23 Experiments and a Minor Encounter

Seeing Himiko above me I can't help but chuckle, causing her to pout and stop sipping her treat. "What's so funny?"

I shake my head and get up, her moving out of the way so there isn't a repeat of our first meeting. Though she's told me that she didn't dislike it, so maybe she was hoping for a repeat?

Tossing the thought out of mind, I answer her question. "I was just thinking about how nostalgic waking up like this is. Only this time we didn't end up on the floor together." I chuckle again and she smiles.

"Oh yeah. I was curious about how you hadn't run out of blood for me to drain and so was going to try just drinking directly, but then you just suddenly shot up and headbutted me!" She puts a hand on her head and mock-pouts. "It really hurt, you know!"

I roll my eyes at that before moving onto more relevant topics. "So, how long was I out that time?"

Huffing at my dismissal, she puts down her shake and checks the time. "It looks like… about three hours."

I nod. "Sounds about right. Regrowing a heart takes a bit of time." Looking up, I tap my chin. "You know, instead of our plan to sell information on heroes, we could always sell my body parts instead."

Over the course of the three months since we met and I ran away from home, we've experimented quite a bit with my quirk. The results have been pretty interesting too!

First off and most important: it is not a regeneration quirk. No matter how badly my body gets damaged, it will not heal. Cuts, bruises, amputation. My quirk does not heal any of them.

Not while I'm alive, at least.

When I'm dead, any damage my body has accumulated will heal. It doesn't matter what it is. Missing limbs, organs, paper cuts, etc. While I'm dead, everything will heal to its previous state. The sole exception to this seems to be anything that's beneficial to my body.

For example; when you tear a muscle and it heals back stronger. Instead of healing to its previous state, my body will instead accelerate the healing in those cases. Himiko and I have really abused that to enhance my body to a frankly ridiculous degree. I think that I'm strong enough to compete with some weak strengthening quirks now!

Of course, my quirk also has downsides.

First of all, the fact that I have to die to activate it is already a pretty big disadvantage that would put most people off of trying to utilize it. Of course I don't have that problem, given how I first discovered it.

Which leads me to the second point: it seems that the first activation of my quirk had some… complications.

See, it heals my body to its previous state before I died. But it also uses my previous death as a sort of progress report on things that have changed. Like how I've gotten slightly taller. Since there's a 'progress report' my quirk won't try to revert my height. But since there hadn't been any reports on the first activation, well. Complications.

As far as I can tell, the major part of that is my inability to feel pain. It's not a direct benefit of my quirk, but more of an issue that healed wrongly in my brain. But since the first report healed it like that, it will keep healing like that.

In addition, other parts of my brain seem to be damaged as well. I hadn't studied the brain before - and my interest hasn't increased so won't - so I'm not sure which parts are damaged. But my lack of empathy towards the people Himiko and I kill is partly due to that damage. But I'm self-aware enough to realize that the majority of it is showing everyone that I'm not some weak and worthless Deku.

Honestly, I've even been thinking of trying to take out some of the weaker and lower ranked heroes. Showing everyone that the person they berated and degraded for his dream being able to take out those he aspired to be like is just sooo appealing~!

But that's for later consideration. In addition to the botched healing of my first activation, as well as how it works now, I've noticed that certain things won't heal. The scars I got from my constant bullying.

This one actually took me a while to notice. I'd just assumed that they fell under the category of 'no previous report' of my first healing. But after I cut my finger during knife catching practice with Himiko I changed my mind.

That injury healed naturally, which is no surprise since I hadn't died for like a week after getting it. But after I did die, I noticed that the scar didn't heal along with my pre-death wounds. So I got curious and carved a shallow wound on my forearm spelling Himiko's name.

Unfortunately I ended up having to do it twice since Himiko walked in on me the first time and got so happy that she drank me to death, healing the wound. But the second time I managed to avoid dying until it had started to scar over. And the next time I died, it remained as a full scar.

So it seems like my quirk won't heal anything that either: has passed a certain period of time, or that I start considering 'part of my body'. Obviously I haven't tested it by cutting off any parts, so I'm not completely certain of it. But when I kept a wound fresh for the same amount of time it healed without any problem, so I'm leaning towards the latter for an answer.

Now, back to my initial question to Himiko…

"I think that this basically confirms that the more damage my body takes, the more time it takes for me to 'wake up'. An hour or so for minimal damage like bleeding out or lack of oxygen, then three to four for serious damage like bludgeoning, dismemberment, or removal of important organs."

"You know…" she leads off. "It's kind of weird talking to someone else and feeling like I'm the sane one."

I give her a deadpan look, ooh, I'm doing it now too! "Pretty sure you're the one who got all excited about 'Kali Ma' due to all the blood involved."

She snorts in opposition to that. "Please, you were waaayyy more excited than me! You did it to, like, five people before I did!"

"That's because you wanted to do it to me first!"

She blushes and looks to the side while bringing her fists up to her chin. "Well, yeah. A girl's first time is special, so obviously I'd want you to have mine."

Izuku exe. has stopped functioning.

Seeing my face she sticks out her tongue and taps her head. "Whoopsie, teehee."

`~`

By the time I manage to 'reboot' it's almost time for dinner. Apparently there's this bar the information broker Himiko's been in contact with recommends, so that's where we're going to eat. Maybe I'll even get to try some alcohol…

"No drinks! How are you going to be Cinnamon Roll if your blood tastes like alcohol!?"

I pout while we walk down the street, my hair covered by the hood of my jacket while I play with one of the ears. "There are cinnamon rolls made with alcohol, I'm sure. Somewhere."

In response to my pout, she clicks her tongue and wags her finger at me. "Tsk, tsk. That's some naive thinking, given that I haven't had alcohol before! No drinks for me means no drinks for you!"

I kick a can while grumbling to myself. "No drinking, no cursing… We're villains, sort of. Why am I not allowed to do either of those…?"

A roll of the eyes is her only response since we both know what her answer will be. 'Those things will ruin my flavor'. "Hmph."

Another kick of the can sends it tapping against the shoe of some guy in a vest and wielding one of those trash sticks that stabs stuff. Judging by the way he whirls on me, I'm guessing that he's taken offense at that little tap.

But seeing just who it is, that makes sense, and I almost freeze. But I don't. Instead, I pull my hood down farther over my face and look down in order to hide it while they yell at me.

"WATCH IT YOU DAMN EXTRA! I ALREADY HAVE ENOUGH PROBLEMS DEALING WITH THIS SHIT, I DON'T NEED YOU CAUSING MORE!" Kachan's yell echoes down the street, drawing the attention of all the passersby, though the majority of them go back to what they were already doing. A few others heckle their friends, saying things like 'he's about to explode again' or 'Short-fuse go boom'.

Apparently Kachan has been doing this for a while, if their reactions are anything to go by. But it's definitely a surprise to me! Doing community service doesn't fit his character at all! Honestly, I half expected him to turn to being a vigilante now that his favorite punching bag is gone!

But that's something I can think about later. For now, it's clear that my leaving hasn't improved his temper any. Luckily my many years of abuse have trained me how to deal with a rabid pomeranian.

I mumble some apologies, make myself look small, and grab Himiko's wrist to drag the two of us out of there! Thankfully he doesn't pursue, just cursing us out under his breath and angrily stabbing the can with his stick.

Once we're far outside of view of him, I finally stop and let go of Himiko while catching my breath. I clench my chest just above my heart, trying to stop its rapid beating. Himiko is trying to talk with me, but I can't hear her over the sound of my heartbeats ringing in my ears.

'I had no idea seeing Kachan would affect me so much! After everything that's happened, I thought that I was over it. Heh, I guess not. It just goes to show just how badly I've been affected by him.'

'But… I don't think I'd respond to seeing Izumi the same way. Oh, I certainly wouldn't be happy to see her. But after seeing Kachan… of feeling like this… I can absolutely say for certain that Izumi has never evoked the same feelings inside me.'

Before I can try and think about it more, I feel two pinpricks dig into my shoulder and a calming feeling flows through me, as if my panic is getting sucked away. Letting out a sigh of relief, I tap on Himiko's back twice to signal that I'm good now. Of course, she continues to suck. But since we're on our way to dinner, she does stop in a reasonable amount of time. This time.

The rest of the way to the bar, Himiko questions me. And I answer. I give her more details than I'd given previously when describing what I'd gone through before I met her, and her cutely angry face warms my heart. Thankfully I manage to talk her down from going back and stabbing him by the time we get to the bar and she's once again excited to try the food! I hope they have chicken Katsudon~.