Chapter Twelve

The Goddess of Love

The sun began to go down as the school bell rang. Signaling the end of classes for today. As the students were busy either making their way back to their homes. Lily on the other hand was busy being carried to the small little home that the school provided for her. She had to admit, it looked rather comfortable from the outside, and wondered if it's the same on the inside. The moment Mina opened the door to the small house, she was soon taken by surprise by Midnight standing a few inches from the door.

"Good, someone from class 1A was able to bring you here." Midnight said with a smile on her face.

"Whoa! Midnight! What are you doing here?" Mina asked as Midnight walked over to pick up the pseudo servant.

"Well, we can't have the little troublemaker be alone all by herself. So Nezu thought it would be a good idea to have me keep her company during the night."

"Oh…wonderful," Lily said with a tired tone in her voice. "I would think of a good comeback, but right now. I am really tired to the point where I'm willing to let Midnight carry me to my room to sleep."

"Well, I'm not surprised given what Aizawa showed us. You did a pretty good job out there today. Not only did you win both your matches, but you provided support for your teammates. That's the sign of a true hero in the makings."

"Ugh…I want to say something about that, but again. Tired. Now take me to my room so I can sleep…please." Lily said before letting out a loud yawn as she passed out in Midnight's arms.

"Aw, she looks so cute when she's asleep," Mina said while noticing a somewhat angry expression on Lily's face. "Though the facial expression is kind of ruining it a bit."

"Yeah…hard to believe she's the villain killer." Midnight said before taking Lily to her room. "It's getting late outside, I'll take you home once I place Lily in bed."

"You sure? I mean I can walk home by myself with no problem. It's not a long walk from here."

"Nonsense, Mina. As a hero and your teacher, it's my job to make sure that you're safe. Plus, I'm a bit curious about your relationship with Lily~" Midnight said with a slight grin on her face. Mina gave Midnight a small smile as she watched the R-Rated hero walk off down the hallway. The moment she left, Mina pulled out her phone and began to text on it. While Mina was busy texting to her friends, Midnight made her way to Lily's room. She opens the door to reveal a room with a large bed, a small TV, a desk, and a table with a welcoming basket on it courtesy of Midnight. The R-Rated hero soon enters the room as she carefully places Lily on the bed. The moment she placed her on the bed, something hard fell out of her tail and onto the floor. She soon turned her attention towards the floor as she saw a broken picture frame. She kneels to pick it up as she sees a kid version of Lily with a grin on her face. Besides her was a woman with dark-colored skin, fox-like ears, long purple hair wearing a nun's outfit.

"Is this…Lily as a kid?" She thought while examining the picture. "Hard to believe a girl so innocent could turn into someone like she is now." Midnight looked over the picture for a good few seconds as she pulled out her phone to take a quick photo of it. Once she was done, she quickly placed the photo back into the pseudo servant's cottontail and began to make her way out of the room. Before she left the room, she looked over at Lily with a smile as she cut the lights off in her room and closed the door behind her. Midnight carefully made her way back to where Mina was without making too much noise so she didn't accidentally wake Lily up. She soon placed a hand on Mina's shoulder as it caused the pink girl to flinch in surprise, but soon relaxed knowing that it was just Midnight. "Alright, let's get you home young lady."

The drive home for Mina wasn't so bad in her book. I mean, driving in the car of a pro-hero wasn't something that she was expecting to happen to her. But she guessed she could cross this off the list of cool things to do kicking the bucket. Not many people would get the chance to ride with a hero, especially if they're just some random person that hasn't been known by others. The pink girl's attention was drawn to the outside before turning it towards Midnight due to her speaking up.

"I know it's been about a day, but what's your take on Lily?"

"Hm, hard to say. I mean she was pretty cool during the training session we had with All Might, but she seems to be secretive about certain topics."

"And that would be?"

"Her childhood. She doesn't go into that much detail about it, but she was an orphan from what I picked up during the conversation I had with her while carrying her."

"I kind of figured as much given the picture frame that fell out of her tail." Midnight said as Mina raised an eyebrow at her.

"What do you mean by that?"

"W-Well…don't tell Lily this. But a picture frame fell out from her tail that had a picture of her as a little kid, and a woman that looked similar to her, but had fox ears."

"You looked through Lily's stuff!?"

"Not on purpose! The picture fell out of her tail when I laid her on the bed! I figured I'd take a picture of it so I can figure out where that woman is now, and find out more about Lily than what we know already." Midnight said as she noticed Mina giving her a disapproving look on her face. "I know it's wrong, but I'm trying to help her in a sense."

"I mean, I can understand what you mean. But wouldn't it be better to try and get to know her first before doing something like that?"

"It's kind of hard to do that if she's not willing to open up to us."

"She might if you're willing to talk to her a bit more, or at least show that you're willing to be her friend. Doing something like that doesn't seem…well heroic…um with all due respect ma'am."

"It's…not that simple." Midnight said before making a right turn after stopping at a stop sign. "It's true. I wanted to get to know her better, but her mental state isn't…right. You have to remember that she's the villain killer. Her actions, while it was in self-defense, it's still not right to take a person's life. For all we know, the people that she killed could've been reformed and be a helpful member of society."

"I mean…yeah. But still, if you treat her like a villain, then she's not going to open up to anyone."

"Perhaps, but my job as a hero comes first before anything else." Midnight said as she stopped in front of a house that had Mina's last name posted on the mailbox on the side of it. "Try to understand, gaining one's trust works both ways. If we're going to help Lily, then she needs to put in the work as well to let us help her."

"Okay, thanks for the ride…" Mina said as Midnight noticed a somewhat downtrodden expression on the pink girl's face just as exits from her car. The moment she closed the door, the window rolled down as Midnight spoke up.

"I know that what I said might seem harsh, but I'll do what I can to help." She said before rolling the window up and driving off. Mina gave a weak wave to the pro hero as she headed inside. Once she was inside, she turned the lights on in her home while locking the door behind her.

"I'm home!" Mina yelled while taking her shoes off and began making her way into the kitchen. "Not like anyone is here waiting for me." Once she was in the kitchen, she quickly made her way over to the answering machine and pressed the button due to seeing a few messages on it.

"You have five new messages," it said before playing the messages.

"Hello, homeowner! Are you interested in a timeshare-"

"Delete," Mina said as she pressed the delete button on the answering machine.

"Hey, it's your landlord. You're three months behind your payment. Need I remind you that we had a deal. You give me the money, and I don't rat you out to the authority. Give me the payment by the end of this month, or else." he said as Mina deleted the message.

"Right…almost forgot about that…Maybe I can ask Lily if she could help me with that." She said before listening to the other messages.

"Hello, we're here to ask if you're willing to donate-"

"Delete."

"Looking for a way to make easy money, call-"

"Delete."

"Are you looking for a way to help society, but can't become a hero? Join the police force-"

"And delete," Mina said before heading over to the refrigerator to make herself a snack. She didn't have much in there other than some old fast food items that the landlord was generous enough to give her, and leftovers that she got from Tsuyu and Momo from the times she was invited over to their house from time to time. Needless to say, it wasn't looking too great for the pink girl. Whatever money she was able to get from her mother before leaving her, was spent on rent and stuff needed to keep in contact with her friends. "Starting to have second thoughts about living on my own at this point…I doubt she'll let me back home after having that argument about wanting to be a hero." The pink girl let out a sigh of annoyance and defeat as she pulled out a box of shrimp-fried rice. She soon walks over to the microwave, pressed a few buttons on it, placed it inside of it, and soon turns it on to heat her dinner for tonight.

Just as she was waiting for her meal to finish heating up, she noticed an azure cosmic-colored butterfly floating around in the kitchen. This took Mina by surprise as she had never seen a bug like this before as she decided to watch it fly around the kitchen. The butterfly soon made its way over to Mina as it fluttered about in front of her face. A smirk appeared on her face upon seeing it as she quickly clapped her hands together carefully in her attempt to capture it. She slowly opens her hands to see the butterfly perfectly sitting on her hands. A smile appeared on Mina's face as she was excited upon catching it. She was about to take a picture of it so she could show it to her friends, only to notice that the butterfly was sinking into her hand.

"What the-" Before she could finish her sentence, she felt herself sinking. Looking down she saw that she was sinking into a cosmic-looking puddle on the floor. This caused her to panic and try to pull herself out of it, but was having difficulty doing so. Looking down she saw a pair of hands pulling her down into the puddle. "Crap! Help! Someone help-" Another hand shot out from below her and quickly covered her mouth. She soon began to struggle in her attempt to break free from the hands dragging her down, but couldn't as she felt her strength draining for some reason. Was it because of the hands or the puddle she was being pulled into? Her train of thought was soon cut short as she saw a blue-skinned girl in Indian-style attire standing in front of her with a seductive devilish smile on her face.

"Don't worry, all will be explained once we're alone in my domain." She said as Mina felt herself being dragged deeper into the puddle. The moment she was fully submerged into the puddle, her vision quickly vanished as she faded into unconsciousness. Within a matter of an hour, Mina slowly began to regain consciousness as she soon found herself floating in what appears to be space…or was it water due to how she could see bubbles after moving her hand a bit within the strange place she was in.

"W-Where…am I?"

"You're in my domain, human." said a female's voice as it caused Mina to look around to see where the voice came from. "I'm up here," she said as Mina looked up. Her eyes widened upon seeing the same girl from before, only this one was large and had white skin instead of blue, and her hair gave and parts of her body gave off a cosmic design. About the size of Mount Lady when using her gigantification quirk in battle.

"Holy crap!" Mina yelled before trying to escape from the giant lady by swimming away from her, only to feel her moments being dampened as it felt like she was trying to swim through syrup.

"Relax, I'm not here to hurt you or anything." She said before appearing in front of Mina and grasping her head with her hands. "Hm, so this is what you humans look like in this world. How odd, you don't have any magic within you. Interesting to say the least."

"Who are you?" Mina asked as she felt the fear she was feeling wash away and was replaced with a sense of calmness.

"For a human like you, this might be hard to believe. But given how this world has a history of the pantheon of Hindu gods, then you must have heard of the name Kama somewhere, right?"

"Um…not so much…I mostly end up sleeping during history classes in middle school." Mina answered with a sheepish grin on her face. Kama deadpans at her for her lack of knowledge before releasing her hold on her face and backing away from the pink girl a bit.

"Gaze upon me mortal! For you are in the presence of the Indian goddess of love, Kama!" she said while presenting herself to Mina in a dazzling fashion.

"Um…not to sound rude, but it's kind of hard to take you seriously when you're dressed up like that," Mina said as Kama rolled her eyes and made herself look more decent by putting on similar clothes that Mina had on, which was her U.A uniform with the jacket tied around her waist.

"There, happy?" Kama asked as Mina nodded in a slight hesitation. "Good, then we can get down to business then?"

"Wait, are you the one that brought me here?"

"It should be obvious, shouldn't it? Indeed, I was the one that brought you here to my domain." Kama answered as she made elegant cushions for them to sit on. "Come, sit human," she said as Mina plopped onto the cushion behind her as Kama did the same. "I brought you here because I chose you to be my host."

"Host…you mean like a host to a show or something…wait am I on TV?"

"No, you idiot!" Kama said as she lightly bonks Mina on the head with a toy hammer she made appear out of nowhere. "By host I mean, you have been chosen by the planet to become a Grand Servant."

"...Grand…servant?"

"Right, forget that I'm talking to a girl with little to no knowledge of the whole servant thing," Kama said before clearing her throat as she summons up seven orbs in between her and Mina. "I'm going to sum it up as best as I can. The planet you're living on is in danger. Not from me, but beings that are known as The Beast." She said as the six of the seven orbs take up humanoid forms while one takes up a feral form. "Because of this, whatever magic this world has left inside it, was used to summon the throne of heroes to this planet."

"...I'm…having a hard time following this…You saying…that the planet summoned you here… to save it?" Mina asked as Kama nodded. "...You're joking…right? This is some kind of prank that someone from my class is pulling on me…right?"

"Huh…I figure your friend would inform you about this. I mean, she is a grand servant herself, so-"

"Wait, what does Lily have to do with this?" Mina asked as hearing this caused the divine spirit to blink in surprise, but a grin appeared on her face.

"Oh…she didn't tell you about what she is?" Kama asked as she noticed a glare appearing on Mina's face. "Such an angry scowl. You look cute trying to look angry."

"What did you do to Lily?"

"I did nothing. But I can say that she had the same deal given to her by a divine spirit that I'm giving to you now." Kama said before summoning a cup of tea into her hands. "The planet is in trouble, and we servants have been summoned to this planet to save."

"So…you weren't kidding….you're an actual god," Mina said as the gears in her head started to turn. "Okay…say that what you're saying is true. How do you know that Lily's…um."

"A Grand Servant."

"Right…and what is a grand servant?"

"You heard of the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round table?" Kama asked as Mina waved her hand sideways as a sign saying that she knows it, but not a lot. "Servants are heroic spirits from the past that left their mark on the earth and led to humanity's success."

"Wait, so you're one of them!?"

"You could say that. Now, servants are summoned to fight against each other during a thing called the holy grail war. But in this case, it's not the reason. Where servants are summoned to fight each other, Grand Servants are summoned to fight against the world, or more specifically a threat to humanity."

"And these Beasts are a threat to humanity?" Mina asked as Kama nodded. The pink girl looked over at the beast figures that Kama made but noticed that one of them looked like her, only this one had white skin and a halo-like star above her head. "Wait, how come this one looks like you…only different…wait were you the girl that was in my kitchen before falling into that puddle you made?"

"To answer the second question, yes, that was me. Or to be specific, I made a familiar bring you here." She said before taking a sip from her tea. "As for why I look like that one…well…I am a fragment of Mara. The piece that represents the love aspect for humans." Kama looked up at Mina. "Let me be clear that, unlike Mara, I'm willing to help humanity and not let their desire be the death of them. "

"Okay…so you're like the good side of this Mara person, and Mara is pretty much evil?" Mina asked as Kama nodded.

"...Sure, let's go with that." She said before offering a cup of tea to Mina. "Would you like some tea before I continue?"

"Um, sure. Thanks." Mina said as Kama snapped her fingers. Upon doing that, said cup of tea appeared in front of Mina as the pink girl took it. She gave it a quick sniff before drinking it as she blinked in surprise at how good it tasted. "Wow…this is amazing! What kind of tea is this?"

"Butter Tea. Quite a lovely tea from India that I do enjoy when I'm relaxing." She said before continuing. "Normally, an anomaly like myself wouldn't be able to be considered as a servant to be summoned, what with me being a fragment of the Beast. But I guess the universe is allowing this to happen."

"You're saying that the universe has a mind of its own," Mina said in a joking tone.

"Eh…it's complicated, but right now let's not go into details about it. Back to what I was saying, Grand Servants are summoned to fight against the Beasts. Normally, divine spirits can't become grand servants due to some of them having little to no connection with humanity. But for some reason, this world allows us to do that. I don't know if it's because of how this universe was made or if someone very powerful is making it possible for this to happen, but either way, divine spirits can become grand servants without the need for a connection with humanity. Though there is a bit of a catch with that."

"What do you mean?"

"Divine spirits summoned to become grand servants, can't manifest into the physical world. At least, not without a host."

"Is that why you created that little version of yourself?"

"For the most part," Kama said as she leaned back in her seat and looked up at the star-covered sky. "For one thousand years the moment Mara appeared in the world of man, I have watched the earth change from the viewpoint of my familiar. Not going to lie, it hasn't been pleasant to watch humanity becoming weak."

"Humanity hasn't gotten weak. We have heroes that-"

"The heroes of your world are an insult to heroic spirits…no, scratch that. They're an insult to the heroes of old on your planet," Kama said as Mina shivered from the glare she was giving. "Ranking of heroes, never killing your enemies, forgiving them, locking them away in a pandora's box!? What sort of humans would allow something like this to happen!" She yelled as flames erupted from her body, causing Mina to be blown backward from the force behind it. "It's sick to my stomach that this is how heroism is reduced to on this planet!"

"Hot, very hot!" Mina yelled as Kama quickly calmed herself down as the flames from her body slowly vanished.

"...I'm sorry…Do forgive me for that sudden outburst." Kama said as she adjusted herself and levitated Mina back onto her seat. "It's just that…the humans of this planet are a disappointment. At least those who would think this broken system is for the best, which it isn't."

"B-But a broken system is better than nothing…right?"

"Given how this world is, I suppose so. But even a broken system can't last forever. Especially when something like the beasts appears and humanity is not prepared for it."

"Is that why you were summoned here?" Mina asked as Kama nodded. "And to help humanity, you need a host to live in to do that?" She asked as Kama nodded again before speaking

"Indeed. Hence what I said before. You pretty much fit the bill for a suitable host for the grand servant."

"How can I fit the bill for that?"

"Because…You and I are a lot alike." Kama said as it took Mina by surprise upon hearing that. "I am the goddess of love, and it is my job to love everyone no matter what they look like, human wise. Hell, it's even my job to get people to fall in love with each other. You love your friends, you love your mother even though she kicked you out on your own, but you don't love yourself." She said before pointing a finger at the pink girl. "I had a look through your memories. The love you showed towards friends is unique and interesting. But the moment they give you a compliment about yourself, you grimace internally. Disgusted as if you don't deserve to be loved by them or yourself. Putting on a facade just to save face."

"T-That's not true…"

"You're lying. The memory of your mother slapping you in the face because you wanted to be a hero and not a fashion designer like she wanted you to be." Kama said as she pulled up a memory of the scene along with a few others. "The moment your father died, she became a different person. Instead of encouraging you to become a hero, she wanted you to live a normal safe life. But your love and passion for how your father became a hero drove you to the path that is your own. You wanted to become a hero, just like your father. Want to help people, not caring for the whole rank system or money. But you want to help people."

Mina grimaced a bit at seeing the old memories of what happened between the relationship between her and her mother falling apart over time. Ever since her father died in the line of hero work, her mother's mentality slowly began to change. Her admiration for heroes changed to that of disgust and hatred. She could guess as to why it would change, but was it wrong to not follow in her father's footsteps and become a hero? Maybe not the ones that fight villains, but maybe help in getting rid of debris or a rescue hero?

"Y…Yeah. You're not wrong about that. I mean sure, maybe being a bit popular wouldn't be a bad thing. But I wanted to be a hero just so I can help those who are in danger…just like my dad." She said before realizing what Kama did. "Wait, you looked through my memories…without my permission!?" She yelled as Kama stared at her a bit before casually taking a sip from her tea while avoiding eye contact with her. "Don't casually drink your tea while avoiding eye contact with me! You invaded my personal space! How would you like it if I do the same!"

"Technically you're in my domain…so~"

"Quiet! This doesn't change my point."

"Right," Kama said before placing her tea to the side, getting up from her seat, and bowing down in front of Mina. "Please, forgive me for taking it upon myself to look through your memories without your permission, human." She said as Mina blinked in surprise at this. She had felt a sense of awkwardness from seeing this goddess bowing in front of her as she spoke up.

"I-It's fine…I'm sure you had your reason…how much did you look into?"

"Up to the part where you met Lily," Kama said bluntly after pulling herself up from the ground.

"Seriously, all that within…how long was I asleep?"

"An hour. I am a god after all. So reading your mind wasn't that hard to do."

"Right...So say if I do take you up on this offer and be a grand servant. What will happen to me?"

"In this case, you will have the powers of a god," Kama said as she noticed a shocked expression on Mina's face. "Well, certain parts of my powers. Can't give you all of it due to wanting how…no offense, but you're pretty much weak."

"Hey, I'm pretty strong! Why just this morning, I won the match against Bakugo and Iida."

"That was Lily, you pretty much ran from this Iida boy and restrained the barking boy."

"I…Well…I can shoot acid!" She said before throwing a glob of it to the side. Kama simply stared at the floating corrosive liquid before looking over at Mina with a disappointed expression on her face. "Crap, I am weak!"

"Yes, you are weak. At least by human standards. Upon taking up my offer, you will receive my powers as a grand servant." Kama said before offering a hand to Mina. "Be warned. Upon taking up the mantle as Grand Servant, you will take up the responsibility of saving this world. For you are the counterforce that the planet has summoned to kill anything that is a threat to humanity."

"...Did Lily take up the same offer like this?"

"Given the divinity, I sensed from her when you were carrying her, I can only assume so," Kama said as Mina was slowly reaching out to shake her hand, only to pause and look at her hand. "I don't want to sound like an ass, but look at where you are now?" She said as it caused Mina to stare at her as the divine spirit walked around her. "You're living on your own. Surviving on scraps and leftovers from your friends and that jerk of a landlord. Your mother pretty much threw you to the wolves with whatever money he gave you."

"Y-Yeah, b-but-"

"But nothing! You deserve to be happy and follow your dreams. You don't deserve to be treated like you're crap. How long are you going to let people walk over you? Until you're homeless and dead on the streets?" Kama said as she appeared behind Mina and wrapped her arms around her neck in a comfortable way. "Let me help you in this struggle and in return, we can learn how to love ourselves. Together~" She said as Mina felt a strangely warm and comfortable sensation flowing through her body.

"...Alright…I'll do it," Mina said as she felt herself getting sleepy.

"Perfect. Now…just relax. I believe you earned it after the fight you had at school…and I have to do a few augmentations to your body. But don't worry, it won't hurt you. I promise." Kama said as Mina was trying to say something, but couldn't due to the feeling of her being tired increasing more as she soon fell asleep within Kama's grasp. The divine spirit looked down at the sleeping human and gave her a small smile before slowly sinking herself into Mina's body. "When you wake up, things will be a bit scary, but I'm sure your friends will help you."