"Whoa, I had actually sent the invitation as formality, didn't expect you to actually show up." Looking at Katsuki outside the door, Haru was really surprised.
"Idiot. Do you want me to leave?" Katsuki turned around pretty quickly.
"I never said that. Come in." Haru said as he held Katsuki by the shoulder, fearing that he might actually leave.
Soon, others started coming in.
Everyone sat at the dining table.
Sayaka stood at the head of the table, arms crossed, gaze sharp enough to make even Bakugo unconsciously straighten up.
"Tch." He internally realised that this woman reminded him of Best Jeanist for some reason.
"As heroes," she said bluntly, "your actions were foolish."
Silence.
"If any of you had been captured," she continued, "it would've created unnecessary complications for the professionals cleaning up afterwards."
Iida stiffened immediately. "Y-Yes, ma'am."
Then Sayaka exhaled, and her posture eased.
"But," she added, "as a mother—"
She glanced at Haru.
"—I'm grateful my kid has friends like you."
The tension broke, just a little.
Bakugo clicked his tongue. "I'm not his friend."
Everyone looked at him.
"I owed him," Bakugo continued. "Paid my debt. That's it." The original target of the league was Katsuki. Haru had, at the last second, he had saved him, but that cost him getting caught.
Haru didn't react outwardly. 'Yeah? Then, you had already paid the debt. You didn't have to actually come.'
Iida raised a hand politely. "As their friend, we couldn't have let ourselves do nothing. Um—may I ask—are you a professional hero?"
"I was," Sayaka replied. "Retired."
"What was your hero name?" Iida asked.
She waved it off. "Can't say. And it doesn't matter. I was small-time."
Haru deadpanned at his mother. 'I bet my right sack that she's feeling internally giddy after saying that, thinking she is like some protagonist hiding her power. So, childish.'
Midoriya looked unusually tense, nodding a bit too eagerly. "I agree with what Iida said."
Sayaka's eyes flicked to him.
"…You're nervous. I am not going to eat you or anything," she noted.
Midoriya nearly jumped. "I-I'm sorry!"
She ignored that and leaned back slightly. "I saw all of you on TV during the Sports Festival."
A few of them shifted uncomfortably.
"It's still weird," Yaoyorozu admitted. "Being recognised."
Sayaka hummed. "You'll get used to it. Or you won't. Either way, people won't stop watching."
She looked at Midoriya and Todoroki.
"That fight," she said, "was intense. I was at the edge of my seat, pretty spectacular."
Midoriya flushed instantly.
Then she turned to Todoroki. "And you—"
Todoroki straightened.
"You're nothing like your father," Sayaka said casually. "Not an asshole."
Todoroki blinked.
"…Thank you."
His impression of her skyrocketed instantly.
"You know my father?" he asked.
"We were classmates," Sayaka replied.
Yaoyorozu's eyes widened. "You went to U.A.?"
Sayaka nodded.
'If she went to U.A., then she can't be a small-time hero. Maybe, she was an underground hero?'
Then, Sayaka suddenly turned to Bakugo.
"Oh, right," she said. "I should thank you."
Bakugo frowned. "For what?"
"If not for you," Sayaka continued, "I would've lost my bet during the finals."
Haru choked. "What bet? Wait, you made a bet on me losing? I am your son, Mom!"
Ignored.
"And even if Haru hadn't forfeited midway," Sayaka added calmly, "you still would've won. He just did it to save face."
Haru stared at her. "You—"
Bakugo's lips twitched.
Barely.
Kiyomasa entered then, setting a tray down gently.
"Sorry, I'm late," he said. "Got a call."
He took his seat and bowed his head slightly. "Thank you. All of you. For what you did."
The mood softened again.
Conversation flowed—slowly at first.
Then Kiyomasa looked at Midoriya.
"Haru mentioned your quirk analysis skills," he said.
Midoriya froze. "E-Eh?"
"He said you're good," Kiyomasa continued.
Midoriya's face went red. "I—I just—write things down sometimes—"
"Nerd," Bakugo muttered. "Useless."
Kiyomasa turned his gaze to Bakugo.
"Incorrect," he said mildly.
Bakugo scowled.
"Quirk analysis," Kiyomasa continued, "is essential. In battle. In training. Especially in ending a villain confrontation swiftly."
He folded his hands. "Professional analysts help heroes master their quirks faster. Sometimes to the brink of awakening."
Bakugo stilled.
"…Awakening?" he echoed.
"To demonstrate," Kiyomasa said, looking at him, "your explosions are powerful but inefficient. You waste output dispersing force. Condense them. Shape them. You've already started doing this—focusing on ranged compression."
Bakugo's eyes widened slightly.
"…How do you know that?"
Kiyomasa smiled faintly.
He moved on.
"Todoroki," he said. "You rely too much on balance. Extremes will serve you better for now. Your fire is behind your ice, limiting both balance and extreme styles. After bringing both of them in par, you might want to try replicating your final attack against Midoriya in the sports festival."
Todoroki nodded slowly.
"Yaoyorozu—hesitation is your enemy. You think too much. In a battle, instincts will serve you. You have already started working on it, but there's much room for growth there."
She swallowed. "…Yes."
"Iida—your engine output has more potential than you think. You brake too early. Moreover, you are trying to copy your brother too much. It's limiting you."
Iida adjusted his glasses. "I'll reflect on that!"
Then Kiyomasa looked at Midoriya.
Midoriya tensed.
"You should continue building physical strength," Kiyomasa said.
Midoriya blinked. "…That's it?"
"For now," Kiyomasa continued. "After a certain point—your quirk will awaken."
Silence slammed into the room.
"…What?" Midoriya whispered.
"How can you tell?" Yaoyorozu asked. Awakening was a pretty misunderstood concept. There was not much information on it.
"Normally," Kiyomasa said, "you can't. This part is my quirk."
He paused.
"Interestingly," he added, "after you—Bakugo Katsuki has the next highest chance of awakening within a few years. Maybe, even before you graduate from U.A."
Bakugo froze.
The room went dead quiet.
Haru suspiciously looked at his dad. 'Isn't his quirk a bit ridiculous? I didn't really believe him when he said that I would awaken my quirk around the time I graduate U.A, and his prediction was correct, even my new quirk was within his expectations.'
Just before the entrance exams, his dad had told him that, at his current rate, he would awaken his quirk naturally, with a high chance of either having his range of affecting others increase, or he would be able to affect multiple people at once, with different effects.
The former was what his quirk evolved to.
"Information King..." Izuku muttered, attracting everyone's attention.
For the first time in a long while, Haru found his dad to bear a surprised expression on his face.
Seeing everyone stare at him, Izuku spoke up. "Are you Information King: Akashic Records?"
"What's with that chunni name?" Bakugo muttered.
"Pfft..." Haru sneaked a glance at his mother, who didn't meet his eye. She was the one who had come up with that name in her teenage years.
It was her second biggest mistake, just below coming up with her own hero name.
"I am surprised that you know of me. Most of the information about me is blocked online." Kiyomasa smiled.
"I just came across it, few years ago. Around 7 years ago."
Kiyomasa hummed, his mind calculating the sources from which his information could have been leaked.
"Isn't that Overclock's sidekick? The one who is now managing her agency after her retirement?" Iida remembered that he had heard this from his brother.
"Didn't she get out of retirement?" Bakugo had seen her fight on TV during All Might's last battle.
"She then publicly announced that it was just for that battle," Momo added.
Todoroki's mind raced with several theories as he looked at Kiyomasa. Then a look of realisation appeared on his face.
He turned to Haru. "Your sister must be the secret love child between your father and Overclock."
Haru gaped at him in shock.
'Wait, did he figure out?' Nejire was technically a secret child between his father and mom, as his mom's identity was a secret, so she was a secret child.
"Haha. He is just kidding. He likes to come up with some ridiculous theories. Like, one time, he said that All Might's my dad. So, ridiculous." Midoriya nervously laughed. The last thing he wants to see is the couple breaking into an argument or something in front of them.
"Haha. You got me for a second. That's a pretty good theory." Sayaka laughed it out.
With that, everyone started dinner.
Soon, time passed, and the day to move into the dorms came.
***
Author here:
That was the first arc. How was it?
I would start with mentioning that the release update for this fic is 3 chapters per week. (Probably Wednesday, Friday and Sunday).
If this fic does get support, then you could expect bonus chapters.
The first goal for the bonus chapter is 100 Power Stones.
Now, let's move on to why I am writing this fic.
There are two main reasons:
1. Most of the fics never reach the point of the Sports festival, for various reasons. So, I decided to start this from the kidnapping incident.
2. Non-existent Romance. It's pretty rare to see us reaching the point where we can see characters having romantic interactions. (I am not talking about harem fics, as I don't read many of those). So, I decided to have it from the start, by Toru confessing to him. Also, if it's not obvious by now, then this story is Single FL.
(I am a proud member of Noharem sect. The only reason I read harem sometimes is because of the drama between FLs. )
Actually, there's another reason. Most of the fics I have written so far kind of happen before Canon, and I like to create stuff around characters from the story, rather than the plot. I think that might be the reason why my books can't get popular, so I am using this as an experiment to try writing my story during Canon.
Also, one of the things I hate is just people having their main character go through the original canon events. Though there is a change in what happened in those events, I kind of feel that people rarely create new arcs, which was a result of those changes. They usually don't because of lazy writing or because there are deadlines they want to meet.
I would try my best to have major changes in how the future Canon events change, to make things unexpected and bring anticipation. (I am saying this beforehand because I kind of feel that I might fall into this trap, and I want you guys to call me out if this happens)
Alright, now talk about some changes I have made to the original story beforehand:
There are two major changes: Nejire's parents being heroes. Heroes with broken quirks. To be honest, I wanted to do this because Nejire, after time-skip, was in the Top 10, and Haru's quirk is also broken, then their parents should also be broken. So, I thought, why not make them heroes? That was what made me do that. They were the same batch as Endeavour, as you know by now.
Also, you might notice this, but I have done a lot of foreshadowing. Though some of them were related to the lore of Haru's parents, a lot of it is related to the events that happened since the beginning of Canon until the time Haru's memory became unsealed.
That is done because the world isn't static. Just the presence of three variables has caused the original story to change by some degree. (It's not major...yet)
For example, when Haru shook Iida, he asked whether it was revenge for what he did in the Sports festival. There's actually a story behind it.
Same with U.S.J., of how the situation was resolved before All Might came.
I will provide the info about all those events slowly, as part of a natural narrative. I kind of find it cool, especially if such a thing is used for foreshadowing.
Next, the thing with Haru sealing his memories.
I think I have already explained why he did that in the narrative, but the main reason is that I don't want the things to end like how it happened with TBATE.
That's one of the main reasons people hate when some MC tells about their previous life.
Haru also knew this, so he decided to seal his memories to make himself bond with his family. He would one day tell them about this, and he wants it to happen smoothly.
Also, another thing. The part when he sealed his memories regarding Toru. I liked that, 'coz it would be more fun to see his reaction when he sees her for the first time.
More importantly, I kind of find him pretty respectable, as he decided to date her without caring about her appearance, quite literally. It's kind of rare to see it these days, so yeah.
(≧▽≦)
Second last thing, his mom's personality. I kind of wanted to see how an otaku could be a parent, while being cool and all that. So, she kind of feels relatable. This kind of reminds me, some people bragging about how their mother was an otaku and they were engrossed in anime from a young age.
I kind of found it cool, as let's be honest. Most of our parents just think anime is just a Cartoon.
Lastly, I would tell you about a funny thing. Originally, Mc's name was Kako, not Haru. I changed the names of all the chapters today, after realising two things.
First, Kako is a feminine name.
Second, one of the characters in a recent popular MHA fic has this name already. (Can you guess which one?)
Also, can you guess Overclock's hero ranking before she retired? I am curious what you guys think after reading 10 chapters.