Sorry for the late update, was in the mental hospital for attempted suicide. I'm okay now, got medication for my mental issues and am working on finding a therapist. Updates should be back to semi-regular.
SynkóllisiWhen Mei and I got home, we were met with smiling faces and congratulations, despite the fact our results haven't even arrived. When I pointed out this fact, Mom merely smiled and said "We have full confidence in the two of you." Which really made my day, honestly. I may have teared up a little. There was katsudon and chocolate cake waiting for us. Mei loves chocolate.
"Oh, by the way, Izuku, Mei. Hisashi was able to get me an audience with the principle of UA. Nezu. I explained who I was, and with the backing of Hisashi, I was able to convince him the authenticity of my divinity. It helps that he's an animal, which gives him a stronger connection to sensing the supernatural. We talked, and he's given me permission to interview various students across the different classes of UA to find new familia members… especially considering Gaea's awakening. As much confidence as I have in the two of you, I'm afraid it'd be impossible for you two to clear the dungeon and reach her by yourselves." Goddess Artemis informed us with a smile, clearly excited at the prospect of expanding her familia.
"Are you going to exclusively invite the hero students?" I asked.
"Ah, no. In fact, Nezu and I agreed it'd be better to limit how many students I invite into our familia, at least at first, since it'd put a lot of attention on us, which wouldn't be great. It'd make me a target if villains discovered I could bestow something that allowed them to get stronger, potentially on par with All Might someday." Goddess Artemis held up a piece of paper full of names and class numbers. "He gave me a list of students from both your year, and the others as well, that he thought may be a good choice. I have already looked through it, and there are some good potential members I saw. There's a recommendation student who passed, who'll be in 1-A. Momo Yaoyorozu. I'll admit… part of it is her quirk. It'd be invaluable in the dungeon. I'm not going to make any final decisions until I've interviewed them. Quirks aren't nearly as important as their personalities." Goddess Artemis explained. I nodded in understanding, and Mei glanced over at the list, spotting her name. Immediately, her eyes widened and a, dare I say it, feral grin sprouted across her lips.
"Ooh, I am so gonna make babies with her."
"Mei!"
"Oh, Izuku, you know you'll always be my favorite co-creator of babies! Don't get jealous!"
"I'm not jealous?!" I facepalmed, and my parents laughed at my misfortune. By this point, they had heard about Mei's fascination with calling her inventions her babies, so they weren't too worried. Didn't stop Dad from pulling me aside and teasing the life out of me. I could feel my face turning red. A few hours of celebration passed, and Mei made her way home. I offered to walk her, but she grinned and held up her bow.
"My baby will protect me from any big scary monsters, Greenbean!" She strolled off with a jaunty tune being whistled, her bow glowing a faint bluish-silver as it was strung across her back. I paused a moment, before following after her anyway, barely noticing the amused looks on my parents faces, along with Goddess Artemis stifling a giggle.
"I'm coming anyway."
"Don't you trust me?"
"With your own safety? No. With other's safety? Even less."
"You wound me, Izu!"
"Izu?"
"You've been upgraded from The Offspring."
"I- I'll take it?"
"Good boy." She then patted me on the head patronizingly, and I regretted socializing with the gremlin. Under the light of a waning moon, Mei and I made our ways to her humble abode, aka her workshop/home/junkyard. She's been living alone for almost a year now, moving into an apartment/workshop only two months before we met. Her parents live across Japan, and own a support company of her own. When Mei told them she wanted to go to UA, they promptly just rented out an apartment for her. They visit occasionally, but like my Dad, who actually will have to fly back to America next week, they can't leave their work for long.
"Are you actually going to sleep, or are you gonna build some more?"
"I'll sleep…" she looked away, obviously lying.
"Mei…"
"I will!"
"Don't make me force you."
"How?" She looked at me innocently. I froze. How? My brain froze.
"I, uh. Nevermind?" She grinned, and laughed at me, realizing I had no real plan.
"It's okay, Izu. I'll actually go to bed at a reasonable time." I smiled at her, and we continued on our way to her home. A mild journey later, we arrived, and I bid her a good night. Just before I was about to leave, Mei froze, before starting to shake slightly. I looked at her in concern.
"Mei? Are you okay?"
"I- last time I let you go home alone at night… you nearly died."
"Oh. I- dammit, I'm sorry, Mei. I won't nearly die this time?"
"That implies you're gonna get attacked!" She started to cry a little, and wrapped her arms around me, nearly crushing me. Damn, Mei really is strong.
"I- I can ask my parents for me to stay the night?"
"Will you?"
"I can try?"
"Okay…" I rarely see Mei like this. Vulnerable, small. Quiet. It's… nice, in a way that makes me feel bad about it. To know she cares, but sad she's so scared. I untangled myself from her arms, which was more of a task than I'd like to admit, and dialed Mom's number.
"Hello? Izuku?"
"Hey, Mom, this is probably a stretch, but Mei is really not comfortable with the idea of me walking home alone, especially since last time… anyway, I kind of feel bad just leaving her alone… Could I stay the night?" There was a silence on the other side for a moment, followed by a sigh.
"Izuku… fine. Just, no funny business, okay? You're two teenagers alone overnight, I don't want to be a grandmother yet." I felt my face flush bright red.
"Mom! It's not like that!"
"Oh, not yet sweetheart. Don't think I haven't noticed the glances you give her when you think she's not looking." I could hear the grin on her lips.
"Mom!" I whined "I love you, see you tomorrow." I then promptly hung up, a hand covering my glowing face. Mei glanced up at me, her unique eyes almost glowing in the night. That's cool, actually.
"So…?"
"I can stay." Her face broke into a wide grin and she hoisted me into her arms, my feet leaving the ground. I swear I felt my ribs crack. Seriously, what is her strength stat? She set me out as I wheezed. She grabbed my hand and dragged me inside, talking excitedly about how she's never had a sleepover, and that we can stay up late and watch movies or something. I glanced at my phone. 8:16 PM. I sighed.
"We can stay up until 10:00, Mei, but no later. You promised to get some sleep tonight." I said, a deadpan on my face. Mei pouted, before agreeing. The two of us watched a movie together, relaxing in her room, which was cluttered beyond belief. In fact, we had to sit on her bed as it was the only clear surface. She has a couch, but it had an entire car engine on it. How did she get that in here? Did she build it on the couch? Is she making the couch a car? By the time the movie ended it was 10:23 pm, and Mei had fallen asleep on my shoulder, popcorn scattered across the room from her messy eating, her hand gripping mine. I felt my heart jump in my chest, and I smiled softly. I followed her to the land of Morpheus soon after.
A loud squeal woke me up, and I bolted upright, flinging Mei, who had been asleep on my chest, off the bed. I glanced around frantically, and spotted two people standing in the door frame of Mei's room. One of them was an older woman, dressed in overalls with a red tube top underneath, with blonde hair pulled into a ponytail and light green eyes, while the other was a curvaceous young woman with purple eyes and long eyelashes, with long blond hair trailing down her back. She was dressed in a purple crop top and light blue skinny jeans, with a tan jacket with fur lining over her shirt. It took me a moment, but I soon recognized her as Mt. Lady.
From the floor, Mei groggily glanced up, spotting our visitors. The older blonde had her hands covering her mouth, hiding what I could only assume to be a smirk, while Mt. Lady was openly grinning.
"Mom? Aunt Yu?" she asked, before suddenly she bolted awake, a massive grin lighting up her face. "Mom! Aunt Yu!" She dived towards them and wrapped them up in a hug, lifting both of them off the floor. I saw their eyes bulge as she squeezed them, and I decided to save them.
"Mei, aren't you going to introduce me?" I asked, desperately trying to hide my nervousness from meeting her Mom and Aunt. Where was her Dad? Mei dropped her family members and whizzed around, waving her arms toward me like I was a brand new invention and she was introducing me to the world.
"This is Izuku Midoriya! He's my best friend and partner!"
"Oh ho? Partner, huh? How long has this been going on?" Miss Yu grinned. I flushed.
"Not that kind of partner! I help her make her babies. Wait, inventions."
"I knew what you meant, just teasing." She grinned. I sighed, a tinge of red on my cheeks. Mei's Mom stepped forward and stuck out her hand, a feral grin on her lips that made my mouth go dry.
"Mordred Hatsume-Takeyama, at your service. My husband stayed home to run our company, but my little sister and I decided to visit Mei to congratulate her on taking the exams. We'll be in town until she gets her letter." Mei grinned at that. "Now, mind explaining why I found a boy sleeping in her bed with her?"
"Oh, that's easy! He stayed the night because last time I sent him home alone at night he almost died!"
"Oh."
"Yep!"
"Huh. Okay." And that was how I met her family.
Later that day, Mei and I found ourselves making our way back to my house, as Mrs. Hatsume and Miss Takeyama wanted to meet my parents, and thank them for helping Hatsume feel welcome. Mei was excitedly telling her Mom about everything she had built since she had last seen her, and I was wondering if Lady Artemis was going to bring up The Blessing.
"Izuku helped me build this baby!" Mei yelled, showing off a picture of one of the babies we had built on her phone. I glanced over her shoulder, and immediately grimaced. I remember that one. It blew up a grand total of 38 times before we figured out the issue. It was a jetpack, and apparently the fuel she was using reacted harshly with rust, somehow, and because we were using the scrap from the beach we didn't realize that was the issue for quite a while. It was a fun time.
"Is that based off the one Jet Hero?"
"Yes! Izuku got that immediately too!"
"I like him then." Mrs. Hatsume laughed, and I fidgeted. We arrived at the door to my apartment and I knocked, before opening the door.
"Mom! Dad! Lady Artemis! We're home!" I called out as I walked in, taking off my shoes at the entrance. I heard my mom shuffling around before she turned the corner from the living room.
"Welcome home, Izuku," she looked at the women behind me. "Who are our guests?"
"This is Mordred Hatsume-Takeyama and Yu Takeyama. They're Mei's Mom and Aunt respectively. Apparently, Mrs. Hatsume is visiting for the week, and Miss Takeyama took the week off from her job. Oh! She's Mt. Lady."
"How'd you know that? Are you a fan?" Miss Takeyama teased me, wrapping an arm around me and burying my face into her cheeks as she gave me a noogie. God she's… friendly. Yeah, friendly. I can see the family resemblance. I flushed. In more ways than one… soft… I pushed away, coughing into my hand. I glanced up at my mom and saw her amused smirk, before turning away. Dammit.
"Well, welcome to our home. Mei is a sweetheart, and has been good for Izuku. He's definitely come into his own with her friendship, a lot more confident." Mom smiled, and the four of us filed into the living room. My Dad was sitting at the couch, typing away on his laptop. He glanced up and smiled.
"Welcome home, Izuku, Mei. Miss Yu, Mrs. Hatsume, I'm Hizashi Midoriya, call me Hizashi, otherwise it'd be confusing." He turned back to his work. "I don't mean to be rude, but I need to get this done real quick. Make yourself at home."
Artemis was reading a book over at the table in the kitchen. She glanced up from it. "My name is Artemis, I'm a family friend of the Midoriya's, and have gotten to know Mei pretty well through them. She's a good friend to our Izuku."
"My name is Inko, I'm Izuku's Mom. Mei basically has begun to live with us these last few weeks," she laughed.
"Call me Mordred, please," Hatsume's Mom smiled.
"Call me Yu." And with that, everyone was introduced to one another. There were plenty of embarrassing stories told on both ends, and I saw Mei flush from embarrassment for the first time. I didn't even think she could feel embarrassment. It was cute. Dammit, not again. I flushed slightly.
"Anyway, I think there is something that I should bring up, since I haven't had the opportunity to before." Artemis spoke up.
"What would that be?" Mordred asked.
"It's a bit of a long story. I guess the easiest would be to ask Hatsume to show you her back real quick." Artemis glanced over at Mei, who nodded and turned away from everyone and lifted the back of her shirt, revealing the Falna on her back.
"You got a tattoo?!" Mordred exclaimed.
"No, no, nothing like that!" Lady Artemis waved her hands frantically. "It's my blessing. You see, I'm not just named Artemis, I am Artemis. The Goddess. I'm able to bestow something known as The Blessing upon mortals, granting them the ability to 'level up.' Mei, you can lower your shirt now. Izuku has my blessing too. It allows mortals to get faster, stronger, more durable, flexible, and unlock magic and various skills. In fact, I haven't updated their statuses since the exam. Izuku?" Artemis gestured for me to lay on my stomach, which I did so after removing my own shirt.
"Damn. Mei, you chose well, he's chiseled." Yu commented.
"Auntie!" I chose to ignore the comment, and I felt Lady Artemis straddle my back, followed by the tingling of the blessing updating. I heard a soft gasp.
"Congratulations, Izuku. You got your first spell, somehow. Did you read a grimoire or something? No, those wouldn't exist here. You also shot up in your stats, what exactly did they have you do for that exam?" She got off of me, copied my status to a piece of paper and handed it to me.
Izuku Midoriya
LV 1
STR G 282 → E 561
VIT H 205 → G 301
DEX F 303 → D 609
AGI F 353 → B 803
MAG I 0 → I 15
MAGIC
Slot One
Midnight Serenade
Protection magic that steadily heals wounds inflicted on the user and largely raises their agility and dexterity while active. Constantly drains mind. Its effectiveness depends on the user's magic stat.
And you were just like the moon, so lonely, so full of imperfections. But just like the moon, you shine in times of darkness. Midnight Serenade.
SKILL
Argonaut
Elios Passion
Iroikí Parémvasi
"That's awesome." I breathed, looking at the spell. A self buffing spell. That could be extremely useful. I'll need to practice using it in combat though.
"Izuku, since this is the first spell you've acquired, I need to explain to you how exactly magic works. There are two different types of magic, congenital magic, magic based on one's own ability and race, and acquired magic, magic based on the Falna given by the Gods and Goddesses. Most magic requires three things to activate. Will, Chant, Trigger. Will is the gathering of your Mind, your Mana, Chant are the words you say to direct your Mind into the desired shape, and trigger casts the spell. Some spells don't have a chant. I knew someone who only needed to gather his mind and use his trigger word. If you stutter on your chant or mispronounce a word, or even fail to enunciate it properly, you could lose control of your magic and trigger something known as an Ignis Fatuus, which basically causes the spell to blow up in your face. Not fun.
"So before you even cast your spell, I want you to practice the chant, over and over until you can say it without even thinking about it, with no stutters or flaws. Don't even try to gather any mind for it, understand?"
"How would I even do that?"
"Think of it like this. You have a pool of energy residing in your head, your heart, and your gut. It flows through your body at all times, but rarely does it do anything. In fact, I believe that these quirks of yours are actually a mutation in your species that causes the latent mind to trigger a specific mystery upon the world or to mutate the body in some way. Anyway, when you draw upon your mind, you're focusing on enacting your will upon the world around you. In people without a falna, actually getting to this step is incredibly difficult, but in your case, the falna will simply do the process for you when you focus on it."
"Could I try and learn to draw upon my mind without using the falna?"
"Potentially, though that'd be incredibly difficult and take a long time. But if you do manage it, you could maybe experiment with spell creation. It'd be incredibly dangerous, and I wouldn't recommend it, and it'd be weaker than falna based magic, but you could. It'd allow you to use concurrent chanting, a high level technique involving casting magic while fighting or moving around.
"Its difficulty is likened to dealing with a bomb with both hands while fighting due to the chance of failing a chant or not being able to control their own magic power. I'd recommend learning it as soon as you could, as standing still in combat as a front line fighter, like you're trying to be, would be a bad idea."
"Okay, that was a lot of information. Also, I think we forgot about our guests." The two of us looked around, seeing the gobsmacked looks on Yu and Mordred's faces, and I sheepishly rubbed the back of my head.
"Sorry, we got distracted." Artemis smiled. "Mei, do you want to update your status?"
"Yes please!" She lifted the back of her shirt and laid down where I was a moment ago, having moved out of the way. A moment later, she was looking at her own status. She pouted.
"I didn't get any magic." Artemis laughed at that.
"That's okay, magic is extremely rare. The fact Izuku has it at all surprises me."
"Okay, okay, so, let me get this straight. You're a goddess?" Yu cut in.
"Yep."
"And you can bestow a blessing onto people that lets them get stronger, right?"
"Yeah?"
"Can you bless anyone?"
"I can, yes, though I'm trying to be a bit picky in who I choose to add to my familia. So far I only have Mei and Izuku."
"Can you bless me?"
"What?" Artemis, Mei, Mom, Dad, and Modred all looked at Yu in shock.
"What? I'm a hero, and this gives me the opportunity to be a better hero. Why wouldn't I ask for that opportunity?" Yu huffed, crossing her arms under her sizable bosom, which I totally didn't notice. They really are related. Damn hormones. Artemis stared.
"Okay… I can give you the blessing. I'd be happy to, family of Mei is family of mine." Artemis smiled. Yu grinned.
"How do we do this?"
"Well, please follow me into a side room. I need full access to your back, which requires a full strip of your shirt. I don't think you want to flash everyone."
"Yeah, no thanks. I'm only promiscuous as Mt. Lady, not Yu Takeyama. I'm just as lazy as Yu." she laughed. Mordred rolled her eyes.
"I've seen your apartment. Lazy is an understatement, Yu." Yu stuck out her tongue at her sister.
"Anyway, let's do this!" And with that, the two of them walked away. Five minutes later, which was spent with me explaining how I met Artemis to Mordred, Yu and Artemis returned, with Yu looking a little dejected at her stats.
Yu Takeyama
LV 1
STR I 0
VIT I 0
DEX I 0
AGI I 0
MAG I 0
MAGIC
SKILL
Gigantification
"I wonder why her quirk showed up when Mei's didn't?" I asked. Artemis shrugged.
"I think it's because hers is a mutation quirk, so it's simply a part of her body. It'd be the same reason why on elves 'Longevity' isn't a skill. Gigantification is such a unique ability, however, that the falna recognized it. I think."
"That makes sense to me." I shrugged and moved on.
"So how do I raise my stats?"
"Right, about that. Have you ever heard of Gaea?" A long explanation later, and we had our first pro hero aware of the dungeon awakening.
"Do we know where the entrance to the dungeon is yet?" Yu asked.
"I'm afraid not. Also, your quirk is likely going to be pretty useless the first couple of floors, so I recommend getting a weapon. The first few floors of the dungeon, if I remember Gaea's dungeon right, are similar to the one in my old world. Small, tight spaces. Bad idea to get big."
"Right. I'll commission a weapon to be made, and I'll ask a buddy of mine to train me in it. I'm thinking of a warhammer. I bet I can find someone to make it grow when I grow. That'd be badass!" She grinned and I laughed. Hatsume's eyes blazed.
"I will make the warhammer! With the power of blacksmithing!" She declared. I sighed. New project.
Another few hours passed, and Mei and her family bid mine a farewell, going into town for their own celebration and family time. I went to my room and started working out. I also started reciting my chant while I worked out, starting over whenever I mumbled, stuttered, or mispronounced something.
They were nice.
I steadily got to know more about Mei's half of the family over the course of the week. Mordred apparently was a hero before Mei was born, where she retired to raise her. She married her support engineer, a man named Kairi Hatsume. She described him as a muscular punk with long red hair. He apparently has a scar across his right eye from a malfunctioning invention, and he's a few years older than her. Hatsume's pink hair actually came from her grandfather, Kusuo Hatsume, who had an intelligence boosting quirk.
Mordred was a nice lady, if a bit rough around the edges. She actually reminded me of Katsuki's mom, Mitsuki. Kind, but feisty. Also, incredibly beautiful. A certified MILF if comments from strangers were anything to go by as we walked through a mall earlier this week. Her hero name was Saber, as she specialized in sword combat, supplementing her own quirk Ark, which allowed her to create something out of solid light, which she often used in conjunction with her sword to create beams of light.
Yu Takeyama seemed to enjoy attention and was very shameless. She often teased Mei and me, and she cares a lot about her appearance. She's apparently a bit lazy, though I haven't seen that side of her much. However, she's serious about her job as a hero, despite her using her sex appeal to increase her following. She's always careful about using her quirk and cares a great deal about helping people. She's a good person, despite her flaws.
Today was the day we were supposed to get our results. I got my letter a little bit ago, and was waiting for Mei and her family to show up with hers so we could open them together. I was kind of nervous. I wondered if I passed, though I was pretty sure I did well enough to. I really hope Mei and I are in the same class, that'd be great. Fuck, I hope I'm not in Katsuki's class.
A knock on the door alerted me to Mei's arrival, and I let them in, Mei practically vibrating in excitement, Yu and Mordred smiling behind her. We all made our way into the kitchen.
"Who wants to open theirs first?" Mom asked, my Dad peering over my shoulder. I swore he was just as nervous as I was.
"Oh, me! Me!" Mei vibrated in her chair, and practically tore her envelope apart in her haste. Out popped a small metal disk, which promptly lit up with a projection of a small rat, bear, marsupial creature. It waved.
"Hello, my name is Principle Nezu! Congratulations! You passed the written exam with a 94%. That's an incredible score, considering I was the one who wrote out the test. I especially enjoyed how thorough you were on the engineering knowledge part of your exam! As for your practical, you earned a sizable sum of 58 villain points! However, we weren't scoring you solely on that! We also were watching for heroic action, which you my dear showed with a whopping 23 rescue points from the various times you went out of your way to help a fellow contestant, putting you in the top 10, putting you in second place with 81 points! I'd also like to say, Maijima, also known as Power Loader, was very impressed with your bow. He asked if you'd be willing to spend an extra hour after class for some extra teaching! He's our faculty member in charge of our Support Course Development Studio. Regardless, congratulations on passing the UA entrance exam! Oh, your class is 1-A." And with that, it powered off. The room was silent for a moment, before everyone cheered.
"Congratulations, Mei! I knew you could do it!" I cheered, pulling her into a hug, which was promptly turned into a giant group hug as everyone else joined it. Mei was grinning so wide I thought her face was going to split. Tears started to pool, before she wiped them away.
"It's your turn, Izuku!" she exclaimed. I nodded, and a lot more carefully than Mei did, opened my own letter. My own projection started, revealing a tired looking guy with long black hair and yellow goggles around his neck, a long black shirt and what looked to be sweat pants. I deadpanned. In an exhausted voice, it began.
"Izuku Midoriya. You earned 68 villain points. However, we also neglected to inform you we'd be watching for heroic action. Rescue points. You earned 60, which we dropped to 45 because of your reliance on another student to save you towards the end. Regardless, with a total of 113 points, that puts you in first place in the entrance exam. Just below All Might's record of 117. Congratulations. You'll be in class 1-A." And it powered down.
"Wow. He was certainly… unique." Mordred joked.
"You got first place!" Mei shook me wildly, and I laughed.
"So I did." I couldn't believe it. First place. I turned to Artemis, and bowed my head.
"This is all because of you, and the opportunity you gave me. Thank you so much!" I cried. I felt a hand raise my head up, beckoning me to look at her in the eyes. She was smiling softly.
"I only provided the blessing. Everything else was your own hard work. Stand tall, Izuku. You earned this with your own two hands." I teared up, and began sobbing again, which promptly triggered my mothers own sobbing.
"How is there this much water?" Yu cried. I laughed through my tears. Thank you, Goddess.