Victory [10]

With a huff, I opened the Quest, reading over it quickly.

So, I successfully got the civilians out of harm's way, but several of them were still in precarious states, because of their wounds. I needed to heal them in order to complete the Quest.

With another huff of effort, I rose from my spot. I needed to find a way to heal everyone, then I'd be home free. I had no idea how I'd do that without skill books, so I prepared to get moving for the nearest bookstore, but then, I laid my eyes on something quite… interesting.

A pile of miscellaneous objects was stacked up well, as if an OCD person put them there themselves. Of course, nobody moved in and out of here at the time that I walked away.

Then there was only one alternative.

I felt the corners of my mouth quirk up into an awkward smile.

This was created by my Quirk. It wasn't completely unheard of for a Quirk to seemingly create something out of nothing, however, that normally took energy for people to get that result.

Like, Todoroki creating ice. The ice was basically spawning out of thin air, but it took energy to create them. That energy was MP, based on my understanding of things.

But these items, I didn't create them consciously, so it had to be my Quirk's automation at play.

It was incredible, all because I had no idea at all what it was all about.

As I approached the items, I actually noticed what they were.

There was some money, two books, and a syringe. I Observed them as I picked them up.

[70,000 Yen]

[It's money. Do you really need an explanation on how money works?]

[You have picked up the skill book "Healing Touch: Shuzenji Arts." Would you like to learn this skill?]

[You have picked up the skill book "Abandoned Notes: Quirk Growth Theory." Would you like to learn this skill?]

[You have picked up the item "Trigger Ver. 1.1 Syringe."]

The money was unexpected, but useful. Although, if it was truly created by my ability, I'd have to check if it was real money or if it was counterfeited. If it was the latter, then it wouldn't be of much use. If it was the former… well, it would raise a lot of questions.

Did my Quirk just steal money from somewhere? It wasn't entirely impossible to believe people just lost money and never found it. If my Quirk had just collected up unused money, then I guess it wouldn't be too bad.

If it was making real money, I… I couldn't even fathom how that would really work. At that point, I may just have to chalk it up to some convenient magic and call it a day.

Regardless though, that wasn't the most important thing here.

The skill books were far more interesting than the money.

I opened up the second skill book and glanced through it. It was a real book, just like the other skill books I'd read.

This book was definitely written before, but there was no author it was credited under. As such, I gave up trying to find more skill books through that. I absorbed the skill book and felt the knowledge flow through me.

[Yin-Yang Healing (Active) Lv. 1 | EXP: 0.0% | MP: 50]

The Quirk School of Yin and Yang focused on many different ideas; however, the act of healing was one of their most basic lessons. As such, those who have learned any of the Yin-Yang Arts are few. Through a careful balance of action and reaction, one can heal through a delicate movement of mana. Heals 50 HP upon activation.

With enough uses of the skill, low-to-medium ranking status effects will be cleansed.

And God, was that knowledge weird.

I mean, a Quirk School? Sure, that's somewhat believable. But the skill made it seem like anybody could use these Yin-Yang Arts if they trained enough.

And Quirks simply didn't work like that, not for everyone, anyway.

And yet, the knowledge this Quirk shared with me was absolutely confident in that possibility. It felt innately wrong, but….

I pushed the thoughts aside. I could sit and debate it at another time. For now, there were more important things to do.

I opened the other book, but I couldn't understand a word of it. It looked vaguely like English, but I was decent at English, instead this just sorta looked like it. I Observed it, but that just mentioned that it was a skill book.

Instead, I just opted to absorb the book.

[You cannot learn this skill. It requires WIS: 40.]

Because my 20 points only would've brought my Wisdom up to 30, I decided to just store the skill book in my Inventory.

Then, I lightly laid my hand on Uraraka's hand and healed her. She had far more health than one heal would handle, so I just continued until she was back at 100%.

I did the same for Rikko and each of the civilians that I threw to the buildings. I also got them out of the adhesive I stuck to and brought them down to the ground. I told them to stick around for the police or Pro-Heroes, and I very politely asked them not to mention me.

There was no telling if they would or wouldn't, and the rocks were still solidly held by my Adhesive String, but I'd rather not be pulled into something I could otherwise avoid. I'd rather not have the police watching over me for vigilantism if it could be avoided.

Despite Yin-Yang Healing leveling up a few times, Uraraka was still unconscious, but Rikko was starting to rise from her exhaustion. I was still at her side, healing her as best I could until she'd begun to stir.

Her eyes slowly fluttered open, and as they did, I received two more levels alongside the Quest completion notification. I guess soothing Rikko's exhaustion counted as the last civilian of the Quest.

"Mineta….?" Rikko spent a moment blinking before she sat up, meeting my eyes wearily. "What happened?"

I smiled at her as best I could, continuing to heal her before I lightly gestured towards Uraraka, who was only a short way away. "She went down pretty easy, and… well, everything else we can talk about later. We gotta get out of here, Pros are gonna be showing up soon."

I couldn't exactly hear sirens or anything, but I just had a feeling that they'd be here soon.

Rikko nodded, rising to her feet with my assistance. I let her lead the way, and I followed.

-----

We were fairly quiet the entire walk back, especially after the Pro-Heroes sped past us towards the scene of the explosion.

More than anything though, I think Rikko was just mentally exhausted. Which was totally fair. In a single day, she got wrapped up in all my bullshit, was the victim of a villain attack, overused her Quirk, and more.

Even after she was healed, the skill only touched on her physical state. She probably felt good as new, but mental exhaustion was still strong enough to limit one's physical state.

Finally, we stopped by a larger-than-life house. I spent a moment admiring it. It was beautiful beyond belief; it almost didn't feel real.

Rikko turned back to me, her head bobbing with fatigue. "What do we do next, Mineta?"

I scratched the side of my head, "Well, I'll need some time to get everything organized. For now, just get some rest."

Rikko stared at me for a second, looking disappointed. "I… are you sure? Is there nothing else I can do?"

I grabbed her shoulders and smiled. "Relax, Rikko. You've helped me a ton already, for now, the best thing you can do is just rest. That way, we can work effectively tomorrow."

Rikko nodded at that, a smile rising to her face. She suddenly gave me a big hug, and I can't lie, I noticed that she was a fair bit more… endowed than I'd previously paid attention to. Even more than that, the hug was actually quite nice. The tension that built up in my body that I hadn't noticed suddenly faded away.

The hug ended just as quickly as it began, and with a shockingly bright smile, she turned away and entered her home.

For a moment, I just stood there, a dumb smile on my face. I didn't even attempt to hide it before I turned around and began waddling away. I pumped my fists into the air a few times.

I freely let out a cheer, "Hell yeah! I just got a hug from a hot girl! Woohoo!"