Chapter Twenty-One

Bonding

Afternoon class began as Lily and Mina hung out in the training room as they were waiting for the others to finish changing. The duo didn't have to worry so much to change into their new outfits, thanks to the divine spirits that allow them to change into their combat attire.

"Not gonna lie, but I'm digging the whole magical combat attire I have on," Mina said as Lily would notice that the pink girl was wearing a navy blue long-sleeve shirt with her shoulder and hip skin exposed, a purple dress with pieces of gold placed hear her hips, trims, and hanging like straps on her dress, gray pants, and open toes shoe-like socks as it revealed her feet were just like her arms. "Given what Kama is wearing, I was expecting to have the same outfit as her."

"Normally you would, but given the rules implemented due to Midnight, I had to make it a bit less revealing. Rest assured, you can still produce acid without the worry of your clothes being damaged." Kama said after appearing for a split second before vanishing.

"Make sense, but why do I have a tail?" Mina asked as Artoria appeared on Lily's shoulder.

"I can only assume that this was the side effect of us changing your anatomy to suit us." She said as Mina looked over at Lily while looking at her up and down.

"That explains a lot," Mina said as Lily turned her attention to the pink girl.

"What do you mean by that?" She asked before noticing Mina looking at her up and down as she deadpans at them. "Oh fuck off! I didn't ask to have a body like this."

"Technically you did, seeing how you did take up the deal as I did~," she said while grinning.

"Whatever jackass. Anyway, what's today's training session with All Might?"

"Just some basic training sessions. Specifically just sparring in groups of five." Mina answered. "It's kind of like a free day where we don't have to do anything hero related."

"Makes sense seeing how we did a capture the flag kind of training," Lily said as she placed a hand on her chin. "Where's Mineta?"

"He's with Recovery Girl. Because of the sudden change, he's going through the same thing you went through."

"Understandable. But I doubt they'll be able to understand his physiology. Now that he's a machine god." She said before floating while being in a somewhat sitting position. "I was kind of hoping that the three of us could train together. But I suppose it'll just be the two of us."

"Wait so you're going to do all that stuff you did during the training session three days ago?" Mineta asked as Lily waved a hand sideways a bit.

"Naw, going to use my fist instead of my sword. Mainly because I feel like punching." She said before casually floating in a relaxing position. "Hey, I have a question to ask. This might be personal, so feel free to pass on it."

"That would depend on the question, but what is it?"

"...Why…did you want to become a hero?" Lily asked as it caused Mina to blink in surprise by this. "I'm not going to judge if it's for personal reasons, but I'm just curious."

"...If I tell you…can you keep it a secret?"

"What would I gain by telling someone else?" Lily asked as she floated in front of Mina. "But I'll keep it a secret seeing how you and Mineta kept my secret."

"Thanks…" Mina's cheerful expression slowly vanished as she looked up at the ceiling of the room they were in. "At first, I wanted to be a hero because of how amazing my father was when he became a hero."

"I kind of figured as much, but I noticed you used the word was, I assume something had happened to him?"

"Y…Yeah. He died while doing hero work when I was ten. The crimson pink hero, Captain Pride." Mina said with a slight chuckle in her voice. "SIlly name, but he took pride in his work during his time as a student in U.A. So it would make sense that he would pick that name. Things were okay before he died, but afterward…things didn't turn out so well. My mom's mental state changed. Instead of idolizing heroes, she grew to hate them. Mainly because no one came to save my father from a villain attack."

"Makes sense, but she knows that it wasn't the heroes to blame for what happened to your dad, right?"

"That's what I said! But she didn't care, she just kept hating them more and more over the years. So when I came to her and said that I wanted to become a hero…It didn't turn out so well."

"How bad are we talking about, on a scale of one to ten?"

"On a scale of one to ten…try twenty," Mina said as she rubbed her right arm in comfort. "When I told my mom that I want to become a hero just like dad…she went ballistic. So ballistic to the point that she ended up beating me to the point where I had to say I was kidding just to get her to stop."

"...I see," Lily said as Artoria could feel some malice coming off from Lily.

"Anything that involved heroes, she didn't want it in the house. If I were to talk about it to my friends over the phone, then I would be grounded for a month or two locked in my room, only getting fed when she allowed it."

"Surely the middle school you were in knew about this…right?" She asked as Mina shook her head.

"My mom had a lot of money saved up from her job as a fashion designer, something that she wanted me to do, but I refuse to do it. Because of that, she was about to bribe the teachers of the school I was in to keep their mouths shut."

"Crap…how long has this been going on?"

"For about nine years. It was when I was sixteen that it stopped. Mainly what I like to call, the breaking point of our relationship. When I finished Middle school, my mom wanted me to work with her as a fashion designer. Of course, I didn't want to do it, so I signed up for the entrance exam to get into U.A. I passed, of course. At first, I was excited. But then I dread the fact that I had to tell my mom about it." Mina said as Lily noticed an uncomfortable expression on her face. "I had the plan to tell her through a letter before I left, but seeing how my mom got to the mail before me…it didn't turn out as well when she found out about it by getting to the mail first before me."

"She tried to lock you up like before?"

"I wish. At least I could use my quirk to escape. No…we got into a heated argument. She told me how disappointed she was in me for going against her. I told her that I wanted to be a hero. I didn't have to do anything serious, I could do clean-up duty or something that didn't involve dangerous work. But she didn't care, she told me that if I wanted to become a hero…then I was dead to…just like dad." She said as the bunny girl noticed tears coming from her eyes. "...I told her I'm glad dad's dead…because he doesn't have to look at the monster you've become…She slapped me in the face."

"...Damn. I get that your mom didn't want you to die like your father, but what she did was make things even worse."

"The next day, my mom tossed me out of the house, gave me enough money to buy my own house, and pay about three months' worth of rent. Of course, that didn't last long seeing how I had to pay for stuff that I needed, like a laptop, phone, food, etc." Mina said as Lily noticed more tears rolling down Mina's face. "I'm three months behind on rent, and the landlord knows about my situation seeing how I was forced to tell him just so he can give me some leeway. I can't go back to my mom and ask her for money. She'll just either say no or dangle it over my head as a means to make my life worse."

"...Let me ask you something," Lily asked as Mina looked over at her. "Do you still want to become a hero?"

"Yes…maybe…I don't know." Mina answered before kneeling on the ground and wiping some of the tears off her face. "At first I wanted to be one just like my dad…but after thinking about it from time to time and from what you said before…I..just don't know if I want to be one…What do you think I should do?"

"That's…something that you'll have to choose. I don't have the right to tell you how to live your life..especially given the problems that I have." Lily said before sitting down next to Mina and wiping away some of her tears. "But if you want my advice, then I'll give you some. It may not be the best." She said as Mina nodded while sniffing a bit. "You shouldn't be a hero if you're following your father's footsteps. You should be a hero because you want to be so you can help people. I get that you admire your dad, but you need to think for yourself about what you want to do with the life you have."

"I know…but…."

"Don't regret your life choices. If you were strong enough to last this long on your own, then you're strong enough to forge your path in life. If you want to continue to be a hero, then be it of your choice, not of your father's." Lily said as she reached into her tail to pull out a briefcase. "As for your situation with rent for your home, you can have this."

"W-Wait you're giving me this?" Mina asked as she was surprised by this as she tried to push the case back. "I can't accept something like this. Especially given how you need it more than I do."

"I have more than just this case, remember? I have no problem with letting a friend have it. Especially if they require it."

"B-But-"

"We're friends aren't we?"

"Of course we're friends."

"And as your friend, I'm helping you out. Now please take the money." Lily said as she placed the money in Mina's hands. "I won't take no for an answer."

"I…Suppose you're right." She said before feeling the case shrink and sink into her hand. "Um...thanks. You know you didn't have to do that, even though we're friends."

"I know, my only request is that I hang out at your place when they give me some leeway and let me leave the campus."

"That or when you want to sneak off in the middle of the night?" Mina asked with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. Lily was appalled at the accusation from Mina as she gasped sarcastically.

"That is a false accusation…which is not a lie. Nothing against Midnight, but I prefer to hang out with someone my age." She said before noticing Artoria vanishing. Her ears twitched upon hearing footsteps as she looked over to the side to see All Might making his way into the training area with the other students. "We'll talk more after All Might is done talking."

"Huh, I wasn't expecting you two to be out here rather quickly." All Might said as he noticed Mina's attire. "I must say, those are some very interesting changes to your hero costume. I assume you change them due to your sudden physical changes brought upon by Lily?"

"For the most part, yes," Mina answered. "Still don't know a lot about the sudden change, but during this session, we're hoping to see something different and adapt to it."

"Now that's what I like to hear." All Might said before looking at Lily. "I take it you'll be looking after the two?"

"Pretty much, I mean you never know what might happen given the sudden change in their bodies and quirks," Lily answered as All Might gave her a thumbs up.

"Excellent to hear that!" He said before looking over at the class. "Today you're going training on improving your quirks. I want each of you to partner up with someone and by the end of the session, I want you to show me something new that shows a bit of an improvement in your skills. Be sure to take this lesson to heart, because tomorrow you'll need it for an all-day session with me and Aizawa." He said as he walked off to the side as the students began to form groups of two or three. As they were doing that, Lily tapped Mina on the shoulder as she smiled.

"Looks like we're going to be partners for today. Not that I'm complaining or anything. Have you been working on your ability to use your magic circuits?" Lily asked as Mina raised her hand to show that she was able to make them appear on her whole left arm.

"Your advice helped. I was secretly doing this throughout Aizawa and Present Mic's classes." She said before returning her hand to normal. "But I still need more practice on doing it on the fly as you do."

"Impressive, and only in a couple of hours too." She said before taking a few steps away from Mina. "We're going to focus a bit on your hand-to-hand combat skills. Mainly because you need it due to how sloppy you were in the capture the bomb training session."

"I was that bad?"

"Yeah, though you did do a good job with using your quirk in a way to increase your speed. But fighting against someone with your fist, not so much. So I'm going to teach you a few things to start. Of course, Kama will give you instructions on some Indian-style fighting techniques on your own." She said before getting into a fighting stance. "Now, I'm going to start slow. But over time I'll increase my speed. Do your best to try and hold your ground, okay?"

"R-Right!" Mina said before getting into a fighting stance of her own, though it was sloppy and left herself open more. The pink girl glared at Lily before charging at her with the intent to punch her in the face with a right hook. The bunny girl casually ducks underneath the right hook, moves behind Mina and uses her tail to bump her from behind as she stumbles forwards onto her face.

"You can't charge at someone with a right hook. They'll be able to see it and will be prepared to dodge it. Like I just did." Lily said as she watched Mina pull herself up and brush the dirt off her clothes. "Get in close to your opponent and deliver hooks to their abdomen. Preferably their liver." The moment she saw Mina getting up, the pink girl formed a ball of acid into her hands and tossed them at Lily the moment she turned around to face her. The bunny girl summoned her sword and knocked the ball away and splattered it into pieces.

"Darn it. I was hoping that would work."

"Not bad. But you'll need to increase the potency in your acid, not to mention make it small so that the speed of the acid ball is fast."

"Then how about this!" Mina took a step back before charging at Lily. The bunny girl noticed that acid leaked from the bottom of Mina's feet as she quickly slid her way over to her. The moment Mina was close, she flipped onto her hands and began to deliver break dance-like kicks at Lily. She quickly brought her arms up while summoning her gauntlets to block the oncoming kicks, but soon heard the sizzling sounds coming from her arms. Looking over at her arms, she notices the armor parts burning a bit as she pulls away from Mina.

"Okay, that took me by surprise. I wasn't expecting you to use your acid in a manner like that." Lily said as she saw Mina stopping and lunging towards her, feet first with acid seeping from her feet. The bunny girl quickly moved to the right to avoid the kick. Mina huffed in annoyance from missing but used the combination of both her acid and momentum she was moving to safely recover as she stood up.

"Seriously, how are you able to read my movements!"

"I've seen how you fight for the most part," Lily answered as she made her sword disappear. She quickly charges at the pink girl with the assistance of her flight quirk as she tries to deliver a right jab to her face.

Mina's eyes widened upon seeing this she quickly brought her arms up in an attempt to block the oncoming attack as she closed her eyes. She waited for the attacks to hit her, but felt nothing. Though upon opening her eyes, she found Lily standing in front of her as she bonked her on the head slightly causing Mina to yelp in slight pain.

"Never close your eyes when fighting against your opponent. That will allow them to hit you as I did, if not worse." She said before delivering a right hook to Mina's head. Only for Mina to quickly use her acid to slide backward to avoid the hit and fire off a ball of acid at Lily. The bunny girl quickly punched the ball of acid as it splattered around her gauntlet. She noticed it melting a bit. Upon seeing this, she quickly tosses it to the side as it vanishes. The moment she returned her attention to Mina, she was gone. "Shit, I forgot that she's an assassin."

"You did forget, huh~?" Mina said as Lily heard her voice coming from behind. She quickly spun around to deliver a right hook but didn't see anyone behind her. She looked around to see where Mina was hiding, only to feel herself being tackled from behind as she tumbles forwards from the surprise attack. The moment she felt herself stop, she found herself on the ground back first as she looked up to see Mina about her with a smirk on her face. "Looks like I got the drop on you~"

"Lucky shot," Lily said as Mina extended a hand toward her. The bunny girl smirked as she pulled herself up with Mina's assistance. "I take it Kama helped you out with that disappearing act?"

"She figured it would be funny to see you knock down a peg or two."

"Lesson learned on my part. Never take your eyes off an assassin. Especially if they're able to make themselves vanish in mere seconds." She said while brushing herself off. "But don't think I'll fall for something like that again. Now that I know what I'm dealing with, I'll be sure to make some countermeasures for that."

"I'm pretty sure I'll be able to slip past whatever countermeasures you have~"

"So this is where you two are," Uraraka said as Mina and Lily turned their attention to the side to see Uraraka and Midoriya making their way over to them. "Why are you two here away from the others?"

"Safety reasons. I mean, we don't know what Mina can do so better safe than sorry." Lily said before looking over at Midoriya. "Who's the kid with the mossy hair?"

"Oh, right. I never did introduce myself." Midoriya said as he extended a hand toward Lily. "I'm Izuku Midoriya. I'm one of your classmates in class 1A."

"Oh, now I remember you. You're the kid that broke his finger during the training session three days ago." Lily said after shaking Midoriya's hand. "It's nice to finally meet you. I've been meaning to ask you something if you don't mind?"

"If it involves using my quirk to modify your body. Can't do it at this time. Kind of on thin ice with Aizawa after what happened to Mina and Mineta."

"No, no, not that. I was wondering if you could give me some advice. I notice that your body lights up whenever you activate your quirk to increase your strength and endurance. Like you did with your fight with Bakugo, Iida, and Todoroki. I was wondering how you were able to do that without the issue of breaking your arms or other body parts?" He asked as Lily scratched the back of her head in awkwardness.

"I-I don't know if what I say will help. But I'll need to see how you use your quirk if I'm going to be of help." Lily said as she reached into her tail to pull out a blue gemstone. "Don't worry, this isn't the stone I used on Mina, though it does have the same healing properties. So when you do break your bones, it'll fix you back to perfect health."

"Wait, you can make something like that!?" Midoriya asked as Lily nodded.

"Don't ask me how, because even I don't know much about my quirk to some degree. But let's not change the subject." She said before looking over at the giant piece of concrete sticking out of the ground. "Use your quirk on that and I'll be able to figure out how to help."

"R-Right, okay." Midoriya turned his focus onto the object given to him. There was a slight hesitation in activating his quirk, but after he took a deep breath, he soon activated his quirk before charging at the object he was ordered to punch. "SMASH!" He yelled before delivering an earth-shattering punch, causing the ground below them to shake as Mina and Uraraka fell onto their butts from the earthquake he made. The ground soon cracked and began to scatter before a huge dust cloud erupted for a moment before slowly disappearing. The moment the dust cloud vanishes, Lily could see a giant crater made from Midoriya's punch. The young man slowly pulls himself out of the crater as Lily notices his arm is completely broken.

"This is…odd," Artoria said as Lily began to walk over to Midoriya with the gemstone in hand.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I can't read this boy's mind." The divine spirit said as Lily began to heal Midoriya's broken arm by placing the gem on his arm. Though Artoria would feel Lily was surprised by hearing this.

"Didn't you say that you can read the minds of anyone so long as they were within range of me?"

"Yes, I can…yet for some reason, something is preventing me from reading his mind."

"You don't think Midoriya is a grand servant, do you?"

"Doubt it, he would've given off the same sensation as Mina and Mineta." She said before noticing Lily had finished healing him. "Keep an eye on him. Don't underestimate him or else you'll regret it."

"Noted," Lily said as she turned her attention onto Midoriya who was flexing his arm from how well she fixed her arm.

"Amazing! It's like it was never broken at all!" he said before looking at Lily. "I don't even feel tired after you heal me."

"I used some of the energy I store in my body for healing and implemented them into the stones. Hence the reason why you're not tired." She answered before moving away. "I have to say, you have one hell of a punch. Makes me glad we didn't fight, otherwise I would've lost to you."

"Oh no, I couldn't possibly beat you. I mean, I've seen how well you fought before. And there's no way I could take you on with the current level I'm at now."

"I don't know. I mean with a well-planned out plan you could. But back to the matter at hand with your power." Lily said as she eyed Midoriya up and down. "I can see a few wrong things. You're sending all your power into one area of your body. Which is a bad thing seeing how it'll mess up your body given the way your arm was looking before I healed it."

"Yeah, that's the issue. When I first used my powers during the entrance exam, I ended up breaking my legs and arms after saving Uraraka from a giant robot about to crush her." He said as Lily looked over at Uraraka who nodded.

"Understandable that you would use your quirk like that. But your body isn't ready to handle something like that. What you need to do is send that energy flowing throughout your body. Not just in one area in the body."

"Flowing…throughout my body?"

"Yes," Lily said as she demonstrated, Mina, Midoriya, and Uraraka noticed the magic circuit lines appearing on her arm. "Imagine yourself as a damn. You control the flow of water flowing in and out of you. If you pour all that water into one area of your body, then all that water will burst and damage the mechanisms." She said as a surge of energy erupted from her right arm which took them by surprise. Once the surge of energy shot out, it slowly vanished as it showed her messed-up arm. "But if you can make the water flow properly, then you'll have control over that power and manipulate it to be however you want." The trio noticed the magic circuits covering her body as her arm began to heal itself. "Open the flood gates and let the energy surge throughout your body."

"...That makes sense," Midoriya said as Lily noticed him writing down what she said before placing the notebook back into his pocket. "I've been only using my powers on one focus point of my body. If what you're saying is true. Then if I were to have flow throughout my body." He said before concentrating by having the energy inside him flow throughout his body. He gritted his teeth from the slight pain he felt from doing this, but Lily, Uraraka, and Mina noticed a slight glow coming off his body along with red lines appearing throughout his body.

"This kid…are you sure he's not a grand servant or a pseudo servant with a heroic spirit?" Lily asked as Artoria shook her head.

"Again, no. He's not like you, Mina, or Mineta. But he does give off certain qualities that would give certain servants a run for their money if he trains more." She said before their attention returned to Midoriya as the red lines vanished, but he gave off a bright glow with surges of green-colored energy coming off his body.

"I-I could only do about three percent of my current power. B-But I think I can increase it more over time. W-What do you think?"

"Whoa, dude that's amazing!" Uraraka said as she and Mina looked at Midoriya up and down while getting into his personal space.

"And you learned it so quickly. That's a lot faster than how I learn in general." Mina asked as it caused Midoriya to blush a bit from how close the two girls were. "How does it feel?"

"Like I have some control over my powers…but not completely." He said before returning to normal. He soon turned his attention onto Lily who tossed something over to him. The young man was taken by surprise by this as he quickly caught it. Opening his hand, he noticed that it was a necklace with the same blue gemstone she used before. "Wait, isn't this?"

"Something tells me you're going to try and push yourself beyond your limit. So I'm giving you a prototype of a healing item that I used when I was ten."

"Whoa for real!? But won't you need it?"

"My body can heal on its own. Plus I'm planning on working on a better one than what you have right now. Fair warning, the necklace will heal you from any damage so long as you have it on yourself. It'll heal you for a good ten, but afterward, it has a cooldown time of two hours. So keep track of how many times it activates. Also, don't over-push yourself from the start, learn how to manage the flow of energy, and work on strengthening your body through weight lifting and other exercises that increase your muscles. Got it?"

"Got it. Thank you very much for the helpful advice." Midoriya said as he bowed to Lily.

"Don't mention it. Now if you two will excuse me," Lily walked over to Mina as she grabbed her by the hand, and dragged her off to another part of the training area they were in. "Mina and I have some training to do."

"You're not going to do it here?" Uraraka asked as Lily looked over her shoulder as she was still walking off.

"Again, I don't want to accidentally hurt anyone due to Mina's sudden change. I'm doing this for the safety of my classmates, seeya." She said as the two were gone.