The Record of a Hero

by Bola8

At the Dawn of the Age of Quirks, the Sea of Souls touched the shores of Reality, and in its depts, something awoke. They had caused Humanity to stagnate in the endless cicle of heroes and villains, a corrupt society were they rule supreme, but there was one that would oppose it, a boy that could twist Fate, that dream in Saving all as a Hero, a new Wild Card.

9. Friendly Talk

Chapter 9: Friendly Talk

Izuku walked into the Velvet Room with a triumphant smile on his face. The soft sound of Aria of the Soul, as Angela told him it was called, greeted the boy.

He walked to his usual spot while shooting the tapestry wall a look. The Magician one was brighter since the last time he saw it, and it wasn't the only one.

The Star presented the scene of a young woman in purple robes at the edge of a river with an instrument in hand. From it, flowing lines poured into the waters and the land around her. Still, the woman had her eyes up at the brilliant stars above her and all the wonder they carried.

The stronger glow from their growing Bond made the scene even more beautiful. All of them did. With each passing day, Izuku found more and more people willing to support him, and he in turn promised to help in any way he could.

"Welcome!" Angela's excited greeting broke Izuku from his musings. The attendant waved him closer, a large smile on her face.

Izuku ignored how her eagerness made his cheeks warm and took his seat. "H-hi. What got you so excited?"

Angela gave a soft squeak before composing herself. Clearing her throat loudly, she spoke in a more dignified manner, trying to look professional, "With your recent growth, you have become strong enough to hold more Personas in your possession."

"Really?!" Izuku's outburst surprised even himself. The boy blushed and apologized hastily.

Igor chuckled at the young ones' antics, always finding them amusing. "Yes, Hero. With the strength you conquered in your expeditions and the one achieved with the refinement of your Oaths, you reached new heights as a Wild Card." The long-nosed man softly clapped in a sign of praise. "Now, you are able to hold ten different Personas within you."

To say Izuku was overjoyed would be an understatement. Not only did he have two new slots to fill with new Personas, but each one could help him cover the aspects his team lacked without sacrificing each of their individual composition. He knew he could be very nitpicky with min-maxing his Personas just like he did in most games he played, but when the subject was his power and the safety of his friends, Izuku wasn't taking any chances.

"So, what would you like to do first?" Angela asked with a blank Record already in hand, just as excited as Izuku.

Izuku considered his options, deciding to first Fuse the members of his holster falling behind on strength, and then see what else he could Summon before repeating the first part with the new additions. "Let's Fuse Ghoul and Ippon-Datara first."

"Sure!" The attendant rushed to prepare the process, bolting from one side to the other while strapping the records into place. Izuku got caught in Angela's haste and also ran to transfer the selected Personas to the suspended empty Records.

Igor watched it all with an impassive face, knowing very well what carelessness would lead to. He closed his eyes and sighed, at least that would be a lesson.

Angela and Izuku finished the preparation and watched as the suspended books started to bleed ink in the ever-fascinating process of Fusion. The ink containing the very essence of the Legends held inside the Records flowed down the pipes. Until one of them burst, earning shocked cries from the duo.

A loud clang and the first piece of the chain reaction of chaos fell, taking with it more parts of the contraption. In the end, the ink that fell on the blank Record wasn't a controlled stream but a positive waterfall that stained most of that corner of the room.

Finally, a last lonely pipe rolled closer and weakly bumped against Angela's feet.

The girl stared with dead eyes at the catastrophic mess that just transpired. Angela let her head fall to hide her misting eyes. "Sorry." She half sobbed the word out.

Izuku, who had been shocked speechless, snapped out of it and hounded Angela, "No, it's my fault! I got carried away and didn't think of what I was doing and-"

"And I did the same thing, but I'm the attendant. I'm the one who should have known better." She still couldn't bring herself to look at anything but her feet, failure weighing too much on her head to do so. "I ruined everything."

"No, you didn't!" Izuku didn't mean to snap at her, but his emotions were all over the place and the boy ended up frantic. Thoughts of having damaged something invaluable being trotted by seeing the girl beside him wilting like a dying flower. Izuku's mind was so filled with snapping thoughts of what to do to fix this that the words spilled out. "You were so happy for me and wanted to help, and yes we got carried away, but it isn't your fault! You are just looking out for me, and trying to help me get stronger; it's your duty but making a mistake is fine! We're not perfect, but we try our best, right? We make mistakes but it's fine, we won't make the same one again, so it's fine. We're fine. Please, don't blame yourself."

When the deluge of words finally died down, ending weakly as Izuku lost steam, an awkward pause followed. He watched Angela, who still refused to look at him, and saw her shoulders shaking. Izuku felt a pit opening inside of him at the thought of making her cry, but it quickly disappeared when he heard her soft snorts.

Angela finally raised her head, teary eyes meeting his as she tried to stifle her growing giggling. "How can you say all that in a single breath?"

"Years of practice?" Izuku's retort made her crack, bell-like laughter filling the Velvet Room as Angela's spirits rose.

The attendant dried her eyes on her sleeves and looked back up, "You're right."

"I am?"

"Yes. We aren't perfect, I'm not perfect, but that's fine, I was never supposed to be." Her earlier smile, now much softer, bloomed back on her libs. "We do our best, and when that's not enough, we get back up and try again until it is. Just like you always did."

Izuku hadn't expected those words, not when he never saw himself as much of an inspiration, but seeing Angela stop blaming herself was enough for him to take the win and not question it, "R-right." He glanced at the destroyed Fusion equipment, "It can seem like everything is over at every little road bump, but if we keep trying, we can do it." Izuku felt his chest warming up, The Strength filling his mind's eye with its glow just as the tapestry at the wall also brightened. "So even if we stumble, let's keep trying, okay?"

"'Kay!"

With their promise, a third layer reinforced their Bond. The tapestry at the corner flashed, and velvet blue whisps flowed out of it. The lights danced through the air, drawing the duo's gazes with the patterns they wove, approaching the destroyed Fusion equipment. The ribbons of light converged into the drenched Record, and a pillar of burning pages sprouted from it.

Izuku and Angela yelped from the sudden scare, but their fright quickly gave way to awe as a new figure sprang from the azure flames. Tall with long golden hair, sun-kissed skin, fairy wings, and elvish ears, she wore a bodysuit that would not be strange to see on a hero in Reality, with boots and gloves integrated into it on the colors of green and yellow, like the center of the suit the covered her chest, stomach, and her lower back, the rest being brown like tree bark.

The Persona focused her forest green eyes onto her awed audience, "I am Sylph. The winds answered the call of your strong spirit, and my Legend is now yours to command." Her piece said, the Persona receded into a flurry of pages that were assimilated by Izuku's Record.

Izuku blinked, the sudden turn of events leaving him almost dizzy. "What?" He opened his Record to check Sylph's status while the Persona herself settled in his mind. "What?!"

Angela jumped almost a meter in the air from his shout, "What's the matter?"

"Look!" Izuku showed her the page with Sylph's Legend, the wind spirit Skills and strengths all neatly marked. "Her stats are very good, and while there's not much elemental protection, her Skills make up for it!" Both the Persona's Healing and Wind Skills were boosted by Passive ones that strengthened them further, which made Sylph one of the best Personas in his holster, only behind Omoikane and Orpheus.

"Wha- how?!"

"I don't know!"

Before they could question it more, Igor's laughter sounded. The man once again clapped, "Splendid! You are a truly remarkable guest, to be able to turn around a Fusion Accident in such a manner."

"What do you mean?"

Angela was the one to answer the boy, "Fusion Accidents happen sometimes. Think of them as…hiccups. The power of the Velvet Room on occasion suffers interference from the Sea of Souls, or other reasons," like them getting overexcited, but she left that part implicit, "and that can cause the result of a Fusion to become irregular. Most times it ends as a different Persona than you expected or a different set of Skills, but more often than not the result isn't the best. Some cases even end with a completely useless Persona being created."

"That's…huh." Izuku would have to stop and properly reflect on that later, even then, he could understand they got incredibly lucky. "But what about the Fusion equipment?"

"Don't worry, I'll fix it in no time!" Angela got a determined (was that a pun? Izuku felt it was a pun) glint in her eyes. She produced a roll of silver tape from a fold on her dress, "Just a little bit of elbow grease and we'll be ready to get you some new Personas!"

Izuku opened a slightly awkward smile, at least for his standards (he was very awkward in general), "I will trust you on that. Just be careful." By the way that Angela pulled the tape out of the roll with a comically loud sound, Izuku didn't believe she heard him.

Igor chose that moment to offer the Hero some words of wisdom while the lesson was still fresh. "Keep in mind, dear guest, that hastiness leads to mistakes. Mistakes you cannot afford in this precarious game you play. Take your time and maintain your due diligence; the rest will follow accordingly."

"Oh, right." Izuku's nod stopped halfway, Igor's words bringing a certain penguin to the forefront of his mind. The boy didn't know why, but he just… He felt the need to ask, "I don't want to change the subject, but do you know someone named Baltazar?"

The long-nosed man's eyes widened even more than usual at the name. "Ah, a remarkable guest indeed. You see, Hero, I had my own journey of self-improvement over the years I assisted Wild Cards along their quests. And from my endeavors, others came to be, to enjoy the same opportunity." Igor's eyes landed on Angela for a moment. "And each of them showed me that the creation can always surprise the creator."

Izuku blinked quickly, trying to understand the hidden meaning behind the words, but came up short. He was still missing something, a piece of the puzzle that tied all the parts together, he could feel it.

"Enough of my reminiscing. If Baltazar offered you his assistance, you would be most fortunate should you accept." Igor leaned closer and whispered conspiratorially, "He was ever the collector, so whatever he has to share with you, it will certainly be useful in your journey."

"Yes. We already have a trade agreement going on and it helped me and my friends a lot." Their weapons' new forms were half the reason they finished their last Anomaly. "But what I truly want to know is, who is he?"

Igor's resulting knowing grin was a tad mischievous, "Oh, but my dear guest, you have all the tools to discover the answers to your questions with you. You only need to use them."

That…that got Izuku thinking. And if you asked anyone who knew the boy, that was very dangerous.

—

"So, let me get this right." Jiro's voice came from Izuku's right side, both Tokoyami and her sitting at the stairs leading to Dagobah's litter-filled sand. "You, alone, are gonna clean this whole place. Alone. On your own. All this?"

"Yes." Izuku had to keep his responses short as he struggled to carry an old safe away from one of the many mountains of trash polluting the beach.

"First, mad respect. Second, why the hell are you doing that?"

Tokoyami answered in his stead so Izuku could focus on not smashing his feet with fifty kilos of rusted iron, which would most certainly happen if he dropped the safe, "Midoriya is doing this to develop his muscles at the same time as he contributes to the well-being of the community."

"Thanks, Bird-sensei." Jiro barked a laugh at Tokoyami's flustered reaction to the nickname. The girl took a deep breath to refill her lungs and continued to point out the obvious insanity before her, "I just want to understand why are you doing this alone. I thought at least Mister Dark and Chivalrous here would be helping. Don't you need to put on some muscle too?"

"And what leads you to believe I have not?" Tokoyami pulled up his shirt sleeves and flexed, showing the considerable amount of muscles on his arm.

"What the fuck?!" Jiro poked Tokoyami's chiseled biceps with a jack to make sure it was real. "What the actual fuck?!"

Dark Shadow decided to pop out to gloat, as his Other wouldn't, "Years of fighting Shadows and sword practice sure come in handy, eh?" The quirk-manifested Persona cackled, taking immense joy at Jiro's shocked face.

"Okay, Bird-sensei is jacked, any more world-shaking revelations for today?"

"Har har. Back at the matter at hand, Midoriya imposed this task on himself, so it is not our place to question him."

"Yeah, no." Jiro got up and went to Izuku, who was just reaching the stairs, grabbing a side of the safe and helping hold it. At his surprised face, the girl cracked a smirk, "You two apparently can't look out for yourselves, like, at all, so I'll have to call you both on your BS." Jiro grunted and made to go up the steps, Izuku following along while trying to sputter a response. "And don't even start, Bush Boy. We're a team, that means we work together and that's final."

Tokoyami's hands propped up the safe, helping them bear the weight. At the two pairs of eyes landing on him, he only nodded.

Jiro's smirk grew, seeing her words moved the raven-headed boy too. "Good, now c'mon!"

Izuku had to bite his trembling libs to stop a sob. He really was blessed to have people who cared so much. With the three of them, the safe was deposited on the growing pile on the sidewalk that All Might would later load in his truck to dispose of.

Jiro huffed, bending to hold her knees and catch her breath, "That was worse than I thought. Well, just means I have to work harder, right?"

"Yes. We all wish to be heroes and clear Anomalies. To that purpose, we will need to be able of both body and mind." Tokoyami, not nearly as winded as the other two, glanced back at the ocean before him, both at the one of water and the one of garbage. "Together, we are stronger. Together, we will become even more."

"Is that a very fancy way to say you're on board with helping clean this place?"

Tokoyami laughed, "Yes." He turned to Izuku, who had lost the battle against his tears but had tried to at least muffle his sobs. Red eyes softening, he offered his friend a hand, "You showed me that we are stronger when we are united, more than once, so let me, let us, do the same for you now. Let's all become better together, my friend."

With a fourth layer empowering his Bond with The Magician, tears flowing down his eyes, and a brilliant smile coming to life on his face, Izuku accepted the hand, "Y-yes! Let's all do our best for our future!"

He would have to compensate somehow, and talk to All Might, and remake his training plan, but even with all that, Izuku couldn't say he regretted his decision. Hours later his opinion didn't change, anything Izuku accomplished alongside his friends just seemed to mean so much more. Maybe because it did. Maybe because it meant something to them.

With the sun hanging low on the horizon, sitting on the worn concrete steps alongside two people who appeared in his life not long ago, but Izuku already couldn't imagine living without, the boy found it all worth it.

Jiro didn't seem to agree, "Uuuuurgh! Why did I suggest this?"

"Because you believe our 'inability to properly care for ourselves' was reason enough for you to do it in our stead." Seeing Tokoyami using air quotes while being his usual formal self startled a laugh out of Izuku. Dark Shadow popped up to point a shadow claw at Jiro and cackle, "You made your bed, now lie on it and suffer."

The girl poked his hand with a jack, to no effect, and groaned, "Damn my choices and their consequences!" She blinked, a horrified look crossing her face, "Oh, c'mon. I'm starting to speak fancy too!"

"There is nothing wrong with being eloquent."

"Zip it, Birdy!"

"He has a point. I am trying to work on my speech as a way to not stutter so much when I talk to people, and I think it's been working so far."

Jiro grumbled something not very polite under her breath, not conceding the point, "If you want to speak better why not try singing- Wait, that's it, we're forming a band."

"What?"

"It is an interesting idea." Tokoyami's agreement surprised the other two. "Did you ever play along with someone?"

"My parents, sometimes. It isn't as hard as most people think, really, you just have to practice keeping with everybody's rhythm. 'You interested?" Jiro hadn't expected Tokoyami to be in favor of her idea, but she didn't look like she would let the chance slip by.

"Developing our synchrony can only have positives in the Metaverse, and even if not influencing Anomalies directly, it will definitely improve our teamwork."

Dark Shadow peaked his head out of the boy's collar, "And it's the perfect opportunity to show off how good we are on the bass."

"Oh, so that's why you really wanna do it." Jiro chuckled at the flustered Tokoyami, who was trying to wrestle his Other back into himself. "Either way, sure."

"Uh… I don't know how to play an instrument." Izuku's admission earned him a flat stare from the girl.

Jiro raised an unimpressed eyebrow, "You have Orpheus inside your head, and you want me to believe you can't play? Smells like bull." She poked his forehead with a jack, ignoring the boy's subsequent yelp, "He's playing right now!"

"Y-you can hear him?"

"I can hear everything. Don't worry though, your head has so many thoughts flying through it at any given time that trying to pick a specific one is like trying to catch one bullet from a belt-fed machine gun." She had a healthy dose of respect for the boy and how he somehow didn't drown in his own mind.

"Terrifying notion aside, Jiro is right."

"Don't worry, Bird-sensei, I tune out the edgy and wholesome thing you have going on up there most of the time." And she meant it. Jiro always had to make an effort to respect people's privacy, now more than ever, and she promised herself to try even harder. Especially as the last lapse got her into the middle of an Anomaly.

Things ended up alright, better than that even, but she wouldn't hold her breath to always be that lucky.

"In any case." Tokoyami tried to change the subject again. "You have many aspects of Humanity inside your mind, my friend, why not make the most of it and learn what you can from them?"

Izuku opened his mouth to respond, then slowly closed it. Why hadn't he tried to learn more than combat skills from his Personas? Even the improvised hardware he used for weapon training was made with guidance for them. Imagine what else Izuku could learn from deities, spirits, angels, demons, and historic figures. "I'm so stupid."

His verbal jab at himself earned Izuku a physical one from Jiro, her fist colliding halfheartedly against his arm, "Stop saying mean shit about my friends, punk! Only I can mess with them." She also shot Tokoyami with a squinted glare. "That applies to you too."

Tokoyami chose life and brought his hands up in surrender.

Turning back to Izuku, she put a finger on his face, "Listen here, and listen well. I decided to stick to you two, and honestly? Best decision I ever made. I've had so much fun with you two idiots, doing something that mattered, that helped make the world a better place, and I have zero regrets." She punched Izuku's arm and leaned back on the steps, "So you better prepare yourself, I'm gonna kick you two into gear, and then we are going to form a band and it'll be awesome."

"Again with the band?" Izuku looked unsure, but deep down, he felt that doing something just for fun along with his friends would be nice. "O-okay, if you're willing to teach me."

"Ple-ase!" Jiro shot him a smug smirk, no doubt in her eyes, "When I'm done with you, we'll be superstars."

The inclusion of them in her goal made Izuku's chest grow warm. The Star shone brighter as their Bond deepened. "Yes, I'll try my best!"

With his connection with his friends stronger and his body sore but lighter, Izuku went back home that day with a positively brilliant smile.

—

"I'm home!" Izuku left his shoes by the door and entered his house proper to be greeted by a delicious smell.

Food! Orthrus's growls in his mind were just as loud as the ones of Izuku's stomach. The twin-headed hound was one of the new additions to his roster and his two noses were sharp even in Reality. Meat, pork meat!

Izuku fist-pumped, his luck had been just wonderful that day, "Mom, are you making katsudon?"

"Yes! I just got back with groceries and decided to make it." Inko shouted over the sizzling of oil from the kitchen, "I just started so it will take some time still."

A reassurance it was fine and she could take as long as she needed was about to leave his mouth when a different idea passed through his mind, "Can I help?" He peeked his head by the door, seeing his mother still in the early stages of preparing the food.

She looked at him with wide eyes before smiling softly, "Of course. Wash up and I can show you how to prepare your favorite dish."

"That sounds great." He rushed to the bathroom and got rid of the beach's grime and sand, made a quick stop by his room to change into fresh clothes, then joined his mother in the kitchen.

The way Inko proudly looked at her son almost brought tears to the boy's eyes, but he held back to not flood the house again. She waved him closer to the counter and started to explain, "First things first, we need to season the pounded pork chops with salt and pepper, and dust with a light, even coating of flour so we can fry it later."

"Okay." Izuku grabbed the saltshaker first, doing some quick math about the size of the chops and how much salt they would need, he tried to put just the right amount, "Like this?"

Inko chuckled, "No."

"Huh?"

"I know what you did, Izuku." She took the shaker from his hand gently. "Cooking isn't a science, it's an art. Do what feels right, don't be afraid of mistakes, and sooner or later…" Inko put a touch more salt on the pork, "You'll get things just right without even thinking about it."

The whole concept of not thinking went directly against his base nature, but being a Wild Card was changing and adapting, right? "Okay, let's try…this!" He tried with the pepper, focusing more on how he liked his katsudon than what he thought was the right answer.

Inko smiled at him, "Just like that. Now the fluor." Once more her boy tried his best to do as she told him and not overthink things, to some success, "Good. Now bring it here." She put two bowls on the counter, one with the beaten eggs and the other with panko, "Dip the pork into the egg, when you have a good coat you press it on the panko. You let me handle the frying part, okay?"

Izuku followed her instructions, nodding even while thinking about his Personas' various forms of Fire immunity and how they transferred to Reality enough to handle some boiling oil. Still, better not to argue.

With all the pork cullets now ready to be added to the oil, Inko asked Izuku to fetch her two other bowls. In one, she put chicken stock, sugar, soy sauce, and mirin. In the other, she started to beat more eggs.

"Can you slice the onion for me?"

"Of course." Izuku had become used enough to blade weapons to not be afraid of slicing himself. Still, he changed his current equipped Persona to Oni to have Physical Resistance in case of any mishaps.

Was that the feeling people with quirks had when using their powers to accomplish everyday tasks?

It was surprisingly…normal. Izuku didn't feel special because of it, he couldn't even say he felt different. In the same way Izuku used his hands to chop the onion, he used his Personas to resist the sting on the eyes it caused. It all was so mundane for him, but he understood no one else felt the same.

With a new insight and many thoughts flying through his head thanks to his unique worldview as both someone powerless and someone with a power no one else had, Izuku caught himself staring intently at the onion. It was like him, in a way, with layers that weren't visible unless someone put the effort to uncover.

"Izuku, are you okay? You've been staring at the onion for a while."

The boy shook his head to get rid of the tangential thoughts clogging his head, "Yeah! I just, I don't know, was philosophizing about human nature and how we are like onions?"

Inko was caught by surprise by that, a startled laugh escaping her before she could stop it, "Sorry, it's just-" more laughter, "I wasn't expecting that, it's all."

"Me neither. I'll have to cook again if it leads me to ponder like that." Who knows, he might even find the meaning of life while staring at a fish.

Inspiration can be born from the most unexpected places. Orpheus decided to offer some advice himself, drawing from his experience as a musician, and as the Other of another Wild Card who reached the end of his journey. Be open to it, embrace it. Those calm moments where your mind is free to wander unimpeded is when it can reach new heights. Use them to develop it, however, do not lose sight of your goal.

Just as the Master of Strings warned, Izuku almost brought the knife down on his finger. It scraped his skin, but with Oni in the forefront of his mind, there was no real damage.

Seeing that the slices were decently thin, Izuku called his mother over. Inko nodded at her son's work, "Very good, and you didn't even cry! I'll have to put you on onion duty more often."

"Sure, I'll be glad to help."

"I'll hold you to that." Inko's smile once more hit something in Izuku's chest that left it feeling warm and giddy, "Now, I'll finish things here, you set the table."

"Of course."

In the time Izuku swept the dinner table with a rag and put a clean cloth over it, Inko finished drizzling the eggs over the pork and onions and cooking it. Placing it on two bowls of cooked rice, she served their family-made katsudon with happiness shining on her face.

Izuku was expecting his first try at it, even with his mother handling most of the process, to come out rough. He was vastly surprised when the first bite showed the dish to be even better than normal. The taste, the texture, everything was great! "It's delicious!"

Inko agreed with her son, "Yes. You know how it is, the secret ingredient is love, and the both of us together have enough love to make it taste like a five-star meal."

Her words finally broke through Izuku's walls and made the boy's eyes leak like broken faucets. Seeing her baby crying made Inko's own eyes water.

While crying and gushing about their shared cooking, the Midoriyas shared the end of their day together as a family. Within the Wild Card, his Oath to The Empress grew stronger while basking in her motherly love.

---

DONE!

Hope you guys enjoyed this more lighthearted chapter, I sure needed to write something like that. Anyway, next chapter we're back to the wonky Persona shenanigans!

Also, for those who want to support me, go to the P site and look for Bola8 to put some change in the tip jar because that's basically what it is. Then you can have your name at the end of the chapter, like:

Guipa_, SilverZero90, CBN, and kennine a heartfelt thanks to you all!

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