“How did the TK Mark III Scanner work?” A ball of pink energy said, dropping onto John’s lap. 

“Jesus, Mei. Where did you come from?” He asked, holding her steady as her rocket boots wound down. 

Are they actually rockets? Or turbines? I have no idea… regardless, she zips around in them like a hummingbird.

“I followed you from the school. You fell asleep at lunch, so I didn’t get to ask you earlier. So, how did it work? Do I need to adjust anything? Are there other options you would like to have included? I’m already drawing up plans for the TK Mark IV Scanner, so having some feedback from my customer would help make sure it is even better!” She said, wrapping her arms around his neck instead of getting down. She seemed particularly excited today for some reason.

“It worked great. Especially the location function. If I wanted anything, it would be an increased range for the camera hacker, but otherwise, it was very handy to have.” He said, adjusting her body a bit so her face wasn’t directly in front of his.

No concept of personal space, this one.

“Increased range. Got it! Now, how are you getting along with my mother?” She asked, changing the topic completely.

“Umm… fine? Why?” He activated Scouter, wondering what this was about.

“Because my grandmother told me you are coming to our annual ball next weekend. So, I got curious and started asking a few questions and snoopin’ around. Apparently, my great-grandmother is bound determined for you to marry someone in our family, so unless it’s my grandmother, it would be my mom whom she would be trying to set you up with. So, I wanted to let you know I’d be happy if you joined us.

{Or me, but I’m not going to tell him that! I want to be his sidekick, his ‘Q’ to his 007, his inventor! Not his side piece for my crazy family’s schemes. Maybe in a few years.}

Ever since you met her, she has been changing. Seriously, just mocking her at the bar sent her into a cleaning frenzy at home, and I had a home-cooked meal for the first time in months. She hasn’t been this present in my life for years, and I like it.”

{I like this new mom. C’mon, I know you like her, too!}

“Well, she was a kid herself when she adopted you… Wait, how do you know about the bar?” He asked, confused. Trying to follow her conversation and not answer her overactive imagination was harder than he thought. 

“Oh, well, promise you won’t tell her.” She said sheepishly, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. “I may or may not be following her around by tracking her phone and listening in to its microphone. I really wanted to have a closer relationship with her, but I couldn’t. She might only be a few years older than me, but we don’t have a lot in common, so she usually focuses on her hero work and leaves me to my own devices. Now, she is home almost every evening, walks to the train with me in the mornings instead of sleeping in, and we make plans to hang out on the weekend. I believe I have you to thank for this, so I hope you’re sticking around.”

“Mei, I-” He started to say he was unsure of what was going to happen, but then stopped. “We just met, and I don’t know what the future holds. Besides, you think she would let me being TK slide? She is a hero and all.” He said, adding the last part quietly.

“We are Takeyama’s. Half our family would be considered vigilantes or villains if we didn’t have control of the HPSC and most of the police. Honestly, you should probably tell her before my grandmother does. She is starting to question- well, that isn’t important. So, where are we going?”

{Can’t let him know I’ve made posters and a body pillow with an image of TK on it. Note to self: if he ever comes over, never let him into my room!}

“That is concerning on so many levels. Stop spying on your mother! As for where we are going, I’m going home to train.”

“Great! I’m coming with you! I want to look over your bike some more. I made a different scanner this afternoon, and I think it will let me see how that strange emblem works. I might need to make a few adjustments-“

“I’m not expanding the bike at the dojo. If Rumi or your mother come back before I get a chance to collapse it, I would be stuck trying to explain-“

“No, no. I want it shrunk this time. We can do the expanded one in your office tomorrow during my appointment. You can have your nap again, and I can study! Please!” she said, batting her green-yellow eyes at him.

He sighed. “This isn’t what we agreed to, Mei.”

She continued to give him puppy dog eyes.

“Mei…”

*Bat, bat*

“Fine.”

“Yes! Just imagine, if I can figure this out, I could make you all kinds of things that could shrink and grow! Oh! I should see if I can study my mom’s Quirk. That might give me further insights on how to make this work! Ah ha, we will be the best crime-fighting team!”

“Did anyone tell you that you have an active imagination?”

“Comes with being the best inventor around!”

They sat and chatted for some time, mainly about her inventions, before they got off in Jaku and made their way to the dojo. 

*Thump, Thump, Thump, BANG, BANG*

John beat down the heavy bag, switching between punches and kicks. He could easily get his feet up to head level now, though he was nowhere near as powerful as Rumi was yet. Cycling mana through his body had improved so many things rapidly, and when he added an element to it, it was even more impressive.

Wind made him faster, water made him more flexible, earth made his hits land harder, and healing repaired his muscles in real time. The other elements were a little different. Lightning caused loud snaps to happen when he connected, so he assumed it would stun someone. Fire, he wasn’t sure of yet, as he didn’t want to leave burn marks in the dojo, but it seemed to heat his skin up. 

Shadow… was weird. He thought it might have hidden his hands or something, but instead, when he punched the dummy, it shattered after a dozen or so hits. The pieces on the floor seemed brittle when he paused to clean them up, as if the leather and stuffing had dried and aged. He shuddered to think what would happen if he did that to a living thing. 

Maybe I’ll try it on a piece of fruit first. 

He tried to run more than one element at the same time, but it seemed to fight him when they tried to mix. Healing and shadow were the only two that didn’t seem to fight him when channelled them both, but they wouldn’t mix. It was a very odd sensation, feeling both magics wanting to destroy the other inside his body, and he stopped after a few seconds, in case he ended up hurting himself.

I need to go back to The Great Cleric and talk to Evie about it… or maybe Jaina in Warcraft. Hell, even those devils in DxD might be able to tell me more about magic. 

He also tried to channel the anger from his sword into his mana circulation, but it didn’t cause the training dummies to explode from his fist. He could stack it with his earth element to smash things even harder, wind to move faster, but that wasn’t as great as it sounded. His fist moved faster than he could follow, and he then needed to heal his joints and hand immediately afterwards if he connected with anything. He wasn’t tough enough yet to handle that kind of power.

I need to talk with Rumi. Maybe my form is off at higher speeds. I need to ask her how she deals with handling her Quirk’s power-

He paused. His issue almost sounded like that kid, Midoriya’s problem with One For All, just on a smaller scale. 

He shook his head, laughing at himself. He didn’t even have a real Quirk and was trying to analyze the issues with one of the most powerful Quirks on the planet without even seeing it in action yet.

Mei was sitting next to the Koi pond, examining the bike while it was shrunk. She somehow set up a small lab next to one of the trees, pulling a bunch of gear out of the baggy pockets of her pants that still didn’t seem big enough to hold that much stuff.  She was a cute kid, but seemed to think it was a done deal that she would be TK’s sidekick and her mother’s boyfriend. 

*BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG*

“God, what am I going to do about them?” He growled, smacking the heavy bag as hard as he could with earth cycling. His knuckles were wrapped, but he could still feel the skin splitting underneath, blood beginning to soak the bandages.

“You’re going to stop breaking your hands and come over here. We need to talk.” A voice said behind him.

He spun around, and there before him were Rumi and Yu, both still in their hero suits. Rumi was standing with her fist pushed into her side, frowning at him like he had done something wrong, while Yu appeared to be slightly confused at Rumi’s attitude.

“Evening. How was work?”

“Busy, but that isn’t the issue here. You need to toughen your skin and joints up more before you can hit the heavy bag like that. And your form is completely off. You’re somehow getting more power, but all that impact is landing in your arms. If you’re going to land blows like those, you need to rotate your hips and shoulder like this to absorb more of the impact through your whole body, not just your elbow.” She said, showing him what he was doing wrong before he even had a chance to ask her. “Even if you’re throwing haymakers, you need to use your whole body to both land the hits and absorb the impacts. Now, lay off the heavy bag and keep on the speed bag- Where did the dummy go?”

“I umm… broke it.”

“You broke it? I’ve barely used that one. How did you break it?”

“I hit it hard?”

“Are you some sort of unarmed combat savant? Have you been hiding something else from me?”

“I assure you, training with you has been the most unarmed combat training I’ve had in my life. Any other martial training has been sword work, and that wasn’t even that much. Wait, what else did I hide from you? If it’s kissing Yu, I haven’t had time to tell you about that yet.”

“Oh, good. Glad you didn’t try to hide it. Now, change your wraps. We are going to spar. Yu, start doing handstand push-ups.”

“Wait? That’s it?” Both John and Yu said at the same time. 

“Yu, you are going to work on your balancing and strength. You have been running after me all day, so you already have your cardio in. John, you are going to fight me as hard as you ever have. Then you’re cooking supper while we talk about our possible future together. All three of us. After that, we are coming back out here, and I’m going to teach you how to use your whole body properly, even if I need to beat it into you.

You think I can throw myself around as I do without using my whole body? No! It’s all about using your whole body with every movement, from an eye flick with my fingers to a Luna Fall with an aerial heel drop. I don’t know how you’re getting so strong, so quickly, but I want to stop you from developing any bad habits before they become ingrained.” She said, then jumped up and wrapped her thick legs around his waist and kissed him on the lips.

“I want you to beat me, John. Even once. It was a joke at first, but you’re the first man I’ve met that might be able to out-fight me unarmed, other than All Might, and that is only because his Quirk can literally knock down buildings, not because of any actual skill he has with fighting. You have the strength; now you need the speed and the experience. Don’t give up.” She said with intimidating intensity, then whispered in his ear, “Don’t give up on me.”

Before he had a chance to reply to her, she flipped off his body, sending him stumbling backwards. She did a few flips, landing next to Yu. She started to instruct her on what she wanted her to do while doing the pushups, like she hadn’t just dropped a bombshell on him. He made his way to the side of the dojo, grabbing the cloth to rewrap his hands, trying to parse everything she just said. Every time he thought he understood just how blunt Rumi was, she surprised him yet again.

All three of us? Bad habits? Don’t give up on her? What in the hell happened today?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep