NO. 39 - Combat Training

Images changed one after another in rapid succession.

My sight trailed the broad city skylines of Kyoto before it suddenly changed to a small shopping center within Tokyo. My vision changed again to a run-down residential area before moving onto the bustling city streets of Shibuya. With each change of scenery, I felt the growing headache hurt even more. Despite the pain, I continued switching between the dozens upon dozens of viewpoints.

All of this was in an effort to find any plague mask-wearing individuals or a small little girl.

"Souta. Souta? Souta!"

[+5 SP]

I was snapped out of my shared sight with my crows by a very annoyed Mei. She had her hands on her hips while she looked at me with narrowed eyes. Her sharp expression soon gave way to concern as she tilted her head in worry.

"Are you okay? You seem… distracted?"

"I'm fine. I was just... lost in my thoughts," I said before looking down at the fold-up table where two armored arms rested. Beside them was a small chest plate and a backpack where slim, but large batteries sat within. "Where are we at?"

Due to the subject being changed back to her inventions, Mei grinned and motioned to the nearby laptop that was connected to the arms.

"All the final touches are done! We just need you to finish programming the changes to your code, and we can get started testing my baby!"

"Right. I'll get to that."

[+5 SP]

Walking up to the laptop, I began to type away several new lines of code while also changing some of my past work. As I worked, I looked up to see the large quirk testing room I had rented out for Mei, Izuku, Keiko, Himiko, and my uncle Jin.

The room itself was meant for those who wanted to use or train their quirks within relative safety and to avoid getting in trouble for illegal quirk usage in a public space.

Over the past few weeks of searching for Eri, I had decided I was sick of having to keep up the charade of being an orphan and having to send a clone in my place to the orphanage. With careful planning and some expensive forged documents, I had Himiko transform into Jin and adopt me from the orphanage. This was mostly due to her being able to maintain a professional demeanor longer than Jin.

The forged documents I had bought from a guy I know gave Jin an entirely new life with no history of any of his past crimes. On Himiko's suggestion, Jin was also my estranged uncle, who had a falling out with my father. Causing the news of my parent's death not reaching him until very recently. In order to make it up to his brother, Jin had walked into the orphanage and promptly adopted me. The caretakers and director looked a little too relieved that I was finally leaving.

Things got a little more complicated when I told Keiko about Jin. She had rained several questions on the man when I finally introduced him to her. Apparently, Keiko didn't appreciate the fact that my uncle had left me alone in the orphanage for so many years due to the dispute between him and my father.

Jin, the actual Jin, was constantly on his toes around Keiko, but he did rather well sticking to the story the three of us came up with. Even after I told her I didn't hold Jin's absence against him, Keiko still gave him the cold shoulder from time to time while clinging to me.

Glancing up from the laptop, I watched the four of my friends chatting about something I couldn't quite hear. Jin was wearing a black and white mask that resembled his original one but with enough changes that they couldn't be mistaken as one and the same.

We excused this away by saying Jin was in a terrible accident that left his face scarred and sensitive to the air. Thankfully, I had some sickeningly nice and understanding friends who accepted our excuse.

"Alright. All ready."

I told Mei, who bounced with excitement; she then called everyone over, causing them to all approach the table where the armored arms and chest plate rested.

"Hmm, it's not very cute," Himiko muttered as she reached out to touch the arms. Jin walked up behind her and peered down at the armored arms as Himiko played with their fingers.

"How neat! Can they blast energy beams out of their palms?" Jin asked as he and Himiko played thumb wars with the arms.

"It's amazing, Hatsume-san, Souta-San!" Izuku said with excitement in his eyes as he looked over the support gear Mei and I worked on for him. "Can this really help me become a hero?"

"Sure can!" Mei walked around the table, pushing past Keiko, Himiko, and Jin. She grabbed Izuku's wrist and all but yanked him over. Wordlessly, I began strapping the chest plate and armored arms onto him as Mei adjusted the straps over Izuku's limbs.

"Wow! These really are amazing!" Keiko walked over to watch as Mei and I finished putting the support gear on Izuku. "So with this, Izuku-kun will be able to better keep up with everyone else, right?"

"Exactly!"

"Not exactly," I said, cutting off Mei's high energy.

[+10 SP]

She walked over to me and rubbed the top of her head on the bottom of my chin with a pout. "This gear won't be able to keep up with those who have a good handle on their quirks. At least, not yet. Mei had some earlier designs we worked off from, but we need to test out how these arms perform first before improving them."

"What Debbie Downer said." Mei then unplugged the cables that connected the arms to the laptop. "However, once we test these babies, I'll be able to vastly improve them with the data we collect from their performance today!"

"So, are you guys going to do a bunch of boring tests then? How lame." Himiko sighed and took a seat on one of the fold-out chairs beside the table.

"I don't know, it could be fun! I wanna go home." Jin said as he took a seat next to Himiko.

"Nah, nothing like that," I said while taking off my jacket. I walked out into the center of the training ground and rolled my shoulders. "We're going to do something more practical. Combat training. Keiko, Izuku, get over here. Today, you two will be working together to take me down."

[+5 SP]

[+10 SP]

"What?" Keiko asked in surprise. "But that isn't fair. With the added arms, Izuku-kun may be stronger than you now, Sou-Chan. Plus, I've gotten a lot stronger with my own quirk."

"She's right, Souta-san. Isn't this too much?"

Suddenly, they both blinked in confusion as an oppressive wave of power swept over them. Before they could question it, the mysterious wave vanished.

"Aren't you two kids getting overconfident?" I began to warm up by hopping from foot to foot as I rolled my arms. "How about this: if either of you manages to land even a single blow on me, I'll take everyone here on a shopping spree. How's that for incentive?"

[+5 SP]

[+10 SP]

[+10 SP]

[+10 SP]

"Shopping?" Keiko muttered, her eyes wide with excitement. A large, confident smile spread over her face as she ran over in front of me. "Okay! Let's do this!"

"Hase-San!" Izuku yelled in shock at how quickly his friend changed.

"Ooh! Things are finally getting interesting!" Himiko grinned and brought out two pompous from… somewhere. "Go Izuku-kun! Go Keiko-chan! Fight! Fight!"

"Hmm, I could have sworn you'd be cheering for Souta," Jin mumbled before lifting a flag with a chibi face of myself. "You got this, Bro! I mean, Nephew! Win! Win!"

"It's okay, Izuku," I said while easing into a loose fighting stance. "Show me the results of all your years of training."

[+20 SP]

"Souta-San…" Izuku uttered softly. Taking a deep breath, he slid into his own stance and began to glare at me. "Very well. I'll show you what I'm capable of!"

I grinned at them both and beckoned them on.

"Let's get this show on the road then."

Clap!

I backflipped away as a barrier of blue energy swiped past where I once stood.

"Not bad, Keiko. Right for the throat!"

[+5 SP]

"I have you to thank for that!" Keiko smiled at me and followed after me.

Clapping her hands, Keiko unleashed three more waves of energy, all of which took on the shapes of fists. I danced around each of them and flipped over a low kick thrown by Izuku. With a glare, he spun around and flicked out two snap kicks at my midsection. Grinning, I moved out of range of the first kick before slapping his second kick to the side.

Let's see how well that chest plate holds up.

With a flick, I punched him on his chest using some minor CE enhancement. Causing him to grunt as his body rolled back several meters.

[+5 SP]

[+10 SP]

"Izuku-kun!" Keiko yelled as she ran sideways. Clapping her hands, Keiko hopped on a blue disk she conjured below her feet. Gliding across the floor to float in front of Izuku, Keiko pushed her hands in front of her. In a flash of blue, a wide barrier the size of a car rushed at me. From behind the barrier, Izuku leaned down and rushed me, using the barrier as a blind spot.

"A distraction. Not bad, you two."

I leaned to the side to avoid Izuku's flying kick after he used the barrier as a launching pad, resulting in him flying behind me. Seeing their combined attack fail, Keiko clapped her hands again, launching three flying pillars of energy at me with a wince; I pushed myself off the ground and reappeared in front of Keiko. Surprising her with my speed.

"F-fast!"

"Really? I suppose we have to up your running exercises then."

"G-geh…"

[+5 SP]

Reaching out, I grabbed both of her hands and used them as leverage to land a strong donkey kick at Izuku's face from where he tried to land a sneak attack. Using my abdominal strength, I flipped over Keiko and landed behind her with her wrists still in my grasp. Keiko's arms were locked in front of her as she failed to escape me as her back was pressed against me. Trapping her.

"Still too stiff," I pushed her forward and landed a good kick onto her back, sending her stumbling into Izuku.

"Are you okay, Hase-san?" Izuku asked Keiko, who quickly nodded as they turned to me. I grinned at them as I slid my hands into my pockets.

"Don't tell me that's all you two got?"

"Not even close." Izuku and Keiko both said in unison. Turning to one another, they nodded before rushing forward.

Izuku reached me first and threw out a right punch at my head; I easily dodged it and moved back to avoid a left punch. From there, our fight turned into a dance where he tried to use every combo he had in his arsenal. Unlike before, his speed was much greater, probably around a 5% boost, thanks to the armored arms. As we moved, I noticed that he was purposely keeping himself in my direct line of sight.

So that's how it is.

"Now, Izuku-kun!"

"Right!"

I smiled and remained in place as Izuku flipped away just as Keiko sent a very large and very fast barrier right at me. It was the size of a small house, but it wasn't all that thick. It seemed that Keiko had exchanged the durability and strength of the barrier in favor of increasing its size and speed.

"Not bad."

Crack!

Stepping beside Keiko, Izuku watched the loud plum of dust from Keiko's attack slowly begin to settle. Keiko's breathing was quick, and sweat covered her face. She then fell onto her knees as all her remaining strength left her.

"Did that get him?" Izuku muttered, his posture stiff.

"I don't know, maybe?" I said as I peered into the plum of dust. "Do you see him?"

[+20 SP]

[+10 SP]

Both Keiko and Izuku spun to see me standing in between them. Before he could move, I spun on my left foot and kicked Izuku's exposed stomach with a strong back kick.

The boy gasped as he was launched back, his body curling up in pain. Keiko was about to yell out his name, but I grabbed the top of her head and slammed her onto the ground. Seeing both of them down for the count, I turned to an incredibly happy Mei.

Himiko had a pout on her face due to the loss of a free shopping trip, but she didn't seem surprised at my win. Jin was giving me a standing ovation while yelling bravo here and there.

"How's that? You get any good data?"

"Tons!"

x x x

"Oh! Oh! How about we switch out the baby's current flex ring for one that allows a wider range of motion?!"

"That might work. But it might also rip Izuku's arms off."

"That's okay! We'll just make Midoriya-kun some new arms!"

I smiled at Mei as we made our way back to her house. Izuku and Keiko both groggily went home together while Himiko wanted to go buy some ingredients for tonight's dinner. Jin was promoted to bag carrier by her and was promptly dragged with her towards the store.

That left Mei and me to carry all of our equipment back to her home. Normally, this would take more people due to the weight of the gear, but I had no issues carrying it.

Over my shoulder was a large metal case where the damaged arms and chest plate sat while the fold-up table was strapped to my back. Mei walked beside me with a large backpack full of her tools and laptop as she scribbled away new designs and ideas on her handy notepad.

"Huh?"

I mumbled as Mei suddenly held my free left hand. She wasn't paying attention to me as we continued to walk down the city streets.

"What's the matter, Mei?"

"Hm? What do you mean?" Mei asked, genuinely confused.

"Well, you're holding my hand," I said, raising up our joined hands. She then blinked and made a soft "ah" noise.

"I don't know… I guess I just wanted to hold it," She said as her fingers tightened around my own. "Do you… not want to?"

We continued walking, my eyes focused on her face. Feeling my gaze, Mei's cheeks slowly began to redden. I then shrugged and looked back up.

Is she…? No. This is Mei we're talking about. She's probably worried she might wander off, so she's using me as a guide or something.

"No, it's fine,"

[+20 SP]

I adjusted the metal case over my shoulder and missed the wide smile that grew on Mei's face, something she wasn't even aware she did.

The two of us continued walking hand in hand until we reached her home. Once there, we let each other go and walked inside her house. I greeted both of her parents before placing her baby down into her little work area in her room.

"Okay. Don't work on these too much, and try and get some sleep." I said while rolling my weary shoulder. Mei walked up to the case and snapped it open while she brought out her tool bag from her backpack. "Don't think I haven't noticed the small bags under your eyes."

[+10 SP]

"What's sleep in the face of innovation!" Mei said as she sat on one of the armored arms on her work table.

Just as she was about to undo the screws holding the forearm plates down with a screwdriver, I placed a hand over her own. Stopping her. I then gave her a stern look that she tried to squirm away from.

"Mei."

"…fine. I'll get some sleep. Happy?!"

[+20 SP]

Taking my hand away, I gave her a nod with a smile. "Yup. That way, you won't blow these or me up accidentally. Again."

[+10 SP]

"I said I was sorry! I didn't know that Baby # 34 was going to blow up during the testing phase!"

"Tell that to my eyebrows."

"They grew back!"

-

AN:

I have a quick question: I've noticed several requests for me to add Toga as Souta's other potential partner alongside Hatsume. While this would go against the one-partner agreement I made with everyone, I wanted to see how everyone feels about this now that I have more readers than when I first conducted my original poll.

I'm only willing to do one other partner, and with how I have written the story so far, Toga may be the only other love interest I'm willing to add, considering that these two characters are most likely the only ones I can see accepting a polyamorous relationship.

I'll be leaving it up to you all. Long live democracy.

1. Yes, add Toga and make it a love triangle.

2. No, keep it as a single pairing with just Hatsume.

Happy voting, until next time!