Chapter 4: New Friend

"I shouldn't have said that. Please don't tell anyone." Izuku said with some pleading in his voice.

"Why? Your quirk sounds interesting. So what is that pill that you just got? Can I eat it? Now that I think about it, you are not wrong. It could be dangerous to you when your quirk gets released to others. I already watched enough movies to see how wrong that could go! Okay, I won't tell anyone under one condition." She followed and ended with a stern look that looked weird on her small, cute face.

"And that is?" Izuku asked with some worry while his mother looked on with interest.

"You have to be my friend!" Nejire said with a smile on her face.

"Huh? Friend?" Izuku asked, dumbfounded.

"Yes. You have to be my friend. I don't have any since they all say I talk too much and am too arrogant. I don't understand why they call me that, but now you will be my first real friend." Nejire said happily.

"Okay," Izuku said, not seeing why someone like her wouldn't have any friends. 'Why would she even want to be friends with someone like me?'

"Yay. Here is my number! Call me every day from now on so we can talk with each other! And don't worry, even if you don't want to be my friend. In the end, I won't tell anybody about your quirk." She said happily while giving Izuku a note with her number on it.

Izuku took the number in a daze and finally looked at his mother, who, at the moment, tried to suppress her laughter at the scene playing in front of her.

"So what's that pill you got there? What can it do? Is there only one?" Nejire asked giddily.

"It's named the beginners strengthening pill, and it seems to give a small boost to the overall strength of the one who eats it," Izuku answered to the interest of the two of them.

"Ehhhh. Is there something like that?! That is so cool! Do you think you can get me some of them? My quirk eats at my stamina, and I am already training hard every day, but it's only a small progress." Nejire asked with a cute pout on her face.

"Sorry, Hado-san, but for the moment, I can't. Every time I fish, it costs real money. Then comes the fact that I have to buy more expensive baits when I want better things. Maybe in the future." Izuku answered a bit hesitantly. He would like to help her with her problem since they are now friends, but for the moment, he just doesn't have enough money to give away this thing.

Nejire opened her mouth wide and exclaimed, "It costs money?! Don't worry then, I won't need them! I will just search for a part-time job somewhere, and then you can fish for me! By the way, call me Nejire! I will also call you Izuku, so don't worry!"

Izuku looked a bit stupid at how fast their friendship progressed but agreed nonetheless. "All right, no problem. I will still tell you how my quirk works so you know for the future." 

After some minutes of explaining and answering her nonstop questions, Izuku once again threw his line into the lake. This time also choosing the Beginner's bait for 50$.

"So much money is needed!" Nejire exclaimed, still shocked about the prices of the baits. 

Her family wasn't a wealthy one, much like the Midoriyas. 

Probably even poorer than the Midoriya's. 

Hearing that his quirk needed that much money shocked her a bit. 

That isn't an amount she can even think about for now.

'After I become one of the top heroes in the world, there won't be a problem with money anymore!' she thought to herself with some expectations.

While she was thinking about her future hero career, Izuku toyed around with the pill he had just gotten. Thinking about it for a short time, he didn't hesitate any more and directly put the pill into his mouth.

After only one second, the pill dissolved inside his mouth, and a warm small turret could be felt going through his body.

He could practically feel his strength going up. Luckily, the pill was a permanent upgrade to his body, and even if he didn't train in the future, it would never vanish. Not that he wouldn't train. He already promised himself to train for his future career as a Hero and started weeks ago to do a morning run before school. 

Inko just looked at her smiling son and could already see that the pill worked. It made her happy that her son finally gained something nice in his life, and it even seemed like he found an interesting friend on his first trip.

Nejire, snapping back to the real world, saw that Izuku didn't have the pill in his hand anymore and instantly asked. "Did it work? Are you now like super strong?"

Izuku turned to her and smiled. "It worked nicely. I would say my strength has doubled! I am sure the strength improvement at the start will be more than when I take more after this, but it feels very nice!" He said to the shock of both of them.

"Doubled?!" They exclaimed with open mouths. They didn't expect such a significant improvement and could only fathom how the higher-ranked pills would give if there were even higher-ranked ones of this sort.

After they started to talk with each other again, it didn't take long until the lake finally changed again under the eyes of the three of them. 

[Congratulations, you used a Beginner bait and successfully fished: consolation prize: weak Sea Kings flesh - 10kg.]

[Weak Sea King Flesh (One Piece World): Eating this flesh will slowly raise your strength to a higher level. The stronger the Sea King, the better the results of strengthening. Weak Sea King Flesh only gives a small amount of improvement.]

"And what did you get this time?" Nejire asked him excitedly. She already knew she loved his quirk. It was so exciting, never knowing what new things could come from his quirk.

"The consolation prize. It seems like Sea King's flesh that can boost your strength when eating."

"Wow. Even the consolation prizes are useful!" Nejire exclaimed happily.