Musutafu City (V)

Boom!

All seven mock cities began quaking as the release of the mostly forgotten zero-pointers began clawing their way out of the ground. Just the appearance of the massive skyscraper-sized spider-limbed robots destroyed dozens of city blocks worth of space across all seven cities combined.

It really irked Izuku as he thought, 'Right, right… Who cares about collateral damage anyway? It's not like most of the people are experiencing a test that lets them use their Quirk for the first time, right?' He rolled his eyes in annoyance at the sight of his city's zero-pointer take out the top three stories of a building with just a casual sweep of one of its several spider limbs.

Thoroughly annoyed by the constant panic and anxiety the massive robot inspired in most of his peers, Izuku was one of the very few people who decided to approach his zero-pointer. He took off in a burst of speed before jumping from one of the tallest roofs around to axe-kick the monstrous robot's head into the rest of its body. The sheer power behind his attack was such that he dented the robot beyond recognition, burying its head into its body and its body several meters into the ground.

Ironically, even when he went out of his way to attack without regard for possible collateral damage, in the end, he dispatched the zero-pointer in the least destructive way possible. After all, tens of millions of yen in ruined asphalt and concrete couldn't hold a candle to the trillions worth of damage the zero-pointer would have caused if it remained in commission for even a few more minutes before the exam ended.

'...This thing can't be made out of aluminum or thin pieces of an actually durable metal if it was destroying entire buildings before.' Izuku thought in confusion, 'Yet it crumbled so easily against an attack that Katsumi would have just blocked…'

Boom!

As if to remind him of how ridiculously powerful she actually was, the sound of a massive faraway explosion was followed by an equally impressive shockwave that blew out the windows all around Izuku.

It was easy for him to forget that after seven months of training like a madwoman with him, her Status had been raised to the point where she could barely be considered as A Rank by his Observe; an existence just two steps removed from being among the absolute strongest across the entire World.

Izuku ignored the looks he was given as he made his back to the entrance and remained unbothered the entire way back to UA's principal building. He could hear people whispering about him, some admiring his strength, while others cursing his "natural" advantage. With no one actively going out of their way to talk to him, he remained silent.

When he met up with Katsumi on their way out of the university premises, he asked, "I take it you had a fun time blowing up the big one?"

"Not really," Katsumi shrugged. "I didn't expect it to die in one attack even if it was one of my bigger explosions. It was kind of a letdown."

"How many points did you end up getting?" Izuku asked, genuinely curious.

"Guess," Katsumi grinned.

"Hmm… two hundred?" Izuku low-balled her on purpose.

"I lost count after three-fifty-eight," she snorted, clearly happier than she'd been in weeks.

"Yeah, that's probably going to be the highest score. I'm not sure if I got more than a hundred for helping a few of the others that were in the test with me, since I didn't fully destroy any more robots after a hundred points. But, I'm definitely not coming close to you, either way."

On their way back home, Izuku stopped for a second, causing Katsumi to stop as well and look at him. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "We should celebrate you probably getting the highest practical exam score ever… Is there any place you'd like me to take you out to?"

"Anywhere!" Katsumi answered before she could control herself. She felt like digging a hole and burying herself in it as she reiterated, "...I wouldn't mind eating dinner anywhere, with you."

"Tonight?" Izuku asked, his Acting Ability really putting in the work by allowing him to keep a calm facade.

"Tonight…" Katsumi accepted.

…

Half an hour before he had to pick her up at her house, Izuku was having something of a "soft" mental breakdown as he reconsidered the entire thing.

'Should I really be doing this? With Katsumi?' He was glad he didn't have a nervous tick, or he'd be soaked through his clothes with sweat or out of nails to bite off by now.

'It's been obvious for a while that she's wanted this, but… Should I really be doing this right now? Can I really afford to get in this kind of relationship when I'm nowhere even remotely close to being done with the Gamer System?'

'Neither of us should to be distracted right now… She's focused on becoming a World Rank Hero, and I'm not strong enough to guarantee I'll be able to return when the time comes and I get the next Fragment.'

Sure, he could just abandon trying to fulfill the Main Quest voluntarily. But, he rather disliked his chances against the entity that managed to give him the Gamer System in the first place. Perhaps nothing would happen. Perhaps he would come to regret it immediately. Izuku would not even consider it beyond a passing thought.

His only real option was to make the most of his time. With his Incidental Curse making two of the more dangerous worlds guaranteed to land him in major fights every time he returned, he needed to plan which worlds he'd visit and try to maximize the amount of time he could prepare before heading off to the next cataclysmic battle.

The worst thing he could do is completely collect all the fragments in any of the relatively weaker worlds as that would prevent him from returning until he completed his Main Quest. Technically, the absolute worst thing he could do is follow that trend up the progression of the difficulty of each world as by the end of that, he'd have to go through consecutive fights against increasingly ridiculous godlike entities in the Supernatural World.

'Then, there's also the other women I have in my life…' Izuku cringed as he struggled to find a satisfying solution to his problem. 'In Menagerie, Katherine made her interest obvious since the day we met. We could easily get together if I made the effort to stay around her for a bit longer… And, even in Orario, Amaterasu is… Well, Amaterasu.'

He almost couldn't bare the thought of getting together with any of them and leaving them heartbroken if it turned it he wasn't strong enough to return. He already had a monumental amount of weight on his shoulders just thinking about how his mother would feel if she suddenly never heard back from him again.

He looked at the time and cursed internally. It was time to leave if he wanted to pick Katsumi up on time.

Even if he wanted to blame his impulsive decision to ask her out on his Hairpin Trigger Disciple Curse, he couldn't as that wouldn't be the truth. The second or so he stopped to consider it could be likened to minutes for others.

Deep down inside, he knew he wanted this just as much as Katsumi did.

He could look back years into their past and see that behind the mask she donned as his bully, she was actually trying to look out for him in her own, misguided, way. She probably liked him long before he became The Gamer, and after spending ten full months together she managed to worm her way into his heart.

Most of the time, they were fighting either with each other or in their own corner of Izuku's ID. But there were plenty of times when they also ate together, laughed together, or just talked. It was enough for Izuku's subconsciously to slowly work him into opening up to her. After all, it'd be a shame if he died before he got to know what his life could be like with a partner.

On the forefront, his willpower was borderline unbreakable. Yet the combined forces of his personality-shifting Curses slowly eroded their way into convincing himself of going through with this one selfish desire.

The circumstances, the what-ifs, none of it mattered, Izuku assured himself. It'd been years since he cast away his original goal of being the hero who saved everyone. The most he could hope for now was just to focus on living his best life as he raced against time itself to grow incomprehensibly powerful.

…

"...I'm almost jealous," Mitsuki said as she stood by the door and shamelessly licked her lips as she looked at Izuku with an appraising eye.

"Of all the responses… Is it bad that I anticipated something like this?" Izuku asked. With how long he'd known her, this was absolutely something he expected her to say if she ever approved of one of Katsumi's suitors.

"Hahaha," Mitsuki ignored his remark as she allowed him in. She said, "You really know how to dress to impress, Izuku. I never expected this from you."

"That's rich coming from you," Izuku resisted the urge to smirk at her. "Weren't you the one who taught me all the obscure rules that go into dressing like this? Or did you think I'd forget over the years?"

"Oh? So you already know what you're getting in, huh?" Mitsuki snickered. "You better believe I went all out to prepare for my little girl's first date. You might want to prepare yourself before she knocks your socks off."

"Uh… Shouldn't you be trying to intimidate me or something? It's really throwing me off how little resistance you've put up against the idea that I'm taking Katsumi out on a date," Izuku admitted.

"What could I possibly say when you've already managed to get her to accept you? She's the one with the Explosion Quirk, not me," Mitsuki snorted. "Besides, I know you've been raised well by Inko. I'd sooner trust you with her, than any other schmuck."

That was top-tier praise… from Mitsuki, anyway.

"Er… Thanks?" Izuku said.

He continued to make small talk with Mitsuki and later Masaru when he arrived in the kitchen until Katsumi finally came down the stairs, ready to leave for the night out. Izuku promptly found out, he had not heeded Mitsuki's advice as much as he should have.

Seeing her for the first time in a formal dress with makeup uplifting her near-flawless features, it was like she had come directly out of one of his dreams. Her usual straight hair was fixed into curls, her lips painted cherry with just enough of a glossy look to make her irresistible.

It really made Izuku wonder why she never dressed up like this before. She could effortlessly find great success if she ever went into a commercial avenue and took up modeling like her mother.

'It's probably because looking good has never really appealed to her. Katsumi's always done things to suit her best interest,' So for her to dress up like this for him… Even in his mind, it went unsaid what that meant about her opinion of him.

"So… W-where are we going?" Katsumi said, stammering slightly as struggled to distract herself from how handsome and dashing Izuku was in his tight black dress shirt and form-fitting pants.

"I was thinking something relatively casual, like noodles or seafood. But I think we're way overdressed for that. Do you want to eat at a fancy Italian or French restaurant?" Izuku asked.

Although not as rich as he was in either the Dungeon World or Remnant, Izuku had made a "decent" amount of money selling his paintings after grinding that particular Ability to the limit.

"How about…" Katsumi pulled her phone out and searched for one of the newer Brazilian-style restaurants that had made the news a couple of weeks prior, "...Here. I heard it's the newest subsidiary restaurant built by the Yaoyorozu Family."

"Sounds good," Izuku nodded.

Among the many things he learned and relearned after returning to his Original World, he heard several mentions of the Yaoyorozu Family. They were the equivalent of the American Rockafeller and Rothschild Families, but from Japan. Headed by the Yaoyorozu Matriarch, any business venture they entered saw unimaginable success; hence, the restaurant built by them would probably be one of the best experiences around.

The entire walk and train ride to the restaurant, Izuku was amused by the constant attention and comments directed at him and Katsumi.

"Bro, are you seeing this shit? You think they're part of that one magazine that has model couples go around and take undercover shots that look natural?" A man spoke to his friend.

"Makes sense. I mean, why else would they be taking a train ride? They practically scream rich-people energy…" The man's friend whispered back.

"That stupid blond bimbo is trying too hard." A jealous middle-aged woman snorted.

"Like you wouldn't try any harder if you were back in your prime? Her date isn't even trying and he's "just" perfect in all the right places," her senior, another woman, harshly criticized.

Really, it was an odd feeling, having his date and himself get openly judged by their appearance. But, Izuku learned to accept it. It would only get worse after they became licensed pros, ascended the ranks, and became international conversational pieces.

When they finally made it to the restaurant, Izuku was surprised to see the amount of attention they received just barely diminished even after being seated and placing their orders.

"Say, are you going to be moving into the dorms on campus, once classes start?" Izuku asked as he waited for their food to arrive.

"Yeah, I can't wait until I'm finally out and living on my own. For months, my old hag has been openly fantasizing about finally being able to fuck around with my dad after I leave. Even now, it's awkward as hell and frankly disturbing," Katsumi paled slightly as she recalled several such instances.

"Good for her…" Izuku hesitantly said. "I mean, it's nice to hear that she loves Masaru so much. Most marriages, I read, turn loveless after about a decade; and that's only for the people that manage to stick together for that long, to begin with."

"Izuku… That's gross. Those are my parents," Katsumi nearly gagged.

"Moving on then," Izuku shrugged her concerns off, "I was asking if you were going to move in, because I haven't figured out what I'm going to do. I think it'd be a great opportunity to move and live at UA, but at the same time, I want to maintain the routine I have living with my mom. I barely see her for more than an hour each day as is, and I want to keep supporting her by cooking her meals and preparing her lunches."

"I guess you'll just have to talk to Aunty Inko and—"

Crash!

Without any warning, something crashed into the restaurant with enough force to toss the otherwise defenseless patrons to the ground at best and outright kill those unfortunate enough to be near the impact site.

Picking himself up the ground, having suffered so little damage that it didn't register a change in his Status, Izuku immediately cast out his Aura Sense and froze. For a split second, the situation around him was forgotten as he desperately flung the debris that covered up Katsumi and found her unconscious with blood streaming down the side of her head.

Irrevocably angered, he saw red and didn't even think to confirm her Status.

Instead, he focused on the cause of his date's current state and the source of danger to everyone around him.

"Hahaha, you stupid rabbit bitch! Let this be a lesson so that next time you will know to bow down to your betters!" The villain said as he carelessly entered the ruined restaurant. "Your stupid legs are nothing compared to my marvelous hands!" He didn't even attempt to obscure his narcissistic motivations; a common thing for present-era villains.

"Ack!" The villain suddenly collapsed to his knees as he felt the worst pain imaginable coming from his treasured hands. When the blindness-inducing pain cleared up, he looked up to see that his hands were being gripped to oblivion by Izuku; the crushing force of his strength, molding the villain's hands like they were made out of play dough.

"You ruined my date," Izuku lowly said as he glared down at the helpless villain.

"Five people are dead thanks to your stupid stunt and hundreds more are wounded," he continued as the venom in his words crept into a tangible sense of dread.

"And you did that just because you felt like showing off your shitty Quirk against one of the top pros? Just to throw down with Mirko?" Izuku squeezed his already deadly grip even harder with every question.

"Stop! P-please!" The villain fearfully called out as Izuku's Directed Intent towards him steadily built up and caused him to lose the will to keep his Quirk activated, making his hands even more vulnerable than they already were.

"Why?" Izuku nearly growled. "Shouldn't you know better and bow down to your betters?"

He might have gone on to squeeze the man's hands into pulp or maybe ripped his arms off had he just been mindlessly angry. But he had enough reason in him to settle for crippling the man's hands, knocking him out, and tossing him out into the streets like the garbage he was before moving on to more important matters.

Returning to his priorities, he Draconified, sacrificed a third of his total Argent Energy Reserves to Talent Tribute to bring his Healing Talent to A Rank for a few seconds, and then went on to cast Healing Dragons Breath on everyone in the restaurant. By the time the effects of Talent Tribute ran out, everything that was still alive in the restaurant was left with mild injuries at worst.

Returning to Katsumi's side as he undid his transformation, he watched as she woke up and started looking around in confusion. When she caught sight of him, she asked, "What the fuck happened?"

"Some asshole threw Mirko, over there," he pointed at the twelfth highest ranking hero who was staring at him with an unreadable expression, "into the restaurant. Aside from the two of us, pretty much everyone else was knocked out."

"Damn… Guess that means our date was ruined," Katsumi pouted as she glared at both of their ruined clothes.

"I mean, we could still get something on our way out of this mess. Something fast like noodles or pizza?"

"Ok…" Katsumi was obviously depressed.

"You know I can just take you out on another date whenever you want, right?"

At that, Katsumi couldn't have cheered up faster if she tried.