Another Hero Academia: Out of Time

by NewMystery356

My head… it's been full of fog since I can remember, and for some reason, superhuman powers, which everyone calls "Quirks", feel like a foreign concept to me even though everyone has them. Not only that, but whenever I close my eyes, or when I dream, I see things that don't make sense. Impossible things that defy all logic. And was my hair always this color? [SI & AU]

44. A Beach Episode

Rehtek: Good chapter but why the heck is the MC acting like a crybaby w/ the Mirko rescue? He already almost and did die multiple times already so what the heck was that reaction. It is extremely off putting w/ how he's acted here than how he's been the past 30 chaps.

Re: You know, Curious asks the exact same question in this chapter.
So as it turns out, both of you (and whoever else had the same thought) will get your answer~

To LoamyCoffee, I had tons of fun bringing Mero into the fold; it made a wonderful segue for great worldbuilding. I mean, we've got I-Island which is basically a naval "Traction City" from the Mortal Engines franchise (more the Books than the one-off Movie) minus the "binge eating", but the SEAS, which cover 70% of the word, were just too ripe an opportunity to pass up, you know?
And yes, having P-chan fall in battle was sad, but it was also a personal nod of mine to Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online where LLENN uses her P-chan as a shield on multiple occasions through both the Anime and LNs. Of course, the rub is that Takei isn't as socially-stunted as Kohiruimaki Karen, so he doesn't stress-hallucinate P-chan with "magical girl eyes" telling him to use her like a shield. Nor does he talk back to P-chan in response to aforementioned stress-induced hallucination.
When it comes to all the "Heteromorph" business that comes up thanks to the crossovers with Daily Life with a Monster Girl and Nurse Hitomi's Monster Infirmary, that was just such an untapped well of potential in the main MHA storyline. I mean, we've got "Ordinary Woman" aka "Ippan Josei" who is extra-large, and similar to Kirihito Kamachi from the Vigilantes spin-off, would need a special "stipend" from the government so she could afford her own housing. Oogi Kyouko from Nurse Hitomi is a way of pointing out how that sort of plus-sizing can influence a person's development if they find themselves as "extra-large fetish-bait" before entering the workforce. She's quite literally the tallest person in school, but she's the quintessential "gentle giant", whereas Osanai "Tiny Girl" Chisa is the quintessential "palmtop tiger".
That Nurse Hitomi's Monster Infirmary has cross-promotional material with Daily Life with a Monster Girl and that they both mesh so well with My Hero Academia, was just a happy accident and lets me breath so much life into the Supporting Cast.

As for Harleking31, technically, Mero would only become a "cuck" once Takei becomes sexually active with anyone other than her while they're in a committed relationship.
*Nudge*Nudge*Wink*
And of course, Mero quoting the Little Mermaid source material is addressed frequently in Daily Life with a Monster Girl as well which I reference here; major difference in the "RiftVerse" is that it isn't a racial trait that Mermaids have a Tragedy Fetish; in Mero's case it's purely personal as, instead of them being Merfolk for the entirety of their civilization, they began as Humans who chose to live in the seas.
As for Torino "channeling his inner Roshi" in this and previous chapters, I feel like if he became a grandfather (to his own grandchildren) that that's the kind of grandpa he'd be. I've thinly veiled that he has ulterior motives for "adopting" Takei as his own other than keeping himself "mentally engaged", but that doesn't mean he can't enjoy the ride (or the free entertainment) while he's at it.
And while it's true that this Chapter is titled "A Beach Episode" and the more meta-aware people around him will call it as such, Takei doesn't treat it as that because, while the circumstances are a little exaggerated, people can go to the beach without a huge deal being made of it.
It doesn't happen this time around for him, but a part of his "coping mechanism" of getting Isekai'd is ignoring that "higher-dimensional beings" watch the "highlights" of his life which we all know as "Chapters".
Because if there's one thing pop culture has taught us, it's that when a character becomes "meta-aware" it can be very funny (i.e. Deadpool) or very sad (i.e. The Crimson Chin).

To GrimmPandaMan, Rachnera is also a favorite of mine, but I'm waiting on a good time to introduce her to the cast. Daily Life with a Monster Girl is just filled with top-tier Waifu material, which is why I've taken so much joy in mixing them into MHA. And unlike stories that take place at Musutafu in the shadow of Yuuei, in Asaka-shi, people are more laid-back about Quirks, hence why I can mix more "Slice of Life" into the school setting without saturating it with ego-driven assholes like Bakagou or that dhingus who thought he could become a Hero with a Quirk that gives him a wooden clothes pin for a head.
In fact it's a long-standing theory/Headcanon of mine that the closer you are to a Hero Academy (schools like Yuuei or Shiketsu in particular), the more "value" teachers and bosses and the like put on Quirks, hence the more "Quirkist" people get.

Anywho, hold onto your butts. I couldn't sub-divide this one any farther without ruining the pacing, so "A Beach Episode" will remain uninterrupted at 21k+ words.

*AHA*

"Geez, Mero's GGO debut is booming…" I said looking at the Mon Squad's YouTube feed the following morning.

"Well, she's a legit mermaid princess with a before-and-after shot. What did you expect?" Sorahiko asked over my shoulder.

"Hey look, you made the paper again," Elma hummed from the breakfast table.

"I temper my sense of decency in expectation."

*AHA*

As was to be expected, my most-recent fit of media exposure was a mixed bag. Some people called me a hypocrite for my open criticism of Heroes in one breath, only to use a distress beacon in the next. Those with more than two braincells to rub together were able to recognize that against a B-Rank Villain the size of a small building, with a girl in a wheelchair to be mindful of and nothing in my legally-allowable arsenal capable of dealing lasting harm, the actions I took only made perfect sense, and I was actually applauded for it. A few people in response to my timely rescue wanted Hero-responsive distress beacons to become more mainstream, having seemingly forgotten the fact that such had been attempted in the past and failed HORRIBLY because people kept crying "wolf" and took Heroes away from where they were needed for stupid bullshit like selfies and autographs.

Me blubbering like a baby on YouTube was certainly far from flattering, but the fact that multiple flame wars had been raging all night between those who advocated healthy masculinity against its more-toxic counterpart, showed that people had been taking my spiel about "true gender equality" seriously; or maybe too seriously…

Still, if anything good were to come out of the entire thing, it was that the Rabbit Hero: Mirko was more-popular than ever after her blatantly documented moment of tenderness.

Back before she became a Hero, Rumi went around Hiroshima crashing various fight clubs, giving her the moniker "Usako the Fight Crasher", as well as the hammier alias "The Legendary Schoolgirl Hooligan-Bunny-Eared Usako". When she was taken into police custody, she vanished from the underground fight scene for a time, but then she became a Hero Candidate and basically skirted the rules by entering under variations of the alias "Anonymous by Choice"; not that everyone didn't already know who she was. The tiger-like lucha libre mask she presently wore, was actually modified from a mask she stole from the meta-brawl known as the Underground Masquerade when she had her first sanctioned Pro Hero Team-Up.

She hadn't gotten paid for it, but the Hero on-site had cleared things up with her school, so she didn't get in trouble for going AWOL during a school trip.

Given this previously established reputation of truancy and fight club crashing, her reception onto the Pro Hero scene was mixed. Previous law-breaking and status as a "sex object" notwithstanding, people endlessly critiqued her for wanting to become a Hero "with a Quirk like that", seemingly ignoring the fact that people with the inanest Quirks could become Heroes with less pushback just because they were "conventionally masculine men".

Just went to show that two-hundred years later, people could still indulge in the same bad habits and stupid bullshit.

What I personally was surprised by, was that my favorite living Hero (outside the Mon Squad) actually took the time to talk me up when she was interviewed regarding her unprecedented show of tenderness, since she almost always ran off after one fight in pursuit of her next "high". Mirko's first-hand account of how I fought tooth and nail with everything I had to protect Mero from the B-Ranked Villain "Megataur" until she arrived on the scene, radically recontextualized my breakdown given my own track record of critiquing the majority of Heroes in the real and virtual worlds both. The fact that Megataur tanked a full magazine from my P90 SMG (with what happened to his eye "conveniently" left out) was a testament not only to how-durable he was, but to how out-of-my-depth I was.

After that, no-one had the stones to critique a twelve-year-old for crying his heart out.

As for Mero, while she technically was a princess, in the paper she was treated more as a curiosity than a foreign dignitary. On the one hand, Neptunia could've put out some kind of "gag order" so it didn't get out that their crown princess had a habit of slipping away from her minders like the "rebellious princess" archetype; as well as stopping a lot of people from looking really fucking stupid because said princess was in a wheelchair! On the other, it could've been a general discriminatory stance against Neptunia because in their eyes, sea-dwellers "stole jobs" from land-walkers.

Seemed like it was always something with these people...

Before it was Mexicans "stealing jobs" it was the Irish on their "potato boats". Before the Irish it was the Chinese which was just code for "generally Asian". Before that it was… black slaves.

Euuugh. That metaphor kinda got away from me…

BUT ANYWAY…! While I was grateful the whole thing would probably blow over in a few weeks (or "75 days" according to the Japanese proverb), I wasn't sure how to feel about this implied snub against a legitimate ocean-spanning micro-nation.

*AHA*

"So, you excited for the beach trip?" Elma asked with twinkling eyes.

Whether it was excitement over the beach itself or all the free food, if not both, I wasn't quite sure.

"Well, it isn't peak beach season, so it shouldn't be completely bogged down," I admitted.

The ideal season to go to beaches in Japan was July, August, and September. However, the problem with that was that literally everyone else had the exact same idea; and as such, the beaches in question were far more crowded than "beach episodes" in anime ever faithfully portrayed. On the other hand, it wasn't completely impossible to enjoy beaches before or after peak season, but it really depended on the temperature.

By some freak coincidence however, the weather today seemed extremely favorable, so it might be feasible to go into the water and not freeze your own toes off.

"So who all did you invite?" Sorahiko asked, already clad in a white Hawaiian shirt with yellow flowers.

"I basically CC'd the same message to everyone in my contacts list," I shrugged. "It's the tail end of Golden Week, so most might've already had plans."

"Hm. Makes sense. A wide net catches more fish."

"When I want fish, I don't need a net~" Elma hummed merrily.

"Well, you won't need a net today, I'd think," Sorahiko said looking down at his phone, looking up what the Marina Haven Hotel had to offer. "Oooh~ I like the look of this 'Eel Mermaid Massage', heh heh heh heh~"

"Just don't embarrass the family," I deadpanned as gave my overnight bag a once-over.

*AHA*

Yesterday after receiving her majesty's invite for friends and family to spend the following day at the Marina Haven Hotel, I sent out invites to most-everyone on my contacts list under the pretense that, a wide net cast catches more fish.

What I hadn't expected was for almost everyone I invited showing up for lack of any other plans today, including those I hadn't expected in the slightest.

"TAKEI-CHAAAAAAN!"

"KYAAAAAH!" I squealed as Chitose, clad in a white windbreaker and a yellow and green-accented bikini that really made her vivid skin and hair pop, ran over and hugged me with all her might.

"I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Hey, hands off, sister! Giving Take-chan a complex about the female body is my job!"

The next moment the R-Rated Hero: Midnight (followed by her niece Kuzuri Kaori who made an "I'm not with her" face) scooped me out of Chitose's arms and did her best to give me a complex about the female form. Her swimwear of choice looked like a black leather bikini held together by straps arranged in a Shibari-style "Tortoise Shell Bind"; and the only reason I knew that was because I happened upon the ultra-hammy Kyukyoku! Hentai Kamen (literally "Ultimate! Pervert Mask") before I reincarnated.

"Nii-nii! Look, I'm in a swimsuit!" Papi squealed happily as she swooped down in a typical school swimsuit.

How she got her wingspan through the holes, I'll never know.

"Yo," Papi's mom, Celaeno, hummed as she swooped down also wearing a school swimsuit; but with Papi's Mama across the chest in English instead of Japanese Kanji.

"Interesting company you keep," Chitose hummed as she looked around, scribbling notes.

"Well I notice the trend~" Nemuri grinned as she took stock of everyone that had attended bright and early at 7, with an 8 o'clock or even seven-thirty departure in mind.

Not too hard to imagine what the two women had spotted. There were nearly twice as many girls in attendance as there were boys. And sure, it was one thing to be aware that I had more female acquaintances than male, but to see it arrayed right in front of me like this, even with a small handful of absences…

"Everybody, if I could have your attention please!" I said to everyone that had gathered in the apartment's fenced-in area. "The busses will be leaving at around 7:30, so if everyone could use the bathrooms before we depart, that'd be much appreciated."

"Hai, Takehiko-san!" everyone acknowledged with a bow.

Given I was the reason they all got to have an overnight stay at a luxury beach resort, I guess the reverence only made sense. Even if it was a little awkward to have a bunch of adults doing so too…

*AHA*

"Chiyo, it's great to see you again."

"And to you as well, young man," Recovery Girl hummed genially, clad in a flowery sundress and hat. "Tell me, have you managed to keep Torino out of trouble as of late?"

"Oh if only…"

"Hu, hu, hu, huu~ Yes, that sounds quite like him," Chiyo replied. "I almost didn't come, but after hearing you got roughed up again, I changed my mind. Now, come 'ere and let me have a look at ya."

Leaning down to eye level, I took my "granny kiss" like a man.

*MWAH*

Her extended lips leaving my cheek, the next moment my body shimmered green like a healing spell in a video game, strongest at my back, the aches and pains I'd felt since yesterday vanishing in exchange for my vitality.

No big deal. I had more stamina than the average twelve-year-old and I could rest on the bus ride.

"There. All better," Recovery Girl nodded as I pulled off the bandages from my back.

"Well, that'll make getting in the water less-awkward."

"Hm. Indeed. So... I hear you changed your mind about becoming a Hero?"

"Yeah, well… I don't want to make my family cry anymore, and if bad guys are going to come for me anyway, I might as well get paid for fighting back."

"Still, I'm not sure how I feel about a pre-teen carrying around guns."

"In retrospect, most Quirks out there are more dangerous than guns."

"Perhaps, but it can't be good for you. Especially with how you've grown."

"You might be surprised," I hummed adjusting my Lombax-like ears. "Do you want any help with your bag?"

"If it isn't too much trouble, dearie."

As far as grandmas went, I suppose I could do worse.

I could have a grandma like Elma's, and while not the quintessential definition of "bad anime mom", according to the anecdotes Elma was wont to share, Telne was still pretty bad; even if that whole thing did get resolved in a hilarious fashion.

*AHA*

"Hitomi, Mitsumi, Kuma, Midori, it's great to see you all."

"And a good morning to you as well. Thank you for inviting us," Mitsumi hummed, clad in a school swimsuit and a light jacket.

"Thanks for inviting us along, Takei-kun," Hitomi smiled prettily, clad in a dark blue one-piece with lighter blue siding and pink dividing lines, her signature lab coat worn over it, seemingly accentuating her mature figure.

Geez, it should be illegal for a school nurse to be this cute…

"Takei-kun, have you been given 'the talk'?" Kuma inquired at my blushing cheeks; the bear-man clad in a large red Hawaiian shirt with lighter-red flower print that made me think of Grandpa Max from Ben 10.

"I have diagrams if it'll help~" Midori chuckled, a tanning mirror tucked under their arm, clad in a retro green striped swimsuit.

"I already got 'the talk', and no amount of therapy will ever make that moment right."

"Tch, lightweight," 'Top-chan' huffed.

"Don't make me leave you at home, missy," I said holding up a bandanna in as-threatening a manner as someone could hold a bandanna.

" . . . Well played," Mitsumi's aggressive persona returned with a nod of acknowledgment.

*AHA*

"Otome, Tatara-sensei, Moji-sensei, it's great to see you all."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, Takei-kun~" Otome greeted, clad in a black one-piece that exposed her stomach and back, her hair as-voluminous as I remembered.

"Am I just here to keep Hitomi out of trouble?" Ken asked rolling a cigarette in his fingers.

"More or less," I admitted.

"Hm. Fair enough," Hitomi's childhood friend shrugged.

"Takei-kun, sorry you went through something so-harrowing again," the Wookie-like gym teacher offered, clad in a light windbreaker and extra-large khaki shorts.

Turns out, Wookies would look ridiculous wearing pants.

Thankfully the only difference I could recognize on this earth's version of Star Wars was that Chewbaka got a medal as well.

"It's alright, Moji-sensei. All the training in gym gave me the edge I needed," I returned before turning to the last of the faculty members to arrive. "Gordy, love the shirt."

"Heh. Thanks," the ferret-headed man replied, clad in an almost gaudy Hawaiian shirt, straw hat, and tacky sunglasses while the others were dressed a little more plainly. "So, I hear you used a grapple-watch to get away from a Villain."

"Yeah, but it crapped out at the bottom of the ninth," I lamented, looking down at my beat-up watch. The timepiece could still, you know, tell time, but I'd never be able to mount another micro-winch onto it.

I should probably just get one made by professionals. I'm sure that as the home of superhero comics, that sort of thing would be real big in America.

"Well, if you ever wanna tinker, I have a crafting table at school you can borrow," the man offered, my ears perking up at the word 'tinker'.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

*AHA*

By far the largest group to address were my friends from school, who had begun filing back to the courtyard after making use of the facilities.

"Good morning./Good morning!"

"Naruki, Kaori, how has Golden Week been?"

"It's been relaxing. When we weren't worrying about you," Naruki hummed, he and his conjoined twin wearing a retro one-piece swimsuit with red stripes… and two neck holes.

"Thanks for inviting us along, though you've probably made enemies with the more pervy boys in our class," Togami hummed as he scratched his pointed ear.

"Well, you can't make everyone happy," I shrugged. "Tomu, Nobuko, have anything special in mind~?"

"W-We're just here as good friends!" Nobuko squeaked, her tongue lolling out embarrassingly, clad in a school swimsuit and light jacket, the cat-like Tomu blushing next to her clad in black trunks with a slat for his tail.

"Tetsutetsu, Itsuka, you do anything interesting so-far?"

"A little light training," Itsuka replied, also clad in a school swimsuit with a couple bandages on her fingers.

"Hey, don't sell yourself short, Itsuka! Your [Big Fists] pack a real wallop!" Tetsutetsu grinned, clad in a gunmetal-colored pair of trunks.

"Haruna, if it isn't too much trouble, could you try and keep Papi out of trouble?"

"Well, you invited me to a swanky beach resort, so I can do that much for you…" the Winged Girl replied, clad in a school swimsuit with holes in the back for her wings, a set of polarized glasses on her forehead.

"Shizuru, that's you over there, right?"

"H-Hai!" the Invisible Girl replied from empty space causing the others to yelp in shock.

"Geez, how do you keep finding her?" the Tiny Girl, Chisa, replied, looking almost like an elementary schooler.

"I-I'm sure he's just very observant," the Giant Girl, Kyouko, answered. She too was clad in a school swimsuit that could be a contender for 'The World's Largest'.

"Thank you for the food," the sharp-toothed Tabe hummed appreciatively as she nibbled on a convenience store bento, food and packaging.

"Thank you for having us," the Lizard Boy, Kageto, bowed his head, clad in a green scale-patterned pair off trunks.

"T-Takei-kun…"

"Hanako-chan, have you been well?" I asked turning to the class rep, finding her not in a school swimsuit, but in a pair of white shorts, a pink T-shirt, and a straw sunhat she was using to hide her eyebrows. " . . . Can I say something to you without being too forward?"

"O-Of course!"

"You have some of the cutest eyebrows I've ever seen. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise," I asserted, the Quirkless girl blushing up to her eyebrows.

"W-W-Where did that come from?!" Hanako squeaked, while off to the side the girls from my class muffled excited squeals.

"I'm just saying what's in my heart. Manako has similar self-image issues, so I want to do my part to help you be your best self," I replied as honestly as I could, Hanako nodding her head after a few moments and easing back her hat, allowing her thick eyebrows to be seen. She then proceeded to let out her braids, much to the others' shock, letting her hair fall down past her shoulders.

"Thank you very much. I'll try to keep those words in my heart," she replied, her glasses fogging up a little as she wiped her tears.

G-Geez, I might have to get this heart hiccup looked at if this keeps up…

"Ever the player, huh, Harem Protag-kun~" Shiori grinned as she leaned into my line of sight.

"Shiori, please don't call me that," I told the 2D Girl as she swelled back into the third dimension, clad in her school uniform, the buttons undone to reveal her school swimsuit underneath.

"But your heart skipped a beat, didn't it?" the Shadow Girl, Kuromi, said leaning around my shoulder clad in a white sundress and hat that contrasted fetchingly with her black hair and her eyes' dark circles, her words causing the Class Rep to blush even harder.

"Hey, we can't control what our hearts do all the time!" Yomi chuckled, clad in a black wetsuit with white racing stripes on the sides.

"Yomi, glad you're wearing something a little more practical…"

"Yeah, well, don't wanna lose any body parts the way Zombina-senpai did~"

"Before, or after the thing with the stingrays?"

"It's amazing you two can say those sorts of things with a straight face…" Naruki deadpanned.

"We're here! We're here! Is it too late?"

"Well, the busses are still here, so... no," Kuromi hummed as three more girls from my class appeared. I didn't know them personally, and we didn't talk to one another, but they were friends-of-friends, and since I sent out invites to most of the girls in my homeroom anyway, I figured there wasn't anything wrong with throwing a few "Plus Ones" around.

Back before I knew, of course, that the alure of the Marina Haven Hotel was like a siren's call possibly causing them to drop what they were doing today.

Kuroki Kurara was the round frog-like girl who was friends with Tabe, clad in a school swimsuit and a green light jacket. Sakurai Yasuko aka "Yao-chan", the girl with the spade-like devil tail was friends with Nobuko, and was clad in a black bikini over her budding frame and a white jacket. Trailing along behind with the head of a ferret on today was Majiri Kirameki, clad in shorts and a T-shirt.

"I'm honestly amazed so-many people showed up," I hummed aloud as the last of my own entourage showed up. "Kuroki, Sakurai, Majiri, good morning."

"Good morning. Thank you for the invite," the frog-like and ferret-headed girls greeted.

"Please, call me 'Yao-chan'~" the Devil Girl winked, tail swishing behind her.

"When I know you a bit better," I replied politely. "Excuse me for a moment, I need to check up on something," I said disengaging before walking up to the most sleep-deprived member of my party, the only one clad in a business suit. "Mera-san, about the matter I discussed with you the previous evening…"

"I sent it up the ladder, and you were correct. Having Mirko in attendance for this royal get-together will only help tenuous relations between Japan and Neptunia," the sleep-deprived HPSC worker stated. "Not sure if she'll actually show, but I gave her a few 'Plus Ones' to help grease the wheels."

"Th-Thanks for that," I gulped, something in my gut quivering at the thought of seeing my favorite Hero outside the Mon Squad again.

It was gratifying to see her climbing the ranks for reasons other than sex appeal. Back in the Corporate Age, it was all point-based, and popularity came as a result-of, but in the Commercial Age, you could be more-popular than a more-proactive Hero as long as the other guy was a "wallflower". If you had a combination of charisma, exposure, and power, you could get pretty high up in the ranks. And while the Top 100 were usually considered "the best" in the country, there were those at Rank 101 and downward who could make it into the Top 100 if they had a better agent and/or wanted the exposure.

"You're welcome. And thank you for inviting me along. PTO is rather hard to come by in my line of work. I appreciate it."

"I'm sure Smith-san raked you over the coals before, so it's the least I can do."

Given I was one of the HPSC's "problem children", it would only benefit me to have a cordial relationship with my handler. Especially since he had a direct portal to the madam president's ear. And what better way to cultivate a relationship with an over-worked desk drone than by inviting him out to a luxury resort for some paid time off?

"No-one gave you a hard time about this, did they?"

"One or two up the ladder thought I was inviting myself along, but I had a recording of our conversation on my desk phone. When you called it a 'working vacation', that seemed to smooth things over."

"Ah, good to know. I hope you have a very relaxing 'work vacation'."

"Hm. You have my gratitude," the man said bowing slightly.

As I parted company from the last of my group that needed addressing, the last of the tote and overnight bags had been loaded on the bus. As everyone split off into the two tour busses needed, Kyouko and Chisa climbing into the back of a small moving van, Hitomi approached me and tapped my shoulder as I looked anxiously up and down the street and then into my phone.

"Are you still waiting for Manako and the others to show up?" she asked sadly.

"The day's still young. Maybe they'll meet us there?" I asked hopefully.

The next moment Hitomi wrapped her arms around me from behind, holding me with a tenderness all its own that immediately put me at ease.

"I hope so too," the mono-eyed nurse nodded. "Did you remember your sunscreen?"

"I'm sure a luxury resort gives out complimentary bottles."

"Even still, you shouldn't forget if you can help it," the school nurse lectured cutely.

*AHA*

The bus trip toward-and-around Tokyo went by with little fanfare apart from everyone talking excitedly as they discussed all the amenities available at the Marina Haven Hotel, those on the same bus as Takei giving their thanks for the invitations.

To him, the most-interesting thing that happened was the interview Chitose-

"Chitose-neechan!"

-Chitose-neechan insisted on conducting with him. Everyone else on yesterday's news cycle wrote about him, from a third-person perspective, but Shoowaysha Publishing would seemingly be the only one to get his side of the story. An "exclusive" as she called it.

"So, what do you want to know?"

"What I want to know is, what was the source of the tears you shed? The real source; not where everyone thinks those tears were coming from after coming to their own conclusions without even consulting you."

A veiled jab at other news venues she could sneak into the article. Nice.

" . . . I was grateful that someone, anyone, took my distress call seriously enough to come and help, even after all the times I threw shame at most Pros in general," Takei began, the camcorder in her hands unwavering as the cityscape slid by in the backdrop.

"Do you really believe any Heroes who got your SOS would willfully neglect the call to action, just because you dissed them once or twice?"

Drawing attention to the controversial topics no-one wanted to touch. He liked this lady's style.

"Have you ever read the case study of Golden Ryan?"

"The Corporate Hero who bounced between Europe, the Middle East, and Sternbild, right?"

As it turned out, Chitose began watching old Hero TV recordings in order to get inside of the head of her latest obsession.

Of course, if anyone back at the office said that was what he was to her, she'd correct them by calling Takei her "muse", and that getting into his good graces early would net Shoowaysha plenty of exclusives in the future.

"Right. During his stint in Oldhabi, Golden Ryan was chasing down a Villain by the name of Gregory Sunshine; his Quirk was retroactively classified as [Berserk], a meta-ability that could make other meta-abilities run rampant similar to bad cuts of power-boosting neo-steroids like Trigger. When Golden Ryan's [Gravity Manipulation] went berserk, a nearby building collapsed on top of him, severely injuring him as well as nearby civilians; the other Heroes in Oldhabi saw Ryan trapped under the rubble and chose to leave him for dead. Ryan was immensely troubled by the incident, plagued by nightmares in the months that followed and finding himself unable to get a good night's rest. Ryan later made the decision to return to Sternbild, believing the Heroes there wouldn't betray him again."

"So what is it you're saying?" Chitose inquired. "That though the name of the industry has changed, the people have not?"

"In the two-hundred years Quirks have been propagating, we've been plagued by the same problems. Discrimination, enmity, and ego are among the top offenders. And as much as the religious types like to say think otherwise, there's no way the full breadth of human sin can be eclipsed in only seven concepts."

"I suppose as someone who's been attacked by Villains and failed by Heroes over and over, you'd have a perspective on the world many lack."

"I just don't think that Heroes are the flawless 'demi-gods' who always save the day no matter how dire things get that everyone else is convinced they are. Take All Might for instance. Because of him, Japan's crime rate has been in the single digit percentile for decades. But only 94% of the country's people benefit from that. For the remaining 6%..."

"You see yourself as a part of 'the demographic that Heroes fail "every day" without fail'."

"Only on the days I am failed. Which thankfully, yesterday was not a part of. If it were just me the Villain was after, that'd have been one thing, but he was after Mero, and I was the side-dish for his big payday. More than anything, I wanted her to be saved even if I wasn't. That's why I activated my distress beacon; because I desperately wanted her, if not me, to be saved."

"From what I heard, though, you caused quite a bit of damage before the Rabbit Hero: Mirko arrived on the scene."

"An eye and thirty bug bites that barely slowed him down, and it cost me three pieces of gear I treasured dearly."

"Gear can be replaced, though."

"Maybe. But the time I put into building and/or maintaining them, I can't get back. It's a sacrifice I'd make all over again, but that's just time I have to take out of my day to replace it all."

"I see. I see," Chitose nodded, having gotten some great footage and audio to make into a transcript. "And what will you do now, going forward?"

"Going forward?" Takei blinked. "I'll train, and get stronger, because more than anything… More than anything, I don't want to make my loved ones shed tears for me. I want to protect their happiness when the Heroes can't. Because at the end of the day, you can't believe in anything but your own strength."

Chitose nodding her head as she shut off her camera, the next moment she reached over and embraced him around the neck, tenderly cradling his face into her bosom as she stroked his hair.

"That was a wonderful interview. I'm glad you lived long-enough to give it."

"What is it with young women and hugs and hair-stroking?"

"You're just too cute to resist~" the purple-haired beauty grinned. "I'm rooting for you. Get stronger so we can have lots more interviews together~"

" . . . Heh. Sure thing. Chitose-neechan."

Chitose's happy squeal would've gotten her pulled aside by a police officer if one was around.

*AHA*

"That's… a hotel…?" I gawp as I craned and craned and craned my neck so I could see the Marina Haven Hotel in its entirety.

"Isn't that just a castle with extra steps?" Sorahiko deadpanned as he too beheld the twelve-story building, with an elaborately grandiose medieval castle squatting atop it.

In my opinion, it looked like the castle from Gargoyles and the one from Disney World had a baby, and that was what I was looking at now.

"Oh my, how grand~" Hitomi awed as she and those not staring at the hotel beheld the marble statues out in front of the long path to the hotel. The figure on the left was obviously of Mero's mother, her appearance incredibly regal consisting of an elaborate headpiece and necklace, a frilly skirt and trail, her long hair styled in several thick, tightly wound curls. Despite being royalty, her outfit was extremely revealing, showing off her cleavage and midriff as much as a bikini, her gills proudly on display. Wielded in her left hand and pointed upright was an elegant, fierce-looking trident.

Catching my eye to the right, on Seraphine's left, was who was obviously Mero's father, Cedric Aquarius du Neptune according to the plaque.

He too possessing a fish-like lower body, he lacked the pelvic fins displayed in his wife and daughter's morphologies, as well as the fin-like ears. Clad in a plain-looking toga that went over the right shoulder and went down to where would've been knee level, what stood out about him wasn't how-elaborate his clothes were, but that the guy was more-jacked than All Might. Worn upon his wrists were thick manacles, and around his waist a thick metal belt not unlike those worn by professional wrestlers, the circular plate at the front featuring a trident like the one wielded in his right hand. His wavy hair went down his back over his shoulders, his eyebrows were thick and bushy, his nose distinguished, his mustache groomed into fine points with his thick beard parted at the bottom and to the sides, his royal crown was more like a medieval circlet. In his right hand he wielded a less-ornate trident than his wife, yet in its simplicity was an innate majesty that couldn't be denied.

After a few seconds, and something I couldn't un-see, was the somewhat striking resemblance to the King Neptune from Spongebob Squarepants; the first iteration from the episode where Spongebob got turned into a legit God, not the one from the movie with the nose who got his crown stolen.

Given there were people out there whose Quirks made them look like Pokémon, Digimon, monsters from Toho, Super Sentai, and Kamen Rider as well as others, I suppose it should've been inevitable I'd see real-life people who resembled characters from western animation as well…

Seraphine and Cedrick's statues were slightly-larger than life, but that still meant Cedrick was buff as hell, and while he might've lacked the pelvic fins of his wife and daughter for maneuverability, it wouldn't surprise me if he was as-strong underwater as All Might was on dry land.

"Heh. Good thing Mero swam on her mom's side of the gene pool, eh, Take-chan?" Sorahiko chuckled only for Chiyo to bop him over the head with her cane.

Flanking the path to the hotel itself were two crystal clear pools of water that admitted other aquatic Heteromorphs, allowing for maximum comfort as they made their way into the building. Needlessly elaborate, sure, but with the kind of money some families in Neptunia were making, it wasn't implausible that they'd be willing to pay for this sort of luxury.

"Compared to this, the air-breather hotel looks pretty plain," Tatara-sensei said looking at the building across the street, mirroring the one in front of it save the castle on top.

"Ah, Takehiko-san, and guests. Welcome, to the Marina Haven Hotel!" Flounnder greeted jovially after leaping out of the nearby pool, his suit apparently entirely hydrophobic. "I've taken the liberty of preparing rooms for you air-breathers in our sister hotel right over there."

"It's all complimentary, right?" Kuma spoke up looking at the sheer opulence overhead.

"But of course. And besides, if I were to tell you the cost of a stay in this hotel, your eyes would positively pop out of your head!"

"You mean like yours?" Gordy hummed before Ken ribbed him in the side.

"Ahem, moving along…" Flounnder huffed, at least largely unoffended. "It's a magnificent day out, so once we check you into your suites, why not enjoy a lovely day on our pristine beach?"

The sum of my group excitedly nodding their heads as a concierge began to escort them across the street, I stepped over to Flounnder and inquired-

"Did anyone from the Mon Squad arrive, perhaps?"

"As of this moment, I am afraid not. But the day is still young," he said reassuringly. "You'll already find that Momo-ojouchan and her excitable friend are already in attendance and waiting for you, as well as the Rabbit Hero and her Plus One."

An excited thrill went through me at that.

"Erm, and Mero? I mean, Meroune…"

"Her majesty is presently under house arrest but will be released in a few hours assuming she completes her line-writing."

"Would it be possible for me to inquire what she is writing, and on what medium?"

"At the moment she is writing 'I will not slip away from my minders like a "rebellious princess" archetype.' on reams of paper," the fish-man chortled amusedly.

"Huh. That must be doubly-hard with her webbed fingers."

"Oh, verily indeed, but it's a part of why this punishment is being used to help ensure the lesson sticks," Flounnder nodded amusedly. "Now, come along. Your palatial suite awaits."

Palatial?

"Wow, you're really pulling out all the stops, aren't you?"

"For one whom the queen has deemed worthy of granting a royal boon, no expense is too great. Now, come along, come along, the day is not getting any younger."

*AHA*

"Oh my, how beautiful~" Chiyo sighed contentedly as, in a group, we all ventured out onto the beach, a resplendent band of white sand and blue water as far as the eye could see, with a fortified fence and line of wave breakers down on the right showing where the private beach was separated from the more-public area.

"Wahoo! This is awesome! Papi's first beach!" the harpy-like Heteromorph beamed with twinkles in her eyes.

"Papi, make sure to stretch before bathing," her mother hummed as she flopped down on a chair beneath an umbrella in a very unladylike fashion.

"What a beautiful vista," Hitomi hummed as her mono-eye drank it all in.

"I'm gettin' me an Eel Lotion Massage, heh heh heh~" Sorahiko chuckled as he walked off, massively reinvigorated and changed into yellow trunks showing off a surprisingly ripped frame for an old guy.

"Yup. The boys you left out are going to be very jealous," Naruki hummed aloud as he took it all in.

"Well, they're either pervs or I've never talked to them, so I think I'll survive," I deadpanned.

"Still though, I think you made all the girls in our class very happy," Kaori hummed as she drank in the sunlight.

Faced with such a beautiful beach, it wasn't long before everyone offered thanks and parting comments before scattering in all directions. Some went to get Eell Lotion Massages, some ran off to rent flotation devices, some went to the refreshment stands, some lounged in the sun or in the shade, and a few dared venture out into the water, the beach big-enough that Kyouko could actually enjoy herself.

"WATERRRRRRRR!" Elma screamed like a little kid as she ran into the waves clad in a blue one-piece, her 'flame sacks' bouncing enticingly and causing passerby to trip into sandcastles or collide with one another before she dove into the water and vanished from sight, a fish-like tail appearing for a fleeting moment.

"Eh, she's earned it," I hummed, deciding I didn't really need to worry about Elma.

"Takei-kun, we're going to be over here!" Hitomi called out from the shade of an umbrella where her father had already settled down for a nap, Mitsumi applying sunscreen.

"Got it! Have fun!" I said as I walked off, enjoying the scenery and the lapping of the waves for several calming minutes only to stop short as I beheld a sight that left me completely dumbstruck.

Dark skin contrasted by a white one-piece swimsuit with matching hair and powerful muscles with sunblock granting it an eye-catching sheen. With the cute cotton tail and crooked rabbit ears, it was none other than Usagiyama Rumi doing stretches on the beach. As was to be expected, passerby couldn't take their eyes off her, one or two having already walked through sandcastles unfortunate-enough to be in their paths.

"So, like what you see?" Midnight asked from over my shoulder as the Rabbit Hero continued to stretch her upper body from side to side.

"I want to use those thighs as a lap pillow."

Wait, why the hell did I say that out loud!?

"Shit! My filter!"

"Don't worry about it, those are perfectly natural impulses. Everyone is a low-key pervert," the R-Rated Hero said stroking my hair as I hid my blushing face behind my hands.

"Somehow, that doesn't make me feel any better…"

"TAKEI-KUN!"

"P-POLT-SAN?!" I squawked as a familiar kobold-like woman clad in a cobalt-colored one-piece swimsuit with racing stripes and sweatbands ran excitedly my way from down the beach, her bosom bouncing like something from a cut of Baywatch.

"Takei-kun, it's so nice to see you again!" Polt grinned, her tail wagging eagerly.

"Hey, boya, you're finally here!" Rumi grinned as she came over, jealous glares shot my way like laser sights. "So, I hear you're getting a royal favor from the mermaid queen! What're you going to ask for?"

"I-I'm still thinking on that," I answered, shooting Midnight a look saying she'd better keep her mouth shut as I attempted to keep my eyes above Rumi's neckline.

"Well, if you can't think of anything, you can always sit on it for a rainy day," Rumi hummed shrugging buff shoulders. "Still, small world, huh?"

"Wait, you two know each other?" I blinked as Rumi rested an elbow on Polt's shoulder.

"Yeah, I went to Sports Club Kobold all the time," Rumi grinned. "But Polt-chan couldn't quite keep up when it came to fight crashing~"

"Hey, pacing yourself is important too you know!" Polt pouted. "And you, remember to stretch before swimming!"

"H-Hai!" I yelped at her tone. "So, um, Usagiyama-san-"

"Any friend of Polt's is a friend of mine. Call me Rumi!"

"R-Right, Rumi… Um… I like your muscles."

What? Dammit, brain!? THE FUCK, MAN?!

" . . . Hah! At least you have the guts to say that to my face!" Rumi grinned as I blushed up to my ears, her own flicking idly, likely as people all around talked in hushed breaths about her. "Still, quite an ingroup you've got here. Recovery Girl and Midnight. Really is a small world, huh, kid? You aiming for Yuuei?"

"Y-Y-Yes… For the Hero Course after a bit of self-reflection," I admitted, suddenly finding the seashells mixed in with the sand massively fascinating.

"Well, keep up the good work! And someday, you might just get that lap pillow you've been dreaming of~" she chuckled as she slapped my back.

"Right, because of course you heard that," I deadpanned, feeling no need to really hide my thoughts.

"Hey, like Midnight said, it's perfectly healthy to have those thoughts, and at least you're willing to own up to it," Rumi shrugged, obviously used to it, and probably more sporting about it because I was twelve.

"Well, I'm going to take a very cold shower before I say anything else that'll make me blush scarlet."

"Hoh~ Like what~?" Midnight asked licking her lips in a way that made me very uncomfortable.

"Nope! Not saying it out loud! Not embarrassing myself further! Have a good day Polt-san, Rumi-san!"

"HOLD IT!" Midnight snapped out snaring my ankle with her whip. "You still need some sunscreen all~ Over~ Your~ Body~"

"Um… Uh… LOOK! It's All Might skydiving in a bikini!"

"Where?" the three of them blinked looking off in the middle distance, giving me the latitude I needed to slide my ankle out of Midnight's whip and slink away.

*AHA*

"You probably cheesed off more than one fan club today."

"Mera-san, not now…" I said hiding around the corner of the tropical-themed bar the man was nursing a drink at. After checking into his paid-for suite, he'd changed out of his stuffy suit and into some khaki shorts, sandals, and a yellow Hawaiian shirt with pink floral print, showing more of his pasty skin but with a decent amount of muscle behind it.

"You know, most boys your age would be thrilled to get that sort of attention, what with puberty right around the corner."

"Most boys 'my age' don't get attacked by the 'Villain of the Week'."

"Hm. Touche," Yokumiru hummed as he played with his tiny umbrella. " . . . She seems to be enjoying herself," he hummed pointing to the Giant Girl as she breached the water like a small whale in the middle distance, a beaming smile on her face.

"I'm sure it's quite hard for her to enjoy swimming in most places, so I sent her a more-personalized message when I invited her."

Wait, was that Chisa clinging onto her hair with a re-breather…?

"Ah, yes. According to your dossier, you helped defend her from some future sex offenders."

"How-deeply have you guys been monitoring me?"

"Deeply-enough to head off any bad habits at the pass."

"What, like some kid of a higher-up going to the Red-Light District and billing it to the Commission?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny that assessment."

"I literally don't have the bandwidth to care; I'm on vacation."

"Heh, you and me both. Barman! A drink for my friend here, on me!"

"Everything's complimentary," I deadpanned, but good-naturedly pointed to the spigot for root beer.

"Oh, you know what I mean," the gaunt man hummed as he finished his drink, bonelessly slumping on his stool. "Ahhhhhhh… Now this is the life~ I'll enjoy it while it lasts~"

"Just remember to take care of yourself. I don't want you cracking and screaming 'spray starch' at the top of your lungs while smashing office windows like popping bubble wrap."

"To be fair, that sort of thing only happens a handful of times each year. Per company…"

"Window manufacturers must make a killing," I hum as I enjoyed my cola. "Unrelated note, I have something I need you to take care of after tomorrow."

"What is it?"

In response I handed over my watch.

"Back in the day when he wasn't in costume, Kaburagi Kotetsu aka 'Wild Tiger' wore a Grapple-Watch for added mobility. I managed to make one of my own with parts from the HPSC, but it didn't hold up as long as I would've liked."

"So you want me to commission a replacement from an accredited Support Studio?"

"It was great that I could make one that worked, but as the thing with, ugh, Megataur showed, I still have a long way to go as a tinkerer."

"And you want it in a watch so Villains won't confiscate it right away?"

"Got it in one."

"For a vacation like this, I'll get in touch with the best in our retinue."

"Thank you very much."

*AHA*

"Nii-nii! Nii-nii! Look what I found!" Papi beamed happily, flying over with a pair of skis clutched in one set of talons and a long rope with a handle in the other, an orange life vest thrown over her torso since, obviously, wings and swimming were a bad mix.

"What, you wanna go waterskiing?" I inquired, guessing she had a little more latitude to use her Quirk here because not only did she not have separate arms, but also because it was a public beach.

"Harpyskiing! Oh, but you don't have wings, so I'll pull you instead," she hummed like it were the most-obvious thing in the world.

" . . . Yeah, sure, why not!" I grinned taking her up on the offer.

Of course, the way that we got out into the water definitely drew some worried glances, and the only reason it worked at all was that the nearest lifeguard was very conciliatory.

Basically, I got into the skis, held the rope, Papi lifted me out into the water like a backwards crane game, and then she stared flying forward until I was at-speed and she was a little above my head. The fact that she was pulling me forward and up out of the water, certainly made an easier time of it than when I'd waterskied pre-Isekai.

"WHEEEEEEEE!" Papi squealed giddily as the wind whistled through my hair, the white-winged Haruna off in the distance looking on with a bit of envy in her eyes.

Understandable, I guess. On the surface her Quirk looked similar to Hawks' [Fierce Wings], but not only could she not manipulate her feathers once separated from her body, she wasn't especially fast either. And while her "human hands" certainly made life convenient for her, drop someone like Papi in front of her who was "free as a bird", and a complex could be understandable since people did take a little too much pride in their Quirks at times.

Well, I suppose that's just another part of growing up in this world; coming to terms with what your Quirk has, what it doesn't have that others with similar Quirks do, and getting over it.

The next moment after my fit of self-reflection, Elma leapt up from the water like a flying fish, fishy tail on full display and a large fish in her mouth, the Dragon OL vanishing into the waves a moment later.

"What was that?!" Papi gasped.

"It was a fish-lady eating a slightly smaller fish! And no-one else!"

"Oh! Okay, then~!"

I pray she has the wherewithal not to be taken advantage of in the future. Because even if she winds up looking exactly like her mom minus the bleached hare and Gyaru makeup, there are still people who are into Legal Lolis.

Like Papi's own father! And lord, how I wish I could un-know and un-see that…

"TAKEI-KUUUN!"

"Huh?" I blinked looking over my shoulder in time to see- "Wha?! Mei!? Momo?! What'd you do to that poor swan boat!?"

"I tried to stop her! I really did!" Momo, clad in a red one-piece like in Baywatch, cried with a knuckle-white grip on her seat.

"I found some good loot in the boat graveyard!" Mei cackled, clad in a school swimsuit with boy's swim trunks worn over for the pockets, the salmon-haired girl controlling what was probably an illegally modified swan boat with an RC.

"Takei-kun! Do you know where Mero is?" Momo asked as they slowly closed the gap.

"She's writing lines after ditching her handlers one too many times!"

"Silly nii-nii, you won't write lines! You cross 'em!" Papi giggled, her powerful wings allowing us to easily keep pace with Mei's latest mechanical monstrosity.

"By the way! I need another super-puck!"

At least she didn't say "Arc Reactor" out loud…

"Later! Right now, I'm on vacation!"

"You can do both!"

"Mei-chan, he really can't…" Momo chastised as she fought back the excited thrill on her face.

"So! How long have you known Mero?"

"Since I was five, give or take," Momo answered. "Our families have been in business for generations, so it was only natural we'd be introduced. Of course, as a crown princess of an underwater kingdom, our meetings have been a bit limited."

"And yet you told her about me?"

Still not entirely sure how they got internet reception at the bottom of the sea. My best guess is land lines instead of wireless.

"You've had a tremendous, positive impact on my life, so a part of me wanted you to be a part of her own."

"Huh…" I hummed, Papi flying in wide circles and figure eights. "Anyone else I need to worry about you suggesting me to?"

"Nobody else."

"Okay. Just checking," I hummed, taking note that Papi was slowing down. "Papi, let's head back to shore!"

"HAI!" Papi grinned, a startled cry leaving my throat as she lifted me entirely from the water.

"Note to self: Invent wing suit with actual wings."

"MEI! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!" Momo shrieked behind me as they almost ran into who I assumed was Elma.

*AHA*

"Man, you really know the strangest people, huh?" Naruki hummed once I returned the skis and the line.

"Yeah, and all it costs me is weakly beatings from Villains," I deadpan as he and his conjoined twin looked at Papi, Chitose, Rumi, Polt, and the like.

"Still, thanks so much for inviting us," Togami hummed appreciatively.

"Yeah, well, her majesty said there wasn't a real upper limit."

"Like one of those 'if you have to ask you can't afford it' things in reverse?" Kuromi hummed from under her sunhat, flying Shiori in her [2D Girl] form like a ninja kite.

"Well, you're definitely on our teachers' good sides~" Yomi grinned as she pointed at Otome, Ken, Yuki, and 'Gordy' relaxing around the bar with Hitomi and her father.

"Hey, I know it's a little early, but do you wanna smash some watermelons?" Kageto suggested.

"Seems like a waste of good melon," Tabe hummed.

"I'm actually compelled to agree with her. How about we just eat the melon?" I deadpanned. "Of course, then the question becomes where do we get melon..."

"Maybe the hotel has some?" Nobuko hummed, her tongue lolling for a second.

"It's all complimentary, so why not?" Hanako asked, looking happier than I'd seen her in a while.

The quiet ones really did get prettier when they let their hair down. Quite a good look actually, though the braids were also cute.

"Well alright then! Let's go grab some melons!" Tetsutetsu whooped. "Banzai!"

"Banzai!" the others whooped giving me RWBY flashbacks.

*AHA*

Though summer was still a small ways away, the Marina Haven Hotel still had fresh fruit in abundance, some Quirk-grown from Black Lily, some "all natural". With me and my friends from Damoto's Class 1-A having our own little party and making a bit of a spectacle of ourselves among the rich upper crust, for a time we talked about normal teenage stuff you'd hear about in a "beach episode". Whether watermelon was best eaten in slices or from half of one with a spoon, whether they did or didn't need salt, whether it was worth it to buy cube melons, and so-on and so-on.

After a while, finding ourselves covered in sticky fruit juices, the lot of us decided to hit the water once again, cleaning ourselves off and simultaneously splashing around like at any other beach, only with way more elbow room.

"Best! Beach episode! Ever!" Shiori whooped into the middling distance.

Of course, it was just as things were starting to feel the most normal, that they went horribly, hoooorribly wrong.

"AH! SOMETHING JUST TOUCHED MEEEE!" I cried out, channeling Grant Imahara even centuries after his passing.

Sure, there've been dozens of reboots and spinoffs since the 2000s, but none of them quite captured the same magic as the original crew. And once you started throwing Quirks into the mix…

But I digress.

Scrambling out of the water as the thing that touched me continued to touch me, fearing it was a jellyfish, as I cleared the water, I was relieved to see that it was only… a shark-like baby the size and weight of a medicine ball. Predominantly grayish-blue with lighter-blue stripes across the back and on two torpedo-like horns next to a notched dorsal fin, the figure had a red underbelly, sharp teeth, stumpy limbs, a little tail, and beady shark-like eyes.

" . . . Whose small child is this?" I asked aloud pointing at the little one clinging to my leg.

Those on the beach staring at me incredulously, the next moment something exploded from the water off to my back. Whirling around and fearing that Elma had lost control of herself like that time in the river, I was relieved to see that it was not Elma. The thing breaching the waves instead looked like something from Monster Hunter, though I wasn't familiar-enough with the franchise to know the exact name.

Morphologically, the thing was shaped like a Plesiosaur, but that's where the comparisons to aforementioned creature took a major fall-off. The thing was covered in grayish-blue scales with a plethora of brown dermal spikes, had a tan-colored underbelly, clawed limbs instead of flippers, and had a mouth filled with massive fangs. All this and the antler-like horns atop its head gave it a very draconian look, and if I hadn't already seen Elma who in her true form was (metaphorically) big enough to have her own zip code, I'd have soiled myself at the sight of the thing.

Of course, any fleeting relief I felt that the thing breaching the waves was not Elma, swiftly vanished as the thing looked straight at me and/or the shark-baby with hungry eyes, a deafening roar leaving its maw as it dragged itself from the water on powerful forelimbs.

"RUN AWAY! RUN AWAAAY! RUN AWAAAAAY!" I screamed scooping up the medicine ball-sized shark-baby in my arms and ran for my life as the thing continued to chase after me/us.

Unlike that time with, ugh, "Megataur", this I stood a decent chance of getting away from.

Problem was, literally everyone else on the beach had the same idea. Once the lifeguard whistles stared blowing and the first panicked cries of- "KAIJUUU!" -and- "MONSTAAAA!" -and- "LAGIACRUUUUS!" -pierced the once-tranquil air, everyone and their grandma started running for their lives in literally all directions, some running in the thing's general direction in blind terror if not bumping into one another and getting tangled up in their attempt to flee. With the number of larger whale and shark-like Heteromorphs in attendance, or just larger humanoids in general like Kyouko who held a few of her classmates in her arms like dolls, it was like running through traffic.

"ELMA! ELMAAAA! ELMAAAAAAAA!" I screamed into the indecipherable cacophony of panicked screams as the thing started to catch up.

"I GOT YA!" Mirko shouted as her sudden stop at my side kicked up sand into the thing's face, the Rabbit Hero scrambling for purchase and managing to get us away right as the thing's jaws snapped shut on the space we occupied.

Before it could pursue us further however, like a hydrogen bomb going off, a massive form exploded from the crystal-clear waters. As the literal (metaphorical?) Kaiju breached the water, its massive jaws clamped down around the much smaller monster's neck once, twice, three times before dragging itself and its prey back into the water.

It would be several more minutes of mania-induced terror until everyone finally realized the crisis was averted as the two aquatic bodies vanished entirely from sight, the mega-predator dragging its predacious prey into the ocean depths.

"Huh… Guess there really is always 'a bigger fish'…" Rumi deadpanned incredulously, blinking as if trying to comprehend what she had seen.

"Remind me to never play Monster Hunter. Ever. Again," I said going limp in the Rabbit Hero's arms, the shark-baby I rescued clutching onto me in sheer terror.

"Hm?" Mirko hummed as she looked up, shading her eyes with the arm not holding me as she squinted into the distance. "RDA? They're a little late to the party, don't you think…?"

"The RDA…?"

Oh crap…

*AHA*

The RDA swift to set up an FOB in response to the sudden "Rift Beast" sightings, as dozens of people began to chat on phones, gab to the people in their biohazard suits with wildly-contradictory stories, or compare shaky camera footage, Mirko and I were quickly surrounded by an RDA hazmat unit pointing cleaning implements on steroids at the shark-baby clutching desperately to me.

"Um… Can we help you, officer?" I blinked once Rumi let me down.

"You… don't know what that is…?" the man with some kind of commander's insignia on his yellow bodysuit asked.

"It's someone's kid, right?"

The RDA members looking around at all of the shark-like Heteromorphs on the beach, began making monosyllabic responses in the affirmataive before the commander turned his attention back to me.

"If… you could come with us please, we'll give you the necessary debriefing."

"About whaty?"

*AHA*

The Rift Detection Agency's FOB was basically a yellow cube that folded out into a larger prefab base like something from Transformers. While probes were sent out into the water to track the C.O., short for "Counterside Object", the field leader in the yelllow suit debriefed the three of us on what exactly I was missing after some decon.

" . . . You're serious?"

"One-hundred percent," the man in the black suit replied.

"Huh…"

"Yeah, I was pretty shocked too," Rumi nodded her head.

As it turned out, Pokémon too had been coming through the Rifts on occasion. For a very long time in fact! And given the later iterations of Pokémon had begun tapping into the Multiverse with Giratina and later their "Ultra Beasts", I guess in a way it's fitting…?

"And you're saying he's 'imprinted' on me?" I asked holding the spherical shark-like 'mon in my lap, the Generation IV, Pokédex #443, Land Shark Pokémon: Gible aka "Fukamaru" in my now-native Japan.

I was just gonna stick with his English names…

"More like he's 'grown attached' to you in a non-paternal way. Pokémon are implied to have human-level intelligence, by default, and some can even learn human tongues, though that's more a limitation on the larynx than any inherent brainpower," the hazmat man shrugged. "In accordance with the Sentient Fauna and Flora Protections Act, we're inclined to cede to the little one's wishes as a sentient being."

Huh. That must be why Nezu was allowed to run a school and apply for Japanese citizenship despite being an animal with an intelligence Quirk instead of the other way around.

" . . . You want me to become a Pokémon Trainer…?" I asked incredulously.

"Oh, don't worry, we'd never make you pay for as such out of pocket."

Not why I'm incredulous, but okay...

"There are special stipends in place for those who come into ownership of certain benevolent C.O.s. We simply ask that we be allowed to study you two non-invasively from a small distance if not up close. A great deal of what humanity has come to understand about Quirk Factors, as well as the Counterside in general, has actually come from observing Pokémon and other dimensionally-displaced C.O.s. Like how astronomers use reflectance spectra to study the composition of other planets without actually going there."

" . . . What do you say, little guy? Wanna live with me from now on?" I inquired turning the tiny bipedal shark over in my hands.

*GIBA!* the little guy chirped happily, holding out his stumpy little arms at me.

Gah. Too cute. Must protect.

" . . . Well I guess there's your answer," I hummed at the hazmat guy, the color draining from my face as a man in a black suit came by with an inordinate stack of paperwork. " . . . I'm going to have to sign all of this, aren't I?"

"Only as much as you're comfortable doing without the aid of a guardian," the suit-clad man replied, adjusting his glasses.

" . . . Gimme the fucking pen."

"Hey! Gangway! Family guardians coming through!" a boisterous voice called from the outside, Rumi and I looking over our shoulders in time to see-

"Zombina! Kuroko!" I beamed as the two of them came into the room, Zombina clad in aviator's sunglasses and a camo-pattern bikini that left some of her patchwork body to the imagination, Kuroko clad in a dark blue sundress, a blue jacket, and a matching one-piece.

"Take-chan! Thanks for the invite!" Kuroko grinned, Zombina's eyes landing on the Land Shark 'mon in my lap before squealing-

"Kawaiiii!"

*Gib…*the tiny Land Shark chuffed as he turned his nose away from her.

"Huh. Must smell the formaldehyde…" Rumi hummed, her own nose crinkling as the zombie slumped.

"Are the others here?" I asked hopefully, looking at the doorway expectantly.

"Um. No. Unfortunately," Kuroko answered awkwardly. "The NPD needed them for a raid. Only reason they passed on Zombina is because she's on 'downtime' after the last time she went to pieces."

"Oh."

"But we have a bitchin tablet so we can FaceTime from the beach!" she said holding up a tablet that had to be some kind of super-reinforced Support Item. That or just military-grade.

"Well, I guess that's… something…"

"Hey, don't look so down, Takei-kun!" Zombina grinned throwing an arm over my shoulder. "You've got the two of us here until tomorrow, and we've got hugs and kisses from all the others with your name on them!"

"But first…" Kuroko said looking down at the Land Shark 'mon in my arms, and then up at the stack of paperwork laid on the table. "Never a dull moment with you, huh, boya?"

"No there isn't," I sighed.

"Ah. I see."

"Yeah."

" . . . "

" . . . "

" . . . "

"You're really gonna force me on this, aren't you?"

"Every kid's gotta say it at least once in their lives!" Kuroko grinned.

"Or un-life in my case~"

"Honestly, I was surprised you didn't want the latest Pokémon game for Christmas."

"Ugh, fine…" I groaned, rubbing at my face before giving Kuroko the cutesy-est look I could wring out of myself. "Can I keep him? Can I keep him? Can I, can I, can I?"

"That was painful to watch, and listen to," Rumi groaned in sympathy.

"I know. I was there."

"Of course you can!" Kuroko grinned, and I only just-now realized her phone was recording the whole thing. "You know the old saying! A boy and his dog!"

"Or in his case, 'a boy and his land-shark'!" Zombina grinned trying to pat him atop the head only for the little guy to snap his teeth at her.

"Ahem," the suit-clad man on the opposite side of the table coughed. "If we could move this along?"

"Right, right, fine…"

"Zombina, you take some, I'll take some, and while Takei-kun takes the rest, Bunnygirl-oneesama can get us snacks."

"Ugh, do I have to?" Rumi groaned.

"Do you wanna team up with the little guy when he's a full-grown Land Shark?"

" . . . Okay fine. But only because a Gaburias would be bitchin' to ride into battle on," the Rabbit Hero huffed as she got up from her seat.

There's no way I can hide my "OP Super-Pet" from Shiori or Kuromi, but the Pros far outweigh the Cons.

Even if by the transitive property of one having a target painted on their back, having a legit Pokémon will make mine all the larger.

*AHA*

"Hand… cramping…! Save yourself, Righty!"

"Zombina, don't you dare rip that off!"

"Glad I brought my carpel tunnel brace."

-and other such dialogues were exposed as the three of us riffled through the veritable mountain of paperwork that came with agreeing to collaborate with the Rift Detection Agency and the Space-Time Management Organization to not only accept legal responsibility of caring for a trans-dimensional animal, but also on how to receive proper allowances for food, medical care, insurance, and other amenities. This included agreeing to remote surveillance as far as Gible (no Nickname applied) was concerned, as well as an agreement to undergo other such batteries of tests in closer proximity in relation to certain milestones, including but not limited to Evolution into later forms in his life cycle.

The alternative was ceding legal ownership of the little guy over to some asshole who'd probably use a legal loophole as an excuse to euthanize him before stripping him for parts.

And while it was funny as hell watching Rumi try to teach the little guy words like "snacks" or "drinky", it was also a little annoying after the eighth time or so, favorite Hero or not.

There weren't any clocks that I could see, or windows, but eventually we finished the last of it. With the originals scanned and copied with the latter ours to keep in a thick yellow binder with the letters R.D.A. slapped cross the front, a short time later one of the STMO's own Courier Heroes arrived with a package, the contents of which made Zombina and Kuroko let out appreciative whistles.

"Poké Balls! Awesome," Zombina grinned as we stared down at the foam-filled case, four of its six hemispherical indentions occupied by what the RDA classified as 'Capture Items'.

"Well, I know which one you're going into," I hummed holding up what I recognized as a Dive Ball, my new pet Land Shark tapping the button with his nose before the sphere hissed opened and a red light washed over him before he was sucked inside, the 'Capture Item' waggling in my palm before letting out a *Ping~*

" . . . "

" . . . "

" . . . "

"Oh come on, seriously?" I deadpanned at Kuroko's expectant look and the phone in her hands.

"Come on, boya! It's tradition! Like, since the late nineteen-nineties!"

" . . . Fine. But if this makes its way onto the internet, I know where you sleep!"

"Heh, don't threaten me with a good time~"

"What are you, Midnight?"

"Oof, yeah, gross, that sounded funnier in my head," Kuroko admitted almost immediately after.

"Hey, eyes up! He's gonna do the thing!" Zombina cried as I got up from my chair, Kuroko fumbling with her phone as I stepped into the most-photogenic corner of the prefab base, holding the Dive Ball in my hand up and away from my body before shouting- "I did it! I caught… a Gible!" -and making a complete fool out of myself.

"And like that, you've become the envy of every Pokémon fan the world over," Rumi hummed knowingly.

"What I just did will never leave this room," I muttered darkly as I turned my attention back to the rest of the carrying case's contents, which the RDA and STMO had given me on the off-chance I encountered other Pokémon in my lifetime; because apparently, similar to Stand Users in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Pokémon tended to gravitate toward one another in the Normalside. It didn't always play out that way, but it was often-enough over the intervening centuries this had been happening that there were data points to back it up.

One was the iconic Poké Ball with its red top, white bottom, and black dividing line with a white button. Another was the Heavy Ball with its gray top and blue domed protrusions and a similar dividing line and button; obviously, with a higher success rate the heavier the target was. The last one was the Dusk Ball with its black chassis, green circles, and red dividing line with button; obviously with a higher success rate between sunset and sunrise.

"Huh. Kinda thought they'd give you a full set," Kuroko hummed.

"Yeah, why is that?" Zombina blinked.

*AHA*

As it turned out, according to the lecture that followed, it wasn't only Pokémon that crossed over from those worlds on occasion. Sometimes items would cross over too, or be found inside of Rifts with entire caches of Counterside Objects (colloquially known as "Artifacts") that gave windows into other universes. And these little treasures had led to advancements in medicine, molecular gastronomy, digital sciences, and allegedly, studies in tesseracting space as well as the conversion of physical matter into energy/data, since the interior of a Poké Ball was essentially a throwable Tardis with a terrarium inside.

Hearing all this, Wild Tiger & Barnaby's MCU-style nanotech costumes suddenly made a lot more sense.

Of course, mass-production of any significantly-advanced tech from the Counterside was limited by high cost as well as a general lack of understanding. The RDA wouldn't tell me if these were legit Poké Balls or if they were successful "reproductions", but I could imagine just having these would be a tempting target for any fan of Pokémon if not a Villain who'd want to sell them on the black market for a king's ransom. Thankfully, like from the anime, these could shrink down from orange-sized to a couple inches in diameter.

Of course, I'd only really feel comfortable keeping the empty ones in a pocket with a zipper, Velcro, or if nothing else a button. For Gible's carrying case, I'd probably wear it on the end of a magnetic pendant under my shirt like I'd seen a few trainers do in the anime. Wearing them on my belt for everyone to see was just begging for trouble, and while I don't remember anyone having their Poké Balls getting janked in the anime, IRL, people would definitely not hesitate to steal them, even if they didn't think they were real.

Because people could be assholes like that.

"Hey, Takei, you still in there?" Kuroko asked snapping her fingers in front of my face.

"Just… processing…"

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense. The moon landing is real, but people think it's fake, and Rifts are real, but people think they're fake too. It's only logical you'd think that 'real-life' Pokémon would be people throwing Quirks around and photoshopping in some CGI until you saw one for-real."

"Right. That's why."

And ignoring the fact that people still thought the moon landing was faked, a headcount of this world's composite parts...

The events of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid happened before the first meta-ability manifested, which were called "NEXT" (lit. "Noted Entities with eXtraordinary Talents") when the world transitioned into the corporate age of Tiger & Bunny. Talentless Nana, while a compelling and logical addition to this universe, wasn't one I could find any info on despite it being really easy to imagine world governments dumping early Meta-Ability users on isolated islands Lord of the Flies-style. With the moving science city of I-Island skirting Mortal Engines territory, and the spatial tears that made this world into something of a Dungeon Crawler manga also seeming to take visual cues from Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, I really shouldn't have been surprised that Pokémon would also be able to cross over, since Rifts were basically "Ultra Wormholes" by any other name. The thing from Monster Hunter also made a bit of sense since, at least back in my original world, the movie had been about "crossing over" as well, only with magic stakes in the ground as opposed to naturally-occurring tears in space-time.

In summary: Definitely not the sort of world where any form of fore/meta-knowledge would've helped me "get ahead", which helped me feel a bit less like an "Isekai Protagonist".

Or at least not like the ones that found themselves reincarnated into their favorite video game and used their insider knowledge to "get ahead".

*AHA*

The lecture continuing in earnest now that I was an officially certified "Sub-Contractor" under the RDA and STMO's purview, I was told a few of the trade secrets that, to be fair, would've been hard to believe if I didn't think the "real-life" Pokémon people at school talked about were anything other than very-convincing CGI.

In terms of distribution, 12% of the world's countries had "at least one Trainer and Partner", with numbers fluctuating wildly because pairs were either lost inside the Rifts, died from the things that came out of the Rifts, retired from the public eye, moved to other countries, or were intentionally concealed by their countries of nationality. Because of how-powerful Pokémon could become even when compared to top-tier Quirk users, it only made sense that Pokémon were extremely valuable commodities; especially in a world where power itself was the top commodity.

Dictators and the like in third-world countries where Villains ran rampant, would use Pokémon of willing or coerced Trainers to consolidate their power, hiding behind international law (read "hostages") to keep others out. What prevented them from expanding their "fiefdoms" beyond their borders was the fact that, an international taskforce could easily swoop down and subjugate them if they stepped out of line. While a single well-trained Pokémon was an incredibly potent military asset that ordinary soldiers and most Heroes couldn't hope to match, multiple weaker 'mon in tandem with well-trained "Meta-Soldiers" could still overpower them.

In friendlier countries, Trainers could still enlist in meta-powered military service of their own volition, allowing them to act as deterrents against foreign invaders, or fight those that abused meta-powered animals from other worlds. However, in most cases, those that became Trainers would either use their Pokémon to vicariously become Heroes to compensate for a lack of a powerful Quirk of their own, or, to actually compliment a decent-to-powerful Quirk they were lucky-enough to have alongside coming into contact with a Pokémon willing to partner up with them.

Those that wanted to live ordinary lives would either go off into the wilderness and become survivalists, willingly live in isolated regions where barely anyone went, or just live under the Rift Detection Agency and Space-Time Management Organization's purview to study not only how people could domesticate trans-dimensional meta-powered fauna and/or flora, but also how non-domestic meta-abilities functioned as well.

Of course, then there was the black market where Pokémon and other "Monsters" were traded and sold, either used live or stripped for parts.

Given people believed elephant tusk and rhino horn had magical powers… It was part of the reason why the RDA kept such a stringent eye on Rifts and the STMO provided manpower in the wake-of or containment-of a "Crossover Event"; to prevent something truly nasty from slipping through. Because while a few "Pseudo-Legendaries" had slipped through, humanity had been very lucky not to have faced any sort of "Extinction-Level Threat". The various "zombie pandemics" came very close once or twice, but as far as the Rifts were concerned, nothing "too powerful" seemed able to slip through.

In terms of "extinction level threats", I immediately thought of Unicron from Transformers, but kept my mouth shut. Given entities from Pokémon and Monster Hunter had crossed over, it was obvious that fictional media had been studied extensively as a "just-in-case"; because one world's fiction, could be another world's history, and when worlds collided…

Of course, the RDA wasn't all-seeing, and some Rifts opened so-quickly that by the time manpower arrived on-site, whatever crawled out was already long gone and had to be hunted down the old-fashioned way. Even if you discount the whole of the seven seas, countries in general were great places for animals to hide. Pokémon hadn't become an "invasive species" as of yet, but with the slow rise in trans-spatial incidents, eventually a mass "Crossover Event" would wind up filling our world with meta-powered animals, and it'd be back to the "Neo Dark Ages" like when Quirks experienced their first upsurge in populational saturation.

No-one could really agree when that would become a reality, but for the moment, real-live Pokémon were still rare-enough that it was understandable for me to think that the online videos were only Quirks & CGI.

Anywho, while I fully intended to become a Hero, now with Gible at my side, the public was a bit iffy on the use of meta-powered animals in a combat zone, either before or after I got a Provisional License. In the case of a mundane guard dog, you only really got in trouble when you ordered it to attack a person and you weren't a part of law enforcement. And while some people only saw Pokémon fights as "cock fights" from the outside looking in, the nuance of it had actually been debated about on and off for decades, and the comparison between Pokémon Battles and Cock Fighting actually died pretty quickly once you looked down at the finer details.

Cock Fighting happened because people know two roosters can't stand one another, and the animals can be made more aggressive and vicious: same thing with dogs. Pokémon on the other hand are not "simple animals", but cognizant of human-level intelligence, if not outright super-human intellect. Principal Nezu of Yuuei had actually had legit Poké Balls used on him for this very reason, on three nonsequential occasions, and as such, Pokémon Equipment was outright banned on Yuuei grounds unless already-occupied. And while "Rift Beasts" like the ones from the Monster Hunter universe could be captured similar to Pokémon, not only did you have to beat them into a near-death-like state, but even if the Poké Ball offered an idealized habitat, that was no guarantee that they'd become docile, nor that they wouldn't attempt to break free even when "Captured".

Lore-wise, and something that had been explored in the franchise's more-mature titles, Pokémon were animals that fought by nature; to assert dominance, to grow stronger, to evolve/mature in order to breed and lay healthy Eggs. People on the outside looking in say that Humans "use Pokémon", but the fact of the matter was, it was a mutual symbiosis where Pokémon "use Humans" as well. Humans as a resource gave Pokémon free food, shelter, and healing, bringing them to the fights and resources that would make them stronger, and even introduce them to possible mates. If you wanted to get into the deep meta-commentary of the franchise, Arceus didn't create Pokémon "for Humans"; Arceus created Humans "for Pokémon".

That being said, while as a Pokémon, Gible was intelligent enough to "share the blame" with me in the event something happened, I was of course expected to show restraint until it wasn't practical; the entire reason the HPSC asked me to hold non-lethal alternatives outside my firearms. In the case of other Pokémon or C.O.s however, it was pretty much fair game; as long as I attempted to keep collateral to a minimum. Between a Rift Beast running free or a Trainer attempting to hold them back even if they didn't have a license, the latter was always preferable when lives were at stake.

Hence, why scientists from the RDA and STMO would be moving into the neighborhood to commit ranged and up-close study and surveillance. Because in order for the laws to actually be changed in a meaningful way, data points, and plenty of them, were still required. Similar to Quirk Restriction laws, the multiverse was infinite, and just about anything could come through a Rift, be it something as-innocuous as a sweet roll, or as feral as a literal Nazi vampire.

They didn't really divulge what happened to Pokémon without Trainers, or even C.O.s in general, but I just assume if they weren't overly hostile and thus dissected, they were kept on some kind of wildlife preserve to study the ecology of animals from other universes. America seemed like a logical-enough place to have a few given how much space there was and how many different environments there were. Heck, with how-diverse Quirks had become, it wasn't completely unheard of that entire islands could be constructed; like was briefly shown in Lilo & Stitch with the latter's lava and water-shooting "cousins".

God I feel old.

Well, "old" back before I reincarnated, but you know what I mean...

*Growrrrrrrrr*

"I'm pretty sure that was both of us," I hummed as I held Gible in my lap, stomachs rumbling on the tail end of the slideshow we were being made to sit through.

"Fair. We've held you up for quite a while," the RDA rep hummed, tapping on an earpiece and whispering to the person on the other side. "Anything you need to know will be included in the manuals we've provided, as well as through the hotline if you ever want to reach us. And on the off-chance you spot a C.O. we don't know about…"

"I know who to call," I nodded, adjusting my hold on Gible as I got up from my seat. "Kuroko, Zombina, wake up. Show's over."

"Wha- Huh? I'm not sleeping!"

"Wake! I'm awake!"

"Sure you are," Rumi huffed, having at least had the decency to stay awake for the whole thing, if only because it was the most-interesting thing she'd seen all day.

Well, technically "the Leviathan from Final Fantasy" eating a miniature Kaiju was "the most-interesting thing" she'd seen that day, but she couldn't really enjoy it given how fast it went down.

Sure, there were bound to be videos of the whole thing, but you couldn't beat a live showing of "Extreme Sea World".

*AHA*

By the time Rumi, Kuroko, Zombina, and I all stepped out of the FOB, most of the RDA had pulled out once everyone was assured that the threat had passed. It'd put a bit of a damper on the mood, but the Marina Haven's non-beachside amenities certainly did good business.

"Oh my god! It's a Pokémon!" Shiori cried excitedly as all my school friends ran up to us.

"Kawaiiii~" Kyouko cooed cutely as she reached a finger towards Gible, the Land Shark's eyes wide with terror at the impossibly extra-large Human looming over him.

"Kyouko-chan, you're scaring him!" Haruna chastised before dropping down to eye level and holding her palm up, the little guy sniffing her fingers before lowering his chin, letting the girl rub between his eyes.

"Huh. I thought he'd be rougher…" the Quirkless girl hummed aloud.

"Well, he's technically a dragon that looks like a shark instead of a shark that looks like a dragon," Kuromi hummed as she looked at him with her darkened stare.

"Can I take a picture?" Nobuko asked holding up her phone.

"Later. I don't want people thinking I'm starting a que," I replied, causing her to pout, but nod in understanding. "Anyway, it's a bit past lunch, and running in sheer terror makes a guy hungry, so..."

"I'll spread the word!" Kyouko hummed, jogging down the beach to gather everyone up.

What a nice girl.

"Oh my gosh! Looks at those alien Capture Items!" Mei gasped making fondling motions with her hands.

How the hell did she spot those?! They're in an enclosed carrying case!

"Mei-chan, please, comport yourself," Momo chastised before her eyes fell on Gible, her cheeks flushing pink. "Kawaiiii~"

She might be disappointed when he Evolves, but I'll keep that little tidbit to myself.

"Takehiko-kun."

"Kizuku-san."

"I'm going to make you into an overnight celebrity."

"The fact that you can say that with a completely straight face frightens me."

*AHA*

As was to be expected, the Marina Haven Hotel's in-house dining establishment was top-of-the-line seafood, caught fresh from the seas every day. When you had fishermen that could pick-and-choose from the water and even pull the boat holding the catch of the day, it really cut down on the overhead. And since Neptunia had been living off the seas for countless generations, almost any fish in the seas could be turned palatable by them in a way that air-breathers couldn't hope to match.

Watching fish-men turn fish-fish into sushi… was a little surreal for the land-walkers in attendance, though having watched Hatchan make takoyaki in One Piece, Takei was already inured to the concept. The fact that nothing on the menu had a price tag just reinforced the idea that if you had to ask, you "couldn't afford it".

Of course, once word had spread that the medicine-ball sized creature in Takei's lap wasn't someone's kid but a legit Pokémon, well… It was obvious that what had become the spectacle of the day, wasn't necessarily the "catch" of the day.

"Nothing tastes quite as good as a free lunch~" Kuroko grinned from her place at Takei's own table, alongside Sorahiko, Chiyo, Zombina, Momo (with her chaperone standing nearby), Mei, and Chitose. Everyone else was scattered into smaller cliques, or had decided to eat off-site on their own yen.

"Hey, has anyone seen Elma? I'd think she of all people would be all over this," Zombina hummed.

"I'm back. Just had to let my snack settle," the secret Dragon OL hummed as she took her seat.

"Oh? Usually you can eat anything without even slowing down," Kuroko blinked.

"This snack was a little heavier than normal," Elma hummed as she waved the waiter over and made her order.

The fact that Takei actually knew what aforementioned snack was, both amazed and terrified him.

"Huh. Guess the high-end stuff's a little high-brow for the little guy," Chitose hummed as she recorded Gible turning up his nose at the fancy sushi platter from his place in Takei's lap.

"To be fair, it's a little high-brow for me as well," Takei hummed as she dabbed it in some wasabi and soy sauce.

"Still, this will change the dynamic of your entire life, I would think," Momo hummed as she offered him some shrimp tempura from her own place, which he ate happily.

"How exactly? He gets attacked by Villains on the regular, so this is basically just that with extra steps," Mei said slamming her fish & chips, some of which she too fed Gible.

"I mean… when you put it that way…" Momo blinked.

"At least I won't be famous 'for being famous'," Takei hummed.

"Like the Kardashians?" Chitose blinked.

"What, they're still a thing?!"

"Eh, hard to say if they're legit Kardashians or if they're just rich white people that took on the name," the blue-skinned reporter shrugged.

"And what, are they also Heroes?"

"Some," Chitose shrugged as she looked at her footage. "Still, who exactly was the thing from Monster Hunter chasing? You, or the tasty morsel in your lap?"

"I'm more worried about the thing that ate the thing," Elma asked, if only to deflect suspicion where there was… absolutely none her way.

"Well, the seas are a big place, not really our problem. All we can really do is leave it to the coast guard," Kuroko hummed as her beer was refreshed.

"Wait, does that mean there are legit sea monsters out there?" Takei blinked worriedly. "Like, krakens and shit?"

"Neptunia's own Heroes do a fairly good job of keeping casualties to a minimum, especially at the high seas," Momo clarified. "Of course, their less-friendly neighbors tend to be a little… bull-headed, about requesting help when sea monsters are sighted closer to shore."

"Because of course they do," Takei deadpanned.

"I wonder what sea monster tastes like…" Mei hummed in deep thought.

"Probably tough and stringy unless you tenderize the hell out of it with some kinda industrial hammer," Zombina hummed.

"Weird dinner conversation, eh, Sorahiko," Chiyo hummed aloud. " . . . Sorahiko?"

"Hehhhhhhhh~"

"Geez, how-long was he at that massage parlor?" Takei deadpanned at the man's veritable post-coitus expression.

"Admittedly, those eel-girls are really good at their jobs. Sorahiko's just a lightweight," Chiyo chuckled good-naturedly, also glowing a bit.

"Oh, so then he just slept through a legit kaiju attack."

"In as many words," Chiyo shrugged.

After that, lunch conversation got a bit more normalized.

*AHA*

"You know, you can barely tell there was a giant monster attack," I said looking at the stretch of beach where the 'Lagiacrus' had made landfall.

There was a divot in the sand where it'd crawled up onto the beach, and where Elma had clamped down around its neck and dragged it away, but other than that the waves had washed most of the evidence clean. With assurances from the hotel's own security forces that the 'Leviathan' had fled into the deeper seabed with its meal, with sentinels keeping watch at a respectable distance so as not to 'provoke it' while it ate, a standard stalling practice until a dedicated assault force could be readied, beachgoers had returned to business like normal, if not slightly more vigilant about the water.

On the one hand, it was good that they could bounce back from a monster attack, at least from a mental health standpoint. From a societal standpoint however, that people could just "turn off" those feelings was worrisome, and likely another consequence of a world based around meta-abilities. That or a world with All Might "The Symbol of Peace".

Shit was going to go south real fast once he retired.

Or croaked.

Whichever came first.

"So, you wanna go swimming, little guy?" I asked my new Pokémon, his Dive Ball in its shrunken form affixed to a magnetic bangle that Momo and Mei had fabricated for me over lunch.

*Giba!* the Land Shark chirped happily as he toddled off.

"You're not worried someone will try and steal him?" Momo asked worriedly.

"With this many people watching? No way. Plus, there's no telling how strong this Gible actually is just by looking at him."

Strategy guides and the like were fairly good when it came to evaluating what certain Pokémon could and couldn't do if they "crossed over". However, in the same way that Ash's Bulbasaur in the anime could use [Dig] and another could use [Whirlwind], what was fictional in one world didn't completely reflect the fact of another; especially between different medium where the rules could wildly contradict one another. And while Pokémon "Stats" were split into "Hit Points", "Attack", "Defense", "Special Attack", "Special Defense", and "Speed", that didn't account for more abstract things like intelligence, dexterity, adaptability, and so-on. Not to mention, a Pokémon's level couldn't be "numerically assessed" in our world like it could in the games, so "strength feats" had to be measured on a case-by-case basis, since strength and size were not always "proportional".

A Starter Pokémon usually started out at "Level 5", but Wild Pokémon were a completely different matter. Dragon-Types especially because while it took longer to "level up", the payoff was also greater due to the higher stat caps, hence why some of their lines were considered "Pseudo-Legendary".

"So what moves do you think he knows?" Mei asked as the little guy swam circles in the water around us.

"I'll ask him later, and compare it to the Bulbapedia."

Heck, given that in the anime, Pokémon could learn moves they couldn't in the games, it was perfectly feasible that IRL, Pokémon could learn Moves as long as they were feasible for their morphologies or just logical, if not their elemental typing.

Ash's Pikachu for instance learned [Iron Tail] not through a TM or by "level progression" like in the games, but through a training montage where he had a specific "goal" in mind for what he wanted his body to "do". In the original Pokémon Red/Blue/Green/Yellow releases for the GBA, Steel-Types weren't even a thing, but Pikachu's moveset was updated retroactively in later releases.

Hence, why I was fairly confident I could "teach" Gible how to use moves like [Take Down], [Metal Claw], and [Body Slam] because those were basically the Pokémon equivalent of martial arts, whereas moves like [Swift], [Sunny Day], [Rain Dance], and [Sandstorm] might be harder for me to teach because those were closer to magic.

"You're sure putting a lot of thought into this," Kuromi hummed.

"AH! How long've you been there?!"

"Long enough to overhear your internal monologue~" Shiori grinned.

"And at least now you'll have a little more stopping power for when guns won't do the job," the Shadow Girl continued.

"Super-pet acquired, Isekai Protag-kun~" the 2D Girl chuckled.

"Isekai… Protag-kun…?" Momo blinked cutely.

"It's because I check boxes off a list…" I deadpanned, hanging my head.

"Hm. I suppose that makes sense," Momo said thoughtfully cradling her chin.

"The only one that's bothered by it is him," Shiori added.

Of course it bothers me. Even in a universe where space-time is turning into Swiss cheese, it makes me sound like a freakin' Chuuni.

Neither Shiori nor Kuromi or I were Chunibyou because technically we were "right".

*AHA*

For the next hour or so, my friends and I took turns playing with Gible in waist-high water. Bystanders were keeping a respectable distance to watch, and only a few had poor-enough manners to record us without consent. Thankfully, there were lifeguards and Momo's own chaperone to contend with that, but I knew that eventually, videos of Gible and I would make it to the internet, and unless I asked Elma to make a magical computer virus, there was no way I could put the cat back in the proverbial bag.

Right around the time that Chisa was holding onto Gible's fin and being pulled along like a water scooter…

"TAKEHIKO-SAN! TAKEHIKO-SAAAAAN!"

"Sebasstian?" I blinked as the bass-like Heteromorph ran up to me and into the water.

"Meroune-ohimesama…" he panted out from the run. "Ohimesama… will be departing her quarters soon… to join you here…"

"Should I meet her inside?" I asked. " . . . Can I meet her inside?" I reiterated.

"Don't worry, the lobby isn't pressurized. Only the rooms and at times the elevators."

"Huh. Fascinating," I hummed. "Gible, come on. Let's go make another friend."

*Giba!* the Land Shark chirped as he swam my way and leapt into my arms.

I wouldn't really be able to do this once he evolved into a Gabite, so I figured I'd get my fill while I could.

*AHA*

Like Sebasstian said, the lobby wasn't pressurized. It had lanes of water to make aquatic Heteromorphs more-comfortable, but apart from the water features, it was almost identical to the sister hotel for air-breathers. Similar Greco-Roman architecture, similar portraits of the royal family; and hence how I learned Cedric's coloring was closer to Aquaman from DC Comics than King Neptune from Spongebob. The biggest difference of course was that the elevators were massive glass shafts built closer to airlocks and likely similar to the Panama Canal but vertical.

Sebasstian leading me up to what I could only presume was the "Royal Airlock" based on the elaborte architecture around the doorway, I watched as the glass-enclosed room filled with water before a shutter overhead opened. A couple seconds later, Mero and one other person swam into view, the latter carrying what I assumed was a wheelchair that could be used on sandy beaches.

Mero for her part was as pretty as I remembered, only instead of a long goth-Loli dress, she was instead wearing a frilly black goth-Loli bikini, designed to accommodate her pelvic fins and preserve her modesty. Given baggy clothes could mess with hydrodynamics, I largely assumed that Neptunians had vastly different views on nudity than land-walkers did because while her swimsuit was perfectly modest, it still seemed like a lot of exposed skin for a thirteen-year-old.

The person in attendance with Mero and positioning the princess' wheelchair as the overhead shutter closed and the room began to drain of water, was a humanoid figure resembling a Bull Shark, but far more feminine than most of the male shark Heteromorphs he had seen that looked more like King Shark/Nanaue from DC Comics "but with boobs". Her skin was mostly a grayish-blue, her underarms, inner thighs, belly, chest, and face a lighter shade of gray; with how-fit she was, it was hard to tell if she was in her late teens, mid- or late-20s. Her eyes were a fierce blue like the story seas, her back-length hair black with white streaks, and a pair of fin-like ears like Mero's pocked out but were more shark-like instead of fish-like. Waving behind her was a powerful-looking shark-like tail, and scattered across her body were thin dark-pink scars. Her attire consisted of a black tactical wetsuit modified for her heteromorphic physiology, looking more like something a Meta-Soldier would wear more than a Pro Hero with its collection of grenades and knives, as well as the collapsible bident slung across her back with barbed tines that could rip and tear.

Definitely unhelpful in bringing in attackers alive.

"Who's your friend?"

"This is Mako, one of my mother's bodyguards and a part of my… permanent, retinue," Mero answered with a twitch of her eyebrow.

"Well, being able to stop a pinkette goth-Loli in a wheelchair from slipping away is still a pretty low bar… What else is she good at?"

"I'm a bit weaker than Gang Orca on dry land, but I make up for it with my 'License to Kill'~" Mako answered with a toothy grin like Tetsutetsu's as she adjusted her hold on her bident.

"Ah, I see." That thing could definitely drop a Villain for the count. "Any interesting stories?"

"One time the drunk son of a diplomat tried to see which parts of Mero's were 'human' and which parts were 'fish', and I took a bite out of him," Mako shrugged.

"Didn't that cause an international incident?"

"You'd think, but the dad wasn't too angry. His son was a bit of an embarrassment, and he almost fed that moron to the sharks all on his own," Mako chuckled.

"It's all a bit embarrassing…" Mero hummed. "I heard you got your own Pokémon, but I didn't believe it until I saw it."

*Giba* *Gibgib-gibgib-gibgib*

"Gible. Gible, no! She is 'friend,' not 'food'!" I chastised as Gible made 'hungry Gible noises' at the sight of her.

"We have a few down in Neptunia, so it isn't completely unusual," Neptunia replied with a wave of her hand as she drank the little guy in. "I've never played the games myself, but I hear on the surface world it's a pretty big deal?"

"I never touched the stuff myself. Heck, until today, I thought all those videos were just Quirks and CGI mixed together."

"Well, your life is certainly always interesting~" Mero giggled as she cradled her wrist. "Mm. Shall we go?"

*AHA*

"Please, please, this isn't really necessary," Mero blushed as beachgoers took a knee and bowed their heads in her wake.

"At least your people actually like you. Most royals I've read about were complete, erm, garbage."

"She's heard worse language. You can use a little profanity," Mako hummed.

"Maybe, but I don't want to upset the fish-butlers after that thing with the bear repellant," I returned as Sebasstian and Flounnder followed after us.

"Oh yeah, I heard about that. Sucks 'cause they don't have eyelids."

Ooh. Yikes.

"Anywho…" I hummed as Gible toddled off into the water. "Mero, these are my friends from school," I introduced as I gestured to my mostly-female in-group. "Ummm…?"

How to be polite about this…

"Why is she swooning like that?" I whispered as Mero pressed her webbed hands to her cheeks, her face flushing pink and her eyes twinkling.

"She has a bit of a tragedy fetish. Don't worry about it," Mako whispered.

"How is anything about this tragic?"

"I'll explain when you're older."

God, being 12 again sucks…

"Anyway, why don't I introduce you to everyone?"

"That sounds positively… lovely~"

Her swooning is making me wildly uncomfortable…

*AHA*

After around half an hour or so of exchanging greetings with the three-dozen-plus people that came with me for the day, everyone giving their thanks even though her mother was the one footing the bill, us kids took to the water, and I was reminded once-again how-different the worlds we came from were.

Everything Mero did was the epitome of beauty and grace, and the way she moved in the water was more-amazing than most-anything I'd seen land-walkers do even at their best. And considering how sea-dwellers fought in three dimensions while land-walkers almost always fought in two, it only served to remind me how-impossible it'd be for any non-aquatic fighting force to win against those that made the seas their home.

And I wasn't sure if this sentiment was "reductive" or not, but I would pay out the nose to watch mer-folk do tricks at Sea Word. That's how-graceful Mero was, and I was far from the only person that thought so. Sure, there were heteromorphs that could fly like Hawks, or could kick building-sized ass like Mirko, but there was just something so… elemental about watching a legit(?) mermaid in her element that other forms of motivity couldn't match.

"You must be Mei. Momo-chan's told me so much about you~" Mero beamed.

"Yup. And she's said absolutely nothing about you~" Mei grinned, completely unable to read the room.

"Er, it wasn't that I was hiding her, I just didn't know how to bring it up organically…" Momo blushed as she tapped her fingers together.

"Sorta fair. If you bring up the fact that you know legit royalty without prompting, it'll just sound like 'wealth-flexing'. That's the term, right?" she asked bashfully.

I nodded Momo's way before continuing- "So, Mero, how are your mother and father?"

"My mother is faring well, though talks concerning those smugglers we caught are still ongoing because Japan was visible to the naked eye," Mero admitted. "As for my father, he's off routing Somalian pirates."

Geez, those fuckers just won't die out, will they?

The pirates, not the Somalians.

"Gotta cover your bases, Author-sama."

"What is she talking about?" Mero inquired as Shiori photo-bombed us.

"She's a bit of a Chuuni," I returned. "Then again, with reality turning into Swiss cheese all around us, it's not like she's completely wrong."

"Hm. I hadn't considered that," Momo hummed. "I've never actually seen a real-life Rift with my own eyes, and pictures don't do it justice."

"To be fair, the first Rift I ever saw, I thought someone was just fucking around with a space-time Quirk. That or holograms."

We continued to frolic about until Seraphine's business was concluded and I was summoned up to the royal castle.

*AHA*

"And you're sure this is safe?" I asked standing in the 'Royal Airlock', clad in a completely hydrophobic suit custom-tailored to my size, my voice coming from the speakers of what looked like an EVA helmet from Halo only with a transparent visor.

"Of course. That is the finest, top-of-the-line re-breather that I-Island can provide," Flounnder stated. "Now, remember what I have taught you, and you should avoid causing an international incident."

"Joy," I muttered as the room began to fill with water, Flounnder holding my shoulder to steady me as I turned weightless, and the shaft overhead opened up. A water current suddenly shooting me upward, I felt like I were on one of those crazy slingshot rides. It was only when the upward current began to slow and the bulkhead below me slid shut that I felt content. A moment after Flounnder affixed a set of calf-mounted weights from the nearby wall hook to my legs, the forward hatch opened up revealing a long hallway that felt more at home in a fantasy setting than real life.

The way to the royal throne room flanked with guards wielding spears, bidents, and tridents, the guards consisting of aquatic Heteromorphs of all types, I felt my heart hammering in my chest as I drew closer to a massive set of ornate double doors with my breast stroke and flutter kick; what I'm told was the most-dignified way for a land-walker to traverse the royal castle in its pressurized state. To crank up my anxiety even further, Neptunian news crews were recording the entire thing.

I wasn't sure how-big a deal this would be in the rest of Japan, like if anyone outside the Japanese diplomatic corps would actually see it, but if a nation of half a million was going to be seeing the Queen dispense a boon to a land-walker and I fucked it up…

Just because Flounnder briefed me on the entire thing as I was getting dressed, didn't mean I wasn't still frightened out of my skull.

The double doors before us opening, as I continued forward, I beheld the throne room in all its glory. Three thrones, two for the ruling monarchs and one for the crown princess, were elevated with elaborate pomp atop raised steps that made the expansive throne room look even larger. Finely-dressed fish-men who could only be heads of state and other retainers flanked me on both sides, all of them the epitome of politeness, though given some of them likely couldn't emote the same way that those with mammalian features could, looks didn't mean much. There were also shark, dolphin, and even a few killer whale-like Heteromorphs sprinkled in among the Royal Guard, and if they were even half as strong in water as Gang Orca was on land...

"Kneel."

No idea how Flounnder's words were picked up on my helmet's mic under the water, but I just chalked it up to super-tech.

Thankfully, the lead weights I wore enabled me to drop down into a respective posture at the base of the stairs; right knee on the ground, left hand atop left knee, top of my right fist to the small of my back, head bowed.

"Raise your head," Seraphine announced.

I did as such, looking Mero's mother straight in the eyes from my place at the bottom of the steps.

I was allowed surprisingly close, but there was no way I could close the gap through water at speeds meaningful-enough to inflict any sort of harm. Perhaps a show of solidarity on Neptunia's part and that they had nothing to fear from land-walkers in their own domain.

"Takehiko Tokei of Japan, you have done a great service for the Neptunian royal family. As such, you shall receive a royal boon to be used for whatever you wish, be it within Neptunia's power to grant," Seraphine announced imperiously. "Please, state your request. Take all the time you need to formulate an answer."

Which was meant to be "none" since I'd been given a day in full to think on this.

" . . . Is this boon something I need to make use of immediately?" I asked after a moment's thought, those around me shifting in surprise.

"You do not already have something in mind?" Seraphine asked with a raised brow.

"For all of my 'needs', my guardians adequately provide for. In terms of what I 'want', I am patient-enough to earn those with the sweat of my own brow," I began. "There isn't any 'want' of mine so-pressing that I need to acquire it immediately."

My words seemed to strike a chord with those in attendance, because hushed mutterings in an approving tone abounded around me.

" . . . Rare is the man who willfully chooses to live within his means," Seraphine replied after a moment's contemplation, her words hushing all others. "In response to your honest, simple soul, Neptunia shall respect your wishes and allow this boon to be dispensed upon a time of your own choosing."

"Thank you, your majesty. I hope that when the time comes, that which I ask will be worthy of your generosity."

"Indeed," the Queen of Neptunia replied. "On the wish that you shall continue to nobly serve both land and sea, a parting gift before your departure from this place."

With a subtle nod of her head, Mero departed her own smaller throne and glode down before me, "standing" upon her muscular tail with a small object wrapped in a bundle of royal purple cloth that fluttered in the ever-slight current I felt through the room.

"Takehiko Tokei of Japan, please accept this small token, and know that you will always have friends in Neptunia, should you require them," Mero announced as she undid the cloth bindings and gave the package to me before swimming off to her throne.

Adjusting my hold on it, it appeared to be a ceremonial dagger of sorts, the sheath made of supple black leather (possibly whale) embossed with the crest of Neptunia; an encircled trident, in gold filigree. Its adornments were delicate white seashells and small, shimmering pearls, only deepening the oceanic theme.

The sheath designed to be worn on the belt for easy access, I undid half the blade and half only to see that it was a sleek, streamlined blade the color of pure silver with intricate engravings of oceanic life and motifs along the length of the blade. The hilt in turn seemed to be carved from a single piece of polished black coral, shaped to resemble a sea anemone, with delicate tendrils of silver wrapping around it. The pommel was adorned with a large glittering aquamarine gemstone, a clear allusion to Neptunia's connection with the ocean's bounty.

The dagger had a bit of heft to it, so while not useful for a prolonged fight, it would definitely give someone a bad time if they got stuck with it. Doubly-so if the powerful pressures of the deep ocean were also used in the forging process.

Hell, it was the 23rd century, so I'm sure some advancements in blacksmithing had been made.

"Your majesty," I said as I sheathed the blade and held it to my chest. "I hope to prove myself worthy of the trust you have displayed in granting me this boon."

"As do I," Seraphine replied imperiously. "Live well, Takehiko Tokei of Japan."

With that done and Flounnder's urging, I departed the royal chambers.

*AHA*

"So… When will her majesty and the crown princess return to the seas?" I inquired as I descended the main shaft.

"Very soon," Flounnder answered. "It's for Mero's own safety of course, though I don't imagine she'll be returning to the surface world for a small while, depending on how relations fare."

"I see… Is it alright if I see Mero off?"

"That much was implied when Mero granted you that ceremonial dagger herself," the fish-butler hummed.

"Ah, I see…" I hummed patting where it was hooked to my belt. "So, when do you want the suit back by?"

"It's a gift. A true gentleman always has formal attire waiting in the wings. Even a child is expected to dress up on occasion."

"I see…" I hummed as we made it to the bottom of the shaft, the airlock cycling.

*AHA*

By the time the beach had been cleared for the departure of the royal family, the sun had already begun to set, bathing the horizon in lovely reds, oranges, and yellows, its reflection on the water almost like a red carpet.

Flanking the departing line between the hotel and the sea were security and hotel staff, all the epitome of poise as they saw their monarch and their princess off. Departing the hotel itself and surrounded by royal guards in a mix of medieval and tactical or even Hero-class attire were Seraphine and Mero. Mero, still clad in her goth-Loli bikini, was astride the same wheelchair as earlier. As for Seraphine…

Okay, I assume that it's "The Royal Wheelchair", but couldn't they have used something a little more… elegant, than tank treads? Hell, compared to Mero's more utilitarian land transport, Support Item-y as it was, it looks like all they did for Seraphine's mode of transport was give her a slightly smaller version of her throne with a shorter back and slap the same treads as the 7UP Machine from the "Improved Vending Machines" commercial on the sides.

Seraphine's mode of transport continued on into the water, looking about as clunky as the 7UP machine when it went for a swim, but I was the only one with the perspective to think that, and it was only by a small miracle that I was able to suppress my laughter.

Mero on the other hand, deviated from the straight and narrow and came up to Flounnder and I.

"Takei-kun, if it isn't too much of an imposition, could I trouble you to carry me into the waves?" Mero asked sweetly.

" . . . It is no imposition at all, ohimesama."

Mero blushed in embarrassment at the word, but felt better than to countermand it as I stepped between the ring of bodyguards and scooped her into my arms, her own slender arms wrapping around my neck as I carried her into the waves. Her lower body was almost pure muscle, but thanks to my training and my 100% waterproof suit it was no real hassle to carry her into the water until we were up to my armpits.

"Takei-kun…" Mero said with a saddened tone as she floated in front of me, webbed hands on my shoulders. "I will never forget this day."

"Nor will I, Mero," I whispered at the end, her expression brightening before she leaned forward and embraced me. Hushed mutterings spreading like wildfire at the gesture, all I could do was steady myself and reciprocate, Mero's soft bosom pressed against me before she slowly retreated, latching something behind my neck before holding herself at arm's length.

"Takei-kun…~" the mermaid princess sighed with a webbed hand on my cheek as she slowly pulled away. Her fingers trailing, face adopting a flushed expression and her eyes twinkling as she turned away, Mako offered an apologetic bow before she swam off after Mero.

Looking down, I saw that before she departed, what Mero had clipped behind my neck was the latch for some kind of necklace; a perfectly symmetrical half-scallop shell colored dark pink, the necklace itself made with puka shells the same color as Mero's tail. Fingering the half-scallop, I turned it over to see that on the white interior were rose-colored engravings, clearly the work of a master artisan.

Some kind of parting gift? But if so, why so secretive about it?

As I returned to dry land, something I started to notice was how everyone was locking eyes on me and muttering; or more-specifically, on the half-scallop necklace hanging from my neck.

That they remained on bent knee in the case of those that had knees, even after Seraphine and Meroune had departed, was cause for concern.

"Flounnder, what is going on…?"

" . . . "

"Flounnder, you're making me worry. Does this necklace mean something I should know about?"

"Ah, er… I'll tell you when you are older!" the fish-man said as he toddled over into the water, looking far more graceful once he was actually beneath the waves.

"What? Hey! HEY! THAT IS NOT AN ACCEPTABLE ANSWER!" I shouted out at the waves like a complete loon. " . . . Any of you want to tell me?"

"NO, TAKEHIKO-SAMA!" the royal entourage acknowledged their denial before scarpering either into the waves or back to the hotel where I'd be unable to follow into the pressurized regions.

" . . . "

I'll leave this problem for "Tomorrow Me".

" . . . "

Except I really can't!

*AHA*

Cue – Minuettto by Luigi Boccherini

What followed the "Royal Departure" of Seraphine and Meroune was an "Informal" Formal Dinner in the Marina Haven Hotel's ballroom, normally reserved for dignitaries. A live orchestra playing the quintessential "hoity-toity" violin music in the backdrop, as none had been informed that a formal gathering would take place, the only ones in actual suits were myself, Yokumiru, Kuroko, and Zombina. Everyone else had scrambled to make themselves presentable at the last moment, though given the sheer suddenness of the event, perhaps the aquatic serving staff had given those in more casual wear a bit more leeway.

"Momo, please don't let me botch this," I said from my position as the guest of honor, ceremonial dagger tucked into a breast pocket.

"Use the outermost silverware as you work your way inward," Momo coached from off to the side.

"Okay then. Next question: What does this mean?" I asked gesturing to the pink scallop shell hanging from my neck.

"Erm…"

"Momo, I know this has some kind of cultural significance, but I can't trust the internet to give me a straight answer, and everyone else gets all weird, so you're really the only unbiased source I can turn to."

"Well, you see… The thing is…"

"I know where this is going," Kuromi, also a part of my main in-group, hummed as she ate.

"We suuuure do~" Shiori added, her school uniform giving her a slight formal tone.

I'm choosing to ignore them because they could just be fucking with me...

*AHA*

Yup. I went there. I mixed Pokémon into My Hero Academia.

Fact that I've been mixing Nurse Hitomi's Monster Infirmary and Daily Life with a Monster Girl into this story so I wouldn't have to flood it with forgettable OCs aside, with the fact that I made this version of MHA a "Soft Dungeon Crawler" story with the Rifts and the like, it only made sense that eventually, Pokémon would make an appearance in-story.

While I personally stopped playing Pokémon games after the 3DS versions of Mystery Dungeon came out, I've always had a place in my heart for the story and the lore as well as the art. That alternate dimensions and "Ultra Wormholes" were used to introduce the Ultra Beasts is something I took as a sign that Game Freak was flexible enough to take the narrative in new and interesting directions; even if I'd seen it before on things like Justice League, Bioshock, Rick & Morty and so-on.

Or at least the stories, given the games tend to repeat themselves.

I mean sure, they're basically printing money between games and cards and plush toys, but a tiny bit of variety to the formula would be good too. Pokkén Tournament DX was the closest we ever really got to "dynamic battles" like out of the Anime instead of the turn-based format where they'd just take turns firing potshots at one another. Pokémon Coliseum and its sequel was a try on more-mature storytelling with a fun mechanic even if you could only steal "Shadow Pokémon". Pokémon Conquest was a strategy game with a fascinating story behind it with a colorful setting.

But I digress. I've always been a fan of the Gible line, and I'm blatantly a fan of Elma from Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, though I'm not completely sure which came first as an idea to put in-story and inspired me to put the other down. Maybe it's somewhere in the Discord, but either way, the addition of Pokémon and creatures from Monster Hunter as "Rift Beasts" (otherwise known as C.O.s/Counterside Objects from the game Counter:Side) adds another interesting layer to this universe, and I'm interested in seeing what sorts of ideas people can put out that might get put in. Another zany crossover in Takei's "Year Two" similarly came about on Discord with a long-time reader of my work, but I'll just keep that one to myself for the time being~

Anywho, hope to chat with you in the Review or on my Discord page, and I'll see you later.