"Ah, sleeping in feels nice." said Tobias as he woke up without an alarm.
The school had given a day off to students because of the USJ incident, and Tobias was taking the opportunity to sleep in. On a typical day, Tobias would wake up early and train for an hour before getting ready for school, even on the weekend he would rarely sleep in. But because of the exhaustion brought about by the Monster Equip, the pain that came with it, healing All Might, and his mom's insistence to take a day off, he decided to sleep in.
Still, though, Tobias was not one to waste an entire day sleeping, so he had asked Kyoka if she wanted to go out on a date or just hang out, and she said yes.
Getting up out of bed and washing up, Tobias was thinking about a date plan.
'Should've thought about this yesterday, but I was too tired, oh well. First, we can go watch that new romance movie she's mentioned before. After that, we can go shopping for a bit, and then we can go eat. Ending off the date, with a stroll along the beach. Not bad for a last-minute date idea if I do say so myself. I can set off some fireworks with my quirk too.'
"Nice." he said as he finished brushing his teeth before checking his appearance in the mirror.
"Tobias! Food's ready!" yelled his mom from the kitchen.
"Okay!" he said as he cleaned up the small mess he made before going into the kitchen.
"Morning." he said as he sat down at the table.
"Good morning, sleep well?" asked his dad, as he read the newspaper.
"Yup, been a while since I've slept in."
"Good, after what happened yesterday you deserve a little rest. Here you go, sweetie. Extra bacon just for you." said his mom placing the bacon and eggs in front of him.
"Thanks, mom."
"So, any plans today?" she asked.
"Date with Kyoka."
"Oh, that's nice. You have a plan?" asked his dad.
"Movie she wants to watch, shopping or arcade, eat, walk on the beach." he answered while eating.
"Ah, I remember when your dad used to be romantic like that."
"Cough, cough. What do you mean used to?"
"Well, it's been a while since we've gone on a date."
"Well yeah, but I'm still romantic every day. Aren't I?"
"You are, but I'd like to go out, just the two of us."
"Fine then. I'm calling into work today and we're going on a date."
"Really?"
"Yes. Nothing's more important than my wife." he said grabbing her hand and kissing it.
"Oh, honey." she said, blushing like a maiden.
"Now I get why my classmates don't like to see me and Kyoka flirt." said Tobias, seeing his two parents in their own world, while nice, was a little nauseatingly sweet.
"Shoo, leave. Go on your date. And take some money from my purse." said his mom as she and her husband made little faces at each other.
"Oh, I think my food is coming up." he said, rushing out the door as fast as possible.
~~
"I think it's sweet your parents are still so in love with each other." said Kyoka.
"Don't get me wrong, I'd much rather they be in love like that than cold towards each other, but it's a little weird to see your parents act like teenagers."
"I can see that being weird." she said, thinking for a bit before shivering.
"Thought about your parents?"
"Yes. It was not pleasant."
"Alright, let's forget that. We have more pressing matters." he said grabbing her hands and putting on a serious face, "What movie are we watching?"
"I'm not telling you. You should already know." she said, turning away from him.
"Of course, I do. I'm the greatest boyfriend in the world. I already bought the tickets online." he said with a teasing smile before pulling out his phone to show her.
"That's the wrong movie."
"Huh? That's not possible. All you've been talking about is this movie."
"Yeah. Because of how bad it is. I want to watch the horror movie."
"Not the romantic-comedy one?"
"No."
"Oh. One moment please." he said before frenziedly typing on his phone.
"Done." he said turning back around.
"What's done?"
"I refunded the tickets and bought the ones for the horror movie. Sorry about that little mix-up. I thought you wanted to watch the other one." he said, sorry on his face.
"It's fine. Most boyfriends probably wouldn't even pay attention to something like that. I appreciate the effort, nonetheless." she said holding his hand with a smile.
"Okay then, let's watch go watch a scary movie shall we? And don't worry, I'll protect you." he said, causing her to laugh.
~~
"Wow, that was bad." said Tobias as they left the theatre.
"Aw man, I thought it was going to be better than that. If I knew it was going to be that bad, I would've preferred watching the rom-com." she said, a little disappointed.
"Too bad it wasn't so bad it was funny. Just bad."
"Yeah, sorry for dragging you to see that."
"Meh, who cares. The movie's not important, it's the company that's important."
"Where'd you learn all that smooth talking from? I know it's not uncle, I've seen him around your mom."
"What can I say, it just comes naturally to me. If you hadn't come into my life so early on, I probably would've been one of those guys with multiple girlfriends. After all, who can resist my charm?" he said.
"Multiple girlfriends? Please, I think you would've ended up an old male spinster who only knows how to play with his cards."
"Maybe, I do love my cards. Anyway, shopping, arcade, or eating?"
"Hm, shopping. You need some new clothes."
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"
Tobias was not one for fashion, most of the time he chose comfort over fashion. His date outfit consisted of black joggers and a black tee with black shoes. Not a paragon of fashion, Tobias is.
"Nothing's wrong with it per se, but I think you can do so much better. You have the body a model would kill for you know."
"I do." he said followed by an exaggerated sigh, causing Kyoka to roll her eyes.
"Okay, help me pick some new clothes then."
"Yay! Let's go."
~~
"I'm hungry, can we go now?" said a now listless Tobias after being dragged every which way trying on all types of clothes.
"You only bought one outfit."
"I can make the rest on my own."
"Oh, right. Forgot about that. How convenient."
"Yes, it is. Now off to eat!" he said, regaining all his energy.
"Ramen?" she asked.
"Okay."
Hopping on the train to go a few stops away to a ramen restaurant they had frequented over the years, they ran into a familiar face and floating clothes.
"Kyoka, Tobias? What are you doing here?" asked Mina, who had Toru sitting next to her.
"Mina, you have to be quiet on a train." said Toru.
"Oops. So, are you two on a date?"
"Yup." said Tobias.
"Ahh! I'm so jealous."
"You're a pretty girl, Mina, I'm sure you could find a boyfriend no problem."
"It's not about finding one no problem, it's about establishing a connection with one. I want my boyfriend to not just be my boyfriend, but my best friend. Like you two."
"Sounds nice." chimed in Toru.
"It is." said Kyoka.
"Well, I'm sure you can find someone like that eventually. I mean there's Denki and Eijiro."
"I have known Eijiro since middle school, but I can't see him that way. Denki's nice, but not my type."
"Oh, you knew Eijiro before U.A.?"
"Yeah, he stopped an upperclassman from bullying me."
"Nice guy, check. Good looking, less than me, but check. I think we have a winner."
"No, like I said I can't see him that way."
"I didn't see Tobias like that at first either. I saw him as just a friend until I didn't. If it's meant to happen, it'll happen." said Kyoka.
"I guess. What about you, Toru? You have anyone you like?"
"M-maybe." she quietly said.
"Eh?! You do?! Spill the beans!" said Mina.
"N-no. I'm not sure yet. I'll tell you once I'm sure." she said.
"Deal!"
"Sorry, girls. This is our stop. See you tomorrow." said Tobias as they said their goodbyes.
~~
After eating some very tasty ramen, the pair were now making their way along the beach with the setting sun as their backdrop.
"Today was nice. Thank you." said Kyoka, as the pair held hands.
"You're very welcome. I'd like to do this more, but school seems to get in the way more often than not."
"Once every so often is more than enough. Besides, we see each other almost every day."
"That's true, but still seeing each other every day at school and going on a date is different. So, let's go for once a month at least."
"I'm okay with that."
"Good. Let's sit here." he said before pulling out a card and throwing it down on the sand. Activating the card, the sand in the area surrounding the card started shifting until it created the form of a bench before solidifying.
"New card?"
"Just for this special occasion."
"My prince." she said fake swooning before they sat down and just watched the sunset with the sunglasses Tobias made.
After a few minutes of silently staring at the sun, Tobias was the first to break the silence.
"What're you thinking about?"
"How do you know I'm thinking about something?"
"We've been friends for years."
"Sigh, I'm just thinking about yesterday. And the future."
"Scared?"
"A little, aren't you?"
"About the situation, no. About the potential ramifications of what happened and will happen because of yesterday, yes."
"I'm guessing you're excited about fighting villains, but scared about the target that may paint on your loved ones' back."
"You know me so well."
"You're not the only one." she said putting her head on Tobias' shoulder.
"I guess the reality of what we've embarked upon is much scarier than I realized. The thought of you or my parents or your parents getting hurt because of someone I put away is not a pleasant thought to have." said Tobias.
"True, but that's why we have each other. To support one another when things get rough, or when it's too much to handle alone. Even the best heroes have sidekicks. But don't think for a second I'll ever be your sidekick." she said looking up at him.
"Don't worry. I've never once had that thought. I want to you to be by my side as a duo, not a sidekick. And I'll train with you as long as it takes for that to happen." he said, staring at her eyes before kissing her to which she reciprocated.
"I really like you." she said.
"I really like you too. Now, for the fireworks." he responded before tossing a few cards into the air only for them to explode into fireworks.
~~
As they were hoverboarding home, Tobias got a phone call from an unknown number, so he decided to pick it up.
"Hello?"
"Tobias, it's All Might!"
"Oh, sensei, how are you?"
"Good my boy, I was calling because we are in need of some assistance."
"In what regard?"
"We need your help with the two villains you captured. It's very important."
"Okay, I just need five minutes."
"Splendid! Come to the Musatafu Police HQ., I'll be waiting outside for you." he said before hanging up.
"Sensei?" she asked.
"Seems like they need my help for something regarding the two villains I captured."
"Interesting."
"Hold on." he said before speeding up.
~~
"Tobias, thank you for coming on such short notice." said All Might as Tobias reached the station.
"It's not a problem. Shall we?"
"Of course, right this way." he said before the two started walking inside and into an elevator that was going down.
"So, what's the problem, sensei?"
"It's better if Naomasa explains it to you."
"Who?"
"Oh right, the detective from yesterday."
Exiting the elevator, they came upon a corridor before turning left and into what looked like a holding cell/medical room with two tables, each one with a villain with Tobias' seals.
"Oh, Tobias-kun, thank you for coming on such short notice." said the detective.
"Not a problem, detective. Happy to help."
"That's good to hear. What has All Might told you?"
"Nothing, he said you would explain."
"Okay then. First of all, we ran some tests on both of these villains and ran their quirks through the registry. Nothing was found for either of them, not that we had much hope for the monster one. What we do know is that the monster, and possibly both of them, are bioengineered experiments meant to kill All Might.
So we ran DNA analysis on both of them and very interesting things came to light. This is all very preliminary work at the moment, but we've managed to figure out that both of these villains were experimented on by injecting them with various DNA that then caused them to mutate into what we see here. Unfortunately, due to the complicated nature of what has been done to them, it'll be months until we're able to know who they were."
"That's where I come in. You want me to use my quirk to possibly reverse the changes that have been done to them."
"That's correct. If not permanently, temporarily would be good as well."
"Please, Tobias, this might be our only chance to save them." said All Might.
"Okay, let me give it a shot." said Tobias before taking out some cards.
'Hmm, I'll try to create a card that reverses any experiments done on them and see what that's like.'
Tobias created the card before placing it on the Nomu and activating it before he stumbled and caught himself.
"Tobias!" said All Might, rushing forward to help him up.
"I-I'm all right. Sorry, sensei. I won't be able to help you, right now. I had to forcibly stop the effect of the card before it drained me dry."
"So it takes more stamina than you have to reverse the effects?"
"Apparently. I made the card so it would only cost me stamina depending on the severity of the effects of the experiments. It seems they are too much for me right now. But, I can try to do a very temporary reversal, just give me a sec." he said before pulling out some blue cards and activating them.
"Much better." he said before trying again but adding on that the reversal would only be for 10 minutes. Placing the card on the warper this time, he activated the card before he felt 50% of his stamina drained.
The card on the warper then started to shine before covering the villain and revealing the form of the man who was experimented on.
"I-it can't be!" said All Might and the detective.
"I'm guessing you both know who that is." he said, looking at the boy with blue hair.
"That's Shirakumo Oboro, a former U.A. student that died during his Hero-Work studies. And a friend of Aizawa." said All Might.
"So, these villains are made using the corpses of quirk users and then heavily experimented on until they become someone or something else entirely." said the detective.
"How tragic." said Tobias.
"Indeed. Thank you for your help today, Tobias, but it's a school night so you should go home." said the detective.
"Okay."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AN
A bit of a breathing chapter, but the next one is the start of the Sports Festival! Another chapter tomorrow.