Chapter 41: Back To Normality

(It was my birthday 10 days ago as of writing this snippet. I am now 19)

It was the day after the big mission involving the Nomu. After the defeat of said Nomu, Shio and the rest pretty much immediately left the ship and returned to their agencies. After a long round of congratulations exchanged between several of the heroes that were present on the mission, Sugureta and Hanasu included among them, Chikyu and Shio both looked forward to getting to bed, which was the first thing they both did once they got back to the agency last night.

Despite the fact that two days remained of the internship, not much of note happened, at least compared to the high scale mission they took part in. However, that didn't mean there was nothing to report of in terms of advancements.

For starters, Chikyu's underwater combat efficiency reached the exact same level as if he were above ground. Once this happened, he kept winning in his spars against Shio without even having to resort to using his Quirk.

Second thing of note was that he was finally seeing the results of all his physical training this week. He estimated that his physical prowess had quintupled since the start of his internship. He was pleasantly surprised when Shio told him that he could keep the weights he had been using on his body. He was also given heavier ones for when he was ready for those, each of them weighing 200kg. If they were all put on at the same time over the designated parts of the body, it would weigh a ton.

One last note of improvement was concerning something Chikyu had been working on in secret. He was trying to get a hang of the "magic" he gained when he completed his last basic trial. He got a brief feel for it before, but he wanted to start experimenting with it.

Something he managed to accomplish was making the energy appear only on specific parts when he desired it to. Interestingly, depending on the area he manifested it, it had special effects. If he manifested it on his eyes, he could see things on the literal atomic scale. It was useful, but he'd have to get used to seeing things that way for a while.

If he manifested it on his legs, his speed would become multiplied by 10. If he manifested it on his whole body at the same time, he would get a strength and speed multiplier of 5. Those were the ones that he currently had knowledge of in terms of manifestation benefits.

And today was the day he would be leaving back for home. He had already packed his things, though he didn't pack much in the first place. Just clothing, his hero outfit, his hair comb, a few of his gadgets and toothpaste. He took his luggage to the entrance where he found Shio and a few of the other staff members, like the cook and a few of the receptionists that he ended up getting familiar with, such as the blonde one who he greeted on his first day of arrival at the agency.

"Hey there, squirt! They wanted to come and see you off. This guy here says he's never seen anyone enjoy his cooking as much as you did, and this one here says that you were really pleasant to talk to during his lunch breaks!", Shio said, referring to the cook and the blonde receptionist respectively.

With a faint smile, Chikyu thanked the cook for the great food, and told the receptionist that he would be in touch. He had actually enjoyed his time here outside of just training and hero work, much to his own surprise.

His icy attitude was melting day by day as he spent more and more time with people that weren't his family. It wasn't gone by any means of the word, but at least now he was capable of warming up to people and being more himself around them.

As he said his goodbyes to the staff members, it came time to say farewell to Shio, the man who improved him so much over the span of the week, and the man who gave him lots of inspiration for things he hadn't even implemented yet.

"Well, this is goodbye for a while. I'm still gonna be registered as your teacher though, so get excited for next time I've got you! Now, I wanna hear about you kicking even more ass than before, you got it!?", he said, opening his hand for a handshake.

With a smirk, Chikyu accepted the handshake.

"You bet your ass, teach! Next time you see me, I'll be the one schooling you!", he said, genuinely excited for when they would meet next.

"I look forward to it! Now get back to your folks, I bet they're itching to see you as soon as possible!"

With no more words, Chikyu sped off, going so fast that he disappeared from sight, leaving a sonic boom behind him.

Shio looked at the sight and chuckled. Even when everything was done, he didn't do things the slower way.

He'd miss that brat. But he felt a new vigour in him that told him to train hard so that the next time they met, he'd still be able to impress his student.

"Heh, how long has it been since I've been this fired up? Well, better get right to it!"

-At the lodge-

Pixiebob, Mandalay, Ragdoll, Tiger and Kota eagerly awaited the arrival of Chikyu. They knew that he returned home today, so they elected to wait outside for him. They knew for a fact he'd run back himself, since he had been faster than pretty much all types of cars just by running himself for years, and he had only gotten faster lately.

They heard something in the distance. They didn't know how to actually describe what it sounded like, but they did know that whatever it was, it was going extremely fast.

Not even half a second after they heard the sound, its originator was in front of them.

Chikyu had returned home.

They all ran to him and embraced him, extremely happy to see him. For the Pussycats, their child had returned, and for Kota, his brother had done so. Chikyu hugged them all back, happy to be back at the lodge.

They let him unpack first, ushering him to the living room afterwards in excited tones. Chikyu was surprised upon entering the living room, because he saw a present on the dining table.

Looking at them silently urging him to open it, he ripped off the wrapping.

He was surprised to see an assortment of various types of gemstones. He then remembered that he had notes in his room on things he wanted to get to expand his arsenal with the use of his quirk, and at the very top of many of those notes were various gemstones, and those specific ones were all in this present.

Amethyst, quartz, jade, pearl, sapphire, ruby, emerald, opal, turquoise, and many more.

"How did you even afford all these? None of these are cheap.", he asked, really hoping that they didn't spend a gigantic sum of their funds for this.

"Let's just say that people from lots of walks of life owe us debts for saving them and leave it at that", Ragdoll said.

Chikyu hugged them all and thanked them greatly for the gift.

It felt good to be back.