- December 17 - [Day 5] -

'Soon…' Chitose thought to herself, eyeing a particular smartphone through the display glass of a certain store. It was several years out of date, as well as already being second-hand, but it doesn't really matter.

Once she enters her second year of college, she's going to need all the contacts she can get…

Chitose slowly opened her eyes, her face already looking far more annoyed than she wanted to. It was another dream, and just like all her previous ones, it was once again about events that happened twenty years ago. It's almost like she's re-living her past every night, on top of being younger throughout the day.

She stayed still on the sofa, green eyes locked onto the ceiling. Is this whole 'being younger' a good thing? Well she certainly did get an obvious increase in stamina, which is always a plus. But is this going to be permanent? Or temporary?

'Why do I get the feeling this is going to be permanent…?' she thought to herself as she tried to raise a hand.

The hand only responded and moved until after two full seconds have passed. As exactly what she expected, her motor control is now severely impaired, a known side effect of her 'second stage of healing', which involves her body temperature lowering down to just some degrees higher than room temperature. Doctors never understood why her motor control drops at this stage, and never bothered to know more about it on the account that it's just complicated mutant anatomy – just like the whole lowering of her body temperature, leading to Chitose herself to just theorize is as the same reason why lizards and other various cold-blooded creatures move slower when cold.

Is she right? She doesn't know. Is it plausible that she's a warm-blood/cold-blood hybrid creature? Maybe?

'Would be a lot cooler if I am…' Chitose thought to herself, her mind not slowed down one bit despite her standard movements are. Once again, she never knew how and why is it the case. But if it works, then it works, what is there to fix if no one even knows the mistake in the first place?

Setting her mind off the issue, Chitose tried to sit up straight. It was a gargantuan effort, and took her a great while with all her slowed down muscles on top of her delayed reaction time. Looking at the clock, she saw that it's just two hours ever since they got home from-

'You're not really planning to keep her here for long, right? We don't really need more mouths to feed.'

Chitose went blank, her mind suddenly shifting towards Izuku's words that she heard in her brief awakening just as Inko arrived.

'You're not really planning to keep her here for long, right? We don't really need more mouths to feed.' It repeated again… and again the third time…

It's obvious, as much as she bragged to Izuku about being able to complete the freelance challenges Shoowaysha regularly throws out, the son is still hesitant on having her around. She then immediately scanned her surroundings, instantly noticing that neither the mother nor the son is there. She was about to turn her head onto other directions in an attempt to find them when she heard faint conversations coming directly from one of the rooms, the same one where Izuku went out from earlier this morning.

'They must be talking about me…' Chitose thought, as she tried to maneuver away from the covers and force herself out of the sofa in a plan to eavesdrop. She's already doing well in this household, and no way is she going to live in a shelter for homeless people. She has decided to make this her temporary home base and there's nothing going to stop her otherwise.

Being able to take control and maintain a status of superiority has always been a key trait in being a leader, which is a skill Re-Destro said she focus on.

After successfully standing despite motor control issues, Chitose then started making her way towards the room. It took a little too long to her liking, but she eventually reached her destination, in which she just stood outside. To her luck, the door is slightly open, making the conversation even easier to listen to. But on the other hand, her movements are heavily delayed in her current state – which means she will have no way to escape in case the mother and son decided to suddenly exit the room.

She knew it's a very horrible idea to eavesdrop with such a high chance of getting caught. But she's currently burning with curiosity and she just has to know.

She has to.

If she could just hear whatever complaints the son has towards her, she can remedy that as early as possible.

Chitose slowly leaned in, getting as close to the open slit as much as she can without peeking. From within she can hear jumbled messes of words, but one thing is for certain: The son doesn't like her; he doesn't want her there, he thinks she's just a liability and a leech, and that they don't have enough money to pay off their numerous debts, let alone let a stranger occupy their household, and most importantly, he thinks she looks like a beached whale stuffed with mayonnaise rotting under the scorching sun of a dying planet, and things that look like those should just leave as soon as possible.

'Well that was… very descriptive…'

Chitose continued listening in, getting completely relieved at the way Inko defended her, citing her supposedly dead mother. She instinctively nodded, thinking she can capitalize on the mother's empathy no problem.

Overall it was only the son who's being an active thorn on her side, despite how thoughtful and supportive he may have been earlier.

She tried to listen for more, but after hearing the conversation go into money issues, she decided it's best to leave and just go back to pretending to sleep on the sofa before she gets caught.

'So just money issues huh…?' Chitose thought to herself upon successfully going back under the sheets. 'Piece of cake."

With her movements still noticeable delayed, and her drowsiness still at an all time high, she closed her eyes, automatically drifting off to sleep in a matter of seconds.

… [*]…

Chitose woke up several hours later, this time without an odd dream.

It was already around four in the afternoon judging by the clock right beside the television set.

"Oh, you're awake!" came the excitable voice of Inko, who's currently just sitting on a nearby sofa reading a book. Beside her is Izuku, who's oddly wearing something akin to that of a warehouse employee uniform (or what she thinks looks like a warehouse employee uniform).

It was only then Chitose remembered the son said something about being a part-time worker. Raising a hand in an attempt to wave back, she noticed that her movements are now much more fluid as compared to a few hours earlier, but not as reactive as she wanted them to be yet. Her body's unique self-healing methods are now almost done; her illness will soon be no more in around an hour or so. Once her slight light headedness fades, she will be back to full functionality.

Hopefully.

"Hey," she muttered in response, before her gaze landed back on the neutral expression of the son, who's currently folding clothes beside his mother.

Remembering how the son doesn't want her around, Chitose began thinking of a plan, but was almost immediately interrupted by the mother asking if she was hungry.

Chitose froze, instantly realizing how exploitable the situation is. She shook her head in return. "I'm not hungry yet," she said, deliberately making her voice as weak-sounding as possible but still easily understandable before slowly sitting up straight. "So about the content-writing thing? Have you told your mother yet?" she asked Izuku.

"Content writing what?" Inko asked her, before turning her attention to her son, who's currently in a shocked expression like he can't think of a word.

"I don't want to be that much of a burden after you two have been very nice to me… so I figured out why not give back?" Chitose said, trying her best to sound like a disappointment at best she can. She doesn't know if she successfully pulled it off, but since Inko is incredibly empathetic, based on her observations at least, she only needs to tug a few heartstrings.

"What's this content-writing thing-"

Chitose quickly glanced at the son. It appears Izuku is still at a state of shock. But before the son could even speak, she went in first. "Shoowaysha is always doing a little weekly contest on who can write out five sizeable articles on random random pre-chosen topics with the least mistakes. I was thinking of participating-" Chitose quickly forced out a series of coughs, and to her surprise, it turned out to be quite the performance.

"Oh you d-" Inko raised her hands, attempting to stop the young woman from over-exerting herself.

"My mom always taught me to never become a burden. I don't mean to brag but I can easily accomplish that article-typing challenge within 4 hours. I know I'm very sick right now and-"

Chitose was about to continue when Izuku raised his right hand, turning all attention towards him. "Can you really write it out within 3 or 4 hours?" he nonchalantly asked, earning a shocked expression from his mother, as well as a comment from her about being harsh to a sick young woman.

"I know I know I know… Look, I do apologize but uh-" Izuku briefly paused for a bit and turned his attention towards Chitose, "you said you can type it out. Since I'm leaving for work and all so uh- I do suppose there's nothing bad about using my PC for a while as long as you get supervised... In terms of failure, what happens if you fail?"

"Nothing happens. It's just a typing 'contest', you're expecting a worse punishment for a typing 'contest'?" Chitose asked, honestly weirded out by the question. She knew Izuku doesn't like her very much, but the question definitely seemed out of place. "So I'm in?"

"Kizuki, you don't really mean that! Look at you! You can barely talk!" Inko interjected before turning to her son and talking to him about not letting the 'visitor' wear herself out.

As for Chitose, her plans are going well. As expected, Inko's empathy is easily exploitable. Once she earned the 50 000 Yen, she might have a solid shot at being an extended lodger at the Midoriya household. On top of that, maybe she can use the computer to try and contact the rest of the MLA.

"Okay, let me clean my room for a bit." Chitose's thoughts is snapped out by Izuku's loud comment. She turned to see him bolt straight towards his room, almost slamming the door wide open.

"Kizuki, he's going to leave any minute now. If you can't do it, you can stop, okay?" Inko suddenly spoke with a clear tone of both concern and exasperation, getting the blue-skinned young woman's attention. "Also why in a hurry? Can't you wait a bit before your illness subsides? It shouldn't be long now, isn't it?"

"The longer I stay contributing nothing to a specific project, the more I feel guilty about it. If there's one thing my Mom always said to me, is that you should always give back, no matter the cost."

"While that's a good moral lesson and all but… Uh… your… your mother just…" Inko's voice started trailing off, like she wanted to say something yet she couldn't find the right words. "Your mother just 'sailed away' this morning and you're currently very sick, and lost, and beaten up. I think you should take the time off for a bit. There's a time for everything, right?"

"Okay I'm done!" came Izuku's voice from the other side of the room. Chitose raised a hand into Inko as to lightly dismiss her before standing up and heading towards the room Izuku's in. It was a rather small room, with a single bed, a nightstand, and a whole computer set all cramped in one corner of the room, while a huge wooden cabinet is located on the other side filled to the brim with mangas and various other comic books. Looking at the bottom of the bed, Chitose could see that there are more mangas just haphazardly pushed there.

"Are you really serious on this?" Inko asked, getting Chitose's attention. "Remember you can back out anytime you want okay?"

Chitose responded with a nod. Meanwhile, Izuku turned on his computer. "Okay I have some rules, first of course: No messing with my stuff, there's a folder on the top right corner of the screen that says 'My Stuff' and don't mess with it. Second, no re-arranging icons on my computer, everything here is sorted out alphabetically and…" he said, going further and further about his so-called rules.

Meanwhile, Chitose started looking around the room, observing the things she missed at first. All the son's rules are just variations of don't touch this and don't touch that anyway, which are all irrelevant to her since her only goal is to type out an article, make some cash, and hopefully convince the Midoriyas to let her stay a while. She paused for a bit to listen and check if she's right, and the mere mention of Izuku about not messing with his taskbar made her continue her observation.

Five minutes have passed, and Izuku is still not done. He's so into telling the rules that he's not even looked once to the guest that's about to use it in the entirety of the explanation.

'Damn… the kid's really serious about this…' Chitose thought as she continued observing the room. She eventually turned around and noticed something hanging behind the door. It was a calendar, and a photo on the right side depicts Pro-Heroine Lady Nagant in her pajamas and holding onto a newspaper, looking like she just got out of bed. Nothing too serious-

Chitose instantly set her eyes back and did a double take. Apparently her vision is not fooling her one bit. There is, in fact, a photo of Pro-Heroine Lady Nagant in her pajamas, holding a newspaper, and looking like she just got out of bed.

'It actually made it on a calendar… I thought it's just a joke…' Chitose thought to herself as she remembered the story of the photo. It was taken during one of Nagant's hero missions just a year ago – involving a series of low-stakes stakeouts, by one of her multiple companions. The entire operation took place just within a kilometer of one of her owned properties, which explains her sleepwear.

Once the mission ended, the photo was uploaded onto social media and immediately became viral in just a span of one day. Out of nowhere, Lady Nagant is suddenly in the center of the spotlight, everyone is talking about her, especially about how she looked so effortlessly gorgeous despite just 5 minutes out of bed, and in pajamas out of all outfits.

The fame lasted just a whole week, and then Nagant suddenly dropped out of the spotlight as quickly as she rose into it. As similar with other underground heroes, they don't remain in the center stage for long.

Chitose remembered writing all sorts of online articles about it. While they all did well income-wise, one part of her is greatly annoyed on how come some random Pro-Hero got way more attention in one second than her in her entire lifetime.

'Must be nice being so pretty…' she thought to herself as she checked the other pages of the calendar, and all of them are just standard pin-up posters of various other Pro-heroines. Apparently Nagant's "Straight-outta-bed" look can rival actual pin-up posters-

"Hey hey hey!" Izuku yelled at her, immediately going towards the calendar and removing it, stashing it inside the wooden cabinet afterwards. "That's uuuhhh… that's nothing!"

"It's your usual pin-up poster calendar, there's nothing special about it…" Chitose responded with a shrug. She then looked at Inko beside her and the mother also responded with a similar shrug and a comment about how other boys Izuku's age have pin-up calendars as well and there's nothing to be ashamed of.

"I said that's nothing, okay? Now where were we-?"

"I think you're already a few minutes late," Inko interrupted her son, gesturing her head towards the wall clock hanging at her right. It got an instantaneous reaction from Izuku, scrambling to get to his mother to plant two kisses on both sides of her cheek before hastily moving off out of the house, but not before giving one last 'I'm watching you' glare towards Chitose.

"When he starts to mutter, he tends to lose track of time," Inko said with a nod before walking over to stand at the back part of the computer chair.

"Why not remind him earlier, are there no consequences of being late?"

"Not that much," Inko gestured for Chitose to sit on the chair. "I knew the person who owns the supermarket Izuku's working at."

"Still, I don't think that's good enough excuse having him be late," Chitose said as she sat on the computer chair, stretching out her limbs and cracking her knuckles shortly afterwards. She then took hold of the mouse and started navigating towards Shoowaysha's website. "So the rules are just don't touch anything, right?"

"Are you really sure you can handle this?"

"I may be sick as heck right now but not once that ever put a dent on my typing prowess!" Chitose chuckled to herself, cracking her knuckles some more. "Plus there's nothing bad if I fail anyways. And if do accomplish the task, which I obviously will, you can have 90% of the earnings. Heck you can have them all if you want"

"I can't really accept that! You're only one day in this house and you're already-"

"Ma'am, 50 000 Yen is pocket change to me… that is once I get home that is."

"But aren't your bank accounts empty?"

Chitose froze just as she was about to click on a button that will take her to the content writing offers section. "He told you that?"

"Oh you mean Izuku wasn't supposed to tell me that?"

"No nonono… but uh… I was just not expecting he'd tell you that…" Chitose slowly turned her head to face Inko. "Anyways, like I said, this 50 000 Yen is jus pocket change anyway. I suggest you just keep calm and just accept the gifts, as I'm feeling very generous today," she added with accompanying hand gestures. "Consider this as thanks from me for taking me off of that freezing cold road."

"Aww you're too kind."

"Because that's why I am…" Chitose said with a nod before turning back her attention back to the computer screen. "And right now I'm feeling kinder than usual, which is probably because I'm sick – But anyways!" she then clicked on the content writing offers button on the top right of the screen and in comes a whole barrage of possible offers.

"Let's say I'm very proficient in content-writing, how lucrative is that as a way of living?"

"I wouldn't recommend doing this as a main method of living, especially now. It's not as profitable as it used to be. Back when I was younger, regular content-writing paid almost 5 times more. In fact, I managed to get through college working on these alone, as well as doing some side gigs of course."

"What?" Inko asked, "Back when you're younger? College? But aren't you just in your early twenties? How old are you anyway, if you don't mind me asking. Do you have a Quirk that makes you look younger?"

Chitose, wide-eyed at her tongue-slip, quickly pieced some information together to come up with the best best excuse she can think of. "I'm currently twenty. By 'back when I was younger' I was talking about when I was 14. And by 'College' I mean that I took an advanced scholarship program that includes college subjects," Chitose said, trying her best to look calm and collected despite how stupid (yet plausible) her excuse is. "Mom didn't really give me any money, she says it's for developing independence." Chitose finished her sentence with a light chuckle.

"Oh? A scholarship program with college subjects? You must be a very smart person! Are you a top student?" Inko asked with interest, watching the young woman scan for possible topics to write about.

Chitose nodded. While her 'College' excuse may have been faked, she was genuinely her school's consistent top 1 student all throughout her highschool years. Her college years would have been the same if it weren't for vastly different factors outside her control. "Yep, top student all throughout highschool. College was a very different story though. Those with mind-enhancing Meta Abilities obviously breezed through academics without any effort."

"The Mind-Enhancing Quirks…" Inko nodded in agreement, much to Chitose's surprise as she kept scanning for topics. "Same exact thing when I was in college. Well technically I was the farthest thing from being a smart student, but I can clearly remember those who used to be persistent slowly gave up since there's not much sense competing with the naturally gifted," Inko added, shrugging. "I remember there were protests at the campus about putting those with brain-enhancing Quirks in their own league, but in the end it was rejected because the school thought it was discrimination. Life just isn't fair sometimes."

"I know…" Chitose nodded as well. "Where did you graduate- hold on a sec-" she abruptly stopped as she clicked on a tab on the top left of the page, and in comes a text bar asking for her email address. "Uh, Miss Midoriya? I'm gonna need to borrow your email address for a bit."

"For what?"

"Payment system," Chitose said as she got out of the chair and stood beside it, gesturing for Inko to sit afterwards. "This household needs this money more than I. Go on, type in the e-mail address, it's free 50000 Yen once I'm done-" she's not even done when the mother exploded into gratitude for her supposed generosity, bombarding her with multitudes upon multitudes of appreciation, before suddenly going in and wrapping her arms around her.

Chitose instantly froze with the act, not knowing what to do. Should she move away? Should she tell Inko to stop being overly dramatic? She continued to stand still while the mother cried tears of joy onto her chest. While other people might think of the act as over-the-top, pathetic even, Chitose just stood motionless, her mind seemingly unable to process the event.

It was only after until a full minute had gone by, that she realized that she can't remember the last time she received a hug. Looking like a villain and being armed with a lethal Meta Ability, people (Even quite a huge chunk of the army) normally stayed away from her. Even from her parents all she can remember are endless scolding from her mother, which intensified further after she accidentally activated Landmine on her father at age-

She suddenly felt Inko's hug got tighter, her sobbing also stopped.

"Uh, are you okay?" Inko asked with a worried tone as she tried to tighten the hug even further. "Your heartbeat sounds weird," she added.

Chitose immediately looked down, and noticed that the height difference between them is just enough for Inko's head to land directly over her chest. "Don't mind it, it's just how the way it sounds like. Can you type in your e-mail now? This is getting awkward…" she said, annoyance evident on her voice.

Inko immediately let go and sat on the chair, hurriedly typing out something on the text box, but making sure to wipe her tears off first. "Is that normal, seriously?" she asked.

"I have a two-chambered heart. What you heard is normal," Chitose casually responded, feeling a bit awkward on the stains on her chest.

"Two-chambered? So like a fish? You have a fish heart?"

"Y- No- Yes… Yes I have a fish heart. I've seen it in MRI scans… it looks like a weird human-ish heart that's oversized and has only two chambers… the annoying thing takes up around half of my chest cavity and is very loud sometimes…" Chitose walked over at the back of the computer chair, making sure to look away once Inko started typing out the password. But if she noticed something before she looked away, it's that Inko seems to by typing out Izuku's email address judging from the words used.

"Okay done! By the way I don't have an email address so I just used my son's," Inko said as she hurriedly moved out the chair and continued wiping off her tears.

"You know your son's email address and password?"

"Yes, why not?"

Shrugging, Chitose went back to the chair and clicked on the special offers section. She was surprised at the topics she saw: Most of them were articles with Quirk-related topics – her exact specialty. Wide-eyed in excitement, she continued scanning for the featured topics, and getting interested in almost all them despite the requirements just being five.

"What do you see?" Inko asked, eyeing up the topics, and barely having time to read them as Chitose scans the pages far too quick. "You're just going to write five right? Can you even write five?"

"Five is a piece o' cake, I mean look at these! This one just asking for a detailed Quirk-Gene explanation in regards to gender, this one's just asking for a compilation of Quirk-training methods and how they affect Quirk improvement, and this one's ONLY asking for a summary of Professor Setsuzoku's 54-page theory on Quirk Relativity! Look at these! Even a gradeschooler can finish these in an hour!" Chitose said as she quickly clicked the 'Start' button and then the five topics she chose.

After that, a timer of 8 hours appeared on the top right corner of the page, near the area where Inko typed in Izuku's account information earlier.

"Uh… that one's just asking for a simple Quirk explanation, why not add that to your list instead of the Quirk Relativity theory?" Inko suggested, pointing towards the other easier subjects.

"Where's the fun in that?"

"You're still sick, badly beaten up, and then there's that about your mother…"

"Ma'am, writing articles is my method of escapism. Feeling sad about my loss is not going to do me any good, and the faster I can move on, the better. It's what my Mom used to teach me: don't let things of the past bog you down, and always strive to keep moving forward." Chitose nodded afterwards. While the lesson did make a lot of sense, it was Re-Destro who taught her that, not her mother. "She's dead, and there's nothing I can do about that. Once you lose things that cannot be brought back, it's best to move on," she added.

"But with the resources your mother has, then there should be no problem finding someone that can bring her back. As like my son would always say: there's always something for something. We live in a world where everything is possible. If there are people that can destroy things in one touch, then there's people that can bring others back from the dead."

"Yeah." Chitose lightly nodded as she prepared a text file for the first topic she's going to write an essay on. "I'll cross the bridge when I get there. But for now, I have a task to finish."

Turning her attention back to the task at hand, Chitose immediately hovered her fingers onto the keyboard, quickly making a mental layout of the essay she's about to write. Now Shoowaysha's rules in these special content-writing promos are simple: finish on time, make as less mistakes as possible (preferably none), make everything readable and concise, and of course, have a maximum word count of 7000.

Since she's done this over lots of times in the past, with her latest escapades just around a week and a half ago, the entire job is easy. Furthermore, the topics she got are all Quirk-related, which makes her type even faster due to the amount of ideas surging inside her head.

"Are you sure you won't need any references on that?"

"I have a pretty good idea on Professor Setsuzoku's work, especially on all his Meta Ability-related researches. I have read 14 of his work by far. I have to say the methods he uses are top-notch! Not only that, but he makes sure he does exactly fifty tries on every single one of his hypothesis testings, no matter how long each one takes!" Chitose almost said out loud as she typed even faster, her blue fingers almost gliding across the keyboard. "Well it's slightly easier because he can clone himself but you get the idea!"

"I haven't seen anyone type that fast…" Inko wondered, looking at how fast the letters appear on the screen. "How long have you been doing that?"

Chitose turned around, but kept her left hand glued on the keyboard typing away. "Well my peers say that I type like I have almost 30 years in the journalism industry!" she said full of pride as she looked at Inko's confused face just staring on the computer screen wondering how the blue-skinned young woman can type out full sentences without even looking, with only her left hand no less.

As for Chitose, the entire thing is child's play. In a span of less than an hour, she finished the first one and moved on to the second one, amazing Inko even further.

"You're really into this whole Quirk research thing huh?" Inko muttered as she pulled a nearby wooden chair to watch more closely. "My son used to also like that stuff, up until the whole Conjoined Quirks thing happened. I wonder if he still has his Hero Analysis notebook lying around here somewhere?"

Chitose perked up, turning to glance over Inko while once again still typing. "Hero Analysis Notebook?" she asked.

"Back when he's 14 he used to draw heroes and 'analyze' them, and give them stats, super moves, and costume ideas. Think of it like those trading card games."

"Ooh interesting… can I see them?" Chitose tilted her head as she slowly turned her attention back to the computer screen. While she definitely knew she has almost everything researched up to this point, there's always a chance that some other person got something else that she missed.

"I'm not the one to go ransacking my son's belongings. Why don't you go ask him when he comes back? I'm sure he'll let you see them!"

"We'll see about that," she responded before going back to her typing business. "So about your son's Meta Ability, how much do you know about it? I've always wondered about how Conjoined Quirks work…"

"I've brought Izuku to numerous Quirk specialists back when he was younger. All they said is that he has two Quirks but only half the potential, and that he can't improve one without weakening the other one. They didn't really do any testing whatsoever and all just said that."

"Meta Abilities evolve over time, there's always a chance that your son's powers are now vastly different from the ones that came before it. How about you? Have you discovered anything new about his powers?" Chitose asked, continuing to type onto the keyboard without showing any signs of slowing down. "All my life I've always wondered about Conjoined Quirks, and never have I thought I would eventually meet someone who has one. Too bad your son doesn't like me that much," she added with a light chuckle. She heard everything Izuku said about her earlier, and she had to admit, the boy has such an interesting vocabulary. Although she thinks Izuku comparing her to a beached whale stuffed with mayonnaise is a bit too far-fetched.

"Izuku just doesn't really like strangers coming into the house."

"Now that I thought of it, where's your husband by the way?"

"I don't want to talk about him."

Chitose nodded as she continued typing. "Fair enough," she said.

There was silence for a short while before Inko spoke up again. "You're really knowledgeable when it comes to Quirks, huh? You're all sick and badly-beaten and yet it looks like you're almost half-way through the second article. Now if you don't mind, in a scale of one to ten, how good at you at Quirk knowledge?"

"Lady…" Chitose slowly turned to Inko, her face armed with the smuggest expression a person could muster. "I spent my entire life researching about them. I'm like this close to being a mad scientist! I swear if Re-D- I mean I swear if I ever got a toolkit for genetic experiments, I would be out there making history! Or maybe creating the cure for cancer!"

Inko tilted her head to look at how Chitose is still somehow typing at the keyboard with only one hand despite the young woman facing her looking like she just won a Nobel Prize. "So uh… I was just uh… I was wondering if uh-"

"Hmmm, you don't have to worry if you're going to say something offensive to me. I'm already trying to forget about what happened earlier. I don't want my progress getting halted. My mom's dead. That's it."

"Are you sure? Because I don't really think a daughter would just forget her mother easily like that. How did you end up here anyways?"

"I had a fight with my Mom. She said a whole lot mean things about me never accomplishing anything. About how a person like me shouldn't have existed. About how someone like me with a very destructive Meta Ability should just be killed on sight! I mean how am I SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHAT LANDMINE DOES-?!" Chitose abruptly froze, her fingers automatically lifting themselves off of the keyboard. She caught herself ranting about her foster mother, something she hasn't done in almost 15 years.

"Landmine?"

"Er… My head just spun for a bit. This whole hit on the head is giving me hallucinations again…" Chitose placed a hand on her forehead, pretending her outburst is completely unintentional, which it is. "I just misworded there," she added. "But yeah I had a fight with my Mom."

"You're just mad at your mother-"

"Yes, we don't get along very much. But like I said, I'll just cross the bridge when I get there. So what is it you're about to ask me?"

"I just wanted to ask if you're open to uh… training Izuku… But it's okay if you don't want to! It's okay to back out-"

"Hmm? Train?" Chitose asked, just as her fingers landed onto the keyboard and continued typing once more. "What for?"

"Well you see uh…" Inko slouched a bit in her seat, twirling her fingers together and her eyes darting all over the place. "Izuku used to be a lively kid, up until he got rejected by UA. He didn't even get to participate in the entrance exams, he was just told to leave once the staff knew about his Quirk… Aaaand then there's the 'low-requirement' hero school system… I think you get the idea. Izuku somehow haven't heard of it yet and I'm planning to tell him this Christmas…" Inko said as her voice trailed off in embarrassment.

Chitose paused for a brief while before continuing typing on the computer. She very well knew about this whole partnership program. It was hurriedly implemented within days following UA receiving huge backlash for using giant military robots as part of its college entrance exams this year. The complaints varied, but mostly centered on how the system massively favored combat-based Meta Abilities over everything.

The idea behind the program, which a lot of people nicknamed U-Aid, is simple: People would enroll to some designated hero schools with lower 'Quirk requirements', finish a a few subjects there and get some 'credit points', allowing them to have a headstart of extra points once re-enrolling in UA's hero course. The system is far from perfect and was heavily criticized for its high-risk-high-reward mechanic, but people soon accepted it, and the complaints rapidly died down.

Chitose remembered how much she wanted to exploit the situation to criticize UA's obsession with powerful Quirks, but she was very busy at the time, and by the time she's done, everything had already died down. "You want me to train your son?" she asked Inko, turning her head around. "Yeah I could do that. I've always wanted to know more about how Conjoined Quirks work-"

She didn't even finish her sentence when Inko once again went into a whole thanking spree. "So where are you planning to enroll your son in? I heard Saitama University is one of the appointed schools, and it's pretty close here," she asked, instantly stopping the older woman from going further.

"Saitama University cancelled its U-Aid course just back in December 12 for reasons they don't want to tell."

Chitose suddenly froze, her fingers lifting off of the keyboard as she stared wide-eyed onto the computer screen. Saitama University is one of the few college institutions almost entirely controlled by the MLA, them suddenly cancelling their U-Aid course exactly at December 12 raised massive amounts of alarm bells within Chitose's mind.

'First, there's the illusion field at Deika… Second, there's the bus bomb incident that made public transport unable to go there… Third, the news report that sounded like a cover-up of the Revival Party, and that I somehow died… Fourth, my bank account went dry at 9am December 12, and now Saitama University cancelled its U-Aid course at the exact same date?!'

Chitose slowly planted her fingers on the keyboard once again, thoughts racing across her mind. She can almost feel something connecting, she can't just figure out what they are. Immediately, she opened the online website of banks across Japan and checked her bank balance on every single account she has on them.

All are empty, all drained back in December 12, all at 9am.

'I don't like where this is going…'