Home

"Ah, you're home, Takashi," said his mother with warmth in her tone as he entered their living room.

His mother was beautiful, graceful and fairly tall with a slender yet curvaceous frame, and the years had been very kind to her, making her look a decade younger than she really was. She had long, straight black hair reaching her mid-back with short bangs framing her forehead and upturned wine red eyes. He had gotten his eyes from his mother.

"Hey, mom. Pretty sure I passed the exam with flying colors - now I just need to kick the shit out of some robots."

She rolled her eyes. "Language. And I'm glad. Did the blood pack quench your first?" She would routinely ask that question, but this time, Takashi had a different answer.

He clicked his tongue. "It wasn't - my body is beginning to demand more blood… it also seems to be rejecting the blood packs. They aren't as filling as they used to be."

She put a hand to her right cheek and gave him a worried look. "Perhaps you should find a caring and understanding girl that would let you feed - I would love to have some grandchildren before I pass 50."

Takashi almost tripped over the cord of the living room lamp when she said that, and she sounded so serious as well! "Mom, the only girl I interact with on a regular basis is Setsuna, and we're just friends!"

His mother closed her eyes. Why is my son so dense? He must have gotten that annoying trait from his father, she thought to herself

Just like his father, Takashi had playboy tendencies and would often flirt with girls he met, but it would never lead anywhere because, against all odds, the young man didn't understand romance, at all.

She put her hands together. "Do you really not have any other girl friends?"

The zombie titled his head. "Well… I did meet this one cute girl today."

The mother's eyes began glowing. "Oh, you have to tell me all about her!" With an exasperated look, Takashi went over his encounter with the girl, and how he had revealed the contents of the practical exam.

"Was it wise to expose the exam? Couldn't you be punished for it?" Her question was valid.

Takashi shrugged. "Eh, I'm sure it'll be fine, since uncle Sekijirō is the one who told me about it. If it was top secret, there's no way he would have said anything about it in the first place." She nodded, finding her son's argument logical.

"How ready are you for the practical exam?"

The son gave his mother a confident grin. "As ready as I'll ever be. Of course, I plan on working hard up until the date of the exam, but think I've got this one in the back."

She smiled at him. "That's good to hear… hmm, I'll be ordering pizza today, do you want the usual?" His usual was every type of meat topping imaginable.

He gave her a resolute look. "Of course." She giggled, finding him adorable. No matter how much he grew up, he would always be her little baby boy.

After enjoying the pizza with his mom, Takashi retreated to his room to do some light reading, and to research a little more about U.A and its facilities.

He felt his phone buzz in his pocket, so he took a look at it.

'I can't thank you enough for sharing all that information,

Suzuki-kun.'

That message was from Ochako. With a smile, Takashi texted back.

'No biggie. All that info was from my uncle. He's a pro hero that works at U.A.'

That got her attention.

'Really? Who is it?'

Takashi began scrolling an article about U.A while texting back. And they said men can't multitask!

'Kan Sekijirō, better known as the Vlad King. We've always been close, since our quirks share similarities, and he's trained me in close quarters combat.'

She was quick to respond.

'That's so cool! Everyone in my family are civilians, so I've never been trained by a hero. I hope I don't fall behind everybody at U.A!'

Takashi let out a snort.

'I'm sure you'll be fine, Uraraka-san. I Imagine most students won't have any direct ties with heroes, so most will be starting from zero, pretty much.'

When he spoke with Ochako, Takashi had noticed how the girl seemed very shy and not very confident in her own abilities. Of course, that was just his first hand impression of her, but her next message confirmed it.

'Even if that's true, I still think I might fall behind. My quirk isn't very strong, and I easily get sick when I use it.'

Takashi frowned.

'What is your quirk? If you don't mind me asking?'

It took a while, but she did respond, and Takashi was fascinated by her response.

'My quirk is called Zero Gravity. It allows me to affect the gravitational pull of objects and people, so I can make them float into the air. But it always makes me nauseous, and I have to make contact with my hands… isn't that pretty bad?'

Takashi shook his head. Time to give this girl some confidence.

'I'm sure with enough time investment and training, you can become a beast, Uraraka-san. Your quirk has many different applications. You can immobilize villains, and use floating rubble as projectile attacks. Your quirk is also ideal for rescuing people, since you can easily help people trapped under collapsed buildings and other rubble. Of course, there's still the issue of you getting sick, but with enough effort and dedication, I know you'll be able to build a high tolerance. I believe in you, Uraraka-san.

She was completely radio silent after that. Sheepishly, Takashi returned to browsing different articles reporting on U.A, internally screaming at himself for scaring off the girl like that.

Luckily, she had the heart of an angel or something, and responded to him ten minutes later.

'I'm not the most confident person, but your words really inspired me, Suzuki-kun! If this isn't too forward, would you mind helping with training? There's only two weeks before we have to take the practical exam, and I want to make as much progress as possible in that time frame.'

He considered it. He could take her to the beach, and then she could strengthen her quirk by cleaning alongside Izuki. Also, Izuku totally needed more friends, so that was another plusside.

'Sure, I'll help you out. There's this beach that needs some cleaning in Musutafu. It's absolutely cluttered, with fridges, doors, old bicycles, you name it. You'll be able to work on your quirk by sorting all the trash. Do you live nearby?'

'Yeah, I can commute by train. When will we meet?'

They hashed out all the details. Since the weekend would start tomorrow, they decided Takashi would pick her up at Musutafu Train Station on Monday, and then they would walk over to the beach. They would essentially be training every day towards the exam date. Well, they would take the last day off, so they weren't totally exhausted during the exam.

The texting stopped after that, and Takashi continued to do some light research.

"Even though I don't care that much, it would probably be a good idea to know a thing or two about the staff at U.A." Like Setsuna had said, Takashi didn't really give much thought to heroes, except for the cute ones, but it would do him some good to know a little about them.

He discovered something amusing. "The principle is a rodent? No, he might be a bear… or not. Yeah, I can't really tell." He couldn't help laughing a little. According to the article, Principle Nezu had a frightening amount of cunning and intelligence, and that was why he was capable of managing the most prestigious hero school in Japan. How odd.

Suddenly, his body started twitching again. "Motherfucker." With an annoyed look, Takashi got up from his desk chair and went downstairs to grab another blood pack from the fridge.

He met his mother inside the kitchen who was in the middle of making a cup of tea. "You also want a cup?" she offered.

"Yeah. Thanks mom." She hummed a little tune as she poured hot water into two cups, and Takashi opened the fridge.

She turned around to face him. "Wait, you need blood again. Already?"

Takashi gave her a troubled look as he closed the fridge, a blood pack in the other hand. "I dunno what's going on with me lately." He opened the pack of blood and began sucking it dry. "I started having stronger cravings a week ago…"

"I could…"

He shook his head. "I don't want to drink your blood, mom. Sure, it smells great, like-"

"Lemon," she added. He had told her before, and she had never forgotten.

He nodded with a weak smile. "But I want my first time to be special… Wow, that sounded so dirty."

She sighed. "It's oddly romantic, in a way. But I understand. Well, then you better catch a girl fast, or you might go insane," she teased.

He threw the blood pack in the trash and washed his hands. "Alright, alright. Leave me alone." He took his cup of leave and went into the living room, the tip of his ears a little red. His mother was quick to follow.

"Wanna watch a movie?" asked Takashi as he turned on their smart TV.

She sat down next to him on the coach. "Yes, as long as it isn't a horror movie." His mother was deathly afraid of ghosts and zombies, so a horror movie would never fly with her.

Takashi grinned. "Fine, fine. I'll put on some random comedy movie."

The next day, Takashi left the house early in the morning, because he wanted to give his uncle a visit.

"How have you been, Takashi?" asked his uncle at the door. The man was very tall and had a bulky, muscular build, with lightly tanned skin, and a few visible scars on left cheek and neck. Perhaps because the man had a blood related quirk, Takashi's nose registered the man's blood as odorless, and it was always a bit trippy to experience.

Takashi gave him a smile. "I've been just fine. I aced the theoretical exam yesterday - now I just need to breeze through the practical one."

Sekijiro let out an amused snort. "Don't get a big head, you dumbass. U.A isn't a joke." The man let his nephew inside. "It's the school where the likes of All Might and Endeavor graduated."

Takashi scratched his nose. "Alright, I'll try not to get an inflated ego - but no promises." Sekijiro just shook his head.

His uncle's place was pretty spartan, for the most part. There was one thing decorating the place.

"Did you buy another gundam?" It was standing on his uncle's living room table.

The man was an avid collector of giant robots, also known as gundam. Well, that was how he would describe them, and his uncle hated him for it.

He gave Takashi a proud grin. "I got a bonus on my last paycheck, so I decided to spoil myself a little. This one is a limited edition, there's only 100 of them in Japan."

Takashi's heart sank. "How much did it cost?" At his question, Sekijiro's face fell a little, and the man never responded. Right, it's probably best if he didn't know.

"Anyway, why did you decide to drop by, Takashi?"

The zombie gave his uncle a scrutinizing look. "Lately, my thirst for blood has become more uncontrollable, and the blood packs I get from you only satiate the urge for a few hours."

Sekijiro folded his arms. "I expect it's because you've strengthened your constitution to a, frankly, ridiculous degree - of course the urge to feed would grow. Well, you have two options: either you drink more packs a day, or you find that special someone who's willing to give you blood."

Takashi huffed. "Mom said the same thing. I mean, you're both right, but I can't just walk up to a girl and say, 'hey, can I have some of your blood?', they would file a restraining order against me."

The uncle laughed. "That's true. Right, do you want some more blood packs?" Takashi nodded. "I would appreciate it."