Chapter Sixty-Three
Walking into the monitoring room, I found it completely silent except for the sounds of battle, everyone standing inside completely still, in rapt attention as they watched the screen. On it, a slightly scuffed All Might was going at it, hammer and tongs, against the two injured boys.
Midoriya's gloves were torn to shreds, and his greaves were cracked, while the boots were chipped in a manner that told me the nanoweave was probably shot to hell, and I'd need to make him another pair before he fought again, but they'd still provide cushioning until they broke completely. Part of making Support Items was to make them still function even when half-broken, after all, and the boy had nearly stress-tested them to destruction against the Symbol of Peace.
Bakugo was worse off, both knee-pads broken, his shirt and pants ripped, and he was missing one gauntlet entirely. No, I corrected myself, he still had a bit of the metal that attached to his left arm, which meant it'd been literally ripped to pieces while he wore it. The boy was missing all of the smaller 'grenades' from his belt, and the boxy utility pockets he wore on his legs were open and empty, the ones that hadn't been torn off.
All Might's damage seemed minor in comparison. However, having seen what went into that costume of his, the fact that the two managed to rip the man's costume at all was damn impressive.
Watching the screen, Bakugo shot forward with a blast, like a human cannonball about to slam into the Pro, who turned to catch him only for Izuku to shoot in from the side with a flying kick twice as fast as his partner was moving. Deku caught the enormous man behind the knee and forced him to the side as Bakugo, unimpeded, into the Symbol of Peace full force, both hands shoved forward and glowing brightly, setting off a detonation, point blank, in All Might's face.
The number one Hero moved with it, twisting backwards with the blast, and reaching for Izuku, behind him, who leapt to the side, slamming a punch into the man's hand to shove it away before he could be grabbed. Simultaneously, the Pro reached for Bakugo, who set off another blast, blowing himself backwards and out of reach. However, All Might blurred, twisting around completely and leapt for Bakugo, whose eyes widened as he tried to set off another blast, but the boy still had to 'charge up' a little between detonations.
Izuku, though, leapt forward as well, and slammed a kick into the small of his mentor's back, grounding himself there before grabbing the man's costume and turning, heaving, and throwing him back down to earth. All Might was moved, but not idle, swinging a fist around in the same direction he was being thrown to strike Midoriya, a visible shockwave building up around it.
Before it could strike, though, Bakugo set off small explosion behind himself with his left hand, closing on Midoriya as he swung that arm forward and grabbed the boy by the back of his costume, shoving his right arm past the boy's head and detonating a second, larger explosion, his hand cupped forward, the blast concentrated into an explosive column that struck All Might even as it pushed both boys back, the Pro Hero's strike missing by inches, but even that still sent the pair spinning.
Bakugo righted them both, letting go of Midoriya midair, the pair landing lightly on top of a half-destroyed building. The blond boy didn't say anything, but made a twisting gesture, flicking his pointer finger, which his partner seemed to get instantly, nodding and making a swirling gesture with his arms. Bakugo nodded and they both, a bit tiredly, but still determinedly, leapt off the building toward where All Might had landed, Midoriya sparking while his partner rode small, but focused, explosions.
All Might himself had landed a couple streets away, and shook his head, visibly fatigued, though not to the same level the boys were. The enormous man worked his arms, muttering to himself, "Man, did they have to make these so heavy?" The Symbol of Peace coughed, and his hand came away bloody, which he smiled at, wiping it away on his costume. "And they hit like a Truck. I'm so proud!" When the boys started to make their way towards him, he perked up, grinning, "Ah, well, no rest for the wicked."
He leapt right as Bakugo crested the top of the building, moving so fast he was little more than a blur to the cameras. However, the other boy had been expecting that, and had one hand prepared, ready to divert himself to the side, as All Might reacted in an instant, his enormous hand catching Bakugo's before the boy could set off the explosion. With a heave, the Pro Hero twisted and threw the bomber straight down, towards the street below, but Midoriya leapt in the way of the boy's path, caught him, and twisted him around himself, flinging his partner right back towards their opponent.
Now it was Bakugo's turn to blur, right fist streaming gold as he slammed into All Might, detonating at the moment of impact, sending the boy flying down as the man was sent flying upwards, only for Midoriya to leap, catch Bakugo again, and send him right back All Might once more.
This time All Might, even spinning in the air, was ready for the attack, and moved to block the shot, but Deku missed, sending his partner past the Pro, out of range of the man's counter, but Bakugo grinned, flaring his clench fist open and setting off the blast, arresting his momentum even as All Might still rose higher in the air. The Bombing King twisted around and pointed his grenade gauntlet straight down, pulling the pin as he did so, the device trailing flame.
All Might turned, and started to punch, but was too slow, the screen darkening as a second sun seemed to bloom for a moment.
Bakugo was blasted even higher, hand shaking as he slotted the pin back, as the Symbol of Peace was blasted downwards, trailing smoke, and an emerald rocket shot up to meet him. Midoriya leapt up with a yell of "SMASH!" that could still be picked up on the distant cameras, slamming All Might right back into the still ongoing explosion, which was shoved outwards, even as both boys fell back to earth, their opponent rising high above the arena.
"Holy shit," I whispered, coming up next to Mina as I watched the fight. "Has it been like this the entire time?"
My girlfriend glanced over in my direction, smiling upon seeing me, but, quickly looked back at the screen, not wanting to miss a thing. "Yeah!" she whispered back. "They haven't stopped since they started a couple minutes in. I thought my test was bad, but this is insane!"
Both boys landed badly, half a mile apart from each other, stumbling and driven to their knees with exhaustion, and by their injuries, but, shaking, both stood up. Bakugo's teeth were grit in pain, his gloves cracked and broken, while Midoriya's right arm, the one he'd just used to strike All Might, was purple with bruises, but not completely broken.
All Might, however, still seemed fine, except for a few more rips in his suit, flicking one hand out, reversing his flight out of bounds and shooting back down to the arena, landing between where both students had come down, cratering the ground as he did so, only having to take a single step to stop himself.
The man looked up, his gaze resting on a spot of yellow hallway up the building he landed at the base of, and I realized what he was looking at were the capture-cuffs the boys needed to attach to All Might in order to win, but had been embedded into the wall. One hand went to man's side, where Deku's fist had struck him with unreal force, and he winced, shaking his head, before taking a deep breath.
"Very Good!" the man called out, loud enough to carry across the arena. "Your best yet, but you're running out of time! You'll have to try harder, if you want to take me down!"
He looked in one direction, then the other, as both boys as they leapt for him, and sighed. "Both of you? I have to say I admire your spirit, but we will be having words about this, Young Midoriya," he muttered.
"What?" Ochaco whispered, uncomprehendingly.
Tsu responded, "The smart thing to do would be run, ribbit. They've split up, like Kaminari and Todoroki did, so one of them could make it to the gate while the other held them off."
Tokoyami disagreed, "Yes, but to defeat All Might himself would be a noble achievement indeed."
Before the conversation could continue, both boys had reached the Symbol of Peace, who stood, waiting for them, instead of attacking immediately as he had before. Bakugo and Midoriya both spotted the capture cuffs, before looking at each other, nodding, the blonde blasting down towards All Might while Izuku leapt for them.
However, while the number one hero had given them a moment to see the cuffs, and plan, that was all the time he gave them, leaping up, a fist flicking out for Bakugo, the boy barely avoiding it, as All Might reached the cuffs in a second, grabbing Izuku's reaching arm and slamming him, hard, against the side of the building, before throwing him towards Bakugo, leaping after his protégé a moment later.
Bakugo started to move to catch Midoriya, but aborted that, when he saw All Might coming down at them, instead hitting his partner with a small blast, shoving himself back and Izuku forward, both of them barely out of the way of their opponent's strike, which hit the ground, cratering it from the force of the punch, the ground breaking in almost fractal patterns.
Both boys flipped around, Midoriya hitting a wall and leaping forward, while Bakugo set off more explosions to close in on All Might, trying over and over again to hit their opponent, or reach the cuffs, Bakugo finally pulling the pin on his gauntlet again, but, while the explosion that was set off was larger than normal, the Pro Hero leapt through it, striking the device, breaking it to pieces.
"Good, but impatience is one of your greatest flaws," All Might remarked, reaching for the boy, who dodged it, only for the Hero to blur forward, sinking a fist into the boy's stomach and making him retch before grabbing hold of his costume. "What will you do, 'Bombing King', now that you cannot make a blast big enough to injure me?"
Bakugo, however, grinned, and held up shaking hands. "Dumbass," he spat, bile and blood leaking from the corners of his mouth. "The Gauntlets were so I could use blasts that big safely. DEKU! NOW!"
All Might turned, his other fist raised, to dodge the attack he expected, and counter to it, but instead of the other boy leaping at him, a medium sized bit of rubble bounced harmlessly off the man's shins, Midoriya streaking for the cuffs. The Pro Hero looked to Bakugo, who laughed, a crazed look in his eyes, as he shoved glowing hands into All Might's ribs before two enormous explosions detonated at point blank range, covering the street in a roaring conflagration.
Midoriya grabbed the cuffs, yanking them out of the wall, and shot down at All Might as the man stumbled, two palm-sized circles seared into out of his costume, raw, burned flesh underneath. Closing in on him, Deku swung out with his cuffs as the Hero shook his head clear, seemingly out of it, but the man's head whipped around, blue eyes glowing as he looked right at his successor.
"Close," All Might remarked, yanking his arm back from the cuffs and sinking a fist into Midoriya's side at blinding speed, "But not close enough."
Izuku was sent flying into the building he'd just pulled the cuffs from, causing it to collapse on the boy, but, in the second before he'd been struck, Deku tossed the device away, sending them in his partner's direction, who, shaking, with burned hands and bruised arms, caught them as he staggered to his feet.
Bakugo was trembling like a leaf in a thunderstorm, but took a single step forward, towards All Might. "Then we'll just have to get closer!" he declared, taking a few more halting steps forward, gaining strength as he moved, and All Might turned towards him, but staggered himself slightly. It was only a single moment of weakness, but it bolstered the blonde boy, who, screaming shot another explosion behind himself to close.
However, while he was fast, All Might was faster, and avoided the lunge, cuffs swinging out, then the next, the Hero lashing out, but Bakugo turned it into a glancing blow, as he yelled, "Get off your ass, Deku! We're not done!"
"I don't think he can hear-" All Might started to remark, only for the rubble behind him to explode upwards, a green streak blasting for the Hero.
Bakugo lunged, capture cuffs going low to hit the man's leg, but All Might shifted out of the way, turning to catch Midoriya's attack.
A shockwave went off at the point of impact, Izuku slamming into his mentor with both legs in a flying kick, which sent Bakugo stumbling back, but All Might was taken off his feet, flying back into the building across the street, which collapsed on the man in turn, as he had done to his protégé.
Deku landed, crying out in pain, the bones in his legs obviously fractured, but the boy pulled on OfA, using it to help himself stand.
Holy shit, did they do it? I wondered. I knew All Might was weighed down, and that Midoriya was stronger than he would've been otherwise, but-
The building that All Might had been buried under was blasted back, the man standing, a single fist raised. "If that's how it is, then it's time for this fight to end!" the Symbol of Peace grinned, though it came off as a snarl, steam streaming from the man's form.
Blasting forward, fist cocked back, All Might charged his opponents, while both boys staggered forward as well, pushing themselves to meet him-
And then the buzzer rang.
Both boys stumbled, looks of shock on their faces, and they started to fall, but All Might caught them. "It's time for this to end, because you are out of time," the man remarked gently, lowering them to the ground.
"D-Damnit!" the blond boy cursed, eyes tearing up. "So close!"
"Far closer than I thought, Young Bakugo," All Might easily agreed. "You should be proud of that, but you're not there yet. And as for you, Young Midoriya, you-" the man started to say, but the boy was out cold. "You, I will talk to later," he noted, even as Bakugo passed out.
Medical robots flew in, the camera feed cutting off as the announcer stated, "Team Midoriya and Bakugo have failed due to the time expiring. All matches for the practical portion of Class 1-A's final have now been completed."
The lights in the room slowly came on, leaving us all in stunned silence. Recovery Girl huffed, getting off her chair and heading for her office. "I'll be sure to have a few words with both those boys myself," she promised, leaving us all looking around at each other, unsure.
"Well," I muttered, ". . . shit."
Shoto Aizawa sat back in his chair, in a state of half-drowsing that took him years to perfect. Aware, but unmoving, he dozed like a cat, not expending any more energy than was required as he waited for the others to arrive. Finally, Power Loader tiredly trudged in, needing to be healed of his wounds by Recovery Girl.
"Alright, let us begin!" Nezu cheerfully commanded, as soon as the other man sat, clapping his paws together. "It's always surprising, what our Hero Course students pull out under pressure, but this years crop was particularly intriguing!"
Snipe nodded, "You were right not to pit 'em up 'gainst bots, Eraser. They woulda ripped 'em to pieces like a pack of coyotes on a farm-raised hog."
"Indeed," Nezu nodded. "Our combat robots were a sufficient challenge for class 1-B, however. With one notable exception."
Present Mic frowned, "I saw the tape. Monoma couldn't use his Quirk. Kid was always gonna have a hard time."
"I didn't need to use my Quirk to succeed," Aizawa pointed out, cutting off his colleague's defense of the boy. "We make them defeat-able without needing Quirks. Bradley succeeded. Placed among the top half of 1-B."
The announcer cast a sour look his friend's way, before shrugging. "Eh, I tried. So he's getting' some extra schoolin'? Kid needs it."
Cementoss sighed, changing the topic. "The two boys I faced off against also require additional training. I am glad that they proved to be the exception, and not the rule."
"Agreed," the assorted staff said as one.
Ectoplasm was next. "It should go without saying, but the two I faced off against did quite well. I did not expect Uravity to be so pugnacious. I admit I underestimated her capabilities, and the record of her equipment did not list those grappling hooks," the man noted, looking Power Loader's way, the Support Course instructor merely shrugging.
Aizawa smirked, "I did warn you that some of them had updated their gear. Ashido's getup should've been all the indication you needed." It wouldn't due for the Pros to get lazy, while telling the students to work. It set the wrong example.
"And can I say I am very glad that Ms. Ashido did not use her suit to try to smash her way through?" Nezu questioned. "If she had, oh ho ho, she would have found quite the surprise! Instead, she thought around the problem, utilized the potential of her team-mate's Quirk, and was able to time it just so that she escaped as the building started to fall! It was marvelous!"
I'm pretty sure she was just moving as fast as she could, the girl's homeroom teacher thought, but let the praise pass without comment.
"Jira and Kouda hit the charts," Present Mic commented, "thinking outside the box. I just wish they thought outside the bug. Why'd ya make us fight out in the middle of nowhere, Eraser?"
"Forests disperse sound," the man shrugged. "It gave them a chance." And hopefully it'd get you to get over your illogical fear of bugs, he added internally, but he didn't have much hope for that. The blond man was a city-dweller, through and through, and had used that very excuse to beg off of missions that'd take them into the countryside before.
Nezu grinned with a mouth full of sharp teeth, "And after that was you, Power Loader. I admit, I had second thoughts about allowing you so much time to set up, but you put on quite the show! How is your chest, by the way? Those burns looked nasty."
"I'm tired, but fine," the shirtless man replied. "Aizawa, what have you been teaching them?"
"To fight," Eraserhead replied easily. "But I think some of her success can be laid at the feet of her friends. And your star student."
"Don't get me started," the inventor groaned. "Just be glad Hatsume doesn't want to be a hero, or your class'd have twice as many explosions."
Aizawa lifted an eyebrow. "We have Bakugo."
"That's why it's only twice," Power Loader replied, deadpan. "Yaoyorozu went down, but even if the others hadn't made it, I'd say she passed. Just, maybe have a chat with her about when not to use heavy ordinance. Or I could do it, the next time Mei blows up the support lab. That'll take a week or two."
All Might, in his untransformed state, promised the Support specialist, "I'll have a word with Young Miss Yaoyorozu, but it might be for the best if you talked to her as well. I know about being careful, but not that much about high explosives."
"Midnight?" Aizawa asked, moving this meeting along so he could take a nap.
"Ooooh, all of our students were just brimming with youthful energy!" the woman cooed, her ardor dimming. "But Sero was lacking in good sense. I know how many want to get up close and physical with a beautiful woman like myself, but, powerful as they may be, young men need to have better control of their urges. And their staying power. It's all too unsatisfying if it's over too quickly."
"And Mineta," Eraserhead prodded, unable to help himself.
The thirty-one-year-old heroine scowled. "The boy's a quick shot, and rude to boot." Her cold look thawed slightly. "Then again, it's so rare someone successfully plays hard to get. The chase just makes the juice worth the squeeze!"
Nezu, as usual didn't so much as blink at the teacher's phrasing. "As you say. Are we agreed that, despite his team succeeding, Hanata Sero failed his practical examination?"
"Aye," the room chorused, with no pity for the boy whatsoever. Not that he deserved any, for that performance.
"Moving on, Mr. Aizawa, what of your students?" the principal questioned. "You did capture Mr. Kaminari."
Eraserhead snorted, "Capturing only counts if they stay captured."
"How'd he wake up, though?" Present Mic frowned. "I did not see that plot twist coming."
"I'm surprised it worked at all," Midnight offered with a pout. "The boy shrugged off my Quirk like it was nothing."
Snipe looked up, masked head tilting in confusion. "When was this?"
"The USJ," the heroine revealed. "While you were off 'rounding up the varmits'," she teased. "I'd almost be jealous that they were the ones getting penetrated, but I lack your. . . range. It's a pity you didn't pair that young man with with me, Eraserhead. It would've been nice to face off against someone who can experience all of me and keep on coming."
Aizawa lifted a single eyebrow, remembering the woman's drunken rant two years ago, about her problems finding a romantic partner. She'd propositioned him, as he could keep her Quirk from activating, but not long enough for what she'd wanted. However, he knew the woman, and her character, despite the persona she played so long it became habit, so he knew he didn't have to warn her off the boy. Once he graduated, it might be a different story, but he wouldn't be the boy's homeroom teacher then, and the boy'd be old enough to make his own decisions.
"Both young men did well," All Might stated with quiet authority. "I'm proud of them both."
And that was that.
"Toru and Shoji?" their chimeric boss proposed, looking directly at Aizawa.
The man didn't need to think about it. "Fail."
"That's not right, Eraser!" Present Mic argued. "They got Snipe, fair and square!"
"Snipe didn't try," Aizawa argued back. "And neither did they. If they were facing a villain, 'Tentacole' would have died on his first mission."
"I-I tried!" the gunman disagreed.
Nezu smiled. "You did? My, with your Quirk, Shoji must be quick indeed, to end a fight with you completely unharmed!"
The teacher winced, looking away. "I didn't want to hit Toru," he admitted after a moment. "Her Quirk messed with mine. S'why I popped smoke, so I could track the gal."
"At which time you thought you were cheating, so did not fire at all," the Principal nodded, and, from the Pro's second wince, was correct in his assessment. "Until Mr. Shoji, panicking and not trusting his teammate, ran into your line of fire, where he should have been aware that you had a clear shot on him. But even then, knowing Recovery Girl was on standby, you only shot a line in front of him."
"They're kids!" Snipe argued. "The tenderfoots' have just got a single semester under their belts. Treatin' 'em like veteran vaqueros ain't right!"
Aizawa glared at the man. "You're not giving them enough credit. They've already fought Villains. Midoriya, Ida, and Todoroki beat the Hero Killer. They've earned the test we gave them, and deserved to be pushed by it."
"And if I was fightin' those three, I'da put a bit o' lead in 'em!" Snipe argued right back. "But I looked up those two. They didn't do much fightin' at the USJ, and didn't make it to the finals of the Sports Festival. I tested 'em as much as they needed ta be tested. Yeah, I coulda gone harder, but they still got me. Wouldn't be fair to tell 'em they won, but not good enough."
Midnight disagreed, pointing out, "It's what we're telling Sero."
"That's different," Snipe shot back, but didn't explain his point.
"Well, then," Nezu clapped, "can we at least agree that Miss Toru performed adequately?" This was less contentious, and while Aizawa still disagreed, he was the only one. "Then lets put it to a vote. Everyone who believes Shoji should pass, raise your hand."
Looking around, it was five to four, with All Might, Nezu, and Midnight agreeing with Aizawa, but the others did not. At least I'm in good company, Eraserhead thought. Present Mic voting to let the boy pass didn't surprise him, the man might be hard on the ears, but he was soft at heart.
Those assembled turned to look at All Might, who had steepled his fingers, deep in thought. "Both my two failed," the skeletal Symbol of Peace stated quietly. "They fought well. Very well. But some fights you cannot win. To reward them for making that mistake. It would send the wrong message."
"They're strong," Aizawa pointed out, playing the devil's advocate. "Against most of us, they would've won. Easily."
All Might shook his head. "But they weren't facing you. They were facing me," he stated, filling out his baggy suit in a moment, turning a steely look on the others, eyes glowing in darkened sockets. "It might be surprising, but I know what it is like to face overwhelming odds, odds that seem impossible. But I also know what it is like to face odds that are actually impossible. These boys, if they continue to push forward as they are, will find themselves in those situations all too soon. They need to learn the difference now, before, like me, they learn them too late, and someone dies because of their overconfidence."
All Might met each of their gazes in turn. "The others might have been tested to see if they could defeat you," he said, nodding to Ectoplasm, "Outmaneuver you," another nod to Present Mic, "Or to manage your attention," this time, he nodded to Aizawa, "But my test was for them, the strongest of their class, to learn when to retreat. To manage a fighting withdrawal, and keep their focus on making the best of a bad situation. They failed to do so. Those two boys bet it all on victory. They need to learn what it means when that bet doesn't pay off."
The man seemed to physically fade, a quick burst of steam obscuring his form, revealing his skeletal body once more, oversized suit hanging off him like a starved child wearing his father's clothes, yet, despite that, the man still exuded strength, even if it was a different kind of one from a moment ago. "Besides," he added, smiling softly, "I do not think either boy would accept it if we told them they passed anyways. Well, Young Midoriya might, but he would not be happy with it. No, those boys, in their own ways, both have the heart of a hero. And that means accepting the consequences of failure. Let's not deny them that."
After that, no one had any objections, and the meeting was adjourned, the other teachers filing out, but Aizawa noted that Nezu and All Might made no attempt to leave. Present Mic was last out, giving Eraserhead a questioning look, but the man responded to the unspoken inquiry with a shake of his head, and the announcer left, closing the door behind them, resealing the room against outside surveillance.
There was a long moment of silence, as Aizawa looked at the two, before announcing, "Kaminari is hiding the strength of his Quirk. Even from us."
Nezu nodded. "I am aware."
"I can no longer Erase his Quirk," the teacher stated, pressing the issue.
"I saw that as well," the principal noted.
All Might shifted uncomfortably. "That. . . may be my fault."
The chimera grinned. "Oh? I thought the way your Quirk worked, that was not possible."
"It's not," the number one hero agreed. "Or it shouldn't be. But Young Kaminari has, somehow, copied my Quirk. Or, at least, what I currently have of it. Young Midoriya cannot use it properly. That is likely why you can 'Erase' it, Aizawa. But, when he comes into it completely, you no longer will be able to. Just as you can't erase mine."
"Then it is as I thought," Nezu sighed. "I told you before, that I had some theories, All Might? And I needed more evidence? Well, it appears that I have it, and Mr. Kaminari is, in fact, a Quirk Copier, like Mr. Monoma, but a permanent one. It would explain Mr. One's interest in the boy, if he thought the boy your successor."
All Might paled, "I, I hadn't thought of that. Then. . . he offered the boy training. . . because. . ."
"Because he thought he was seducing him away from you," the chimeric administrator agreed cheerfully. "And, in a way, he is not wrong. The boy does hold you in high regard." Nezu smiled sharply. "I do wonder how many of his classmate's Quirks the boy has copied? Not many, I believe, but likely those of Ms. Ashido, Yaoyorozu, and Hatsume, possibly others."
At their shocked looks the principal smiled wider, displaying all of his teeth, "Oh, and do not worry about him draining the Quirks of others. I have been paying close attention, and those the boy spends time around are among those whose Quirks have most developed. Ms. Ashido, in particular, has changed noticeably," the chimera noted, and Aizawa froze, trying to think of what he had missed. Yes, the girl had grown slightly, but so had most in her class, so he had not thought it important.
"I wonder, All Might" Nezu pondered aloud, "if the boy has picked up your ability to share your power, as she now has a similar level of universal fitness as that which Mr. Kaminari displays, despite rarely exercising before his admission to UA, on top of her previously developed musculature. In particular her serratus anterior muscles, which you humans so rarely strengthen, have been brought up to the same level as his, adjusting for frame, but she has displayed none of the movement patterns that would suggest muscle tiredness from exercising them enough to elicit that amount of gain in such short a time. She is the only one of the boy's societal circle to develop in such a manner, however. Do you have any idea why that could be?"
The number one hero reddened. "Ah, well, yes. That might be my power as well. You see. . .there is a certain amount of. . . biological transfer required. And they are at that age."
Aizawa connected the dots, and did not like what image formed. "And what kind of 'biological transfer' happened between you and Midoriya, All Might?"
"Nothing of the sort!" the man quickly responded, waving his hands in negation. "Young Midoriya ate one of my hairs. Plucked right from my head! The same way I got it from the previous holder!"
"That's all it takes?" Eraserhead asked skeptically.
"No, you have to do so wanting to pass on the power. It is a passing on of the torch, not some sort of mutation," the older man stressed.
Nezu stroked his tiny chin. "I could very well see Mr. Kaminari wanting his mate to be stronger. It is an understandable urge, even if I have lacked one myself, for obvious reasons. It will be interesting to see if she develops additional Quirks of her own with time. I must ask, though, Aizawa, how did you become aware of the fact that the boy was faking weakness?"
"I've Erased his Quirk before, his body snapped right back," the Pro explained. "This time it didn't. I had my suspicions, but it wasn't until I captured him that I confirmed he was sandbagging me."
"How did you find that out?" All Might questioned. "I've been watching him for weeks, and there could be a number of explanations other than the boy feigning weakness."
Aizawa lazily reached back and pulled out another sealed packet, tossing it to the Symbol of Peace. "Tell me, does that smell like chloroform to you?"
All Might stared at the younger man, before opening the packet, and carefully wafting a bit of its scent to himself, before frowning, and bringing it closer to his face, taking another sniff. Frowning fully now, the man put his nose right to the wet cloth, and inhaled, to no effect. "No," the hero remarked. "No it does not."
"Weird that a wet wipe made him pass out like it was soaked in chloroform, then," Aizawa remarked. He always carried a few with him, as being a Hero was often dirty work.
All Might stared at class 1-A's homeroom teacher, laughing as he understood what happened. "I spent weeks tiptoeing around the issue, and you figure it out in seconds by tricking the boy."
Nezu chuckled, while Aizawa smiled a tired, lazy, and satisfied smile.
"You might call it trickery. Me? I call it a rational deception."
Chapter Sixty-Four
And, finally, our summer vacation had started. The Japanese school system worked on a three-term system instead of the four-term one I was used to from my first life, but we still had a bit of a summer vacation nonetheless, from early July up until the beginning of September, a solid month and a half of no school to do whatever I wanted.
In theory.
In actuality, I was going to be busy.
I had a meeting with Mei in the morning to work on various items, including the low-key defensive gear I'd asked her for, before we left for the I-Island expo. With class over, technically we weren't supposed to be in the Development Studio, but we both knew that wasn't going to stop Mei. We had special dispensation from Principal Nezu, explicitly because of our invite to the Expo, something that happened occasionally, but rarely.
Really, it was the fact that both of us, technically Support Course students, even if my designation was entirely honorary, made it to the final of the Sports Festival that had secured us the invite as inventors. Support Technicians were a dime a dozen, but ones that actively used their own gear were a league apart. The kind of, as Power Loader put it, spine that such a thing took was as rare as it was valuable.
Ostensibly, it was because, as people that have used their own gear, we weren't going to do stupid things that were counter-intuitive, or clunky, or otherwise make mistakes that even some professional support item creators often made. The people who did those things were the technicians that were gifted, but arrogant about it, expecting the Heroes that used their gear to change their entire approach to fit the item, instead of the item being made around the hero's style.
I'd directed the man to Mei, who did exactly those things, but the Pro Hero had just laughed and pointed out that, when making items to make items, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but the gear we'd made for Midoriya, Uraraka, and myself proved that she could shape the item to the user.
But that was going to start tomorrow. I had a week before the I-Island expo, where I knew that something was going to happen, but no idea what. I hadn't watched the movie, hell, I hadn't even seen the trailer, only hearing about the movies second-hand, and not even the plot, just a joke that the first movie was on I-island, and the second was on an actual island, because the movies were effectively 'islands' themselves, not connected to the mainland of plot.
Only, apparently, they were connected, and I was running right into the first one completely blind. I'd done my research, and I-Island had a lot of internal security, and, as some rando, there was nothing I could do to help, especially considering I had no idea what was actually going to happen.
"Come on, Sparky!" Mina chastised, smiling from her seat next to me. "You've got that 'I'm worrying 'bout stuff I can't change' look on your face again. Relax! The finals are o-ver! And we passed! Somehow!"
Momo, on the other side of the table, frowned. "Do you know which questions you got incorrect on the Final? I had thought we had prepared sufficiently, but-"
"YaoMomo!" my girlfriend whined. "The test is over. And I did better than half the class? For me? That's amazeballs!"
Finding myself smiling back even without meaning to, I shook my head. "You're not dumb, Mina. You just were missing some key foundational concepts. Once you got those, you picked up the things you couldn't previously understand fairly quickly."
"I also had a great tutor," the pink skinned girl grinned. "One who really knew how to. . . motivate me," she added with a salacious eyebrow waggle.
Momo nodded. "Yes, I've found that having the correct instructor can make all the difference," she noted. "I have a great deal of experience doing such things by myself, but doing it with others is much more enjoyable."
"That's true 'bout a lot of things," Mina winked. "Like eating out!"
"Indeed, meals are best when shared," the home-schooled girl agreed, motioning towards the empty plates on our table. We'd taken the day after Finals off, and while we'd gotten our new rankings (Momo was first, I was second, and Mina was eighth in the class), we'd dedicated it to relaxing. A bit of time walking around the mall, a movie (Horror, as Mina had won the three-way rock-paper-scissors match), and a decent dinner.
It was early evening now, which left the question of what to do next.
"Oh, how about karaoke?" Momo asked. "Mina says the two of you do it often, and you said you did not want to do it without her. Now we can!" she smiled, pleased with herself for remembering my in-the-moment excuse for why the two of us weren't going to do what had kinda weirdly developed into pseudo-foreplay with my lover.
I looked to Mina, for an excuse not to, but the pink-skinned devil just leaned up against me, reaching under the table to squeeze my thigh as she smirked. "I'm glad you didn't want to without me, Sparky, but now that I'm here that sounds great! I'm happy to include YaoMomo in whatever we do."
... I don't know why I was expecting anything different, I sighed internally. My lover had made it very clear that she was interested in the creator, and she always got a bit keyed-up after a fight, even if that fight was yesterday. While I wasn't sure if Momo even liked me that way, Mina was pretty blatantly giving me the go ahead. However, rushing into things could ruin them, as I knew from experience, and as Mina and I were now biologically immortal, I could take my time.
When Momo turned a hopeful look my way, I found any reluctance crumbling though, and I nodded. "I did say that. Sure, why not?" I told her, the girl clapping her hands together in excitement.
Soon enough, we were in a private room, in the same place that Mina and I frequented, which, from the grin my girlfriend wore, was entirely on purpose. The guy manning the front desk, while Momo and Mina looked over the drinks catalog, had given me an approving nod of manly respect, and I had to keep myself from telling him that he'd gotten the wrong idea.
I was a little surprised that Mina put Momo between us on the couch, only to, when it was the dark-haired girl's turn to sing, send me a sultry look, a glance at Momo, and mime sucking my dick.
... Stay classy, Mina, I thought, rolling my eyes, but the over-the-topness of her motions did help break some of the tension that I'd been feeling, not sure what I was going to do now that I was here with Momo. I didn't know what to expect, so I'd started to stress, not sure what to do, and not sure what would be the wrong thing to do, just like I used to so often before coming to this world. But I knew that prim and proper Momo Yaoyorozu blowing me here in the karaoke room was not something that was going to happen. So, with the great unknown capped with 'well that's not a possibility', it helped me relax and just take things as they were.
Which, as I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding, and from my girlfriend's smile, was exactly what she wanted me to do. That girl's too good for me, I thought, but there was no bite to it, just appreciation, as I joined her in cheering on Momo as she finished her song, the other girl seeming to be oddly nervous, but visibly brightening as we told her that she did a good job.
"That was great, YaoMomo!" Mina cheered, shooting to her feet and giving the other girl a hug.
"Are you sure?" the heiress questioned. "I looked for more of a classical opera, but the catalog did not seem to have anything in that style."
"Momo," I told her seriously, getting the girl's attention, "This isn't about putting on a performance, this is about having fun." Leaning over the table, I scrolled through the list. "How 'bout we all try something. Just don't laugh if I flub the lines," I smiled.
"I would never!" Yaoyorozu replied, aghast at even the thought of doing so.
Mina, ever considerate, just chuckled, "Don't worry Sparky, I'll laugh at ya enough for both of us!"
Momo turned a scandalized look the girl's way, before seeing my own smile, and realized that my girlfriend was teasing me.
"Alright," I said, flipping over to the English selection. Momo was fluent, if with a slight accent, and Mina was... passable, but slowly getting better. Scrolling through the 'top suggestions', I paused on 'Heard it through the Grapevine' until I saw the preview of the lyrics which was a firm nope. Let's not make the first group song one about infidelity and an ensuing breakup, thank you very much.
Going through a few more, I considered 'Hakuna Matata', but I wasn't sure either girl would be okay singing about being a smelly boar, so flipped over to the much safer 'Kickstart my Heart''.
"Oh, is this about cardiac problems?" Yaoyorozu asked.
I blinked, "No, it's metaphorical, I think? Don't think too hard about the actual content of the songs, Momo. It's more about just singing together than anything. Ready?"
"Are you saying I don't kickstart your heart, Sparky?" Mina pouted.
I smirked, "You both do, each in your own ways. Ready Momo?"
The girl had frozen, but blushed bright red, nodding. "I, yes, yes I am!" she emphatically agreed.
Setting the song to start, I stood, and, seeing that Mina still had an arm around the other girl, leaned in and did the same with one of my own, trapping Momo between us. "Okay then, let's get started," I smiled, as the opening guitar riff sounded, as the start of the song played on the screen that took up most of a wall, and as I enjoyed being with my girls.
Mina and I wished Momo a good night, as she got in her limousine, her family's driver having arrived to take her home. She'd wanted to invite us to stay over, but while Mina being over was fine, the same was not true for me, even after her parents were told that I was already in a relationship. Which, given Mina's polyamorous intentions, wasn't actually something that would matter, and I had to wonder if Momo's parents knew that already, or they thought so little of me.
Meh, I'm okay with it, I mentally shrugged, as this would just give me more time with Mina, and I had missed our times together, even with a few stolen moments here and there when we studied. While my parents were fine with Mina and I being together in my room, no matter how much I wanted to, I wasn't going to fuck her with my mother up and about in the house. The woman wasn't liable to pull a 'knock-knock-open' like my previous parents had so often, in my old life, the memories of that other me slowly blurring as time went on, but, if anything, her respecting my privacy made me more inclined to not want to abuse it.
So, both of us were a bit pent up, and we waited until just after Momo's ride disappeared around the corner before we turned to each other. "Hotel?" I asked.
"Hotel!" Mina emphatically agreed, grabbing my hand and dragging me off, not that she had to pull that hard. Walking into the love hotel, I was still surprised how chill the front desk attendant was, especially considering that, with how popular the UA Sports Festival was, they had to know we were underage, but she gave zero shits, just accepting my card and handing us the room key.
Waiting for the elevator was nearly tortuous, but we resisted, and Mina ran forward, holding out a hand for the key, which I tossed to her. She opened the door and darted, in, and I followed, finding her already shrugging off her shirt as I walked in the room, closing the door behind her, unbuttoning my shirt myself.
We were both shirtless when I thought, fuck it, and came up behind her, picking her up and tossing her onto the bed with ease.
"Sparky!" she whined happily, bouncing a single time before I was on her, kissing her, posting one hand on the sheets while the other snaked around her back, pulling her up off them to hold her tight as I kissed her.
As always, I enjoy her taste, hints of dinner apparent, but under that a flavor that was just her. Arching the hand holding her up, I gently but firmly knead the tense muscles in her back, causing her to squirm in my grasp. I'm still working on my technique, but Mina is more than happy to let me practice.
Well, normally she's happy to let me work. This time she reaches down, undoing my belt and taking off my pants. Pulling back, but still holding her, I smirk, "Impatient, are we?"
Before she can respond, I drop her back on the bed, trailing my hands down her sides to remove the capris she's wearing, the girl quickly unbuttoning her own pants and letting me drag them off her, along with her underwear.
I lean down, ready to get her ready, but as my face nears her sex she grabs me by the hair, and tugs me higher instead of pushing me down. I ask, "Not this time?"
Mina laughs, "Sparky, I was ready back when we had YaoMomo squished between us! I need you in me!"
Not one to argue, I quickly pull back and take off my pants fully, before moving back to her, taking a second to line myself up, and she gasps in pleasure as I start to slide inside. "Yes," she moans, tight and warm, clinging to me as I fully enter her.
An unexpected side effect of Body Talent was that we were now perfectly compatible, instead of being just a little too big, to the point it was uncomfortable. That means, holding tight to her, hilted completely, Mina sighs in shuddering pleasure, before pushing on my chest.
"Keep going," she urges, dark eyes full of desire, which flutter closed as I pull back, her sex tightening to try to keep me from moving, before I slam myself back, the heroine tough enough that all she feels is pleasure. "Harder!"
"If that's what you want," I grin, repeating the motion, again and again, Mina shuddering with each stroke, arms and legs wrapping around me to hold me tight, even as I overpower her to keep going. I let myself get lost in the action, my lover moaning wantonly in my ear as I pound into her.
Mina shudders, cumming, and I keep going through her orgasm, and she starts to come down from her first before she tightens again. My focus narrows as I take her from orgasm to orgasm, trying to hold back, to make this last as long as possible, until my lover comes down enough and realizes I'm still going. "Do it!" she urges. "Cum in me! Fill me!"
Those words push me over, and I lose control, pushing as deep as I can go before I paint her insides white, muscles twitching, and she cums again with a shriek, shaking hard as her nails dig into my back hard enough to draw blood.
Slumping, I hold her as I turn over, so she's on top of me, and relax.
For minutes, we just lay there, together, content, Mina practically purring like the cat that got the cream. "I needed that," she drawls with a lazy smile.
"Agreed," I second, sighing, before a thought finally occurs to me. "Um. Mina?" I ask, trying to keep the nervousness out of my tone.
I fail, as the pink haired girl, still slumped on my chest, opens one golden eye. "Yeah, Sparky?"
"You're on birth control, right?" I check, not having considered that aspect of what we were doing at all.
The girl chuckles. "Kinda late to be thinkin' of that, Sparky," she remarks.
"Pinky, that's not a no."
Her single opened eye slowly rolls. "Re-lax. Yeah, I am. Don't worry, I got on the pill before the USJ."
I start to nod, before another thought occurs. "But, Body Talent stops substances from working. Poisons, and medicines. So, a chemical contraceptive wouldn-"
"Sparky. Don't worry," she repeats, a little more seriously. "I can feel that thing working when I take the Pill, so I just let it work. It's pretty intuitive, ya know? Once you let something work, it keeps working. I could stop it working, but, as much as kids would be great, not now."
"Agreed," I sighed. "Sorry, Pinky. I should've known you'd handled it."
She sat up, stretching, and wiggling her hips a little, reawakening my softening member. "Damn skippy!" she grins. "But, if you've got the energy to worry, obviously you're ready to go again!"
Mina starts to bounce, and I'm momentarily entranced by the view before me, her breasts bouncing before my eyes. Unable to stop myself, I reach up, catching them and grasping them firmly, taking hardened nipples between my fingers and working them just as hard as she likes.
I'm rewarded with a gasping moan, and an unconvincing chastisement. "Sparky! I'm the one in charge this time!"
"You put that before me -ngh- and expect me not to touch?" I respond, as she tightens on me, on the edge of orgasm, but, smirking, I let go. "Fine."
My hands barely drop an inch before my lover catches them, pressing them to her breasts once more. "Spaaaarky! Don't tease me!"
"As you wish," I smile, grasping and pulling, as I buck upwards, and Mina cums, staying up through force of will as she shakes in pleasure, her sex squeezing as if to pull my own orgasm directly from me. But, while my copied regeneration lets me reharden with supernatural speed, I've still got a way to go.
My hands rise to her shoulders, and I pull her down into a kiss, holding her tight to me. She pants in my mouth, as I pull back slightly, and tease her. "You're right. I have more energy. And I've got you Right. Where. I. Want. You!" I promise punctuating each of the last five words with a thrust.
Mina, a goofy smile on her face, cries out in mock-horror, "Ohhhh, noooooo!"
Chapter Sixty-Five
All too soon, it was time for the I-Island Expo.
"Nervous 'bout our presentation, Partner?" Mei asked, sitting next to me on the modified cargo plane we were taking to the 'island' of invention, really a city-sized boat. "Don't be, our Babies will knock their socks off!"
I smiled at the Inventrix, "I'm sure they will. Nah, it's just... a bad feeling. That's all."
The pink-dreadlocked girl gave me a searching look, before nodding. "Well, that's why we made your insta-gauntlets!"
My smile grew. "Yeah, yeah it was." The twin bracelets had been thrown together in a hurry, but they were by no means slapdash. With a flick of my wrist, they'd extend, creating an armored glove that extended down to my elbows. We'd managed a rudimentary electromagnetic system, but I'd been right about not being able to fully insulate it. For low-level uses it'd work, however I had about thirty seconds of flight time before they'd heat up enough that they'd start to burn me, needing a dozen or so minutes to cool themselves off completely, the little bit of insulation we'd managed a double-edged sword in that respect.
We were flying in on the morning of the Expo Preview, with a full day to look around before the Expo reception dinner, which would be followed by three days of showing off our gear, while looking at everything else the other inventors created. I was practically salivating at the thought of how much Science Talent would let me advance my understanding of the hyper-tech that these people called Support Items. It wouldn't be enough for me to instantly understand how to make everything, or anything that ridiculous, but hearing an expert talk about their craft counted as 'teaching' for the Talent, and it'd help me close a bit of the gap between Mei and I.
She may call us 'partners', but I could barely keep my head above the technical waters she swam in. With this, I'd hopefully be able to assist her fully, instead of struggling to understand what she was referring to half the time.
Checking my phone, Momo and Mina had already landed and were on their way to the hotel, along with the others from 1-A. Our entire class had gotten an invite to the artificial island, but only a few of us could attend the preview. Momo's parents held stock in several of the corporations that had their headquarters there, which meant she had gotten several tickets, as had Midoriya for winning the Sports Festival. He'd brought Ochaco as his +1, but only after Momo had offered Asui her other extra ticket.
Watching him dance around the two of them shouldn't be as amusing as it is, I smiled, shaking my head, knowing I was absolutely in a glass house in that regard, though our situations weren't quite the same, given how it was Mina that was pushing to involve our favorite creationist in our relationship, instead of both girls pursuing me.
"Hmm," Mei mused, sitting next to me, leaning over and resting her head on my shoulder as she had that 'I'm planning' look on her face. "You think we could get your girlfriend to showcase the Baby we made for her?"
"I asked her to bring her costume for that very reason," I reassured my partner, "as well as Midoriya and Uraraka." the girl turned her head around to shoot me a pleased grin, before going back to thinking.
"How many explosions do ya think they'd let us set off an hour?" she mused.
I rolled my eyes. "Three, and I had to schedule them in advance," I informed her, knowing she'd want to show off the explosive version of our capture foam, as well as a few other high-yield items. "You want to showcase the shield at the same time?" The inventrix nodded excitedly. "Then I'm glad I packed it, and several dozen cartridges, but I-Island's gonna hold it until it's time for our showcase, and they'll deliver them to us then. For some reason they didn't want unregulated explosives on their floating arcology. Go figure. Oh, and we can only use the 'Not-A-MIRV' once, in a specially prepared arena."
"But we still get to use it?" she checked.
"We can," I reassured my partner. "I know you wanted to use it for the Sports Festival."
"Against moving targets?" she pressed. I nodded. "Yay! Without them our Baby's tracking system wouldn't get a chance to shine!"
I could completely agree with that. We'd tackled the problem of missiles being stupid expensive, even with advanced creation techniques, because to work effectively each one needed to have a mini-computer built into them to handle things like tracking and variable yield settings. Mei had looked at the problem, and, like she tended to do, decided to do handle it ass-backwards, but then make that work.
If the issue was the control systems being destroyed on detonation, then why put it in a situation where it could be destroyed in the first place? Other models had worked to harden the important parts, rendering them salvageable, or made them more like explosive arrows, collectable and re-usable after minor repairs, but she'd built the computer and tracking system into the launcher, the missiles only having a receiver and the most basic of systems.
It cut down on the range tremendously, rendering it useless for anything more than half a mile away, but given the nature of Hero/Villain combat, that was perfectly fine. We did build in a long-range option, but it required a clear line of sight, and for the user to keep the system on target instead of being able to fire-and-forget. Also, there was just a little bit of latency, making them a little easier to dodge, but the way things worked they'd not mess up the landscape if they missed, the micro-kinetic warhead not going off unless the launcher sent the signal. However, despite those problems, we'd managed to drop the materials cost from fifty dollars per missile to just over fifty cents per missile, so it was absolutely worth it. It still wasn't something I'd want to use willy-nilly, as it launched about sixty of the things per volley, but dear god did it simplify things.
And, without moving targets to show off on, all the work we put into our Baby might've well have been wasted.
Wait, 'our Baby'? I thought, having to shake my head again. Now she's got me doing it.
We'd been spending twelve hours a day in the Design Studio, and Mei would've probably spent twenty if I, with Power Loader's explicit approval, hadn't dragged her out to get food and go home to sleep, before meeting her at the school gate with a pair of hot-chocolates and breakfast sandwiches, the girl not touching coffee because, and I quote, "Diuretics mean you waste time draining your bladder instead of draining your mind, Sparky!"
"We're making our final descent," the intercom chimed, Mei let out a "Finally!" that some of the others on the plane echoed, the craft ferrying support technicians for the expo, along with their creations. We'd been given a mass and weight limit, and had ended up leaving half of our creations behind. Mei had let me handle the display, though Power Loader had been happy to offer advice, and I hoped I did a good enough job with it.
I also hoped the expo would even happen in the first place.
This was the first movie, the entirety of Class 1-A being there a dead giveaway, but I had no idea what was going to happen. Was it going to be zany hijinks? Was it going to be some kind of heist? Was it a full-on attack? Would I-Island even be standing afterwards?
Mei poked me. "You're doing it again," she observed, and I nodded, sighing.
"Sorry. Just... just a feeling," I reiterated helplessly, shrugging.
The pink-haired girl gave me a considering stare. "I'm gonna take your mind off that," she declared.
I lifted an eyebrow, "By dragging me around the displays to look at all the new tech?"
"Of course!" she grinned. "They won't be good as our Babies, but I'm sure we'll get some great ideas!"
"Mei, I'm pretty sure we're not supposed to reverse-engineer everyone else's tech," I felt compelled to point out.
"Pfshaw, like everyone isn't gonna be trying to figure out how our Babies work," she scoffed. "They're so amazing, they'll be the belles of the builders' ball!"
I was pretty sure the professionally made creations by people with decades of experience on us were going to attract more attention, but I decided that discretion was the better part of valor and shrugged, replying, "We'll find out tomorrow."
Getting through immigration was easier than I thought it'd be, as we all just stood on an travelator as we were all scanned. The sensors paid close attention the bracelets I wore, lights playing over them for several seconds, but the entire process was both automated and took all of three minutes to process everyone, and that was only because of how long it took the moving walkway to ferry us through the scanners. No one said anything to us as we grabbed our bags and took the shuttle to our hotel, the same one we shared with the rest of my classmates.
Looking around as it drove, I had to shake my head, as this was what I'd expected once I started to learn just how advanced the tech of this world was. The buildings, while making nods towards the twentieth century design standards Japan utilized universally, were obviously made with advanced materials, many of them using shapes and layouts that would've been difficult to create, let alone maintain, without technology we didn't have in my first life. The only exception were the office buildings in the distance that looked almost out of place in their bland normality, though I supposed there was just something about bureaucracy that exerted a certain ontological pressure on its surroundings.
It was easy enough to hook up with the others once we dropped our bags off, meeting them in the esplanade where the preview attractions were displayed. We didn't even need to show our tickets, just walking through the gate with no problem. Given how much security this place obviously possessed, I had to assume that they'd scanned our faces, or something else helpfully Orwellian, but I didn't live here, so I didn't really care, working under 'Disneyworld' rules, effectively.
"SPARKY!" I heard Mina cry and the girl leapt for me, arms outstretched. Catching her and spinning to bleed of the momentum, she hugged me tightly, before letting go. "Took ya long enough to get here, mister. How was your flight? Momo's plane was swanky AF!"
The heiress blushed slightly, "It is my parents', which they graciously let us use, and it was nothing special."
"Um, it had its own hot tub," Ochaco pointed out, "And I think it was bigger on the inside."
Yaoyorozu shook her head. "It was not. Mother was quite insistent on that technology not being ready for commercial use, despite what the salespeople said."
"Wait, that was an option?" the impoverished girl demanded, eyes wide.
I winced, "Your mom's right. Mei and I looked into space-warping for these," I said, tapping my bracelets, "and for anything you want to put people in, fill with stuff, and put a couple thousand feet up, that's a bad idea. We just took a cargo-plane, nice, but no frills." I looked around, and while Asui was here, we were missing our designated protagonist. "Where's Izuku?"
"He said he needed to meet someone, Ribbit, and that he'd be back before the party," Tsuyu replied, frowning. "Didn't say who, though."
Probably All Might then, I assumed. "If I had to guess, it's Quirk-related," I reassured the frog-girl. "He's gotten better at using his, but he still has a backlash if he overdoes it. Hell, he completely busted up the boots we made for him during the Finals, so maybe there's someone here that can help with that."
Froppy considered that, before nodding, relieved. "That makes sense."
"You can talk about that later, Sparky," Mei complained, grabbing my arm and dragging me towards one of the display halls. "We've got tech to see!"
I caught Momo giving Mina a confused look, but my girlfriend just grabbed the heiress' hand and dragged her along after us, the last two following a moment later. The first building was full of small, one-off devices, many of which utilized an odd sort of compression tech, which seemed to almost deconstruct the items into blue glowing energy, a hexagonal grid spreading out over it in a sort of mapping matrix, or at least that was Mei's best guess. To me, it'd crossed the sufficiently advanced line into tech-magic, but while my partner didn't understand it either, she was practically vibrating with ideas.
If we could figure out how to do this, I'd never be disarmed, I thought, especially as, unlike with normal space compression, the process also seemed to negate the mass of the deconstructed object, which opened up a lot of possibilities.
Another building was dedicated to shield and armor tech, showing off new materials and defense designs. Hard light barriers, repellent fields, and even one that actually used targeted teleportation, though the energy requirements for it must've been insane, were on display. They were also very likely very heavy, from what I knew of the tech required, though they likely could be lightened by cutting down on use time, but these pieces were very much 'proof of concept' prototypes instead of purchase-ready devices, constantly on to display their function.
"If all this available, why don't we see more at home?" Asui wondered, as we watched a robot show off a hard-light buckler. Against kinetic blows, it would be okay, but the nature of its projected design would mean it would no-sell energy-based attacks, like fire or lightning, and be immune to acids.
"Bureaucracy," I answered, even as Momo said, "Regulations."
I motioned for her to go on, and she smiled, nodding and taking up the explanation. "Because of the extreme capabilities Support Items can bestow upon their wielders, they are highly regulated in Japan, as well as many other countries." She motioned towards the hard-light buckler, "For instance, there are Quirks which can make shields like this. By using it, the user would effectively have a second Quirk, and so they are regulated almost as tightly as Quirks are."
"Which is why, as Heroes, we're allowed to use them," I added. "UA takes responsibility for us, since we're in the Hero course, but for normal people there's a ton of paperwork, permits, and other problems if they want to use them."
Moving on, the next hall was much more open, a blue column of what looked like water in the center, easily fifty feet across, and walled cubbies all around, while floating teal and purple spheres hung above our heads, providing light. Looking in the cubbies, these Support Items were all vehicle based, like a full on Patlabor-esque mecha suit with tank-tread legs, though there were other devices as well, like a panopticon helmet that let the user monitor thirty-six different feeds at once with a very intuitive GUI.
Uraraka perked up. "Oh, hey, look. There's Dek...u," she trailed off, as the boy was standing next to a blonde girl who, if I was right, was flirting with him. Ochaco started to walk towards him, expression flat, but, given that whoever this was hadn't showed up in the next season at all, the new girl wasn't the threat Uravity saw her as.
Quickly striding past the girl before she could confront her not-a-boyfriend over his not-a-infidelity, I called out, "Hey, Midoriya! Here's where you ran off to!"
The green haired boy twisted around, a look of surprise on his face. "Wha', Kaminari? What're you doing here?"
"I was invited," I grinned, the boy not having been part of our planning directly, and seemingly had not realized that Momo only had an extra ticket because I had my own way of being here. "Who's your friend?"
"O-Oh, um, this is Melissa!" he rallied. "She was just showing me around a little."
The girl looked us over, noting the four girls in-costume, the fact that Mei and I weren't, and smiled. "Nice to meet you. My dad and Uncle Might are really good fri-"
"Gaaah!" Midoriya yelled, jumping back to her, pulling away, and crouching down for a quick whispered conversation that wasn't suspicious in the slightest.
To her credit, Melissa just rolled with it, standing back up and clasping her hands together with a smile. "How about we all grab some tea at the café?" she suggested.
Midoriya was nervous the entire way, both his not-girlfriends giving him the stink-eye, though the others engaged Melissa in small talk that was absolutely digging for information, and which the new girl went along with, talking about herself, but deflecting away from the reason she was here with Izuku.
It turned out the girl, one Melissa Shield, was the daughter of one of David Shield, whose name I recognized from some of the tools we used in the Design Studio. She was attending I-Island Academy, which was actually a university, having skipped several grades and attending college despite only being seventeen. The college, while not creatively named, was apparently the premiere school for Support Item Technicians.
"You thinking of going?" I asked Mei as we walked.
"Nah," she disagreed. "You're gonna be out doing your Hero things, and I'm not just gonna leave ya to go learn stuff I can figure out myself!"
Melissa blinked, "You're a Hero too, then? But, you're not in costume."
"I'm not here as a Hero, but as an inventor," I smiled. "Though I'm very much the junior partner."
"Oh, you're both? That's interesting," the blonde girl smiled, looking to Mei, "And if you're good enough to be invited to the preview, you really should reconsider. I've learned so much during my time at university!"
The inventrix considered that. "But, I'll have to stay here, and everything I make will be secret?"
Melissa nodded. "Yes, it's for the safety of-"
"Hard pass," Mei cut her off, a little rudely. "What's the point of making my Babies if no one sees how awesome they are?"
"I, well, once you graduate, if you choose to leave-" the college student tried to rally.
"Nope," my partner insisted. "Not gonna happen!"
Mina redirected the conversation, "She's not being mean, sweetie. Mei's just... direct."
"It's fine," Melissa smiled, waving away the unspoken apology, "some of my classmates are the same way."
The conversation continued, the older girl being wow'd by the fact that we'd gone out with professional heroes, and I waited until a lull in the discussion to drop a conversational bomb.
"You know, Midoriya," I smiled, "You could've told them you were slipping away to see All Might about your Quirk." It was obvious enough, in retrospect. If what Mei and I had whipped up increased his capabilities, then getting All Might's personal Support Technician on the case was the next logical step.
"I, uh, what? All Might?" the boy asked, eyes wide as he panicked. "How'd you kno- I mean, um, no, I was, um-"
"It's fine, dude," I reassured him. "You're not gonna insult me by having someone make something better to use than the boots we invented to let you use your Quirk without hurting yourself." To my side, Mei Ahem'd, and I added, "And as long as you let Mei look over the plans, she'll be fine with it too."
My partner considered that, before nodding, and going back to her mint iced chocolate.
From Deku's confused expression, the boy replying, "I... what?" I was either completely off the mark, or it was supposed to be a surprise.
Whups, I thought, as Melissa turned to look at the green haired boy, asking, "Your Quirk hurts you?"
"I, uh, yeah, a little," he replied with a shrug.
Asui, on his left, added drolly, "If a little means breaking every bone in his arm when he punches something, Ribbit."
Izuku winced. "That was only at first, and Recovery Girl helped patch me up, but I've gotten better at using it, though at lower levels, and I'll eventually be able to use it, it's just going to take a while; it's just that my body can't quite handle it yet, which wasn't something I expected, but I can work with it, and the boots you and Mei made really help, Denki, and All Might didn't say anything about that, but it makes sense when you think about it, and maybe it was a surprise, but I don't want anyone to feel like I'm getting special treatment, because that wouldn't be fair, and I'm doing well, and I'm glad that everyone could come here, but I wonder what it'll be, maybe a glove, it'd work with the boots and I wouldn't want the work to be put in to be wasted, and I just was getting used to them, though they mutter mutter mutter."
"And there he goes," Mina laughed, shaking her head. "Midoriya, ya dork, All Might's helping a lot of people. No one's gonna care if he helps you. Except maybe Bakugo, but he's kind of a jerk."
"Kacchan's getting better," Deku argued. "No, really," he added at my girlfriend's incredulous look, "I know he's loud, and angry, and violent, but he really wants to help people. Just... just in his own way."
"Uh huh," the pink skinned girl replied, "whatever you say, honey."
Melissa, however, seemed deep in thought.
"Your drink, si-hey!" a familiar voice announced from my knee. Glancing over, I saw Mineta standing there, in a waiter's uniform. "What're you doing here!?"
"Invited, you?" I replied, noticing Sero as he walked over as well.
Sero smiled that almost too wide smile of his. "Since our flights were comp'd by the school, we saw there was a job opening as wait staff, and applied."
"We get to explore the Expo early on our breaks, and we make some money," Mineta added. "And we might just meet-" he froze, spotting Melissa, before glancing over to me as I watched him, waiting. The pervert made a low sound akin to a distressed dog as he vibrated in place, before, taking a deep breath, and he mastered himself. "Might meet some of the cute, smart girls that live here," he added, as if nothing at all had just happened.
Without missing a beat, the college girl turned to Momo, "Are they also your classmates?"
"WHY ARE YOU TWO SLACKING OFF!?" Ida's voice yelled, as the boy, in full costume, came running towards us. "YOU WANTED TO MAKE MORE MONEY, DIDN'T YOU? BUT YOU'RE NOT WILLING TO WORK HARD!?"
Both Mineta and Sero fell backwards, Tenya coming to stop standing over them, looking disapproving.
"Ida, you're here too?" Uraraka asked cheerfully, ignoring his entrance, even as I wondered just how many preview tickets this place handed out.
The boy turned to face us, "I come from a long line of heroes. It's to be expected that we receive an invitation to the expo. But my family was busy, so it's just me."
"Are you their manager?" I asked, motioning to the two teens on the ground, wondering how that worked.
Behind his glasses, the boy blinked. "No. No I am not."
Lifting an eyebrow, I questioned, "So do you often accost people in the service industry, when you think they're 'slacking off', making a scene, or is that just something you do when you're representing your family?"
The boy froze, looking around, and realized that everyone else in the café was now staring. "No, but these two are students of UA, and represent us in their actions abroad. They-"
"Talked with us for less than a minute, when things aren't that busy," I interrupted, motioning towards the seating area, which was over half empty, as the two boys stood up. "Freakin' chill. I know you're a stickler for the rules, but don't hide that in caring about our 'image'." I understood that Mineta and Sero, as the class perverts, were considered 'acceptable targets' by most of the others, in the same way Denki originally would've been, but jumping over them for things that weren't that bad did nothing, except maybe make Ida feel better about himself.
And given the teen had gone out to kill Stain, solo, Tenya didn't have an engine-leg to stand on.
Ida hesitated, before slowly stating, "I may have been a little overzealous in the carrying out of my duties."
"A little?" Mina echoed, laughing. "It's summer vacation, my dude. We're not in class, and even then, keeping these two in line would be YaoMomo's 'duty'," she pointed out, jerking a thumb to the girl in question.
"I... yes, it is obvious now I have been in error," the boy agreed, far too seriously. "In that case I apologize, Sero, Mineta, for my mistake. I was trying to defend the prestige of UA, and you have developed a bit of a... reputation."
Mineta winced, but Sero just raised his hands incredulously. "Why? Just because I lost to Ms. Midnight?"
The girls nodded as one, Ochaco informing him, "Pretty much."
"You lost 'cause you got too close," Asui added.
"Come on. How was I supposed to know she was that strong?" he complained.
"Why," Mina questioned suspiciously, "because she's a giiirl?"
Mineta started to edge away from him, even as Sero shrugged helplessly and replied, "Well, yeah."
I could practically feel the chill from the frosty looks the assembled heroines were giving the tape-dispensing boy.
"But, Ms. Mirko's a girl," Midoriya frowned in confusion, "And she's stronger than I am. Stronger than I am safely," he amended, getting subtly approving nods from Asui and Uraraka.
"Yeah, but she's a heteromorph. That doesn't..." He started to argue dismissively, trailing off.
"Go oooon," my heteromorphic girlfriend smiled with corrosive sweetness. "That doesn't what, Sero?"
The boy blinked, frozen in fear. "I, uh, that doesn't matter 'cause I've got tables to wait! See you later!" he declared, running back indoors, where it was safe.
Tenya coughed awkwardly. "I have other matters I must attend to. See you all tonight!" he called out, dashing off in the opposite direction, both boys leaving the feeling that they were running away.
The collected heroines turned their gazes on Mineta, who just shrugged, completely unbothered. "Hey, I knew Midnight was as dangerous as she is easy on the eyes. You girls want anything else 'fore I go inside?"