C9: A Reunion, A Third One And The First Step
A floating sensation filled Ina's body as she remained sleeping. She could feel herself floating slowly upward in this sea. Her memory was being wiped out, except for the knowledge she had learnt. Everything else from the emotions and connections in the dream to the time spent there was being reduced to dust as time passed. She could feel her brain becoming lighter and lighter as it removed the details of her connections to the 7-years-ish dream. Ina was sad for the loss despite how tragic or joyful the memories had been. A part in her wished that she could hold on to the experience there, but her logic won and told her to prepare herself for the future after returning. On the question of how she knew she was returning, Ina could only give a vague answer of intuition and gut feeling.
After wallowing in the grief for a long while, Ina finally calmed down and began checking herself. Her body was the same as when she had entered the dream (she had to thank it for showing her how her future version would look like) and Ina would have to spend time getting used to moving around in this stature. After getting comfy with the movements, she turned to the thing that pushed her into the mess first, the system. Entertainment in this world borrowed lots from pre-quirk era so the content remain absorbable and easy to understand to Ina's mental. Her system was different from the commonly depicted ones. It was more akin to an equivalent exchange machine rather than a golden finger. To check whether or not the altercations she had made to the System in her dream would be carried out to the real world, she called forth the thing.
"System"
A red translucent panel appeared in her vision, allowing her to view the details about her in away that maintain the incognito nature and otherworldly nature of the thing..
" The diaries and logs are ... in a strange language.. Seems like a translation passive was applied in the dream. Analyzing will take too much time. Any connections to the dream must have been removed, including the things in the inventory and the skills, huh, there is still one? "
Believing that all connections to the dream would have been severed, Ina was sure the skills would disappear but lo and behold, a single skill remained.
[ Will of human, body of beast
Description: For the fiction memories and the experience there, you have gained a transformation quirk befitting to your characteristics.
(Human form: "Ina" / Transformed form: "Charlotte")
Cooldown: 1 day (24 Earth hours )
Stat bonuses: + 100 to all stats, + 250 Mental Fortitude, + 50 Regeneration.
Sub-Skills bonuses: Absorption(LV.1); Devour(LV.2); Cold Blood(LV.2)]
Ina was bewildered by the strange numbers and the Sub-Skills as there was nothing to base them on. The only reference frame she had now was the normal human body, which was extremely frail and fragile in today's quirked society. With no definite reference frame Ina could only speculated on the significance of the boost.
Putting aside the matter of bonusses and the meaning of the numbers, she was much more interested in he new function: The Store. After reading the notes about the Store provided by the System, Ina could hang her head in surrender. Basically the Store, or the Exchange, would allow Ina to acquire new skills after fulfilling the conditions set on their options. Ina could never repeat any action to form a new skill; no, she must follow the instructions for each skill. From her perspective, looking at the majority of the demands and requirements (also can be referring to other skills), she found the skills not overpowered but rather enhancing.
But now in this place, the only action Ina could take beside waiting was practicing the only skill she had. She was had exhausted herself from all the information she had taken in including, but not excluding, the reflection about her entire journey in dream land and the current state of her being. She soon shut her eyes, her face relaxed, knowing that she was not getting into another dream world and that the journey to awakening from this ocean would be long and boring.
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Outside
2 days had passed since the accident, which was solved quickly. The timely emergency services, the public, the heroes and the polices thought, had saved the family. Kenji and Asa Minaru had expressed their gratitude to the heroes and polices giving a hand in the rescue process through means of a rise in budget and expensive gifts. But their feeling was not fully joyous and wholesome due to someone. Their daughter had entered a coma since the day with no signs of waking up or recovering. She now slept peacefully in a hospital gown in one of the better rooms provided by the Yaoyoruzu's Corp. She had been unconscious, suffered from hyperthymia and bleeding from the head when they had arrived at the accident scene. The doctor had no concrete ground to base their prediction ( their diagnosis returned normal in every test) so they could not gave the anguishing family any meaningful predictions. (The family was lucky that the cases were considered the speed the case had been dealt with). The parents were now preparing for a future seeing their daughter withering and dying motionlessly on the hospital bed in the far future, and they loathed that future.
Despite some questionings about their fine appearance and health post accident, the consensus around the matter was that the branches had reduced the car falling speed and only led to concussion and shock in the body, leaving the family unconscious and overall minor injured. That theory did not explain Ina's extreme injuries compared to the family but the forensic team only provide an answer: luck and circumstances. Now, the parents were sitting beside their daughter's bed, praying to whatever deity that would answer their prayers and let them have their daughter back from the grip of a slow, painless death.
They were angry at the ones responsible for the incident, but after a mechanic had come, checked the wreckage and found no issue did the two suspected some groups had dared to challenge them. Kenji was pissed off and employed various private investigators to do his biddings and Asa, she was angry, but trusted her husband to find the masterminds behind the accident. They were rightfully cross at the situation but they could not hide their sadness hearing their son asking when his sister would wake up. They could not answer the question as they were also asking the same question themselves.
" Can you please leave the room, it is time for the nurses to change your daughter's clothes."
"Yes... Lets we will leave her to you. "
While they went past the metal door, they didn't notice the slight twitch of their daughter's finger. Oh how happy they were if they had seen it, a proof of their daughter's return.
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Last night Izuku had not had a good sleep. His brain was frying itself and the headache kept him up until 2 in the morning, leaving him with only 4 hours of sleep. The pain had become more and more common after Ina left, he found out after thinking about he matter from the timeline perspective. How much would Izuku sacrifice if he could part with the pain and its nuisances.
With dark bags under his eyes, Izuku was having a morning eating a bowl of fried rice with his mother when the TV at the corner showed a case of car accident with a familiar surname flashing on the screen. He thought he had misheard the surname but he was correct and he hated the fact.
Shocked by the news, Izuku dropped his chopstick onto the floor, making a clank sound drawing his mother's attention. Inko, unfamiliar with the surname and only knowing Ina, not Ina Minaru (Izuku and Ina decided to hide their full names from their parents for privacy reasons), asked him what was wrong. He lied by saying that his hands just slipped and he would clean up the mess later. Focusing back on the news, he watched the wrecked car being lifted up from the cliff and the following report on the family's status. Her parents and brother were fine, but Ina, she was reported to have gone into a coma and had been admitted into a nearby hospital.
His head ached for a moment before calming down as if the pain was never there to begin with. This syndrome had accompanied him during his growth and only had only subsided when Ina had come into the picture. The pain, which had been increasingly common, weakened significantly with Ina poking and patting his head. Hell even the time spent together with her lessened the headache into the feeling of a minor scratch. He was healthy from all the exercises at the dojo, that was clear. His mind was sharper than ever before, his body possessed more strength than a normal person. As a result, he suspected its was something wrong with his soul. Far from his initial guess of body-soul incompatibility, which was debunked as the pain grew increasingly worse throughout the years, the pain seemed to be connected to the presence of other reincarnated individuals. His latest conjecture was that the world was rejecting him as his soul did not belong to the thing's reincarnation circle, causing burden on his body and only by staying near other Reincarnated would the headaches stop.
Enough about his headache, the main focus should have been Ina. The accident, in his mind, had been so convenient. His days of lurking around the dark side of the Internet had showed him some dissatisfaction toward the Minaru household. The many accounts on a private chat website really highlighted how the underbelly of Japan found the Minaru not so favorable. The nickname associated was "Yaoyoruzu's Dog" and "Snakely Backstabber". Further investigation enlightened him on the names (He downloaded a PDF called "Basics of Criminality and Notable Individuals"). The criminals had already known about the dealings between Akare Yaoyoruzu and Kenji Minaru and what Ina's father did to his opponents. They had not been happy when he uprooted an entire city-level force of criminals to put his men in the place around 12 years ago.
And Ina's mother, she had had the name of All Hunter, that was the only thing Izuku could find from those brave enough to speak the name. The fact that Izuku could link Ina's mother to the figure had come from the descriptions of the mercenary. Black hair as dark as the place she hid, scarlet eyes as if preying those she had been hired to hunt and her signature, a black rose intricately inked onto her wrist. The last one helped him in identifying Ina's mother as from her words, her mother had the same tattoo at the same place.
To sum up, Izuku found Ina's family scary and dangerous with a lot of enemies awaiting for their weakness. Yet he still wanted to visit his peer and listened to the incident from her perspective, to get the answer to whether or not the accident had been staged at someone's request.
"What's on your mind, Izuku? "
Inko asked, seeing her son deep in thoughts looking at the news about the car incident on Iya Highway. The accident was tragic in Inko's eyes but not the worst as no one had died. Having not focused on the news, Inko looked up the family on her phone, she was surprised to see a familiar face there, Ina, her son's friend (and her future daughter-in-law).
Looking back at her son's lackluster eyes, Inko suggested that he went and visited the girl.
"How about you go visit her? If she woke up, she would appreciate seeing you there with her family. "
"Who are you talking about Mom? "
"Ina, Ina Minaru, isn't she your friend? "
" ... That friend part is true but the place is too faraway and aren't you aftaid ..."
"No, I am not. Are you as childish and high-maintenance like other kids, Izuku? You are grown-up, mature and independent enough, right? I trust in your maturity and your character. I know you care for her, am I wrong? "
"No, but yes, uhm no ... "
Izuku did not know how to respond to the flurry of questions. He himself was flabbergasted by the situation and had lost track of the conversation to dive in his own thoughts.
"I can help you pick out a suitable visit present tomorrow evening and you can go there on your own afterward, is it fine? "
Inko smiled, pressuring her son to visit his-soon-to-be girlfriend. ( from her last visit, the girl had shown a surprisingly intimate moment with her son so she believed they were like that. )
"Y...Yes, it's fine... "
The breakfast finished with visiting Ina on Izuku's schedule.
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Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!
Oh Fool Incarnation !
(-) (-) (-) (-) (-) (-) (-) (-) (-) (-) (-) (-) (-) (-) (-) (-) (-) (-) (-) (-) (-) (-) (-) (-) (-)
Izuku's eyes burst open, he was slipping into sleep more and more recently. Just now he went into a nap while riding the metro to Ina's hospital, leaning on a kind stranger that he would apologized later. He swore he had heard countless prayers begging him to do wake up. They had called him something but he could only remember white noise. He wasn't so sure about himself after all the thinking the night before, fussing over Ina's health and what to say to her if she did wake up.
To not infringe on the family's private time, Izuku had dial Arai, Ina's younger brother to ask for the room number and the right to visit. The younger, more caring brother agreed to Izuku's request, telling him to visit anytime of the day. He just had to ask the reception to be led to Ina Minaru's room and they would do just that. Arai would ask his father to arrange the meeting for Ina's friend beforehand. He knew from his experience that Kenji, Ina's father, would not enjoy seeing a boy being so close to his grand treasure. Nevertheless, he could never really prevent a child to visit his friend so Izuku did not fret over the details regarding him much. His focus right now was to deal with the worsened sleep schedule and the occasional headaches combined with the trip to the hospital
"The train has reach the Nagatori Station. Please do not forget your belongings on the train!"
An excited voice came from the speakers installed on the ceiling, announcing the end of Izuku's train ride. Exiting gate 1 among the crowd, Izuku decided to call over a cab. A car arrived shortly after, its driver window rolled down to reveal a driver smiling benignly and greeting him. Getting on the car and fastening the back seatbelt, Izuku started his cab ride ti Fukugawa hospital. The car was cleaned, too clean in Izuku's eyes. Usually cabs this late into the day would already have a few customers used the service so some stains or drops would have been on the cab. But no, nothing. The car remained as clean as if just washed and vacuum-cleaned, as if awaiting his arrival. Izuku knew his reasoning was overreaching but his sense went crazy, sending pulses of flight signals into his brain. He could feel his breathing hastened due to the adrenaline rush, his muscles preparing themselves for an explosive run. Just barely hanging on the thread, Izuku went white hearing the question.
"So why is a kid like you coming to Fukugawa Hospital? To visit someone?"
The unknow driver was asking for his purpose, his narrowed eyes staring at him just like a snake staring at the its prey. His face smiling in a business manner, with a soulless smile plastered onto the face. Izuku acted innocent.
" How do you know? My mother hurt herself during a fall and her hips were hurting so much.... "
Izuku used his arms to exaggeratedly form a big circle
" ... so dad took her to Fukugawa hospital. "
" I see...worry not, young child, I will drive you to the hospital.
Identifying the boy as just a civilian, the driver exchanged a few more pleasantries before shutting up and staying silence the entire drive. Izuku could already feel droplets of sweats forming on the back of his hands. After 20-minutes of silence, the car reached the main gate of the hospital. The driver opened the cab doors, guided him out and bid him farewell, his eyes never let the boy leave his sight. Only when Izuku got further inside the hospital did he turn around and leave, returning to the waiting spot for the friend of his boss's enemy's daughter.
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Room 408
Kenji and Asa together with Arai were sitting aside the hospital bed, their expression sorrowful and melancholic. Suddenly, a ringing tone from the receptionist broke the silence, telling Kenji that his daughter's friend was coming up nicely with no bugs on them. He was a tiny bit glad that Ina could find herself a genuine friend, but also mainly sad that she hadn't trusted him enough to introduce the friend (asking Arai only gave him a knowing smile as the boy had promised his sister not to disclose any information).
Kenji could hear footsteps outside, following that the sound of the door sliding to the side, revealing ... a broccoli?
"Izuku-onii, you finally get here. Let me get you a chair. "
Arai said, while the person he was talking to remained rooted at the door, unwilling to enter. Recognizing Izuku as Ina's only friend outside of Momo, Kenji was quite perplexed with the whole situation. He knew she was reaching her rebellious phase and he was preparing himself for it but not so soon. Looking the boy up and down, Kenji sighed in his mind and let the boy sit down. The boy was just a kid, and Kenji was above bullying a someone like him.
But Asa was more intrigued with Izuku. Seeing the gift on his arm and his white face, she could not help but laughed at the situation. She waved for Izuku to sit down and put the gift on the table, eyeing him to let he know that he was fine to be in the room. The atmosphere was solemn, with a touch of brewing despair.
To turn the mood upward, Asa started to interrogate Izuku about his friendship with her daughter. Kenji and Arai joined her side, pestering for the details hidden by Ina. The joint attack pushed Izuku into a passive stance, forcing him to spit out any details.
They were so focused and loud that they did not notice a cold Ina looking at the jumping from behind, her face expressionless and clearly not amused with the situation or the secrets being spilled out.
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She had tried the transformation back and forth and had been quite surprised with the feeling. She felt as if her back had lengthened to account for the additional arms growing from the ribcage and her hind muscles spilling apart to give way to more legs. Her form resembled that of an alien: black exoskeleton from head to toe to blend with the night, strong enough to withstand shotgun pellets at close range; 6 dot-like eyes symmetrically placed on the ovoid football-size head, posing extraordinary range and details with built-in night vision; sharp, sturdy claws on hands and feet that could tear steel and concrete like butter; a 1-meter tail with sharp protrusions and spikes at the end, allowing for clubbing, climbing and ranged attacking.
Aside from the initial difficulties in moving the heavy body, she gauged the mass in the range of hundreds of kilograms, it was the speed that awed her the most. Expecting slow responses and reaction speed toward external stimuli, Ina was so shocked with the matter. Her body was sharp, in top shape, fast and weighty. The size was just right for ambushes in buildings and around corridors.
The height difference was drastic as Ina was seeing from a lower perspective due to the body. Getting used to the new point of view was not that feasible in the ocean of thoughts she was escaping from, so the problems would be on future Ina's hands.
"So tell me more about something both of you enjoy doing. "
"Ya, tell me too, Izuku-onii"
"Hmmm... I am also curious."
Ina could hear the noises, and before she knew it, she broke the surface tension, entering back into her body. Her body was lethargic, not wanting to even open its eyes but she forced the poor muscles in her eyelids to work, opening up to a scene of ... Izuku being interrogated by her whole family. She could see the pitiful state of the boy being surrounded on 3 sides by her parents and brother, each prying into their friendship (she never knew the reason for this anger, just that seeing someone else questioning about their shared secrets drove her insane) but she was focusing more on the content of the conversation.
Throughout her entire observation of the exchange, she and Izuku collided gazes for a few moments. He seemed to want to say something but she signaled him to shut up with a finger on her lips (she moved so efficiently and quite that her parents sitting near her could not hear the movement). She was more curious about the reactions they would have seeing their comatose daughter watching and hearing the entire scene from behind.
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Izuku was desperately dealing with Ina's family when he noticed that she had woken up, and was signaling him to stay silence. He really wished he could throw the conversation toward her but the circumstance and escaped the questioning but he was considerate enough to her, seeing her tired expression, to play along. Now he was telling the story when Ina had crashed at his place on Arai's birthday party. Her parents shared a look of guilt between the two of them while her brother was awing, having his curiosity answered.
Then a cough could be heard from behind the three, diverting their eyes to an irritated Ina on the bed, in her hands a peeled orange, juice coming out from the contacting areas. She had gotten herself up, leaning on head bedframe in such a manner that had not raised any attention. She commented on how good the orange was and noting that two days had passed by looking at the calendar on the table. She then threw a piece of the orange strongly to Izuku as a thank you for his presence. Izuku managed to barely catch the flying piece before falling on the floor in the process, the piece splattered into a mess in his hand.
Facing the faux-nonchalant altitude of their daughter and his sister, the parents and Arai could only shake their heads and ease their worrying hearts. Kenji was almost crying tears of joy but managed to keep in, Asa was trying to not smile, the wild smile that expressed her happiness from the bottom of her stomach and Arai was grinning so hard his smile reached his face. Ina had always been so carefree in the face of any challenges or dilemma she was facing, so knowing their daughter, even if Kenji and Asa were worried to death about her, they trusted her enough to talk to them herself in cases of emergencies. She had always been like that in their memories, but now she different. She was pissed off and grumpy. They were sure it had something to do with the boy, the victim here. They had a lot to discuss with Ina but leaving Izuku alone to deal with an angry Ina would be the better option.
The room's door opened up and closed almost in the same second, leaving the two alone to deal. Only an awkward minute passed before Ina opened up about the accident.
"The incident with the car was something I believed to be from a villain as my gut feeling has warned me immediately before the crash, you know how accurate my intuition is. But the coma ..."
Tears started to drip from Ina's eyes before becoming two streams running along her porcelain face and fell on the hugged pillow.
"I reme...member ... the seven years ... doing a tri...trial of someone ... It was hor...horrible ... everyth...everything wa..was terrible. For thi...this Syst...System."
Ina said, sobbing while putting her face into the wrinkled pillow in her arms. She was sad at the amount of time the dream had made her experienced and then erased from her mind so easily. The futility, the weakness she felt in front of such act left her bitter and sad; for she realized that her action at the end of the day would remain nothing in front of deities and monsters beyond her understanding, beyond their understanding. Everything that she had right now could be destroyed, gone, reduced to meaningless void and she could not do a single thing to save them. It is not sadness from the tragedies witnessed in that dream world but rather sadness from the weak and insignificant state of the 'real-life' Ina. She then stopped sharing more information, just continued sobbing onto the wet pillow.
Izuku, hearing the tale, could not help but sympathize with the girl in front of him. He already believed that their reincarnation had some hands pulling the strings and they could also easily take back this privilege of a second chance. He had not given the latter part much thought not because he had not been smart enough to think of it but rather out of ... fear. The fear of the same thing Ina had faced had rooted his mind, keeping him away from such thought. With the only plausible action now be calming down the mess before him, he intended to do just that. He hugged the girl, letting her cry out everything in her system while telling her that the trials were what had chained her, not this world and that it was fine to feel such emotions in front of the absolution of those beings and the helplessness of real life.
After a few minute of venting through the tear ducts, Ina had finally calmed down, allowing Izuku to continue with the important matter pertaining his health.
"Ina, did you have any headache or weird dream sequences during your time living in this world? The like of chanting some words repeatedly or calling you with names you do not recognize?"
"No... None that I remember of. The whole time here has been a bliss with relatively little anomalies. You know that my quirk makes my sleep very short, so maybe I haven't dream long enough to face the things you have described? But did you ... "
"Yes. My headache is growing worse and only be being near you does the pain go away. I am already on painkillers at school, don't worry, the effect is weak enough to be sold to children with doctor's prescription and used in large quantities. My sleeping schedule is a mess with naps and involuntary drift into sleep growing more common these days."
"Isn't the symptoms a bit too much? How are you even alive?"
"Yes, and I don't know. I could feel something worming into my brain every day with progress each passing day. Maybe the pain is coming from the world's cycle of life and deat..."
Izuku's nose started bleeding and leaving patches of blood on the white duvet cover. His eyes turned unfocused, gazing into the infinity before he collapsed onto Ina's bed, knocked out by something. Ina knew better to let him go through with his process than to try shaking him, waking him up. She took it for 2 days in reality but 7 years spiritually. Who knew how long Izuku would take to ...
"I'm back!!! Why are my noses bleeding and why are you giving me blank eyes? "
Ina could not helped but look at Izuku in a different eye after going through something she guessed to be similar to her in such little time. She was a tiny bit angry at the world for the unfair treatment she was getting. But she knew better to shut up and focused on the important matter right now.
"How long did you take? "
"A few days, most of the journey was spent listening to 3 floating masks contradicting themselves at places and arguing. But I get the gist of their mission. Creating chaos for the sake of joy and chaos energy. They assure that the missions they give will take my preference into the mix but I don't know how much and don't dare to ask. "
Izuku paused before saying in a tiny voice.
"I got a Gacha System. "
Ina's hearing was sharp enough to hear the weak mutter coming from Izuku (partly because they were very close to one another). She could not fathom the idea of a random system. The whole thing smelled like gambling on luck, intelligence and adaptability. Basically fates were pushing Izuku into a gambler of destiny in such an easy manner that Ina was jealous of.
The two decided to spend the next 5 minutes discussing and comparing their Systems, finding ways of using them and planning for the coming future. They finally reached their conclusions for the most optimal paths: Izuku would go on becoming a vigilante due to his System requiring EXP and quest; Ina had to run away and hunt criminals for their quirks due to her System requiring Specialized Quirk Groups (SQG) and biomaterial to evolve further. Pushing aside any concern for morality and righteousness, they had only found their end goal, not the steps needed. They would have been able to do so if not for the intrusion of Ina's family to the scene of Ina plugging paper towels into Izuku's noses , their noses almost touching. Izuku's bleeding noses, bloodstains on the bedsheet and Ina's garment, and their proximity did not help the situation. Their shocked faces as they separated the two discourage the pair from more discussion.
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A week later
A series of test had already been done on Ina, all concluded that she was fine and normal to leave the hospital (she held back, she felt like the retest would be too much of a hassle). Despite some oppositions from some staff members ( especially in the research department), Ina is to be released at the end of the week due to sufficient health and external factor ( a crying Momo and a serious Akarai Yaoyoruzu). Outside of Izuku and her family, Momo did visit with teary eyes and a bunch of gifts she had picked (Ina almost suffocated under the weight of them combined). To her surprise, Momo's two underlings, one named Nahamori and the other Netari, did come and visit her, their expressions the same as Momo. It seemed like during her time at the school, she had managed to make two new friends without any knowledge of them existing. Worse, she even considered them underlings and beneath her. This disregard of them really made Ina felt guilty but the girl was thick-skinned enough to act courteously with them. So her stay at the hospital was over and she must go home now.
While on the newly purchased Porsche ( Momo had claimed that her dad had been preparing something for Ina's dad), Kenji Minaru, the head of the family, started inquired Ina about Izuku.
" Tell me Ina, how do you find the boy, Izuku I mean? I have seen that you two are quite close to one another. "
" He is someone ... precious to me... That's all. "
Ina responded bluntly while looking out the side windows after trying to find the right word and found nothing weird with her answer. In her perspective, Izuku was someone who knew her secrets and was her partner-in-crime so she treasured the help he had provided. But to her dad, he was suddenly faced with his daughter's first love (supposedly so in his mind). His little treasure was liking someone and she hid it from him, her dad. He became silent, his hands tightening the wheel and his face bulging with veins even he didn't know he had. Asa could only laugh from a side, a small chuckle seeing the scene. The returning trip and the night that day stayed that way, causing Ina to question herself whether her answer was wrong or not.
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The following weeks were busy for Ina and Izuku as they tried their acquired Privileges at the Takoba Municipal Beach Park. They chose the location due to the amount of free weights there, Izuku's prediction of a hidden achievement for cleaning up the beach and electronics components. Hanma-sensei let them skip their sessions as he said that he could only teach them up to the point and if they required further training, they should look for his friend through him. He still let them keep the gym keys as the following months he must go on a worldwide journey to visit his friends and solve old problems. As both Ina and Izuku had gotten excellent academic records this year, they were not forxed to attend supplementary summer classes. When Ina asked her parents to go outside and play with the boy, they only give her more money and remind to be good with him before letting her go on her way to Izuku.
In the first few weeks, the two tested their powers and the results were astonishing. Ina's transformation ability allowed for partial transformation of a specific organs. As a result, the two tested on different muscle groups to prevent appearance alteration.
With transformation in her arms, backs and legs, Ina could lift a 2-tonnes container with ease, even throwing the thing at high enough speed to leave a hole at the roof of the place. They both agreed to ignore the hole as it allowed fresh air to enter more easily (the reason was not Ina overly eager throwing the thing and falling on top of Izuku who tried to catch her) . Ina never tried her tail transformation due to dinners at her house. She could move at the top burst speed of 100 m/s, maintain 80 m/s for a long duration (they hadn't figured out the limit) and threw reliable and efficient punches at the rate of 20 punches per second at the power capable of breaking steel rods and solid rocks the size of a a car. Her reflexes was sharp enough to dodge high-velocity balls shot from the improvised tennis launcher Izuku made from the scraps, which was quite painful when being hit with. The thing even had an Internet connection by hijacking nearby houses, which she found no purpose in. Ina tried some of the moves she had learnt from the false dream. To her surprise, they actually worked somewhat as they allowed better flow in combats and movements and could connected in a destructive manners, leaving behind cracks on the ground after every steps.
For Izuku, he was trying his hands in crafting and engineering. The first big project of his was the tennis launcher that they both used for agility training. Before that, he did smelt down some metals to make weights for strength training. When asked where he got the gears for smithing, the boy asked Ina to keep a secret before bringing out a personal account full of money with a lot of commissions on an obscure social app. It seemed he had hooked up with some villains gangs to help them digitally in bank heists and large operations from afar, Ina was impressed. He then further explained that he had been a loyal customer of a courier service provider called Soaring Heights Courier Service with the motto "We promise, we deliver". It seemed they was a 2-years-old startup providing cheap and easy delivery of packages all over the countries with a secret business of personal delivery of packages with questionable contents. Izuku exclaimed many times that their services were really good, extremely cooperative with enough evidence on site in erroneous trips and competitive cost with variable payment methods (Izuku mainly paid in money or favors). Facing the delivery service, Ina could only shake her head and ordered fast food for the two of them. She was pleased with the speed but somehow the service rubbed her wrong, her feeling said so but she had no evidence so she kept it to herself.
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Izuku was so thrilled when he finished making his first pair of swords, the blunt ones used for training with Ina. The girl had taught him the basics of the twin swords art from her dream, leaving devastated slashes and moving the feet smoothly as if in a dance. The exercises and mock combat with her really left Izuku with a lot of aspects to improve, especially his armor and techniques. But for now, his Endurance, Viality and Agility were increasing steadily, almost breaching the 50s ( who knew dodging and deflecting heavy blows from Ina increase those things) . She had been reluctant at first of the idea of punching him wholeheartedly but the feeling had dissipated over time, leaving Izuku with a growing practice partner and an increasingly sore body. The noises from their spars were loud, but with the advanced noise-cancelling sheets, the summer heat and the amount of garbage on site, no one ever came to check their secret base.
He was thinking of incorporating more automatic traps into his escape plans, but building a self-aligned razor-sharp string setup really took everything out of his pockey. The string had to be sourced outside and delivered to the abandoned warehouse. Aside from that, the only reliable source of material was ironically enough the Mockingbird Guide, a subsidiary of Yaoyoruzu Corp, from all the recommendations of his previous partners. He ordered a lot, paid a lot and at the end of the day, they arrived on the back of a young girl. The time was way passed the agreed-upon dealine but Izuku could excuse the unpunctuality due to the girl's appearance. The delivery girl was a bit weird with engines erupting from her legs and a lot of scratches and cuts on her uniform, as if she had run into a hero ambush and escaped sucessfully. The girl arrived in front of the thick door (Ina's approval standard was strong enough to withstand her punches), sat the content on the ground before speaking into the air.
" Is this your order, A-san, where could I put it? "
A sharp face, rectangular eyes, blue pupils cold as glacial ice and short,and hair dark blue, around 1m40, unfamiliar. With the new face, Izuku had to check whether or not the girl was indeed their delivery person but the courier service messaged him first, assuring him that his packages had indeed been delivered to his location. Aside from some questions about why they knew his current location and not the inputted place, Izuku had to ask the girl to wait. A distorted voice sounded from a speaker on the girl's left.
" Are you from Soaring Heights Courier Service? I am asking as your face is new around here. "
" Yes, dear customer. Due to some personal reasons on his side, Takora-san has to apply for a break week and I am covering his tasks. So does that answer all your questions? "
"Yes, it is fine. Just put the package there, I will take it in later. How much do you want for a tip?"
"No tip is fine. We deliver haste and security and we take pride in that. Please check the content of the package soon, as you have a 2-hours refund policy."
"Noted"
Izuku ended the conversation, shooing the delivery girl away not before giving her a few hundred thousands yen as shushing tip. He never noticed her gaze lingered on the warehouse, emotionless.
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A few hours before
At the station responsible for Musutafu, the head of the place and his friend, Takora-san, was sweating profusely in front of a girl sitting across him. His boss had told him to act courteously to her as she was a major shareholder of the service and the goon's employment depended on his performance here. He also told him that the girl's quirk really helped their services at the beginning, so if she had chose to do a delivery, let her did it. The girl was sipping on the cheap tea he got from the convenience store next door and was reading the schedule of the day. As if noticing something unexpected, the girl gazed at one the of big shipping orders today as if finding a regular. The girl's moist lips curled up into a smile before she turned back to the leader in front of her.
"Let me take care of A-san's orders and some of these, the one responsible for them can take a break. Give me a small uniform. "
The girl marked a few squares on the timetables before returning the things. The supervisor could only take a look, noticing the chosen deliveries were all for regulars and big spenders. Guessing the intent of the girl, the supervisor called off the workers responsible, telling them a big guest had arrived and they must not turn up to these deliveries (he assured them that they would still receive their pay). When he got back from the called, the girl already wore the uniform and was preparing to set out for the first large order of the day, her backpack heavy with electronics components for A-san. Her leg engines roaring and igniting, leaving behind a small trail of hot, plasma-like exhaust gas, she could feel her body getting hotter, prepared for the upcoming runs. She put on the cap before running out of the station, ready to deliver.
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"Keigo, a new mission is ready for you. We have received a report from one of our undercover agents detailing a large order from the courier service. You know the one. I need you to track the package down and create evidence for the police and our agents to arrest the whole company. The delivery person is a young girl, around 12 years old. She wore their uniform and cap, so finding her out should be a simple job for you. Just now she turned into the Jutsume Market. "
"Yes Team Leader."
On a roof of an office building 10-stories tall, a teenager with yellow wings and lazy eyes hidden behind a black visor answered through his earpiece. He was wearing a skinsuit under a male uniform of a nearby high school with his arms in the pockets, ready to jump off the railings and began the chase. He took a moment to look down on the people he would have to save in the future under a different name before jumping off, starting a hunt.
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Temari's decision to run some deliveries had been to personally observe some of the darker clients of her companies with perverse needs or demands. In her book, A-san was one of the better, requesting large volume of questionable, but not illegal materials such as Albertos-Fabri strings, TSMC-level machinery and NVIDIA 5000s series graphic card. As a result, sensing someone following her, she checked through her glasses hidden from top view by the cap and the nearby buildings' glass panels to see ... a teenager, his eyes akin to hawk's eyes preying a rabbit. Knowing the danger and loss of trust if she was caught, Temari turned into one of the many alleys before setting off running normally deeper, trying to find a place to hide in this concrete maze. Her face plastered with a wide wild grin and her heartbeat rose; the excitement of the chase got into her brain.
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"Fuck, lost her... Let's fly. "
Kengo exclaimed, walking into an obscure corner before opening his wings wide, preparing for take off. He was afraid of other heroes seeing him as the mission was technically a secret capture one. But the widely opened wings provided him with a temporary release from all that thoughts; the air ruffling the feathers leaving him with trembles and a need for freedom to soar high.
He flew up, gotten onto a nearby roof, and flew low above the concrete tiles. His brain still remembered the alley that delivery girl got into, 5 buildings in front of. He flew to the gap between the 5th and 6th buildings from his initial standpoint, eyeing over the railing to catch a glimpse of the dark blue hair in a ponytail.
"There your are! "
He exclaimed in his mind, seeing the silhouette and two bright lights from her legs. She had just taken another turn, her speed unmatched compared to before. He was sure they both had made eye contacts. Smiling to himself, he then let himself fall between the tall buildings before taking flight again, seeking the target.
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Her engines had turned bright hot, she ran and took turned irregularly, trying to shake the tail, no, the wings behind her. it had already been 2 minutes and they had crossed 3 less-crowded streets already. Fortune was smiling to Temari as no heroes were in sight, but the increasing number of reports from civilians of illegal quirk use would draw them to her. Checking her map for the nearest abandoned warehouse to find that it was 5 km away, Temari could only sigh before following through her plan of a fight. She started running toward the location, not forgetting to make turns to throw out the bait. After a few minutes of high-speed running, the chase reached its final destination. the abandoned warehouse on the bank of a river. Temari sped up and kicked the rusty doors, sending them and her flying into the darkness inside. She then cooled off her engine with a water bottle she brought with her and align herself opposite the door, ready to do a burst kick knocking the chaser out. She started waiting, the game was on. She was prepared to kick the bastard's head into a bloody mess.
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"Team Leader, she got inside a warehouse, looked like it has been abandoned for quite some time. Should I follow her in? "
"Just do it. Imagine the merits we will make if you capture her! We will be promoted!!!"
The team leader on the other side of the earpiece was salivating, his mind clouded by greed and desire for that promotion. It was like a hanging apple on a slightly tall branch, his hands almost reaching and a small jump would be enough. Of course he did not lose his mind entirely. His confidence in Kengo afforded him the decision. He thought the girl was simply a fast runner, not strong nor combat-ready enough to face against Kengo, his most powerful agent. He estimated that his agent would wrap up the hunt in the matter of seconds and that would be everything. Oh how wrong he was.
Kengo could only sighed at his superior's greedy decision. The mere minutes spent chasing the girl had allowed Kengo to glimpse het ability. Strong. He believed, would be the correct word to describe her. Despite using her speed quirk for a prolonged period in such a young body, she remained energetic and careful, not slipping up any moment in he duration of the chase.
But order was still order. He went down in front of the doors, its hinges broken. Judging from the cleanliness of the broken cross-section, he knew the girl's specialty was kicking in combination with a footwork-related techniques, could be Karate or Brazilian Jujutsu ( they drilled the common martial arts into their brains years ago) but he doubted the latter. That made the former even more dangerous as the pure strength would be comparable to B-rank villains. A
Sending in a few feathers to probe the darkness inside, Kengo was disappointed from the lack of reactions from them. The space inside was too large for his pitiful number of scouting feathers to capture entirely, but he could try many times. Nevertheless, the kicked door might have already alarmed the locals and attracted a few small fries to this place. Time was against him. He stepped inside, in his hands were his trusty companions, the swords. He arranged a circle if feathers around him, increasing his perception range.
He breathed in anticipation, inching closer into the darkness. He was on guard, ready for a strike before a streak of light entered his sight on the left. Too fast, he thought before bringing his swords together on his left, barely fast enough to block a kick. A single fucking kick sent him flying through the metal walls, he thought, getting up and preparing to take off. His earpiece fell out from the impact and broke in the fall, leaving him without communication to his team leader. He was feeling dizzy from the concussion, his vision akin to that of a drunk person, double. Not waiting for him to steady himself, a flurry of kicks rocketed from the cloud of dust at the hole he made from his exit, aiming straight at his head and upper torso.
A series of metallic friction and sparks flew off during their combat. Kengo could feel the weight of those shoes, possibly with metal tips and soles, and Temari could feel the skills of her opponent, flexible and strong enough to deflect her kicks following a rigorous method.
"Upper Left to the shoulders, front to the neck, low right to the belly..."
Kengo thought as he deflected the attacks. Of course with his trained skill, he managed to sneak in some counterattacks but most by deflected by his oppenent and leaving those that passed a small contact, just enough to draw cuts and blood.
The dust cloud disappeared from the two's exchange, leaving their appearance clear to each other.
Temari's skin and clothes were cut at many places, thanks to the blades of Kengo barely getting past her defense. Kengo's condition was not so good compared to her, his hands shaking and his muscles numbed from the impacts. The two stopped and glared at one another.
" Young, quite a cutie but whatever. "
" Quick and flexible, his wings will be troublesome to deal with. "
Temari opened first, buying time for her engines to entered the next phase. With time stalling also be Kengo's aim, he answered.
" Why are you chasing me down to here? The content of the package is simple strings and components registered with the government. "
" Stop lying, the content maybe legal but you, are not. Why someone as young as you can be delivering is a big enough question for your company. The answer will be clear if you lot are involved in some shady businesses. "
Both were ready and at the drop of the sentence, Kengo flapped his wings to create distance and got into the air, leaving a dust flow obscuring Temari's vision. Temari, anticipating an attempt of aerial engagement, closed the gap immediately, giving a roundhouse kick to the head with enough downward movement, its speed faster than any of the kicks she had dished out before. Kengo only managed to bring his blades together and blocked the attack, breaking the weapons he held and sent hime aside and crashing into the river water. Water entered his lungs, suffocated him and forced him to flap his wings with all his might to separate from. He flew up, hovered barely over the water surface. He was taking in gulps of air desperately, his face white from the drowning sensation. The wings had been drenched and too heavy to fly, he concluded. And just the moment he looked back at the location he was kicked a way, what awaited him was a knee at high veloicty. The girl had had enough time to prepare for this thing and he was sure to be knocked unconscious.
" Maybe a break will be fine."
Kengo thought before being sent to the other side of the river, crashing into the grass and soil. Temari was much more luckly, she managed to land barely from the inertia. She gave the crater a look before running away, delivering A-san's package after seeing a coming hero. She was too beaten for another fight with a trained one.
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At the end of the day, Temari had run over 30 km covering most of the city. The fight with the weird wing guy was the only commotion she had to face. All the other recipients were respectful and fast with their payment with the worst being merely a 10-minutes wait in front of a dark alley, mostly due to sleeping schedule on their side. She wondered which organization or groups were investigating her company when they had carefully erased and limited trails of transactions and dealings. At the end of her thought train, she decided to call the top boards to warn them of someone or something paying attention to them. They appreciated the warning and promised her to increase secrecy and security of their calls beside screening their personnel.
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2 weeks later
Turning back to Ina and Izuku, they had been practicing different moves and contingencies in case of emergencies. Izuku had finalized his gadgets: 3 automatic string traps (he had upgraded the design to cost less material while providing the same effect); a basic medical kits including burn salve, bandages, three sticks for aligning broken bones and 300ml of oil; a taser and 9mm pistol on safe mode, a pair of swords_1.5 after various upgrades to sharpness, durability and toughness. His armor was made from lightweight carbon-fiber and lined with titanium strips to provide sufficient weight. Designed in a futuristic, modular manner with a lot of edges and holes allowing for different parts to be inserted and used depended on the situation, the armor stood at the at 1" higher than Izuku and completely covered his body.
They both tested the things out, with Ina dishing calculated punches to the neck joints, elbows and knees in addition to an overall attack over the armor. Izuku, the one inside, responded to Ina's attacks by providing the feeling he felt. Both had a great time doing their parts of the test. Izuku had been training his strength and agility with Ina's leading to him now able to lift a civilian vehicle and threw it (his strength reached the 50s while his )
Ina's suit was mainly just a skintight full bodysuit allowing for body movements as her strength was sufficient and the main concern was better control. She had asked for more armor to cover herself up but Izuku counterargued that Ina's dermal layer was a good enough armor and he hoped full transformation would not be used. Ina caught on quickly to what he meant and stopped her demands.
The two would soon begin their vigilante businesses with Izuku tackling on an advisor's role for crimes to prevent loss of lives. They would begin small, hunting muggers before seeking more dangerous criminals.
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2 years later, 12th year in this world , in the summer
" We must now tackling your first kill. With most people finding the experience dramatic, I believe that getting you be used to ending one's life if needed will be beneficial in the long run. So today, I bring with me a mugging killer. "
Ina said, spinning around and pointing at a chair under a spotlight.
"Must I really do this? I mean ... I guess that with the lethality of my traps, killing is already a must, but so soon? And your parents, did you ask them to allow you sleeping over at my place"
Izuku inquired with a worried face. He was worried not for himself but for Ina's subsequent test. Her skill "Devour" and "Absorption" combined with the nature of the deity that brought her here really spelt a disaster.
"Your test, cannibalism, correct? Fifty of these irredeemable murderers kidnapped from all over the region to test the probability of the skills and train my guts. "
"Yes, are you ready for your first kill ... Izuku? "
Ina asked, her voice drooped a little bit at his name. She was ashamed of forcing him to do these actions, but he complied with her simply because he thought getting the matter over the quicker the better. Seeing that scene, Izuku could only picked up his new swords, a pair of European short swords fitted to his height and forged the same way as a katana, and approached the constrained man. As he stepped closer, the lights in the abandoned warehouse all activate, showcasing a horrific scene of many people being constricted on chairs, their expressions scared for their lives at the two nightmares in front of them.
Izuku stabbed the first one Ina introduced through the forehead, ending him immediately. That started Ina's test, she transformed her naked self fully, her clothes were left on the table nearby. The transformation left nothing to the imaginary as every cells of her body elongated, changed colors and functions, changed their structures and reactions, leaving behind a dark monster as tall as 2 meters when standing on the hind legs, counting 3 meters from head to tail. Her presence scared all the roped criminals, their face white as the winter snow. She crawled to the body before swallowing the thing whole, leaving behind a pool of blood on the floor. Luckily the criminals were all taped off, else their screams would have alerted the heroes. Their emotions, Ina realized, could be felt through the sensory organ under her chin. The tubular, hollow organ appeared to allow for spiritual sensitivity and tuning, helping her capture the surrounding in another dimension. But enough of that, now came the test.
"Are you ready, Ina?"
A reassuring growling came from her deformed esophagus. Izuku smiled at the sound. He was prepared for the burden he would carry and so did Ina. The two continued on with the test, facing no vocal oppositions from their test subjects. That day, 50 killers would not see the light of dawn forever again. They had become something more meaningful, paving a path to someone's else grandness.