I have the feeling my pacing kinda suck. Holy shit I am struggling so much with the current chapter, I'm nearing 10k on it and still no end in sight. Also some lore, some setup for the future. All according to keikaku as one would say.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I need data, and it's not like anyone is going to get hurt," Mei replied while putting on her thick leather glove and grabbing a heavy bar of metal with both hands. "I'm sure I won't hurt you."

Takuma shook his head. "If anything, you're more likely to hurt yourself than me."

"It's gonna be fine," she said while making a few warm-up swings. He could see a decent amount of force being sent into her strike, but he could already see she would topple like a house of cards the second she tried to move.

Shaking his head, he stopped his warm-up to go to her side and grab the bar. "Alright, hitting a moving target is very different from hitting an immobile one. You're going to need to spread your legs shoulder-length to give you a stronger footing."

He showed her a proper stance, and he was happy to see her mimic him.

"Next, you're going to need to remember to never cross your legs. If you fall during a fight, you're dead; there's no two ways about it. Every gutterpunk out there is going to gut you before you can get back up," he continued, showing how to sidestep while never putting a foot in front of the other.

"Next, you're going to crouch slightly, not enough to go into a squat obviously, but you need to lower your center of gravity. It will help when your attacks are going to miss, and you will be less likely to fall that way," he added while making a few practice swings himself. "Show me how you are going to try and hit me."

"Like that!" she demonstrated while making a two-handed strike into the air. Her stance was better, and she could definitely strike harder, but the only problem was that the second she missed him, and she was going to miss him a lot, her back was going to suffer since she didn't move her hips with the movement.

Grabbing the pipe from her hand, he took a stance. "Look at my hips when I strike," he said while going through the movement. "My hips move with me; don't use your back, use your entire body. When you miss, don't count on your back to slow down the piece of steel because you're going to break something."

"Hips, not back," she parroted before going through the motion in turn. "Alright, I am combat-ready!" she stated.

"What was the first thing I told you to do?" he questioned.

She hummed with glazed-over eyes for a few seconds. "I forgot!" she declared with a smile.

"Try not to get hurt, please," he pleaded before returning to his stretching.

Takuma was now feeling good enough to try some limited fighting. He wasn't really going to fight her, more dodge and let her see how he moved, but it would be a good benchmark to see what was in working order or not. After a few more minutes of stretching mainly directed toward the site of his latest injury, he rolled his shoulder and turned toward Mei, readying himself for her onslaught.

"Before we fight, are you sure you're okay with me going into your head?" he asked again. He had already done it twice, but he had never willingly linked his mind with someone that wasn't an active threat for a job or a villain before, so he felt the need to keep asking even when she has given him the green light.

"I trust you," she repeated, and he nodded, trying not to show how happy hearing her say this made him.

"Alright, ready when you are," he called, getting into a stance and linking his mind to hers.

It was something he'd done so many times it had become second nature. As soon as her thoughts took a more concrete form than the broken whisper he could sometimes hear from behind his mental wall, he pushed them aside; they were superfluous in most fights. His mind was entirely focused on how she shifted her weight from her heel to the ball of her feet, the shifting of her shoulder and arm muscles as she moved the heavy pipe from one hand to the other, working some nervous energy before the beginning of the fight.

He was keenly aware he could push further, into her memories where he could rampage around, breaking and remaking to his heart's content. If he did, she would be changed forever; he had yet to find someone who could heal the damage he could do. He was still looking for someone who could. He had hurt a lot of people before he realized the power of his Quirk, and even more when his control slipped. None of them were alive today.

"I'm coming for you, villain!"

Her war cry was made in the same tone of voice All Might used in one of his commercials, and Takuma chuckled slightly as he moved. Mei's steel bar weighed around ten kilograms; it was heavy, overly so, so her strikes were slow but could easily break something if she hit him.

Immersing himself in her senses, he followed her moves. She came at him with a heavy two-handed strike, her weapon hidden behind her before she brought it down upon him. Takuma sidestepped her blow, letting it land on the concrete; it cracked with a thunderous noise.

"You might want to grab something a bit lighter," he offered, looking at the zone of impact with cold sweat.

"Too slow; I'm not going to get any good data if I keep going with this one," she thought, and he took a step back from her mind until she could grab a new weapon.

"I wish I could use the air cannon," she grumbled, looking around for a weapon that would work better for the test.

Takuma was really happy the air cannon wasn't part of the test. Sure, he had a good track record dodging bullets, but he was more focused on not being in the trajectory than moving out of the way after it was fired; he wasn't gifted with enhanced speed, sadly.

"Found it!" Mei exclaimed, brandishing a bo staff. "This baby comes with a taser at both ends, for twice the fun!"

"Don't shock yourself."

"Not a risk; my gloves are insulated," she informed, grabbing the staff like a baseball bat. "Let's go!"

Her warning wasn't necessary, and he slipped back into her mind just in time to step away from a hit that would have landed on his ribs if he hadn't. He moved again and again, slipping under the staff or jumping above it when she tried to take off his feet from under him. Mei had the strength but lacked the finesse to make her blows land; he couldn't say he was having any particular problem dodging her attacks. He was more destabilized by the fact he wasn't fighting back.

Thirty seconds later, Mei was breathing heavily and started to slow down. "Good, good," she said between two breaths. "I'm going to need you to start fighting back, show me how you would go about it."

He had to take a step out of her reach. "Mei, are you sure?"

"Go for it!" she said as she rushed him.

Takuma didn't meet her head-on; he wasn't a brawler. Taking hits was the last thing he wanted to do. He also wasn't willing to break her nose, snap a joint, or punch her windpipe, so he had to actually think about what he could do to her. There wasn't much choice.

He waited for her to miss before raising and sending a snap kick to the side of her head. He made sure to not actually land the kick; he could do a lot of damage even with a graze, so he played it safe and quickly backed down after a few seconds.

"Holy shit, you could have taken my head off with that," Mei exclaimed with wide eyes. "So you use kicks, that's a good thing. I should start working on leg protection in case you end up fighting someone with a pointy stick. Need to keep those arteries safe!"

Well, he was happy he didn't scare her with that.

"Again!" she called, and this time Takuma didn't wait for her to come to him and closed the distance with two quick steps. She tried to take his head off, but the clumsy blow passed over his head as he crouched. He followed the movement by reaching his arm behind her leg and pulling it out from under her.

Mei lost her footing, and Takuma cushioned the shock of the back of her head hitting the ground with his hand before rolling away and getting back to his feet. "You okay, Mei?"

"Better than ever," she called from her supine position on the ground. "I wouldn't have taken you for a grappler."

"I rarely grapple with anybody; getting stuck-in close and personal isn't something I'm good at," he told her while extending his hand and helping her to her feet. "I'm pretty flexible, so kicks are my main method of dealing damage until I can get my hands on a weapon."

"How flexible are you? Like touching your toe or-"

Takuma's answer was to do a perfect standing split. "Yes."

'That's hot.'

When Mei's thought rang in his mind, he realized he hadn't rebuilt his mental wall and did so in a hurry. The twinge of anxiety was still there, even if he knew she wouldn't act on it.

"Being horny isn't a crime," he repeated to himself, trying to work the anxiety out of his system.

"I'm going to have to get my hands on some better material than the scrap I keep reusing," she started to ponder. "I don't think I can get any more data from fighting you; the difference in skill level is too massive. And also, my back hurts."

Takuma sighed. "You didn't use your hips like I told you to."

"Nope, I forgot!" she stated while failing to hide a wince. "I'm going to sit."

"I'll bring you a hot compress," he informed her as he shook his head at the not negligible amount of pain that radiated from her back. "That will help with the pain until it passes."

A quick run to the house later, he was back with the first-aid kit.

She nodded gratefully before hissing a short breath. "Could you put it on my back?"

Takuma shrugged and nodded before complying. He luckily didn't need to reach under her clothes since she was wearing a tank top, and he applied the compress where he felt the pain, a few centimeters above the clasp of her bra.

"And done, give it a few minutes," he told her, knowing the likelihood of his friend staying still for any amount of time was a task in itself.

"Thanks, I'm going to start working on the boots again, and hopefully we'll be able to test them next week," she informed him while grabbing the components she had gathered in preparation for restarting her work on the flaming boots.

"Well, if you need anything, don't hesitate to call," Takuma said before leaving for the house. "I'll be-"

Pain bloomed behind his eyes. His heart picked up as the familiar pain made its way through his skull and into his brain. He lost his balance and fell on the ground.

A surge. What he called the weird way knowledge from the show flowed into his head. It was happening. He tried not to scream; he really did.

"But it'd be different if I had you guys, with you increasing name recognition. Put yourselves under me. I'll show you how well I can use you. And then, I'll become the next leader," the man with the red and gold bird mask said. His gloved hand extended.

"Go home," rasped Tomura.

Jumping into action, a man with strong shoulders carrying a giant magnet appeared. "Sorry, yakuza boy, we didn't come together to be under someone!"

A blue glow emanated from the man with the gloved hand as he was suddenly pulled toward the man with the giant magnet.

"I met up with my friend the other day. She's reserved and shy, but she's someone who is still my friend even knowing my past. She told me, 'Those who are bound by the chains of common sense laugh at those who aren't.' Kennie, you're not bound by common sense. I don't have the courage to break away from it like you. I'm here because I don't want to be bound by anything!"

The man with the beaked mask slipped one glove from his hand.

"We will decide where we belong!"

The magnet slammed into the gloved man's forehead as his hand made contact with Kennie's arms. Lines burst across his arm, face, and visible part. Then. His upper body exploded in a shower of gore.

Consciousness returned slowly to Takuma. The migraine that had shattered his psyche was receding at a good pace, and he soon reached a point where he could feel his surroundings again. His thoughts were muddled by the shock, but he could tell he wasn't on the ground anymore. He was comfortable-ish, on his back, something soft under his head. With fingers trailing in his hair.

It felt nice. It was oddly soothing, and he found himself enjoying the way Mei played with his hair while he was recovering from his seizure. She was terrified and concerned, which was fair.

It must have been five years at least since the last time he had a Quirk-induced info dump straight into his mind. This one had been gorier than what he was used to, but at least it had been short. Tomura was still covered in all his severed-hand glory, and whoever bird-face was, he was now definitely on his list of people to not mess around with. Right under All For One. Touch-of-death Quirks were a pain to deal with, and after seeing the aftermath, he wasn't keen on going anywhere close to this beaked fucker.

He didn't know yakuza still existed; it was a good bit of knowledge to keep in the back of his mind for future reference.

Takuma slowly opened his eyes; the light immediately made him regret his decision as a hiss left his lips. "Ow."

"You're awake!" Mei said way too loudly next to him. "You scared the shit out of me," she added with a trembling voice.

"Sorry, can you turn down the light?"

"Give me a second," she said before grabbing something and complying with his request. "Done."

He opened his eyes again; the light wasn't as painful, and he could finally see where he was. What he didn't expect was to see Mei's face peeking from behind her rather large chest right above him.

"Mei, why is my head resting on your lap?" he asked, weirdly not overly concerned as to how he ended up like that.

She let out a wet chuckle. "You were bleeding from your eyes, and that's what you're worried about?!"

She didn't shout her words, but she didn't whisper them either, making Takuma wince. "Yeah, it happens sometimes."

"That's not normal," she half-shouted.

"It is for me, though it's been a few years since I've had a seizure that bad," he told her. She hadn't stopped playing with his hair even when she was more than upset at what had happened. It was nice.

She sighed audibly. "What happened? You just screamed and kept screaming," she asked him, her voice barely a whisper.

"This is what happens when I lose control of my Quirk. Normally, it's the number of people around me that make it happen. There's a few things that can set it off that I have no control of, someone hurt badly, a strong wave of emotion. I can stop ninety-nine percent of the feelings around me; there's always a single leftover percent that can ruin my day."

Her hand stopped moving. "Did I do that to you?!" she asked with horror in her voice.

"No," he stated firmly to make sure she understood she wasn't the one to blame. "It can happen even when nobody is around. Do you know what a Larsen is?"

"Yes, it's when a sound is captured by a microphone and looped in on itself."

"Well, it's close to what happened to me. Imagine the same thing but with emotion, and you'll get a pretty good idea. And no, it wasn't your mind that caused it. A rat got bit, and I didn't catch it in time."

A good lie was always based on a foundation of truth; a feedback loop could absolutely send him into a fit, it just wasn't what happened this time.

Her finger started moving again as Takuma released a sigh of ease. He felt a tingle going through her, and he decided to ignore whatever it was. "What time is it?"

"I have no idea," she informed him. "Didn't think to bring my phone with me."

"Fair enough, want me to cook something?"

"Nope, we're ordering take-out. And that's not up for debate," she declared with a glare that dared him to disagree.

Takuma could admit he wasn't up for anything other than a nap. "Sounds nice."

"We're eating bad tonight!" she beamed.

He could already feel himself dozing off, and Mei petting his hair wasn't helping him stay awake, so he simply decided that he had enough for today and closed his eyes and let himself drift off.