(9)->AFTERMATH

---SEIYA'S ROOM, TATSUMA MANOR---

--Seiya's POV--

-The next day after the kidnapping incident-

Early in the morning, I was sitting on the study table, pondering about the attack on me last night. Things have calmed down but my thoughts are a mess. Last night was a close one and no matter what I might want to believe, it was only due to sheer luck that I managed to survive and get out of that fight unscathed.

Seiya: 'Had Aria not manifested her 'quirk' right then, I would be sitting in the hospital right now.'

It truly raised a red flag in my mind and helped me realize that I was not the same 'Demon-vanquishing Hero' that I had been in Ixphoria and had been severely underestimating the dangers present in this world, especially while I am still in such a vulnerable state.

This realization did not do me any good, however, for I could not do any sort of physical training while my body was still not fully developed or it would only serve to damage my body without any sort of gain whatsoever which means that for the time being, I would have to depend upon my parents for protecting me instead, the thought itself turning my mood sour.

Seiya: 'No, I cannot give up like this. If nothing else then I can still train my quirk to gain control of it. The quirk, being a part of my body, should not produce any kind of stress on me, that affects me negatively, as long as it is not overused.'

It might have seemed like I was controlling my 'quirk' effortlessly last night but only I knew that I was simply burning through my internal energy reserves to power my transformation which stretched me quite thin, as such, the moment my transformation ended, I fell unconscious.

Seiya: 'If it was not for the sudden influx of energy...*shudder* I shudder to even think about it. Hmm but still-'

Looking down at my hands, I could still feel the oncoming energy in every part of my body. I still did not discover the source of all this energy, however. I had assumed that it was the <Dragon Core> helping me in my time of need but earlier this morning when I looked into it using my <Aura Sense>, there were no indications that the energy was coming from it. In fact, it seemed that it was not coming from anywhere within my body but rather from the outside.

Seiya: 'But why the sudden change? Is it because of my 'quirk' or the <Dragon Core>? Hmm, one thing's for sure, I ain't getting any answers sitting down here and doing nothing.'

Thinking about my next course of action, I was so 'lost' in my thoughts that I did not sense two hands stretching towards me until they wrapped around me and pulled me towards their owner who just happened to be my sister.

Well, actually, I did sense her but did not bother to stop her. While she picked me up and hugged me as tightly as she could having no intention of letting me go, I waited for her usual cheerful greeting. What greeted me, however, were her warm tears which were coursing down her cheeks falling on my back followed by silent sobs as she tried to stop herself from crying but failed spectacularly.

Ryuko: "I am sorry Seiya *sob* for not keeping my promise *sob* to protect you. Please forgive your onee-san."

As soon as she said the last part, she broke down crying for the first time in a long while. It then struck me that I had actually never seen onee-san cry before. It was both heart-warming and heart-wrenching at the same time. Warming because I mattered so much to my little onee-san while wrenching because I was the source of all that pain. Fighting back the tears that wished to come out, I reached out to her and patted her head,

Seiya: "Hai Hai onee-chan, stop crying now or you will really be stuck with the little sister title for the rest of your long life. See, nothing happened to your cute little ototo. I am absolutely fine!"

I used every weapon in my arsenal against my little onee-san, from patting her head to calling her 'onee-chan', teasing her about being little, and finally calling myself her cute little ototo, all so that she forgets about those depressing thoughts and it worked, stopping her tears. A few minutes of consoling and cheering up later, which included a promise to call her onee-chan whenever we were alone, she was finally smiling a little.

Afterwards, I turned towards my parents who had sneaked into my room when I was consoling my sister. Seeing that the brother-sister pair were finally done with each other, my mother slowly came up to me and sat down on the chair. Beckoning me to come over, she said,

Kyoko: "Seiya, its Mamma's turn now!"

Sighing a little, I complied with her wishes and sat down on her lap. Looking at her beautiful face, which hid a small trace of concern, I sighed again when she suddenly gave me a tight hug that lasted for several minutes after which she gave my entire body a look-over. Finding nothing wrong, she finally smiled in relief. Lastly came my father's turn and while he was not as passionate in his hugs as the ladies, it was enough for me to feel his concern and relief.

Ryoma: "Forgive me, Seiya, for not being there for you when you needed me. I promise I will never let such a thing happen again. Also, I am proud of how you resolved the situation last night."

Turning my head, I looked at each of their faces and they showed me the same expressions of concern and guilt. I did not even know what to say but with them here, I could feel all my worries from earlier fading away.

Seiya: 'I truly am fortunate for having such a great family. If only, Aria was here too, then it would be complete. But where is she?'

Turning my head back towards my mother, I asked,

Seiya: "Okaa-san, where is Aria?"

Kyoko: "Don't worry, she is fine dear. She is with her parents. They were worried about her after she manifested her 'quirk' and what happened yesterday. You can meet with her later, okay?"

Just as I nodded in return, my father asked me,

Ryoma: "Speaking of 'quirks', tell me Seiya, last night, while you were fighting those bad people, did you suddenly feel any change in your body as if you were filled with energy all of a sudden?"

I took on a pondering expression but internally I was shocked,

Seiya: 'How did he know? Can he sense the energies the same way as I do? But his tone seems to seek confirmation rather than questioning? Either way, I will tell him the truth or at least partial truth.'

My time in Ixphoria had shown me that not everyone could be trusted but those that could be should never be lied to. After all, trust is the basis of any relationship whether they be friends, family, or lovers. This is part of the reason why I never hid anything from Aria before and who could I trust more than my own family and as such I would never lie to them. At most, I would just hide the truth from them.

Finally, after giving them a look of 'pondering' for a few moments I spoke with a look of curiousness,

Seiya: "Well, I did feel something like that just before I punched that fatty guy's face."

Ryoma: "And can you still feel it now?"

Seiya: "Yeah, I can. What happened to me otou-san?

Ryoma: "Haha, don't worry Seiya, it's nothing bad, just something related to your 'quirk'."

Seiya: "Hmm, how can you tell otou-san?"

Ryoma: "Well because it is similar to my own 'quirk'. Now we will talk about this later, you should rest for now. Last night must have been quite hectic for you. Also, from what happened last night, it is clear that overusing your quirk drains your body so try not to use it too much okay?"

It was clear from his serious tone that father was not telling me everything but I would not pester him, at least for now and even though I was not really tired, for the sake of their peace of mind, I decided to take a nap.

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--Author-san's POV--

Getting out of Seiya's room, Ryoma faced Kyoko who had a questioning look on her face,

Ryoma: "Hmm? Where is Ryuko?"

Kyoko: "I sent her back to her room and don't try to change the subject; what was that about Seiya's 'quirk'?"

Ryoma: "Well, I noticed the flow of nature energy around Seiya was similar to mine. So, I simply asked him about it."

Kyoko: "And?"

Ryoma: "He has dual quirks or a highly mutated one and honestly, I wish it is the latter."

Kyoko furrowed her brows at this and asked,

Kyoko: "Why?"

Ryoma: "From what David once told me, a person who has dual quirks often suffers from a huge strain on their bodies. Even those with physically fit bodies suffer from this backlash and as a result, their lifespans are greatly reduced."

Kyoko was shocked beyond words. Just yesterday, her boy's life was in danger and as soon as that was resolved, another danger appeared, and that too in the form of his own quirk. Almost screaming, she said loudly,

Kyoko: "What! Then what are we waiting for? We must take him to the hospital and get him checked immediately!"

Ryoma had expected her to react this way. His mind was in turmoil as well because of this and had been thinking about this problem since last night, allowing him to calm down. In a calm tone, he explained to her,

Ryoma: "No, we can't do that. If the fact that Seiya has dual quirks is true and this news gets out, then our enemies might try to harm him. I promised you that something like what happened last night will never happen again and I intend to keep it!"

Kyoko: "Then?"

Ryoma: "David is the only one who can help us with this but unfortunately, he will be unavailable for the next year or two."

Kyoko: "Why? Where is he?"

Ryoma: "Somewhere in the Pacific with a large group of scientists. They are planning something big and it is an international matter or I would have gone to meet him regardless."

Kyoko: "Is there really no one else?"

Shaking his head, Ryoma said,

Ryoma: "He is the one who is the most knowledgeable regarding 'quirks' and he was the one who told me about the backlash of dual quirks in the first place. Don't worry yourself too much Kyoko, I have already warned Seiya not to overuse his work and I believe that he would follow up on my advice. Moreover, Seiya having dual quirks is still not confirmed. For all we know, we might be worrying over nothing so don't stress yourself out over this please!"

Kyoko wanted to argue but Ryoma continued,

Ryoma: "You do know that 'man' is still alive even after having so many quirks so I am sure that even if Seiya has dual quirks, we can still find a solution to that. And as soon as David is available, we will take Seiya to him. In the meantime, we will regularly monitor Seiya's health and if we see any irregularities, then we will do whatever you want us to do. Is that acceptable?"

Kyoko's silence was enough of an answer. To be honest, Ryoma himself did not want to risk his son's life like this but both of them had made many enemies during their time as pros including that 'man'. The very news about his son's quirk manifestation had spurred an attack on him. If the news about him having dual quirks spread out, then he can only imagine the amount of danger that he would be in.

Ryoma: 'Father, please look after your grandchildren and show us the right way."

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-Later that day-

I woke up in the afternoon around the time of lunch, not that I needed it. The constantly oncoming energy inside my body did not let me feel any hunger. Still, I always liked to eat my mother's handmade food and would not want to miss it for anything. The moment I got up from my bed, I noticed Aria sitting beside me, sleeping.

Seiya: 'She must have fallen asleep while looking after me. She must have had a rough night. Well, who am I kidding, if not for the sudden change in my quirk, I would be the same as her."

Deciding not to disturb her slumber, I got up, trying to be as stealthy as possible but then again I was never known for stealth in the first place. In fact, it could be said to be one of my biggest weaknesses during my time in Ixphoria. Surely, my sudden movements stirred her awake and in a sleepy voice, she said,

Aria: "Hmm? Seiya? Seiya!"

And her sleepiness was gone. She leapt at me and owing to my fast reflexes (for someone my age), I managed to avoid falling on the bed and took her in my arms while she hugged me. A few moments later, Aria broke the hug and gave me a thorough check.

Aria: "Thank goodness! You don't seem to have any injuries."

With an expression of mock hurt, I said,

Seiya: "Ouch! I am hurt Aria! You thought that I would lose to a bunch of 'buffoons'. They were the second weakest people that I have fought you know."

Aria noticing this chortled and asked in a playful voice,

Aria: "Oh! And pray tell, who was the weakest?"

Seiya: "The slime that I faced when I started my journey!"

(A/N: HERETIC!!! RIMURU DEVOUR THIS BASTARD!)

[Unfortunately, the 4th wall made by Author-san was too strong to be broken even by him.] Aria, completely unaware of the Supreme one's screaming, continued,

Aria: "If I remember correctly, you spent half an hour fighting the slime and firing Tier-3 spells at it the whole time. Is that kind of firepower you use on the 'weakest' of your enemies?"

Shaking the back of my head, I tried to hide my embarrassed expression on my face as I recalled that fight,

Seiya: "Y-You can't blame me for that, after all, that was my first time fighting anything. I had not even hurt a fly before then, not to mention, kill it."

Aria was having fun at my expense and continued playfully,

Aria: "And yet I had to save you from being shot by those 'buffoons'."

I could only smile wryly as I recalled the events of last night.

Seiya: "You are right. If I had not awakened my 'quirk' yesterday, things could have become problematic and if you had not awakened your 'quirk' yesterday then I would have been shot in the leg at the very least. All in all, it was a very interesting birthday."

Sensing my mood change, Aria quickly changed the subject and asked with a more gleeful smile,

Aria: "Then show me your quirk. I did not get to see it properly before."

Seiya: 'Right, she was with her parents after the party and only came into the room when the fight was just about finished.'

Recalling my father's instructions from yesterday, my body started to transform and soon I was in my half human half dragon state.

Seiya: "*Sigh* I need to get used to using my quirk on instinct. It's not practical to use it if it takes this long to complete my transformation."

Aria, on the other hand, was inspecting me and my transformation,

Aria: "Your 'quirk', does it have some connection with your <Dragon Core>?"

Seiya: "I honestly do not know. But it feels somewhat different from before. It's as if it does not produce as large as a drain as before."

When I tried to sense my internal energy reserves, I was shocked to find that the consumption was not even half of it had been the day before. Careful observation through my <Aura Sense> gave me the reason for this. My internal energy reserves were being replenished continuously by the energy being absorbed from the outside. Of course, the rate of consumption still surpassed the rate of absorption but it was now much easier to hold my transformation than before.

When I told Aria about this, she took on a pondering expression and asked,

Aria: "I am not too familiar with 'quirks' and how their related physiology works. We can only refer to an expert on this or try to come up with an answer on our own. But it is safe to say that this change has only been beneficial for you."

Seiya: "Yeah, it seems to be. But enough about me, show me your 'quirk'."

Aria only replied with her playful smile,

Aria: "Why don't you try to take a wild guess?"

Seiya: 'Hmm, I do not actually know of Miko-san's and Hiyoshi-san's quirks (Hiyoshi: Aria's father). Do I have any other clue?.... Wait! My 'quirk' seems to be connected to my <Dragon Core> then what if Aria is the same, and her 'quirk' is connected to her powers before her reincarnation. In which case.....!'

Seiya: "If I had to take a guess, then I would put my money on.....sealing!"

Aria: "Ding-Ding-Ding, that's correct!"

Even though I had expected this, it did not lessen my shock however,

Seiya: "So you 'sealed' the bullet before it hit me. But how did you stop it in mid-air?"

Aria: "The fact is that I didn't. I only created a 'seal' of pure energy around the bullet which would have stopped it in its tracks but it froze out of nowhere."

Seiya: 'Was there someone else present there? How come I didn't find him using my <Aura Sense>?'

Seiya: "Still, that's OP as hell! You can just seal another guy and stop him from escaping or use it as a shield to protect the civilians. Hell, there are many ways that this can be used offensively as well!"

And I was totally right. Aria was the <Goddess of Sealing> and naturally had much experience using her powers of sealing. I had witnessed her powers first hand and all I could say was that even in my peak form, I would suffer a lot against her in a direct fight, and in an indirect one, I would lose before I knew I was being attacked.

Aria, however, did not think so and said in a mock tone,

Aria: "Ha Ha, as if. Don't you remember what Ishtar-sama said? Although they could bypass their original limitations, 'Quirks' would never exceed the limitations set by this world. The biggest weakness of my 'quirk' is the same as yours, i.e., the need for internal energy, and this need limits the versatility of my quirk as well. Still, it is better this way or where would be the fun if he did not train hard enough to attain our goals."

Seiya: "You really are a workaholic, but then again, so am I. What happened last night was just the 'teaser' about what is to come in the future and we must prepare accordingly to protect each other along with our loved ones. I intend to pass this mission with flying colors you know."

Taking my hand in her own, she grasped it lightly showing me her support,

Aria: "And prepare we shall!"

A gesture which I reciprocated in return and looked towards the sky outside my room's window-door.

Seiya: 'Whatever I may be up against, as long as I have their support I will always win!'

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\\Author-san's Thoughts//

Truth be told this was not what I had in mind when I began writing after the last chapter and originally, this would have been included in the next chapter but soon I realized that it would have stretched the next chapter a bit too much. So here you have it, folks. Also, the next chapter would be following this one soon.

Also, I want to remove the 'HAREM MEMBERS' chapter. I feel that it's too much of a spoiler for the readers and it might take much of the fun away. So vote:

>[Remove]

>[Don't Remove]

That's all for this short chapter of mine. See you soon. Sayonara!

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