Chapter 3

{Wake up, Dear. The sun is already shining bright} Adrian said as he slowly got up, making Izumi slide off him. Without her pillow and warmth Izumi slowly opened her eyes, a quiet "Mornin'" escaping her mouth as she slugged her way to the bathroom. 

{I know that you don't agree with mornings, so take some time to fully wake up. Just don't take too long as we are leaving in an hour and breakfast is already waiting for you} Adrian said as he made his way to the kitchen. The summer vacation recently started so Izumi had a break from school. Inko used this time to buy a small house and started moving. With most of their things already there, today they were officially moving in. 

Walking into the kitchen he saw Inko doing the dishes from her breakfast. Adrian tapped her leg with his tail as 'good morning'. He could temporarily 'connect' with her like he is always connected with Izumi, but that would include him doing that from inside Izumi's soul space and would only last a day. Seeing as it was not necessary 'needed' Adrian didn't bother with the hassle. 

"Oh, morning Adrian! I left you a plate near the table, thanks for waking up Izumi" Inko said with a smile and some scratches to his head. Nodding, Adrian went to the table and once again tapped Inko with his tail as thanks. Adrian didn't require 'food' to survive, nor sleep for that matter, but he could eat and sleep if he wanted. And seeing as Inko made great food, Adrian didn't have any reason to refuse. 

As he was enjoying the steak that Inko prepared Izumi finally showed up. Seeing as today was her rest day, she wore a simple beige hoodie and a knee length black skirt. "Good morning, mom! What are we having for breakfast?" Izuki said with a smile and sat down near Adrian, her hand quickly finding his fur and started to draw shapes. As solid and practiced as her mask was, her nervousness and uncertainty didn't escape Adrian's notice. 

The static of nerves that he felt from their connection also helped clue him in on Izumi's mental state, but Adrian was confident in his ability to read her without such help. New home and a new school should sound great for someone who lived Izumi's life. But all of her previous life had taught her what to expect from people. And the devil that you know will always look kinder than the unknown. 

Not calling out her persona nor meaningfully acknowledging it, Adrian just got closer to Izumi and put his fluffy tail in her lap as a show of support. The grateful smile that he saw on Izumi's face was a worthwhile reward. Breakfast went by in a comfortable silence. 

Adrian sat by the table as he watched Izumi wash hers and his plates, a small smile on her face whenever she noticed Inko looking at her. "I'll get my backpack and we will go, have a safe trip!" Izumi said to her mom while drying her hands with her skirt. "Oh? Okay, be safe. I'll be going soon, too" Adrian heard Inko's reply come from the living room as he made his way to Izumi's room. 

{You got everything?} Adrian asked. Izumi stuffed her phone charger and a notebook into her backpack and nodded. "Yeah, it's strange seeing my room like this" Izumi said looking around the bare room. {Mhm, it does look more spacious without those eyeso-, I mean posters around} Adrian said, making his opinion on all of the All Might merchandise clear and started to make his way to the door. "Hey! He's my favourite hero, I won't have my quirk slander my interests" Izumi exclaimed and walked after Adrian, her cheeks settling into a cute pout. 

{Yeah, yeah. I just found all of that visual noise hard on my eyes} Adrian said with a chuckle. He had no major problems with Izumi liking All Might, but her obsession and the money spent on his merch was too much for his liking. {We'll need to diversify your collection - add some other heroes} Adrian added as he sat by the door waiting for Izumi to open it. "We'll see" Izumi said quietly, "Goodbye mom!" She shouted and went outside. 

Izumi and Adrian, mostly Adrian though, decided to go to their house on foot while Inko took a ride there. They could've ridden there too, but Adrian didn't want to be stuck in a cramped train. Their house was on the other side of town so it wasn't too far. 

After they made their way downstairs, Izumi hopped on Adrian's back and he started walking at a leisurely pace.  After almost a month of living their new lives, Adrian and Izumi have become almost used to the glances and, sometimes, stares that were pointed their way. Adrian more so than Izumi, but even the girl has built up an immunity to them. 

Even with his claws starting to slowly grow, his pads prevented any noise trotting would have made. After some initial difficulties Adrian just about got used to his new body. Even with the instinctual control he had over the control over his movements from the moment he manifested his physical form, it still took a bit of time until moving on four legs became natural. But probably the harder thing to get used to was the heightened senses - especially his nose and hearing compared to his previous life.

{Can you look up where exactly do we need to go?} Adrian asked, walking in the general direction of their new house. "Hmm, oh, yeah! S-sorry, I'm still a bit sleepy" Izumi said, fumbling to get her phone out. {It's okay, Dear. We are in no rush, don't panic} Adrian softly said, trying to calm Izumi down. "Sorry…" Izumi said, "For now, we should go straight to the park, then turn left" she quietly said. 

{No need to needlessly apologise} Adrian said, {Could you even say why are you sorry?} he added after a slight delay. There was silence for several long moments before Izumi started to talk. "Uhh, I was sorry… because… I wasn't… I didn't think that you'd need directions and wasn't prepared to give them?" Izumi slowly said, picking up speed as she spoke and came up with a reason. 

{Mhmm} Adrian made a noise and continued lightly trotting to the park. No one conversation or a magic string of words will change Izumi's habit to apologize for every little thing so Adrian dropped the subject. Letting Izumi sit with her thoughts and come to terms with whatever her head was overthinking, Adrian kept a leisurely trot towards the park.

It took almost ten minutes of slowly walking to finally reach the park. Just as he was to turn left and ask Izumi for further direction, the girl on top of him lightly pulled on his fur. Stopping in his tracks Adrian didn't take long to see why Izumi stopped him - near them, going to the swings were floating clothes, a cute sundress and sneakers the size of Izumi indicating a kid about the same age as Izumi.

Not needing to ask, Adrian started to slowly walk to the clothes. As soon as he started to do that, Adrian noticed an older man stand up and start to quickly walk up to them. Ignoring him, Adrian continued on walking {Go on, make a good impression. Who knows, this could be your new best friend} Adrian said to Izumi, trying to encourage her to interact more. Adrian could already guess that if he said nothing then the interaction would most likely devolve into Izumi gushing about the seemingly invisible girls quirk.

Even after she 'got' him and gained some confidence in not being 'inferior' to others, Izumi never tried to interact with other kids her age. Of course, Adrian understood her - for almost half her life kids her age either ignored her or bullied her, so he didn't try to push her into friendships. But he also knew that Izumi needed a bigger support group then a quirk that 'belonged' to her.

——

Lightly patting between Adrian's ears, Izumi waited for several seconds for Adrian to bend down before getting off him. Keeping one hand in the fur of the wolf that now sat next to her, Izumi took a small breath before putting on a small smile. "H-hello... I'm Izumi. I just wanted to say that your quirk is really cool!" Izumi managed to say, her mind already mocking her - already pointing out all the ways she could have said that better. 

Still, ignoring the treacherous thoughts Izumi continued to look at the lightly swaying clothes, noticing the small bracelets where arms should be and a small cloth necklace just about where the neck would be. 

"Oh... Thanks..." A high-pitched voice said, as if unsure on what to say. "I'm Toru..." The girl, Toru, added after several moments. "N-nice to meet you! So, is your quirk invisibility? Can you c-control it? Man, this is such a g-great quirk for an underground h-hero" Izumi started bombarding the invisible girl in front of her, her questions quickly becoming drowned out by her mumbling about the possibilities of such a quirk.

{Izumi...} Hearing Adrian's voice Izumi stopped herself in the middle of a word. Frowning, Izumi shook her head and looked up at where Toru's eyes should be "Sorry..." she quietly said. Sometimes Izumi hated her mind for that - whenever she got exited about something its almost like her mind forgot to stop her mouth from saying all the thoughts in her mind. Not once this 'quirk' of her mind pushed the potential friends she tried to make.

"It's... umm... You really think its a good quirk?" Izumi heard the girl in front of her uncertainty ask, as if she couldn't believe someone would think that. Izumi looked at her, or where she was supposed to be, for a moment before nodding and smiling at the girl again, this time a genuine smile on her lips. "O-of course! You can be the perfect stealth hero! The villains won't e-even know what hit them!" Izumi said, her voice gaining more fire as she talked, by the end Izumi lifted up her balled fist and did a hero pose, smiling at the girl.

It took several moment before Izumi heard Toru's voice again. "T-thanks" Izumi heard a small quiver in the voice, not able to ignore the bracelet moving upwards to wipe way the also invisible tears. Is everything her body produces invisible? Even tears and blood? Izumi couldn't stop the questions regarding Toru's quirk popping up. But with a lifetime of practice in ignoring them, Izumi had no problem in dismissing the questions to ponder over later.

"S-sorry... it's just that... other don't s-see it t-that way" Toru continued to talk. It didn't take much for Izumi to imagine the invisible girl's life. If Izumi was bullied just for not having a quirk, Izumi could understand how Toru felt being so noticeably different. Even if Izumi didn't really search for it, when searching information about quirks it was easy to find horror stories about how others were treated for their quirks being out of the norm.

"Then they are j-just s-stupid!" Izumi said, finally releasing the fur of the wolf that was obediently sitting next to her while looking to the side, and crossing her arms while turning up her nose - just generally playing up her indignation. A light, bell-like laugh graced Izumi's ears and Izumi felt her insides heating up with happiness - with the knowledge that she made the girl in front of her feel better. "Soo.... y-you have a wolf?" came the expected question.

Izumi's face lit up like a Christmas tree, the joy being unable to be hidden when talking about her companion. "He is my quirk, Adrian! He is actually a sentient quirk, but he can only talk telepathically. I manifested my quirk not too long ago so I try to spend as much time with him as I can!" Izumi rambled on, her mind spilling every little detail that came to mind.

Once again {Izumi, Dear...} Adrian's voice was the only thing that managed to stop Izumi's overworking brain. And once again, Izumi cursed her mind again. No matter how hard she tried, it seemed that exactment and passion overpowered her control over her body and seemed to connect her thoughts to her mouth. "So yeah! While he can become incorporeal, it feels better to have a real body..." Izumi said after several moments, finishing up the point she had tried, and failed, to make... You would think that talking at record speed would make it easier to convey your points...

"That's... so cool! You are amazing!" Izumi saw the girl's hands fly upwards. Izumi felt herself blush, still unused to compliments. Suddenly, Izumi realised why she got such reactions from people when she started talking about their quirks - even herself when put in such situation didn't know how to respond. Izumi settled on the tried and tested "Thanks" that so many people go with when raves about their quirk.

"We are aiming to be heroes!" Izumi said after several moments, trying to come up with something to talk about. During the last several years Izumi didn't have many chances to develop her conversation skills in real life - most of her human interactions coming from forums on the internet. "Me and Adrian will become the best hero duo there ever was!" Izumi added, raising up her fist high in the sky with a smile on her face.

"What about you?" Izumi asked the girl in front of her. There were several long moments before Toru spoke "I... don't know..." Izuku saw the sundress swaying side to side while the sneakers kicked the dirt beneath them. "I would... I want to be a hero too" Toru said, making Izumi smile, "But... I don't think my quirk is good for hero work" the girl finished, making Izuku drop her smile.

"You have a perfect quirk for hero work! Well, yeah, invisibility is not the best quirk for a spotlight hero, but I think you would make a perfect underground hero. Hell, if you really tried, I believe that you would become an amazing spotlight hero too!" Izumi said, finding it easy to disagree with Toru's belief of not having a 'good' quirk for heroics. 

To Izumi, there was no such thing as a 'bad' quirk - just bad usage of a quirk. So Izumi fundamentally disagreed with Toru's perception of her own quirk. "I... I guess... hmm..." Izumi say Toru start pacing. It took several long moments before Toru gathered her thoughts "I... never thought about it l-like that... I guess... I could make a pretty good hero..." Toru slowly said, making Izumi smile. Izumi wanted to jump up and give the invisible girl a hug, but her mind prevented her from doing that.

"I knew you'd get it. You will be a great hero! We... w-we can both be great heroes" Izumi said, faltering a bit near the end. Suddenly Izumi felt warm yet invisible arms wrap around as smooth hair brushed her cheek. "Y-Yeah! We will be great heroes!" Izumi heard the girl say next to her ear. After a moment of hesitation Izumi returned the hug.