Oni took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of ozone that permeated the air. The pungent electrical smell stung at the back of his throat as it went down. He ignored that as he pondered the circumstances of the scent being present at all.
It was an interesting situation, fascinating really. He'd been studying quirks, especially his own, for the majority of his life, but this was the first time he'd seen this. Not the fact that there was a smell to begin with, of course. Strange smells in and of themselves were a common occurrence when it came to the infinite variability of quirks. But, to date, he had yet to hear about an ozone smell resulting from anything but particularly powerful electricity quirks.
With his testing, Oni had discovered what triggered the smell, but that wasn't the part that fascinated him. The trigger for the smell was simply the conditions that needed to be met for it to occur—which in Oni's case, wasn't exactly hard to figure out. With his quirk being what it was, something new happening was most likely going to be because of a new quirk that he'd taken—but it didn't explain what actually caused the smell. It was only half of the equation. He had discovered the when but he'd yet to figure out the why.
Oni would love to simply brush it under the simple explanation of his strength and speed enhancers causing the smell—because that had been the trigger for the last time he'd noticed it. When he'd entered the first Triad base of the night, and had pulled on all of his enhancers at once—but that explanation was already disproven by the first time the smell had appeared, when he interrogated the unfortunate insects in Shadow's basement. That time, the main independent variable was his rather potent anger, which meant that 'Wrath' most likely played some sort of role.
The common point between the two instances, the trigger for the smell, was his increased strength, the first time because of 'Wrath' boosting him, then the second because of his enhancers. There was a chance that somehow it was simply 'Wrath' both times, as he had been just as angry the second time, but he felt it was more likely that it was his strength causing it.
The question of course, was why. What was it about his enhanced strength that led to an ozone smell? He had a few ideas, but they all seemed equally outlandish to his still-insufficient knowledge of how the human body worked. He had a working knowledge to assist in his analysis, but he hadn't—yet—pursued any degree in human biology.
He had two main theories. The first was that, in response to his greatly boosted output, his body had somehow adapted to carry more oxygen through his blood in the form of O3—ozone—molecules instead of the usual O2. That would explain the smell, as the conversion from O2 to O3 would most likely take place either while the oxygen in his lungs were being absorbed into his blood, or just before. If that were the case, then there would be some leftover ozone that slipped out when he exhaled.
However, this theory left the question of how his body would manage such a drastic change without the use of another quirk. It would require an entire extra biological process added to an already countless number of complex processes. Not to mention the number of changes that would need to occur for the ozone to not be toxic to him. It already wasn't truly harmful to him due to his oldest healing quirk—he knew for a fact that-that quirk could handle most toxins, airborne, ingested, or injected—but if his body were to change one of its most significant processes in such a way, it most likely wouldn't do so unless it also changed to make sure that it wouldn't kill itself with the new process. Whatever that new process was would also have to be something that changed as his strength was boosted, because he'd already tested a few times that the smell wasn't present once he deactivated his quirks.
There was also the fact that he couldn't see anything of the sort with 'All Sight.' The quirk gave him the ability to see within his own body, and at a nearly microscopic level. If he so wished, he could see the hollows of his bones, follow his veins trailing through his body, and even observe the contents of his stomach. He could use the quirk to inspect the insides of his lungs and could make out the individual alveolae. Despite that, he couldn't see any new structures that might be responsible for rearranging oxygen atoms. Either they weren't there, his knowledge of the human body was too limited to make them out, or they were simply smaller than he was capable of seeing.
His other theory, which he favored just a bit more, was that the capabilities of his muscles and his nervous system were being boosted to the point that the energy coursing through his flesh and the electrical signals traveling through his body, which had been enhanced to make such capabilities possible in the first place, had begun to become noticeable from the outside.
One of the most common occurrences of ozone is in the presence of electricity that has interacted with oxygen. Whenever an electrical charge is present in the sort of conditions that allows it to arc through the air, the ozone smell usually isn't far behind. Even with static charges, if it was strong enough then it could be smelled there as well.
With this theory, Oni thought that the amount of electricity coursing through his body had increased to the point of it acting like a static charge across his skin.
He wasn't sure if it was even possible for the human body to do something like that, but that was the theory that he was going to stick with until such time as he had the knowledge necessary to either prove or disprove it. He was even more supportive of the theory given how, when he activated his enhancers to experiment, a slight tingling sensation raced across his skin, feeling not unlike a lessened version of the pins and needles one would feel when a limb falls asleep. It was barely noticeable, especially once he focused on almost anything else, but it was there.
He sighed. Maybe he would have to consider pursuing that degree sooner, rather than later…
Shaking his head, Oni dropped his hold on a number of his enhancers, returning to something closer to normal for him. He shook away the slight buzzing in his limbs, shifting his focus to the surrounding area, visible to him through 'All Sight.' Glancing around, there wasn't any obvious criminal activity taking place for him to deal with, at least not as far as he could see. There looked to be someone doing drugs in the back seat of their car, tucked back in an alleyway about three buildings away, but Oni didn't intend to do anything about it. He didn't really care if someone was making poor life choices, so long as they didn't make their problems everyone else's, attacking people for drug money or simply taking out their inadequacies on others.
Looks like he would have to go elsewhere to find someone to have fun with.
Reaching up, he removed his mask, quickly storing it away, before moving on to his shirt and vest, doing the same to them. Then, after pulling on a few quirks, his bones audibly crunched as his body began to shift and change. His head elongated, sprouting scales and an extra set of eyes, his torso stretched out a bit, making room for the extra set of arms that grew from his sides which, along with his originals, grew scales as his fingers became claws, and his back twitched and spasmed before growing scales and spikes along his spine. His legs were already digitigrade and scaled, that quirk pulled on before he even left the apartment.
Looking down at his scaled hands, his field of vision much larger with the addition of an extra pair of eyes, Oni thought about how many quirks he had that followed a similar aesthetic. Lower arms and hands, legs, head and neck, and along his back. Most of his body was now covered in scales. All he needed now was a quirk that could cover what was left. That, and maybe another tail quirk that fit the draconic look a bit better.
Stretching all four arms out over his head, with his wings mirroring the motion, Oni made his way over to the edge of the rooftop that he'd chosen for his experiments: a random, slightly run-down building in a shitty part of Musutafu. Jumping off the side, he brought his wings down to drive himself up into the air.
A few minutes of flying later, soaring through the night, Oni was landing in front of his target for the night. It wasn't anything special, just a group of small-time thugs selling drugs in the nearby area, but he would end them all the same. Because these were the sorts of people he had issue with; not the ones making poor decisions and destroying their bodies with drugs, but the ones supplying those drugs in the first place.
'What do you think?' He thought. 'Do I go in through the shadows, or do I tunnel underground and come up under their feet?'
"Hmm." Tamako started, mimicking a humming noise. "Shadows. Appearing out of nowhere will scare them more than coming out of the ground."
Oni smirked, as much as his new facial structure allowed. 'Shadows it is.'
Focusing on 'Sciakinesis,' which was already active from when he'd used it to leave the apartment, he aligned the shadows that he could sense within the building with what he could see with 'All Sight,' searching for a suitable place to enter. There were seven criminals spread throughout the building, with most of them in well-lit areas, but there was one that just happened to be standing next to a window, close enough for their shadow to touch the darkness outside. Oni's smirk widened as he focused on them. The man was completely oblivious, absently lighting a cigarette as he stared at a television.
Activating the quirk, he sank into the ground, moving through the darkness to rise up out of the shadow at the criminal's feet, just behind the man.
Smirk still present, Oni leaned forward, positioning his head just over the man's shoulder.
"So, what're you watching?" He asked, causing the criminal to jump straight into the air with a strangled yelp, he spun around to look at Oni, practically falling over in his rush to back away, until his back hit a wall.
Oni tilted his head, biting back a laugh. He could practically see the criminal's fight or flight instincts kicking in. So much fear in the man's expression. "Come now, don't be like that. I'm curious. Is there anything good on?"
Maybe it was Oni's words that served as a trigger, or maybe it was simply a realization that running wasn't an option, but whatever the case, the man's expression hardened a fraction as he lifted his hands, fingers glinting ever so slightly in the fluorescent lighting. Studying them, Oni could see that they had flattened into blades, their tips sharpened to a fine point.
"Ooh." Oni exclaimed in faked interest. "I've not seen a blade quirk like that before. How interest-."
His words cut off as all four of his hands darted up to snatch the blades out of the air where they had been launched at him, straight at his chest. The remaining ones that didn't end up in his grip bounced off of his scaled arms to clatter to the ground. Lowering his hands, Oni could see where the man's own were now devoid of fingers.
"Even better." He said, dropping the caught blades as he stepped closer. "More than just a simple transformation."
Before the man could do anything to stop him, Oni had a hand gripped around his neck and was lifting him off the ground.
He found himself the tiniest bit surprised as the criminal's hands came up to grip at the arm holding him up, sporting a full set of bladed fingers. The blades uselessly scraped across his scales, not even leaving a scratch.
"So, you're able to grow them back almost instantly after you attack." He said, noting that the blades that had been launched at him were still on the floor behind him, excluding the possibility that they had simply been somehow retrieved. "So very interesting. Such a shame that you turned out to be such a waste of space."
He was almost tempted to take the quirk for himself. Almost, but not quite. If the speed at which the blades had been launched was the fastest they could go, then Oni was faster by a wide margin. He already had his other claw quirk, which was as good as most other blade quirks. If he wanted to stab someone that badly, he could simply close the distance himself. And even if he didn't feel like putting in the effort it would take to do that, he had a number of sharp instruments stored away that he could throw instead, all varying in style so he could even choose in which cultural flavor he wished to hurt someone.
Oni turned, bringing the criminal around and slamming him into a wall, before dropping him to the floor. Not bothering to spare the man another glance, he turned to make his way to the door, humming to himself as he headed for where the rest of the criminals were. He could see that the nearest one had noticed the thud of their comrade hitting the wall.
He ignored the woman as she rounded the corner and began shouting at him, not even paying enough attention to notice what she was saying. He did, however, notice the way that the five remaining criminals began to stir at the noise she was making.
Darting forward, Oni was inches away from her faster than she could react. He took note of the feathers sprouting across her face and arms—no wings though. A shame, as he would love to find a feathered wing quirk at some point—before gripping the side of her head and throwing her through a closed door she happened to be standing next to.
He turned around just as another one rounded a corner on the opposite end of the hallway. It was a man this time, with flames dancing all along his arms.
"Who are you!?" He shouted. "What do you want!?"
Oni ignored him, tilting his head as he started off towards the man.
"That's a neat fire quirk you've got there. It'd be a shame if it just didn't work when you wake up in the hospital a week from now."
"Stop! Stay away!" The man shouted, raising his hands. The fire surrounding them surged, increasing in intensity and stretching out to flicker across his shoulders.
"Make me." Oni said, enjoying the terror that was blooming in the criminal's expression. "If you don't want me to break your legs, you had better do something to stop me."
The fire grew once more, in time with the criminal's rising fear. Oni thought he could almost feel the rise in temperature through his temperature resistance quirk.
"There we go. Fight like you mean it. Fight like your life depends on it."
No sooner had those words left his mouth than a wave of fire exploded from the criminal, filling the hallway as it surged towards Oni. He raised his arms out to his sides, ready to let it wash over him. When it did though, he didn't feel the almost-heat as the flames licking at his skin tried to overpower his resistance. Instead, he did feel actual heat, but not in the way he would expect from flame. It wasn't burning him or melting his flesh, it wasn't even uncomfortable in any way. No, it felt almost as if the heat was being drawn into him. The sensation was almost similar to how it felt to steal a quirk, when he drew the tiny source of heat into himself. The difference was that this—whatever this was—only felt skin deep. The heat wasn't being drawn into the core of his being like a quirk would be.
His mind was racing as the flames continued to fill the hallway and as the heat continued to be drawn into him. Now he could almost feel a pressure of some sort starting to build up. His first thought was that the quirk might be more than a simple fire one, but that was quickly brushed aside as he immediately used 'Appraisal' on the man who, while not visible to Oni's eyes through the flame, was still very much visible to 'All Sight.' Thankfully the two quirks were compatible—something that he had yet to test before this very moment—as details about the man and his quirk filled Oni's head. It revealed that the quirk was indeed nothing but a simple fire quirk, or at least that if there were any unique aspects, the man wasn't aware of them.
His mind next went to his own quirks, because if it wasn't the criminal's quirk causing this phenomenon, then that was the only possibility remaining. Considering the quirks he'd taken since the last time he was engulfed in flame brought him to the quirk that he'd yet to find the function of. Initially, he'd known just from the feeling of the quirk that it was a stockpiler, he just wasn't sure what it was meant to stockpile. And now, here he was, with fire seemingly being pulled into and—if the still mounting pressure was any indicator—stored within him in some way, either the flame itself or just heat.
Abruptly, the flames surging through the hallway vanished, leaving charred stone and metal behind, and leaving Oni's pants mostly burnt away. The criminal stared at Oni in equal parts shock and fear, backing away as the fire on his arms sputtered out. Oni ignored him though, instead smirking as he looked down at his hands. He could feel the heat still sitting within himself. It churned beneath the surface, just under his skin, just waiting to be released. Now it was simply a matter of how to go about doing that. Whenever he took a new quirk, especially ones such as this, that had an initial condition that needed to be met before it could be used, it was like gaining a new limb or a new group of muscles and attempting to learn how to move it from scratch.
Thankfully, he had a lot of experience with that.
Disregarding the fire quirk for a moment, Oni turned back towards where the feathered woman had appeared. Criminal number four was approaching, and based on what he could see with 'All Sight,' the man had either a mutation or a transformation that changed his skin. It looked unnaturally smooth—to the point of being glassy—and was faceted.
As the criminal appeared, Oni took a brief instant to marvel at the man's appearance. He'd been expecting a quirk similar to Kirishima's: some form of hardening, maybe into a more smooth-cut stone or perhaps even metal. What he saw though, was a man that looked to be made out of a solid chunk of gemstone. He was a deep red, and covered in countless smooth facets. Oni could see that his entire body, all the way down to his bones and organs, had been changed into the same material.
Pushing past the slight surprise, Oni raised a hand towards the new arrival, taking a moment to confirm that there wasn't anyone following.
"Hello there, perfect test subject." He said, before pulling at the new muscle.
Just as it had not even a full minute earlier, fire surged forth to fill the hallway, this time coming from Oni's outstretched arm. It didn't seem to have the same amount of power as the original blast, nor did it seem to be as hot, but all the same he watched as the new criminal was engulfed. The man panicked, falling backwards as he attempted to escape the flame. As Oni felt the pressure begin to fall, he cut off the surge of fire, before darting towards the fallen criminal. Before the flame had even fully cleared away, he was at the criminal with a foot planted on his shoulder. Putting a bit of weight into it, he slammed the man down with enough force to crack the floor beneath. Looking closely, he could see a few hairline fractures in the man's shoulder, right where Oni's foot was.
'Weak material, or simply softened by the heat?' He wondered, as the effects of the man's quirk began to fade away as he was rendered unconscious, gemstone turning back into skin. 'Whatever the case, I'll be able to figure that out later.'
Pulling his claw quirk back, Oni reached down to pick the man up, taking the quirk with a quick pull before tossing the man down the hallway where he'd come from, away from the heated stone floor that was glowing slightly red in some places. Oni took great pleasure in punishing criminals, and the man was definitely a criminal, but the punishment had already been dealt, and something like that had the potential to be fatal.
In the blink of an eye, Oni was back at the opposite end of the hallway, latching a hand onto the throat of the criminal with the fire quirk and lifting him into the air. A strangled shout worked its way out of the man's throat, even as both of his hands came up, wreathed in flame. Oni's vision went white as the fire engulfed his head, but he ignored it as he tore the man's quirk from him, eliciting another strangled shout from the man as his legs kicked uselessly at the open air. The flames sputtered, before vanishing all together as the quirk was pulled into his chest.
Pulling the man a bit closer, Oni threw him back against a wall, watching as he dropped to the floor unconscious.
Checking to see where the remaining three criminals were, and seeing that they had chosen to hole up in a room together rather than come for him, Oni took a moment to think.
The mystery stockpiler worked with fire, allowing him to stockpile it and release it later. Or rather, it worked with at least fire. The possibility existed that the quirk could take in more than just that.
Oni's reason for considering such a possibility, aside from the fact that he was learning the quirk completely from scratch, was because of where he'd taken it. Had he stolen it from a random criminal, then he would be more inclined to think that it was a fire stockpiler, but he didn't, he'd taken it from a Noumu.
He knew next to nothing about All For One, including how the ancient villain operated or thought, but he felt comfortable assuming that when giving quirks to biological superweapons, the villain would most likely choose ones that gave a clear advantage. So unless the Noumu that Oni had taken the quirk from was meant specifically to combat Endeavor—which might not be completely impossible, as Endeavor had been present in Hosu—then there was a chance that there was more to the quirk than simply absorbing fire. Of course, if that were the case then there was the question of what else exactly the quirk could function with. Following along with the idea of the quirk having a wide range of functions, was it elemental quirks that it stockpiled? Or maybe emitter quirks in general?
Taking another look at the remaining criminals, he saw that one of them had an acid quirk, similar to Ashido's, though the details of this one made no mention of being able to exert precise control over the potency. They would be useful in helping him figure out some of the details.
In thinking about his quirks, he was brought back around to the equal parts embarrassing and surprising realization that he hadn't thought to test to see if 'Appraisal' was compatible with 'All Sight.' It was only his most useful vision-based quirk, and he failed to test it with the quirk that boosted his vision to a ridiculous degree.
He sighed. Whatever, he would blame it on the amount of time that had passed since he'd gotten 'All Sight.' It had only been about five days, and part of that had been taken up with him being inordinately angry. He could make up for it by analyzing the combination.
First and foremost was 'Appraisal's activation requirements. He had assumed up until now that 'Appraisal' was activated through direct visual contact, but since he now knew that 'Appraisal' and 'All Sight' were indeed compatible, that meant that he had assumed incorrectly.
Looking a bit closer at what was needed for the quirk to activate, perhaps it wasn't the visual contact itself that was required, but instead some way to definitively identify a target for the quirk's effects. If his assumptions this time around were correct, the reason for that was because 'Appraisal' was a specialized telepathy quirk, looking within the target for relevant information pertaining to their name and their quirk. The quirk needed a precise location for the target in reference to the user.
Under normal circumstances—meaning with a person that didn't have multiple quirks enhancing them—direct line-of-sight would be the best way to achieve this, since none of the other senses would be nearly sensitive enough to do so. But with the introduction of 'All Sight' to the equation, came an alternate method of identifying a target.
'All Sight' provided a level of sensory input that far surpassed normal eyesight, not just in that he could see in every direction around himself, for hundreds of meters, but also because he could see at a nearly microscopic level. That level of detail was the same looking inside himself and when looking at something a hundred meters away.
Since he could use 'All Sight' to identify a target with the same level of precision as he could with his eyes, that meant that 'Appraisal' could make use of that sensory input to activate.
Oni shook his head, dispelling his thoughts and the rising excitement that he could feel at the realization of how 'Appraisal' really worked. He pulled his claws back into place with a sigh. 'At some point I ought to spend some time doing nothing but brainstorming theories for quirk combinations. I don't think I'm missing anything too obvious, but then I missed this one, so who's to say.'
Mapping out the quickest path to the remaining criminals, he set off. A short minute of walking later and he came to the room that they had decided to take shelter in. He almost let out a laugh when he saw that they had barricaded the door with furniture, as if that would help them. It was unfortunate that there weren't any shadows connecting to the interior of the room, otherwise he would take great joy in popping up under their feet.
He rolled his shoulders as he took a few steps to the side, facing the room. This way was almost better anyway. Almost.
With a feral grin stretching across his face, he pulled on another strength quirk, squared his shoulders, and stepped directly through the wall. He heard the shocked shouts of the criminals through the dust as he stepped into the room, bits and pieces of rubble falling to the floor. He waited for the room to clear just a bit, he wanted to savor their fear as they watched each other fall, and he couldn't do that if they couldn't see.
As soon as the dust cleared, two of the criminals, a man with a quirk that let him produce glass marbles from his hands and a woman with the acid quirk, attacked him simultaneously, not wasting any time with words.
Upon contact with the acid, he could feel that it was fairly potent, as his skin immediately began to sizzle and burn rather fiercely. He could feel his healing quirk work to counteract it, at least until he felt something similar to when he'd been exposed to the fire. After a moment or two of burning, he felt the acid being drawn into him, with the liquid visibly disappearing as it happened.
His smile widened, even as more acid was hitting him. This clarified three very important details of the quirk. Firstly, that it did work on a number of emitter quirks, not just fire or elemental ones, and secondly, that the quirk could stockpile more than one at a time. When he'd released the stockpiled fire, he'd kept just a bit, and then had gotten a bit more from the criminal's final attack. He had wanted to test to see if he could hold onto what had been stockpiled for any amount of time, and now it had proved something just as useful. At some point, he would have to test to see if he could pick and choose what he could release, or if he simply had to release everything he had stockpiled.
Finally, it also proved that he wasn't immune to whatever was hitting him. He hadn't felt the fire because he had a quirk to ensure such a thing, but he had no such quirk when it came to acid.
Oni's hands darted out, catching a few marbles that had been thrown at him. He wasn't too sure why the criminal thought that throwing handfuls of tiny glass marbles was anywhere close to a proper attack, but then, this was a small group of petty drug dealers, it wasn't as if he should expect to see much potential here. Working them around in his grip, he held a marble between the thumb and middle fingers of his top pair of hands. Making use of 'Bullseye,' he launched them with a flick of his fingers, first at the marble quirk, then at the acid quirk. They hit the heads of the two criminals with a dull thud, dropping them like a couple of marionettes with their strings cut.
As the last of the acid on his skin was absorbed, Oni turned to look at the final criminal. He had seen with 'Appraisal' that this one had an intelligence booster, but now that he was looking the man in the eyes, he could see just how potent it was. He could see a certain light in the man's eyes, a spark, hinting at the intelligence that lay within. It probably wasn't something that reached anywhere near Nezu's level, but would definitely set him apart from most average people.
"Look at you." Oni said. "So much smarter than the rest of these insects. You could've used that intelligence to do whatever you wanted. Why on Earth would you become a criminal? And not even a good criminal, for that matter, a petty little drug dealer in a shit corner of Musutafu."
The criminal sneered. "You wouldn't understand."
Oni snorted. "In what way? Do you think I'm simply not smart enough to understand your shitty life decisions or do you mean to say that I wouldn't understand because I've not gone through the same circumstances?"
"Both." The man growled, grabbing a knife from his waistband. "You don't know what I've had to do, and you wouldn't understand."
This time, Oni actually barked out a laugh. He could feel a bit of irritation begin to bubble up at the man's response. "Then allow me to apologize, because it seems that I have greatly overestimated your intelligence."
Darting forward faster than the man could react, Oni latched a hand around his throat, keeping pressure off of his windpipe. Another grabbed the man's empty hand and a third grabbed the wrist of the hand holding the knife, twisting it until the weapon fell to the floor.
Lifting the man into the air, Oni brought him close, until only inches separated them.
"Don't pretend for one second that you're the only person that's had a hard time, and stop using the shit that's happened to you as an excuse to turn around and make other people's lives harder. There are plenty of people who built themselves up and escaped their terrible circumstances, the difference is that you just couldn't cut it, and now you want to blame the world for your own inadequacies. I was deprived of my childhood, and instead of using that as an excuse to give up and take my anger out on innocent people, I worked to earn something better."
He jerked the criminal's wrists to the side, snapping them audibly, eliciting a pained scream.
"Pathetic." Oni said, sneering. He pulled his claws back as he watched the pain in the criminal's expression, before smirking. "Have fun being average."
With that, he took hold of the man's quirk and wrenched it free. The man's screams doubled in intensity. He took a few moments longer than was strictly necessary as he pulled the quirk free, enjoying the way that the man struggled against his grip. Then, finally, once the quirk was settled in his chest, he pulled the man to him, headbutting him, and let him fall to the floor.
He sighed as he watched the insect flop to the floor, shaking his head before turning away. Stepping towards the other two fallen criminals, he knelt down and pressed a hand to the woman's forehead, pulling her acid quirk free. An acid quirk could potentially be useful, especially if he happened to discover that the potency of the acid could be manipulated.
With his new quirk in place, Oni straightened up, cracking his knuckles. Humming to himself, he stepped back through the hole he'd made, working his way back to the window he'd entered through.
Partway through the building, he heard a groan from his earpiece, followed shortly by an exasperated 'Fuck.'
"What's going on?" He asked. "Having lots of fun?"
"Ugh, not even close. I've been studying like crazy for my exams. I don't think I've looked away from my notes in like, five hours. I need a distraction."
"I'm all ears if you want to talk." He responded. "If not then I would suggest getting a snack and taking a break out on the balcony. I think we still have some instant hot chocolate you could fix up."
"I'll probably take your advice here in a few minutes. But for now I just want to think about something other than the countless court cases that shaped societal quirk laws."
He heard what sounded like Rei slapping her hands to her face. "So what's the plan with the little girl, Iona? I know you've been thinking about her recently. Are you thinking about trying to take her in?"
"If that's something that you're alright with." He said. "I've mostly just been exploring options so far, seeing what is and isn't possible. I was planning on talking to you and Ochako once you were through with your exams, to see if you were both okay with it and, if you were, to put together a plan."
"You know I'll support pretty much anything you decide. I know you won't do anything serious without thinking through every possible angle."
Oni hummed. "All the same. Something like this involves both of you."
He heard her yawn. "Yep. Well, for the sake of conversation, what's your plan? Knowing you, you probably already have something cooking up."
"For now, I'm just exploring the possibility of registering as a foster home, then seeing if we can either foster or adopt Iona."
"Alrighty. The only two potential issues I can think of off the top of my head are space in the apartment and making sure our schedules could work around hers, because adding a child as young as her would be a significant change. Although, once I'm through with my exams, I can always shift my sleep schedule around so that I'm awake during the day. And the plan has always been to get a job that's mostly online, so I would be here most of the time."
"Right. That was my biggest concern, and even then I don't foresee any major complications. Once an adjustment period has passed, which would require someone to be present at home at all times, we would need to establish her educational situation, if it isn't already. I'm not sure if she's attending preschool or elementary school, or even how old she is at this point. Transportation to and from school shouldn't be a problem. I'll most likely be able to handle both, barring any special circumstances from Yueii. One of us will need to be available most of the time throughout the day to accommodate any emergency or otherwise abnormal situations, which would mostly end up falling to you, though if it came down to it, I imagine there wouldn't be much issue with my leaving Yueii to handle something if I needed to."
Oni took a moment once he reached the window to travel through the shadows back to where he started from.
"Space won't be any issue." He continued, now walking away from the building. "I don't mind moving my office into my bedroom. It's not like I use it for sleeping anyway. I would just have to set the office up as a bedroom. And with that, money won't be a concern either. Taking her in would hardly affect our finances at all, and if I really needed to, I could go further with my analysis work."
Rei huffed. "See? You have thought about it. You practically have a whole plan laid out."
"Yeah. Fair enough."
"Mhm." She hummed. Then, after a moment. "I'm fine with whatever you decide to do. Although, granted, right now my brain feels like it's about to melt, so there's a chance I'm overlooking something. We can talk about this again after my exams have finished up."
"Yep. Sounds good."
"Good." She said with another yawn. "Now, I'm gonna go get a snack, sit outside, and pretend that I live in a world where I never even considered pursing law."
"If you give me a second, I can fix you something so you don't have to worry about it."
He was already picturing the kitchen of the apartment as he spoke, reaching out with 'Sciakinesis' and sinking into the darkness at his feet as soon as he had it.
"Don't worry about it. I'll get it."
"Too late, loser." He said, emerging from the shadows. "I'm already here. Your desire to not bother me is no match for my ability to teleport here from anywhere on this half of the planet."
He heard the sound of her office door opening. "Fucker." She whispered, voice echoing slightly as he heard it both through his earpiece and from down the hallway that led to her office. "You're lucky that Ochako's asleep or I'd call you a number of more colorful names."
"You say that like it's going to stop me from making you hot chocolate and ice cream."
She grumbled as she came around the corner, though he could see that she was trying to hold back a smile.
"Fine. You win. But you'd better make yourself some as well. You've already wrapped up your vigilante work for the night, right?"
"Mhm. Indeed I have."
"Exactly. So fix some for yourself then come relax with me."
"Sure thing. I'll tell you all about the stuff I discovered today about some of my quirks."
The next day passed by normally, and when it was time to eat lunch, Izuku made a point to eat with Yagi. It had been far too long since the two of them had simply sat down to talk. So, instead of heading for the cafeteria with the rest of his class, he headed for the teacher's lounge where, thanks to 'All Sight,' he knew that Yagi was handling some form of paperwork.
"So, I've been meaning to ask," Izuku started partway through the meal, glancing up from his food, "has Gran Torino always been like that?"
Yagi turned to look at him. "If you mean crotchety and mildly terrifying, then yes, he has."
"Well, sort of. But mostly I mean has he always been the type of person to start a fight out of nowhere. When I went to visit him, the first thing he did was start a fight to get a feel for what sort of person I am."
"Ah, yes. That too. That definitely isn't something new. He was very fond of skipping any sort of conversation and jumping straight into whatever training he'd decided on, which more often than not was just sparring. I can't tell you how many times I lost my lunch when he attacked me out of nowhere to, quote, 'force me to be prepared for surprise attacks.' Did he pretend to be senile before he attacked?"
"No, but he did pretend to be dead, by lying in a puddle of ketchup, of all things. As if I don't know what blood smells like, or that I don't know how to tell if someone's dead or not."
"Of course. That was another trick he used a few times to catch me off guard. It shouldn't have worked as much as it did. Even after I got my quirk, I was never any match for him for the longest time."
Izuku let out a small, amused huff at the image of the tiny old man knocking someone of Yagi's size on his ass.
"That's right, he wasn't just a mentor, was he? He mentioned that he actually taught here for a year, specifically so he could have more control over your training."
Yagi nodded. "And what a painful year that was. I think just about every time I ended up in Shuzenji's office was because of him. To this day I still don't think she's forgiven either of us for that fact."
"I feel like Torino might be one of the few people that could give Recovery Girl a run for her money in terms of pure stubbornness."
"I think you might be right. It's one area where I will never surpass him. That woman terrifies me more than any villain."
"Honestly, I wouldn't put it past her to be able to talk down just about any villain. Just a few words and she could probably have them feeling ashamed of themselves."
Yagi laughed. "There's actually a video out there of her doing exactly that. It wasn't a major incident, just some young thug making a poor attempt to rob a bank that Shuzenji happened to be in. He was in tears by the time the police arrived."
Izuku smirked at the image. "I'll have to see if I can't find that. I can only imagine what she must've looked like, lecturing the poor criminal."
"Strangely enough, not as fierce as she does when she lectures a student about not getting hurt."
The two of them lapsed into a comfortable silence as they continued to eat. Izuku found that he had missed this. The two of them hadn't had many opportunities to just sit and talk like this since before the year at Yueii had started. Especially now with the issue of his secret being dealt with and behind them, he was glad that they had this opportunity.
A few minutes of eating later, and Izuku remembered something.
"Oh right, there was something else that I've been thinking about." Izuku said, looking up at Yagi. "Being a top hero agency, I'm sure that Might Tower has its own in-house legal team, right?"
"It does." Yagi responded. "Actually, I believe that it's one of the largest departments. Why do you ask?"
Izuku nodded. "So, my sister has been pursuing a degree in law for the past few years, and is about to finish up her final year in a few days. I was hoping to put together a gift to properly celebrate the occasion. If you would be willing, do you think you could put in a good word of recommendation to them if she chooses to apply there?"
Yagi smiled. "I could do far more than that. I've found that, between being the head of the agency and the number one hero, whenever 'All Might' says or suggests anything, it tends to happen. So as long as she has the necessary qualifications, I'm pretty sure I could just tell my legal department to hire her, and they would. Actually, if this is something you wished to present as a gift, I could see about having them write up an official letter, denoting her acceptance. There wouldn't even be an interview, just the checks to make sure there wouldn't be any legal liability in hiring her."
Izuku returned the smile. "I would greatly appreciate it, and I know she would too. You're her favorite hero. Even if she decides that she wants to go with somewhere else, she would still appreciate the gesture."
"Then all the more reason to do it, if it's helping a fan!"
With that, the two of them returned to their meals. Izuku did so with a smile on his face as he imagined Rei's reaction to being told that she had an easy ticket to be a part of All Might's legal team. If Yagi could secure that, then the first half of the celebration would be set.
Then it would simply be a matter of sourcing the second half.