Hey ho, everyone!
So still trying to get back into the groove of posting once a week. Sadly, it's going to take a little more time than usual as real life has decided to kick me hard in the butt, so my focus of finding a new job is full swing.
Doesn't mean I'm going on haitus or anything, just means I may need an extra day or two to post :) So thank you for your continued patience.
Onto a lighter note, I am very happy with everyone who grew excited with the arrival of the adorable Unicorn, but sadly she seems to be tuckered out so nothing new from her this week, but don't worry, Mogal is taking good care of her!
5.55 was released for FFXIv as well, and holy smokes they made it so much easier to get the mettle from the Bozjar Front! Like... before it was so tedious.
BUT HOLY SHIT THEY REVEALED HYDAELYN'S "HUMAN" FORM!
Still not looking forward to all those tokens I need to get that final stage of my resistance weapon completed though... granted I enjoy the Alexander raids so... mixed bag results.
I would also like to point out the discord server I hang out most with some other authors and we are always looking to welcome more into our growing community
Anyway, onto the review and thank you for once again reading "Bearer of the Light" simply follow the link here and enjoy the antics of not only myself but other wonderful content creators! - discord. gg/aSdNaZk6
Onto the reviews!:
Silvanium: Not without going too much into spoilers for an upcoming chapter, but Izuku is a "form" of reincarnation, as to what happened with Quinn: No, he did not become unsundered, what happened to him was honestly something worse off, which again.. will come up in the future (very soon I promise you)
As to how Krile got onto MHA Earth? Simply put, she's one of Hydaelyn's chosen and obviously the successor of Eorzea's champion would need some guidance. Who better than one of his oldest friends? (as to how she's survived... well... She'll get to that at some point when she and Izuku finally can talk when he knows more about himself.)
fallendemon248: Who doesn't like stories about a brave warrior that stops the bad guys? :D
YamamotoRyu: Izuku is very lucky indeed and you wouldn't believe how long I had to push Eri's appearance back for... Sadly though, I'm going to have to hard cut the storyline of FFXIV that will be within Bearer at this most recent patch's "Ending" of Shadowbringers, since when I first started writing my story, I already had how the events played out.
Though I wish I could add Reaper, given the whole "Avatar" aspect of it and OFA :O
Thank you for the unlocking ideas, but Gentle Criminal will not have a job unlocked, since his would have mostly been Red Mage TBH. For something like Blue Mage, I thought a more... "monsterous" character would be the one to unlock that particular chaotic mess of a class.
For Summoner, I've decided to basically do a two for one deal on it, like the game does with it and the Scholar classes, but don't worry, that unlock is very soon!
PMC-Midnight Mariners: gotta love Tsu's bluntness, and honestly my favorite 1-A girl, tied with Mina. As for the Lore dump, not so much yet as Izuku would be the one to tell them what HE knows about being the Warrior of Light, which isn't a lot...
As for the Crystal, a good guess but very far from it truly is, you'll just have to wait and see :D
silverjack20: So far it's only one Moogle, but even a single Moogle can cause enough trouble when shit goes down. and Not so much they find out everything yet, because even Izuku doesn't know what a Warrior of Light truly is yet XD
TeraelinII: SHE IS SAVE!
For now...
RandoReade867: Thank you for reading it!
Sweet Kagamine Kiss: Exactly! Granted they won't be BFF's in this story either (Momo holds that spot), but really good friends, most definitely!
And people can be pretty stingey with their ships and that's fine, I have more preferences as well, but sometimes a really good story can come from ones that don't have your favorite ship. When it comes to Nejire and Melissa, no idea yet. Yuyu sadly is going to be a pass, considering she's more of a foil to Nejire's antics most of the time, and as for Mei...
We shall see -shifty eyes-
And I'd recommend getting the starter pack if you wanna try out FFXIV, since you can play the base game and 1st expansion without paying a sub!
Notasavior: It could be a grand journey through the caverns underneath UA considering that's where Moghome is, where the cute little unicorn will have to work herself to overcome any obstacle put before her!
...
Or she can stumble into class and find our green bean of a hero.
Who's to say what will happen ;)
AnimeFan13579: Well she had to get their eventually, and not so much a wonderful land but a giant cavern they call Moghome. She will get to our green bean of light at some point, but now she is simply snoozing and gathering her strength back... and eating apples.
Trust me, the thought of Momo making costumes for the moogles hadn't slipped my mind... hehe.
And finally:
Guest: At the time of when this story was posted, I had tried to post the first chapter into the Crossover's section, but sadly the FFXIV wasn't selectable. so far, aside from you, no one has put up any fuss that it's in the Main MHA section.
Besides, it's not like I'm hurting anyone by having it here or there and it's not like it's the only one doing so.
Anyway! Onto the story and enjoy this chapter of "Bearer of the Light"!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter 24:
Countdown to Mei-day
It had been barely a month since Izuku had been in UA, and already one of his worst fears since starting the school term had happened. Sitting in a chair, with Toshinori beside him, Izuku's eyes were looking at the four girls in similar chairs in front of him as they discussed how they came upon the discovery that Izuku had the blessing of Hydaelyn with Nezu.
His gaze soon looked towards the dean, who had his paws in front of his face as Izuku could tell he was deep in thought, listening to every word that Momo, Mina, Tsuyu, and Kyoka were saying. Off to the furred creature's side was Recovery Girl, or 'Krile', who was lazily flipping through a book that Momo had brought with her. The older woman had stopped at a few pages, and Izuku could see her eyes scanning over certain pages, and the look of pure fondness was cast upon her face that Izuku could hardly recognize the woman at all.
"-and that's when we asked Izuku if he was a 'Warrior of Light, and well… that leads up to here." Momo had finished explaining to the dean as the other girls nodded, Izuku being snapped back out of his own thoughts near the tail end of her words. He watched as Nezu gently leaned back into his rather large chair, still deep in thought. Everyone in the room could feel the tiny beady eyes staring at them at specific points. The silence in the room was thick with tension, and Izuku feared the worst.
The sudden clap of his pawed hands startled the entire room as Nezu's smile had returned in full force as he chuckled lowly, "Well, that's that then… I honestly didn't think anyone would figure it out for at least until the end of the first year, truth be told."
"W-Wait!" Izuku shot up from his seat, looking worried, "Y-you thought that my secret would be found out within a year?!"
"Oh, of course, my boy." Nezu said with a cheeky tone to his voice, "And not from you spilling the beans early, oh no, you did a wonderful job keeping it believable with the story we had concocted a year ago."
"B-but then…?"
"Hmm? Oh, it was more to the fact that several of our first years this term are VERY inquisitive and would eventually connect the dots. Plus, I know how you feel about withholding the truth from people. As your fellow classmates gained your trust, you'd eventually ask me to reveal the truth of your blessing to some of them, perhaps ones that showed more… 'intimate' feelings for you." Nezu had spoken with a mischievous smirk at that last little tidbit, causing all the teenagers in the room to look away and their cheeks to blush with various hues of color.
Toshinori merely raised an eyebrow at the way the dean had said that last bit before looking at Izuku, still slightly confused. Well, that is until he put two and two together and shook his head in shock as he looked at the four girls sitting before him. His shocked face turned to one with a big smile as he chuckled low enough to catch Izuku's attention, giving him a not-so-subtle thumbs up. Izuku slightly groaned with embarrassment and placed his face into his hands to hide how red it had gotten, while Toshinosi was chuckling.
Nezu cleared his throat to get everyone's attention once again and was smiling still as he continued, "Still, it was unfortunate that you saw little Mogal though, as both you, Momo and Kyoka, will now be able to see any Moogles that are not using their magic to keep invisible."
"We… weren't the only ones to see him…" Momo said as she fidgeted with her hands, "Kaminari was with us as well when he showed up and saved us from the villain at the landslide zone."
"Yea… don't think we need to worry about him on that front." Kyoka spoke up and relaxed in her chair as everyone looked at her, "He barely remembers anything between when he made that massive shock attack that knocked out most of the villains, up until he was watching the fight with Izuku; with you and me."
"Hmm… regardless, it would be best to keep an eye on him just in case. But thank you for letting me know." Nezu said as he got off his chair and made his way towards Izuku, standing a foot away from him as he looked up towards the confused-looking teenager, "Before we continue, I would like to ask you one quick thing, Mr. Midoriya."
"Uh… o-ok, what is it?"
"Since the events of the USJ, I was curious if you have been in communication with the being known as Fray."
Everyone watched as Izuku's face slowly started to pale, his eyes darting around the room to all who were present to see the various shocked or worried looks on his classmate, to the faces of interest from both Recovery Girl and Toshinori, before looking down to see the still natural smile of Nezu as he kept looking at him. Knowing that the dean could see through any sort of lie that Izuku could come up with, he sighed and gently nodded.
"I see, and he hasn't tried to sway your views on anything? Or been hinting at allowing him to retake control over your body?"
"N-No! No, he's actually been… helping me."
Nezu raised an eyebrow, or at least mimicked the gesture, "Oh? How has he been helping you, my boy?"
"W-well…" Izuku spoke softly as he moved a hand to rub his arm, "He's been… h-helping me come to terms with things in regards to my own feelings… like re-evaluating how people have been looking and acting around me… coming to some... conclusions that I never would have thought possible." Izuku had said while looking at the group of women that were all watching him, each with a hint of a blush on their cheeks while he was now a bright cherry red. "A-also, he's been showing me things and places from where he… came from…"
"Really now? And what has he shown you?"
"He s-showed me a fort, built out in a valley of a vast mountain range. We often talked next to a single gravestone on a cliff that was overlooking… I think he called it "Camp Dragonhead'', and beside the grave was a shield with a large hole in it, resting against it."
As Izuku described the scene, Toshinori could see the look on the elder nurse's face dim slightly at the mention of the gravestone.
"He's also been helping me understand a little more of who I… or Quinn was as a Warrior of Light, and… he's said that he will be the one that will deem it 'time' for me to unlock my Dark Knight kit."
The look on Nezu's face, though unchanged to those who were watching the exchange, seemed to sour immediately at the mention of the Fray holding back the release of said powers, "I'm curious as to why he thinks that he should be the one to decide when you should be allowed to wield one of the kits given to you by Hydaelyn herself."
Izuku stared at the dean for a few moments. Though his stature was small, he could feel the weight of a giant looking down at him as the boy slowly rubbed the back of his head, "W-Well… Fray explained that… I'm not ready to confront my own 'darkness', and that with his help as well as Hound Dog's… it won't be long before I'm ready?" He finished with a slight shrug, not really knowing how to answer the dean, as there really was nothing he could do but tell him what Fray had explained to him.
The dean, meanwhile, kept staring up at the student for a few more moments before sighing gently and rubbing the bridge of his nose and then looking back to the still anxious-looking teenager, "Well, there's not much for us to do about that at the moment, but do you trust Fray's judgment in this Mr. Midoriya?"
"I do… he hasn't done anything that would seem to do otherwise… and while he likes to poke fun at me for how I act sometimes, it's nothing with malice or ill intent." Izuku was now rubbing his arm, looking away from Nezu, who, in turn, had looked towards Toshinori and then Recovery Girl and nodded his head. The other adults soon rose to their feet and headed out the office door, Momo receiving the book back from the elder nurse as Nezu gently patted Izuku's knee.
"Well, just keep us up to date if anything should happen then. For now though…" The dean turns towards the four women before looking back at Izuku, "It looks like you have a few things to explain to our four guests here."
Izuku began to stutter and mince out the words to refute the small dean, but one look from Nezu shut him up pretty quickly and sighed in embarrassment. Once the adults had left, the four girls had turned their chairs around to better look at the still embarrassed boy, and Tsuyu decided to speak up first, "Kero, what was that about?"
"Nezu t-took me in as his personal student during the final year of high school due to some… unpleasantness… that happened after the sludge villain incident." Izuku said gently as he hunched over in his chair, looking at the frog girl, "Since university started, I still come once or twice a week, depending on our schedules, for follow-ups as well as extracurricular projects."
Izuku slowly looked up to see all the women stare at him after his little speech, looking shocked at just how he suddenly and clearly he spoke through that explanation, which only lasted for about as long as one would think as Izuku blushed and stuttered out, "S-some of t-those lessons were o-on p-public speaking and t-trying to get a little m-more confident doing them."
The room fell silent again after he finished stuttering, only to be broken by the gentle giggles of Momo, who was then followed up by Tsuyu and Mina, and finally Kyoka. Izuku was blushing more and had hidden his face behind his hands in embarrassment and remained in such a state until he heard the giggles slowly end.
Just as Izuku was about to remove his hands from his face, he suddenly felt arms gently slide along down the sides of his neck and pressure from atop his head. He unhid his eyes to see the very pink limbs that had now been gently hugging close to him, "M-mina?"
"What? I always see Set do this, and now was the perfect time to try it out! And I can see why she always 'nests' up here." Mina said with a purr as she nuzzled her cheek against the top of Izuku's scalp, "You need to tell me what conditioner you use, Izuku! Your hair is super soft!"
While his cheeks continued to be atomic red as usual when it came to Mina clinging to him, he had to admit that this particular embrace had felt quite nice to him. She wasn't strangling him with her arms around his neck, nor was she putting weight down on his shoulders. He could feel how affectionate she was as she kept nuzzling against his head and the scent of strawberries gently passed by his nostrils. Still, he happened to like that scent as it seemed to match Mina almost perfectly.
The less said about the two soft objects pressing against the back of his head at the moment was for the better however.
But as he continued to enjoy the embrace, Izuku had slowly looked to the other girls and could see their cheeks were a bit rosy at the scene before them. With Kyoka and Momo, he could tell there was a sense of wanting to the same as well, or in Momo's case, pouting at Mina, who had acted quicker than they had.
Tsuyu had sighed gently, with a gentle croak of longing as she gently fidgeted with her hands.
"So." Mina had suddenly spoken up, snapping Izuku's attention back to her, "Now that we basically got the gist of how your quirk- erm... 'powers' work, I've been curious about something."
"O-oh? What's that?"
"Well, back when we were heading towards the USJ, you mentioned that when you unlock another one of your kit thingy's, you feel certain tugs or pulls towards an object or person, right?"
Izuku simply gave her a hum in agreement to the question, his hands now tightening their grasp on his knees when he felt her shift and pulled his head closer to her body.
"Well, is there anyone else in the class that is giving you that sensation?"
The question hung in the air for a moment, while Izuku's cheeks were now a dull red compared to before as he gently took in a deep but slow breath, "Honestly… Yes, there are a couple… nothing overly strong, but the 'pull' is there. R-right now, and not because of the proximity we are all in… the two strongest at the moment are you and Kyoka. I don't k-know when or what kits will be unlocked, thanks to the two of you… b-but I know they will be special."
Izuku could hear the gentle, and very cute, giggle of Mina from above his head as well as a clearing of the throat from Kyoka, seeing her blush and look away while tapping her jacks cutely together once he drew his eyes towards her, he could see Momo giving the punk rocker a kind smile and was rubbing her back, along with Tsuyu who merely held onto her shoulder.
Izuku thought this was odd as he watched the scene before him; his mind slowly wondered why it was causing Kyoka to blush like that. That train of thought ended just as abruptly when he felt Mina shift once again. However, this time was vastly different as he felt the chest of the pink-haired woman slowly ascend up the back of his head, feeling her toned stomach occupying the space now while Izuku felt her breasts lazily placed on top.
Mina giggled so much as she watched Izuku sputter as his head was shaking slightly in embarrassment. However, this had caused the green-haired boy to suddenly stop shaking and freeze in place. Mina looked down, her cute smile spread wide into a mischievous grin as she now realized why Izuku had stopped and seemed to have 'flatlined'.
He figured out that she was going braless at the moment.
"Mina." Tsuyu's voice caught the pink-skinned girl's attention, "While seeing Izuku freeze up like that is cute, kero, we still have a few things to discuss with him, so please don't break him yet."
"Fiiiine…" was the reply she got back as Mina gently removed herself from Izuku and went to go sit back down in her seat, leaving the currently frazzled boy to reboot his mind. It had taken about two minutes and a light jab of his cheek from one of Kyoka's jacks to snap Izuku back into reality.
Momo, having grown tired of the antics of her pink-skinned friend, decided to take over the questions so they could get back to the other important matter at hand.
His response to their confessions of love.
"Izuku, I'm going to keep this brief, and please don't overthink this if you don't know the answer."
"O-Oh, alright… What is it, Momo?"
The heiress looked at the boy sitting in front of her, her onyx eyes staring hard into his emeralds as she leaned forward in her seat slightly. The blush on Izuku's face had all but faded now as he saw Momo do this, considering this was her 'tell' that she was going to ask him a serious question.
It had come up a few times when the two were alone and talking about quirks, or Izuku was helping Momo study up a new formula to help her create something new with her quirk. Every possible question ran through his mind as to what Momo could ask him; of course, the many worrying ones happened to be if she questioned his quirklessness, which could sour the entire mood.
Or worse yet, confirming the truth he was quirkless, which the girls could treat him differently, or worse yet, not want to have anything to do with him.
"Izuku." Momo said with a severe tone of her voice, clearly seeing that she could tell of the negative thoughts he was thinking as her eyes slowly squinted to silently force him to stop, "Now, the question I'm going to ask you is earnest and needs to be taken as such, do you understand?"
All the boy did was shake his head up and down in agreement, still looking terrified of what the question could be. Momo merely sighed and lost some of the edge of her staring as she finally spoke.
"Does anyone in your family history have a quirk that had feline extremities?"
"Feline extremities?"
Kyoka groaned gently, she was already running into her one on one session with Hound Dog. Wanting to speak with the counselor as soon as possible, Kyoka decided that she needed to make it painfully evident for the boy, "She's asking if anyone in your family that you know of had a quirk mutation that made them have cat ears and a tail."
Izuku blinked, looking at the punk rocker dumbfounded as he now took that information into his head.
Five seconds passed.
Fifteen seconds passed.
"Eh?"
"Are you sure this is the right course of action, sir?" Toshinori asked the dean once they had left the office to let Izuku handle any of the questions that the girls would have had for the young man. The currently skeletal pro hero had taken a seat in the waiting room outside to discuss some other private matters between the three adults while their students talked.
"In leaving Midoriya to handle the various questions that his classmates have for him? I think he can handle it." Nezu said as he was sitting in a chair beside him, a cup of tea being sipped upon as Toshinori blinked in wonderment as to where and when the dean had procured the drink, "Plus, this would be another excellent opportunity for the boy to polish up on his confidence and communication skills, as he will need them for the upcoming sports festival."
"Ah, yes. I had nearly forgotten that the festival was coming up next month." Toshinori said while crossing his arms over his chest, "It will be a good chance for him to show the public what he can do. I take it you already have young Midoriya preparing his speech for the opening ceremony?"
When the only response he got from the dean was a gentle sip from his tea, Toshinori balked at the smaller creature, "Y-You have told him he's doing the student's oath for the opening ceremony, yes?"
The indignant huff of Recovery Girl caught his attention as she was leaning back in a chair on the opposite side of the room, "He hasn't even revealed the final numbers of his entrance exam to the boy."
The heavy sigh and rubbing of the bridge of his nose were all Toshinori could really reply to that comment, all the while the dean beside him was chuckling low and sadistically.
"Regardless of that... future anxiety attack on the boy's psyche… I was referring to the business in regards to this 'Fray' character. Can he be trusted to help young Midoriya? I understand that you two know him from your past, but the way he dealt with those villains..."
Nezu had brought the teacup from his lips and was silent for a few moments, contemplating something before turning to look at Toshinori as he spoke, "While his methods seem barbaric, almost villain like in a way, to him it was merely the way things were done in Eorzea, often it was kill or be killed given the various beasts and monsters that roamed about. But when it came to people, one would try and subdue their foes else they would be killed outright due to the actions one was taking."
"And often it was best to kill your enemy, lest they come back more powerful than before." Recovery Girl had spoken up and looked at the skeletal man from across the room, "I can give you an example that was a bit of a pain in the backside during Quinn's adventures. There was a Garlean soldier named Grynewaht, a brutish officer who preferred to fight with his muscles more than his brain. Time after time, Quinn would beat Grynewaht and whatever forces he had been given at the time, and every time he would flee just to start the process over again."
"He was eventually captured, yes? And if not, what became of him?"
Recovery Girl held her staff close to herself, looking down at the ground as Nezu cleared his throat to gain the number one hero's attention, "During the final battle to reclaim a kingdom from the Garlean Empire. Having had enough of his constant failures, Grynewaht had been experimented upon and his body augmented with machines known as 'Magitek'. The process made him a blood-crazed monster that wanted nothing more than to destroy the Warrior of Light and his allies… He became the very first 'Hypertuned'."
"The thing to remember, Toshinori, is that while Fray isn't the 'paragon of heroism' that you and many of the heroes that graduate these halls set out to be, he is… was… a part of what made Quinn a hero as well, and while I don't fully understand how he wishes to aid Izuku, he seems to know something that either Hound Dog has not been aware of as of yet, or Izuku may have repressing something."
Toshinori sat silently as the dean finished speaking and began to drink his tea once more; the blonde man now began to contemplate what had been told and also thought back to many of his own battles that he had during his long career. He knew that as All Might, there were times that a villain couldn't be subdued or taken in by the local authorities and needed to be brought down hard.
Even he had blood on his hands, considering who he killed those six years prior.
His thoughts were interrupted when an incredibly loud 'EEEHHHHH?!' could be heard coming from the office as Nezu was cackling loudly now, with Recovery Girl sighing in defeat, "I told you they would show him that picture of Quinn, Alphinaud, and Tataru. You owe me a thousand yen, Krile."
Toshinori could hear the elder woman mutter out a 'damned furball' under her breath as she got up from her seat to pay the dean as Toshinori watched the exchange, "What's wrong with showing him a picture?"
"Oh, nothing really, aside from Midoriya's outburst, we should head back inside and explain to them what a 'Miqo'te' is and pray that one of the characteristics of the race didn't get passed onto the boy."
"Wait, what characteristic?"
The much shorter adults looked to one another briefly before looking back up to the skeletal man. In the most non-plussed tone of voice, both Recovery Girl and Nezu spoke at the same time.
"Mating Season"
A deep sigh escaped past Izuku's lips as he made his way down to the support development studio. Having just finished his lunch, Izuku began to think back to how the rest of the morning had gone.
After Nezu and Recovery Girl explained what the species known as the 'Miqo'te' was to Izuku and the girls, the green-haired boy had to admit he was fascinated with learning more about them, given how similar they had looked to mutations in their world.
From there, Izuku had given a brief overview of how he was able to piece together what exactly a 'Warrior of Light' was from the little information that Nezu, Recovery Girl, and Mog had told him in the past. However, the girls were more confused by his explanations as there were still many questions they had asked him while he was talking. Eventually, it had to be stopped by Nezu, who apologized not only to them but also to Izuku.
It was then Izuku learned the real reason why the dean and elderly nurse had been so quiet and refused to answer his questions about his blessing in the first place.
Nezu explained that due to how his blessing worked, giving too much away before he was ready could have dire consequences. One such scenario would have had Izuku try and force all of his kits to manifest, but given how little 'aether' was in his body since his blessing had awakened, it would have killed him just from unlocking a few specific and aether-heavy kits that would have drained him.
This point was proven from the two examples listed by the elder nurse, who was glaring at him as she spoke about the instances with him passing out for hours or even days after unlocking the red mage and white mage respectfully. When this was revealed, this had actually given Izuku an answer to one of his possible theories regarding his powers.
The more reliant on aether the kit required, the more dangerous it was to go past his limits.
The decision to let Izuku slowly accumulate his body to the strains of gaining each kit at a slow and steady pace was made by both the Nezu and Recovery Girl to keep Izuku safe and make sure he didn't unlock some of the more troublesome ones. Mina had then brought up the strange crystal that had appeared before Izuku during the events of the USJ, just before he changed into the white mage kit. Just from that single line of questioning alone came even more questions than answers, not only for the girls but for Izuku himself, as the dean went on to explain the existence of 'Soul Crystals'.
Palm-sized crystals of various sizes and colors, soul crystals were items used to allow people to wield the multiple powers of kits, or 'jobs' as they were called back in Eorzea, and having a wealth of knowledge related to the job contained within it, being an extreme concentration of aether, and being carved with the deeds and exploits of past people to hold the job's mantle. The one that appeared before Izuku was one such crystal, and ironically enough, it had been Quinn's at one point, left in the care of Krile a long time ago.
Izuku suddenly stopped in the empty hallway, his eyes going wide in the realization of one key detail that he had missed during that particular discussion.
Where had the white mage crystal gone since the events of the USJ, and if you needed these crystals to even access the 'jobs'... then where were the others, and how was he able to use the jobs he had unlocked already without them?
Izuku sighed again, pushing past that train of thoughts that would give him a panic attack for later. The boy continued down the hallway and began to think back to what happened after the meeting, his cheeks going rosy again at the events that occurred.
Once the students had left the office, Izuku had quickly pulled the girls aside to a nearby empty classroom. From there, with more stuttering than even he thought possible, Izuku had begun to ask the girls about their confessions to him in the first place. Not that he wasn't flattered or anything, far from it! He even admitted, though even more stuttered than before, that he realized for a while now he was crushing on them. But all four were beautiful and strong women with so many other great things about them, and he just couldn't wrap his head around why they liked him like that when they could all have someone much better.
That was apparently the wrong thing to say as Kyoka had suddenly jabbed him with her jack, and he could see their upset and angered looks as the punk rocker tore into him verbally while also repeatedly stabbing him. Once Kyoka had calmed down and Izuku had recovered from the 'vicious' jabs, he apologized and said that he wasn't trying to upset them or tell them their feelings were wrong… he was just utterly confused about the situation.
It was around that time that Tsuyu had spoken up and suggested that an excellent way to figure this out was for him to take each girl out on a date before coming to a decision. She explained that a normal relationship was hard enough work between two parties. Still, something like a polyamorous one was going to need everyone to put in their one hundred and ten percent into it. It was clear that Izuku wasn't totally comfortable with the idea yet, which was fine, according to the frog girl, but perhaps easing him into it where he could have time to think if it was even something he wanted.
The other girls liked the idea, not only for putting ease on Izuku's own fragile psyche but also that each girl would have their chance of a date with the green-haired boy and possibly help improve his confidence. Izuku, on the other hand, was intimidated by the idea of going on dates with the four beautiful women. Still, Tsuyu had made a good point, and he agreed to do it. Funnily enough, Tsuyu was to be first, and it would be the upcoming Saturday.
Truth be told, though, something deep within Izuku's mind rather liked the idea of the polyamorous relationship.
As Izuku came upon the large metallic door of the development studio, his thoughts now went to another lingering problem that had begun to plague his mind ever since he and Fray had that little one on one conversation while he was recovering from the USJ.
Just how much of 'Quinn' was he? Better yet, where did 'Quinn' end and 'Izuku' begin? And the worst question that popped into his head was if he ever was Izuku Midoriya at all.
However, such thoughts were interrupted when the door to the development studio violently swung open, an explosion had gone off within the studio, and something colliding hard into Izuku, knocking the air out of him and straight onto his back with a pained gasp.
Groaning in pain, Izuku began to slowly pull his body off of the ground, only to find that he was pinned underneath something. As he slowly opened his eyes and looked down his chest, all he could see was pink. Squinting now to refocus his eyes, he could see the top of a head with very long pink dreads laying on his chest, the faint smell of grease and oil wafted into his nostrils as before he could ask and see if the person was alright, he heard the soft, but muffled groan of a woman as the head rose up from his chest.
Izuku stared at now pure yellow eyes with crosshairs looking back at him, both teenagers doing so for a moment before a manic grin spread across her lips, and she rose up and straddled his waist, her gloved hands on his stomach as Izuku took in the features of the woman he just 'caught'.
Before him was a woman who obviously loved to get her hands dirty in machines, judging by the various oil splotches on her very toned arms that left no imagination to the boy that she was strong. They flexed as she readjusted herself on his waist, possibly to better sit upon him given she was wearing loose mechanic pants that had the top wrapped around her waist. The only other piece of clothing she seemed to be wearing, at least to the best of his knowledge, was the black tank top shirt that appeared to be barely containing her chest that, if Izuku were to guess, almost rivaled both Momo and Mina's.
"Hey!" The girl spoke up and caught his attention, "Thanks for the save, Muscles!"
"M-Muscles?!" Izuku squeaked out when he felt one of her hands grip onto his stomach, feeling him up for whatever reason.
"Yep! I can tell you work out a lot. Hey! Are you part of the Hero course? Did you come down here to see my babies?" The excitable girl was bouncing up and down now in pure glee, which not only gave Izuku a front-row seat to see how 'bouncy' she was but also praying to Hydaelyn to not get aroused from the very soft rubbing caused by the sudden movements.
"HATSUME! What did I say about using explosive materials in the studio?!" shouted Power Loader, who came barreling out of the still slightly smoking room, coughing and wheezing, while partially covered in soot. The girl had stopped her bouncing to twist her body slightly to look at the teacher.
"Well, what else was I going to use? Nothing else is working to repair those super old-looking babies! I tried the forge, the laser cutter, even duct tape, and glue!"
"So 'explosions' was the only option?!" The teacher roared as he stomped over to her and grabbed her by the shoulders, and hoisted her off of Izuku, who sighed in relief but continued to watch the scene before him.
"I had to try all the possibilities! You told me that they were made using a quirk, so maybe it has something to do with that person's quirk? OH! Wait! Maybe that will work!"
Power Loader sighed heavily as he looked down to the still slightly blushed Izuku, shaking his head and offering his hand to the boy, ignoring the girl for now as she ran back inside the studio to try a new idea. Izuku groaned as he was lifted up by the Support Teacher, dusting himself off once he was firmly on his feet. He looked at the now shorter teacher, "Is something wrong, sir?"
The teacher sighed, his hand rubbing the top of his metallic helmet in exhaustion, "Yes and no… I hate to tell you this, but we have been having trouble repairing your weapons since the USJ." Izuku tilted his head in confusion and blinked at the teacher, a little shocked that they were having the difficulty considering for all he knew, the weapons were made with materials similar to the ones on Earth, "I even had Mei over there take a look at them, and as you heard her, she's basically tried anything and everything and not so much as a dent, which is odd considering the darn things are busted in the first place."
At this point, Power Loader had headed back inside with Izuku following behind him. The green-haired boy let his eyes wander the various machines at work, with a few of the older students shouting at one another about this and that, though Izuku could barely make out what they were saying.
Turns out that even when school is 'off', the support department was still open and as busy as ever.
"Your hero suit is almost done being repaired, by the way," Power Loader spoke up loudly over the various machine sounds, "Just adding in a few modifications, but we were able to keep the original design of the suit!"
"O-Oh! Thank you, Power Loader, sir!" Izuku shouted loudly, weaving under a low hanging metal bar, "My mom had originally made me the suit, so I at least wanted to keep the original design of it."
"Good call! Did the same thing with my suit as well!" The teacher responded with a fist lightly knocking against his metal helmet, which caused Izuku to chuckle lightly. Soon enough, though, the metal fingertip teacher opened the door to a more private studio room where Izuku stopped and looked at the large worktable. His stomach merely dropped at the sight before him.
While he could see the now identified Mei Hatsume holding up a piece of the broken shaft of his dragoon spear, Izuku's eyes soon looked over the rest of the broken weapons lying upon the table. He walked up close to its edge, not caring how close he was to Mei at this point, and clenched his fist at his side.
Resting on the table was his rapier, bent horrifically like someone had tried to fold it like an accordion. In contrast, his ax had been shattered into so many pieces that it was hard to see if all of them were there. The other half of the broken spear was beside the rapier as he placed a hand on the larger pointed end of the weapon.
A heavy and loud groan of frustration caught his attention. His hand retreated back to his side as Mei tossed the shaft back towards its partner, "Not even welding will work!" her golden cross-haired irises looked towards Izuku, "Seriously, what kind of metal did you make these out of?"
"Um... I-I thought they were s-steel or something similar." Izuku squeaked out when the girl got right up in his face as she asked him the question.
Her response was a sigh and pulled back from him, her hands moving up to grab the goggles on her head that Izuku had just noticed and pulled them over her eyes, "Well, I can at least continue to work on my baby while I think of some way to fix those broken ones." Mei had turned around and walked to the other side of the room. Izuku could see various other little gadgets and machines on the additional worktable before looking back at his weapons. He frowned gently as he was mentally going through why they were practically unfixable now, as he continued to stare at the hunks and pieces of debris. His attention now went back to Mei as she was humming a small tune while the sounds of a power drill echoed from the location.
Izuku blinked as he slowly began to walk towards her. A familiar pull guided him as he stood beside her, seeing her put down the drill and grab a basic screwdriver. Izuku watched as she carefully began to twist the tool slowly to the right of an odd-looking device, and at the pulse of the 'tug' he blurted out, "What are you making?"
"A small condenser for a large engine of a jetpack I'm building." Mei responded without missing a beat or looking towards him, "I'm basing it off of the design from Air Je's own jetpack, but improving upon the design and functionality!"
"R-Really?" Izuku asked, moving a little closer to take a look at the machine, the pull within his mind drawing him in, "Something like… smaller fuel consumption for more sustainable flight?"
"That's one of the improvements; the other is faster speeds with more compression in the jet engines… oh shoot. Hey, Muscles, take this screwdriver and tighten the screw while I hold these wires, would ya?"
"Huh? O-Oh sure." Izuku replied as he moved to see the screw she was referring to, taking the screwdriver and watching as she pulled back both sets of wires with her thumbs. As he did, though, he could feel the pulse of a headache start to throb, and he winced slightly, though Mei seemed to either not notice or ignored his soft grunt of pain.
Once he made sure it was tight enough, Izuku moved the screwdriver away, and Mei beamed a smile up at him, "There ya go! It's so hard to work on my babies without an extra set of hands sometimes. Thanks for the help, Muscles!"
"N-no problem…" Izuku said gently as he offered the handle of the screwdriver back, as he did though his mind was currently racing, similar to when his quirk had been focused upon Tsuyu, he never took his eyes off Mei as she took the tool back and went back to work.
As he watched Mei, who didn't seem to mind the staring, his senses were taking in everything around both him and her. His mind asking question after question, trying to find out what exactly his blessing was telling him. Was it her looks? Not really, he would admit under the grime and oil splotches on her skin, she was rather cute. He honestly didn't mind the scent of oil and grease that seemed to envelop him in the room, nor did he find the noises inside or out of the private studio all that troubling.
What really had him set on her was her drive to create, invent, and improve upon already great designs and make support gear for future generations. Maybe she wanted to run her own company someday? He didn't know, but what he had meshed together through his scrambled thoughts was one thing.
This Mei Hatsume, a girl fascinated with machines and gadgets like he was with heroes, just wanted to build things.
'And you know what?' Izuku asked himself deep within his mind, 'So do I.'
And like so many times before, his vision went completely white, all the while three words echoed in his mind.
Nezu sipped his dinnertime tea while he was looking over the morgue report regarding the dead Nomu creature. His brow was furrowed as he read the report about how odd the body was, considering that while it held the DNA of a thug that has been missing for quite some time, it had also trace amounts of other missing people mixed in… no… spliced in would be the correct term.
The report also stated that the hand of the one villain named 'Shigaraki' had mysteriously disappeared from the morgue. No trace of who took had been left behind. Nezu had a feeling it was the warp villain that had been mentioned in the witness statements provided by the students and Aizawa.
He hoped it was the warp villain. Otherwise, there was something far worse now entering the game.
His thoughts were shaken as a loud buzzer from the intercom on his desk snapped him out of his stupor, placing the report down and reaching for the small red button close to him, "Yes?"
"Nezu, sir… i-it's Power Loader."
Nezu quirked an eyebrow in slight confusion. For whatever reason, the support teacher sounded frightened, "Yes, Maijima, I hear you… is something wrong?"
"W-well, sir… you had mentioned to the teaching staff about that Midoriya kid's quirk, right? That it can take on different forms and give him different powers and what not?"
"I do recall that meeting, yes... why?"
"It involves a bright flash of l-light, right?"
Nezu froze after the teacher mentioned the flash of light. He pressed the button again relatively quickly and, in his more authoritative tone, spoke, "I'll be right there, do not let him leave."
"N-no issue with that, I think… oh god, there's two of them now…."
Well, that didn't sound good at all.
Nezu made a hurried rush towards the development studios, ignoring the Moogles hard at work fixing the metallic door as Power Loader had moved towards him when he saw the small dean enter, "Tell me what happened, Maijima."
"I-I didn't see it at first… but I brought Midoriya to the private work studio where we had his weapons and Hatsume were put. I left them alone, and within ten minutes, there was a bright flash of light." Power Loader began to explain as both adults headed towards the room as mentioned earlier, "I go to check on them, and the kid was wearing this weird-ass outfit, with a strange box hanging on the left side of his coat; he turns around, and I see this large gun on his back!"
"What did he do next?"
"H-He went up to his weapons, arranged them on the table, then he reached into his coat and pulled out this milky white stone or something, placed three of them on the weapons, and raised his hands over the top of the table. Nezu, this strange blue mist shot directly into those stones from his hands, and the weapons fixed themselves!"
Nezu frowned at this once both teaching staff reached the now closed door; the muffled talking between the two teenagers could be heard from outside as Nezu looked up to Power Loader, "I can see why that is concerning, but I don't see why you are so shaken by such a thing."
"It's not that… Well, I mean, we tossed everything at those weapons, and they couldn't be fixed by traditional means, but Midoriya did it in less than a few minutes." The teacher reached for the door handle, holding his hand there as he looked down, "What has me scared is that he and Hatsume have been building something since just after lunch when he first showed up, and he has that same manic smile that the girl does when she's making something that will more often than not explode!"
Now that was worrisome.
Nezu nodded his head, and the teacher pulled back the door, revealing the two teenagers working on a device. Nezu's eyes went from worried to pure shock.
Standing before him, with his back turned, was Izuku, wearing a long dark grey coat where he could see a similar colored covering of fur run from shoulder to shoulder along his backside. Perched on his back was a rather odd-looking gun that looked steampunk in style. However, the most noticeable change was his hair trailing down his back, long and straight for one, with the root ends being a light green then the darker green trailing up to his head. When the door clicked into the place, it caught the boy's attention, and he turned around, now revealing the equally more steampunk looking attire that matched the weapon on his back as well as the strange metallic box with various cylinder's and gauges as well as a glowing semi-circle coming off the side of one of the cylinder's.
Izuku smiled brightly, lifting the orange goggles from his eyes and placing them on his head, "Hello, sir!"
"Hello Midoriya, I can see you unlocked a new part of your quirk."
Izuku blinked for a moment and then looked down at himself, patting the new leathery clothes down. He blushed and chuckled meekly, which caused Nezu to raise an eyebrow, "Y-Yea… I didn't realize I did until now… OH! But you should see what me and Mei built!"
The girl moved from the table and allowed both the dean and teacher to see the device in full. Power Loader simply stared at it, not knowing what exactly the two had been up to for all that time they were alone.
Nezu, however, recognized the shape and various crystals lining the device as he looked squarely at the boy, who winced from the sudden hard look on the dean, "Midoriya… where did you get those crystals?"
"T-the crystals? Oh! It's thanks to this device!" he chirped and patted the box at his side, "Whatever I needed, like the 'Dark Matter' to fix my weapons, or the aether crystals to power the device here… I just kinda… pulled them out? H-here, let me show you!"
He moved his left hand towards the front of the metallic box on his left side, placing it over the glowing semi-circle. Within a few seconds, he pulled out a small bluish crystal and then lightly tossed it towards Power Loader, who caught it and began to examine it.
"C'mon, Muscles!" Mei exclaimed and tugged on Izuku's arm, causing the boy to blush and stutter out a response to calm the girl down, "We have to show off our baby!"
Well, that comment certainly made the room temperature dive down to the coldest negative as Izuku's face was now atomic red. At the same time, Nezu stood straight, and his eyebrow twitched. However, the only one not affected much by the comment was Power Loader as he spoke, though still examining the crystal, "She calls her invention's 'babies'."
Nezu snapped out of the shock with a simple and acknowledging 'ah', Izuku merely began to tap his index fingers together, still blushing up a storm while Mei was just smiling like what she said was normal.
Izuku finally calmed himself down enough, clearing his throat as he spoke, "W-Well, I got to thinking about some of the problems we had at the USJ… where our communications to the school were cut out… and well, I all of a sudden got this idea to build this device with the help of Mei here."
"It was so cool how we used those crystals as a power source!" Mei spoke up and waved her arms around, causing Izuku and Nezu to chuckle at her antics. The boy then stood a little straighter as he continued his speech.
"Power Loader, Dean Nezu… I g-give you the Hatsume-Midoriya artificial Linkshell." As he made the announcement, Izuku pressed a few buttons on the top of the device. Once he did so, it purred into life with the various crystals shimmering and shining brightly or dimming with no discernible pattern. A tiny 'clink' sound could be heard hitting the small metal tray at the bottom. Izuku reached into it and pulled out a single small blue pearl with tiny little hooks on each end of it.
As the machine powered down, Nezu walked up to the boy with his paw stretched out and silently asked to inspect what had come out. Izuku gently handed the small bead to the dean, who began to look over it with the keenest look in his eyes.
After a few minutes of silence, Nezu turned towards Power Loader, holding up the tiny pearl in his paw, "Maijima."
The teacher looked up as his name was spoken, "Yes, sir?"
"Prepare some patent forms for our two young inventors here, as well as copyright forms for three distinct words."
Power Loader tilted his head at that last request, "What words? If I may ask, sir."
The ever-present smile on Nezu grew sharper the moment that the teacher asked, "No harm in asking, Maijima… the three words are 'Linkshell', 'Linkpearl'..." The dean turned towards Izuku, who was smiling at the fact that the invention had worked, but the final word spoken had sent shivers down his spine for some reason.
"And Magitek."