25 Fair Trade.

"Mr. Tremblay! Let me check your super cute babies!!"

"...Yes?"

"Yes! Your babies!! Show them to me! I'll upgrade them now!! I have all the time in the world!"

"You're aware of your wording or…?"

"What wording?!"

"Alright."

Seeing Mei so riled up about something of little importance made Felix chuckle, especially since they both knew damn well that he didn't have that many of her "babies."

Plus, her attitude was one of the weirdest ones. If someone would barge in there, they would probably think about her wanting something completely different than simply upgrading gadgets.

Nonetheless, she came here willingly, so it probably was what she was aiming for, but as eccentric as she was, she was most likely oblivious to it. Willing to pretend he was dense and clueless to these convoluted nubile advances, Felix asked a question, raising his eyebrows.

"You have all the time…? What are you ranting about?"

"My parents won't be back home for a few days! That gives me all the time to mess up with scraps!! Machinery!!! Inventions!!!! Creations!!!!! That gives me plenty of time to improve all my super cute babies! Gimme! Gimme!!"

"So you wanna stay here for a while?"

"—Ah!" Her brain seemingly went haywire momentarily, faintly blushing as she gazed at the device in her hands. "Most definitely not, yes! Indeed!"

"Hahaha… —Alright then."

—She's an enigma.

Girls like Mei, crafty, keen, and savvy all at once, are rare. Plus, she was also way more touchy-feely than he thought she would be. The girl jumped breast-first on him soon after he sent his new hormonal cocktail into her system, speaking about how upgrading babies will be thrilling and that no amount of failure will stop her from making even more of them.

Even more riveting was that she acted like that despite not reaching orgasm or anything akin. That was just how she was, overly receptive to hormones and pleasure as a whole, like a machine receiving input but with no clue how to respond to the stimulus.

Gladly, Felix's personality and quirk heightened that within her.

"After jumping into the lion's den just like you did, I guess you have some pretty high-up expectations."

"I don't see any lions…" Mei muttered, squinting her eyes and looking around. "..."

"..."

"Where are they?"

"Mei, are you that clueless?" Felix smiled meekly, holding back a laugh as he scratched the back of his head.

"About the babies!?"

"Uh…? Ha… Hahaha!"

Taken aback for the first time in her life other than during talking about money or babies, she eyed Felix with a worried but curious expression. This was quite the face she was making.

Someone was laughing about something she said.

This was... It was not part of the calculations, the algebras—an anomaly.

Hearing someone laugh, thanks to her words, was something completely new, which caused her to feel butterflies in her stomach. Strange. Truly. Can this feeling be reproduced with her babies? Surely it can! Science! Mechanic!! Inventions!! Can do everything! Certainly!! Most definitely!!!

"This… This is the first time someone laughed at something I've said." She widened her eyes as she placed her hand on her chin, pondering. "What did I do differently than usual...?"

"You know, you're quite fun to hang out with."

"Fun!? Hah! Most people flee me after I start talking. Huh! This is good! Good for my super cute babies! This feeling fills me with ideation!!"

—She's now... full of energy.

Frankly, fucking her silly till she started drooling was something his own hormones roared to make him do, so fighting his urges was somewhat starting to be tough.

The idea of pounding Mei was pleasant enough for him to ponder what kind of sex she would like. It wasn't the most morally acceptable thing, but he didn't really give a shit.

—Seize the opportunity while you can. This could never happen again. Consider your future with and without this opportunity and its finality.

That said, he had to take care of a matter first. He made a promise with Kaoruko, after all. So, for the time being, Mei had to wait just a bit for her dicking. He had a few ideas about how to lure her into going wanton but knowing her a bit, she'll probably throw back all this horniness to her "babies," so he'll need help.

And he had an idea.

In a way, all his purchases were for Mei to become even more hysterical about him, even if it was mainly for his money. He knew this was sometimes how to start a relationship, so he was okay about being used by her as a cash bank until she sought him as her sperm bank.

"Mr. Tremblay!"

"I already told you to call me Felix."

"Mr. Tremblay!!"

"Alright?"

"I found the last hidden microphone!" Mei exclaimed, showing him three microchips that were hidden in the living room and his bedroom. "My EMP device fried them! With the TV, microwave, and fridge! I hope it won't be too much of a bother!"

—So their promises really are worthless. Duh... I'm not surprised. Luckily, I was cagey. The only thing the HPSC heard was when Kaoruko, Rumi, and I fucked here-

"The fridge is dead?!" Felix exclaimed in turn, realizing what Mei had just said. "Microwave? TV?"

"Somehow!" she exclaimed, hugging the little machine she used before holding it in both hands and stretching her arms toward the sky while spinning around. "Marvelous! My cute baby!! Wonderful! My device appears to be a touch more cogent than I anticipated!"

"...you'll pay for the breakage, of course?" Felix inquired, gazing at her as she was still frantically spinning on herself faster and faster, but the instant she heard about needing to "pay," she stopped moving, almost nullifying the laws of physics by suddenly altering her movements, negating the inertia of her own body, looking straight at Felix.

"I can craft you a fridge!"

"I don't want a fridge made of junk pieces."

"—Ah!" Mei stood taken aback, her eyes bearing the same confused and eager expression, her mouth wide open as if someone had paused a video. "You know, I can also upgrade your car! I can install turbos and change the engine, installing a jet so your car can go well over 600 km/h!! Your car might even belch plasma out of the exhaust if I don't screw up!!!"

"What the…" Felix cracked up for a second, placing a hand in front of his face, hiding his laugh. "What do you mean "If you don't screw up?" I guess that's kinda cool, but this isn't-"

"Hah!! You're laughing again!" She exclaimed with an even broader smile. "So you wanna do it!? Right!?"

"...do what?" Kaoruko asked, frowning, her arms crossed.

"Mei, this car isn't mine." Felix retorted, still hiding his face since he knew Kaoruko was a bit mad at him for bringing the girl up here despite her protests and now laughing at the situation.

"Is it a rental car? Did you steal it?! I can make you a fake license plate! Doing this will surely fix the things I accidentally put out of service!"

"No, it's just not my car, dummy. It's Kaoruko's car."

"Kaoru…ko…?" Mei murmured, her hand in front of her mouth, dumbstruck. "Who's that?"

"Wha—?!" exclaimed Kaoruko, spitting the juice she was drinking as Felix chuckled again. "What?!"

"The girl just next to me. Are you blind?"

"...Mm…" Mei switched her gaze toward the blue-skinned lady to his right, who, with frowned brows and crossed arms, peered at Mei from the corner of her eyes. Upon seeing Kaoruko, Mei squinted her eyes before putting her hand on her chin, seemingly trying to understand something. "Intriguing…"

"Yes?"

"Since when is she here?"

Kaoruko widened her eyes and grunted heavily, standing up from her chair with her glass in her hand and pointing at the pink-haired girl with her other hand.

"What do you mean: "Who's that?" and "Since when is she here"?! I was with Felix all along! And I was driving the car!"

"—Ah! Hah! I only pay attention to things of interest. Sorry." Mei explained, looking at the ground, focused. "Pardon me."

"No way I'll pardon you! You're not even sorry! You ransacked the car with all your dirt and tools!" Kaoruko snapped, pointing at Mei. "It was supposed to be a nice day, just he and I, and you managed to ruin it! My car too! Dammit!"

"I don't care! I'm here to take care of my cute babies!! My ultimate goal!!! My Magnum Opus!!!!" Mei exclaimed with a broad, dumb smile. "Mr. Tremblay, where is the microscope?! Where!? I've brought back everything I need to enhance it! Ditto for the jet hammer and the net gun! Let's do it!!"

"Right next to the sofa. You should find what you want here."

—I guess that's how I get my freebies from her.

"Geez..."

Felix glanced at Kaoruko, who sighed and decided to pout while cleaning the table. It was indeed supposed to be just the two of them for today, but fate had decided otherwise. He had initially planned to boost her throughout today, focusing on her endurance and agility through the help of a good fuck, but his plan changed a bit.

Two girls were here now.

If all three did it right here, right now, it would be beneficial to all of them. Mainly for Felix, but still.

On his end, it was almost a matter of life and death, he needed the maximum amount of EXP he could get in the shortest amount of time, and he had to do that without Rumi since the HPSC required her to work relentlessly, probably noticing that both he and her growing closer actually threatened their status quo.

Kaoruko also needed the power-up for the following months, and her quirk was just a must-have despite most people thinking she was useless. Plus, his relationship with Nighteye was getting better thanks to her, which was very helpful, so she deserved the help.

Mei? Mei was more of a desired plug-in. Coming across an inventor like her doesn't happen every day, especially since he could find a way to have freebies, so...

It was also a safety net because if the HSPC ended up having Mei on their team, it would be a nail in the coffin in the long run, so he'll need some help to be sure Mei would be on his side and wouldn't snitch, especially since she seems to be easily bribed if she's offered money or rare supplies.

He was okay with risking Kaoruko seeing him fucking Mei since the HPSC's hidden microphones were now fried. At this point, he wasn't worried about her or Mirko snitching. In fact, today was the first litmus test to see how far they could all go together.

"Kaoru," He said as he inspected her stats after touching the back of her head. "Can I ask you a favor?"

"Huh? Sure, but…"

"Nothing dangerous, don't worry. I just want your help with Mei."

"With her? Ah, you want her for yourself, don't you?"

"I've been busted."

"Nooo waaay."

"Really now?"

"Really."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Goddamn."

"Well…"

"Yeah?"

"Let's say you accompany me during the next Hero Billboard because I don't want to be there alone again, and you know, you help me network there too. In that case… then..."

"Are you…" Felix replied with a big, proud smile. "Are you trying to extort me right now?"

"Well, I wouldn't call that "extortion," that's a bit much." She said, pointing her index finger vertically, closing her eyelids with a little smile. "Let's call it a fair trade, a goodwill bargain between two lovers."

—She's learning fast. Atta girl.

"Lucky for you, the bargain is interesting. I'm in."

"Eh. You agreed faster than I expected."

"I wouldn't accept if I wasn't seeing something good in there for me." He muttered, touching his chin. "When does the event take place?"

"You have a few months ahead of yourself," Kaoruko replied after looking back at him after he finished checking her progress. "How does it look?"

"You've improved pretty well, at least in one way, if not the other."

"Why did I find your comment almost offensive...?"

"Haha! Sorry, sorry."

Felix kept the info he analyzed for himself, but after double-awakening his quirk, he could somehow glimpse at the potential of people by looking at their stats and unlocked abilities, and what he saw here was definitely something else. He knew her quirk was way more than most people believed, but in truth, she was a walking biohazard.

"So, about my part of the deal, what do you want me to do about her?" Kaoruko asked, turning to Mei, who was focused on upgrading the microscope at the other end of the room. "Nothing too frivolous, I hope..."

"I want you to release a fuck ton of aphrodisiac bubbles. Potent ones, if possible."

"But she's... It'll also hit us, not that I mind, but..."

At this moment, she probably understood the implication of her situation, from her relationship with Felix to her current state of mind, because she froze and widened her eyes, shifting her gaze to the ground.

It wasn't fear nor cowardice but thrill and bewilderment, like the strange feeling a 10-year-old kid feels when playing video games at 1 am while their parents are around. She was about to be an accomplice to a nasty ploy toward one of her kōhai.

Her heart raced quicker than it should.

What would Nighteye think?

"So, we have a deal? Remember, she ransacked your car. That's just a little goofy Ahh revenge."

"Well... I still think it's a bit wrong..."

"But?"

"But... I guess it's... far too tempting."

Bubble Girl was still confused about her new life. It was all so foreign to her. She kinda grasped Felix lived like this in the past and was conflicted about how it would end up if she followed him. He wasn't downright evil nor violent, but he was still an antagonistic force acting against the Hero Society... And she was a hero, right?

Well... Nothing up that alley. A mere sidekick of the former sidekick of the Number One hero, who was placed occasionally for hours on a tickle torture machine if she did her job "poorly." What would people think about Nighteye's handling of his only female employee? After all, Centipeder wasn't entitled to this treatment.

She knew well that heroes are only heroes when they wear their costumes and that behind this facade lies a flawed person, but her conscience still bothered her. What would become of her values if she allowed herself to follow another path than the beaten one?

Sighing, battling against the hints of worries clouding her mind as she focused, a few pinkish and transparent bubbles formed around her exposed skin.

After a short while, bubbles gently started floating and stagnating in the room. With one of them popping, it created a chain reaction, and all the others released their aphrodisiac aroma.

Turning back to Felix, her urges rising as she made more aphro-bubbles, they exchanged the same knowing, mischievous smile.