John put Taulmaril down, his shoulders and back aching from the repeated firing of the magical weapon over the last thirty minutes. The steel plate that Rumi had been using as a target now looked more like a slice of Swiss cheese, having been riddled with finger-thick holes. He was getting concerned that an arrow might travel through one of the holes and out the other side, striking the building itself.

He had popped a Substance X ball already, so he put the bow away in his luggage and drew his sword, continuing to practice the simple forms that Brod had shown him so long ago. They were mainly simple motions, designed for novices to learn to handle a blade safely, but that didn’t stop him. With his body now healed, he could work with either hand without needing to worry about pulling a muscle, hurting his back, or dislocating his shoulder. He could tell his right side was still weaker, his lack of an eye blinding him from seeing what was happening, but he could still practice the motions. 

He let his mind drift in the repetitious movements, once again going over his next course of action. He was currently safe, had a potential instructor in Rumi, and had a source of employment just under an hour away by train. These students at the school were all training to fight against villains or to help people in general, which is something he could get behind. He didn’t like some of the laws they were living under, but those could just be because the government was making the best of a bad situation.

He was under no illusion that he could effect changes himself, mainly as an American expat with a foreign worker’s visa. What he could do is show this younger generation of heroes a different way of thinking, and maybe, just maybe, they would be the force of change in the future. 

So, he would stay for a bit, mentor the students, train himself, and see where this world took him.

He slid the sword back in its scabbard and stuffed it in his luggage again, then proceeded to continue to work out with body weight exercises, casting a heal spell anytime he had reached the point of failure. If he was going to stay here, he was damn well going to make the most of the situation.

The rest of the day passed for John fairly quickly. He explored Jaku City, which didn’t seem much different from any other Japanese city he had been in so far. He had some ramen from a small restaurant, which he found delicious, and discovered a few nearby stores which sold an assortment of different things, including food.

He wasn’t sure whether he should stock Rumi’s pantry yet or not, but he did buy a few high-protein groceries and some fresh vegetables. From his short time of using Substance X and working out in Infinite Frontiers, he knew he would need more calories and nutrients to continue his muscle gains. He went to bed early the first night before Rumi had returned home, waking up before dawn to loud banging noises coming from outside.

Getting dressed, he investigated the noise and found Rumi already hard at work, kicking and punching an oversized heavy bag that was anchored to the Dojo’s floor. He could swear he felt vibrations in the air with every impact; the power the woman was putting into the blows, despite her small stature, was incredible.

“HAH!” *BANG* “Luna Rush!” *BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG*

She fired off a series of kicks against the bag, each sounding like a gunshot. She then jumped up and grappled the bag with her legs and rained punches on her imaginary opponent’s ‘head’ before flipping backwards, somersaulting across the Dojo floor, stopping beside John.

“Like what you see?” She said, striking a pose with one hand on her hip and the other flexing a bicep. She had a wide grin on her face, clearly proud of the physique she had built for the sole purpose of taking down villains.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find you impressive,” John admitted, looking down at her. She was wearing less than that Mt Lady hero, but somehow she didn’t project anything sexual. Maybe it was her brash attitude or her confidence, but he didn’t need to activate Scouter to know she meant her fighting and not something else.

“Good. I would hate to think I was slipping. Now, what brings you out here this early in the morning?”

“I was wondering if you could train me in martial arts?” He said, not beating around the bush. She seemed to like to be direct, so he would be as well.

“Train you?” She replied, tilting her head and cocking a single ear to the side in thought. He could swear she and Nanaella had the same visual quirks, even though their mannerisms were quite different. “You’re getting a little old to pick up close-quarters combat, aren’t you?”

Ouch. Maybe a little too straightforward.

Still, he laughed at that. Before arriving at DEN, or even more recently, he would have wholeheartedly agreed.

“Maybe a bit, but this is for a couple of reasons. I want to get stronger and improve my own health, not to mention being able to defend myself if I get stuck next to a villain again. The other main reason is that I’m going to be working at U.A. with a bunch of students who will be training to fight every day. I would love to be able to relate to their experiences. I don’t need to become, well, you, but I would like to be able to hold my own.”

“I don’t know… I would hate for you to injure yourself by accident…” She said, humming and hawing for a moment before snapping her fingers. “I’ll do it on two conditions. One, you keep the house and dojo clean and take care of the yard work. That will save me from hiring people to come in.”

“And the other?”

“Keep the carrots coming. By the way, I ate all the carrots you bought yesterday… and some of the other food. Most of it.” She said, suddenly a little sheepish. “Sorry, I was late getting back, and I missed supper.”

“Heh, that’s fine, darling. So, let me clear this up a bit. You just want me to clean the place, mow the lawn, and have carrots for you, and in return I get a roof over my head and martial arts training from one of the greatest heroes in Japan?”

“When you put it that way, it sounds like I’m selling myself short. Just accept it, and if your sister ever comes over to visit, ask if she would be willing to spar with me. I saw her on the news a few times as a kid, and I wanted to be as strong as her. Now that I am at my peak, I would like to see how close I managed to get to one of the top heroes. All Might won’t spar with me for some reason, and the other Japanese pro heroes between him and me are more reliant on their quirk powers than physical prowess.”

John deflated a little at that, realising that most of this goodwill seemed to be coming because of who his sister was. His memories from before were now his, and the entire reason he had left America was to escape his sister’s fame. Still, it was an incredible offer, making him think it might even be his New World Bonus. 

“That works for me, darling. Let’s do it!”

“Just don’t come to regret this later. I don’t plan on letting you go until your kicks sound like this!” She said, leaping towards the bag again, snapping a roundhouse kick against it like a gunshot going off.  She turned back to him again, her smile turning a little sadistic. “Now, take that jacket off and come at me. I think I know what I’m working with here, but I want to see your baseline fighting first, then I’ll get you started on some basics. Be ready, cause this is a long, painful road, even to get passable at it.”

John took off his jacket, then stepped up to the woman, raising his fists and taking a fighting stance. He knew that he was about to be put down hard, but he would learn everything he could from the experience. 

“Stop,” She said just before he was about to step in. She adjusted his stance a bit, pushing his elbows around and getting him to shift his centre of balance slightly. “There, like that. Now, for further incentive, if you land a hit, I’ll give you a kiss. Beat me, and I’ll marry your old ass.”

“Hah, funny lady. Sounds like a pretty safe bet for you, darling.”

“Got to give my new pupil a goal to reach. Besides, I basically just got a house husband for the price of a room and a little training. Now, come at me with everything you got!” She replied, bouncing back a couple of steps and assuming a fighting stance.

He shook his head a little bit and stepped forward. He was tempted to put his invulnerability on and surprise the hell out of her just for that, but as beautiful as she was, he really did want to learn to fight. 

Bugger it, let’s just do this!

That Evening

*Thump, Thump, Thump*

John was punching the heavy bag, switching stances back and forth and following what Rumi had shown him earlier that morning. He was now wearing a black keikogi, or a gi for short, with a white belt, and his fists were wrapped in fabric. After their spar that morning, where she didn’t actually beat him down but just dodged or blocked every swing he threw, she had him practice a bunch of punches. She was actually an incredibly meticulous teacher, much different than her rough personality suggested. She didn’t berate his mistakes; instead, she corrected his form and remained encouraging throughout the session.

After an hour, they left for town, where she brought him to a store to get a gi for their training sessions. She then took off to start her patrol, leaving John to his own devices for the day. He grabbed some more food, then returned to the house and spent thirty minutes cleaning the place. She hadn’t given him permission to enter her room, so he left that alone, but otherwise, it didn’t take very long before he was done.

He received a phone call from Nezu shortly afterwards, the principal wondering how things were going. John said everything on the list was done, and he secured a place to live with Mirko in Jaku City. He seemed amused by that, but didn’t ask for further details. He wanted to see John at nine o’clock sharp for a cup of tea and to discuss his new position.

After that call, the day flew by. He trained, he mowed the lawn, he trained some more, then cooked a simple dinner and downed a protein shake. He left her a plate of food in the fridge, then went back to the dojo to train some more, healing his muscles when they reached the point of exhaustion and continuing. 

*Thump, Thump, Thump*

*Crunch, Crunch*

“Are you still punching that thing?” Rumi asked, startling him. She was standing behind him with a concerned look on her face while gnawing on a carrot.

“Yeah. I need to work tomorrow, so I was getting as much training in as I could.”

“This is a marathon, not a sprint. Here, let me see your hands.” She replied, tossing what was left of the carrot out one of the doors.

She unwrapped his hands, looking over his slightly battered knuckles. They were nowhere near as swollen as they were earlier, John having just healed them twenty minutes ago. “Well, you seem to have deceptively tough skin. Still, that is enough punching for one day. You need to let your body recover a bit before you batter it further, especially at your age. You have the discipline for this, but you’re not a teenager who can fall off a building and walk it off.”

“You seem really concerned about my age.” John quipped, letting her finish inspecting his hands.

“It’s not so much the age as the fact that you are doing high-impact training. I have even noticed my own limitations, and I’m only twenty-six. You have great musculature for someone your age, but you’re in your mid-forties and have had a desk job for most of your life. I just don’t want you to hurt yourself. If you push yourself too hard, you’re going to be useless for a few days as you recover.”

“You might find I’m full of surprises, but I’ll take your advice. Did you eat? I left you a plate of food in the fridge.”

“Yes, I found it, thank you. I didn’t expect everything to be cleaned and dinner made. Now, let’s sweep this place up and relax by the pond for a bit. You have your first big day at U.A. tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah, it should be interesting.”

With that, John and Rumi cleaned the dojo and closed it up for the night. They hung out under a cherry tree for a bit, Rumi telling John about a couple of villains she had captured earlier, and about a few people she helped when there was a traffic accident. It was relaxing and oddly domestic, which was weird since they had just met.

“Did you always want to be a hero?” He asked.

“Gods no. I was always a troublemaker growing up, getting kicked out of schools, joining underground fighting rings. Heck, I even helped a vigilante out a time or two. It wasn’t until I turned eighteen that I realised I needed to change my focus. If I had kept going down the route I was heading, I might have ended up becoming a villain instead of a hero.

It wasn’t some dramatic epiphany moment, just a gradual realisation of who I was hanging around, some were the good guys, some were… less good guys. I decided that I wanted to be one of the good guys, and well, here I am.” She said, looking out over the pond. “You know, you’re really easy to talk to. I’m not normally one to chatter so much.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Naw, just different. I was starting to feel my life was becoming a little stagnant, so maybe having you around will change things up a bit.” She said, grinning at him. “Now, I’m going to bed. You better be up bright and early, Mister John, cause I ain’t going easy on ya because you decided to overdo it today.” 

He laughed as she bounced to her feet, taking the hand she offered him. “Was that another crack at my age again?”

“Yep! I half-expected to come home to you having another nap. I heard it’s important for you old timers to get at least two in a day,” She said, her grin widening.

“And I heard that rabbits actually don’t like carrots and prefer lettuce. Maybe I should get you that instead.”

“God, please no. I just like carrots because they are a healthy snack. I’m not some damn cartoon rabbit! Gimmie a good gyudon any day of the week over a salad.”

“Not sure what that is…”

“Oh really! I see I will have to introduce you to some of our delicious culinary delights one of these days.”

“Looking forward to it.”

With that, the two of them went to bed. John was still confused why his mattress was lying on the floor, but he was tired enough not to give it too much thought before falling asleep.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep