Back in the clinic, things were becoming tense as after over an hour there was little change to Mira's condition, with the exception of her growing more and more pale by the minute as the breaths she took turned rough and her temperature continued to increase.
Everyone was worried as nothing they tried could help alleviate her condition. Dr. Tsubasa and a few of the other staff on duty performed various tests on the girl, but results were inconclusive.
They were able to get a few blood samples while she was transformed into various forms, and what they discovered completely shocked them. After all, for some reason, Mira was no longer human. At least not when transformed.
Now, one might think in a world with 80% of the population having some sort of special ability, with a few of them showing obvious physical mutations, that this wouldn't be so special. But the thing is, no matter what a person looked like on the outside, no matter what quirk they had manifested, when the DNA test results came back they could always be identified as human.
One researcher in the past likened quirks to the clothes someone wore. They might look different, cover different areas, and be designed for different purposes or occasions, but underneath all of that was still a human being. This was one of the reasons when quirks first appeared, that racism towards mutant quirk holders from those who saw them as non-human was stamped out so quickly.
Mira however might be the first quirk holder to break that single truth. The reasons the doctors were baffled, however, is that Mira's test results weren't just from one new species, but potentially hundreds.
Many were excited. After all, this could be one of the greatest scientific discoveries in modern history. A few others were concerned about what the implications might be for the future. Is this an isolated incident? Would humans stray further and further away from each other? Would they go extinct?
Although there were various different emotions and thoughts going through their heads, one thing was common between them all, they knew it wouldn't matter in the next few hours if the situation didn't change for the better.
Her siblings were beside themselves with worry. Lisa had almost gone catatonic at the realization that, even for a second, she considered attacking her sister. Instinct or not, she was prepared to do so, and that brought back several memories she tried to bury over the years.
It took the combined persuasion of both Elfman and Rei for her to calm down and accept it was only her instincts getting the better of her. She decided to begin training her quirk in earnest so such a thing wouldn't happen again.
Endeavor stepped out earlier and hasn't come back after saying he needed to make a call. Shoto was quiet and sulking while waiting on news about Mira with everyone else.
Mira was Shoto's first and only friend. An irreplaceable existence in a very lonely life so far. Shoto was sure the girl would never know how much she meant to her.
That's right. Shoto Todoroki was actually a girl, not that Mira or anyone else aside from her mother and father knew about it. Not even her siblings knew. Granted, they barely even knew what she looked like since she could only meet them in passing. Ever since she was born she's been brought up to act like a boy by her father, completely isolated from her other siblings and just about anyone else aside from her mother.
If it had not been for her mother secretly telling her the truth behind her father's back, she might have believed she was as she grew up. It was very stifling and uncomfortable most of the time, and her only moments of relief were when she was with her mother and Mira.
Although Mira still believed Shoto was a boy, she did not judge her when she displayed her more feminine desires. Perhaps because Mira's brother constantly calls her a true man, Mira doesn't see much difference in gender. At least beyond the obvious physical ones. This left Shoto relieved as she could act her own gender around Mira with her being none the wiser.
Shoto truly wondered why her father would make her go through such lengths when she was sure as she grew older she would start to appear more like a girl anyway. It made no sense, like most of the things her father did.
Speaking of the man, he finally returned inside the clinic but this time accompanied by a slender black-haired young man probably not even out of his teens yet. He was dressed in all black with a strange scarf around his neck and silver goggles on. Shoto didn't know what to make of the man, but her first thought was he looked tired.
"You know, when the number 2 hero called and asked for assistance, I thought half the city would have been on fire by now, but I don't see the problem here." The man said, removing his goggles and showing his tired-looking eyes further proving Shoto's first impression.
"Hmm? Aren't you Eraser Head? That new kid who teamed up with Scorch a while back?" Elfman said rather surprised. The kid in front of him had been making a small name for himself already, even after graduating only last year. He never really made public appearances though, so few people knew what he looked like just yet.
Elfman knew because one of his co-workers teamed up with the kid a few months back impromptu and had a lot of good things to say. He just wasn't sure why the kid was here. From what he remembers, he had some kind of telekinesis quirk or something?
"Another loud one? Sigh, is this some kind of joke or recruitment offer? I'm not interested in either," Eraser Head or Aizawa Shota said tiredly but still scanning his surroundings with caution. He usually works at night, so he sleeps during the day most of the time. Being called out of the blue like this really killed his schedule.
Although he said as much, he knows someone as prideful as Endeavor wouldn't call for help without due reason. But nothing seemed to be out of place, so he couldn't help but wonder if this was another "offer" to dissuade him from going solo so soon.
Some heroes really don't deserve the title, and they can be rather forceful when new talent shows up with no one backing them. Aizawa found it illogical and primarily focused on getting the job done and staying out of the spotlight. It didn't matter to him if people liked him more or less than someone else. So long as the job was done, that was all that was important. Plus, the fewer people that knew what his quirk did, the better.
That mindset got a lot of the heat off his back when starting out solo, but there was still the odd recruitment offers that come in now and then. Some of them were less than kind, to say the least. It was easy enough to have them turned over to the police afterward, but it meant one or more, fewer heroes out there doing what needed to be done. Something that irked his nerve quite a bit.
"There is a girl you might be able to help in there. Get to it already," Endeavor said with no patience for banter, flames still raging on his face. Everyone else in the room perked up at his words while Aizawa frowned in return.
Aizawa immediately understood what the situation was seeing as he was in a quirk hospital. It didn't take a genius to figure out someone's quirk was going out of control and they had called him to turn it off. It's the first time he's been called for something like this, but he knew it was a possibility.
The reason for his frown, however, is that his quirk is not omnipotent. It doesn't work on some quirks like mutant ones, for example. There is a chance he might not be able to help at all, and he really didn't want to have to break that bad news to anyone. Let alone Endeavor after he swallowed his pride and asked for assistance. He was feeling a type of pressure he wasn't ready for.
"YOU CAN HELP MY SISTER!? PLEASE, I'M BEGGING YOU!" Elfman in a rush of speed that betrayed his large size, grabbed Aizawa by the shoulders while shaking him. He didn't know how the kid in front of him could help, but if Endeavor put his trust in the kid, he would too. Without Hesitation.
Aizawa was actually feeling kind of sick. Of course, she had to be related to another powerhouse hero like Elfman. As he looked around to see two children looking at him with hope-filled eyes. He didn't want to see them despair, but he couldn't just give them false hope either.
"I'll do what I can" That was all he could say as he forced the brute's clamped hands off his shoulders. There was no reason to extinguish their hope when he hadn't even seen the situation yet. It might be better to lower their expectations, but that'd only be after he at least tried.
Ignoring the nurse that looked like she wanted to cry, most likely because it was her job to keep people from out of the ER, the group followed her to Mira's operating room.
Inside, Aizawa could see a really strange sight. A girl, most likely no older than 5, strapped up to various machines while parts of her body constantly changed sizes, shapes, and colors.
"I thought I told you all to wait in the waiting area? We're doing what we can, you have to be patient" Dr. Tsubasa was the first to notice the group entering again and tried to shoo them off but was pulled aside and spoken to by the nurse leading them for a second.
"I see. Well, if you think you can help give it a shot." Dr. Tsubasa conceded rather quickly, showing everyone how much faith he really had in dealing with the situation alone.
Aizawa nodded and stepped forward to get a better look at the girl. She looked like she was in a lot of pain and he also noticed a bit mark on her neck that looks like it might have been poisoned if the visible veins were anything to go by. He wondered if that was the cause of the situation, but decided he wasted enough time as it is.
Taking a short breath, he shot his eyes open and locked them onto the girl in front of him. His hair and capture scarf rose around him, and his eyes turned red while gazing at the girl.
He waited for a moment, but there was no change. He felt his stomach churn a bit but kept his eyes on the girl a while longer, hoping for the best despite knowing there was nothing he could do.
Eventually, his eyes grew dry, and he was forced to close them. The room was silent around him, aside from the constant beeping from the various machines, but there was an audible fist being clenched in the direction Elfman stood. Aizawa didn't want to give the news, but he knew he had to.
Just before he opened his mouth, however, the girl in front of him shone a blinding light that enveloped the entire room, forcing everyone to close their eyes. If he hadn't been somber about being unable to help, Aizawa would have been upset. His eyes were nearly blinded, seeing as he was the closest one to her at that moment.
Once the light died down and everyone could open their eyes again, they looked back at the girl with a bit of confusion since it appears she only transformed yet again, but this time with passion!
This time her skin had turned completely pink and looked a bit like gum? Her hair had turned white but also had a slight pink hue to it that kind of reminded him of cotton candy. She also had pointed ears and a tail that was large at the base and eventually slimmed off to a point. Kind of like a lizard? She also appeared to be slightly taller now, but maybe by only a few centimeters.
Everyone had lost hope, seeing as she only transformed yet again even after Aizawa tried to help. Yet the strange thing was, after waiting for a while longer, she didn't change again. In fact, the girl was now awake and looking around! Her eyes now blue with black sclera.
*RUMBLE*
Suddenly a loud rumble shocked everyone in the room as they could practically feel the vibrations in their bones. The heroes almost looked ready for an attack if not for the soft voice that came afterward, notifying them of the source.
"Onee-chan. I'm hungry" Mira looked a little embarrassed and said rather sleepily while holding her grumbling stomach. It actually took everyone a few seconds to react before Elfman let out a hardy laugh, much to his sister's embarrassment.
"Mira! Are you alright now? Don't scare me like that! Do you know how worried everyone was!?" Lisa, practically crying her eyes out, jumped on her sister while berating her at the same time. She was extremely worried about her sister, but hearing her nonchalant omission right after waking up made her feel like she worried for nothing.
Everyone let out a breath of relief seeing as she looked okay now if not a bit different from when she showed up. Even Endeavor looked somewhat relieved if the flames across his face dying out slightly were any way to determine his emotions.
Shoto herself wanted to run to her side and hug her, but she was beaten to it by Lisana and thus waited her turn at the side.
"Eraser Head, you have my eternal thanks! I knew you were a real MAN! If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to call!" Elfman bowed his head to the point that he banged it against the ground. He was eternally grateful to the kid in front of him and would do whatever it took to repay him someday.
Aizawa wanted to say he did nothing, but then again, he's not sure what was wrong in the first place. He looked back at the girl's neck and noticed the bite mark was gone now. He wondered if maybe his quirk canceled something after all, but he couldn't be sure. His quirk didn't normally work unless he was looking at the person who caused it, so he didn't believe that to be the case. The entire situation was strange to him, so he decided to bring it up a little later once everyone calmed down some.
"Here, try eating this. Go slowly now, your body was in poor condition not too long ago," one of the nurses appeared in the room and brought a tray of food with her and gave it to Mira. They had the food ready for other kids who required food immediately after awakening their quirks, so it was more of a practiced motion at this point with no consideration for the previous event.
Dr. Tsubasa wanted her to wait before eating to run some more tests, but he too had heard her stomach and figured it might be a bad idea to make her wait any longer, knowing she just exhausted a lot of energy for a girl her age.
'Can't have her die on me just yet' He thought as he fingered a small vial of her blood he stashed in his pocket during the confusion prior. She might have some uses later on for his master.
Mira looked at the food presented to her and it made her frown. It didn't look very tasty at all, and she didn't think it would fill her up. That's when she felt a small nudge in the back of her mind. Information had been flooding her mind from the moment she woke up, and she didn't really understand where any of it was coming from. She knew things she shouldn't and how to do and make things she had never even imagined before.
One of those pieces of information was completely unrelated to all of that, however, and instead detailed something she felt she could do currently.
Her new tail wiggled out from between her sister still hugging her and pointed its tip at the tray of food while everyone else was wondering what she was doing or if she even knew how to control her new appendage. The confusion changed to a bit of shock once her tail started glowing pink before shooting a small beam out of it that enveloped everything on the tray.
In a poof of smoke that dissipated quickly, a bunch of confectionary items that no one knew where exactly came from took its place.
Mira gave an audible squeal and started wolfing it all down, barely even taking a second to chew through it all. The pure bliss on her face as she put one hand on her cheek was all that stopped anyone from questioning what she just did or berating her for eating so many sweets.
Or in Lisa and Shoto's case, trying to take some for themselves...