Plot expansion and world-building time!
Chapter 26: [Should I Embrace This Nature?] The Doubts of a Vampire
[XXX]
After all the exams for class 1-A were done the students were allowed to return home for the day. Izuku had somehow managed to convince Yaoyorozu to return his resolver, the rich girl being surprisingly good at negotiations; the vampire returned home in time for dinner, his mother helping him to his room and allowing him to skip the meal and simply rest.
Mei had come by to check up on him and get a few power-up cuddles, but since Izuku was out of energy to even kiss her she left him alone. Fighting against All Might tended to sap you off any effort you could ever had. On the other hand the mechanic girl managed to get a promise out of him to get him to buy her some power tools in his trip to I-Island the incoming weekend.
At this point Izuku figured that either he was a bad negotiator or his mind was working slowly to compensate for all the high-speed thinking that had to be done for the match. In any way, the pink haired mechanic had gotten her promise out of him, going so far as to record his voice so as to probably bribe him into anything else she would want later. Not that she really needed to do so, as he would gift her anything she desired, but Mei was crafty like that.
It was his luck that UA would grant the students of the hero course a one-week vacation before the planned activity for the class, Aizawa saying something about a summer camp that Izuku registered in the corner of his mind - as again he had been busy trying to plan out for his fight against All Might. Speaking of the Symbol of Peace, Izuku figured that he should apologize to his teacher; the vampire had – after all – tagged the blonde on an old wound that had to have damaged the hero a bit and while it was training, not everyone could heal like Izuku.
The hemomancer figured that a blood pill should work well as an apology gift. It wouldn't heal a wound that old and advanced that easily, but it should provide the man with some relief and extend his timer for a few hours. Izuku's regeneration was good for himself, but passing it to others was a challenge that the vampire was yet not willing to fully take head on. It wasn't like his gift to Kyouka; treating something like the damage All Might had would take many resources from the hero's body, and Izuku was quite sure that All Might did not have those to spare if his true skeletal figure was anything to go by.
And here I am again, going miles per hour when I should be resting, Izuku mused in his head, his frame over his bed almost like he was a discarded ragdoll. He certainly was feeling like one.
The vampire groaned as he shifted and tried to take on a more comfortable position other than just lying flat face down on his mattress. He managed to get into his side, his uniform wrinkling as he shifted to a better position only to find Mei staring at him from the door, half leaning almost as if to flee if he detected her. He blinked, licking his fangs to figure out the situation.
"Hmm, Mei?" He murmured, making the girl flinch in her place.
Mei entered the dark room again, taking tentative steps towards his bed almost as if afraid of his reactions.
Now that got him raising one of his brows. "What's wrong?"
Hatsume gingerly sat on the corner of his bed, some of her body heat reaching Izuku and making the vampire take a deep breath to inhale more of her scent. She smelled mostly of peach soap, but there was still an after smell of motor oil that never truly left the motor head girl. He was sore (a very foreign sensation for a regenerator like him), but made an effort to move his arms to wrap around Mei's waist and bring her closer to him. He might be lacking in energy to do more, but Mei made him find strength.
She began petting his green mop of hair, soothing him with her touch. He took another deep breath to fill his lungs with her scent. Some lust began to stir up, even while languidness and soreness took a hold of his limbs, but Izuku tried to clamp the [Inner Beast] down.
Mei's orbs focused on his face, her scope-like pupils taking in every detail. She smiled at him and untangled his limbs from her hips, laying down with him and hugging him to share even more body heat. Izuku did appreciate the gesture, even if it stoked further the flames of his rebellious side.
"You look very tired, 'Zuku! Don't you want a bite?" His lover offered, the strap of her black tanktop loose and already out of the way in case he wished to feast on her neck. Sight began to fade away for him as details like color became unnecessary; all that he could see was the red of her blood, his ears flooded with the music symphony of her heartbeats. The song of life that echoed inside every living person, slightly different but still the same.
Noises of contentment began to dully echo in his mind, Izuku's fangs itching to sink into soft flesh.
(OST: In the bedroom [Huniepop])
"Don't worry; I'll be better in the morning." He managed to speak out, his voice coming out deeper and huskier than he wanted it to be. The vampire could already feel his lust accumulating to dangerous levels, and his senses were picking up the same on Mei.
"You are always like this. Not wanting others to worry about you, always running yourself ragged…" Mei whispered to him, lifting herself from her previous laying position and crawling over the vampire to remain at his back. She beckoned him to sit up, finding some success at her endeavor. She began to undress Izuku, her body glued to his back and only allowing the contact to cease when it was the only choice to remove his clothing.
First was his blazer, the maroon piece carelessly tossed aside by the girl while she kept Izuku upright by hugging him tightly. Her hands slowly ran their course over his back and shoulders, Mei working a few kinks out of his tired muscles.
"…You're always taking care of me like this; let me treat you this time." Her whispers were making the itch in his fangs worsen, the vampire trying uselessly to hold his lust in check.
Mei made quick work of his red tie, loosening it just enough to toss it at the blazer, her fingers already working towards the buttons of his long-sleeved shirt. Izuku let a pleased grumble echo in his throat and the soft ministrations on his abdomen. Mei's legs wrapped around his hips and he began to run his hands over her plump legs, enjoying the soft flesh and muscle kneading and receiving a kiss on the neck as a reward. Those were mostly his thing, but he could enjoy it himself too.
It didn't take long for his shirt to add to the pile of clothes on the ground, Mei's tanktop following a second after. She still kept her body glued to his back, massaging him and letting him knead her legs, his dull claws adding to the sensation as he lightly ran them over her skin.
"Is this a reward for passing my exams?" Izuku asked, still conscious enough for now. The question was answered by a hum from Hatsume, her hands now working his belt and allowing the tent he was pitching some moving space. It was still restrained by his underwear, but not for long if the mechanic girl had anything to say about it.
"That…" Mei's voice whispered the words right by his ear, her hands lightly working on the tent between his legs. A lust-filled growl left Izuku's throat, the vampire turning his head back and taking a kiss for himself. Hatsume moaned into their kiss, and as they separated a string of saliva was visible between them. "…and we haven't done this in a while. I'm needy!" Mei kept the dirty talk going strong, Izuku agreeing with her. Things had been hectic for a while and thus left them with little time for anything else the previous weeks; that was without remembering that he would be travelling soon for I-Island and then after that there would be the event that Aizawa-sensei had planned.
Mei's hands kept teasing him over his underclothing, the girl pressing he chest more and more against the vampire's back. He sighed in pleasure, unknowingly pulling one of his quirk factors into action. Shadow matter began pooling at his waist, hastening the process of undressing as his pants joined the pile on the ground, Izuku finding the strength to pull away from Mei just enough that the dark tendrils could work their magic. One yelp escaped the lips of his lover as her sweat pants were pilfered away, leaving Mei in her usual black sports bra and dark grey panties, which had a moist spot, the scent almost driving Izuku crazy.
He turned around to face her, ready to go down on the girl. Mei interrupted him by jumping on his lap and pushing him down on the bed. Her face sported a strong blush, but her eyes displayed determination. She really wanted to do this. His shadows wriggled and almost went on the offensive for him, but he managed release his pull over the quirk factor and allowed Mei to do her thing. Which for the moment was lightly grind against him, coming down to periodically kiss him and whisper sweet nothings on his ears.
Izuku's underwear became soaked in Mei's fluids, their excitement growing as the musky scent filled the vampire's room. Mei's hips sped up, her hands finding perch on Izuku's shoulders as he ran his hands on her sides, the vampire trying his best to avoid pulling on other quirk factors to overwhelm Mei in lust with his touches. Dark matter covered his hands, but it kept still only around his limbs, trying to spread around but being stopped by the vampire.
Mei's hips halted to a stop, her body trembling slightly as she glued her lips against Izuku's in an attempt to quiet down. She moaned into their kiss, fueling the vampire's lust to its maximum. He grew to his hardest point, his hands capturing the girl by her thighs and pulling her against his erect member, making her moan a few pitches higher.
After the girl reached her climax, they remained still for a while, catching their breath and allowing Mei to slowly descend from her high. She lay over his chest, kissing him along the line of his jaw and sharing body heat with him. It took a while for Mei to stop shaking, Izuku not helping as he ran his fingers along the line of her spine, keeping the mechanic in her high for as long as he could.
Mei eventually gathered her breath, trying to pull Izuku away from his sweet comfortable mattress.
"Come on, 'Zuku. I'll get you to relax…" Mei pulled Izuku away from his bed – he always forgot how strong the girl was – and dragged him to the bathroom. She left him by the hampers as she went to fill the tub in, Izuku following behind her and letting blood tendrils emerge from his back and deal with his underwear, his hands immediately grabbing a hold of the girl's breasts. Mei squirmed in his hold, Izuku's hands heating up a bit as he massaged her chest. The vampire smirked and ran one sharp nail over her sports bra, cutting the fabric and allowing her flesh orbs bouncing freedom.
"Mmm, Izuhhh…you need to stop destroying my clothes…"' Mei managed to speak under her moans, the vampire huffing in amusement at her "complaints". He kept his ministrations on her breasts, now being the one to be kissing the girl along her neck, his fangs lightly nipping at her flesh and leaving a few hickeys.
The tub began to fill up with warm water, creating a light layer of steam in the bath. The slight heat made the duo's skins gleam due to the moisture, Izuku almost growling in pleasure. Mei's right hand snaked backwards and grabbed a hold of his pole, slowly pumping him as she turned her head back to kiss him.
The vampire let his blood tendrils finish undressing the mechanic girl, the vampire letting go of one of her breasts to direct his hand at the girl's womanhood. Mei's legs closed tight around his teasing hand, his fingers only brushing alongside the outer lips of her lower mouth. A slick sound reached the vampire's ears, making him smirk further into his kiss with the girl.
As the played around with their heavy petting, the tub filled half-way through, Mei managing to separate from Izuku and pant heavily as she leaned against the rim of the tub. She slowly began to reach for her last piece of clothing – the soaked panties that clung to her – and began to undress it. The sight was akin to seeing a master piece painting be finished in front of Izuku, the vampire's green slit orbs greedily taking in every second and every movement that Mei did, the unimpeded sight of the girl's lower puffy and wet lips almost making Izuku go crazy.
He was about to dive in and drive his lover crazy, but she held him by his shoulders, her flush expression being a mix of cute and arousing that Izuku had no idea how he still hadn't turned into a lust mess.
End of (OST: In the bedroom [Huniepop])
"We came here to have a bath, mister!" The mechanic shakily said, trying to push him towards the shower head, her eyes glued to his fully erect staff. Izuku frowned at her proposition, eyes fixed into her own orbs, almost as if asking if she truly wished to wait any longer. The embarrassed look of determination that Hatsume gave him was too cute to resist, the vampire sighing in defeat and letting himself be dragged to the shower head.
He obediently sat on the stool and waited for Mei, the girl grabbing the shower head and some soap to wash him. He couldn't help one last tease though, and used one thin heated blood tendril to ran along the length of Mei's spine, starting from just above her peachy butt. She shivered as the tendril made its way on her back, a last lust-filled moan leaving her mouth as the tentacle was deliberately slowed when it reached her neck, the crimson fluid acting almost as a pseudo-tongue giving one last lick on her neck (without leaving a mess of blood behind).
She glanced backwards with lust and mock anger at his ministrations, Izuku merely smirking back at her, trying to look as innocent as possible.
"What is it?" He asked, a smug smile splitting his lips and showing his sharp fangs to her.
Mei said nothing in response, filling a nearby basin with water from the shower head and approaching him. Had Izuku been paying attention to it – and kept his blood into his thinking head – he might have noticed that the setting in the nozzle was put into max for the cold setting.
As he failed to do so, Izuku was in for a cold surprise when Mei dumped the water over his crotch, the vampire hissing immediately. He almost shouted in surprise, somehow managing to clamp his trap shut with some mighty effort. Izuku glared at Mei, annoyed at her payback.
"Calmed down a bit?" The girl had the audacity to ask Izuku the question, the teen huffing at Hatsume, his excitement forcefully settled down. She winked at him, grabbing the bottle of soap and shaking it in front of him. "Now I can get started for real." Her cheek-and-tongue act made Izuku begin his plans for revenge against her, wondering how he should make her beg for it.
*touch* *Boing*
Only for the vampire to take a deep breath, a soft sensation on his back taking all attention away from his mind and back to his skin. He was quite sure that his bathroom had no sponge that soft and pleasant, much less two of them. There was soap being lathered on his wet skin, and Mei was the one doing it…
"How is it?" She whispered the question by his ear, her soapy hands massaging his abdomen and going lower to his half-mast member, "washing" Izuku. "Relaxing?"
Izuku leaned a bit back against her, feeling the girl hug him with intensity and his theory was confirmed. She was using her breasts as a sponge. A throaty sound left him, the hemomancer letting that being his confirmation.
Mei kept at it for a while, the vampire regaining his excitement as Mei's soft flesh lathered him in soap. Once she was satisfied with her work the girl grabbed the shower head once more – this time turning the water to lukewarm – and washed away the foam and soap from Izuku's body. The vampire turned around to do the same for Mei he saw that the girl had already washed away the soap that clung to her, leaving Izuku to merely stare at the girl's wet and soft body.
She finished rinsing her body and placed the nozzle back on its place, grabbing Izuku's hand and once more dragging him to the tub. It was full, the warm water lightly emitting steam and inviting the duo for a relaxing time. The girl pushed Izuku in the tub, the vampire slowly sinking in the water and leaning his arms on the rim of the tub, leaning his head back to enjoy his bath. Mei wasted no time joining him, sitting between his legs and leaning on his abdomen.
The duo remained in the tub until the water became lukewarm, Izuku nuzzling against the girl's neck as she did the same.
"You seem tense." Mei stated, grabbing his arms from the tub's rim and wrapping them around her shoulders, putting her arms over his own. "I know that the fight against All Might was tough, but something else is bothering you."
Izuku closed his eyes and further pressed himself against his lover. He inhaled deeply, taking in her scent and slowly exhaling his frustration and tiredness.
"I…am...how do I explain?" The vampire's voice carried some guilt and weariness. "Am I taking advantage of you?" He managed to ask, leaning back on the tub and trying to remove his arms from around the girl. "It is just that…it seems that we don't do much besides staying at home and having sex. I drink your blood and…it is weird…are we in a relationship or are we just screwing around? I don't want to hurt you and your feelings, and I…haven't been exactly exemplar…" Izuku began to mutter, his questions turning into a serious case of what Mama Inko used to call [The mumbles] before he had mostly left the habit behind…or not.
Mei kept listening (or trying to, Izuku could mutter really quickly) to her lover, his arguments making her wonder if the vampire had gotten drunk or something. She grabbed a hold of his arms to avoid losing his warmth and touch, further leaning into his torso.
"Sometimes you talk too much 'Zuku!" Mei whined, leaning against his right arm and tangling her hand with Izuku's and firmly holding it, giving the back of his hand a kiss. "I love staying with you, it doesn't matter where. As I told you before 'Zuku, I love you, the rest doesn't really matter. You have always been the best for me; there is nothing that will make me hate you."
Izuku sighed, feeling his hear warm, but his consciousness still tugged at him.
"Mei…you are putting me on a pedestal. I am not that good of a person."
The girl sighed at the stubbornness of her lover. She untangled from his arms and turned around, somehow managing to sit on his lap even in the tight confine of the bathtub.
"What's got you so down? Is it ear-jack girl? Or that gravity-girl?" Hatsume's questions made Izuku widen his eyes in surprise, the vampire wondering how the mechanic girl had managed to hit the nail right in the head like this. "Did I get that right?"
The vampire nodded.
Mei rolled her eyes at the vampire. "Power Loader-sensei told me that I needed to interact more with my classmates – kinda pointless if they can't follow my genius, but whatever – and suggested that I talk to Doggy-sensei for some counselling. Doggy-sensei told me to try talking with Pervert-sensei and she told me to search about relationships online. I found a bunch of things about relationships, but all that they said was a bunch of boring wishy-washy chit-chat about power couples or whatever. I skipped a bunch of them anyways, but in the end it doesn't matter since I found my answer anyway."
Izuku firmly kept his eyes on the girl, waiting for the remaining part of her answer.
Mei kept her silence going for a few more moments, making tension and dread build up inside Izuku's stomach. The vampire thought for a moment that Mei would keep the answer to herself.
Then, she whispered it by his ear and delivered a light peck on his lips.
"…"
It took a few seconds for Izuku to process her answer, his eyes widening further as he tried to analyze Mei's face for any hint of uncertainty about the subject. When none appeared, Izuku finally managed to relax, an invisible weight being lifted from his shoulders as he lightly pushed Mei's head against his chest.
He couldn't help but chuckle a bit.
"Besides, while I love having you to myself, I don't think my hips will manage if you truly went all out."
He flicked his free left hand at her forehead.
"This should be the time you beat me senseless with previously unseen strength and call me a dummy while fleeing from me with a blush." Izuku jokingly spoke, feeling the water begin to go from lukewarm to stale.
Mei's retribution came when she grabbed his left hand before he could rest it aside; taking in her mouth the fingers he had just used to flick at her forehead.
"Aren't you lucky your super genius exclusive mechanic/tool builder is such an understanding person?" She paused her teasing only to shoot her corny line at him, returning to her teasing. Izuku let another grumble echo inside his throat, feeling Izuku Jr. become frisky again. His meat pole touched Mei's inner thigh, the girl swirling her tongue together with his fingers in her mouth until he became full mast. Then suddenly, she slipped his fingers out of her mouth and jumped out of the tub, power-walking naked out of the bathroom, but not before… "But today that is all you get from me! When you come back from I-Island with my tools, then we can do more!" With that said, Mei disappeared from his sight.
Leaving Izuku with a stiff rod in the tub, while inside stale cool water.
The vampire sighed in frustration, leaning his back against the tub while leaning his head back to stare at the ceiling.
"What just happened?"
[XXX]
[XXX]
The day of his flight arrived and Izuku waited together with Mei in the airport, no luggage to weight him down. The vampire spent the last minutes together with his lover, joking and talking about what sort of power tools she wanted. Finally his flight was announced and the vampire got up from his seat to go to the boarding area, kissing Mei one last time for now.
"I'll have another surprise for you when you come back." Mei said and leaned against his chest for a few more seconds before the hemomancer had to leave.
Izuku smiled. "Then I'll need to hurry up to come back."
He made his way to the boarding area, checking his outfit to see if he wasn't too casual neither too fancy. According to the last e-mail Melissa Shield had sent to him she would be waiting Izuku right in I-Island's airport to take him directly to the Shield Labs to avoid wasting any of their short time in the man-made Island.
The vampire didn't have to wait long to board the plane – a few crewmembers giving him some side glances - but one breath had Izuku looking around the place. There was a smell that was familiar to him, the smell of antiseptic and old blood; there was something more than blood. Izuku couldn't put an exactly description in what he was feeling right now, the sensation both familiar and foreign.
ONE FOR*# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #*ALL FOR*# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #*ALL FOR *# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #*oNe FOr*# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #*OnE fOr x All FoR*# #**# #*ALL FOR*# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #*aLL FoR*# #**# #**# #*ALL FOR*# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #*ONE FOR*# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #*ONE FOR*# #**# #**# #**# #**# #**# #*
"Sir?" Izuku's head snapped towards the person who called him, the English being what took him out of his sudden mind-dive. "Are you alright? Your eyes suddenly…turned like that." One of the flight attendants used her phone as a mirror to show Izuku that his eyes had turned into their fear-bringer appearance. A few nearby passengers took some distance from him, the only one close enough to him to call his attention being the flight attendant.
Izuku blinked a few times, wondering why the scent – that had disappeared, just his luck – had triggered this sudden mind-dive. He immediately apologized to the attendant, the chocolate-colored attendant in blue uniform smiled and waving his apologies.
"Do not worry about it, sir! I have seen flight-fright situations that get really bad. Yours is quite tame in comparison." The attendant (Izuku's sight capturing the name tag Lola) waved him with a smile, her soft attitude allowing the vampire to calm his erratic heartbeat down.
"Thank you. Sorry for the disturbance!" He did a light bow, replying in somewhat accented English. He was going to take this promptly made excuse as an opportunity if it meant not having to explain the true motive for his sudden freeze-up
After the little incident, Izuku hurried to enter the plane and find his seat. He didn't notice the rather posh and fancy area he was at, just content in finding his place and sitting down for the rather long flight. The scent returned – and worse – it was a rather soft and fleeting, barely still in his sense of smell that it annoyed him.
He closed his eyes to avoid scaring other passengers, cursing inside his mind as his sense of smell further deepened, the strange and oddly familiar smell still taunting the vampire. He opted for a better way to stop his senses, doing a voluntary mind-dive towards the deep parts of himself. Near the cage of the [Inner Beast]; near the throne.
The colored bricks;
The spacious ballroom;
The various framed paintings that hung on the walls and spoke of truths that surpassed words;
The cage hanging up in the air that housed his most wild desires;
The incomplete throne that sat right in the middle of the ballroom;
Here, in the deepest recesses of his mind Izuku could forget the outside world and just be. The vampire walked towards the throne, his steps echoing loud and deep in his mind. There was a greeting growl directed at him, the rational mind facing the instincts as the two stared at each other in a challenging manner.
Izuku rolled his eyes at the caged beast, the creature laughing in a grating manner back at him.
[The old blood is still a mystery, but we have some pieces of the puzzle here. Master, blood is our answer; it always has been our answer.]
[There is something more than mysterious here. We can sense old blood nearby, but also far away; much like those flesh puppets from before.]
Izuku growled at the mention of the Noumu, the vampire taking a few seconds to breathe and calm down.
"I know. Ever since I drained that Noumu I noticed something bad in that thing." The vampire huffed in annoyance. The [Inner Beast] chuckled and released a growl of pleasure. Izuku also felt shivers running down his spine, his gaze focusing on a the new painting frame that was being formed.
The outer frame settled on the wall and the canvas emerged into existence, a song echoing in Izuku's head as Toga's quirk unraveled to him. The painting depicted a detail-less silhouette, one part of its face being doused in blood to paint it other colors. Izuku frowned a bit as he stared into the painting, the knowledge of the quirk factor slowly unwinding and making Izuku widen his eyes at it.
Himiko had explained her quirk in detail to him. Her [Transformation] required the ingestion of blood, which would result in Toga taking in the appearance of the person. Longer periods required greater amounts of blood, but the transformation was rather perfect. It didn't come with memories and the blonde could not use the person's quirk, but besides those details Toga could effectively become another entirely different person in a genetic level.
Such power combined with her agility and proficiency with knives made for quite the difficult person to catch and contain. Izuku could think of at least ten manners in which the quirk could be used for heroism or even government matters, but his mind could also race through quite the list of law-breaking ways which said power could be used.
Was it good or bad that he had someone like that under his wing? The girl had declared undying devotion to his cause, but Izuku was more than skeptical at her statement and manners. Whatever the case may be, now, the vampire had a portion of that power to himself.
Differently from Toga's quirk his new power didn't require the ingestion of other people's blood. It also didn't have the same potency of the girl's power. At most, the new power that ran inside Izuku's veins could alter slight details about his appearance: Change of hair color (he would still maintain his curly hair), change of his eye pupil color, slight malleability in bone and muscle matter – especially around his face – but what most interested Izuku was that he could mix this quirk-factor quite well with the others running in his blood.
Ever since he drained the Noumu, usage of multiple quirk-factors simultaneously had become easier (no wonder he managed to do most of his ultimate moves against All Might) but with Himiko's [Transformation] it seemed almost like her quirk was a key to unlocking something inside Izuku.
The vampire became excited to test out his new power, his mouth salivating at the thought of becoming even more undetectable. Izuku had become quite the front line fighter, but his specialty laid in stealth operations and spy-like work; not that he had been doing much of that these days, but he swore that he was a stealth-hero-in-training – even Edgeshot acted out in the open these days, despite his moniker of Shinobi Hero – it was a consequence of hero work besides the fame/spotlight; one would have to get used to brawling fights.
He slowly began to leave his mind-scape, the song of life and death pounding in his ears as his vision was covered in the black void of unconsciousness, the vampire trying to find some sleep.
As he went into the void of sleep, the vampire didn't notice the discreet stare of one skeleton-like blond man. The emaciated man wondered why the teen was in the same flight as him, even in the same vip-area that he was at. The man had been called here by a long-time friend for some exciting news, but his friend failed to mention what sort of news those were.
To make matters more complicated he also had seen quite a few students 1-A in the plane too. It was quite lucky for him that few people knew of his current state, but he couldn't help the worrisome feeling that was sprouting in his gut.
[XXX]
[XXX]
Izuku tilted his head to the side and groaned in pleasure at the popping sensation of his stiff neck joints crack a bit. The vampire was well rested, having had quite the good sleep in the flight to I-Island. He let his tongue brush the insides of his mouth, wondering if Melissa was already waiting for him.
Landing was a quiet affair, the only planes that could go to I-Island were the ones designed and built there so their systems were the best of the best available in the market (one quite closed and restricted he might add). It made sense, after all the best advancements in technology usually came from the man-made island. It was hard enough to get even a visitor's visa, the vampire was sure that a permanent stay or work-stay visa would go through so much red tape you would need a whole assembly of layers to make sense of anything.
It was Izuku's luck that his ticket was a special one, since he was being subjected to research under Melissa (and possibly her father, David) Shield.
After a quick check-up to confirm his identity, Izuku received a metallic bracelet and a badge with his picture. He only had brought a backpack with some clothing and a few personal items, the trip back to Japan would be the one requiring him to pay a hefty amount to bring back Mei's gifts. Well, that was a matter for future Izuku to be thinking about. For now, the vampire walked at a sedated pace to reach the outer plaza of the place and hopefully meet Melissa without too much fanfare.
In hindsight maybe it was a mistake for Izuku to not have requested Melissa send him a picture of her to allow him to identify her and avoid misunderstandings. Sure, she had a file with some basic information about him, including a picture and full description – that was without mentioning that his face had been on the news for a while – but you never knew.
Well, at least the visuals are quite pretty. Can't believe I-Island is this advanced, Izuku mused in his head as he took in his surroundings. Even while close to the airport, I-Island had this feel of an incredibly advanced sci-fi place; The buildings had this clean and futuristic aspect to them that surpassed Japan, neon lights and volumetric displays showed a variety of things from commercial ads to information about the weather, local news on development and gossip, international stocks and much more were constantly in display, catching your attention with just about anything that could strike your fancy.
Izuku waited for a few minutes to see if the Shield Girl found him, wondering what sort of person she was. He pulled out his phone to check out his social media and e-mails for any message from the girl, but so far nothing had popped up.
There weren't many cars around, buses and bikes being the main method that people used to move around, the sporadic tree dotting some lanes to avoid giving the city to much off a concrete-jungle vibe to it.
Half an hour went by with Izuku waiting, some impatience growing in him. He was about to type an email to the girl, but caught something out the corner of his sight that called his attention.
One commercial ad for some sort of party that would be happening in two days; that in itself was nothing special since these types of reception parties were quite frequent in a place like this (sponsorships and press conferences to gather publicity and fame), but this party was something rather grand. Supposedly All Might would be hosting it, the details lost on Izuku. The vampire questioned the presence of the Top hero of Japan here since he was nowhere to be seen in the flight.
He might have a private jet or something, but why would he be here? Isn't his time in hero form limited? I know public management is a thing, but he only has three hours left in his hero-form right? Should he really be wasting time here? These thoughts swam in the vampire's mind. He might have missed the hero due to him being in his weakened form (Izuku was still unused to the idea that All Might would soon retire if his condition was anything to go by), but before he could sink into deeper thoughts his ears picked on a rather distinct sound this time.
His [Hunter Instincts] alerted him of something approaching, the vampire turning his head to see…was that a girl using a trampoline? Some sort of jumping jack? Whatever it was, it was approaching him at a constant pace, the transportation carrying a blonde girl with it. Since Izuku had gotten a flight late at night, he had arrived a few hours past breakfast, the 10:27 A.M sun shining brightly and hiding the girl's appearance from him as she had her back to the sun's light.
Onlookers spared brief glances at the scene, ignoring it as soon as they noticed it had nothing to do with them.
Izuku stepped back and allowed the girl to bounce until she landed right in front of him, her appearance finally visible without the sun's glare. High ankle brown boots and red plaid high length socks that disappeared inside long – and rather tight – beige jean shorts that went about three inches under her knees; in the upstairs department the blond girl was wearing a buttoned-up red vest over a short-sleeved white shirt with a yellow-red plaid bow tie. Her long blonde hair reached the middle of her back, her face sporting a soft round shape and beautiful aqua-blue eyes and lightly-eclipse-framed glasses. The blonde was slightly taller than Izuku, just an inch or so.
The girl easily landed in her pogo-stick, the tool glowing and suddenly folded in itself to a size that normally shouldn't be possible. While the vampire somewhat gawked at the impressive sight of the technology marvel in front of him, the girl coughed to gather the teen's attention.
"G-good morning?" The blonde's voice came out with a nervous tinge, the Japanese a bit broken and accented.
Izuku snapped out of his stupor, smiling to put on a friendly visage. "Hello there!" He replied in English, trying to put the girl at ease. She smiled back at him, some tension bleeding off from her frame. "Don't worry about the J-Japanese; I can s-speak English somewhat decently." The vampire still stumbled a bit, but he was constantly practicing the foreign language, be it by listening to music or reading books written in English. He would take the opportunity to freely speak and practice here.
I-Island was full of people of countless nationalities, but as English wasn't considered a universal language for jokes, and thus was the official language used in the man-made Island, with Japanese being a close second due to David Shield's known proximity with All Might.
"Oh, you speak it fairly well! I'm sorry about being late, I ended up having to run a few errands for papa, then I met Uncle Might and lost track of time talking with him." The blonde explained herself, wearing an apologetic smile.
"Its fine, I haven't been here for long anyway. So, I take it that you are Melissa, right?"
The girl looked surprised at his question, groaning a bit to herself. "Where is my head at? I'm sorry, it has been quite chaotic here and…I'm sure you don't want to hear my ramblings, right? Yes, I am Melissa Shield! Daughter to the big David Shield and small-time inventor myself." Melissa was quite outspoken, unable to stay still in her explanation and always leaning a bit side to side.
Izuku nodded in good nature at her late introduction. He pocketed his phone and focused on the girl. "So, shall we go to your labs and begin? You were quite excited in your emails about studying the biology of [True Ancestor]."
Melissa scratched the back of her head, motioning for the vampire to follow her. "Well, I wish we could just go there, but all the labs are in use since everyone is in a rush to do last-time check-ups on their works before the Expo and the Grand Party. They should be done by late night today at most, so we can work then; right now we should probably get you checked up in your hotel." The inventor pointed out, Izuku nodding in agreement as he rolled his shoulders and felt his light backpack bounce a bit.
The vampire began following Melissa as they got into a bus, the girl serving as a tour guide; she pointed out interesting places to him, some indeed catching his attention. The bus ride was fast, the vampire managing to rapidly check-in to his hotel (a five-star hotel, which really surprised him) and leave his light luggage safe at his room.
Melissa waited him by the reception, talking with a few of the hotel's staff members enthusiastically. As he approached, the staff members joked about something in low tones, making a few gestures hidden from his sight that got the blonde American girl to shake her head and swat her hand at them in a light manner.
"Come on, Izuku. Let's get going." Melissa called him out, the vampire following suit behind her. He glanced back to see if he would get some clue to their joking, only to find the staff (two female attendants) "hide" their smug smiles behind their hands. Izuku ignored their looks, turning his head back towards Melissa and ending up getting a look at her well-rounded rear.
The vampire huffed, taking his eyes away from the girl and catching pace with her, standing by her side to avoid any embarrassing trouble.
Melissa turned to him, stopping close to another bus stop. "Right then, Izuku. Where do you want to go? Wanna check out the quirk-testing zones? I got the files you had and the ones your hospital forwarded to me, but there is nothing like real-live testing." As Melissa talked, full of enthusiasm and excitement, Izuku couldn't help but compare the American with his mechanic lover.
He almost punched himself at the comparison, feeling foolish for letting his hormones get the better of him. [Cooling Blood] began to flow around him, his face becoming a mask of stoicism.
"You haven't seen the videos?" He asked in a neutral tone, Melissa turning around and leaning forward.
"I mean, most of them are really shaky; besides, the media is too much focused on grandiose shows. Show me what you truly can do!" Melissa gave him a thumb's up, her smile radiant with the prospect of seeing her conversation partner for months by emails show what he was truly capable off.
Izuku closed one eye and did a side glance to the girl, finding her to be looking at him with an expectant gaze.
"Come on!" Melissa whined in a good-mannered nature. The vampire rolled his eyes rather visually, receiving a light smack on the shoulder by the girl.
"I guess we can do some light tests." He resigned himself to the whims of the American, the girl gifting him with a shining smile. She immediately grabbed his arm and began dragging him away to a bus stop, excitement practically flowing in waves from the girl.
…
…
…
First Test of the Day: [Physical]
Melissa managed to drag Izuku to one of the ongoing quirk testing sites, the area full of attractions to the visitors that felt inclined in testing their quirks in a public environment. Most of the current visitors were heroes who had been cleared to visit the man-made island after a few months of waiting (Izuku thanked God for the rarity of [True Ancestor]) and were bringing their sidekicks to introduce them to the inventors and engineers in the island. Having someone from I-Island review your support gear was a big hit after all.
The challenge that caught Melissa's attention was a sort of mountain climbing test that pitted the participant against both instable grounds and a few combat bots. There were different settings for those that wished to add to the difficulty of the challenge and even a prize for whom could score the highest points based on timing, robots destroyed, hits avoided and visual performance.
The current highest records were left by…and Izuku quoted: [Bakugou Katsuki] and [Todoroki Shoto].
1 - [Katsuki Bakugou: timer: 002:32:47''| bots defeated: 70/70 | Hits avoided: 97% | V.P: Well Liked]
2 - [Shoto Todoroki: timer: 002:45:02'' | bots defeated: 70/70 | Hits avoided: 100% | V.P: Liked]
How the hell did those two managed to get tickets to travel here? Izuku frowned his brows. It wasn't that he didn't wish to see classmates here, but it was quite the surprise. Todoroki I suppose could be representing his father here if even All Might is here to waste a few minutes with media, but why the hell is Bakugou here? The vampire searched around to see if the two males were close by, but he didn't find anyone around.
The vampire huffed, but approached the person in charge of the testing facility. Melissa stayed back to watch Izuku's performance, excitedly waiting for him to begin.
"Good luck Izuku! Do your best!" The blonde cheered, tapping her glasses twice and opening a discreet HUD interface in the right lenses. "Recording of physical performance log 001. Subject Izuku Midoriya, aka vampire, is now about to undergo a test of sorts in the Difficult Terrain and Combat Trial so that I can better understand his physical limits and try to run a few pre-programmed analytics with our reported data. Recording now." Melissa spoke quietly into her digital watch, the link between it and her glasses at 100%.
Izuku stood at the bottom of the mountainous-like terrain, his eyes focused on the finish line. He had borrowed some sports clothes to do the exercise, not willing to dirty his previous outfit on this. He wondered if he should just go all-out from the get go, but in the end the vampire opted to start light, restricting himself merely to a light use of [Advanced Hemomancy] and [Blink]. Better to not run out of surprises this soon into their testing.
[START!]
The electronic crier barely echoed and Izuku shot forward like a bullet out of a gun, only his hands covered in a thin layer of hardened blood. No more than three seconds had gone by before he finished the first robot with a jab, his hand piercing the metal body of the construct like a spear before he was on the next target.
The combat robots were mostly focused on long range, their ammo being a low-grade rubber stun round. At the most challenging setting they would fire either a low caliber laser or electric tazer rounds that did hurt, but of course were not lethal. Normally even after one set the challenge to the hardest possible, the bots would first fire their low-grade payload and adapt to the level of the challenger, ramping up the difficulty as the algorithm saw fit.
The moment Izuku trashed the seventh bot (the timer indicating mere 14 seconds), the system kicked in overdrive to challenge the vampire. Single fire mode was instantly out, 3-rounds burst-fire exiting the barrels of the remaining 63 robots scattered around the arena.
Izuku merely smirked at the increased rate of fire. It won't help you!
Melissa's surprise at Izuku's performance was visible due to her widened eyes, no commentary being added to her personal observation diary as she was too stunned into watching the show in front of her.
…
…
…
The last bot's head fell forward from its body, the cut that did the act smooth. As the metallic head fell over, Izuku tapped the button that finished his test, a buzzer loudly exclaiming his victory over the obstacle course. From high up in the spire/fake mountain Izuku waved at Melissa, wondering if the American had managed to see every bit of the action. He wasn't the type to brag and puff his chest in pride, but right now Izuku felt quite happy with his accomplishment.
[New Record!] - [Izuku Midoriya: timer: 002:25:31'' | bots defeated: 70/70 | hits avoided: 100% |V.P: Well Liked]
"So, how was that?" Izuku suddenly appeared by Melissa's side in a sudden burst of mist-like smoke, startling the girl. He had a slight smirk in his lips, but seeing the bright-eyed expression the American girl send him the vampire was a bit taken back.
"That was amazing!" Melissa clamored enthusiastically; messing with her watch for a few seconds to ensure her recording was saved and sent to her father before she focused back on the vampire. "And you aren't even winded! That's some impressive stamina! We are so continuing this right now! Let's test your other skills!" The Shield girl grabbed a hold of the vampire's wrist and tried to pull him towards another testing site, failing to make him budge from his current location.
The blonde girl almost fell due to whiplash, the vampire pulling her closer to avoid having the girl meet the pavement, a dark tendril exiting from his shadow aiding him without having too much skin-to-skin contact between the two of them. That got the girl even further excited, the lenses of her glasses lighting up once more and the girl focused her eyes at the shadow matter helping her.
The girl grabbed the tendril, trying to figure out what made the composition shadowy matter. Izuku stood there awkwardly while the girl poked and prodded the tendril, a few other technicians glancing around to see if could peek out some answer from the American girl.
When Melissa noted that others were trying to glance at her work, the girl released the shadow tendril and patted Izuku on his shoulder, pointing towards another testing site.
"Come on Izuku, we need to test that list you sent me! You are not escaping now, sir!" Melissa joked, pointing towards another direction. Izuku nodded and retrieved his clothes back, having had to buy his current attire – it was quite comfy and practical after all – and follow the girl.
…
…
…
Izuku released a sigh, some sweat built up around his forehead and matting his hair. The vampire had just finished the sixth test of the morning, his stomach grumbling in hunger due to his continuously use of all his quirk factors. The vampire felt some thirst rear up, but he was still good to go without a blood bag.
Melissa clapped at his performance, and if Izuku had a perfect word to describe her current state it would be glowing. She had a data pad with her, the device playing a recording of his latest test. They had gone to a VR facility, the vampire being tested in how well his brain could adapt and work under simulated stressful situations. It was essentially a video game, but the hemomancer couldn't lie that it was quite the novel experience.
"I got such amazing data out of that Izuku! You are an absolute beast!" Melissa threw some compliments his way, the vampire finding something strange in her voice. It was subtle, barely perceptible, and it intrigued him at what it was. Sure that he was overthinking things, the vampire brushed off the compliments.
"How about we get something to eat? All this moving about got me to work out quite the appetite." He pointed out.
Melissa approached him, taking a water tumbler from her waist and throwing it towards the vampire. He easily caught the item, screwing open and sloshing the content.
"Sure, I know a place nearby that serves amazing food. You have any preferences that I should know about? Maybe you can only drink the blood of the innocent?" The blonde teasingly played about, the vampire rolling his eyes at her joke. He drank from the tumbler, finding the cold water to go down soothingly down his maw. He almost dried out the tumbler, only lowering it when he noticed that the blonde sent him a shocked look.
"What a brute you are, Izuku! Didn't even consider leaving some out for your friend?" Melissa did a fake act at being emotionally hurt, the vampire finding out that the girl quite enjoyed cheesy jokes and acts. Was this a consequence of hanging around All Might? You would become well versed in cheesy acting? She held quite the repertory of old-school jokes – most of which would fly by Izuku until she had to point out a few details – but he chalked it up to the girl being friendly with him.
He shook his head in amusement, offering the tumbler back. Melissa took it from him and immediately took the container to her lips, drinking the remaining dregs of water and finally screwing the tumbler closed. The vampire did hear a surprised gasp come from somewhere nearby; he scanned his surroundings with a quick gaze, finding the source to be coming from behind one of the attendance counters. He focused his eyes on the counter, but his attention was pulled away by the blonde girl.
"If my jokes aren't funny, you just need to say it out Izuku. No need to shut me out." Melissa gently stated, pushing her glasses back into proper position. He then noticed that he had yet to answer her question.
"My bad, I did not mean to ignore you." He rapidly answered, focusing all his attention back on the girl and leaving his surprised guest as a side-note in his mind. "I sometimes tend to hyper focus in my head and sort of blank out; no need to feel offended. I'll go with whatever you recommend. My treat too." He immediately offered, not wishing to spoil the mood with his hubris.
Melissa quietly giggled, covering her quirking lips with her hands. "I guess you really want to make it up to me, right? You do know that your tickets and all your other expenses have already been paid off, right?" The blonde pointed to her wrist watch and then to Izuku, the vampire blinking and glancing towards the bracelet he had been given when he arrived here.
"Oh."
Melissa giggled even more. It was a soft laughter that was quite enchanting.
Izuku growled in his head towards the [Inner Beast], receiving a chortling gaggle.
[Deny it all you want, master. The smell of this one interests you very much, and there is no use lying to us. We are you after all, and the blood does not lie.]
The vampire let himself be guided by Melissa out of the building towards their new destination, all the while forgetting the surprised gasper behind.
[XXX]
[XXX]
"So that's how Uncle Might teaches." The inventor girl shook her head in exasperation while Izuku hummed. "He was never the intellectual type after all, but to use scenarios straight out of Movie-Americana certainly suits him to a tee."
They were currently at an outdoors lounge area waiting the service staff to bring their meals, Melissa pointing out that the restaurant was one of her favorites. It was specialized in British-cuisine, the meals served out quite hearty.
The blonde had asked for a small serving of shepherd's pie, Izuku following her order with a medium sized order while opting for Oolong tea while Melissa choose a soda from the digital menu. The two were under a parasol, enjoying their conversation as the vampire cooled off from his tests.
"I took you as the type to stick to a rather strict routine, especially considering food." Melissa stated. Izuku raised one brow, already feeling where this conversation was going.
"Please, do not ask me if I can't eat garlic or if I'm scared of crosses." He tiredly replied, the blonde girl sitting across him managing to stifle her sudden bout of laughter. "That would be like me asking if you only eat McDonalds for your meals or why your N.O.E (Network of Online Entertainment) is so bad at adapting media from Japan." Izuku shot back a tease at the girl, finding her to be truly shocked at his statements.
"You take that back mister! I'll have you know that the recent movie adaptations have been quite consistent with the source material!" Melissa promptly defended her Nation's shows.
Izuku stared blankly at the American. "Mortal Writing?"
Melissa choked up, tilting her head to avoid looking the vampire in his eyes.
"Draconic Spheres Y?" Melissa began sweating at the second mention.
"…"
Izuku narrowed his eyes at her. "Need I say more?"
Melissa puffed her cheeks at him, the vampire finding the sight cuter than it had any right to be. "Okay, okay! You win."
The vampire smugly smiled, his lips splitting into what one could an evil grin. "You haven't exactly answered my questions about the food though. Are you that much into fast food?" He wiggled his eye brows, now I know why Kyouka does the same to me so consistently; it is fun when I'm not the one in the crosshairs! Thoughts swimming in his mind as Melissa squirmed and blushed a bit at his commentary.
She massaged her cheeks to get her blood flowing away and stop giving away her embarrassment. "Well, you talk like an old man! What is that all about? Oji-san Izuku (old man Izuku)!" Melissa tried to deflect the conversation back at him, even doing the last bit in Japanese to see if she got a rise out of the vampire.
Izuku merely crossed his hands in front of his face, covering his mouth in the process as he did his best Gendo-Ikari-impression. "I see (naruhodo)." He replied stoically in Japanese, completely unfazed by her commentary and also sending her his best impression of a smoldering gaze.
Melissa snorted back a laugh, hiding her mouth with her data pad in a bit of shame at the loud noise, missing the fact that the holographic was a bluish see-through.
Izuku felt another teasing remark at the tip of his tongue, the vampire just about to speak it out when he noticed a waiter approach their table with a tray carrying their food. Izuku bit back his teasing and waited for the food to reach their table, the waiter placing the meals carefully on. "Have a wonderful meal sir…wait, is that you Izuku?" The vampire took a quick look at his waiter, the man speaking first in English and then switching to Japanese as he recognized his classmate and vice-class president.
"Kaminari?" Izuku hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings now, so entertained he had been with his conversation with Melissa that he neglected to put his guard up.
"Wow man, I wasn't expecting to find you here dude." Kaminari casually remarked, placing his tray under his arm as he took some effort to fix a few creases in his uniform. "What's more, I didn't know you were a player my guy! Care to introduce me to your friend here?!" The blonde electric teen tried to play it smooth, his "suave guy" act not necessarily having the intended effect.
Melissa smiled politely at the other teen while Izuku eyed at him with a curious gaze. "Sure, I guess there is no harm. Melissa, this young one here is a classmate of mine, Kaminari Denki-kun, from UA's hero course 1-A." The vampire did the introduction he found the most appropriate, not being overly familiar with a classmate he seldom talked with, but also not being rude.
Denki grimaced for a few seconds, approaching Izuku to whisper close to his ear. "What the heck dude, what's with that old man-like introduction? You're into acting like an older guy or something?" Kaminari's whisper had a slang Izuku only saw when browsing social media, the vampire genuinely not thinking anyone spoke like that in real life. Besides, what's with everyone suddenly calling me an old man?! Izuku mused, giving Kaminari a side glance and making the blonde smile back. "Come on, introduce me the hotie man!"
"Kaminari-san, this young lady right here is the illustrious Melissa Shield, the genius inventor that I have been in contact recently for research purposes." Izuku rolled his eyes but did the introductions. Denki took the chance to give Melissa his brightest smile and approach her side, hiding the serving tray behind his back.
"Pleasurable noon, right madam? Is there anything your humble servant Denki can help you with today?" The blonde used his best English lexicon with Melissa, the girl glancing quickly at Izuku to gauge the vampire's reaction. Izuku observed the situation with stoic eyes, wondering where all this was going.
He wasn't going to lie, the situation did brought some amusement to him. Was his classmate aware of Melissa's name and reputation or was he simply hitting on the first beautiful girl that he could talk to. There was also the question as to why his blonde classmate was wearing a waiter's uniform.
Melissa then kindly smiled at Denki. "Indeed, Kaminari-san was it? What did you think of I-Island?"
Her question made Kaminari smile. "Oh it is amazing…" The blonde teen almost managed to continue his conversation, but the bracelet around his wrist flashed a red light, the teen panicking and hurriedly apologizing while returning to the restaurant in hurried steps.
Melissa observed the other blond hurry back to the restaurant with mirth filled eyes, focusing back to Izuku with her usual smiley gaze. "Your classmate was funny. Is everyone in your class this much of a character?"
Izuku closed his eyes and crossed his arms, thinking of an answer that wasn't overly the top. Class 1-A was filled with all sorts of people: from the shy to the loud, from the cool to the edgy, from the extremely extroverted to the painfully introverted. All that the vampire could do to answer the American was let a small smile slip his lips, his reaction being enough response to the girl.
"I guess that I'll have to find out on my own, right? You think they might give me a clue?" Melissa asked again and took one spoonful of her meal, cooing at the flavor and pointing her spoon towards one direction.
Izuku opened his eyes and wondered why she was pointing her utensil, his head slowly turning to the direction and finding…What the hell is going on? Since when did coming to I-Island become a school trip? The vampire let the surprised thoughts echo in his mind, seeing Kyouka and Momo sitting close by, also enjoying their lunch. The girls were dressed in UA's female uniform, having shed the blazer due to the heat.
The girls were distracted in conversation, the vampire wondering if he should come over to greet them or let the girls enjoy their time. Izuku turned back to Melissa, except he found her seat to be empty, her meal still on the table slowly cooling off; his ears caught on the sound of her boots scrapping against the smooth marble under their feet, the vampire's head shooting again towards the girl's table and finding Melissa heading towards there with a light jog, waving her hand in a friendly manner to the girls.
Izuku huffed and sighed in frustration, wondering if all the girls that entered his social life enjoyed putting him in these types of situations. Was he overthinking? It mattered not, as the American blond reached his classmates' table and offered a friendly smile, beginning conversation smoothly with the other two females.
Izuku observed the situation from a distance, opting to dull his hearing sense to avoid hearing anything unnecessary. He let a shadow tendril shoot from his arm and bring his beverage to his hand, drinking almost all the cold tea in one go and enjoying the taste of a few bites of his meal before he saw Melissa turn around and wave at him, her hand motion beckoning the vampire to join the girls, the American already making herself comfortable by sitting on one of the available chairs at the girls' table.
His classmates hadn't turned to him, the vampire sighing, but following the invertor's whims – on his own terms. He let his shadow tendrils grab the plates from his table and allowed a mist-like blackish-green smog to exit from every pore of his skin, the vampire [Warp]'ing right onto the last remaining seat, his hair dyed a full raven-black and pupils colored in deep red, giving Izuku a completely different vibe as his shadow tendrils placed the meals on the table, spooking everyone with his sudden arrival.
"Hello there." He spoke in a deep voice, prolonging the sound of each vowel that he spoke. He also sat in the chair regally, crossing his legs in gentlemanly fashion and placing his hands over his elevated right knee, a sleazy smile across his lips and giving a view of the poking canine teeth in his maw.
Momo shuddered at his sight, Kyouka yelping in surprise at his sudden appearance while Melissa widened her eyes, also not expecting Izuku to employ the little trick. She hadn't mentioned his name so far, waiting for the girls' reaction to his appearance to give her a little insight on the vampire.
The Yaoyorozu heiress remained in silence, unsure of what to say while Jirou tried to figure out if they were being pranked right now, as there was no one in class with such appearance. However, there was one person that used that introduction constantly.
"Izuku?" Kyouka tentatively asked, hitting the nail on the head as the vampire's smirk widened and he began to morph back into his true appearance, his hair coloring back in green and his eyes losing the blood-red color they had. "You little shit!" Kyouka shouted, her ear jacks shooting for the vampire's eyes. He managed to catch the tips in-between the fingers of his left hand, his right one busy with a spoon that was bringing another bite of his meal to his mouth.
"Kyouka-san, Yaoyorozu-san. How do you do?" He asked after gulping the food down, the girls settling hard stares on his frame.
"You know, Midoriya-kun, one of these days we shall not hold back on you if you keep up these pranking habits! Honestly, how childish can you get?!" Momo behaved elegantly, although you could notice much less heat in her voice. Kyouka nodded along her friend, trying to pull her jacks back, but failing in her endeavor as the vampire's fingers still firmly held the aux-shaped lobes.
"I apologize then, but I couldn't resist a little joke." Izuku tested out the waters, wondering if he would get away with this behavior. His classmates sighed in exasperation at his behavior, but soon they offered warm greetings, making the vampire smile alongside them. "I see that you girls were quick to make friends with Melissa here." He pointed out to the American, finding the girl waving back.
Momo was the first to reply, chopping at Izuku's hand still holding Kyouka's jacks. "Melissa-san is quite sociable and friendly, and we saw the opportunity for a nice lunch out. I'll be rather busy later with some family matters, but I'm happy to see another classmate close by." The heiress announced, Kyouka rolling her eyes at the overly complex explanation and butting in.
"What she means to say is: she is happy to see you here, but won't have much free time since her family is one of the big shots that put money here, so at least one member of the family has to be here for publicity's sake." Kyouka teased, finding Momo to look at her with a betrayed expression.
It seems like Yaoyorozu has talked with Kyouka about our new friendly standing and the little punk is ready to play the teasing game. Heh, classic Kyouka. Izuku mused, humming in exaggerated fashion and gathering attention to himself.
"Is that so? In that case it seems that I have to be a good host and properly escort you to find appropriate entertainment." Izuku did his best try at posh behavior, putting one hand over his chest and lightly bowing to the girls. Kyouka grinned at Momo and wiggled her brows at the heiress, the raven-haired girl blushing and stammering to try and formulate an answer at the duo's combined teasing. She failed and soon her blush reached critical point, steam exiting the top of the girl's head as she shrank in herself to appear a smaller target to the two crows named Izuku and Jirou.
Melissa giggled at the sight of the cackling hyenas (i.e Izuku and Kyouka), taking a sip of her soda to quench her thirst and waving her hand at the duo.
"Come on now, enough with the teasing." Melissa offered a white flag to Momo, the heiress looking over to the American like one looks at an angel. "Besides, mister, have you forgotten that you have a duty with me? We still have to put you under the microscope hun!" Melissa pointed out to her watch, Izuku looking to Kyouka and extending a hand to the girl.
"Please, Kyouka-san, don't let this mad scientist grab a hold of me. Who knows what sort of crazy experiments she will try to perform on poor old me." Izuku did a terrible act at being scared, the three girls dead-panning at him. The vampire looked to the side and tsk'ed, a bit bothered his act had been dismissed so quickly.
Melissa was the first to break the gaze, shaking her head in amusement. "Drama queen."
The vampire smiled back at the American. It was strange to be able to bond so quickly with people. This was nice.
"You know it." Kyouka added on the side, making the vampire glance at her with a knowing look. Kyouka stared back at him, daring him to act.
The group broke in laughter a few moments later.
Melissa then asked a question. "Which event will you attend? I can get you VIP access if it is the same one I'm going. This one is coming with me too." She pointed to the vampire, Izuku throwing a questioning gaze at the blonde.
"I am?"
The inventor typed in her data pad, showing the group the window that loaded: an invitation to the Grand Expo of I-Island, the host being All Might. "After we are done with the research with papa, he said to invite you too. Can't have the big bad vampire running around the island in such a night of gala; after all, who knows how many innocent necks you will bite into if we allow you to run free?"
Izuku mock-laughed at the jab. Kyouka snickered alongside Melissa while Momo sent Izuku a questioning gaze.
The rest of the meal was an enjoyable affair, the group hitting off quite well for a rag-tag bunch that suddenly got together. Izuku certainly enjoyed being with them, even if he had to clamp a bit harder than normal at the cage in his mind.
The [Inner Beast] seemed to find amusement at his negation of their primal instincts, but he could not lie that the sweet scent of the three girls was having a reaction on him. Just a few more days and he would be back home.
[XXX]
[XXX]
"Well, your quirk is amazing alright…" Melissa declared, carefully observing the composition of Izuku's blood under the powerful microscope of her personal lab. She had sort of lied when she told the vampire that all labs were occupied; her father's and her personal labs would always be available, but she wanted to study Izuku outside of a lab environment and find out who he truly was.
She had also told him a white lie when she mentioned to not have seen the clips about him. Melissa had obsessed over the videos, a jealous feeling tickling at her heart; you would too when you were quirkless.
Melissa swore to herself that she was over that, but the prospect of studying a real-life vampire capable of using multiple quirks reignited the spark that she thought burn out in her heart. She was a bit behind in bio-chemistry and quirk theory – her grades had been dipping a bit here for a while – but she was sure that she could figure some secret out from Izuku's quirk. She would also have some help from her father, his interest in the almost god-like regeneration of [True Ancestor] being the main reason the vampire had been invited over the man-made island.
It was a bit hard to study the quirk, as blood and tissue samples would rot before one could study it properly. The vampire had been circumventing this problem by maintaining contact with the blood sample inside a petri dish, a small tentacle of blood constantly circulating life fluid to the glass dish, but that brought its own sort of study problems. So far Melissa had been able to sequence a few key points of his DNA with the aid of her high tech computer and some A.I programs running the DNA sequences on the background, but the girl was already three hours in this and the progress had been slow.
Her father was still busy, but he had already sent her a message that he would come to check over the progress and help in the study. Melissa pulled back from the microscope and rubbed her eyelids to alleviate the slight stinging she felt due to dryness. Izuku had been busy with a book he found in her lab, his current choice being one of the engineering books she used to study before she won first place in the GSSA and the Australian School of Sciences. She was surprised he seemed to be having little difficulty with his read, his eyes switching between the book and the screen of an auxiliary computer, the website belonging to a private closed network of I-Island that sold power tools.
The blonde American girl decided to take a break, seeing as her progress had halted. She rose from her seat and stretched a bit, aware that his eyes had followed her for a short while before he focused them elsewhere.
She had been noticing a few of his gazes, the vampire rather careful where he placed his eyes when looking at her. She brushed the idea aside, wondering what to do to pass time and rest a bit. The girl remembered seeing Izuku accomplish an amazing move back in UA's school festival, her mind giddy at the prospect of seeing the vampire use that while equipped with one of her best works up to day.
"Hey, Izuku! You up for one last test?" She asked , putting a sweet tone in her voice. The vampire paused his reading and shopping, looking at her with seriously questioning pupils.
He remained silent for a while, the girl dreading a bit the prospect of a rejection, but her fears were dashed when he nodded. "I guess it doesn't hurt to do one last test for the day." He spoke nonchalantly, probably not aware that it was close to dinner time.
She guided him to a separate zone of her lab, inputting a password in a side panel and opening a private testing chamber, her best work also stored in here. She took absolute pride and joy in this piece, the support item being better than 50 other projects done by other inventors with quirks that helped their builds, be it technopath quirks, mind-augmentation and enhancement quirks, while she was a mere quirkless girl reaching for the top with just her intelligence and wits.
Melissa grabbed the carefully stored box, opening it after it had scanned her fingerprints and taking out what seemed to be a red strip of metal, akin to a wrist watch or the wrist bracelets that were so common here. However, this one was no common gadget. It was the only one of her creations that she decided to name.
Employing super modern methods of alloy-manufacturing and nanotech, this piece offered protection that distributed impact at a perfect ratio so that the user could both attack and defend with it and not fear having the gear break under the strain. It was discreet and could shrink and grow silently to avoid suspicion and most of all, it could withstand her Uncle Might's strength at full power for at least three full powered hits. She was the only one that knew how to create it and only in small amounts, the work being applauded even by her father as one of a kind innovation that could revolutionize engineering and support tech for the next fifteen years.
She lovingly called it Full Gauntlet, in honor of her Uncle Might, who inspired her to be the best she could be, even when she was quirkless.
Izuku was studying the secret lab, but once Melissa brought out her creation the vampire felt the air of the room change. He paid full attention towards the bracelet-like red metal, sensing that the item was something very special to the girl. He approached her, cautious to avoid needlessly touching the bracelet.
Melissa beckoned him to come closer, showing to him the bracelet and placing it on his free right wrist, the piece adjusting with a soft electronic whirl. Izuku wasn't sure what to say, so he kept silent and waited for an explanation.
"This is the Full Gauntlet, my best work. I want to see how well you can use it and if you can push it past its limits." Melissa tenderly explained, holding his hand with a gentleness that the vampire tried to limit. She pressed the button on the middle, the red strip emitting another whirl before it grew right before their eyes, covering Izuku's hand and arm entirely until his elbow, the red metal comfortably adjusting to his arm and moving along with his muscles, granting him superior mobility of his limb.
The vampire did a quick test, calling upon the blood under his arm to flow outside. Much to the hemomancer's surprise the protective gauntlet did not restrict the blood flow from his pores to the outside, his Blood Gauntlet covering the Full Gauntlet and the two seemed to work in a perfect tandem. Izuku did a few testing moves, clenching and opening his hand and moving the arm a few times and confirming that even other quirk factors worked effortlessly with the created super gauntlet, shadow matter intertwining between life fluid and hyper-weaved metals perfectly.
"You said that my quirk is amazing? No, Melissa, this is amazing." Izuku stated, absolutely fascinated by the limb draped in red metal that resembled ribbons, yet was supposedly powerful enough to handle even the power of All Might. It was quite the experience to be around someone who could create something of this caliber, yet be so humble and gentle. The vampire recalled all his blood back and glanced back at Melissa, his eyes questioning if he should even be holding this.
The girl nodded at him, messing a bit with her pad to adjust the room to give him a target. It appeared on the end of the secret part of the lab, a silhouette-like grey target. She pointed to it and gave him her best encouragement.
"Now, go ahead big man! That is a titanium-tungsten target that we use to test…things. You can use your most powerful attack on it, don't even think about holding back." Melissa shouted encouragement at the vampire, Izuku still maintaining his eyes firmly settled on her frame. She kept her soft smile and pointed to the target once more.
The vampire obliged. "If anything expensive breaks around here, I am not paying for it." He loudly exclaimed, making Melissa laugh at him.
"If you manage to break anything expensive in here, I'll give you whatever you want." She innocently replied back, the vampire's right eye twitching violently.
Izuku's mind echoed with a loud roar and a booming grating laugh that belonged to the [Inner Beast], the vampire hissing to himself as blood once more covered his arm, perfectly sliding over the Full Gauntlet.
[Don't mind if we do, then, Genius-mate. It shall be a pleasure to drink your essence and acquire your power too!]
[Genius-mate smells different! She is not the same as most mediocre females out there! Her Smell is pure.]
[…Worthy of our…]
All my current powers, converge and gather around...He chanted to himself and ignored the voices in his head, the song of life and death echoing in his mind and pounding at his ears druming like a chant to call upon an ancient god of war…Mixing and matching, these powers gather around my fist…the quirk factors inside his blood reacted and began the process that called upon one of Izuku's ultimate techniques…So that it can become the core of a…Melissa noted that if anything, the videos of the vampire had downplayed his strengths. She activated a safety protocol just in case, a thick layer of high-frequency plated shielding rose from the ground right in front of her, the girl anxiously waiting for the resulting aftermatch.
"[God Shattering Star!]" Izuku roared, his fist coming to crash down upon the target
[XXX]
[XXX]
David Shield had been busy for most of his day, only taking a few moments to talk with his old – and somewhat distanced – friend All might (or uncommonly known as Toshinori Yagi) for a quick chat. They had grown apart after the incident that left the Top Japanese Hero with his near fatal wound, the blonde man still insisting in pursuing the hero career even under the warnings of his friends that such stubbornness would end up killing him.
David had been All Might's partner during the hero's ascension to the world's spotlight, being a field support operator for the hero and also a an excellent support tech engineer that had built some of the most famous works that belonged to All Might, including the Might-mobile and the unique mesh-cloth textile that today was so wide spread among the industry (one of the few things that could withstand the pressure and still be flexible/malleable enough to serve as clothing material).
The genius man had been busy at his lab, furiously pouring over the data that he had received from Musutafu's General Hospital as well as the personal notes that belonged to Midoriya Izuku. At first David paid little attention to the spam-like emails that had been sent to the corporate email of his, but a sudden influx of money began to occur towards the stocks of I-Island and the emails kept on piling up in the inbox, until one day the engineer/researcher/CEO of the man-made island decided to check the contents. Much to his surprise, David found himself with the possibility for a super-healing drug being delivered in a silver platter right up to his door-step; one that he almost squandered.
He immediately began contact with the individual, finding it to be a youngster teen with a curious and rather impossible-to-believe quirk.
[True Ancestor]
He recalled hearing a few rumors about it ten years ago, a kid with a ridiculous vampire-quirk that seemed somewhat ludicrous at the time. It had a bunch of drawbacks and it seemed to be one of those dark-quirks that would result in the child turning into a villain later in life. A tragedy for the family, more of a statistic for the government; David paid little attention to it at the time, believing that his secret project would have been enough to help his friend before he realized the gravity of his work.
Now the chance to do something good had resurfaced and David would spare nothing to study this power. Many doctors and scientists had tried to work around the limitations of [True Ancestor] deeming the quirk impossible to study due to its fickle nature, but David was a patient and willful man; added to his luck this time around, the Midoriya youngster had been fully willing to cooperate with him, doing his best to aid the study of his quirk and offering all the assistance that he could.
David had been pouring over the data Izuku had granted him as well as raiding the info cache of his daughter's lab. He respected Melissa's privacy most always, but this time he could not afford to lag behind in the information that she gleamed from Izuku as well as what he could pick apart from the cryptic quirk. He had received some data from UA, Recovery Girl kindly sharing what she managed to get from the vampire as well as a method to keep samples fresh, but it seemed that the hemomancer himself had found a way to aid that part of the study. It made analysis a bit complicated due to the constant blood flow, which meant the unorthodox methods of study had to be employed, but David had managed to cobble together a few interesting theories.
"David, you have been in here for long enough. Please, do take a break and go visit your daughter." A male voice asked from behind the scientist/researcher, David turning his stubble-filled face towards the person. The man in question was dressed in a butler outfit, his gray hair properly combed back and his overall appearance impeccable, a far cry from David's greasy face and messy hair. "You have been stuck in here for 48 hours, I think it is time for you to freshen-up and rest a while. The expo is just around the corner and we can have our top researcher collapsing due to overwork."
David smiled wryly, overlooking all the data displayed on the holographic screens of his lab. "I know, Sam! However, just look at this! This might as well be the answer I was looking for. Controlled Spontaneous Stem-Cell creation, efficient usage of blood for improved perception and cleansing of the entire body's systems, Negative nerve cell degeneration and DNA binding, semi-hemostasis and vector-kinesis full body supplementation; this kid and his quirk are just…" When David realized that he had rambled almost like a mad scientist, he wore an apologetic smile and closed the projector, taking off his glasses to rub at his eye lids and moisten his dry orbs.
The butler shook his head as he looked at the room, the place full of used paper cups and plastic boxes with half-eaten meals. "Yes yes, all that is good and fancy, but unless you are sane enough to actually put all that into practice, you can't exactly make use of your data. Go home and take a shower, I'll tidy over and bring you a decent meal. Melissa has been together entertaining your guest for the day, but you need to at least greet the kid." Sam argued over David, making the other man reluctantly leave the room.
Sam made sure that David got into the elevator, pressing the floor button and bidding the overworked-by-choice scientist farewell while he returned to the room to start cleaning up.
Sam began his work with the refined mastery of someone well used to the job, cleaning the room in a short timeframe. After all his work was done, the butler approached the keyboard and turned on the projectors, David not having bothered to power down the computer. The screen asked for a password and a biometric scan before it would grant access, but Sam merely plugged a hidden memory stick drive into one of the machine's slots, the screen scrambling for a few moments before it granted access to the butler.
The data that David had been working on the last hours appeared, new information being added constantly due to the AI program running parallel in the background. Sam's stoic expression broke into one shrewd smile as the memory stick did its work, I-Island logs never registering the unauthorized access to the data banks due to the backdoor entry that for all intends and purposes should have never existed either. No amount of hacker skill or silent bug/poof network software could do this, but Sam wasn't worried about being found out.
This was a trinket from him after all. Unless He wanted to be found out, no one would ever know a thing and his ambitions would finally be rewarded. Butler? Who could ever want such shitty job, while a borderline NEET/Hikikomori scientist gained all the glory for shitty trinkets while he stored absolute power inside vaults.
Everything would be solved soon enough, and Sam would never have to lift a finger again.
[XXX]
To be continued.
AU NOTES
Did I do well? I tried to work-in a few more personality traits into Melissa and push her character into a more fleshed-out character than the first movie did, but if my plans for the future work out then I guess I'll have plenty of time for that later.
I want Melissa to play a more active role in the story as her skill would be 1000x more useful back in Japan than secluded in the techmarvel land of I-Island. I get the intent behind the place, but it seems to me that they are mere tech-hoarders that release to the public whatever is no longer interesting to them, scraps of their current advancements and expect the world to be happy with that much. I'm not saying share everything for free, but considering their resources and what's out in the market, the level of technology should have been much higher.
I know that that is one of the points of the MHA world, their obsession with quirks stagnated scientific advancements, except I-Island since their entire purpose is tech-development, yet they also are obsessed with quirks.
Melissa, with her skill back in the mainland, will be what I will use to push development of the world further. I still have to plan out more, and at first she will be focused on quirks too, be the more the story expands the more we can plan out a better road for that path.
I likely will try to put her skills to the test in hero/villain type deals first to prove their worth, then we can push her influence and intentions better.
Izuku – hopefully – has come about as someone who is willing to push progress, even while he hides away or avoids the spotlight (or tries to). I plan to have him assume something like a reverse role of All for One. Being a shadowy influence that works for good, instead of self-gain and stagnation of the world;
Enough of my ranting, for now younglings. Ryujin Maou out!
PS: If I were to combine mama Midoriya's [Attraction of small things], Uraraka's [Zero Gravity], Reiko Yanagi's [Poltergeist] and a random weak [Telekinesis] quirk, do I get the usual Jedi/Sith powers of Force push, choke? Can we actually have vampire Izuku going around choking villains with the power of his mind?
PSS: How goes the romance part too? I really don't know how to write that, so I guess I'm doing a shitty job, but as I said before I want Izuku to work for this, not to hand it over so I guess I'll have to read some shoujo-manga, since harem series are bad at displaying harem (except you DxD, I'll love you forever) and other media aren't exactly better.
There are a few light novels that do this rather well (looking at you, Mushuku Tensei), but it is hard to write without making the girls fall for ridiculous stuff and…here I go, ranting again. Let me close this or I might just write another novel in what was supposed to be a last note.
Once more, Ryujin Maou out!