AN: Professor Donger: Who needs sleep when we could post a new chapter? Am I right? Hope you guys enjoy it.
Damian: Y'all wanna know something funny? Originally Pony wasn't planned to be in 1-A to take the empty spot having Izumi as a teacher would cause. We took the idea from a comment in one of the first chapters and rolled with it. There's your random Flintlock fact. Now enjoy this read.
Nezu sat in his office not long after he and Power Loader had finished their discussion. He hoped with the new security measures they planned to implement, something like the USJ would never happen again, and should it somehow come to pass they'd be ready.
But nothing could have prepared Nezu for what he found when he had arrived at his office a few minutes ago.
Recovery Girl holding a bottle of whisky.
Nezu tilted his head as he looked at her from the other side of his desk. "Where did you even get that?"
"Aizawa."
"Ah, figures. He thinks no one knows about his secret stash."
"I think he just doesn't care who knows." Chiyo swirled the bottle a bit, staring at the contents inside.
Nezu simply hummed. "Anyways, do I want to know why… this is happening?" He asked as he watched her continue to stare at the bottle in her hands.
"Debating on if drinking myself to an early grave is better than having to work on Midoriya when she's high on painkillers," Chiyo replied. "Doesn't help that Thirteen was edging her on."
"What did she say?" Nezu was curious. Recovery Girl may be quick to temper, but he honestly couldn't remember the last time, if ever, when she was driven to temptation to consume any form of alcohol by a patient,… even Toshinori wasn't this bad.
"I'd rather not talk about it." Chiyo set the bottle down before leaning back in her chair. "Honestly, I just want to retire, but the only way that would happen is if I died, or some miracle worker creates something to do what my quirk does without me having to be there. But an angel like that doesn't exist."
"Achoo!" Melissa covered her nose with her elbow as she sneezed.
"Bless you," Izumi said.
"Thanks." Melissa sniffed as she rummaged through the handbag that she had placed on the table next to Izumi's hospital bed. "Where did I leave it?"
"Whatcha lookin' for?" Izumi shifted so she could get a better look.
"Something that should help… dammit, where is it?!" Melissa started to get frustrated. "I know I brought it with me!"
A meow was heard.
"Not now, Cat."
A more annoyed meow came after.
"What is- oh… there it is." Melissa reached over and grabbed a syringe that Cat was holding in its tail. "Thanks, I forgot I gave it to you."
Izumi eyed the syringe filled with a strange black substance that almost looked like it was moving around on its own. "Uhm… Mel, what's in that?" She scooted slightly away from her girlfriend instinctively.
"Hold still," Melissa didn't answer as she cleaned a spot on Izumi's arm and stuck her with the needle.
"Ow, fuck! A little warning?!"
"Oh, suck it up, Miss Badass Hero. As for what it was," Melissa reached into her bag once more and pulled out a tablet, "It's to help you heal. I injected nanobots into your bloodstream."
Izumi blinked in surprise before a smirk appeared on her face and she opened her mouth to say something.
"If you say 'Nanomachines, son', I will have Cat tase you."
Izumi promptly closed her mouth with a snap.
"So, uh… nanobots, huh? That's new from you." Izumi chose to move on. She did not want to get tased by Cat.
"Made 'em while you were gone," Melissa explained while she worked on the tablet. "Well, more like I finished them, I started looking into the tech a long while ago. Designed them to help boost the body's natural healing as well as do some manual repairs themselves. Hence why I didn't need to clean up where I injected you. The nanobots already closed the hole."
Izumi blinked. "I've only been gone for like half a year and you were nowhere near…" Her eyes widened before narrowing in suspicion at Melissa. "Mel…"
Melissa looked up from her tablet, "Yeah?"
"How often were you pulling all-nighters?"
Melissa immediately looked back at her tablet, even lifting it to cover her face from Izumi's view. "Oh, wow. Look at all this interesting… stuff here. Mmm, yes, very important, it requires my full attention."
"Melissa." Izumi deadpanned with her mom's patented raised eyebrow, a genetic weapon in the Midoriya arsenal.
Melissa continued her act for a moment before lowering the tablet, looking like a child having been caught doing a bad thing by their parents.
"Okay, I may have sort of kind of not been keeping a healthy sleep schedule." She sheepishly admitted.
Izumi breathed through her nose and let out a sigh through her mouth before turning to Melissa's feline companion. "Cat, revoca los privilegios de café de Melissa por un mes."
Cat nodded as its eyes flashed green for a moment. "Si, como tu mandas."
Melissa immediately frowned. "What the hell did you just do?"
Izumi gave an innocent smile. "Nothing~" She sang.
She may have taught Melissa Japanese, but her girlfriend had no need to learn Spanish, so even though she could probably master the language within the week, knowing her, Izumi was glad she could give orders to Cat without Melissa understanding what she said.
Suddenly, a wave of tiredness overcame Izumi.
"Whoa… what the…"
"Oh," Melissa looked back down at her tablet, "They must be getting ready to do manual nano-surgery."
"Huh?"
"Don't worry, Izu. The nanobots are putting you to sleep so you don't experience the pain of…" She looked at her tablet and then looked back at her girlfriend, "Having your ribs repaired… really? Broken ribs too?"
"And ma'am, an' cheek…" Izumi slurred as she started to fade in and out of consciousness.
"What the fuck did you fight, a truck?" Melissa deadpanned in Japanese, knowing Izumi didn't have the mental focus to stick to English. "I mean… even then you'd probably want that fight."
"I still won…" With that Izumi was out like a light, her head falling back into her pillow before she began snoring peacefully.
Melissa sighed and glanced around the otherwise empty room. They were alone, Thirteen having been cleared to leave by Recovery Girl (who sent a nurse bot to deliver the message instead of doing it herself for some reason) since she had recovered enough, though could do with another treatment later to fully heal the remaining damage to her back.
Denki had left to use the restroom a while ago and had not yet come back, and Inko had gone with Himiko back to the Midoriya's dorm building on campus a while ago.
That left Melissa alone with just the sleeping woman and Cat, who had curled up on top of Izumi.
Melissa smiled fondly before taking the opportunity of their privacy to lean forward and press a quick kiss on Izumi's forehead.
"See you when you wake up, dork." She then stood up and yawned as she stretched, "Maybe I should go get a cup of coffee." She yelped when Cat looked up at her with glowing green eyes sharply.
"No necesitas café."
Melissa stared at her beloved creation for a moment as she slowly translated what it had told her. Once she did she groaned and shook her head. "Override that order, Cat."
Cat shook its head. "I'm sorry, only Mistress Midoriya has the authority to do that."
"She has you calling her mistress? Jesus Christ… Come here you, I'm revoking her admin privileges."
Cat shrieked as it jumped off Izumi and ran for the door, taking a moment to look back at Melissa and hiss before running out of the room and down the hall.
"Cat!" Melissa yelled as she gave chase. "You get your adorable ass back here!"
Denki was on his way back from the restroom when he saw this happen.
"...I need a nap." He shook his head as he headed for his bed.
Pony's body felt sore. It had felt sore since the USJ. Recovery Girl had said it had to do with some kind of internal damage that had healed as much as her quirk had allowed, which confused Pony since she had gone through the whole ordeal without really getting hurt.
Yeah, sure, her shoulder kind of hurt after firing Gjallarhorn (she still couldn't believe she did that! Holy shit!), but she didn't think that was enough to cause internal damage. Maybe it was whatever Flintlock did to save her from the Nomu thing? Pony wasn't too sure.
Either way, did this internal pain hurt? Kind of, it was more like an annoying dull ache than true pain at this point. But it was worth it!
Why?
Ochako took it upon herself to take care of her.
That may or may not have had to do with Pony hamming up just how much pain she was in…
But regardless, she was milking this cow for all it was worth.
She was currently sitting on the small couch she managed to set up in her rather large dorm room, bundled up in covers and watching TV when Ochako brought her some tea from downstairs.
"Here," her best friend handed her a cup, "this should help your stomach."
Oh, that's right, she said her stomach was hurting too. To be fair, it was, but it had settled on its own after breakfast… which Ochako had also brought to her.
Pony swooned internally. God, she was being spoiled, and she was loving it!
"Thank you," Pony smiled as she took the tea and took a sip, sighing as she swallowed. "That's nice."
Ochako smiled at the horse girl when she remembered something. "Oh! Wait here! Got something I wanna show ya!" She got up from the couch with an excited smile. "You are gonna flip your lid!" She quickly ran out of Pony's room and down the hall, leaving the young American confused as to what she could be getting.
Alone, her eyes wandered a bit, drifting over to her costume case and the case next to it that held Sweet Business. When she came to Japan to attend UA, she never would have thought all this would happen to her. Sure, getting attacked by villains in the first week wasn't exactly something a sane person should hope for, but getting to meet her idol? Getting to use one of her idol's guns against her? Getting to keep one of them?
…
Making friends as wonderful as Momo, Minoru, the most recent addition of Eijirou, and especially Ochako?
It was honestly everything she had ever hoped for.
"Alright, Pony!" Ochako called from just outside her room. "Close your eyes!"
Pony hummed in confusion, before shrugging and complying. "They closed!"
She heard her door open and close, and footsteps approaching and stopping just in front of her.
"Okay, aaaand… open!"
Pony opened her eyes to Ochako holding a SPAS shotgun.
Pony simply stared at the smiling Ochako for an unspecified amount of time before taking a horn from her head and poking her leg with it.
"Ow!" Pony yelped, then gasped. "I'm not dreaming… WHERE DID YOU GET A SHOTGUN?!" Then she remembered the USJ, and gasped again as a giant smile split her face. "THEY LET YOU KEEP HER GUN?!"
Ochako was a bit lost in the translation, cursing her horrible English skills, so she had to do a bit of guesswork. Ultimately she boiled it down to Pony getting excited and asking why she still has the shotgun.
"I don't know why I still have it either!" She shook her head, her grin never leaving. "I think they thought it was a part of my support kit? I don't know… but I have a shotgun now!" She chuckled nervously. "I think with everything going on they've been too busy to really care…"
Not even a second later, Pony had jumped up from her spot on the couch and had also grabbed a hold of the SPAS, not taking it from Ochako, but just holding it with her as she spouted off what the gravity manipulator could only assume were some facts about the gun and/or Flintlock's history with using it.
Honestly, Ochako couldn't follow along at all, not because she wasn't trying but because she couldn't understand Pony's exclusive use of English in her rambling. She wished she knew English better… probably something to look into in the future.
Right now though a more important detail came to her attention.
"Hey," Ochako cut off Pony, frowning as she looked her over, "I thought you said standing hurts."
"Uh…." Pony stared wide-eyed at Ochako. 'Fuck! I've been caught! Curse you fangirl me!'
Ochako narrowed her eyes, "Pony… you're not actually in that much pain, are you?"
"Uhm… ow! Oh, ow, my… horns?"
Ochako gave her a flat look that said, "really?"
Pony shrunk in on herself, "Fine, I get caught."
"Why did you lie about being in pain?" Ochako asked.
Pony whined a little as she tried to think of the words to explain. "I like time with you."
Ochako couldn't help the fond smile that came over her. "Aww, Pony, you don't need to lie about being hurt for that. You just ask, I love spending time with you!"
"Really?" Pony smiled.
"Really really. And we have all day, so let's spend it doing nothing and watching dumb TV or something!" Ochako cheered.
"YEAH!" Pony cheered too.
"But…"
"Huh?" Pony blinked at Ochako, waiting for her to continue before she was suddenly pulled forward a bit as Ochako pulled the SPAS towards her. Pony stumbled forward and found her face inches away from Ochako's, who was giving her a serious look. She felt her face heat up rapidly and gulped.
"Since you made me go back and forth downstairs so much for you," She whispered in a tone that made Pony involuntarily shiver, "it's your turn to go downstairs and bring something back for me."
"Eep!" Pony really hoped Ochako wasn't noticing how hot she was feeling.
"I want mochi. You know which cabinet I hide them in." Ochako smirked. "Get going."
With that she stepped back and walked over to sit on the couch, leaving Pony standing there for a moment as she tried to process what just happened.
"Pony, go," Ochako ordered with a smirk.
"Y-yes Ma'am…" Pony said in a daze of some sort before she slowly made her way out of the room.
As she did she couldn't help but mumble out, "Holy shit that was hot…"
Ochako watched her leave. "I should really try to learn some English."
"You're such a brat, you know that?" Melissa told Cat, who was resting on her shoulder as she walked down the path. She had chased the robotic feline around the school, only catching the slippery little thing when she agreed that she wouldn't remove Izumi's admin privileges. She just hoped she could convince Izumi to give her back her coffee privileges in return. She needed the black gold!
But that was a problem that would be solved after Izumi woke up. Right now Melissa was making her way to the Midoriya residence on campus to say hi to everyone properly. She was a little… distracted before.
She came upon the building, her anxiety creeping up once again. As far as her relationship with the Midoriyas went, Melissa liked to think she had a great relationship with Jin and Himiko. Jin was easy to get along with, instantly liking anyone until given a reason not to. Himiko was a bit tricky, having been shy when Melissa first met her, but the two bonded over mutual interests. She supposed that's to be expected when they're both daughters of technological geniuses and loved to tinker.
It was Inko that Melissa was worried about. She could count on one hand the number of times she and the Midoriya matriarch had met, with only one of those meetings being in person, and even then, that one meeting hadn't been under the best of circumstances either…
That had been when Izumi lost her arm and eye.
Melissa's breath hitched as unpleasant memories flashed through her mind. She shook her head to dispel the thoughts before lifting her hand to knock on the door.
She knocked on the door a few times and stopped back to wait for it to open. Once it did she had less than a second to react as a thirteen-year-old projectile launched herself at the young woman.
"Melissa!" Himiko cheered as her full weight slammed into the inventor, her arms wrapping around Melissa's neck. Melissa wasn't Izumi who could tank the impact and not move an inch, so she instead let out a yelp as she started to fall backward. Luckily, Cat was ready to catch her, and used its deceptively strong tail to right Melissa's balance and keep her from having a date with the ground.
"Whoa!" Melissa laughed as she regained her balance. "Hey, Himiko! Long time no see!"
Himiko was set back down on the ground, bouncing in place as she looked up at Melissa. "I'm so glad you're here! I wanted to say hi earlier, but you were busy with Sis. How is she, by the way?"
"She's doing fine. She's sleeping off the pain." It was then Melissa noticed something different about Himiko. "Hey, hold on a second…" She made a show of narrowing her eyes and hummed. "Something's different."
Himiko gave a fanned smile. "Oh?"
"Yeah…" Melissa rubbed her chin before snapping her fingers. "You're taller."
Himiko's expression immediately turned into a deadpan look as she pouted. "Seriously?"
"What?" Melissa shrugged. "You have gotten taller!"
Himiko slumped forward. "Melissaaaa, take this seriously!"
"Okay, fine. Uhm… new haircut?"
Himiko didn't say anything, instead crossing her arms over her chest and raising an eyebrow at Melissa.
"Oh, and I guess you dyed your hair too," Melissa mentioned with a shrug.
"Finally!" Himiko threw her arms into the air, and Melissa couldn't help but laugh at getting a rise out of her fellow natural blonde.
"All seriousness though, I like the new look." She reached out and ran her hand through Himiko's green hair. "Looks pretty."
Himiko gave a shy smile and couldn't help but blush a little at the compliment. "Thanks."
Himiko moved to the side to allow Melissa entry. She stepped inside and quickly looked around the dorm's living room "Where's Jin?"
Himiko giggled as Cat jumped onto her shoulder and started nuzzling her. "He's down in Izumi's armory, taking stock of everything she used at the USJ and writing down what needs to be repaired or replaced."
Melissa raised a questioning eyebrow. "You don't mean to tell me that Izumi brought her whole armory to Japan, do you?"
Before Himiko could give Melissa a bigger Izumi-induced headache Inko's voice echoed through the dorm, shooting a fresh spike of anxiety into Melissa's heart. "Himiko! Sweetie, can you come here? I can't find where Jin keeps the tea!"
Himiko quickly shot back a quick "Coming mama!" before turning back to Melissa. "By the way, speak Japanese around Mama, she's not the best English speaker, and I don't wanna leave her out of the conversation." With that, she started running back to the kitchen before she stopped and turned to Melissa one more time. "Also yes, Sis did bring her entire armory…or most of it, everything she didn't bring was left at her agency." She then continued toward the kitchen, Cat on her shoulder.
Melissa took her glasses off and rubbed the bridge of her nose to calm her nerves. She'd have to scold Izumi later for bringing enough firepower to overthrow a small country, but for now, she had to get through meeting her girlfriend's mom, well re-meeting her…
It was all very confusing.
She replaced her glasses and trudged into the kitchen with as much grace as her nerves would allow. She fully expected to come face to face with the teary-eyed, yet fierce woman she had met in the hospital years ago, or the woman who had silently threatened her with her eyes not even an hour ago…
Instead, she couldn't help but gape as she walked into the kitchen to the sight of the two Midoriya's, mother and daughter, fawning over Cat.
"Look at you! Aren't you just the cutest!" Inko Midoriya grinned. "I didn't get a chance to really look at you back in the hospital wing, but you are just so cute!" She scratched Cat under its chin and her smile grew when the robotic cat leaned into the touch. "Oh, you even have synthetic fur! Have you met Hisashi? He must be so jealous of you! I bet he is!"
"Papa won't admit it but he totally is. He can't figure out how Mel managed to make her so realistic and refuses to believe she managed to clone her old cat to make 808's AI."
"808's her name?" Inko tilted her head in confusion "Isn't that a bit too clinical for this little sweetheart?"
Melissa took that opportunity to cough politely to get their attention, though she was blushing up a storm. "808 is just its designation, like a serial number. Cat is its name…"
"Why are you calling her an 'it'?" Inko asked, not impolitely, just genuinely curious, like Izumi when Melissa was tinkering with something, that helped calm her down considerably. "And who came up with Cat? That's like calling a dog 'Dog'."
"Izumi." Both Melissa and Himiko deadpanned as one.
Inko sighed through her nose and closed her eyes before counting to ten. She then opened them and looked at Melissa with a stern expression. "Neither of you is allowed to name your children."
Melissa's face felt like it was on fire as she let out a squeak, Himiko's snort and laughter not helping. "I-I have no idea what you mean! What children? Izumi and I won't have children! I'm just her support tech!" Melissa ended her panicked rambling with forced laughter, which did absolutely nothing to help her case.
"Uh-huh… And I'm just Hisashi's former head nurse," Inko deadpanned, handing Cat back to Himiko. "And also, I never said the children had to be both of yours." She sent a teasing smirk Melissa's way, and suddenly she knew where Izumi got her facial expressions from as she felt her face heating up further if that were even possible. "But back to the question. Why 'It'?"
Melissa shrugged nervously and rubbed her arm. "I… tend to try not to get too attached to my inventions. I made Cat recently and Izumi was the one who named it and I am admittedly… very attached to it since, you know, I cloned Holy's brain into it, but it's just a habit at this point…"
Inko nodded as she started preparing Melissa a cup of tea. "Ah, that makes sense, Hisashi does the same thing." She chuckled. "He stopped giving his inventions genders once he was forced to sell them, he got too attached."
"He'd cry a lot." Himiko revealed without even an ounce of shame for outing her father.
Inko chuckled before passing Melissa her cup. "Himiko, why don't you go get Jin so we can get started on lunch?"
"Okay! But I'm taking Cat!" She didn't even wait for permission before placing Cat on her head and heading off for Izumi's armory.
With that, Melissa was left alone with Inko. And boy, did Melissa feel awkward. She had no idea what to say, and so silence fell over the two as Inko looked through the fully stocked fridge and pantry.
It was Inko who broke the silence. "I'm not entirely sure what you're used to eating, Melissa. Anything in particular you want?" She asked.
Melissa closed her eyes and calmed her nerves. She was a woman of science, but here she found herself praying to a higher being that she didn't mess anything up.
"I-I'm fine eating whatever," Melissa stuttered, "Jin's cooking is the best I've had, so anything he makes is bound to be delicious. N-Not that your cooking isn't just as good, it might be even better!" She said all too quickly.
Inko stopped moving on the other side of the fridge door, obstructing Melissa's view of her. The older woman leaned back and looked at Melissa with a deadpan expression, and all Melissa wanted to do was sink into the ground and disappear.
"Okay," Inko sighed as she closed the fridge, "might as well pull this bandage off now."
"Huh?" Melissa felt her heart beating faster and faster. She didn't know what was about to happen, and there was no way she could have simulated this conversation, that would have been helpful!
'Wait… could I make an AI capable of simulating conversations like this? Why didn't I think of that sooner?! Damn it Mel! You could have prepared for this! Stupid, stupid-'
"Melissa," Inko saying her name startled her out of her self-deprecating mental rant. Inko grabbed her own cup and poured herself some tea as well, taking a sip before looking back at Melissa. "So…"
"So…" Melissa echoed, taking a sip of her own tea.
Inko hummed as she stared for a moment, before asking, "was there any particular reason why I didn't know that you were dating my daughter?"
Melissa's eyes widened, and as she went to quickly respond she had forgotten that she was drinking tea and promptly began to have a coughing fit as it went the wrong way.
"Are you alright?" Inko asked calmly, Melissa only being able to nod her head as she got herself together. Inko patiently waited, taking another sip of her own tea.
Once she regained the ability to talk, Melissa began rambling. "M-Me? Izumi? D-Dating? No- that's not- I mean, we're not- it's not what- uhm-"
Inko tilted her head, "Are you saying you don't want to date Izumi?"
"N-No, I mean-"
"Do you not find her attractive?"
"What?! No! I mean, yes! I mean- she's hot- beautiful!" Melissa turned crimson. "She's beautiful, you have an amazing daughter! But we're not-"
"Very good liars." Inko cut her off and smiled. "Izumi has never been able to get a single lie past me, and it seems that you're just as bad at it, dear."
Melissa felt so exposed, and Inko seemed to be able to tell as she put down her cup of tea and reached over to grab her shaking hand. "I'm messing with you, Melissa. I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable."
"I-It's okay," Melissa smiled, "I just wasn't ready for that."
Inko hummed and gave her motherly smile. "I know you care about Izumi. I mean, not many people would be willing to cross the ocean in a jet that goes beyond the speed of sound just to threaten someone they love to not die… nor do many people have the means to do so, but that's beside the point."
Melissa let out a watery laugh. It was true, her private jet was the first of its kind, and even then she still has to work out a way to make its fastest flight speed safe for commercial travel. Hmm, maybe she could-
"Melissa, stay with me." Inko sternly told her, having recognized the lost-in-thought expression on her face, it was so similar to Hisashi that Inko had to withhold a smile, but now was the time for a proper conversation, not invention.
"Ah, s-sorry." Melissa blushed in embarrassment. "Anyway, how did you know… about us?"
"Same way I found out Izumi was gay before she even knew," Inko answered, earning a surprised blink and curious look from Melissa. "When you find your daughter watching a lot of media involving female pro heroes, and not with her normal look of admiration and a focus on their posteriors, you tend to pick up on a few things. In any case, it was just some mother's intuition." She took a sip of her tea before adding "Also I saw you two kiss in the hospital wing."
Melissa's face burnt scarlet as she resisted the urge to slam her head into the table. They had been so careful for over the three years they had been dating (holy shit it had been three years!?), even Hisashi and her own father didn't know!
Inko noticed her embarrassed but far-away look and chuckled. "If you're thinking about how your father and Sashi hadn't noticed well…" She once again took a sip of her tea, "I can't speak for David, I've only met him a handful of times and none of those times were pleasant, due to either circumstance beyond anyone's control." She trailed off thinking of Izumi's injury before shaking it off and continuing. "Or because he and Sashi tend to take their rivalry way too seriously."
Melissa nodded and Inko continued. "But I know my husband, I love my husband dearly, but observant that man is not. His head is stuck in the clouds of invention ninety percent of the time and from what I understand Izumi, Himiko, and Jin are the only reasons he remembers to go outside, eat, take a shower, or breath." She laughed affectionately. "He wouldn't notice if Izumi was dating anyone, at least not right away, and Izu knows how to keep secrets from her dad. It's not hard, just deflect with an idea for an invention and he'll be going for hours."
Melissa giggled, starting to feel a bit more comfortable. "Yeah, I get that… I haven't told dad about us because… well because of that rivalry. I'm afraid he's gonna take it too seriously or something and me and Izu don't need that."
Inko shook her head. "Oh Melissa, I don't think either of those men would get you involved in their rivalry like that, or at least Hiashi wouldn't. The last thing he wants is for his Izumi to be upset with him. But if they do try to drag you both into it," Inko chuckled, and Melissa shivered as she swore she saw a dark aura seeping out of the Midoriya matriarch. "Well, I'll just have a few words with them, yeah?"
"Uhm… th-thank you, Ma'am." Melissa couldn't help but stutter. 'Holy shit, is that where Izumi gets it from?'
Inko nodded, "Of course, I want grandchildren in the future though. That's my one and only condition."
And the scarlet blush returned. "Y-You know that's not b-biologically possible… right?"
"You'll both figure it out somehow, I know for a fact Izumi loves kids, and she has her ways of making things that seem impossible possible so…"
Though her face felt like it was on fire, Melissa nodded. "We'll… figure something out when we're ready."
Inko hummed in appreciation, then reached over to once more squeeze Melissa's hand. "And Melissa… Thank you for being there for her. Especially," she took a shaky breath, "especially after what happened."
Melissa's mind flashed back to a few years ago, she remembered hearing the sound of fire and twisting metal. Even in the present day, she could feel the heat on her skin, though she was not burned, even back then. She remembered being so scared, thinking she was going to die. She remembered flinching as the door blocking her way outside was ripped open. She remembered trying to back up further into the car she was in, only to stop when she noticed who it was, reaching out for her.
Izumi had looked at her, one eye closed and blood seeping out from beneath the eyelid. Despite the clear pain she was in, she had smiled at Melissa, the same way Uncle Might would when he would show up on the scene of a rescue as she reached for her with a bloodied left hand.
Even now, she could hear the words echo in her head. "It's alright. I am here."
Melissa smiled and squeezed Inko's hand back. "She was there for me first."
"But still, thank you, for giving her a second chance." Inko shuddered as a few tears escaped her eyes. "Going into that hospital room… seeing Izumi so broken, physically and emotionally. It hurt so much. Hearing my baby scream and cry, and being unable to give her any reassurance that it will be alright, being unable to comfort her… nothing can make a mother feel more useless than that."
Inko shook her head as she wiped away the tears, only for them to be quickly replaced by more. She smiled at Melissa. "And then you come in like some kind of angel and help her. You gave her the means to keep going. None of us know what would have happened if you hadn't been there if you hadn't helped her, and I never want to find out. I don't even want to think about it."
Melissa by now had her own tears flowing down her face as she shook her head. "Mister Midoriya was the one who gave her a new eye."
"Hisashi gave her the eye, but you gave her her arm back," Inko said. "She would have found a way to keep doing hero work without one eye, that wouldn't have stopped her. But a missing arm? Melissa, it was over, she lost hope. You gave it back to her."
Inko sniffed and once more tried to wipe her tears away. "What I'm trying to say is, you've done so much for this family, and you help to keep Izumi alive, then and now. As far as I'm concerned, you're a part of this family." She smiled at Melissa, and she couldn't help but smile back at Inko.
"I'm sorry," Inko laughed, "can I just hug you?"
"Of course." Melissa didn't even hesitate to open her arms, and Inko didn't hesitate to accept the invitation.
Melissa felt like a giant weight was lifted off her shoulders as she hugged Inko. She was so worried that her and Izumi's relationship wouldn't be approved, despite Izumi having told her in the past otherwise. In the end, Izumi accepted that Melissa wasn't ready to tell anyone, so they worked to keep it hidden. But now, having been straight up told she was accepted by her girlfriend's family, Melissa felt all the stress fade, not having to worry or think too hard about it anymore.
And with her mind free to think about other things, she noticed how long their conversation had gone on for as she looked at the clock in the kitchen.
"Hey," She pulled out of the hug, "Himiko and Jin are taking a long time."
Inko looked at the clock and noticed as well. "Right… what's taking them so long?"
"If I had to guess, probably looking at all of Izumi's guns or something." Melissa sighed and looked towards the door leading downstairs into the basement. "They know they aren't supposed to do so without Izumi present, since she probably wouldn't even let Himiko look at the 'cooler' stuff, but since she's not here-"
That caused Inko to immediately bolt down the stairs with a shout of, "Jin! Himiko!"
"Uh oh," Melissa quickly followed after and hoped Himiko wouldn't hold it against her that she had ratted her out to Inko.
She went downstairs, expecting to see a mother scolding her two children or run into Inko pulling them back upstairs by the ear, typical mother stuff.
Instead, she made her way further within the basement, past the unlocked and opened steel door at the end of a small hallway, and into an armory that would make any gun enthusiast jealous. Hell Melissa wasn't that big on firearms, had helped make most of the guns in the armory and even she was jealous.
Once inside she expected to hear Inko reaming out her two adopted children, but she was surprised instead to see her staring wide-eyed at their backs.
Himko was busy sitting in a nearby chair, playing with Cat and talking about the different guns in the armory, while Jin and his clones were scurrying this way and that, carrying different guns to Himiko for what looked to be an inspection.
"Okay well Hawkmoon is good, a little scratched up but nothing some TLC can't fix." She nodded and the clone holding the revolver moved out of line to place the gun where it belonged, only to be replaced by another.
Melissa took a moment to look around the armory herself and noticed Izumi had a section marked off specifically for weapons the two of them had designed together. The thought that Izumi cared that much about their joint creations made Melissa's heart warm.
She looked back at the current weapon inspection going on and saw a clone hefting a rocket launcher for Himiko to look at.
"What the hell did she fight for Gally to get this messed up…" Himiko muttered, and Melissa couldn't help but agree at the sight of the prestigious rocket launcher. It was dented and scratched from manhandling, some very strong man handling…
"Why the hell does Izumi even have something that big?" The clones and Himiko all turned to Inko in surprise. "What would she even need to fight that would need something so insane to stop?"
"Whatever was at the USJ, apparently." Himiko shrugged. "And she's faced villains who can tank her bullets, not to mention literal tanks, so having a rocket launcher like the Gjallarhorn comes in handy."
The original Jin, his green bandana around his head, spoke up. "It's a little overkill at times. It is the perfect amount of kill."
Inko took in a deep breath and sighed through her nose as she rubbed her temple with her fingers. "That young lady is going to make my hair-"
"Turn gray with worry?" Melissa finished for her, causing Inko to give an understanding smirk. "Yeah, I told her the same thing earlier."
"Someone might wanna count the incendiary rounds Big Sis used." Himiko called out to the two women. "Jin's not allowed near them."
To that, Jin shook his fist in the air menacingly. "You cannot deny me arson forever! The world shall be engulfed in flames, as it was created! THE AGE OF FIRE WILL START ANEW!
The clones all raised their fists as one, chanting, "Arson! Arson! Arson!"
"We let him play the Souls series once and he becomes obsessed with fire for a lifetime…" Himiko muttered. "Anyway, Fourteen go put Gjallarhorn on the repair table, it looks like it's the only gun that needs to be repaired…" She frowned "Though she's missing a Spas Shotgun…"
"Is there a reason, Himiko, you know exactly what Izumi is missing?" Inko raised an eyebrow.
"Big Sis taught me how to catalog, count, repair and order parts for her guns, just in case she's on a long term mission or she's too injured to properly do it herself." Himiko gave Cat a scratch behind the ears, earning a soft pur that made her smile. "Jin knows how to catalog them but not everything else. Izumi's apprentice back in the states is also learning how to do so but that's mainly as part of her training."
"Glitter's not here!?" Melissa suddenly interjected with a frown causing Himiko to jump and Inko to look at her in confusion.
"Umm, no?" Himiko started slowly. "Izumi didn't want to just upend her whole agency so she came here first, and left her second in charge while Dad helped get everything settled for them to move to Japan temporarily… Why?"
Before Melissa could interject, Inko quickly asked, "Wait I'm confused, her second? Glitter?" Inko frowned. "I know I don't ask that much about Izumi's hero work, it scares me to death the danger she puts herself in so I would rather not think about it, but I still would like to know who these people you're talking about are."
It was Jin who started explaining. "Izumi has a second in command who runs her agency when she can't. Nice guy, ten-outta-ten! Glitter is a hero student in her second year of university who Izumi took on as an apprentice, they're like the American equivalent to interns and work study students here in Japan. She couldn't come here with Big Sis because she still has school and also needs permission to work abroad, so she was waiting on that."
Himiko nodded. "If everything goes well she should be able to transfer to UA for the remainder of her second year while Izu is here. I remember Izumi mentioning something about training abroad being a necessity or something, so it shouldn't be an issue." Himiko noted Inko's confused look and was about to explain the abroad statement when Melissa jumped in
"I can explain this part. So, Japan is part of NATO right?" She rhetorically asked Inko, who nodded. "NATO countries have treaties requiring Heroes in those countries be trained to work abroad, and they are given sets of rules that they must follow when they do come to another country." She paused for a moment before continuing. "Most NATO countries' laws regarding heroics overlap, things like lethal force, how to handle drug busting operations, kidnappings, and so on. It's specifically to make the transition from being at home and abroad easier, Japan is an outlier, since it's still so relatively new to NATO and insular, its laws don't fully reflect the requirements and it's been slow to implement the changes it needs to."
Himiko coughed into her fist to let Melissa know she was rambling, so she dialed it back.
"The long and short of it is, Glitter needs to go to a foreign NATO-aligned country for abroad training in order to graduate. Normally that would be Canada, Britannia, or the European Union, but she might just come here to Japan instead since Izu is here."
"Oh, so Izumi plans on having her apprentice join her here to both train her and fulfill that requirement." Inko nodded in approval. "Two birds with one stone."
"Honestly it was Pa's idea," Himiko deadpanned. "Izumi didn't want Glitter or her second coming to Japan if she could help it, since they don't have the strongest quirks in the world, and we all know how Japan treats those with weak, 'villainous' or no quirks."
Inko felt a pang of guilt go through her chest as she was reminded of all the years Izumi faced discrimination. She quickly tried to move on, having had enough of negative emotions for one day. "Speaking of, tell me about this 'Glitter'. Does her quirk have something to do with… glitter?"
Jin snorted, and Himiko mimicked him as she shook her head. "Actually, no, Glitter is just a nickname she has. I met her like, two or three times, but Izumi told me the story. Apparently, one time when Glitter was still a freshman and just started interning under Big Sis, she had gone into the agency on a slow day, sleep deprived from studying and practical exercises only made her more tired. So…"
Jin snickered. "Oh, this is gonna be good. This is the worst story ever."
"So," Himiko continued, "when Izumi had her cleaning the floors on that slow day, I don't know how, but Glitter had somehow managed to fill a bucket with glitter instead of cleaner."
Jin busted out laughing while Melissa tried to hide her obvious laughter behind her hand. Inko just seemed confused, yet amused. "How? How do you accidentally do that? Where did she even get that much glitter?!"
"I don't know!" Himiko laughed, her fangs in full view as she smiled. "From what I heard they still find bits of the stuff around the floor today. But anyways, Big Sis doesn't let her live it down. Neither does Otter."
Inko tilted her head. "Otter? Don't tell me it's a robot otter that Izumi just named 'Otter'."
Melissa shook her head. "No, Otter is her second. He's called that because he loves otters and even has one that hangs around the agency."
Inko sighed. "Good, I was worried I'd have to have words with Izumi about giving things proper names."
Melissa giggled at that. Izumi may be skilled in many things, the highlight of which being her insane combat ability, but when it comes to naming something she falls short. Melissa still remembers when they made Sweet Business, Izumi wanted to call it "The Penetrator". Needless to say, that idea was shot down immediately.
Speaking of which…
Melissa glanced over at the area of the armory reserved for their special guns and saw that amongst the wide array of weapons, the mini-gun disguised as an assault rifle was missing.
"Hey," She pointed as she looked over at the gathered Midoriyas, "where's Sweet Business?"
All at once, Jin and his clones looked away, some whistling as they tried to feign ignorance.
Melissa did not like that reaction. "Oh no, what did she do with it?"
Jin didn't answer and neither did his clones.
Melissa crossed her arms and stared them all down. "Jin, where is the Sweet Business?"
The clones refused to answer for a little longer, but one clone was feeling the pressure far more than the others as he was visibly sweating through his mask.
Melissa noticed and walked up to said clone, crossed her arms, stared into his eyes, and tapped her foot as she waited for an answer.
Eventually, the clone caved. "SHE LET A STUDENT KEEP-"
"NO!" The other Clones yelled as they tackled their brother.
Melissa took a moment to process and make sure she heard that correctly. Then, with a neutral expression nodded. The Jin clones and Himiko thought they had dodged a Mount Shield eruption when she suddenly scowled and shouted out, "SHE WHAT!?"
Inko flinched, though she understood her future daughter-in-law's anger. Why would you give someone so young a firearm? Especially if they weren't trained in it. Inko didn't know what a Sweet Business was, but if it was as frightening as some of the guns she's seen in the armory…
Shudder
Before Melissa could turn and march back to Izumi's hospital room to start yelling at her for her perceived negligence, Cat's eyes turned green, and opened its mouth, Izumi's voice speaking through it. "I sense a disturbance in the Force! Providing evidence of my innocence!"
A large screen opened up above the desk Himiko was sitting at, after it fully emerged it blinked on, revealing Izumi sitting at her desk, without her prosthetic tinkering with a gun.
She looked up at the screen and grinned "Howdy!" She waved with her stump. "If you're watching this I'm dead."
Everyone frowned at the screen in worry.
Izumi's grin didn't waver for a moment before she let out a snort. "Okay, okay that was in bad taste, feel free to smack me for it." She shrugged. "So, this is primarily for Mom, Dad, or Melissa, though I have a few of these made up for Himiko and Jin too. They're called, "I totally didn't do what you're accusing me of and plead the fifth." They're recorded videos of me explaining or showing evidence that I am indeed, not as guilty of what you're accusing me of as I may seem!"
"How are we only just now finding these…?" Himiko muttered, she jumped when Izumi immediately answered.
"I'm actually surprised that you haven't found any of these before," She tapped the table before continuing, "I get accused of a lot of things, most of the time I deserve it but I do have about a hundred of these made up and stashed on the cloud, and as long as you're near Cat or any of the voice-activated stuff in our house or places of residence a screen should pop up and give you the low down of what I've done…"
Once again she shrugged "Anyway, I'm just here to give you the rundown of what this is, Cat or the AI that runs my armory should be able to pick out the video you need to see, so good luck!"
With that, the screen blinked out, and Cat looked at Melissa, eyes still green, waiting for confirmation.
"Uh… What happened to Sweet Business?" Upon Melissa's question, Cat's eyes glowed even brighter before flashing and dimming back to normal.
The screen immediately blinked back on, showing Izumi in the chair once again, idly spinning in circles like she was some child. "Okay, so Sweet Business!" She stopped before she grinned at the camera. "This time I have an alibi! It was JinJin's fault!"
"It was not! It totally was!" Jin yelled at the screen only to be shushed by Inko.
"He thought he was sly but he recorded the whole thing! And even if he hadn't Nezu did! Suck it Jin! Roll Footage!"
The screen then changed to show footage of inside what looked like a gun store, with Jin, or rather a Twice clone, on the other side of the counter rubbing his eyes. A girl, a hero student judging by the costume she wore, ran in from a door off to the side.
"Oh hey, it's Pony!" One of the clones in the room pointed out, only for the other Clones to tackle him too.
"Remain silent! We have that right you idiot!" One of them yelled.
The others whose names were not Jin shook their heads before looking back at the screen. They watched as the student spoke to Jin in broken Japanese, asking for a gun in a panic. At first, the clone denied her, and Inko nodded in approval, not noticing Himiko snickering. She had seen this footage before, but why ruin the show by spoiling it?
Again the now-identified Pony asked, even begged, and when it looked like the Twice clone wouldn't cave, he immediately did a one-eighty and agreed to give the girl a firearm.
"Jin!" Inko yelled incredulously at her son, or rather sons, as she was yelling at the clones too.
"But…" Jin was heard sniffling under his mask, "She used The Eyes."
The footage then showed Twice hefting Sweet Business over the counter and giving it to Pony, who took it with little trouble.
Melissa had taken off her glasses and rubbed at her eyes. "Of all the guns you could have given a student…"
"Oh, this is my favorite part!" Himiko excitedly said, bouncing in her seat.
"Wait," Inko blinked, whipping her gaze to Himiko, "you knew about this?"
Himiko's face immediately shifted as she realized she fucked up. "Uhh…"
The footage now showed an alley as Izumi stood over another hero student, raising her gun and putting on a menacing act that was way too convincing.
"I'm gonna need to talk to her about traumatizing people with the "born killer" act," Melissa muttered.
She didn't get to "kill" her target before Pony appeared out of nowhere and began to open fire on Izumi. During the entire firefight, Pony exhibited surprising skill in handling the special weapon.
Himiko began cackling as she once more witnessed a miracle: Izumi getting shot at with her own guns. It was beautiful!
Melissa watched as her girlfriend was getting her ass handed to her, and couldn't help but find the sight amusing. Though a part of her reminded her of the truth, that Izumi was holding herself back here for the sake of the exercise. If she had gotten serious…
Well, Melissa had witnessed firsthand what that could look like.
The screen cut back to Izumi sitting in her chair, giving the camera a shit-eating grin. "So yeah, it wasn't my idea to give Pony Sweet Business. I let her hang onto it though because they won that match, on a few conditions of course. So if you're gonna blame anyone for this one, blame Jin!"
"That's not fair, Big Sis!" Jin yelled.
"Thought you could get away with laughing at me? Giving away my gun to someone you just met!? Oh no, sir. Payback's a bitch, Jin, and so am I! La Vaquera Verde, out!" She gave a two-fingered salute before the recording ended.
"What does La Vaquera Verde mean?" Inko asked in confusion, mentally reminding herself to talk to Izumi about her profanity later.
Melissa sighed and pinched her nose. "It roughly means "The Green Cow-Girl." She got the nickname after she helped the Mexican government decimate one of the last remaining Drug Cartels."
"Okay," Inko said in a strained voice, "I think I've had enough hero talk for uh… about a week."
"Fair enough," Melissa shrugged, understanding Inko's stance completely. "Anyway, I wonder what's on these other videos. Cat, play the next one."
Cat's eyes flashed again before it shook its head.
"What do you mean, "no"? Cat, I'm ordering you to play the next video." Melissa sternly told it.
One more flash of its eyes, and another started to play.
Izumi once again was sitting in her chair, feet on the table as she leaned back and tossed a ball up and caught it over and over.
"So," She began, "if you're seeing this video, it means you tried to look at the other videos to see what else I know I've done or know you will accuse me of. Well, sorry ladies and gents, but the videos are restricted until you have actually accused me of said actions relative to the videos. I'm not stupid enough to have all my dirty laundry so easily accessible. And don't blame Cat or Army-chan, they can't exactly access them either until they're unlocked.
"And before you try," She chuckled as she caught the ball and held it, looking at the camera, "no, Mel, not even you can hack into it. You know that program you made so no one can hack into my cybernetics? I adapted that so you couldn't just hack your way past my security."
She shifted so she was sitting more properly in the chair, having taken her feet off the desk. "Okay, love you, byeee!" She waved before the video ended.
"Clever bitch," Melissa smiled, "Using my own anti-hack shit against me."
"Army-Chan?" Inko wondered in confusion, only to jump as a beep sounded throughout the armory
"Hello," A soft-spoken, almost whisper-like female voice spoke.
"Umm, Hi?" Inko waved nervously, while Himiko squealed in delight.
"Army-Chan! Can you get me some of Izu's spare parts? I need to fix Gally." Melissa said.
"'Kay." Some crashing could be heard before a door in the ceiling opened up, and deposited a bunch of very large rocket launcher parts on top of some of the Jin clones, squishing them back into goo.
"Hey! You could have killed us! We probably deserved it." Jin shook a fist at the room.
"You deserved it." The voice whispered, before going silent again.
Inko shook her head and held up her hands. "Okay, so today has been… informative for me, but I've reached my limit of… whatever this has been for a while. Jin, let's go make some lunch. Melissa, you can fix up Izumi's… equipment while you wait if you want."
"Oh, oh!" Himiko bounced in her chair, "Can I stay and help?"
"Sure sweetie, just come up when we call you." Inko smiled as she headed for the stairs, Jin was already racing up toward the kitchen.
Himiko cheered, Cat mimicking her gesture. Inko sighed before turning and heading up the stairs, back to familiar territory.
"My daughter's life is insane." She muttered to herself.
Chiyo sighed as she walked toward the room containing Denki and Izumi. Just two more patients and hopefully she wouldn't have to worry about injuries before the Sports Festival… if that was even still going on, Nezu hadn't let it slip if he was still planning on hosting it to the staff and they were still waiting for the representatives from the HPSC to come to conduct their investigation before even committing to anything.
Either way, a break would be nice, she loved her job, she really did, but sometimes the stupidity other heroes showed when it came to their well-being drove her insane…
She let out a sigh as she reached her destination and opened the door, letting herself in to check in on her patients. She noted that Denki was up and moving, which was good. She only needed to give him one last kiss on the cheek before sending him on his way. He was lucky classes didn't start until Monday or he'd need a note.
Izumi on the other hand was snoring away, which honestly was good as far as Chiyo was concerned, when she was awake the girl was a pain in the ass, almost as much of one as Toshi if Chiyo was being honest.
"Oh, hey Recovery Girl," Denki greeted her, "is it time for my last treatment? Gotta say, can't wait to get out of here."
"Sit down sonny, I'll be with you once I give this idiot her treatment." She motioned for Denki to lie back down as she walked over to Izumi. "She'll be awake and back to sleep pretty much immediately." She tapped Izumi lightly on her stump with her cane.
"Wake up, Miss Midoriya."
Izumi's eyes snapped open and she bolted upright instantly, blinking as she shook her head. "Holy mother of… what fucking year is it?!"
"Whoa, Sensei," Denki chuckled at Izumi's reaction, "you good?"
"Yeah…" Izumi slowly nodded, "Yeah, I feel really good. Body feels a bit stiff though." She sighed as she stood up out of her bed and stretched her arms above her head. "God, I feel like that's the best sleep I've gotten in a long while. And I'm usually pretty good with my sleep schedule so that's saying something."
"What the hell are you doing Miss Midoriya?! Sit down!"
Izumi looked down at Chiyo and scratched her head. "I mean, why? I feel great!" She tapped her leg with her prosthetic hand. "Yeah, that's fixed. How 'bout my eye?" She blinked trying to turn her prosthetic eye back on but it didn't respond. "Man Mel, you can get your fancy nanomachines to fix me up but not Papa's eye? I call hax." She sighed before looking down "What about…" She reached down toward her hospital gown to look at her ribs when Chiyo slapped her with her cane.
"Ow! Fuck!"
"Not in front of your very male student!" Chiyo pointed over at Denki, who was pointedly looking away with a slight blush on his face. Izumi winced, forgetting he was in the room. Whoops.
"Right… one sec." Izumi pulled a nearby curtain out to block Denki's view before proceeding to do what she was before. She lifted the hospital gown and poked at her rib cage, finding that the bones were completely fixed. "Yep, that's fixed too. And my abs still look amazing."
Chiyo can already feel the oncoming headache. "What the hell is this about nanomachines!?"
Izumi scratched her cheek sheepishly. "Oh, while you were gone, my support tech, Melissa, came in and injected nanobots into me that basically fixed me up while I slept."
"So… you don't need me to kiss you?" Chiyo asked as she began to digest this information. "You're completely healed?"
Izumi shrugged. "Well, I'm still missing my real eye, and my real arm, but yeah, I'm completely fine now."
Chiyo stared up at Izumi for the longest time, her expression unreadable. The silence was eventually broken by her swinging her cane for the gunslinger's leg.
"Ow! My fucking knee! Why do you always go for the knees?!"
"Easiest spot for me to hit," Chiyo admitted, then poked Izumi's chest with her cane. "You shouldn't have been accepting any other kind of medical treatment without me knowing first."
Izumi rubbed her knee as she winced. "I mean, I trust Melissa with my life, so I wouldn't let her do it if I wasn't sure she knew what she was doing."
"Still," Chiyo sighed, "well, at least it seems to have worked a treat. You're moving around just fine, so I'll clear you to leave in a bit. But first, Kaminari, I believe you need a kiss, or did this Melissa put nanomachines in you as well?"
"No, but I wish!" Denki had a longing look on his face. "Having nanomachines to help me out sounds awesome."
"The Youthful Heroine shook her head before planting a kiss on Denki's cheek. "You both sit tight, I'll go get everything settled to clear you both."
With that, she began to leave the room, all while grumbling something about technology.
Izumi and Denki waited in silence for a bit, before suddenly hearing a shout of joy coming from the hallway.
"Fuck yes! Retirement!"
Izumi pursed her lips. "Huh, it's almost like she's tired of her job. Can't relate."
"So," Denki stood up and stretched as well, "Are you really fully fixed up? You took a hell of a beating at the USJ."
Izumi waved off his concern. "Trust me, kid, I'll live." She then brought her hand in front of her face and frowned, waving it around in front of her. "Though missing an eye is gonna be annoying. God, how does Nick Fury do this shit?"
Denki grunted as he finished stretching, scratching his head before something clicked in his brain. "Wait… YOU'RE MISSING AN EYE?!" He looked at her bug-eyed, and Izumi hissed.
"Ooohhh… right. You kids didn't know about that." She let out an embarrassed laugh.
"Whoopsie. Don't worry, Mister Kaminari, I didn't really lose an eye. Well, I didn't lose one at the USJ. I have a cybernetic one, it just got damaged in all the fighting, so I'm waiting for a new one to come in."
Denki stared at her as if she were some impossible thing as if her existence defied the laws of nature. "Sensei… you're actually a cyborg… holy shit, my heroics teacher is a cyborg!"
"Fucking finally, someone actually thinks so!" Izumi cheered, then pointed at Denki with her prosthetic arm. "Extra credit on your next heroics assignment!"
"Yes!" Denki cheered as well. "Best teacher ever!"
"You know it, partner," Izumi smirked as she grabbed her phone off the table next to her hospital bed. She unlocked it to see if she had missed anything important. Emails about a mandatory staff meeting that already passed, text from Jin with an update on Himiko, a notification from Army-chan telling her that her family has viewed the explanation video on what happened to Sweet Business… that's gonna be fun to deal with.
No texts from Melissa, either before or after she got to Japan… Not too weird, she tended to get in the zone when inventing so she probably forgot…
And a text from…
"Huh," Izumi blinked as she looked at the text message. She clicked on the contact and read what was sent.
Moist Nugget:
Hey, kiddo. Heard what happened from Han and hope you're doing okay.
Izumi snorted at the contact name, before sending a text back.
You:
Well well well, if it isn't Moist Nugget
Moist Nugget:
And I see you haven't changed my contact name. Even after however many years and me demanding that you do so.
You:
I keep it like this because if I didn't how else would I know who you are?
Moist Nugget:
Answer: You actually remember what you set my contact as when you fix it. You're 23, you should know how to spell my hero name!
You:
Eh, I like this one better
Moist Nugget:
You're a little shit, you know that?
You:
Yeah, but you still love me.
Moist Nugget:
Against my better judgment.
One sec, I'm getting tired of texting. Takes too long.
A few seconds later, Izumi's phone started to ring with the same contact trying to call her. She let out a small snort once again, she never got tired of the nickname that her five-year-old self had made. She pressed a button on the side of her hospital bed, causing walls to descend from the ceiling to give her privacy, waving goodbye to Denki before she vanished from his sight. Now technically alone, she answered the call.
"Hello there," She barely held in a laugh, "Moist Nugget."
"...I'm hanging up." The voice of an older woman said on the other end, already sounding done with Izumi's shit.
"No, wait, please, I'm sorry!" Izumi quickly apologized but still laughed.
"Uh-huh, sure you are. You know, I'm half-tempted to shoot your ass from where I am right now."
Izumi scoffed. "Alright, Aunt Kaina, you're a great shot, but not even you can pull that off with where I am."
"Third floor. Third bed on the left from the door. Got a blondie in there with you."
Izumi stood there frozen for a moment. "How the fuck?"
"Still think I don't have a clear shot?"
"And people say I scare them," Izumi whispered.
"You do, Han does when he gets serious and so do I. People in our line of work have ways of just scaring the life out of people." She heard a chuckle on the other end. "But anyway, how are you doing?"
"Better," Izumi sat on her bed, "Mel came in and fixed me up. I'm lucky to have her."
"Damn right, and you better be grateful for her. Happy husband, happy life."
Izumi's cheeks quickly warmed up as she blushed. Leave it to the most eagle-eyed woman in Japan to know about her and Melissa. "Aunty Kaina!" She paused, "Wait, isn't it "happy wife happy life"?"
"Han wears the pants in our relationship and I happily let him~." Kaina purred out, causing Izumi to gag.
"I don't need to know that!" Izumi groaned. "And also, Mel doesn't hog the pants… we share."
"Sure you do hun, and Hisashi shares the pants with your mom, which we both know isn't true so stop lying to yourself."
Izumi grumbled like a small child, "You stop lying to yourself."
"You're in denial, that's fine. Anyway, Han had to drag me back home, not gonna tell you how he managed that. It's gross grown-up stuff." Izumi rolled her eyes. "He told me about your injuries. I know you said Melissa fixed you up, but just know if you need any help…"
Izumi smiled at that. "Thanks, Aunty, I'll keep that in mind." There was a lapse of silence before Izumi spoke up. "Uhm, actually, I could use your help with something. I run an after-school class for those who want some extra or personalized training, but uh, I'm kind of down an eye right now and my arm is a repaired mark one. Not really trusting myself with physical stuff right now."
"Say no more kiddo, just give me the time."
"You sure it won't get in the way of your work?" Izumi asked.
"Eh, there are other heroes out here who can pick up the slack, and if they can't then it's a wonder how the fuck they even graduated from whatever school they went to." Izumi heard some shuffling on the other end of the line. "It's not like I've got anything better to do, Japan's been pretty quiet recently outside of a few Yakuza goons running around, and of course that whole USJ thing,"
Izumi rubbed the back of her head and laughed. "Yeah, it's nothing like back home in the states, that's for sure."
"It's incredibly sad that your home country isn't considered home to you. I get it, Japan's stance on quirks sucks, but it's still sad."
"Yeah, well," Izumi shrugged, knowing Kaina probably saw the motion from wherever the hell she was. "Texas treated me better and like I was a person, it didn't care 'bout my quirk status or lack thereof so I'm sorry if I'm a little jaded." She frowned. "Anyway, I'm gonna go and check on the Sibs, mom, and Mel. I'll send you the details for my after-school class though. Time and place and all that?"
"Sounds good," She shuffled again and Izumi frowned as she also heard Kaina whisper "wait".
"What are you doing that's causing so much noise?"
"I'm currently trying to keep Han's hands out of my –"
"And that's enough information! I'll see you Monday Aunty! 'Kay, thanks, bye!" And with that, she immediately hung up.
With that, Izumi took a deep breath and shivered. "Too much information."
A ping on her phone alerted her to a text message, and she chanced a look at it, sighing to see it was Jin sending her a text asking if she was awake, and if she was, what did she want for lunch.
She decided to hold off on replying. Instead, she lay back down in her hospital bed, staring at the ceiling with a fond smile on her face.
"I love my family."