Recruitment [3]

I trained, and trained, and trained for the first two and a half days. I felt like I was going in nigh infinite circles, but I was certainly growing. My stats and skills were proof of that growth. Through my hard work, all my physicals were getting closer to 25 than not, and most of my skills were becoming manageable to keep active.

I dropped down into some push-ups, pumping out about 30 before―

"Why'd you say yes?" Manami asked me, seeming to have just arrived with a new bag of books.

I jumped up from my spot, meeting the small woman's intense gaze.

She continued, "Yes, it may give you experience points and that's cool and all, but that's not a legitimate reason. Even though you may've just stumbled upon it, you found a 'dungeon,' and with enough searching you could probably find more and just get experience points that way. But to throw yourself into danger it's just…."

I shook my head.

"I thought I already said it. It's because it's right. That doesn't mean your plan is smart, or particularly… efficient, but it's right. If there's anything I want to do, it's stick by my morals. So, I'll do what I think is right, even if others don't believe the same. That's the kind of hero I want to be," I shrugged, wiping sweat off my forehead.

Manami looked at me for a second before slowly nodding, a smile on her face. It looked like the question had been weighing down on her, but my answer seemed to give her some peace.

"I see. I trust you, Minoru," She nodded.

I clicked my tongue, "Out of pure curiosity, would it have mattered if I was overly greedy or not?"

Manami laughed, shaking her head. "No, but it does reassure me that I'm working with someone so trustworthy."

"Yeah, I get it. If I was in your situation, I would try and change things whether or not I'd be working with someone I could trust," I nodded, stretching my neck a tad bit. "Beyond all that though, I need your help."

"More than just getting books?" Manami asked, her tone filled with faked surprise.

"Har har har. I don't want us to start on the plan until I get us an ally, but I may have to give up on that idea. Even if not, what you mentioned earlier would be a great help," I told her, allowing her to fill in the blanks.

"Ah, you want me to find you more 'dungeons,' don't you? That's no problem! I could get you several places before the end of tomorrow!" Manami grinned, clearly confident within her own abilities.

I nodded, "That's good. Of course, there's a lot of other things need to be done from gaining information to leveling up my skills more―especially the non-combat ones―but we only have so much time. Gladly, I've entirely thrown away sleep."

"Tsk, well I still need it. I can function for a few days straight without it, but I'll end up breaking down if I don't get it eventually. If you need me, planning around my schedule will be smart," Manami advised, receiving a swift nod from me.

"If anything, since you've gotten me all the books I've really needed, doing some investigation about the Ultraphone Tower's work schedules would be smart. If they're hiring, it's that much easier," I shrugged. "It just depends."

"Hmm, you're thinking about it in an underwhelming way."

"Eh, underwhelming but realistic. After absorbing all those computing books, I've kinda pieced together that people kind of… suck at keeping secrets. Passwords tend to be overly simple and well… obvious signs of 'hacking' tend to be overlooked because of how dramatic movies make it seem."

"Y'know, you're kinda ruining the fun," Manami huffed.

"Thanks, I try."

-----

I feel like I make the training sound simple, but it really wasn't. It was grueling and slow sometimes, but I never really wanted to stop training either. I was growing, so I wasn't planning on stopping anytime soon.

Honestly though, I didn't know if that positivity would be lost or not. Eh, I guess I'd find out soon enough.

"Dabi, you'll have to listen to me!" I yelled out his name, even though I probably shouldn't have known it. Some would think it was foolish, but I don't think it was when referring to someone like Dabi who wasn't very normal to begin with.

"First of all, I thought I told you to get someone who wasn't a brat. Second, how do you know my name?" Dabi didn't even get up this time, laying up against the base of a large tree. He looked fairly calm today, good, I'd need it.

I smiled, shaking my head, "One, I'm not a brat. Two, it's a secret that only people who are in the plan are allowed to know. So, are you willing to listen now?"

Dabi looked up at me for a long moment. With a sigh, he rose from his spot and in an instant, disappeared. Dabi reappeared in front of me, the wind racing after him, with a fist flying towards my head.

I was Flying away before he could get close to me, not running away, but dodging with the assistance of some trees. I flipped around, landing where Dabi was once sitting.

"Hm…." He looked bored and disinterested, but his status screen told me a different story. He certainly was intrigued by my increase in speed.

"I'm faster than last time, if a walking zombie like you could tell," I shook my head, my words filled with entirely faked confidence.

"Is that your Quirk? Seems pretty lame," Dabi insulted me, his gaze honestly more insulting than his words were.

"I don't believe you at all. If it was so lame, you probably would've just attacked me again, but there you are, 'seems pretty lame!'" I mocked him, and after seeing a flicker of a smirk on his face, he charged towards me again.

He was fast, but I had a lot of skills to back me up. With Azure Dragon's Dash, Flight, Leap, and Electricity Manipulation to top things off I moved just a bit slower than Dabi was. I had the advantage of being the chased, so I used the trees to my advantage.

I ducked under Dabi's fierce punch, which was stopped inches before it collided with the innocent tree. I tried to slam my fist into his jaw, but he dodged it with almost stunning nonchalance before his other hand came up towards my face, open palm filled with lingering blue flames.

I couldn't move fast enough before Dabi's hand slammed into my face. I could feel my face burning, but before the damage could ever build-up, my body healed, certainly an effect of Gamer's Body. I pulled away as quickly as I could, Flying from the spot.

Dabi was right behind me, now both of his hands cloaked in his terrifying blue flames. I pulled my bat from my Inventory, using Power Strike, Mana Empowerment, Electricity Manipulation, and Slam to stop Dabi in his tracks.

The bat flew over his hands and towards his head, where he then dodged the attack by ducking and retreating, taking a swift step back.

My MP was starting to drain. I was using it faster than I expected, but I could feel it beginning to restore, a good side of Mana Affinity. It added an additional 10% onto my MP regen, so I could definitely heal up faster now.

Dabi and I traded blows back and forth, sometimes with him taking the lead, and sometimes with me taking it. After just about five minutes, Dabi let out a groan, stopping in his tracks and pulling back.

"Fuck it; what do you want?"

Hell yes, I celebrated. I had a feeling that I could win today, but it was only because Sense Bloodlust hadn't gone off yet.

Sense Bloodlust did as it would seem it would do. Sense… bloodlust. That meant though, it would only activate when someone was aiming for my life, but I never got the vibe of that from Dabi today.

Without the skill, I wouldn't have taken such massive risks, and I probably wouldn't have gotten him to give me a chance to speak.

I took a moment to think. Whatever I was going to say needed to be correct. It wouldn't be worth all of this effort if I messed everything up right at the finish line like this. I figured the simplest way was probably the best one. Being upfront with our ideas may benefit us with someone like Dabi.

"I plan on stealing the Ultraphone and sending all of Musutafu a message."

Dabi looked at me, squinted, leaned forward, took a deep breath, leaned back, and let out a soft sigh. His mouth opened, only to close, then open again.

"Ignoring all the bat-shit insanity you have to be filled with to think that's even remotely possible, what am I getting out of this?" His words were certainly uttered in a joking tone, but they held a certain conviction to them.

If that's the case, I think I may have one more thing up my sleeve. If this doesn't work… Dabi may not join me…! I need to really sell this…!

I took a deep breath, meeting Dabi's gaze seriously.

"…Toya Todoroki, you know more than anyone what having a 'weak' Quirk can cost you. I don't want what happened to you to ever happen to another person."

Dabi took a step forward, but I didn't back down.

"And what happened to me?"

"You're the child of a Quirk marriage, but due to not being the desired results, you were told to give up your dreams. All of that because you had a 'poor' Quirk. I won't let anybody think they don't have a chance because of what they were given at birth," I was serious all the way through my words.

The information was in his background, but I didn't really want to use it because it seemed so private. I was willing to use it if it could lead to the betterment of a lot of people though, so I did as I felt like I had to.

Dabi looked at me silently, unreadable. Even Observing him gave me nothing more than basic information, so I couldn't tell what he was thinking at all. It was terrifying to be honest.

After a few moments, he responded simply, "…Wow. That's… fuckin' hilarious."

He didn't laugh or anything crazy, just had a moment of seemingly relaxed honestly. He seemed genuine for a moment, even if his aloof expression heavily combatted his nonchalant words.

Still, I certainly didn't expect a response like that one….

"You're either the creepiest bastard I've ever met, trying to relate to me with a shitty sob story, or you've been spending way too long finding everything about me. Either way, it's entertaining, so I'll provide my help. I'll join you."

I blinked, "Huh. I didn't expect it to be this easy, kinda underwhelming."

"Did you want a big boss fight or something? Doesn't seem very smart," Dabi insulted, shrugging nonchalantly.

"Good point. But I do know something that is smart. I need to know some stuff about you," I grinned, seeing Dabi lose all interest in the conversation.

"What is this, a friendship now? If you're worried about me ashin' your ass in the middle of the mission, don't be. The Ultraphone serves me just as much as it serves you, but not enough to get a big head and try to run through the suicide mission on my own," Dabi shrugged.

"Well, I'm getting the feeling that you don't like me too much either," I noted the subdued feeling of Sense Bloodlust going off, reminding me of the threat that Dabi really was.

"Correct. I don't know you, and even if I did, I wouldn't like you. I just don't like anybody. I don't need to like someone to work with them," Dabi shrugged again, and I was starting to get a feeling that was rather normal for him to do. He'd done it at least three times since we started talking.

"Cool, cool, but we're about to throw ourselves into a mission that could very well get us arrested or worse, killed, and I'd rather not be going in with someone that I know absolutely nothing about. So, I've come up with an important team building exercise."

"Nope, you've lost me," Dabi spun around on his heels, beginning to walk away. "I don't do teamwork without gratification. I'll be back here tomorrow at noon, see ya."

"Wait!" Dabi stopped, allowing me to continue. "I was joking, kind of. I really do need your help though."

"Then spit it out already. I don't have time to be doing nothing," Dabi complained, and I thought about mentioning that he'd done basically nothing for the last several days, just sitting in the forest, but I held back.

"To keep things simple, I…."

I know I told Manami, but could I really trust someone like Dabi with something as big as my Quirk. It still wouldn't put me in any worse of a situation but….

No, I have to. A mission like this built without any trust was a mission doomed to fail.

"My Quirk allows me to live life like a video game, and because of that, there are some skills I can't level up on my own," Dabi squinted at me before gesturing for me to continue.

"I don't think I'm supposed to be the main damage dealer of this operation, that goes to you. I, however, have the roll as the healer and tanker. My body doesn't break down and I can heal myself and other people with my skills. The problem is, I can't really hurt myself in a way that will allow me to heal myself effectively or level up some of my more defensive skills so…."

Dabi put the pieces together far faster than I thought he would. His eyes widened in confused shock.

"You want me to just… beat you up? That should allow you to level up some of your more defensive skills and healing skills as well, correct?" Dabi asked, causing me to nod.

"My skills don't seem like they need to be used in battle to level up effectively, so with the time limit that we have this seems like the best option," I clicked my tongue.

"Time limit?"

"Ah, yeah. We have to steal the Ultraphone before the end of the month," I nodded confidently.

"Why?!" Dabi questioned, and I suddenly realized that I didn't know either.

My skill dumped the time limit on me, and I accepted it, but Manami never said anything about a time limit. Well, when we all meet-up, I'll make sure to bring it up.

"I actually don't know. I think that lies on our leader's shoulders. But, because of our time limit, we can't afford to waste time. This is an effective way to maximize my potential."

"I see. Because your life is a video game, you could come to be one day weaker than me but come back a few days later on a level much closer to me. That makes a lot of sense. And I think your plan should work because it worked in Yakuza Hero. It was a lot of grinding, but it was entirely worth it by the time you got to the boss fights," Dabi nodded, causing my eyes to widen.

"Yakuza Hero? Which one?"

"The last one I played was the… third one? I was young so I never actually played the first one, but I did blow all the way through the second one," Dabi noted, and I smiled brightly.

"The fifth is the best in the series, by far. If you ever want to play them, I've got one all the way to seven, all remastered and in good condition," I smirked, but Dabi shook his head.

"I don't have time to play video games anymore," Dabi's voice had an emotion that was hard to place. It felt like a mic of everything from love to anger, but it was odd and displaced.

"Neither do I, cause I've been busy living one. But hey, if you ever want to, the offer's still up," I spoke, stretching absentmindedly.

"I'll keep it in mind," His voice was flat. "Also, you're not as good as you think, I can tell what you're doing."

"Eh, we're gonna be here for a little bit. I don't need sleep and we've got a lot of work to do, until you get tired at least. We might as well talk since we're out here. And listen, if you're not a fan of what we're talking about, you could always sock me and change the channel."

Dabi looked at his hands for a moment before slowly nodding.

"That's fair."