Chapter 36: Instability (Patreon)

The room went silent as the door opened to the classroom. In came Aizawa with a stack of papers, the long face already a staple addition to the early morning routine of class 1-A. Izuku had his hand on his chin, his other hand occupied with drawing doodles on his notebook reminiscent of Black Knights striking a pose.

And if those poses were a bit embarrassing if one were to see them in real life, even better. They made his life hell during his early journey, and by Gwyn did they make him lose almost all hope. Thankfully, souls were a thing and empowering himself through the power of the First Flame made everything easier… Well, relatively easier…

He still got his ass handed to him nine times out of ten.

“Good morning class.” Aizawa stopped right at the teacher’s desk, plopping the stack of papers noisily. The students all greeted back, their voices resounding throughout the room, Izuku’s included. “A short announcement before we begin homeroom, in three weeks' time, the annual U.A. Sports Festival will be held.

Izuku’s ear perked up once those words left Aizawa’s lips. So it wasn’t that long until the Sports Festival. He wouldn’t lie, it was a bit exciting, seeing that he had rewatched most of the recordings from the past U.A. Sports Festival.

Sad that most of the intense fighting came from the third years, but his classmates weren’t slouches either. He was looking forward to fighting Katsuki and even Todoroki. Just imagining throwing fireballs at an ice quirk user made him giddy.

“Sir, isn’t that a bit too early? It hasn’t even reached midterms yet.” Iida raised his hand, face as serious as ever.

“This is in preparation for your Hero Agency internships this coming midterm, which will serve as your exam and project.” Aizawa picked a piece of paper from the stack and waved it around the air. “As you all may know by now, Hero Agencies will be closely watching the 3-day sports festival, with the first years taking the first day.”

“What will the criteria be?” Momo was the next to voice her question.

“As far as I know, it is up to the Hero Agencies to send you their requests, so my advice? Do your best. Plus Ultra.” Aizawa grabbed more pieces of paper and turned them into a separate stack before sending it to one column of the class. “At any rate, take one paper and pass it onto the one behind you. We’ll be having a bit of a reflection essay.”

Most of the students groaned silently at the impromptu schoolwork, but it wouldn’t be a school without them now, would it?

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“Ah, Midoriya. A pleasure to meet you so early. Come, take a seat.” Izuku closed the door leading to the principal’s office, the rat sitting on his highchair with a cup of tea wafting its sweet aroma throughout the room. “Now, what could I help you with?”

“I found a girl.” Nezu blinked, his beady eyes focusing on the cup of tea for a moment before glancing back at Izuku.

“Well… That is something I didn’t expect…” Nezu took the cup of tea in his paws and sipped on it. He set it down a moment later and tapped both of his paws together. “Who is the lucky girl?”

“Toga Himiko was her name.” Izuku recalled back to the moment where they danced around with a knife in hand. It was one of the most exciting things he had ever experienced ever since he came back to Japan. “It was fun trying to cut each other with a blade. I think she got a few good nicks on me, even managed to slip a cut in my neck here.” Izuku pointed at his neck with a beaming smile.

Nezu blinked once more, before he downed the entire cup of tea in one sitting, a paw going up his head as he rubbed against his skull.

“Oh, she also likes drinking blood. I think she drained a lot from me.” Izuku hummed, completely ignoring Nezu already facepalming with his tiny paws not enough to cover his entire face.

“Midoriya… There are… a lot of things wrong with what you’ve said, some of which is clearly punishable by law.” Nezu slowly articulated each and every word that came out of his mouth. “Where is this girl you are speaking of?”

“In my house. She’s homeless so she’s staying back at my place.” Izuku chirped while Nezu didn’t give any kind of sign that what he said affected him whatsoever. “She’s kinda crazy, but earlier this morning she seemed… sane…? Maybe, yeah sane.”

“What do you mean by that?” Nezu’s eyes narrowed, his gaze piercing enough it felt like he was poking through Izuku’s soul.

“Hmmm… Last night she was like, ‘Can I cut you up? I want to see you bleed!’” Izuku mimicked Toga’s voice horrendously, sounding like a dying horse as he did so. “This morning she was all meek and submissive. Not like last night…”

“... What was the last thing you two did before she became like that?” Izuku didn’t understand Nezu’s curiosity, but far be it for him to deny the rat his answers.

“We were in the bathroom, she bit me and drank my blood before she blacked out.” Izuku recalled the time they were in the bathroom. Was it him, or was the air within the room a bit… hot? “Next morning she was just like that…”

“... I’ve heard enough.” Nezu exhaled through his nose a bit harshly. “Someone is going to get fired for this.”

“Fired? What for?” Izuku tilted his head and Nezu growled underneath his calm exterior.

“For not doing their jobs as proper health care providers, as well as subpar quirk counseling guidance.” Nezu muttered darkly as he got off from his highchair and headed for a nearby desk with a computer running just on top of it. “One of the disadvantages of a hero-centric society, the masses gravitate towards flashy and powerful quirks, while disregarding those of more mundane natures. The less said about those with quirks that aren’t uncommon in dark fiction, the better.”

Izuku ahh’d, full understanding finally dawning on him. “You mean to say those that look like monsters are given the guillotine?”

“... Not a wrong way to say it, but a bit misleading.” Nezu tapped on the keyboard, custom made to fit his paws because he had no fingers, bringing out a window with a list of names. “Instead of the guillotine, try thinking of a pillory.”

“... Oh… Yeah, that’s even harsher, come to think of it.” Izuku hummed once more, not even bothered by the mental image that cropped up in his mind.

“Indeed, it is. Such is the way of humanity ever since the very beginning.” At that, Izuku couldn’t disagree. He had firsthand experience of it, after all, even if most of the memories were fragmented and forgotten right about now.

“Anyway, what are you doing?” Izuku approached the rat fiddling with the computer, a bunch of sub-windows being opened and closed.

“Searching the Japanese Government Database for the girl you are currently hosting.” Izuku blinked. Even as out of touch as he was, he was sure that what Nezu was doing was a breach of privacy.

“Okay.” But even with that thought, he didn’t want to interrupt Nezu from his activities, possibly illegal or not. He was, after all, a hero registered with the HPSC branch of Japan. He was also the most intelligent being on the planet because of his quirk, and funnily enough, the majority of the people agreed that it was true.

In short, he was not going to interrupt the rat. He was smarter than him, no questions needed.

The room was bathed in silence, with Izuku content to quietly watch the rat do his work. More sub-windows were opened and closed at the speed which spun Izuku’s eyes the more he looked at the screen. Finally, after about five minutes of searching Nezu came to a stop on a profile with a very familiar picture placed at the top-left corner.

“Huh… That looks like Toga, alright.” Izuku looked closer and scanned through the digital document listing down her name, place of birth, address and a bunch of other things that shouldn’t be privy to a civilian. Not that he was a civilian, that boat had long since sailed. Wonder how it must’ve been for the people in the office to change a person’s deceased status to alive. Must’ve been funny. “Diagnosed with… Quirk insanity?”

“Indeed.” Nezu sighed as he brought up the various incidents that littered the past of Toga. “Assault, homicide, and resisting arrest. Quirk Transform… She can transform into anyone she ingests the blood of… Midoriya…”

“Ah, yeah… That might be a problem… Wait, maybe not? She can just transform into me, right? Nothing else?” Nezu looked back at the screen and scanned through paragraphs upon paragraphs of text to see if what Izuku said was true.

“As far as those that have recorded her quirk have witnessed, none whatsoever. However, it is important to know that quirks do sometimes have their evolution, a second awakening so to speak.” Nezu cupped his chin as he closed the window. “At any rate, would you kindly bring her here during Saturday? I would like to administer some tests to her, seeing as how she has all but dropped out from her high school.”

“Are you going to enroll her in U.A.?” Nezu nodded and a grin slowly floated up his face, before it turned into a frown. “Wouldn’t there be some kind of backlash? Especially from her parents?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I have my methods, and as they have all but disowned her after that one incident, she currently has no guardian.” Nezu sighed as he brought up the profiles of both her parents. “A shame, really. If they could’ve looked past their prejudice, Toga Himiko could’ve shone like a diamond in the future, whether it be heroics or in another career.”

“... Alright then. What time should I bring her here?” Izuku looked at the time, seeing that it was nearing the end of their lunch break.

“Early morning would do, about 8:00 AM sharp.” Izuku nodded and moved to exit the room. “Oh, by the way, please bring pen and paper. It wouldn’t do for a school as prestigious as ours to not test the applicants first, would we?”

“Okay.” Izuku smiled and left the room, leaving Nezu all to his lonesome. Outside the principal’s office, Izuku couldn’t help but think to himself what the rat wanted with Toga. Did he want to make her a student of U.A. High School? Surface level thinking would make one reach that conclusion, but something told Izuku that Nezu wanted something more from her.

Either way, he couldn’t wait for Saturday. That day was going to be epic!

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Himiko sipped on a cup full of water, hands trembling as she pushed down the urge that bubbled deep within her core. Her eyes glared at the television screen, the current ongoing show being one of a romcom slice of life anime.

She was getting bored, and when she got bored, things went bad, so she had to find something to entertain herself with. Luckily, the tv was there, but she had to choose a show where she wouldn’t be reminded of her need to feed.

But even with the anime playing at full blast, the cheesy and corny lines didn’t help but make the roaring within her gut even louder. She growled and looked at her cup, only to see it devoid of anything within. Setting it down on the table, she closed her eyes and tried to think of anything but blood. Anything but Midoriya and his delicious… succulent… juicy blood…

“Argh! Where is he!?” Himiko clutched at her hair, the ends frayed and rustled. Her hair buns were nowhere in sight, opting for loose hair that stretched all the way to her back. “I need blood. I need blood. I need blood… blood… blood…”

Drool leaked from her lips, her vision blurry and swimming around like a drunken haze. She tried to push it down again, only for it to rise up with a vengeance once more. No matter how hard she pushed, it pushed back even harder. Her sanity was slowly slipping, a mad grin slowly forming on her face as she felt overpowered by her need to consume blood.

And then, she heard the shuffling of footsteps just outside the door. Her head whipped in that direction so fast, she could’ve gotten whiplash just from that action alone. She stood up, fangs ready to sink into flesh for that oh so delicious blood.

“I’m home.” That voice… That sexy, sexy voice… How could she forget him? Midoriya Izuku…? Her savior… Her wonderful savior… And his delicious blood.

She stalked towards the front door with a big smile on her face. She was getting hot, and the more she got closer, the hotter she became. It was like her gut was a smoldering furnace. It didn’t take long for her to see the man of her desires.

“... I guess you want to drink my blood again?” Himiko needed no invitation. She just pounced and sunk her fangs into his neck, Midoriya patting her head all the while as she moaned and groaned, the marvelous lifeblood flowing down her throat like a waterfall. “Alright then, drink up. By the way, we need to talk after your snack, okay?”

Himiko just nodded, dazed by the precious nectar that continued to fill her gut, the voice within her head slowly dying out until her mind cleared. Eyes wide, she pushed Midoriya away, her breaths leaving in pants and gasps.

“Hey, you okay?” Midoriya patted her back and it took almost all of her control to not pounce on the man and have her way with him, sexually or orally. Her quirk just did things to her head, and she couldn’t help but feel like blood was something to be worshiped. 

Himiko nodded her head and Midoriya retracted his arm, her body shivering at the sudden loss of warmth coming from his palm.

“Anyway, Nezu wants you to go to U.A. High School on Saturday. Something about a test, or something.” Himiko froze. Did she hear that correctly? The principal of the most prestigious high school in Japan, inviting her to his school? What did he want with her? “Don’t worry, I’ll be tagging along.”

At that point, Himiko just lost all thought of being composed.

“What!?”