Errands

After Yagi left, Izuku found himself unable to settle back down. The interaction he'd just had threw him off so much that he doubted he'd even be able to.

Less than five minutes of conversation with the man and a single handshake, and his mind had been sent racing by what he'd felt. He tried his best to just shake it off and relax back into the sand, to sink into the warmth and maybe try to doze off.

It didn't work.

He sighed, rubbing at his eyes to try to dispel the remaining soreness. It was doubtful that he'd even be able to sit down and experiment with another quirk, his mind was so preoccupied.

'Screw this.' He decided. 'There's no sense in sticking around here if I can't even relax. I might as well at least get something done.'

Unwinding himself from coils of his own tail, he stretched a bit of stiffness out of his body, before making his way away from the beach.

He would just have to get a head start on his errands. There was some stuff he'd been planning to do tomorrow, but it was early, might as well go ahead and take care of them.

He ran over the list in his head. He needed groceries for the next few days, a new stack of notebooks for analysis – both as Izuku and as Oni – plus the writing utensils that went with them, there were some clothes he needed to pick up from his drycleaner, and Rei had expressed interest in a new video game, so he would go ahead and pick that up for her.

Working out the route in his mental map – having a near perfect memory was so very useful sometimes – he set off.

Traveling down the road, he couldn't stop his mind from wandering back to Yagi. Such a powerful quirk; easily leagues beyond anything he'd seen thus far. He would think that someone with a quirk as powerful as that would pursue heroics, but he didn't recognize the man or his name.

It wasn't a requirement of any kind, of course, that one with a strong quirk must go into heroics, but it was a fact that powerful, or otherwise flashy, quirks tended to gravitate towards that profession. So it was weird that he didn't recognize Yagi; based on what he'd felt, that man would have the potential to be the strongest hero in the world.

The possibility existed that maybe One For All had a major drawback that he wasn't aware of that had resulted in the man's appearance, keeping him from doing much of anything with it. Maybe the stockpiling portion of the quirk directly stole strength from the user, weakening them.

But… that didn't make any sense when he remembered the description of the quirk he'd gotten from 'Appraisal'. It had only said that it grants the user enhanced physical capabilities using energy from past users. It never mentioned anything about reducing the current user's strength.

He knew how 'Appraisal' worked. It provided him with information based solely on what the target knew about their own quirk. That's how he was able to learn the name of the quirk, and got such limited information on the quirk's details. It was essentially a specialized mind-reading quirk.

If One For All really did have a drawback like that, there's no way that it would've been left out; there had to be something else that was the cause.

The more he thought about it, the more frustrated he became. He couldn't get that man or his damn powerhouse of a quirk out of his head.

He huffed in irritation, and picked up his pace towards his first stop.

---

About an hour later, and he was halfway through his list. He'd picked up the video game for Rei – Something about capturing and training mythical creatures? He wasn't too sure. He never really got into video games. – and had it safely tucked into his bag. His clothes – several of his nicer shirts that he wore during the day, along with a few pairs of his Oni outfit – were carefully stored in bags and slung over his shoulder. He was now on his way to pick up his notebooks. He'd already used up his supply.

It was almost impressive, the sheer number that he went through on a regular basis. In addition to the analysis he did on his own quirk, he also filled notebooks on any interesting quirks he encountered during the day along with any heroes that managed to catch his eye. He essentially did the same thing he did as Deku, writing down everything he could think of, from their strengths and weaknesses, to theories on their potential. Not to mention the notes he kept on the criminals he encountered as Oni; their quirks and their activities.

It was quite fortunate that all of the work he did as Deku was already saved digitally on his computer. If it weren't, he would've ended up writing most, if not all, of those down too. By now he would've easily been able to fill a library with his observations.

The path he'd ended up taking to his destination led him through an underpass. It was one he normally wouldn't have gone through, or likely even noticed, but because of how he was addressing his errands, it was the quickest route that didn't involve flying.

He didn't pay much attention to his surroundings. Why bother? He knew that there was no one else around and he knew what direction to go.

Just as he was passing over a manhole cover – barely even recognized, as lost in thought as he was with some of the more memorable quirks he'd encountered – 'Proximity' picked up something that made him pause, something that gave off an impression of sheer wrongness.

It picked up something small – two somethings –, maybe rats? He gave a small, involuntary shudder. Whatever they were, they definitely weren't rats; they didn't move like them at all. It almost felt like they were floating through the air.

What's more, is that it felt like it was surrounded by something.

'Proximity' worked by detecting the electrical impulses given off by nerves in a living body; like those that sent the signal for a muscle to move. It was able to show him, roughly, what was around him and what they were doing.

But this… whatever it was, gave the impression of a giant blob of jello that had nerve endings sprinkled around in it. He didn't like it one bit.

Before he could consider what to do about it – if anything – a sudden surge of bloodlust and maliciousness made that decision for him.

His body acted on instincts developed over years of being a vigilante, immediately pulling a strength quirk and thrusting his wings down with enough force to launch his body through the air, back from whatever the source of the feeling was.

He latched onto one of the bridge's support columns, high in the air, tail wrapping around it and securing him in place. Looking down on where he had just been standing, he saw that there was a mass of sludge filling the space he'd just occupied.

He sat there watching, with more curiosity than anything else, as the sludge seemed to move with a mind of its own. Was it a quirk? Or maybe whatever unnatural phenomena that had caused quirks to appear – because they likely weren't natural, despite how ingrained they were in humanity's being. That wasn't how evolution worked – had decided to start animating random piles of sludge. Whatever it was, it fascinated him.

Then the smell hit him, and his face screwed in displeasure. 'Never mind. Not so fascinating anymore.'

Sewage. Raw sewage.

Part of the quirk that gave him his snake tail, also gave him the mutated tongue along with it. It allowed him to 'taste' the air as a normal snake could and, as a result, gave him an enhanced sense of smell.

Normally, he quite enjoyed being able to taste the air, especially when he cooked. But now he'd realized a previously unconsidered side effect of that: he was now tasting the sewage as well as smelling it. Not a pleasant experience by any stretch of the imagination.

He was trying to work past the stench clogging his throat when noticed something else force its way past the manhole cover. Something that only made his displeasure grow.

Now, having seen so many different quirks, all ranging in shape, size, abilities, and appearance, he really tried to keep an open mind when it came to how one looked. He preferred to look at a quirk's capabilities rather than its outward appearance.

But damn. There was only so much he could do.

He watched in continually growing disgust as a giant pair of eyes, along with a disproportionately large set of teeth, emerged from the manhole and settled in the sludge, floating in a horrid approximation of a human face.

The person, if it could even be called as such – even when he knew it was a quirk causing its appearance – had a body made almost entirely of liquid. In itself, having a liquid body would be a fairly useful quirk. But with its displeasing appearance – a murky green that, while probably not actually being sewage, seemed to have human waste floating through it where it had just crawled from the sewer – and even worse smell, it was one that even he found himself wanting no part of whatsoever.

An involuntary flick of his tongue made him grimace once more at the stench it pulled in. He pulled on 'Aroma' in an attempt to block it out with something more pleasant.

He wasn't going to use 'Appraisal' on them; he had no desire to learn what they were actually made of.

They were looking up at him, disgusting eyes floating through the sludge at they trained on him.

"A size-large invisibility cloak." Their voice warbled out through the air; liquid body having an odd effect on the words. "And one with an interesting quirk and impressive physical abilities too."

The overly-large, yellow teeth quirked in a gross imitation of a smile. "My lucky day. Just what I needed to get away from him."

"Now, get down here." They said as they started creeping along the ground in his direction. The look in their eyes grew even more twisted, and a wet, bubbly laugh echoed out. "Don't worry, it'll only hurt for a minute or two. It'll be over before you know it."

Izuku reeled at the implications of being referred to as an 'invisibility cloak.' If their quirk were anything but a liquid-body mutation, he would've assumed that they meant to take him as a hostage of some sort; a thought that, under different circumstances, would've made him laugh.

But since they were made of liquid, that choice of words implied that they meant to enter his body as a way to hide.

His face twisted in utter revulsion at the thought of such filth touching him, much less entering his body. 'I think the fuck not.'

He raised an arm – the one that wasn't still holding on to his clothes – and pulled on a quirk he didn't get many chances to use.

'Air Cannon.'

'You're lucky that my only electricity quirk is touch-based,' He thought as he pulled the arm back to throw a punch. 'Or I'd fry you like the disgusting insect you are.'

He threw the fist forwards, augmented by the strength quirks he had active, despite several meters separating the two of them.

A surge of wind, of pure pressure, roared forwards as it cleaved through the air. The being of sludge was torn apart on contact, splattering across nearly every surface of the underpass that had been behind it. He registered a look of surprise in their eyes just before they were flung away.

As he watched the bits of sludge settle all round the underpass, he felt a moment of doubt when he considered the fact that he might've just killed them. But that quickly disappeared as he saw the eyes – now sitting on opposite sides of the pass – still trained on him, if slightly unfocused.

He remained where he was, arm raised again and ready to throw another punch should it become necessary. Having a body made almost entirely of liquid, it should be nearly impossible to damage them through physical means alone. It was entirely possible that they could simply reform and try to attack him again.

When he saw that the sludge was remaining where it was, and not reforming as he would assume it was capable of, he relaxed, satisfied that it wouldn't be trying anything else.

He pulled 'Air Cannon' back to settle in his chest; he'd leave the others for now, but that one was easy to misfire with – it activated with nearly any movement he made and its output scaled exponentially with each strength quirk he added to it –, so it was better off left tucked away until he needed it.

Watching the sludge for only a moment more, he spread his wings and took off into the air from the column; the ground was coated in a thin layer of the filth and he had no intention of getting any on himself, especially not when it was sentient.

He flew out from under the bridge and into the open air, glad to no longer have the disgusting stench of sewage burning at his nose.

---

Barely a minute after he left, the manhole cover exploded upwards, impacting the underside of the bridge as a large figure climbed out ready for a fight, only to find that his prey was already immobilized.

He was stunned, momentarily, before he leapt into action, speeding around the space and collecting as much of the villain as he could into the only thing he had available to contain them in; an empty soda bottle.

He sighed as he released his form, glad to not have to push his limit any further. It was curious that they were already in that state before he'd even arrived. But they'd been apprehended, and there were no other issues at the moment, so he let it go.

Humming to himself, he exited the underpass. He'd drop the villain off at the nearest police precinct before settling down for the rest of the day.

He didn't notice the bottle slip out of his pocket halfway to his destination…

---

Izuku hummed along with the music playing in his ears as he traveled down the road, another bag added to the growing pile in his hand as he made his way towards his last stop. He ran over the grocery list in his head as he moved. He'd found a new recipe he wanted to try, and it required certain ingredients that he didn't normally have on hand.

Eventually, he was pulled from his thoughts by a crowd of people in front of him, blocking the street. Sighing in minor frustration at yet another disturbance to his day, he pushed his way past them, working up to the front of the group. When he finally got there, he realized why there was such a holdup at this odd time of day. And really, what other reason would there be?

In the middle of the street, which was covered in flames and debris from where the nearby buildings had been damaged, was a massive villain.

And, of course, it just had to be the same revolting piece of filth he'd run into not even an hour before. Because why wouldn't this same villain appear to disrupt his day once again?

Getting over his initial frustration at seeing – and smelling – the villain again, he finally noticed the body that was thrashing around in the sludge. Blonde hair, what he thought were red eyes, and explosions – that explained the cause of the fires – made for a surprisingly familiar figure that Izuku honestly thought he had forgotten until that exact moment.

So the villain had a hostage then. Well, no. They were probably using him for exactly the same reason they'd tried to attack Izuku. They wanted to use their body as a puppet to hide away.

It was odd that they weren't already doing so. Maybe they needed to wait for the person to drown first? Whatever the reason, the heroes needed to act quick; they were very quickly running out of time.

Speaking of, he could see three heroes already on scene, that for some reason weren't doing anything. Kamui Woods, Death Arms, and Backdraft were all standing around, staring at the villain. At least Backdraft was keeping the civilians back. But did they not see that there was a person on the verge of drowning?

"Is there a reason that no one is doing anything?" He asked, intentionally loud. "They all see that he's drowning, right?"

Kamui Woods, eyes trained on the villain, yelled out as if he was answering his question. "Our quirks are ineffective in this situation! We have to wait for someone better suited to this villain!"

That actually left Izuku speechless for a moment. He didn't actually just say that, right? There were such obvious solutions right in front of their eyes. He could think of at least three just off the top of his head.

If all three of them worked together, they would have it handled in a matter of minutes.

He felt his irritation building up.

'He probably thinks that because of all the fires everywhere.' He thought to himself. 'But maybe I'm hallucinating, because I'm pretty sure I'm staring at Pro Hero Backdraft right now; whose specialty is putting out fires. Hell, he could douse Kamui and protect him for long enough to get the job done. But noo. Let's all wait for the innocent civilian to die first."

Another massive explosion detonated, surging from within the sludge. It threw more debris across the street and started even more small fires, the closest of which immediately being put out by backdraft.

'Incompetence.' He nearly snorted to himself. 'If they aren't going to do anything, then I will.'

He was almost tempted to charge forwards right then and there, just to show up the useless heroes. The only things that stopped him were his distaste at the thought of touching the villain to retrieve their victim, and his desire to not catch the attention of the many news cameras that were focused on the disturbance.

Having enough of this, he scanned the ground around him, spotting exactly what he needed; an innocuous piece of debris small enough to fit in his hand, sitting a few feet in front of him.

He couldn't directly interfere in the fight without causing more trouble than he was willing to go through, but if he just gave the situation a little nudge…

Humming a tune that sent involuntary shivers down the back of those close by, he used a quirk to discreetly pull the debris towards him with a series of small grabbing motions. Once it was in his hand, he looked over to the villain, picking out a precision quirk from the bundle in his chest and focusing on one of the floating eyes. At the same time, he drew his arm back, muscles bulging as he pulled on another strength quirk, straining at the sleeve of his shirt.

Without so much as a grunt, the rock was sent hurtling into the villain's eye. It impacted hard enough to almost eject it out of the sludge, and he could see it turn bloodshot almost instantly, even at the distance he was at.

With a screech that sent the people around him reeling, covering their ears, the villain recoiled hard enough to give the victim a much-needed breath. Glancing back towards the heroes, it was with not a small amount of irritation that he saw them looking back towards the crowd; searching for whoever threw the rock; instead of moving to fight the villain.

Holding back a growl of frustration, he turned back to the villain, who was quickly recovering, with another rock already in hand. He was in the process of pulling his arm back, targeting the other eye, when a loud, instantly recognizable laugh sounded out that made the crowd cheer in excitement.

"Have no fear citizens! It is okay now!" All Might said, landing on the street, immediately dropping into a stance and pulling his own arm back. "Why? Because I am here!"

He watched as the number one hero punched the air with enough force to splatter the villain with the shockwave alone – the same move he had used against them earlier, if quite a bit stronger –, skillfully moving to retrieve the victim before they were sent flying. A few moments later, after the dust and sludge had begun to settle, he felt raindrops begin to fall from the sky, a result of the massive change in pressure. The weather itself had changed in the face of All Might's power. And not even his true strength, either. Just that which he casually threw around to subdue a subpar villain.

A thought popped into his mind that he couldn't help but smile at. This was the first time he'd ever seen All Might in the flesh. 'Appraisal' didn't work on pictures or through videos. This would be his one chance to finally discern the quirk of the number one hero, one of the most widely debated topics amongst quirk analysts.

Straining his eyes, the grin still present, he activated the quirk to solve the great mystery.

Before immediately recoiling in shock at what he found.

[Name: Toshinori Yagi]

[Quirk: One For All]

[Emitter-type quirk that stockpiles the energy of its previous users in the form of strength, allowing the user to achieve enhanced physical capabilities.]

His eyes widened in shock as he registered exactly what he was seeing. All Might, the current number one hero in the world and the definitive greatest hero in history was the same person that he'd met barely a few hours earlier at the beach. The malnourished, sickly-looking man he'd encountered, was somehow also this seven-foot-tall, six-hundred-pound hero in front of him.

Looking closer, he realized the clothes that All Might was wearing were the same as those that were hanging off of Yagi's – his – body earlier. The hair too, was similar, as were the eyes; deep blue and shrouded in shadow.

His hand flew to his face, clamping over his mouth as his mind was sent racing.

For starters, that at least explained why Yagi – All Might – had the most powerful quirk he'd ever encountered; that seemed fitting for the number one hero to have such a quirk. It also explained why he didn't recognize the name Toshinori Yagi. All Might's true name had always been a fiercely guarded secret.

But that still didn't explain the drastic change in appearance. Nothing in the description provided by 'Appraisal' even hinted at any sort of transformative aspect either time he'd used it. In fact, it was specifically described as an emitter.

'An illusory quirk maybe?' He thought, 'No. That can't be it. Not only was that not mentioned by "Appraisal" but enhanced strength and illusions are entirely separate abilities.'

If it wasn't his quirk that caused the change in appearance, then it must be something else. But what?

He'd already established that it couldn't be the quirk, or even a miraculous second quirk; he would've felt something if that were the case – unless maybe it was simply overshadowed by One For All? He doubted that there was any sort of man-made method of transformation; no drug or steroid that he was aware of could achieve anything like that, and he regularly delved into the underground to deal with people that would know of such a thing. But then, if it wasn't due to a quirk or some man-made method, what was it?

This was going to drive him crazy, he just knew it.

Looking around him, he saw that most of the crowd was dispersing. All Might had left, disappointing the gathered reporters, and with him went most of the bystanders. The heroes were still there, watching the police secure the villain, and likely giving their reports. And the victim was still off to the side being looked at by paramedics. Izuku saw that he was glancing over at him, an odd look in his eyes.

Izuku ignored him; he knew that there was next to no chance of being recognized. Not after going over a decade without seeing one another, and the drastic changes to his body. Glancing at the time on his phone, he almost cursed. He was going to be late. He would have to save this fucking headache for later.

He resumed his trip where he'd been interrupted, picking up the pace now that he realized he was short on time.

Within a few short minutes, that seemed too long to him, he had arrived at the grocery store he usually frequented. Recalling the list he'd put together, he hurried through the store, picking out the necessary items. With how late he was running, he was tempted to put this off until tomorrow, where he maybe wouldn't have two separate villain attacks to interrupt him and a world-class mystery to occupy his thoughts, but he needed a few of these items for dinner tonight, so he couldn't do that.

Of course, as luck would have it, the registers were backed up as well, setting him even further behind. It took several minutes to get to where he could pay, driving up his impatience even further; he'd be tapping his foot if he still had one.

Upon finally exiting the store, he glanced at his phone again, biting back another curse. Two more minutes and he'd be late. No time to waste then. Instead of heading down the road until he reached his building, he simply ducked into the nearest alley he could get to. Once hidden from sight, he unfurled his wings and launched himself into the air, sailing back home.

When he reached the building, he touched down onto the balcony that led into the combined kitchen and living room, on the opposite side of the building from the balcony he'd left from. Making his way inside, he hurried over to the kitchen. He worked to put everything away as quickly as possible, but was careful not to make too much noise; he didn't want to wake Rei. He left everything else – the clothes, books, and the game – on the table; he'd take care of those later.

With that done, he made his way back to his office, settling back in front of his computer. Unlocking it, he saw a notification already sitting on the screen; an invitation to an online messaging service. He clicked on it, taking him to the chat screen where, not even 5 full seconds later, a message popped up.

4:08 [MysteryBoxMammal]-

-'Well then. A full eight and a half minutes late.'

-'Quite unusual for you.'

He huffed in equal parts amusement and annoyance. Amusement at his correspondent's near-immediate messaging and how they'd kept such close track of how late he was, and annoyance that he'd been late in the first place.

4:08 [Deku]-

-'Apologies. I found myself held up by events outside of my control while out attending to my errands'

4:09 [MysteryBoxMammal]-

-'Oh? Those "events" wouldn't happen to be the villain incident I read about a moment ago would it?'

-'About a villain with a sludge-body mutation quirk that was apprehended by none other than All Might, so far from his normal patrol route.'

4:09 [Deku]-

-'No. It was something unrelated that delayed me. But I did hear about that incident. I saw a video of what transpired.'

He smirked as he typed out the lie. He knew that his correspondent would like nothing more than to work out the true identity of the quirk analyst 'Deku,' especially when he already knew their identity. He had probably asked that question to see if he could pick them out from the crowds shown on camera – which he knew he was, thankfully, not a part of, despite being right up front.

4:10 [MysteryBoxMammal]-

-'So, what did you think?'

4:10 [Deku]-

-'Of what?'

4:10 [MysteryBoxMammal]-

-'All of it.'

-'The villain, the victim, the heroes that were already on scene, All Might, and even the mystery civilian that seemingly had to step in to assist.'

-'I would love to know your thoughts on the matter.'

Izuku paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts before responding.

4:11 [Deku]-

-'Starting with the villain, I'd say it would be an incredibly useful quirk for heroics, were it not for the distasteful appearance and, judging by the reactions of the gathered civilians, the smell. Such a quirk, that makes the user near impervious to most physical forms of attack and gives such a useful way of subduing their targets, not to mention the mobility, would've – and did – make them hard to combat.'

He grimaced, remembering the stench that had all but clogged his throat.

The other didn't respond, clearly waiting for the rest of his input.

-'Then, with the victim. I'd guess that they were simply in the wrong place, at the wrong time. And their quirk – explosions or some kind of flame from the looks of it – only made things worse; adding to the confusion and making it more difficult for the heroes to handle.'

He knew it was explosions. He'd been there when that quirk first manifested after all…

Shaking his head, he continued. He had no desire to dwell on that part of his life.

-'As for why the villain took them in the first place. It seemed as though their goal was not to negotiate for anything or guarantee their safety as they fled, at least not in the normal sense. They didn't attempt to make any sort of demands and were clearly waiting for the victim to drown, which means their goal was either pure maliciousness or they needed the body for some reason. Depending on how much they could compact their liquid body, it's possible that they intended to use the victim's body as a puppet or a place to hide.'

Of course, he already knew why they did it, but he didn't want to reveal that he knew more than he was supposed to

-'The heroes that were already on scene, despite how competent they are – Kamui Woods in particular – all dropped the ball with this incident. They all stood by while the victim almost drowned, on live television no less. While it is true that their quirks were not ideal for the situation, that doesn't matter in a situation such as this.'

-'Not only were there solutions to work past the quirk disadvantage – Backdraft could've used his quirk to dilute the villain or douse Kamui Woods to protect him from the flames while he dealt with the villain, or Kamui could've targeted the villain's eyes, likely their only weak point, while one of the others retrieved the victim. – but they are heroes, which by definition means that they should be willing to risk their lives in order to protect the lives of ordinary citizens. And while one shouldn't necessarily expect them to die for the sake of a citizen, that is one of the risks that comes with heroism.'

-'In fairness to them, though, they did at the very least work to protect the civilians that had gathered to watch.'

-'It is extremely fortunate, both for the victim and the other heroes, that All Might arrived when he did. The victim likely would've died before too much longer, and then those heroes, and likely heroes as a whole, would have possibly faced some backlash for not only failing to save an innocent civilian, but standing by and doing nothing as it happened. And as such, with him stepping in, in a city so far from his agency's headquarters, it is unlikely that anyone will focus too much on their actions.'

-'As for the civilian that stepped in. I'd also say that it's fortunate for everyone involved that they did. The possibility exists that, if they hadn't, the victim would not have even survived long enough for All Might to save them.'

-'Their quirk seemed to either be a projectile or accuracy-based one going by how accurately they struck the villain's eye, but the distance between the crowd and the villain, combined with the speed at which the projectile was thrown, would suggest a strength enhancer. It is very likely that they have some combination of the two. A niche quirk but obviously not without its uses.'

He smirked to himself as he typed out that last bit.

4:16 [MysteryBoxMammal]-

-'Interesting points all around.'

-'I came to the same conclusion as you as far as the villain's goal, it did seem that he was waiting for the victim to drown in order to use their body. But something like that shouldn't be necessary given the nature of their quirk and the durability and mobility it gives them. So, I figured that it was likely to hide from someone specific. Someone who could defeat and apprehend them.'

4:17 [Deku]-

-'All Might, then? I can't think of anyone off the top of my head that would've been in that area naturally and would be capable of defeating them, and All Might was obviously proven to be in the area.'

Come to think of it, didn't the filth mention something about hiding from someone when they tried to attack him?

4:17 [MysteryBoxMammal]-

-'Yes. That is what I was thinking. It's possible that they already had an encounter with him, resulting in their very public actions.'

-'And regarding the mystery civilian, do you think that their use of their quirk should label them as a vigilante?'

"Ha. That person is most definitely a vigilante. But not for the reasons you're thinking of."

4:18 [Deku]-

-'No, I Don't.'

4:18 [MysteryBoxMammal]-

-'Oh? Care to elaborate?'

4:18 [Deku]-

-'Well first off, how the law views and handles vigilantism is completely flawed to begin with. Much too black-and-white to be of any use. In the eyes of the law, any case of a person even defending themselves gets treated as vigilantism. Even simple public quirk usage is strongly frowned upon for how closely it comes to the definition of vigilantism.'

-'But as for this case specifically? I don't think they should be. Because, as I said, it is very likely that the victim would've died before All Might's arrival had they not acted. They intervened in the fight in a way that not only assisted in the saving of a victim and apprehension of a criminal, but did so without harm to anyone beyond the criminal. Additionally, there's no proof that a quirk was actually used, despite the low probability of the alternative being true. It is possible that it was simply skill and exemplary physical capabilities that allowed them to do what they did.'

4:20 [MysteryBoxMammal]-

-'I certainly agree with you as far as how ineffective the current vigilante laws are. Instances of potential vigilantism should really be treated on a case-by-case basis, especially given how widely the types of vigilantes can vary.'

-'There are those that, as you said, merely defend themselves. They shouldn't be treated as vigilantes. There are those that are vigilantes, but out of necessity, either because they are facing an issue that is not or cannot be solved by those who should be, or they simply do not have the means to become a proper hero. Then, there are the ones such as the vigilante, Oni, who protects the innocent and apprehends criminals and villains, but with what most would consider "excessive force." And finally, there are the ones such as the hero killer, Stain, who are one step away from being a villain and are vigilantes only in name.'

-'Currently, in the eyes of the law, all of the above cases are treated the same – with the exception of extenuating circumstances such as the suspect's actions resulting the death of another. In which case they are usually judged even more harshly �� and it is a disgrace.'

4:22 [Deku]-

-'I agree wholeheartedly.'

4:22 [MysteryBoxMammal]-

-'But enough of such dismal topics.'

-'Shall we begin a new game of chess?'

-'What was the score again?'

4:23 [Deku]-

-'Yes, we should.'

-'And the score is currently 192 to 190. In my favor.'

Izuku smiled as they got into their usual game of chess. It was great, his correspondent was one of the only people he'd come across that could match up to him intellectually. As such, he valued the time he spent speaking with them or playing chess, or some other game of wits, against them.

Focusing his attention on the digital game board, he got to work picking apart his opponents moves; who was no doubt doing the same to him; he was determined to increase his score to 193.

---

Shortly after, the two had concluded their game – with no small amount of disappointment on his side of things due to the fact that he lost – he turned his computer completely off and made his way out of the room.

He could hear movement coming from Rei's room, his sister was likely getting ready for the day – or night, rather – ahead of her.

Moving into the kitchen, he went about getting out everything he needed. He addressed the cookbook on the counter – the official Lunch Rush cookbook, unfortunately unsigned, that included meals from all across the world – and got to work. He had found a new recipe for an American-style dish he wanted to try. It seemed simple enough, but he wanted to get it right. His hands blurred across the counter as he worked to prepare everything.

When he had a moment to step away from the stove, he moved to put everything away that he'd left out.

Meanwhile, Rei had entered into the room, tossing out a greeting before settling in the living room, in front of the TV.

As with the kitchen, they didn't have any normal furniture in the living room to sit on. Instead, they had several bean-bag chairs and a number of enormous pillows. They couldn't easily sit down, but they could certainly lay over top of soft, fluffy things. Besides, their tails worked pretty well in place of furniture.

Before long, the meal had been prepared, and the two had moved to the kitchen table. He was quite pleased with how the food had turned out, especially given that it was his first time with the particular meal.

A few minutes in and they finally got to talking.

"I got you that new game you were talking about." He started, reaching for the bag he'd left in the kitchen. "I think it's the right one. Or at least, that's what the guy at the store said."

Izuku had no clue what he was doing when it came to games. He could take down an army of drug dealers in minutes, pick apart quirks in seconds, was the most successful analyst in Asia, and had a college degree – multiple actually – when most others his age were still in school, and yet he was hopeless with that. He could handle digital strategy games such as chess, but beyond that was just a mess.

It wasn't that he hadn't tried them, he had – especially since Rei liked them – it was just that he never found any enjoyment when he did. But just because he didn't much care for them, didn't mean he wasn't going to get them for her.

Her eyes lit up as they landed on the case he'd removed from the bag. She abandoned her food in favor of rushing to his side of the table to practically snatch it out of his hand.

"Ah!" She exclaimed, inspecting the cover. "Fuck yes! I've been waiting for this to come out ever since they announced it."

She threw herself around his neck, wrapping him a hug that he reflexively returned. "Thank you!"

He smiled, rubbing between her shoulder blades. "I'm guessing this means that was the right one then. Good."

Rei laughed a bit at that, "Yes it's the right one. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Letting go of him, she straightened back up, looking back at the game. "I can't wait to get started on this. I've heard people say it's really good." She turned around and started moving towards her room.

"Hey!" Izuku called, prompting her to look back at him with a questioning look.

"Where do you think you're going?" He questioned, pointing back at her unfinished plate of food. "Eat your food first. Then play."

"Hmph." She pouted, overdramatically, but still moving back to her spot. "Such a spoilsport."

"Yes, yes." He replied. ��Oh, what a monster am I. For delaying you five minutes to make sure you eat something. Because if I don't, I know you won't eat anything until I get back tomorrow morning."

"Like I said. Spoilsport."

Rei settled back into her spot, resuming her meal. After a minute, she spoke up again.

"Do you have any plans for how you're going to spend tonight?" She asked, likely looking for a way to occupy her mind.

He considered for a moment. "I'm thinking that I'll target another group, even though I already grabbed that one last night. These ones are trigger dealers, so the less time they're allowed to run around, the better."

"Are you going to let Tsukauchi know again?"

He shook his head. "No, not until afterwards. Trigger dealers have a habit of juicing themselves when they feel threatened. I'd rather not put any police officers at risk, or Eraserhead, as skilled as he may be."

"Alright, but that means that you have to be careful too." She said, stabbing her fork at him for emphasis. "I like it when you stay alive."

"So do I. I like not being dead. And when am I not careful?"

She rolled her eyes at that. "Basically, whenever you fight. You're an adrenaline junky when it comes to that sort of stuff."

"Lies and slander." He rebutted, moving to gather her plate, which she'd emptied, and went to the sink. "I am the epitome of care and responsibility."

This time she actually snorted. "Are you forgetting about that time you handcuffed both of your arms behind your back, just to see if you could take down a group of quirk traffickers with just your legs?"

"Lies-!" He tried to cut in. But she was on a roll, and had no intention of stopping.

"Or what about that other time when you jumped, literally, into the middle of an underground fighting ring, trying to become their new champion, but instead ended up having to fight everyone there."

"Shut!" He yelled, flinging soapy water at her. She just laughed as she moved away, bringing up more embarrassing slipups.

"Oh. And let's not forget my personal favorite." She said, mischievous smile on her face. "The day you tried to stop a drug deal blindfolded. You not only failed to stop them, but you actually got immobilized by some asshole's paralysis quirk." She had to pause to stifle a laugh, struggling to finish her thought.

"I actually had to get Eraserhead to come save you. Then he tried to drag you off to the police precinct. I wish I had video to go with the lecture he gave you on the way. He sounded like such a disappointed da-" He cut her off with a bigger splash of water.

"You shut your trash mouth right now!" He yelled, trying to keep up the appearance of anger, but she could see the red glow to his cheeks, and the smile he was struggling to keep away.

"I deny that any of that ever happened!" He said, moving to dry off one of the plates.

"Do you really? Because I've got audio recordings of most of them if you want to he-"

"Anyways!" he cut in, interrupting her from calling out anymore totally fabricated instances of his recklessness.

"Anyways. So I had a few pretty interesting things happen today while I was out."

"Oh really?" She replied, amused by his change in topic and leaning against the table with a smirk. "Like what?"

"Well, I got attacked, for one."

Her eyes snapped to him, smirk fading as she scanned him for injuries. It returned when she found none.

She knew very well just how capable he was, but that didn't stop her from worrying.

"So who was the unfortunate idiot who pulled that stunt?"

"A living puddle of sewage."

At her lack of response, he glanced over her shoulder at her, and saw her look of confusion.

"Alright, technically, I don't think he was actually made out of sewage. But he was made of sludge, and certainly smelled like it; the stench was godawful."

She tilted her head at him. "Is that why you smell like apples?"

"Yeah. I activated 'Aroma' to try to offset it."

"What did you do to them?"

"Splattered them across the road." He replied with a shrug. "What else?"

"And that's not even the most interesting thing that happened today." He continued. "I may or may not have met All Might today and figured out his quirk."

He saw her eyes light up. Even though he was a vigilante, and what the two of them did was illegal, they still enjoyed heroes, and he was her favorite. "What is it?"

"It's called One For All," he responded, "I'm not sure why." People named their quirks any number of ways, after all.

"Basically, it seems to be an energy stockpiling quirk, that lets the user make use of the stockpiled energy as raw strength. But the kicker? Instead of being like other stockpile quirks that draw strength from the environment, or food, or some other similar source, it uses the energy drawn from past users of the quirk."

"Past users?" She questioned, brow furrowing as she turned those words over in her head.

"Exactly. My best guess, is that the quirk somehow modified itself to always be the dominant gene when everything is being passed down. So instead of the possibility of the child receiving a mutation of both parents' quirks, they always get this one which, by that logic, would make it stronger each time it's passed; taking strength from each user.

He sighed, thinking about the mystery he'd stumbled upon. "That's not even the strangest part about all of this."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when I was out and about earlier, this man walked up to me; practically skin and bone and with his clothes hanging off of him. What he wanted isn't important, but when I used 'Appraisal' on him, it revealed him to be a Toshinori Yagi, and when I shook his hand, he had the single most powerful quirk I've ever come across – which I can't take, by the way, even if I wanted to. Something about it stops me."

"Then, later, I came across All Might fighting the same sludge villain that had attacked me earlier in the day, and decided to use 'Appraisal' on him."

He looked at her with a serious expression. "Want to take a guess at what it showed as his name?"

Her face displayed a brief moment of confusion, before lighting back up in shock and realization.

"It wasn't Toshinori Yagi, was it?"

"It was indeed."

"How is that even possible? I mean, with how you described his appearance, he seems too weak to do much of anything, let alone be the number one hero."

"And that, Rei, is the mystery I've been thinking over since this afternoon." He said, dragging his hands down his face. "It shouldn't be a quirk that causes it, and I very highly doubt that it's some man-made method, drug or otherwise. But there's obviously something that's allowing him to transform from a six-foot-tall twig that can't weigh more than a hundred pounds, to the seven-foot-tall, six-hundred-pound, absolute unit of a hero everyone knows and loves. I just can't figure it out."

He dragged a hand down his face again. "I love quirks, but sometimes they just make no fucking sense."

"You will." She reassured him, moving over to his side and putting an arm over his shoulders. "You always do. You're the smartest person I know, and I doubt there's anyone out there that's better than you at analyzing quirks."

He sighed, putting his own arm up around her shoulders. "I just hope that happens soon, because currently it's driving me crazy with how improbable it is."

"And thanks." He said, smiling at her. "You're pretty smart too."

She laughed. "Of course I am. You quite literally taught me just about everything I know."

He squeezed her a bit tighter. "You know you're my favorite sister, right?"

"I'm your only sister."

"Doesn't make it any less true." He said. "Now come on, there's still a few hours of daylight left. Let's watch some TV while you play your new game, then later I'll help you with your essay if you want.

With that, Rei sped off to her room to retrieve the handheld console that would play the game, while he settled himself in the living room. She joined him a minute later.

And that's how the two of them spent the rest of the day, curled up on the floor together. Rei going on about the game as she played, and Izuku listening on with a smile, barely paying attention to the TV.