Author's note: Before I get a thousand people claiming I plagiarized this: let me set the record straight. I was the writer for We The Celestial's and this is one of the works I did for this. A pity only one video was put onto Youtube. Please check out the first video here: watch?v=_3AArrqLPQ8

'Sorry kid. I just don't think it's possible for you to be a hero.' The words of All Might echoed through the mind of Izuku Midoriya as he walked with his head down, barely even noticing the sound of crumbling leaves or breaking twigs as he walked down the forest path. Night had fallen, the full moon above bathing the forest that surrounded him with its pale light. If he were to just raise his head a little, he could see the countless stars shining brightly above. But that seemed impossible now as he dragged himself forward with his back hunched by the weight of his hero's rejection as he continued to move with no real destination in mind.

How long had he been walking now? Since that talk, his body seemed to move on its own with his mind in a haze. He could recall getting on a train and only getting off when they reached the last stop. The end of the line. Yeah, kind of felt fitting for him right at this moment. He had been dragging his feet with all his might, moving towards that dream of becoming a hero his entire life. But no one believed in him. Not the people he once thought of as friends. Not his mother who had just wept and apologized. Not even his hero thought there was a chance.

'It's not wrong to have dreams,' repeated the words of All Might when he had walked away, leaving Izuku just standing there with his head down on the roof of a random building. 'Just make sure they're realistic.'

"Yeah. I guess I knew all along," said Izuku, his voice breaking slightly as he spoke into what seemed like the empty forest around him. "I really am pathetic. All I've been doing my entire life is fooling myself into thinking…"

Izuku's words trailed off as he found himself unable to even finish the sentence, his throat becoming dry. Glancing over to his side, Izuku saw a sign warning him of dangerous animals living in this area. The fear that should have gripped his heart forcing his feet to turn around never came. No, he oddly felt calm as he continued his walk. After all, what was the point?

It wasn't like there was a new dream for him to pursue. Despite what All Might had said Izuku doubted he could ever be a police officer, a paramedic, or a firefighter. They would take one look at his quirkless status before coming to the same conclusion as the heroes. That there wasn't any point in even letting him try as they would see him as a liability. Not to mention that statistically, a quirkless person was more than eighty percent more likely to be denied a job compared to someone who did. Even when said quirkless person was more qualified. Quirks were everything. It was just how society worked. They really didn't have any need for someone like him.

Then, another memory flashed through the teen's mind from that day. One that had been on Izuku's mind the entire train ride.

'If you want a quirk so badly, take a swan dive off the school roof and hope that you'll be born with one in the next life,' Kacchan had said, with no one around to say he had gone too far. Like they agreed with him.

An animalistic growl up ahead could be heard, clearly from something big. Despite that, Izuku continued forward. Maybe this would be it. If he got attacked by this or any wild animal, then at least he would be sparing others the horror of seeing his dead body. That as well as providing some food to some hungry animals so he would at least be helping them. The only thing that Bakugo's suggestion had over this was that it would be a quick death.

Besides, it wasn't like there was anyone waiting for him back home anymore.

After several long minutes, Izuku bumped into something. Finally lifting his head, his dulled eyes sprang back to life as he beheld something that warped everything he knew. On the ground before him was a dragon! Massively it towered over him, its jaws slightly open to show that it could easily eat him with a single bite. Looking up at its green scales the boy saw trickles of red blood running downward caused by a massive sword stuck in the creature's side.

Taking a step back, Izuku wondered if this was a hero or a villain. But as far as he knew the only dragon-like hero out there that could become a dragon was Ryukyu. And she didn't look like this at all.

"Human. Out of what hole did thou crawl?" Upon hearing that voice, a trembling Izuku looked up to see that the creature's yellow eyes with red slits were now glaring at him. He could see it, the same loathing contempt that was always present in Bakugo's eyes. That he was nothing more than an annoying bug to this creature.

"Depart insolent human! Otherwise, I shall eat you!" As if to punctuate this statement, the dragon sent out a blast of air from its maw so powerful that Izuku was flung onto his back. Several times he rolled in the dirt and leaves until he came to rest on his stomach. The teen winced in pain, looking up to see if the dragon would rise to make good on its promise. Or to see if flames were filling its mouth, ready to cook its meal first.

Instead, it just seemed to lay there for a moment before turning its head to look over at the blade in its side.

"Alas, I am going to die. Hah. How tragic is it that the last being I met is a pathetic human." As the dragon spoke, its eyes began to close slightly while lowering its head to the ground. At the same time, something about the resignation in the creature's tone sparked something in the green-haired teen. Before he even knew what he was doing the young man had rushed over to the dragon's side and was now climbing the dragon's scaly body.

"What are you doing?!" roared the dragon as it felt Izuku climbing its body, its eyes becoming round, white circles. "Cease climbing me at once!"

"I'm going to pull that out," grunted Izuku, the teen almost slipped as he spoke. Thankfully he managed to catch himself at the last moment before gravity could return him to the forest floor. The dragon watched him nearing the large blade, its jaw open slightly.

"You fool," it cried out. "Don't even try. If a mortal were to touch God's sword then their mind will be torn."

Izuku, however, ignored the dragon's words as his red shoes pressed against the green scales pushing him upwards. By the time he had reached the top of the dragon's back, he could feel himself panting heavily. He could feel sweat gathering on his back between his shoulder blades and moving down. So much that it caked the dirt that had clung to it. Izuku also became aware of the number of cuts on his clothing, caused either from when he had been rolled backwards by the dragon's breath or from the sharpness of the scales. At least his hands weren't bleeding, though they were a little red. Still, regardless of his state, he had made it to the top.

After wiping his sweaty brow with his sleeve, Izuku turned and began walking over to the blade. Now that he was closer, he could see that it was far taller than he was. Heck, it was bigger than All Might when he was all muscular! But he pushed that to the side while standing before it, reaching his hands out as far as he could just so that he could grip the sides. With a grunt he began to push upwards with all his might, clearly struggling with the attempt. His teeth gritted tightly, even more sweat pouring down his face and back as he called upon every bit of strength he could muster and then some.

"Why?" asked the dragon in disbelief. "Would you not obtain a greater prize by claiming my hide? Why risk your soul and mind?"

Izuku grunted a bit as he continued to push the blade out. As he did, he could hear the voices he had known his entire life. He could hear Kacchan back when they were children, laughing at him before proceeding to beat him up for trying to stand up to him. He recalled the voices of the teachers back in preschool. The voices of the parents. He remembered how Bakugo had lashed out at him earlier today, sending the poor boy out of his seat and screaming at him to not even bother trying to take the U.A. entrance exam! All while the class laughed at him and their homeroom teacher did nothing. Then came All Might's words once more telling him to be realistic. Izuku heard all of these things in his mind one after the other, putting him down and telling him to just give up. But Izuku's arms never loosened their hold on the blade as it began to budge. Rather he continued with all his might.

"Because…you look…like you need…help," Izuku managed to say through gritted teeth. It was then that the sword finally exited the dragon's body as it flew up and into the air. At the same time, Izuku fell backward with a smile on his face, watching as the blade dissolved into stardust before hitting the ground with a thud.

"I give you my thanks human," said the dragon, its voice already sounding stronger. "Without your assistance, I would have died. Though you are still weak and inferior."

Slowly, Izuku got into a sitting position with his head downcast.

"Yeah, I get that a lot," Izuku replied.

Suddenly, the dragon began to glow red so brightly that it caused Izuku to raise his head. The light was so bright that he had to raise an arm to shield his eyes. Like this, he could see that the dragon's form was no longer visible. Then the light began to shrink, compressing until it took on a more human shape. When it ended and the only glow came from the moon above their heads, a more human figure landed on the ground causing Izuku to let out a cry as he quickly covered his eyes.

"YOU'RE A GIRL?!" screamed Izuku.

"Yes, I am female," said the dragon plainly as she stood there. The dragon woman then raised one of her human arms, parting the brown cloak that covered her body and making Izuku panic more. "Though I detest using this form, I thought it would put your mind more at ease seeing something that would more resemble your-"

"THAT'S NOT THE PROBLEM! YOU'RE ONLY WEARING A CLOAK!" Izuku screamed, doing his best not to look.

The dragon tilted her head to the side, her oddly shaped horns sticking out of her long flowing blond hair tipped with red. Blinking her red and orange eyes that had slit-like pupils, she looked down at the dirty-looking cloak that covered her form in confusion while her thick green tail stuck out from the back. Clearly, she didn't understand what the problem was…or didn't care as moving slightly caused some of her form hidden underneath the cloak to be revealed to the boy. Honestly, she was more curious that he was making more of a fuss over this than seeing a dragon!

As for Izuku, he did his best to hide his blush while keeping his eyes focused above her neck. His tongue began feeling heavy at the thought that he was now talking to a girl. Sure a girl dragon but still a girl. Oh god, he had never talked to a girl before!

"So human," began the dragon again as she sat on the ground. "Why are you up here in these mountains and not with the rest of your filthy kind?"

"Ah, why do you want to know?" asked Izuku, his blushing face slowly becoming more controlled.

"I suppose I'm just curious and have nothing better to do to pass the time," replied the dragon girl with a simple shrug.

Figuring that was the best answer he could get at the moment, Izuku began his story. How he had always wanted to be a hero, saving people with a smile on his face like his hero. However, when his doctor told him he didn't have a quirk the world began telling him it was impossible. Starting with his mother. From there, he was seen as worthless. That's what the kids around his area used to call him useless and adults dismissed him just as easily. All of this leading up to today when the hero he admired more than anyone else said the same thing. To just give up.

"After that, I kind of just wandered here without really thinking about it. I just don't fit in anywhere," finished Izuku, a few tears forming in his eyes.

"You too?"

That caught the teen's attention. Looking at the dragon girl in surprise he now saw that she was looking up at the sky with clear sadness in her eyes. A sadness so deep that it almost made him cry for reasons he didn't understand.

"I don't fit in anywhere either," admitted the dragon. "I don't even have a place to go back to."

Hearing that caused something to stir within Izuku. He tried to fight it, tried his best to hold it down. But the more he saw of the girl's mournful expression the stronger that feeling became. So, nervously, he spoke.

"Would…Would you like to stay with me? I-If you want," asked the boy.

The girl's head snapped to look at him. Her eyes, which had been dull up until this point and looking down at him with disdain, suddenly changed. They widened as she stared at him before lighting up, tears forming. Then, as the moonlight began to shine more brightly upon her, the dragon smiled so warmly.

"Yes! I'd love to!"

Tears were leaking out of Izuku's eyes now as a wave of happiness struck him. Tonight, he had done it! He had saved someone in trouble and had brought a smile to her face. He did that all without a quirk. Maybe there was hope for him yet!

"Great! A-And don't worry about paying rent or anything," Izuku continued, waving his arms around as he spoke. "But if you want to help out you can do some stuff around the apartment. Like a housekeeper or a m-maid. Just so you don't feel like y-you're taking advantage of me."

"A maid?" That caused the dragon to take on a look as if she were remembering something before her eyes began to shine once more.

-x-

The next morning, Izuku awoke with a start upon hearing a loud knock on the front door of the apartment causing him to roll out of bed. Wincing in pain, the young man slowly lifted himself off the ground while still feeling the effects of a lack of sleep. It was honestly a little hard to keep his eyes open and kept feeling like his sense of balance was off. But despite this, he was still able to read the numbers on his All Might alarm clock telling him that he still had about an hour or so before he would need to head out for school.

Hearing the knocking continue, Izuku slowly dragged his feet out of his bedroom and towards the front door. As he made his way through the empty apartment, he couldn't help but feel just how much the place had changed since his mother had left to join her husband in the States. Where there had once been a warmth that was present whenever he came home, the place now felt cold and lifeless even when he was here. It was now just a place where he went to hide from the rest of the world when it all became too much. The only one who ever seemed to check up on him was Mrs. Bakugo which, given the amount of knocking, was probably her. At the very least, he kept it clean.

With a yawn, he recalled the strange dream he had the night before. About finding a dragon in the forest and helping it out of a jam. A nice dream, but now he was back in reality. Soon he would have to go back to school and figure out how he was going to move on from his dream of being a hero.

Opening the door he was greeted by a sight that made his heart stop. It wasn't Mrs. Bakugo! Instead, Izuku saw the very recognizable head of the dragon he had thought had been but a dream was looking right at him. Her head filled his vision as she stared at him. A bright red flash of light later and she was in her human form now dressed in more proper clothing. A maid-style outfit now adorning her body. She smiled happily at him before speaking in a much cheerier tone.

"Good morning Mr. Midoriya! Maid Tohru reporting for duty!"

-x-

Izuku did not end up going to school that day.

Also, he learned that Tohru was not a girl with a dragon quirk, but instead a real dragon! It was kind of hard to ignore when the now super cheerful girl began demonstrating so many…unusual abilities and behaviors that no single quick could explain.

"Alright Mr. Midoriya," Tohru had said as soon as she was allowed inside the apartment. "How can your wonderful, amazingly perfect maid assist you first? Would you like me to help you undress?" As she said this last part, Izuku felt a shiver run down his spine as she licked her lips. That as well as giving him a look that no girl on earth had ever given him before.

"Ah, n-no," Izuku said as he glanced down at what he wore to bed, a green short-sleeved shirt and All Might-themed boxers. "H-How about you, ah…clean up the living room! Yeah! Can you do that while I get changed?"

"Oh Mr. Midoriya, I'm good at cleaning," said Tohru confidently as she placed a hand over her chest. "Just watch and this room will be cleaned before you even set foot in your bedroom!" Then, before Izuku's eyes, the girl opened her mouth to show that her normal, human teeth had been replaced with fangs that seemed too large for her body. But that was only the beginning as an orb of fire formed in her mouth. Izuku tried to shout yet it was too late as Tohru unleashed the 'cleaning attack'. In less than a second, everything in the living room was gone. All the pictures, the furniture, the TV, his hard copies of All Might's interviews, and anything else along with the dirt was gone leaving only a sparkling clean and empty room.

"How was that Mr. Midoriya?" asked a proud Tohru. She then turned to look at her master, finding the teen pressed against the wall with his hand over his heart. "Mr. Midoriya, is something wrong? You look a little pale."

"You destroyed everything!" Izuku managed to yell out, somehow this being the noise that got his downstairs neighbors to pound on their ceiling.

"One moment," Tohru replied in a sing-song tone as she held out her hands. Before Izuku's eyes appeared two things that he had only ever seen in manga and read in light novels: magic circles. Both of them were red and each one was just hovering there in front of Tohru's outstretched open palm. Before Izuku could even think to ask anything, everything in the room began to slowly reappear! Like they were fading back into existence!

"You can bring it b-back," stammered Izuku, his heart racing while his mind tried to process how this was possible. "Y-Yeah, s-sure. Why not?" Then, when he noticed Tohru watching him expectedly, the teen managed to give her a shaky smile. "Well you cleaned the place so, ah, g-good job."

"Oh Mr. Midoriya," cried Tohru, stunning the young teen as she placed her hands on her blushing cheeks.

"Since you, ah, got that done real quick how about you…," Izuku words trailed off as he tried his best to think of what to ask the dragon woman next. He needed something that would take her longer than a second to do so he could get dressed and get his thoughts in order due to all this craziness! Then, as he felt his stomach rumbling, he got an idea. "Breakfast! How about you make us breakfast!"

"Leave it to me," replied Tohru, giving Izuku a salute.

After showing Tohru to the kitchen, Izuku raced towards his room doing his best not to slam the door behind him in the process. Quickly changing into one of his joke 't-shirt' shirts and jeans, he had begun doing his best to process what he knew about quirks. Everyone got one quirk and, while some of them looked like they had multiple quirks, they were always part of the same quick. Gang Orca was a prime example. The pro hero not just looked like a mix of a human and an orca whale, but had all the powers of the killer whale as well. Things like being able to swim really fast, dive deep underwater, and use sonar all seemed like separate abilities but they were all part of a singular quirk. With Tohru, he could believe that she had a quirk that let her become a dragon and gain all of its fabled abilities. It would make sense that she could transform into one, fly, and even breathe fire. Yet, when she used the fire to clean the room, he hadn't noticed a single burn mark anywhere. It was like the flames were able to pick and choose what was incinerated. And then there were those magical circles that brought everything back. Those were things he couldn't explain.

This left Izuku with one of two choices. One, he had to expand his thinking to believe that a person could have more than one quirks. And that person just so happened to be a dragon woman he found alone in the mountains with a giant sword sticking out of her side. A sword that just turned to dust after he pulled it out. Thinking about these other factors, made option two all the more likely. That option being-

Izuku's thoughts were cut off as he heard a loud explosion. Calling out Tohru's name in a panic, the teen raced out the room with the clothing he had slept in still in his hands. As soon as he was in the hallway the teen could see the black smoke running over the ceiling. Heart pounding in even more fear, Izuku dashed into the kitchen to find Tohru, thankfully alive and ok, coughing over the stove.

"Tohru, what happened?" asked a still panicking Izuku. Tohru turned to look at him with a pout on her face, holding up the frying pan she had been using. Or, at least, what had once been the frying pan. The thing now looked like it had been both burnt and melted, with the middle of the pan completely gone. Slowly, Izuku's gaze shifted from the pan to the oven causing his heart to stop. The surface of the stove was in a similarly bad state as the pan. It was charred and half melted down.

"Sorry Mr. Midoriya," said Tohru. "I was worried that your pitiful human fire wouldn't be hot enough so I decided to use some dragonfire. I ended up destroying the eggs I was making." As she finished saying this, she stuck out her tongue like she had made a silly little mistake that anyone else would have made.

Then, she spotted his dirty clothing. "Allow me to take care of that for you Mr. Midoriya," said Tohru, sounding way too excited to be doing laundry. In a flash she crossed the small distance between them, taking his clothes from him before shoving them in her mouth.

"What are you doing?!" yelled Izuku, watching as it looked like Tohru was swirling his clothing in her mouth like mouthwash!

"Using my saliva to clean your clothing," she managed to say without opening her mouth. It didn't help that she was also blushing like crazy while beginning to sway back and forth. Izuku surprised himself by not fainting.

After that, Izuku decided that for the sake of his own well-being, he would have to spend time showing the girl, who he now fully believed was a real dragon, her way around the apartment. Mainly, this consisted of showing Tohru where all the cleaning supplies were located, how to use them, setting her own user account on his laptop, and reassuring her that the stove would be enough to cook their meals. He especially showed her how to use the washing machine.

As the afternoon drew nearer, Izuku decided to show Tohru around the neighborhood so that she wouldn't get lost. Not that it was hard as the dragon maid clung to his arm tightly as though they were a couple, the act causing his face to turn scarlet. Along the way, he spotted some workers at a maid café wearing the same outfit as Tohru.

"I needed to know what was considered proper maid attire in this world," Tohru had said with a giggle when he brought it up. "So while I was flying, I spotted that place. I just sort of copied their uniform."

At that, Izuku nodded as he didn't have any issue where she got the outfit as long as she didn't steal it. And while he would never say it out loud, as it was far too embarrassing, he thought it suited her.

As the pair turned a corner, they were greeted with a sight that made the young man's blood run cold. There, in the middle of the street, was a figure that was forever burned into Izuku's memory: the sludge villain. Just looking at it brought back phantom sensations from yesterday. The green-haired teen trembled as he perfectly recalled the feeling of that green substance sliding over his body, restricting his movements before forcing its way down his throat. That sickening, mocking smile the villain gave him while thanking his victim and calling him a hero. The look in that monster's eyes that delighted in picking on someone who was helpless.

When Izuku had shown Tohru how to use the computer, he searched out one of his favorite hero news sites to use an example. It was there that he had read about the fate of the villain. Somehow, he had managed to escape from All Might after their talk. Even more surprising was that the villain had come across Bakugo, holding the teen hostage. Thankfully, a hero managed to show up in the nick of time with a quick suitable to deal with the sludge villain. In the end, Bakugo was freed and then rushed to the hospital where he was reported to make a full recovery. As for the villain, he had managed to escape the heroes by fleeing into the sewers.

Now, it seemed like the villain was doing the same thing again. As people ran past the pair, Izuku could only stare at the sight before him. There, within the hold of the sludge villain, was the man Izuku had met the prior morning during Mt. Lady's début. The man with the weird antennae on his head that had called him a fanboy. He was now suspended in slime, nothing more than hostage as the villain broke every ATM and vending machine he saw. A few police were on the scene, doing what they could to keep others at bay while trying to contact a hero. No doubt this was very recent.

"Excuse me, Mr. Midoriya?" came Tohru's calm yet slightly confused voice, breaking his attention from the disaster before him. "Isn't our destination just down the street? If we want to make it there before the lunch rush, shouldn't we continue?"

Izuku could only look at Tohru at that moment, shocked by what he was hearing. But, what he saw was simple confusion as though she didn't understand the significance of what she was seeing. But then again she did come from a different world.

"T-There's a villain attack going on," managed to say. "So until a hero shows up to deal with it-"

"Then would it be alright if I dealt with this matter?" asked the dragon maid, sounding a little more cheerful. Like she was eager to help. "It would be no trouble at all."

Izuku felt his throat go dry as he knew he should tell her not to. That they had to wait for the heroes to show up and let them deal with them. That they would get in trouble if they tried since neither of them had a license. And that was something that Izuku didn't want for Tohru. For her to get in trouble while he just stood there on the sidelines. Then, he glanced back at the sludge villain. Or, rather, the innocent hostage still in its grasp. He could still recall what it felt like when he had been in that situation. How it felt like he was going to die at any moment. That look in their eyes…

"Ok," Izuku relented. "Please, be careful."

"Right!" With a salute, Tohru seemed to blink out of existence before appearing right in front of the sludge villain. The living pile of sludge barely had a chance to look down before Tohru flicked a single finger at its chest, instantly causing it to splatter as the hostage fell to the ground. It had all been done so effortlessly that Izuku's eyes widened in wonder and excitement. So much so that he was still beaming as his new maid returned to his side.

"That was so amazing!" cried Izuku, his hands balled into fists in excitement. "Tohru, you could be one of the greatest heroes in the world with power like that!"

"Oh Mr. Midoriya," cried the dragon maid as a blush appeared on her cheeks, her hands reaching up to cover them she began to sway back and forth. "Please continue to praise and flatter me! Even for something as minor as taking down such an inferior being as that."

By that time, a crowd of onlookers who had stayed in the area began to encircle the two while the police went to work cleaning up the scene. For the next several minutes Tohru was showered with praise from the crowd which she took in stride, laughing about how it wasn't a big deal. Then, before they could leave, a few of the officers approached Tohru. After talking to her for a moment, it was clear that she didn't have a hero license. But seeing as no heroes showed up to help as well as this was the first time she had done something like this, they told her that they would look the other way this time.

Hearing that, Izuku let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding as the police walked away. Grinning, he turned to look at his new maid.

"You did great back there. Though, I wish I didn't have to make you do it."

"Oh Mr. Midoriya," said Tohru, the giddiness from earlier still in her voice as she spun around. "There is no need to trouble yourself over such minor inconveniences. Not when you have a superior being such as myself as your personal maid!"

"It's…well…" Izuku paused for a moment, trying to figure out the right way to say this. As the teen collected his thoughts, Tohru kept her eyes on him with a smile on her face while ignoring the people around them.

"Ok. I'm glad that that man got saved," he finally said. "And that's the most important thing. It's…just that I still feel like I'm using you to do the things I wish I could do myself."

Tohru blinked at that for a moment before a look of understanding filled her features.

"Oh, I see," the dragon maid replied, pounding a fist into her other open-palmed hand. "You wished to smite that pitiful fool yourself. I understand. There is a certain joy that one feels when obliterating others with your own claws."

"Well, I wouldn't put it like that." For a moment, that was all Izuku could say as he looked away with a forced laugh. Scratching the back of his head, he couldn't help but think that Kaachan would have agreed wholeheartedly with the phrasing of that statement.

"Well, as your loyal, beautiful, and most amazing maid in the whole wide world, it is my duty to help you then!" said Tohru, her statement surprising and confusing Izuku. However, he didn't have a moment to ask what she meant by that as she grabbed his wrist to begin dragging him from store to store as they began what could only be called whirlwind shopping.

-x-

It wasn't until dinner was served that night that Izuku discovered what Tohru meant. On the kitchen table sat a bowl of rice with bits of meat on top of it that he certainly didn't recognize. Slowly he poked at it with his chopsticks several times before asking Tohru what it was.

"It's meat from my tail!" replied Tohru happily, the sound of a record skidding to a halt accompanying her. Hearing this caused the teen's mouth to drop in horror, his chopsticks falling to the ground. Looking down at her feet he saw that, indeed, the tip of her tail had been cut off with the insides looking a lot like the meat he was about to eat.

"W-Why?!" was the only thing Izuku could ask.

"Oh, that's simple Mr. Midoriya!" giggled Tohru, not seeming bothered by the fact that she had cut off a part of her own body, cooked it, and was now serving it to Izuku. "You said you wanted to become stronger, right? Well, this is how your amazing maid is going to help you. Tell me, does this world have stories about what happens when you eat the flesh of a mermaid?"

Izuku blinked at this before replying. "That sounds familiar. Ah, something to do with immortality?"

"Oh, is that how it goes in this world?" asked Tohru, her smile fading as she looked at Izuku while her hands moved to her hips. "Sort of lame and boring. But I suppose that it can't be helped. You see, the human who eats the flesh of a mermaid doesn't become immortal. Instead, they gain a much longer life span because they become a mermaid. The same is true about dragon meat."

Izuku gasped, his eyes widened in surprise when he heard this.

"Now, don't get the wrong idea," continued Tohru. "It isn't like it'll be eating a single meal and then 'poof' you're a dragon. You have to eat dragon's meat constantly every day for about a year. Missing just one day will kill you. So you will need a steady source of dragon meat as well as the dragon's consent so they can remove as much of the poison in their bodies. That's the best way an inferior human can survive the process. Believe me, I've seen plenty of foolish humans trying to munch on the bodies of dead dragons only to die as soon as the meat touched their unworthy tongues. There was even this king, who offered up everything he owned for a piece of dragon meat. He survived the first bite somehow but died the next day. Still…even if you have me by your side there's no guarantee that this will work. There will still be poison in the meat, making you sick. That could kill you just as easily as the process. Also, you'll never be able to return to being a pitiful human again. Don't know why you would want to."

Izuku looked down at the dish in front of him, watching as the steam rose while taking all this information in. He stared at it, the words of his doubters ringing in his ears. Then, he remembered Tohru's smile in the moonlight. He wanted that. He wanted to make as many people smile like that as possible. And as he was now, that wasn't possible.

If his dream wasn't worth risking his life then what was the point?

"I understand." With that, Izuku went to pick up his chopsticks. However, Tohru was faster as she swooped them up as a playful smile returned to her face. And…had her pupils turned into hearts? Carefully she scooped up some of her tail meat along with the rice before placing it right in front of the teen's lips.

"Then eat this," she said before feeding him.