin. "Have you eaten at all?"
"Huh? It hasn't been that long…" Izuku trailed off as he peered at his phone clock. "..."
H-How long was I researching for?!
Yomikawa laughed out loud. "I gotta say, your expressions are hilarious to watch. Anyways you're probably pretty hungry now, aren't you?"
Izuku numbly nodded, still staring at the clock in shock. He didn't think it would take that long to do all of that research!
Then again, I do recall mom scolding me for staying up really late...
While Yomikawa was cooking dinner, Izuku looked over what he wrote in his notebook.
"...Did I seriously already use a quarter of my notebook?"
That was the first thing he noticed when he turned his head down. It was the fastest he ever wrote that much content.
He gave himself a mental shrug and continued looking over his notes. They were extremely detailed and could have served as a guide to esper powers as a whole.
Well, a basic guide, of course. There were many details about them that could not be found on the internet with just a simple search, but Izuku did not know that.
Right as he closed the notebook in satisfaction (for now), Yomikawa called from the kitchen. "Midoriya, dinner's ready!"
"Got it!"
He got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen. There were two bowls of rice set out on the counter, one for each of them. Izuku grabbed one of the bowls and returned to the couch, since there was no kitchen table in the apartment. Shortly after, Yomikawa joined him on his side.
"Thanks for the food!"
The rice was not anything special, but it filled his stomach. He appreciated the cooking and was glad that Yomikawa did not say any other words on the fight from earlier. He assumed that she probably forgot about it after whatever she did at the Anti-Skill station.
Before long, the bowl was empty.
"That was good! T-Thank you for that Yomikawa!"
"Of course! I would be a pretty terrible host if I didn't feed you, right?"
Izuku stood up and put the bowl back on the counter. As he was walking back to the couch though, he let out a yawn.
Must be from… all of that research.
"Hmm, you're tired?" Yomikawa observed. "It's not that late though. Then again, today was a really long day for you."
"I-I guess…"
"Yeah, you sound really groggy all of sudden." She stood up. "I was going to talk a bit more about earlier, but I'd rather not have you falling asleep in the middle of my talking. Tomorrow, we'll do it"
"O-Ok…" Looks like she did not forget about it. "Good night."
Izuku walked away from the main room and into his bedroom. He changed into his new sleep clothes that they picked out earlier in the day.
He climbed into the bed and tried to recount the day. But he didn't get very far before he fell into a slumber.
Done!
Thank you everyone for 100 follows! I did not think we would get to this point this fast. It makes me glad that so many people want to see this story continue, despite the very inconsistent updates.
This chapter took a while to write, despite being shorter than 2 and 3 mainly because I got into watching Food Wars (really good anime!). Chapters will continue to have irregular releases I'm afraid. Anyways, onto the chapter itself.
One: Izuku gets a notebook! Frankly, it would have been a big shame if he did not get a notebook in the story. I hope that scene was written well enough, although describing the aboveground area was kind of hard because there are no pictures online (and I forget if it even showed up in any of the anime episodes). Still, hope you enjoyed that!
Next: The fight scene. I'll be honest, it's not very exciting in my opinion. It's not supposed to be a major fight, as the purpose was mainly to give Izuku a look at an esper ability (and maybe something else!). In addition, if the guy he is fighting against seems a bit irrational, that's because he was supposed to be irrational. The description of the guy wasn't really explained much, because the alleyway was dark.
After that, he meets Kuroko. Honestly, I'm not too proud of my characterization of her here, mainly because it just feels kind of OOC. In my defense though, I looked at clips from Railgun mainly and for the most part, she actually acts very serious. Thus, while it might be a bit OOC, I do not think it's not that bad.
I don't really have anything else to say about the remainder of the chapter, so let's move onto the reviews! (My response is not bolded this time).
phantomkage - That's spoilers for the future, so I won't say!
iVas - I don't know the age limit for espers myself, but Izuku is certainly within the age range for it. As for magic, again, a spoiler!
POKE47 - Yeah, when they interact eventually, it will be pretty interesting to see their reactions!
craytherlay - I can't remember seeing AC actually use those kinds of phones, but it's been a little while since I saw the anime, so you might be right. And for the light novels, don't worry. I only read the ones that I wanted to read (at some point, I might go over the ones I skipped, but not for a while)
Masterx01 - Yeah it is admittedly a bit half-assed, but I really could not think of much better. I kind of just wanted to get him into the world when I could. At some point in the future, I might revamp the whole MHA side of Chapter 1.
As for that specific line about him not holding much value in his life, I did delete that (I actually thought I changed it before posting Ch 3, but turns out I did not). I feel like the other line fits though, because Izuku would totally risk his life to save one person.
Medical technology-wise, I guess I can see where you're coming from. However, I personally think that the damage took place so long ago that it can't be fixed anymore (for the bones, you do have a point about the flesh though).
And yeah, I have a huge problem with exposition (my previous story faced a similar problem). I tried to improve that this chapter, which was partially why it took a bit longer.
blackberry1773 - Nah nah, it would be two separate diseases fighting for control. It would be a huge war over who is better.
ProjectIceman - You'll have to stick around to find out what happens!
bees be beein - Light novels? I read most of New Testament (I skipped NT1, NT7, NT11, and NT20-22 for now. I might read them later). For the ones I read, I mostly enjoyed them (NT2 was kind of a drag in my opinion, NT 12 and 19 were a bit meh for me). Personally, my favorite one was NT9.
As for My Hero, I'm completely caught up on the manga. Unlike with Index, which has a crap ton of side series, lore and stuff, MHA is a lot easier to follow the lore and what's going. For the most part, I'm more knowledgeable about MHA compared to Index.
cagrijan1904 - I tried my best to reduce it here. As it goes on though, his stuttering will get less frequent.
Ylnadiir - I watched the anime up until the WWIII arc. I read New testament. At some point, I will likely read the light novels for most of the Season 3 arcs, considering how I had zero idea what was going on in the anime
And that's all I have! Before I go, please do not ask me to update the story, as that will literally do nothing to help me update. And don't insult others in the review section, of course.
See you whenever the next chapter gets released!
