Manga felt like he was smiling as he walked out of the school building, bringing his arms up and over his bubble to stretch them out some, then did some leg stretches as well before he set off in a light jog.
Given his dad had been more flakey in picking up his little brother, Manga basically took over the job instead, like he had with the cooking, and some of the cleaning around the house... okay Manga was doing most of the housework if he was being honest.
Kami there were days when Manga felt like the only adult in the family, especially with dad having him do more around the house.
Well, his dad hadn't explicitly told him that they were his duties now but his dad never seemed to do anything after Manga started doing it, like the laundry, Manga started doing his and Keiren's clothes and then dad just stopped doing theirs.
Just like dad stopped doing the dishes, or vacuuming, and he was certain that dad wouldn't be picking Keiren up after school any more either.
Okay Manga needed to stop thinking about that because he was starting to sound bitter about it, and yes he'd prefer to have some more free time but Keiren was still too young to be picking up any of dad's slack.
Trying to get dad to help out more was about as likely to happen as him snapping his fingers and parting all the seas in the world, and Manga didn't plan on wasting the time or energy on something so pointless.
Dad was still paying all their bills and even finding the money to save up for him to afford to go to U.A. so Manga couldn't say dad was completely unhelpful, and dad still did all of his own stuff so really Manga just had to look after himself and Keiren, which wasn't a bad thing.
Manga did like spending time with his little brother, even if they couldn't physically touch for long, and he tried to keep Keiren involved in his life, their dad wasn't around much because of his job, something that was getting worse in recent years.
Honestly some days it just felt like the two of them, Manga knew that dad was still there from things moving around in the apartment when he came home but actually seeing the man was becoming rare for either of them unless they went out of their way to do so.
And okay maybe it stung sometimes that Keiren didn't ask about their dad anymore and that he was basically raising his brother, but Manga would much rather deal with the flakey man then try his luck with the foster system, their quirks alone would make placement hard and that wasn't even thinking about the two of them being separated.
So, when taking the idea of Keiren being forced into another prefecture and without anyone he could speak with or even more likely hold him, Manga thought it was much better to just keep going on like they were.
They had a nice place and enough money to not worried about food and have a couple luxuries, probably more if Manga wasn't dead set on U.A, and it didn't make much sense to gamble all of that away on the minuscule chance of 'something better' or being able to 'just be a kid' again.
Manga's thoughts stalled when he saw Keiren's school coming up, since he started picking Keiren up he'd gotten much better with his stamina and getting to the school was so much easier, he wasn't even out of breath when he got to the gate anymore.
Something he proved once again as he stopped in front of the school and stretched his arms again, and waited for Keiren to come over to him figuring that he was still playing with Kaoru-Kun, and he felt his warmth bloom in his chest at the thought.
The two kids had become fast friends and all but clung to each other, and Manga was so happy for them, Kaoru-Kun and Keiren were kind of made for each other, what with their respective quirks making them both outcasts but cut from the same cloth either way.
Odd looking and able to make people very ill if they 'used' their quirks, just in different ways.
And Kaoru-Kun was super excitable to boot, he practically bounced off the walls and was dragging Keiren off to play some game he knew or to look at something cool he found, and Keiren was absorbing all of it with complete glee.
As hard as he tried Manga wasn't going to be enough for Keiren, that was something he knew from experience since when he was Keiren's age their mom wasn't enough to make up for not having any friends his own age.
Family was nice, supportive family was great, but having a friend too... a real one would've been utterly fantastic.
And as the two boys came over to him that joy was hard to mistake for anything else "Hiya boys." Manga greeted ruffling Kaoru-Kun's hair and rubbed Keiren's head, and Kaoru-Kun hugged his leg while Keiren closed his eyes with a smile.
"I'm guessing you're going to be coming home with us again today?" Manga guessed and Kaoru-Kun nodded his head with a big grin.
The two stayed over at each other's houses often and have even had a few sleepovers so far "Mom busy working?" Manga asked as he led the two boys back home.
"Uh, huh. Deku-Sensei's going to pick me up today cause she has an appointment too." Kaoru-Kun cheerfully answered, swinging his and Keiren's held hands between them.
Keiren beamed at that and Manga privately had to admit that he was also excited, Kaoru-Kun gushed about his quirk counselor often and said how amazing 'Deku-Sensei' was to him as he trained with his quirk despite himself being affected by Kaoru-Kun's quirk.
And Kaoru-Kun constantly told them that Deku-Sensei was so much better than the person the school hired, he especially wanted Keiren to see Deku-Sensei about his quirk since he was sure Deku-Sensei would help him much more than the guy the school had.
And with how much Kaoru-Kun talked about him it was hard not to get just a little excited about the idea of meeting the guy, Deku-Sensei, like most good counselors, was busy with his other regulars so they hadn't had the pleasure of meeting him just yet.
"Ya know when he's going to be by Kaoru-Kun? Like before or after supper?" Manga inquired, wondering if he'd need to make a third plate tonight, it wouldn't be that much trouble but he'd like the heads up all the same.
"Deku-Sensei will be by before, but I'm going to see if I can get him to stay for a bit so you guys can talk to him." Kaoru-Kun answered.
Manga bobbed his bubble and started up a conversation about what they had done at school that day, Kaoru-Kun released Keiren's hand so they both could tell him what they did, and that conversation went as expected.
Keiren was more focused on what they did for art that day and Kaoru-Kun complained about their reading assignments being boring, nothing out of the ordinary though Kaoru-Kun complained a lot more about one of the teachers being a killjoy and not letting him climb the tree in the playground.
Once they got to the house Manga left the two of them to play in the living room and got started on the chores for the day, he started with the laundry and then when the machines were running left to figure out what they were going to have that night, keeping an 'ear' out for any trouble the two kids might have.
Manga doubted they would but it didn't hurt to be alert for any concerning thumps from a fall.
The laughter and excited one-sided conversation from Kaoru-Kun was a very welcome sound and Manga entertained himself by trying to think of what Keiren could be saying in reply each time as he chopped some vegetables.
He had settled on a stew and was considering whether or not to also make some crawdads as well when there was a knock at the door "Deku-Sensei!" Kaoru-Kun cheered and Manga heard the boy's claws scramble on the floor.
Manga double checked the pot wasn't about to boil over anytime soon before he left it and went to go greet Deku-Sensei, Kaoru-Kun was bouncing in place as he stood at the door and Keiren was by his side, anxious but eager to meet the person Kaoru-Kun spoke so highly of.
Manga opened the door and before he could get a good look at the person on the other side Kaoru-Kun leapt at them "Deku-Sensei!" Kaoru-Kun exclaimed once again and Manga heard a soft chuckle.
Then when the person in front of him registered Manga's jaw, if he actually had one, would've hit the floor.
Because he recognized the boy on the other side as one Midoriya Izuku, the quirkless boy that the news had been talking about and given his interest in attending U.A. he of course knew about the drama surrounding him.
And here the guy was standing on his doorstep and chuckling as Kaoru-Kun climbed all over him with the reckless abandon of a baby squirrel.
Kaoru-Kun stopped moving before his mind caught up, the young boy settled on Midoriya's back hugging him from behind and happily nuzzling the guy's face.
Midoriya for his part looked completely unfazed and only looked at Kaoru-Kun fondly "Hi Kaoru-Kun, having fun?" Midoriya jokingly teased ruffling the boy's hair, apparently completely at ease with the young boy treating him like a jungle gym.
"Yes." Kaoru-Kun cheerfully told Midoriya his tail wagging behind him with joy.
Midoriya then turned his attention to the two of them and offered him a hand "Hi, you must be Manga and Keiren Fukidashi, right? Kaoru-Kun has told me a lot about you both." Midoriya said with a lopsided grin.
Manga's brain stalled and he unconsciously stook Midoriya's hand "Y-yeah, he, uh talks about you too." Manga shakily got out.
And who would blame him when he unwittingly found himself face-to-'face' with the Midoriya Izuku, the guy who not only expelled three students on his first day at U.A. but threatened to sue a hero on live T.V.
"Oh, I don't doubt it, but still it's really good to meet you." Midoriya replied holding his arms in a cradle position and Kaoru-Kun happily crawled over Midoriya's shoulder and sat in the boy's arms, still hugging the guy around his neck.
"Thanks for watching Kaoru-Kun for a while, he's a bit of a handful when he knows I'm going to show up." Midoriya said and Kaoru-Kun started pouting and smacked Midoriya's face with his tail greatly surprising Manga.
Midoriya huffed bemused "Oh so you haven't been climbing everything you can since this morning?" Midoriya pressed and Kaoru-Kun stopped hugging Midoriya and jumped down from the guy's arms and landed on all fours like a cat.
Midoriya shook his head and technically shared a glance with Manga's bubble and quietly shrugged in a 'what can you do?' way before he crouched down to the kids level.
"Now Kaoru-Kun, I thought you wanted to introduce me to your best friend here?" Midoriya asked motioning his head towards Keiren.
Kaoru-Kun's ears perked up and he immediately went back to being excited "I do!" Kaoru-Kun exclaimed quickly grabbing Keiren by the shoulders and pushed him forward towards Midoriya "This is Keiren! He's super cool and he always has this cool humming going on." Kaoru-Kun told Midoriya.
Keiren gave a nervous wave and Midoriya held up his hands then started signing 'Happy to be formally introduced to you K-E-I-R-E-N, and K-A-O-R-U is right, your humming has a very pretty tune to it.'
Keiren's eyes widened and Manga himself once again had another metaphorically jaw drop, even without a proper head he wouldn't say the static Keiren's quirk produced anything close to a tune.
'You hear a tune in my static?' Keiren asked and Midoriya tilted his head "Is that not common?" Midoriya asked and Keiren nodded.
"Huh, I want to try something Keiren-Kun, I'm gonna hold your hand for a second okay?" Midoriya informed the boy before offering his hand to his little brother.
Keiren hesitated before reaching out and Midoriya didn't even flinch much to their surprise "Ah... that's different." Midoriya commented, his voice suddenly gaining a tinny tone to it, shocking all of them "Oh wow, didn't think that'd happen." Midoriya added blinking.
"Hey how come my voice isn't radio-y when I touch Keiren-Kun?" Kaoru-Kun questioned as Midoriya let go of Keiren's hand to rub his chin.
"Well its probably because I'm quirkless, physically I don't look much different from someone with an Emitter quirk but biologically we're very different in a lot of keyways, the way quirkless and quirked brains are wired can be wildly different, especially in how we understand our senses and react to outside affects." Midoriya mused then placed a hand on his throat.
"My voice box for instance is more sensitive to vibrations, and that's why Keiren-Kun's quirk made my voice sound like that. And I think Keiren-Kun's quirk gives him stronger defenses against the quirked because it seems to actively target the quirk gene and is more passive towards those without the gene." Midoriya further explained.
'My quirk attacks other quirked people?' Keiren asked, Midoriya hummed "Well yes and no." Midoriya replied.
"Your quirk is inherently a defensive evolution just like Kaoru-Kun's, it's meant to scare away threats, the problem is that what a 'threat' is, is very loosely defined by your quirk. It sees other quirked people as big threats and so that's why it's worst to them unless they have a similar quirk like Kaoru-Kun which makes them immune." Midoriya elaborated.
"As someone quirkless there's nothing for the quirk to attack directly but it still doesn't like me and instead only works to a much lesser degree of weak muscle spasms and tinnitus from physical contact, something that you wouldn't be likely to learn without meeting a quirkless person, well in person." Midoriya added.
"So can we train Keiren-Kun's quirk to not attack people?" Kaoru-Kun inquired and Manga found himself wondering about this as well because this whole thing about how Keiren's quirk worked was the first he's ever heard of this stuff.
Midoriya gave them a sad smile and shook his head. "Unfortunately no, we can't." Midoriya answered, sounding apologetic.
"Keiren-Kun's isn't alive like you or me so it can't be re-trained on what or who is dangerous, and while people can become used to the effects of your quirk Kaoru-Kun I would strongly recommend against trying that with Keiren-Kun's quirk with it focusing on the brain through sound." Midoriya patiently explained to the two boys.
'Is that bad?' Keiren asked and Midoriya shook his head "No Keiren-Kun, any quirk can be dangerous, yours just means you need to be more careful about using it and you've done a very good job of that." Midoriya assured reaching over and rubbing Keiren's head.
Keiren beamed at the praise, signing a quick thank you making Midoriya chuckle softly again "You're more than welcome Keiren-Kun. Now, we got a bit sidetracked but I'm afraid Kaoru-Kun and I do need to be leaving soon, so why don't you boys go get his stuff so we can go." Midoriya said placing his hands in his pockets.
Kaoru-Kun whined but didn't object and left with Keiren to go grab his bag, leaving him alone with Midoriya, something that left him a little tense.
Because while he was fairly certain that he didn't need to worry about ruining his chances at U.A. since Midoriya seemed to like him and his brother so far, Manga still was just a touch worried about mucking things up somehow, especially since Midoriya's attention was mostly on the two boys instead of himself.
"I'm guessing Keiren-Kun's allergic to anti-quirk formulas?" Midoriya quietly asked surprising him and making him jump.
"Y-yeah, something like that, how'd you know?" Manga tentatively asked.
"Quirk bands can be expensive for an average family but counselors would recommend it in a case like Keiren-Kun's." Midoriya answered "How bad is it?" Midoriya added not looking away from the two kids.
Manga hesitated, wondering if he really wanted to tell him about it for a few seconds "His quirk keeps his brain working, don't know the specifics but the two times they tried to put him on a quirk blocker his brain just shut off." Manga told the guy.
Midoriya hummed and nodded his head, not saying anything on the matter as they waited for the boys to finish packing up.
Manga *Sweating bullets*
Izuku *Playing with the boys*
The kids *Just being cute in the corner*