Green Cloud Restaurant – Kitchen -
It was a calm night, just after closing hour, the Restaurant was devoid of people and the sign had just been turned onto the Closed side and the drapes pulled so that nothing could be seen from the street outside, giving Izuku the freedom of lowering the lights a bit and playing some soft music while cleaning the tables.
"Me-Meeeow! Me-Me-Meow!…" Zephyr the Pheline hummed a happy tune to himself with a low voice while sweeping the floor under the watchful eyes of Shiro, and paying attention to not wake-up the snoring Blackie under one of the Restaurant's trees.
Eri had already went to sleep in her own cutesy small bedroom, where Izuku had once again read her a couple bedtime stories just like his mother used to do with him…Okay, in his case it was just Inko reading aloud a couple pages of All Might's official biography to him, but the intentions were the same.
And now there he was, cleaning his store after some late-night training all alone in his kitchen, and remembering how Momo and the other girls he knew were instead out there somewhere doing some 'Special Hero Training' organized by UA.
He had also finally exchanged some polite messages with both Ochako and Nejire, but while he understood they were both sorry for the whole Poly Plan Fiasco, things between them were still fairly frosty, even if part of him did want to forgive them, he also knew the decision was not up to him only.
Sigh! "…" He sighed loudly to himself, once again assaulted by that tiny part of him that still dreamed of becoming a Hero, and ever so "helpfully" pushing at the front of his mind all the 'What If' scenarios and the possible different paths his life could have taken had he been born with a proper Quirk or just decided to try entering UA after returning from his Isekai with his current skills.
"...The doctor is right, I really need to stop overthinking things, and focus on the here and now instead of what could have been."He muttered, dejected.
He both hated and thanked the therapy sessions the otherstalked him into taking to finally start fixing some of his issues, the weekly meetings with that Psychologist were really helping him, but at the same time, talking about certain things still hurt even after all the years he spent in his other life.
"Is The Host alright?" the Entity asked all of a sudden.
"Uh?" Izuku answered, eloquently.
"The System can tell The Host is excessively stressed and depressed, this is not good for The Host's Health, nor for him to walk an optimal path to become the God of Cooking of the Hero World."
"It's nothing, really." he answered, showing a tiny smile and waving off the Entity's concerns.
"It is not nothing, Host. Recent events and the increase of Customers are weighting on your psyche, and the System knows this situation will continue until a second waitress or waiter will be found to at least lighten the burden of managing your Restaurant. So the System has a limited time offer for The Host." the System said.
"What kind of offer?" Izuku asked with narrowed eyes.
"The levels of distrust are still too high." the Entity said.
"The offer, System, what is it?"
"The System knows that in a mountain range nearby there are mushrooms to collect, and based on The Host's profile, a night stroll in the woods to complete a menial task will help him clear his mind and relax."
"...Oh! I thought you would have sent me to another dimension!"
"Not this time, Host."
Call it paranoia, but there was a small prickling feeling faintly gnawing the back of the Young Chef head, something coming from both his lives as Izuku and Zaus, a danger sense born from dealing daily with young Katsuki's temper and honed to near-perfection by his forays in the Gourmet World as Zaus, and now that the two powers had been combined by Izuku's return from his Isekai, his 'bullshit sense' became even more sensible.
"This mistrust is honestly hurtful, Host. The System cannot understand why this is happening."
"So you say I can go collect mushrooms by myself...And that's it?" he asked.
"Yes, Host. No minimum quantity, no time limit. You are only asked to make the trip worthwhile by not slaking off." the System answered.
"I don't slack-off, thank you." he hissed in answer.
"The System knows and is proud of the Host for that. The System will organize the trip immediately, The Host has ten minutes to get ready."
"Okay. But why it was a Limited Time Offer?" he asked.
"To give a false sense of urgency to The Host and stop him from overthinking things like he usually does."
"...That was a low blow." Izuku admitted, annoyed.
"The System only acts with The Host's best interests in mind." the Entity answered.
"I know, but sometimes you take extreme routes to do that. Let's go, Shiro-kun, some fresh air will do some good to you too!" Izuku admitted.
"Kyuuuh!" Shiro the Ancestral Taotie answered promptly, and immediately jumping on the Chef's back to wrap himself around the young man's neck like a living scarf.
"Zephyr-kun? I leave the Fort to you, please keep the place safe, and if Eri wakes-up, help her in whatever she needs, okay? I will be back soon." The Chef said.
"Meow!" The short cat-like being answered while striking a strict military pose.
"Nothing will hurt my Partner's child! NOTHING!" The Pheline thought in burning determination.
"Blackie?"
"Uuuhrm! Just go, kiddo. Should things really get bad this Lord will magnanimously take action. Just go and relax and let me sleep." The Lord Dog answered with a sleepy voice and without even opening an eye.
"Thank you, guys. I'll be going then." Izuku answered, grateful, before walking towards his kitchen from where he will be teleported to the location of his small 'Night stroll'.
Ten Minutes later – Mountains -
In an empty clearing surrounded by trees stood a small patch of grass where fireflies flew around in lazy circles, illuminating with their pale light the few flowers growing in colorful patches here and there; and out of nowhere, an unnatural gust of wind came to disturb the poetic scene to accompany a wide circle of mysterious letters inscribed in the air with pure light spinning rapidly to form a portal from which a young man in green Chef attire with a fluffy creature around his neck and a tall robot with round bulging belly calmly walked out from. And once the strange group fully walked out of the portal, the circle of light faded away with a last whooshing sound, soon returning everything to its former peace.
"Uuuuhm! The air is so crisp here! God, I really needed this!" Izuku said once took a huge breath of the fresh mountain air, and releasing it soon after with an expression already more relaxed than before.
"Well, I must admit The System surprised me for real this time! A peaceful stroll through the woods, it feels almost nostalgic! Let's go, Whitey, we have mushrooms to collect!" he then said, and giving a gentle pat to the robot's soft belly.
"Understood." the Robot answered with a nod, and as soon as a tall basket appeared on its back, the bald machine fell in step with the Chef to follow him.
The mountain was silent and only slightly cold, a perfect reprieve from the heat that was washing over Musutafu, and Izuku soon found himself humming a small tune while collecting the few mushrooms he found, along few local truffles, and throwing everything into the basket on Whitey's back.
It was clear the System knew there weren't many mushrooms to begin with, so Izuku did think it was all a small excuse to help him relax since normally the Entity would have asked for an insane amount of Ingredients to be collected in such a simple sortie, so the young Chef felt actually grateful for the small vacation the strict Sponsor offered him.
"Buuuui!" This did not mean the few boars he met along the way went spared! Four of them went actually captured and painlessly put down and added to the big basket; he was still a Chef, and a true Chef never miss a chance to collect good Ingredients.
"Is that juniper?! Awesome! It goes amazing with boar meat!" Izuku said with sparkling eyes while he collected the berries from the small bush he found.
He was having so much fun! Peace and quiet, fresh and clean air, no monster chasing him and nobody to fight! IT WAS PERFECT!
BOOOOOOM!
It was then that Izuku felt the ground tremble under his feet and a LOUD explosion echo everywhere, as if somebody tried demolishing the entire side of the mountain.
"Damn it! Who does mining work at night?!" Izuku cursed as the last vestiges of the shock-wave still rang in his ears.
"Kyuuuuuh!" In answer Shiro darted forward in a mad run, having smelled something that caught his attention.
"Shiro! Wait!" The Young Chef yelled while chasing his running companion through the woods followed close behind by Whitey.
Just a bit farther ahead -
"GUNHEAD MARTIAL ARTS + ENBU: NIRVANA REVERSAL!" Ochako yelled while sidestepping the forward thrust of the Himiko's knife at the last second, grabbing the outstretched arm with her right hand, and once moved behind the blond girl, using the augmented strength offered by the Enbu Arts to fully fuse her own momentum and Himiko's into a palm thrust on the Villain's back that sent her rolling on the floor and destroyed completely the contraption on her back.
"Holy Croak-ap!" Tsuyu yelled with wide eyes.
"Ah...Ah...I did it...I am finally getting close at using Enbu for real!…" the now heavily-panting girl answered, she was pale and drenched in sweat.
"Whatever that is, your arm did not like it," Tsuyu answered, eyeing in apprehension how Ochako's left arm now hung limp at her side.
"I-I-I did not break it, I am just too tired. He did tell me that it was tiring, I just did not know it was this much exhausting." she admitted, panting heavily.
Cough! In the meantime Himiko coughed-out a big blob of blood and threw away her broken contraption on her back, but besides that, she looked unharmed, only annoyed at the loss of the blood she had collected.
"Damnit, I got it wrong and that thing took the brunt of the attack. I am still not good enough at this to pull off a proper Enbu strike." Ochako spat in dismay.
"Proper? You sent her flying!"
"Well, I aimed at knocking her down, not forcing her spine out of her mouth, but I failed in restricting the power enough and I ended-up breaking my concentration."
"That still hurt, Ochako-chan! Now I will have to collect blood the old way...Oh well! It's way more fun like that!" Himiko said with a crazed smile marred by the thin line of blood flowing from her head down to her chin, she just gave a deranged laugh and lunged forward again.
"No, you won't!" Tsuyu yelled, grabbing her friend with her long tongue and jumping away to drag her to safety.
"Come here! It will be fun, promise!" the Villain answered, switching direction immediately to intercept the frog girl as soon as she landed.
"Ocha-" CLANG! Tsuyu's new scream went interrupted by a blurry humanoid shape appearing in front of Ochako to parry the knife swipe of Himiko.
"Uh?" The Villain uttered in surprise at seeing a knife seemingly made of bone stopping her steel-made one, especially since the one holding the knife had an uncanny resemblance to her first crush, a boy that would have been her very first murder had a passing Pro Hero not caught her in the act forcing her to run away.
"Hoy, that's my Waitress and friend you are attacking." Izuku declared coldly and with narrowed eyes before forcefully pushing Himiko away.
"Izuku!" Ochako yelled with wide eyes.
"What are you doing here?" Tsuyu asked once seen Shiro return to lie around his neck and Whitey walking in front of them in a protective manner.
"I was sent here for what was supposed to be a peaceful stroll in the forest to collect mushrooms, I was not aware any of you was here, but I am glad Shiro-kun could sense Ochako's scent and take me here. Do you need help?" Izuku answered.
"I…"
"It's okay, Ochako. I am not mad, not anymore." He said while briefly flashing her a small smile before re-focusing fully on Himiko.
"Thank you," Ochako answered, smiling happily and with tears threatening to spill over in relief.
"No offense, croak, but I doubt a Chef will be of help…" Tsuyu answered.
"Tsuyu, he is the one teaching me Enbu, Icchan is stronger than what he looks." Ochako answered, drying her tears and recovering her Hero determination.
"You must be the guy Shigaraki hates! Oooh! I wonder how you will look like while bleeding!" Himiko finally said in realization.
"Are you okay?" Izuku asked once noticed the vacant look in her eyes.
"Oh, yeah! I am having a blast!" the Villain answered before jumping him.
Clang! Again her knife met his, and to her surprise she could actually see a shard fly off her knife's blade, not his.
"No, you are not." he muttered, noticing how she seemed to be looking at everything and nothing at the same time, as if barely able to understand where she was or who she was talking with.
"Is somebody else of your class here?" Izuku asked while jumping back to avoid the follow-up swipe of Himiko.
"We are all here, this was supposed to be our training camp," Ochako answered.
"You all came here?! In the middle of the mountains?"
"We are training with the Wild Wild Pussycats, Izuku-san," Tsuyu answered.
"Oh! Their Inn! I get it. Can you move? I can keep her occupied while you seek help!" Izuku offered.
"But, she-"
"We will, you...You just be careful, please. I still need to apologize properly." Ochako answered.
"I am no pushover, remember. NOW GO!" Izuku answered, this time HE jumped Himiko to cross blades with her.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Under the watchful eyes of Whitey, Himiko and Izuku soon fell into a flurry of movement, thrusts and swipes meeting midway in showers of sparks as metal and dragon bone met at high speed with great strength and yet a fluidity of movement similar to a dance.
"Let's go!" Ochako summoned the very few sparks of strength she still possessed and used her good arm to drag Tsuyu away.
"She will kill him, Ochako-chan! Why that robot is not helping?" Tsuyu asked as they ran through the woods.
"Icchan is way stronger than he looks, absurdly so. I have no idea why he holds back that much, but I assure you that psycho will hardly put a dent on him, and if he had not asked Whitey for help, it must mean he saw something,"
"Something?"
"Trust me on that, let's go!" Ochako answered, pulling even harder on her friend's arm to make her run faster.
With Momo -
"This way!" Momo yelled while still dragging the wounded Tomoko with her.
"He-He wants me! Let me go and run!" the green-haired Pro Hero begged as blue fire kept raining all around them, soon turning the whole patch of forest around them in a scorching inferno.
"They want your Quirk, and we can't let them put their hands on it! And I did not become a Hero just to let Villains win that easily! They will have to tear you away from my dead hands!" Momo answered, ignoring the pain from the burning mark on her side as she kept helping the other woman to run.
"That is a good idea, you know? Makes things easier! Kill the bitch!" A guy with a full-body costume vertically separated in black and white said before tackling Momo from the side.
"Took you long enough, Twice." Dabi said with a smirk.
"Sorry! I was distracting the other cats! That's why I prefer dogs! And Koalas! And pythons!" The strange guy answered with his voice changing in pitch just enough to sound like two different people were talking over each other.
"Well, what's important is that we finally got her. You happy, Boss?" Dabi asked to the small camera he had pinned on the heart area of his clothes.
League of Villains HQ – Bedroom -
Still bedridden from his latest meeting with Blackie, Shigaraki's body was covered almost entirely in bandages and casts, leaving just his face free albeit still missing one eye, in a way that left him able to see and give orders to the Villains on site through a monitor.
"KILL THAT BITCH! KILL THAT NPC! SHE IS THE WOMAN OF THE DOG OWNER! KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER!" And as it was rapidly becoming the norm, whenever ANYTHING even just barely connected to Izuku and Blackie showed-up in front of him, Psychotic Rage and Hatred turned-off his already paper-thin self-control, making him snarl and roar like an insane beast.
Mountains -
"KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER!" Shigaraki's voice went clearly heard from the small camera's inbuilt speaker.
"You heard the boss! Hold her still, I want him to get a clear view of her body turning to ashes!" Dabi ordered.
"NO!" Tomoko yelled in horror.
"Okay! FUCK YEAH! BONFIRE!" Twice answered instead, he and a clone of his happily immobilizing and then grabbing Momo's head by the hair to force her to look straight at Dabi.
"Smile for the camera, girl! I want to catch your good side before you die!" Blue fire slowly started mounting in the Villain's hand.
"WAIT! I'LL COME WITH YOU! WILLINGLY! YOU WANT MY QUIRK, YES!? YOU CAN HAVE IT! JUST LET HER GO!" Tomoko begged, crawling in front of Dabi no matter her broken leg.
"Aah! This is not just a matter of our Mission, this is personal!" Dabi answered while kicking her away.
"AGK!"
"Any last words?" He asked.
"Screw you." Momo answered with a snarl.
"Enchanting." The Villain answered with a chuckle as he readied the fireball in his hand.
BOOOM!
A new explosion rocked the area as Katsuki, one arm clearly broken in multiple parts, came running between them while following Mezo holding a struggling kid in his extra arms, and behind them, a pissed-off Villain with unnaturally big muscles was chasing them with a scowl.
"Stop running!" The Villain, Muscular, roared while powering through a new explosion with barely a scratch.
"What the fuck are his muscles made off?!" Katsuki yelled in disturbed horror as the man's muscles seemed so thick even his explosions barely damaged him.
"Just run! He wants Kota-san dead!" Mezo yelled back, he too looked like he had few broken bones.
"Let me go, you useless buffoons! I don't need your help! I DON'T NEED HEROES!" The kid in the meantime kept struggling to break free.
"KOTA!" Tomoko shrieked in fear.
"AUNT TOMOKO!" Kota replied with wide eyes full of horror.
"Hohoho! So that was where you went, Muscular?" Dabi asked, amused, once the small group joined his.
"A minor case of side-tracking, actually, nothing more. What about you?" Muscular said as now he joined the Villains side while the wounded Katsuki and Mezo joined Tomoko while Momo kept standing in the middle due to the two Twice's hold on her.
"We got the woman, now I was just about to clean things up. Wanna watch?" He answered, chuckling.
"Is it a direct order of Shigaraki?"
"Yep!"
"Go ahead then, just make it quick. And where is Himiko?" Muscular answered.
"Having fun with a couple Heroes and-"
WHAM!
It was a surprise for all the people present to see a flying fist come out from the woods at high speed to nail both Twices faces and launch both away, and while the clone broke-down into sludge, the original kept bouncing on the terrain for several meters, and by how he stood still lying down once finished tumbling away, the onlookers somehow knew he won't be waking-up anytime soon.
"What the hell was that?!" Dabi asked.
"The fuck?!" Katsuki echoed right after.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
"W-Whitey!" Momo gasped as the robot walked in front of her and Tomoko while sporting red eyes.
"Troublemakers will be stripped as an example to others!" Whitey said while reconnecting his right arm at the elbow.
"That robot...Does it mean…" Mezo said with wide eyes.
"THE FUCKER IS HERE! KILL HIM! KILL HIM! KILL HIM!" Shigaraki finally lost it as soon as he saw Whitey, since they all knew one thing about that robot: wherever he was it meant Izuku was not farther behind.
WHAM!
As an added surprise, Himiko herself came tumbling on a roll on the floor soon after, her clothes were covered in cuts and she had a black eye courtesy of a dynamite punch and shards of what looked like being a knife cut julienne raining all around her.
"Ough…" The girl moaned in pain, but as soon as she tried getting on all four to get back up, she puked violently and fell on her side barely conscious.
"The System was right, she has been drugged up to her eyeballs." It was then that Izuku as well made his appearance with his green Chef attire still pristine clear, nobody heard his muttering as he studied the downed girl.
"Izuku?…" Momo muttered in shock.
"Sorry, I was sent here for some mushroom hunting and didn't know this was where you others were having you Training Camp." The Chef answered with an actual apologizing tone.
"So, you must be the guy. Shigaraki hates you pretty bad, you know?" Muscular said with a smirk.
"Unfortunately I don't even know who he is, but since you all seem to be working for him to hurt my customers, my waitress AND my girlfriend...The dislike can only be mutual." He answered.
"Nothing personal, kid. Just business." Muscular answered, shrugging amused.
"Of course. Same reason why I now feel the need to get involved…"
"Run away! Take Kota and run!" Tomoko begged while pushing the kid towards him.
"Agk! Aunt Tomoko!" The kid yelled in horror.
"You okay?" Izuku asked while catching the kid in his arms.
"I-I-I...I don't know!" Kota answered, tears already about to pour out.
"It's okay, I am here. I might not be a Hero, but you and Tomoko-san are Customers of my Green Cloud Restaurant, and as a Chef, it's my duty to protect my beloved Customers." He declared.
"Protect...You...They are Villains...I…" The poor kid wanted to say something, anything to stop what he believed was a suicide, but he just could not.
"DON'T BE STUPID! TAKE THE BRAT AND RUN! WE'LL COVER YOU!" Katsuki yelled, and actually moving between the two and Muscular even with a broken arm.
"Host knows what needs to be done." The System whispered in his ears.
"...Don't worry, everything is going to be alright," The young Chef said while gently handing Kota to Whitey.
"Protect him, at all cost." He ordered the robot with a tone as cold as ice.
"Understood." Whitey answered, and once moved Kota on one of his massive shoulders, the robot switched to purple eye mode, and a cruel-looking squared blade took the place of his big right hand.
"What the fuck are you-"
"Something on your mind, Chef?" Muscular said with a calm and curious tone, interrupting Katsuki without a shred of anger in his voice.
It was a strange situation, one where only Muscular and Izuku were actually calm, everything else around them was eerily silent out of either shock, fear or just mere curiosity, beside Shigaraki's insane growls and 'Kill Him!' roars, nobody looked about to utter a single word as they waited for the answer.
"Kinda." Izuku said, he was looking at Kota's scared face with vacant eyes.
"Penny for your thoughts?"
"Before you kill me?"
"Or before YOU kill ME." Muscular answered, and his already massive physique grew even more giant with his muscles expanding to insane sizes.
"What the fuck is he talking ab-" Katsuki's question went interrupted by Izuku's sigh.
"I don't kill. How?"
"Your eyes. You have now the same eyes I used to have before I finally decided to stop limiting myself." Muscular answered.
"My eyes?"
"I am probably the only guy here that really understands, so let me be the one to finally ask you this: isn't it about time you let go?"
"That's a bold assumption, we just met." The young Chef answered, looking at the Villain in surprise.
"Bold assumption it may be, but I was there when I was your age, so I know my hunch is not a wrong one. So? What happened?"
"..."
Izuku's Memories - Zaus World – Small Mountain Settlement -
A young Zaus watched amazed as a dozen giant Bear-like monsters with two extra arms and pure-white fur lied unconscious on the floor at a step from entering the small village, and at the tiny old woman with pink hair humming a cheerful tune while sitting on the Alpha of the entire pack of beasts she had just defeated by herself. Then she noticed his stare and flashed him a gentle smile.
"You must be that new up and coming Chef everybody is talking about, uh? Nice to meet you, Zaus-chan!" Setsuno said with a jovial laugh.
"Setsuno? The Living National Treasure?" Zaus answered, surprised.
"Hohohoho! No need to be that formal, youngster!"
"Those Beasts…"
"They were about to attack these innocent people, somebody had to defend them."
"But...But you are a Chef…"
"So? Doing the right thing doesn't require a specific job, only the will to be there for people in need! I came here just to look for some nice Silver Mint and saw this small pack of Brutal Bears about to attack that village, what was I supposed to do? Let all these people die even if I had the means to help them?" She answered.
She wasn't angry at all, just honestly curious about his answer, talking to him like a loving grandmother would talk to her favorite nephew.
"N-No, but… That's the job of a Gourmet Hunter!" Zaus had almost said 'Hero', but he reminded himself that he had left that life behind, when he started over in that new world.
"That is what we call Nuances, Zaus-chan. 'Capturing Ingredients' is the job of a Gourmet Hunter and 'Cooking Ingredients' is the job of the Chef. 'Doing what is right' is not a job, it's good conscience, especially if you have the means to do it." Setsuno answered.
"I see…"
ROAAAAR!
"That is the rest of the Brutal Bears pack coming to assist the ones that have fallen. What will you do, Zaus-chan? Stand there and watch because it is not your Job, or will you do the right thing and lend your strength to these poor people that can barely fend-off a single Bear, and leave them alone against an anomalous big pack of them?"
"...Make room, I am helping you!"
"Well said, Zaus-chan!"
Real world – Mountains -
"So?"
"I used to be Free like you said once, but when I left the hospital I promised myself I wouldn't have done that anymore. I only want a quiet life, and if I let go now, as you said, I won't have that peace anymore."
"That is a wrong mentality, and a disservice to yourself. Bottling everything up it's not good, Fighting Spirit is not something you can suppress." the Villain said, walking towards him with heavy steps.
"You-"
"PISS OFF!" To Katsuki's horror, the hulking brute exploded forward at a faster speed his sheer bulk should have permitted him, nailing the student in the stomach with a clothesline attack that shoot him away and not even slowing the Villain's charge of a bit.
"NO!" Mezo yelled in horror.
"LET IT FLOW, CHEF! IT'S YOUR RIGHT!" Muscular roared, now upon the Chef.
"How can let it run rampant like you do be any good?!" Izuku yelled back, turning around towards him with red fire enveloping his body.
"It is if it means finally BEING HONEST ABOUT YOURSELF!" Muscular yelled with his colossal punch traveling at monstrous speed towards the Chef.
"Impact Knocking: Nirvana!" The Chef replied by dodging the punch by a hair and thrusting both pointer and middle finger of his right hand deep into Muscular's shoulder.
And while it was shocking to see such a giant hulking brute being pushed skidding back of a couple steps, to Muscular the thing was even more surprising, because for an instant he could swear he saw his entire arm being torn off at the shoulder like paper and fly away, before blinking and seeing the limb still attached to his body, only now hanging life-less at his side.
"Tch! Lots of nerve ganglions! Like those bears...Is it your Quirk?" Izuku hissed in contempt while jumping back to take some distance.
"I can't feel my arm! You killed it! HAHAHAHAHAHA! That's it! THAT'S WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT!" the Villain answered by turning insanely happy and attacking him again with his good arm and a deranged wide smile etched on his face.
"Roar at me! Growl at me! Scream at me! I don't care how, JUST LET IT ALL OUT!"
"If you have extra nerves nodes, then I will go deeper and hit them all!(Impact)Knocking Full Course: Brahmastra!" the Chef declared, running towards the attack and letting it brush against his cheek to get in range.
"Dukkah!" A blade-hand-thrust in the solar plexus caused Muscular's lungs to constrict down to a third of their size, and made him feel like his legs had been glued to the floor, and yet the giant ignored the searing pain and tried grabbing him with his working hand.
And still smiling in insane happiness.
"Samudaya!" In answer the Chef shoved his elbow deep into the Villain's bicep to disrupt the grab, and once again Muscular's brain momentarily mistaken the thing with the arm being torn off and flying away while instead it just hanged limp by his side.
"Ung! If you can't hit with the left, use the right! If you can't hit with both left or right, BITE!" Muscular roared in gleeful defiance, and actually bending down to literally try to bite the Chef.
"Nirodha!" Unperturbed, Izuku delivered a vertical palm-thrust with the lower half of his right hand that painfully slammed Muscular's mouth closed and caused the man's brain to switch Right and Left and Up and Down at random intervals, making the world spin and turn continuously at high speed right in front of his eyes.
A second hit with the left elbow to the Villain's chest caused the muscles of his torso to contract and staying locked in place to the point he could not move anymore from the waist up.
"And now the full locking...Magga!" Curiously turning around to show Muscular his back, the Chef started hitting various seemingly Random parts of the Villain's chest and legs with backwards pokes of his thumb or palm-thrusts, and yet each hit sent visible ripples along Muscular's entire body.
(Artistic Representationofthe Can of Whoop-ass Izuku just opened on Muscular)
"OOOUUUUGH!" And the only thing the paralyzed Villain could do, was releasing low moans of pain as at each hit he lost a little bit more feeling from every part of his body, until his five senses too faltered and for him all that was left was silence and darkness and the mind-numbing pain coursing through every inch of his body.
Sigh! "Capture Completed…Did I do the right thing, Setsuno?" Izuku whispered with a sigh of defeat and slacked-down posture while behind him the giant of muscles shrunk back to his original sizes and then fell on his back with a heavy Thud! And looking completely unable to move.
"I...I can't feel anything! W-Where are you?!" The Villain's eyes were dull and immobile.
"As it is now...You can't feel, can't see, can't move and can't hear...I am sorry." the Chef answered with a tone of melancholy while walking back to Whitey and Kota.
"You okay?" he asked.
"...Yes?" the boy answered, unsure.
"That's a relief." The other said with a small smile.
"Okay, no, that's it! Enough bullshit tonight! EVERYONE DIES!" Dabi clearly saw the writing on the wall, and decided that the only solution he had left to fix the new colossal fuck-up the League's Mission turned into was to burn EVERYTHING in front of him, except Ragdoll that was just to the side enough she will barely survive the sea of flames he shoot from both his hands.
After all, his Boss only wanted the woman's Quirk, so if she survived just long enough for them to go through the extraction, everything was still good in his book.
FWOOOOSH!
A giant wall of blue fire soon enveloped a wide area in front of the Villain, moving at high speed towards the group of Heroes and the Chef that dared turning such a simple Mission into a giant failure!
"IZUKU!" To the Chef's Horror Momo pushed Tomoko away and then jumped in front of him to shield him with her body.
"NO!" He yelled in fear as soon as he saw the first licks of flames about to reach her…
And the world stood still.
"Have no fear, Host. Everything is going according to plan." The System's voice echoed all around Izuku as he watched Time itself being forced into a complete stop by the Entity, once again reminding him how ridiculously powerful his Sponsor actually was.
"A-According...To plan?!" he asked.
"Indeed, Host. Unfortunately the System could not tell the Host the entire truth to avoid illogical behavior."
"What do you mean with Illogical behavior!? WHY I AM HERE THEN?! THEY ARE ABOUT TO BURN ALIVE!" Izuku yelled in fury.
"They won't if Host follows The System's instructions to the letter." The Entity said.
"Instructions? What Instructions?!"
"The Host is asked to Devour the flames in front of him, The System will then use them as a base to synthesize a Flame of Evil inside his soul, half of the materials needed to synthesize a Heaven-Earth Obsidian Flame for the Host to use to cook with the Star-Eating Turtle Wok. Since there is no natural source of Obsidian Flames in this world, artificial kindling will be needed to create a brand new one." The System answered, still cold as always.
"YOU COULD HAVE SENT ME TO ANOTHER WORLD FOR THAT! I THOUGHT WE HAD A DEAL!"
"Yes we have a deal, and the System offers its most sincere apologies to the Host for this. Unfortunately Host Izuku needs a fire fully compatible with his body and Gourmet Cells, differently from the more Malleable body of a normal Human able to adapt to every Obsidian Flame absorbed, and the few flames actually compatible with the Host that exist in other worlds still need several thousand years to mature. Creating a New One fully tailored to Host Izuku and already Mature was the most logical solution in terms of Time and Resources required and used."
"You...You…"
"Host is free to hate The System, The System understands and renews its apologies."
"Momo and the others are in danger!"
"The attack did not happen because of the System."
"Uh?"
"The attack could be organized because of several spies implanted in the school Host Izuku's friends and Customers go to. The Spy responsible for this specific attack will be dealt with soon after this situation is resolved, with a non-lethal method as the System knows is the Host's preference. The System required this attack to happen for the Host to have a chance to devour a Flame of Evil of the purest quality: One unleashed with the most hatred, anger and resentment possible."
"…"
"Host?"
"Tell me there won't be a next time. Promise me there won't be a next time." Izuku muttered.
"...There won't. There won't be a similar requirement for the Host to unlock the rest of his Equipment." The System answered, and the Entity actually took several seconds to answer, as if checking to make sure.
"I...I can accept this. Momo and the others won't get hurt, right?" Izuku asked.
"They won't if the Host follows The System's instructions to the letter. Is the Host ready to be taught how to devour the fire?"
"...Yes." The Chef answered once took a deep breath.
"Very well. The Host should also be aware that he will have only a single chance, any failure will cause his death and the death of everybody else." The System said, making him pale.
"Ah!" Izuku yelled in fear.
"This is your Test, Host Izuku. Believe in yourself and achieve the Impossible, for there is nothing Impossible for a God of Cooking. Bet your all and succeed, young man!" The Entity answered.
"All or Nothing…Plus Ultra..." The young man closed his eyes tight and took several slow and deep breaths.
"Host is ready, The System will begin teaching Host Izuku the Devouring Method to absorb the Flame of Evil…" When red flames of energy surged from Izuku's body along a projection of his Appetite Demon appearing behind him, the Entity detected the young Chef's determination and begun its lesson.
Real World -
From everybody else point of view, an instant Momo jumped in front of Izuku and Kota to try protecting them, and the next the Chef had side-stepped her so to be him the one to stand in front of everybody else.
"This is how I die...But if he lives, I will have no regrets-WHAT?!" Momo's train of thought derailed when she saw her Lover simply flash-step in front of the entire group so to be the first to be touched by the blue flames.
"IZU-" Katsuki's own scream, a powerless one since it was only thanks to Mezo if he could actually stand at all after Muscular's charge, went interrupted as well by the Chef's next move.
"!" Under the wide eyes of everybody, the young Chef just emptied his lungs and then inhaled as hard as he could, hard enough Dabi's burst of flames disappeared all inside his mouth in a matter of seconds.
"…" In the stricken silence that followed, the young man's entire body flushed deep red and his eyes bulged-out as soon as he swallowed the fire in a single gulp, along a thin layer of sweat covering his face until it shone and fat drops started dripping down his forehead.
"UGH!...Beeugh!...Sorry." Soon followed by Izuku releasing a loud burp accompanied by tiny swirls of blue fire, but other than that, he looked fine and unhurt, even after eating fire supposed to turn a human to ashes in just a second.
"…"
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Shigaraki was the first to scream in answer to that.
"AAAAAAH!" The second was Himiko herself, as her being the closest to the group of potential victims meant she was still hit by the fire, even if just by few side flares instead of the full thing.
"NO! WHITEY!" Izuku noticed and asked for help.
CLAP!
Help that came in the form of the Robot clapping his hands hard enough to produce a gust of wind able to extinguish even that fire...Even if it was too late.
Even just after a mere couple seconds of burning, not much was left of the girl: both her legs in fact had been already reduced almost to bare bone, along her chest being stripped of flesh to the point the damaged muscles were visible, even her left arm had been reduced to a burned stump, having lost everything from the elbow down.
"Impact Knocking: Privation!" The young Chef yelled, frantically, and hitting several key points of Himiko's damaged body that soon made her stop screaming.
"Okay, Okay...I blocked every signal of pain from her wounds, should stop her from going into shock until she is healed! Whitey! Take her and Kota to the Inn and have somebody heal her! NOW!" he ordered.
"Hoy! That girl belongs to us! We still need her Quirk, boy!" Dabi said with narrowed eyes.
"She's your companion, Goddamnit! Don't you care?!" Izuku roared in answer, and behind him, Momo took a fighting stance while Mezo took care of protecting both Tomoko and Katsuki.
"Nope! My companions are dear Dust-Fuck Shigaraki, my friend Twice your Puppet knocked out, and a couple more Friends I have finally convinced to join the League. Dear Himiko instead was just an investment, a girl we took-in in the HOPE she could match our ideals, but instead took way too much to train. And after seeing her failing again, I say we rip her Quirk out and make a Nomu with it, it will definitely work better like that." Dabi answered.
"...Master accepted the suggestion, he too has grown tired of Himiko's failures. Bring her and Ragdoll back, we will begin extraction immediately." Kurogiri's answer came from Dabi's radio, clear even for Himiko to hear.
"Sure! No problem!" he answered, smirking.
"Da...bi…" The girl whimpered in tears.
"Sorry, sweetie. Nothing personal." Dabi answered, uncaring.
"Take her away, Whitey!" Izuku ordered, never before feeling as angry as he was at that moment.
"Understood!" The Robot immediately grabbed both Himiko and Kota and disappeared in an awe-inspiring burst of speed to take both back to the Inn proper.
"Tch! You are just delaying this! Just a matter of time before we get her too!" Dabi answered.
"Magne, Spinner and Compress are on their way, keep these Heroes occupied." Kurogiri said.
"Hell yeah! My friends are coming, have you heard the misty fucker?" Dabi said in glee.
"Your friends are coming? Then I will make you meet them half-way." The Chef answered with a way-too-calm tone.
"Uh? What? Wanna eat more fire, tough guy?" Dabi answered with a mocking tone, and summoning more blue fire and ignoring the pain that actually caused him.
In answer the Chef cocked-back the hand holding the kitchen knife while his body got covered in the red flames of his battle spirit, the very same knife he held started shining in an eerie silvery light too, and when the Appetite Demon as well made his appearance, Dabi finally understood he was in trouble.
"Kurogiri!" he yelled, and unfortunately it was too late.
"Go meet your friends, filth. Samsara Cut!" That was all the young Chef whispered before slashing down with his knife.
What the others saw though was a crescent blade of pale moonlight being silently shot from the slash to hit the ground right in front of Dabi's feet...
And then the entire side of the mountain he and Twice were on being cut off and sent flying.
"KUROGIRI! A PORTAL! NOW! HURRY! HURRY! HURRY!" Scared out of his mind and grabbing onto a tree to stabilize himself, Dabi watched with wide eyes as the several hundreds of thousands tonnes of rock he was on that used to be half of a damn mountainhad been sliced-off and sent flying by what was supposed to be a simple Quirkless Chef brandishing a kitchen knife.
"JUMP IN! NOW!" The Nomu ordered, just as surprised, and opening a portal for Dabi to jump in while dragging the unconscious Twice behind him just a second before the giant slice of rock could touch ground and explode in a towering cloud of debris with a thundering BOOM! Several miles away.
Needles to say, utter chaos erupted from the settlements nearby that saw that meteor impact way too close for their comfort, especially so for the Villains sent as reinforcements that went instead hastily called back just in case more slices of mountain could be shot their way.
With Izuku -
"…" There was an eerie silence in the area now, interrupted only by Momo's steps as she neared Izuku to put a hand on his shoulder.
"What is happening? Hello?" Muscular was still on the ground paralyzed, unaware of anything happening around him.
"You okay?" She whispered.
"...No. This wasn't supposed to happen…" Izuku answered.
"You got angry. What he did and said was too disgusting, nobody can't blame you for acting-out on your anger. I know I would have done that too in your place."
"They will ask questions now, lots of them."
"We knew it was only a matter of time before something like this happened." Momo said.
"What now?" Izuku asked, afraid.
"Go back to the Inn for now, that girl still needs help if we want to interrogate her, fix her up, in the meantime me and Shoji will take care of the rest." she answered.
"You sure?"
"I am a trained Hero, trust me. Tomoko herself will help us too." She answered showing him a reassuring smile.
"Okay, just be careful." He begged.
"You too, now go." Momo answered, sharing with him a fast kiss before he left.
"Wait!" Katsuki's scream went ignored by the Chef simply hurrying away to return to the Inn.
"What the hell is happening here?!" Tomoko asked.
"Later, let's go back for now, once sure everything is alright, I am sure he will answer all our questions. Help me, Shoji-san." Momo answered.
"O-Okay!" her classmate answered.
Later that night – Wild Wild Pussycats' Cat Inn – Main room -
Class 1-A and 1-B could not understand what was happening, besides a Villain attack, as ballsy as it was, nothing of what happened that night in their opinion warranted a massive answer like the one they were seeing.
Both Eraserhead and Vlad were being drilled mercilessly by members of the police force while Momo, Shoji and Tomoko kept answering hundreds of questions asked by people in black suits.
"Okay, can someone explain to me why an entire mountain just had more than half its mass relocated?! We got hundreds of calls of hysterical people asking what is happening, and we hate not having an answer to that!" one of those Suits asked with a furious tone while she glared at whoever 'dared' to hum in uncertainty when talking with her.
"We are looking into it, madame!" One of the Police Officers answered.
"FIND THOSE ANSWERS THEN!" She said with a barking scream.
"What does she mean with half a mountain was relocated?" Kaminari asked, confused.
"I have no idea." Kirishima answered.
"Those Villains did something?" Mineta asked.
"Don't know, I know I had my hands full already to deal with all those identical guys attacking us!" Kyoka answered, snarling.
"Whatever it is, they even got Recovery Girl involved, something big must have happened." Mina said.
"Again, I saw no mountain flying off," Momo answered, unafraid.
"Missy, we KNOW you were there." one of the guys in suits said.
"Do you have proofs of that?" She answered.
"You-"
"OKAY! OKAY! Enough showing-off! We'll take it from here!" A new arrival interrupted everything, he was followed by several scientists and other Police Officers, one of which Detective Tsukauchi himself.
"Midoriya-san!" Momo said in relief.
"Momo! You okay?! Icchan told me what was happening, don't worry, you and the others don't need to answer them if you don't want to." Hisashi answered, and not too kindly shoving away the guy interrogating the girl so to reach her.
"You! I am-"
"A woman that thinks an expensive suit gives her Godly powers. Now shut-up." Tsukauchi answered, uninterested.
"The Commission-"
"Can't do a thing and they know it. We'll take it from here, this is officially I-Island's business now. Level 7, and you have NOT Level 7 clearance, Satori." Hisashi said.
"...What is happening, Hisashi?" The woman at the head of the investigation said, sighing.
"Sorry, can't tell."
"Is this a revenge for what happened in Kyoto?" She said, huffing.
"Not really. I am just doing my job, the fact that it also has to do with my son helps making me extra motivated." he answered.
"Your son?"
"Where is Subject 37?" One of the researchers that accompanied Hisashi and Tsukauchi asked.
"With Recovery Girl and Toga, I will accompany you to the site of the incidents while Detective Tsukauchi will take care of questioning him." Hisashi answered.
"Don't worry, I will be gentle and follow protocol." Tsukauchi said.
"You better, otherwise Whitey and even Shiro will destroy you." Hisashi said, laughing.
"Yes, yes. Sure. The Cute fluff-ball is deadly."
"Don't say I didn't warn you. You others, let's go!" Hisashi ordered.
"Yessir."
"...Uncle Hisashi?" Katsuki said.
"Yes?"
"I…" There were lots of conflicting feelings flashing on the young man's face, but for once Hisashi didn't want to aggravate him further, so he broke the silence first.
Sigh! "I am still angry at you, but I am not heartless, how do you feel?" The man asked.
"I…I have been better," He answered.
"Everything is going to be alright. This will take a minute, then you others will be finally free to relax," the man said before leaving.
"Yes, okay...T-Thank you…I-" He tried saying, but he was not surprised to see the man not really jumping at the idea of talking with him and leaving as soon as possible without looking back.
"Fuck...Good God this fucking day is lasting even too long…" Katsuki swore tiredly under his breath.
"You tell me. Never had so many school trips become a battle to death against Villains…" Aizawa admitted with a groan.
"This has to be a new record," Vlad added with a sigh of defeat.
"Ehm...What is happening?" Tenya asked.
"I'll explain later, sorta...Shit is complicated." Katsuki admitted, groaning.
"Just promise you will keep everything a secret." Momo added.
"As long as things will make sense after you explained…" Toru begged.
"Hopefully, things should make sense." Momo admitted.
Meanwhile – With Izuku -
Both Izuku and Neomasa were sitting outside the Inn's small infirmary Recovery Girl had took over as soon as she arrived, Izuku almost couldn't believe the woman was THIS determined to test his Healing Cuisine, so much she left the sanctity of UA under heavy Pro Hero escort to come all the way there to stabilize Himiko and run on her some preliminary Tests before Izuku could work his Miracle on the Villain Girl.
"So you insist about the girl being a victim too?" The Detective said.
"Pretty much, I am sure that we can still help her, maybe even Redeem Her, as you others love to say." Izuku answered, sighing.
"You were pretty secretive about your being here, almost too vague, why?"
"I was asked to keep the details of my Sponsor a secret, but they just sent me here to collect mushrooms and other Ingredients because they saw I was stressed, that's all. My involvement in all this is merely a case of me being in the wrong place at the right time," Izuku answered.
Truth
Tsukauchi's Quirk confirmed all that.
"How's young Eri?"
"Doing okay, between my mother and Momo's she has finally learned to read and write, a bit wobbly, but she is getting better fast." The Chef answered, showing a happy smile when talking about his future daughter.
"Another Truth." Neomasa thought.
"Still didn't get an answer for my adoption, though." Izuku then said.
"Sorry about that, young Eri's situation make things a bit harder than they should."
"Tch!"
"So, tell me...What makes you so sure we can talk Himiko Toga, one of the members of the so called League of Villains, to switch side and even seek help?" Tsukauchi asked, finally addressing his biggest doubt.
"I say so because contrary to whoever tried before me, I actually looked at her and beyond her Quirk, without labeling her power as Evil and just declaring her a lost cause." He answered.
"Uh?"
"She has a Quirk related to blood-consumption, and if we go by the standards of that kind of powers, that means not only that she can safely consume blood, but that she fully needs it, it is not just about copying appearances like you said while we talked, it's literally something she has to eat on a regular basis, like we others do with regular food. I believe those people were keeping her on a continuous state of withdrawal." Izuku explained.
"I too heard about those theories, but how do you know they were doing that to her specifically?" Tsukauchi asked with narrowed eyes.
"Because I saw in her similar symptoms of people deep into Nicotine Withdrawal: Cravings, Irritability and irrational rage, Anxiety, Dizziness and, for her own admission mid-fight, Headaches. I just gave her a small amount of pigs blood to drink when we first got here and her hand stopped shaking almost immediately, you and Recovery Girl saw it happen, you can't deny it." he answered.
"Yes, I saw that with my own eyes, but still, I was told that while fighting the others she moved well for somebody you declare should have been dizzy,"
"The more we fought the more unstable her footing got, I guess they give her only the bare minimum blood to keep her 'Functional', the more she and me battled, the more she burned through the blood she ingested and her body started suffering from withdrawals, her eyes were unfocused when I met her first, she was already starting to lose it, now look at her." Izuku said, pointing at the door just as it opened.
"They boy is right, Blood Consuming Quirks do cause withdrawal symptoms, the harshness of which depending on how much consuming blood influences the body, not just the Quirk, that has been sadly documented in many cases of deceases from lack of blood consumption." Recovery Girl confirmed once exited Himiko's room.
"How's she?" Izuku asked.
"She will pull through...But that's it. No walking for her, and we should probably consider amputating what's left of her arms soon too if we want her to have a chance." the old woman answered, shaking her head.
"That bad?!" both men said in horror.
"The muscles on both arms and legs are basically gone, the parts not directly destroyed by the fire have already started showing signs of gangrene. My Quirk is powerful, but I don't make miracles, I can't even use it right away, not until I first stabilize her."
"Oh, God…"
"What else?" Tsukauchi asked, swallowing the bile trying to rise up his throat.
"The rest is just as bad: her hair are gone for good too, so is the right eye, I fear a lung too has been compromised by the hot air and smoke she breathed, it's a miracle the other organs are still healthy, the fire had been extinguished just in time before it went too deep, but that's where the good news stop. "
"But she can pull through, yes?" Izuku asked.
"Hard to say. Should she live, she will spend the rest of her life with labored breath, among other issues...I loathe to say this, I hate to say this with all of myself...But maybe we should let her go. Even by amputating the four limbs, her chances of survival are very low," the old woman said with a gravely voice, she even looked older than before, showing how that decision pretty much broke her.
"You can't say that!"
"It would be mercy, my boy. Hope can help only so much, then hard cold Reality has to set in. We can make it painless at least." she answered with a mournful tone.
"…"
"I still need to ask her some questions, can she talk?" Tsukauchi asked.
"She can, but I can't say she will. I had to tell her everything about her condition, so she is crying pretty hard now…"
"Does she know her only option is to...Well...Die?"
"I fear I will soon have to tell her that too,"
"You even want to tell her that! You people are useless!" Izuku said while barging inside the room.
"WAIT!"
"Himiko?" He asked with a soft voice.
"Y-Yes?" the girl answered, she looked very thin under all the bandages covering her, a testament of how much of her body had been burned off.
"How do you feel?"
"What do you think?!" she spat, beside her mouth and her sane eye, everything else had been bandaged, and her tears were already drenching the bandages on her face.
"Sorry."
"I-it's okay. Probably this is Karma or stuff."
"You did not answer me before. Why did you become a Villain? Why you didn't try proving everybody wrong and showing that your Quirk is not a mark of being born a Villain?" he asked.
"Everybody says that, as if pushing back was easy! I like blood, okay? It looks pretty and it tastes good! And I need it! I get hungry and then I get hungry, and when I don't have blood in my stomach I get sick...Shigaraki promised me a new world where I would have been accepted, but that for a while I could not have enough blood to keep the cravings away, but every time things were about to get really bad a blood sack would come and everything would be alright...Then one day my cravings started changing…"
"Uh? What do you mean?"
"At first it was strange, whenever they got really bad I would feel...Light? As if my brain was resting on cotton, nothing felt real besides this tiny voice reminding me of how nice blood looked and tasted. Then would come the anxiety, the headaches and...And this feeling of disorientation and paranoia, panic attacks or-or-or trouble staying focused or even a sharp ringing in my ears…"
"Do you also had troubles feeling yourself? Or even as if you were starting to lose contact with reality?" Recovery Girl asked while she and Tsukauchi as well entered.
"Y-Yes? I think so? There were times I found myself somewhere with no idea how I got there."
"What are you thinking about?" the Detective asked.
"Those I listed and the ones she herself admitted are symptoms of withdrawal from Benzodiazepines, medicines often used, and abused, by whoever tries suppressing Blood Cravings coming from Blood Quirks. Between that and your own Quirk acting up from Blood Withdrawal there is no surprise you acted they way you did." the short woman said.
"Benzodiazepines?" Izuku asked.
"Wait! I know those! My mother tried making me use those to suppress my Quirk!" Himiko said with a gasp.
"So her parents didn't let her feed on blood as her Quirk demands, and then pumped her full of medicines to suppress the cravings and withdrawal symptoms?" Tsukauchi asked for clarification while taking notes.
"That was their insane plan, most likely. A simple Internet search will give you dozens of similar stories, full of theories of Quacks insisting one can defeat those 'Evil' cravings with just a couple pills, more often than not pills not exactly legal either."
"My God…" The Detective muttered.
"Benzodiazepines are basically sedative medications, normally used to fight anxiety and sleep disorders, and her parents were probably trying suppressing her need to consume blood (and her withdrawal symptoms from not drinking it) with those medicines, as you said.
Normally those drugs should only be administered under the strict medical control of a Doctor, something we know All for One has easy access to with the psycho that creates those Nomu for him.
My guess is that not all the blood they supplied to Himiko-san at the beginning used to be clean, they probably knew of her preexisting problems with Blood Consumption and her parents usage of those medicines, and started to add those medicines in great quantities to the blood sacks to make her more malleable only at a later date, once gained her trust."
"M-M-Malleable?" Himiko asked in horror.
"You admitted that at the worst of your Withdrawals, you get physically sick and desperate enough to get blood to suck it from dead animals, until one day you almost stabbed a classmate of yours because the cravings were at their worst." Tsukauchi asked.
"Y-Yes."
"Were you already in contact with the League of Villains when that happened?"
"Not really...Dabi...Dabi kept bringing me blood sacks he got from a friend in exchange of me keeping "not-exactly-legal" stuff hidden for them, I later discovered this friend being Kurogiri that finally asked me to join their group officially after I almost killed my classmate."
"I see. Based on this and the Benzos Theory, they were probably trying to turn you from a desperate girl into their little Killer Pet. This if those drugs have actually been used-"
"I can easily do a blood test to confirm that with the sample I collected when I arrived here, I just need to find enough traces in her system to either confirm or deny they used those or similar drugs." Recovery Girl interrupted him.
"Please do. As I was saying, based on the possibility of Drugs being added on top of your physiological need of consuming blood to "Break you" and turn you into yet another Psychotic Villain, I can probably make a case of you being in a state legally defined as 'Incompetent', as in "unable to understand what you were doing and the situation you were in" when that attack on the boy and the others happened, and see if you can avoid jail at the very least since by miracle none of them actually died.
But you would still be forced to seek therapy and probably go into house arrest for a while…If you also collaborate with us I can see if you can be offered more help, like the 'Reformed Villain Rehabilitation Program'."
"W-W-What kind of help?" Himiko asked.
"Start by telling me everything you know about the League of Villains and its members. Did you kill anybody while working for them?"
"Not...Not really?...I-I don't know...I joined them one year ago and was just running errands, like looking for new members or hiding stuff or gathering rumors, then...Then there was the USJ attack as my Initiation in Shigaraki's Group...A-A-And a couple Heroes I stabbed with those needles to steal their blood, BUT THEY WERE ALIVE WHEN I LEFT! They told me to not kill them, yet...Then the special training started and-And then there was the Sport Festival...I don't remember much, I swear...It's all so blurry…" she admitted.
"Special Training?" Tsukauchi asked, pouncing on that curious term.
"Y-Yes, they wanted me to master my Quirk faster so I kept taking blood and transforming, sometime changing identities even a dozen times in a row, I felt very sick that day, so much I could not breath well. I barely remember that I slurred a lot while talking then...Then nothing. I have holes in my memory for those days."
"It was then that your cravings started changing for the worse still?" Recovery Girl asked with narrowed eyes.
"Y-Yes?"
"Another nail on the drug addiction case?" Izuku asked.
"It gets more likely the longer she talks, even just the sheer number of transformations they made her go through in rapid succession could have been taxing for her body and mind, and that without adding drugs on top of it.
Problems of memory and slurring speech, along dizziness and troubled breathing are another bad telling sign. They almost sent her into overdose to kick-start an acute dependency of Benzos and blood. I need to check but there is a very slight chance that the effect of withdrawal they added with those drugs have now became a fixed part of her Quirk. Worst case scenario...They might have even caused her some light brain damage." the woman said.
"Brain damage?!" Himiko shrieked.
"Would explain your bouts of violence and psychosis as well."
"I AM SORRY! I-I-I-I just wanted to belong somewhere! I did not want to hurt anybody!" Himiko yelled, crying again in despair.
"...Himiko?" Izuku said.
"Y-Yes?"
"Do you want to come to my Restaurant and become my Waitress?" he asked.
"W-W-What?" she asked in shock.
"WHAT?!" the other two echoed behind him.
"There were not Heroes when you needed them the most, and the Villains you hoped could be your new Family betrayed and used you. I am offering you a third option." Izuku said with a kind smile.
"But I...I...I am reduced like this...I-I am basically a drug addict!" the girl answered with a tone suggesting she will soon start crying again.
"If I fix everything, will you accept?" the Chef said.
"What are y-"
"Ssssh!" Recovery Girl hissed to silence the Detective.
"I-I know you don't have a Quirk, even Recovery Girl says she can't help me, I would probably be better off de-"
"If I do heal you, will you accept?" Izuku interrupted her.
"Why?"
"Because if no Heroes or Villains were there for you, I will." he answered.
"Uh?"
"I am offering you a new chance: not as a Hero, nor as a Villain. But as a friend." he said, gently patting her bandaged head, and still with a sweet and gentle smile on his face.
"W-W-Why?"
"Because you deserve a second chance, and I want to offer it to you."
"Please don't betray me you too!" Himiko begged.
"Never." Izuku promised while boldly kissing her forehead, something that did have an effect on the girl since her only eye widened considerably. Then she cried, the ugly way.
"Waaaaaaah!"
"How do you plan to heal her?" Tsukauchi asked, skeptical.
"I have a way, but first, she needs to eat something."
"Hic! Eat?" Himiko asked between her hiccups.
"No medicine should be taken on an empty stomach, so first some dinner, then your Healing." Izuku answered, smiling blindingly.
"No offense, Chef Midoriya, but healing her is impossible. She-"
"Say that I heal her. That I heal her arms and legs, her lungs, her skin and hair and even the damages done by those drugs they fed her. Will she be able to have her Villain Rehabilitation in my Restaurant? As my Waitress?" Izuku asked.
"I...Y-Yes?" Tsukauchi answered, unsure.
"As for the house arrest, she will live in UA. I don't think Cementoss will have any problem building a small living area you and the Police Force will find appropriate. She will leave only for her job and always with a police officer close-by." Recovery Girl added immediately.
"Of course, she has been looking forward to know more about my Healing Cuisine ever since I fixed All Might's Health and Quirk, with Himiko living close-by, she will be able to study her all she wants…" Izuku thought while shaking his head in amusement.
"I-I will need to make a couple calls for that, but I guess it can be done?" the Detective answered, uncertain.
"I will hold you on that. Now sorry, I need to go to the kitchen, I have a job to do."
"Make some food for the other wounded kids too!" Recovery Girl said.
"Why?"
"Do it and I will help you further." the woman answered.
"...Fine." the Chef answered with narrowed eyes as he walked away.
"What are you up to?" Tsukauchi asked.
"Do you remember when I said my Quirk can't make miracles?" she answered.
"Yes?"
"He can instead, and this will be the final Test I need to finally confirm it." the Pro Heroine answered.
"Wha?!" both Himiko and Tsukauchi answered as one in shock.
Kitchen – later that night -
While the other members of the Wild Wild Pussycats helped the students of both Class 1A and 1B recover from the shock of such a ballsy Villain Attack, once made sure Tomoko was okay no matter her leg being in a cast and her still-present fear of All for One coming for her Quirk, Izuku had commandeered the entire kitchen of the place and had immediately started cooking.
Takatakatakatakatakataka!
His bone kitchen knife flew at blinding speed over the Ingredients both from the WWP's kitchen and from the System's Storage: Ingredients from the Gourmet world, from Starlight City, from the Forest World, The Fantasy World and even a few he had purchased just to help Himiko.
"System? Is Himiko actually a good Waitress candidate? I do want to help her, but I know you still are very demanding." Izuku finally asked.
"No need to worry, Host. While the System has high requirements and wish the Host to have only the best possible people as the Staff of his Restaurant, the System is also aware that the final decision is the Host's only to make.
That being said, Himiko Toga has been determined to be a Candidate with an aptitude score of 99.8%, and the System would like to insist The Host does everything in his power to gain her services as a Waitress.
On the ground of this, as an incentive, the System declares this an Official Mission:
Abrupt Mission: Heal Himiko Toga of her wounds and Drug Addiction!
Reward: 10% Bonus on Experience Points total.
1 Fragment of the God of Cooking Set.
Unlocking of the Ingredient Bubble Fruit.
Work hard, young man!
"Eh! As if I actually needed an incentive to help somebody in need." Izuku muttered to himself with a small smile.
"...Dek...Izuku?" the voice he heard behind him almost made his heart stop, but still, as a testament of his cooking skills, his movements did not get disturbed at all.
"Bakugo-san," the Chef answered without turning back and still working on the initial Ingredient preparation, like washing, peeling or cutting.
"…"
"How is you arm?"
"In a cast, but I will recover. It's itchy like a bit...it itches." Katsuki answered, unsure.
"I wish you a swift recovery." The Chef answered with a tense tone, pure formality.
"...Why you never told me you could do all that?"
"Because before the Coma I wasn't able to." Izuku answered, setting several pots and pans on the fire and waiting for the oil to be hot enough.
"Then...Then why you did not try to get in UA after you woke-up?" he asked.
"I was of the idea being a Hero was not something I was worthy of, so I didn't even try." Izuku answered, still not looking at him.
"You didn't even try?! That is not you!"
"I KNOW!" the Chef yelled.
"…"
"…"
"I know. But during that year, during that coma...I made peace with it. I finally accepted that I had to abandon that dream, and I let go of it like you, our teachers and even All Might himself told me to do. I threw away every piece of Hero Merchandise I owned and focused on a new dream, I only kept my own Hero Notes out of nostalgia, and as a reminder of what I could not become because I was born wrong."
"...Izu-"
"Do you have any idea how much that hurt? How much I would love to march to UA and DEMAND to join the Hero Course? I had just thrown all away only to wake-up after the coma as I am now. The moment I accepted that I could never become a Hero, I got the Power to actually have a shot at it...It felt like a very mean joke, you know?!"
"You can become a Hero. You can try now!"
"THAT'S THE THING! 'You can try Now!'! I would have just enforced the message that Quirkless People can't be Heroes! Why could I not try before, uh?! What was so different between me and a guy or girl with a weak Quirk!? I have a customer with a Quirk that let her change eye color on the fly, and she goes to Ketsubutsu! Changing eye color, THAT'S IT! And she got a chance! Is she really that much more Hero Material than me?! EH?! Is being a Hero really such an exclusive Club one needs a positive Medical Test to go out there helping people in need?!"
"That's an extreme case."
"But it is real! It sets a precedent!...But it doesn't matter anymore. It was just dumb luck that I met a Cooking Teacher that opened my eyes about my Talent for cooking: 'If you feel like you can't help people as a Hero, then help people as a Chef! Bring smiles everywhere with good food!'...And I know I can do it! I failed to become a Hero that saves people and makes them smile, but I won't fail to become a Chef able to protect his Customers and brighten their day."
"If you think you are not Hero material, then why you saved me from that Sludge guy?" Katsuki asked, anger already building-up.
"I often asked myself that as well."
And with that answer delivered with an empty plain tone, those few sparks of anger died.
"You...You would have just stood there watching as I died?" Katsuki asked with a whisper of voice.
"To be fair, part of me wanted to, part of me felt you deserved that." the Hero Student felt sick for an instant at hearing that.
"But then I thought about Mitsuki-san and the sorrow she would have felt at losing her son, and at the few good memories we shared before your damn Quirk manifested, and I decided to save THAT Kacchan, even if by doing that I knew I would have also saved the Katsuki you had become, and so I acted, even if I was already tired of being your Conscience and stop you from murdering whatever 'Extra' that you thought was disrespecting you."
"I-"
"And you almost killed me in retaliation, not a very good way to say 'Thank you'. But I guess I deserved nothing less for 'Showing off' as you said." Izuku answered, and what Katsuki hated were not only the words in themselves, but the utterly dead tone the young Chef used to deliver his answer.
"Then why not joining UA? Why not joining the Hero Course as a way to get back at me? To get back at the world?"
"…"
"Even just denouncing me! You had every possible card to ruin me...Then why you didn't do any of that?"
"Were you not listening? My Life doesn't revolve around you. Nor does it revolve around the Hero Business. I understood that in the name of a Marketable Hero and the Fame sponsors could have gained from championing the sparkling newcomer with a flashy Quirk, everything I said could have been swiped under the rug to protect Katsuki Bakugo, somebody's new Investment...It was unlikely to actually happen, but even just the mere idea that it COULD have happened scared me, I knew I could have not managed to deal with that kind of pain." He answered.
"Izuku…"
"So I decided to finally focus on my happiness, and if I could not be happy by being a Hero just because a flimsy piece of paper declared me Quirkless, then I went for cooking, something where I just needed skills to have a chance, not a Government-approved printed declaration of worth."
"So you gave-up on me?!"
"Yes." that answer was a slap in words form, and Katsuki felt it fully.
"...Why so angry? I did as you asked, I abandoned my dream, I accepted the fact that I did not deserve to be a Hero,and even stopped bothering you, so where is the problem?"
"THE PROBLEM IS THAT YOU WERE NOT THERE!" Katsuki yelled.
"You needed me so to have somebody in UA to rule over?"
"NO! I WANTED...I wanted…I…"
"Yes?"
"I wanted you there so to tell you that I am sorry." Katsuki said, walking forward, uncaring of Whitey following him close behind ready to intervene.
"I was not aware you were able of admitting mistakes,"
"I can instead, but of course your parents wanted me nowhere close to you, same going for mine." he was now in the middle of the kitchen and was still walking.
"You can't blame them."
"They forced me into therapy, you know? Every single fucking day...Talking, talking, talking and talking...There were times I felt it would have been less humiliating stripping naked. And they want me to keep doing it."
"I heard Hound Dog works there as a counselor, that means they put you against one of the best." Izuku answered, back still straight as he cooked.
Katsuki was now right behind him.
"They pulled out everything: Insecurities, Fears, Delusions...They forced everything out and disassembled it a damn piece at a time right in front of my eyes...I wasn't even aware most of my anger was Inferiority Complex, and yet that shrink pulled everything out and slapped my face with it again and again until I had no choice but face every single little thing...But the only thing that I still hate to talk about is you, they say I am slowly coming around for most of my issues...Except when it comes to you." Katsuki said.
"You hate me that much?" the Chef asked.
"I know I don't hate you NOW, but back when that accident happened? No? Yes? Probably, maybe...I don't know. I know I want to be the best, that I want to stand at the top, and that before getting into UA I hated whoever I saw as a threat to that Number 1 spot. And maybe I thought that you would have been an obstacle even as a Quirkless."
"…"
"Izuku, look at me." he asked.
"…"
"Iccha-"
"No. Don't." the Chef said with a growl.
"Uh?"
"You can't call me like that. You don't deserve to call me like that." the Hero Student saw it, the faint shaking of the Chef's shoulders.
"...Icchan."
"I said stop! O-Only my childhood friend can call me that! You are not Kacchan, he-he died when that damn Quirk popped-up!" Izuku said, now his shoulders were shaking heavily, and yet his hands movement did not get sloppy at all.
"I am still here! I am not dead!" Katsuki answered, and forcing Izuku to turn around to look at him in the eyes.
There were tears, yes, but they did not come down nor did the Chef's eyes stopped looking back at him unwavering.
"I only wanted you to believe in me, nobody else...Just you and my mother, I needed no other support beside you and my parents. I thought that if you joined UA as well someday you would have not walked besides me, but forward, far...Farther than I could reach..."
"So you pushed me away? That's all your excuse? You almost killed me!" the Chef asked.
"I think I preferred losing you on my terms, for something I did, than for what I could not do."
"And that attack? The suicide baiting? That is a crime, Katsuki! A disgusting crime!"
"That was a mistake,"
"You-"
"I am not justifying myself. I am just calling it what it is: something I did that I shouldn't have done. Sometimes I wonder how that and everything else I have done did not ruin my chances to get into UA, I wake up every damn morning in a panic and thinking they will burst through my door to drag me out and tell me it was a mistake to let me join their school. I am no idiot, I know that there is nothing I can say that will justify what I did. But I am still asking you to give me a last chance, I am trying to fix things up." Katsuki asked.
"You said all that without screaming or a curse,"
"I am no bi-dimensional idiot. This is a serious moment," he answered.
"You do know that nothing will ever be the same between us, yes?" Izuku asked.
"It has not to be the same, but it can be better." he answered.
"You are awfully optimistic."
"So there is no chance whatsoever?"
"You almost killed me, Bakugo-san,"
"Kacchan."
"Uh?"
"Call me with that nickname at least, for old time's sake."
"I'll try. Now please, let me work." he answered, and returning his full attention to the fire once heard the oil starting to become hot just right.
"…"
"..."
"...I am serious, I just want a last chance to make things better. One last chance, then if it doesn't work, I won't bother you anymore. Forever."
"Do whatever you want, it's not like I ever managed to stop you from doing that. Nobody ever does."
"You'll see. Can I stay and watch? I will be quiet."
"If you have to..." the Chef answered, sighing.
"Thanks." Katsuki answered with a soft voice, for the first time in a long time.
As he had promised, he just moved a chair in a corner and sat down, watching the Chef work in complete silence, even his own breathing could barely be heard, covered by the sound of the Chef's tireless cooking.
Two hours later -
Two of the many dishes he made were Wild Boar Stew with mushrooms and flecks of white truffle and Wild Boar Chops with sweet potatoes, bacon, roasted figs and juniper sauce; and while tasting 'Fucking Amazing!' Like Tetsutetsu and many others openly and loudly declared, there was something wrong with all of them in Katsuki's opinion…
(Boar Chop with Figs and all)
(Boar Stew with Mushrooms)
Like, for instance: How in God's name did that food manage to fix his broken arm and his other wounds?!
Katsuki had no idea of the mechanics behind it, but he KNEW it was not Recovery Girl's Quirk that healed him, contrary to the other students that just dismissed everything as the old woman's Quirk doing the deed, and that revelation simply tripled the questions storming inside the Hero Student's head about the unnatural change in his old childhood friend.
"Something is wrong. Too wrong. I need answers, in a way or another!" Katsuki thought while looking everywhere for Izuku's whereabouts.
While this was happening, at the opposite end of the Inn an important meeting was taking place.
With Momo -
Having got permission from the Wild Wild Pussycats to use one of the empty rooms of the Inn, Momo had asked to her last Rival to meet in private.
"Glad you could meet me." Momo said with a sigh.
"It sounded important, what is it?" Ochaco asked, she had several rounds of bandages around her head and a long stripe covering her torso.
"…" The Heiress just took a deep breath and looked straight at her with a cold gaze.
"What?"
"This has to stop. For real." Rumi said, sighing.
"Uh?"
"Once and for all, do you love my boyfriend, yes or no?" Momo asked.
"I just...I think I love him, I can't help it. Even if I try to forget about him and move on...It hurts too much." Ochaco confirmed.
"…" Momo stood in silence as she watched the other two.
"I-I-I don't want to steal him away!" Ochaco said.
"HN?!"
"Me and you, Momo-san...Just me and you." she repeated.
"HOY! What are you suggesting?!" Rumi asked with a growl.
"You are not backing down?!" Momo demanded.
"...No...No, I won't." she finally said.
"…"
"Momo…"
"…"
"You-"
"Silence!" Ochaco snapped, surprising Rumi enough to force her into silence.
"...His smiles are mine." Momo finally said.
"I-"
"His smiles are mine. His laughs are mine. His tears! His joy! His pain! His Sorrow! His Love and his Passion! It's all mine! Mine and mine only!" Momo said, crying.
"Momo…" Ochaco said while slowly moving closer to her.
"You can't have him! You will never have him! He sees ME! He sees the girl! Not the Money, the curves or the family name or the Connections! He wants nothing from me besides my love! And I won't share this treasure!"
"Momo, please." Ochaco said while finally hugging the young woman.
"No...Let go…" the other answered while trying to push her away.
"He believes in me, he supported me and was always there for me whenever I was afraid or sad, let me in...Please…"
"You will take him away! You will steal him! I saw how he looks when somebody mutters about him staying with me because of my money! I saw it in his eyes, the fear of not being worthy! You will use that to take him away from me!"
"No I won't! Never! We are friends, I would never do this to you!"
"And yet you accepted Nejire's proposal, only to then stab her in the back and admit it." Rumi said.
"I couldn't keep this up, I kept feeling horrible, so I finally talked with Momo and told her everything."
"Took you a bit too long, though." Rumi answered, snorting in ridicule.
"At least I was honest! Unlike you!"
"She had been more honest than you from the beginning, and she too admitted everything, Ochako. She was even ready to leave if both me and Izuku told her, she was ready to leave everything behind and stop trying to get between us."
"I was just attracted to him physically at first, I won't lie about it, but you know what? Both that date and that clusterfuck into another Dimension made me see the real him, and I like that! I LOVE THAT! And luckily Momo understood how I felt." Rumi admitted, sighing tiredly.
"Then...What about me?" Ochako asked.
"…"
"Momo?"
"No." she said.
"Hn?"
"No, we are not doing this. Even if you are okay with this, or Rumi is, not even if Izuku is okay with this. My answer will still be no. I don't trust you." Momo answered, walking away and slamming the door behind herself.
"Momo…" Ochako muttered with a sad expression.
"Sorry, girl. You blew it, it seems." Rumi answered, leaving as well.
With Momo -
In the end she had to ask the others for help locating Izuku, since the Chef had apparently left to stay alone for a bit after feeding every wounded person present, and when she did find him, she saw her beloved Chef lying alone on the ground outside to watch the starry sky above him. Even Whitey and Shiro were standing a bit far from him, just to let him have a bit of peace by himself.
"May I?" she asked with a soft whisper.
"Of course," he answered, looking at her with a drained look on his face.
"Thank you." She answered, lying next to him and, to her shame, grabbing his hand and feeling anxious until his fingers fully entwined with hers just a second later.
"…"
"Are you okay?" She asked.
"Uh?"
"Are you?"
"I am. I'm just a bit tired, this was supposed to be a peaceful walk in the woods for me, not...All this…"
"You were amazing, though."
"No, I wasn't. My job is not Hero-ing, I am a Chef. I didn't want to show off that much, but then Kota and Tomoko-san were in trouble...YOU were in trouble…And now I made it clear I am not a normal Quirkless."
"Are you regretting our relationship?" Momo asked.
"No, and you know it."
"God..."
"Momo?" he asked, turning on his side to look at her and going wide-eyed at seeing her crying.
"Look at me. Getting insecure about us at every bump on the road even after we made Love...Am I really that scared of losing you? So damn whiny?" She said, both crying and smiling, while looking at her trembling hands.
"That fear is mutual, actually. You know this." Izuku admitted with a low, ashamed voice.
"I know, and it is not supposed to happen." she said, leaning closer to him.
"Love can suck, yes." Rumi answered, joining the scene and lying at Izuku's other side.
"Does every School trip of yours end with Villain attacks?" He asked while pulling her and Momo a bit closer and grabbing Rumi's hand in his free one.
"Don't know, it was not written in the pamphlets advertising UA, that's for sure." Rumi answered while leaning her head on his shoulder.
"We are four on four with this one, it is no longer a coincidence." Momo added with a sigh of dismay.
"…"
"Huhuhu!"
"What?" Both Izuku and Momo asked, curious, at hearing the Bunny Girl's chuckle.
"...Ochako, come out." It was after a very long and quiet silence where the three just hugged, that Rumi's rabbit ears twitched a bit, and after a short chuckle, the young woman called-out the name of the one spying on them.
"H-Hey." Ochako answered, walking a bit forward to be seen by the small group.
"So you actually followed us." Momo said with her lips pressed into a thin line.
"I did. I decided that...That I am not backing down. Not this time. All my childhood I accepted that there were things I could not get, or things I could not do. This time I am pushing back." She answered.
"I told you that you are not welcomed." Momo hissed.
"No can do. Sorry, Yaomomo. I am staying." Ochako answered, not backing-down, she instead walked to the group and sat on the ground and moved Izuku's head on her lap so to gently play with his hair.
"Shit! I should have thought about doing that! They are so fluffy!" Rumi muttered with a frown.
"It may have escaped you, but he doesn't want you! He fully admitted it to both me and Rumi!" Momo said.
"And I decided to ignore that," Ochako answered.
"Oh! You shameless woman!" Momo hissed.
"Ocha?" Izuku said.
"I am not leaving. For once I want to get something I want! I have been told No all my Life, now I want to act spoiled at least once! I'll be your girlfriend, end of story." She answered, face red in embarrassment, but she still showed her determination.
"...Pfff!" Rumi's snort was not what she expected in answer to her claim.
"Good God, that's the least romantic confession I have ever heard, and I watch some crappy Soap-Operas!" She admitted.
"It doesn't work like that!" Momo said.
"Screw that! This situation went on for far too long! If somebody doesn't like how we resolve this, they can fuck off and die!" Ochako snapped.
"Jeez, sister. Relax." Rumi said, wincing.
"No need to be that harsh." Izuku added.
"For the Love of God...There really is no escaping this, hn?" Momo said with a long exhale.
"Everything has been set in motion by Fate for this to happen." Rumi answered while trapping the Chef left arm between her arms and their bodies, she then pressed fully against his side and started rubbing her cheek on his chest over and over.
"EEEK!" Making him shriek in surprise.
"What are you doing now?!" Momo shrieked.
"I am marking him with my scent, so every bitch he meets will know who he belongs to!" She answered, unashamed.
"I DON'T THINK IT WORKS LIKE THAT!" He answered.
"NO! You can't do this! He's mine!" Momo answered.
"Can't smell you on him anymore! Just me!"
"Can you please stop referring to me as property?!" Izuku begged with a shrill voice.
"We'll see about that!" Momo roared back in answer to Ochako and Rumi's shameless claim, and doing so by pulling him away from them and hugging him fully and using her being taller than him to pretty much wrap all of herself around him, even if it meant his head went buried in her breast…
It was not like he did not map her body fully whenever they got intimate, she used to have plenty of bite marks and hickeys all over her body to show it.
"As surprising as this sounds, I am objecting this situation," he said with a muffled voice, although he also pressed his face a bit deeper still in Momo's heavenly bosom out of reflex.
"It was more Nejire's doing than Fate, but I guess that Fate too had a hand in this." Ochako admitted, sighing.
"Nejire…" Momo growled, and to Izuku's secret joy, her hug tightened even more.
"I understand your dislike, or shit, even Hatred, for her...But you have to admit it: a Polycule between us can work! If we four put in the effort it can work! We all are smart and responsible young adults, not kids! We can even set 'boundaries'! I KNOW it can work! Why argue and fight when we can all be happy together?" Ochako said.
"You will steal Izuku away from me!"
"FOR FUCK SAKE! I WON'T STEAL HIM! SWEET CHEEKS WON'T STEAL HIM EITHER! We just want a fucking slice of the beefcake too, Goddamnit!" Rumi roared.
"No." Momo said, defiant.
"Momo!" Ochako growled.
"MINE!"
"Equal share, promise!" she then said.
"NO!"
"...You get 40% and me and Ochako share the remaining 60%." Rumi said with narrowed eyes.
"Deal!" Momo answered.
"MOMO!" Izuku and the others yelled as one.
"I knew it! You just want to be his Main Bitch!" Rumi said in triumph.
"Not...Not Main Bitch...More like Alpha Female of the pack…" She muttered in answer, ashamed.
"Ergo, the Main Bitch of the Alpha Male of the pack." The rabbit woman answered, smirking.
"Izuku! Say something!" Momo said, face neon-red in shame, while looking down at her boyfriend's face deep in her cleavage to see HIM TOO blushing super red and being unresponsive.
"What have you done?! You broke him!" she shrieked in anger.
"HEY! HEY! HEY! I was talking about Romance, not sex! It goes without saying that as a man he would love to have Fun with three girls, but Romance is a bit more complex and important!" Rumi answered.
"That's actually sexist against men, not all of us think with our dick only! And I am not that kind of guy! If this has to be a proper Relationship, I want to court you two to see if it can actually work between us! I want to take you to a date! Talk sweet nothings while kissing and just spend hours doing nothing but cuddling and hugging! I want romance too other than wild sex from this Poly-Relationship! Fuck!" He admitted in anger and shame.
"…"
"Icchan...You know...We can do that too...We can go on a date, a real one, even if I may have considered our small adventure in that other dimension and that movie as dates too…" Rumi said with a shy voice.
"Same here...A date sounds cool...All romantic and stuff…L-L-Like a movie or-or-or an ice-cream…P-P-Please?" Ochako added, looking everywhere but at him to hide her red face.
"…" Momo just looked at them with narrowed eyes.
"Momo?" Izuku asked, confused.
"One chance. I say we give this Poly thing ONE SINGLE CHANCE."
"Ye-"
"BUT! At one condition: no more back-stabbing, plans, secret alliances and whatnot. At the first misstep the deal is off. Just like I said to Rumi, this will be a Test Trial."
"Fair enough." Ochako answered with narrowed eyes.
"...This is insane." Izuku admitted with a groan.
"Let's give it a try, even just to put a stop to this insanity. The instant you feel uncomfortable or you feel like you can't actually have a relationship with them, they will back off and leave us alone." Momo answered.
"I know I should feel happy about this, but...It's just too strange."
"And that means you are actually thinking this through instead of letting hormones guide you." she answered, proud.
"Okay...Okay...L-Let's try." he conceded.
"YES! GROUP HUG!" Rumi yelled in triumph.
"Hands where I can see them!" Momo answered, as the first to hug the Chef before the other two joined.
"Yeah, yeah,"
The four of them spent several minutes hugging in silence, each one of the four of them just enjoying, or trying to enjoy, the feeling of their group being that close.
"…"
"Spit it out, Momo." Rumi, eyes closed and happily sandwiched between Izuku and Ochako, whispered.
"You are enjoying this, isn't it, Izu?" Momo asked.
"…"
"…"
"...I would be lying if I say I am not…" He muttered.
"You do have feelings for Rumi and Ochako, isn't it?" She then asked, making the other two girls tense a little.
"…"
"…"
"...Yes."
"And for me."
"You still feel the need to ask?" He answered, looking at her from above Ochako's head.
"A tiny part of me does, while the rest of me just loves hearing you say that you love me." Momo admitted.
"And I do love you."
"Good!"
"...So I can stay?" Ochako said.
"She still has not torn your head off, or mine, so for now I guess we can stay." Rumi answered.
"Goddamnit…"
"Language, Momo." Izuku said.
"I wanted to be your only woman!" She said with a whine.
"Can still happen!"
"Really?" Rumi said with her ears pinned down.
"Come on!" Ochako added.
"You just want his body! I Love him for real." Momo said, defiant.
"Out of us three, you are the only one that actually got full access to his body once-"
"Thrice." Momo said, actually smug about it.
"Three times?!" Ochako said, outraged.
"Goddamnit." Rumi hissed.
"Rumi, watch your tongue." Izuku said.
"Watch it for me," She answered, smirking.
"Oh for the love of God…"
"And by the way, while I may want to have some Adult Fun with him, I Love him for real, Momo. Love is not your gig exclusively."
"Same here." Ochako said.
"...You win." Momo said, sighing.
"It is no longer a matter of winning, Momo. It's a matter of all the four of us being happy together." Rumi answered.
"It is!"
"Izuku?"
"Yes?"
"Do you want them to stay?" Momo asked.
"Yes."
At that, Momo took a huge breath, held it for a couple seconds, then released it.
"I do trust Ochako…" She then said.
"Thank you."
"And I guess Rumi can be trusted as well,"
"Aye." Rumi said.
"And I do trust you," She then said, playfully bumping her forehead on Izuku's.
"Same for me." The young Chef answered.
"Then let's make this Poly Relationship work." Momo said, finally.
"Woooo!" Rumi answered, smirking wide.
"YES!" Ochako added, before shoving her tongue as far as she could down Izuku's throat.
"HEY!" Both Rumi and Momo yelled as one.
"God, I wanted to do this for so long!" Ochako admitted, smirking.
"Wow." Izuku admitted in awe.
"So! What is the first order of business of our new Poly? A cuddlepile is a good start, but I am curious about what comes next!" Rumi said, she instead moved to cover Izuku and the other girls' necks in kisses and hickeys.
"I just want to hug my man, the rest can wait." Ochako muttered in answer, finally relaxed and no longer on edge.
"I will soon need to get back home, sorry." Izuku answered, getting two very disappointed and childish moans in answer from Rumi and Ochako.
"We still have a last loose end." Momo said, groaning.
"…"
"...Nejire." The others said.
"What about her?" Rumi said.
"She did everything wrong, but...Come on! She wanted to fix things, even if she screwed-up in the meantime." Ochako said.
"The road to Hell is paved in good intentions, Ochako." Izuku answered.
"That is the thing! Hers were good intentions. She didn't try to get rid of us, she wanted to...I don't know how...Make us consider the idea of a Poly Relationship…"
"And it kind of worked, somehow." Momo admitted, groaning again.
"Should we...Let her join too?" Izuku said, unsure.
"NO!" The three girls yelled in answer.
"Why?" He asked.
"That would mean rewarding her!"
"Well, she did help turning our Rivalry into an Alliance (Poly), so in a sense...In a very slanted way...She did help us too instead of conspiring to get rid of us…" Ochako said.
"She did offer you an alliance too, isn't it? As a last resort." Rumi added.
"Yes, but…" Momo tried saying.
"But?" Izuku asked.
"I...May have overreacted a bit." She said, voice low and ashamed.
"Uh-hu? Define overreacted." Rumi asked.
"I admitted, as in, I said to her out loud, that by the time she finished talking I had already thought about several ideal locations where to dig the hole to hide her corpse if she dared suggesting that again." Momo muttered.
"JESUS CHRIST!" the others said.
"I was angry, okay?!"
"Yes, that is definitely what somebody very angry would say!" Ochako answered, appalled.
"...Then Mirio came talking to me, while you were in America dealing with Matoi…" Momo added, sighing and looking extremely tired of the entire situation.
"Oh. What about it?"
"He just asked me to forgive Nejire and give her a chance, saying how that it was all born from good intentions, even if she took every single bad decision about it." Momo said.
"Oh, she definitely planned this the wrong way. And for a bit got us down with her." Rumi admitted, bitter.
"…"
"What is it?" Momo asked.
"I...I kind of understand why she did this, though." The young Chef admitted.
"Hn?" The other girls muttered, confused.
"Sometimes you want something so badly that...That you are ready to do everything to get it, even if it's wrong."
"It happened to you too?" Rumi asked, saddened.
"In a sense, yes. While living as Zaus I could still remember my time here, and that was what helped me fix most of my issues...About my lack of Quirk...About my not being good enough to be a Hero…All of them." He said.
"I don't like that tone of voice." Rumi admitted.
"Eh, it had not been easy. While my...Let's call it New Body, grew up… In my head I kept going through my meeting with All Might over and over. Remembering, thinking, about how he said that I needed to abandon my dream, and how much hearing my idol and Role Model telling me that hurt me. So I was prone to basically burst of Jealousy about…. Pretty much everything."
"Uh-hu?" Momo muttered, sense of dread mounting inside of her.
"But a big part of me knew he was right, I knew that he was just giving me a wake-up call and helping me to stop clinging like a spoiled toddler to an impossible dream and just take charge of my life in an actual productive way. But another part of me, small as it was, refused to let go of that...There was this...This Kid version of Me… Screaming inside my head 24/7, telling me that I didn't deserve to be Quirkless, and that I deserved powers just like everybody else. Or even more than others. That I was robbed of what was supposed to be mine."
"That sounds...Bad." Ochako admitted.
"It was, as cliché as it sounds, I actually lived with it for a long time. That is why as a teen Zaus, I finally went to therapy...I just switched being a Hero with being a Chef and few other minor details when talking to the doctor following me." The young Chef said while freeing himself from the girls' hug to pace a bit back and forth in front of them.
"And it worked?" Momo asked, hopeful.
"Worked wonders, actually. It took many years, but that small voice got weaker and weaker until one day I just stopped hearing it altogether...Not before that small part of me decided to give me a last nightmare as a last middle finger as a parting gift, of course. That took a lot of appointments to help me recover from." Izuku said, grimacing a bit.
"...What was it about?" Rumi dared to ask.
"I don't remember a lot of details, just me tearing apart a faceless guy while they were still alive and screaming, both my hands kept pulling out his guts so that I could eat them like an animal while I screamed 'GIVE ME YOUR QUIRK! I WANT ONE! YOU DON'T DESERVE IT! I WANT A QUIRK!'...As you can imagine for a while I had troubles sleeping after that." He answered, disgusted.
"Jesus…"
"Yes, that was the signal I was taking that longing too far, but as I said, I dealt with it and my Depression. That trauma is just in the past now, I have more pressing matters to focus on now, like my restaurant. And you." Izuku said, showing them a small smile.
"So that day in the class?" Ochako said.
"Just a small relapse, they are very rare and far in between nowadays, just some random bouts of sadness; now all of that, like the acknowledgment of my Hero dream being dead for example, is just something I really don't like to talk about and would prefer to pretend never happened. Now I got plenty of good memories as a Chef to drown those tiny bad memories with." He answered.
"...And that reminds me I should probably contact Mister Toshinori, it's about time we talk and bury the hatchet. He did nothing wrong, so holding a grudge on him feels wrong." He then added, thoughtful.
Izuku knew it was not the man's fault, he had every right to choose a worthy candidate to pass his Quirk to, and even if discovering that particular detail stabbed the young Chef right on one of the scars of his childhood traumas, he knew holding it over the man's head was not the right thing to do, even if at the time that 'Betrayal' tore a hole in Izuku's chest.
"You do know you are not alone, yes? I am at your side, your parents are there for you, even my own parents are ready to lend a friendly ear to listen and a shoulder to lean on if you need. You took care of fixing your issues by yourself, and that is admirable, but asking for help never was something to be ashamed of." Momo said.
"I know, and I am grateful for it." He answered, smiling.
"I am here too, you know?" Rumi said, smiling encouragingly.
"Same here." Ochako added, gentle and warm.
"And I am here for you if you need, I used to be told that I was a great listener." Izuku answered, chuckling a bit.
"Oh, yes, definitely an old soul." Rumi joked, and that finally broke the gloom that was starting to settle among them.
"My body is still young and full of boundless energy, though!" Izuku answered.
"Don't I know it!" Momo answered, laughing softly.
"Ah, yes. Rub it in, will you?" Ochako countered, groaning.
"He did that too, yes. Multiple times."
"Momo…" The young Chef begged in shame.
"In all seriousness...You think everything started from Nejire's own selfish wish, that she then tried padding by making sure we too took part?" Ochako asked.
"That's my best guess. This Polyamory was probably her way to lessen her guilt about wanting to get between us. Maybe she could not just drop it, so she resorted to another solution to silence that Voice telling her to get me for herself." He answered, sighing.
"Instead of seeking therapy like you did to deal with your own 'That Voice'." Momo muttered to herself, unheard by the others.
"If we all get together, nobody will be left behind. If we all are Winners, nobody will lose." Rumi said.
"Pretty much. It's messed-up, but I guess that still made sense for her." Izuku answered.
"So you say that you want to give her a chance still, just because you want to believe she was just misguided?" Momo asked.
"She is a good friend, a very good Hero and an amazing person...Everybody makes mistakes, she didn't want to ruin lives, she just...Just...Just went the wrong way to resolve an issue." Izuku answered.
"And that happens to be what Mirio too said. Pretty much." Momo answered, sighing.
"Feels like we are rewarding her, though."
"Who the fuck cares?" Rumi answered, scoffing.
"Are you justifying her?"
"Maybe I am, what about it? She Loves him and did something selfish to get us into a Harem with him and her. She could have just sabotaged us to get him all for herself instead of making us join a group."
"But-"
"FUCK THAT! Stop being so butt-hurt about it!"
"I am not being butt-hurt! I am just not happy with the method she used," Momo answered.
"Ah, yes, because if she walked up to us and said 'Hey! Instead of arguing, why don't we share?' we would have immediately jumped at the idea!" Rumi answered, sarcastic.
"Well, no. Things don't work like that." Momo conceded.
"Exactly."
"We are no saints either, we both tried going behind Momo's back too." Ochako answered.
"… True." She admitted, begrudgingly.
"This situation has no solution. Besides a colossal failure." Momo admitted, face-palming and groaning.
"If we take Nejire in the group, we reward her for her actions." Izuku said.
"If we don't, we get the Poly SHE worked for, and she gets nothing. And listening to Mirio, she gets her heart broken again." Ochako added.
"And if we give her a chance, ideally somebody would say 'Ackthtsuallyh! She deserves the pain and misery! Waah! Waah! Waah!' and keep whining because things in our Life don't go as THEY want." Rumi said, annoyed.
"What do we do then? I can't decided alone for all of us." Izuku asked, opening his arms in defeat.
"…"
"…"
"Fine, I will take charge here...All onboard giving Nejire a chance? Aye or Nay...Aye." Momo muttered, looking at the sky and shaking her head in resignation before surprising the others by being the first to raise her hand.
"...Aye. Let the Mastermind join the Poly she started. Fuck the naysayers. At least she did try to resolve things." Rumi answered, raising her hand.
"Don't drag the rant on too long. I say Aye too, by the way." Ochako answered, she too raising her hand.
"…"
"Izuku?" Momo said.
"…" The young Chef took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly…
"...Aye. I do care about her." He finally said, sighing.
"Going to take a while before she regains our trust, though." Momo said.
"True. But everybody deserves a second chance, and somebody has to take the first step towards that in this situation." Ochako said.
"Yep!" Rumi answered.
"So we are all onboard. As soon as feasible, we will talk with Nejire and see if she is open to the idea, it's her right to refuse at this point, even if she was the one to start this." Izuku declared, sighing.
"Yeah, I am okay with that. The sooner, the better. This mess has gone on for too long," Rumi said.
"Right."
"How long before you have to get back?" Ochako asked.
"Twenty minutes, more or less." Izuku answered.
"Then come back here, I want to cuddle my boyfriend," Momo said, smiling and opening her arms wide.
"Our boyfriend." Rumi corrected her, chuckling.
"Yes, yes. Just need to get used to this." Momo answered, shaking her head but showing a tiny smile and chuckling.
"Huhuhu! I can do that." He answered, chuckling.
"Uhmmm… Warm and fuzzy…" Ochako muttered, smiling wide, while basking in the group hug.
It was like that, hugging each other in silence under the stars, that Chef and Hero Students spent that small moment of peace, knowing full well that soon a new issue will inevitably pop-up to bother him and the girls once again. Such was their life, apparently.
UA University - Infirmary – The next day -
"This is ridiculous," Aizawa admitted while watching Recovery Girl cut away the bandages around Himiko's head.
"Toshinori's newfound Health begs to differ." the old lady answered.
"One thing is that, the other is a complete rebuilding of a body with food." Tsukauchi answered.
"It's not a full rebuild, the biggest thing will be her growing a brand new arm and eye from zero, if he managed to do it. The other limbs still had the bones mostly intact and just lost everything else, the organs too were untouched, besides some moderate damage to a single lung. All these things could have been fixed by my own Quirk had they not happened to a single person all at once, except the regrowing of the arm and the eye, I can't do that." Recovery Girl answered.
"Still a big deal!" The Detective commented, rolling his eyes in exasperation.
The Students of Class 1A were also present, except for Aoyama that was still strangely absent, and together with them there were Rumi and Nejire, all of those students were standing in silence behind the trio as the old Medic finally undid all the knots of the bandages.
"I must side with Neomasa this time, the damages to her body are just too great and wide-spread compared to mine. My damages had long settled down, hers were fresh and worsening fast." Toshinori, standing with the students, added.
"I had nothing to lose, so I am okay with acting as a test subject for this," Himiko answered, sighing.
"So...As long as she has regular doses of blood to drink, she is not a psycho?" Kaminari asked.
"YOU-" the girls yelled as one, horrified by his words.
"No, he is right, I was acting like a raving animal…And I know that no matter how many times I apologize, the memories of our fights will never go away. But I am sorry, truly." the girl replied, eyes downcast.
"That's a bit too harsh, maybe." Tenya muttered in answer.
Sigh! "Hound Dog confirmed that most of the issues you had seemingly come from withdrawal symptoms, those drugs and honestly far too many buried traumas. While those scars run deep, he also confirmed that we got you just in time to help you recover before all that finally warped you forever into yet another maniac. IF you actually put the effort to get better." Aizawa answered.
"I-I-I will." she answered.
"Good. Ready?" Recovery Girl asked.
"Yes, let's get this over with." Himiko answered once took a deep breath.
"I will start then. You others back there, I get it you were curious, but if it didn't work, at the first noise I hear I will show you how well a Healer can also BREAK somebody." the old lady declared, making the room fall into deep silence.
"…" nobody talked as round after round of bandages went slowly and delicately peeled away, each and every layer feeling meters-thick thanks to the tension in the air.
Then the first sight of blond hair peaked from under the bandages.
"No way…" It was a very wide-eyed Recovery Girl herself to break the silence, though.
More and more bandages went removed, and now a full head of silky hair appeared from under the wraps, then healthy and unblemished face skin and rosy lips went uncovered, then smooth and soft shoulders, healthy arms and slender fingers with short nails, then a healthy and fit stomach and then the girl's long athletic legs with adorable petite feet and delicate toes made their appearance.
Luckily Himiko had received a plain set of bra and panties to cover her breast and crotch, but nobody doubted what was under those too was now fully healed.
"I-I-I am okay?" Himiko asked while studying herself, pinching and caressing her body as if not even recognizing it.
"The...The eye?" Recovery Girl said while removing the last patch covering the side of Himiko's face and the eye the old woman had to remove completely from the socket, and everybody saw a brand-new and healthy eye look back at them.
"I can see!" the girl declared, tears already mounting-up until she lost the battle and started crying in relief.
"How?!" Tsukauchi asked in shock.
"Healing Cuisine." Recovery Girl said with a whisper of voice full of disbelief.
"Uh?!" the other occupants of the room uttered.
"That is Healing Cuisine. One of Icchan's abilities is infusing food in what he calls Life Energy, not his, but the Life Force of the Ingredients he cooks with. He needs to balance the quantity of Energy accordingly based on who he needs to Heal, but the effects are Miraculous. That is part of the reason he did not join UA." Nejire answered, uncharacteristically serious.
"He feared that should somebody learn of this, the very wrong sort of people would seek him out, to the point of hurting his loved ones in hope of coercing him into cooking for them. You can imagine how determined people like the League of Villains would be in putting their hands on that power." Momo added.
"So he just kept saying he is Quirkless. It was his only option." Ochako added, sighing.
"Considering the level of Healing we just saw, maybe it is better for him to steer clear of the Hero Business, otherwise he will need to stay segregated somewhere just to not become a target. Recovery Girl hardly leaves UA for this same reason." Aizawa muttered.
"That was the initial plan, I bet. He lived a quiet life as a Quirkless where nobody knew what he could do and just enjoyed some fucking Peace of mind, but then he got involved with you and now he made the League of Villains his enemy too, isn't that right, Money Bags?" Katsuki asked while glaring at Momo.
"That Ability of his is the reason why we are having this conversation now, yes. He will need our help in case of danger should somebody learn about his Healing Cuisine, but he can defend himself, and I too can. We won't let them or anybody else get in the way," she answered.
"Strong he is strong. Him slicing a mountain fully demonstrated it. I am curious how the Hero Safety Commission did not learn of his abilities sooner." Tsukauchi wondered.
"..."
"Slicing what?…" Tokoyami muttered with a small voice, and looking horrified like many other students of class A.
"Later." Momo answered, looking at all of them with a begging tone.
"Let me guess: They did try pulling some bullshit, and as we all saw with that monster dog of his, that ended-up in them eating shit over and over," Katsuki said.
"Pretty much." Toshinori answered, sighing.
"There is also the fact that his father works for I-Island, they probably falsified his Quirk Test to hide everything." Tsukauchi answered.
"No, he is a Bona Fide Quirkless, that Test is legit." Aizawa answered.
"We ran another not too long ago." Recovery Girl added.
Nobody noticed Momo and the other girls growing pale at that revelation, and even if they schooled their expressions, the four of them still felt terror wash over them.
"THEY TESTED HIM?! WHEN?!" Momo thought in panic.
"How?!" the Detective asked.
"No idea, but one of the Directors of I-Island confirmed it, they are studying him from afar because he can do what he does without a Quirk." Aizawa answered.
"I can confirm that myself, I was part of the group that was told about it." Toshinori confirmed.
"Then...How?"
"I-I don't know, I was certain this power of his was a Quirk, but he asked me to not ask about it and I didn't. I trust him so I have no intentions to betray him." Momo tried answering.
"…" Tsukauchi looked at her with narrowed eyes, because something made him unable to gauge if her answer was a lie or truth, but he could only feel something he could only describe as mental static noises, and he didn't like that.
"Wait!" the next to scream was Tenya, surprisingly.
"Yes?" the Pro Hero asked.
"S-So Midoriya-san healed you?"
Sigh! "Yes, I was ill and would have died in a couple years, he most have learned about it somehow and decided to get back at me for my 'less-than-gentle' words about the possibility of a Quirkless Hero existing by doing something a Quirked Healer could not do, and healed me."
"That stung, yes." Recovery Girl admitted.
"And now he healed Himiko-san completely?" Tenya asked.
"I need to run a few tests for the damages to her lungs, but yes, I believe she has been fully healed."
"Then...Then my brother...Tensei…" Tenya asked with cloudy eyes.
Sigh! "You will have to ask him. Legally speaking, nobody can actually force him to heal anybody. He has not taken the Hippocratic Oatheither, so you can't even try that angle. At best you can discreetly ask him for help and hope he agrees out of good conscience."
"My God, I hope so…" Tenya said, walking out of the infirmary with his head held low and soon followed by the rest of the class.
With Momo and the others -
"This went well...You think that lie will hold?" Ochako asked.
"It's the most believable justification I could come up with to hide Izuku's abilities and their source. I am sorry, I didn't know they ran a Quirk Test on him again after the coma." Momo answered, sighing.
"It's okay, we'll make it work." Rumi answered, patting her back.
"W-We? So I can...Really?" Nejire asked, unsure.
"You are in probation, Nejire-senpai. Me, Izuku and the others don't really trust you fully, yet. But...But we want to believe you are trustworthy." Momo answered.
"I won't disappoint you." Nejire promised.
"You better." Rumi warned her.
"Thank you...So...So I can talk with him? I can explain?" Nejire asked, hopeful.
"Once done here, we will. Together." Ochako answered.
"Thanks."
"Moneybags!...Yaoyorozu," a voice called-out behind the four girls, interrupting them.
"Yes?" Momo asked, curious at the usage of her actual family name instead of the rude nickname Katsuki had bestowed on her.
"You four know something." the young man said with narrowed eyes.
"What do we know? Let's hear." Rumi growled back in answer.
"You obviously know something more about Izuku's sudden increase in skills." Katsuki said with crossed arms.
"You think there is some secret we are keeping?" Ochako asked.
"Don't try to bullshit your way out of this. You and the others are close to him, closer than anybody else. So you KNOW more than anybody else." he answered.
"There is nothing more to know-" Nejire tried saying.
"I am not like those other idiots, I KNOW Izuku since we were kids, since before I took a fat shit on maybe the only honest friend I had before coming here. There is no way in Hell that a year of coma changed him that much, Comas don't work like that, neither does taking cooking lessons for a single year afterwards. He acts, moves, fights and cooks like somebody that did it for decades. And if there is somebody that knows what is happening, that is his parents or Yaoyorozu. I had included you others as a fail-safe, and I can tell that you three as well know something. What is it?" he demanded.
"And you actually believe that, if we know something, we will tell you of all people?" Momo answered with a frosty tone and narrowed eyes.
"There is something strange going on, and I need to get to the bottom of this," Katsuki answered.
"Why?" Ochako asked.
"I have my reasons, reasons that I am not sharing. Spit it out," he answered.
"Stuff it, explosion fetishist." Rumi hissed.
"You won't help? Fuck it then, I will do it my way!" Katsuki declared before marching away with a scowl.
"...This won't end well," Nejire said with a sigh.
"Let him try all he wants, Whitey alone can snap him in half."
"I still feel the need to keep him under close watch, just in case." Momo answered between clenched teeth.
"Together?" Ochaco asked.
"...Together. But the instant any of you break Izu's heart, I am snapping your necks, literally. I don't care if then I am thrown in prison. I am murdering you all." Momo answered after a long pause of thought.
"Eh! Fair enough! No pansies allowed in this group." Rumi answered, chuckling.
"And what about that guy?" Nejire asked.
"We'll wait and see, for now." Momo answered.
The four girls could only watch the retreating blond with mounting unease.
Meanwhile – Nezu's Office -
"That is indeed an interesting story, Mister Aoyama. Please, do start again from the beginning, from the moment All for One contacted your family with his little Quirk Transfer offer, to be precise." Nezu asked while drinking his tea and a frown in place of his usual smile.
"I...I...I…" the normally sparkling boy stammered, overcome by fear and weighted-down by the contraption Power Loader built to stop his Quirk from working.
"It's for your own good, trust me." the Chimera said with a cold tone.
When the hands of Vlad King and Midnight closed on his shoulders harshly, the boy gave a strangled whimper and started talking again, by now recognizing he had no way to escape this talk, and wondering who gave Nezu enough proof to have him outed as a spy.
"Secondary threat to the Host dealt with. Should this not be enough, the boy's Termination will be scheduled at the earliest convenience." The System declared, unheard by everybody, even Izuku.
Omake Time:
Inter-dimensional Ingredients Hunt:
The Chef that caused the greatest Gang War of 2077.
El Coyote Cojo Bar -
An old woman and an old man were silently studying the morsels of food in front of them prepared by a young Japanese Chef that had barged into the Gang's controlled bar chased by several rival gangs and even Mercenaries, and before any of the MANY Gang members having a late-day party could intervene, the young man's personal Robot Bodyguard gave an awe-inspiring show of strength by not only turning the heavily-augmented thugs into scraps of man and metal whining in pain, but also slapped the shit out of the others as well, stripped them naked and then deposited them en-masse inside the nearest dumpster.
It was technically a 1 VS 25 fight, and yet Whitey still made it look like a walk in the park no matter the fact that for an instant there were more bullets in the air than oxygen when all those guys tried shooting him, and yet the chubby robot came out victorious and without even a scratch.
"My offer stands, my boy. Name your price for the Robot and you'll get every Eddie, down to the last cent." The old man said.
"I am sorry, Padre-san, I am honored by the offer, but Whitey is not up for sale." Izuku answered, bowing.
"At least consider selling us the schematics, okay? I can understand being attached to the original, but being able to build copies would help our Family immensely." The man answered, sighing.
"Why were they even chasing you, I wonder." The Bar owner said, impressed by the huge number of empty bullet shells her workers were still throwing out.
"¿Qué diablos es ese puto robot? Cabrón fue creado por el diablo…" one of the guys brushing the floor muttered under his breath.
"I was sent here by my Sponsor to hunt down and learn some recipes, one of which the Pollo Guisado I was told you are very good at preparing, Miss Guadalupe." Izuku answered, sighing.
"Corpos these days, some people really don't know what to do with all their money… And those guys?"
"I have no idea!" Izuku admitted, shrugging helpless.
"The 6th Street guys just hate Japanese people lately, Arasaka is out-performing and buying-out many American-born small avenues to had them to their own companies. I guess they saw a young Japanese guy with a robot asking around their favourite restaurant for recipes… And some Perro over-reacted, and once you defended yourself, others joined. Fools are far too trigger-happy." Padre said, sighing.
"And the Voodoos?" Guadalupe asked.
"Tch! Fuckers were getting a bit too handsy, so I kicked one of them through a car, apparently I was supposed to just bend over, like the piece of shit said." Rumi answered, growling in anger.
"I did not like that comment myself, and got angry. Then Whitey and Shiro too got involved." Izuku added, frowning.
"Bunch of animals, you okay, though, girl?" Guadalupe asked.
"Very fine. Those Prostitutes helped as well escaping," She answered.
"Ah! You met The Mox gang too." Padre said.
"I helped them with a couple of their...Workers, that needed medical help. As a tahnk you for helping us drive off the first wave of gangsters." Izuku added.
He didn't really like the idea that prostitution was pretty-much legalized in that city.
"You are also trained as a Medic?"
"Pretty much, yes."
"Well, you definitely know how to make a damn good Guisado after just watching me cooking it once, where do you even get REAL chicken? Only filthy-rich Corporatives can put their hands on some nowadays!" Guadalupe said, looking amazed at the food she was eating.
"…" Izuku gave her a very forced smile.
"Is that why those fancy-looking gentlemen with overly-expensive chrome were between the guys shooting you?" Padre asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Some people… Don't like losing bets against nobodies, it seems. I challenged this woman's personal Chef in exchange of the guy's recipes… And she lost a lot of money when I won…" Izuku tried saying.
"The fact that he refused to work for her AND refused to sleep with that doorknob of her daughter didn't help." Rumi added, sneering.
"Doorknob?" Guadalupe asked.
"Very old slang for Puta." Padre supplied, chuckling.
"Oooh! So you cost that woman money, prestige, refused the advances of her very frivolous daughter and probably made her look bad in front of her rich friends by defeating her super-expensive personal cook… Yeah, I can see why she wanted you dead." Guadalupe said, laughing.
"The… ehm… Magic Powder still on her nose probably did not help." Izuku added, grimacing.
"Yes, you probably should skip town for a bit. We'll help you leave with as much anonymity we can, I know just the woman for the job." Padre offered, shaking his head.
"Thank you."
"GUADALUPE! HURRY! IT'S TERRIBLE!" One of the guys yelled while carrying inside a tall man with broad shoulders that was bleeding profusely from various bullet wounds.
"MIJO!" Guadalupe shrieked in horror.
"He… He is not breathing!" The guy carrying him said.
"MOVE! I'LL HELP HIM!" Izuku yelled immediately.
"HOW?!"
"By performing a miracle! MOVE HIM ON A TABLE! NOW!" The young Chef answered.
The next day – Apartment -
A lone woman was sitting on the couch of her small apartment, looking at the ceiling with blood-shoot eyes.
"Whatever you like it or not, you are stuck with me, Chum. So we either learn to work together and find a solution, or you can keep being difficult and I take over. Your choice." The vision of a man with a silver robotic arm, and quite the breathtaking face, said after he appeared on the same couch, he too sitting with a slouch.
"You don't really leave me with a lot of choices," She answered.
"Just laying it bare, girl." The guy only she could see answered with a shrug.
"Fuck off with that." She answered, making him chuckle.
Knock Knock knock!
"Who the hell knocks this early in the morning?"
"I should be the one saying it." The woman answered, watching the illusory man fade away while she walked towards the door; she also grabbed a combat shotgun and gently poked the young man that had come bothering her as soon as she opened the door, for good measure.
"Yes?" She asked, pumping the shotgun ready with a dull Cha-clak!
"You people here have a very strange way to greet visitors." Izuku said, unfazed.
"It helps keeping you alive, what do you want, kid?" She asked, not removing the gun from the young Chef's face.
Munch!
To her shock the small unassuming pet he had around his neck took offense to the gun and somehow took a bite out of it that only left the handle in her hands.
"… The fuck is that thing?"
"My boyfriend pet. Can we come in? We were told you needed help." Rumi answered.
"Me? Help? Viktor sent you?"
"Nope! It was Viktor and me, V." The same tall guy Izuku pretty much pried out of death's arm said.
"JACKIE!" The woman, V, pretty much threw Izuku and Rumi aside to go check her friend.
"You...You…"
"Just some new bullet wounds and a new debt towards a couple Ripperdocs for the new chrome, but I am here, V." Jackie answered, hugging the woman as hard as he could.
"HOW?!"
"I healed him." Izuku admitted, shy.
"He made a fucking miracle, V. And maybe he can help you too."
"Uh?"
"I should be able to heal your brain in a way that will stop your new friend from taking over… But removal, that's purely mechanical, you'll need to find a solution for that yourself." Izuku answered.
"He can?" V asked.
"I was dead, V, and yet he pretty much brought me back." Jackie answered.
"It was not resurrection, you moron. You were just in cardiac arrest for a minute or two!" Rumi said, rolling her eyes.
"It felt like I returned from death though!" He answered, laughing.
"You'll tell me everything later, now let's try this miracle medicine. Where is your office? Or any Ripperdoc equipment will suffice?" V asked.
"Eeeh… not really, I just need your kitchen." Izuku answered, smiling awkwardly.
"… The fuck?" V and her holographic friend said at the same time.
"Well, besides the fucking high criminal rate of this place, things didn't go too bad." Rumi said, sighing.
The next day -
DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA!
BOOOM!
CRAAAASH!
"WHY DID I FUCKING HAVE TO JINX IT?!" Rumi yelled as bullets, grenades and even damn rockets rained all around her and Izuku.
"Bring me the boy! He can heal Cyber-psychosis! Do not let him escape!" The guy in expensive suit ordered from the Arasaka-branded armored car to the heavily armed guards around him.
"YESSIR!"
"Hermanos! Defend our friend from the Corpo-Pigs! Padre wants him safely out of the city!" The "lieutenant" of the Valentinos yelled while brandishing the golden gun in his hand with almost religious fervor.
"Mox! Our friend healed us in our time of need, now we'll help him back! ATTTAAAAAAAACK!" The scantly-dressed woman at the head of the attack squad fighting the Voodoo gang yelled, shooting nonstop.
"Give us the boy! His powers over flesh will help us!" And in answer one of the Voodoos yelled back, brandishing a grenade launcher.
"I ALMOST PREFER HAVING A WOMAN CHASING ME!" Izuku shrieked, and using the Turtle Wok as a shield to protect himself and Rumi from the hail of lead raining on them.
"THERE YOU ARE! I WILL ADD YOU TO MY SEX DUNGEON WHATEVER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT! NO DICK ESCAPES ME IF I WANT IT! YOU WILL BE MY NEW DOG, EVEN IF I HAVE TO KILL THAT BUNNY-EARED BITCH YOU HAVE WITH YOU!" A young woman dressed in fancy clothes and armed with a duo of bright-pink Uzi yelled, joining the scene with her own bodyguards.
"GODDAMNIT WHY I TALKED!?" The young Chef shrieked in horror.
"Hide behind the car, Chum! We'll take care of them!" V yelled, pushing both teens behind her car while Jackie went nuts with his own weapon.
"V! More Enforces coming from the right! I am back from the Lands of Dead, PENDEJOS! COME AND GET SOME!"
"I am coming!" The woman yelled.
"System! For the love of God! Where is that portal?! Izuku learned those two dishes! TAKE US HOME!" Rumi yelled, she and the young Chef running with their heads low as gunfire kept turning the walls above them into swish cheese.
"I SAW YOU TURN YOUR BITCH INSIDE-OUT WHEN SHE GOT HORNY! I CAN DO BETTER THAN HER!" The Psychotic rich girl yelled, while chasing them.
"See? See? I told you it was a bad idea!" Izuku shrieked, and enlarging the wok again to use it as a shield.
"You did it during a sortie with the others too! They were making fun of me for not doing it yet!" Rumi answered.
"Peer Pressure is not an excuse!"
"But you liked it!"
"That's beside the point!"
"Teleportation ready!" The System alerted them.
"Good! WHITEY!" Izuku ordered.
"Understood." The chubby robot answered, and promptly grabbed the girl and threw her into a dumpster.
When she resurfaced from the thing, the group was already gone, leaving behind the biggest Gang War in the history of the city since in that land of crazy people with far too many weapons at their disposal things escalated far too quickly.
"What is it… What is the issue?" The System said while crossing out yet another world from a long list of worlds, each cross reminding the Entity of places where Izuku's Mission ended in a daring escape from Mad Women, Mad Locals or both, with Night City having just jumped to the top of the 'Top 10 Fuck-ups' the poor thing was keeping track of.
"What is the Variable?" The System said, and crossing off Night City with enough strength the sharpie went squished.
