Peach knocked on her niece's door. "Eiko, come on out! Eita is already eating pancakes downstairs!" The girl didn't answer. She's been in such a secluded state at home for the past few days. "I get that you have a better love life than me, but at least talk about it with your aunt during breakfast!" Still no answer. "If you don't open up within the next five seconds I'm kicking down the door!"
Seeing no response, she went and grabbed her trusty tool, an umbrella, and proceeded to hit the door hard enough to break the hinges, and found … the girl working on a massive shrine with headphones. "Oh yeah, my heart is unbreakable, gonna get my desire cause that's my goal." She spoke along with lyrics Peach couldn't hear.
"EIKO!" She shouted, lightly bonking the girl on her head, finally getting her attention. "What's all this? Your shrine wasn't nearly as big the last time I saw it."
"Well I need to make it bigger, I'm Nakama now!" She shouted with a wide smile.
"... A what?"
"Nakama! It's the next step after friendship!" Eiko exclaimed. "Izu explained it to all of us a while ago. He sees us as family, so not only have I gotten closer to him, I'm on equal ground with that hussy Clara! The song worked better than I could've ever imagined!" Yes, but you know what else would work better? Sleep. "So now I'm working on my shrine here, and the 'closer to Ameri plan' there." She pointed to a giant board that Peach somehow missed, multiple strings and plans attached for even the most absurd of situations.
"If you get a lead on the six fingers you're not going to investigate with her, you talk with authorities about it." Peach scolded.
"I know, but Ameri-chan is the daughter of the head of Demon Border control, so by telling her, she'll tell him, and if by coincidence the opportunity to ask her to join her and Izu's reading sessions comes up, who am I to deny the chance?"
"Coincidence, uh huh." She had to give props for the dedication at the very least. "You're not going to slow down till you marry the boy, aren't you?"
"Not in the slightest!" She nodded. Right, of course.
"At least get breakfast before you go to school." She argued.
"Right, that reminds me! Can you show me how to make cake? I know that's what you did with Mario, and I would've asked Mamadoriya, but she laughed hysterically for ten minutes and forgot I was on the other end of the phone."
"Maybe when you have a grandkid."
"But that's-"
"Oh well, off you go." Peach gently began pulling on the girl, even her old insane life wasn't worth dealing with THAT mess. At the very least Eiko was insane enough to accept the insanity as normal.
Gaako groaned as she walked into the hall, her size making the pot of hot oatmeal above her head miss and hit the wall. Pure instinct drove her sleep deprived self through the dining room and to her usual seat. "Morning." She lazily spoke.
"MORNING SIS!" Junior shouted, annoying as always.
"Hey Gakky!" Larry, her blue haired mohawk brother waved. "Still pegging that boy toy of yours?"
"For the love of devi-we don't go that far." She shouted, already planning ways to murder them all.
"Why not, too afraid you'll enjoy his screams too much?" Wendy, her only sister teased. "You're already the dom, why not go all the way with it?"
"You little shi...you're like ten! Don't talk about stuff like this!" Don't jump on their heads and make them retreat into their shells, they're not worth it.
"At least I've managed to keep a guy longer than you." The girl laughed in a way that made her want to strangle the bitch, only to be cut off as Iggy and Lemmy shot food in her face. "You bastards, interrupt me again and I'll bring out the forks!"
"I didn't do it!" The rainbow haired twins said at the same time. "No, I didn't do it! It was you! Stop it! Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers! Damn it! How are you so good at this!" They always seemed to talk at the same time no matter what the topic was. The family was pretty sure they were cursed in some way.
"Bah, you losers just keep it out of my hair. I'm hanging out with the gang tonight, guys night party all the way." Roy spoke like a jackass, messing with non-existent hair.
"You mean that group of delinquents you sully the family name with everytime you raid a candy store?" Ludwig Von spoke in that snobby voice he always tried to pull. "Have some dignity every once in a while. You'll be stuck at Aleph(1) forever once you attend Bablys."
"Ranks are bullshit, it's about the power you have outside of them that counts."
"Sounds like the words of an ambitionless bum to me." Ludwig snorted.
"Guys, shut up, I'm trying to eat here! You're arguing ruins the flavor!" Morton Jr was stuffing his face with everything he could see on the table. They had no idea why he insisted on adding Jr to the end of his name. "Stuff like this is why we failed to steal that giant cake!"
"That's just because of the bastard who keeps getting in our way!" Larry growled out. "We'll get it next time though, just you wait." Could you shut up for five minutes, it was hard enough listening to this bullshit with Dad's booming voice … Wait, where was the voice?
She turned, noticing the main seat was empty. "Where's dad?" She asked curiously, he rarely missed a family meal.
"HE SAID HE WAS SUPER BUSY TODAY SO HE LEFT AFTER MAKING BREAKFAST, WHAT, SAD HE COULDN'T BE HERE TO ENJOY HIS MUSIC FESTIVAL GIRL?" Junior spoke condescendingly.
"Heck no, I'm just not used to the table being five times less quiet than normal." She'd revel in the relative silence if she didn't need to hurry. "Well, you little bastards, enjoy your day, I'm heading out with my Nakama." Thank you Izuku for giving her a more tolerable and loving family.
"Just cause you're the only one in Babyls doesn't mean you get to use all the big fancy words!" Ludwig shouted.
"Uh, I'm Dalet(4) now, and the oldest one here, I can say whatever the hell I want. Now I'm going to leave before I throw you all down the pipe."
Azz had no idea what he was walking into, and quickly regretted it as Clara shot her mouth off once they entered the classroom. "Nakama, we are Nakama, Nakama Party!"
"What the heck are you saying? You're making less sense than usual." Lied asked.
"The Calamity Cult is now Nakama!" She shouted loudly, as everyone turned to stare at Azz, waiting for his explanation. He's become far too used to answering them.
"Nakama is a stronger form of friendship." Now they were all looking horrified.
"There's a type of danger stronger than friendship!?" Jazz said, sweating across his forehead. "You can get more chaotic!?"
"You doubted they could get more chaotic?" Gaako asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I must enter this Nakamaship, evolve myself beyond the magic of friendship! I shall become a demi god of CHAOS!" Were they responsible for Schieder's descent into madness? He didn't recall anything specific they did to him to cause it.
"No, you can't! It's a special position that's reserved for only five people at a time!" Eiko fibbed. "Besides, we've been his friends the longest out of any of you! We've earned our title!"
"Didn't I get it right before we had to deal with exams?" Kerori asked. "I feel that might make me Nakama with someone."
"And I've been his friend since the flying race. Clearly the future Demon King deserves such a title!" Sabro always had to tie it back to that.
"No no, Izuku-Kins is going to be Demon King, and we're going to cause the most chaos!" Clara went on to make the situation even more complex.
"Hey, I've caused plenty of chaos! Do you know how serious my games can get! I'm his partner in heroism after all." Lied bragged.
"Ah, aren't you his sidekick?" Kaumi asked, and was met with a kick to the face by Lied. "You know what, point taken. You deserve it."
It was then that the honor student walked into the room. "Hey guys, what's the commotion?"
"How can you cause so much chaos as a Nakama, are you just crazy delusional?" Purson was a very annoying person when they rattled on.
"Okay, gonna put a stop to it here. Friends aren't people that cause chaos. They're just people that hang around with each other, have fun, and can talk with one another." The class was quiet at his explanation.
"That makes so much sense." Goemon spoke up.
"So you're not a complete lunatic, just a mild one." Lied agreed.
"Yes! Finally, someone sees the truth." Izuku didn't even argue about that.
"Why didn't you say anything Azz, you had us all misled for the whole year." … He didn't answer Andro. "Azz, you okay?"
"Azz isn't here right now …" Alice had some morons to disintegrate. "I shall cleanse the netherworld of your stupidity! DIE!DIEDIEDIE!"
The room was covered with scorch marks, ice, and extinguishing goo you get from safety equipment. "Azz, are you good now?" Izuku asked the man, whose body aside from his head was encased in a block of black ice. Jazz himself was shivering just from being close to it
"Yes, I believe I'm calmer now. Just a bit of stress I built up … I have to say this stuff is really durable, it took a lot to melt through it." He really was calm if that was his main concern.
"Yeah, just don't go to the Wicked Phase again. I can only use this curse about once or twice a month at best." Kerori was being fanned by Kaumi from her seat, steam visible from the other side of the room. "So all this time it was Asmodeus's fault for creating the Calamity Cult."
"…" Asmodeus would likely have snapped again if it wasn't for Gaako petting the boy.
"All I believed in … was it a lie?" Schneider asked, falling to the floor with a broken pentagram.
"Not really, I mean, we don't seek to cause chaos, but the magic of friendship is actually a real concept, oddly enough." Izuku explained. "Just helping someone out 'just because' is powerful in itself. I mean, we're all Dalet(4) or higher now because of it."
"You're not wrong, the power of Friends is truly incredible, and it seems you have surpassed even my goal of one hundred allies." Goemon bowed in a way that signified respect.
Jazz's brain suddenly recalled something from the first semester. "So all it takes to be friends is to get along with each other?" The not-really Calamity Cult answered by nodding. "I guess that's why Deku called all of us friends. Technically, we've been friends since the start of the school year."
"Kinda anti climatic in all honesty." Lied complained. "The only person that wasn't our friend until recently is Soi, and that guy is almost as much of an asshole as Asmodeus."
"I'm not an asshole, I'm just quiet and like to keep my thoughts to myself until the right time comes along. And seriously Asmodeus, why'd you have to lie like that? I was afraid of being Izuku's friend because I assumed I needed to cause chaos to hang around everyone else."
"Spite. Then I tried correcting it and kept getting interrupted… mostly from him." The pink haired boy glared at Sabro.
"Oh, that's why thou kept hitting me. Thou's still a douche, you know that." Sabro rolled his eyes."But enough of that, what's the deal with Nakama? How does one go about to earn such a title?"
"Oh, well it's an extension of friends. Basically they're the people you trust above everyone else, and while friends care for each other, Nakama are the friends you see as family." Izuku explained.
"Oh, so aren't we already Nakama?" Everyone was silent at Lied's thoughts. "Jazz and Elizabetta are older reliable siblings."
"Oh come on now." He blushed, looking away.
"Oh, I haven't given much thought about it, but Izuku does need an older sister to teach him about romance." Elzabetta was pretty dedicated to that. It was a nice change from her occasional flirting, not that he had any complaints about that either.
"Izuku and Clara are the reckless younger siblings." Lied continued.
"I'm not that bad." No one believed that.
"Azz is the douchey older sibling that acts like he doesn't care about people and Gaako's kinda like that cousin who you're not particularly close to but don't hate either."
"Screw off." They spoke in perfect union, truly a couple in its finest.
"Picero and Soi are the silent guys in the corner who watch over us without us knowing."
"I also know where you live, so you better hope I don't get angry at you at any time." Who knew plained faced people could be so scary….oh right, Deku existed.
"Gomeon's like a wise old uncle, Kaumi's the pervy pet we can't get rid off, Sabro is the jock brother, Kerori's the icy little sister, Schieders the smart cousin, and I'm the best big bro you can ask for." Everyone stared at Lied, and turned to each other.
"You're the smaller brother." The Misfits agreed. Yeah, the Nakama were fun all right.
"Wait, so does that mean Kalego is a friend?" Eiko asked.
"Nope. Never. Don't even toy with the idea." Izuku said with a shiver.
"What about Balmask?" Clara cut in.
"Ah, I wouldn't mind, but how about we just keep teachers and masters into their own category."
"What about the three ladies from the fortress?" Kamui asked.
"I don't really know them that well, in fact, I'm pretty sure they're more Goemon and Picero's friends than they are mind." The two blushed and looked away. Suspicion to be betted into later.
"Oh, what about Ameri, what's she to you?" Lied asked.
"Oh, she's definitely Nakama." Izuku said without hesitation. "I was really scared of her at first, but I can really let my guard down and relax around her…"
"Doesn't she also like you?" Jazz had to ask. He needed to push that bet into his favor. "Like, like you-like you?"
"Well I mean, it's just, keeping that kind of stuff off till later, and I … told … her … nothing." He muttered, trailing off. "… I haven't talked to Ameri since she confessed."
Well that money went down the drain fast. "Well don't just stand there, talk to her right now!" Elizabetta jumped from her seat. "Don't keep a lady waiting! Move, move, move!"
"Yes mam!" Way to go Elizabetta, the big sibling wavelength was on track.
"Silence!" Kalego-sensei spoke out, stopping that plan in its place. "… I'm gone for five minutes and you all destroy the room in record time …"
"Well that's what happens when we all join the Calamity Cult full time." Jazz shrugged, and the rest of the misfits nodded. Cult or not, they all had fun, so they were all friends.
"Regardless, get back to your seats, class is starting … and someone unfreeze Asmodeus."
Ameri watched the boy bow over and over. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" It was rather nostalgic for her to see him trembling again, though at least it wasn't out of fear, or at least, fear of her killing him…..hopefully. "I..you said we were dating and I never said anything back and didn't tell you anything and it was right after Eiko confessed on stage and then before I could decide to act on any of that Clara takes me by surprise and gives me my first kiss and it ranked her up to He(5) with me and Azz and I…"
"SHE DID WHAT?!" She let her guard down! She just saw the full threat that Oni was that she completely took her sights off of Valac! That maniac would pay dearly for this! "How could she do that!?"
"Well apparently I didn't quite understand the whole love thing well." He chuckled. "At this point I'm just hoping to take Azz's advice." Thank you Asmodeus. "And wait until later in my school life to worry about romance." Asmodeus you fucking idiot! You must've conspired with Valac and Oni! The Calamity Cult was full of bad influences. No wonder why Izuku was labeled a danger-junkie for so long!
"I...see." On one hand, she couldn't blame him. He had that thick wall of density torn down with a sledgehammer, but on the other hand, THOSE IDIOTS COMPLETELY RUINED ALL OF HER PROGRESS! "So umm … where does that put us?" She asked him, hoping to get something.
"We're Nakama." He smiled. "It's like friends that are family to you." Family … she was family zoned. "You're the only one that knows my secret in the cult, and I couldn't ask for anyone better to have by my back."
"Yeah, have your back." Even if you never turned around … she would hold up that smile. "Well then, we haven't had the time to read lately …" She spoke, a small blush forming. "Would you … still like to read?"
"Oh yeah, that's never going to change." Izzy sat down, grabbing the volume she had placed by his table. "It's the one moment of peace I have in the netherworld. I can't have fun with others like this. It's our thing we get to share together."
Right...she had a special place in his life, as did he in hers. This was something that was only theirs alone...it...was enough...it had to be enough….right?
