Jaku City

Collapsed Office Building 

“What do you mean we can’t go in to investigate?” Rumi asked the gate guard.

“Sorry, Ma’am, but you can’t come inside without a warrant. This site is now the property of the LOVE Corporation, and has been deemed unsafe to enter for anyone other than authorized personnel while cleanup operations are ongoing.” The man said, looking down at her and Yu from the gatehouse where he was sitting. There was a chain-link fence around the entire collapsed building, covered in white plastic wrap, blocking the view of whatever was happening behind it.

Just before John had hopped on the train to head to U.A. that morning, he mentioned the camera he saw of a lab full of vats while he was assisting the rescue operations. She didn’t think too much about it; there were labs everywhere in the city, but they had a little bit of time this afternoon, so she decided to do some investigating.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. We are heroes, not normal people. She was even helping with the recovery operations last night.” She said, gesturing to Yu, who was wearing her new suit. She looked nice in it, and the dress could break away if she needed more freedom of movement, becoming a white-and-purple version of her old suit. “Who is this LOVE Corporation anyway? I’ve never heard of them.”

Should I get a dress too? Not for fighting villains in, but just for special occasions? Maybe take a night off and go sit in a smoky jazz bar, see if someone would come flirt with me? Then laugh when John clamps one of those huge hands down on their shoulder, and then I cling to John’s arm after he ‘handles’ the guy… Damn it, girl, stop daydreaming about his hands and focus. 

“LOVE stands for Leadership, Optimization, Values, and Excellence. We are a non-profit organization with many anonymous benefactors who want to turn disaster areas such as this one into spaces to provide needed services in our communities. In fact, it was already decided that we would be putting an orphanage right here at this location, complete with onsite schooling and everything that a child might need while awaiting adoption or to come of age. You’re free to look us up, maybe make a donation yourselves? We could use some high-profile heroes supporting our cause.” The gate guard continued, turning into a salesman for this place. 

“We’ll consider it.” She replied, looking closer at the man. She could have sworn she had met this guy somewhere before, but her phone started to buzz before she could ask him. 

A bank robbery was in progress nearly twenty kilometres away, and the police were requesting assistance. The local heroes appeared to be tied up dealing with a massive accident on a nearby highway, so the HPSC was sending out a request to anyone nearby. 

“Excuse us, duty calls.” 

“Take care, heroes.” The man said with a greasy smile on his face.

They quickly moved away from the collapsed building, gaining the rooftops and bounded from building to building, the pair of them easily able to clear even the width of the streets. Given the traffic below, this was the fastest way for them to cover the distance during the day. Unless you were rich like Endevor and had your own helicopter.

I mean, I’m technically rich now, too. Maybe I should buy one for our agency? I think I can write it off… I have no idea about taxes. Nor can I fly one… bah!

“Did that seem weird to you?” She asked, stopping that line of thinking. “When did they have time to put a fence up? You would think there would be investigations still going on.” 

“Yeah. Since when has any disaster cleanup started that quickly? Hah, I mean, some of the concrete is probably still hot, yet they’ve already cordoned off the entire site and locked it down, hah, for demolition. It is very sus.” Yu replied, already somewhat out of breath. She was struggling to keep up with her, but speed wasn’t Yu’s forte. Still, she wasn’t complaining. Once they got to the edge of the city, she could turn into a giant and run across the open country much faster

“I’ll speak to the police chief and the HPSC about it later. We should still have been allowed to investigate. Didn’t you say Anan suspected it was explosives of some sort that collapsed the building?”

“She mentioned something about, hah, accelerants, but I didn’t get a chance to question her further before the police snatched her up.”

“We should stop by and talk to her before going to the police. She might know something that would help shed some light on what is going on.” Rumi said, leaping across the next street. At first, she wasn’t very concerned about the lab, but everything else about the situation seemed very odd.

“It couldn’t hurt, hah, but she was acting a little weird when I got her out of the rubble.” 

“How so?”

“She had a giant smile on her face and seemed very content despite the situation. Another odd thing was that her suit was mangled, yet she didn’t have a scratch on her. Gloves torn off, helmet shattered, large shreds in the chest and back bad, but her skin was completely untouched.”

“That is suspicious… You don’t think she might have had something to do with the collapse, do you?” She asked, not believing it for a second, but she was a bit biased when it came to Anan. She was just such a timid sweetheart of a woman. 

It’s been some time since I hung out with her. Maybe I should invite her over to my place for tea and a catch-up soon.

“Anan? Please, she wouldn’t harm a fly. I can’t see her setting explosives to blow up a building in a populated area. Hah, you know my mother has been trying to set her up with one of my cousins for the last couple of years, and I can’t see that woman bringing someone into the family who had villainous potential. We already have enough of those in the family without needing to add more. Hah, unless they had an incredible Quirk anyway.”

“Speaking of your family, how did the meeting with your grandmother go? Is it as you expected?” Rumi asked her, finally breaking into the subject that was bothering her. 

“Yeah. They are trying to corner John into marrying into our family. I just can’t figure out why. He doesn’t have Star and Stripe’s Quirk. At most, I would assume they would have been trying to feed him into the branch family to see if they could get a Quirk like New Order in the blood that way. Instead, she pushed for him to be in the main family, even had the audacity to offer my mother and Mei to be his wives instead of me. She even suggested taking his semen in a test tube for the price of… something that is extremely valuable in our family.”

“And what did he say?” She said, trying to keep her blood from boiling. 

Stop it, Rumi. You don’t have a claim on him. Neither of you have mentioned being anything serious.

“Well, he didn’t tell me everything, but he stood up to her and told her no, he wouldn’t, and that I was an incredible woman, then walked out of the meeting. Hah, I… I’m not going to lie, Rumi. I kissed him because of that. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I had to deal with your family back before I even became a hero. Even this dumb bunny figured out they would stop at nothing to get what they wanted.” She said, remembering dealing with some less savoury elements of the Takeyama family while fighting in the Underground Masquerade.

“You’re not angry? I thought you and him…” Yu replied, clearly confused. 

“Oh, I’m pissed, but not at you. That was an incredible thing he did, standing up for you against your family like that. I don’t know your grandmother, but I saw your mother act in anger once, and I’m not afraid to admit I wouldn’t stand a chance against her. How do you fight a literal force of nature? Still, I want him, so we are going to have to work together to keep him, or else your family might snatch him away. You’re not the only one who’s kissed him, you know.” She said, making a snap decision. 

Fuck it, I want him to beat me! I want him to dominate me in a fight and take me, and damn this family for trying to stop that from happening! 

“Wait! You would be willing to share him with me? You’re not part of the old families; I didn’t expect you to be willing to share a man like that.”

“I thought that was clear. I might not want to share him, but frankly, he makes me happy. Happy enough that I am willing to team up with you to keep him, instead of letting your family steal him from us both. If I thought it would be enough to get away from your family, I would just suggest to him that we move to the USA. I could be a hero there just as easily as here, and I would get to meet his sister finally. If you accept my offer, I have just one demand of you.”

“Hah, what’s that?”

“Train harder. I know you have the potential to beat me in a fight even as you are, but you’re lazy. You’ve slacked off for too many years. Hell, look at you right now, you’re almost out of breath, and we have only covered a few kilometres. I want to whip you into shape so you will make it into the top ten heroes, if not the top five. Even without your Quirk activated, you should be able to keep up with me and stand toe to toe with most villains. I want you to get to the point that when you do activate it, you will be both precise and near unstoppable.

If you do that, then we can be a power throuple during the day, then go home to be pampered by our man at night! Seriously, ask him to give you a massage. I swear his Quirk is for massages, not for talking to people. I almost broke my rule with him the other night, and he only did my neck and shoulders.”

He is so giving me a whole body massage for this! Every square centimetre! I’d better melt into the bed by the time he is done, else I’ll kick his ass again!

“Rumi… you never cease to amaze me. Even in the face of Takeyama family politics, hah, you are still focused on training and growing stronger.”

“Hah! I can’t change the weather; I can only live with no regrets! Now, let’s go find these villains, then head back to the dojo. We should probably make sure John is good with this plan.”

“You think he wouldn’t be? Two young, beautiful women offering… god Rumi… I… Hah, what are we even offering?”

“I’m offering him my mind, body, and soul. Once he beats me in a fight anyway. I refuse to be with a man who is weaker than I am, but I believe he could really get there. He seemed conflicted when I kissed him this morning, which made me think he was hiding something. After you told me you kissed him, that could be it. Still, I don’t want him to beat himself up too much over kissing you, it’s not like we’re dating yet.”

“Should we tease him a little bit first?” Yu asked, grinning like a crazy woman.

“No. Don’t fall back into your old ways, Yu. There is a time and place to tease, and this isn’t it. Sabotaging your relationship before it even really begins just to make him squirm isn’t nice. Be serious first, then we can tease him a bit.”

“You’re just as inexperienced with men as I am.” She said, pouting.

“Maybe, but I know if John just started teasing me about something I considered serious, I probably wouldn’t like it either. Plenty of other ways to be fun and silly, like beating him up in a spar, then sitting on him. Have you noticed what he is hiding in those pants? I’m afraid he is going to split me in half when he finally defeats me.” 

“No, I didn’t. Is it that big?”

“Well, I don’t watch porn, but I have inadvertently seen a few while I was doing underground fighting, and I haven’t seen anyone with one like his.”

“God… I know I used to be super flirty with guys, but I have never really thought about taking any steps with them before. Most of them just wanted me to step on them, of all things, when I’m a giant. How is that even fun? I’ve never stood on a scale, but it wouldn’t surprise me if I was over a hundred tons when I use my Quirk.”

“Some people are weird.”

The pair of them continued to chat for some time, making plans for increasing the focus and intensity of Yu’s training, potential places they could make their new HQ, and, of course, they talked about John.  

U.A. High School

Principal’s Office

*AH-CHOO!*

“Bless you. Are you coming down with a cold, Mr. Wayne?” Nezu asked, looking up from the lesson plans that Momo was presenting him.

“No, I’m fine. Someone must be talking about me.” John said with a laugh. 

“Ahh, that is such a fun superstition. Still, have another tea and add a dollop of honey. I would hate for you to come down with something before the sports festival. This will be the first time you have seen it, yes?”

“Yeah. I’m still not sure about its format, but I’ll support the students however I can.”

“Very good, though take the time to enjoy yourself as well. Now, Miss Yaoyorozu, please continue with your presentation. I am thoroughly enjoying your ideas to modify our curriculum. Have you ever considered becoming a teacher yourself?”

“I hadn’t until Mr. Wayne sat down with me earlier this week to help clean up my ideas. I never considered how much actually went into a proper lesson plan until then. He went over a lot of things I hadn’t considered, from cost to having a medical emergency plan; it was rather eye-opening.”

“Well, he was a teacher for a long time prior to coming here. You could learn a lot from him if you so choose. Now, about this one…” Nezu said, and the pair of them discussed her plans.

John just sat back and considered what the principal said. In his original life, he was never a teacher, but since arriving at DEN, two of his lives were as a teacher and one as a principal. He had been given memories of how to do all these things you never saw as a student: how a school was supposed to be run, how to create and implement lesson plans, and how to follow policies to make the plans compliant with whatever education system he was in. It was all second nature to him now, and he barely even had to think about it. It was almost like his pilot skill, except he didn’t have a skill in his list for it.

Being a therapist is interesting, but I think I’d rather teach. I could be a hero full-time, but that would put me in a position where I would end up revealing all my powers. If I could train the next generation, I think that would be a better use for my skill set.  Ah… what am I saying? I should be more focused on training and getting stronger, not about my day job to put food on the table in this world. 

Speaking of therapy, Anan had called in today, so he didn’t get a chance to talk with her yet. He still had a handful of first-year students to finish the next morning, then he was clear until after the sports festival, other than to make sure the students were good between the events.  

He sighed. He was just avoiding what he needed to think about. About whom he needed to choose.

Yu is actually really nice and sweet, but I don’t know if I want to get tangled up in her family’s drama. Rumi… she is so straightforward and open, it’s fun and refreshing. However, despite her optimism, I don’t know if I will ever beat her in a fight without using my magic. So, who do I choose? The drama with the family that has a bloody ghost making decisions? Or the woman who has a near-impossible challenge for me to win her heart? Or do I just move on?

“Don’t you think so, Mr. Wayne?” Nezu said, bringing John out of his contemplations.

“I do. Mo- err, Miss Yaoyorozu has some great ideas. I would need to see what the hero course actually offers, but many of her ideas focus on teamwork and making snap decisions. I can’t see them being anything but beneficial.” John said. The girl beamed at him, happy at being praised for her work.

“Most of the hero course is done at the teacher’s discretion, so I would like you to take point at supervising her lesson plans. I think two periods twice a week would be sufficient to start. As you know, All Might will be taking a vacation starting next week, so we can just slide you into his slot. Eraser Head and Snipe will be glad that they don’t need to cover his classes.”

“Hun? Me? You want me to teach now?”

The ratman just smiled at him over his cup of tea.

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