The chapter I have been working on since april 1st is finaly done ! Clocking in a 14k word before the rewrite that will add more detail to the fight scene. I'm fucking proud of that one, but I can't rest on my laurel yet. The chapter right after it is turning out to be a doozy.
"Kick the baby!"
"Mei..." he groaned, trying and failing to hide his laughter. "You can't just say that."
"C'mon, kick my baby, kick it!" she kept going with her manic grin as she egged him on. "Send it flying or make it burn!"
It had been a few days since the warehouse incident. Ms. Saneyama was safe, and the news of the local gang's arrest had hit the headlines like a bombshell. Any mention of the list Halfy had given to his troop had been thoroughly suppressed. Takuma hoped the information wouldn't spread too much. It was bound to happen, but he trusted the higher echelon to relocate the family before any harm came to them. Not from a sense of duty, of course; those kinds of information came from their side of the pond, and any death or injury that arose from this mishandling of sensitive content would increase the amount of oversight on their dealings. And the H.S.P.C hated that type of scrutiny with a passion. So he expected them to make sure no one was hurt and left it at that.
He had more or less recovered from his Quirk overuse; he was still a bit raw, but being around a single human being allowed him to breathe and regain his mental faculties faster than ever before. He passed the time doing chores to busy himself with small tasks that didn't require much focus to eat the days away and recuperate as best he could. His physical injuries were now more cosmetic than anything; he still felt a twinge of pain from time to time, but nothing he couldn't handle until he was fully healed.
Mei had regained some energy since her period had come and gone, and she was now back in full swing, crafting and building things. She was now working on two different projects beside the myriad others he didn't know about: the gauntlet and the boots now strapped to his feet, ready to unleash their payload as soon as he kicked the giant metal dummy made of scraps in the form of All Might. Why she had made it in the form of The Symbol of Peace himself, he didn't know, nor did he know how she had made it so close to the original with bent and broken pieces of metal. Truly, she was a woman of many talents.
"Give me a second; I'm trying to get used to the added weight," he said while jumping from one foot to the other to feel the weight and think about how to adjust his movement. The boots were reinforced with metal, and the container itself was hidden behind his calf for better protection and weight distribution.
Takuma didn't feel anything outrageous that would have put a stop to the test; the liquid wasn't sloshing around or making unnecessary noise, and the protection wasn't overly bulky. He could keep his balance fairly easily even without practice, but the added weight would take time to get used to if he wanted to make any use of them. Also, he would probably need to start working out if he wanted to be able to use them to their full potential.
His body had recovered nicely from his fight, and after about a month of good food and sleep, he was as good as his years on the street had left him. Not great, not terrible. He had lost some definition on his arms and chest from the weight he gained; those were more due to being underweight than anything else, so he didn't miss them overly much. He would now start adding some muscle training routine to his stretching in the morning to start building actual muscle.
"I'm ready to test the frontal impact," he warned her. "All clear?"
"Baby ready to be kicked!" she called from behind the camera and, notably enough, the blast shield. "Go for it."
He trusted her enough not to read too much into the thick slab of metal between them and her latest project.
"Alright, three, two, one!"
A step and a kick, easy. The lack of a real opponent made him feel awkward. He was so used to feedback during his kick that doing it against an inanimate object felt wrong. But he did it all the same. It wasn't a great example of what he could do, but in this case, it would be more than enough.
The strike landed, and a ball of fire bloomed a second later, engulfing the entire torso of metal All Might in flames. He felt the need to tap his foot on the ground to make sure nothing else was about to go up in flames—specifically him.
"It worked!" Mei exulted from behind her makeshift barricade. "My baby works!"
"Indeed, you should see if you can make the flame come out faster. The delay would be far too long in the middle of a fight."
"I can do that. Anything else?" she asked, writing down what he had just told her.
"No, I'm ready for the next test."
"Heh, heh, heh, heh, this baby is going to go far!" she proclaimed loudly before tinkering with the camera. "Next test, the flamethrower. Stomp and push your foot forward to release the payload!"
Not too complicated; simplicity was king in a fight. If you needed more than a second to use a gadget, then you were most likely better off not using it.
"Ready!"
"Go for it!"
Lowering his stance in preparation for a recoil he didn't know was there or not, he then followed her instruction. Raising his knee, he stomped on the ground while pushing his foot forward. A click made itself known, and not even a second later, metal All Might's lower body was bathed in a sea of flame. The heat was noticeable, gradually reaching a temperature he found uncomfortable inside the boots. He palmed the safety switch Mei had given him in case he needed to get out of them in an emergency. The heat washed over him, and the light of the fire made him squint from the intensity. The blast lasted for a good five seconds before it trickled down to nothing.
"That was the entire tank, damn it," Mei complained, walking out from her spot and closer to him to inspect the damage. "Some scrap melted, but we can keep it for further tests. Did the heat shield hold up okay?"
Takuma inspected the red-hot tip of his shoes. "Yes, I started feeling it at the end there. You might want to add some more padding to make sure nothing goes through."
"Dang it, it wasn't even half of the tank. I'm going to need some better material if I don't want to cook your feet by accident," she bemoaned with a sad pout. "Take them off; I'm going to check if anything else didn't handle the heat well enough."
He activated the release mechanism by pushing a button to the side. He was greeted by the smell of burned flesh. "Oh, shit."
"What happened?" Mei asked, her worry making itself known within his Quirk. "I gave you the emergency release; I didn't forget, right?"
He shook his head as he sat on the ground next to the shoes and started inspecting the damage on his left foot. "First-degree burn, and it's not your fault."
"But how, why?"
"Can you bring me the first aid kit?" he asked, cutting her off from her guilt spiral. "I need to apply something quick."
Mei nodded with a worried frown and quickly brought him the kit. Making sure it was close and on hand was paying off.
"I'm sorry," she said as he grabbed the burn cream and started applying it to the affected area.
"Don't blame yourself; I'm the one who made a mistake," he told her as the cold relief from the cream started to cool the red and blistered area. "I should have used the other foot; this one is not good for those kinds of tests."
"Why?" Mei asked, and he knew he wouldn't be able to deflect such an earnest question.
"I have been living on the street a long time, Mei. I've gone through a few bad winters. And where there is winter, there is frostbite. My left foot suffered more damage from the cold than the other; that's why I didn't feel it in time," he confessed, not sure why he was so reluctant to share his past. "It's not your fault; I should have been more careful."
She was silent for a long while after his explanation. He wasn't one to peek, so he focused on applying the cream where it was needed. His assessment was wrong since he could recognize that the tip of his toes was closer to a second-degree burn than the rest of his foot.
"Let me do it," Mei said, sitting cross-legged next to his foot, laying it on one of her knees. "Pass me the kit."
He was taken aback for a second. "I can do it myself, you know."
"I know, but I'm going to help whether you like it or not," she countered, and Takuma could recognize a lost battle when he was faced with one, so he complied and gave her what she asked for. "And for the record, I fucking hate that you had to go through that."
Her blunt words made him chuckle. "Me too, Mei, me too," he said before laying down on the ground and letting her work.
He waited for her to finish, sharing a few minutes of comfortable silence. He had expected her to start asking him questions about his past, but he was relieved when she did not. Her entire being focused on the task in front of her. He didn't know how she managed to be so focused on a single task; the whole world seemed to fade into the background, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't envious. An errant brush against his reddened skin sent a jolt of pain through his leg. Takuma knew better than to make noise and let a single breath out that turned into a hiss as he exhaled. Making too much noise was a death sentence, so he had learned how to silence himself. He could tell Mei was nearly done; she only had the most burned area to deal with. A second jolt made him wince, and he was glad Mei was taking it slow and steady as he was clenching his teeth hard enough he feared they might crack. She was done soon enough, and he made sure to wipe the cold sweat on his brow before she could realize the sorry state he was in.
"And done, now a cute little bow, and we're good to go," she told him as she fished into the first aid kit for a bandage she could apply over the cream.
"Why a bow?"
"You did it for me," she said as she started wrapping his foot. "And it looks cute, so why not."
"Why not," he agreed, letting her work. "It's not like you can make it look any worse than it feels."
"And done. I think we're done for today or until I can stop my baby from cooking you alive," she informed him as she got up. "Let me help you."
He extended a hand and was absolutely not prepared for Mei to take a knee next to him and reach under him before just carrying him up. Takuma was getting carried. By Mei. Who wasn't even straining under his weight.
'This better not awaken anything in me,' he deadpanned mentally.
"Not that I'm ungrateful, but I can walk, you know," he said, trying not to sound too awkward.
"Meh, it's quicker that way," Mei said as she turned, just enough for their faces to be centimeters apart.
She realized how close they were; he knew that because he could feel her embarrassment peeking through as she tried to keep a straight face. Her cheeks were heating up, and the same tingle going up her spine he felt from time to time happened again. This was very awkward. Not for him; he was enjoying the feeling of being carried.
"This is nice; I could get used to this," he deadpanned, hoping to make her react. "You should start walking me to the couch before your arms get tired."
"Right!" she shouted louder than was necessary in his ear, making him wince.
To say that the walk was quick would have been an understatement; they weren't that far from the house to begin with, but with Mei speed-walking him to the couch, he was there in record time. She let him down a bit harder than he would have liked, but he could understand she was feeling self-conscious. Her face was burning, and her skin was flushed. She seemed to forget what to do with herself and started walking around aimlessly, entirely lost in her head as she tried to work out her embarrassment.
He had to admit it was a pretty funny sight. "Thanks for driving me here," he joked.
The way her face got even redder was worth the lame joke. He knew if he didn't make fun of her little act now, he would never be able to, so he struck while the iron was hot.
Still, there was something that was making its way into her thoughts; he couldn't recognize it, which was strange since he had more than enough time to learn the emotional spectrum by heart. It came with the same tingling he sometimes felt from her. It was not something he was used to feeling toward him, and he didn't know what it was. Feelings had a different form depending on if he was the target or not. And Mei was starting to feel something for him he couldn't discern. It was a small burgeoning thing, yet it draped over him like a warm blanket.
Takuma found himself basking in the feeling, not knowing what it was yet appreciating it all the same.