Best Friend and Oddity.

(A/N. For those that complain, Notice! This is fan-fiction, not canon. For everyone else, enjoy as the story progresses. Thank you and good day sirs and madams.)

{POV Ryuu.}

"Father sounded pretty excited today, I wonder why?" I said aloud as I walked the hall to the training area.

"More than normal actually, did someone special come in to help or drop by, odd? Normally, he goes to the client for work, not the other way around." I continued to ponder aloud as I neared the door to the training area.

Father had retired from his military duties a year before I turned ten and had started his own business, helping to design and build personal hero training rooms. It was hit or miss for the first couple months, but by luck or fate I don't know which, father started to get more interested parties as soon they saw the benefit of having one.

Still, I wonder what got him so excited today?

As I neared the door, I heard multiple voices inside and frowned slightly, as both mother and father said earlier that only 'one' individual was coming over. Yet why were there three voices?

One was my fathers excited voice while the other had to be the… person as his voice matched fathers in excitement.

While the third one was young, yet the enthusiasm in her voice matched both fathers and the others, if not more.

After hearing the voice of the third person my frown moved upwards to a smile as I knew who the third voice belonged to and opened the door to greet father before turning my attention to a skinny individual with a youthful appearance.

He was dressed in civilian clothes and had long spiky orange hair that reached just past his shoulders, with a pair of dull blue eyes, and a notably large mouth.

But his hands seemed to be the largest part of him, disproportionate to his small frame, but what caught my interest the most was the large L-shaped pieces that looked like steel, on each finger.

But before, father or before the individual could speak up, an enthusiastic yet assertive voice made herself known and very close.

"Ryuu!! You broke the insides of my super cute baby again, how?! If you've improved again, then that means… I can upgrade my super cute baby further. Awesome!!"

I didn't even need to look down to recognize the steampunk style goggles in front of me or that she was wearing a black tank top with workshop coveralls that were a little baggy for her, as I greeted my best friend, Mei Hatsume.

"Hey Mei, and yes, but why did you make it so hard for me to break in the first place. Almost broke my hand when I hit it the first time."

I smiled… as I tried to hide the fact that I actually did in fact break my hand. While noticing the look in her eyes never seemed to flinch or change as I did my best to maintain my smile.

"You broke your hand, didn't you?" Mei smugly smiled in excitement.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I replied as I leaned down and looked her straight in her green-yellow eyes that had a cross in them… then I couldn't hold it anymore and laughed, as it was in fact hilarious when it happened. Jorclan-sensei even agreed when he saw what my hand became.

Father did for a split second also… Before, mother sent him a glare that I recognized from my original plane, mothers can be scary sometimes.

As both Mei and I were both laughing, my father and the individual walked up. While the both of us continued to laugh and laugh harder as I started to show her pictures of what my hand looked like.

While the man with spiky orange hair and dull blue eyes spoke with interest and curiosity in his voice. "So, you're the individual who made this all possible?"

"Ah, Mei, Ryuu, this is the Excavation Hero: Power Loader, or Higari Maijima. He is a Pro Hero and a faculty member at U.A. High School. It seems they wish to hire me as a consultant for their training rooms." Father introduced Power Loader with a smile on his face as he seemed to be really happy. "And to answer your question Power Loader-san yes, Mei has been upgrading Ryuu's training equipment as a form of competition."

"A competition, really?" Power Loader questioned as he looked in between Mei and I.

"It's mostly just fun and games as Mei wants to see how her super cute babies will handle extreme circumstances. That and she doesn't have any fear of failure whatsoever, and always makes the challenge harder the next time." I explained while Mei nodded her head in agreement.

"It gives me the opportunity to learn and do better," Mei said with a proud and shameless smile. "That and also to see how many times I can possibly break Ryuus hand in the process, so it's a win-win for me." Mei said before she suddenly lost interest as it seemed that an idea popped in her head as she rushed off to upgrade her currently destroyed super cute baby while grinning from ear to ear.

Power Loader looked a little surprised as he saw the look of passion and challenge in Meis' eyes when she was speaking and when she rushed off and ignored everyone else.

Father and I just smiled, before I looked at my hand and started to wonder what it would look like next time as I saw a devilish glint flash in her eyes before it disappeared. Making me shudder slightly.

"Is she always like that or is it only when she has an idea?" Power Loader asked as he watched Mei start dismantling the broken pillar.

"Only when it comes to her super cute babies and advertising her super cute babies, other than that she has been a wonderful friend to Ryuu. She's challenged him in more odd ways than his regular training with his trainer." Father answered with a smile on his face before motioning to Power Loader to discuss business in a different room.

Power Loaded nodded his head before taking one more look at the back of the focus driven girl before looking back at me. "It was nice to meet you both, I never would have guessed that two unique individuals complemented one another to such a degree." Power Loader said before leaving the training area with father.

The door noiselessly closed behind them as they left.

I moved closer to watch Mei work on her new super cute baby, but before I could ask how she was going to upgrade it or make a new one she spoke up in a straightforward manner, without turning around or stopping what she was currently doing.

"First, you know I'll never tell you as I've already made that mistake one to many times, so my lips are sealed. Second, don't you think it's a little weird that your dad got such a big client so quickly? It's odd, yet intriguing at the same time, but it has nothing to do with my super cute baby at the moment." Mei said as she continued to work as she completely ignored the small fire that started from the pile of scraps she made.

I only shook my head as I went to snuff out the fire before handing her a tool that was out of her reach.

"First, you know my curiosity is almost exactly like yours when something catches my interest. Second, you're not wrong in your judgment as it is odd. And thirdly, what gave it away?" I asked the last question wondering how Mei knew I broke my hand.

Mei started to laugh without losing her focus on her latest invention.

"Simple, your eyes flinched slightly. I was only able to notice because I was focusing on your expression when I zoomed in, that's what gave you away," before she stopped laughing and turned around with a smile on her scuffed up face.

"Now stop prolonging the inevitable, where is my chocolate?" Mei demanded without holding back.

Then we both started to laugh because of the seriousness of the situation.

"Damn, I thought I had everything under control," I cursed as I started to head to a special cabinet. "Which chocolate do you want this time?" I asked with a smile, as she pondered for a second.

"Did your mom make anything new or is it the same old same old stock of chocolate?" Mei asked with curiosity, then turned around and continued to work on her newest baby.

"She has indeed made something new, it's some type of white chocolate caramel and I got to say it's definitely a treat." I said as I grabbed two containers of mother's newest chocolate treat. I gotta say chocolate is an amazing creation.

"So whaddya wanna do after you're done with your latest super cute baby?" I asked as I sat beside Mei and put a piece of chocolate in her outstretched hand, before it quickly vanished.

Mei tried to answer but I couldn't understand her entirely as her mouth was full of chocolate as she shamelessly asked for another.

She quickly finished her first piece of chocolate with a satisfying smile and look on her face as I handed her another piece. "Your mom makes the best chocolate ever, Ryuu. It's the perfect fuel to help me fuel up," Mei said as she bit off a corner of chocolate. "And you need to fix your hearing Ryuu, I explained it very clearly, but as a token of thanks from your mom, I'll only ask for half of the container of chocolate."

I laughed as I handed her a special container mother had made just for Mei. Mother knew just how much we both enjoyed chocolate as she always made sure there was enough for both of us.

"Here," I said as I handed Mei the container. "Mother made a special batch just for you as she somehow found out about our little game of 'truth or not'." Yet I heard Mei laugh as she took the container from me.

"Did you think you could hide that from your mom, she has sharper eyes than I do sometimes. Just what did your mother do to train her eyes like that?" Mei asked as she turned to face me with a curious look on her face. "I caught her a couple of times when she and Jorclan-sensei were training and it was scary to see your mom with that expression."

I could only sheepishly laugh as I shook my head, as I was in the same boat. "Your guess would be as good as mine, you should have seen her the first time she was training with Jorclan-sensei. She even shocked him when she wielded two knives with such dexterity…"

We continued to talk while Mei was dismantling the pillar and eating chocolate. We both lost track of time before we heard my mother's voice calling out saying that dinner was ready and that Mei was welcome to join us.

"Wow, dinner time already. You want me to bring your portion here or?" I asked Mei as she shook her head making her pink dreadlocks dance from side to side.

"No, I'll join you." Mei said as a smile formed on her face.