Chapter 34: Midoriya Izuku XXX

A/N: And this one is realllly late, I know. Sorry about that. Though, if I'm to be honest my schedule should be heading back to normal soonish. So, we'll be back to our regularly consistent posting schedule soon enough.

That being said: More bonding time… But with someone else! And not quite one you'd expect either…

Izuku knows that he's taking quite the risk by walking into such a public place tied so closely to his compromised alias. And all while out of costume. Though, he's long since decided that the possible rewards in carrying out his current plans far outweigh the possible risks of his discovery and subsequent arrest.

Then again, another part of him (it's more of a gut feeling) knows that there isn't any inherent danger lying in wait to catch him off guard. With how meticulous and convoluted Nezu seems to be in handling his case, the chances of him setting anything up here seem unlikely. An ambush set up solely for his arrest would be rather anticlimactic after all. Plus, such a maneuver lacks much in the way of any dramatic flair, which Izuku is sure that the rodent values much too highly than he should.

So with most of his worries at ease, Izuku continues his march down the corridor, using his quirk to lead him to his destination. Sure, the receptionist at the desk had given him directions readily enough once he revealed who he was. But with the dual twisting and cookie-cutter aesthetic of the place, he wouldn't be surprised if he got lost regardless.

In fact, it seems as though his worries aren't entirely unfounded, since it takes him a good ten minutes before he finally arrives at the door he's aiming for. Though, despite his relief at finally reaching his destination, he doesn't immediately enter. The few stories and rumors he's heard has made him know better than that.

So he places himself against the wall adjacent to the door, and listens. Clanking metal and rotating gears assault his senses, with various mutterings made by a teenage girl mixed in with the noise. He does this for a good minute, making sure nothing is amiss, or that anything is in any imminent state of becoming a risk.

Satisfied with what he's observed so far, Izuku reaches over with his arm and knocks on the door. And then he waits.

…

Only to notice no significant movement of the girl inside from her position. So he knocks again, knocking a bit harder. Seconds tick by, and the girl inside continues away at her tinkering.

Letting out a sigh, Izuku goes in for a third time, knocking on the metal door even louder this time — going so far as to boost its effect with his quirk to the point that the walls shake… And again, no response.

"You have got to be kidding me. I know that she's known for getting lost in her work, but surely this is too much?"

What to do, what to do… I don't really want to just barge in there; seems rude. And I do want to keep up my relationship with her; don't want to risk insulting her…

An idea pops into his head, one that he instantly wants to squash back down. Though, once again he finds himself reconsidering Nezu's investigation into his false persona, and the utter lack of (direct) involvement in bringing him in.

So would it really be so bad to use my quirk around someone who's already under his radar? Especially in a place devoid of his surveillance, and to an individual who already is ostracized enough to the point to avoid oversharing?

It doesn't take long after that for Izuku to make another calculated risk.

"Answer the door! It's important!" The words bounce off the walls of the room, finally getting a reaction out of the person inside.

–Huh? What was that?–

Izuku sighs before answering back. "The door. Important business prospects lie behind it." Izuku pauses, and then realizes the further lack of response garners further persuasion. "Potential babies await."

–Well why didn't you say so! I'll be right there, oh mysterious disembodied voice!–

Izuku lets out a sigh, removing himself from the wall and standing in front of the door in wait. He only realizes his mistake when he picks up on a sudden disturbance among the equipment held within the room. It seems as if, without constant attention being paid onto it, the — what Izuku at least presumes it to be — engine starts sputtering out of control.

Unfortunately, he isn't quick enough to react in time to what comes next. Sure, he can hear it. The outward expulsion of force, the roaring flames, the raining metallic parts, the human form accelerating towards the door. It's all too easy for Izuku to process. But the physical aspect of the event is just slightly too sudden for his senses — nevermind the fact that he's preoccupied with finally succeeding in spurring a reaction from the room's resident.

As such, he in no way avoids the door blasting off its hinges. Nor can he avoid the smoke as it plumes into the air, thus cascading all over him from head to toe. The weight that falls upon him is heavy as well. Though all of that combined is nothing compared to how his ears are faring.

The blast has left a familiar ringing sensation echoing in his ears, an assault going past even his quirk and the white noise generators tucked into his canals.

It isn't anything permanent; the effect fades away soon enough. But that doesn't mean that the instance is just a mere passing moment. If anything, it's a reminder that more trauma to his ears may result in more than just just tinnitus — he could lose his hearing altogether.

And he isn't exactly sure how his quirk will hold up to such an occurrence. Or if it'll even work at all at that point.

The thoughts brewing in his head soon escape him, however, as he recovers from the explosion and the haze obscuring his mind lessens in its intensity. He gradually becomes more aware of his surroundings — namely, the unusually large and heavy mass over top of him.

It takes him a few moments to realize the predicament he's in, but the way he can feel his face light up like a tomato is instantaneous.

Izuku can rapidly feel his face turning red.

Don't think about what's above, don't ponder about the things there, remove any thoughts of smothering…

"Ah! Michimoto!" Hatsume Mei cheers, staring down at the boy she has pinned to the floor. "It sure has been a while, hasn't it?! Where've you been? Last I heard you left Yuuei? What's up with that?!"

Izuku realizes that Hatsume seems oblivious to where her… assets are. Nevermind the fact that they're preventing him from saying anything with his mouth, lest he...

"Would you mind removing yourself from me, please?"

"Whoa!" Hatsume perks her head up, looking around in awe. After a few seconds she jerks her head back downwards, inching her face closer to Izuku's. "Was that your quirk!? You never told me about it and when I asked all the other business dudes and dudettes about you they never had a real answer. Some of them said 'analysis,' but obviously that isn't the case seeing as—"

"Off! Please!"

Hatsume shivers at that. "Whooaa. That felt weird. Were you just using my bones as a medium for sound waves? Because honestly—"

"Hastume!"

"Right!" She rolls off Izuku — deciding to lower herself flat onto Izuku before she does so (because of course she does) — and plops onto the floor. She then shoots up like a pole, finding herself back onto her feet with no time to spare.

She then sticks her hand out to the ground towards Izuku. "Need some help there, partner? The tiled floor isn't all too comfortable, ya know. Especially for sleeping. I know from experience."

Izuku groans, reaching out to take the offered hand. He doesn't resist when he's pulled back onto his feet. Once he's settled back onto his own two feet, however, he finds that Hatsume's already marching back into her lab with an eager expression on her face. Likely to figure out what caused the explosion of her invention in the first place.

Izuku can't help but find himself dreading what's to come. He had thought Hatsume a wonderful girl to interact with; he had never had problems back at Yuuei. But just a few seconds here… what changed?"

You know exactly the cause, Izuku. Don't play coy now; it's not as if we weren't physically close as friends. Is this much different? Unless, in actuality—

Gah! Not helping, Ibara! Izuku blinks. And… I'm talking to my own conscience again. Great.

Izuku sighs, wiping a hand over his face.

Deep breaths, Izuku. Deep breaths. Remember, this is the much saner option of how to spend the afternoon. After all, if I can handle a psychotic clinical vampire, a pyromaniac with daddy issues, a over enthusiastic fanboy, a literal man-child, and several murderers, then a overly ecentric imventor who has no concept of personal space should be a piece of cake. I mean, I don't even have to worry about her trying to kill me… purposely, anyways… Right. Easy.

Once he's finally calmed himself down, Izuku walks forward and crosses the threshold into Hatsume's lab. There are blueprints pinned scattered all over and inventions lining the shelves and walls every which way. He's sure that the room alone is one big fire hazard for the building, and that the only reason it's allowed to be the way it is involves the fire suppression system built into the structure of the room.

Although he had missed the system working in action when he was lying on the floor, the signs of its use are still present through the retardant covering various surfaces and the panels on the walls still turning over as the various extinguishers tuck themselves back into the walls.

Hatsume pays them no mind, acting as if the scene is a common occurrence (and it probably is, considering how the girl is). She heads straight back into her tinkering, grabbing a wrench and peeling into her destroyed invention to see what went wrong with it. She tilts her head up for a second to take a glance at Izuku.

"So, Michimoto?" she asks before looking back down to her work.

Izuku blinks. "Huh?"

"Huh?" She parrots. "Why, my questions of course!"

"Oh," Izuku says. "Uhh… I've taken up an… apprenticeship of sorts with a really successful… man with lots of assets and connections. You've probably never heard of him; he likes to stick to behind the scenes. I left Yuuei because it no longer was offering me anything I needed; the abruptness of my departure had to do with my mentor. Uh… let's see: Yes, my quirk involves manipulating sound to a degree. And yes, bones as a medium."

"Cool!" The girl cheers, showing signs of interest and yet never letting her focus stray from her device. "At least I have an answer now! Much better than just knowing that you'd absconded into the retches of the unknown — and without even saying bye, might I add! What happened to being a tech duo that overtook the support world by storm, huh?!"

"We, uh… never agreed to that?"

Hatsume pauses for a second, bringing her wrench up to her chin. "Oh yeah, huh? Guess we didn't. Guess that I really shouldn't be complaining. Your contacts helped make sure that I could stay here with my contract intact after a bit of rebuffing, so I'm not exactly all too annoyed! Oh!"

Suddenly, she sticks her hand out, palm up towards Izuku.

"Yes?" Izuku asks.

"Blowtorch," Hatsume demands. "On the workbench to your left."

Guess I'm the assistant for the rest of this meeting then. Izuku finds the tool readily enough and hands it over. "So," Izuku starts off, "how were final exams over at Yuuei?"

"Pretty nice. I got to build a whole bunch of robots for the second-years to fight! And Power Loader-sensei said that it doesn't matter if they would explode later; something about making the finals harder for his students or something. Don't really recall."

"Oh!" Hatsume perks up. "My High Density Weights that I invented made All Might weaker and slower so he could fight on more even grounds with the examinees! … He could still punch a street into nonexistence though, so not entirely a success."

"I don't know," Izuku muses. "All Might is pretty strong, even if he is past his prime. I'd gauge that at his current power levels, he's able to make an enormous crater just by punching the ground and making it look like a missile blew up, so… it's something."

"Hmph. Maybe. Torx."

Izuku hands the screwdriver over. "Well, I'm glad to hear that your inventions are still going strong. How're the resources here affecting that? Progress been boosted by much?"

"Oh, definitely! You wouldn't believe by how much so if I told you! Plus, this place has all sorts of things that even Yuuei doesn't have! Did you know that they have a condensed hadron collider in the basement? Yuuei doesn't have anything remotely close to that!"

"Hmm… You seem particularly interested in the collider. Almost makes me think… No. I don't want to know."

"Suit yourself~"

"Look," Izuku begins, "I didn't just come in today to check in on you. And although I will admit that it was a good portion of my reasoning for coming here, there is something else." He then reaches into his pocket and pulls out a flashdrive, flashing it in front of Hatsume's face.

"A flashdrive? What about it? And the crescent, please."

"It's more about what's stored on it, of course," Izuku states as he hands over the wrench. "I have some blueprints that I'd like you to go over. Hopefully you can put your own spin on them and… make them into your own babies?"

"Oho?" Hatsume blows some air through her teeth. She looks over at Izuku, crosshair pupils dilating in thought. "What's the catch?"

Izuku shrugs. "I get dibs on the initial working prototype, and you hold back on any commercial distribution or patenting for a few months."

"That's it?!" Hatsume scoffs. "Well? What are you waiting for? Plug that thing into the computer over there! I wanna see what that big brain of yours came up with!"

"Sure, just—" The aforementioned computer suddenly moves from it's position against the wall, the platform it's on rolling to Izuku's side. Izuku doesn't give the automation much thought, and simply plugs the flash drive into an open spot.

He's only slightly prepared for the abruptness of Hatsume pushing him out of the way so she can glue her face to the screen, eyes scrutinizing the few designs that Izuku's brought with him.

"Hmm. Not bad, not bad. Could use a bit of fine-tuning here and there, but honestly pretty decent for a novice. Of course, you can't expect to even come close to rivaling me!"

"Umm. Thanks?"

"Of course!" Hatsume grins. "Now, for the first one here. Nice little pack, but if you're going to be using it for what I think you're going to be using it for based off of my initial interpretations then it might just be a little too loud for what it is you're planning to do with it."

"I…" Izuku clears his throat. "Normally, that'd be the case. But that doesn't matter if I'm the one using it, eh?"

"OOHH! Good point! Guess we can work on these other kinks later then… Next one, next one! So you see, with this sort of ocular equipment, usually you'd…"

It takes nearly an hour for Hatsume to shift everything stored on the flashdrive. The whole process could've been a whole lot shorter, Izuku muses, if Hatsume hadn't stopped at every design and droned on and on about their inner intricacies.

But all in all, Izuku didn't quite mind the experience. It's a part of the girl's charm after all, and he can't quite fault her for just being who she is without constraint or care for what others think of her. It'd be rather hypocritical of him, after all.

Of course, his enjoyment comes after all of his subconscious thoughts comparing the girl to the Doctor. Logically, he knows that the two are the furthest from being the same, but he can't help comparing the twos' dedication to their craft.

"Whoo! That was fun!" Hatsume stretches her arms to the air and leans back, getting right into Izuku's personal space. Izuku pushes her arms away, just a bit, before speaking.

"Glad that you enjoyed yourself. Hope that means that I can expect physical prototypes of these in say… a few months?"

"Pfft! Please, a few months? Try a week or so!"

Izuku blinks. "Really?"

"Uh-huh." Hatsume nods, arms crossed together. "Perks of poaching me first, of course! Nobody else on the market is capable of such fast and masterful service!"

"As long as it doesn't blow up in my face I'm fine with that."

"No promises!"

"Right," Izuku sighs. "Well, I really must be going now, Hatsume. So if you—"

"Oh! Oh! Wait!"

Izuku, only halfway complete in even standing up from his seat, sits himself back down. "Yes?"

"So…" Hatsume grins. "I have this thing coming up, you know?"

"What… thing?" Izuku asks slowly.

"I was invited to I-Island to showcase my inventions!" Hatsume says, once more getting into Izuku's face as she announces it. "My showcase during the Sports Festival and my sponsorship to this place really drew just the type of attention that I wanted! And to thank you for at least exerting half of the effort responsible for such, I want you to come as my plus one!"

Izuku quirks an eyebrow at that. "That the real reason?"

"I also wouldn't have to tag along with Power Loader-sensei! I'd be able to tinker all I want!"

And there it is.

Izuku sits in silence for a few moments, giving the impression that he's thinking up a response. In truth, however, he already has one. He's much too busy here in Japan to even consider overseas travel, let alone for something like leisure. But he could at least be tactful about his response, hence his current move.

"I don't know…" Izuku eventually says.

"Oh come on! Please? Please please please? I don't want Power Loader boring up my trip!"

Hatsume grabs onto his leg, her begging on the floor. He's about to push her away when he suddenly hears his phone ringing.

"Oh." Izuku mutters, reaching into his pocket. "Hold up; just a moment. I'm getting a call." He looks at the caller ID and sighs. He knows not to call me right now. Must be important… or urgent.

The answers the call. "Is it an emergency, Kurogiri?" He asks curtly. "It better be, because you know that I'm busy and—"

No, no. Not quite an emergency, I'd say, Izuku

It takes a few moments (partially for the confusion of not instantly hearing Kurogiri's silky and mechanical voice) before Izuku's eyes widen in realization. "Sensei?"

"SENSEI?!" Hatsume shrieks, her demeanor doing a complete one-eighty as she climbs up Izuku's leg and drapes herself over him in an attempt to get his phone. "Is that your mysterious benefactor you told me about mysteriously? The one who I owe all this to? Let me say som—"

Izuku roughly shoves Hatsume off of him, pushing her to the floor. She doesn't seem to mind, however, as she's back up onto her feet in moments with a jittery smile on her face. Izuku narrows his eyes at her in response.

"No," he says so that only she can hear him. "He's a very impatient man; I— You can get in trouble if you make him mad. So sit in the corner and be quiet."

Izuku clears his throat. "Sorry about her, Sensei. She's just a bit—"

You should accept her proposal, Izuku. I promise you; it'll be fun

A chill runs down Izuku's spine upon that declaration. It can mean a whole load of things, and Izuku can't even begin to fathom what exactly Sensei has in plan for him. Plus…

He removes the phone from his ear for a second, moving to look at it with rather suspicious glare

Right… This thing probably has a million surveillance add-ons attached to it… Or he just has somebody who can remotely hack into anyone's phone at any given time. Not sure which is worse, to be honest.

He places it back onto his ear and responds. "I suppose that I can't quite refuse such a tasteful piece of advice from the wise old sage now, can I?"

That's up to you, Izuku. All. . You. It's best I go now. I'll leave you to your new friend

Sensei hangs up, and Izuku's left brainstorming up every possible avenue of the new scenario he's found himself in. Eventually, he puts his phone away with a sigh.

"Well?" Hatsume asks, interrupting Izuku's stupor. "What'd he say?"

"Well." Izuku does his best to bring up a facade of excitement. "Guess I'm going with you. When are we leaving?"

"HAHA! YES!" Hatsume screams. "Just wait until Power Loader-sensei hears about this! Oh! My robots! My automatons! Which ones should I bring? The scorpion one? Or how about the suit? Or maybe—"

Izuku lets out one, long huff of air.

Let's just hope I don't try from collateral explosion because of this girl. Wouldn't that be rather anticlimactic?

A/N: And there we have it! Quality time spent not with a League member, but with Mei! And there's more to come as well! - And Happy Holidays!