77 Chapter 75: Back To Normal

Hey guys! I'm back!

It's been a long time, but I'm here now to give you a new chapter today. Although the schedule hasn't been set yet, expect more chapters for Dreams of the Fool, Marvelous Forge and The Mutant Sorcerer previously known as The Mutant Sorcerer in Marvel in the coming weeks.

So enjoy today's chapter and don't forget to leave comments!

Peace!

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It was now mid-May and a week since the events of Tortus.

Izumi could be seen walking on a sunny day towards a house. He took a deep breath and exhaled in relaxation. He reminisced about the day he and the other students returned to earth.

(Flashback)

As soon as the portal closed, silence ensued in the crowd of stunned heroes. They couldn't believe the sight before them.

*Sniff*

That very sound broke the spell, and many started crying and shouting in joy and the fact they had returned home. Izumi could see tears streaming down Hori's cheeks as she looked at the sight before her. Even if it was dark, she instantly recognized her hometown.

"I-Is this real, Izumi?" she asked.

The boy nodded,

"Yeah. Welcome back, Kyouko." He replied.

The girl didn't say anything and hugged him. The latter felt his shirt getting wet, but he didn't move.

"Izumi!"

Izumi looked up and saw Hajime walk up to him with Tio, Shea, Yue and Kaori behind. It honestly jarred him how different the teen looked. Without the metal arm, the eyepatch and the white hair, he looked like any normal student-athlete Izumi could see at school. For the first time in a while, the boy had a massive grin that couldn't express his joy adequately. Ever since he had fallen into that labyrinth, coming back home was all he could think of. He had lost an arm and an eye and suffered a lot in the process. But he had also gained a lot.

The esper-mage let go of Kyouko and turned to Hajime,

"How are you, Hajime?"

The latter looked at Izumi and sighed. That's when he did something unexpected.

He bowed. An almost ninety-degree bow.

"W-What?" Izumi couldn't help, but let out.

"Thank you." Hajime simply said.

That's when the others followed his example and bowed and thanked Izumi. Even though they helped themselves, Izumi was the one who gave them hope and a way back home.

He even killed a god for that!

Slightly embarrassed at the attention, Izumi could feel his face heat up. To be honest, he didn't really do all that for them, he mostly did it to get Kyouko back. They knew that too, but he still helped them.

"Thank you!"

"Yeah! Thanks a lot, Miyamura!"

"Thank you so much for bringing us back home!"

Aiko was also bowing along with her student as she too had tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Hahahaha." Izumi laughed a little.

At that moment, the boy felt two wells of power approaching their direction at high speed.

The others did too and all turned toward the sources, but couldn't find anything.

Hajime had already brought out Donner and Schlag and powered them up.

"What!?"

"What's going on!"

"Are we being attacked!"

Before everyone could devolve into full-blown panic, Izumi shouted.

"Wait! Hold your powers! They're not the enemy!"

"What!?" asked Hajime.

"Just hold on for a sec. You'll see." Izumi then turned to Kyouko, "Especially you Kyouko."

The girl's fists were glowing with power, but she looked confused.

Seeing how Izumi had helped them so much, the students lowered their weapons but kept their guard up just in case.

"This- This feels familiar, but at the same time not? How? I've never met them." she muttered.

"Are you sure?" replied Izumi with a raised eyebrow and a knowing smirk.

At that moment, in the park streets, two adults could be seen approaching. From the way their magic powers were fluctuating, he could sense their emotions were going haywire.

However, he simply smiled and waited for their arrival. The students tensed, but they didn't move.

"Kyoko?" an older female voice called out.

That's when, under the light of a street lamp, a man with grey hair and a long coat along with a woman with long brown hair. They both had worried looks.

Seeing her parents, Kyouko's throat closed up as she felt tears well up in her eyes.

"M-Mom?" The girl asked.

"Kyouko!"

"Dad!"

The girl let go of Izumi and ran straight to Izumi and hugged them. The girl who missed her parents for almost half a year, held on to them so tightly, but the parents didn't care. Yuriko or Penemue checked her daughter's condition while Kyousuke breathed a long breath of relief.

He then turned to Izumi and was surprised by the size of the group.

"Miyamura-kun? Is this..."

Izumi nodded,

"Yes. This is the rest of the group that disappeared."

As soon as he said those words, something clicked into everyone's mind.

"OH, MY GOD! What about everyone!? We disappeared for so long, they'll think we died or something!" a girl suddenly shouted.

Izumi quickly turned toward her,

"You don't have to worry. When I opened the portal, I made it so we returned the same day you disappeared. You just have to find a story to explain why you arrived home so late."

Izumi then turned to Hajime,

"Except for you. I don't know how you're going to explain your situation."

Hajime simply shook his head,

"You don't have to worry about that."

"Miyamura-kun."

The latter turned toward Kyousuke who walked up to him and hugged him,

"I feel like I'm missing the context here, but..." he took a deep breath,"-but you kept your promise. You brought our Kyouko-chan back."

"No problem Hori-san."

The man released him and smirked,

"I told you didn't I, you can call me Kyousuke."

The teen smiled,

"Alright then, Kyousuke. But then you'll have to call me Izumi."

The man nodded and turned to everyone before frowning,

"Izumi-kun, are they really the missing students?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Then why am I sensing mana from all of them and why are the three of them not even human? What exactly happened? It hasn't been an hour. I also remember the teacher missing too, is she not here with you?"

Aiko-sensei, hearing him mention her, walked up to Kyousuke,

"I'm the teacher, Hori-san."

Kyousuke looked at her with a raised eyebrow,

"Oh, you?"

Aiko looked upset,

"Just because I'm small doesn't mean I'm not the teacher!" she exclaimed.

"I didn't say anything." the man quickly replied.

Izumi turned to everyone,

"Everyone, you may go home, but remember what we talked about back in Tortus. Earth is not as normal as you think and, honestly, I don't care what you do with your powers so long as you don't cause any trouble or expose the fact you have magic to the whole world. Otherwise, you're going to paint a large target on your back."

Without missing a beat, everyone went home leaving Izumi with the Hori family sans Souta.

Yuriko or Penemue and Kyouko walked toward Izumi and Kyousuke. The woman saw Izumi and quickly hugged him.

"Thank you Izumi-kun for bringing our daughter back. But what happened, why has her seal been released?"

"I also have a lot of questions like the fact you were a Fallen Angel and Dad is a magician. What the hell is up with that!?" Kyouko asked back.

Izumi looked at Kyouko who looked back at him before sighing.

"It's a long story and you must swear to never tell it to anyone. Not even to the Grigori."

Kyosuke and Penemue saw his expression,

"Is it that serious?" he asked.

"Very," Kyouko replied.

The man turned to her daughter and nodded,

"Very well. We swear we won't tell anyone." Both adults said at the same time.

Izumi nodded.

"Then let's go somewhere private first since this is not a good place to talk."

(Flashback end)

And so, once they returned to the Hori residence, both teens told about their experience in Tortus. The adults listened to their story in disbelief, but the story was so detailed and vivid that it was very unlikely they were lying. Besides, why would they need to do that? But this story brought forth a lot of concerns such as the fact that now that they had proof the multiverse exists therefore what kind of threat would there be?

It was such a big thing, that it was difficult not to tell the Grigori, but the adults swore to not tell anyone. Besides, the organization is preoccupied with other matters such as the cold war with the Devil Faction and the Heaven Faction.

And so, Izumi went back home and snuck back in without alerting his mother and slept. It was a long day and he needed his rest.

For the rest of the week, he continued to monitor the city's borders for any unusual visits since dimensional travel emits a lot of mana which can be easily picked up by others getting curious. Fortunately, there has been no such case up until now. When they returned to school, Kyouko wanted to keep their relationship a secret until she was ready to reveal it to her friends which was fine by him.

It's not like he needed to announce to the world he was dating one of the prettiest girls he had ever met.

He had also met up with the returnees and talked to them. Most of them had become friendly with him. Speaking of which, two days after returning, three days after returning to Earth, Yue, Shea, and Tio began attending school. Hajime had done something that allowed their transfer to the school. Although, most of the guys in the other classes became jealous of him when it was quickly noticed that the girls kept clinging to the boy. Although, their attitude took a 180 turn when they saw Hajime's expression. The unassuming otaku boy had changed into someone menacing overnight and no one knew how. His classes could only sigh at their antics.

Kyouko also had some difficulty adjusting to school mostly from the fact that her physique changed. One might say she was beautiful before, but now that her Fallen heritage was made known, she had become a knockout. When Yoshikawa saw her changed in the changing room, she nearly screamed in jealousy from the fact her breast was now smaller than Kyouko's.

And now, Izumi had arrived in front of Kyouko's house.

*Ding* *Dong*

A moment later, the door opened and he saw Souta with his schoolbag ready to head out.

"Nii-chan!" the boy cried out and hugged the older teen.

"Hey, Souta!" Izumi smiled and ruffled the younger boy's head, "Ready for school?"

Souta looked up and furiously nodded,

"Yup! Nee-chan, is almost ready."

Izumii nodded. As he looked at the younger boy, he thought about how he was oblivious to the supernatural side of his family.

'I wonder when they will tell him.'

The seal on the nape of the little boy's neck was still intact.

At that moment, he heard footsteps and saw Kyouko in her school uniform. No matter how much he saw, he can't seem to get enough of how her uniform hugged her body now that it had changed. She didn't have time to get new ones so she was always a little embarrassed by wearing them not that he minded.

"Kyouko."

"Good morning, Izumi. I'm ready! Let's drop Souta to his school first before going to ours."

"Sure thing!"

As they were walking, Izumi suddenly had a thought,

"I wonder how they're doing?"

It's been a long time since he hadn't talked to his fellow chat members who were undergoing their quest.

***

(Right after fighting off Yammy and Ulquiorra)

Inside a certain candy shop, an odd group of people were gathered.

A man wearing a bucket hat with a green haori and clogs and holding a cane. His name was Kisuke Urahara. Beside him was a dark-skinned woman with a lithe figure and a mischievous grin. She was Yoruichi Shihoin. Finally, there was Ichigo Kurosaki, Yasutora Chad, and, Inoue Orihime. In front of them were the quest members, Kazuma Satou, Erza Scarlet, Saiki Kusuo, Aiura Mikoto and Ruri Gokou commonly known as Kuroneko.

Once everyone was settled down, Tessai, Kisuke's assistant, served tea to the guest.

"Now then, I believe we have much to discuss."

Erza, who had become the leader of the quest, spoke

"I believe we do."