Chapter 1: Return
Chapter Text
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/ Nejire.
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
If you read this, the Chapter has been fixed by my Beta-Reader Dmale, my savior and possessor of BigDick Chad energy that managed to fix my story into proper English.
Thank you, my man! 🙂
A Chef’s Rebirth 1: Return.
TV Studio -
The talk-show had been a lively event, with both Pro Heroes and other ‘ mundane’ Celebrities like actors and singers; its host was a bubbly young woman with frizzled red hair and a perennial friendly smile capable of easily putting people at ease.
She was just finishing her latest interview by going through the section she knew her audience loved the most: ‘ 10 Questions from the Audience’ , and she was clearly pleased to see her current ‘ Guest’ take part to this with honest interest, instead of the fake Forced Courtesy many VIPs before him had always used to keep their image safe, even when they were blatantly annoyed by most of those questions.
Said Guest was a tall, imposing man wearing a red and black-colored chef's uniform with striped designs on the middle front and shoulders, a black sash around his waist, a pair of knee-high black boots and a large puffed toque ( chef’s hat ), he was also keeping his uniform's collar raised.
He had very chiseled facial features, moderately long white hair which kept braided into a ponytail and a well-kept long pointy beard and mustache, even a faint trace of freckles that had survived his teenage years, but his green eyes held the purest gentleness compared to his otherwise austere aura.
“So you still practice everyday?” the Woman asked, actually impressed.
“Huhuhu! Of course! No matter the age or experience, a professional never stops practicing! And I actually do enjoy it, it helps me feel just a tad younger!” the old Master Chef answered with a low chuckle.
“I visited your restaurant a couple times, and I can testify to it, you are still damn good!” the Host answered, chuckling to herself.
“Oh, I know that! Miso Soup, pork belly cutlet and Karahage...or Donburi, if you have something on your mind.” the old man answered, looking at her like a grandfather looking at his favourite niece.
“Y-Y-You remember?!” the woman said, shocked.
“Believe it or not, I remember every single order of my Regular Customers.” the Chef answered.
“Wow. B-But I want people at home to know that I don’t eat ALL THAT at once, it’s either one dish or the other! I do take care of my girlish figure!” she countered with an ashamed expression.
“What’s wrong with enjoying food? I am happy you ask for seconds whenever you come visiting my Restaurant!”
“Midoriya-saaaaan!” the woman said with a long, embarrassed whine, and burying her face in her hands as the entire studio was immersed in the laughter of the live audience present.
“Sorry, my dear. I didn’t mean to embarrass you.” the other replied with a tiny smile surfacing from under his beard.
“You just did, though.”
“Again, I apologize.”
“Fine! Ready for the tenth and last question?” the Host asked with a childish grumble.
“Ask anything you want.”
“Good. This is a question from Miss Takebana, Sakai Prefecture. She would like to know why you decided to become a Chef, and when.” the woman asked while reading the question on the giant screen behind them both.
“Huhuhu! That is a good question! You may be surprised to know I made that decision when I was sixteen, right after waking-up from a year long coma...For me...A lot of things changed during that year.” the old man answered with a chuckle.
“A Year of coma changed your life?” the woman asked, surprised.
“Yes, you can say I lived an entire different life during that coma, in a sense. And that helped me focus myself on a new dream, one that I knew I could actually turn into reality, and that was becoming a Chef. I believe I can say that I managed it quite well.”
“I’d say! Your restaurant is basically Legend nowadays, even Pro Heroes swear high and low when they can’t secure a table! But please tell us, do you want to share some details of that Life you said you lived during that dreadful year?” the interviewer asked, chuckling amicably.
“Aaah! Not yet, maybe one day I will, but for now I won’t steal more time from you, I risk looking like one of those Grandpas that never shut-up, otherwise!” the Chef answered, equally amused.
“It was a pleasure talking with you instead, sir. Time totally NOT wasted! So please, dear audience, let’s give Mister Midoriya a last applause as a thank you for being our Guest today!”
CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!
As asked, the audience went wild in their applause while saluting the retreating Chef.
“Chef Midoriya, gentlemen! The World’s Greatest Chef!” the woman declared one last time before the show took a small pause for the ads to roll-out and give time for the Host to relax before the next Guest’s arrival.
“ The World’s Greatest Chef...That would be a nice story to tell! ” the old man thought in amusement as he walked out of the TV Studio and towards the car awaiting for him, his mind returning to that fateful day when he woke-up from his coma and his life changed forever.
Several years ago – Izuku Midoriya, Age: 16 – Musutafu - Hospital -
Inko was over the moon! Her precious baby boy was finally awake! Awake after a long year of coma after that Bast...Son of a bit...Piece of sh…
After the Bakugou brat blasted him away with his Quirk in retaliation for Izuku daring to save his life from a Villain!
Inko really hated cursing, but what Mitsuki’s spawn had done to her small ray of sunshine almost guaranteed Inko would have snapped the brat’s neck with her bare hands, she didn’t though, only because Murder was still a crime, and she didn’t want her precious Icchan to one day wake-up and learn his dear mother was in jail for putting-down a rabid Pomeranian.
Mitsuki had apologized for months about her son’s behavior, but Inko and Hisashi ( returned from his Business Trip as soon as he learned of the incident) still slapped her, the school and her psychotic son with a restraining order AND the hospital bills AND ruined almost any chance the boy had at entering UA University, now even if the maniac managed to join the Hero School, both Midoriya parents KNEW there wouldn’t be a single breath or step Katsuki could take not under the constant watch and utmost scrutiny of the entire university staff.
Assaulting somebody just because he believed that ‘The Quirkless Useless Nerd’ made him look bad in front of Pro Heroes by saving him from being suffocated by a Villain was not Hero behavior, and many luckily thought the same! Pro Heroes especially since they still struggled everyday to squash any rumor of there being an ‘Elitist Quirkist Mentality’ that many believed the profession was riddled with.
But all of that was not important now! Now their beloved Izuku was finally awake after one year of coma! Hisashi and Inko were just finishing signing the last of the paperwork that would ensure their boy's release from the hospital as soon as the doctors declared that he was no longer in danger!
“You think he was serious when he asked us to remove all his Hero Merchandise from his room?” Inko asked.
“I don’t know, honestly. But when we mentioned how you kept everything clean and proper he looked... Tired of it, somehow? As if those had lost every Magic they held for him.” Hisashi answered, unsure.
“Knowing he was Quirkless was a huge blow already, maybe seeing his ‘ Friend’ attack him like that the one time he tried to be a Hero himself simply smashed his dream?” Inko answered.
“You said he looked depressed already, before that animal was attacked by the Villain, maybe something happened even before that incident?”
“He doesn’t want to talk about it, he just says he understands he cannot be a Hero.” Inko answered, sighing.
“Maybe we can help him find a new dream? A new direction? He is a smart boy, maybe now that he no longer wants to be a hero he can become something else, like a doctor or a lawyer.” Hisashi offered.
“W-We?” the woman asked, shocked.
“I...I almost lost him, Inko. WE almost lost him! I-I-I...The last time I saw my son he was a kid! T-To him I was just a voice on the phone until yesterday when he woke up! H-He almost did not recognize me! HIS DAD!” Hisashi answered, eyes overflowing in tears as he cried and hiccuped so hard his body shook.
“You always provided for us, darling.” Inko answered, hugging her husband as tightly as she could.
“Yeah, with money!” he spat, bitterly.
“But I was not there when he entered High school! I was not there when the bullying started! What memories does he have of me, uh?! A voicemail and some pictures!” the man said.
“ My dad is overseas working. I can easily imagine all the bullshit they said to hurt him, like that I did not love him because of his Quirklessness or that I cheated on you or who knows what else!”
“It’s okay, we know you love us. And we love you too.” Inko assured him while gently caressing his back in small circles.
“...I...I ask you just another year. Another year to finish this project then I will be back for good. I will ask to be transferred back here to the Musutafu branch. We’ll be a proper family, promise!” Hisashi promised.
“Oh, Hisashi! There’s no need!”
“Yes there is!" Hisashi insisted.
“Just give your best, it will be enough for us. No matter if you are far away.” Inko said with a kind smile.
“Trust me, I will make it happen. I will return to you two.” Hisashi answered, eyes ablaze in determination.
At the same time – Izuku’s room -
The room had the same sterile-white standardized décor of every other room, down to the exact same pictures hanging from the walls in the exact same positions; and Izuku’s room was even more impersonal thanks to the total lack of flowers or get well soon cards, something that disturbed the nurses and doctors present so much THEY actually gave gifts to the boy to liven up the room when he woke.
“Your mom and dad are almost done signing everything, now we just need to make sure you are healthy enough and you will be able to get back home.” the gentle nurse said with a kind smile.
“That’s nice.” Izuku answered, plainly.
“Listen, I know it must hurt to not see your classmates send you anything, but maybe they were waiting for you to wake-up?” the young woman offered.
“…” her only answer was a half-lidded stare that made her face flush red in embarrassment.
Sigh! “I know what you are thinking: ‘ I am Quirkless, so they don’t care. ’. And maybe it’s true in their case , but not everybody out there is like that! Look at me! I am still here, and not just because it’s my job!” the woman said while showing the four arms her Quirk gifted her with.
“Uh-hu.”
“There are good people out there, people that don’t care if you have a Quirk or not! People that will love and respect you all the same if you give them the chance! Having or not a Quirk is not the be-all-end-all, you can do amazing things if you set your mind to it! Humans did it BEFORE Quirks even existed! Have faith in yourself! I bet you can find hundreds of friends both Quirked and Quirkless that will trust and love you just for who you are, not your Powers! People YOU will be able to love and trust back with no fear!” the nurse said while grabbing his hand in hers to give it a gentle squeeze.
“I really hope so,” Izuku answered, sighing.
“Trust me, the world is not a nightmare ready to beat you down.” she answered.
Sigh! “Okay.”
“Have faith! Good things come to those who work hard.” the woman replied while walking away.
“Hey.”
“Yes?” she asked, stopping right at the door and turning back to look at him.
“...Can you live an entire different life in a single year?” he asked while looking outside the window with a far-away light in his eyes.
“You mean while in a coma?” the nurse asked.
“Yes.”
“It’s hard to say. Many say they were fully aware of the world around them but unable to move, others simply said they had a ‘ Normal dream’ like when they slept normally and just woke-up after years while for others everything lasted only an instant...It’s complicated enough that there is not a simple answer.”
“Oh…”
“So you dreamed of a different life for yourself?”
“Either that or I got Isekaied and just got back home.” Izuku answered with a chuckle devoid of any real emotion.
“Considering life is not a Manga, I am more inclined to say it was just a dream.” the woman answered, chuckling amicably, and secretly happy to see the boy finally showing her a more genuine smile, albeit minuscule.
“Yeah, then I guess it was just a dream then.” he replied, looking down at his hands.
“Can I ask what you were doing during that Life ?” the nurse asked with a gentle smile.
“I was a Chef.” the boy answered, simply.
“It’s a nice job! You like to cook?”
“I like food, especially Katsudon. Yes, I can say I do like cooking.”
“Maybe then it’s a sign for a future career?”
“It depends…”
“It doesn’t take a Quirk to be a great Chef! Just talent and the will to put in lots of hard work! You can try to see if you have what it takes!”
“A Chef...Can I be one? Do I deserve to be one?” Izuku asked, looking honestly scared.
“Why not? You won’t know if you don’t try!” the nurse answered, smirking, before walking away.
“I-”
Once a Chef, always a Chef, you fool!
A voice echoed in the boy’s ears like a faint whisper, making him jump in fright and look around himself wildly.
“Tha-That voice!” he muttered with wide eyes.
That night he would not sleep at all, every time he tried the same disembodied voice of an old lady he was sure he knew personally would keep berating him.
You and I are chefs! We do not stop being one, ever! We do not retire unless we die! Our destiny is to die in front of a chopping board while cooking and only once the dish is ready, like Froese-sama did! AND YOU KNOW IT!
Then finally, after the third day of continuous visits from the Voice whenever he slept, the dreams too came: memories Izuku desperately kept suppressing in the belief they were just his imagination: his early days in his new life , his first dish, his first apprenticeship then his first restaurant...All he learned, all he did…
And then the rare flashes of what ‘ The other him’ did after Joie used his accursed ‘ Taste Change’ on him to turn him into the guy’s puppet, and the pain he caused.
It was not you and you know it!
You would have never done any of that and you know it!
I know the real you! The real Zaus! Who you were before Joie corrupted you!
You want redemption? Then grab the kitchen knife and cook like you used to!
Recover your honor like only a Chef can! By Honoring the Ingredients!
“AAAAAAAAH!” That night Izuku would wake-up screaming, covered in cold sweat, and start crying immediately after while begging for forgiveness over and over.
“Setsuno...I am sorry…” the boy begged in tears.
Then show it, you idiot!
“Uh?!” the boy asked to the empty room once heard the Voice answer with a friendly chuckle for the first time since he started hearing it.
It will also be the last time he ever heard that Voice of the woman the other Him considered his greatest friend and rival.
Three days later -
It was finally the day the doctors deemed Izuku healthy enough to be took back home, the boy had already been helped by his mother to dress and was sitting on a wheelchair his father was pushing, the three of them were even chatting of few inane things when a loud cacophony of curses and screams started echoing in the corridors, coming from right in front of the Hospital entrance.
The cause of the ruckus was a guy with a Quirk turning him into a Tiger-Human hybrid arguing with a guy with a Gorilla Quirk that made his body HUGE and obscenely muscled.
“FUCK YOU!”
“NO, FUCK YOU!”
And the two punks were apparently uninterested in the absurd noise they were making in the middle of the Hospital while they argued about something, although the fact both were covered in bruises suggested they both were in the hospital to finish whatever fight landed them there in the first place.
“What is happening?” Inko asked, scared.
“Apparently the gorilla guy destroyed the tiger guy’s new car while parking. The two beat the crap out of each other until they both passed out and were brought here a couple hours ago, and now that they are finally awake, they have started all over again.” a nearby doctor answered with a tired voice.
“Shouldn’t somebody stop them?” Inko asked.
“Security will be here soon, have patience.” the doctor answered, sighing.
Izuku...Did not exactly know what he was doing, but simply following the ‘ Memories’ of his year of coma, he felt compelled to walk towards them and tap the shoulder of the tiger guy, shocking the doctors and his parents by getting-up from the wheelchair with no apparent issues.
Tap! Tap!
“What the fuck do you-” both arguing men started yelling at the same time while turning towards the intruder , when they stopped abruptly.
Because for some reason the kid whose head could barely reach the tiger guy’s armpits ( or the Gorilla guy’s belly-button) had become in their eyes a giant easily towering over them both as soon as they locked eyes with him.
“This is a Hospital, can you two please go fight somewhere else, Monkey and Cat ? ” the boy asked with a calm and yet infinitely-threatening tone.
“YOU LITTLE-”
“KEEP IT DOWN!”
The tirade of the duo died immediately when the kid’s booming roar, delivered though with the grace of a King, eclipsed both their voices and made their furs stand-up like they were electrified.
And at hearing his order EVERYBODY IN THE ENTIRE. FUCKING. HOSPITAL . STOPPED BREATHING for a couple seconds.
The boy was standing with his back straight and hands clasped behind him in quite the regal pose and with his eyes narrowed, his hair were even casting a bit of a shadow over those same eyes too.
The most daring abnormality though was that many could swear they saw a glimpse of a giant red-furred gorilla of sort with big boar-like tusks, and enough muscles on its human-like torso and arms to shame a pack of bodybuilders, appear behind him for an instant with shining eyes and a blood-red flaming aura of energy covering its entire body.
“Y-Y-Yo, it’s cool man...I-It’s cool...W-We are done arguing, yes?” the gorilla guy whimpered with his complexion turning chalk-white in fear.
“Y-Yeah! W-We are sorry if-if we make a scene, Sir! N-No need to get violent, yes? T-This is a hospital after all!” the tiger guy added while nodding violently.
“Good to know! Then please, do take a seat so these gentle nurses can look at your bruises.” Izuku answered with a gentle smile, one completely devoid of any threatening intent.
“O-Of course, Sir! No problem, sir!” both punks answered as one and hurrying to sit on the waiting seats with their backs straight and without uttering a sound, but just following the kid’s every move with unblinking eyes while sweating heavily.
“Nice! Thank you!” Without another word, the young teen walked back towards the wheelchair and collapsed on it, he too utterly drenched in sweat and panting heavily.
“Icchan? You okay?” Inko asked immediately while kneeling down in front of him to check his now very pale face.
“Y-Yes, I am fine. I am just tired, that is all.” he answered with a forced smile.
“ Was that Intimidation? How?” the boy thought, feeling overwhelmed by his own confusion.
“Well, whatever you did was kind of foolish, you could not know if they would attack you,” Hisashi answered, sighing.
“Sorry, dad.”
“It’s okay, luckily they calmed down instead of getting violent. Just do not think things will always go this well.”
“Of course.”
“Very well. Let’s go home now, I just recently filled the fridge, I want to celebrate your return, Icchan!” Inko said with a wide smile.
“Okay, mom!”
Later that day – Midoriya Household -
The family of three was just finishing setting the table, with Izuku managing with great effort to talk his parents into letting him help them, even if maybe he did whine a little too childishly for his tastes.
“I am not made of glass, dad!” he said.
“You just got out of the Hospital, please do take it easy.” Hisashi answered, frowning a little.
“I will take it easy, promise. But I am used to helping, you know? I like to feel useful.”
“I won’t deny that, just don’t rush.”
“Okay, dad.”
“Good!” the man answered, showing from where the boy took his ‘ cinnamon bun smile’ from as both father and son matched each other.
“Since you both feel so well, are you up for a small ‘ Adventure’ ?” Inko asked with a teasing smile.
“An adventure, darling?” Hisashi asked, curious.
“Uh-hu! I found a new recipe on the net, do you feel adventurous enough to try it?” she asked.
“That would explain why you insisted on buying that giant wok. Okay!”
“Okay, mom!” Izuku echoed behind his father.
“Good! Let’s hope it will be good! This is the first time I’ll make it after all!” Inko answered while making a show of rolling-up her sleeve intensely enough to make the two men behind her laugh in amusement.
The recipe looked simple enough, even if the big wok kept sizzling extremely loudly, something that raised an alarm bell in the back of Izuku’s head the boy wasn’t even aware existed.
And when that burning oil spilled-out after a too-violent twist of Inko’s ladle, the entire content caught fire and produced a giant flame followed by a deafening WOOSH! Sound.
“KYAAAH!” The woman had barely the time to jump back and not get burned, slipping on the floor while pulling the wok filled in flaming oil with her.
“INKO!/MOM!” Both Hisashi and Izuku yelled at the same time while hurrying to help her, but while his father managed to grab the woman in a protective embrace that saved her, Izuku peripherally watched the wok fall in slow-motion towards the floor, and he swore he heard the horrified scream that seemed to come from the food in it.
When the thing reached half-way to the floor, and once his instinct told him his mother was actually safe, the young teen moved with a burst of speed that surprised his parents and grabbed the wok’s handles and rapidly lifted it to put it back on the fire to start stirring it with the same ladle he took from his mother’s hand.
“ A bit more salt...Some pepper maybe? The seasoning does need some adjustment! ” as if in a trance, the boy tasted the content and started adjusting the seasoning while continuously stirring it, his hands moving fast enough they simply disappeared .
“There should be some beef in the freezer...There it is!” he then muttered, grabbing a knife nearby and managing to cut the still frozen meat without trouble.
“Icchan?” Inko asked, dumbfounded.
“Potatoes...I need potatoes…” The boy mumbled while preparing the tubers, then onions, peas, pepper grains and more at the same time at high speed.
“Son?” Hisashi tried again, just as shocked as his wife.
“The Beef stew is looking good...The mushrooms need to be cut thinner still…”
“Icchan?”
“The tenderloin needs braising...Drats, no red wine!...I’ll use sake…Are those strawberries? I know what to do for dessert! Nice!”
“Izuku?”
“This knife is too damn dull! I need to find a Melk here too…”
“Icchan!” Inko called-out, raising her voice.
“The stew is ready, so is the meat...Vegetables are ready too...So are appetizers, first course, salad, dessert and side dish...Everything is-”
“IZUKU!” both his parents yelled at the same time as loud as they could.
“W-What?” The boy uttered while distractedly finishing putting everything in the respective plates.
“...How?!” Hisashi asked with wide eyes.
“ How what? Uhu?!” the young teen asked back before finally noticing what he had done and how long he had actually zoned-out.
The kitchen table was now fully stacked in a Full Course Menu for three, every dish worthy of a five-star restaurant in appearance and preparation, the table itself seemed ready to collapse under the weight of the immense quantity of food on it while the scent permeating the house was unbelievably good.
“Did-Did I do this?” he asked.
“Me and your mother were kind of too overwhelmed to do it, so I guess it’s a yes!” the man answered, unnerved.
“I was just thinking about how to help?” Izuku tried saying.
“Icchan, you were in a trance, your usual mumbling was there, but in the meantime your body moved. And it was unreal.” Inko answered.
“Did I do wrong?” he asked, unsure.
“By nose and eyes I would say No. And since we DID say we needed to celebrate your waking-up and returning home, this would have been the final result all the same. I just did not think YOU would have been the one cooking.” Hisashi answered.
“Me neither.” Izuku admitted.
“So, what’s this?” Inko asked while pointing at the table.
“Beef Stew, mushroom salad, sweet-and-sour pork ribs, Three-Meats Hot-pot with beef tenderloin, pork belly and chicken guts , Tuna Carpaccio, scallops in aromatic potage and I put some Strawberry Sorbet in the freezer for a late snack. I think?” the boy answered automatically, before growing puzzled by his own answer.
“Those were all left-overs, except the tuna. How did you do all this just with THAT?” Inko asked.
“I don’t know.” Izuku answered.
“Well, let’s see if it is good at least…” Hisashi muttered while trying the stew.
“ Mmmmmmmmh! ” and develop a blissful expression food should NOT give to somebody. He actually looked frighteningly close at having an ahegao.
“Eh?!” both mother and son gurgled-out at the same time.
“It’s gooooooooood!” Hisashi moaned in awe and with his mouth still full while shamelessly filling and re-filling his plate over and over.
“Darling! Manners! Please contain yourself!” Inko said, appalled, while trying the pork ribs.
“ ...NOM! NOM! NOM! NOM!” to then show utter hypocrisy by attacking the dish herself with the same lack of manners, like a starving animal.
“H-Hey! Leave me something!” Izuku yelled in horror at seeing the dishes apparently HE made getting empty fast!
“Since when can he cook this well?!” Hisashi asked between mouthfuls.
“I have no idea, but I know I can’t stop!” Inko answered.
“Me neither!” Izuku replied, just as entranced as they were by the taste.
When the three finally stopped eating, almost two hours later, the family collapsed on the sofa, all three of them groaning because their bulging stomachs filled to the breaking point.
“Oh, God! I am going to explode!” Izuku admitted in agony, and yet not regretting a single morsel of what he ate.
“You said you wanted to become a Chef?” Hisashi asked.
“It was just an idea, dad, I don’t know if I have what it takes.”
“My stomach says you have some solid bases to start from, Icchan!” Inko admitted before burping loudly, a thing that made her face burn red in shame.
“Sorry!”
“If you say so, mom.”
“What I don’t understand is how you became this good all of a sudden.” Hisashi wondered.
“I have a theory...If you have an open mind and can actually help me make sense of this.” Izuku answered.
“I can barely move, so it is not like I have no time to listen!” his father admitted.
“Me too, Icchan.” Inko added.
“Well, I am not sure, but there is a chance my coma has something to do with it.”
“Uh?”
“You see…”
Three Weeks later – Musutafu – market square -
The so-called ‘ Market Square’ was just a small rectangle of paved street near a park where on Saturday the housewives/househusbands of half Musutafu met to assault the various vendors for ingredients and other amenities in a free-for-all to hunt down the best sales.
Today though the entire thing had been booked by a renowned School of cuisine for a small cooking showdown between some of their better students and three ‘ Amateur Chefs’ , the prize was a mere toaster, and everybody knew both Challenge and prize were just an excuse to collect funds for the local association making sure homeless people had a place to eat for free.
“So this is dad’s plan?” Izuku asked in dread while watching the big stage the association built for the challenge.
“Hu-uh! Before returning to his office he said that IF you really gained knowledge from your coma, and if you want to fully use this knowledge to become a great Chef again, then you will need to catch the eyes of Professionals so to gain entrance to a proper school for aspiring Chefs. This contest should help a lot if the rumors Hisashi-kun heard about this year’s edition are as good as he said they were.” Inko answered.
“You think dad will be able to see if it was really just a dream or Transmigration as he called it?” Izuku asked, unsure.
“I know damn well I didn’t teach you how to cook like that, and yet you demonstrated skills I never saw before. The fact that you went into a trance every time we tested it was what ticked-off your father, he literally said it was like somebody else was controlling your movements.”
“Then why not a Quirk?” Izuku asked.
“We took the test again, Icchan. It’s still negative.” Inko answered, showing him again the same result papers she showed the judges when she managed to enlist Izuku between the Amateurs challenging the Cooking School students.
“I know, I know...It’s just...an Isekai sounds so unbelievable.”
“Your dad begs to differ, honey.”
“That’s because he is a geek.”
“You are a nerd, Icchan…” Inko answered, chuckling.
“Those are two different things.”
“If you say so, dear.”
“Ok Quirker .”
“HEY!” the woman answered with an overly-hurt expression that made him chuckle.
“Huhuhu! Just go there and give your best. Whatever happened during that coma left you with a Gift . If it was you to live as Zaus-san in another world, or it’s just his knowledge passing to you, what matters is that you now can do those things HERE as well. Chefs are supposed to be a gift, right? Heroes bring smiles by protecting people, chefs do it by filling their stomach, you said so yourself. Your dream is still the same, you can still do it.”
“Y-You think I can do this?” Izuku asked, scared.
“Yes I do. I believe in you, and your father does as well.” Inko answered.
“I-I will make you proud then!” the boy answered while marching up the stage with the other two Amateurs to take position at his small kitchen .
“We already are, Icchan!” Inko muttered with a small smile.
On the stage -
“Good evening, people! Welcome to the fifth edition of our Cooking Showdown!” The Host of the event was a bald old man wearing a bright yellow tux addressing the audience under the stage through a gaudy golden mike.
Inko had in the meantime started recording everything on camera since due to the time difference Hisashi could not see it live, so he gently asked to have a recording of the thing sent through email once done, for bragging purposes other than further data for his theories about Izuku’s new Skills .
“As always we have three daring Challengers here to face against the Top 3 students of Inoshiki Culinary School , a friendly showdown to collect funds, so do not get too angry should you lose, you are facing Pros just to help the less fortunate, not to get fame! But let’s introduce the Challengers and their dishes, shall we?” the Host said while nearing the area left to the Amateur Chefs.
“Let’s start with you, you are?”
“Hi! I am Nana! Umibozu Nana! I will prepare my special Vegan Pork cutlet! ” the young thirty-something woman replied with a wide smile.
“...There is nothing Vegan about pork cutlets, dear.” the Host commented, dryly.
“There is if you use Tofu instead of the meat of some poor pigs!” she answered, frowning.
“Then don’t call it pork , but whatever floats your boat, darling.” the old man answered, grimacing and walking towards the second woman.
“Good evening, I am Mitsuki Bakugo. I will prepare my own version of the Oden .” Mitsuki answered, stealthily stealing a glance at Izuku next to her and flinching when she saw the boy take a tiny step aside to avoid her. And flinching harder when she saw Inko glare at her with all her strength.
“At least somebody here can prepare good food! Good to know!” the Host replied, smiling happily.
“Corpse eater!”
“Go suck a turnip, woman!” the Host replied with a scathing glare that silenced the first contestant, before finally focusing on Izuku.
“Hi! I am Izuku Midoriya and...And I... Uhm ...I-I will prepare a dish called ‘ Golden Fried Rice’, with shrimps and pork belly meat.” Izuku muttered with a shy voice, and even the mic had trouble picking his answer up to make it audible for everybody else.
“Oh-Ooooh! A simple dish! You plan to make a lot of plates then?” the Host asked with a smile that kinda looked too mocking for Inko’s tastes.
“I-If it’s not a problem.” the boy answered.
“It won’t be if it will actually be good! Let’s introduce the Judges now!” the guy answered before kind of shoving Izuku away for a girl to walk forward.
“As you know we usually have a panel of both teachers and common people to decide who is the winner, but this year we have a special threat! Our association, the one usually collaborating with Inoshiki School to prepare this event, has managed to strike a deal with a famous Japanese Chef that accepted being our head judge and even brought along some colleagues.
So please, give an applause to Chef Samui, owner of the legendary three Michelin Star Samui Restaurant in Tokyo, and his friends!” the woman declared as five judges dressed in fine Chef attires all sat together at the same long table on the right side of the stage.
All of them also sported on their chests the insignia of the restaurants where they worked, and not one of them had less than two tiny stars under those restaurants’ names, meaning that all of them were definitely Pros.
“Thank you for the warm welcome! It’s a pleasure to see my Alma Mater , Inoshiki School, still producing such amazing Chefs, so I am honored to be here to give my own two cents on their level of preparation!” the Head Chef, Samui, declared once the applause calmed down and the mic was passed to him.
“We will be strict, though. So be advised, we want you to give your best!” the man said before sitting down on his chair in the middle of the judge formation.
“Well, you heard the man! When we’ll give you the start signal, you will have forty minutes tops to prepare your dish, so don’t slack off!” the Host yelled in glee.
“ F-Forty minutes only? Oh, God! ” Izuku thought in worry as the Host started listing the plates the Students will prepare, and all of those sounded very complex compared to his.
“ What’s wrong? Afraid? Since when?”
“ Uhu?” the boy thought in surprise at hearing a deep baritone voice.
He recognized it as Zaus’ Appetite Demon , a very prideful Food Spirit that very rarely talked with the man, and that after the events with Joie fully turned his back to the Chef and never again talked with him. Why was he there? And why did he talk to Izuku?
“ This is your second chance, Partner! You want redemption? Seize it! Be a Chef again and do NOT lose your way again! ”
You can’t retire, Zaus-chan! Once a Chef, always a Chef!
“Setsuno?”
“That’s a memory, you buffoon! She is not here! I am here, and I want to eat, not be your nanny! So don’t expect me to hold your hand or talk to you whenever you are nervous! I followed you here just for one reason: FOOD! So dry your tears and straighten your back! Do you still have your skills? Then use them!”
“Ready? Three...two...one...GOOO! Your time starts now!” the Host yelled, giving start to the Challenge.
“ I...I can still be a Chef? Even after what I did as Zaus? As a Villain?” Izuku thought in worry while mechanically collecting the Ingredients he needed from the communal fridge they all were given access to.
“ Before is before, now is now! You were Zaus, now you are Izuku! Who the Hell cares?! The Ingredients want to give you another chance, so where’s the problem!? Grab the knife and do your job! You heard me?! It doesn’t matter if you are Zaus or Izuku now! You are both!”
“ I am...Both?”
- -
(Small soundtrack suggestion to listen while reading.) Link:
Toriko Battle OST: Tosou Honnou! YT Link.
“Yes, damn it! You are still a Chef at heart? Then COOK!” the Appetite Demon said with a fierce roar, and from the outside, everybody saw the young teen eyes turn inhumanly sharp as he grabbed a kitchen knife...And performed a Miracle.
CHOP! CHOP! CHOP! CHOP! CHOP! CHOP! CHOP! CHOP!
The judges were speechless, the shy kid had picked-up speed to the point the knife could NOT be seen at all and utensils went swapped at unreal tempo.
“I am Izuku...Cutting.” The kid muttered as ingredients went cut into thin slices with just one slice of the knife, so fast the boy would just hit the counter to have the Ingredients jump-up for him to cut while they were still in mid-air.
“I am Zaus ... Braising .” he then whispered as the fire roared to life under the wok and the meat went braised to absolute PERFECTION.
“I am both! Sauteing!`` At the same time other pans hovered over the flames in complete stillness with only the Rice and Shrimps in there moving without stopping.
The more he cooked the clearer Izuku’s memories as Zaus became and his movements more precise, everything then became his own skills instead of implants from reincarnation, until ‘Izuku’ and ‘Zaus’ became one and the same, a single being!
And Food Honor was returned to the young Chef!
“Plating!”
TAK! TAK! TAK! TAK! TAK! TAK!
Plates upon plates, in an absurd number, were delivered as soon as the dish was ready, each plate not even having the time to fully rest on the counter and the boy was already back to cooking more.
“Is...He’s covering the work of an entire kitchen staff by himself…” one of the judges muttered in horror.
“ Too slow, my body still can’t keep up! ” Izuku thought in worry as he knew that had his body moved like his old one as Zaus, he would have done at least ten times the amount of plates he was preparing in that moment. If not more.
“I-I-I can’t keep up! What the fuck?!” One of the people in the audience, a girl with a speed-related Quirk, was feeling dizzy as her eyes could not keep up with what he was doing on stage.
“GO, ICCHAN! GOOOO!” Inko in the meantime was going WILD in cheering for her son, nobody could miss the fact she was incredibly proud of him.
TAK! TAK! TAK! TAK! TAK! TAK!
“I-Is he cooking for everybody?!” The girl cooking next to Izuku shrieked in awe as the plates kept amassing, all absolutely perfectly-done and at a rate the staff struggled to keep-up and deliver them even while focusing on Izuku alone.
“HOW?!” Mitsuki asked, horrified.
“H-H-Hoy! Slow down!” The Host asked, scared.
“NO! You others hurry up!” Izuku roared in determination, making the idiot FINALLY shut-up, and to the others’ awe, or horror in case of the other contestants, he actually went even faster .
“Yes, Chef!” It was maybe an unconditional reflex, but the students answered with the same tone they normally used in the kitchen where they worked, all for their astonishment while they picked-up the pace to keep-up with the kid.
“Other than the time needed for the ingredients to actually cook...T-That speed is unreal!” one of the Judges muttered with wide eyes.
“No, he is still faster than that…” the Head Judge growled.
“Uh?”
“He is shortening the time needed by doing everything at the same time, but instead of having somebody helping him, he is doing it alone. Is he using his Quirk to speed-up his movements.” the Michelin Chef hissed in annoyance.
“Actually, He is Quirkless.”
“WHAT?!”
“He is Quirkless, that is all natural talent.” the woman repeated while showing them the copy of the medical test Inko brought along.
“Impossible!” the Chef yelled in disbelief.
It was indeed impossible, because who was cooking was the second Legendary Chef of another world, second only to a woman with unfathomable skills called a ‘ National Treasure’ , but since there was no Setsuno in his original world, Izuku’s abilities could really be called ‘ Peerless’ .
The skills of the King of Chefs!
- Forty minutes later -
“Preparation complete. Sorry for the wait, please enjoy your meal.” Izuku declared with a bow a minute before the judges could actually stop the competition.
In front of him there were lots of plates, other than the five for the judges, of gold-coloured fried rice perfectly prepared, each plate a work of art finely decorated by an absurdly-detailed drawing of a cherry blossoms branch made of of soy sauce glace and flowers of sweet-and-sour sauce while on top of the rice stood a humble tiny patch of green leaves.
How on God’s green earth the boy actually got the time to also take care of ‘ Decoration/Presentation’ was anybody’s guess, but every person present agreed on the fact that the smell was truly, literally DIVINE.
“Holy shit, I am hungry…” Katsuki muttered while swallowing down what felt like the fourth mouthful of saliva.
“Yeah, well, good fucking job at alienating the family, now you won’t be invited to dinner any time soon!...Neither will I…” Mitsuki answered, bitterly, once walking down from the stage after delivering her dishes to the judges.
“...Goddamnit…” the young teen swore under his breath as no plate even just passed close to him and his mother, making the two of them part of the few that did not receive any.
“We will now proceed with our judgment of the dishes. Starting with Midoriya-san’s rice.” the judge’s spokeswoman declared.
“Icchan…” Inko muttered while accepting the dish her son brought her himself.
“Please don’t start, mom! I am already a nervous wreck by myself!” Izuku begged, shivering violently thanks to his nerves.
- Judge Table -
“This looks very nice.” one of the judges admitted while studying the plate and steadfastly ignoring the LOUD gurgling coming from his stomach.
On top of the white porcelain plate stood the pearl-like rice grains, with every grain perfectly wrapped in the gold of the egg yolk the boy used like a sauce; the egg was not completely cooked either, but had been left slightly viscous to better hug the tongue once eaten.
The egg dressing in it literally turned the rice Golden as the dish name implied, it even left behind thin threads like molten gold when lifted by the chopsticks thanks to its semi-liquid consistency.
"It...It is shining like gold!" Head Judge Samui exclaimed in wonder while studying his plate.
Not one of them had ever thought that it would be possible for a plate of Egg-Fried Rice to look like a piece of artwork, and when the judges actually tried it, the egg sauce fully mixed with the rice grains and solidified to create an explosion of taste that together with the tender and syrupy pork belly meat, the mix of spices and shrimps moved them to tears of awe.
“How?...How did he do it?...How?…” The Michelin Chef kept asking himself between mouthfuls, as while the rice tasted Godly , each bite of that Heaven also felt like a stab to his honour as a Chef, until tears started flowing from his eyes without control, he was weeping in defeat and yet he could not stop himself from eating more.
“Is he okay?” one of the judges asked, shamelessly talking with her mouth full but unable to stop eating long enough to ask.
“I think,” Burp! “I think the boy crushed his spirit with a plate of rice. And Goddamnit this tastes amazing! Gotta ask him the recipe…” another Judge answered while rudely licking his plate clean, uncaring of people seeing him doing that.
“I thought you hated rice, that’s why you have none on your restaurant’s menu.”
“I may change my stand on rice after this!”
- With Inko -
“ICCHAN!” Chomp ! “I am so proud of you!” NOM! “Dammit this is amazing…” Inko, between mouthfuls, complimented her kid and actually wolfed down the remaining rice so to then throw away the empty plate and hug him as hard as she could.
“Glad you like it, mom!...I-It’s kind of a rush job though, if you want tomorrow I can make it again and properly!” Izuku answered with a sorry expression.
Properly…Properly…Properly...Properly…
Utter silence fell in the small square as Izuku’s words echoed in everybody’s ears and pierced their minds like a searing-hot blade.
“This...This is a Rush Job ?” Inko asked, shocked.
“Yes, I had to cut corners and make it immediately instead of preparing the Ingredients beforehand to truly bring out the best taste they have to offer. Sorry.” the boy answered, looking down in shame, as the Zaus part of him knew the dish could be way better if done properly, but he had not proper equipment or time to work with, especially while working with that dull slab of metal they gave him and had the gall to call a kitchen knife.
“…”
“... WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH !'' After a long silence a loud wailing of despair was heard as Samui broke in tears while tearing away the restaurant name from the front of his attire to throw it on the floor and then bury his face in his arms to cry even harder.
Izuku’s victory was a given at that point, what was more important to mother and son ( and from afar, Hisashi) was that it was the first time the young teen could call upon Zaus’ Chef knowledge while still being in full control and without the feeling of depersonalization Izuku felt whenever he tried remembering something of his life as the man.
- I-Island – A week later -
“Your son is a damn monster, Hisashi!” The man’s assistant said once visioned the footage Inko sent him.
“Yep! And I am damn proud of him!” Hisashi answered, smirking.
“And you say he needs proper knives to do a better job?”
“At the very least, listening to him, the Ingredients HERE are way easier to use compared to Zaus’ ones, but still, at least the knives he would like to have are like his old ones.” the man answered.
“And that means?”
“Since we have no Melk here. We’ll need to borrow the instruments of Lab 3 to create durable blades with edges sharpened to nano-metric levels.”
“Nano-metric?! Too sharp!”
“...I saw Icchan peel a raw egg with a cheap knife. Peel it, Tamaki. He gave a single swipe and the thing lost its shell like a damn orange and the egg inside was left standing up by itself before splattering down a second later. It looked like something out of a damn manga!” Hisashi said while reproducing said video on the computer, along with many others from the various Tests he had Izuku go through.
“...Is that a living fish skeleton?” Tamaki asked, faintly.
“Icchan calls it Food Honor . Whatever it is, he used it to filet a fish so fast the fish did not notice. ”
“How the fuck does THAT work?!”
“No idea. That is why I wanted your help to decipher what the hell happened to my boy during his coma. He either got an Isekai and came back, or he somehow downloaded information inside his brain from another world.”
“The brain scan shows nothing out of ordinary besides brain activity way superior than normal, but it still covers the areas of the brain it’s supposed to.” the Assistant said.
“Blood pressure too is normal. Muscles mass too, and yet speed and reaction times are like you saw.” Hisashi added while passing a hand in his messy hair, something he deeply regretted passing to his boy.
“Absurd?” Tamaki said, smirking.
“It’s not exactly a proper scientific term, but I’ll let it slide.”
“I still say we need a blood sample to run more tests.”
“They took one in the hospital under my request. Here’s the results.” Hisashi answered while displaying the results.
“...All in the norm, no anomalies detected.”
“ Dad, is my blood still okay?” Izuku’s voice echoed inside Hisashi’s mind.
“ Yes, Icchan. Those cells you talked about have not surfaced yet.”
“They will come out soon, dad. I can feel them stir awake whenever I eat…”
“We will keep them a secret, have no fear. ”
“Hisashi?” the Assistant asked once seen the man look deep in thought.
“Sorry, just reminiscing about something trivial. You were saying?”
“That this makes no sense. If your boy is exactly as he was before the coma, then there should be no way he can do all that now. Let alone knowledge, he has the muscle memory to go with it, something years of practice gives you, not a coma! You said he would stutter once or twice in the past, but those stutters as you call them are not present in any of the videos I saw.
Whatever separation there was between the two ‘Him’ , now it’s gone for good or close to be gone. And if we can’t find anything with info from before the coma, we will need to run tests now that he is awake and compare the results.”
“Do we have to?” Hisashi asked, scared.
“What are you hiding, Hisashi?”
“I got the full story from Izuku, and there are details I know I MUST keep a secret. He doesn’t want to be a Hero anymore, he just wants to be a Chef and live a quiet life. He has abandoned a dream already, I don’t want him to lose another, especially if I know he can reach it!”
“Something happened to him, didn't it?”
“The changes are happening slowly, but are there. I want to see if those changes are dangerous to him, but I am too afraid of others using that data for their agenda.”
“You mean like All for One ?”
“We all know a body was never found, he may still be out there.”
“That dangerous?”
“I got an explanation and saw it first-hand. It can be used by somebody with no remorse or care for collateral damages.”
“Then it’s decided, me and you will need to be extra careful, but if your boy wants to give his best as a Chef instead of a Hero, I think I can help.” Tamaki offered with an encouraging smile.
“Thank you, Tamaki. I really want to help my boy reach his full potential.”
“That’s corny, Hisashi.” the Assistant said, chuckling.
“Oh, shut up!” he answered, face red in embarrassment.
“Let’s say I can close an eye and let you use our instrumentation to help him reach the Full Potential you talked about...” the Lab director muttered, making both conspirators jump-up in fright.
“Yes, chief?” Hisashi answered with narrowed eyes.
“I expect him to take part in some tests all the same. Nothing invasive if you are so sure about his Secret being dangerous, but we still need to see if it can really be a threat or if your being his Father is making you worry for nothing.” the old man answered.
“No blood tests though. Really.”
“What’s in his blood, Hisashi?”
“Something I can’t talk about.”
“Why?”
“Too dangerous.”
“...A virus?”
“A mutation.”
“Can it spread?”
“Not if somebody does not steal his blood and tries to. And even then, it’s inadvisable.”
“How much?”
“Not everybody can withstand the strain, and I don’t want to think how Quirks would react to that.”
“You know the Higher-ups will force us to tell them?”
“If they know about it, sir.” Hisashi countered.
“And he just wants to be a Chef?”
“A simple life as a Chef, he isn’t even sure he wants to open his own restaurant, just work in one. It doesn’t even have to be fancy.”
“...Goddamnit! Okay!”
“Sir?”
“Let me cover the few traces you two morons left behind then we’ll get to work in preparing his tests. And I hope your son's food is worth it.” the old man declared with a growl.
“I…”
“Hisashi?” the Chief said with narrowed eyes.
“I kind of sent a drone home to collect some?” Hisashi said with a weak smile.
“MIDORIYA!” the old man roared in fury.
“I was having Soba withdrawals!” the man answered, whining.
“We have strict rules about secrecy here, Midoriya. And even then, we have a perfectly fine cafeteria here…”
“It’s not the same.” Hisashi answered, offended.
“Fork it out then, let’s try.”
“NO! It’s mine!”
“Are you denying your superior?!”
“YES!”
“Hisashi, man, just hand them over. It’s just soba.” Tamaki said, rolling his eyes.
“JUST SOBA?!...Fine!” he answered with a petulant tone, but still took out one of the boxes he held hidden in his office personal fridge.
“Here, choke on them, you two. Hn! ”
“Drama Queen. Let’s see those skills of your brat,” the old man declared while shaking his head and taking a bite.
“...”
“He made them with common equipment and Ingredients found in every supermarket, just so you know. Nothing luxurious was used.”
“…”
“...”
“Say, how many knives do you reckon dear Icchan needs to do his best?” Hisashi’s Chief asked with a way-too-innocent smile that sent a chill up the man’s spine.
“I think the guys in Lab 13 have a new super-alloy that they did not know how to use, I bet they can make awesome pans with that as well!” Tamaki added from the sidelines.
“We’ll ask them to borrow some. Level 5 Secrecy of course.”
“At the very least, sir!”
“Oh! And I believe that in exchange of your request of transferal back to Musutafu going through smoothly, I will be your dinner guest once a month, if you don’t mind paying for my silence with food.”
“Me too!”
“You will just stay quiet, Tamaki!”
“Okay, sir...damnit…”
“Okay, sir. You’ll have your bribe.” Hisashi muttered in answer.
“Wonderful! Now share with me those tests you talked about, I want to see them myself.”
“ Oh, God...What have I done...I am sorry Icchan! ” Hisashi thought in horror.
He just hoped nobody else would notice his son’s skill before securing his safety.
Back to the mainland – Musutafu - Yaoyorozu household – Kitchen -
There was a somber silence in the huge kitchen of the disgustingly-rich family, for a ‘ Murder’ had happened there, with Ingredients being the victims.
It was a massacre, some strange gelatinous green sludge was slowly dripping from the walls and smelling like dirty socks, a small pan was burning in a corner while completely enveloped by flames and the oven was giving few last dying electric whimpers before finally succumbing, producing a tiny plume of black smoke and then letting its frontal panel detach and slam on the floor in a thousand pieces.
“Why does this keep happening!? I just want to be good at cooking!” The lady of the house, Rei Yaoyorozu, wailed in tears while burying her face in her husband’s shoulder as he hugged her.
“I know, dear. But you are an amazing woman already, maybe it’s the Universe balancing things out by giving you some bad luck, otherwise you would be too perfect.`` The woman’s husband, Saito Yaoyorozu, answered while patting her back in a comforting manner, and at the same time sending an apologetic look at their family personal Chef, the guy was weeping at watching the sorry state the kitchen had been reduced to in merely five minutes.
“T-Too perfect?” Rei asked with a hopeful tone, breaking her husband’s heart by locking her now puffy red eyes with his.
“Of course, it is clearly a sick joke of the gods, pure jealousy.” the man answered, shamelessly ramping-up his compliments with zero hesitation, as for him there was never enough ‘ Simping’ if it meant having the love of his life smile.
“You are so good to me!” Rei wailed while hugging him again.
“And so are you to me, dear! Come, while dear Takeshi makes a list of what it will need to be changed-”
“Damn near everything, sir!” the Chef interrupted him with a tone of horrified awe at the sheer destruction he was seeing.
“We will go watch some TV to relax!” Saito growled-out the rest of his words while nailing the man with a scathing glare and half-dragging his wife away.
Living room -
“Here, darling. We’ll watch some silly videos and you’ll see you will feel better.” Saito said while turning-on the GIANT TV and selecting the internet video app ( that for the sake of copyright we will call U-Tube ).
“I just wanted to be the one preparing lunch for you and Momo-chan for once…” Rei admitted with a small, adorable voice.
“I know, dear, and one day you will.” Saito said.
“I hope it will be soon...Can...Can we watch that?” the woman answered while pointing at the Top 10 ‘ Featured Videos’ , at the very first video dominating the list in terms of visualizations to be precise.
“The ‘ Young Chef Competition ’? Why is it trending? It’s a small channel with barely any followers too.” the man said, confused.
“Maybe somebody screwed-up badly?” Rei asked, hopeful.
“ Aah! Schadenfreude! That will help her feel better! Hopefully whoever it is they fail so hard, Rei-chan will look like a Master in comparison! ” Saito thought in relief as he as well believed that to be the case.
“Yes, let’s see that, a good laugh is always good for one’s health!” he said aloud while clicking on the video and already savoring the return of his wife’s smile and laughter at the expenses of some unknown brat fucking-up.
“ TAK! TAK! TAK! TAK!…”
And both adults watched slack-jawed as the video instead featured Izuku going-in raw and without lube in the competition while humiliating his opponents.
“Holy fuck! He is culinary raping them ! Is the video sped-up?!” Behind them their Chef was heard shrieking in awe after glancing from the kitchen door.
“No…” Saito answered, shocked as the number of plates the boy made kept growing.
“ WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH ! Even a kid cooks better than me! And he doesn’t look older than Momo-chan!” Rei in the meantime started crying again, not that Saito could actually blame her.
“I think I found your new Cooking Teacher instead.” It was then that the man devised a new plan while looking at the screen with narrowed eyes.
“W-What? Really? Who?” Rei asked, still hiccuping.
“That boy, he seems prepared enough.”
“NO! Please don’t fire me! I can get better! Even better than that!” their Chef said immediately while falling on his knees.
“He will just teach Rei-chan how to cook better with weekly lessons, I am not firing you after years of loyal service!” Saito answered while rolling his eyes.
“Ah! Okay then.”
“Do you really think you can become better than THAT, though?” Mr. Yaoyorozu asked, curious.
“…Maybe?” the Chef tried answering with a forced smile.
It was utter bullshit, and both men knew that, but chose to not comment on it all the same.
- Two Days Later – Midoriya House -
DING! DING! DING!
“Coming!” Inko yelled while opening the door to see a tall gentleman with clearly expensive clothes waiting for her on the other side.
“Ehm...Good evening?”
“Good evening. You are Inko Midoriya, I presume?” the man asked.
“Yes?”
“Saito Yaoyorozu, pleased to meet you.”
“Pleasure is mutual. How do you know my name?”
“I know a guy, or better, a guy knows you.” Saito answered, smirking.
“Who?”
“Samui, he is the Head Chef of my family’s favourite restaurant...Or he was before his nervous breakdown.”
“Oh! Him, how’s he?” Inko asked with a sorry expression.
“He is doing okay, or so I heard.” Saito answered, shrugging.
- At the same time – Penthouse at the opposite side of the city – Kitchen -
“NO! NO! NO! It was mellower! And the taste was richer!” the famous Chef Samui yelled with insane eyes while throwing away another pot of rice behind him.
Around him dozens of empty sacks of rice littered the floor, and by looking at him, it was clear he did nothing besides cooking ever since the challenge, not even sleeping or showering.
“HOW DID HE DO THAT?! HOOOOOOOOOW?! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! ” a deranged laugh echoed in the penthouse before the man’s assistant finally forced his way into the apartment by bursting down the door and accompanied by three burly doctors holding-up a straitjacket.
- Back to Inko and Saito -
“I hope he recovers. But why did you ask him about me?”
“Well, I needed a name to better find you and your son, madam.” Saito answered.
“Why were you looking for us?” Inko asked with narrowed eyes.
“I heard your son is looking for a University to join while following his dream to be a Chef...AND for a restaurant where to work part-time so to have some actual experience.”
“Why do you know all this?”
“Because I can offer your son both in exchange for a favour.” Saito answered.
“Uhu?”
“May I come in? So we can talk details without others eavesdropping,”
“We were about to have lunch actually.”
“It’s okay, mom! I made more than enough for a guest!...Who’s your friend?” Izuku said from inside.
“Not exactly a friend, Icchan.” Inko answered.
“Please, madame. I have no bad intentions, I am just offering my help to your son in exchange for him helping me.”
“...Get in.” Inko answered with a sigh.
“Thank you, Madame.” Saito said while gesturing his chauffeur to just wait for him.
“What’s on the menu?” the man asked, cheekily.
“I tried my hand at sushi, I hope you don’t mind.” Izuku answered, shyly, while presenting the colorful display of fish and rice.
“A-Amazing!” Saito exclaimed in wonder.
“To my shame lately I have left cooking to Izuku since he says he wants to train in his skills.” Inko admitted, blushing.
“I cannot blame you, Madame. And it’s kind of fun since my wife had tried to prepare a similar dish and failed, that was when I decided to look to your son for help.” Saito answered.
“My help? Was her sushi that bad?”
“I did not try it since she just destroyed the kitchen. And yes, I was wondering if you were open to come teaching my wife how to cook once a week.” he answered.
“How did she destroy a kitchen while preparing raw fish and rice?” Izuku asked, confused.
“I have no idea how she managed, and it honestly baffles me. Sometimes I wonder how it's possible that her bowl of cereal does not catch fire after she poured milk in it. I thank the fact we are not in some crappy comedy manga for that not happening.” Saito said, sighing.
“Oh. Then why asking me?”
“You have skill, clearly, since the other guy I wanted to ask had a breakdown after eating your dish. And also...well...No offense meant, but you are a nobody.”
“HEY!” Inko growled, offended.
“I think he means I don’t have any Fame that may cloud my judgment, mom.” Izuku said.
“Precisely, I asked around, and you seemed to be quite the soft-spoken, gentle boy from how people described you. So I thought that you would have been patient enough to help my precious Rei-chan become at least decent at cooking,” Saito explained.
“I understand what you mean, but...How bad is she, actually?” Izuku asked with narrowed eyes.
“On a scale from 1 to 10?” the man asked back.
“Yes.”
“Between Akane Tendou from Ranma and Otae from Gintama.” the man answered, bluntly.
“Good God.” Izuku whispered in horror.
“Quite. As the man of the house I sacrifice myself by eating what she cooks whenever she tries, and spare Momo thanks to some bullshit excuse I cooked-up years ago about my daughter’s Quirk needing a very specific diet to work best. It’s a thankless Mission, but somebody has to do it.” Saito explained with a proud voice.
“You must love her a lot.”
“More than my own life or liver, but the doctor said I can’t keep this up or my stomach will start to break-down, so she either becomes at least decent ...Or I will be in trouble.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you, my boy. If you really pull this off, then whatever price you will demand, I’ll pay.”
“Wait until we decide if it is feasible before saying that.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“Please give it a try. I asked around and I can put a good word for you to work in a restaurant kitchen, nothing luxurious though, as I don’t believe those poncy stuck-up fools would accept a teen surpassing them. As for the University, that I can actually pay for.”
“I can’t accept that!” Izuku said with wide eyes.
“Being good at cooking is my wife’s dream, Midoriya-san. Myself and Rei-chan may look like people drowning in cash NOW, but we weren’t so fortunate when we were kids, our familys struck gold only late in our life not long before we took over our respective family businesses...And you know what that means?”
“Not really.”
“It meant we worked. That’s it. When we started dating we wanted a big family, instead we got so absorbed in our work we barely had ONE daughter, and even then we are hardly able to spend time with her. She grew up mostly with nannies and other strangers with Rei and myself desperately squeezing-out every second we could to spend it with her like a ‘ Normal’ family. And now our daughter plans to join UA University and become a Pro Hero. Meaning even less time to be a family.” Saito explained with a sigh.
“And where do I fit in this?” Izuku asked.
“Just once, Rei just wants to cook something for Momo. Like a mother should, or so she describes it.”
“I don’t know if I have the skills, I mean, I don’t know how to teach somebody how to cook.” Izuku answered, unsure.
“In that case I will help you as well, if we work together, I know we can do it.” Saito offered.
“Why me?”
“Why not you?”
“There are hundreds of renowned Chefs that I bet would give an arm and a leg to work for you, why not ask them? Or even a student from any school?”
“Because they would give an arm and a leg, as you said, to work for a rich family. You are arguing against teaching a mother how to cook for her daughter. They would not care about the reason behind this, only about the compensation. Like all the others I asked before you. They all just looked at the check I offered and said yes, and then dropped-out because they could not be bothered to put in the effort.” Saito answered, frowning.
“...Let’s say I accept.”
“Yes?”
“Rei-san will need to put in the effort as well.”
“She will, I swear.”
“And I don’t want to get paid.”
“Why not?” he asked, surprised.
“Because I want to make it with my own power, without help.”
“I admire that conviction, it’s rare nowadays.” the man answered, smiling.
“So? When do I start, sir?” Izuku asked with a tiny smile.
“Whenever you are ready, Izuku-san!” Saito answered.
“Then I guess we have to celebrate?” Inko offered.
“Madame, I know this sounds fishy, but I swear I just want to help my wife, nothing more.”
“Then it won't be a problem if I join as well.”
“Mom!”
“Understandable, there is no problem for me.” Saito answered.
“Thank you. My husband said he had a surprise for Izuku that will be ready in two days. Will it be okay if we come by once we have it delivered?”
“Of course, madame, in the meantime I will tell Rei to get ready.”
“A surprise?” Izuku asked, confused.
“Huhuhu! You’ll see, Icchan! Those will help immensely!” Inko answered with a conspiratorial smile.
They were not Melk knives, but Hisashi was sure a high-tech secret lab would not lose to any sharpener working by hand in producing the absolute best knives in the world!
And in the afterlife, Melk the First felt extremely offended for reasons he could not fathom.
And at the same time, somewhere even beyond Mortal’s understanding…
“New Host Candidate detected. Beginning operations.”
Author Explains!
Food Honor : also known as Food Etiquette is both a customary and a philosophical practice of etiquette. As a bonus, while learning Food Honor the body will begin to auto-correct its movements, removing all actions deemed unnecessary and increases concentration.
This allows more efficient use of calories, granting greater stamina, speed, and power though the practitioner may not be immediately aware of the changes. Food Honor affects different people in different ways, for Gourmet Hunters, it increases their overall power and calorie consumption.
For Chefs, it increases the delicacy in their movements, and it allows a Chef to prepare Ingredients so carefully, that the ingredients are unaware that they have been handled.
Chapter 2: The System
Summary:
Seen that nobody looks brave enough to help Izuku, may it be because he is Quirkless or because he wounded the frail EGo of an influential Chef, our Green-haired Hero is coming short of ideas, luckily helps does come from a bit farther than anticipated...WAY farther.
Notes:
Second chapter of this experimental story. Again, I am waiting to see how it is welcomed by my "Audience" before deciding what to do with this. I need feedback!
Chapter Text
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/ Nejire
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
If you read this, the Chapter has been fixed by my Beta-Reader Dmale, my savior and possessor of BigDick Chad energy that managed to fix my story into proper English.
Thank you, my man! 🙂
A Chef’s Rebirth 2: The System.
Yaoyorozu Household -
It was a day of celebration for the obscenely-rich family, their only daughter Momo had just been accepted into the recommendation entrance test for the prestigious Hero School UA and will soon start her career as a Pro Hero, something that brought no little pride to both her parents.
POP! POP!
The Family Chef had even brought along a few party amenities and decorated the entire kitchen in an over-abundance of streamers and banners.
“There is no need for all this,” Momo said with an embarrassed smile.
“There is! There is!” Rei answered, smiling proudly at her daughter.
“The Test is one year away, I don’t even know if I will pass it,” the young woman replied.
“With all the strings I had to pull to make you jump ahead of the queue, you better!” her father, Saito, answered with a smirk.
“Darling, don’t make her feel guilty!” Rei chided him in answer.
“Just kidding! Just kidding!” the man of the house answered with a childish, cheeky raspberry.
“Thank you all the same for helping me, dad.” Momo said while hugging the man tightly.
“Aaah...You are growing-up so fast! It seems just yesterday I was reading you bedtime stories and helping you dress-up in the morning!” her father replied, crying.
“Me too! You never wanted to eat your eggs when you were a kid!” the family Chef added, he too was sobbing heavily.
“Not you too, please, Takeshi-san!” Momo begged, chuckling.
Dling-Dlong!
“Uh?”
“Ah! This must be young Midoriya! He said he had a surprise for you to celebrate!” Saito said once seen Inko enter the house accompanied by their butler.
The short, and adorably plump (don’t you dare lewd her), woman was as always dressed perfectly whenever visiting the Yaoyorozu house, and this time she was bringing with her a carefully folded paper basket of some home-made confectionery...The strange thing was that for some reason her son was nowhere to be seen.
“Good evening.” she offered with a small bow.
“Good evening, Inko!” Rei answered, still giddy at her daughter’s success.
“Congratulations for your acceptance into UA, dear. I know it’s not much...But we kinda made this for you,” Inko said with a tiny smile.
“My father has made things bigger than they are, as usual. I did not enter UA, I was just told I will be able to take part in a special form of Entrance Exam next year, nothing more. My getting into the University is still up to debate.” Momo answered while gratefully accepting the small thing.
“Oh! Well, it is still worth celebrating!” Inko answered with a small chuckle.
It was honestly impossible to hate the woman, she and her son had been as unobtrusive as possible while Izuku taught Rei the basics of cooking, and especially by showing a godly level of patience during the lessons.
Flashback – During the First lesson -
“Let’s start with the basics, shall we?” Izuku asked with a gentle smile.
“O-Okay!” Rei answered, and used the silent thumbs-up of both Saito and Momo to steel her resolve.
“We’ll go slowly, starting with Peeling and Cutting , since preparing Ingredients is the first and most important step. And remember, until you feel secure about handling a knife, always use the Cat Paws while cutting.”
“Cat Paws?” Rei asked, confused.
“Fingers folded, like a cat paw...You know? Nyan! ” Izuku answered, smiling sweetly while moving his hands up and down and even mewing a little.
“ Good God, that’s adorable. ” Saito thought in wonder while his wife and daughter turned beet-red at the cutesy scene.
Luckily beside that small incident things continued smoothly, and with how SLOW Izuku was forced to go to make sure Rei could not create another disaster of hers, as they all tragically discovered through trial-and-error, Saito was actually happy the lessons were free, because it was clear it will take a while before Rei would turn from a ‘ Lethal’ to a ‘ Decent’ Chef .
Present time -
“I don’t see Izuku with you, though. Where is he? Is everything okay?” Momo asked.
“Oh!...He...He is still busy training in his Chef skills, nothing wrong! He is actually sorry for not being here today.” The family noticed how the woman stiffened a little before answering, but did not push the issue as a form of respect.
“He wants to become a great Chef, so training is a must, isn’t it?” Rei asked.
“Y-Yes. Again, I apologize.”
“Don’t worry, don’t worry!” Saito, recognizing the situation was making her uncomfortable, switched the focus on the small package the woman took along.
“What is it?” he asked.
“O-Oh! S-Some Italian dessert... T-Tira-Tiram... Something? Tiramiso?” Inko tried saying.
“ Tiramisu! Ah! He knows you are a coffee freak, Momo-chan! So he made you a coffee-based dessert!” Rei answered, amused.
“I-I-I am not a coffee freak, mom!” Momo immediately countered with an ashamed expression.
“You love two drinks, honey: Tea and coffee. You have a caffeine dependency.” Saito said with a wink.
“I can stop whenever I want!” she replied, a tad lamely.
“Suuuure!”
“Daddy!”
“Huhuhuhu!” Inko could not stop a soft laugh from escaping her, further reddening Momo’s face in embarrassment.
“Inko-san! Please! At least you!” the young woman begged.
“I am sorry, dear. But I really must go, I still have some errands to run. Congratulations again for your quasi-admission, Icchan and I will cheer for you when the time comes.” Inko answered, bowing a little to the family before nearing the door again.
“Miss Midoriya?” Saito called-out while accompanying her out.
“Yes?” she asked.
“…” the man simply checked that his wife and daughter were distracted by the dessert, and the blissful expressions both had cemented their being elsewhere at the moment, and closed the door behind them both.
“Saito-san?” Once it was clear they were alone, Inko looked at the man with a curious expression.
“What’s wrong? Is Izuku all right?” call it a businessman’s sixth sense , but Saito could tell Inko was trying to bullshit him, and he instantly got worried.
“Everything is fine, don’t worry. We are just extremely busy lately.” Inko answered.
“Midori...No...Inko, please tell me.” Saito asked again.
“Go celebrate with your daughter, Saito. Today is her day and her day only. We’ll be fine, have no fear, we Midoriya’s always bounce back.” Inko answered with a gentle smile, a bow, and then silently walked away.
“...You are not fooling me, my friend.” Saito muttered, sighing.
He saw how her smile dropped as soon as she turned around, making the smell of bullshit he had sensed before grow one-hundred-fold in power.
Returning inside he could see the small dessert being reduced to a tiny slice his wife, daughter and personal Chef has left him just for manner’s sake, since the thing was so thin you could almost see through it...And the three assholes had at the very least the decency to turn around and not look at him while wolfing down the huge slices they took for themselves.
“Thank you for leaving me some…” deep in thought on the ‘ Inko Problem’ , Saito only gave a half-hearted remark before tasting the thing himself.
To be fair, the dessert was amazing: the cream was fluffy and delicate, with the taste of both Mascarpone and Fresh Eggs mixed together to perfection, while the ladyfingers biscuits had been soaked in just the right amount of coffee to not crumble into a sludge when sliced and yet melt into the flavorful espresso taste once entered the mouth, making it so that the sweetness of the cream and the faint bitterness of the coffee could playfully battle for dominance in one’s palate in perfect balance.
As Saito and his family had learned to expect from the boy’s dishes: Pure Bliss . That was why Saito felt there was something strange if the boy was not present and his mother seemed to be shouldering some immense weight; both mother and son were now friends of the Yaoyorozu Family, and that meant Saito felt honor-bond to discover what was happening.
“You okay, dear?” Rei asked, once seen his thoughtful expression.
“I am just trying to taste whatever crumbs you ingrates left me with. It’s not easy to taste something if it's smaller than the nail of a pinkie finger!” Saito answered sarcastically while pretending that nothing was out of the ordinary.
“I wanted to share it properly, but my mother insisted on cutting it differently.” Momo tried saying, still with a bit of chocolate powder on the tip of her nose.
“I will forgive you because it is your special day, today. But I am very disappointed in your mother.” he answered.
“I am so sorry, Darling!” Rei said immediately, eyes sparkling just as she could do on command whenever she knew she was being naughty.
“Sorry, Boss. It was really good.” the family Chef added.
“You especially. I am the Boss of this house! You should not steal my food!”
“Sorry, sir…”
“I’ll forgive you,”
“Thank you Boss!”
“...IF you make me a giant Tiramisu just as good as this one was.” Saito added with a malevolent smirk.
“FUCK!” the Chef swore loudly in dismay.
Two days later – Midoriya Household -
Inko was sitting on the sofa nursing a cup of tea while her husband was spewing fire at the phone, both figuratively and literally.
“YOU LISTEN HERE, YOU BRAIN-DEAD QUIRKIST! MY SON DOES NOT NEED A DAMN QUIRK TO COME THERE TEACHING A LESSON TO THE SPOILED BRATS YOU CALL ‘ PROMISING STUDENTS’ ! WHAT?! YOU BELIEVE ONE NEEDS A TAIL OR A SECOND SET OF EARS TO COOK!?”
“…”
“MORON!” Hisashi roared like a beast before closing the call.
“Another University refused him?” Hisashi’s Boss, from I-Island, asked while refilling Inko’s cup with more tea.
“Apparently Samui’s little friends took offense to their beloved buddy having a mental breakdown because of Izuku, so they made it their mission to stop any attempt of his to get into any possible school for aspiring Chefs.” Hisashi answered, snarling.
“And as a bonus, several Food Critics too have been asked to strong-arm Restaurants into not taking him in for Apprenticeship. Everything is hushed, but I called a couple guys specialized in intercepting calls and mails. If it is about Food, except with sub-par shacks, every venue have been sealed-off for Izuku.” the old man answered, sighing.
“And of course if there are queues to get into any University, and no matter what specialization, Quirks get pushed forward in line,” Inko added, tears ready to spill from her eyes.
“The world is not a nice place, I fear.” the old man replied.
“You don’t know anybody that can help him, Sir?” Hisashi asked.
“My contacts would have helped had your son decided to go into Analysis, Mathematics, Science, Physics, Programming...Hard Lab Science, so to say. Even I-Island does not have Food-Oriented sections, even if Izuku’s abilities have started to interest several colleagues of mine already. I can try to see if I can help him become a researcher and join I-Island once older and ready...But as a Chef? I can’t help him, I am sorry.”
“It would still be a respectable job,” Hisashi conceded, sighing.
“Does it really mean that Icchan can’t chase his own dreams? That he can only let others decide for him?” Inko asked, heartbroken.
“If I could give Izuku my Quirk I would do it without a second thought, but I am not All for One .” Hisashi answered.
“Same here, all this fanfare for Quirks is still a mystery to me. Besides needing two pairs of glasses and seeing in the dark, mine never made me feel all-powerful.” the old man from I-Island answered with a shrug while the secondary pair of eyes he had on his forehead briefly opened to look at the parents, before he closed them again with a grimace.
“Jesus...The headache I get when using them is still unbearable.” he then muttered, wincing.
Knock! Knock!
“I’ll go see who it is.” Hisashi said, opening the door to see Saito Yaoyorozu look at him with a saddened expression.
“Yes? What can I do for you?” Hisashi asked, gulping a little.
“Can I see him?” Saito asked.
“...You know?” Hisashi asked back, sighing and letting the man enter.
“I made a couple of calls to a few people I know, so I guess I have a small inkling of what happened. No Schools for Chefs want him?”
“No schools, Academia, private tutors or even decent restaurants. And we suspect that should he try to open one himself, half the Food Critics of Japan will purposely destroy his reputation.” Hisashi answered.
“Of course, Heaven forbid somebody dares shake the pedestal the great Samui sits his arse on! Bloody morons.” Saito answered, rolling his eyes.
“...British ancestors?” Hisashi asked with a weak smile.
“No. My father forced me to study in England...Few things stuck. ” the other replied with a scrunched nose.
“Good evening, Saito.” Inko said with a small wave once both men walked back inside.
“Good evening.” The old man also welcomed the new arrival.
“Hello, Inko, how’s he?”
Sigh! “Honestly? Dead in a sense, the last spark was used to make that dessert for dear Momo...Now he just lies in his bed all day, hiding under the covers.” she answered, sighing in despair.
“He took it that badly?”
“He was furious, the rage of a beast. Then I guess he just lost himself in sadness once done burning through the anger. Too many hands stacked against him for things out of his control, he just got fed-up with it, I guess.” the old man answered with a helpless expression.
“It’s not his fault if he is Quirkless and if he has a great talent for cooking!” Inko hissed angrily.
“We know, Inko. We know.” Saito answered, sighing, and trying to knock gently on the door to Izuku’s bedroom.
Knock! Knock!
“…”
“Izuku? It’s me, Saito!”
“…”
“...Izuku?”
“…”
“...Just...I just want you to know that for us nothing will change. Rei still wants you to teach her and Momo still wants your help to revise her notes and Takeshi still insists on challenging you in a cooking showdown at least once. You still have friends in the Yaoyorozu family. Your family and mine have not abandoned you, you are not alone…” Saito said to the door.
“…”
“Remember: you are not alone. You will find a way, I believe in you.” he said before taking a few steps back.
“...”
What not one of the adults in the living room could know was that the boy was not merely asleep , but actually going through what could be described as an out-of-body experience.
Somewhere far away from Japan -
Izuku had no idea when exactly he fell asleep, only that he found himself shifting from curling into a ball under his covers to standing in front of a small, unassuming restaurant hidden in a secluded, smallish alleyway in an ancient city he did not recognize.
“Fang Fang Little Store?” he read aloud the store name with an unsure tone.
“Uh?” with a sleepy grunt answering him, the boy finally noticed the slim and tall man slouching on a chair in front of the entrance and basking in the sun with his eyes closed.
“ Rmmrf … ” the very fat dog sleeping next to him instead just gave a guttural huff and briefly looked at the kid with only a single eye before returning to sleep.
The guy sitting on the restaurant front slowly got up to lazily stretch while looking at Izuku with half-lidded eyes and a face utterly inexpressive. He just tied his long black hair in a ponytail with a silk rope and stood with his crossed arms looking at him.
“Ehm...Hello?” Izuku tried saying with a weak smile.
“So it’s you. Come in.” the tall man muttered with the corners of his mouth faintly pulling up in something resembling a smile before signaling him to follow inside the store.
The restaurant was simple, neat and tidy. With an area of ten square meters and a few sets of tables and chairs, it was indeed a small, homely restaurant; curiously the plates listed on the wood tablets on the wall were priced in gold coins and crystals, but at the Owner’s imperious gesture, Izuku ignored it and sat at a table under a strange tree giving off a soft light...And if Izuku’s ears were not malfunctioning, a very faint chime-like sound whenever the wind from outside made its luscious green leaves flutter a little.
A Strange woman with jade skin and extremely long, silky black hair and black dress was sitting on top of a small boat resting in a corner of the restaurant and looking at him with unfazed eyes while she dangled her feet back and forth.
“W-Where am I?” he finally asked.
“My store.” the Owner answered, his voice coming from the small squared window connecting the kitchen to the main room.
“...Okay?”
“I am Bu Fang,” the guy added after a long silence, as if too lazy to even introduce himself.
“Izuku Mid-”
“I know.” he cut him off.
“...How?”
“…”
“...Bu-san?”
“…”
“The System told me.” the man answered.
“The System?”
“ This is the Gourmet System. You have been chosen to become the System’s Host in the Hero World and become the God of Cooking of the Hero world.” a metallic voice resounded inside the store.
“What it said.” Bu Fang added while delivering a plate of braised meat to the boy.
“What is the System?”
“ The System is the System. It will aid the new Host in his mission to become the God of Cooking of the Hero world.
You will be given a Restaurant to manage, a training regimen to follow and Missions to complete to further your growth.
The closest similarity the Host can use to help understanding is to follow the logic of what you call ‘ Videogames’: Each Yen you will gain will be translated into Experience Points, as you ‘Level Up’ your body, spirit and senses will become stronger and you will be permitted to use better Ingredients from other worlds and better Equipment from one of the various ‘ God Of Cooking Sets’ of other Worlds.
Host Bu Fang has already ascended to the title of ‘ God Of Cooking of the Fantasy World’ , it is now the turn of Host Izuku to Ascend.” the metallic, gender-less voice of the System explained.
“Why? And Why me?”
“ Because the System deems you worthy and because every world needs a God of Cooking.”
“I see...did you really say Ingredients for other worlds? ” Izuku asked, shocked.
“The Best ones.” Bu answered while serving him the meat.
“At the current Level, Host Izuku will only be able to utilize Ingredients from his original world unless specifically asked by the System to use Ingredients from other worlds. The System will take care of delivering Ingredients and Instruments. Host can rest assured, nobody will find anything out of the ordinary. Host Izuku only needs to focus on cooking and furthering his skills as a Chef, the System will take care of all the rest.”
“The rest?”
“ Equipment, Security, Ingredients, Location and everything else.”
“Security too?”
“ A Whitey will be already waiting for you in the new Restaurant along another Blackie .”
“Uh?”
“A robot and a Lord Dog.” Bu Fang answered while pointing at the tall robot with a protruding belly behind him and at the very fat dog sleeping outside.
“Not any normal dog. They asked the most vicious of this Lord’s Sons to play security. Eh! They really want you to be safe!” the Dog answered with a deep, masculine and cultured voice worthy of a King.
“So...So I just have to focus on cooking?” Izuku asked.
“Isn’t that what a Chef is supposed to do?” Bu asked back.
“I want to bring smiles to people with my food, to make them happy…Not just cooking. I want people to enjoy my dishes enough to brighten their day.”
“Well said.” the man answered with a small nod of approval.
“ Then Host Izuku, please prepare for your Test! ” the System said.
“Test?”
“ In one year the System will test you, should you pass, you will be formally recognized as a Host of the System and be given the Restaurant and everything else. In the meantime the System will take care of preparations and make sure nothing will interfere with the Host should he pass the Test. Work hard, young man! ” the voice declared.
“…”
“This may be your last chance before losing another dream.” Bu tried saying.
“My last chance?”
“So I was told. They will try to make your dream impossible back home, but by personal experience, I can vouch that the System can help. Whenever it is not acting too stingy or demanding.”
“My last chance to be a Chef...I...I’ll do it!”
“Good. Congratulations.”
“I’ll become a damn good Chef again! I did it once as Zaus, I can do it again as Izuku!” Izuku said while taking a bite of the so-called ‘ Red Braised Meat’ dish he was served, and as everything faded away, the boy had only one thought crossing his mind.
“ Goddamnit, this tastes amazing!”
Real World - Midoriya Household -
BANG!
The four adults jumped in fright as the bedroom door was kicked open by Izuku as he marched towards the stove with a determined expression.
“Icchan!”
“...I’ll be a Chef, even if I have to go against God himself to do it!” the young man declared while turning-on the stove and grabbing the knives and pans the guys of I-Island created for him.
“It will be hard, you know?” Saito said, sad.
“Then watch and be amazed!” Izuku answered, smiling in determination as a fat salmon appeared in his hands.
“Uhu?!”
“ It really happened, I asked for the salmon I was tasked with preparing and it appeared. It means that the System really exists…I have one year to prepare for my Exam. I can’t fail! ” Izuku thought once he’d studied the perfect example of Salmon in his hand and the recipe that had been downloaded inside his head as the first exercise for his new training regimen.
Apparently the System had a very strict set of requirements for its Acceptance Exam, one even he as Zaus or Setsuno herself would have been hard pressed to meet, and Izuku had only one year to meet said insane criteria, along a series of Techniques/recipes he was supposed to master before the Exam came, and He won’t slack off!
“Watch me, you fools out there! I was the King of Chefs once, now I will Ascend again to the top even without a Quirk!`` With a knife twirling at high speed in his hands, Izuku started cooking with a fervor even superior to his previous life as Zaus.
Behind him, Saito, his parents and the old man watched in awe as Ingredients kept appearing in his hands out of thin air for him to prepare, along dishes of insanely-high Quality being prepared at high speed by him.
One Year Later
Day of the Recommendation Exam for Momo and ‘ Gourmet Exam’ for Izuku
Yaoyorozu House – Kitchen -
It had been a tiring year for the boy, an insane year of sleepless nights where he would revisit whatever memory as his life as Zaus he could call upon together with the encyclopedia-worth of basic knowledge the System pretended him to Master and Memorize to prepare for his Test.
Izuku’s life had thus been reduced to a very strict schedule: Get up, Breakfast, Cutting Training, High School, Lunch, Carving training, Homework, Cooking Lessons with Rei Yaoyorozu ( If it was Monday) , Seasoning Training, Dinner, Meditation to recover Zaus’ memories/ Special Cooking Techniques Training, sleeping. Rinse and repeat every single day.
And each and every training exercise came from the strict guidebook the System gave him, and every single exercise was ALWAYS done in live streaming so that Hisashi and a couple of trusted pals his father’s Boss hand-picked could study him, because apparently what were ‘ Normal Skills’ for a Chef like Zaus, in Izuku’s original world were... Absurd , to say the least.
The boy was unaware that I-Island had taken an unhealthy interest in him, and knew even less of how ‘ Influential’ the guys in those secret labs actually were.
“Now we put the pie in the heated oven, and we wait.” Izuku instructed while closing the oven front panel to look at the raw dessert bask in the angry-red produced by the heat inside the thing.
“I am so nervous!” Rei admitted while nervously patting the flour from the apron she was wearing.
“You were amazing during preparation, Rei. I never helped you, you did it all alone!” the boy answered with an encouraging smile.
“Except when I almost used salt instead of sugar…” the woman said, sighing.
“Beside that,” Izuku conceded, sweat-dropping.
“I will make the labels on the jars bigger still, don’t worry.” Takeshi, the personal Chef of the Yaoyorozu family, conceded while rolling his eyes.
“And I almost forgot to put the sliced apples in it…”
“That too doesn’t matter.”
“And-”
“Let’s not focus on that! You made a wonderful pie to celebrate Momo’s passing her Test, and you did it all alone! When she comes back, she will find your very first dish waiting for her.” Izuku forcefully cut the woman off before she could start a new downward spiral of depression about her lackluster cooking abilities.
“Are you sure she will pass?” Takeshi asked, unsure.
“We are talking about Momo here, if she doesn’t pass, who will?” Izuku answered.
“You hold my daughter in high regard, don’t you?” Rei asked with a devious smile.
“She has a very sexy brain, more I won’t say.” Izuku, overly-focused on cleaning the kitchen top they worked on, answered without looking at the woman.
“Oh-Oooh!...Only her brain is sexy?” Rei pushed forward, her smile predatory.
“I won’t confirm nor deny that your daughter is also a very gorgeous young woman, my lips are sealed and no amount of nagging will force me to talk!” he answered, flashing her a challenging smile.
“Do not underestimate my Nagging Powers, boy! No secret remains so if I, Rei Yaoyorozu Nee Katsuragi, want to know them!” the woman replied haughtily.
“You are welcome to try…” Izuku’s answer faded into a whisper once he heard a gender-less metallic voice ring inside his head.
“ One year has passed. Host please get through your Initiation Test right now. ” the System said.
“ Right now?! ” he asked.
“Izuku? You okay?” Rei asked, worried at seeing him pale to unhealthy levels.
“Icchan? What’s wrong?” Takeshi also asked, just as worried.
“ Right now, Host. Please move behind the counter and prepare the required dishes following the recipes provided.” the System answered.
“I... Uhm ...I was wondering if I could prepare something myself to celebrate…” Izuku asked with a forced smile.
“You forgot to get a present for Momo-chan, didn't it?” Rei asked, smiling mischievous.
“Y-Yeah. S-So I was wondering if I could prepare your dinner myself...A-A-As a present. S-She will surely be very hungry after using her Quirk to pass the Test.” Izuku answered.
“Oh! Do you mind, Takeshi?”
“...Nah! Fridge is full to the point of bursting, if neither you or Mister Saito mind, I can sit one dinner out for once.” the family Chef answered, shrugging.
“T-Thank you!” Izuku answered with an overly-elated expression that made both adults laugh.
Tying a green bandanna on his head, the young man started collecting Ingredients from the giant fridge, although from his point of view, the stuff he was about to cook was FAR from normal.
From Izuku’s point of view -
As soon as he tied the bandanna on his head, the kitchen of the Yaoyorozu family disappeared and an endless white space appeared around Izuku; nothing beside the cooking area prepared by the System and a giant fridge was there, the young Chef was alone in the middle of a pure-white Nothing.
The Test was simple: ‘Prepare a Full Course Menu’, Meaning :
Hors d'Oeuvre
Soup
Fish Dish
Meat Dish
Main Course
Salad
Dessert
“ Please prepare the First Dish: Hors D’Oeuvre. Ingredient: Puffer Whale” the System asked.
“ Puffer Whale ...An Ingredient from the Gourmet World of Zaus…” Izuku muttered in dread as a small and long pure-white fish appeared on a plate in front of him.
A Puffer Whale was a deep-sea fish normally around six meters in length, but as it switched habitat and moved deeper underwater, the water pressure of the sea would compress its body to the size of a normal puffer fish.
It was a small, pudgy-looking white fish with a round body, thin fins, small beady eyes, and large blue lips.
As a result of the deep pressure, the tastiness of the fish would become highly concentrated but would also cause the huge amount of waste produced by its body to become highly concentrated as well, forming what was known as the fish’ ' poison sack '.
Its poison sack resembled a small gooey purple blob whose position in the body constantly varied between Puffer Whales. When the fish gets startled, a chemical reaction would cause the release of its poison, causing its body to turn into a dotted dark purple color that shows off its intense toxicity.
Izuku watched the thing with scared eyes, because while he still had his Transmigration lifetime’s worth of knowledge as Zaus’, his original body was not as trained, as his trembling hands could testify.
“To ensure the Puffer Whale is safe to eat, before any further steps can be taken, someone with keen senses must first ascertain the location of the poison sack. Afterwards, extremely precise cuts must be made to open the Puffer Whale and reveal the poison sac, if the handling is off by even a millimeter the poison sack will instantly rupture and render the fish unsafe for consumption.” Izuku mumbled aloud while recalling word-for-word the teachings of Zaus’ old cooking teacher.
Complicating this step was the fact that the location of the poison sac was completely unique from fish to fish, meaning there were at least over a hundred variations of cuts needed to expose the poison sac.
Likewise the Puffer Whale's body was deceptively dense for its size due to the extreme compression it had undergone, making the precise knife work needed that much more difficult.
Once the poison sac was exposed, it could only be removed with bare hands, during which the sac must be constantly rotated whilst simultaneously removing the mucus membrane; it was no surprise that many Chefs of the Gourmet World put preparing that Ingredient on the same level of disarming a bomb.
“ As an incentive for the future God of Cooking of the Hero World, Host Izuku will be permitted to use one piece of the ‘ God of Cooking Set ’ for the duration of this Test. Temporarily unlocking the knife of the ‘ God of Cooking of the Abyssal World’ : The Silver Sea Dragon kitchen knife. ”
“Uh?” What appeared in the young man’s hand was a humble-looking kitchen knife with a long and thin blade giving off a faint light similar to moonlight, both blade and the handle were made of pure-white bone, with the handle carved in a delicate recreation of dragon scales.
“ Created with the bone of a one-thousand-years-old Silver Sea Dragon, the Goddess of the sea that rules unopposed the deepest oceans of the Abyssal World. ” the System explained.
“And I can use it to cook?” Izuku asked.
“ Host, the Dragon herself that was used to create the knife resides in another world and is a being that has ascended to Godhood. In this world the Host currently lives in, there is nothing that cannot be cut by this knife.”
“Nothing?” he asked, gulping.
“ Nothing, its supreme sharpness will also count as a Test for the Host’ cutting and carving knowledge. ”
“I...I will start then. I will prepare Puffer Whale Carpaccio .” Izuku answered, and loudly chose the recipe between the ones the System suggested for the Test.
“ Good. Please start at once. ”
Real World -
Rei and Takeshi were unaware of what Izuku and the System were talking about, they only saw the young man grab a fat fish from the fridge and start carefully palming it as if to study every inch of its body.
“He is treating it like a bundle of lit dynamite.” Rei muttered, unsure by the overly-focused light in Izuku’s eyes.
“He must really want to do a good job for Miss Momo.” the Chef answered, thoughtful.
“You don’t say…” the woman replied, smirking.
“Yes, he normally is at least a bit chatty when cooking, but now? He is so focused I think he wouldn’t notice if we shot him with a rifle.” the Chef answered, smiling just as mischievously.
In the meantime they watched Izuku finally open the fish belly to remove the guts inside with slow and very tense movements, as if actually afraid those innards would blow-up; in truth from his point of view he was actually managing to remove the poison sack from the special fish.
“...Since he is working so hard...Shouldn’t we also invite him and his mother? I would feel bad if he works this hard and doesn’t get a taste.” Takeshi muttered.
“...True. Pass me the phone, I will ask Saito-kun if he is okay with having two guests for dinner.” Rei answered after a short pause of thought.
“ Sigh … ” once the innards of the other two fishes as well went safely removed, they watched Izuku relax visibly, and start carefully removing the fins and head with a more calm disposition.
“What is he doing?” Rei asked.
“Going with how he is slicing the fish, I think he is preparing Fish Carpaccio .” the Yaoyorozu family Chef answered, looking at how carefully Izuku removed the skin of the fish to leave out its plump, pristine meat.
What the two did not know was that as soon as the poison sack and skin was removed, the System switched the fish that used to be in their fridge with the Puffer Whale Izuku was actually preparing, surprising the Chef with how fresh and gorgeous said fish flesh looked.
“Daaamn, that is one nice Ingredient, we got a good batch this time.” he admitted.
“Considering how much we spend every time you go out for groceries, it was a given!” Rei answered.
“Now the cutting…” they heard Izuku mutter while lightly raising the knife in his hand and…
SWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!
“HOLY FUCK!” Both cursed in awe as a blurry of motion gave the impression the young man’s hand managed to split into hundreds of copies of itself to slice the fishes into hundreds of extremely-thin slices at every swing of the knife, so fast air itself went shredded.
Satisfied by the slices being all of the same thickness, Izuku dared to show a tiny smile while taking out two wide plates, and once gently slapped each and every slice of fish with the flat side of the knife, he composed the two dishes by positioning the slices like petals of a flower and with each layer alternated so to create the image of two giant pure-white translucent lotus flowers.
He finished the two dishes by mixing olive oil, herbs, vinegar and lemon juice to season the carpaccio by gently drizzling the resulting aromatic oil all over it.
“Hors d'Oeuvre is ready.” Izuku muttered, elated, while adding a tiny pinch of pepper and rock salt and putting a single tiny cherry tomato carved into a rose in the middle of each plate.
“Wow, he turned a tomato into a rose...That’s not mere carving…” the family Chef muttered in bitter envy.
“Soup...I need to make the Soup next…” Izuku muttered while moving to grab a big slab of meat from the fridge.
“ Please use this Boulder Armadillo meat to make the soup dish, and Host Izuku should remember the method the System taught him to tenderize its otherwise steel-hard meat into a dish good for human consumption. ” After a Test about handling delicate Ingredients, it was time for the System to test the young Chef's knowledge in boiling and stewing.
Once removed the topmost layer of fat, Izuku moved the slab of meat on the chopping board and easily cut what to him felt like an ingot of steel into cute little cubes he then moved into a tall pot he filled in cold water.
“This knife is really sharp,” he muttered while putting the pot of water with the meat cubes on the fire to boil.
“I sharpen them everyday, thank you.” Takeshi answered, puffing-out his chest in pride.
“Down with the Ego. What’s he doing?” Rei asked.
“He is blanching the meat, he covered it in cold water and put it on the fire, as soon as it will boil the meat’s scum will float to the surface like a foam, he will then skim that foam away, rinse the meat and use fresh water to repeat the blanching until all the scum is removed. Like that the soup will have clearer broth, so it will be more pleasing to the eyes.” Takeshi answered.
“Ooh! Nice!” the woman answered, intrigued.
In the meantime the two watched how once blanched, the small cubes of marbled meat got seared in olive oil and then gently braised with garlic and onions to then be submerged in a wine-based broth before being moved in the oven, where the meat would become meltingly tender.
“Two hours in the oven before it’s done…I can move to the Fish Dish in the meantime.” Izuku muttered, grimacing, as the next test was about Steaming .
The young man first squatted down and took out a few succulent fishes and various kinds of herbs and spices along with a bottle of white wine from the fridge and a few sheets of parchment paper from a near cupboard.
“The scales have to go,” Izuku muttered, and just like before, the kitchen knife in his hand moved at shocking speed to remove the scales on both sides of the fishes, bringing to light the pristine and unblemished meat under it.
Just as with the Puffer Whale, every time Izuku started preparing a dish in the white Nothingness that was the System’s Testing Ground , in the real world the Ingredients used were switched with those special Ingredients the System provided, everything without Rei or Takeshi noticing.
As the kitchen knife began to dance gracefully in Izuku’s hands, the blade made a clean cut on the fat fish's bellies, and with a swoosh, their fillet was delicately removed and set aside.
“The bones…” Izuku muttered as he grabbed a pair of pliers with one hand and used the other to gently slap on the fish meat with the flat side of the knife, and once heard whatever sound cue he needed, his hand started moving back and forth at high speed to remove each and every bone from the mount of fish meat in front of him and then separating its skin from its flesh once done.
He placed the meat into a porcelain plate and covered it with thin slices of herbs and spices.
Once the stir-fried sauce and other side ingredients were prepared, the young Chef cut the various sheets of cooking paper into a heart shape.
“Oh, look...a heart...What a surprise!” Takeshi muttered with a knowing look.
“I know, who would have guessed he would have used a heart shape to prepare a dish for Momo!” Rei answered, just as amused.
Unaware of the two joking at his expenses, Izuku spread the paper wide open and went ahead to grab the skinned fish meat once finished spreading a good spoonful of the stir-fried sauce on the hearts, once placed the fish fillet above the prepared sauce he added few more strips of herbs on top of the fish fillets to completely cover them.
After that, he uncorked the wine bottle and poured a small glass of it over the fish’s meat, preparing to wrap it once using some egg white as glue as he slowly wrapped the paper inch by inch around the meat until a cute-looking paper ball emerged as the final product.
“Curious recipe.” Takeshi admitted, amused, and watched the various wrapped fishes being put inside a steamer and the thing added to the oven together with the still cooking stew.
“Almost done…” Izuku declared with a sigh, he was completely drenched in sweat, but the light in his eyes was still burning fiercely, he had many dishes still to prepare.
Two Hours Later -
“I am home.” Momo declared with a tired sigh as she entered the huge house, she looked tired and emaciated, meaning that the Recommendation Exam forced her to give 110% of herself and pushed her Quirk, and so her own body, to the limit.
“WELCOME BACK!” To her surprise, not only her parents and the family Chef Takeshi were present, but Izuku and Inko as well, with the young man looking just as dead tired as she was.
“O-Oh! I-I did not know we had Guests! I am not presentable!” The poor girl said once seen her own disheveled look in a near mirror.
“It’s okay, Momo-chan! You have worked hard so it’s a given!” Saito answered while hugging his daughter as hard as he could.
“Come, I will help you freshen-up a little, like that dear Izuku will have enough time to FINALLY finish cooking.” Rei offered with a kind smile.
“Him?” Momo asked.
“I may have gone a little overboard, I hope you don’t mind.” Izuku answered, smiling weakly, he too looked pale and drained since the Main Course Dish he had been tasked with preparing demanded him to infuse it with the Gourmet Energy from the Gourmet Cells he brought back from his Isekai as Zaus.
Izuku considered cooking by infusing the Dishes with Gourmet Energy cheating, the System preferred calling it ‘ Evening the Odds against Quirks’ .
“I-”
GORORORORORORORORO!
Momo’s answer was cut short by the inhuman gurgling sound that echoed from her stomach, with her face burning bright red right after.
“I am so sorry! Please ignore that!” the young woman begged, mortified.
“It’s okay, for a Chef, that’s music to the ears.” Izuku answered, smiling gently.
“That doesn’t help!” Momo replied, distraught, and walked away behind her mother on the notes of everybody’s laughs.
Once everybody was seated, Izuku helped Takeshi serve the various dishes he made for his test, having been informed by the System that those were indeed the same plates he prepared for his Test and was now free to eat as his prize. And apparently, another prize was being able to use Puffer Whale as an Ingredient even without the proper Level.
“ Host has passed the Test with a final score of 100%. Congratulations! You are deemed worthy of becoming a Host of the Gourmet System, your journey to become ‘ The God of Cooking of the Hero World’ will start tomorrow at the delivery of the Restaurant. You will be given the precise address tomorrow and will find everything ready for use and the Restaurant already decorated and furnished to your specifications, congratulations! Your path to greatness is now open! Work hard, young man!” the System declared with a happy sounding fanfare once every dish had been brought to the table.
Everything was simply amazing: the raw fish of the carpaccio had a slightly-springy texture that made it bounce lively a little at each bite, with the meat seemingly never losing taste no matter how much one chewed.
“Holy...You improved again…” Inko said in awe.
The stew had a dense broth that felt like silk while traveling down one’s throat and the meat had turned from hard as steel to buttery-soft to the point of melting on the tongue, filling the mouth in thick meaty aroma at every bite.
Same goes with the paper-wrapped fish mixing perfectly the gentle taste of fish with the astringency of the wine or the giant steak right after, a steak that while very thick and resembling a piece of marble thanks to it’s thin lines of fat, was instead perfectly cooked to be juicy and tender.
“You still up to challenge him, Takeshi?” Saito, uncaring of his mouth being completely covered in oil, asked with a smirk.
“Fuck no!” the family Chef answered from the kitchen counter while wildly shaking his head, causing a new round of laughs to ring around the main table.
“It’s a shame you still can’t find a Restaurant to work in, Izuku. Your Skills are simply unreal.” Momo said with a saddened expression while helping herself to more Seafood Risotto, Izuku’s Main Course of the System’s Test Menu.
“Actually...I may have found one.” Izuku admitted with a low voice.
“UH?!” the entire table uttered as one in surprise.
“Really?!” Rei asked.
“Apparently a business group is trying to enter into the world of restaurants to broaden their horizons and needed a young Chef to take care of cooking in their first restaurant. I apparently was deemed good enough and so they offered me the job, tomorrow they will call me and tell me where the restaurant is.” he explained while pulling out of his pocket the business card the System prepared for him to show if asked.
“Can I?” Saito asked.
“Sure!”
“... The System Incorporated? Never heard of it. Do you mind if I dig around a bit? Just to be sure it’s not a scam.” he offered.
“ Feel free to accept, Host Izuku. Everything has been taken care of.” the gender-less metallic voice of the System answered.
“S-Sure! At least I will be sure they are not trying to pull one on me.” Izuku answered.
“Good. I’ll keep this if you don’t mind then.” Saito answered while pocketing the plain business card.
“When will they call?” Momo asked.
“Tomorrow in the evening,”
“A bit too close, but I should be able to dig something up by then. Just in case we can accompany you, so you and Inko won’t go there alone.” Rei offered.
“Oh, nononono! I don’t want to impose!”
“No can do!” the woman answered.
“I am sorry, Izuku. My parents hardly stop when they set their mind on something, my apologies,” Momo offered with a small smile.
Sigh! “It’s okay…” Izuku answered, sighing in defeat.
“Let’s just focus on the dinner for now, Icchan. What about dessert?” Inko asked, trying to cheer her boy up.
“RIGHT! My Lemon Meringue Pie and Rei-san’s Apple Pie! I will take them here immediately!” the young man gasped in horror before hurrying back to the kitchen to take out the dessert.
The Next day – Yavin Street -
Yavin street, also called ‘ Gluttony Street’ as it housed the greatest ensemble of restaurant in the entire city, was a very long and straight street with restaurants of every type on both sides, from traditional Japanese restaurants to cheap sushi bars to Italian, Chinese, Mexican, American, Thai, Greek restaurants and so on so forth, it was said that if one wanted to eat everything planet Earth had to offer, they only needed to visit Yavin Street and just eat their way through it.
At number 4 stood a brand new restaurant called ‘ Green Cloud Restaurant’ , a small restaurant with an area of twelve meters squared, neat and tidy, with walls painted pure white decorated with tiny cute green clouds and few tables adorned with comfy seats with plush emerald-green cushions; on the opposite side of the entrance there were two smallish trees framing the window connecting the kitchen to the main room and a dull glass panel acting as door to the kitchen. Two giant windows at both sides on the entrance made sure the people passing by on the street could see clearly everything that was happening inside.
From outside nothing looked out of ordinary, and even the other restaurants around and in front of the small new one seemed to accept its existence without too much of a fuss, partly thanks to the Chef being a well-mannered and friendly young man, but there were actually three strange things about the ‘ Green Cloud Restaurant’ : its Chef was extremely young and talented, there was a strange tall robot with a plump belly and a shining bald head acting as security and a big black dog with luscious fur could be seen sleep in front of the restaurant, right next to the entrance door, at every hour of the day no matter what happened.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
A tiny bell chimed happily from above the door as a new customer entered the small new restaurant.
“Welcome! What can I do for you?” Izuku, wearing a green chef attire, asked while surfacing from the kitchen to welcome the new Guest.
The Path towards becoming the King of Chefs once again was long, Izuku knew that, but he was ready to do whatever it took to reach his goal.
(Green Cloud Restaurant. More or less)
Chapter 3: Punishing Troublemakers
Summary:
Life has fallen into a neat and tidy routine for Izuku now that he has his own Restaurant...Too bad that a Chef too has his Nemesis: "Troublemakers"! But when the annoyances get to Izuku's nerves, there is only one Hero able to fix everything! Whitey the Robot! Because an hidden Motto of "Green Cloud Restaurant" is: TROUBLEMAKERS WILL BE STRIPPED AS AN EXAMPLE TO OTHERS!
Notes:
Don't get used to this. I want to finish writing the new chapter for "Evil Dragon" and "DNA" before continuing this story, ALL OF MY STORIES deserve my Love. Don't make me choose! XP
This is a "Calm before the storm" Chapter, a tiny slice of Izuku life after opening his Restaurant.
Starting from the next EVERYBODY (Good, Evil, I Island, commission etc) will start noticing hiw things do not add-up with the Restaurant and its Chef. Troubles will come soon!
Chapter Text
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/ Nejire.
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
If you read this, the Chapter has been fixed by my Beta-Reader Dmale, my savior and possessor of BigDick Chad energy that managed to fix my story into proper English.
Thank you, my man! 🙂
A Chef Rebirth chapter 3: Punishing Troublemakers.
Number 4 Yavin Street – Green Cloud Restaurant -
It has been a month since Izuku opened the restaurant the System provided for him, and even if the pool of customers was so thin many in his place would have fallen into despair, the young man instead treated it as a challenge to improve himself.
He also got visited by the Department of Hygiene at least once a week, thanks to Samui’s colleagues as the old man from I-Island informed him, but other than acting prissy and stuck-up, those morons were always forced to run away with their tails between their legs once seen the immaculate restaurant being a step close at being sterile like a hospital operating room.
“ Three more cockroaches have been removed.” the System alerted Izuku inside his head.
“Those guys sure are persistent, one would think that after two weeks they would have understood that strategy was just a waste of time.” Izuku muttered with a sigh, by now aware that one of Samui’s friends was using her Quirk to manipulate cockroaches and other vermin into forcing their way in his restaurant, those poor things though would last barely an instant before being disintegrated by the System itself leaving nothing behind.
“ There have also been two instances of crooks being sent to contaminate the restaurant’s water pipes, Whitey has took care of them before they could manage. While the restaurant’s water and electricity come from the System, the other restaurants around it shall not be damaged by brain-dead simpletons. ” the metallic voice added.
Another thing Izuku learned was that his Sponsor was a merciless entity that took its Mission of aiding the boy’s ascension to God of Cooking of the Hero World very seriously, more often than not forcing him to BEG the System to not overdo and show mercy.
Giving the finishing touches to the udon noodles he was preparing, the young Chef gave a last shook to the wok to make sure the thick meat broth would mix with the noodles before moving the content into a cute white porcelain bowl decorated in tiny green clouds he then toppled with a spoonful of his homemade extra-strong chilly sauce.
“Blackie, time to eat!” Izuku said while moving the giant bowl of noodles in front of the big black dog sleeping in front of the restaurant, with the intense aroma of the dish catching the attention of the people passing by.
“ Good God! That dog eats better than me!” a particularly sad man in a cheap business suit that had just ran-by mentally whined as he saw the gorgeous dish being served to a dog.
That was part of Izuku’s new everyday life: once finished High School he had started working full-time in his new Restaurant, he actually slept in the small flat above the restaurant as well.
He would get up at dawn, get down to the restaurant kitchen to train his cutting and carving skills following the System’s training regimen, then he would prepare the noodles for the black dog outside acting as secondary Security measure (always serving them in the bowl with Blackie written on it so to not mix it with the bowls for his customers ) and then finally opening the restaurant properly for his customers.
The vast Main Menu was fixed and proudly displayed on a trio of wooden plaques carved with elegant calligraphy and hanging on the wall by the entrance, an extra and tiny blackboard next to them instead showed the four ‘ Dishes of the day’ Izuku was free to decide daily based on his fancy. He even offered a small breakfast menu, although he had to wrangle with the System for days to do it, the Entity was just as obnoxiously strict as he was warned about.
“Good morning!” an elderly voice said as a very short woman with long white hair passed by the restaurant while using a tall wooden staff like a pogo stick.
“Good morning, Oba-san!” Izuku answered as he watched the tiny old lady open her own Chinese restaurant in front of his.
“ Buongiorno! ” ( Good Morning ) Next came a plump boy dragging along his blond-haired and thinner brother to open the Italian restaurant next to Izuku’s.
“Hi!” the green-haired Chef answered, waving at both and getting, as usual, a death glare from the blond twin before both disappeared inside their store, “ Aldini’s” .
“All this hatred just because I made pizza once as my Dish of the Day ...That guy needs to learn how to chill like his brother does.” the young man muttered while returning inside his kitchen to prepare for the new day.
Some Time Later – Lunch Break Rush-hour
Tensei Iida, also known as ‘ The Turbo Hero: Ingenium’ , was starving.
Being a full-time Pro Hero meant that nine times out of ten he could not have a proper schedule to manage his private life, meaning that more often than not he had to sustain himself on sandwiches eaten in a rush, sometimes even eaten mid-chasing of a Villain, or like what happened that day, skipping breakfast altogether because a moron decided to make a nuisance of himself at the crack of dawn and take a gas station hostage to show his woman he was not a loser.
The Pro Hero still failed to wrap his head around the man’s reasoning even after delivering him to the Police Force.
Gorororororo!
“Life as a Pro Hero is hard, isn’t it?” one of the Police Officers nearby asked, chuckling, once heard the soft growling of Tensei’s belly.
“Very time-consuming, Tsukauchi-san.” the Pro Hero admitted, sheepish.
“Well, I was about to have lunch, you can tag along if you want,” the Detective offered with a kind smile.
“Don’t mind if I do, last night my Dinner was some scraps of leftovers warmed in the microwave and today I skipped breakfast...It almost makes me regret moving out to live on my own.” Tensei answered, sighing in dismay.
“It’s the price to pay for independence. Come with me, I will take you to a small restaurant I know of, I have to be there for a small job as well, at least we’ll grab a bite of something nice.” Tsukauchi answered, signaling at the other to follow him to his personal service car.
“A small job?” the Pro Hero asked while sitting on the passenger seat.
“In the last month that restaurant has been visited by Hygiene Inspectors a total of fifteen times, and today we got a heads-up about them trying again with a forged order to enter the kitchen proper, something they failed to do previously. The Snitcher asked us to stop this nonsense once and for all, together with arresting the Food Critic that has been handsomely paid to destroy the Restaurant’s Reputation today as well.” Tsukauchi answered.
“And you yourself moved for this?” Tensei asked, surprised.
“Can you keep a secret?”
“It comes with the job, Detective. If it is an official Mission of the Police Force I will take the secret to my grave.”
“Good. The Snitcher is at the head of one of the labs in I-Island, the secret ones .” the other answered, making the Pro Hero bristle in surprise.
“Whoever is behind that harassment is targeting one of the ‘ Darlings’ of I-Island?” Tensei asked in dread.
“So it seems.” the Detective answered with a grimace.
The ‘ Darlings of I-Island’ were a rumored tiny group of people that had caught the interest of the more secret side of the lone island very few in the Hero Business actually knew existed.
The Darlings were usually people with curious Quirks or other strange abilities those scientists studied from afar and wanted NOTHING to interfere with so to keep collecting data; messing with a ‘ Darling’ was just suicide as the people studying them had lots of connections and were not afraid to use them to see the annoyances gone forever.
“We know full well who is behind this harassment: several high-ranking Chefs friends of that chef Samui that just recently recovered from his mental breakdown. After today we will make it clear that this kind of Mobbing is illegal and that there will be consequences if they don’t stop. Same goes for the Food Critics that won’t be professional and just write what the best offer tells them to, instead of the truth.” Tsukauchi explained.
“And here I thought Villains would only kidnap, steal or kill…” Tensei muttered, surprised.
“You would be shocked to see how vicious the world of Cooking is, those guys would gladly stab each other in the back for an extra star on their restaurant. Here we are, we will have lunch there, at number 4.” The Detective answered once parked the car and pointed at the restaurant not too far away from the parking lot.
“ Green Cloud Restaurant , never heard of it.” Tensei admitted, both walking leisurely towards the place with the Pro Hero waving back at the awed kids they met along the way.
“Pretty new construction, inaugurated a month ago and owned by a Trading Company specialized in Ingredients Delivery. They just opened their own store and got a young promising Chef to cook for them. The Dishes are slightly more expensive than restaurants offering similar menus, but the kid’s talent is astounding, even as a Quirkless, and between that and the overall quality of the stuff he makes, nobody seems to mind. He should be the same age as your brother, actually.” Tsukauchi said.
“The same age as Tenya? And he already has his own Restaurant?” Tensei asked, shocked.
“Yep! He even got all the papers filled to be a proper Chef, I checked their validity myself. He is even a full-fledged Itamae , the youngest registered.” the Detective answered.
( Itamae: Literally ‘ Sushi Chef’ , a title traditionally given to people that have certified Mastery over the skills and knowledge needed to prepare PROPER Sushi)
“What?”
“I saw him in action for that, the kid’s a Monster . I showed the video to an old acquaintance of mine, and he himself certified the kid as worthy of the title and then some.”
“Now I want to eat there then! Huhuhu! Hard working youths are always nice to see,” Tensei answered, smiling pleased.
“Just like your little brother, maybe?” Tsukauchi asked, smirking.
“Maybe I am a bit biased, but yes.” the other replied, just as amused.
Dling! Dling!
The little bell on top of the door chimed happily as the duo entered the place, beside other two people inside, they were the only customers.
“Sure is empty, though…” Tensei muttered, saddened.
“It happens when they try to scare your Customers away, the restaurant’s popularity is rising, but it’s a very slow process. Luckily the kid doesn’t seem to mind.” the Detective answered, moving to sit at a table next to one of the trees.
“What plant is this? I never saw it before...Are those runes imprinted on the leaves?!” Tensei asked.
“I have no clue, I just know that if I sit here my stress melts away , so I don’t really mind if the leaves ring like a bell if you flick them. These small trees smell nice, look nice and feel nice, that’s all I need to know.” the other replied with a shrug and a very relaxed expression.
“Ring like-” Ding! “Holy Heavens, they do!”
“Please do not touch the leaves, those two plants are an endangered species,” Izuku asked while coming out of the kitchen to address the two new customers.
“And you use them as afforestation for your restaurant?”
“My Sponsor is a little eccentric, I learned to not question them too much. What can I bring you?” Izuku answered with a shrug, he knew those two trees came from another world, but his customers certainly didn’t need to know that.
“I couldn’t help but hear about your beef udon noodles, I think I will try those, thank you.” Tsukauchi asked.
“Of course. Mister Ingenium? What can I bring you?”
“So you know me?”
“The costume is telling enough, I am a fan.” Izuku answered, smiling wide.
“Remind me to leave you an autograph then. I think I will take a portion of those Rainbow Steamed Fish Buns I see in the menu and a plate of Stir-Fried Shrimp Noodles, thank you.” Tensei answered while finally taking-off the helmet of his Hero Costume.
“I will bring them immediately. Do you also want something to drink or will water suffice?” Izuku asked.
“Water will be enough, we both are still on duty.” Tsukauchi answered.
“Okay, please wait a moment and I will bring everything to you.” the young man answered before walking back into the kitchen.
“Apparently he is very fast at cooking, but nothing is pre-made, so we won’t wait much before eating.” Tsukauchi said.
“You came here to eat before?”
“I usually have breakfast here since his coffee and croissants are to die for, this is the first time I visit him for lunch.”
“Oh!”
Meanwhile – in the kitchen -
The giant kitchen had been furnished, under Izuku’s request, with every possible high-end apparatus an aspiring ‘ God of Cooking ’ may need to reach said flamboyant Title, but what the young man loved the most was the HUGE table in the middle of the room occupied by an exquisite-looking giant cutting board in reddish wood adorned by delicate carvings of Ingredients of every kind framing it, that and the insane collection of knives of every possible shape waiting for him next to it.
“...I miss that Dragon knife, that thing could cut like a dream…” Izuku muttered with a sigh of dismay, having taken a large, fat fish from the cold storage of his kitchen and the plain knife from the rack next to the chopping board.
“ Host Izuku will be able to unlock the ‘ Silver Sea Dragon kitchen knife ’ once unlocked 3 ‘ God of Cooking Fragments’. Fragments currently owned: 1 .” The System answered.
“Better work hard then,” he muttered while removing the scales on both sides of the fish and opening its belly with a fast swipe of the knife so as to delicately separate the fillet from the skin and bones.
Once washed away the blood and the guts, the young Chef rapidly cut the fish fillet into thin slices barely an inch wide, few plump shrimps too went rapidly de-shelled and quartered while the ginger root went sliced into literal hair-thin strings, same going for the other vegetables, like carrots and red onions.
The Rainbow in the Dish name was not a fancy choice, the inside of the dumplings was actually pretty colorful thanks to the Ingredients used, enough to let Izuku use such prose to name it.
Once sure every colour was ready, the young man started mixing flour and water to prepare the wrapping for the dumplings, and as the System taught him, by infusing Gourmet Energy in the mixture while kneading it he made its consistency thicker at an astounding rate.
Slap! Slap! Slap!
Loud slapping noises echoed in the kitchen as Izuku’s Gourmet Energy infused hands kept slapping the ball of dough on the cutting board, making it ripple heavily as the energy influx forced the dough to flip inside-out by itself at each slap.
When the young Chef finally stopped kneading and slapping the dough, the resulting smooth ball had a lustrous luster to it similar to marble and a faintly springy texture, making Izuku develop a small, satisfied smile.
“Perfect!” he declared, pleased, as he started preparing the wrappings by taking tiny portions of the dough ball he then flattened into extremely thin disks he painted in egg white and then filled with the fish fillet stripes and the other ingredients before wrapping the thing closed.
Once the wrapping was completed, layers upon layers of creases appeared at the opening and the dumpling looked like a crescent moon. It was so beautiful that it was like a work of art.
“Dumplings are ready, now while they are in the steamer, let’s prepare the noodles!” once put the six dumplings into the bamboo plate of the steamer, Izuku used the remaining dough to prepare the beef noodles for the Detective and the shrimp noodles for Ingenium , with the beef ones being one of the recipes he was most used to make since Blackie would eat a giant bowl of those twice a day as a payment for his services as Security, as the dog’s rapidly inflating belly could testify.
“Troublemakers!” it was when he had started preparing the Hand-pulled noodles that Izuku heard Whitey move away from his corner of the kitchen to march outside with heavy steps.
Sigh! “Another one. What is with this Dine-and-Dash craze nowadays? There isn’t a restaurant here that hasn’t got one fool trying it at least once a week.” Izuku muttered with a sigh, unwilling to stop cooking just to deal with some punks. He had Whitey for that sort of things.
Outside the Kitchen – Main room of the Restaurant – Just a minute ago
Two brothers were occupying the table near the door, one short and thin, the other tall and muscular with broad shoulders; both had a similar Quirk giving them lizard-like appearances and thick skin covered in green scales, the tall one looked like a Human-Crocodile hybrid, the other resembled a lean human Gecko.
Tensei had noticed how the two kept stealing glances at the kitchen and then at the door once finished eating, and his hunch about the two being up to no good went confirmed when they both bolted away from the table and made a run for the door.
“STOP!'' The Pro Hero immediately ordered as he and the Detective jumped to their feet to stop the Dine’n’Dashers before they could actually leave the Restaurant without paying.
SLAM!
To their surprise the doors closed by themselves and no amount of pulling and pushing seemed able to make the glass door bulge, even under the titanic strength of the bulkier brother.
“You are supposed to pay for what you eat, guys. This food is clearly not cheap.” Tsukauchi said with narrowed eyes.
“What if we don’t want to pay, old man? The Chef is a Quirkless brat, we owe him nothing!” the bulkier brother hissed in contempt.
“Yeah, he can offer a bite to some guys, what’s wrong with being generous?” the thin brother added, shamelessly laughing.
“It’s wrong because the Chef of this place is trying to make a living, he is not here to cook for you just as a hobby.” Tensei replied.
“Aaah, yes...a Pro Hero .” the muscle giant said with a sneer once recognized Tensei as Ingenium.
“Something wrong about my Profession too?” he asked, eyes narrowing dangerously.
“Swaggering aside, I was supposed to be a Pro too, before your lot kicked me out of school for a minor incident,” the punk answered, growling.
“Minor incident?”
“Now I remember. You are Naofumi Tokagemaru, you tore-off the legs of one of your classmates because he was, allegedly, flirting with a girl you liked...A girl later discovered was the guy’s sister , so naturally close to him. You may not remember, but it was me who took you to Juvenile after that incident. I am surprised you are still up to causing trouble.” Tsukauchi said.
“The weakling was getting in the way, can’t see where the problem is,” the bulky brother answered, scoffing.
“And the fact the girl was not interested in you?”
“Just foolishness, I was supposed to be the next All Might thanks to my power, but I guess you others were just jealous. She would have come around sooner or later.”
“So harassment AND violence brought forth by inflated Ego. You are no Hero material,” Tensei declared.
“BULLSHIT!” The giant said while punching the table next to him, but to his shock even with all the strength he used while striking it, the wood table did not crumble to splinters like he expected, on the contrary, not even the plates and glasses on it moved at all.
“...What the fuck is that table made of?” the thin brother blurted-out.
“Troublemakers!” from inside the kitchen the metallic voice of Whitey the robot rang in warning as the tall thing slowly made its way towards the twins.
Measuring two-and-a-half meters in height, the chalk-white robot struck an imposing figure even with a bulging, soft round belly and a bald round head adorned just by two big round eyes shining in white light giving it a kind of cute appearance, the robot would normally just stand in a corner of the kitchen and peek out to the main room to keep everything under control, and only coming out when trouble arose inside the Restaurant to forcefully evict the Troublemakers.
“Uh! I heard rumors about the Restaurant’s Bouncer , I guess it is taking action under the Chef’s orders.” Tsukauchi said while watching the thing move with heavy steps until it stood in front of the bulky brother and actually towering over the guy by a head.
“You don’t scare me, tin-can!”
“Troublemaker, pay the bill before leaving, or you will be punished accordingly.” Whitey ordered, eyes flashing from white to red at regular intervals.
“What if I don’t want to pay, eh? Your Boss is a Useless Quirkless shit, what will he do if I don’t pay, eh?!”
“...What did you call me?” Izuku’s voice echoed in the room as he came out of the kitchen just long enough to glare at the twins.
“I called you a Useless Quirkless! So Wha-”
“I hate being called Useless. ( Deku ). Whitey! If they insist on not paying, punish them! They are officially blacklisted from entering my Restaurant!” the young man ordered sharply, cutting-off the guy so abruptly the punk painfully bit his own tongue.
Never mistake Izuku’s gentle disposition and good manners for weakness, after a lifetime as Zaus, he had learned to believe in himself enough to HATE his old nickname as ‘ Useless’ , he knew he wasn’t and detested being wrongly labeled as such.
“Understood.” Whitey nodded while the Young Chef merely returned inside the kitchen to finish cooking.
“I said I won’t pay!”
“Me neither!” the thin brother added.
“Then you will need to come with me,” Tsukauchi said, sighing, as he really REALLY wanted to have lunch before any bullshit could fall on his lap.
To his surprise though, Whitey gently moved a giant hand in front of him to stop the Detective before addressing the twins again.
“Troublemakers, pay the bill.” it said, again, with his robotic monotonous voice.
“Fuck you!” the tall brother said, spitting on the robot’s face.
“Then you shall be stripped as an example to others!” Whitey declared.
“...Eh?!” the four men present exclaimed as one in shock.
Clang!
“FUCK!” faster than he could react, the bulky brother got his entire head grabbed by Whitey’s big hand, with the robot effortlessly lifting him up from the ground until his legs dangled from the floor.
“LET ME GO!”
SMASH! SMASH! SMASH!
Tensei was actually surprised, just judging by the loud sounds of the guy’s punches landing on Whitey’s face, he could tell a common human would at best last two blows before being knocked unconscious thanks to the monstrous strength behind each hit, but the robot was unfazed as his head wasn’t moving of an inch whenever a punch landed on it.
“Troublemaker is unwilling to comply. Beginning Stripping!” Whitey declared without mercy as his other hand grabbed the front of the guy’s clothes.
STRAAAAAAAP!
“Ah…” the buff lizard guy whimpered in shock as every shred of clothing on his person went torn away in a single motion, something that also showed that other than his biceps, down there nothing was actually ‘ Big’ or ‘ Imposing’ .
“ What happened to the respect between people? To the respect of the Bro Code?! ” the tall guy mentally whimpered while fat tears of shame fell from his eyes. His spirit had been shattered under such a shameless attack.
“NONONONONO! That’s a Stripping Monster! The Robot is a Maniac!” The thin brother in the meantime ran back towards the door to slam his fists on it begging to be let out.
Clink! Clink!
The sound of Izuku bringing a small tray of freshly-baked bread and the cold bottle of water to the Pro Hero/Detective duo’s table rang loudly inside the Restaurant, catching the full attention of everybody present.
“My Sponsor seems to have a twisted sense of humor. To them Stripping Troublemakers is an adequate answer and a good way to teach Humility and so they programmed Whitey accordingly, and it isn’t even against the Law thanks to an old incident with a Pro Hero mistakenly stripping the Villain she was fighting against. Her avoiding being sued created a Precedent I can use to defend myself, so I suggest you pay the bill...Or you’ll be next.” Izuku explained with a calm tone.
“W-What?!”
“Sadly true. Laws against Public Nudity have become pretty lax nowadays, especially since a few Pro Heroes of both genders do need to show some skin to use their Quirks. Even if women are expected to show some modesty still. So unless he cripples you, he can actually get away with stripping you. Even if it would be better to leave at least the unmentionables untouched.” Tsukauchi confirmed, sighing.
“I will take note of it. Whitey? Collect the money for their bill, or punish them. Whichever they choose.” Izuku instructed right before disappearing back into the kitchen.
“Understood.” the Robot answered while dragging the ashamed-to-near-death naked bulky brother towards the thin one.
“Pay the bill, troublemaker, or face the consequences!”
“I...I...W-We don’t have money with us! We forgot our wallets back home and just hoped to eat well and make a run for it! PLEASE HAVE MERCY!” the thin brother begged.
“No.”
WHAM! Striiiip! WHAM!
In answer the thin lizard brother too went stripped, although he was left in just his boxers, and both twins went then slapped by Whitey out of the Restaurant in a high fly drawing a rather beautiful arch in the air before both landed head-first into the big dumpster at the opposite end of the road with only their pale butts sticking-out from the pile of garbage inside the thing. Two exceptionally shiny asses, thanks to their scaled skin.
“Troublemakers dealt with.” Whitey declared while delivering the IDs, phones, keys and a copy of the twins’bill to Tsukauchi while the torn clothes disappeared inside the literal bottomless hole the robot summoned once opened its soft big belly like a mouth.
Another function of Whitey was garbage disposal , and Izuku LOVED having a literal black-hole able to endlessly collect every scrap left by customers or his own practice cooking, everything just ceased to exist once swallowed by the robot.
Sigh! “Yes, I will make sure those two morons will get back their stuff and actually return here to pay the bill. Okay.” The Detective merely accepted the silent request with a small shrug and watched the robot silently walk back inside the kitchen.
“This place does not joke around.” Tensei commented, tersely, while the two returned to their table.
“I’ll go make a call to have the two collected, just call me when the food arrives.” Tsukauchi finally understood he had to take care of the two naked and unconscious young men outside before they could run away, so with a heavy heart, he left the restaurant to do his job.
Although, both men’s mood improved considerably when their food finally arrived and they could have their lunch in peace.
“Please enjoy your meal, and I apologize for the sad spectacle. I have no patience for Bullies and Troublemakers since because of one my life was almost forfeit. It’s a scar that is still too fresh,” Izuku explained with a small smile and a bow, and leaving the duo their order before moving to free and clean the table once occupied by the two lizard twins.
“His life was almost forfeit?” Tensei muttered, unsure.
“Something must have happened that almost killed him, I think I will give it a look into it.” Tsukauchi answered while grabbing a hold of the noodles with his chopsticks to give them a tentative bite…
SLUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURP!
An outrageously loud slurping noise soon echoed in the restaurant as the wide-eyed man pretty much inhaled the entire mouthful in raving hunger, his cheeks bulging like a hamster’s as he loudly chewed on and on and on with half-lidded eyes of bliss.
Each bite felt like a massage was being given to his tongue, while the thick broth hugged his palate and released endless streams of meaty aroma, followed by waves upon waves of spices sweetly accompanied by a light spicy feeling from the chili sauce that had been mixed with the broth; the tiny cubes of meat as well were buttery-soft and releasing the full blast of their aroma every time the detective chew them, the entire dish was a flavor bomb that seemed to never end.
“I guess it’s good?” Tensei asked with an amused chuckle, watching the professional detective throw credibility to the wind and wolf down his plate like a hungry ghost until his mouth was shining from the broth on it.
“ S’gud. M’ God I’s su gud!” the detective gurgled-out, his mouth was simply never empty enough for him to answer properly.
“Well, I will give it a try myself then!” the Pro Hero, still utterly amused, declared while opening the tiny bamboo casket containing his steamed buns to release a thick pure-white cloud of vapor that fully submerged him in the gentle scent of the sea.
“ Woh !” shaking his head a little to stop any sea-related daydream from surfacing, the young man grabbed one of the six cute dumplings with his chopsticks to study it.
The steaming had turned the thin wrapping semi-transparent, giving him the chance to faintly see the Ingredients inside and take note that indeed those dumplings could be called Rainbow Colored thanks to what lies inside.
“It does look pretty…” Tensei muttered before giving it a bite.
“Mmmmmh!”
Izuku gave an embarrassed chuckle as he watched one of the ‘ Big Guns’ of the Pro Hero business give a very orgasm-like moan of appreciation before starting to eat like...Well...A pig; the young Chef was still unused to the flamboyant reaction first-time customers had with his food, he knew that thanks to his time as Zaus and the tutoring of the System his cooking skills were good, but couldn’t people just tone it down? Just a little bit? It was really embarrassing!
“ Ingenium-san...There are people watching! ” Izuku thought with a shy blush as few people that were passing in front of the restaurant had stopped dead in their tracks to watch a Pro Hero and a Detective of the Police Force gorge themselves in abandon, and while it was very good publicity, it didn’t make Izuku feel any less embarrassed.
With Tensei and Tsukauchi -
The young Pro Hero was in Heaven, his empty stomach was crying in joy as bites after bites of pure Happiness were rapidly filling it; the fish of the dumplings had pretty much melted into his mouth as soon as he had bitten through the thin dumplings, thus creating a soup-like broth once mixed with the other Ingredients inside the tiny thing that kept rushing down his throat like a raging river of flavor at each bite.
“Amazing.” Tensei muttered, immediately falling in love with that delicate taste that warmed his heart, his new favorite dish was then soon followed by the stir-fried noodles adorned with shrimps so fat and juicy that they bounced between his teeth at each bite.
“Shit! Empty already?!” Tsukauchi gasped in horror once seen his empty bowl, and barely caught himself from licking the plate clean, something he hadn’t done since he was five years old.
“I know! The plates are big but they finish so fast!” Tensei answered, just as sorrowful at seeing his own empty plates.
“…”
“...Should we...Order something else?” the Detective asked, unsure.
“ Eehm ...He seems to have a nice selection of meat dishes...And it has been a while since I had some steak…” Tensei muttered in answer.
“I got some nice Argentine Beef , if you want. I also have some A5 Kobe Steak if you feel like pampering yourself.” Izuku offered, making both men suck-in a cold breath.
Argentine Beef and A5 Kobe, the undisputed KINGS when it came to steaks, ludicrously expensive, but otherworldly delicious as well.
“…” Tensei’s face immediately turned red as an intense battle raged between his Heart, his Mind and his Stomach, each one giving valid Pros and Cons to the idea of-
“A5 please, medium-rare.” the Pro Hero blurted-out, his stomach seizing victory out of sheer Gluttony. It will also blow a hole in Tensei’s finances, but at the moment he straight-up didn’t care.
“I’ll go with a more mundane normal steak , thank you.” Tsukauchi declared with a bitter expression, totally not jealous about Pro Heroes being able to throw away money like that. Absolutely. Not at all. Not even a little bit jealous.
“ Damn rich bastards…” he thought.
“I’ll be back immediately,” Izuku answered with a bow and disappearing soon after inside the kitchen.
Attracted by the two Big Shots eating to their hearts’ content, few of the people outside ventured into the new Restaurant owned by the youngest Chef they had ever seen, soon filling every table with curious new customers.
When one hour later the bribed Health Inspector and Food Critic arrived, they both found a Pro Hero and Detective waiting for them and very ready to shut-down their backers’ plan once and for all, and feeling almost tempted to somehow unleash Whitey on them for added measure just to make sure the lesson stuck.
The Next day – AU University -
The students of class 1A were having a small lunch break in the University own cafeteria, chatting about their first month of school and still recovering from their teacher Aizawa’s Quirk Test , and also a bit angry at his threat of expulsion in case of failure merely being what he called ‘ A Logical Ruse’ .
They all were certain the man didn’t actually know what a ‘Logical Ruse’ was supposed to be.
“Bwahahahahaha!” It was then that a loud guffaw shook the cafeteria as a girl from class 1B with a bunny Quirk went overcome by a gut-wrenching laughing fit.
“Rumi-chan! Please don’t make a scene!” Pony Tsunotori begged with a red face.
“Can you please have some decency? At least laugh like a proper lady!” Tenya Iida, little brother of Tensei, asked with a kind-of-prude tone, annoyed by the outburst since class 1A and 1B had their tables next to each other.
“Oh, stuff it, Glasses !” the bunny girl snapped back.
“I-I never!” the young man bristled in shock at the rudeness.
“What made you laugh like that? Can we at least know the cause?” Momo asked, rolling her eyes.
“You idiots from 1A all have a stick up your ass. I just watched a video update from a guy I am following on Tw@tter .” the bunny girl, Rumi, answered with a huff.
“A nice joke?” Kaminari asked immediately.
“In a sense, a duo of morons tried to dine-and-dash, but as always Whitey the Mightey punished them.” Rumi answered.
“Whitey who?”
“Here, idiot.” Rumi answered, showing them the Social Media Page owned by a small-time Influencer.
The lizard Twins had made their debut in the guy’s special feed as they were shown being flung out of Izuku’s Restaurant by the tall bald robot, completed with stock sound effect of something falling from the sky whistling, and a final score detailing the Style, Landing and Technique of their flying journey towards the garbage bin at the opposite side of the street (in their case an 8.5/10 as a Total score), completed with the stock sound effect of a roaring applause.
It was not an isolated case, in fact, that Influencer working in one of the restaurant in front of Izuku’s was making a killing by posting a video series featuring Troublemakers flying out of the Restaurant thanks to Whitey, rapidly racking-in followers and likes at each new update.
StrippingDemon, TroublemakersMustBePunished, MighteyWhitey, St rippingAvenger, FoodOrgasm, CinnabunCooksGood, CutieChef, ThisTasteAwesome and many more Hashtags were also trending a lot, increasing the popularity of both Restaurant and Robot exponentially.
“ Pffft !”
“Why in their boxers?” The invisible girl Tooru asked, giggling.
“What a better way to punish some losers than stripping them?” Rumi replied with a feral smirk.
“ Green Cloud Restaurant? Oh! I believe my brother went there yesterday, he praised its Chef quite a lot.” Tenya admitted, unsure.
In truth his brother spent HOURS gushing about the Chef’s talent, and maybe, just maybe, Tenya was a tiny bit angry at the idea of somebody else being praised that much by his brother…
“Green Cloud, you say?” Momo repeated, eyebrows shooting up to her hairline.
“You know it?”
“It’s Izuku’s Restaurant! Heavens, I promised I would have gone to visit him and still have not done it, I can’t believe he opened a month ago and I still haven’t gone there.” the young woman admitted, ashamed.
“It was a very eventful month, Yaomomo. I am sure he will understand,” Mina answered with an encouraging smile.
“We can go there together tomorrow if you want,” Ochako added.
“Do you mind?” she asked back.
“Not at all!” the other girls answered as one.
“We all will go, I am curious myself.” Mezo admitted, he too had heard of the place, and the few reviews he saw were all very positive.
“ Tch ! Might as well go there myself, before you 1A buffoons stink-up the place too much,” Rumi declared haughtily, causing many of her classmates to face-palm in annoyance at her rough attitude.
Of the two tables, only one guy was not thrilled at the idea of visiting the restaurant and meeting its Chef.
“...Fuck.” Katsuki swore with a low voice, with his normal perennial scowl gaining an edge of dread in a matter of seconds. He really, really did not feel like meeting the guy yet.
Chapter 4: The Pro Hero who wept for a Spicy DIsh.
Summary:
Momo and Class 1A pays a Visit to Green Cloud Restaurant. Unfortunately Endeavor also decides to go bother Izuku. Too bad a Chef like Izuku is THE LAST guy somebody should anger, misery would be the only result of such stupidity.
Notes:
We are almost there! After this there is the USJ Chapter! that I like to call "Blackie's Chapter!" I have written the scene already and I can't wait to use it!
Chapter Text
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/ Nejire too?
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
If you read this, the Chapter has been fixed by my Beta-Reader Dmale, my savior and possessor of BigDick Chad energy that managed to fix my story into proper English.
Thank you, my man! 🙂
A Chef Rebirth chapter 4: The Pro Hero who wept because of a Spicy Dish.
UA University – Class 1A -
Ping-Ping! Ping-Ping!
A happy tune echoed inside the classroom just a minute before the lesson started.
“Oh!” and as always, Momo Yaoyorozu’s smile turned from formal to ‘ Warm’ as soon as she saw the message heralded by that custom alert.
“ Have...A nice day...You too! ...Should I put a smile? Or a heart?” she muttered, thoughtful.
“Smile for a Friend, Heart for Something more. When in doubt, use the kissing face, it can be used for both.” Tooru the invisible girl answered.
“Thank you.” Momo answered, sending the message and then releasing a tiny sigh.
“Your Chef friend?” Mina asked.
“How do you know?”
“I didn’t! But the alert sound is different from other messages AND you never pull-out your phone in class, unless it’s an emergency OR that sound effect plays. You just confirmed who the sender is yourself!” the pink girl answered, smiling smug.
“Oh…” Momo muttered, looking a bit guilty.
“Don’t be sad! He is just a good friend, yes?” Tooru asked.
“...Yes.”
“Took too long to answer, you would like him to be something more?” Jiro asked with a smirk.
“Me and Izu...NO!” she replied, face burning red.
“Liar.” Jiro answered with her ear-jacks jokingly poking Momo’s cheeks.
“I am not!”
“You still up for a visit to his Restaurant then? I checked, it’s in Yavin Street. Kinda fancy location to open his place, and it’s not too far from here either.” Mina asked, she too with a fanged smile on her face.
“Couple bus stops at most,” Tooru added.
“I-I don’t think we can.”
“Actually, I believe it will be possible. Tomorrow there will be that mysterious outdoor visit Professor Aizawa didn’t want to give us details about. After Lunch we’ll be free, so if we actually leave to have lunch in another place, we should not have troubles, if we alert our teachers before that, of course.” Tenya offered.
“You others are coming too?” Mina asked.
“Everybody in our class is, apparently. Ribbit! I heard a couple guys from 1B too will go, the rumors about that Restaurant are spreading quite a bit.” Tsuyu answered, croaking faintly.
“I am happy he is finally getting some recognition, recently he had been harassed a lot by complacent Health Inspectors that just kept visiting him in hope of forcing him to close.” Momo answered, sighing in relief.
“Uh? Why?”
“Jealousy mostly, my brother was there when the Police Force questioned them. Few friends of Midoriya-san’s rival tried discredit him, they have been finally told to stop.” Tenya answered.
“Oh-Oooh! Underhand tactics to stop a Chef threatening their businesses? Now I REALLY wanna try it!” Mina answered, smiling intrigued.
“Then it’s settled? Will we all go?” Kaminari asked.
“If you don’t mind,” Momo asked.
“…”
“Ochako? I can pay for you if you want,” Tsuyu offered.
“I-I don’t need charity!” the girl answered, ashamed.
“It’s not charity between friends, silly-head. It’s just being friends. You will offer me lunch next time.” the frog girl answered, smiling wide.
“O-O-Oh! Okay then!”
“Cool! So we all are going to visit Momo's Boyfriend then!” Tooru declared.
“H-HE IS NOT!”
“If you react like that, nobody will believe you. Now sit down and let’s start our new lesson, shall we?” a woman in a skin-tight Hero Costume said with a cheerful tone.
“Yes, Professor Midnight!” the entire class answered as one.
Later that day – Number 4 Yavin Street – Green Cloud Restaurant -
The famous Gourmet Street was, as always, bustling in activity as the city’s Foodies congregated there en masse during lunch hour to satisfy their bottomless stomachs, clamoring and walking over each-other to secure a seat in their favorite Restaurant.
“Daaaamn! They really have everything here! They even have American-Style BBQ Restaurants!” Mina said in wonder.
“They say rent is not cheap here, does he manage?” Aoyama asked, curious.
“He has a very good sponsor, even if my father is still digging around to see if it was a scam. They actually bought the entire two-story building and asked Izuku to cook for them there, in exchange for his work the flat above the Restaurant it’s his to use.” Momo answered.
“He has a Sponsor?” Shoto asked.
“A certain ‘ The System Incorporated’ , specialized in Import-Export of Ingredients all over the world...Or so they present themselves.”
“Never heard of them.” Mezo admitted.
“Me neither, but everything seems to be in order. There, that’s the place.” Momo answered, pointing at the Green Cloud restaurant once the place came into view.
“Ooh! Small and cozy! Nice!” Kirishima admitted with a wide smile.
“Doggie!” Koda said with a happy smile as he neared the black dog sleeping next to the entrance.
“ ...What do you want?” the dog answered with an annoyed tone, only opening a single bleary eye to look at the boy and glare him into submission.
“Nothing, nothing. Just saying Hi .” he answered immediately.
“ Ah! Okay. Hi. ” Blackie answered with his baritone, magnetic voice gaining a sarcastic undertone before he returned to sleep.
“Don’t bother the talking dog.” Katsuki said, rolling his eyes.
“Sorry.”
“Too sexy a voice for somebody with that bulging belly,” Sero commented while eyeing the faint rolls of fat that had started to appear on the once-lean Lord Dog’s stomach.
“It means the food’s good then! Let’s get in!” Mina ordered with a cheerful scream while barging inside.
Dling! Dling!
The tiny bell on top of the door chimed happily as soon as they got in, with all of them turning extra happy at feeling the faint chill of air conditioning lowering the temperature just right, and even happier at the amazing mishmash of food aromas wafting everywhere.
“Good evening! What can I do for you?” Izuku was soon walking up to them to welcome the students with a gentle smile.
“He is a cutie, Yaomomo chose well!” Tooru whispered.
“She must be into freckles, his cheeks are adorable.” Jiro whispered back.
“I find his Chef Uniform quite dashing too.” Aoyama added.
“Quiet, you three.” Tsuyu silenced them.
“Sorry if I took so long to pay you a visit, Izuku.” Momo admitted with a sheepish smile.
“No need to worry, you are a future Pro Hero, your studies take precedence! My Restaurant and myself will always be here for you, so there was no rush for you to come visit.” he answered, chuckling amicably.
“Yes there was, I want to show you my support! I know my parents came here at least twice already, so it was only fair I came as well! So in exchange I brought along a few friends. I hope it won’t be a problem,” Momo replied in conviction.
“ Huhuhu ! Thank you for the extra Customers then! I have a couple of tables close to each other so you can sit together. There are also other students from AU, if you don’t mind their company. Please, this way.” the young Chef answered while guiding them to their tables.
“Fellow students? No problem for us, Midoriya-san!” Tenya answered.
“You must be Mister Tensei’s brother! He spoke very highly of you, he just left for his patrol,” Izuku said with a surprised expression.
“Big brother came here today too?!”
“He seems to love my Rainbow Dumplings and Stir-fried shrimp noodles,” the other answered sheepishly.
“Do I see ‘ Cold Soba’ on the menu?” Shoto asked, sounding almost surprised instead of monotonous.
“Eh! That would be my father’s fault, he loves that Dish so much I kind of put it on the menu as an homage. Why? You like them too?”
“Yes.” the young man answered.
“OH! Fucking amazing! Those idiots from 1A are here as well!” It was then that a female voice growled in annoyance.
“Rumi, please!” Pony Tsunotori begged with a groan.
“Hey, if they are idiots, it’s only fair we call them that!” the only boy of the four-people table answered, huffing.
“Tetsutetsu, not you too.” Itsuka as well looked ready to die from embarrassment.
“What?! You look for a fight, fucker!?” Katsuki asked with a challenging, fanged smile.
“Please don’t fight inside my restaurant. Go out if you need to have a cock fight.” Izuku asked, unimpressed, while Whitey’s robot head immediately peeked inside the room from the kitchen.
“ Troublemakers?”
“Not yet, Whitey.”
“It’s okay, cutie! WE are not here to cause trouble.” Rumi answered with a sweet smile and kicking Tetsutetsu’s shin hard enough she forced him to fall back down sitting.
“Thank you,” the Chef answered, showing a tiny smile.
“...Sure if you bribe me with a kiss to the cheek I may feel inclined to make extra sure they all sit quietly.” the bunny girl then said.
“RUMI!” Pony yelled in scandal.
“Outrageous!” Tenya gasped in horror.
“ Tch! ” it was faint, but Ochako could swear she heard a strange, annoyed growling sound come out from Momo’s mouth.
“I am afraid I can’t do that, it would be highly unprofessional. But I am honoured you offered me the chance.” Izuku answered, bowing slightly.
“Aww! Well, there is always next time! You won’t be able to say no forever!” Rumi answered, unperturbed.
“I can kiss ya if you want! I can kiss you everywhere! Especially on both of your Lips. ” Mineta said with a lewd smile.
STRIP! BANG!
“ Disgusting Pervert dealt with! ” Whitey said proudly once flash-stepped into the room, stripped the short guy down to his boxers and then bitch-slapped him out of the Restaurant in the span of a single second to then return inside the kitchen.
“Thank you, Whitey. If he does it again, he will be blacklisted.” Izuku answered with a sigh of relief.
“I like this place already.” Tooru admitted, amused, while she and the others took their seats.
“Good to know! Menu is written on those wooden tablets by the door while the small chalkboard lists the specialties we are offering today. If you don’t see desserts, I will list them to you personally, since I like to change those daily. Everything is homemade, so sometimes I switch dishes around to offer some variety. Any particular request for drinks?”
“Water for now, maybe a bottle of cola later,” Momo answered, getting a few nods from the others.
“Perfect, please study the menu as much as you want and call me when you are ready.” the young Chef answered, giving them a bow before leaving.
Once left alone, the two tables quietly started deciding what to order when a towering giant of a man with fiery red hair entered the Restaurant with a scowl.
“Where is the Chef of this place?” the man asked.
“Oh, nice...Endeavor…” Shoto uttered in disdain once seen the guy he was forced to call ‘ father’ enter the place with his usual lack of tact.
“That would be me, can I help you?” Izuku asked after returning from the kitchen with a tray of food he delivered to a more isolated table.
“Daaamn, that stuff smells amazing,” the Pro Hero with Endeavor admitted with a low voice as soon as the aroma of those dishes filled the restaurant.
“Not now, Hawks! Is it you that kicked-out my assistant, boy?” Enji demanded.
“If you mean that unpleasant hag that was making a nuisance of herself just because a Quirkless cooked her food. Yes, it was me. She was bothering my Customers and stinking-up my Restaurant with her misplaced Overblown Ego. As the owner of this place I have every right to evict an eyesore like her.” Izuku answered, still remembering the insults she gleefully hurled at him and at the man’s son that was apparently at fault for not being ‘ Perfect’ like Endeavor himself.
The very same son that Izuku was certain was the boy with red-and-white hair at the moment glaring at Enji in barely-concealed hatred.
“She is a Pro Hero, boy. Show some respect.”
“Respect is earned, not a fancy gadget you get because you are obnoxious and have some superpowers.” Izuku replied, unfazed.
“You dare?!” the man roared with a booming voice that rattled everybody’s ears while fire covered his body.
“…” In answer the young Chef took a huge breath as a fiery-red flaming aura of energy enveloped his entire being.
“ AH! ” like the clap of thunder, the short scream the small young man produced assaulted Enji and snuffed-off the flames of his Quirk, the sheer volume also almost blew-up his eardrums, just like it almost deafened everybody else, while outside cars were heard come to a screeching halt as their windows exploded.
Not a single piece of glass inside the Restaurant got damaged, though.
“Wanna see who can scream the loudest?” Izuku hissed in contempt as the towering figure of his old Appetite Demon he took back from his Isekai (a gorilla with blood-red fur and boar-like tusks) briefly appeared behind him.
“What’s that? A Stand ?” Kaminari asked.
“You can't make a JOJO reference in 2160…” Katsuki answered, groaning.
“But it looks like one!”
With Enji -
“You dare raise your voice against-”
“You dare...You dare...You dare. Who are you, exactly?”
“A Pro He-”
“Second place under that MORON of All Might. Let it be clear, I am the LAST guy you can wow with the title of Pro Hero. I treat everybody equally: Male or Female, Quirked or Quirkless, Pro Hero or Civilian. As long as one is a customer, they can rest assured I will treat them with the utmost respect and deliver them the food they asked for.
Posturing idiots, Bullies and Troublemakers instead are neither needed nor will be missed. Your Secretary , that I am starting to think you have an affair with, was bothering everybody, and between HER and my Customers, my Customers are more important! Ergo, she had to go. Her doing it willingly was not an issue.” Izuku answered.
“She is a Pro Hero, boy! SHE is a useful member of society, contrary to you, Chef. ” Enji hissed in contempt, and spitting Chef like an insult.
“…” a tense silence fell into the Restaurant as Izuku bristled in blatant fury.
“An ignorant fool dared to insult the category of Chefs. Host Izuku must avenge his honor and teach this buffoon the true horror of an angry Chef!
Abrupt Mission: Teach Endeavor Humility.
Reward: 10% bonus on your Experience Points total and unlocking the Wine Cabinet of Wonders .” The System’s voice echoed inside Izuku’s head soon after.
“ What’s that cabinet? ” he asked, slightly surprised.
“ Host Izuku will gain the ability to add to the menu a selection of wines offered by the System, at the increase of Host Izuku’s level, the number and quality of wines offered will also rise. When the Host Level will rise to the third step, Host Izuku will be permitted to produce his own wine.” the voice answered. And Izuku found it a good incentive to shut the moron up.
“So you think we Chefs are nothing…” Izuku asked with a low, dangerous tone accompanied by the growl of the Demon behind him.
“Seriously, what the hell is that?!” Sero whispered.
“Looks a bit like Dark Shadows . Only solid .”
“ Ssh !”
“You people can barely cook a decent meal, nothing more.” Enji answered, scoffing.
“Let’s put that to the Test then.” Izuku said with narrowed eyes.
“ Hn ?”
“Last week I offered a small challenge to my Customers: Eating an entire bowl of Spicy Mapo Tofu, the prize was a free meal ticket for two people and not ONE of them managed to last and win. I will prepare for you the exact same dish and IF you can eat it whole without a single problem I will personally kneel in front of you and beg for forgiveness.
BUT! If you admit it’s too hot, or even just gasp for air or show discomfort, you will cover the bill for everybody here. You feel up for it, Pro Hero ?” the young Chef asked while imitating the same scornful tone of Endeavor.
“Ah! That’s it? Then just kneel and be done with it. I am not one of those losers that eat here, you are not dealing with a Sissy that can’t handle some chili sauce.” Endeavor declared haughtily, unknowingly losing any chance at sympathy from the customers present.
“If you feel so sure of yourself, then you won’t have problems going through this bet, right?”
“I will humor you, kid! Bring it on, eating for free is always welcomed.” Enji answered, taking a table together with Hawks.
“I have a bad feeling about this…” the winged Pro Hero muttered in dread once the young Chef disappeared inside his kitchen.
“Endeavor challenged the wrong Chef.” Momo declared.
“You sure?” Shoto asked.
“Izuku’s talent is more vast than what you may believe, I have full trust in his abilities.” she answered.
Inside the Kitchen -
“System, I need my special chili sauce, is it ready?”
“ The new batch has finished fermenting and it’s ready to be used. Thanks to the Devil Peppers that had been added, spiciness has increased by 70%.” the System answered as a side cabinet opened to show dozens of unlabeled glass jars containing home-made chili sauce.
“Good.” Izuku answered with a chilling smile as he took out a jar to study its blood-red content.
Izuku’s own creation, a blend of chili peppers and other spices mixed together to create a diabolical mixture that can only be described as ‘ Agony in Sauce form’ that the young Chef created in his lifetime as Zaus to appease his new-found love for spicy food...And to make Setsuno’s life hell when he was younger as even SHE had trouble withstanding its power.
One Drop would make normal people sweat as if they ran a marathon. ( Normal Dosage)
Two drops could melt through a normal human tongue. ( Challenge Dosage )
A spoonful could cause vivid hallucinations. ( Blackie’s Requested Dosage )
Two spoonfuls were literally lethal for normal humans. ( Izuku’s own Lunch/Dinner Dosage)
Izuku in a bout of ‘ Edginess ’ had called the first version ‘ Satan Sauce ’ , but to be fair once he’d seen its effects the name became surprisingly apt.
The young Chef had decided to use one spoonful only of the thing, though, he almost went for two, but even the System could not reassure him Enji would have survived that, so he opted for a single spoon...And five drops.
Mapo Tofu was a fairly easy recipe of Chinese tradition, and actually born to be spicy, thus Izuku’s first choice when he wanted to have his Satan Sauce take center stage to show both its divine taste AND its world-ending spiciness.
“Let’s see what the ‘ Number 2 Hero of Japan’ is made of!” the young Chef declared while taking a wide wok and putting it on the fire with some fresh oil already inside.
Once stir-fried a mixture of spices until they became fragrant and tasteful, Izuku then poured in the same wok few ladles of chicken broth to simmer it in the spice mixture; once done he delicately added the pure-white cute cubes of Tofu he personally cut and infused in Gourmet Energy, each one of those cubes trembled heavily at every faint movement of the wok as he gently turned them around in the sauce, and after adding some scallions he toppled everything with his chili sauce, soon turning the harmless cubes fiery-red and making them almost shine in the room’s lights like pieces of ruby.
“Finally ready.” Izuku declared, smirking, once moved the finished dish into a big white bowl decorated with tiny and cute green clouds.
Main room -
Everybody watched as the young Chef calmly walked out of the kitchen while holding with both hands the bowl of Mapo Tofu for his bet against the Pro Hero.
“Here he comes…” Hawks muttered, his feelings of dread increasing tenfold at each step of Izuku.
“Let’s see what you got, boy!” Endeavor said with a feral smirk that faltered a little when the bowl was actually put on the table in front of him.
As he took a deep breath and perceived the aroma surging out of the dish, his eyes widened, it was arguably a really spicy dish, and from its aroma, it was obvious that its spiciness was not just intense, but ferocious .
"This is my prized ‘Hellfire Mapo Tofu’, it's a variation of the traditional Mapo Tofu recipe I only make for this chili challenge, it's extremely spicy and intense. You can still back down from the Challenge if you don’t feel able." Izuku explained while pointing at the big bowl in front of Endeavor.
“Are you looking down on me, boy?” the Pro Hero asked, growling.
“It’s the usual warning I give to whoever takes this Challenge, I won’t be held accountable if you have vivid hallucinations. Or explode.” the young Chef answered, arms crossed and eyes narrowed.
“I handle fire everyday, Boy! You are not the one who decides if this dish is intense or not, it's me. I am the unquestioned Lord of Flames!" Enji answered, sneering.
“ Host Izuku should not worry. If one wants to tickle the nose of Fate, then they can only blame themselves for their misfortune. ” The System declared, making Izuku wonder if even the gender-less, strange Entity as well found the Pro Hero unbearable.
“What are the crossed fingers for?” Tokoyami asked.
“Lesson in humility or self-combustion?” Mezo added.
“Or coma?” Mineta added as well, having just received a rare second chance from Izuku after some begging from class 1A and returned to sit at the table once Momo created a giant and long shirt for him to cover himself with.
“Yes.” Shoto answered.
“Then please, do enjoy it. And also remember the terms of our Bet should you lose.” Izuku answered with a sigh, he had heard the man was callous, but he just wasn’t aware Enji was THAT MUCH of an Egomaniac.
“Get ready to lose.” Enji sneered as he picked up the porcelain spoon next to the bowl and took another whiff of the tofu's aroma before scooping up a spoonful of it with a thin trail of red juice following behind it.
“I have become an instrument of your Revenge and Justice. I hope you know you owe me one now.” Izuku declared while walking back towards the kitchen, leaving behind a confused Shoto.
In the meantime, Endeavor slowly raised the spoon filled with tofu to his mouth, idly noticing how the blood-red colour of the wobbly cubes was getting more sinister the closer the spoon came to his mouth , along the small voice in the back of his head growing more frantic in trying to stop him.
Squish!
Once seen him swallow the spoonful of Tofu, the completely silent crowd watching him heard a soft squishing noise come from his mouth as he chewed.
“Oh! It actually tastes kind of good.” Enji was forced to admit, awed at the pieces of tofu being so soft and tender they easily melted from the slightest bite and pretty much flowed down his throat by themselves, eager to be eaten.
“It was a given that it would also taste good, other than being spicy.” Momo felt the need to remind him, as a way to defend her best friend’s cooking skills.
“I still can’t feel the spicy-” Then it happened, as soon as his mouth was filled with the tofu's rich fragrance from his second spoon and he grew ‘ complacent’ , like a deadly snake poised to strike the true power of Izuku’s personal blend attacked the Pro Hero’s entire being when he least expected it.
At first Enji felt a wave of numbness travel from the base of his spine up to his head that made every single hair on his body stand straight like a needle, then came an overwhelming scalding sensation surging from right under his skin and wildly rushing outside, as if every pore of his body had become a volcano ready to vomit lava everywhere, it felt even hotter than his own fire somehow!
“ Aah …” the man gurgled-out pitifully, soon regretting his believing that thanks to his Fire Quirk he could not get scalded by a dish.
Good God, he was wrong! He was so wrong! Too wrong!
“He is sweating.” Sero said, matter-of-factly.
“No surprise! I felt my nose hair get singed as soon as Midoriya-san walked out of the kitchen with that plate, I don’t want to think about what it feels like to actually eat that.” Tooru admitted.
“Like eating my acid?” Mina asked.
“Something tells me that Endeavor-san would gladly drink your acid as a reprieve from that,” Tsuyu answered, actually looking at the Pro Hero in pity.
“ Aah ...” by now Enji was fearing having forever lost his ability to taste, if somebody told him he was eating boiling lava, he would have believed them! There was seemingly no end in sight as the spiciness kept mounting inside his mouth while his body turned completely red.
FWOOSH!
Even his Quirk awoke, covering him completely in flames as his instinct was fervently hoping the heat of his fire could somehow spare him some of that misery.
“ENJI-SAN!” Hawks yelled in worry.
“Have no fear, he won’t burn a thing,” Izuku, looking absolutely unfazed, reassured the customers present while delivering a new order to a table nearby.
“...The table is not burning.” Ochako confirmed with a faint voice.
Indeed the table, tablecloth, glasses, bowls, spoons and seats and everything else were still pristine clean, even the floor was not getting damaged by the intense flames covering Enji’s body, not a single scorching mark was appearing anywhere nor smoke or the smell of burning matter came to be.
“Are the tables made of asbestos?!” Mineta asked with a gasp.
Tock! Tock! “This is pure wood, and the tablecloths are made of cotton. And yet they aren’t burning.” Katsuki answered once gently knocking on the table.
“As I said, have no fear. Endeavor-san does not have the Skills to break anything in here.” The answer of the young Chef made several eyes bulge-out in shock at the bold, but apparently true, statement.
“ Everything has been built by The System, I was assured nothing can break anything in here. ” Izuku thought while walking away.
“W-Why...Why I accepted…” Enji groaned between clenched teeth as huge beads of sweat began to drip down his head and loudly splatter on the table.
The Pro Hero was already re-evaluating MANY of his Life Choices while swallowing the last mouthful of tofu remaining inside his mouth, and to the now overly-sensitive skin of his throat the jelly-soft thing turned as rough as glass shards leaving behind deep scorching marks everywhere during their journey towards his stomach.
" Ah-Aahh …" The Pro Hero could no longer hold back his groans, turning into a whimpering dying animal as his nostrils contracted and emitted thick streams of smoke at each breath.
“Poor thing,” a nearby woman muttered in sadness from her table.
“It happens when you don’t know your limits, dear. He can only blame himself now.” her husband replied while taking her hand in his in a comforting manner.
“ I AM THE ONE SUFFERING, NOT HER! COMFORT ME!” Endeavor roared mentally, now tears as well started flowing from his eyes in thick boiling-hot streams.
"Sir, how does it taste? Is the dish's spiciness intense or not?" Izuku, MAYBE channeling a bit too much pettiness, asked with an overly-innocent tone.
“Gabu...Ggabuuu-buu…” Whatever Enji tried to say came out garbled and distorted, because his tongue had been thoroughly ‘ cooked’ under the unrelenting Hell that was the spicy tofu.
“ WHY!? WHY DOES SOMETHING SO SPICY EXIST, GOD?! FOR WHAT REASON DO YOU LET SOMETHING SO EVIL EXIST AMONG YOUR CHILDREN?! ” Enji, maybe already going insane from the spiciness melting his brain, for an instant felt very religious as he sent this heartfelt question up to the Heavens.
"I pride myself in my personal chili sauce, it’s my own secret recipe! If it is still not intense enough, you just need to take more mouthfuls of it. My blend is special, the more you eat, the more intense the flavor will be, what you felt up until now is nothing.” The young Chef explained while describing his chili sauce with a proud voice.
Nothing? NOTHING?! That whore of your mother is nothing! This thing should be forbidden to use like Mustard Gas, Bio Weapons and Nukes! It’s a chili sauce that only exists as a threat to Human Rights!
Able to only roar in the privacy of his head, Endeavor glared at Izuku intensely enough to make others believe he was trying to incinerate the Chef with his eyes only.
“...Unless you are a little Sissy that can’t handle some chili sauce, of course.” Turning juuuust a tiny bit evil, Izuku threw back at Enji the exact same words the Pro Hero dared to use against his beloved Customers.
“He is dead, Midoriya-san tickled his Ego.” Shoto said with a sigh.
“Will he attack Izuku?” Momo asked, immediately turning apprehensive.
“ Hn ? No, I was referring to my father. Now that his Ego and Manliness have been put in question, he will lick that plate clean, even if it means he will die right after.” he answered.
“...You don’t seem worried about that happening.” Jiro asked, confused.
“ Hn .” the young Todoroki answered with just a shrug.
"Thi-This dish isn't intense! It Do-Doesn’t burn! I will eat...I will eat everything!" Enji gave a defiant roar, and to Izuku’s surprise, the man actually emptied the entire bowl in one go and swallowed the remaining pieces of Tofu whole.
Tears came like a river then, and even the snot from his nose burned like acid on his skin while the Pro Hero’s fists pounded the table continuously as he valiantly fought the blistering heat turning his mouth into an inferno; as sweat kept falling from his forehead like rain, he fixed his blurry and blood-shot eyes on Izuku’s, like a feral beast no longer holding humanity inside glaring at its prey.
" Ah …" it was both scalding and spicy, Endeavor decided then and there that it was not God that made the spices, it was the Devil himself! And that blasted Chef was the Devil’s emissary to bring such foul agony to light!
“Still not intense?" Izuku’s gentle question horrified even Katsuki, no human was THAT merciless, Endeavor was clearly agonizing, and yet the young Chef asked that question with a completely calm demeanor.
“I-”
“Because remember, if it hurts NOW...It will hurt even more later, because all that will have to come out from your body, eventually.” the young Chef explained.
“Ah.” Enji’s complexion turned ashen immediately as that revelation dawned on him, and unknown to him, the looks of sympathy from the other customers grew in intensity.
“A moment of silence for his assho- GUEH !” Before Mineta could finish his disgusting remark, Mezo and Sero slammed their fists on the guy’s head with zero mercy.
“There are people eating here, lil’ moron. Don’t make me call the Robot again.” Tsuyu added.
“I...I give up…” Enji had finally reached his breaking point, as his Quirk stopped working the fire enveloping his body rapidly dispersed and the porcelain spoon in his hand fell on the table with a resounding thump.
He felt like he had just stripped off his clothes and jumped into a pool of magma, he could feel the spiciness permeate his entire body like a demonic possession, it was overwhelming to the point that it had begun distorting his view of the world.
“What was that?” Izuku asked, leaning slightly forward as Enji’s expression turned unsightly: from red, his face became scarlet, and then gradually began turning purple.
Cough! Cough! “I-I-I give! I give up! You win! I can’t take this! It’s too much!" The Pro Hero fell sprawled on the table and coughed severely, with his hand grasping his throat as though it was about to spout fire out of it.
“Good to know. As promised, you will cover everybody’s bill today. Hopefully you will have a different view of Chefs after today.” the young Chef declared with a happy smile.
"Fine! Whatever! Now give me some Water!" Tears dripped down to Endeavor’s cheeks nonstop, and the heat emitted by his cheeks made the tears seem like they'd evaporate any second.
He craved water. He wanted to drink a large quantity of water, as his tears were doing little to moisten his swollen lips.
“ Where am I? Where do I want to go? What am I going to do? Why are my lips so swollen?” The Pro Hero’s thoughts were a mess now, raving like a victim of high fever.
“I’ll bring you some very cold milk, when dealing with spicy food, water won’t help much.” Izuku gave a sigh and walked back towards the kitchen.
“Th-Thank you!” Enji gasped in gratitude, he would normally be furious with the boy, but the agony of the chili sauce had numbed even his feelings of anger, along turning his normally-thin lips into giant sausage-like rolls of angry-red flesh.
As the Pro Hero and Hawks moved to sit in a more isolated corner, the students from 1A and 1B were finally able to order their food in peace.
“I would have preferred watching Whitey strip him, but I take what I can get!” Rumi admitted, grinning in amusement at watching Enji empty the giant bottle of chilled milk Izuku brought him in merely three gulps and then developing an elated expression.
“I-”
“You already gave a sad spectacle, Enji-san. That’s enough for today.” a Customer said while daintily cleaning his mouth with regal composure.
“ Tch ! FINE!” Endeavor conceded with a bitter tone, before setting down to try fix his blistering lips
“That reminds me, are you ready for the fish soup now, Nighteye-san?” Izuku asked.
“Yes, thank you. And congratulations, everything up until now has been delicious.” the man answered while adjusting his glasses, having lost not an iota of composure while eating, to Izuku’s relief.
“Yup! Absolutely amazing!” Gunhead, sitting with Sir Nighteye, added with a thumbs up, Jeanist at Nighteye’s other side as well gave a nod of praise.
“I aim to please. Are you others too ready for the next dishes you ordered?”
“Yes.”
“You bet!”
“I will be with you in a second then, please give me a moment.” the young Chef answered, bowing, before addressing the tables of the students.
“Feeling the pressure of a full restaurant?” Mina asked with a teasing smile as soon as he stopped at their table.
Sigh! “I really need to find a waiter or waitress, but I can’t seem to find a good one,” Izuku admitted with a defeated sigh.
“Why so?” Momo asked.
“Various things. The last three were especially awful: one had such a bad memory she could not remember the customers’ orders long enough to reach the kitchen window and tell me. The second was a stuck-up fool that wanted to tell me how to run my Restaurant and the last one left as soon as he learned I am Quirkless. Apparently he found working for me an insult to his pride.” he answered.
“I am sure you will find somebody good enough, you just have to have faith.” Momo answered, smiling gently.
“I really hope so! But please, tell me what I should bring you, this small issue with Endeavor-san already made you waste enough time.” Izuku asked with a sweet smile, although that same smile turned very stiff once he looked at Katsuki to take his order.
“You two know each other?” Tenya asked once the young Chef disappeared inside his kitchen, between them and the guys of 1B, the ensemble of orders was extremely varied, enough so that the students did feel kind of bad since each one of them ordered something different.
“Sort of.” Katsuki answered.
“You put him into a coma, Katsuki-san.” Momo explained with a cold tone, way colder than usual as her sharp eyes drilled a hole in the blond’s head.
“What?!”
“...How do you know?”
“His mother and mine are close friends. Izuku comes to my house weekly to give cooking lessons to my mother, and often Inko-san accompanies him so that our mothers can have tea together after the lessons. My mother managed to have Inko-san explain what happened to her son that made him choose the path as a Chef...Your almost killing him was one of the key factors.” she answered.
“I DID NOT-”
“Please don’t make a scene,” Izuku cut him off while delivering water and a few appetizers to the table.
“Today I have Edamame and pickled cucumber as an appetizer, feel free to ask for refills if you want, the first refill is free.” he explained before walking towards the table of the students of Class 1B to deliver the same small dishes.
“...I did not try to kill him, it was an incident.” Katsuki said again, this time with a normal tone of voice.
“What part of blasting him away after he saved you was an incident?” she asked.
“The blasting part,” he hissed between clenched teeth.
“That sounds awful,” Tenya admitted.
“I was wrong, okay?! I was wrong.”
“You almost killed an innocent bystander that actually helped you, that is worse than being wrong .” Tokoyami answered.
“I am sorry, okay!?” Katsuki answered.
“Does he know you are?” Shoto asked.
“...He doesn’t talk to me, he doesn’t look at me nor does he want me anywhere close to himself or his family. I technically have a restraining order his family issued against me, I can get close to him only if I am accompanied by somebody else, I am not even supposed to be here, actually. I guess he did not force the issue just because you others kind of vouched for me.” he answered.
“Do you actually want to apologize?” Mezo asked.
“And tell him what? ‘ Sorry if I almost killed you, I was an asshole’ ?” he shot back.
“...That would be a good start, Bakugo-san.” Izuku answered from behind him as he came to deliver a tray of Carpaccio .
“FUCK!”
“Your appetizer, Momo.” he then said, smiling gently and delivering the big plate of white Puffer Whale Carpaccio he prepared for her.
He passed that Ingredient for common puffer fish whenever somebody asked, but it was actually the Reward the System bestowed on him for passing his Test.
“Just like the one you made when I got into UA?” she asked, sounding very hopeful.
“The very same. Please enjoy your meal,” he answered before walking away.
“Thank you!” the girl replied, taking a couple of pieces with her chopsticks and swallowing them whole.
“ Mmmmh !” and developing a blissful expression of pleasure while chewing.
“Shit...He heard me…” Katsuki swore again.
“At least you know where to start,”
“Shut-up, Bird-head! ”
“Can I try it?” Tsuyu asked.
“Here…” looking a bit reluctant, Momo moved her plate a bit towards the Frog Girl, who had the brainwave of taking just a single piece once seen the tall girl turn frantic at her chopsticks grabbing two.
“Curious…” she muttered while studying the small piece of fish fillet and then trying it, going wide-eyed right after once tasted it.
“Mine!” Momo, maybe sensing danger, immediately said while pulling the plate closer to herself.
“How’s it?” Ochako asked as she watched her friend chewing rabidly and without any intention of stopping.
“Holy Shit…”
“Does it mean it’s good?” Jiro asked, smirking.
“Holy-” Ribbit! “- Shit…”
“I take that as an ‘ It’s very good’ .” Mina answered, chuckling.
“Izuku-san! I want a plate too!” Tsuyu asked as soon as she saw the Young Chef come out from the kitchen to deliver a few dishes. To the others’ surprise she sounded extremely needy .
“Now I am curious,” Aoyama admitted.
“Me too! Midoriya-san! Can we have some as well?” Tooru called-out as well.
“ Puffer Carpaccio ? Okay! How many of you want it?” Izuku asked.
“All of us!”
“Okay!”
“We want some too!” Itsuka asked.
“Very well,”
“Can I eat it while using your abs as a plate, though?” Rumi added with a feral smirk.
“T-T-T-That is impossible at the moment!”
“HOY! HOY! HOY!” Enji shrieked in horror once seen the price of the dish they all asked for.
“You lost the bet, if you did not want to pay for all this, you should have won.” Shoto answered, merciless.
“TU QUOQUE?!” the Pro Hero bellowed with an expression of pure betrayal.
“ What happened to the bond between Father and Son? To the Love between family members?! ” the man thought in misery.
After that, more and more plates went amassed on the tables of the students of Class 1A and 1B, with the young men and women there gorging themselves, and looking at the young Chef in awe for the sublime taste of the food, all at the Pro Hero’s expenses.
Two Hours Later -
“Shit! I am about to explode!” Katsuki said with a strained voice while massaging his bulging belly.
“It was all so amazing!” Kaminari muttered in awe.
“We have to come here again,” Tooru said, groaning in fatigue.
“I want to eat more, but while the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak and ready to burst!” Tenya added while looking in sadness at all the dishes on the menu he had not tried yet.
“That tiramisu was orgasmic!” Mina admitted.
“Yes it was, it was delicious.” Momo confirmed, having taken a few VERY VERY Generous portions of said dessert once she’d heard Izuku made it just that morning.
The table with the four students from class 1B were similarly stuffed to the breaking point, and from afar, Endeavor’ soft sobbing was heard in all its misery, those greedy students tried to eat him into poverty! Monsters!
“I take everything was to your liking?” Izuku asked while nearing the students’ tables.
“Fuck yeah! I am coming here again, I don’t care if my blood turns into ragu sauce or a heart attack kills me! You fucker have just become my damn favourite cook!” Tetsutetsu answered with a thumbs-up.
“Glad to hear that, what about you others?” the young Chef asked.
“Are you open to the idea of Marriage?” Rumi asked.
“Ah?!” the students of class 1A almost died of fright at the sudden roar that tore its way out of Momo’s throat once heard that.
“Yeah, marry him and invite me for dinner once a week!” Pony shamelessly suggested.
“Me too!” Itsuka chorused.
To their surprise Izuku turned cherry-red and bashful, catching the eye of the female customers present at the cutesy scene.
“ Ah-humm ...I-I don’t think I can do that. You are a very pretty woman, I am afraid I am not worthy of marrying somebody pretty as you, you deserve somebody a lot better than me!” Sounding absolutely shy, the young Chef answered with a low voice and a very embarrassed expression.
FWOOOOOSH!
“You...You should not sell yourself so short, you know? You have plenty of good qualities yourself! P-Plenty to attract any girl!” Rumi had said that as a joke, having already prepared a pretty-crass counter for his eventual answer, but being praised with that much honesty was not what she planned for, and while pulling down one of her long rabbit ears with one hand and playing with a fringe of her long white hair with the other, she gave a stuttered embarrassed answer herself.
“ Aaw ! They look so cute, isn’t that right, Yaomomo?” Tooru asked, both playful and actually gushing.
“…”
“...Yaomomo?”
“…”
“I-I-Is she okay?” Mineta asked, scared.
“…”
“She is not blinking…” Tokoyami whispered, sounding afraid.
“Yo! You there, Big Boobs- ” BWHAM!
Katsuki was actually the only one that got an answer from the young woman: her fist moving backwards she slammed on his nose without even looking behind her and that made his entire face sink inwards in a perfect imprint of her knuckles.
Not too far away, Sir Nighteye and his colleagues left the money for their bill to Whitey and left the Restaurant on the notes of class 1A and 1B arguing with each other, and while Jeanist and Gunhead happily went their way once exited, the bespectacled Pro Hero remained on the sidewalk to watch the young Chef inside the Restaurant.
He knew Izuku had not been fully honest with Endeavor; they boy DID recognize the value of Pro Heroes ( The Serious Ones ) and what they did to society, and yet he also clearly held both Endeavor and All Might in slight contempt. And while one may understand how Enji could earn somebody’s dislike, Toshinori instead was a different case, and Nighteye was not letting his personal feelings get in the way of his judgment either.
“That young man has something against Toshinori, something personal. You don’t use that much distaste while calling somebody a Moron just because you are not a fan, that is a feeling with deep roots.” he muttered, thoughtful.
Whatever it was, it was the boy’s own personal affairs, something the Pro Hero did not want to intrude upon, even if it did make him curious as to why that was the case.
“He calls himself a Quirkless, and yet he could scream that loud and summon that avatar behind himself...And he doesn’t like Toshinori…” it was then that a theory faintly formed inside his head.
“ Another Quirkless asked me if he can become a Hero even without powers. I might...I might have been a bit too blunt in telling him it was not possible. He looked exceptionally hurt.'' There had been a moment, right after Toshinori had passed his Quirk to Nighteye’s pupil Mirio, that he saw the blond man turn sad all of a sudden and deliver that line with a regretful tone.
“If I heard correctly, Midoriya-san has been put into a coma by one of those students around the same period of time...Could it be?” Nighteye muttered as he studied the young Chef as he momentarily stopped by the table occupied by the students from class 1A, and whatever he said, it seemed Ochako found it especially hilarious. Or at the very least, she seemed to find him personally endearing.
Nighteye decided that he needed to check a couple hospital reports to see where and when the young man had been brought to them, along remembering the date Mirio had his second Quirk injected, because the last thing they needed was another Villain acting on his hatred for Heroes because the ‘ Number One Hero of Japan’ destroyed his dreams before he could actually manifest his powers. There were many Villains that turned to Evil for far less.
“If that is the case he may have manifested his dormant Quirk thanks to the coma, if we get him soon enough, we can still teach him how to use his powers for good. Whatever those powers actually are.” Nighteye muttered, thoughtful.
“...Just to be sure…” he then muttered as he managed to lock eyes with Izuku, he had exchanged a polite handshake with the boy before leaving, meaning that he could actually use his Quirk Foresight to peak into the Young Chef’s future to see if they could actually avoid him turning into a Villain.
“ GUH !” Unfortunately, as soon as he tried using it, Something forcefully and mercilessly snapped their connection, making Nighteye stumble a few steps back with a splitting headache and blurry vision, and if he was not mistaken, there was blood dripping from his nose.
Whatever it was, Nighteye was almost sure it was not Izuku himself that repelled his Quirk so brutally, but a third party, that theory was helped by the Chef showing surprise at first and then annoyance as he glared at him briefly before returning to work.
“What was that?” he muttered with a low whisper.
“ A warning. You are trying to see into things beyond your understanding, kiddo. Next time your pretty eyes will be forfeit. That Chef is beyond your or everybody else's reach, what is protecting him is not something you guys can trifle with. `` To the Pro Hero’s surprise the answer came from the lazy dog sleeping next to the entrance, his voice was magnetically warm and deep, absolutely unfitting for a dog.
“What do you mean?”
“ Is this Lord Dog your teacher? No. Then just walk away and forget what you saw or heard, this is just a normal restaurant, nothing more. ”
“I-”
“ I said scram .” Blackie muttered with a tone of finality, and as dog and man locked eyes, a deep sense of primal terror washed over Nighteye for a brief instant, before the dog returned to sleep.
“...This doesn’t make any sense.” The Pro Hero muttered while walking away, dozens upon dozens of questions piling-up in his mind instead of going away; he felt there was something wrong about that restaurant, and he felt the need to see deeper into it and possibly save the young man working there from whatever Nightmare was hiding behind its doors.
Later that night – after closing hour -
Once the last customer was gone, Izuku could finally close the restaurant, tidy-up the place and spend a good two hours talking to the phone with his parents about how his day went, since Inko and Hiashi were apparently not happy enough to just be able to visit Izuku’s restaurant whenever they wanted. Not that Izuku minded, he loved his parents too much to refuse their visits or calls.
Once everything was done, the young Chef washed himself and prepared to go to bed, only for the System’s voice to suddenly ring in his head followed by a happy fanfare.
“ Congratulations to Host Izuku for reaching the ‘ One hundred Dishes served’ goal in the month time limit! An extra two bottles have been added to the Wine Cabinet as a prize. ” the Voice said.
The Wine Cabinet Izuku unlocked thanks to Endeavor willingly destroying his bowels for their bet was a tall fridge-sized glass cabinet completely transparent and big enough to contain forty bottles of wine, five for each row; it now contained six different kinds of white wine and six reds, counting the extra ones he was just gifted with, and while only Middle-Range in Quality, they were still the sort of stuff wine lovers would love to see on the menu.
Speaking of Endeavor, Izuku found himself idly wondering what the Pro Hero was doing at the moment…
With Enji – His personal office inside his Hero Agency -
“OH, GOD, WHYYYYYYYYY!” a miserable shriek of agony echoed everywhere inside the office as the Pro Hero Endeavor was still blocked sitting on his personal toilet trying to not defecate his own organs out of his body.
His underlings could only listen powerless as their Boss and favourite Hero sobbed uncontrollably while trumpeting sounds kept exploding out of his behind, bringing his shame to new heights as a result.
“No more! No more! I’ll respect Chefs, I swear! Just put an end to this torment!” the man whispered while crying fat tears of sorrow.
Back with Izuku -
“I hope he is okay and not suffering too much.” Izuku muttered with a sigh.
All things considered, he loved his Restaurant, even if he kind of missed the more Exotic Ingredients of the Gourmet World, that while difficult, were always a pleasure to cook.
“ About that, Dear Host… ” as soon as that thought crossed his mind, the System talked again.
“And here I jinxed myself.”
“ Host Izuku, as the aspiring God of Cooking of the Hero World, you must not be idle, but venture outside to hunt for Ingredients! Be Brave and Work Hard, young man! ” the System declared.
“Hunt down Ingredients? Okay, I guess. Where am I supposed to go? The sea? The mountains?” Izuku asked.
“ The System will teleport you into Another World, where you will have twenty-four hours to collect enough Ingredients to fulfill your quota. Find the ‘ Special Ingredient’ to unlock an extra, Special Reward.”
“Another world?!”
“ A simple human world like this one offers not the right Ingredients to nurture a future God of Cooking. As such, the “Special Rules” have been implemented. Tomorrow at dawn Host Izuku will be brought to the Jungle World by the System’s teleport array.
Reward for Successful meeting of requirements:
10% bonus EXP.
1 Fragment of the God of Cooking Set.
Access to the ‘ Rainbow Fruit ’ from the world the Host knows as ‘Zaus’ World’.
Bonus Reward for the capture of the King Python : Access to the Ingredient known as BB Corn from Zaus’ World. ” the System answered.
“A second Fragment...if I do this I would then only need another to unlock that knife again, and even gain access to two other good Ingredients from the Gourmet World of Zaus even without Leveling-up. And while not Ingredients of the highest grade, here those two would be a huge sensation all the same just like the Puffer Whale already is...What happens if I fail?”
“ Host Izuku will lose 60% of his total EXP and lose his Washing Machine privileges for a month.” the System answered.
“ GUH !” the young Chef grasped his chest in horror, not only would he lose a ton of Experience Points, thus slowing his leveling-up, but he would also be forced to wash all those dishes by hand for a month! He HATED doing the dishes by hand!
“I accept the terms!” Izuku answered with blazing eyes, due to his cooking teacher’s methods for punishing his students, washing the dishes had become one of the young man’s worst nightmares, making him ready to do EVERYTHING to avoid such a fate!
“ Good! The System will immediately start organizing for the teleportation of tomorrow. Nobody will notice Host Izuku’s absence, Host can rest assured and only worry about preparing himself for the trip.” the metallic voice answered.
“Okay!” the young Chef replied.
When the next day he woke-up, Izuku went through his usual training regimen of cutting and carving until the System alert for him to get ready came, and once took a shaky breath the young Chef moved to the middle of the kitchen to wait for his trip to another world to start, Whitey already standing behind him and ready to accompany him. He was ready, full of supplies and shaking heavily.
“ Is Host Izuku ready? ” the System asked.
“Yes.”
“ Good . Commencing Teleport. ” the metallic voice answered, and in an explosion of blinding light both Chef and robot disappeared without a trace.
WOOOOOM!
As soon as the rain of starlight faded away, the young man found himself in the middle of a luscious forest of giant trees as big as skyscrapers and very tall grass, all around him the chirping, growling, howling and cawing of numerous far-away animals.
“I can do this...It’s not different from any trip I made to the Gourmet World as Zaus. I did it once, I can do it again.” Izuku muttered to psyche himself up before walking forward with Whitey silently following behind him.
And while this happened, Momo and the rest of class 1A were going to visit the USJ building, unaware of what a disaster that school trip would be.
(Author Explains Corner: in the Original novel, the Main Character Bu Fang is sometimes tasked by the System to go collect a special Ingredient somewhere in the world he has been moved on to open his Restaurant.
Those Missions more often than not result in Bu Fang fooling some guy’s plans as collateral damage.
In this story Izuku will go in similar Missions for the System, sometimes they will be “ harmless ” and take place in other worlds ( Plural ), but often those Missions will take place in his home world...And those will put him between the Villains and their goals, meaning All for One will soon start to be PISSED with a mere Quirkless Chef too! XD).
Chapter 5: The Invincible Lord Dog!
Summary:
While Izuku is in another world with Whitey to hunt for new Ingredients to add to his repertoire, Class 1A is visiting the Famous USJ establishment.
Unfortunately the League of Villains has decided to attack said place as a way to advertise their Existence, and that means Momo and her classmates are in mortal peril...
Notes:
Apparently I am bad at naming Fics and things. Well, I am already perfect in everything else, so I guess I HAVE TO be bad at something...
This story is way easier to write than my others, probably because I am de facto creating my own "Extra Canon" instead of wrecking my brain to mix two different "Canon Fandom" for the like in the other crossovers. Sorry if it looks like I am playing favourites, I swear I am not.
The new Chapter of "Evil Dragon" (if between you readers of this story there are also readers of that crossover) is half-way done, unfortunately 10k words-long chapters take a LOT OF TIME to write. My apologies.
Chapter Text
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Nejire/ Ochako.
Some have rightfully pointed fingers at the choice of de-aging Rumi and the addition of Nejire, and they all made valid points, but I also enjoy the idea so I accepted the request, even if to add Nejire I had to shift around a couple of things I had planned for the Rumi pairing.
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
If you read this, the Chapter has been fixed by my Beta-Reader Dmale, my savior and possessor of BigDick Chad energy that managed to fix my story into proper English.
Thank you, my man! 🙂
(How I envisioned the " Blackie " of this story. I find it simply majestic.)
A Chef Rebirth chapter 5: The Invincible Lord Dog.
UA University – Parking Lot -
Katsuki wore a thoughtful expression while he waited for the rest of the class to board their bus for whatever little expedition their teachers saw fit to tell them nothing about, and even if it was for safety’s sake, the young man found the entire thing stupid, to say the least.
“Bunch of paranoid bastards…” he muttered.
As of lately, though, his thoughts shifted a bit towards an old acquaintance of his, once dreaming of becoming a Hero, and now working as a Chef in a small restaurant.
“You would have found all this exciting, wouldn't you? Blabbering on and on about everything, always so furiously mumbling about bullshit you find interesting...I wish you were here.” Sitting alone in that bus, Katsuki muttered that admission with a long sigh.
He fucked up, that much he could admit at least in the secrecy of his thoughts, he finally saw him after more than one year and Izuku had treated him... Coldly . He didn’t like that. And the more he thought about the Chef, the more he found things were strange: the light in his eyes, the posture, the mannerism...He was serving Pro Heroes and was not fangirling about them! What happened to him?!
“Something’s up with him.” he muttered, and he almost didn’t notice the bus departing as soon as the last student boarded it. He needed to have that restraining order revoked, there was something wrong with the Nerd and Katsuki needed more freedom of movement to uncover the truth!
He needed to look deeper into that Restaurant, Izuku was supposed to be a bubbly, annoying and ever-excited Nerd, not that block of wood he had met!
At the same time - Jungle World – Forest patch -
“TRUFFLES! GIANT WHITE TRUFFLES AS FAR AS EYES CAN SEE!” an extremely excited squeal reverberated through the entire forest as a young Chef kept digging-up giant white truffles as big as watermelons by the dozens, and all of them of astounding quality.
Contrary to Katsuki’s fears, Izuku was STILL the ever-excited, bubbly Nerd he remembered, only now his interest had moved from Heroes to Cooking thanks to his do-over as a Chef , and now that he was in another world and surrounded by Ingredients he had never seen before in both his Lives , he was mumbling nonstop about every Dish he could possibly make once back home.
One of the aspects that assured Izuku he was in another world was that the trees forming the forest were absolutely IMMENSE in size, and it was not just a hyperbole, every single one of them could easily be hollowed-out and turned into apartment complexes. The bright blue leaves most of them supported also helped.
BANG!
Of course, just like in the Gourmet World of Zaus, every excellent Ingredient was never really alone , but surrounded by other animals mounting guard to it or using it as bait for their own prey, like the giant flock of four-eyed Boars each the size of a truck that had made their home in the same area where those truffles grew.
Luckily Whitey was more than eager to smash its big metal fists on the things’ heads to knock them out so to leave Izuku free to collect truffles at his leisure in total safety.
“A male and a female are kept alive, while everyone else will be properly prepared and stored. Remember.” Izuku asked the robot.
“Understood.” Whitey answered, leaving two adult exemplars alive while giving the finishing blow to the other adults, the young ones instead were permitted to escape.
“With this, I have collected enough Ingredients to cover the 1-Star and 2-Star level, plus extras to have some reserves that will last me until the breeding program back home is stable.” the young Chef said, sighing, while moving to clean the dead boars: removing the skin, separating the meat in its various cuts and so on.
The System’s mission was fairly straightforward: Collect Ingredients in great quantities, animals and plants, on a list separated in ‘ Levels’ from 1 to 5, each level representing how difficult it was supposed to be for Izuku to capture/collect them.
And if they were animals, whenever possible he was also supposed to capture a male and female alive that will be put in the breeding area of his Restaurant ‘ Storage Room’ he will be free to visit whenever he wants once returned from this particular trip into the jungle.
20 different 1-Star Ingredients
20 different 2-Stars Ingredients
10 different 3-Stars Ingredients
10 different 4-Stars Ingredients
5 different 5-Stars Ingredients
Luckily plants and animals were not counted separately, Izuku feared how long it would have taken him otherwise, but with how hyped he felt, he was not exactly as worried as he felt he was supposed to be.
“ OOK! OOK! OOK! ” all of a sudden a loud storm of angry howls echoed all around Izuku, and the source was a crowd of furious monkey-like beings with bright yellow fur and goat horns on their heads appearing from their hiding spot on the trees’ foliage, they all glared downwards at the Chef with their purple eyes narrowed into slits while showing their drooling maws in a threatening manner, each fang of theirs was dagger-long and very sharp.
“That should be…” Izuku, unfazed, muttered while perusing the small booklet the System gave him and detailing the Ingredients he could ideally find in that world, all neatly separated by level and ‘ Deliciousness’ .
“Ah-HA! Ram-Monkeys ! A 3-Stars Ingredient with tough but delicious meat. That means they will be a good Ingredient for stewing, steaming and much more! And the higher Level is all just because they always attack in big packs!” Izuku said, amazed, while opening a small box he took from a pocket to recover a thin and long needle.
CRACK! CRACK!
Knocking! The favourite hunting method of the people from Zaus world! Good for capturing Ingredients non-lethally by striking the nerves or pressure points that controlled the movement of living creatures with the use of specialized techniques or the use of biodegradable needles fired from various implements, known as Knocking Guns.
W ith that any beast could be transported alive at the hunter’s leisure, however, the location of these nerves was different in every species, so a great amount of knowledge and experience was required to use Knocking techniques or Knocking Guns effectively.
As a possessor already of a ‘ Knocking Patent’ , Izuku had more than an inkling about how to use it on himself or other beings for an insane variety of Offensive, Defensive, Support and Healing effects: like he just did by stimulating the pressure points of both his own arms, and especially his fists, to make them grow exponentially in size until both arms turned giant and full of enormous bulging muscles.
“Let’s capture them all!” he yelled in glee.
“Understood.” Whitey answered, eyes flashing red.
The monkeys’ eyes too turned blood-shot red out of rage, angry at the small fur-less thing not finding them scary at all.
Yes, they were small compared to the boars, but they were many! And their heads were harder than rock while their claws and fangs were super sharp! Was it SO HARD to get some fear from their prey? They were monkeys with Ambitions! Not some food!
“ OOOK! ” With a very battle-cry-like roar, the Pack Leader initiated the assault himself, by showing that their ornate twisty horns weren’t there just for show as the male used its strong legs to shoot forward like a bullet to headbutt the new Prey to death.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Each of the dozens of monkeys around the Leader as well jumped forward at high speed, soon covering the area in deep craters as the big Monkey-Bullets rained from the sky from every direction one after another.
“Feisty! I like it!” Izuku declared happily, having dodged the first salvo with a forward burst of speed that brought him right in the middle of the monkey group.
“ Bodhi Pestle! ” giving him the needed opening to nail the Second in Command of the Pack with a bone-shattering right-hook that cracked heavily the monkey’s skull and sent it flying.
( Bodhi – From Buddhist Terminology: Enlightenment. So: Pestle of Enlightenment (Punch) )
“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOK! ” The outrageous act apparently launched the Pack Leader, and every other monkey, in a blood-thirsty frenzy that resulted in all of them attacking both Chef and Robot at the same time . All forty-five of them.
“FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-” Izuku couldn’t help but shriek as the horde rained on him.
One hour later – USJ Building – Earthquake Emergency Area – With Katsuki -
“ Change of plans, I am happy the Nerd is not here! ” the young man mentally hissed as he fought against a guy with patched leathery skin tossing blue fire at him.
“Come on, Hero! I want to see how good you are!” The Villain mocked him relentlessly from his hiding spot.
The so-called School Trip had gone to shit as soon as they just entered the damn place! The boss of the Building, Pro Hero Thirteen , was just giving her opening speech when a Portal opened and several Villains walked out, all swaggering and stuff.
“ We are the League of Villains .” one of them, a guy with a body apparently made of blackish smoke, had declared once finished HIS speech about the entire class of AU plus teachers being perfect as a first act for their birth; and while Aizawa and Thirteen had been left behind to fight the Monster the Villains brought along, every other student had been neatly divided in groups and teleported by that Kurogiri into different sections of the Building where various other Villains guided by one of the guys that arrived with the Portal were already waiting for them.
He and a couple others were facing the Villain they called Dabi , and the young man’s fire was strong enough to repel Katsuki’s explosions long enough for him to dodge them, this in turn left enough of an opening to the other Villains to try blind-siding him right after.
“Run a bit more! I can see you can do better than this, kids!” Dabi would also mock them relentlessly from the sidelines at every given opportunity, another thing that angered the students facing him quite a lot.
With Momo – Fire Disaster Area -
“Can you see her?” Momo asked with a faint voice.
“Not at all,” Ochako answered.
The two girls, along with Jiro and Hanta Sero, were at the moment trapped in the Fire-Themed area and put against a blond girl called Himiko that seemed able to melt into the few shadows in the room to disappear.
“Can you tell where she is hiding?” Hanta asked Jiro.
“Too much fire and other sound effects, I can’t hear that psycho. But I can easily tell you where the other bastards are!” the girl answered.
They all were covered in shallow cuts as Himiko took clear pleasure in seeing them bleed, thus wishing to prolong the Fun as much as she could.
“It’s still something!” the young man answered.
“How much tape can you still make?” Momo asked.
“Not much, and not enough to trap all of them. This fire is making me dry-up faster than normal, soon I won’t be able to use my Quirk anymore.” he answered.
“I am running low on body fat too, I will be forced to stick to small creations for now.” Momo admitted.
“Then we’ll need to first leave and regroup with the others.” Ochako suggested, and got nods of approval from her friends.
“Hihihihi! Why leave so soon? We are having so much fun!” Himiko’s disembodied voice came from their side as the girl swiftly jumped out of their blind side to slash at them with a wicked-looking combat knife.
“JIRO!” Momo yelled while pushing the girl away and watching the blade open a deep cut on her shoulder as a result.
“MOMO!” the other yelled with wide eyes.
“Hihihi! See? See? It’s so fuuuun!” Himiko, giggling deranged again, declared before melting into the shadows once more to disappear.
“Here! This should hold for now!” Hanta said immediately, and added a long stripe of tape created by his Quirk to the clean piece of fabric the girl created with hers to patch her arm enough to stop the bleeding.
“Thank you. We need to hurry and regroup with the others before that girl kills us a piece at a time,” Momo answered with a grateful tone and labored breath.
She and everybody else though were unaware that Something was keeping tabs on what was happening, and that close-call between Momo and Himiko raised several serious Red Flags for the Entity watching.
“Crisis detected! Likelihood that the girl’s death will hinder the Host’s Ascension to God of Cooking: 67% . Preparing countermeasures! ”
As soon as the System determined the state of Emergency, the plump dog sleeping in front of the closed Green Cloud Restaurant opened its sleepy eyes and frowned immediately.
“So a weakling is putting this Lord Dog’s source of Spicy Beef Noodles at risk? Certain Sins deserve Divine Punishment! Woof!” the dog declared with a magnetic, baritone voice full of merciless annoyance.
With Izuku – Jungle World – Night -
The young Chef was at the moment bent over a stone basin having an improvised cooking showdown with the so-called Chef of a semi-primitive tribe of lizardmen he had met while Ingredient hunting, it was either accepting the Challenge or be eaten alive, not much of a choice on the matter.
The System had told him that due to different Time Flow, the ten or so hours he had spent in that Jungle World roughly translated into a single hour in his original world, thus explaining why the Entity told him to not worry about people noticing his absence, if things went properly, he would actually be able to open his Restaurant in time for the lunch rush-hour... IF those lizardmen actually stopped bothering him.
He only had fourteen hours left in his Time Limit and he still had to collect enough 4-Stars and 5-Stars Ingredients to complete his Mission, even if thanks to this Challenge he was forced to take part to mean he could pilfer a couple 4-stars ones when nobody watched.
“ 5-Stars mean either very rare or very dangerous Ingredients. Where do I look for them? ” Izuku thought while adding the fillets of fish to the soup he was making once done removing their very tough, purple-colored skin and scales to show the milk-white tender flesh under it. ( ‘ Coral Fish ’, a 4-Stars Ingredient. )
“You want to meet the God of mountains? You must cook good offering then!” the bulkiest, tallest and meanest lizard man of them all, the Leader, explained while studying the big pot the young Chef was working with.
“But if you lose, we eat you.” a near guard added while licking his lips with a long purple tongue.
“I know...I know…” the young man answered with an annoyed sigh.
Leaving the soup to simmer under a low flame, the Young Chef focused on the second dish he planned for: a giant steak made with the meat of an enormous crocodile-like creature with a scorpion tail the System, in all its unoriginal cringe, named scorpio-dile ( 4-Stars) , a name that made Izuku’s skin crawl every time he thought about it.
“ Naming things is hard, Host Izuku.” the System said once again.
Deciding the Ingredient was good enough by itself to not require much extra work to make it tasty, he just worked the tender meat hidden under the bullet-proof skin of the thing into a mouth-watering medium-rare steak releasing thin strands of oily juices whenever he moved it on the flat and thin rock he was cooking it on.
“You would need a 50-caliber rifle to puncture the skin, and yet the meat under it is so amazingly soft and tender…” the young Chef muttered impressed.
A couple of living specimens of the various Ingredients he found in the tribe’s cages and nearby river had also been ‘ borrowed’ by Izuku before the challenge even started, and he still played dumb whenever the daughter of the Tribe Leader asked him over and over if he saw her two crocodile ‘ pets’ anywhere once she discovered their disappearance.
Rorororororo!
Several stomachs whined in agony as the guards too close to Izuku went continuously bombarded by the thick waves of aroma coming from the young Chef’s Soup and Steak.
“This is torture, Chief! We want some!” one of the guards said with a whining tone.
“No! Offering for the God of Mountain can’t be eaten by others!” the Leader answered with a barking growl.
“ The God of the Mountain. I hope my hunch is right and the King Python I am hunting for my bonus is the same creature! ” Izuku thought while turning the steak on the stone and releasing a new dense cloud of aromatic steam that further tortured the guards making sure he wouldn't try to escape until finished the Challenge.
“Stranger can’t win! Father made offerings for God of Mountain, Grandfather made offerings for God of Mountain and I made offerings for God of Mountain!” the lizardman ‘ Chef’ Izuku was fighting with declared while still glaring at the young man.
“You did not remove the fish’ skin or innards when boiling it, nor removed the surface fat from the crocodile meat, nor cleaned the stomach before roasting the whole thing on the fire, both will taste too bitter.” Izuku answered, finally tired of the thing’s jabs at his cooking abilities.
“Stomach and innards stay! That’s where the taste is!”
“That’s where both animals' feces are!” Izuku snapped back.
“Fe-what?”
“Sorry, mom…Their SHIT , you moron! IF you want to use the innards, you clean them first!”
“Cleaning? Why? Who says shit does not taste good?” the Lizardman Chef asked back, annoyed.
“...Pretty much everybody, apparently.” Izuku hissed back in answer while pointing at the Tribe Leader and everybody else faces turning even greener than what they already were.
“Chief?”
“I don't know if you use that to cook. Please do not use it any more.” the tall Lizardman half-begged while gagging.
“I knew the food tasted strange when he made it! I was right!” one of the guards was heard muttering right after.
“You others know nothing of good food.” the Lizardman chef replied, huffing haughtily.
“Neither do you.” one of the Elders countered.
“YOUR MOTHER IS A EGG-BREAKER!”
“HOY! YOU WASH TONGUE WHEN TALKING ABOUT MY MOTHER!” the Elder shrieked back.
“ENOUGH!” The Leader of the Tribe gave a loud roar that immediately silenced the argument, before looking at both Chef's dishes.
“Your food is ready?”
“Yes,” both said.
“Good. Bring them to God’s Voice , she will tell who is the winner.”
The ‘ God’s Voice’ was an extremely old-looking female Lizardwoman with grey-green scaled skin and only one eye working, the other was dull and devoid of life , she walked while leaning on a tall wooden stick and smelled of burnt herbs.
“This is offering for the God of Mountains?” the old lizard asked with a whisper of voice.
“Yes, Voice of God. Stranger wants to meet the God of Mountain, so he must prepare a better offering than Tribe Chef.”
“Then the Voice of God will judge.” the old female answered while nearing Izuku.
“...”
“...Your future is Mist to me. How so?” She said once studied him for several minutes.
“I don’t know, Voice.” the young Chef answered, unsure.
“Great Power helps you, scary Great Power. This is your offering?”
“Yes. Soup made with the fishes of your grand river and steak made with crocodile meat.”
(Crocodile Steak)
(Fish Soup)
“Please, let this weak one taste for you, your offering, Great God of Mountain…” the old lizard said before taking a sip of the soup and a tiny bite of the steak.
“…” and the thing’s only working eye widened slightly at the taste of both.
As Izuku expected, the fish soup he made with those five different fishes offered a delicate taste, further enriched by the various spices he added to the stock to create a slightly-dense soup bringing forth the full flavour of the fishes and perfectly framing their tender and flavorful meat, but without the unpleasant smell usually accompanying fish meat in general.
The steak was soft and fragrant instead, with a strong meaty aroma that filled the mouth and tickled the nose at each bite while bouncing between the teeth and caressing the palate whenever one chewed.
“The Stranger wins.”
“YOU DID NOT TRY MY OFFERING!” the Lizardman chef yelled in outrage.
“You always prepare the same food, day after day after day. Offering is just the same every time too. No need to try it.” the old lizard answered, waving him off, before calling the Chief closer to her to whisper in his ears.
“Yes?” he asked.
“Kick moron to big wolves and keep the Stranger. Good food is a blessing.” she said.
“You sure?”
“Best food ever eaten. Your daughter is also raping the Stranger with her eyes since he arrived, if we lucky he is also virile enough to give her many eggs other than good at cooking for tribe. I want to be a great-grandmother soon.” she answered.
“E-E-E-EGGS?! I am too young to be a grandfather!” the Tribe Leader shrieked in horror.
WHAM!
In answer the old lizard whacked him on the head with her wooden staff.
“I say keep him.”
“But...Moooom!” the Chief said with a long whine, and getting a second whack on his head from the old lizard.
“I am old and want great-grandbabies, and she clearly wants to have his eggs too, she still looks at him in need when he doesn’t see her. Keep him in here. We need good food and new eggs to grow a strong tribe.”
“Okay, mom…” the Chief relented with a defeated tone.
“Uh? What’s happening?” Izuku asked, unaware of his innate talent of attracting hot things working even in other worlds.
“You have no need to worry, Stranger. Say, ever thought about starting a family? Big family?” the Old Lizard Woman answered while she, the Chief and his daughter, Izuku and the Tribe chef and the other lizardmen walked into an ordinary procession towards a big gate made of bones residing in the back of the small village right on the edge of a tall cliff.
“A couple of times.” Izuku answered, unnerved by the strange question and relaxing only when he saw Whitey walk right behind him to shield him from the strange looks the Chief’s daughter kept leveling at him from time to time.
She was ‘Pretty’ in a certain way, and the fact that she dressed in just a tiny loincloth and stripe-bra showed-off the very generous curves Mother Nature bestowed on her, especially the chest with both mounds of her breast being slightly bigger than her head, and her very tall and well-trained physique too was objectively nice...But she just could not capture Izuku’s interest, and for some reason he missed, he kept comparing that Lizardwoman to Momo and found her lacking every time when compared to the young Hero Student.
Finally the long procession reached the bone gate, next to that the river protecting the back of the settlement was noisily throwing itself down the cliff into a giant waterfall saturating the air in a thin mist of water particles and filling the small lake of the valley below.
“Put the offering on stone, the God of Mountain will accept your offering and give you the Answer you seek.” the Old Lizardwoman explained while pointing with her wooden staff at a crudely-made altar made of rock.
“Okay.” Patting the belly of the robot following him, Izuku carefully put the pot of soup and giant steak on the stone and took a step back.
“God of Mountain! We have an offering of Stranger for you! Help Strangers find Answers with your Wisdom, we beg you!” the old Lizard prayed with a loud voice.
BAROOOOOOOOOOOO!
Right after that, the Tribe Chief unclasped a big horn from his belt and blew through it, releasing a deafening low tune that echoed on the valley under them.
When the last echoes of the horn died-down, the ground under the group started shaking violently and an enormous shape surfaced from behind the waterfall to climb the mountain upward and meet them.
“ ...Is that the King Python ?” Izuku mentally asked with eyebrows rising up to his hairline.
“ Correct, Host! That is the Special Ingredient you need to collect for your Bonus. This Thousand-years-old specimen will be especially tasty once prepared thanks to the extremely sedentary life it has lived in the resources-rich territory around you. Please capture it either alive or dead, dear Host! ” the System answered.
“...Easier to say than done.” the Young Chef admitted with a low voice.
The King Python was a monstrous giant snake with lustrous black scales and a stubby red horn on top of its head, it was a towering beast big enough to easily swallow an entire subway train whole with lots of space to spare in its maw and gut.
“God of Mountains is here. Present him your offering and ask your question after he eats the food.” the Chief whispered to Izuku before he and the Old Lizardwoman walked away to leave him and Whitey alone with the thing.
“ Hisssss!” a giant pink tongue briefly poked out of the thing’s mouth as it neared the offered food.
“YOU CAN’T MAKE OFFER! I MAKE OFFER!`` When he saw the giant snake actually accept the food, the Tribe Chef turned near-insane in rage and tried jumping Izuku with its knife held high.
“STOP!” the Tribe Leader yelled in fear as the noise clearly put the giant snake on alert.
“Killing Intent against Host detected! Entering Battle Mode! ” Whitey answered, eyes flashing red, by grabbing the crazed Lizardman by the neck and lifting him.
“ AGK!” The lizard gasped in pain, but undeterred by the hold on him, he threw the knife at one of the giant snake’s eyes.
SPLOTCH!
“ HISSSSSSSHAAAAAAA! ” with a tiny spurt of blood, the giant snake threw back its head and released a loud high-pitched shriek.
“NO!” the old lizard woman yelled in horror.
“IF YOU LIKE GOD OF MOUNTAIN, THEN GET IN GOD’S BELLY!” the crazed Chef yelled in glee.
While still thrashing around violently, the giant Python slammed against the cliff-side with its whole body, destroying the altar and the terrain under it and causing a small avalanche when an entire side of the cliff crumbled to dust under the animal’s immense weight.
“WHOA!” Izuku yelled as the ground gave-in under him and he found himself falling into the void...And right inside the mouth of the angered giant Snake waiting for him with its maw fully open.
CHOMP!
With a thundering sound, the giant Python swallowed the Chef whole and gulped him down together with the falling food and few hundred kilograms of rocks, before sending a glare to the rest of the Tribe and moving to attack them as well.
“Attempt to detect the Host’s life! Switching to Extermination Mode! KILL!” Whitey eyes immediately turned from red to purple, while his left hand sunk into his arm to switch place with the wide blade of a squared butcher knife.
“Wha?” That was how far the Tribe Chef could go before the robot cleaved him vertically in half with a single swing of his arm-blade, before boldly jumping on the giant python’s face to fight with it.
“YOU FOOL! GREAT POWER PROTECTS STRANGER! NOW RUIN WILL RAIN ON US!” the old Lizardwoman yelled while taking the hands of both Tribe Leader and his daughter to pull them away.
“But-But! But The God of Mountains!”
“Screw the God of Mountains! Our lives are more important! Iron Thing and Great Power protect Stranger and we offend both! Now we run!” the old thing yelled in fear while dragging both away in a surprising feat of strength for something as ancient as her.
BOOM! BOOM! THUMP! CRASH!
As they ran, the three could hear the battle between Whitey and the giant snake demolish the gate and the few foolish guards that tried intervening, unfortunately only the chubby robot seemed able to go toe-to-toe with the creature while everything and everybody else just went pulverized by the python’s massive tail and body.
“Host must be protected! KILL!” Whitey would roar from time to time while either smashing his big fist on the Python’s head or hacking away pieces of its body with the arm-blade, soon turning the giant snake head into a mess of broken scales and flesh dripping blood in astounding quantity.
BADOO!
A rather violent body-slam the snake attempted to shake-off the robot caused another big chunk of the cliff to turn to dust, a piece big enough even the animal couldn’t avoid falling down to the valley below, still with Whitey holding onto its nose with one hand and relentlessly slashing down with his arm-blade.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The impact with the ground was terrifying, demolishing hundreds of trees and rising a giant cloud of dust as the giant Python landed head-first on the ground below but finally throwing Whitey away, the robot simply rolled on the floor a couple of meters before returning to his feet with not even a scratch on his body.
“HISSS! HISSS! HISSS! ” meanwhile the giant Python was strangely moving around in clear agony before setting its eyes on the robot and trying to swallow him whole.
“DESTROY!” Whitey in answer welcomed the assault and once avoided the bite climbed again on the snake nose to plunge the arm-blade elbow-deep INSIDE one of the animal’s eyes.
“ HISSSSS HAAAAAA !” the Python shrieked horribly as it started slamming its head on the ground over and over, desperate to shake-off the chubby robot.
“KILL!” still unsatisfied, Whitey took a hold of the eye the blade was piercing through with his other hand, and with a mighty pull, he managed to gouge-out the giant eyeball of the snake in an explosion of thick blackish blood.
BOOM !
Finally too tired and wounded to fight anymore, the giant python collapsed on the floor with a weak whimper-like sound and its breathing growing rapidly shallower the more blood it lost from its various wounds.
“Host?” Whitey asked once calmed down , blade returning inside his arm to leave its place to a proper hand and eyes once again colored white.
The insane amount of blood covering the robot had also rapidly evaporated thanks to the System, leaving it perfectly clean.
Forcing the almost-dead snake to lie on its side, the robot finally understood why the snake was thrashing around violently in agony during their fight when he noticed a strange bulge appearing on the python’s belly at random intervals, as if something was trying to push out from deep inside it.
Script!
Finally, the tip of a common kitchen knife branded with I-Island insignia faintly surfaced from a tiny cut on the snake’s belly, immediately catching Whitey’s eyes that moved towards it with heavy and rapid steps.
“Host is alive!” the robot declared while gently shoving both hands inside the tiny slit Izuku opened on the python’s belly from inside to tear a giant hole open for the Chef to walk out of the animal’s stomach.
“ Ugh! Okay...The first Sortie could have gone better…” he admitted while grimacing at the smelly gastric acids and droll covering him.
“ Congratulations to the Host for capturing the Special Ingredient for your Mission! ” the System declared with a happy chime while cleaning off the muck from Izuku’s body and clothes.
“ Hmmm! Lavender! Nice!” the young Chef said once, giving a whiff to his now clean clothes and skin.
“ The King Python will be now moved to the Restaurant Storage, and the Ingredients inside the stomach that are still in acceptable conditions will be also counted as properly Captured as per Host’s request. ” the System said, making the giant snake fade away and disappear without a trace, gouged-out eye too.
“Good to know the ones I put aside while in there are still valid for Capture. That means I only need two 5-Stars and one 4-Stars Ingredient left to find to complete my Mission.” Izuku said with a sigh of relief.
As the Entity said, the snake was used to easily gorge itself with everything it came across, and that meant a wide collection of good Ingredients was waiting for the young Chef as soon as he arrived inside the python’s stomach.
It was at dawn of the following day, after a short pause to sleep, that the young Chef managed to find the remaining Ingredients he needed, one of which a pair of giant bears and their cubs ( Categorized as 5-Stars ), and as soon as the System transported them into the Restaurant Storage Area the same noiseless explosion of light engulfed both him and Whitey to bring them back to Izuku’s original world.
Green Cloud Restaurant – Inside the Kitchen -
The same light shone brightly in the spacious room as the young Chef and robot returned home from their little sortie, and a rapid look at the clock on the wall confirmed the System’s promise: Izuku had left the restaurant at 6 AM, and after twenty or so hours in there he was back to see the same clock sign 8:32 AM of the same day, barely an hour late for his Breakfast Service , so with still plenty of time for organizing things for lunch.
“Uh! Convenient!” Izuku admitted with a low voice while cracking his back and yawning a little, luckily Gourmet Cells also meant his body possessed ‘ Superhuman Adaptability’ , meaning that for him having slept barely four hours was still enough to recover fully, he was just as well rested as a normal guy sleeping for eight hours.
“Thank you for all the help, Whitey. You have been a life-saver!” once given a friendly pat to the amazingly-soft belly of the robot, the young Chef moved the sign on the door to ‘ Open’ , unlocked it, opened the drapes obscuring the Restaurant main room completely so to bask in the early morning light...And watched Blackie walking towards the door with cat-like steps once exited from a pitch-black portal and then lie down next to the entrance to sleep, like usual.
“Blackie?” he asked.
“ Uhrm? ” the Dog grunted as an answer.
“You okay? Something happened?” Izuku said, knowing well the Dog pretty much NEVER left his place next to the Restaurant entrance except to sleep inside at night, as far as he knew.
“Don’t worry about it. While you were away this Lord Dog has been asked to lend a paw to fix a small issue, nothing a gentle caress of mine could not manage.” Blackie answered, sounding overbearingly smug.
“Uh?”
“ A small emergency arose where one of Host friend’s needed support. Since Host was occupied elsewhere the System simply assured no harm to come to the girl known as ‘ Momo’ by sending Blackie on site. She is now safe and unharmed.” the System explained.
“MOMO?! WHAT HAPPENED?!” Izuku asked immediately.
“ The System will offer a small debrief to the Host while he prepares the Breakfast for the approaching customers and initiates the preparations for the Lunch Dishes. Rest assured no tragedy happened. ” the Entity answered.
“O-O-Okay. But you need to tell me everything!”
“ If it will help Host calm down, the System will.”
“Thank you!” Izuku answered, grateful, before welcoming with his usual gentle smile the small group of Customers coming in for breakfast.
While he prepared the pastries and croissants and the coffee and cappuccinos for the customers, he was enraptured by what happened in the few hours he left to visit another world.
USJ – Main Hall – Earlier that day -
Things were bad, really bad! Even after finally regrouping in the main hall of the USJ and fighting together!
The situation was an utter mess, that much Aizawa could regretfully admit; he was proud of his students because they were holding their own against the crooks that League of Villains had bought along for their merry attack, but whenever one of those that first accompanied the Leader of the group joined the fight, things spiraled into disaster.
“Tell me you have a plan, Eraser! I beg you!” Thirteen begged as she kept battling a guy with a body made of dark smoke.
“Trust me, if I had one I would have already implemented it!” Aizawa yelled back in answer, happy to see the last remaining students rejoin them in the main hall of the place after that smoke guy ‘ Kurogiri’ had first separated them, and all of them looked utterly bruised, meaning they had pretty hard fights too.
And whatever that ‘ Nomu’ thing was, it was now keeping-up with Toshinori of all people! The two hulking brutes were just punching the crap out of each other with both holding nothing back, and neither of the two seemed to make a dent on the other!
“You are indeed a tough guy! But I know I will just need to give you one hundred punches more to be done with you! TEXAS SMASH! ” Toshinori declared, still trying to inspire Hope in such a desperate situation.
“Fuck! They just keep coming!” Katsuki bellowed in anger as he and a few others managed to get into the main hall.
That brat is still cursing, good, they too are fine! Aizawa welcomed that potty mouth like a blessing for the first time since the kid joined his class.
“We...We need to escape, I can’t keep this going for much more...I am melting myself in my own acid!” Mina admitted with labored breath.
“What about you, Tenya-san?” Momo asked, looking pale and malnourished, having used her own Quirk to its limits and so with very little fat mass remaining in her body and still weak from the stab wound on her arm.
“I can still fight, but I am running out of fuel as well. They may be weak, but sheer numbers are making-up for it,” the tall bespectacled boy answered, gasping for air himself.
“ Geeeeeeh …”
“Yeah, Kaminari too is reaching his limit, no more lightning for him.” Jiro translated for the others.
“Jiro...Your ear is bleeding.” Ochako, swaying on her feet in nausea, asked.
“That knife bitch that is now fighting with Aizawa-sensei almost cut one of my ear-jacks off, it was a miracle if it’s just a shallow cut.” she answered.
“FUCK! My shoulders hurt like hell, if I make another bang I will kiss my arms goodbye! SHIT!” Katsuki added, snarling.
“I...I think my leg broke! Sero-chan? H-Help?” Toru asked, being held by the shoulder by Jiro, to help her walk.
“I am thirsty as hell, no more tape for me…”
“That monster dislodged three of my extra arms, I won’t be of much help either.” Mezo said, teeth clenched hard in anger.
“I can’t harden anymore..I...I think I have a couple ribs broken!” Kirishima added.
“Me too. Ribbit! ”
“Have no fear, Reinforcements are coming.” Aizawa yelled while dodging another fast swipe of the crazed blond girl he was fighting with.
“This is taking too long! I am getting bored.” Shigaraki declared with a bored sigh as he too finally joined the battle.
“Don’t let him touch you!” Thirteen warned in fear as the guy was soon upon Ochako, both hands ready to grab her.
“OCHAKO-CHAN!” Tsuyu yelled while pulling her friend away with her prehensile tongue.
“ Kya !” The brunette shrieked in surprise, only to grow relieved when she saw the floor develop a giant hole as soon as the Villain touched it.
“Hey! I wanted to kill that girl!” the Villain roared in offense.
“Stop playing around, we have a mission to complete.” Kurogiri answered, using his warping powers to escape Thirteen’s Quirk once again.
“I am trying! But she is cheating with that tongue! She isn’t playing fair! IT WAS MY PVP FIGHT!”
“ Kero! Is this a game to you?!” Tsuyu asked, disgusted.
“HOHOHOHO! Yes it is! And I can’t wait to finish it with a new High Score ! Crush them, Nomu!” Shigaraki ordered with a pleased smile as the hulking figure immediately stopped fighting against All Might to charge the students like a raging bull.
“STOP!” Toshinori ordered in abject horror.
“ GRAAAAAAAAAAH !” surprising the kids with its speed, the thing was soon upon them with both fists up in the air to squash them.
“Scatter!” Shoto, eyes wide, yelled, making the other scamper away.
“Ah!” Just as Momo tripped to the floor, Ochako was at her side to help her get back up on her feet, unfortunately leaving them both as easy prey of the monster.
“MOMO! OCHAKO!” Mina shrieked in horror as the two giant fists of the Nomu were about to squash both into a pulp of broken flesh.
“NOOOO!” Toshinori yelled as he desperately tried to reach Nomu before it was too late.
“ Woof! ”
It was then that the Void got blew-open by an unseen mighty force to show a fissure in Space itself, a hole hovering in the air and showing pitch-black nothingness inside, and whatever force opened that portal it also pushed the Nomu away so violently the creature tumbled like a rag-doll on the floor for a couple of seconds and away from its potential victims.
The entire room went plunged into complete silence as both Sides of the fight were waiting with baited breath to see who would come out of that portal, if reinforcers for the Villains or the Heroes.
“Another Warp Quirk?” Aizawa hissed with narrowed eyes.
“One of us, Kurogiri?” Dabi asked.
“Nobody beside me has a Warp Quirk in our organization.” Nomu answered.
To everybody’s surprise a rather big pitbull dog with lustrous black fur walked out of the tear in Reality that closed by itself as soon as the animal fully came out, walking between the two groups with elegant cat-like steps until he got in front of both Momo and Ochako and sat down, as if wishing to protect them from the hulking muscled monster that in the meantime had jumped back on its feet.
“ Aww ! What a cute doggie!” Himiko gushed with a wide smile.
“A stray dog? With such a rare Quirk?” Kurogiri muttered, surprised.
“Not much of a stray if it has a pot belly .” Dabi commented.
“H-H-Hey! Isn’t that the dog guarding that Restaurant?!” Mineta muttered, gasping.
“Blackie?” Momo whispered, just as surprised.
“Does this Lord look like a stray to you, brat? Show some respect, or else this Lord’s paw will smack you until nothing remains!” Blackie answered with his baritone, magnetic voice carrying forth his overbearing attitude.
“Uh, it talks too. Bit of an inflated Ego, though.” Kurogiri answered.
“Why are you here, Blackie?” Momo asked.
“This is a dangerous place!” Ochako added right after.
“Foolish girl! This Lord was enjoying his nap when he was asked to come save your life, and here I am! Last thing I need is for sorrow to affect the young man I swore to protect. Apparently you are precious enough for him. I personally had to make a move.” Blackie answered, scoffing.
Now...The System had already sent Whitey with Izuku into another world, and It also knew the boy was harboring feelings for Momo, so, since the Entity felt that his Sorrow at losing her could potentially hinder Izuku’s ascension to God of Cooking, the mysterious System asked Blackie to intervene and save the girl’s life.
Problem was that Blackie had only two priorities in life: Fighting a good battle and eating Izuku’s Spicy Beef Noodles two-to-three times a day, so the dog hurried to protect the girl as a way to preserve the high quality of his food, reason why in his hurry to leave he missed Who exactly was the girl he was supposed to protect , and since his Pride forbid him from asking for clarifications, he just made sure to look and talk to both girls at the same time while delivering his line, sure that at least one of them was the right one, since both were about to die a messy death before he arrived.
“ This Lord’s noodles are too important! If I have to play babysitter to make sure the Kiddo does not lose Cooking Talent because of Sorrow , then so be it! WOOF! ” the black dog thought in determination.
“ Izuku was worried about me/Midoriya-San was worried about me? ” Both Ochako and Momo thought at the same time.
And while Ochako found strange that a boy she just met already felt she was that important to him, she could not help feeling touched all the same, like Momo was, at seeing the tiny help the young Chef still sent her way; neither could both girls deny feeling a small prickling in their chest as they heard Lord Dog declare how much Izuku found them ‘ Precious’ .
“ ...This can’t be happening… ” The System had not the ability to face-palm, but at that moment it REALLY REALLY wanted to.
“ Aaw ! So you were sent by a friend of theirs? How sweet...And pathetic. NOMU! Kill that fleabag!” the hands-covered Leader of the League commented in cruel mockery, before pointing at Blackie and giving his order to the hulking brute.
“ GUAOOOOOOO! ” the giant of muscles immediately ignored All Might again to assault the plump dog.
“You dare call your Lord Dog a fleabag? Preposterous!” Blackie’s eyes narrowed dangerously while glaring at Shigaraki, he didn’t seem to find threatening the charging Nomu enough to even just spare it a glance.
SNAP!
Nobody expected it, everybody in fact looked at Blackie with wide, bulged-out eyes as the dog’s mouth merely opened and closed in a blurry of motion to give ONE single bite that completely obliterated the entire top half of the three meters tall mountain of muscles, leaving behind only a small fraction of the Nomu’s torso and its legs to fall to the ground in a rapidly-expanding pool of viscous blood.
Munch! Munch! Munch!
They all heard the dog loudly chewing his mouthful of Nomu while the up-until-now Invincible monster lied dead at his paws, also, none of them could actually explain WHERE all that flesh/meat actually went, considering that Blackie was at best a fifth of the Nomu’s overall sizes and so not something a mere dog should feasibly be able to eat whole .
“WHAT THE FUCK?!” Katsuki loudly swore, neatly encapsulating everybody’s feeling at the absurd spectacle they just witnessed.
“Bleah! As expected, it can’t even be put on the same plane of Existence of this Lord’s beloved Spicy Beef Noodles. What a waste of meat!” Blackie muttered to himself once swallowed the hundred or so kilograms of Nomu he had just bitten off, and even as a dog his expression clearly showed contempt and disgust.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! SPLAT!
Still unsatisfied, the dog added insult to injury and gently patted down with a paw, the collision of the well-manicured thing with what remained of the Nomu exploded the ground and shook the entire USJ Building hard enough many thought the thing would collapse on top of them, and digging a perfectly-drawn, very deep and HUGE imprint of a dog paw covering the entire floor of the main hall; as for what had remained of the Nomu’s body, that simply turned into a fine red mist dispersing in the wind as soon as the paw struck. Completely erased from Existence.
Toshinori...Toshinori felt wronged, or even insulted , somehow. He had just declared that Nomu a worthy opponent and something he would need “ One Hundred Punches!” of his to beat...And a mere dog instead killed it with a single bite and then disintegrated with a playful pat of a paw.
“ Did I offend somebody? Is this Bad Karma showing-up? Why? Was it SO NECESSARY to show me up this badly? What did I do wrong? ” All Might thought in sorrow as he coughed awkwardly and shifted to stand next to Aizawa.
“What the fuck happened, Kurogiri?” Shigaraki asked, annoyed.
“I don’t know.” the other answered.
“HEY! ARE YOU A MOB BOSS ? WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” the young man asked.
“First you call this Lord Dog a Flea Bag and then a measly Mob Boss ?! Are you tired of living?!” Now Blackie was really annoyed, and the imperious way he talked and lifted his exquisite paw again clearly showed it.
“ WOH ! DOWN! DOWN! PUT DOWN THAT PAW! SLOWLY!” Himiko yelled immediately.
“I am no Mob Boss , you weakling! I AM YOUR LORD DOG! A MODERATOR! ” showing a bit of knowledge of modern media, Blackie declared haughtily his correct title while giving a lazy pat forward with his paw, and to the others’ shock an unseen force slammed with ungodly fury on Shigaraki’s body with the force of a world-ending meteor, launching him flying back at insane speed and through the wall behind him, and through other three walls behind that still, each and every time leaving behind a perfectly-cut hole in the shape of a dog paw.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
What was shocking was that whatever sent the Villain flying, affected him and him only, not even Kurogiri standing right next to the guy was affected.
“SHIGARAKI!” Kurogiri yelled in alarm as he hurried at the young man’s side as soon as he saw him crash-landing and his successive boneless tumbling on the floor until he remained in a very humiliating ‘ Face down, ass up’ position.
Both Shigaraki’s arms and legs were broken in various parts and twisted at odd angles, his body was covered in bruises and deep cuts, the right eye was swollen completely shut while the left one had been gouged-out and was still bouncing on the floor at few feet from him, the rib-cage had been smashed inward and even the young man’s testicles were clearly burst to shreds while every single hair on his entire body had been torn away, just like his clothes, leaving the young Villain completely naked, bald, unconscious and broken .
It was a miracle he was still alive, and Kurogiri almost expected Shigaraki to soon develop a deep-rooted fear of dogs as soon as he woke.
“This should be enough. You can wrap the rest up by yourselves, this Lord Dog has a nap to return to, my Beauty Sleep shall not be interrupted! ” Blackie declared while rising again his paw, and once amused himself with the terror he saw in everybody’s eyes once they saw him do that, he patted the air in front of him to blast open a new pitch-black tear in Reality.
“I did my part, you stay alive now. He will apparently miss you dearly if you die, and the last thing this Lord needs it’s for his Protegee to succumb to Sorrow. Farewell.” The dog said that to Momo AND Ochako at the same time before leaving, still secretly unsure and wondering if he actually helped the right girl or not.
“Bye, Sir! And thank you for the assistance, Sir!” Tenya, either by good manners or fear, answered with a respectful tone and a DEEP bow he did not get up from until sure the Dog was gone.
“That’s one Hell of a dog.” Aizawa admitted, finally releasing a sigh of relief once the black tear in Space closed by itself and disappeared.
“One of us?” Toshinori asked.
“To Hell if I know!” Thirteen admitted with a helpless shrug.
“Actually, we kind of know who that dog is, and who he belongs to.” Mina admitted.
“You know his owner? Are they some Pro Hero?” Toshinori asked once seen the leading group of the League of Villains being forcefully teleported away by Kurogiri once clear they were now at disadvantage.
“I don’t remember one of us fighting alongside a dog, I would recall a dog and Hero able to do THAT!” Thirteen answered.
“Actually, that dog belongs to a Chef.” Mina answered, sheepish.
“Uh?!”
“He is Blackie , he is the guard dog of ‘Green Cloud Restaurant’, a restaurant owned by a friend of my family.” Momo explained.
“Green Cloud...Wasn’t that the restaurant Gunhead doesn’t stop gushing about?” Thirteen asked.
“That one.” Aizawa answered with a groan, clearly remembering the annoyance at the man’s talking nonstop about the place. It was just food, damnit! No need to be so extreme!
Nighteye too had talked about that place to him, Mic and Nemuri, only in a more worried tone while mentioning the need to give it a deeper look since he found-out how some things did not add-up as they should have when he visited that Restaurant.
“Oh! A retired Pro sent us some help then?” Toshinori asked.
“ Pfft! Nope! A Quirkless sent his dog to save your ass!” Katsuki answered, tone full of mockery.
“The dog didn’t ‘ Save my ass’! I was doing fine!” All Might answered, mighty annoyed.
“Suuure!”
“I WAS!” Toshinori answered, maybe a bit too petulantly for somebody his age.
“Katsuki-san, don’t annoy the Number 1 Hero of Japan , please.” Tenya begged with a groan.
“I was just-”
‘You say ruuun!’
“AH! Hello, Izuku?...Yes, yes I am okay...Yes, Blackie did help us…” the mood shifted abruptly when Momo’s phone rang and she picked-up the call immediately.
“That’s the special ringtone of our Chef friend,” Mina said, chuckling a little.
“Speak of the devil,” Tooru added, sighing elated.
“ Ribbit! Well, he did send his Dog here to help us, it was a given that once he returned he would call to see if she was alright,” Tsuyu answered.
“I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that a Dog THAT STRONG is happy to work as a simple Guard Dog for a Restaurant, owned by a Quirkless of all things.” Aoyama admitted.
“Nothing says they can’t be friends! Quirk or not!” Tenya replied, huffing.
“I bet the food helps too.” Mineta added, shrugging.
“The dog owner?” Aizawa asked.
“Yes, sensei!” Ochako answered.
“Well, the guy did help us, so I guess we owe him one. What’s his name? I think he deserves at least a Thank you for sending us some help...Even if I don’t understand how he knew we actually needed it.” Aizawa asked, in truth feeling an ever-growing need to check on that Chef exactly BECAUSE the guy somehow knew they needed help when ideally nobody was supposed to know they were in the USJ building to begin with.
“ How did he know? Is he a Villain trying to butter us up? A Spy? An independent threat? In any case, how did he or his superiors know about the attack?” the man thought with narrowed eyes.
He was starting to understand why Nighteye had some doubts about the place and the mysterious ‘ System Incorporated’ behind the Restaurant, not only about the young Chef working there, the arrival of that Monster Dog was just too optimal in terms of timing.
“The name? Oh! Izuku Midoriya, sensei! He is our same age.” Mina answered.
“Thank you, Ashido.”
“...Why does that name sound familiar?” Toshinori muttered, unsure, as a strange cold feeling blossomed in the mouth of his damaged stomach.
And why did he also fear actually learning the truth behind that name?
Meanwhile – UA – Gym
A tall blond young man was standing alone in the middle of the ample room while studying the tall human-sized sandbag while gasping for air; his muscled body was completely drenched in sweat with fat drops loudly rapping on the floor under him, and in the empty room each drop was as loud as an explosion.
“Once...Once again…” the tall young man, Mirio, wheezed with his eyes squeezed shut and his teeth clenching hard.
“Texas … ” he said as his sweating immediately tripled in volume, but also evaporated as soon as a new sheen formed, making his entire body release long streams of steam for all around him.
“SMASH!” The right hook Mirio slammed on the sandbag instantly snapped the thick chains holding the thing up and shot the sandbag against the wall where it exploded in a giant cloud of sand.
“ NGH! Aah...Aah...Aah...” any form of satisfaction though failed to show-up as Mirio fell on his knees while clutching his chest, his body dropping the power-up state of the One for All Quirk he received from Toshinori instantaneously.
“It hurts...Why does it hurts? M-My heart…” Mirio gasped for breath as he forced himself to stand back up to his feet.
Still with troubled breathing, a splitting headache and with blurry eyes, the young man silently dragged his feet while walking back to the changing room for a rapid shower.
He needed to ask Recovery Girl , he needed to know why whenever he used that Quirk his heart felt about to burst open, he knew he had no history of heart problems so he knew there was something wrong going on, but more importantly: He knew he had to keep it a secret from All Might and Sir Nighteye, he didn’t want to disappoint them.
Chapter 6: The Chef of Miracles.
Summary:
As the System suspected, both Pro Heroes and Villains have started showing interest in Izuku and his abilities...And it is just the beginning. Izuku could already tell that the Fecal Matter was about to hit the fan, and that he actually forgot to get an umbrella.
Notes:
I love how this chapter came about, so it means it will probably suck for everybody else! XD But I am a strong boy...I will cry later when nobody will see.
(Next chapter of Evil Dragon is almost ready too. I wanted to make it a double-update, but I decided not to so to give both stories the attention they deserve.)
Chapter Text
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/Nejire
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
If you read this, the Chapter has been fixed by my Beta-Reader Dmale, my savior and possessor of BigDick Chad energy that managed to fix my story into proper English.
Thank you, my man! 🙂
A Chef Rebirth chapter 6: The Chef of Miracles.
Yavin Street, number 4 – Green Cloud Restaurant -
Things were still operating as normal in the famous Gourmet Street of the city, every Restaurant in there was bustling with activity under the constant assault of customers, either local, from nearby prefectures or even Tourists from all over the world that happened to pass-by when visiting that part of the city.
One of said Restaurants, residing close to the entrance of the street, in a prime position, was the curious and small Green Cloud Restaurant, appeared out of nowhere and rapidly making a name for itself thanks to the lone and young talented Chef working there, luckily the young man was overly-friendly, thus making sure that except few rare cases, the other Restaurant Owners left him do his job undisturbed.
Although, unknown to everybody, various eyes were keeping tabs on the Restaurant for different reasons...
One of the traffic cameras for example had recently started sharing its footage with a small squad of observers in a secret Lab in an isolated island not too far away.
I-Island – Lab 17 –
“Hawkeye , the Restaurant seems to be in perfect order, can you confirm?” one of the guys of the four-men Team keeping tabs and studying Izuku from afar, asked.
“ This is Hawkeye 1, nothing out of the ordinary. Some guys were harassing a table of girls, but the robot guard of the place placated the situation. The Stripped Morons have safely landed inside the garbage truck that was emptying the bins at the opposite side of the street. They are unharmed, just a bit humiliated. ” one of the field agents masquerading as a jogger answered while pretending to fix her shoelaces.
“ This is Hawkeye 2 and 3, nothing to signal from our station either. We still can’t use our Quirks and microphone to hear what is being said inside, but by reading their lips I can tell nothing is out of ordinary. Subject 37’s mannerism has finally relaxed. As we suspected he somehow learned of the USJ attack and got worried. He is fine now. ” Another agent said he and his pal were looking straight at the Restaurant from their secret base in a room of the flat above the restaurant in front of Izuku’s, they had set-up several cameras by the windows of the apartment and pointed them straight at the Young Chef.
“Good. Keep us informed regularly and be ready to intervene should something happen, in the meantime we will try to understand what is stopping Quirks from working on the Restaurant and its Chef.” the old man at the head of the small Team, and Hisashi’s Boss, answered with a pleased nod.
“ Yessir!”
But they were not the only ones interested in the place.
Across the street from the Restaurant -
“Found the dog. ” an old lady said to a hidden microphone while sitting on a bench giving her full view inside the store.
“ Does it match the description? ” Kurogiri asked from the other side of the small transmitter.
“A big dog resembling an overgrown pitbull with a pot belly. I heard the Chef working there call it Blackie as you said was the thing’s name. But besides eating or sleeping, it never seems to leave its sleeping spot next to the door. I only ever saw it waking-up to eat the guy’s noodles.” the old lady answered.
“ You can hear a pin drop from two hundred meters away thanks to your Quirk, are you sure that dog NEVER talked? ” Kurogiri asked.
“I am damn sure, I have not heard anything from it ever since I started spying on it. I have been using my echolocation powers to cover for my lack of eyes my entire life thanks to the detailed picture soundwaves draw in my mind, I can even tell apart and recognize the specific heartbeat of my target even if they hide in the middle of a crowd...And that dog has never, ever, uttered a word. It just keeps huffing and woofing like a normal dog does. Are you sure it is the right one?”
“ We got a picture of it sleeping in front of that store, and even Shigaraki is sure it is the one that attacked him.” Kurogiri answered, remembering with a grimace the shrieks the still bed-ridden young man released once seen the dog’s picture.
Boy, was it an awkward meeting he and the others had with their Boss, the Legendary Villain All for One, right after Shigaraki awoke! There were no good ways to explain how a DOG completely fucked-up a simple Mission like their Raid against the USJ in such a grandiose way the Boss’ Pet Project was now a blubbering mess crying about mean Moderators. All for One was obviously NOT amused.
“Well, I heard the Chef was out of the Restaurant during our USJ mission, Ingredients Hunting I was told, it was written on the door as well, apparently. Everybody was certain he had left the dog behind, and a few actually saw it do the warp thing way after the Chef had left, and come back after the guy had returned.” the old lady said.
“ Has anybody ever heard the dog talk? ”
“I tried asking around. Nobody here ever saw that thing do anything besides eating and sleeping...Or growl menacingly at a few troublemakers.”
“ ...Keep monitoring that dog. We need to see when to strike to capture both Dog and Owner. ” Kurogiri ordered right before closing the call, it was almost time to change Shigaraki’s diaper and the Nomu was anxiously counting the days before his charge’s lower half would heal enough to no longer require such ‘ Services’ .
“Understood...Even if I don’t get it why you guys are finding a stupid dog that interesting.” the old lady answered, annoyed.
Unknown to her, Blackie heard everything she said and was now silently glaring at her without raising his head from the ground.
“ A weak Bad Guy Wannabe like y ou dares to insult dogs in front of this Lord? Fool.” the Lord Dog thought in mild fury before taking-in a tiny breath.
“Woof!”
It was near-silent, almost ultrasonic in nature, but that tiny wisp of sound generated by Blackie’s tiny, and kind of adorable, woof traveled at high speed all the way to the Villain spy and assaulted her fully. Nobody else heard it or noticed the dog’s movements at all, it all was too sudden and fast for them to catch it, even for the ones actually spying on Izuku.
And with a small ripping sound, that woof blasted the woman’s eardrums to shreds and immediately turned her completely deaf; nobody else heard it, but they all heard the scream of anguish and pain the woman released once her ears started bleeding profusely.
“ KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH !” the Villain shrieked again and again while stumbling away, now truly blind thanks to the lack of echolocation her Quirk gifted her with.
“W-What happened?!” Izuku was seen exiting his Restaurant, like many other Chefs and Owners from theirs, to see the poor old lady being helped away by a few bystanders towards a member of the Police Force that was already calling for an ambulance.
“Seems like she is having a panic attack, a bad one.” The Chef of the Restaurant next to Izuku’s tried guessing.
“Poor lady, I hope she will get better soon then, I know how hard Panic Attacks can be to deal with.” the young man admitted with a sigh before returning inside his Restaurant to finish cooking and reassuring his Customers nothing too outrageous happened.
Not too far away – Parking Lot -
An unassuming car was just in that moment being parked in the parking lot close to the restaurant, right next to a more expensive one from which nobody had dismounted yet.
From the first car came out a man with disheveled hair and shadow of a beard, a man with stylish blond hair and a woman with long purplish hair; from the second car that had been waiting for them came out a tall man in business suit and sharp glasses and a more lanky, skeletal man with a wild mane of blond hair and a too-wide white shirt over cheap cargo pants.
“Sorry if we are late, had to make sure the kids got acclimated well with the new Campus Cementoss is building.” Aizawa declared with a sigh.
“For a rush job, it’s as much a Nuclear Bunker as he could make it without making it TOO OBVIOUS , to not scare the students further.” Nemuri added.
“Even after a week they are still shaken, for obvious reasons,” Mic added, sighing.
“Except for the Yaoyorozu girl, she has already recovered. And I have an inkling as to why!” Nemuri answered with a conspiratorial smirk.
“I remind you this is not a friendly outing, we are actually here with a mission: to ascertain if the Chef is a menace or not. Please refrain from ringing wedding bells until we are sure he is just unaware of what his Sponsor really is, instead of an accomplice of theirs.” Nighteye chided them.
“Rival Villain Organization or not, that guy’s Dog had been a life-saver, so at least for now, I want to give him a thank you. Then we’ll see.” Aizawa answered, grunting, before walking alone towards the Restaurant.
“Wait for us, grumpy!” Nemuri and Mic answered at the same time while chasing their friend.
“Hey…” It was then, when they were alone, that Toshinori addressed another issue.
“Yes?” Nighteye uttered back in answer as they too started walking towards the Green Cloud .
“Are you sure this Chef is the same boy?” the pro Hero All Might asked.
“I know one can’t expect you to remember everybody you meet, but he had been put into a coma the exact same day, something like a few minutes after you told him he could not be a Quirkless Hero in what you yourself admitted being a ‘ Way too blunt tone, all things considered’ . The timing was too tight to not be noticeable.”
“I was caught up in training Mirio, to be honest. And you said he may have manifested a Quirk during his Coma?” the other answered, uneasy.
“I said it was a possibility considering the strange avatar he summoned behind himself and the ‘ Present Mic’-like scream he released. What is making me nervous is the fact that no file can be found about his Quirk Test, or anything else, anywhere. Everything about him seems to have become Classified all of a sudden.”
“Everything?” Toshinori asked, confused.
“Beside his middle school grades, everything after that has been forcefully removed from every registry and put under heavily Classified encryption. Nobody I asked seemed able to recover that info, and not only that, but just one year after he woke-up, a mysterious Economic Empire nobody heard about before bought an entire Restaurant and took the boy in as their only Chef. A restaurant where Quirks do not seem to work if used on that young man, and even if I didn’t try to use my Quirk on him outside the Restaurant, he hardly leaves it to begin with.” Nighteye explained.
“And he has a bone to pick with me…” Toshinori muttered.
“A personal reason to dislike you, something that a smart-enough unscrupulous character can twist to their end and transform into hatred for EVERY Hero. All for One is not the only Megalomaniac with a deep-rooted hatred for Heroes...What I don’t understand is why they are using a Restaurant as a cover, what are they looking for? And why do they need that boy?”
“Are you sure he doesn’t simply possess a sort of Quirk Immunity? ”
“I could tell it was not he himself that snapped my connection with him before my Quirk could see his future, my own instinct told me an outside force got in the way, that is why I am worried. The threat that Dog blatantly threw at me didn’t help either.”
“I saw that Dog in action, I can’t imagine somebody that prideful and strong just playing guard dog.” Toshinori admitted.
“Then maybe he is doing that AND making sure Midoriya-san does not step out of line.” Nighteye answered, thoughtful, and looking intensely at Blackie as soon as their small group reached the Restaurant door.
“Good evening,” Aizawa said.
“Why do you speak so formally to the dog?” Nemuri asked.
“ Because he has been taught manners and shows respect to this Lord Dog. Now get in, if you have to play Spy , at least do it properly and stop being so suspicious. ” Blackie answered with his deep, magnetic voice dripping sarcasm from every word.
“...How?” Nighteye asked.
“ That would be telling, kiddo. Just get in and eat, my Protegee is rightfully proud of his cooking skills, just pay it the due respect too beside trying to stick your nose in his personal affairs. ” the Dog answered before turning the other way and resuming his sleep.
“Wow...Our cover lasted literally nothing…” Mic admitted with a grimace while the group entered the place…
And watched with bulged-out eyes NEZU of all people sitting by himself at a table while devouring a gargantuan steak with gusto.
“ NEZU?! HERE?! WHY?!” The group of Pro Heroes all thought at the same time, and before they could actually ask, the small rat-bear-man chimera sent them a discreet glare that told them to keep their mouths shut.
“Here is your side dish, Nezu-san!” At that moment they saw Izuku come out from the kitchen holding a tray of grilled vegetables.
“Good! Leave it here, please!” the small guy answered.
“Is the steak to your liking?”
“Yep! What did you say it was?”
“Crocodile meat, legally bought from a private Crocodile farm down under. I have all the papers signed if you want to see them,” Izuku answered.
“Yahahahaha! I am not a cop, Chef Izuku! No need to worry.”
“But you are the Boss of AU University, as you said...” the young man mumbled, thoughtful.
“Still thinking I am a spy?” Nezu asked, amused.
“Yes,”
“My lips are sealed so keep guessing if I am here to spy or just here to enjoy your food! I am not telling, so it will be more fun!” the other answered while playfully shooing him away.
“Of course, sir…” the young Chef muttered, dejected, before disappearing inside the kitchen.
Once sure the young man was back in his domain, Nezu rapidly whipped-out his phone to write a lightning-fast message he then sent to both Aizawa and Nemuri, before returning to eat, and he was clearly not faking his enjoyment of the thing.
Pro Hero Table -
PING!
“...Nezu ‘ Gently’ asks us to not blow his cover , he apparently has been coming here everyday ever since the USJ incident to investigate that young Chef and playing everything off as a coincidence. We were not the first ones to think about coming here in person…He also suggests trying the crocodile steak, he says it’s good.” Aizawa explained once, reading the text on his phone and then sighing.
“We’ll need to be discreet then, just in case he suspects something; he knows we are Pro Heroes so he will be on the defensive. He doesn’t seem to trust Heroes a lot.” Nighteye answered.
Dling! Dling!
As if the Universe tried to prove him wrong, the next set of Customers that entered the place were FAR from being discreet about anything, especially their being Pro Heroes.
“CHEF ICCHAN! WE ARE HUNGRY!” the green haired girl at the head of the group yelled with a cheerful tone as soon as they barged inside the restaurant.
“Tomoko-san!” Izuku answered, just as happily, while peeking out of the kitchen to see who it was.
“Ready to feed four poor kittens?” the Pro Hero known as Mandalay asked with a challenging smile.
“Huhuhu! I am always ready! Over there, the official favourite table of the Wild Wild Pussycat happens to be free, I will be with you in a moment!” the young Chef answered, chuckling amused and clearly happy to see those Pro Heroes visit him.
“Nice! The seat under the magical relaxing tree is mine!” Pixie Bob called-out immediately while diving for said seat.
“Oh, come on! It was my turn this time!” the only male member of the four said with a whine while the rambunctious quartet of Pro Heroes in civilian attire sat at a corner table right under the strange trees adorning the back of the restaurant’s main room.
“Okay, he clearly has SOME Heroes he trusts instead.” Mic said with a raised eyebrow.
“Magical Relaxing Tree?” Nemuri asked.
“Whatever those trees are, they seem to exude a faint calming aura. The Chef and the Robot make sure nobody can take away leaves, but I heard a few botanic experts have started theorizing that those plants actually possess a Quirk-like mutation able to ‘ forcefully’ disperse stress from people and animals sitting close to them.” Nighteye answered.
“Like Joke and her Quirk? Or Nemuri’s?” Aizawa asked.
“Pretty much, only about Relaxing instead of Laughing or Falling Asleep.”
“And they use those rare as hell plants as decoration?” Toshinori asked, confused.
“That is another reason why I find this place too suspicious.”
“ Ssh ! He is coming here.” Aizawa silenced them as soon as he saw Izuku near their table.
“Good evening.” the young man said with a stiff smile.
“Hi there, young man!” Mic answered while channeling his Hero Persona a little to hopefully help the boy relax around them.
“Sir Nighteye, glad to have you back in my Restaurant, and this time with another group of your... Friends .” Izuku answered, and even if he hoped for those Heroes to not notice it, they all caught the tiny pause he had before saying friends .
“Everybody loves good food, so after listening to me and Gunhead giving a very good review to your dishes, they too wished to try them,” he answered.
Sigh! “...It’s about Blackie coming to the USJ, isn’t it?” Izuku whispered while tiredly massaging his temples.
"...…” none of the Heroes present could think about a proper answer, but the disappointed glare Nezu sent their way did make them flinch heavily.
“ Amateurs! ” they saw him mouth towards them with the corner of their eyes.
“Listen, c-can I at least finish my job for today? You’ll be free to arrest me AFTER I am done with the lunch rush-hour. I am not going anywhere. But I want to leave on a good note without ruining these people’s moment of pause.” he asked with a tone of defeat.
“We…”
“I got it, I can’t be a Hero, okay. I have a more humble dream now, can I have that at least? I just want to be a good Chef: I get-up at dawn, practice, clean and start cooking for the day, that’s it.” he added.
“We are not here to arrest you. At least I am not.” Aizawa cut him off abruptly before the young man could say something else.
“Uh?”
“Your dog saved us, especially two of my students who owe their lives to you. So, as far as I am concerned, today I am here to thank you, not to throw you in jail.” he explained.
“But you don’t trust me.”
“Actually-”
“Because I was not supposed to know about the Incident in the USJ, isn’t it? My Sponsor alerted me that this would happen.”
Sigh! “Exactly. While grateful, we also are worried about how you and them knew we needed help during a school trip nobody was supposed to know about in a secret location.” Nighteye answered, no use in being discreet if the other side already knew most of it.
“I am no Villain, Sir Nighteye. I lost interest in your Lifestyle after being told Heroics were not for me thanks to my lack of Quirk and getting almost killed when I tried proving the world wrong. It took me a year of coma to decide to wash my hands of this entire affair and focus on a dream I could actually reach...Owning a Restaurant of my own...And here I am today.” Izuku answered.
“I am...Sorry. I was a bit too blunt when I told you that.” Toshinori admitted, sheepish.
“You Texas Smashed my dreams, Sir. That was far more than being just blunt , you were Brutal .” the young Chef answered without even looking at him, and making the Pro Hero grimace heavily in answer.
“I could have phrased it a bit better, maybe.”
“Yes, maybe .” that answer burned like acid.
“What do you know about your Sponsor?” Nighteye asked.
“Everything.” the other replied with a shrug.
“Everything?”
“Who they are, where they come from, why they gave me this Restaurant. Everything. The absolute truth.”
“...And?”
“And I am not telling you.”
“Listen, if it is about All Might-” Nemuri tried saying.
“Nonono, it has nothing to do with Him .” Izuku answered, and Toshinori felt ‘ slapped’ by that way of saying him . It almost sounded like an insult.
“I just promised I won’t say a thing. For two main reasons:
1- I know you won’t believe even a fifth of what I could tell you.
2- I don’t exactly trust you.”
“You don’t trust us? Why?” Mic asked, hurt.
“You took my being skilled and reserved as a Villain trait just because who is helping me has a wider reach than you can imagine and I am not easily bullied by people with Quirks. I don’t know what you believe is going on here, but I am just a Chef trying to get by and get better at cooking, but I guess a Quirkless shouldn’t dare to raise his head too much around here.”
“This has nothing to do with you being Quirkless, I swear.” Nemuri answered with a gentle tone while taking his hand in both of hers.
“I hope so. So? Are you going to order something or was this just an excuse to ask me about the incident?”
“We’ll order, we’ll order.” Aizawa answered with a sigh, clearly sensing the hostility barely hiding below the surface, and he could not exactly blame the boy either.
“Tell you what, as a show of trust: you decide.” Nemuri said with a tiny smile.
“Uh?”
“Choose by yourself the Dishes we will eat,” the woman explained.
“It’s okay, I will be back in a couple minutes so you will be able to choose in peace, no need to worry about leaving the fate of your lunch in my hands.” Izuku answered with a small smile, and left them alone after a short bow.
“...”
“Well, maybe Nemuri can actually get him to open up a little, I guess. He did not sound as mistrusting with her as he was with us,” Mic said.
“He is a good boy, I can tell.” she answered.
Driiiin!
At once the phones of all of them rang at the same time, all sporting the same ‘ unknown number’ text on their screen.
“All of us?” Toshinori said once seen Nezu too had his phone ringing, though only he seemed to recognize the number, and once sent them a look, he actually answered.
“Maybe we all should take this.” Nighteye said while answering.
“Strange.” Mic commented, unsure.
“ Glad to see you all are being reasonable enough to pick-up.” the old man at the other side of the call said with a pleased tone once all of them answered.
“Who’s this?” Aizawa asked.
“ The Director of one of the hidden labs of I-Island. I guess dear All Might and Sir Nighteye know what I am talking about. ”
“...Seems like it.” Nemuri commented, dryly, at seeing both Pro Heroes pale a little.
“What can we do for you, sir?” Mic asked, eyes narrowed.
“While I have nothing against people enjoying good food, I am way less happy when one of our ‘Darlings’ is being bullied,” the old man answered.
“Shit…The rumors are true.” Aizawa muttered between clenched teeth, and once turned around to look at the street through the Restaurant’s giant window he saw a young woman in jogging attire playfully wave at him while pretending to stretch her legs.
“ We too are keeping tabs on him. As you can imagine, a Quirkless able to surpass the so-called ‘ Limits’ of the human body with a Mutation in his base DNA different from the Standard One can only attract my interest, along with the interest of few of my colleagues.The old man explained, chuckling.
“A Mutation?” they heard Nezu ask in their shared call.
“Why do you think everything about him is now Confidential? Standard tests show no difference between him and a normal Quirkless, and yet we have hundreds of hours of video proof of him taking what we knew of Peak Human Skills and making confetti of them, and that means he must have some sort of Power different from Quirks to justify it. I will share a few harmless videos with you, watch them and tell me how we could not find him utterly interesting to study! Also, he is the beloved son of one of us as well...He is Family.” the old man answered.
“Do you know anything about his ‘ Sponsor’, Sir?” Nighteye could not stop himself from asking.
“ You mean that ‘ System Incorporated’? We are almost certain they are not a Villain Group, if that is what you fear, but we can’t contact anybody working there. Everything seems to Exist online only, and yet there is perfect paperwork for everything. And the fact that it is all THAT PERFECT raises questions...But no matter what we try we can’t answer a single one of them. ”
“Not even you can find anything?” Nezu asked.
“ Nezu, you know that between hackers and Quirks we have a damn good reach. ” The old man answered with a tired groan.
“But?”
“For all we know the HQ of that Group could be housed on Mars. Every trail we follow branches into hundreds and then thousands others, and after weeks of questioning we finally got a message from that System Incorporated telling us it would be better to stop nosing around and let them and their Chef do their job.”
“You make it sound like bad news, though.” Mic said.
“Because that exact same message appeared at the same exact time on every phone, every computer, every tablet, every Fax, and every Pager of I-Island... EVERYONE from the crappy phones of our clerks on cleaning duty to our LEVEL 7 Servers and Operatives got it. We all received a copy even on our own personal computers back home. We stopped asking questions after that.” the Old Man answered, tense.
“...You got breached?”
“ Nezu, they RAPED our firewalls and security system without getting a single alarm off. They assured us they just want to help their Chef become ‘ The God of Cooking’ or similar nonsense and that no Villain plans are boiling under the surface, but promised that if we keep getting in the way there will be Consequences .
You Pro Heroes may like to tackle impossible odds with a smile, but I have a family, all of us here have, and we won’t step over that line. We can freely look from afar and study him if we want, but any threat won’t be welcomed…And we won’t risk it. ”
“Does the boy know?” Toshinori asked.
“ Not at all, in fact, we are de facto forbidden from alerting him they got involved in threatening us. They said it was to not ‘ Distract him ’, but I can’t help being worried about him all the same. They openly admit to having plans for him, we just are unable to uncover them. ”
“So that is also a reason why you are studying him?”
“ Exactly, if we can see what those guys saw in him for their plans, maybe we can counter them and stop them, thus saving him.”
“We can help.” Aizawa said.
“ If you really have to, but keep a very low profile. I can’t even promise that this call’s encryption will help. ”
“ Actually, it is not helping .” the System’s voice echoed in the phone call.
“…” Stricken horror frozen the Heroes and Scientists solid.
Sigh! “Please forgive them, they take their Mission too seriously. Are you ready to order?” Izuku said, and scaring the Pros with his appearance behind Toshinori unseen thanks to their distraction.
“Y-You trust them?”
“Honestly? Yes. I only have to follow a very strict Training Regimen for my cooking techniques every morning, then I am free to do as I please with this Restaurant. They even give me all the Ingredients I ask for, so as far as I am concerned, I don’t feel threatened: no strange requests, no questionable customers and nothing illegal...They just want me to become the best Chef I can be. As the name of their Initiative suggests: I will become the God of Cooking . It’s a bit edgy, I admit it, but it also explains well what they hope to get from me: my very best.” Izuku explained with a shrug.
“Why, though? What do they get from doing this?” Nemuri asked.
“Hahahaha! What else? Publicity! They get that and I get a Restaurant, everybody is happy.” the young Chef answered, laughing amused.
“...That’s it?” Nighteye asked, eyebrows shooting up.
“Mister Nighteye, not everybody with money or influence wants to conquer the world, few of them are just eccentric enough to do something like this just because they can. Like Elon Musk.” Izuku answered.
“Okay...But should something come up...We are right behind the corner to help. Remember. Just call for us and we will help you.” Nemuri whispered while giving a squeeze to his hand.
“Thank you.” he answered with a tiny smile.
“In the meantime we will order our food. At least we can trust that being the real deal.” Mic said with a thumbs-up.
“Of course!” the Chef replied, nodding.
I-Island – Secret Lab -
The Old Man at that point closed the phone call by himself, and silently watched through the cameras outside how the young chef took the table’s order and rapidly moved away to cook everything.
“Mannerism?”
“Everything suggests he was saying the truth, sir.” one of the technicians answered.
“Relaxed?”
“Not really.”
“I see. Keep observing him. Just in case.” he ordered before leaving.
“Yessir!”
The old man was the only guy in I-Island beside Hisashi and the guy’s colleague/friend Tamaki to know the truth about Izuku and his abilities, but in order to keep the secret he knew he had to pretend to study the boy like any other ‘Darling’ and pretend he too knew nothing, especially since by doing this he would actually be able to protect the young Chef from any plan he feared the mysterious System Incorporated may be trying to implement against the boy.
Green Cloud Restaurant - In the Kitchen -
“ Congratulations to Host Izuku for covering for the System.” the Voice said once the young man returned inside the room.
“It won’t be easy to keep your true nature hidden like you asked if you keep threatening them. Hero Society is all based around the idea that ‘ Everybody is a potential Villain if we don’t know everything about them and their personal life’ , and most of the Pro Heroes are a bunch of paranoid control freaks, especially so the guys in business suits and in positions of command behind the Hero Business. Paradoxically, it would be easier to explain that you are an Extra-dimensional Entity that wants me to Ascend to Godhood through cooking.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“Understood. Host Izuku is also aware that the customer known as All Might possess poor Health and may die in a few years. Do you wish to heal him?” the System asked.
“Heal him?”
“Yes, Host Izuku. If things remain unchanged, he is fated to die in two years.”
“…” the young Chef silently leaned on his work station, a bit surprised by how much it still hurt to meet All Might again.
“The Shadow of Death has been cast on him, should the Host intervene, such a fate will be broken and the man will live long enough to die of old age. That will also mean the Heroes of AU will keep an even closer eye on you. ”
“…”
“ Host wished to be a Hero once, yes?” the Voice asked.
“…”
“ Does the Host hate All Might ?”
“...Hate is a strong word.” Izuku finally uttered a word, and it was filled in bitterness while his head hung down low.
“ Host can just cook normally and let the man live through what Fate planned for him.” the System answered.
“…”
“ Mom, one day I will be a Hero like All Might!” a small voice, that of a kid, echoed inside the young Chef’s head in answer to that while tears streamed down his cheeks.
I am sorry, Madame. We can repeat the Test a thousand times over, but the results won’t change: your son does not possess a Quirk. I am sorry.
Yo! Here comes the Useless Freak!
I am sorry, my boy. A Hero without a Quirk is simply impossible. Maybe you should lower your expectations a little and live a more humble life. Not everybody can change the world, no matter how hard they try…Sometimes dreams are just that. Dreams.
Just a Deku!
Deku!
Deku!
Deku!
“ Host wants All Might gone? Whitey can accompany him to the door if you want.”
Deku!
DEKU!
DEKU!
“TO HELL WITH IT!” Izuku roared in anger while slamming both fists on his work station, luckily nobody in the main room could hear him thanks to the Entity turning the kitchen sound-proof for their talk.
“ Host? ”
“How do I heal him? I will show him and everybody else that we Chefs too can make MIRACLES! NOT JUST HEROES! He is fated to die?! THEN I WILL TAKE THAT FUTURE AND SNAP IT IN HALF WITH A DISH!” he declared with burning eyes.
“Well said. Normally the System would purge any ‘Alien Energy’ contained in the Dishes prepared with Ingredients of other worlds like the ‘Gourmet World’ of Zaus, but in this case those Life Energy and Vitality Energy will be left in the resulting Dish. This means that the Host will be required to use every ounce of skill he possesses to not ruin the dish by dispersing those energies through unsuitable handling.” the System answered.
“Life Energy and Vitality Energy?”
“ Exactly, same for the Gourmet Energy Host can infuse in the Dishes to improve the quality of their taste, those two form of energy too will enrich the Dish Host will prepare, and as a bonus the Dish will be able of purifying All Might’s body and heal him completely by saturating his body in pure ‘Life ’. Is the Host ready?”
“Yes.”
“Understood. Abrupt Mission: Show to All Might and the other Heroes that a Chef too can change the course of Fate. Reward: 10% bonus experience points and unlocking the Ingredient Jewel Meat from Zaus World.” the System declared.
“Good.” Izuku answered while opening the Ingredients cabinet.
Hero Table -
The Pro Heroes were looking with bulged-out eyes the few videos Hisashi took of Izuku mid-training for his Boss, most of which showing the boy taking Laws of Nature and Common Sense and bending them over like only a 90s Shonen Hero could do.
“Damn! That’s some fast knife work...” Mic commented in surprise.
“Teacher!” a young voice said in surprise as a young woman entered the place accompanied by her parents and Izuku’s.
“Oh! Yaoyorozu. Are you here for lunch?” Aizawa answered with a raised eyebrow.
“S-Sort of?”
“Oh-OOOOH! Something bigger?” Nemuri asked immediately.
“Apparently some formalizing is needed…” Saito mumbled.
“Honey, it could have been worse, he is a good boy at least, hard working too!” Rei answered.
“Formalizing?” Nemuri asked.
“Momo!” they heard Izuku exclaim in surprise.
“Hi.” she answered, uneasy.
“Sorry to barge-in like this, son. Apparently there was no choice,” Hisashi said, smiling sheepish.
“Uh?”
“Mom apparently had to tell my father what happened, so now he wants a proper explanation.” Momo explained with her face burning deep-red.
“Your father called it ‘ Meeting of the In-Laws’ , but that’s beside the point.” her mother added, looking more mischievous.
“REI-SAN! YOU PROMISED TO KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!” the Young Chef shrieked in shame while covering his face with both hands.
“Nope! You two wanted to be Secret Lovers ? Not on my watch! Come on, let’s take a table and talk a little, shall we?” Rei said while taking over a table for the entire group, the one right next to the Pro Heroes table.
“It was just a kiss…” Momo muttered, ashamed.
“Too much tongue to be ‘ Just a kiss’ , dear.” Rei countered.
“ Ugh! ” Saito gurgled-out in agony.
“Details, Yaoyorozu! Details! Now!” Nemuri demanded immediately.
“Nemur-” Aizawa tried saying before her glare paralyzed him.
“ SILENCE !” she barked in answer.
“Sorry, madame.” the fearless Pro Hero Eraserhead muttered with a meek tone.
“Oh! It was just two days ago! Icchan was giving me cooking lessons when I got an emergency call from work, and in order to answer that I had left him and Momo alone in the kitchen…” Rei started telling what she personally knew, and what she got from Momo after hours of relentless questioning.
Yaoyorozu House - The Previous Day -
Rei had just walked out of the kitchen to answer the call from her agency, something that she assured them was an emergency since she had instructed her secretary to not disturb during her cooking lessons unless something BIG happened.
As the woman’s faint voice echoed back into the kitchen from the living room, Izuku and Momo were left alone to watch in silence the lasagna Izuku instructed Rei to prepare alone and without help, as a way to test how she did by herself without the Chef correcting her.
“She forgot to use salt, didn't she?” Momo asked, chuckling, while both were crouching down on the floor to keep looking at the slowly-cooking thing through the oven glass panel.
“Yes, but at least she didn’t use sugar again, it’s already a huge improvement.” he answered, making both share a short laugh together.
“…”
“…” they both fell silent after that, just standing with their faces close as they watched the food cook and slowly form a crunchy layer on top.
“...Izuku…” Momo said with a low whisper.
“Yes?”
“...Thank you. Thank you for sending Blackie to help, had he not come, I don’t know if I would be here today.” she admitted, shivering.
“Momo…” he answered, and when both turned to look at each other, they actually discovered they were close enough that the tip of their noses touched.
“…” and there they stood, looking into each other's eyes in silence, until the young Chef gently cupped her cheek.
“ Hm …” closing her eyes tight in shyness, Momo puckered her lips a tiny bit to welcome the kiss that when it happened took her breath away.
“AH!” It took a couple of seconds before both actually noticed what they were doing, and with faces burning bright red both jumped back to their feet and forcefully looked elsewhere to avoid the other’s eyes.
“I KISSED HER! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!” Izuku thought in horror.
“HE KISSED ME! OH, GOD! OH, GOD! OH, GOD! OH, GOD! OH, GOD! OH, GOD!” Momo thought at the same time.
“You...I mean me...So...You know...You...Me…” the young Chef stammered in total brain-blackout.
“No...Yes...I mean No...No, Yes...I... TO HELL WITH IT! ” to his shock Momo’s own blackout lasted way shorter until she gave a distraught roar, grabbed him by the collar, and tried to tear-off his tonsils with her tongue.
“MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMH!” a two-voices moan resounded in the kitchen then as the two hormonal teens hugged the life out of each-other and went at it in a war of tongues, this time the kiss was FAR from being as romantic as the first one, this one spoke of hunger .
It was especially bad for Izuku since he was feeling the pull of TWO lifetimes of suppressed desire, since as Zaus he had been pretty much ‘ married to his job’ and thus had fully suppressed or ignored any urge he may have had; and now both Lives’ Hormones were begging for attention and he was eagerly giving-in to the call, and even if he had to stand on his toes to kiss Momo due to their difference in height, he didn’t give a damn.
That was when Rei returned into the room attracted by the noise, to find her daughter and her Cooking Teacher sucking each other’s face off with drool flowing down their chins like a river from their connected mouths and both teens’ hands roaming around a bit too wildly to be proper.
“ AH ! Izuku...Not here in the kitchen!” Momo gasped with a moan when he started biting and suckling greedily on her neck, although her grabbing a fistful of his hair with one hand to draw him just a bit closer to herself showed she was not fully against the idea.
“Yes, not in the kitchen, please. My Lesson is not over yet.” Rei declared with an evil smirk.
She really enjoyed the look of sheer panic both teens developed as soon as they heard her, stopping abruptly what they were doing to just look at her with wide eyes full of horror.
“Hands where I can see them, Midoriya. You too, Momo, and that means your left hand has to stop moving and come out from inside his pants. It’s still too soon for you to give him a draining massage , young Lady.” she added, gleefully watching their feeling of shame reach untold peaks never before seen.
Their talk after that was awkward to the extreme.
Back to the present –
“That is what happened, and since both seem to be into each other enough to be ready to MOLEST each other, here we are to formalize the relationship.” Rei finished explaining.
“In my son’s defense, he gave her a chaste kiss, clearly. She made the first move.” Hisashi pointed-out.
“This doesn’t mean he did not return the affection! By Rei’s words his own hands were not idle either! He clearly pinched and squeezed to his heart’s content!” Saito countered, annoyed.
“She almost deflowered him!”
“And he almost did the same to her!”
“My Icchan is not a Pervert!” Hisashi growled.
“Neither is my Mo-chan!” Saito roared in answer.
Actually, that very same night both teens literally wanked themselves into unconsciousness while thinking about each other and what COULD have happened had Rei not stopped them while loudly calling-out the other’s name. But both fathers didn’t need to know that their precious ‘cinnabuns’ were actually normal Teens with normal overcharged libido. Yet.
“Very dirty, Yaoyorozu. VEEEERY dirty. Congratulations!” Nemuri said with a mischievous smile and a thumbs-up.
“Teacher!” Momo answered with a long whine, ashamed beyond belief.
“So, Izuku...It’s easy to say you are now engaged. DO NOT try anything strange or I will chop your dick off!” Saito declared with narrowed eyes, and stoically ignoring how Rei instead rolled hers while calling him ‘ edgy’ .
“Yessir!”
“Off you go then, you still have work to do. We’ll talk more later.”
“More?” the young man asked in dread.
“MUCH more.” Saito answered.
“Okay...”
Restaurant Kitchen – At the same time -
Once he escaped in a ‘ manly way ’, tears and all, back inside his kitchen with the excuse of cooking, the young Chef threw himself on his Mission from the System as a way to clear his head from any sense of impending doom, and while waiting for the other Pro Heroes’ orders to be ready, Izuku gave his undivided attention to Toshinori’s own ‘ Healing Dish ’.
The man had asked for some fish, and the Young Chef decided to modify the original recipe slightly to make sure as much Life as possible could be infused in it, the chosen Ingredient was one of the Coral Fishes he took from the Forest World he had been in and had borrowed from the Lizardmen Tribe.
The thing was still very much alive once summoned from the System’s Storage Area and it kept violently rolling its fins around as if trying to swim in the air while jumping up and down on the chopping board.
“Thank you for being my Ingredient.” Izuku muttered as a small prayer before puncturing the animal’s brain with a long and thin needle, the fish gave a last weak flap with its gills and spat out a thin jet of water before quietly and painlessly falling into eternal slumber.
The System had suggested the Coral Fish for two main reasons: The meat was actually very tender and nutritious, and those fishes could reproduce like crazy when it was mating season.
The giant bulging belly full of roe now in front of Izuku meant that the specimen in question was particularly rich in Life Energy, perfect for what the young Chef needed.
The dish All Might had chosen was called Sweet ‘n’ Sour Fish and Izuku had assured him it would have not troubled whatever was left of the man’s stomach even if fried, further shocking Toshinori that had indeed forgotten how much Izuku actually knew of his Dirty Little Secret, something that had made Nighteye facepalm hard.
Grabbing a filleting knife with I-Island insignia engraved on the handle, he started cooking by piercing right behind the fish’ gills and delicately cutting upward following the curve of the fish’ head to cut the entire thing off and put it aside, before removing the fins on the Ingredient’s belly, back and the tail’s end.
Swiiiing! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping…
Fully displaying their being hard as rocks like its name implied, the scales flying away from the fish’ body at each knife swing pinged on the chopping board with loud tingling sounds echoing all around the young Chef, and even a knife made from top notch equipment with high-tech super-alloys kept struggling against such otherworldly Ingredients, requiring the System to renew their edge after each usage.
After finishing descaling one side of the fish, Izuku grabbed the fish’s tail and gave it a toss, turning the animal a hundred and eighty degrees to the opposite side to repeat the cleaning.
“Done with the scales, next is the slicing of the cheek, as well as the removal of the organs and bones…” Izuku mumbled thoughtful while cutting the thing in two following its spine to remove the main bones, and once removed the organs, washing the inner meat with fresh water followed by him pulling away the few bones remaining hidden in the meat with lightning-fast movements of the pliers in his hand.
“ The Flour has been mixed with the minced medicinal herbs perfectly, Life Energy contained in the herbs after preparation: 99%. Good job. ” The System declared, solemnly.
“Perfect.” Izuku muttered in answer while spreading the floor interspersed with tiny colorful herb fragments across the entire body of the fish until it was completely covered in it.
FWOOOOOSH!
Intense flames roared to life under a wide wok making the oil in it start sizzling loudly in a matter of minutes, and once hot enough, he grabbed the tail of the fish and tossed it into the oil that produced layers and layers of white foam upon contact with its flour cover.
“How’s the fish?” the young Chef asked while a hint of gold shade slowly started covering the thing’s meat.
“ The innate Vitality Energy of the Fish has been fully preserved at 98% . It is suitable for the success of the Mission. ”
“Good, let’s add a bit of sauce then…” Once seen the huge quantity of high-quality fish eggs he had extracted from the Ingredient’s belly, he decided how he would actually deviate from the recipe by adding a secondary sauce to it made with said roe .
Having given a new toss to the Wok’s contents to make sure the fish was cooking properly and not sticking to the bottom, he then mixed the fish roe with minced garlic and capers and tossed everything into a second pan with hot oil already waiting to fry the fish eggs.
After that, he added white wine and a few spoonfuls of tomato sauce to the mixture and slowly boiled everything into a thick and flavorful fish eggs sauce he then passed until creamy and smooth without the smallest lump.
As the fish and egg sauce finished cooking, a sweet fragrance started to spread out from the kitchen and into the main room, enticing the appetite of the waiting Pro Heroes, now suddenly very happy at their decision to ‘ Spy’ on the young Chef.
Few minutes later, All Might’s Dish, as well as the others, were finally ready to be served, and with a delicate swish of his ladle Izuku scooped-up the deep-fried fish from the wok and placed it onto a wide porcelain plate decorated with tiny green clouds.
“Done perfectly...Let’s see if ‘ Fate’ can really be defeated with a Dish…” Izuku muttered, growing a bit squeamish when a tiny feeling of worry crept up his spine.
“ Host should never question his abilities! As the future God of Cooking of the Hero World , there is no place for fear in your kitchen! Work hard and believe in yourself, young man!” The System immediately tried to cheer him up.
“Right! I can do this!” The young man psyched himself up while refilling the wok in oil to stir-fry a new mix of medicinal herbs together with vinegar, that was the Sour side of the Dish.
Done with the frying he also tossed some icing sugar into the wok, making the once sour creamy soup instantly become more sweet and thicker, and a taste test confirmed to Izuku that the thing had actually reached the right balance of sweetness and sourness he desired.
Sizzle! Sizzle!
With an elegant movement of his ladle the sweet-and-sour sauce was lightly drizzled over the fish to uniformly cover it while the thick and creamy sauce made with the roe was pooled on a side and adorned with tiny pieces of minced chilies and a spiral of fresh olive oil.
“It is done…‘ Sweet-and-Sour Coral Fish ’...Completed.” Izuku declared in relief while using a piece of cloth to wipe away the excess oil on the plate to make the dish more presentable.
“ Evaluating...The Dish’ overall grade is: 99.9/100 . Congratulations, Host Izuku! You have prepared the required Dish to heal the Customer called All Might. At the paying of the bill, the reward will be unlocked. Well done.” the System declared with a victory fanfare that made the young Chef chuckle a little while delivering the dishes to the Pro Heroes’ table.
“Smells amazing, if I can say it myself.” he admitted, pleased, while taking out Toshinori’s and Nemuri’s dish.
“...I really need to find a Waiter or Waitress, though…Or at least a bigger tray.” he then muttered with a sigh of dismay.
“I’ll help you!” Inko said immediately.
“There is no need, mom!” he answered shyly.
“Nonsense! Here, take the other plates so we’ll deliver them together.” the woman replied with a gentle smile.
“Thank you, mom.” the young man said, grateful.
“Momo...Up.” Rei muttered.
“M-Me too?”
“He needs you,” she answered with a mischievous smirk.
“W-Wait, I will help as well!” the girl declared, a bit shyly, while getting up as well from the table.
“Oh! T-T-Thank you! Wait here, I’ll take the remaining plate…” the young Chef stammered a bit, but he still stoically ignored the subtle chuckles he heard from the other Customers in the room, along their thumbs-up at seeing the two engaged youngsters working together.
“Here we are: Sweet-and-Sour Fish for Toshinori-san…” he listed once the three of them reached All Might’s table together.
“Thank you.”
“ Crocodile grand steak for Nemuri-san. Rare.”
“Yuppie!” the woman cheered with a childish happy smile that made him chuckle.
“ Four Meats Karaage: Nanban Style for Mic-san, with extra fried chicken and sauce as asked.”
“NICE!” the blond man replied in perfect English with a thick accent.
“ Seafood Risotto for Sir Nighteye.”
“Thank you.”
“And Chicken Curry for Aizawa-san. Mild spiciness.”
“Perfect, thank you.”
“Thank you for choosing the Green Cloud Restaurant, please enjoy your meal.” Izuku answered with a bow before walking away a bit stiffly.
He now needed to prepare what his parents and Momo’s own ordered, then he will have to face whatever Talk those scheming adults had planned for, and he was not exactly eager to do it.
All Might’s Table –
“Well, I guess it’s time to see how good the boy actually is,” Mic said while snapping apart his chopsticks.
“Yes, let’s see…” Toshinori answered, unsure, while using his own chopsticks to delicately peel-off the thin skin of his fish to inspect its insides, and growing shocked at the heavenly sight.
The Sweet-and-Sour Fish meat was almost as clear as glass and glittered under the room’s lights once exposed, making Toshinori feel a bit guilty at actually eating it.
“It’s glistering like a crystal…How?” Nemuri muttered in awe once seen All Might’s food.
“I expected this, all things considered, as I was aware of the Chef’s skills, and yet I am still very surprised.” Nighteye answered, his stomach too grumbling a little as the fish succulent meat emitted a wondrous fragrance that was pretty much torturing the entire table.
“The sweet and sour sauce has a smell which increases one’s appetite. It’s a bit of a dirty trick , I admit it, but it will also make it taste better.” Izuku muttered while delivering the last plate to his parents’ table.
“It’s not a dirty trick, Icchan. It’s part of the magic!” Hisashi answered, chuckling.
“Yep! Now sit here with us, let’s talk .” Saito answered, tone ice-cold and eyes narrowed.
“YESSIR!”
Pro Heroes’ Table -
“Please don’t kill the cute Chef,” Nemuri muttered with a pout.
“We’ll stop any tragedy before it happens. I say we eat, though, because good looks aside, the taste too matters! Thanks for the Food. ” Toshinori said while picking-up a piece of fried fish meat to watch it jiggle a bit in his grasp.
The thick seasoned sauce boiled incessantly and looked like thin threads holding the fish meat together while following behind the chopsticks all the way to the man’s mouth while the jiggling fish meat caused the Pro Hero to chuckle amused at the lively scene.
“Holy…” All Might though muttered in awe once tasted it as the sweet and sour scent of the dish exploded in his mouth at the very first bite, and not a trace of the unpleasant fishy smell of the main Ingredient or any unpalatable oily feeling from the frying could be felt either! Only wave after wave of warmth and sea and spiciness and sourness and sweetness and so on and on and on. Maybe forever, the Pro Hero could not tell.
The fish alone was a mouthful of Heaven, but the sweet-and-sour sauce and the roe sauce managed to enlarge the feeling and turn it into an all-encompassing embrace of taste that almost drowned Toshinori, to the point his own brain grew pleasantly numb and just enjoyed the Happy Endorphins ride the dish provided.
“This steak is damn amazing and tender too! I did not know crocodile of all things could taste this good!” Nemuri, mouth still full like a hamster and absolutely drenched in the meat juices, said in praise, blissfully unaware of how monstrous the beast she was eating actually was, nor she knew that the thing’s detoxified scorpion-like tail’s meat and fat had been used to create the delicious milky-white sauce decorating the steak.
“Okay, I am convinced. Whoever those guys are, they are betting on the right horse!” Mic confirmed while his chewing grew shamelessly loud, he just kept eating without even a pause to breath.
“ Nom-Nom!”
“ Oh-Ooooh ! Would you look at that! Mister ‘ I can Live on Coffee alone’ Aizawa is actually eating like a normal human! Maybe we should take you here more often!” Nemuri said, smirking.
“Shut up! I am still not convinced yet.” Aizawa answered, ashamed, while hastily swallowing his mouthful of food and forcefully dropping the tiny satisfied smile he was sporting while chewing.
“Uh?”
“I am not talking about the food, this stuff is damn good. I meant the group sponsoring him, call it instinct, but I think they are forcing him to hide a few details they know we won’t like.” he explained while continuing to eat.
“No drugs involved, I took a few tests once back from eating here, and even Recovery Girl did not find anything that could have been used to make me believe the food was good. At least the food quality comes from honest skills, not tricks.” Nighteye answered, while being the only one of the group eating with proper manners.
“Okay, that just shuts-down one of my theories.” Aizawa admitted, sighing.
“SHOTA!”
“At least swallow before chastising me, Nemuri!” the man begged with a groan.
“Sorry!” the woman replied, blushing.
The rest of the lunch continued fairly tamely in comparison with what they expected, with Izuku softening enough thanks to Nemuri’s own motherly-gentle prodding between each subsequent orders they make that gained them few more details from the young Chef about his job and Sponsor.
When it was time to pay the kinda-expensive bill ( Mic and Nemuri would later apologize profusely for the FOUR servings of dessert they each ordered) , the group stumbled their way out of the Restaurant with bulging bellies and a more relaxed attitude towards its Chef, but not towards the System.
Parking Lot -
“Okay, this proves it: he is just a good boy caught in some sort of cult-like plans of an eccentric Millionaire fixated with food.” Toshinori declared, still puffing a little thanks to his over-filled stomach.
“He did not openly call it a cult. But the way he described this God of Cooking Initiative can easily be passed as such.” Nighteye added.
“Yeah, but he surely knows how to make some GODLY Creme Brulee .” Mic added.
“And cute rainbow-coloured fruit desserts! I could eat that fruit jelly to death and not regret it!” Nemuri added.
“We noticed you loved his desserts.” Aizawa answered, bitter.
“I’ll pay you back, I swear!” Mic replied with a begging tone.
“Liar.”
“A Pro Hero...Never...Never forgets..H-His Wallet...Mic.'' It was sudden, but they saw Toshinori’s face turn bright red and his breathing became labored as he leaned forward with both hands on his knees to try catching his breath.
“You okay?” Nighteye asked.
“I...I feel...Hot...It’s too hot...I-I-I’M BURNING!” The Pro Hero gasped for air as he started sweating at an astounding rate.
“Oh, God! Are you allergic to something he cooked with? Why didn’t you say something?!” Nemuri gasped in horror.
“I-I was sure I had no allergy to any- IT ITCHES! IT ITCHES SO MUCH!” the man shrieked while tearing off his shirt to rub the crater All for One left on his body after their fight so roughly he drew blood from the deep nails marks he was digging on his side.
“Calm down, we’ll go to Recovery Girl and-” Nighteye TRIED calming him down, but was forced to hurriedly jump back when his old friend projectile vomited on the floor.
“ GUAAAAAH!” Toshinori felt a taste outrageously awful travel up his throat at high speed, and what actually came out from his mouth to splatter loudly on the floor was a mass of black rotten flesh smelling of decay.
“What the hell is that?!” Aizawa asked.
“Ngh!”
“Oh, God! He is puking again?!” Mic shrieked in horror at seeing him double-over again.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
To their surprise they could actually hear Toshinori’s heartbeat clearly while the man’s eyes bulged-out so much they looked ready to plop out of their sockets as he drew back his head…
And screamed.
“ AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! ” it was a howl worthy of a mighty beast, and under the shocked eyes of his friends, the Pro Hero number 1 All Might made his explosive appearance as Toshinori’s body transformed even faster than usual, but showing even MORE muscles than what he was famous for once done changing.
“ Aah...Aah...Aah… ” Toshinori gasped for breath as thick lines of steam escaped his muscles and mouth, every inch of his body was flushed red while his veins bulge-out to pump his blood with furious power; just by looking at him, in fact, POWER was the first thing that would come to mind.
“You okay?” Nighteye asked, faintly.
“I feel...Good? Okay?...I feel great! GREAT! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” a loud, happy laugh escaped the Pro Hero, strong like thunder as he studied his body in wonder as if seeing his own muscles for the first time.
“I feel so strong! Like back in my youth! How?!” Toshinori asked while studying his clenched fists in awe.
There was no longer the fatigue, the pain, that feeling of a viscous hand squeezing his heart whenever he transformed! He was pretty much back to the days when he first got his Quirk from Nana! Burning with energy and…
“Eh?” That thought gave him pause, actually.
It was not like he could ‘ see’ the power of One for All , there was never some visual clue, it was more a Feeling of it being there, and after passing it to Mirio, he could FEEL that he had been left with just a few dying embers…
THEN WHY THOSE EMBERS HAD NOW TURNED INTO A FUCKING SUPERNOVA?!
“N-No way…” he muttered, shocked.
“Toshinori, transform back before someone notices you.” Aizawa warned him.
“They are already looking for the source of that scream, they will see you any moment.” Mic added.
“R-Right!” still feeling his body ready to explode from the surplus of energy he felt traveling furiously through his veins, Toshinori closed his eyes and focused on himself and dispelled , for the lack of a better term, his ‘ All Might Form’ to return into being his skeletal self.
“...I said to de-transform.” Aizawa said.
“I did it,”
“No you didn’t, you moron!”
“EH?!” opening his eyes to look at himself, the Number 1 Hero saw that he was still the same mountain of muscles.
“I know I did it! The feeling of turning it off was the same as always!” he then said, frustrated.
“I’ll turn it off myself then,” Aizawa answered, rolling his eyes, before activating his Quirk and looking straight at All Might. Only for him to remain the same mountain of muscles that now made Broly look like a wet noodle in comparison.
“Eh?”
“Are you doing something wrong, Shota?” Mic asked, unsure, while Toshinori swiftly moved into a crouch to hide behind Nighteye’s car to not be seen.
“No! I am doing what I always do! His Quirk is just staying active!”
“...Toshinori…” It was then that Nighteye stole a look at the Green Cloud Restaurant to see Izuku standing by the door and looking straight at them with narrowed eyes.
“Yes?”
“I need to use my Quirk on you. I need to check something.” he asked.
“Uh? O-Okay, go on.” the other replied.
A hand-shake later Nighteye locked eyes with All Might to see the man’s future, something he had promised to never again do after foreseeing Toshinori’s death.
To his surprise though the same vision lasted barely a few seconds before turning grey and shattering like glass, same going with the Shadow of Death he had always seen hanging around the man, with enough force to almost split Nighteye’s head in two with the backlash.
“You okay?!” Nemuri asked at seeing a few drops of blood dripping down the man’s nose before he recomposed himself.
“Yes. But, Toshinori, your future changed…” Nighteye said with a low whisper before his head whipped back towards the Restaurant to meet Izuku’s eyes.
“…” The young man merely gave a small bow of his head and flashed a tiny satisfied smirk before swiftly turning around to get back to work with the Restaurant door closing behind him by itself.
“What do you mean, my future changed?”
“We need to talk with Recovery Girl, there is something unnatural going on here. Let’s go!” Nighteye answered while rapidly mounting his car.
“Can you explain it to us normal mortals too then?!” Nemuri asked with a growl while she and the others too got into Aizawa’s car.
“I believe I now know what that System Inc. wants from Midoriya, but I need to have a medical expert confirm my theories first.” Nighteye answered.
Inside the Restaurant -
“…”
“Icchan? You okay?” Inko asked immediately once seen her son become pale as a sheet as soon as he returned inside.
“I-I don’t feel so well,” he admitted while collapsing on a chair.
“IZUKU!” his father and Saito immediately were at his sides to help him sit upright.
“Here, drink this.” Momo was right behind them with a glass of cold water, she too looked worried sick just like Inko and Rei were.
“Let him breathe, give him some space!” Seeing people getting worried, the group of Pros Wild Wild Pussycats switched gear from being goofy friends on a break and back into acting like Professional Heroes that moved to keep the situation under control.
“It’s okay, Chef Icchan! Take a breath and relax. Young or not you can’t overwork yourself!” Tomoko offered with a kind, and incredibly wide, smile.
“I...I am fine…” he tried saying, faintly.
“Not yet, but we are here to help you until you get better.” Mandalay answered, she too offered an encouraging smile.
“He really needs to find a helper, he can’t manage everything alone.” Momo muttered while looking at the full Restaurant in worry, luckily the guests seemed to understand and were not making a fuss about it.
In truth, unknown to them Izuku was worried for a completely different reason.
“ I thought he was going to explode! That scream was not normal!” the young Chef thought in near-hysterical terror.
“ That was fully between predictions, Host Izuku. The overabundance of Life and Vitality Energies inside the dish have saturated All Might’s body up to 400%, cleansing his organism and recharging his Spirit and Vitality, and also rejuvenating his dying Quirk as a Side Effect.”
“...Dying Quirk? He was losing his Quirk?! What kind of illness does that?!” Izuku asked, confused.
“ An artificial tumor-like infection of the blood, Host Izuku. In order for him to expel and repair all the damage left behind by that thing, enormous quantities of Vitality had to be infused. In 24 hours his body will burn through the excess of energy and he will find himself back to what could be called ‘ Youth Days of his Prime’ . Congratulations! Jewel Meat has already been unlocked and several tons of it loaded in the Restaurant Storage Area, it is now possible to request it freely when cooking. Have no fear, just like with every other Ingredient stored by the System, it won’t spoil but remain perfectly fresh.
Success! Thanks to the bonus in Experience Points from the Abrupt Mission, Host Izuku has reached Level 2 on the path to become the God of Cooking of the Hero World! Physical and Mental Stats have increased accordingly and Higher Quality Ingredients can be exchanged with the System. ‘Vitality Cooking Training’ can now be initiated along ‘Advanced Dessert-making Training’. Keep working hard, young man!” the System answered.
“ As long as nothing bad happens...And more things to train in?!...At least they sound interesting.” Izuku muttered with a sigh and finally recovered a bit of color on his face, for everybody’ relief.
UA University – Infirmary - One Hour Later -
A short old woman was looking at the results of her tests while a very ashamed Toshinori, still in muscle form, silently dressed back with a very red face.
Apparently, whatever affected him that much also worked on his... Little Might ...as Recovery Girl, Nezu and the group of friends that took him back to the school had the misfortune to see when he undressed under the woman’s orders.
As soon as Toshinori had remained in his ‘ All Might Printed’ boxers, they all saw the impressive and furious tent he had pitched, causing the great All Might to shriek in shame and cover himself while hiding in a corner.
“Well, the little show you gave us was already a good telling…” Recovery Girl started saying.
“You had Erectile Dysfunction?! That’s why you and Ryukyu-”
“MIC!” Toshinori shrieked back in high octaves, silencing the guy.
“You and Ryukyu? AH! I knew it!” Nemuri exclaimed, guffawing.
“As I was saying!” the old woman roared angrily enough to silence the people in her office.
“Your awakening down there was already a telling sight of something changing inside your body, but the blood test I took right after confirmed it: you have healed. Every reading has been shot way off the chart, but everything seems to be slowly stabilizing already.” she said.
“Healed? As in...I am free?” Toshinori asked with a small voice.
“I double-checked and used that rotten piece of flesh you brought along for cross-reference. Whatever they did to you, your body expelled that thing by itself and is at the moment healing all the damage at an insane rate. I will keep checking, but I am pretty much certain you defeated that thing. You won , so to speak.” Recovery Girl answered.
“And his Quirk?” Nighteye asked.
“What about it? It’s still there, maybe it is just reacting with your Cure and will probably settle down soon. What have you done exactly? I hope you did not take any experimental medicines without a proper Doctor following you!” she answered, before looking at him with narrowed eyes.
“Well...You see…” Toshinori said, unsure.
“TOSHI!” the woman yelled in disappointment.
“Ow, come on! He just had some fish! Don’t be so melodramatic,” Mic exclaimed in annoyance.
“Fish?” she blurted-out, confused.
“MIC!” Nezu groaned in disbelief.
“Ah!...Ops?” the man offered with a forced and guilty smile.
“God, you have the same ability of a five-years-old when it comes to keeping secrets.” Aizawa muttered, facepalming.
“How could an idiot like you make it to Pro Hero status?” Nemuri added.
“Details. NOW!” Recovery Girl hissed.
Sigh! “I will be the one explaining, if you don’t mind, at least like that I will also offer few theories about it, maybe together we’ll be able to understand what is happening.” Nighteye answered, sighing in dismay.
As the System predicted, Toshinori’s miraculous recovery and the resurrection of his Quirk caused the staff of AU to put Izuku fully in their radar, something that made the young Chef momentarily stop his night training to sigh in dismay once the Entity delivered him the news Heroes too other than Villains were growing interested in him.
He just wanted to manage his Restaurant! Was it SO HARD to ask?
Completely unaware of the full ‘Range’ of his own ability to attract troubles, he was also oblivious that Ochako Uraraka happened to read his AD on the local newspaper where the young Chef listed what he looked for in a Waiter or Waitress for his Restaurant, with the girl deciding to give it a try both for some extra cash to help her family along…AND to ‘ Test the Waters’ and know the Chef better.
“It should be a harmless-enough way to see if he DOES have feelings for me, and if I can possibly return them or not…” Ochako muttered, unsure.
(Author Explains Corner : The Villain Spy basically had a Quirk similar to Daredevil’s Superpower as shown in the Ben Affleck Movie.
Blackie is not a Gourmet World Animal like the ones Toriko and friends have as Partner, He is the Son of Blacky , one of the characters of the Chinese Novel: Gourmet of Another World. )
( Chicken Curry <3 )
Chapter 7: Izuku's Wrath! Inoshiki Assault Arc. Part 1
Summary:
Enough! Izuku has finally grow tired of the bullying from Samui's Chef friends! It is time for our Green-Haired Genius Chef to counterattack! STarting from Inoshiki Chef Academy, the Private University for aspiring Chefs and its Rector, one of Samui's friends and once a judge of the Cooking COmpetition where everything started!
Notes:
First part of one of Izuku's personal Arcs centered around his fight against Samui and his Chef friends, among other things. I hope you enjoy.
Chapter Text
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/Nejire
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor do I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
If you read this, the Chapter has been fixed by my Beta-Reader Dmale, my savior and possessor of BigDick Chad energy that managed to fix my story into proper English.
Thank you, my man! 🙂
Chapter7: Izuku's Wrath! Inoshiki Assault Arc. Part 1
Number 4 Yavin Street – Green Cloud Restaurant -
It was just another morning for Izuku, he woke-up at dawn, trained hard his cooking skills following the System’s training regimen, sent a ‘ Good Morning’ message to Momo and then prepared the spicy beef noodles for Blackie before giving a rapid clean-up to the restaurant before opening for business starting with his Breakfast Service, soon filling the Main Room in the amazing scent of croissants, cupcakes and freshly-ground coffee. And the latter was a joy for a coffee-junkie like Izuku, he had at his beck and call over a hundred different kinds of coffee to use, something that made him VERY happy.
Another thing that made him happy was not only the Jewel Meat already becoming a Cult Classic of Yavin Street with ‘Meat Experts’ clamoring to have more, Izuku actually found a Waitress! He finally found a GOOD one!
Miss Ochako was a dear friend of Momo the young woman assured was a very bright girl, in fact he could testify how young Uraraka had took the job seriously from the get-go: she was fast in delivering dishes and recovering the empty plates, she needed only a week to memorize most of the menu and was quick on the math for the customers bills and even faster to stop Dine-N-Dashers , even her Quirk was incredibly useful to deliver more dishes at once in a single trip!
Three days a week was all the time UA and her own Hero Training left her as free time for the job, but compared to nothing at all, the young Chef gladly accepted the extra help, especially since those three days covered the weekends where the influx of customers was the highest.
She was even chatty and curious about him personally! ( And didn’t mind Izuku’s numerous questions about her Quirk and the Hero Course in general), she actually looked like she was eager to be his friend!
So, yes, there were now many things that made sure Izuku could be outrageously happy while working lately!
Unfortunately that morning there was instead something that made him a bit less happy: seeing Toshinori, in his All Might Persona , enter his Restaurant as soon as he opened while wearing a yellow-striped suit that would make Fashion Designers everywhere gouge-out their eyes.
“Yes? Here again? This is the second time this week.” he asked, a professional smile still present but clearly not reaching his eyes. Now he really felt like he needed Uraraka as a filter of sorts between him and the man or his old Partner Sir Nighteye, too bad it was Monday so Ochako could not be there to ‘take the bullet’ for her Boss.
“Ehm...Uhm... Parlay ?” the Pro Hero tried asking with a nervous smile.
“You mean the ‘ Let’s put aside hostilities and talk like civilized people’ thing?” Izuku asked, sighing.
“That one.”
“...Get in.” he answered after taking a HUGE breath and pinching the bridge of his nose.
Having sensed the hostility still lingering about and took a table on the far back under one of the Restaurant’s infamous ‘Quiet Trees ’, Toshinori took a deep breath himself and addressed the core of the matter.
“Do you hate me?” he asked, bluntly.
“Hate is a strong word.”
“Do you?”
“...No.”
“You wouldn’t have helped me if you did, I see.”
“Not really.”
“Uh?”
“To my shame, I mostly did it to show you and your Hero friends that even as a Chef I CAN change the world if I want to, but I did save you and changed your future with my dish all the same, didn’t I?” the young Chef asked.
“So you knew?” Toshinori asked.
“About Sir Nighteye’s prediction and how it got shattered? Yes, I was told by him during one of his NUMEROUS visits after your recovery. Same going with your dying Quirk, is it back to normal now?”
“…” that gave All Might a pause, he had felt One for All return to full power even after his passing it to Mirio after eating Izuku’s food, but at the beginning he had thought it was merely a temporary thing, but instead it looked like the young Chef in front of him forcefully moved Time backwards for All Might’s body and Quirk, a testament of which was the fact that now between ‘Toshinori’ and ‘All Might’ there wasn’t much difference in muscles sizes.
Toshinori’s body and Quirk were now back to what he was before that fateful battle against All for One, as if nothing ever happened, and he could not understand HOW the boy did that.
“My Quirk was supposed to fade away, but you resurrected it, and me with it...How?”
“Good food and skills. Why do you say your Quirk was supposed to fade away?” Izuku asked back.
“I...I am sorry, I can’t tell you.”
“Then I can’t tell you how my Abilities work. Sorry but as it stands your Secrets are not more important than mine.” Izuku answered while moving away to welcome a new duo of Customers.
“Chef Izuku! The usual!” the blond woman in Hero Costume asked.
“Sorry for bothering you as soon as you opened, but she gets crankier than usual without her breakfast,” her masked companion added, sighing.
“No problems for me, I am always happy to serve my customers! I also got the chocolate cake out of the fridge before opening so it is now soft just how you like it. Does Miss Mt. Lady want some together with her coffee?” Izuku answered, this time with an honest happy smile.
“Yes, Miss Mt. Lady would love that.” the woman replied with a cheeky smile.
“Me too, if you don’t mind.” Kamui Woods added, shrugging.
“I’ll be with you in a moment,” he answered before walking away.
“Good Morning.” Toshinori said once seen the two sit close-by.
“First you get that Villain before me and now you want to steal my breakfast?” Mt. Lady hissed in contempt.
“I told you that I didn’t want to steal anybody’s job , I was just passing by when I saw Headgear taking hostages.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” she answered, making Kamui Woods shake his head in dismay at her manners.
One after another, more customers came and went, and Toshinori had a first row seat on seeing the boy managing the tables by himself while also cooking and recovering the empty plates, working tirelessly and yet exchanging smiles and jokes with the Regular Guests of his Restaurant...Except with him.
“Rumi-sa-”
“Rumi-chan! Chan! It’s not that hard!” the bunny girl said with a mock glare.
“Rumi-chan...I CAN’T be your plate, that would be hardly hygienic. And also highly unprofessional” Izuku answered.
“But it would make ‘ licking the plate clean’ so much better!” she replied.
“T-T-That too would be bad!”
“Afraid of getting hard?” she asked with a knowing smirk.
“...Among other things,” he admitted.
“I swear I won’t mind if that happens,” Rumi promised while purposely passing her tongue extra slowly on her lips to turn them glistening.
“I would mind, instead. I would mind it A LOT!” Momo chose that moment to make her presence known, and actually sitting in front of Rumi at the same table.
“Momo?” Izuku asked.
“Took a little detour for a cup of coffee and a good morning, and I am glad I did it. Don’t worry, I will deal with her myself.” she answered, and turning just a bit smug at the kiss on the cheek she got from the young Chef before he left their table.
“This means nothing.” Rumi hissed.
“What do you want from him? Is he another notch to put on your belt?”
“What the hell do you think I am, uh ?!” the bunny girl asked with a growl.
“Somebody coming here daily at random intervals to molest him. He is trying to do his job and doesn’t need a horny rabbit clinging to his leg.”
“HOW DARE YOU!?”
“What is his favorite color? Least liked movies? His mother’s name? What’s his dream? His worst fear?” Momo asked with a calm tone, opposite to Rumi’s own furious one.
“…”
“I know many things about him and will learn even more because I am honestly interested in him, just like he is interested in me and is slowly learning more about me. On the contrary, you just want him the same way a spoiled toddler wants a new Toy. I am learning to know him, the Good and the Bad, just like he is doing with me...And You? Do you know ANYTHING about him? What do you want from him, really?”
“…” the bunny girl simply sat down at that.
“Thought so. He is just a new pass-time until you grow bored and find something else to keep you entertained, well, I won’t let that happen.” Momo declared, firmly.
“And what if I am serious about him?”
“Have you two met outside the Restaurant? Have you exchanged something more than a polite greeting? Talked together? Laughed together? Shared common interests? I think not. You just come here, make some crass jokes, unashamedly flirt with him to get him embarrassed and then leave. Sorry but no relationship can be born just from Teasing and Flirting , no matter what your favourite Shojo Manga may suggest.”
“And you did all that instead?!” Rumi asked with a challenging tone.
“Yes.”
“Uh?!”
“We go on dates, talk on the phone, he visits my home to teach my mother how to cook and I visit his parents home to spend some time with him and his family. We have already argued and made peace twice this week, we have officially been together. We kissed? Yes. We just embraced and enjoyed each other's company in silence? Yes! I got his head on my lap and my head on his plenty of times too! We are CLOSE , something fundamental to develop a relationship. Do you understand the difference between us then?”
“…” It was clear Rumi was angry, and yet tears too were mounting in her eyes, if from her rage or something else thought was known only to the bunny girl herself.
“This means nothing! NOTHING! And I’ll prove it to you.” she hissed in answer, eyes full of animal fury.
“How? Let’s hear.”
“By stealing him away from you. You make him happy? Well, I’ll make him happier! If I had ANY doubt about courting him or not, thanks to you I got my head straight, he will be MINE!” she declared before marching away.
“Over my cold dead body, Usagiyama!” Momo growled back.
“Don’t tempt me, Yaoyorozu!” the other answered, slamming the door closed and disappearing around the corner.
“...What happened?” Izuku asked, he had just left the kitchen to bring Momo her breakfast to witness the bunny girl storming off.
“Just a fool fighting a losing battle, don’t worry.” she replied with a gentle, sweet smile while accepting her coffee and croissant.
“Oookay? Just don’t get hurt, please.” Izuku begged, worried.
“Don’t worry, if somebody gets hurt, that won’t be ME, promise.” she answered.
“That does not reassure me, truth be told.” he admitted while walking towards All Might to deliver the man’s ‘ American Style Breakfast’ he had ordered, mountain of pancakes included.
“My God...I missed you, my old friends…” Toshinori admitted with teary eyes while looking at the waterfall of syrup covering the small mountain of pancakes from top to bottom, then at the roasted sausages, at the crunchy bacon, at the sunny-side-up eggs and at the HUGE pitcher of chilled orange juice in front of himself.
“The Oranges are freshly squeezed...Imported from Sicily...Please enjoy your meal.” the young Chef said mechanically.
“I am really here to make peace, young Midoriya.” Toshinori said with a sad smile.
Sigh! “Fine. I don’t have a Quirk, Toshinori-san. It’s another set of abilities that I have trained very hard for. I can’t say anymore.” Izuku whispered with a tired sigh.
“ Hn !? '' The Pro Hero almost choked on his food at that admission.
“What about you?” the Chef asked.
“...I am sorry, I can’t tell you.”
“Hypocrite.”
“I-” whatever excuse Toshinori was about to use died in his throat when he saw the young man’s eyes lose focus and then bulge-out once he finished listening to whatever distracted him.
“...You GAVE your Quirk to somebody else?!” Izuku asked between clenched teeth.
“How do you know that?!” All Might asked in horror, it was mere luck they were talking with hushed tones and nobody heard them.
“Shut up. You said a Quirkless Hero was impossible even while having a way to MAKE IT possible all this time?! Good God! WHY?!”
“Listen, the situation is a bit more complex than-”
“What? Did Mirio suck you off in exchange?! Did he sleep with you?! Did he take up his ass or something?!” Izuku said with a hiss.
“I did not sleep with him! WAIT! You even know his name?!” This time Toshinori actually shrieked loud enough that everybody turned to look at them.
“For the love of... ARGH! I will go back to my job before I say or do something I will regret! And you should thank GOD I respect my Ingredients so much, or spitting on your plate every time you come here would be the NICEST thing I do to you! Hypocrite! Liar! Betrayer! PIECE OF...No, my mother taught me better than this…” Izuku’s angry tirade was legendary, enough to shock the other customers at the rare scene, but the young Chef actually stopped himself before cursing for real, he just gave a strong kick to Toshinori’s shin before marching back towards his kitchen and leaving behind the famous Hero All Might crying in pain while nursing his abused leg.
“Okay! Back to square one! He still is unhappy with me!” Toshinori declared to himself with a wince.
His second visit to the Restaurant after he confirmed his full recovery didn’t go as well as he had planned for, and only made it clear that the Universe had stacked the deck against him! And he didn’t even have the chance to ask the young Chef the questions Recovery Girl demanded Toshinori to ask! The Pro Hero just KNEW the ‘pint sized’ Medic will pretty much go ballistic once learned of his failure.
“Did you make him dirty, All Might?” Tsukauchi asked as soon as he and a few of his colleagues entered the place to see the Pro Hero in his current predicament.
“Is it that obvious?”
“A bit, but you are still in the clear, you have not been stripped by Whitey, after all.” the Detective answered, amused.
“Yeah...Small mercy that…” Toshinori replied in sarcasm while watching the chubby robot peek inside the room to keep things in check and run a thumb along its neck in a threatening manner once it locked eyes with the Pro Hero, although what worried Toshinori the most was seeing the black Lord Dog outside take a glance inside for a moment to send a glare at the Pro Hero.
BANG!
In that moment every noise in the Restaurant died when four burly young men wearing cheap plastic face-masks and armed with crowbars and a gasoline tank barged in.
“Okay, assholes, out! We are here to teach some Useless Quirkless Trash that there is no...Place...For him here…” the Boss of the quartet started barking orders as soon as they all got in, and only THEN finally noticing who exactly was he yelling at while brandishing his crowbar:
Detective Tsukauchi himself, accompanied by four MASSIVE officers in full Police Force attire.
The ninja Pro Hero Edgeshot together with the Pro Hero Ingenium, both with their chopsticks mid-way to their mouth for their very first bite of long-awaited breakfast.
The retired and converted to quasi-good Mexican Villain ‘El Macho’ that had come to visit his daughter, a Hero Student at Ketsubutsu University and already known in the city as ‘Miss Pain’. With them there was also Pro Hero ‘Miss Joke’ acting as a guest in that breakfast meeting between father and daughter to talk about the girl’s school results and future Apprenticeship.
A duo of undercover agents from I-Island that were using the excuse of them keeping tabs on Izuku to have some good breakfast. One of which with a Quirk generating lightning from his closed fists and a penchant for testicle-punching.
The Pro Hero Hawks that was standing in a corner waiting for a table to get free.
Momo that had already created a thick police baton with her Quirk and looked ready to start bashing heads.
And last, but not least important: All Might himself.
They all were looking at the Hooligans while slowly getting up from their seats if they were sitting at a table, and all of them were PISSED beyond belief.
“Troublemakers will be stripped as an example to others!” when Whitey too made his appearance from the kitchen flashing red eyes and zero mercy, the hooligans understood they were in trouble.
“FUCK! SCATTER!” At their Leader’s order the very scared grunts did the smart thing and bolted out of the restaurant to board the car waiting for them with the engine already warm so as to get away at high speed.
“Get them!” one of the Police Officers yelled, but before the group could give chase, Izuku stopped them.
“No need.” He said.
“Uh?”
“They are not worthy of you all abandoning your breakfast. I got Whitey for this sort of bullies.”
“But they-”
“Whitey, fetch.” Izuku ordered while patting the Robot’s soft belly.
“Understood!” the robot answered while the Restaurant door opened by itself.
BANG!
To the present’s surprise the chubby robot simply blurred away at insane speed soon followed by the noise of the Sound Barrier being torn to shreds by a speeding body.
“Please return to your breakfast, and as an apology for this inconvenience, the first coffee refill will be on me this time.” Izuku offered with a bow and a gentle smile.
“Relax, guys, that robot has everything under control!” The undercover agents from I-Island reassured the others while returning to their table with a knowing smile etched on their faces.
“Oh, yeah! They are screwed.”
With Whitey -
WRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!
The sports car the five guys had rented for their escape was roaring at full throttle as they tried escaping from the fat robot, which instead was rapidly gaining terrain on them while running with heavy, thumping steps.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
“FASTER! FASTER!”
“I AM TRYING!” The driver shrieked in answer, and using all her abilities to take a daring turn so suddenly the car went briefly on two wheels before slamming back down on all four to sprint away.
BANG!
“WHAT THE FUCK?!” to their horror as soon as the actually turned the corner Whitey was already waiting for them to grab the front of the car and abruptly stop them, with the back wheels of the car spinning in place so fast the tires looked ready to catch fire.
“Troublemakers will be stripped as an example to others!” Whitey declared loudly, thing that made the people around them in the area grow horrified at the strange threat.
“LET US GO!” the Leader of the gang yelled.
“No.” was the robot’s answer as his grip on the car’s front tightened, and with a mighty pull of his big hands, the entire vehicle went torn in half as if made of tissue paper, making the five hooligans fall sitting on the street with bulged-out eyes.
“Beginning Stripping Protocol!” Whitey said once thrown away the two car halves while walking towards the five with heavy steps.
“Fuck off! Knife Hand!” one of the guys said while activating his Quirk and turning his fingers into dagger-long blades.
SLAP! BANG! STRIIIIP!
Unfazed by the incoming attack, Whitey gave a downward slap to the guy that slammed him head-first on the concrete hard enough to knock the jock unconscious instantly, and once sure he was not moving, the robot grabbed the back of the guy’s clothes and pulled, tearing those to shreds and letting the unconscious young man still in his boxers fly away and land on the near walkway.
“One down, four remaining.”
“STAY AWAY! DEVIL’S LEG! ” another said, igniting his leg on fire thanks to his Heat-Controlling Quirk to deliver a flaming spin kick to Whitey’s head.
“...Troublemakers will be stripped as an example to others. ” The plump robot simply took the attack head-on without a scratch or his head moving at all, he just looked at the attacker straight in the eyes, unfazed.
“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU MADE OF?!” the guy shrieked in Horror, but his only answer was a back-handed slap that knocked him out for Whitey to strip down right after, too bad the guy decided THAT DAY was a good day to go commando .
“Three Troublemakers remaining.” Whitey declared once thrown the second fainted hooligan on top of the first.
“Together, brother!”
“Yeah!”
“MAGNETIC TWISTE- GUEH! ” before the two twins could actually initiate their combo attack ( they both had a Magnetic Quirk, one brother had a Positive Pole, the other a Negative Pole.), Whitey simply opted for flash-stepping in front of them and smash their heads together a couple times until they too fainted. Then he stripped them and threw them on the pile.
“One Troublemaker remaining.” he then said as his red eyes landed on the only girl of the group possessing a Quirk making her a Human-Cheetah hybrid.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” screaming in terror, the young woman showed her enhanced speed by turning around and running as fast as she could.
“No escape.” the robot was unimpressed, and simply pointing his right closed fist at her, the entire arm detached at the elbow and shoot forward like a missile to immediately grab her ankle and start pulling her beck towards Whitey.
“AAAAAAH! NO! NO! PLEASE NO! ANYTHING BUT THAT! I’LL TALK! I’LL TALK! I’LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING! PLEASE! PLEASE! AAAAAAAH!” reduced to a blabbing mess crying in hysteria, the last masked hooligan clawed in despair on the floor as she was rapidly dragged back, gaining her many looks of sympathy as bystanders started begging Whitey to show mercy.
“Troublemakers must be stripped as an example to others.” Whitey answered as soon as his arm reconnected and his hand grabbed her by the collar.
“I’LL TALK! I’LL TELL YOU WHO SENT US! OTHERS TOLD US TO DO THIS! I SWEAR I AM INNOCENT! I HAD NO CHOICE!” the young woman begged while crying heavily, snot and tears drenching her face mask.
“...I am Listening.” Whitey said after a long pause that almost scared the woman to death, then his eyes turned from red to white and the robot just observed her.
“I will talk...I swear I will talk...I am innocent...They said I would have been kicked-out if I didn’t do this.” the girl babbled and hiccuped heavily.
“Troublemakers will be taken back to the Restaurant for questioning. Any resistance will be met with extreme prejudice.” Whitey declared while moving the girl on his right shoulder and holding the other unconscious men under his left arm.
“Yes!” the woman shrieked in answer.
BOOM!
Once again a loud sound blared around the robot as the thing dashed away at high speed to return to Izuku, leaving behind a shocked audience of passerby, one of which a young woman by the name Mei Hatsume that was looking longingly at the robot in badly-restrained need to disassemble it to learn how it worked.
Not too far away a hidden spy of the League of Villains that happened to be in the area to kidnap Tomoko of the Wild Wild Pussycats was instead cursing the robot’s existence, because half of the hooligans’ car Whitey threw away actually landed on him before he could do the deed and overpower her in that empty hallway, and by the looks the young green-haired woman was throwing at him now that she was free of his hold on her, the lackey just KNEW the car wreckage that smashed his legs will be the least of his worries, especially once he’d seen the furious intent the famous Ragdoll was cracking her knuckles with.
Had someone seen it, the Old School Beat-down the Pro Hero administered on her wanna-be kidnapper would have gone down in history for its raw brutality, unfortunately for the guy nobody saw them, and the lack of witnesses meant Tomoko could go as much heavy-handed as she wanted on the guy while tenderizing him.
All for One won’t like to discover that because of Whitey, both the Wild Wild Pussycats and several other Pro Heroes now knew he was interested in capturing Ragdoll .
The Villain was starting to really dislike that accursed Quirkless Chef...
While Tomoko was brutalizing the Villain with a brick – Green Cloud Restaurant -
The Customers were indeed surprised to see Whitey return just a couple minutes after his departure while carrying the unconscious hooligans like sacks of potatoes the robot just threw on the floor once inside.
“Troublemakers captured. The female one is willing to talk. ” the robot explained.
“Really? Okay, then. Why did you try to destroy this place? Let’s hear.” Tsukauchi asked while he and his colleagues cuffed them all.
“Yamato! Rector Yamato sent us! She said that if we didn’t smash this place and forced the Chef to stop cooking she would have failed us all! I swear! She sent us! The others did it for fun because he is just a Quirkless, but I had no other choice! I am in Inoshiki Academy with a scholarship, I need that to keep studying!” the young woman said immediately while eyeing Whitey in fear.
“No lies detected.” Whitey informed the Detective.
“The Rector of Inoshiki Academy…” Izuku muttered with a cold tone.
“Yes, I can tell she is not lying.” Tsukauchi answered.
“The Rector is called Yamato Kurogawa if I am not mistaken,” one of the Officers said.
“Why did she want this place gone?” Miss Joke asked, confused.
“Because I scared her precious friend Samui with my skills during a small cooking competition they both were in as Judges…” Izuku answered, and many of the present felt a chill crawl up their spines at the absolute lack of humanity in the Chef’s voice.
“First they tried burning down my Restaurant, then to contaminate the water, then they tried sending cockroaches and rats and THEN they bribed Health Inspectors and Food Critics to force me to close!” the young Chef hissed while pulling away her mask so as to better glare at the young woman.
“Grrrr!”
When the Appetite Demon appeared behind him to growl at the cheetah girl, Izuku’s glare grew tenfold in intensity, soon making her pale to unhealthy levels.
“Do you have proof of all that?” Tsukauchi asked, tense, and ready to intervene should things escalate between the two.
“Of course I don’t, I don’t need to tell you that they were smart enough to not leave behind anything leading back to them,”
“No, it’s very likely they covered their traces, and even should SHE confess, they will probably throw her under the bus and say she was just trying to blame them to save herself.” the Detective answered, sighing.
“ Host is rightfully furious about this new attack. It is time to move on the offensive and teach the Enemy the True Horror of the future God of Cooking of the Hero World and his rage! "
Abrupt Mission:
Challenge the 5 best students of Inoshiki Academy in a cooking Contest and defeat them.
Challenge the 4 Best Teachers of Inoshiki Academy and its Rector in a Cooking Contest and defeat them.
Reward: 10% Bonus on Experience points and 1 Fragment of the God of Cooking Set .
Special Reward for completing 5 Cooking Challenges in a single day: Time-Elapsing Cabinet .
Everything put in that cabinet to marinate, decanter, ferment or freeze will do so at an accelerated rate up to one hundred times faster.
"You have 1 month to complete the Mission, work hard and destroy your competition, Young Man!” The System instructed as soon as Izuku’s anger reached the peak, and the fanged smile that almost split his face in two actually made the bound cheetah girl pee herself, if one watched the big wet spot that appeared on the front of her pants.
“Very well. If they want War, I will give them War...You are a student of Inoshiki Academy, yes?” he asked.
“Y-Y-YESSIR!” the young woman replied, nodding as fast as her neck could let her.
“Good. I want you to go back and give a message to your rector Yamato Kurogawa: in exactly seven days I will pay your University a visit. I want to challenge your 5 Best Students and the 5 Best Teachers, one of which will be Yamato herself, to a Cooking Duel. IF they win I will close my Restaurant forever, but if I win, they will leave me alone and stop bothering me. Can you do this for me?” Izuku asked.
“Y-Yes! But I-I don’t know if they will accept!”
“It’s either that or him taking this to court, I too will personally vouch for him in court if he needs,” Toshinori tried saying, clearly disappointed in such Villainous tactics being used.
“All of the present will testify as well!” Miss Joke added, arms crossed with a frown on her face, many around the room nodded as well.
“O-Okay.” the cheetah girl said, weakly, while being helped to stand thanks to Tsukauchi pulling on her arm.
“Very good, while my colleagues take your friends to jail for attempted acts of vandalism and assault, me and you will go deliver this fancy little challenge, THEN you will join them, okay?” the Detective said.
“Yes, sir...I-I am sorry.” she answered, crying once again.
Sigh! “We’ll be gentle in your case, since they forced you to be the driver for this idiotic farce, let’s go.” he answered with a sigh of dismay while he and the other agents, begrudgingly, left the Restaurant after barely having had enough time to actually drink their coffee.
While this happened, the two undercover agents sent a message to I-Island telling them what happened to one of their ‘Darlings’ and about the Cooking Challenge, this in turn angered the Old Man enough he himself made a couple phone calls to make sure those guys DID accept the Challenge and took it seriously.
“Are you sure you want to do this? Inoshiki is one of the premiere schools for Chefs, you told me so yourself.” Momo asked, worried.
“This is the last chance for them to close this feud they have against me in a civilized manner, after this, I will either send Whitey or Blackie to deal with them, depending on how hard they spit on my offer of peace.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“Blackie?” the young woman muttered while stealing a glance at the Lord Dog sleeping outside.
“Wouldn’t that mean sending a nuke towards them?” she asked in dread.
“As a last resort, I am no bully. I just want them to leave me alone, but they keep pushing and threatening me. I am just returning the favour.” he answered with a tiny smile.
“Just don’t overdo it, okay?”
“I won’t, Momo.”
Thunk!
It was then that Whitey walked inside the kitchen and brought out a big squared wooden cabinet made in lacquered dark reddish wood giving-off a faint and pleasant flowery smell, the thing was decorated with cloud carvings and hinges and corner covers were made in shining bronze.
“Host please collect a knife from each Chef defeated and put it here, as a reminder of your Skills.” Whitey repeated the System’s words while opening both doors of the thing to show the various empty hooks inside.
“Taking Trophies may be a bit too harsh though.” Toshinori commented, unsure.
“It is not my fault if we came to this, I am just taking a knife with their names written on it as a reminder of my victory, as a way for me to feel pride for my skills, they will still be able to study and all, I am not crippling them.” Izuku answered while caressing the thing.
“Okay, I will do it.” he then said aloud, who heard him thought he was accepting the cabinet suggestion, in reality the young Chef was accepting the abrupt Mission of the System.
“Understood.” Whitey said before taking the wooden cabinet and mounting it on the wall next to the small window connecting kitchen to Main Hall, it was still empty, but many wondered how many knives will one day fill it since there were a lot of knife-holding hooks ready to be used.
After that, the Customers present that had already eaten left so that others could fill the Main room of the Green Cloud Restaurant and have their breakfast, and among the ones leaving, many were already telling their friends what had happened, and those friends told their friends, who told their friends and so on, soon spreading the rumor of a lone Chef moving a personal crusade against his enemies.
A Week Later – Inoshiki Academy – Main Cooking Classroom -
The Rector of the private university for aspiring Chefs, Yamato Kugogawa, was a middle-aged woman in her sixties with her hair in a very strict chignon and wearing her old Chef Attire with the utmost pride, the thing was also still sporting the three Stars she had added to the small pocket over her heart when in her youth she had gained the third Michelin Star for her personal Restaurant, nowadays owned and directed by her son himself, he too present to help her face Izuku’s challenge.
The Woman was now marching between the seats of the full kitchen/class and admiring the twenty students there, especially the five that were placed in the first row and puffing their chest out I pride.
“I won’t sugar-coat it. The guy that challenged our School’s pride is a Monster , somebody with unnatural cooking talent that popped-out from the woodwork like the Nightmare he is. He openly challenged our 5 Kings and our 4 best Teachers, and myself, to a cooking showdown.” the woman said before walking back towards her desk to look in the eyes of the students in front of her.
“Normally I would have laughed at this preposterous Challenge, especially so since he is also a Quirkless, but other than astounding Talent, the little bastard has powerful Friends backing him too, and after an incident where four of our EX Students forced a fifth to act as their driver while they went to Punish him for some inane reason, we risk being dragged to court for a case of Assault that will simply destroy us if we don’t go along and accept this Challenge of his.” she then said, barely hiding her anger at remembering how the MORONS she sent on such a simple Mission to scare a Quirkless had failed so hard ALL MIGHT of all people was ready to intervene in what could be the greatest PR nightmare she had ever seen, second only to when those Paparazzi caught her father basking a still-alive turkey with his dick, that had been a nightmare and a half to cover.
“Why us?” one of the five best students of Inoshiki (the 5 Kings) asked.
“Because those idiots tried saying WE sent them to demolish the Restaurant and beat the stuffing out of that boy, and since I DO have a past with that Chef, due to common acquaintances, it wouldn’t be hard for him to twist things in a way that makes ALL OF US look like the Villains, and that means both Students and Teachers will have their reputation tarnished forever, and I will be caught dead before that happens!” she answered, and the class gave a loud roar of appreciation to her words.
“Good to see you all motivated! This is what we will do. We accepted the Challenge and will play nice while following the rules we both agreed on: he and us will use the same Ingredients and the same appliances to cook and the best Dish and Chef wins, simple as that.
There is a catch: if HE wins, he will take one of your knives as a trophy and pretend the loser to write their name on the blade as a reminder, but if he loses, he will actually close his Restaurant forever. We only need ONE of you to defeat him, so do your best!” the old woman instructed.
“We’ll destroy him, Madame!” the girl ranked number 1 of the 5 Kings answered immediately.
“I hope so. Now, head count, Kings!” Yamato’s son gave a barking order.
“Number 5: Meat King! Toshio, present!” a chubby boy with fiery red hair said while stepping forward.
“Number 4: Fish King! Sadao, present!” a lean girl with long lime-green hair walked forward next, eyes narrowed into slits.
“Number 3: Dessert King! Michiko, present!” A short girl with blotchy cheeks and a dozen purple tentacles for hair said right after while adjusting her thick glasses.
“Number 2: Vegetable King! Takeo, present!” an extremely tall young man with broad shoulders and muscled body answered next, his voice loud like thunder. Many girls in the class swoon HARD once heard him, as always whenever he talked.
“Number 1: Soup King! Mako, present!” The last one was a tall girl of incomparable beauty, white hair and grey eyes able to freeze the blood of whoever she looked at, she was just as beautiful as she was cold and merciless. This time it was the male half of the class to simp loudly for her.
“You all trained and studied extra hard these seven days, do not disappoint me.” Yamato ordered with a low voice.
“Never, Madame!” the five students replied as one.
“ Attention please! All students be advised... He is here. ” a young voice was heard saying gravely from the speakers inside the classroom, just like from every other speaker around the University, and that message caused a deep silence to befall on the entire campus.
“Tell Professor Kuroi to bring him here, it’s time to start.” Yamato asked her son with a tense tone.
“I’ll do it, and I will also alert the Teachers you have chosen and tell them to be ready, just in case.” the young man answered before hurrying out.
“Thank you. You others, take position and take this Challenge seriously, treat it like a fight with your Life on the line.”
“Of course, madame.” the 5 Kings answered as one.
University Entrance -
Izuku was looking at the wide and opulent entrance garden leading to the majestic gate of the building proper, and declaring whoever built the place to be an avid Rom-Com Manga reader, because the entire path towards the entrance had at both sides two long rows of giant cherry trees, meaning that during the right season pink petals would fall everywhere around the students in a very cliché way during their entire walk to the entrance.
“Now I understand what the Main Character of a 90s Manga feels like…Should I run through it with toast dangling from my mouth, I wonder?” Sigh! “Let’s go, Whitey.”
Giving a gentle pat on the robot’s soft belly behind him, Whitey was also carrying on his back the wooden knife cabinet, Izuku lightly slapped his own cheeks and marched forward towards the lanky man in expensive suit waiting for him.
“Midoriya?” the man said as soon as the young Chef reached him.
“Uh-hu.”
“Follow me.” the teacher answered before walking away with a brisk pace.
“ Eagle 1, I have a clear view of Subject 37 . I will follow him from outside, over.`` A small drone also followed the duo from outside thanks to the ample windows in the corridors.
Inside -
“Mimic 3, I see them . They are going to Classroom 7, over. ” the guy pretending to be one of the janitors said to the hidden microphone inside the broom in his hands.
“ Understood. Here is Minimize, I will shrink myself to ant size and enter the room. I will record everything but go radio silent. Over. ” another spy of I-Island answered with a nod before activating his Quirk and shrinking down to the size of an ant to pass under the door and spy on Izuku’s challenge.
“Attention to all posts, be ready for forceful extraction should those Morons try anything. Over.” the Old Man guiding the operation ordered.
“ Yessir!”
Inside the classroom -
“ Miss Rei, your friend just entered, what do I do? ” one of the girls in the back stealthily wrote on her phone as soon as Izuku got in.
“ Keep an eye on Icchan for me, and send me a call should things go south. Your mother and I will come to recover him and you in a matter of minutes, so just buy us time in case of an emergency. ” Rei Yaoyorozu texted back.
“ Ok. ” the girl replied, rapidly hiding her phone before anybody could catch her.
“Good evening,” Izuku said with a formal bow towards the old woman.
“Good Evening. This Challenge was a bit of a show of strength, and not a very refined one.” Yamato said with a cold tone.
“There was no other choice, you and your little friends glued your derrieres on top of a pedestal and started attacking me as soon as your poor friend Samui got scared of competition. If good manners don’t work, I will use strength. I won’t be bullied.” He whispered while presenting his hand to her.
“Listen here, you little upstart sh- EEEK !” making the mistake of shaking his hand, the old woman felt a hydraulic press threaten to turn her bones to dust when his hand almost squashed hers to stop her cussing, although the merciless light in his eyes came right after to silence her subtle shriek as well. No Human should have those eyes.
“First your students, then your teachers, then you. You caused this, not me.” he answered before walking towards his own cooking station to check it.
“ No tampering has been detected, Host Izuku. You can give your all.” the System informed him while Whitey swept the room with red eyes and then settling in a corner of the room to observe everything.
“Whenever you want, I am ready.” Izuku said while tying a green bandanna on his head.
“You’ll have to work your way up, kiddo! But while I may be the fifth, I am still WAY beyond you in abilities!” the Fifth King, Meat King Toshio, said with a sneer shaking his flabby cheeks heavily as he took position on the cooking station at the opposite side of Izuku.
The rest of the classroom moved away to give the two all the space they needed while the other Kings sat on chairs right in front of them to observe, Yamato and her son did the same right after.
“As the very first Challenge of Midoriya Izuku VS the 5 Kings, we prepared something special for this first round…” Yamato said with a malicious smile as her son brought along a tray covered by a pure-white cloth with Inoshiki’s Insignia embroidered on it.
“You will regret leaving the choice of Ingredients to us, boy! I WILL DESTROY YOU! NO QUIRKLESS UPSTART SHALL PUT MY GRANDFATHER’S INOSHIKI ACADEMY TO SHAME! The old woman mentally roared as her soul momentarily turned putrid black.
“This will be your Ingredient: Bear Meat.” Yamato’s son, Minato, declared while uncovering several amazing cuts of marvelous meat neatly disposed and divided into groups following the type of cut.
“WOOOOOW!” the class as one gave a loud scream of awe.
“Look at that meat’s marbling !” a young man said in reverential awe while committing to memory every delicate line of fat adorning the meat.
“That luster! How can raw meat shine like a jewel!?” a girl said right after, sounding almost ready to cry at the innate beauty of the thing.
“That is truly the peak of what Bear Meat can be!” a third said, awed.
“ Analysis...Meat quality: Passable . Does the Host wish the System to switch it with the Berserker Bear Meat Host collected in the Jungle World ? Host can also use Jewel Meat if he so wishes.” the System declared in a tone of almost contempt instead of monotonous.
“ As expected from an Entity as Merciless as the System, your standards are WAY TOO HIGH. No need, Jewel Meat or those bears would be like going to a gunfight armed with a Nuke. I will fight them equally, no need to Cheat with them. ” Izuku thought in answer while checking the meat himself.
“...You bled, carved and Processed this quite well. Two different people did it, though. The belly meat has been carved with a different technique than the other cuts.” Izuku said after a couple minutes, making Yamato and Minato’s eyebrows shot high in surprise.
“Indeed...You have some good eyes.” Minato admitted, impressed.
“And you have bad knives, this cut on the belly meat is two millimeters off. As far as I am concerned, this meat is unusable, if not completely ruined. I will use the paws.” Izuku countered, displeased, while taking the skinned paws of the bear and returning to his station.
They wanted to play the Prissy Game? Then they will face a Master! He used to be the King of Chefs as Zaus! He used to have a net-worth of Billions with thousands of Restaurants under his direct control, he had STANDARDS he could be annoying about if he so wished! Especially when he and Setsuno used to go into ‘ Pissing Contests’ when younger and purposely finding every tiny chance to criticize the other’s dish as a form of friendly rivalry, he still remembered how to be annoyingly picky on purpose!
“Why you…” Yamato hissed between clenched teeth, happy to be secretly streaming the Challenge for thousands to see him fail!
“You are insulting Meat, you Quirkless bastard!” Toshio growled while taking his own selection of bear meat and preparing some frying oil together with batter.
“No. You insulted it by using the bear paws as mere Decoration to demonstrate what Animal this was. They have barely bled, and who skinned them did so just to not make them Unpleasant to look at by leaving the fur on them only. The paws are the PRIDE of a Bear, and you ruined them just to appease your Ego. So I will make sure this poor bear will have her revenge by using her ruined paws to ‘Slaughter’ that Ego of yours.” Izuku answered with sharp eyes.
“You...You know it’s a female?” Yamato asked.
“I am a Chef, Yamato-san. I honour Ingredients every time I put them on the chopping board! I thank them from the bottom of my heart for their sacrifice and always make sure their Taste it’s worthy of such sacrifice! THAT is a true Chef to me.” he answered, and a few for an instant thought the paws in front of him gained just a bit more luster at his words.
Unknown to them, Izuku could still hear The Voice of Ingredients , and the paws’ feeling of gratitude boosted his morale to high levels; many also laughed at his bold claim, except for the Kings number 2 and 1 that instead seemed to appreciate his words, somehow.
“We’ll see if you are as good at cooking than at talking! LET’S GO!” Toshio roared as he slammed a meat-grinder on his workstation and started grinding roast, back ribs and Round bear meat together into a rough mix.
“Of course.” Izuku answered while studying the paws and delicately adjusting the meat smoothness ruined by the improper skinning with a few feather-light cuts of his knife, then gently removing the small claws and setting them aside as a lucky charm of sorts.
To be fair, it was not exactly carelessness or unwillingness the cause of the paws bad shape, most Chefs simply preferred not to use the paws due to the high ratio of tough muscles in them compared to the rest of the body, so while a bit tasty in itself as an Ingredient, whoever prepared the meat thought that in a challenge between kids nobody would have dared to use the paws, so a light-hearted job was done because of it, for the sake of appearances.
Sniff! Sniff! “ Yes, this will suffice, the bouquet is good enough.” Izuku said while positioning both paws into a pot and fully covering them in white wine to remove the faint traces of unpleasant smell still clinging to the meat after its incomplete treatment.
The other contestant, instead...
“ Five-Flavor Berries Essence, Japanese Sake, diced Onion and just a pinch of salt...And the unpleasant smell of Bear becomes heavenly delicious!” The Meat King was heard muttering with a low, ominous voice as he ground the meat again once mixed those ingredients with it, his smile unpleasant and creepy as drool faintly flowed down his double chin.
“Whitey.” the class heard Izuku say.
“Host?”
“Bring me these herbs and this honey from that cabinet. I would prefer to not leave my workstation unsupervised.” he asked after jotting down a rapid list on a piece of paper.
“Understood.” the Robot answered while walking towards the Ingredients cabinet Yamato furnished for this challenge.
“There is no need to fear, we won’t need to Cheat to win this.” Mako, King number 1, answered, sneering.
“Forgive me if I do not trust you, but I am still in enemy territory , caution is essential.” he answered while returning the stare with interest.
“Host, here are the Ingredients.” Whitey in the meantime had returned with the spices and herbs and the honey the young man asked for.
“Good! They will help me prepare a good stock!” Izuku answered, happily, and soon filled the room in the aromatic scent of the stock he prepared with those and left to boil at low flame.
“Afraid of the Bear Meat aroma?” Toshio asked with a savage smile.
“Hn?”
“Let me tell you a secret: Bear Meat is my favourite Ingredient! There is not a single thing I don’t know about it! I already cooked it in every possible way! I dare say that I have eaten enough bear meat to put the species at risk!” the fat boy said while collecting a thick broth-like sauce made with the bear meat itself and adding it to the ground meat, fearlessly adding MORE of the innate wild flavor of the Bear meat to the already flavorful mixture he just created.
“...Not surprising, really.” Izuku admitted while recovering the bear paws from their wine bath to lightly coat them in honey and then submerge them in the bubbling stock.
“ARE YOU CALLING ME FAT?!” the young man shrieked with bloodshot eyes.
“WHAT!? NO! I meant that of course they would choose an Ingredient you are most suitable with to try and get an easy win! I would never insult somebody for their looks!” Izuku answered, appalled, and actually looked hurt at the insinuation.
“Oh...Okay. No offense taken then.” the Meat King replied, immediately calming down.
While this small exchange happened, the fat boy had prepared the side sauce for the hamburger patties of highly aromatic bear meat he had knelt by hand, and as soon as the oil in his pan started sizzling, he started frying, soon engulfing the room into an explosion of meaty aroma, but even if the people present felt like they were choking, the scent was still amazing.
“ Do you feel it now, you little pest?! The pressure of my Students?! Of the KINGS I personally nurtured?! ” Yamato thought maliciously while looking at Izuku in hope to see him despair...And finding him utterly uninterested instead, too taken by his own cooking to even notice what was happening around him.
“...Hn, not bad.” That was all the comment she heard him give at the aroma, and even that seemed half-hearted at best.
“ I FUCKING HATE YOU! ” the old woman roared inside her head while looking ready to spit venom everywhere.
“Your hamburgers are ready.” Izuku actually said aloud a couple minutes later, he hadn’t been looking at Toshio at all, he just took a sudden sniff to the scent in the air and gave his verdict.
“MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS, YOU BLOODHOUND!” the Meat King roared in answer, only to notice his hamburgers were indeed ready, and taking them out of the oil immediately with a surprised expression.
“By frying I have concentrated and strengthened the Bear aroma even more! A razor-edge between Deliciousness and Ruin! You can’t get closer than this!” he declared once finished preparing his dish.
The big fried hamburger steak glistened in the room’s light thanks to the thick fatty oils gently flowing down from its top, releasing an intense and thick aroma every time Toshio moved it while dividing it into portions for the judges and Izuku himself.
“Amazing! He used Bear meat in a way that produced such intense aroma without a single iota of stink! HOW?!” a girl asked in shock.
“He is the Meat King! What the hell did you expect?!” another student answered.
“Mincemeat Katsu! With meat straight from the bear’s bones! The most intense bear flavour humanity has ever seen!” Toshio declared, boldly.
“We will proceed with the tasting then.” Yamato declared once she, her son Minato and the other Kings all got a plate.
“Bit of an unfair Judging group.” Izuku admitted, sighing.
“I don’t know what is the history between our Rector and you, but I do have a sense of Pride as a Chef. If Toshio made an inferior dish he would lose, if he made a better dish he would win. School Pride has nothing to do with this.” King 2, Takeo, answered. And again his female classmates simped HARD for him.
“Same here. If he loses, it will mean he is just unfit to be a King . No need to Cheat and save a Loser. I do have my dignity.” Mako, King 1, chorused as well, and both Kings skillfully ignored the hateful glare Yamato stealthily sent them.
“That’s a bit too harsh.” Izuku answered, sighing, while trying the piece of hamburger steak Toshio prepared and growing pleasantly surprised.
“Sour. Bitter. Sweet. Spices. And Salt. Only somebody truly knowing every facet of the taste of Bear Meat can achieve such a result and turn the stink of a beast into a gourmet delicacy!” Yamato declared once tasted the thing. She too pleased to the core.
“Good control of the flame and oil’s temperature, the meat has been cooked just right to make it tender and flavourful. Impressive for somebody so young.” Minato added, his narrowed eyes were also studying the cross-section of the meat created by his bite AND the knife that cut through it.
“Thank you, Mister Minato.” Toshio replied while puffing-out his chest.
“Too greasy, though. There is oil everywhere.” The boy’s sails went then immediately deprived of wind by Mako’s words right after as she scrunched her nose a bit at the overflowing of oil when she tried squeezing the meat.
“That is part of the dish! At each bite the meat juices and the oil mix together with the meat to create a soup-like fee-”
“Do NOT talk about soup with me, PIG!” the king Number 1 interrupted him with a glare, silencing him.
“This is at best a good dish for some barely-decent Fast Food Restaurant! Good for nothing beside clogging arteries and satisfying fatty losers! You ground some meat and fried it, big deal! Now be quiet and enjoy your win, IF you win. Since that other idiot at least used more complex techniques compared to yours.`` The young woman’s tirade was frosty-cold, probably thanks to her own Quirk since the temperature around her DID turn colder the longer she spoke.
“Sorry, Miss Mako…” Toshio muttered while looking down, chastised.
“ High-Strung, maybe?” Izuku thought, surprised by the outburst.
“ The Girl’s Quirk generates cold by absorbing inside herself the warmth around her, as a side-effect her self-control slips and she is victim of a burst of Anger once enough Heat is stored. One can say she ‘Overheats Herself’ to turn everything else around her cold.” the System explained, and the young Chef could only look at the girl in amazement, and just a bit of pity. That side-effect gave him a good inkling as to why she didn’t try to become a Hero even with such an amazing Quirk.
“I like it, instead.” Izuku declared.
“Uh?”
“Yes, it’s greasy. Yes, it is not a fancy dish, but I can see friends share some good moments while eating this! The taste is very strong, in a good way, and the garlic and berries counterbalance well the gamey aroma still in the meat. This is very good. As you said, every bite is a bomb of flavour that makes me crave for more, good job!” he explained while happily eating his own portion.
“...Thank you, but I don’t need your pity.” Toshio muttered, bitterly, yet thankful all the same.
“This is a good start for this Challenge, now finish your plate so we will be able to choose the winner.” Minato asked once every plate was eaten clean, except Mako that left her half-full to keep her point.
“Almost ready.” the young Chef answered.
Once satisfied with the first boiling, Izuku took out the bear paws and put them aside to clean the wok and refill it with clean water and a new batch of diced herbs and spices, all the while the bear paws kept letting out thin steam lines carrying meaty fragrance with a touch of gamey undertone, just enough to entice the appetite without resulting unpleasant.
The young Chef repeated the boiling another two times at always shorter length and changed herbs and spices used at each new boiling, slowly letting their flavour deep inside the meat.
Washed the wok a third time, oil was finally used to rapidly fry herbs and berries before the paws went added to the wok he then left to simmer in peace.
The fragrance still had a hint of a gamey smell but now any trace of stink had been fully removed, leaving behind only the pleasant smell of such unique meat cooking slowly, and whenever Izuku gave a toss to the wok to turn the paws in it around, many female students could not help but be entranced by the young man’s serious expression and the glittering of his eyes while he admired his work.
Unknown to him both in the class and in the livestream he was very slowly gaining the attention of the onlookers, all for the chagrin of Momo that saw the comments in the same livestream she found thanks to her mother, and she didn’t like it one bit to see more girls showing interest in him.
After boiling and simmering the bear paws, the meat had become extremely soft and tender while retaining a faint trace of its old marbling, the two things looked extremely delicate and beautiful like a replica made in precious stone.
Retrieving a huge and round porcelain plate, the tender bear paws were then placed into the center and decorated by a thin layer of minced aromatic herbs, and once put aside some of the meat juices remaining from the simmering, the wok went rapidly washed and cleaned a last time to prepare a thick gravy to which the tiny portion of the sauce from the simmered paws went added once almost ready, then the ruddy sauce went gently drizzled on top of the meat producing a wave of aroma and gently enveloped the entire room.
“Holy...Fuck...How? It smells just as good as Toshio’s dish, only...Gentler?” the same student from before commented in awe.
“Red Braised Bear Paws, please enjoy.” Izuku said once properly cleaned the plate with a piece of cloth and cut the paws’ meat in thin slices with zero effort, as if to show the sublime tenderness the once tough meat now possessed and the delicate rosy colour still present in the innermost part of the meat.
Plates went rapidly filled in meat, not only for the judges though, but for the rest of the class as well, a sheepish Izuku could just give a shy smile and explain that in his haste to ‘ Avenge’ the bear he prepared too much meat and that he would have hated to waste it.
“To prepare the meat he managed to cut it while perfectly following the direction of the muscle fibers...This is the job of a surgeon, not a Chef…” Minato said while studying the delicate and thin slice of meat he picked-up in great interest.
“The gravy’s thickness and texture too is impressive. What school do you come from?” King 3 asked, honestly impressed.
“A Private tutor. As a Quirkless I always end at the bottom of the waiting list, after a while I stopped bothering and found a personal teacher and a sponsor.” Izuku answered, shrugging.
“That’s a damn fat shame, this looks amazing. What about the taste?” King 4 answered while taking a bite, and falling dead silent.
Sniffle! Sniffle! Sniffle!
Everybody’s attention soon turned to Toshio the Meat King, and the fat tears falling from his eyes as he chewed his own portion, the boy was crying his eyes out and yet looked unable to stop eating, no matter the almost-physical pain that taste caused him.
“What?…” Yamato muttered as a dark sense of foreboding climbed along her spine at the sense of deja-vu the scene gave her.
“HOLY FUCK!” a student in the back was heard gasping in shock.
“It’s soft! And tender! And the aroma is strong yet gentle…HOW?!” a girl added with wide eyes.
“Strong and gentle? You mean like the bear pride he talked about?...SHIT! He turned a Bear’s Pride into a flavour?! You can do that?!” another said, talking with her mouth unashamedly still full.
The piping-hot piece of bear paw meat was topped with bits of chopped herbs and peppers while the red broth dripping from the pieces of meat exuded steam; the scent was fragrant, but not too dense. Spicy enough to tickle the nose without completely covering the inborn wild taste of the meat, but enriching it.
No matter how much one chewed, there seemed to be no end to the taste, it just kept coming and filling the mouth in its vigorous flavor, helped by the still chewy texture of the meat that even if really tender still maintained part of its springiness.
“ Om nom nom… ” Takeo the Vegetable King tried REALLY REALLY hard to ignore the loud munching sounds coming from the girl sitting next to him, valiantly trying to preserve the dignified image of Mako he had long since created in his mind ever since they went to the same middle school together all the way to the same University.
“Can you at least TRY to keep your composure, Mako-chan?” he begged.
“Shush!” the secret foodie answered, annoyed.
“How is it? How does my dish taste?” Izuku asked, watching Yamato struggle with her words once tried some herself.
“... Guh !” the old woman growled while glaring at him.
“Mother?” Minato asked.
“It’s decent. As far as I am concerned, Toshio wins.” she answered.
“…” silence fell into the room, a silence of pure disbelief.
“Mom…” Minato exclaimed with a disappointed sigh.
“Toshio wins, end of story.”
“I lost,” Toshio himself admitted right after.
“YOU!” the old woman roared in anger.
“IT’S TRUE! The meat is tender but not greasy; fresh, and does not smell…Its taste is simply amazing!” The Meat King admitted in tears.
He had seen it at the first bite already, the very bear they both had cooked, he saw it...HER...Rose to her hind legs and swipe down with her paws to crush Toshio with all her might, destroying him and his dish with a single strike and avenging her lost honor; he could not summon enough Pride to forcefully declare himself the winner, he just could not.
The flavor of the bear paws' meat lingered on his palate. It tasted delicious, and he almost lost himself to its flavor. Before that moment, he had never tasted such a unique flavor in his life, no matter how many experiments he did while cooking his beloved Bear Meat, that very same balance of tastes had always escaped him, and now with Izuku’s dish, he had finally tasted it, and the bitter truth that HE could not reach that taste obliterated his pride as a ‘ Bear Meat Expert’ and Meat King, hence the tears.
The entire classroom was filled with the LOUD sound of people munching still, and each one of them had an expression of bliss, or Greed if their plate was already empty and they were looking for more meat to gorge themselves with.
“The choice of Ingredient was a daring gamble, considering your Ingredient had been badly prepared too, but the technique displayed while cooking was nothing short of sublime. No matter the Pride I may feel as a student of Inoshiki myself, I am still duty-bound to judge objectively. This round is yours, Midoriya.” Minato declared with a nod.
“TRAITOR!” his mother Yamato howled in fury.
“We second the motion. The Winner is Mister Midoriya.” the other Kings declared as one after a short whispered conference between them.
“NOO!” Yamato roared.
“It was a given, Miss Rector. I hold no regrets.” Toshio answered with a sorrowful expression while taking one of the knives he had used to cook his dish with and using a permanent marker to write his name along the blade before delivering it to Izuku.
“She was right, you are a damn Monster. Can I have a rematch sometime in the future?” he asked, meekly.
“I would be honoured.” Izuku answered, both young Chefs exchanged a bow at that.
“DO IT IN PRIVATE! YOU ARE HEREBY OUT OF MY UNIVERSITY! I WON’T HAVE A SUBPAR LOSER RUINING MY REPUTATION!” Yamato’s outburst shocked everybody, even herself, before turning towards her assistant.
“Tell me at least that nobody saw this shameful display during the livestream.”
“Livestream?” Izuku asked.
“Livestream?” Minato also chorused.
“...Madame...We have fifty-thousand viewers…And more keep arriving.” the poor assistant replied with a small voice.
“TURN IT OFF! TURN IT OFF!” the old woman ordered immediately.
“Immed- Uh?! W-We are no longer hosting it! I-I can’t turn it off! Somebody hijacked the transmission!”
“WHO?!” she demanded, and the question made a couple Hackers from I-Island smugly flash their middle fingers at the screen while making sure more people were notified of the attack on Inoshiki Academy so as to add more viewers to the Livestream. Along making sure Toshio could find an acceptance letter for another Private University for Chefs already waiting for him when he will get home.
“I am out? Fair enough, I never liked it here anyway, working under a hag that believes we youngsters don’t want to work hard it’s a nightmare. I am chubby because I want to be and maybe because I eat too much meat, laziness and ‘ Ungrateful New Generations’ have nothing to do with it. I’ll just find another University that will appreciate my hard work.” Toshio declared with his head held high while marching out.
“HOW DARE YOU?!”
“Piss off back in your pyramid, you mummy!” the former Meat King answered, unfazed.
“Hey! Destroy the others too, nothing personal, but if you throw Yamato down her high horse maybe she will become a bearable human.” Toshio declared before slamming the classroom door closed behind himself and leaving the school with his head held high once retrieved his personal belongings.
“...Okay...MAYBE there were some buried issues between him and us.” Fish King Sadao admitted, grimacing.
“I blame Mako, she is the one with an attitude.” the Dessert King answered.
“HEY!” Mako answered, face red in annoyance.
“Little shameful display aside,” Minato said while nailing his mother with a glare thankfully strong enough to silence her.
“We still have more Rounds to go through. You up for it, Mister Midoriya?” he asked.
“Yes, thank you. I would like to Challenge all the 5 Kings today before leaving and leave the Teachers and Yamato-san for tomorrow, if it’s okay for you.” Izuku answered with a nervous smile.
Everybody fell silent at that request, it was just too bold, too WILD, and nobody actually knew how to answer that besides gaping at him in shock.
“...Okay! We’ll have a five minutes pause to clean everything, then we will continue with the next round: Chef Izuku VS Fish King Sadao.” Minato declared, unsure, while the livestream chat exploded in awed comments.
Yamato instead could not help feeling something cold starting to form in the pit of her stomach, The System hoped it was Ulcer, but that was beside the point.
(Author explains:
This marks the start of the first ‘ Personal Arc’ Izuku will go through in this story, more will come as the story progresses.
What happened with Tomoko/Ragdoll was simply the first attempt at kidnapping her, during the events in the forest more will be explained.
Also...
NO! I am not adding Mei! Don’t even try suggesting it! >:( Too many girls already.
Sorry, but I have to put my foot down sometimes.)
Chapter 8: Battle against the Kings! Inoshiki Assault Arc part 2!
Summary:
Second part of Izuku's personal crusade against Inoshiki Chef Academy. It is now time for the aspiring "God of Cooking of the Hero World" to face against the Fish King and Dessert King!
Notes:
Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to me! Guess who's the Party boy today! XD as a present to myself, I am focusing fully on this story to finish the Kings fights. after this chapter and the next, I will then start writing the new chapters for "Ninja" And "Green Spider" before returning to this story and finish Izuku's own Arc with his "Fights" against Yamato herself and her 4 best teachers of Inoshiki. Thank you for reading and the amazing Kudos/review you always gift me with! I love you, my Readers!
Chapter Text
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/Nejire
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
If you read this, the Chapter has been fixed by my Beta-Reader Dmale, my savior and possessor of BigDick Chad energy that managed to fix my story into proper English.
Thank you, my man! 🙂
A Chef Rebirth chapter 8: Battle against the Kings! Inoshiki Assault Arc Part 2.
AU University – Between Lessons -
“Okay! One down...Four to go…” Momo said once checked the livestream of the Cooking Challenge I-Island hijacked from Yamato’s control.
“Your boyfriend is really attacking a cooking school?” Mina asked.
“Their five best students, their four best teachers and then their Rector, a Three Michelin Star Level Chef. Yes,” she answered.
“You...You did not deny the boyfriend thing.” Jiro said, unsure.
“Because he is. He just got my father’s blessing.” Momo answered, a tiny smile surfacing on her face.
“NO WAY!” Mina yelled with wide eyes.
“Congratulations, Yaomomo!” Tooru squealed in happiness for her friend.
“NOOOOO!” At the same time Mineta was heard yelling from the back of the class while rushing towards Momo in tears.
“What is it to you?”
“It’s unfair! HE doesn’t even have a Quirk! He doesn’t deserve your tits or ass! I am a better man than that useless Loser and I’ll show you by plowing you until you love me! Let’s FUC-”
BOOOOOOOM!
The class became dead silent once seen the classy and elegant Momo answer to that disgusting request by UPROOTING HER DESK FROM THE FLOOR to bash Mineta’s skull with it hard enough to dig a perfect imprint of the boy’s entire body on the concrete floor.
“I don’t know what kind of sordid pornography you constantly drown yourself in, but there is NOT A SINGLE WOMAN on this planet that can be converted to ‘ Love’ by having sex with her, EVEN LESS LIKELY IF AGAINST HER WILL! Especially with a sub-human pervert like you. Drop this ‘ Cuckolding Crusade’ of yours for everything female in a thirty meters radius or I will personally see to it to have you neutered! I won’t forgive your Sexual Harassment against me or my friends anymore!” the young woman declared while repositioning her desk back down with a low thud .
Had Izuku seen that, he would have understood why the System insisted in him enriching Momo’s food in Vitality and Gourmet Energy that much after the USJ Incident, the other students though only saw an amazing feat of strength from somebody without a Strength-Related Quirk, but any comment about it went forcefully put on hold once seen the blood dripping from the desk right where it had almost split Mineta’s skull open. Even Katsuki decided to not say a thing.
“...Y-Yes.” the boy managed to say before blissful unconsciousness mercifully embraced him.
“Jesus…” Kaminari whispered.
“What happened?” Ochako chose that moment to enter the class accompanied by Nemuri.
She had been talking with the woman about her dubious feelings for her ‘ Boss’ at her part-time job, and she still didn’t have an answer to her dilemma, not even knowing he was in a relationship with Momo already seemed to make her heart stop beating wildly when with him.
“Mineta finally got on Yaomomo’s nerves, he tried saying he was her ideal man and pretended to show it by demanding her to have sex with him, probably meaning ‘ right here and now ’ in front of the entire class. I think that’s the gist of it.” Tooru answered, still a bit shaken.
“And that was all it took for you to somehow uproot a desk anchored on the floor with concrete to almost flatten him?” Midnight asked.
“That and the Sexual Harassment me and my girl friends are targeted with daily.” Momo answered.
“And the panties thievery.” Mina added.
“And his attempts to put cameras in our showers and locker rooms.” Tsuyu said.
“And the crass jokes about any of us just missing out without... Sucking him off .” Jiro said with a scowl of disgust.
“I am invisible, but he still tries to take pictures under my skirt.” Tooru said.
“...I did find him sniffing my shoes after Gym practice a couple of times…” Ochako said with a small voice.
“I think I saw him take a couple of pictures of his...Penis…Right before asking us if we had the phone number of any of the girls. Luckily none of us actually gave him one, I managed to alert everybody just in time.” Mezo admitted with a low, unsure tone of voice.
“Those are serious allegations, why has nobody said anything before?” Nemuri said, pinching the bridge of her nose and groaning.
“I don’t know if it is a proper excuse, professor, but at the beginning his jokes and mannerism were just ‘ Tasteless’ and ‘ Annoying’ , but nothing too extreme. We boys did ask the girls if they needed help in dealing with him and so we usually kept him grounded, then serious schoolwork started and none of us could spare enough time to keep him on a leash , shall we say. I fear that he then saw it as a green-light of sorts to go all out and enjoy his depravity.” Tenya said.
“Few of us also thought that sooner or later the Teachers too would have started reigning him in.” Tokoyami added, sighing.
“Fucking unlikely. The midget thinks with his dick only! How I don’t know since we boys shower together and I happened to see only misery down there, a bit of trivia I could have easily lived without gaining.” Katsuki answered, scoffing.
“Even Bakubro had to take counseling rounds for his Anger Management. I thought Mineta was getting similar counseling for his libido.” Kirishima admitted with a shrug.
“No, unfortunately he hasn’t. But he will, if he really was that bad, but you all will need to testify and bring proof of his demeanor.”
“Do broken hidden cameras, stolen socks and panties and blurry pictures clearly taken from unaware girls mid-changing do?” another teacher said from the door.
“Ectoplasm?”
“One of my students found a hidden camera in her bedroom, we tracked the IP and Power Loader found-out it connected with the laptop of one of your students. Once we entered his room we found a lot of trophies clearly stolen from female students of several classes of every year along stacks of pornography in clear violation of the Campus’ rules. Where is Minoru-san?”
“...He’s on the floor with a concussion.” Nemuri answered, groaning even louder.
“Who was it that smashed him?” Ectoplasm asked.
“I did. He demandded that I have sex with him following some deranged fantasy of me falling MADLY in Love with him thanks to that,” Momo admitted.
“...If they ask, I gave you a very harsh punishment followed by a lecture about excessive force. For this one time I say we let it slide as we teachers obviously had ignored a Pervert harassing every girl in our school while hoping this mess would fix itself. Do not make it a habit, any of you.”
“Yes, professor!” the entire class answered.
“Good. I’ll take the little idiot to Recovery Girl , then we’ll talk about his punishment, his future in UA IF he will have a future here and very harsh Counseling Meetings that will start immediately after he recovers, we will curb this idiocy of his or he will die trying!” The Pro Hero answered before unceremoniously dragging Mineta away from the class.
“Goddamnit, I so do not need this.” Nemuri admitted with a groan.
“Sorry, teacher.”
“Don’t be, Yaoyorozu. It was partly our mistake as well, like you others, we too hoped he would have calmed down by himself. Whatever, let’s focus on our lesson now.”
“Yes!”
“...Ah! Did your friend win his little challenge, Yaoyorozu?”
“He just defeated the first King , he will now go against the second.” she answered, unsure.
“Good! Me and few others have a betting pool ongoing about that, I bet he would win every fight, and since I don’t want to lose my paycheck, he better sweep the floor with them!” Nemuri answered, smirking.
“You have a bet about him?!”
“Shota and I have him as a total winner, same for Lunch Rush, Toshinori and Nighteye instead said he will win against everybody except the University Rector, and Mic didn’t think he will actually win against the first Teacher. He did bet the most between us, so I think he is now VERY AFRAID of losing.” she answered.
“Tch!” Momo hissed in contempt.
“Something tells me Professor Mic dropped LOW in Yaomomo’s scoreboard.” Mina muttered, smirking, and getting an amused snort in answer from Jiro sitting next to her.
“Yep!”
Meanwhile – Inoshiki Chef Academy – Classroom -
Yamato was still fuming for the defeat of the Meat King , the last of the Top 5 students of Inoshiki University, while King Number 4 , Sadao ‘ The Fish King’ took position at the workplace at the opposite side of the room from Izuku at the front row of the class.
The other Kings were once again sitting next to the Rector Yamato and her son in front of both Contestants, but instead of aloof all of them looked tense since the old woman in a bout of anger had kicked-out the Meat King as a punishment for his defeat.
“The next Fight will be Midoriya Izuku VS Umikage Sadao , The Fish King . Both contestants are you ready?” Minato, son of Yamato, asked once he saw both Chefs finishing checking their instruments.
“Yes!” both Chefs answered.
“Good. Just like before, Chef Midoriya has left the choice of Ingredients to us, and following Sadao’s own request, we prepared this: Pacific Saury. ” Minato said while taking out of a near fridge a wide tray covered by a cloth with Inoshiki Insignia on it, once removed, the class and Izuku saw a dozen shining fishes neatly put on display, all of them so fresh they looked like they had been just pulled out of the water an instant before the challenge.
The fish all had a long body with dark green/blue cycloid scales on the dorsal side and silvery scales below, they also sported small, bright blue blotches distributed randomly on the sides.
Their mouth was small, and there was a series of small finlets between the dorsal and anal fins, they also possessed a small forked tail.
“Wow! They are all so fresh!” Izuku admitted in surprise.
“Got delivered this morning, barely an hour before your arrival, actually. For an instant we thought we would have had to postpone Sadao’s own challenge until they arrived.” Minato admitted with an uneasy smile.
“It would have been worth the wait, Mister Minato, they are gorgeous! They will be our Ingredients?”
“Yup! We will use Pacific Saury as the main Ingredient. Compared to Toshio, though, I am giving you the freedom to choose first which one to use. We can also use different side Ingredients instead of the Saury only. I want you to give your best, just like I will!” Sadao showed her more bubbly personality while tying her ridiculously-long hair in a ponytail so as to free her eyes from the long fringe normally covering them and fully displaying a pair of amazing eyes the color of pure emeralds.
“Thank you.” Izuku answered, shy, but his eyes did turn extremely sharp once focused on the big display of ingredients in front of him, once again attracting the attention of a few other girls in the class.
“ He looks so hot when focused…” Many thought while looking at him in newfound interest thanks to his show of ‘ Worth’ after the defeat of the Meat King , they now knew he was not exactly a nobody.
“I will use these ones.” he finally said once selected the still whole fish from the dozen Yamato prepared for the Challenge.
“He actually chose some of the best ones...He really does have amazing eyes…” Minato muttered, once again calling on himself his mother’s ire.
“Good choice! I am glad to see you are not an amateur! Good coloring and state of the eyes, it means that we both choose the absolute freshest ones of the bunch!” Sadao complimented him with a small clap while cutting a few pieces of parchment paper into squares, he instead covered his fishes with a finely-grated spice mixture.
“Where did you get the Saury? Now it’s not exactly a good season for them,” Izuku asked while he started mixing some Dashi ( Traditional Japanese Fish Broth ) with soy sauce, sake, sugar and some Mirin ( Sweet and thick Japanese Sake with low alcohol content) to slowly boil it into a thick sauce.
“ He is making Kaeshi Sauce? Why? That is usually used for Ramen and other noodle dishes… ” Yamato thought, confused, unaware that her precious Kings too were having the same thoughts as her.
In the meantime they all watched as the young Chef also removed the fish’s innards while keeping most of its fat aside he then cooked with some Extra-Virgin Oil and Wine Vinegar to create a secondary sauce giving off a mesmerizing fish scent.
“Hehehehehe! Inoshiki Academy is special! We have our own personal Ingredient Providers, these Saury are not exactly from around here, they come from a private breeding specialist overseas and were delivered by air this morning just for this challenge! Those guys have a very special breeding method, so we can have them perfectly plump whenever we want!” Sadao answered, she instead was mixing butter with black pepper, garlic, parsley and thyme to create a dense and aromatic cream.
“Cool! But, hey! You too make your own Herb butter? ” Izuku asked, impressed.
“Ufufufufu! I like mine with juuuust a bit more pepper than normal, I like strong tastes.” she answered with a giggle and a wink.
“Nice! I usually make it with a bit less thyme.”
“Do they know they are supposed to be enemies? ” the other students thought in dismay at Sadao’s overly-friendly attitude.
“STOP FRATERNIZING AND DESTROY HIM!” Yamato shrieked in fury.
“You are starting to worry me, mom.” Minato admitted, sighing.
“SHUT UP!”
With Izuku -
“Why does our Rector hate you?” Sadao asked.
“I made a plate of rice that made a dear friend of hers feel inadequate.”
“That’s it?”
“Yes. I still find this hatred she and her other friends have against me a bit overblown, but I don’t pretend to understand what happens in the heads of Egomaniacs, I am just defending myself.” he admitted with a helpless shrug.
In the meantime his sauce had evidently reached the right thickness as everybody saw him pull it off of the fire to let it cool down by itself while he focused on the fish proper.
“What did you use to season the Saury?” Sadao asked once to see him clean away the spice he had covered the fish with.
“Dried Pimenta Dioica Fruit. I had some with me, luckily, since I could not see any in your spice cabinet. I would have been in trouble without it.” Izuku answered.
“ Pimento? You carry that stuff with you?” King number 2 asked, confused.
“Not only Allspice , I came full of other spices too.” Izuku answered, briefly opening the jacket of his Chef attire to show the six or so small jars of spices strapped in the inner area.
“I didn’t know if you would have let me use YOUR condiments, so I brought some along by myself.” He then said,
In truth he could easily retrieve every spice he needed from the System’s Dimensional Storage, or whatever the name was, but just saying he had hidden pockets with spice jars inside was easier to explain compared to having access to the powers of an Extra-Dimensional Entity..
“That’s...Very paranoid…” the Dessert King admitted, taken aback.
“I am in enemy territory, I could not just wing it.” the Young Chef answered while cutting some garden radish into cute little circular slices he then carved into small flowers.
“...Is that overly-detailed carving necessary?” Minato asked.
“You tell me, isn’t a good plate supposed to also be good looking? Eyes too play a part in the enjoyment of a Dish! Either building a dish in a manner simple, complicated or minimalist , a Chef should always put great care in the final product!”
“Well said!” the man answered, smiling pleased.
“Stop praising him, Minato.” Yamato hissed between clenched teeth.
“Hahahaha! You sound like a philosopher when you talk like that! Not a Chef! Taste is important in a dish! Nothing else,” Sadao countered, laughing in amusement while finishing preparing a few mussels, deveined shrimps and steamed clams she then added to the Saury on top of the parchment paper.
“We agree to disagree then! But still, you are making quite the adorable Cartoccio. Pot meets kettle, perhaps?” Izuku answered.
“ Bleh!” The girl replied by just pulling out her tongue, she then added cherry tomatoes and mushrooms to the seafood mix, and once topped each Saury with a spoonful of her herb butter she wrapped everything inside the parchment paper and moved the wrapped fishes in the oven.
“Done! What about you?” she asked.
“Technically I am done too, the last part to finish my dish can be done just before serving, so I will wait for you to be done before getting through with it, in the meantime I will prepare a Baby Spinach sauce as a side dressing...Normally I would leave the spinach just steamed a bit so to use the leaves as a decoration, but if I don’t do something to pass the time while we wait I will go insane.” Izuku admitted.
“We can play cards if you want!”
“It’s okay, I’ll keep myself occupied with the sauce,” he answered, smiling gratefully.
“Okay!” the other answered, more than happy to just whip-out her phone to watch some funny videos online.
“...That’s it, it’s official, she is physically unable to take anything seriously!” Mako, King Number 1, declared with a groan of disbelief.
Twenty Minutes later -
DING !
The sound of the egg-shaped alarm cut through the silent room like a searing-hot blade, causing Sadao to almost drop her phone in surprise.
“Ready?” Izuku asked while giving a last filtering to the baby spinach sauce to make sure it was extra smooth and free of lumps.
“Yes! This is my Special Pacific Saury Flavor-bomb Cartoccio ! What about you? You done?” she answered while opening the cartoccios and inundating the room in a pleasing scent of cooked fish.
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“ HOLY SHIT! The scent of the sea! ” a student gasped in wonder while her nose greedily sniffed the air.
“ That’s the Fish King for you! She is the greatest fish expert of them all! Second to Mako-sama herself by just a tiny margin! ” a boy answered, just as amazed.
“Wow! This smells great!” Izuku admitted, impressed.
“Thank you! When the Rector Yamato told us about your Challenge I just KNEW I had to make this dish! Saury is among my favourite Ingredients because it is just so versatile! And between Cartoccio and Acqua Pazza , I knew this would be a killer!” Sadao answered while decorating the cooked Saury Cartoccio with a slice of lemon each.
“Good to know! I was afraid I misread your intentions after all!” Izuku admitted with a wide smile as he cut the Saury he seasoned into thick slices he positioned on a wide plate in a flower-like shape, then he used a brush to cover the pieces in a generous quantity of brown sauce before taking a burner and turning-on its flame.
“What are you…”
FWOOOOOSH!
Many gasped in surprise at watching the green-haired Chef mercilessly scorching his plates without a hint of fear, but many more turned shocked at the intense amazing scent the dishes started emanating once he was done with the burning.
“ HOW THE FUCK DOES BURNING FISH RELEASE THIS AMAZING SCENT!? WHAT JOKE IS THIS?!”
“It matches the scent of Sadao’s dish! How?!”
“Many usually use Kaeshi for ramen and noodle dishes only, but that really is a multi-purpose seasoning that can be used in a myriad different recipes, it truly is a staple of Japanese cooking! AND the right trick to use to make Scorched Carpaccio , isn’t that right, Chef Izuku?” Minato said with shining eyes and a smirk once seen the young man give a rapid ‘Fire Bath’ to the Saury Carpaccio once finished brushing the sauce on the surface of all the plates he prepared.
“Huhuhu! Correct! Even with a powerful burner like yours, burning the surface of fish in the proper way is difficult, but using Kaeshi it becomes easy thanks to its sugar content! And it also acts as an insulator of sorts and protects the Saury from most of the heat, preventing loss of freshness from the continued influx of heat since I only need to scorch the fish surface fat, not the meat inside.” Izuku answered, smiling proudly at himself.
Once satisfied with the scorching, he also added the Saury Fat Dressing sauce and the Baby Spinach sauce on top and around the fish slices before topping everything with the flowers of radish.
“ Scorched Saury Carpaccio , my dish is ready.” Izuku declared once every plate was composed.
“ This aroma. Sadao’s dish is literally an explosion of flavor as the name implies, but Midoriya’s own is just as strong, but instead focused like a blade. I wonder who between them complimented best the delicate taste of the Pacific Saury.” King 2 muttered with his eyes narrowed and focused fully on Izuku’s face.
“Miss Yamato was right, that guy is a Monster . We should not underestimate him, IF he wins against Sadao-chan as well!” Dessert King answered, thoughtful.
“Where does he come from? Knowing Miss Yamato, a Talent like his would normally be something she would do everything to snatch...Then why is he here as our Enemy?” Mako wondered with a low voice.
“You heard him, he-”
“That is not a good-enough excuse, there must be something else behind this!” she interrupted the other girl with a hiss.
“We will proceed with the Taste Test. Sadao, you first.” Yamato said once seen both chefs deliver their plates to her, Minato and the other Kings.
“Oh, my. It does look nice.” Takeo, Vegetable King, admitted once pried open the fish meat with his chopsticks.
“Yes, she did an acceptable job, this time.” Mako conceded, huffing.
“Tone it down a little, nobody likes Frosty Bitches , Mako-chan!” Dessert King Michiko jokingly warned her.
“ MAKO-SAMA!”
“WE LOVE YOU!”
“QUEEN MAKO! ” Many boys yelled in rapture at seeing the Soup King show a tiny sneer of annoyance.
“Except those guys…” Michiko added, sighing.
“Focus!” Yamato barked angrily, silencing the other Kings while studying the wobbly piece of Saury she grabbed from the plate.
“I must admit the cooking method chosen was excellent, it does put on display the natural taste of the Pacific Saury. You also managed to control the natural Oily feeling of its meat and diminish its intense fishy smell down to almost zero while leaving just enough to maintain the feeling of Sea evoked by the scent. Good choice of supplementary Ingredients too, the Acqua Pazza made with the mussels, shrimps and clams helped supporting the main Ingredient and are all a pleasure to eat, especially the steamed clams, that even if cooked in two different methods, remain pleasantly springy and flavorful. You gave your Dish the perfect name, it’s a real Sea-Flavor bomb while remaining melty sweet and tender at the same time. Congratulations!” Minato said with a pleased tone.
“I second the judgment. You used the Pacific Saury almost perfectly, especially its thick meat. I could chew this forever and never get tired.” Takeo confirmed with a dashing smile. Several girls swooned again, all for Izuku and the other Kings’ chagrin.
“Sadao-chan is a bona fide Fish Expert, always a pleasure eating what she makes!” Michiko added with a thumbs-up.
“Good it’s good, but the Ingredient was the Pacific Saury , nothing else, you gave too much importance to everything else. The Saury should have ruled supreme...It is still good, though.” Mako said, uninterested.
“Hey! Cheer up a little! What your friend made tastes amazing and it’s also very nicely presented! Do not be a stick in the mud and enjoy it, this dish is good!” Izuku answered, annoyed a little, he had already finished his portion and was not ashamed to show he liked it.
“Thank you, maybe in the end I DID make it a bit cute too, other than good tasting!” Sadao said with a mischievous smile while eating her own Cartoccio .
“That you did!” Izuku answered, smiling.
“Then this is obviously a win for Sadao. I am sorry, boy, but your defeat was a given! Get out and do not bother us anymore.” Yamato said with an evil smile.
“…”
“…”
“...What?” she asked.
“Mom you are becoming annoying, we have not even tried his dish yet.” Minato said while massaging his forehead to push back the incoming migraine his mother caused.
“Tch! It’s just some raw fish slightly burned with fire! You can’t expect it to be better than...Than...Than…” the old woman tried saying while despondently shoving a slice of the Scorched Carpaccio in her mouth, and growing unhealthy pale while her eyes bulged-out.
“T-The Sauce of Pacific Saury innards! He prepared it just by adding oil and vinegar to the fish’s fat and part of the innards and yet the taste is permeating my tongue! And is making the sweetness of the Fish meat stand-out so much it’s making me drown in its taste!” Michiko admitted, shocked.
“How many spices did you use?!” Takeo asked, just as surprised.
“Only the Pimento , or Allspice. Depending on which name you want to use . Those Pacific Sauries were already good by themselves, adding more sounded like a waste, so I just tried enriching and polishing that flavor with a couple small pushes from the sauces and the spice.” Izuku answered, shrugging.
“If Sadao created a bomb of flavour, yours was a single bullet from a sniper rifle: no waste, no fanfare and no collateral damages! One Strike, One Kill! Only pure Pacific Saury Flavor, marvelous!” Minato admitted, clapping a little.
“Thank you. What do you think about it, Sadao-sa-”
“Ummm…” Izuku’s question died a messy death when he saw Sadao eat with zero manners her own portion of scorched carpaccio and even licking the plate over and over until it SHONE.
“Glad you liked it.” he said, unsure.
“You are a lady, show some manners!” Mako chastised her while mid-lick of her own plate.
“...I give up...” Takeo muttered in dismay while trying to ignore her.
Cough! “We will proceed with the vote, who do you think won?” Minato asked, fake-coughing to cover his own embarrassment.
“I vote for Midoriya...Sorry.” Takeo said, smiling uneasily.
“It’s okay, Take-chan! I’ll do better next time!” Sadao reassured him with a thumbs-up.
“I vote for Sadao-chan!” Michiko said with a wink.
“Thank you!”
“Midoriya, at least he used the Pacific Saury ONLY.” Mako said.
“You are a picky eater.” Sadao answered, pouting.
“I will have to vote for Midoriya as well, my apologies, but I must recognize the ability needed to bring-out such amazing flavour with so little Ingredients.” Minato said with a sorry expression.
“No harm done, Sir! I loved it too!”
“…”
“Yamato-san?” Sadao asked.
“Get out of my school.” the old woman answered with a low, defeated voice.
“Go back to your seat, Sadao. You are still a student here.” Minato subverted the order.
“I-”
“SILENCE! You are already giving a sad spectacle! Don’t think I won’t reign you in just because you are my mother!” the man roared , shocking his mother.
“But-But-But…”
“I am saving you from yourself. Sadao gave her best and that’s all that matters. She is still a first year student, she can still get a lot better if you give her a chance! Wasting talent just to appease your tantrums won’t help nobody, not them and especially NOT YOU. Now calm down and be a proper, professional Chef, or else I will take over and select a new Judge to take your place.” Minato said with narrowed eyes.
“Okay…” Yamato conceded with a small voice, her body losing every ounce of fight she had at the beginning.
“Good, I will still keep you grounded, because I know you are not a bully, but a great Chef, and I want to preserve THAT part of you. Michiko, you are next, are you ready?” he asked.
“Of course! I need to avenge Sadao-chan!” the short girl answered.
“My Hero!” Sadao answered with an exaggerated swoon while retaking her seat next to Takeo once delivered one of her knives to Izuku with her name written along the blade with a permanent marker ( she also added a cute little heart next to it, apparently a fixed part of her signature) .
“...That guy is tearing through us like a tank.” Takeo muttered with a low whisper and his eyes fixed on the wooden cabinet Izuku brought along now containing two Knives belonging to their fellow Kings .
“This time Miss Yamato tickled a dragon’s nose once too many times, and now we have to deal with the catastrophe.” Mako answered.
“...I will use my Secret Weapon , you?” he asked.
“Me too, conventional dishes won’t cut it this time... Flavor Demon .”
“As you said, he deserves our worst, Molecular Devil. ” Takeo answered, eyes narrowed.
“Very well, we’ll have a ten minutes pause to clean everything and let young Midoriya catch his breath a little.” Minato declared, nor he or anybody else heard what Takeo and Mako said.
“No need to worry, but I will use these ten minutes to recover an Ingredient for my Dessert Dish, since I can see apples being washed and prepared to be our chosen Ingredient.” Izuku answered with a grateful smile.
“Something we can get for you?”
“No, no. I have those already ready back to my place.” he answered before motioning Whitey to come closer.
“ Host?” the robot asked.
“I need…” what the young Chef whispered to the robot, nobody heard, but they all saw the big chubby robot scratch his round bald head with one of his big hands before nodding.
“ Understood. ” Whitey answered, before opening the door of the classroom and-
BOOOOOM!
Tear a new one to the Sound Barrier while running to the Green Cloud Restaurant and back in the ten minutes of pause Minato gave him and carrying a small jar of dull glass.
“Perfect! Thank you!” Izuku said with a grateful tone.
“That thing ran back and forth between here and your personal kitchen in ten minutes? Where do you live?”
“Yavin Street.”
“AT THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE CITY?!”
“Whitey is very fast.” Izuku answered, smirking.
“Even too much!”
In truth Whitey only covered half the distance before the System summoned the glass jar in his hands, Izuku insisted on secrecy so this little lie had to be organized.
“I am eager to see what you will come up with, but rest assured that it will still be useless! Your defeat will be sweet, though, so don’t feel too bad!” The bold claim came from Michiko as soon as she started slowly preparing a pot filled to the brim in boiling caramel.
“I admit I am not exactly a dessert-oriented Chef, I prefer to branch out as much as I can and cook following as many different styles possible, but this doesn’t mean I won’t give my all!” he answered.
“Good! Because I want to SMASH that smile of yours into dust!” the Dessert King answered as she took out more plates and pots.
“ Hn ?” Izuku uttered, confused.
“Watch and be amazed! I will now prepare a cheese mousse, apple jelly, blue cheese cream and a sponge cake made with crushed walnuts, AT THE SAME TIME!” the short girl declared with a crazed smile.
“How do you plan to do all that, alone?” the young Chef asked.
“By going all-out, you Quirkless Loser!” she answered while throwing away her own bandanna and unfolding the tentacles on her head.
To everybody’s shock Michiko’s tentacle hair then sprang to life and divided into two groups: six held a plate each while the others held the utensils, meaning that together with her own hands, she could prepare seven different parts of her dish at the same time.
A duo of tentacles was already boiling the apples for the jelly, another was holding up a pestle to crush the walnuts they will then mix with eggs, two were expertly preparing a pot-full of Matcha Green Tea leaves she will soon put to boiling while others were mixing the two kinds of cheese until each turned into a fluffy cream.
Michiko herself instead was mixing Cranberry Juice with Gelatin to create a Cranberry Nappage ( Nappage is a kind of glazing used when preparing sweets. )
“THIS IS MY SECRET TECHNIQUE! THE Seven-in-One Cooking Frenzy ! ” Michiko said with a maniacal laughter.
“T-There it is! They say she can challenge an entire Team by herself thanks to her Quirk!” a student gasped in awe.
“...So you all have decided to leave behind any sense of decency and will start using your Quirk? Fair enough.” Izuku answered with a tone of disappointment.
“Why should they limit themselves? It’s not their fault if you don’t have one!” Yamato answered, happy to ridicule him.
“As you wish, if that’s how you see things, I have all the more reasons to wipe that smirk off your face…” the Young Chef said, giving a twirl of the knife in his hand and...
SWIIIING!
With the loud and sharp sound of a blade cutting through air, his hand became a blur that moved in a straight line through the apples still untouched in front of him.
Plop! Plop! Plop!…
And one after another, every fruit lost its peel in an instant and got sliced into perfectly-identical slices thin as a hair while a small amount of extra-thin apple peel appeared right next to Izuku.
“…” Astounded silence fell in the room as Yamato’s mouth hung slightly open.
“I don’t like Quirkists as I believe people’s value is not measured on the Power of their Quirk, but in the strength of their beliefs, and if I have to fight everybody in order to teach you fools a lesson, then so be it!”
“H-H-Hoy! What happened?!” Sadao asked with a shriek.
“He peeled and cut all those apples at the same time...With just one swing…” Takeo answered, unsure.
“That is impossible! Do you know how many Laws of Physics would need to be ignored for that to happen?!” Mako answered.
“ Will Host start infusing Gourmet Energy in his Dishes? ” the System asked.
“ No need. I didn’t do it before, and I won’t do it now either! I will just up the level of Skills I will show! ” Izuku answered, it was a matter of principles, if he used that Power to increase the flavor of his dishes, then he wouldn’t be different from somebody using their Quirk, and the Challenge originally stated that no Powers were to be used, sure it was an unspoken Rule , but that didn’t change its value!
While Michiko was finishing her outrageous preparation of several Ingredients at once, the young Chef had instead just reached the final stage of his kneading of two different kinds of dough he had mixed by hand, he was in fact giving the last slaps to the smaller ball of dough of the two.
Both finished spheres were whitish in color and almost unnaturally smooth, looking more similar to balls of marble than actual food.
“The first part is done, now I need to add my Secret Weapon to both and knead them again…” Izuku muttered with a shaken breath.
“He made both Bread Dough and Tart Dough, what is he planning to do?” Michiko muttered with narrowed eyes, and watched with bated breath as he finally used the mysterious jar he sent his robot bodyguard to recover.
POP ! FWOOOOOOSH!
When the young Chef opened the jar, there was no apparent scent coming out of it, but then he poured a minuscule deep-red drop of liquid from it into the two types of dough he was kneading and an explosion of aroma washed over the entire room with every student standing rooted on the spot, the boys only felt an amazingly-sweet flower scent assault them, but the girls had another reaction altogether.
“ROSES!” one girl squealed, as she unknowingly had the same daydream of her friends.
Each girl saw herself as the main character of a Fairy Tale: A Princess standing on a long path of white cobblestone with at both sides an endless field of red roses cut in half by that small road, red petals flying everywhere around them bringing along the flower’s delicate scent, and at the opposite end of the pure-white path there was their ‘ Prince Charming’ flashing a heart-melting smile and wearing a majestic silver armor, with his hand stretched-out as if beckoning them to reach him.
( Momo would also be miffed to death at knowing how quite a few of those girls were also unashamedly putting Izuku in the role of the Prince Charming .)
“Rose essence? And one so strong? If he is not careful, that much aroma will make everything inedible!” Minato muttered, surprised.
“How can you make a rose extract so strong?!” Michiko asked with wide eyes.
“Secret Recipe.” Izuku answered, unconcerned, too focused on preparing the dough properly to summon enough brain-power to properly answer or even just look at her.
With the Rose Extract provided by the System, Izuku needed to focus fully on the quantity and flavor distribution, because it was not Normal Rose Extract one could ideally make home or buy! This one had been purified by him using his knowledge as Zaus and the System’s own help, a serum purified enough times it was now 99,99% pure, any misstep would be a catastrophe! Just a spoonful contained the essence of several hectares of red roses, he HAD TO be careful!
At the same time he added some Rose Extract to a big pot of water as well and soaked the apple slices together with some extract from the apple peels, and left the slices to rest untouched to the side before returning to focus on the dough.
Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap!
The Scented balls of dough were then continuously slapped and kneaded until they all became faintly pink and utterly smooth spheres, done so that he simply kept them neatly separated in smaller parts on a side.
“Now...The rest of the apples…” once satisfied with that, Izuku started to simmer some of the remaining apples with apple cider vinegar and water, and once turned them into a cream, he added normal butter and tirelessly mixed everything until perfectly fused together.
“ Apple Butter and apple confiture ...Can he really balance both roses and apples in a single dish?” Minato muttered while studying every movement of Izuku.
“ Creating pure Rose Extract with that level of aroma is already ridiculously hard, but actually managing to slowly soak that rose flavor into the apple slices in the right amount, together with the extra apple flavor from the apple peel extract to reach the right balance, is even more insanely difficult...Where does this brat come from? ” Yamato thought in anger while biting down one of her nails, her own blood-shot eyes were fixated on Izuku’s.
And a tiny feeling of fear of the boy started blooming in her heart.
With Michiko the Dessert King -
“ Damnit! That thing is a scent bomb! But there is no need to worry, he is using two Ingredients only, I am using EIGHT!” the young woman thought while creating small disks of sponge cake batter she then moved into the oven to cook.
“You may use the Young scent of roses, but I will use the nostalgic taste of Autumn ! Let’s see which one will come out as the winner!” she declared.
“So it will be Spring (Youth) VS Autumn (Maturity) ? Okay, I accept the challenge!” Izuku answered.
“You will regret challenging me, Quirkless .” Michiko muttered darkly.
Some time later -
As soon as the Dessert King saw her sponge cake turning golden in color, she took the disks out of the oven and rapidly cooled them down and then giving the final touches to her side Ingredients, like the extra leaves of Matcha green Tea she was powdering at high speed thanks to her hair-tentacles handling extra knives.
“Her Dessert is clearly not simple.” Minato muttered, impressed.
“She is preparing her infamous ‘Autumn leaf viewing entremet’, the Dish that cemented her position as the Dessert King here in this school.” Yamato answered.
“Oh!”
“She is going all-out as well,” the Vegetable King muttered.
“I am glad to see she is taking this seriously at least.” Mako answered.
“You know she hates being Challenged, it was a given she would not show mercy.”
“If her self-esteem is frail as glass, it’s her fault only.” the young woman answered.
Uninterested in the Judges scrutinizing stares, Michiko had finally started assembling her dish, using the sponge cake disks as the middle layer while carefully creating several layers above and under it with the various cheese creams and fruit jellies she made previously until a vaguely-spherical shape was created, she then covered the whole thing with the cranberry gelatin to turn it in a perfectly-smooth red sphere as big as a golf ball.
“Finally done! Get ready to lose, Quirkless !” the girl declared with a mocking tone while preparing a few more spheres she then moved to the fridge.
“Eh! If all your insults revolve around my lack of Quirk, sorry but you won’t go far in making me feel under pressure.” Izuku answered while shaking his head.
“ Tch! ”
While ignoring the fuming short girl brushing her caramel on an anti-adherent sheet of parchment paper to create thin perfectly-transparent shards, Izuku took note that the Apple butter was finally ready along the apple slices having been soaked in the scented water long enough to satisfy the Green-Haired Chef’s requirements for his own Dish.
“ Hn !” The tiny, satisfied grunt escaping his throat almost managed to freeze Michiko’s blood in her veins.
“What?” she asked.
“Just that time’s up and I too can now finally build my Dish!” the young man answered with an adorable eager smile while first collecting several spheres of rose-scented bread dough to knead them back into a single, bigger blob to which he then added part of the apple butter too.
“First, the Basket! ” he then said while pinching the giant ball and pulling aside a long string of it while twirling it gently between his pointer and thumb.
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
“ WHAT THE?!” the students behind him cried in shock as they watched the young Chef pick-up insane speed once again to create dozens of finger-thick strands of dough he then started waving together to create an actual basket with a twirly handle arching above it, and no matter the intricate design, he was building it so fast many felt dizzy by looking at him.
“Done the basket, The Tarts! ” done with the creation and decoration of the basket, the following move was building the base of the desserts: tiny cup-shaped empty tarts, those too made at ludicrous speed.
“Aaaand, in the oven!” Izuku said while carefully putting the basket and the empty tarts inside the oven to cook.
“I wonder if the apples...Yep! Perfect!” he then said once given a taste test to the soaked apple slices, now dyed into an eye-catching pink color, and since he was evidently satisfied with the results, he carefully removed them from the aroma bath to dry them.
“I-I-I have no idea what you are doing, b-but I'm not afraid of you!” Michiko said while pointing an accusing finger at him.
“Good! I am not here to scare anybody!” Izuku answered with a happy smile.
“M-My dessert will soon be ready! Then we’ll see who is the winner!” she answered.
“Of course!” he replied with a thumbs-up.
Some time later -
Ding! Ding! Ding!
As if it was planned ahead, the kitchen timer Michiko had set for her dessert in the freezer rang just a minute before Izuku’s own for the oven, signaling both were now in the final leg of their challenge.
“ YOU CAN DO IT, DESSERT KING! ” the students cheered for her.
“ DESSERT KING! DESSERT KING! DESSERT KING! ”
“ SHE WILL WIN THIS!”
Emboldened by the loud cheering, Michiko positioned a sphere in the middle of each plate she then decorated with a tiny pinch of the powdered matcha green tea leaves and two wings of caramel shards at both sides of the shining red spheres, she had even created small maple leaves with some remaining sponge cake she had then positioned around the plate, closing the Dish there was a warm cup of green tea as a side drink for the dessert.
“Done! You are finis-”
Swooosh!
Michiko’s taunt she tried delivering once finished assembling her dish went interrupted by Izuku’s hands once more moving fast enough to disappear as he started grabbing the apple slices one by one with a duo of pliers to build the tarts after he used a brush to paint the inside of the empty tarts with the apple butter and then the apple confiture.
“...She is screwed…” a boy blurted-out in dismay as a Rose bloomed inside each tart, and not just a rose-like shape, but a Perfect replica of a big rose made with thin pink apple slices recreating the flower’s petals with ludicrous precision of details.
“A couple minutes in the oven to make the apple slices extra crunchy, and the tarts are ready!” Izuku declared while moving the tarts back in the oven after brushing some apple peel essence on top of them.
What came out of that oven once done that bombarded the students and judges in the sweet scent of cooked apples and the alluring fragrance of roses, the insane balance of the two scents though worried Yamato: she once again saw Izuku thread on the thin line between success and failure without a hint of doubts in his steps, and the tiny feeling of fear in her own chest grew a tad bit more.
“Here is my dish! A bit on the feminine side, but nothing says that I can’t make a Cute Dish if I feel like it! Queen Apple Tart, with Damask Rose Aroma. Thank you for waiting.” Izuku declared as he walked towards the judges by actually grabbing onto the basket’s handle and using two long pliers to deliver a small tart to each one of them.
“By the way, the basket too is edible: it’s made with fragrant Apple and Rose bread. I have put aside some extra Apple confiture if you want to add it to the basket bread.” he then added, with a more cheeky smile.
“To put both rose aroma and Apple butter into the bread, the required balance of quantities to make sure the bread won’t break down and still be flavorful would need to be calculated down to the micrograms...Did you really have to risk it so much?” Mako asked.
“You want me to lose, I want to win. I have too much to lose from this Challenge, so I can’t hold back, but be ready to bet all of myself at every step.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“We’ll start with Michiko’s dish since she finished first.” Yamato decided.
“Please help yourself.” the Dessert King answered with a cocky smile.
“Nothing for me?” Izuku asked, honestly hurt.
“Sorry, but I don’t expect you to have the right palate to truly enjoy it, so I prefer to not waste Ingredients.” she answered, huffing.
“Host? ” Whitey asked, and even his normally robotic voice sounded annoyed , somehow.
“No, Whitey. Down.” Izuku ordered while shaking his head a little.
“...Look at the cross-section! Simply perfect!” Yamato was heard exclaiming with a proud voice.
The red sphere Dessert in her plate had been cut cleanly enough one could still see the various layers of the different creams and sponge cake forming the inside of the dish, all neatly separated without even the smallest smudge.
“The Sponge cake is incredibly soft, like a cloud, and even its positioning is not casual, by forming the middle of the Desert it can perfectly mix with every other taste used. You did study the position of each layer, isn’t it?” Minato asked, very impressed.
“Correct! I spent an entire year experimenting with both position and thickness of every layer, even their density is not a chance! I tested over and over every possible combination to make sure every layer of taste would mix with the others to perfection when bitten! Nothing is left to chance!” Michiko answered, her smirk reeking of smugness.
“It shows. Even such a strong cheese like Gorgonzola has been carefully nestled between the apple jelly and the sponge cake, you can almost tell every taste apart at each bite. Well done.” Minato declared.
“And it goes well with green tea, even if I am not exactly a tea person.” Takeo added, taking a sip of tea every few bites of Dessert.
“...Fine! I admit it: it makes you taste the Autumn. Happy?” Mako admitted, annoyed.
“You know I don’t have a fondness for sweets, but you're always a good exception, I love it!” Sadao the Fish King said.
“Thank you. What about you?” Michiko answered.
“Besides saying you have a wonderful technique, I can’t say more since I have not tasted it.” Izuku answered with a shrug.
“Then be born with a Quirk in the next life.” she countered, smirking.
“Be thankful I was born a gentleman still, many of my old acquaintances would have kicked your teeth-in a LONG time ago with that attitude. Zebra would have directly eaten you alive.” Izuku answered with an annoyed sigh as even his LEGENDARY ‘ Cinnamon Bun Patience’ was starting to run thin under her constant verbal onslaught.
“ Tch! You don’t scare me!”
“It was an extremely good Dish. Now we will proceed with the tasting of Chef Izuku’s dish.” Yamato declared.
Said that, every judge grabbed the tart from their respective plates and took away a piece of the basket handle along with a bit of apple confiture, and judging by Minato, Sadao and Mako’s expression, the three of them actually found it a pity to break apart such a cute bread basket.
Sigh! “Here…” Izuku begrudgingly handed a rose tart to Michiko himself.
“ Bleh ! Take that thing out of my sight, I won’t eat that.” she answered with a scrunched nose.
“Sucks to be you. Well, to our Challenge! AND to your future as a lonely old woman surrounded by cats.” he answered while eating the thing himself.
“HEY!” the girl growled back in answer.
Crunch!
“...HOLY HELL!” Takeo the Vegetable King yelled in amazement once given a BIG bite to the tart.
“ Uhu ?!” the Dessert King gurgled-out in surprise.
“Judging by your reaction, it’s good?” the Soup King asked.
“ Damn amazing, it feels like biting a very juicy apple while sitting next to a rose bush, it’s sweet and almost refreshing .” Takeo answered, still chewing with a big smile on his face.
“I see.” the young woman answered while giving a big bite to her own rose-tart.
“…”
“...Mako?” Takeo asked, worried at her petrified expression.
“ Agk …” The onlookers knew people were not supposed to clench their legs THAT HARD while eating, but the King Number 1 did look like she had a damn ‘ Big O’ at eating that dessert, no matter how insane that sounded.
“Right, you and I both have a very sensible palate, should have warned you.” the Vegetable King admitted with a grimace.
“Ah! This is so nice! And this Dessert too goes well with your green tea, Michiko-chan!” Sadao admitted while shamelessly gorging herself without a shred of manners.
“Yes...It’s good…” At the same time they heard Yamato admit that with enough pain in her voice she scared them.
“When you bring one to your mouth, the first thing you feel is the sweet and delicate aroma of roses, but then you bit into it and you get submerged into a sea of apple fragrance and taste: from the crunchy and sweet petals of the Rose to the homely feeling of butter and confiture of the filling, he put in there just a thin layer of both, but those two together with the crisp tart dough base fit each other like a dream...The rose scent and faint taste stimulate the nose and relax the spirit, while the apple taste massages the mouth and warms the body. It’s unreal…” Minato admitted while studying the half-eaten tart in his hand.
“The secret is in the balance of Taste, as you said. My rose extract has a strong scent and even stronger taste, so redistributing that immense concentration of flavor everywhere equally is a real pain, but once done properly, it is simply amazing.” Izuku admitted, sheepish.
“The damn basket is tasty too, alone it has the subtle taste of cooked apples and fresh butter, but if you add the apple confiture too it becomes a knock-out punch of apple taste I can’t get enough of. Do I also feel a twinge of cinnamon in it?” Takeo said with narrowed eyes.
“Just a bit, I added that to the confiture along with a tiny amount of lemon peel. Correct.” Izuku answered.
“Impressive.” the Vegetable King was forced to admit with a groan.
“What?” the Dessert King demanded with a frown.
“I...I don’t know how to say this…” the Second King admitted with a low tone.
“Wha?!”
“I am sorry, Michiko-chan...I know you voted for me before...But…” Sadao admitted with an ashamed expression.
“You two are too soft . A defeat is a defeat, we should not sugar-coat it, we have our Pride as future Chefs to defend!” Mako chastised both with a huff, clearly unafraid of casting her vote for the winner.
“No…” the Dessert King whispered, horrified.
“You were amazing, Miss Hideyoshi, so at least my vote is for you, even just for the complexity of the Dish itself.” Minato offered with a kind, albeit uneasy, smile.
“…” Yamato instead simply stood in silence and avoided meeting the King’s eyes at all cost.
“NO! I CAN’T ACCEPT IT!” Michiko roared in defiance.
“Uh?” Izuku uttered in confusion.
“You can’t win this time too! I won’t accept it! You just made a tart! I had to come up with a method to make a layered dessert of different tastes while making it as small as a golf ball! I REFUSE TO BE DEFEATED BY A SLOPPILY-MADE CHEAP DESSERT!” the short girl yelled.
“Sloppily-made, you say?” Izuku asked, eyes narrowed.
“Yes! Everybody here can make that dessert! I am the Genius here! I AM THE PRODIGY OF DESSERT-MAKING! Not a Quirkless nobody like you!”
“…” a tense silence fell into the room.
“ Troublemaker! You will be-”
“Stop, Whitey! There is no need!...Here, taste this. Just a drop.” Izuku answered, unfazed, while handing her the jar of rose extract he used.
“ UHU ?!”
“This was my secret weapon, taste it raw and tell me if YOU would have been able to handle it like I did.” he asked.
“FINE!” she answered.
“Just a drop.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Michiko answered while pouring a single drop of the rose extract inside her mouth-
SWEET!
SWEET!SWEET! ROSES!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!
SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!
ROSES! SWEET!SWEET!ROSES!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!ROSES!SWEET!SWEET!
SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!
ROSES! SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!ROSES!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!ROSES! SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!ROSES SWEET!SWEET!ROSES! SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!
ROSES! SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!ROSES!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!-
“ GUAAAAAAAH !'' The Dessert King could barely reach the classroom garbage bin in time before vomiting, and heaving heavily for a couple of seconds while hugging the thing with all her strength all the while hiccuping non stop.
“MICHIKO!” Sadao yelled while running at her side to gently rub her back.
“So? Can you use that to make a tasty dessert? Can you handle its intense flavour to make something edible? Something good?”
“Uh?”
“Don’t look down on me just because I am a Quirkless.” Izuku was heard saying with a grave tone while grabbing one of her knives and handing it to her.
“I take cooking very seriously, as it is the only field where I KNOW I can put you all Elitists in your place and stand toe-to-toe with you. A Mutation won’t automatically make you a better Chef, never. It takes hard work to be good.” he declared.
“Your name on the blade, please.”
“…”
“Your name.”
“…” tears started falling from her eyes.
“Michiko?”
“I-I-I-I-” Hic! “I can’t lose against a Quirkless! You people are inferior!” she answered while crying.
Sigh ! “Forget it, you Elite are hopeless.” the young Chef answered with a sigh while writing Michiko’s name on the blade himself and putting it with the other two inside the cabinet.
“That’s mine!”
“Michiko-chan...Please.” Sadao begged with a sad expression.
“No! My mom always says that a Quirk makes us special! Like Gods! He should just go die in a ditch somewhere! There is no place for Quirkless in this world!” the girl raved madly, forgetting that there was a Livestream ongoing and that MANY were growing more disgusted the longer she talked like that. And the live Chat soon filled in insults aimed at her.
“I can’t believe there is somebody so bitter like you around. Kind of ironic since you are an expert in Dessert,” Izuku said with a sad smile.
“SHUT UP! GIVE ME BACK MY KNIFE! I WON! I WON! NOT YOU!” Michiko yelled while making her hair-tentacles snap forward to grab Izuku.
CLAMP!
“KYAAAAH!” the short girl though shrieked in pain as soon as Whitey intercepted the attack and his big hand grabbed the tentacles to lift her from the floor.
“ Troublemaker, cease the attack or you will be stripped as an example to others! ” the robot ordered with his round eyes shining in an eerie red light.
Many also shrieked in fright at the sight and the strange threat the big chubby robot delivered with his thundering monotonous voice.
“FIGHT ME YOURSELF, COWARD!” Michiko shrieked.
“...Take your damn knife, I don’t need it to know I won. But try to grow-up already, you are twenty, not five.” Izuku simply answered with a sigh, and put the knife back on her workstation while shaking his head.
“I-”
“Get back to your seat, Michiko. You already ashamed yourself and our school enough, and I am not talking about you losing.” Surprisingly, it was Yamato who silenced the girl as soon as the robot dropped her.
“But! Rector Yama-”
“I SAID TO BE QUIET AND SIT DOWN, CHILD! NOW !” The woman roared, and Izuku finally saw the woman’s Quirk when a long prehensile tail with an actual human hand at the end of it whipped out from behind the old woman to grab the Dessert King and slam her on her seat.
“…”
“...Yes?”
“Take her knife, Midoriya. A deal is a deal, she lost fair and square.” the old woman said with a heavy sigh.
“Why do you hate me so much, Yamato-san?” Izuku asked, saddened.
“Personally? I have nothing against you. There is not even Quirkism or the like behind it, I swear. But me and the others, together with Samui, go way back, all the way back to middle school. We are a tight-knit group of friends, and since one of us needed help in dealing with you, we all grouped together to avenge him. Sorry, but between you and Samui, I will stay by his side. If you want me to step back and stop bothering you as you said I was doing? Then you will have to win this Challenge of yours, and it won’t be easy.” she answered.
“I am ready.”
“Good, because neither I, or my students, or my teachers will show mercy.”
“I never asked for it, I just want to be left alone, I never had anything against you. I am just defending myself.”
“Fair enough. Takeo, you are up next. Defeat him, please.” Yamato asked, sounding exceptionally tired all of a sudden.
“Yes, madame.” the Vegetable King answered while stepping forward.
“Want to know why you lost?” Mako asked.
“Uh-hu?” Michiko, still crying, muttered.
“Here, try it.” Mako explained while handing her a tart.
Crunch!
“O-O-Oh!…” the Dessert King muttered in surprise once tried it.
“You used A LOT of Ingredients, and while it is exemplar that you could mix them all together in a very ingenious way to make an astounding Dessert, the main Ingredient, the Apples, were just a small part of it.
He instead used only Apples and Roses, and even then, the Apples were still the Main Protagonist of the whole thing, and he cooked them in different ways too: in the bread, in the butter, as a confiture and soaked in flavorful water. He gave Apples facets , and all of them worked splendidly together once he made them fit in place.” the young woman explained.
“I-I see.” the Dessert King muttered, sniffling.
“ And judging by your puking fit, he was also very skilled in turning a flavor bomb of roses into a frame to enrich the apple taste.”
“Don’t remind me, I had to rinse my tongue a lot to relieve myself of the taste. I have no clue how he managed to handle that thing like he did.” Michiko answered, gagging.
“Glad to see you understand. Have no fear, though, the next match will be his last. Takeo will use his secret weapon ,” Mako declared, enjoying the look of horror flashing on the Desert King ’s face at her words.
“Both of you are ready?” Minato asked after the working station had been fully cleaned.
“Yes!” both young men answered together.
“Good, you can start whenever you are ready.”
“I am ready. Choose your Ingredients, Takeo-san.” Izuku said.
“We’ll use Beef as the main Ingredient. Your small war against Inoshiki Academy ends now.” the other answered with a dark tone.
“Beef?” Izuku muttered, confused as to why the so-called Vegetable King chose Meat for their fight.
“ I see! Good job, Takeo! The boy is finished! ” Yamato instead understood what her student was doing, and her smile turned into a fearsome mask of putrid malevolence.
( Author explains Corner : here is a list of the more complex terms used:
Entremets were traditionally classified as small dishes that were served between courses and are quite relevant to French history. Nowadays, people would instead refer to entremets as cakes that are typically mousse based. Most entremets are very elaborate and prepared with multiple layers of varying flavors and textures; as such, their purpose as a dish is to experiment new flavor pairings and to introduce the skill of the chef that created them.
Al cartoccio in Italian cuisine, is a method of cooking in which the food is put into a folded pouch or parcel and then baked. The parcel is typically made from folded parchment paper, but other material, such as a paper bag or aluminum foil, may be used. The parcel holds in moisture to steam the food. The pocket is created by overlapping circles of aluminum foil and parchment paper and then folding them tightly around the food to create a seal.
The term acqua pazza (pronounced [ˈakkwa ˈpattsa]; (literally crazy water in Italian) is used in Italian cuisine to refer to a recipe for poached white fish, or to simply refer to the lightly herbed broth used to poach it. There are many different variations of this sauce, from light broths, to thick tomato based sauces, which have been found on all types of seafood (not just the traditional white fish), and even chicken. This dish is comparable to other Italian dishes, such as: Cioppino, cacciucco and brodetto.
(I am Italian myself, and seeing my country’s cooking appear in other media, especially Japanese Manga/Anime, always makes me feel all warm and fuzzy! :D )
Chapter 9: The terrifying True Power of the Vegetable and Soup Kings! Inoshiki Assault Arc Part 3.
Summary:
the last two Kings will now face Izuku! and both will use their Secret Weapons to try bring down the Green-Haired Monster Chef! Also...Poor Nejire needs a hug!
Notes:
IMPORTANT QUESTION! would it be BAD if during one of the future Challenges against the Teachers of Inoshiki I have Izuku use an Ingredient from another world? I want one of the Teachers to act like a colossal Dick so I thought that it would be proper of Izuku to answer in kind and DESTROY the Guy with an Ingredient from another world. Would it be acceptable?
Chapter Text
If you read this, the Chapter has been fixed by my Beta-Reader Dmale, my savior and possessor of BigDick Chad energy that managed to fix my story into proper English.
Thank you, my man! 🙂
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/Nejire
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
Chapter 9: The terrifying True Power of the Vegetable and Soup Kings! Inoshiki Assault Arc Part 3.
UA University – Cafeteria -
While the students were happily gorging themselves, with more than a few actually following the Livestream showing Izuku’s ongoing Massacre of Inoshiki Academy’s best students at the same time, the University’s Boss Nezu was showing the school’s own Chef a collection of video snippets both from the Challenge itself and from the database the guys from I-Island felt generous enough to share with the rat-bear-man chimera.
“…” the Chef Pro Hero Lunch Rush silently watched each and every video in silence, sometimes rewinding back whenever a particular scene attracted his interest.
“So? What’s your verdict?” Nezu asked once given to the Pro Hero what he felt was enough time to study the videos.
“…” In answer Lunch Rush removed the tube from the gas-mask-like mask he was wearing to talk with a whisper of voice.
“I want to meet him.” he said while returning the phone to Nezu.
“I can try to make him come here if you want.” the other answered.
“…” A thumbs-up was all the answer the Pro Hero gave.
“Do tell me, though. Could you replicate what he does?”
“If I cut an Ingredient, they die, I can’t make living skeletons.”
“Yes, that Food Honor thing is kind of a middle finger to the Laws of Nature. What about the rest?”
“Hard to say.”
“Uh?”
“He is holding back. I can tell.” the Hero answered, and his re-connecting the tube to his mask meant he had already talked ‘ enough ’.
“Okay... Sign Language it is then!” Nezu muttered with a groan.
“ You know why I do this .” Lunch Rush signed with a shrug.
“I know, I know. You said the boy is holding back...Can you guess how much he is hiding ?” Nezu asked, sighing.
“... Hard to say, I can give you a wild guess based on personal experience. ” The Pro Hero took a moment to think then his hands moved like a flash to give his answer.
“It would still be a start.” the rat-man chimera conceded with a sigh.
“... This is a normal Chef. One of the kids he is fighting with, for example. ” the Pro Hero said while filling a teacup with water.
“Okay.”
“ This one is that old woman, Yamato .” Lunch Rush then said filling a big pot in several liters of water.
“...Okay?” Nezu muttered, unsure.
“... This is your boy .” The Pro Hero then simply opened the kitchen faucet and let water run in the sink without putting-in the cap.
“…”
“…”
“... Lunch- ”
“ A Minute .” the Pro Hero signed.
“…”
“…” The water just kept running.
“…”
“…”
“... There. This should be a good estimate, but I may be wrong and the kid could be better still .” the Pro Hero said once FINALLY closed the faucet.
“I see...And where would you put yourself compared to him?” Nezu asked, unsure.
“ I don’t know, That is why I want to meet him.”
Sigh! “I’ll see what I can do.” Nezu answered, sighing.
“ If Recovery Girl asks, I called dibs before her. ” Lunch Rush added.
“OVER MY DEAD BODY, YOU IDIOT!” the short woman roared once barged inside, showing clearly she was spying on them.
“ He cooks well, I can make him shine! ” the Chef Pro Hero signed with a growl, his hands were moving fast enough to put a Ninja from Naruto to shame.
“His Dishes heal people! I want to study him!” Recovery Girl hissed back in answer.
“ You are just jealous he healed Toshinori while you couldn’t! ”
“Jealous?! JEALOUS!? I am not jealous, you, walking food dispenser!”
“ GASP! ”
“There they go again…” Nezu muttered with a groan.
While this was happening, a bit of Drama was also taking place at one of the tables in the cafeteria, in the section housing the tables of the older students.
“THEN MARRY HIM IF YOU LIKE HIM THAT MUCH! WE ARE DONE! FINISHED!” the full conversation had been missed by everybody in the cacophony of the every student there either eating or talking, but ALL OF THEM saw the tail-end of the duo’s quarrel, because it was not everyday they saw somebody ‘ Ever-smiling’ like Nejire Hadou roar like a furious beast before storming out of the University in tears.
Mirio, with his head still dripping broth from the big plate of ramen the young woman emptied on his head at the apex of her heart-broken rage, merely sighed and removed plate and noodles from his hair without saying a word.
“You fucked-up.” his childhood friend, Tamaki, muttered with his head glued to the tabletop, and barely moving his head to the side enough to avoid the puddle of broth now drenching his friend and his section of the table.
“She...She will come around. She will understand that I am doing this for the well-being of everybody.” Mirio answered with a new sigh.
“I think she is tired of waiting for you.” Tamaki muttered.
“She will come around...She will come around.” Mirio answered, maybe more to reassure himself than his friend, though.
“If you say so.”
“ All Might’s Legacy is too Important! If my body hurts so much while using his Quirk it means I am not strong enough yet! I need to train hard, Nejire. Just be patient, I need to put you aside only for a little while, once sure I will be worthy of being All Might’s successor, I will return to you. Just wait for me! ” Mirio thought in determination.
Meanwhile - Inoshiki Chef Academy – Classroom -
“I may understand using Beef as our Ingredient considering how ‘Versatile’ it is...But are you really sure you also want to use so many artichokes with it?” Izuku asked, looking on curiously at the INSANE amount of artichokes the Vegetable King was cleaning and preparing.
Izuku had expected a ‘Vegan Style’ recipe from the young man, considering his Title as the VEGETABLE King, but instead Takeo had surprised him by choosing Beef as the main ingredient and then starting to clean way too many artichokes to use with it...He could tell there was some serious smell of bullshit coming from the guy now.
“Of course! You see, I understand where Sadao and Michiko went wrong: you played on the sole Main Ingredient strength every time while they added other Ingredients as a support to their main one, with the final result of it being overshadowed.
Either the Apples or the Saury could have worked perfectly well alone, like you showed, but in their haste to show-off and suppress you instead, they failed to fully grasp the very Ingredient THEY personally choose, like you instead did.
I plan to unleash the Full Power of Artichokes on you instead, and I need some good beef to properly do it. Both will be the key to your defeat!” the second King answered, while still cleaning more artichokes and only using their ‘ heart’ to cook.
“Then why did you not choose Artichokes as the Challenge Theme?” he asked, confused.
“That’s a secret!” Takeo answered with a wink, making the girls in the class swoon HARD .
Izuku instead merely looked at the Vegetable King with narrowed eyes and a thoughtful expression.
“That sounded like an insult to my skills!” Sadao said with a whine.
“I am just saying yours was a big oversight. You just didn’t have the right focus on your chosen Theme, that’s all.” Takeo answered, smiling sheepish.
“Toshio actually did things properly and used Bear Meat only, he just wasn’t able to match his tricks.” Mako, Soup King , added with a huff.
“I just followed the rules! I was given an Ingredient and I used it the best I could! You make it sound like I cheated!” Izuku answered, appalled.
“Nobody said you cheated, Midoriya. Relax.” Yamato answered, rolling her eyes.
“…”
“…”
“What?” the woman asked.
“You defended him.” her son, Minato, muttered in shock.
“I am not a broken record, Minato, I can have mixed opinions about somebody.” she answered.
“So you-”
“I want him broken and defeated, but I can also recognize his skills. The two things are not mutually exclusive.”
“NOW I recognize you.” Minato answered, sighing in dismay.
With Izuku -
“Using so many artichokes...I see…” there seemed to be a strange flash in the green-haired Chef’s eyes, as if witnessing a memory of his past being reenacted a second time.
“Uh?” Takeo muttered in confusion as his Enemy discarded the Ingredients he had chosen before for a new batch.
“I am switching recipes, I hope you don’t mind.” Izuku muttered while creating a small mound of flour he then emptied in the middle to form a volcano-like shape.
“Is he…” Minato muttered with wide eyes.
“PIZZAAAAAAAAAAAA!” Sadao squealed LOUDLY in excitement as the flour soon turned into dough, Izuku then started to masterfully spin it around, slap on his workstation and then flatten and spin around again above his head at ludicrous speed.
“You want to defeat my roast-beef...With Pizza?” Takeo asked.
“You focus on boiling those artichokes and adding lemon juice to not make them lose color, I will deal with my own Dish by myself!” Izuku replied with a cheeky smile.
“ Tch!”
Done with the kneading, and twirling, Izuku once more flattened the dough into a thin circle he moved aside to rest so as to shift his full attention to his own cut of beef, to the ginger and the onions he had chosen as new Ingredients.
SWIIIIING!
Once again ignoring what was and what was not Possible for a Quirkless Human to do, the young Chef gave a single slice that instead cut beef, ginger and onions into slices of exactly the same thickness, at the same time: half an inch-wide stripes for the meat, ‘ Human Hair Thin’ slices for the vegetables.
A big skillet was then put on the fire, inside some oil and the ginger that was cooked until fragrant.
The beef and the onions were then added and cooked until both turned a pleasant brownish colour, with the smell produced already embracing the nose of the people present.
“ Daaamn...This smells nice!” a girl from the back admitted in awe.
“He is simmering all that? Is he making Beef Shigureni? As a topping? ” Mako muttered, uncertain.
“Toshio’s meat expertise would have helped a lot now…” Sadao admitted, sighing.
Satisfied with the meat’s state of cooking, Izuku added to the skillet 1 tablespoon of Mirin Sauce , 5 tablespoons of Sake, 3 tablespoons of sugar and 3 tablespoons of soy sauce and kept simmering everything at a low flame and moving the skillet’s content around gently so to not make anything stick or burn.
The 3 tablespoons of sesame seeds Izuku prepared beforehand went then rapidly toasted on a side pan and then added to the meat once most of the liquid in the skillet had been absorbed by the beef to properly coat it.
Left the meat to rest as well for a moment, the circle of pizza dough was recovered and gently brushed until a light layer of sauce covered its top, Izuku then added on top of it the Beef Shigureni and some white scallions along a generous amount of mozzarella, and moved everything into the oven to turn the dough into a crispy-looking golden-brown colour.
“Done?” Takeo asked with a malevolent smile while removing his roast-beef from the fire.
“For now,” Izuku answered, unfazed.
“Do you know how a King is selected?” the Vegetable King asked, and the more he talked, the more his eyes turned sharp and malevolent, like a carnivorous animal’s.
“I suspect it is about skills, isn’t it?” the other replied while preparing a big selection of cheeses he carefully divided into groups and then cut into tiny cubes.
“Exactly! Miss Yamato personally selects only the best students to create a new formation of Kings every year and lets both Old and New formations battle to see who remains and who is kicked-out, so if you don’t keep your abilities sharp, you get switched with a new Candidate.”
“Uh-hu?” barely interested enough to listen, the Green-haired Chef briefly removed the pizza from the oven to add the wide array of cheeses to the thing, for the confusion of the students and judges watching that could not properly see what the hell he was doing due to his body obscuring the pizza, and then put it back into the oven.
“Well, I was still in High-school when I was selected as the Vegetable King !” Takeo declared with savage pride.
“ Kyaaaah! Takeo-sama is so cool!” a female student yelled in amazement.
“ Takeo-sama is the best! He’s Invincible! ” another girl squealed right after.
“I-I-I didn’t know that! How strong is he?!” a boy screamed in Horror.
“Good for you.” Izuku instead answered while checking his watch to see how long before his pizza was ready.
A saving grace of his perfectionism/Semi-OCD mentality when cooking was that any form of nervousness usually plaguing him would always take a backseat so to not disturb him while working his Magic.
“I have kept this position for YEARS! Unmatched! Undefeated! Do you know why?”
Sigh! “No.” Izuku answered with a sigh, immediately filing the guy under the kinda-negative ‘ Katsuki-Like’ label.
“Because I can manipulate the taste of Dishes! Both mine and of my Enemies! Every time a fool tried challenging me, my Dish always, Always made theirs inedible! For example this roast-beef is one of my many Trump Cards! All thanks to-”
“ Cynarine . A natural component that makes Artichokes have their characteristic bitter taste, but a substance also able to scramble the taste buds of who eats them, causing everything eaten AFTER that to taste Sweeter by virtue of their tongue’s state of ‘ confusion’ . I guess people usually focus on the Beef and ignore the artichokes when you propose this Theme for your challenges.” Izuku finished the guy’s speech himself while rolling his eyes.
“…” a tense silence fell into the room.
“I’ve already seen a strategy like that being implemented. Last time it was inside a ‘Torta Rustica’, a salted ‘ cake’ of Italian cuisine where a cake-like dish is prepared with salted dough and vegetables in place of cake dough and fruits.
Your using beef for this kind of trick threw me for a loop for an instant, then I saw the ridiculous amount of Artichokes you were boiling for your sauce and I remembered the Power of Cyarine. You yourself pretty much told me you planned to use that by quoting the ‘ True Power of Artichokes ’ during your speech .” Izuku explained, nailing the young man with a sidelong glare that rooted him on the spot.
(Example of Torta Rustica )
Vegan Emperor Gohan was an up and coming Chef back in Zaus’ world, at his first appearance at the same Cooking Tournament Zaus had already taken part in several times when making his official debut, but unfortunately Gohan had tried that tactic against Setsuno of all people, trying to trick her with a vegan version of that Torta Rustica dish filled to the limit in artichokes; the old woman took only a glance at the guy’s Ingredient spread to literally guess the full recipe and counter it.
The Vegan Emperor’s defeat that year had been so devastating the guy almost stopped being a Chef altogether. And that incident actually cemented Zaus’ friendly Rivalry with Setsuno.
“So sure of yourself...Then let’s see how sturdy your conviction is!” Takeo answered with a chilling smile.
His giant slab of roast-beef he had just finished cooking while Izuku was focused on kneading the pizza dough and preparing his own Beef Shigureni topping, and once moved onto a plate it mesmerized both Judges and students.
The Vegetable King’s beef was releasing endless thin strands of smoke, and when the young man did cut through it, the cross-section of the meat actually amazed the onlookers into a frenzy.
“ T-That cross-section! The meat has such a brilliant shade of pink inside!”
“That is not mere surface roasting! He made the heat permeate down to the core! That’s amazing!”
“Back in the days I was the Meat King of the formation, then I learned of the power of Vegetables and how they can subtly change and manipulate the taste of my dishes, it was then that I switched focus. The area of expertise does not determine the Number, skills do, and as my skills soared, so did my place in the formation.”
“I am sorry...B-But I did not ask you about your Backstory . Can’t we just cook?” Izuku asked, unsure.
“…” a growl decidedly NOT human escaped Takeo’s throat at that.
“Pray that your pizza will be enough, because my Dish will devour you.” Takeo growled with chilling eyes.
“ Kyaaah! Takeo-sama is so cool! Devour me as well Plea- ”
“QUIT YOUR YAPPING!” the Vegetable King roared with his eyes turning golden and his teeth becoming sharp fangs.
“ Eeek!”
“Anger doesn’t make a good dish. Neither does Hubris. ” Izuku said, looking at Whitey’s red eyes in worry since it meant the robot had started sensing ‘ Violent Hostility’ coming from the young man.
“But savagery does! And my Savage, World-ending Roast-beef will dominate you!” Takeo answered, brandishing a knife with a wide blade to start mincing vegetables at high speed.
“Once I’ve chopped some horseradish and added some fresh cream and anchovies, the base for the artichoke sauce for my beef will be ready!”
“...”
“…” Izuku simply stood in silence, sitting on a stool with both arms and legs crossed while looking straight at the pizza he was preparing, his eyes unblinking as he followed every minute change of the thing through the glass panel of the oven.
“Speechless in terror, eh? I can’t blame you.” Takeo said in cruel amusement.
“Once the artichokes are added my Dish will be ready, while you will need AT BEST five more minutes for the pizza to be done properly. By then the judges will have already tasted my Roast-beef and the Cyarine in the sauce will have bewitched their tongue and manipulated their sense of taste. Even after cleansing their palate the effects will still linger, and your precious pizza will at best taste like an overly-sweet cake! Even your precious countermeasure will amount to nothing!”
Groan! “I already know that they won’t cleanse their palate enough to avoid the effects of Cyarine . Now get back to cooking, we are here for this, not for talking.” Izuku answered with a sigh while massaging his temples to avoid a headache from overcoming him.
“Uh?!”
“Your voice is grating, like the voice of an old acquaintance of mine. He too loves to hear himself talking, and that kind of person always gives me a headache. Too annoying.” Izuku admitted, groaning again, and unknown to him Katsuki that was looking at the Livestream actually looked hurt at his words instead of angry, to the surprise of the guy’s classmates.
“We’ll see who will laugh last! The artichokes are ready!” Takeo hissed in answer with a scowl, and once finished boiling all the artichokes he wished to use, he rapidly chopped them all and added them to the sauce.
“My ‘Roast-Beef: Artichoke Heaven Style’ is ready. It’s over for you!” the Vegetable King declared with a fanged smile while preparing a dish for everybody.
“ That’s it! The Dish that made him become one of the Kings ! W-We can finally taste the Legendary Dish! ” a student gasped in awe from the classroom’s back.
The meat looked otherworldly tender and covered in a smooth sauce glittering a little in the room’s light, on top of each dish Takeo had also added a poached egg, making its golden color stand-out in stark contrast with the pale colour of the sauce and the pinkish one of the meat.
Judges Table -
“Impressive, the center of the meat has a perfectly-rosy colour, pleasing to the eye but still cooked properly. It’s rare to find such a balance in a dish prepared by a student.” Minato admitted, impressed.
“Me and Takeo Spar often, the current score is 27-27 , he is the only one I deem worthy of being my rival.” Mako added, she too looked pleased by the dish's looks.
“Hahahaha! THIS IS MY Vegetable King! The bitterness of the cream matches the thick taste of the Beef to perfection! And even the meat’s juices become an integral part of the flavour that turns everything into a never-ending dream! Ah!” Yamato declared, proud beyond belief.
“I see! So THIS is how it works!” To everybody's surprise, Izuku’s voice was not filled with despair, but in childish curiosity.
“Uh?”
“You didn’t just boil the artichokes! You actually removed most of the dish’ innate sweetness so that it would only come from the Artichokes themselves and made the cream sauce subtly more bitter than usual as a base to preserve your own dish’ taste. All to counterbalance the huge amount of Cyarine you wanted to add and not put yourself in danger, not bad.” the green-haired Chef said while enjoying his portion.
“...You figured that out with a single bite?” Takeo whispered in horror, he too had been eating his Dish to bask in the taste of his Victory .
“Why, yes! I needed confirmation you actually did prepare the recipe the way I envisioned, otherwise my counter-strategy wouldn’t have worked like I needed! I only missed the sauce base being extra bitter, but that will actually help me as well.”
“The Cyarine now is sitting on our tongue and overshadowing every other sweet taste, when the judges will eat my dish, the Cyarine on their tongue will be ‘ washed away ’ by their chewing and return the taste buds of their tongues to normal, curiously though, those receptors of sweetness will remain over-excited, making every sweet taste following your Beef seem even ten times more intense. You planned for that to happen to ruin my Pizza, isn’t it?”
“M-My Dish’ Recipe...The taste...Like you...E-Envisioned?”
“Yes, I know I should have focused on my Dish alone, but in order to make sure I was countering you properly, I had to prepare a copy of your Roast-beef too!” Izuku answered with a shy smile.
“Y-Y-You prepared MY DISH? When? Where?!”
“Here. While preparing the Beef Shigureni Topping I also prepared the same Roast-beef you made.” he answered while tapping the side of his head.
“You made a copy of my Dish while making yours? W-Without looking at me...Who are you?!” Takeo asked in abject horror.
“I thought you knew! Nice to meet you, I am Izuku Midoriya, owner and Chef of Green Cloud Restaurant .” he answered with a formal bow.
“WAIT! YOU OWN A RESTAURANT?! You are not just a minor Chef from a run-down eatery?!” Sadao and Michiko yelled as one in shock.
“Yes I own a Restaurant, why? Yamato-san didn’t tell you?”
“NO! Our Rector failed to give us some Key Details about you!” the Dessert King answered, appalled.
“We only knew you worked in a minor restaurant…” Sadao added, faintly.
“...His ‘ Minor Restaurant ’ has a dedicated full-page on FoodieAdvisor with 200 Reviews, all 5-Stars, and the Forum’s rarely-awarded ‘ Platinum Ribbon’ right next to the Restaurant name...Fuck…” Mako muttered, paling a little after checking Izuku’s restaurant on her phone.
“I just wanted you to face this Challenge with a clear mind,” Yamato answered, sniffling haughtily.
“YOU TOLD US HE WAS A NOBODY! ” Michiko screeched.
“Technically, he is.” Yamato answered, huffing.
“ Technically my ass, mom…” Minato muttered in dismay while face-palming, a sentiment unanimously shared by the Teachers that will soon face Izuku and where secretly watching.
As an added insult, in the Livestream Chat the guys from I-Island, together with Momo and Ochako, started shamelessly spamming the link to that forum page AND the Restaurant Location for everybody to see.
“T-This means nothing! You can’t have imagined just how many artichokes I would have used as well! With all the Cyarine in my dish, even plain water will taste sweet like sugar!” Takeo said with wide eyes, almost sounding desperate instead of smug.
“You would be amazed by how strong my Imagination is,”
“Uh?!”
“ Cyarine , Miraculine ...There are many ways to manipulate the taste of your own Dish and the Dishes of others. You only need to know what fruit or vegetable to extract them from, and how to use them.
If I wanted, I could have done the same to you with my own rose extract and the glycoproteins in it right from my challenge against Michiko-san. But I preferred to make sure the judges would clean their palate properly before our match. Contrary to you, I want to win on MY Merits, not with tricks.” Izuku answered, finally taking his pizza out of the oven.
“Tricks?!” Takeo hissed.
“This is fine and all, but now that your pizza is ready, we will either cleanse our palate and have it turn cold, or eat it as it is and have its taste ruined by Takeo’s Dish.” Yamato said, smirking.
“Right! You have no chance to win this! My other name is ‘ Flavor Demon’ , my real domain is in the manipulation of taste. Bravado won’t help you!” Takeo declared.
“ Flavor Demon ? Then I’ll be called the King of Chefs , if you don’t mind. And as such, I won’t let somebody using underhand tactics come threatening my Kingdom .” Izuku answered, nonplussed, while presenting his dish: a pizza with two kinds of topping turning it half black and half white , only created to form a perfect Tao Symbol.
“ Yin-Yang Pizza : Half with Beef Shigureni as topping and half Quattro Formaggi ( In Italian : Four Cheeses. ) Please start by tasting the beef slice, THEN the cheese one.” Izuku instructed after distributing two slices of the big pizza to each judge and then Takeo and himself.
“The Shigureni has a sweet undertone in its own taste, one may think you are basically committing suicide by making us start from that…” Minato muttered.
“Please, do humor me,” Izuku asked, sheepish.
“Your funeral, boy...Even if it is a very nice Shigureni I am seeing. It's a bit of a pity to have its taste ruined by Takeo’s Artichoke sauce.” Yamato admitted.
“Right! I can still defeat you! To my victory! Itadakimasu ! ” Takeo declared with a wide smile and then gave a HUGE bite to his pizza slice…
The room was once more plunged into an absurdly-thick silence as every judge’s eyes snapped open wide.
“T-This doesn’t taste sweet...This Pizza is damn amazing!” Sadao was the first to snap out of her stupor, and her first words were full of astonishment.
“...How…” Takeo instead was looking at the slice he had just tasted in horror.
“For a start, it was not any normal sauce that I used on the pizza dough, I basted it with Yuzu Miso sauce.” Izuku answered, clearly enjoying his own slice and talking with bulging cheeks in an utterly-adorable scene. ( Yuzu is a kind of Japanese citrus ).
“Y-Yuzu Miso?!”
“Uh-hu! My home-made Yuzu Miso is also extra-bitter thanks to the grated Yuzu Peel I normally add to it to give it a more sophisticated taste. And since I knew Cyarine would have increased any sense of sweetness, I had to drastically decrease the quantity of mirin sugar and white miso I used to prepare the beef as well.”
“But-But...T-The Shigureni Recipe you followed…”
“Oh! That, I actually used more beef than required when using those quantities of condiments.”
“Then why does it taste this good?” Michiko asked, confused.
“...He used Takeo’s Dish to increase the taste of his pizza…” Yamato answered with a low tone.
“Wha?”
“Exactly! This version of the Dish would never work without somebody consuming that much Cyarine beforehand! Takeo-san, thanks to your sauce, my own Beef Shigureni had the chance to shine for real. No! Even better! Thanks to your Cyarine Bomb Sauce my Shigureni is actually even tastier than its ‘ Normal Version’ . Thank you.” Izuku explained, smiling proud of himself.
“Y-You…” Takeo muttered while his body seemed to grow bigger.
“You were fast in pointing-out your friends’ mistakes, but you too made a glaring one. Had you NOT declared those vegetables to be the key factor of your Dish, had you not boasted about Artichokes being basically your Secret Weapon , I would have gone through with the first Dish I had decided to make, and your victory would have been almost certain. I learned on my skin to be humble and careful, I hope this will help you too.” Izuku said.
“You…” Takeo said again, now silver fur could be seen rapidly covering his body while he kept getting more buff until he took a slightly hunched posture.
“Also: your biggest Mistake was actually making Beef not Artichokes the Theme of our Challenge, your wish to keep your tactic a secret gave me the key to defeat it too.”
“ Grrrr!”
“By the way, to truly enjoy my Dish’ full taste, I suggest you eat the cheese half now, your palate should be properly ready after the beef shigureni.” Izuku said, unafraid and personally taking a bite of the quattro formaggi side of his portion.
“The cheese...A Quattro Formaggi , one of the most common toppings of Italian Pizza…” Mako muttered while giving a bite to the second slice of Pizza on her plate.
“Midoriya…” In the meantime Takeo had subconsciously fully activated his Quirk to turn into a feral-looking Werewolf with silver fur.
“A-Amazing!” Minato gasped in wonder.
“I kind of had to modify the original recipe, though, since Ricotta (soft cow/goat cheese ) is not exactly an official part of the Quattro Formaggi .” Izuku explained.
“ Mozzarella, Parmiggiano, Ricotta and Gorgonzola . Simple cheeses mixed together to perfection...and the taste is simply unreal...How?” Michiko asked.
“They all are cheeses rich of Salty flavour , their mellow richness and that salty feeling goes in stark contrast with all the sweetness your tongues have been bombarded with thanks to Takeo-san’s roast-beef and my Shigureni. It was a royal pain to balance it, but I knew that all that sweetness would have made the cheeses taste stand-out amazingly if I managed to pull it off. And I believe I managed.”
“Not only the saltiness! You used black pepper to add extra tingling to the dish too!” Mako answered, amazed.
“The bitterness of the Artichokes paved the road to the Sweetness of my Shigureni, enriched by the Cynarine, and both acted as the introduction to the final part of my dish: the Saltiness of my Quattro Formaggi. And if you taste the Shigureni again, you will find the taste transformed, now having turned pleasantly bitter. This is the Yin-Yang Pizza: Sweetness and Saltiness neatly separated and yet with a bit of each other in them still, all thanks to my ‘Flavor-Transforming Beef Shigureni’.” Izuku explained.
“And all this wouldn’t have been possible without you, Takeo-san. Your Dish made mine reach an even greater level. I did not just counter you, I used your own Secret Weapon against you.”
“Midoriya … ” Takeo’s voice was now a growl with drool flowing down his fangs-filled lupine mouth.
“It was an amazing display of abilities. I am sorry, Takeo, but I must vote for Midoriya.” Minato said, sighing and showing a sad smile.
“Midoriya. Sorry, Takeo.” Michiko.
“You…”
“Midoriya. You were amazing, Takeo, but I have to.” Sadao
“You … ”
“ He used your Cyarine against you, that in itself was impressive, but I can’t even tell how he made the same Dish have two different shades of Flavor, but don’t worry, I will avenge you.” Mako said with a merciless smile.
“Sorry, Takeo…” Sadao muttered with a low voice.
“Midoriya! YOU FUCKING BASTARD!” The Transformed Vegetable King howled in madness while jumping Izuku with the rest of the class screaming in fear.
“Troublemaker!”
“Whitey! Stop!” Izuku yelled while jumping back and watching the stool he was sitting on getting bitten to splinters by the Mad Werewolf .
BUMP! BUMP!
As soon as his feet touched ground again, a duo of needles appeared in Izuku’s hands and he used them on the Knocking Pressure Points of his own shoulders to enlarge his arms’ muscles and fists to thrice their sizes.
“COME HERE!” Takeo roared.
“STOP!” Yamato yelled with wide eyes at seeing one of her Kings fully lose his cool and assault the green-haired boy a second time.
“Idiot…” they all heard Izuku mutter with a sigh, both his hands raised high and fists clenched tight.
“ Bodhisattva Tenderizer!” the green-haired Chef declared with blazing eyes as both his fists came slamming down on both shoulders of Takeo to fully interrupt the werewolf ’ charge and slam him down face-first on the floor with an extremely loud BOOOM! And the entire school shook heavily.
( In Buddhism , a bodhisattva (/ˌboʊdiːˈsʌtvə/ BOH-dee-SUT-və ) is any person who is on the path towards Buddhahood . In short an attack that hits you so hard you almost reach Buddhahood !)
“Ugh… ” Takeo groaned weakly from the crater on the floor his body created under the weight of Izuku’s attack, and the young man was already returning to look human as soon as he fully lost consciousness.
“...”
Sigh ! "That was fairly pathetic." Yamato commented bitterly while watching one of her prized students lying on the floor unconscious.
"That is Assault, mum, a crime ." Minato answered.
"Yes, and a fairly pathetic one: you don't throw away your future just because you lost a challenge, but I guess that for somebody as prideful as Takeo, losing to anybody else besides Mako was too much to bear." The old woman said while walking towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Her son asked.
"I need to make a couple calls: one to the Police Force to report the attack, and one to Toshio's family, after Michiko's outburst and Takeo moment of madness, we are short of judges."
"Will I go to prison?" Michiko asked, afraid.
"That is up to the police to decide, I will have to suspend you for a while though. You are unfit to judge for the same reason: after your attempted attack your judgment can easily be put in question, you should have considered this before Takeo’s challenge even started." She answered, sighing.
"Yes, madame." The girl answered with a low sigh.
"I am surprised you are not covering for them," Izuku admitted.
"There isn't much to cover since we are streaming all this Live, and even then, while I may like to see you lose, I don't want to see you drop dead. I am a Chef, not a murderer, same going for my students. Takeo and Michiko will face the consequences of their actions." Yamato answered.
"I understand." He replied.
In the silence that followed that exchange, the old woman quietly left the class with a somber expression.
"...I know that asking this is foolish, or even hypocritical..." Minato tried saying once seen his mother leave.
"Yes?" Izuku asked.
"Both Takeo and Michiko will have a lot to deal with once we are done here, can I at least ask you to not press charges? Adding a court visit on top of all this could really ruin their future." The man begged.
"I am sorry..." Michiko added, already crying.
Sigh ! "Apologizing after the deal means very little, you know?" Izuku answered with a heavy sigh.
"Please," Minato begged.
"If they get away with this, it will set a precedent, and these things will happen again."
"But it won't happen again!"
"You have the power to instantly change how Society thinks and acts against the Quirkless, Mister Minato?" Izuku asked.
"N-no..."
"Michiko's attack didn't even start! You can’t know if she only wanted to scare you instead of strangling you!" Sadao tried saying.
"Were you just trying to scare me, Michiko-san?" He asked.
"...Yes?" The girl answered with a tentative smile.
"..."
"...No. I really did try grabbing you," after a long war of stares though Michiko deflated and told the truth.
"And then?" He pressed on.
"I don't know...I was not really thinking." She admitted.
"That is what I meant."
"Just...Just consider it, please." Minato pleaded.
"Let’s finish these challenges first, then you all will be free to beg him for forgiveness. Even if in his place I would have none." Mako answered, unfazed, and carelessly threw away everything she found on Takeo's workstation to make room for her own equipment.
"Okay," Izuku conceded with a new sigh.
"Few agents will be here shortly to collect Takeo and our testimony. They accepted my request to let Michiko see the final Challenge against Mako, but then she will have to follow them back to the police station for further questioning. An agent will wait outside for her." Yamato informed everybody as soon as she returned.
"Thank you, Madame." Michiko answered.
"Did you take Takeo's knife, Midoriya?"
"Not yet." He answered.
"Here, as far as I know, this was his favourite. I'll write his name on it for you." Mako said while collecting said utensils.
"Thank you. But...You don't seem very sad about your friend's situation."
"Me and Takeo are GOOD friends, but I also recognize that his Ego has always been a huge problem. I guess it was only his one-sided crush on me that made sure losing to me never bothered him. He probably saw it as me being worthy of him or some similar nonsense. It was only a matter of time before Karma caught up to his stupidity, ' you reap what you sow ' and all that." The woman answered.
"One-sided crush?" Izuku asked.
"You knew about it?!" Sadao chorused right after.
"I pride myself to be a bright woman, Takeo was wearing a neon sign declaring his interest in me, as far as I am concerned."
"Oh! Surprising!" The Fish King answered.
"I know. While we wait for the Police to arrive, I say we organize our own Challenge, Midoriya. Are you up for it?" Mako asked.
"I am ready, what is the Theme?" He answered.
"Soup."
"...”
"...Okay? And?" He asked once she did not elaborate further.
"That's it, we will both make soup, and there won’t be restrictions on Ingredients...Mostly." she answered with a predatory smirk.
"Mostly?"
"We both will need to use as many Ingredients as possible AND make it so their taste won't clash. I saw you win while using one or two Ingredients tops, I want to see if you can handle lots more! For example I will use: Bear Meat, Pacific Saury, Beef, Apples, Salmon, Chicken and various vegetables."
"So your Dish will double as a Revenge for the fallen Kings?" Izuku asked with his eyebrows almost shutting up all the way to his hairline.
"What can I say, I have a soft spot for theatrics!" she replied, laughing.
"Fair enough, I will use the same ingredients then, plus a few others." Izuku answered.
"Good!"
Sigh ! "I think I know what you are planning for, I will ask our janitors to bring the machines here." Yamato said.
"Machines?"
"You'll see, Midoriya." Mako answered, smiling mischievous.
- Twenty Minutes Later -
Just as two agents of the Police Force finally arrived to cuff Takeo and slowly drag the still unconscious young man away, Toshio the Meat King entered the room to accompany the school janitors rolling inside two bulky and complex-looking machines the size of a fridge.
"I am glad you accepted returning here for this," Yamato said.
"I am doing this as a favour to Midoriya, after Takeo and Michiko screwed-up he needed a proper judge, I am already looking for a new school." The plump boy answered, huffing.
"Fair enough." The old woman replied with a sigh of dismay.
"While we waited, have you thought about what soup you will prepare?" Mako asked.
"Sort of, I think I know which one I will make to face you." Izuku answered.
"Good to hear."
" Is the Host aware of the main problem with his choice? " The Voice of his Sponsor though made its presence known soon after.
" Problem? " He asked.
“ In order to prepare a perfect Century Soup , the Host will need a drop of saliva from the Ingredient known as Wall Penguin. Does the Host wish to purchase some from the System? ” The Entity asked.
“ So THAT was the last Ingredient? No wonder nobody else could replicate it! Setsuno probably knew and did not tell me either…Damn her! ” Izuku thought in amusement.
“ No need. My ‘Imperfect Version' is still an extremely good Soup. I will use that to defeat Mako. ” The young Chef answered.
“So you say there won’t be a Theme or chosen Ingredient, the only requirement is that we prepare a soup with as many Ingredients as we can handle…” Izuku said with a mischievous ( and still adorable ) smile.
“…Yes?” Mako answered, with a rather big chunk of ice spontaneously forming in her stomach out of worry.
“Good to know! Whitey, please bring me all the Ingredients they have in storage. Here are the quantities I need.” The Young Chef asked while rapidly jutting down a note on a piece of paper.
“Understood.” The plump robot answered and immediately ran out of the room.
“Every Ingredient we have in our storage?” Minato asked with a faint voice.
“Exactly! Should be many, right?” Izuku asked.
“We…We will soon have a feast to celebrate the Anniversary of the Founding of our school, so the kitchen storage has been stocked to capacity…” Yamato answered, just as unnerved.
“How many?” Izuku pressed on just as Whitey barged-in with a HUGE pair of burlap sacks filled to the brim in Ingredients on his shoulders…And the school cafeteria’s Chef desperately clinging to his leg to stop the robot.
“Two hundred and fifty-three different Ingredients have been collected, Host.” Whitey declared.
“More or less that many…” Yamato confirmed with a tiny voice.
“Rector! Stop this monster! This thing has beaten-up and undressed the entire kitchen Staff! Not even the women were spared!” the guy cried-out in horror.
“Disciplinary Stripping cares not about Gender! All Troublemakers in the way to the Host's Mission shall be stripped as an example to others!” the Robot answered while delivering the Ingredients to Izuku.
“Monster!” several girls shrieked in horror.
“I care not about your feelings. Your “ Respect Wahmen" shall be used to shine this Unit's backside.” The System answered through Whitey’s mouth, merciless as usual and making Izuku chuckle.
Many outraged gasps echoed in the room, at that.
“Small matters aside, I will start my own Soup if you don’t mind.” The green-haired Chef declared.
“You can’t use that many Ingredients together!” Mako said with wide eyes.
“I have watched the others use many Ingredients in every fight I had with you Kings …What’s wrong with me doing this now?”
“At best I used less than ten! Not over two hundred!” Michiko screeched in shock.
“I know, unfortunately the Century Soup does require a lot of Ingredients to be done.” Izuku answered with a helpless shrug.
“Century Soup? Never heard of it.” Mako admitted.
“Imagine it as a VERY clear consommé. It will take a couple hours to make, but it will be oh so worth it…” Izuku answered, showing an eager expression.
“A couple hours? Good! At least I will have plenty of time to make my own “ Flavor Pearls Soup ". We both will use our best dish, good!” the woman said with a feral smirk.
“It’s not really my best Dish, but whatever floats her boat, I guess…” Izuku muttered to himself in answer.
“Both contestants ready? This is the last Challenge between Midoriya Izuku and the 5 Kings , this time against ‘ Soup King ’ Mako Yarikami. The Theme is simply Soup and will be the longest of them all as both will have two hours to complete their Dish.” Minato said with a tense tone.
“I ask again, are you ready?”
“We are ready!” Both young Chefs answered at the same time.
“Then…BEGIN!” at the signal, both contestants moved at the same time.
While Izuku pulled-out the biggest pot he could find, Mako was already attacking a fat salmon so fresh it looked still alive.
Putting the fat fish on the chopping board, she slashed downward with her customized Knife branded with Inoshiki Academy insignia on the handle to fillet and skin the salmon at high speed.
“That is some impressive knife technique,” Izuku admitted, he had instead started with the beef and bear meat, cleaning both at high speed and then seasoning them.
“That’s not the only thing I am impressive at! Now you'll see why I remained the First King ever since I was selected!” Mako answered, her feral smile showing a sinister edge that still gained her loud simping cries from the students behind her.
“Those guys are hopeless,” Izuku commented with a sigh as his knife moved in a burst of speed that gave the illusion of three blades chopping down at the same time and slicing the saury he was working with into thin stripes in an instant.
“How can you cut that fast?” Mako blurted-out, awed by the sight.
“Hard and merciless training, both my old Teacher and my current Sponsor are slave-drivers.” The young man answered, sighing.
“Well, it matters not! It won’t be the Fastest Chef to win, but the Best!``On the notes of that answer, Mako finished separating the skin, scales, meat, and bones of the salmon she was working with neatly, each movement of hers swift and extremely precise.
Once finished dealing with the fish meat, the young woman sent Izuku a challenging glare and pulled-out a metal rack with a big funnel on top and a tiny hole on the bottom under which she positioned a big bowl filled in a clear liquid with a light gelatinous consistency.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“My secret weapon! Custom-made to help my ‘ Heat Parasite ' Quirk show its Full Potential while Cooking!” Mako answered in glee.
“ He is finished! Queen Mako is also known as the Molecular Devil ! Nobody can match her expertise! ” a girl exclaimed in reverential wonder from the back of the class.
“Molecular Cuisine, eh? I have dabbled in it a couple times…But in the end, I always return to more Mundane cooking methods.” Izuku admitted with a thoughtful expression.
He actually remembered a Chef from his lifetime as Zaus that specialized in that branch of cooking: ‘ Mad Scientist Nanachi ’…But no amount of amazing Dishes could help Izuku stomach the guy’s obnoxious manners he displayed whenever out of a kitchen, that man was just too rude and annoying!
“Ahaha! Then let me show you how a Master does it!” Mako answered.
One of the machines she had asked for and had been moved into the class was soon turned on, and each container on the front of the bulkiest machine went filled by the fish parts: skin inside the first, the meat in the second and the bones in the third.
“This is what we jokingly refer to as “ Taste Extractor ", it will forcefully extract every drop of essence from whatever is inserted into the containers and pour the resulting liquids into separate vials.” Mako explained, and loud shredding noises rang out as soon as she started the thing.
“That poor salmon is not exactly enjoying it…” Izuku muttered, unheard.
Hearing the Voice of Ingredients helped him and many of his colleagues learn that not every Ingredient liked being used in molecular gastronomy, it was actually very polarizing opinion, but it was clear to Izuku how THAT PARTICULAR salmon didn’t appreciate being treated like that.
Once collected the vials of Salmon Essence, Mako switched containers with clean ones to repeat the process with her own seasoned bear meat, and doing it again over and over with every Ingredient she had chosen.
“What now?” While slowly stirring the soup stock he made until it started to boil gently, Izuku watched the wide collection vials now filling Mako's workstation.
“Now I will turn all this into beautiful Pearls of flavor thanks to a solution of sodium alginate and calcium chloride , pearls I will then freeze.” She answered.
“I don’t want to sound like a grumpy old man or even a 20th century Boomer …But I still find all that a bit too extreme as a way of Cooking, too many chemicals involved.” Izuku admitted, sheepish.
“To each their own.” Mako answered with an annoyed huff.
It was a curious sight indeed, on one side they watched Izuku carefully cut pork meat into identical tiny cubes barely an inch big, while at the opposite side Mako was instead using a syringe to collect the content of a vial of Essence and pouring it a drop at a time into a small basin containing the chemical bath that turned each drop into a small gelatinous ball the size of a pea.
"One Chef is cooking in the traditional way, the other is using the most modern equipment of the 22nd Century. It's literally a battle between Past and Present!" Minato muttered, intrigued.
"Like watching a Samurai fighting a Robot?" Sadao asked with starry eyes.
"Exactly!" The man answered, excited.
"Honey you read too many Light Novels..." Yamato commented while rolling her eyes.
"I am still going to say that 'Samurai VS Zombie VS Robot for the love of the Takoyaki Princess in the Kingdom of Dancing Squids.' is neither Trashy nor Cringe." Minato answered, huffing.
"Minato, the title alone made my skin crawl..." the woman answered, sighing.
"Hater."
- With Izuku and Mako -
The contestants were luckily too engrossed in their cooking to notice the strange by-play between Mother and Son, so did the audience both in class and following the Livestream.
Once every drop of Essence from the various vials had been turned into gelatinous spheres, all neatly separated into different dishes, Mako grabbed one of the handles of her contraption with one hand, rapidly covering the entire thing with a thin layer of frost once absorbed into herself every ounce of heat thanks to her Quirk.
"Here it is! My secret weapon! I AM GOING TO KICK YOUR NICE ASS, PRETTY BOY!" and as expected, the downside of her Quirk as well showed-up with all the absorbed Heat making her self-control slip.
"W-Wha?!" Izuku shrieked at the comment about his ass.
"YOU HEARD ME! I DON’T CARE IF YOU CAN BOUNCE A COIN ON THAT MASTERPIECE OF YOUR BUTT! YOUR BEING A HOT PIECE OF ASS TEASING EVERY GIRL IN A THIRTY METERS RADIUS WITH YOUR MERE PRESENCE WON'T SAVE YOU THIS TIME! YOUR ' PLEASE MOLEST ME, ONEECHAN! ' SEX AURA WON'T WORK ON ME!" Mako roared with a savage roar.
" Eek !"
"Mako becomes way too forward when Overheating " Michiko commented with a sigh of dismay.
"Not that she is wrong..." Sadao added, she, just like the other girls in class, was now avoiding Izuku's eyes when the unnerved Chef tried looking at them.
"True."
"I am not like that! I don't have that Oneechan Aura or whatever...At best I am an average plain boy..." he muttered with a pout. A supremely adorable pout.
" Bullshit !" The girls in the classroom thought as one at the same time, the same answer momentarily swarmed the Livestream Chat as well as every female user typed that.
The same thought also crossed the minds of the fans of the original manga.
" That ass belongs to me, kindly keep those dirty paws away from it ." Momo thought in distaste while scowling at the Livestream.
Still glaring at the green-haired Chef, Mako kept one hand on her contraption to keep it cold, while with the other she delicately poured the content of a Dish to let the drops of Essence gently roll into the funnel.
"Thanks to my Quirk, I can freeze these drops instantly! Even better than a bath into Liquid Nitrogen ! You are finished, pretty boy!" Mako, still under the effects of her Overheating , declared as the tiny pearl-like frozen grains started dripping down from the funnel and filling-up the porcelain bowl under it.
Once repeated the freezing with the content of every vial, soon pearl-like grains of different colours filled the bowl to the brim.
"The Pearls are ready, now I can focus on the soup proper." The woman said with a sigh, moving the bowl of pearls into the fridge with a more relaxed expression.
"Feeling better?" Izuku asked with a whisper.
"Yes, I will be. Luckily the effect doesn't last long once I stop absorbing heat...Sorry about what I said. It was distasteful." Mako answered, ashamed.
"No harm done, don't worry,"
"Thank you."
"You're done making pearls?"
"Yes, I will start preparing the soup proper, how about you?"
"I am a third of the way, to make a proper consommé two hours will be barely enough, but I'll manage." Izuku answered.
"Give it your all, then. I hate Chefs who slack-off!" Mako answered, nodding.
Said that, the young woman started preparing a chicken bone stock since the bird's meat will be the main element of the soup.
"Chicken Soup as a base, making a tasty soup that is also Clear and without oil or grease suspension will be of essence to make a successful dish..." Yamato thought with narrowed eyes while studying both contestants' handiwork.
In the meantime Mako had finished cleaning the Knife she used to prepare the Ingredients for the Essence Extractor and was now cutting the meat, skillfully piercing through the chicken skin right above the articulations connecting the wings to the body and cleanly separating them from the breast.
Done the same with the legs, and after quartering the chicken breast, she delicately removed the bones to prepare the stock and rubbed every piece of meat in butter and placed the now-shining cuts into an earthenware pot.
"Good, now...the herbs and the pepper grains..." the young woman muttered, thoughtful.
While the bone stock was slowly starting bubbling gently on the stove, a colorful mix of herbs and spices, along with a small pinch of black pepper, was gently sprinkled above the meat until every piece was covered uniformly, then the pot went sealed by its lid and put above the fire.
Having now her hands momentarily free of work, she moved a bit closer to see what Izuku was doing.
"This Century Soup..." she asked.
"Yes?" He answered while removing the last traces of scum floating to the surface of the meat he was blanching, meat that went then added to the main pot boiling at low flame.
"Do you really need all those Ingredients to make it?"
"Yes. To be fair, though, a Proper Century Soup should be left boiling for up to ten hours, but with the Ingredients I am using, two hours will suffice." Izuku answered.
"Is it a very complex dish then?" She asked while peering into the bubbling pot.
"Very, I might lack a key Ingredient that is still fermenting back in my personal kitchen, but I have experimented enough with this recipe to know how to cover for most of this problem. This I am preparing is what I call Proto-Century Soup , but done here I plan to make the real one back at my Restaurant."
"Ten hours even, impressive. "
“Impressive and a slog to prepare.”
" Of course the Original Recipe requires many hours to be done, the Ingredients needed are so out of ordinary compared to the ones of this world that it's not a surprise the requirements are just as crazy! " The green-haired young man mentally added with a sigh.
"Uh! You said that the missing Ingredient is still fermenting...What's that?" Mako asked, curious.
"Home-made aromatic winegar. Secret Recipe." Izuku answered with a cheeky wink, and using the lie suggested by the System.
"So you are fighting me with an Imperfect soup?" Mako asked with narrowed eyes.
" Imperfect implies it will be a bad soup, I am preparing a different version of the original dish, please don't insult it. It will be exceptionally good, I know." Izuku answered, sending her a side glare.
"...We'll see..." the young woman answered as she marched back to her own workstation.
- Some Time later -
While Izuku's dish was nearing the final phases of preparation, Mako's own soup was almost ready as well.
As she waited for the soup to be ready, she recovered her Pearls of Flavor from the fridge and started collecting a few of each Flavor to create a small selection of colorful beads she then poured into small dishes, one for each Judge plus two, one for Izuku and one for herself.
In her pot, water boiled and steam rolled forth while the soup was constantly bubbling, filling the room in the homely scent of cooked chicken.
Looking as if unsatisfied by something, Mako actually grabbed a few Pearls from the ones remaining from her selection and tossed them into the soup where they melted instantly, causing the scent to change slightly while the soup bubbled even more violently.
Bubbles constantly rose and popped at the surface of the soup the more pearls she added.
Plop! Plop! Plop!
"This will add a bit of Body to the soup taste. I added some essence of herbs, beef and pork to it, enough to add facets without overshadowing the gentle taste of chicken." Mako explained with a smirk.
Using a steel ladle to scoop-out the soup and show it to the people present, Izuku and the others saw that the thing was extremely clear, without a single trace of oil, which made it look pleasing to the eyes.
The dense meat fragrance of the chicken intermingled perfectly with the delicate scent of the bone broth it was submerged in, with the mixture of scents wafting everywhere to tease the noses of the spectators.
Swish !
Pouring the delicate chicken meat soup into the various white porcelain bowls, Mako then took the dishes containing her Flavor Pearls and delivered everything to the judges table.
"Here it is, my Flavor Pearls Chicken Soup is ready! Please try the meat and soup by themselves and then pour the Pearls in the remaining broth, then you can either wait for them to melt or eat them as they are and enjoy the feeling of Hot and Cold they provide. Please enjoy your meal." Mako explained with a deep bow.
Although the judges all thanked her for their portion, their attention kept gravitating towards the other soup still cooking, and Mako could not exactly blame them either.
The Soup kept bubbling and bubbling, with Izuku's ladle never stopping moving to gently squeeze out every drop of taste from everything he used.
“He keeps adding Ingredients…” Sadao muttered, shocked.
“And the scent still remains amazing…” Michiko chorused, looking at the big pot with unblinking eyes.
“ Beef, pork, veal, bear, shrimps, calamari, salmon, carrots, potatoes…I can tell each Ingredient apart by smell and they are not in conflict…HOW?! ” a student shrieked in horror from the back of the room.
“And he keeps adding more! What the fuck?!” the girl's friend added.
“The preliminary preparations are done…Now…The filtering.” Izuku muttered with narrowed eyes.
“ Filtering ?” everybody else thought, growing extremely confused.
As if to answer them, they watched Izuku prepare a second big pot he topped with an extremely fine filter Whitey pulled out of the opening on his stomach, the thing was so fine the ‘holes’ of its net almost could not be seen by naked eye.
“Now…If I did it properly, three times should be enough…And I will only need to make it finish cooking for a couple minutes more after that to be done…” Izuku muttered while pouring the entire content of the first pot into the second once removed the cooked Ingredients from it.
“Why Filtering it? To make sure the broth is extra clear?” Minato muttered, unsure.
“Maybe he wants to avoid any particles to float in it?” Yamato answered while watching Izuku clean the first pot thoroughly to repeat the Filtering a second time with a brand new and even finer filter.
When the third round of Filtering happened though, every whisper died down abruptly to let absolute silence take over, because NOBODY could comprehend what they were actually seeing…
The Soup that poured down from the filter now was absolutely invisible.
Clearer than water, transparent to the point of absurdity, a Soup they could HEAR sloshing about in the pot, but that they were unable to see.
“Perfectly done!” Izuku declared with an elated smile.
“HOW?!” Mako demanded.
“It’s part of the recipe! Unfortunately I lack the ingredients to finish it properly, so the 99.9% version will have to do this time.” He answered.
He honestly could not tell them the missing Ingredient came from an animal of another world.
"While you finish your preparations, we will start judging Mako's Soup." Minato said.
"Please go ahead, I will be done in a minute." Izuku answered, nodding.
"Good. Let's see...This soup does look delicious." Yamato admitted, sounding extremely impressed.
Mako’s dish could only be described as beautiful, a soup with enchanting color and luster.
Under the light of the room, the dish seemed to be as dazzling as a starry sky with the clear soup emitting an enchanting fragrance as steam rose from the surface of the bowl, constantly rolling around and scattering.
The soup was clear with a light yellow tinge to it, and the tiny grains in the small bowl next to it looked like small pearls emitting a hazy luster when light shone onto them.
The meat had been cooked a little by itself before being cut into small round slices Mako then added to the soup, just enough for the butter and the mixture of herbs and spices to properly enrich its taste, not being fully cooked in the broth also meant that the meat did not break apart once scooped-up with the spoon.
It was a warm taste that gently warmed the heart of the eater, with the buttery-soft pieces of meat giving further body to the dish.
“Simply wonderful.” Yamato declared with a proud tone.
“Just by sight, this soup has already exceeded every expectation we had, but now is time to see if the taste too was a success." Minato declared.
"I am confident in my dish, I promise you won’t be disappointed!" Mako answered while puffing-out her chest in pride.
"I know I won't be, I know you well." Yamato answered, she was the first to taste the dish.
When the judges took their first mouthful of soup, the look in their eyes changed from sharp and focused into a more relaxed expression, as if reminiscing few fond memories of days long past.
In the next moment, they constantly moved their spoons, scooping more and more spoonfuls to their mouths with an eager expression.
“Try the Pearls too, those are a wonder of Molecular Cuisine.” Mako suggested with a smirk oozing unbearable amounts of pride as she pointed at the small dish of pearls next to the soup plate.
“Aah! I remember your Pearls! Pure taste and essence condensed into minuscule bombs of flavour!” Yamato answered, eagerly collecting a few pearls of each color in her spoon she then briefly dipped into the soup before eating them.
When the essence grains entered her mouth, their cold shell formed a sharp contrast with the hot soup that further highlighted their taste.
These essence grains were frozen, and the cooling sensation when they entered the mouth together with the warm soup made the judges risk swallowing their tongue in their haste to eat more as soon as the grains taste mixed with the broth's.
"Salmon tastes in chicken soup, it’s a surprise the two don't clash. Is it because of their being spheres?" Sadao admitted.
"What she did, Spherification , changed the flavor of the Ingredients, didn't it?" Izuku answered.
"Pretty much. It is still a chemical reaction, not every Ingredient can take it and maintain 100% of their original flavor. In this case it helped because it took away some edge to the salmon taste, enough for it to work with a bone broth base." Mako said.
"You still took a daring gamble,"
"You have been doing this since the beginning, don't be a hypocrite." She answered.
"Touche." He admitted with an amused chuckle.
"It was indeed surprising, the Pearls were good eaten alone as well, actually refreshing the palate after eating the warm soup. Simply amazing. " Minato declared with a wide smile.
"Mako-chan has a bit of an attitude, but she does make awesome soups." Sadao added.
"Never was a lover of soups, but this was admittedly nice to eat, I guess." Michiko said with a shrug.
"I don't really like watching meat get destroyed and transformed like that, but it was good all the same. I just wish Takeo was here to taste it too." Toshio said with a sigh.
"Takeo had a choice in taking the defeat with dignity or even making a fool of himself and whining about it. He instead choose to attack somebody in blind Fury to avenge his wounded Pride like a common hooligan, and Assault is a crime." Yamato answered, scowling.
"It is still so surprising to hear you say that,"
"I might have a personal reason to dislike you, Midoriya, but even that is not a good enough excuse to let one of my students go unpunished after an attack on your life. He broke the law and as a proper educator it was my duty to clean-up the mess and contact the Police Force to see him properly punished. When he will be released, if ever, he will face the consequences of his actions, and being a promising Chef won’t spare him that." The old woman answered.
"Oh, thank you." Izuku answered with a small smile.
Sigh ! "To be perfectly honest, had things been different I would have tried snatching you as a student here with all my might." Yamato admitted with a sigh.
"It can still happen..." Minato whispered to her with a smirk.
"Hush!" She hissed back in answer.
"Uh?" Izuku uttered, confused.
"Nothing, Midoriya. It's nothing. Are you ready?" Yamato answered.
"Oh! Of course! I will serve it immediately!" The green-haired Chef said filling several big bowls in transparent soup.
" I can't see shit! How can soup be invisible?! The plates are empty!" A girl in the back yelled.
" That guy keeps pulling bullshit like that! Can’t he cook NORMAL Food at least once?! " Another roared in defiance right after.
Many in fact started loudly declaring him a Cheater due to the Soup's appearances.
"Please be quiet, and don't curse." Izuku asked with a calm and yet cold tone, he didn't actually look back at them, he just raised his right hand and slowly closed it into a fist on the notes of its cracking bones.
When a flaming red Aura covered his body and the arm's muscles bulged-out, a loud chorus of jaws snapping closed echoed behind him as the Students in the back instantly fell silent.
They all remembered the one-hit KO that downed the Berserkering Takeo, and didn't wish to try their luck against Izuku AND Whitey that was already glaring at them with red eyes.
"That’s better. Here is my Proto-Century Soup . Please enjoy." Izuku said with a bow once delivered the full bowls to the judges and Mako.
"And one for myself too," he then poured a bowl for himself to enjoy.
"I...I don't actually know how to judge this..." Minato admitted with an unnerved tone.
"I mean, it is a clear soup, and it does smell nice." Toshio muttered, puzzled.
"Is this edible? He used so many Ingredients," Michiko added.
"Taste it and you'll see. It came out pretty nice, if I can say so myself." He answered while eating.
“Taste it, '' he says, ''how can a Soup so transparent have any taste, I wonder…” Mako muttered unsure while studying the spoon in her hand.
If not for the fact she felt its weight on the spoon and heard it fall back into the bowl once poured it back in, she would actually believe there was nothing in her plate…But even the sound the Soup made whenever she stirred it with her spoon was abnormal, it sounded too crisp, too clean.
“The scent is hard to describe, while gentle and delicate, at times you feel the meat, at others the fish and then the vegetables…” The former Meat King commented.
“And yet there is nothing here…Clear like crystal…” Sadao answered.
“ I wonder how you would react to the small aurora a proper Century Soup generates above the plate. That is the hard part to explain! ” Izuku thought while rolling his eyes, and coming-up with AT LEAST a hundred different Ingredients from the Gourmet World out of the top of his head that would blow their minds way harder than the Soup he made.
“Please taste it before it gets cold.” He begged.
“Right. Let’s see what you did.” Mako answered, shoving a big spoonful of the thing in her mouth all at once.
Munch !
“ Ah! I bit into it! The flavor almost felt solid! Like biting onto a giant steak! ” Mako thought in shock as her entire being went assaulted by the Soup True Taste.
She could see it actually! Hundreds of cows resting in an endless grass field and peacefully basking in the sun with her sitting among them.
Then the Flavor changed…
“The salmon! The Saury!” Mako was now deep into the bottomless sea as giant schools of fishes swam all around her!
The flavor changed again!
She saw a giant field bustling in vegetables, all juicy and ripe and with the warm and earthy scent of watered soil permeating the air.
And the taste changed again…
“The Squid Meat!”
And again…
“The pork meat!”
And again…
“Shrimps!”
And again!
And again!
And again!
Each bite, each spoonful had a different taste!
ALWAYS CHANGING!
ALWAYS TRANSFORMING !
The Judges too were drowning in that taste, just as awed as Mako was.
“The bear meat…” the plump Meat King muttered with teary eyes as he once again came face-to-face with the same Bear of his own Challenge, right in the middle of the animal's beloved woods, but this time he didn’t feel hostility, as if the female bear had already forgiven him, making weep harder.
“The Saury’s fat and meat in this soup taste so goooood!” Sadao moaned in bliss while still playing around with those fishes in her own little fantasy.
“…Apples and roses again…He is twisting the knife in the wound…” Michiko muttered while eating her bowl of soup, she too was crying faintly.
“Impossible…You can’t pile-up so many flavors on top of each other like this…Food doesn’t work like this…” Yamato muttered with a weak tone, each syllable trembling in badly-restrained horror.
“I can taste both Takeo's roast beef with artichokes and the pizza that defeated him…Toshio's Bear mincemeat katsu and the Red Braised paws…The Cartoccio of Sadao and the scorched Carpaccio…Even Michiko Entremet and the Queen’s Apple Tarts are faintly present…The same tastes of the dishes he and the Kings made in the various Challenges are all present and then many, many more!” Minato said while looking at Izuku in disbelief.
“The Century Soup is not just a Dish, is a testament of the greatest Ingredients of the current Century AND a Thank You to the Ingredients of old. A taste both Ancient and Fresh and pretty much a complete Full Course Menu condensed in a single Dish.
My only regret is that this is the Incomplete Version , unable to showcase the full scope of its taste. But I plan to make it properly and add it to my Restaurant Menu.” Izuku explained.
The revelation that the " proper " version of the soup could be leagues better still in taste threw the entire room into a deep silence of disbelief.
“ Analysis…Host Izuku can add the Century Soup to the Menu, but will still be forced to purchase the Wall Penguin Saliva as an extra until he reaches level 3. Then the Ingredient will instead be stocked like every other condiment. ” The System answered.
“ Fair enough. ” He thought in answer.
Mako in the meantime had finished her plate of soup and had fallen on her knees with the spoon still in her mouth, the dish taste had kept changing again and again until she lost count, and every time becoming more delicious still, beyond her comprehension.
“How?...” she asked with a faint voice.
“Years of trial and error and countless sleepless nights. No superpowers involved, only hard work.” Izuku answered, and offered his hand to help her stand back up with a gentle smile.
“Why does everything you make taste this good?” Mako asked once back on her feet.
“Lots of love for the Ingredients, perhaps. I too can’t really explain it.” He answered, shy.
“I think I understand…” Mako answered.
“It was simply amazing, I feel no shame in admitting it. We will now proceed to vote-"
“There is no need, Mister Minato.” Mako interrupted him with a sad smile.
To the others surprise she took one of her knives and wrote her name on the blade, she then grabbed Izuku’s hands and gently closed them around the handle, with her hands covering his.
“I have never met anybody with such skills before, you may have hidden it well, but I can tell: This wasn’t even the tip of the iceberg of what you can do. And it’s amazing.” Mako declared with a tiny smile.
“Ehm…Thank you?” Izuku answered, uncertain, the girl was still holding his hands in hers.
" NOOOOOOOOOOO !" The numerous male Simps in the room cried in horror at seeing the green-haired young man ' Cuck them all ' at the same time with a bowl of soup.
And while the Livestream Chat looked ready to explode with all the messages of the ‘ IzuMako ' Shippers flooding it, the Students of class 1A stood in fear-induced absolute silence once seen Momo clench her phone so hard in her hands the thing snapped in two.
She was clearly against watching some random Bimbo make Doe Eyes to her boyfriend, especially with lots of strangers even endorsing it!
“ HOW DARE SHE?! ” The Hero Student roared in her head.
Back to Inoshiki Academy –
“I…I have a girlfriend, you know?” Izuku tried saying once his hands were freed from their warm prison.
“I don’t mind sharing, and I am sure you won’t either.” Mako answered with a mischievous smile.
“And what about-"
“Your girlfriend will come around, eventually. She won’t have a choice.” She answered, unaware that Momo DID hear that shameless claim from Mina's phone, and besides ALMOST snapping in half that phone too, a feral roar did escape her, making even Aizawa dive for cover once heard that.
“I-I can’t accept!” he tried saying.
“Huhuhu! Sooner or later, you will. I am a patient woman, and one day I will drink you up…Like a delicious cinnamon soup.” She answered, boldly kissing his cheek before returning to her seat, unaware of how screwed she was.
UA University – Dormitories – Common Room
The assembled students of Class 1A and their Homeroom Teacher Aizawa, all brave Heroes in Training and a Pro, stood huddled in a corner to watch in silence Momo sitting alone at a table while watching the Livestream through Mina’s phone, and while the girl’s expression was neutral, in a classy sort of way, a thick and dark Miasma kept rolling-off from her body in huge waves of darkness.
“This can’t continue.” Aizawa said.
“Yeah! Please Teacher, do something!” Toru begged.
“Don’t worry, I have a plan,” the Pro Hero Eraserhead answered with narrowed eyes, making the students cheer silently for their Brave teacher.
“Here goes nothing…Bakugo, go talk to her.” The teacher then said,
“Why me?!” Katsuki answered with a low, whispered shriek.
“You are the Top Dog, right?”
“Yeah! I am the Top Dog, not the Sacrificial Lamb! Send the grape-headed moron, nobody will miss him if she tears him in half!” the blond punk replied.
“Mineta already escaped.” Aizawa answered.
“Fucking useless midget!”
“Todoroki?” the Pro Hero tried asking.
“I am the class Kuudere , not the student with suicidal thoughts.” Shoto answered.
“I-I'll go!” Ochako said with a trembling voice as she rose to her feet.
“…That reminds me…” Momo's hissed answer at that made her turn chalk-white pale, though.
“You work with Izuku as his Waitress…Meaning that you actually spend more time with him than me…I hope you are not developing feelings for him that will create a Love Triangle Situation that will culminate with me having to share him with you so to not see a dear friend of mine suffer from her broken heart after several chapters of headache-inducing Love Doubts that will plague everybody involved…” Momo asked with utterly Soulless eyes drilling a hole in Ochako's head.
“…I won’t go.” Ochako answered by sitting back down on the floor behind the couch, the group's chosen hiding spot.
“Tokoyami, is up to you! You are the guy with suicide thoughts.” Tsuyu said.
“I don’t have those! I am the stereotypical Goth Character ! There is a difference!” the bird-headed young man answered with wide eyes.
“Sorry then. Croak !”
“Okay…Plan B.” Aizawa declared while whipping-out his phone.
“Mic? I am cashing-in that favor! I need you to come here and placate a Jealous Teenage Girlfriend.“
“ FUCK! Can’t I just go fight All for One and his Nomu army alone and naked?”
“No. Be a man, wear a Kevlar vest and come here! Also, bring some Gold Imperial Leaf Tea, it should appease the Demon long enough for me to talk her into calming down.”
“ Goddamnit…Give me five minutes to update my Last Will and I’ll be there… ” Present Mic answered with a defeated sigh.
“Done, we’ll have somebody to bear the brunt of the first explosion and give us an opening to fix this.” Aizawa declared with a sigh.
“What about Shinso? Can’t we ask him?” Kirishima asked.
“I tried that already, apparently Female Fury makes her immune to my Quirk. She also did not appreciate my meddling,I’ve got to remember that if I really join this class of psychos.” Shinso answered while adjusting the ice bag over his recently-gained black eye.
“Oh! So that’s how you got that…”
“Class 1A is not for pussies, Grape Head is the only anomaly.” Katsuki answered.
Said that, all of them stood in silence as they waited for Mic to come and save their lives.
Back to Izuku – Inoshiki Academy-
Sigh ! "This is the last one," Izuku said once, putting Mako's knife inside the cabinet as well.
"Should I call my teachers now?" Yamato asked.
"No no, there is no need. Five challenges are more than enough for one day. If I hurry back I will be able to organize the dinner service, so I will save some energy for my job." He answered.
"I understand. Shall we do it tomorrow then?"
"Uh? No need, I don't want to interrupt your lessons. Next week at the same time?"
"Next week...Yes, it's feasible, just enough time to take care of both Ingredients and equipment. But, can I add something to the Challenge?" The old woman answered.
"What is it?"
"Nothing extreme, just a matter of Theme. You want to challenge me and my four best teachers, that would be 5 themes: Boiling, Steaming, Frying, Stewing and Carving . Is it acceptable to you?"
"It’s okay for me, who will do which?" Izuku asked.
"I will be the one facing you in Carving, I will send you a letter detailing the other names tomorrow." Yamato answered.
"Good for me. If this is all, I will be going. Thank you for accepting my Challenge," the young Chef said with a deep bow.
"Had I known you were like this, I wouldn't have accepted," the old woman replied with a sigh.
"This isn't over! I want a rematch!" Michiko said from the sidelines.
"Me too!" Sadao chorused.
"Hoy! Hoy! Hoy! I will be the first!"
"I will have my revenge as well, so beware," Mako added, smirking.
"Whenever you want," Izuku answered with a wide smile, and under to shocked look of the Students of Inoshiki Academy, the green-haired Chef walked out of the private school closely followed by his Robot Bodyguard carrying the ornate wooden cabinet now holding the knives of the ' Legendary ' 5 Kings everybody thought were invincible inside their school.
"My beloved Samui...I wonder if you have any idea who you have put us against..." Yamato muttered to herself with a sigh, unheard by the others.
Later that day - Park -
"One bus stop down...God why I had to challenge a school at the opposite side of the city." Izuku said, sighing, while making his way through the park towards the bus stop at the opposite end of the place to catch the second bus that will take him back to his Restaurant.
Crackle !
A loud rumble and a brief flash of light was all the warning he got before a deluge started rattling everything with raindrops the size of golf balls.
T- Clook !
"Thank you, Whitey." Izuku said with a grateful tone as the plump robot promptly pulled an umbrella out of his stomach and opened it above the Chef's head.
Now safe from the freezing rain, the curious duo made their way through the rapidly-emptying Park...
"...Awesome...It rains too..." until Izuku saw a tall girl with extremely long hair sitting under a tree while hugging her knees tight to her chest, and judging by her red and puffy eyes, she had been crying for a while.
"You okay?" Izuku asked in worry once near her.
"Uh?" Nejire blurted-out in answer, surprised to see somebody as strange as him near her.
A young Chef clad in professional uniform accompanied by a tall robot with a big belly was not something one saw every day.
"I asked you if you are okay." Izuku said again with a warm, gentle smile.
"I...I will be...probably." Nejire answered, still with downcast eyes.
"Need an umbrella?" He asked while handing her his own, and seemingly uncaring of the rain drenching him completely in a matter of seconds.
"What about-"
T- Clook !
"You."
"My helper Whitey is very resourceful." Izuku answered with a grin as a new umbrella appeared in the robot's hand to protect him.
"Thank you," the girl whispered, grateful, now at least able to walk away from under the tree.
"That Robot...Does it mean you are that Chef people talk about? The one that challenged a private school for Chefs?" She asked.
"Yep, that's me, just finished the first round. Midoriya Izuku, nice to meet you." He answered.
"Hadou Nejire, pleasure is mutual."
"Can I ask what happened?"
"I...I don't want to talk about it," Nejire answered.
"Fair enough, I won't pry in somebody's personal matters,"
GORORORORO !
A LOUD thundering sound, similar to a sink getting unclogged, rumbled free from Nejire's stomach, and with her face turning bright red the young woman dearly wished for the earth to open under her feet and swallow her whole to hide her shame.
"...On the contrary though I would be remiss if I ignore an empty stomach crying for help." Izuku added, smirking, and watching amused as Nejire's face did the impossible and turned redder still.
"Oh, God..." the woman groaned in shame while burying her face in her hands.
"Come along! I am going to my Restaurant to start preparations for the dinner rush, I will give you some appetisers to keep you occupied until proper dinner starts." Izuku said, walking forward and motioning her to follow him.
"I-I-I don't..."
"Today's specialties are Beef Wellington, Takoiaki, Katsudon and Oden and today's special desserts are Angel Fruit Cake and Sacher Torte . Or else you can choose from the Traditional Menu, I added the Dishes I prepared during my Challenges in Inoshiki Academy as well. " Izuku answered, mercilessly, without turning to look at her.
Guiiiiiiii !
What came from Nejire's stomach in answer could only be described as the whimper of a dying animal.
"W-Wait for me!" She finally caved-in and followed him to the bus stop.
The ride towards Green Cloud Restaurant was silent, with Izuku and Whitey standing and clinging to the bus railing while Nejire sat nearby, the girl silently appreciating the Chef not pushing further to know what was wrong with her, last thing she felt she needed was somebody using her sadness as an opening to flirt with her.
- Green Cloud Restaurant -
Once arrived, she watched as Izuku rapidly unlocked the door to let her in while he himself opened the drapes and turned-on the lights.
"Take a table you like, I will be with you in a moment with a light snack. Soon it will be dinner time and I don’t want to spoil your appetite."
"Thank you," Nejire answered, watching him disappear inside the kitchen while she sat at the table under one of the small trees at the very end of the Restaurant, near the small window connecting the two rooms.
"...You have a dog?" She asked, trying to strike a conversation after a few minutes of awkward silence.
"You mean Blackie? Yes, he is my guard dog, a very amazing one!" She heard him answer.
"I can tell he knows that," she answered, surprised to see a very human-like smirk appear on the dog's face at the praise.
Both the girl and dog were resting under the same tree, and Nejire could guess why the animal didn't seem willing to leave once she sat at that table, for some reason sitting there was making her feel calm, relaxed and ' Safe ', in a sense.
The Restaurant, she surmised, was clearly the young man's pride and joy, just by looking at how spotless it was and at the insane amount of dishes carved in the four tall wooden tablets by the door she could feel the love the green-haired Chef put in his job.
The room possessed a very welcoming feeling, and with the ample windows showing the storm raging outside in all its merciless glory, Nejire felt even more glad she was safely inside, even if she also felt awkward at seeing the scarce people running-by look at her in envy while they braved the freezing-cold downpour.
She was unaware of how long she just sat there in silence, but she ended-up welcoming the " Privacy " the young Chef offered her with his silence, she just looked at the strange leaves of the plant above her while deep in thought...Still unable to find an answer to her " Mirio Problem ".
"I don't know how you are doing this, Plant-chan , but you are helping me think about him without crying again. But I still don't know what to do..." Nejire muttered with a sigh of dismay, as if hoping for the plant to actually help her.
"If you are wondering, those plants are called ' Soul Appeasing Trees ', my Sponsor got them from a Chinese botanist, my guess is that the guy named them like this because he likes Wuxia too much." Izuku explained once, finally surfacing from the kitchen to present her a small tray with steamed buns on it.
"So they really help people relax?" Nejire asked with a tiny smile finally resurfacing.
"Pretty much, it's their Quirk, shall we say. Here: Baozi , steamed pork buns." Izuku proudly declared.
"Oooh!"
"Luckily I had made some in advance, so I only needed to cook them, please enjoy." He explained.
In truth those were supposed to be his snack, but he decided to ' sacrifice them ' to help an empty stomach in need, luckily he did not add the usual insane quantity of chili he normally added to his personal portions.
"Thank you!" She answered, grateful.
"IT'S GOOOOOD!" Then came a happy squeal as soon as she gave one a bite, the wrapping while thick was as soft and fluffy as a cloud, the pork filling instead was flavourful and with just the right amount of chili spices to tingle the nose and perfectly frame the meat flavor.
"Huhuhu! I am glad you like them!" Izuku answered, amused, and watched her wolf down the buns at insane speed.
"Wow! Somebody was hungry!" He then said,
"Yeah! I missed lunch altogether since..." Nejire had started answering with a wide smile while still eating, until she remembered why she was alone in that park crying her eyes out.
"..." she now just sat there looking at the last and half-eaten baozi still in her hand.
"You don't have to tell me anything. But you can stay here as much as you want, or at least until it stops raining." Izuku offered with a kind smile, and simply collected her empty dish to take it back to the kitchen.
"...I." when the Chef was halfway to the door, he heard her mutter something.
"Yes?"
"I argued with my boyfriend."
"I am sure things will get back to normal soon, a moment of disagreement happens to everybody." He answered.
"Not this time," Nejire answered, sighing in dismay.
"We all think that, but you two will soon make peace, just you wai-"
"I AM TIRED OF WAITING!" Nejire roared while slamming both fists on the table.
" Eeek !"
"Troublemaker, cease making a scene or you will be punished!" Whitey immediately came out of the kitchen as soon as he heard Izuku’s surprised shriek.
"Ah! Oh, God I am so sorry! I-I just...I am just so tired..." Nejire answered, hiding her face in her hands with a groan.
"I see..." the Chef answered once sent Whitey back.
Sigh ! "Sorry, but ' Wait ' is the last thing I want to hear now."
"Oh."
"It’s just...I have been a good girlfriend, you know? I pretty much changed my lifestyle so that my ' schedule ' would fit with my boyfriend’s, I was understanding, I accepted the numerous times he canceled our dates because his Mentor suggested a new special training regimen...I even accepted dates getting interrupted halfway because he got a call from his Teacher insisting on revising his Special Quirk Training! Believe me, I am the damn most accommodating Girlfriend ever!" Nejire said all in a single breath.
"I can tell..." Izuku tried answering, understanding that he had just been elected as the girl's confidant even if he never proposed for the job.
He just took a seat and readied himself for the LONG rant that was clearly coming his way.
And a long rant it was once her floodgates went smashed open! Failed dates, canceled or even forgotten dates/anniversaries, handmade lunches abandoned or eaten in a rush and phone calls cut abruptly, among other things.
Whoever the girl's boyfriend was, he seemingly took his Quirk Training way too seriously, especially by hurrying to obey whenever either his Teacher or his Mentor called and abandoning Nejire with just a hurried " Please wait a second! " thrown her way.
Even Izuku with his workaholic tendencies did leave himself enough free time to spend it with Momo, sure between her Hero Training and his job ( and the System constantly breathing on his neck ) both young man and woman had to fight HARD to spend some time together, but they managed at least!
"It’s always ' Wait !' With him! Wait! Wait! Wait!" She hissed.
"Then came the last straw...Last night we were supposed to make love for the first time..." Nejire finally said with a depressed tone.
"I don't think I need to hear this," Izuku tried saying.
"I had it all planned-out, you know? I booked a nice and expensive Love Hotel, and I bought various boxes of condoms..." Nejire kept saying, unperturbed.
"I really don't need to hear this."
"I had bought some kinky, see-through lingerie too! The very obscene and edible kind!"
"I don't want to hear this."
"And scented candles! I put scented candles everywhere! I was fully ready to unleash my inner slut! Honest! I was ready to act like a Bona Fide whore!" Nejire said with an angry tone.
"Why are you telling me this..." Izuku said with a miserable groan.
"And then, as he was going to FINALLY put it in...The phone rings, and instead of ignoring it and making true to his boyfriend's duties and pounding me into the mattress, he answered! He took the damn call! He answered and listened as his Mentor asked him if they could talk and he damn left! He simply dressed back and left! He didn't even take off the condom! HE LEFT ME PENT-UP! And with just some Cherry-Flavoured panties to eat alone to calm down!" The girl yelled, obviously frustrated beyond belief.
"..." hearing only silence coming in answer, she finally noticed Izuku leaning forward and burying his face in his hands, a poster picture of misery.
Once again Nejire's face turned bright red in shame as it downed on her how much she said.
"Please don't-"
"I will keep this part a secret, don't worry. Just stop with the sordid details if we talk more, I am trying to erase from my memory that Love Hotel thing." Izuku cut her off, face bright red himself.
"Okay." She answered, meekly.
"Good, with your permission, I will finish dinner preparations, then we'll talk more if you want."
"Thank you," she answered.
"But to be honest, besides listening, I don't think I can help you. What you will do about your boyfriend depends on you only, I won't nor can suggest a thing. But I know that Love is never a one-way road, one has to give other than take , so I am sure your boyfriend will soon return all your patience with interests, " Izuku offered.
Sigh ! "I hope so." Nejire answered with a hopeful sigh.
“Have faith,” he answered as he got up.
Falling again into silent contemplation, she watched as he rapidly prepared his Restaurant for the so-called Dinner Rush , soon filling the Restaurant in a mishmash of amazing scents of Ingredients being worked on.
And when the time came, she watched in wonder as he managed to follow every single table, delivering and recovering plates at high speed, all the while still managing to talk a bit more with her.
The food was damn amazing too, and Nejire was unashamedly ordering dish after dish from the menu and piling-up empty plates at a steady pace, she was more hungry than even she knew.
The real drama for her though came when he brought the bill...It was then that Nejire noticed that in her haste to storm out of UA she had left her wallet behind.
"I will bring the money tomorrow morning, I swear!" She cried-out in horror.
"It’s okay, don't worry. You will pay me tomorrow, I will just add your breakfast to the total." He answered with a gentle smile.
"You sure?"
"Aren't we friends? I can do a favour to a friend whenever I want!" The Chef answered with a wink.
"Thank you." She answered.
To be honest, after what she told him in blind anger, Upgrading his Rank to Friend was the least she could do, especially since he didn't comment on her Love Hotel story, that was a small blessing.
- The next day -
The following morning she was the very first customer entering as soon as he opened the Restaurant doors.
"Good morning! How do you feel?" He asked.
"A bit better than yesterday." Nejire answered.
"That’s good! I knew you would bounce back, nothing can stop the Amazing Nejire-chan!" He said with a thumbs-up.
"Hahaha! Amazing even?" She asked with a touched expression.
"The very best!" His smile was mischievous and friendly at the same time, a combination Nejire actually liked to see him with.
"I have some time before lessons, can we talk some more?"
"Of course! I am always happy to talk with my friends!" Izuku answered, leaving her table briefly to prepare her breakfast.
"Friends, hu?...Why not?" She muttered, watching him work tirelessly to serve his other customers and drawing a rather impressive picture of the boy in her head the more she studied him.
Gentle
Honest
Hard-working
Modest
Well-mannered
Shy to praises
"... Aren't you a Sweet guy? " The young woman thought, and seeing his warm smile up-close when he brought her a cup of coffee finally cleared her doubts.
"Yes, I think we can be very good friends, Icchan!" She said to herself with a wide, happy smile.
Thus the Green Cloud Restaurant gained another regular customer, and Izuku a new friend.
End of the chapter.
Since I had to make room for Nejire in the pairing list, the next chapter will focus on the pairing side of the fic (XD) to make things hopefully more believable.
So, in the next chapter I will:
Start the Ochako pairing.
Start the Rumi pairing.
Set the bases for the Nejire pairing.
Have some fluffy scenes with Momo.
There will still be good food too! Don't worry. XD
As an apology, I will give you a bit of spoilers to hopefully generate some Hype for Izuku's Challenges against the teachers of Inoshiki and Yamato herself.
Here are the dishes our Hero Chef will prepare:
For Steaming : Emperor's Herbal Chicken (Chinese Cuisine) with Siopao steamed dumplings as side dish (Filipino Cuisine).
For Boiling : Pot-Au-Feu, boiled beef and vegetables. (French Cuisine).
For Stewing : Rogan Josh, spicy lamb stew. (Indian Cuisine).
For Frying : Salt-Fried Yin-Yang Beggar's Duck (Cantonese Cuisine).
For Carving : Baked Alaska “Miladies”. A variation of the baked ice-cream cake (American Cuisine). Dessert allegedly created by Charles Ranhofer in 1867.
It's not much, but I hope you will appreciate the small peace offering. Thank you for all the love you all are giving to this small self-indulgent story of mine, it means a lot to me, especially in these tiring days. :)
Chapter 10: Nezu's Offer. Inoshiki Assault Arc Interlude.
Summary:
Before the next batch of Challenges against the Staff of Inoshiki Academy and Yamato herself, Izuku gets a peculiar offer from Nezu himself: going to UA and be their Chef for a day and prepare Lunch in the University Cafeteria...
Notes:
A bit of an interlude to separate the two groups of Challengers of Inoshiki (Students and Teachers/Yamato) to take a breath, and while I planned for the Pairings to get a bit more space, there was a bit of a change as the final scene closing this chapter came to me. And I feel like this particular scene will act well as a set-up for the actual climax/final chapter of this story. Sorry about it, there will be time to explore the Pairing more, even if it is not exactly the most important part of the story. But I won't disregard it either, promise.
Also, I say this now...Izuku will miss the Sport Festival, and so will Nejire...You'll see. I have plans.
(And as you will see, I will also address many readers' worry, Nejire won't "Cheat" on Mirio. I will make it abundantly clear, both here and in future chapters).
Chapter Text
If you read this, the Chapter has been fixed by my Beta-Reader Dmale, my savior and possessor of BigDick Chad energy that managed to fix my story into proper English.
Thank you, my man! 🙂
Is Mako really such a good OC?
It is honestly a huge surprise for me to see so many of you say that, or even suggesting adding her to the pairing list.
I am touched, really.
Thank you. :)
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/Nejire
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
Chapter 10: Nezu’s offer.
Yavin Street n.4 - Green Cloud Restaurant -
The Restaurant was already packed for the Breakfast Service, with several people standing by the door or sitting on the four chairs by the entrance as they waited for their turn to sit and place their orders; Whitey standing in a corner and tirelessly scanning the room to stop eventual Troublemakers from bothering the customers while Blackie was, as always, sleeping outside by the door.
It may have been just two days since Izuku’s first bout against Inoshiki Academy, but already the name of his Restaurant ( and his own ) had spread far and wide through the city, drawing to him a new influx of customers, coming to try the dishes of the mysterious young Chef and to see the infamous wooden cabinet containing the five knives he won hanging from the wall.
The majority of the customers though were still Pro Heroes, and at odd hours Vigilantes under fake identities, something that almost made Whitey’s own security feel redundant, but between them and the chubby bot, the green-haired Chef still trusted his Robot Bodyguard more.
“Here we are! Cappuccino and Espresso for Mandalay and Pixie-Bob , and chocolate milk for Kota-chan!” Izuku said once delivered the drinks.
“Thank you, Chef Icchan!” both members of the Wild Wild Pussycats said as one with a wide smile.
“Thank you,” added the small kid with them, with a more low voice.
“Where are Ragdoll and Tiger?”
“Those two will be here soon. God forbid Tomoko wastes an opportunity to have that sacher pie or whatever with her coffee.” Mandalay answered, smirking.
“I’ll save a big slice for her then. Is everything else of your liking?”
“Yup! Damn best chocolate croissants ever! As usual you have an angel’s touch when making desserts!” Pixie-Bob answered.
“Glad to hear that,” Izuku admitted in relief.
“The eggs are good too…” Kota muttered while looking straight at his plate.
“I still don’t know how you manage to drink chocolate milk while eating scrambled eggs, but as long as Chef Icchan manages to make you eat your eggs, I won’t ask questions.” the boy’s Mother admitted while gently rubbing his head.
“Uh-hu…”
“Forgive him, he is a bit shy with strangers.” the blond Pussycat muttered.
“It’s okay,”
“At least he does not have a Quirk, those Heroes are too annoying.” the kid muttered under his breath.
“KOTA!”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Don’t worry,” Izuku answered with a placating tone.
“...You don’t like Quirks?” he asked once bent-down on his knees to meet Kota’s eyes.
“Quirks are okay. I don’t like Heroes, they are stupid.” the boy admitted.
“The Wild Wild Pussycats don’t look stupid to me,”
“Sometimes they kinda are.”
“Kotaaaaa! That’s meeeeeean!” both women replied with an exaggerated whine.
“Only sometimes, though! It’s still something!” Izuku replied, chuckling.
“...Maybe.” the boy conceded.
“What’s your ideal Hero then?”
“I don’t want to have a Hero.”
“Why not?”
“Because I hate them.” Kota answered, scowling.
“ Uhmmm ...If not a Hero...What about a Role Model?” Izuku asked.
“A What?”
“A Role Model! Somebody that makes you say: ‘ I want to be like them! I want to be Strong, or Cool, or Smart, or Brave like them!’. Somebody that makes you feel safe whenever you think about them!”
“...Isn’t that what a Hero is?” the boy asked, confused.
“Not really.” the Chef answered with a cheeky smile.
“So? Do you have one?”
“I...I don’t think so?” Kota answered, uncertain.
“Oh! Okay! One day maybe you will find one!”
“Yeah, maybe. Don’t really need one.”
“That is also true.” Izuku conceded.
“Hey!” Kota called-out when he saw the Chef excuse himself.
“Yes?”
“Do you have a Hero?” the kid asked with a challenging tone.
“...I used to. Now I don’t.” Izuku admitted with a sigh.
“It’s okay, they do that. They are just liars,” Kota commented with a sigh.
“Kota…” Mandalay muttered with a sad tone.
“Not all of them, in my case I was just wrong in believing my own Hero held all the answers to my prayers, I got better now. I am sure you will soon find a real Hero to look up to,” Izuku answered, his smile tiny but encouraging.
“ Tch! As if. That’s never going to happen.” the kid answered, returning to eat his eggs without a care in the world.
With Izuku -
Once reassured the two women with Kota that everything was okay, the young Chef moved towards another table to collect the empty plates and mugs in front of the customers.
“You okay?” the Pro Hero known as Ryukyu asked with a gentle smile.
“Uh? Of course I am!” he answered, smiling.
“Unfortunately some of us are in the business for the wrong reasons, I don’t blame you for losing respect for Heroes after meeting one of the bad ones.” Pro Hero Kamui Woods admitted with a sigh.
“I never lost respect for Heros, I still recognize what you all do for the community, don’t worry. I just don’t have a specific one to call ‘ My Hero’ at the moment.” Izuku explained.
“I can be your Hero, Chef Icchan!” Mountain Lady offered with a smirk and a thumbs-up.
“AGK!” only to then gasp in pain when Ryukyu slapped the back of her head.
“Please forgive her, she just discovered that Midnight surpassed her again in number of Fans and is still salty about it.” the Dragon Hero explained, sighing in dismay at the girl’s manners.
“Huhuhuhu! I see!” Izuku answered, chuckling.
“Who’s prettier? Me or that hag?” Mountain Lady asked.
“Me of course!” Midnight was heard hollering from the entrance, she and Aizawa had just entered the Restaurant while accompanying Nezu.
“Shut your trap!”
“You don’t accept my superiority? Let’s ask Chef Izuku then. So? Who’s prettier?” Nemuri asked with a teasing smile.
“Who’s prettier? My girlfriend, of course!” Izuku answered, smirking.
“Whipped!” Mountain Lady answered, scoffing, and getting a new slap on her head by Kamui Woods.
“Nope! I am desperately in love.” the Chef corrected her, unashamed.
“...AAAAND this recording of your answer and admission of Love will go to Yaoyorozu. Good thing I got her number.” Midnight declared once showed the phone she was hiding behind her back.
“That’s low and underhanded!” the young man shrieked with bulged-out eyes.
“Whatever! Message sent! I wonder how she will react to this.” Nemuri answered with a mischievous smile…
Barely a second later and a faint squeal-like noise was heard coming from far-away, but nobody in the Restaurant actually paid that voice any mind.
“Funny theatrics aside, I am not here for breakfast this time, Chef Izuku. This will be just an official visit.” Nezu said.
“But I made that honey-lemon cheesecake you talked about!” Izuku answered, hurt.
“This will be an official visit where I will also have breakfast. Take that dessert out.” The University Boss switched gear immediately, no shame whatsoever.
“I can’t believe this, he's got him under his spell too.” Aizawa grunted in disbelief.
“I also made some coffee-flavoured muffins…”
“I’ll take six!” Eraserhead answered instantly, pride immediately forgotten.
“Ah-ha! You two are Foodies!” Nemuri declared with an evil smile.
“…”
“You made that ‘ Rainbow Fruit Jelly Pie’ again, didn't you?” the woman asked in dread once seen the contrite expression of the young man’s face.
“Yes?”
“Goddamnit...Bring me half of it!”
“Half the entire thing?!” he shrieked in horror.
“YES! Hurry before I actually remind myself how many calories are in that!” she answered, tears already falling from her eyes. It was all very overly-dramatic.
Once the three Heroes’ Breakfast was served -
“Good, now that we have sated our stomachs, I say we can talk business.” Nezu said, having just finished wiping-out his third serving of cheesecake and the four giant cups of tea accompanying it.
“God, these muffins will be the death of me.” Aizawa muttered while still munching.
“What kind of business, sir?” Izuku asked while collecting the empty plates the three amassed.
“I want you to come prepare Lunch for our school today.” the rat-bear-man chimera declared, making a DEEP silence fall into the entire Restaurant.
“I beg your pardon?” the young Chef asked while leaning slightly forward.
“Simply put, Lunch Rush wants to see you in action in person while dealing with the huge amount of picky eaters we have at UA. It is rare for him to show interest in anybody, either in cooking or Heroics, but in your case he has pestered me enough to force me to either talk you into coming to UA at least ONCE to cook, or kill him. And since I am not a murderer, I only had coming here as an option to finally have him stop asking.” Nezu explained.
“Nothing else?”
“Recovery Girl too has a couple of questions for you. You know why.” Nezu whispered in answer.
“I see. Unfortunately, I can’t do it.”
“Why not?!” Nemuri asked, and she will forever deny her tone was the whining of a spoiled kid.
“I have a Restaurant to manage. Contrary to you Heroes I have not a stable income from publicity, I need to work to live.” Izuku answered.
“I know that. That is why the school will cover the expenses by paying you the average income of the lunch hour you have here on a normal day...And I am also sure the Pro Heroes behind me that are blatantly eavesdropping will pay for their fill should they join us for lunch in our cafeteria if you accept.” Nezu answered, and the various Pro Heroes behind him all looked sheepish, but they all nodded along as well.
“I don’t know…” Izuku muttered uncertainly.
“Host, this can be the chance to further spread the fame of your Restaurant. ” the System whispered in the young man’s head.
“ Will the money they give me count for my experience points at least? ” he asked.
“ Yes, the money UA University and the other Pro Heroes will pay you will be considered valid for the Experience Point Conversion. ” the Entity answered.
“ Good.”
“Okay, I’ll do it. But on one condition.”
“Which is?” Nezu asked.
“I choose the menu and bring my own Ingredients. I finally got my home-made aromatic vinegar ready, so I can prepare the real Century Soup . I want to see if the Recipe is up to my standards, and I need Taste Testers for that.” Izuku answered.
“…” the silence grew even more intense at those words.
Every Pro Hero in there had tasted the mysterious ‘ Proto-Century Soup’ at least once and learned of the story behind it: of the soup that can be made “ Properly” only in very limited amounts and only once a year since the key Ingredient, that vinegar, was apparently difficult to prepare and took one year to ferment.
The Proto version had already bewitched many customers no matter its ludicrous price, and the idea of tasting a version several thousand times better ( Per Izuku’s own admission ) got everybody interested no matter the probable increased in price, and in case of the Civilians without the same overflowing bank accounts as those Heroes, caused many to look in seething envy at the few lucky bastards that will be able to taste it.
“I-It’s ready?” the Pro Hero Backdraft asked with a trembling voice.
“Just filtered it this morning. It is now 8AM, and UA is having lunch at?” Izuku asked.
“13,00.” Nezu answered.
“That makes it roughly five hours...Yes, by that time the soup will be ready. Unfortunately I still have limited amounts of my Vinegar , so I will have to split the soup in two: the Proto one and the Real One.” Izuku answered, thoughtful.
“...How many servings?” Ryukyu asked with narrowed eyes.
“Of the real one? Not considering I want to put aside 3 bowls for a couple friends, and the two bowls for Momo and Ochako...20 or so servings will be up for purchase. I will distribute it on a first come first served basis. Everybody else will get the Proto Version. Sorry but that Ingredient is still a pain to produce.” the Chef answered with a contrite expression.
“ONLY 20 PORTIONS!?” somebody screeched in horror.
“I-”
“Of course the teaching staff of UA will get first pick.” Nezu declared, unconcerned.
“...Fair enough.” Izuku conceded after a short pause of thought.
“BULLSHIT!” a multi-voice roar exploded from behind the short animal hybrid, luckily Kota’s ears had been promptly covered by Mandalay so to protect him from hearing that cussing.
“This is abusing your power! Plain and simple! ” a Pro Hero yelled in outrage.
“Haters gonna hate!” Nemuri answered, smirking.
“ARGH!”
“Good to see you open to the idea, shall we send somebody to pick you up or you can manage by yourself?” Nezu asked.
“Don’t worry, I am not afraid of taking a bus or two to get there.” Izuku answered.
“Good to know. We will wait for you then, I suggest to arrive a bit earlier, to acclimate yourself with our kitchen, you will work alone after all,”
“Of course, Mister Nezu.” the Chef answered.
“Perfect, now tell me what menu you wanted to bring, so I will be able to tell you if our budget can cover it or if you need to change something.”
“Of course.” The young Chef answered, nodding, and already making a mental checklist of the Ingredients he will use, all coming from other worlds, just to flex a tiny bit on those Heroes.
It was not childish for him to do so...Right?
Later that day – UA University – Corridors -
The students of Class 1A were, as always, loudly talking between themselves while making their way towards the University’s Cafeteria, and offering a polite greeting to the other students once joined the crowd of young men and women clamoring to get their fill.
“Yaoyorozu,” Rumi uttered with a terse tone.
“Usagiyama.” Momo replied, just as coldly once met the eyes of Class 1B’s Star .
“The rivalry is in full swing?” Tsuyu asked with a whisper.
“It happens when you openly declare you will steal a girl’s boyfriend.” Pony whispered back.
“Oh, boy…” the other replied with a soft, defeated croak.
“Hoy! You heard the rumors? Seems like there will be somebody else preparing our lunch!” a student from the Support Department was heard saying to his classmates.
“Uh?” Mina was heard muttering, curious.
“Somebody else? Who?” Mei asked.
“Dunno!”
“Somebody from outside…” Mina muttered.
“You will tell me how it was later, I will have lunch elsewhere today,” Momo answered with a small smile.
“Oh-Ooooh! Yaomomo will get some food from her Husbando ! See if you can bring back some dessert, please?” the pink girl answered, smirking.
“I’ll see what I can do.” she replied, chuckling amused.
“Would you look at that! I think I will do the same!” Rumi said with a challenging tone.
“I seriously hope you will just go to some random fast-food restaurant,”
“I will have lunch wherever I want, Yaoyorozu. And I feel like pampering myself by having some Cutie green-haired Chef preparing me lunch!” the bunny girl answered, sneering.
“You are toeing a line you better not overstep, Usagiyama.” Momo hissed with narrowed eyes.
“Please don’t fight in the corridors! It is against the rules! Seriously Yaomomo-san, you should lead by Good Example!” Tenya said, aghast.
“Yes, you too, Rumi. We are not hooligans.” Itsuka chorused, sighing.
“Stay out of this!” Rumi growled in answer.
She was already pissed that between Momo’s constant visits and Ochako’s own interference she had hardly any time to enact her small Hunt for the cutie Chef, at least in school she won’t have people walk all over her!
“Fucking amazing! Now we’ll need to eat shit food for some retard’s Publicity Stunt! Goddamnit, I will have lunch outside!” Tetsutetsu was heard cursing in the background.
“I agree with a blowhard, incredible.” Katsuki agreed with him, surprisingly.
“Ahahaha! Why so gloomy? Something’s wrong?” a new voice said in amusement.
“INGENIUM!” A girl from the second year group squealed in excitement once seen the Pro Hero, and many others, join the students in the ample cafeteria from a side entrance.
“Big Brother!” Tenya himself exclaimed in wonder at seeing his brother there.
“Hey there! I was passing by and I decided to come snatch a bite.” Tensei answered, gladly accepting his brother’s hug and returning it with gusto.
“Oh, My God! Thirteen is here as well!” Ochako squealed in awe right after.
“Nice to see you again, kids! I am glad you all recovered well from the... Intense Visit to my USJ.” the astronaut-dressed woman said while waving playfully to the awed students looking at her.
“Hoy! Hoy! Hoy! There is a line already!?” The youngsters’ surprised mood seemed to prolong into infinity as Hawks and Mountain Lady, soon followed by Kamui Woods, entered the place as well.
“DAMNIT! I told you we would have been late!” Tomoko of the Wild Wild Pussycats swore loudly once seen the other Pros already there.
“In my defense, the traffic was a nightmare.” Tiger tried saying with a small voice with behind him the other two women looking in annoyance at the crowd of Pros already taking over tables left and right.
“So many Pros! Why?” Kaminari gasped in wonder as many other Heroes arrived on the scene.
“There is Endeavor too…” Shoto added in distaste, even if the memory of the man’s defeat at Izuku’s hands still helped him sleep well at night.
“I smell some bull here,” Jiro muttered, thoughtful.
“I assure you it’s just a coincidence,” Tensei answered with a forced smile.
“...Big Brother?” Tenya muttered, confused.
“Blame Nezu for this, it was his idea.” Powerloader said while hurrying to fetch a table.
“Nezu-san?” many students muttered, confused.
“Hey! Isn’t that girl...The one from the livestream?” Mineta said in surprise once seen the three strangers Nemuri was accompanying inside.
“Yeah! That Soup King girl!” Kirishima confirmed after recognizing Mako from the Livestream.
“What is she doing here?” Momo asked.
“That girl and the other two are Guests of the guy Nezu coerced into cooking for us today.” Aizawa explained once joined his class.
“Guests?” Tooru chorused while watching Mako, Toshio and Sadao ( Soup King, Meat King and Fish King ) take a seat with a few Pro Heroes at a table very close to the window connecting the cafeteria’s kitchen to the rest of the room.
“I don’t get-”
Thump! Thump! Thump!
When Whitey actually walked out of the kitchen to stand by the window to scan the whole room, many in the know immediately understood who the mysterious Chef was.
“WHITEY-SAN/WHITEY?!” many yelled at the same time.
“Hahahaha! I should have known! Izu-kun always wanted to come here after all!” Ochako was heard laughing in amusement right after.
“Huhuhu! Well, would you look at that, it seems like my lunch came to me instead!” Momo said with a tiny and cute chuckle.
“Boss Izuku is the Chef? FUCK YEAH!” Tetsutetsu declared with a wide, fanged smile.
“So the Nerd did manage to get in here at least once...Eh! In hindsight it was just a matter of time,” Katsuki muttered to himself, and curiously, he felt more amused than angry at the idea.
“Let’s get a table then! I want to have an encore of our super lunch!” Mina said, excited.
“Mina-san, I remind you that you will have to pay any extra servings out of your own pocket, our Meal Plan covers for one serving only.” Tenya immediately reminded her.
“Don’t be a stick in the mud, Tenya-chan! I just got my allowance so it’s not a problem!” she countered.
“WAIT!...Big brother...Are you actually here to eat his food? Not to visit me?” he then asked, looking at his brother with a betrayed expression.
“N-N-No! I-I am here to...To visit you?”
“No, he isn’t!” Mountain Lady yelled in the background.
“Tensei…”
“MIND YOUR BUSINESS, YU-SAN!” Tensei screeched once seen the broken expression on his brother’s face.
In the meantime – With Izuku – Cafeteria Kitchen -
“I have to admit it, this is nice.” Izuku said once finished studying the ample room and the professional equipment in it, everything was top-of-the-line.
“Yes, Lunch Rush was adamant in demanding only the best, justifying the cost in our annual budget meeting has been a pain.” Nezu answered.
“But the results show. This is an amazing kitchen!” Izuku admitted, and the Chef Pro Hero Lunch Rush flashed him a grateful thumbs-up.
“ Host, this kitchen is barely good enough for a future God of Cooking , do not lavish mediocrity in praises that are not deserved. ” the System said.
“ Jesus. Too much, System, too much! ” the young man grimaced at the merciless boasting.
Could the Entity be capable of jealousy? It always seemed to get jealous if other kitchens were complimented.
“ It’s not jealousy, Host. The System is only stating facts. ”
“It’s almost time, are you ready?” Nezu asked while still eyeing the three giant crates Whitey had deposited in the middle of the room from which they watched Izuku take out Ingredients and his own utensils.
“Yes, I gave the Ingredients a preliminary preparation before leaving my Restaurant, like seasoning, and actually finished cooking most of the dishes here while we waited for the lunch break to start...Only…” Izuku answered, unsure.
“Yes?”
“Why did you make me change one of the menus I suggested completely?” he asked.
“That livestream of yours had caught the interest of many of my students and pretty much my entire Teacher Staff. So I wanted to play the Nice Guy and give them a chance to try one or more dishes,” the rat-man-bear chimera answered, smirking.
After much deliberation, both Izuku and Nezu agreed on two Menus:
Menu A:
Rainbow Steamed Fish Buns
Fried Tofu Udon Soup
Hamburg Steak
Rainbow Mochi skewer with chocolate parfait.
Menu B:
Spicy Pork Baozi (Or Scorched Carpaccio)
Proto Century Soup
Red Braised Bear Paws (or Yin-Yang Pizza)
Queen’s Apple Tarts
Of course every Ingredient used in those dishes came from other worlds, like the Coral Fishes, the Berserker Bear meat, the Jewel Meat, the Albino Boar, the King Python and the Scorpio-dile and more. All Ingredients Izuku either earned by fulfilling the System’s missions or captured himself in his first sortie in another world. He kinda wanted to flex hard on them at least once.
And he earned those Ingredients either through Abrupt Missions or by going Dimension-Hopping, so he was gonna use them!
The True Century Soup dish was listed as a Dish sold outside the two Menu with a counter of the servings still up for purchase, and many eyes bulged-out in horror at seeing the absurd price of the thing, it was pretty much legalized robbery! And even any extra dish, should one want seconds or try a different dish from the possible choices in the second menu, were expensive as well! It was basically Izuku holding them by their feet and shaking them to empty their wallets!
“GOD ALMIGHTY!” a girl with thorns for hair yelled in shock from somewhere in the back once checked the price list.
“So expensive! You are a bad influence, Yaomomo!” Tooru cried-out with a childish whine once seen the prices.
“Uh? Me? Why?” Momo asked, confused.
“I guess it was a given, he had to probably prepare most of it beforehand and bring everything here.” Shoto guessed.
“There they are! My fish buns!” Tensei was heard declaring happiness.
“...Big Brother…” Tenya uttered with a broken heart.
“Don’t tell me you hate coming second to a plate of fish buns?” Kaminari said, amused.
“Be quiet!” the tall young man hissed in embarrassment.
“Now kids, remember the rules! Get in line and place your order and wait for your portion.” Nemuri said once near the table of Class 1A.
“Of course, Professor Midnight!” the class replied as one at Momo’s prompting.
“A last thing. Yaoyorozu? Uraraka?”
“Yes?”
“I was asked to tell you this: You will find a special extra in your own portion, and our Guest Chef wants you to know that should you want you can order that True Century Soup free of charge and without having to get in line for it. Congratulations!” the woman added with a mischievous smile, she then left to join the teachers’ table.
“…” both girls shrunk a little under the combined glare of the rest of the table.
“ Nepotism , pure and simple.” Mina hissed with narrowed eyes.
“You can’t use your being his waitress to cheat, Ochako-chan!” Tsuyu added with a disappointed-sounding croak.
“Totally unfair!” Aoyama cried with an overly-dramatic tone.
“Haters gonna hate, hn !” Ochako answered, huffing.
The roar of childish anger that came in answer eclipsed any other noise in the cafeteria.
In the kitchen -
“Almost time, you ready?” Lunch Rush asked after checking the time.
“I am, the Century Soup is finally ready and can be served, we can start.” Izuku answered.
Most of the more complex dishes had been prepared beforehand, like the dessert, the Century soup and the fish or meat buns, or had been pre-cooked once he arrived at the University, but most of the work on the dishes still needed to be done at the moment of the order for the final product to be as much good as possible, THAT exercise of speed cooking was what the Chef Pro Hero was after, and Izuku was more than ready to take on the Challenge!
“We start now then.” Lunch Rush declared as he rang a little bell he had mounted outside the kitchen just for that occasion, and the long line of students and Pro Heroes ready to order took maybe a tenth of a second to form.
“ They are pretty hungry and eager, will he manag-”
SWOOOOSH!
The Pro Hero’s thoughts derailed gruesomely when he saw the young man having already turned into a blur of motion to prepare the hamburg steaks, paws and the noodles and fried tofu for the Udon Soup.
“ And THAT is a Quirkless?” the Pro Hero thought in surprise.
Boa meat (Passed for beef) simmering on a wok, tofu getting gently turned around to be fried into cute golden cubes with the utmost care in another, noodles being pulled by hand to become thin string smooth as silk and both pork (in truth the meat of the giant albino boar) and crocodile meat being minced by hand at ludicrous speed to be then mixed together into several hamburg steaks and pan-fried. All at the same time, or so it looked from outside.
Whoever the young man’s doctor was, Lunch Rush decided, needed a good beating because those were not normal human abilities!
Main Room -
“Menu B. ” Whitey declared when the first tray was delivered to him by Lunch Rush himself once ready.
“Yes!” Pony squealed happily as she rushed to her table.
“What do you want?” the robot asked the next in line.
“Can I disassemble you, Whitey-chan? Please? Pretty please?” Mei asked moving forward to place her order.
“No. Place your order.”
“It will take a minute! I will put you back together right after!” she begged.
“No.”
“Pleeeeeeeeeeease! That Chef built an amazing Baby! I wanna see how he did it!” the young woman begged again with a drawn-out whine.
“No.”
“Ple-”
“JUST ORDER YOUR FOOD, WOMAN! I AM STARVING HERE!” Tetsutestu bellowed from waaaaay in the back.
“What is happening?” Lunch Rush asked once seen the line stopping already.
“The psycho from class 1H is blocking the line! She is harassing the robot!” a girl from the second year classes with butterfly wings answered from behind Mei.
“I am not harassing him!”
“Place your order, Hatsume. Or I will ban you from the lab for a week.” Powerloader , fourth in line behind Mei, said with a groan.
“... Menu A . ” Mei finally ordered with an annoyed grunt.
“Understood.” Whitey answered, and when a couple minutes later he gave her her order and she left, the cheering that followed her departure made her grow even more sour.
Small issues aside, many noticed that Izuku seemed to remember the preferences of his usual Customers without them even asking, as seen by Tensei getting an extra helping of rainbow buns ( for the Pro Hero’s clear delight) , Mandalay getting her Dishes gluten-free or Hawks getting everything in his order extra-spicy. All this without slowing-down the delivery of even a second, as both students and Teachers barely felt any substantial difference in waiting time between Lunch Rush or Izuku, if ever, the Guest Chef seemed even slightly faster.
“Uraraka.”
“Yes?” Ochako asked once it was her turn.
“Host Izuku says you can have mochi no matter the Menu you pick. They will be delivered at double the amount and size, as a thank you for your hard work as a Waitress of Green Cloud Restaurant. Do you also wish the True Century Soup to be added to your order?” Whitey asked.
“Yes please! Menu B with giant mochi and True Soup!” she answered immediately.
“Understood.”
“I LOVE YOU, BOSS!” the girl, crying fat tears of happiness at seeing the numerous and HUGE mochi that had been added to her order, declared with a loud voice.
“I know! The feeling’s mutual!” Izuku’s voice echoed from inside.
“Menu B with True Century Soup…” Momo asked right after as it was her turn, and she clearly did not glare at Ochako for that outburst, she merely followed the girl’s every move with narrowed eyes until she sat at their table just because she feared Ochako could trip along the way.
“Understood. Host wants to know if you want a slice of tiramisu added to your order as an extra or if you prefer a coffee parfait.”
“The parfait, thank you.”
“Yes.”
“Nepotism...Sheer Fucking Nepotism…” Mina hissed from her third place in line behind Momo, and many nodded along with her.
At the tables -
Everywhere one looked, there were hungry mouths greedily getting their fill of the feast in front of them.
The Mochi Skewer was a long wooden needle with seven golf-ball-sized ( or grapefruit-sized in Ochoako’s case) dessert balls colored, as the name implied, like the rainbow: Red for the ones with Red Beans Paste filling, Green for the Green Tea ones, Yellow for the Mango Flavored ones and so on. Each bite is amazingly soft and yet chewy, elastic and flavorful.
“That guy did this? My God, this is amazing!” the student called Monoma said in amazement while devouring the fried tofu soup in front of him, each cube had a crunchy exterior, but once bitten it revealed a creamy filling that submerged the mouth in taste every time he chewed,
“That’s Boss Izuku for ya! That guy cooks like a God!” Tetsutetsu answered, angrily swatting away the floating hand that tried to snatch a piece of his small Yin-Yang Pizza.
A version of it Izuku made with a normal recipe instead of the one he used against the Vegetable King that instead needed insane amounts of Cynarine to be consumed beforehand to become tasty.
“This’ mine, you bitch! Fuck off!” he roared.
“I just wanted a bite, moron!” the girl replied once recovered her severed hand and reconnected it to her arm.
“This is yet another proof that our Lord exists! He gifted one of his children with a divine talent for cooking!” another girl, the one with thorns for hair, added.
“Ibara-san, if you really have to preach even while eating...At least swallow first, you are shooting Baozi crumbs everywhere.” Pony begged with a scrunched nose.
“AH! I AM SO SORRY!” the young woman shrieked in shame.
“So much for the well-mannered Maria .” Itsuka muttered, smirking.
“Your future husband is still a Master in cooking, Rumi-chan!” Pony said.
“Yep! I am trying to snatch him, but don’t worry, soon he will be mine!” Rumi answered, smirking.
Fried Tofu Soup.
Class 1A Table -
Nobody could tell the Ingredients used came from other worlds, even Tamaki’s own Quirk was not reacting outside of his expectations when eating his own food, but what was certain was that the ones that had not tried Izuku’s food before, silently swore to visit the Chef’s Restaurant again, all under the knowing looks of the other people in there that were instead Regulars of Green Cloud Restaurant .
“Boss Izuku’s Mochi are soooo goooooood!” Ochako declared in tears while inhaling her food with zero manners.
“Maybe I should change your name from Round Face to Kirby , are you even breathing?” Katsuki asked, disgusted.
“NOM! NOM! NOM! NOM!”
“Can’t be worse than Denki-san,” Tokoyami admitted, looking impressed by the eating speed of the guy.
“It’s not their fault, everybody acts like this the first few times, but the effects do lessen once one gets used to eating Izuku’s food.” Momo explained, looking unaffected as she was eating with impeccable manners.
“Well, not all of us have the benefit of eating this whenever we want,” Tooru answered, huffing.
“Nor do we have your bank account…” Tsuyu added with a whisper.
“I often enjoy this for free, actually. Especially when he comes to my house to give my mother cooking lessons.” she replied.
“My jealousy is immense and my lunch is partially ruined.” Mina uttered in disdain.
“...Have you ever used him as a plate? His abs, I mean.” Jiro asked, and for once Momo did lose control and choked a little in her food.
“ AGK! W-What are you saying?!” she asked with a shriek.
“Well? Did you?” the girl pressed on.
“W-W-Well...I-I may have...C-considered it...Once or twice…” Momo admitted with a very low voice, a burning red face and a completely ashamed expression.
“Uh, it takes courage to admit that, I am impressed.” Mezo admitted chuckling.
“EEEK!”
“Lucky Bastard of a Chef…” Mineta muttered in disgust, while still enjoying his food, to his dismay.
Once finished serving everybody -
After having delivered the last order and the last dish of True Century Soup, Izuku finally surfaced from the kitchen to see the results of his work: hundreds of people eating to their heart's content the food he prepared, something that filled his chest in Pride for a job well done; and the applause the people in the room gave him once they saw him get out turned him into a shy blushing mess as he had not actually expected it.
As he had requested, though, whoever got their hands on the True Century Soup did not open the lid of the special container it had been put into; Izuku had reassured them that the special container would have kept it at the right temperature without spoiling the taste, and he personally trusted the System to create and give him containers with that ability, until the time to open them came.
“ You did well, you actually surpassed my expectations .” Lunch Rush declared while using sign language.
“Could have gone faster, but one can’t accelerate the time needed for Ingredients to cook, so more than just being fast in preparing, cooking still required the same time.” he answered.
“ For now, Host. ” the System replied.
“ Uh!?”
“True, but the fact remains that both speed and results were way beyond what I expected after seeing you go against the students from Inoshiki .” the Pro Hero said.
“I don’t usually crush my opponents, I don’t want to scare anybody by winning too hard, because I am not that kind of person.” Izuku admitted.
“ Understandable. By the way, those Ingredients you used...Their quality is astounding, I would like to inquire with your Sponsor if they are open to the idea of selling us some to use here in the Cafeteria. ”
“I’ll try asking.” Izuku answered.
“ Thank you. Is it time for those containers to be open? I think the ones that managed to snag that True Soup deserve to eat it. ” Lunch Rush asked.
“Right, sorry about that. I wanted to make a spectacle out of it, to be just a bit dramatic for once.” Izuku admitted sheepishly.
“A Spectacle?” this the Pro Hero asked with his actual voice, too taken aback to remember to use sign language.
“Yep!” the young Chef answered, smirking, and clapping his hands to get everybody’s attention.
“Sorry to disturb you, but I would like to apologize to all the ones that paid extra for the Soup, you can open the lid now. I just wanted the dish to have your undivided attention. Sorry again, you can eat it now.” he said to the people in the room with a sheepish smile, and without waiting for a second prompt, the lucky ones did hurry to open the Soup containers they were given, all at the same time.
Teachers Table -
“FINALLY!” Mako said in glee.
“ Uuuuhm! Aahm...Uuuhm!”
“Vlad? Are you eating that, or Eating that?” Nemuri asked, unnerved by the man’s lewd moans as he chewed.
“Shut up!” the teacher answered, face red in embarrassment.
“ NOM NOM! ”
“Are you still eating bear meat?” Sadao in the meantime asked in disbelief.
“I asked Boss Izuku for a third serving! God almighty, this is to die for! The bear meat he prepared in our Challenge can’t even be compared to this!” Takeo answered while still gorging himself in red braised bear meat, a tender and spicy flavour he was rapidly getting addicted to.
“Yeah! If you keep this up your cholesterol will certainly murder you!” the Fish King answered, taking away his plate.
“NO! I still have to lick it clean! I said nothing to you getting four plates of carpaccio, you hypocrite!”
“I am saving your life, moron!”
“It will be a worthy death! Give it to-”
FSSSSSSSSH!
The only warning everybody got was the hissing sound of the air-tight seal of the soup containers opening before a blanket of aroma conquered the entire room, and while gentle, the divine scent of the true Century Soup still managed to impose itself on everything else, silencing the room instantaneously.
At the other tables -
“Jesus…” Mirio admitted in awe at the amazing scent coming from Nejire’s soup, even if she now sat far from him, the scent still punched him on the nose.
“M-M-Mirio…” he heard Tamaki shakily call his name from next to him.
“Something you want?” Nejire asked once noticed he was looking at her.
“M-M-Mirio…”
“I wanted to apologize,” he said.
“M-Mirio, look!”
“Apologize for what? There is a LONG list of bad things you did to me. You’ll need to be more specific.” Nejire said.
“M-Mirio, oh God.”
“You know why I did it! I-I-It’s too important!”
“What’s so important about it!? What’s MORE important to you? Me or your Training?!”
“G-Guys!”
“I have a Legacy-”
“There, good. If it is that important then take care of that Legacy , whatever that means since you are telling me NOTHING. But do not expect me to be the good Trophy Girlfriend that will just stand there looking pretty and waiting for you. Our relationship is officially dead, and consider yourself lucky we are still friends at all!” she hissed.
“N-Nejire-”
“Mirio!”
“WHAT?!”
“...That soup created an aurora.” Tamaki muttered in shock while looking at the ceiling.
“A Soup can’t make- IS THAT A DAMN AURORA BOREALIS ?!” Mirio’s angry answer turned into a high-pitched shriek once he looked up to see that yes, Nejire’s soup and the others’ generated a giant aurora covering the ceiling of the entire cafeteria.
Nobody could wrap their heads around the strange phenomenon, but by following the strands of colour connecting the aurora to various tables, it was impossible to not understand that indeed it was the Century Soup to produce that mirage, no matter how Impossible that was.
“Don’t worry, it’s perfectly normal.” Izuku reassured them with a gentle smile.
“It’s not normal!” Tenya shrieked.
“An Aurora is created by the ions of the solar wind colliding with the atoms of oxygen and nitrogen from the Earth's ionosphere! A Soup can’t replicate that!”
“That is why I say it is an extremely difficult Dish to prepare! Something that I need an entire year to make properly; what I did during my Challenge against Inoshiki was an extremely rushed version, this isn’t, and the adding of my homemade aromatic Vinegar not only changes the taste for the better, but it also causes the chemical reaction that generates the aurora. Simple as that.” Izuku answered.
“What chemical reactions cause this?” Nezu asked, entranced by the aurora coming off from his and the other teachers’ table.
“I have not the faintest clue.” Powerloader admitted.
“Me neither.” Recovery Girl added.
“What about you, Lunch- ” Nezu tried saying.
“BOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOO!” The Chef Pro Hero was seen falling on all-fours to cry his eyes out as a waterfall of tears was seen pouring down from under his mask, and by the empty container next to him, they all knew he had already eaten the soup.
“He broke our Chef...Amazing…I hope the boy offers a take-out service, because he will have to take responsibility for this.” the University Boss groaned in dismay.
“T-The soup is supposed to make people happy!” Izuku shrieked in horror.
“ Unfortunately the feeling of defeat was stronger than the Century Soup’s ability, Host. Have no fear, he will recover in a couple of days. ” the System reassured him.
“ A COUPLE OF DAYS?! ”
Everywhere else, luckily, the reactions of who ate the Dish was more in the norm, with happy smiles and even laughter echoing from the various tables, with the smiles being either silly giant beady ones, or more normal wide and happy smiles.
“My God, it’s so much more intense than the one he did before! It’s delicious! It’s Godly!” Mako admitted in awe, her smile a bit silly with how wide it was.
“Stop hiding, Shota! Let me see your smile!” Mic, showing the silliest smile of them all, prodded his friend to force him to stop hiding his head from under his arms.
“Go away!” Aizawa hissed, but any threatening intent he tried to put into his words failed spectacularly and his face simply refused to obey and form a frown, and he refused to show a similar stupid smile like Mic was!
“BWAHAHAHAHAHA! AMAZING! I CAN’T STOP SMILING!” Toshinori in the meantime did the impossible and hulked-out just a bit more even if already in his All Might Form thanks to the soup, and his teacher’s outfit gained few holes in the area of his biceps as he flexed subconsciously.
“ Nana, if only you were here, you would have loved this!” he also thought with a bit of melancholy, unaware that part of her WAS inside his Quirk, and she was indeed loving the feeling the Century Soup managed to instill all the way deep into One for All and the Imprints inside the Quirk.
POMF !
“Holy Shit, Fat!” Gunhead yelled in surprise at seeing the Pro Hero Fat Gum jump from his Skinny Form all the way to his Fat Form in just a couple spoonfuls.
“WHOA!” the now giant guy admitted in shock.
“Why are you eating his food, Endeavor? That brat caused you so much pain!” a woman with burning acid-green hair hissed.
“Because at the end of the day, his food is still good.” Endeavor admitted, and seeing him smile was secretly deemed creepy by the man’s colleagues, it was a very alien sight.
“I should kick his ass and teach him respect, though.” the woman said, grumbling.
“ Burnin, the Chef’s robot is here. Do you want Whitey-san to strip you and bitch-slap you away again?” Enji asked without looking away from his soup.
“ EEEEK! ” the woman, The Pro Hero Burnin , shrieked in fear when Whitey momentarily looked straight at her with red eyes as if he had heard them.
“ Thought so.” Endeavor muttered while fully focusing on eating, and ignoring his secretary now hiding behind him to avoid the robot’s eyes.
As more and more declarations of awe and delight resounded in the room, Izuku grew certain: the Century Soup was a success that will make sure his Restaurant name gained just a bit more fame thanks to gossip, and his making the real one only once a year, will mean that he will also have the chance to sell something else during the rest of the year.
“Say...You think they will get him to work here if enough of us sign a petition?” Monoma asked.
“Yeah! Let’s try!”
“Unlikely, he wants to reach the top, and to do that he needs to be as free as possible,” Momo answered, shaking her head.
“That’s a pity,” Mezo admitted, and watching as the young Chef neared the Teachers’ table to talk with the Kings of Inoshiki Academy and the Pro Heroes there.
“ The Number One Chef, eh?...Yes...Yes, it suits him… ” Katsuki thought with a near-silent saddened sigh escaping him.
“Izu-” before he could actually call the young Chef over, though, the Hero Student heard somebody behind him take a hissing breath between her clenched teeth.
While some students actually seemed interested enough in Izuku to try chat him up once he was done talking with the teachers of UA, Momo could not help but notice how most of them were actually girls, talking with Izuku and asking questions about his cooking or his restaurant, or even showering him in praises for how he acted in the Livestream Challenge...But Momo didn’t feel threatened, she knew she had nothing to worry about!
“ I am a Yaoyorozu! We are always collected, well-mannered and proper! I am not a brutish, violent savage getting angry and territorial! I am a cultured woman that never lets her Instincts take over! I am Yayorozu Momo and- ” Momo thought in pride while holding her back straight.
“Here is my favourite Chef! Finally coming to meet your favourite Customer?” Rumi choose that exact moment to shamelessly hug Izuku’s side and “ CASUALLY ” burying the entire left side of his head in her chest, exactly where she had casually left several buttons of her school uniform’s blouse open to form some outrageous cleavage for him to get smothered into.
“ MOMO SMASH PUNY WHORE!” the student of class 1A mentally roared in fury.
“Control yourself, Momo-san. You are frothing at the mouth.” Tenya muttered while shaking her a little.
“You are right, I have dignity. I can control myself, I can do this.” she answered, taking a deep breath and recovering her self-control.
This until Nejire decided to jokingly join the hug from Izuku’s other side as well so to rub her face in his fluffy messy hair, thus completely burying the Chef’s cherry-red face in a Marshmallow Heaven many boys in UA could only dream and wank about, Jealousy looks soon overtook the males in the room.
“NO I CAN’T DO THIS! UNHAND HIM!” the class Pres bellowed, marching towards Rumi and Nejire and forcefully prying her boyfriend free from the booby-trap the young man was buried in. God, I envy him.
“What’s wrong? Feeling the heat of the competition?” Rumi asked with a smirk, and moved closer to Momo so that they got nose-to-nose, unfortunately smashing their chest together as a result, and causing many boys in the room to gain captivated horny looks.
“I don’t need to feel any competition! Because that would mean I consider you an actual threat!” Momo answered, eyes narrowing dangerously.
“So I am no threat to you? Good to know! So you won’t mind me taking him to see a movie with me, yes? As Friends... Alone.” Rumi said, smirk turning even more malignant.
“O-Of course! M-My Icchan is a gentleman and won’t fall for your petty tricks!” she answered, albeit with a nervous tone.
“ She still knows nothing about him! She will clearly choose a Movie he absolutely hates! ” she then thought, trying to reassure herself.
“Stupid comment about tricks aside, I am glad to see you so sure of yourself! Because I happen to have two tickets for the Premiere of ‘Assault on Hero Island 2.’ and I want to go there with him.” Rumi said, crossing her arms.
“ SHIT! HE LOVES THAT MOVIE! ” Momo thought in panic, remembering well the tickets for that same movie she herself bought for the two of them...But surely Rumi’s seats were bad!
“Middle row, perfect seats in the middle of the room.” Rumi said, as if reading the girl’s mind.
“ FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!” beaten again, hers were at the corner all the way in the back! And while good seats for some Hard Petting/Dry Humping, for a movie those were bad seats!
“How do you know he loves that movie?! Are you spying on him?!” she demanded.
“He loves it?! Really?! NICE!” The bunny-girl looked honestly surprised at the admission.
“N-N-NO! H-He hates it! He prefers Horror Movies! The gorier the better!” Momo tried a last-minute desperate, and kinda pathetic, lie. Soon followed by a mental apology to her precious cinnabun boyfriend.
“...Liar.” Rumi said with a fang-filled smile.
“W-W-Why am I worried? It is still up to him to decide if he will come or not! I-I have nothing to fear! He won’t come with you in a theater where you will be alone, in the dark.” Momo said.
“ SLUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURP!”
“Oh, RUMI-CHAN! Your tongue is so long and hot! I’m co-”
“Nononononono! That won’t happen! That will NEVER HAPPEN!” she thought in desperation and banishing that disgusting image from her head; she herself hadn’t done that to him yet and she won’t let Rumi do it to him either!
“Oh, really? Why don’t we ask him then?” Rumi said with a challenging tone.
“Yes, let’s ask him, just because you apparently like being rejected!” Momo answered.
“Izu...Where has he gone?!” both girls said at the same time once seen the Chef and Whitey were both gone.
“Hn? Nejire and a girl from Class 1A kind of dragged him away to give him a tour of the school, at Nejire’s insistence.” Tamaki offered with a bored tone.
“WHAT?! THAT BITCH!” Rumi roared.
“What girl from 1A?” Momo asked.
“Eeeh. I think it’s the one that makes stuff float, why?” he answered.
“…” a strange tick took over the girl’s left eye at that, then came the roar of betrayal.
“ URARAKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! ”
“Why did Nejire drag him away? Do they know each other? Since when? Are they close? How close? Are they friends? More than friends? Less than friends? Why did she never tell me she knows him? Why HIM then?” Mirio in the meantime kept looking at the door he saw Nejire disappear into while dragging Izuku away by his arm with a worried Ochako following behind them at the girl’s insistence.
He wasn’t jealous! They were obviously just friends and nothing will be born from that now that Nejire declared she and Mirio were done and she was once again single! So Mirio wasn’t jealous!
Absolutely.
Not even a little.
Not at all.
hE wAs NoT JeAlOuS!
“Nejireee!” he muttered with a long whine.
“Jesus...Dad told me the guy was a magnet for trouble, and he was right. Maybe I should really keep an eye on him, just in case.” Tamaki instead gave a self-deprecating sigh and shook his head.
With Izuku – Classroom -
“Hehehe! Here it is! My classroom!” Nejire declared proudly once opened the door wide.
“I...I don’t think we should be here.” Izuku said, unsure.
“Come on! They are all occupied with lunch! And I am sure Mister Nezu won’t mind it too much! I just showed you the gym and this room, not a single secret place!” the young woman answered, she was also floating in the air, something that, unknown to Izuku, meant she was in a good mood.
“Maybe if we are fast they won’t notice.” Ochako added, just as nervous as he was.
“…” to the two girls’ surprise, though, the young Chef soon fell silent as he walked inside the classroom while gently running a finger on the chalkboard.
“…” the room was empty, neat and clean.
“Boss?” Ochako tried saying.
As in a trance, Izuku chose a desk near the window and sat down without a sound, his eyes were unfocused and just staring far ahead at the chalkboard, but his gaze actually reached far beyond everything.
“Icchan?” Nejire asked, worried.
He was a student of UA, he wore a pristine uniform he kept with the utmost care and was eager to become a Pro Hero like All Might.
He had a Quirk, he could breathe fire like his dad, and his mom had helped him design a Hero Costume.
Dad said he should go as Green Dragon as his Hero Name, and both father and son would keep laughing at the kinda-cringe idea.
“Izu…” Both Momo and Rumi finally found them, but as soon as Momo saw the strange look in the Chef’s eyes, she covered Rumi’s mouth with a hand.
“Please...Let him, just once.” Momo whispered, making the bunny girl’s eyes widen in realization.
Of those four girls, Ochako and Momo were the ones that knew him best, that knew how much he LONGED to be a Hero, how much he wished to be their classmate and join the lessons, and they also knew how much it hurt him knowing he was denied all that because he was a Quirkless.
“Oh…” Nejire, maybe getting a clue about his inner turmoil, dropped her smile in favour of a more sad expression.
He was sitting at his desk taking notes while the Pro Hero Eraserhead droned on with his usual drowsy tone of voice.
Ochako sat next to him while Momo sat in the first row, back straight and fully focused.
Kacchan was sitting not too far from him, clearly bored but not missing a thing either.
“Midoriya, pay attention,” Aizawa said.
“Sorry, sensei!” he answered shyly.
“Problem child…” the teacher sighed in dismay, but still continued his lesson as if nothing was out of ordinary.
They were Class 1A, and they will one day become Heroes…
“Host?” it was the voice of the System to shatter the dream, and Izuku found himself sitting at the desk in the empty classroom while wearing his green Chef uniform.
“...Oh.” that was all his reaction to the realization it was all an illusion, only his daydreaming; it did not sound like disappointment, not rage nor sadness. It was an empty, atonal noise.
“Sorry, I was lost in thought, you were saying?” it scared the girls how perfect the natural smile he showed to them was, looking at that one would have easily thought it was sincere.
“Nothing important. Sorry about all this, I didn’t mean to hurt you,” Nejire answered.
“It’s okay, just a bit of childish daydreaming. Nothing to get worried ab-OH!`` To his surprise Ochako, who had sat next to him while he was mentally elsewhere, decided to give him a comforting hug that buried his face in her neck so that she could rest her chin on top of his head.
She smelled of vanilla and ‘ Ochako’ , it had a nice scent.
“You would have been an amazing student. I would have loved to have you as a classmate, Izuku.” she muttered, sighing.
“Hey, cheer up! I am no longer a crybaby! I will be okay! I just had a down moment, nothing more!'' The Chef’s cheerful tone came-out slightly muffled, but everybody still heard it.
“If you need to talk, though...We are friends, remember. I am not just your waitress, okay? We’re friends.” Ochako said.
“I know, I know.” he answered, jokingly poking her on the forehead once released from her hug, and chuckling at the cute ‘ Eek!’ squeak she released once hit.
“We are still friends too, right?” Nejire asked with a small voice.
In answer he simply got up and opened his arms wide, a tenth of a second later the taller girl propelled herself forward like a human bullet to hug the life out of him, and had Izuku not used his own abilities, he knew she would have shot him down the floor.
“Thank you, Nejire-chan. You gave me a beautiful gift, even if it lasted only an instant.”
“But it hurt you,” she muttered, hiding her face in his messy hair in shame.
“Not at all.” he answered, smiling wide and patting her back.
“ Liar.” the four girls thought at the same time in sadness.
“I better get going, I don’t want you to be in trouble.” Izuku declared, freeing himself from Nejire’s Hydraulic Press Hug and walking towards the door where Whitey was already waiting for him, the robot had already collected everything left from his cooking and had reached him.
“Izuku…” Momo muttered.
“It’s okay, no harm done. And those were only friendly hugs,” he said, chuckling.
“It’s not about that, silly.” she answered, her own smile was tiny, and still forced.
“Just be a good Hero for us both, and I will be happy. Okay?” he offered, and the third tight hug of the day really went close to breaking something as his spine gave a faint crack sound.
“I’ll be the best Hero, for us both.” she answered, tightening her hug even more, making him release a strangled ‘ Ugh!’ groan.
“...Hey…” Rumi asked when she saw Momo finally release him.
“Yes?”
“I...Uhm...I have two tickets for Assault on Hero Island 2 . I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go with me, but I guess now is not a good moment,” she muttered.
“No-no, I believe a good movie would be a nice idea, I don’t mind seeing it with a friend.” Izuku answered with a gentle smile.
“Okay, and...It’s not a plot of mine, okay?” she admitted.
“I trust you,” he answered.
“Good, so...Tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow. I’ll be a gentleman, promise.”
“Me too, I’ll be good.” Rumi answered, her usual cocky smile slowly resurfacing.
“But I won’t say a thing should your hand get curious about me while we watch the movie, miss Jealous here will never find out,” she added, maybe a bit forcefully, to lighten the mood.
“I have nothing to fear from him, from you on the other hand, I will keep my eyes on you.” Momo answered.
“Good, I heard it’s hotter when there is somebody watching!”
“Please don’t joke on this, I am not that kind of guy.” Izuku replied, giving a fast kiss to Momo at her request and one to Rumi’s cheek once she nagged him enough.
“USAGIYAMA!” on the notes of Momo’s outraged scream, the young Chef neared his robot bodyguard and gave it a gentle pat on his big rotund belly.
“Let’s go, Whitey.” he said, gaining a nod from the Robot that immediately fell in step with him as both left the school.
“Izuku…” Ochako muttered with a sad expression, very aware of how nice hugging him felt, and yet still unable to say if she actually liked him or not, and the sense of guilt about her increasing attraction to him once considered his relationship with Momo did not help at all in abandoning those budding feelings, quite the contrary in fact.
With Izuku -
The ride back to the Green Cloud Restaurant was spent in complete silence by the young man, even the System’s own words of encouragement fell on deaf ears as that same daydream happened again and again inside Izuku’s head over and over for the entire duration of the two bus rides he needed to return home; as he had said once already, his power of Imagination was extremely strong, and it only helped making everything more painful with how Real everything felt.
“You okay, Kiddo?” Blackie asked when he saw the drained expression on his protege's face up close.
“I’ll be. I will prepare your noodles immediately.” he answered, mechanically.
“...Take your time, this Lord is not a puppy. I can wait a bit more.” the dog offered with a disinterested tone once studied the Chef’s face for a little while.
“Okay.” Izuku answered as he unlocked the door of the Restaurant and entered.
Sigh! “ It was not a good day for him, unfortunately.” the Lord Dog muttered to himself.
The empty room that greeted Izuku upon entering helped very little in cheering him up, even if it was his beloved Restaurant; he knew he had to prepare for the Challenge against the teachers of Inoshiki Academy and Yamato herself, since contrary to the Kings, his next batch of enemies will be proper Pros , not students, so preparation was essential.
“I need to prepare, those teachers won’t show mercy.” Izuku said to himself.
“ Host can rest assured, the System was not lying: the Path towards the Role of God of Cooking will lead you to Greatness. The Host will be a Hero to the people, only in a different manner, ” the Entity reassured him as soon as the young Chef entered the kitchen.
“I know, I know...It is not that the problem…” he muttered while leaning on his workstation.
Pat! Pat!
“ It’s okay. Let it all out… ” It was a fleeting feeling, but Izuku felt his Appetite Demon give him a gentle pat on the back while flashing him an encouraging smile.
Plick! Plick-Plick-Plock!
And right after, in the absolute silence of the empty kitchen and Restaurant, the soft noise of tears falling down on a pristine-clean chopping board was clearly heard.
The Chapter came out not as I expected, I can only hope it was not Cringe…
Thank you for reading.
Chapter 11: To catch a glimpse of The King. Inoshiki Assault Arc. Epilogue
Summary:
The final Chapter of Izuku's personal Arc, the 'Inoshiki Assault Arc!' It's finally time for Izuku to Challenge and battle the best Teachers Inoshiki has to offer and Yamato herself! It's time to show everybody a glimpse of the Legendary King of Chefs!
Notes:
This chapter is a bit of an anomaly, in order to not cut it in two, I had to write a longer one, longer than usual. Sorry about that. But I felt that one 'normal' chapter of mine would have been too little and two would have been too much, so I had to write the equivalent of 1 chapter and a half and publish it into a single thing...My apologies.
After this chapter the story will be put a side a little, I want to write the new chapter for "Quirkless Ninja" and "Green Spider" before returning to this story, those two fanfics as well deserve my attention.
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
Chapter Text
If you read this, the Chapter has been fixed by my Beta-Reader Dmale, my savior and possessor of BigDick Chad energy that managed to fix my story into proper English.
Thank you, my man! 🙂
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/Nejire
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
A Chef Rebirth chapter 11: To catch a glimpse of the King of Chefs.
Secret Location -
“So it’s official. That buffoon has recovered…” a masked man bound to a chair connected to a complex array of tubes hissed in contempt.
“That is what our spies said. He no longer uses his true form to go around under the fake identity of All Might’s secretary, only the Pro Hero is seen around now, even during conferences lasting way longer than his Time Limit, and since we know he is at least smart enough to not waste time in frivolities when using his Quirk, that makes it certain: All Might is back.” the old man in scientist attire working next to him answered without ever lifting his eyes from the computer he was working on.
“AAAAAH!” With a loud smashing sound and a roar the masked man’s fist snapped one of the arm-rests of his life-support chair in two.
“Who was it?! You were certain that the tumor was impossible to remove!” the legendary Villain All for One demanded between clenched teeth.
“And it was. I personally engineered it to be high-adaptable and self-regenerating, even the location you injected it in had been studied to the millimeter to have the greatest impact while making it inoperable. Nothing in this world was supposed to remove or heal it.” the doctor, Daruma, answered, unfazed.
That was how deep AfO’s hatred for Toshinori ran: he didn’t want the man to just die a swift death, he wanted All Might to wither away, to rot a piece at a time and feel every day a tiny part of him die and decay until the day came that only a dried-up and deformed black husk remained of the Hero’s corpse.
Not to die in a blaze of glory, but with a pathetic weak whimper.
All for One had tasked Daruma to create an artificial Tumor-like growth that would have sapped Toshinori’s energy slowly, day after day after day; he had then absorbed the thing inside his arm thanks to one of the many Quirks at his disposal he had stolen inside himself through the years.
At the climax of their fight, as a last insult to the Number 1 Hero of Japan, All for One had injected the tumor inside All Might’s body, but now that very same secret weapon he had used had been defeated as well, and the Villain was furious.
“Was Recovery Girl the cause of this?!” he asked.
“No, I took care of covering for her Quirk and similar ones as well, the Tumor was programmed with immense regeneration and growth abilities, I studied the rate of healing Recovery Girl can produce with her Quirk in detail, so beside slowing it down a little, even daily infusions would have not stopped it.” Daruma answered.
“Then why does he look just as healthy as he was years ago? BEFORE I POISONED HIM?!” AfO bellowed.
“Of that I have no clue.” the Doctor admitted.
“Well, then find out who did it! Find out who was the miserable worm that dared to get in my way and bring them to me!”
“I will get Kurogiri and our spies on it.” the other answered.
“Good. I want whoever is responsible here in front of me, I will skin them alive one strip at a time...I will break them, in body and mind, and then deny them the merciful death they will beg me for.” All for One muttered with a dark tone, it had been a while since he had felt such intense hatred towards somebody that was not Toshinori or Nana herself.
“It will be done.” Daruma answered, and at that answer silence once again fell into the empty lab, interrupted only by the bubbling of the tubes containing a new batch of Nomu waiting for competition and deployment.
At the same time - UA’s “Height Alliance Dormitories” – Class 1B section - Rumi’s room -
The young Hero Student was giving the finishing touches to herself in her morning routine, but every time she looked at her bed through the mirror reflection, she saw a giant pink ball of thin fluff with long bunny ears on top and a tiny rabbit face on the front staring back at her, a plushy big enough she could actually hug it with both her arms and legs.
“...”
With a loud puffing sound Rumi threw herself on the bed and buried her face deep into the plushie while hugging it tightly, rubbing her nose a little in its fur to find the few traces still there of the scent of the boy that won it for her.
“...The date was good…” when her face finally resurfaced, her cheeks had an adorable dusting of red.
She knew that beside Whitey, Momo and Ochako as well were following them from afar as she went through with her date with Izuku, but the young woman was too stubborn to let the two girls’ misguided attempts at keeping the Chef safe ruin her chance.
The movie part had been a success already, with him not arguing about Rumi leaning her head on top of his while watching, he even regaled her with a cute little chuckle and a knowing look she was more than happy to answer with a smirk and a wink, secretly glad he was feeling better after his down moment during his visit in UA.
Then came the trip to the arcade where she destroyed him in Dance Dance Revolution, and besides showing great sportsmanship by congratulating her instead of getting angry, he actually decided to “get back at her '' by winning that giant bunny plushie he then gifted her. One she had him carry for her for the rest of the date both for him to be a gentleman...Aaand to maybe have a bit of his scent remain stuck into it.
She blamed her ‘Inner Rabbit’ for that, or that was the excuse she decided upon should somebody ask.
The closing act of the date was a visit to the ice-cream parlor, that he insisted on paying for, to her shame, and then accompanying her back to UA University…
“...Then I ruined everything.” her expression darkened considerably when she remembered the last thing she did before hurrying back to her dorm.
Flashback -
“It was an amazing date.” Rumi admitted while recovering the giant plushie from Izuku’s arms, an hilarious sight as the thing was pretty much as big as his whole body.
“It was, I had a lot of fun,” Izuku admitted.
“Even if I took a bit too many liberties?” she asked, unsure.
“It was all in good humor, I saw how Ochako and Momo were tailing us, so I imagine you did all that just to annoy them. Even if it was not very nice.” he answered with a kind smile.
“...I...I did not do all that just for fun,” she admitted with a low voice.
“Uh?”
“At the beginning it was all a game, a way to get under Yaoyorozu’s skin to have some fun...Mean fun, that I can admit, but now things have changed.” Rumi explained.
“Changed? Changed how-” Izuku’s question was stopped by Rumi’s mouth covering his in a searing kiss, a move he actually never considered her capable of.
“I know I can make you happy. Happier than Yaoyorozu does. I just need to help you realize it as well.” she said before leaving rapidly for her room at the Dormitories.
Izuku was thus left there standing in a daze while Momo ran past him with an expression that screamed psychotic rage, followed closely behind by Ochako desperately trying to stop the young woman from killing Rumi.
Present day – End of the flashback -
Ever since then Rumi, actually recognizing she fucked-up, had avoided Izuku and his Restaurant because afraid he would be angry at her, unfortunately she could not do the same with Momo or even Ochako, as both girls had rightfully marked her as their sworn worst enemy.
“Damn it…” Rumi muttered, still with half her face pressed deep into the plushy.
“Rumi-chan? Can I come in?” Pony asked from outside.
“Door’s open.”
“How are you?” the girl asked while sitting next to her friend.
“Awesome…” the other replied with a low voice.
“Still moping about your cutie Chef?” Pony asked, rubbing the rabbit girl’s head gently as she talked.
“I am supposed to be the cool bitch nobody can get. The unreachable badass.” she replied, annoyed.
“And I can attest you are all that, you are a true hardened Bitch with a capital B.”
“...Then why do I want him to reach me?” Rumi asked with her rabbit ears pinned against her head.
“I guess that’s the price to pay to be in Love: to have that one special somebody you can relax or even lower your defenses with.”
“I don’t like it. I want to be a Lone Wolf!”
“Kind of hard with a Bunny Quirk!” Pony quipped with a smirk.
“YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!” Rumi roared in anger.
“I know, I know.” Pony said, still patting her friend’s head.
“I don’t want to feel like this,”
“Then don’t, you just need to forget about that boy and just go on with your life.”
“...I don’t want to do that.”
“You can’t have your pie and eat it too, Rumi-chan,”
“Who says I can’t?!”
“That little thing in your chest pumping blood.”
“All this happened just because Yaoyorozu got to him before me,” Rumi said with a petulant tone.
“They are in a relationship, yes. That usually means he is off-limits. You can’t have him,”
“BUT I LIKE HIM! MAYBE EVEN LOVE HIM!”
“…”
“That’s a bold claim,” Pony admitted, surprised.
“...It doesn’t make it less true.” Rumi muttered with a bitter tone and once again fully burying her face deep in the giant plushy.
“You still have to face Momo-san to get to him,”
“I am sure it can work, I just need a couple more dates to make him recognize that too.”
“You stole a kiss, you admitted it yourself, that is not a good start,”
“I can fix it. I can still fix it,” Rumi muttered.
“You will have to actually meet him to do that. You are still avoiding him and his restaurant like the plague, don’t you?” Pony said.
“…”
“Tomorrow he will face the teachers of Inoshiki Academy, why don’t you go there as well to cheer for him?”
“And how do you know that?” Rumi asked with her ears shutting straight up in surprise.
“I overheard Momo-san and Ochako-san discuss the possibility of going there themselves with Momo’s parents, along with Midoriya's own parents, as a show of support.”
“What if he doesn’t want to see me?”
“He did not strike me as somebody holding a grudge, maybe if you explain he will listen.”
“…”
“I can accompany you, if you want.” Pony offered with a kind smile.
“I don’t need a nanny! I am strong and can go there alone, I don’t need somebody holding my hand!” Rumi hissed.
“Beside Chef Izuku.” the other answered, smirking.
“...Beside him,” the bunny girl admitted with a low voice full of shame.
“Come on, let’s go ask Professor Vlad if tomorrow you can skip class and go cheer for your crush.” Pony said, getting up from the bed and walking towards the door.
“Okay...I am not a shallow woman for chasing a man already in a relationship, yes?”
“You might appear to be a bit of a bitch to do that, yes, but if you do this not for Lust but for Love...Maybe you can argue your role to be the Love Rival instead.” Pony answered, amused.
“You read too many fucking Love Novels,” Rumi grumbled in annoyance while following her friend.
“But it is actually helping you now!”
“Tch! Even a broken clock gets it right twice a day! Don’t brag!”
“So you are going?”
“Of course I am! I still have a Chef to catch, and if I have to snap Yaoyorozu in two to get him, so be it!”
“Oh, God...If she tackles Love as she does with everything else, I am scared of what will happen.” Pony thought in misery, since a strong-willed woman like Rumi with a very abrasive personality didn’t translate well into relationships or even just courting somebody.
Meanwhile – Inoshiki Academy – Yamato’s Office -
The old woman acting as the rector of Inoshiki Academy was at the moment looking at the phone in her hands with an expression of confusion, having finally contacted Izuku to define the last details for the challenge she and her best teachers will have with the young Chef the very next day.
“Miss Yamato?” the monster at the other side of the call said, sounding worried at her lack of response.
“Sorry, it’s just...Too insane. You...You want to face me and my Teachers at the same time?!” Yamato shrieked in surprise, almost dropping her phone.
“Some of the dishes I decided to make need between 2 to 3 hours to be ready, we all are busy people, you and your teachers have a University to manage and I have a Restaurant to run. Like this we will at worst spend four hours together, meaning that I will have enough time to take care of dinner service and you others to organize lessons and everything else for tomorrow.” Izuku answered.
“What do you plan to cook?”
“That is a secret, of course. But they all are “Simple Dishes” that still require lots of time. From all around the world: China, France, America, Philippines and India.”
“I see…” Yamato muttered, and her mind rushed through every dish she knew of those schools of cuisine to try guessing what he had planned for, and making herself dizzy because all of them had a large amount of typical recipes, and each recipe came with at the very least a dozen of variations as well.
“So? Can we make it a 5v1 fight? I only need my five workstations to be built close to each other and in a circle, I will then take care of using them.”
“...You are not planning to cook every dish at the same time, do you?”
“What part of me asking to face you all at once did not suggest that?” Izuku asked with a tone so full of disbelief Yamato would have preferred to hear him downright insult her.
“It’s insane.”
“No, it only takes guts and skills. I know I have both.”
“I’m still going to call it insanity, but if it is how you want to do this, then so be it. Me and my four best Teachers will face you at the same time. Remember: we all will be focusing on one of the Themes we agreed on, I myself believe in my Carving Skills, and so do my Teachers in their own field. It won’t be easy.”
“I know that. People used to call you Moonlight Sculptor after that moon-shaped white chocolate cake you made in celebration of your first Michelin Star.” Izuku answered.
“You researched that?”
“A 3D cake made in a perfectly spherical shape divided in six horizontal layers: topmost, bottom and middle layer were made in butter biscuit, other layers in sponge cake slightly bathed in tangerine-flavoured liquor you personally made.
As for filling, in order from bottom to top: Custard with tangerine slices, custard with strawberries slices and custard with coconut shavings. All covered by a hard shell of white chocolate you carved to show several pictures of Mary holding baby Jesus in her arms. I guess that in order to serve it you then had to cut it in half in the middle and slice the two resulting domes. It would explain why the middle layer was the largest.”
“…” Yamato could not answer that, she was too stricken.
“Yes, I researched that.”
“It happened almost twenty-five years ago.”
“Then you are an even better Chef. I accounted for that as well.”
Sigh! “Fine, we’ll do it your way. You will have your 1v5 insanity.” the old woman finally conceded.
“Thank you.”
“We’ll see you here tomorrow then, we will prepare everything.”
“Perfect. Good day, Yamato-san.” Izuku answered.
“Good day, Chef Midoriya…” Yamato answered before closing the call.
“…”
“...Samui...I may love you still like I did when we were both teens, but I fear this time I have bitten more than even I can chew in the name of those feelings…” she muttered in dismay.
“Madame?” the woman’s assistant asked, having been summoned by Yamato once she closed the call.
“I have the last details for the challenge. We will use the gym for this since we’ll need lots of space for this, we will also have some guests as well. Here is everything we need, see to have everything ready by tomorrow morning.” the Rector instructed while jutting on a piece of paper the long list of requirements both she and Izuku agreed on.
“...O-Okay.” the assistant muttered, unsure.
“Me and the chosen teachers will go through a last-minute training session, just in case.”
“Yes, Madame.”
“And see if we can somehow get some publicity out of this, I suspect there will be a Livestream again, may as well try to advertise Inoshiki Academy.”
“As you wish, Madame.”
The next day – Inoshiki Academy – Gym -
Once again flexing the big budget behind the Private Academy, Yamato showed how their gym as well was a top-of-the-line wonder of modern equipment and construction, with the main giant room being spacious enough two volley courts easily fit in it close to each other with still enough room around them for other equipment to be used by other students during P.E.
That day though the entire place had been vacated and sanitized thoroughly, so to leave the entire giant space for the cooking challenge: on one side there were five separate workstations positioned in two rows, while at the opposite side other five had been installed in a circle with just enough space for a person to walk between them.
A long line of fridges had been also installed not too far and stocked in a huge amount of Ingredients, since both Izuku and Teachers won’t reveal their chosen dishes until the very start, the Academy tried to cover every possible angle by amassing every possible kind of Meat, Fish, Vegetables, Spices and so on. From the most common to the most absurd.
Pretty much the entire school was sitting in front of the workstations and waiting in hype for the absurd Challenge to start; Izuku’s parents, Momo and hers, Ochako and her mother and Rumi were sitting in the front row, with Rei, Inko and Miss Uraraka acting as natural barrier between Rumi and the girls to avoid acts of violence.
The judges were once again the 5 Kings, with the Meat King returning once again as student of Inoshiki after much pressure from Minato himself on Yamato, and Michiko avoiding actual juvenile prison by sheer dumb luck thanks to Izuku’s own intervention, fate that instead befell on Takeo that got expelled and arrested, with a new student taking on the mantle of Vegetable King that was now looking at Izuku’s own area in great interest.
“Will he really cook five dishes at once?” she asked.
“Insane as it sounds, I expect no less from him.” Sadao answered.
“Be happy miss Yamato won’t try to have him join Inoshiki, you wouldn’t be a King for long otherwise, Number 5.” Mako added, huffing in annoyance.
“She still can’t replicate Boss Izuku’s Century Soup, she has been trying to make it ever since she tasted the complete version and keeps failing. Just ignore her for now.” Toshio the Meat King, now Number 4 of the group, explained.
“Oh! Okay, Senpai.” the new King answered.
Every noise in the giant gym stopped abruptly when Yamato entered the place to address the audience with the mike in her hand, and watching appalled as a swarm of drones immediately entered the gym from the open windows to cover every possible angle and make sure whoever watched the Livestream could not lose a single instant.
“...Who the hell has this much interest in that boy?!” Yamato mentally shrieked in shock.
At the same time – I-Island – Secret Underground Lab 8: ‘ Darlings Research Branch’ -
A full team of twenty researchers was watching the monitors in front of them while a giant one covered by the combined feed of the various drones in Inoshiki’s gym towered over the big room from the opposite wall.
“Cameras 1 to 8 in position!” a man said from his station.
“All drones are recording! Video and audio feed is optimal! We are both streaming this for the civilians and recording this ourselves with no issues!” another woman chorused right after.
“We got a clear view of Subject 37’s station, ready for the 3D mapping of his body!” a third researcher added.
“I saw those videos you sent me...There is no way that boy is Quirkless.” a very old woman, the one directing the entire Darlings Initiative and the Boss of Hisashi’s Boss, admitted.
“I repeated the Tests with a hair sample we managed to get in secret, and you saw the results yourself: he IS a Quirkless.” the old man answered, secretly glad the mutation Hisashi talked about did not show-up in the results, and unaware that The System actually removed the Gourmet Cells from the hair the agents of I-Island had stolen.
“I am not convinced yet. I assembled this team just to get to the bottom of this, I want every single movement of that boy recorded and analyzed.” she answered.
“I would gladly tell you he had an Isekai in another world and got Special Skills from that, but then you would convict me in an Asylum…” the old man thought in misery, sometimes Truth was even more incredible than lies.
“Start recording! If this still does not answer any doubts we have, I want that boy here in person!” the woman barked.
“YESSIR!”
“...Ah, yes...Because the stripping robot will let us kidnap his Master just like that…” the old man muttered in dismay.
Inoshiki – with Izuku -
“Welcome to our challenge between we of Inoshiki and Chef Midoriya, this special event is being streamed Live and has been sponsored by Inoshiki Academy itself.” Yamato said to the audience, and I-Island registered the huge spike in visuals once the Livestream went live, with the Teachers of UA that had bet their paycheck on the Challenge’s outcome watching it in rabid attention, especially the now terror-stricken Pro Hero Present Mic that had bet the most among all of them and will lose everything if even just one Teacher lost to Izuku.
Class 1A and 1B (and Nejire) as well had collectively bet on Izuku’s total victory against the teachers and Rector of Inoshiki, meaning that if they won every other student of UA University will find themselves with an empty wallet, and they could not wait to swim in cash…
Except Mirio, he had bet Izuku would lose against them all. But that was not because the Chef and Nejire were very close friends and she had dumped him, because Mirio was TOTALLY not Jealous!
“I will now present to you the four Teachers and the Theme they will represent,” Yamato said, pulling on herself the attention of everybody watching, either in the gym or in the Livestream.
“For Steaming: Professor Kuroi!” she said, and on cue the lanky, glasses-wearing tall teacher entered the gym to take position at one of the workstations behind Yamato.
“For Boiling: Professor Monoi.” Then came a tall woman with long blond hair, and Momo could swear she heard her mother growl menacingly, but she also saw her glare at the woman in pure hatred.
“For Stewing: Professor Sasaki.” The third member of the Team was a very old man walking with a hunchback posture and eyes closed in a perpetual slit, he too took his place behind a station under the roaring applause of Inoshiki’s students.
“For Frying, and returning just for this Challenge: Professor Minato.” Yamato introduced her own son with a tone dripping with pride, with the man actually exchanging a friendly fist-bump with Izuku before entering the gym.
“And finally, myself for Carving.” Yamato finished saying, a bit shy still at the loud applause of her beloved students.
“Now the Challenger: Owner and Chef of Green Cloud Restaurant and up and coming legend of Yavin Street. A young prodigy and the one that actually defeated the 5 Kings in a cooking duel: Chef Izuku Midoriya!” the old woman declared without an ounce of hatred, having finally recognized the young man’s skills as the real deal.
When Izuku entered the gym, though, he was welcomed with absolute silence from the students of Inoshiki, and a thundering applause from his friends and supporters.
“GO, ICCHAN! BREAK THEM!” Hizashi yelled with a feral roar.
“SHOW THEM THE MIGHT OF GREEN CLOUD RESTAURANT!” Saito yelled as well.
“That’s my son! The King of Chefs!” Inko declared, proud beyond belief.
“AND my future son-in-law, HA!” Rei added, smirking.
“Mother!” Momo gasped in shock at the admission, face burning red.
“So that’s him?” In the meantime, Ochako’s mother studied the young man’s every detail as he took his place in the middle of the circle of workstations.
“Hu-uh…” Ochako admitted, looking down.
“Cute, he is cute, and hard working too since he has his own Restaurant to run. Are you aware that he is already taken?”
“Yeah…”
Sigh! “Just like it was for me with your father. Contrary to me though you may be forced to admit defeat and step back, you know this?” she asked.
“It hurts.”
“It always does, my little Ocha, it always does. Maybe you should really consider your options, you know? Before it will hurt even more.”
“…”
“Just consider it, okay? I just want you to be happy.” her mother whispered in her ear and gave her a one-arm-hug of encouragement.
“Okay, he did not scowl when he saw me, he just waved at me with a smile...Maybe I can salvage this after all!” Rumi thought in apprehension once seen him wave at her like he did with everybody else.
“As per our agreement, whenever one of us loses you will receive the loser's knife with their name written on the blade. As a show of good faith, I actually had my teachers choose what knife to give you in case of defeat and had their names engraved on it. It will serve as a reminder both in case of defeat or of victory. We will give our best, so I hope you will do the same.” Yamato explained.
“Of course.” Izuku answered, shaking the woman’s hand properly, with no ill-thoughts on either side.
“Had things been different, I would have killed to have you here.” the woman admitted with a whisper, nobody besides Izuku heard her.
“I actually did try to come here, but your assistant made it clear I had to have a Quirk to get in,” he admitted.
“Ah?! That guy is sooo fired!” the old woman growled with a low voice while walking to her own station.
Once everybody was in position, Mako herself took the mike and acted as both Host and head judge.
“Good morning! As you can expect since Madame Yamato and Mister Minato are contestants themselves, somebody else will have to act as Host. I hope I will meet your expectations.” the young woman declared with a bow, and basked herself in the roaring applause of the students.
“We will be proper judges, though, being students of this school won’t mean we won’t be impartial. Our honor as Chefs forces us to not play favorites...I hope our teachers will forgive us!” she then said, causing a wave of laughs to echo in the gym.
“Oh, dear! Now I regret giving you all that long essay as homework!” Professor Sasaki admitted with an exaggerated loud sigh of regret, and renewed the laughs from the audience.
“Don’t worry, we will close our eyes this time, Professor. But please! Tell us what you all will make.” Mako answered, amused.
“With pleasure! As the one tasked with the Theme of Steaming, I will prepare the steamed buns known as Chicken Momos, an appetizer from Nepalese cuisine.” Professor Kuroi answered with a collected tone while adjusting his squared glasses.
“Hohoho! Since I have drawn the Stewing straw I decided I will prepare some Beef Stew following the same recipe of my dearest mother. It may be an inside joke of Inoshiki that I treat that woman as my greatest inspiration to become a Chef, but this little Challenge will help me show that yes, she was that good.” the very old man answered with a chuckle and a fond smile.
“As the representative of the Frying Theme, I will go with something festive yet complex: Banh Cam: they're gelatinous rice flour balls filled with sweet mung beans paste, flavoured with jasmine flower essence, covered in sesame seeds, and deep-fried. I have a friend of Vietnamese descent that would hate me forever if I don’t use this occasion to showcase this dish from his homeland!” Minato answered with a loud laugh, and laughed even harder at one of the other teachers from Inoshiki yelling ‘Damn right I will!’ from his seat between the audience.
“Since I will have to show-off my Carving skills, I will reprise my ‘Moonlight Maria’ cake, only in the form of croquembouche, a cream puff tower.” Yamato declared, to the awe of the audience and judges.
“So you will create small cream puffs you will then encase in white chocolate, carve on the shells of each one of them a small portrait of Mary and Jesus and then manage to pile them all into a tower?” Mako asked, not even trying to hide her shock.
“Precisely, it will be my new masterpiece: Evolved Moonlight Maria.” Yamato confirmed, stealing a glance at Izuku and gaining a nod of respect from the young Chef.
“...Rector Yamato is taking this damn seriously.” Sadao muttered with wide eyes.
“I wish the other teachers did the same. I guess their hubris stopped them from doing it.” Michiko answered, grimacing.
“Do not underestimate Mister Minato just because he chose a simple dish. He is the Master of frying…But what about Boiling?” Toshio the Meat King said, unsure.
“Yes, what about Boiling?” Mako asked Professor Monoi.
“I will boil an Egg.” the woman answered.
“…”
“…”
“...And?” Mako asked.
“That’s it.”
“Why?” the young woman asked, and the other teachers, Yamato included, looked at her as if she was utterly insane.
“I have a secret plan!” Monoi said with a mischievous smile that seemingly irked Mako into maddening rage.
FRRRRRZZZRZZZRRRRFFRRRRR !
Suddenly a loud sound of static surged from the gym’s speakers loud enough nobody could avoid covering their ears in pain.
“Glad you accepted to meet me, it’s good to know you three are actually smart enough to understand the situation” Monoi’s voice echoed from the speakers.
“What?” the blond woman uttered in confusion.
“Why did you want to meet us, Professor Monoi?” Mako was heard asking.
“It’s about that ridiculous Challenge that an upstart cook forced us through. You will be part of the judge panel, yes?” everybody heard Monoi answer in annoyance.
“Yes?” that was Sadao.
“No...It can’t be…” Izuku saw Monoi grow unhealthily pale once understood what the recording was about.”
“Tomorrow we will be the judges, yes. What do you need?” Michiko asked.
“Let’s be honest, I did not want to take part in this FARCE, but there is the need for some sacrifices sometimes.” the Teacher answered, and in the gym pretty much everybody looked straight at her with wide eyes.
“Cooking is a world full of inspiring new talents waiting just for the right occasion to shine. And I personally can’t let a Quirkless come stealing the spotlight from more worthy people.” Monoi then said.
“This is a world of Quirks now. Those Quirkless Losers are just a page of history that should be canceled as we move forward as a species. We have surpassed the concept of Normal, and should not be held back by an inferior version of humanity!”
“I find that kind of talk disgusting.” Mako answered.
“Feel free to defend that idiot brat, if you have to, but the fact remains that he is wasting everybody’s time in a useless cry for attention, and I won’t second him. He doesn’t deserve it.” Monoi answered, scoffing.
“She reminds me of those guys preaching the Villain Destro’s ideals, she is literally repeating their spiel verbatim.” Sasaki commented with a grimace, he was clearly recalling several unpleasant memories of his past.
“Insults to him and the Quirkless population aside. Why did you call us? I bet it was not just to have somebody to vent to about Chef Midoriya’s Challenge?” Michiko asked, grumbling.
“It’s quite simple, actually: We only need one victory to force that little pest to close his Restaurant forever, and since everybody here is being so stupid as to play along, I instead will take proper measures to put a stop to this nonsense! That boy is Quirkless! There is no place for people like him in this world anymore! So this is my answer to his foolishness: If you ‘Kings’ do not vote for me as the winner, I will make it my mission to make you all fail!” Monoi declared, to the shock of everybody.
“Are you damn insane?!” Surprisingly, it was Yamato who screamed that.
“I...I...I…” The woman stuttered, unable to form a proper answer.
“You are in your last year at Inoshiki, isn’t it, Mako?” The woman addressed the Soup King.
“Tch!” the student replied in disgust.
“And you...Michiko and Sadao...Next year you will have your final exams, do you? It would be a shame if you failed them, isn’t it? I also have powerful friends, I can make it so that you will at best work in fast-food. I will destroy your future!”
“HEY!” both girls roared in anger.
“You don’t want that? Just vote for me, we only need one of us to win to teach that useless brat his place. I will even sweeten the deal! Do it and I will put a good word in the same restaurant I will work in once I leave this cesspool of a University! Consider it! Your future or...That piece of garbage pretending to be a Chef.”
“HOW DARE YOU?!” Rei could not take it anymore and gave a bestial roar of anger.
“Shut up, Katsuragi!” Monoi snapped, finally reaching her breaking point.
“Yes! I said that! And I stand by what I said! He does not deserve to be here! He is an insult to Chefs everywhere!”
“You always were a bitter hag, and finally you are showing your true colors! Who the hell do you think you are?!” Rei countered.
“SILENCE! I am a damn prodigy of cooking! You instead are a thief just like him! You both are just spoiled brats whining for attention and believing to be big shots just because you were lucky once! I never forgot how you have stolen Saito from me. How, I don’t know, but I guess you managed to trick him into knocking you up and then marry you to achieve that!”
“THAT’S ENOUGH!” Saito himself now looked apoplectic in rage as he jumped to his feet.
“Be quiet, you moron! You wasted an opportunity by choosing a useless brat like her instead of me, and I even heard you are championing that Quirkless! What happened to the bright young man I knew, uhn?!”
“YOU!” Rei bellowed.
“We Quirked Chefs are the future! And I personally am the one that will revolutionize the world of cooking! I am teaching the new generations how to be the greatest Chefs ever! I will-”
SLAP!
With a sharp sound, Yamato surprised everybody by slapping Monoi hard enough she sent a few of her teeth actually flying off from her mouth.
“I heard enough useless drivel for today. You are fired. We are Chefs, not Villains! I too may like to see Chef Midoriya defeated, but contrary to you, I will defeat him with superior skills and no under-hand tactics! Not because he is a Quirkless, but because we are Rivals!
I am ashamed to admit I used to think like you about Quirkless, but after meeting a very talented one like him, I recognized their value and I felt disgusted by my old self. Now I decided I won’t condone such blatant racism in my school! Especially in front of everybody and during a Livestream, you idiot!” Yamato said with a tone of pure hatred.
“People like you are dragging us down! Society needs to look forward! People like Him are a relic! And I know that whoever is watching agrees with me!”
“You are the relic, Monoi! You are stuck in the ideals of old!” Rei countered.
“Oh, shut up! You can’t even boil an egg! You are useless.”
“Ugh!”
“How many cooking teachers have thrown the towel with you, hn? Ten? Twenty? I heard so many nice stories from them, you know? You can’t cook and you can’t look after your daughter without nannies either! Besides looking pretty, managing some spoiled models or sex, you are useless as a woman.” Monoi said.
“I-I-I…” Rei tried saying, tears already mounting in her eyes.
“How dare you!” Momo, furious, jumped to her feet as well.
“Be quiet! You are 100% her daughter, meaning that beside some nice tits, there is nothing useful or meaningful about yo-”
“MONOI!”
The sound-wave and air pressure generated by that inhuman scream was immense, it caused the gym windows and lights to explode, almost deafened the people present and went close to frying the drones above, and when every eye in the room turned to look at the source, they saw Izuku himself glare at the former teacher in fury with a red flaming aura covered his body.
It had been years since the last time it happened, but now the young Chef was PISSED, and his Appetite Devil had made its appearance to growl at Monoi as well, and even if everybody else was already on edge by feeling only a small fraction of the anger lingering around Izuku, Monoi herself was instead petrified under the full weight of it, and for an instant her heart actually stopped.
“You can insult me all you damn well want, I don’t care. But you have no right to badmouth the few people that believed in me!”
“O-O-Or else?” she tried saying.
In answer the Appetite Devil grew to huge sizes, so much it looked ready to burst out from the gym’s roof, and with a deliberately slow movement its giant hand gently landed on top of the woman’s head and started slowly pushing down on her whole body ready to squash her.
“I only challenge Chefs. When it comes to Troublemakers like you instead, I can easily get my hands dirty and break their bones.” he answered, and behind him Whitey immediately turned red-eyed and cracked his knuckles.
“EEEEEK!”
“No need to get down to her level and become a mere ruffian, Chef Izuku.” Yamato said with a calm, but cold tone.
“If she is so sure about her superiority, she can easily show it by competing in this cooking Challenge.”
“I-” Monoi tried saying, but the threat of another slap silenced her.
“IF she wins, I will actually give her a chance to keep her job here, if this ‘cesspool’ is up to her standards...but if she loses, not only I will fire her with as much shame as I can add to it, she will still give you her knife and she won’t get through with her threat.”
“Fine! I accept the terms, it’s not like I expect him to win against my delicious-”
“Boiled egg.” Mako said, smiling cruelly.
“Eh?!”
“You said it yourself: you will prepare a simple Boiled Egg, that’s all. We can give you a freebie and let you add some pepper, but that is still the dish you will prepare.”
“NO! I will-”
“You can’t change the dish once you declare it, Monoi, those are the rules we and Chef Midoriya agreed on. Everybody here and the ones watching the Livestream can testify you already choose a boiled egg as your Dish. So get to cooking and hope it will be better than anything the Challenger will make. Somehow.” Kuroi interrupted her with a blood-freezing glare, behind him the other teachers as well were looking at Monoi in disappointment.
“You should have taken this seriously instead of trying to make a mockery of this event by cheating behind the scenes. Now go to your station and be quiet.” Yamato ordered.
“You can’t be serious! You are defending him?! Instead of me?!”
“Not everybody treats the biography of the Villain Destro as the bible, some of us actually have common sense, child.” Professor Sasaki chided her, mercilessly.
“Have it your way, nothing will change even if you heard that recording! Because those brats better vote for me or I-”
“You won’t do a thing.”
“Uh?! Saito?!”
“I remember fondly our time as friends in High School, but if you think for just a second that I will let you talk to Rei like that, you are sorely mistaken.
I will have my lawyers eat you alive in court for what you said to my wife, for the threat to those students and for the disgusting hate speech you used against a dear friend of my family! I will ruin you!
And with you so openly admitting all this on video, you’ll see how those powerful friends of yours will gladly throw you under the bus to save themselves. So get on with the Challenge and hope to win by some miracle to at least have some nice memories to fall back into, but I wouldn’t bet on your victory if I were you.” Saito explained, eyes burning in rage.
“I will judge accordingly, I won’t play favorites.” Mako declared.
“We too! If you win it will be because your boiled egg was better, no threat will force us to vote unfairly!” Michiko added.
“Yeah!”
“...Let me guess, when it comes to Professor Monoi, you all will vote for Midoriya-san regardless?” the new King asked with a whisper.
“Honestly? Speaking for myself, Chef Icchan can even shit on the plate and I would still vote for him instead of Monoi, but I know he will make something amazing, even just to shut her up and win fairly.” Sadao answered.
“Oh!”
With Izuku -
“System? Was that you?” Izuku asked.
“Correct, Host. While The System imposes Challenges and Missions on the Host to test his skills and help him improve, those challenges and missions still fit into the category of ‘Difficult, but Fair’ as no Host has ever been forced to go through an impossible task. What that simpleton did was a threat to the fairness of the Task the System gave to the Host, and that is unacceptable. A ‘Stepping Stone’ should not dare to take initiative, only fulfill its role in the script. Transgressors will always be punished accordingly.” the Entity answered, merciless.
“Good God…” Izuku muttered, shocked by the coldness of the answer.
“The Host should not worry, while The System will not help the Host fulfill his Tasks, it will still assure the tasks’ fairness: you will either succeed or fail based solely on your skills and hard work, not because somebody cheated in your favor or against you.”
“Very well, I guess. But I need some Jewel Meat for my Pot-Au-Feu. Is it possible?” the young Chef asked.
“The Host wishes to answer in kind to the provocation? Request accepted. That fool dared insult the future God of Cooking and his family, this Sin must be punished! With the premise of her trying to cheat, the woman called Monoi is no longer considered a Chef by The System! The usage of different Ingredients from the ones imposed by the Challenge has been permitted. Any specific on the quality of the Jewel Meat?” the Entity answered the mental inquiry.
“I want the absolute best part of it, in both taste and texture. For once I will crush my opponent with all my power since she believes herself to be above everything with her Quirk. If she thinks to be the greatest Chef to have ever lived then I will treat her accordingly and show her what it used to be like to have a high-level cooking battle against Zaus.”
“Understood. At the moment the Host will start preparing his dish, the meat will be switched with a piece coming from the Jewel Meat in secrecy, nobody and nothing will notice.” The System answered.
“Good, thank you.”
Once Monoi took her own position under the heavy booing of the crowd, Mako tapped gently on the mike to ask for some silence from the audience and then addressed Izuku.
“Shameful display of stupidity aside-”
“Hey!”
“SHUT YOUR TRAP!” the Soup King roared loud enough to silence the woman.
“As I was saying, please tell us what you plan to make, Chef Izuku.”
“With pleasure:
For Steaming: Emperor's Herbal Chicken with Siopao steamed dumplings as a side dish. A dish from Chinese Cuisine and one from Filipino Cuisine.
For Boiling: Pot-Au-Feu, boiled beef and vegetables. (French Cuisine).
For Stewing: Rogan Josh, spicy lamb stew. (Indian Cuisine).
For Frying: Salt Fried Yin-Yang Beggar's Duck (Cantonese Cuisine).
For Carving: Baked Alaska “Miladies”. A personal variation of mine of the famous baked ice-cream cake.” he answered. (American Cuisine)
“YOU SAID YOU HAD PLANNED FOR SIMPLE DISHES! IN WHAT UNIVERSE A BAKED ALASKA IS SIMPLE?!” Yamato shrieked.
“To me they are simple!” Izuku answered with a cheeky grin.
“Come on! Salt fried? That’s stretching the rules!” Minato added with a childish whine.
“There is my Restaurant on the line, I won’t hold back!” Izuku answered.
“That is understandable, but come on!” the man replied, pouting.
“There isn’t a simple dish in there...He played with us…I told you it was a bad idea to leave the dishes a secret to the very end.” Kuroi admitted with a sigh.
“Hohohoho! Youngsters these days!Always so ready to show off! I say we give our best to show that we old guard are not push-overs! Let him flex a little, we might actually be the ones laughing in the end!” Professor Sasaki commented with a jovial laugh.
“God, how I envy you optimist people…” Yamato admitted with a groan.
“It seems like the Challenger did play a bit dirty. Can’t say we did not deserve that, considering our past together!” Mako admitted with a chuckle.
“Two can play that game!” Izuku answered, sticking-out his tongue.
“Debatable! But now...Everybody ready?” the young woman asked.
“…” in answer the teachers and Izuku looked ready to bolt towards the fridges.
“...AND GO!” as soon as Mako screamed, both young Chef and Yamato with Kuroi and Minato ran to the fridges to collect the Ingredients for their Dishes, Sasaki instead had already given them a list of what he needed (old age and running don’t go well together) while Monoi just needed an egg that Mako herself was more than happy to handle the woman herself.
“Choke on it.” she also added, scowling.
“You don’t know who you are messing with.”
“You are a second-rate Teacher, not a Messiah of cuisine. Jump down from that pedestal, you are making a fool of yourself in front of thousands of viewers.” Mako replied, uncaring, and then focusing on the other challenges.
“Samui...You better keep your promise and give me that Sous-Chef role in your main restaurant, I threw my credibility down the drain for that job!” the teacher thought in dread.
With Izuku -
“Pot-au-Feu…” Izuku thought, having already quartered a large onion and cut several large leaks in stripes of two inches, and added them to a large pot together with celery and carrots.
“Beef Meat has been substituted successfully with Jewel Meat, the System has selected pieces equivalent in texture to beef shanks and rump roast following Host’s specifications.” the System notified Izuku promptly.
“Perfect!” the young Chef answered, pleased, while positioning the cuts of meat on top of the vegetables.
Wrapping the parsley, thyme and bay leaves in a piece of moistened cheesecloth, Izuku tied them together and added the bundle to the pot along with the peppercorns and 1 tablespoon of kosher salt.
“I will use two marrow bones of the original beef too, it still deserves to take part in the dish, it’s not his fault Monoi tried cheating. I will still pay him my respect.” he muttered, adding that and some water to the pot.
Waiting for the thing to boil, since between boiling, simmering and skimming he will need around about 2 hours to be done with the recipe’s first step, he switched his focus to another Dish of his list.
“He is really doing them all at the same time.” Saito muttered in awe.
“He can really do that?” Miss Uraraka asked.
“Madam, he can do it and then some, honestly I still can’t tell what’s the limit of his abilities, even if it is basically my job to study Quirks and their limits.” Hisashi answered, knowing well how the guys in I-Island were going to react once seen Izuku in action for real.
Izuku Side -
Following Izuku’s instructions, Whitey positioned a large basin filled in shining white salt on top of the biggest flame he had at his disposal, and the young man was now mixing the salt around to make it warm-up uniformly with slow and steady movements of a big spatula.
“The salt will take a while to become hot enough and the Lotus leaves are almost done soaking, in the meantime I will take care of the duck itself,” Izuku muttered, taking an entire duck he had emptied of it’s organs and covering its inside and outside in a mixture of salt, wine and soy sauce for seasoning.
“Done! Perfectly covered, in half an hour it will be ready for cooking, just in time for the mushrooms to finish their bath...Good.” still mumbling to himself, he preheated the second oven and prepared a big stack of vegetables he started shredding into thin slices at absurd speed.
Not satisfied yet, at the same time he moved one of the woks on his workstation on the fire to heat some oil.
“The vegetables are ready, now it’s the pork’s turn.” thrown the vegetables into the hot oil to stir-fry, a big chunk of pork meat was rapidly diced and added as well to the wok, where the young Chef kept stirring everything at high speed nonstop and when the meat lost its raw look, Izuku finally added the mushroom caps he had previously left to soak in water (and then squeezed dry and sliced) and a handful of bamboo shots to mix their flavour into the meat as well.
When everything was almost done cooking, soy sauce, wine, salt and a pinch of sugar was added as well and everything was then stirred thoroughly; done with that the wok was then finally removed from the fire, covered and set aside to cool.
“Filling for the duck is done! I still need to let the duck itself season for a little while longer, I can start the preparation of the white chocolate ingots while I wait, then I will move to the Stew and the Emperor Herbal chicken and Siopaos…”
Teacher’s side -
“I am surprised he is not tripping over himself to prepare everything, he is way too calm.” Minato admitted while preparing himself the rice flour he will turn into a paste for his fried dish.
“I wanted to say something about hubris, but he has not made a mistake that would justify that speech, yet.” Kuroi answered, adjusting his glasses a little to study in great detail his own version of the flavoured rice flour he was making for his steamed dumplings.
“Tell me again, Yamato, why is he not a student here?” Professor Sasaki asked, taking a small taste of the broth acting as a base of his stew, and showing a satisfied smile right after.
“Because a dear friend of mine got his feelings hurt by him and overreacted, I had decided to help along in avenging his honor even knowing first-hand that the kid was good. I just underestimated how good he actually was. Now I am regretting it.” Yamato admitted, and the way she was stirring her custard got just a bit more wild due to her annoyance.
“So we are here because your childhood friend has thrown a tantrum?” Minato asked.
“Just keep cooking, before I think more about this mess and start feeling the need to drown myself in custard.”
“I used to tell you that Samui was bad news when we were kids, but you still wanted him to be our friend, and it looks like I was right. He hasn'tchanged a bit since our days in high-school.”
“Not now, Kuroi!”
Challenge Time: 1 hour – Izuku’s side -
“The duck is frying along nicely! Time to start building the Baked Alaskas!” Izuku was heard declaring with a happy tone after checking the stuffed duck he had wrapped in Lotus leaves, encased in clay and then submerged in the hot salt.
What the audience saw was him recovering four boxes of hand-made ice-cream from the fridges Inoshiki Academy had prepared for the Challenge along with several eggs.
“Egg white...Lots of whisking…” the young Chef mumbled while rapidly whisking the whites of a few eggs until the mixture turned into a foam thick enough to for8m a stiff peak, he then slowly added sugar to the foam until it became thicker and creamy with a very gorgeous glossy look.
“The biscuit base is ready too, I can use it for the bases…” After that, a big square plate holding an inch thick crunchy biscuit base was recovered from a slightly warm oven for the young Chef to rapidly cut into several identical circles.
“Vanilla Ice-cream, strawberry ice-cream, chocolate ice-cream and hazelnut ice-cream. Perfect!” What followed was Izuku grabbing a giant block of frozen ice-cream of each flavour and positioning them next to the stack of biscuit disks he prepared.
It was then that the old woman of I-Island watched in amazement as the boy’s knife moved through the ice-cream bricks with a single barely-seen horizontal slice that instead managed to cut those four big frozen ingots into tiny cubes, all in the span of a second.
“I will make them perfectly checkered, a block at a time!” Izuku said, a pair of pliers in each hand, while grabbing cubes of ice-cream of various flavours and piling them up in a pattern creating a vaguely spherical shape on top of the biscuit disks.
The dozen of small domes of ice-cream cubes were covered by a thick layer of meringue right after, a cover Izuku then spent several minutes working-on with a spoon to create folds overlapping from top to bottom, but not even Yamato could tell why he was doing that much work on the meringue.
I-Island -
“Madame, you will catch flies if you keep your mouth open like that.” the old man muttered with a sigh.
“Did we record what he did with that knife just now?” the woman asked with a faint voice.
“I think so?” one of the technicians answered, unsure.
“Find me his medical history, and repeat the Quirk test again!”
“Yessir!”
“Is it really so hard to believe somebody can be good at something without a Quirk?” the old man muttered, rolling his eyes.
Challenge time: 2 hours – Teachers side -
“The cream puffs are ready, now I need to build the tower. The most annoying part.” Yamato muttered as soon as she was done carving the last stylized picture of Mary holding baby Jesus in her arms on the front of the small sphere of white chocolate encasing a cream puff.
“Be careful and do not make it collapse.” Kuroi answered, checking the seasoning of the ingredients he will soon use for his dumplings.
“I know! It’s not the first time I made a croquembouche!” she hissed in answer.
Once the teachers recognized the complexity of the dishes Izuku had planned to prepare, all of them had immediately came to the silent agreement that they too will ‘Stretch’ the rules a bit and add their own spin to the recipes they had chosen upon, like extra seasoning or a more throughout preparation of the base Ingredients. Or in the case of Minato and Kuroi, making the rice flour themselves to add extra flavouring to it.
“I am almost there, just twenty more minutes and my stew will be ready.” Sasaki declared after giving a new taste test to his dish.
“By the looks of it, Chef Izuku’s Rogan Josh too is almost ready.” Minato answered.
“We’ll go as planned then, as soon as one of us is ready they will deliver the dish to the judges, the others in the meantime will continue working, luckily contrary to us Midoriya will have to stop cooking to deliver his own dish.”
“And what about Monoi?” Kuroi asked.
“Screw her, she called my Inoshiki Academy a cesspool, she’s on her own.” Yamato answered, not even sparing a glance at the depressed blond woman behind her.
Monoi had long since brought her egg to the Judges that simply swallowed it and declared it to be well cooked and kind of tasty...There wasn’t much else to say about a simple boiled egg with some salt and pepper on it.
“I saw the boy bring out some small ingots of white chocolate, what do you think will he do with-”
Swooosh!
“Them...Wow…” Kuroi’s glasses slipped down his nose a little as he and the others watched with wide eyes the young Chef move his knife fast enough to disappear from view and attack the dozen small blocks of hardened white chocolate to produce tiny female busts a couple inches tall, although none of them could see how detailed those actually were from their workstations.
“Shit!” At the same time Yamato gave a soft shriek as she almost made her half-done tower of cream puffs collapse due to the distraction.
“He seemed slower on video.”
“Shut-up, Sasaki!”
With Izuku – Some time later -
“How’s it going?” Momo asked, nearing the young Chef workstations circle.
“Kind of hectic, but nothing I can’t manage! How about you? Must be pretty boring to sit there for two hours,” he answered, giving a last stir to the Rogan Josh stew and lowering the flame a bit to let it simmer.
“I guess it is what the audience of a cooking show goes through compared to who sees the edited version back home, but it’s not so bad considering the amazing scents we are bombarded with.” Ochako answered with a small smile.
“I made a bit more than necessary, actually. You can have a taste too if you want, as a way to thank you all for coming.” Izuku admitted, sheepish.
“...For me too?” Rumi asked, unsure, and stoically ignoring the glare the other two girls sent her way.
“Of course!” he answered, smiling brightly.
“Thank you…” she muttered.
“Why did youmake this a 5v1?” Momo asked.
“Like this in a little more than four hours we will be done, both me and them are busy people and I did not want to take too much time from their schedules. I already left things half-ready back in my Restaurant, so once done here I will be free to get ready for dinner hour with no problems. Hopefully.” he answered.
“It’s a risky maneuver,” she replied, worried.
“I know, but I needed a bold move to finally impose myself as a difficult target. Even though now I see how Yamato-san has changed her mind about me, at the time I came-up with this plan I still thought she hated my guts.” Izuku admitted, sighing.
“And now?” Ochako asked.
“Maybe she just sees me as a Rival now? Somebody to surpass, but in the proper way? I don’t know, I never asked for this, I just want to manage my restaurant.” he said.
“I really hope so,” the girl answered.
“Anything ready to be served?” Rumi asked, trying to change the topic once seen him develop a slightly depressed look.
“Uhm...Three things, actually. The Rogan Josh, the Emperor Herbal chicken and the Beggar’s Duck, with the latter two needing just another forty minutes to be done.” he answered.
“Forty minutes?” the bunny girl asked.
“Both Minato-san and Kuroi-san took their time to make the rice flour themselves, just so as to adjust the taste to what they needed. That needs a bit over two hours to be done, adding that to the normal preparation time for their dishes to be ready, they will need around 2 hours and thirty minutes to be done, they will actually finish five to ten minutes before me...Luckily the Challenge is about the final product, not speed.” Izuku answered, sighing, unknowingly surprising the two teachers in question with his near-exact guessing of their dishes’ time of preparation.
“Really?! What now?” Rumi asked.
“It’s okay, it’s not really a problem, like that the judges will have enough time to taste the Teachers’ dishes without rush and then cleanse their palate a little, that way the taste of those dishes won’t interfere with mine.” Izuku answered, flashing her a reassuring smile.
“That’s a relief,”
“You done?” Momo hissed with narrowed eyes.
“I kissed him, Yaoyorozu, yes. Deal with it. I am your rival, I am not going anywhere until he drops you and chooses me.”
“Please don’t argue, I am not worth it.” the young Chef commented, unfazed, while turning off the stove under his stew.
“I beg to differ, Izu.” Momo answered, arms crossed and glare directed straight at Rumi.
“Had you not been worth the effort, I assure you we wouldn’t be doing this,” Rumi added, unaware that she had to look slightly upward to meet the eyes of the other girl.
Sigh! “Help me, Ochako-chan?” Izuku asked with a tired sigh and his hands moving fast to prepare the various portions of Rogan Josh for the judges and his friends and family.
“Sorry, Boss, besides taking the plates back to the seats, I can’t help you this time,” Ochako answered, smiling weakly.
(Rogan Josh Stew)
“Why me…” the young man muttered, leaving behind the war of glares to join Professor Sasaki at the Judges table.
“Amazing, Professor. That really tasted like something straight out of my mother’s kitchen, it felt homely, informal and very familiar. It actually had the taste of a mother’s cooking.” Mako admitted, impressed.
“Hohoho! Thank you! I must admit my beloved mother used this recipe to bribe me into behaving! So in a sense I acted-out mostly to eat it as much as possible, and once grown-up she never stopped reminding me of that!” the old man answered, laughing amused at the memories.
“She sounds like an amazing woman,” Izuku admitted, distributing a plate for each King and one for Sasaki himself, while behind him Ochako, Rumi and Momo brought the other plates to his parents and the others.
“Nothing for you?” the old man asked, hurt.
“Too nervous! And not enough time! I need to get back soon to check on the Herbal Chicken.” Izuku answered, chuckling.
“Just go then, we will vote once done tasting every dish: red for you, blue for each Professor.” Sadao answered.
“Thank you!” not waiting for another second, Izuku sprinted away to check on the two dishes that were the closest to be ready.
In the meantime, both judges and Sasaki had started tasting the young man’s creation, and growing pleasantly surprised at the divine taste.
“I’ll be damned, this lamb is melting in my mouth! So soft!” the teacher admitted.
“He had marinated the lamb meat in yogurt to make it softer, and added a touch of cream to the sauce that has actually rounded the edge of the spices he used. The curry and the chilly are in perfect balance too!” the new King said in awe.
“Told you! That bastard is a Monster,” Michiko answered with a loud sigh.
“He actually used real Kashmiri Dry red chilies to make it, he has hidden spices jars in his coat again! AH! He knew that had he asked for those to us we would have tried guessing his recipe.” Mako said, laughing.
“Cardamon, cloves, bay, onion, peppercorns, coriander, cumin...So young and yet so skilled he managed to mix this many tastes and keep them in balance...Who are you, boy?” Sasaki, having used his Quirk to analyze in detail every taste individually, muttered while looking at Izuku in confusion.
Inko and Co. Seats -
“Jesus, this is amazing,” Miss Uraraka said in-between mouthfuls.
“Mom, I have a Staff Discount, you and dad can come eat where I work whenever you want, you know?” Ochako answered.
“I forgot about that, we’ll come visit then!”
“I want to taste something carrot based, I bet he can make a carrot cake to orgasm over,” Rumi muttered.
Cooking Challenge time: 3 Hours - With Izuku -
The Herbal Chicken was ready, so were the siopaos, and when the big bamboo canister of the steamer had been finally opened Izuku’s dish showered the entire gym in the gentle scent of steamed meat accompanied by the faint undertone of the dried herbs and spices the chicken had been filled with together with the chinese wine that had been lightly drizzled on the meat mid-cooking, a scent both spicy and sweet, yet mellow and aromatic.
The meat was still rosy in colour and even by look alone one could tell it was a very delicate dish as the meat came off from the bones with zero effort.
“Emperor Herbal Chicken. It is said that a Chinese Emperor in ancient times used to eat that constantly to stay healthy, each herb or spice that boy used actually has medicinal properties.” Yamato muttered with narrowed eyes, her dessert was still in the fridge ready to be taken out.
“Red dates replenish the blood, Wolf berries help to promote clear eyesight, Tung Shen promotes salivation, aids ingestion and counters extreme mental and physical fatigue and so on with every Ingredient...It’s basically Chinese Medicine made into a Gourmet Dish, and he pulled it off the proper way, without using store-bought ingredients.” Kuroi answered, fixing his glasses.
“I am ready!” Minato asked, having finished plating his dish.
“Go then, they already evaluated my dish, once done with his chicken, it will be your turn.” he answered.
“The salt fried duck!” and in answer a blur ran past the teachers’ stations as Izuku flew back to his area to prepare yet another dish, and gained some friendly chuckles from the audience at his adorable worried expression.
Judges’ table -
“Daamn! And this is healthy food? I can go on a diet if it is all like this!” Toshio admitted while giving a big bite to the siopao, then to the chicken leg he had been given and then taking a spoonful of broth in his mouth and chewing everything together in a single giant mouthful.
“Calling this healthy is a stretch, but Hell will freeze over the day you go on a diet!” Sadao answered, still with her mouth full.
“Oh, take a room you two! Let me eat in peace!” Michiko growled, annoyed.
“This is too good,” the new King muttered, shocked.
“Not surprising, he is my Rival after all!” Mako answered, smirking.
“He is?!”
“Pretty much, but it’s just a matter of time before I surpass him,”
“Unlikely.” Toshio commented.
“Shut up!”
Once done polishing their plates, and washing their mouth a bit to reset their palate, they welcomed Minato’s dish with a wide smile thanks to its cute appearance.
“Up for something sweeter?” the man asked, smiling.
“I am always up for some sweets!” Michiko admitted with gleaming eyes.
“Good to hear. What did the police say? Community service then?” he asked.
“Yes. Assault is a heavy crime, but since he did not press charges and I did not actually manage to lie a finger...Or tentacle...On him, the judge was a bit more lenient. I will have to do community service and take Anger Management classes, along with visiting a counselor...I am just happy I am still a student here, and I was told I can only thank you for that, Mister Minato.” she answered, sighing.
“You have a great talent, Michiko, and I did not want to see it go to waste yet, so I talked my mother into giving you a last chance, don’t waste it.” he answered.
“I won’t, sir.”
“...You won’t feel obliged to vote unfairly, yes?” Minato then asked.
“No, I am a Chef, we have dignity! So I will give my vote in total fairness.” Michiko answered, eyes ablaze.
“Well said!” he answered with a thumbs-up
“Mister Minato, these buns are amazing! So sweet and soft!” Sadao declared in amazement.
“Damn fragrant too! And the filling is soo, soo tasty!” Toshio admitted, shamelessly talking with his mouth full.
“I followed the original recipe! I was tutored night and day to make them properly under threat of bodily harm, so please, tell your teachers I did a good job or they will beat me up!” Minato answered, making them laugh by casting a worried look towards the other teachers watching the Challenge.
“Will do, will do, sir.” Mako promised, chuckling.
Crack!
Under the sound of Izuku’s mallet breaking the clay shell hiding inside his salt-fried duck, both Minato and the judges fell immediately silent, they all knew that sound meant that it would be soon time for them to try the third plate of Izuku’s insane menu.
When the last browned giant leaf was carefully open and the entire bundle unfolded, the stuffed duck resurfaced to proudly display its crispy brown skin shining slightly under the gym’s lights thanks to its thin layer of grease.
“Uuuuhm! This smell is amazing…”
“Mom, please, you are making a scene!” Ochako groaned in shame at the half-moan of her mother.
“You think you can ask him to make it again back home if we invite him for dinner?” Rei whispered.
“Maybe if we make Momo ask, he will.” Saito whispered back.
“You won’t use me to get some salt fried duck, man-up and ask him yourself.” Momo countered, huffing.
“Aaaw!”
While this happened, Izuku had already divided the dish into equal portions, taking care of also distributing in a fair manner the duck’s filling that had now taken a slightly gelatinous consistency.
“Ochako? Please?” he asked, sheepish.
“Coming, Boss!” the girl replied before moving to deliver the extra portions to her mother and the others.
“It’s unfair that they get to taste everything he makes.” a student in the back muttered, displeased.
“Apparently they are his parents, his fiancee and her parents, a friend and his waitress and her mother. They came all the way here to cheer for him, it’s only fair.” the girl’s friend answered.
“I still want to try that too.” the other replied, huffing annoyed.
Judges table -
“The heat from the salt seeped deep inside the meat still no matter the leaves and the clay encasing it, and the clay itself gave to the meat’s flavour a faint earthen note that goes amazingly well with the filling,” Toshio said, having the deepest expertise in meat dishes among the Kings.
“That is normal, the lotus leaves are mostly there to separate the meat from the clay, not to insulate it from the heat. Also, if properly bathed they also add flavour to the duck, other than helpingmanage the temperature. But you changed the recipe a little, didn'tyou?” Minato explained.
“Busted, I added a tiny amount of honey to the mixture I used to season the duck’s inside, only a tiny bit, but it helped make the meat just a tad softer and added a bit of sweet smoothness to the overall flavour, I am impressed you noticed!” Izuku admitted, smirking.
In fact, the duck, other than being flavourful, possessed a delicate, springy meat hidden under the crispy skin, it was pleasantly spicy and felt smooth like silk inside the mouth; the pork filling instead was buttery soft and the jelly-like sauce around that meat melted back into a thick liquid once swallowed, giving the impression the judges and the others were actually eating a very thick, delicious soup, something Mako found mildly infuriating as it was yet another dish of his she felt the need to match and surpass to protect her pride as Soup King.
“Impressive...Hey…”
“Yes?”
“If something does not work in your own restaurant...Wanna come work in mine?” Minato asked.
“Minato!” Yamato was heard screaming in shock, an expression mimicked perfectly by whoever managed to hear.
“I am honored you offered that, even just as a joke-”
“It’s not a joke.” Minato said, dropping his friendly smile in favour of a more solemn expression.
“Then I am even more touched, but I have to refuse.” Izuku answered, once again causing a new round of shocked gasps to resound in the gym.
“My Restaurant is and forever will be the Green Cloud, I want to show the world that I can make it to the top even without a Quirk or a famous name backing me up, to say ‘I did it’ to whoever doubted I could achieve anything. But thank you all the same for the offer.” the young man said with a deep bow, and then returned swiftly to his workstations circle to finish cooking.
“Too bad, but I am not backing down.” Minato muttered with a devious, and yet still friendly, smile.
“Host?”
“You gave me a chance, System. You offered me the occasion to chase my new dream when everybody else tried to smash it, and I am not ungrateful, I will return the favour by becoming the best God of Cooking I can be. It will be my way to thank you for saving me from losing yet another dream.” Izuku answered.
“Well said, Host. The role of the God of Cooking is more meaningful than the position as a Sous-Chef of a random Restaurant, and the System knows the Host will fulfill the role perfectly.” the Entity answered, still monotonous, and yet Izuku could swear there was some tiny spark of gratitude buried deep.
“Almost done?” Surprisingly, the next to move near Izuku’s side of the gym was Yamato herself.
“Forty more minutes and the Pot-au-Feu will be ready. Shall we go through our Carving Challenge in the meantime?” he answered once checked the state of his boiling dish.
“May as well. Why go through with it, though? Monoi had clearly done enough to be disqualified, she chose to boil a mere egg and tried threatening the judges. You could have easily switched dishes for something way simpler and still won...Why doing this instead?” the old woman asked, curious.
“Can I be honest?” Izuku asked.
“...I am listening.” Yamato muttered while leaning closer.
“It is all to send a message to whoever still believes I am easily bullied, to show that I will always fight back and never take everything lying down. And also, I had already chosen to make this dish, I promised the Ingredients I would have prepared them this way and didn’t want to disappoint them.”
“You didn’t want to disappoint the Ingredients?” Yamato asked, confused.
“Yes, believe it or not, I would have never heard the end of it.” he answered, smiling.
“If you are so sure. Let’s prepare our dessert in the meantime, you still have to cook the Baked Alaska’s meringue top.”
“It’s okay, if you take yours out of the fridge now, by the time I am done, your croquembouche will be ready to be served as well.”
“Well said, get to work then! Contrary to my colleagues, I did decide to take this Challenge seriously. It's a pity that even with video proof, they underestimated you.” the old woman answered, walking back to her fridge.
“It’s hard to gauge somebody’s skills on video without tasting, I can’t blame them. Especially since I did cheat a little by downplaying the difficulty of my chosen dishes...Or stretching the meaning of frying...But come on, I too can be a bit mean once or twice…” Izuku muttered, cheeks reddening a bit.
His embarrassment though lasted very little as soon as his mind focused on the new task that was giving the finishing touch to his Baked Alaska, he had in fact rapidly took them out from the fridge together with a special alcoholic mixture with a faint orange flavour he used to gently cover the meringue top of the numerous small desserts he had prepared using a very soft brush.
In front of him now stood his small desserts, one for each judge, Yamato herself and his friends, ready to be decorated.
“The oven is hot enough. Ten minutes should be enough.” Izuku muttered as he moved the small domes of meringue inside the thing to bask in the angry red light of the heat.
“Ten minutes? Just enough for me as well,” Yamato answered while pulling out of the fridge the small pyramid of cream puffs encased in white chocolate.
Each sphere had been engraved by hand to have four stylized pictures of Mary holding baby Jesus in her arms with a very minimalist style, even if Mary’s dress still presented few lines representing her clothing. The chocolate itself was perfectly smooth and had a faint shine to it giving to the spheres the appearance of smooth balls of precious stone.
“Wow...Rector Yamato has not lost her touch…” Mako, admitted in worshipful awe, once received a few spheres of her portion.
“It’s all about experience, Ishikami-san, all the years I spent in the kitchen were to better myself,” Yamato answered, proud.
“Do you mind if your friends try this too? I actually made more than enough,” she then asked.
“Uh-hu. Go ahead.” Izuku, eyes glued to the glass panel of the oven, answered.
“He keeps opening the thing to move the desserts in there. I wonder what he is doing.” Michiko, the sweet enthusiast of the five, wondered aloud.
“Thank you, Madame.” Saito said with a grateful tone once received his portion from Yamato.
“Think nothing of it, it’s part of my apology for the idiocies spouted by one of my teachers, if you really want to take her to court, count me in as a witness.” she answered.
“Will do, thank you.” he answered, grateful, while the others already moved to attack their cream puffs.
Crunch!
“Oh my!” Inko gasped in amazement.
The chocolate casing, while fairly thick, still broke apart easily, and the home-made white chocolate held a very rich taste of fresh milk, with a very faint buttery tone, and not overly sweet like the cheap one found in stores.
The puff itself too was good, with a slight vanilla aftertaste, but the real star was the custard cream itself: sweet, fluffy, smooth like nothing the tasters had ever felt before and still proudly displaying a tiny part of the taste of the fresh eggs used to make it.
In short: the cream-puffs looked gorgeous and tasted amazing.
“This is one hell of a contender! Madame Yamato really did give her all for this!” Michiko admitted.
“Rector Yamato made this to fight him...Wow…” the new King muttered in awe, looking at both the old woman and Izuku with eyes full of amazement.
“They liked it, it’s your turn now!” Yamato said with a mischievous smile and a thumbs-up.
“Fingers crossed!” Izuku answered as he finally took out of the oven the small domes of Baked Alaska he made...And both the audience in the gym and the ones following the Livestream (and the guys from I-Island), grew slack-jawed at what they saw.
The browning of the meringue had clearly followed the pattern the young Chef planned for: the folds were slightly darker than the meringue under them, and when Izuku uncovered what he had sculptured the ingots of white chocolate into, their shock grew tenfold.
Baked Alaska Miladies, the name was literal. He had sculptured by hand each ingot so to give it the look of a woman’s bust wearing an intricate dress, and when he put each and every bust on top of its respective dome, the folds of the meringue became the folds of the women’s dress; both dress and hairstyle of each milady held a level of detail one could only describe as insane, especially considering how fast he had been at actually carving them. Even declaring all of that Impossible didn’t fully make it justice, only a Chef from another world could actually achieve that.
“Perfect, just a bit of perfume, and the Miladies will be ready for their debut…” Izuku muttered, peeling an orange at lightning speed and gently squeezing the peel to drip some aromatic oil on top of the meringue, and the last vestiges of heat from it helped that oil release a faint and very pleasant citrusy aroma.
Yamato accepted her own Baked Alaska in stricken silence, and her brain had categorically refused to admit that the dessert she was about to eat had her face carved on it with way too many details, like the crow's feet at the eyes, it was simply too absurd to be real.
“You know?...I-It turns out I would look nice in a Victorian dress…” Toshio was heard saying with a weak laugh once seen his own face on the body of the Milady in his plate.
“He used a 3D Printer to make this, right? Right?!” Michiko, ready to burst to tears out of broken Pâtissier Pride, asked.
“...No, he made it all by hand…” Mako answered, unsure.
“BOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOO!” the awful wailing of the Desert King did wait long to come and echo loudly in the entire gym.
“The inside is also amazing, checkered to perfection…Each cube of ice-cream too has been cut with maniacal precision. Does he suffer from OCD?!” Sadao once took a slice off her portion to check the inside.
Easy to say, beside the outrageous Carving involved, the taste too was amazing: the ice-cream Izuku had personally made and brought along fully displayed his talent as well, the Vanilla Ice-cream was amazingly delicate in taste and fluffy; the strawberry ice-cream was so fresh you could almost tell apart each and every strawberry that had been used, as if eating them straight from the plant; the chocolate ice-cream was dark and intense counterbalancing the sweet taste of the strawberries while the hazelnut ice-cream instead perfectly framed the vanilla one without overpowering it. It was clear, in a frightening way, that Izuku had even studied the position of each cube of ice-cream so as to pair the flavour in a positive manner.
“Rei-san?”
“Yes, Miss Uraraka?” Rei answered.
“...You say he gives you cooking lessons for free...Can I join?” she asked.
“MOM!”
“I don’t think he will mind, but we better ask, just in case.”
“Thank you.”
When the time came for the Pot-au-Feu to be served, Monoi accepted her portion with hatred shining in her eyes, but before she could try anything with her Quirk (she possessed a second set of arms sprouting from her hips with the two extra hands also possessing creepily-long fingers), Whitey appeared behind her to grab her shoulder as a silent threat.
“This is a small glimpse of my abilities, never again try to make a joke of a cooking competition. Food is sacred, and a Chef Pride is essential, you spat on both with your attitude and should be ashamed of yourself,” Izuku muttered harshly once left her a plate.
Monoi’s anger evaporated as soon as she tried it, the meat was simply Divine, a texture she had never felt before, and a taste that seemed not of this world as no matter how many times she chewed, the meat’s taste did not diminish by an iota.
Spicy.
Tender.
Warm.
Somber.
A taste that encompassed her very soul, and she had to stop herself from trying to eat the bones in her plate as well together with the marrow inside them, the vegetables too had been cooked to the point they offered very little resistance to the bite without losing a bit of their fresh taste, but the meat, that was the jewel of the entire dish. Something she recognizes she will never be able to match.
Thump!
With a soft sound Monoi’s legs gave-in under her and she fell on her knees, her face was pale and her eyes unblinking, she just looked at Izuku as if he was an Eldritch Abomination.
“W-W-Who are you?” she asked with a whisper of voice.
“Me? I am Izuku Midoriya. But for you? I am the King of Chefs.” he answered, back straight and head held high, and for an instant Monoi caught a glimpse of what he meant with that answer: a towering figure, an unreachable Chef at the very peak of the world of cooking able to look down on the rest of them.
She saw Zaus, and she saw the bottomless depths of his talent only Setsuno could surpass and only Komatsu could match, and she grew afraid.
“Simply amazing, we tasted food of a quality we all didn’t know was possible, but it is now time to vote. I will call each name separately and we will cast our vote: Red for Midoriya and Blue for each Professor. Are the contestants ready?” Mako asked.
“We are ready!” they all answered, except Monoi, she was still looking at Izuku in fear.
“Good. For the Stewing Challenge between Midoriya and Professor Sasaki…” Mako asked.
Four red-coloured disks and one blue were lifted, with Mitchiko being the only one voting for Sasaki.
“Oh, dear! Looks like I lost! Hohohoho! I hope we will have a rematch someday!” the old man answered with an amused laugh.
“Whenever you want, Mister Sasaki.” Izuku answered, shaking the man’s hand.
“We have cast our vote. The winner for the Stewing Challenge is Chef Midoriya!” Mako declared, and while his friends and the audience roared in amazement, in UA University Present Mic’ scream of anguish exploded the windows and deafened students and teachers alike since that first victory meant the Pro Hero lost the ongoing bet on the results, both his savings and his next paycheck will thus go straight into the pockets of somebody else.
“Next is the Steaming Challenge. Who won between Chef Midoriya and Professor Kuroi?” Mako then asked, making the audience there and watching the stream observe the Kings’ discussion with baited breath.
Five red disks rose next, and the people watching roared again in awe.
“A total defeat, I am ashamed, but not surprised.” Kuroi answered with a chuckle, and shaking Izuku’s hand with not a trace of anger to be seen on his serene expression.
“Sorry.” Izuku answered, sheepish.
“Don’t be, that herbal chicken was a work of art, I liked it.”
“Glad to hear that!”
“Another victory for Chef Midoriya! An applause for the amazing show of sportsmanship both Professor Sasaki and Professor Kuroi showed us!” Mako said, and the two teachers actually did look a bit flustered at the loud praise and applause of their students.
“Next will be the Frying Challenge! Mister Minato vs Chef Midoriya, please cast your votes, fellow judges!” Once again the five spent several minutes whispering, and arguing, between themselves before giving their score.
4 red and 1 blue, this time it was Sadao to vote against Izuku.
“In my defense, it was not specified what kind of Frying was permitted and what wasn’t!” Minato answered, laughing thunderously, and giving Izuku a friendly fist-bump and a high-five on the notes of the Audience applause.
“We are three on five, nice results, Chef Izuku! What about the Boiling Challenge?” Mako asked next.
“And you need to ask? It was a boiled egg against the best boiled meatI have ever tasted in my life!” Toshio answered, scoffing, and without even a second of thought, 5 red disks rose in the air to declare another absolute win for Izuku.
“Your life is over, Monoi. And you won’t even have some good memories to fall back onto, you brought this on yourself.” Yamato muttered, making the former teacher of Inoshiki burst into a loud, desperate crying fit.
“Another win! Only our beloved Rector remains! Madame Yamato for the Carving Challenge! It’s time to vote!” the Soup King declared with a loud scream the audience was more than ready to answer in kind.
This time it took way longer for the five Kings to reach an agreement, but still, four Red disks went up, with the girl taking the place of Takeo being the only one voting for Yamato, and the gym seemed about to explode with how loud the audience cheered.
“MI-DO-RI-YA! MI-DO-RI-YA! MI-DO-RI-YA!” The audience chanted over and over as they watched the teachers and Yamato deliver their knives to the young Chef one by one.
“I hope you realize this doesn’t mean I won’t come back for a rematch,” Yamato said with a small smile.
“I will be waiting, Yamato-san!” Izuku answered, smiling wide.
“...Izuku…” when the old woman moved close enough to whisper in his ear, though, his smile dropped instantly.
“Uh?”
“Samui is a very vindictive and dangerous man, his sense of pride is his biggest weakness. I helped along due to my past for him, but even then, I soon learned what I was doing was wrong...The others won’t care instead, they will come.” she whispered.
“The others?” he asked.
“The judges that were there that day in the park. They are Chefs and Food Critics, yes, but we all also used to be a tight group of friends. Problem is, contrary to me, now Samui has leverage on them that will force them to do his bidding and get revenge on you...Very dirty leverage. You must be careful, they will come after you soon.” Yamato warned him.
“Thank you. They will find me ready,” Izuku answered, grateful.
“I hope it will be enough, unfortunately I fear I won’t be able to have them see reason, as I suspect the skeletons Samui discovered in their closets are way too dangerous to bring to light for them to be talked into backing down. I can only give you a heads-up when one of them will start to move, so as to give you enough time to prepare.” the old woman offered, grimacing.
“Are you sure you can risk it?” Izuku asked, worried.
“Between them all, I am the only one without dirty secrets, and my own reputation is solid enough even Samui won’t be able to attack it. I’ll be fine, promise.” she answered, showing him an encouraging smile.
“Okay, thank you for telling me.” Izuku answered, shaking the woman’s hand.
When everything was said and done, the five knives joined the ones of the Five Kings inside the wooden cabinet Whitey then strapped to his back, and accompanied by his friends and family, and the last applause of the audience, Izuku and Co. made their way back to Green Cloud Restaurant for a celebratory party between them all while everybody else celebrated as well in their own way.
I-Island -
“Find me a table in that Restaurant! I want to talk to that boy in person!”
“Yessir!”
“This won’t end well…” Hisashi’s boss muttered with a sigh of dismay.
UA University -
“Twenty...Thirty...Forty...Fifty…” Aizawa was heard counting bills after bills aloud with a wide smile on his face.
“I’ll buy those shoes I saw yesterday, then those fancy glasses! And then I will visit the SPA…” Nemuri in the meantime started organizing her next expenses after finishing collecting the money of her colleagues.
“My paycheck! My savings! The money for my new bike! Booo-hoooo!” Mic instead kept crying and wailing like an angry ghost while on all fours.
“There goes the money for the new leather seats of my car…” Toshinori just gave a defeated sigh once seen Aizawa tearing off the money in his hands to add them to the pile.
“I knew I should have not followed your example and just bet by myself.” Nighteye muttered with a frown.
A similar scene was taking place between the students of Class 1A and pretty much everybody else in the University.
“Easiest money of my life!” Mina declared with a wide smile, there were fat stacks of bills overflowing her pockets, sprouting from her cleavage and the sides of her school skirt and few bills even peeked-out from her wild hair, she had seemingly stuffed her clothes in money.
“Remember to set aside Yaomomo’s part and Ochako,” Tooru said while still counting her own big stack of money.
“Of course! Of course!”
“I am going to have Boss Izuku’s name engraved on my new guitar, as an homage to who made it possible for me to buy a new one!” Jiro declared, with a bit of a cackle.
“This greed is unbecoming of future Heroes!” Tenya said, frowning.
“Here is your part, Tenya-chan!” In answer Tsuyu delivered him what looked like several thousands of yen divided into various high stacks of bills tied together with rubber bands.
“...I will let it slide this time.” the bespectacled boy conceded while rapidly pocketing the small fortune.
But not everybody was rejoicing from Izuku’s victory…
With Monoi – Apartment complex - Later that night -
The woman had finally entered her place after several long hours spent with Saito’s Lawyers, and those had apparently joined forces with Inoshiki’s own legal team to eat the former teacher alive, leaving no dirty detail untouched and painting Monoi’s future of misery following the lawsuit they slapped her with with sadistic glee. If she actually managed to avoid prison after the trial, her life and career as a Chef was still over and done.
“I just want to go to bed and sleep forever…” she muttered with a tone of desperation.
“Not before your punishment.” a monotonous and slightly metallic voice echoed in her apartment.
“WHO’S THERE?!” Monoi shrieked.
“You tried to cheat and ruin the fairness of the Challenge the System had set for the Host, this meddling shall not be forgiven.” the System replied.
“System? Host? What are you blabbering about?!” Monoi asked, still looking around wildly.
“Never before has a Challenge been put in danger by somebody moving behind the scenes to actively sabotage the results, you have committed a cardinal Sin that put at risk the Ascension of the Host to the Echelon of God of Cooking, and this warrants the harshest punishment!” the Entity said, and immediately a splitting headache forced Monoi to double over in agony.
“AUGH!” It was after the first bout of pain that the woman saw something resembling pale smoke leave her body.
“What...What are you doing?!”
“The System would have accepted you manipulating the choice of dishes and Ingredients in your favour, would have accepted you sabotaging the instrumentation given to the Host and even forcing the Host to use sub-par Ingredients. But the System won’t accept the insult of minor characters like you cheating with drugs or trying to threaten judges into voting for them.
You tried to manipulate the ones called to judge your dishes to vote in your favour and even pretended to win with a mere boiled egg. For your insolence the System decided to bestow on you the worst Curse: You will be stripped of your ability to cook and of the ability to taste. Forever.” the System answered, mercilessly.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” the scream of anguish that tore its way out of Monoi’s mouth scared to near-death whoever heard her, and the next day, when somebody finally came to check on her, they will find the woman lying in fetal position crying hysterically and surrounded by ruined food from failed cooking attempts, and no matter how much she wanted to, she was also unable to tell them about the System as part of her Curse.
At the same time, at the opposite side of the city, Shigaraki had just finished disintegrating yet another stray dog, leaving behind barely a handful of ashes, but his sense of hatred had not diminished at all.
“It’s not the same thing...I want to kill the real deal…That fleabag and his shitty owner!” the young man muttered with a dark unhinged tone as mental pictures of Blackie and Green Cloud Restaurant filled his head fueling even more his thirst for revenge.
But Izuku was unaware of all this, he was too occupied being giddy at the unlocking of the new bone-made kitchen knife as promised by the System for defeating the guys of Inoshiki: the so-calledSilver Sea Dragon kitchen knife, and the young Chef was eager to train in using such a Divine Knife for his future dishes. That and that special cabinet where Time moves faster.
Chapter finished! A very super long one! WOOOO!...Don’t get used to it, please, it was a pain for me…
Author Explains corner!
1 - A bit of trivia! The Baked Alaska dessert is an Ice-Cream cake covered in meringue that is baked in the oven to produce its famous brownish color, and if the ice-cream doesn’t melt once put in the oven it’s all thanks to the meringue itself, scientifically recognized as a very effective heat insulator. The Chef that created the dessert is believed to be Charles Ranhofer (1867), but the actual discovery of the cooking method was accredited not to a Chef, but to a Physicist: Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford. The same man that invented the cooking method known as Sous Vide...Among other things.
2 - If you think I am making Izuku's skill too outrageous, you have seen nothing yet! He used to be a character from the Manga Toriko, those guys do NOTHING that is not insane, either when fighting or cooking! Ask the other readers here that actually know the manga well enough, they will second the notion.
For example:
In Toriko, a kitchen knife can be so sharp a faint swing can cut a mountain in half, literally.
One of the top 100 Chefs in the entire planet managed to cook gravity to win a challenge (Zao Yuda, known as Yuda of the Millimeter for his fixation of cooking everything with millimeter precision).
A Chef can skin and remove an Ingredient’s meat so fast and delicately the thing remains alive.
High Level characters in Toriko can run on water just by lifting each foot to take a step fast enough they simply do not break water’s surface tension…
Trust me, if ever, I am making Izuku hold back when cooking!
(A checkered Baked Alaska. Izuku made it better)
Chapter 12: Dimensional Travel! (Have System, will travel.)
Summary:
Izuku continues his pretty peaceful life as a Restaurant owner and Chef, even starting a first Test Run for a Delivery service under explicit request of the System...But Peaceful times never last long if you are Izuku Midoriya. More and more people are taking notice of his Existence and Skills.
Notes:
Another micro Arc of Ingredient Hunting for Izuku, this time in a far-away land I planned for based on chinese novels, Wuxia to be precise...And there is a special surprise about this particular trip.
(I was told it is insane that I got to 100k words without even touching the Sport Festival yet...I hope it won't be a problem, but I need this trip in another DImension as a setup, sorry about it).
Chapter Text
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/Nejire
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
If you read this, the Chapter has been fixed by my Beta-Reader Dmale, my savior and possessor of BigDick Chad energy that managed to fix my story into proper English.
Thank you, my man! 🙂
Chapter 12: Dimensional travel ( Have System, will travel ).
The sun had just begun peeking over the horizon when Izuku’s eyes snapped open, he turned off his alarm clock and after a long shower he went down the stairs connecting his apartment to the Restaurant under it.
“Good morning, Whitey.” the young Chef said, yawning, while giving a friendly pat to the robot’s soft round belly.
“…” the tall robot simply scratched the shining dome of his round head with his big hand and gave a small nod.
“Aaah! I would have never thought I would ever enjoy waking at dawn…” he muttered with a chuckle.
“ Host Izuku, today you will meet other candidates for the Delivery Service . You still need to find 1 candidate for the Lunch hour and 1 for the Dinner hour, you have until before today’s closing hour to find them for the Abrupt Mission to be considered a success."
Mission: Find 4 worthy Candidates to start your Delivery Service.
(2 For Lunch hour and 2 for Dinner)
Reward for completion: Unlocking of the Utility Dish: Berserker Burger and the Ingredient Meteor Garlic .
"Host should also remember that Candidates with an Aptitude Level for this job inferior to 95% won’t be accepted as worthy members of the Delivery Staff. ” the System declared.
“Meteor Garlic! And I can have it either already ready for use or just raw for me to prepare?” Izuku asked with wide eyes, he was so surprised he almost dropped the bulky, heavy knife he normally used for training, one so heavy even he had trouble lifting it.
“ As always, Host. Please remember that there will be a small fee to pay should you desire the selected Ingredient to be already prepared by the System. In the case of Meteor Garlic, asking for it already without its outer shell will cost you 1000 yen.” the System answered.
“Ugh! Okay...As always that option will be left for cases of emergency…” Izuku muttered with a grimace.
“I forgot to ask. What is a Utility Dish ?”
“ Since the Host has shown his Heroic Spirit by saving All Might and his Pride as a Chef by defeating the best Inoshiki Academy had to offer, the ‘ Hero’ sub-routine has been unlocked. Host will be now permitted to utilize recipes offered by the System to create Dishes with special effects. These Dishes won’t be added to the Menu."
Berserker Burger: a burger created with Ingredients rich in Life Energy and Fighting Spirit, it will increase the Customer’s fighting power up to ten times.
Compatible with Quirks too.
Side Effects: the Customer will lose half their fighting power for 24 hours.
Compatible Ingredients: Berserker Bear Meat, Jewel Meat, King Python Meat, Scorpio-dile Meat.
Should the Host utilize Meteor Garlic to prepare it, the effects of the Dish will be tripled, but the Customer will lose consciousness to recover their strength for 24 hours as a side effect.
“Utility Dishes...If I use them...I will bring even more attention onto myself than what I am already getting.” Izuku muttered.
“ Host, you are walking the path of the God of Cooking , you cannot limit yourself for fear of the people of this world.”
“ I wish I had your optimism…” the young man answered with a sigh.
With that said he just fell into silence and simply went through his training regimen for the day: using that giant, ridiculously heavy butcher knife to cut tomatoes into hair-thin slices without squishing them, and by the looks of them, that day he was expected to cut over a hundred of them in under an hour and then worry about the breakfast service.
One hour later -
“Here it is! Caramel Cappuccino and a honey-filled croissant.” Izuku said once delivered a customer his order.
“Thank you!” the short woman with red hair answered, happy.
“Much appreciated, my boy!” the old man with her added.
“Guys, just hurry-up before some Pro Hero shows-up.” Izuku answered.
“...Please don’t rat us out, Chef Izuku!” the young woman begged with a low voice and a weak smile.
“Miss La Brava , I understand why you and Mister Gentle do what you do...But there are better ways to do it than Vigilantism.” he answered, sighing.
“Things are a bit more complex than us simply not trying…” Gentle answered, grimacing.
“We did try to do it properly, I swear.” La Brava added with a whisper.
“I know I have no right to ask you this, but please, do try to get a License or something. I know you have good intentions, but the people in charge clearly don’t like you doing things your way...I’ve lost count of how many times you or Pop Step have come here to hide...You and her just need some ‘ Polishing’ , you are not as bad as many other Vigilantes.” Izuku begged.
“Boss Icchan, I really wish things could be that easy.” Gentle admitted with a sigh.
“I am just worried about you, guys. You will always be welcomed here, I only wish the best for you.” he answered.
“We’ll be careful, promise.” La Brava answered, showing him a reassuring smile and gently patting his hand.
Sigh! “Okay.” The Chef conceded his defeat and walked away.
“We are trying, my boy. I swear we keep trying to have our chance…” Gentle muttered with a sigh of defeat.
Dling! Dling!
The tiny bell on top of the door chimed lightly as the Pro Hero Endeavor entered the Restaurant, causing the two Vigilantes in civilian attire to squeak in fear and keep their head low while having their breakfast.
“Yes? Who is it? AH! Mister Endeavor, good morning.”
“Good morning,” the Pro Hero number 2 of Japan answered with a grunt, and glancing at the strange duo pressed against the wall in the far corner, he gave a shrug and took a table under one of the giant windows.
“The usual?” Izuku asked.
“Yes…”
“The cupcake too?” the young Chef asked with a tiny amused smile.
“Don’t mock me, boy!”
“…”
“...Yes, the cupcake with pink strawberry frosting too.” the Pro muttered with a super low voice full of shame.
“I’ll bring both to you immediately. And there is nothing shameful in liking strawberry-flavored sweets.”
“They are feminine.” Endeavor muttered.
“Debatable. They still taste good no matter the color.”
“...True. Bring me two...Please.”
“Of course.”
Once the Chef disappeared inside his kitchen, Enji gave a sigh and leaned slightly back on his seat, watching the people passing-by in front of the window and sending a smug smirk to the ones he recognized as his fans every time they pointed at him in awe or waved at him in excitement.
It was then that he saw an absurdly tall girl with a fox-like mutation Quirk and her skin covered in greenish-blue fur stop in front of the door, her long ears folded back against her head in a show of discomfort.
She was dressed in a green checkered shirt and skin-tight beige pants, she was an absurdly tall girl, probably twice Enji’s height if not more actually, and the Pro Hero was already pretty tall himself.
With her there was a more normal-sized young man with his face adorned by numerous earrings and piercings and a short Mohawk hairstyle dyed bright-blue and dressed in leather from head to toe with under his jacket a Pre-Quirk-Era-style Sonic the Hedgehog shirt showing the game’s mascot giving a ‘ V Sign’ salute to whoever looked at the thing.
“Uhmmm….Uhmmm…” The giant girl was hesitating in front of the door, as if ready to have a panic attack.
“Want me to get in for us both?” the punk young man asked with a surprisingly gentle voice for somebody with a look like his.
“Thank you,” the girl answered with a shy whisper.
“Okay. Wait here, baby! Big Brother Zoom has got this in the bag!” the guy replied with a cocky attitude that somehow made her chuckle.
“Thanks!”
Dling! Dling!
Truth be told, the guy’s smug look dropped as soon as he actually got inside, meaning that he was indeed acting tough to cheer the girl up a little, in truth he himself was clearly just as nervous as she was.
“Good morning!” Izuku was fast in welcoming the new arrival, all the while carrying in his hands a small tray with Enji’s breakfast on it, and as always the scent of his freshly-made coffee mixture managed to take off some edge from the dour man’s everlasting foul mood.
“Finally.” Endeavor half-grunted in answer once delivered his order.
By now Izuku knew that was the man’s version of the common ‘ Thank you.’ ( at least when it came to the young Chef) so he paid it no mind and just addressed the new arrival.
“How can I help you?” he asked.
“Hi! I... Uhm ...I saw that AD in the newspaper…About you looking for somebody to take care of delivery…” the young man said with a nervous smile.
“Yes? Are you here for the job?”
“Yes. Sonoda Iga, nice to meet you, Midoriya-san.”
“A pleasure to meet you, and thank you for coming here for the job, but you do know I am Quirkless , right?” Izuku said, slowly.
Now the leather-dressed guy knew he was treading on thin ice as Enji had immediately stopped drinking his coffee to look straight at him in the eyes, and the two strange guys in the far back too were probably looking at him with the corner of their eyes, if the cold feeling traveling up his back was anything to go by.
“I...I fail to see what this has to do with the job...Is this a Test?” the guy asked, gulping.
“Oh, nono! It’s just that the last guy that came for the AD stormed off once he learned that, I just wanted to make it clear immediately so we both won’t waste time. I almost added that in the AD too, to be honest.” Izuku answered, shrugging.
“Oh! That’s no problem then, I am not that sort of guy!” he answered, finally relaxing a bit, and secretly happy to see the customers return to mind their own businesses.
“ Damn, they really love their restaurants here… ” the guy thought in wonder.
“Nice to hear! The thing is very simple: I need somebody open to take care of deliveries for either the lunch or dinner hour, working hours and the pay are as I listed in the AD, if you have any doubts don't be afraid to ask. I need somebody quick and professional in deliveries though, so either with flying or speed-related Quirks or a scooter at the very least, and good manners of course.” Izuku answered.
“My mom did not raise a hooligan, sir! And I do have a speed Quirk: I have literal wheels under the soles of my feet,” the guy answered.
“Oooh! What are they made of?” Izuku asked with starry eyes.
“Hardened bone covered with a thick layer of enamel, as long as I keep a calcium-rich diet, they regenerate very fast. I am a fan of both Pro Heroes Ingenium and Speed Limit ...And Sonic of course! I will be known as the Pro Hero Zoom one day, so trust me when I say that with me you will have the fastest deliveries in the entire city!” he answered, puffing-out his chest, something that made Izuku chuckle amused.
“Proud to meet a Pro in the making then! Which shift are you applying for?” Izuku asked.
“I would prefer the dinner hour. I am already under Apprenticeship with a Hero Agency and they did argue a bit when I asked if I could take this job, or at least they did until I told them you were the author of the AD.” Zoom answered.
“Really? Which agency are you working with?”
“ Speed Limits’ , why?”
“Huhuhu! I see! Akane-san may have a soft spot for me and my orange-flavored cheesecake, that may be why she agreed to allow you to work here part time. Do you want some of that to bring back to her as a bribe just to make sure she will let you work for me?” Izuku asked with a mischievous smile.
(orange-flavored cheesecake)
“You know her personally?!” the other shrieked in surprise.
“She is a regular.” Enji supplied from the sidelines.
“Oh! Then yes, please.”
“Perfect! I would really love for you to start tomorrow, is it a problem?”
“O-Oh! Already?! I...I thought it would have been harder to get a job here,”
“Why?”
“...My piercings…And the hair.” he answered with a bitter tone.
“What about them?”
“They always say that I look too Scary , that I may scare customers…” he admitted.
“Oh! Well, for what it's worth, I like them.” Izuku admitted, smiling wide.
“T-Thanks. S-So I got the job?” Zoom asked hopefully.
“ System?” making it seem like he was deep in thought, the young Chef actually asked for confirmation to the Entity itself.
“ This young man, Sonoda (AKA Zoom ), has an aptitude of 95% for this job. Making him just suitable enough to do his duty in a satisfactory manner and not bring shame to your Restaurant Host. If you want, you can hire him and he will be counted as the third candidate for the Delivery Staff quota for your Mission. ” The System answered.
“S-So?”
“Huhuhu! I was kidding, you got the job no problem, I was just pulling your ear a little,” the Chef answered with a cheeky smirk.
“That’s mean, Boss!” Sonoda answered with a whine.
“Sorry, sorry. I am just happy that thanks to you I managed to cover for the dinner hour delivery, now I only need somebody for the lunch hour and I will be able to start the test run for the delivery service.”
“O-Oh! I may have somebody for that!” Sonoda said immediately.
“Uh? Really?”
“Yeah, an old friend of mine, we went to the same middle school. Don’t be fooled by her appearances, she is a HUGE softy. Literally.” he answered, motioning to the girl outside to present herself, even if she had to get on all four to squeeze her head through the door to do so.
Many young men did make some ruckus at the amazing sight of her pretty heart-shaped butt sticking out from the restaurant, but those perverts are of no importance to the story, so they will be ignored.
“H-Hi! I-I...My name is Ippan Josei, nice to meet you.” the giant fox-girl muttered.
“Nice to meet you, Ippan-chan. Are you here for the job too?” Izuku, hiding his stricken expression, asked with a gentle tone.
He may have a thing for tall girls, but Momo was still his number one, even if this young fox girl could probably cradle his entire body in the palm of her hands effortlessly, something that did make his heart race a little.
“Hu-uh. I have moved here to be closer to my school, but I need a part-time job for some extra money.” she answered.
“And you won’t have a problem taking the lunch hour shift?”
“Not really, I asked my teachers and they told me I could do it. I-I have my scooter for the deliveries, is it okay?” she answered, unsure, while pointing to a custom-made scooter parked nearby and made for people her size, meaning the thing was actually bigger than a normal car.
“ This hard-working girl has an aptitude of 98%, please snatch her before another Restaurant does, Host. The scooter itself will be updated by the System to assure worthy performances as well. ” the System prompted immediately.
“Don’t worry, it will be perfect, Ippan-chan. If you want, the job is yours. But you both will need to work hard, okay?” Izuku answered.
“Of course!” Both answered at the same time, and their smiles simply lit up the room.
“Good! I will bring you your uniforms and a portion of cheesecake for Sonoda-kun to bring to Miss Akane, this time free of charge.” Izuku answered.
“Thank you, Boss!” Zoom answered, looking ready to cry.
“…” Once sure Izuku was out of hearing distance, Enji cleared his throat loudly enough to catch the duo’s attention.
“You will soon learn that several Pro Heroes love this place. Fuck-up and they will skin you alive, I will look the other way when that happens so don’t beg for help.” Endeavor delivered his short threat with an utterly casual tone before leaving the money of his bill to Whitey and bidding goodbye to the returning Izuku.
“YESSIR!” Both Sonoda and Ippan answered as one while paling considerably, and scampering away fast to let the man all the space he wanted to exit the restaurant.
“Please ignore Enji-san, he has bad manners, but I believe that deep ( VERY DEEP ) inside, he is a good guy. And maybe one day he will actually act like one too, or at least like a decent human being.”
“That’s a big maybe, Boss Izuku!” Sonoda answered, gladly accepting his Green Cloud Restaurant brand jacket and the small package with the cake inside.
“Yours will be ready tomorrow instead, Ippan-chan, custom made for your size.”
“Thank you, Boss.” Ippan answered, smiling a little.
“We’ll be ready for tomorrow then. See you later, Boss!” Zoom asked.
“Bye!” the young Chef answered, waving both goodbye with a wide smile on his face.
“Congratulations to Host Izuku for completing another Mission of the System! Both Rewards are now unlocked! ” The System alerted him with a victorious fanfare that made him chuckle.
“Thank God, I thought I would not manage this time!” he admitted with a low voice and a sigh of relief as he returned inside his kitchen.
“ Never doubt yourself, Host. And since you have successfully unlocked the first Utility Dish , it means the Host can take on the next Dimensional Travel Ingredient Hunt sooner than programmed. Tomorrow you will depart for another world and-”
“ No!”
“ What?” the Entity asked.
“I am not going, tomorrow there will be the Sport Festival and I WILL be there to cheer for Momo and Ochako.”
“Host- ”
“I will be there. End of story. I always go through your Challenges and Missions and whatnot without missing a bit, but this time we will do things my way. Postpone that Mission.”
“ Host cannot-”
“ See if I can’t, instead!” he roared back in answer.
“…”
“…”
“... The Host is supposed to go through Tests and Missions to better his Skills. ”
“ Well, The Host has already decided he will! But The Host won’t put aside his loved ones just to appease his demanding Sponsor that thinks I exist only to dance around following its tune!” Izuku answered with a growl.
“ Host Bu Fang was easier to manage. ”
“Bu-san maybe had nothing else to think about besides cooking, but I am a different person. I already was ‘Married to my Job’ once, now I want to spare some of my time to spend it with my family and loved ones!”
“ Host risks being unable to ascen- ”
“TO HELL WITH IT THEN!”
“ Host is unaware of the power of the System. Ho-”
“ Bring it.” The Chef answered, unwavering, and looking upward in the hopes of meeting the eyes of the Entity itself.
“…” there was a long silence after that, until the System finally spoke again.
“... The System will compromise then.” the Entity said after a long pause.
“Yes?”
“ If Host is adamant in having a personal life beside his training to become the God of Cooking , then the System will relent and even help, but in exchange the Host must double his efforts during morning and night training sessions. ”
“Did I ever strike you as a lazy guy?” Izuku asked with crossed arms.
“ No. The System only wants to make sure the Host won’t feel tempted to .” the Voice answered.
“Unlikely.”
“ Indeed. ”
Saying that the young man brought the bill to La Brava and Gentle and watched them leave as cautiously as they could to not be recognized, thus leaving Izuku with a rare moment of peace he had not seen in a while recently.
“ Host? ”
“Yes?”
“The System has a question, though. Why show this determination now? And against the System?”
“Because while I am grateful for everything you have done for me, I can’t put my life aside and just blindly follow your every order. I promised Momo and Ochako I would have been there and I can’t betray their trust in me.”
“ Does the Host love them ?” the Entity asked.
“A lot, System.”
“... The Host still has to go through the Mission the System has decided for him, so the System is offering an alternative: the Host will go to another Dimension tonight after closing hours instead of tomorrow at dawn. Thanks to the effects of the different flow of Time in the other world the Host will be back by dawn following this world’s Time flow. This is the System’s last offer, otherwise the departure will happen tomorrow morning as previously planned no matter the Host’s protests. ”
“Fair enough, I accept. Sorry for being so stubborn, but I decided it is finally my turn to be the spoiled one! I want the cake and to eat it too, no matter if I have to bake the bloody thing myself!” Izuku declared.
“ The System can accept this reasoning, as a future God of Cooking bends to the whims of nobody, but only follows their ideals. But for future reference: the System is indeed open to dialogue if a properly-made argument is presented to delay a Mission, Host and System should not need to fall into quarreling since both want to achieve the same goal. ” the Entity answered, sounding almost pleased.
“Of course, thank you.” the young Chef said with a wide smile.
“ Very well. Host should remember that the System only wants to help the Host to Ascend, and doing so in the most optimized way, but any schedule can be adjusted if both parties involved are ready to collaborate and find a middle ground between their respective needs and requests.”
“ Glad to hear that, the feeling is mutual.”
“ Good...Sure the System would also appreciate an apology for the previous outburst of the Host…The System is not a tyrannical being bent on making the Host dance to any tune whatsoever, and Host cannot deny our partnership had always been one of mutual trust and camaraderie. ”
Sigh! “Okay...I am very sorry for snapping at you, I promise I will first try to talk things out with you before getting ready for a fight.” Izuku said while rolling his eyes.
“ The System only detected a level of honesty of 35% in that statement, but as the Mature one between us, the apologies will still be accepted as valid.”
“Whatever makes you sleep at night- KYAAH! ” Izuku’s mumbled answer went cut short by a flash of pain similar to a tiny and weak electric shock centered on his left butt-cheek.
“…”
“Mature, tch! As if!” the Chef muttered in disdain, while returning to work in his kitchen while massaging his abused posterior still stinging a little from the childish attack of the Entity.
Later that night – after dinner hour – Closing time -
The Restaurant was finally empty as the closing hour approached, in fact not many people could be seen wandering the streets when night fell and the streetlamps outside became the only source of light, but before Izuku could actually begin to close, a lone man entered.
“Good evening.” It was a tall and lanky man with a long beak-like nose and wearing a clearly-expensive striped suit.
“Good evening.” Izuku answered with a polite bow.
“I hope it is not too late, I had to organize a sudden business meeting that ran way longer than anticipated and now I am starving. When I passed by here I remembered some rumors I heard about this small restaurant and decided it was high time I actually tried your dishes, is it feasible?” the man asked with a polite tone and friendly smile.
“It’s okay, just pick a table and I’ll be with you in a moment.” the Chef answered, curious to see Blackie enter sooner than usual to sit under one of the trees in the far back.
“ Host?” the System warned him.
“ Yes?”
“Please make him sit under one of the trees. ” the Entity requested.
“ O-Okay...”
“Thank you, especially for going along with my little selfish request for dinner at this hour,” the man said, his smile turning sheepish and embarrassed.
“I can’t say no to an empty stomach, please do sit at one of the tables under the trees, they have been cleaned already compared to the others.” Izuku offered.
“Thank you, I’ll just have some steak, Argentinian, well-done.”
“Of course.” Izuku answered, leaving for the kitchen just as Whitey walked out by himself to look at the man.
“The famous Relax Trees of Yavin Street, I wonder if they really help you relax…” the man muttered with an amused chuckle at the thought of such silly superstitions, his expression turned grim as soon as he sat directly under the plant itself.
“ M-M-My Stockpile! ” the man thought in alarm as he could feel the huge amount of Anger and Frustration his Quirk had stored for a while being siphoned away in a matter of seconds until he felt his reserves run completely dry, and no matter how frustrated he felt about it, even with the hidden amplification ability of his clothes he was utterly unable to rebuild his reserves, the consumption rate of the plants was simply too great for his Quirk to overcome.
“Stay put, kid. It’s bad manners running away right after placing an order.” Blackie said with his magnetic voice filled to the brim in mockery.
“What? The dog? Is the plant really doing this?”
“It is not just a fancy rumor, these plants are Soul Appeasing Trees , also known as Soul CLEANSING Trees . They feed on negative emotions, like the ones you use to fuel your powers.” Blackie said, smiling in cruel amusement.
“You know me then?” he asked with narrowed eyes.
“No, this Lord personally does not care enough to even learn your name, you are still not a worthy enemy for me to have a nice fight with, so at best I consider you a Non-Entity, like any other Mortal I see here everyday, except for my Protegee. All this is just standard procedure, you are not Special .” the Lord Dog answered, lying down to sleep under one of the trees without a care in the world.
“Standard Procedure…” the man muttered, finding himself becoming intrigued at the discovery that there was a plant that was basically the perfect counter to his powers.
As he waited for Izuku to finish cooking, he entertained himself by studying the plant that had sapped away his Powers; he looked at every leaf, studying the faint runes the veins naturally formed on them, each line and twist and angle.
He looked closely at each node of the wood and committed to memory as many details as he could: from the color, to the smell and even the unnatural chiming the leaves produced when flicked, a sound complex enough to change tone depending on the force of the flick and where one did hit them.
“Fascinating.” he muttered, he dared not to take a leaf away once noticed the robot missing not a single minuscule movement he made, nor did he try switching tables, as a show of good faith.
“Here it is, sorry for taking so long.” When Izuku finally resurfaced from the kitchen, he delivered the requested steak and took a seat at a table nearby to watch the man eat.
“Yes?” he asked.
“Sorry if I ask, but did I see you somewhere before?” the Chef asked.
“Oh! I seriously hope so! Otherwise my PR Team will get an earful from me! I am Rikiya Yotsubashi, CEO of Detnerat Company .” the man answered, smirking.
“...AND Leader of the Villain Group called The Meta Liberation Army . The Villain Re-Destro .” Izuku added.
“…”
“The steak is not poisoned, or drugged in any way.” he added once the tense silence between them elongated for way too long.
“…”
Sigh! “Do you know what a Chef is, Rikiya-san?” the young man asked with a sigh.
“...I guess you are going to say they are more than just somebody cooking food?”
“Just like a Hero is more than just somebody chasing fame and sponsors.”
“Hn? They aren’t?” the other asked with a challenging tone.
“Not to me. I treat being a Chef like being a Hero: I help whoever is in need, in my case, whoever enters that door looking for food.” he answered.
“A Hero Chef then? Cute.” the other answered in sarcasm.
“Eh! I wish I was that! I always wanted to be a Hero, you know? Just not in the current meaning of the term, though.” the young Chef explained.
“You were chasing the pure ideal then?” Re-Destro asked, looking at Izuku while leaning his chin on his stapled fingers.
“You can say that I was idolizing the thing: ‘ A Symbol of Hope and a living example of what everybody should aspire to be’ .
A ray of light in times of darkness, the embodiment of the idea that everything will be okay, that there will be somebody ready to share the weight of whoever is in need...I admit it was very childish, but I still believe that a Hero should at least try to be that. You can imagine how that already put me at odds with the other kids, then I had to be diagnosed as Quirkless and things got even worse.” Izuku explained.
“Quirkless?”
“Surprised? People always are. I learned at 4 that Men are not created Equal...At 4, kids at that age are still wetting their bed while I had an epiphany people ten times that age still cannot grasp. Then at fifteen I discovered another facet of that Truth,”
“Another? Which is?” the Villain asked, honestly curious.
“That this world has a hard-on for Quirks so pronounced that it’s almost comical. Do you know what the Quirkless-Quirked rate is nowadays? 80% of the population of the entire planet has a Quirk, and each and every kid born has up to a 90% chance of being Quirked.” The Chef said with a bitter expression.
“That means that 15% to 20% of Earth's population is Quirkless, it means that out of seven billion people, at least 1’400’000’000 are Quirkless, that’s basically 14 followed by eight zeros; that’s pretty much equivalent to the total population of India. And we are still literally invisible to society: Useless , all because we don’t have powers.”
“…”
“The Meta Liberation Army wants every Quirked to be Free and use their powers as they see fit, doesn’t it? That was basically the goal of the group when the Villain Destro was in charge. I have read his biography, and you yourself still champion those ideals, don’t you?” Izuku asked.
“You have? What do you think of it?”
“It was a cry for help, as far as I am concerned. Even if it came from a Villain, it was interesting.”
“ Tch ! Villain...Please, you seem to be a smart kid. Don’t use such labels.” the man answered with a tone of contempt.
“We have always used labels, some people actually need to label everything to function normally.”
“Normally?...Normal...What even is Normal? Isn’t it odd how society conforms to the old ways of thinking while eliminating anyone who doesn’t fit the mold? Especially since we as a species have moved beyond the very notion of normal !"
“We haven’t.”
“Uh?!”
“Had we moved beyond the Normal as a species, as you said, there wouldn’t be Quirkless, we all would have powers, even if that would mean the return of the Normal, just under a different and updated version of the term. Or have you forgotten we Quirkless exist, just like everybody else?” Izuku asked.
“I am championing the oppressed, boy.”
“And I am not oppressed? I am always at the bottom of the waiting list for everything because Quirked people get special treatment. Before getting a Sponsor and opening this Restaurant, I could not find a job anywhere nor could I get a place in a decent university, because this society is so enamored with Quirks to pretend to have Quirked working everywhere, all just in the tiniest hope that one of your employees will become world-famous Heroes and make you shine in their reflected light.”
“You-”
“You say the Quirked are oppressed and can’t use their Powers the way they want? Let me guess, you even justify Villains, do you?”
“They get into Villainy because Society forces them, it’s their only form of freedom!” he answered, anger rising, but still unable to channel it into his Quirk.
“Some do, yes.” Izuku admitted, surprising Re-Destro.
“Some have been abandoned and are just lashing-out, that’s true, but that is hardly a justification if they don’t even try.”
“Oh! Really?! What about Heroes then, eh?”
“They are no saints either. I don’t justify Heroes acting like greedy morons and I don’t justify Villains acting like spoiled children throwing a tantrum and I don’t justify Quirkless whining night and day about their misfortune.”
“Doesn’t that make you a hypocrite?” The Villain asked, smirking.
“Perhaps, but I have long since decided to stop sitting on my ass and wishing for a miracle to change my life, now I just focus on the path I have chosen at the cost of creating said path myself if there is none, I may still shed a tear about my lack of Quirk, but I am pushing forward towards my goal all the same.”
“And your goal is becoming a Chef?” the man said, smirking cruelly.
“A Chef is a treasure, Rikiya-san. We make our Mission to bring a tiny bit of joy to whoever needs it through their stomach. Our Weapons are savoriness and Ingredients, and our enemy is an empty belly. That is why I turn a blind eye when Vigilantes and Villains enter that door under fake identities: as long as one is a Customer, I will do my best to fill their stomach, if they show proper manners and Food Etiquette, that is.”
“So you serve even the Villains?” Re-Destro asked, amused.
“That’s your Label, not mine. You see Villains and Heroes, I see Full and Starving . That’s the difference.”
“That’s a childish way to see it, boy.” Rikiya admitted, chuckling, and finally giving a try to the steak, and actually developing an expression of pleasant surprise.
“...Impressive.” he commented while eating.
“Glad to hear that you like it.”
“So to you a Chef is a form of Hero then?” once midway through his steak, Re-Destro addressed a small curiosity of his.
“Let’s say that watching an old friend of mine treat All Might as an example of what he wanted to achieve helped me form my ideal as a Chef,” Izuku answered, shrugging.
“Please elaborate.” he asked while rapidly finishing his steak, still obviously pleased with the taste.
“He said that he wanted to be even better than All Might, to have everybody know who he is once he got to the top as the greatest Hero ever.
Once I realised this I saw where we were different: he wanted to have what All Might has, I wanted to be what All Might is.
Many nowadays treat being Heroes as Celebrities: having tons of Money, Fame, Sponsors, Fans and all that. I wanted to be a positive Role Model and teach people to never lose Hope, and luckily I saw there were many others like me becoming a Hero for those same reasons I used to have, they were only drowned by the vocal minority just looking for cash and popularity.
Unfortunately without a Quirk I could not even start studying to become a Hero, so I decided to still reach that goal through a different path,”
“By Cooking,”
“Yes, my teacher had a vision of Chefs that pretty much matched my ideals of what a Hero should be, so the transition was not that hard.”
“Quite the intriguing way to see your career, but let me tell you a secret…” Re-Destro said with a whisper while motioning him to move closer with a finger.
“Yes?” Izuku asked once close enough to the man’s face that the tips of their noses touch.
“ Ngh!” the Villain tried to use the knife he was eating his steak with to cut the Chef’s throat open, but in a surprising show of speed the Chef’s own knife seemingly phased into being and gently poked the Villain’s jugular vein, so fast it did not give him a chance to even just initiate his attack.
“Hey…” Re-Destro heard the young man’s voice as if coming from a far-away place, because he was too entranced by the cold light coming from the Chef’s emerald eyes to notice anything else.
“Have you ever seen a fierce animal you were sure would never bite? Because I haven’t...So why do you think a Chef can be easily bullied instead? I said I am Quirkless, not that I don’t have other skills.” the far-away voice said as a fierce red flaming aura enveloped the young Chef while a giant figure surfaced from his back in the form of a monstrous gorilla with blood-red fur and boar-like tusks, a creature with a body showing-off huge muscles barely containing their savage power.
“AWOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” and with a wild roar of the beast the scene in front of Re-Destro’s eyes shifted…
He saw a giant table covered in a tablecloth of the finest silk.
He saw expensive porcelain plates adorned by a thin border of pure platinum.
Three enormous forks were on his left, Three giant knives and two spoons were on his right, tall glasses of pure crystal finely engraved in leaves towered behind him big like skyscrapers.
Above him a gargantuan chandelier decorated in delicate drops of crystal glittered in its own light as if made of solid starlight.
The very formal dinner was faintly illuminated by a lone pure-white and thin candle, and Rikiya finally caught-on to where he was: he was standing alone in the middle of the plate, in the role of the food and dwarfed by everything around him, every object so big he himself looked small, like an ant in comparison.
With a soft, humming laugh a giant figure appeared from the pitch-black darkness surrounding the giant table to sit on one of the regal chairs: a planet-sized titan in the shape of a red-furred gorilla clad in a pure-white tuxedo with gold buttons and a blood-red handkerchief tucked elegantly in the suit’s breast pocket.
Brandishing a knife and a fork while maintaining the air of a gentleman, the beast sat at the massive table with royal composure and its back straight; the Monster had simply surpassed the mere concept of ‘Top of the Food Chain’ , and as it moved to pierce Re-Destro with its fork to eat him, the creature ascended to a realm even beyond mortal understanding:
A Predator King.
Tack!
“Hn?” That was when Izuku brought a small dish with a piece of paper on it, the bill, and awoke the dazed Villain with the soft cling of the dish on the table.
“Here is your bill, thank you for choosing the Green Cloud Restaurant .” the Chef said, nonplussed, returning to his kitchen with the empty plate.
“Thank you for the meal…” Rikiya answered with a thoughtful tone-
He silently left the requested money plus tip and exited the restaurant that immediately closed behind him and turned off the lights, along with dropping the drapes to obscure the view inside.
“...Uhm.” The Villain simply stood there to observe the outside of the building.
“Sir?” a voice said from a limo nearby as soon as the car stopped next to him.
“Huhuhu!” In answer Re-Destro conceded himself an amused chuckle once he got into the limo and felt it move.
“Do I take you home, sir?” the driver asked.
“Yes, please.”
“So? What about that kid?” the woman sitting in the seat in front of Rikiya asked.
“It was a meeting way more intriguing than expected,” the Villain answered, chuckling once more.
“Oh, really?”
“Indeed, Curious . Apparently even a Quirkless can be Liberated . It was a nice surprise, let me tell you,” Re-Destro admitted.
“Liberated? Him?”
“In his own way he was, in a sense. See if we have somebody that can keep tabs on our little Chef from afar,” he instructed, using the frustration and anger at the memory of the plants stealing his stockpile and of the moment of weakness Izuku dared to make him feel to rapidly re-build his reserves of power.
“Okay? Why for?” the woman asked, confused.
“I am still a bit on the fence about him, but after his little show of skills I think we can put him in either category: he will either be a new asset to add to our organization, or yet another bump on the road that will need to be removed. It will all depend on how smart he really is when the time comes for him to choose where to stand.”
“I’ll see what I can do, we should have a couple guys good at both spying and corpse disposal.”
“Thank you, much appreciated.” Re-Destro answered, his smirk becoming full of malice once looked back to see the Restaurant disappear behind a corner when the car sped away.
With Izuku -
“Okay, the Ultimate Routine worked as intended and made sure Intimidation forced him to stay put and not start trouble. I can finally use it again.” Izuku said with a sigh.
“Thank you for warning me about that guy.”
“ The Host should always know when he is dealing with a Hero, a Villain or a Vigilante so to act accordingly, the System will then take care to assure the Host’s safety and the safety of the Customers.” The System answered.
“Thank you…I hope they will stop him soon, though, because a megalomaniac with near-unlimited resources is extremely dangerous.” the young Chef muttered in dismay.
He really did read the book/biography of the old Villain Destro , following his first dream of being a Hero himself and so wishing to study a Villain’s mentality to be better prepared, so he was not lying when he said the book was a ‘ cry for help’ , he only omitted to say that for him the book was the cry of help of a damn lunatic that needed serious help.
“I serve Heroes and Villains alike if they keep their fighting outside the Restaurant, but some of them really push it! I am already toeing the line with Whitey stripping troublemakers, a charge for Vigilantism would not help me.” he then said with a sigh, recognizing that his philosophy as a Chef was a double-edged sword, all things considered.
He knew he was calling on himself way too much attention from both sides of the ‘ Good vs Evil’ battle raging every day outside his beloved Restaurant, but by now it was far too late to stop it, unfortunately. He could only brace himself and hope for the best.
“ Host can rest assured, a God of Cooking is beyond a small squabble like the one between Heroes and Villains, your Path will push you beyond, towards goals above their petty squabbles. ” the System declared.
“I would kill to have just a tenth of your conviction, you know?” Izuku admitted.
“One day Host will realize he is indeed skilled beyond this world’s finest. For now you need to prepare for your next Ingredients Hunt, Host. Soon the Teleportation Array will activate and bring you to another world.”
“I know, I know. Where am I going this time?”
“ Tian-Fa Continent, Host. There you will be tasked to learn how to replicate a typical recipe of the capital (‘ Starlight City’ ) and capture the Ingredient known as Thunder Phoenix .
As always the System will make sure the Host will be able to comprehend and speak the world’s Language upon arrival.
The Time Dilation has already been set: Twelve days in that World will equal twelve hours in this. Host has 12 days to capture the Ingredient and learn the typical recipe.
Any extra Ingredient will be counted as extra Experience Points. Work hard, young man!”
“ Thunder Phoenix ?” Izuku asked.
“ Correct. Host can compare its meat to Jewel Meat in terms of quality, as ‘The King of Chicken Meat’. As long as the Ingredient is fed pure storm lightning, the creature will keep its Immortality and be reborn shortly after each death, thus acting as an endless source of meat.”
“So it’s like a normal Phoenix, only it is reborn from lightning instead of fire?”
“ Correct. Upon Capture the Storage Area will be equipped with the perfect environment to assure the purest lightning to feed the Ingredient and assure its continued existence.”
“Okay, how long do I have to get ready?” Izuku asked.
“ Thirty minutes, Host .” the System answered.
“I’ll prepare cooking equipment and some minor Ingredients, just in case.” the young Chef muttered in answer while hurrying to get ready, and when he was ready he stood in the middle of his kitchen with Whitey nearby and his heart drumming loudly in his ears.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
That was also why he almost jumped out of his skin when somebody started to violently punch his door.
“What the hell?!”
“Intruders!” Whitey declared with his eyes turning red and flashing.
“Izuku, open! Please open! Please!” HIC! SOB! “Open, I beg you!” SOB! “Izuku!” a female voice begged from outside between sobs of despair.
“Nejire?” The young Chef uttered in confusion, and once unlocked the door he went thrown on the ground by the woman pouncing on him to hug his chest tight enough to almost snap his spine and bury her face in his shoulder, drenching it completely in tears in a matter of seconds.
“Nejire! What’s wrong?!” he asked while watching the Restaurant’s doors closing by themselves and getting locked tightly.
“Mi-Mirio t-told All Might we broke-up! N-Now everybody is-is angry at me! T-They are calling me an-an ingrate and-and selfish!” Nejire gurgled-out, her hands were clawing his chef robes so tight she almost managed to tear a hole in them.
“Calm down, what do you mean angry ?” Izuku tried asking.
“ Initiating Teleport array preparations!” Uncaring of the situation, the System actually started drawing the circle of runes around them both.
“WAIT!” the young Chef shrieked in horror.
“T-They say I am selfish! That-That I should have waited for Mirio instead of putting more pressure on him! I was not adding pressure! I just wanted to mean something to him! T-To have what other couples have! To have a n-normal relationship! With kisses and-and dates and hugs!” Nejire was unaware of the light particles now circling around her.
“Nejire, this is not a good moment!” Izuku tried saying as the light was now turning blinding.
“I just wanted my boyfriend to love me back! WAAAAAAAAH! I WANT TO BE LOVED! TO BE CHERISHED! WAAAAAH!” deaf to his pleas, the young woman finally let loose her grievances as her heart fully broke down to pieces, with not enough tears to show the true depths of the pain she felt.
“ Teleportation array ready. Beginning Dimensional travel!” the System declared as Reality started dissolving around the duo.
“GODDAMNIT!” It was rare for Izuku to curse, but even he had to do it in such a situation when Nejire and him landed in the middle of a giant and empty grassland.
“Why?! WHY?! I just wanted Mirio to return my feelings! To love me back just as much as I loved him!” The girl kept raving in sorrow.
He had just ‘ technically’ kidnapped somebody in another Dimension, now not only did he have to comfort a truly heart-broken girl that had apparently been accused of selfishness for breaking-up with a boy not even trying to return all her awe-inspiring Love and Devotion, but he also had to explain to her why they were in another world and that they won’t be back home before he completed his Mission, or at least not before spending there twelve days.
All this with the Addendum that he will probably need to disclose with her the true nature of his Sponsor, his Powers and who knew what else as well, something he had not done with anybody else besides his parents.
“...Oh, for fuck’s sake…” Izuku cursed again with a low voice as Nejire was still crying her eyes out on his chest, so deep in desperation to have not noticed a bloody thing.
To think his day had started so well…
Meanwhile – in front of Green Cloud Restaurant -
Shigaraki had finally reached the front of the Restaurant, around him there was complete silence as the road was devoid of people, and unknown to him the System had made sure even the ones spying on Izuku wouldn’t be able to get in the way.
All under the explicit request of Blackie that was now walking out of the Restaurant to sit on his haunches in front of the Villain.
“You are late. This Lord has been waiting for your visit for days. What gives you such shameless thick skin to have ME wait for you?” the Lord Dog asked, huffing in annoyance.
“I had to wait until Kurogiri was distracted enough to organize our little gift for that ‘Hero’ girl your owner loves so much, but you... I will deal with you myself. Personally!” Shigaraki spat in answer.
“Hohoho! So you think you can actually be so bold as to tell me you will hurt the woman of my protegee? A woman MY PAW has defended once already? And what makes you believe you have the qualifications needed to perform such an insulting act towards me? Especially after openly telling me your wish to do so? Who do you think you are to threaten your Lord Dog so casually?” Blackie asked, looking at the Villain with eyes full of derision.
“I am the guy that will kill you, flea-bag! You got me once, but even Moderators fail! You are not Gods!” Shigaraki answered with a deranged smile.
BOOOM!
In answer an unseen force slammed the Villain onto the ground and kept pushing down until a crater formed around him, all the while Blackie enjoyed Shigaraki’s groans of pain and his futile attempts to move even just a finger.
“Foolish boy. You are overestimating yourself and underestimating both this Lord and the Chef ruling the Restaurant behind me. ” Blackie answered, and with a gentle pat of his exquisite paw a new wave of invisible power hammered down on Shigaraki making him bounce upward from the ground and land on solid ground next to the hole dug by his body.
“A-Aaaah…” groaning in pain, the Villain managed to stumble back to his feet, only for the Lord Dog paw to elongate in an unnatural way like a whip to pat him on his head forcing him to kneel down on the notes of his knees almost snapping in two under the weight.
As he stood there kneeling in a daze, Blackie slowly moved closer to him with his elegant cat-like steps and looked straight in the Villain’s eyes.
“You won’t hurt that woman, or me, or the kiddo managing this Restaurant nor anybody else he deems precious or family. Do you wish to know why? Because you are not a threat, an enemy or even just a small annoyance. And you will never be.” Blackie explained with a very human-like smirk surfacing on his face.
“Just you wait…” Shigaraki tried saying, weakly lifting his hand to touch the Dog and getting it swatted away by an uncaring swat of the Dog’s paw, and even then, that small pat snapped several fingers of the Villain in multiple points, unfortunately his scream of pain fell on deaf ears.
“Hohoho, how amusing! Listen well, boy: you are alive here and now just because this Lord Dog finds you entertaining. I find your bouncing at every gentle caress of my paw amusing, nothing more. You are only a plaything, a toy.” The Lord Dog declared with a chuckle.
“A toy?” the downed Shigaraki muttered with a weak voice still full of hatred.
“Yes, child. That is all you are in this world: your Lord Dog’s past-time. Now do your job, Toy , and bounce for your Lord.” the Dog answered, lifting his paw a little and gently patting forward towards Shigaraki.
And the same unseen mighty force shot Shigaraki away and against the wall of the building across the street.
Boom!
Just enough strength to leave a faint imprint of the young man’s body on the concrete, but before the Villain could even just start falling down after literally bouncing away from the wall, Blackie’s paw patted forward again.
Boom!
Shigaraki’s body went slammed again against those bricks, at the exact same point, turning the imprint just a tiny bit more clear.
Boom!
“He is bouncing me!” the young man thought, the pain so high his mind was actually unable to fully process it, and yet his instinct could tell Blackie himself was somehow stopping him from falling unconscious no matter the overwhelming agony.
Boom!
“ I am his toy…” the Villain thought as yet another caress bounced him against the wall.
Boom!
His bones broke and his testicles burst to shreds once again.
Boom!
“ I am a toy...”
Boom!
His clothes became rags and a mouthful of blood exploded violently out of his mouth.
Boom!
“I am not a threat...”
Boom!
His skin broke apart everywhere and his teeth flew away one by one.
Boom!
“I am a dog’s toy! A DOG’S TOY!” his body was utterly covered in bruises and cuts and blood started slowly dripping down from his every pore.
Boom!
“Huhuhu! You really bounce well, Toy! ” Blackie said with a soft chuckle.
BOOOM!
“ I HATE YOU!...I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!” It was either brain damage or just broken pride, but Shigaraki’s mind finally lost the very last bit of sanity it still possessed, and putrid hatred flooded the Villain’s entire being.
“Does this Lord look like somebody that cares if his Toy hates him? Be real, child, you are just not worth my attention besides being my plaything.” the last paw strike did not make Shigaraki bounce, but it fully pushed him deep enough inside the wall to leave him stuck there like a sick form of decoration.
“Uh?”
“Yes, child, I can read your thoughts. And I still don’t care about you.” Blackie said with a canine smile that fully showed the sharp teeth he possessed.
“I-”
“That was fun, good job entertaining this Lord Dog a little before his sleep. I will wait for your next visit so to bounce you again, Toy , you are indeed good at giving me a few laughs. You are dismissed.” Blackie declared with a loud yawn.
“I HATE Y-”
“ Woof! ” the short bark of the Lord Dog did not sound mighty or deafening from outside, but it had in itself a world-ending power that slammed on Shigaraki’s body hard enough to send him through the wall he had been pinned against, but instead of landing inside the building, at the same time he broke through, the same bark had blasted open a hole in the void for the Villain to fly through to be transported right in the middle of the small bar acting as the secret base of the League of Villains.
And with a loud cacophony of breaking glass, Kurogiri and the others were roughly awakened by their Leader’s arrival, and when they bolted out of their rooms to check on the source of all that noise, they found the unconscious Shigaraki lying on the floor in a broken heap and still getting bombarded by the various bottles of liquor falling down from the cabinet behind the counter he had crashed-landed onto, each full bottle landing on a random part of Shigaraki’s body and shattering on impact to drench him and cover him in glass shards.
“What the hell happened?!” Twice asked.
“Call the Doctor. Master won’t like this,” Kurogiri answered with a tone of misery.
With Blackie -
“ Idiot child, the gulf in power between me and you is even more vast than the distance between Heaven and Earth, stop deluding yourself about the measly power you have! Soon this Lord will grow bored of you, then you won’t have your role as Toy to keep you safe . ” the Dog muttered, shaking his head and entering the Restaurant to sleep inside once the doors opened by themselves to let him in and then close and lock for the night.
Nobody will know what transpired that night, Villain or Heroes or I-Island alike, even Shigaraki won’t be able to alert the League of Villains that the ‘ Surprise Attack’ on Momo they organized during the Sport Festival will result in a disaster if they don’t abort the plan, he will wake-up from his unconsciousness far too late to warn them about the danger.
As for Izuku, he was still helping Nejire recover from her breakdown, and the Chef was secretly dreading the moment when she will finally notice the change of scenery around her and will demand a well-deserved explanation.
Omake Time! (Each one takes place between chapters)
Minor Ingredient Hunting Scenes Ep 1: Cockatrice Curry Rice.
Another World – Forest -
A strange humanoid goat wearing long robes and sporting a long braided beard was at the moment cackling maniacally while talking to a small group of colorful ponies.
“It’s over! Finally my greatest creation is ready to be unleashed! My Super Cockatrices Army will swarm everywhere and bring forth my revenge! You all will become mere garden ornaments in my new kingdom! EQUESTRIA IS DONE FOR! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” the goat man declared, with his maniacal laughter echoing everywhere.
“We will stop you, Goatemberg!” the purple pony at the head of the group answered with pure determination.
“Try if you can! Each Cockatrice of my army is as big as an adult bear, and I command over three hundred of them! You can’t defeat me!” the Goat man answered, unafraid, and unclasping a twisty horn from his sides to blow on it.
“Come, my servants!”
BAROOOOOOOOOOOOO!
“Ah don’t like this!” the orange pony with a cowboy hat admitted.
“We will pull through if we fight together, girls! As always!” the purple one answered.
“…”
“…”
“...Where in Tartarus’ name are those stupid birds? I said to come here!” the Goat man hissed in anger.
Baroooooooo!
“….”
“….”
BAROOOOOOOO!
“Have you checked if the batteries are in?” the pink pony of the group asked, curious.
“Pinkie, Horns don’t need batteries.” the blue pegasus commented, rolling her eyes.
“Maybe his needs them!”
“COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!'' Finally something made its way towards them, a giant chicken purple in color and with a lizard tail, and while big as a bear, the animal also looked to be scared out of its mind.
“Ah-ah! At least one showed-up! Attack them, Now!” the Goat ordered as soon as the cockatrice ran past him.
SWIIIIIING!
To everybody’s horror though a flying crescent blade of pale white energy also flew past the goat man and caught the cockatrice fully, and under their wide eyes the animal’s body went seemingly disassembled in an instant.
Feathers scattered away in the wind undamaged, then the skin peeled off from the thing by itself like a dress and the meat got cut and separated into perfect cuts without a single drop of blood, leaving behind a perfectly clean skeleton that instead of dropping dead simply kept running away until it disappeared from view.
Plop!
Said cleaned meat fell in an orderly manner, neatly separated in the various cuts normally associated with common chicken, plus an extra one for the skinned and cut lizard tail...THEN the blood finally started pouring out on the floor.
“Got the last one. With this, all three hundred have been processed, exceptions made for that male and female I left untouched for future breeding.” that was also when Izuku and Whitey made their presence known, with the Chef collecting the cuts of meat, unfazed.
“…” both the ponies and goat man were a bit too stricken to utter even a sound.
“Oh! Good evening! You must be the locals!” the Young Chef said.
“...You killed it?” the cream colored pegasus asked with a broken voice, as if very close at having a mental breakdown.
“The chickens you mean? Yes, I need them for my Restaurant. Don’t worry, I’ll be on my way soon, the portal for my dimension should open in a moment.” Izuku answered.
“You...You destroyed my army...For food?!” the goat man asked with a furious roar.
“I didn’t know it was your army! I was just told to come here and collect as many ‘ Cockatrices’ I could for my restaurant. I thought they were just wild Ingredients...You know...To make Curry Rice.” Izuku answered with a weak smile.
“My Super Cockatrices...The results of fifty years of sleepless work...Destroyed for some CURRY RICE?!” the goat man yelled in outrage.
“...I am sorry?”
“GAAAAAAAAH!” with a deafening roar of madness, the goat man tried jumping the young Chef to maim him with his own hands.
Clang!
The assault though went stopped immediately by Whitey’s hand clamping hard around the goat man’s throat to lift him effortlessly.
“Troublemaker, cease your attack towards the Host, or you shall be stripped as an example to others!” the Robot ordered with his eyes shining red.
“Unhand me, you puppet!...Wait! My Magic is not working!” the guy tried saying while lighting-up his hands in a dark-blue aura that evaporated as soon as it appeared once it got in contact with Whitey’s body,
“Troublemaker is not complying. Beginning stripping protocol and standard beating! ” the Robot declared while grabbing the front of the goat man’s robes.
“Is that thing-”
STRIIIIIP!
“HOLY FAUST, HE GOT STRIPPED NAKED FOR REAL!” the mares yelled as one while covering their eyes.
“NOOOO! AT LEAST SPARE ME THE HUMILIATION!” the goat man yelled in tears.
“No. ” Whitey answered, and with a thundering Boooom! His giant fist impacted with the goat man’s face to slam him head-first into the ground, burying the guy elbows-deep into the gravel and leaving him there with his feet up in the air, unconscious.
“I am really sorry for the sad spectacle, but I really must go.” Izuku admitted with a sigh.
“WAIT! Did you really have to kill those poor animals?”
“I imagine that you can’t accept other beings eating meat, being horses and all, but I serve people that do eat meat, and since I have a restaurant to manage, I had to hunt those animals. My Sponsor as well was adamant in me capturing those cockatrices and those strange giant translucent bears. I had no choice.” he answered, sighing.
“Giant transluc...YOU KILLED A URSA?!” the purple one shrieked.
“Ursa can die?” the blue pegasus asked with a whisper.
“That’s-a the first time Ah hear that,” the orange pony answered, unsure.
“Six of them, actually. I kept two alive for breeding, I was told their meat was good for my Red-Braised Bear Meat recipe and for making hamburgers...Are they an Endangered Species? Because I made it clear I won’t have hunted those!” Izuku asked, afraid.
“No! Those are...Are...Are pretty much Natural forces!”
“I have hunted worse.” the young Chef blurted-out.
“WHAT?!”
And with that admission, a circle of light appeared around Izuku and Whitey to take them away back to Izuku’s original world, leaving behind a confused group of mares, one crying for the death of those ’ Poor cockatrices’ , and another having a crisis at learning that what she thought she knew about the world was instead wrong.
When they later tried to ask a friend of theirs for help, a lizard/dragon Thing with mismatched body parts, with the intention to call the Chef back in their world for further questioning, a large black plump Dog appeared in Izuku’s place, and the animal looked extremely pissed at being summoned in another world mid-nap.
But the full retelling of the world-wide effortless BEATING Blackie gave to literally everybody in that world ( so-called “ Princesses” and “Lords of Chaos/Disharmony” included), leaving them all within an inch of their lives before returning to the Green Cloud Restaurant by himself, is a story for another time...
Author Explains:
Ultimate Routine: also called ‘Conduct of the King – Ultimate Routine’, it’s a ‘Supreme’ form routine (action centered around mental images and physical movement to prepare for an action) based around the idea of a Warrior/Chef literally using the power of their Imagination to cause a particular scenario to happen in Reality, or even just increase the Chances of that happening for real.
A character that mastered it was called Aimaru, and to demonstrate he actually used a Routine to develop an Ulcer and then heal from that, all through the power of his Imagination.
To fully utilize the effects of the technique it requires an astonishing level of concentration and self-confidence, and depending on the difficulty of the desired Event the user wants to see happen, the energy required can be enormous.
Izuku as Zaus, and himself, canonically has MONSTROUS levels of concentration, and in a sense he also possess great self-confidence, at least when it came to reaching his goals, and after a lifetime as Zaus even more so.
What he did, the vision he gave Re-Destro, is known as ‘Ou Shoku Bansan’ or Dinner of Kings; in both Manga and Anime of Toriko Dinner of Kings is a special Collaboration attack of Toriko himself and his 3 Brothers against a powerful Monster, with the similar scene of a dinner with Appetite Devils dressed in tuxedo while the Monster becomes the tiny victim.
Izuku in this story simply used the Ultimate Routine method to elevate the effect of his Intimidation Skill to its peak (or the peak he was able to reach at his current level), but even Izuku himself is unaware he actually managed to pull an Ou Shoku Bansan Illusion with it.
But he will soon learn/recognize how vast his abilities actually are thanks to his walking the path of the God of Cooking.
Chapter 13: Dimensional travel Arc (Wuxia World) part 2: A Phoenix Rebirth.
Summary:
Izuku has finally explained to Nejire what is happening...Now it's only a matter of finishing the Mission in a success...
Notes:
Part 2 of 3 of the small Arc in another world and finally the first tentative steps towards the Nejire Pairing. This chapter came out extremely long, and knowing how many readers are put-off by this, I can only apologize. I don't know how ut happened XD
(Also, there is a small mention of Izuku's eating habits, it is not playing for laughs, that is how much a character of Toriko can eat, and I still kept the numbers low!)
The other stories I have will be updated as well...It's just that for some reason this story is easier to write, for some reason.
Chapter Text
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/Nejire
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
If you read this, the Chapter has been fixed by my Beta-Reader Dmale, my savior and possessor of BigDick Chad energy that managed to fix my story into proper English.
Thank you, my man! 🙂
A Chef Rebirth chapter 13: Dimensional travel Arc part 2: A Phoenix Rebirth.
UA – Dormitories – Mirio’s room -
Had one looked inside the small bedroom of the dormitories reserved to the upper years of UA, nobody would have seen the Legendary Pro Hero All Might and the young man he openly declared to be his Successor, whoever entered the small bedroom would have just seen two chastised kids sitting on the bed with their heads low and Sir Nighteye staring down at them with an expression of disgusted disappointment.
Mirio was also sporting a brand-new black eye courtesy of his old friend Tamaki that had used Mirio’s own trust in him to deliver a swift answer to the blond retelling of the reason behind Nejire’s disappearance two hours prior, before flying out of the window to look for the missing girl.
“So. Let’s have a recap, shall we?” Nighteye said with a tone both acidic and cold, and the two Heroes he was looking down upon had at least the decency to flinch and lower their heads even more.
“You.” he said, pointing at Mirio.
“Lied and kept secrets from a girl you professed to Love because you didn’t trust her enough to share the secret behind your Quirk’s ‘Mutation’...A very poor excuse we will soon also go through.” Nighteye said with narrowed eyes.
“Mister Toshinori told me to keep the secret at all cost…” the Hero Student muttered.
“I will soon tear Toshinori a new one. Now it’s your turn.” the other replied, and surprisingly Toshinori seemed to crumple in on himself and try to become even smaller than Nighteye no matter his immense sizes.
“You lied to her, Mirio. To the girl you said was the most important person to you. A girl I was told by your common friend was being incredibly patient with you. And somehow I too helped in causing this fracture between you two, but in my defense you never once told me you were already occupied with her when I called you.”
“Young Mirio’s training-”
“It’s not the be-all-end-all, Toshinori! All for One is out there, yes, but forcing things to go faster doesn’t make results show-up faster.”
“Young Hado should have just been more understanding and patient…” Toshinori muttered.
“Nobody can be that patient, Toshinori. Nobody can put their entire personal life on hold. Nobody is YOU. We all have our limits, our breaking point.” The way Nighteye said this while looking straight at Mirio made the young man pale considerably.
“You…”
“Yes, I know.”
“Know what?” Toshinori asked.
“It is not a matter we will discuss tonight. Now I want to know what caused the protegee of a dear friend of mine to disappear like that. Ryukyu is beside herself in worry and is still combing the city to find miss Nejire, and you two should thank God her worry is overruling her anger for now, she is still part dragon and tearing you two to shreds will soon become her new priority once she has found her Intern.” Nighteye answered.
“I...Me and young Mirio may have said some...unpleasant things...To Miss Hado when we talked.” Toshinori admitted with a defeated tone.
“Like her being a hypocrite for not waiting? For asking just the bare minimum explanation as to why her own feelings were being put aside? Asking why she was being taken as a commodity?”
“There may have been a selfish in there as well…B-But Mister Toshinori is not at fault! He just misunderstood the situation!” Mirio muttered.
“With how you were whining and crying on yourself, it was not hard for somebody with ZERO social skills like him to misunderstand.” the man replied, sighing in dismay.
“I-I-I do have social skills!” Toshinori tried saying.
“And Quirkless pigs fly. Stay quiet and wait your turn, you have caused enough damage as it is!” Nighteye snapped.
“Yessir…” the muscled giant muttered with a weak voice.
“Now. This is what is going to happen: you two WILL apologize to that girl as soon as we find her, on your knees if you must! THEN Mirio will come clean to Nejire about One for All in excruciating and complete details. If she will give you a second chance then everything will be okay and we will just forget this whole incident, but if she still wants nothing to do with you and Toshinori, then you two will keep a minimum distance from her of fifty meters and not bother her unless she starts a conversation first or unless absolutely necessary. Are we clear?” Nighteye ordered with not a shred of mercy to be found in his tone.
“Yessir.” both blonds answered, utterly defeated.
“Very well. This farce has gone-on for far too long. It's time for me to personally return some common sense in this mess since you two apparently are not mature enough yet to be left on your own devices! I am taking over! Objections?!”
“No, sir!”
“Good. Also...If in the meantime we look for Miss Hado something has happened that resulted in her being hurt or worse...I will personally enact punishment on you two. Ten times over. So pray she doesn't even have a hair out of place when we find her.” the Pro Hero declared with a dark tone, and his victims found themselves fervently praying nothing happened to Nejire in the few hours she had been away.
Meanwhile – Other Dimension – Tian-Fa Continent - Forest -
Nejire was lying on her side completely paralyzed, able only to blink as she watched Izuku work on a giant dead creature to cut it in various parts.
She had been apparently transported into a different world while clinging to the Young Chef, and while at the beginning she thought it was only a matter of simple teleportation...She soon saw two moons hanging in the sky, flying rock formations and mutated animals she was damn sure were not original of her home world, along a waterfall flowing in reverse and many other strange sights in the two days they had traveled towards Izuku’s destination.
The lightning-spitting purple leopards they met for example were already a telling sight as that sort of thing would get on the media on a regular basis, considering how obscenely rare it was to find Quirks on animals.
When she finally asked for details, Izuku explained what was happening behind the scene of Green Cloud Restaurant and himself, like his Isekai as Zaus in another world, how that was not the first time he had traveled to another dimension to find Ingredients to add to his storage and breeding area for his restaurant and he even showed her part of his hidden skills.
It was after the third day of travel passed and they were just camping by the fire that things went pear-shaped; she had asked if his girlfriend knew about all of that, and when he had said he was still keeping everything a secret Nejire...Kind of went on a rant against him...And said very bad and rude things about him.
Surprisingly, he had taken it all in stride with not even a frown and just waited for her to finish insulting him, then he asked a simple question with a very bored tone.
“So it’s right when your Beloved Mirio does it, but we others have to be paragons of virtue instead? You sound like a hypocrite here.”
To her shame, Nejire had, in a moment of blind anger, tried shooting him with one of her Quirk’s spiral cannons, BUT IT WAS A WEAK ONE! HONEST!...He replied by simply disappearing from view and hitting her in the chest with the knuckles of two fingers from his right hand.
A simple tap and she went down limp like a sack of potatoes, unable to move or talk, and she kind of had a lot of questions to ask after experiencing that on top of the hundred of thousands still lingering in her head! And she couldn’t ask a single one! IT WAS SO FRUSTRATING!
Now there she was, after watching him take on a flock of at least six bison-like beasts the size of those English double buses and covered in a carapace thick enough to shame a tank, and he defeated them all alone and bare-handed, knocking them down in just a couple minutes while his robot bodyguard just stood by Nejire to protect her just in case, and now she was wondering WHY a Quirkless like him was not in UA all the same even without Powers seen that such a label meant nothing to him!
Fwoosh !
A lively fire was soon burning in front of her once he was finished removing the last bison’s carapace using the strange bone knife he could summon from the tattoo on his wrist at will, THEN he made everything fade away and disappear like magic!
SO. MANY. QUESTIONS! MUST! ASK! MUST! KNOW!
“Have you calmed down?” Izuku finally asked, having cut a big slab of rock into an extremely thin disk with that same knife.
“…”
Sigh! “Blink once for Yes and twice for No.” he gave a sigh and asked again, in the meantime he also positioned the disk of rock on the fire and was continuously flipping it over.
“…” Nejire just gave a groan and blinked once.
“Good. I will unlock you, but at the first sign you are even just thinking of attacking me, I will block you again and just drag you along until I have completed my Mission.” the young Chef said, studying her face for a few seconds then...poking, for the lack of a better term, the back of Nejire’s skull, right at the base of her neck, and the girl felt her body return responsive.
“Aaah! Aaah! I can move!” she exclaimed once done some test vocalization while moving her limbs around.
“Yes, that is normal.” Izuku answered, unimpressed, while selecting a piece of bison meat and recalling it from the System Storage to cut it into several thick steaks.
“What was that? How can you block somebody like that? How does it work? Why do you go to other Worlds? What’s with your Sponsor? Why do you say you are Quirkless? If you are Quirkless then how can you do those things? What is your knife made of? How can you summon it from a tattoo? What is that animal? Why does it have a carapace? Are you going to eat it? Why did you not tell your girlfriend about this? Why-”
“WOOOOO! Breath!” The young Chef begged once he found a long-enough hole in that barrage of questions to stop her.
“Was...Was I like that too when I was still a Hero maniac?” he also thought in worry, having finally seen the thing from the outside.
“But I need to know!” Nejire answered with a very distraught expression.
Sigh! “Okay. I used Knocking to block you and capture two of those bison alive for breeding. It is basically me attacking nerve clusters and pressure points of the body to make it stop moving, among other things as it has a huge variety of effects.
You just watched me fight against Armored Bison, a beast of this world I decided to capture as an Extra since I am given extra ‘Experience Points’ based on the number and quality of Ingredients I capture during these sorties.
We are here because my Sponsor is an extra-dimensional being that decided to help me become the best Chef of our World, and in order to do this, I am required to go hunting for Ingredients into other worlds. In exchange this Entity I have no clue how to physically describe makes me stronger. I literally Level-up like in a Video Game, that is why I talk about Experience points.
I am Quirkless, but not powerless, after my life as Zaus I now possessGourmet Cells, a more advanced form of cells compared to normal humans, giving me another set of Powers, beside strength and speed.
The Knife is made with the bone of some Stupidly-strong Monster, that is why it can cut everything and can be hidden in a tattoo on my wrist…That should be all.”
“That is a lot to take in.” Nejire admitted.
“You asked. You may not believe it, but sure as the sky is blue, I am living it.” Izuku answered.
“You didn’t tell me why you are keeping this a secret from your girlfriend and family.” she then said.
“…”
“Izuku?”
“...I am afraid, okay?” he admitted with a shaken breath, and the girl saw the fire reflect on the tears that threatened to spill from his cloudy eyes.
“Afraid of what?” At that question the girl moved to sit a bit closer to him.
“I am afraid that they will ask me to stop. That they will declare this too dangerous and demand me to drop everything. But I am not a porcelain doll! I don’t want to abandon another dream!” he answered.
“They are just worried about you, they fear you may not be able to keep on doing this.”
“And I am supposed to live in a bubble so to make them sleep well at night? What makes THEIR happiness more important than mine?”
“And what makes yours more important than theirs?” Nejire asked back, voice soft and gentle.
“Mine is not more important than theirs, I am just afraid they won’t try to understand.”
“You-”
“I said that they won’t try to understand, not that they can’t. I trust my family and Momo and her family with my life, I am just afraid they won’t trust ME and my skills enough to not try to stop me.”
“...I guess we both are on the same boat, uh? We trust our loved ones completely, but they in exchange don’t trust us enough to give us a chance…” Nejire muttered while hugging her knees close to her chest.
“I can tell you what Mirio is keeping a secret from you, if you want.” Izuku said.
“And how do you know?”
“My Sponsor. It saw me knowing this as important to understand why I was told by All Might that nothing could help me become a Quirkless Hero before my Isekai happened.”
“Your Sponsor is strange.”
“Eh! Imagine Cthulhu. Then Imagine the guy has a cousin that is obsessed with Cooking and there you have my Sponsor.”
“Creepy...I know there must be a reason why he never told me...But by now I want to have a clear picture of the situation. No, I need to understand. What is this grand secret?”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Sigh! “To put it simply: All Might can pass his Quirk to other people. He passed it to Mirio because he saw in him a powerful Heir already able to use most of the Quirk’s power immediately without needing much initial training. But Toshinori was also afraid of people knowing his Quirk could be passed to others so he told Mirio to keep it a secret just so to not have the wrong sort of people demand the Quirk to be handed over. I guess Mirio then took that being a Chosen One as some Divine Mission, that is why even you were not told.”
“...That’s it?” Nejire asked in disbelief.
“Yep! It’s not even a matter of matching a fixed set of criteria. Toshinori could have chosen anybody, but one day he saw Mirio and said ‘Yeah, he will do!’, and the rest is history.”
“And I was not deemed trustworthy of knowing such a simple thing?” she asked, shock clear to be seen on her face.
“You should ask them, I only know how the Quirk works.” Izuku answered, shrugging.
“YOU TOLD ME YOU WORK FOR AN ELDRITCH BEING BEYOND HUMAN UNDERSTANDING! THAT YOU GO TO OTHER DIMENSIONS! THAT YOU HAD A SECOND LIFE DURING A COMA WHERE YOU GAINED SUPERPOWERS! HOW IS THAT OKAY TO SHARE COMPARED TO ‘I inherited All Might’s Quirk, please don’t tell a soul’?! YOUR SECRET IS BLOODY GIGANTIC COMPARED TO MIRIO’S AND YOU STILL SHARED IT WITH ME! And we have been friends for just a couple weeks!” Nejire shrieked in disbelief.
“Beats me.” Izuku admitted with a shrug.
“Also, Eh! Mine is bigger.” he then added with a smirk.
“This is a serious matter, fool.” Nejire replied with a playful slap to his shoulder, but a small smile still peaked-out on her mouth at his corny joke, and that in itself was a small Mission Success for the young Chef.
“I was just trying to cheer you up.”
“Izuku…”
“Yes?”
“Why did youdecide to become a Chef after waking-up with that strength? With powers like those you could have become a Hero even without a Quirk.” Nejire asked.
“…”
“Icchan?”
“...You can call it revenge, in a sense.”
“Revenge?”
“When I was a kid I wanted to be a Hero, yes, but I wanted to become one on my terms, my way. When I was told I had absolutely no chance to become a Hero without a Quirk I was devastated. I had lost the ONLY thing I wanted in life, the only future I envisioned for myself.” Izuku explained, his voice was void and dull.
“Then the coma happened?” Nejire asked, gently moving his head on her shoulder as a show of comfort.
“As Zaus I was an average boy, neither strong nor weak. But then I was recognized as a talent for cooking, and was trained as a Chef, and as a Cooking Student I had the exact same chance as anybody else, something I did not have in my original life. My failures would have been my own, and my victories would have been my own. Then as I told you, Joie happened and everything went down the drain.”
“You were brainwashed, it was not the real you to do those things.” Nejire answered.
“I still have flashes of the things I did, and they were all terrible.” he answered while shaking.
“It was not you, it was just a monster borrowing your face. But what does this have to do with your revenge against the Heroes?”
“Eh! That is very childish. I just decided that if they did not want me as a Hero when I was powerless, then I did not want them after gaining powers.
I never asked for an easy way to be a Hero, I just wanted a chance to either fail or succeed; and since I could not even have that, as soon as I got powers and understood that the guys in charge would have liked to treat me like a new and easily marketable Hero...I just turned my back to them and opened my Restaurant instead. I decided to help people in the way I came to enjoy: with good food.” Izuku answered.
“That’s very childish.”
“And yet I am happy. Don’t be mistaken, it hurts A LOT whenever I remember that I could have been a Hero if only I was born with a Quirk, but I am still pushing forward and I don’t regret a thing.”
“Then The System arrived.” Nejire said with a sigh.
“Yep! And now between Healing Cooking and Utility Dishes I risk calling on me even too much attention.” the young Chef admitted groaning.
“But it also means you can become a Hero once again!” Nejire offered.
“...Can I?”
“Do you want to?”
“Do I even have what it takes?”
“If Endeavor is a Pro Hero, anybody can become one!”
“Are you trying to cheer me up?” he asked, smiling weakly.
“Maybe.” she replied, smirking.
Sigh! “Now that I managed to put that dream behind me…”
“Maybe it’s destiny, you have to become a Hero, in one way or another. Maybe as a Chef instead of Heir of All Might.” the girl offered.
“That is honestly scary! I just want the simple life of a Chef! Now give me a hand, as a peace offering, you will help me see what recipes the Bison meat is good for! Luckily I have a lot of meat to experiment with!” Izuku answered, chuckling.
“I am all for it! But why is it a peace offering?” Nejire asked.
“Because I made you angry,” he answered, making her develop a shy smile.
“I started it by going off on you. Come on! Let’s start cooking! I have lots of questions to ask!”
“Okay! Okay! I promise I will answer them all!” Izuku answered with a laugh, something Nejire was secretly happy to hear, she did not want to ruin her friendship with the young Chef, especially because of Mirio.
Meanwhile – Starlight City – Emperor’s Palace -
A man in overly-ornate robes sitting a throne sculptured out of the massive skull of a giant beast was at the moment looking at a very old man with sickly-looking yellowed skin completely covered n wrinkles, the living mummy had sunken eyes and yet he was still looking at the scattered bones in front of him in great interest.
“Ooooh! Hohohohoho! Yeees! This is just a confirmation! The vision I had was true! The Oracle of Bones merely confirmed it!”
“So the Ancestral Taotie is really about to return?” the Emperor asked with narrowed eyes.
“Yes, my Emperor! The very first Taotie! He who fathered them all! One of his children has been chosen to become the Vessel for his Rebirth!” the extremely old man answered, excited.
“The Greatest Monster, the Father of Hunger, the sum of all Greed...So many ominous names for the strongest Divine beast…” the Emperor said with a malevolent smirk as he rose from his throne to pace around the empty room.
“And yet his power is unmatched! His rebirth is close to being complete! Your Greatness must capture him right after his last molting! That will be the last transformation before his return is complete and the moment when the monster will be at his weakest! Capture the reborn Ancestral Taotie right after the last molting, gouge-out his heart and fuse yours with it! With both your powers combined, Godhood will be yours!” the old fossil answered, cackling madly.
“Godhood. Finally! With Godhood in my hands, my reign will truly be eternal!” the Emperor said with a similar crazed smile.
“The birth of a new God! I am assisting in the birth of a new God!” the old man said with a worshipful tone.
“And this new God will remember your assistance! Go call my General and tell him to collect the strongest warriors and Beast Tamers!” the Emperor ordered.
“Yes, my Emperor! The last molting will show us the way thanks to the monstrous Qi it will release! I will personally guide the search!” the old man yelled while hurrying outside with swiftness, completely unnatural for somebody looking like a living dried-up corpse.
“Huhuhu! An Empire ruled by a God...Yes, I like it. It suits me.” the Emperor muttered to himself with a feral smile.
With Izuku and Nejire - several hours later -
Izuku was still eating…
He had eaten ONE ENTIRE BISON BEAST and was still hungry!
The young Chef’s experiments had been a success, that monster’s meat not only was delicious, it was also smooth and tender and with a natural faint smokey taste that really made you crave for more! And that just by roasting it on a hot rock with no condiments! The recipes Izuku created with that meat were all to die for!
But how much did Nejire eat? Two big steaks, that’s all, barely one kilogram of meat, and that was a new record for her...Izuku? He had just eaten something even bigger than an elephant and was still going strong in chewing!
“How?!” she asked with bulged-out eyes after yet another five kilograms of steak disappeared in the Chef’s bottomless stomach.
“What?” he asked back.
“How can you still be hungry!? How much do you eat?!”
“...It’s a secret, okay?” he answered, embarrassed.
“I am already going to keep a big secret of yours, Izu! May as well add another!” she answered.
Sigh! “...I normally eat 200 kgs of meat, 180 kgs of carbs, 150 kgs of fish, 300 kgs of vegetables, 120 liters of water, 100 liters of cola, 30 eggs, 150 kgs of dessert and one coffee...At lunch. For dinner I repeat that menu, but with more fish than meat. I eat like that every day. I am overeating today because this kind of meat is extremely compatible with my Gourmet Cells, something that will make them grow stronger faster.” Izuku muttered, ashamed.
“…”
“Gourmet Cells demand a lot of Calories to work, and since mine are slowly recovering from my Isekai, they are still weakened. The more time passes, the more I will need to eat. Please don’t tell anybody, it’s embarrassing.” he added.
“...Lift your shirt.” Nejire demanded with a strange, dull tone.
“Wha?!”
“LIFT IT!”
“O-Okay!” the young Chef complied, showing her a set of godly abs so perfect they looked sculptured by hand by God himself.
“...I eat in a week a one-hundredth of what you eat in a single lunch, and I have gained five pounds and have to break my back to maintain my figure...And you instead have just eaten an entire MONSTER and still look like a living statue of a Greek God?! WHY?!” she shrieked with a red face.
“I have a good metabolism?” he tried saying, choosing the worst possible answer to give to a woman.
“GODDAMNIT!” Nejire roared in mad fury, and marched to the camping tent Izuku had brought along for his trip to lock herself inside it.
“...Nejire-chan?…”
“NO! I am angry at you and at your stupid ‘I can eat whatever I want and not get fat!’ Cheat! People like you are my worst enemy!” she replied from inside.
“...Will you forgive me if I tell you I can teach you how to do it?”
“...I am listening.” she said as her head peeked out from the tent in a very adorable way.
“It’s called Food Immersion. It’s something I wanted to teach Momo, but I can teach it to you too, as an apology for dragging you here, even if it was a mistake.”
“Really?”
“Really, really,” he answered.
“Okay! When will we start?”
“Tomorrow, now I will clean up and go to sleep.” Izuku answered.
“About that…” the girl said with a red face.
“Yes?”
“You keep sleeping outside...You can get in the tent, it’s warmer here...I-If you promise to keep your hands to yourself and don’t do anything perverted.” she offered with a low whisper.
“O-O-Okay.” answered the young Chef, and once entered the tent with very nervous steps, he moved into a corner of the small thing and fell asleep with both arms straight at his sides so as not to risk getting too close to Nejire…
He still somehow woke up the following day with the girl using his entire body as a living body pillow and extra source of heat; poor Nejire will spend hours apologizing for it after they return to walking.
The next day – Mountains -
The wind howled deafeningly in their ears as soon as they walked up the mountains separating them from Starlight City, with snow soon piling-up everywhere the higher they moved, and Nejire was once again impressed and thankful to learn Izuku was indeed so paranoid he packed provisions and equipment just in case he met both very cold or very hot climates, even if the super-warm jacket he had took along was a bit too small for her, but in exchange of not freezing to death while wearing only her school uniform she got determined and finally did zip it closed after a short struggle.
“Y-Y-You sure you will be f-f-fine?” she asked between her clattering teeth.
“I will use it as a form of training,” Izuku answered with a strained tone, as his Chef uniform was not a proper cover for that freezing cold, but to the girl’s surprise the young man’s white breath became steadily thinner and thinner until it stopped coming out, in its place he had soon started breathing out small frozen dust.
“Okay, I still got the breathing technique down…” he muttered with a shaky smile.
“W-W-What kind of training can you do by freezing?” Nejire asked, sneezing often and hugging herself.
“As we speak my Gourmet Cells are evolving to adapt to this environment: muscles and fat and every single cell of my body is being modified to minimize as much loss of warmth as possible, and my reserves of Calories are being burned to maintain my body temperature.
The more time I spend here, the more time my Cells have time to adapt and optimize my body’s heat management.” He answered, hugging himself and shivering a little.
“Y-You are evolving in real time?” she asked.
“Pretty much. Here, come closer.” Izuku offered while hugging Nejire closer and guiding her through the wind, and even with Whitey walking in front of them as a shield of sort against most of the wind, the temperature was till absolutely freezing.
“T-T-Thank you!” Normally Nejire would have refused an offer like that, but any extra heat was precious more than gold to her in that situation, so she clung to the Young Chef as much as she could.
“There, that looks like a cave, we will rest there for a bit.” Izuku said, pushing her forward a bit to help her trudge through the snow towards the small aperture on the side of the mountain.
“H-H-Hallelujah! ACHOOO!” the young woman cheered with a LOUD sneeze that rocked her entire body.
Cave – ten minutes later -
The small cave used to have a common mountain bear inside, used to since now the animal was being cooked into a stew on the fire started by the young Chef, with Nejire sitting so close to the flames it looked like she was trying to immolate herself.
“It’s not much, but Whitey should act as a good enough door to keep most of the warmth inside.” the Chef said while stealing a glance at the chubby robot standing at the small opening in the rock and acting as an improvised door for the two.
“I-Is every sortie of yours so extreme?” Nejire asked, shivering still even after getting even closer to the fire.
“I think so, the one before this was in a very hot and humid forest.” Izuku answered.
“A-A-A-And you don’t want to stop?”
“And lose the chance to see new Ingredients? To try new tastes? It’s not a luxury cruise, yes, but I get to see new worlds and different cultures and creatures! It may not be the Gourmet World, but I keep seeing beautiful things! I have a level of freedom nobody else has, and I can use it to taste and try new amazing things.” he answered, and Nejire had to admit that the excitement he showed while saying all that and the way the fire made his eyes shine...It was kind of captivating.
“I am still cold, though.” she muttered.
Sigh! “Here.” What he did next made her squeak in embarrassment and turn bright red as he sat next to her, covered them both with a heavy blanket and then hugged her tight to share with her as much heat of his body he could.
“This is the best I can do, I gave you all the blankets I brought with me.” he said with an utterly innocent tone.
“I-I-It should be enough.” she answered, and she did feel herself heat-up, but she could not tell if it was just the blanket and his hug...Or something else.
GUAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!
“EEEEEK!” any doubt though took a backseat as a loud and monstrous roar echoed everywhere, it was so furious and deafening it caused her body to be overcome by primordial fear, so much SHE hugged the life out of Izuku while Whitey silently watched outside with flashing red eyes and waiting for the attack order.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!...THUMP!...THUMP!...Thump!…Thump…Thump...Thum…
The steps that passed in front of the cave were impossibly heavy and loud, meaning that whatever had just walked in front of their hiding spot was enormous, so much so that its body had seemingly halted the storm as a whole for the short moment it had passed by their camp.
GUAAAAAAAAAAOH!
The same howl of hunger and madness echoed once again in the cave, slowly losing power as the galloping giant beast ran away from them on the notes of its heavy steps and the gruesome crunching sound of the thing munching on whatever was unlucky enough to cross paths with it.
“That sounded like something big.” Izuku, face still smothered in Nejire’s neck, muttered with narrowed eyes fixed on the cave’s entrance.
“And hungry!” she added, trying to play off her hugging him to avoid any awkwardness.
“Hopefully by tomorrow it will be long gone, for now let’s eat and go to sleep, tomorrow we will descend the mountain and finally reach our destination, Starlight City.” Izuku answered.
“That System thing said that passing the mountain was the fastest and safest way!”
“I guess that thing was not deemed a threat big enough to worry about...Somehow.” he answered.
“How?!”
“Beats me, the System has very askew standards. Come, let’s eat!”
“O-Okay. And don’t worry, this time I won’t end up hugging you in my sleep!” Nejire promised.
...She Failed. She failed horribly. And Izuku was once again victim of Nejire’s full body hug, only this time he also woke-up covered by the young woman’s very long hair, but the latter was not exactly an issue since they had an amazing scent he found he enjoyed to be smothered in.
The Following Day -
It was with a huge sense of relief that Nejire started seeing the top of the trees of the forest under the mountain and the faint body of a giant city beyond that in the distance, and she became even happier when Izuku climbed on Whitey’s back so that they could take a custom shortcut by jumping down every ravine they found instead of looking for paths pointing downward.
“Like this is faster!” Izuku explained with a cheeky smile.
“Yup! Just moving in a straight line!” Nejire answered while floating behind the robot, the thing instead simply pummeled to the ground, creating a crater at each heavy landing, and that meant they took only one hour to descend from the mountain instead of five or six like normal people.
A thing they decided to not comment about was the gruesome spectacle they met along the way: half eaten creatures and hooves mark measuring several meters in diameter, meaning that the mysterious monster they heard the night prior had gone on a merry slaughter where it had eaten hundreds of creatures and even trees from the forest below before disappearing God knows where far from the city fortunately.
The forest itself was a vast expanse of trees that grew fairly apart from one another, thus leaving plenty of space for paved roads to be built between them, one of which leading towards the far away city the duo was now walking on.
“Uhm…” Izuku said once looked at the sky.
“What is it?” Nejire asked.
“It’s getting kinda late for breakfast, and is too soon for lunch. Want to go midway?” he asked.
“You mean that Brunch thing?”
“Yep!”
“Oooh! I always wanted to have one of those! Yes!” the young woman answered with shining eyes.
“Hahahaha! Then let’s set-up a temporary camp. I was not given money worth anything in this world, so we better eat now here.”
“Okay! But what about your mission? You have to learn a dish from this world besides capturing a living animal.”
“Eeeh! The dish part should technically be easy,” he answered sheepishly.
“Uh?”
“You see, we Chefs are a kind of prideful bunch. The Most famous we are, the most Pride we take in our work...So if I find the most Famous and snotty Chef of that city, MAYBE I can challenge him in a cooking duel with said recipe as the prize should I win. The only problem will then be winning, but I will cross that bridge when I will get there.” he answered.
“So you are prideful too?” Nejire asked with a smirk.
“Kinda, I hardly let it go above my head, but I am also always ready to defend my skills.”
“It’s okay, the first step is always recognizing that you have a problem!” she answered with a mocking tone.
“Suuure, Miss ‘I won the Title of Miss UA Pageant three times in a row’. You are the epitome of humility!”
“HEY! I told you that just because I take pride in my being cute, okay?” she countered with her face burning red.
“Yes, yes. You are incredibly pretty, we know.” Izuku answered, chuckling.
Nejire’s face turned WAY REDDER at that admission.
“Good to see you have good eyesight.” she muttered shyly.
“HALT!” It was then that a group of six people in heavy armour accompanying a decrepit old man in monk robes resembling a living mummy walked up to them from way ahead.
“Yes? What can I do for you?” Izuku asked, he and Nejire subtly getting ready for a fight just in case, along Whitey’s eyes turning red immediately.
“Are you two Travelers?” the guard at the head of the group asked harshly.
“Yes, sir. Me and my...My Fiancee are traveling. He is a Wandering Chef.” Nejire answered, and it was a miracle if Izuku’s eyes did not bulge-out at her addressing herself as his fiancee.
“Oh, man! She is taken? Come on!” one of the younger guards in the back moaned in despair.
“Don’t be a dick! A real man doesn’t steal another guy’s woman! We are not one of those spoiled brats from the Clans!” the guy’s senior answered while slapping the back of his head.
“A Traveler, yes?” Uncaring of the banter behind him, the old monk walked closer to the two.
“Yes sir?” Izuku answered.
“Uhm…” the monk muttered while taking out from his robes a long strip of parchment covered in inscriptions and moving it between them and around Whitey.
“I see. Have you perhaps met a giant creature recently?”
“Met, not really, heard it gallop in front of our camp? Then yes.” Nejire answered, unnerved by the sight of a mummy speaking with them.
“Aaah! Wonderful! When was it then? Tell me!” the monk demanded.
“Yesterday night, it moved down from the mountain and probably ran through the forest...That direction if we go by the hooves print it left behind.” Izuku answered while pointing towards the area he saw from the mountain had the most trees that had been eaten.
“Yesterday night, and was it eating?”
“Lots, I think? I believe it ate everything it met, trees too.” Nejire answered.
“PERFECT! SIMPLY PERFECT! IT MEANS THE TIME IS RIGHT!” the monk exclaimed with a scary worshipful tone.
“What?” Izuku asked, confused.
“There have been sight-seeings of a very dangerous beast nearby. Big as a mountain and extremely hungry, we have been tasked to hunt and secure that beast for the safety of the populace, just in case you better hurry towards the city. Even if ridiculously big, that monster is also fast, so you don’t want that creature to set its sight on you.” the Guards Captain explained.
“Oh! I see! We were about to set up a small camp to eat something before getting in the city...We have no money…” Nejire answered.
“Uh? Why?”
“We got robbed.” Izuku answered immediately.
“You are lucky they only took the money and left your girl alone. If you need a place to stay, look for Spring Flower Inn, the owner is a very generous man, bring him something of value or offer to work for him in the kitchen and he will let you use one of the rooms he gives to peregrines. It won’t be luxurious, but better than sleeping outside.” the same soldier answered.
“Ah! Thank you, sir!” both teens answered with a bow.
“Enough chit-chat! That monster needs to be captured! For the Honor of our Emperor!” the monk shrieked in annoyance while marching forward without even a small nod of farewell.
“Please forgive him, an important figure he may be, but manners are not his forte. Travel safety and don’t stray from the path. And welcome to Starlight City!” The Captain apologized for the monk before pushing his men forward to chase the crazed mummy in the direction of the mysterious giant monster.
“…” Both Izuku and Nejire watched in silence until the strange group disappeared deeper into the forest.
“Well...That happened.” Izuku said with a sigh.
“This world sure is full of strange people.” Nejire admitted.
“That it is. Let’s go set-up the camp, I will take care of collecting wood.”
“Okay! Then I will prepare everything else!” Nejire answered.
“Perfect, I will leave Whitey with you, just in case.” the young Chef answered.
“You sure?”
“I can defend myself no problem, just as I know you are not weak. Whitey is just to appease my paranoia, I won’t let a friend of mine get hurt if I can help it.”
“Just go, Knight in shining armor! I’ll be safe!” Nejire answered, smirking, and yet pleased to see him worry about her, even if there was no need at all.
Having separated from both the girl and robot, Izuku walked a bit through the unnaturally-silent forest to collect enough wood to start a fire to cook their food, the canopy closing just a bit more than the part above the path so as to cast darker shadows here and there.
“So silent. I guess that giant creature scared most of the animals into hiding or even fleeing, not that I blame them, predators as big as that thing do have that effect,” he muttered, unaware that there was a pair of lively eyes following his every movement.
“…” As Izuku continued to gather wood for his camp, he could not shake the feeling of eyes on his back, however, every time he turned to see what was causing him to feel this way all he was met with was the silent forest behind him.
Shrugging it off, he finished picking up the final pieces he needed to start the fire and decided to head back.
“Kyuuh…” On his way back he felt them again, this time accompanied by a soft cry, and decided he would force the owner of those eyes to get closer while gathering a few small rocks as well.
Suddenly he heard a branch get shaken, quickly pivoting on his foot he used his middle finger to flick a few of the small pebbles in the direction of the noise.
“...Should have got it.” he muttered, feeling confident that he got what he thought was following him.
Crack! Then suddenly he heard a twig snap from his opposite direction, making him once again turn around and shoot pebbles towards the source of the noise to try to force the culprit out.
Crack! Again, something cracked from behind the Chef! Whatever it was, it was very fast and stealthy, even too much compared to the other creatures he had met up until that moment in that world.
“Whatever it is, it has similar stealth abilities of the Licorice Viper from the Gourmet World. It can erase its presence completely! This is not good…” Out of stones he quickly turned again to brace himself for an attack, mid-turn however he already felt the unexpected weight on his side and fell onto the ground.
“Damn it!” Quickly shoving off his attacker, he stood up getting ready for a fight, only to then stop mid-stance when he looked down at a creature resembling a small white fluffy fox looking up at him with big ice-blue eyes.
“And who you may be?” Izuku asked, both cautious and entranced by the sheer cuteness of the thing.
“Kyuuuh…” the tiny thing answered with pinned down ears and a long whine.
“The creature the Host is now looking at is a Taotie. This specimen is currently in Rest Mode after going through his last molting, it has now reached maturity. If the Host wants, now it will be the perfect time to capture it and add it as an Ingredient to his Restaurant. The creature’s state of starvation from the mentally and physically exhausting molting will make it an easy target.” the System said.
“Ingredient? No! If ever, I would prefer keeping him as a Pet if he wants! The poor dear is already starving and probably scared from whatever monstrosity destroyed this part of the woods, he doesn’t deserve to die like that!...And he is just too cute and fluffy, I can’t kill it if he looks at me like that!” Izuku answered.
“Is the Host aware that a Taotie eats just as much as he does when in Rest Mode?” the System asked.
“Is it a problem?” Izuku asked back.
“Not really. Jewel Meat will be a perfect food for the Taotie, and once captured, the Thunder Phoenix, that Ingredient too will be perfect to raise this Creature as the Host’s beloved Pet and Companion.” the Entity answered.
“Good to know!...Now I just need to see if he actually is interested in joining me.” the young Chef replied with a wide smile.
Taking in the Taotie’s features, Izuku began to notice many more details compared to when he first glanced at the small animal that now kept studying his every move in great interest.
“Hey there, little one! I am not your enemy, you know?” the Chef muttered with a low and gentle tone; the first thing he noticed was the animal’s size, the closest thing that could come to mind would be a house cat at best.
Crouching down, he slowly lifted his hand towards the Taotie’s face to show he meant no harm, and after a moment of cautious sniffing, the animal tilted its head down, allowing Izuku to rub the top of its head.
“Okay, wow this is damn fluffy!” Izuku thought in wonder, the Taotie’s fur almost felt like he was touching a small cloud! The animal’s fur was most fluffy and longer on the head, chest, back and tail while the rest of the body was covered by shorter and incredibly smooth fur.
Looking closer, the young Chef spotted few small cloud-like markings on both sides of the Taotie’s torso fur, as if the animal really used to be part of an actual cloud.
The last feature he took notice of were the eyes, now that we moved closer he could feel a peculiar warmth akin to trust mimicking his own, a feeling that made both Chef and Taotie feel more relaxed with each other, but as Izuku looked closer, he also felt a bone-chilling coldness to them that held a never ending-hunger buried deep inside.
“Aaah! This won’t do! You are hungry, don’t you?” he asked.
“Kyuuuh…” the small Taotie answered with a low whine.
“I see. What about a small snack then?” Izuku said with a smirk, and chuckling at the lively way the small thing jumped up and down in excitement.
“Here, here. All for you!” luckily the System seemed to understand his needs and permitted him to summon a huge chunk of meat from his storage.
“KYUUUUH!” The Taotie’s eyes shone so bright at the sight of the one hundred or so kilograms of meat that for an instant Izuku thought a laser would have actually shot-out from the animal’s orbs.
Rip! Rip! Crunch!
It took maybe three minutes to the small thing to devour the entire boulder of meat Izuku summoned, no matter the tiny bites the Taotie was taking with its small mouth, and yet, what would be a shocking spectacle for anybody else, for a Chef that did spend most of his life in the Gourmet World, watching such a tiny being eat so much and so ravenously was just the norm.
“So? Can I consider us Partners?” Izuku asked.
“...Kyuh…” To Izuku’s surprise, the small animal actually took a very clear thinking pose while closing its eyes.
“Okay, this tiny thing is hella smart then.” the young Chef thought in wonder.
“Kyuuh!” Having reached a decision, the small Taotie jumped on Izuku’s shoulders and wrapped itself around his neck until it bit down on its own tail, and actually fell briefly asleep with a soft, adorable snoring.
“I’ll take that as a yes then, thank you! I think I will call you Shiro, do you like it?” Izuku asked.
“...Kyuh!” again thinking a bit about it, the small Taotie went into silent contemplation before giving a nod and a small lick to the Chef’s cheek.
“Awesome! Let’s go!” he said with a wide smile while walking back towards the camp.
“Who would have thought that this Lord would have found a new Partner so soon after being reborn! A Traveler from another world and a God of Cooking Candidate to boot! Finally Luck smiles upon my egregious persona as well!” the small Taotie thought while snuggling closer to his new Partner.
The walk back to the small camp was rather uneventful after that, and besides Nejire’s LOUD squeals of joy once she saw their new companion, nothing much happened while the rest of the morning went on without incidents as they walked towards Starlight City.
It was towards the sunset that the girl actually found a small lake to take a bath in, since while the System was helpful enough to keep both her school uniform and her Hero Costume clean (and Nejire still did not understand how the Entity could summon both set of clothes at will from her closet back in UA), a bath was still a bath! And better yet: Izuku didn’t even try to spy on her!
...And yet she also found the thing a bit of a letdown...
“Aaah! All clean! I feel at peace with the world!...And a bit peckish still...I blame Icchan’s Training.” Nejire said with a happy sigh, having decided to wear her Hero Costume just in case they met other soldiers.
“Kyuuh!” The small pet that had joined them welcomed her with a soft whine.
“Are you hungry, little Shiro?” she asked, cooing.
“Kyuuh!” the thing answered with his ears lowered.
“Then let’s go find Icchan, so he will give us some food for dinner, okay?” Nejire offered, and with a giggle she watched the pet turn starry eyed and dash away.
“Oh! You know where he is? Let’s go!” Nejire said, floating behind the small thing to find the young Chef…
And walk on HIM bathing...Without a shred of clothing on…
“OH GOD! I AM THE PERVERT! THE SCENE IS HAPPENING IN REVERSE!” the poor girl mentally shrieked in horror, and with wide eyes and a crimson face she grabbed lil’ Shiro and hurried away before Izuku could notice she had unwillingly memorized every detail of every inch of his body as the light of the setting sun shone on certain body parts in a very glorious way.
When Izuku, dressed again in his Chef attire, returned to their small camp, he found a jittery Nejire looking straight at the fire she made with unblinking eyes and a face so red to look ready to burst to flames.
“You okay?” he asked.
“YES!” she yelled, still refusing to look at him.
“Okay...I take from the fire that you and Shiro-kun are a bit hungry?” Izuku asked.
“Y-Yes?”
“Oh! No problem, we will have an early dinner then. Are you okay with it?”
“O-Of course! What’s on the menu?” Nejire asked, finally looking at him with a shaky smile.
“I luckily brought along a lot of food just in case I took too long to find the city. So we will have sausages! What do you think? Do you prefer them big or small? I even have a truly huge one if you are very hungry!” the young Chef answered with an innocent smile while summoning the Ingredients from the System’s storage.
“KYAAAAAAH!” the poor girl answered with a loud shriek, she then ran away and hid inside the tent.
“...Something I said?” Izuku asked with a confused tone.
“Kyuuuh.” Shiro answered.
Sigh! “Even after living an entire separate life, women are still a mystery to me.” the Chef admitted with a defeated sigh.
“Nejire-chan? You did not answer, do you want my sausage or not?”
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
“...Women,” he muttered.
Starlight City – Main Entrance Gate – Few hours later -
The place was bustling in activity even under the pale light of the full moons above it, with a huge flow of people coming and going from the main gate under the watchful eyes of the guards on the walls and at the immense doors proper, the entire ity had a very elaborate and ancient-looking style, that day the two Travelers could see lanterns and banners everywhere advertising some sort of Tournament that will soon take place somewhere in that giant city.
Silently followed by Whitey, both Izuku and Nejire navigated their way forward towards the centre of the city, marveling at the sights and the smells of the numerous food stalls everywhere, or at the people in flowing robes flying freely in the air while riding flying swords, gourds, lances or strange creatures.
CRASH!
Nejire shrieked at seeing a guy fly out of a window of a nearby Restaurant to tumble on the floor like a ball.
“You are courting death! I am the Young Master of the Yang Clan! That seat was mine by right!” the chubby young man that threw the guy out declared with a haughty tone.
“You fool! If there is somebody courting death, that is you! I am the Young Master of the Xiaolong Clan! That seat is mine!” the guy that had just been defenestrated bellowed in answer before launching himself back inside to start a wild brawl between the two and their servants and personal guards.
“I’ll cripple you!”
“NO! I will cripple you!”
“Kowtow to me and beg for mercy before I smash your legs!”
“I will smash your sister, you asshole!”
“You smashing my sister? I will smash your mother, you piece of shit!”
“...Let’s just go.” Izuku said with a groan.
“Yeah, we better.” Nejire, unnerved to the extreme by the dialogue between the two morons, quietly followed behind the Chef towards what looked like an Inn of sorts.
“That must be the place the guard talked about.” he said, pointing at the humble building adorned by tall cherry trees.
“Please! In memory of our old friendship!” there they saw an old man arguing with the In Owner while carrying an heavily-breathing young woman on his back-
“I am not forgetting that, but with the Festival his majesty the Emperor is organizing, I can’t possibly let you use one of our rooms for free,” the Inn owner answered with an apologetic tone.
“Please, my friend! Even just a small one! My granddaughter needs a proper bed to rest in if I want to heal her!”
“I-I can’t! Please understand!”
“Um, excuse me?” It was then that Izuku jumped into the conversation.
“Yes?” the owner asked.
“Good evening. I am a wandering Chef and this is-”
“I am his woman.” Nejire said, face turning into a cute shade of red at using the same excuse again.
“M-My woman. I was wondering if I could exchange some Ingredients with you as a way to pay for a room.” Izuku, face equally red, asked.
“...Depends on the Ingredients.” the Owner answered with narrowed eyes.
“Oh! I-I got some! I can show you!” he answered.
“Very well, come with me to the kitchen, my Inn Chef will judge if what you bring will be worth enough for a room. But if it isn’t, don’t expect me to not kick you out without mercy. Even the rooms I have for the peregrines are full today.”
“Of course, Sir.” the young Chef answered.
“Good, let’s go.”
“Young man!” the old man said, grabbing Izuku’s shoulder.
“Release the Host.” and Whitey immediately grabbed the man’s hand in a crushing hold.
“UH?!” the old man uttered in surprise as he failed to break free of the robot’s hold, and turned even more shocked when he failed to grasp Whitey’s true power, or even Shiro’s that was already glaring at him hard enough to almost freeze the guy’s blood solid.
“Whitey let him go.” Izuku asked, and luckily the robot complied.
“What do you need, Sir?” he asked.
“P-Please! If you actually manage to get a room, let us share it with you two! This old man will pay you back! On my honour! But my granddaughter needs medicines and a warm bed...Please…” he begged.
“Oh! Of course! No problem!” Izuku answered, especially once seen Nejire’s own begging look.
“AH! Thank you, my boy! Thank you!” The old man looked ready to burst into tears of gratitude as he watched Izuku and Nejire walk towards the kitchens following the Inn owner.
Several Minutes later – Inn Room -
The room was small and cozy, with several small beds on one side, a small table in the middle and a small fireplace on the floor at the opposite side of the room; it was clearly a very cheap room, but the four people using it now did not really care about that.
“Finally! I can finally help my granddaughter!” the old man said in elation.
“Do you need some help?” Izuku asked.
“No need, my boy! I know what to do...But I still don’t know the names of my benefactors!”
“Izuku, my name is Izuku Midoriya.”
“And I am Nejire Hado!” the girl said.
“Young Izuku, Young Nejire, you have my gratitude, now please, forgive me but I will need to focus on treating my beloved granddaughter.”
“Here, let me help you.”
After helping the sick young woman lie on one of the beds, both Chef and Hero student watched in silence as pills and other strange concoctions were poured down her throat as the old man worked tirelessly to try and help her.
“What happened to her?” Nejire asked once every medicine went used and the old man stopped working to take a breath,
“She is...She is just a victim of a fool’s quest for power.” he answered with a shaken sigh.
“Quest for power?” Izuku asked, confused.
“...”
The old man looked at the pale, shivering young girl sleeping on the bed with a scrunched expression and gave a sigh, when he looked back at them again, both Chef and Hero Student saw him become even more frail and defenseless.
“My name is Sun Mu-Cheng, and I have two sons…Or used to have two sons.” he started saying.
“Twins. Lao Mu-Cheng and Zao Mu-Cheng. When they were born my happiness knew no bounds, two strong heirs! I said, and they were truly two young boys blessed by the Heavens! When other kids crawled, they ran! When other sons and daughters said their first words, my Twins declared small poems! Strong and Smart, there seemed to be no end to their potential…” Old man Sun said.
“Then what happened?” Izuku asked.
“They took separated Paths to greatness: Lao followed the path of the Scholars, he was bright (frighteningly so) and knew that a lone stone cannot change the course of a river, so he forged alliances, connected with Lords and Servants of the great families and formed bonds of Friendship and Peace. He wanted not just his hand to rule, but a chain of hands to shape the world.”
“Zao was not like him?” Nejire asked.
“Zao was more direct, he believed that a mighty Leader could guide the pack without help, so he started to seek greatness through his own personal might. He mastered the way of the sword and of the lance and even his fists became strong enough to crack mountains. He believed that he needed not Allies to achieve his goal, only overwhelming power to squash his enemies.” Sun answered, sighing in dismay.
“I am starting to understand where this story is going…” Izuku admitted with a grimace.
“Oh! I too believed so, I too had started to fear a fight between them once their ideals clashed.” the old man replied, his chuckle was completely devoid of mirth, but a mockery of a human’s laugh.
“But?” Nejire asked.
“That fight never happened because as it turned out, Lao was the menace, not Zao…”
“Uh?!” both Dimensional Travelers uttered as one.
“The vilest poisons in Zao’s tea caused the mightiest warrior in this City’s millennial history to die with a pathetic whimper. Lao himself admitted it before banishing me and little Su from the family.” Sun explained with tears once again forming in his eyes.
“But...Why?!”
“Because while Zao was like a mighty Dragon boldly opening its wings and maw to challenge whoever crossed his path, Lao was a poisonous snake. He managed to hide his venom behind a colorful and meek personality while manipulating everybody from the shadows and sinking his teeth in the neck of whoever stood in his way...And even I, his father, was so foolish to fall for his tricks. Now my own brother is Championing Lao and his daughter Chacha as the greatest geniuses of the Mu-Cheng Clan.” the old man answered, and after that a pained bestial howl tore its way from his throat as he fell on his knees to cry his eyes out.
“That is why Miss Su is reduced like that?” Izuku asked.
“Yes! That accursed son of mine dared to poison his own niece! The last remnant of his brother! The nectar of the Dantian-withering Flower now flows in her veins destroying not only her once-mighty power, but her future as well! A cripple that will soon turn sterile as well! And even if I love her with all myself, I can’t even muster the strength of putting an end to her misery with my own hands! This old fool has failed so much even the Gods refuse to strike him down!” Sun yelled in despair.
“Can’t you challenge your son for this? Show he was the culprit?” Nejire asked.
“How?! My brother is at a level of Cultivation way beyond mine, and even should I manage the impossible and defeat him, every other Elder is already proudly standing behind Lao...The Emperor’s son himself is secretly helping along, supplying Lao and Chacha with Elixirs and Heavenly Treasures to increase their power even more. If I challenge them, my life will be snuffled in an instant by a single Assassin at the orders of the Prince. I can’t leave Su Mu-Cheng alone in this world as a cripple, I prefer to swallow the bitter remains of my pride and bear the weight of a total humiliation.” the old man replied.
“So there is no way?” Izuku asked.
“Eh….Hehehehe!” The laugh the Chef got in answer made his skin crawl, it was filled to the brim in such foul bitterness it sounded coming from an angry ghost.
“Oh, yes there is! Remember that Tournament I talked to you about? The one that has as a prize the Storm Phoenix you are looking for? The Emperor himself is sponsoring it, just as I mentioned. And Chacha Mu-Cheng is taking part as a representative of the Mu-Cheng Clan! For me and my son Zao and my granddaughter Su to finally get Justice we would need to openly Challenge Chacha during the finals and defeat her! Too bad I can’t do that due to my own crippled Cultivation! Only Su herself could have done that...But of course Lao must have planned for this as well since now she too is forever crippled! Hahahahaha! There is truly no justice under the Heavens! The Righteous will always fall in ruin at the hands of the Devils! Ahahahahaha!” it looked like Sun had finally reached the breaking point as laughter and crying mixed chaotically on his face.
“Can’t you do anything, Izuku?” Nejire whispered.
“Maybe? I don’t know if my Healing Cuisine can actually fix that.” he answered.
“Is Healing cuisine the thing you do to heal people with food?” she asked, confused.
“Exactly that, I basically use the innate Life Energy of the Ingredients to heal people. It’s a bit more complex than that, but that is basically what happens when I use it.”
“Ok, and that can help her?”
“I...I don’t know…”
“Can you ask your Sponsor?” Nejire asked.
“I-”
“Indeed Healing Cuisine can heal the woman known as Su Mu-Cheng. But the Host will need to be extra careful during preparation or he will actually speed-up the Customer’s sickness and cause her death. On the grounds of this…”
Abrupt Mission: Heal Su Mu-Cheng from her Dantian-withering Flower Poisoning and save her life and Cultivation.
Reward: 10% bonus on Experience Points and Unlocking of the Mors Oil Ingredient.
Punishment for failure: Host will lose 90% of the accumulated experience points he has, will lose Washing Machine privileges for two months and Su Mu-Cheng will die.
“I can actually do this.” Izuku declared.
“Good!”
“But if I fail I will make things worse and kill her.”
“Ah…” Nejire muttered, paling considerably.
“Uh?” Sun finally noticed their muttering and looked at them in puzzlement.
“Sorry, I was spacing-out a bit. I was wondering if I could actually cook something for you, Mister Sun, you look like you have not eaten in days.”
“Oh, Yes, you are a wandering Chef...To be fair I was worried about stabilizing little Su’s conditions enough to have her at least survive the poisoning, and now I have burned through the few crystals I had on me so food was a luxury I could not give myself or her...Even staying here is merely a favour the owner is doing me because he owed me one...I...I could use something warm to eat, honestly. But I must ask it to be something even Little Su can eat, she herself has been starving, and even if those do fill the stomach, medicines and elixirs can hardly be considered food.” the old man answered with a sigh.
“No worries, I will prepare a stew, so between broth and tender meat you both will be able to fill your stomach.” Izuku answered.
“Are you aware though that this poor old man won’t be able to pay you?” Sun admitted with his voice filled in shame.
“I am treating you, not selling.” he answered with a gentle smile.
“Thank you, please forgive an old man that has forgotten good people do exist out there…” he answered, tentatively returning the smile, albeit weakly.
“It’s okay.” Izuku answered, and used his connection to the System’s storage powers to retrieve a big pot and the Ingredients he needed.
“That shell! Is that the meat of a Warrior Bison?” Sun asked with his eyebrows shot up to his hairline.
“Yes? Icchan and I caught several of them, is it wrong?” Nejire asked.
“Nothing wrong with that, it’s just a surprise to see somebody so young go against such a high level beast. And even more so for us to actually eat that for free, Warrior Bison meat is a delicacy, didn’t you know?”
“I recognize its high quality as a very good Ingredient, that is what I need now to help you two.” Izuku answered while summoning the Sea Dragon Kitchen Knife from the tattoo on his wrist.
That was when he saw old man Sun turn extremely pale and look at the knife with wide bulged-out eyes, the sharp intake of air he took almost made the Chef jump out of his skin.
“T-T-That knife! T-The Qi it exudes! What is it made of?!” he demanded while trying to grab it…
And as soon as his hand grabbed Izuku’s around the handle, everything around the old man disappeared, and he found himself in an endless white expanse while holding in his hand the very tip of the giant claw of the Sea Dragon herself, a being large enough to dwarf mountains and with each claw so vast a single swipe of one could easily demolish an entire city...And the thing was now locking eyes with the old man in furious contempt.
“Who are you to try to steal the knife of my Master? A knife made with one of my own mighty fangs?!” the Dragon demanded with a booming female voice louder than every storm or rumbling seas combined.
“B-B-B-Beyond even a Crystal Soul Sovereign Core Cultivator! An Existence that has ascended to real Godhood! A-A-A Divine Treasure! A DIVINE TREASURE KITCHEN KNIFE!” Sun Mu-Cheng shrieked in hysteric fear as the Dragon possessed such an immense power even the Legendary peak Existences of his world looked as pathetic as a firefly compared to the sun itself! That was her own Presence!
Mighty! Invincible! Divine!
Once everything returned to normal and the Dragon expelled the old man from her Inner Space back into the real world, his hand immediately let go of the knife and he backed-off while looking at Izuku in shock and awe.
“Please don’t touch it, a kitchen knife is a Chef’s Soul and Life. If you really want a closer look, just ask.” Izuku warned him.
“T-That knife has been made with a Divine Beast fang?! A Divine Treasure in the shape of a kitchen knife! That is beyond preposterous! Beyond blasphemy! It’s insanity in its purest form!” Sun declared while panting heavily and actually looking like he had gotten several years older still.
“Is it bad news?” Nejire asked.
“It just means that my equipment is very good, he is overreacting.” Izuku answered, shrugging.
“May I?” Sun begged with a small voice.
“...Here.” After studying the man’s face with narrowed eyes for a couple seconds, the young Chef slowly handed the kitchen knife to him and watched as the old man studied it in every detail in reverence.
“This knife. Such beautiful craftsmanship…” Sun muttered as he studied each and every scale that had been engraved on the knife handle with impossible precision, enough to make them look and feel almost alive.
Then he studied the smooth blade: long and thin and yet sharp enough the old man believed it could cut even Gods and Destiny itself, and finally he marveled at how light yet unbreakable the thing felt in his hands.
“I have never seen such a masterpiece, whoever created this must be a legendary being that has mastered the art of forging like nobody else before.” Sun declared, voice full of awe, as he returned the knife to Izuku.
“Sort of,” the young Chef admitted.
The System had long disclosed to Izuku the nature of the God of Cooking Kitchen Set he will unlock as he advanced in his training, so he was no longer surprised to know that his Equipment is and will be composed of things made from Divine Creatures, especially since it kind of made sense since he was supposed to Ascend to Godhood himself sometime in the far future.
“Indeed that knife was made by a supreme master...Only such a supreme lord of the forge can create a Divine Treasure so ‘pure’ the beast’s soul is fully preserved inside of it, to the point the Treasure itself is sentient! W-W-Who are you, young Sir?” Sun asked, still with a trembling voice.
“Young Sir?” both Izuku and Nejire parroted at the same time.
“I told you, I am just a wandering Chef! I am just traveling to increase my skills,” Izuku answered, unnerved by the man’s unblinking eyes.
“So young but already so strong he can hunt a pack of Warrior Bison by himself and treat them as mere Ingredients one can just pluck at their leisure...Possessing a knife that is in truth a sentient Divine Treasure beyond even the treasures rumored to be in the Emperor’s own treasury, a Treasure so rare only a handful of similar Level creations exist in the entire mortal realm, and accompanied by a mysterious Pet and a Puppet even somebody of my own Cultivation cannot tell the strength of.
For a mere Chef to be like this...What Sect does he come from? What Clan can be so prosperous and powerful even their Servants are so outlandish? I never heard of a Midoriya Clan, but whoever he works for, they must certainly hold him in high regard to demand his kitchen knife to be a Divine Treasure , this goes even beyond being extravagant!...Unless...Can it be? Can it be that he actually is a Young Master of a powerful Clan from a far-away land that decided to walk the path of a Chef? It would explain why he has such strength and resources, no matter how strange it sounds.
It may be best to try to ingratiate him, the backing of such a mysterious force could be what I need to make sure Little Su will be safe should the worst happen…” thinking that, Sun also took a glance at Nejire, and his expression turned a bit sour.
“He already has a beautiful and young mistress following him everywhere, obviously to still take care of his ‘needs’ without the risks of unwanted Bastards popping-up at a later date from a random brothel...It may mean it could be necessary for Little Su to take a similar Duty to make sure she will be safe under the protection of his Clan, but even if I hate it, it may be the only chance to assure her safety...”
“Are you okay? You are strangely silent, Sun-san.” Nejire asked with an innocent smile.
“Nothing, dear. It’s nothing.'' The old man forcefully banished the idea of his beloved granddaughter being probably forced to help the girl to sate the urges of the young Chef in front of him to gain some safety and gave her a small smile to go along with his answer.
“Then I will start immediately, luckily the small fireplace in this room is not just nice to look at, but barely big enough for my pots to fit in there.” Izuku answered in relief, he too had found the man’s silence unnerving, and he immediately summoned more Ingredients and started to work diligently after sitting on the floor close to the fire.
“At least he is a good young man. It could have been worse, he could have been one of those arrogant Young Masters thinking with their crotch, he may actually treat Little Su nicely. Miss Nejire seems happy to be with him.” he thought, sighing.
“Warrior Bison, Jewel Meat, Scorpio-dile tail meat, bones of those Fire Vultures…System? Can I have some Thunder Potatoes from the Gourmet World? Those and Bone Carrots.” Izuku muttered.
“Analysis. The Host can purchase the unlocking of those two minor Ingredients for a small fee thanks to his proximity to reaching Level 3. The Unlocking of both Ingredients will be 500 experience points each. Initiate Purchase?” the System answered.
“Urk!...O-Okay. I accept it.” Izuku answered with a pained expression.
“Very well, the Host is now able to utilize both Gourmet World Ingredients freely. Congratulations.”
“Hurray…” the young Chef muttered with a sigh.
When the young Chef started working, old man Sun simply watched him out of boredom, compared to Nejire instead looking at him with an excited expression, something the old Cultivator could not quite understand as Izuku was just going through the motions of washing the Ingredients in a small water basin.
“Kyuuun!” Crunch! Crunch! “Kyuun!” In the meantime, the strange fluffy white pet rested near the Chef’s leg and somehow biting through and eating the discarded carapace of the Warrior Bison the Chef threw at it with no apparent effort, a shell that would normally have even cannonballs and hits by medium-stage Cultivators harmlessly bounce off.
“Izu! Izu!” Finally Nejire asked.
“Yes?”
“Will you do that knife trick again?”
“Huhuhu! Of course! It always happens when I go fast,” he answered, chuckling.
“Yay!”
“What is she talking ab-” for the second time that day, Old Sun’s eyes threatened to plop out of his sockets as he watched A GODDAMN CHEF! Moving his knife so fast the blade managed to split into tens of spectral copies of itself as he started cutting the huge slab of bison meat into perfect cubes barely an inch big, all exactly the same size and shape and with no effort whatsoever. And then doing the same with the other cuts of meat as well.
“THAT IS THE SACRED HUNDRED GHOST BLADES TECHNIQUE OF THE ANCIENT SWORD PAVILION! HOW?!” Old Sun shrieked with a high-pitch voice.
“The what from the what Pavilion?” Nejire asked, curious.
“Sounds important, even if the name is a bit edgy.” Izuku answered, and he was still cutting Ingredients with the same astounding speed generating solid after-images of his knife.
“The most guarded secret of the Sacred Sword Pavilion only the personal Students of the Pavilion Great Master are permitted to learn...Used for cooking...And he is pulling it off constantly with no effort. The last one able to use it for so long and so proficiently was the Sword Pavilion’s Founder himself: Holy Sword Saint Ran-Mao...Who are you people?” Old Sun asked with a weak voice.
“Believe it or not, even if I explain it you wouldn’t understand, or even believe me.” Izuku admitted, sighing and barely fighting-off the headache this entire trip had tried giving him ever since he and Nejire arrived.
“I...That food...I-It has Qi inside still...What are you doing? How are you doing it?” the old man asked.
“Uhn? The knife makes it a bit easier, but I basically use my own power to seal Life Energy inside the Ingredients long enough for that to fuse with them and the resulting Dish. I am just slowing down the rate of dissipation until Life is infused into the Ingredients permanently. That’s the gist.” Izuku answered.
“What you call Life, I call Qi. And what you do is on par with the work of Alchemists when they prepare Elixirs. That is what you are doing isn’t it?” Old Sun turned somber and actually sat next to Izuku on the floor to better watch him work.
“You are very observant,” the young Chef said while stir-frying various herbs until fragrant.
“Because Elixir-Making is my own specialty, and I can recognize a fellow Master when I see them. That potato you are using has an exceptional affinity to Lightning Qi. Very similar to the rare Lightning Mint that grows in our mountains.” he said, voice now calm and low, to not distract the Chef.
“Very nutritious too, and the small electric shocks it gives when cooked in a certain way will help her weakened heart to keep beating. This is a Bone Carrot instead.” Izuku answered, and handed him a pure-white carrot literally made of bone.
“Fascinating,” Tock! Tock! “Hard as a bone, but the scent is of a common carrot, very sweet.” Sun said while studying the thing.
“It will heal Miss Su’s bones, making them return healthy and strong. That poison is corroding even her bone marrow, this will help cleanse it.” the young Chef answered, showing how those carrots had been easily cut and were now turning incredibly soft once cooked.
“It’s Icchan’s secret skill, Healing Cooking! He can Heal everybody with his food.” Nejire added, making him blush at the praise.
“I would normally scoff at such a notion, but the Qi flowing in that pot is nothing short of a Miracle. Poison Qi, Lightning Qi, Earth Qi, Water Qi, Fire Qi, Wind Qi….There are pills that can boost one’s healing by mixing two or three different kinds of Qi together, but you are managing to mix triple that amount while keeping them all in harmony and make them work together. And with a common pot, not a Pill Furnace, that too is a great show of skill. But why use Poison Qi? I imagine it is to fight Poison with Poison, but the wrong choice or ratio will actually make things worse.” Sun asked.
“Scorpio-dile Poison induces heart attacks and organ failure by forcefully accelerating the heartbeat and blood flow of the victim. I plan to turn that into a heart medicine, especially to stop the poison inside Su’s body from forming clots by keeping her blood flowing.”
“I see, that is why you added Warrior Bison meat, they normally feed on poisonous animals and herbs, they are naturally immune to similar toxins,” Old man Sun hummed, looking pensive.
“Ehm...I am not following?” Nejire admitted sheepishly.
“Just guessing the inner workings of the recipe, my dear…”
“Yes?” Izuku asked.
“There is a bug that it’s said to actually feed on that accursed flower’s pollen...If I manage to capture a few, would it be possible to use them?”
“Eeeew!”
“Hahaha! You would be surprised to know that many bugs actually taste very similar to chicken!” Izuku answered, laughing at poor Nejire’s horrified expression.
“I will need to check them first, but yes, if I grind them and rapidly desiccate them, I can add them to the stock.” he answered.
“Good! They may be rare, but for little Su this old man is ready to turn even the underworld upside-down! You focus on your Healing Dish, Sir Izuku. I will be back soon!” old Man Sun declared, and left the room in an awe-inspiring burst of speed.
“...He is a very strange guy, but you can’t deny he loves his niece.” Izuku admitted once sure the man had left.
“Can you really save her, Izu?” Nejire asked.
“I can only trust the Ingredients’ will. They are sure we both can heal her if we work together, and I want to trust them.” he answered, smiling a little.
“Must be nice hearing their voices.” Nejire said with a sad smile.
“Very…Thank you…”
“For what?”
“For not stopping me. For letting me continue this Mission. For not demandingI just throw it away, or even just abandoning me, even if you had every right to do it.” he muttered with a low voice and a sigh.
He was surprised to feel the weight of her head on his shoulder and the warmth of her arm circling his shoulders in a tight embrace.
“I can see the passion you put in this, the pure strength behind every step you take or every swing of that knife. You mumble and blush and stutter, you are shy and unsure of yourself…But then you grab the knife and become another person, because that is who you want to be: a Chef. And a chef can’t be scared of his Ingredients, or afraid of making a bad dish.” Nejire said, sighing.
“…”
“A Hero I think is the same. We can be scared, worried, we can doubt ourselves and our reasons, but then we wear our costumes and start smiling, even just so that others will smile as well.” Nejire said.
“...Nejire…”
“You promised you will tell Momo and your Parents the full story of what you do, of all this, and I promise you that I will help you talk them into not stopping you, but you must promise me you will be careful. Always, every time.” she answered.
“I will, promise.” he answered.
“Swear it.” she answered while showing him her pinkie finger.
“I swear.” he answered, intertwining his pinkie with hers.
“Good!”
“Thank you, Nejire. Thank you.” the young Chef admitted, and surprised her with a small kiss on her forehead.
“Myuuuuu!” and in answer the girl’s face turned bright red in embarrassment.
“Huhuhu! Sorry, but you asking for a pinkie promise was just too adorable!”
“ICCHAAAAAAN!” the young woman answered with a long whine of shame, and punched his shoulder over and over with zero strength behind each hit, unfortunately making him laugh louder.
“Sorry, sorry.” he said, smirking.
“Baka...Baka Izu…” Nejire muttered with a soft whisper, and leaning her head again on his shoulder with a pout while watching him tirelessly stirring the stew.
In the silence that followed her blush slowly subsided and her eyes drifted close to the notes of the gentle bubbling of the stew and the Chef’s soft breathing...His shoulder was very comfy and warm...
One hour later -
“SIR IZUKU! I-”
“Ssssh!” the Chef hissed, and the old man almost managed to bite his tongue clean off in his haste to shut up...Although he soon developed a knowing smile.
“Don’t read too much into this! This is not what it looks like!” Izuku hissed with a red face.
In the hour the Old Man had took to find his bugs, Nejire not only had fallen asleep leaning on Izuku’s shoulder, but had actually slipped down to lie her head on his lap without even awakening, and while the notion in itself did make the Chef’s heart almost stop, the mind-numbing flare of pain from the girl headbutting his dick for an instant killed any sort of romantic feeling he may have had.
She still looked illegally-cute if you asked him, though.
“Did you find them?” he asked.
“Yes! Fate must be on our side, because I found five of them even! Even just one would have been a gift from the Gods, but five? Almost impossible. My son must be blessing us from the Heavens!” Old Sun said while delivering Izuku a folded handkerchief containing 5 plump beetles each the size of a walnut and with a golden carapace, dead but without a single mark on them.
“Just to be on the safe side, I used my Qi to stop their breathing so as not to damage them,” he explained.
“System?” Izuku mentally asked while checking them himself.
“These beetles are a suitable Ingredient. If The Host prepares them properly into powder form, they will help fight-off the effects of the Flower. Congratulations! Even if not personally captured by the Host they will be added as a Spice to the Restaurant’s storage.” the Entity answered.
“They are perfect and may be what we need to make this work…” Izuku answered, and with his eyes closed he neared the dead bugs to his face until they touched his forehead.
“I give thanks to you for being my Ingredients, please help me save young Miss Su.” he muttered, and under old man Sun’s disbelieving eyes, those dead bugs briefly gave a shy spark of light.
“They will help. I will start immediately!” Izuku declared in determination, and with a fast swipe of his knife, the outer shell, the legs and the heads of the bugs were removed.
The remaining meat was then cleaned of the blood and the tiny organs removed, then grounded into a paste and put on the fire into a tiny pot where the mixture went stirred nonstop.
“That thing you did, for an instant you formed a connection with the bugs,”
“I can hear the Voice of the Ingredients, and understand their will. I offered them my gratitude following the teachings of Food Honor and Food Etiquette, and in exchange they offered me their help and suggestion of how to better use them for this.” Izuku explained.
“The dead bugs talked to you?”
“They are dead as animals, but they are alive as Ingredients. I always offer my thanks to Ingredients when I cook them, because I am grateful for their becoming part of me once eaten, each and every time I eat I thank them from the bottom of my heart.” he answered, slowly turning the bugs’ meat into a drier and drier mixture as he stirred.
“I think I understand. It does match the beliefs of the Monks of the Beast Kingdom Temple. No Death, only Transformation and Transcendence.” Old Sun commented.
“Icchan that sounded kind of silly, but also nice.” Nejire yawned while stirring awake.
“Was that a good nap?” Izuku asked, smiling gently and looking at the girl still with her head on his lap.
“...Y-Y-Yeah…” finally noticing she not only had got her head on his lap but also turned around in her sleep to bury her face in his stomach (damn, he had rock-hard abs!), she was officially unsure what to do.
“The stew is almost ready, if you want I can prepare your portion without the bug spice.” he answered, smiling gently and not reacting at having her in that position on his lap. Even if her Female Pride did sting a bit about that lack of reaction.
“...Is it good?” she tried asking.
“Do you trust me?”
“Okay.”
“Perfect!”
“You mean we can eat that too?” Old Sun asked.
“While officially made to heal Miss Su, the dish has still been prepared with healing properties in mind and to be extremely nutritious as well. You may not have poison in you, but every other effect will still be good for your body. I promise.” Izuku answered.
“Then I am eager to taste it myself.” the Old man answered.
“Good!” he answered, smiling wide.
Once the stew was finally ready, four dishes went rapidly filled, with old man Sun carefully lifting his granddaughter in a sitting position.
“Here, Little Su. Grandpa found a generous young Sir to cook for us,” he muttered, looking at the very pale girl with eyes filled with unshod tears.
“Ehm, shouldn’t you try it first?” Izuku said.
“Uh?”
“You said you are a master in Elixir Making, yes? You are then the best one to tell if it will work.” Izuku said.
“You are right. Please allow me…” the old man said while trying both meat and vegetables and then the broth.
“Host? The System has already analyzed the stew and declared it a 100% success, why asking for this man’s opinion?” the Entity asked.
“Me and you know it will work, but he doesn’t. It’s a way to gain his trust, his desperation should not force him to blindly trust the first guy passing by offering a solution.” the young Chef thought in answer.
“Oh my! The taste is sublime! Even beyond the chefs at the Phoenix Palace Restaurant! I dare say...UH?!” Old Man Sun’s praise stopped abruptly when he felt every cell in his body shake in unrestrained energy.
“T-This fluctuation! Can it be?!” The surge of power he felt radiating from his chest was immense, soon making a faint golden aura cover his entire being.
Moving from a formal sitting position on his knees to a cross-legged meditation pose, the old man circled that storm of energy through every corner of his body, through every pathway of his Qi.
“...What is he doing now?” Nejire asked.
“This man is doing what in this world is called Cultivation. It can be summarized as him circling his Life Energy through his body to strengthen it and purifying each and every cell so to bring his body, soul and mind to a higher state of being and gain greater strength and power.” the System answered, and for the first time, it was not only Izuku to hear the Entity’s voice.
“Was that…” Nejire asked, amazed.
“My Sponsor, yes.”
“That voice was really inhuman.”
“I got used to it.” the Chef answered, and at the same time the light around old Sun’s body turned from gold to pure-white, and when that aura faded away, both teens felt like everything around them, pretty much Reality itself, shuddered slightly, as if stretching to accommodate Sun’s own presence in the Universe, before everything returned to normal.
“A Breakthrough...After all these years of stagnation...I achieved a Breakthrough thanks to your stew.” Sun muttered while locking eyes with Izuku, and the young Chef could see tears rapidly mount in the old man’s eyes.
To the two Travelers’ shock, Sun moved into a deep bow, leaning down until his forehead was glued to the floor before letting his tears run free.
“Sun-san!” both yelled at the same time with wide eyes.
“My old wounds, scars and crippling blows no experts could heal, gone. My stagnating Cultivation, uplifted into a Breakthrough, and even my own illness...Everything is fading away thanks to you! You gave to this old fool a second chance without asking anything in exchange! And as I suspect, my granddaughter too will heal thanks to your food, a miracle I thought only the personal Doctors of the Emperor were capable of! Whatever you want in exchange, just ask and Old Sun will give it to you! Everything! Even my own life!” the old man answered with a tone of absolute gratitude, unaware that his features had turned slightly younger as well.
“We’ll talk about it later, for now we need to feed the stew to Miss Su, she needs it more than anybody else!” Izuku answered, already bringing the young woman’s dish to her mouth.
“OF COURSE! Please, allow me!” Sun answered, snapping out of his amazement to immediately move to help the barely-conscious woman eating her fill.
The next day -
Young Su Mu-Cheng did not know where she was, she only felt a strange lightness encompassing her whole body, a sense of weightlessness and inner peace she found very enjoyable; too bad the glare of the sun shining on her eyes managed to cut through the most peaceful sleep she had in a long time and forcing her to open her eyes so to better send her hateful scowl to the accursed fireball in the sky...
And meet the tear-stained eyes of her beloved grandpa, and as soon as their eyes met, she saw any form of reason abandon the kind old man to allow maddening euphoria to take full control.
“YOU ARE ALIVE! MY LITTLE SU CAME BACK TO ME! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” The laugh that echoed in the young woman’s ears was full of relief, and unfortunately the hug that followed said laugh was so tight Su feared her bones would be turned to dust.
“W-What is happening!?” she finally asked.
“It’s a long story, Miss.” The answer came from another person, as her grandfather was too occupied with his weeping at her return to actually talk.
“Where am I? And who are you?” she asked.
“As I said, it’s kind of a long story.” the young green-haired man answered with a sheepish, and dare she say it, a supremely adorable expression.
Whatever that story was, Su felt like she really REALLY needed to hear about it!
(Tremble in fear in front of the mighty Shiro! <3 )
This is the first part of 2. I don’t know how it came this long...Don’t get used to it! XD
This Arc will be centered on the “ Wuxia/Xianxia” Genre.
The one after this, that will come later, will be Sci-Fi…
Then there will be Western Fantasy.
Then “Fighting World” (Think Street Fighter ).
Then I will mix and match every genre.
Heck, I may even do some small crossover...I don’t know!
Extra Chapter – Dimensional Ingredient Hunts! (Happen between chapters) -
Minotaur Spicy Noodles!
Author Note:
I had to remove this Omake because it was attracting too much attention because it has been bought to my attention that I interpreted Snapdragon's character wrong, among other missteps I took while writing this omake.
I won't go into more details because I don't want to be dragged into that Social Minefield.
Let me just say this: The Omake was not written with malice, just like with successive Omakes, it was just meant as parody, not a show of hatred.
This is me "killing" the issue, a boon so to speak, to close any possible discussion before it even starts.
More I won't say or do, b ut this is no longer important, I understood I was not supposed to leave my own views influence my writing so much in this Omake.
This is my way of making amends, don't ask more for I won't give more.
Have a nice day, that's all I ask.
Chapter 14: Dimensional travel Arc part 3: The Strength of the King.
Summary:
It is finally time for Su Mu-Cheng to get her revenge for the death of her father, and for Izuku to put his hands on the Ingredient and Recipe the System asked him to retrieve, the Wuxia Arc is finally reaching its climax!
Notes:
Final part of the "Wuxia World Arc" detailing the Adventures of Nejire and Izuku in another dimension. there is a small easter egg hidden in this chapter, in the names of the various characters that appear...I wonder if somebody will catch it XD
this chapter too came out pretty long...I apologize.
(Please don't get angry at Nejire)
Chapter Text
If you read this, the Chapter has been fixed by my Beta-Reader Dmale, my savior and possessor of BigDick Chad energy that managed to fix my story into proper English.
Thank you, my man! 🙂
A Chef Rebirth chapter 14: Dimensional travel Arc part 3: The Strength of the King.
Home Dimension - Kurogiri’s Bar – Secondary HQ of the League of Villains -
The living-smoke-like Nomu Kurogiri was looking silently the sleeping and utterly broken form of Shigaraki lying immobile on the bed, still out cold thanks to All for One’s personal doctor filling him in so much pain killers it was a miracle those drugs had not fully took the place of the guy’s blood in his veins.
“Hoy! Himiko fainted again! What should I do with her?” Dabi’s voice echoed from outside the man-child room, and it sounded extremely annoyed.
“Drop her in her bedroom, she’ll wake-up sooner or later. Hopefully.” Kurogiri answered, uninterested.
“You know? When I met her I thought she would have become one of us right away, not that I would have had to play babysitter until she finally caved! Your Training is taking too long to break her!” Dabi answered, and with how hard he was breathing, it was clear he was dragging around something heavy.
“She will get around, eventually. As for you, we all have to make sacrifices! Now take her to her room and stop complaining! We need her and her Quirk, so do your job.”
“I will...I will…”
BLEEEEUARGH!
“Oooh! Goddamnit she puked on me again! And half-digested blood this time! SHIIIIT!” Dabi shrieked as a LOUD splashing noise echoed from outside Shigaraki’s room.
“I’ll be the one mopping that, so man-up, stop complaining and do as you are told. And once you have done dropping her off, have that new recruit move here asap! They had enough time to make a decision.” Kurogiri answered.
“Urgh! Okay...Okay...I drop this bastard in her room...T-Take a shower and-BLUU AAAAARGH!`` A second loud splashing sound cut the man’s answer as this time HE violently emptied his stomach.
“...Just go wash yourself, I’ll take care of that too.”
“Urgh...T-Thank you…” Dabi answered with a weak groan, and with steps sounding disgustingly wet, he moved away dragging the unconscious Himiko on his back to her room.
“Okay...So...Shigaraki is still out cold...Dabi is way too recognizable and with zero stealth abilities, and the only one of us with a Quirk suitable for infiltration won’t get up before a good three days of overdose and random seizure fits...Fine!...I will call the little spy we have in UA and remind him that if he doesn’t help us he will lose that pretty Quirk Master gave him. It is about time the investments here start showing some returns! Himiko and that kid are starting to look like they are not worth the effort!...Why do people have to be so difficult?” Kurogiri muttered with a sigh of dismay, already regretting going along with Shigaraki's little revenge plan against that strange Quirkless Chef.
How can their Luck be so bad even a powerless Chef becomes such a big ordeal for them?
Meanwhile – UA Dormitories -
How can a Chef be such a big ordeal for her?
‘This can’t continue.’ those were the words echoing over and over inside Ochako’s head as she sat at her desk in the middle of the night, staring at the blank page in front of her, she was looking at it even too intensely, but she did not dare to let her eyes wander around her room...Lest her eyes landed on her waitress uniform…
The pretty emerald-green uniform topped by a frilly white apron with her name on the heart area inside the green outline of a cloud…
The uniform that kept making her mind wander back to her part-time job in a small homely Restaurant…
So that she won’t think about the owner and Chef of that Restaurant.
It was supposed to be simple: go work there, know the Owner of the place and understand that that curious prickle of warmth she felt when the Lord Dog came to her rescue was only gratitude she felt for Momo’s BOYFRIEND sending help and saving her life and return her life to normal.
Because that was all it was! Gratitude! Plain and simple gratitude for having what would later become her best friend’s boyfriend saving her life!
A! SIMPLE! PLAN! Get the job (and the surprisingly-generous pay it offered), know the guy, become friends and squash dead every possible feelings beside friendship or ‘You are my Brother in all but blood’ connection her stubborn heart was inclined to plant in her subconscious after he saved her life!...Even if at the time he and Momo were actually not in a relationship still...The thing became official only later.
But the Timeline was not important! Even if it all hangs on Izuku knowing Momo before her, that was not important. Ochako took the job with the express purpose of killing prematurely any chance she may actually be attracted to the guy!
To the guy and his adorable laugh!
Or his wit!
Or his poor jokes, and his ability to laugh at HER poor jokes, a mystery in itself.
Or his fanboying whenever she talked with him about her studies, and his utterly sincere praises to her abilities. That was always a nice Self-Esteem Boost.
Or how they shared the same taste in music and movies! (she also needed to remember to return the CD he gave her to try, he was right: Track 3, 5 and 7 really slapped!)
Or to those amazing vibrant eyes of his, she could swear she saw them actually sparkle when light hit them at the right angle!
Or to his calloused and warm hands that could either move fluid like water or be steady like rocks…
...Did she mention those adorable freckles he has? And how they tended to stand-out a bit more when he got flustered? Like tiny constellations!
Then there was that time where he first taught her how to make mochi where she ended-up with a smudge of bean paste on the tip of her nose and he let out a very cute chuckle while wiping her nose clean and…
“Shit.” the girl’s whispered curse came out as a hiss while she forcefully stopped that particular train of thought.
“You are not helping!” she uttered while glaring at her chest, and she will forever remark, if asked, that her Heart DID give two louder-than-normal beats in answer to her accusation that sounded suspiciously similar to the words ‘Screw You.’.
“It’s easy! I will write a letter where I formally leave the job and then I will forget about him...I will write it right now even!” she said to psyche herself up.
A nicely-written and worded letter were she thanks Izuku for the good memories they shared, for the opportunity he gave her in taking her as his Waitress, for the work experience she had collected...For the laughs they shared...For the times when she randomly burst to tears after the USJ incident and he just hugged her while telling her everything was alright...And the nice and supportive messages he sent her...And for all the times he did not bat an eye but promptly answered her phone calls whenever she called him at 4 AM because a new nightmare of the attack woke her up so to keep her company until she fell asleep again...Fo-For all the Autographs she managed to collect by working for him, l-l-like the Selfie she managed to take with Thirteen he printed and had the Space Hero sign for her...For all the time he ‘casually’ cooked more food than necessary and begged her to bring back home for free so to not waste it...A-A-And the smiles a-and l-laughs and good m-memories and…
“Ah, there goes another page...I need a new one…” the girl muttered with a shaky smile as she crumpled the now wet piece of paper to take a new one.
“It should not be so hard!” she said, hugging her knees to her chest so as to bury her face in there.
“I am sorry I can’t continue working for you because...because…” Ochako tried reciting with a steady voice before her tone again dropped onto a shaky whisper.
“Because I am afraid that if I continue working here I will seriously fall in Love with you…” she then admitted with her face gaining an adorable shade of red.
“...Would it be that bad, though?…” Momo was a strong woman after all, she would surely bounce ba-
“As it turns out, yes. Yes it would be bad.” Momo said from behind her, and Ochako’s blood and innards for an instant condensed into a single solid block of ice as she slowly turned around to see the tall young woman level on her a stare that had no soul behind, only two orbs of steel that took place of the normally-warm eyes of the Yaoyorozu Heiress and that were now firmly locked on Ochako’s chocolate ones.
“Your door was slightly ajar and I could hear you sniffle, so I thought to check on who I believed was a friend in distress. I was mistaken.” the young woman explained with a tone even colder than the ice Shoto could summon.
Clad only in a baggy pajama the other girls knew was a tactic to hide Momo’s generous assets from view should she wander the corridors at night, and with her hair left untied in a mesmerizing cascade of silky strands, stood the, admittedly, only obstacle between Ochako and a normal form of Romance between herself and the young Chef she worked with/for...And by the looks of how HARD Momo’s hands were clenching her own hips while she glared at her traitorous friend, the Hero Student Creati was barely holding back herself from creating something heavy with the only purpose of bashing Ochako’s skull open hard enough to repaint the entire room in a wonderful shade of Uravity’s Gray matter.
“We need to talk.” That is all Momo said, scowling, and for maybe the first time since the USJ Incident, Ochako wished there was actually that Nomu thing in front of her once again in place of that angry Girlfriend.
Because she was sure she could actually reason with the Nomu.
Other Dimension - Starlight City – Forest around the city -
Once debriefed Su Mu-Cheng about Izuku and Nejire, and especially on the Chef’s abilities, a plan was rapidly drafted between the two Travelers and the destitute, and yet still legally-legit, Heiress and Elder of the Mu-Cheng Clan.
Since both old man Sun and his granddaughter did owe Izuku their life, and since one of the Chef’s Mission Objectives coincided with Sun and Su’s own quest for Justice and Revenge, the four of them agreed on working together.
Su Mu-Cheng will openly challenge her cousin Chacha during the finals of the Tournament the Emperor organized to celebrate the 1000 years anniversary since the birth of Starlight City, and win the fight so to achieve two things: Izuku and Nejire will get the Thunder Phoenix while Sun and Su will have the chance of meeting the normally-reserved Emperor in person to beg the man for Justice by presenting him the proof old man Sun collected detailing everything the current head of the Mu-Cheng Clan did to take over and the Prince direct involvement in it…
This in the hopes that the Emperor himself was not funding and endorsing the entire thing to begin with, once asked by Nejire Sun had admitted that even with his newfound power from his Breakthrough he wasn’t sure he won’t die from sheer sorrow at seeing how deep the betrayal against one of his sons actually ran.
Luckily Su Mu-Cheng was not truly alone, and there enters her childhood friend Jun...Or Fatty Jun as the more unkind people called him, and yet the short guy did not give a damn about it.
“Fatty Jun, Jun, Jun of the Heaven-Defying fat ass or just Jun Mo-Xie, what does it matter? I am still me! Calling a rose Shit won’t change its scent, nor calling a man FAT will change his character! I am fat because I want to! Because I LOVE to eat good food and drink good wine! I wouldn’t be a man if I could not live with the consequences of my actions! And also...This Amazing physique took me years to develop! How can I not be proud of it? Bwahahahahaha!” the ball-shaped short man answered, making his entire body tremble like jelly on the notes of his jolly laughter.
“I mean, that's one way of looking at it?” Izuku admitted, perplexed.
“See? You understand! That puts you WAAAAY above those narrow-minded young fools back in the city! Now, if only my older brothers, the Mighty ‘Champions of the Mo-Xie Clan’, could understand too, I would reach Eternal Happiness!” Jun answered.
“As long as you are happy!” Nejire answered, chuckling.
“Very much so, Miss. This is not fat, this is condensed happiness!” he replied while loudly slapping his belly.
“Oh, yes, you have so much happiness in there you need to roll out of bed instead of walking!” Su answered.
“Wuwuwuwu! Big Sister Su is still so merciless! Even after her beloved Brother Jun went out of his way to find a new sword for her to use and a battle dress for her to wear...That stuff was not cheap, you know? I had to anger quite a few Young Masters down at the auction house to get them!” the fat young man answered with a whine.
“Did they ask if you were courting death?” Nejire asked.
“Why, yes! You were there too?” he answered, impressed.
“Nope!” she answered, smirking, while next to her Izuku was valiantly trying to bite back his laughter.
“We are just hearing it quite often ever since we got here, that is all.” she explained with a clearly-fake innocent smile.
“While all this is very interesting, and curiously almost insulting, we have more pressing matters to focus on: Little Su’s training and Sir Izuku’s own Mission from his Sect.” old man Sun barged in the discussion with a no-nonsense demeanor.
Under Nejire’s suggestion, Izuku had explained their being there specifically looking for both the Phoenix and the recipe of a local delicacy as a Mission of sort of the Sect they both hailed from, a set of terminology the young woman was surprisingly swift in learning from the tidbits they both heard from the people around them to create a cover story clearly more believable than ‘An Extra-Dimensional Entity sent me here’.
“Well, I need to train to recover my lost strength for the Challenge against Chacha! We only have three days before the finals and they are clearly stuffing her full of Elixirs and Pills to speed-up her Cultivation. But rest assured: Natural Talent won’t lose to Cheating this time!” Su promised with blazing eyes.
“We will help you train as well,” Nejire promised.
“Thank you, Miss Nejire.” the other woman answered, grateful.
“While you do all that hard work you Cultivating Maniacs love so much, I will instead do what I do best: Aggravate Assholes and find Good Restaurants. Because I know who to annoy into betting their prized recipes in a cooking contest!” Jun instead declared with his already squinting eyes narrowing further into thin slits of maliciousness.
“Who would that be?” Izuku asked.
“Meng Hao, of course!”
“The owner of the Phoenix Palace Restaurant? He is deemed the best Chef of Starlight city, second only to the Emperor’s personal Chef!” Old Man Sun asked with wide eyes.
“He is also an Egocentric Idiot that is easy to rile-up if you know where to tickle him AND a fellow Gambler like me, with the only difference that I know when to stop, he doesn’t. And we can use that as an opening to make him accept: if I tell him my family will ditch his Restaurant because our new Chef is way better than him, the blow to his pride and the threat of losing the money coming from my family (especially my money since I kind of like what he makes...maybe even too much) will pretty much force him to accept.” Jun explained.
“You would do this for me, Mister Jun?” Izuku asked, touched.
“You saved Big Sister Su from a very terrible fate, you saved maybe the ONLY person in the entire mortal realm that can see beyond the fat to see the real Jun and be my friend just because she wants to...That to me means a lot, and even if I had to spit on the face of Gods to pay you back, I would gladly do it.”
“Thank you then, Mister Jun.” the Chef answered, grateful.
“Stupid Jun. I am your friend just out of pity.” Su answered by slapping the back of the young man’s neck roughly, and somehow that made him chuckle.
“You keep telling yourself that, Big Sister. Then maybe one day you will believe it yourself! Just like you will believe your own lie about you not having a MASSIVE crush on that young weapon-smith down at the celestial forge.”
“S-S-SHUT UP! SHUT UP OR I WILL KICK YOU SO HARD YOU WILL FINALLY TURN SLIM! I DO NOT HAVE A CRUSH ON HIM!” Su shrieked in answer.
“Tsundere?” Izuku muttered.
“Oh, boy! A very bad case!” Nejire confirmed, and both shared a smirk at her flustered face.
“Aaah! Just like her mother, absolute zero experience when it comes to Love.” Old Man Sun muttered with a sad sigh and tear-stained eyes.
“Keep lying to yourself, sister! In the meantime, I will go annoy Meng Hao until he accepts the Challenge. You only focus on being ready at the moment’s notice, Sir Izuku! That fool may even intend to have the fight between you two right away, depending on how annoyed I manage to make him! Bwahahahahahaha!” Jun declared with a loud laugh while running away with such fast and light-weight swiftness one would not believe the guy actually weighed like three people stuck together.
“While we wait for him to return, can I ask Sir Izuku and Miss Nejire to lend us your skills? You may have not been trained as warriors, but I know your strength must still be noteworthy if you could travel here alone.” Sun asked.
“Sure, maybe even Whitey can help.” Izuku answered.
“Thank you, even if I don’t know how a Chef and a Mistress can actually help me,” Su answered with a dubious, and slightly smug tone…
She will soon regret those words when between Nejire’s Spiral Cannon and her Quirk’s other attacks and Izuku’s Knocking and other assorted techniques the Cultivator will be forced to play defensively way more than she anticipated. And the bruises, lots and lots of painful bruises.
The Next Day – Starlight City – In front of the Phoenix Palace Restaurant -
Izuku, in his life as Zaus, had seen plenty of restaurants both in the Human and in the Gourmet World: minimalist, rustic, modern, classic, futuristic, themed and so on so forth...And even after all those years, he could not help grimace, or even cringe, whenever he met a Restaurant that could only be described as Flamboyant, if one wanted to be really, really gentle about it.
The Phoenix Palace Restaurant was so Flamboyant it hurt his eyes, and that was literal: a five story pagoda covered by golden metal that was clearly shined daily to make sure walls and tiles did reflect the sun’s light as much as possible so to seem like the building was made of pure light.
Then there were the GIANT paintings of blood-red phoenixes adorning the front of the building and the door shaped like a giant dragon head with its maw stretched open to accommodate in its throat the two massive golden doors covered entirely in drawings of flowers; then lanterns, bells and banners finished decorating the front entrance of the place.
“Even calling it gaudy doesn’t make it justice.” Izuku muttered, he was feeling his skin crawl whenever his eyes strayed away from the open doors.
“My eyes are hurting, Icchan.” Nejire admitted, actually squinting a bit to fight off the glare of the sunlight reflecting from the building’s gold coating.
“Yes, it’s a bit on the flashy side. That is why I come here for dinner only, less light reflecting everywhere threatening to burn my eyes into a crisp. Unfortunately old bastard Meng knew what he was doing when he took over this place, at this hour of the day the light hits his restaurant just right to blind half the city in his own way to remind everybody where to find him if they want to eat well.” Jun answered while shielding his eyes with a hand.
“And people still come here for lunch?” Izuku asked, appalled.
“Food’s good, that’s all that matters to them, they just need to shield their eyes long enough to enter, come, let’s get in before a stray ray of light incinerates us.” Jun answered while guiding both inside.
Gold. There was gold everywhere inside, enough to be just as eye-catching as the outside.
“Is it all real gold?” Nejire asked, appalled.
“Heavens no! Meng just knows a good alchemist, that girl knows how to create a paint that replicates gold’s own color and glints to perfection, enough that petty thieves are often caught trying to peel some off. She makes it only for him, fortunately. Even the Emperor himself banned the usage of this blasted thing outside of the Restaurant's own exterior.”
“Thank God! Where is Mister Meng?” Izuku asked.
“I am here, youngster!” a deep, gravely voice answered as a giant of a man with silver hair walked towards him.
The owner of the Restaurant was just as curious as his Restaurant: the tall (a bit more than two meters and a half tall) body was big and muscled while the head was small and wrinkled, just by looking it seemed like somebody photoshopped an old man’s head on a thirty-something bodybuilder’s body.
“He is a Golden Sun Core Cultivator, so be careful.” Jun whispered.
“Okay?” Izuku whispered back, they had tried countless times explaining to him how Cultivation Levels worked, and to the Chef it still sounded needlessly complicated, especially with all the edgy names the various levels had.
“I am Level 2, that’s it! Easy, simple, clearly understandable if one needed to put it on scale...Why did they have to make it so complex instead?!” the young man thought in misery.
“So this is my Challenger? He still smells of tits’ milk! I thought I was supposed to fight a Master!” Meng hissed in contempt.
“Hohoho! Yeah, it’s that pride that always makes sure you lose everything with the dices!” Jun answered, laughing.
“Junior, you dare?! The last six times were just bad luck!” the man roared in answer.
“My being young should not be an issue, please. We are both Chefs, it’s a matter of skills not brute strength,” Izuku answered with a tired begging tone.
“Youngsters these days! You think you can win only out of being you-KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Meng’s annoying tirade against young people died messily when Izuku’s hand closed tight around the man’s testicles and squeezed hard, and he then further shocked the others by lifting the guy from the floor with that same hand no matter Meng being twice Izuku’s size.
“I have it up here with your people’s boisterous talks! Everywhere we go is full of guys and girls going ‘Kowtow!’,‘Courting Death!’ or ‘I am this Level or that Level!’ get to the kitchen and cook, goddamnit! I am not here to listen to you prattling!” the young Chef ordered, squeezing even harder.
“I WILL! I WILL! I AM SORRY! STOP! YOU WILL SQUISH THEM! STOOOOOP!” Meng begged with a high-pitched chipmunk voice.
“Good.” he answered after dropping the tall man.
“Oh, God...Oh, God I can’t feel them anymore…” the man squeaked while walking bowlegged towards the area he prepared for the Challenge.
“I know I should reprimand you and tell you to be calm…” Nejire started saying.
“But?”
“But if another Young Master approaches me to get me to join his Harem by citing their Clan Name and Cultivation Level or whatever I WILL start blasting people. This world is aggravating.” she admitted in shame.
“And you haven’t seen High Guardian Academy or Beacon…” the Chef muttered.
“What?”
“Nothing, just bad memories. Let’s go.”
“If you say so,” she answered, shrugging helplessly.
Two wide tables had been prepared in the middle of the restaurant, in an area the owner created by moving away most of the tables besides the two where the four judges will sit and try the dishes the two Chefs will prepare; in the name of fairness, Jun selected two judges while Meng Hao selected the other two, and all four of them were already looking at the two Chefs with calculative gazes.
“Can we trust them? If I lose, I want to lose because I was not good enough, not because, you know,”
“Because the opponent cheated?” Jun asked.
“Yes.”
“Have no fear. This challenge is a matter of honor, I choose Meng Hao because I know that while prideful, he also values his own honor. He won’t accept a victory through cheating, and since I personally know the guy and girl he has chosen, I also know that they will judge fairly.”
“Good, thank you, Mister Jun.” Izuku answered, sighing in relief.
“You just go and show him how it’s done, Izuku! Give it your all!” the fat guy replied with a strong slap to the Chef’s back that made him stumble a little forward.
“You can do it, Icchan!” Nejire cheered aloud for her friend.
When both Chefs took place at their own work-station, Jun himself addressed the crowd slowly forming inside and outside the restaurant with a blinding wide smile.
“WELCOME! WELCOME ESTEEMED GUESTS TO THIS AMAZING COOKING CHALLENGE!” the young man yelled with a dramatic flourish that made his wide belly jiggle violently.
“Today we are here to partake in a Battle fought not with mighty fists or Qi Arts, but with a more mundane, elegant and yet equally-precise skill: Cooking!” Jun said, basking in the cheering of the crowd.
“A mysterious young Traveler has recently reached our beautiful Starlight City while on a long, strenuous quest: become the world greatest Chef! To prove that the Dao of Cooking he himself embraces is unmatched! Then who’s a better Opponent than Meng Hao himself, the greatest Chef of Starlight City second only to the Legendary Heavenly Chef cooking exclusively for the Emperor in person?! Well! We are about to find out if our Challenger truly is a worthy opponent!” Jun said while opening his arms wide.
“He is lying it a bit thick…” Izuku muttered.
“Let him, poor guy, is a naturally-born showman and nobody ever let him enjoy it, and a bit of Hype is good, it keeps the audience focused on the action.” Meng answered, smirking.
“True.”
“So! The Challenge is actually quite easy: Both contestants have to choose a single ingredient and create three different Dishes with it! It will be then up to our judges to decide who won and who lost! A big applause to our esteemed judges!” Jun finished his speech while moving an arm to the two men and two women acting as judges that gave a regal bow to the audience once introduced.
“Amazing! Now! What Dishes will be prepared, I wonder.” Jun asked the two.
“Of course I will prepare the three most famous dishes of my restaurant! The Roasted Wings of the Golden Phoenix, the Thousand Spices Soup and my personal favourite: Burning Devils’ legs. All made by using the tender meat of the Celestial Beast known as Inferno Bird.” Meng Hao declared with a fanged smile, for the awe of the crowd.
“Which is?” Nejire muttered.
“Listening to the System, it’s basically a carnivorous chicken big as a pig and perennially covered in fire. Its meat is very spicy by itself, so most of the skill required is in removing enough spiciness to make it edible.” Izuku whispered back in answer.
“Oh! Is it that thing we captured before going up that mountain?”
“Yep! The thing that tried eating you, yes.”
“A truly amazing choice, what about you, Chef Izuku?” Jun asked.
“I will use the Celestial Bull Conqueror,” he answered.
“...The monster of Starlight Forest?” Jun asked with a faint voice.
“Wasn’t very monstrous, just big.” Izuku answered while summoning from the System’s storage a collection of various cuts of meat very dark-red in colour.
“Or at least it wasn’t that monstrous when Shiro just dragged the beaten-to-death thing by the tail into our small camp yesterday while we helped Miss Su training…” he then thought once remembered how giant that colossal (six meters tall) bull looked compared to the tiny white fluff-ball. Izuku was starting to wonder how strong the adorable pet still asleep around his neck actually was.
Many experts gave a strangled choking gasp in answer to that claim they couldn’t even declare ballsy, since they all knew the stories of that bull terrorizing three fourths of the area around the city, of the giant single bull that even alone was the bane of Starlight City’s mighty Army.
“And what will you make with it?”
“What question is that? Spicy Beef Noodles of course! Oh! And Celestial Bull Conqueror Filet Mignon with Fire Bird’s Egg Omurice and Celestial Bull’s Sweet-N-Sour Ribs!” he answered with a wide smile.
“You actually caught that blasted thing to use it as an Ingredient...You are strong, aren't you, kid?” Meng said with a low chuckle.
“Kinda?” Izuku answered with a shy smile.
“...BWAHAHAHAHA! That Fatty Bastard Jun tricked me! BWAHAHAHAHA!”
“Uh?!”
“Aah, it’s okay. When he came to me, Jun sold you as a ‘wet behind the ears’ young Chef trying to make a name for himself by challenging me, and I fell for it! Bwahahahaha!” Meng admitted with a long laugh.
“Mister Jun!” Izuku said with a gasp.
“Sorry! I had to prey on his Ego!” Jun answered, chuckling amused.
“Ah, screw you, I am not that prideful. But at least I now know I can go all-out in this little Challenge! Ah! So? Are you judges ready to eat some one-of-a-kind meat? This kid really got his hands on that Monster Bull!” Meng said with a wide, amused smile.
“Really?!” the crowd asked as one in shock.
“On my honor as a Chef and man!” Meng answered while puffing-out his chest.
“Oh Gods! I am going to eat some legendary meat for free! AH-HA! Eat your heart out, Long Chen! I AM THE JUDGE! Not you!” one of the judges declared in unbearable pride.
“SCREW YOU!” somebody from the crowd roared in answer.
“Relax, my friends! Be quiet and let these Masters work, because the battle starts NOW!” Jun answered, and with his last scream both Chefs immediately assaulted their chosen ingredient.
While Meng started plucking away the feathers of the giant monster chicken, Izuku started by rinsing his bull ribs with running water to then transfer them to a large pot he then filled in fresh clear water until the meat went covered.
“How are you making them?” Nejire asked, curious.
“I am following the original ‘tang cu xiao pai’ recipe from Shanghai. Only with bull meat instead of pork.” Izuku answered.
“Oooh!”
“I will use your shaoxing wine if you don’t mind!” he said, uncorking a bottle covered in carvings of animals Whitey took for him from Meng’s storage room.
“Uh? Okay! Just be careful, that is from one of my best batches, don’t you dare ruin or waste it!” the other answered, growling.
“Have no fear, I know what I am doing.” the young man answered, and once put aside a generous glass of said wine, he moved to cut the ginger into thin stripes, a couple green onions into tiny cubes and added those with some of the wine to the pot, everything topped by some star anise and minced chili pepper.
“Okay, while I wait for it to start boiling so to blanch the meat, I will prepare the noodles.” Izuku declared after putting a lid to the pot.
“Need a hand, Icchan?” Nejire asked.
“If you don’t mind, some water please!” the Chef answered while gathering the flour.
“Here it is!” she answered, already with a big pitcher of water in her hands.
“So fast!” he admitted with wide eyes.
“Hehehe!”
“Hn! Good technique,” Meng admitted, watching in satisfaction his challenger taking a very short time to mix and knead a perfectly-smooth ball of dough.
“Thanks, and you were not kidding, you really will use a lot of spices for your soup!” Izuku answered, smiling wide. He had just left the dough to rest on a side and was rapidly removing the foam from on top of the meat pot with a ladle while he talked.
“You’ll see! It will taste just as good as it looks!” Meng answered, smugly.
Finally done with the boiling, the bull ribs went transferred to a colander to drain while the remaining broth went filtered to remove ginger, green onion, star anise, chili pepper and any other residuals; Meng in the meantime finished covering the chicken wings with the marinade mixture he had prepared so to put them aside for the moment.
“What about the meat? The filet thingy.” Nejire asked.
“The filet Mignon? That will be the easier dish, kinda. I have already cut them into shape and put the meat under marinade. I will need to prepare the Omurice for last since letting it turn cold will ruin the taste.” Izuku answered.
“Aaah! Omurice! How I love it!” she admitted.
“Good to know! I will make your portion extra large then!”
“Thank you!” Nejire answered with a sing-song voice, and boldly kissed his cheek that immediately turned him redder than a tomato, all for her amusement.
Even with his face reaching the melting temperature of steel out of embarrassment, Izuku’s cooking skills didn’t suffer a bit, and after mixing black vinegar and light soy sauce in a small bowl, he moved to the next step of his ribs recipe.
“Peanut oil and sugar…” he muttered, collecting both ingredients from the System’s storage and adding both to a wok already set on the fire at medium heat.
“Are you going to fry them in sugar?” Nejire asked, confused.
“Surprising, isn’t it? And yet it’s a fundamental part of the recipe.” Izuku answered, chuckling, he was stirring constantly with a spatula to dissolve the sugar slowly, and once sure that the mixture had the right consistency and gained a uniform pale yellow colour and smooth texture, he immediately and carefully added the ribs to the wok.
Meng in the meantime had recovered the legs from their own marinade and had started roasting them on the thin metal grill he had prepared over some red-hot stones, soon making the mesmerizing sound of the legs’ fat dripping and sizzling on the hot stones fill the room followed right after by the mouth-watering smell of roasting meat.
“...What’s important is stirring constantly to coat them well with melted sugar, until the ribs turn golden brown, then you turn off the heat.” Izuku explained aloud.
“Ookay,” Nejire answered while taking notes on a small pad her friend gave her.
“Write that down, write that down.” Meng instructed one of his assistants with a whisper.
“Yessir.” the girl answered with a nod, she too wrote down everything on a piece of parchment.
A short time later -
“Finally!” With a cheerful laugh while tilting the wok, Izuku used a spatula to place the ribs on one side of the wok so as to freely scoop out the extra oil and transfer it into a small bowl, until only about a single tablespoon of oil remained.
“Now, this is the final step, and it’s a very delicate one,” Izuku said, adding more wood to the fire under his workstation to raise the fire’s intensity to medium-high heat.
Moving a hand to hover above the wok, Izuku checked the temperature, and as soon as he was satisfied, he added the vinegar and soy sauce mixture over the ribs and quickly stirred them until the resulting sauce reduced and turned thick enough to coat the ribs.
“Done! Now some garnish of chopped green onion, and they are ready!” Izuku finally declared, adding the tiny green flecks of onion to the various plates of ribs he prepared.
“Oooh! They look delicious!” one of the judges admitted in surprise once she got her portion delivered.
“Here are my Sweet and sour bull ribs. Please enjoy.”
“The meat of that living nightmare...I wonder how such a scary monster will taste…” a male judge said while lifting one of the ribs with a pair of jade chopsticks and plopping it whole in his mouth.
Squiiish!
“Oh-Oooh!” The answer was: delicious, and the man’s moan at the taste showed it!
“The meat itself is just so springy and tasty! FUCK! I think I have bitten through the bone without noticing, but I can’t stop chewing!” another judge admitted, and while throwing away her composure, the lady kept filling her mouth in ribs until her cheeks bulged-out like a hamster and then munching the giant mouthful voraciously with LOUD cracking sounds echoing in the room since she did decide to eat the bones as well so to not risk wasting even a single atom of meat.
“I’ll be damned, boy! This is good! And it goes well with wine too! Ha-ah!” Meng admitted with a loud laugh, he just kept eating ribs and drinking big dishes of wine and by the time his plate was empty the guy’s face had taken a vibrant red colour.
“Ehm...Your legs?” Izuku answered.
“OH, FUCK!” Meng shrieked in horror at his slip-up, luckily his own dish still came-out perfect no matter his small moment of distraction.
“Here they are, my spicy Inferno Bird drumsticks! The Burning Devils’ legs!”Meng declared proudly while delivering the portions of his own dish.
“Aaah! So spicy! So goood!” Izuku admitted with shining eyes while eating.
“No nit-picking? No looking for errors to put me down? I am your Opponent, you know?” Meng asked, surprised.
“I know we are having a Challenge, but I am a Chef first and foremost! I care about the final dish and seeing the Ingredients being respected and handled properly. And you did an amazing job at that!” he answered.
“Oh...Thank you. So you really liked them?”
“I loved them! Do we move to the next dish?” Izuku asked.
“Ah! Yes, yes. Of course!” Meng replied.
“My word...Choosing a winner will be so hard!” one of the judges admitted.
“Never eaten so well before, Meng should get challenged more often, he is cooking even better than usual!” another said.
“The stranger is a damn big surprise too, so young and cooking like that?! That’s a prodigy alright!”
What followed was Izuku’s Spicy beef noodles (Lord Dog’s seal of approval) against Meng Hao’s spice-full chicken soup, and this time as well, judging by the loud slurping sounds coming from the judges’ table, both dishes were so good manners went thrown out of the window without a second thought as the two men and two women shamelessly licked their plates clean.
“I think this round is on you…” Meng muttered with a bitter voice.
“Uhm?” Izuku, already moving to have seconds of the guy’s soup, asked.
“Nothing, nothing. Finish that second portion of soup you took, then we will move to our final dish.”
“Thanks!”
“...Who taught you, though? You use some exotic techniques and your speed makes Golden Core Cultivators like me look slow. This is ignoring the ridiculous notion that you have got a Divine Treasure Kitchen Knife, of course.”
“My Teacher was a slave-driver. A madman that knew no mercy when training his pupils.” Izuku answered with a wide smile.
“Then he was a good teacher! No Mercy shown means that the Students that survive will be good ones! Bwahahahahaha! My own master was the same, and I remember my hatred for him oh so fondly!” Meng replied while returning to his workstation.
“Boss? Aren’t you being too friendly?” one of the man’s underlings asked, confused.
“I thought he was just a stuck-up brat with too big Ego, what he is instead is a Master of the Kitchen just like me, and Masters respect each other!” he answered with a fanged smile.
“But...But...But he is younger than me!”
“And that means you will need to train harder, now shut up and let me work! My Golden Wings are my pride and joy and I won’t let ANYTHING distract me from preparing a PERFECT Dish!” Meng roared, making his workers scamper away in fear.
Unfortunately, while Izuku was recovering the various cuts of Filet Mignon of the giant monster bull he had put aside, a strange intruder forced his way inside the restaurant to point a bony finger at the Chef with a savage sneer.
“That boy is finished! Meng Hao has no rivals in Starlight City when it comes to cooking!” the very old man declared with a wheezing laugh, he was clad in fiery-red robes left open to show his chest that while extremely muscled was still completely covered in wrinkles.
“Oh, no…It’s Him.” Meng Hao whimpered with an expression of misery.
“I wouldn’t underestimate Icchan, if I were you. He is the King of Chefs.” Nejire answered, nonplussed.
“Foolish brat! He is just a frog at the bottom of a well! He has no idea how harsh the world is outside-”
“Yes, yes. ‘Can’t see Mount Tai’ and all that.” Nejire interrupted him while rolling her eyes.
“NO! I mean, yes, but I was about to say-”
“That thing about Oriole and Cicadas? Or the distance between Heaven and Earth?” she asked, sighing.
Nejire had finally remembered where she had seen a situation like the one both she and Izuku were in unfold, only she saw it happening in one of those Novels her friend Tamaki would read from time to time and that she tried to read too, but while cringe in itself, it was even worse living it in person compared to reading about it!
“Show some respect, brat! This Old Monster is not afraid of administering some discipline to a bimbo like you!” the old man answered, and the Bimbo remark caused Nejire to bristle in fury.
“I was taught to respect my elders, but also to not forget my own self-respect! You are being very rude!” she answered.
“I don’t have to play nice! I am stronger than you, so I can act as I please!” the old man answered, and moved to grab the girl’s neck with a claw-like hand.
“Whitey.”
CLANG!
Without even lifting his eyes from the wok he was cooking with, Izuku gave a gentle order and the robot’s big hand closed fast as lightning around the old man’s wrist to stop him.
“Thank you. All yours, Nejire. Sorry but I can’t look away from the eggs,” the young Chef said while still carefully mixing the eggs he was cooking.
“I am sorry for insinuating that you people talk like a broken record, that was uncalled for and I apologize for my rudeness. But violence is hardly the right answer to it.” The girl, surprisingly, apologized to the old man with a formal bow instead of attacking him.
“Tche! You don’t know how the world works then! Your words can only be amended with your death or me selling you to a brothel! Only then will I be able to save face!” the old warrior answered, this time sending his other hand towards Nejire’s throat with its fingers straight like a blade.
CLANG!
“Troublemaker, cease the attack or you will be stripped as an example to others!” Whitey declared once grabbed that same hand to give Nejire time to fly back and away from the guy.
“…”
“Stripped?” Meng asked, appalled.
“It’s Whitey’s way to teach manners.” Izuku answered, shrugging.
“You want...to sell me...TO A BROTHEL?!” Nejire roared in anger with thick spirals of energy flowing around her like a storm.
“Why? You think you are good for anything else? Besides standing there looking pretty, you don’t really offer much else.”
“THAT’S IT! WHIT-”
“Okay! Screw it! SPIRAL CANNON!” turning almost apoplectic in rage, and interrupting Izuku’s own roar suddenly enough the young Chef painfully bit his tongue, Nejire gave a spectacular scream and, for a lack of better term, pulverized everything in front of her with her strongest attack to date.
The savage storm of energy launched the crowd of onlookers out of the restaurant together with the psychotic old man, and the warriors between that crowd had to activate whatever magical artifact they possessed to protect themselves while still being sent flying.
BOOOOOOM!
“MY RESTAURANT!” Meng shrieked in horror.
“Feeling better?” Izuku asked, looking at her in worry.
“Yes...I...I am sorry about this…I shouldn’t snap like that.” she answered with a mortified tone
Sigh! “I can’t exactly blame you, that was Linley of the Blazing Fists, and while a strong warrior, he is as unpleasant as you can make it. I don’t want him anywhere near my restaurant, but I guess he managed to sneak-in all the same thanks to the ruckus of this Challenge.” Meng Hao answered, sighing.
“If he is that unpleasant, why don't people call him out on his manners?” Izuku asked.
“Because he is a Monster alright, monstrously strong...And He knows he can get away with whatever he does or says just thanks to his strength.”
“That’s unfair!”
“EH! Tell it to all the people he crippled or killed just for a laugh, or while he was drunk, the world is not a nice place.” Meng answered with a miserable expression.
“If he is that dangerous he should be arrested!” Nejire said, appalled.
“Oh, they tried, but there seems to be no prison able to keep him contained for long...And strength like his is too valuable, so many influential families help him stay out of prison in exchange for him taking care of issues they don’t want to fix themselves.”
BOOOM!
To both Travelers’ surprise, old Linley reappeared inside the Restaurant only slightly disheveled from an attack that back home could send even giant Villains fly into dream-land, his robes were now a bit crumpled while he was scowling harshly. But not a bruise could be seen anywhere on him.
“You dare attack me instead of accepting your fate?!”
“I won’t be sold to a brothel just to appease your ego!” Nejire answered, scowling just as hard.
“I decided that that is your fate and that will happen!”
“No. Because the world doesn’t revolve around you! You Villain!” she answered.
“My strength is unmatched, and the World is ruled by the strong, so what I say happens!”
“Not on my watch! I will never leave Justice in the hands of a Selfish man like you!” Nejire answered while once again collecting spirals of energy in both her hands.
“So a mere child dares lift her head in front of me? So be it then! Don’t blame this senior for being merciless! You asked for it!” Linley roared in fury as he dashed forward with both hands covered by pure-black fire.
“SPIRAL CANNON!” Nejire yelled while pouring as much power as she could in the giant storm of energy she shot at the old psycho.
“Burning Palms of the Raging Buddha!” Shockingly, the two-handed palm thrust of the old warrior pushed through the attack with great effort, but he was still soon upon the girl, ready to hit her on the chest with full intention of killing her instantly.
“Goddamnit...Whitey!” Izuku in the meantime gave a tired sigh and asked for his Robot’s help.
“DIE!” Linley roared.
BOOOM!
The sound was atrocious, forcing many members of the crowd to cover their ears in agony as blood faintly dripped from them, but when the smoke cleared, Whitey was in front of Nejire with both Linley’s flaming hands lying flat on his round belly and no damage whatsoever visible from the impact.
Sigh! “Thank you, Icchan.” the girl said with a sigh.
“What?!” the old warrior gasped in shock.
“I would have intervened myself, but I am almost done with the omurice. Whitey has been created to deal with these issues, so it was not a problem asking him to help you. I know you have no need of somebody protecting you, your strength is great in itself, but you will need to forgive me for butting-in still to protect somebody precious to me, sorry but I can’t help it.” Izuku admitted with a shy smile.
“I know, I know, I am not offended.” Nejire answered, smiling wide herself.
Him calling her ‘Precious’ helped as well.
“How dare you ignore me?! I will just smash your puppet to pieces and THEN I will tear apart your precious woman! I will force you to eat her corpse!” Linley declared with crazed eyes.
“Wh-”
“Whitey! I had enough! Strip him!``To Izuku’s surprise, Nejire herself gave the order.
“...Host?”
“You heard the lady, go ahead.” Izuku answered with a helpless shrug.
“FOOL! YOUR TOY CAN’T DEFEAT ME! Life-Ending Palms of the Ashura!” the crazed old warrior yelled as hundreds of hits landed on Whitey’s chest in a single instant.
“Troublemaker has shown no intention of stopping. Initiating Disciplinary Stripping!” On the notes of those words, and while the old man was still hitting him...
Whitey’s big left hand went up…
WHAM!
And then the same hand came down right after in a vertical slap that instantly slammed Linley face-down and buried his body several inches into the floor in a perfect imprint.
“…” nobody present could wrap their heads around what they just saw.
Linley, the Monster of the blazing hands, downed by a single slap, and the ones between them that actually fought the guy and miraculously lived to tell the tale felt both vindicated and humiliated, because that robot made it look so easy to down that human Demon!
STRAAAAAP!
As an added insult, that same hand then teared-off the old warrior’s clothes like nothing, and the crowd knew those robes used to be made with the rare and priceless skin and fur of some high level and hard to kill Demon Beast, and yet the robot managed to tear those like tissue paper. Just the price of replacing those robes made many faint in horror!
“Oh, God! Old man ass!” a youngster in the back shrieked in disgust as the completely naked and unconscious Linley flew past him once thrown outside by Whitey.
“Never heard of pants?!” Nejire shrieked in horror while covering her eyes.
“Apparently not. Just like with personal hygiene, good manners and much more, he never bothered with it.” Meng answered, grimacing in disgust.
“I really hope that slap will be enough to make him drop this and just leave,” Izuku muttered.
“HOW DARE YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!” a howl of madness resounded from outside as a blur flew back into the restaurant.
“Apparently not.” Meng answered, sighing in dismay.
“He is very persistent,”
“You have no idea, my boy!”
“THIS OLD MONSTER WON’T LOSE FACE AGAINST A STUPID PUPPET!” Linley yelled as an aura of thick black flames encased his body, luckily hiding his bits from view.
“The Troublemaker is not backing down and has been branded as a Menace to the Host for his Killing Intent. Entering Battle Mode!” Whitey declared with his monotonous robot voice gaining an icy edge.
“Battle mode?! You can’t defeat me! Taste the Full Power of my secret technique, Toy! Soul rending, Dao destroying, Dantian severing, heart crushing Billion Raging Buddha’s Palms!” Linley roared in mad fury, and upon reaching the robot, the naked old man rained on Whitey’s chest a deluge of hits delivered with such speed it literally looked like a billion hands were attacking the robot at the same time!
Thum! Thum! Thum! Thum! Thum! Thum!...
And still the robot showed no reaction whatsoever, he just stood there with a relaxed posture and waited for the fool to finish his tantrum.
“Troublemaker, please desist, this is humiliating for us both. The Cringe Levels are too high.” Whitey asked.
“SHUT UP!”
“Standing here, I realize…” Nejire hummed to herself, and Izuku could swear he heard that from somewhere before.
“Troublemaker is making a fool of himself, and this Unit won’t permit a Troublemaker to waste the Host’s time with their temper tantrums.” To Linley’s horror, Whitey walked forward through his endless rain of hits and then bent down to grab the old warrior’s right ankle in a lightning-fast fluid motion.
WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!
Without any fancy names being called-out, Whitey simply lifted Linley above his head by the ankle and slammed the guy down on the floor several times so hard the entire restaurant trembled like in an earthquake.
“Had enough?” the Robot asked.
“Ptu! N-N-Not yet!” Linley answered definitely after spitting most of his teeth.
WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!
Once again, Whitey used his old on the man’s ankle to slam him on the floor, in the exact same place so to deepen the body imprint that had formed.
“Had enough?”
“N-N-No!”
WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!
“Had Enough?”
“I-I B-B-B-Barely felt it!”
“Good Heavens…” one of the onlookers muttered in horror.
WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!
“Had Enough?”
“Whitey…” Izuku tried saying.
WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!
“Had Enough?”
“Whitey-chan, I think that’s enough…” Nejire tried saying as well.
WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!
“Had Enough?”
“Is your bodyguard enjoying this?” Meng asked, horrified.
“I don’t know!” Izuku admitted.
WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!
“Had Enough?”
“S-S-S-Stupid puppet!”
“Oh, come on! Are you a masochist?!” Nejire exclaimed in shock.
WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!
“Had Enough?”
“…Y-Y-Yes.” Finally, after several rounds, Linley, or whatever mass of bruises that used to be him, hung limp in the robot’s grasp.
“Good. Will The Troublemaker trouble the Host and his Guest again?” Whitey asked.
“N-N-No, sir...L-L-Linley learned his lesson, Sir…”
“Good. You can leave the premises now.” The Robot declared, lifting the old man again above his head, but this time instead of slamming him down, he threw him, and the once-mighty Linley was simply sent flying away out of the restaurant so fast the old man disappeared beyond the horizon in less than a second.
“Anybody else wishes to aggravate the Host or Miss Nejire?” the robot asked.
“NO, SIRE!” the various people present, and the Young Masters hiding in there now doing everything they could to not stand-out, answered as one.
“Good.”
Sigh! “Sorry about the sorry spectacle. And about your restaurant.” Izuku said with a sorrowful tone.
“Don’t worry, I had already planned for renovations to begin with, your bodyguard just sped-up my schedule a little. Is your dish ready?” Meng Hao answered, having finished wrapping the wings he was working on in edible gold leaf, and having done it with such care every crease of the skin was still present, as if the wings had been naturally made of gold.
“Yes, I am ready, here is my Dish: Celestial Bull Conqueror Filet Mignon with Fire Bird’s Egg Omurice.” Izuku said while presenting the thick disks of perfectly-cut meat topped by the wobbly spheres of golden omelet.
“What is that?” Meng asked.
“The gold I will use to cover the meat, and contrary to yours, my gold will actually be tasty!” Izuku answered, and with a swift movement of his knife he gently punctured each small egg bubble that then ruptured and delicately unfolded to cover the bite-sized portions of filet mignon in a thick cover of golden egg custard interspersed by tiny specks of green herbs and red chilies.
“It really looks very similar to molten gold!” one of the assistants of Meng admitted in surprise.
“SILENCE! God, you don’t have to give a comment about everything that happens!” the giant guy bellowed, annoyed.
“A bit of sauce, and it’s ready.” Izuku finished the dish by topping everything with a spoonful of a delicate sweet-and-sour spicy sauce he made to give the gold a bit of red color.
“Here, try it. My own gold dish!”
“Don’t mind if I do!” Meng answered, using two jade chopsticks to pick up one of the meat disks in his plate and plopping the entire thing in his mouth with an eager expression.
“Ahahaha! Just what I expected from somebody endorsed by old man Sun Mu-Cheng! This thing is damn amazing!” Jun admitted with a jovial laugh after wiping his own plate clean in a matter of seconds.
“He cooked the egg into a salty custard, and managed to create a pocket out of the same egg to contain it, his handling of the ingredient is nothing short of sublime.” one of the judges commented, pleased.
The meat was just melting in the mouth at each bite, a flavour encompassed by the egg cover that while delicate and soft, hugged and coated the tongue in the pure taste of the egg, enriched by the chilies tickling the nose and the herbs giving it a more round taste with a faint, captivating spiced undertone.
“How was it?” Izuku asked.
“Damn good! Just as I thought, you are no ordinary Chef. There is a thing I don’t understand, though.”
“Yes?”
“I admit that my gold-covered wings have always been my joy, so I may sound pretty defensive of the recipe, but I need to ask: why do you hate gold leaf that much?” Meng Hao asked.
“Because it’s only glitter.” Izuku answered immediately.
“Hn?”
“It has no flavor, no texture, no nutritional value and so it has no place on a dish. Even as a decoration, it adds nothing, besides bragging rights about somebody being so wealthy to eat gold. Your wings are exceptional: the taste is amazing, the skin crunchy and flavorful and the meat has a smooth and tender texture that shows how the Ingredient was treated with the care it deserves while cooking, but it didn’t need a gold wrapping, it was already golden the right way, with the color of that beautiful skin.”
“Eh! You really love food, isn’t it, kid?” Meng asked with a sad smile.
“I love Ingredients and cooking, yes.” Izuku answered, smiling.
“I could see that. There was a Chef that held the same level of love for cooking that I respected with all myself, you know? I built this restaurant’s name and its fame as an homage to him.” the giant of a man explained with a fond tone.
“But he died in anonymity, nobody knew the miracles he could do whenever he entered the kitchen...Too mundane, too simple...Not classy enough! That was how those ignorant fools always marked his dishes! He too hated gold leaf, especially since that wrapping was the very same reason his rival won their Challenge and took away his restaurant to turn it into...This.
In the name of revenge, I just took what I learned from that great man and added to it the same gold wrapping, and won back this place.
Did gold change the taste? Not even in the slightest, just as you and him used to say, but by letting go of that small morsel of Pride, I could avenge my Idol, in a sense. Believe me, while I came to like the color of gold, I would give everything to not see it in my dishes ever again…”
“But Life is often made of compromises. They want to show their status, by any means necessary.” Izuku admitted with a sigh.
“Sadly, yes.”
“Sorry then, I pinned you for a kind of Chef you clearly are not, my apologies.” the young man admitted with a bow.
“Eeeh, no need to apologize. I can’t really blame you, you know? After a while playing the same role day after day for years, the Character and the Real Person get blurred together and not even you yourself can tell where the real you starts anymore.” Meng admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Still, it was not nice for me to jump to conclusions,” Izuku admitted with a small smile.
“Ah! Spare me the pity, you kicked my ass with food already, don’t twist the knife in the wound more!” Meng answered, chuckling.
“Sorry!”
“I get it, I get it. So? What’s the recipe you want to know about?”
“But we haven’t voted yet!” one of the judges tried saying.
“Aaah, shut it! Who cares about it! I had fun, the boy had fun and you got to eat for free, be happy with that and don’t ruin the moment!” Meng cut her off with a growl.
“I never!”
“Yes, yes, whatever! It’s so tiring, Izuku, I often feel more like a Babysitter than a Chef,” the tall guy admitted with a whisper that made the other chuckle.
“I don’t envy you.”
“Yes, yes, enjoy my misery, you tiny bastard. So? The Recipe?”
“I would like to know about that Fire-Filled Dragon Carp fish dish this city is so famous for,” Izuku answered.
“Aah! You went for an Old Classic! That’s nice to hear! For an instant I thought you wanted to know about one of those fancy and new ‘daring’ recipes that are all the rage between the new Generations nowadays. You can’t imagine how much that actually raises my respect for you!” Meng admitted with a loud laugh.
“Oh! I am happy to hear that! So can you help me?” Izuku answered.
“Of course I can! But in exchange I want you to tell me how that omurice thing works, because that is a form of gold I can get behind!”
“Of course! Actually, there is also another piece of gold I can offer if you want!” Izuku answered.
“Uhn? Really? Do show me!” Meng said, excited.
“It’s a form of glazing called Mirror Glazing. I saw some nice yellow fruits between the Ingredients in your storage. I will show you how to use them to make a jelly that shines like a mirror, and with that color, it will be extremely similar to gold too!” Izuku answered.
“Huhuhu! So excited, okay! Show me your Magic, young Chef!” Meng answered.
“Yessir!” Izuku was happy for that chance, those strange fruits had the consistency of apples but tasted like pineapple, he had to get his hands on those!
“Understood. The seeds of those fruits, if put aside by the Host, will count as a Captured Ingredient and will be added to the Restaurant Storage. Good Job!” the System confirmed with a small jingle.
Said that both Chefs returned to their workstations, only this time each working slowly and explaining in great details each step of their creations.
“It’s fairly easy, all things considered. The Dragon Carp in the name is mostly a poetic way to present the fish meat that has turned red as a fire dragon’s scales after cooking.
Same with the Fire-Filled thing, it’s all about a sauce made with chilies, but it’s not that spicy, in fact, it’s pretty mild, it’s a matter of flavor in this case, the spicy taste in it, not the burning sensation.
The tricky part is opening a pocket in the fish the right way to not have anything spill out until it is done cooking and you add it to the soup.” Meng explained while removing scales and bones of the fish.
“Nice! As for me instead, first I will show you how to extract Gelatin from fish and cattle bones, then how to refine it, and finally how to use it to make both desserts and other dishes. Luckily your restaurant is so outlandish you actually have a way to freeze food and keep it cold the way I need, even if to do so you use a low-level ice-element demon core.” Izuku in the meantime went through his own small lesson, with both Chefs rapidly exchanging tips and suggestions as they worked.
The audience watched in amazement then as both Chefs somehow managed to both teach and get taught a new recipe at the same time as the most famous dish of Starlight City and a brand new method of dessert making came to be at the same time.
“Is that boy a Monster?” one of those pompous heirs muttered in horror.
“He is Icchan, MY Monster!” Najire answered, proudly and with an adorable dusting of red on her cheeks as she gave her declaration.
“It’s useless, Wang Lin...You can’t have her…” the guy’s friend muttered dejectedly.
“Goddamnit...I am a Soul Refiner Silver Core Tiger Claw Snake Spirit Big Dong Heaven Son Dust-Hand Earthquake Warrior Level Cultivator...I am supposed to always get the Jade Beauty…”
“I know, I know. The Heavens are merciless. Just don’t spit blood over this,”
“EH! I don’t even know if I should laugh or cry!”
“HUSH!” Nejire hissed with a frown that managed to silence the two, with the added result that the two guys turned even more depressed.
Finally, once both Chefs finished their cooking lesson, they presented the resulting dish: on Meng Hao’s workstation stood a perfectly done Fire-Filled Carp Dragon, a beautiful fried fish with its heavenly-tender meat filled by a spicy and smooth chilies cream red as blood, the fish was swimming in a sublime pristine brown soup with algae, carrots and mushrooms cut in shapes to mimic a pond, with the steam of the dish giving it a very mysterious air.
Izuku instead presented a pie glazed with a golden fruit glaze perfectly smooth and unblemished and shining like a mirror of gold, and to the side, several slices of the same fruit he used for the glaze had been had cut and layered to form a gorgeous lotus flower...He then had added (as a tiny bit of flexing) a two-inches miniature of Meng Hao himself sitting cross-legged in a meditation pose in the center of the lotus, that too made from one of those same fruits.
“Golden Pie of Ascension. To give it a name in style with this restaurant.” Izuku declared with a cheeky smile.
“Bwahahahaha! It really looks like gold! And it actually reflects like a mirror! That technique of yours really is nice, you sure you want to teach me that?” Meng Hao asked.
“It looked like a fair exchange between friends, yes? As a Master to another, as you said.” Izuku answered.
“Well, you did defeat me and took one of my knives as a trophy, teaching me a new recipe sounds like a nice peace offering! So yeah, I can accept that...Just let’s go through the motions one more time step by step, because that really sounds complicated.” the tall man replied.
“Of course!” Izuku answered with a happy smile.
“Before that, though…”
“Yes?”
“Who was that man that inspired you?”
“Who else? My father, of course! The Best damn Chef of Starlight City!” Meng answered, proud.
“Nice!”
Sigh! “One down...We only need that phoenix bird now…” Nejire said with a sigh of relief, and was happy to see the situation closing on such a positive note as the two Chefs actually becoming friends instead of enemies.
Day of the Tournaments finals -
Nejire was sleeping soundly, at peace with the world and all things, the bed felt heavenly, warm and comfortable and she never, ever, wanted to wake-up!
“Nejire-chan? We really should get up, we need to accompany Mister Sun and Miss Su to that Arena.” Izuku’s voice cut through the idyllic sensation of peace, a thing that forced Nejire to bury her face in his hair to escape the need to wake-up.
“Nejire-chan...Please?” Izuku begged again from the confines of her four-limbs crushing hug and the cover of her long hair.
Yes, she had sneaked in his bed again, but that was because she was cold and because she needed to save appearances and keep the lie of them being together ongoing.
“Nejire-chan?” There was also the fact that after all those days together, Nejire was starting to get used to seeing his face that close every morning when she woke-up, he had a very adorable sleeping face to go with the amazing warmth he exuded.
“Five more minutes,” she whined while clinging to him harder.
“Normally I wouldn’t mind, but we made a promise.” Izuku answered.
“Fine!” she had finally come to terms about her and Mirio being done, and for the first time, her sleep was finally serene and peaceful! But still, they did promise they would have been there, so she gave a last squeeze to Icchan’s entire body and then finally got up from the bed.
“Sorry for waking you up,” Izuku actually apologized and rapidly got dressed.
“It’s okay, it’s okay! I am more awed you never tried cupping a feel!” Nejire answered, pleased to see him turn around once again to not watch her change.
“I-I am not that kind of guy!” he answered, appalled.
“And that’s cool! But...You know...I wouldn’t have minded if it was you.” Nejire answered.
“Wha-” SLAM! The girl didn’t even let him finish his shocked statement that she was already out the room and slamming the door closed.
“Kyuuhn?” Shiro gave a long call and actually looked curious, head moved to the side and all.
“I hate when they tease me, two lifetimes and I still can’t deal with that.” Izuku answered with a groan.
“This Esteemed Lord can only offer a prayer to you, Partner. I fear things will become more hectic still, in the future. But I’ll be by your side all the same.” the small Ancestral Taotie thought in answer while jumping on the Chef’s shoulders to wrap himself around his neck like a scarf.
Sigh! “Let’s go, Shiro-kun.” Izuku said with a sigh, hurrying to join Nejire, Sun and Su outside.
Arena of the Tournament -
The arena was a perfect half sphere built with dull black stone bricks and slightly buried into the ground, the whole thing measured at least five hundred meters in height and had several feet of water occupying the middle of the arena right under a suspended platform acting as ring for the fights.
The seats for the audience ran in concentric rings along the entire perimeter of the building, with the highest seats being reserved to the Emperor and other dignitaries; at the opposite side of the Emperor instead sat the Fighters, and right next to those there was the opening mechanism for the retractable bridge connecting their seats to the small platform above the water, a round disk of smooth rock fifty meters in diameter suspended barely a foot above the freezing water thanks to four giant chains.
As Izuku suspected, the fights were just as brutal as the concept of Qi Cultivation suggested: he and Nejire saw the ten finalists battle against each other in a series of battles of increasing brutality, with men and women zipping through the air exchanging blows at absurd speed, and more often than not with various Elements, like Fire, water and Wind, trailing behind each hit or defensive technique to further increase their already insane power.
Had things not be that absurdly violent and bloody, Nejire would have compared it to a real life Anime episode, but after seeing a man getting both his arms torn off like tissue by a tiny girl half his size, and the guy returning the favor by literally biting the girl’s left leg off, she preferred to say nothing.
“That Phoenix is an obscenely rare Spirit Beast, having it as a Companion already means having Victory in your grasp at all times, but if you fuse with it through a ritual, your power will increase thousand-folds at each new Breakthrough, and with the added bonus of healing from every wound no matter what, that is why they are so ready to tear each other limb from limb, they are all betting everything on their victory with the hope that by fusing with the Phoenix, they will heal back every piece they gave up.” Old man Sun explained with a sorrowful tone.
“Does it really work like that?” Izuku asked, horrified.
“I can’t say, it’s all a legend based on the only other case of a Cultivator fusing herself with a Firestorm Phoenix to achieve a breakthrough that saved her from certain death...Many, like me, actually wonder if that is only a fairy tale, or even worse, that that effect works only with that particular race of Phoenixes.” he answered.
“And they all still throw their lives away like that?” Nejire asked in horror.
“The world is a harsh place, and some instead of learning to adapt, aim to reshape it to fulfill their own desires, and for that they need Power, and the most unscrupulous are ready to do everything to get that power.” Sun answered.
“I see.” the girl muttered, saddened.
“Ssh! It’s Chacha’s turn,” Su Mu-Cheng interrupted them with a harsh hiss while pointing at the center of the arena where a tiny girl with her hair tied in three buns and wearing a bright-pink qipao dress was about to fight a giant hulking man with a wild hairstyle resembling a lion mane.
“Get ready to jump in once she is done to Challenge her.” Sun reminded her.
“Don’t worry, I have been ready to fight her ever since I woke-up!” the young woman answered.
They all though missed the Emperor walking away from the fight once alerted of something by a servant.
Belly of the arena – while Chacha was fighting -
SPLASH!
“GUORGBLOURG!” a young man with pristine and expensive robes gasped futilely while his head was being forcefully held deep under the water of a stone basin.
“Up.” the Emperor ordered once he joined the various armored men filling the empty room in the arena dungeons.
“BWHA! Fa-father!” the young man, Starlight City’s prince, gasped for air and watched his approaching father with scared eyes.
“Zhang Xuan, your father is very disappointed.” The Emperor answered with a scowl, and the burly guard holding the Prince by the back of the neck took it as a signal to once again force the youngster’s head underwater.
“GOUUUUH!” the young man trashed futilely to try breaking free of the hold on him.
“Up.”
“BWAH! Fa-Father! It is not what you believe! I would never conspire against you!” the Prince begged, his tears mixing with the rest of the water dripping from his face.
“I thought I taught you better, but instead you still lied to me. Down.”
“N-NO!” the Prince begged, but any further words became just a mass of bubbles escaping from the bottom of the basin.
“Up.”
“AAAH! I-I was not conspiring, I swear! My deal with the Mu-Cheng Clan has nothing to do with the throne!” Prince Zheng hurriedly said as soon as his head was forced out of the water.
“You aren’t even good at lying. I am the Emperor! NOTHING that happens inside my territory escapes my sight! You promised that fool, a seat as your personal Advisor as soon as you ascended to the throne, in exchange of you getting both little Chacha and Little Su as your concubines.” the Emperor said with a disappointed tone.
“How?!”
“Your father has been covering for your foolish escapades with women for years! Have you any idea of how many bastard children I had to make disappear!? Your loins have always been your weakness! Your willingness to go to every lengths necessary to sate your urges are worthy of legends! And yet I, your father, hoped that sooner or later you would have set your head straight and become a proper heir! But I was wrong...Your Lust for women has reached such a level that you are ready to kill your own flesh and blood in exchange for some carnal pleasure!`` The Emperor spat in great fury, and this time the Prince was kept under the water almost long enough to make him lose consciousness.
“Bwha! Father...I...I...I am sorry...Spare your son...Please!” Zheng begged with ragged breath and half-lidded eyes.
“Spare you? A traitor? Why should I?” the Emperor asked.
“I will kill Chacha myself! As a proof of loyalty! I will kill her as a mark of me abandoning my ways and becoming worthy! I only ask for a last chance to Father!”
“...Fool. Chacha Mu-Cheng is already fated to die, she has been ever since she got pregnant with yet another bastard child of yours. That was what brought you here.” the man answered.
“W-W-What?”
“Dispose of him, Captain. You already know the punishment I bestowed on him.” the Emperor declared while walking away without sparing another glance at his first son.
“Yes, your Imperial Celestial Majesty.” the Captain of the guards answered immediately.
“No! FATHER! FATHER!'' The Prince exclaimed in horror as four men grabbed a limb each to force him on the ground spreadeagled.
“Your privates brought you to this point, blame them, not your esteemed father.” On that cue the Captain shouldered an extremely heavy-looking war hammer, and aimed it at the Prince’s crotch.
“NO! NOOOOOO!”
“I will spare you and myself further ignominy by saying that the current head of the Mu-Cheng Clan tried assassinating me for some absurd plan to steal the throne and that you died to save the Emperor's life. At least nobody will ever know you died bleeding to death from your crushed pelvis. Farewell, my son.” with those words the Emperor closed the door behind himself just as the heavy hammer started moving downwards.
“NOOOOO!”
Not a single guard in that room flinched at the crunching sound that cut that wretched scream short, and none of them saw a shadowy figure leave the room unnoticed after spying on the whole thing.
With the Emperor -
Showing an absolute lack of caring for what had happened to his own firstborn, the Emperor met again the same shockingly-old-looking monk he had sent to catch the Ancestral Taotie fundamental for his Ascension to Godhood, and only then the Emperor showed an emotion: unbridled rage.
“I seem to remember my Esteemed Persona telling you that unless you returned with that accursed Taotie on a leash, you would have died by my own hands at our next meeting! And I don’t see any creature of infinite Greed bigger than a mountain anywhere! So why are you here in front of me?!” he roared.
“My Lord! Please have mercy! My talismans keep telling me the Taotie is somewhere in this very city! But this poor old fool doesn’t understand how that is actually possible!” the mummy-like old man begged in despair.
“What? The Taotie is here!? Right now?! IN MY CITY?!”
“Yes! Every talisman I use catches the lingering traces of the bottomless power of that almighty beast, but no matter where me and those guards look, we can’t find it!”
“Have you checked everywhere?!”
“Yes, my Lord! Even underground!”
“How can this be, do the legends describe the Ancestral Taotie as having any special powers its own descendants don’t have?” the Emperor asked.
“Many, my Lord! As many as the stars in the sky! As the first Taotie and ‘The source of all Greed’, he has many terrifying abilities...But nothing recorded talks about abilities that could permit such a mighty beast to roam free in this city unseen, especially with its immense sizes!” the Monk replied in tears.
“I see, I will believe you this time. There must be something we are missing.” The Emperor answered with a thoughtful tone.
“I am combing the city, my Lord! Every stone is being upturned!”
“Good, continue, once I deal with the last remaining details of my son’s latest idiocy, I will triple the soldiers at your disposal for the search.” the Emperor declared.
“Thank you, my Lord!”
BOOOOOOOOOM!
It was then that a loud explosion rocketed the entire arena and caught the attention of both men.
“What is happening?”
“MY LORD!” a Guard screamed in horror onc burst into the corridor.
“What?” the Emperor demanded.
“A tragedy, sir! Before we could shoot the arrow to kill that girl, the Heiress of the Mu-Cheng Clan showed herself still alive and Challenged her to a duel!” the soldier said.
“Okay, and?”
“Sir...The Elders of the Mu-Cheng Clan are fighting together against the disgraced Sun...While Lao is battling against a strange Chef and his puppet…”
“SO? Deal with them! You can’t possibly be so demented to need my guidance or orders to resolve such a simple matter!” the Emperor growled in answer, unable to believe his own soldiers were that incompetent.
“...You Majesty...That girl, Chacha...Before the battle with her cousin started, has boldly declared her being pregnant with the Prince’s Heir...Everybody heard her…” the soldier said with a small voice full of horror.
“WHAT?! THAT LITTLE WHORE!”
And the soldier was right in feeling such fear, because before he even had time to react, the Emperor exploded forward in a rage-filled dash nothing could stop, not even the poor soldier’s body that exploded into a giant splash of blood upon contact.
“Wait, my Lord! I will help you!” the Monk declared while chasing the Emperor, and uncaring of the dead man’s remains he stepped over in his haste to follow his Master.
Arena -
It was a mess.
High in the sky old man Sun was fighting alone against the other three Elders, one of which his own brother, thanks to the miraculous Breakthrough he had with Izuku’s Healing Cuisine; and right under them, Chacha and Su were locked in a stalemate as they exchanged lightning-fast blows so violent the four massive chains holding up the ring shook violently enough to look about to snap.
In the stands, now vacated by any audience, Izuku was parrying Lao’s spear attacks with his own Sea Dragon Kitchen Knife while Whitey and Nejire faced the personal guards (and occasional Assassins) of the Mu-Cheng clan in a 2 vs 30 battle with no quarters given.
“WHY!” CLANG! “YOU!” CLANG! “OPPOSE!” CLANG! “MY AMBITION?!” Lao Mu-Cheng spat furiously, each word accompanied by a wild thrust forward of the crystal-head spear in his hands meeting the kitchen knife in a shower of sparks.
“I do because your ambition was built on murder and Manipulation! You Killed your brother! You crippled your father! And you crippled and almost killed your niece! You even used your daughter! On what ground could I just stand there and watch as you played with people’s lives as you please?!” Izuku answered, and his own swipe managed to cut the body of the spear in two, for Lao’s horror.
“I was of the idea you were a Chef, not a Hero.” Lao answered sneering, returning the broken spear inside the ring on his hand and summoning from there an overly-ornate sword with a roaring dragon engraved on its wide blade.
“That is the thing, you idiot! I decided I can be both!”
“Well said, Icchan!” Nejire declared from the sidelines, proud of her friend,
“Troublemakers, you will all be stripped as an example to others!” Whitey declared while helping the girl fend off the joint attacks of the Clan’s guards.
“Who are you, even? To force me to bring out my trump card, the sword I secretly created to deal with the Emperor himself with the ancient fang of a dragon! That knife of yours is very annoying, so it’s time for it to break!” Lao yelled in rage, and with a flash of blood-red Qi Aura he appeared in front of Izuku in the blink of an eye.
“DIE! DIE UNDER MY SKY-CUTTING DRAGON SWORD!” the madman yelled while slashing down with his sword.
“Oh, shut up! One Blade: Samsara Cut! (一刀 輪廻おろし - Itō: Rinne Oroshi)” the young Chef answered with an upward slash himself.
SPLAT!
“GYAAAAAAH!” Lao shrieked in agony as the golden blade that went shot from Izuku’s slash not only sliced through the sword like butter, it kept traveling forward cutting away the man’s right arm at the shoulder, cleaved in half the stands, cut in two one of the chains holding up the ring and finished its fly cutting in half the opposite wall of the arena, all under the impressed look of the Emperor and Monk duo that had just walked out to watch everything unfold.
“Father!” Chacha yelled in horror, and that moment of distraction was all Su needed to deliver a final, world-crushing punch to the girl’s face that sent her flying, but before her body could actually go though the opposite wall, Su had already hurried past her to catch the now unconscious girl.
“Chacha, you should thank the new life growing in your womb if I focused my attacks on your limbs and head only and never really went for the kill. The children should never pay for the Sins of the parents, so until he or she is born, I will protect you. But after that...Well, we’ll see.” Su declared while gently moving Chacha to lie on the floor out of harm’s way.
Up in the sky -
“NO! LAO!” one of the Elders cried-out in horror, right before breaking formation to hurry at his nephew’s side.
“Bo! Come back here!” one of the other two Elders roared in anger.
“Don’t get distracted, oh mighty Second Elder! Your life will be over otherwise!” Sun said with a victorious roar, his muscles had grown immensely as he unleashed his full power on those three Elders, turning him into a vengeful hulking demon raining hits on the three men he once called brothers (one of which was his actual blood-related brother.).
“We crippled you! We banished you! How have you become so strong?!” Third Elder demanded while helping Second avoid a punch coated in enough Qi to resemble a flaming meteor, thus saving his life.
“Bwahahahaha! I always knew it was no accident what crippled me! You and my brother had always been little traitorous shits veering for more power than you deserve! And today I have the chance to avenge my son and granddaughter! We recovered from your machinations and are here to return you everything with interest! The judgment has been cast! DEATH!” Sun answered while assaulting the two Elders that were now desperately trying to hold back who used to be the strongest of the Four Elders, and that was now even stronger than before!
“I am coming to help you, Grandfather!” It was then that Su joined the battle, making the two Elders swear loudly.
One Monster was already a handful! BUT TWO?! Do the descendants of Sun Mu-Cheng all have Demon blood in their veins?!
With Izuku -
“Brother Sun recovered his old strength and even achieved a breakthrough...Su not only healed from the deadly pollen we fed her, but even kept her Cultivation and monstrous strength...All this happened right after you arrived in Starlight City...Was it all your doing?” Elder Bo demanded with a snarl aftercovering Lao’s stump with a gelatinous paste that immediately stopped the bleeding.
“I may have chosen the path of a Chef, but deep in my heart, I still want to be a Hero. And meddling with the plans of Villains is the pure essence of a Hero. To me at least.” Izuku answered.
“You cut...My blade in two...what’s wrong with that knife of yours?!” Lao asked with a faint, yet ferocious growl that made him sound more a beast than a man.
“Your sword was made with the fangs of a young dragon, my knife? Mine is made with the fang of a beautiful dragon lady that has reached maturity,” the Chef answered while flashing a proud smile to his kitchen knife, and he could swear he felt pride emanating from it for just a second at the praise.
“Well, I hope your Clan knows that even with all the treasures of the world, they won’t escape the Wrath of the Mu-Cheng Clan! Once we’ve resolved this minor set-back, I will personally guide our full might and eradicate you and everybody you love! No woman, elder or child shall be spared!” Elder Bo promised with a crazed look.
“Host doesn’t need to worry, none of them has the Qualification to be a threat to you. Nobody else in this Universe does.” The System declared solemnly, and the fragments of the broken sword and the ring on Lao’s severed hand started glowing in light.
“UH?!”
“The Phoenix is now within grasp of the Host, and with the success of this Abrupt Mission the Host level will rise to 3. In commemoration, the System will use the imperfect ‘Divine Treasures’ in possession of the man named Lao to create a new instrument for the Host.
Should the Host achieve Ascension and become the God of Cooking of the Hero World that piece of Equipment will then be officially recognized as part of your own God of Cooking Kitchen Set.” The Entity declared as the ring and the broken sword disappeared into specks of light.
“What?! My treasures! NO!”
“The delivery will take a while as everything will need to be broken down and purified of impurities and imperfections before being used to forge the Instrument, the System apologizes for the delay. Once returned home, the Host will be free to give every specifics he wants for its creation.”
“Oh, cool!” Izuku admitted with a wide smile.
“What have you done, boy?!” Bo demanded with blazing eyes, to his dismay though, the very last Mu-Cheng guard just happened to fly past them undressed, signaling that Nejire and Whitey had done dealing with them.
“Me, nothing. My Sponsor? They are about to give me a commemorative present for ruining your plans.” Izuku answered with a cheeky smile.
“Oooh! A souvenir?” Nejire asked as she and Whitey joined Izuku to stand at his sides.
“Yep!”
“I am surrounded by incompetents!” the old man roared in madness.
“With a Tiger in my right hand, I am unmatched on land!” Sun was heard intoned from above them.
“Oh, no…Not that Technique!” Bo uttered in panic.
“STOP HIM!”
“With a Dragon in my left hand, I am undefeated in the sky!”
“Stoooop!” both Elders in the sky yelled as one.
“GO, GRANDPA! AVENGE FATHER!” Su was heard screaming right after.
“This is not Revenge! THIS IS JUSTICE! Heaven-Earth Style: Twin Beast Kings Punch!” Sun roared like a mighty beast.
THUM! THUM!
The time between that victorious scream and the actual hit was probably less than a second, and yet the loud dull sound of Sun’s double punch landing on the two Elders’ chest was so loud it rang through every corner of the entire city, and with an almost-synchronized double explosion, the two Elders went shot down to the ground and through the arena until they both disappeared deep underground with their chest cavities smashed inwards.
If they survived that attack, their fighting days were still officially over forever.
“Second Elder! Third Elder!” Lao gasped in horror.
“It’s over, brother. You are alone now. Admit defeat, confess your crimes and you will be given proper justice following our laws.” Sun asked once he and Su landed behind the Elder and Lao, both traitors were so alone and surrounded by enemies.
“My plan...My scheme for the throne...All in ruins!” Bo yelled in rage, and all the others could see only madness burn in his eyes.
“U-Uncle?” Lao muttered weakly.
“SILENCE, YOU FOOL! I CHAMPIONED YOU AND THAT WHORE OF CHACHA AND PUT-UP WITH YOUR INSUFFERABLE RAMBLINGS ONLY TO SEE EVERYTHING GO UP IN SMOKE! AND ALL BECAUSE OF THAT DAMNED CHEF! DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” Bo’s scream was deafening, and with a beastly roar he assaulted Izuku with the clear intention of ripping him limb-from-limb.
“ICCHAN!” Nejire screamed in horror as the old psycho was upon them in the time she needed to blink.
“Troublemak-”
SWING! SPLAT!
To everybody’s surprise a thin blade flew by itself to behead Bo in an instant, making the Elder’s head plop harmlessly at Izuku’s feet while the rest of the body continued its charge past him to splatter on the floor right after.
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
What followed was an excited clapping as the Emperor himself made his way towards them while he used his Qi to guide the sword back in the scabbard at his hip.
“Amazing battles, each and every one of them. This Emperor truly is impressed!” he then said once reached the group.
“Your Majesty!” Sun and Su said as one while kneeling down.
“Raise, raise. Your Emperor is way too excited to deal with stuffy etiquette!” the man answered, grinning wildly once his eyes landed on Izuku...And Shiro sleeping around his neck.
“It’s there! My Lord, the talisman cannot be wrong! The boy has the Taotie!” the Monk said with a wide, crooked smile.
“There it is! My precious Ancestral Taotie! My dear Chef, not only you helped destroy an evil plan to usurp our throne, but you also bought us the greatest Treasure we were unable to locate!” the Emperor said while putting both hands on Izuku’s shoulders.
“This Emperor is almost humbled by the sheer amount of debt he has towards you! Name everything you want, and as a thank you for your services, We will give you everything you ask tenfold!” he then said.
“I would not believe him if I were you, young sir! My father has a habit of coating every word he says in poisoned honey! Sweet at first glance, and deadly right after.” a new voice said.
“Second Prince!” Sun gasped in shock.
“I see that my father’s lie about my unfortunate death on the battlefield is still widely spread, unsurprising considering how different our worldviews are!'' The Second Prince was a dashing youth, tall and strong and exuding a majestic aura worthy of a Hero from Legends.
“You…” the Emperor said while clenching hard on Izuku’s shoulders, and the Chef's discomfort caused Shiro to stir awake and immediately turned pissed-off at seeing such a blatant show of intimidation aimed at his Partner.
“Me, father. I have long since returned from that nice suicide mission for the good of the Empire you so generously sent me to, a mission I completed in success, mind you. I appeased those people that wanted you dead for what you did to them, and they promised that as soon as I succeed you on the throne, they will actually form an alliance with us...Especially since my Wife comes from these lands.”
“You survived, this Emperor is happy to-”
“Stop lying, father. You are just as bad at it as Zhang was, before you killed him.”
“The first Prince is dead?!” Su gasped in horror.
“...I am not following.” Nejire admitted.
“Lots of backstabbing happened.” Whitey supplied.
“Oooh!”
“You! Young Chef!” the Second Prince said.
“Yes?” Izuku asked, already a second away from using Knocking to break free from the Emperor’s hold on him.
“My father wants that Taotie of yours to become a God following some silly little legend without a shred of legitimacy. He is a madman obsessed with eternal life and scared of Death that has killed people by the thousands just to gain a single year to add to his lifespan. I suggest you do not give him that pet of yours, because the only prize you will get from it will be a swift death, same goes for your woman.”
“LIES! You are trying to steer people against us!” the Emperor answered.
“Host, you may be aware already, but the System will offer a confirmation: Everything that man said is indeed the truth, no Lies have been detected by the System.”
“Good to know.” Izuku answered with a sigh.
“Uh?”
“Impact Knocking: Nirvana!” With a gong-like sound, Izuku’s right palm impacted with the Emperor’s chest, sending him skidding back with a perfect imprint of the Chef’s hand on the man’s armor.
“Ugh!”
“MY LORD!” The Monk shrieked in horror, but before he could do anything, the Second Prince chopped him on the neck and knocked him out.
“So you dare go against an Emperor!? Foolish children! With Godhood within my grasp, I will never stop! NO MATTER HOW MANY HAVE TO DIE!” the man yelled while brandishing his sword and assaulting Izuku.
“My word, these people are aggravating.” A cultured deep voice was heard before a delicate fluffy paw slapped down, painfully slamming the Emperor face-down.
“Wha?!”
“Shiro-kun?” Izuku asked, unnerved.
“In the flesh, even if I don’t really like talking like you people do, it is uncomfortable to my throat. But even I grow tired of these people and their empty words, there is only so much ‘verbal masturbation’ I can take before it becomes too much.” the Ancestral Taotie declared while jumping down from Izuku’s shoulders to stand above the downed Emperor’s head.
“Y-Y-You…” the man growled while weakly pulling himself up to stand on all fours and glare at the small animal.
“I heard of that Legend back in the days, you know? It was quite the hassle and it cost me my beloved Partner, she was killed by a dirty fool like you that thought eating my heart could turn him into a God...I loved that girl.” the Taotie said with narrowed eyes, then his body started to grow exponentially.
The fluffy fur retracted to leave it place to smooth skin as white as snow and filled in powerful muscles, two ice-blue eyes became four and red as blood, the tiny cute paws with otherworldly-soft beanies switched place with four giant and sturdy hooves massive in sizes, and the petite mouth and face went transformed into a monstrous mouth filled in dozen of rows of teeth, one could actually declare being too much teeth.
The True Form of the Ancestral Taotie was so massive the entire arena went crushed to dust under a single hoof while the beast dwarfed the entirety of Starlight City, and its appearance, besides sending the place into panic, forced the fighters still in the arena to take fly to get some distance, except Izuku’s group that instead found themselves on Shiro’s massive back, admittedly the safest place on the entire damn planet.
“WHAT THE FUCK?!” Both Nejire and Izuku cursed as one in surprise.
“What you are seeing is the Ancestral Taotie’s Battle Form, the form it takes to fully utilize its powers. Please don’t be scared, he is on our side as Host Izuku’s Partner and Pet.” the System alerted both.
“KIND OF HARD TO STAY CALM!” Nejire admitted.
“Shiro-kun?” Izuku instead asked.
“Huhuhu! Have no fear, my Beloved Partner! I will just deal with this small pest then we’ll get home! I already smelled that electric bird you need, so we will collect it no matter where they are hiding it. As for you…” the Ancestral Taotie answered before nailing the floating Emperor with six blood-red eyes devoid of pity.
“You are looking at the Taotie you wanted so much. What now?”
“...AAAAAAAAAH!” Surprisingly, the Emperor turned tail and tried running away.
“NO RUNNING, COWARD! YOU TRIED ATTACKING MY PARTNER, AND THAT MEANS I AM HONOR-BOND TO DEVOUR YOU!” gravely offended by the guy’s attempt at fleeing, Shiro opened his mouth impossibly wide (enough to look like he could ideally swallow the entire damn city whole) and launched from deep inside his mouth billions of thin black tendrils that snapped forward at light-speed and latched onto the Emperor to drag him back towards his maw.
“NOOOOOOOO!” the Emperor shrieked in fear as he was unable to break free, but before he could disappear inside the Taotie’s stomach, the Second Prince intervened.
“Lord Taotie! Please wait!”
“Uh?”
“My father has committed many sins, many grievous crimes, and I want people to know! I want him to stand trial for his many misgivings and let the law decide his punishment!” the Prince begged.
“You know well that by law he will be condemned to death, will YOU then be the one to carry on the task? Will you bear the weight of killing your own father?” Shiro asked.
“...Yes. I know well there is no chance my father’s fate won’t be death penalty, and I will be the one to cut his head. But he still needs to stand trial, even just to not get down to his level and merely kill him. Justice and Laws exist for a reason, it is what separates us from the beasts or the monsters, and I want to stand by those ideals. He will have a trial...And I will be his executioner.” the Prince answered.
“...Take this damn fool.” Shiro, rolling his four eyes, released the struggling Emperor, and as soon as the man tried fleeing again, one massive hoof moved down like a guillotine to shoot him through a nearby building like a human bullet.
“He really was an idiot.” Shiro said with a sigh before returning into his small and adorable Rest Mode Form around Izuku’s neck.
Sigh! “I will go collect him, please forgive me.” the Second Prince answered with a defeated sigh as he moved to make sure his father was just unconscious instead of death from that merciless attack.
“This day has been pretty eventful,” Sun admitted while ogling Shiro and Izuku in apprehension.
“Who are you people? Why does everything about you two makes no sense at all?!” Su asked, groaning.
“Shiro-chan’s monster form was a surprise for us too!” Nejire admitted, and she hated how the small Taotie looked clearly smug about it.
“Just...Just give me that damn Lightning Phoenix...I wanna go home.” Izuku asked with a tired groan while massaging his temples.
“Right! I will ask the Prince where it is! Give me a minute!” Sun answered immediately.
There wasn’t much of a fanfare when the scared Bird was delivered to Izuku and Nejire, in fact, the two Travelers had to sneak out and pretty much escape the city like thieves thanks to the combined effort of the Second Prince, now Emperor, and both Mu-Cheng warriors just to avoid being lynched by civilians and guards alike; and the portal the System used to bring them open couldn’t open fast enough if you ask them.
Later that day – with Nejire – UA Dormitories
Contrary to what she expected, her return to UA DID raise a huge commotion between a worried-sick Ryukyu and a desperately-apologetic Nighteye pestering her in question about where she had spent the night and if she was okay. Along with the two Pro Heroes promising that should she wanted, they were more than open to the idea of skinning Mirio alive for her.
“It’s okay, Mirio made his choice and I understand. I am not mad anymore I...I got over it,” she answered.
“You got over it, in a single night?” Ryukyu asked, confused.
“It may have been a single night for you, but for me, it felt like DAYS. I am okay, I just want to return to my life now: Study, being a Hero, meeting friends, the usual!” Nejire answered.
“I am glad you are okay, just remember that both me and Ryukyu are there for you, your friends too. You are not alone.” Nighteye said.
“Thank you, I am happy to hear that,” the girl answered with a wide smile. Both Pros were happy to see her being up to her usual standards.
“Whenever you need, Nejire. Now go, in a couple hours the Sport Festival will begin, and I know you will hate to miss it,” Ryukyu said with a small smile of her own.
“RIGHT! I need to collect a couple things and ask Tamaki-chan something! I need to go! Thank you for helping me, BYEEEE!” Nejire answered before zooming away at high speed.
“Huhuhu! She really is okay, thank God.” the Dragon Hero said with an elated chuckle.
“Whatever miracle helped her, I thank it from the bottom of my heart,” Nighteye answered, sighing.
“What’s important is that she is safe, come, let’s have a celebratory coffee,”
“With pleasure.” he answered, he will still kick Toshinori and Mirio’s ass for this incident, but he will have his coffee first.
Meanwhile – Tamaki’s room -
Tock! Tock!
“Who’s it?” the super shy boy asked aloud once heard knocking.
“Tamaki-chan? Can I come in?” Nejire asked.
“Yes, feel free.” he answered, sighing in dismay, but letting her in.
“Thank you,”
“What do you need?” he asked once seen her take a seat at his desk.
“Nothing too extreme. I saw you read a couple Wuxia on your phone, right?”
“Yeah?” he answered while sitting on his bed to look at her.
“How would you describe the whole genre to somebody that knows nothing about it and still wants to give it a try?” She asked.
“You sure?”
“Uh-hu!”
“I need to know how bad that world really was, because many things sounded eerily too over-the-top to be normal!” Nejire thought, grimacing.
Sigh! “Fine. The genre is pretty much Chinese Dragonball, only with Cultivators instead of Sayians, are you following?”
“Yes? Kinda.”
“Good, they also all pretty much follow the same structure with the MCs going mostly through the same steps all the way to the epilogue.”
“Uh-hu? And those steps are?”
Sigh! “Imagine you are the MC, often reincarnating in a Wuxia world from a planet like ours (like in our Isekai), and once old enough you basically do this for the entire Novel: you eat a pill, sit on your ass for several years and once you're done, you go from rank 8 ping-pong to rank 2 ching-chong, which is still like hundred ranks below the HEAVENLY GOLDEN DRAGON GOD EMPEROR STAR ANCESTOR, but it's okay since there are still about 3000 chapters to go and all big dick characters that could kill you with a fart are currently busy, so you can go and wipe-out the ding-dong clan, which obsessively wants you dead because you courted death by destroying the king-kong clan after its young master picked a fight with you over your jade-like beauty childhood friend.” Tamaki explained.
“...That is a Wuxia novel? Young Masters and Courting Death and all that?” Nejire asked in disbelief.
“Pretty much. It mostly works like that for the very trashy ones, but there are some diamonds hidden under the layers of crap that are kind of good instead. You just have to be good at searching.” he answered.
“Oh God, me and Icchan were in a very bad one then…” Nejire thought in misery.
“So how do you choose one to read?”
“I basically look at anything with ‘Immortal’ in the title in distrust until proven wrong...Which is to say that 99% of the time, those ARE actually bad.”
“Do you have some good ones to suggest?” she asked.
“Sure.” Tamaki answered with a shrug.
“Thank you! Send me a couple titles by message then, I need to make a call!” the girl declared while exiting the room.
“Okay.”
With Nejire – First Year students dormitories -
“Let’s see…”
Tock! Tock! Tock!
“Who is it? It’s better be fucking important, because I have only five minutes to get ready and go crushing a fucking Festival!” Rumi answered once pulled the door open.
“You are Rumi-chan, yes?” Nejire asked with a smile.
“Yeah? And you are that Big Three Girl, what do you want?”
“Wanna Team-up to get Icchan all for ourselves?” Nejire asked, her smile now gaining a more mischievous glint.
“...Get in.” Rumi answered while forcefully pulling the other girl inside the room and slamming the door closed.
Another long chapter. My apologies.
Author explains:
I know it sounds like Parody to some of you, but in truth what happened in that world is not far from what usually happens in a real Wuxia Novel, and if among my readers there are people in the know about the genre, I know they can testify about this being true…
There are some BAD Chinese Novels out there, and finding a good one under the crap is very, very hard.
in this chapter Izuku uses one of the fighting Techniques of Zaus, the “One Blade: Samsara Cut ( 一刀 輪廻おろし Ittō : Rinne Oroshi )”
How does it work: Izuku uses a knife to cut an enemy in half. Even if the target's body is shielded, the slash will still hit, ignoring any obstacle and heavily damaging the target.
Its secondary (and most lasting) effect is that the wound will be ingrained into the target’s genetic makeup , making the scar a hereditary trait for several generations.
(Samsara is the Buddhist cycle of reincarnation).
Yes, the attack is THAT BULLSHIT! XD
Omake Time!
Extra-Dimensional Ingredient Hunt, Episode 2:
Yatagarasu Egg Custard...And Waifu?
Green Cloud Restaurant -
“Please collect ten eggs of the Legendary Yatagarasu Bird and successfully create a custard pie with it.” the System instructed as the new portal opened.
“Can I find a Yatagarasu in a normal city?” Izuku asked.
“Host can either hunt them himself or have somebody grab them for him. The System is offering a relaxing Mission this time as an apology for the Mishap with the Minotaur Noodles.” the Entity replied.
“Thank you. Even if I know it was not your fault if that place was that insane.” the young Chef replied with a gentle smile while stepping through the portal.
“It is still a mistake from the System, and that is not supposed to happen.” the System replied.
“It’s nice for them to actually apologize!” Nejire said with a wide smile while following Izuku.
“You were not there, Nejire-chan. It was a nightmare.”
“I am here now, I will protect you! We are Combo other than a couple, remember!” she answered, kissing his cheek.
“Thank you,” he said with a happy smile and a bright red face.
As soon as they stepped into that new world though...Several eyes subconsciously snapped towards their general direction, no matter where those people were or what they were doing.
School -
A small flash passed through the mind of a young girl with pale pink hair, making her head snap towards the window while her eyes widened slightly.
“Oooh!”
“...Kanna-san?” one of the kids said, confused.
“Who’s it?” the kid muttered, curious.
Apartment -
“Stupid human! What part of your job as a Support escapes you?! You are supposed to Heal! Why do we keep you in the Team if you fail at such an easy task?!” a man with long black hair hissed in contempt while madly mashing on his keyboard, on the screen there was utter chaos as the simple raid of the guy’s favourite MMO turned into a pure mess.
“Hang on, Faf-san! We are almost there!” The man’s ‘Friend’ said from the computer behind him, he too was typing at high speed.
“Then you should work harder and-” the black-haired man’s tirade stopped abruptly when he felt a faint stabbing pain come from the back of his skull.
“...An interloper.” he muttered darkly, and his growl was not a sound a human was supposed to be able to produce.
Quaint House -
“AAAW! I missed you so much!” a very well-endowed woman moaned in elation once seen a young boy return home, and her hug almost drowned the kid’s head in her massive chest.
“Don’t do this, you demon!” the poor kid, face completely red in embarrassment, shrieked while trying to break free of the booby hug...Unaware of how GOOD he had it.
“I am no demon, Shouta-kun! I-”
Twing!
The strange tingling sensation traveling up her spine made her stop abruptly and actually open her eyes to show the mismatched irises she possessed.
“Oooh! We have visitors! Two of them even!” she said, chuckling amused.
“Uh? Visitors? Where?” the kid asked.
“That way!” the busty woman said while pointing in a general direction while smirking.
“Really?!”
“Yup! VEEEERY Ancient Magic too! Let’s go see who is it!” the woman said while dragging the boy away.
“W-W-WAIT! I am not a baby! Stop carrying me! STOOOOP!”
Market District -
“Are you sure you have to check on this?” a woman with red hair and a kind of dead-fish-like expression asked, bored.
“I felt a strange wave of Magic, different from the kind I am used to seeing. And a very powerful one at that!” the young woman with short black hair answered while marching forward.
“Then why did youinsist on me coming with you?” another woman, dressed like a typical maid and with her hair in two ponytails, asked in annoyance.
“Because I may need help in fighting them off if whoever it is it’s here to make a mess...And you are the only one I trust…” she answered, shy.
“I am glad to see that you made peace, finally.” the last member of the group, a short girl with...way too big assets, added, huffing.
“Thank you for coming as well, Ilulu.” the only human of the group said.
“Just because you personally asked, Kobayashi.”
“Hoy! Hoy! Don’t make doe eyes to her!” the maid hissed in contempt.
“OH! It’s you guys! HI!”
“Kobayashi, Tooru.”
“Fafnir and Lucoa! You felt it too?” Elma asked, surprised.
“Yes, interlopers.” the black-haired man uttered in distaste.
“I still don’t understand what’s the problem,” Kobayashi asked.
“Whoever opened a portal here used a different form of Magic,” Lucoa explained.
“And?”
“It was too different, imagine writing a book in Japanese, then suddenly a page written in gibberish appears out of nowhere and when you try reading it you see it written in an alphabet that does not even exist. That is the basic feeling.” Fafnir explained.
“So alien magic?” the human woman asked.
“Nope! This feels WAAAAAY different! Ancient but completely detached from anything I have ever seen. And I did meet aliens!” Lucoa answered.
“That felt very powerful too, too powerful.” Elma added.
“Divine?” Tooru asked, unnerved.
“I fear it was beyond even that…” the other replied, grimacing.
“IMPOSSIBLE! YOU CAN’T COOK LIKE THIS! YOU ARE NOT HUMAN!” a restaurant nearby descended into chaos just as the group passed in front of it.
“I am plenty human, you are just being a sore loser.” a young voice replied calmly.
“Uh?” Kobayashi muttered, unsure.
“I’LL GIVE YOU SOME SORE LOSER’S BEATING THEN!”
“Troublemaker!” a robotic voice answered, and barely a second later, the Restaurant owner was seen flying out of the place only in his boxers.
“There was no need, Whitey…” it was then that Izuku and Nejire exited the place followed by the tall robot,
“The Troublemaker was about to attack the Host. That is unacceptable.” the machine answered.
Sigh! “You are way overprotective.” Izuku answered.
“He is just doing his job, Icchan. Unfortunately we can’t stop him when he decides to strip his victims.” Nejire replied, giving his hand a gentle squeeze.
“...Found the Interlopers.” Fafnir declared once the two groups met.
“Eh?” the young Chef muttered, uncertain.
“Good evening, you come from another world?” the only human of the group asked.
“Ehm, yes? Are we in trouble?” Izuku answered.
“It depends on the motive of your visit,” Ilulu said.
“Oh! That’s easy, I was looking for some Yatagarasu’s eggs,”
“…”
“...What?” Tooru asked.
“Yatagarasu eggs, here?” Elma asked, dumbfounded.
“Not Here Here, but I was told that I could find help here to get some,” the Chef explained.
“Why?”
“I am a Wandering Chef and-”
“Oh my! You are a Chosen! It’s been a while since I met one!” Lucoa said with an excited wide smile.
“A chosen?” Kobayashi asked, confused.
“Oh, you know?” Izuku asked with his eyebrows shooting up to his hairline.
“Of course I do!”
“What are you blabbering about?” Fafnir asked, snarling.
“Our Guest has been chosen to become a God of Cooking! That’s why you are here, isn’t it?” Lucoa asked.
“Yup! And one of my tasks is to find some Yatagarasu eggs. I think I will try making a custard pie with them...And maybe some Profiteroles.” Izuku answered.
“A God of Cooking?” Kobayashi asked, confused.
“HOW MANY!? HOW MANY DO YOU NEED!?” Elma demanded immediately while grabbing his shoulders to wildly shake him.
“FOR GOD’S SAKE! I HAVEN’T EVEN COOKED THIS TIME!” Izuku shrieked in horror.
Piiiinch!
“Please forgive her, she is a Glutton and sweets are her weakness,” Tooru apologized while painfully grabbing and twisting Elma’s ear to pull her away.
“Okay...Okay...I-I understand,” the young Chef answered, panting in relief, and gladly accepting Nejire’s comforting hug.
“I still don’t understand what a God of Cooking is supposed to be,” Kobayashi admitted, sighing.
“Just a useless pretender full of himself. A fake Deity that isn’t even worth cookin-”
WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!
To their shock Whitey interrupted Fafnir tirade by lifting by the leg and slamming him down on the ground several times until he remained buried upside-down up to his chest, unconscious.
“Puny Dragon.” Whitey declared simply.
“…”
Later that day – After Fafnir recovered and Elma returned with the eggs – Kobayashi’s apartment -
“So, basically, a God of Cooking is a literal title?” Kobayashi asked.
“Exactly! They are mortals that are given a chance to Ascend to godhood and become the God overseeing and blessing the Chefs of the Mortal Realm. Their skills are supposed to be beyond human understanding.” Lucoa answered.
They all were sitting in the living room of the human woman’s apartment waiting for Izuku to finish preparing his custard pie.
“And they travel through different worlds to do it?” she asked.
“That is the strange thing, normally they don’t. The local deities test them and that’s all, this is the first time I hear of a Candidate going Dimension Hopping to do it.” Tooru answered.
“It’s all because Icchan’s Sponsor has very high standards,” Nejire answered.
“And your sponsor is called The System.” Elma asked.
“Yep!” Izuku answered while still keeping tracks of his dish.
“Never heard of it,” Kanna admitted.
“I tried divining their identity, and only got a splitting headache in exchange! Shota-kun! Kiss the pain away!” Lucoa admitted with a whine.
“Stop it!” the kid answered.
“And you, Faf-kun?” the only other human of the group asked.
“...I don’t want to talk about it…” Fafnir answered, face glued to the table top and voice full of agony.
“He just did the same, with the same results.” Ilulu explained, smirking.
“That is actually scary, whatever that Entity is, it must be terrifyingly strong.” Elma muttered, unsure.
“...The System says that you should stop nosing about, they hate being watched.” Izuku warned them while finally bringing-out the finished dessert.
“Here it is! Yatagarasu Custard Pie! Please enjoy!” the young Chef said with a happy smile once divided the thing into equal portions.
“Woooa! You did it!” Kanna said in amazement.
“Yatagarasu Eggs are not an easy ingredient to use, even for demons that actually handle them daily. I wonder how a human managed,” Tooru muttered, curious.
“I have great expectations instead! I still remember how good the offerings were from that Candidate I had between my fans!” Lucoa said with a wide smile.
“You mean during the Maya Empire?” Tooru asked with a teasing smile.
“I have very fond memories of that time, yes!”
“Enough talking! Let’s try it!” Elma said, drooling-down a river and taking a first bite big enough half the giant slice disappeared in an instant.
And it was otherworldly fluffy! Amazingly sweet and delicate! A custard that mortal words could barely describe, all framed by a crunchy and flavorful crust with just the right amount of vanilla flavour to mesmerize the senses.
“...He did it…” Fafnir was begrudgingly forced to admit.
“Oh my! This is even better than dear Asmodeus’ own version!” Lucoa admitted, chuckling.
“Very good! Congratulations,” Kobayashi offered with a kind smile.
“Thank you,” Izuku answered with a shy smile.
“Izuku…” Elma was next, and she marched up to him to look into his eyes fiercely.
“Y-Y-Yes?” the poor Chef said, unnerved.
“...Marry me.” the dragon woman asked, dropping to one knee and taking one of his hands in both of hers, there were even sparkles shining around her.
“WHAT?!” the other yelled in shock.
“SPIRAL CANNON!” Nejire instead was completely not amused, and showed so by shooting her full power against Elma, sending her fly outside the apartment and then shooting herself forward to fight the HUSSY trying to pull a move on her boyfriend.
Sigh! “Once again...This happens…” Izuku muttered, dejected.
“Not the first time?” Kobayashi asked while she, her coworker friend and Izuku watched the other dragons trying to stop Elma and Nejire from murdering each other.
“No…” the Chef answered with a desperate sigh.
“My condolences.” Kobayashi answered, and hugged the poor boy as he broke down in tears.
WHY?! HE JUST WANTED TO BE A SIMPLE CHEF! WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING!? WHYYYYYYYYY?!
Chapter 15: Sport Festival!
Summary:
In occasion of the famous "Sport Festival" of UA University, Izuku decides to use the great congregation of people there to advertise his Restaurant a little, unaware that he will also play a big role in Shoto's "Liberation" and plant the seeds of the Todoroki boy's escape from Endeavor's oppressing shadow.
Izuku is also unaware that an attack on Momo will take place right under his eyes because of Shigaraki's desire of reveng for his humiliation at the paw of Blackie.
Notes:
Small interlude before Izuku's BIG TALK/Revelation about his powers and The System to his loved ones and before the beginning of the new Arc against one of Samui's friends.
There is also a small extra at the close of the chapter, before the omake. a very adorable one.
DIsclaimer: I don't own the rights to My Hero Academia, Toriko and Gourmet of Another World, this is only a work of fiction created out of passion, please support the official release!
WITH THIS CHAPTER THIS STORY REACHES 187K WORDS! Surpassing the word count of ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ and getting close to 'Goblet of fire', and I am still at the Sport Festival! I think I should feel proud of myself! XD Or bad about myself?...I dunno! XD
This story also has a "Character Reacts" version now! You can thank my good friend Light_He_arth that is doing it, you can find his story here on AO3. He is doing an AMAZING job! Whch makes me very happy!
Chapter Text
If you read this, the Chapter has been fixed by my Beta-Reader Dmale, my savior and possessor of BigDick Chad energy that managed to fix my story into proper English.
Thank you, my man! 🙂
A Chef Rebirth chapter 15: Sport Festival: The Wisdom of the Steamed Buns.
UA Cafeteria – Breakfast Time -
In occasion of the Sport Festival, Lunch Rush had surprisingly issued a Special Breakfast menu for all students, with the caveat that whoever wished to participate had to wake-up earlier than usual so to eat and still have time to prepare for the Festival, and even more surprisingly, pretty much every student was present; something helped by the rumors of the Chef Pro Hero declaring himself the sworn rival of a certain Quirkless Chef and swearing to surpass him. The sudden increase in the quality of Rush’ dishes did show he was taking the Challenge seriously too.
Nom! Nom! Nom!
Although...What caught everybody’s attention was something else entirely…
“Another plate, please!” Nejire, who everybody had by now heard had broke-up with Mirio, was back into being her cheerful self...Only now eating enough for six or seven people.
“Again?!” Rush’ voice came from the kitchen in a stricken shriek.
“Uh-huh! It’s not as good as Icchan’s, but at least it’s filling!” she answered with an innocent smile.
“ROOOOOOOAR!” it was a dragon’s roar that echoed from the kitchen, because no human could produce THAT sound, even if mad in rage like he was.
SLAM!
A truly GIANT bowl of ramen, with several liters of broth in it, was soon delivered to Nejire by Lunch Rush himself who slammed the bowl on the table with a bit too much emphasis.
“Here. Choke on it.” the man hissed in contempt.
“Ramen for breakfast? Curious! Oh well, thank you!” unperturbed, Nejire thanked the guy, lifted the bowl AND DRANK THE ENTIRE THING IN ONE GO and in a matter of seconds.
“...How?” the Pro Hero asked with a small voice.
“Special training! Aaah! Now I am full!” she answered, and the people in the room could only stare in awe at the giant towers of empty plates all around her.
But there was a bit of silver lining, at least for the other girls, after eating that much Nejire’s belly was now so round she looked like she had swallowed a giant watermelon whole, finally ruining her flat belly and Top Model physique they all secretly envied with every fiber of their being! JUSTICE FINALLY WAS SERVED!
“And now...I give thanks to all the World’s Ingredients...Thanks for the Food.” Unfortunately, Nejire then followed-up by doing as Izuku taught her, and once given her honest and heartfelt thanks to the Ingredients she had just eaten, she joined her hands like in prayer, closed her eyes, focused and then gave a long exhale.
And her big, round bulging belly sank back-in in an instant sending visible ripples along her entire body, returning it to its former slim Godly proportions as soon as those ripples faded away.
“GODDAMNIT!” The female students from every course of UA cursed as one in vitriolic hatred.
“HOW?! HOW?! I EAT A TENTH OF THAT AND GOT A BEER BELLY ALREADY! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE OR FAIR?!” A girl from the Support Course shrieked while painfully tearing off two handfuls of hair out of sheer disbelief, she had almost gone insane at seeing that miracle happen.
“Huhuhu! I was taught how to eat all I want and not get fat! I only gain weight, but no more belly for me! Forever slim Goddess look!” Nejire answered with a cheeky smile, a victory sign and a wink.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Madness, the scream the female population of UA released, teachers included, was the pure physical manifestation of Madness as several minds came undone upon hearing that answer.
“Serves them well, already talking behind my back for my breaking-up and siding with Mirio just to get back at me. Wallow in envy as I now can eat all I want and not show it, I can live with weighing 300 kilograms and look like I at best weigh 60 or so, at least I don’t show it, so Bleah!” she muttered to herself, and with a last raspberry to her haters, she flew away towards the area where the Sport Festival will be held.
Leaving behind a shocked Lunch Rush that still could not fathom what had happened and an entire university of young women ready to either kill her or beg her to share the same amazing secret.
Meanwhile – With Izuku – Green Cloud Restaurant -
While Nejire was mercilessly destroying the self-esteem of all her haters, Izuku instead was giving the finishing touches to the food he will take along to the Sport Festival Arena, having got a Mission from the System as soon as he returned from his latest Dimensional Trip.
Abrupt Mission:
Sell 20’000 units of Food during the Sport Festival.
Prize: 10% Bonus Experience Points.
Unlocking of the Ingredient:
Mellow Cola.
Izuku didn’t mind getting a new Mission as soon as he returned home, and by the small bonus of the System, he knew that it was indeed deemed a very important one to further advertise his Restaurant, and he was all for it.
And the unlocking of the Queen of Colas was especially endearing, especially since the only Cola in existence better than that could only be found in the Gourmet World proper and guarded by an entire pack of Devil Snakes each strong enough to wipe-out countries by their lonesome, so having the 2nd best cola on the entire planet Zaus was from was still an awe-inspiring prize, especially so that in Izuku’s world that Cola would instead be unmatched.
The Sport Festival was after all an HUGE event, and being there to sell a small sample of his cooking while wearing his Chef attire with the Restaurant name on it will surely bring some nice increase in his business, thus making his staying closed for lunch worth it.
“Your breakfast, Junko-san.” he said with a gentle smile.
“Ah! Thank you, Boss Izuku!” the woman with bi-coloured hair answered with a grateful smile.
“Boss? Is the new delivery ready?” a voice asked from outside.
“Yes, a minute and I will bring it to you, Ippan-chan!”
“Okay!”
“Kyuuun!”
“OH MY GOD! WHAT IS THAT!? IT’S SO CUUUUUUTE!” the awed scream of Mt. Lady momentarily snapped him out of his musing.
Shiro the Ancestral Taotie was also another source of appeal for his Restaurant, his Rest Mode was cute and fluffy enough he had pretty much doubled the influx of female Customers as soon as the Chef opened his restaurant and the customers saw him; Izuku had set-up a big puffy purple cushion near the cash register for Shiro to lie on so to survey the entire room, all following the Taotie’s own specifics about color and location, by the way.
“Look at how fluffy he is! My God, I want to bury my face in his fur!” Another Female Pro Hero, Speed Limit, added with love-struck eyes.
“Boss...Please…” one of her Interns, also working for Izuku’s delivery service, begged in shame as he and his pal looked ready to die of embarrassment.
“See? They all love me more! This Esteemed Taotie is way more endearing than you, you mangy dog!” Shiro smugly sent out telepathically.
“This Lord Dog doesn’t need such empty praises!” Blackie sent back with a growl.
“Being so Salty, as they say, is not healthy! Just admit this Esteemed Taotie surpassed you and you will feel better.”
“My Lord father has eaten one of your children! Don’t get cocky or this Lord Dog will emulate him and eat you!”
“Ooh! But I am not one of my children, and you are not your father! For all you know, you may be the one getting eaten!” Shiro answered in cruel amusement, while also gladly accepting Ryukyu’s belly-rubs with a very cute Kyuun! And a purring fit.
“YOU DARE?! My Paw can squash you any moment!” Blackie hissed in anger.
“And my Hoof can flatten you, you fleabag.”
“SAY THAT TO MY FACE IF YOU HAVE THE GUTS!”
“I don’t feel like it now, I prefer basking in the adoration of the masses just a bit longer.” Shiro answered while giving a playful lick to Mt. Lady’s cheek and enjoying her squeal.
“AAAARGH! I WILL-”
“Blackie! Time to eat!``In that precise moment, and blissfully unaware of the tragic situation, Izuku came out of the kitchen to gently deposit in front of the dog the giant bowl of spicy beef noodles for his breakfast.
“Umpf! You are lucky, The Noodles saved your sorry life.” Blackie declared haughtily before starting to savor his beloved noodles and ignoring the rest of the world.
“TCHE! This Esteemed Taotie’s beloved Sweet-N-Sour Pork Ribs are way superior to that bog!” Shiro answered, huffing, a cutesy sound that made the female customers swoon HARD for the tiny thing.
“BLASPHEMY!” Blackie roared in mind-numbing fury.
“And the ribs for Shiro-kun. Eat slowly, they are still hot.” Izuku then said, delivering to the Taotie a gargantuan mountain of pork ribs.
“KYUUUUUUN!” The starry-eyed animal couldn’t sound happier as it started to immediately devour them all.
“Look at him go! Aww! He was starving!” a customer said with a stricken tone.
“Where did you find him? I can’t seem to recognize any race he should belong to.” the Pro Hero Edgeshot asked, curious.
“He is closely related to the Fennec Fox, but his Quirk mutated him a bit,” Izuku answered.
“It has a Quirk? It’s rare in animals!”
“Nothing extraordinary, he just eats a lot,” Izuku answered, chuckling.
“Partner, that is not very nice! I understand that you want to keep my real identity a secret, but this poor Ancestral Taotie still has a Dignity! At least downplay my abilities a little instead of making me sound like a mere Glutton!” Shiro, the Ancestral Taotie and basically the physical manifestation of the concept of Gluttony (And pretty much the actual source of the thing itself) mentally bemoaned with his head still buried under a mountain of ribs he was devouring with zero manners.
“Yes, I can see that. So? Are you ready?” Nighteye, sitting at Edgeshot’s right, answered once adjusted his glasses.
“Kinda, the breakfast service won’t be over before another half an hour has passed, are you sure it is not a problem?” the young Chef replied.
“You went through the loops of getting Nezu’s permission to sell food during the Sport Festival, so somebody had to come collect you at the right time; I happened to be a regular here so they asked me and I accepted, I already planned to come here so for me it was not a problem.”
“...Toshinori asked you, didn’t he?” Izuku asked with half-lidded eyes.
“…”
“…”
“...Yes.” the other admitted after a long silence.
“Figures. What does he plan to get from this?”
“Just a peace offering, as far as I can tell he really wants to make peace with you, he hopes the third time will be the charm.”
“Uh-hu?”
“...Aand we others are still worried about this System Incorporated and their plans for you,” Nighteye added.
“You Heroes are a paranoid bunch, hn?”
“Comes with the job, mostly.” Edgeshot admitted, shrugging.
“How much do you know?” Izuku asked.
“Not much, but I was asked to snoop around this mysterious group as a personal favor. I owe Nezu a couple favors, so I won’t ask what is happening behind the scenes and just trust The Rat. You are a good kid too, so I am not exactly lacking in motivation to help,” he answered.
“The System wants to remind the Host that they won’t find a single thing out of ordinary. You can rest assured.” the Entity declared.
“I know, I know. Don’t worry.”
“Very well, I will finish organizing and alert you when I am ready, thank you.” the young Chef said, sighing.
“Sure.”
Meanwhile – UA ‘ Alliance Dormitories’ – Common Room -
Arctic cold couldn’t even begin to describe the air in the main room of the dormitory, even Todoroki was seen eyeing the two women sitting at the opposite sides of the place in worry as if ready to bolt at the first spark before the explosion.
“So…Uhm...It’s about time we go to that arena place, yes?” Mina tried saying with a nervous smile.
“Croak! Yes, we really should go.” Tsuyu answered.
“I feel the need to remind you that this is a friendly event, and that Murder is not Heroic,” Tenya reminded them all while eyeing the two women warily.
“There is no need to worry, mine is not jealousy, just disappointment. I am mature enough to not need to resort to petty tricks, I do have some dignity.” Momo answered.
“Me as well, I am not that petty,” Ochako answered.
“I will hold you on that, but you did betray my trust,”
“I didn’t betray your trust! Feelings are feelings, you cannot control them.” Ochako said.
“So you admit it even?”
“Does it have any use to lie about it? It happened, and...to be fair...I don’t regret it.”
“Tch! You should, though!” Momo hissed.
“Let’s just go, please? I am sure that once you blow off some steam in the festival you will be more open to talk!” Tooru tried suggesting.
“FINE!” both girls growled as one.
At the same time – 1B dormitories -
Rumi was looking at Nejire with narrowed eyes, she had just finished listening to the kind-of-absurd proposal of the older girl still floating about in her room and could not decide if she should start laughing at the absurdity of it all, or cry in misery at the existence of another rival in her Love Quest. But still, she had only until the start of the Festival to give an answer to what Nejire offered before breakfast, it was now the time for her to make a decision.
“You are suggesting an alliance, as in: ‘We both get him, instead of Yaoyorozu’...Correct?” she finally asked.
“Yep! I heard about your rivalry with her, and so I thought about offering my help...For a fee.” Nejire answered, lazily floating around the room with a serene smile on her face.
“And your Fee is me letting you be part of the relationship.”
“Exactly,”
“...Let’s be honest, me and you are universally recognized as Stamina Monsters, even just one of us would be too muc-”
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” the thundering laugh of Nejire caught Rumi completely by surprise.
“You sweet innocent bunny...You have no idea.” Nejire said, still chuckling, and now looking at her with a very amused expression.
“Uh?”
“Icchan has many secrets, secrets that I recently got access to that Momo herself has not been told about either yet. He can deal with the two of us and then some, by a laaaarge margin!”
“Oh-Hooo! Do tell!” Rumi said with a fanged smile.
“Only if you accept my plan and turn your future Relationship into a Polyamory.” the other replied with a sing-song voice.
“I don’t really like to share.” Rumi admitted with a scrunched nose.
“What’s better? An Ally, or yet another enemy?”
“...If we do this, we both get equal share! No Ranking!” the bunny girl finally conceded.
“Of course! I never planned for that to happen, it would be unfair for every part involved! We’ll be a perfect triangle!” Nejire answered.
“Good...Can you answer a few questions now? I am actually curious about this Hidden Power of his,”
“Of course! What do you need to know? Strength? Speed? Durability? Dick size? Stamina? Secret Techniques?”
“Wo-Wo-Wo! Dick Size?!” Rumi shrieked.
“Ok! Let’s start from that!”
“W-W-WAIT!”
Later that Day – Arena -
The people sitting there were fidgeting in place waiting for the event to start, some were even cheering already or loudly demanding for everything to start, creating a rather striking mixture of Hype and Anticipation that was building-up at insane speed.
“Here is your steamed bun! And remember to visit my Green Cloud Restaurant for more amazing dishes!” Izuku said after delivering an orange-sized steamed pork bun carefully wrapped in a pale-green piece of paper with the restaurant name and address printed on.
“Wah! Still hot! Awesome!” the young woman answered with starry eyes while paying for her order.
“Only the best for our customers!” the young Chef answered.
“Boss Izuku! Over here!” a male voice called-out.
“Ah! Nakame-san! You are here too!” he answered afterrecognizing one of his regulars.
“My niece is taking part, of course I am here! Why are you here though?”
“I asked Mister Nezu and he said yes.” Izuku answered, shrugging.
“...That’s it?” the man asked in surprise.
“I guess he trusts me, so? What can I give you?”
“A Steamed Bun for my wife and...You really have sushi bentos in there?” the man said once eyed the bulky square backpack on Izuku’s back.
“Yup! They are sold in limited numbers, Whitey is holding must of my other stock.” he answered, and jamming a thumb towards the fridge-sized backpack of the chubby robot.
“Then one of those, thank you!”
Izuku of course didn’t mention that thanks to The System the robot’s backpack was actually bigger on the inside, MUCH BIGGER; enough to contain the several thousands of assorted snacks he prepared and was supposed to sell for his Mission. If asked, he had an excuse already ready of other similar backpacks stashed in the room Nezu left him to use as a storage deep in the arena’s belly.
Pro Hero seats – opposite side of the arena -
“Eh! He really is selling food! And with a good rhythm too!” Ectoplasm said with a chuckle.
“Not surprising really.” Gunhead answered.
Ping!
“Oh! Message!” the bulky Hero muttered in surprise.
“What is it?” Aizawa, who was about to go with Mic to their seats in the Commentators’ booth to start their duty as Hosts, asked.
“Nezu is about to place his order to Midoriya-san by phone, he has a copy of everything Chef Izuku brought along and wants to know if we want something. We will pay him back after the event,” Gunhead answered once checked his phone.
“…” an uneasy look was soon shared between the various Pro Heroes present.
“Should we?” Mic asked.
“It would be kind of unprofessional…” Aizawa answered.
“He has made bitesize or snack versions of his menu items. All of them.” Gunhead added.
“I am placing an order!” at that the weakest of them declared with a thin line of droll escaping her mouth.
“Me too!”
“Me three! And I mean portions!”
“Rainbow Fruit Cupcakes! MINE!”
“May as well!”
“Spicy Duck Buns! I need them! GIMME!”
“I am on a diet, but what the hell! I can take a pause from time to time!”
The floodgates soon smashed open and Izuku’s phone pinged right after to show Nezu’s message and the HUGE list of orders he was expected to deliver to the Pro Heroes’ seats, and the young Chef’s mood improved immensely in that single instant.
Meanwhile – down on ground floor – with the contestants -
Conversely instead, down in the arena the students were nervous, no reason to deny it, every single one of them taking part to the event was a human-shaped ball of nerves desperately trying to not self-combust out of sheer worry, looking everywhere and trying to shy away from every look they perceived as too judging.
Not a single word of Aizawa’s pep-talk managed to return to the front of their brain to cut through the fog of anxiety as they could feel every single pair of eyes of the audience study them in great detail; they all thought they were ready for the huge crowd scrutinizing them, but unfortunately they all had underestimated the sheer weight of all those eyes looking down on them.
“You know? For once I am glad nobody can see me…” Toru admitted with a shaken voice and nervous laugh.
“I got it worse! I am bright pink so I am standing-out too much instead!” Mina answered.
“I thought you loved being the center of attention?” Jiro asked.
“Do I like being noticed? Yes! Do I like this feeling of ‘We will judge every single little thing you do’? Not at all!” she answered.
“Oh! Makes sense.”
They all were also wearing their Hero Costumes as well, updated just a week before the event so to have them shining new, ready and proper for the audience there and back home to see.
“Try to not make a fool of yourself,” Momo said while looking straight ahead.
“Likewise, do not trip on your own feet.” Ochako answered, just as frosty.
“Does anybody want to switch places?...Please?” Sero asked with a pleading tone, he was standing between the two women and hating every single instant of it.
“I can’t see Mineta anywhere, where is he?” Kaminari asked, confused.
“Still in probation, the things they found in his room were even worse than we thought, apparently he did manage to get a camera inside the girls’ changing room. Luckily he still had to activate it, as he was caught right after installation. From what I heard, they are still deciding his fate, but for now he will sit this one event out.” Tenya answered.
“That guy has issues,” Sado answered, sighing.
“Nobody is THAT HORNY, maybe this is a medical problem?” Tooru added.
“I say we wait for the teachers’ decision, it is not up to us.” Mezo answered.
“What he did is a crime!” Jiro hissed.
“Not saying it isn’t! Just that we should wait before casting our own judgment.”
“Oooh! Here are Yaoyorozu and Uraraka! Still biting each other’s throat?” a new voice said with a mocking tone from the incoming Class 1B.
“Usagiyama.” both girls hissed as one.
“Please, just Rumi! We are friends after all! You are my future bridesmaids, we should get along!” Rumi answered with a fanged smile.
“Bridesmaids?” Momo asked, actually confused.
“You? Married? With whom?” Ochako echoed soon after.
“And you need to ask who’s gonna be the groom?” the bunny girl answered with her smirk growing even wider and more savage.
“NEVER!” both students of Class 1A roared once clear who was the supposed groom.
“I am usually all for antagonizing Class 1A, but this may be a bit too much,” Monoma admitted, unsure.
“Of all the days there could be a feud...They had to choose this one where they WILL probably fight…” Itsuka added with a sigh of misery.
“As fun as this is, and believe me, this is hysterical, it’s finally time to start! So back straight and look professional, because it’s time for the opening speech!” Nemuri interrupted any further talk by jumping-in and playfully cracking her whip.
“…”
“What?”
“Sensei, you have a chocolate smudge on your nose.” Mina said.
“Oh, damn! Sorry! That sacher cupcake was just too good.” the woman answered with a chuckle while wiping it off.
“And now I want one tooooo!” Tooru answered with a long childish whine.
“Whatever. Move aside, I have a speech to give” Katsuki cut in with a smug look while marching towards the mike to address the crowd.
“Who the hell decided Bakugou was a good choice to give the welcome speech?!” Sero exclaimed in shock.
“I am sure our teachers had a very good reason to do this,” Mezo answered.
With Izuku – Teachers seats -
“Bakugo-san as the spokesperson? That’s a strange decision,” Izuku muttered with a raised eyebrow.
“It was actually randomized. To avoid favoritism.” Ectoplasm answered.
“And you still added his name?”
“He has a very bad personality and a hilariously-short temper, but he has potential. He just needs to learn how to act human.”
“If you are sure he can actually achieve that…” Izuku answered, walking away.
As he moved through the other seats to deliver his orders, he soon walked between the seats of the upper year students that were as well cheering and analyzing the younger years down the arena.
“ICCHAN! Over here!” It was then that he heard Nejire call him out, waving her arms wildly to catch his attention.
“Oh! Nejire-chan!” the young Chef answered, smiling wide, and hurrying towards her seat.
“Oh...He is here too…” Tamaki really wondered how deep his friend’s Mirio jealousy ran if now every male getting close to Nejire soured his mood that much.
“Don’t be a Tamaki-chan, Mirio. It doesn’t suit the next All Might! Just smile.” Nejire answered, and while she said that with her usual smile, the jab hidden under it still cut deep enough Mirio almost bled for real.
“Please don’t use me as an emotion.” Tamaki begged with a groan.
“Good morning, how do you feel?” Izuku asked once he finally reached their seats.
“Splendidly! I had some breakfast here, but while filling, it could not match yours, not even close. Did you get something for me there?” Nejire answered with an eager smile.
“ARE YOU EATING AGAIN?!” a girl sitting nearby shrieked.
“Mind your business, please. But yes, I am still peckish!”
“As luck would have it, I do have something I made specifically for you!” Izuku answered, smirking.
“GOODIE!” Nejire answered with an excited smile.
Down in the arena -
“Ah-hem!” under the worried eyes of students and Teachers alike, Katsuki cleared his throat to give his speech.
“I won’t go into a too long spiel as I don’t need one.
I just want to warn you all that you are going to waste your time looking at a bunch of Extras giving their best to look decently-prepared AT THE VERY LEAST, so keep your expectations low and your mind very damn open.” He said with a very condescending tone.
“Just be gentle, they are still learning to not be useless, at least compared to myself…” Katsuki said with a shrug.
“As for the other guys and girls here behind me: go at it and give your best. Just don’t cry if I leave you behind in the dust, that is all.” he finished saying, unaware of the doom he had just called upon himself from his very annoyed classmates.
With Izuku -
“Whatever they are doing to curb his Ego it’s either slow-burning, or failing spectacularly. I hope it’s just a case of the former, but knowing WHO is Number 2 in the Hero Ranking, I don’t exactly hold any hope.” the Young Chef muttered while shaking his head.
“!!!” the clapping of the audience around him was awkward to the extreme, meaning that at least few people were sharing his doubts about the blond’s attitude, more surprising though was that quite a sizable slice of them actually sounded happy with such peculiar speech and clapped excitedly.
“Fans of Endeavor, probably. They seem to like the Cocky Hero Archetype.” Nejire answered between mouthfuls of the gigantic Bento Box Izuku recovered fro Whitey’s backpack for her.
“We have not been introduced yet, I am Mirio. Nice to meet you.” Mirio chose that moment to get-up from his seat and present his hand.
“Is he trying to assert Dominance or something?” Izuku thought, unimpressed, once seen how the young man tried to accentuate his higher height and musculature compared to him.
“I am Izuku. So you are Mirio, finally we met!” Plastering his nicest smile on his face, the young Chef grabbed the Hero Student hand…
Now, Mirio might have planned to squeeze the Chef’s hand a bit harder than intended as a joke, NOT BECAUSE JEALOUS OR ANYTHING, just enough to make the guy’s bones crack a little, nothing much. As a Joke.
CRACK!
What he did not expect was for the Chef to return the gesture one hundred times over, making the now sweating Mirio wonder if that was what it felt like to put his hand under a hydraulic press, he just knew, instinctively, that if Izuku squeezed just a fraction tighter then his hand would probably burst like a water balloon.
“I heard a lot of things from you, it’s good to finally have a face to add to all that.” Izuku, still smiling, did something to his hand (Mirio even later will fail to explain it) and the young Hero felt his own muscles become jelly, enough to force him back on his seat.
“Snort!” Nejire’s barely-hidden laugh was just another searing-hot blade piercing Mirio’s back.
“Good things, I hope!” Still, he was a future Hero, so he showed a dazzling smile and gave a thumbs-up.
“Not even in the slightest.” and Izuku smashed that too, and while still sporting a sugar-sweet smile.
“Bwuh?!” Tamaki liked that sound, honestly, it sounded hilarious, a mix between a sink getting unclogged and a bear getting a surprise prostate exam with a telephone pole.
“But it doesn’t matter, what’s important is that Nejire recovered.” he then added.
“That I did! Come on! Selfie! You too, Whitey and Shiro-chan!” Nejire answered, and once grabbed Izuku in a one-arm hug that squished his head a little against her right boob, and caused Mirio’s blood pressure to spike dangerously high, she took a selfie with herself and Izuku and with Shiro looking straight at the camera and Whitey showing two victory signs salute behind them.
“Thank you, Icchan!” Nejire said, adding a truckload of salt to Mirio’s wounds by kissing the Chef’s cheek.
“T-Think nothing of it...I-I really must go now! The event is about to start,” Izuku answered.
“Oh! Sit with me then! I don’t mind!” upon hearing that, Mirio’s face took on a very worrying shade of red, and Tamaki was secretly finding everything too amusing.
“I don’t think-”
“Here is the first Event: A nice obstacle course to warm our young Heroes up and get their blood pumping!” Midnight declared to her own microphone while pointing at a giant door on a side of the arena, she then turned to look directly at the students.
“Heard that? It’s about to begin! Sit here, you’ll continue selling food later!” Nejire decided for him, and with a surprisingly-strong pull, she forced Izuku to sit on her lap so as to hug him from behind and lean her chin on his shoulder right next to Shiro’s tiny head.
Crack! Mirio was sure that the noise was one of his teeth shattering under the pressure of his clenching jaw, soon followed by a vein somewhere in his eyes bursting, because by the burning feeling coming from his orbs he just knew they were both awfully bloodshot.
“There aren’t many rules, what’s really important is that you stay on the track, beyond that you are on your own. We will follow close behind you so people can watch what you are doing, so don’t slack off! And don’t you dare make us look bad either, I will personally punish whoever does that!” In the meantime, Nemuri had finished her speech and moved everybody’s attention to the faraway giant gate opening.
“Yes!” the students answered as one.
“Well, I am at a good point of my Mission Objective, I can take a small pause...Damn she smells so nice…” the young Chef thought with a groan.
“There is a free seat over there.” Mirio tried suggesting with a very forced smile.
“I am sure somebody will benefit from that, Mirio. Now hush, it’s about to start.” Nejire answered without even looking at him, she just kept rubbing her cheek against Izuku’s over and over and Mirio swore to GOD HE-
No. He was not Jealous. Not at all. Those two are just friends and Nejire was just being the childish and petty one between them, that is all!
Down in the arena -
“Good! That’s the door you have to get through...In three” Nemuri said with a wild smirk once seen every student’s muscle tense to the breaking point.
“…Two.” she kept counting, prolonging the torture for her own twisted amusement.
“...One.” The students were so tense they were about to explode!
“...GO!”
At the GO! Signaling, the students seemingly forgot every notion of self-control and clamored towards the exit pushing and kicking (and in few cases even biting) whoever stood in their way so as to be the first to get out.
“FUCK OFF!” Katsuki was heard roaring as he pushed himself forward with a duo of explosions from his hands that propelled him towards the door and launched everybody else behind him flying back.
A bit in the back, Aoyama lagged behind to keep an eye on Momo herself, barely hiding the sense of guilt for what he was about to do.
“I am sorry, Momo-san! I have to! My family, my life...Please forgive me.” the young man thought in misery while looking at the tall young woman’s determined expression.
“Why her, even? Why? What happened to have those Monsters ask me to kill her ‘By Accident’? What has her family done to have their daughter killed as a punishment?” Aoyama wondered.
Meanwhile – Secret HQ of the League of Villains – pub -
The truth behind the attack had actually nothing to do with All for One, it was merely a personal request of Shigaraki before his unfortunate encounter with Blackie, and since Kurogiri found Momo inconsequential in the grand scheme of their plans, he conceded the psychopathic man-child his wish, even just to make him shut-up.
And the Smokey Nomu actually enjoyed a bit of murder from time to time, he only found it a pity that they had to pass it for an incident, All for One himself said it was still not the right time for another open attack of the League, so making it look like an accident was the only option left.
Now both him and Dabi were looking at the live feed of the Event thanks to UA’s cameras plastered all over the field of the obstacle course.
“How’s Himiko?” Kurogiri asked.
“Still convulsing, I put a sock in her mouth so she won’t bite her tongue off.” Dabi answered.
“Good.”
“Not that it would have been a great loss, her voice is grating.”
“Be nice, we need her Quirk for our more covert operations,”
“That is why you have me act all chummy with her?”
“Just until she breaks and becomes more malleable.” the Nomu answered, with a shrug.
“Wouldn't it be easier to just rip her Quirk out and make a Nomu with it?” Dabi asked, lazily drinking from his glass and watching several students start assaulting the first obstacle of the event: a field full of robots.
“Nomus are for direct attacks and mayhem, they lack finesse.” Kurogiri answered, knowing full well that the Doctor said how a Nomu like him was just a one-time wonder they still could not replicate at will.
“And Himiko has finesse? We are drugging her and turning her into a psycho,” Dabi asked, scoffing.
“Give her time, once we’ve rounded the edges she will be our perfect little spy, and even then, soon we will stop needing to act from the shadows, so her turning into yet another attack unit won’t be a problem, on the contrary, with her Quirk it will actually be a step-up in her usefulness.” Kurogiri answered.
“Bah! Whatever! As long as I get a shot at Endeavor, everything else is just collateral damages.”
“Well said.”
“By the way, how’s Shigaraki?” Dabi asked.
“He has finally started waking-up, as soon as he is coherent again, I will tell him that the girl is dead like he wanted, it should placate him a little.”
“He is getting really unhinged lately, what do you think happened?”
“My guess is that he had a run-in with that dog again,” Kurogiri answered, sighing.
“Still can’t understand how a fleabag gets that strong,” Dabi admitted, and unknown to him, the System heard him and relayed the moniker to Blackie.
And the Lord Dog was not amused.
“Once we have dealt with the owner, that dog will be brought here for study, its Quirk may be what we need to further our goals...And Shigaraki said he wanted to eat that dog right after.” Kurogiri answered.
“Dog soup, sorry but it doesn’t sound appealing.” Dabi admitted, gagging.
“It’s more about Revenge than taste. Don’t worry, you won’t have to eat that.”
“Damn, Shigaraki has really lost it.”
“He never was really sane to begin with, but just like Himiko, he has a Role he is expected to fulfill.”
“That rabid animal with disintegrating hands?” Dabi asked with a raised eyebrow.
“He won’t be rabid for long, the two beatings he got from a mere dog will actually help us to mold him, the lower his self-esteem is, the more receptive he will be to our Leader’s ideals.”
“If you say so. Look! Seems like our little Traitor has finally found the opening to off the girl!” Dabi said with an excited smile while pointing at the TV.
“Thank goodness, finally somebody is following the script!” Kurogiri answered with a relieved sigh.
Obstacle Course – With Aoyama -
The young Hero student had been blasting robots left and right with his naval laser while secretly keeping tabs on Momo’s movements, and once seen the girl move in a way that left one of the robots between them both in a way that could justify him not seeing her, he shot that robot with his strongest laser, putting in the shot every ounce of power he could muster.
“So the woman of my Partner is once again in danger? Truly, you did a bad job at making those weaklings understand she is Off-Limits.” Shiro thought with an annoyed huff.
“What are you blabbering about?!” Blackie replied through the telepathic link opened by the Taotie.
“This Esteemed Taotie is just annoyed you were so bad at scaring a weak bad-guy-wannabee that he now thinks he can send a pawn to kill my Partner’s woman. Luckily my Esteemed Persona is here to fix your messes! Finally this Chef has somebody doing their job as Security properly.” Shiro answered with a haughty tone.
“OH! You believe you are a big shot?! Let this Lord Dog educate you on divine retribution then!” Blackie roared in answer.
This exchange was happening so fast that Aoyama’s laser was still mid-way from even hitting the robot.
“Oh, please! Just keep eating and sleeping. That is all you are good for. This Esteemed Taotie will take care of this,” Shiro said.
“YOU DARE!? My Paw is even too much for this little thing, but if it is to shut you up, this Lord Dog will gladly show you how it’s done!” Blackie was now apoplectic with rage.
And the laser had just now hit the robot and was starting to drill its way through it.
“Do not delude yourself, you do not have the skills for this job!” Shiro answered.
“YOUR MOTHER HAS NOT THE SKILLS TO FONDLE MY BALLS! I’LL SHOW YOU!”
As soon as the laser pierced through the robot with still enough energy to hit Momo and kill her on the spot, from a small black portal an exquisite black paw emerged, and at the same time, from a tiny white tear in Reality a fluffy white paw as well made its appearance.
“PISS OFF!” both Shiro and Blackie roared at each other while their paws slapped away the laser like nothing.
From outside everything happened even too fast, something even the cameras failed to record it; an instant the laser was moving through the robot and towards Momo, and the next the thing had done an 180 and was sprinting back towards Aoyama at even higher speed.
The System noticed this, and since the Entity still needed the little spy of All for One for a last job, the young man was saved by the terrain seemingly shifting under him by itself to make him trip and fall an instant before the laser went reflected back by the two Monsters, making the light sail above Aoyama’s head just enough to burn off most of his hair but saving his life.
BOOOOM!
Many students shrieked at the giant explosion happening right next to them, but luckily nobody got hurt.
“Please avoid killing The System’s Pawns before they have fulfilled their role. That boy is needed for just another job to help the Host’s advancement. Wait until after that if you have to kill him.” the System warned them.
“Fine!” both Shiro and Blackie answered, annoyed.
“Good.” the Entity said, pleased.
“...I will take my anger out on the ones organizing the attack then.” Blackie declared, huffing.
Pub of the League of Villains -
“Lasers don’t work like that! Come on!” Dabi screamed in annoyance.
“Honestly! How can her Good Luck be that massive?! The bloody robot reflected the laser! How's it possible?” Kurogiri added, just as angry.
A small black portal opened in front of them as an answer to that.
“What’s that?” Dabi asked.
“Oh, no…” Kurogiri instead recognized what was happening, and he felt fear mounting inside of him.
“Bounce for this Lord, you fools.” Blackie ordered aloud, and his exquisite paw patted downward.
That playful-looking pat wrought havoc in the entire pub, as if a world-ending hurricane was birthed right in front of the two Villains, and while Dabi was merely sent waist-deep into the wall leaving only his legs dangling out, Kurogiri got hit way worse as the Nomu actually bounced up and down in a horrifying floor-ceiling-floor-ceiling-floor-ceiling fast rhythm for several times until he finally dropped down boneless, both arms and legs broken in various painful ways.
“Kurogiri? It’s time for your weekly repor...What the Hell happened now?!” The personal doctor of All for One, and the one acting as Voice for the Villain to the League, asked in disbelief once seen the absolute destruction that had befell the pub and the League Members.
With Izuku – Sport Festival Arena – At the same time -
“Oh God! Is everybody alright?!” Izuku asked in shock.
“Uhm! Should be, they would have stopped the thing if anybody got hurt for real. While extreme, this is still an organized event, they do try to keep incidents to a minimum.” Nejire answered, humming.
“That’s a relief.” the young Chef answered, relaxing visibly.
“You are still sitting on her legs. Shouldn’t you be out there selling stuff?” Mirio asked.
“Right! I really must go! Sorry, Nejire-chan, but I really have to go!” Izuku answered with wide eyes and jumping to his feet to hurry away closely followed by Whitey.
“Steamed buns! Spring rolls! Gyoza and Baozi! Get your snacks here! Fresh from Green Cloud Restaurant and here for you! Steamed buns! Spring rolls! Gyoza and Baozi!…” Immediately Izuku started again advertising his products and serving customers, soon leaving the students area to move towards the other seats.
“...You really had to, don’t you?” Nejire asked, annoyed.
“He has a job to do! You can talk with your friend whenever you want, now let him work in peace.” Mirio answered, now smiling wide, even wider than usual.
“Tch!”
“That’s it! The first time me and Icchan sleep together I am sending Mirio the full video! IN 4K!” Nejire thought in scorn, and a shiver of dread ran up Mirio’s spine.
With Izuku -
Sharing his attention between his customers, and the rest of the Obstacle Course, especially by watching in worry Momo and Ochako make their way through a gorge and then an actual minefield, the latter causing the Chef to almost hyperventilate in worry once seen the guy right next to Momo blew-up in a thick cloud of flour.
“Each year the make a new challenge to keep it interesting, but don’t worry, they are careful to not hurt the students,” a near woman said.
“I was told that already, yes.” he answered, sighing.
“Then relax, those kids are fine,” the woman said with a gentle smile.
“I’ll try.”
Later that day – Students seats – Contestants Wing -
The Cavalry Battle had been a mess, Katsuki had to admit it, he thought HE was determined to win, but as soon as the thing started, he watched Momo and Ochako switch gear and go ballistic on everybody else, determined not to actually win, but just to rack more point than the other girl in their own feud, then Rumi had come barreling through them like a tank; forcing Katsuki himself to go full throttle just to keep his name in first place since those three lionesses were out for blood and he too risked being between the victims.
Whatever talk those two had the night before the even did jack shit, that was awfully clear, for God’s sake Momo had actually decked Katsuki in the eye when he tried to take her headband, and with a new black-eye forming, the young Hero Student wondered how could Izuku manage a relationship with that living hurricane.
“How’s the eye, BakuBro?” Kirishima asked, worried.
“It has seen better days,” he answered.
“Your victory means nothing!” Rumi was heard growling from the sidelines.
“Oh, I believe it means a lot instead.” Momo answered smugly.
Katsuki had finished first (barely)
Momo was 2nd and just two points behind him.
Ochako was 3rd under Momo.
Rumi was 4th under Ochako, by a single point.
“Tch! All luck!” Ochako hissed in contempt.
“Honestly, you are being ridiculous,” Mina answered.
“If even Mina finds this too much, you know you are overdoing it!” Tsuyu added, chuckling.
“Hey!”
“Just saying that if even you, who LOVE Romance Wars, find this ridiculous, then they are exaggerating.” Jiro answered, snorting.
“It is not even my fault,” Momo answered, indignant.
“Hard to believe it, seeing how you assaulted me,” Ochako answered.
“It was well within the rules of the Event,” the other replied.
“Not to play devil’s advocate, but yes, Momo-san actually followed the rules to a T. Except for the haymaker she delivered to Bakugou-san,” Tenya answered.
“Pfeh! I barely felt it,” Katsuki answered, mostly out of ego.
“This means fucking nothing!” Rumi growled.
“I-”
“Kyuuuuh?” a long animal whine echoed in the seats as the fluffiest, cutest thing they all had ever seen appeared from nowhere to jump on Momo’s lap to look at her with big ice-blue eyes.
“OH, MY GOD!” Tooru, lover of all things fluffy, immediately fell in love with the animal.
“And who you may be?” Momo asked, gushing.
“Kyuuh!” the white cloud of fluff answered by climbing on her shoulders to wrap itself around her neck and even give a tiny lick to her cheek.
“NO FAIR! I WANNA PET IT TOO!” Mina’s shriek was worthy of a kid throwing a tantrum.
“Me too! Me too! Please!” Tooru begged in need like a drug addict.
“Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” soon followed by Pony showing a needy expression.
“What a curious animal,” Tenya commented.
“SHIRO! SHIRO WHERE ARE YOU!?” They all heard a panicked voice call-out.
“That voice! Izuku!” Momo answered, happy to see her boyfriend getting near them.
“Kyuuh!” In answer, the small Taotie gave a long call that attracted the Chef’s attention.
“Shiro! Why did yourun away?!” he said in relief once seen where his Partner went.
“It’s yours?” Pony asked.
“He is Shiro, my new pet. Come on, come here.” the Chef answered, sighing.
“Kyuh!” Shiro answered while leaving Momo and returning to lie around Izuku’s neck in a matter of seconds.
“See? This Esteemed Taotie is even surpassing you as a Wingman for my Partner.” Shiro sent to Blackie through a telepathic message filled to the brim in smugness.
“Oh, Fuck off!” the Lord Dog replied, scoffing.
“Sorry about this, he hardly ever leaves my side, I don’t know why he suddenly rushed here.”
“It’s okay, what’s important is that he was not in danger.” Mezo answered, then he noticed the big backpacks he and Whitey had.
“What is that?” he asked.
“Oh! I am here to advertise my Restaurant, and in the meantime I am selling some food, all snack versions of my normal menu.” Izuku answered.
GROOOOOOOOO!
Several stomachs immediately woke-up at hearing that, and many faces burned red in shame.
“...Please forgive us.” Itsuka said, ashamed to near death.
Ping!
“You can sell food to them too, send me the total, I will make sure to collect the money from them and send it to you once the event is over.” Nezu had probably taken a second to compose that message, and Izuku once again wondered how something so small could be so scary.
“Uh!”
“What?” Kaminari asked.
“Mister Nezu says I can sell food to you too, I will just need to take note of your orders and send him the total, he will then have somebody collect the money you owe me after the event.” he answered, shrugging.
“…”
“I have a small list of what I brought along if you want to study it first. I can wait.” Izuku said, turning to the side to show the LONG list of stuff he and Whitey offered printed there, few names were crossed-out to show they were no longer available.
“Can I pet Shiro-kun in the meantime? Pleeeeeease!” Tooru begged.
“ME TOO! ME TOOOOO!” Pony asked as well.
“Kyuhn.” The small Taotie just gave a soft call and jumped towards the two girls by himself.
“Apparently he doesn’t mind, go on. Just be gentle.”
“THANK YOU!” the various girls interested in petting the Taotie answered as one.
“Are youothers ready to order instead?” Izuku asked.
“I believe so, but please follow just one rule: Do not overeat! The Sport Festival is not over yet!” Tenya warned everybody after seeing the hunger shine in every student’s eyes.
“Two items max per person, nothing more.” Itsuka added too much whining from the others.
Commentators Booth – Ten minutes later -
Ping!
“Flourishing businesses are always a pleasure to see,” Nezu said in amusement once seen the new message detailing the names of every student that had ordered food from Izuku and the total each one of them owed the Chef.
“Good for him, I guess.” Aizawa answered with an uncaring shrug, although still munching.
“Once done here there will be the fighting part, how are the kids holding up?” Mic asked.
“Eating, chatting, glaring at each other in hatred. The usual.” Power Loader answered once checked with a pair of binoculars.
“At least they will be motivated to give their best during the fights. As long as they do not try to actually try to kill each other.” Aizawa answered.
“That is what you and Mic and Nemuri down there acting as referee are here for, to avoid murder! Yahahahaha!” Nezu answered with a deranged laugh.
“Ah, yes, put all the responsibility on us!” Hizashi answered, grumbling.
“It’s one of the perks of being the boss!” Nezu answered, smirking.
Corridors of the arena – later that day -
All things considered, for Shoto things had gone kind of smoothly, besides Katsuki there weren’t many that could keep up with his Ice Quirk, and yet, during the preliminary fights he could still hear Endeavor demand him to use the fire the man KNEW Shoto had also inherited alongside the Ice.
“I’ll be caught dead before using HIS fire.” Shoto hissed finally with some emotion surfacing from his usual monotonous tone.
“His fire...Doesn’t sound right.” the new voice made him whip around to look at the intruder, only to see Izuku accompanied by Whitey and the sleeping Shiro around his neck.
“Sorry, I was looking for the bathroom and got lost, this place is a maze.” the Chef answered, sheepish.
“I did get lost before. Bathroom is that way,” Shoto answered, pointing behind Izuku.
“Oh Thank God!”
“I’ll be going then.”
“Do you want a steamed bun?” Izuku asked out of the blue.
“Uh?!” That question surprised Shoto enough to stop abruptly and once again turn around to look at the Chef.
“A Steamed bun. The very last, free of charge.” Izuku answered, gently throwing the wrapped thing at Shoto in a soft arch.
“...Why?” he asked once caught the thing, somehow it was still pleasantly warm.
“Throw it back.” In answer, Izuku kept one hand palm-up and looked at him expectantly.
“Hn?” That request was strange, but still, the young Hero student complied, and once again the steamed bun went flying and returned to Izuku’s hand.
“Uhm…” and yet something was apparently amiss, since the Chef walked closer to him while studying the wrapped thing with calculative eyes.
“As I thought. It’s yours, I can’t take it back.” Izuku finally declared, taking Shoto’s hand in his and gently depositing the steamed bun in his open palm.
“What are you?”
“Do you know what I hate?” the Chef asked.
“...No?” This continuous switching was starting to make Shoto feel dizzy.
“Wastes. Wasted food, wasted Ingredients, wasted opportunities. You are letting that fool Endeavor dictate what you can or cannot do with your powers.” Izuku said.
“You don’t know anything.”
“No, I don’t.” the other answered, simply.
“I don’t because I never had a Quirk to begin with. But I know that I am seeing somebody that by good or evil has been given the power to make a difference, and you are not fully using it.”
“It’s HIS FIRE, and I got it through his machinations!” Shoto hissed.
“I heard the rumors, although, Rumors imply that it can actually be false, but I do serve Heroes, and thanks to them I know those are not rumors, but facts.”
“Then you also understand why I can’t use his fire.”
“His? Does he daily infuse you in fire torecharge your reserves?”
“No, he-”
“He can still use his Quirk, so I guess he did not pass it to you?”
“A Quirk can’t be passed on like that, I-”
“So your body produces that fire?” Izuku asked, once again interrupting him.
“Yes, but-”
“Then if your body creates it, and Endeavor in no way gives you his own...Why do you keep calling it HIS FIRE?” he asked.
“Because it comes from him! Because he wants me to use it to surpass All Might and say he did it!”
“...So YOU will surpass All Might and Endeavor will celebrate it as his success? Is your father so pathetic he needs Reflected Glory to feel better about himself?” Izuku asked.
“You would be surprised at how low he would step to appease his Ego.” Shoto answered, bitterly.
“You do know instead? In detail?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“And you still play along?” Izuku asked.
“Uh?!”
“I remind you that the MIGHTY ENDEAVOR! Was reduced into a wreck by a mere spicy dish, cooked by a Quirkless he challenged just because Whitey stripped and threw out his sidekick Burnin. If I could stand up to him with just some Tofu and chili sauce, why can somebody like YOU who can summon Ice and Fire on command, cannot? You are limiting yourself out of spite, and at the same time inflating his Ego by calling your own fire his, further feeding his delusions.” Izuku asked with crossed arms.
“…”
“You inherited his Fire Quirk, yes. That is undeniable. He GAVE YOU his fire, but that Fire is now yours, he can’t take it back. Just like I gave you that steamed bun and I can’t take it back anymore. You are free to throw that food away, squash it under your feet or just leave it to the side forgotten, just like that fire you have inside.
But then? What do you gain from this? I gave away the last bun I had lying around my backpack and Endeavor gets bragging rights on YOUR results...We both win, but what about you?” the Chef asked.
“...What about me?”
“You are helping Enji to stand on a pedestal he has no rights to stand on, you are helping him cast his shadow over you by willingly choosing to not walk out of it. Surpass All Might, surpass Endeavor and be YOUR Hero. You are nobody’s ticket to the top beside yourself, throw Endeavor’s words back at him. ‘It is not your Fire! It’s mine! My fire! Never yours!’”
“My fire…” Shoto muttered, still looking at the small wrapped bun in his hands.
“We are not our parents, nor we are an extension of them. We are our own person, their sins and accomplishments should never fall on us, and the same happens in reverse, you just need to remember this yourself and to remind Endeavor over and over again, no matter how many times you have to repeat it.” Izuku said while walking away from the Hero student.
“...And what about this?” Shoto asked, showing the retreating Chef the wrap.
“Were you even listening to all I said? It’s your steamed bun now, just like it’s your fire, Todoroki!” Izuku answered, smirking, and with the robot in tow, he disappeared behind the corner.
“My bun...My fire…” Shoto muttered, absentmindedly unwrapping the thing to eat it on his way to the arena for his fight. It was not Soba, but for some reason that little thing tasted...Liberating.
With Izuku -
“I guess I should thank you?” Endeavor asked once accosted Izuku as soon as the Chef walked away.
“I would prefer you don’t.” Izuku answered, coldly.
“That would imply I did this for YOU, but I did it for Shoto instead.”
“Still, he needs to use M-”
“HIS fire, Enji-san. It never was yours to begin with, and you know it. I don’t understand where this mania of yours for stealing your son’s accomplishments has come from, and frankly, I don’t care. I just saw a Customer in need of help, and as a Chef, I am honor-bound to offer a good dish and a gentle word or two to ease their plight.”
“...Is that your excuse? He is a Customer?” Enji asked.
“I did give him a steamed bun, technically speaking, yes he was.” Izuku answered with a grin.
“You still decided to stick your nose in matters that didn’t belong to you,” the man growled-out.
“Are you challenging me again, Enji-san?” the Chef asked.
“There is no spicy Tofu saving you this time.” Endeavor answered, and even with the serious tone he used, that answer would still sound ridiculous to whoever heard him.
“Wanna bet I can defeat you with a finger instead?” Izuku answered with a way-too-kind smile.
“Don’t be ridiculous, You are Quirkl-”
"Śūnyatā.” Izuku muttered while jabbing his index finger hard into Endeavor’s stomach.
“Ufff! Okay! That hit harder than expected, but I barely felt it-”
Grrrrrrrrumble!
("Śūnyatā" ( Sanskrit ) usually translated as " devoidness ", " emptiness "...I apologize for the use of such a philosophical term for a Knocking attack that forces the victim’s bowels to empty violently. I am sorry.)
Enji’s smug answer died on the notes of his stomach giving just a single alarm signal echoing in the entire corridor like a faraway rumbling thunder, then his complexion became ashen and he started sweating hard.
“NONONONONONO! WHYYYYY?!” The invincible Pro Hero number 2 howled in misery as he desperately dove for one of the bathroom stalls in a painful encore of the last time he challenged Izuku in anything.
“I thought you learned your lesson and stopped challenging Chefs!” Izuku, entering the place more leisurely, asked with a sing-song tone.
“Whyyyyy!? Why did youdo this to me a second time?! WHYYYYY?!” Endeavor cried-out in despair as once again violent and loud trumpeting noises thundered all around him.
“Don’t blame me! You asked for it by bullying whoever doesn’t agree with you. Well, I am off! That attack will last a good two hours, nonstop, have fun!” Having finished his own business, Izuku gave a last farewell and promptly escaped before the fumes could actually reach him.
“NO! WAIT! I AM SORRY! CANCEL THIS THING! PLEEEEEEASE! AAAAAAAAH!'' Unfortunately for the now crying Endeavor, his pleas will fall on deaf ears, he was truly alone in his misery.
With Izuku – After the Sport Festival closing Ceremony -
“Congratulations to the Host for completing his Mission! For selling all the Units of Food required, The Mellow Cola has been officially unlocked and added to the Restaurant stock. Congratulations!” the System alerted Izuku as soon as he walked out of the Stadium with Whitey behind him and every backpack now empty and carefully folded into a bag in the robot’s big hand.
“It was a good show, I am happy Shoto-san got first place, maybe coming second WILL help Bakugo-san learn a bit of humility…” Izuku admitted with a sigh.
Momo had lost badly against Tokoyami instead, same going for Ochako against Katsuki, he had his hands quite full in consoling both distraught girls, especially with how hard they were crying and feeling disappointed in themselves; it gave him the opening he needed to invite Momo and her parents to his restaurant at the closing hours after dinner, but doing so while watching her tears-stained eyes did not make him feel any good about it.
“Rumi was nowhere to be seen instead...I fear that third place was too low for a prideful girl like her, but it’s not her fault for actually not knowing Shoto could actually use fire too...Was it my fault she lost?” Izuku wondered aloud with a sigh, he did feel partly responsible for her defeat.
WAAAAAAGH !
To the Chef’s surprise, Tenya of all people blurred past him at high speed thanks to his Quirk, and the young man’s face betrayed a deep sense of guilt and pain even for that single instant Izuku managed to look at him before the Hero Student disappeared from view.
“...He looked upset, maybe he too hoped to win more fights?” Izuku asked aloud to nobody in particular.
“I hope he will get better soon, he is a nice guy.” he then declared with a sigh.
All things considered, besides the very important talk he will have with his girlfriend, her parents and his parents, the day had gone fairly smoothly, he did his job, sold his food and met some familiar faces for some friendly banter...Really, he could get used to a nice life without problems!
Pat! Pat! Pat!
It was when Izuku had reached his Restaurant that the soft sound of small bare feet running on the street reached his ears and a small kid girl dove for his arms.
“P-P-Please help me!” The poor kid begged with a very weak voice, she was barely dressed in a dirty rag acting as a dress, had both arms and legs covered in dirty bandages that still left NUMEROUS scars visible, and beside the solitary horn on her forehead, she looked extremely underfed.
“It’s okay, I am here. Get in, I have some food and a warm bath with your name on it.” All those things immediately made both Hero and Chef sides of Izuku’s brain flare to life, and with extreme care he took the kid in his arms and took her inside the Restaurant.
“I am Izuku Midoriya, you?” he asked with a soft voice so as not to scare her further.
“E-E-Eri. M-m-my name is Eri.” the kid answered, still looking scared out of her mind with how much she was shivering.
“It’s okay, Eri-chan. You are safe now.” Izuku answered while the door locked itself behind him.
One could have said that Izuku had jinxed himself earlier, but considering who he was, his Sponsor and the overall Security inside and outside the Restaurant, it could be argued that its was instead Overhaul the one victim of bad luck, as he will soon learn on his own skin.
P A I N F U L L Y.
Omake Time!
Dimensional Recipe Hunt episode 3:
Vegetable soup and Strawberry Sundae!
City – Night -
A very tall wolf with pale fur and wearing a student uniform was panting loudly while running through the streets of the shadier part of the big city as fast as his legs could carry him.
“Her scent! That way!” he growled while moving on all four to gain just that tiny bit of extra speed while turning a corner.
His beloved Haru! Kidnapped again! What was her problem?! How did she manage to always attract kidnappers like a damn magnet?! He had promised to become strong and protect her, but if that tiny rabbit kept attracting mad carnivores and molesters, Legosi knew he wouldn't just become white-furred, he would go damn bald!
CRACK!
To his surprise a giant guy, a brown bear, just flew past him once he passed through a small rusted gate to finally find his girl, and when he checked the flying guy’s trajectory in reverse to see who sent the 500 or so kilograms of bear fly with an utterly destroyed face and skull, he saw...Something.
It wasn’t very tall, 5’3 maybe? Maybe slightly taller but not by much.
Fur-less...No, it had some very scarce fur on its arms, none on the face and a wild mane on top of its head, and somehow that fur was naturally green instead of dyed (Legosi smelled no chemicals from it).
Green lively eyes, smell of a male...A Fur-less monkey?...No, he did not have a tail…The scent he had was very unique too.
What the young Wolf saw though was that strange guy grab a Hyena by the mandibles and force them closed with one hand and chop the guy on the neck with the other hand hard enough the hyena fell unconscious instantly.
Thump!
The strange thing then threw the Hyena behind him on a pile of unmoving Carnivores, then the lion guy attacked.
“I’LL FUCKING EAT YOU!” Legosi heard the guy scream in enough rage and madness the young wolf’s fur stood to an end.
“BODHI PESTLE!” the strange being replied by, SOMEHOW, enlarging his entire arm and fist to twice the sizes of his attacker’s entire body and punch the lion with a loud booming sound and the clear chorus of shattering bones and teeth before the giant Carnivore became a living bullet that flew against the wall and through the thing like it was paper instead of concrete and bricks.
“Troublemaker! Cease your attack or you shall be stripped as an example to others!`` It was then that Legosi saw the thing’s companion...A robot, straight out of a sci-fi novel, with a chubby belly and a big round head adorned only by two big round eyes easily fighting-off three or four Carnivores at a time! Each punch of the metallic puppet destroyed the attackers that went then stripped down to their boxers, for some reason.
Those two strange guys were fending off an entire band of crazed Carnivores by themselves, and between the two Haru was on her knees with the few rags left of her school uniform barely covering her virtue, curiously she was holding in her arms a strange creature resembling a snow white fox, but whenever Legosi tried to meet the small thing’s eyes his instincts begged him to run away screaming to avoid death.
It was then that he realized it: those two strange things were Protecting Haru...And he would be damned if he did not help them!
“HARU!” With a scream, the young Wolf joined the fight by tackling to the ground a young cheetah to start grappling with him.
“Legosi!” Haru yelled, afraid.
“Friend of yours?” Izuku asked while snapping like a twig the arms of the pitbull dog-man that tried grabbing him on a bear-hug.
“M-My boyfriend!” the young dwarf bunny replied.
“Very well! Whitey! Help him!” the Young Chef ordered, switching from brute strength to Knocking to really start piling-up bodies.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
Under the shocked eyes of those criminals, the young Chef picked-up speed and each tap of his fingers downed one of their fighters, no matter where he poked them: forehead, neck, back, chest or stomach, one attack and the victim would fall down unconscious.
“Understood!” the robot in the meantime either slapped or punched its targets, and those poor fools would get sent tumbling down the floor like toys no matter their weight or sizes, and then as an added insult get roughly undressed to their boxers/tighty-whities right after and THEN thrown into a random dumpster nearby.
“Troublemaker!” Whitey said, easily grabbing the Cheetah Legosi was rolling on the floor with by the neck to shove him against the wall with enough strength the guy’s head dug a hole in it, the poor cheetah did not stand a chance.
Striiip!
“Why strip them?” Legosi blurted-out, even if his eyes were still glued on the cheetah’s teeth that had remained stuck deep into the wall from the previous impact.
“Disciplinary stripping is essential! Troublemakers are always stripped as an example to others!” the robot replied while dumping the hopefully still-alive naked cheetah guy into a dumpster with the others.
“T-That guy is a monster! The robot is a maniac! RUUUUUN!” Finally survival instinct made its presence known, and as soon as one of the criminals said that, everybody else took the hint and scampered away fast.
Of the two dozen that had started attacking Izuku and Whitey as soon as the Chef stopped their Leader from abusing of Haru, only four or five actually managed to escape, just enough to tell the legend of a mysterious fur-less creature with freakish strength and accompanied by a robot.
Sigh! “They are gone, finally. You okay, miss?” Izuku asked while Shiro-kun the Ancestral Taotie returned to lie around his neck like a scarf and soon fall asleep.
“Y-Yes.” Haru answered with a shaken voice.
“Haru!” the young wolf yelled as he ran to hug her.
“Legosi!” the dwarf rabbit answered, breaking down in tears while hugging him with all her strength.
“Were you helping her?” he asked.
“Well, I saw that guy tear off her clothes...And I felt the need to show him how little I appreciated that.” Izuku answered with a nervous smile while pointing at...At a bundle of bruised flesh that was probably a wolf once, although now it looked like something had chewed him a couple times before spitting him out. The guy was barely breathing, so while still alive, the poor bastard was now probably wishing for somebody to put him out of his misery.
“You did that?” Legosi asked with his ears pinned down low.
“I kind of went heavy handed...Sorry,” he admitted.
“I would have done the same. We better move though, if others arrive the situation will be complicated to explain.” the young wolf said.
“Right! This way! I have a room in a hotel in a more polite part of town!” Izuku signaled them to follow him, and without many other options, both dwarf rabbit and wolf followed him and his robot.
Hotel – Penthouse – One Hour later -
“Here, some tea to help you relax.” Izuku said while handing a mug to the bunny girl.
“Thank you.” Haru answered, accepting the thing with a small voice, she was also wearing a spare shirt of the Chef that was actually big enough to reach slightly below her knees, almost like a loose dress.
She also found the words ‘Spare Shirt’ written on the front kind of amusing.
“Your Sponsor takes good care of you.” Legosi admitted, impressed, while drinking his own mug of tea.
“Yes, let’s say they had to apologize for a couple mishaps that happened in the past.” the young Chef answered.
“So you are traveling the world to learn new recipes?” the wolf asked.
“Worlds, plural. From where I come from most of you are Ingredients, here instead my race does not exist. I was sent here because since ‘Animals’ have a full-blown society here, you developed different recipes that utilize fruits and vegetables to cover for a Carnivore’s need to consume meat for sustenance.” Izuku explained.
“Worlds...It would explain why I never heard about Humans, not even while surfing the net after meeting you.” Legosi admitted with a sigh.
“I am just glad I did not take Nejire-chan or the others with me this time. One Human already attracts too much attention,” Izuku replied, sighing.
“Uh! I am talking with an alien, when I was a kid I imagined my meeting with one being different!” Haru admitted with a small chuckle.
“Sorry about that!” Izuku answered, chuckling.
“Well, you and your bodyguard saved me, so I am not mad!” she replied.
“Thank you for that,” Legosi added.
“I am a Chef that once dreamed to be a Professional Hero, I still have the drive to help whoever is in need, either by filling their stomachs or to protect them from harm.” he answered with a sad smile.
“I don’t know what your planet wants from a Hero, but seeing you knock down a bear with a single punch while being less than half their size would be enough here.” Legosi said, trying to cheer-up their strange new friend.
“It was nothing.”
“It was something instead! You saved me! I want to return the favor!”
“Haru…”
“No, not that way! I don’t do that anymore!” she then answered with a red face.
“What way?” the young Chef asked, confused.
“Nothing, nothing.” Legosi answered, coughing nervously.
“I meant helping him with his recipe hunt!” the dwarf bunny said.
“Really?!”
“Yep! I will introduce you to the Cooking Club in our school. They know lots of recipes, one of which their prized Strawberry Sundae they make at every school event. I am sure Legosi can talk them into sharing some knowledge.”
“W-Why me?!” the young wolf asked.
“They seem to like you a lot while on the contrary not a single one of them likes me, and you know Why.” Haru replied with a frown.
“R-Right, I’ll take care of it. Maybe Jack can share some recipes from his mother’s repertoire, he always says she is a great cook.”
“Thank you!” Izuku answered elatedly.
The next day – Cooking Club – School -
“Okay! I think I got it! Here is my version of your Strawberry Sundae recipe!” Izuku said with a small proud smile once put the last strawberry slice on top of the whipped cream, and completing another piece of art that will join his repertoire back home.
While he did that, though, the members of the Cooking Club had each finished trying the Vegetable Soup they taught him how to prepare, and they were all now looking at him with a hard-to-fathom light in their eyes…
Luckily the Club Leader clarified their intentions by jumping Izuku with a feral and needy yowl.
“PLEASE STAY! JOIN OUR CLUB! EVERYTHING YOU WANT YOU CAN HAVE IT! EVEN ME! YOU CAN HAVE ME AS WELL! JUST STAY!” The young female student, a striped cat with grey fur and a very slim waist, begged while latching onto Izuku's leg with both her arms.
“Legosi-san! YOU SAID THEY WERE NOT INSANE!” the young Chef shrieked in horror.
“Tabitha-san normally is very stoic! I don’t know why she is acting like that!” the young wolf replied, unnerved.
“That may be because your strange friend just watched them cook each recipe once and then immediately replicated them both, but better!” Legosi’s friend Jack replied while trying to pry the cat-girl away from Izuku’s leg.
“I think Mister Midoriya simply re-wrote a few laws of physics too while cooking, that didn’t help either.” Juno added from the sidelines, she like many others attracted by the noise of the cooking club begging the young Chef to stay in a chorus of crocodile tears.
“I wasn’t even going that fast!” Izuku replied while hiding behind Whitey.
“You did the work of ten people to cook for all of us! ALONE!” another member of the cooking club answered with a shriek.
“...Yeah that was pretty much a snail pace…” he muttered to himself, unfortunately he was in a school of animals, they all had damn sharp ears.
“…” a deep silence fell in the corridors at that.
“Izuku…” Legosi and Jack said as one while their legs’ muscles already tensed once they felt the rising tension around them.
“Yes?”
“...RUN!” grabbing the young Chef under his arm, Legosi gave an awe-inspiring sprint and started running away followed by Jack and his other friends.
“CATCH HIIIIIIIM!” Tabitha the cat-girl yelled, making the members of her Cooking Club hurry to chase the escaping group.
“Why does thiskeep happening?! I just want a simple life as a Chef! WHYYYYY?!” Izuku, finally free to run with his own legs, cried-out while helped by Legosi and the others to escape.
Were you expecting the RWBY one?
Too baaaaad! I will use it in the next chapter, promise! XD
just to be a tiny bit evil.
Chapter 16: Revelation / Proof of Love.
Summary:
Truth is hard, but necessary, no matter the risks involved, but luckily for Izuku, who loves him is a bunce of stubborn people, especially Momo and her rivals.
Notes:
small intermediary chapter before the next "Friend" of Samui pops-up to make damages, the so-called "American Job Arc" that will start with Himiko's rescue.
By the way, after this the story will be put a bit aside, just long enough for me to write the new chapter of my Ninja story and the SPider-Man crossover. I am ignoring my other works by focusing on this one only and is not exactly fair. The story is not being abandoned, I am just giving tome love to my other works too. My apologies.
Chapter Text
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/Nejire
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
If you read this, the Chapter has been fixed by my Beta-Reader Dmale, my savior and possessor of BigDick Chad energy that managed to fix my story into proper English.
Thank you, my man! 🙂
A Chef Rebirth chapter 16: Revelation / Proof of Love.
Green Cloud Restaurant – Yavin Street -
Izuku was looking in apprehension as the young girl Eri that had dove for his arms the previous night and all but fallen unconscious as soon as he brought her inside his Restaurant was being looked over by Recovery Girl, Detective Tsukauchi and a young woman from the Child Protection offices Saito Yaoyorozu took along, and poor Eri was going along the entire thing only thanks to the surprisingly strong hold her petite hand had on the Chef’s.
“It may be strange to say it, but you actually did well in calling us before feeding or even washing her.” Recovery Girl said while gently studying the girl in Izuku’s arms.
Eri had been issued a kid set of bra and panties to hide her modesty and let the others give her a full-body check-up, and the fact that the kid couldn’t even recognize what those things were was already a big red flag for those experts.
“Malnutrition is evident, not just with how easy it is to count her ribs, she is severely underweight, and those scars are surgical, meaning that somebody actually removed pieces of her body and had those regrow too fast for them to fully heal properly. Just as the kid herself told us.” The Healing Hero muttered while jutting down notes.
“The sheer amount of dirt on her skin goes beyond what a child can achieve, same goes for the old sores under her feet. Even her skin is way too pale under the layer of old dirt covering her, skin like this looks like she never saw the sun at all! This is such a clean-cut case of Mishandling and Uncaring of a child’s well-being it’s almost comical, in a very twisted sense.” the woman from Child Protection added, frowning.
“She says her father did this, and I cannot detect lies, even if this level of disregard for one's child looks nearby insane, as if done on porpose out of hatred.” Tsukauchi was there to record everything to use against the Chisaki guy Eri said was her father.
“About that, are we sure he is actually her father?” Izuku asked.
“I know it’s hard to believe, but out there there are bad parents, Mister Midoriya.” the woman from Child Protection answered, sighing in dismay.
“Can’t we try all the same? Please?” Izuku asked, he could not tell them the System suggested the DNA test, so he had to tread carefully.
“We will need to find this Chisaki first, and no records about him seem to come out in any search I do, just like the kid’s, as if she simply popped into being out of nowhere one day.” Tsukauchi answered.
“That also worries me, there is a chance the kid didn’t get all the mandatory shots, even if with all the surgery she has been subjected to could imply at least SOME went administered just to keep her healthy, for whatever reason they needed to work on her like a glorified butcher and so did the absolute minimum to keep her alive. But I will need a blood sample both for those tests and the DNA match to give a proper report.” Recovery Girl said.
“No!” Eri yelled while hugging Izuku tighter and burying her face in his shoulder.
“Sssh, it’s okay I am here.” the Chef muttered gently while gently patting her head.
“Needles hurt! I don’t wanna! I don’t wanna! I don-”
“Done!” Recovery Girl said with a wide smile and proudly showing the blood sample she took.
“...uh?” the kid asked in wonder.
“I am good, dearie. I am very good.” the Pro Hero said in smug pride.
“Ooooh.” Eri clearly seconded that notion with the awed look he gave the woman.
“I think we took enough notes and pictures and samples of young Eri to build a case. You can actually wash and feed her now, she deserves it.” Tsukauchi declared receiving nods from the two women.
“Just don’t work your Magic yet on her scars, wait after we are done skinning alive her ‘Father’ for this.” Recovery Girl added with a wink.
“Oh! Okay. So she can stay with me?” Izuku asked.
“It is a special situation, as the kid latched onto you and seems unwilling to let go, but I checked your apartment all the same and can testify it being safe for a kid her age, as long as you keep her out of the kitchen, for the foreseeable future I see no reason to not leave her here. You sure your mother won’t mind staying over to help watch over her as you work?” The woman from Child Protection answered.
“She was even too happy about it, honestly.” Izuku admitted.
“Okay then. Give Her a bath, something nice to eat and wear then, and PLEASE keep her safe.” she answered.
“Have no fear, nobody will hurt her.” he promised.
“Good.”
“Then I say we can leave young Eri with her new friends and go preparing for the case against her dad, all okay with this?” Tsukauchi asked.
“No issue for me.”
“Me neither,” Recovery girl added.
“Good, we’ll be on our way then,” the Detective answered, personally accompanying the two women outside and towards the parking lot.
“I’ll be going too, Izuku.” Saito said.
“Thank you for the help, I don’t know how I could have helped Eri otherwise, thank God you had the brainwave to tell me to not immediately fix her up.” Izuku admitted, sighing.
“We needed them to see how badly she was treated first, otherwise that animal could have had an easier time forcing you to hand her over.” the other answered.
“I understand. And thank you for all those gifts too, I didn’t expect you to go this far when I asked for something decent for Eri to wear.”
“Eeeh, when you called me Rei-chan was right next to me and heard everything, those several bags of clothes for little Eri are just a small part of all the things she demanded me to bring, Rei-chan went a bit overboard in shopping, but at least clothes and toys won’t be a problem for a while.” Saito admitted sheepishly.
“Thank you, Saito-san.”
“It’s okay, it is for a good cause,”
“And...Remember to come here tonight, it’s important.” Izuku said with a sigh.
“Whatever revelation you have to make it’s clearly weighing on your conscience, are you really that afraid?” the man asked, worried.
“Yes. I want this weight off my shoulders, but I am also scared.” Izuku admitted, and to his surprise Eri hugged him hard as a show of support.
“Thank you, Eri-chan.” he answered, touched.
“You really look nice together, take care for now. I’ll see you again tonight.” Saito answered with a warm smile before leaving the two alone.
“Let’s go, Eri-chan. A warm bath, some new clothes and a bit of food. Then off to bed for a nap.” Izuku declared while taking the girl to the flat above.
“Okay.” the kid answered with a meek tone.
With Tsukauchi – Police Force Offices – Later that day -
Once closed in the privacy of his personal office, the detective locked the door and called his Chief through the internal, secure line of the department.
“Yes?”
“I think I may have a lead on the Precepts of Death Case.” Tsukauchi said.
“...I am listening.” the Chief answered with a low whisper himself, giving the detective his full attention and leaning slightly forward even if talking on the phone.
“Maybe we have the perfect bait to draw Overhaul out of whatever hole he is hiding in.” he answered.
Later still – Green Cloud Restaurant - Lunch Hour -
Eri had thought that going to bed again was a bad idea, but that thought lasted until after Izuku gave her a warm bubbly bath and filled her stomach, she was already about to pass out again when the Chef was still gently brushing her hair after the bath, and by the time she was in her new kittens-themed pajama, her eyes were already half-lidded and she all but fell unconscious once her head hit the pillow of her new bed right next to Izuku’s.
“Good evening, sweetie.” the gentle woman named Inko, Izuku’s mom, said as soon as she saw Eri wake up several hours later, finally refreshed.
“Hi…” the kid muttered with a soft voice while hiding her face under the covers up to her eyes.
“Did you sleep well?” Inko asked.
“Uh-hu.” she muttered in answer.
“That is very good! You already look better,”
“...Wh-Where is Izuku?” Eri asked.
“He is working downstairs, do you want to go see him?” Inko asked.
“C-Can I?”
“Of course! Do you want to go now?”
“P-Please?” the kid begged.
“Okay! Let me help you get dressed and we will go,” the woman answered, picking the girl up in her arms and walking towards the bathroom.
“Th-Thank you.”
Some fast freshening-up and brushing, and an adorable red dress matching the kid’s eyes, and Eri was gently helped down the stairs and into the main room of the Restaurant, all the way to a chair high enough to help her look beyond the counter where the cash register was, and with a very comfortable cushion for her to sit on.
“Kyun!” immediately, Shiro jumped on Eri’s lap to both protect her and still keep an eye on the room at the same time, and the kid clearly loved the fluffy Taotie’s attentions, and if this helped his Partner’s new child relax and feel safe, then Shiro will gladly let her pet him.
“Hi, Shiro.” Eri muttered, hugging the thing a little and then setting to just gently pet his head from time to time.
“Relax, child. This Esteemed Taotie will protect you just as he protects his Partner, your new father.” Shiro thought in pride.
For the Pro Heroes presents, and the few Vigilantes hiding among them while clad in their civilian attire, the kid that appeared from the side door was a big novelty, but as a testament of their professionalism, legal or otherwise, they kept their mouths shut about it, especially once noticed the kid looking at all of them in apprehension and only showing random sparks of relief whenever Izuku happened to be in her line of sight.
“Did you sleep well, Eri-chan?” The Chef finally asked once free enough to walk near the counter to address the kid.
“Uh-hu.” Eri nodded, still trying to appear even smaller than she already was by hunching on herself.
“I know seeing all these people is scary, but don’t worry, I promise I will protect you, and if not me, Shiro-kun and Whitey will keep you safe too.” the young Chef said.
“Kyuunh!” the Ancestral Taotie gave a soft whine in answer, and even Whitey appeared briefly from the kitchen to flash her a thumbs-up.
“I will help too!” Ochako as well offered her help, happy to see Izuku show her a grateful look.
“Me and Eri-chan will start our lessons then, okay? If we need help, we will ask Ochako or you, Icchan.” Inko answered.
“Sure!” both teens answered.
“T-Thank you.” Eri said as well.
Inko had decided she would teach Eri how to read and write after discovering, to the group’s horror, that the kid had been taught next to nothing, so while the girl slept, both Inko and Rei Yaoyorozu had raided any bookstore they could find to gather enough material to help young Eri, with both mothers electing themselves as the kid’s teachers.
“Ok, I will bring her some bunny-shaped slices of apple to snack on while studying then. Call me if you need, okay?” Izuku answered, patting Eri’s head.
“Uh-hu.” the kid answered, nodding.
“I’ll go back to the kitchen,” Izuku said, pleased, and then returning to his domain.
“…” Ochako too returned to work, although with her mind wandering to a peculiar meeting she had the night before.
UA Alliance Dormitories – Ochako ’s room – last night -
Ochako was pacing about her room in a restless state, and checking her door maniacally every five minutes to make sure it was closed just to avoid Momo barging inside again.
“...She’s late.” the girl said after checking her phone again.
Bing!
“Open the window so I can come in.” she saw the message she was waiting for finally appear on her screen, and with anxious steps she all but flew to her window to throw it open, and let Nejire float silently inside.
“Glad to see you open to talk!” the older student said with a wide smile once she sat on Ochako’s bed and watched the girl close both the window and drapes.
“You accosted me before the Sport Festival and demanded me to give you my number and then told me in no certain terms we had to meet here tonight right after the Festival, what do you want?” Ochako asked.
“You have a crush on Icchan, don’t you?” Nejire asked in lieu of an answer, smirking amused at the other girl’s sputtering.
“Y-You know that already,” she said, frowning.
“And you need any help possible to defeat Rumi and Momo, isn’t it?” Nejire pressed on, and at each step she took towards Ochako, the other girl took one back, until the gravity heroine found herself pressed against the wall with the older student looming over her with both Nejire’s hands pressing hard on the wall at both sides of Ochako’s head.
“I can help you remove those two obstacles if you want. For a price.” Nejire whispered with her face an inch from Ochako’s, their noses were almost touching.
“I-I thought you were the overly-friendly, always-smiling girl with no mean bone inside!”
“That works in anime, but I am a real person, way more complex than that…” the other answered.
It may have been a trick of the light, but Nejire’s eyes had a very sinister and literal glow to them now that paired with the fangs in her smile gave her a very predatory look.
“You said your help has a price. W-What price is it?” Ochako asked.
“I want Icchan. I want you and me to share Icchan. A nice, romantic, fulfilling and lewd Love Triangle, just for the three of us.” Nejire whispered hotly in the girl’s ear while a finger of her hand traced Ochako’s jawline.
“S-S-Share?!”
“I find both you and Icchan irresistible, and I want you both.'' That same finger now moved to draw feather-light circles around Ochako’s bellybutton once sneaked under the girl’s pajama.
“I-I-I-I don’t swing that way!” Ochako said, weakly.
Chomp!
“Kyaaah!” Unfortunately, as soon as Nejire gave a light bite to her earlobe, the Gravity Hero released an adorable squeak.
“I can be a great ally, Occhan. You saw it already: how easy it was to stand-up to Momo after following my suggestions! You saw how surprised she was at seeing a girl she thought she had scared away return full force and become a great Threat. I can become a threat just as big to you, but why add another rival for Icchan’s affection when we could just as easily share?...And there is A LOT to share.”
“A-A-A lot?”
“Lots and Lots, Occhan. So much you won’t even know what to do with all that wealth. Or would you prefer me siding with Rumi instead?” Nejire answered, still whispering into Ochako’s ear close enough her full lips faintly tickled the girl’s ear.
“N-N-NO!” Ochako answered immediately, afraid of what TWO such bombshells could achieve if they joined forces to seduce her beloved Chef.
“So we have a deal?” Nejire asked with a wide smile while stepping back, reverting into the peppy persona she was practically famous for.
“...Can I have some Alone Time with him from time to time?” Ochako surprisingly turned very business-like once freed from the Wall.
“Of course! While three-way dates are fun and threesomes are kinky and exciting, a girl also needs some romance too! We will have equal share and personal time to spend alone with him in equal measure! We three each will have time for ourselves too! We won’t be attached at the hip!”
“If I do this...You won’t side with Rumi or Momo, right?” Ochako asked.
“Of course!”
“And...And you won’t try to keep Izuku all for yourself, yes?” she then asked.
“Absolutely.” Nejire answered.
“Then...Then I am in!”
“Goodie! Then tomorrow go to work as if nothing is out of ordinary, and when I will call you, you need to come to the Restaurant after the closing hours. I will talk to Aizawa-sensei to let you come. It’s very, very important!”
“Important?”
“Fundamental if you want this to work!”
“I’ll be there then!” Ochako promised, eyes finally ablaze in determination.
“I will count on that. For now I will go, good night!” Nejire answered, patting the other girl on the shoulder and opening the window.
“Don’t betray me, Hado-san. I won’t forgive you.” Ochako warned her.
“Don’t worry! We will all be happy by the end of this.” Nejire answered with a thumbs-up and then flying away.
“I really hope so…” Ochako muttered while closing the windows and getting ready to sleep.
“My God, this is more complex than I thought...Sometimes I wonder if it’s worth it.” Nejire thought with a sigh of dismay.
Back to the present -
Not too far from the Restaurant, in an isolated alleyway, Rumi was still idly kicking the wall hard enough to leave small holes in it.
“Dammit! That bastard had to use fire all of a sudden! It threw off my strategy! Why did he decide to pull that trick out of his ass only during our fight?!...God I am so angry! I even missed the closing ceremony, but if I went there I KNOW I would have strangled that bastard!”
But, not everything was a failure as big as that! Several Pro Heroes offered her Internship, like the Dragon Hero Ryukyu, Nighteye himself and many others. WAY MORE than the explosion maniac and the bi-elemental shitlord! She WON in that regard, ah!…
Aaand, thanks to her Partner in Crime, with a bit of acting she will now get to hug her favourite Chef and get comforted by him, she rehearsed her lines and found the cringe-enough memory to summon some tears too! Was it a dirty tactic? Maybe, but she was a girl in love and she knew boys liked to be there for a girl in need. Luckily he was a Good Guy, not a Nice Guy, those were always bad news.
“A pity Uraraka is also there, but beggars can’t be choosers...Good, I have calmed down. Let’s get to it!” Rumi said to herself once finished drilling several holes in the wall by kicking, she had finally burned through her annoyance.
Whistling a jaunty tune, the bunny girl entered the Restaurant, said hi to the guests already there, marveled at Eri being the new addition to the Restaurant, flipped Ochako off with her middle finger and sat at a free table so to flash a ‘Tear-stained smile’ to Izuku as soon as he came to see who took the table.
“Hey, you okay?” the Chef asked with a gentle smile.
“I’ll be,” Rumi answered with a depressed tone, it was truly perfect acting...Or was it?
“You were amazing, you know?”
“Yeah, but I lost to that Kuudere Asshole.” she answered, bitter.
“It was a very close-call though, you really came close to winning!”
“But I still lost…”
“Can I help you feel better in any way?” Izuku offered.
“...Carrot cake?” Rumi said.
“I do have some.”
“...With you feeding it to me personally?” the girl added, hopeful and with her ears pinned down.
“Tch!” Ochako’s hiss was soft and full of hatred, and luckily Izuku didn’t hear it, or at least decided to ignore it for the time being.
“Just for this time.” Izuku conceded with a sigh.
“Thank you!”
“You don’t need to, I will bring it to her and she will eat it like everybody else does, no sense ignoring the customers for this.”
“Mind your business, Uraraka!” Rumi hissed with burning eyes.
“Girls, please don’t argue. I will be back soon with the cake, Rumi.” the young Chef answered, sighing and then leaving the two girls to themselves.
“…”
“...What are you planning?” Ochako asked once sure he was back in the kitchen.
“Seduction. I want him to recognize that between me, you and Miss big-tits-no-brain I am his soulmate.” Rumi answered, defiant.
“This is a battle you can’t win, Rumi-san.” Ochako answered.
“And let’s hear, what can you offer that I can’t?”
“Exactly that. I am not treating this like a Challenge or a battle! I am not offering something, I am honestly attracted to him and I believe we can be happy together! I don’t need to offer something or be a good investment, I am trying to have a Love Story, not a Transaction!” Ochako.
“You both keep treating me as if I was some bitch that just wants to get him as if he was a toy. It must feel good, eh? I am just the Horny Rabbit that wants a quick fuck and decided to try getting in the pants of the boy you, Warriors of TRUE LOVE, are interested in just for some game! I too believe in Romance, but I will pursue it MY WAY, I just find it insulting that you are so full of yourself to believe only YOU can love somebody for real!”
“Yes, I find him attractive, but I still want the full package: Romance and Sex! The only difference between me and you two thirsty lunatics is that at least I am honest about it!” Rumi declared.
“You-”
“So this is official, the three of us are really Rivals for the same man. Fair enough.” Once again Momo seemed to materialize behind Ochako as if she was the girl’s personal Nightmare.
“Was there ever any doubt?” Rumi challenged her.
“Not really, but hearing you admitting once again you are out to get him for real and concrete reasons sealed the deal. Can’t say it does good to my self-esteem.” Momo answered.
“If you can’t take the pressure just walk away then, a War of Love is not for the faint of Heart!” Rumi answered, scoffing.
“Never!” Ochako and Momo answered in chorus.
From an isolated table, Nejire seemingly kept scrolling on her phone while eating the slice of cake Izuku had just brought her, in truth she did not miss a single word or bit of action of the whole exchange, this giving the smile she was showing the whole time a more sinister undertone.
“Things are moving in the right direction and still on schedule, the three of them are finally getting into the right mindset and igniting their fighting spirit! Now...If only Momo too could show an opening for me to use…” she muttered to herself. She then gave a last touch to the update to her personal social media page, and finally posted it.
Triple Chocolate cake! Love at first bite!
Strong and Sweet in perfect balance, like the ideal boyfriend should be!
Thank you Chef Icchan for the suggestion! <3
#SweetMoments
#CutieChef
#GreenCloudRestaurant
#NejireChanFavourite
Few seconds later – UA – Gym -
Ping!
“...I hate chocolate.” Mirio muttered bitterly once seen the update on Nejire’s page and all the hearts she added to the message and around Izuku’s nickname.
Yes, Nejire was petty, deal with it.
Restaurant -
Momo’s mood was indeed extremely sour after seeing her two Rivals being so bold in their admission of Love, even Ochako had regained steam somehow, and the Yaoyorozu girl could not understand what helped her friend gather enough courage to push back! She was sure she had talked the girl out of pursuing her boyfriend before the Sport Festival! What happened?! What injected into her veins so much explosive determination?!
“Momo, you okay?” Aaah! May God bless her beloved, immediately picking-up on her distress and swiftly moving to assist her in the hopes of helping her blast it away.
“It’s okay, Izu. Just a small case of Girl Problems, nothing I cannot face and fix.” Momo answered, kissing her boyfriend’s cheek for two reasons: first and foremost because she liked doing so (she once decided to kiss each freckle of his individually and loved how red that got him) and secondly as a bragging right against the thots lurking in the shadows trying to take him away from her. Delusional fools as they were.
“This means nothing.” Momo didn’t need to be a Psychic to know those were the thoughts floating around Rumi and Ochako’s head.
“That’s a relief, you looked so angry I got worried.” Izuku admitted.
“That's because you are my sweet little worrywart,” she answered, smiling fondly.
“Huhuhu! Guilty as charged…” he admitted with a soft, sad laugh.
“Hey.” Momo said once noticed, taking his hand in hers.
“Whatever you need to tell me tonight, it’s okay. I will be right beside you every step of the way. Whatever it is, we will face it together, I am not leaving you, never.” Momo reassured him, trying to infuse courage in him while she gave his hand a squeeze.
“Okay...Okay, I can do this...WE can do this…” Izuku muttered, mostly to himself, once seen with the corner of his eye Nejire send him an encouraging nod and smile, and that, together with Momo’s own support, almost made him believe the talk he will have with her, her parents and his own won’t actually end with him losing everything.
“You won’t lose a thing, promise.” Momo said with her other hand gently caressing his cheek.
“...Did I…”
“You muttered a bit, I got good at deciphering it.” she answered, smiling, and under the catcalls of the customers, and the MURDEROUS GLARE of Rumi and Ochako, she leaned in for a small peck on his lips that turned his face into a vibrant shade of red never seen before, Inko’s giddy expression simply twisted the knife in the wound a tiny bit more.
“To-To-To-Tonight then.” he tried saying.
“Tonight, have no fear, everything will be okay.” she answered.
“Is she my new mommy?” Eri asked just loud enough to be heard by the whole room.
“EEEEEEEK!” It was now Momo’s turn to turn red while Izuku dove for the safety of his kitchen fast as lightning.
“Over my dead body!” Rumi shrieked in her mind, and it was only thanks to her biting her own knuckles if she did not scream that aloud.
“Welcome to Green Cloud Restaurant. May I get your order?” Ochako instead had just asked a new table of young boys what their orders were with a tone promising a very violent death, and those guys were smart enough to decide that ‘flirting with the cute Japanese waitress’ was not worth being torn apart and thrown in the garbage bin outside. They almost turned into monks on the spot, actually!
Needless to say, that table of tourists left a very generous tip, just in case the girl decided to burn through her anger against her Love Rival by breaking their poor fragile bodies, they fully vowed to never again bother girls just in the name of hormones too! They were told Japanese girls loved Foreigners, what did they do wrong?!
That night – After closing hours -
Izuku had just finished cleaning his Restaurant after the last customer left and had turned the sign on the door into Closed, and was now leaning his head on the opaque glass door of his kitchen; behind him, and quietly sitting at various tables were his parents Inko and Hisashi with Eri sitting on his mother’s lap, Momo and her parents Saito and Rei, Nejire...And in a surprising visit...Ochako and Rumi.
They all were patiently waiting and watching his back as he stood there in silence, clearly surrounded with an invisible aura of worry.
“System...Are you sure?” he asked again, maybe for the fifth or seventh time, he could no longer tell.
“The Host declared his intention of giving Full Disclosure to his loved ones, this is indeed the first time this event occurs as usually the Hosts prefer keeping everything a secret. But the System recognizes the Host’s need to not keep the ones closer to him out of the loop.” The System answered.
“I am surprised you even accepted.” Izuku admitted, sighing, and that sound sent every Guest for his revelation on edge instantaneously.
“That is because the System has checked if the ones that are about to be revealed your Secret are able to keep it through psychological tests run while they were asleep and by analyzing in detail everything they did, said or thought every single instant of their life before now.” The Entity answered.
“And they passed your test?” He asked.
“They all have, Host.
Nejire Hado has already shown herself worthy by not disclosing a single detail of your deal with the System, even while talking with Rumi Usagiyama.
As mentioned, Rumi Usagiyama has been shown some details about the Hosts ’ real Power and has not shared that knowledge with anybody else, other tests and background checks confirmed her ability to keep everything that will be said tonight a secret no matter what.
Momo Yaoyorozu and her parents as well have been tested for their discretion and have shown themselves worthy.
Same goes for the Host’s parents.
Ochako Uraraka has been the one with the highest Score in that regard, Host.
The little girl Eri as well has given a Perfect Score once tested.
Host can proceed with his Revelation with full support of the System.” the System answered, not adding to its answer how the Entity could ideally impart in their minds the suggestion of never revealing a single detail, but its Host didn’t need to worry over such trivial matters.
They all were trusty Confidants that needed no prompting to keep their mouths shut, everything else was just the System being overly-zealous in protecting its beloved Host from danger.
“Good...And...Thank you.” Izuku answered, sighing once again and finally addressing his friends and family.
“I have not been fully honest with you all. About my Restaurant, about my Sponsor, and about myself.” he said with a low voice, still not looking at them.
“Hn?” Saito muttered, confused. Many others shared a similar expression.
“My parents know some details, just not all of them.” he then said.
“Mostly because it is extremely hard to believe even for me, and my job is basically to analyzeimpossible things and learn how they work.” Hisashi answered.
“Oh, you just scratched the surface, dad…” Izuku answered with a humorless dry chuckle.
“What is happening, Izuku?” Momo asked, worried.
“...You really believe that a single year of Coma gives a man abilities like mine?” he asked, looking at them with a tired smile.
“...No. Honestly I thought yours was a strange Quirk at first, speed related, or about being super fast at learning new things, but even those absurdly-rare Quirks are not that effective.” Saito admitted, sighing.
“Then you learned he was Quirkless,” Rumi said.
“I did dig a bit to learn his background...And no family member of his in the past had any Quirk that suggested similar skills. Attracting things, Repelling things, breathing fire, breathing extremely hot air, being fire-proof, making things heavier, making things lighter...Multiple variations of those, but nothing speed or mind/learning related powers though.” he answered.
“Oh, me and my Colleagues went even further back, with the same results though.” Hisashi added.
“What is happening then?” Ochako asked.
“Come, I will give you all every answer at once.” Izuku answered, lifting Eri in his arms and accepting her tight hug with no small amount of relief.
“I-I-I am here.” the small kid said with a soft voice.
“Thank you, Eri-chan.” he answered.
“Come where?” Inko asked.
“My kitchen’s storage, I have all the proofs there.” he answered, and walking through the door that opened by itself once he approached, something they were not aware it could do.
“I don’t get it…” Rumi admitted while following the group.
“Oh, believe me, the truth is very wild.” Nejire answered as the group followed the Chef.
“You know something?” Momo asked, hurt.
“Discovered everything by chance, I am actually the one that suggested that he come clean, you all need to hear it.” the girl answered, and to Momo’s shock, there was no smugness about it.
“Sorry about it, by the way. It was an accident.” she then added, and Momo could somehow tell Nejire’s apology was honest.
“...Something’s wrong…” Rei said once they all entered the kitchen, and it was not the fact the room was sterile-clean or filled in top-of-the-line equipment even more advanced than the one that could be found on the market.
“This kitchen is too big. Like, WAY TOO BIG!” Rumi confirmed.
“A kitchen this big would have meant the local behind the restaurant too had been bought just to give it extra space, instead there is still a pet shop at the opposite side of the building...How?” Saito answered, confused.
“There are Quirks able to increase the size of rooms, but those are taxing to the user and actually need the Quirked to be present at all times, at least this is what we know from our research.” Hisashi added.
“It is not Quirk doing this.” a metallic and genderless voice said aloud, heard by them all.
“WHO’S TALKING?!” Inko asked.
“Hi, System-san.” Nejire said with a small smile.
“Good evening, Nejire Hado.” the Entity answered.
“Wo! Wo! Wo! System-San!?” Saito and Hisashi asked as one.
“As in an actual person?” Momo added.
“Indeed. This is the Gourmet System, and you are now in the heart of Host Izuku’s territory, you have been deemed worthy of his secret.”
“What is happening now?” Ochako asked.
“This way, please.” Izuku gave as an answer while walking towards a small door all the way in the back.
“Another door? How big is this room?!” Rei asked.
“Way bigger than in your wildest imagination, Rei-san. Here...This is my Storage Room…” Izuku answered with a sad smile while opening the door.
And what they saw was not a room or even a hangar...But a VAST expanse of luscious green grass seemingly continuing far and wide without end, a cloudless sky and far in the distance a mountain range, all around them the roaring of the sea and a big river flowing nearby. And there was the sun shining in the sky, instead of the full moon outside the Restaurant.
“W-Wha? Teleportation?! From a fixed location?! How?!” Hisashi asked immediately.
“No teleportation, dad. Check your phones.” Izuku answered.
“...No signal?” Rumi asked once checked, and as one everybody did the same, with the exact same result.
“Impossible, I am NEVER without signal, my phone connects to the private satellite grid of I-Island! I would lose signal only if deep underground or special isolated bunkers!” Hisashi said.
“Does being into a Pocket Universe count as being inside a special isolated room?” Izuku asked, he just kept walking forward, towards an ancient-looking ship parked on the grass and made entirely of red wood.
“Wha?”
“The correct term would be Fold in the fabric of Reality, Host.” the System’s voice still came crystal clear, even without speakers in sight.
“This isn’t even telepathy or Thought transmission. We are actually hearing a voice...How?”
“This is getting more insane by the minute! CAN SOMEONE EXPLAIN WHAT IS HAPPENING, FOR FUCK SAKE?!” Rumi demanded.
“Icchan has made a deal with an extra-dimensional being. An Entity that can rewrite Reality as it pleases, and that Entity wants him to become the greatest Chef.” Nejire said while flying up in the air and landing on the bow of the ship.
“Correct.” the System answered, and Whitey himself marched up the ship to grab the wheel.
“A deal...Wait, that is how you got that Isekai?” Inko asked.
“That Isekai what now?!” Momo asked, looking ready to cry just out of confusion.
“Oh, no, mum. The System came looking for me after I came back. My Isekai is actually why they came looking for me. I already possessed the knowledge, skills and mentality they needed for a Host Candidate of this world.” Izuku answered. By now all of them had followed him up that ship without even noticing.
“We can go, Whitey.” the Chef ordered.
“Go? Go Whe-WOAAAAAH!” Ochako’s question was cut short when the boat’s sail caught some non-existent wind and the entire vessel started flying up in the air with otherworldly ease and without even the smallest whiplash from the sudden movement, nor the roaring of engines or propellers...It just flew, traversing air as it would with water.
“This is my Storage Room, an entire island separated into various biomes for my Ingredients to frolic and reproduce freely, albeit in a controlled manner to avoid overpopulation.” Izuku explained, and as an answer, several strange-looking birds came flying-by displaying colorful feathers.
“Kiiiiii!” one of which the lightning phoenix he collected with Nejire in one of his Dimensional sorties, the majestic bird with feathers the color of pure gold and covered by minuscule arches of lightning circled the flying ship several times before landing of Nejire’s arm as soon as she offered it as a perch.
“Hey there, you are looking good.” the girl said, petting the bird’s head that released a low croon in appreciation.
“What is that?” Inko asked, entranced.
“A Lightning Phoenix. I helped Izuku collect this one.” Nejire answered.
“...What are you doing?” Saito asked, confused.
“Me and the guys of I-Island developed a way to recognize if one is under the influence of Illusory Quirks and break free.” the other answered, opening a vial and pouring a few drops in his eyes.
“...So?”
“No change? Hypnosis then?” To the others’ shock Hisashi’s next move was actually dislodging one of his own fingers.
“HISASHI!” Inko shrieked.
“…” Izuku simply stood in wait.
“...Not even pain works...T-This is real?” the older Midoriya asked with wide eyes.
“It is, dad.” Izuku said, gently putting Eri down and grabbing his father’s hand.
CRACK!
“Ugh!” and painfully setting the bone back in place to then wrap the hand up in bandages the System provided for him.
“Those animals are all real? The birds, the strange monkeys with horns, those giant white boars and...Are those Corn Stalks the size of a skyscraper?!” Momo asked in disbelief.
“Oh, yes. All of them are.” Izuku answered, leaning on the ship’s railing to watch the vast amount of Ingredients under them go about their normal, everyday life.
“At every Level the Host achieves, a list of selected Ingredients chosen by the System is unlocked, those Ingredients vary from plants for Vegetables and Fruits, to Living animals and spices and are all added to the Storage Room. It is up to the Host to collect them from the Storage and prepare them properly for cooking.
The Host can purchase Ingredients outside the provided list for a fee in Experience Points. A fee is also applied in case the Host wants an Ingredient already ready for use, the fee is calculated proportionally to the Host’s level, the level of the List the Ingredient comes from and the overall difficulty level the Ingredient's preparation displays, to dissuade the Host from being lazy.” The System answered.
“Experience points?”
“I gain Levels like in a video game, at each level-up I get stronger.” Izuku answered.
“Then sometimes I am sent in various Sortie’s to collect Ingredients, and if I complete the Mission, those Ingredients are added to this place, those and the ones I collect in the meantime or have been gifted with as a prize.” he then added, he was still looking down the ship, not at them.
“And you went with him?” Rumi asked with crossed arms.
“By mistake, I had just broken up with Mirio and came here to look for a friendly shoulder to cry on, and caught him mid-teleportation. System-san is very demanding and decided they could not wait for me to leave, so I was taken along.” Nejire answered, and watched as the Phoenix flew away to feed on a giant formation of dark clouds covering an entire area of the island in the far back.
“...Was that the night you disappeared?” Momo asked.
“Oh! Yes, for you others it was a single night...Yes…” she answered.
“For us?” Hisashi was at her side instantly.
“Uh?!”
“Please elaborate,” the man asked with an intense stare.
“Both Host and Nejire had been moved to another world. By virtue of the different Time Flow, the twelve days they spent there equaled the few hours that had passed in your world.” System answered.
“Twelve days?!” Ochako yelled.
“I KNEW IT! Not only the Multiverse is real! The relativistic nature of Time is true as well! I WAS RIGHT!” Hisashi bellowed with a mad, and yet vindicated, tone.
“Not now, dear.” Inko begged with a sigh, walking towards her son to hug him tightly.
“Izuku...Izuku please start from the beginning...I-I am not understanding a thing.” Momo begged weakly.
Sigh! “It all started during that coma. From my point of view, when Bakugo blasted me away in anger after I went to check on him, I barely felt my head hit the ground hard and all went black...Then I opened my eyes to see a face I did not recognize as the woman cradling my body cooed at me while calling me ‘Her precious boy, Zaus.’, still with memories of my previous life…” Izuku said with a sigh.
The story was luckily short, just the important bits of his new childhood, Cooking School and Apprenticeship, his first Restaurant and his rise in popularity, and then the utter fall from grace after Joie’s brainwashing, followed by his spending his last years in isolation traveling the Gourmet World and finally his death.
“When I closed my eyes for the last time I thought that was it: I had a new life I spent well and with no regrets. Then instead I opened them again and saw my mother Inko looking at me in hope to see me awake, and here I am now.” Izuku finished saying, now finally looking at them, he had spoken of his time as Zaus in pride, he really did not have a single regret in that life.
“So that time when I watched you kick the door open…” Saito said.
“I had just accepted the System’s offer and immediately started cooking and training.” Izuku confirmed.
“That would explain how you were suddenly able to summon things, and from where that strange tattoo and knife come from.” Hisashi said, sighing.
“There are days I wake up wondering if all this is real, then I walk down to the kitchen of my Restaurant, and see Whitey and get the usual Good Morning from The System and I am reminded it is instead all real.” the Chef answered.
“Oh well, if even YOU have trouble believing all this even while living it, you can imagine how confusing all this is to us!” Rumi answered, groaning.
“I honestly thought you all deserved to know this. I was so tired of hiding this from my parents and Momo and hers, not after all the support I got since the very beginning.” he said.
“So I am taking cooking lessons from a Legendary Chef?” Rei asked, she was still looking enraptured at the various giant alien animals and enormous and colorful fruits and vegetables under them while the ship kept going through a very scenic route around the impossibly big island.
“At the Apex of his career, ‘Cooking King’ Zaus stood at the top of the Chef Ranking, above ‘Gourmet Living Legend’ Setsuno, ‘Bizarre Cooking’ Tengu Brunch and ‘Curry King’ Damala Sky XIII. Peak Net Worth registered: 17 Trillion Yen Annual, putting him in third place under Colonel Mokkoi and Fond de Bonho for Net Worth in the world ranking.” the System answered.
“...Only 17?” Izuku asked, confused.
“Royalties for the book series were not considered by the Ranking Officials.” the System answered.
“Oh! Strange, but okay.”
“…”
“…”
“You okay?”
“...After the Great Recovery, the total of Japan's National debt is around 35 Trillion yens, as per 2155...You used to make half that sum that PER YEAR?” Saito asked with a faint voice.
“More or less. Our Economy was...Peculiar, to say the least.” Izuku answered.
“Jesus Christ! He treats that like they were pennies! You had ‘Fuck You!’ Money! Literally!” Rumi threw her arms up in disbelief.
“...How many zeroes are in there?” Ochako asked, pale as a ghost.
“Twelve.” Momo answered with a dead voice.
“How can your economy be so bad a man can single-handedly have an annual income putting entire nations to shame?” Nejire asked, curious.
“The Gourmet Age, the time period where we REALLY started giving great importance to Food and Ingredients, was also the age where the market went flooded by millions of different Ingredients of a quality once considered just a myth...Thus prices had to be updated...Then jobs, wages, transportation, insurances and so on until everything went whack. A normal salary-man used to make around twenty to twenty-five million Yen per year, and I am talking about minimum wage.”
“Are you actually telling the truth?” Ochako asked with a faint voice.
“Why should I lie? What do I gain from doing that on such a big scale? Just look around and tell me,” The Chef answered, sighing.
“Wait a minute...If this is true...Wouldn’t this mean that you are selling your Ingredients at basically a loss?” Hisashi asked.
“Dad, the original price for the Jewel Meat is insane in our world’s standards.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“Define insane, please.” Rei asked.
Sigh! “Just 100 grams of Jewel Meat, the part universally known as the absolute best cut of a Regal Mammoth, are sold for 5 MILLION Yen back in Zaus’s world...At today's exchange 44 thousand dollars. For 100 grams, raw.”
“5 Mill...O-Oooh!” It was only thanks to Rumi and Nejire’s fast reflexes if they could catch both Inko and Hisashi before they could actually fall to the floor as soon as their bodies lost strength out of horror.
“A 8 oz (220 grams circa) kobe steak can be sold for up to 100/120 dollars on average raw/unprepared. That’s four hundred times more expensive.” Saito added to it with his eyebrows shooting up to his hairline.
“Any other cut of Regal Mammoth meat is usually sold for around 150 thousand Yen for 100 grams, raw of course.” Izuku added as an after-thought while pointing at a particular animal playing around under them.
“And there are a lot of one hundred grams in that…” Rumi said with bulged-out eyes while looking at the house-sized elephant with striped fur peacefully roaming about under the flying ship.
“Hn? That’s a newborn. The Adults are way bigger.” the Chef answered.
“BWU?!” the group gurgled-out.
“That is an adult.” Izuku said while pointing at a strange mountain covered with the same striped pattern of the mammoth...Then the mountain got up and slowly walked up to the newborn to check on it.
Measuring a whooping 1000 meters in height and 1500 meters in length, the Regal Mammoth easily cast its shadow upon the flying ship as it walked past it to reach her baby, not even sparing them a glance.
“This current specimen has a weight of around 50 million tons.” The System declared.
“Holy Sh-” Hisashi’s curse was luckily stopped by Inko’s hand covering his mouth, to protect young Eri’s ears.
“...That’s a lot of money wandering about…And you have three of them.” Ochako muttered in shock.
“And how do you…” Rei asked.
“I cut off a piece at a time when I need to cook, by sheer size I am basically doing paper cuts so it barely notices. And yet I keep getting enough meat to run my restaurant daily just from one of them. They are kept in a very controlled birth program, so I don’t have to fear being overrun or just having more meat than what I need.” Izuku answered.
“This. This is insane.” Saito admitted.
“An insanity I was tired of keeping secret from you all,” Izuku admitted.
“Why?”
“...Because I love your daughter, and I didn’t want secrets between us. Even if I feared this secret would scare her away.” he answered.
“It’s a lot to take in, yes. But there are worse secrets to keep and even if by size alone this beats any secret children of illegal affairs or contraband...It is still a very innocuous secret.” Momo answered.
“But-”
“And that is what Icchan feared.” Nejire said as soon as Inko opened her mouth.
“Uh?”
“You are about to say that all this is too dangerous, isn’t it?” she asked.
“…” the woman did look guilty.
“Exactly. That is why he was afraid. He was right even! Most of you are wondering if you should talk him into dropping all this, just to keep him safe.”
“We are his parents!”
“I AM NOT MADE OF GLASS!” Izuku roared in answer, easily eclipsing Hisashi’s own growl.
“This is my dream! My chance! I did not share this just to have anybody take it away! I am doing this with or without you! I won’t be babied or put in a golden cage just to make you sleep well at night! Never.”
…
…
“...That’s a good point to land, I am hungry.” the Chef said while pointing at a small beach next to the sea.
“Understood.” Whitey answered, driving the ship to said location.
Nobody talked after Izuku’s outburst, with the Chef standing tall on the very front of the ship looking forward so to give them all his back, the only one that did get his attention was Eri that went lifted in his arms so that both hug each other tight.
Meanwhile – Rundown Hospital -
“Bunch of morons!” a man with a fur coat and wearing a long beak mask reminiscent of a Plague Doctor’s yelled while kicking a near table savagely enough the medical instruments on it went flying.
“The kid is more slippery than we thought, Boss!” one of the lackeys answered, jumping back.
“This excuse could barely float the first time! This is the third time she escapes! HOW?!” the masked man demanded,
“Hokuro forgot to lock the door of her room, the kid must have noticed and used it to escape.”
“...Where is Hokuro now?” the Boss asked with narrowed eyes.
“At a meeting with that League of Villains, sir. He hasn’t returned yet.”
“Tch! I need those morons to back off, so if he doesn’t want to become my next Patient, he better scare them into respecting the pecking order! Last thing I need is a bunch of morons believing to be big shots getting in the way.” the man answered.
Unknown to him his man Hokuro did try to scare Kurogiri into keeping the League of Villains away from his Boss’ territory, unfortunately the smokey Nomu, still with an arm on a sling, was still extremely angry at the failure of Momo’s assassination and Blackie’s retaliation, and now that same mafia crook was strapped to a metal bed as All for One’s trusted doctor Daruma experimented on him to turn the guy into a new Nomu, all with the man still alive and conscious while being cut open and vivisected without anesthetics.
“I will send him to you as soon as he returns, Boss.” the Boss’ right hand man offered coldly.
“You better. For now I want to know who has Eri. She is still too useful for us to let her go. We are finally in the final phase of the bullet’s production…” the Boss said while studying the gun in his hands.
“The last batch is exactly as I envisioned, meaning that I can finally start Mass Production, and for that to happen, that brat must be here,” he said.
“We will find her, Boss Overhaul.” a crook answered immediately.
“You better. See if one of those Pro Hero morons can help. Use the usual sob story about my kidnapped daughter or stuff like that, whatever makes those bleeding heart idiots help you locate Eri. Then smash the kids legs and drag her here, this new escape showed she can’t be trusted with working legs.” Overhaul answered, uncaring.
“It will be done!” the dozen men and women in the room answered as one.
“Good, now go. Find her, smash her legs and then alert me, I will recover her myself, just to make sure the lesson sticks in her empty head.”
“Yessir!”
Restaurant ‘ Storage Room’ – Beach -
While Eri watched enraptured as Izuku collected giant oysters the size of dinner plates from the full net he summoned out of nowhere, behind them the rest of the group stood a bit far behind to watch everything in silence.
“…”
“...I was not about to demand that Icchan drop everything. I swear…” Inko finally said, and she looked ready to cry as she said that.
“But you thought about it,” Rumi answered.
“...Yes, but he-”
“He?” she asked with narrowed eyes.
“…”
“But he has no Quirk? Really? You consider him handicapped, maybe?”
“Hey! You-”
“Oh, stuff it!” the bunny girl snapped.
“I don’t consider him handicapped!” Inko said, now her tears did run down free.
“Then what?” Rumi demanded.
“I saw him stuck to a bed for a year, okay?! I saw him waste away with only me and Hisashi coming to visit him! I am afraid! Happy?! A mother should never bury a child! It’s the child’s duty to outlive the parents! I am scared he will go in one of his Sorties and never come back!” Inko admitted.
“I am scared too,” Rei admitted.
“Mom?” Momo muttered.
“I would give everything to hear you say that you wished to drop out of the Hero Course and just be a Model, just to know you wouldn’t be out there fighting psychos and who knows what.” she admitted.
“My dad is the same, he knows I am doing this in the hope of helping my family economically, and yet there are days he tells me he would be happy with me just learning how to help him do the Company’s paperwork…” Ochako admitted, sighing.
“Do any of you trust your children?” Nejire asked.
“Uhn?” the adults of the group muttered.
“I see lots of similarities between Icchan and the others: they trust you implicitly and with all themselves, but then their parents do not return the trust. It may be because I am in my third year so I have long resolved this issue, but I still can’t remember my situation being like this.” she said.
“It’s not like I don’t trust my daughter,” Saito answered, looking down.
“I just don’t trust the rest of the world around her.” he then said, sighing.
“Same here...And Seeing how easy it is for others to dismiss Izuku’s dream because he is not a ‘Future Marketable Hero’ doesn’t help...Is it so wrong for a parent to wish to keep their children safe?” Hisashi asked.
“Very few would trade happiness for safety.” Rumi answered, bitter.
“Uh?”
“You want him safe so much you are ready to close him into a bubble, he will never be happy like that.”
“But he has no powers to fall back on! It’s not a matter of him being handicapped, it’s a matter of him having no instruments to defend himself while hunting those things! Had he been a normal Chef I wouldn’t have had anything against it! I didn’t until I saw THOSE THINGS roam about!” Inko said.
“Oooh! It’s about strength then?” Nejire said in realization.
“Yes! He is just a normal human! He-”
“Pffft!”
“...Why are you laughing?” Inko demanded, offended.
“Ooh! Yes, we still need the other half of the revelation to happen!” Nejire said, amused.
“Hn?!”
“ICCHAN! CATCH! SPIRAL CANNON!” Nejire yelled, and from both her hands, with the permission of the System, a GIANT storm of blinding light shaped like a drill moved towards Izuku at absurd speed.
“IZUKU!” everybody else yelled in horror.
“Uh? Oh, goddamnit...ITTO: SAMSARA PEELING!” To their shock the young Chef sounded annoyed, instead of scared, and while brandishing the sea dragon kitchen knife he gave a diagonal slash that caught the giant spiral of energy and shredded it julienne in an instant, no matter the thing being twice the size of his whole body.
“…”
“See? See? Icchan is way stronger than what he looks!” Nejire said with a blinding smile while pointing at him and at the dying sparks of her attack rapidly fading away all around him and Eri, with the young kid clapping a little at the show.
“What was that for?” Izuku asked, frowning.
“Apparently 90% of the problem is Fighting Power, so I guess the next step is showing them you can defend yourself!” she answered.
“And you shoot me with that giant cannon just for it?” the Chef asked with a raised eyebrow.
“You said that you would have needed a big shock to make them understand, I just kept the trend.”
“She kept the trend...Really, Nejire-chan, sometimes I can’t follow your thought process.” Izuku admitted with a groan.
“And that’s just the start! Come on, Rumi-chan! Kick him!”
“Uh?! Me?!” Rumi said with her ears shooting straight up.
“Trust me.” she said, and the other girls missed the look both shared.
“Oh, for the love of...FINE!” The Chef’s groan was all the warning they heard before he was already upon them.
BANG! And with his right fist cocked back and the entire arm enlarged to three times its normal sizes.
“BODHI PESTLE!”
“SCATTER!” a wide-eyed Momo yelled, dragging her parents away while Rumi and Ochako did the same to Inko and Hisashi.
BOOOM!
They all barely avoided the attack, and watched as the punch drilled a very deep and wide crater similar to a meteor crashing on the ground with a terrible and dull sound that almost deafened them.
“You were supposed to catch that punch with a kick, Rumi-chan.” Nejire said.
“FUCK NO! You avoid attacks like that! Only a moron catches those head on! I am stupidly brave and prideful, not an idiot!” the Bunny Heroine Student answered.
“Are we done?” Izuku asked once walked out of the crater.
“Should be enough for now!” Nejire answered, unsure.
“So the fights you described were not hyperbole…” Hisashi asked, faintly.
“Not even in the slightest.” Izuku answered.
“...Then why you have Whitey as a bodyguard?” Rumi asked, confused.
“Because I am not here to fight, I am here to be a Chef. I only fight the Ingredients I want to capture, ruffians and Troublemakers are what I have Whitey for.” Izuku answered.
“And they shall be stripped as an example to others!” the robot answered.
“Yeah, you are good at that.” Rumi admitted, giving a high-five to the machine.
“And yet with strength like that you could try to become a Pro Hero,” Ochako said.
“And then?” Izuku asked with a far-away look in his eyes, speaking of endless sadness.
“And then? What do you mean?”
“If I try to become a Pro Hero now that I got these powers, I will just reinforce the idea that unless you have a Quirk or Quirk-equivalent powers you can’t become a Hero! I would just continue this nonsense and be just another example of how a Quirkless can’t be a Hero.
That is why I am keeping my abilities a secret and keeping my distance from Hero Business. It's a very selfish reason, but I don’t want to give them the satisfaction of accepting me in their exclusive club only after unlocking powers, it is now my turn to refuse them instead of them refusing me.” Izuku answered.
“But you could-” Ochako tried saying.
“The world is full of powerful Heroes, everywhere you look there are dozens of incredible Quirks performing miracles. But there is only ONE Chef like Izuku in this world. That is also what you are going for, isn’t it?” Momo said, eyebrows shooting up in realization.
“Huhuhu! Yes, that helped too in taking my decision. Why be yet another strong Hero, when I can be the first SUPER CHEF and still help people and bring smiles like I wished to do as a kid?” he admitted, smirking.
“PFFT-Hahahahaha!”
“Hisashi!” Inko hissed.
“Oooh! If only I-Island and the Hero Safety Commission heard this! Immense power and unlimited resources used for food instead of furthering their agendas! Oooh! How many old fossils would die of anger-induced strokes at seeing such a “Waste” of resources.” Hisashi said in great amusement.
“Sucks to be them, dad. I follow my dreams and chase my happiness, not the whims of others.”
“Well said. As the future God of Cooking you cannot waste time with nobodies, but should fully focus on your path as a Chef.” The System answered.
“...About that...Is that God of Cooking thing literal too?” Rei asked.
“No.” Izuku said, sweating.
“Yes.” the System answered at the same time.
“SYSTEM!” The Chef shrieked.
“...No.” the Entity said after a long silence.
“Okay...Okay...Explain that too, please.” Momo asked while massaging her temples.
Sigh! “Okay. I will cook something in the meantime. Is seafood okay?” Izuku answered.
“Yes? Is it for those cells of yours?” Hisashi asked.
“Yes, I need to keep them fed regularly, but I can cook something extra for you and others as well so you can keep me company as I eat.”
“Oh! Oh! Oh! Will you give us the full King of Cooking experience?” Nejire asked.
“Uuh...Okay! I can go 100% and show you what it used to mean eating in my old ‘Restaurant Zaus’ back in the days, sure.” the Chef answered shrugging.
“YES! Icchan will cook for real!”
“Cook for real?” Ochako asked, confused.
“You’ll see! Icchan usually holds back when cooking just to not blow away his customers, But I tasted some real heaven during that sortie! Totally beyond your wildest imagination!”
“...So you can go with him to his sorties?” Momo asked with a whisper, and her heart clenched painfully in her chest.
“Those are not walk in the park,” Izuku tried saying.
“...Okay…”
“Host Izuku can bring a Guest in his sorties if he wants, with the caveat that the Guest pulls their own weight and is not a hindrance to the Host Mission. Dead Weights are not welcomed.” The System said.
“Then I will go with him in his next one!”
“MOMO!” Izuku and everybody else yelled in chorus, horrified.
“...You can go. The System declares you capable, but suggest you to stick close to Whitey as a safety measure.”
“Good.”
“Why?!” Saito asked.
“Because it is my right!” she answered with blazing eyes.
“I won’t lose to you!” Momo said while pointing an accusing finger at Nejire.
“I won’t lose to ANY OF YOU!” she then said with a glare aimed at Ochako and Rumi.
“Tch! Bring it!” Rumi answered with a savage smile.
“I am not afraid!” Ochako answered.
“Good to know,” Nejire thought in relief, she needed those three ready to fight at all times.
Sigh! “This was not part of my plan...Come...While I cook I will answer every question you have.” Izuku said with a sigh of dismay.
While the group talked, mostly with all of them taking turns in asking Izuku every question they had about his past as Zaus and his deal with The System, the Chef had used his sea dragon knife to open the various oysters he collected with a swift motion to show the white meat inside the shell shining like a jewel under the sunlight.
“Wooo! Those are damn nice oysters!” Rei said with sparkling eyes.
“It’s Rei-chan’s favorite dish. She eats them at least three times a week.” Saito explained, chuckling.
“How lucky of her…” Inko and Ochako said in clear BITTER envy.
“These are known in the Gourmet World as Platinum Oysters for their tendencies to develop and cluster near underwater sources of platinum ore. So finding a great number of these means finding very good Ingredients AND good places where to mine platinum.” Izuku explained.
“How will you make them?” Rumi asked.
“As an appetizer, I think I will roast them,” he answered.
“Yessss!” Rei answered with an excited expression.
“Are they good? They are slimy.” Eri asked with a scrunched nose.
“Don’t worry, I will make some prawns too, you don’t have to eat them if You don’t like them,” Izuku answered with a gentle smile.
“C-Can I try them?” the kid asked.
“Sure!” he answered.
Once collected some wood and started a small fire, while the others sat on the sand behind him the young Chef rapidly mixed chopped garlic, a tiny bit of ginger, a dash of vinegar and a spoonful of wine with a tiny bit of crushed pepper and rapidly blended everything together.
“Ooh! Ginger! Didn’t know it could go well with oysters!” Rei said, intrigued.
“It will help the garlic to remove the excessive fishy smell of the oysters, it’s a matter of balance of tastes, too much and the ginger will cover every other taste instead of just framing it. The star of the dish is and will still be the oyster.” he answered, and while he left the sauce aside to rest a bit, he gently removed the oyster meat from the shell to clean it with fresh water from a pitcher he summoned thanks to the System.
“Perfect. Time to roast them.” Once sure the oyster meat had been cleaned thoroughly and the grill he had put on the fire was hot, he returned the oyster meat inside the cleaned shells and put each oyster on the grill and added on top of each one a spoonful of the sauce he made.
“Mom, dad...I am about to eat oysters…” Ochako muttered with tears of happiness, making Rumi roll her eyes at the girl’s attitude.
Plop! Plop! Plop! Plop!
“They are dancing!” Eri said in awe.
“It means they like the sauce,” Izuku answered jokingly, watching as the boiling sauce made the oyster meat faintly bob up and down.
“Just enough to turn the sauce thick enough to fully coat the oyster, but without having the meat lose its springy texture.” the Chef thought while studying each shell with unblinking eyes.
“So? So? Are they ready? Are they ready?” Rei asked while moving closer to the grill.
“Darling, please!” Saito said in dismay, especially ashamed by the chuckle that escaped the Midoriyas behind him.
“...Yes, this should do. Pass me the plates, please.” Izuku asked, showing the group his empty hand.
“Here.” Momo answered, passing him one, but not letting go of it once he grabbed onto it.
“Momo?”
“This is all the secrets there were between us, yes? You were hiding nothing else?” she asked.
“There are minor details, but we can talk about those once done eating, just additional details,” he answered.
“Do you promise you will always be careful while in your sorties?”
“And do you promise you will always be careful while out there being a Hero?” he asked back.
“Of course!” she answered.
“Then I will be careful too, even just to be there waiting for you to return victorious against any Villain stupid enough to fight you.” he answered.
“You foolish Super Chef.” Momo said, smiling a bit.
“Aren’t you the bigger fool by loving me, foolish Super Hero?” Izuku asked back, smiling as well.
“Love is a bit crazy. And I love you a lot.”
“I love you too. A lot.”
“Leave the mushy stuff for later!” Rumi barked, annoyed.
“She is just jealous, ignore her.” Momo answered with a wink and letting go of the plate.
The plates were soon filled with two oysters for each person, and four for Izuku once Eri confirmed the thing was too slimy for her tastes, and it was finally time for the taste test.
“You seem to be the oyster expert among all of them, so I hope it will be good enough, Rei-san.” Izuku admitted, sheepish.
“Then let me be the judge! Thanks for the food!” the starry-eyed woman answered, swallowing whole one of the oysters and then delicately biting through it.
“…Oooooh!” A long, guttural moan of pleasure escaped her once the oyster meat’s juices exploded outward from her bite, flooding her mouth in the combined taste of the thing’s meat, the tasteful sauce and the overall faint flavour of “sea” mixing together and rushing down her throat by itself as if alive.
“You managed to maintain part of the oyster's original texture! Oh my, this tastes amazing! Can I have some lemon too?” Saito, eating in bliss, asked.
“Sure, here…” the Chef answered, summoning a simple lemon to cut a slice off and squeeze a few drops of its juice on the remaining oyster on the man’s plate.
“Thank you, my boy!”
“AH! So this is how those fancy pants eat? Nice! Maybe I will try to get some extra cash too if they eat like this!” Rumi exclaimed with a loud laugh while wiping out her plate in a matter of seconds.
“I have unlocked these recently, and will add them to the menu of my Saturday Shellfish Special menu, you can come eating those in my Restaurant whenever you want,” Izuku answered, smiling.
“Hell yeah I will!”
“…”
“The Staff Discount works for these too,” he then said once seen Ochako’s hopeful look.
“Thank you, boss! I love you!” the girl replied with a blinding smile.
“Don’t ruin the moment,” Momo growled.
“Stuff it, rich girl. Real Love will triumph!” Ochako hissed back.
“Indeed, but you won’t be the victor.”
“My God it will be hard…” Nejire muttered to herself in dismay.
“Son, these were amazing. I remember me and your mother had Oysters for our anniversary, but these are way beyond the ones we had!” Hisashi admitted.
“Yes! Definitely better than anything we can find from our usual retailer!” Saito confirmed.
“They are oysters from another world, a world with Super Ingredients, it was a given.” Izuku answered, snorting.
“It’s a pity you and System-san have to go through such a hassle to cover for the Ingredients source, but with our laws, you wouldn’t get a moment of peace if they discovered that you get everything from other worlds.” Inko said.
“It’s okay. As long as people enjoy what I make, I don’t mind going through some extra steps.” Izuku answered, shrugging.
“What’s next?” Rumi asked.
“Prawns! Normal roasted ones for Eri-chan, Cognac Prawns with Beurre Blanc Sauce for us,” he answered.
“COGNAC!” This time it was Saito who looked starstruck.
“Huhuhu! That’s daddy’s favourite drink,” Momo explained.
“Then I will be careful and use some extra good one,” Izuku answered, amused.
“Oh, really? Like what?” Saito asked, chuckling.
“Uhm? Nothing too fancy, just some Henri IV Dudognon.” the Chef answered, unfazed.
“!!!!!!” at that the man released a grasping, gurgling choking sound from his throat that deeply scared the others.
“Uh?” Izuku muttered, curious.
“Is it that expensive?” Hisashi asked.
“That is a cognac that is only produced by a private estate in the Lignières-Sonneville region of France, the territory known as the premiere cru of Grand Champagne. It’s a ‘Heritage Cognac’ named in honor of the ancient king Henry IV with a preparation that requires the cognac to be left maturing for a century in quality oak barrels, it was already considered one of the rarest and most expensive drinks on the planet in the Pre-Quirk Era.
Nowadays a single bottle is sold for millions, and not just because the bottle itself is made from sterling platinum and gold and decorated in thousands of diamonds...The recipe itself for that Cognac is now a guarded secret...They only make ten bottles a year and collectors everywhere are ready to physically beat each other to death for the right to buy one...And he wants to use it for cooking…” Rei explained, looking ready to faint.
(Not a joke. That is a bottle made in GOLD and PLATINUM and decorated with around 6500 diamonds. Selling price: 2 Million Dollars.)
“I can’t get my hands on a bottle! And you want to use it for cooking?!” Saito shrieked, almost going insane at the idea.
“Can’t see why not. It’s a good Cognac, expensive bottle or not, it’s still a good Ingredient.” Izuku answered, uncaring.
“A good Ingredient...IT’S AN HENRY IV!”
“Want a bottle? I have three in storage.” Izuku offered.
“YOU!...You do?”
“Here, I unlocked it for cheap when I asked for some cognac for cooking. I am waiting to reach Level 4, I saw the list of Ingredients and Drinks I will unlock then and there I saw a Cognac from Zaus’ world I am very eager to unlock. Trust me, that is a cognac worthy of legends.” the Chef answered, throwing Saito a tacky bottle covered in gems.
“MINE!” Saito answered, hugging the thing to his chest in greed in a very Gollum way.
“Darling! Manners!” Rei said, appalled.
“...Sorry...Don’t know what came over me.” Saito admitted, ashamed, he still hugged the bottle tight to his chest.
“Happy you like it, it should be a good year too. Now...The prawns…” Izuku commented, before returning to his cooking, all the while giving more answers to the flood of questions of his friends and family. Starting from chopping some shallots and summoning a cup of dry white wine from his reserves.
“So you healed All Might with a dish?” Hisashi asked.
“Exactly. It is something the System is teaching me: Healing Cuisine. Healing people is the first step, then comes strengthening them.” Izuku answered while simmering the shallots, the white wine, and some lemon juice in a small saucepan over low-medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until the mixture was reduced to about 2 tablespoons.
“Strengthening them?” Rumi asked.
“Imagine we are in an RPG, technically I can create dishes that increase attack power, or defence or evasion...Stuff like that.” He answered, all the while adding cream and bringing it to just under a simmer.
“You can do that?” Ochako asked, surprised.
“I will be, for now I have only unlocked a dish able to momentarily double attack power at the expense of the eater’s overall power dropping down to a half once the effects fades away. After this I will prepare one, I actually need some test subjects since I still had no time to test them.” Izuku answered.
“Count me in!” Rumi answered immediately, clearly intrigued.
The more they talked the more Izuku could see, to his relief, that his initial fear of seeing them abandon him was rapidly being dashed away by their continued show of support; he had apparently underestimated the level of Trust his parents and the others held for him.
When the first few bubbles rose from the cream, Izuku turned the heat down very slightly and added around 12 tablespoons of butter to the thing, 1 tablespoon at a time, while whisking constantly. Making sure to allow 1 pat of butter to melt completely before adding the next.
“There is also a reason why I invited Momo here.” Izuku finally said once the butter was fully incorporated, and seasoning the resulting beurre blanc sauce with white pepper before setting it aside.
“Uh?” the girl said.
“I saw your fights...I think I can help you get stronger.” he said.
“Izuku, I am getting stronger already, looking back I saw me getting good at weight-lifting ever since I started eating your food. I should have actually started seeing the connection between the two things.” she answered.
“Oh, that was just a preparatory thing.”
“Oh! Oh! OH! Yes! You said you wanted to teach her Food Immersion!” Nejire said in realization.
“Food what?” Rumi asked.
“Food Immersion is when one respects and appreciates the food they have eaten even after it enters the body and becomes part of their flesh and blood.
In turn the ingredients absorbed by the body are thankful for being eaten and they pour all the nutrients they have into one's body almost limitlessly.” Izuku answered while putting a skillet over high heat to melt 5 tablespoons of butter, and then sauté the prawns, turning them a few times until cooked through.
“It also makes the user gain an increment in their weight without necessarily getting fat, I already weigh almost two hundred kilos and yet here I am.” Nejire added, lifting her shirt a little to show her still flat stomach, even if Momo, Ochako and Rumi knew how much the girl could eat now. Enough for six people at every meal.
“In the teachings of Food Honor, it is described as immersing oneself into a meal. Only those that heighten their appreciation towards food to the utmost limit can attain Food Immersion. I will teach you the basics of Food Honour needed to learn Immersion. It will help you control the calories you consume, especially with your Quirk. It will basically increase your overall Stamina and perfect your consumption of it. Among other things,” Izuku finished saying, he also reduced the heat to low and seasoned the prawns with salt.
When he started carefully adding the Cognac, Saito gave a pained whine similar to a wounded puppy as he watched the young Chef use that drink on the sea food and then stir thoroughly.
“Teach that to us as well!” Rumi said.
“Uh?”
“Why should he?” Momo said with a hiss.
“Because I say so!” she answered.
“...At best I can theoretically teach it to Ochako too since her Quirk as well is not exactly Combat Oriented, or at least it has a very big weight on her body since it gets her dizzy just like Momo’s Quirk weakens her body through fat consumption. You are already pretty strong yourself.” Izuku answered, adding a spoon of the warm beurre blanc sauce over the hot prawns he had put on each plate.
“Liar! That’s not why you will teach them and not me! What’s the truth, hn?!” Rumi asked, hurt.
“Rumi-san-”
“I am courting you, dumbass! I have feelings for you! You taught Nejire and will teach Momo and Ochako! What’s one more?! I lost my fight in the Finals too!” she said.
“I-”
“No. You will. I won’t leave until you promise you will add me to the lessons!” Rumi declared, dropping down to sit on the sand with a scowl on her face.
“Whitey can easily throw you out.” Momo said.
“Then I will sit on the ground outside the Restaurant and won’t leave!”
“...I am with Momo already,” Izuku said with a soft voice.
“Big deal!” she countered.
“...Fine. I will teach you too.”
“Izu!” Momo said.
“Yes! To your face, Yaoyorozu!”
“I am already teaching you, Ochako and Nejire, as she said. May as well add another so you will be able to train together in pairs…” he answered with a dispirited sigh.
“...Shall I call you the Four Heavenly Queens too? You remind me of four guys I knew as Zaus…” he then said.
Momo and Coco were basically identical.
Same going with Rumi and Zebra.
Nejire and Toriko too sometimes sounded like twins separated at birth.
...The only odd one was Ochako and Sanni, but her being different from the flamboyant King was not necessarily a bad thing.
“So be it. I will trust your judgment.” Momo conceded.
“So? When do we start?” Nejire asked.
“Once done eating. Then I will summon some BB Pill Bugs and we will start…” Izuku answered, sighing.
“Uh?”
“Since I am doing this, I will teach you four Enbu too. Just in case.” he muttered, sighing and attacking his plate to calm his nerves.
“What’s Enbu?” Hisashi asked.
“Basically the practitioner learns to control the individual "wills" of all 60 trillion cells in their body, allowing them to send all forms of energy, including the force of a blow and even gravity, out of their bodies like a sieve. Now let me eat, please.” Izuku answered between bites.
“…” Of all the bullshit things he promised to teach the girls, that one managed to have a deep stricken silence to finally fall onto the group.
Later that night – UA -
A solitary limousine had just delivered Ochako, Rumi and Nejire to the front entrance of the Hero School, and it was only then that Rumi noticed something was amiss.
“Wait! Where is Momo now?!” she asked.
Sigh! “...Back at the Restaurant…” Saito answered, looking miserable.
“Wha?! WHY?!” Ochako asked.
“Eeeh! Take a guess.” Rei answered with a long exhale and a meaningful look.
“That...That...That conniving piece of shit!” Rumi roared in fury.
“Bold move, Yaomomo, bold move...Means nothing though, it’s the end result that matters.” Nejire thought, unfazed, while waving goodbye to the Yaoyorozu parents and passing through UA’s gate.
“It had to happen sooner or later, sorry girls.” Rei said while signaling the chauffeur it was time to leave.
“THAT MEANS NOTHING! YOU HEAR ME!? TELL THAT BITCH TO WATCH HER BACK! I WILL WIN IN THE END!” Rumi roared in defiance.
“That was only a matter of time, I hate the fact that she will probably rub our noses in this…” Ochako admitted.
“Let her laugh now, she won’t be doing it for long!” the other answered as both as well returned to their dormitories.
Flat above the Restaurant – Guest Room -
Little Eri was soundly asleep in the small bed next to Hisashi and Inko’s, the two parents having caught Momo’s begging look when Izuku wasn’t looking and, note really willingly, left the two alone to bring Eri to bed soon after everybody else had left.
“So soon?” Hisashi asked.
“Times have changed since we were young, and I believe both need this form of confirmation, to make sure neither of the two is going anywhere.” Inko answered, after checking once again Eri was asleep and fine.
“At least that place is nice…” Hisashi muttered, sighing.
Pocket Dimension – Storage Island -
It was indeed a surprise for Izuku to hear Momo’s request, even if her reasoning for it being a way for her to know once and for all he belonged to her and for him to put his mind at ease about her going nowhere beside his side.
“You sure?” he asked one final time.
“It is clear I have Rivals and that they are not leaving anytime soon, but I won’t let them ruin This. Tonight you are mine and mine only, nothing else matters. I will deal with them tomorrow, for now let me just take what belongs to me, so that I can give you what is rightfully yours.”
“Huhuhu! It’s not exactly romantic!”
“It isn’t? This place has a day and night cycle like the real world, we are now under a beautiful full moon and starry sky and in the middle of a flower-field so pretty it does look otherworldly, it’s just the two of us and I am about to make you mine forever...How can this be any more romantic to me?” Momo asked with a love-filled gaze.
“I will always be yours,” he answered.
“That is what I wanted to hear...Now come...Claim your Queen, my beautiful King...”
The System will remind its Host that the Storage Island is not exactly a place suitable for intimate unions the next day, but the Entity was not merciless either, so if for once the couple needed the right privacy and setting to take that one special step forward in their relationship, the System will look elsewhere and leave the two Lovers alone to express their passion for each other for as long as they needed and keep quiet as they enjoyed their union in their private slice of Heaven.
Meanwhile – Five Star Hotel -
A lone man wearing an expensive business suit was walking through the vast hall of the ludicrously-expensive hotel with his designer shoes producing sharp clicking sounds on the marble floor shined like a mirror.
“Good evening.” the woman at the desk said prim and proper, her own uniform probably as expensive as a sports car, the guest thought,
“Good evening. I need to talk to Monsieur Ego, is he here?” the man asked.
“Who is looking for him?” the woman asked with narrowed eyes.
“Hidetaka Matoi. He is waiting for me.” the man answered with an annoyed tone.
“Ah yes, the cook.”
“CHEF! I am a Chef! Do not confuse me with some idiot working in a school cafeteria.” he hissed.
“Pfeh!” The woman just gave a grunt for an answer, clearly accepting the silent challenge to see who between them was the most stuck-up.
“So? The room number?”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“I have that and several Restaurants to my name, what do you have? A name tag?”
“A penthouse in Tokyo!”
“Ah! One in Tokyo, one in Okinawa, an old style villa in Kyoto and a big colonial-style villa in the Bahamas.” Matoi answered, smirking.
“...Tch!...Suite 606...I hope the elevator detaches and crashes down.” the woman spat in annoyance and envy.
“Say hello to your six cats for me.” Matoi answered, laughing merrily and walking towards the big glass elevator.
“I HAVE SEVEN!” the woman at the desk screeched.
“Not a surprise!” he answered, boarding the thing and letting his laugh of victory echo in the entire hall.
Matoi’s smile though disappeared as soon as the elevator actually reached the second to last floor, since the very last was usually left just for political figures, one of which was rumored was the Prime Minister himself.
“Here we go...I hope this won’t come back to bite me in the ass...Goddamnit, Samui…” the Chef muttered to himself as he traversed the long and empty corridor until he found the room he was looking for.
- Suite 606 -
The Hotel room was opulent, even if furnished in a minimalist style, every detail, every decoration and every piece of furniture was made with disturbingly-expensive materials, and yet none of this mattered to the man sitting at the small round table in the suite’s living room, the table top could have been made in plastic instead of marble and he would not care a bit as he was too engrossed in writing his thoughts in a small book.
“Nowadays the true concept of French Cuisine, just like many others, have been corrupted and ruined in the name of the Mainstream, every dish once proudly displaying the skill of the Chef has become a mere excuse to show-off wealth, status and even, regretfully, attention to what the latest trend dictates. By now we care more about a dish being Photogenic for a Social Media Page than their taste and quality…” he muttered while writing, his face fixed on a scowl of disappointment.
Toc! Toc! Toc!
A faint knocking at the suite’s door interrupted the man’s thoughts, something that soured the Critic’s expression even more.
“Go see who is so brave to disturb me even with a Do not Disturb sign on the door, Bernard.” he hissed.
“Of course, sir.” the young assistant answered immediately, and opened the door with a frown on his own face.
“Who is it? Monsieur Ego made it clear he wanted nobody to disturb him!” the young man hissed in contempt.
“Not even an old friend?” Hidetaka said with a grin.
“I was not aware that giving your restaurant an 8/10 meant we were friends, Mister Matoi.” the critic said, finally looking away from his notebook to meet the Chef’s eyes.
“You also admitted I got better after it, you raised your score.” the man answered once given permission to enter.
“From 8 to 8.5, yes. Never saw why such a mediocre increase needs to be treated like a huge accomplishment.” Ego answered, unimpressed.
“Because it comes from the most dreaded critic of France. When I heard you were here, I knew I had to meet you.” Hidetaka admitted while sitting in front of the man at the same table.
“I am a sworn defendant of French Cuisine, so when a fool personally contacted me to come see how she managed to keep intact her homeland cuisine even after moving to Japan, I had to answer. She was even so bold to pay for both the tripand the hotel room.”
“...Let me guess, it didn’t go as they planned?” Hidetaka asked.
“That woman hoped to be the next Messiah of cooking, and even hoped to use me as a stepping stone to glory by buttering me up with this garish over-expensive hostel. What she accomplished was showing me yet another case of an overly-inflated ego dragging down the sacred name of national cuisine in the name of fame! All style and no substance, all bling and no content, all flair and no taste!” Ego hissed.
“...So you are basically demolishing her restaurant with that review.” Hidetaka asked with a whisper of voice, and looking at the small black book in Ego’s hands with the same dread one regaled to an armed bomb or poisonous animal.
“There was a time when French Cuisine, Italian Cuisine, Japanese Cuisine, Chinese Cuisine and Indian Cuisine were deemed pillars of Cooking. Schools of Cuisine that influenced the world of Chefs and brought MAGIC to tables everywhere. I want that fool to remember that and not become yet another pretender that only hunts for fame and followers! If she can’t take the pressure and be a real Chef, then may her ‘Restaurant’ close and leave the perfect lot she is occupying to a more worthy Chef!” Ego answered.
“…” Hidetaka was now leaning slightly back, subconsciously afraid actual vitriol could escape the Critic’s mouth.
“Why are you here? Have you opened yet another restaurant you want me to review? What is it? The sixth?” Ego asked, now extremely annoyed, and he was clearly eager to use that annoyance on the review he was writing so as to add that extra bit of scorn to it.
“The...The sixth one will open soon in America, a couple months at worst. But that is not why I am here today…” the Chef answered, he was talking slowly and already planning to move said request for a review to a later date, hopefully in a moment where Ego won’t be ready to tear somebody to shreds.
“Then tell me, what do you want from me?” the Critic asked while steepling his fingers.
“…” Hidetaka just sent a glance to the man’s assistant.
Sigh! “Leave us, Bernard. Go see if this gold-covered hut has a decent enough bar able to prepare me some proper green tea. Take note of everything that could be useful to review this place too, I will ask Monique to come here as a ‘Thank you’ for the owner helping that Chef by using his hotel as a bribe.”
“Of course, sir.” The assistant left straight away, soon leaving the two men alone.
“Are we talking about that woman that destroys Hotels just like you do with Restaurants?” Hidetaka asked in dread.
“Common courtesy, we have known each other for years and exchange targets from time to time. Now though, talk. Why are you here?”
“...I need a favor.” Hidetaka said, gulping.
“A favor? I guess it is not on the legal side of the fence if you wanted us to be alone.” Ego asked with narrowed eyes.
“...How?”
“I have been doing this job for years. You are not the first, nor you will be the last to try asking a Critic to willingly ruin an Opponent’s Restaurant reputation. Who is the poor victim you feel threatened by?” Ego asked while leaning back in his seat.
“There is...There is a small Restaurant, owned by a Quirkless…”
“I fail to see where a lack of Quirk becomes a motivation to ruin a Chef career.”
“It...It isn’t really about it, to be fair.”
“No it isn’t, but you clearly hoped I was one of those fools automatically hating people lacking powers. Go on. Enlighten me on your reasoning.” It was a mystery how a mere human body could contain that much contempt without collapsing on itself.
“Y-Yes. You see, this young Chef, and I am talking ‘University Student’ young, owns and cooks in a small restaurant...And-And apparently he is good, like, really good.”
“A young prodigy? Those are rare in cooking nowadays, at that age they all are more interested in becoming Heroes first, and only then falling back into mundane jobs once they fail in getting into Heroics. But what has this kid done to have YOU come disturb ME?” Ego asked.
“He has not done a thing to me personally. Yet. But a dear friend of mine is getting...Insistent in wanting the boy’s Restaurant closed forever and the kid banned from ever cooking again.” Hidetaka admitted.
“…” The way Ego narrowed his eyes scared the crap out of him.
“Listen. Full disclosure. Samui and I have been friends since high school, and thanks to that he has LOTS of dirt on me. I don’t know how deep his hatred of the boy runs, but apparently he hates him so much he is ready to use that dirt to destroy me and few others of our group if we don’t help him ruin the kid’s future. I don’t really want to do this, but it’s either the kid or me. And I am an important figure while he is a young nobody. So he has to go. Can you help me?”
“...So you are asking me to throw away my dignity and just march there to review the simple food of a young boy that isn’t even a blip on the radar, and destroy him? Just to help your little friend avenge his wounded Primadonna honor?” Ego asked while calmly walking towards the window to watch the streets under him.
“I am asking you to help me avoid several scandals that will destroy me! That Midoriya is a nobody! No Quirk, no future! Yes he is good at cooking, but he is just a kid! I have six restaurants each with two Michelin Stars attached to and a third star all but already mine! I even created a book series that goes sold-out at every new issue! There are THREE different cooking shows I host too! I have lots to lose compared to him! What’s an unknown kid compared to an Icon like me?! Please help me, Ego! Whatever you want in exchange, you can have it.” Hidetaka said.
“You know full well how bad I take to bribes. We are standing inside one and I am NOT happy.”
“But I also know every man has a price, just ask and you will have it.” the Chef promised.
“Every man has a price…” the Critic muttered to himself, unheard by his guest.
“...Please. It’s important. The kid is such a nobody it won’t even scratch your credibility, but it will make a great difference for me and Samui, people that actually matter. We won’t forget about your help, promise.” Hidetaka begged.
“I am sure you won’t. Write me down the Restaurant name and address, along with the Chef’s name.”
“You will do it?” the other asked once jutted down the information he was asked.
“I didn’t say that. I will let you know if I actually do that. As you said, the boy is a nobody, I need to see if I can fit him in my schedule.” Ego answered, still looking outside.
“But-”
Clack!
“My tea has arrived far too soon, meaning pre-made, bagged junk was used. It also means our time together has drawn to a close, you can go. I will let you know if I will take on the offer.” the Critic said once heard his Assistant return into the room.
“Remember my words, it’s a nobody against two Legends…” Hidetaka muttered with a scowl before leaving and slamming the door closed as hard as he could, and unknown to him Ego saw that scowl from the window’s reflection.
SLAM!
“So very rude.” Bernard hissed.
“And also extremely foolish.” the Critic said, recovering the tea his assistant brought him and the small piece of paper Hidetaka wrote on.
“May I ask what he wanted?”
“He reminded me why I first gave him that low score, the food was decent, everything else was just too...Toxic.” Ego answered, taking a sip of the tea and frowning.
“Disgusting. Throw this bog down the toilet where it belongs. Then be a dear and search for every scrap of information about this Chef and his Restaurant while I finish my current review. I was asked to give a look at this small thing and I want to know WHY two so-called ‘Legends’ feel so threatened.” he demanded.
“At once, sir. Another Victim?” the Assistant asked.
“Yes, but I am afraid it is not mine, for once…”
“Do you want me to keep an ear on the ground, sir?”
“...Yes, yes maybe that would be a good idea. This situation is intriguing, and if I really have to destroy a young Chef, I want to make things properly. As always.” Ego answered.
“Of course, sir.”
This entire situation smelled fishy, and of all the smells the Food Critic hated the most, Bullshit, as the American called it, was the one he hated the most.
No omake this time, the RWBY one is harder to write than what I anticipated.
This. This is Izuku's next objective.
Must protect!
Author Explain:
Yes, it’s that Ego. No, I am not mad. Yes it’s essential to the plot, not just me pulling an Easter egg.
Many of you hate Revelation Chapters, I know. I hate them too, but I found myself forced to use one to push forward (finally) Momo and Izuku’s pairing and set the path for the poly relationship.
Momo, Ochako and Rumi will each have their own Dimensional Travel Arc to share with Izuku like it was with Nejire to further their own place in the group.
Momo in the Sci-fi World.
Rumi in the Western Fantasy world. (Think Final Fantasy)
Ochako in the Magical Girl World (Izuku will HATE that one).
Others after those...That’s a secret.
Nejire has a plan. Don’t ask, I won’t spoil it if it is about “Harem” or “Removing the other girls and keeping Izuku for herself”. I am trying to build tension, please let me!
The amount of money sounds absurd? Shockingly enough, it is canon that Colonel Mokkoi, who finances the hunt for the Century Soup in one of the Arcs of Toriko, is the president of Company Gourdarake and one of the wealthiest men on their planet with an annual income of 20 trillion yen.
Fond De Bohno, or just Bohno, is the wealthy manager of the Restaurant Bohno chain and one of the top ten richest people in the world, whose wealth is almost on par with that of Colonel Mokkoi, despite his young age.
Zaus was the number 1 Chef on the entire planet, the King of Cooking, I don’t expect him to be a pauper, so I gave him a respectable third place under those two disgustingly rich guys.
The Economy of the world of Toriko is bonkers, and hardly makes sense since MILLIONS are often treated like pocket change by most characters.
Enbu is just as insane as I described it, the ability to train every cell of the body to the point of deflecting attacks and gravity itself other than strengthening attacks...The manga is insane when they go to these little details.
ENBU PAGE in the wiki:
https://toriko.fandom.com/wiki/Enbu
Any other doubts, besides a few usual readers riding to my rescue (thank you, by the way) I also answer to doubts in the comments, no sense adding other 60k words of explanation here and bloating the chapter.
Chapter 17: Danger! Review Attack!
Summary:
After dealing with Yamato and her School, Peace seemed to have returned inside Green Cloud Restaurant, but even that was short lived as now it's the turn of another friend of Samui to try and hurt Izuku and destroy our Chef's beloved restaurant, and this time by letting a complacent Food Critic do the dirty work for him!
Notes:
New arc incoming! "American Job Arc"! and this means that after another Sortie in another Dimension and a small interlude in the mountains, Izuku will have to hunt down his newest enemy all the way to America!
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
Chapter Text
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/Nejire
If you read this, the Chapter has been fixed by my Beta-Reader Dmale, my savior and possessor of BigDick Chad energy that managed to fix my story into proper English.
Thank you, my man! 🙂
(BB Pill Bug)
BB Pill Bug page in the Toriko wiki
Green Cloud Restaurant – Apartment -
Momo did not want to wake up.
She was lying on the most comfortable bed she had ever slept on, was feeling warm and fuzzy and her entire body felt like jelly while the memories of the night she spent with her beloved were crispy clean still, something that made her squeal a little under her breath.
Love, Passion, Lust...Their union had everything and she enjoyed every single instant of it, uncaring of the knowledge that she did get into it more than what was proper, but she had fully claimed him, nothing else mattered!
“Good morning,” When she finally did open her eyes, she saw her beloved, her fiancé, looking back at her from his side of the bed they were sharing.
“Good morning.” She answered, and the idea of one day being able to enjoy each other face first thing in the morning set off a very pleasant warmth in the couple’s chest.
“How do you do it?” The young Chef asked.
“What?” she answered.
“How do you look so pretty already even thoughyou've just woken up?” he asked.
“You charmer.” Momo said with a loving gaze and one of her hands caressing his cheek, and feeling extremely pleased when he leaned onto her touch in evident need.
“Can’t help it, it’s your fault for being you.” Izuku answered, grabbing her arm to pull her on top of him and enjoying her surprised and happy squeal.
“Still not enough?” she asked, fully moulding her body on his to fully enjoy the 100% skin-on-skin contact they had thanks to their complete lack of clothes, she just grabbed two fistfuls of his hair while she tried seeing how long they could kiss before needing to breathe.
“Never enough, I can’t ever get enough of you.” he answered with a breathy voice as soon as they separated, and after that he just preferred to add more hickeys to her neck other than the ones he already gave her.
“Huhuhu! I am sore all over, you beast, and yet I can tell you are hungry again,” she replied, and sadistically enjoying his hissing intake of air when her thighs clamped hard on his lower half.
“Ah!”
“Oh, my! Such a cute sound!” she said with a giggle.
With a sudden movement, their positions were reversed so that it was now him looming over her, and she loved it! She was so defenceless, and he was so in control! Maybe a bit of an encore wouldn’t be such a bad idea.
“Even if I would love doing nothing except spoiling you rotten and spending the rest of the day here with you to either cuddle or have fun, we both know we have lots to do.” he instead said that with a teasing smile and a kiss on her forehead.
“You meanie. Teasing me like this.” she answered, rubbing her nose a little with his and sharing a short laugh.
“Maybe I am a bit mean, but as far as I am concerned, we have our whole life ahead of us to do everything we want together, it’s plenty of time.”
“I’ll hold you to that.” Momo answered, kissing him again.
“You won’t get rid of me anytime soon, Momo. Wanna join me in the shower? I’ll prepare you some Healing Breakfast as well.” he asked.
“How do you know that I can’t walk?” Momo asked with a half-moan while being carried away in his arms, especially since his hand was shamelessly playing around with the supple flesh of her butt.
“I am a very observant guy.”
“Uh-hu. And?”
“And you kept screaming about how you would die if I went any faster last night, so I guessed there were about to be some consequences to that this morning,” Izuku added, sheepish.
“You got too much into it, you made me say those vulgar things,” the young woman answered with a pout.
“That wasn’t me, that was all you,” he countered, chuckling.
“And you so boldly declaring me your property and demanding that I carry your children? Among all the other VERY dirty things you kept saying while you were ruining me?”
“Oh, that was all me, but at least I am admitting it!” he answered.
“Oh, you!” Momo answered, chuckling and giving his arm a playful slap as an added measure.
The warm water helped a bit with the soreness, and it would have helped even more if the two actually did wash each other properly instead of using it as an excuse to play around with each other’s body.
Later that morning -
Having fully recovered thanks to Izuku’s Healing Cuisine, and after watching him go through his usual morning training regime, Momo finally called for her family chauffeur so to be brought back to UA where she will meet the Pro Hero she will intern with starting that day for the so-called Internship Week the University offered to the students that had caught the eye of the Pros during the Sport Festival.
To her surprise though, hermother was in the back of the car waiting for her.
“Good morning, Momo.” Rei said with a mischievous smile as soon as the girl entered the thing and the driver took the car away.
“Mother.” Momo said, tense.
“So you finally pulled ahead of your Rivals, uh?” she asked.
“It was not just a matter of pulling ahead. I just decided it was finally time for Izu and I to take the next step in our relationship.
“Fair enough. I still don’t understand why you don’t want our help to ‘deal with them’, we have both the money and the connections, remember?” Rei asked.
“I am aware of that, mother. But...But I know I can deal with them by myself, without help. They are obstacles to MY relationship, and I will be the one to fix this issue, with my own hands.” Momo answered, finally with determination burning in her eyes.
“As you wish, I will stay out of this, for now. But do not hesitate to ask for help if you need.” Rei offered with a warm smile.
“Of course, mom. And thanks.” she answered, returning the smile.
“Good, issues about Love Rivals aside...”
“Yes?”
“Deets! I know you did not just sleep last night!” Rei asked.
“MOTHER!” Momo shrieked with a red face.
“Don’t ‘Mother!’ Me! I did not deal with your father crying the entire night and this morning about your future husband ‘Deflowering his little Princess’ just to get ignored! So? How was it?” Rei pressed on.
“It was…It was beautiful.” Momo admitted, looking away.
“Uh-hu. Go on.”
“We...We started slow...Clumsily...But then he picked-up momentum and...You know…”
“Aaw! My baby girl is a woman now!” Rei said with tears already threatening to spill down like a river.
“Yeah…” Momo said, sighing.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s just…”
“Yes?”
“I-I am scared…”
“Of what?” Rei said, leaning forward.
“I-I don’t think I can fully satisfy him!” Momo blurted-out suddenly enough that the driver almost lost control of the limo.
“...What?” Rei asked, uneasy.
“He just…He just kept going and going! I barely remember most of the things we did, so I think I wasn’t conscious most of the time! But I remember him carrying me to bed while looking still in need. What am I supposed to do?” Momo admitted, ashamed.
“I-I don’t know. S-Start from the beginning.” Rei asked, and she soon regretted not adding ‘Without too many details!’ to her request as soon as Momo launched herself into a tale of what she did in complete and excruciating detail.
When the car finally stopped, both Rei and the family’s poor driver faces were neon red and looked shocked beyond belief.
“So, mother? Can you help me?” Momo asked, distraught.
“I...I...I’ll see what I can do.” Rei answered with a small voice.
“Thank you, mother. See you later.” the young woman answered, leaving the car and walking away towards UA.
“S-See you later.” Rei answered while the car was being driven away albeit a bit wobbly.
“S-S-SO wild! T-They look so innocent, how-how can two sweet kids be s-so degenerate?” Rei thought in wonder.
Sigh! “...Why do you have to be so lewd and insatiable, my Izu? Being remembered as the first woman to die from excessive wild Sex is too embarrassing!” Momo said aloud.
“Grflublusndimsh!”
“Uh?” The strange, unhealthy and guttural choking sound attracted her attention, and once checked the source, she saw Rumi and Ochako already leaving with Gunhead and Ryukyu (The Pros the two were having their Internship with) and all four were looking at her with bulged-out eyes.
“What?” she asked, shy.
“I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!” Rumi roared with bared teeth, luckily Ryukyu grabbed her by the back of her Hero Costume and started dragging her away.
“Later, later. Our Internship first, murder later. We’ll use that anger of yours to train harder.” Ryukyu said.
“Not only does shedo it, she has the gall to rub our noses in it!” Ochaco grumbled in annoyance while walking faster thanks to Gunhead gently pushing her forward with one hand.
“It’s okay, it’s okay, no need to get angry about this.” Gunhead said with a gentle tone.
“Sorry!” Momo yelled to the retreating quartet, deathly ashamed.
“Who would have thought Boss Icchan/Boss Izuku had it in him. Looking at him you wouldn’t think he was that Intense!” Ryukyu and Gunhead thought at the same time while hurrying to leave the awkward situation they found themselves in that morning.
With Izuku – Restaurant – Later that day -
While Momo and the other students of UA went through their small foray into the world of professional heroism, the young Chef instead was dividing himself between managing his Restaurant and working with his mother Inko to help Eri recover from her traumatic childhood.
“How’s it going?” he asked.
“Eri-chan is very good at maths, you know? She is learning fast!” Inko said with a proud voice.
“Really? That’s amazing!” Izuku said while patting the girl’s head.
“Thank you.” Eri muttered, shyly.
Grorororo!
“…” the cutesy little growl coming from the kid’s stomach caused Eri's normally pale skin to turn into an adorable vibrant red.
“Huhuhu! Do you want some sliced apples, perhaps?” he asked.
“Uh-hu. P-Please.”
“I will bring some, no problem.”
“T-Thank you.” The small kid said, attempting a smile but just forming strange shapes with her mouth, as if she didn’t actually know how to smile.
“Auuugh…”
“It’s okay, small steps.” Izuku said, briefly hugging the girl before walking towards his kitchen.
As absurd as it sounded, Eri seemed physically unable to smile, as in, she didn’t seem to know how to move her face muscles to form one...Izuku and the others could not wrap their heads around how that was even possible, but as it stood, it was apparent little Eri literally did not know how to smile.
Izuku had even considered using the Century Soup to have her achieve one, but even then he found himself feeling guilty about that plan, as he saw the smile Eri could potentially get from that soup as fake.
He wanted his little girl to smile for real, honestly and without outside help, as a mark of her healing from everything.
“I hope whoever reduced her like this won’t try taking her back, because I won’t be so gentle as to let them run away unscathed.” Izuku promised himself with a frown, but unknown to him, while he was asleep his Restaurant did get visited by a duo of Villains sent to recover Eri…
While Izuku and Momo were asleep – Outside the Restaurant -
In the dead of the night, once Izuku and Momo had finally fallen asleep, two mysterious figures working for the Villain Overhaul had silently neared the closed door of the Restaurant and had started to fumble with its lock.
“Not even a gate, the kid sure trusts his door.” The first goon said, one eye closed and his tongue hanging out while he used his collection of lockpicks to try to force the door open.
“Just open the thing, you moron! We can’t risk a cop or a passing Pro Hero catching us.” Goon 2 hissed with a low voice while mounting guard, she kept stealing glances everywhere thanks to her eight eyes.
Click!
With a subtle sound, the lock gave-in and the door silently swung open.
“Ta-da! No lock can resist me! Get in.” Goon 1 said with a smug tone while holding the door open for his pal.
“Yeah, yeah. Down with the ego and remember the plan.” Goon 2 answered while rolling her eyes.
“I know, I know: Kill the Chef, smash the knees of the brat and call the boss so he can remind the kid she belongs to us while we drag her back to the base. It’s not the first time I’ve done this sort of job.” Goon 1 answered, annoyed.
As both entered the Restaurant, neither of the two noticed how the door closed and locked itself just as easily as The System opened it for them.
“Sssh. That door must lead to the upper floor, maybe the kid is there.” Goon 1 whispered.
“Okay!” Goon 2 answered.
And as soon as they passed next to one of the trees, from the shadows of one of the tables Blackie silently awoke and walked towards them with cat-like steps.
“Fools.” The Lord Dog said in pity.
“UH?!” When both turned around to see who talked, Goon 1 watched in abject horror as the plump dog’s head enlarged to enormous sizes and swiftly chomped down on the woman to devour everything from her waist up.
Chomp!
“A-” Goon 1’s horrified scream at seeing the lower half of the woman fall down to the floor to splatter blood everywhere didn’t have a chance to come out as Whitey’s hand covered his mouth.
“Detected Killing Intent directed towards the Host.” The Robot said as his other hand grabbed the Villain’s head.
CRACK! SPLAT!
Under orders of the System, the robot first snapped the man’s neck like a twig and then squeezed his head so hard the Villain’s skull burst like a balloon splattering blood and grey matter on Whitey’s face.
“Threats dealt with, good job.” The System said that while disintegrating the corpses of the two Villains, cleaning away allevidence of their presence there and even, as an added measure, making sure no lingering feelings or ghosts could try haunting the place.
Not even Izuku will know what had happened there that night, nobody ever will.
“Eh! Big deal, this Lord Dog is more annoyed at the fool’s taste. She was disgusting,” Blackie answered, uncaring, he just walked back under the table from where he came to return to sleep while Whitey just walked back inside the kitchen to his own corner.
“…” Silence once again returned inside the Restaurant, no blood or strange smells or any other trace suggested two people ever entered the place, leaving to Overhaul only to wonder what happened to the two goons he had sent to recover Eri.
Present Time -
“Boss! Good morning!” As the traffic of people coming and going increased, the giant girl Ippan as well arrived to start the delivery service for the lunch hour.
“Ah! Ippan-chan! Good morning! Ready to start?” Izuku asked.
“Uh-hu!” The giant girl answered with a shy smile, already wearing the green jacket with the Restaurant name on the back over her clothes.
“Perfect! I already prepared the first orders, all here.” He said while patting the huge backpack next to him, the thing was actually twice the size of his entire body.
“I’ll go immediately!” she answered.
“Thank you, Ippan-chan!” Strapped the thing to her back, and with a loud rumbling of a powerful engine, the girl was soon off for her deliveries under the proud eyes of Izuku.
“Host, soon there will be another Sortie in a different Dimension, this time as well you can take a Helper with you to accompany you on the trip.” The System said.
“Uh? Okay…” The Chef muttered with a shrug, not really thinking about taking somebody with him since Nejire kind of joined with him by chance.
“Speaking of which, I wonder how they are doing,” he muttered to himself.
With Nejire and Rumi – Ryukyu’s Agency -
Ryukyu was looking at the curious scene of both her Interns juggling rubber balls during the small pause she conceded them for lunch.
“Definitely easier than with those bugs,” Rumi, juggling six, muttered.
“At least they are not poisonous or corrosive like the original ones, Icchan luckily managed to ask for THAT gland to be removed,” Nejire, juggling eight, answered.
“What are they even talking about? This thing is his idea?” Ryukyu thought, confused.
At the base of Enbu Training there was, among other exercises, juggling a bunch of animals called BB Pill Bugs, Ingredients from Zaus’ world with the special ability to instantly alter their body weight from being light as a feather to as heavy as a boulder.
Normal BB Pill Bugs could also secrete a highly poisonous toxin able to kill a human just by contact, fortunately under Izuku’s request the System removed that poison gland from the bugs the girls were required to use for their training.
Said poison, though, had been switched with a different secretion that was extremely itchy and disgustingly smelly, so to still act as a further difficulty factor.
Their ability to change weight randomly in a tenth of a second or secreting that disgusting itchy goo was what made them perfect for Enbu Training as it could teach the girls how to control their bodies’ cellular structure so as to react instantaneously and instinctively to the bugs’ changes.
“Thinking makes you waste time before any action. Instinct doesn’t.” That’s how Izuku explained it.
Unfortunately Momo, Ochako, Rumi and Nejire could train with those bugs only within the confines of Izuku’s Restaurant’s Storage Room, but the four of them decided to counter that by juggling normal rubber balls so to still gain the necessary muscle memory for their night training with the bugs in Green Cloud Restaurant.
“Is it for Hand dexterity and reflexes?” Ryukyu asked.
“Among other things,” Rumi answered, looking at the balls she was juggling with narrowed eyes as she tried to pretend they were BB Bugs.
“I guess being hyperactive like them means staying still for them is hard!” The Pro Hero thought in amusement, catching one of the balls as it escaped Nejires’ grasp.
“Aaaw!”
“Huhuhu! Mind if I join you? It looks fun!” Ryukyu admitted, chuckling.
“Sure!” Nejire said, taking a few more balls for the Dragon woman to use.
“Thanks! Ten minutes then we get back to work, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Rumi answered while picking-up speed to try juggling the things stupidly fast and bringing the number of balls up to ten, the same number she knew Momo could and was already juggling in her own spare time.
With Ochaco – Gunheads ’ Agencies Dojo -
“Nine even?” Gunhead asked, chuckling, as he saw his most recent Intern use the last five minutes of the small pause he gave his students for their lunch to juggle, of all things.
“It’s training too.” she answered.
“That much is part of some training?”
“I aim to do ten, actually.” she answered with her face scrunched into intense concentration.
“Why does it sound like a bet?” One of the others asked.
“I just don’t want to lag behind the others doing the same special training as me!” she answered.
“Hahahaha! Yes, determination is a great instrument to push forward! Good job!” Gunhead answered with a thumbs up.
“HI! Sorry to disturb you, but I am here for delivery!” It was then that Ippan made her presence known by crouching down a bit to enter the dojo.
“Food Delivery? You guys are way too spoiled!” Gunhead said, humming.
“I just asked for a simple sandwich, I was late and didn’t bring anything with me…” A girl answered with a shy whisper.
“It is important to stay humble and be prepared, kids. You need to either prepare your lunch yourselves or eat after we are done, you can’t splurge like that just because you can. Humility as a Hero is fundamental!” Gunhead said.
“Yes, sir.” The students answered as one, sighing.
“Ah-hem…” Ippan, though, had to cut through the lesson while handling Gunhead a thick box.
“I also have your Luxury Bento, Sir: Fried Oysters with the requested Champagne Sauce and side dish of Caviar, fried Scallops and Shrimps, Rice dumplings with Salmon roe filling and for dessert the chocolate truffles with brandy cream filling you asked for. Thank you for choosing Green Cloud Restaurant!” The giant girl said with a bow.
“...Ehmmm…I-I forgot I had placed an order myself.” Gunhead felt several eyes drill through the back of his skull in great disappointment, along the same sense of shame climbing up his spine as somebody that had just been delivered a sex doll from a Sexy Shop.
“Th-There was no need to list what was inside.” The Pro Hero muttered with a small voice.
“Oh! Sorry about that!” Ippan answered with a red face, but still, she collected her money and left the man alone to drown in the disappointment of his Interns and Students.
“I-I-I can explain!”
“HYPOCRITE!” The assembled Hero Students yelled as one, and amazingly, the tall muscular man seemed to shrink under their combined glare.
That night – Dinner hour – Green Cloud Restaurant -
Dressed impeccably, as usual, the infamous Food Critic entered the Restaurant and immediately scanned the entire room, with his eyes lingering on Eri looking at the room from behind the counter with the cash register and the plush cushion with Shiro sitting on it, especially surprised to not see even a single hair on that cushion.
“Good evening, mademoiselle.” Ego said with a gentle voice as he neared the kid.
“H-Hi.” Eri answered while hiding behind the kids book she was reading.
“Kyun?” In an instant Shiro was in front of her to glare at Ego, and the man was surprised to feel the hair on the back of his neck stand-up in alarm.
“I am not an enemy, my small friend.” Ego answered, patting the Taotie’s head with a single finger, secretly surprised to see no hair remained on his hand or the counter as the thing moved.
“No hair loss? Good to know, I guess that is why you are permitted to be here. Good.”
“You believe me to lose hair like a lesser being? You fool! This Esteemed Taotie is not a common beast! My Godly-soft fur stays on unless I say so! Show me some respect, or I shall devour you!” Shiro immediately understood the Critic’s intention, and his indignation immediately reached its peak.
“Ha-ah!” Blackie, of course, pounced on that to mock the Taotie with a telepathic bout of mocking laugh.
“SILENCE!” Shiro sent back in answer, incensed to near-madness.
“Good to see you are also clean, properly groomed and even trained to protect this little girl. Do protect her properly.” Ego muttered with a pleased nod before walking away.
“I can do my job, you peasant!” Shiro thought in apoplectic rage, something that greatly amused Blackie.
“Good evening,” Ego said once caught Izuku’s attention.
“Good evening.” the Chef answered.
“I was wondering if you had a free table for one,” The Critic asked.
“I do have one...Next to that...Gentleman…” Izuku answered, pointing at a table next to a rotund half-bald old man eating with the grace of a pig, and may pigs everywhere forgive me for putting them on the same level as that guy.
“Delishous.” The old man grunted while emptying his plate with loud slurping sounds that caused the guys at the table next to him to develop green faces with disgust.
“My apologies.” Izuku offered, distraught.
“There is no problem, unfortunately you cannot test if a Customer has the Table Manners of a civilised human whenever one enters, nor can I exactly force you to evict him.” Ego answered.
“I did try to tell him to try and act properly, but he instead doubled down on the grunts.” Izuku answered.
“He did?”
“Unfortunately, yes.” Izuku answered with a long exhale packed-full in annoyance.
“The table next to his will suffice, have no fear. While you have obligations in respecting Customers no matter what, I don’t. I will set him straight should he overdo it.” Ego said while walking towards his table.
To his surprise he felt a hand gently but still firmly grabbing his arm.
“Fighting here is prohibited, keep things civil or I will evict you both. It’s one thing permitting a Guest of mine to eat with bad manners as long as they still enjoy their lunch or dinner, it is another entirely to let two guests bother everybody else with a fight, I won’t condone the latter.” Izuku explained, he then let go of the man.
“Have no fear, my manners, compared to his, will be impeccable since I was taught them.” Ego answered while taking his seat, he still kept his eyes and ears trained on the Chef once he saw him near a woman now taking care of the child.
“You okay, Icchan?” he heard Inko asked.
“More or less, mom. That Guest is getting more obnoxious the longer he eats, He even showed me his badge as Food Critic of the Japan Cooks Magazine as a threat. As if that meant I would treat him differently.” Izuku answered.
“Hn?” Ego muttered, curious.
“I am just glad young Ochaco couldn’t come tonight, he keeps leering at the other women here, I can’t imagine how he would have acted with her with the excuse of her being a waitress.” Inko answered.
“I assure you that had he tried anything both me and Whitey would have taught him manners.”
“But...But he is a critic!”
“So? I still have dignity as a Chef, I won’t throw that away under the threat of a bad review as he not-so-subtly told me in the hope to get special treatment, I treat every ‘Guest’ to the best of my abilities, no matter their job.” Izuku answered, frowning.
“Interesting…”
“Oh! I remember you! We met at a convention!” The balding old man said, without even the decency of swallowing first.
“We did? Must have forgot it,” Ego answered, watching in disgust the crumbs adorning every corner of the man’s tale.
“Yes we did instead!...Hey…” The man then asked with a conspirator whisper.
“Yes?”
“Are you here to review him? He doesn’t seem to know you.”
“Or maybe he does know me and is just treating me as any other Customer...Or Guest, as he calls them. Something I wish more Restaurants did. I find simpering fools unpalatable.” Ego answered.
“I am here for work too, you know? Reviewing him and stuff!”
“And?”
“Everything is good,”
“But?” Ego asked, already bored of the guy.
“The boy still has a loooong way to go, so I guess I will need to be a bit harsh and point out to him where he needs to improve. Isn’t this what we are here for?” The man said with a creepy smile and squinting.
“Ah, yes. You must be Matoi’s Plan B. Subtle like a nuclear warhead, not that I can’t expect much from somebody doing this to avenge the frail pride of a Primadonna.” Ego thought with a low grumble.
“May I take your order?” Izuku had in the meantime reached Ego’s table ready to take the man’s order.
“Come closer.” Ego said.
“Yes?” The young Chef asked, leaning forward a little.
“Bring me every dish you have served to this…”
“Human?” Izuku offered.
“Even that sounds like a stretch, but yes. Do bring me the exact same dishes you will serve and have already brought to this person next to me.” Ego said.
“Yes, I can do that no problem.” Izuku answered while returning to stand upright.
“Very good.”
“Can I ask why, though?”
“Why am I making this peculiar request?”
“If it is not a problem, me asking.”
“I just want to test something.” Ego answered.
“He is a Food Critic too, you know? An Evil one!” The guy said with a cruel smirk that lasted until Ego glared at him hard enough the old man shrieked in fright.
“Ignore this buffoon, please.”
“You don’t look evil to me, sir.” Izuku admitted.
“To be fair, I can be, when annoyed enough.” Ego answered with a cold chuckle.
“Hmm.”
“Something on your mind, young man?” He asked.
“Scared?” the other Critic said, returning infuriatingly smug.
“When was the last time?” Izuku asked.
“Uhn?”
“When was the last time you ate something not for work, but for pleasure?” the young Chef said.
“Let’s not go over philosophy much, young man. That is not what we both are here for.” the other said with cutting sarcasm.
“That is indeed the answer I was waiting for. My hunch was right.” To the critic’s surprise, the young man actually looked pleased with the answer.
“You were?”
“Pretty much. Anything else I can bring you besides your order?”
“I am feeling adventurous tonight, so some fresh, clear, well-seasonedperspective would be much appreciated.” Ego answered.
“Perspective?” the other critic asked, to his dismay though the two easily ignored him.
“A fresh new Perspective. I see.” Izuku answered, nodding.
“If you are not able, just bring me some food and I will be the one to provide the perspective.”
“No need to worry, sir, I will prepare your fresh Perspective immediately. As for the Wine-”
“I will have a Cheval -”
“Cheval Blond, 2147.” Izuku interrupted the interruption with a gentle smile.
“Correct. You mean such a small place as this one has a wine like that?” Ego asked with a mocking tone.
“I am still here-” The other critic tried saying.
“I do, because good wine enriches the experience and taste of a dish if paired properly. And if I have a small selection of Chateau Cheval wine it’s because it is a personal favourite of mine. Although asking for a bottle from 2147 it’s peculiar, something only a man of high standards would ask for: small production compared to other years due to a flood, higher tannin and more accentuated earthen tones than usual, a year famously hunted down to the very last bottle by collectors and Experts everywhere. I believe my choice of Perspective will match it very well.”
“I hope it is, I don’t do well with disappointment,” Ego answered, smiling sharp as a blade.
“Neither do I.” Izuku countered, his own smile cold enough to put a glacier to shame.
“Off you go then. Wow me with your talent,” the critic said, smirking.
“With your permission,” the Chef replied with a small bow and then left for the kitchen.
“Let’s see if the fame matches the skills, boy, or if you are just another popular restaurant.” Ego muttered.
“He ignored me,” the annoying guy at the table nearby said with a whine.
“Because he has sharp eyes and just like me he can recognize a lost cause when he sees one, now be quiet and just do your...Job.” he hissed in answer, and the plump moron was smart enough to keep quiet for the rest of his visit.
“I am doing it. I am doing it…” the other answered, showing an ugly pout.
What followed, for Ego, was a surprise! He had a Quirk himself, although one that was considered useless for a society enamoured with Pro Heroes and flashy powers: a sense of taste over a hundred times more keen than a normal human’s, one few of his detractors called Langue de Dieu (God’s Tongue) out of begrudging respect.
The last gift from his mother from whom he inherited the Quirk, instead of his father’s more ‘acceptable’ gift of petrifying everything he touched with all five fingers, and maybe that was part of the reason the man left child and wife behind to chase fortune and never return. But that was a story for another time.
The taste of every dish was indeed stellar, and while in itself the thing was a pleasant surprise, it was the sense of care he felt in every dish what he was actually looking for, for Ego didn’t just like food, he LOVED it, something the other cooks he usually reviewed failed to grasp. Contrary to the young Chef he was now putting to the Test.
“I...I…” HIC! “I think I drank too much…” The buffoon next to him gurgled-out, looking wobbly even while sitting.
“Nonsense, here, drink some of my wine. And do tell me more about your deal with Matoi.” Ego answered, purposely filling and refilling the guy’s glass until his pig-like face took a HEAVY red colour.
“He pays well, ya know? This food is fucking good, but money’s money! I will trash this place and get a looooooot of money! Enough to buy the car I always wanted and buy a nice ring for my woman!”
“Your wife?”
“Nah! Not that ball-busting old bitch! My woman! The one that recognizes how handsome and smart I am! That’s why I cover her in presents!”
“Of course, silly of me getting the two mixed-up.” Ego answered, rolling his eyes.
“It’s okay! I forgive you...If you pour me another!”
“Here. And please, choke on it.” the other answered with a smile.
“To myself! The world’s greatest critic!” the guy answered, downing the new glass in one gulp and then falling face-first into his plate to sleep.
“One annoyance less to ruin my dinner, good.” Ego commented, pleased with himself.
“Oh! He fell asleep?” Izuku asked, surprised, while delivering him another plate.
“I am afraid that for all his boisterous talk, he could not hold alcohol as well as he believed.” Ego answered.
“I’ll go call a taxi for him then, I will check his wallet for his home address.”
“Do forward the bill too, just in case.”
“Of course. I will be back immediately.”
“Before you go, I have a question.” Ego said.
“Yes?”
“Leaving aside how you cooked, impressive as it is, the Ingredients' own quality is higher than I expected for the prices you ask. Why so?”
“Because I don’t need to cover myself in gold, I want Guests not Customers.
Increasing the prices so that only ‘The Elite’ can eat what I make would go against my beliefs as a Chef. Just as a Hero should help everybody in need, so a Chef to me should feed whoever enters their door looking for food, not just who has an obscenely-high net worth.” Izuku answered, smiling.
“I don’t see homeless people here, though.” Ego said, with just a tiny smirk on his face.
“They know they can come here whenever they need, and on SundayI deliver food to several shelters and other organisationsfor the homeless, you are free to ask them. Now sorry, I have a taxi to call.” The young Chef answered.
“...Hn.”
“Hey, old man?” A near Vigilante in civilian attire said from the opposite side of the room.
“Yes?”
“Quit bothering Boss Icchan, it sours my mood to see bullies at work.” The guy said with a snarl.
“No fighting, please. That’s the rule.” Pro Hero Edgeshot said in warning.
“No need to worry, I am not here to fight.” Ego answered, still studying the room and the customers in it coming and going.
Clink!
A peculiar scent caught the Critic’s attention though, and soon he saw the source in the small plate Izuku had brought to young Eri,
“Here, tell me if you like them like this, okay?” he asked, gently.
“Uhmm...Uhmm…” The kid said, unsure.
“I know you don’t like vegetables, but they will help you grow big and strong, promise.” Izuku tried saying.
“I-I am sorry,”
“It’s okay, don’t worry. Just try one bite.” The young Chef said.
“Picky eater?” Ego asked, nearing the two.
Sigh! “Just a bit, little Eri has had a difficult childhood before I took her in, and I am trying to have her eat healthy too, but I forgot how kids are naturally against eating their greens. I tried stretching the rules a bit to make them a bit more palatable, but I am still struggling.” Izuku admitted, sighing.
“And this latest try of yours is?” he asked.
“Stewed Vegetables, in this case Tomatoes, aubergines, zucchini and carrots. She does eat spinach and apples, but other vegetables or fruits? Nope!”
“I-It’s...T-They taste bad!” Eri admitted with a low voice.
“Have you tasted them, Mademoiselle?” Ego asked.
“No? What does that word mean?”
“Mademoiselle means Young Girl in French, my Language.” he answered.
“Ooh!”
“Do you know what my job is, Madm...Missy?” Ego asked.
“Villain?”
“ERI!” Izuku said, shocked.
“Sorry!”
“Huhuhu, I am sure many would say you are right, my dear. No harm done, but no. My Job is telling people if food is good or not.” Ego answered, unfazed.
“And you are good?” Eri asked.
“If I can say it myself, I think I am very good at it.”
“...Can you tell me if this is good?” Eri said while looking at her plate, and for Ego’s amusement, Izuku looked offended at the question, in a very childish way.
“I normally don’t offer this service, but for once, I can make an exception. Please allow me…” Ego answered, accepting a new fork from a very apologetic Izuku to take a small piece of the plate to taste it.
“Is she your daughter, Mister Midoriya?” he asked while studying the food.
“I am trying to adopt her, yes. Unfortunately the circumstances behind my taking her in and the state she was in when I found her, along other issues I cannot talk about until the police close the case, makes it harder than it should.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“But you want to be her father even with all those issues?”
“...Yes. Yes, I do.” he admitted, and Eri looked ready to burst to tears upon hearing that.
“I see. The food a father made for his daughter then, I wonder if the taste will be different…” Ego muttered to himself.
“Sir?” The Young Chef asked, confused.
“…” Upon testing it, the Critic simply fell into contemplative silence, lost down memory lane as he slowly, methodically chewed and used his own abilities to analyse every facet.
“Is it good?” Eri asked.
“It’s very good, missy. Not eating it would be a mistake, your father put lots of love in it, and that is a taste that one cannot buy. Trust me.” Ego answered.
“...Okay, I will try it…” Eri conceded.
“Very good.” The Critic answered, patting her head a little and then returning to his table.
“Thank you, Eri hardly trusts strangers, but I guess everybody needs a second opinion sometimes.” Izuku said.
“She trusts you to not hurt her with your food, and as a Stranger she has no reason to think we were actually colluding to trick her, a kid’s mind is very straightforward.” Ego answered, still looking thoughtful.
“I guess. There is anything else I can bring you?” he answered.
“Not really, the perspective you brought me was more than enough. Just bring me the bill.” Ego answered.
“Of course, sir.” Izuku answered, rapidly walking away to prepare it.
“…”
“...Still sad, mon petit soleil?” a hazy figure in front of Ego asked with a gentle voice.
“Can’t a son miss his mother?” Ego asked back with a whisper of voice.
He had forgotten the taste of a dish made with the love of a parent, like his mother used to make for him, especially whenever he was sad; her Ratatouille may have not been worthy of a ‘Five Star Restaurant’, but that dish still was stored inside Ego’s heart as the best dish of his life, even just for the memories linked to it.
He now really understood what Proust was trying to prove with his ‘Recherche du temp perdu’ book that Ego’s teacher was so adamant to have her class read over and over again.
“Hahahaha!” Looking aside, he saw a customer call Izuku over to show him something on his phone, and both shared a laugh of happiness while the woman at the table blushed at some praise while gently caressing her belly.
“Guests, not Customers.” Ego muttered, looking at the half-eaten dessert still in front of him, and while waiting for his bill to arrive, he did finish the morsel he had momentarily abandoned to go help Izuku to convince Eri vegetables were not something to fear.
“Still my grumpy little Soleil. Remember: tears make dishes taste bad…” The same female voice said with the warmth only a mother could give before fading away.
“Huhuhu. It was indeed a while since I ate something out of enjoyment instead of work. I should do that more often.” Ego muttered in answer, for once enjoying his food instead of analysing it.
“Ah! The taxi arrived! Whitey, help me!” Izuku said while he and the plump robot gently loaded the drunk Food Critic in the back of the car.
“Did he drink too much, Boss?” The driver asked.
“Listening to the others, he was a lightweight.” Izuku answered, rummaging a bit with the man’s pockets to recover his wallet and find the address on his ID.
“There is nothing Light about him, Boss.” The Taxi driver answered while watching the man’s bulging belly.
“That’s not very nice!”
“Hehehe!”
“Just go, and forward me the cost of the ride, I will offer him at least that, even if he was being obnoxious the entire time he was here.” Izuku said.
“Yes, yes, no problem with that.” The man answered, and once sure the snoring moron was sitting properly inside the cab, the young Chef watched the thing move away and stood in thoughtful silence in front of the open door.
“Everything was simply splendid, congratulations,” Ego said while looking outside and standing next to him.
“I am happy the meal was enjoyable, but, what’s the matter? You seem troubled.” Izuku asked.
“...That must be what the other Guests described as your Hero Side, smelling trouble and offering your hand in help. Have no fear, mine is only introspection, I am not the one that needs help this time.”
“Sir?”
“That man has been bribed to purposely release a bad review of this Restaurant, a bribe that came from the same man that asked ME to do it as well, either wishing for your name to be besmirched both here in Japan and outside, or just to have a plan B in case either me or that idiot we just watched being took away failed or refused to do so.” Ego said.
“Should I get worried?”
“Contrary to that buffoon, I have a sense of moral and pride for my position as Critic. I give praises when there is a reason to, and destroy the fools wasting my time when the fame does not match the skills. But this is the first time I see the Fame lagging behind the Skills.”
“Thank you?” Izuku answered, unsure.
“Unfortunately my own professionalism forbids me from telling you who it was that tried to bribe me and that moron, but this doesn’t mean I won’t publicly call that fool out for actually accepting a bribe from ‘Mysterious Sources’ and spitting on the integrity of my own category.” Ego answered.
“I understand,” Izuku answered, sighing.
“Indeed. Unfortunately my hands are tied, I can’t reveal how mister Hidetaka Matoi is behind this injustice,” Ego admitted with a sigh, never once looking behind himself back at Izuku.
“I understand, sir. No need to worry, I will find a way to deal with this by myself.” The young Chef answered with a wide smile.
“I know you will, Mister Midoriya. You are a resourceful young man, I am sure you will think about something...Like, perchance, waiting few months before going to America where Mister Matoi will soon open his new overly-priced Restaurant and crush him in a cooking duel in front of everybody and right at the apex of his moment of glory.
Especially if that counterattack of yours coincides with the birthday of the insufferable spoiled brat that is his daughter and the huge commotion of Pro Heroes and journalists he hopes will be there to shower him and her in praises. Or a similar plan.” Ego said with a casual tone.
“I am sure I will think about something, Sir. Thank you for your concern.” When the Food Critic did look back at the young man, he was very pleased to see a truly Magnifique smile, cold and cruel as he hoped it to be.
“We are professionals, Mister Midoriya. Whoever tries to trample our territory looking for a challenge can only expect to see us answer in kind. It’s only proper.” Ego said.
“It’s only proper.” Izuku repeated with a cold chuckle.
“Feel free to return to visit my humble Restaurant whenever you want, Ego-san. My doors will always be open.” He said.
“I am sure I will, Mister Midoriya. I enjoyed my stay quite a bit.” the other answered, and walked towards the car waiting for him with the driver holding the door open for him.
“...Ah! What a disgrace…”
“What?” Izuku asked.
“I seem to have lost the business card of an American Restaurant I was asked to review soon, and while I don’t really need it since I had more than one copy, losing one still feels like such a bad move on my part. Should you find it, please let me know.” Ego answered with a very fake disappointed expression while boarding his car.
“I sure will, sir. Goodnight.” Izuku, his smirk now FULLY Villainous, answered.
“Goodnight to you, Mister Midoriya. Let’s go, Bernard, I want to return to my hotel, there is a call I have to make.”
“Of course, sir.” the man’s assistant answered.
“MISTER!” Eri called out.
“Yes?”
“The veggies...It was good.” she said, shy.
“Good to know, I am glad I was of help. Goodnight, missy.” Ego said, and with a last wave to the girl the luxurious car left to take the Critic back to his hotel suite.
“…”
“Hidetaka Matoi, uh?” In the long silence that followed, Izuku mumbled that name to himself and neared Ego’s table to find the business card of his newest Nemesis’ Restaurant neatly placed on top of a glass, waiting for him.
“Opening Soon: The Symphony. Quite the artsy name...A couple months after the Grand Opening, during his daughter’s birthday and when the Restaurant will be at the true peak of popularity...Yes, yes I can do that…” Izuku muttered with a low voice.
“Bo-Bo-Boss Izuku? You okay?” The young Illegal Hero Pop-Step asked with a squeak once noticed the COLD light in the Chef’s eyes, intense enough to scare the crap out of her.
“It’s okay, don’t worry. I was just planning a visit to a new friend. I will bring you your dessert in a minute.” he answered, smiling warmly again, and disappearing inside his kitchen.
“Good God that was scary.” the girl muttered to herself, shivering.
Later that night – Hotel – Suite -
“Uhmm, yes. This should do. Properly written and to the point.” Ego said after re-checking his personal Review of Green Cloud Restaurant.
“Bernard?” He called.
“Yes, sir?”
“As usual, copy this into an email and send it to the newspaper, I wonder if they feel like having a surprise extra review to add to the one I was sent here for.” he said, handing his small black book to his Assistant.
“Of course, Sir.”
“Then please be a dear and fetch me the number of the owner of Japan Cooks, if I saw correctly, that sad excuse of a critic works for them. Use our usual channels to find the number.”
“At once sir.” the Assistant answered, and walked away once waved off by Ego.
“I will need to postpone your review a bit, my dear Matoi. I want to see how you act when challenged by a true Chef.” Ego muttered to himself, deep in thought.
Driiiin!
“...And who may it be at this hour of night? Of all the people that have this number, nobody risks calling me after dinner unless it’s an emergency.” Ego muttered, and once saw the Unknown appearing on his screen instead of a number, his curiosity was piqued.
“Yes? With whom I have the pleasure to talk to?” he said in sarcasm.
“This is The System. Are you interested in proof of the fool accepting bribes to try to besmirch the Host’s Restaurant?” A metallic, genderless voice answered from the other side of the call.
“Proof of the bribe? Actual proof?” Ego asked, eyes narrowing.
“Yes.” The voice answered.
“If you really have that, please, enlighten me, and if it is good, I will actually use them.” Ego answered, tone full of mockery.
“You will.” The answer was swift and cold, enough even the Critic shivered a bit, then the call went closed abruptly enough to make the man look at his phone in surprise.
“Tch! Rude,” he commented.
“Sir? You just received a strange email, it’s full of pictures and recordings and copies of other emails…” The Assistant said, unsure.
“Hn? Let me see,” Ego answered, accepting the laptop his assistant handed him to check said strange message.
“...This is fairly impressive.” he admitted with his eyebrows shooting high, whoever that The System was, besides being so peculiar to use such a strange nickname, they clearly didn’t give a damn about laws for them to collect so much exhaustive proof.
“I will need to tread carefully when preparing the proof of the bribes, I risk going to prison myself otherwise...The magazine’s number?”
“Here, sir.”
“Thank you, Bernard.” Ego answered.
“…”
“Hello?” The voice on the other side was of a middle-aged woman with a high-pitched voice.
“Good evening, am I speaking with Miss Tsubasa? Director of the ‘Japan Cooks’ Magazine?” the old man said with a pleasant tone.
“Good evening, yes, it’s me. With whom I have the pleasure of talking to?” She asked back.
“I am Anton Ego, and-”
“OH, MY GOD! The Devil Critic!” the woman gasped in horror.
“I see my fame has not been relegated to Europe only then, yes it’s me.” he answered, he was unfazed by the very rude moniker attached to his name since he had heard far worse through the years.
“Wha-What can I do for you, sir?” the woman asked with a tone full of dread.
“I was wondering if you were interested in posting one of my reviews in your magazine, both the printed and the online version.”
“OF COURSE! My father is a great fan of yours!” the woman answered instantaneously.
“Glad to hear about somebody appreciating my work, you see, I happened to eat at a small local restaurant while here in Japan and recognized a colleague of mine in the middle of a review himself...And I am saddened to say I saw him willingly and gleefully break every non-spoken and commonly-known Rule we critics have sworn to follow. I was told he works for your magazine.” the old Critic answered, tone frosty cold enough to make the woman shiver.
“...Who was it?” the woman asked with a whisper full of fear.
“Middle-age, fifty probably, horrid beard and disgusting fashion sense and shrilly nasal voice. Balding head, thick round glasses and a nose not only big, but slightly slanted to the side, I suspect coming from multiple people that were less-than-happy about his reviews and punched him, not that I would blame them considering what I saw him doing while he worked. Ah yes, the few hairs still on his head looked oily. I would suggest having him change shampoo, if he ever used any, but I doubt he would listen.”
“That’s Yo...That’s definitely Yo…” The woman muttered in defeat.
“Yo Munetaka...Yes, I remember his name now. One tends to willingly forget meeting and talking with unpleasant people like him. Please forgive the strange hour, but I prefer to err on the side of caution and call as soon as possible to avoid an injustice happening.”
“What has he done this time?” the Director asked slowly, clearly afraid.
“I see his antics are well-known, that’s very bad. The fool accepted a bribe to willingly ruin a Restaurant reputation in the hope of seeing it close forever. Same offer I got and refused out of Critic’s Pride and personal decency. I have with me all the proof you need to demonstrate this; as I suspected, once drunk enough Mister Yo becomes so talkative secrets no longer exist.”
“A BRIBE?! THIS IS LOW EVEN FOR HIM!...What do you want me to do? I can erase his review, of course.” the woman hissed in anger.
“Aah, punishment will be up to you, I won’t pry in your business. What I ask is for both my review and his to be printed on the same page for everybody to see how low he fell from grace, so to have your readers see the difference between a real review and a phoney one as we both ate the exact same dishes that day. Is It possible?”
“Of course it is! I will need to check if this was an isolated case or if he did it again in the past, but rest assured he won’t work for us anymore and I WILL put out a formal apology to whoever was damaged by him!”
“This is why I love you Japanese and your concept of Pride, the transgressors are always punished so beautifully. Very well, I will send you an email with the proof I mentioned and my review. Thank you very much, Miss Tsubasa.”
“Thank you for uncovering this mess, Ego-san. You’ll see, I will protect the integrity of my Magazine and of Food Critics with all my power!” the woman promised with burning eyes.
“Wonderful. Have a pleasant night.” the Critic answered, closing the call right after.
“That Yo is dead.” The woman hissed in contempt.
The Next Day -
As the Director promised, the Saturday issue of Japan Cooks had a special edition many readers were unprepared for, because in the Review section of the thing stood a full page dedicated to two different reviews given by two different critics to the very same restaurant, all prefaced by the Director herself apologising for Yo’s reviews in the past and how they discovered the man had actually taken bribes to willing put out a negative review, along the news of the man being officially fired and under investigation in case more bribes had been accepted.
Anton’s own review thus attracted every reader’s attention for its different style and the open attack to Yo’s own, although some recognized the Critic’s name from other similar magazines and went wide-eyed at seeing such an infamous name being involved with a humble restaurant instead of his usual super rich victims.
Many of you won’t really know me, as the name Anton Ego is mostly known, and feared, in Europe only, while outside their borders only some of the biggest names in the world of Cooking and Food Critics still see me as a Dark Omen, and start swearing as soon as they see my shadow being cast on their restaurant’s doors.
For you others, I will humbly present myself, an old-school practice, considering that a simple internet search will tell you everything there is to know about me, but alas I am old, and I still enjoy my Old-timer Etiquette.
I am Anton Ego, proud critic and for many, the Devil Incarnate, destroyer of careers.
Many restaurants have fallen under the weight of my pen, with only a handful actually showing determination and bravery enough to raise from under the rubble left by my blows and grow into great examples of Culinary Masterpiece, some of which are actually featured in my own personal All-Time Top 10 in the papers normally housing my reviews.
Why then is somebody like me, that many of you have clearly already pinned-down as a French snob, reviewing a humble Restaurant like the Green Cloud owned by a young Chef such as Mister Midoriya? For your answer look no further than to the left column of this same page, to the MOCKERY of a proper review one of my esteemed colleagues had the nerve to write and even publish here, thus wasting paper and ink and even worse, a reader’s time!
Since the money he had been promised in exchange for this deliberate act of libel has caused him to forget it, please allow me to remind him, and teach you, what a REAL Critic is, if I might be so bold...
In many ways, the work of a critic is easy.
We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer-up their work and themselves to our judgement .
We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read.
But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so.
But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defence of the new.
The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations, the “ new” needs friends.
Yesterday, I experienced something new, an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source.
To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions about fine cooking is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core.
In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for France’s beloved Chef Gusteau’s famous motto: Anyone can cook . But I realise , only now do I truly understand what he meant.
Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.
It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius cooking at Green Cloud Restaurant, in Yavin Street number 4, who is, in this critic’s opinion, nothing less than the finest Chef in Japan.
I will be returning to visit Chef Midoriya soon, hungry for more.
And if there is even just a single suggestion I can give to whoever is reading this:
Do visit Green Cloud Restaurant as a friend, more than a mere customer, you won’t regret it.
For this reason I award Green Cloud Restaurant with a full score, something I had hardly ever given in my long career, unfortunately setting the bar for my next reviews even higher than ever before.
As for my full Review, under here there will be my own thoughts on every dish I tried, the exact same dishes ordered by a so-called Critic that was instead more than happy to throw his credibility away in the name of money.
You will read my own opinions, given in full professional honesty, something you will soon see is sadly lacking from the review of the INCOMPETENT BUFFOON that has his own review written right next to mine…
With Izuku – Green Cloud Restaurant -
“Another stellar review and another victory for our invincible Boss Izuku! CHEERS!” Setsuna Tokage from Class 1B said, lifting her glass as a salute to the framed review of Ego now hanging proudly on a nearby wall.
“CHEEERS!” The assembled customers of the full Restaurant, either Pro Heroes, Vigilantes, Civilians and even small-time Villains not affiliated to either the League or the Liberation Army (Or Overhaul himself) answered as one, all lifting their glasses as well.
Even Eri clapped a little, unfortunately still unable to smile properly, and Izuku still refused to use the Century Soup to artificially achieve that.
“Thank you, but please stop, it’s embarrassing!” Izuku answered, face completely red and yet with hands still perfectly firm as he delivered a new tray of food to a nearby table.
“Get the praise, Boss Icchan! You deserve it!” The Pro Hero Ms. Joke answered and gave his back a strong slap once he finished delivering her order.
“Still embarrassing!” he answered, chuckling.
“So that strange mister helped dad?” Eri asked.
“Hu-uh! He wrote lots of good things to defend him and his Restaurant from a very bad man.” Inko answered.
“Oooh!”
“He really helped me a lot, I just hope Ego-san won’t be in trouble because of this,” Izuku admitted with a sigh.
“Want us to keep an ear out in case he needs help?” The Vigilante duo in disguise Gentle and La Brava asked as one.
“No, guys. No need for you to get involved.” The young Chef asked, nailing both with an intense stare he hoped no Pro caught.
“Got it.” Gentle answered with a nod.
“Just remember that if you need, we are here.” A small-time ‘Villain’ , normally known as Pack-Rat and specialised in data theft, offered.
“Please leave justice to Pro Heroes, my dear, no need for Civilians to break the laws that are there for a reason! Should there be problems, our dear Boss can easily reach out for us!” Pro Hero Backdraft answered.
“Suuure.” the Villain answered with barely-restrained sarcasm.
“Careful now, don’t blow your cover.” Izuku warned him with a whisper while delivering Pack-Rat his dish.
“I know, I know. Don’t worry, Boss.” the other answered with a fist-bump.
Izuku was happy to know his Customers were taking his safety and the safety of his Restaurant at heart enough to offer their help, unfortunately some of his Regulars were part of the eternal Hero VS Villain VS Vigilante conflict, and while the guys from the Bad Side were careful in not getting caught, the young Chef still had SOME worry at any probable fight happening inside his beloved Restaurant. Mostly because he was afraid of Whitey, Shiro and Blackie going too much heavy-handed in stopping said fight.
He was unaware of All for One, Overhaul and the MLA having stationed spies 24/7 around his restaurant to look for weak spots to exploit; his full focus was on the full tables he was tasked with serving.
At the same time – Hotel – Ego’s Suite -
Contrary to Izuku’s expectations, Ego the Food Critic was facing some backlash for his review, but surprisingly, he was also completely unaffected by it, unfazed by the man in front of him throwing a tantrum worthy of a spoiled 10-years-old kid, he just kept drinking his tea, this time some properly made one.
“Why did youdo this!?” Matoi asked at the very end of his screamed rant.
“Because the Restaurant deserved a PROPER review, not that junk you paid for,” he answered.
“HAVE YOU ANY IDEA WHAT YOU HAVE DONE?!”
“Yes I know: I did my job. As any professional would and should.” he answered.
“I am in trouble now because of you!” Matoi screeched.
“And that is a good thing, you incompetent clown.” Ego answered, voice cold and unforgiving.
“How dare you!”
“Who do you think you are, Mister Matoi? What power do you think you and Mister Samui have? Who or what gave you the notion you get to decide what somebody can or cannot do?” Ego asked.
“We are pioneers of cuisine! The ones that managed to keep this form of Art relevant in times where every moron out there started looking at Heroes like Gods and forgot about everything else!”
“Aaah, yes! Envy, the most ancient excuse.” Ego answered, voice full of mockery.
“ENVY?!”
“Pro Heroes with a gift for cooking are your greatest enemy, aren't they? They have talent in both Heroics and cooking, so, differently from you, they can also pull on their fame as Heroes to attract customers and media attention.
That is why you, Samui and the rest of your merry group of friends are so determined to stay relevant and spend more time on TV and giving interviews than in the kitchen to cook and refine your skills.
You fear being forgotten and are burning in jealousy at seeing Pro Heroes being instead put on a pedestal by the masses with zero efforts, or at least with zero efforts from your point of view.” It was no secret that if Ego was good at something, those were cutting remarks, he just knew how to cut deep enough to make his victims almost bleed for real with his words.
“You…” Matoi said with a frown of mad fury.
“This is also why you hate Mister Midoriya, isn’t it? You can’t excuse his talent with a Quirk or his successes with him just having a Hero Fanbase. He is just a Quirkless young man that does everything out of raw skills and abilities, something that would be solely your fault if you cannot match and surpass, isn’t it? You hate that you can’t hide your shortcomings compared to him behind paper-thin lies.”
“SHUT UP!”
“Aah, and that is the confirmation of my theory, wonderful! I love being right, it makes me feel all warm inside. He may use Ingredients of a quality even I have never seen before, but the skills, those are the real deal, and you know it.”
“Yes? So what? Money and Fame talk! You just had ONE job, and that was to make him close! Why didn't you do that like that other idiot did?!” Matoi demanded.
“To teach you a lesson. Simple as that.” Ego answered, uncaring.
“You?! Teaching a Lesson to ME!?”
“Yes, Mister Matoi. And it’s even a very simple lesson you were supposed to learn as a kid: You cannot always be right. You should try being wrong sometimes, because you might learn something."
“I can ruin you!” Matoi shrieked.
“Uh-huh. I am sure you can,” Ego answered, unimpressed.
“If I go down, so will you.” the Chef said while his hands grew hot enough thanks to his Quirk the table he was leaning on started smoking.
“Understandable. Of course you know that IF I go down, I will have to answer lots of questions, some of which revolving around WHERE all the money you make with your restaurants and other avenues really go. I am sure the infamous Japanese Government’s NTA (National Tax Agency) will be happy to know about it. About that and the real circumstances behind the strange fire that destroyed your fist restaurant years ago,” Ego answered.
“Y-Y-Y-You know nothing!” Matoi said, now finally sweating in fear.
“I know a lot instead, I am probably the only man on the planet that knows.” Ego answered.
“Don’t think I won’t hurt you, you will keep your mouth shut!” the Chef said before trying to grab the old man by the throat.
CLINK!
“URGH!” only for a diamond-covered arm to close around Matoi’s throat to lift him from the ground and force him to turn around to meet the eyes of a humanoid mass of diamond shining in a mesmerising halo of reflected light.
“I think you never really met my Assistant. Let me introduce you to my Assistant/Chauffeur/Bodyguard Bernard Lafitte, once known as the dreaded French Vigilante Le Bijou.
While just as durable and shiny, that is sadly not really diamond covering him, still, only a fool would fight him with brute strength, so please, do try punching him, it’s always fun to watch fools destroy their hands to punch a Diamond-Man.” Ego said, still calmly enjoying his tea.
“What do you want to keep the secret?” Matoi said with a weak voice since already about to pass-out from asphyxiation.
“I want just a small favour.”
“Name...Name your price…” Matoi answered faintly.
“I want a special seat in that rumoured exclusive Party you will have for your daughter’s birthday party, a party that I am told will also coincide with her debut as a Pro Hero. I want a seat as a VIP Guest.” Ego answered.
“T-T-That’s it?”
“As a Guest, not for a review, remember. Do this and I will feel inclined to keep your dirty little secret.” he answered.
“If I do that you swear you won’t talk?”
“Huhuhu! I am sure you will have more pressing matters to worry about soon, Mister Matoi.”
“What-”
“Your answer?”
“...Fine.” Matoi answered.
“Good. Bernard? Show mister Matoi to the door, our time together has sadly come to an end.” Ego said.
“Of course, Sir.” Bernard answered, and an instant later Matoi was unceremoniously tossed outside the room and the door slammed closed on his face.
“Just a Food Critic. AS IF! I saw Mafia Bosses being more reasonable!” The Chef cursed while marching away, too afraid of the possible proof of fraud in Ego’s possession to try anything else anymore.
“Just what I needed, somebody else besides Samui holding onto the other side of the rope around my neck!” he hissed to himself.
With Ego -
“Do you want me to follow him to deliver some more intense convincing?” Bernard asked, dropping his Quirk and returning human-looking.
“No, Bernard. I am a Food Critic, not the Boss of a criminal empire. I will keep my cards against him neatly placed aside for now, I will see him destroyed in a couple months anyway, when a real Chef will finally show him what truly means cooking.” Ego answered.
“Of course, sir. Do you want me to start organising for our return home?”
“Yes, please. I grew bored of this dull gold-coated hostel. I miss the lovely sunset over the vineyards of my country home, I think it’s time to return home.”
“As you wish.”
“But also, do book us a table at Green Cloud Restaurant, before departing. I want to eat there one last time, it will be a while before I will eat his food again, and there are various other dishes on his menu that I wish to try.” Ego said with an elegant chuckle.
“Yes, sir.” Bernard answered with a nod.
With Izuku – Restaurant – Storage Island
“Holy Hell! You girls are relentless!” Izuku admitted in awe at seeing them trying super hard not only to juggle a single BB pill bug, but even multiple ones!
“Host, while this level of hard work is really appreciated, you must not forget your next Sortie, as the System said, The Host can take along a Helper that will accompany and offer further assistance to the Mission.” The System said.
“I know, I know.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“I can accompany you!” Momo said.
“NO! ME!” Rumi answered immediately.
“I can come as well! Time works differently, yes?” Ochaco said.
“OOOH! A new world? Where are we going this time?” Nejire asked.
“Yes, Time Dilation will take care of not interfering with the Host’s schedule or the Helper. The System can suggest the best Helper for the current Mission. Can the System give its suggestion?” The Entity said.
“Go ahead.” Izuku answered, shrugging.
“Very well. The system suggests…”
And I am stopping here.
Why? Because the next Sortie will be chosen by you readers!
I personally wanted to use Rumi (Fantasy World with Elves, Dwarves, etc-etc. )
But I am open to change it with:
Momo (Sci-fi World)
Ochaco (Magical Girl World)
If enough “Votes” for either choice are cast.
Consider this, though, in Rumi and Ochaco’s case those would be my way to move further forward with their own pairing with Izuku.
After that ARC there will be the Training Arc of MHA (Canonically The Fight against Muscular ) and the resolution of Himiko’s own misery, just so you know.
And now!
The blasted RWBY OMAKE! So you will finally stop asking, you bullies!
With just a MINOR difference, I added Rumi to it for an extra dose of comedy, I hope you don't mind.
(See it as an alternate version of the events)
A Chef Rebirth omakes
Extra File: Dimensional Ingredient Hunt!
The Delicious Grimm Kebab Sandwich!
Kingdom of Vale – Huntsmen Academy ‘ Beacon’ – Dormitories -
“WEEEEEEEISS!” a cheerful and LOUD cry was heard as the door of a small bedroom of four went unceremoniously kicked-open by a humanoid blur flash-stepping its way inside in a storm of red rose petals.
“...What is it, now?” a Cultured voice asked with a small sigh of dismay, an action immediately hidden to maintain the poise and class the girl’s strict upbringing would have never allowed.
“That sounded like a ‘I have amazingly cool news I absolutely have to share with you’ kind of Weiss.” a girl with black hair and cat ears lying on her own bed and reading answered, her eyes never leaving the pages.
“Hey!” the human blur, now showing herself as a girl with short hair and a long red scarf around her neck, said with a pout.
“Let her be happy, it has been a while since we had anything to celebrate. What is it?” The last member of the group was a tall blond woman with a robotic arm, she chided the others in defence of her sister.
“Thank you, Yang. Well, guess what?”
“What?” the girl named Weiss asked, rolling her eyes.
“Pyrra is back!” the bubbly Leader of the four girls Team said with an impossibly wide smile.
“…”
“…”
“...What?” the cat girl, Blake, asked with a whisper.
“What do you mean with ‘Pyrra is back’?” Yang asked slowly.
“That Pyrra is back, she is alive and...IIIIIIII Think she is also, ahem, giving herself to Jaune in a very adult manner. If the howls and moans are anything to go by. I barely had the time to tell her we missed her before she dragged Jaune away to...you know…” Ruby answered, turning awkward.
“But Nora said she watched her die!” Weiss said, shocked.
“Actually, I saw her being half-dead and then being hit by a way-too-strong attack of Cinder. I just thought she incinerated Pyrra’s body since a moment she was there, then she was gone.'' Another girl, Nora, added once reached Ruby inside the room.
“Instead it wasn’t?” Blake asked.
“She gave me a few snippets before rushing away to tie the knot with Jeaune. ‘Shoot away across half the continent’, that’s how she described it. Whatever they did to her, she is good as new now,” Nora answered, uncertain.
“Okay, no. I need proper and detailed answers! And I am sure the teachers have them!” Weiss said while storming out of the room followed closely behind by the rest of the RWBY Team.
“What’s wrong with her?” Ruby asked.
“She is a bit nervous. Her sister keeps pestering her to join her hunt for whatever is leaving behind Grimm skeletons and she is unsure about what to do.” Blake answered.
“Didn’t even know those things had bones,” Yang admitted.
“Because they are supposed to disappear after dying! Not leave behind bones! And if they have bones, they have organs and skin and meat, meaning that something is harvesting those! Ergo, something incredibly evil is afoot!” Weiss added, growling every few words thanks to her nerves.
“Incredible! He won again!”
“Uh?” a nearby group of gossipers caught Ruby’s attention.
“It’s the sixth Chef that loses against the guy! He is going on a spree!” Another member of the group answered in awe.
“A spree? That dude is going on a rampage! They said he was last seen close to here! Maybe he will challenge our Cafeteria staff too!”
“A cooking challenge? Cool!”
“We have no time for useless gossip, let’s go!” Weiss answered by dragging away Ruby by the arm.
Their march brought them to the Headmaster Office, just in time to see Ozpin desperately trying to reign in a furious Winter Schnee and a laughing Qrow hiding behind the Headmaster.
“Sister!” Weiss said.
“UNCLE QROW!” both Yang and Ruby yelled at the same time with a giant smile.
“Oh! Hey there!”
“Good evening.” Ozpin offered with a professional smile, albeit slightly ruined by his struggle to keep Winter from strangling his other guest.
“What is happening, sir?” Blake asked.
“This Buffoon knows who is behind the insane amount of Grimm Bones we found barely a step out of Vale borders and refuses to say anything! That was enough Grimms for a full-scale invasion! Don’t you understand how important it is to discover who was behind it?!” Winter roared in a mixture of Noble elegance and savage blood-thirst.
“I am not saying a thing because you, Princess, are immediately jumping to extreme measures, as usual.” Qrow answered, way more relaxed.
“They are stocking on Grimm body parts! The bones alone have practically revolutionised weapon creation overnight! Think what organs and other parts will do!” the other replied.
“I know that, I got some sweet upgrades myself thanks to those. But meat and Organs are being harvested for a completely mundane and innocuous reason.”
“How can you tell!? What makes you say that?!” Winter demanded, shocking Weiss with how acidic the woman’s voice turned.
“You and Ozpin liked the steaks I offered you last week, right?” Qrow asked with an amused smirk.
“...UH?!” Everybody else uttered in shock.
“That guy I told you about was a young genius Chef I met, remember? The dinner we had last week had all been made with Grimm meat by him.” Qrow said.
“Indeed it was good, surprising how such foul beasts can be used to make those dishes.” Ozpin confirmed.
“But!...But!...But what if it is toxic? Or worse?!” Winter demanded.
“Both me and Qrow have been under constant medical tests to check for any change. It has been a week and no change has been found. I even took a sample of both raw and cooked Grimm meat. It is 100% safe for consumption and surprisingly nutritious...Now several experts are pulling their hair out to understand HOW harvesting it works since for us Grimms keep disappearing upon death.” Ozpin answered.
“And if it was toxic, or worse, you would have been the first to notice it. Miss Three full courses.” Qrow added, smirking.
“I-I-I was just a tad hungry! Don't make me sound like a savage!” Winter answered with an outraged expression.
“Uhm...Sir?” Weiss asked.
“Oh, yes! Do you need something, dear?” the Headmaster asked.
“I am sorry to disturb you, but we were wondering if you knew anything about Pyrra’s miraculous return.” she asked with a low whisper.
“Oh! That! It seems like dear Pyrra met by chance somebody that managed to heal her fatal wounds and return her to full health, she had apologised for not returning to us sooner but she felt honour-bond to accompany her saviour here as a way to pay him back.”
“Thank you, Headmaster. Sorry for interrupting your meeting.”
“No problem, if ever, a small pause from this ruckus was something I really needed. Why don’t you girls go eat something? We have a guest Chef today and he promised a very special menu.” Ozpin answered.
“Special Menu...YOU INVITED THAT GUY HERE?!” Winter said.
“It was the only way we had to get him here to answer our questions. I had to personally round the best Chefs of Vale and torch them for their secret recipes, something he apparently wants hard enough to Challenge all of them one at a time. He will come here in exchange for me handing him that list of recipes. And I want you two to be in your best behaviour, because besides cooking, we believe Grimm body parts could be used to develop new medicines. So, behave.” Ozpin said.
“Yes…” Both Qrow and Winter answered as one with zero conviction.
“Grimm meat...You know? I am curious about the taste.” Yang admitted.
“Oh, trust me, it’s amazing!” Qrow said with a loud laugh.
“I wanna try it now!” Ruby said immediately.
“Come along then, it is almost time for lunch...And you, young Nora.”
“Yes!”the girl answered.
“Please be a dear and go collect the two lovebirds, I think they had enough time to get closer.”
“Of course, Sir!” Nora answered before running away FAST.
Cafeteria -
What the group found was the entire place packed full and a divine scent filling the air while a strange girl with rabbit ears kept zooming back and forth from the kitchen to the tables.
“Grimm Steak and Grimm Carpaccio. Who was it?” Rumi asked after reaching a table with a long tray.
“Here, thank you.”
“Eat up! My Boyfriend’s dishes don’t deserve to be eaten cold unless it’s part of the recipe!” the bunny heroine said with a smirk, delivering the plates and then rushing away at insane speed right after.
“There he is!” Winter said while pointing at a young man with green hair delivering a new tray to the bunny girl.
“He looks...Young…” Weiss said, unsure.
“Young and damn good. Hoy, boss! Got a table for us?” Qrow said aloud while waving at the young Chef.
“AH! Mister Qrow! Good morning! Over here.” Izuku answered, nearing the group himself to guide them to a table.
“I assume you were questioned by my staff, yes?” Ozpin asked.
“Yes, Mister Port and Miss Peach especially had a lot to ask. They seem to think my semblance is behind my ability to collect Grimm meat,” Izuku answered, unsure.
He just used the Sea Dragon kitchen knife and his own techniques, he honestly couldn’t explain why he could collect meat while they couldn’t.
“Maybe it's because of my Food Honour?” the young Chef thought.
“We will solve that mystery, don’t worry. You just enjoy those recipes, as a payment for your help.” Ozpin conceded.
“So? What’s on the menu?” Qrow asked.
“Besides Grimm Carpaccio, Steaks, Grimm Fried cutlets and Grimm rolls. I managed to perfect my own creation: Grimm Kofta Kebab Burger.” Izuku answered.
“Burger? Do tell!” Yang said immediately.
“I am using pita bread as the buns so that the juices of the burger spill out into the mouth at each bite.
Köfta is a Turkish meatball recipe I followed using Grimm meat that I used as the patty, and then enriched by adding several spices to the taste, the kebab itself was cooked with multiple cuts of Grimm meat and spices and all the unwanted smells are masked by my homemade yoghourt sauce.
To counterbalance the heaviness of the burger, I used achaar as the pickles for the burger. It's a condiment made with dry unripe mangoes and chopped onion.” Izuku explained.
“I am definitely trying that!” Qrow said.
“Me too!” both Yang and Ruby said as one.
“May as well…” Blake said with a shrug.
“Fine! I'llhumour you, boy.” Winter said with a condescending tone.
“I will have that as well then. Even just to not be left out.” Weiss added, sighing.
“I will bring it to you immediately.” Izuku answered.
Few minutes later -
“OH MY OUM! THIS IS HOW GRIMM TASTES LIKE?! I LOVE IT!” Ruby yelled with her mouth still full and starry eyes.
“It may look a bit uncouth, but the taste certainly is impressive!” Weiss admitted, amazed.
“It’s juicy and spicy! Awesome!” Yang echoed.
“Must you talk with your mouth full?” Blake said with a green face.
“I am glad you like it! I have finally finalised my Grimm-based recipes, so now I can fully give the Ingredient the love it deserves.” Izuku said with a sweet smile.
All things considered, the young Chef liked his current mission, he hadn’t been bothered by psychotic girls not even once! Maybe that curse was finally over!
“Uhmmmmmm!”
“...Sister?” Weiss asked, unnerved by the strange look in her older sister's eyes.
“...Oh, no…”
One Hour later -
“RUUUUUUN!” Izuku yelled while dragging Rumi away by the scruff of the neck.
“LET ME GO! I JUST WANNA MURDER HER!” Rumi roared in fury.
“I order you to stop! You shall become a personal Chef whether you like it or not! Show your worth and I will even concede to you the honour of having my hand in Marriage!” Winter ordered while bombarding him in ice attacks Whitey had no trouble shielding the Chef from.
“BWAHAHAHAHA! THIS IS HILARIOUS!” Qrow commented with a loud laugh while chasing them.
“Winter, please! Regain your dignity!” Right behind them Weiss was giving chase followed by Team RWBY and JNPR in a desperate attempt to keep the older Schnee heiress from murdering the competition for Izuku’s heart, and Rumi’s own fiery temper was not helping.
“Stop bothering my friend, Schnee!” Yang roared.
“Run, Mister Midoriya! I’ll stop her!” Pyrra echoed right after.
Especially since Izuku was recognized as the one that had saved Pyrra and SOMEHOW regrew Yang’s arm thanks to his food, now both girls were adamant in paying him back by stopping Winter by any means necessary.
“There you are! The fool that dared using MY GRIMMS as mere food! You will pay for this insult with your life!” It was then that a strange woman with unhealthy grey skin and a face covered in purple bulging veins appeared right in front of the group accompanied by dozens of angry GRIMMS.
“SALEM!” the others hissed in both anger and shock.
“Step aside, fools! I have a Chef to murder!” Salem barked.
“BRING IT, BITCH!” Rumi roared back in defiance.
Sigh! “Every time something happens...Why?” Izuku asked himself while crying.
“GET HIM!” Salem ordered.
“GET HER!” Winter countered.
“GET FUCKED!” Rumi answered to them both while she and Whitey joined the fray for a free-for-all three-way battle.
“Be strong, my Partner! One day you won’t be forced to face these annoyances! Have faith!” Shiro the Taotie in the meantime kept trying to comfort his sobbing partner while absent-mindedly swatting away any stray Grimm getting too close and killing them in one shot with just a playful pat of his fluffy white paw.
At the same time The System kept wondering how it was possible that no matter how extensive its researchwas before choosing a world, Izuku could still find himself in these kinds of situations.
Thank you for reading.
Chapter 18: Dimensional Travel Arc 2: Medieval Fantasy Bugaloo! Part 1.
Summary:
It is time for Izuku to once again go where nobody else can: ANOTHER DIMENSION!
And this time too accompanied by one of the girls pining after him...But first...A Small favour for a friend about stopping a young Hero from getting himself and others killed in the name of revenge.
Notes:
Part 1 of the second "Dimensional Travel Arc" of the story. This time centered about "Western Fantasy", and by western I don't mean cowboys, but of the "Tolkien Like" genre of fantasy: Dwarves, Elves, Dragons and so on, so forth.
As it was with the Wuxia Arc, this one too will poke fun to the cliche of the genre, playing him then straight.
The girl accompanying Izuku in this adventure has been chosen through votes of the readers themselves.
Thank you for reading.
I don't own the material used in this story: MHA, Gourmet of ANother Worls, Toriko and everything else belong to their respective owneres, please support the official release.
Chapter Text
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/Nejire
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
It is now the 21:26 of the 20 of July as I am writing this, and the votes have been cast:
Winning by a WIDE margin is: RUMI! Congratulations to our tomboy bunny girl!
Here are the totals!
Rumi: 52 votes.
Ochako: 31 votes.
(
Most of which only because you wanted Izuku to suffer, you meanies! XD
)
Momo: 1 7 votes.
Eri: 1 Vote.
(
Honestly, A sortie between Eri and Izuku sounds like a good idea for her to smile again, so KUDOS to the lone guy that suggested it!
)
This means that after Rumi, Ochako will be next in following Izuku in another Dimension, then Momo, curiously this is how I had planned it, so I am amazed I get to follow my schedule! Thanks!
If you read this: You need to thank several friends of mine that joined forces to Beta this mess of a story and gave me ideas to string together what is happening! XD
Like Old Man of the mountain/Darklord331, Dmale and The_Unknown24
Chapter 18: Dimensional Travel Arc 2: Medieval Fantasy Bugaloo!
Green Cloud Restaurant – Main Room -
It was a fairly normal day in the mysterious Green Cloud Restaurant of Yavin Street, business was thriving as usual, small time Villains and ‘Famous’ Vigilantes in incognito kept visiting the place together with Heroes and Hero Students from the various schools, Troublemakers kept being undressed and tossed out by Whitey and few people kept taking Selfie with either Shiro the Taotie or the dishes Izuku served them, everything was fairly normal, so to speak.
“Heeeey!” It was then that Rumi entered the place together with Ryukyu, the Pro Hero she was having an Internship with.
“Oh! Good morning! Back already?” Izuku asked while serving a very nervous Giran, with the informant folding on himself as soon as the Pro Hero and the student neared his table and moving his chair so that his back was to the duo.
“Never left, unfortunately.” Ryukyu answered with a sigh.
“What happened? If I can ask.”
“The so-called contraband we were supposed to intercept turned out to be fake,” The Dragon Hero answered.
“Fake?” Izuku asked.
“...It’s very embarrassing…” The Dragon Hero said with a contrite expression.
“Uh?”
“We...We were told that your Sponsor was smuggling drugs here hidden in their cargo and that you and your restaurant were the cover for it…”
“WO! WO! WO! What?” Izuku asked, appalled.
“Yeah, I told them there was no fucking way you would do it, but they had ‘proof’! And kept bitching about it until we had no choice but go check.” Rumi answered, scoffing and using air quotes when talking about proofs.
“I too knew that! But the Commission still wanted us to check just in case! I swear!” Ryukyu said immediately.
“I believe you. And what happened then?” Izuku asked with a groan while massaging his temples.
“Eh, that’s the strange thing...Every single Informant of Musutafu brought us counter-proofs about that being fake, a way to discredit you. Even the ship’s content was registered with forged documents, just to damage you...Utter insanity.” The Pro Hero answered, sighing.
Behind her Giran gained a very pleased smile while still eating.
“Figures...Who did it?” Izuku asked, taking a deep breath and looking at the sky as if asking for some extra patience to the Gods.
“We don’t know, those Informants purposely kept the name hidden, their letter openly, and boldly, stated that they will leave to YOU the honor of teaching them manners through a cooking competition.” Ryukyu answered with a groan.
“Yeah, they got very ballsy about it.” Rumi added with a scrunched nose.
Behind them Giran made sure Izuku saw him slip a tiny piece of paper under the glass he was drinking from, before flashing him a thumbs-up.
“I see, unfortunately I had no clue of all this. Do you want me to alert you should I find that name taped to my Restaurant door?” Izuku answered, pinching his nose.
“Yes, please. While taking Justice in your hands in such a harmless way is not illegal, whoever did this, did it multiple times as this was not the first ‘illegal shipment’ in your name we were called to investigate, and that is a crime. Not just defamation, but literally making Heroes and Police waste time and effort chasing ghosts.” Ryukyu said.
“That because the drugs and weapons that had been actually added to the cargo have been destroyed by The System every time.” The Entity added through its telepathic link to Izuku.
“I see...Sure, no problem, I can call you if they tell me anything.” The Chef answered, shrugging.
“Good. A question, though…”
“Yes?”
“Are you purposely serving Informants, Villains and/or Vigilantes?” the Pro Hero asked, and MANY behind her tensed-up, either ready to run or assault her.
“I serve customers, I don’t ask for IDs unless they pay with credit card, and I don’t usually ask my Guests what they do for a living to not bother them. I jokingly try guessing it just by looking, but just as a past time of mine...Like Miss Tsubasa at table 4, I believe she has a flower shop since her fingers are sometime yellowed by pollen. She often has small petals stuck on her shirt too. Even though she may just love tending to her flowers back home.” Izuku answered.
“Huhuhu! I do have a flower shop, you are correct!” A woman answered from one of the tables close to the door.
“Eh! Nice! What about Mister Hakari at table 6? I believe he probably sells fish since he knows a lot about it and always smells of sea...Not in a bad way, of course.” He then said.
“Nope! I am a fisherman, I own a small company that catches fish for Restaurants, but it was close enough!” The guy at the table at the opposite side from the flower shop owner answered with a cheeky smile.
“Close enough indeed. So, no, I don’t know if my other Guests are Vigilantes, Villains or whatnot, never saw a reason to ask, and since I am not part of the world of Heroics, unless their faces appear on newspapers, I don’t have a way to check either.” Izuku said with a shrug.
Sigh! “I know...I know...But it didn’t hurt to ask,” Ryukyu answered.
“What? You hoped to catch Re-Destro eating here?” Izuku asked, smirking, and knowing that Rikiya, eating at an isolated table in a corner of the room close to the kitchen, had probably choked briefly on his steak at hearing the Chef using him as an example.
Never let it be unsaid that Izuku could not be petty if he wanted.
“Not a Villain THAT important, but a small one...That would have been nice, yes.” The Pro admitted, sheepish.
“Check Please!” Several voices asked as one in barely-concealed fear.
“Coming!”
“We are getting in the way, Boss.” Rumi said, chuckling.
“Yes! Right! Of course...Uhmmm…”
“Yes, I have a free table for you two. Yes, I made those blackberry croissant you like, Ryu-san. And Yes, I will tell you if some informant contacts me.” Izuku said with a gentle smile, while pointing at a free table.
“Thank you,” She answered, unaware that at the table behind hers Knuckleduster had slightly hunched over to not be recognized.
“I have a surprise too, if you are interested, Rumi-chan,” Izuku said.
“Uh? What is it?”
“Carrot cake, if you want some for breakfast,” he said, smirking.
“HELL YEAH!” the girl answered.
“Good to know! I’ll bring you a slice” He answered, pleased, and taking the rest of their order.
“MAKE IT BIG!”
“Sure!”
It was a just a couple hours later, during a small moment of peace that he saw his Waitress Ochako enter the Restaurant with a very worried expression, with her being jittery and jumpy immediately catching his attention. The Pro Hero Gunhead was accompanying her and didn’t look at ease either.
“H-Hi!” she said with a very weak smile.
“Good morning. Sorry the intrusion, but she insisted she needed to talk to you before we went on a small trip for her Internship.” Gunhead said, sighing.
“Ocha! What’s wrong?!” He asked, subconsciously finally using the nickname she had been pushing him to use for weeks.
“I-Izuku? Can I ask you a favour?” She said, gnashing her lip in worry.
“Sure! Tell me what’s wrong!” he said.
“Se-Sensei...Can we…”
Sigh! “I will wait outside, okay. Boss Icchan, see to have her spill the beans, her being that worried is getting me nervous too, she doesn’t want to talk with me and it smells of trouble.” The Pro Hero answered, walking outside while shaking his head.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks!”
“...So? What’s wrong?” Once gently pulled her inside his kitchen, Izuku grabbed both her shoulders and showed her the must reassuring smile he could muster.
“I…I...”
“I am here, you can trust me.” he said with a slow, calm tone.
“You...You have to skip Dimension in a week, yes? With Rumi?” Ochako asked.
“Uh-hu! We will be gone for just about ten hours here, while there we will spend ten days hunting for a couple Ingredients, yes. What about it?” Izuku asked.
“…”
“Occhan?” he asked again, and actually making a titanic effort to use that cutesy nickname while talking with her.
“I...I need your help with something before you go,” She answered.
“Sure, what do you need?”
“I...I don’t know how to say this,” she whispered.
“Uh?”
“I know you are strong and that both Whitey and Blackie are VERY strong…” The girl said.
“Okay?”
“I need you to stop a friend of mine from getting himself killed,” She begged.
“WHA-”
“Sssh!” Ochako hissed while covering his mouth with both hands.
“Don’t scream!...You remember my classmate, Tenya Iida, yes?”
“The kitchen is sound-proof, don’t worry. Of course I know him, he is the younger brother of Tensei, the Pro Hero Ingenium. He is a classmate of yours, we met several times already.” Izuku answered.
“Exactly. He is also a dear friend of mine, and he has been acting strange lately. I really care about him, so I kept my eyes open and tried to guess what was happening behind the scenes, until one day I discovered that the reason why his brother has not been around is because that ‘Hero Killer’ newspapers are talking about attacked him...And now Tenya wants to hunt him down to avenge his brother.” Ochako said.
“He wants to hunt down a Serial Killer?!” Izuku screamed.
“Yes, he is obsessed about it, I found entire journals full of newspaper clips and other notes about the man, Tenya was apparently trying to track him down, and I fear he had somehow found-out where he is, he had tomorrow’s date and circled in red as if it was very important...” Ochako answered, her face was ashen as she looked close to tears.
“How?!”
“I don’t know! But he has suddenly changed Internship to go to Hosu and he had been insisting to go there as soon as possible. Maniacally so. And now he actually disappeared and nobody knows where he went!” she answered.
“He was probably tired of waiting so he left by himself. So Stain is probably in Hosu too and your friend thinks he can track him down and what? Arrest him?” Izuku said.
“I fear he wants him dead, his notes scared me, Izu. He is...He is obsessed.” Ochako admitted, shivering.
“Why you did not tell a professor?”
“Because at the time he caught me and pretty much threatened me into silence. I saw his eyes, Izu...He...He was like an animal. When I finally decided to act he was already gone,”
“So you want me to see if between Whitey and Blackie we can stop Tenya-san and knock some sense back into his skull?” The Chef asked.
“Please! I wouldn’t have asked you if I didn’t know you had the means and power to do so. If anybody can stop Tenya from getting himself killed, that’s you, System-san and the others...Please!” Ochako begged.
“Kyuuh.” In answer Shiro gently tapped the girl’s cheek with a paw, making her let out a tiny, wet chuckle.
“T-Thank you, Shiro-kun.” she answered, hiccuping.
“I’ll see what I can do, come.” Izuku answered, motioning her to follow him outside the Restaurant to talk with Blackie.
“You okay?” Gunhead asked.
“Almost, just a last thing,” Ochako answered, already regaining some colour on her face.
“Blackie?” Izuku asked.
“...Rrrmh?” The Dog grunted.
“I need your help with something.” Izuku said.
“What is it, kiddo?” he answered while opening a single, bleary eye to look at him.
“I need to go to Hosu…”
“Tomorrow.” Ochako said.
“Wha?” Gunhead uttered, confused.
“Tomorrow for a small favour, and I would like you to accompany me.”
“What for?” The Dof asked, uninterested.
“Nothing too extreme, just to scare away a psycho. Can you accompany me?” The Chef whispered in the Dog’s ear to not be heard.
“Does this Lord Dog look like a Baby-sitter to you, Kiddo? I have way more important things to do that hunt down weaklings.” Blackie answered.
“But...But…” Ochako muttered.
“...I’ll double the portions of your Spicy Beef Noodles. For a week.” Izuku said with narrowed eyes.
“Tch! Who do you think you are talking with? This Lord Dog has a dignity.” Blackie answered, scoffing in derision.
“Triple portion.”
“DEAL!” The Dog answered immediately while his eyes snapped wide open.
“…” Both teens and Pro Hero could only stare at the Lord Dog as his tail wagged happily at the offer.
Lord Dog Blackie, or how “Dignity” got sold for a giant bowl of noodles...
“Just tell this Lord when it’s time to go and we’ll depart immediately.” Blackie said with a way-too-happy tone.
“BULLSHIT! THIS ESTEEMED TAOTIE WOULD HAVE DONE IT FOR JUST TWICE THE PORTION OF HIS BELOVED Sweet-N-Sour Pork Ribs! YOU ARE JUST BOWING TO A WEAKLING’S GREED, PARTNER!” Shiro mentally shrieked in outrage.
“Should have thought about it sooner, lil’ plushie.” The Dog answered telepathically.
“GODDAMNIT!” The Taotie roared in near-madness, further brightening Blackie’s day.
“You can help too, Shiro-kun. If you want.” Izuku offered.
“KYUN!” And the small thing replied with narrowed eyes.
“Huhuhu! Thank you.” Ochako, already filled in relief at the news of both Blackie and Whitey being willing to help (And completely unaware of Shiro’s real identity and powers), answered to the adorable noise by kissing the top of the Taotie’s head.
“...And my kiss? This Lord is helping too.” Blackie said.
“Ehh.” Ochako answered with a grimace, and only awkwardly patting the Lord Dog’s head.
“Ah-ha! This Esteemed Taotie is indeed cuter than you! Damsels can’t resist kissing my godly visage once compared it to your ugly mug!” Shiro said in smug triumph.
“Tch! This means nothing...Goddamnit.” and just like that, Blackie’s day went soured, and curiously, at his muttering of those words Shigaraki felt a shiver of dread travel up his spine even if he had just been declared back to full health by All for One’s personal doctor.
“Okay, we’ll go to Hosu tomorrow to intercept your friend, but you have to alert your teachers as soon as possible. I will take the blame, but we can’t risk it.” Izuku said.
“Thank you!” she answered, hugging him as hard as she could.
“System?”
“The System will guess...Host wants to use The System’s teleportation array to arrive at Hosu before the Target?” The Entity asked.
“Please? You are SOOOO POWERFUL! This won’t be a problem for you!”
“Does the Host think empty words of praise will work?”
“Yes?”
“The System will offer its help in exchange of Host Izuku creating a new recipe using Dwarven Beer as an Ingredient during his incoming sortie.” The System answered.
“...If I create 2, can you promise me that you or Blackie will intervene whenever Momo, Nejire, Ochako or Rumi are in mortal peril?” Izuku asked.
“Add a bowl of that beer (Chilled) to my food, beside water, and we have a deal.” Blackie answered, adding himself to the telepathic talk.
“Me too! A bowl of that cold beer and I will help too!” Shiro hurriedly added as well.
“Very well, Host Izuku. The System and the Security Staff will add those girls to the Protection List, with the caveat that the girls will receive said protection if their lives are at risk ONLY, every other struggle will be theirs to face. We will intervene only in a Life-or-Death situations.” The System declared.
“Fair enough. Thank you.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“No problem, kiddo/Partner/Host.” The three answered.
“Uh?” Ochako asked, confused.
“Nothing, nothing. I just took care of a small issue of mine, nothing to worry about.” He answered with a chuckle.
“That’s good to hear,” she answered, smiling along with her friend and crush.
“What is happening?” Gunhead asked, even more confused.
“I can tell you everything now, sensei! Especially since I need your help!” Ochako answered, finally feeling some relief at knowing her classmate was probably no longer in danger.
This provided nothing else happened in Hosu at the same time Tenya went through his hunt for Stain!
The next night – Hosu – Bullet Train Station -
Gran Torino was feeling kind of torn at the moment…
One one side he was having the time of his life while fighting a duo of Nomu by himself to give his new pupil Mirio enough time to evacuate the train station while protecting the Civilians.
And on the other, the short old man kept wondering what were the chances of his small training trip to intersect with a full-scale Villain attack! To HOSU of all places!
“Prometheus Spear!” And as a further shock, watching Endeavor himself join the fight by launching a spear of fire he created with his Quirk to intercept the attack of the more muscular Nomu of the two out of f#@king nowhere.
“Endeavor?” he asked.
“I was hunting down Stain and found proof of his being here. Why are those things here as well?” The Flaming Hero asked with a tone of contempt after joining the other Pro.
“I would really love to know. I met these two gentlemen a minute ago when they assaulted my train while fighting over a poor Pro Hero they had beaten black-and-blue like two dogs with a bone. Left the barely-alive guy to the medics.” Gran Torino answered.
“Tch! Let me deal with these weaklings then. HELL FIRE!” Enji answered, covering both Nomu in a sea of fire only to see the shortest of the two absorb the flames and then release them ‘safely’ from its body.
“An Absorb and Release Quirk?” Torino said with narrowed eyes.
“Yes, but a weak one, both still took damage.” Endeavor answered.
“GUIIIIIH!” The muscular Nomu, a ‘2.0 Version’ of the one Blackie destroyed back in the USJ, Charged forward eager to punch Enji to death.
“COM’ERE!” The Pro Hero answered, unafraid, and meeting the behemoth head-on.
BOOM!
When the Nomu’s punch met Endeavor’s flaming one mid-air, the two fists clashed for just an instant before the Pro Hero blew the monster back and exploded its arm.
“GRRRRR!” The Nomu growled in defiance while its arm took only a minute to fully regrow.
“Tch! That’s a strong regeneration, but let’s see if it can regenerate incinerated cells!” Enji bellowed before charging the thing.
“HEAVE-OH!” Behind him, Gran Torino kept out-pacing the other Nomu and its prehensile tongue while pelting it in kicks empowered by his Quirk.
“KRIIIIII!”
“HEEEEELP!”
Then, a third Nomu, a flying one, appeared on the scene holding a poor woman upside-down by a leg trapped in the monster’s talons.
“DAMN IT!” Torino hissed in anger.
“Minnesota SMAAAASH!” Before he could even try to intervene, his pupil Mirio came flying out of a wall (luckily still dressed since wearing his costume) at high speed to punch the flying Nomu in the chest, sending both the creature and the woman pummel to the ground.
“Ugh!” Biting down the pain, and swallowing back some blood by the taste of it, Mirio managed to grab the woman in a bridal carry to bring her to safety on top of a building while the Nomu crash-landed on top of a car and flattening it under its weight.
“Sensei!” the young man yelled.
“Take the woman to safety! We’ll keep these things occupied!” Torino answered.
“It’s a 3v2! I can help!” Mirio answered.
“You can’t risk it! Not until your training is over!” the old man answered.
“I don’t need a child to defeat these!” Enji added, punching the Nomu he was fighting with a flaming fist that opened a hole in the things chest and sent it flying.
“GRAAAA!”
“I knew it, if I incinerate you, you don’t heal! Next target is the head!” Endeavor declare in triumph.
“KRYYYYY!” At the same time, unfortunately, the flying Nomu had recovered from the punch and was once again flying around the area.
“Take her to safety, Lemillion!” Torino ordered a last time.
“NO! I can’t turn my back to who needs my help! I can do both! Protect her and help you!” Mirio answered, voice full of despair.
“You still can’t control your new power! It’s too dangerous!” The old man answered, furious.
“I can do this!” The young man answered.
“I am not that weak! I can do this! Even if it breaks me!” Mirio thought while clenching his teeth to fight-off the pain from One for All flaring to life.
“You people and your ‘Drama’. So annoying.” A cultured voice was heard saying in boredom from all around the group.
“Who’s there?!” Enji demanded.
SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!
In answer the three Nomu went all ensnared by long shining black tendrils similar to silky hair, and no matter the titanic strength of the muscular Nomu or the borrowed fire of the Absorb Nomu, or even the super-sharp talons of the flying one, the three creatures were unable to break free or even move.
“Help arrived, finally.” Torino said, visibly relaxing...Then a thought came to him…
“Who the hell do we know with a Prehensile Hair Quirk?” he asked aloud.
“Not one of mine.” Enji admitted.
“Not a classmate of mine,” Mirio added.
“Then who did this?”
Snap!
No answer came except for the tendrils pulling the Nomus away with zero effort, every strand converging in a single point only Enji and Gran Torino could see as it was street level with them.
Chomp!
And said point was the TINY mouth of a fluffy white animal the size of a cat, and the two Pro Heroes watched in morbid fascination as the three giant monsters, each pretty much matching Endeavor himself in sizes, disappeared inside the bottomless Void from which the tendrils came that was Shiro’s mouth, with the Ancestral Taotie swallowing the three Monsters whole in a single bite with extreme ease.
Burp! “Kyuuuh!” The tiny thing that Enji could probably hold in his palm of a single hand gave a tiny, satisfied burp once he finished eating the three monstrosities.
Crack! It was faint and subtle, but Torino and Enji heard the cracking of their bones with how hard their jaws dropped at the absurdity of the thing.
“…” The small animal, secretly enjoying their stupor, added salt to the injury by looking at them with his head to the side as if he had done nothing worth mentioning before turning around and walking away with his fluffy tail playfully moving around and disappearing into the shadows to return to his Partner.
“What happened? I can’t see a thing from here! Where are those things?!” Mirio yelled from the rooftop he was on, finally snapping the two out of their surprise.
“Isn’t that thing one of the pets of that Chef?” Torino asked with a faint voice.
“…” Enji could not respond, he was too occupied wondering if there was ANYTHING normal about Izuku and his Restaurant, and the more he thought about it, the more creep-out he got about that place and its owner.
With Izuku – other side of Hosu -
The young Chef was running through the streets, having lost track of Tenya’s whereabouts thanks to yet another Nomu attacking him, and while the thing lasted VERY LITTLE against Blackie’s own paw, as the crater with just a tiny smudge of red he had left behind could testify, it still caused Izuku to lose sight of his target.
“Kyuuh!” To his relief Shirou soon rejoined him to wrap himself around Izuku’s neck, contrary to the Taotie though, the Lord Dog had still to return from whatever ‘Just a moment!’ side-tracking activity the Dog mentioned needed his attention.
“Turn left, Host Izuku.” To the Chef’s relief, The System took pity on him and started giving him directions to find Tenya.
He was also unaware that Shoto Todoroki was about to join the fight, the Hero Student had been sent an “SOS plus location” message from Tenya himself thanks to a moment of clarity the young man got from his imminent death.
With Tenya Iida – deserted Street -
“I am about to die...I could not avenge you, brother.” Tenya thought as the effects of Stain’s Quirk kicked-in and he fell on the floor paralyzed.
“GODDAMNIT!” Katsuki also roared in defiance as soon as the Killer kicked him next to Tenya once finished covering him in cuts from his knives and paralyzing him as well.
“And you two are supposed to be Heroes? Two children trowing tantrums and incapable of even comprehend what a real Hero is about? Pathetic! The world will be a better place without you.” Stain said with a disgusted tone, licking away the blood on one of his blades while stalking closer to the two students.
“FUCK OFF, PSYCHO!” Katsuki answered, snarling like a beast.
“You especially! Raving, spitting and cussing the world around you! What kind of Hero does that!? What kind of Hero inspires people by cursing them!? You are no Hero! You are a Bully! And bullies can only be put-down like rabid dogs.” Stain answered, showing Katsuki the long knife in his hand with a wide, deranged snarl.
“S-Shut up!”
“No, you will shut-up. Nobody will miss you, boy. If ever, lots of people will celebrate the death of a pathetic, vulgar, insufferable egomaniac like you.” The Killer answered, rising his blade over his head.
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Katsuki answered in defiance, and ignoring the stinging in his eyes at those words.
“You are no Hero! You are not even good as a Villain! You are good for nothing! So killing you is just an act of mercy.” Stain answered.
“STOOOOOOP!” Tenya yelled in horror, his wide eyes watching powerless as a classmate of his was about to die because of his own stupidity.
“Farewell, pretender.” Stain declared as his knife slashed down towards Katsuki’s neck.
“Okay, that’s enough for tonight. Whitey, protect those two!” a new voice said, sighing.
“Understood!” soon followed by a metallic voice as a very tall robot with a round head and chubby belly landed heavily in front of the two Hero students, forcing Stain to jump back to avoid being squashed.
“Who is it!?” Stain growled in anger.
“Just a Chef passing-by.” Izuku answered, walking into the scene.
“Chef Izuku?” the paralyzed Tenya said with a gasp at seeing the young man as well walk out from the shadows.
“You should thank Ochako if I am here, you dumbass! We’ll talk later about how stupid your idea was!” he answered.
“Another Hero?” Stein asked, sneering.
“Not a Hero, I have not a Quirk so I can’t be one. I am just a Chef.” Izuku answered with a shrug.
“So a Quirkless is standing in my way? Why for? You can see how ROTTEN Hero Society has become! They are just posturing Prima Donnas hunting for ‘Followers’ and ‘Thumbs-ups’! They are not worth protecting! They are weak links that must be removed to strengthen the chain!” the Hero Killer declared with wide, crazed eyes.
“Trust me, I can tell by myself that some Pros are doing this just for the Fame, because that happens in my line of work too! So-called Chefs that hate newcomers just because they are afraid of being surpassed and have their precious Spotlight stolen. I see them every damn day.” Izuku admitted with a sigh while grabbing one of Stein’s discarded knives to study it.
“So you see why what I am doing is necessary! This is a cleansing! This is-”
“Unbalanced.”
“Uh?”
“The blade of this knife. It’s unbalanced of three grams on the front. You modified its grip, isn’t it?” Izuku asked while looking at the edge of the long machete with narrowed eyes.
“Eh! Had to make some jury-rigging on the fly after a Pro Hero managed to break its handle when they arrested me the first time, since then I never managed to find proper substitute parts.” Stein answered.
“...How many people died because of this knife?” Izuku asked.
“Six Pretenders. You can say it is one of my favourite when it comes to removing the filth polluting Hero society.” Stein answered, cackling.
“And now you want to kill these two too?” Izuku asked while moving in front of the downed Katsuki and Tenya.
“They won’t be missed, I assure you. Let me do my job and you’ll see that you will have plenty of proper Heroes to root for!” the Hero Killer declared while preparing a new duo of knives.
“And here is where our ideals clash…” Izuku answered, sighing.
“Uh?”
“You call them Pretenders...But I call them Customers. And as a Chef I can’t let the first passing-by threaten, or worse, kill my customers.” Izuku said with his grip on the machete tightening.
“So you want to play Hero?!”
“No. As I said, I am a Chef, nothing more.”
“I have nothing against you, kid. But if you want to play Hero...THEN DIE AS ONE!” Stein roared as he dashed towards him.
“I remind you once again that I am a Chef. I know how to use a knife, even a sub-par piece of steel like this one…” the young man answered while taking a ready stance.
“Uh?” the two Students behind him muttered, confused.
“DIE!” Stein bellowed once upon Izuku with both knives raised to strike him down.
“...Tsubame Gaeshi!” (Swallow Reversal) the young Chef’s voice echoed in the empty street as his borrowed knife moved.
Stein and both Katsuki and Tenya then saw something impossible happen: a single blade moving so fast it split into three to attack the Hero Killer from three different directions at the same time, and since the attacker was a Quirkless, that meant they were witnessing only pure skills and speed transcending the very Laws of Physics to enact Judgment.
SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!
“Guh!…” as soon as the attack landed, the Hero Killer stumbled back with three deep cuts on his chest and two broken blades in his hands, Izuku’s knife too had been snapped under the weight of the attack.
“Damnit, the blade was too much worn-out and could not take the strain!” the young Chef hissed while throwing away the bent stump of iron that used to be the machete.
“What the fuck was that?!” Katsuki asked.
“A silly homage to Kojiro Sasaki I came-up with years ago. Can you two move?” he answered.
“I-I think my legs are moving again, sort of.” Tenya answered as he slowly started moving again and shaking heavily.
“Damn you! Why you got in the way!?”
“Because of my ideals, of course.” Izuku answered.
“Uh?”
“You say they are bad Heroes just like the ones you killed? Well, they also happen to be GOOD Customers of my Restaurant, and this means it is my duty to protect them!”
“At the cost of your life?” Stein asked with narrowed eyes.
“Eh! Why not? It’s the duty of a good Chef to make sure Customers feel safe and satisfied, and I can’t feed them if they are dead!”
“...BWAHAHAHAHAHA!” the sudden burst of laugh almost scared the three young men out of their skin.
“Goddamnit! Since when Chefs have started being better Heroes than the so-called Pros?” Stein asked aloud, somehow finding the situation hilarious.
“THERE! IT’S THE HERO KILLER!” an angry voice nearby was heard.
“YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!” soon followed by another.
“Eh! Other Fakers trying to steal the show. Hey, Kiddo.”
“Yes?”
“Are you really just a Quirkless Chef?”
“Yes. And I am damn proud to be one!”
“Good. Next time we meet, I want to test two things of you: your Dishes and, more importantly, your Beliefs. Do not let those Pretenders sway you with their stupid idiocies of Fame and Idol bullshit. Otherwise I will kill you too. Farewell!” the Hero Killer declared before running away, soon disappearing between the shadows of the dark streets.
“WAIT!” Izuku yelled to no avail, the Villain was already gone.
“Stop where you are!” the two Pro Heroes that had yelled before ran past the three, soon followed, for the Students’ surprise, by Midnight herself and Shoto that instead stopped by them.
“Ah! You two! Are you okay?!” Nemuri asked with wide eyes.
“We-We are okay, Professor!” Tenya answered.
“Sorry I took so long, she wanted to know why I was running in the direction of a Serial Killer.” Shoto said.
“Yeah, it was close, but luckily we had some reinforcements. You okay, Izuku?” Katsuki asked.
“…”
“Hoy?” he asked again.
“...Thank God he is gone!” the young Chef yelled in relief while falling on his knees.
“You are scared?!” both Hero Students and teacher behind him yelled as one.
“Of course I am! He was a ‘Professional’ Hero Killer! How could I not be scared?!” Izuku answered, looking ready to cry.
“Considering you torn him a new one, I don’t fucking believe you!” Katsuki replied.
“While a bit crass...That is not exactly a wrong way to put it.” Tenya added.
“So you scared him away?” Nemuri asked, looking at him unsure.
“I just bought some time until you others arrived,” he answered while still breathing heavily in worry.
“You almost cut him to pieces, that did more than just buy time,” Tenya answered.
“You joking?! With that crappy knife I could only chain three blades for my Tsubame Gaeshi! The thing snapped in half mid-way through the third slash and I had to cut it short! I couldn’t even cut through Stein’s knives fully!” the other answered.
“Chain what?” Midnight asked, confused.
“...H-How many slash can you chain at your best?” Tenya asked, sounding tense instead.
“Uh?...One hundred or so? Depends if I am cutting an Ingredient big or small, I created that technique to chop Ingredients after all, not people. If you watched the Livestreams when I challenged others Chefs, you already saw me do it.” the young Chef answered, unsure.
“BULLSHIT!” Katsuki shrieked with bulged-out eyes.
“Language!” Nemuri hissed.
“Were you trying to kill him?” Tenya asked, voice faint.
“NO! I just wanted to buy time for help to arrive! I used such a bad knife just for this reason, and I angled the slashes so to only wound him! But because of the poor state of that knife though I could not hit fast or strong enough to do it properly, so he managed to partially use his own knives to defend himself.” Izuku answered.
“Good to know.” Tenya answered, sighing in relief.
“Sorry to butt-in, but I need the full story, I don’t understand what happened,” Nemuri begged with a groan.
“I was just passing-by and saw them in danger, so I asked Whitey to help them, in the meantime Stain-san had gone through some spiel about Cleansing Society and attacked me, I just defended myself.” Izuku answered sighing.
“Does it match what happened?” Midnight asked.
“Well, yeah...It is what happened, somehow.” Katsuki answered.
“I-”
“You will keep your mouth shut, Iida-san. We will have a LONG talk back in UA about overstepping and even going on Revenge Quests.” Nemuri cut him off abruptly.
“Quest of...I...Did Uraraka…”
“Nope! That was me.” Izuku answered, walking towards the Hero Student.
“Y-You? You got in the way of Just-”
BOOOOM!
The Shock-wave of the punch alone kicked up a strong wind, but Nemuri and Katsuki only got that to worry about, Tenya instead got the full blunt of the Chef’s punch landing on his face with inhuman strength, strong enough he was sent flying and tumble on the floor several times.
“…!” Breath had been completely knocked out of him, and once finished rolling on the floor, the starry sky was all Tenya could see in front of him from his lying on the ground, even if his eyes were already swelling-up...Then Izuku’s disappointed frown filled his entire field of vision.
“...Listen well, Avenger.” The Chef said, bending down to look Tenya in the eyes, even if with how mangled his entire face was, telling where the eyes were had already become difficult.
“You were about to die. You were about to throw your life away had a damn Chef not decided to stick his nose where he was not supposed to. Even Shoto-san would have arrived too late to save you, and you would have gotten yourself killed AND gotten a classmate killed as well, all just to appease your sense of Justice.
You were about to fail and die and would have left your brother behind wondering why it happened, and let me tell you this: he would have felt guilty himself about your death, your classmates would have felt bad about your death and your parents would have been devastated at burying you…Would have it been worthy then, you selfish ‘Hero’?” Izuku asked with a disappointed voice.
“…” Tenya had at least the decency to stay quiet after that.
“You-”
“Yes, yes. I punched a Hero and all that, I’ll follow you to UA so we’ll decide the punishment. As long as these two are alive, it was worth it.” Izuku answered, rolling his eyes.
“I just have some more questions, nothing else.” Nemuri answered, sighing in dismay at the entire mess of a night that had befall on Hosu that day.
Sigh! “At least I did maintain my promise to Ochako...Now it’s up to them to save Tenya-san from his own stupidity, I wanted nothing to do with this…” The Chef muttered with a sigh of dismay while following the Heroes.
Luckily, besides the tens of people wounded and the damages to property made by those Nomu, there were no deaths, so Izuku only had to answer to A LOT of questions about the attack and his part in it, especially about Shiro’s own intervention that Gran Torino and Endeavor still insisted being way too intense.
It was when Izuku and Whitey finally walked out of UA escorted by Present Mic that from a pitch-black tear in reality Blackie made his reappearance.
“KYAH!” And Mic will deny, if asked, that he shrieked in surprise at the Lord Dog’s sudden appearance.
“Where were you!?” Izuku asked, exasperated.
“Relax, kiddo! This Lord Dog smelled bullshit while we were traveling and took care of it, just a couple playful caresses of my exquisite Paw and all was back to normal.” Blackie answered in smug pride.
“What kind of bullshit?” Izuku asked while he and his pets and Robot walked away, leaving behind a heavily-huffing Hizashi still leaning against the tall walls of UA to recover from his quasi-stroke.
“Ooh! Nothing worth your worry, just a Toy believing they were Dragon able to swallow the Heavens, this Lord Dog merely reminded them the Pecking Order and their position in it.” The Dog answered, chuckling.
“...Nothing illegal, I hope.” Izuku asked.
“Oh, please, kiddo! This Dog is a Lord! Not a ruffian!” Blackie answered while rolling his eyes at the accusation.
“I’ll trust your judgment.”
“As you always should, Kiddo!” the other answered with a literal barking laugh.
Mini-flashback – While Izuku and the others were in Hosu – Blackie’s Location -
Momo heard of the commotion happening in Hosu thanks to a special edition of the news interrupting every show for an emergency broadcast, briefly catching her attention mid-training with the Pro Hero she was having her Internship with.
“My God, I hope everything is alright!” She muttered in worry.
Unseen behind her, blending with the shadows of a nearby alleyway, a thin young adult with chaffed skin and his face hidden by the hood of his hoodie snarled at her in hatred.
“There she is...The woman of that fucker…” The recently-healed Shigaraki hissed in animal anger while glaring at her with the one eye he still possessed after his various encounters with Blackie.
He was now drooling almost non-stop, something All for One’s doctor said was a combination of the damage the boy’s body took and his less-than-stellar mental health, and speaking of which, both Doctor and Kurogiri had noticed how Shigaraki’s sanity had took a steep dive after the various defeats and beating he received from a dog, with both Nomu and old man voicing to AfO their worries at the Quasi Leader of the League of Villains becoming every day more deranged, and not in a “Good Villain” way.
“Huhuhuhu! First I will have the Nomu tear her apart, then I will disintegrate the body parts leaving behind the head and then I will deliver the head to the Chef and spit on it! Once seen him cry enough I will disintegrate him and that fleabag and piss on the ashes! Huhuhu!” Breaking down in mad giggles, Shigaraki motioned to the humanoid Nomu walking on all four behind him to move closer.
“Guuuuh!” The demented thing drooled from the over-sized maw filled in razor-sharp teeth it possessed, clearly hungry.
“Yeees! Go eat the bitch, Nomu! Play around and break her down to chunks! Have fun!” Shigaraki ordered with a wide, unblinking eye.
“Once again you fail to learn your lesson, Toy?” Blackie said, appearing behind the two.
“YOU! NOMU! KILL THAT FUCKING FLEABAG!” Shigaraki screamed with a shriek, so mad he stopped caring about who could hear him.
“GUAOOOOH!” And as the obedient mutant it was, the Nomu pounced.
“Huhuhu! My dear Toy, I thought it was clear what was your role in life. TO BOUNCE FOR YOUR LORD DOG!” Blackie answered while delicately rising his exquisite paw.
SPLAT! BOOOM!
And as soon as he playfully swatted down, the Nomu’s entire body was reduced into a fine red mist of disintegrated flesh, while Shigaraki bounced again, landing inside a dumpster.
“Tch! Such a bold Toy. I am really getting bored of him already…” Blackie answered, walking out of the alley to meet Momo.
“Blackie?! Was that you?” She asked.
“Indeed. A little pest was about to attack you, and since this Lord Dog was bored, I decided to play with it a little, too bad it was even less durable than the one I played with the first time we met.” He answered.
“...Yeah...Less durable than that…” Momo answered with a strained smile as flashes of the USJ Incident momentarily resurfaced in her memory.
“Really, this Dog as a Security System is way too Overkilling it.” The young woman thought with a sigh.
“Well, inconsequential issues aside, this Lord is feeling bored, will you mind if I stick around until you are done, maybe a walk will finally break my monotony.” Blackie said, yawning.
“Ookay, but no fighting, please. There is no need to paw everything to death,” She answered.
“Fair enough, I’ll just be a silent spectator, lead the way, girl.” Blackie answered with a very condescending tone, already sounding bored, but still following Momo around.
“Eeeh! The things I do for those noodles…” The Lord Dog thought in self-commiseration.
Meanwhile behind him, Kurogiri finally located Shigaraki and watched in dismay as the ‘Leader’ of the League of Villains once again needed intense healing sessions and full-body casts...The Human Nomu only hoped there won’t be need of ‘Diaper Services’ this time as well.
Present Time -
“I see, well, thank you for protecting Momo-chan.” The Chef answered with a more mollified tone.
“Huhuhu! This Lord made a promise, so he’s going to keep it, you just remember your side of the bargain, kiddo.” The Dog answered.
“Sure.”
“The System thinks all this acting Host Izuku is going through to hide is abilities is unnecessary. You even acted scared when you weren’t, Host.” The System admitted.
“They are already asking too many questions as it is, if I show even more they will never stop bothering me! This is already too much of a hassle, and that without me showing all my cards...I just want to manage my Restaurant, damn it!” Izuku answered with a tired groan.
A Week Later – Restaurant -
Izuku and Rumi were standing in the middle of the closed Restaurant while waiting for the countdown for the Dimensional Travel to reach the zero. From the side there were Momo, Ochako and Nejire along with Inko, Hisashi and Momo’s parents.
Whitey stood silently behind both while Shiro was peacefully asleep around Izuku’s neck, and Eri was a bit sad at seeing her favourite little friend leaving too, but Inko and Rei promised that he would return soon, and she trusted her savior to not leave her alone.
“Really, her? Why not me?!” Momo asked again.
“The choice was based on personality and skills, for this current Mission, Rumi Usagiyama’s Attitude Test has a total score of 97%, so the most logical choice was selecting her as a proper Guest Traveler.” The System answered.
“Next time?” Izuku offered.
“Fine, just be careful, and do not let her seduce you,” She answered, stealing a kiss from his lips that turned her frown into a small smile.
“I can hear you,” Rumi answered, frowning.
“Jump down a cliff then.” Momo countered, still smiling and without looking at her.
“Girls, be nice.” Inko asked, sighing.
“I can’t believe you are really asking to be sent to another world, Mo-chan…” Rei admitted in dismay.
“Being at his side is my right, I am not going to renounce to that!” she answered.
“You have nothing to say, Hisashi? Izuku is going to jump Dimensions AGAIN.” Saito asked.
“Dimensional travel! The ability to pierce through Reality and see the Multiverse! So much to see and to learn! IwonderifeachdimensionhasitsownrulesofPhysicsandCauseandEffectand mutter mutter mutter mutter mutter mutter mutter mutter!” Hisashi was in his own world while writing hundreds of pages of notes every few seconds, reminding Inko where that particular habit of Izuku came from.
“He’ll be back soon, Saito. Give him a moment.” Inko answered, sighing.
“Everything will be okay! Whitey can protect Rumi, or whoever comes with me no problem, and should the worse happen, she will be sent back immediately,” Izuku said.
“And you?” Rumi said with narrowed eyes.
“I am staying there until time runs out or I am done with my Mission.” He answered.
“Me too!” She said.
“Sorry, this time it’s not up to you,” The Chef said with a sigh and an apologetic smile.
“Tch!” The girl spat in contempt.
“What is your Mission this time?” Ochako asked.
“Collect at the very least two barrels of Dwarven Dark Beer, and create two new dishes with it, enough grapes from an Elven Wine-yard to in future recreate their ‘Liquid Gold Wine’, and capture the eggs of two Ingredients: The Sea King and the Sky King. Should I manage to kill and collect their meat too, I will also gain access to an Ingredient from the world I lived in as Zaus: Shining Gourami.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“Should you complete this Mission in Success and unlock the Special Reward, Host Izuku, you will also gain the last Fragment of the God of Cooking you need to unlock the next utensil of the God of Cooking Kitchen Set.” The System added.
“Oh, yes, there is also that...No pressure…” The Chef said with a very forced chuckle.
“Considering the first was a super knife, I can’t wait to see the next!” Nejire answered, sounding extremely hyped.
“Me too. The System refuses to tell me what is it.” Izuku admitted.
“Let it be a surprise, Host. But this is also the right moment to give you the finished Utensil the System created with the Treasures Host Izuku collected in his previous Dimensional Travel.” The Entity said as a small wooden mallet with the head covered in animal carvings appeared in Izuku’s hand.
“...A meat mallet?” He asked.
“A Meat Mallet able to change shape and sizes following its Master’s will. As a mallet, both sides of the head can become extremely Hot or cold, other than tenderizing or breaking everything struck by it. As an extra, the mallet can change shape: carving knife, meat cleaver, filleting knife and many more. The System suggest calling it Myriad Manifestation Mallet, but The Host can suggest another name.”
“...No, No, I think the name fits. Thank you!” The Chef answered, and just like the Dragon Bone knife, the mallet disappeared inside a new tattoo, a new rope appearing on his right wrist, drawn right next to the one housing the knife.
“Very well, should the Host Ascend to the role of God of Cooking, the mallet will be officially recognized as part of your own personal Set.” The Entity said.
“I will remember that, yes.”
“Good. Everything is ready, commencing inscription of the Teleportation Array, please remain inside the circle.” The System said as a circle of runes made of pure light started appearing and revolving around Izuku and Rumi.
“Daaamn...This looks awesome…” Rumi admitted with a low whistle.
Hisashi was now officially in overdrive as his note-taking speed quadrupled, all for Inko’s dismay.
“Be careful! Don’t go looking for trouble, Icchan!” Both Inko and Rei begged a last time.
“I will! Promise!” he said.
“Rumi…” Momo said with narrowed eyes.
“Yes?” The other answered.
“Be careful...And be back soon, both of you.” She asked, her expression softening.
“Don’t worry, I’ll bring him back alive and without a scratch.” Rumi answered with a thumbs up.
“Thank you.”
“Boss?” Ochako said.
“Yes?” Izuku answered.
“Come back alive...Please…” She begged.
“I will.” He answered.
“You better,” Nejire added, this time not with her usual smile, and that really did break Izuku’s heart a little.
“Array completed. Commencing teleportation!” The System declared.
“Don’t leave me!” Eri asked.
“Never! Just a couple hours and I will return, With a souvenir! Promise!...” Izuku answered, right before and explosion of light engulfed him and the others and he was gone.
“...I don’t want a souvenir…” Eri muttered, sad.
“Just until tonight, ten hours and he will be back.” Inko answered, smiling gently.
“But one hour is long...And ten is lots of hours…” The kid muttered.
“They will pass in a flash, promise.” Rei answered, patting her head.
“Come here, Nejire-chan will teach you a secret technique that makes time move faster!” Nejire said, scooping the kid in her arms so that both could float around.
“Really?!” Eri asked in wonder.
“Uh-hu! Works every time!” she answered with a wide smile.
“Wooow!”
“...Momo?” Ochako whispered once seen Nejire being distracted by helping Eri.
“Yes?” She answered.
“We need to talk...Come with me for a second…” She whispered, pulling the other girl slightly away.
“...I am listening.”
Meanwhile – Other Dimension – Underground Tunnels of a mine deep under a mighty mountain -
Right in the heart of an extremely tall, majestic mountain, deep underground, in the very belly of mother Earth and inside tunnels dug through the pure naked rock under the very pillars of the sky above, Dwarves worked.
Hundreds of them, short and stout men with muscles as hard as iron tempered by hundreds of years of mining work, generations after generations of proud warriors and even prouder miners able to take a mere mountain, hollow it out, and give birth to everlasting cities underground.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
This specific mountain though had just the bare bones of a City has the great majority of its space had been fully devoted to harvest the seemingly-unlimited riches of ores and gems they kept digging out in absurd quantities day after day, and this happening for entire centuries.
Today was a particularly good day for the Dwarves there since the newest tunnels they had made had apparently found the biggest veins of ores to date, a surprise worth their greatest celebrations, and bringing them enough joy they actually sang while digging, instead of just grunting and focusing fully on their excavation, and their deep gruff voices all joined in an intense, loud chorus of their most ancient and sacred song...
I am a Dwarf and I am digging a hole!
Diggy-Diggy Hole!
Diggy-Diggy Hole!
CRACK!
Still hitting the rock tirelessly, and on time with their glorious song, one of the short but very burly workers gave a new swing of pickax to the wall in front of him, and an entire section of it crumbled to dust all at once.
I am a Dwarf and I am digging a hole!
Diggy-Diggy Hole!
Diggy-Diggy Ho-
“Hello!”
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
Izuku’s sudden appearance in front of the guy though interrupted the song in the entire mine thanks to the dwarf’s LOUD shriek of surprise that echoed everywhere for several seconds.
“…”
“…”
“Wow, Arlon. What a majestic girlish scream! Have you dropped yer balls, perhaps?” The dwarf right next to him asked with a snort.
“SHUT UP! The lad surprised me, that’s all! He just emerged from the bloody wall!”
“Sorry about that, I don’t know why me and Rumi appeared here of all places,” Izuku answered, sheepish.
“Ugh! Smells like a pigsty here,” Rumi added once both walked out of the small hole in the wall they both were in to see the main body of the mine.
Sniiiiff! “Not me!” one of the Dwarves answered once given a long sniff to his armpit.
“I took a bath last week, so it’s not me either.” another answered from the sidelines.
“Who are you, fellas? It’s not everyday we extract a human and a Viera from the rock. We are more of a gold and gemstones mine, ye see.” The apparent Leader of the squad asked, walking up to them and leaning on his own pickax in a carefree manner.
“Viera?” Rumi asked.
“Bunny ears, skin the color of bronze and an arse ya can bounce a gold coin on, yer kind are easy to spot. Even if you are on the short side, yer still nice.” he answered while fixing his hair and flashing a wide smile.
“Already taken, shorty.” Rumi growled in answer.
“By the kiddo?”
“The kiddo can shove a hand up your ass and pull you inside out,” she countered with her eyes narrowing dangerously.
“Ooooh!” the other Dwarves around them echoed as one.
“Shut yer trap!” their boss shrieked with a red face.
“Returning to the matter at hand, where are we exactly?” Izuku asked with a groan.
“You are lost? Bwahahaha! You are in one of the biggest mines of the Dwarf Kingdom! The Mines of Meria!” the short guy said in pride.
“Of the Land of...Central Soil?” Izuku asked once re-checked the ridiculous name of the place he had written down in his notes.
“If you translate the lands’ name from the ancient tongue it does sound silly, that’s why nobody ever does it. But yes, that’s where we are.” The Dwarf answered.
“Still something,” The Chef admitted with a sigh.
“Yep, is there a way out of here?” Rumi asked, already tired of the hot stuffy air in the mines.
“Of course it is! A kiss from the pretty lassie and I’ll tell ya!” The Dwarf chief answered while wiggling his eyebrows.
“Over my dead body, you pint-sized moron!” Rumi answered.
“YOU!...Wait, Where is Whitey?” Izuku asked aloud once noticed they missed a member of their group.
BOOOOM!
“KYAAAAAH!” Another dwarf shrieked as a big metallic hand punched its way out of the rock to grab the Dwarf chief’s head to lift him off the ground effortlessly.
“Troublemaker, stop molesting the Host and his Guest or you will be stripped as an Example to others!” Whitey declared while walking out of the rock without any effort.
“YE GOT A BLOODY AUTOMATON?! I JEST ASKED FER A KISS, WHAT’S THIS TALKIN’ ABOUT STRIPPIN’ FELLAS NOW?!” the Dwarf Chief yelled in surprise, and pain, as Whitey’s big hand clenched his head just a bit tighter while keeping his entire body up so they could get eye-to-eye.
“Whitey! This midget piece of shit is trying seducing me, strip him!” Rumi ordered.
“Rumi, please…” Izuku said with a groan.
“NO! This thing need to be stopped! I am TIRED of being lusted-on by losers! Yes I am a fucking sexy woman, but people should show some decency, not already starting to wank as soon as they see me! I deserve some respect too!”
Sigh! “We are off on a bad start.” Izuku muttered, already massaging his temples to fight off a headache, and he had been in a new world only for two minutes.
“Just this time, please? I will be good and proper then!” Rumi promised.
“...Fine.”
“Understood.” Whitey answered.
“WHAT ARE YE DOIN?! STOP!”
STRIIIIIP!
“NOOOOOO!”
“Bwahahahahaha! Oh! What a cute lil’ pickax, Boss! Very adorable!”
“BOOOO-HOOOOOO!”
“The exit?...Please?” Izuku begged while Whitey tossed the naked, and humiliated, Dwarf Chief aside.
“I…”
Both Whitey and Rumi cracked their knuckles.
Sigh! “This way, just to not stop work further, we are awfully behind schedule as it is.” Another Dwarf answered with a sigh, and signaling them to follow him towards an elevator close-by.
“Thank you.” Chef and Hero said as one and as soon as the crude, primitive elevator took them away towards the surface, the other Dwarves let out a sigh of relief.
“Okay, the psychos have left, where were we?” One of the others asked.
“We were diggin’, what else? Come on!” another answered, smirking.
“YEAAAAAH!” everybody, sans the still crying Chief, yelled as one in answer.
I am a Dwarf and I am digging a hole!
Diggy-Diggy Hole!
Diggy-Diggy Hole!
Just a week later, contrary to what that very song implied, those Dwarves discovered that they COULD actually dig too deep, as the monstrosity of fire and darkness they awoke from its slumber deep under the mountain their were happily mining could testify. But that is a tale for another time.
Meanwhile – Surface – With Izuku and Rumi -
“Soo, no beer?” Izuku asked.
“Eeh! I wish! Delivery is hella late! Somethin’ happened in the Capital where we ahev must of the production goin’,” The Dwarf answered, sighing in sadness.
“Why you decentralized like that?” Rumi asked.
“We may be minin’ gems, but fiscally has been a disaster lately for us Dwarves, besides unions sayin’ that ‘Brewing Dwarves’ can’t make booze inside a cave! “Breathable air and decent working conditions” and all that junk.” He answered.
“We’ll try asking for some beer in the Capital then. Thank you for the help and sorry for the scare and...Well...The Stripping.” Izuku answered.
“Naah! It’s okay, at least we have somethin’ new to put on the murals besides us digging, and it makes for a nice story to tell when drunk. Capital’s that way, ye can either go by yerself or by horsie. Jest be careful to not get scammed by those ‘Used Horses Salesmen’, those bloody leeches are damn near everywhere nowadays.” The Dawrf answered.
“We will be careful, thank you.” Rumi answered, nodding.
“That’s good! Have fun out there! And if you meet a Dwarf with red frilly beard and a scar on the left eye down at the Brewery, tell him Arsin is still waiting for the money he owes! Or I will give him ANOTHER black eye!” The guy said before disappearing back inside the mine and down the elevator.
“Sure!” Izuku answered with a forced smile.
“…”
“Okay, shaky start notwithstanding-” Rumi tried saying.
“Caused by you,” Izuku interrupted her with a cheeky smile.
“I was defending my honor, and you yourself looked about to give him a piece of your mind,” she answered.
“Touche.” The Chef admitted, snorting.
“As I was saying, shaky start or not, I am ready to kick ass and take names! Together with my Favourite Chef!” Rumi declared.
“Huhuhu! Same here, ready to kick ass and take names with the world greatest Bunny Hero.” Izuku answered, chuckling amused.
“Hell yeah! Let’s go!” She answered, grabbing his hand and running forward towards the Capital.
“This is my last chance...I either make my feelings come across or...Or I don’t want to think about it…” Rumi thought in apprehension.
“So...New Mission in another World…I just hope it won’t be a pain like the previous one, I don’t need a repeat of all those headaches. I just want a peaceful Life, is it asking for too much?” Izuku too was thinking, and he too was feeling anxious, in his case though he was just hoping he won’t be calling trouble to him even in another Dimension.
Meanwhile – Capital of the human kingdom -
A Young teen that had fallen down some stairs suddenly got back up to his feet with boundless energy.
“YES! Isekai, Bitch! It’s finally happening! And contrary to those Beta Males I will FUCK my Harem! I can’t wait! Unlimited Mana and OP Magic, I am a Protagonist, baby!” The young man said with a deranged smile.
“YEEEES! I will have a Big Titty Shy Elf Slave, a Flat-chested Tsundere Mage with an amazing ass, a ‘Horny 24/7’ beastman girl and a Kuudere priest girl and many more! And contrary to those Losers cucks in Isekai Manga, at the first chance they try enticing me the zip flies down and the dick springs up! I can’t wait! HIHIHIHIHIHI! The Loser is now the Winner! BWAHAHAHAHAHA! I WILL HAVE SO MUCH SEX! HAHAHAHAHAHA!” The disturbed boy declared with an insane giggle while running out to enjoy his new life as a Duke’s son, especially with all the Maids he had already decided to molest and sleep with.
“From now on I will be known as John Hunter Drake Armageddon Hellblaze! The real Harem King! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
At the Opposite side of the Capital -
A Young teen girl was asleep in her bed, sleeping peacefully until her eyes snapped open and a cackle escaped her.
“HIHIHIHI! I can’t believe it! It worked! I am inside ‘Kingdoms of Romance IV’! As the Main Protagonist! That ritual worked! ‘Stupid Internet scam’ my ass! I am IN! BWAHAHAHAHA!” The girl said with a psychotic laugh and a maniacal grin.
“First I will fuck the Elf King’s son, then the Human King’s two sons and then the dashing, 40-years old Guild master of the Thieves Guild! I will finally have my Husbando Harem in real life! BWAHAHAHAHAHA! No more Fanfictions for me! Only the real deal!” The girl said, laughing hysterically as she danced around her room.
“The Fat Goth Loser will finally have all the dicks! I will have so much dick to play around I won’t even know what to do with all of it! Orgies! Orgies every night! BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Screw that Air-headed Bimbo that used to be this girl, I will know how to keep all of those hunks to myself as their one and only Mistress! YAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
“I will take the very name of my SI, as a mark of my dreams becoming reality! I am Blake Elizabeth Meloarna Dementia Raven Way! THE QUEEN OF DICKS! YAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
In a very generic Tower made of large squared rocks -
“AAAH! The Prophecy! The Prophecy of the Chosen Hero!” An extremely Old woman shrieked in trance while reciting mysterious words in an echoing voice thanks to the ‘Magic Frogs’ she had just licked following a sacred ritual.
“Write that down! Write that down!” The King of the Men said to his servant.
“When the lightning bolt of empathy will cross the sky right above the kingdom of Men there will be an invocation of mana the likes of which the world has never seen.
Men will be called to explore the stratosphere itself as an interface between grace and joy at the defeat of the Supreme Evil.
We can no longer afford to live with delusion. Without spacetime, one cannot grow. Only the Chosen One blessed by the quantum pea soup will generate this lightning bolt of gratitude and defeat the Demon Lord.
The Hero will align us with transformative life-force and soon there will be a flowering of balance purifying the quantum matrix!”
“Such power! Such Wisdom!” Both King and Servant said as one once heard that absolute nonsense coming out from the woman mid-seizures.
Same time – Generic Cave inside the Land of the Elves -
“AAAH! The Prophecy! The Prophecy of the Chosen Heroine!” An extremely Old male elf shrieked in trance while reciting mysterious words in an echoing voice after consuming a lot of ‘Magic Mushrooms’ he smoked together with other special herbs...
“Oh, dear! Write that down! Write that down!” The King of the Elves said while tossing behind him a fringe of his long, silky hair.
“At once, my liege,” The King’s man-slave answered.
“When the Sacred Totality will approach the tipping point a girl will be Chosen! We must learn how to lead her ethereal life in the face of yearning and Imagine an unfolding of what could be!
The Chosen Heroine will lead us to greatness we never experienced in this osmosis of the creative act of star glazing!
We are in the midst of a cosmic condensing of transformation that will become our stepping-stone to the nexus itself of Souls and Moist Matter! We are at a crossroads of empathy and ego! Throughout history, elves have been interacting with the stratosphere via bio-electricity and the Chosen Heroine will bring us to Epiphany!
The Chosen will align us with transformative life-force of the Tomato Soup of Destiny. Soon there will be a flowering of balance the likes of which the quantum matrix has never seen thanks to the Chosen Heroine and her Lighting of justice that will vanquish the Dark Lord!” The old elf declared while ‘purifying’ his body by letting the Universe have the final say on his bowel control as the smell could soon testify.
“What’s he saying?” The servant asked, talking with reverential awe.
“He is speaking the Language of the Gods!” The King of the Elves answered, just as awed.
Outside Reality -
The System saw all this happen, but instead of intervening, like by slaughtering the God and the Goddess that helped the two Morons transmigrate from their respective versions of Earth to that planet and gave to the two Drug Addicts down there the Title of ‘Prophet’...The Entity merely stood in wait, silently keeping Fate and Causality working as intended while watching those two brain-dead deities scratch their heads at their Chosen Ones not acting as they expected.
“Killing all four of them can be postponed for now, unless they get in the way of Host Izuku. They will offer good entertainment to The System for the time being.” The Entity thought while observing the four beings while making sure NOTHING got in the way of the fairness of the Mission The System gave Izuku.
With Izuku -
“Listen, Dude….I just want two horses. Two DAMN horses!” Rumi said with a grunt.
“But why travel by horses like a pauper when you can travel in style with a carriage!” the man in blinding checkered robes said while pulling Rumi towards a gaudy-looking carriage.
“Look at this! A real steal! Only three hundred days of travel, hand-carved mahogany suspensions, anatomic silk cushions and a powerful 4 horse power pull and jumbo water pouch holder! Even the driver is aerodynamic!
And if you fear to spend a fortune in fuel, fear not! With these new generation horses you will only need four mugs of water and a ball of hay every three hundred leagues! The triumph of horse science!
And look at the baggage area! This wench can hold inside soo much loot from dungeons!” The guy said while slapping the carriage door.
“Listen, I want two horses, that’s it.” Rumi hissed.
“But it even has a brand-new Stereo Bard system! These two bard twins will sing you and your beloved all the love songs you want! They prefer male company too so your boyfriend won’t need to fear them trying anything with you either!” he said, and the two men in bright orange clothes flashed her a thumbs-up from the back of the carriage.
“Maybe you don’t understand. I JUST WANT TWO FUCKING HORSES TO RIDE TO THE CAPITAL, GODDAMNIT!” Rumi bellowed.
“Come on, Milady, don’t be stingy! I will even add a toaster to the offer! Look!” The guy said while pulling in front of himself a young man that clearly did not want to be there.
“This little guy can toast over a hundred loaves of bread in an hour! A Master Toaster!” he said.
“Help me…I just wanted to pay my student’s tuition at the Knight Academy!” The young man pleaded, looking close to tears.
“Silence! Toasters don’t talk, they toast bread!”
“Fucking hell…” she groaned to herself.
Behind the girl, instead, Izuku was battling against what seemed to be a door-to-door potions salesman dressed like a generic wizard, robes and hat included.
“Really! I am not interested!” He kept saying.
“Seriously, my boy! How can you live without the All-Fixer-1560! The all-purpose potion that fixes Hair Loss, Virility Loss, Hang nails, Water Retention, Dandruff, Dimpled Body Fat, Bad Breath, That certain embarrassing itchy feeling in your privates, diarrhea, dysentery, Squeaky doors, clogged sinks, flatulence and even conjunctivitis! It even comes orange-flavoured Now! And if you take ten doses, I will give you a ‘Magix-Fix’ branded leather pouch to drink it from! You’ll be the envy of all your friend during Fox Hunts!” The wizard said.
“Really, thank you, but I am not interested!” Izuku answered, trying desperately to take distance from the annoying salesman.
If that was how their adventure started, both Chef and Hero Student dreaded to think what else was on the horizon for them.
“Good morning! Do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and Savior the great King of Druids?” A duo of old men in flowing white robes asked while showing ‘pamphlets’ inscribed on wooden tablets.
“GODDAMNIT!” Both Izuku and Rumi screeched as one.
Extra File: Dimensional Ingredient Hunt!
A Bodongo-Bango Meat BBQ fit for a GOD!..Or Two.
City – Big garden behind a giant High-Tech Complex -
There was a thick air of happiness in the big garden behind the personal mansion of a world-famous high-tech owner, especially by the poolside where the woman was welcoming her friends for the first birthday of her newborn daughter Bulla.
And the guests varied enormously in looks! From more normal people to a slim guy with a bright pink skin similar to bubble-gum and wearing a white cape to a guy with green skin wearing a white turban.
“I can’t believe Bulla-chan is already 1!” Chichi said with watery eyes.
“I know! Time flies soooo faaaast!” Bulma answered, and both started crying.
“Can’t see where the problem is, Woman! Is not like you become ugly each year that passes, you remain the same!” her husband answered, rolling his eyes.
“...That is the most Vegeta compliment I have ever heard.” Krillin commented, impressed.
“I am more impressed that the description actually holds merit.” Piccolo answered.
“Don’t be mean, guys. You won’t ruin the party with a fight.” 18 answered.
“Sorry, dear.” her husband answered, chuckling.
“Where is the food? I am hungry!” a young woman with bright pink skin and wild long white hair asked with a childish whine.
“It’s okay, 21! We will eat soon. Now be nice.” Buu answered.
“Okay! Fine! I’ll be good…” 21 answered.
“Still can’t believe we are giving you another chance,” Vegeta grumbled in answer.
“We did it with you, now we can’t be hypocrites and not do the same with her.” Gohan answered.
“True!” and Videl chorused right after.
“Tch! Whatever.”
“Yooo! Sorry if I am late!” it was at that moment that another guest arrived.
“You are late, Kakarot! You dare miss my daughter’s birthday?!”
“Hi, Goku!” Bulma answered with a more easy-going smile.
“Sorry, sorry! I needed to help two guys that were looking for you.” The newcomer, Goku, answered.
“...And where are they now?” Bulma asked.
“Uh? Aah! At the door! The young man said he didn’t want to barge in uninvited.”
“Oh! Must be very well mannered, I will go hear what he needs, I will be back soon.” Bulma said while walking towards the entrance.
“So? What did I miss?”
“Nothing, Goku, we barely started.” Piccolo answered.
“AWESOME!”
In that precise instant a sphere of light crash-landed in the garden, but curiously it caused no damage upon landing.
“Tch! Having a party without me now, hn? Want me to destroy this planet then?” the new arrival was a skinny humanoid purple cat accompanied by a very tall humanoid being with light-blue skin and white hair styled upward in a gravity-defying way and holding a staff in his hands.
“Didn’t know you were even interested,” Goku admitted, chuckling.
“Tch!”
“Lord Beerus, be nice, it was you to insist to come here to celebrate little Bulla’s birthday!” Whis said, laughing.
“LIES! ALL LIES! We were just passing by! Pure coincidence!” Beerus answered.
“Please don’t argue nor fight in my garden! The pool has just been rebuilt after the last time!” Bulma said in annoyance, behind her there were a young man with green hair dressed in green Chef attire, a tall girl with raven hair and a chubby white robot with a soft round belly and a bald head adorned by two large eyes only.
“Hey! It’s the guy from before! Hi!” Goku said, smiling wide.
“Good evening, sorry to interrupt your party.” Izuku said with an apologetic tone.
“We were told to look for this place, but we were unaware there was a celebration ongoing.” Momo added, bowing.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. You looked very lost and in trouble, so? What do you need?” Bulma answered with a gentle smile.
“Eeeh, well, you see...I was told to look for an Ingredient; no matter who I ask, nobody knows what I am talking about.” Izuku answered with a sigh of dismay.
“...Hey, boy.” Vegeta said out of the blue.
“Yes?”
“Your Aura feels strange, why?”
“My Aura?” Izuku asked, completely lost.
“The woman with you is normal, but not you. Why?” the guy asked.
“It’s true! It does feel unnatural! I totally forgot to ask,” Goku admitted.
“An enemy?” Piccolo asked, and subtly every warrior present felt their muscles twitch in preparation for battle.
“Animosity towards the Host detected! Entering Battle Mode!” Whitey said with his eyes turning from white to red.
“Kyuuhn?” at the same time, Shiro awoke and once sensed the fighting spirit in the air he started releasing his own, immediately turning the air dense as all of them stood waiting for the others to make the first move.
“Guys?” Goku asked, confused.
“Lord Beerus?” Whis muttered with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes?” the purple humanoid cat said, as the only one besides Whis to not care about the current situation.
“I believe we are in front of a Chosen.” The Angel said with a meaningful look.
“Chosen?” Beerus asked, just a step away from falling asleep in disinterest.
“A God of Cooking Candidate, I mean.” Whis said, and as he expected, the eyes of the God of Destruction became as big as saucers.
BOOM! BOOM!
“NOBODY TOUCHES HIM, YOU SAVAGES!” Beerus screeched while appearing in front of the two teens in less than an instant, he had also punched the back of both Goku and Vegeta’s heads so hard the two were now buried waist deep upside-down underground.
“Why was I punched too? I did nothiiiing!” Goku was heard asking with a whine while still buried underground.
“What’s happening?” Videl asked.
“Oh, My! I guess a bit of explaining is in order,” Whis said.
“Yeah, yeah, you do that! Are you okay instead, boy? Nothing wrong? Hands still good?” Beerus asked with a manic look on his face.
“I...I am okay?” Izuku asked, nervous.
“Oh! That’s perfect! So you came here to cook for me? I am touched by the gesture, and while I normally do not accept gifts, I can be magnanimous and make an exception this time!” The purple cat said with a smug smirk.
“Wow. Talk about a big ego.” both Izuku and Momo thought at the same time.
“You with him, missy?” Master Roshi asked with a lecherous smile.
“I am his girlfriend, yes.” Momo answered with a vitriolic tone.
“...Is that fool bothering you, Madame?” Beerus asked with a dark tone.
“MEEEEP!” The old man squeaked and hid behind Buu.
“Please calm down, my Lord.” Whis said, sighing.
“Can I get an explanation?!” Vegeta demanded once he dug his way out from the hole he was punched into.
“Oh, look! A black-haired Bakugo.” Izuku KNEW he was not supposed to laugh at Momo’s jab, but he could not help himself.
“...I don’t know what a Bakugo is, but it sounds annoying.” Piccolo muttered, unsure.
“Basically our Guest here is on the road to become a deity, only instead of a God of Destruction, he has been chosen to become a God of Cooking.” Whis explained.
“God of Cooking?!” Goku asked with starry eyes.
“Wait, I heard about that legend.” Vegeta said.
“Before or after the Super Saiyan one? You seem to love Legends.” Piccolo asked, rolling his eyes.
“Stuff it, Namekian!”
“Our Universe had not seen a Candidate in several hundred thousand years. The requirements are simply too insanely high.” Whis added.
“And one is finally in front of me! This is indeed a day to celebrate!” Beerus said, smiling wide.
“But why were you looking for me?” Bulma asked.
“Ah! Yes, you see, I was sent in this world to find the meat of a Bodongo-Bango...Whatever it is, but no matter who I ask, nobody can help me. Finally a guy suggested to ask to a certain Bulma Briefs for help since she is smart and has connections. And here we are.” Izuku answered.
“Bodongo-Bango?” Bulma repeated, confused.
“Yes, the name sounds very primitive, but besides that, Izuku’s Sponsor did not give us many details. Only to come to this planet and ask for help to locate it.” Momo answered.
“Unfortunately I never heard of it.” Bulma answered.
“Oh! I-It’s okay, don’t worry! I will find a solution! No need to worry!” Izuku said immediately once seen her downcast expression.
“Aren’t you a sweet guy,” she answered, ruffling his hair.
“T-Thank you, madame.” The shy young man muttered in answer.
“Uuuhm...Maybe I can help you find it, in exchange of you cooking something for us, of course.” Whis offered.
“Of course! I can do that!”
“Good job, Whis!” Beerus chorused with a pleased tone.
“Let’s see...Bodongo-Bango...What planet does house it...Oh...Oh, dear…”
“What now?” Momo asked in dread.
“Ehm...Lord Beerus...Remember that planet you destroyed to fit your quota last week?”
“...Nooo...Don’t tell me…” Beerus muttered in dismay.
“You blew-up the only planet in our universe that housed that animal.” Whis answered.
“GODDAMNIIIIIIIT!” The Purple cat roared while his body got momentarily enveloped in a purple flaming aura of energy that shook even the sky.
“Whyyyyyy! I knew I should have destroyed the one next to it! But NOOOO! I wanted a big explosion and the other was too small! GOD FUCKING DAMNIT!” The God of Destruction was now throwing a God-Class tantrum while flaying both arms and legs.
“What now?” Izuku asked Momo.
“I have no clue.” Momo answered, saddened by her beloved boyfriend’s sorrowful expression.
“Host, the being in front of you can have the Ingredient delivered from another Universe. The System knew the planet had been destroyed, so a countermeasure had already been organized, luckily the Host has met this being by himself without the help of The System. Please ask them for help, the capture will still count as valid.” The System answered.
“Is this yet another try at apologizing for the LONG streak of chaotic Missions I got in lately?”
“Fifth time MUST be the charm, Host.” The System answered in what almost sounded like a hopeful tone.
“Ehm, sorry, but…”
“Yes?” Both Whis and Beerus said as one.
“Can’t you, you know, have it delivered from another Universe?” Izuku asked.
“Eeeh! There is a bit of red tape, I need to ask permission first,” Whis answered, unsure.
“Can you try, please?” Izuku asked.
“Okay. Let’s see...Oh! Indeed there is a copy of that planet in Lord Champa’s Univer-”
“NO! Anything but that fatso’s Universe!” Beerus answered.
“Uh?”
“Lord Beerus’ brother.” Whis explained.
“I Don’t wanna! If you ask for permission there he will know I have a God of Cooking Candidate here! I want to be the one with a Candidate owning him a favour!”
“There is no need for me to own you a favour, sir, I will still cook for you whenever you ask!” Izuku answered with a gentle smile.
“Tch! FINE! Go ask that fat-ass. But I want MY portion to be bigger than his!” Beerus said with a petulant tone.
“I’ll see what I can do.” Izuku answered, grateful.
“Hohoho! Wonderful! I’ll make the call then!” Whis said, moving slightly aside to talk directly to the ball on top of his staff that immediately shined in azure light.
“Hello! What can I do for you?” The voice at the other side was female.
“Hello, Vados! I have a situation here and I really need your help!” Whis said.
“Uh? What is it?”
“My Lord has recently destroyed a planet to fit his quota. Unfortunately one of those planets housed a species called Bodongo-Bango, and now I really need...How many do you need?” Whis asked.
“A male and a Female for breeding and a dead one for cooking now as a Test...Preferably if it died painlessly, if it is not a problem.” Izuku answered.
“You heard that?” Whis asked.
“Loud and clear! But you know how complicated it is to send animals and Ingredients from a Universe to the other.” Vados answered.
“I know!...But the boy is a God of Cooking Candidate...And Lord Beerus is getting very insistent. And I heard Bodongo-Bango meat does MIRACLES for the skin if cooked properly…” The Angel said with a whisper.
“You have a Candidate! Ooh! You naughty Angel! SO you did not want to share?”
“A CHOSEN CANDIDATE!? UNFAAAAAAAIR!” a second voice shrieked petulantly.
“Uh?” Momo muttered.
“That’s my brother Champa…” Beerus said, grumbling.
“I wanna go there! I wanna go there!” The God yelled.
“Oh, well. I guess we can make an exception this time. I will be there in a minute!” Vados said with a cheerful tone.
“Ta-ta!” Whis answered, closing the call.
“...Sooo…” Izuku asked.
“A minute and she will arrive, don’t worry.” Whis answered.
“Thank you!” The Chef answered with a beaming smile.
“So a God of Cooking is a literal title?” Bulma asked.
“Pretty much, they cook food on a level beyond mortal understanding.” Beerus answered, looking eagerly at the sky for the delivery to arrive.
“Yeeeeees?” Goku, probably more focused than ever in his entire life, asked.
“...FINE! You can have a taste of my feast, but just because it is the kid’s birthday!” The God of Destruction conceded, rolling his eyes.
“How very gracious of you,” Chichi answered, rolling her eyes.
“Here I am!” And in that moment a new comet of light landed in the back garden of the mansion, taking with it a fat purple humanoid cat, and two Angels like Whis, only female in this case.
“...Why dear Marcarita joined us?” Whis asked.
“…” Izuku had started to have a bad feeling about the situation.
“This time it will be good, Host. This time it will be good.” The System answered, and yet Izuku almost thought the Entity was saying this to itself, more than to him.
“Lord Zeno is chastising my Lord for their unfulfilled quota, so since I had time to kill the Grand Priest gave me permission to take this evening as a small vacation. I am supposed to return after both Lord Zeno have finished chewing my Lord alive.” The Angel with pigtails answered, huffing tiredly.
“Luckily a Bodong-Bango has enough meat for everybody. Here they are!” Vados added, unsealing from her staff three enormous creatures.
A Bodongo-bango was apparently the result of somebody trying to cross a wild boar with a Tyrannosaurus: a forty meters tall bright green dinosaur with a faint pig-like head with an elongated mouth and bright yellow fringes on its head and back, for the males, and bright pink for the females.
The two exemplars still alive were clearly paralyzed by something as the lied on the side and could move only the eyes, the other had apparently such a peaceful death it looked asleep.
“Woooo!” Momo admitted in awe at the size and weight of the things.
“The healthiest and plumpest (and most fertile) ones on that planet! Only the best for a Candidate.” The Fat God, Champa, declared with a wide smug grin and a river of drool escaping his mouth without an ounce of shame.
“Ass-kisser…” Beerus muttered in distaste,
“Are they good enough?” Izuku asked.
“The animals fulfill The System’s requirements. Congratulations for the success of the Mission! Host Izuku can now freely experiment with the Ingredient while The System will had the breeding pair to the Restaurant Storage!” The System answered while teleporting away the two paralyzed Pork-o-saurs.
“Oh Dear! Somebody is helping you then?” Whis asked.
“That’s a secret!” Izuku answered with a mischievous wink.
“Not for me!” Whis answered, smirking and checking his staff.
BLAAAARG!
“Sorry, you do not have high enough clearance to access this File.” A robotic voice said gently from the scepter after a loud blaring error sound effect,
Sniffle! “...This is humiliating…” Whis said with a whine, and crouching in a corner in shame under the weight of the snorts of derision of everybody else.
“Sorry, but I think it’s finally time for me to try this...Sure it’s a lot of meat...And apparently this was supposed to be a birthday party…” Izuku said with a knowing smile.
“Ooh, well, you can always take care of the food to apologize,” Bulma answered, smirking.
“Of course! I will start immediately, Miss Brief!”
“So very well mannered! See, Vegeta? You could learn a thing or two from him!” she said.
“Grumble! Grumble! Grumble!” The Alien Prince grumbled something clearly not nice under his breath in answer.
“Fascinating, there is a Bakugo in every Universe apparently.” Momo muttered in fascination.
As The System had told Izuku, that strange animal could really be called ‘The King of Pork Meat’, every inch of its body could be used for cooking, and its meat was of a quality comparable to Jewel Meat, a discovery that made Izuku VERY happy to work with it, and its gratitude and heartfelt praise for that Ingredient helped it gain just a bit more savoriness thanks to its gratitude.
The ribs for example were springy and flavorful to such a degree that they didn’t even need marinade, their taste was just mellow and rich enough by itself to surpass common pork ribs back home.
“I LOVE THIS!” Goku yelled between mouthfuls while crying tears of joy.
The Sausages released thick streams of grease while cooking, producing crisp and surprisingly-melodious sizzling sounds whenever Izuku moved them on the grill.
“THOSE ARE MINE, KAKAROT!” Vegeta shrieked in anger as he and his eternal rival kept trying to defeat each other in a challenge about who could eat more sausages.
Bacon-wrapped Pork Tenderloin, something that had IMMEDIATELY mesmerized both Gods of Destruction thanks to the sublime crunchy exterior tenderly wrapping the syrupy and juicy tenderloin meat under it.
“I want another plate!” Champa yelled.
“ME TOO! BRING ME ONE FIRST!” Beerus yelled right after.
“NO! ME FIRST!”
“This is my Universe, Fatso!”
“The Ingredient comes from MY Universe, You skinny Bastard!”
“Amazing! The best Pork Chops in White Truffle Sauce I have ever eaten!” Bulma admitted, shamelessly going through her third plate.
“Can you try to have him work for you?” Chichi, at her fifth plate, asked.
“You just say that to have an excuse to come here for dinner!” her friend answered, laughing.
“Culprit as charged!” Chichi answered, making both women share a laugh together.
“I am glad you all like what I am making, this Ingredient is amazing to work with, I love it!” Izuku said with a wide smile.
“Huhuhu! I am glad he is enjoying himself.” Momo said, chuckling.
“You must really love him to follow him around through multiple Universes.” 18 asked her.
“Yes, we do love each other a lot! Maybe even too much, Hee-Hee-Hee!” She answered, smiling a bit too wide.
“Oooh, he is Intense during that too?” 18 asked with a malevolent glint in her eyes.
“Hee-Hee-Hee! I can’t say…”
“Come ooon, spill!”
“What can I say...My Icchan is very needy, we four are hardly enough to satisfy his hunger!” Momo admitted, ashamed and yet giggling.
“...Four?” Chichi and Bulma Immediately pounced on that.
“There are four of us and only one of him, and yet we are the ones overwhelmed. I am a VERY lucky future bride.” Momo answered, tone a bit smelling of smug pride.
“Hehehehe! We all are! To the blessing of having Partners with unlimited stamina! TO US!” Bulma answered, raising her glass with a wide smile.
“To us!” Chichi, 18 and Momo answered, clinging their glass with hers
“What are they talking about?” Goku asked.
“Bah! Women things, probably.” Vegeta answered, uninterested.
“Everything is splendid! But I have to ask...What about dessert?” Whis asked.
“Oh! Don’t worry, as a thank you I will prepare some chocolate cake.” Izuku answered.
“Chocolate? Wonderful!” Both Vados and Marcarita answered in chorus…
And Izuku’s sense of dread reached the SSJB Level in just a second.
Ten Minutes Later -
“This is very unprofessional…” Whis said with a sigh of dismay.
“Vados! Marcarita! Come down this instant and stop making a fool of yourself!” The Grand Priest said with a very ashamed expression.
“DESTRUCTION CONCERTO!”
“SONATA OF PURIFICATION!”
Both angel girls kept bombarding each other in a literal endless stream of energy attacks and giant explosions that turned the sky completely green every few seconds…
All this while Izuku and Momo stealthily ran away towards the extraction point The System had set up for them.
“Does this happen every time?!” Momo whisper-yelled.
“Yes! And I have no idea why!” Izuku answered, having long ago run out of tears to cry at his misfortune.
“It’s not like you two cannot visit him either! Just locate his Universe and go there.” The Grand Priest said in dismay.
“RIGHT!” Both Angels said at the same time.
“...SYSTEM! HURRY!” Both Izuku and Momo shrieked as one, soon disappearing in a blinding flash of light.
“Ufufufufu! You can’t escape an Angel, dear sir. I can find you wherever you are!” Marcarita said.
“Marcarita! NO!” Vados said.
“Marcarita yes!” The other answered.
Izuku wondered what he did to deserve all this trouble, and The System also started questioning it.
And this marks the start of the three chapters long Arc in the Medieval Fantasy World, and just like with the Wuxia Arc, I will go heavy-handed in poking fun at the cliches, as you may have already seen! After this there will be Izuku’s small Arc in America and then The Cat Inn Incident with Muscular and Co. and Himiko being finally rescued!
Thank you all so much for reading!
Chapter 19: Western Fantasy Dimensional Travel Arc Part 2: Pork Knuckles, Dragons, Krakens and Pretentious Morons.
Summary:
Izuku and Rumi have finally reached the Capital of the Human kingdom, but while Izuku manages to create the first Beer-Based Recipe the System requested for his Mission, in the shadows of both the King of Men and King of Elves throne rooms a conspiracy is born.
It seems that with the System undoing whatever "Plot Armor" turning the world into the power fantasy of the two Reborn shut-ins, things will soon get messier than anticipated.
Notes:
The System Mission in this Arc requires two things: Capture the "Sky King" and "Sea King" (And their Eggs) and create 2 Beer-based DIshes. For the sake of continuity I went into detail for the first Recipe, to maintain the Theme of this being a "Chef Izuku" story, but the next chapter will focus on the "Kings" Capture and Rumi's pairing resolution, so the second Recipe will be only mentioned. I hope you don't mind.
Thank you!
Disclaimer: I don't own a thing of the series and/or material that appears in this story, please support the original releases.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/Nejire
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
A Chef Rebirth chapter 19: European Fantasy Dimensional Travel Arc Part 2: Pork Knuckles, Dragons, Krakens and Pretentious Morons.
Yavin Street - Green Cloud Restaurant – In front of the Restaurant Entrance -
Kamui Woods had seen plenty of bullshit in his career as a Pro Hero already, and Endeavor sitting next to him on top of the same building even more so; they saw a Vigilante believe that marking people by peeing on their heads after capturing them would cleanse them of Evil (it wasn’t even his Quirk, the guy just thought he was SO GOOD his pee would purify people), they saw a Villain woman trying to seduce Godzillo because she had a scaly fetish while ignoring the obvious issues of a normal woman unable to grow in sizes trying to sleep with a Kaiju-sized Godzilla Expy…
Damn, they even saw an old lady without a Quirk but a black belt in aikido effortlessly beat the shit out of a student from UA’s Hero Course for grabbing her niece’s ass while riding the train! They saw a LOT of bullshit!
“KILL THAT FUCKING DOG!”
And yet, here they were looking as a White Collar, a spoiled, no-brain, Armani-dressed buffoon trying to make his way up the corporate ladder of the Hero Public Safety Commission, ordering to a ‘Pro Hero’ taking orders and working exclusively for the Commission to kill Blackie in front of Green Cloud Restaurant to avenge his honour.
“How did this happen, exactly?” Kamui asked.
“I don’t have every detail, but it seems like the guy wanted to drag Chef Izuku to the Commission’s HQ for some questioning, something about Whitey’s schematics and his pet Shiro’s own powers, and just found the place closed for ‘Ingredients hunting’.” Enji answered.
“Uh-hu. And?”
“Since it was clearly closed, the guy threw a fit and demanded the restaurant to open for him to get in, to whom I don’t know, and since obviously the doors did not open by themselves to let him in just because he works for the Commission, he did the only stupid thing he could think of: He tried to kick Blackie.”
“Is he insane?! I heard the rumours! That dog obliterated a Nomu while protecting an UA student during her Internship! Fat Gum himself told me!” Kamui said, his bulging eyes unseen thanks to his Hero mask.
“Apparently he doesn’t know that the dog too is a monster, because, and this is just based on what the other Restaurant owners told me, Blackie didn’t even bulge from the kick, he just opened an eye and after glaring at that moron, he gave a Huff! That sent that idiot flying away naked until he landed into a dumpster with a broken arm and a black eye to go along his broken pride. Now here we are.” Endeavour answered.
“Should we intervene?” Kamui asked.
“I am sure the professional Pro sent by the Commission has everything under control.” the other answered, smirking.
“...You know? I think you are right.” Kamui answered, snorting.
“DID IT START ALREADY?!” Hawks asked with an eager voice and hurrying to sit with the other two to enjoy the show.
“Not yet,” Endeavour answered, not really surprised to see other Pro Heroes discreetly coming to see the show of a fool trying to bring shit to Green Cloud Restaurant, all of them perched like vultures on the rooftops around and in front of Izuku’s Restaurant to watch the drama unfold on street level.
Many Pros had indeed doubts about Blackie’s role as security for the Restaurant, having only heard rumours about the only two times the Lord Dog actually took action, both in the USJ and while accompanying Momo, but they needed to see things with their own eyes to believe, instead of through second-hand hearsay.
“...Isn’t that Gun-Jack? The British Vigilante?” Ryukyu asked once she sat next to Hawks.
“Uh? Ah, yes, he’s the new recruit for the Commission, yeah.” Hawks answered.
“They are recruiting Vigilantes too now?” Enji asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Oh, trust me, Endeavour-san, that would be the least Evil/Illegal thing they do with or without the support or permission of the Japanese Government.” he answered.
Sigh! “Sometimes I wonder why I even bother doing my job if those Morons are in charge…” Kamui muttered with a sigh of defeat.
“Mood!” Every other Pro Heroes watching answered as one.
Street Level – In front of the Restaurant -
“What? Are you afraid of a mangy dog? Pfeh! Then watch how a Real Man does it, you sissy Japanese Betas!” The Former British Vigilante thought with a sneer once seen the many Pros looking at him from afar.
Gun-Jack, real name Jack McLaggen, was a tall man (Enji Todoroki tall) of Scottish descent with large shoulders, muscular build and sporting a thick and curly fiery-red beard under the heavy-looking helmet of his Hero Costume modelled after a World War II soldier and with heavy gauntlets on his forearms shaped like a revolver’s bullet chamber.
His Quirk was just as crude as his temper: The Ex-Vigilante could store kinetic energy in his fists and release the stored power all at once with a powerful blast of concussive force upon impact of his punches; he had Limits of course, since a blast too strong could still break his arms if he was not cautious, but thanks to his joining the Hero Public Safety Commission, he now had the equipment necessary to not only store enormous kinetic energy in an instant, but he now could release even greater power than before without risking self-harm, and Blackie was his current target to test his new toys.
“Sorry, Mate! But orders are orders! Gonna make you meet your maker now! You shouldn’t have angered the wrong guy with powerful friends!” The Pro Hero said in sadistic glee.
“...Umph.” Blackie barely opened a single eyelid enough to see who was disturbing his nap, and gave a clearly derisive snort in answer before returning to sleep.
“Did ya just laugh at me, ye fucker?!” Gun-Jack hissed, blood already burning in his veins like fire.
“…” In answer a disgusting acre smell wafted towards him and the guy in an expensive suit from the Commission.
“HE ANSWERED WITH A FART?!” The guy in the suit shrieked in disgust while covering his face with a handkerchief with his initials to it.
“How much more unmanly can he get?” The Pro Heroes watching thought in wonder.
“Ye fart towards me?! That’s it! I destroyed Pubs for far less back home! Gun-Jack’s Special: 1 Charge!” Gun-Jack said while pulling the hidden trigger in his gauntlet’s gloves that generated a loud Bang! That made the revolver-shaped arm-guard spin once as the charge in one of the slots exploded, infusing his right fist in energy and making the hand release very faint twirls of smoke.
“TASTE THIS, YE BLOODY BASTARD! DISCHARGE PUNCH!” The man yelled with his punch slamming with zero mercy on Blackie’s forehead and releasing on impact a loud explosion that would have sent even a giant Villain reeling back.
Boom!
And yet when the smoke dispersed, the Lord Dog was still lying there, only now fully opening a single eye to look at the punch still pressed against his forehead.
“Is that what you call a punch, you Sissy? Stop wasting this Lord Dog’s time with your caresses and leave.” Blackie said with a mocking tone, surprising the many people that didn’t know he could actually talk.
“YOU CALLED ME A SISSY?!” Gun-Jack shrieked with blood-shot eyes.
“Yes, because this Lord knows that for Insecure Idiots like you there is not a better insult than attacking your masculinity...Whatever small quantity of it there is in you, little girl.” Blackie answered, snorting.
“LITTLE GIRL?!” The guy bellowed while pulling back his fist to recharge the spent bullet.
“What? You think attacking your Lord Dog with that pathetic ‘Punch’ makes you a man? You are just a weakling, and a fairly pathetic one at that.” The Dog answered.
“THAT’S IT! I’LL KILL YOU! AND THEN I WILL TEAR APART YOUR OWNER!”
“Bwahahahahaha! You? Killing ME? Don’t oversell yourself, little boy. And even then, should I so magnanimously let you try your luck against the Kiddo I swore to protect, that young Chef would just need to slap you with his dick to kill you, even just size envy towards a Real Man surpassing you even while limp would kill you. You are simply so weak my paw or his punch are wasted on you.” Blackie answered, merciless, and even moving to sit on his haunches and moving his head to the side to offer him a better target.
“Here, you pussy! This Generous Lord Dog will even make it easier for you: this is my best side, try to punch me for real this time! Just be careful to not break a nail and ruin your manicure.” He then said,
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Gun-Jack’s scream in answer to that onslaught of insults shocked everybody, it was incredible how much bestial anger the guy managed to pack in that howl.
“Gun-Jack’s Ultimate: 12 Charges!” The furious Pro Hero roared while unloading every charge of his gauntlets all at once, making both his fists turn bright-red and emitting thick black smoke.
“STOP! THE FULL RELEASE HAS NOT BEEN TESTED YET!” The guy in a suit shrieked in fear.
“FUCK OFF! YOU WANT A REAL PUNCH, FUCKER?! HERE IS ONE! A DOUBLE PUNCH THAT SURPASSES EVEN ALL MIGHT’S! DUBLIN SMASH!” Gun-Jack roared, throwing a double punch with both fists towards Blackie’s cheek.
BOOOOOOOOOM!
The Explosion on impact was immense, and while not even close to match the power and strength of a real punch of Toshinori like the moron liked to think, it was still enough to send whoever was on the street flying back and almost doing the same to the other Pro Heroes watching from the rooftops, several windows exploded and an even entire side of a building nearby gained deep cracks, such destruction caused by the double punch forced the observing Pros to intervene to assist whoever was caught in the blast and assure everybody else was safe and unharmed.
“AAAAAAAH!” The one that got it the worst though was Gun-Jack himself as the feedback from the attack surpassed even his gear’s threshold, as showed by both his arms now being bent in way too many joints and at his hands that now looked like they actually exploded, it was a miracle in itself if he still had all fingers attached, even if several of them had turned into almost unrecognisable bundles of broken flesh and bones.
“Really pathetic.” And yet, as the smoke dispersed again, Blackie was still standing in the same position, not a hair of his fur out of place, not even slightly singed, the Dog had taken the attack head-on without defending himself, and yet he took absolutely zero damage.
“...What the bloody hell are you?!” Gun-Jack demanded in absolute fear.
“Me? I am your Lord Dog, you weakling. Now disappear from my sight.” Blackie answered, and his exquisite paw gave a faint, almost playful swat forward towards the man.
BOOOOOOOM!
The force generated by that attack rattled the windows of the entire city, and under the shocked eyes of everybody, a moment Gun-Jack was kneeling in front of Blackie, and the next the guy was gone, the building that happened to be behind the Ex Vigilante gained a giant hole thanks to the unseen body flying through it as if made of paper instead of concrete, and few, miserable rags that once used to be the guy’s Hero costume slowly fell to the ground.
Gun-Jack will be returned to the Hero Safety Commission only the next day and on a stretcher, he had been adrift unconscious in the middle of the damn ocean for hours until a small fishing ship several miles away from Japanese coasts stumbled on him, and that alone will be considered a miracle since only those generous fishermen administering first-aid to the strange mangled naked man they found saved his life.
“You next, weakling. Time to fight your own battles.” Blackie declared once moved his eyes to the Suit Guy already soaking his very expensive pants in fear.
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAH! KILL IT! KILL IT, THAT’S AN ORDER!” The guy shrieked in fear while diving for his limo and sprinting away uncaring of street laws.
“...What now?” Hawks asked.
“Technically what happened is assault…” Mr. Plastic answered, unsure.
“Assault? All things considered, this Lord Dog merely defended himself from a madman using lethal force. It is not my fault he was so weak a dog paw could send him flying.” Blackie answered with a very human-like smirk.
“I wish that was the case. Now come, doggie, we’ll take you to a nice cosy cage and then your owner will have to answer some questions.” Mr. Plastic said while boldly, and maybe a bit stupidly, moved to pat Blackie’s head in a condescending manner.
“...Are you treating this Lord like a common dog?” The Lord Dog asked with a tone of actual surprise.
“Easy, Fido. I know the Chef here likes to pamper you, but I will administer some discipline if you force my hand! I have had plenty of dogs so I know how to use muzzles and rolled-up newspap-”
BANG!
“…”
“Honestly, is it really a surprise?” Edgeshot asked with a groan once seen Mr. Plastic get sent into low-orbit by Blackie in answer to those outrageous words.
When several days later Mr. Plastic finally returned to Musutafu bruised, battered and in clear need of a wheelchair, he had answered to every question they asked him with a trembling, scared voice, and while everybody understood his new-found fear of Blackie, nobody even just tried to believe he had landed that far away thanks to that paw strike he survived, if barely, only thanks to his Quirk.
They all chalked it up to PTSD, because the mere idea of that absurd distance being the truth was just too absurd to believe.
“Technically we can’t let this slide, it will set a precedent…” Ryukyu answered while rubbing her temples.
“It’s a dog. We are dealing with a dog. Smart enough to talk like a human, but he is still legally a dog, contrary to people like Nezu. Besides trying to get him into a kennel, what are we supposed to do?” Hawks said.
“Your job, Hawks. Your job...”
“Bah! I…”
“Uhrm?” Blackie looked at Enji with a raised eyebrow.
“Don’t get your tail into a knot, puppy! Let me finish! As I was saying: I am leaving, I have no time to waste acting like a Dog-Sitter! Let the Animal Protection or whatever deal with this.” Endeavor scoffed and answered with a growl, and simply left.
“Seriously, your Ego will be your undoing someday! Sorry, Blackie, but laws are laws!” Ryukyu answered before transforming into her big dragon form.
“Huhuhuhu! I wonder if the Kiddo will be open to the idea of using a ‘Fake Dragon’ as an Ingredient for my beloved Spicy Noodles! I was told dragon meat tastes heavenly!” The Lord Dog answered while licking his lips and gently lifting his exquisite paw again.
“I have a bad feeling about this…” Hawks muttered.
KRATA-BOOOOOOM!
“...Yeah, exactly...”
Meanwhile – Other Dimension – Path towards the capital of the Human Kingdom -
The air was crisp and clean, the sun was shining brightly without a cloud in sight and the trees at both sides of the road offered random bouts of reprieve from the heat to the travellers…
CRUNCH! And in that same crispy air, the sounds of bones shattering travelled especially far.
“MERCY!” The last standing guy begged in complete fear, he was alone in the middle of the dozen bandits that together with him had been beaten black-and-blue and then undressed into the plain and crude pants hiding their privates.
It was supposed to be such a simple job! Swoop in, rob these people blind and if there were some cute girls, flash a very handsome smile and a wink to the most pure-looking one of them and hopefully start a very convoluted Forbidden Love story with some lady that secretly came from a rich family! Just like tradition! And yet, as soon as he and his Merry Companions™ had assaulted the small convoy of Merchants, a guy dressed like a Chef accompanied by a chubby Automaton and a curiously short Viera had joined the scene from a side road, looked at them for a single second, and then spent the next five minutes kicking the crap out of them with way too much enjoyment!
“This should be the last of them,” Izuku said with a sigh.
“Nope! There is still one!” Rumi answered, fixating her fanged smirk on the Leader of the small group of thieves.
“Please let me go...I will be good!” The once Dashing Thief, now crying and babbling, begged while walking forward on his knees.
“Uhmmm.”
“Please, milady?” He said, putting on his most pathetic expression.
Sigh! “No can do, criminals get arrested, that’s the law.” She answered, shrugging helplessly.
“Ple-” WHAM! Luckily he got off easily, just an axe-kick to the head that knocked him down instantly.
“All clear. The others?” She asked.
“Already tied-up!” Izuku answered, pointing at the downed thieves tied like salami that were being loaded on the back of an empty cart.
“In the end the extra cart we took along did serve its purpose! The bounties on the heads of these gentlemen will be a nice addition to our income! Hahaha!” The chubby man at the head of the long line of Merchant carts added, laughing merrily.
“Glad to be of help!” Rumi answered, dropping the Thieves’ Leader with the others once tied him up with the same ropes the merchants generously offered them.
“Even still, I do owe you two our lives, so we’ll share some water and food with you, as a thank you.” The Merchant Leader offered.
“Thank you! How long before we reach the Capital?” Izuku asked.
“Uhmm...Your horses seem to be in good condition, so I guess you’ll be there in a couple hours, just in time for lunch! Here, my treat.” The old man answered while studying the road ahead and absently passing a hand on his balding head, and then handing a couple strange octagonal coins to Rumi.
“Oh! Amazing!” The young Chef answered.
“Huhuhu! This’ nothing, my boy! Once in Serena City, visit the ‘The Hanged Boar’ Inn, the owner is Rosmerta and she offers the damn finest cooking in the entire city!”
“We’ll remember that, sure!” Rumi answered with a thumbs-up.
“Very well, I guess this is where we part ways, then! Safe trip, my friends! May the Gods protect you!” The old man said.
“Same to you!” Izuku answered.
“Byeee!” Rumi chorused, but as soon as both mounted on their horses (Rumi a bit wobbly still since Izuku was still teaching her how to actually ride one) a strange girl bolted out from one of the carts to address them.
“Wait! Brave travellers, I need your help!” The girl said, talking with hushed tones.
“…” What made both Chef and Hero student wary of the girl was her appearances, she had golden-blond hair styled in two small drills framing her healthy and slightly pudgy face on the front, while behind her head they were let free to cascade behind her back like strings of golden silk, she also possessed very well-kept fingernails and straight, pearl-white teeth; she honestly looked like a rich girl just out from an expensive saloon more than a Merchant’s daughter.
“...Please tell me this is not happening for real…” Rumi muttered to herself in dismay.
“What do you need?” Izuku instead asked, and contrary to the girl’s hope, they both noticed the corners of her mouth form a sneer for barely an instant before her face dropped into an Oscar-worthy performance of despair.
“Oh! You have to help me! I am on the run and only a duo of Heroes as strong as you can help me!” She had said with loud sniffs and sobs supposedly rattling her body.
“I think I have seen a Manga start exactly like this.” Izuku thought in worry.
“Help with what, exactly?” Rumi asked with narrowed eyes.
"Over there, kill him!"
As on cue, as if the entire thing was a very low budget play, signs of movement came from the trees nearby, followed by various screams of either panic or anger.
The bushes barely few metres ahead of both Dimensional Travellers and Merchant convoy then split apart to reveal a large guy nobly dressed rushing out in a panic and followed by a group of armed soldiers in leather armour chasing him, with their leader wearing an extremely beautiful chain-mail.
“Augustus! You are alive!” How that mountain of a guy did not notice the absolute lack of honest care in that scream of the girl, Izuku had no idea, meanwhile behind the Chef Rumi kept shaking her head in dismay.
"Their outfits do not seem like something mercenaries or adventurers would wear. These people are most likely the personal retainers of some nobility!” The Merchant Leader said in shock.
“You don’t say…” Rumi muttered.
“Uh?” Izuku muttered.
“Just watch.”
“Young Miss!” The tall beefy guy yelled in relief, and moved to act as a human shield for the girl no matter his injuries.
"Who are you?" The captain of the squad asked both Dimensional Travellers.
"We are just innocent bystanders, sir! Please continue and don't mind us! We haven't seen anything today!" The old Merchant answered for them while sweating in fear.
The private squad leader barely sent a grunt and a glare their way in answer before focusing on the large guy and young lady that stood on the other side.
“We need to help them!” Izuku hissed.
“Wait,” Rumi muttered while grabbing his arm.
“Why?!”
“Please trust her, Host Izuku. The situation is not what it looks like.” The System as well answered, heard only by the two.
"Young Heroes! Please save us! I am the daughter of Viscount Barrett. If you were to lend us a helping hand, I will definitely remember your kindness, and you will forever have the friendship of the Barrett family!" The strange girl said.
The young lady had a pair of mesmerising blue eyes, and at that moment her face had a pleading expression that would have most likely moved the majority of noble male youths to impulsively swear to fight for her honour, had it not looked so painfully fake to Izuku and Rumi.
“Just for the sake of the Host. This girl has already started waving Lies, the System can assure that the probabilities that any reward will actually be delivered is 0%.”
“But what if-!”
“Please observe, Host Izuku. Other Characters are about to join this sorry excuse of a play.” The Entity said.
"Young Miss, the Viscount only asks for you to return. Please do not resist!" The Captain ordered with a harsh tone while slowly approaching the young lady.
"That underhanded and despicable worm, he covets the possessions of my family and poisoned my father to his death. Even if I die I will not go back!"
The young lady poured all of her problems out in one go with a tone actually close at resembling real Despair, all the while sneaking a glance at Izuku from time to time while subtly smoothing the front of her dress in a way that slightly accentuated her cleavage, just enough to show the initial inch of the breast valley hidden under the dress.
“He killed her father!?” Izuku muttered with a growl.
“That part is a lie, Host. By the System’s estimates, she was the one to do the deed.” The System answered, making the young Chef’s eyes bulge-out.
"It seems like a struggle of inheritance, but by purposefully revealing this conflict, she seems to want to drag us down into this at all costs...Why?" Rumi muttered, unsure.
"Viscount Sire has not done any of the things you claim. As for the inheritance, it is to be decided after the meeting with the nobles!" The Captain exclaimed loudly, looking nervous at the family dirty laundry being outed like that.
"I have proof on my body! You can’t fool anybody!" The young lady snarled.
"Quick, bring Missy home!" The Captain had clearly decided that negotiating was no longer an option.
A few of the troops brandishing their knives and swords charged forward while the large guy roared and shielded the noble young lady.
But before the battle could actually commence, several arrows rained among the two groups, and soldiers wearing majestic armors accompanying a dashing young man in golden armour appeared on the scene in a mad charge.
“Protect the convoy! Protect the commoners! ONWARD!” The young noble at the head of the charge ordered with a mighty scream while heroically brandishing his sword.
“YES, YOUR MAJESTY!” The guards behind him answered with a roar that shook even the trees around them.
“It’s the Prince and the royal guards! RUN!” The Captain of the private militia yelled in horror, and following his example, all those men ran away chased by the Prince and his own personal guards.
“...That happened.” Rumi muttered.
“As the System said, more characters were about to join.” The System explained.
“Oh! I was so scared!” The girl yelled with big crocodile tears while hugging Izuku’s leg, almost throwing him down his horse.
“Glad...Glad you are okay, though!” The young Chef answered, barely keeping his balance.
“Luckily the Prince happened to pass by here, but still, as you saw there needs to be Justice brought to my father’s death! I need your help to protect the honour of my family, Brave Heroes!” The girl said.
“What about no?” Rumi answered, snarling.
“Uhu?!” Izuku, the girl and the Augustus guy gurgled-out as one in answer.
"I smelled enough crap, so I am cutting this short. Could it be that you have read too many tales about Knights in shining armour, young lady?" Rumi asked.
“What do you-”
"In a dense forest, an adventurer chanced upon a princess who was fleeing from her Evil Uncle, and even helped her seek revenge. After overcoming a series of adversities, they triumphed over their enemies. Thus the adventurer obtained the treasures and the love and the admiration of the princess. From then on, they lived happily ever after!" Rumi recited all that in a poetic, bard-like manner.
“…” Izuku saw it, how for an instant the girl’s face had become a mask of such putrid Hatred she looked about to try strangling his friend, only to hide it, barely, under a mask of disbelief.
“You-”
"All you said is probably an empty lie, full of false promises. At most, Izuku would obtain your body and flesh for one night and then we would have to help you seek revenge against a bastard who has the backing of a huge faction or even, worse case, an innocent guy that is just yet another victim of your petty tricks. How far am I from nailing it?"
"You have no idea who you are against!" The young lady answered with a growling voice and yet was obviously struggling to form coherent words, either because of her disbelief or of her wish to tear off Rumi’s head.
"Get lost!" The other bellowed in answer.
“You-”
“Is everybody okay?” At that moment the Prince and only two guards reappeared.
“OH! YOUR MAJESTY! I WAS SO SCARED!” And without missing a beat, the girl left Izuku’s side to dive for the Prince’s arms no matter the cries of protests from the young man’s guards to renew her performance.
“...Let’s go.” Rumi suggested, and helped by the distraction offered by the Prince, the two Travellers plus one robot quietly left everybody behind.
While this was happening, and while being comforted by the Prince himself in a tight embrace of his strong arms, the girl kept sending a glare of absolute hatred towards the back of Rumi’s head.
“Who’s that bitch?! I followed meticulously every step to initiate the Romance Route with Prince Halberd and here he is...But who are those two?! Yes, this is a real world and not a game, but until now everything happened as I expected!...Can it be...A Secret Route?! Sure I played Kingdoms of Romance IV religiously ever since it came out, but I still had to 100% it when I decided to use that Ritual!” The appearance of Izuku and Rumi had indeed thrown her for a loop since she did not expect to run into them after following her plans.
Sure her body’s father had to die, but eh! Sacrifices had to be made in the name of Love! Her uncle was a despicable pig too, so nobody will miss him when he will die as well! She especially won’t miss him, but will actually thank both dead men for their sacrifice from the loving embrace of her harem of hot studs! But what about those two strangers? Unless...
“Maybe I unknowingly started another route too! One with a bitch Viera Love Rival! Sure it’s a pity he is not a noble...But that boy did look like a nice piece of ass to add to my Harem!” Noble or not, that girl could still recognize a hot guy when she saw one.
“Izuku...A Japanese name...I heard they were planning for a Samurai-themed expansion...So maybe he is one of those ‘Secret Prince’ Characters! He felt very fit too! Uhmmm! I am gonna keep an eye on him too, maybe if I am lucky I can have a 100% Romance scene where That Shitty Bitch watches powerless as he dumps her ugly whore bunny ass for me...Yeeeees...I will slurp the dick of your man while you watch in defeat, you skank! I will steal your man away or my name is no longer Blake Elizabeth Meloarna Dementia Raven Way!” The Psychotic girl thought in malice while basking in the arms of the Prince she had spent countless nights of her previous life writing deranged Fanfics about.
With Izuku -
“So you two say it was all something she had planned about?” He asked again, just to make sure.
“Icchan, haven’t you seen how she jumped, and almost dry humped, that Prince guy as soon as he arrived? She was waiting for him, let me tell you! She never, NEVER looked afraid during the bandits attack or those guys attacking her servant! She had the eyes of somebody pleased at seeing things following her schedule!” Rumi answered.
“Correct. The System never registered fear in that woman’s soul. The whole time, all she felt was satisfaction.” The Entity added, it could just easily tell Izuku the girl was a woman having her own Isekai and following her personal Power Fantasy to build her deranged Harem, but why burden the future God of Cooking with the mental illness of a thirsty shut-in? That woman was not worthy of a single instant of attention from its beloved Host!
“As long as you can assure me I did not turn my back to somebody in need…” Izuku said, sighing.
“Believe me, if anything really dangerous was about to happen to that girl, I would have been the first to intervene, I am studying to become a Pro Hero, remember.” Rumi answered.
“Of course...one thing, though…”
“Yes?” She asked.
“How come you were so sure it was all either a set-up or something that girl wanted to see happen?”
“I-I...I-I may have had a passing interest with Romance Novels when I was a kid a-and saw similar scenes happen quite often between the Female Lead and her future husband…” Rumi answered with a very ashamed voice and an adorable cherry-red blush on her face.
“Aaaw! That’s adorable!” Izuku admitted with a stricken expression.
“S-Shut up!”
“No, really, Rumi! It’s adorable! I am not making fun of you,”
“No, it’s stupid…” She muttered.
“It is not, you were a kid dreaming to meet her Prince, nothing wrong with that!”
“I don’t need Prince Charming, I just need you.” she answered.
“Rumi, not this again.”
“Yes instead!”
“I won’t betray Momo, you know this.”
“Tch! You don’t need to ‘Betray her’! Just let me in as well,”
“She will never accept that,” Izuku answered, sighing.
“Who gives a fuck about what she wants! It’s what me and you want that matters! She’ll either come around or leave.” Rumi answered, scoffing.
“It doesn’t work like that...You know this…”
“I can make you happy, Izuku. I know this. Why do you keep denying it? Are you afraid?” She asked, looking at him with her ears pinned down and a very hurt expression.
“Don’t do this, Rumi. It will hurt you in the end…” He muttered.
“No it won’t if you act like a man and do what you have to!” She answered, hurrying forward and forcing him to kick his own horse into a sprint to keep up with her…
He also did everything in his power to pretend the few drops of water hitting his face was the dew of some plant, instead of coming from the girl he was chasing, honestly the more heart-wrenching alternative.
Several hours later – Serena City, Capital of the Human Kingdom -
“Aah!” Releasing a happy groan while stretching his back, a young man had just walked out of an imposing building showing the insignia of some sort of school on its front entrance, right above the enormous double-door in golden metal that slowly closed behind him.
“What a nice day! I finally registered into the classical Magic Academy full to the brim in Noble Babes just waiting for the Chad MC to come and collect them, and as I expected my Mana Pool really is as awe-inspiring as it was supposed to be! Too bad I already had some fun with the maids back home, shooting a couple loads into a Tsundere or a Kuudere schoolgirl in the upper years would have been a nice way to close this small errand...Oh well! I have plenty of time to seduce them, I am the Main Character after all! Aaah! Empty Balls, such a liberating feeling!” The second guy living his small Power Fantasy in that world muttered to himself with a satisfied smile.
But he did not just spend all his time screwing around with, or just screwing, every maid he deemed cute enough, he also had plans to enact his own personal Isekai Anime adventure too! That is why he signed-up for a Magical School and the royal army, he was actually following a mental check-list of sort trying to turn every cliché into reality, especially once learned that the body he was currently inhabiting had an older sister, in his eyes just another hole to fill and another member he wanted to add to his Harem.
Unfortunately, both him and that other girl were unaware that The System had took over and secretly reset the Laws of Reality of the world they both were reborn in, this was unknown even to the two demented gods that helped them transmigrate, those two perverts won’t interfere with its Host’ mission if The System had anything to say about it.
“...Feeling better?” It was then that the guy heard Izuku’s voice from one of the tables outside one of the local inns.
“A bit.” Soon followed by Rumi’s answer.
“Uhn?” The guy muttered, curious.
“That’s a relief.” The young Chef said with a gentle smile.
“...Sorry.” She muttered.
“For what?” he asked.
“I threw a tantrum, a childish one.”
“A VIERA! YES! I WANNA FUCK THAT!...Oh...She’s a bit short though...I heard they all are at least two meters tall.”
“Rumi, the things you said…”
“Are all real! I love you, okay?! I do! I really do, goddamnit!” Rumi answered.
“OOOH! She’s a tomboy! I always wanted to own one of those! But she likes another guy...Eh! As if that is a big problem! I just need enough Fame as a Badass and then fuck her to have her drop the guy.
The ones in a relationship are always a bit harder to woo, but if in the meantime I collect my initial Harem, then a couple Unattached Vieras and even my own sister, I am sure I will then be able to start adding girls already taken to my collection...Who can resist the MC after all? Huhuhuhu!
Have no fear, Little Rumi, when your time comes you’ll see how nice it is to ride this Stallion! I will dump sooo many loads in you you will barely remember your name! Just be patient, I will come collect you soon! Your precious Master and Owner John Hunter Drake Armageddon Hellblaze!” the guy thought in glee, eager to add another piece to his collection and running away cackling.
Not even ONCE his thoughts contained a single trace of Love.
“…”
“…”
“Who was that weirdo?” Izuku asked.
“Dunno! He just stood there looking at nothing and then ran away laughing.” Rumi answered, appalled by the insane guy’s actions.
“He did ruin the mood, though,” The young Chef admitted, sighing.
“Izuku...I do love you. I am not joking.”
“But I have Momo.”
“Then have Momo AND Me! You can handle two girlfriends!” Rumi answered.
“But it wouldn’t be fair towards you and her!”
“Who says that?” The Hero Student answered, grabbing his hands and pleased to see him not recoil when she used her thumbs to massage his knuckles.
“Common sense,” Izuku answered, chuckling.
“Ah-ha! Common Sense says it, not Izuku Midoriya. It means there is a chance!” Rumi said, softly.
“Rumi...Why are you doing this?”
“What was the first thing you thought when you first saw me?” Rumi asked.
“...Honest?”
“Honest.”
“...tty.”
“Izu, I may have good ears, but I too have limits. Louder.” She said, chuckling.
“She has very pretty ears.” He muttered, face burning red in shame.
“D’aaaw!”
“RUMI!” He shrieked, turning even redder.
“Huhuhu! Sorry, sorry. Then? What did you think?”
“...Please don’t get angry.”
“I won’t. Maybe.” She answered with narrowed eyes.
Sigh! “How can somebody so brash, blunt and rude be a Hero?...Sorry.”
“Jesus, I really made a bad first impression, uh?” Rumi admitted, appalled.
“Kinda, but then I happened to hear snippets of you talking with your friends whenever you and your classmates came to my Restaurant and you just...Helped them. And I really liked that, that honesty of yours really amazed me,” He said, unsure.
“Uh-hu?”
“Yes, you are blunt and say what you think without a care, you would curse and insult, but you would still cheer others all the same, your way! Normal people say ‘You can do it!’ and often not even believe it themselves, you instead would say ‘Just get-up and do it, Fucker! You have what it takes!’ and instead fully believe your friends can achieve their goal. I met rude and vulgar people, I even grew-up with one as a friend before we went separate ways, so I could tell that in your case there was a deep sense of caring buried deep under the Tough Attitude! I don’t know why you hide it like that, but I can tell there is something sweet hidden under your brash tone.” He explained.
“…”
“Too creepy?”
“No, no. Just...You say some fucking sweet things for somebody that doesn’t want to woo me…” Rumi admitted, touched.
“Rumi.”
“So to you I was rude, blunt and vulgar but with a hidden sweet and caring side?”
“Pretty much.” The young Chef answered, chuckling unease.
“And all you saw of my Quirk was the ears?”
“That and I wondered how much a Rabbit based Mutation Quirk influenced your kicking power, your jumps, your hearing and maybe your Instincts. Bunnies are a kind of Prey Species so I may have wondered if it somehow gave you a sixth sense for danger or something.” Izuku answered.
“That’s it? Nothing else?”
“Yes? Back before living as Zaus I may have tried asking you a lot of questions about your Quirk and its application in Heroics, but after an entire life where I shelved my dream I just learned to keep questions to myself, to not look weird.” He answered, shrugging.
“You do know I will answer every question you have, yes? You just need to ask.”
“I know, I know. Don’t worry.”
“So you only had harmless questions in mind…”
“Rumi?”
“...Do you know what was the first thing they said when I admitted I wanted to be a Hero?” She answered with a small voice.
“You can do it?” Izuku answered, scrunching his nose in confusion.
“Huhuhu! Not everybody thinks like you do, Izu. They said ‘Why? Something as pretty as you shouldn’t do something so dangerous! Rabbits are not made to fight!’. Something, not somebody.” She answered, frowning.
“Oh…”
“All my childhood...All the way to High School. They treated me like some frail little animal, and once the morons around me discovered their hormones, boys started looking at me waiting in trepidation for ‘The Rabbit in me’ to make me spread my legs because in Heat...I can count on the fingers of my goddamn hand the number of people that actually, really believed in me. For everybody else, I did not have the right Quirk for it, or just saw me as some easy lay...Surprisingly some girls too soon started hoping to get some action, as if I was more part animal than human.” Rumi explained, face twisted in disgust.
“Why?”
“Stupidity, of course! Mutation Quirks are accepted only if they are pleasing to the eyes. Many still dream about having a Catgirl Girlfriend, or a Fox Girl Girlfriend...Or a Bunny Girl girlfriend, Quirks only turned that fantasy into reality. Same goes for women and animal Husbandos.”
“I-I wasn’t aware of this,” Izuku admitted.
“Huhuhu, almost nobody is! God forbid people admit they are horny bastards...For fuck sake, there is no middle ground...Either your Mutation makes you into a living Sexual Kink, or you are a Freak Show! My aunt is more Bunny than me, and people constantly look at her in surprise at seeing a human-sized bunny walk on her hind legs! I lost count of the times she admitted to being jealous of me because besides ears and a fluffy tail I look human. Something that made me fall into the Kink category instead.” She answered, sighing.
“That is why you snapped at that dwarf?” Izuku asked with a sorrowful expression.
“I can’t even ride the bus, you know? I would get to school with my ass covered in pinch marks if I tried.” She answered, ears low against her head.
“I can’t imagine how annoying that must be.”
“Very. Yeah I have a short temper, but that harassment doesn’t help! They even act surprised if I get angry! As if I was supposed to just take it!”
“That’s not fair.”
“I KNOW!...And then I met you, I saw a kind and cute guy and decided to playfully try to flirt with you in a manner that many would have killed to see me do to them just to watch you squirm like they do, and instead you rejected me. Over and over. AT that point it had become a matter of pride: You had to fall for my charm so that I could then dash it, like it always happened. Except, you kept not falling for it.”
“Because I saw it was just a joke to you, as you said. Though I won’t deny I didn’t feel it a bit, I never was the sort of guy girls find attractive, either as Izuku or as Zaus, so having a cute girl flirt with me for once, even as a joke, felt nice.” He admitted, chuckling.
“Boy, you have no idea about your chances with girls!” Rumi thought, chuckling.
“But then you said it stopped being a game to you, why?”
“Because both in that small date we had and during the Enbu training, I could tell that you kept seeing Rumi instead of ‘That hot piece of bunny ass I want to bang!’.
You talked with me while looking at me in the eyes, never leering and just kept doing lots and lots of other sweet little things with no expectations. How was I supposed to react besides deciding ‘I want you’? I am no longer asking you to break-up with Momo, I finally made peace with the fact that she will stay by your side no matter what I said, but I want to stay at your other side too. It can work. Trust me!” She answered, taking his hand up and tenderly kissing the back of it while holding eye-contact with him.
“Rumi...I don’t-”
“I have ten days to show you how nice it will be to have both me and Momo hanging from your arms, you can’t escape.” She answered with a wink just as a tall and burly woman brought them their food.
“God...Strong-willed women are a menace…” Izuku muttered in dismay.
“Bwahahaha! Yes we are, youngsters! Just accept she won’t back down that easily. But give a pause to your Lovers’ Quarrel and try this: My prized Herbal Roasted Pork leg!” The Inn Owner herself, Rosmerta, declared proudly while depositing between the two a long tray with an entire pig leg roasted to perfection and with a rich herbal scent framing the meat fragrance.
“This does look nice...Fuck, it taste good too!” Rumi admitted, impressed.
“It is good…” Izuku answered, eating with a more thoughtful expression.
“I am impressed you two are actually eating an entire pig leg instead, where do you put all that?” Rosmerta said with her eyebrows raised high.
“Me and my man have deep stomachs! Ha-ah!” Rumi answered, smirking, and filling her plate over and over.
“…”
“You okay, boy?” Rosmerta asked.
“Do you have dwarven beer?” Izuku answered.
“Uuh! Inspiration!” Rumi said, chuckling.
“Inspiration? For what?” The very muscular woman asked.
“A dish. A pork dish with beer.” Izuku answered while studying the morsel of roasted pork in his hands.
“You are a cook?” Rosmerta asked, surprised.
“He is a Chef,” Rumi corrected her, huffing.
“I have been sent here to look for some Ingredients, one of which is Dwarven beer, and was tasked with creating two dishes, or at the very least create a new version of two already existing recipes, using dwarven beer.” Izuku answered.
“That may be a bit difficult then,” The In Owner admitted, grimacing.
“Uh? Why?”
“AH! Because we Dwarves won’t let our precious beer be used for cooking! Beer is meant to be a drink! Not wasted in a damn dish, boy!” A short and stout man with black hair and an extremely thick beard answered from a nearby table, and slapping its wood roughly enough the mugs of common beer on it almost toppled over.
“What ma brother said! You can’t just walk here and ask a Dwarf to hand over their beer! It’s for dwarves only!” the guy’s brother, sporting similar appearances but with blond hair and beard, answered.
“So only a dwarf can drink dwarven beer? Why so?” Izuku asked with narrowed eyes.
“Because we say so, BOY! We be makin’ that, so we decide who’s drinkin’ that!”
“….OOOH! It’s because it sucks! That’s why!” Rumi said out of the blue.
“WHAT!? HOW DARE YOU, LASSIE!?” Both Dwarf Twins shrieked as one with red faces.
“Rumi?” Izuku asked, confused.
“Now I see why they made it sound like your Mission would have been hard! Their beer must suck so badly that even you would have trouble creating a good dish with it!” She said, stealthily sending him a wink.
“Oooh! I see!” Izuku answered, catching on.
“YE SEE NOTHIN’!” Blond Dwarf roared.
“I send my apology to this World’s Ingredients for what I am about to say, I don’t mean it and it’s just for the sake of this Mission…” Izuku took a deep breath and actually mentally apologised to that beer.
“There is no shame in making a bad beer, but being so prideful to hide it like this...Aren’t you poisoning your race? I bet there are plenty of people that would gladly teach you how to make proper beer!” The young Chef said, and Rosmerta and every other patron present sucked-in a cold breath at the daring insult.
“YOU THINK WE CAN’T MAKE BEER!? AND TELL US TO ASK FOR SOME RANDOM SCHMUCK TO HELP US?!” The black bearded Dwarf shrieked in near madness.
“No matter how disgusting it is, we still need it, even if it tastes like shit,” Rumi answered, shrugging.
“TASTES LIKE SHIT?! SAY THAT TO MY FACE! I DARE YOU! I DOUBLE DARE YOU! I ∞ DARE YOU!” Blond Dwarf yelled while trying to jump Rumi, only for Whitey to grab him by the back of the neck and keep him high in the air for him to aimlessly wave his arms and legs around like an angry cat.
“If it’s so good, show it! Bring some here and let my man use it for cooking and we’ll see how good it is!” Rumi said.
“I was told that the beer made by Dwarves is extremely delicious, but unless I taste that personally, for me they will always remain rumours...Why forbid everybody from drinking it?” Izuku asked.
“Because nobody except a Dwarf can catch all the nuances of the taste, okay, boy? Drinking beer is not just filling your belly! It’s tasting! Savouring! Enjoying it! It’s not just some bog to get drunk on, it’s an experience!” Black Haired Dwarf said, huffing annoyed.
“That’s...That’s a very beautiful thing to say,” Izuku admitted.
“Thank you?”
“No, really! You want people to honour that Beer! And you have pride in it! That’s good! Amazing even!” He said with shining eyes.
“Now yer praising us...Ya really want to try it, don’t ya?” Blond dwarf said with a raised eyebrow while still being held up by Whitey big metallic hand.
“In all honesty? Yes. I promise I will do my best to make it justice, but even if you don’t want anybody besides Dwarves to drink it, I will never stop asking until I get a chance to try this.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“Well, you will keep askin’ forever then! Dwarven beer is for Dwarves only!”
“...I will let you use my beer, boy. Show them what you want to make.” Rosmerta said with narrowed eyes.
“You sure?!” Izuku asked, surprised.
“I have my own reasons to not like how dwarves hog their beer to themselves, and only a small part because I damn love drinking a cold one whenever possible and their own blend is the one I always wanted to try, but we can add to the pile me not liking how full of shit they are about it. Are you a good Chef?” She asked.
“I think so?” He answered.
“They call him King of Cooking back home.” Rumi answered, rolling her eyes.
“Shhh!” Izuku hissed, embarrassed.
“That’s one fancy title! Hahahahaha! Well, let this girlie put that to the test then! What did you plan to prepare had those two half-pints let you use their LEGENDARY Beer?” Rosmerta asked.
“HEY! THAT’S BODY SHAMING!” Both Twins yelled, but nobody cared.
Sigh! “Schweinshaxe…” Izuku answered, sighing, and saying that in perfect German.
“Gesundheit?” Rumi answered in absolutely mangled German.
“No, it means Roasted Pig Knuckle.” Izuku answered, snorting amused.
“Knuckle? Pigs have fists now?” She asked.
“BWAHAHAHAHAHA! No, little Viera! A Pig Knuckle is the meaty upper part of the leg...You want the ones from the rear legs, I bet. They are much bigger and meatier, after all.” Rosmerta said with an amused tone soon turning thoughtful.
“Exactly, can I have those?”
“Hu-uh! I am currently smoking the ones from the front legs to make some ham hocks I will use for soup for tonight’s dinner. You can have the hind legs, I still have not started treating those yet.”
“Thank you!”
“Wait a bit, and I will bring them out. You others instead! Bring here everything he needs to cook in the main room! We’ll use the old oven outside!” Rosmerta ordered her staff.
“Yes, Boss!” the young men and women answered as one.
Soon tables and random seats were moved aside to create an ample space for Izuku to cook, with the biggest tables accosted and covered in a thick, rough cover they then filled in utensils and pans of every size, along other cooking amenities, all this while an old oven right outside the Inn main room, easily accessible from a side door, went cleaned thoroughly and prepared to be turned on at the moments notice.
“Tables and pans ready! We have enough to cook for an army!” the girls said in chorus.
“Oven ready, we have enough wood to make it burn for a month straight!” The boys echoed soon after.
“Fast and precise, I Stole those guys from every Inn and kitchen I could find from here to Celestia Woods Town. Only the best.” Rosmerta declared in pride and basking in the amazed looks of her guests at the absurd speed everything had been organised with.
“Impressive!” Izuku admitted.
“Yeah, it is!” Rumi added.
“I don’t own the best damn Inn in this city for nothing! Here are the pig knuckles, just out from my Ice Room for a fortnight, so they are perfect for cooking. What kind of beer do you plan to use to cook these wonders?” The big buff woman asked.
She had put in the middle of the workstation a long wooden tray with six Pig Knuckles, positioned with the cut facing down and acting as a base for the conical meat cuts.
“They are perfect, yes! Now, for this recipe I will need a dark beer, please. Do you have any?”
“Dark beer, uh? No problem, as I promised, we’ll use my own batch, I make it myself!” Rosmerta answered with a nod.
“Thank you! You are a life-saver, Miss Rosmerta!”
“You have no idea how much I worried about this Mission being a pain in the ass!” Rumi admitted, chuckling.
“Glad to be of help! Now, enough chit-chat! Show me your Skills, ma boy!” Rosmerta answered, chuckling with an expression faintly reminding both teens of All Might’s infamous smile.
“Ready!” Izuku answered, moving behind the workstation while tying a green bandanna on his head, every guest keeping quiet and following his every move, especially the Dwarf Twins.
“So...Yes, I can confirm that the pig knuckles have been left out to dry just right, good.
The thing is fairly simple: I’ll start by pricking the skin lightly with my knife, it will help turn it bubbly-crispy once cooked instead of coming out like a uniform flat sheet of hardened skin.” Izuku said while using the Dragon Knife to poke lots of tiny holes on the skin of the knuckles with rapid and delicate movements, and making sure to not pierce the meat at all, only the skin.
“As a trick, I will use a few thin skewers to help keep the skin stretched and flat during the cooking by piercing them with two in a way that will form a cross. They will prevent it from shrinking and creasing when I will roast the knuckles slowly.” He then said, showing the two thin ten-inches-long skewer needles offered by The System he prepared to pierce each pig knuckle all the way through.
“That knife is not normal…” Black Haired Dwarf muttered.
“Yeah, way too well-made to be used for cooking…” Blond dwarf answered, uncertain.
“Those will be useful later, though, for now I will take care of seasoning!” Izuku said, pleased, once washed every knuckle with clean water.
“I’ll help you, what do you need?” Rumi asked.
“Let’s see. Can you check if Miss Rosmerta has salt, pepper, juniper berries, caraway seeds, fennel seeds, garlic and vinegar she can share with us?” He asked.
“I have all that...Except those Caraway Seeds things,” Rosmerta said with a scrunched nose.
“Host, this world calls that plant Snow Flower for its flower forming bunches similar to snowflakes.” The System supplied.
“Ah! You call them Snow Flower seeds.” The young Chef said aloud.
“You can use those for cooking?” Rosmerta asked, confused.
“You’d be surprised.” He answered, chuckling.
“I can give you those! We own a flower shop and have all kinds of seeds!” A young girl said from a table nearby.
“Really!? Thank you!” Izuku answered with a grateful smile.
“I’ll bring some immediately!” The girl answered while hurrying out of the Inn.
“Good! While we wait for those seeds, I will cut the garlic into slivers and stuff them in the shallow incisions I made in the exposed pork flesh and brush the vinegar on the meat part only, just a bit, enough to reduce the strong pork odour this cut of meat is prone to when roasting, as an insurance. The skin will be done later, during the High Heat Roasting step of the recipe.” Izuku said while gently brushing each knuckle with a small quantity of vinegar.
“HERE ARE THE SEEDS!” The young girl from the flower shop yelled while barging inside the Inn main room, out of breath but with a big bundle of seeds safely kept in her hands.
“Perfect! Just in time, I will use those with the others to create a coarse powder to cover the Pork Knuckle! Thank you!” Izuku said while rapidly using a mortar and pestle to create said powder with the seeds, salt and pepper and the berries.
“Daamn, that powder smells goo-ACHOOO!”
“Bless you, Rumi-chan!” Izuku answered, laughing, and rubbing the Pork Knuckle in oil so that the powder would stick to it, and covering the knuckles completely: meat, skin and every crevice completely.
“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, I took a whiff too close to the thing. What now?” Rumi answered with an objectively adorable pout.
“Now I will skewer them and leave them to ‘Rest’, it will let the seasoning seep into the meat and dry the skin.” He answered, piercing the pork knuckles with two skewers each paying attention to have both needles pass as close as possible to the bone in a way that the two metal needles formed a cross.
“For how long?” Rosmerta asked.
“Until tomorrow, is it a problem?” Izuku answered.
“Not really, I will keep it in a corner of my ice room. What about you two? Up to wait until tomorrow?” She answered.
“We can wait no problem.” Blond Dwarf answered, shrugging.
“Good things take time! And if we do this tomorrow, it means I can see if the guy managing the Brewery can come try this as well, if there is a guy that can tell if you can handle our beer, that’s Thirstruil Goldbrewer himself.”
“...Curious name, but thanks for the vote of confidence.” Izuku muttered, unsure.
“I have a free room you can use, we will return the table to its old position and repeat everything tomorrow,” Rosmerta said.
“Sorry about this, I should have told you in advance I needed a night of rest for the recipe.” Izuku said, shy.
“It’s partly my fault too, don’t feel bad.” The buff woman answered, giving his back a friendly slap that echoed loudly in the entire room and made even his bones rattle a little.
Later that night – Castle -
While Izuku and Rumi were enjoying the amazing dinner Rosmerta offered in her Inn, inside the castle ruling over the entire city with its immense size there was a more sombre air as the King of Men, ruler of every human territory in that world, was looking with grim eyes at the four men standing in front of him, all of them sitting at the same table to look at a miniature map of the lands under human control.
“The Kings of East, West, North and South salute the King of Men,” The four men taking care of the four slices of human territories said as one and bowing to the man whose territories they managed.
“Raise. We have no time for formalities...So?”
“As we suspected, Zorod The Sky King has returned,” King of the East said with a grimace.
“No!”
“How?”
“It was dead!”
The other kings gasped in horror at hearing those accursed words.
“Silence! Please explain.” The King of Man asked.
“I am still looking into it, but we suspect a powerful Mage must have resurrected that monster with some forbidden Magic. The few that saw that dragon and survived, talked about the undead monster turning from animated bones to revived flesh once again eating the population of entire villages!” King of the East explained with a shudder.
“So those poor people have been used as a sacrifice to revive that monster. What now?” King of the North asked.
“What now? We kill that thing again! Just like our Ancestors did last time!” King of the West answered.
“Yes? How?” the other asked back with narrowed eyes.
“...Ehm...Eeeh…”
“Last time a Hero rose to face it with a group of trusted friends, dying heroically but ridding us of that infernal Dragon’s reign of terror.” The King of Men answered.
“Ah, yes! The old Prophecy Hero thing we do, we should even have a Prophecy in storage we can use to justify it.” King of the North said.
“Sounded kind of authentic too, that helps!” King of the East answered.
“That’s good and all, but do we have one of those Heroes at hand too?” King of the South asked.
“No. But we can make one…” The King of Men answered with a smug smile, throwing onto the table a stack of parchment sheets detailing a recent addition to the Royal Military Academy in Serena City.
“Make one?” King of the South asked while studying the young man’s hand-drawn mugshot.
“Immense Mana Capacity and subpar brain, tell me he doesn’t look like the ideal candidate to you.” The King of Men said, chuckling darkly.
“Huhuhu! Indeed he is! So we groom him into our new Hero like usual?” King of the East asked.
“Legends always talk about a Hero of immense Power and an even greater sense of Justice rising to fight the forces of Evil, but let’s be honest, at the end of the day, the former is what we actually need, the latter...Not so much. Unless you can talk a giant Dragon into not destroying the world.” King of the North answered, perusing the abysmal test results of that candidate with a frown.
“Though a big enough sense of Justice makes them easier to guide.” King of the East said.
“True, but this guy instead...Dumber than a sack of rocks…” King of the North muttered, impressed for all the wrong reasons.
“Dumb, Powerful and Lustful, my friends.” The King of Men said.
“Lustful?” the other four chorused.
“Did a bit of digging, just in case. Rare instances of Powerful Mana capacities are “rare” for a reason, and absurd cases like his are literally something you see once every few hundred years. I would like to know how to use these sorts of resources.”
“OOOH! You already planned something?” King of the South asked, eager.
“I did, but you can help me fine-tune it. What about this: I believe that if we send enough beautiful women his way to fill his head with praises and ideas of him reaching new heights of greatness then we won’t even need to point him towards the Dragon, he will march to the beast by himself.” The old man answered.
“Huhuhuhu! Yeees. I say we also give him some very specific training that will just happen to be what he needs to kill the Dragon Zorod. We have some fragments of knowledge dated to the last time the thing was around we can use.” King of the West said.
“Exactly, and considering his love for shoving it into every female he finds, just promising him the greatest beauties of the land will already be a big enough incentive, Fame and Fortune will round it up adequately.” King of the North added, humming.
“That is a good idea too. How long do we need to groom our Martyr?” The King of Men asked.
“Considering how dumb he is...I say three months at the very least. And that if we use hypnotic Magic to make him learn while sleeping.” King of the East answered, frowning.
“Too long!” the others answered.
“Too long if unmotivated. Let him train one week, while continuously fueling his Ego and downplaying the Dragon’s threat as much as possible, then make him face Zorod and make him escape barely alive...He seems to be extremely prideful, so the humiliation of losing against the Dragon will surely push him to actually do use some of that small brain of his and train harder for the rematch. After all, we just need him to kill that thing, not survive the encounter.” The King of Men answered, thoughtful.
“Should work...We need some very expendable people though, good meat shields that will let him escape alive the first time.” King of the North said.
“I will find somebody, have no fear.” King of the East answered, shrugging.
“Good, we already have a good base to start from. Let’s plan our Hero’s training and noble sacrifice.” The King of Men declared, pleased.
Indeed as it stood, thanks to The System’s intervention, what would have been a pretty standard Isekai Trope will evolve in a more sinister way for that guy. Not that The Entity cared at all about it.
The next day – The Hanged Boar Inn – Main room -
Once again Rosmerta and her staff had prepared a workstation for Izuku to use by nearing to tables and had already turned on the oven right outside for him to use, the novelty of the scene was the third Dwarf that had accompanied the Twins, a dwarf with even broader shoulders but a very pointed chin hidden under his short pitch-black beard.
The new guy was at the moment looking at Izuku from head to toe with an unreadable expression.
“Take a picture, it will last longer,” Rumi muttered, scoffing.
“Kyuun!” Shiro himself, at the moment perched on the girl’s shoulder, added with a frown of his own.
“So you want to use our beer to make a dish, hn? And you swear you can actually use it well,” The Master Brewer finally said, crossing his arms.
“I have faith in my abilities, that is why I am insisting, but I also know that I can’t force you to hand it over just like that. So I will make this dish with Human beer this time, as a way to show you my own skills and let you decide if I can be permitted to do it again with Dwarven beer.” Izuku answered.
“I see...And what Human beer will you use?” the dwarf asked.
“This one, my own personal creation! The famous Rosmerta’s Maiden Dark Ale!” The buff woman answered, proudly slapping the big barrel next to her.
“Uhmm. Can I taste it?” Thirstruil asked.
“Okay? Why?” She asked back with narrowed eyes.
“Please trust me, Madam.” He answered, actually using a civil tone.
“Fine. Here,” She said, uncorking the small faucet at the bottom of the barrel to fill a pint she then handed to the guy.
“Thank you. Please allow me.” he said, slowly and carefully savouring the offered drink.
“...This is some fine beer, woman. You know what you are doing,” The Dwarf admitted once finished tasting the pint.
“So?”
“Young man, have a taste and tell me what you think.” He then said, filling the pint again and handing it to Izuku.
“I am not really a drinker, but okay…” The young Chef said, emptying the thing in several measured gulps while tasting it.
“So?” The Master Brewer asked with his arms crossed while carefully studying Izuku’s face intently.
“Let’s see...Besides the pristine dark brown colour, it has an amazing full bodied feel that coats the mouth, faint taste notes of caramel and a warm aroma reminiscent of roasted nuts to the nose. As it stands, it’s perfect for this recipe.” Izuku declared with his eyes closed.
“…”
“What?” he asked once seen the surprised looks of the tasters.
“Hahahaha! All correct! Damn, boy! You got yourself a damn good tongue!” Rosmerta admitted with an amused laugh.
“How do you people feel all that when drinking?! I can only feel Beer!” Rumi asked with an angry frown while looking at her own mug.
“I can teach you, if you want, Rumi-chan!” Izuku answered, smiling.
“Yes, please! I wanna sound all fancy too when drinking!” She answered, chuckling.
“...I completely missed the nut smell thing…” The Blond Dwarf admitted with a whisper.
“Sssh! Don’t admit a thing!” His brother answered while slapping the back of his head to silence him.
“All correct, both your judgement and how to drink it, you do know how to treat a beer…”
“Yes?” The Dwarf Twins asked with a tone of dread once seen the intense stare he levelled at them.
“Rubli, Dubli...Go to the Brewery and tell them I need a keg of...Dragon’s Blood Ale. It should have similar taste notes to this one. And be quick.” Thirstruil declared after some thinking.
“But!”
“NOW!” The Dwarf snapped.
“Yes, Boss!” the Twins answered in chorus while scampering away.
“So I can use dwarven beer?” Izuku asked, eyes wide in disbelief.
“I can tell when I am faced with somebody that respects their craft, you didn’t shove the entire thing into your gut like a drunkard, you studied each sip, just like I do when brewing. So I want to give you one single chance. Do not waste it, or I will bury my axe so deep into your skull even the Gods won’t be able to pry it out.” The Dwarf answered.
“I won’t disappoint you,” Izuku answered, returning the stare just as hard.
“You better. Just be careful, Dwarven beer is very different from Human beer, it’s not made for spineless drinkers.” Thirstruil declared with a smug smirk.
“I will remember that too.” Izuku answered, and barely five minutes later the two Dwarf Twins returned, carrying on their back a short but wide wooden barrel.
“Here it is! I just hope you know what you are doing, Boss!” Blond Dwarf said, huffing in fatigue.
“I do, but now it’s all in the hands of this young human. Please, show me your skills, young man.” The Master Brewer declared, respectfully stepping aside to let Izuku free reign over their barrel.
“Thank you, I will start immediately. The beer gravy is a fairly simple part of the dish, all things considered. We have our Dwarven dark beer, then juniper berries, bay leaves, some chicken broth, cornstarch from my personal reserves (You can use flour too, but in that case the gravy has a more cloudy look), sugar, salt, some garlic, a nice carrot and a big onion.” The young Chef said while studying the spread of Ingredients he had amassed to the side.
“So you will blend them together or…” Rumi asked, unsure.
“Nope! First we take a big roasting pan, one deep enough for all the beer I will use…” He said, taking the crude-looking pan Rosmerta passed him.
“And once filled it with all the Ingredients for the gravy, making extra care to not let the beer make too much foam, we put a rack over it. And then the pig knuckles on the rack with the cut side face down…” Each pig knuckle was then carefully positioned over the rack making sure they all had some space between them.
“Why?”
“A bit of a trick: as the liquid under the meat boils, it will release steam that will keep the underside meat nice and moist, but without ruining the crispiness of the skin, since the knuckle skin is ‘by design’ at a sloped angle, the steam won’t hit it. As a bonus, while this happens meat juices will drip down into the pan to add some meaty flavour to the beer gravy stock.” Izuku answered, smirking.
“Sounds promising.” Rosmerta admitted with an appreciative humming.
“Of course it’s a matter of balance, I don’t want too much ‘Meaty flavour’ to be added, so caution is a must.” He answered, putting the whole thing into the oven to slow-roast it.
“...How long will it take?” Rumi asked.
“On average two or so hours, pork knuckle is not very fatty or rich in connective tissue, so it can’t cook for too long or parts of it will lose juiciness and become hard.”
“Two hours?!” Rumi yelled in horror.
“Wanna play dice, lass? We have cards too.” The Twin Dwarves offered.
“Only a friendly game, no money bet.” The Master Brewer added.
“...Fine...” She answered, sighing in dismay.
“Sorry, Rumi-chan!” Izuku said, sheepish.
“It’s okay, just promise me it will be so damn good you will kick their ass,”
“It will, promise!” He answered.
“Good!”
Two hours later -
“Ready!” Izuku finally declared after having checked the knuckles at regular intervals to turn them around and check on both the meat state of cooking and the broth under it.
When he finally took the knuckles out of the oven, everybody saw how the skin had turned into a gorgeous caramel-brown colour while being soft and rubbery, but very dry.
“Doesn’t look very crispy, yet.” Rosmerta said, unsure.
“This is just the first stage. The skin needs to be soft for now in order for the crackling bubbles to form when I will put them back into the oven at a very high temperature. If the skin is crispy at this stage, those lovely bubbles can’t form and the recipe, while still good, will be a failure.” Izuku answered, sighing in relief at seeing the meat being in optimal conditions, as he hoped.
“Bubbly crispy pork skin, that sounds very nice!” Thirstruil muttered with an eager tone.
“Oh! You’ll see! Now...I will move the knuckles to a separate set of trays, and increase the oven temperature to around 260 degrees (500 F). In the meantime I will brush the knuckles’ skin with a tiny bit of vinegar, that will evaporate quickly enough to not ruin the crispiness, but slow enough to take the edge off from the skin’s smell.”
“And the Gravy?” Rosmerta asked.
“The liquid in the pan has reduced enough, while the high-temperature roasting happens, I will also work to thicken the gravy.” The young Chef answered, and once the oven became super-hot like he needed, he moved the knuckles inside.
“How long?” Rumi asked, worried, while also cleaning the table again of the peanuts they were using in place of money, all for the Twins’ despair at their losing yet another big chunk of their capital to her.
“Thirty minutes, have no fear, we are almost done.” Izuku answered with a reassuring tone.
He was skillfully dividing his attention between the blast-roasting knuckles, rotating the trays and brushing them with vinegar, and the gravy he was working on...Then he had a brainwave.
“Since the gravy is on the easy side, I will also work on a side dish, since I did manage to get my hands on some Dwarven beer. I will make some Beer-Caramelised Onions. I hope you don’t mind.” The young Chef declared with a pleased smile.
“Beer-” Blond Dwarf started saying.
“Caramelised?” Black haired Dwarf finished saying, both with starry eyes.
“Since I got my hands on Dwarven beer! What a shameless Human you are! Hahahaha!” Thirstruil admitted with a loud laugh.
“Maybe a bit, yes, but it will taste delicious, let me show you!” Izuku answered, chuckling.
Grabbing some big yellow onions, the young Chef rapidly sliced them thin while waiting for the butter on a side skillet to melt and become hot enough, then he mixed together the Dwarven beer with some salt and brown sugar, then added the onions for a first round of cooking.
“Jesus Christ...This scent is a torture…” Rumi admitted with a low voice when the beer mixture was added to the onions, and cursing the Food Immersion training Izuku was giving her for turning her stomach into a bottomless pit always craving for food.
“Almost there, be patient. Now I lower the heat...And keep stirring until the liquid part reduces and coats the onions…” he muttered, adding some flecks of chilies and a dash of pepper for extra taste, and stirring everything every so often, just enough to make the onions brown, but not burn, and at the same time he started preparations for the beer sauce that will adorn the pork knuckles: the Beer Gravy.
About the Beer gravy, while waiting for the knuckles to finish becoming heavenly crispy, Izuku recovered the remaining broth that had been boiling under the meat and strained it, setting the resulting liquid up to boil and slowly adding cornstarch to it until thickened into a syrup-like consistency, once ready he then poured it into several cups that will adorn every portion of the knuckles.
“Plates!” Rosmerta barked at her staff.
“Yes, Boss!” her workers answered immediately, and a long row of plates went rapidly set in front of the young Chef.
“Hell yeah! I am so ready!” Rumi said, actually sounding excited.
“Oh! Me too, young lady! Me too!” Thirstruil admitted, chuckling.
“Good thing everything is ready, then!” The young Chef answered, chuckling.
When he finally removed the trays from the oven, the resulting scent bomb blasted the entire Inn as soon as he brought the food inside.
“This is our brew! Can you feel it, brother?! That kid actually did it!” Blond Dwarf said in awe.
“Yeah, the scent of our beer, I could recognize it everywhere!”
“Yes, the smell is good, no question, but we still need to taste it to see if our friend here actually did a good job and handled our beer properly.” Thirstruil answered, still impressed, but still looking at the pork knuckles with narrowed eyes.
“Don’t be a spoilsport! So? Can we eat them now?” Rumi asked.
“Not yet, sorry. I need to let them rest for around fifteen minutes to let the meat juices redistribute properly and avoid them running everywhere while eating.”
“Aaaw!”
“It will be worth it, girlie! Trust your man, we Chefs know our shit!” Rosmerta answered, snorting amused.
“Thanks for waiting, you can eat now. Please enjoy your meal!” When Izuku finally delivered the assembled plates, Rumi, Rosmerta and the three dwarves seemed even too eager to try the dish he made.
Each plate had a big pool of gravy in the middle, and on top of it rested a single pork knuckle, following the traditional plating method of the dish, then there was Izuku’s own additions: to the side there was a nice mound of caramelised onions and at the opposite side of it a small cup holding the remaining gravy just in case the eater wished to add more.
“Well, nice looks nice, but let’s try the taste!” Rosmerta said, picking the entire thing up with just two fingers and popping the entire thing in her mouth.
“Eats like an Orc…” Rubli, the blond dwarf, muttered.
“And punches like one too, bro. Careful.” his brother muttered in answer.
Crunch!
The perfectly-made, crispy pig skin produced a sharp crunching sound at the very first bite the taster gave to their own portion, then came to juicy, tender pork meat with its flavour framed heavenly by the beer that had boiled under it and the spices mixture used to marinade it, and the gravy...So thick, and creamy, coating the mouth and still preserving the original beer flavour at the forefront with the other spices faintly prickling the nose and tongue…100% Köstlich!
( It means Delicious. IF my German is not too rusty.)
“Fucking hell!” The two Twins yelled in chorus.
“Young man...How?” Thirstruil asked, speechless.
“Your beer is just too good, that’s how!” Izuku, too, enjoying his portion immensely, answered with a pleased smile.
“Bwahahahaha! That it is! But you are not too bad either, young man!” Thirstruil answered, releasing a thundering laugh and slapping Izuku’s back over and over.
“Thanks,” The young Chef answered, showing a small smile.
“Congratulations to Host Izuku for creating the first Beer-based Dish! Well done.” The System declared with a small jingle, a message both Travellers heard.
“One Dish down. Now we need another and then hunting those two Kings, we can do this!” Rumi said with a sigh of relief.
“We can do this, have faith,” Izuku said.
“I believe in you, don’t worry! How hard can it be?” She answered, laughing.
At the Same time – Endless Forest – Capital of the Elven Kingdom -
The Capital of the Elven kingdom had been quite literally carved out of the woods of a massive forest, each one of the immense trees had been groomed into growing alcoves in which they then built their houses.
In the middle of the forest, built by growing four of those massive trees in a way that made their giant bodies twist around each other like four coiling snakes, stood the “Castle” where the King of the Elves lived and ruled from.
The throne room itself was a true work of art: every square inch covered and further decorated in mosaics, paintings and dazzling creations of silver and crystal, so many in fact, that not a trace of the original tree wood could be seen.
And sitting on the intricate throne of pure-white marble styled to resemble a majestic tree, Lologa the King of Elves sat, listening intently to his liaison in the human territory.
“As we expected, the King of the Sea, Sor, is finally about to lay its egg, in a week if our experts are right.” the Elf kneeling in front of the King said as close to his report.
“Huhuhu-HAHAHAHAHAHA! Finally! It’s finally time for Elves to reclaim their rightful position and rule over every other race! We must have that egg!” Lologa declared with a loud, deranged laugh.
“It won’t be easy, my King...Unless…”
“Yes?”
“Remember that Prophecy we discovered was just meaningless blabbering of a drugged fool?”
“Yes?”
“What if we turn it into a real one?” The Elf said with a sinister smile.
“Oh-Oooh! We like this, tell us more!” The King of the Elves said, smile just as evil.
“If I may be so bold...I believe that if we find a gullible enough human, a female one like implied by the “Prophecy”, and tell them that they are some sort of Chosen One, we may turn her into a good bait to distract that Giant Kraken long enough for us to steal its egg as soon as it is laid.”
“So you want to arm a campaign to turn that human into a Chosen One, and?”
“The Mermen treat Sor as their God, should they learn that A filthy ground dweller, as they call whoever does not live in the Ocean like they do, is on a crusade to kill their God, we’ll have a full-scale War between Humans and Mermen,”
“And the Humans will instead think that the Mermen are finally attacking them and the Dwarves to appease their racial hatred...Thus causing enough chaos for us to sneak in and steal the Egg! Perfect!” The King of Elves said with a very pleased tone.
“Thanks, my King. Humans love their Chosen Ones shtick, it shouldn't be too hard to convince them whoever we choose is one.”
“Indeed! Contact our spies. If some of our agents leak that Prophecy and start the rumour that we are looking for that Female Hero among them, they will likely try to steal her from us.”
“It will be done, sir.”
“Good, at the same time, make sure those fish-people learn of her identity as well, and of the “Secret” human plan for killing their Kraken God. We need them to start attacking any human settlement close to the sea as soon as possible, and then make sure their war against the humans only truly starts just as the Kraken is about to lay its egg, it will be the moment the beast will be the weakest, thus easier for us to kill to get the egg.”
“Of course, my King. I will immediately move to find a suitable candidate for that Heroine role.” The kneeling Elf answered.
“Be quick, we only have seven days to organise this, we must obtain the Kraken egg!” The King of the Elves declared, frowning.
“I’ll go immediately, my King!” the Elf answered before hurrying away as fast as he could.
“…”
“...The Sky King Egg and the Sea King Egg, once obtained both, we will have two invincible monsters under our control to rule this world...Are you sure your Rebirth Ritual fully resurrected it?” The Elf King asked once only he alone remained in the throne room.
“Huhuhuhu! The Dark Arts are far more Powerful than you others give them credit for! After eating all those people, the great Dragon has truly been reborn, and with another small Ritual, you will have its egg to grow a new one. Just as I promised you.”
From the shadows a human walked out to get closer to the throne, a man with extremely pale skin, sunken face and blood-red eyes, a Human looking more similar to a skeleton covered by a thin layer of dry old skin than a normal man, and covered in filthy, tattered black robes.
“Why does a Necromancer need to resurrect that dragon?” the Elf King asked.
“Huhuhu! I have a score to settle with the King of Men, and if in order to do this I need to side with the Elves for the materials needed for my Ritual, so be it! I will get to see that accursed Castle crumble in flames and everybody in there get burned to ashes, and you get the dragon egg, everybody wins! ME especially! Bwahahahaha!” The Necromancer answered with a wheezing, coarse laugh.
“Just remember our deal. We helped you resurrect the Sky King, now it’s your turn to bring us the Egg.”
“Sure! We Necromancers may have a bad reputation, but we still know the importance of not screwing over who we have a deal with. After all, if I do a good job, who says you won’t be my Sponsor again in exchange of a Ritual or two? Huhuhuhu!” The skeleton-like man answered.
“We will keep that in mind. Are you sure you can speed-up the eggs growth once we recover them both?”
“That will be very easy, barely an inconvenience! I’ll just need to sacrifice a hundred humans or two to achieve that, it takes lots of Life Force to do it, after all.”
“Hn! Humans are far too many, nobody will notice if a few disappear. Just tell us when that Ritual is ready and our soldiers will gather the needed Ingredients. Goddess forbid they finally are useful for something.” The King answered, unfazed.
“Of course, I will alert you as soon as I am ready, you just call me when you will have both eggs and we will start immediately.” The Necromancer answered.
“Sure, sure. Now go, I have other pressing matters to attend to.”
“As you wish...Your Majesty. Bwahahahahaha!” The man answered with a mocking tone, disappearing from the room by seemingly melting into the shadows and then fading away.
“Hn! Filthy human, depraved just like every other member of that race! It doesn’t matter, he too will be cleansed once we have finished growing our Dragon and Kraken! Only a matter of time!” The Elf King declared to himself haughtily as he walked out of the throne room.
That night – Serena City – Inn -
Izuku had been sleeping far too well in his bed, all things considered, and that must have been why he then suddenly felt Rumi climb under his covers to hug him and bury her face in the back of his neck.
“I had a nightmare…” The girl muttered.
“...Is it true?” He asked.
“Yes. Honest.”
“…”
“Just for this night, please.”
Sigh! “Okay, just, don’t try anything. Please.” The young Chef answered, sighing.
“Thank you…” Rumi answered with a low voice, and actually fell asleep right after.
“…” Izuku simply released a long breath as he tried to return to sleep himself without being distracted by the soft breathing of the cute girl behind him…
And hating himself for slightly enjoying the warmth she exuded and the faint scent of her skin and especially of her hair when the wind coming from the open window managed to let a strand of it land on his cheek.
“Love...you…” Rumi muttered in her sleep while tightening her hug ever so slightly.
Why did his heart have to speed-up whenever she said that?...Why?…
Those were his final thoughts before finally succumbing to sleep once again.
Kind of unsure about the last line...Should I leave it? Should I remove it?
Next Chapter will have the Hunt for the two Kings and the closure of the Mediaeval Fantasy Arc! Thank you for reading!
And now: Omake time!
Dimensional Ingredient Hunting Series:
Hungarian Horntail steak! A ‘ Magical’ Taste!
When Izuku and Nejire saw the light of the teleportation array fade away, they found themselves on the border before a very picturesque small Village seemingly stuck hundreds of years back in the past, if one looked at the style of the buildings and the dresses of the people around.
“Well, this is different!” Nejire said, amused.
“Quite a bit, yeah. Maybe we should ask for directions in that pub, what do you think?” Izuku asked, entering the first store they found.
“Oooh! A real English Pub! I always wanted to visit one! Let’s go! Let’s go!”
“Huhuhuhu!” The girl’s excitement never ceased to amuse the young Chef, one of the many reasons he loved her.
Creak!
The door creaked faintly as they opened it, catching the attention of the owner who immediately turned around to look at the strange two visitors entering his Pub.
“...Yes? What do you need?” The burly old man behind the counter asked.
“Good evening, I need help finding a Hungarian Horntail. Whatever that is. Can you help me?” Izuku asked in proper English with only a very faint accent.
“…” Aberforth fell into stricken silence once heard the absurd question.
“Sir?” Nejire asked.
“Sorry, sorry. That was just a wee bit too sudden, unfortunately I don’t have a dragon with me, BUT! I know just the guy you could ask for help!” The Pub Owner answered with his most convincing smile.
“Really?! Thank you!” Izuku answered with a very grateful tone.
“Tell you what, my boy! I will even call you a carriage to go there! No need to walk all the way up to that old castle on foot!” Aberforth shamelessly added.
“Oh! Thank you! You are very gentle!” Nejire answered.
Call it a businessman’s sixth sense, but Abe could smell bullshit from a mile away, and those two had said Sixth Sense scream in pure Horror as soon as they entered, and as any good Big Brother, Abe was more than eager to shove this huge pile of bullshit on his younger brother Albus’ shoulders.
After all, wasn’t that what younger brothers existed for?
Later that day – Fancy old castle – Great Hall -
“Bloody Dragons...For the love of Merlin’s wrinkly nut-sack...Can’t I have ONE single year without problems? Just one! As a breather!” a young man moaned in misery with his face glued to the table.
“Four in a row is worrying, yes,” The girl sitting with him answered while patting his back.
“I get it that I have a Dark Tosser Evil Wizard out to get me...But you would think he has other things to worry about besides making my life miserable. Like planning how to Conquer the World or something.” He said, shoulders shaking a bit in barely withholding the need to cry.
“To be fair, Harry, I too would be angry at you if I lost my physical body to remain as an angry ghost because of you.” The girl answered.
“I was six months old...I could hardly avoid filling my diaper, it’s not my fault whatever he did bounced back and kind-of-killed-him! You think he will forgive me if I apologise?” He asked.
“I believe that if he is still mad after fourteen years, he will stay mad at you until either you die or he does.”
“Hermione!”
“Just laying it bare, don’t curse the Messenger!” The girl answered, raising both hands in a peaceful manner.
“...Dragons, Mione...Dragons!” Harry said, whining.
“I know, I know. We’ll figure something out, as always. I am the brain, and you the brawn, I am sure that if we work together we’ll pull through this year too...Then we’ll transfer to another school. Possibly under fake identities.” Hermione said.
“Some place warmer? And with an ocean between us and this godforsaken island?” Harry asked, hopeful.
“I am sure Padfoot will be open to help us find a nice cosy school in the Caribbean territory, nothing wrong in a couple of young Lovers jumping ship if the dung hits the fan too often.” she answered.
“My girlfriend in a swimsuit...I like that...Wait! If you are the Brain, and I am the Brawn...What the heck was Ron?”
“The Comedic Relief Party member.” She answered, shrugging.
“...So we choose a bad one?” he asked.
“We can’t be blamed, he was the first to apply for the role. After this insane Tournament we can see if a better one can join us. I was considering either Luna or Neville.” Hermione answered.
“Good candidates, they have both moments of courage and of silliness...Can you fix an appointment to interview them?” Harry said.
“I’ll see what I can do, dear.” She answered.
“Awesome, thanks honey.”
Meanwhile – Teachers Table -
While the two friends/Lovers plotted, basically alone against the entire school AGAIN, the Headmaster of the place was silently listening-in to their and the other conversations at the giant tables filling the room, one of the perks of being The Boss of the school.
“Transferring to the Caribbeans...Can’t blame them, even I had not a single quiet year here, neither as a student or as a Headmaster...Maybe the idea HAS merit...Is not like Tom has made it worth the effort. As soon as I find what is keeping him alive, I am faking my death and leaving! I already have the body double and cool coffin and location for the funeral ready!” Albus thought, already planning a way to shove that massive pile of bullshit on young Harry’s shoulders before leaving.
Wasn’t that what Chosen Ones are around for?
Curiously, his personal Spy Master and Potion Teacher was planning the same, faking his death, he just planned to move to Australia instead of the Caribbeans.
Luckily any other burst of bitching from the two Guest Headmasters from fellow schools that had joined Albus’ for that accursed Tournament (“Fuck you, Cornelius.” Albus thought) stopped when the security wards were not just breached, but the school itself literally opened those by itself to let in two Guests that would normally be kept out.
“Is this how it feels to get cucked?” Albus muttered, kind of hurt, at feeling his own school let two people in without even asking his opinion.
“What’s wrong?” His beloved, if strict, Deputy Headmistress asked in dread, having already guessed more trouble was about to be added to the pile.
“We have important Guests coming, apparently...A Muggle and...Something Else, the latter especially seems to be important since they have been flagged as a VIP important enough I was cut off from any attempt at denying them access to the school.”
“Something else?” Filius asked, intrigued.
“I can tell that the wards do not register them as Human or Magical even...But I am not getting a picture of what they are, only the alert that they are Important, with a very big I.” Albus answered.
“That iz...Very sinister.” Maxine, Headmistress from Beauxbatons admitted.
“Wands out…” Karkaroff from Bulgaria suggested with a low voice, and as one every adult at the table silently took hold of their wands and felt their muscles tense.
“Prefects...If I give the order, upturn the tables and have the students use them as a cover while leaving the Hall in an ordinate manner…” Albus whispered, and only a few selected Students heard his message, and they too immediately tensed, ready for action.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
To everybody’s surprise HEAVY steps resounded outside the room, soon silencing the entire Hall until the doors were opened wide by a tall robot with a chubby belly and a big round bald head adorned just by two white eyes.
“Thank you, Whitey.” Soon followed by a young male voice as a young man with fluffy green hair and dressed in green Chef attire walked in accompanied by a tall girl and said robot behind him.
“Is that...Is that a bloody robot?! A real one?!” A student muttered in awe as the strange group walked towards the table.
“That’s an Automaton, created by Magic...It must be!” Another student tried saying.
“…”
“Luna?” A girl with red hair and blotchy cheeks said, worried.
“...That is The Lord of Hunger and Greed he has around his neck as a Pet...How?” the normally dreamy-eyed girl said with a faint voice full of horror once seen the Ancestral Taotie Shiro around Izuku’s neck.
“The Lord of what now?”
Meanwhile -
Everybody watched the strange trio walk up to the big teachers’ table, and listened with held breath as the young Chef cleared his throat to address the Headmaster.
“Good Evening, sorry for the interruption, but I was told I could ask you for help,” Izuku asked with an apologetic tone.
“So this is a magic castle? Cool!...And awfully humid.” Nejire said while looking at the ceiling mirroring the sky outside in wonder.
“Yeah, this place is Magical and all, but they really refuse to address the humidity issue here, that’s sadly true.” A girl in green robes answered, sighing in dismay.
“Who told you to find me, if I can ask?” Albus asked back.
“A certain Aberforth, from a Village not too far from here.” He answered.
“OF COURSE He told you to ask me for anything...Bloody arse.” The old man muttered.
“What?”
“Nothing, nothing. But with whom do we have the pleasure to talk?” Albus asked, and as soon as he tried peeking inside the duo’s minds he got a PAINFUL stabbing sensation, almost snapping his brain in two.
“NO MIND READING! OKAY! DULY NOTED!” he mentally shrieked in pain.
“Nice to meet you, sir! My name is Izuku Midoriya, and this is Nejire Hado-”
“His girlfriend! Well, one of four, but his girlfriend all the same!” Nejire said with a wink and a thumbs up, always happy to say that to enjoy people’s reaction to that small detail.
“FOUR BLOODY GIRLFRIENDS!? NO WAY!” And as she hoped for, several boys yelled as one in shock.
“One was not enough, he is tireless,” She added, enjoying the feeling of twisting the knife in the wound.
“WHAAAAAAAT!?”
“Yes, yes. Forgive her, she enjoys teasing people about it,” Izuku said, sighing and yet showing a very red face.
“Reminds me of my cousin Jacques, he does the same about his two husbands,” Maxine answered, looking at Izuku with some form of sympathy.
“And do tell me, Mister Izuku, to what do we owe your visit to our school?” Albus asked.
“Yes, you see, my Sponsor sent me here to look for an Ingredient. I am a travelling Chef, and sometimes I am sent here and there to collect specific Ingredients for my training. Since the one I was asked to find is kind of difficult to come-by, apparently, I asked around...And they told me to ask you for help.” Izuku answered, and Albus noticed the strange way he said ‘Here and there’, and properly filed that for later.
“Where are you from then?” Minerva asked.
“Ah, Japan, madame.” Izuku answered.
“They sent you all the way to England for an Ingredient?” The old Scottish woman asked, shocked.
“I have been sent even farther, Madame...Way farther.” He answered, sighing.
“I am sure they have only your best interest at heart, Mister Izuku.” She answered.
“I know they mean good, they just show it in very curious ways.” He admitted.
“And what, pray tell, is this Ingredient?” Severus asked with a cold tone.
“Oh! It’s called Hun-”
Before he could answer, several short humanoid beings with long pointy ears appeared in front of him and Nejire, all kneeling in reverence while the oldest one, dressed in old-looking chef clothes walked slightly forward towards him before kneeling down.
“We’s not worthy, God of Cookin’!” The old House Elf bellowed with a worshipful tone.
“WE’S NOT WORTHY!” the army of elves behind him yelled as one as well.
“Eh?” Even Albus was seemingly caught by surprise.
“...Ah...You know as well? And I am just a Candidate, not yet the real deal.” Izuku asked, sighing.
“Me’s Rapsy, Lord of Cooking! Me and Elves’ been foretold your arrival and have been preparin’ to assist you for yearses!” The Old Elf said, and as one he and the others stood to attention.
“Rapsy, dear...What in the name of Merlin is happening?” Albus asked, taking away his glasses to massage his eyes and really, REALLY wishing he had some whiskey at hand.
“It’s a long story, sir.” Nejire answered, snorting in amusement at the entire mess.
“We’s meeting the God of Cooking, Headmaster sir! The Great Lord of Food!” Rapsy answered.
“Herald of True Taste!” another Elf said.
“Master of Cooking!” another added.
“Bringer of True Flavour!” a fourth said.
“Chosen by the Ingredients!” yet another Elf said, all of them speaking with almost Religious fanaticism.
“King of Chefs!” That had Izuku’s eyebrows raise up a bit out of familiarity.
“...Pretty much…” Izuku answered with a groan, and to his surprise a cup of tea appeared in his hands.
“Oh...Neat…Thank you.” He muttered while drinking.
“Anything for Lord of Cooking!” Rapsy said.
“...I was not aware of such a thing,” Karkaroff admitted.
“Not many are. Usually very old, powerful, or silly-looking people know about it,” Nejire answered.
“Well, if you are so important, what Ingredient can you possibly hunt for?” Severus asked.
“Dragons. One called Hungarian Horntail to be precise.” Izuku answered.
“….” Stricken silence fell once again in the Hall.
“You want to cook a dragon?” Minerva asked, while Hagrid next to her fainted in very dramatic horror, hand to his temple and all, with his giant body hitting the floor with a thundering boom.
“Not the first time I do it,” Izuku answered with a shrug.
“Dragons are edible?” Pomona muttered.
“Wasn’t aware they were.” Flitwick answered.
“While true that Hungarian Horntails are not exactly an endangered species, since only a fool would have anything to do with them, we don’t have them here in England.” Albus answered.
“I was told I would have found one here, with her eggs.” Izuku admitted with a helpless smile.
“...How many people know about them? Is it really so hard to keep a secret here?!” Albus said with a whine while burying his face in his hands.
“Still, we can’t really just give it to you!” Karkaroff said.
“...Want to make a bet about it?” Izuku said with narrowed eyes.
“I am listening,” The Bulgarian Headmaster said.
“I will cook dinner for everybody here, ALONE, with no help. IF I can deliver enough food for everybody in the normal time needed for these small gentlemen to do it, YOU will cover the purchase of the Dragon...Otherwise I will do it out of my own pocket.” Izuku said.
“An Horntail is not exactly something you can buy, boy!” Maxine said.
“Want to join the bet then, Madame?” Nejire answered.
“It’s illegal to own a dragon in England.” Minerva said.
“Not on the small Island I use as a storage room for my Restaurant.” Izuku answered with a cheeky smile.
“Unfortunately, buying a dragon for a private reserve is not illegal, even if they use them for Ingredients. Even if usually that means Potions Ingredients.” Severus confirmed with a bitter tone.
“So we have a deal?” Izuku asked.
“You are on!” Both Karkaroff and Maxine said as one.
“I have a bad feeling about this…” Albus said, sighing.
“Wonderful! Please, Mister Rapsy, can you show me the way to the kitchens?” Izuku asked.
“RAPSY WILL! RAPSY WILL BE HONORED!” The old Elf said in awe.
“We’s be quiet and learn from you, Great God of Cookin’!” The other House Elves answered as one, all of them leaving the room with Izuku for the kitchen while Nejire, with Shiro curled around her neck, sat at one of the tables with Whitey standing behind her.
“Is this seat free?” She asked.
“Sure, as you can see, they seem eager to leave us alone.” Hermione asked.
“Thanks! Why are they avoiding you two?” she asked.
“I was added to a very dangerous and very deadly Tournament against my will, but unfortunately everybody here seems to think I cheated my way in willingly…” Harry answered with his face still glued to the table top.
“That’s harsh,” Nejire said, grimacing.
“You have no idea…” He answered, sobbing.
“Will your boyfriend manage that insane bet? He is basically cooking for three entire schools by himself!” Hermione asked.
“Oh, Icchan can do that in his sleep, he has super cooking powers.” Nejire answered, idly rubbing Shiro’s belly to pass the time.
“…”
“Come on, ask.” she said, smirking.
“What animal is that?! I never saw anything like it!” Hermione asked.
“Oh! This is Shiro-kun! Izuku’s companion. He is a Taotie.” Nejire answered, and a student of Chinese descent shrieked in horror.
“YOUR BOYFRIEND TAMED A DARN TAOTIE?!” Su Li yelled with pure disbelief.
“That’s not a Taotie...That’s The First Taotie...He-Who-Birthed-Greed…” Luna said with a whisper of voice.
“The Correct term would be Ancestral Taotie, child. But yes, that is me.” Shiro answered with a deep, cultured voice, while still getting belly rubs and purring contently.
“Sorry, Sir!” Luna yelled in answer.
“It talks too...Must be immensely powerful too…” The Chinese student said with a weak voice and looking very close at fainting.
“You scared them, Shiro-kun, that’s not very nice.” Nejire said, tutting.
“Kyuuun!” Shiro answered with a long and objectively adorable whine, hoping to not have the woman of his Partner suggest a decrease in portion of his beloved ribs in punishment.
“I will leave to Icchan the punishment.” She answered.
“...You too have a life far from normal, uh?” Harry asked.
“I find it entertaining, I never got bored ever since I started dating Icchan!” Nejire answered, laughing.
“Ehm...He really has four girlfriends? Are you not mad?” Lavender asked.
“Why? I was the one suggesting and helping his first girlfriend organising the Love Pentagon! And honestly, he really blasts through all of us when he is in the mood. I thought Momo-chan was exaggerating when she said he is insatiable, but really, once he gets going, there is no stopping him until we four drop unconscious. But we are getting better at holding up! Ochako-chan even managed to not drop unconscious after round fifteen last time!”
“Fifteen rounds...I-In total?” The overwhelmed girl asked.
“Hahahahaha! Oh no, fifteen times for each one of us!” Nejire answered, amused.
“Holy Merlin!” Lavender yelled in shocked awe.
“Well, it seems like Icchan will be occupied until tonight at dinner, I wonder how to pass the time until then.” Nejire said.
“We can show you around, beats brooding or brainstorming about how to fight a dragon as a measly fourth year student,” Harry suggested, sighing.
“Yes, maybe a walk will help me come up with a plan, are you up for it?” Hermione said.
“Oh! Tourism! I like that! Let’s go, Whitey!” she answered.
“Understood.”
“And you think I will let a dirty Muggle stink-up the place?” A snobbish-looking blond boy said with a sneer.
“Who’s the guy?” Nejire asked with a whisper.
“Malfoy, a bigoted, racist moron with a very rich daddy and zero brain.” Hermione answered.
“How dare you?!” The guy said while whipping out a wand.
“He does look unpleasant,” Nejire admitted.
“Silence, you dirty unevolved whore!” The guy yelled loud enough his words echoed in the room.
“…”
“...Apologise.” Nejire said.
“I don’t apologise to inferior beings! Get on your knees if you want to be useful, that’s what my father says your Kind is all that is good for.”
“…” Many did not know where to look, embarrassed at hearing such foul words.
“Suit yourself. Whitey? Go.” Nejire said.
“Understood.” Whitey said, grabbing the kid’s wand and crushing it into splinters, then he grabbed the front of the boy’s clothes and lifted him off the ground.
“Drop me you dirty-”
“Troublemakers will be stripped as an example to others!” Whitey declared.
“...What?” many asked, confused.
SLAP! STRIIIIP!
“…” Everybody watched in horrified silence as the fourth year boy was bitch-slapped by the robot so hard he flew at the opposite side of the Hall just in some crude-looking middle-age version of the modern boxers, and unconscious. The rest of his clothes had remained in the tight grip of Whitey’s hand.
“...GET HIM!” Even later, nobody could tell WHO started it, but soon every student and teacher and the three Headmasters started assaulting Whitey in spells, and the robot merely went Red Eyes Mode and returned the assault…
Five minutes later, exception made for Harry, Hermione, Luna, Neville, Ginny and the two Twins Fred and George (All of them huddled in a corner of the Hall hiding behind a VERY NERVOUS Harry) and of course Nejire, everybody else had been slapped and stripped down to their unmentionables, with the majority of their wands having been snapped as well.
Although Harry was secretly wondering why hearing Cho Chang, his former crush, scream ‘Yamete!’ in her native Language aroused him that much.
“Is there anybody else up to cause trouble?” Whitey, unscathed, asked while scanning the room with his red eyes.
“No, Sir!” MANY answered as one while covering themselves.
“...Why was I stripped too? I was trying to calm the others! I swear!” Albus said while transfiguring himself a plain set of robes to hide the psychedelic rainbow-tie-dyed boxers he wore, a souvenir from his visiting Woodstock back in the days.
“Whitey leaves nothing to chance. So? Shall we go?” Nejire asked.
“YES! This way please!” Hermione immediately answered, gesturing for her and the crazy robot to follow, she and the rest of the still-dressed group following suit and leaving a wide berth to the psycho robot as he passed close to them.
“…”
“...WHO THE HELL CREATES A ROBOT TO DO THAT?!” A Muggleborn asked with a shriek.
“A God of Cookin’ does not let nobodies bugger them,' ' A House Elf said, appearing with spare robes for the teachers at McGonagall’s request.
“Would have appreciated knowing this beforehand!” Severus roared while rapidly dressing.
“You never ask’d.” The Elf answered, shrugging.
“I vill remember that detail…” Karkaroff answered, sighing in dismay.
“Mon Dieu, he did not spare women either…” Maxine said, sniffling from the trauma.
“Gender is no excuse, Madame.” The small elf answered.
“How is dinner coming along?” Albus asked, while the undressed and traumatised students were helped leaving the Hall to go change, the lessons obviously being postponed for the rest of the day until robes and wands could be replaced.
“Lord of Cookin’ is realsies a God, Headmaster Sir! He’s cookin’ alone faster than all of us together! He’s so amazing! We’s learning so much thanks to him! Boss Rapsy can’t stop crying! Can I go backsie? Me’s missing the lesson!”
“Just go then, dear. Thanks for the clothes.” Minerva answered, sighing, and watching the thing immediately disappear from the room.
“Let him have that bloody Dragon, Albus!” Professor Sinestra yelled.
Later that night -
Still shaken by what will be recorded in Hogwarts History as ‘The Great Stripping’, the assembled students of the three schools sat orderly while casting scared glances at Whitey standing protectively behind Nejire.
Several Aurors, and Draco’s father, had TRIED arresting her and destroy the robot...They all went sent flying away with a bitch-slap and undressed, this continued for the entire evening until the only person with a brain in the entire Ministry of Magic, Amelia Bones, declared the arrest order void after even The Minister himself had been slapped several times and undressed.
It took Amelia and the Unspeakables explaining who and what a God of Cooking was supposed to be for everybody else to admit defeat and retreat, they had several centuries-old Prophecies about the coming of one to their world Izuku had just fulfilled, and that had apparently made him legally untouchable. For all the stripped people’s frustration.
At least Izuku apologized personally about it once informed, clarifying it was not on his orders that Whitey did it, but instead on his Sponsor’s.
Still, food was food, and the few that questioned the House Elves went reassured that a ‘God Of Cooking’ could make food of literally Godly Quality.
“Only three minutes before Time runs out,” Albus said once checked his pocket watch.
“Very curious about all this, the food better make it up for the Humiliation.” Minerva said.
“Still no clue about who launched the first spell?” Flitwick asked, still angry at being not just defeated while he was giving his all in a Magical battle, thus suffering from broken Duelist pride, but also stripped as an added insult.
“I’ll find them. And when I will, they will pay.” Severus answered, nostrils flaring wide open at each angry exhale of his.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Every noise stopped when a House Elf appeared in the middle of the Hall to ring a tiny bell in her hand.
“Everything’s ready. Lord of Cookin’ thanks you for waiting and wishes you a good dinner.” The Elf said before disappearing.
The food then appeared on both the middle of the table and everybody’s own plate.
“OH MY GOD!” And multiple voices were heard screaming in awe at the taste.
Teachers table -
“Tarator Soup, Shopska Salad, Shkembe Chorba...My God...It tastes...It tastes like home…” Igor Karkaroff muttered between mouthfuls while shamelessly gorging himself on everything set in front of him, all plates of Bulgarian cuisine made following the original recipe with maniacal devotion.
And he was not alone in praising the food, Igor could see his beloved Durmstrang Champion Viktor eating the same dishes while crying fat tears and telling his friends how his Mama would make that plate of Kebapche (A sausage-shaped grilled meatball spiced with cumin) just like Izuku made it, thus making the taste even more homely for the buff Bulgarian student now crying his eyes out mid-eating.
“Soupè à l’oignon, Coq au vin, Cassoulet, Boef Bourguignon...Mon Dieu...Even back in France I never found any of them made like this! C’est vraiment la création d’un Dieu!” Maxine admitted with a stricken expression.
“Madame?” One of Beauxbaton’s Prefects asked, nearing the table.
“Oui?”
“We are signing a petition, we ask to see if Monsieur Midoriya can be taken in as a Chef for our school!” The girl asked.
“It will be difficult my dear…” The giant woman answered with a very apologetic tone, especially since she too was taking the thing in consideration.
“We...We may try to convince him, if you give us permission.” The Prefect answered with a meaningful look.
“...Go ahead.” Maxine answered after seeing several girls under her care shot her a look that clearly stated their interest in being part of said Convincing.
“Merci.” the girl answered, and moving immediately to bring the students the news they had the permission to entice the young Chef.
“Well, I am glad everything is of your liking! I am enjoying this quite a bit!” Albus said with a friendly smile.
Sniff!
“Minerva?” The Headmaster said once noticed his Deputy sniffling subtly.
“Seanmahir (Grandmother in Gaelic) used tha make Haggis like this...Nana...Nana I miss you…” Minerva muttered, mentally returning into being a wee lassie at each bite as the taste took her back to her childhood memories.
(Nana, colloquial way to say Grandma.)
With Nejire -
“I assume my Icchan won the bet?” Nejire, just like the other Japanese students, was enjoying more Japanese traditional dishes, enjoyment proved further by the cries of ‘Oishi!’ echoing behind her from the other tables.
This not ignoring the other cries of appreciation in various other languages when said students saw and tasted how well Izuku had prepared the traditional dishes of their homeland, Padma and Parvati especially seemed very vocal in praising the Chef for his Indian Dishes.
“Is that that sushi thing I heard about?” Harry asked, curious.
“Yup! Wanna try? Icchan knows I love it, so he made some for me.” Nejire answered.
“Raw fish...Oh, to hell with it! I will fight dragons tomorrow, you only live once!” The young man said while bravely swallowing the morsel of fish and rice she offered him whole in a single bite.
“Morgana’s saggy teats, this tastes amazing!” he then said.
“Language!” Hermione, for once putting aside manners to eat just a bit more, chided him without even thinking about it.
“These are the darn best jellied eels I have ever eaten!” Fred said.
“Mom will be mad, but I don’t think I can eat her kidney pies anymore without putting them in comparison with Mister Izuku’s. He has her beaten, no question!” George added, unfortunately without swallowing first.
“Sorry, mum, but we finally found a better chef than you!” Ginny chorused.
“Huhuhu! Please don’t sell your mother so short, I am not here to steal anybody’s spotlight!” Izuku answered, appearing sitting next to Nejire thanks to the elves as soon as he finished cooking everything, those small creatures had promised they would take care of delivering everything.
CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!
The applause that the entire Hall gave him as soon as he appeared turned him into a blushing mess, but he still got up to thank all of them and renew his apologies for the Incident with Whitey, even if it seemed like the food he made was of a quality good enough they all conveniently forgot about it.
“It seems like you owe him a Dragon, my dear Maxine and Karkaroff.” Albus said once daintily cleaned his mouth after shocking everybody by devouring by himself a third of everything on the table.
“Mamka mù!” Igor shrieked. (Fuck!)
“Merde!” Echoed Maxine. (Shit!)
“And you two kiss your mothers with that mouth?” Severus asked with a mocking tone, and not commenting on his being the one to eat another third of the total dishes that had been served at their table.
The Next day -
Four things shocked the assembled three schools to the core the following day.
1 – Nejire was not pulling their leg about the young Chef’s virility, because the very same night after that spectacular dinner NOBODY all the way to Hogsmeade managed to have a single minute of sleep since the girl decided she was ‘in the mood’, and Izuku had clearly fully committed all of himself to satisfy her needs, and by the inhumanly-loud HOWLS of Pleasure and Invocations to God of the girl, he really was good at it, too bad nobody thought about giving them a Guest Room that was sound-proofed. Even the Centaurs in the Forbidden Forest came to tell Albus if his Guests could PLEASE calm down, thus confirming how the young Chef had apparently humiliated every single male within earshot, and not just the human ones, by raising the bar of ‘Proper Fucking’ to truly unreachable levels.
2 – The Chef himself was STRONG! Everybody saw Harry manage to out-fly a dragon and steal the golden egg while coming very close at being roasted and then eaten alive, and that reminded everybody how Dragons were nothing to fuck with...And yet Izuku had jumped into the arena as soon as the dragon had flew back towards her nest, ran towards the thing, jumped and hit the Hungarian Horntail Dragon between the eyes with the knuckles of two fingers ONCE...And the thing had fallen down unconscious right after. He called it Knocking, the assembled Wizards that saw, or were told later, called it Bullshit.
Izuku still collected dragon and eggs and added them to his Storage Room Island.
3 – Hungarian Horntail Steak tastes FUCKING AMAZING! Making Charlie Weasley and his Boss at the dragon reserve very nervous as now apparently people learned about something intriguing about an up-until-that-moment ‘Kind of useless’ race of dragons. They just hoped Horntail Steaks won’t become a new sensation, not everybody was as ballsy as Harry Potter or Izuku Midoriya to face one so openly.
4 – While friendly, Nejire was VERY Territorial, VERY Possessive and EXTREMELY Jealous of Izuku, meaning that as soon as Fleur Delacour or any other female student of the three schools tried even just suggesting they were intrigued by him, she snapped and turned the glare-war into a full-on fight.
And that resulted in Izuku dragging Nejire away and escaping the school towards The System’s extraction point, all the while Chef and Entity argued about how it was possible that That kept happening in every Dimension he visited.
As an addendum, Shiro had momentarily excused himself to go ‘eat something’ and returned just in time to join Izuku and Nejire in the trip back home with a grimace as apparently what he ate tasted very bad…
Ever since that day nobody heard anything about several key members of society that secretly used to be part of the Terrorist Organization known as Death Eaters, leaving behind only a bewildered Severus and Karkaroff wondering why their Mark disappeared completely as if their Master had finally died for real, and a barely-alive and half-eaten Peter Pettigrew that admitted several horrible crimes in exchange of being kept safe from fluffy monsters...He was still sentenced to death, not that anybody cared, especially the guy’s childhood friend that was now finally declared innocent and decided to celebrate it by pissing on the traitor’s shallow grave.
Nobody knew about the fate of their greatest Evil Villain whose soul had been digested by the Ancestral Taotie until nothing remained, destroyed forever.
End of the Omake!
Thank you for reading!
Notes:
To be fair, I am not exactly sure how properly I handled Rumi's side of the Pairing in this Chapter, even if I know for certain the turning point of it will happen in the next one.
I can wholeheartedly admit that I am trying to make it evolve as much "naturally" as possible, but I am open to suggestions.
Chapter 20: Medieval Fantasy Arc Finale: The Sky King, The Sea King And the explosive power of Rumi’s ‘Kick of Love’!
Summary:
the closing chapter of the mini "Western Medieval" Arc for Izuku and Rumi.
Notes:
I am happy this Arc is done, honestly speaking, it is getting Tiring to manage the Harem, I want to resolve this soon and remove the hassle of setting-up the Poly, I am trying to make things evlve naturally towards that, and it's very tiring to do.
It is what makes writing each chapter a pain, and part of the reason I take so long to update, besides Real Life issues.Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
Chapter Text
THANK YOU, Light He'arth FOR THE NEW STORY FANART!
If you read this, the chapter has been fixed by my Beta reader. A good 2 weeks ago...sorry, I forgot to add this.
A Chef Rebirth chapter 20: Medieval Fantasy Arc Finale: The Sky King, The Sea King And the explosive power of Rumi’s ‘Kick of Love’!
Izu’s home world – UA Height Alliance Dormitories – Momo’s room -
Momo was slowly pacing around her room, nail of her right thumb tightly trapped between her teeth as she lightly bitten down on it while deep in thought; Ochako was sitting in silence on the girl’s massive bed and watching her walk back and forth while faintly mumbling to herself, a tiny habit she ended-up copying from her beloved boyfriend.
“…”
“…”
“…” Suddenly Momo stopped and turned sharply to the side to look at Ochako fast enough the brunette herself almost suffered the backlash of the fast movement.
“You are not pulling my leg, right? You actually saw it happen?” She asked.
“I am telling the truth.” Ochako answered.
“So Nejire and Rumi have joined forces…” The other said.
“As absurd as it sounds, yes.”
“What I don’t understand is why Rumi is going along with this. I did expect something as insane as this from Nejire Hado...I did hear the rumours of her tackling Life in her own ‘Out of the Box’ way. But a prideful woman like Rumi…” Momo muttered, once again pacing around deep in thought.
“Life is about compromises, Momo.” Ochako answered, sighing.
“...Sadly true. Why tell me then? Uh?” Momo answered, walking closer to the other girl and leaning down to meet her eyes.
“…”
“Ochako?”
“Because we are friends.” She whispered in answer.
Sigh! “Yes, we are.”
“Momo...I…”
“Why him? I just want to know.”
“It happened. We...We both have a less than stellar background, we both had very few friends growing-up, him because of his Quirklessness and me because...Because I dressed with hand-me-downs or bargain bin clothes…” Ochako answered, sniffling a bit hard out of shame.
“…”
“We both dreamed of seeing people smile and feel safe, and we both got reminded that unless one has a powerful Quirk or lots of money then they won’t go far in life. Not nowadays at least.”
“That is a very downer way to see things.” Momo said.
“We obviously grew out of that way of thinking. Or at least we are trying to.”
“Then came similar tastes in Heroes and music, him being supportive and maybe his looks, correct?” Momo asked, arms crossed.
“The whole nine yards or whatever, yes…” Ochako answered.
Sigh! “I don’t need this. I don’t want this! Did he try to seduce you?”
“NO! I swear!” Ochako answered immediately.
“Then why are you others getting in my damn way!?”
“...It...It just happen-”
“Out. Get out, please...I need...I need to be...I don’t think I can take you staying here with me now.” Momo interrupted her with a tired voice, and opened the door right after.
“I am sorry, Momo.” Ochako muttered while walking out and back towards her room.
“And that is even worse, because I know you actually are sorry.” She answered, gently closing the door to then walk to her bed and throw herself face-down on her pillow.
“…” Once silence fell again in her room, she fished-out her phone and composed her mother’s number.
“...Baby girl?” Rei answered barely a minute later.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Did the talk go bad?” The woman asked.
“Pretty much. She just confirmed every single fear I had.” Momo admitted, and she hated how her eyes stung as she said that.
“I am very sorry, Momo. I didn’t want this to happen.” Inko’s voice came in response.
“It’s not your fault, Inko-san, and apparently it isn’t even Izuku’s fault. In the end all this is happening due to other people’s insistence.” She answered, sniffling a bit.
“Want me to talk with them?” Inko asked with a soft voice.
“No, please. I...We are already putting your family under a bad light, I don’t want to add fuel to it…”
“Momo?”
“Your son is not with me for money like the rumours say, right? Y-Y-You are not after our wealth, right?”
“MOMO YAOYOROZU!” Rei roared in fury.
“N-No! We are not that sort of people!” Inko echoed with a scared voice.
“It’s just...Rumours keep coming and...and...and I hate it!” Momo admitted.
“Momo. Whoever wants to talk behind your back, whoever wants to spread nasty rumours just wants to ruin things for you and will do it regardless. If they can’t attack your looks, then they will attack your wealth, or your friends, or your tastes, or your choice in partners; they don’t need real personal motivation either, some people just spread nasty rumours because they enjoy doing it.” Rei said with a way softer voice, once again warm and gentle.
“But it hurts! It’s hurting us both!” Momo said.
“I know, but you must be strong. Ignore them, focus on yourself, on your happiness and on your Life, if their victims don’t show them satisfaction by getting hurt by their words, they will be the one losing. You are a Hero, right? Then show them how you can rise to the Challenge!”
“I...I’ll try.” Momo said, drying her tears.
“That’s my baby girl! Strong and unyielding!” Rei said, proud.
“Thank you, mom.” The young woman answered with a tiny, tentative smile.
“…”
“Inko-san?”
“Ye-Yes?”
“Sorry for insinuating your son had an agenda against me, it was uncalled for.”
“NO! NO NEED TO APOLOGISE! I AM SURE YOU HAVE HAD MANY SUITORS ONLY OUT TO GET LAID OR MONEY, BUT I ASSURE YOU I RAISED MY ICCHAN PROPERLY AND WOULD HAVE SKINNED HIS BUTT WITH MY OWN TWO HANDS AND THROTTLED HIM IF HE ACTUALLY TRIED COURTING YOU ONLY FOR MONEY SINCE I HATE THAT SORT OF PEOPLE MYSELF AND I KNOW HE TOO DOES AND IT’S UNFAIR TO TREAT PEOPLE BASED ON WEALTH AND-”
“Jesus Christ, INKO! BREATH!” Rei yelled while interrupting the woman's ramblings, probably by covering Inko’s mouth with both her hands.
“Huhuhu! Now I see from where my Izu takes that habit,” Momo said with a chuckle, still a bit wet-sounding, but for the moment recovering some peace.
“SORRY!” Inko yelled in answer, getting back a new chuckle from both Yaoyorozu women.
“It’s okay, he and I will face this hurdle as well, together. But how’s Eri?”
“Oh! She’s just a sweetheart! A literal angel! We wanted to bring her to the park for some fun outside, but...Well...”
“Are those people still trying to force their way into the Restaurant?” Momo asked, groaning.
“You have no idea! Every ten or so minutes a Pro Hero tries Arresting Blackie and they get swatted away! Your father and few other Lawyers that happen to be regulars here are working overtime to demonstrate that all this is just an escalation of the actions of a moron trying to make a name for himself that then got out of control, instead of Blackie going on a rampage...While sitting perfectly still in front of the Restaurant.” Rei answered, sighing, and as if to confirm her words, a far away Boom! Sound followed by a shriek was heard in the background.
“Arresting a dog…” Momo muttered in dismay.
“Yes, luckily several High-Ranking Heroes are trying to stop this mess by reminding them that while smart enough to talk, Blackie is still a guard dog, so as long as they attack he will retaliate, but if they stop he will stop.” Rei said.
“I guess they are trying to stop EVERY Hero outside their precious Top 10 from making a fool of themselves by getting shot into orbit by a lazy dog.” Inko added, huffing.
“Yes, that sounds legit.”
“God forbid they get a big scandal like a measly dog defeating some Mighty Heroes, even if we know Blackie is not a normal dog at all.” Momo answered, sighing.
“It’s not like we can tell them either, they would pack all of us and toss us into an asylum! Your father heard that even your University is getting involved!”
“UA, mom?”
“Yes! Apparently Nezu himself wants to talk to Blackie.”
“...For some reason this piece of info fills me in dread…” Momo admitted.
“I am sure nothing too outrageous will happen. Maybe.” Inko answered.
“Fingers crossed, Inko-san.”
“Will you be okay, baby girl?” Rei asked.
“I...I will be. As soon as Izu is back I will inform him, and maybe together we will find a solution to this. I just hope Rumi won’t try anything.” Momo answered, sighing.
“I am sure she is not that devious, young Momo. But now tell us, how’s your day? Doing okay in your classes?” Inko answered with a reassuring tone.
“It’s going quite alright, all things considered. You see…” Momo started talking with a more relaxed tone, feeling kind of hopeful Rumi won’t try anything deranged towards her boyfriend, she wanted to believe the bunny woman was above such a thing!
“She is not trying to seduce him! I know this!” Momo thought in determination!
Other World – Path towards Magenta Coasts City -
Rumi was indeed fully dressed, acting proper and respecting Izuku’s personal space and making sure he was not uncomfortable with her even when wearing her Hero Costume…
What? She is not Mineta or another ‘Pervert Character Archetype’, she is serious about her feelings for Izuku, not just in it for a quick tumble in the sheets! Her goal is honest Romance and Love, she was not into NTR, thank you!
Projecting much?
Both she and Izuku were at the moment catching a ride on a big double-decked carriage pulled by a duo of giant bulky deer-like creatures covered in long curly white fur, all thanks to Thirstruil the dwarf that accepted writing them a letter of recommendation that will make sure another Dwarven Master Brewer will let Izuku use their creation to make another beer-based dish.
“Many say that I am the best Brewer Dwarf when it comes to making beer, well, I believe that is only half-true. While I believe my Dark Beers are second to no one. When it comes to Blond Beers, I have to concede defeat to Miss Drünhkilde Oakbarrel of Gold Port Town.” Thirstruil had explained them while writing his letter.
“Two days just to get there…” Izuku muttered with a groan of dismay.
“No aeroplanes in the fantasy land of annoyances.” Rumi answered, sighing as well, and keeping herself occupied by relentlessly petting Shiro, and the Ancestral Taotie was all for it and enjoying every second of ear scratches and belly rubs.
“Gold Port Town! Next stop: Gold Port Town! Get ready to get down if you have to!” The tall green-skinned woman with long tusk-like teeth protruding from her mouth announced with a booming voice.
“Well, that’s our stop, finally.” The young Chef said, elated.
“See? This was not so bad! Let’s go!”
“We are almost there, soon I will show you the sea, happy?” An old woman sitting behind them said while holding on the paw of a short cat-like creature walking on its hind legs.
“Hn!?”
“…” The small animal, barely 3 feet tall, had a light-brown coat of fur and ice-blue eyes and walked alongside the old woman without uttering a word and looking at nothing with unfocused eyes.
Sigh! “Little Zephyr, I miss him too, but we must be strong. We must go on!” The old woman said with a voice cracking a bit under her sorrow.
“You okay?” Rumi asked.
“Uh? Aah, don’t mind us, please. I am trying to see if this poor Pheline can recover a bit of his old spark with a bit of a holiday by the sea. Even if I do know that it’s just wishful thinking on my side.” The old woman answered.
“…” The Cat-like being barely moved his head to the side enough to look at the two Travelers, and his completely expressionless face and lack of life in his posture did kind of creep them out, he actually looked like a wind-up doll, more than a living being.
“What happened to him?” Izuku asked, saddened.
Sigh! “…”
“Y-You don’t have to tell us, madame.” He then said, once noticed the pain his question caused her.
“It’s fine, young man. It’s not like I can bring my son back from death just by not talking about it…” The woman answered with a low voice.
“Condolences for your loss.” Rumi said with a short bow, just like Izuku, while they and the strange duo dismounted from the carriage once it fully stopped.
“Thank you. It happened a couple years ago, during a monster rampage...My son never was an adventurer, you know? He just ran our family’s bakery and enjoyed a quiet, simple life.” She said while patting the head of the Pheline next to her with extreme gentleness.
“Then one day our Village went overrun by a pack of giant wolves...When...When a group of Adventurers finally managed to force the pack into retreat half the Village had been destroyed...Including our bakery...And they found my boy there, mangled but still keeping the door to the storage room closed so that Zephyr could survive the attack. We found him in there already catatonic, paws broken and drenched in blood from his trying to tear down the door with his claws to break out and help my son. Ever since then he has been...L-Like this.” The old woman answered, sniffling.
“Oh...Oh…” Neither of the two had anything to say to even just remotely help the old lady.
“So you kept him alive?” Rumi asked.
“I bathed and force-fed him every day, yes. Zephyr used to help him along in the bakery, they were Partners. By nature, Phelines bond with a Partner on a spiritual level, so when their Partner dies, they in a sense die as well, it’s not strange to see Phelines disappear at the death of their Partner so to find a quiet place to lie down and just let themselves die as well. But I couldn’t let that happen, so I finally decided to bring him to a family member of mine, hoping that maybe he will find a new Partner there. I-I can’t keep him around anymore, just looking at him reminds me of my son’s death, but at the same time, he died so that this Pheline could live...And letting him die would mean my son sacrificed for nothing.” She answered.
“It’s a nice gesture, Madame.” Izuku said.
“Does it make me a bad person, though? Giving Zephyr away like this? I will make sure he has a new and good life, but I am afraid my son will hate me for it.”
“Maybe it is a good thing to do, or maybe it isn’t, but why should you care what others think? You are doing this so that you both can have a new start: this little guy with a new Partner and you without a constant reminder of your loss, as long as you are not just leaving him to fend off for himself, I say go for it.” Rumi answered.
“Thank you. Richard promised me the new family he contacted is the nicest you can make it, s-s-so Zephyr will be loved and taken care of…” The old woman answered, hiccuping.
“Then let’s go find those guys, come on. We’ll accompany you.” The bunny girl said.
“Oh! I-I-I can’t poss-”
“Yes, you can. Now move! Those guys can’t wait forever!” Rumi interrupted her with no mercy, and actually gently pushed on the old woman’s back to make her walk instead of standing there sobbing.
“…”
“What?” Rumi asked once seen the smirk on Izuku’s face.
“Just as I told you: rude and crude attitude that hides a sweet inside.” He said.
“S-S-Shut up!” She answered.
“You are a living chocolate bunny! Bitter at first taste, but filled with sweetness once the first layer is broken.”
“Libel! Lies!” Rumi shrieked with a face so red to look about to catch fire.
“Huhuhu! Lovers these days, they use the strangest compliments!” The old lady commented, amused.
“Eek!” both Chef and Hero Student shrieked in embarrassment in answer to that.
Meanwhile – Off the Coasts -
“Another day without a single catch.”
“It’s okay, my boy! You are doing your best, me and the others know this!”
“I am sorry...I can’t hear The Song of the Sea like you do, father...I am sorry…”
“Give it time, it will come to yo-WHOAAA!”
That small fishing boat, just like many others, was roughly pushed away and almost toppled over by the passage of an immense galleon coming from far away moving in a straight line towards Gold Port Town.
It was a majestic ship build in jade-green wood and adorned in extremely intricate carvings filled in pure gold, twelve gold-covered cannons on each side and an elegant male elf statue in pure marble right on the front, and on the giant main sail tensed by the wind had been finely sewn the intricate insignia of the Elven Royal family with emerald-green threads. Nobody would indeed miss the fact that the ship itself was one of the biggest and most powerful warships of the elves.
“Full speed ahead!” The Captain ordered once seen the approaching docks.
“Full speed ahead!” the Second Mate repeated, immediately turning the already busy crew into a frenzy of preparation to reach their destination.
“Unbelievable, all this waste of resources to steal a useless egg,” The Captain said with a frown of distaste, although even that expression could not ruin the Elf’s ‘uncannily-pretty’ androgynous looks.
“That useless egg, as you call it, is the key to the Elves finally gaining the power they need to rule over every other race, something we all know we deserve as the one true Race chosen by the Gods.” An Elf wearing an overly-decorated silver armour covered in green gems answered while nearing him.
“General Silverwoods.” The Captain answered, striking a reverential bow.
“We are moving our best ships to create this convoy. We are hyping-up a mere Human girl to be our scapegoat. And we are making sure to pin all this on both humans and Dwarves so that they will have to deal with the rage of those filthy mermen. THIS is important, Captain! I expect you to take this seriously and act properly!” the Elf General barked.
“Yessir!” the other Elf answered immediately.
“Good. Now make this vessel go faster, we have a schedule to follow and I hate wasting time! The carriage taking that human girl to that dirty human piss-pool called Gold Port Town will be there soon and we still need to organise the second part of this mission.”
“Of course, sir!”
“Good. I hope the guys you sent her way to seduce her will then wash themselves properly before rejoining their respective crews, the last thing we need is for them to catch some dirty Human Illness from that ape.”
“I already instructed them, sir. Don’t worry.” The Captain answered, he too frowned at the idea of an Elf sleeping with a human.
“Good. And...Is the Present for his majesty I had you prepare ready?” The General then whispered with a low tone.
“Everything is in order, sir.” The Captain answered with a smirk.
“All as I asked?” The other said with blazing eyes.
“Only the best, I had to...Shake down the owner a bit, but once I had shown him how sharp my crew’s swords and arrows are, he handed everything over without too much of a fuss. Honestly, never seen such a glorious shine, we took the absolute best.”
“Perfect! Once done here, you will get a very hefty extra added to the payment I promised you.” The General answered, smiling pleased.
“Huhuhu! What a beautiful day!” The Captain said, showing a more greedy smile.
At the Same time – Sky -
Moving towards the mountains at the opposite direction from the port city, another ship was sailing, in this case though the thing was sailing above the clouds thanks to the giant hot-air balloon the thing was connected to and taking the place normally reserved to the sails, and under the ship’s belly, four giant extendable propellers had popped-out to push the giant vessel forward; this particular ship proudly displayed the Human Royal family flag and insignia.
The Captain of this flying ship was a gruff human with tanned skin and a red military uniform, he was studying a map while sitting at the helm.
“Almost there, we are almost at the first checkpoint.” He muttered with a deep voice.
“Are we sure the guy can make it and fight a dragon? He looks dumber than my nephew, and my little Jack is a newborn.” The second mate asked.
“The ones accompanying him are Professionals, they only look like freshly-minted adventurers with sub-par starting equipment. They have been debriefed about what to do for this small mission, have no fear, we will be far from any action. I won’t put my men or ship at risk just to trick a spoiled brat.” The man answered, scoffing.
“Hehehehe! Poor fella, in four days he’s going to get the biggest scare of his life! That Dragon is fucking big and evil!”
“A good wake-up call hurts nobody, and gets us paid handsomely. Where is the moron?”
“Down in his small room, I got a wench I know to play the part of our on-board Healer for him to ‘Seduce’, gotta keep his Ego pretty inflated as they asked!”
“Hahahahaha! Good thinking!”
“Thank you, Captain!”
“Can we trust her, though?” The man asked.
“I paid her twice her usual fee and told her it was a present for a nephew of mine, didn’t say a thing about the real reason he is here.”
“Good. We are almost to the first stop before reaching the dragon’s Lair, make sure he won’t be too tired.”
“Of course, sir.”
Inside the ship -
The young man that had been reborn in that world from his own version of Earth was at the moment half-catatonic after the various rounds the ‘Pious Woman’ he had seduced managed to wrung out of him.
“Hmmmm…” he groaned in satisfaction and already half-asleep.
“Huhuhuhu! Feeling relaxed now?” She asked while redressing.
“Oooh, yes...I did you good.” he answered.
“Yes you did, yes you did. You were incredible.” The woman answered with zero conviction while rolling her eyes, by now used to answer like that to that question.
“Wanna do it again later?” He asked, leering at her even though a step away from fainting in fatigue.
“Later, later, you beast!” The fake Healer said.
“Just remember our deal.” She then said,
“Of course! I get that stupid dragon egg and bring it to the delivery point for your Elf friends to bring home and I get those two pretty Elf Twins as my maids.” He answered immediately.
“Good boy. You will treat them well, yes?”
“Oh yeah! You saw me in action, they will have it good!” The young man answered.
“Riiiight. Just remember the deal.” ‘Professional’ Prostitute or not, even she could not keep her disappointment from showing on her face at that bold and idiotic claim.
“Zzzzz!” Luckily the ‘Chosen One’ had fallen asleep right after saying that, thus missing her slip.
“Depraved Moron…” She muttered, shaking her head and leaving alone the now snoring pervert.
The Elves had got wind of the King of Man’s plans for the dragon, so they decided to add few details: When the Team accompanying the young Hero have their “Tragic Defeat” that will hopefully spur him into training seriously for the rematch against the beast to avenge his honour, a Team of Human mercenaries will distract the Dragon long enough for the guy to steal an egg and bring it to a team of Elves that will then seal it away and bring it to the King of Elves in great secret.
Why do this? Because they knew the dragon will be apoplectic in Rage at seeing somebody stealing one of those eggs, and will stop at nothing to recover it, even killing and destroying everything on its path, and hopefully that will mean that the dragon will chase the Isekai Guy all the way back to Serena City following his scent and utterly destroy the place to recover the egg, killing everybody in there as an added bonus.
“What is happening?!” The Goddess that brought him there shrieked in dismay as NOTHING was going as she planned.
“I don’t know! Now shut up! I am trying to fix this!” The God that instead brought into that land the Girl from her own version of Earth answered with an angry roar.
And while all this happened, The System watched in silence the four of them fumble around without Fate, Destiny and the Laws of Cause-and-Effect bending over backwards to have things go their way, all in the name of The System’s own entertainment while the Entity waited for its beloved Host Izuku to complete his Mission.
Gold Port Town – The next day -
As every small town living mostly thanks to import-export and fishing, most of its buildings were all located by the coast and close to the various docks, with a constant flood of people coming and going, all of various nationalities and languages intermixing into a chaotic mash of voices, dialects, colourful robes and fragrant spices and more.
“Miss! Look! Original Viera-made jewels! Perfect for an exotic beauty just like you and perfect for keeping part of your beloved Mother Forest close! Maybe one of your own sisters was the one to make this!” One of the merchants said while proudly showing off the golden circlets and tiaras he had on display.
“Not interested, sorry.” Rumi answered.
“What about a new set of robes? Your beau will certainly buy you one! A beauty like you deserves only the best!” Another woman said from the stall at the other side of the long road while pointing at a set of purple robes decorated with gold threads.
“No thanks.” She answered, annoyed.
“Lots of interesting spices! And fruits too! Too bad our money has no value here, I would love to buy some to bring home!” Izuku said while taking a small sniff of a curious bright green spice the stall owner had set in a big mound.
“This is real Curcumarian Curry! The sweetest curry this side of the land!” The old woman said with smug pride.
“Smells heavenly! And that red spice?” The young Chef said.
“Hehehe! That is a real jewel! Eternal Spice! Made by powdering the peppers that grow in the Demon Lands! They say it never stops burning when you taste it! Three days and three nights of continuous burning guaranteed or I will eat my own money pouch!” She answered.
“Wow!” Izuku answered, chuckling.
“Also, they say that it enhances a man’s stamina with his Lover. Just to make everything spicier, young man.” The old lady said with a mischievous smile.
“Ok! I heard enough! We are going! And just so you know, he is not a wimp! He doesn’t need help!” Rumi said while grabbing his hand to drag him away.
“Tch!”
“Come on, she was just trying to sell her spices, Rumi!” Izuku said, sighing.
“It was a tasteless comment,” She answered.
“You are way too tense,”
“That’s because we are being followed, Izuku.” She muttered.
“...You noticed it too?” He answered with narrowed eyes.
“Yeah, they are good, but they are getting sloppier. And the way they are dressed doesn’t help.”
“What do you think they want from us?” Izuku asked, stealing a look above his shoulders to see two tall figures in black hooded robes subtly walking faster to keep up with them.
“I think I am their target.” The bunny girl answered.
“Maybe they have a thing against Vieras? People keep mistaking you for one.” Izuku said.
“My thoughts exactly.”
“This way then!” The Chef answered by grabbing her wrist and starting to run, making the two mysterious figures start running as well.
“Pretty fast!” He said, noticing how easily the two were gaining distance.
“Yep! Wanna take them in a more open space?”
“Nope! An alleyway will do! Whitey!” Izuku answered, and to the two figures surprise the chubby harmless-looking robot turned around, shot both arms like a rocket to grab them and threw them into a narrow alleyway with several heavy wooden crates creating a dead-end, the two figures landed with in a heavy tumbling and flowing of robes.
“Troublemakers will be stripped as an example to others!” The Robot declared once both arms reattached themselves at his elbows.
“Damn it!” The figure on the left growled with a female voice.
“The bastard is well protected!” The other answered, she too talked with a melodious voice.
“What do you want?” Rumi asked as she and Izuku entered the alleyway as well.
“Freeing you from slavery! Even if a Half-breed, Vieras stick together!” The one on the left said, removing her robes to show herself a woman with similar bunny ears of Rumi, only light-brown in colour, she was also more than two metres tall and had rabbit feet and more rabbit-eque nose compared to the Hero Student.
“Even if your blood is dirty, you are still part Viera! And as your Sisters it’s our duty to protect you!” The other instead had black ears and a lighter skin tone compared to both her companion and Rumi.
“…” Both Chef and Hero student looked at them both in disbelief.
“I am not a Viera, you morons.” Rumi said, grimacing.
“We know, but you still have enough Viera blood in you, that’s what matters!” Brown Viera said.
“Even if a you are a Bad Copy of our race, we can’t let you be enslaved just to be somebody’s sex slave!” Black Viera added, unaware of the bubbling rage that was slowly mounting inside Rumi.
“Yes, you are pretty. Yes you have a nice ass. Yes, you probably have only that going for you as a Fake Viera, but we still have to defend the image of our race!”
Both the Travelers’ anger kept rising…
“And you! Are you really so pathetic you have to force yourself on a poor oblivious Fake Viera that doesn’t know any better? Are you really so desperate for sex to use her naivete and low Intelligence against her?!” Black Viera said with a sneer while pointing an accusing finger at Izuku.
“It’s not her fault her dirty blood doesn’t make her as bright and smart as a PROPER Viera! She only got the looks, you disgusting pervert loser! What? Are you so eager to lose your virginity to go for an easy lay?! Have you not considered that if you can’t get a girl it’s because maybe you are just a useless loser?!”
“Easy lay!?” Rumi roared.
“Useless?!” Izuku shrieked.
“It doesn’t matter. Air-headed bimbo that got herself enslaved out of stupidity or not, we will beat you black and blue and take her home with us, I am sure one of us will be able to teach her to become a proper Viera...Or at least keep her from spreading her legs for whoever comes around just because they were nice to her and bring shame to Real Vieras everywhere.” Brown Viera said as a magic staff appeared in her hands.
“…” Admittedly, The System got a bit worried when Izuku’s blood pressure reached critical levels and his eyes got bloodshot.
“Come along, child! Let who knows better, take care of y-”
That was as far as the black furred Viera got before both Izuku and Rumi jumped them with a duo of furious, animal-like roars.
And five minutes later, Chef and Hero student were the only ones to walk out of the alleyway soon followed by Whitey, both were panting, but showed a more relaxed smile as well; as for the Vieras, besides having their magic staff torn from their hands and painfully slammed on their heads hard enough to snap in two, they got the rough beating they had promised to deliver, and their unconscious and battered bodies were now resting at the bottom of a crate that had been filled in fish left-overs still rotting under the scorching sun.
“I shouldn’t have snapped like that.” Izuku admitted, sighing in dismay.
“Oh, fuck them! They were a duo of bitches jumping to conclusions, racist against members of their own race and so fucking rude I look like a snob princess in comparison! They kept insulting us both every three fucking words and expected us to just take it? TCH! Big fat chance of that happening!” Rumi answered, huffing.
“You are not an easy lay or a bimbo, Rumi. You know this, right?” Izuku said.
“...I know, I know. But it hurts hearing that.” She answered, anger fading away into sadness.
“You’ll be a great Hero, and show everybody that you are more than your Quirk or beauty! I believe in you!” He answered.
“Gee, thanks!” Finally returning to smile, the girl gave a loud slap to the young Chef’s back, making him stumble slightly forward, but smile nonetheless.
“...SO! You do find me pretty, uh? Finally admitting it!” She then said, just a bit of red framing her fanged smile.
“I...I am not blind, you know?” He admitted, lightly scratching his cheek with an awkward expression.
Chu!
“Huhuhu! Thank you, Izuku.” Rumi answered, kissing that same cheek and walking slightly forward once seen his face going neon red.
“You are not Useless, you know?” Although she also turned serious before saying that.
“Uh?” dropping the blush, the young Chef looked at the back of the bunny girl in surprise.
“I am sure Momo told you plenty of times, your mother too, but I want to say it as well.” She said, turning around to show him her widest, most sincere smile.
“You are not Useless, and never were. You are a great guy that gives his all in everything he does, Chef or Hero or anything else, you have what it takes to get to the top! Just as you are a great Chef now, I know you would have been a great Hero had those idiots given you a chance, and would have shown every naysayer that it doesn’t take a Quirk to be great! Because I believe in you! Because you are not Useless, and you will never be.” She declared, wind slightly blowing through her hair and sun making her eyes sparkle a bit.
“…” The Chef’s face had once again returned flushing red, although his expression soon twisted to the point he looked ready to burst to tears.
“...Izuku?” Rumi said, worried.
“HIC! T-Thank youuu!” He howled while crying.
“ICCHAN!” Rumi yelled with wide eyes while hurrying at his side, she wanted to cheer him up, not make him cry!
He was used to compliments and hearing people cheering him on as Zaus, but as Izuku, knowing there were people honestly believing in him was still a novelty he was not used to.
Some time later – The Drinking Seamen Pub -
Ignoring the pun-tastic name of the place, the giant pub looked surprisingly pristine clean and in order considering the biggest slice of customers were sailors both from that continent and outside, but as soon as Izuku and Rumi started wondering how that was possible, they watched a burly sailor getting thrown out by a stout dwarf woman that had lifted the guy over her head even though he was twice her size to just toss him out like he weighed nothing.
“AND STAY OUT!”
“Uh! Impressive!” Rumi admitted with a low whistle.
The owner of the giant two-story pub was a dwarf woman with curly gold-blond hair, easily recognizable as womanthanks to the more feminine gait she walked with and the rather big chest she possessed even if barely a metre tall; another glaring difference was that contrary to male dwarves she had a not quite so thick beard.
She only sported a goatee tied into a braid with a cherry-sized ruby dangling from it.
“Unbelievable, these newcomers never listen to warnings! Coming to make a mess of my Pub! Tch! Should have torn his balls off and made him eat them before tossing him out!” Drunkhilde said with a sneer before returning behind the counter to finish cleaning her mugs.
“I like her, she got spunk!” Rumi said with a beaming smile.
“And a devastating right hook.” A customer added from a side table while nursing a fresh-looking black eye.
“Not her fault if another fool tried making a mess,” The same old woman from before, accompanying the small Pheline said while taking a table herself.
“Madame!” Both Teens said in surprise.
“Hello, kids! I am taking little Zephyr here to eat something nice. The menu promised some chicken stew, his favourite, so I wanted to treat him to something nice before leaving him with his new family. They agreed to take him in.” She answered.
“That’s nice!” Rumi answered.
“It’s the small things.” The old lady said, smiling sadly.
“It always is,” Izuku admitted.
“Are you here to talk with Drunkhilde?” the woman asked.
“Yep!” Rumi answered.
“Then you better be gentle, she will be in a bad mood for a while thanks to that idiot.”
“We’ll be careful, promise.” Izuku answered.
“She is not too bad, for a Dwarf, she just has a very explosive temper when angry.”
“We’ll remember that, let’s go, Izuku.” Rumi said.
“Okay.”
True to the old woman’s words, the Dwarf woman looked straight at them the entire time during their walk towards her with the furious eyes of somebody already wondering how far she needed to throw them out, only to relax ever so slightly once seen how young they actually were.
“Hi!” The young Chef said.
“Uh? Hey, boy! You look a bit too young to be here for a pint! Are you looking for somebody?” Surprisingly, the dwarf woman did not scoff or act rude as they expected, but actually showed Izuku a gentle smile.
“Actually yes! I was looking for you,” He answered.
“Oh? You are?...Hohohoho! Another young man falling for me? Oh! The hearts my beauty ensnares! I am touched, my boy, but you are a bit too young for me!” Drunkhilde answered with a coy laugh.
“…”
“…”
Nobody sane of mind dared comment on that, either because already knowing her temper or having just watched her break a guy way bigger than her for far less.
“Ehm, no. I am not here for that.” Izuku answered, awkward.
“Oh…” The Dwarf woman answered, deflating a little, and unknown to her, a member of her staff added a new tally on a secret count they all were keeping behind their boss’ back, rounding the number of rejections she had suffered up to a neat one hundred.
“I see.” She said, before looking at Rumi from head to toe.
“You are one of those guys that like them thin like twigs.” She muttered, sniffling a bit in wounded womanly pride.
“It's not my fault you are built like a tank.” Rumi answered, huffing.
“Actually, I am here to ask for a favour. I have here a letter written by Mister Thirstruil about your home-made Blond Beer. Here.” Izuku said while presenting her the lengthy letter signed by the Dwarf Master Brewer and his family crest.
“Uhn?! That old fool Thirstruil sent you? Let me see what he wants...A Master Chef of great talent...Dish made with Dwarven Beer...HE WANTS ME TO LET YOU USE MY MOLTEN GOLD BREW?! MY GREATEST CREATION?!” The woman shrieked in anger after reading the entire thing, and her voice made the windows rattle and the other customers to dive for cover, just in case.
“Jesus! Don’t scream that loud!” Rumi yelled while covering her ears.
“That brew is my pride and joy!” Drunkhilde answered.
“It was the same with Mister Thirstruil and his dark beer.” Izuku, his ears still ringing, answered.
“...One mug. I will let you use ONE single mug just because I trust Thirstruil to not try to fuck me over. Make do with that and do not ruin it or I will use your spine to floss my teeth.” She conceded after a long silence where she just tried to glare Izuku into submission.
“It will be enough, and I won’t misuse it, promise.” Izuku answered, his eyes meeting hers in unwavering determination.
“Very well. Let’s go, we’ll start immediately.” Drunkhilde said, shocking the other customers by opening the door to her pub’s kitchen herself.
“Thank you!” Izuku answered.
“What will you make? Let’s hear!” Drunkhilde asked with crossed arms and a sneer.
“The original recipe is called Blonde Ale Honey Mustard Wings. But since I am using a beer called Molten Gold, the version I will make with Dwarven Beer can be called: Golden Honey Mustard Wings.” Izuku answered while tying a green bandanna on his head.
“Fancy names mean nothing if the food tastes like shit, just show me!” The Dwarf Woman answered with a growl.
“With pleasure.” The young Chef replied.
What followed was, for Drunkhilde and her staff, a very surprising show of skills and equipment!
It was not just the Sea Dragon Kitchen Knife moving so fast it was a blur that surprised them, but also watching the Myriad Manifestation Mallet turning from a wooden meat mallet into a thin knife to separate the wings from the kitchen breasts he had been given, the same mallet then turned into a big squared knife he used to cut the chicken breast meat into small bite-sized chunks all identical in shape, and all at high speed.
All this with the strange Pheline looking at Izuku with vacant eyes and probably not missing a single thing after walking to the kitchen door by himself and without help, all for the old woman’s surprise.
“You cook with fancy utensils, who’s the madman that used that much effort to make them?”
“My sponsor.” Izuku answered, seasoning the wings in salt and oil before covering them uniformly in flour. All this while also preparing some stew stock at the same time together with the rest of the chicken meat’s own seasoning.
“Why are you making a stew too?” Rumi asked.
“Spiced Chicken Stew was their dish of the day, since I am occupying their kitchen, may as well not be a bother and make sure they can still serve their customers. Even if it's my own version of it.” he answered.
“…” The Pheline’s ears twitched faintly at hearing that, and actually moved a couple inches upward from their previous folded state.
“Oh!...Thanks.” Drunkhilde answered, touched by the gesture.
“My pleasure, now, the beer, please.” Izuku answered, having gathered every Ingredient for the sauce that will be the main part of the recipe, but lacking the beer.
“...Careful. Dwarven beer shouldn’t be used for cooking, I am already making it a big concession letting a human handle it. Let alone letting you use it for cooking, of all things.” The Dwarf woman answered while carefully handing him a full mug of pristine blonde beer with a mesmerising golden colour.
“Trust me.” Izuku answered, carefully whisking together the beer with mustard, honey and hot sauce.
“…” The Pheline actually took a couple steps forward towards the young Chef.
“Hey there, the stew is almost ready too. Please be patient.” Izuku answered with a gentle smile.
Once done whisking, he delicately added to that beer sauce a mixture of water and cornstarch and stirred it delicately to make it thicken a bit more, before letting it rest aside away from the fire.
“Sniff! I’ll be damned, my baby still smells nice! You do know your stuff!” Drunkhilde said, laughing.
“Hoy! My man is a God of Cooking! Respect his genius!” Rumi said, smirking.
“RUMI!”
“He’s just shy.” She said, and exchanged a round of laughter at Izuku’s expense with the Dwarf woman.
“So very shy, girl!” The other confirmed.
“Women…” Izuku uttered in dismay.
“…” The Pheline’s ears kept twitching from time to time whenever the young Chef talked, the cat-like being’s ears were by now fully back standing high and attentive.
“Zephyr?” the old woman muttered, too low to be heard by anybody.
Some time later -
Once the wings were done turning ‘golden’ in the oven, the young Chef removed them from the oven and carefully and uniformly coated them in the beer sauce, then he positioned them onto a plate he decorated with chopped celery leaves.
“Here they are! Golden Honey Mustard Wings! Please enjoy them while they are still hot, they should pair well with the same Molten Gold Brew beer I used for the sauce. In the meantime, I will finish preparing the chicken stew. Please enjoy your meal and thank you for letting me use dwarven beer to make this.” Izuku declared with a bow, and returning to cook once delivered the dishes he made for Rumi, Drunkhilde and some key members of the kitchen staff.
“Bwahahahaha! I’ll be damned, boy! Ol’ Thirstruil wasn’t pulling my leg! You can use dwarven beer to cook! My baby girl turned these wings from Common to Legendary! Bwahahaha!” Drunkhilde declared with a loud laugh.
“Fuck yeah! I could eat a ton of these and not get tired! Ha-Ah!” Rumi echoed while gorging herself as well.
“B-B-Boss, you are not going to fire us to have him here as Chef, right?” The Spokesperson of Drunkhilde’s Pub Staff asked with a very worried tone.
“While tempting, I don’t think he will settle down here, is he?” The Dwarf woman answered, sighing.
“Yes, sorry but I can’t stay here, my apologies.” Izuku answered with a small voice.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. You did look like one of those guys travelling the world to become the best and stuff. Just remember to stop by here if you happen to pass by Gold Port Town again, okay?” Drunkhilde answered, smiling gently.
“Sure!” Izuku answered, offering her a wide smile in answer.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH”
The idyllic moment went interrupted by a scream of anguish echoing in the entire room from the outside.
“What the hell is happening now?!” Drunkhilde yelled, hurrying outside just like everybody else did to see who yelled and why.
“How dare you attack me, human?!” A elf in silver armour with gold details yelled while tossing again a young human man on the ground, this time though the guy rolled inside the pub from his short fly.
“Y-Your damn ship upturned mine! I LOST MY FATHER BECAUSE OF YOU!” The young man roared in near-madness, but his attempt at jumping the elf stopped when he grabbed him by the neck.
“I won’t let an Ape insult me or waste my time. We have a VIP guest to recover, so shut-up and stay put!”
“Hoy, Knife-ears! That’s one of my regulars! You are dirtying him!” Drunkhilde growled as she and Izuku with Rumi exited the kitchen.
“What does a Rock-Sucker like you want? Just because you barely reach my belt doesn’t mean I won’t teach you manners!” The elf answered while throwing the guy away hard enough he broke a nearby table in two with his landing.
“Keep insults to a minimum, fucker. You are outnumbered.” Rumi said, cracking her knuckles.
“I am an elf, you wench! While your kind spent their days learning how to suck a dick, we Elves mastered the Art of Magic! Do not challenge me!” The Elf said while summoning a shining greatsword made of condensed golden light in his hand.
“Keep talking, Knife-ears, in the meantime I will teach you how a weapon made in actual Dwarven Steel beats your fancy Conjured Blades everyday!” Drunkhilde said while recovering a big and HEAVY war-hammer from behind the counter she then held it with just one hand and leaned it against her shoulder.
“It’s time your kind learns its place under a superior race!” The Elf hissed, brandishing his glowing weapon.
Then his eyes landed on Izuku…
“You…”
“Uhu?”
“I can’t sense your Mana or anything else. What are you hiding?” He said with narrowed eyes.
“What?”
“The Elf can see other people's abilities and potential thanks to his equipment to assess their Threat Level. Host can imagine it as him trying and failing to read Host Izuku’s Stats like in a video game.” The System said.
“You are blocking that?” He asked.
“Indeed, to maintain secrecy as the Host asked.” The Entity answered.
“And now it’s biting me in the butt.” He muttered to himself.
“An unknown threat, able to block a High Level Scan Spell. Normally I would just alert the General and leave the decision to him, but we are at a critical junction of our Mission, so I will have to take the initiative and remove you, hopefully you are nobody important enough, the last thing I need is getting in trouble for a filthy Ape.” The Elf said with a sneer, and marched towards Izuku with his armoured boots slamming loudly on the floor.
“LIKE HELL I WILL LET YOU KILL HIM!” Rumi roared.
“TROUBLEMAKER!” Whitey as well yelled with flashing red eyes.
“Hide behind the counter, boy! This’ about to get messy!” Drunkhilde as well said, brandishing her hammer with both hands and stomping down with both feet to summon some spell that covered her in a thin blue aura.
“You fools! If I say that Ape will die, he will! I-”
MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOW!
Though in the end none of that mattered as a yowling blur came flying out of the kitchen brandishing a giant frying pan, of all things.
CLAAAAAANG!
The impact was loud, and even if brandished by such a small being as that Pheline, the pan’s hit still packed in it enough strength to snap the pan’s handle, and even more shocking, force that Elf into a full backflip that made him land face-up on the floor.
“MEOW! (YOU WON’T!)” Unhappy with just one attack, the Pheline grabbed the rim of the bent pan with both paws and started whacking down on the Elf face as soon as the guy tried getting back on his feet.
CLANG!
“MEOW! (HURT!)” Zephyr was now sitting on the Elf’s Chest and hammering down the pan on his face, sending blood and teeth flying everywhere at every impact.
CLANG!
“MEOW! (MY PARTNER!)” The Elf’s face was already an unrecognisable mask of destroyed flesh and bone, just mangled flesh with every feature completely erased. And yet the Pheline kept hitting.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CL-
“MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOW! (YOU WOOOOOOOON’T!) When the pan finally got bent enough to almost form an imprint of the Elf’s head, the old lady snapped out of her stupor and moved, with some help of other customers, to pry the wildly flailing cat-like being from the downed Elf.
“ZEPHYR!” She yelled, and that seemed to snap the Pheline out of whatever vision he was seeing.
“...Meow?” Zephyr muttered while looking wildly around himself, now fully alert with wide eyes and ears moving everywhere.
“The fuck happened?” Rumi asked, taken aback.
“I think little Zephyr snapped.” Izuku answered.
“Meow?” The Pheline still looked around, lost.
“It’s okay, Zephyr. The wolves are gone, the wolves are gone. You won.” The old lady assured the small cat while crying in relief.
“Oh...I think the cat resolved his trauma then…” Rumi commented.
“That’s a valid way to do it?” Izuku asked, appalled.
“Dunno, I am not a psychologist!” She answered.
“Uuugh!” It was a surprise for everybody present to hear the downed Elf gurgle in agony.
“Is he still alive?” Drunkhilde asked, amazed.
“Yu...Phucking inf’rior r’aces...Our pl’n ‘s still in moshion...We’ll hve a kr’kn egg soon. We will kill yu all…” The Elf somehow managed to say with a completely smashed skull and destroyed jaw.
“The fuck did he say?” Rumi asked.
“Don’t know, too mangled to understand.” Drunkhilde answered, unsure.
“Something about a Kraken Egg, and killing everybody with one.” Izuku said, even if it was only thanks to The System if he could understand it.
“They want a Kraken pet to use as a weapon? This is insane on every level!” Drunkhilde said in shock.
“Where do they even plan to get one? Nobody knows where Krakens lay their eggs, those Monsters are damn secretive about it!” One of the Customers of the Pub said.
“I know where to find a Kraken and its eggs!” The guy that had first argued with the elf said.
“Uh?”
“An entire damn convoy of Elven Ships have docked not too far from here, and they talked about capturing one of those eggs, I heard them myself! And I talk about warships armed to the teeth! I saw them! One of them upturned my boat! My father drowned because of them!” He yelled.
“So they plan to get a Kraken, and raise it as their attack dog...Utter madness.” Drunkhilde muttered with wide scared eyes.
“Hey…” Rumi whispered.
“Yes?” Izuku whispered back in answer.
“That egg sounds like a big deal, is it one of those eggs you need to get?”
“It should be, yes.”
“Then I guess we need to find a way to join that convoy and steal it, or even all of them.” the Hero student said.
“Steal it?”
“We either do that, and you just get a source of Squid Meat for your Restaurant, or they get it and Elves get a Weapon of Mass Destruction to use against everybody they hate that happens to move by the sea. Think that by his words means: Whoever is not an Elf. Between the two, you are the best option, even if I am against stealing by principle.” Rumi said.
“I understand, then I need the kitchen again.” Izuku said with his eyes hardening.
“Uh?”
“I will prepare some Berserker Burgers, just in case we will need to fight our way through the Elves both to get the Egg and leave.” He said.
“Okay, in the meantime I will try to secure us some transportation to chase those bastards. Can you lend me Whitey?” Rumi answered.
“Sure, I will have Shiro with me still, but be careful all the same.”
“I will. Let’s go, Whitey!” The Bunny Girl said.
“Understood.” The Robot answered.
“Meow!” Surprisingly, Zephyr insisted on following Izuku in the kitchen, and no matter what the old lady said, the Pheline stuck to Izuku like glue.
Thirty minutes later -
When Izuku met Rumi again, he saw, to his surprise, Drunkhilde and Thirstruil waiting for them next to a small and lean fishing boat barely big enough for ten people, the one governing the tiny thing was the same guy from before.
“So this is our boat?” Izuku asked.
“The guy insisted, he said that while he can’t kill elves, he will be happy to just steal their treasure under their nose.” Rumi answered.
“Name’s Portgas. I may not hear The Song of the Sea like my father used to, but I still know these waters like the back of my hand. I asked a friend to borrow his boat for this reason! Once we guess correctly where to go, we will get there faster than them. They have warships armed for full-scale battle, but those are slow and bulky, ‘Sea Breeze’ here instead once got the right wind, it’s one of the fastest boats this side of the continent.” The Young man answered, never stopping glaring at the giant Elven Warships that were slowly leaving the docks.
“I hope it’s not just bravado talking.” Rumi hoped while they all got up the small vessel.
“Song of the Sea?” Izuku asked.
“Host can see it as a Fisherman’s version of the Voice of the Ingredients: a rare ability about having the Sea itself tell the User what to do to sail and even fishing.” The System answered.
“That would have been a nice extra assurance…” The young Chef admitted with a sigh.
“We’ll be fine. Are you ready? We don’t have time to waste!” Portgas said with a sneer.
“Ready, ready, boy. Let’s go.” Thirstruil answered.
“Good.” As soon as the fisherman said that, the boat’s sail went unfurled and the thing immediately moved to chase the Elves from afar.
“I’ll be on the look-out, just in case they spot us.” Drunkhilde offered while moving to the front of the boat.
“I’ll trust your eyes,” Thirstruil answered.
“...Ehm…”
“Yes?” The Dwarf said.
“How did you come here that fast?” Izuku asked.
“Oh, There is a Portal in both mine and Drunkhilde’s cellar that connects my Brewery to her pub, makes exchanging beers easier, so I just walked through it and got here in the time normal people need to take a step.” He answered.
“...Then why didn't you let us use it to come here?” Rumi asked, growling.
“Because dear Drunkhilde would have killed you on the spot once she saw somebody else other than me walk through it, you wouldn’t even have the time to take a breath out of the portal before her precious hammer Matilda exploded your heads.” He answered, laughing.
“Charming…” Izuku answered, he and Rumi were completely not amused at the idea.
Meanwhile -
While the Chef and his friends were slowly and carefully following the Elven Warship convoy, the Human flying ship had finally reached the first checkpoint in its travel towards the Sky King Dragon’s lair, and the crew was at the moment taking care of maintenance of ship and propellers while collecting more fuel and other necessities.
At the same time, the Isekai guy John (Hunter Drake Armageddon Hellblaze) was instead having a secret meeting with yet another faction.
“So the Viera Tribe wants the egg too?” He asked.
“Yes. It is time me and my sisters seek vengeance against all the people that only see us as Sex Dolls! And a Dragon five times the size of a common one sounds like the right deterrent, able to make others actually stop and listen to our demands!” The statuesque and, unfortunately, barely-dressed bunny woman said, unaware that with how minimal her clothes were, every tiny movement she made practically resulted in her flashing everything to whoever watched.
“And what’s in it for me? The Elves promised me quite a lot, and not just gold!” He answered, literally drooling at the sight of her, and his hands acting suspiciously while shoved deep in his pockets.
“I am aware of what those Effeminate Tree-Huggers offered you, And I came prepared.” The Viera answered, and turned around to recover a scroll from another bunny woman accompanying her, and we will not describe in detail what the guy did while ogling her butt.
“Eeeeh-”
“Here.”
“Uh?” He said, immediately stopping so as to pay attention as soon as she turned back to face him, all under the disgusted looks of the other Vieras.
“This permit will let you build a brand-new mansion on the outskirts of our territory. If you promise to NEVER leave, we will leave you food and water right outside the door and ignore every form of depravity you will go through with whatever wench you will surround yourself with. Tell you what, I heard the Elf Princess is rather pretty, for a Knife-Ear; Help us and we will...Convince her and a few other Elven girls to live there with you to do as you please. Everything you please. Do we have a deal?”
“We have a deal.” He answered, nodding rapidly.
“Very well, just remember to grab the very last egg the Dragon will lay, not the others. The very last one!” She said, stressing that detail as much as she possibly could.
“I will, I will. Relax!” He answered, huffing.
“They all keep telling me to take only the last one. Why? Do they really want it THAT fresh? Bunch of idiots. Eggs are all the same.” The guy also thought, annoyed by that strange reminder being thrown his way every three sentences!
Some superstitions were just plain stupid, if you asked him.
“Good to see you understand. Be fast and precise and I will let you have a Fake Viera too, there is one in our forest that is just Dumb...Just Open-minded enough to actually consider Humans appealing.” The Viera Envoy added, and her companions didn’t even try to hide their snickers of derision, too bad that to the boy they sounded like shy giggles instead.
“NOW I AM MOTIVATED!” He answered.
“Then off you go! Get us the egg, and you will get your Sex Mansion and the rest of your life to enjoy it!”
“YES! I’LL BE BACK SOON!” The young man yelled while running away at high speed.
“Can we trust him?” One of the Viera guards asked.
“Not at all. But we have a deal, and I will see to it that it is fulfilled, for the Good of our Mother Forest.” The Envoy answered, shuddering in dread as soon as she met the eyes of the hidden human in torn black robes and a pale face hidden under his hood.
“Remember well indeed, Viera. We Necromancers never forget, if you fail, we will burn your precious Forest down with you all in it.” The Hooded Human answered, fading into the shadows and disappearing.
“...Will we be safe?” Another Viera asked with a small voice.
“We did as asked, we followed orders to the letter. Even if that moron fails and dies, we won’t have anything to fear...I hope…” The Envoy answered, shivering again.
With faces full of dread and despair, the group of Vieras silently returned home, hoping with all themselves that this small act of Evil won’t cause the end of their poor race.
Two Hours Later – With Izuku – Middle of the sea -
“OKAY! I EXPECTED RESISTANCE, BUT THIS IS INSANE!” The Elven General shrieked while holding for dear life on the warship railing.
The sea was literally boiling! Then there were waves dozens of metres tall that kept battering the warship convoy from every direction, and actually kept changing direction so abruptly the entire storm looked like a giant “screw you” to the laws of physics.
Then came insanely-fast opposing winds, a downpour with fist-sized raindrops falling down thick enough to almost form a literal wall, and among that Nightmare, the Fishmen guarding the Kraken laying its eggs kept popping in and out of the water by the hundreds and dashing any notion of them being a Primitive race thanks to the absurdly-well-coordinated hit and run tactics they were deploying.
Many elves had fallen already, either thanks to the insane storm or the sudden appearance of a Fishman soldier or three that would jump out of the water, skewer the elven soldiers alive like a pincushion, and then dive back into the water barely a second later.
“BOAT! BOAT AHEAD!” An Elf soldier managed to scream loud enough to be heard over even the eardrums-shredding loud howl of the wind.
“BOAT!? HERE!?” The General wobbled his way towards the soldier, to watch in astonishment as a fishing boat a fifth of the size of their warship was bravely, or insanely, braving the storm thanks to a white chubby automaton manually handing the only sail thanks to a duo of ropes he held in his big hands, literally Kiteboarding with the boat!
With Izuku -
“I AM HERE! I AM HERE, YOU FUCKING ELVES! HEEEEEEEEEEEEERE!” Portgas bellowed with a mad laugh, holding onto the boat’s wheel and governing the thing with Whitey’s help through that hell of water.
“Stop screaming and man this damn boat!” Rumi, soaked to the bones like everybody else, kept kicking whatever Fishman that came too close to her, sending them flying on the notes of their breaking bones.
“I admit I underestimated what it meant fighting on the sea!” Thirstruil admitted with a shriek, barely avoiding a spear-thrust and answering with an overhead downward hit of the morning-star in his hands that slammed the Fishman down face-first with a sickening crunch noise.
“We are Dwarves! Of course you hate fighting on the sea, you fucking moron!” Drunkhilde answered with a mad roar, and with her own war-hammer snapping in two the spear and spine of the Fishman in front of her that tried parrying her attack.
“Keep pushing them back! We still have to find a way to find that egg!” Izuku answered, grabbing the Myriad Manifestation Mallet and mentally commanding it to enlarge until the head was as big as his torso and covering it in fire thanks to its ability.
“Bodhisattva Mallet: Scorched!” Using it then to hit a Fishman in the chest with an upward, baseball-style, slam that covered the Monster in fire and sent the guy flying like a comet.
“Kyuuun!” Shiro himself kept swallowing whole every Fishman that tried to sneak on both Izuku and Rumi, luckily for the Monsters though, the Ancestral Taotie had been asked not to eat them, so he merely spat them out right after, although with enough strength the Fishmen went sent flying FAR from the boat.
“This is insane! How are we supposed to catch that damn Kraken and its eggs?!” Rumi yelled.
“GUAAOOOOOOH!”
A loud wail echoed everywhere, so intense the storm seemed to slow-down for an instant before its power increased tenfold right after, to everybody’s horror.
“The Kraken has finally started laying its eggs and has lost control of its powers, The Host is required to capture both Kraken and every egg.” The System alerted him.
“Every one? Why?”
“Krakens are an invasive Species, host. A species that isn’t supposed to be in this part of the sea at all.
The Fishmen brought one Kraken Egg here to worship the newborn animal as a God one hundred years ago, and a single Kraken is already a threat to the ecosystem of this part of the ocean; if another one, or all the ten eggs it will lay, hatch, the swarm of Krakens will destroy this ecosystem completely in a way it will take thousands of years to recover. It’s a necessary evil, host.
The Restaurant Storage will give them proper housing and food without the risk of the Ecosystem collapsing completely.” The System explained.
“Fuck! Things are so bad?!” Rumi said, shocked.
“Indeed.”
“Then how do I do this!? With this storm I can’t even run on water to look for it!”
“Run on what?!” Rumi shrieked.
“For a fee the System will force the Kraken to show itself, but capture will still be up to Host Izuku.”
“GUH! How much?” He asked.
“The cheapest option costs two thousand Experience Points, this if Host Izuku still wants to gather enough Experience Points to level-up at the completion of this Sortie.” The System answered.
“...Let’s go with that.” Izuku answered, sighing in dismay.
“Understood. The Whirlpool will open in three…”
“WHIRLPOOL?!” Rumi and Izuku shrieked in horror at the same time.
“Two...One...Opening.”
“THAT’S NOT A WHIRLPOOL! THAT A FUCKING MAELSTROOOOM!” Portgas yelled in terror as a Hole opened instantly in the sea, the water in the whirlpool was spinning so fast the cone of the thing reached all the way down on the ocean floor several hundreds of meters down, the mouth alone was insanely huge as well and at the very bottom, resting on the now dry seafloor, a very confused giant Kraken looked upward as if to check where in the name of God all that water went all of a sudden.
“There it is!” Several voices yelled as one.
“System! GODDAMNIT! CHEAP DOESN’T MEAN THIS CHEAP! YOU FUCKING BASTARD!” Rumi also yelled.
“I don’t know how that whirlpool opened, but besides showing us where the beast is...How the fuck do we get down there?!” Thirstruil yelled while holding onto the railing to not be thrown overboard like many other poor Elves had been from the now insane rocking the whirlpool’s own current caused on the boats.
“I can’t control the ship! It’s sucking us in! The current and winds are too strong and pointing straight at it!” Portgas yelled in fear, anger and vengeance forgotten in face of his incoming death.
“If we don’t do something the currents will crush us!” Drunkhilde yelled, she was holding onto Whitey, but her legs had already started losing grip on the ship’s deck as the thing had started leaning to the side.
“SYSTEM! SEND RUMI HOME! I’LL CONTINUE ALONE!” Izuku said immediately.
“NO!” Rumi answered.
“Ru-”
“I WILL STAY BY YOUR SIDE! THROUGH GOOD AND BAD, THROUGH PEACE AND WAR! I AM NOT HUNTING YOU DOWN JUST FOR A FUCK, YOU MORON! I LOVE YOU! AND IF I HAVE TO FIGHT A FUCKING KRAKEN TO STAY WITH YOU, THEN I WILL FUCKING DO IT!” She yelled, grabbing onto him so that both could help each other to hold onto the boat and not fall into the sea.
“Rumi…”
“I am not going anywhere. I’ll walk by your side, always.” She said, and even if it looked a bit over-dramatic, the setting did give extra weight to the kiss she stole from him.
“We are going somewhere instead! Crashing onto the sea-floor!” Thirstruil yelled, utterly afraid.
“Father...Father I...I disappointed you...As a Man, as a son and as a man of the sea...I-I can’t hear the song...I failed you…” Portgas in the meantime was crying his eyes out in despair…
“…”
“Uh?” It was then that he heard...Something…
“…”
“I…I…I…”
“…”
“Over there, my boy...Follow the Song…”
“I KNOW WHAT TO DO!” The young fisherman yelled, grabbing the wheel with renewed vigour.
“You sure?!” Rumi, finally stopping kissing Izuku, asked in elation.
“NO! BUT THE SEA IS! THIS WAY!” Showing a mad smile, Portgas gave a wild turn to the wheel, and directed the ship directly towards the Maelstrom.
“HE SNAPPED! THE MAN GUIDING OUR SHIP HAS GONE INSANE!” Drunkhilde yelled in fear.
“I am sure he-”
“HAHAHAHAHA!
Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguing is done
We'll take our leave and go!”
“NO! YOU ARE RIGHT! HE HAS GONE INSANE! HE IS FUCKING SINGING WHILE KILLING US ALL!” The Male Dwarf shrieked in answer once seen Portgas man the wheel with unblinking eyes and a smile too happy for the catastrophic situation they were in, he was actually singing a damn sea shanty too!
“OVER THERE! The sea is telling me what to do! LET’S GOOO!” A soon as the boat’s front leaned down, Portgas gave a sharp turn, and managed to keep the boat glued to the whirlpool water thanks to the current and the winds themselves tensing the seal held by Whitey to the very limit.
The small ship was now sailing on a vertical wall of storm water, leaning enough to the side its mast was perfectly perpendicular to the ground below, and slowly descending downwards.
“IF I TELL THIS TO ANYBODY, THEY WILL NEVER BELIEVE ME! Our boat is sailing on a sheer vertical wall of spinning water! What the fuck is happening?!” Rumi yelled, she and the others were forced to stand precariously on the railing as the only flat surface now remaining for them to use.
“I CAN HEAR IT! I CAN HEAR IT! THE SEA IS SINGING TO MEEEEE!” Portgas yelled in glee while managing the insane feat and navigating the thing all the way down towards the furious Kraken already waiting for them with a very obvious glare.
With the Elves -
“CHASE THEM! CHASE THEM!” The Elven General yelled in mad fury.
“How?! Our ships are too big and heavy to do that! I am not that insane to try it!” The Ship’s Captain answered.
“I don’t care how! Just do it! And where is that Human bitch and the Team we sent to retrieve the Eggs?!” He answered, his own furious spitting getting lost in both rain and splashes of sea water.
“Over there! I can see the bubbles that contain their own ship! They are breaching the maelstrom border!” The Captain answered.
Following the direction the Elf pointed at, the General found the giant black shadow barely visible under the dark waters, vaguely shaped like a giant warship encased in a giant bubble permitting it to sail underwater.
Boom!
As soon as the ship broke-through the maelstrom border to surface in the wide area left behind by the furious spinning, the magical bubble itself burst and the warship landed heavily on the muddy ground, barely few feet away from the Kraken and its nest.
With the Elves -
As soon as the ship stopped shaking from the sudden landing, the Elves on board immediately snapped to action, dismounting from the thing in full battle asset, followed by a human girl in an outrageous pink frilly dress even the author of the most crappy Magical Girl Anime would have found excessive and refused to use.
“Wait for me!” The girl living her own Isekai yelled shrilly, jumping down the ship to follow the elves while waving around her magical staff to be seen.
“The plan has gone to waste, do we still need to drag that thing along, Captain?” One of the soldiers asked.
“A plan never survives its enacting. We will need to improvise, we have come this far and we can’t back-down now! The plan remains unchanged: Grab the eggs, leave the human woman behind for the Mermen to capture and, hopefully, kill. And remember to leave behind the proof to pin all this on humans.” The Captain answered.
“Yessir!” The Elven Soldiers answered as one.
“Wait for meee!” The human girl said, finally reaching the elves and splashing mud everywhere with her arrival.
“Don’t worry...We know we can’t do this without you...My dear.” He answered, all while doing a truly titanic effort to turn his frown into a passable smile, the Elf Captain managed to ignore the disgust washing over him at looking at her and at the mud she splashed on his once pristine armour and robes enough to not eviscerate her on the spot.
“My beloved needs my help to recover those filthy eggs to save the Elven Kingdom, and I won’t fail!” She answered, still following the Plot of the game that she thought she entered, unaware of her losing her Protagonist role thanks to the System.
“Yes, yes. Let’s go.” The Captain answered, he and the other Elves rolling their eyes in annoyance.
“SHIP INCOMING!” An Elf soldier yelled with wide eyes while pointing upward.
“Ship incom- HOW?!” The Captain shrieked at seeing Izuku’s own ship sailing down along the sheer wall of the maelstrom until they too landed heavily on the ground. At the opposite side of the Kraken nest.
“…”
“…”
Now there they were: Humans on one side and Elves on the other, and in the middle a giant Squid-like Monster ten metres tall surrounded in eggs looking like perfectly-spherical pearls as big as a car.
Nobody moved, not even the Kraken, everybody was waiting for the others to make the first move, too focused on gauging the opposition to actually break the stalemate…
“What are we waiting for! GRAB THE EGGS!” fortunately, or unfortunately, the Isekai Girl decided to move first and to scream the very worst battle-cry, because the Kraken seemed to understand Human Speech enough to catch her intention.
“ROAAAAAR!” A tentacle wrapped around the eggs, while the others started whipping around trying to squish and crush everybody around its nest.
“Goddamnit! That idiot had to tell the thing she wants its eggs! Stop her!” Drunkhilde yelled while jumping down the ship together with Thirstruil to fight-off the giant tentacles.
“Isn’t she the girl we met before? The one we saved from the bandits?” Izuku asked, recovering Shiro, to put him on his shoulders and then join the battle.
“The very same moron! Let’s go save her from her stupidity, again!” Rumi answered, joining the Chef in fending off the tentacles.
“Take this!” The girl said while shooting small pebble-sized magic bullets at the tentacles with no effect.
“ROAAAAAR!” The Kraken shrugged-off the attack and moved one of its massive tentacles down to squash the girl.
“KYAAAAH!”
“Vajra Filleting!” Izuku yelled at the same time, and literally filleted the entire giant tentacle in an instant before it could touch the girl.
(Vajra – in sanskrit: Thunderbolt. So: Thunderbolt Filleting)
“Who...IZUKU! MY HERO!” The girl said in glee, and tried to glomp on the Chef to hug him.
“This is not the time and place, girl! Focus!” Rumi barked in answer, happy to see Izuku dodge the girl with ease.
“Piss off!” The other answered.
“Not now, we’ll talk later,” Izuku said, dodging again the girl’s jump to focus on the Kraken that was now glaring daggers at him for the loss of a tentacle.
“Here it comes! Get ready!” Rumi yelled, jumping away.
Boom!
“EEEK!” The Isekai Girl shrieked in shock at feeling Izuku grab the back of her dress to drag her to safety and avoid the heavy tentacle slamming down so hard it formed a crater.
“You saved me again! You must really love me!” She gushed.
“FOCUS! There are people dying! This is not a game!” Izuku snapped angrily, especially at seeing several Elven Soldiers being battled away and sent flying.
“It is a game! My game! Everything will be alright if I am here! Look! Magic spear!” The girl yelled with crazed eyes before shooting from her staff a foot-long spear of shining magic that exploded one of the Kraken’s eyes.
“GYAOOOOOOOOOH!” With a shriek of agony, the Kraken focused its remaining five eyes on both Chef and Isekai Girl in complete hatred.
“NO!” Rumi yelled at seeing every tentacle the Monster possessed coming down all at once on the two.
“Aaah!” Uncaring of his own safety, Izuku threw the Isekai Girl away and braced himself from impact.
“KYUUN!” For Rumi’s relief, the Ancestral Taotie reminded her that the Chef was never really defenceless, as Shiro used the hair-like tendrils from his mouth to grab and stop the tentacles’ descent.
“VAJRA FILLETING!” Soon followed by Izuku moving the Sea Dragon Kitchen Knife in a flash to cut them all into precise chunks, and just like before, the System promptly transported those chunks to the Restaurant’s Island Storage.
“You...You are safe...You are safe…” Relief washed over Rumi as for an instant she thought she was about to lose him, she felt fear filling every corner of her being! Down to the last cell!...Wait...
“W-Wait!” That was a moment of clarity that made the bunny girl’s eyes widen, she had felt terror with literally every cell of her body!
“IZUKU! THAT BERSERKER BURGER! NOW!” Rumi yelled while running towards the Chef.
“HN?! O-Okay!” Izuku answered, summoning from the Space Pocket the System connected him to a perfectly-cooked, and still smoking, hamburger patty on a plain white plate.
“Still warm?” She asked, just as the Kraken shocked them all by having new tentacles burst-out from the stumps with several splashes of blackish blood.
“The Pocket keeps everything in stasis...Why?” He asked.
“Just curious, but it doesn’t matter! I finally understood how to use Enbu!” Rumi answered with a savage smile, swallowing the burger whole in just two bites.
“Wha?”
“YYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEAH!” As soon as the patty reached Rumi’s stomach, explosive power flowed in her veins like fire, making her entire body flush red so much her caramel skin resembled hot metal straight out of a furnace, so much thin strings of smoke wafted up from random areas of her back and limbs.
“WATCH THIS, BIMBO! THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT! THIS IS MY KICKFUL OF LOVE!” Voice booming, Rumi dashed forward with such a strength the ground under her feet exploded and she appeared in front of the Kraken in an instant.
“ENBU: SAMSARA MOONRISE!” She yelled, and she could feel every single cell of her body move in unison towards a single, unanimous goal: KICK!
BOOOOOOOM!
A kickful of Love! That’s how she called the upward kick she delivered to the Kraken’s body with the power of every single cell she possessed cooperating together (All 60 trillions of them) further strengthened by Izuku’s Utility Dish, all focused on her right foot now burying itself deep into the Kraken’s gut.
“…!” The Kraken’s beak mouth was wide open, but no sound came as every eye it possessed turned lifeless on impact.
“FLY AWAAAAAAAY!” Rumi roared as the full power of her kick sent ripples along the Kraken’s body and faintly pushed the thing’s chitin skeleton straight out of its back a couple inches.
And the 30 metres tall (not counting the tentacles) and many tonnes of giant Squid Monster achieved sub-sound velocity as it flew upward.
All for the shock of the Elves stuck at sea level still fighting against the storm that saw a dead Kraken fly high in the sky, for a total height reached from the starting point at the sea-floor to when it started descending five miles. Complete insanity that needed to be seen to be believed.
With Rumi -
“I DID IIIIIIIIT!” Rumi yelled in glee while letting herself fall down to the ground from her high jump, all the while smiling wide.
“OOOF!” And as a welcomed extra, Izuku himself caught her in his arms to cushion her fall in a splendid bridal carry.
“You were amazing, Rumi. That was a perfect Enbu Kick.” The Chef said with a proud smile.
“Hehehe! That burger made me super tired, but it was worth it, that was so fucking awesome.” She answered, not even trying to get off his arms.
“It was,” He answered, laughing.
“STOP TALKING WITH THAT BITCH! I AM YOUR WOMAN!” The Isekai Girl yelled.
“No, you are not.” Izuku answered, gently setting Rumi back to her feet and walking towards the eggs.
“Stop right there! Those eggs are ours!” The Elven Captain yelled, unsheathing his sword.
“Unfortunately I need these for my Restaurant. So you will have to do without your Weapon of Mass Destruction.” Izuku answered, uncaring.
“NEVER! WE WILL KILL EVERY HUMAN THAT WILL STAND IN OUR WAY! I HAVE PUT-UP WITH A SPOILED APE TOO LONG TO STOP NOW THAT THE EGGS ARE IN FRONT OF ME!”
“A-A-Ape?” The Isekai Girl muttered, shocked by the insult.
“Yes, that is another reason I went along with this thing, even just to stop a megalomaniac from killing whoever is not of your race. Now, sorry, but I have eggs to collect.” Izuku answered, putting his hand on the first egg.
“STOOOOOOOOOOOP!” The Elves yelled, frantically running towards the Chef.
“Oh for fuck sake! WHITEY!” Rumi groaned in annoyance while sitting down on a rock.
“TROUBLEMAKERS!” The chubby robot stopped mounting guard to Portgas and assaulted the Elven soldiers, soon littering the ground in their shredded armors and clothes as he stripped them all before slapping them unconscious.
“NO! NO! NOO! This is not what is supposed to happen! I am supposed to be a Hero! To get a Harem! To live my life surrounded in hunks and in endless orgies!” The Isekai Girl shrieked in madness.
“...What...What the hell are you saying?” Izuku asked, appalled, he had just finished touching every egg to send it to his Storage and was now looking at the girl in shock.
“This is just a game! A stupid Romance Game I entered! I am the Main Character! Why am I in a cold, muddy hellhole fighting a monster?! Why am I being insulted!? I am supposed to be the girl that can have every man drooling after her! It is finally my turn to be beloved by everybody! I want the dicks I was denied in my previous life! I deserve it! I deserve everyt-”
SLAP!
The back-handed slap Izuku gave her sent the girl rolling on the floor, ruining her frilly dress into filthy rags thanks to the mud pool she fell into.
“This is not a game, you spoiled brat! People die and get hurt here! Stop pretending the world to bend over for you just because you want something! They were using you exactly because you think everybody owes you something!” The Chef yelled, furious.
“I...I...I…” Hic! “Nobody loved me back home! They always made fun of me and my looks because I was not a big-tittied bimbo with a slim waist! But here I will be loved by everybody because I am the Protagonist! I will have a boyfriend! No! Twenty!” The girl yelled while crying, snot, tears and mud mixing on her face into a disgusting muck.
“There are no Protagonists here. This is Reality, not a fantasy, it’s time to face the truth, you can’t force people to love you,” Izuku answered.
“SHUT UP!” She yelled, grabbing her magical staff and pointing it at Izuku.
“LOVE ME! YOU ARE JUST A GAME CHARACTER! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO LOVE ME! DROP YOUR PANTS AND FUCK ME!” The deranged girl shrieked.
In answer the Chef simply pulled the staff out of her hands faster than she could react and snapped it on his knee.
“Ah…”
“Stop whining and start acting like an adult, it’s about time you drop this Power Fantasy of yours. This is no longer a Game, but Real Life. It’s time to grow-up.” The Chef said, throwing away the two halves of the broken staff.
“I...I…” Hic! Hic! “I am a protagonist…” Hic! “This is my world...Mine…” Hic!
“She is hopeless.” Rumi said, sighing.
“She will need to grow-up fast, if she really came here from another world, this is no longer her game, but her Life. If she doesn’t understand this, her future will be very bleak.” Izuku answered.
“Should we help her?” Rumi asked.
“How, though? We will leave as soon as the Mission Timer runs-out or I collect the Ingredients required. How do we help her, especially since she doesn’t want to get help yet?”
“I...I don’t know…” Rumi answered, looking lost.
RRRRRRUMBLE!
“That talk will have to wait! The Maelstrom is collapsing!” Thirstruil yelled while finishing loading Portgas’ boat in chests.
“What are those?!” Rumi asked while she and Izuku boarded the thing.
“Spoils of war! While you were talking with that psycho, we helped your automaton load the unconscious elves back on their ship, we also collected a couple souvenirs!” Drunkhilde answered as water started falling down to fill again the hole opened by the giant whirlpool.
“Oh God! What do we do now?!” Izuku asked.
“Trust me! I can hear the Sea, I will take us to safety!” Portgas answered.
“The System is making sure the water is refilling the hole in a way that will permit the two ships and their crews to float to safety. As part of the Service the Host paid for.” The System explained.
“Uh! Almost makes the price you paid worth it.” Rumi muttered, pleased.
“WAAAAAH! WAAAAAH! I WANNA WIN! I WANT MY HAREM! MY DICKS! I WANNA BE THE PROTAGONIST!”
“Wait! That idiot is still down there crying!” Thirstruil yelled.
“Oh, Goddamnit!” Izuku yelled while jumping down the ship.
“Izuku!” Rumi yelled with wide eyes.
Luckily, the Chef could still move fast enough to run at the crying girl and bring her back on their boat even with the rapidly rising water, and once unceremoniously dropped the wailing moron in a corner, the small crew held tight to the boat’s railing while Portgas manoeuvred the boat on the wild waters all the way to the surface while waiting for the whirlpool to fully collapse and return the sea to normal.
And as they all could see, at the defeat of the Kraken the storm had stopped abruptly, with the sea now calm and still since no longer influenced by the Monster’s powers.
“There is our Kraken!” Rumi said in relief once seen the enormous Squid Monster still floating in the sea.
“Is it dead?” Izuku asked.
“Almost, that kick really fucked it up,” Drunkhilde answered, noticing only one eye of the thing still had enough Life in it to look towards them.
“Put it out of his misery, boy. Even a Monster deserves some respect.” Thirstruil said.
“You are right, give me a minute…” Izuku answered, climbing on the Kraken’s body as soon as Portgas neared the thing.
“One down...We need to find two more and we are done.” Rumi muttered with a sigh.
“Two what?” Drunkhilde asked.
“Two more Ingredients. Izuku and I have been sent here to look for four things: Dwarven beer, the Sea King and its eggs, and that is this Kraken.” The Hero student answered.
“And the other two?” Thirstruil asked.
“Besides a Sky King, we have no idea what it is. The easiest one would ideally be the other one: the Elven wine, we are just supposed to get some of the grapes needed to make their Liquid Gold Wine…” She answered.
“Huhuhuhu!” Both Dwarves chuckled at that.
“Uh?”
“You mean these grapes?” Drunkhilde said, and opening with a kick one of the treasure chests she and Thirstruil pilfered from the Elven Warship.
SHIIIIIIINE!
“HOLY SHIT!” Rumi yelled in awe while shielding her eyes, the grapes filling that giant chest seemed made of pure gold and they SHONE.
“Yeah, I could recognize these grapes anywhere, especially since their shine is what inspired me to make my golden beer. There should be enough samples here to start your own wine yard back home!” Drunkhilde said, laughing.
“And we can keep these?” Rumi said.
“Yep! Consider it your and Izuku’s part of the spoils, Ah-ha!” Thirstruil answered.
“THOSE ARE MINE!” The Elven General shrieked in anger.
“Not anymore!” Rumi answered.
“What did I miss?” Izuku asked, having returned from painlessly putting down the Kraken and sending its corpse to the Restaurant Storage where he will later work on it.
“A big hit! We got the Elven grapes!”
“Really! YES!”
“NO! Those are mine! I need them to bribe our King into letting me get into early retirement! Sink that ship! Kill them all! Recover my Elven Grapes!” The Elven General ordered, and as one every ship of the convoy converged on the tiny boat of Izuku’s group.
“What now?! We are not equipped for naval battle! Unless this boat has a cannon stashed somewhere.” Drunkhilde hissed.
“Unfortunately not, this is a mere fishing boat. No armour or cannons anywhere.” Portgas answered between clenched teeth.
“I guess this is where I jump in.” Shiro said with a tired sigh.
“UH?!” The others not in the know, Isekai Girl included, uttered as one in surprise.
“Don’t kill them!” Izuku yelled with wide eyes.
“For you, my Partner, this esteemed Taotie will show restraint and just scare them a little.” Shiro answered, jumping on the railing to look at the approaching ten warships.
“Thank you.” The Chef said in relief.
“Beware, Elves! This is a mere warning shot! The next one will strike true!” The Ancestral Taotie declared with a booming voice echoing everywhere and yet still holding regal composure.
“KILL THEEEEEM!”
“Hn! You all are shameless! Well, this Esteemed Taotie warned you!” Shiro said while dark energy started mounting in his tiny mouth until a swirling sphere of living shadows interspersed with pure-white lightning circling around it was formed in his maw.
“I appreciate your Pet’s conviction, but a magical projectile that small won’t even dent-”
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
BOOOM!
The sea parted!
The Earth trembled!
The sky went ripped apart!
Everything was engulfed in light!
What was once a mighty force of ten giant worships strengthened by ancient Magic ceased to exist in an instant as an awe-inspiring mushroom cloud covered the sky as soon as the blinding explosion of light that Rumi feared blinded half the planet and went noticed from space as well, disappeared.
“…”
“Done!” Shiro said, proud of himself.
“ON WHAT SCALE THAT IS CALLED RESTRAINT?!” Izuku shrieked.
“To me it was, Partner! I barely used an infinitesimal fraction of my powers to shoot that small thing! It was mostly pretty lights, I calibrated it so that the power would be just enough to destroy the Enchanted ships without hurting the crew. Not too much at least.”
“I told you to not kill them!”
“And I didn’t! When they land back down in the water, they will be still alive. With every bone in their bodies turned to dust and most organs bruised, but alive. By then the last remaining ship, the one full of naked elves, will collect them, heal them and bring them home ready to tell stories about mine and your greatness for millennia to come!” Shiro answered, calmly returning to lie around Izuku’s neck as if nothing happened.
“...Let’s just...Let’s just return home…” Drunkhilde muttered.
“Ye...Yes…” Portgas answered, guiding the small boat back towards Gold Port Town.
The whole trip Izuku had only Rumi by his side, everybody else was just huddled in a corner as far away as physically possible from the tiny Taotie wrapped asleep around the Chef’s neck; they all also ignored the shrieks of pain of the various Elves literally raining from the sky all around them that had survived, even if barely, the fly and the insanely-big explosion only thanks to their ships’ enchantment taking the brunt of the attack.
Two days later – Mountains -
Time to shine! The second Isekai-ed guy was now reaching the last stop before the Dragon’s nest where he will find the egg he needs for his Mission(s)! A couple hours and he will get all the treasures Humans, Elves and Vieras promised him!
“This is indeed the first Event of the Plot! My very first Big Victory that will put me on the path towards the Chad Harem Ending of those crappy animes those losers weebs back home were so fixated about! Hehehe! Those Betas wouldn’t know what to do with all this wealth, good thing an Alpha like me has been sent here instead!” He said in glee while dismounting the flying ship.
“Remember! While this dragon is a weak one of its species and will be even weaker after laying its eggs, we must be cautious.” The pretty girl in plain Wizard attire said with a cautious tone, too bad he still didn’t manage to see what was hiding under all those layers.
Eh! Just a matter of time before the inevitable Love Scene! He felt like trying The Butt Experience with her, she looked like one of those girls enjoying it.
“Have no fear! We came prepared! We will pull through no problem!” The Annoying Paladin guy added, smiling that infuriating wide smile of his.
“Sorry, but I don’t accept ‘Rivals’. At the first occasion, an accident will happen and you will die, after all, the Hero needs his Dramatic Dead Friend Scene to boost his powers and show the Harem how cool, dashing and manly he is! And since I don’t like you...You will need to fill the role of the dying ‘Friend’.” John thought in malice.
“We have Sir John with us! Of course we will triumph!” The chubby boy acting as the Team’s Healer instead kept acting as the Isekai Guy’s Hype man, gaining brown points for the young egomaniac.
“You, I will keep you, instead. A good Simp is always welcomed to boost my image! Just keep me alive and keep telling everybody how cool I am.” The guy thought, pleased.
He was completely unaware that who was accompanying him was not a group of “Newbies”, but a full-fledged Team of Pros that knew what they were doing and how to stroke the Ego of their charge so that he was so full of himself to not notice how much he was being played.
They all knew how to do it because it was not the first “Chosen One” they screwed over! The King of Men had specifically requested their help thanks to their experience in finding new Adventurers blinded by dreams of glory and swindling them with fake Prophecies they just so happened to discover so to lead the Victim into situations where they either died or went arrested while the Team ran away with the loot.
And as soon as the King captured them, he offered them a deal: They would help him trick John, and in exchange the King wouldn't hang all of them for their crimes, of course those guys couldn’t agree fast enough once they saw the eager look of the Executioner waiting for them…
OF COURSE the King of Men expected them all to die fighting that dragon he purposely described as a runt, instead of a Legendary ‘World Destroyer’, but at least their deaths would actually serve a purpose instead of being a mere execution hosted on a Friday evening to entertain the masses, like usual.
Only John was required to survive, and the small group of soldiers secretly following him and his friends would make sure of that.
Two hours and a LONG walk through the mountains later -
The group of Heroes was now facing a tall mountain littered with hundreds of similar openings, and yet, even with all those caves, there was an eerie, unnatural silence all around them, as if something BIG had scared everything in the area so to be the only occupant of the mountain.
“There. That system of caves. The rangers sent by the King saw the dragon fly into one of those.” The Rogue of the Team, a red-haired girl John could not wait to bend over, said while donning the hood of her form-fitting robes.
“We’ll do as we planned: John and I will take the front, Patty and Stevie will take the middle while Kat will cover our backs. You ready?” The Paladin asked.
“Standard formation, of course!” The Rogue answered.
“Ready!” Healer and Mage chorused.
“We’ll pull through, girls. Trust me!” John said while flashing what he believed was a blinding and charming smile.
“We trust you!” the girls answered, returning his smile with a sweet one of their own.
“God, what a moron.” The Mage sent her friends through their shared telepathic link she had set-up.
“But a Moron we need, we either do this or we get the rope! And I am too pretty to die!” The Healer answered, talking with a more crude and insufferable tone than his character would have suggested.
“Debatable.” The Rogue said.
“Screw you, bitch!”
“You weren’t talking like that when I was riding you, cretin!”
“Enough! We have our lives on the line! It’s not just money like usual! We need to play this perfectly, because I won’t die for a cretin they need to scare into compliance!” The ‘Paladin’ roared, silencing his pals.
“Sorry, Boss!” The Team answered as one.
“Good! Remember your roles and our Mission: We get in, help the Idiot steal the right Egg and deliver both Egg and Idiot to the soldiers, then we fake our deaths and start again in a different continent. WITHOUT getting caught this time. Got it?!”
“Yes!”
“Good! Remember our body doubles, we have stashed in Patty’s Magical pouch, we need that dragon to char them just enough they can’t tell it’s not us.”
“Of course!”
“Hey! Ready to go?” John asked.
“Of course! Lead the way!” The Paladin answered aloud, and flashing the guy his middle finger as soon as he turned around.
“Don’t worry, I bet that thing will die just by spitting on it! Stay behind me and I will deal with it by myself!” The Isekai Guy declared, flashing once again a smirk to the girls of the group.
“Gods, please! Make it so that even if a moron, he won’t be so stupid to ruin a Mission THIS easy!” The Team of fake Adventurers thought in chorus at the same time.
One Hour Later -
“AAAAAAH!” John was running for his life, scared out of his mind!
ROAAAAR!
Behind him the biggest, foulest, most evil and scary dragon human mind could conceive was demolishing the tunnel in its haste to chase the guy and eat him, all to recover the giant egg the Isekai Guy was holding in his arms with all his strength and the ONLY reason why the dragon had not started vomiting fire on him once it had finished tearing apart and eating the fake Adventurers, all without giving those guys enough time to prepare their body doubles either.
The battle had started fairly normally: the Mage and Paladin kept hitting the Dragon in turns to attract its attention while the Healer kept them alive, all the while John and the Rogue sneaked past it to reach the eggs right after the Monster finished laying them so as to steal the very last one.
Everything was going smoothly...Too smoothly in fact.
John had seen how dashing the Paladin was being while guiding the operation, and that caused his barely-buried Inferiority Complex he took along from his previous life to flare-up and have him jump out of cover to face the Dragon himself and out-stage the Paladin, unfortunately while still holding the egg in his arms.
Once seen and understood what was really happening, the dragon stopped ‘Playing with its food’ and just went for the kill, and after a single slice of its massive claws moving at the literal speed of sound, the Monster slaughtered and devoured the fake Adventurers before focusing on John that had started running away in fear as soon as he saw the first splash of blood, never once looking back to check on his supposed friends. And now here he was, being chased.
“The exit! I am safe!” John yelled in relief once seen the cone of light created by the sun outside enlarging the closer he got.
ROOOOAR!
“GO AWAY! GO BURN A VILLAGE OR SOMETHING! STOP CHASING ME!” The Isekai Guy yelled in tears while pushing forward just a bit faster while ignoring his muscles burning in fatigue.
“A stupid egg! Just a stupid egg and I will retire in luxury and Women! You can do it, John! YOU CAN DO IIIIIT!” He yelled, psyching himself up for the last push, and with a long tumbling, he threw himself out of the small opening in front of him to roll on the floor to safety.
Boom! ROOOOOAAAAR!
An opening barely big enough for the Dragon’s massive head and long neck to pass through, but not the rest of its wide body, even if by the big cracks rapidly forming around the hole, the Monster was pushing with both front claws and back legs and will soon dig its way through the rock.
“Ah-ha…AHAHAHAHAHAHA! Screw you, lizard! I outsmarted you! Ha-ah!” John said, laughing at the struggling monster.
ROAR! ROAR! CRAAACK!
“KYAAAAAH!” Just as the dragon was about to finally break through the rock and fully get out from the cave, two things happened:
The Isekai Guy shrieked in fear with a high pitch.
“SAMSARA CUT!” And a young man in green Chef attire appeared out of nowhere to decapitate the dragon with a single swipe of the kitchen knife in his hand, sending the massive head of the Monster flying high in the air with a wide spray of smelly blood and the head crushing down behind John with a thundering boom that made the ground shake heavily after two whole seconds of flying.
“Oh yeah! This is definitely a Sky King! Way bigger than those other dragons we found!” Rumi said, amazed.
“It is! This one is at least five times the others!” Izuku said while sending the now dead dragon to his Storage.
“Good think Drunkhilde and Thirstruil managed to talk those Dwarves into letting us board their flying ship and come here, two days of travel well worth the effort!”
“And with all the dragons we collected, the one from the egg will have plenty of mates for me to use to get a steady supply of Dragon meat! This was a huge success!” Izuku answered, smiling wide.
“About the egg...Where is it?” Rumi wondered.
“Here, Host. This man collected it for us.” Whitey in the meantime had took the egg away from John’s hands and handed it to Izuku.
“Are you sure we can take it?” Izuku asked.
“Yes.”
“Awesome! Thank you, kind stranger!” Izuku said, grateful.
“THE EGG!” The Isekai Guy shrieked, horrified at seeing the egg disappear once Izuku touched it.
“It’s okay! It has only been stored away,” Rumi answered, unaware of the real reason for John's shriek.
“Congratulations, Host. With this you have successfully completed the Mission the System gave you!” The Entity said with a happy victory fanfare only the two Travelers could hear.
“With this we are done, we can finally return home!” Rumi said with an elated tone.
“PARALYSIS!” It was then that a duo of light bullets hit them, freezing them on the spot.
“That was my egg, fucker!” John screeched with blood-shot eyes.
“Whatever, it doesn’t matter, there are other eggs for me to deliver, but since you had to dare to steal from me, I will steal from you…” He said with a sneer.
“…?” Unable to talk, the two just looked at him in confusion.
“I am tired of coming second! Tired of seeing others being acknowledged instead of me! ‘Not smart enough!’, ‘Not Muscular enough!’, ‘Not rich enough!’, ‘Not with a dick big enough!’! Always put aside! All because those whores were convinced they deserved more! I deserve more! And when I got here, like in those Anime those Beta losers Weebs wank about, I understood! It is finally MY turn to WIN! I can finally get what I deserve, starting with having women do the only thing they are good for: spread their legs!”
“The System believes that this is enough, both Host and Guest heard what the Maniac plans to do. Please feel free to administer Justice now, thank you for your patience.” The System said before undoing the paralysis spell holding Izuku and Rumi frozen.
“Now watch as I fuck your woman and make her MINE! That ìs what they all are good for anyway, to fu-” BOOM!
“RUMI!” Izuku yelled with wide, scared eyes upon seeing the young woman deliver to the guy’s face a knee hit that disintegrated his jaw and teeth in an instant.
“YOU! ARE! A! FUCKING! PIG!” Each word of Rumi was accompanied by a savage stomp on the downed John’s body, breaking bones as easily as one snapped a twig.
“I-”
“It’s not dick size! It’s not wealth! They were ignoring you because they saw what a piece of shit you are!” Rumi was relentless, stomping and kicking brutally, even when the guy rolled on the floor to cover his head with his arms and folded himself in a protective foetal position.
“I AM NOT A SEX DOLL! I AM NOT A WALKING ASS! I AM NOT A HORNY RABBIT YOU CAN FUCK JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE A DICK! I AM NOT! I AM NOT! I AM NOT!” Rumi screamed, a furious snarl on her face while she cried.
“Rumi! Rumi stop. Rumi, look at me, stop.” Izuku said, tearing her away from the guy and grabbing her by the shoulders so as to turn her towards him and force her to knee on the floor with him.
“I-I am not a sex doll! I am not a horny rabbit, I swear.” Rumi said, sounding frantic.
“I know, I know.”
“I wanna go home. I hate it here, whoever we meet keeps implying I am easy to fuck, it’s my high-school all-over again!” She said, hiccuping.
“They kept making crass comments?” Izuku said, hugging her, uncaring of her running nose leaving a trail on his shoulder.
“They always accused me of seducing their boyfriends, my PE Teacher kept suggesting ways to increase my grades...I hate it! I am more than a pussy!” She said, hugging him as tight as she could.
“I know. You are an amazing woman, I said so before, and I will keep saying it as long as you want me to.” The Chef said, caressing her head slowly and gently.
“Then why don't you want me? Why can't I get the Love of the guy I want if I am that good, hn?” Rumi said, pulling back to look at him and watching him avoid her eyes.
“…”
“Izuku?”
“…” To her surprise, he did look guilty though, even while avoiding meeting her eyes.
“You do feel something! Isn’t it?!” Rumi said with a wide smile.
“I can’t betray Momo. And I don’t want to string you along.” He muttered.
“In order for you to string me along, you would have needed to be the one hitting on me while not telling me you were in a relationship already! You keep pushing me away instead, even if there IS some spark and shit buried deep!” Rumi said, voice both elated and victorious.
“Rumi, I-”
“You won’t break-up with Momo. Never. I will make sure of it! You will be together!” Rumi declared.
“...Eh?” Now, that was confusing.
“New plan! I am not stealing you away from Momo! I am joining!” She said while hauling him to his feet.
“I-I-I don’t underst-”
“Which arms does she prefer?”
“The right one?” He blurted-out without thinking.
“Good, I’ll take the left one.” Rumi said, moving at his side to grab his left arm in both of hers.
“See? Two arms, two girls. If you can’t choose, you don’t! You get two!” Rumi said.
“Y-Y-You are the one not letting me choose!” He said, frantic.
“Don’t mind the semantics now! Momo will learn to accept this, she is a determined bitch, just like me.” Rumi said.
“Ru-Rumi! You are making no sense!”
“Love doesn’t make sense! That’s why it’s awesome! You can make-up the rules the way you want! And I want a Boyfriend and a Girlfriend now! A Chef and a Hero Student to be exact, and would you look at that! I do know a Man and a Woman that fit the criteria!”
“H-Help?”
“You will get used to this, don’t worry! It’s all a matter of being open-minded enough to try new things!”
“I don’t know-”
“It will be fine! Having two girlfriends never killed anybody! At least you are in a situation where both girls know the other exists, so you won’t risk maiming either!”
“I won’t, but you-”
“Oh, if dear Momo needs a fist-fight with me to resolve the few kinks of my new plan, we can do that too! I do love a good brawl! And I heard make-up make-out sessions feel nice!” Rumi answered, looking unable to drop her smile.
“Let’s...Let’s just go home for now...Please…I wanna go home...” Izuku begged, too overwhelmed to think about a solution and just longing to return to his personal safe haven, his Restaurant’s kitchen.
“You’ll see! You and Momo will see things my way soon! Let’s go, Zephyr!” Rumi answered, and at her call the Pheline they met came out from hiding while carrying a huge backpack.
“Meeow!”
“Uhu?!” Izuku gurgled, confused beyond words.
“The guy wants to come with us, he chose you as his new Partner and now he won’t listen to reason, but follow you back home, so I told that old woman we would take him in. You do need an assistant in the kitchen, yes? And they say he is a tiny Master in bread-making, and very good at cooking in general, so it will be fine!” Rumi explained.
“I...I don’t know...I...Home...I…” Izuku mumbled, completely lost.
“I think he means he is happy to have you and that he welcomes you as a member of his Restaurant Staff.” She said,
“MEOW!” The Pheline said with a blinding smile, hugging Izuku’s legs as hard as he could while purring.
“W-Welcome on board...I guess…” Izuku said while mechanically patting the cat-like thing's head.
“Very well, Zephyr the Pheline is deemed a worthy member of the Restaurant Staff. The System congratulates the Host for actually finding a kitchen helper ahead of time. As a prize, the bonus for that small mission’s competition will be released as well: The restaurant main area will be enlarged to add two new tables, so, more possible Customers. Congratulations!” The System said, with another round of victory fanfare.
“Hurray?” Izuku said, unsure, and let Pheline and Rumi guide him towards the extraction point to return home since he was still lagging behind due to the insane speed things had started moving at.
“…”
“...Is the psycho bitch gone?” John asked with a trembling voice after waiting a couple minutes after the trio’s voices faded away.
“…”
“Okay...Okay, she is gone.” The Isekai Guy muttered to himself while painfully returning to his feet.
His body was one giant bruise, and a broken ribs, but nothing a couple potions and healing spells won’t fix. The problem was the egg…
“I mean...An egg is an egg. They didn’t explain to me the superstition around getting only the last one, but as long as I don’t tell them I am giving them one of the others, they will never know.”
Once gone through every healing item and spell he had at his disposal, sadly not enough to fully fix everything, John secured the other five eggs the now dead dragon left behind and set to get all the payments he was promised by the various groups that called him, all at once.
The Vieras -
“So this is the last egg of the dragon?” The Viera Envoy asked, tense.
“Yes, yes! Still warm from its ass! Stop asking!” John answered, annoyed.
“Just making sure...Listen…”
“What now?!”
“Calm down. I just wonder if you can give us one of the others as well,” The Viera Envoy asked with a sinister smile.
“Yes? What’s it? A prank you want to pull?” John asked.
“You can say so,” She answered.
“Okay, give me a minute and I will get one. But you better make it worth the effort, these blasted eggs are a metre tall and weigh a ton!” He answered before running away to collect the second egg.
“Thank you! You will appreciate the extra in our payment!” The Envoy answered.
“...Do you plan to give the other egg to that monster?” One of the Viera accompanying her asked.
“Yes, let’s see if he will act like a big shot after that!”
“Hahahahaha! Good thinking! And as a bonus, we will get the scary dragon to use as a way to finally get some respect here! It’s time for the Vieras to shine! Can’t wait to enslave all those ugly races outside the Forest.”
“Finally time for the TRUE Supreme race to rule, yes!” The Viera Envoy said with a sneer.
The Elves -
“SO! The last Egg. You really managed to deliver it.” The same Elven General that lost the entire fleet to Izuku and Shiro asked when he met John at the accorded point.
“Never underestimate me, my Dude!...By the way...What happened? You look like something chewed you up and shat you out,” John answered, carefully closing the lid of the ornate chest the elves prepared for the egg.
“I don’t want to talk about it. This week has been a nightmare! First my hair-stylist ruins my hair, then my favourite armour gets destroyed, then my favourite warship gets destroyed, a bunch of savages steals my present for his majesty and forces me to swim back to shore and finally my subscription to Elf Weekly expires. Your Egg Delivery is frankly the first nice thing that happened to me. I just want to deliver this, go home and collapse on my bed and forget everything about this week.” The Elf answered with a miserable, feminine-sounding whine.
“Damn, dude. You got it rough.” John commented, grimacing and almost feeling bad about giving him another egg instead of the one he was told to get. Almost, he really wanted those twin Elf maids.
“You have no idea! Luckily I have an appointment for my weekly manicure, that usually calms me down. Let’s go!” The General answered while mounting the majestic Stag he used in place of a common horse, and guided his small entourage away in a pretty flamboyant jumping procession of deer riders and their long flowing elf hair.
“I am straight as an arrow...But DAAAMN if they have nice hair!” John admitted.
The Humans -
“So the adventurers are dead?” The Captain of the human royal guards asked once he and the other soldiers finally met with John.
“Yeah, they didn’t make it. Sorry if I am late, I wanted to give them a proper burial.” The Isekai Guy answered, actually doing a great job at looking miserable while telling that lie.
“It’s okay, nobody should feel guilty about mourning. So the dragon is gone?”
“We managed to wound it pretty badly, so it flew away, we don’t know where it went.” He answered, knowing well that nobody would believe if he told him it was dead without a corpse.
“I understand. What about the eggs?”
“What about them?”
“Have you seen them?”
“Yes?”
“...Would you be able to recognize which is the last one?” The Captain asked with a casual tone.
“Oh, yes, sure. Want me to bring it here?” John asked, already smelling extra payment.
“Why not! Studying it will teach us how to kill that thing! We will set-up the ship for the trip back, you go collect it!”
“Yes! Immediately!” He answered, eager.
Now, you must be wondering, why did they all insist on asking for the very last egg and not the others?
Evolution!
While dragons are mighty forces and a suicide to fight, eggs are still eggs, ergo, defenceless! So a daring predator could still steal and eat the eggs of a dragon after distracting the nesting mother...Or it would have had the dragons not learned to lay decoy eggs to hide the real one the mother usually kept closer to herself while leaving the decoys as easier targets.
What was special about those decoy eggs? Simple: once the shell cracked, they exploded! Same goes if the decoy eggs were put in a furnace to simulate the Mother Dragon’s fire to help it develop and hatch, like whoever got an egg from John started doing as soon as they got home with it.
Each decoy egg was in reality a giant sphere of condensed Fire-Element magic pressurised to its limits! And eggs as big as the ones John foolishly handed around (1 metre tall for 1 metre wide at its widest point) each packed inside an astounding explosive power! How much?
Think Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Then multiply by ten.
It was a bit of Dragon’s biology Trivia John learned only ten days later when the news of several colossal explosions ERASING the capital of the Elven Kingdom, the Capital of the Viera Forest Kingdom, an entire floating island that used to house a coven of Necromancers, the capital of the human kingdoms of the North and the beloved King of the North and even more than half a mountain range once an incautious young dwarf cracked open the last egg left, reached every corner of the continent.
John was thus thrown into the dungeons of Serena city, stripped of every noble title and everything he owned and closed into a humid and tiny cell together with another crazed girl that was discovered conspiring with the now pulverised King of the Elves.
Both Isekai Morons kept saying that they were Protagonists and so not supposed to be treated like this, but nobody cared and just left them there, forgotten.
As for the Gods that brought them there...Since their value as entertainment for the System expired, the Entity simply devoured them, just in case they tried pulling more bullshit like that.
With Izuku
About the young Chef instead, his return was celebrated WILDLY by both Inko and Eri that missed him greatly, along Zephyr’s introduction to the family that was welcomed with open arms by everybody, except Blackie, that as any good dog was not exactly thrilled to see a Cat, or similar beings, join the family.
A bit harder was explaining to Izuku what happened with Blackie while he was gone, why several Pro Heroes now avoided the Lord Dog whenever they visited the Restaurant and why the new trending sensations were the hashtags:
#LordDog
#SentFlying
#MightyPaw
and
#BlackieAirlines
The only saving grace was that Saito and the other lawyers managed to prevent Izuku from being drowned in lawsuits against his invincible Guard Dog, a miracle in itself, and only thanks to them exploiting the wording of several laws and the pride of the Pro Heroes sent flying that didn’t want to bring too much attention to how a simple dog humiliated them that badly.
On a lighter note, the new utensil Izuku unlocked thanks to his latest Mission was the so-called Star-Eating Turtle Wok, a wok made by carving it out of a MASSIVE plaque coming from the shell of a giant turtle so big the thing fed literally on stars as big as the sun planet Earth orbited around, not surprising since the wok was a perfect copy of the one coming from the God of Cooking of the Giants’ World.
It had the power of sedating every and any Animal/Ingredient that went inside the wok, even outside of cooking, also able to enlarge and shrink following the Owner’s will, increasing its weight at will so that ONLY the Owner could lift and use it, and, more astoundingly, decreasing the time needed to cook food in it by manipulating Time inside the Wok, powers as insane as expected from Godly Equipment of a supposed God of Cooking.
The only problem is that the Wok needed a very special kind of fire to work properly as a kitchen utensil instead of a weapon/shield, but the System assured Izuku that the chance to get that special fire will come to him, eventually, and to not worry about things too far away in the future.
At the moment though, Izuku was lying in bed and hugging Momo with all his strength, clearly in distress and needing his girlfriend's presence and Love, and Momo was ready to DROWN HIM in all that for as long as he wanted!
“He looked lost and in doubt...Nejire and Rumi must have planned for this to happen!” Momo thought with narrowed eyes, returning the hug of the now sleeping Chef with all herself while he buried his face in her neck.
She recognized how needy her beloved Izuku had been while cuddling and then later when they made Love again, it felt like he needed reassurance of her presence at his side! To see her confirm that she belonged to him and him only just as he belonged to her! And even if ashamed of it, Momo found herself glad he felt he needed her at his side that badly.
Both Izuku and Momo were afraid of losing each other to somebody else ‘Better than him/her’.
Both were ashamed to show themselves to be that needy and scared, to the other.
And both feared that telling the other how much they were afraid of losing him/her would have weirded-out the other.
Insecurity meshed badly with Love, that was certain, luckily they were truly in love with each other, and only needed a last push to defeat that hurdle too!
UA University – Nejire’s Room -
Nejire was more observant than people believed, that was why she noticed Momo and Ochako talking in hushed tones right after Izuku had left with Rumi for his trip in another Dimension, and planned her successive moves accordingly.
And now she had just finished reading the detailed message Rumi sent her where the girl retold, and bragged about, all that happened in that sortie in another world, her small down moments and Izuku’s heartfelt rescue every time she opened up to him about her insecurities comprised, and that meant one thing for Nejire.
“Time to start Phase 2 then. Everything is ready.” She muttered, pleased.
That same night – Secret Location -
“How is your Experiment going, Garaki?” All for One asked.
“Pretty smoothly, Sensei. I unravelled a few other kinks in my formula just recently.” The old man answered, pleased.
“Good. How long before we can try that Perfecting Operation on Shigaraki then?” The Villain asked.
“Eh...About that…” The Doctor answered, annoyed.
“Yes?”
“I can’t do it if your protegee keeps getting mauled by a Dog! I once again had to patch him up!” Garaki said, grumbling in annoyance.
“What?” All for One hissed.
“Yes, apparently just one hour ago he sneaked out again, without even waiting to be completely healed this time, hoping that with the cover of darkness he could attack that dog that he thought would have been tired after dealing with Pro Heroes for the whole day.
Kurogiri just brought him back with his everything broken. AGAIN! I can’t work with a body that is not perfectly healthy, and Shigaraki seems determined to cripple himself! Make him stop!” The Doctor said.
“…” That bit of news made the mysterious Villain get up from his Life Support chair to walk, hands behind his back, towards one of the giant tubes containing a new Nomu floating in a dark green culture bath, and barely seeing it, and everything around him, thanks to a combination of Echolocation Quirks and few others he collected through the ages, and yet old man Garaki could tell that the man was subconsciously narrowing his non-existent eyes while deep in thought, mostly thanks to the creasing of the scarred featureless upper part of his face that once had eyes before All Might simply erased his face with a punch.
“Sensei?” Garaki asked.
“...When you look at me. When you look at yourself in the mirror. And when you look at all this…” All for One asked while opening his arms wide and slowly spun around, indicating everything inside the small Laboratory they were in.
“Do you see a joke?” He asked, honestly curious, even if with a cold voice.
“NO!” Garaki answered, angry.
“I see a great man that wants and deserves to take the reins of this rotten society! I see my genius, finally free to unravel the mysteries of the human genome and of Life itself, and I see the most beautiful example of both your Ambitions and my Genius working together! How can everything we have achieved, everything we have worked on, be a joke?! It is not possible! It is far too preposterous to even think about!” The old scientist answered.
“Then why, tell me, are a Chef without a Quirk and a mangy dog standing in our way! If we and our work of a lifetime are not a joke, then why is that Quirkless Brat treating us like one?!” All for One demanded.
“We did send somebody to remove him,” Garaki said.
“And nobody ever saw them again! They entered that Restaurant and never got out. I was of the idea that the people working for me were not useless morons!” On the notes of his rage, the Nomu All for One was looking at was eviscerated by a spike of bones exploding out of the man’s arm in a shower of gore and shattered glass.
“I say we merely underestimated the difficulty of the thing. Trial and Error is a scientific method too, even if a crude one. We now know that the common, nameless street thug is not a force great enough to remove the obstacle in front of us. I say that if we just increase the said force, we will finally take care of the Chef.” Garaki said.
“And that Dog?” All for One asked.
“What about it? It’s a dog, while strong, at the end of the day it is still an animal, its alliance is first and foremost to itself. Those Heroes wasting time and effort going against it showed me that he is far too self-conceited to make the first move, preferring to just counterattack, and only if it looks like something entertaining enough. So I say we just ignore him and go after the Chef. Without the Owner, the thing will probably just wander off looking for a new one.” Garaki answered.
“I can’t believe I have to waste resources to deal with a Quirkless boy. Life really is full of surprises.” All for One admitted with a dry chuckle while returning to sit on his chair and reconnecting the life support to his body.
“It would be boring if things were too easy, Sensei. Should I call a couple of our Cleaners?” Garaki asked.
“Let’s try those, yes. And I hope they will be enough, otherwise I fear our little Annoyance will see himself rise higher and higher on our Priority List, and even I would feel bad to see him face some of our more...Feral...Acquaintances.” The Villain said with a cold chuckle.
“Although, watching them tear him apart would give me some interesting data about the breaking point of human flesh. Hohohoho! But I guess that should such a thing happen, then that little Chef will only have to blame himself.” Garaki answered.
“Well said. Keep a tube of those empty, we may need to fill it up soon with a VIP Guest.” All for One said, with a smile full of malice.
“There are indeed fates worse than simple death, yes.” Garaki answered, amused at the idea of working on a Quirkless for his next creation. Without anaesthetics, of course, just to see what would happen.
While all this happened, in America a brand new Luxury Restaurant was almost ready for its grand opening with the workers of the construction company hurrying through the last steps while under the vigilant eyes of its owner, and a bunch of High-Profile Villains had just received detailed information about their next Mission and their Target from their boss all the way in Japan.
Omake
– The Divine pie that defeated a God! -
Arena – Infirmary -
“What do you mean: A guy healed them all?!” A woman wearing a white military-like uniform shrieked in annoyance.
“Sister Brunhilde, please calm down…” The short girl with her, wearing more casual clothes, begged.
“I AM CALM!” She roared.
“Bwhahahaha! Come on! You can’t expect me to stop somebody from healing who is in need! Especially if there are Enlightened and used macaroons to do that!” A guy in a very revealing tank top and with very long earlobes answered, laughing uproariously.
“...Macaroons?” Brunhilde asked, confused.
“Who was it, great Buddah?” the short Valkyrie, Goll, asked.
“Hahahaha! Who else? A God of Cooking, of course! Well, a Candidate, but they are a very good one!” Buddah answered, chuckling amused.
“A God of what?” Goll asked.
“WHERE DID HE GO?!” Brunhilde yelled, actually shaking Buddha like a ragdoll.
“That way. He said he was gonna heal Tesla and Belzy so that neither of the two would die from their wounds.” The Shaken deity answered while pointing out of the room.
“LET’S GO!” Brunhilde yelled, grabbing Goll by the back of her clothes to drag her out.
“C-C-C-COMING!” the short girl yelled, shaken, before finally starting to run with her own legs to chase her sister.
What they found, partly thanks to Brunhilde uncanny ability to smell good food from several miles away, was the two most recent fighters in their small Tournament for the sake of mankind sitting to two beds close to each other, but instead of being both at death’s door, thus literally pausing the Tournament until one of the two died for the wounds so to declare a winner, both were sitting on their own bed slowly removing the bandages covering them to show the complete lack of wounds under it, and both looked far too healthy for being two dying warriors that had just finished trying to kill each other!
“YA! This is it! Perfect Burek Sa Sirom like the one they used to sell next to my laboratory! Vrlo Dobro!” A man with overly-energetic eyes and bandages around his chest that were coming loose, said in amazement. (Vrlo Dobro! Very Good! In Croatian.)
“I made some Cevapi too if you want, Mister Tesla!” A young man with green hair and dressed in Green Chef attire said, smiling happily while serving the same plate to poor Beelzebub, still completely covered in bandages so unable to move by himself.
“Thank you…” The brunette with blush markings with the Chef muttered, a bit ashamed to see her forced to clean his chin for him due to his bandaged arms.
“It’s okay.” She answered, smiling gently.
“Wooo! It Tastes like home! Both Croatian and Serbian cuisine taste so good! I almost regret ignoring them while studying!” Tesla said, smiling wide and wolfing down every plate he was given.
“You don’t mean it, doctor, I know.” Tesla’s Valkyrie companion answered, chuckling a bit while feeding him.
“Why are you helping me?” Beelzebub asked, eyes still red from his recent crying fit.
“Because while I can’t legally be a Hero, I still want to be one in my actions, and once seen you reduced like that, I could not in good conscience let you die.” Izuku answered, showing him a gentle smile.
“You humans are supposed to hate me and be scared of me…”
“I know the connotations tied to the name Beelzebub, like that ‘Lord of flies’ name...But still, had I not helped you, I would still never forgive myself. Especially since you did not feel Evil to me, just lonely.” Izuku answered with a small voice.
“...Thank you…” The lonely God muttered, unable to meet the Chef's eyes, and finally freeing a single hand so to eat by himself.
“YOU!” Brunhilde yelled.
“Ye-Yes?!” Izuku yelled, scared.
“Hmmmmmmm!” The Valkyrie hummed aloud, grabbing his shoulders and looking into his eyes with a scary and INTENSE glare.
“He does have...How do I call it...Feeling of a deity...But it’s faint.” Goll said.
“You really are a Candidate!” Brunhilde said.
“Ye-Yes?”
“GOOD! SO FUCKING GOOD!” Brunhilde cheered while stealing Tesla’s plate to try the food.
“HEY! NO! NEIN! That's not what a Lady should do!” Tesla yelled, annoyed.
“P’rfect! You’re wh’t I ne’d!” Brunhilde said, while still chewing with her mouth still full.
“Sister...Swallow before talking...Please…” Goll begged with a groan.
“What do you need Izuku for?” Ochako asked, confused.
GULP! “I need him to save the Human Race from extinction!” Brunhilde, once swallowed the last morsel of food, chirped with a wide smile.
“…”
“WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!”
One hour later -
As the assembled Gods and Humans (as in EVERY HUMAN THAT EVER EXISTED ON EARTH) started getting vocal about their being tired of waiting for the latest fight result, the short God acting as commentator Heimdall addressed the audience.
“Ladies and gentlemen! Gods and Mortals!...This is Awkward.” He admitted, immediately silencing the arena.
“It seems like the battle has ended as a draw, with both fighters luckily recovering from their wounds! Somehow.” He said, sounding completely uncertain.
“So! The dear Valkyrie offered a way to resolve this, a new fight!”
“WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” The audience went wild in expectations.
“And-”
“AND I WANT THE GODDESS HESTIA, GOD OF THE HEARTH, AND FOOD, TO FIGHT FOR THE GODS SIDE!” Brunhilde yelled with a wide, cruel smirk.
“ME!?” A woman was heard shrieking in horror.
“Hohohoho! And let’s hear! Who is the Human facing her?” Zeus asked, laughing amused.
“The Greatest Chef of Mankind! That’s right! We are resolving this Draw with a Cooking competition!” Brunhilde answered.
“!!!!” The roar of the audience was deafening at that point! Why such a strange match?
“Cooking? Against a human? So be it! I may not be a fighter, but when it comes to hearth, fire and food, I am second to none!” The Goddess Hestia answered, a smile reeking of pride.
“Oh well! If the Gods are okay with this, who am I to go against it? LET’S GOOO!” Heimdall declared with a wild scream that managed, somehow, to increase tenfold the already insane amount of hype of the audience.
Just a few minutes for the Goddess to get to the entrance door to the arena floor reserved to the Gods, and she was ready for her introduction.
“Fighting for the Gods in this special make-up fight! The Guardian Goddess of the Hearth, the overseer of all sacrifices, the only woman that looked at both Lord Poseidon and Lord Apollo and outright refused their advances! The Motherly Beauty of Olympus, the Forever a Maiden! She who is the closest to being a God of Food: LADYYYYYYYYY HESTIAAAAAAAAAAAA!” Heimdall yelled, hamming up his introduction speech like usual and prompting fire to erupt from around the door the Goddess walked out from.
(Hestia, Greek Goddess of the Hearth)
She was truly a Goddess whose beauty was simple and humble, compared to outrageous beauties like Aphrodite or Eve, and yet, nobody could blame other Gods from trying to conquer such a splendid woman; she was carrying above her head a giant plate made of gold full to the brim in Ingredients, once she reached her side of the arena, a giant stone table prepped for cooking surfaced from a trap-door on the floor.
“Amazing! And who is the Challenger instead!? Is he Joel Robuchin, THE greatest Chef in the world following the Michelin Star Ratings with a yet undefeated 31 Stars under his belt? Maybe the legendary Alain Ducasse? Or maybe Marie-Antoine Careme, the man who WROTE the very Laws and Rules of French Cuisine and was considered the King of Chefs? Is the Challenger Paul Bucose ‘The Chef of the Century’ many considered to be THE Chef? Who of them dares to challenge a God in the art of cooking?” Heimdall asked aloud.
Human side of the audience -
“Wait...We are all here...Who the fuck is down there cooking?!” Gordon Ramsay yelled, furious, like only a Chef version of Katsuki could.
“I don’t know, my friend. I hope the Valkyrie won’t start trying to screw us over.” Bucose answered, actually sounding scared.
“They are fighting for us, I trust they choose somebody good enough. I trust them.” Marie-Antoine answered.
Down the Arena -
“Read this, please. Here is your presentation.” Brunhilde said, waving around a small card for Heimdall.
“Tch! You may give me the text, but I will put in the Hype!...Damn Valkyries…” The Norse God muttered while returning to float above the arena.
“Ah-Hem! The Challenger for the Human Side! The man who discovered the Preparation Method for the Special Ingredient known as the deadly Detonating Nuclear Sea-Urchin! The Chef that alone prepared the seven hundred dishes for the marriage Ceremony for the King of Jelal! The King of Cooking! The Chosen by the Ingredient! And proud owner of Green Cloud Restaurant! Izuku Midoriya! The...The…The…” Heimdall faltered a bit while reading the last paragraph, with his face becoming ashen in colour.
“THE CURRENT CANDIDATE FOR THE TITLE OF GOD OF COOKING?!” The God shrieked with bulged-out eyes.
“You tricked meeee!” Hestia shrieked.
“Bleeeh!” Brunhilde, very maturely, blew a raspberry towards the Goddess.
Under the confused mumbling of the audience, Izuku and Ochako made their way towards the young Chef workstation, where he unsealed the Sea Dragon Knife, the Myriad Manifestation Mallet and the Star-Eating Turtle Wok, along the Ingredients he had planned to use.
“He is...SO young…” Ramsey said, shocked.
“Why was the guy so shocked to learn he was a Candidate for the title of God of Cooking?” Robuchin asked.
“You Humans really are ignorant! He is basically THIS CLOSE at Ascending to Godhood and becoming a God himself, if he manages he will be THE God overseeing the Art of cooking.” A lesser deity that sat close to the line separating the Human side from the Gods’ one, explained while holding two fingers so close they almost touched.
“Like that Hestia Goddess?”
“No...Unfortunately, for us, those are two different things. Hestia-sama presides over sacrifices, the hearth and the inner workings of a house (Family), but a God of Cooking is the literal God of Cooking: he rules over everything about Cooking and Food, in that Realm he outranks everybody, even Hestia-sama. That Valkyrie has somehow found a Candidate and decided to screw us with that...Clever girl.” The deity said.
“Oh!” The Chefs of Humanity muttered as one in surprise.
Down in the Arena -
“So you are a Candidate, hn? I finally met one!” Hestia hissed.
“Ehm, nice to meet you, Miss.” Izuku answered, unsure.
“I heard the rumours, of a Candidate being able to Ascend to godhood if they are mortals so as to sit on the throne as the good of Cooking and Food. Well, I think that is supposed to be MY Throne! As the Goddess of the Fire of Sacrifices and the Family, fire used for cooking, I am the only one suited for that Title!” The Goddess answered.
“Listen, I am just here because my Sponsor wants me to gain a steady supply of your Apples of Eden and other fruits.” Izuku answered, scratching his cheek.
“WHAAAAAAAAT!? THOSE FRUITS ARE ONLY MADE TO FILL A GOD’S PLATE! NOT A MORTAL’S!” Hestia shrieked, and many other Gods roared in anger as well.
“Preposterous!” Ares yelled in rage.
“Bwahahahaha! Humans keep being so outrageous! I really like them!” Loki added, looking at the Chef in great amusement.
“Hohohoho! An Old One took interest in this human, hn? That’s why he is here?” Zeus said while looking at the sky, and the sky rippled a little under his gaze.
“Awww! Always the shy one, System-chan! You know I love your style! If only you were more friendly, Hee-Hee-Hee! Come oooon! Come sitting on my lap! Let me see your smile, at least once!” The old geezer God said with a lecherous smile.
“Keep it in your toga, old fart.” The Entity answered.
“Oh! Friendzoned again! Hohohoho!”
“We are not friends.”
“BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Always a riot to talk to! HEY, BOY! IF you win you will have your fruits and much more, but if you lose, you’ll die!” Zeus declared, laughing just as loud as the lightning he could command.
“EEEEK!” Both teens shrieked in horror.
Down the Arena -
“Izuku!” Ochako yelled in fear.
“It’s okay, I will die, not you, you need to stay calm.” He answered.
“Stay calm?! You want me to stay calm after hearing that man say they will kill you if you lose?!” She answered.
“Then I won’t lose.” Izuku said, grabbing her hands in his.
“Please do. Please.” Ochako answered, kissing him.
“Such intense Love. Impressive.” Aphrodite admitted, impressed.
“Do your best then, boy. At least you will lose with dignity!” Hestia said, smirking.
“I am ready!” Izuku said, looking at her in determination.
“What will you make? My dish will be Honey Glazed Prawns following the Traditional Greek Recipe of ancient times!” Hestia said.
“Then I will make a dessert, a Mango pie.” Izuku answered.
“Wait…” Brunhilde said.
“Uh?”
“Since you are an official part of the Tournament, for now, We need to do things properly!” The Valkyrie said.
“How?”
“Sister! No!” Goll yelled from the Valkyrie seats.
“Just do as we practised. Are you ready?” Brunhilde said, smiling and presenting her hand.
“O-Okay!” Izuku answered, shaking her hand and taking a long breath.
“VOLUNDR!” Both Chef and Valkyrie yelled together, and in a blinding explosion of light, Brunhilde fused with Izuku’s arm to then form a second kitchen knife.
“Wow!”
“Ready?” Brunhilde said inside his head.
“Y-Yes!” The Chef answered, rapidly recovering his composure.
“AMAZING! Our beloved Brunhilde is betting her own life on this! We can only expect to be amazed! READY!?” Heimdall asked.
“Ready!” Both Izuku and Hestia answered in chorus.
“Then the make-up Cooking Challenge for this Ragnarok Tournament Staaarts...NOW!” Heimdall yelled as hard as he could.
“Mangoes!” Izuku asked, presenting his hand.
“Yes!” Ochako answered, immediately preparing the fruits and handing them to him.
In the meantime Hestia summoned living prawns from the giant golden dish and threw them onto the oil of her pan to saute them.
“The boy is finished! I am the God of Cooking! It being an add-on to my role changes nothing! What can a human possibly do to defeat a GOD!?” Hestia said to herself with a savage smile.
Forty Minutes Later -
“My Dish is ready! Here is my Royal Mango Pie!” Izuku declared, presenting his creation.
(Picture of the creation of the user TheRuffiansss of Reddit. Thank you for letting me use your amazing pie for my story!)
“MY FUCKING GOD! HE COOKS LIKE THAT?! HOW?!” Ramsey screamed with wide eyes.
“That technique! So sublime! He really is a one-of-a-kind Prodigy!” Robuchin admitted in awe.
“If only we met when I was alive! Imagine the ideas and knowledge we could exchange for the betterment of cuisine!” Careme said with a tone of deep regret.
“BEING AWESOME-LOOKING MEANS NOTHING! IT HAS TO TASTE BETTER THAN MINE!” Hestia screeched.
“Th’n Ta’ste it, It’s ama’in!” Brunhilde, having undone her fusion with Izuku’s body to grab a giant slice, declared with a near-orgasmic expression while eating.
“Tch! How good can it be!” Hestai answered, annoyed, and tearing off from Izuku’s hand the plate the Chef handed to her.
“…”
“So?” Ochako asked.
“…WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” The way the Goddess started wailing and ran away in tears clearly told everybody who the winner was.
“Unbelievable! A win for humanity! This means that thanks to Chef Midoriya, the victory in the fight between Tesla and Beelzebub goes to Mankiiiiiind!...Damn this really tastes good.” Heimdall declared, still with a smudge of cream on his nose from cleaning his plate.
“YEEEEEES!” Brunhilde cheered loudly, while behind her Ochako tackled Izuku to try to tear off his tonsils with an outrageous deep kiss.
“Eeeeeh…As promised, we will set-up a delivery service for every fruit produced in the land of the Gods, our prized Apples especially...Congratulations…” Ares told Izuku with a tone that made it clear he was contrary to the idea with every fibre of his being.
“Thank you!”
“It’s amazing! We did it! And there isn’t even a single Goddess out to get you! The Curse is broken!” Ochako said with a squeal.
“Yes! Finally I am fr-”
“Very impressive. And I am not talking about cooking only. That kiss showed skills I am very interested in.” A sultry voice said from behind the two.
“Oh, no….” Izuku muttered, already in tears.
“Too bad I saw him first, oh great Aphrodite.” Brunhilde hissed, getting on the Goddess’ face to better glare at her.
“Out of my way, Valkyrie.” Aphrodite answered.
“I-”
“RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!” Izuku didn't even want to wait for things to get messy, he just grabbed Ochako’s wrist and pulled her away to run.
“GRAB HIM!”
“SYSTEEEEEEEEEEEM!” Izuku and Ochako yelled.
“COME BACK HERE! YOU DEFEATED ME IN COOKING! IN MY DOMAIN! NOW TAKE RESPONSIBILITY AND HEAL MY SHAME BY MARRYING ME!” Hestia yelled, joining the chase.
“KYAAAAAAAH!”
“Ohohohoho! So amusing!” Zeus commented, laughing hysterically at the Chef’s misery.
“You have other things to worry about.” The System said.
“Like what?”
“Like the System opening tear in Niflhel to release the souls of the ones deceased during the Tournament. Except Poseidon.”
“WHY?!” Zeus screeched in horror.
“Just to annoy you. Now deal with the hassle of giving them all a body back. And knowing that your psychotic brother is the only one that remained dead. Farewell.” Just as the System’s presence faded away to follow Izuku back home, a tear in the sky opened to let everybody that died in that Tournament fall back down in the arena, and they all looked extremely confused.
“...I knew my constant teasing them through the ages would have come back to bite me in the ass one day…” Zeus muttered in dismay, and getting up to personally corral those dead Gods and Humans somewhere private to try and fix this giant mess that utterly fucked-up the Rules of Death.
All this while a three-way glare war between Brunhilde, Aphrodite and Hestia kept going unwavering, signalling that Izuku’s misery from those three was far from over…
DONE!
I am so very sorry it took this long.
Life sucks, and Life hates leaving me time to write.
My apologies.
I hope I managed Rumi's side of the Romance, because truth be told, it is getting Tiring to manage . I want to resolve this soon and remove the hassle of setting-up the Harem.
It is what makes writing each chapter a pain…
Thank you for reading.
Chapter 21: The American Job (Hidetaka Matoi) Arc part 1: The land of Stars and Stripes.
Summary:
This time Izuku has to go all the way to America to face-off against one of Samui's friend! The famous Hidetaka Matoi, right at the opening ceremony of his newest Restaurant.
Notes:
This story is my pride and joy...But this damn romance angle is getting just too damn heavy, so I decided I will just "Hurry up" in that regard, sorry but it's getting to the point it actually makes this story harder to write. Just to make the Romance believable.
In the cooking part, Izuku is cooking all that AT THE SAME TIME! using the moments where the food cooks/simmers and stuff to focus on the other dishes.
There is some sort of formating glitch I can't fix, please ignore it, I will edit it out as soon as I understand how to. My apologies.
Chapter Text
If you read this, the chapter has been fixed by my Trusted Beta Reader and Best friend! Thank you, buddy!
Chapter 21: The American Job ( Hidetaka Matoi ) Arc part 1 : The land of Stars and Stripes .
Restaurant – Main Room -
It was night, right after the closing hour, and only Izuku, Rumi and Momo were in the main room; Zephyr the Pheline, the new addition to the staff, was quietly sweeping the floor while humming to himself under the merciless eyes of Shiro that made sure the new arrival didn’t dare do a poor job at keeping his Partner’s Restaurant floor spotless clean.
Many customers were curious as to where Izuku had found yet another curious helper, but compared to Shiro and Blackie, Zephyr was deemed normal enough to no warrant too much scrutiny, and his being adorable, friendly and helpful helped a lot as well, now it was only a matter of teaching him sign language to help him communicate with others.
Blackie instead was quietly asleep under one of the Soul-Appeasing Trees while Eri was already asleep in her room after Izuku had read her a bedtime story, but the young Chef ‘s smile had dropped as soon as he had returned downstairs to face the two women sitting at the same table, he was now pacing restlessly back and forth.
“A polycule…” He would mutter from time to time.
“As insane as it sounds, yes, this is what Nejire was plotting for in the background. Ochako herself admitted it as soon as you left with Rumi.” Momo answered while massaging her temples.
“Since the day me and her returned from Starlight City?” Izuku asked, his frown not giving any signal it was about to leave his face any time soon.
“Pretty much, yeah. She came to me the very next morning to offer me to become allies against Momo.” Rumi answered.
“And you accepted?” Izuku asked, disappointed.
“I did. I was still treating this like an Ego Game when she asked me and I accepted even just to ‘Win’, I can’t justify it. I did it for all the wrong reasons.” She answered, sighing.
“I am already surprised you are not trying to guilt-trip your way out of this, but just admitting your mistakes.” Momo admitted.
“Because I am better than that! Or at least I like to believe I am…”
“Rumi?” He asked.
“I am serious, Izuku. About you. About us! But I can’t have a chance with you through cheating or lying or manipulation! That’s...That’s not how you build a relationship! Not one that lasts at least! And I want it to last forever if possible!”
“BUT HE IS ALREADY SPOKEN FOR!” Momo snapped.
“THEN MAKE ROOM FOR ME TOO!” Rumi yelled back.
“Stop yelling!” Izuku snapped, luckily silencing both.
“Why him, Rumi? Why?” Momo asked between clenched teeth.
“Because yes. Love works like it fucking wants! I see him and I am happy, I don’t see him and I miss him! I like the sound of his voice when he talks and the way he falls silent when he thinks. I like the way his eyes sparkle when he is happy and I hate the frown he has when he is doubting himself because I want to make it go away! Happy?! And I KNOW there is some spark down there inside him about me! He can’t deny it! You will always be the number one, I made peace with it, but I want to be his number 2.” Rumi answered.
“It’s very selfish.” Momo said.
“Yes, but at least I am being 100% honest about it instead of working from the shadows.” She answered.
“Rumi...I…” Izuku tried saying.
“You two keep asking me Why. And I think it’s my turn to ask you two Why not. What is physically stopping you two from letting me in? I told you, I am not here to steal Izuku. Not anymore. I want to Join. Let me in, please.” She said with a pleading tone, even grabbing Momo’s hands in hers.
“…”
“Momo, I won’t guilt trip you, lie, manipulate or whatever you may think. I am being 100% honest, I am opening-up as much as I can, more than I did in years about anything. Why don't you want to give me a chance?” Rumi asked.
“...Because you will betray me.”
“No, I won’t! Never.” She answered.
“This situation is too strange, Rumi.” Izuku admitted with a defeated sigh, finally sitting at the same table of the two young women.
“Strange, yes, but not wrong! We just need to be consensual about this. The three of us! Together!” One of Rumi’s hands now grabbed one of Izuku’s too.
“Why are you not backing down?” he asked.
“Because I Love you. And if I will need to repeat this a million times before you accept it, so be it. I will do it.” She said, surprisingly, without any animosity in her tone.
“But what if he doesn’t love you back, hn?” Momo asked, tightly clenching Izuku’s free hand in hers for reassurance.
“Then I want to hear it from him. I want him to look me in the eyes and tell me I have no chance, then even if it will hurt a lot, I will step back.”
“And then?” Izuku asked.
“Then I will just remember you fondly as that First Love that never could be. I believe that is a form of Love too, yes? Letting you go so that you can be happy with somebody else?” Rumi answered with a very shaky smile.
“This would resolve the YOU side of the problem. But Nejire? Ochako?” Momo asked, sighing.
“What about them?” Izuku added.
“Ochako is the same, poor girl is in Love with you, but she at least understands how wrong it is. Momo can’t deny it: her classmate is tearing herself apart over this.” Rumi answered.
“True. Out of all three, she was the one to be the first to admit she was doing a very horrible thing by going behind our backs. I am forced to give her that much.” Momo admitted.
“Didn’t stop her from trying it still.”
“Unfortunately.”
“…” As an answer, Izuku simply got up and started to pace around the room.
“I believe Ochako too will stop bothering you if you ask her.” Rumi said.
“You are guilt tripping me. You are asking me to literally stomp on her feelings.” He answered while tiredly rubbing his face with one hand.
“It’s not guilt tripping, and only a moron would call it like that. I am stating a fact: she needs to hear it from YOU that she has not a chance. It is how it works in this case,” Rumi answered.
“…”
“Izuku…” Momo muttered.
“I...I don’t...I am not in love with you, Rumi. Or with Ochako.” Izuku said slowly.
“…”
“...I understand.” To Momo’s surprise, a small smile appeared on Rumi’s face at those words, even with a shy veil of moisture faintly in her eyes, but no actual tears came, at least that small slice of Pride still resisted inside the bunny girl.
“I am sorry.” He said.
“Don’t be, it’s okay. It’s normal.” Rumi answered, forcefully enlarging that forced smile until it made a conscious effort to resemble her usual cocky one.
“At least I tried. Can I get a hug before going?” She said while walking up to him.
“Sure. And...Sorry…” Izuku answered, hugging her tightly as she asked.
“Stop apologizing, fool. You did nothing wrong. Quite the opposite in fact, you didn’t string me along, but made it clear.” Rumi answered, squeezing him tight in her hug and taking a deep breath of his scent once buried her face in his neck.
“You are an extraordinary woman, a truly amazing girl. I know you will find the perfect guy for you to Love and be Loved.” Izuku said, patting her back before dropping the hug.
“God, I hope so. Am I still able to come here? Your food is good.” Rumi asked with a chuckle.
“You will always be welcomed here, Rumi. I still want to be your friend.” Izuku answered.
“Thank you…”
“Come on, say it.” He said, chuckling.
“...God, the Friendzone sucks. You boys are right.” She admitted, this time with an actual honest laugh that still sounded slightly wet.
“Hahahaha. Please never change, Rumi.” Izuku asked, saddened.
“Of course I won’t, I am one of a kind!” She answered, proud.
“True.”
“Just promise me you will be happy.” Rumi asked.
“I will. You too, please.”
“Sure thing. See you around!” Rumi answered, taking her cue to leave and walking towards the door.
“…”
“Momo?” Izuku asked, finally noticing the strange look in the woman’s eyes.
“...That’s it, Rumi? You are leaving just like this?” she asked, making Rumi stop walking as soon as she opened the Restaurant door to leave.
“This rivalry is tiring, Momo. This constant fight between me and you helps nobody, makes nobody happy and is simply a pain in the ass. ‘If you love somebody, let them go’. That’s the quote, yes? That’s what I am trying to do here if you would just let me!” Rumi answered, getting angrier and angrier by the minute.
“It is the short version, yes. So you are giving-up?” she answered.
“Even I know when to pull back from a Losing Battle. I am just sparing myself the pain now that he will still push me away gently, instead of going down the ‘Angry’ route that will ruin even our friendship. I am not Nejire, I do have some decency!” Rumi answered, voice getting harsher.
“So you admit defeat,”
“YES! Okay?! What? Do you want to gloat?! I already said I will drop this battle! That I will stop bothering him! What else do you want?!” The bunny girl spat back.
“I want a promise, Rumi.” Momo said, marching up to the other girl and forcefully turning her around so that their eyes could meet...And see the very tears-full eyes Rumi was trying to hide from them.
“FINE!” Rumi yelled.
“I promise I won’t bother him anymore, I won’t talk to him anymore and I won’t even look at him anymore! I will stop coming here too! Happy?!” She said with a roar.
“No.” Momo answered.
“Uh?!” Izuku said, shocked.
“WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT!? WHAT?! WHAT?! WHAT?!” Rumi screamed while grabbing Momo by the collar.
“I want the second girlfriend of my Izuku to not be a wuss and promise to not stab me in the back. We will be Allies, not enemies.” Momo answered, eyes narrowed.
“…”
“…”
“What?” Rumi asked with a small voice.
“You heard me. You want a chance? Then earn it. Show me I can trust you and I will concede you the chance to Join, as you so eloquently put it. BUT! Let me be clear: you didn’t trick me. I gave you a chance of my own free will. Not out of Pity, but out of TRUST. Do not betray that trust, or I will DESTROY YOU with everything I have.”
“…” Stunned silence was her only answer.
“So?” She prompted.
“...Is Izuku okay with this?” Rumi asked.
“That is indeed the right thing to ask, you are actually taking in consideration that he too has a say in this. Very well done.” Momo answered, and not with a tone of mockery, and adjusting her clothes after freeing herself from Rumi’s hold on her collar.
“…”
“Izu?” Rumi asked with pleading eyes.
“Momo...Rumi...I…”
“You really feel nothing for her? Nothing at all?” Momo asked.
“I...I can’t deny she is a beautiful woman…And an amazing person, but this is insane!”
“I am just as afraid as you are.” Momo admitted.
“Then, why?” He asked.
“Respect.” She answered.
“Uh?”
“I respect the fact that she was honest enough to finally admit everything. And I respect that even after all that, and after coming clean about everything, she didn’t try to use it as a leverage to STILL get what she wanted, she was ready to walk out of that door and out of our lives, just so that you could be happy, even if with me instead of her.
She had put your happiness and mine above hers, not as a ploy, but as somebody that had admitted defeat. And I respect that. She loves you enough to decide that she wanted you to be happy, even if with another woman instead of her...A-And I have to admit that...That I don’t know if I would have been able to do the same in her place, to just leave you to her if I saw you being more happy with her than with me.” Momo admitted.
“But I...I am not in Love with her.” Izuku tried saying.
“You feel absolutely nothing? Nothing at all?” Momo asked.
“I...I don’t know.”
“Here…” Momo said, grabbing Rumi’s hand and gently guiding her towards him, and making him grab Rumi’s hand.
“…” Fingers entwined, Chef and Bunny Girl just looked each other in the eyes in silence.
“I do believe that there can be enough space in both our hearts for one more.” Momo said.
“But...You…I…” Izuku was stammering now.
“Why are you scared, Izuku?” Rumi asked with a soft voice.
“…” It was a shame, they could see an expression of pure shame on the young man’s face.
“Izuku?” Momo asked, moving even closer to him so as to put a hand on his cheek.
“I am a Chef, Momo. I don’t come from a prestigious family, I don’t have powerful friends or a big bank account or a collection of fancy cars. What can I possibly offer you? Saying ‘I will give you all of myself’ is okay in a romance novel, but reality doesn’t work like that. And yet that is the only thing I can offer you, and I am just afraid that one day it won’t be enough anymore, especially with another girl in the picture.” he said with a sad smile.
“What can you offer...Me? I-I-I don’t look for that!” She answered immediately, her scared eyes fixed on his as she turned frantic in an instant.
“Back in my other life I could have made a case, but Here a Chef is nothing to write home about, not unless one is world-famous, and I am not at that stage yet, and won’t be for a long while. Every time I hear somebody say that I am with you just for the money I am afraid you will start thinking that too, and it hurts.”
“I-I-I will never think that!” Momo was panicking now, and she hated it.
“You did, for a while. No need to hide it.” Izuku said with a humorless chuckle.
“My mother told you, isn’t it?! But I don’t think that anymore! I swear!” she said, now in full panic.
“Momo, there are hundreds of better options for you out there, better men to-”
“There can’t be hundreds or thousands or millions of better options out there! Because there is only one you!” she answered, hugging him tightly and burying her face in his hair.
“Momo.”
“I am not holding you back! I am not a whiny baby! I swear!”
“I know you are not, whoever says that is very wrong. We are not holding each other back, I know this.”
“Then say it! Say you want me! Say you want me to stay by your side and I will never leave!”
“...You promise?” he asked, and she felt him hug her tightly, desperately.
“How afraid are you to lose me?” she asked.
“My God...So much…”
“Then say it! Please!”
“…”
“Izuku.”
“...Be mine, Momo. Be mine and mine only, forever.” he asked with a whisper.
“I will! Now and forever!” She answered, and a short laugh of relief finally blossomed between the two as they stood there hugging as tight as they could.
“…”
“...I really want you to be mine only too, you know?” She admitted after a short moment of silence, she still had her face buried deep in his fluffy hair, and loved the feeling of his face being pressed hard in the small of her neck and the long slow breaths he was taking to bask in her scent.
“And I will be, forever.” he answered.
“And what about Rumi?”
“Not hers, yours. Only yours.”
“So you feel nothing for her? At all?” Momo asked.
“I...I can’t deny I...That I did feel something when she kissed me.”
“She kissed you? Again? When?” She hissed.
“We were in the middle of a damn apocalyptic storm and I thought I was about to lose him, and I wanted at least a kiss. Sorry about that.” Rumi answered, sighing.
“I am trying to trust you here, Rumi. This is not helping.”
“It was before this. I am not justifying it, but objectively speaking, that kiss happened before all this happened.” Rumi answered.
“I will forgive you, this time, because we are here to try and resolve this. Do you trust me, Izuku?” Momo said.
“Yes!” He said immediately.
“And I trust you,” she said, humming a little in appreciation at the small kisses he gave to her neck.
“I still don’t understand what Rumi and the others see in me in order to do all this...I mean...You are obviously insane to find me attractive...But other THREE girls? That’s very unlikely.” Izuku admitted.
“I am not insane, you moron,” Momo answered with a tiny smile, appreciating his trying to joke about the situation to help cheer her up.
“No, you are not insane, just so very cringe. ‘There can’t be hundreds or thousands or millions of better options out there! Because there is only one you!’...God, that was so corny.” Rumi said, chuckling.
“Do you mind?! We are having a moment here!” she said, annoyed.
“Sorry, sorry.”
“Just come here, this is what you want, yes?” Momo said.
“I-”
“Come here!” Momo said, and forcefully pulled Rumi closer to them both.
“W-Whoa!”
“Mo-”
“Now this.” What followed then was her kissing Izuku, hard and deep like she knew her boyfriend liked it.
“May I?” Rumi asked, a bit bothered by the hungry kiss of the two.
“...Go ahead.” Momo said, unsure, once released her man from the searing kiss.
“Ru-” Again, Izuku’s words were interrupted by a woman kissing him.
“Hmm! Tastes even better doing it with permission.” Rumi admitted, smirking.
“I-”
“Hmm!” Again, Momo took her turn, then Rumi again, then Momo once more, and then Rumi again.
“…” By the time Rumi and Momo finally stopped taking turns kissing him, the young Chef had fully lost the ability to talk.
“You definitely feel something for me, you kissed back too well for you not to feel a thing, then why do you keep denying it?” Rumi finally asked.
“M-M-Maybe I did...Maybe I do.”
“Very well, this can’t work if you are against it, after all.” Momo answered.
“I just don’t want to be called greedy, or perverted. Won’t this put a strain in our relationship? What will others think?” Izuku admitted, now finally hugging both girls close to himself.
“You and Momo worry too much. Stop thinking about what others think about you, and focus on your own happiness. I do it all the time, and let me tell you, it feels awesome! Very liberating.” Rumi answered, laughing in relief.
“And selfish.” Izuku said.
“Eh! Yes, so what? We all are selfish people, deep inside. True selfless people don’t exist, judgmental morons instead, there’s plenty of them. It’s all a matter of not overdoing or overindulging.” She answered.
“Well said, actually. And there can’t be any stress if every member of the trio walks and works towards the same goal.” Momo conceded.
“So we are in a Love Triangle now?” Izuku asked, unsure and confused.
“It’s pretty much a test run for now, if we don’t like it, we will kick Rumi out and go back to how things were before.” Momo answered.
“I am sorry, but I don’t need to be kicked-out, I can recognize when I overstayed my welcome and can leave by myself, thank you!” Rumi answered, ready to once again argue with Momo and maybe even fight, but to her surprise Izuku was not letting go of her.
“Izuku?” Both girls said at the same time once noticed his tight hold on them.
“In two days I have to depart to go to America to face Matoi about his trying to bribe Food Critics to review me badly, and you both need to get ready for that Rescue Training Race thing, Momo especially since her Class will have Thirteen trying to cram in two days what she didn’t get to teach them in the USJ...S-S-So I was wondering if I could sleep with you two...JUST SLEEP! N-N-Nothing Perverted happening…Since we won’t be able to see each other for a while...As...As another Test to see if this Love Triangle can work.” Izuku admitted, looking supremely ashamed of admitting that.
“I-I-I mean...I-It’s only sleeping, yeah? I’ll keep my hands to myself!” Rumi, face turning almost fluorescent-red, said.
“J-Just because he asked, but nothing lewd! I-I am not ready yet to share him like THAT!” Momo, blushing hard, answered.
“Okay! Le-Lead the way!” Rumi said.
“YES! THIS WAY, PLEASE!” Izuku yelled, mechanically guiding both girls upstairs towards his room.
“Atta boy! Good job!” Shiro, Blackie and Zephyr unknowingly thought at the same time in pride.
Two days later – UA University - Hound Dog Office -
The dog-headed Counselor was quietly studying the latest notes he took while his current appointment finished drying his tears, none of the two talked or even looked at each other, Hound Dog was just patiently waiting for the other to talk, at his pace, to not agitate him further.
“God...I cried again…” The patient said with a whisper of a voice full of shame.
“That is a good thing, actually. We made huge progress this time too.” He said, humming.
“Uh-hu…”
“You are still scared of being kicked-out and even arrested.”
“…”
“You still have nightmares? About Nezu coming to arrest you? Calling you a failure and saying that a quasi-murderer has no place between Heroes?” He asked, finally looking up from his notes to meet the boy’s eyes.
“...Every damn night.”
“Do you know why you are here?”
“To become the number 1?”
“That is your reason. But why do you think Nezu has decided to keep you here no matter the very dark marks on your record?”
“…”
“You don’t know, don’t you?” Hound Dog said, leaning a bit forward.
“No.”
“This is a chance. A chance to break free of all the, pardon the french, Bullshit they fed you and your Ego.
A chance to be an actual Hero instead of a guy living his personal Power Fantasy fanfiction.
A Chance to become something more, Greater, than what you are now. “
“...”
“You have a powerful Quirk, that is a fact, and we will now make sure everything else about you catches-up to it to form a good and proper Hero, one people can look-up to and feel both inspired and protected by. And what we do here, for two hours and three times a week in what you used to call ‘A fucking waste of time’, is slowly but surely helping in that. Those tears, for example, how long ago was it since you shed some?”
“...A bit.”
“Since your grandfather’s funeral?”
“Yes.”
“Tears are important, and admitting emotions is important. I will never understand this modern feeling that only some categories are permitted to cry and show emotions while others don’t; if something upsets you, you have all the rights to feel upset about it.” He said.
“I...I can’t show weakness.”
“And what did I say to you about this fixation of yours?”
“...That's stupid. Because acknowledging and overcoming fear and pain takes more strength and character than just having none of it, or pretending to not have them.”
“Pretty much. I am glad though that you are actually showing remorse for your various Misgivings in the past,” Hound Dog said, pleased.
“Misgivings...Three fourths of those are fucking crimes…”
“Yes, they are. Another reason why you are here. Your staying in UA hangs not just on your school grades, but on your attitude, mentality and your actions...I am literally your last hope, and you know it.”
“I know, I know. It’s part of the reason why I keep coming here.”
The other part of the reason, the Inner Pain, was not something the young man felt strong enough still to admit to anybody else.
“Good. That being said, it’s not like we have Police Officers waiting behind the corner at your first mistake. Relax.” The dog man added.
“Easy for you to say, to me it feels like it, though. How many people tried suing me?”
“Oh! A lot.”
“...Uh!”
“But Nezu found your situation a Challenge interesting enough to give it a try, God only knows what passes in that Rat’s head, so he armed this small Rehabilitation Program you are going through since Day One here in UA, and this solution kind of appeased your victims. For now.”
“Hurray…” There was less than zero joy and satisfaction in that answer, and the Counselor found it a good sign, somehow.
“That being said, this is actually working only because the only Bullying Victim of yours that you almost killed did not sue you fully, but was talked into just signing a restraining order, and that after a lot of humiliating begging from your parents.”
“Hn!” That heavy, full-body shudder was not missed, but dutifully added to the notes.
“I have a question.” He said, suddenly.
“Time’s over, I have a History lesson to go to!” the young man answered, running, escaping, to the exit.
“One day you will have to face the truth, Bakugo.” Hound Dog said, freezing the boy mid-way through the door.
“…”
“You are running away from the truth, and instead waste time chasing a version of it you would prefer because it is less painful.”
“No, I-”
“You almost killed that boy. You, nobody else. Your explosion launched him away, your Quirk sent him flying until his head hit the wall, you sent him into a coma. And you keep dodging all my questions about it, you answer my questions about everything, except about that incident. Why?”
“Because it is between me and him! NOBODY ELSE!” Katsuki snapped.
“Then why are you avoiding him?”
“The restraining Ord-”
“Means nothing for somebody that acts like you do on a daily basis. That is just yet another excuse for you to avoid facing the truth you already know it’s there waiting for you in all its ugly glory.”
“I-”
“You want answers about him, but refuse to seek answers about yourself and childishly run away from looking back and recognizing that you did every possible thing wrong in your life ever since you got a Quirk, and not just about him, but about everything and everybody.
You are here out of OUR pity, because under any other circumstance you wouldn’t have been able to even just cast your shadow on the entrance gate of UA.
We decided to give you a blank slate to start from to try and become a Hero! Because even Endeavor, that pulled a lot of shit in the last twenty years under the mantle of the ‘Number Two Hero of Japan’, now spends almost more time in and out of court in secret legal battles against his ex-wife to save his sorry ass than in the streets helping people, and we don’t want an encore with a new version of him. People need Heroes, not super-powered Egomaniacs, they already have the Villains for that!”
“You-”
“These weekly meetings are your LAST Chance, both as a Hero and as a decent human being. Remember. NOW you can go.” Hound Dog said with a tone of finality.
“…” Unable to utter a word, Katsuki simply ran away.
“I hate being harsh, but what they say is true: There isn’t a worse deaf man than a guy who just doesn’t want to listen…” The Dog man muttered to himself with a sigh of dismay.
He had chosen that career to be the sort of Hero that saves people from themselves, instead of from Villains, but it was not an easy task, most of the time.
With Momo – Dormitories – Later that night -
“So! Ochako still avoids you?” Rumi asked once seen Momo return from yet another failed attempt at talking with her classmate.
“...You sneaked into my room again?” Momo answered, eyebrows all the way up in surprise at seeing her unexpected guest sitting unashamedly on her bed like she owned it.
“Your window was open.” Rumi answered, smirking and shrugging.
“...I knew I forgot something. And yes, she still avoids me.”
“Not surprising, she knows she is doing everything the wrong way and is afraid of facing you or him.”
“I just want to talk. I just want to talk and fix all this.”
“Understandable, it’s your right after all!”
“It is, but why are you here?”
“I just wanted to chill with you a bit.” Rumi answered, chuckling.
“Chilling? You? With me? What does it even mean?” The young woman asked with a groan.
“You are too stressed, relax! It just means I wanted us to spend some time together while doing simple and relaxing things, to know each other better! We are practically sisters now, yeah? In a very loose term, so what’s wrong in me coming here for a visit whenever we both are free?” She said with a smirk.
“You are on probation, Rumi.” Momo answered, groaning again and massaging her temples.
“Meeeeeh! Probation-Shprobation! Don’t hang on technicalities, and also, catch!” She said, chuckling and throwing a pair of panties, of all things, at Momo.
“These are mine...And they are slightly wet...Why?” She asked with a look of dread.
“That purple-haired midget from your class was climbing down the wall with those in his back pocket. So I beat the shit out of him, handed him to your very disappointed Homeroom Teacher and, just to be sure, I washed them several times. I sterilized them.” Rumi answered.
“Oh. Thank you…” Momo muttered, grateful.
“Told you, the window was open. Sorry if they are still wet, the others needed the drier and I didn’t want to have your stuff mixed-up with the other girls’ unmentionables, so the last round of washing and drying I had to do by hand.” Rumi answered.
“Thanks.” The young woman said with a small voice, looking at the small thing with an unreadable expression.
“...You and Izuku think too much.” Rumi said, suddenly.
“Hn?!”
“You both have this...How do I call it...This box you are afraid of coming out of! I am really getting worried here!”
“Excuse me?!”
“Have you ever watched Ouran Host Club?”
“I-W-What does it have to do with this?!”
“Pony talks about it all the time, that little weeb. So I gave it a look and saw somebody that now is REEEEALLY reminding me of both you and Izu.” Rumi said, getting up from Momo’s bed to walk up to the other girl and guide her to sit down where she was.
“There is this guy, Kyoya. A smart, filthy-rich guy, like all his friends, but that is not important.
He has two older brothers, so as the third child he is...Well, his life sucks, in a way.
He has a loooot of expectations piled-up on him because his older siblings are all big shots and stuff and he used to believe that if he wanted just a fucking hope to get noticed by his parents and get some recognition he had to ‘Defeat’ those two giants of his brothers, all this only to show himself worthy.
In an episode he described his life before joining the Host Club as him drawing and coloring a painting on a canvas that was already framed to the wall, so with set borders that he could not break free from at all. It kind of reminded me of you and Izu.” Rumi said.
“How?”
“Well, come on! You are the heir of a filthy rich family and probably have dozens of people breathing on your neck about you having to be worthy of your family name, am I right?” She said,
“W-Well, kinda?”
“And dear Izu is so determined to show everybody that he can achieve his dreams even without a Quirk that he willingly accepted that deal with his Sponsor.”
“Yes, but-”
“You both are so fucking afraid of failure that you are driving yourself insane to fill some fucking impossible criteria others forced on you; all this while willingly ignoring how those same bastards keep moving the finish line away from you every time you take a step forward! And that is putting even your relationship at risk, and I won’t let that happen.” Rumi said, surprising Momo by pushing her down on the bed while holding onto her shoulders, she was now straddling her and looking deep into her eyes with truly scary intensity.
“Eeek!”
“You both are fucking amazing people able to do a shit-ton of great things, gifted like nobody else and with a scary bright mind to top-off great Powers and Skills! You two have more than enough on your plate to be fucking SMUG about it, but you two still choose to have any Loser passing-by put you down again and again until you became shy little beans that are convinced they can’t be anything more than ‘Background Characters’, and I am starting to get second-hand-annoyance from it!”
“Rumi, things are a bit more complex than th-” Momo tried saying, unsure.
“Complex? Then stop me if I say something you haven’t heard before!” Rumi answered, clearing her throat.
“She is just a bimbo! Look at her, she must be damn spoiled! More money and tits than brains! Daddy’s little Princess is playing Hero again, it must be easy being so rich you get everything you want!”
“…” The other girl just closed her eyes tight and shuddered.
“No Quirk? Shouldn’t he just die? A Quirkless Student? Why? They should kick him out and let more Worthy People have a chance! Why does he have a Restaurant? That place should be run by a Proper Human, one with a Quirk! Not a Null!”
“Please stop…” Momo begged with a shaky whisper.
“You heard all this bullshit about you and then some, right? And I bet Izu too did. Good God, how can you stand it?!” Rumi asked, appalled and angry at the same time.
“...Enough years bombarded with those comments and many others, and deep down you start wondering if they are actually right.” Momo answered, looking aside and sighing.
“Well, as an outsider, let me tell you this: They are wrong! Idiots and Ignorant fuckers should not be listened. Thank God I am here, so I can inject some self-esteem back into you two! I love it when you two show some sparks of strength, when you two remember that YOU ARE GOOD! You during exercises and him during our last sortie, you become two completely different persons as soon as you forget all the bullshit they try to pile on your back. Do that more, Please!” Rumi begged.
“Rumi…”
“Be free, believe in yourselves, show the world the strength I and you both know is there! And if that means that then you and Izuku won’t need me anymore, then so be it! But at least I will leave knowing that I helped you two to finally show your greatness to every fucking naysayer out there!”
“Hn!...Rousing speeches don’t work that well if you curse that much, you know?” Momo admitted with a small chuckle.
“That’s who I am, take it or leave it!” Rumi answered, smirking.
“I’ll need to get used to it first.”
“Eh! I am going nowhere, you have plenty of time...Until...You know...You tell me to leave.” She answered, maybe a bit more awkward than she planned for.
“I know, I know. I’ll see what we can do about this,”
“Thank you.”
“Hey, Momo! I heard a scream, is everything o-EEEEEEK!” It was then that Mina and Tooru opened the door to see Rumi straddling Momo in a pretty risque position.
“Don’t you dare! There is nothing sexual going on yet!” Rumi screeched.
“Yet?!” Momo yelled.
“Threesomes mean that everybody is involved! F/M, F/M/F and F/F too!”
“Oh, my God, RUMI!” Momo groaned in disbelief.
“So there is no Hot Lesbian Action about to happen? Because I have no problem watching,” Tooru admitted.
“I mean, me neither.” Mina added.
“GET OUT/GET THE FUCK OUT!” Momo and Rumi yelled in chorus, and surprisingly, the one cursing was Momo herself.
“GOING!” The other two answered, scampering away and slamming the door closed.
“...Glad to see I am not the only one with nosy dorm mates.” Rumi said, snorting.
“You have no idea.” Momo admitted, sighing.
“You sound hot when cursing.”
“Rumi…”
“Sorry, sorry…Want my help in hunting down Uraraka?”
“...Oh, please, yes. This is getting ridiculous and I really want to talk to her.”
“Okay! Let's go catch her then! Together!” Rumi answered, greatly amused.
With Izuku – New York – LaGuardia Airport -
Contrary to UA where it was just about dinner time, with Lunch Rush wondering how come it was now 4 girls eating enough for 10 people each instead of just Nejire, for Izuku it was in the very early hours of morning that he left the American airport, and to avoid any issue, the young Chef simply used The System’s teleportation array to just blink into reality inside one of the airport's bathrooms and then just walk out of the place like any other tourist.
Whitey and Shiro were already waiting for him outside the airport with the robot holding onto Izuku’s baggage.
“Kyun!” The small Ancestral Taotie had already attracted several curious, and love-struck, eyes of the few locals around that were now looking at Izuku in envy for having such a cute pet wrapped around his neck.
“Aaah! America! It’s been a while since I last visited it, this is the version I saw as Zaus counts.” Izuku said with a chuckle, and took a huge breath of the early morning air.
“Such a big bustling city. They all look like over-excited bees.” Shiro sent Izuku telepathically.
“It is, Shiro-kun! Too bad they get such a bad reputation because of the numerous and strong Villains they have, but it is still such a nice city.”
Not too far away – Hiding in the shadows of an alleyway -
“Soooo! Who are we killing again?” A towering guy with a bovine-like snout on his otherwise human face asked.
“Not killing, we are supposed to just beat him half to death and kidnap him.” The ugly, overweight green-skinned man next to the tall guy answered with a gurgling voice.
Bronze Bull, aka Steven, one of the Vigilantes at the orders of the American branch of the Hero Public Safety Commission, was a freakishly tall man with a Quirk able to turn him into a three meters tall Minotaur-like creature with a skin made of metal the color of bronze; and infamously known everywhere in America for his obsession for the Pro Hero Cow Lady, an obsession that was full-blown Stalking and deranged possessiveness. He was the personification of the Dumb Muscles trope as while he had titanic strength, he was also dumber than a sack of rocks.
With him was the man known as Venom-Demon Goblin, aka Honda, an ex-Villain that escaped Japan and ran to America to avoid arrest only to be enlisted into the American HPSC private forces as a way to not be sent back home and to prison; he possessed a Quirk that gave him the power of spitting a highly-viscous poisonous substance that could either paralyze for hours or downright kill the victim in a matter of minutes; in exchange of his body to be able to create those two toxins, though, his appearances took a very Goblin-esque turn: forest-green skin covered in warts and deformed body proportions, especially in the belly area that was rather large since his stomach doubled as storage for his mucus and thus needed to be way bigger than normal to do it. Nobody knew why his face was deformed to have that small head, tiny eyes and giant, uneven beak-like nose to complete the Goblin aesthetics, though, he probably had an ancestor with a Mutation Quirk.
Steven was there to capture Izuku while Honda was there to kill him ‘by accident’ at the orders of the League of Villains, the second Organization the goblin man took orders from; normally it could be considered pure dumb luck if Izuku was merely captured and brought to the Commission for some Reprogramming instead of killed...But unfortunately for all of the people involved, Izuku was Far from Normal.
“So? What’s the plan?” Bronze Bull asked.
“You charge them and do lots of damage, I take care of the rest.” Goblin answered.
“OOOH! I like doing that!” Steven answered, and immediately he gained an extra meter in height as he transformed into his metallic Bull-Man Form.
“Have fun!” Goblin said, smirking.
“MOOOOOO-THERFUCKER!” The giant metal bull bellowed while charging towards the Chef with his head down and horns pointed forward to skewer him.
“Troublemaker!” Whitey immediately intercepted the attack, grabbing the Bull-man’s horns and instantly stopping his charge, not even bulging of an inch.
“What the fuck!?” Steven yelled in disbelief.
“You are attacking the Host. Cease at once or you will be stripped as an example to others!” Whitey ordered in English, and the bystanders looked at the white robot in shock for the absurd threat.
“NO!”
“Understood. Entering Battle Mode!” Whitey declared with his eyes flashing red.
“Battle Wha-” BOOOOOM!
“Holy Shit!” Goblin shrieked as the several tonnes of metal Minotaur went flying with a single punch hard enough to dent the guy’s metal head.
“Barely here for two minutes and already in trouble...This must be a record.” Izuku muttered while massaging his temples and groaning, unaware that alerting his Customers that he was about to close and go to New York meant that every Organization interested in him had more than enough time to organize their personal evil schemes against him.
“Well, beating or not, Steven is still distracting the Robot-” BOOOM!
“FUUUUCK!”
“Yeah, that’s some distracting alright.” Goblin muttered, wincing at the new punch that sent his partner flying again.
“Oh, well! Better him than me, now it’s my time to shine! Sorry, boy, it’s about time you leave this world: Death Vom-”
“DIEEEEE!” Before the hidden Goblin could actually vomit on Izuku a bellyful of pressurized lethal mucus, a guy wearing a black hoodie and with his hands leaving trails of fire at every movement came out of the back of a car to jump Izuku.
“Oh, fuck… It’s PlasMaster...The fuck is that Edgy Weirdo doing here!?” The ugly bastard hissed in dismay.
With Izuku
“WHOA!” The Chef yelled with wide eyes as the weird guy with white-hot hands tried jumping him, and as a reflex, Izuku summoned not his knives, but the Star-Eating Turtle Wok.
CLAAANG! Fffffffsssss!
“THE FUCK IS THAT PAN MADE OF!?” The Villain PlasMaster, on Re-Destro’s Payroll, asked with a shocked shriek at seeing the Wok not being damaged at all even if subjected to the several thousands degrees of heat produced by his Quirk.
His Quirk was not really about creating Plasma either, contrary to the Villain Name he choose for himself, he was only in possession of a very limited Fire/Heat Quirk centered only on his arms, but the guy actually liked the idea of one day managing to reach those absurd temperatures, even if that was indeed impossible. He was also an Endeavor fanboy, and so copied the man’s infamous attitude whenever possible.
“My wok? It has been carved out of the scute of the shell of a super giant space turtle that feeds on suns to live, and apparently not even a Supernova or plasma can heat this thing up enough to make it usable for cooking, only a very specific, and way hotter, fire can.” Izuku answered, honestly.
“...Really? Because that sounds Metal as fuck!” PlasMaster asked in wonder.
The Star-Eating Turtle Wok was a wide wok pan with the rim worked in a very faint wavy décor while the dome of the main body under it was completely covered in elegant carvings of frolicking animals circling all around a big turtle in the middle of the concentric circles of beasts, the inside of the pan instead had been finely engraved to have a delicate turtle-shell décor; the outside was golden and had been shined like a mirror to perfection while the inside was instead pitch black, unnaturally so.
The wok also possessed three retractable legs under it to help keep it in position over the fire, but those were at the moment folded and hidden as part of the animal carvings.
Indestructible, impossibly heavy (as only Izuku was permitted to lift and use it) and able to increase and decrease sizes following the Owner’s will, the Chef could throw it and the Wok would just keep going forward, destroying everything daring to be on its path and stopping only when Izuku called it back to his hand...Too bad that at the moment it was unusable to cook without the right kind of fire. For now it was just a very ornate shield good for defense and a curious weapon to bash enemies’ heads with.
“Feel free to not believe me, I hardly can believe this myself sometimes.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“Dude, my hands are about two-thousand degrees hot now and this thing isn’t even turning black! Where the fuck you found it? I want one!” The Villain said with a smirk.
“Sorry, only one in existence.” Izuku answered before pushing him back.
“Then I’ll kill you and take yours! Hell Shower!” The over-excited guy yelled in glee while fire covered his arms completely before shooting off like the exhaust of a flamethrower.
“Oh, crap!” Izuku yelled as behind him people shrieked in fear and tried escaping from the double streams of fire.
To everybody’s surprise, the young Chef grabbed the rim of the wok and pulled on it, making the pan stretch and grow until it was several meters wide with the dome still pointed towards PlasMaster so to use it as a shield to protect Izuku and the bystanders from the flames.
“IT GROWS TOO! GIMME! I WANT IT! GIVE IT TO ME!” The Villain, by now starstruck by the wok’s powers, yelled in greed while increasing the fire output to the maximum capacity he could muster.
“You are ready to kill innocents just like that?!” Izuku roared in anger.
“Fuck them! Gimme the pan!” The other answered.
“You want my Wok?...What about the Meat Mallet instead?” The cold tone Izuku used to answer actually surprised the Villain as the Myriad Manifestation Mallet appeared in his hand.
(Myriad Manifestation Mallet: Battle Form)
“The what?”
BOOOOOM!
Flying with immense speed, the meat mallet thrown by Izuku destroyed PlasMaster’s nose and sent the Villain flying into a car, through it and through the window of a store nearby where he landed on a roll and unconscious.
“Psychotic idiot.” Izuku commented and recalled the mallet into his hand in a manner rather similar to Thor, and then returned it into the turtle tattoo on his wrist, just like he did with the wok and its own rope drawing.
“Whitey! How are things on your side?” The young Chef asked.
“Stripping completed.” Whitey answered, the robot was holding Steven by the hair after beating the guy hard enough it forced him back into human form, and then stripping him down to a rather cute pair of heart printed boxers, too bad the guy’s appearance as a single giant bruise ruined the image.
“Dude, I’as jus’ fol’wing ord’rs!” Steven said with a whine and heavy slur, thanks to all the slaps and punches turning his face into a misshaped balloon.
“Troublemakers are punished, this is not negotiable.” Whitey answered, uncaring, and tossing him into a garbage bin nearby.
“’Kay, Boss!” The poor guy gurgled in answer before fainting.
“No No No NO! What the fuck is wrong with that kid?!” Goblin yelled with bulged-out eyes, nobody told him that kid was a living nightmare!
“SCREW SUBTLY! DEATH VOMIT SHOWER!” Seeing a savage beating in his future if he didn’t run away, Goblin just puked-out all at once his stomach’s entire load of lethal sludge and then turned around to run away while the foul-smelling thing was still about to descend from its flight.
“And where do you think you are going?” Only to meet Shiro’s eyes thanks to the Taotie being perched on top of a fire hydrant.
“...Mercy?” Honda begged, already crying fat tears of regret.
“I am afraid this Esteemed Taotie has none of that for who tries to hurt his Partner.” Shiro answered before pouncing on the Villain to maul him to shreds, but not killing him, as he knew Izuku wouldn’t have liked his Partner murdering people just like that.
Once done massacring the man, Shiro refocused on Izuku to see the Chef fuss over a very tall and muscular brown-haired woman in jogging attire that had apparently takena shower of lethal poison for him.
“Kyuun!” Hurrying at Izuku’s side to wrap himself around his neck, he watched his Partner help the woman to her feet no matter her being pretty much two times his overall size.
“Madam! Have no fear! Everything will be alright!” Izuku said in panic.
“It’s okay! I can fix this no problem! Really!” The woman tried saying.
“Wasn’t that lethal poison or acid!? It smells acidic!” Izuku shrieked in answer.
“...No? It just smells like shit, nothing dangerous. It was probably somebody that doesn’t like tourists, it’s full of those morons around here.” The woman tried saying, pulling out that blatant lie just to not worry him further.
“God, it burns so freaking much! Next time I meet Goblin I will tie his knees behind his ears!” The woman also thought, forcing a smile on her face to hide the frown from the burning sensation caused by the poison goop covering her.
“Oh! Okay...Okay...As long as you are safe.” Izuku answered, trying to sound like he believed her.
“Host, this woman will die in twenty minutes if not helped. Please save her Life.” The System reminded him.
“GODDAMNIT!” Izuku thought in answer.
“It’s fiiine! Stop worrying! I am a big tough girl!” The woman answered while slapping his back.
“Then let me offer you an early lunch, as a thank you.” Izuku answered, frantic.
“Lunch? At this hou-”
“Oh, to Hell with it! Whitey! Carry her, this is getting us nowhere!” Izuku ordered while marching towards a nearby restaurant.
“Understood.” The Robot said, showing its great strength by literally carrying the tall woman under its arm.
“HEY!”
“Stop playing the ‘Badass Woman that doesn’t need no help’, that cliché died in the early 2100s when we finally understood that Gender Wars helped nobody! You are about to die and I won’t let it happen just because you don’t want me to worry!” The young Chef answered while opening the restaurant door.
“How do you- no, wait, what are you doing?!”
“Healing you, that’s what I am doing! Whitey, set her at a table, then come with me. I need their kitchen.” Izuku answered, donning his green Chef uniform over his clothes while walking behind the counter.
“You can’t-” The woman at the counter tried saying.
“LATER!” The young man barked, silencing her and marching inside the kitchen.
A bit of ruckus later, mostly Whitey physically reminding them that he was programmed to strip whoever got in Izuku’s way, and the young Chef was already cooking, all this while the woman at the table called her assistant.
In the kitchen -
Restaurant owner and kitchen staff had, at the beginning, loudly cursed Izuku for both his manners and his invasion of their kitchen, but they all had fallen silent as soon as the young man had started showing skills definitely not human while cooking.
“Only twenty minutes to pull-off a Healing Dish...Chicken, Celery, carrots...I will need to add some Ingredients of mine, but I got an idea.” He said while heating some oil over high heat.
He also stealthily substituted every Ingredient he was supposed to use from that place’s kitchen fridge with the special ones coming from his own Storage Room back in Green Cloud, so as to create the perfect Healing Dish, all with nobody of the staff or the Restaurant Owner even noticing.
“Your kitchen leaves a lot to be desired, by the way…” He also felt the need to say once stir-fried some strips of chicken breast with carrots and celery for a few minutes.
“We normally serve office workers...We are not a fancy restaurant…We actually are quite cheap.” The owner answered with a shaky smile.
“The only cheap thing here is you, you Cheap bastard.” The cook of the place muttered, and got a glare from his old-time-friend-and-boss in answer.
“Cheap" doesn't mean under-staffed, under-equipped and badly maintained and unclean. You are not giving your staff what they need to give their all.” Izuku answered, summoning into the jars in the inner pockets of his Chef Uniform several spices, soy sauce, pre-cut green onions strips and even some cornstarch and some cashew cubes.
“I tried telling him for years, but he doesn’t listen!...Hey, you travel with all that in your pockets?” The cook said, surprised.
“I like to be ready for everything, even surprise cooking done in a hurry in an under-equipped kitchen.” Izuku answered, mixing together soy sauce, honey and ginger to the cornstarch he had dissolved with some orange juice, that too coming from his Restaurant Storage.
Thankfully, that bold answer surprised those people enough that theyshut-up long enough to let Izuku finish cooking.
“Ready: Stir-Fried Chicken with honey sauce and nuts.” A short time later, the young Chef declared the recipe’s name once finished plating the thing, and rapidly topping the dish with green onions’ strips and diced cashew.
“Holy shit! He prepared all that in a flash!” One of the cooks said in awe.
“I took ten minutes to make a dish normally requiring twenty minutes between preparation and cooking. Nothing too extreme,” Izuku answered, hurrying out to bring the dish to the woman that had pushed him away to take the poison vomit attack in his place before he could actually raise his wok to defend himself from it.
“Nothing too extreme...Wanna work here?” The Restaurant Owner asked with wide eyes of awe.
“No.”
“If he has any dignity, he will never say yes, Bro.”
“Oh, shut up!”
With Izuku -
The young Chef was watching in relief as the woman kept eating his Healing Dish with great enthusiasm, all under the surprised eyes of the woman’s guest, her actual personal Assistant, who had reached them while he was still cooking.
“Boss, is it really that good?” She asked.
“Holy Hell, it is! And he made this in just a few minutes!” The Buff Woman answered with her mouth still full.
“I am glad! It should also help you with your little problem.” Izuku answered.
“...UH?!” By her expression, that woman had apparently forgotten she had been poisoned.
“It should pass in a couple minutes, please don’t tell a soul. Have a nice day.” Izuku said with a kind smile and left.
“Hey! You don’t want a thing in exchange? Not even money?” The assistant asked.
“Nope! Call it me Playing Hero, but I don’t help others in dire need just for personal gain, but just because it’s the right thing to do! She saved me, so I paid her back.”
“I…”
“Goodbye.” He answered, leaving the place rapidly to avoid the Owner asking him again to work for him.
“Margaret.”
“Yes, Boss?” The Assistant said.
“Try to see who he was.”
“Uh?!”
“You don’t get three different Villains attacking you as soon as you walk out of an airport unless you are a target. Bull and Goblin especially hardly move unless a lot of money is on the plate, and our dumb Minotaur friend fully admitted how ‘Somebody he can’t say the name of’ paid him and others to stay stationed in various other airports to attack and kidnap that boy as soon as he arrived in America. And you know what they say about PlasMaster,”
“That he is part of those nut-jobs working for that Re-Destro Japanese Villain. Whoever that Psycho is.” The Assistant answered.
“Exactly. And their Target just healed me of Goblin’s Poison shit with a plate of chicken he made in a hurry in a pathetic restaurant’s kitchen.” The buff woman said, cleaning her mouth and marching towards the door of the restaurant.
“They were waiting for him and attacked him as soon as he got out from LaGuardia. Re-Destro’s friends and whoever is behind Bull’s Attack must be very eager to put their hands on him if they were ready to stalk pretty much every airport of New York to get him.” The Assistant answered.
“Exactly. Healing Quirks are too damn rare for some Villains to not hunt-down whoever has one, even if they need to use food as a medium to use it. That boy is in danger, and even if I could have healed myself with my Quirk, that kid could not know it and still helped me…” The buff woman said, unsure.
“What is the But I feel is incoming?”
“But that is what makes it strange...He knew I had been poisoned, but Goblin is too much of a small fry even in the Japanese Villain culture for a random kid to know him and his Quirk, so maybe this is not the first time he met that ugly bastard and his Quirk, that may be why he knew he had very little time to help me.”
“They are hunting him down?”
“Very likely. But until we question him, we won’t have all the details.”
“I’ll see what I can do. Starting by checking the passengers list of every flight from Japan and the LaGuardia security cameras.”
“Thank you,”
Meanwhile -
While the two women plotted, Izuku and Whitey made their way through the busy streets of New York, with the young man marveling at the sights and looking for the hotel Momo and Rei suggested him to sojourn in for the duration of his trip.
“So, I healed her. There was no need to rush me that much, though, I would have helped her regardless.” Izuku muttered.
“Trust the System, Host.”
“You and your secret, manipulating tricks.” The young Chef said with a sigh of dismay.
“…”
“Yes, yes. Keep quiet, that’s enough admission of guilt.” He said.
BEEEP! BEEEP!
It was then that a long limo stopped next to him.
“Uhu?!”
“HELLOOOOOOOOO!” And a very familiar woman opened the backseat door to greet him with a very melodious sing-song voice.
“Rei-san!” Izuku said, shocked.
“Welcome to America! How’s it?” Rei asked.
“Bit eclectic since trouble followed me here too, but what are you doing here?”
“I have you know that my darling husband and I have branches of our respective businesses pretty much all-over the world, America included! Since Lawyers and Models are needed everywhere. So! Since I had to come here to check on a couple things for a future Gala AND my future son-in-law was about to come here for his own personal mission, I made the two things coincide! And I covered your teleportation here by adding you to the passengers list of my private jet that landed in LaGuardia just an hour ago.” Rei answered, looking extremely proud of herself.
“Oh! Thank you…” He answered, shy.
“Still unused to the son-in-love thing?” She said, smirking.
“M-Maybe.” He admitted.
“Huhuhu! Nothing too strange! Get in! You are staying with me, the penthouse I use whenever I come here is big enough for you and Whitey.” Rei said.
“I-I don’t want to bother y-”
“I insist!” Rei said, surprising him by grabbing his arm and forcefully pulling him into the limo to sit in front of her and closing the car door right after.
“O-O-Okay! Okay!” Izuku shrieked in surprise.
“We are ready, Takeda! Take us home!” Rei ordered.
“At once, Madam.” The driver answered, and the limo rapidly moved away, silently followed by Whitey quietly jogging behind the car.
“Are you sure I can stay with you?” Izuku asked.
“Of course! But, if you still find it a bit too much, you can pay me with more cooking lessons! I do have a fully stacked kitchen in that big apartment,” Rei answered, smirking.
“Oh! Yes, I can do that!” He answered, and both shared a laugh and a playful handshake to seal the deal.
Later that day – HPSC -
“So Bull and Goblin failed.”
“Yes, Madam.”
“Interesting. And you are sure Goblin was one of the Moles in our Hero Ranks?”
“Yes, Madam.”
“Hn! That’s a pity, easily-manipulated assassins with Poison Quirks are always hard to come-by. Deal with him and then look for a replacement.”
“Of course. Anything else, Director?”
“Keep an eye on that Chef and Robot. We need more data to ascertain how useful he can be for us, especially his tools. Ask our HQ in Japan if they have more data they can share with us, otherwise this joint Operation will end in disaster.”
“At once, Director.”
“Good, now go.”
At the same time – Japan – Green Cloud Restaurant -
It was getting late into the night when a man in a fur coat and with a beak mask reminiscent of a Plague Doctor’s one made his way towards the closed doors of Izuku’s Restaurant.
“So the kid is gone and took the robot with him...I can’t believe I had to come here myself to deal with this.” The man in a bird mask muttered in disdain.
“We can’t break-in, Boss. And the ones we sent that, maybe, managed to get in...Well...We have no news of them.” The big guy next to him answered, unsure.
“Oh, seriously! If you want results, you have to do things yourself!” The Mysterious Villain known as Overhaul uttered under his breath with a scowl, and marched by himself towards the locked simple glass-and-wood door of the restaurant.
“I can’t believe you can’t even break down a damn glass door! There isn't even a gate!” Overhaul hissed in contempt.
“God knows we tried everything, Boss. I think one of us even tried some C4, and the Guard Dog of the place took offense to the noise.”
“Ah, screw that flea-bag! Whatever, I will do this myself. Ooooh, Eeeeri! Daddy’s come to get you back!” The Villain said with a deranged, mocking tone, then removed his gloves and touched the door…
And nothing happened.
“...Uh?” He muttered, a bit dumbly.
He took off his hands for a moment and then touched the glass again.
Nothing happened.
“What the…” He tried again.
Nothing happened.
“Seriously.” Once again, both his palms and ten fingers all went pressed HARD on the door, with the Villain making extra sure he was touching everything properly to use his Quirk.
Nothing happened.
“What is this door made of?!” Overhaul shrieked.
Nothing happened.
Nothing happened.
Nothing happened.
“Did I erase my Quirk by mistake?”
“Boss, as I said-” SPLAT! With a horrid explosion of gore that scared the civilians into running away screaming in fear, the lackey’s body broke down as soon as Overhaul touched him.
“No, it still works...Then why is the door still there!?” The Villain roared while kicking away the dead henchman's head.
“Have you considered that maybe you are just not good enough?” Blackie asked with a mocking tone from the now open door, and behind him Zephyr was already brandishing a frying pan and showing an expression of fury on his feline face.
"Meeeow!" The Pheline hissed lowly.
“Who the hell are you?!” Overhaul yelled, whipping around to meet the eyes of the Lord Dog.
“This Lord is the Guard Dog of this Restaurant. And you are trespassing.” Blackie answered, yawning lazily as he clearly didn’t see Overhaul as a threat.
“Oh, really?! And what are you going to do about it!? That brat Eri belongs to me, and if I have to kill you and everybody else and destroy this place to get my asset back then so be it!” Chisaki answered.
“Please! You are no threat to this Restaurant or this Lord Dog, you are not even a main Villain, you are filler! Even just a lovely, friendly and playful pat of my Paw would be wasted on a nobody like you.” Blackie answered, chuckling.
“Then what?”
Woof!
…
Overhaul regained consciousness from the near-death experience with the Lord Dog’s “attack” only a month and a half later, having been found by his other henchmen naked and battered inside a dumpster several hours after that short bark of Blackie that had almost killed him.
The Villain will then show some common sense and intelligence by deciding that he will need a different approach to recover Eri from that accursed Restaurant; a bigger show of intelligence for Overhaul would have been deciding to just accept that Eri was now unreachable and to stop bothering her and her new Family, but Hubris always finds a way.
With Izuku – America – Yaoyorozu’s Penthouse apartment – The next day -
It was during lunch hour, when Izuku was about to start a new cooking lesson with Rei during the women's free time that somebody started attacking the doorbell.
DRIIIIN!
“Who is it now?” Rei, wearing an adorable pink apron over her ridiculously-expensive Armani tailleur, said with a frown.
“Were you expecting somebody?” Izuku, in his green Chef attire, asked back.
Driiin!
“No? You?”
“I don’t think so?”
Driiiin!
“What now?” Rei asked.
“I’ll take it. Whitey and Shiro can protect us if things go south.” Izuku said.
“Okay, just be careful.”
Driiin!
“Let’s see...Who is it?” He asked while checking through the door’s peephole.
“An old friend!” The same tall and buff woman he had saved the day prior answered with a blinding smile.
“Oh!...How did you find me?” He asked, confused.
“I know several guys! Please open, we need to talk,” she answered.
“Should I?”
“Troublemakers will be stripped as an example to others!” Whitey gave as an answer with his eyes already flashing red.
“Kyuun!” Shiro ‘added’ from the backrest of a couch nearby.
“May as well…” Izuku said, sighing, unlocking the door.
“Hi! Missed me?”
“...We met only once and you were about to die...”
“Still a good way to meet new faces if you ask me! But we didn’t even introduce ourselves. Cathleen Bate, nice to meet you!” the Amazonian woman said, smirking.
“Izuku Midoriya...I guess…” The young Chef answered.
“Oh! Good evening! To what do we owe the visit?” Rei asked, joining them from the kitchen area.
“Sorry for the intrusion, but we have a couple questions we need to ask.” Cathleen’s assistant said with an apologetic tone.
“Questions? That is why you tracked me down?” Izuku asked.
“Yup! And even then, you had not been easy to find, buddy!” Cathleen answered.
“Quite a bit of a hassle, yes.” The assistant added.
“I thought that we would have gone our separate ways after I helped you. About that, sorry for running away, but I wanted to avoid other Villain attacks.” Izuku admitted.
“It’s okay, bud! Pretty understandable!”
“Oh! That’s her? The woman you helped?” Rei asked.
“She is.” the young Chef answered.
“I am! And I have questions!” She said, smirking.
“Questions?” Izuku said.
“Questions!” the Buff woman answered while flashing her Hero ID.
“A Pro Hero? That is why you were so pressed about me helping her?” Izuku mentally asked.
“Correct, Host. Connections are just as useful as a Power as punching mountains to dust.” The System answered, making him groan.
“Wait...A Hero named Cathleen Bate...Where did I hear that before?” Rei muttered.
“What questions do you have?” Izuku asked with narrowed eyes.
“Several actually: Why are you here in America, why are there were Villains waiting for you in every major airport of New York and how come you managed to heal me even if your Quirk Register’s entry says you are a Quirkless? Oh, and many, many more!” Cathleen answered.
“…”
“I guess it would be better if they get inside, Izuku.” Rei said with a tense tone.
“...Get in.” Izuku said, moving aside to invite the two in.
“Thank you.” The Assistant answered, unsure.
“I can answer most of your questions, probably. But I need your help in exchange.”
“My help?”
“It’s a very minor thing.” Izuku answered.
“You aren’t really-”
“Let’s hear, I am still in your debt about the poison thing, so I will at least hear you out.” Cathleen answered.
“Thank you.” The young Chef said while the group took a seat on the big couch in the apartment.
A short round of Q&A Later -
“So you came here to challenge a famous Chef, that’s all.” The Assistant said, surprised.
“Pretty much. I have no idea why those people were waiting for me here. As for how I Healed you, I am sorry, I can’t tell you. It’s too...Too dangerous.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“I will drop the issue of your Healing Powers for now. About your favor instead, you need my help in getting to that guy you are here for? What was his name?” Cathleen asked.
“Hidetaka Matoi, Boss. He is a Chef that has two Michelin Stars to his name and is expected to earn his third one sometime this year.” The Assistant answered promptly.
“So he cooks well?” The tall woman asked, confused.
“We went to one of his Restaurants once, for a charity dinner, you asked him why he wrapped your steak in gold leaf and once he explained why, you went on a tirade against the thing,” the assistant answered.
“Oh! That dude. Very unpleasant guy.”
“Maybe she did rant against it because it is a useless thing that adds nothing to the dish and is just there to justify a higher price on the bill?” Izuku answered with a scrunched nose.
“See?! See?! Somebody else thinks like that! I am not the weird one!” the Pro Hero said with a wide smile.
“I am sorry, but he is a young Chef, he-”
“I AM a Chef, and I respect Ingredients. I know what I am talking about, you may be good at organizing appointments, but cooking is my territory and edible gold leaf hardly has any taste, and even then, a steak is not a flavor that can benefit from it.”
“I am-”
“ZIP. IT.” Izuku hissed, making her mouth snap close with a loud clack! Sound.
“Icchan is very proud of his skills, maybe a bit too much.” Rei explained with a snort.
“Come on, guys! Make peace! He actually healed me, so we can be friends! Come on!” Cathleen said with a wide smile.
“...Sorry.” Both the Assistant and Chef begrudgingly muttered to each other.
“A bit forced, but it’s a good start. Now, why do you think I can actually help you?” the woman asked.
“You are Star and Stripe, if there is somebody able to get doors open, that’s you.” Izuku said with a cheeky smile.
“...Wha?”
“You probably use your Quirk to change hair and eye color when you go Civilian, but it was after healing you that I connected the body structure to the Pro Hero Name and recognized you,” he explained.
“You and that robot of yours helped me before even knowing who I was?” Cathleen asked.
“You took a poison spit bath to protect me, I wouldn’t have forgiven myself if you died because of me, with or without knowing you were a Pro Hero.” Izuku answered.
“I could have healed easily with my Quirk.”
“I had no idea you were Star and Stripe, I just saw a woman jump in front of me to protect me,” he answered, smiling.
“Yeah I was not on duty and didn’t wear my costume. In a sense, you taking me away to be healed helped cover my secret identity. I used that to get out without getting attention...So, thanks.” she admitted, smirking and ruffling his hair.
“What I don’t understand is why you want to Challenge that Chef.” the woman’s Assistant asked, confused.
“He has some dirt on various food critics, and has ordered several of them from here, Europe and locally in Japan to try to discredit me. I got fed-up and decided to Challenge him in a cooking duel: if HE wins I will close my Restaurant forever, if I win he will forget I exist and leave me alone.” Izuku answered.
“...Why is he doing that?” Cathleen asked, dumbfounded.
“A bit more than one year ago he and his friends acted as judges in a cooking challenge for Amateurs, apparently what I cooked was so good that one of them, the Boss of the group of friends, had an existential crisis, and now Samui has set his precious friends against me as a revenge by threatening them with all the dirt on them he collected through the years...As unbelievable as it sounds, it is all a Revenge Plot I am just trying to defend myself from.”
“That sounds like bull, no offense.”
“I got the video proof, here. This is a small sample of what happened that day.” Rei answered, pulling-out her phone and replaying the video from the cooking challenge.
'Taka Taka Taka Taka Taka Taka!'
“Holy shit! You were on fast forward, buddy!” Cathleen said with a loud amused laugh.
“Oh, no no! That is normal speed! My boy it’s just that fast!” Rei said with a proud smile.
“Why do you want to be a Chef and not a Hero? I understand hiding your powers, but if your Quirk can really both Heal others and accelerate your movements, by using that you would be a damn good one!” the Assistant asked, amazed.
“Ah! About that, I really am Quirkless. A real one, no false reports and the like.” Izuku answered, smirking.
“…”
“...What?”
“Icchan, you love that reaction, don’t you?” Miss Yaoyorozu asked, giggling.
“Yes.” he admitted, shameless.
“Maybe you didn’t understand the question...Wait...Do you actually have a Quirk?” Cathleen asked while switching to Japanese.
“I am a pure Quirkless, I don’t have one.” he answered in Japanese.
“How?! You did all that! And you Healed her!” the Assistant asked.
“Natural talent.” Rei answered.
“Natural- HE CAN CUT MULTIPLE THINGS IN SLICES MID-AIR! WITH ONE SWIPE!”
“I am that good. If you want, you can Test me and then decide if I have what it takes to Challenge Hidetaka.” Izuku offered.
“A Test?” Cathleen said.
“Choose one Ingredient, and no matter what, I will make a Full Course Menu using that as the main piece.” Izuku said.
“Any Ingredients?” the Assistant asked with narrowed eyes.
“Whatever you want...Except extreme stuff like Human flesh and feces. I DO draw a line on certain things.” he answered.
“Very well, if you really are THAT SKILLED...Use some Cointreau.” the woman said.
“Cointreau? I am afraid I don’t have any here.” Rei answered.
“It’s okay, I will have it delivered from our Hero Agency.” The Assistant answered.
“WOWOWOWOWOWOW! That is MY stash! You can’t use it to play around!” Star and Stripe yelled in horror.
“Uh?”
“She is addicted to that liqueur, so she will gladly punch you if you ruin it.” the Assistant said with a malevolent gleam in her eyes.
“I am not addicted! I just love the shit out of that drink! And if he ruins it, I will punch ALL OF YOU!” Cathleen hissed.
“M-M-Me too?!” the Assistant asked, paling considerably.
“Yeah! It was your idea after all!”
“L-Let me choose another Ingredient then!”
“No, it’s okay. I will do it.” Izuku answered, shrugging.
“NO!” both women yelled as one.
“Too late! How many bottles do you need, Izuku?” Rei asked, greatly amused by the two women’s look of horror.
“NOOOOOOOOO!”
“Oh, don’t be a baby! You are a Pro Hero, be adventurous! Be brave!” Rei answered.
“But that’s my babyyyyyyy!” Cathleen yelled with a childish whine.
“Sorry, Boss.” Her Assistant muttered.
“STFU!”
“I will treat it properly, I swear.” Izuku said.
Sigh! “Call the agency...Have some Cointreau delivered here...Goddamnit.” Cathleen said, looking hopeless and defeated.
“Way too dramatic.” Rei said, chuckling.
A short phone-call later and a rather big case with a dozen bottles of the liqueur went delivered to Rei’s penthouse, and Izuku had the rare chance of seeing the legendary Number One Hero of America look at him with frantic and overly-nervous eyes, treating his handling the bottles of Cointreau as if he was a Villain manhandling prisoners in a Hostage situation, all for his amusement as the buff woman was not missing a single movement he made whenever a bottle of her favorite drink left the padded case.
“I got the other Ingredients you asked for!” Rei said with a proud smile once recovered everything the young Chef asked for his small Challenge.
“Perfect! Thank you, Rei-san! Thanks to you, I have everything I need now.” Izuku declared.
“I will record everything so I can save the dishes’ recipes. One day I want to be able to replicate them by myself.” She answered.
“I believe in you. You are getting better at cooking.”
“Thank you!”
“What will you make?” Cathleen asked.
“A Full Course Menu, meaning Hors D'Oeuvre, Soup, Meat Dish, Fish Dish, Main Course, Salad, Dessert and Drink. The meat will need some seasoning before we start, and that will take an hour at the very least, so I will first organize that, and once ready, I’ll start.” Izuku answered.
“Sounds good.” Cathleen’s Assistant answered, impressed.
While Izuku went through the initial preparation of the Ingredients he needed to cook, Rei instead managed to set-up a literal small studio in the kitchen of the apartment thanks to her own assistants bringing there equipment from her Modeling Agency at her request, and forty minutes later, the young Chef gave a short exhale.
“I am ready.” He said.
“Cameras are ready too. We are recording, you can start whenever you want!” Rei answered with a thumbs-up.
“Very well, I will start with the preparation of the instruments, like chilling the bowl for the whipped cream in the fridge, preheating the barbecue outside and for the Salmon dish instead...Whitey, I need a Grilling Plank made of cedar, please. The bigger, the better.” Izuku asked.
“Understood.” The Robot answered, and once plunged both hands inside the bottomless void that opened in the pocket in its chubby belly, the thing pulled out a stack of grilling planks made of wood.
“Multiple ones? Even better!” The young Chef answered with a wide smile.
“...Where did he keep those?” Cathleen’s Assistant asked, confused.
“No idea.” She answered.
Ignoring their stupor, Izuku simply left the grilling planks to soak in hot tap water for a bit.
“Since salmon and Pork will take the longest, I will prepare them at the same time. For now I will start with the dessert, the pears…” The young Chef explained while checking the heat of the grill.
“The Barbecue grill is hot enough, good. I will now build a smoke pouch: a pouch made in aluminum foil filled in both wet and dry wood chips mixed together, and once folded close, I will then puncture the bundle with a fork. Those holes will allow the smoke to flow through and infuse the pears while cooking.” he said, rapidly building the foil pouch and positioning it onto a heat source on the barbeque.
“The stuffing instead is just some butter mixed with crushed gingersnap cookies in a bowl. Once the resulting mixture is smooth and without clumps you can add brown sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, orange liqueur and vanilla seeds and mix.” The young Chef said, and just like in a cooking show, each named Ingredient was carefully added to the bowl one at a time and diligently mixed together into a fluffy paste.
Zwiing!
Giving a fast twirl to the Sea Dragon Kitchen Knife, Izuku once again showed his supernatural speed and talent by seemingly peeling the various pears he had washed and prepped in front of him with a single slice, showing Cathleen and her Assistant that indeed the videos they were shown had not been manipulated in any way.
The young man then cut off a bit of the bottom of the pears so to let them stand up on the plate he was using, then he removed the tops and core of the pears, rubbed them with lemon wedges to stop discoloration and finally rolled them in white sugar.
“Now we use a blowtorch to melt the sugar, being extra careful to not burn them or the sugar itself.” He instructed while passing the blowtorch on all sides of the pears until the sugar caramelized and turned them a beautiful golden color.
“If you don’t trust your skills with a blowtorch, or you don’t have one, just place the sugared pears on the hot side of a grill for 1-2 minutes and keep turning them periodically to achieve grill marks.” Izuku added, winking at the camera.
“The camera loves you, Buddy! Rock on!” Cathleen said, smirking, and making him chuckle a bit.
“After stuffing the hollowed pears with the filling using a spoon, we check if the barbecue is producing the right amount of smoke thanks to the pouch, and if it does, we lower the heat and place the pears on a perforated baking sheet on the unheated side of the grill. This will smoke the pears over indirect heat for approximately 30 minutes.” Izuku said.
While he waited for the smoking to be done, he mixed heavy cream with the orange liqueur and vanilla seeds in the chilled bowl and gradually added icing sugar while whipping until stiff.
Once ready, the pears were removed from the smoking, plated elegantly in four plates and topped with the aromatic whipped cream and sprinkled with orange zest, and finally set aside.
“Now that the dessert is ready, we will move to the salmon dish.” Izuku said, combining syrup, Cointreau, and rind in a small saucepan he then moved on the fire for boiling until reduced to a thicker sauce, and once cooled down enough, he sprinkled a tiny bit of salt and black pepper over the salmon.
“Done that, we brush the fish with the Cointreau/Syrup mixture and place the salmon pieces on the grilling planks, skin down, remember.” The young Chef said, placing the fish filets on the planks and then moving every one of them on a preheated grill with the lid closed.
“Why do you need a grilling plank?” Rei asked from off camera.
“Quite simple, actually. While on the grill, the plank will smolder, creating smoke. That's what gives the salmon it's wonderful taste. Don’t get scared if you see flames, that can happen sometimes, in that case just douse the flames with a spray water bottle. It’s just a matter of not panicking.”
Whistling a little tune, Izuku occupied himself while cooking the fish by preparing everything for the Meat Dish, and once the salmon went cooked to his liking, he took it out of the grill and plated the four portions by sliding a spatula between fish and skin to detach them from the planks.
“God, this smells damn good.” Cathleen admitted with a hungry look.
“Thank you! As a further condiment, I will mix together salt, black pepper, orange sections, avocado, orange juice, onion, bell pepper, chives, and lime juice in a side bowl. So whoeverwants to can add it to the salmon.” Izuku answered, adding four small dishes with that sauce to the Salmon Dishes.
“Now the one that needed me to marinade the meat for at least one hour before we even started: The Pork Filet Mignon…” The young Chef muttered while recovering the marinating meat.
“What did you marinade it with?” Rei asked.
“A mixture I made by first peeling and grating some ginger, then I added to it some salt, five-spice powder, soy sauce, oil, honey and Cointreau. The marinade needs to be thick, not too liquid, so I covered the Pork with the mixture and put it aside to rest.”
While saying that, they watched Izuku seal the meat on all sides in a cooking pot, cover it and leave everything to simmer, stirring it carefully and delicately and adding water if he saw the sauce caramelizing too quickly.
“...Perfect, this one is done too.” Finally, after a long and agonizing wait, thanks to the amazing scent bombarding the onlookers, the young man took the pot off the fire, added to it a bit more ginger and pepper, and divided everything in four plates, with the ladies watching silently marveling at how rich and smooth the sauce coating the meat looked.
“Good! Almost done! If I consider the timing well, everything should still be the right temperature by the time I am done. Thankfully the Pasta Dish is pretty easy compared to the other dishes, but still very tasty. I will use some Linguine, it’s the kind of pasta that goes better with this recipe…” Izuku muttered.
“Still don’t know how Italians can come-up with all those different kinds of pasta...Isn’t Spaghetti enough?” Cathleen asked.
“To tell the truth, there is a reason behind that, because each kind of Pasta is best suited to specific Italian recipes. That is why there are actually 350 different types of pasta out there.” Izuku answered while setting the linguine to cook.
“Holy crap!” The Assistant muttered.
“They take pride in their cooking, even too much!” He answered, chuckling, and adding olive oil into a skillet together with two smashed garlic cloves to gently sauté the cloves until they became golden and then removing it from the skillet.
“The chopped anchovy filets?”
“Here, Icchan!” Rei answered, passing him a small dish.
“Thank you!” He answered while adding those to the skillet and carefully stirring them around until they melted into the oil.
“Now we add the orange slices, mixing them well with the olive oil and anchovy, with caution to not turn them into a pulp. Next come the breadcrumbs and finally the Cointreau,” Izuku instructed while continuing to mix the sauce in the skillet with a wooden spoon and very delicate movements.
“Pasta is ready! I’ll take it out of the water for you!” Rei said with a wide smile.
“Perfect! Just in time, the sauce has become creamy, so it’s time to mix the two.” The young Chef answered, pleased, and after having mixed the sauce with the pasta inside a wide bowl, he added some minced mint and proceeded to separate everything into four plates.
“Now it’s the scallops turn!” Izuku declared happily once seen every other dish coming along nicely.
Taking a generous bowl of lardons, the young Chef used some butter to fry them in a large frying pan, and once the fatty meat lost the raw look, he added the scallops to the pan and gave them a rapid searing for just a couple minutes while stirring carefully and yet rapidly.
“Lemon Juice, some salt and pepper...And the Cointreau!” Izuku said, adding the liquor to the pan with wide swipes of the bottle.
“Careful!” Cathleen begged for the umpteenth time.
“I know what I am doing, have no fear!” He answered with a friendly chuckle, and to the woman's surprise once the Cointreau became warm enough he ignited the pan in a big flash of fire, enjoying the flames for just a few instants before pouring in the pan some double cream to extinguish the flames.
“Show-off,” Rei said, laughing.
“Maybe a bit.” Izuku admitted, simmering the dish for an instant before pulling it off the fire and sprinkling everything with parsley; he then plated all that as well in four portions and set them on a side, among the other completed dishes.
Needless to say, the Salad took him barely a few minutes to make, since he had already prepared the Cointreau Vinaigrette sauce he decorated it with before even starting the recording.
The soup as well was a simple recipe, but still extremely delicious: a fluffy sweet potato creamy soup topped with caramelized onions and a light drizzle of oil.
“And finally, for a drink...I think I will go with some gin…” Next came the shaker, a bottle of some expensive gin and a few lemons.
“Uuh! Fancy!” Cathleen admitted, chuckling, and watching Izuku add the gin to the Cointreau and lemon juice and then topping everything in the shaker with some egg white.
“First you dry-shake it, without ice...” He said while giving the metal container a vigorous shake.
“Then you add ice and shake again until well-chilled.” The young Chef finished saying, adding ice and shaking again, before straining the drink into four chilled cocktail glasses.
“And with this, the Cointreau Full Course Menu it’s done. Thank you for your patience, and please, let me introduce the dishes,” Izuku said with a bow while indicating each plate as he introduced them…
Hors D'Oeuvre: Scallops with Cointreau (Works well with Grand Marnier too).
Soup: Sweet Potato Cream and Cointreau Liquor soup with Caramelized Onions topping.
Meat Dish: Pork Filet Mignon with Honey and Cointreau.
Fish Dish: Cointreau Glazed Cedar Plank Salmon.
Main Course: Spaghetti with Orange, Mint and Cointreau. (Italian Recipe).
Salad: Arugula, hazelnut, crumbled goat cheese, Parmesan cheese shavings, strawberries cubes and parsley. With salt, pepper and orange juice as dressing AND topped by Cointreau vinaigrette.
Dessert: Smoked pears with gingersnap and cointreau stuffing, topped with whipped cream and with a side of Cointreau-flavored custard.
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Drink: White Lady Cocktail (a Gin and Cointreau Cocktail).
“Aaand cut! We stopped filming! You can relax now, Icchan!” Rei declared, proud beyond words of her future son-in-law.
“Thank God! I was so scared I was about to screw-up just because you were recording!” Izuku admitted with an elated chuckle.
The table was positively overflowing in plates, and Rei was once again glad her future son-in-law could cook that well, and at the same time sad that she will need to visit the gym more often to burn through the food and stay in shape, but that was a problem for Future Rei, now it was food time!
“Another amazing menu, Icchan! Godly as always!” She said, clapping a little in excitement.
As for the two Guests instead...
“…”
“…Holy shit…”
It wasn’t even a simple feeling of shock what got the two women, it was way deeper than that! It was full-blown disbelief! Had they not sat there to watch, there was no way in Hell they would have believed a Chef that young prepared all that.
Not just for the speed he prepared all that at the same time with, the scent alone was mesmerizing, along with the gorgeous presentation each plate displayed, but Cathleen herself could still feel the faint scent of her beloved drink still present and taking center stage.
“You better eat before it gets cold!” Rei said with a smug smile.
“You don’t need to tell me twice!” Cathleen answered, attacking her portions with no mercy.
“Holy shit!” The Pro Hero’s assistant gasped in wonder.
“Hahahaha! Every time I eat your food, I discover you improved again from the last time, I really don’t know how you do it.” Rei said with a wide smile.
Everything was simply delicious, from the aromatic scallops, to the syrupy pork that melted in the mouth, to the salmon framed with a wonderful smokey fragrance and even an extremely faint trace of the wood’s aroma from the planks, followed by the refreshing taste of the pasta, the perfect equilibrium of sweetness and saltiness of the salad, the pure silk feeling of the soup and finally the spicy, soul-melting sweetness of the pears topped with heavenly fluffy chilled whipped cream to counterbalance the warmth of the pears.
The cocktail especially actually became Star and Stripes’ new favorite too!
“Fucking amazing. 10/10 I can get addicted to this stuff!” Cathleen said, slapping Izuku’s back over and over.
“I admit defeat, you damn really won our bet,” The woman’s Assistant gladly conceded defeat with a laugh, way too satisfied by her overfilled stomach to find the strength to complain about anything.
“I am more happy that you enjoyed everything I made, sure winning the bet does feel good, but knowing I managed to satisfy my customer’s hunger, now, that is more satisfying!” Izuku answered, proud of himself while collecting plates to wash them.
“I do kind of understand why you say those people don’t like you, they are some big shots and a Nobody is suddenly shooting forward leaving them in the dust. But still, the response is way too overblown,” Cathleen said, dropping the smile to show a more thoughtful expression.
“That is what is confusing me. You can’t explain everything they are doing to me with just some ‘Fantastical Racism’, because other Quirkless are not hated this hard, put slightly aside to give Quirked a preferential treatment, yes, but attacked like me? No, that sort of persecution hasn’t happened in decades. Nowadays Quirkless just comes second, they don’t get hated to death.” Izuku answered.
“Then why are they singling you out like that?” Cathleen asked.
“That’s the thing! I have no idea! I was confirmed that everything started from Samui himself that got his old childhood friends to gang together against me personally, and this level of animosity, this has to be personal, somehow. For some personal reason running deep enough Samui decided to blackmail his friend to make sure they did their best to help him...And I don’t know what that reason is! I didn’t even know the guy before that damn cooking contest! I swear!” He answered, baffled.
“It is strange, if you put it like that.” Rei admitted.
“So, who are those guys?” Cathleen asked.
“You want a list?”
“If you don’t mind! This kind of bullshit is not something we need as a Society! So if I can help you put a stop to it, I will!” She answered, eyes aflame in determination.
“Fair enough, there are five of them and what I know about them:
Samui Arasaka, the Leader of the group and the one that started all this for some reason, apparently has some serious blackmail material on the others in order for them to do help along this insane Revenge plan of his.
Yamato Kurogawa, the one I already dealt with, is the Rector of Inoshiki Private University.
Matoi Hidetaka, the Chef I am here to face-off during the grand opening of his newest Restaurant ‘The Symphony’. He used to be a big Food Critic and something he called a ‘Food Influencer’ for a little while, up to his forties at least, then he focused only on cooking and took over his father’s first Restaurant and got to two Michelin Stars in record time.
Jun Sato, daughter of a big shot in the Import-Export business, especially by sea, and married to the heir of a Cruises Business Magnate. Her main restaurant is the ‘Little Mermaid’ and is actually located on the admiral ship of the ‘Sato Cruises’ fleet, the Queen of the Sea, the biggest and most luxurious Cruise ship in the world at the moment, she got her fourth Michelin Star just recently.
And finally, Ren Watanabe, Besides being a Chef, he hosts the Japanese version of Master Chef and seems pretty invested in cooking Live streaming, enough he helped Jun’s own daughter to start her own streaming channel where she cooks Live whenever she doesn’t help her mother in the kitchen."
“Uhm.” The Pro Hero muttered.
“Yes?” Rei asked.
“You recorded him cooking...I think we can use that.” Cathleen said.
“Use that?” Izuku asked.
“I believe we can use that video to irk both those Jun and Ren a lot, enough that if you openly challenge them, they will accept, even just to stop you from raining on their parade.”
“Me? Attacking them? Directly?”
“Up until now you were on defense, but I think it’s time you go on the offensive. Do you want them to stop? You gotta step-up your game and stop them for good yourself.” Cathleen answered.
“Being on the offensive…” Izuku muttered, thoughtful.
“The American way!” Cathleen said with a smirk and a double thumbs-up.
“That’s not exactly a thing…” Her Assistant muttered.
“I’ll think about this.”
“You do that, buddy. But, for now, a promise is a promise! You did deliver a Full Course made with Cointreau without ruining my baby’s taste, so I will help you out.” Cathleen said, chuckling.
“Thank you, Cathleen-san!” Izuku answered with a beaming smile.
“So...Ready to plan?” The Pro Hero said, smirking.
“Yes, Madame!” The Young Chef answered in earnest happiness.
Happiness that lasted until he received a phone-call that very same night.
Back in UA – Nejire’s room –
The young woman was sitting on her bed and talking to the phone, but with how broken she looked, it was clear she had been hating the entire call.
“Stop, please Stop…”
“Izuku?” Nejire asked in dread, not liking his disappointed tone.
“A Polycule, Nejire?” Izuku asked, finally touching the core of the matter after Nejire spent almost twenty minutes actively avoiding the issue.
“I just...I just thought…” Nejire tried saying, already crying.
“You tried to manipulate things from the Shadows. You did not try to reason with the others,” He said with a sigh.
“Please don’t hate me…” She muttered, sniffling.
“I don’t hate you. I just...I am just...It’s all so wrong…”
“I only wanted us all to be happy!”
“Not like this, Nejire.”
“I am sorry!” She said with a broken voice.
“I know you are, but I fear that at this point an apology is not going to fix things.” Izuku said, sighing.
“I am sorry...I am sorry…” Nejire said, before dropping her phone, hugging her knees tightly to herself and letting go to her tears, crying and hiccuping loudly.
Right outside her door, Mirio had been about to try and knock on her door to try talking to her to see why she had been looking that distraught recently, only to hear her talk to the phone and turning sadder and sadder until she finally started crying, turning her words into a mess of babbling, hiccups and apologies.
“...What am I doing…” He muttered to himself, catching himself thinking her moment of sorrow was a good opening to enter and trying to win her back.
“Win her back...And then? Restart everything again?…” He muttered bitterly to himself.
Sigh! “Time to face the facts, and act accordingly. And at least salvage what remains.” He muttered, looking at the closed door with resignation.
“...God...Good actions are painful.”
“They always are. But I suppose that is part of the course of being a good person.” Tamaki answered from behind him, he too had come to try to cheer up their friend.
“So it seems.” Mirio answered, walking away.
“Where are you going?” Tamaki asked.
“I am going to talk with Miss Yaoyorozu. You...You try to cheer her up for both of us, I don’t think I am somebody she would like to see at this moment. I don’t want her to misunderstand why I came to see her. Not now at least.” Mirio answered with a sad smile.
“Yaoyorozu? Why do you want to talk to her?”
“To do the right thing, of course.” Mirio answered with a shaky smile and a thumbs-up.
“...This thing is far too complicated…” Tamaki muttered with a defeated sigh and watched him walk away.
“Romance is a pain in the ass.” The young man said, knocking on the door before entering by himself.
“Ta-Tamaki…” Nejire said, sniffling, with blood-shot eyes and crying non stop.
“Hey.” Tamaki said, softly.
“I am sorry…” It seemed like that was the only thing she was able to say at the moment.
“I know, come here.” He answered, sitting next to her and hugging her tight, and listening to her wailing as soon as she hugged him back.
“It’s okay, everything’s going to be okay.” Tamaki whispered, rocking her gently.
Omake
Dimensional Ingredient Hunt:
Izuku Midoriya and the Miracle Patisserie of Gotham!
The current Mission of the System was fairly simple, technically:
Obtain the so called Miracle Fruit and manage a Patisserie for seven days
Technically-speaking, it was straightforward and easy, and yet Izuku’s own Instinct had started screaming the very instant his feet touched ground from the portal.
“I am sure this time things will go peacefully! Your curse won’t last forever!” Ochako, his Companion for this trip, said while grabbing his hands in hers.
“I...I want to believe this.” He answered, hopeful.
“I think things will go splendidly, my friend! You youngsters need to learn to see the bright side of things! Like I do!” The old man that had actually lent him the Patisserie said with a wide, blinding smile once finished loading his luggage on the back of the taxi.
“You are right, sir. I need to think positive.” Izuku said, taking a big breath.
“You do that, in the meantime I will go visit my brother in Metropolis, it’s been a while since we spent time together. BYE!” The old man said, jumping in the taxi and making the driver leave FAST!
Why the urgency? And why accept the strange proposal of Izuku? Simple! Insurance Fraud!
The old man was not as good as his father was at making sweets and desserts, so when his brother left to open his own shop in Metropolis, the old one in Gotham soon fell in disarray, with debts piling-up at blinding speed...But if an incident happens, the Insurance Company won’t ask too many questions and just pay up, giving the old man enough money to leave Gotham for greener pastures! That is why he never told Izuku, somebody clearly not in the know, about all the psychotic Villains running about the city!
“Sorry, boy! But a scapegoat is a Godsend one can’t turn away!” He thought in happiness while already imagining the smoldering ruins left behind by the Villains of Gotham; he had heard how Joker and Harley had broken-up AGAIN, so if he was lucky, his store will be between the ones the psycho woman will demolish in her tantrum fit! MONEY!!!!
Oh! How absolutely wrong he was!
Three days later – Abandoned Labs – Greenhouses -
God of Cooking!
Deliver the fruits!
Cook us!
Elevate us!
Me! Choose me!
Chosen by the Ingredients!
Herald of True Taste!
Lord of Cooking!
Bring us to Him!
“WILL YOU ALL STAY QUIET!?” Poison Ivy, the infamous Bio-Terrorist of Gotham, shrieked in dismay while covering her ears.
Three days! Three entire damn days! A constant stream of feverish prayers and fanatical screams from every single edible plant inside the greenhouses Ivy had taken over from the Criminals that were experimenting on them, it was driving her insane!
...Well, Insaner, kinda.
And in the middle of all that deafening cacophony of zealous screams only she could hear, her recent addition to the family: a prehistoric plant the scientists of that lab had managed to clone, an ancient fruit able to change taste. Apple if boiled, Orange if frozen, Pineapple if left untouched and Strawberry if dehydrated. They called it Miracle fruit, especially since it had astounding de-aging properties, almost magical.
Too bad the thing had the shrillest voice Ivy had ever heard and kept acting like a horny teenage girl begging her idol to pound her like a drum.
“Even my beloved plants back in my old hideout are doing the same! What the hell is happening?!” She shrieked again, almost hoping to see the accursed Batman appear from the shadows like usual to arrest her, so to get a FUCKING MINUTE OF SILENCE thanks to the drab concrete walls of Arkham.
Meanwhile – Watchtower -
At the same time, from the computer room of a high-tech orbital base, a man in black hero costume sat rubbing his eyes in annoyance.
“I keep telling you that we have no clue why your foresight-able friends all started talking about Outer Beings casting their far too many eyes on our world.” Batman said, growling again.
“Well, find out! They keep asking me for a solution, and I already lost four crystal spheres trying to divine the source! They keep exploding! AND THEY ARE EXPENSIVE!” Zatanna yelled back, growling just as darkly as the Caped Crusader, a thing that actually had a twinge of pride blossom in the man’s heart.
“I am working on it.” Batman hissed.
“Then work harder!” she barked back in answer.
“Nothing from Constantine?”
“The idiot? He asked a couple of ‘Old Acquaintances’ of his.”
“...And?”
“Whatever it is, they are not saying a thing. Even the Arcane, the Diabolical and even the low and Mid-tiers of Hell said the same thing: I am not touching THAT THING’s affairs with a ten foot pole. Whatever it is, they are Ancient and with a Reputation.” Zatanna answered, rubbing her temples in annoyance.
“A threat or not?” Batman asked with narrowed eyes.
“Can’t say. Nothing suggests Evil, though. Maybe some Outer Being is just frolicking about...I have no clue.” Zatanna answered.
“Diana has gone to consult the Elders of the Amazon Island, hopefully they will know something since they called her back suddenly.” Batman answered.
“I’ll keep looking as well, keep me informed please. Zatanna, out.” the young woman said and then closed the communication.
“This is getting nowhere.” Batman said, rising from the seat at the computer to leave.
Munch! “Still no clue?” The first guy he saw once out was Flash, eating a muffin from a small mountain of them he held in his arms.
“Yes. Unfortunately answers don’t fall in your hands by themselves, and for once, I wish that could be the case.” Bruce answered, and caught one of the muffins that fell from Flash’ hoard right into his hands.
“Oh! Thanks! These things are damn good, I would have hated to waste one.” The super-fast Hero answered, grateful.
“Where did you get them? And why so many? The cafeteria doesn't have that many.”
“Oh! I got them in Gotham! I was passing by there when I saw a HUUUUGE line of people clamoring to enter a patisserie and got curious. Damn if that kid knows his stuff.” Flash said, chuckling.
“Hn. Hopefully he won’t be swallowed by Gotham’s darkness…” Batman said, thoughtful.
“Hey, you can keep that one, you look like you need something sweet,”
“I don’t...fine.” Batman said, grunting annoyed and walking away…
Though, he had to admit that yes, that muffin was good...And Alfred loved muffins.
Three days later - Downtown - Harley Quinzle’s apartment -
The door to the fancy apartment went flung open by Ivy, now sporting frizzled red hair instead of her usual silky waves, she had used the spare key the harlequin-themed Villain gave her a long time ago.
“Harley! Can I crash here for a bit?! I need to sleep eight hours uninterrupted at least once! Without whining, or begging, or...What the hell is happening here?” Ivy asked once to see dozens and dozens of empty boxes of assorted sweets littering the ground.
“...Oh, God you broke up with Joker again!”
“Ye-eeees!” a long whine came in answer from the apartment living room.
“And you have been eating sweets nonstop since?”
“Six days!” Harley answered.
“My God, how are you still alive!...And slim?” Ivy said, expecting a fat pig to be lying on the couch under a pile of garbage food, like the other three or four times Joker broke up with her, and instead this time she found Harley still in her slim and athletic shape even while gorging herself in pastries by the handfuls.
“Uh?” face utterly covered in a mess of multi coloured frosting, Harley just looked at her while still munching.
“You only ate sweets, by the looks of it at least fifty-”
“Sixty.”
“Sixty boxes of it...And you have not a belly either?” Ivy asked.
“OH! Didn’t notice! Awesome, so like this I can keep drowning in sugar until my heart stops hurting from Mistah J leaving me!” Harley said, still eating.
“Harley, last time I found you in a diabetic coma and you had eaten far less than this...What have you done?” Ivy asked.
“Nothing! I just raided the patisserie down the street! The owner left management to a new guy for a bit, he is a cutie and is gentle and likes my jokes, and he makes some damn good sweets too! He offered me a discount and a hug when I told him I needed the sweets to recover from a break-up. He was so nice I couldn’t rob him...So I robbed a store and used the money to pay for the sweets.” She answered.
“Uh, fancy that, somebody nice still exists in this city. That’s rare nowadays.” Ivy admitted, surprised.
THE GOD OF COOKING! SHE MET THE CHOSEN!
“Oh God, you got a plant too?!” Ivy said with a groan.
“You like plants! So I wanted to make the place fancier if you came to visit!” Harley answered.
“Normally I would appreciate it, but I...Wait...Who did she meet?” She asked this to the very tiny, and slightly under-watered, cactus on the kitchen counter.
The God of Cooking is Here! He owns the Store!...Water please? I am thirsty.
“YES!”
“Wha?” Harley asked.
“Your plant gave me the answer to my woes! Now water it and bring me to that damn Patisserie! I need to speak to the Manager!”
“Are you a Karen now?” Harley asked, smirking.
“YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!” The other answered, face red in embarrassment.
Down the street – Patisserie -
Business was bustling on a legendary level, making Izuku wonder how come people seemed surprised a store like his actually offered good products, unaware that in Gotham only 1 business out of 10 actually did their job, the others were just covers for illegal Organizations, it was a miracle in itself if Gotham’s Economy actually hadn’t collapsed on itself yet.
“Why the long face?” Ochako asked.
“Besides having no clue where the Miracle Fruit is...I am just waiting for the other shoe to drop and the psycho woman that will chase me for whatever reason to pop-up.” Izuku answered, sighing in dismay.
“Well, focus on the fact you are almost done with the first part of your Mission, done here we will focus on finding the fruit only. And just because it happened every other single time, it doesn’t mean that one woman obsessed with you will just barge in here too!” She answered.
BANG!
“Lil’ Mido! I am here again! Gimme sugar goodies!” Harley said with a wide smile while barging into the store.
“Miss Harley! Good evening! It’s the sixth day in a row, are you sure you’ll be okay?” Izuku answered, happy to see her again, but also worried about her health.
“I am okay! And I brought a friend!” She answered, signaling Ivy to enter.
“So you are the guy?” Ivy asked.
“The guy?” Izuku and Ochako asked.
“Is he the guy?” Ivy, to their shock, asked that to anearby potted plant.
“...Good! Here is the damn fruit! Now tell the plants to shut up, you God of Cooking or whatever!” Once heard whatever answer she was hoping for, Ivy made her demand to the young Chef while shoving the bowling-ball-sized fruit in Izuku’s arms with a look that suggested she had it up there in the entire situation.
“Ehm...Thank...You...I guess?” Izuku answered, unnerved.
“God of Cooking?” Richard ‘Dick’ Grayson, also known as Nightwing when in costume, muttered, curious, and momentarily stopping before actually leaving the store with his take-away bag of cupcakes for Alfred Bruce asked him to get.
“God of Cooking? What’s that?” Harley asked.
“No idea, that’s what the plants kept calling him.” Ivy answered, shrugging, while both sat at a table.
“The usual, Lil’ Mido!” Harley yelled over her shoulder.
“I’ll bring it to you in a moment. Your friend?”
“I barely can stand the idea of eating something plant-based, but I will close my eyes when I eat this time. So something filled in custard will suffice.” Ivy answered.
“Sure!”
“So you have been coming here every day?” Ivy asked.
“Oh yeah! Lil’ Mido is nice, and fun, and cute, and he has a really nice smile! He makes me feel all smiley when we talk, and-”
“Oh God...Here we go again…” Ivy muttered, face-palming.
“What?” Her dear friend, her dear, psychotic and yet big-hearted friend had the gall to ask back, but at least the sweets were good.
“I think we need to talk.” She said, sighing.
“...See? Nothing bad happened! We got the fruit and the seven days time limit is almost over, everything is going to be alright!” Ochako said with a beaming smile.
The Next day – Ten Minutes after midnight -
Very few things could surprise Clark Kent, the man had seen and fought far too many strange things to get surprised by anything anymore, and yet here he was, watching the scene of every Villain of Gotham, every single one of them, beating the crap out of each other in a free-for-all brawl, with a dumbfounded expression.
“What happened?” He asked with a small voice.
“Approximately six days ago, that young man took over the Patisserie and started working normally, but it seems like he is not from around here.” Batman answered.
“So he moved here?” Superman asked.
“No, he comes from another Dimension. While Zatanna could not discover who sent him here, she could still understand why, for most part. Diana supplied the rest.”
“That God of Cooking thing.” Clark said.
“Literal title. A literal God overseeing cooking, ALL OF IT. The Amazons warned Diana a Candidate was coming to our world and asked her to protect him from the forces of Evil. Lucifer told Constantine that there was no need to worry since a God of Cooking is one of the True Neutrals, so normally left alone by the forces of Heaven and Hell because, apparently, their domain/Restaurant is a Truce Zone of sort...So that left common Villains only to worry about.” Batman answered.
“But it seems like that too was mostly a moot point. At least in part.” Nightwing, in Costume this time, added, chuckling.
“HARLEY! BE REASONABLE!” They heard Joker, of all people, beg.
“NO! YOU DESTROYED THE PATISSERIE OF MY SWEET CINNAMON ROLL! YOU MUST DIE!” The former partner of the Clown Prince of Crime was heard roaring while chasing her former Love Interest with a big mallet, all in the name of avenging her current crush.
“I mean, he got the female Villains on his side, just thanks to his ability to make sweets that don’t make you fat.” The current Robin, accompanied by his friends ‘The Titans’, said.
“AAAAAAAARGH!”
“That was Ivy, snapping Bane’s spine with her bare hands out of female fury, you can’t get a more clear signal.” Nightwing answered.
“Bruce? Are you smiling at Bane’s Karmic misery?” Clark asked.
“No.” Batman answered, schooling his features back into a frown.
“Where is the Chef now?” Raven asked.
“Down there, crying. Apparently women going after him is a common occurrence whenever he visits a new Dimension, so his girlfriend is trying to cheer him up.” Batman answered.
“Uh, it must be stressful.” Robin said.
“Seems so.”
“So Harley has a crush on him now?” Superman asked.
“So she said, before starting a fight against Jinx, the latter is infatuated with the boy too. Then others got into the quarrel once heard about it: Joker just to cause Chaos, Bane because the Chef’s robot bested him in a fight and stripped him after a savage beating, Penguin and Scarface because they could not extort him money nor steal the Robot; Freeze instead came to help the boy and defend him because the Chef Somehow cured him and his wife of their Illnesses/mutations with food...The Female Villains joined just because they want to back-up Harley in finding herself a better man than Joker.” Batman answered.
“Not that it’s hard to find somebody better than Joker for romance!” Nightwing added under his breath, making the others chuckle.
“This is a moot point, though. Even before Joker caused the explosion that destroyed the store, the boy was already about to leave our Dimension, so as far as we are concerned-”
“The boy just left, a big portal opened to whisk him away.” Superman interrupted him.
“Good.” Batman said.
“NOOOOOO! CINNAMON BUN!” Harley echoed, with way more despair in her tone.
“As I was trying to say. Good. Unless Harley finds a way to cross Dimensions, this situation is back to normal, now we just have to arrest them all.”
“Want a hand?” Clark asked, as the only one actually able to ask that to Batman of all people.
“Fine. Come along.” the other answered.
It took barely five minutes for the assembled Heroes to capture all the Villains fighting each other in front of the destroyed bakery...Except Harley, she had already left to fulfill some plan of hers.
As for the Store's original owner, his "scapegoat plan" failed as not only the insurance company didn't pay him a cent, but the male Villains learned his identity, hunted him down and gave him a savage beating for bringing Izuku into the picture, THEN the female Villains decided to beat the crap out of him the instant he left the hospital’s entrance as a punishment for trying to set up their precious Pastry Maker, forcing the doctors to sigh in defeat and drag the broken man back inside the hospital.
Some time Later – Zatanna’s apartment -
“Ooooh, Zatannaaaa!” A sickening sweet voice asked while banging on the door.
“GO AWAY, HARLEY!” The Magic user yelled.
“I JUST NEED A DIMENSIONAL PORTAL! OPEN ONE AND I WILL LEAVE FOR GOOD!”
“NO!”
“I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT! STOP GETTING IN THE WAY! MY CINNABUN NEEDS ME!” Harley yelled, battling her mallet against the magically-reinforced door without making a dent on it, only lots of noise.
“LEAVE ME ALONE, YOU MAD WOMAN!”
“I AM A MAD WOMANIN LOVE! YOU NEED TO HELP A SISTER IN NEED!”
“NO!” Zatanna yelled back.
“JUST A SMALL PORTAL! A ONE-WAY ONE! PWEEEEEEEASE!”
That was going to be a long week for the poor magician, she just knew it...
End of the Omake -
Author explains:
As a treat to excuse the lateness of the update, here is a list of the “Villains” threatening Izuku’s Restaurant and a few small Trivia about them. As a reminder.
Samui Arasaka.
Main Restaurant: Restaurant Samui
Michelin Stars: 3.
Trivia: Has a very fragile Ego.
Divorced 3 times.
Has a Restaurant in Europe and America too.
Has written several cookbooks .
Why he hates Izuku: Undisclosed, but it’s more deep than just Racism, it’s PERSONAL.
Yamato Kurogawa
Main Restaurant: Formerly the ‘The Three Sacred Treasures’ now managed by her son Minato.
Michelin Stars: 3.
Trivia: Still wishes she could get Izuku to join her Son’s Restaurant.
Has fired the assistant that refused to admit Izuku in Inoshiki.
It’s the only one Samui has no blackmail material on.
Why she helped Samui: Used to, and in part still does, have a crush on Samui. But this Revenge plan of his has killed that crush once she finally recognized how far he was ready to fall in order to get revenge on a young man just because he cooked better than him.
Matoi Hidetaka
Main Restaurant: ‘Sea of Dreams’ in Japan
‘The Symphony’ in New York
Michelin Stars: 2.
Trivia: Former Food Critic and “Food Influencer” (From 20 years old to 45) now Chef.
Has a daughter about to become a Pro Hero in America (Lady Freedom).
Why he is helping Samui: The first restaurant he opened, before taking over his father’s one, burned in ‘Mysterious Circumstances’ Samui can demonstrate being pure Insurance Fraud.
Other crimes include:
Libel.
Corruption.
Tax Evasion.
Death Threats usage.
Jun Sato.
Main Restaurant: Little Mermaid. Located on the ‘Queen of the Sea’ cruise ship owned by her husband.
Michelin Stars: 4.
Trivia: Has a daughter (Miko Sato) that has a streaming Channel where she Streams herself cooking following the recipes of her mother.
The various drug deliveries that somebody tried to pin on Izuku were organized by Jun’s Grandfather, as a way to help his precious granddaughter.
Samui hates the fact that SHE got the fourth Michelin Star before him.
Why she is helping Samui: Undisclosed.
Ren Watanabe.
Main Restaurant: Princess Kaguya.
Michelin Stars: 2.
Trivia: Has a streaming Channel where he Streams himself cooking using recipes of his own creation, to attract more customers.
Has Helped Jun’s daughter open her own Streaming Channel.
Hosts the Japanese version of Masterchef as Head Judge.
Why he is helping Samui: Undisclosed.
Thank you all so much for reading my story, and sorry if I took so long.
I am not okay , Real Life stress is getting to me, but I am very slowly getting better.
Chapter 22: The American Job (Hidetaka Matoi) Arc part 2: The Heavenly BBQ that sparked a Chef War!
Summary:
Cathleen has a plan to help Izuku! Attacking Matoi where it hurts the most: The man's pride as a Chef! And she knows just the right group of friends and colleagues to ask for help!
Notes:
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
Next up is the Cooking battle between Izuku and Matoi.
I am finally almost done setting up the poly airing, honestly, the chapter closing this side of the story can't come fast enough, it's just so tiring.
Sorry if I am taking longer to update, Life is stressful, so I can only offer my apologies. Thank you all so much for reading!
Chapter Text
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/Nejire
Unfortunately I still can't find a proper image representative of Whitey, not even using AI.
This is the best I could find. Whitey in my head looks pretty much like this, only everything is painted white and with the eyes bigger and shining white (or red/purple if in battle/stripping mode)
Chapter 22 : The American Job ( Hidetaka Matoi ) Arc part 2 : The Heavenly BBQ that sparked a Chef War!
UA University – Alliance Dormitories – Night -
There was a sombre silence in the room as the only occupants, Momo and Rumi on one side and Mirio on the other, just looked at each other after their latest long talk together.
“Are you aware of what you are asking me?” Momo said, sighing and rubbing her eyes tiredly.
“I am quite aware, yes. But what moves me is not just Nejire’s pain, but yours too.” Mirio answered, shrugging helplessly.
“I am more surprised you are actually doing this.” Rumi admitted, one eyebrow raised high.
“A smart man should be able to recognize when he is faced with a losing battle. Had I used this mess to get a chance at winning Nejire back, it would have meant me using a moment of weakness of hers to get what I wanted, instead of what she needs.” Mirio answered.
“You could just learn from this and be a better partner for her yourself.” Momo said, eyes narrowed.
“Unfortunately things are… Far more complex than you believe.” Mirio answered, grimacing.
“You mean the fact that One for All is a Quirk that can be transferred?” Momo asked, arms crossed and rolling her eyes at the young man’s look of Horror.
“Or the fact that All Might is so desperate to have you learn to use it fully because All for One, the guy that has been hunting down that Quirk’s past users in his spare time between his Super-Villain plans, is not dead but instead very much alive and kickin’?” Rumi added, making Mirio wobble enough to force him to lean on a table nearby.
“H-How?” He asked with a faint voice.
“Izuku’s sponsor told him, and he told us. We have been told this quite a while ago, and we told nobody, as you may have imagined since not a single trouble arose for you or Mister Toshinori about it.” Momo answered with an uncaring shrug.
“So you and Rumi-”
“And Ochako.” Momo said.
“She too?!” Mirio shrieked.
“Oh! And Nejire too knows.” Rumi added with a savage smile.
“...Fuck…” Mirio swore with a whimper.
“Yeah, big guy, you fucked-up. You just had to trust her enough to tell her why you were putting her on stand-by, and she would have probably understood. She wouldn’t have liked it all the same, but you can bet your flat ass that learning that from somebody else hurt a lot.” Rumi answered, scoffing.
“It’s a big secret,”
“No, it isn’t.” Momo cut him off.
“Uh?!”
“It’s a transferable Quirk, yes it’s unheard of, but it also has a built-in reason as to why it has to be kept secret. ‘Nobody has to know because otherwise a Villain will take hostages just to force me to hand it over’. As Heroes we will be asked to keep secrets of similar magnitude one day...You are ahead of us in classes, you were told this countless times, I bet.” Momo explained.
“...Well...One of the Tests our Heroics Teacher gave us was surviving ‘Torture’ and not give up information…” Mirio muttered.
“Exactly. And also… Come on! You were about to fuck her and yet ran away just because Toshinori called you! Was training that day really that important?” Rumi asked.
“YOU KNOW THAT TOO!?” He asked, shrieking.
“Nejire told me. I never asked, mind you, but apparently one day you annoyed her so much that when we met she pretty much told me about how you left her hanging like that, yes.” She answered.
“Maybe I got a bit carried away.”
“Uh-hu, a bit.” Momo answered, extremely sarcastic.
“But I am serious here, now. Please at least consider it.” Mirio, a bit more awkward than when he arrived, repeated.
“Still doesn’t tell us why you are not taking this as an opportunity to win her back.” Rumi asked, crossing her arms and rapping on the floor with her feet.
“I guess you don’t know every detail then...That’s a relief, actually.” Mirio answered, sighing and leaning a bit back against the table behind him.
And that movement gave the chance to both young women to see the very thin and faint scars running along and completely covering both Mirio’s arms in a random criss-cross pattern, like lines drawn by a very fine pencil.
“Training hard, I see.” Rumi said, jerking her chin a bit towards the scars.
“Uh? Yes. Unfortunately I can’t tell you everything, but I can tell you this: Controlling this thing is harder than I expected, and it also throws my control over Permeation, my original Quirk, down the drain, so I get hurt easily...Training One for All takes a lot out of me, mentally, physically and even just in a matter of free time. And while this may not get in the way of friendship...Romance is different. I am forced to admit that any relationship I have may require my Partner to be really, REALLY understanding… And I understood that I can’t ask Nejire that much… So…” Mirio explained, unease.
“This is not an easy matter that can be fixed in a night.” Momo answered.
“I only ask you to consider it. It can work.” Mirio said.
“You really do want her to be happy, hn?” Rumi asked, groaning.
“A lot. I do believe she is a good woman, and that she was just misguided, doing things the wrong way, but not out of malice.” He answered.
“… My classmates are returning. You better go.” Momo answered only after a long silence, and just by throwing him that answer while looking outside towards the incoming group of 1-A students.
“I get it. Just… Think about it. Please.” Mirio asked, leaving the main room of the Dormitories while shaking his head.
“… So?” Rumi asked once he left for good.
“This situation is a mess.” Momo admitted.
“Hey, at least both she and myself are serious about this. I could have just told you to fuck off when you told me you were giving me a chance, and yet here I am! Have you any idea how much Pride I had to swallow to accept that instead of keeping being your Rival?” Rumi answered, hands at her hips.
“I thought that in the name of Love, with a capital L, Rumi Usagiyama could do that.” Momo answered.
“And Rumi Usagiyama did. All in the name of my Happiness, Your Happiness, and Izuku’s.” She answered, huffing.
“… I think I understand where you are getting at… Unfortunately.” The other replied, sighing.
“A step at a time. Let’s talk with Ochako first, that bitch can be way too slippery when she wants to be.” Rumi answered.
Click!
“We are baaaack!” Kirishima said with a wide smile, proudly showing the bags of groceries and junk food they had brought back with them.
“Sorry for our lateness.” Tenya added, sighing.
“…” Ochako instead, safely hidden at the very back of the group, looked at both Momo and Rumi warily.
“Hoy! Uraraka! Can we talk?” And it was at that question from Rumi that the gravity Hero rapidly turned around and started running away.
“COME BACK HERE!” Momo yelled, annoyed beyond belief, while giving chase.
“YOU CAN’T OUTRUN ME, BITCH! Enbu: Vajra Moon Sprint!” Soon followed by Rumi whose own initial momentum cracked the floor as she burst forward at ludicrous speed.
“There we go… Round three…” Mina muttered in dismay.
At the opposite side of the city – Hospital – Mental Health ward -
A lone woman was sitting with a plain, expressionless face while looking outside the window through the thick metal bars that had been added to it to stop the guests of that ward to try and follow the voices in their heads telling them they could fly away.
“She is finally recovering?” One of the nurses asked with a sad expression.
“So it seems, whatever happened that had her Quirk stop working and even, apparently, erased her ability to cook remains a mystery, but at least she stopped screaming she was sorry to whatever Voice she could hear.” The Doctor answered.
“So...It was a nervous breakdown?” The nurse asked.
“Pretty much. An extremely rough one, one of the worst cases I saw in my forty years in the field, but I believe we can finally move to a more common hospital room, everything points towards her slowly coming out of it. Besides her refusing to talk, that is, but traumas do that.” The old man answered, sighing.
The woman heard them, but paid them no mind. She knew why they thought she was crazy, or at least suffering from a damn wild case of Breakdown, but Monoi knew the truth, and how The System made sure she could not say anything about it, as a way to make her punishment worse.
Being strapped to a bed as a sane person, compared to one of the more rowdy guests of that brightly painted hellhole of relaxing music and overly-smiling staff gave her time to think, and reconsider many of her life choices; especially since even while it was possible, nobody actually came to pay her a visit, not even her parents, and considering what she had said about the Quirkless population, with her own father being part of that 20% of people not having Powers, she objectively could not blame them.
So there she was, alone with herself and even too much time to think after having seemingly run out of tears to beg for mercy to the Thing that robbed her of everything, weeks of her lying on a bed just looking at ceiling in perfect silence until her new streak of calm and silence gained her the privilege of sitting on a chair by the window to watch the outside world she once thought was her oyster.
The future for her was also kind of bleak, since she had focused on cooking only, lost that set of skills left her with basically nothing, she had not even a Quirk anymore to fall onto, if having a now-limp lifeless pair of extra arms dangling from her hips she could no longer move or control could be considered good enough to become a Hero, or at least a Vigilante, those two limbs were now literally dead.
She had seen how much people without Powers were relegated as background characters, and her grandfather used to tell her stories of deep racism against Quirkless people that had scarred her father deeply in his teenage years, with only the woman that would one day becoming his wife tethering him to life enough to not take the ‘Easy way out’, things were obviously way better than back in those times, but that anonymity, that life of bare essentials and invisibility scared Monoi far too much after all the limelight she had basked in before her fall from grace.
But more than anything else, she wanted to return to cooking, to watch Ingredients transform under her hands, to see cute or gorgeous dishes blossom after her hard work and her own imagination give birth to new tastes.
She missed the bubbling pots, the fragrant spices, the bright colours and the light and dream-like foams and velvet-soft reductions and sauces adorning every plate like small paintings...In a moment of realisation, Monoi recognized she missed Cooking far more than her Quirk; she could live without those extra arms, but she wanted her skills back, she wanted to dream again about her small, fancy restaurant she wished of opening when she had just started studying in Inoshiki Academy as a bright-eyed teen girl!
“...Is it true?” That voice! THE VOICE OF THE SAME ENTITY THAT TOOK HER SKILLS AWAY!
“YES! YES I AM SURE!” It was a miracle Monoi was once again alone after the doctor and nurse left, otherwise that desperate scream in a hoarse voice would have gained a return to be strapped to the bed.
“Is this what you want?” The System asked, and everything around Monoi shifted into a perfect replica of the Restaurant Teen Monoi had been planning inside her head every night before going to sleep, down to the exact same colourful plants hanging from the walls.
“Aaah! It’s beautiful…” Maybe she was insane, because she could now smell the scent of the plants and touch the cloth on the tables as if they were right in front of her, as if they were real!
“The System is open to return you your cooking skills and Quirk so to let you have a chance to turn the dream into Reality, even if it will be extremely hard after your recent actions and outburst. In exchange for a bit of work.”
“What’s your price!? I will do it! No matter what! I will do it and then work hard to rebuild my life! I learned my lesson, I swear!”
“When the time comes, The System will contact you with the details. You will understand when it’s time when your Quirk and your skills will return. Until then, self-improve enough to leave that place and rebuild your Life without the same Greed that brought you here. This is your last chance, should you fall back into your old Self, you will once again lose everything, this time forever.” The System answered, and as the Entity’s voice came, it left, taking with it the illusion and returning everything to the sterile look of a hospital room.
“Yes! Of course! I will change! Promise!” Monoi promised, grasping that faint ray of hope with both hands and swearing to change for real from the bottom of her heart with absolute conviction.
Not that The System actually cared, that woman was just a good way to help its Host to Ascend to the rank of God of Cooking, but the Entity was not truly merciless, it could throw a bone to others as well every once in a while, if they actually deserved that second chance and worked hard for it.
Meanwhile – America – Rei’s Penthouse – Morning -
Contrary to the chaos reigning in UA, or inside Monoi’s heart, the morning of Izuku and Rei was fairly quiet and relaxed as the young Chef had just finished giving the last touches to the breakfast he was preparing for them both.
“Uhmmm! Croissants!” Rei moaned in bliss once the oven was opened and the entire apartment got bombarded with the fragrant scent of freshly-baked goods.
“I also have some strawberry, orange and blueberry jam and freshly-made butter to put on the toast if you want, along with a more traditional Japanese breakfast.” Izuku answered, smiling pleased, once finished preparing the wide spread on the table.
“You made this much food though.” Rei admitted.
“You know why, Rei-san.” He answered.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
“… Exactly… Here she is. Like clockwork.” Rei answered, huffing in childish annoyance as Cathleen Bate, Pro Hero Star and Stripes, and her personal Assistant barged-in once Whitey opened the door for them.
“Moooorning!” Cathleen said with a wide smile and a singing tone.
“Sorry for the intrusion.” Her Assistant muttered with a shy smile.
“Yes, yes. Just get seated.” Rei answered, harrumphing.
Those two had stayed for dinner after the small challenge they had given Izuku, and even had the gall to tell her they would have very likely returned for breakfast too, even shamelessly using Cathleen taking Izuku to her office to help him plan his attack on Matoi as an excuse.
“Come on! I said I would have helped my new Little Bro in his small Mission, I just asked for some breakfast as a payment!” Cathleen answered, taking a seat next to Rei and gladly accepting the big mug of coffee Izuku handed her.
“Uhmmmm!” And somehow downing the entire thing in just a few gulps even if scalding-hot.
“100% Venezuelan.” Izuku informed her, smirking, and plating everything for the four of them.
“Delicious.” The Pro Hero answered, already attacking her plate like a starving animal.
“So? What’s your big plan, uh?” Rei asked, eating with way more elegant manners than the two women sitting at her sides.
“Pwety ‘asy if ya t’ink!”
“Can you PLEASE swallow before talking?!” Rei asked, horrified.
“Yeah, yeah. I said: "It's pretty easy if you think about it.” Cathleen said.
“Uh-hu.”
“Matoi is bombarding the city in Ads about his restaurant opening tomorrow, as a way to celebrate both Inauguration and his Daughter’s debut as a Pro Hero and her birthday. Right?”
“Yes? Go on.” Izuku prompted, leaning forward.
“Moron had been sending me hundreds of letters for the last two years, to my office, every damn day, hoping I will take his bratty daughter under my wing. To teach her the ropes, ya know?”
“I guess it makes sense, you are the Number 1 both in America and the World Rankings, if he is really that interested in his image, having his daughter work under you will be a huge hit.” Izuku said.
“Ya did your homework! Yeah, I was surprised too when they gave me first place in the WR too. But that crap is not important. What’s important is that we can use this obsession of his.” Cathleen answered, smiling deviously.
“Use that? Pray tell, how?” Rei asked.
“By making a show about it! Can you imagine the giant Fuck You blow to his Pride if ‘Star and Stripe’ tweets how she is interested in stealing a young promising Chef from Japan to add to her Agency as her own personal one? Heck, some of the American Top 10 Heroes owe me a favour, so playing a bit of War for who gets Izuku, somebody Matoi HATES, will definitely piss him off so much HE will challenge him...And there will be where I come in.” Cathleen explained, smirking.
“Uh-hu?”
“A simple bet: if Matoi challenges Mister Izuku and wins, Cathleen will take his daughter as an Intern, and Izuku closes his Restaurant, but if Izuku wins: that girl won’t get Internship with a single Top 5 Hero and Matoi himself will stop bothering Izuku.” Cathleen’s Assistant answered.
“And what about the blackmail material Samui has on him?” Izuku asked.
“Ah, well, that’s his problem, not yours.” Cathleen answered.
“Uh?!”
“Izuku, honestly, if Matoi did something illegal, or downright criminal, he has to face the Law about it. He is using YOU to pay for Samui’s silence about it, you have no obligation to worry about Matoi’s life and reputation, he should have thought about it BEFORE doing whatever he did. Crimes must be punished, especially if they are big and evil ones. You defend yourself, Matoi is an adult, and as one he will need to face the consequences of his actions, if those come knocking at his door.” She explained, giving his hand a comforting squeeze.
“I… I see.” Izuku answered, sighing and looking saddened by the thing.
“You can’t shoulder the Sins of whoever you meet, nor as a Chef, or as a Hero. You wanted to be one, yes? And I believe that you had all the marks of one, even without a Quirk… Except that Martyr Mentality of yours that still pops-up from time to time, as you said. Being there for whoever needs it is a noble thing, but it must be done with consideration.” Cathleen said with a gentle smile.
“Thank you, Cathl-”
“Cath. Call me Cath when I am not in Costume, ‘kay? We are buddies.” She answered, offering him her closed fist.
“Okay, Cath.” Izuku answered, finally smiling again, and giving her the requested fist-bump.
“Good Lil bro. Now get ready, while you pretty yourself up, I’ll make a couple calls for our little Teasing Operation.” The Pro Hero declared.
“Are you sure this won’t be a problem?” Rei asked.
“Maaah! It’s only a couple pictures and a tweet or two to rile-up a bully, my colleagues can do me such a tiny favour for once! Especially if I promise them some damn good BBQ. Most of them would KILL for a nice steak done as God commands.” Cathleen answered, chuckling.
“Oh! I’ll give them my best BBQ then!” Izuku promised.
“Nice!”
“I get it… I get it… The Big Occasion BBQ set… I’ll have it prepared in the Agency’s Cafeteria, Boss.” The woman’s Assistant said with a sigh of dismay.
“She likes to whine and grumble, but she loves her job.” Star and Stripe said, smirking.
“Except on these occasions…” The other woman answered under her breath, sighing.
Star and Stripe Hero Agency – Atrium – Later that day -
The long drive towards the place, with the car silently followed by Whitey, gave Izuku the chance of asking several questions to Cathleen about the American Hero system and herself, since while his dream of Heroism had been abandoned, his own passion for Heroes in general and their Lifestyle and Quirks didn’t diminish. Luckily the giant buff woman seemed to take everything in stride and find his fanboyism fun enough to second it and answer his MANY questions.
“Here we are, the Star and Stripe Agency, recently updated and enlarged to house the R&D Department directly inside the building instead of having it located at the opposite side of the city. As well as enlarging the gym and cafeteria since… Well… Miss Bate can be very demanding when she sees a new piece of equipment that she wants.” Cathleen’s Assistant explained, personally accompanying Izuku to give the Pro Hero the time needed to enter from a side door, take off her ‘Civilian Persona’ and wear her Hero Costume to meet him officially as Star and Stripe.
“She just wants to be at her best to help people.” Izuku answered, looking everywhere in wonder while petting Shiro in his arms, Whitey was, as always, following closely behind the Chef without making a sound while carrying a giant crate with everything the young Chef will need on his back.
“You are a biassed Hero Fanboy. You have no idea how hard it is to keep up with her childish demands, she may respect and like All Might, her own inspiration to become a Hero, but for the love of God she can be so, so, so frustratingly petty and competitive! With her is either the absolute Best of nothing! In everything!” The poor woman answered, groaning, and turning even more depressed when Izuku laughed in amusement at the revelation.
Their walk brought them past the main desk, where Izuku got a ‘VIP Guest’ badge to wear proudly in front of his green Chef uniform, to a set of double doors towards a way bigger area, well illuminated and surrounded in couches along every wall and in the middle of the room a giant fountain with a big statue of Star and Stripe giving a blinding smile and a thumbs-up to whoever entered.
“…”
“That was a present, not even Miss Bate is THAT MUCH into herself, but it would have been bad manners not accepting it, even if a bit Tacky.” The Assistant said, once noticed Izuku’s questioning look.
“Tacky and badly made, Cath’s eyes are not that shape.” A young woman with wavy blond hair and a big pair of horns on her head answered, laughing, while nearing the two.
“Cow Lady!” Izuku said with wide eyes.
“Heyo! You must be the guy! I hope your BBQ really is that good, it may be a simple Operation, as Cath calls it, but still, there is our name on the line!” Cow Lady said, winking at him and shaking the Chef’s hand.
“Of course, Miss! But it was not my idea! I would never disturb you while you work!” Izuku answered immediately.
“Relax! You are way too stiff!” The woman replied, chuckling.
“That’s what she said!” Somebody yelled from one of the couches.
“Shut-up, Norman!” Cow Lady snapped, dropping the smile to shoot a glare at her old-time partner, he too present for the thing.
“Forgive him, Norman is a good Hero and Sidekick, but with the brain the size of a pea.”
“That hurt, babe!”
“HUSH!”
“Huhuhuhu!”
“Oh! Glad my misery entertains you, Mister!” Cow Lady said, smirking and jokingly punching Izuku’s shoulder for his chuckling.
“Norman… Must be your nickname for his Hero name Normal Man.” Izuku said, still barely holding back his laughter.
“Yeah, his naming skills suck, but considering he can turn-off Quirks and Eraser Head was already taken, he went for a more on-the-nose one.” Cow Lady answered.
“I still like it.”
“He is biassed.” The Assistant said.
“Hey!”
“I can see that. By the way, I heard what happened between your robot and Bronze Bull, and besides apologising for that idiot ruining your day as soon as you arrived in America, I must also thank you for dealing with him before he could try once again to bother me. I really appreciate it. I am Kate Barr, AKA Cow Lady. Nice to meet you.” The Pro Hero said.
“Izuku Midoriya, an honour meeting you in person.” he answered.
“Hn. So this is the Chef I heard about from our common friend. Bit on the short side.” Another Hero said as soon as he entered and noticed the small group, he was wearing a full body suit with a red cape and two radio antennas on his head shaped like lightning bolts.
“Elecplant?!” Again, the young Chef was appalled at the Big Shots Cathleen had actually contacted.
“In the flesh, boy. I was asked a bit of a curious favour, but Star and Stripe hardly goes into things without a plan, even when she makes decisions in the spur of the moment… Sure she overdoes easily, but we all have our quirks... Eh!” Elecplant answered, and chuckled at his own joke.
“It’s just a selfie and a message, Nazeeh. Don’t be the usual stick in the mud!” Cow Lady, Kate, answered while rolling her eyes.
“Don’t use my real name!” Elecplant hissed, a bit on the over-dramatic side.
“Oh! Okay!… So do I use Elecplant, Nazeeh, Tarsha or Nazeeh Tarsha when referring to you?” Kate asked, smirking.
“… This is your payback for what happened in Los Angeles, hn? You are still angry about it?” The Electric Pro Hero asked, grumbling and face-palming.
“Yes, and I will be for a good while. That was humiliating.”
“It was an accident! I didn’t mean to!”
“I know it was an accident, because had it been intentional, you wouldn’t be here today, but six feet under!”
“Sheeesh, woman! It was nothing worth this anger!”
“IT WAS!”
“Can you two put this argument aside for another time, please?” The Assistant begged.
“This isn’t the end of it.” Cow Lady muttered.
“I know, I know.” Elecplant answered, sighing.
“The guy is okay, Cathleen vouched for him, him knowing our names won’t put us at risk any more than anything else we do on a daily basis.”
“I’ll trust her judgement.” Nazeeh conceded.
“Hohoho! Always so fiery, Cow Lady!” A third voice said.
“… Oh! Captain Celebrity…” Only this time Izuku’s reaction was mild, to put it nicely.
“HEY! You got starstruck when you saw those two and when you see ME you go cold? WHYYYY?!” The flying Hero said with a tone of heartbreak, dropping down to the floor to walk towards them instead of floating like when he arrived.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN WITH ‘THOSE TWO’?!” Both Cow Lady and Elecplant yelled in chorus, glaring at the new arrival in pure annoyance.
“I guess your Hero Persona is what you are mostly famous for in Japan.” Cathleen’s Assistant guessed.
“… Oh!… That.” Celebrity said, dropping the dashing smile for a look of realisation.
“I. Yeah, I was pretty bad back in the days, no doubts about it. But, you know, becoming a father straightened me up, honest! Got my head in the right place and all.” The Pro Hero admitted, passing a hand through his hair with a humourless, awkward chuckle.
“He also switched from being ‘I wanna get in your pants’ flirty into jokingly, but innocent flirty.” Cow Lady supplied.
“Oh! Really?” Izuku asked.
“Really. Unfortunately the Mediahas the habit of being unable to let go of past mistakes, even when one did change. Even more so if those mistakes are easy to enlarge in the name of gossip.” Electplant answered.
“Pamela is hinting at us re-marring, and not just for the sake of our kid...So I am hopeful.” Celebrity answered.
“That woman is a saint.” Kate declared.
“Oh, she is! Still don’t know what I did right to have her in my life!”
“Sorry for misjudging you then, sir.” Izuku apologised, and offered him his hand.
“Hey, cheer up! It’s okay! I was that bad, kinda, so you just had an opinion based on what you knew...I just pushed it a wee bit too far.” The Pro answered, shaking the offered hand.
“Flying Stallion.” Elecplant answered while fake-coughing.
“Will you people drop that nickname?! Yes, I like showing-off my Manliness, but I am not a stereotypical Jock! That’s just my Hero Persona, for fuck sake!”
“Sorry, Chris!”
“Christopher. You KNOW I hate when they shorten my name.” Celebrity hissed between clenched teeth in answer.
“Still, thank you all for accepting this.” Izuku said, bowing deeply to the three.
“Hey! Hey! It’s okay. We can use the publicity too, and it helps you deal with some egomaniacs threatening your business. It’s a Hero’s job protecting the innocent, even just by taking some pictures to anger them.” Christopher answered, surprised by the action.
“It’s okay, kid. Get up and hold your back straight! You are a Super Chef apparently, so show it! Pride!” Elecplant added, making Izuku chuckle and return upright.
“Right, thank you.”
“Good. So I guess the next step is waiting for the others?” Cow Lady asked.
“Others?” The young Chef asked.
“Just a couple more. Not too many. And their sidekicks of course.” Cow Lady answered.
“So many! I'd better start preparing everything immediately then!” Izuku answered, eyes wide.
“You do that, while we’ll be going through our usual morning patrolling,” Cow Lady said.
“S-Sure!”
“The kitchens are this way, follow me. The others will wait for us in the cafeteria when it is Lunch Time.” Cathleen’s Assistant answered, signalling him to follow her.
“Do wow us, buddy! We were Hyped quite a bit, so you better deliver!” Captain Celebrity said, smirking.
“Of course! And… Can I have an autograph once done? From all of you?” Izuku answered, and then made his request with a more shy tone.
“… Sure!” The three answered in chorus, and that got them a wide smile that almost literally blinded them.
Kitchens -
Once checked the content of the crate, both what was actually there and what Izuku will actually summon there from his Restaurant Storage Room Island, he ignited the coals under the Grill and addressed Cathleen’s Assistant.
“Who else is involved in this thing?” He asked.
“Uhmm! Besides Cow Lady, Elecplant and Captain Celebrity, Miss Bate got in contact with Super Soldato and Queen Thorns.” She answered, making the young Chef falter a little.
“THE ITALO-AMERICAN WOLF HERO AND THE PAINFUL MISTRESS HERO?!” Izuku asked with a shriek and wide-eyes.
“Yep! Mister Antonio and Miss Johanna found the idea silly enough they just could not refuse. Or so they said.”
“… You want me to cook for half the Top 10 Heroes of America… You only lack the Hero in fourth place…” The young Chef muttered, looking a bit pale.
“Oh, her! Right, I almost forgot! Mother Nature is unsure if she can come, actually. She has to be present for the opening of a new maternity wing she financed, but just in case, please cook something for her too, in case she does manage to join us.” The woman answered, smirking a bit in revenge once seen Izuku looking ready to faint.
“The Stone Embrace Hero too… Oh, God… It’s the Gala of Mistral City all over again…” He muttered to himself, honestly not thankful of the memories of that unpleasant event from his life as Zaus popped-up in his head.
“You are too stressed. They may be Big Shots in the Hero Business, but they are not THAT demanding, relax! They are here to have fun, you just need to not screw-up badly, just give your all, that’s all they ask.” The woman offered with a kind smile.
“Okay. Okay. I can do this…” Izuku said aloud, lightly slapping himself and immediately starting to organise the Ingredients.
Later that day- Lunch Hour - Cafeteria – With Cathleen -
Under the pleased look of the Number One Hero of America, the Pros she had contacted once again returned to her Agency and took place at their tables with their Side-Kicks and Assistants sitting with them, the latter people already organising the various posts on the Heroes social media pages, and just waiting for the signal to flood their followers in pictures.
“You know? For once Social Media is actually useful.” A very tall and buff Wolfman wearing a modernised version of a middle-age soldier uniform said, chuckling.
“Unfortunately, they have become part of the Hero Business, we can’t do anything about this. People are not happy about us just saving people lives, they also want to watch us do it.” A woman with a dress seemingly made of intertwined thick thorn branches answered, annoyed.
“It’s okay, I just hope we will be able to enjoy the food a bit before the next ‘Evil Overlord Wannabe’ Villain tries something.” Cow Lady answered, sighing.
“It’s been a while since I ate a proper lunch, yeah.” Elecplant.
“I just had to lift an entire section of a highway Bomb-Lord destroyed long enough to let people escape, without even enough time to change myself before lunch! I got it worse than you!” Captain Celebrity, with his Hero Costume still faintly smoking, answered.
“Listen, just because I only faced an Environmentalist Villain and her ‘Turn people into trees’ gas before coming here, doesn’t mean I was having fun! I almost turned into a pine! Cut me some slack!” The Electric Hero answered.
“Guys, please.” Cow Lady begged.
“Our job is not as easy as others believe, hn?” Cathleen said, laughing, and getting-up to check how the cooking was going.
“Not all of us can tie the Laws of Reality like a pretzel just by willing it, Cath!”
“Yeah, yeah.” The Buff woman answered, before disappearing inside the kitchens.
And the double doors swinging open gave the chance to the scent of the dishes to briefly slip inside.
“Oh-Oooh! I like this smell! Bene! BENISSIMO!” Super Soldato said with a wagging tail.
“Are you sure you can eat from a plate? Wouldn’t you prefer a bowl?” Celebrity asked, smirking.
“Har-Har-Har, so funny, Christopher… Stronzo.” The Wolfman answered, rolling his eyes and grumbling.
“He is just jealous you got more female fans than him, you big and cuddly Big Bad Wolfie!” Queen Thorns said, laughing, and scratching him under his chin.
“Umph! He is still rude.” he answered while his leg jerked a bit while she scratched him.
In the Kitchen -
The ample room was big enough to let the two dozen members of the staff usually working in Cathleen’s personal Cafeteria to work freely with more than enough space to move and work with as much freedom they could, especially since the Number One Hero of America had a habit to invite her colleagues and their own Sidekicks for dinner and lunch quite often, meaning that they all had to be always ready to prepare food not only for the BIG number of people working in the Agency everyday, but also any Guest Cathleen felt the need to invite over for a bite.
And yet that day, that room was completely empty, only with a solitary young Chef in his teens and wearing a pristine green Chef uniform working tirelessly at a giant grill while at the same time, somehow, manning the entire place by himself, matching and surpassing the quantity of work that same staff now waiting outside could do on their best day.
Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!
Every Ingredient used came from Izuku’s Storage Room Island, all of them from the simplest spice and the oil to everything else, were the best flavours his Level as God of Cooking Candidate gave him access to, accompanied by the Ingredients he had collected in his various sorties and was now free to use as he pleased.
Hissss!
The meat on the grill cooked at a steady pace, carefully turned around and handled to assure the best taste the Ingredients could offer while at the same time being treated with the utmost respect, both following the teachings of Food Honor and Izuku’s own belief as a Chef, and the kitchen went soon filled in both delicious aromas and the almost-melodious sound of the grease slowly dripping over the red-hot rocks of the grill.
“Everything is coming along nicely, the other dishes?” Izuku mumbled to himself while moving fast between each grill, stove and oven he was using to prepare every component of his dishes.
“Kyun?” Shiro, perched on a cabinet nearby, looked curious towards the outside.
“Yes, they are being rowdy, nothing I haven’t seen before. I just need to remember what I used to do whenever some big shot dignitary came to my old Restaurant Zaus, it’s just the same thing...Only with more spandex and silly names.” Izuku answered.
“Snort!”
“Laughing about that is not nice, Shiro-kun. Your home world had plenty of silly things happening too.” He answered, chuckling at the Ancestral Taotie look of betrayal at the accusation.
“You were not that silly. But everybody else was!”
“...This Esteemed Taotie can accept that, Partner.” Shiro answered after some consideration.
“Thank you… I wonder how Zephyr is doing, he is still pretty new to this world.” Izuku wondered.
Back in Japan -
CLAAAAAAANG!
“MEEEEEEOW!” Zephyr the Pheline yowled in fury while using one of the indestructible pans created by the System to lay waste on some teens that tried using spray paint on the Retsaurant’s door in revenge for Whitey stripping and throwing them out.
“I AM SORRY! I AM SORRY! OH, GOD! I WON’T DO IT ANYMORE, I SWEAR!” the Leader of the four-men gang pleaded in tears.
“MEEEEEEOW!” The almost rabid cat-like being would hear nothing of it, but brandishing a pan in each forepaw, he jumped them with a feral battle-cry.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Four voices yelled as one in fear and pain as the pans rained on them dozens of hits per minute to reshape their skulls and attitude.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Sigh! “Even the small adorable cat helper is a war-machine. Those beans shouldn't be used to enact Justice… Better intervene.” Aizawa, having passed near Green Cloud Restaurant by chance during his night patrol, noticed the one-sided beating happening and watched in surprise as yet another Pet/Mascot/Assistant of Izuku demonstrated far too much destructive power compared to its appearances.
Still, he was a Hero, so it was his job to stop things from escalating, and it was clear Zephyr was about to overdo his job of defending the Restaurant, so it was, begrudgingly, Aizawa’s job to take over and bring those guys… Or whatever mass of bruises was left of them, to the closest Police station for questioning.
“Okay, little Zephyr, I will take it from here, you can stop.” Aizawa said, finally making his presence known, and looking impressed at how fast those poor fellas hurried to hide behind him to escape the fury of the small cat.
“Meeeow…” Ears pinned down and releasing a low whine, it was clear the Pheline wanted to whack them just a couple times more, and Eraserhead had a hard time not letting him do that out of displeasure at seeing a sad cat.
“Next time, okay? If they do that again I will let you hit them a few times more.” He promised with a small voice and a tiny smile while petting the Pheline’s head to enjoy the thing’s purring fit.
“MEOW!” Zephyr answered, now looking way happier.
“NO!” The vandals yelled right after, clearly not as happy as him.
Back to Izuku – Star and Stripe Hero Agency -
Once happy with every dish being cooked and plated the way he liked, Izuku exited the kitchen briefly to check how the various Pro Heroes waiting for him were doing, and exhaling in relief once seen how they were just chatting among themselves and not looking annoyed by the waiting, no matter how objectively little he had actually took to cook everything.
“Relax, buddy, you’ll do great,” Cathleen noticed this and moved to encourage him with a friendly smile.
“I am working on my insecurity, but it still flares-up from time to time,” He admitted, chuckling.
“Considering how well you cook, one would think you would be smug about it, instead of worrying.” She answered.
“Eh! Depends.” He admitted with a small, unease smile.
As Zaus it was easier, he was in a brand new world with a different life behind him, while as Izuku he had far too many bad memories and issues piled on his back to not doubt himself still even after what he did during his coma.
“Nonsense! Here! I prepared this just for this occasion! Give it a ring when you are ready and let’s start the show!” Cathleen answered, smiling cheerfully and slapping Izuku’s back to snap him out of his funk.
“You are right! I have a job to do!” He answered, taking a deep breath and straightening his back.
“Good! I will go back to my table then, the show is now all yours, rock their world, Lil Bro!” Cathleen answered, laughing all the way to her table.
“Right… Time to shine…” Izuku muttered, nodding.
DING! DING! DING!
Every talking stopped when the young Chef actually rang the small triangle Cathleen had handed to him.
“I-I am sorry to interrupt you all, but I am finally ready, so please, take your seat so the staff can start bringing out the dishes. And thank you again for seconding us in this strange thing, it means a lot to me.” He said, and immediately the entire kitchen staff that had been waiting outside, so to show how nobody was helping him, moved to stand at the ready in front of the doors to the kitchen and wait for his orders.
“Bwahahaha! As promised, nobody helped him, not even me and my Quirk, all you will taste is the original flavour of what he made by himself. Just remember to do as we planned, and to be honest! We don’t need empty praise, it is a test for him too, so he needs our honest opinion!” Cathleen said.
“Hey! I have integrity! I can and will give constructive criticism if there is a need!” Elecplant answered, and everybody else nodded along.
“Good food is always a blessing, and sharing with friends even more so, so while very strict in our judging, we won’t forget this is a lunch between friends.” Captain Celebrity added.
“We are ready, Kiddo! Show us what you got!” Super Soldato yelled from his table, and made the others too give a cheerful yowl that made Izuku chuckle.
“Good, and thank you! I decided to celebrate the art of American BBQ by preparing some of the most famous dishes of several states, trying to be as close as possible to the original recipe, except for a fewadjustments I did following my own beliefs and style. I will have them delivered immediately, sorry for the wait.” Izuku added, bowing to the various Heroes and disappearing again inside the kitchen on the notes of the tasters’ applause.
As soon as the Pro Heroes, their Sidekicks and Assistants took out their phones to start the preliminary flooding of updates of their pages, the plates started arriving on their tables at a fast pace, all still at perfect temperature…
“Oh my God!” and the exclamations of surprise didn’t take long before starting to echo from the tables at random intervals.
“Bwahahaha! That’s music to my ears! Keep’em coming, Lil Bro! You are doing great!” Cathleen, gorging herself in abandon, said with a thundering laugh.
“I am actually happy others are being so open about enjoying this food, it means we weren’t the only ones losing control like that!” the woman’s Assistant added, chuckling.
Indeed it was clear those American Pro Heroes were enjoying Izuku’s BBQ quite a lot!
Table 1
“BOSS! I CAN’T TAKE PICTURES IF YOU KEEP EATING THEM THAT FAST!” Cow Lady’s Assistant cried-out in despair.
“Dhen Snap’em Fas’er! Christ, th’se taste so fu’king good!” The woman answered with her mouth full to burst.
“So long for a dieting enthusiast!” The Pro Hero’s sidekick said, smirking.
“SHUDDUP! Or I’ll eat your portion too!” She answered.
“No! MINE!”
Farm-Style BBQ Ribs
Table 2
“He is Japanese! He never came to America before now! And he made perfect Kansas City-Style Ribs! How the hell does that work?!” Elecplant, at his fourth serving, asked in disbelief.
“I DON’T KNOW!” His sidekick answered, snatching a new plate.
“No! Those are mine!”
“I saw them first!”
“I am your Boss! Hand them over!” Elecplant ordered.
“NO!”
“MUTINY! BETRAYAL!”
Table 3
SHRIP! SHRIP!
“MORE! MORE!”
SHRIP! SHRIP!
“MORE BRISKET! GIMME MOOOORE!”
“For the love of God, Antonio! Slow down!” The Wolfman Hero Assistant begged with a groan.
“I CAN’T STOP!” Tail wagging like crazy, the poor wolfman threw himself at each place he was delivered.
“Want me to try and snatch him into your Hero Agency staff for real?” The woman asked, rolling her eyes.
“SI! Yes, please!”
“I’ll see what I can do, Boss.”
“Grazie!”
BBQ Beef Brisket in cherry barbecue sauce
Table 4
“Bring me more chicken! Hurry before Celebrity and Soldato eat it all!” Queen Thorns yelled in a hurry while eating from three plates at the same time.
“My God, calm down! Eating like this can’t be healthy!” The Hero’s Assistant begged, afraid at seeing the normally collected woman act like a starving monster.
“I’ll start my diet tomorrow, now stop being a killjoy!”
“Yes, yes. ‘I’ll start my diet tomorrow’, you all say this every time.”
Spicy Barbecued Chicken (Texas Recipe)
“Congratulations to Host Izuku for closing another Abrupt Mission in success, as a prize both Hannya Panda and Centenary Galala Gator have been unlocked as Ingredients.” The System said with a short happy jingle of victory.
“So I can use that meat?” Izuku asked.
“Yes, Host. Of course in order to use their meat you will need to fight them first, or pay a fee in experience points that will be scaled and subtracted by the total you have gained up until that point.”
“Ugh! Okay, I will fight them then, even if they are not that strong I will use them as a way to keep in shape. It will help me not grow lazy but keep working hard.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“Well said.”
Small matters aside, in the end the young Chef was happy with the results of his latest Abrupt Mission, and watching all those people eating and enjoying what he made filled him in pride, and actually made his own portion taste even better.
Chicken wings and drumsticks, Pork chops and sirloin, Beef, Salmon and SO MUCH MORE! For those Pro Heroes it was all an endless stream of heavenly BBQ dishes, a never-ending dream of countless amazing flavours coming and coming, to the point those Pro Heroes and their entourage managed to eat non-stop for four hours without even noticing until their stomachs couldn’t take it anymore and finally started begging for mercy, even if against their own will as well.
And the biblical flood of posts on the various social media rapidly circled the globe, sharing with videos, pictures and quotes every instant of those hours of bliss, for the surprise of the Heroes’ followers and the apoplectic ire of Izuku’s enemies and detractors.
Unknown to many, though, several Japanese Pro Heroes, Vigilantes and small-scale Villains as well were against this, mostly because they actually were regulars of Green Cloud and were completely against the idea of ‘Some Yankees’ stealing away THEIR young Master Chef, both out of Japanese Pride and because of more personal fear, since they didn’t want to hand over the young man and his food to anybody else.
At the Same time – Restaurant ‘The Symphony’ -
Ding!
“That lurid brat!” Matoi roared at every new update of several Pro Heroes pages.
Ding!
“COW LADY TOO?!” The Chef yelled in maddening fury once checked other pages besides Star and Stripe to see how most of the Top 10 were not just eating Izuku’s food, but giving the dishes glowing praises too!
“Is the world going down the drain now? He is doing this on purpose to get me mad! And he is doing it damn well, that little bastard!”
Ding!
Each ringing tone of the updates felt like a new stab in the man’s chest, and as soon as Samui’s own message arrived to demand to know WHY Izuku was still cooking instead of closing his Restaurant forever, the man’s blood pressure had a spike reaching to never before seen levels.
“I think I can hear his blood boil from here…” One of Matoi’s sous-chefs muttered.
“Sssh! He will take it out on us if he hears you!” The guy’s pal hushed him with a look of fear.
“Every time we try something to get rid of him, he gets out unscathed and smelling of roses! Forged bad reviews don’t work, direct attacks don’t work, sabotage doesn’t work, smear campaigns can’t even start that they get intercepted and erased, and even the brat’s Sponsor refused to be bought or threatened… What do we have to do to get rid of that cockroach?! WHAT?!” Matoi howled, and for a brief moment, his mind conjured the memory of the loaded revolver he kept in the desk of his office in that restaurant.
“No...That will be the last resort… Should I lose everything, I will take the boy down to Hell with me.” He muttered to himself with a low, insane tone.
Ping!
“Uh?” The different sound alert caught the man’s attention, it was only faintly different from the normal one, just a tiny bit more high-pitched, but he recognized that as the alert of an incoming message from one of his childhood friends, the good ones, not Samui.
“I saw the updates of some Heroes there in America. That boy struck again, only this time on the offensive instead of just waiting for us to strike first to retaliate. What are you going to do?” The text message said,
“Good question. I don’t know.” Matoi muttered, but before he could actually write that as an answer, a new message arrived from the same number.
“If you are open to suggestions, I have one: Why don’t you challenge him?…” He read aloud, hands shaking.
“You make it sound way too easy, Ren. That boy scares me.” Matoi muttered with a shudder.
Unknown to Samui, ever since the ‘Cooking Battle’ against Yamato and her Cooking Academy had become public domain, the rest of the small group of conspirators had kept a close eye on Izuku, and they all had agreed on the same thing: there was simply something wrong about the way that boy cooked.
And it was not just about the presentation of the dishes or the taste of the food, Matoi and the others had seen that ‘mock cooking show’ video Rei Yaoyorozu posted, several times even, and while somebody not in the world of cooking could miss it, the more Veteran Chefs like them could see between the lines, beyond the flare and the boy’s cheery attitude and notice even the faintest details the masses missed… And Izuku kept displaying skills definitely unnatural, even when taking Quirks in consideration; to a Chef like Matoi (and the others he asked for insight to) everything about Izuku felt off. Otherworldly.
“Sometimes it looks like he follows a different set of Laws of Nature when cooking, not our own.” He muttered, feeling again the faint chill crawl up his spine whenever he thought about that young man’s cooking.
“If you don’t at least try to Challenge the kid, he will keep teasing you with more videos and posts, and we both know who’s holding you by the balls. It’s your turn to try to stop him now, and you know Samui will never stop pestering you to help him, just like he is doing with all of us.” Ren Watanabe, one of the Chefs colluding with Samui to ruin Izuku, wrote.
“...Then let’s hear, how am I supposed to do this?” He asked, and typed, to the man.
“He obviously came to America to challenge you since he casually arrived so close to the day of your Inauguration. He clearly plans to “Attack you” during your biggest moment of triumph. Maybe you should consider the idea of returning the favour.” Ren wrote in answer.
“You make it sound easy. How?”
“How else? Cheat! Give him a Theme to follow and Ingredients to use, and then you give him the worst ones! There are ways to make an Ingredient look pretty and yet taste awful, we did it plenty of times as students to prank the upper years. Do it again, but better.”
“… Uh… The idea has merit… Doing my best while also adding that handicap to him just to make sure.” Matoi muttered to himself, and finally saw some light at the end of the dark, dark tunnel he felt he had been cast into.
“Boss?” one of Matoi’s helpers asked with a small voice.
“Get back to work, I have things to prepare.” He answered, waving him off.
At the same time – With Ren Watanabe – Japan – Inoshiki Academy -
The famous Streaming Chef was looking at his phone with a thoughtful expression, waiting for the answer from his old friend.
“You think he will bite?” He asked.
“Matoi is a very prideful man, just like Samui is. They even know this and yet never saw the need to correct that blind spot of theirs. And that means that same Ego can be used quite effectively against them.” Yamato answered.
“You really killed that crush, uh?” Ren asked, impressed.
“A woman scorned is not something one should trifle with. Even after marrying my beloved husband, a bit of my old childhood crush had remained, but seeing how far down below Samui could go to avenge whatever personal feeling an innocent kid wounded, finally killed it. His being so blatantly open about his using my old crush to have me accept… Well… It made me feel foolish.” The old woman answered, sighing.
“I saw a couple new arrivals in your school too.”
“All Quirkless, I loosened up my stand on them once a particularly-gifted one reminded me that cooking requires Skills, not Power.”
“Glad to hear it. About me instead...Are you SURE that boy can help me?” Ren asked.
“That kid seems to find ‘Exceeding Expectations’ to be a worthy past-time to entertain himself. I am confident about his being what you need to get out of trouble with Samui, but before that, Matoi has to go.” Yamato answered.
“God, I hope he can really help me.” Ren answered, tiredly passing a hand on his face while sighing.
“We’ll pull through, I am here to help you.” Yamato offered him with a gentle smile.
“Thank you, Yama.” He answered, showing her a small, weak smile.
“Think nothing of it, Ren. Come, while we wait for Matoi to give his answer we will cook something together, just like we used to do whenever one of us was too stressed before an exam.” Yamato said while walking towards the door.
“Oh, yes, that brings me back! After you!” Ren answered, gladly accepting the distraction and following the old woman out of the small room and towards the Academy’s kitchens.
That night - Rei Yayourozu’s Penthouse – Guest Room -
Having finalised the last touches of yet another ‘attack’ at Matoi’s expenses before Izuku’s open assault at the man’s Restaurant the day of the Inauguration, the young Chef simply occupied himself with some training and sightseeing around New York, along meeting other Pro Heroes that seemed even too eager to try his food as well, along dodging the rather insistent suggestions of some Scouts making small talk with him while leaving behind shameless hints about his joining the Agency of the same Pro Heroes that had took part to the BBQ party at Cathleen’s.
“DADDY!” But nothing of that crap was important now, now Izuku was on a video-call with Eri and his mother on his laptop, and the tiny kid had done two things that almost killed Izuku on the spot as soon as the call started.
While still learning how to smile, and finally coming close to actually forming something resembling one, she called him Daddy for the very first time, and his mother had just finished sewing for the kid a child size version of the waitress uniform Ochako herself wore while working for him.
“I AM SO BLESSED!” The young Chef thought while feeling his insides melt at the scene.
“Do you like it? Little Eri wanted a uniform too so as not to stand-out too much in the store and I could not help it!” Inko gushed with a blinding smile.
“It’s adorable, mom!” Izuku answered, tears already ready to gush out at high pressure.
“Saito-san said I can have a Chef Uniform too! Will you teach me how to cook like you?” Eri asked.
“...YES!” He squeaked-out, once again walking the thin line separating him from a deadly stroke.
“Only when you will be older.” Inko added.
“Of course!”
“Aww… Okay.” The kid answered, pouting.
“Don’t worry, as soon as I get back I will start giving you some small lessons, ok? Easy but important!”
“Ok! Thank you!” Eri’s mouth was now resembling a squiggly line, but Izuku knew that was supposed to be a happy smile, and for now, that was enough for him.
“Before we go, to let you sleep, how are things on your side?” Inko asked.
“Doing okay, the latest flood of positive posts from Cathleen’s friends have riled-up Matoi enough. Rumours are that the inauguration of tomorrow will be a shockingly-big event; by the rumours, he will make it as outrageous as possible.” Izuku answered.
“Uh!” His mother answered, impressed.
“Both his pride and future are on the line, mom. He needs to put me down to appease that psycho blackmailing him, and if he loses he risks both that same blackmail to become public domain AND losing face against a Chef less than half his age,” Izuku answered.
“All this because a man could not take a defeat?” Inko asked, sighing.
“Both Dad and Cathleen are sure that there must be more behind this, listening to them and their Analyst friends I probably triggered some of Samui’s badly-buried trauma, and now I just became the outlet of all those, probably, decades-worth of buried anger that resurfaced. It’s probably more hate for what I represent than for me myself.” Izuku answered, sounding unsure and sad.
“Whatever it is, I am sure you will pull through, and you can count on all of us to be right behind you every step of the way,” Inko said with a gentle smile.
Message!
A recording of Eri’s shy voice saying that aloud interrupted the two’s talk.
“That’s me!” Eri said in wonder.
“Yes, so I have you always with me!” Izuku answered, and the kid’s face took an adorable red colour similar to her beloved apples.
“What is it?” Inko asked.
“...Cathleen just said that Matoi made a post where he declares his Restaurant ready for opening. She added how she was about to tell Matoi how she wanted to bet her taking the guy’s daughter as an Intern in a Challenge between me and him, when he actually beat her to the punch and actually offered her the same bet himself.”
“So it worked, you managed to anger him enough that he took the first step.” Inko said.
“Pretty much. Tomorrow we will have our Cooking Battle during his Restaurant’s inauguration and his daughter’s birthday. It’s time, finally.”
“Nervous?”
“A bit.”
“You can do it, Daddy!” Eri yelled.
“If you cheer for me, of course I will win!” He answered, holding his tears back with titanic effort once seen Eri actually hug the computer on her side as if trying to send the hug through the screen.
“I will inform your father, even after that failure of a visit from his Boss’ Boss, I-Island is still awfully interested in you, and they are the only thing between you and the HPSC trying anything too drastic after their own failure. We still need them.” Inko said.
“Kyun!” Shiro’s eyes narrowed dangerously at the idea of a threat to his Partner actually daring to do anything.
“I am well protected, mom. Don’t worry.” Izuku said.
“Yes, but I don’t think neither your Sponsor or your Animal Partners or even Whitey can do much. Those people have ‘Connections’.” Inko answered, shuddering.
It was almost comical how little she, or even Izuku himself, knew about how far The System and Izuku’s Partners and Pets would gleefully go to keep him safe, all with a smile on their faces while brutally slaughtering any threat without an ounce of remorse.
“I will face everything that comes my way with caution, mom. Promise.”
“I believe in you. Tomorrow no matter the hour, I will be there watching the Livestream of the Challenge and cheering for my Icchan.” Inko answered, nodding and smiling again.
“Thank you, mom. Goodnight!”
“Goodnight, Icchan!”
“Goodnight, Daddy!” both Inko and Eri said at the same time before closing the call.
“It’s time, finally…” Izuku muttered to himself, dropping the smile he had as soon as the call ended to release a shuddering breath.
“Believe in yourself, Host. Each challenge is a new step towards your goal.” And as always his Sponsor immediately sent him words of encouragement.
“Tomorrow is the day. I can do this… Go beyond…” He muttered in answer.
DRIIIIIIIIN!
“Uh?… Miss Yamato? At this hour?” Izuku said in surprise when his phone on the nightstand started ringing and showing the name of Inoshiki Academy’s rector on the screen. Even more surprising was not hearing her voice when he picked-up the call.
With Yamato and Ren – Inoshiki Academy – Few minutes earlier -
Yamato looked as Ren kept reading over and over the long message Matoi sent him just a minute ago.
“So?” She asked, tired of waiting.
“He was needlessly verbose as always, that pompous moron. The core of the matter is that he will do it, and cheat as we suggested.” he answered with a sigh of relief.
“Really?”
“Hook, line and sinker. The fool took the bait.” Ren said.
“Good. I will send Midoriya a message alerting him about how Matoi will try to make him dirty during the Challenge, so he will be ready to counter it.” Yamato answered, nodding, and whipping-out her phone to write a message she then sent to the young Chef.
“… You actually have his number?” Ren asked, surprised.
“Even with the abysmal way we first met, by the end of it we remained on good terms, to the point he gave me his number in case I needed his help in anything. I accepted even just to humour him, but it turns out I actually need to use it. Eh!” The woman answered, chuckling.
“I see…”
“Yes?” The woman asked, perturbed by her friend’s thoughtful frown.
“Do you mind if I use your phone to call him?” He asked.
“Finally considered my suggestion?” Yamato asked.
“At the state things are now, it’s not like I have many options left. If he accepts even just to hear me out, that is.” Ren admitted.
“You will never know unless you try.” Yamato answered, and handed her phone to the man.
“…” the other just gave the phone a long, intense stare while falling silent.
“You can’t run away from your problems forever, Ren.” She said, smiling gently.
“It used to work well when I was a kid, and old bad habits are hard to abandon, Yama.” Ren admitted.
“You were an Introvert I adopted, that’s how it works between Introverts and Extroverts, we force you loners out of your shell!” She answered, chuckling.
“Yes yes, laugh it up…” He answered, sighing, and composing the number she told him.
“...Miss Yamato? Isn’t it dead into the night on your end?” And soon Izuku answered.
“It’s… It’s me, Mister Midoriya. I am Ren Watanabe… And I think I have a solution to our common Samui Problem, if you are open to talk about it.” Gulping a bit and taking strength from the thumbs-up Yamato gave him, Ren started talking as soon as he heard Izuku’s voice.
“I am listening.” And to his surprise, Izuku answered, even if with a tense, cold tone.
“Thank you.” The older Chef answered, before throwing all himself on an explanation of both the reasons why he was supposed to help Samui, and how he believed both he and Izuku could join forces to break free from that madman's ridiculous plans for revenge.
Omake
Dimensional Ingredient Hunt:
Gourmet Tour of Paldea!
The current Mission in another world was… Strange to say the least, if you asked Izuku, luckily Momo was open minded enough for the two of them to help him adjust to it.
There were plenty of Ingredients, that was not the issue, the problem was that the Ingredients themselves were far too friendly, enough to make him feel wrong at the idea of using them, especially since he was supposed to learn and replicate a dish from every region.
Cortondo
“I kind of understand what you mean, but I assure you they will understand if you explain to them, even more so since you are not killing them, but using body parts they can regrow quite rapidly. You just need to be gentle about it.” Miss Katy, who was a baker and a Gym Leader, a new meaning to the term Izuku and Nejire never heard about, told him once he explained why he was in their continent.
“Miss Katy, that actually doesn’t help, but I will try.” Izuku answered.
“It’s okay, my boy. Here, come with me, I will show you the best sandwich and Ice-Cream Shop in Cortondo. While you learn those recipes, I will call the other Gym Leaders for help, they may ask few favours in exchange, but helping somebody with such a small matter is not a problem.” Katy answered with a gentle smile.
“Thank you!” Momo answered, far too happy to have been chosen by The System to accompany Izuku in that world filled with amazing creatures she had never seen before.
Izuku though, he was on high alert the whole time, ready to bolt at the first trace of another psycho trying anything to woo him by force, even if through force and violence.
Artazon
The second Gym Leader, in a place called Artazon, was kind of helpful as well, although Izuku actually managed to win the man over only thanks to Momo having a good sense for various forms of Art and enough insight to know what to say to appease the inner Artist of that strange man Brassius.
“You have good taste, young man and both your Klawf al Ajillo and Escalivada are both beautiful to look at and delicious, perfect pairing of colours and shapes as well! Appeasing to both eyes and stomach! Full Marks!”
Escalivada
“Thank you, Mister Brassius!” Izuku answered, glad to see the man and the other guests of the restaurant they had visited enjoying the two dishes he made.
“I’ll be damned, boy! You got it down to art and even improved both! Wanna work here?” The owner of the place asked.
“I am honoured you find me good enough to work here, unfortunately I can’t.” Izuku answered with a bow.
“Aww! That’s a pity! But if you decide you want to settle-down, just ask, the offer will always be valid!”
“Thank you!”
“This Mission is going fairly well, I am hopeful.” Momo said with a sigh of relief.
“Fingers crossed.” Izuku answered with a look of dread.
Levincia
...There...That was where things went south as Izuku had sadly been expecting.
The Place Gym Leader was a young woman named Iono, that dabbed in Streaming as well and so wanted to challenge Izuku and Momo in a so-called Battle in exchange of the access to the local delicacies that she would have streamed so to gain more sweet numbers- ENJOYMENT for her Fans!
Big problem was that neither Izuku or Momo had any Pokemon to use since a glare from Shiro was all they needed to not be bothered in their travels to the various cities since those creatures could tell the Ancestral Taotie was NOT something they wanted to face.
“You want our prized recipes for our version of the Quesadillas and Alfajores? You’ll need to face me in a small Collaboration and win! Are you ready?” Iono asked with a fanged smile.
“We don’t really have-”
“What? Are you afraid your strange Alolan Vulpix will get hurt? I will be gentle, promise! I won’t break him, probably.” Iono answered, her smirk turning a bit sinister.
“Alo-what?” Izuku asked, confused.
“Grrrrrr!” Shiro instead growled and jumped down his shoulders to stand proudly on their side of the field.
“Seems like he is all geared to fight! Just don’t cry too much if you lose! Tears and snot don’t get me visuals! I mean...Don’t entertain my sweet followers!” Iono said, far too happy to show-off again.
“Can I borrow Shiro? I will deal with her.” Momo asked with narrowed eyes.
“Momo?” Izuku asked, confused.
“Trust me, I will teach her some manners with Shiro-kun’s help.” She answered.
“Okay… Just do not overdo it, please.” Izuku begged.
“Sure!” She answered, and Shiro nodded along.
“Wonderful! Then let’s enter the IONO ZONE!” Iono yelled, immediately turning on the cameras around the Arena and starting Streaming.
“Ladieeees and gentlemeeeeeen! Are youuuu Ready!?” The Gym Leader asked.
“Ah, yes. Some humility will help her immensely.” Momo muttered, already annoyed.
“Your eyeballs are MINE! Caught in my Electroweb! Whosawhatsit? IONO! ‘Ello, ‘Ello, Hola! Ciao and bonjour!” She said, and her catchphrase alone hyped-up whoever was watching.
“So that’s how it is, hn? Very well, I shall answer in kind.” Momo, as luck would have it wearing her pretty-revealing Hero Costume, struck a pose and flicked back a fringe of her hair with a regal composure.
“Surrender your hearts to me, for I am your Queen! Who’s your one and only? Me, Momo! Good day to you, my beloveds!” She answered, parodying the Gym Leader catchphrase to mock her...And instead actually gaining a lot of interest from the people watching.
“Is that supposed to be your intro? That needs some work!” Iono answered, smirking.
Oh God! New Oshi!
...That lone message though soured Iono’s mood instantly.
“Let’s start.” Barely remembering to keep her Streamer Girl persona up, Iono sent out a strange little thing with a wide belly and two googly eyes.
“Let’s start strong with my beloved Bellibolt! Will the new challenger’s borrowed Alolan Vulpix triumph? LEEEEEEET’S GOOO!” Iono declared…
And as soon as her small companion tried to move a muscle, Shiro was immediately in front of it to poke it’s belly with a clearly playful pat of his white fluffy paw.
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A barely-visible blur, that was what passed by Iono so fast her hair turned frizzled and her hairpin went blown away, as for that Bellibolt, the poor thing landed unconscious a good several hundreds of metres away. The Pokemon’s battle lasted less than a second.
“… What?” Iono muttered, looking behind herself and a deep trench her flying pokemon dug in the terrain before finally landing in a crater.
“Lucky shot! Let’s see if our Challenger can keep this up!” Still, she had an image to maintain, so she fixed herself up and sent her second-
BOOOOOOOM!
Shiro didn’t even wait for the red light coming out of the ball to finish condensing into her Pokemon before shooting the new arrival vertically upward high enough it's speeding body blew a hole on the clouds above them, before crashing down a full two minutes later.
And once again, the Taotie’s victim survived only thanks to the innate ridiculous sturdiness of a Pokemon’s body.
“Seems like the Iono Zone has just become the Momo Zone.” The young woman said, smirking.
WOOOOO! NEW OSHI!
QUEEN MOMO!
MOMO SWEEP!
“HEY! HEY! HEY! What do you mean Momo Sweep!? Stop cheering for her! Why are you cheering for her?! Do you know whose Stream you are watching?! Know your place, Iono-lings!” Iono said with a frown.
“They can just recognize quality,” Momo answered, flicking her hair again and renewing Chat's cries of love for her.
“Here comes her hatred for the Showbiz side of the Hero Industry. I knew she was lying when she said she was not bothered by it.” Izuku muttered, face-palming.
“We are just starting! Go Luxio!” Desperate to recover the attention of her Fanbase, Iono sent out anoth-
BOOOOM!
“Arceusdammit!” Again, her Pokemon barely took a breath before Shiro sent it flying, still with a joking poke of a paw and still looking absolutely BORED about it.
“Your partners are weak! If you have to insult this Esteemed Taotie, at least show you have the strength to back your boasting!” Shiro thought in derision, and Iono could somehow tell the small thing was having a laugh at her expenses.
MOMO SWEEP!
MOMO SWEEP!
ONE PAAAAAAAAAAAW!
QUEEN MOMO!
“A good streak of luck!” The Gym Leader said, hoping the cameras were not catching the absurd quantity of sweat she was letting out.
“What did that boy feed his Vulpix?! How do you train like that?!” She also thought in panic.
“Shall we continue? I think this should be enough.” Momo asked with an honest gentle tone that infuriated Iono even more, the young Hero student did not believe in bullying, but unfortunately she had underestimated the Pride of the woman she was facing.
MOMO SWEEP!
QUEEN MOMO IS SO GENEROUS!
SPARE HER, OH BELOVED QUEEN!
And the simping messages in Iono’s Stream chat did not help at all.
“NOOOPE! I still have a last trump card, a good show leaves the best for last!” Iono said, now sporting a far-too-real crazed look while unclasping the last ball at her belt and summoning her best fighter: a purple ghost-like being she then further empowered through some crystal that turned its body translucent and added a big, kid of ridiculous, lightbulb on top of its hat.
“A Terastillized Mismagius! Let’s see how you-”
CRACK!
“…”
“...”
“...Uh?” Iono’s taunt stopped abruptly when she saw her Pokemon disappear as soon as she blinked, leaving behind the giant crystal lightbulb that took a second before falling to the ground and explode in a thousand fragments before dispersing.
THE FUCK HAPPENED?
“What Electric_Maniac69 says.” Iono added reading the message on her chat.
“I fear Shiro-kun got tired and just overdid it. As usual.” Izuku answered, glaring at the Taotie while returning him to his shoulders.
“Kyuuun!” And immediately, the all-powerful being threw dignity to the wind to plead his beloved Partner to show mercy and to not punish him by reducing the portion size of the Taotie’s beloved ribs.
“My Izuku’s Partner simply sped-up things and hit your friend faster than the others.” Momo explained.
“...Wha?” Once again looking behind herself, Iono noticed the actual third hole opened by a pokemon of hers that Shiro had sent flying, so fast the wall couldn’t even produce a sound from being hit, Mismagius had just then started reforming from the scattered purple mist the Ghost Type had been turned into.
“We won. So? The recipes?” Momo asked, hands at her hips.
“This...This way…” Still too shocked to comprehend what happened, Iono mechanically closed her Stream and guided them to her favourite restaurant to learn the recipes of her favourite dishes, which happened to be the best Levincia could offer.
https://www.allrecipes.com/thmb/b8kXzRoBy3fKeri26MSRMDAm8Uo=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/4x3-KH_063022_AR11010-ea69bfcf004f44dba1651e4ec63dc62f.jpg
Quesadillas
Alfajores.
Cascarrafa
“BWAHAHAHA! The best ramen I have ever eaten! You sure you never used Lechonk meat before?” The local Gym Leader, Kofu, said with a thundering laugh after tying a portion.
“Never used it, nor that or the Quaxly eggs or anything else. I just tried to make sure every Ingredient was treated properly and respectfully.” Izuku answered, smiling shyly.
“Oooh! It shows! I tried challenging you into a cooking contest, and I got my ass handed to me! Never underestimate somebody just because they are young, I need to remember that!” The old man answered, still chuckling.
“Thank you for the help, Mister Kofu.” Momo answered, bowing.
“Don’t worry about it! Katy told me you were a damn good Chef, I just wanted to confirm it with my own eyes, and I am glad I did!” Kofu answered.
“LADIEEES AND GENTLEMEEEEEEN!” A new voice yelled in glee.
“Oh, no...It’s her.” Momo muttered in dismay.
“Iono?” Kofu muttered, surprised.
“It’s time for the remaaaatch! Ready to re-enter the IONO ZONE?!” The woman declared with wide, and quite not completely sane, eyes.
She could not accept THAT defeat! Not when her subscription numbers were on the line! So she dusted off her old Team, the one she used before becoming a Gym leader, and after using some… Less-than-Legal Performances Enhancing substances she got from overseas called Rare Candy, she pumped her Team battle level to thrice the level of her official one and moved to hunt-down the blasted woman that dared to come in her turf!
“A Special Team for a Special Stream! Iono Zone: Master difficulty Stream! And to make it even more electrifying, it will be a 6v6 battle!” Iono declared, calling all six her over-leveled Pokemon at once!
Sigh! “I don’t think this is necessary, Miss.” Izuku said.
“It is instead! It’s only fair! Pure sportsmanship!” Iono answered.
“Fine...Shiro-kun, please. Just be gentler this time.” Izuku asked, groaning.
“Kyun!”
“1v6? That’s HYYYYPE!” Iono said, smiling at the camera and ready to win back her followers since she kind of forgot to tell the watchers how much over-charged her Pokemon were this time.
“AND GOOOOOO!”
WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!
“…” Iono’s world once again came crashing down.
Six Pokemon, six playful taps of Shiro’s paw and Six pokemon heads went buried deep underground in less than a second, marking a new defeat for the Gym Leader.
“…”
“Iono?” Kofu asked, worried at the unnatural way the woman froze while looking at her downed Pokemon with blank eyes.
Medali
BOOOOM!
“NOOOOOOOOO!” Iono, once again, shrieked in childish fury as the same six pokemon of before, now themselves DEMANDING their trainer to pump them up to their eyes in “Special Medicines” so to avenge their wounded honour,they were once again trying a 6v1 only to get slapped away by Shiro with a single paw poke that shot all six of them up to the ceiling of the Medali Gym where they remained stuck like some pokemon-shaped chandeliers.
“YOU CHEATED! I KNOW YOU DID!” Iono yelled with crazed eyes.
“I did not!” Izuku answered, taken aback.
“Ignore her, she’s being childish.” The Local Gym Leader, Larry (Best Trainer in Pokemon History, BTW), said while guiding Izuku to the kitchen, and ignoring Iono’s crying fit.
“Will she be fine?” He and Momo asked.
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
“She will, eventually.” Larry answered before turning to Izuku. “Now come on, I understand what it feels like, dealing with demanding Sponsors and PR Offices that have no idea what they are asking us, we workers must stick together, so I will help you.”
Meanwhile Izuku and Momo listened to Larry and his Chef friend teaching the young Chef one or two recipes, Iono finally snapped.
“That’s it! I know what to do! Yahahahaha!” She declared with a deranged laugh.
“That woman could humiliate me the first time only thanks to her boyfriend’s Vulpix! So I will steal both! He is easy on the eyes too and knows how to cook killer quesadillas! So I will get Awesome food, a Handsome Boyfriend and a helper training my Pokemon until they are invincible! What was his name again? Midoriya, right? Iono Midoriya sounds very good! YAHAHAHAHAHA!”
And once again The System wondered how that kept happening no matter how hard the Entity tried to stop it from happening again.
“I have a bad feeling.” Izuku muttered, shivering.
Montenevera
“Iono, you can’t be serious!” Ryme said, appalled.
“I AM SERIOUS!” Iono answered, slamming both her hands, still covered by the long sleeves of her oversized coats, at both sides of Izuku’s head.
“Miss...Please let me go…”
“You defeated me again, so you have to take responsibility! Doyou have any idea how many would KILL to have me, the young and sexy Iono? You should consider yourself lucky!” The Gym Leader said.
“HANDS OFF!” Momo yelled while pushing her away.
“You can’t escape!”
“Yes they can! Go, guys! I’ll stop her!” Ryme answered, calling out her own Pokemon to battle Iono’s and buy Izuku and Momo enough time to escape.
The same happened in Alfornada where the Gym Leader Tulip was already waiting for them with the local recipe and her Team out to intercept Iono long enough for Izuku to learn the new dishes, although Tulip could not understand why her psychic powers and the psychic powers of her Pokemons flared-up and overloaded their brains whenever they looked at Izuku, soon followed by the mental images of millions of eyes looking at them and a booming, robotic and genderless voice telling them to mind their own business.
Glaseado
“IZUKU! I ORDER YOU TO MARRY ME!” Iono demanded, having finally forgone Pokemon battles and even knocked-out her colleague Grusha with a right hook as soon as the Gym Leader tried getting in her way.
“Stay back! I JUST WANT TO BE A CHEF! LEAVE ME ALOOOONE!” Izuku answered running away, he had barely enough time to learn the very last recipe before the woman jumped him and got both her hands down into his pants before Momo and Grusha and Whitey pulled her away.
“I FELT THAT GIGANTAMAX WAILORD YOU ARE HIDING IN THERE! JUST ANOTHER REASON TO MAKE YOU MINE! MY FOLLOWERS ALREADY COINED OUR PAIRING NAME! IONIZU! WE CAN’T DISAPPOINT THEM! LET ME RIDE YOU LIKE A MAD RAPIDASH! YOU WON’T REGRET IT! WE ARE MADE FOR EACH OTHER!” Iono yelled.
“Over my dead body!” Momo yelled in answer while being dragged away by Izuku by the back of her Hero Costume.
“DON’T TEMPT ME!” Iono answered.
“WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING?! HOW?! WHY ME?!” Izuku yelled, hoping the portal towards home will open soon.
End of the chapter.
Thank you for reading!
Author explain corner:
Antonio Silvani, AKA The Italo-American Wolf Hero: Super Soldato.
Basically this, but also built using Modern Technology to not make his armour bothersome to wear like an authentic suit of armour and even add a few more gadgets.
Quirk: Licantropo. (Werewolf)
Just like Cow Lady can become a Cow-Based Minotaur, Antonio can transform into a wolfman on command.
Greatly Enhanced (Super) Strength, Speed, Agility and Senses.
Once transformed the user becomes weak to sound-based attacks and psychic attacks due to them becoming more animal (Dog/Wolf) than human.
Johanna Yazie (Native American descent), AKA The Painful Mistress Hero: Queen Thorns.
(Like that, only human as a base)
Quirk: (Thorns) Chlorokinesis.
The power to summon and control plants, in Johanna’s case she can also summon plants from any part of her body, but in that case only in the form of thorns.
The thorns possess high speed, high destructive power and are sturdy, but the Quirk can’t be over-used (length of the thorns and number of emission points) before the Thorns coming out start hurting the user as well.
Maximum range: 3 metres. Johanna can’t control plants farther than her maximum range, not even her own thorns.
Curiously, the Quirk makes her Susceptible to weed killers and other substances deadly to plants, chemicals that can either disorient her or even have her act “drunk”.
Chapter 23: The American Job (Hidetaka Matoi) Arc part 3: Challenge day.
Summary:
It's finally time for Izuku and Matoi to face-off in a Cooking Battle! The final chapter of Izuku's American adventure arc is here!
Notes:
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/Nejire
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
Chapter Text
If you read this, this chapter has been fixed by my Beta Reader.
Chapter 23: The American Job (Hidetaka Matoi) Arc part 3: Challenge day.
UA – Kitchens -
Blob! Blob! Blob!
Several big pots were bubbling softly while the content of each one finished simmering, all under the unblinking gaze of Lunch Rush that was straining his senses to catch every subtle variation both by eye and ear, all the while also keeping track of the overly-precise stopwatch he commissioned to the Support department of the school.
“…” Whatever Lunch Rush heard or saw, made his eyes narrow while lowering the fire of a mere fraction, and even if the change was infinitesimal, it seemed to make him happy as a soft satisfied hum escaped his mouth.
“Still cooking at this hour?” Nezu asked, as always appearing out of nowhere, but as a testament to his long tenure as part of UA staff, the Rat’s sudden appearance didn’t even phase him.
“Experimenting.” Lunch Rush answered.
“Century Soup?” Nezu asked with a knowing smile, enjoying the full-body flinch of the cooking Hero.
“Yes…” the other answered between clenched teeth.
“I heard that young man makes the Proto Version available only a single day a month and in limited quantities so as to not have it overshadow the rest of his menu, compared to the proper version that instead will be up for purchase only once a year on Christmas day.”
“Tch!”
“And it seems like the waiting list for the Proto Version alone has already reached the six-month mark.” Nezu added, smile turning sharp.
“Grrrr!”
“Just joking. Come on, enlighten me.” The short Chimera said.
“I’ve been trying to make his Century Soup again ever since the day he came here to cook, I ate both versions and I have been trying to replicate the complete one every night since then.”
“Explains all the equipment you asked Power Loader to make for you.”
“Hn!”
“And yet you failed.” Nezu answered.
“Yes.” The answer came filled with bitterness.
“I won’t pretend to know all about the inner workings of cooking like a proper Chef, but what is the problem?”
“Food doesn’t work with me as it does with him.”
“Yes, that’s a complaint I heard often when I dug around to see if he could be trusted to come here that time.” Nezu answered, chuckling.
“I can’t pile pork on beef on veal on chicken on tuna on salmon on vegetables and so on in a manner that tastes good… Not like he does, at least.”
“But?”
“But I will discover how he does it and replicate it. Then I will make it better.”
“As long as you don’t overstep your budget, you are free to spend your free time at your leisure. Good night, Rush.” Nezu declared with a shrug while walking away.
“Goodnight.”
“...A question.”
“Uh-hu?” Nezu muttered, already halfway through the door.
“You did not try to talk that boy into working here, right?” Rush asked, with his narrowed eyes going unseen thanks to his mask.
“...Goodnight, Rush.” Nezu did not answer, and just closed the door behind himself.
“Tch! You’ll see. I will surpass that kid! How hard can it be?” Lunch Rush declared in distaste before returning to study the bubbling pots.
Meanwhile , – New York – Early Morning -
Just as Matoi was dismounting his car to go open his Restaurant and give start to the Inauguration celebrations, a very expensive car stopped right in front of him, and thanks to the darkened window, the man had no idea who it was in the back seats.
“Hidetaka Motoi, I assume.” The woman in the back said coldly as soon as the window panel slid down.
“In the flesh, with whom do I have the pleasure of talking to?” The Chef answered, warily eyeing the various bodyguards sitting with the woman on the back of the short limousine.
“My name is not important, what’s important is what you can do for me.” She answered, without even looking at him.
“I-”
“I assure you it would be in your best interest to listen.” She cut him off, and one of those bodyguards flashed him the woman’s identification as a High-Ranking member of the Hero Public Safety Commission, he also made sure Matoi could see the gun at ready under his own expensive suit.
The other bodyguards as well slightly shifted a bit so as to ‘casually’ show their own guns.
“I see. I was not aware the HPSC had offices in America.” Matoi answered, now on high alert.
“We do have a branch in every Japanese Embassy around the globe, so to offer support to our beloved countrymen everywhere.” She answered.
“Yes…” It was clear Matoi did not believe that was the reason, but it was also clear that the woman didn’t give a damn about the Chef’s opinion.
“Then tell me, Madame. How am I supposed to be of help? I am not a registered Pro Hero.” He asked.
“You are not, indeed. Unfortunately your Quirk has far too many weaknesses and limitations to be useful for that profession.” The woman answered, making Matoi bristle in barely-withhold fury.
“What you can offer us, though, is somebody else.” She then said, nailing him with an ice-cold stare from above her way-too-expensive sunglasses.
“One of my employees?” Matoi asked with raised eyebrows.
“No, Mister Matoi. I want that Quirkless kid that is supposed to Challenge you today, during your daughter’s birthday at your new Restaurant.”
“You want that brat? Why?” Matoi asked.
“You are in no position to ask questions.” One of the bodyguards answered with a deep and rough voice.
“...Sorry about that.” Matoi answered between clenched teeth and not even trying to hide his ardent wish of hitting them or even just walking away.
“The reason why I want that kid is nothing of your concern. Just find a way to bring that kid to me, along with his equipment, his pet and that robot of his. Do that and we will make sure no traces of your little escapade in Insurance Fraud are left anywhere, along the rest of the long, long list of your petty little crimes. Everything will be forever erased.” The Woman said, turning Matoi’s anger into pure fear.
“I-”
“We can ruin you, Mister Matoi. You and your precious daughter. Only I know how to erase forever your sins, and if you do not deliver me that kid, I will instead make sure everybody else will know about your dirty little secrets. It’s your choice: YOU or HIM. But I am sure that just like everybody else, you will make the right choice.”
“Yes...Madame…” Matoi answered, so pale he looked about to drop dead from grief alone.
“There are only two groups of people in Life, Mister Matoi: Winners and Losers. And we of the Safety Commission always Win, remember. Do as you are told, or pay the price.” The woman declared while pulling back up the armoured glass panel of the car’s window as a way to end their talk.
“Good day…” The Chef muttered without any strength in his voice when he saw the woman leave him alone in the parking lot to think about how close his life was actually coming at crumbling to dust right under him.
With Izuku – Rei’s Penthouse -
Contrary to Matoi’s abysmal situation, there was a way lighter feeling in the air for Izuku’s group, one filled in actual levity as Cathleen and her Assistant were once again Rei’s guests for breakfast, and once again without the woman’s actual invitation.
“So you will barge in here for free breakfast every day until Icchan will leave?” Rei asked, huffing annoyed.
“Yep!” Cathleen answered, between mouthfuls of breakfast.
“Thank you for all the autographs, Cath!” Izuku, on the contrary, was way too happy to add the numerous signatures the woman brought along to his collection.
“Eh! Those guys and gals were even too happy to oblige as a thank you for your BBQ! They didn’t mind in the slightest.” She answered.
“I am happy they enjoyed themselves, and I am sure Momo’s friends will appreciate their own autographs too, especially Kaminari-san, he is a great fan of Elecplant.” Izuku answered, chuckling at remembering Momo’s retelling of how hard the boy begged her for one once seen the Hero being part of the group Izuku cooked for.
He also needed to remember to tell young Tsunotori that her aunt Cow Lady sent her best regards, he wasn’t even aware the two were related, truth be told.
“Oh they liked everything, no doubts about it! And it worked splendidly for you too! You got good publicity and the attention of that moron of Matoi; today is the day, isn’t it?” Stars and Stripes asked.
“Yes, just a couple of hours, actually. The Challenge will be right during lunch hour, and apparently between High Class Guests, Pro Heroes and Talent Scouts of other Hero agencies, as well as journalists, the place will be packed-full.” Izuku answered.
“Oh-oooh! Exciting!” Cathleen answered, hyped.
“How do you feel?” Her Assistant asked.
“Nervous, of course, but not in a way I can’t manage.” He answered.
“You sure?” Rei asked, worried.
“I’ll be fine, Rei, promise.”
“I trust you!” She answered, hugging him tight as a show of support.
“I’ll record everything, and I am certain some of my friends can Stream the Challenge as well for others to watch!” Cathleen added with a thumbs up.
“And knowing dad, several drones of I-Island as well will be there.” Izuku mentally added, sighing.
Meanwhile – League of Villains – Pub Hideout -
There was a sombre silence in the dingy pub as Dabi watched in contempt how Himiko lay on a beanbag boneless, giggling to herself and babbling something unintelligible under her breath while looking at the ceiling.
“What have you done? She usually at least tries to stab people when bored!” One of the new recruits, a guy wearing a full-body costume separated in black and white halves, asked in two voices, as if pretending to be two different persons.
“Hn? She was being annoying, so I spiked her lunch blood sack again, I just overdid the dosage. But at least she is not bothering me now.” He answered, opening a discarded magazine to a marked page, probably where he had stopped reading when he ‘dealt’ with Himiko.
“She is cute, too bad she just doesn’t cooperate. You think she will notice if I steal a kiss?” Twice asked.
“She will come around, eventually, or she will die trying and we’ll make a Nomu with her Quirk, same results. And about the kiss, do whatever you want, just be quiet about it, for some reason Shigaraki and Kurogiri still have to return from their turn at Grocery Shopping so there is some goddamn peace and quiet here and I DON’T WANT IT TO END just yet.” Dabi answered, sneering.
“Oh fine. We’ll be silent as a mouse! A dead mouse! Those are super quiet!” Twice answered.
“Bah.” Dabi just gave a grunt as an answer, and rolled his eyes at the two voices giggling one after the other after stealing said kiss on the cheek from the baby-gurgling girl next to them.
“What is he? Twelve?” The Blue-Fire user thought in dismay, he really found his Colleagues unbearable, after all.
“Done! Done!” Twice declared, far too happy from such a simple thing.
“Whatever, just sit there quietly now.”
“Okay! Oh fuck you, Edgelord!” Twice answered, before collecting a deck of cards from behind the bar counter to, somehow, playing a couple rounds of poker by himself against his other self.
“Eeeeh-Ehhh-Eeeeh!” Himiko in the meantime kept talking with whatever hallucination floating in front of her eyes with words too garbled to even resemble human speech.
“I feel like a fucking babysitter, not a Villain.” Dabi muttered, grimacing.
SLAM!
The door being kicked open by a kick was sudden and was loud, enough both he and Twice almost died on the spot from a heart-attack, and when both turned around they saw a clearly battered Kurogiri dragging a bloody and beaten-broken naked body that they assumed was Shigaraki slumped on his shoulder; the fact that the mist-man had not opened a portal inside the pub but came there on foot told Dabi that the Nomu had very likely a concussion, as that was the only situation where the thing refused to use his powers.
“The fuck happened? The fuck happened?” And for once both Twice’s voices said the exact same thing.
“Goddamnit, don’t tell me!” Dabi said in dismay.
“I lost track of Shigaraki in the mall half-way through our grocery round, and when I finally found him he was about to jump that accursed Chef’s girlfriend so to kill her...I didn’t even see that Black Dog’s paw attack both him and me until it was too late and we went shot out of the mall and into the underground parking lot.” Kurogiri explained with a weak voice, dragging himself and Shigaraki inside using the very last shred of strength he had and then throwing the naked man on the floor while Nomu collapsed on a cushioned seat nearby.
“...Wait...You went out for groceries six hours ago, I thought you two morons were just taking your sweet time!”
“We...We didn’t.” Urgh! “That...That blasted animal kept bouncing us for twenty minutes, randomly increasing the power behind his so-called ‘loving caresses’ to see how far we could go...He stopped only when we both lost consciousness and became boring to play with. I took Shigaraki here as soon as I woke-up. That dog had abandoned us in the back of a filled garbage truck.” Kurogiri answered, and between his being tired, the clear humiliation he felt at being beaten and treated like literal trash, and the absolute, soul-burning hatred he had for Blackie and Izuku, his voice came out rasping and marred by growls.
“That dog you talked about? Fuck! I want to meet the thing and gut it!” Twice asked.
“The Dog, or as the fucker likes to call himself when talking in third person ‘This Lord Dog’, is unfortunately way stronger than what he looks. That piece of shit keeps sending us back in schedule, and just because that fucking moron of Shigaraki can’t let go of his goddamn pride!” Dabi answered, face-palming with both hands so as to muffle the scream of annoyance he released.
“It doesn’t matter,” Ugh! “The damages to my body are minimal, so we will still attack those Hero Students like we planned, no need to cancel.” Nnng! “I already contacted Muscular, he will join us for the operation, do you think you can coordinate everything as we agreed?” Kurogiri asked, while still taking painful-sounding grunting deep breaths at random intervals.
“Yes I can do that, no problem.” Dabi answered, sighing.
“What have you… I just hope Toga’s brain has not been fried by whatever you did, we still need her.” Kurogiri said, grunting loudly and forcefully pulling himself back to his feet to walk behind the counter and towards the telephone hidden there.
“She’ll be fine, she’ll be fine.” The other waved him off, uncaring.
“Good, I will trust you on this.” Ugh! “Now sorry, but I need to inform the Master we need yet another round of emergency healing...And he won’t be happy about it, so be quiet and do not make things worse.” The Nomu said with laboured breath.
“Oh, don’t worry, I’ll take my annoyance on those Hero brats, especially on your and Shigaraki’s behalf.” Dabi answered with a twisted, cruel smile.
“Thank you. Much appreciated.” Kurogiri answered, actually sounding grateful for the offer.
And from whatever Void was there beyond the limits of Reality, too far removed from Existence for Mortal minds to even comprehend and perceive, The System watched.
And The System planned.
America – With Izuku – Parking lot of the restaurant ‘The Symphony’ -
The long and luxurious Limousine owned by Rei arrived with impeccable timing as the Lady of the Yaoyorozu Family had requested, with the chauffeur promptly opening the door while bowing to let Rei and Izuku dismount; Rei was, as expected from a woman of High Class like her, dressed with the finest and shiniest white dress somebody with a bottomless bank account could afford, decorated by a black shawl in pure silk loosely wrapped around her shoulders and reaching her elbows, she was also holding Shiro in her arms.
Izuku was of course wearing his dark-green chef attire, with a bandanna of matching green colour already tied on his head to cover his hair, albeit everything he wore had been updated for the occasion by The System, using the silk of silk worms from another world, and Izuku was actually afraid to ask how expensive his clothes were now once seen the otherworldly lustre his updated uniform had in the right light now, and knowing his Sponsor, he was almost certain the answer would be utterly insane.
Like, superior to the GDP of some First-World country or something just as ridiculous.
“Here we are, I got a message from a friend already there as a guest, they all are waiting for you.” Rei said, tone tense in worry.
“Momo and Rumi filled my phone with messages to cheer for me, it seems I am not the only one worried about this.” Izuku answered, taking a deep breath to stabilise himself, and calling upon his old experiences as Zaus of similar meetings to exorcise his fear.
“And…”
“...Ochako too, as well as Nejire…I...I didn’t open those messages though.” He admitted, grimacing.
“You all will resolve this once you are back in Japan. For now focus on this Challenge, focus on the Now instead of the ‘What if’.” Rei offered with a kind smile.
“I’ll try… Those psychologists you forced me to visit both here and in Japan… The things they said, their suggestions... It’s helping, you know?”
“Good to know, me and the others care about you, we just want to help.” Rei answered, putting a hand on his shoulder to give it a light squeeze.
“I know… I know… Thank you.” Izuku answered, giving her a small, tentative smile.
“We are family, Izuku, you are not alone anymore. And that means any weight we all have can be shared with everybody else if the burden is too much. Now let’s go, it’s time to face Matoi and remove yet another enemy from your list.” Rei answered.
“Yes, you are right.” Izuku answered, and as a proper gentleman, he offered his arm for Rei to latch on, for the woman’s approving nod.
When the two entered the restaurant thanks to Whitey opening the overly-decorated glass double-doors for them, every eyes turned towards them, and silence fell inside the room, even the small orchestra performing from a side of the ample room looked very close at stopping to play their instrument when they saw him arrive.
“Perfectly on time, as I expected from both a Lady such as Madame Yaoyorozu and a proper Chef like you, Mister Midoriya.” Surprisingly, it was Ego himself to welcome both inside the place, as the only one that not only was not still surprised at the idea of such a Challenge happening, but actually eager to see it happen.
“Mister Ego, glad to see you again.” Izuku answered, shaking the man’s hand.
“I was just trying to entertain myself while waiting for the actual Main Event of this dull morning: you showing me again your Art. But alas, the vainglory of a Pretender and his spoiled offspring was even more boring than I anticipated. If not for the knowledge that you were arriving, I would have already left. Come, I personally made sure the equipment had not been tampered with...The Ingredients, on the other hand…” The Food Critic said with a displeased frown.
“Hn?”
“They refused to show me what they prepared for this little game, and that doesn’t sit well with me.” Ego admitted, he was personally accompanying Izuku to the small workstation he will use in his challenge against Matoi, right in front of the identical one the owner of that restaurant will use.
“I am aware there is a very high chance he will try to cheat, I have been informed by a very helpful insider.” Izuku admitted, recalling a certain phone-call.
“Cheating even, why I am not surprised! What a foolish incompetent! What will you do?” Ego asked.
“What any Chef is supposed to do: Bring honour and show respect to the Ingredients, no matter what conditions they are in, I will figure out a solution, don’t worry.” Izuku answered.
“I trust your judgement, and that is not something I often do when it comes to cooking. Good luck, Chef Midoriya.” Ego answered, and walked away to reach his own seat.
“GOOD MORNIIING! HOW ARE’YA?! Ready to start this awesome Cooking Challenge?!” Matoi’s daughter, acting as Host for the Challenge, and wearing an eye-watering red full body costume blatantly copying Cathleen’s own as Star and Stripe, gave a way too “Young and Cheerful” Scream to the audience of a Challenge held in such a luxurious restaurant.
“As you know, both my Daddy and Him are expected to prepare three Dishes and present them to the judges to, like, show who’s best, ‘kay? So you judges need to choose and vote well, ‘cause otherwise it will be cringe and totally ruin the mood, yes? So, you better not be lame and vote all professional and stuff, ya dig? We want honest votes, so, like, be rad and do your job! Thanks! As for my beloved Followers, remember to leave a like, ring the bell to stay updated about my exploits as a Pro Hero and follow me on Hero-Gram! #NewHero! #KickassLady! #AwesomeHeroPrincess! #DaddyBestFood!” The young half-American and half-Japanese woman said, still with an overly-cheerful voice that made even Cathleen and Rei shudder.
“Ugh!” Izuku merely grimaced, especially at seeing her take a selfie to promote the event.
“Please forgive her, my little girl is just so excited to take her first step as a Pro Hero, today is her Debut, you know?” And as if on cue, Matoi himself came to the rescue of his little Princess.
“Charming.” He answered, shaking the man’s hand and easily ignoring the guy’s risible attempt at squeezing his hand too tight as a show of intimidation, it was annoying how many tried that tactic.
“It happens when you are gifted and meant for greatness. So? Ready?” Matoi asked.
“Yes, I am. I wonder what Ingredients you prepared for me since you insisted on being the one personally preparing them for the two of us.” Izuku answered, eyes half-lidded in annoyance.
“It was to assure fairness, you know? To avoid Cheating.” Matoi answered, showing a sickeningly-sweet smile.
“Uh-huh. Sure. I’ll pretend I will believe you.” He answered.
“Nothing personal, kid, but there’s my and my daughter’s future on the line.”
“Then you shouldn’t have committed enough crimes to shame a Pro Villain.” Izuku shot back, making the other freeze.
“…”
“I am well aware of all the crap you pulled, Matoi. You are using me to cover for those crimes, but unfortunately for you, I have no obligations to cover for you. It’s time to act like an adult and face the consequences of your actions.” He then said, merciless.
“I will bring here the Ingredients we will use.” Matoi’s smile was now officially dead and buried and a furious snarl took its place.
“Go, please. I don’t want to stay here just as much as you don’t want me here.” Izuku answered, his old Zaus’ disposition coming through when faced with Pretender Chefs, the worst insult a Chef could receive back in that Life he had.
“Can’t wait to see you lose.” Matoi whispered in hatred as he walked away.
“Same.” Izuku answered, unfazed, and that almost made the other man trip in his own steps in surprise at the answer coming from a supposedly overly-nice kid like him.
“… Good enough?” Izuku then mentally asked, unsure.
“It was perfect, Host. That is how you answer verbal attacks done to damage your self-esteem.” The System answered.
“I don’t really like it, though.” The young Chef answered.
While he waited, he watched as several drones from I-Island had made their appearance just like he expected, and thanks to his father warning him, he knew that the two white vans parked in an isolated corner of the parking lot belonged to the island of researchers, there to keep an eye on him, as usual.
Unfortunately any other train of thought Izuku had derailed gruesomely once he received the four trays of miscellaneous Ingredients Matoi in person brought and set-up in front of him, it took to the young Chef barely a minute to check them all and grow horrified at what he saw.
“Host, the Ingredients have all been sabotaged, only an average of 10% of the mass of each one of them is actually usable for cooking.” The System said, confirming his own suspects.
“That cheater! Did he do all this on purpose to the Ingredients?!” Izuku asked, he expected Matoi to give him the wrong Ingredients, or to ruin them a little like he had been warned about by Yamato and Ren Watanabe, but not even in his worst nightmares he expected to see Ingredients being violated like that!
“Indeed he did all this on purpose, Host. Host has two options now: Keep using these ruined Ingredients and salvage whatever possible to accomplish the three required dishes, or have the System switch them with good ones. But if the Host asks for a change, the Mission will still be considered a failure by the System even if the judges declare him the Winner, with all the dire consequences it will entail. Loss of Cooking Rights included.” The Entity said.
“You don’t even need to ask, it’s not a matter of your Mission anymore! I am going to use them as they are as a way to avenge the Ingredients. They don’t deserve this treatment just to satisfy the frail Ego of a moron!” Izuku answered with his eyes burning in anger.
“Good answer, Host. Now please, show this unworthy Pretender Chef what happens when one challenges a God of Cooking without having the required skills to even stand in their presence.” The System answered.
“So? Are the Ingredients of your liking?” Matoi asked, smirking.
“They are perfect, thank you.” Izuku answered, patting the closest tray in pure confidence.
“You sure?” The other asked with pure malice.
“You will see, they have a lot to offer, and I will prove it.” He answered.
It may have been a trick of the light, perhaps, but Matoi could swear those unusable Ingredients he had given Izuku for a brief instant gained an unnatural lustre, and a deep sense of dread let him feel like a cold and viscous hand had started gripping his heart to squeeze it hard.
With Izuku -
Even after saying all that, a tiny smudge of doubt still existed inside the young man’s heart, but the longer he watched at the spray of Ingredients in front of him, the more the feeling of their Voice came through to reassure him; both Chef and Ingredients were literally cheering each other up in front of the near-impossible task.
The chickens in front of him were in a bad shape, worst than all the rest, so much even six of them could barely produce enough good meat to match a properly-prepared single one; The beef was slightly better, but that too had most of the meat badly processed on purpose, barely hiding its abysmal quality under a thin surface layer of still pristine grease and meat.
Same goes for the vegetables and the fruits, even the wine had been switched, Izuku could tell by nose alone that a very cheap one had been poured inside the empty bottles of once high-quality ones, both reds and whites. All in all, many could easily call the whole spread unusable.
Unfortunately for Matoi, Chefs from the Gourmet World of Zaus were not normal Chefs at all!
“IT BEGIIIINS!” It was then that Matoi’s daughter gave a scream signalling that both Chefs could start cooking.
SWIIIIIING!
And already going full-throttle, Izuku’s Sea Dragon Knife twirled in his hand and then slashed down with speed far exceeding anybody’s wildest imagination to cut, debone, and quarter beef and chicken meat in front of him in an instant, hard and fast enough a gust of wind got kicked-up...And the knife in Matoi’s hand lost its own blade, that too cut into hundreds of thin slices, even if the man was at the opposite side of the room.
“Whoops. Sorry, I guess I was a bit too eager to start.” Izuku said with a perfectly-believable innocent smile.
“It’s...Okay…” Matoi, unblinking eyes still glued to the now bare handle in his hand, answered with a slow and terrified tone.
“Host, that was not an accident.” The System said while Matoi shakily grabbed a spare knife to resume his work.
“No, it wasn’t. But he deserved a little scare.” Izuku thought back in answer while following the Voice of the Ingredients to select the quails between the small selections he was given that were not bad.
“Hn. Quite alright, Host.” Now Izuku could swear it, he DID hear the Entity let-out a very tiny chuckle.
Returning his full attention to cooking, he went through the three recipes he and the Ingredients had agreed upon, again based on his feeling their Voice alone, starting by using some of the chicken meat he had managed to salvage into a mousse he planned to use together with minced beef in the same dish.
“Unfortunately for him, cheap wine may actually be the best choice for this dish, ironically.” Izuku muttered, pouring a glass of red wine to give it a deep sniff, and once met the smug smirk of Matoi, returning him one of his own that made Matoi wonder if he had given the young man a good wine by mistake.
“Relax, don’t let him get under your skin! You are using the best parts of the best Ingredients money can buy! He got cheap Convenience Store ones you personally sabotaged! It would take a MIRACLE for him to pull off something good that won’t poison the judges! You got this in the bag!” Matoi thought while removing and using only a small part of his own Ingredients, the very best part, and yet his sense of dread was not going away no matter how many times he hyped himself up.
I-Island -
“The colour of that meat is off.” Hisashi muttered, bristling in fury after zooming on the Ingredients with one of the drones’ cameras.
“The guy gave him bad stuff?” His colleague asked.
“Very likely. He was far too smug when he personally handed Icchan all that.”
“Subject 37 does not register changes in mannerism. He is calm, ‘Sashi. Your boy got this in the bag.” One of the guys manning the drones and registering everything answered.
“God, I hope so.” Hisashi muttered.
“He did worse! He had an entire Life-Time of Experience to pull from! He will win!” He then thought, with an almost praying tone.
“Madame?” Another technician said, confused.
“What?” The old woman at the head of the Darlings Project asked.
“We have been breached again by that System Inc. They are forcefully downloading in our main storage entire terabytes of proofs of past transgressions of Matoi...From Insurance Fraud, to bribes and death threats, for God’s sake, they even got their hands on some camera footage of the man driving drunk, running over somebody and speeding away without stopping to give assistance. What do we do?” The technician asked, she just looked at her screen with bulged-out eyes.
“Can we track from where they are sending all that?”
“...No, Madame. They make it literally look like all that data just poofed into existence in our systems.”
“Goddamnit, they are good. Keep monitoring Subject 37, in the meantime I want somebody to comb through all that to see what can be used against that man, if they sent it to us, it means others too may soon get the same gift, may as well be ready should they try to say we were covering for that Buffoon of Matoi.” The old woman answered.
“Yes, madame!” Many technicians answered in chorus.
As she suspected in fact, that blatant display of cheating from Matoi did indeed gain him the enmity of the System that decided to not wait until the Challenge was over, but already started distributing copies of the man’s closet skeletons to whoever would hear, namely several international Police forces and newspapers.
New York – Restaurant The Symphony – With Izuku -
Having noticed how once recovered the few good parts still usable of the various chickens he had been given there was still not enough meat to prepare the two dishes he needed, Izuku decided to improvise, and switched the main component of one recipe with the quails, that he first pan-fried and then moved to the oven for some roasting.
“What is he doing?” Matoi, showing his proficiency by managing to both follow his own cooking and Izuku, watched in curiosity as the young man set to prepare a milky risotto with whatever scraps of chicken he had, somehow, managed to recover from the ruined exemplars he had at hand, and using butter to fry some onions.
When he saw Izuku mix together some Sherry Vinegar, a mixture of honey and granulated sugar and red wine together with some Madeira Wine his blasted Robot shamelessly borrowed from Matoi’s cabinets, he started to have an inkling.
“Oyakodon?… With Quails? Whole?” He muttered, confused.
“Focus on cooking your own dishes, Matoi-san. Your future will depend on the result of this Challenge. Remember.” Izuku had seemingly noticed his staring, because after putting some quail eggs to boil, he nailed the man with a side glance that held nothing but absolute contempt.
“Tch!” The man only answered with a snarl and a near-animal growl.
Outside the Restaurant – Parking lot -
“So?” The woman in an expensive trailer asked.
“Can’t answer, madam, I am not exactly good at cooking.” Her bodyguard, and the one actually holding for her the laptop showing the livestream of the Cooking Challenge, answered.
“You are completely useless.” She spat in answer, conveniently forgetting she herself could be said to be unable to even just boil an egg.
“That kid seems to know what he is doing, though. Looking at Matoi instead, he seems nervous.” Another Bodyguard said.
“Be ready to recover the kid ourselves, then. I don’t trust that idiot to do as he was told and manage to bring the kid to us.” She ordered.
“Yes, Madame!”
Not one of them could imagine that Shiro happened to see and listen to them even through the obscured glasses of their armoured limo, from his place in Rei’s arms in the crowd observing Izuku’s challenge inside the Restaurant from the first row.
“It seems like this Esteemed Taotie found his snack for the evening.” The small creature thought to himself, and then focusing once more on his Partner’s current battle, far more interesting to the Taotie than some no-name nobodies plotting from the shadows.
Returning to Izuku, while quails and risotto kept cooking, the young man was also taking care of a second dish.
“First the duxelles...” He muttered, sauteing diced mushrooms and mushroom stems, onions, and herbs into a paste till nearly all the liquid was gone, reducing the aroma and intensifying the flavour to its absolute limit.
Still under the curious side looks of Matoi, for Izuku next came the preparation of a chicken mousse, made using some of the scarce tender chicken breast he had, some fresh cream and the duxelles, everything went mixed first by hand, then in a blender.
“I will add some stiffly beaten egg whites to the mousse too... To enhance the texture.” The young Chef muttered.
As the beef finished cooking, the very cheap red wine was “reduced” as much as Izuku could so as to extract and refine the flavour, so to combine it together with a demi-glace he was preparing at the same time.
(Demi-Glace: (literally meaning "half glaze") is a traditional French sauce made by reducing a mixture of Espagnole sauce and brown stock, then finishing with sherry wine. Due to the laborious preparation of the sauce, it is often made well in advance by professional kitchens. Unless you were a Super Chef from another world that could whip one out at the moment’s notice.)
“Beef and chicken together? Is that how he plans to cover for the lack of quantities of both?” Matoi muttered, while giving the finishing touches to one of his own dishes.
With Rei and Star and Stripe -
“Hey, Cath?” A female voice said from the small auricular hidden in the Pro Hero’s left ear.
“Hu-uh?” The woman muttered after taking the call by pressing a finger against the thing.
“Some movement outside the Restaurant, unfriendly, and they are not being subtle about it.”
“What is it?”
“Uh?” Rei asked.
“A couple gentlemen and a few ‘Bad Girls’ are taking position around the Restaurant, and seem to be awfully interested in both you and your Chef friend. They are not missing a move of yours or his.”
“They are, aren’t they? Then I guess I’ll need to meet them, can’t leave some Fans waiting, can I?” Cathleen said with an annoyed tone filled in acidic sarcasm.
“I can see Elecplant getting closer to us, so I guess you won’t be alone in welcoming your Fans.” The female voice answered.
“Sharing the spotlight never killed anybody, I am coming out and-”
“No need.” Rei said, chuckling.
“Uh?”
“Troublemakers will be stripped as an example to others!” In that precise moment Whitey’s eyes flashed red, and the robot moved with rapid and heavy steps outside.
“And you think the chubby toy can face...How many?”
“Seven Villains.” the voice supplied.
“Seven guys alone and at the same time?”
“Dear Whitey has been built by Icchan’s Sponsor to deal with far worse, have no fear.” Rei answered, amused.
“I don’t think that-”
BOOOOM!
“GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
Everybody inside the restaurant turned towards the entrance from where they heard the blood-curling scream of the first of Whitey’s victims come from, right on time to see the poor guy fly inside the place completely naked and with a face bloated to the size of a watermelon from the various slaps the robot delivered before stripping him and throwing him away.
“Kyaaaah!” Few women present looked away while covering their eyes with their hands once seen the poor athletic young man roll on the floor for a bit without a shred of clothes on his person, albeit the fingers of those hands also showed some suspiciously-wide gaps between them.
Other screams and tearing sounds soon reached inside as the one-sided 1v6 beat-down rapidly reached its conclusion, with the robot being the absolute dominating force in the battle that lasted barely a handful of seconds.
“Holy Shit!” The voice at Cathleen’s radio yelled in shock and awe, a sentiment of surprise Star and Stripe found herself sharing.
“Daaaamn! I need to find myself a robot like him.” Cathleen admitted, chuckling, while watching Whitey return inside without even a scratch so to stand behind Izuku like before, and the only reaction of the young Chef to all this was merely a chuckle and a friendly pat on the thing’s soft belly.
“That will make extraction more difficult.” The HPSC Woman’s bodyguards thought at the same time in worry.
Back to Izuku -
“Eeeh, not enough butter and the lemons are in a bad shape too, can’t make a good Lemon Cheesecake...Wait...Are those Japanese red beans?” Izuku, having finished the other dishes preliminary preparations, still lacked the final one: The Dessert, Matoi’s own true area of Expertise, and probably the dish the man will most likely bet his victory on.
“What? Are you going to make some common Dorayaki?” Matoi asked with a mocking tone.
“Not really, but thanks for the suggestion! Thanks to you I had a rather nice brain-wave!” He answered, honestly happy.
“Goddamnit…I shouldn’t have added those as a joke Ingredient!” The other instead cursed under his breath in vitriolic hatred.
Following the Ingredients’ suggestion to choose the actual good eggs between the dozens of bad ones, Izuku rapidly mixed their yolk with bread flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
“Meringue…” Then came whisking the eggs’ whites with sugar until peaks formed, and once added some Greek yoghourt, the mixture was then added to the treated egg yolks to create a fluffy compound the young Chef used to prepare small disks of pancake thanks to the moulds already waiting inside a wide frying pan.
“Then the red bean paste.” Then came a smooth paste of red beans he sandwiched between two disks of pancake, everything then covered by a generous layer of powdered sugar.
“That’s it?” Matoi asked, confused.
“Huhuhuhu…” The soft, low chuckle of the young Chef seemed to lower the room temperature of several degrees.
“Not even in the slightest.” Izuku answered, smile as warm as the sun, but eyes cold enough to freeze people alive, it wasn’t clear how he managed that.
SLAM!
Several types of chocolate then went slammed on the table, from powdered to blocks of it three inches thick, all spread in front of the young Chef, and soon reduced to chunks by few precise strikes of the Myriad Manifestation Mallet, with Izuku using the hammer’s own properties to instantly freeze solid the chunks at each impact so to reduce everything into a paste yet.
Separating each type of chocolate in different bowls, he had them melt and added to each one of them a tiny bit of vanilla extract, and then left them all set aside to cool slightly.
“I am making something special, Matoi-san. Considering the kind of Ingredients you gave me, in order to make them justice, I will need to go further beyond!” The young Chef said once finished mixing flour, baking soda, and salt in a new bowl and beaten sugar, olive oil, and eggs into a light, fluffy cream in another.
“You youngsters and that Plus Ultra idiocy are really annoying.” The other answered, watching in apprehension as the two bowls’ content went mixed together to form a smooth batter that then went split into two bowls again.
“Please do forgive me if I still have hope for the future, I have not had time yet to sell my dignity and throw away my dreams in the name of another Michelin Star to add to the pile.” Izuku answered, uncaring of the man’s contempt.
“YOU!” Matoi spat in fury.
“Spare me your anger, Matoi! You and your friends are in the wrong, and if I will have to crush you all to finally have some peace and quiet in my Life, SO BE IT!” The young man answered, and even with tons of anger in his voice, his hands showed loving care while folding the different kinds of chocolate.
“…” Surprisingly, that outburst seemed to finally silence Matoi, long enough both he and Izuku could finish cooking.
DRIIIIIIIN!
When the timer of the Challenge finally reached the zero, a loud ring echoed in the entire restaurant, and as a proof of fair-play, both Izuku and Matoi lifted both hands to show they were not continuing to cook after the time ran out.
“Time’s up, either you finish your plating or not, please deliver your dishes to the judges.” Ego himself took the microphone from the hands of Matoi’s daughter, all for her protests that easily fell on deaf ears.
“I can’t wait!” one of the judges said with starry eyes upon seeing the six dishes of the two Chefs being positioned in front of her by both contestants.
“Please introduce your dishes, Chef Midoriya.” Ego asked, with the glint in his eyes scaring whoever knew how cruel the man could be when on duty.
“With pleasure. The first are Roasted Quails stuffed with Risotto and Eggs.” Izuku answered.
“Quails… Stuffed with Risotto?” One of the judges said, cutting open the small bird’s golden meat to watch mesmerised, as the creamy egg and risotto pool out delicately from the opening.
“It should have poured out everywhere while cooking, not waiting for somebody to cut the quail open…” Matoi muttered, and watched in dismay Ego and the actual judges eating everything with expressions of pure bliss.
“Not if you wrap it up with a cabbage leaf.” Izuku answered with a cheeky smile.
“But it will still-”
“Matoi, shut-up for once. You gave me half-rotten Ingredients on purpose and we both know it. I had to work extra hard to salvage useful parts, so I am not in the mood to listen to a cheap bully.” Izuku whispered harshly and once again silencing him.
“So rich! My God! The fried onions add so much body to the taste!” another Judge said in awe.
“UH?!”
“Here taste it,” Izuku answered, handing Matoi yet another dish, having prepared portions for him too, out of spite mostly.
“I don’t think I should.” Matoi answered.
“Have no fear, contrary to you and Samui I have a sense of decency, I respect Food too much to purposely ruin it, try it.” Izuku answered.
“Tch! Fine!” The other answered, with his sneer getting dashed to pieces as soon as he tried the quail in his plate.
“… H-How?” He asked, face showing only horror for the DIVINE taste now filling his mouth!
The Quail’s meat itself had a crunchy skin offering only a token resistance before uncovering the buttery-soft meat hidden under it, savoriness and a faint gamely-undertone paving the road to yet another risotto of the young Chef Matoi KNEW he would need a miracle to match, with the taste of the eggs and the onions adding to its taste a level of body that by any means shouldn’t even be possible, along the lone cabbage leaf used to contain the rice while cooking adding another slight crunchy feeling to accompany the silk that was the creamy risotto.
“THOSE WERE CHEAP CONVENIENCE STORE INGREDIENTS I SABOTAGED!? HOW!?” Matoi thought, not in anger, but in absolute fear as the Miracle he had thought would have needed to happen for Izuku to actually have a chance was apparently happening right in front of his eyes!
“I had to strain myself quite a bit to find the good parts of everything you gave me. I have to recognize your talent at least in that, you were good at ruining everything, just not good enough.” Izuku whispered with a knowing smile.
“You… You could scrape-out good parts from that?… Who are you?!” He asked with a whisper full of terror.
“I was once called The King of Cooking. Take a guess at how I did it.” Izuku answered, and without giving him other details, he went to recover the second dish he made.
“Simply amazing. The next dish?” Ego asked.
“Here it is. I call it Beef and Chicken Duet, with demi-glace.” Izuku answered.
“A Chicken mouse and grilled beef wrapped in a manner similar to a Beef Wellington, very curious dish, if I can say. But it does look exquisite.” Another Judge said, admiring the cross section of the dish he made after taking a slice away from his portion.
“The rosy colour of the beef as well is simply perfect,” The woman next to him added with an appreciative humming.
“And the demi-glace in scent alone is mesmerising, it’s making my hunger spike, I say we try it now!” Another Judge declared, her eyes almost sparkling in wonder and hunger.
“… MMMMMMMMMH!” And to the audience’s surprise a LOUD chorus of pleased moans soon came from the judges that gained an expression of contentedness upon tasting Izuku’s creation.
“… How did you make the chicken mousse so smooth?” Matoi asked with a small voice, his half-eaten portion was looking back at him with his own stomach begging for him to finish eating like in a very poor joke at his expense.
Even the wrapping around the two kinds of meat was astonishing, and the knowledge that it was supposed to be made with cheap ingredients kept stabbing the man in the guts, that stuff was supposed to be good enough just to make AT BEST cheap pastry… Not whatever impossibility was now in those plates!
“Lots of hard work, Matoi. Maniacally experimenting day in and day out. I spent months trying every variation I could think of to create new versions of existing recipes so as to give them my own personal twists, and all that experience never failed to help me, even now.” Izuku answered with a fond smile at those memories of another life.
Matoi could barely understand that, as he too spent most of his early days as a student and cooking apprentice under several famous Chefs with his nights devoted only to study and developing new cooking techniques so as to find his own path and style, until he finally found his own Cooking Path… Problem was that Izuku was technically still a teen, the same age Matoi was when he was still deep into his own studies! Somebody that young couldn’t be that good unless one was reading a Cooking-Oriented Shonen! His Age and Experience were not matching!
“Who did you put us against, Samui? What have you done?” The man thought in dread while looking at the young man standing next to him.
“Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus, Matoi. Never tickle a sleeping Dragon.” Izuku said, as if reading the man’s thoughts.
“We didn’t tickle a dragon, we damn well poked one in the eye…” The other muttered, looking miserable.
“Pretty much.” Izuku answered, shrugging.
“A perfect balance of Beef and chicken, Mister Midoriya. This creation of yours is simply marvellous.” The Head Judge said.
“Thank you, sir.”
“And now, we only need to try your last dish before moving to taste the ones made by Mister Matoi.”
“Of course, Sir. Here is my dessert: The Princess and the Pauper: A Chequered chocolate cake with four different kinds of chocolate (From 15% to 75%) and a red bean confiture, and a Dorayaki-inspired pancake cake with red bean paste filling.” He answered, smiling gently.
“In case somebody missed the meaning behind the name: The original story is about a Princess switching places with a Peasant that happened to look exactly like her so that both could try living the other’s life for a day… The Red Bean paste and confiture represent both Princess and Pauper,” He then said, looking at Matoi with a more cheeky smirk.
“I got the reference, I am not an idiot, thank you.” Matoi answered between clenched teeth.
“So fluffffyyyyyyy!” One of the female judges gushed like an excited kid, she had started with the more simple pancake cake, even holding a hand on her cheek like a young girl would.
“Look at the chequered inside! Such perfect lines! And the pattern of squares of chocolate and red bean confiture is just so precise it seems made by a 3D printer, not human hands!” a male judge said instead, studying each square of the cake and growing amazed by the precision.
“As I had warned you about, Monsieur Matoi, you were about to bite off more than you could chew with this Challenge. You definitely had more pressing matters than worrying about my own review of this...Restaurant...Of yours.” Ego said, showing the same cruel smirk many of his victims came to dread.
“You knew…” Matoi said.
“You mean if I knew he would have come here to Challenge you today of all days? Why, yes! After all I was the one to suggest it.”
“WHY?!”
“I never liked your so-called Style, Matoi. All Gleam and no Substance, all SHOW and no EXPERIENCE, that is what never took you beyond a passable 8/10 in my many reviews. Your food is merely good and pretty to look at, but nothing else remains of the experience. In fact, if I had to recall a single dish I ate that you made, even I wouldn’t be able to tell which one I ate when, they all would just blur together as a mere Good Lunch or Good Dinner.” The Critic answered, cruel just the way he liked.
“And the kid?!”
“I believe I will remember the taste and presentation of that plate of ‘Fire-Filled Carp Dragon’ soup to my dying day. Does this answer your question?” The other answered with a tone of mockery.
“I am glad you liked it, Meng Hao-san took great pride in that dish, so I am happy I could make it justice.” Izuku added, smiling happily at the praise.
“You...You…” Matoi was clearly furious, to the point of insanity.
“Come on, daddy! You can totally still win! Like, you are the Shit! The Goa-” His daughter said.
“CAN YOU TALK LIKE A NORMAL HUMAN FOR ONCE?!” He snapped.
“D-Daddy?” The young woman said, shocked by the furious anger.
“Screw the Challenge! SCREW THE DEAL! AND SCREW YOU!” Matoi roared, storming off towards his personal office in the back of the Restaurant.
“...What happened?” Rei asked, looking lost.
“That moron has just admitted defeat, deep inside at least.” Cathleen answered, looking with narrowed eyes as the man was apparently destroying his small office, going by the sound of furniture being smashed to pieces that could be faintly heard.
“I mean… His Beef Wellington is damn good, but, the smoothness of the chicken mousse just adds that certain something to Mister Midoriya’s dish that just pushes the dish’ taste farther.” The Head Judge admitted, uneasy.
“Same with the Quails, Mister Matoi’s Blue Swimmer Lobster Risotto is definitely one of the best I have ever eaten, but that quail meat and the fried onions, the meat is just so tender and buttery!” Another said.
“So you would have chosen Mister Midoriya as a winner had Matoi not thrown his little tantrum?” Ego asked.
The five judges looked down in shame, faces red and frowning, all for the audience’s confusion.
“...Matoi paid you to vote for him, didn't he?” Rei asked, sneering, and the visible flinching those five people went through was all the answer everybody else needed.
“…” Not one of them had the strength to either confirm or deny that, even lifting their heads to meet everybody’s disappointed eyes seemed impossible now for them.
“Figures.” Izuku said, shaking his head in sadness.
“Completely shameful, not just the cheating, but the foolish lack of trust in his own abilities that had that idiot cheat in so many different ways.” Ego answered, face-palming in disbelief.
“M-M-My Daddy is the best! H-H-He doesn’t need to cheat!” The man’s daughter tried saying, horrified.
“Apparently he does, kiddo.” Cathleen answered, shaking her head and nearing Izuku.
“And I think that even had he not gone through all the trouble to set-up his farce, Matoi would have lost all the same, Lil Bro. I know this, You know this and Matoi knows this. So, don’t feel sad, he did this to himself.” Cathleen then said, grabbing both Izuku’s shoulders to show him a wide, proud smile.
“Thank you, Star.” Izuku answered.
“Isn’t that right? Or you still want that bribe he promised you and lie so blatantly to our faces?” She then asked the judges, who did the impossible and had their faces turn even redder.
“...All in favour of voting for Midoriya’s Victory?” The Head Judge asked with a weak, whimper-like whisper of voice.
“… Aye.” The others answered in chorus.
“The System finds this vote inconsequential in front of the System’s own evaluation of the Dishes, but The System knows Host Izuku deserves the recognition of those fools as well. Small matters aside, The System congratulates the Host for winning yet another Challenge, the promised Prize for the Success of this Mission will be delivered upon the Host’s return to his Restaurant.” The System declared with a short victory jingle that made Izuku chuckle.
“It’s over, finally…” The young man muttered with a sigh of relief.
“Another name down, he is almost done.” Rei as well exhaled in relief.
“MIDORIYA!” It was then that Matoi made his return with a loaded gun in one hand, his phone with a message from Samui telling him his life was over, and complete madness shining in his eyes.
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Many screamed in fear and threw themselves on the ground in fear of the armed madman.
“Drop your gun, Matoi!” Cathleen ordered, moving to stand between Izuku and him to protect the young man.
“SHUT THE FUCK UP! HE RUINED MY LIFE! IF I HAVE TO GO DOWN, HE WILL GO DOWN WITH ME!” Matoi shrieked with wide, bloodshot eyes, that gun’s handle was faintly smoking due to the man being so out of it to even lose control of his Quirk.
“Troublemaker!” Whitey once again showed speed unfitting of his bulk as he flash-stepped in front of Matoi, grabbed the man’s gun and hand in a grip so strong both were mercilessly crushed into a pulp, and lifted him by the neck with his other big hand.
“Killing Intent towards the Host detected! Stop at once or you will be terminated!” The Robot, now with his eyes flashing purple, ordered.
“NO!” Matoi answered, grabbing the robot’s face with his other hand to try and burn it off, and growing scared at feeling his Quirk having no effect on the robot.
“WHITEY! NO!” Izuku ordered immediately.
“Termination cancelled by Host’s Order. You shall be stripped as an example to others!” The Robot switched into red eyes, tearing off every shred of clothing away from Matoi’s body…
BOOOOM!
And delivered a devastating punch to the naked man’s face that buried him deep underground with a completely destroyed face, and even if now blood was dripping down from Whitey’s closed fist, the man was at least still alive, even if reduced into a wreck.
“Good God, this was supposed to be just a damn cooking challenge.” Cathleen muttered with a groan.
“I know, but this sort of thing just keeps happening.” Izuku answered, looking ready to start crying.
“It’s okay, Lil’ Bro. You relax now, this has officially become a job for Pro Heroes. I’ll take care of cleaning this mess up, then we’ll have a small celebratory dinner party at my Agency, okay?” Cathleen offered with a friendly smile.
“Sure.” He answered with a small smile.
“Good.”
The Next Day – Airport -
There was a very thick air of sadness as Cathleen, in civilian Alter-Ego, and her Assistant accompanied Izuku and Rei to the airport, so to give the last goodbye to both before the Yaoyorozu Family’s personal jet brought them back to Japan.
“So… It’s time for you to leave already?” Cathleen asked, with sad puppy eyes.
“I have a Restaurant to return to, Cath. I can’t leave it behind.” Izuku answered, and grunting a little when the Pro Hero hugged him super hard.
“You sure I can’t bribe you into remaining here? I assure you there won't be a lack of customers!” She said with a childish pout.
And the small group tried valiantly to ignore various American Pro Heroes blatantly watching them from afar with various degrees of sadness on their faces.
“Awoooo…” With Super Soldato whining loudly with his wolf ears pinned down.
“Nothing says you cannot come to visit me in Japan!” Izuku tried saying.
“I might actually do that, Lil Bro! SO just keep a table free for me, ‘kay?” Cathleen asked.
“Of course!” Izuku answered, finally returning the hug with gusto.
“Good.”
“...Cathleen?” He finally asked.
“Yes?”
“You really meant it last night? When you said I could have been a good Hero?” Izuku asked with a soft voice.
“You would have needed to work super hard, but you could have had the same chances as anybody else. Probably you wouldn’t have become a Legendary Hero without a Quirk, but you still would have been a very good one.” Cathleen answered, ruffling his hair.
“Thank you Cath...And...I have left a present in your Agency this morning before we left, I hope you don’t mind.” Izuk answered, with his eyes very cloudy from his tears.
“Thank you, Lil Bro. Now go, before some Japanese Heroes really start thinking we are trying to steal you from them.” Cathleen’s Assistant said, she too with a sad smile.
“Thank you for everything,” Rei said.
“Thank you for not minding all the free breakfast I had!” Cathleen answered, laughing.
“Oh! I did mind!” Rei answered, joking, laughing just as loud.
Having bid their final goodbye to their new friends, Cathleen and her Assistant returned to the Star and Stripes Agency to find a big box waiting for them on one of the tables of the cafeteria, and on top of it, a letter from Izuku.
“There it is! I wonder what he left for us!” The Pro Hero’s Assistant said with a wide smile.
“There is a letter, let’s see what our friend has to say.” Cathleen said, reading the short missive aloud.
“Miss Cathleen,” the letter said.
“I thank you for all the help you gave me and for the encouragement about me being Hero material when even All Might said I did not have what it takes. Even if I am determined to continue on the path of the Chef, your words lifted a giant weight from my shoulders, and I will never thank you enough for that. You ARE my Hero.” the American Pro Hero said aloud.
“Aaaw, he is such a sweetie.” the woman’s Assistant said with a touched expression.
“For this reason, besides inviting you to lunch in my Restaurant should you happen to be in Japan, there is also ANOTHER dish I made with Cointreau. I am sorry if I could not give it to you sooner, but to make it properly it needs at least two days of marinating. The box should have kept it at optimal temperature, otherwise, I have left detailed directions for your Assistant to warm it properly and not ruin texture and flavour.
Thank you very much for helping me, and for showing me that there is somebody out there that believes Heroes do come in every shape.
With undying respect, Izuku Midoriya, Chef of Green Cloud Restaurant.
Ps: The Dish is called Duck a L’Orange. And Rei-san too sends all her love.”
“Another Cointreau Dish? He likes to flex on his naysayers!” the Assistant declared, snorting amused.
“Bwahahahahaha! That he does! Worthy of being another lil Bro of mine! Come on! Let’s try it now!” Star and Stripe answered, amused.
“Aye, aye! Luckily as he said the box kept it warm...Let’s taste this duck, with two days of prep work, it must be hellishly good.” the other answered, dividing the content of the big box into two plates.
“Wow me again, Lil Bro! Show me again how my precious Baby can work in the kitchen!…” Cathleen said with a wide smirk as both women gave a bite to their portion at the same time.
“…”
“…”
“….Do you want me to organise a flight to Japan?” the Assistant muttered with an expression of awe.
“HELL YEAH!” Cathleen replied before wolfing down her portion of duck with the grace of a piranha.
All things considered, Izuku enjoyed his time in America, incidents or Villain attacks or whatever, he still brought back good memories.
And not even the blatant threats of a certain Teka Todoroki he met at the Japanese airport as she was about to take her own private jet soured his mood, no matter what she said to try and have him become her personal Chef, he just told her no a couple dozen times, and when it was clear she was not stopping bothering him but seemed ready to use serious threats to have things go her way, he just jokingly poked her belly and winked at her before walking away.
“This isn’t over yet, boy!… And what does Śūnyatā even mean?!” Teka hissed in anger, with her lava-made hair burning even brighter.
“It means that you will soon learn manners! Have a nice trip!” Izuku answered, smiling even too cheerfully while waving at her as he left.
Hidden in the shadows, Enji Todoroki, Pro Hero Endeavor, watched in glee as his mother (That he pretty much hated and stopped talking with at the death of his biological father) Managed to piss-off the ONLY guy Enji actually respected/Kind-of-Feared enough to have that accursed Evil technique used on her.
“Serves you right, ‘Mother’! Hahahahaha!” The man said to himself before letting go of the thundering laugh bubbling in his chest.
He had once again dodged Teka during her annual visit to Japan she was still stubborn enough to attempt, to try and show she cared about Enji, and the Pro Hero was all too eager to see her leave again for whatever Luxurious Resort her current ATM Husband will take her too, but watching Izuku unknowingly administer some Justice in Enji’s name made sure the Hero number 2 of Japan will pay Green Cloud Restaurant frequent visits to repay the owner’s kindness, too bad leaving tips was frowned upon in Japan, Enji thought the young Chef really deserved a reward for good service.
“I really hope she will enjoy her six hour flight now!” Enji said, with a sinister smile.
High in the sky -
PROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
“Teka! Darling, you okay?!” The owl-headed man asked, worried and horrified.
“SHUT THE FUCK UP AND BRING ME MORE TOILET PAPER!” Teka screamed in misery, like a wailing ghost.
PROOOOOOOOT!
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
With Izuku -
“Aaah! Finally back home!” The young Chef said after having taken a huge breath of the air inside his beloved Restaurant.
“MEEEEOW!” Zephyr had immediately jumped in Izuku’s arms, purring contentedly at having his Partner back.
“Hi, Zeph! Did you miss me?” He asked.
“Meow.” The Pheline answered, rubbing his head under Izuku’s chin, making him laugh and pet him just as hard.
“Welcome back, kiddo. This Lord was starting to wonder when he would have had his beloved noodles again,” Blackie said, chuckling.
“Huhuhu! Never! This is my home and I will never leave it! Give me a minute and I will make you some before going to bed, I have a young Unicorn I want to say hello to.” Izuku answered, chuckling.
“Good kiddo, how was your time in that other land?”
“Eventful, but nothing too extreme. I had fun, actually.”
“Good to know. Wastes of time help nobody.” Blackie answered,
“Eeeh…” Izuku answered, and another beep from his phone caught his eyes.
“Welcome back, Izu. I missed you.” It was a message from Momo, and seeing that made Izuku’s heart beat faster and a pleasant warm spread in his chest.
“I missed you too.” He replied, adding a heart to it…
Then he saw the unopened messages of Ochako and Nejire, and reminded himself he still had a rather big issue to resolve, one he was very afraid to face, but that he knew could not be postponed further.
“After their Training Camp. We’ll finally fix this after their Training Camp. I just hope Rumi and Momo know what they are doing.” Izuku muttered, uncertain.
And while all this happened, The System watched as everything was ready for the next Event, every pawn in place to assist Izuku in taking the next step in his path as God of Cooking, all according to the Entity’s schedule to assure its beloved Host followed the most optimal path, so that all would only depend on his own skill, instead of outside interference.
And that same Summer Camp will actually play a key part in it.
Later - America - While Izuku was asleep in Japan -
"That fool failed! I can't believe it!" The woman working for the American branch of the Hero Public Safety Commission cursed to herself in vitriolic hatred while opening the door to her luxurious apartment. frowning in annoyance at losing her ticket for the promotion she had been pining after for years.
"Oh, they may have arrested Matoi already for his stunt about shooting a Pro Hero, but I will still ruin him! I will pile on him all the bullshit he pulled the newspaper did talk about yet!" She growled, roughly opening her fridge to collect some beer.
"That brat won't escape me forever! I will get him and hand him over to the big guys at the top, and get myself out of this cesspool! A Brat, a tin can and a couple of fleabags in exchange for a new string of zeros to add to my paycheck! Why would I miss this opportunity!" She spat angrily, finally entering the living room of her apartment furnished in an overly-modern style.
"Oh, you will miss it, Darling. You will miss that and much more." Shiro said with a mocking tone, he was lying on a leather couch by the giant windows of the penthouse, with his pure-white fur contrasting heavily with the pure black of the couch.
"The brat's pet? ..." The woman muttered, trying to discreetly move towards the gun she had hidden nearby.
"Indeed it is I. You see, you were planning to use my beloved Partner to fulfil your pitiful ambitions. And this Esteemed Taotie is not about to let the first weakling passing-by use my egregious persona or my Partner just to climb some silly Corporate Ladder, just because you think you deserve more and that you are not being given the respect you deserve." Shiro said while stretching lazily.
"So? What are you going to do about it?" She asked, the gun was almost in her grasp...
"I will kill you, of course. You see, my Partner prefers a more Heroic approach. Instead, I like Threats to be gone forever, so that they won't plan from the shadows and gain the upper-hand from some stupid stroke of luck. Needless Drama is called needless for a reason. And to be sure, I will devour you completely, for everybody involved, you will just disappear without a trace, nobody will ever know." Shiro answered, chuckling.
"THEN EAT THIS FIR-" The woman screamed, grabbing the gun and turning around to shoot the Taotie, only to see the small thing already pouncing on her.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
And as Shiro promised, nobody ever discovered a thing, for all parties involved, she just disappeared into thin air, without leaving a single trace behind, while Shiro simply returned to Green Cloud Restaurant to enjoy his life with his Partner Izuku, without any random nobodies planning from the shadows ready to seek revenge.
Omake Time: Dimensional Ingredient Hunting: A new Krakenlicious Menu!
Palace Ruins -
There was an air of despair and anger in the ruined room that used to be a palace of sorts, the throne room to be precise, and the assortment of people there were all looking in anger at the wall which used to be a portal just an instant ago.
“Okay! First we defeat Belos the Emperor, who happened to be a human, and force him to run away.
Then we go on with our lives until we fought him again saw the guy ‘die’, THEN later we discover that the Emperor was NOT dead as we thought, but hiding in the shadows to organise his revenge through all the messes we had to get through until now, one of which ALMOST KILLED HUNTER AND FLAPJACK, and now that we defeated him AGAIN after several battles between him and us, and in a way that took away his new monstrous powers and turned him back into being a normal human, he escaped to the human realm with a one-way portal NOBODY knew about...Right?” The only human of the group said with a tone warning them that she was very close at having a nervous breakdown.
“Yes, Luz. That’s pretty much it.” The girl’s girlfriend said, sighing and gently rubbing her back.
“...WHAT THE FRICK?!” The other shrieked.
“Yeah, girl, that’s pretty stressful.” Eda answered, shrugging.
“You are bleeding, Edalyn.” Lilith said, worried.
“I know I lost an arm again, Lily. I know. It will pass soon.” She answered, rolling her eyes.
“Soon nothing! Let me fix those bandages, they are far too loose!”
“It was a rush job to-”
“HUSH!”
“The fact remains we need to chase him.” Hunter said.
“How?! We don’t have another portal! Unless we try asking The Collector for one!” Willow answered.
“No. We are not doing that! King is barely enough to keep him entertained to keep him out of the way! We are NOT giving that psychotic and overpowered child something else to focus on now that we miraculously defused him! We just need to find Belos before things escalate in a way that everything becomes some ‘Final Fight for the sake of the world’ crap!” Eda yelled.
“Then what?” Amity asked.
“We need to follow him! Even as a human he may still be a threat!” Luz answered.
“Yes, but how?! You can’t just punch a hole in realit-”
BOOOM!
As if to answer Gus, a pure-white tear in reality opened to let something flying-out at impossible speed, thanks to a big robotic hand punching forward through the same hole in Time and Space, and whatever the thing had punched, it slammed against the wall at the opposite side of the room so hard the bullet remained stuck into it like some ugly piece of modern art.
“Troublemaker dealt with.” Whitey declared while walking through the portal with heavy steps.
“Ok, that thing CAN punch a hole in Reality instead.” The poor boy added with a weak chuckle.
And as soon as Izuku as well walked out of the portal Shiro opened for the group, in a Magical School nearby every member of the Seer Coven started screaming in horror mid-lesson as they all unwillingly had a vision of him and the System’s arrival, and got harshly punished for their peeping by the Entity itself with a blinding headache and the madness-inducing shattered vision of an indescribable Eldritch Being looking back at them with infinite beastly eyes and harshly punishing their “Blasphemous” curiosity.
“There we go, this should be the place. Thank you, Shiro.” Izuku said, and helped Ochako walk out of the portal that closed soon after.
“Kyun!” the Ancestral Taotie answered with a proud melodious call from the young Chef’s shoulders.
“Sure, getting attacked by a robed weirdo as soon as we arrived is not a good start.” Ochako answered.
“I saw worse, and the guy had a glass jaw, Whitey took even shorter than usual to deal with a threat.”
“…”
“… Is that Belos?” Lilith asked with a weak voice once seen the destroyed face of the guy they were trying to hunt down, now stripped near-naked and with his face looking more similar to minced meat, and at the ugly smiley-faced-printed boxers he was apparently wearing under his clothes.
“Why is he in his boxers?” Luz asked, utterly confused.
“Troublemakers are stripped as an example to others!” Whitey answered.
“Strip-WAIT! Is that an Abomatron?” Amity asked.
“Never seen a white one.” Lilith answered.
“You opened a portal here? How?!” Luz asked.
“What animal is that?” Willow asked next while pointing at Shiro.
“Who in Titan’s name are you?!” Hunter asked next.
“… I guess I will need to explain.” Izuku said with a groan while face-palming, by now able to recognize when a Dimensional Sortie started BAD.
Two hours later – Eda’s House -
“And here I am.” Izuku said after having finished his tale, he had also prepared some snacks for the group of warriors he had unknowingly helped fix everything ahead of time, once again derailing the course of Fate by helping wrap things up a lot sooner than planned.
“So you can open portals freely? Just like that?” Lilith asked, shocked.
“Not me personally, my Sponsor sent me to your version of the Human World with a portal, then my Pet Partner Shiro opened a new one here, my actual destination. But yes, I do often travel to other worlds, visiting other dimensions helps broaden my scope as a Chef.” He answered.
“Never seen such a display of resources just for cooking.” Hunter admitted with a whistle.
“I live a very peculiar life, yes.” Izuku answered, chuckling amused.
“Oh my Titan! Best rock berries sandwich I have ever eaten!” Gus said in awe, and his mouth still full.
“Thank you! Your land’s wood troll meat goes surprisingly well with that once properly treated.” Izuku answered with a big smile.
“Wait! So you are a human that travels to other dimensions?” Luz asked with wide eyes.
“Icchan has been doing this for quite a while, yes.” Ochako answered.
“No way!”
“You do know that the way you explained the mechanics behind it makes it go against every possible Law of Magic we know of?” Lilith said.
“...Eh.” Both teens answered with a shrug.
“Ehehehe! I like that answer.” Eda admitted, chuckling.
“And what kind of Ingredients or recipe brought you to the Boiling Isles?” Amity asked.
“I was asked to create a couple of Kraken-based recipes, nothing too complex.” He answered.
“Kraken? That’s a fancy Ingredient!” Gus said with a whistle.
“And hard to come-by! You can usually only find parts of baby Kraken in the market, and they all are insanely expensive.” Willow added, worried.
“Adult Krakens taste bad?” Izuku asked.
“Nope, they do taste very good, or so I am told, it’s just a suicide to hunt one!” Amity answered.
“Oh, but you did hunt one already?” Ochako said.
“Yes I did, but I guess I do need a suitable partner for the ones I captured alive to breed a new species to use as an Ingredient, soon the younglings will be old enough for breeding, and this world’s version of the Kraken is probably the best choice for that, a compatible species.” Izuku answered.
“Just be careful.” She said,
“Always, Occhan.” He answered with a reassuring smile.
“Hello? You heard that? It’s dangerous to hunt Krakens!” Luz said aloud.
“I know what I am doing, don’t worry.” Izuku answered.
“No, you don’t!” Lilith answered, appalled.
“We agree to disagree then,” The Chef said, chuckling.
“Any idea where we can start looking for one?” Ochako asked.
“Eh! Not many, unless you plan to go fishing in what they jokingly call The Sea of Nightmares, not many places are accessible enough for a guy to privately go hunting for Krakens, every other place is owned by fishing companies.” Eda answered, laughing.
“Sea of nightmares it is then, I don’t have time to waddle through legal red tape.” Izuku answered with a scrunched nose and walked towards the door.
“Hopefully it won’t be THAT BAD.” Ochako added, sighing.
“ARE YOU TWO INSANE?!” The others yelled, and several circles and glyphs were drawn to magically seal the door shut.
“No, I am just a Chef on a mission...Eh...Shiro-kun, please?” Izuku answered, only to look at the sealed door with a raised eyebrow.
“Tch! Weaklings.” The Taotie answered, shocking the others by quite simply tearing the blockade apart like paper with a playful paw pat of his.
“Thank you, Shiro! Well, see you tomorrow! Your school is called Hexside, yes? I may need to borrow their cafeteria kitchen for my test dishes if I can’t find any other place, I hope it won’t be a problem. Bye!” Izuku said, closing the door behind himself after Ochako and Whitey as well exited the place.
“…”
“That guy can’t possibly mean to go to the Sea of Nightmares, catch an adult Kraken and then return here, all in one day and alone.” Lilith said, sighing in dismay.
“We must stop them!” Luz yelled.
“We can try, but that Robot thing of his and that strange pet worry me.” Amity answered.
“They will understand if we talk this out!” Willow added, frantic.
“…”
“Eda? You are awfully quiet.” Hunter said.
“…” The woman just drew a circle in the air, and a small wooden owl head appeared from the floor.
“…”
“HOW?!” Lilith shrieked.
“My magic is back…” Eda answered, looking at that wooden owl head with uncertainty.
“Wha?!” Raine gurgled-out while mid-choking on his sandwich.
“HOW?! NOTHING IN THIS WORLD CAN RETURN MAGIC TO A WITCH THAT LOST IT!” Lilith screeched, unable to comprehend the impossibility she was witnessing.
“Who cares!? I am back, baby! And I can still turn into a sexy harpy too! I got the best of both worlds, ha-ah!” Eda answered, laughing insanely happy and summoning owl heads celebrating her return with an actually melodious chorus of burps.
“HOW?!”
“Hey! I have a question!” Gus said.
“WHAT?!” Lilith roared, clearly at wits’ end already.
“If nothing in this world can fix Lost Magic, what about stuff from other worlds?” He said while pointing at the food they all had been eating that Izuku had prepared for them.
“You can’t heal people with food!” Amity said, groaning.
“We don’t, but what if he can? He visits other worlds, yes? Maybe he learned that there!” Raine said with a look of realisation.
“…” Lilith looked at the trays, then at the door Izuku walked out of, then back at the trays, then at the door, then at the trays, back and forth several times.
“CATCH HIIIIIIIIM!” Until finally, overcome by her ‘Magical Nerd’ side, Lilith gave a deafening mad scream and ran to the door and out the house, with the intent of forcefully extracting answers from the Chef clearly visible in her eyes.
“Wow! Barges into our World, Fixes Eda’s unfix-able problem, refuses to elaborate further, leaves. What a GigaChad attitude!” Gus said, laughing loudly.
“Human Memes later! Let’s go before Lilith gets herself killed just to ask that guy questions while hunting monsters!” Luz yelled, and pulling him by the arm, the small group hurried outside to chase the new strange visitor.
“…”
“...Guys?” It was only some time later that a small and strange furry thing with a face resembling a skull mask entered the now empty house.
“Collector kicked me out and re-sealed himself back in his place, he kept crying and screaming about ‘Ancient Ones coming to eat him again’ and wanted to stay alone.” King said.
“...Hello?” He asked again, confused.
The Next Day - Hexside School -
“I can’t believe we lost him!” Luz said.
“He can move fast, that’s for sure.” Willow answered, sighing.
“I am sorry for Miss Lilith, she had so many questions!” Gus said, sighing.
“Yeah, she was devastated.”
“I just hope those two will be careful.” Amity admitted, sighing.
“For the last time, we have no sightings of any Green-Haired Deities! I already asked the Blight Family and many more twice about any wayward family members with green hair, and it seems like all of them are accounted for!” Principal Bump passed by them in that moment while talking into a crow-like being with a number pad on its chest.
“What?” Willow muttered, confused.
“!!!!!” Whatever was the answer, they could only hear it come out yelled with a high-pitched tone strong enough the poor witch had to pull away the crow from his ear.
“Listen, I double-checked that God Of Cooking Legend you mentioned, and besides few sparse notes about how to recognize one listed in the diaries of Pukington the Very Fool, I can’t find any other detail, and with the author having a name like THAT, you need to excuse me if I am not 100% convinced the Legend is legit!” the Principal answered, sarcastic.
“!!!!”
“I don’t CARE if you and most of your best Apprentices faintly foresaw the arrival of a green-haired one in the Boiling Isles yesterday before you all started to convulse and drool out of Forbidden Knowledge induced Madness! I have an actual school to run and can’t waste time with a few indescribable shapes you saw into the smoke of your pipe!”
“!”
“Animal guts, fine! Whatever!” Bump answered, rolling his eyes.
“The Principal is in a foul mood today.” Luz said.
“I heard the Seer Coven and the Beast Coven have gone crazy lately, something has triggered their powers and danger senses and now they all talk of the end of the world...Again.” Gus answered, sighing.
“You people have very exciting lives here.” Luz answered.
“I assure you that it is not always like this, I swear.” Amity answered, leaning her head on the girl’s shoulder to be petted a little.
“I believe you, sweet potato.”
“NO! I won’t put EVERYBODY on high alert just because you think a God from another realm is out there jaywalking! I have a reputation and won’t put it at risk because you-”
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Heavy tremors and explosions soon reached them with a jaunty rhythm similar to something heavy walking towards the school.
Then the giant body of an adult Kraken slowly appeared from the horizon bobbing up and down while carried by something, or somebody.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
“Santa Madre de Dios…” Luz muttered at seeing Izuku carrying by himself the forty metre tall thing over his head and passing in front of her and her friends without a care in the world.
“He found a Kraken…” Amity added, just as surprised.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
“Good evening! I was wondering if I could borrow your kitchen for some test cooking, in exchange I will let your students eat for free.” Izuku asked, with each step of his sounding like a terrible explosion and causing small earthquakes while his feet sunk into the terrain of a couple inches at every step.
“...I’ll call you later.” Bump said to the crow with a squeaky voice.
“I know it’s sudden, but nobody else wants to let us borrow their kitchen and we really need one.” Ochako said, sheepish.
“This way.” The Principal, still looking with bulged-out eyes at the towering monstrosity held up by who he recognized as being a mere human Chef, answered while signalling them to follow him.
“Oh! Thank you! You are a life-saver! I captured a bunch alive for breeding for my Restaurant, but I need to test a few recipes before actually adding new Kraken dishes to the menu!” Izuku said with a very grateful expression.
“Understandable, please follow me.”
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!…
“...Did he just say he captured a bunch of Krakens as big as that one?” Gus asked, faintly.
“Yep!” Willow answered with a squeak.
“Wasn’t he human?” Amity asked.
“He said he was! And I am certain Japanese guys can do stuff like that without magic only in their Comics and cartoons!” Luz answered, unsure.
“He is not using Magic to make it lighter, that’s for sure.” Willow added, looking at the long trail of deep imprints Izuku had left behind while walking.
Later that day – Cafeteria -
Every student and teacher was sitting curiously at the tables waiting for the strange Foreigner Chef that had barged into the school while carrying a giant monster over his head to finish cooking, in what many thought was a publicity stunt that went way over the top.
“So, this is where that human went.” A voice called-out from the entrance.
“Oh, no…” Amity groaned in dismay as her mother Odalia as well made her appearance while accompanied by her older sister.
“We are just as surprised as you are, mittens.” Her older brother said, sighing.
“She is in a terrible mood too, apparently she is not taking well to a human showing off that much, especially so soon after the former Emperor has been turned to stone, tossed into the boiling sea and outed as human as well.” Emira said, joining her siblings Amity and Edric at the same table.
“I still can’t understand how he can lift that as a human without using glyphs…Or how his hair is naturally green, I thought it was dye, but...It doesn’t make any sense!” Luz admitted.
“Oh, from what I saw when he entered the school carrying that monster, his arms surely are full of the right muscles to lift all that…” Edric said with a more dreamy tone.
“What do you mean by that?” Emira answered with narrowed eyes.
“I saw him first.” Her twin answered with a growl.
“Nonsense!”
“…” Amity instead watched in abject horror as her two brothers started a war of glares and hisses worthy of two angry human cats, making it dawn on her that there was a very concrete chance both had started veering for the same guy for romance.
“Seriously! What is with our Family and finding Humans endearing!?” She thought, until Luz leaned on her shoulder and shot Amity a sweet smile that melted the Witch’s heart.
“Must be the smile...Or the ears…Whatever.” she then thought, preferring to just enjoy the closeness of HER human, with a cutesy red face.
Meanwhile -
“Yes?” Ochako, once again acting as Izuku’s waitress, asked.
“Let’s say we will let the boy leave with all that Kraken meat, he better make it worth it.” The woman ruling the Blight Family with an iron fist declared haughtily.
“I am sure we won’t disappoint, but just to be sure, any particular request?”
“Just wondering if your boyfriend can actually cook proper food.” Odalia answered with a sneer.
“...Uh?”
“I’ll make everything worthy of a lady of high class such as you, don’t worry. I promise I will be up to your standards, Madame.” Izuku answered with an elegant bow.
“I doubt that, but I will humour you, human.” Odalia replied, humming in distaste.
“Thank you for the chance.” He answered, unfazed, and returned to the kitchen.
“Bitch.” Ochako muttered.
“You mean witch?” Izuku asked, snorting.
“Nope.” she answered, for the amusement of her boyfriend.
A Short time later -
“Here we are: smoked Kraken tentacle tips (a full tentacle would be way too big for a plate), with a foam of aromatic herbs, and egg custard made with ogre-vulture eggs and decorated by flowers made with crunchy potato strips.” Izuku listed once brought the woman the artsy dish.
“Ogre-Vulture...You really got your hands on those too?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.
“I got a couple of those birds on my way here, I was told their meat is actually delicious, same as the eggs, turns out they are right.” Izuku answered.
“That giant bird is the natural predator of the Krakens.”
“He did look the part, yes. Now, with your permission, I shall bring the other dishes out, both to you and the others.” Izuku said with a bow, and then left.
“...Aren’t Ogre-Vultures, like, very big?” Emira asked.
“Enough to forcefully pull Krakens out of the water, yes.” Amity answered with a tense tone.
“And he captured those too.” Gus added, completely confused.
“Well then, useless small talk aside, let me try this fool’s food.” Odalia said, rolling her eyes and taking a bite off the food with a despondent expression, that only lasted until she actually tasted it.
“Holy Titan.” She muttered, shocked.
Then another plate came...
“Stuffed Kraken tentacle. Stuffed with bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, Kraken meat, Ogre-Vulture egg, pepper and cheese. The sauce is white wine made with the golden grapes of my Restaurant’s island reserve, pepper and a bit of chilli peppers.” Izuku listed while delivering the plate himself to Odalia, while Ochako took care of the others.
"…”
“Why don’t you ask her out, hn? You seem awfully entranced by her!” Amity said with a very annoyed tone.
“Wha?! I was not!” Luz said.
“Tch! You are ogling that waitress! Just admit it!”
“I was not! I swear! You are my Sweet Potato! My Super Awesome girlfriend! I will never need any other girl ever!”
“Then why were you not missing a SINGLE move of that girl?” The Witch asked with a vitriolic tone.
“...Promise to not get angry…”
“Hard to promise if THAT is the preface!” Amity growled.
“It’s just...Her waitress uniform is so cute...So I was trying to imagine how you would look wearing that…” Luz admitted, face super red.
“Really?!”
“Uh-hu...”
“I see. Gus!”
“Oh my Titan, this tastes darn amazing!” The boy was too taken by eating to even just hear her.
“Have you tried this Pasta thing?! I swear it's massaging my mouth!” Willow added, awed just like everybody else was.
“Gus?”
“Hn! I say we ask our mother to take him in as the Family Chef.” Emira said.
“Sure! But you are not using that as an excuse to court him!” Edric answered.
“Hey!” Amity tried again.
“AS IF! Why should he settle for you when he could have ME!” Emira shot back.
“Gus!” Amity yelled.
“Wha?”
“Illusion! Waitress uniform! On me! NOW!” She ordered.
“On it! On it!” The guy answered, drawing a circle in the air with his finger and casting the illusion needed to turn Amity’s clothes into the same uniform Ochako wore as a waitress of Green Cloud Restaurant.
“Good, thank you. So?”
“GRFHISBUIB!”
“Hn! Better.” She declared, hugging her brain-melted girlfriend and enjoying the ‘Power’ she had over her, and finally enjoying the food herself, to her amazement at the unexpected great taste and quality.
The long stream of test dishes was, all in all, a complete success once again for Izuku, and he gladly accepted the applause everybody gave him, and that was also why he was ready to run at the moments notice, with he and Ochako having already switched into more casual clothes best designed for a daring escape, as usual.
“I must say, my boy, that I was wrong. And that is something I usually hate to admit.” Odalia said with a stern expression.
“I am glad you and everybody else enjoyed my food, Madame.” He answered.
“Indeed I did enjoy it. That is why I struck a deal with Principal Bump: Starting today you will work as a Chef for the Blight Family and this school on alternate days, especially since the Potion Coven has a lot of questions for you after you showed how to fully remove the toxins from the Dead Cherries, turning them edible while leaving the toxins still usable to make healing potions.” Odalia said, haughtily.
“My God...He even made Fairies taste good!” Luz was heard gurgling in the background while gorging herself in Fairy Cherry Cheesecake.
“Thank you…” Soon followed by Amity whispering thanks to Ochako when she handed her a copy of the recipe hand-written by Izuku.
“Perfect for Human girlfriends.” The young Hero Student answered, winking.
“Sorry, but I can’t acc-”
BANG!
In that moment Lilith interrupted Izuku’s answer by kicking open the cafeteria doors, and showing a pair of blazing eyes that freeze whoever looked at her, all the while dragging a laughing Eda and a shocked Raine behind her.
“I FOUND YOU!” Lilith yelled.
“Uh?”
“YOU REGREW EDA’S ARM TOO! HOW?! TELL ME YOUR SECRETS!” The woman demanded, pointing at the brand-new natural arm of her sister, instead of the prosthetic the woman used to have up until the previous day.
“I… Weeeell...” Izuku tried saying.
“I KNEW IT! The Diaries were right! The visions were right too! You are that God of Cooking we foresaw!” The Head of the Seer Coven came in next, looking just as creepy with their own wide eyes.
“God of Cooking?” Many muttered, confused.
“And this is our cue to leave! RUN!” Izuku yelled, and with merely a split-second difference, Ochako as well jumped out the window to join her boyfriend in a daring escape, with Whitey lagging slightly behind so to protect them from the magic the ones chasing them tried using to stop their escape.
“Stop running and answer my questions!” The Seer Coven Leader yelled.
“DON’T GO! I will put a good word with my mother! Please! Just a date or two! I WILL WORSHIP EACH AN EVERY ADORABLE FRECKLE OF YOURS WITH A LOVING KISS EACH!” Amira said.
“KISSES!? A DATE?!” Odalia yelled.
“Don’t listen to her! Everybody knows Guy Love is purer! CHOOSE ME, MY BEEFY HUMAN HUNK-CAKE!” Edric answered.
“YOU TOO?! DO ALL MY CHILDREN FIND HUMANS ATTRACTIVE?!”
“TELL ME YOUR SECRETS! IT’S AN ORDER!” Lilith yelled.
“For the love of God! SYSTEM!” Ochako and Izuku yelled in chorus.
“Teleportation!” The Entity chose to forgo any light show and simply get them all back home in a blink, leaving behind yet another group of psychos chasing Izuku and his companions empty-handed.
“NOOOOOOO!” Several voices yelled in despair.
“...There must be a Variable the System can’t find. What is it?” The System said to itself, once again unable to understand how a Sortie ended up with its Host forced to escape in a hurry yet again.
Extra scene -
“Four girlfriends?!” Luz said in shock.
“Yep! Here!” Ochako answered, and showed them the pictures of the others she had on her phone, all group pictures the four girls and Izuku took together during their various dates.
“…”
“…”
“Why don’t you ask her to give you a copy of the picture? So you can keep it.” Luz said with a grunt, having seen Amity look at Rumi’s pictures with a transfixed expression.
“W-W-What?! NO! Wait!” The other answered.
“Maybe I will ask Eda to help me grow rabbit ears, you seem to LOVE those!” Luz said, walking away with a disappointed, and childish, huff.
“WAIT! Wait! She means nothing to me! Darling! Honey! My Beloved Sweet Potato! You are my one and only Human Goddess, I swear! Honest! SHE JUST SEDUCED ME! I am innocent! I Love you only!” Amity said while chasing after her, dropping a saccharine pet name after another.
“...Show me I am your only girl.” Luz answered with narrowed eyes.
Amity’s answer was a tackle and a deep kiss, which seemed to be the right answer.
“Those two are a Lesbian Disaster Duo.” Ochako said, chuckling.
“Yep, but a very cute couple.” Izuku answered, smiling.
“Definitely!”
“Oh, you have no idea how bad they can be!” The group of friends of the two girls answered with a suffering sigh.
With This another chapter is done, sorry if I take so long.
I wish I had more free time to write, along with many less issues.
Next chapter the damn pairing will finally get resolved, honesty, I can’t wait.
Sorry if I sometimes use dishes from Shokugeki no Soma for the Challenges, but while “Normal” dishes are perfect for normal cooking scenes, I felt that more “Shonen” Dishes would fit best for more dramatic Cooking Battles.
Sorry about that.
About the Omake…
I have been introduced very recently to Owl House by a very very dear Friend and I lament not watching the show sooner XD
SO!
To you others that “ Know me” …
Do you think I would have what it takes to give a shot at writing some small somethings for the OH Fandom?
Please let me know, Thank you!
Chapter 24: The Fury of the King.
Summary:
Many things get resolved, one of which Izuku's Love Life and Himiko's form of Employment.
Notes:
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/Nejire
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
Don't get used to this, I just got some free time and already wrote the next chapter. XD
The next update will fall into my usual slow, crawling schedule. But I was so damn eager to resolve Himiko and the Poly situation I couldn't wait anymore.
On a more serious note, I hope the methods I used to fix those two issues are satisfying, otherwise I will need to remove the chapter and rewrite it completely...
I don't want to do that.
Please don't make me do that...
Chapter Text
I am a victim of the very infuriating Bot floating around AO3 insisting I am using AI to write my stories, if any body has an idea how to stop/alert the Mods please let me know.
But, just to make it clear, this is my answer to this sort of accusation :
FUCK NO!
I do not go to sleep at 4 AM in the morning whenever I write just to be accused of using a program to write for me.
NO AI used here. :)
AI writing is against AO3 Terms of Service too, I believe, so I would be a moron to attempt that.
If you read this, the chapter has been fixed by my Beta Reader.
Chapter 24: The Fury of the King.
Green Cloud Restaurant – Kitchen -
It was a calm night, just after closing hour, the Restaurant was devoid of people and the sign had just been turned onto the Closed side and the drapes pulled so that nothing could be seen from the street outside, giving Izuku the freedom of lowering the lights a bit and playing some soft music while cleaning the tables.
“Me-Meeeow! Me-Me-Meow!…” Zephyr the Pheline hummed a happy tune to himself with a low voice while sweeping the floor under the watchful eyes of Shiro, and paying attention to not wake-up the snoring Blackie under one of the Restaurant’s trees.
Eri had already gone to sleep in her own cutesy small bedroom, where Izuku had once again read her a couple bedtime stories just like his mother used to do with him…Okay, in his case it was just Inko reading aloud a couple pages of All Might’s official biography to him, but the intentions were the same.
And now there he was, cleaning his store after some late-night training all alone in his kitchen, and thinking about how Momo and the other girls were out there somewhere doing some ‘Special Hero Training’ organized by UA.
He had also finally exchanged some polite messages with both Ochako and Nejire, but while he understood they were both sorry for the whole Poly Plan Fiasco, things between them were still fairly frosty, even if part of him did want to forgive them, he also knew the decision was not up to him only.
Sigh! “…” He sighed loudly to himself, once again assaulted by that tiny part of him that still dreamed of becoming a Hero, and ever so “helpfully” pushing at the front of his mind all the ‘What If’ scenarios and the possible different paths his life could have taken had he been born with a proper Quirk or just decided to try entering UA after returning from his Isekai with his current skills.
“...The doctor is right, I really need to stop overthinking things, and focus on the here and now instead of what could have been.”He muttered, dejected.
He both hated and thanked the therapy sessions the others talked him into taking to finally start fixing some of his issues, the weekly meetings with that Psychologist were really helping him, but at the same time, talking about certain things still hurt even after all the years he spent in his other life.
“Is The Host alright?” the Entity asked all of a sudden.
“Uh?” Izuku answered, eloquently.
“The System can tell The Host is excessively stressed and depressed, this is not good for The Host’s Health, nor for him to walk an optimal path to become the God of Cooking of the Hero World.”
“It’s nothing, really.” he answered, showing a tiny smile and waving off the Entity’s concerns.
“It is not nothing, Host. Recent events and the increase of Customers are weighing on your psyche, and the System knows this situation will continue until a second waitress or waiter will be found to at least lighten the burden of managing your Restaurant. So the System has a limited time offer for The Host.” the System said.
“What kind of offer?” Izuku asked with narrowed eyes.
“The levels of distrust are still too high.” the Entity said.
“The offer, System, what is it?”
“The System knows that in a mountain range nearby there are mushrooms to collect, and based on The Host’s profile, a night stroll in the woods to complete a menial task will help him clear his mind and relax.”
“...Oh! I thought you would have sent me to another dimension!”
“Not this time, Host.”
Call it paranoia, but there was a small prickling feeling faintly gnawing the back of the Young Chef head, something coming from both his lives as Izuku and Zaus, a danger sense born from dealing daily with young Katsuki’s temper and honed to near-perfection by his forays in the Gourmet World as Zaus, and now that the two powers had been combined by Izuku’s return from his Isekai, his ‘bullshit sense’ became even more sensible.
“This mistrust is honestly hurtful, Host. The System cannot understand why this is happening.”
“So you say I can go collect mushrooms by myself...And that’s it?” he asked.
“Yes, Host. No minimum quantity, no time limit. You are only asked to make the trip worthwhile by not slacking off.” the System answered.
“I don’t slack-off, thank you.” he hissed in answer.
“The System knows and is proud of the Host for that. The System will organize the trip immediately, The Host has ten minutes to get ready.”
“Okay. But why was it a Limited Time Offer?” he asked.
“To give a false sense of urgency to The Host and stop him from overthinking things like he usually does.”
“...That was a low blow.” Izuku admitted, annoyed.
“The System only acts with The Host’s best interests in mind.” the Entity answered.
“I know, but sometimes you take extreme routes to do that. Let’s go, Shiro-kun, some fresh air will do some good to you too!” Izuku admitted.
“Kyuuuh!” Shiro the Ancestral Taotie answered promptly, and immediately jumped on the Chef’s back to wrap himself around the young man’s neck like a living scarf.
“Zephyr-kun? I leave the Fort to you, please keep the place safe, and if Eri wakes-up, help her in whatever she needs, okay? I will be back soon.” The Chef said.
“Meow!” The short cat-like being answered while striking a strict military pose.
“Nothing will hurt my Partner’s child! NOTHING!” The Pheline thought in burning determination.
“Blackie?”
“Uuuhrm! Just go, kiddo. Should things really get bad this Lord will magnanimously take action. Just go and relax and let me sleep.” The Lord Dog answered with a sleepy voice and without even opening an eye.
“Thank you, guys. I’ll be going then.” Izuku answered, grateful, before walking towards his kitchen from where he will be teleported to the location of his small ‘Night stroll’.
Ten Minutes later – Mountains -
In an empty clearing surrounded by trees stood a small patch of grass where fireflies flew around in lazy circles, illuminating with their pale light the few flowers growing in colorful patches here and there; and out of nowhere, an unnatural gust of wind came to disturb the poetic scene to accompany a wide circle of mysterious letters inscribed in the air with pure light spinning rapidly to form a portal from which a young man in green Chef attire with a fluffy creature around his neck and a tall robot with round bulging belly calmly walked out from. And once the strange group fully walked out of the portal, the circle of light faded away with a last whooshing sound, soon returning everything to its former peace.
“Uuuuhm! The air is so crisp here! God, I really needed this!” Izuku said once took a huge breath of the fresh mountain air, and releasing it soon after with an expression already more relaxed than before.
“Well, I must admit The System surprised me for real this time! A peaceful stroll through the woods, it feels almost nostalgic! Let’s go, Whitey, we have mushrooms to collect!” he then said, and giving a gentle pat to the robot’s soft belly.
“Understood.” the Robot answered with a nod, and as soon as a tall basket appeared on its back, the bald machine fell in step with the Chef to follow him.
The mountain was silent and only slightly cold, a perfect reprieve from the heat that was washing over Musutafu, and Izuku soon found himself humming a small tune while collecting the few mushrooms he found, along few local truffles, and throwing everything into the basket on Whitey’s back.
It was clear the System knew there weren’t many mushrooms to begin with, so Izuku did think it was all a small excuse to help him relax since normally the Entity would have asked for an insane amount of Ingredients to be collected in such a simple sortie, so the young Chef felt actually grateful for the small vacation the strict Sponsor offered him.
“Buuuui!” This did not mean the few boars he met along the way went spared! Four of them were actually captured and painlessly put down and added to the big basket; he was still a Chef, and a true Chef never misses a chance to collect good Ingredients.
“Is that juniper?! Awesome! It goes amazing with boar meat!” Izuku said with sparkling eyes while he collected the berries from the small bush he found.
He was having so much fun! Peace and quiet, fresh and clean air, no monster chasing him and nobody to fight! IT WAS PERFECT!
BOOOOOOM!
It was then that Izuku felt the ground tremble under his feet and a LOUD explosion echo everywhere, as if somebody tried demolishing the entire side of the mountain.
“Damn it! Who does mining work at night?!” Izuku cursed as the last vestiges of the shock-wave still rang in his ears.
“Kyuuuuuh!” In answer Shiro darted forward in a mad run, having smelled something that caught his attention.
“Shiro! Wait!” The Young Chef yelled while chasing his running companion through the woods followed close behind by Whitey.
Just a bit farther ahead -
“GUNHEAD MARTIAL ARTS + ENBU: NIRVANA REVERSAL!” Ochako yelled while sidestepping the forward thrust of the Himiko’s knife at the last second, grabbing the outstretched arm with her right hand, and once moved behind the blond girl, using the augmented strength offered by the Enbu Arts to fully fuse her own momentum and Himiko’s into a palm thrust on the Villain’s back that sent her rolling on the floor and destroyed completely the contraption on her back.
“Holy Croak-ap!” Tsuyu yelled with wide eyes.
“Ah...Ah...I did it...I am finally getting close to using Enbu for real!…” the now heavily-panting girl answered, she was pale and drenched in sweat.
“Whatever that is, your arm did not like it,” Tsuyu answered, eyeing in apprehension how Ochako’s left arm now hung limp at her side.
“I-I-I did not break it, I am just too tired. He did tell me that it was tiring, I just did not know it was this much exhausting.” she admitted, panting heavily.
Cough! In the meantime Himiko coughed-out a big blob of blood and threw away her broken contraption on her back, but besides that, she looked unharmed, only annoyed at the loss of the blood she had collected.
“Damnit, I got it wrong and that thing took the brunt of the attack. I am still not good enough at this to pull off a proper Enbu strike.” Ochako spat in dismay.
“Proper? You sent her flying!”
“Well, I aimed at knocking her down, not forcing her spine out of her mouth, but I failed in restricting the power enough and I ended-up breaking my concentration.”
“That still hurts, Ochako-chan! Now I will have to collect blood the old way...Oh well! It’s way more fun like that!” Himiko said with a crazed smile marred by the thin line of blood flowing from her head down to her chin, she just gave a deranged laugh and lunged forward again.
“No, you won’t!” Tsuyu yelled, grabbing her friend with her long tongue and jumping away to drag her to safety.
“Come here! It will be fun, promise!” the Villain answered, switching direction immediately to intercept the frog girl as soon as she landed.
“Ocha-” CLANG! Tsuyu’s new scream was interrupted by a blurry humanoid shape appearing in front of Ochako to parry the knife swipe of Himiko.
“Uh?” The Villain uttered in surprise at seeing a knife seemingly made of bone stopping her steel-made one, especially since the one holding the knife had an uncanny resemblance to her first crush, a boy that would have been her very first murder had a passing Pro Hero not caught her in the act forcing her to run away.
“Hoy, that’s my Waitress and friend you are attacking.” Izuku declared coldly and with narrowed eyes before forcefully pushing Himiko away.
“Izuku!” Ochako yelled with wide eyes.
“What are you doing here?” Tsuyu asked after seeing Shiro return to lie around his neck and Whitey walking in front of them in a protective manner.
“I was sent here for what was supposed to be a peaceful stroll in the forest to collect mushrooms, I was not aware any of you were here, but I am glad Shiro-kun could sense Ochako’s scent and brought me here. Do you need help?” Izuku answered.
“I…”
“It’s okay, Ochako. I am not mad, not anymore.” He said while briefly flashing her a small smile before re-focusing fully on Himiko.
“Thank you,” Ochako answered, smiling happily and with tears threatening to spill over in relief.
“No offense, croak, but I doubt a Chef will be of help…” Tsuyu answered.
“Tsuyu, he is the one teaching me Enbu, Icchan is stronger than what he looks.” Ochako answered, drying her tears and recovering her Hero determination.
“You must be the guy Shigaraki hates! Oooh! I wonder what you will look like while bleeding!” Himiko finally said in realization.
“Are you okay?” Izuku asked when he noticed the vacant look in her eyes.
“Oh, yeah! I am having a blast!” the Villain answered before jumping at him.
Clang! Again her knife met his, and to her surprise she could actually see a shard fly off her knife’s blade, not his.
“No, you are not.” he muttered, noticing how she seemed to be looking at everything and nothing at the same time, as if barely able to understand where she was or who she was talking with.
“Is somebody else from your class here?” Izuku asked while jumping back to avoid the follow-up swipe of Himiko.
“We are all here, this was supposed to be our training camp,” Ochako answered.
“You all came here?! In the middle of the mountains?”
“We are training with the Wild Wild Pussycats, Izuku-san,” Tsuyu answered.
“Oh! Their Inn! I get it. Can you move? I can keep her occupied while you seek help!” Izuku offered.
“But, she-”
“We will, you...You just be careful, please. I still need to apologize properly.” Ochako answered.
“I am no pushover, remember. NOW GO!” Izuku answered, this time HE jumped Himiko to cross blades with her.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Under the watchful eyes of Whitey, Himiko and Izuku soon fell into a flurry of movement, thrusts and swipes meeting midway in showers of sparks as metal and dragon bone met at high speed with great strength and yet a fluidity of movement similar to a dance.
“Let’s go!” Ochako summoned the very few sparks of strength she still possessed and used her good arm to drag Tsuyu away.
“She will kill him, Ochako-chan! Why is that robot not helping?” Tsuyu asked as they ran through the woods.
“Icchan is way stronger than he looks, absurdly so. I have no idea why he holds back that much, but I assure you that psycho will hardly put a dent on him, and if he had not asked Whitey for help, it must mean he saw something,”
“Something?”
“Trust me on that, let’s go!” Ochako answered, pulling even harder on her friend’s arm to make her run faster.
With Momo -
“This way!” Momo yelled while still dragging the wounded Tomoko with her.
“He-He wants me! Let me go and run!” The green-haired Pro Hero begged as blue fire kept raining all around them, soon turning the whole patch of forest around them in a scorching inferno.
“They want your Quirk, and we can’t let them get their hands on it! And I did not become a Hero just to let Villains win that easily! They will have to tear you away from my dead hands!” Momo answered, ignoring the pain from the burning mark on her side as she kept helping the other woman to run.
“That is a good idea, you know? Makes things easier! Kill the bitch!” A guy with a full-body costume vertically separated in black and white said before tackling Momo from the side.
“Took you long enough, Twice.” Dabi said with a smirk.
“Sorry! I was distracting the other cats! That’s why I prefer dogs! And Koalas! And pythons!” The strange guy answered with his voice changing in pitch just enough to sound like two different people were talking over each other.
“Well, what’s important is that we finally got her. You happy, Boss?” Dabi asked the small camera he had pinned on his clothes.
League of Villains HQ – Bedroom -
Still bedridden from his latest meeting with Blackie, Shigaraki’s body was covered almost entirely in bandages and casts, leaving just his face free albeit still missing one eye, in a way that left him able to see and give orders to the Villains on site through a monitor.
“KILL THAT BITCH! KILL THAT NPC! SHE IS THE WOMAN OF THE DOG OWNER! KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER!” And as it was rapidly becoming the norm, whenever ANYTHING even just barely connected to Izuku and Blackie showed-up in front of him, Psychotic Rage and Hatred turned-off his already paper-thin self-control, making him snarl and roar like an insane beast.
Mountains -
“KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER!” Shigaraki’s voice was clearly heard from the small camera’s inbuilt speaker.
“You heard the boss! Hold her still, I want him to get a clear view of her body turning to ashes!” Dabi ordered.
“NO!” Tomoko yelled in horror.
“Okay! FUCK YEAH! BONFIRE!” Twice answered instead, he and a clone of his, happily immobilized and then grabbed Momo’s head by the hair to force her to look straight at Dabi.
“Smile for the camera, girl! I want to catch your good side before you die!” Blue fire slowly started mounting in the Villain’s hand.
“WAIT! I’LL COME WITH YOU! WILLINGLY! YOU WANT MY QUIRK, YES!? YOU CAN HAVE IT! JUST LET HER GO!” Tomoko begged, crawling in front of Dabi no matter her broken leg.
“Aah! This is not just a matter of our Mission, this is personal!” Dabi answered while kicking her away.
“AGK!”
“Any last words?” He asked.
“Screw you.” Momo answered with a snarl.
“Enchanting.” The Villain answered with a chuckle as he readied the fireball in his hand.
BOOOM!
A new explosion rocked the area as Katsuki, one arm clearly broken in multiple parts, came running between them while following Mezo holding a struggling kid in his extra arms, and behind them, a pissed-off Villain with unnaturally big muscles was chasing them with a scowl.
“Stop running!” The Villain, Muscular, roared while powering through a new explosion with barely a scratch.
“What the fuck are his muscles made off?!” Katsuki yelled in disturbed horror as the man’s muscles seemed so thick even his explosions barely damaged him.
“Just run! He wants Kota-san dead!” Mezo yelled back, he too looked like he had a few broken bones.
“Let me go, you useless buffoons! I don’t need your help! I DON’T NEED HEROES!” The kid in the meantime kept struggling to break free.
“KOTA!” Tomoko shrieked in fear.
“AUNT TOMOKO!” Kota replied with wide eyes full of horror.
“Hohoho! So that was where you went, Muscular?” Dabi asked, amused, as the small group joined his.
“A minor case of side-tracking, actually, nothing more. What about you?” Muscular said as now he joined the Villains side while the wounded Katsuki and Mezo joined Tomoko while Momo kept standing in the middle due to the two Twice’s hold on her.
“We got the woman, now I was just about to clean things up. Wanna watch?” He answered, chuckling.
“Is it a direct order of Shigaraki?”
“Yep!”
“Go ahead then, just make it quick. And where is Himiko?” Muscular answered.
“Having fun with a couple Heroes and-”
WHAM!
It was a surprise for all the people present to see a flying fist come out from the woods at high speed to nail both Twices faces and launch both away, and while the clone broke-down into sludge, the original kept bouncing on the terrain for several meters, and by how he stood still lying down once finished tumbling away, the onlookers somehow knew he won’t be waking-up anytime soon.
“What the hell was that?!” Dabi asked.
“The fuck?!” Katsuki echoed right after.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
“W-Whitey!” Momo gasped as the robot walked in front of her and Tomoko while sporting red eyes.
“Troublemakers will be stripped as an example to others!” Whitey said while reconnecting his right arm at the elbow.
“That robot...Does it mean…” Mezo said with wide eyes.
“THE FUCKER IS HERE! KILL HIM! KILL HIM! KILL HIM!” Shigaraki finally lost it as soon as he saw Whitey, since they all knew one thing about that robot: wherever he was it meant Izuku was not farther behind.
WHAM!
As an added surprise, Himiko herself came tumbling on a roll on the floor soon after, her clothes were covered in cuts and she had a black eye courtesy of a dynamite punch and shards of what looked like being a knife cut julienne raining all around her.
“Ough…” The girl moaned in pain, but as soon as she tried getting on all four to get back up, she puked violently and fell on her side, barely conscious.
“The System was right, she has been drugged up to her eyeballs.” It was then that Izuku as well made his appearance with his green Chef attire still pristine clear, nobody heard his muttering as he studied the downed girl.
“Izuku?…” Momo muttered in shock.
“Sorry, I was sent here for some mushroom hunting and didn’t know this was where you others were having your Training Camp.” The Chef answered with an actual apologizing tone.
“So, you must be the guy. Shigaraki hates you pretty bad, you know?” Muscular said with a smirk.
“Unfortunately I don’t even know who he is, but since you all seem to be working for him to hurt my customers, my waitress AND my girlfriend...The dislike can only be mutual.” He answered.
“Nothing personal, kid. Just business.” Muscular answered, shrugging amused.
“Of course. Same reason why I now feel the need to get involved…”
“Run away! Take Kota and run!” Tomoko begged while pushing the kid towards him.
“Agk! Aunt Tomoko!” The kid yelled in horror.
“You okay?” Izuku asked while catching the kid in his arms.
“I-I-I...I don’t know!” Kota answered, tears already about to pour out.
“It’s okay, I am here. I might not be a Hero, but you and Tomoko-san are Customers of my Green Cloud Restaurant, and as a Chef, it’s my duty to protect my beloved Customers.” He declared.
“Protect...You...They are Villains...I…” The poor kid wanted to say something, anything to stop what he believed was a suicide, but he just could not.
“DON’T BE STUPID! TAKE THE BRAT AND RUN! WE’LL COVER YOU!” Katsuki yelled, and actually moved between the two and Muscular even with a broken arm.
“Host knows what needs to be done.” The System whispered in his ears.
“...Don’t worry, everything is going to be alright,” The young Chef said while gently handing Kota to Whitey.
“Protect him, at all cost.” He ordered the robot with a tone as cold as ice.
“Understood.” Whitey answered, and once moved Kota on one of his massive shoulders, the robot switched to purple eye mode, and a cruel-looking squared blade took the place of his big right hand.
“What the fuck are you-”
“Something on your mind, Chef?” Muscular said with a calm and curious tone, interrupting Katsuki without a shred of anger in his voice.
It was a strange situation, one where only Muscular and Izuku were actually calm, everything else around them was eerily silent out of either shock, fear or just mere curiosity, beside Shigaraki’s insane growls and ‘Kill Him!’ roars, nobody looked about to utter a single word as they waited for the answer.
“Kinda.” Izuku said, he was looking at Kota’s scared face with vacant eyes.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
“Before you kill me?”
“Or before YOU kill ME.” Muscular answered, and his already massive physique grew even more giant with his muscles expanding to insane sizes.
“What the fuck is he talking ab-” Katsuki’s question went interrupted by Izuku’s sigh.
“I don’t kill. How?”
“Your eyes. You now have the same eyes I used to have before I finally decided to stop limiting myself.” Muscular answered.
“My eyes?”
“I am probably the only guy here that really understands, so let me be the one to finally ask you this: isn’t it about time you let go?”
“That’s a bold assumption, we just met.” The young Chef answered, looking at the Villain in surprise.
“Bold assumption it may be, but I was there when I was your age, so I know my hunch is not a wrong one. So? What happened?”
“...”
Izuku’s Memories - Zaus World – Small Mountain Settlement -
A young Zaus watched amazed as a dozen giant Bear-like monsters with two extra arms and pure-white fur lied unconscious on the floor at a step from entering the small village, and at the tiny old woman with pink hair humming a cheerful tune while sitting on the Alpha of the entire pack of beasts she had just defeated by herself. Then she noticed his stare and flashed him a gentle smile.
“You must be that new up and coming Chef everybody is talking about, uh? Nice to meet you, Zaus-chan!” Setsuno said with a jovial laugh.
“Setsuno? The Living National Treasure?” Zaus answered, surprised.
“Hohohoho! No need to be that formal, youngster!”
“Those Beasts…”
“They were about to attack these innocent people, somebody had to defend them.”
“But...But you are a Chef…”
“So? Doing the right thing doesn’t require a specific job, only the will to be there for people in need! I came here just to look for some nice Silver Mint and saw this small pack of Brutal Bears about to attack that village, what was I supposed to do? Let all these people die even if I had the means to help them?” She answered.
She wasn’t angry at all, just honestly curious about his answer, talking to him like a loving grandmother would talk to her favorite nephew.
“N-No, but… That’s the job of a Gourmet Hunter!” Zaus had almost said ‘Hero’, but he reminded himself that he had left that life behind, when he started over in that new world.
“That is what we call Nuances, Zaus-chan. ‘Capturing Ingredients’ is the job of a Gourmet Hunter and ‘Cooking Ingredients’ is the job of the Chef. ‘Doing what is right’ is not a job, it’s good conscience, especially if you have the means to do it.” Setsuno answered.
“I see…”
ROAAAAR!
“That is the rest of the Brutal Bears pack coming to assist the ones that have fallen. What will you do, Zaus-chan? Stand there and watch because it is not your Job, or will you do the right thing and lend your strength to these poor people that can barely fend-off a single Bear, and leave them alone against an anomalous big pack of them?”
“...Make room, I am helping you!”
“Well said, Zaus-chan!”
Real world – Mountains -
“So?”
“I used to be Free like you said once, but when I left the hospital I promised myself I wouldn’t do that anymore. I only want a quiet life, and if I let go now, as you said, I won’t have that peace anymore.”
“That is a wrong mentality, and a disservice to yourself. Bottling everything up it’s not good, Fighting Spirit is not something you can suppress.” the Villain said, walking towards him with heavy steps.
“You-”
“PISS OFF!” To Katsuki’s horror, the hulking brute exploded forward at a faster speed his sheer bulk should have permitted him, nailing the student in the stomach with a clothesline attack that shot him away and not even slowing the Villain’s charge a bit.
“NO!” Mezo yelled in horror.
“LET IT FLOW, CHEF! IT’S YOUR RIGHT!” Muscular roared, now upon the Chef.
“How can letting it run rampant like you do, be any good?!” Izuku yelled back, turning around towards him with red fire enveloping his body.
“It is if it means finally BEING HONEST ABOUT YOURSELF!” Muscular yelled with his colossal punch traveling at monstrous speed towards the Chef.
“Impact Knocking: Nirvana!” The Chef replied by dodging the punch by a hair and thrusting both the pointer and middle finger of his right hand deep into Muscular’s shoulder.
And while it was shocking to see such a giant hulking brute being pushed skidding back of a couple steps, to Muscular the thing was even more surprising, because for an instant he could swear he saw his entire arm being torn off at the shoulder like paper and fly away, before blinking and seeing the limb still attached to his body, only now hanging life-less at his side.
“Tch! Lots of nerve ganglions! Like those bears...Is it your Quirk?” Izuku hissed in contempt while jumping back to take some distance.
“I can’t feel my arm! You killed it! HAHAHAHAHAHA! That’s it! THAT’S WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT!” The Villain answered by turning insanely happy and attacking him again with his good arm and a deranged wide smile etched on his face.
“Roar at me! Growl at me! Scream at me! I don’t care how, JUST LET IT ALL OUT!”
“If you have extra nerve nodes, then I will go deeper and hit them all! (Impact) Knocking Full Course: Brahmastra!” the Chef declared, running towards the attack and letting it brush against his cheek to get in range.
“Dukkah!” A blade-hand-thrust in the solar plexus caused Muscular’s lungs to constrict down to a third of their size, and made him feel like his legs had been glued to the floor, and yet the giant ignored the searing pain and tried grabbing him with his working hand.
And still smiling in insane happiness.
“Samudaya!” In answer the Chef shoved his elbow deep into the Villain’s bicep to disrupt the grab, and once again Muscular’s brain momentarily mistaken the thing with the arm being torn off and flying away while instead it just hanged limp by his side.
“Ung! If you can’t hit with the left, use the right! If you can’t hit with both left or right, BITE!” Muscular roared in gleeful defiance, and actually bending down to literally try to bite the Chef.
“Nirodha!” Unperturbed, Izuku delivered a vertical palm-thrust with the lower half of his right hand that painfully slammed Muscular’s mouth closed and caused the man’s brain to switch Right and Left and Up and Down at random intervals, making the world spin and turn continuously at high speed right in front of his eyes.
A second hit with the left elbow to the Villain’s chest caused the muscles of his torso to contract and stay locked in place to the point he could not move anymore from the waist up.
“And now the full locking...Magga!” Curiously turning around to show Muscular his back, the Chef started hitting various seemingly Random parts of the Villain’s chest and legs with backwards pokes of his thumb or palm-thrusts, and yet each hit sent visible ripples along Muscular’s entire body.
(Artistic Representation of the Can of Whoop-ass Izuku just opened on Muscular)
“OOOUUUUGH!” And the only thing the paralyzed Villain could do, was releasing low moans of pain as at each hit he lost a little bit more feeling from every part of his body, until his five senses too faltered and for him all that was left was silence and darkness and the mind-numbing pain coursing through every inch of his body.
Sigh! “Capture Completed…Did I do the right thing, Setsuno?” Izuku whispered with a sigh of defeat and slacked-down posture while behind him the giant of muscles shrunk back to his original sizes and then fell on his back with a heavy Thud! And looking completely unable to move.
“I...I can’t feel anything! W-Where are you?!” The Villain’s eyes were dull and immobile.
“As it is now...You can’t feel, can’t see, can’t move and can’t hear...I am sorry.” the Chef answered with a tone of melancholy while walking back to Whitey and Kota.
“You okay?” he asked.
“...Yes?” the boy answered, unsure.
“That’s a relief.” The other said with a small smile.
“Okay, no, that’s it! Enough bullshit tonight! EVERYONE DIES!” Dabi clearly saw the writing on the wall, and decided that the only solution he had left to fix the new colossal fuck-up the League’s Mission turned into was to burn EVERYTHING in front of him, except Ragdoll that was just to the side enough she will barely survive the sea of flames he shoot from both his hands.
After all, his Boss only wanted the woman’s Quirk, so if she survived just long enough for them to go through the extraction, everything was still good in his book.
FWOOOOSH!
A giant wall of blue fire soon enveloped a wide area in front of the Villain, moving at high speed towards the group of Heroes and the Chef that dared turning such a simple Mission into a giant failure!
“IZUKU!” To the Chef’s Horror Momo pushed Tomoko away and then jumped in front of him to shield him with her body.
“NO!” He yelled in fear as soon as he saw the first licks of flames about to reach her…
And the world stood still.
“Have no fear, Host. Everything is going according to plan.” The System’s voice echoed all around Izuku as he watched Time itself being forced into a complete stop by the Entity, once again reminding him how ridiculously powerful his Sponsor actually was.
“A-According...To plan?!” he asked.
“Indeed, Host. Unfortunately the System could not tell the Host the entire truth to avoid illogical behavior.”
“What do you mean byIllogical behavior!? WHY AM I HERE THEN?! THEY ARE ABOUT TO BURN ALIVE!” Izuku yelled in fury.
“They won’t if the Host follows The System’s instructions to the letter.” The Entity said.
“Instructions? What Instructions?!”
“The Host is asked to Devour the flames in front of him, The System will then use them as a base to synthesize a Flame of Evil inside his soul, half of the materials needed to synthesize a Heaven-Earth Obsidian Flame for the Host to use to cook with the Star-Eating Turtle Wok. Since there is no natural source of Obsidian Flames in this world, artificial kindling will be needed to create a brand new one.” The System answered, still cold as always.
“YOU COULD HAVE SENT ME TO ANOTHER WORLD FOR THAT! I THOUGHT WE HAD A DEAL!”
“Yes we have a deal, and the System offers its most sincere apologies to the Host for this. Unfortunately Host Izuku needs a fire fully compatible with his body and Gourmet Cells, differently from the more Malleable body of a normal Human able to adapt to every Obsidian Flame absorbed, and the few flames actually compatible with the Host that exist in other worlds still need several thousand years to mature. Creating a New One fully tailored to Host Izuku and already Mature was the most logical solution in terms of Time and Resources required and used.”
“You...You…”
“Host is free to hate The System, The System understands and renews its apologies.”
“Momo and the others are in danger!”
“The attack did not happen because of the System.”
“Uh?”
“The attack could be organized because of the spies implanted in the school Host Izuku’s friends and Customers go to. The Spy responsible for this specific attack will be dealt with soon after this situation is resolved, with a non-lethal method as the System knows is the Host’s preference. The System required this attack to happen for the Host to have a chance to devour a Flame of Evil of the purest quality: One unleashed with the most hatred, anger and resentment possible.”
“…”
“Host?”
“Tell me there won’t be a next time. Promise me there won’t be a next time.” Izuku muttered.
“...There won’t. There won’t be a similar requirement for the Host to unlock the rest of his Equipment.” The System answered, and the Entity actually took several seconds to answer, as if checking to make sure.
“I...I can accept this. Momo and the others won’t get hurt, right?” Izuku asked.
“They won’t if the Host follows The System’s instructions to the letter. Is the Host ready to be taught how to devour the fire?”
“...Yes.” The Chef answered and took a deep breath.
“Very well. The Host should also be aware that he will have only a single chance, any failure will cause his death and the death of everybody else.” The System said, making him pale.
“Ah!” Izuku yelled in fear.
“This is your Test, Host Izuku. Believe in yourself and achieve the Impossible, for there is nothing Impossible for a God of Cooking. Bet your all and succeed, young man!” The Entity answered.
“All or Nothing…Plus Ultra...” The young man closed his eyes tight and took several slow and deep breaths.
“Host is ready, The System will begin teaching Host Izuku the Devouring Method to absorb the Flame of Evil…” When red flames of energy surged from Izuku’s body along with a projection of his Appetite Demon appearing behind him, the Entity detected the young Chef’s determination and began its lesson.
Real World -
From everybody else's point of view, one instant Momo jumped in front of Izuku and Kota to try protecting them, and the next the Chef had side-stepped her so that he would bethe one to stand in front of everybody else.
“This is how I die...But if he lives, I will have no regrets-WHAT?!” Momo’s train of thought derailed when she saw her Lover simply flash-step in front of the entire group so as to be the first to be touched by the blue flames.
“IZU-” Katsuki’s own scream, a powerless one since it was only thanks to Mezo if he could actually stand at all after Muscular’s charge, was interrupted as well by the Chef’s next move.
“!!!” Under the wide eyes of everybody, the young Chef just emptied his lungs and then inhaled as hard as he could, hard enough Dabi’s burst of flames disappeared all inside his mouth in a matter of seconds.
“…” In the stricken silence that followed, the young man’s entire body flushed deep red and his eyes bulged-out as soon as he swallowed the fire in a single gulp, along a thin layer of sweat covering his face until it shone and fat drops started dripping down his forehead.
“UGH!...Beeugh!...Sorry.” Soon followed by Izuku releasing a loud burp accompanied by tiny swirls of blue fire, but other than that, he looked fine and unhurt, even after eating fire supposed to turn a human to ashes in just a second.
“…”
“WHAT THE FUCK?!” Shigaraki was the first to scream in answer to that.
“AAAAAAH!” The second was Himiko herself, as being the closest to the group of potential victims meant she was still hit by the fire.
“NO! WHITEY!” Izuku noticed and asked for help.
CLAP!
Help that came in the form of the Robot clapping his hands hard enough to produce a gust of wind able to extinguish even that fire...Even if it was too late.
Even just after a mere couple seconds of burning, not much was left of the girl: both her legs in fact had been already reduced almost to bare bone, along her chest being stripped of flesh to the point the damaged muscles were visible, even her left arm had been reduced to a burned stump, having lost everything from the elbow down.
“Impact Knocking: Privation!” The young Chef yelled, frantically, and hit several key points of Himiko’s damaged body that made her stop screaming.
“Okay, Okay...I blocked every signal of pain from her wounds, should stop her from going into shock until she is healed! Whitey! Take her and Kota to the Inn and have somebody heal her! NOW!” he ordered.
“Hoy! That girl belongs to us! We still need her Quirk, boy!” Dabi said with narrowed eyes.
“She’s your companion, Goddamnit! Don’t you care?!” Izuku roared in answer, and behind him, Momo took a fighting stance while Mezo took care of protecting both Tomoko and Katsuki.
“Nope! My companions are dear Dust-Fuck Shigaraki, my friend Twice your Puppet knocked out, and a couple more Friends I have finally convinced to join the League. Dear Himiko instead was just an investment, a girl we took-in, in the HOPE she could match our ideals, but instead took way too much to train. And after seeing her failing again, I say we rip her Quirk out and make a Nomu with it, it will definitely work better like that.” Dabi answered.
“...Master accepted the suggestion, he too has grown tired of Himiko’s failures. Bring her and Ragdoll back, we will begin extraction immediately.” Kurogiri’s answer came from Dabi’s radio, clear even for Himiko to hear.
“Sure! No problem!” he answered, smirking.
“Da...bi…” The girl whimpered in tears.
“Sorry, sweetie. Nothing personal.” Dabi answered, uncaring.
“Take her away, Whitey!” Izuku ordered, never before feeling as angry as he was at that moment.
“Understood!” The Robot immediately grabbed both Himiko and Kota and disappeared in an awe-inspiring burst of speed to take both back to the Inn proper.
“Tch! You are just delaying this! Just a matter of time before we get her too!” Dabi answered.
“Magne, Spinner and Compress are on their way, keep these Heroes occupied.” Kurogiri said.
“Hell yeah! My friends are coming, have you heard the misty fucker?” Dabi said in glee.
“Your friends are coming? Then I will make you meet them half-way.” The Chef answered with a way-too-calm tone.
“Uh? What? Wanna eat more fire, tough guy?” Dabi answered with a mocking tone, summoning more blue fire, ignoring the pain that caused him.
In answer the Chef cocked-back the hand holding the kitchen knife while his body got covered in the red flames of his battle spirit, the very same knife he held started shining in an eerie silvery light too, and when the Appetite Demon as well made his appearance, Dabi finally understood he was in trouble.
“Kurogiri!” he yelled, and unfortunately it was too late.
“Go meet your friends, filth. Samsara Cut!” That was all the young Chef whispered before slashing down with his knife.
What the others saw though was a crescent blade of pale moonlight being silently shot from the slash to hit the ground right in front of Dabi’s feet...
And then the entire side of the mountain he and Twice were on being cut off and sent flying.
“KUROGIRI! A PORTAL! NOW! HURRY! HURRY! HURRY!” Scared out of his mind and grabbing onto a tree to stabilize himself, Dabi watched with wide eyes as the several hundreds of thousands tonnes of rock he was on that used to be half of a damn mountain had been sliced-off and sent flying by what was supposed to be a simple Quirkless Chef brandishing a kitchen knife.
“JUMP IN! NOW!” The Nomu ordered, just as surprised, opening a portal for Dabi to jump in while dragging the unconscious Twice behind him just a second before the giant slice of rock could touch ground and explode in a towering cloud of debris with a thundering BOOM! Several miles away.
Needless to say, utter chaos erupted from the settlements nearby that saw that meteor impact way too close for their comfort, especially so for the Villains sent as reinforcements that were instead hastily called back just in case more slices of mountain could be shot their way.
With Izuku -
“…” There was an eerie silence in the area now, interrupted only by Momo’s steps as she neared Izuku to put a hand on his shoulder.
“What is happening? Hello?” Muscular was still on the ground paralyzed, unaware of anything happening around him.
“You okay?” She whispered.
“...No. This wasn’t supposed to happen…” Izuku answered.
“You got angry. What he did and said was too disgusting, nobody can blame you for acting-out on your anger. I know I would have done that too in your place.”
“They will ask questions now, lots of them.”
“We knew it was only a matter of time before something like this happened.” Momo said.
“What now?” Izuku asked, afraid.
“Go back to the Inn for now, that girl still needs help if we want to interrogate her, fix her up, in the meantime me and Shoji will take care of the rest.” she answered.
“You sure?”
“I am a trained Hero, trust me. Tomoko will help us too.” She answered, showing him a reassuring smile.
“Okay, just be careful.” He begged.
“You too, now go.” Momo answered, sharing with him a fast kiss before he left.
“Wait!” Katsuki’s scream was ignored by the Chef, simply hurrying away to return to the Inn.
“What the hell is happening here?!” Tomoko asked.
“Later, let’s go back for now, once we’re sure everything is alright, I am sure he will answer all our questions. Help me, Shoji-san.” Momo answered.
“O-Okay!” her classmate answered.
Later that night – Wild Wild Pussycats ’ Cat Inn – Main room -
Class 1-A and 1-B could not understand what was happening, besides a Villain attack, as ballsy as it was, nothing of what happened that night in their opinion warranted a massive answer like the one they were seeing.
Both Eraserhead and Vlad were being drilled mercilessly by members of the police force while Momo, Shoji and Tomoko kept answering hundreds of questions asked by people in black suits.
“Okay, can someone explain to me why an entire mountain just had more than half its mass relocated?! We got hundreds of calls from hysterical people asking what is happening, and we hate not having an answer to that!” one of those Suits asked with a furious tone while she glared at whoever ‘dared’ to hum in uncertainty when talking with her.
“We are looking into it, madame!” One of the Police Officers answered.
“FIND THOSE ANSWERS THEN!” She said with a barking scream.
“What does she mean half a mountain was relocated?” Kaminari asked, confused.
“I have no idea.” Kirishima answered.
“Those Villains did something?” Mineta asked.
“Don’t know, I know I had my hands full already to deal with all those identical guys attacking us!” Kyoka answered, snarling.
“Whatever it is, they even got Recovery Girl involved, something big must have happened.” Mina said.
“Again, I saw no mountain flying off,” Momo answered, unafraid.
“Missy, we KNOW you were there.” one of the guys in suits said.
“Do you have proof of that?” She answered.
“You-”
“OKAY! OKAY! Enough showing-off! We’ll take it from here!” A new arrival interrupted everything, he was followed by several scientists and other Police Officers, one of which Detective Tsukauchi himself.
“Midoriya-san!” Momo said in relief.
“Momo! You okay?! Icchan told me what was happening, don’t worry, you and the others don’t need to answer them if you don’t want to.” Hisashi answered, and not too kindly shoving away the guy interrogating the girl.
“You! I am-”
“A woman who thinks an expensive suit gives her Godly powers. Now shut-up.” Tsukauchi answered, uninterested.
“The Commission-”
“Can’t do a thing and they know it. We’ll take it from here, this is officially I-Island’s business now. Level 7, and you do NOT have Level 7 clearance, Satori.” Hisashi said.
“...What is happening, Hisashi?” The woman at the head of the investigation said, sighing.
“Sorry, can’t tell.”
“Is this a revenge for what happened in Kyoto?” She said, huffing.
“Not really. I am just doing my job, the fact that it also has to do with my son helps make me extra motivated.” he answered.
“Your son?”
“Where is Subject 37?” One of the researchers that accompanied Hisashi and Tsukauchi asked.
“With Recovery Girl and Toga, I will accompany you to the site of the incident while Detective Tsukauchi will take care of questioning him.” Hisashi answered.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle and follow protocol.” Tsukauchi said.
“You better, otherwise Whitey and even Shiro will destroy you.” Hisashi said, laughing.
“Yes, yes. Sure. The Cute fluff-ball is deadly.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you. You others, let’s go!” Hisashi ordered.
“Yessir.”
“...Uncle Hisashi?” Katsuki said.
“Yes?”
“I…” There were lots of conflicting feelings flashing on the young man’s face, but for once Hisashi didn’t want to aggravate him further, so he broke the silence first.
Sigh! “I am still angry at you, but I am not heartless, how do you feel?” The man asked.
“I…I have been better,” He answered.
“Everything is going to be alright. This will take a minute, then you others will be finally free to relax,” the man said before leaving.
“Yes, okay...T-Thank you…I-” He tried saying, but he was not surprised to see the man not really jumping at the idea of talking with him and leaving as soon as possible without looking back.
“Fuck...Good God this fucking day is lasting too long…” Katsuki swore tiredly under his breath.
“You tell me. Never had so many school trips become a battle to the death against Villains…” Aizawa admitted with a groan.
“This has to be a new record,” Vlad added with a sigh of defeat.
“Ehm...What is happening?” Tenya asked.
“I’ll explain later, sorta...Shit is complicated.” Katsuki admitted, groaning.
“Just promise you will keep everything a secret.” Momo added.
“As long as things will make sense after you explain…” Toru begged.
“Hopefully, things should make sense.” Momo admitted.
Meanwhile – With Izuku -
Both Izuku and Neomasa were sitting outside the Inn’s small infirmary Recovery Girl had taken over as soon as she arrived, Izuku almost couldn’t believe the woman was THIS determined to test his Healing Cuisine, so much she left the sanctity of UA under heavy Pro Hero escort to come all the way there to stabilize Himiko and run some preliminary Tests before Izuku could work his Miracle on the Villain Girl.
“So you insist on the girl being a victim too?” The Detective said.
“Pretty much, I am sure that we can still help her, maybe even Redeem Her, as you others love to say.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“You were pretty secretive about your being here, almost too vague, why?”
“I was asked to keep the details of my Sponsor a secret, but they just sent me here to collect mushrooms and other Ingredients because they saw I was stressed, that’s all. My involvement in all this is merely a case of me being in the wrong place at the right time,” Izuku answered.
Truth
Tsukauchi’s Quirk confirmed all that.
“How’s young Eri?”
“Doing okay, between my mother and Momo’s she has finally learned to read and write, a bit wobbly, but she is getting better fast.” The Chef answered, showing a happy smile when talking about his future daughter.
“Another Truth.” Neomasa thought.
“Still didn’t get an answer for my adoption, though.” Izuku then said.
“Sorry about that, young Eri’s situation makes things a bit harder than they should.”
“Tch!”
“So, tell me...What makes you so sure we can talk Himiko Toga, one of the members of the so-calledLeague of Villains, to switch sides and even seek help?” Tsukauchi asked, finally addressing his biggest doubt.
“I say so because contrary to whoever tried before me, I actually looked at her and beyond her Quirk, without labeling her power as Evil and just declaring her a lost cause.” He answered.
“Uh?”
“She has a Quirk related to blood-consumption, and if we go by the standards of that kind of powers, that means not only that she can safely consume blood, but that she fully needs it, it is not just about copying appearances like you said while we talked, it’s literally something she has to eat on a regular basis, like we others do with regular food. I believe those people were keeping her in a continuous state of withdrawal.” Izuku explained.
“I too heard about those theories, but how do you know they were doing that to her specifically?” Tsukauchi asked with narrowed eyes.
“Because I saw in her similar symptoms of people deep into Nicotine Withdrawal: Cravings, Irritability and irrational rage, Anxiety, Dizziness and, for her own admission mid-fight, Headaches. I just gave her a small amount of pig's blood to drink when we first got here and her hand stopped shaking almost immediately, you and Recovery Girl saw it happen, you can’t deny it.” he answered.
“Yes, I saw that with my own eyes, but still, I was told that while fighting the others she moved well for somebody you declare should have been dizzy,”
“The more we fought the more unstable her footing got, I guess they give her only the bare minimum blood to keep her ‘Functional’, the more she battled, the more she burned through the blood she ingested and her body started suffering from withdrawals, her eyes were unfocused when I met her first, she was already starting to lose it, now look at her.” Izuku said, pointing at the door just as it opened.
“They boy is right, Blood Consuming Quirks can cause withdrawal symptoms, the harshness of which depending on how much consuming blood influences the body, not just the Quirk, it has been sadly documented in many cases that a lack of blood will lead to death.” Recovery Girl confirmed as she exited Himiko’s room.
“How’s she?” Izuku asked.
“She will pull through...But that’s it. She will never be able towalkagain, and we should probably consider amputating what’s left of her arms soon if we want her to have any chance.” the old woman answered, shaking her head.
“That bad?!” both men said in horror.
“The muscles on both arms and legs are basically gone, the parts not directly destroyed by the fire have already started showing signs of gangrene. My Quirk is powerful, but I can’t perform miracles, I can’t even use it right away, not until I first stabilize her.”
“Oh, God…”
“What else?” Tsukauchi asked, swallowing the bile trying to rise up his throat.
“The rest is just as bad: her hair is gone for good, so is her right eye, I fear a lung too has been compromised by the hot air and smoke she inhaled, it’s a miracle any of her other organs are still healthy, the fire was extinguished just in time before it went too deep, but that’s where the good news stops. “
“But she can pull through, yes?” Izuku asked.
“Hard to say. Should she live, she will spend the rest of her life confined to a hospital room barely able tobreathe...I loathe to say this, I hate to say this with all of my being...But maybe we should let her go. Even by amputating all four limbs, her chances of survival are very low,” the old woman said with a gravelly voice, she even looked older than before, showing how much the idea was weighing on her.
“You can’t say that!”
“It would be mercy, my boy. Hope can help only so much, then hard cold Reality has to set in. We can make it painless at least.” she answered with a mournful tone.
“…”
“I still need to ask her some questions, can she talk?” Tsukauchi asked.
“She can, but I can’t say she will. I had to tell her everything about her condition, so she is crying pretty hard now…”
“Does she know her only option is to...Well...Die?”
“I fear I will soon have to tell her that too,”
“You even want to tell her that! You people are useless!” Izuku said while barging inside the room.
“WAIT!”
“Himiko?” He asked with a soft voice.
“Y-Yes?” the girl answered, she looked very thin under all the bandages covering her, a testament of how much of her body had been burned off.
“How do you feel?”
“What do you think?!” she spat, beside her mouth and her sane eye, everything else had been bandaged, and her tears were already drenching the bandages on her face.
“Sorry.”
“I-it’s okay. Probably this is Karma or stuff.”
“You did not answer me before. Why did you become a Villain? Why didn't you try proving everybody wrong and showing that your Quirk is not a mark of being born a Villain?” he asked.
“Everybody says that, as if pushing back was easy! I like blood, okay? It looks pretty and it tastes good! And I need it! I get hungry and then I get hungry, and when I don’t have blood in my stomach I get sick...Shigaraki promised me a new world where I would have been accepted, but that for a while I could not have enough blood to keep the cravings away, but every time things were about to get really bad a blood sack would come and everything would be alright...Then one day my cravings started changing…”
“Uh? What do you mean?”
“At first it was strange, whenever they got really bad I would feel...Light? As if my brain was resting on cotton, nothing felt real besides this tiny voice reminding me of how nice blood looked and tasted. Then would come the anxiety, the headaches and...And this feeling of disorientation and paranoia, panic attacks or-or-or trouble staying focused or even a sharp ringing in my ears…”
“Do you also have troubles feeling yourself? Or even as if you were starting to lose contact with reality?” Recovery Girl asked while she and Tsukauchi as well entered.
“Y-Yes? I think so? There were times I found myself somewhere with no idea how I got there.”
“What are you thinking about?” the Detective asked.
“Those I listed and the ones she herself admitted are symptoms of withdrawal from Benzodiazepines, medicines often used, and abused, by whoever tries suppressing Blood Cravings coming from Blood Quirks. Between that and your own Quirk acting up from Blood Withdrawal there is no surprise you acted the way you did.” the short woman said.
“Benzodiazepines?” Izuku asked.
“Wait! I know those! My mother tried making me use those to suppress my Quirk!” Himiko said with a gasp.
“So her parents didn’t let her feed on blood as her Quirk demands, and then pumped her full of medicine to suppress the cravings and withdrawal symptoms?” Tsukauchi asked for clarification while taking notes.
“That was their insane plan, most likely. A simple Internet search will give you dozens of similar stories, full of theories of Quacks insisting one can defeat those ‘Evil’ cravings with just a couple pills, more often than not pills not exactly legal either.”
“My God…” The Detective muttered.
“Benzodiazepines are basically sedative medications, normally used to fight anxiety and sleep disorders, and her parents were probably trying to suppress her need to consume blood (and her withdrawal symptoms from not drinking it) with those medicines, as you said.
Normally those drugs should only be administered under the strict medical control of a Doctor, something we know All for One has easy access to with the psycho that creates those Nomu for him.
My guess, is that not all the blood they supplied to Himiko-san in the beginning wasclean, they probably knew of her pre-existing problems with Blood Consumption and her parents usage of those medicines, and started to add those medicines in great quantities to the blood sacks to make her more malleable only at a later date, once they gained her trust.”
“M-M-Malleable?” Himiko asked in horror.
“You admitted that at the worst of your Withdrawals, you get physically sick and desperate enough to get blood to suck it from dead animals, until one day you almost stabbed a classmate of yours because the cravings were at their worst.” Tsukauchi asked.
“Y-Yes.”
“Were you already in contact with the League of Villains when that happened?”
“Not really...Dabi...Dabi kept bringing me blood sacks he got from a friend in exchange for me keeping “not-exactly-legal” stuff hidden for them, when I later discovered that his friend was Kurogiri they asked me to join their group officially after I almost killed my classmate.”
“I see. Based on this and the Benzos Theory, they were probably trying to turn you from a desperate girl into their little Killer Pet. This if those drugs have actually been used-”
“I can easily do a blood test to confirm that with the sample I collected when I arrived here, I just need to find enough traces in her system to either confirm or deny they used those or similar drugs.” Recovery Girl interrupted him.
“Please do. As I was saying, based on the possibility of Drugs being added on top of your physiological need of consuming blood to “Break you” and turn you into yet another Psychotic Villain, I can probably make a case of you being in a state legally defined as ‘Incompetent’, as in “unable to understand what you were doing and the situation you were in” when that attack on the boy and the others happened, and see if you can avoid jail at the very least since by miracle none of them actually died.
But you would still be forced to seek therapy and probably go into house arrest for a while…If you also collaborate with us I can see if you can be offered more help, like the ‘Reformed Villain Rehabilitation Program’.”
“W-W-What kind of help?” Himiko asked.
“Start by telling me everything you know about the League of Villains and its members. Did you kill anybody while working for them?”
“Not...Not really?...I-I don’t know...I joined them one year ago and was just running errands, like looking for new members or hiding stuff or gathering rumors, then...Then there was the USJ attack as my Initiation in Shigaraki’s Group...A-A-And a couple Heroes I stabbed with those needles to steal their blood, BUT THEY WERE ALIVE WHEN I LEFT! They told me to not kill them, yet...Then the special training started and-And then there was the Sport Festival...I don’t remember much, I swear...It’s all so blurry…” she admitted.
“Special Training?” Tsukauchi asked, pouncing on that curious term.
“Y-Yes, they wanted me to master my Quirk faster so I kept taking blood and transforming, sometimes changing identities even a dozen times in a row, I felt very sick that day, so much I could not breath well. I barely remember that I slurred a lot while talking then...Then nothing. I have holes in my memory for those days.”
“It was then that your cravings started changing for the worse?” Recovery Girl asked with narrowed eyes.
“Y-Yes?”
“Another nail on the drug addiction case?” Izuku asked.
“It gets more likely the longer she talks, even just the sheer number of transformations they made her go through in rapid succession could have been taxing for her body and mind, and that without adding drugs on top of it.
Problems of memory and slurring speech, along with dizziness and troubled breathing are another bad sign. They almost sent her into overdose to kick-start an acute dependency of Benzos and blood. I need to check but there is a very slight chance that the effect of withdrawal they added with those drugs has now become a fixed part of her Quirk. Worst case scenario...They might have even caused some light brain damage.” the woman said.
“Brain damage?!” Himiko shrieked.
“Would explain your bouts of violence and psychosis as well.”
“I AM SORRY! I-I-I-I just wanted to belong somewhere! I did not want to hurt anybody!” Himiko yelled, crying again in despair.
“...Himiko?” Izuku said.
“Y-Yes?”
“Do you want to come to my Restaurant and become my Waitress?” he asked.
“W-W-What?” she asked in shock.
“WHAT?!” the other two echoed behind him.
“There were no Heroes when you needed them the most, and the Villains you hoped could be your new Family betrayed and used you. I am offering you a third option.” Izuku said with a kind smile.
“But I...I...I am reduced like this...I-I am basically a drug addict!” the girl answered with a tone suggesting she will soon start crying again.
“If I fix everything, will you accept?” the Chef said.
“What are y-”
“Ssssh!” Recovery Girl hissed to silence the Detective.
“I-I know you don’t have a Quirk, even Recovery Girl says she can’t help me, I would probably be better off de-”
“If I do heal you, will you accept?” Izuku interrupted her.
“Why?”
“Because if no Heroes or Villains were there for you, I will be,” he answered.
“Uh?”
“I am offering you a new chance: not as a Hero, nor as a Villain. But as a friend.” he said, gently patting her bandaged head, and still with a sweet and gentle smile on his face.
“W-W-Why?”
“Because you deserve a second chance, and I want to offer it to you.”
“Please don’t betray me too!” Himiko begged.
“Never.” Izuku promised while boldly kissing her forehead, something that did have an effect on the girl since her only eye widened considerably. Then she cried, the ugly way.
“Waaaaaaah!”
“How do you plan to heal her?” Tsukauchi asked, skeptical.
“I have a way, but first, she needs to eat something.”
“Hic! Eat?” Himiko asked between her hiccups.
“No medicine should be taken on an empty stomach, so first some dinner, then your Healing.” Izuku answered, smiling blindingly.
“No offense, Chef Midoriya, but healing her is impossible. She-”
“Say that I heal her. That I heal her arms and legs, her lungs, her skin and hair and even the damages done by those drugs they fed her. Will she be able to have her Villain Rehabilitation in my Restaurant? As my Waitress?” Izuku asked.
“I...Y-Yes?” Tsukauchi answered, unsure.
“As for the house arrest, she will live at UA. I don’t think Cementoss will have any problem building a small living area you and the Police Force will find appropriate. She will leave only for her job and always with a police officer close-by.” Recovery Girl added immediately.
“Of course, she has been looking forward to knowing more about my Healing Cuisine ever since I fixed All Might’s Body and Quirk, with Himiko living close-by, she will be able to study her all she wants…” Izuku thought while shaking his head in amusement.
“I-I will need to make a couple calls for that, but I guess it can be done?” the Detective answered, uncertain.
“I will hold you on that. Now sorry, I need to go to the kitchen, I have a job to do.”
“Make some food for the other wounded kids too!” Recovery Girl said.
“Why?”
“Do it and I will help you further.” the woman answered.
“...Fine.” the Chef answered with narrowed eyes as he walked away.
“What are you up to?” Tsukauchi asked.
“Do you remember when I said my Quirk can’t perform miracles?” she answered.
“Yes?”
“He can, and this will be the final Test I need to finally confirm it.” the Pro Heroine answered.
“Wha?!” both Himiko and Tsukauchi answered as one in shock.
Kitchen – later that night -
While the other members of the Wild Wild Pussycats helped the students of both Class 1A and 1B recover from the shock of such a ballsy Villain Attack, aftermaking sure Tomoko was okay no matter her leg being in a cast and her still-present fear of All for One coming for her Quirk, Izuku had commandeered the entire kitchen of the place and had immediately started cooking.
Takatakatakatakatakataka!
His bone kitchen knife flew at blinding speed over the Ingredients both from the WWP’s kitchen and from the System’s Storage: Ingredients from the Gourmet world, from Starlight City, from the Forest World, The Fantasy World and even a few he had purchased just to help Himiko.
“System? Is Himiko actually a good Waitress candidate? I do want to help her, but I know you still are very demanding.” Izuku finally asked.
“No need to worry, Host. While the System has high requirements and wishes the Host to have only the best possible people as the Staff of his Restaurant, the System is also aware that the final decision is the Host’s only to make.
That being said, Himiko Toga has been determined to be a Candidate with an aptitude score of 99.8%, and the System would like to insist The Host does everything in his power to gain her services as a Waitress.
On these grounds, as an incentive, the System declares this an Official Mission:
Abrupt Mission: Heal Himiko Toga of her wounds and Drug Addiction!
Reward: 10% Bonus on Experience Points total.
1 Fragment of the God of Cooking Set.
Unlocking of the Ingredient Bubble Fruit.
Work hard, young man!
“Eh! As if I actually needed an incentive to help somebody in need.” Izuku muttered to himself with a small smile.
“...Dek...Izuku?” The voice he heard behind him almost made his heart stop, but still, as a testament of his cooking skills, his movements did not get disturbed at all.
“Bakugo-san,” the Chef answered without turning back and still working on the initial Ingredient preparation, like washing, peeling or cutting.
“…”
“How is your arm?”
“In a cast, but I will recover. It itches like a bit...it itches.” Katsuki answered, unsure.
“I wish you a swift recovery.” The Chef answered with a tense tone, pure formality.
“...Why did you never tell me you could do all that?”
“Because before the Coma I wasn’t able to.” Izuku answered, setting several pots and pans on the fire and waiting for the oil to be hot enough.
“Then...Then why did you not try to get into UA after you woke-up?” he asked.
“I was of the idea that being a Hero was not something I was worthy of, so I didn’t even try.” Izuku answered, still not looking at him.
“You didn’t even try?! That is not you!”
“I KNOW!” the Chef yelled.
“…”
“…”
“I know. But during that year, during that coma...I made peace with it. I finally accepted that I had to abandon that dream, and I let go of it like you, our teachers and even All Might himself told me to do. I threw away every piece of Hero Merchandise I owned and focused on a new dream, I only kept my own Hero Notes out of nostalgia, and as a reminder of what I could never become because I was born wrong.”
“...Izu-”
“Do you have any idea how much that hurts? I would love to march to UA and DEMAND to join the Hero Course? I had just thrown all thoughts of ever being a hero only to wake-up after the coma as I am now. The moment I accepted that I could never become a Hero, I got the Power to actually have a shot at it...It felt like a very mean joke, you know?!”
“You can become a Hero. You can try now!”
“THAT’S THE THING! ‘You can try Now!’! I would have just enforced the message that Quirkless People can’t be Heroes! Why could I not try before, uh?! What was so different between me and a guy or girl with a weak Quirk!? I have a customer with a Quirk that lets her change eye color on the fly, and she goes to Ketsubutsu! Changing eye color, THAT’S IT! And she got a chance! Is she really that much more Hero Material than me?! EH?! Is being a Hero really such an exclusive Club one needs a positive Medical Test to go out there helping people in need?!”
“That’s an extreme case.”
“But it is real! It sets a precedent!...But it doesn’t matter anymore. It was just dumb luck that I met a Cooking Teacher that opened my eyes about my Talent for cooking: ‘If you feel like you can’t help people as a Hero, then help people as a Chef! Bring smiles everywhere with good food!’...And I know I can do it! I failed to become a Hero that saves people and makes them smile, but I won’t fail to become a Chef able to protect his Customers and brighten their day.”
“If you think you are not Hero material, then why did yousave me from that Sludge guy?” Katsuki asked, anger already building-up.
“I often asked myself that as well.”
And with that answer delivered with an empty plain tone, those few sparks of anger died.
“You...You would have just stood there watching as I died?” Katsuki asked with a whisper of voice.
“To be fair, part of me wanted to, part of me felt you deserved that.” The Hero Student felt sick for an instant at hearing that.
“But then I thought about Mitsuki-san and the sorrow she would have felt at losing her son, and at the few good memories we shared before your damn Quirk manifested, and I decided to save THAT Kacchan, even if by doing that I knew I would have also saved the Katsuki you had become, and so I acted, even if I was already tired of being your Conscience and stopping you from murdering whatever ‘Extra’ that you thought was disrespecting you.”
“I-”
“And you almost killed me in retaliation, not a very good way to say ‘Thank you’. But I guess I deserved nothing less for ‘Showing off’ as you said.” Izuku answered, and what Katsuki hated were not only the words in themselves, but the utterly dead tone the young Chef used to deliver his answer.
“Then why not joinUA? Why not join the Hero Course as a way to get back at me? To get back at the world?”
“…”
“Even just denouncing me! You had every possible card to ruin me...Then why didn't you do any of that?”
“Were you not listening? My Life doesn’t revolve around you. Nor does it revolve around the Hero Business. I understood that in the name of a Marketable Hero and the Fame sponsors could have gained from championing the sparkling newcomer with a flashy Quirk, everything I said could have said would have been swept under the rug to protect Katsuki Bakugo, somebody’s new Investment...It was unlikely to actually happen, but even just the mere idea that it COULD have happened scared me, I knew I could have not managed to deal with that kind of pain.” He answered.
“Izuku…”
“So I decided to finally focus on my happiness, and if I could not be happy by being a Hero just because a flimsy piece of paper declared me Quirkless, then I went for cooking, something where I just needed skills to have a chance, not a Government-approved declaration of worth.”
“So you gave-up on me?!”
“Yes.” That answer was a slap in word form, and Katsuki felt it fully.
“...Why are you so angry? I did as you asked, I abandoned my dream, I accepted the fact that I did not deserve to be a Hero,and even stopped bothering you, so where is the problem?”
“THE PROBLEM IS THAT YOU WERE NOT THERE!” Katsuki yelled.
“You needed me so you had somebody in UA to rule over?”
“NO! I WANTED...I wanted…I…”
“Yes?”
“I wanted you there so to tell you that I am sorry.” Katsuki said, walking forward, uncaring of Whitey following him close behind ready to intervene.
“I was not aware you were capable of admitting to your mistakes,”
“I can instead, but of course your parents wanted me nowhere near you, same going for mine.” he was now in the middle of the kitchen and was still walking.
“You can’t blame them.”
“They forced me into therapy, you know? Every single fucking day...Talking, talking, talking and talking...There were times I felt it would have been less humiliating stripping naked. And they want me to keep doing it.”
“I heard Hound Dog works there as a counselor, that means they put you against one of the best.” Izuku answered, back still straight as he cooked.
Katsuki was now right behind him.
“They pulled out everything: Insecurities, Fears, Delusions...They forced everything out and disassembled it a damn piece at a time right in front of my eyes...I wasn’t even aware most of my anger was Inferiority Complex, and yet that shrink pulled everything out and slapped my face with it again and again until I had no choice but face every single little thing...But the only thing that I still hate to talk about is you, they say I am slowly coming around for most of my issues...Except when it comes to you.” Katsuki said.
“You hate me that much?” the Chef asked.
“I know I don’t hate you NOW, but back when that accident happened? No? Yes? Probably, maybe...I don’t know. I know I want to be the best, that I want to stand at the top, and that before getting into UA I hated whoever I saw as a threat to that Number 1 spot. And maybe I thought that you would have been an obstacle even as a Quirkless.”
“…”
“Izuku, look at me, please,” he asked.
“…”
“Iccha-”
“No. Don’t.” the Chef said with a growl.
“Uh?”
“You can’t call me like that. You don’t deserve to call me that.” the Hero Student saw it, the faint shaking of the Chef’s shoulders.
“...Icchan.”
“I said stop! O-Only my childhood friend can call me that! You are not Kacchan, he-he died when that damn Quirk popped-up!” Izuku said, now his shoulders were shaking heavily, and yet his hand movement did not get sloppy at all.
“I am still here! I am not dead!” Katsuki answered, forcing Izuku to turn around to look him in the eyes.
There were tears, yes, but they did not come down nor did the Chef’s eyes stop looking back at him unwavering.
“I only wanted you to believe in me, nobody else...Just you and my mother, I needed no other support besides you and my parents. I thought that if you joined UA as well someday you would have not walked besides me, but forward, far...Farther than I could reach...”
“So you pushed me away? That’s all your excuse? You almost killed me!” the Chef asked.
“I think I preferred losing you on my terms, for something I did, than for what I could not do.”
“And that attack? The suicide baiting? That is a crime, Katsuki! A disgusting crime!”
“That was a mistake,”
“You-”
“I am not justifying myself. I am just calling it what it is: something I did that I shouldn’t have done. Sometimes I wonder how that and everything else I have done did not ruin my chances to get into UA. I wake up every damn morning in a panic and thinking they will burst through my door to drag me out and tell me it was a mistake to let me join their school. I am no idiot, I know that there is nothing I can say that will justify what I did. But I am still asking you to give me a last chance, I am trying to fix things up.” Katsuki asked.
“You said all that without screaming or a curse,”
“I am no one-dimensional idiot. This is a serious moment,” he answered.
“You do know that nothing will ever be the same between us, yes?” Izuku asked.
“It doesn't have to be the same, but it can be better,” he answered.
“You are awfully optimistic.”
“So there is no chance whatsoever?”
“You almost killed me, Bakugo-san,”
“Kacchan.”
“Uh?”
“Call me with that nickname at least, for old time’s sake.”
“I’ll try. Now please, let me work.” he answered, returning his full attention to the fire once heard the oil starting to become hot just right.
“…”
“...”
“...I am serious, I just want a last chance to make things better. One last chance, then if it doesn’t work, I won’t bother you anymore. Forever.”
“Do whatever you want, it’s not like I ever managed to stop you from doing that. Nobody ever does.”
“You’ll see. Can I stay and watch? I will be quiet.”
“If you have to...” the Chef answered, sighing.
“Thanks.” Katsuki answered with a soft voice, for the first time in a long time.
As he had promised, he just moved a chair in a corner and sat down, watching the Chef work in complete silence, even his own breathing could barely be heard, covered by the sound of the Chef’s tireless cooking.
Two hours later -
Two of the many dishes he made were Wild Boar Stew with mushrooms and flecks of white truffle and Wild Boar Chops with sweet potatoes, bacon, roasted figs and juniper sauce; and while tasting ‘Fucking Amazing!’ Like Tetsutetsu and many others openly and loudly declared, there was something wrong with all of them in Katsuki’s opinion…
(Boar Chop with Figs and all)
(Boar Stew with Mushrooms)
Like, for instance: How in God’s name did that food manage to fix his broken arm and his other wounds?!
Katsuki had no idea of the mechanics behind it, but he KNEW it was not Recovery Girl’s Quirk that healed him, contrary to the other students that just dismissed everything as the old woman’s Quirk doing the deed, and that revelation simply tripled the questions storming inside the Hero Student’s head about the unnatural change in his old childhood friend.
“Something is wrong. Too wrong. I need answers, one way or another!” Katsuki thought while looking everywhere for Izuku’s whereabouts.
While this was happening, at the opposite end of the Inn an important meeting was taking place.
With Momo -
Having got permission from the Wild Wild Pussycats to use one of the empty rooms of the Inn, Momo had asked her last Rival to meet in private.
“Glad you could meet me.” Momo said with a sigh.
“It sounded important, what is it?” Ochaco asked, she had several rounds of bandages around her head and a long stripe covering her torso.
“…” The Heiress just took a deep breath and looked straight at her with a cold gaze.
“What?”
“This has to stop. For real.” Rumi said, sighing.
“Uh?”
“Once and for all, do you love my boyfriend, yes or no?” Momo asked.
“I just...I think I love him, I can’t help it. Even if I try to forget about him and move on...It hurts too much.” Ochaco confirmed.
“…” Momo stood in silence as she watched the other two.
“I-I-I don’t want to steal him away!” Ochaco said.
“HN?!”
“Me and you, Momo-san...Just me and you.” she repeated.
“HOY! What are you suggesting?!” Rumi asked with a growl.
“You are not backing down?!” Momo demanded.
“...No...No, I won’t.” she finally said.
“…”
“Momo…”
“…”
“You-”
“Silence!” Ochaco snapped, surprising Rumi enough to force her into silence.
“...His smiles are mine.” Momo finally said.
“I-”
“His smiles are mine. His laughs are mine. His tears! His joy! His pain! His Sorrow! His Love and his Passion! It’s all mine! Mine and mine only!” Momo said, crying.
“Momo…” Ochaco said while slowly moving closer to her.
“You can’t have him! You will never have him! He sees ME! He sees the girl! Not the Money, the curves or the family name or the Connections! He wants nothing from me besides my love! And I won’t share this treasure!”
“Momo, please.” Ochaco said while finally hugging the young woman.
“No...Let go…” the other answered while trying to push her away.
“He believes in me, he supported me and was always there for me whenever I was afraid or sad, let me in...Please…”
“You will take him away! You will steal him! I saw how he looks when somebody mutters about him staying with me because of my money! I saw it in his eyes, the fear of not being worthy! You will use that to take him away from me!”
“No I won’t! Never! We are friends, I would never do this to you!”
“And yet you accepted Nejire’s proposal, only to then stab her in the back and admit it.” Rumi said.
“I couldn’t keep this up, I kept feeling horrible, so I finally talked with Momo and told her everything.”
“Took you a bit too long, though.” Rumi answered, snorting in ridicule.
“At least I was honest! Unlike you!”
“She had been more honest than you from the beginning, and she too admitted everything, Ochako. She was even ready to leave if both me and Izuku told her, she was ready to leave everything behind and stop trying to get between us.”
“I was just attracted to him physically at first, I won’t lie about it, but you know what? Both that date and that clusterfuck into another Dimension made me see the real him, and I like that! I LOVE THAT! And luckily Momo understood how I felt.” Rumi admitted, sighing tiredly.
“Then...What about me?” Ochako asked.
“…”
“Momo?”
“No.” she said.
“Hn?”
“No, we are not doing this. Even if you are okay with this, or Rumi is, not even if Izuku is okay with this. My answer will still be no. I don’t trust you.” Momo answered, walking away and slamming the door behind herself.
“Momo…” Ochako muttered with a sad expression.
“Sorry, girl. You blew it, it seems.” Rumi answered, leaving as well.
With Momo -
In the end she had to ask the others for help locating Izuku, since the Chef had apparently left to stay alone for a bit after feeding every wounded person present, and when she did find him, she saw her beloved Chef lying alone on the ground outside to watch the starry sky above him. Even Whitey and Shiro were standing a bit far from him, just to let him have a bit of peace by himself.
“May I?” she asked with a soft whisper.
“Of course,” he answered, looking at her with a drained look on his face.
“Thank you.” She answered, lying next to him and, to her shame, grabbing his hand and feeling anxious until his fingers fully entwined with hers just a second later.
“…”
“Are you okay?” She asked.
“Uh?”
“Are you?”
“I am. I’m just a bit tired, this was supposed to be a peaceful walk in the woods for me, not...All this…”
“You were amazing, though.”
“No, I wasn’t. My job is not Hero-ing, I am a Chef. I didn’t want to show off that much, but then Kota and Tomoko-san were in trouble...YOU were in trouble…And now I made it clear I am not a normal Quirkless.”
“Are you regretting our relationship?” Momo asked.
“No, and you know it.”
“God...”
“Momo?” he asked, turning on his side to look at her and going wide-eyed at seeing her crying.
“Look at me. Getting insecure about us at every bump on the road even after we made Love...Am I really that scared of losing you? So damn whiny?” She said, both crying and smiling, while looking at her trembling hands.
“That fear is mutual, actually. You know this.” Izuku admitted with a low, ashamed voice.
“I know, and it is not supposed to happen.” she said, leaning closer to him.
“Love can suck, yes.” Rumi answered, joining the scene and lying at Izuku’s other side.
“Does every School trip of yours end with Villain attacks?” He asked while pulling her and Momo a bit closer and grabbing Rumi’s hand in his free one.
“Don’t know, it was not written in the pamphlets advertising UA, that’s for sure.” Rumi answered while leaning her head on his shoulder.
“We are four on four with this one, it is no longer a coincidence.” Momo added with a sigh of dismay.
“…”
“Huhuhu!”
“What?” Both Izuku and Momo asked, curious, at hearing the Bunny Girl’s chuckle.
“...Ochako, come out.” It was after a very long and quiet silence where the three just hugged, that Rumi’s rabbit ears twitched a bit, and after a short chuckle, the young woman called-out the name of the one spying on them.
“H-Hey.” Ochako answered, walking a bit forward to be seen by the small group.
“So you actually followed us.” Momo said with her lips pressed into a thin line.
“I did. I decided that...That I am not backing down. Not this time. All my childhood I accepted that there were things I could not get, or things I could not do. This time I am pushing back.” She answered.
“I told you that you are not welcomed.” Momo hissed.
“No can do. Sorry, Yaomomo. I am staying.” Ochako answered, not backing-down, she instead walked to the group and sat on the ground and moved Izuku’s head on her lap so as to gently play with his hair.
“Shit! I should have thought about doing that! It's so fluffy!” Rumi muttered with a frown.
“It may have escaped you, but he doesn’t want you! He fully admitted it to both me and Rumi!” Momo said.
“And I decided to ignore that,” Ochako answered.
“Oh! You shameless woman!” Momo hissed.
“Ocha?” Izuku said.
“I am not leaving. For once I want to get something I want! I have been told No all my Life, now I want to act spoiled at least once! I’ll be your girlfriend, end of story.” She answered, face red in embarrassment, but she still showed her determination.
“...Pfff!” Rumi’s snort was not what she expected in answer to her claim.
“Good God, that’s the least romantic confession I have ever heard, and I watch some crappy Soap-Operas!” She admitted.
“It doesn’t work like that!” Momo said.
“Screw that! This situation went on for far too long! If somebody doesn’t like how we resolve this, they can fuck off and die!” Ochako snapped.
“Jeez, sister. Relax.” Rumi said, wincing.
“No need to be that harsh.” Izuku added.
“For the Love of God...There really is no escaping this, hn?” Momo said with a long exhale.
“Everything has been set in motion by Fate for this to happen.” Rumi answered while trapping the Chef's left arm between her arms and their bodies, she then pressed fully against his side and started rubbing her cheek on his chest over and over.
“EEEK!” Making him shriek in surprise.
“What are you doing now?!” Momo shrieked.
“I am marking him with my scent, so every bitch he meets will know who he belongs to!” She answered, unashamed.
“I DON’T THINK IT WORKS LIKE THAT!” He answered.
“NO! You can’t do this! He’s mine!” Momo answered.
“Can’t smell you on him anymore! Just me!”
“Can you please stop referring to me as property?!” Izuku begged with a shrill voice.
“We’ll see about that!” Momo roared back in answer to Ochako and Rumi’s shameless claim, and did so by pulling him away from them and hugging him fully and using her being taller than him to pretty much wrap all of herself around him, even if it meant his head was buried in her breast…
It was not like he did not map her body fully whenever they got intimate, she used to have plenty of bite marks and hickeys all over her body to show it.
“As surprising as this sounds, I am objecting to this situation,” he said with a muffled voice, although he also pressed his face a bit deeper still in Momo’s heavenly bosom out of reflex.
“It was more Nejire’s doing than Fate, but I guess that Fate too had a hand in this.” Ochako admitted, sighing.
“Nejire…” Momo growled, and to Izuku’s secret joy, her hug tightened even more.
“I understand your dislike, or shit, even Hatred, for her...But you have to admit it: a Polycule between us can work! If we four put in the effort it can work! We all are smart and responsible young adults, not kids! We can even set ‘boundaries’! I KNOW it can work! Why argue and fight when we can all be happy together?” Ochako said.
“You will steal Izuku away from me!”
“FOR FUCK SAKE! I WON’T STEAL HIM! SWEET CHEEKS WON’T STEAL HIM EITHER! We just want a fucking slice of the beefcake too, Goddamnit!” Rumi roared.
“No.” Momo said, defiant.
“Momo!” Ochako growled.
“MINE!”
“Equal share, promise!” she then said.
“NO!”
“...You get 40% and me and Ochako share the remaining 60%.” Rumi said with narrowed eyes.
“Deal!” Momo answered.
“MOMO!” Izuku and the others yelled as one.
“I knew it! You just want to be his Main Bitch!” Rumi said in triumph.
“Not...Not Main Bitch...More like Alpha Female of the pack…” She muttered in answer, ashamed.
“Ergo, the Main Bitch of the Alpha Male of the pack.” The rabbit woman answered, smirking.
“Izuku! Say something!” Momo said, face neon-red in shame, while looking down at her boyfriend’s face deep in her cleavage to see HIM TOO blushing super red and being unresponsive.
“What have you done?! You broke him!” she shrieked in anger.
“HEY! HEY! HEY! I was talking about Romance, not sex! It goes without saying that as a man he would love to have Fun with three girls, but Romance is a bit more complex and important!” Rumi answered.
“That’s actually sexist against men, not all of us think with our dick only! And I am not that kind of guy! If this has to be a proper Relationship, I want to court you two to see if it can actually work between us! I want to take you on a date! Talk sweet nothings while kissing and just spend hours doing nothing but cuddling and hugging! I want romance too other than wild sex from this Poly-Relationship! Fuck!” He admitted in anger and shame.
“…”
“Icchan...You know...We can do that too...We can go on a date, a real one, even if I may have considered our small adventure in that other dimension and that movie as dates too…” Rumi said with a shy voice.
“Same here...A date sounds cool...All romantic and stuff…L-L-Like a movie or-or-or an ice-cream…P-P-Please?” Ochako added, looking everywhere but at him to hide her red face.
“…” Momo just looked at them with narrowed eyes.
“Momo?” Izuku asked, confused.
“One chance. I say we give this Poly thing ONE SINGLE CHANCE.”
“Ye-”
“BUT! At one condition: no more back-stabbing, plans, secret alliances and whatnot. At the first misstep the deal is off. Just like I said to Rumi, this will be a Test Trial.”
“Fair enough.” Ochako answered with narrowed eyes.
“...This is insane.” Izuku admitted with a groan.
“Let’s give it a try, even just to put a stop to this insanity. The instant you feel uncomfortable or you feel like you can’t actually have a relationship with them, they will back off and leave us alone.” Momo answered.
“I know I should feel happy about this, but...It’s just too strange.”
“And that means you are actually thinking this through instead of letting hormones guide you.” she answered, proud.
“Okay...Okay...L-Let’s try.” he conceded.
“YES! GROUP HUG!” Rumi yelled in triumph.
“Hands where I can see them!” Momo answered, as the first to hug the Chef before the other two joined.
“Yeah, yeah,”
The four of them spent several minutes hugging in silence, each one of the four of them just enjoying, or trying to enjoy, the feeling of their group being that close.
“…”
“Spit it out, Momo.” Rumi, eyes closed and happily sandwiched between Izuku and Ochako, whispered.
“You are enjoying this, isn’t it, Izu?” Momo asked.
“…”
“…”
“...I would be lying if I say I am not…” He muttered.
“You do have feelings for Rumi and Ochako, isn’t it?” She then asked, making the other two girls tense a little.
“…”
“…”
“...Yes.”
“And for me.”
“You still feel the need to ask?” He answered, looking at her from above Ochako’s head.
“A tiny part of me does, while the rest of me just loves hearing you say that you love me.” Momo admitted.
“And I do love you.”
“Good!”
“...So I can stay?” Ochako said.
“She still has not torn your head off, or mine, so for now I guess we can stay.” Rumi answered.
“Goddamnit…”
“Language, Momo.” Izuku said.
“I wanted to be your only woman!” She said with a whine.
“Can still happen!”
“Really?” Rumi said with her ears pinned down.
“Come on!” Ochako added.
“You just want his body! I Love him for real.” Momo said, defiant.
“Out of us three, you are the only one that actually got full access to his body once-”
“Thrice.” Momo said, actually smug about it.
“Three times?!” Ochako said, outraged.
“Goddamnit.” Rumi hissed.
“Rumi, watch your tongue.” Izuku said.
“Watch it for me,” She answered, smirking.
“Oh for the love of God…”
“And by the way, while I may want to have some Adult Fun with him, I Love him for real, Momo. Love is not your gig exclusively.”
“Same here.” Ochako said.
“...You win.” Momo said, sighing.
“It is no longer a matter of winning, Momo. It’s a matter of all the four of us being happy together.” Rumi answered.
“It is!”
“Izuku?”
“Yes?”
“Do you want them to stay?” Momo asked.
“Yes.”
At that, Momo took a huge breath, held it for a couple seconds, then released it.
“I do trust Ochako…” She then said,
“Thank you.”
“And I guess Rumi can be trusted as well,”
“Aye.” Rumi said.
“And I do trust you,” She then said, playfully bumping her forehead on Izuku’s.
“Same for me.” The young Chef answered.
“Then let’s make this Poly Relationship work.” Momo said, finally.
“Woooo!” Rumi answered, smirking wide.
“YES!” Ochako added, before shoving her tongue as far as she could down Izuku’s throat.
“HEY!” Both Rumi and Momo yelled as one.
“God, I wanted to do this for so long!” Ochako admitted, smirking.
“Wow.” Izuku admitted in awe.
“So! What is the first order of business of our new Poly? A cuddlepile is a good start, but I am curious about what comes next!” Rumi said she instead moved to cover Izuku and the other girls’ necks in kisses and hickeys.
“I just want to hug my man, the rest can wait.” Ochako muttered in answer, finally relaxed and no longer on edge.
“I will soon need to get back home, sorry.” Izuku answered, getting two very disappointed and childish moans in response from Rumi and Ochako.
“We still have one last loose end.” Momo said, groaning.
“…”
“...Nejire.” The others said.
“What about her?” Rumi said.
“She did everything wrong, but...Come on! She wanted to fix things, even if she screwed-up in the meantime.” Ochako said.
“The road to Hell is paved with good intentions, Ochako.” Izuku answered.
“That is the thing! Hers were good intentions. She didn’t try to get rid of us, she wanted to...I don’t know how...Make us consider the idea of a Poly Relationship…”
“And it kind of worked, somehow.” Momo admitted, groaning again.
“Should we...Let her join too?” Izuku said, unsure.
“NO!” The three girls yelled in answer.
“Why?” He asked.
“That would mean rewarding her!”
“Well, she did help turn our Rivalry into an Alliance, so in a sense...In a very slanted way...She did help us too instead of conspiring to get rid of us…” Ochako said.
“She did offer you an alliance too, didn't she? As a last resort.” Rumi added.
“Yes, but…” Momo tried saying.
“But?” Izuku asked.
“I...May have overreacted a bit.” She said, voice low and ashamed.
“Uh-huh? Define overreacted.” Rumi asked.
“I admitted, as in, I said to her out loud, that by the time she finished talking I had already thought about several ideal locations where to dig the hole to hide her corpse if she dared suggesting that again.” Momo muttered.
“JESUS CHRIST!” the others said.
“I was angry, okay?!”
“Yes, that is definitely what somebody very angry would say!” Ochako answered, appalled.
“...Then Mirio came talking to me, while you were in America dealing with Matoi…” Momo added, sighing and looking extremely tired of the entire situation.
“Oh. What about it?”
“He just asked me to forgive Nejire and give her a chance, saying that it was all born from good intentions, even if she made every single bad decision about it.” Momo said.
“Oh, she definitely planned this the wrong way. And for a bit got us down with her.” Rumi admitted, bitter.
“…”
“What is it?” Momo asked.
“I...I kind of understand why she did this, though.” The young Chef admitted.
“Hn?” The other girls muttered, confused.
“Sometimes you want something so badly that...That you are ready to do everything to get it, even if it’s wrong.”
“It happened to you too?” Rumi asked, saddened.
“In a sense, yes. While living as Zaus I could still remember my time here, and that was what helped me fix most of my issues...About my lack of Quirk...About my not being good enough to be a Hero…All of them.” He said.
“I don’t like that tone of voice.” Rumi admitted.
“Eh, it has not been easy. While my...Let’s call it New Body, grew up… In my head I kept going through my meeting with All Might over and over. Remembering, thinking, about how he said that I needed to abandon my dream, and how much hearing my idol and Role Model telling me that hurt me. So I was prone to basically burst of Jealousy about…. Pretty much everything.”
“Uh-hu?” Momo muttered, a sense of dread mounting inside of her.
“But a big part of me knew he was right, I knew that he was just giving me a wake-up call and helping me to stop clinging like a spoiled toddler to an impossible dream and just take charge of my life in an actual productive way. But another part of me, small as it was, refused to let go of that...There was this...This Kid version of Me… Screaming inside my head 24/7, telling me that I didn’t deserve to be Quirkless, and that I deserved powers just like everybody else. Or even more than others. That I was robbed of what was supposed to be mine.”
“That sounds...Bad.” Ochako admitted.
“It was, as cliché as it sounds, I actually lived with it for a long time. That is why as a teen Zaus, I finally went to therapy...I just switched being a Hero with being a Chef and few other minor details when talking to the doctor following me.” The young Chef said while freeing himself from the girls’ hug to pace a bit back and forth in front of them.
“And it worked?” Momo asked, hopeful.
“Worked wonders, actually. It took many years, but that small voice got weaker and weaker until one day I just stopped hearing it altogether...Not before that small part of me decided to give me a last nightmare as a last middle finger as a parting gift, of course. That took a lot of appointments to help me recover from.” Izuku said, grimacing a bit.
“...What was it about?” Rumi dared to ask.
“I don’t remember a lot of details, just me tearing apart a faceless guy while they were still alive and screaming, both my hands kept pulling out his guts so that I could eat them like an animal while I screamed ‘GIVE ME YOUR QUIRK! I WANT ONE! YOU DON’T DESERVE IT! I WANT A QUIRK!’...As you can imagine for a while I had trouble sleeping after that.” He answered, disgusted.
“Jesus…”
“Yes, that was the signal I was taking that longing too far, but as I said, I dealt with it and my Depression. That trauma is just in the past now, I have more pressing matters to focus on now, like my restaurant. And you.” Izuku said, showing them a small smile.
“So that day in the class?” Ochako said.
“Just a small relapse, they are very rare and far in between nowadays, just some random bouts of sadness; now all of that, like the acknowledgment of my Hero dream being dead for example, is just something I really don’t like to talk about and would prefer to pretend never happened. Now I have plenty of good memories as a Chef to drown those tiny bad memories with.” He answered.
“...And that reminds me I should probably contact Mister Toshinori, it’s about time we talk and bury the hatchet. He did nothing wrong, so holding a grudge on him feels wrong.” He then added, thoughtful.
Izuku knew it was not the man’s fault, he had every right to choose a worthy candidate to pass his Quirk to, and even if discovering that particular detail stabbed the young Chef right on one of the scars of his childhood traumas, he knew holding it over the man’s head was not the right thing to do, even if at the time that ‘Betrayal’ tore a hole in Izuku’s chest.
“You do know you are not alone, yes? I am at your side, your parents are there for you, even my own parents are ready to lend a friendly ear to listen and a shoulder to lean on if you need. You took care of fixing your issues by yourself, and that is admirable, but asking for help never was something to be ashamed of.” Momo said.
“I know, and I am grateful for it.” He answered, smiling.
“I am here too, you know?” Rumi said, smiling encouragingly.
“Same here.” Ochako added, gentle and warm.
“And I am here for you if you need, I used to be told that I was a great listener.” Izuku answered, chuckling a bit.
“Oh, yes, definitely an old soul.” Rumi jokes, and that finally broke the gloom that was starting to settle among them.
“My body is still young and full of boundless energy, though!” Izuku answered.
“Don’t I know it!” Momo answered, laughing softly.
“Ah, yes. Rub it in, will you?” Ochako countered, groaning.
“He did that too, yes. Multiple times.”
“Momo…” The young Chef begged in shame.
“In all seriousness...You think everything started from Nejire’s own selfish wish, that she then tried padding by making sure we too took part?” Ochako asked.
“That’s my best guess. This Polyamory was probably her way to lessen her guilt about wanting to get between us. Maybe she could not just drop it, so she resorted to another solution to silence that Voice telling her to get me for herself.” He answered, sighing.
“Instead of seeking therapy like you did to deal with your own ‘That Voice’.” Momo muttered to herself, unheard by the others.
“If we all get together, nobody will be left behind. If we all are Winners, nobody will lose.” Rumi said.
“Pretty much. It’s messed-up, but I guess that still made sense for her.” Izuku answered.
“So you say that you still want to give her a chance, just because you want to believe she was just misguided?” Momo asked.
“She is a good friend, a very good Hero and an amazing person...Everybody makes mistakes, she doesn't want to ruin lives, she just...Just...Just went the wrong way to resolve an issue.” Izuku answered.
“And that happens to be what Mirio too said. Pretty much.” Momo answered, sighing.
“Feels like we are rewarding her, though.”
“Who the fuck cares?” Rumi answered, scoffing.
“Are you justifying her?”
“Maybe I am, what about it? She Loves him and did something selfish to get us into a Harem with him and her. She could have just sabotaged us to get him all for herself instead of making us join a group.”
“But-”
“FUCK THAT! Stop being so butt-hurt about it!”
“I am not being butt-hurt! I am just not happy with the method she used,” Momo answered.
“Ah, yes, because if she walked up to us and said ‘Hey! Instead of arguing, why don’t we share?’ we would have immediately jumped at the idea!” Rumi answered, sarcastic.
“Well, no. Things don’t work like that.” Momo conceded.
“Exactly.”
“We are no saints either, we both tried going behind Momo’s back too.” Ochako answered.
“… True.” She admitted, begrudgingly.
“This situation has no solution. Besides a colossal failure.” Momo admitted, face-palming and groaning.
“If we take Nejire in the group, we reward her for her actions.” Izuku said.
“If we don’t, we get the Poly SHE worked for, and she gets nothing. And listening to Mirio, she gets her heart broken again.” Ochako added.
“And if we give her a chance, ideally somebody would say ‘Ackthtsuallyh! She deserves the pain and misery! Waah! Waah! Waah!’ and keep whining because things in our Life don’t go as THEY want.” Rumi said, annoyed.
“What do we do then? I can’t decide alone for all of us.” Izuku asked, opening his arms in defeat.
“…”
“…”
“Fine, I will take charge here...All onboard giving Nejire a chance? Aye or Nay...Aye.” Momo muttered, looking at the sky and shaking her head in resignation before surprising the others by being the first to raise her hand.
“...Aye. Let the Mastermind join the Poly she started. Fuck the naysayers. At least she did try to resolve things.” Rumi answered, raising her hand.
“Don’t drag the rant on too long. I say Aye too, by the way.” Ochako answered, she too raised her hand.
“…”
“Izuku?” Momo said.
“…” The young Chef took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly…
“...Aye. I do care about her.” He finally said, sighing.
“Going to take a while before she regains our trust, though.” Momo said.
“True. But everybody deserves a second chance, and somebody has to take the first step towards that in this situation.” Ochako said.
“Yep!” Rumi answered.
“So we are all onboard. As soon as feasible, we will talk with Nejire and see if she is open to the idea, it’s her right to refuse at this point, even if she was the one to start this.” Izuku declared, sighing.
“Yeah, I am okay with that. The sooner, the better. This mess has gone on for too long,” Rumi said.
“Right.”
“How long before you have to get back?” Ochako asked.
“Twenty minutes, more or less.” Izuku answered.
“Then come back here, I want to cuddle with my boyfriend,” Momo said, smiling and opening her arms wide.
“Our boyfriend.” Rumi corrected her, chuckling.
“Yes, yes. Just need to get used to this.” Momo answered, shaking her head but showing a tiny smile and chuckling.
“Huhuhu! I can do that.” He answered, chuckling.
“Uhmmm… Warm and fuzzy…” Ochako muttered, smiling wide, while basking in the group hug.
It was like that, hugging each other in silence under the stars, that Chef and Hero Students spent that small moment of peace, knowing full well that soon a new issue will inevitably pop-up to bother him and the girls once again. Such was their life, apparently.
UA University - Infirmary – The next day -
“This is ridiculous,” Aizawa admitted while watching Recovery Girl cut away the bandages around Himiko’s head.
“Toshinori’s newfound Health begs to differ.” the old lady answered.
“One thing is that, the other is a complete rebuilding of a body with food.” Tsukauchi answered.
“It’s not a full rebuild, the biggest thing will be her growing a brand new arm and eye from zero, if he manages to do it. The other limbs still had the bones mostly intact and just lost everything else, the organs too were untouched, besides some moderate damage to a single lung. All these things could have been fixed by my own Quirk had they not happened to a single person all at once, except the regrowing of the arm and the eye, I can’t do that.” Recovery Girl answered.
“Still a big deal!” The Detective commented, rolling his eyes in exasperation.
The Students of Class 1A were also present, except for Aoyama that was still strangely absent, and together with them there were Rumi and Nejire, all of those students were standing in silence behind the trio as the old Medic finally undid all the knots of the bandages.
“I must side with Naomasa this time, the damages to her body are just too great and wide-spread compared to mine. My damages had long settled down, hers were fresh and worsening fast.” Toshinori, standing with the students, added.
“I had nothing to lose, so I am okay with acting as a test subject for this,” Himiko answered, sighing.
“So...As long as she has regular doses of blood to drink, she is not a psycho?” Kaminari asked.
“YOU-” the girls yelled as one, horrified by his words.
“No, he is right, I was acting like a raving animal…And I know that no matter how many times I apologize, the memories of our fights will never go away. But I am sorry, truly.” the girl replied, eyes downcast.
“That’s a bit too harsh, maybe.” Tenya muttered in answer.
Sigh! “Hound Dog confirmed that most of the issues you had seemingly come from withdrawal symptoms, those drugs and honestly far too many buried traumas. While those scars run deep, he also confirmed that we got you just in time to help you recover before all that finally warped you forever into yet another maniac. IF you actually put in the effort to get better.” Aizawa answered.
“I-I-I will.” she answered.
“Good. Ready?” Recovery Girl asked.
“Yes, let’s get this over with.” Himiko answered aftertaking a deep breath.
“I will start then. You others back there, I get it you were curious, but if it didn’t work, at the first noise I hear I will show you how well a Healer can also BREAK somebody.” the old lady declared, making the room fall into deep silence.
“…” nobody talked as round after round of bandages went slowly and delicately peeled away, each and every layer feeling meters-thick thanks to the tension in the air.
Then the first sight of blond hair peaked from under the bandages.
“No way…” It was a very wide-eyed Recovery Girl herself to break the silence, though.
More and more bandages went removed, and now a full head of silky hair appeared from under the wraps, then healthy and unblemished face skin and rosy lips went uncovered, then smooth and soft shoulders, healthy arms and slender fingers with short nails, then a healthy and fit stomach and then the girl’s long athletic legs with adorable petite feet and delicate toes made their appearance.
Luckily Himiko had received a plain set of bra and panties to cover her breast and crotch, but nobody doubted what was under those too was now fully healed.
“I-I-I am okay?” Himiko asked while studying herself, pinching and caressing her body as if not even recognizing it.
“The...The eye?” Recovery Girl said while removing the last patch covering the side of Himiko’s face and the eye the old woman had to remove completely from the socket, and everybody saw a brand-new and healthy eye looking back at them.
“I can see!” the girl declared, tears already mounting-up until she lost the battle and started crying in relief.
“How?!” Tsukauchi asked in shock.
“Healing Cuisine.” Recovery Girl said with a whisper of voice full of disbelief.
“Uh?!” the other occupants of the room uttered.
“That is Healing Cuisine. One of Icchan’s abilities is infusing food in what he calls Life Energy, not his, but the Life Force of the Ingredients he cooks with. He needs to balance the quantity of Energy accordingly based on who he needs to Heal, but the effects are Miraculous. That is part of the reason he did not join UA.” Nejire answered, uncharacteristically serious.
“He feared that should somebody learn of this, the very wrong sort of people would seek him out, to the point of hurting his loved ones in hope of coercing him into cooking for them. You can imagine how determined people like the League of Villains would be in putting their hands on that power.” Momo added.
“So he just kept saying he is Quirkless. It was his only option.” Ochako added, sighing.
“Considering the level of Healing we just saw, maybe it is better for him to steer clear of the Hero Business, otherwise he will need to stay segregated somewhere just to not become a target. Recovery Girl hardly leaves UA for this same reason.” Aizawa muttered.
“That was the initial plan, I bet. He lived a quiet life as a Quirkless where nobody knew what he could do and just enjoyed some fucking Peace of mind, but then he got involved with you and now he made the League of Villains his enemy too, isn’t that right, Money Bags?” Katsuki asked while glaring at Momo.
“That Ability of his is the reason why we are having this conversation now, yes. He will need our help in case of danger should somebody learn about his Healing Cuisine, but he can defend himself, and I can too. We won’t let them or anybody else get in the way,” she answered.
“He is strong. Him slicing a mountain fully demonstrated it. I am curious how the Hero Safety Commission did not learn of his abilities sooner.” Tsukauchi wondered.
“...”
“Slicing what?…” Tokoyami muttered with a small voice, and looked horrified like many other students of class A.
“Later.” Momo answered, looking at all of them with a begging tone.
“Let me guess: They did try pulling some bullshit, and as we all saw with that monster dog of his, that ended-up in them eating shit over and over,” Katsuki said.
“Pretty much.” Toshinori answered, sighing.
“There is also the fact that his father works for I-Island, they probably falsified his Quirk Test to hide everything.” Tsukauchi answered.
“No, he is a Bona Fide Quirkless, that Test is legit.” Aizawa answered.
“We ran another not too long ago.” Recovery Girl added.
Nobody noticed Momo and the other girls growing pale at that revelation, and even if they schooled their expressions, the four of them still felt terror wash over them.
“THEY TESTED HIM?! WHEN?!” Momo thought in panic.
“How?!” the Detective asked.
“No idea, but one of the Directors of I-Island confirmed it, they are studying him from afar because he can do what he does without a Quirk.” Aizawa answered.
“I can confirm that myself, I was part of the group that was told about it.” Toshinori confirmed.
“Then...How?”
“I-I don’t know, I was certain this power of his was a Quirk, but he asked me to not ask about it and I didn’t. I trust him so I have no intentions to betray him.” Momo tried answering.
“…” Tsukauchi looked at her with narrowed eyes, because something made him unable to gauge if her answer was a lie or truth, but he could only feel something he could only describe as mental static noises, and he didn’t like that.
“Wait!” the next to scream was Tenya, surprisingly.
“Yes?” the Pro Hero asked.
“S-So Midoriya-san healed you?”
Sigh! “Yes, I was ill and would have died in a couple years, he must have learned about it somehow and decided to get back at me for my ‘less-than-gentle’ words about the possibility of a Quirkless Hero existing by doing something a Quirked Healer could not do, and healed me.”
“That stung, yes.” Recovery Girl admitted.
“And now he healed Himiko-san completely?” Tenya asked.
“I need to run a few tests for the damages to her lungs, but yes, I believe she has been fully healed.”
“Then...Then my brother...Tensei…” Tenya asked with cloudy eyes.
Sigh! “You will have to ask him. Legally speaking, nobody can actually force him to heal anybody. He has not taken the Hippocratic Oath either, so you can’t even try that angle. At best you can discreetly ask him for help and hope he agrees out of good conscience.”
“My God, I hope so…” Tenya said, walking out of the infirmary with his head held low and soon followed by the rest of the class.
With Momo and the others -
“This went well...You think that lie will hold?” Ochako asked.
“It’s the most believable justification I could come up with to hide Izuku’s abilities and their source. I am sorry, I didn’t know they ran a Quirk Test on him again after the coma.” Momo answered, sighing.
“It’s okay, we’ll make it work.” Rumi answered, patting her back.
“W-We? So I can...Really?” Nejire asked, unsure.
“You are on probation, Nejire-senpai. Me, Izuku and the others don’t really trust you fully, yet. But...But we want to believe you are trustworthy.” Momo answered.
“I won’t disappoint you.” Nejire promised.
“You better.” Rumi warned her.
“Thank you...So...So I can talk with him? Can I explain?” Nejire asked, hopeful.
“Once we’re done here, we will. Together.” Ochako answered.
“Thanks.”
“Moneybags!...Yaoyorozu,” a voice called-out behind the four girls, interrupting them.
“Yes?” Momo asked, curious at the usage of her actual family name instead of the rude nickname Katsuki had bestowed on her.
“You four know something.” the young man said with narrowed eyes.
“What do we know? Let’s hear.” Rumi growled back in answer.
“You obviously know something more about Izuku’s sudden increase in skills.” Katsuki said with crossed arms.
“You think there is some secret we are keeping?” Ochako asked.
“Don’t try to bullshit your way out of this. You and the others are close to him, closer than anybody else. So you KNOW more than anybody else.” he answered.
“There is nothing more to know-” Nejire tried saying.
“I am not like those other idiots, I’ve KNOWN Izuku since we were kids, since before I took a fat shit on maybe the only honest friend I had before coming here. There is no way in Hell that a year of coma changed him that much, Comas don’t work like that, neither does taking cooking lessons for a single year afterwards. He acts, moves, fights and cooks like somebody that did it for decades. And if there is somebody that knows what is happening, that is his parents or Yaoyorozu. I had included you others as a fail-safe, and I can tell that you three as well know something. What is it?” he demanded.
“And you actually believe that, if we know something, we will tell you of all people?” Momo answered with a frosty tone and narrowed eyes.
“There is something strange going on, and I need to get to the bottom of this,” Katsuki answered.
“Why?” Ochako asked.
“I have my reasons, reasons that I am not sharing. Spit it out,” he answered.
“Stuff it, explosion fetishist.” Rumi hissed.
“You won’t help? Fuck it then, I will do it my way!” Katsuki declared before marching away with a scowl.
“...This won’t end well,” Nejire said with a sigh.
“Let him try all he wants, Whitey alone can snap him in half.”
“I still feel the need to keep him under close watch, just in case.” Momo answered between clenched teeth.
“Together?” Ochaco asked.
“...Together. But the instant any of you break Izu’s heart, I am snapping your necks, literally. I don’t care if I am thrown in prison. I am murdering you all.” Momo answered after a long pause of thought.
“Eh! Fair enough! No pansies allowed in this group.” Rumi answered, chuckling.
“And what about that guy?” Nejire asked.
“We’ll wait and see, for now.” Momo answered.
The four girls could only watch the retreating blond with mounting unease.
Meanwhile – Nezu’s Office -
“That is indeed an interesting story, Mister Aoyama. Please, do start again from the beginning, from the moment All for One contacted your family with his little Quirk Transfer offer, to be precise.” Nezu asked while drinking his tea and a frown in place of his usual smile.
“I...I...I…” the normally sparkling boy stammered, overcome by fear and weighed-down by the contraption Power Loader built to stop his Quirk from working.
“It’s for your own good, trust me.” the Chimera said with a cold tone.
When the hands of Vlad King and Midnight closed on his shoulders harshly, the boy gave a strangled whimper and started talking again, by now recognizing he had no way to escape this talk, and wondering who gave Nezu enough proof to have him outed as a spy.
“Secondary threat to the Host dealt with. Should this not be enough, the boy’s Termination will be scheduled at the earliest convenience.” The System declared, unheard by everybody, even Izuku.
Omake Time:
Inter-dimensional Ingredients Hunt:
The Chef that caused the greatest Gang War of 2077.
El Coyote Cojo Bar -
An old woman and an old man were silently studying the morsels of food in front of them prepared by a young Japanese Chef that had barged into the Gang’s controlled bar chased by several rival gangs and even Mercenaries, and before any of the MANY Gang members having a late-day party could intervene, the young man’s personal Robot Bodyguard gave an awe-inspiring show of strength by not only turning the heavily-augmented thugs into scraps of man and metal whining in pain, but also slapped the shit out of the others as well, stripped them naked and then deposited them en-masse inside the nearest dumpster.
It was technically a 1 VS 25 fight, and yet Whitey still made it look like a walk in the park no matter the fact that for an instant there were more bullets in the air than oxygen when all those guys tried shooting him, and yet the chubby robot came out victorious and without even a scratch.
“My offer stands, my boy. Name your price for the Robot and you’ll get every Eddie, down to the last cent.” The old man said.
“I am sorry, Padre-san, I am honored by the offer, but Whitey is not up for sale.” Izuku answered, bowing.
“At least consider selling us the schematics, okay? I can understand being attached to the original, but being able to build copies would help our Family immensely.” The man answered, sighing.
“Why were they even chasing you, I wonder.” The Bar owner said, impressed by the huge number of empty bullet shells her workers were still throwing out.
“¿Qué diablos es ese puto robot? Cabrón fue creado por el diablo…” one of the guys brushing the floor muttered under his breath.
“I was sent here by my Sponsor to hunt down and learn some recipes, one of which is thePollo Guisado I was told you are very good at preparing, Miss Guadalupe.” Izuku answered, sighing.
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“Corpos these days, some people really don’t know what to do with all their money… And those guys?”
“I have no idea!” Izuku admitted, shrugging helplessly.
“The 6th Street guys just hate Japanese people lately, Arasaka is out-performing and buying-out many American-born small avenues to give them to their own companies. I guess they saw a young Japanese guy with a robot asking around their favorite restaurant for recipes… And some Perro over-reacted, and once you defended yourself, others joined. Fools are far too trigger-happy.” Padre said, sighing.
“And the Voodoos?” Guadalupe asked.
“Tch! Fuckers were getting a bit too handsy, so I kicked one of them through a car, apparently I was supposed to just bend over, like the piece of shit said.” Rumi answered, growling in anger.
“I did not like that comment myself, and got angry. Then Whitey and Shiro too got involved.” Izuku added, frowning.
“Bunch of animals, you okay, though, girl?” Guadalupe asked.
“Very fine. Those Prostitutes helped as well escaping,” She answered.
“Ah! You met The Mox gang too.” Padre said.
“I helped them with a couple of their...Workers, that needed medical help. As a thank you for helping us drive off the first wave of gangsters.” Izuku added.
He didn’t really like the idea that prostitution was pretty-much legalized in that city.
“You are also trained as a Medic?”
“Pretty much, yes.”
“Well, you definitely know how to make a damn good Guisado after just watching me cooking it once, where do you even get REAL chicken? Only filthy-rich Corporatives can put their hands on some nowadays!” Guadalupe said, looking amazed at the food she was eating.
“…” Izuku gave her a very forced smile.
“Is that why those fancy-looking gentlemen with overly-expensive chrome were between the guys shooting you?” Padre asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Some people… Don’t like losing bets against nobodies, it seems. I challenged this woman’s personal Chef in exchange for the guy’s recipes… And she lost a lot of money when I won…” Izuku tried saying.
“The fact that he refused to work for her AND refused to sleep with that doorknob of her daughter didn’t help.” Rumi added, sneering.
“Doorknob?” Guadalupe asked.
“Very old slang for Puta.” Padre supplied, chuckling.
“Oooh! So you cost that woman money, prestige, refused the advances of her very frivolous daughter and probably made her look bad in front of her rich friends by defeating her super-expensive personal cook… Yeah, I can see why she wanted you dead.” Guadalupe said, laughing.
“The… ehm… Magic Powder still on her nose probably did not help.” Izuku added, grimacing.
“Yes, you probably should skip town for a bit. We’ll help you leave with as much anonymity as we can, I know just the woman for the job.” Padre offered, shaking his head.
“Thank you.”
“GUADALUPE! HURRY! IT’S TERRIBLE!” One of the guys yelled while carrying inside a tall man with broad shoulders that was bleeding profusely from various bullet wounds.
“MIJO!” Guadalupe shrieked in horror.
“He… He is not breathing!” The guy carrying him said.
“MOVE! I’LL HELP HIM!” Izuku yelled immediately.
“HOW?!”
“By performing a miracle! MOVE HIM ON A TABLE! NOW!” The young Chef answered.
The next day – Apartment -
A lone woman was sitting on the couch of her small apartment, looking at the ceiling with blood-shot eyes.
“Whether you like it or not, you are stuck with me, Chum. So we either learn to work together and find a solution, or you can keep being difficult and I take over. Your choice.” The vision of a man with a silver robotic arm, and quite the breathtaking face, said after he appeared on the same couch, he too was sitting with a slouch.
“You don’t really leave me with a lot of choices,” She answered.
“Just laying it bare, girl.” The guy only she could see answered with a shrug.
“Fuck off with that.” She answered, making him chuckle.
Knock Knock knock!
“Who the hell knocks this early in the morning?”
“I should be the one saying it.” The woman answered, watching the illusory man fade away while she walked towards the door; she also grabbed a combat shotgun and gently poked the young man that had come bothering her as soon as she opened the door, for good measure.
“Yes?” She asked, pumping the shotgun ready with a dull Cha-clak!
“You people here have a very strange way to greet visitors.” Izuku said, unfazed.
“It helps keep you alive, what do you want, kid?” She asked, not removing the gun from the young Chef’s face.
Munch!
To her shock the small unassuming pet he had around his neck took offense to the gun and somehow took a bite out of it that only left the handle in her hands.
“… The fuck is that thing?”
“My boyfriend's pet. Can we come in? We were told you needed help.” Rumi answered.
“Me? Help? Viktor sent you?”
“Nope! It was Viktor and me, V.” The same tall guy Izuku pretty much pried out of death’s arm said.
“JACKIE!” The woman, V, pretty much threw Izuku and Rumi aside to go check on her friend.
“You...You…”
“Just some new bullet wounds and a new debt towards a couple Ripperdocs for the new chrome, but I am here, V.” Jackie answered, hugging the woman as hard as he could.
“HOW?!”
“I healed him.” Izuku admitted, shy.
“He made a fucking miracle, V. And maybe he can help you too.”
“Uh?”
“I should be able to heal your brain in a way that will stop your new friend from taking over… But removal, that’s purely mechanical, you’ll need to find a solution for that yourself.” Izuku answered.
“He can?” V asked.
“I was dead, V, and yet he pretty much brought me back.” Jackie answered.
“It was not resurrection, you moron. You were just in cardiac arrest for a minute or two!” Rumi said, rolling her eyes.
“It felt like I returned from death though!” He answered, laughing.
“You’ll tell me everything later, now let’s try this miracle medicine. Where is your office? Or any Ripperdoc equipment will suffice?” V asked.
“Eeeh… not really, I just need your kitchen.” Izuku answered, smiling awkwardly.
“… The fuck?” V and her holographic friend said at the same time.
“Well, besides the fucking high criminal rate of this place, things didn’t go too bad.” Rumi said, sighing.
The next day -
DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA!
BOOOM!
CRAAAASH!
“WHY DID I FUCKING HAVE TO JINX IT?!” Rumi yelled as bullets, grenades and even damn rockets rained all around her and Izuku.
“Bring me the boy! He can heal Cyber-psychosis! Do not let him escape!” The guy in an expensive suit ordered from the Arasaka-branded armored car to the heavily armed guards around him.
“YESSIR!”
“Hermanos! Defend our friend from the Corpo-Pigs! Padre wants him safely out of the city!” The “lieutenant” of the Valentinos yelled while brandishing the golden gun in his hand with almost religious fervor.
“Mox! Our friend healed us in our time of need, now we’ll help him back! ATTTAAAAAAAACK!” The scantily-dressed woman at the head of the attack squad fighting the Voodoo gang yelled, shooting nonstop.
“Give us the boy! His powers over flesh will help us!” And in answer one of the Voodoos yelled back, brandishing a grenade launcher.
“I ALMOST PREFER HAVING A WOMAN CHASING ME!” Izuku shrieked, and used the Turtle Wok as a shield to protect himself and Rumi from the hail of lead raining on them.
“THERE YOU ARE! I WILL ADD YOU TO MY SEX DUNGEON WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT! NO DICK ESCAPES ME IF I WANT IT! YOU WILL BE MY NEW DOG, EVEN IF I HAVE TO KILL THAT BUNNY-EARED BITCH YOU HAVE WITH YOU!” A young woman dressed in fancy clothes and armed with a duo of bright-pink Uzi yelled, joining the scene with her own bodyguards.
“GODDAMNIT WHY DID I TALK!?” The young Chef shrieked in horror.
“Hide behind the car, Chum! We’ll take care of them!” V yelled, pushing both teens behind her car while Jackie went nuts with his own weapon.
“V! More Enforcers coming from the right! I am back from the Lands of the Dead, PENDEJOS! COME AND GET SOME!”
“I'm Coming!” The woman yelled.
“System! For the love of God! Where is that portal?! Izuku learned those two dishes! TAKE US HOME!” Rumi yelled, she and the young Chef running with their heads low as gunfire kept turning the walls above them into swiss cheese.
“I SAW YOU TURN YOUR BITCH INSIDE-OUT WHEN SHE GOT HORNY! I CAN DO BETTER THAN HER!” The Psychotic rich girl yelled, while chasing them.
“See? See? I told you it was a bad idea!” Izuku shrieked, and enlarging the wok again to use it as a shield.
“You did it during a sortie with the others too! They were making fun of me for not doing it yet!” Rumi answered.
“Peer Pressure is not an excuse!”
“But you liked it!”
“That’s beside the point!”
“Teleportation ready!” The System alerted them.
“Good! WHITEY!” Izuku ordered.
“Understood.” The chubby robot answered, and promptly grabbed the girl and threw her into a dumpster.
When she resurfaced from the thing, the group was already gone, leaving behind the biggest Gang War in the history of the city since in that land of crazy people with far too many weapons at their disposal things escalated far too quickly.
“What is it… What is the issue?” The System said while crossing out yet another world from a long list of worlds, each cross reminding the Entity of places where Izuku’s Mission ended in a daring escape from Mad Women, Mad Locals or both, with Night City having just jumped to the top of the ‘Top 10 Fuck-ups’ the poor thing was keeping track of.
“What is the Variable?” The System said, and crossing off Night City with enough strength the sharpie was squished.
Author Explains corner:
This is how I resolved the Harem. I am tired of taking it slow, this is how it starts, take it or leave it, because I won’t let “ Romance” ruin my enjoyment in writing this. Sorry, but I can’t do better than this.
The ‘Brahmastra’ Impact Knocking Attack combination is based and named after the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism
(Dukkha. The first of the Four Noble Truths. Can be translated as meaning “Life is unsatisfactory” or Truth Of Suffering)
(Samudaya. The second Truth. Similarly: Suffering is caused by craving. The Truth of the Cause of Suffering.).
(Nirodha, the Third: The Truth of the End of suffering.
(Magga, the Fourth: The Truth of the path that Free us from Suffering.)
or
In Toriko THIS happens, so I am not pulling anything out of my ass.
Sure Izuku didn’t cut a mountain that big, he just sliced off a chunk of one, but the principle is the same.
Thank you for reading.
Chapter 25: Quiet Days, rare, but precious.
Summary:
The aftermath of the Mountain Incident has left the League of Villains far too interested in Izuku, and at the same time, the Chef is fixing a couple loose ends before going through a new Sortie in another world.
Notes:
I decided to write an "Intemediary" chapter to separate the last one from the one starting the "Magical Girl WOrld Arc" trio of chapters. It also works as a way for me to add few background scenes, close Himiko's joining green cloud and a few other minor things. I hoped to not stack too many action-oriented chapter on top of the other.
Disclaimer: I don't own a thing of what I used or use in this story. Please support the official release! Thank you!
Chapter Text
If you read this, The chapter has been Beta-read and fixed!
Chapter 25:
Quiet days, rare, but precious!
Undisclosed Location -
A dimly lit laboratory was being illuminated only by several computer screens, the majority of which showing a live-feed of some complex scientific experiment, so that Garaki could check every minute change in his current test subjects, but the main and biggest screens kept rolling through pictures and videos from either news and their own spies, all of them centred around a mountain lacking a bit over half its main body, with the missing area being marked by a cut mark so neat and clean no machine or Quirk could hope to replicate on something so massive.
“I believe this should push this so-called Quirkless Chef far higher on our Threat Scale, Sensei.” Garaki said, humming.
“… Do we have the camera feed from Dabi?” All for One asked.
“Here it is.” The man’s Doctor replied, switching images on the main monitor.
“Go meet your friends, filth. Samsara Cut.” In the screen Izuku was shown glare straight at the camera before cutting away the mountain and sending the slice flying.
“Again.” AfO ordered, with the muscles of his destroyed face faintly flexing out of his reflexive need of narrowing his eyes, even if he no longer possessed a pair and could only see the images thanks to a combination of stolen Quirks he had inside himself.
“Samsara cut.”
“Again.”
“….”
“Again.”
“Again.”
“Again.”
Again and again, the video of the mountain being cut and Muscular’s defeat played on the screens at the man’s orders.
“Sensei?”
“… Are we sure it is actually a Quirk?” The Villain finally said after several repeats of the video.
“If it is not a Quirk then it would be just raw physical strength, but that would go far beyond a Quirkless Human strength threshold. In case of Hysteric strength it has been observed how a woman could lift a car to save her baby, back before Quirks were even a thing, but she still struggled to do it. Ever since then, we always tried to understand what were the actual limits of a human’s muscles and bones, thus their strength, but then Quirks appeared and that theory was then thrown away since Humanity changed enough to invalidate all that data, scientists then stopped caring altogether, regrettably.”
“But he cut a mountain.”
“Cut it and sent the piece flying for several hundred metres. But something did appear behind him, that Avatar thing could be the proof of a Quirk being present. I suspect a strength-increasing one, even if I am still trying to connect the projection appearing to the power itself.” Garaki answered.
“It is not One for All, that fool All Might gave it to that blond bad copy of him in UA… Then why do I feel like that is not a Quirk? Why do I not feel the same pull towards those powers like I do with every other Quirk I see even just on camera? Why doesn't All for One react to that?” The Villain muttered, far too intrigued.
“Again, I would need the boy to be on one of my tables to answer those questions, Sensei. Even if it is not a Quirk, with a body like his I may be able to create a couple interesting Nomu, and if it IS a Quirk, we could just extract it, like any other.”
“I am still furious that the boy helped those Heroes stop our attempt at taking Ragdoll, along with helping our little Infiltrator Project leave our ranks before we could finish moulding her… No news from our spies in UA?”
“The kids in both 1A and 1H have gone silent while I can’t reach the two spies we have in class 2B and the two in UA’s General Studies, but at least young Aoyama confirmed that somebody leaked the presence of spies in UA, so he alerted us that he and the others may need to lay low for a bit… I guess the others just decided to do that without even having the decency of alerting us.” Garaki answered, scoffing.
“Their fears are not my concern, they know they have no choice on the matter so tell them to keep communications ongoing, they should know the risks of disobeying me.” All for One answered, growling.
“Of course, Sensei. I’ll tell Kurogiri to relay your message.”
“Good. What about Shigaraki?”
“Dabi and Kurogiri are seriously concerned now, the kid is a step away from coming undone, Kurogiri has to keep him under constant medications to keep his nerves in check. I have theoretically perfected my ‘Perfection Treatment’, but until Shigaraki recovers both physically and mentally, I won’t even be able to start the preparatory phase. The damages that dog made to his body have left far too many issues behind even after healing him, if this keeps up we will need to find a new candidate and start anew.”
“…” Only a low, bestial growl came in answer from the Villain.
Garaki was smart enough to not talk further, he just returned to work in silence on his experiments, and waiting obediently for his Master to regain enough self-control to once again talk and plan together, instead of giving-in to anger and personally march towards Green Cloud Restaurant to deal with their new thorn to the side once and for all.
“… Call Nagant.”
“Of course, Sensei.”
All Might had not yet forced All for One out of hiding after his “Death”, and the Villain refused to let a Chef have the satisfaction of achieving that, even if the man knew it could take him next to nothing to remove that young pest from their path, it was just a matter of principle and the Villain’s own pride.
“You fool.”
Meanwhile - Yavin Street - Green Cloud Restaurant -
“Lunch Rush Hour”, not be confused with the Pro Hero’s name, was the moment many Restaurants of the Gourmet Street of Musutafu dreaded, as the crowd of customers always felt more like a swarm of starving locusts than just humans, only few Veterans or Enthusiasts of cooking actually looked at the waves of customers clamouring to enter with fondness and excitement, and luckily Izuku was part of both those groups waiting with great Hype the arrival of those many Foodies in front of his door.
Even if the young Chef was still salty at being unable to use the overly-ornate Star-Eating Turtle Wok to cook something since he apparently lacked “Half” of the flames necessary to create the right fire to actually use the wok for cooking, especially since Izuku found using that amazing cooking utensil as a weapon/shield a pity, no matter its being indestructible and perfect to whack Troublemakers with, the thing was born to cook amazing dishes!
“Mister Plastic, here is your lasagna.” Izuku said, carrying a long tray with one hand and delivering the dishes on it with the other.
“Wonderful! Thank you!”
“As for Slide-And-Go, here’s your curry rice.” The young man then said.
“Yesss!”
“Thank you for choosing Green Cloud Restaurant, have a nice Lunch and call me if you need anything.”
“Sure, Boss Izuku!” Both Heroes answered as one, then attacked their food with a wide smile.
“Helllooooo! I am here for a Table for 3 like a normal customer!” Toshinori, fully in his All Might persona costume and all, and accompanied by Nighteye and Centipeder, asked.
“Down there by the trees, All Might. And welcome back.” The young Chef answered, finally regaling the man with an honest smile.
“Thank you!”
“See? You are finally mending the bridge,” Nighteye said, patting the man’s back.
“Indeed! Hahahaha!” Toshinori answered, laughing happily.
“… I would have preferred you being unwelcome still instead, it was nice to have a place free of your presence.” Enji Todoroki answered with a grunt, as he was forced to watch the man take a seat at the table right next to his.
“Don’t be grumpy, Endeavor! Don’t ruin the mood!” Toshinori answered, smirking.
“Tch!”
“Your Jewel Tartar, Enji-san!” Izuku said, luckily defusing the argument with his delivery of the Fire Hero’s dish, a tartar of Jewel Meat, and the young Chef was grateful the System could remove the Ingredient’s infamous ‘blinding gold hue’ that while would have given an extra edge to the dish’ look, it would have also raised far too many questions.
“Uuuh! Is that the special meat I heard about? I think I will try that!” Centipede asked with shining eyes.
“Yes, it is that and it’s good, if you can afford it, that is.” Enji answered with a savage smirk.
“Of course I can afford-” The Pro Hero was about to answer, THEN he saw the actual price of the dish on the small chalkboard by the entrance.
“HOLY CRAP!” and shrieked with bulged-out eyes.
“Bwahahaha! Don’t worry! As I said, I am offering today, so just order it, it’s okay!” Toshinori answered.
“Thank you, sir!” Centipeder answered, looking ready to burst to tears.
“I will go for a plate of Grimm Carpaccio and a Grimm Kofta Kebab Burger instead...Whatever that is.” Nighteye said.
“Just a fancy nickname for a rare breed of bull one of my providers created by cross-breeding,” Izuku answered, chuckling.
“Intriguing. I will go with that then,” the man answered, nodding.
Dling! Dling!
The next to enter the Restaurant caused the Heroes present to grow silent and follow the newcomer’s every move with narrowed eyes and tensed muscles.
“...H-Hi! I… I arrived, Boss!” Himiko said with a very forced smile and her body language screaming how she wanted to be anywhere except there with all those Heroes, many of which she had stabbed with needles at least once to borrow some blood for the League of Villains.
“Himiko! Good morning!” And Izuku was the only one to welcome her with a genuine, blinding smile, something that seemed to put the girl at ease a tiny bit.
“Relax, people. As per the Article 35 of the Statute for the Rehabilitation of Villains, she is now on probation to become a proper member of Society and will spend here the hours of Community Service given her by the court. She is trying to Switch sides, guys, give her a last chance instead of making her relapse immediately.” Detective Tsukauchi explained with an extremely tired, grumbling tone of voice.
“…” Nobody talked, but at least the Heroes seemed to accept the explanation for now…
“Try anything here and they will find you floating in a river by morning!” The Vigilantes hidden among the Civilians were not as convinced instead, and unknowingly they all thought the same thing, all while being careful to not be recognized by the Heroes or the Detective.
“It’s okay, Himiko. Me and Whitey will make sure they won’t bully you.” Izuku said, with the white robot behind him giving her a thumbs-up.
“T-Thank you.” The girl replied with a small smile.
“Officer Tama will be present here at all times, if you don’t mind, Mister Midoriya. She has been chosen to keep young Toga in check and immediately immobilise and remove her from this Restaurant should she try anything dangerous. I am sorry but it’s part of the Rehabilitation Program, just like the device at her ankles and wrists, until she has passed all evaluations we can’t leave anything to chance.” Tsukauchi explained, sighing.
“Even if I trust her?” Izuku asked, saddened.
“It’s the law, I am sorry.” The Detective answered.
“It’s okay, Izuku. At least they will give me a chance.” Himiko said.
“Icchan. My friends call me Icchan.” Izuku answered, smiling.
“O-O-Okay, Boss Iz-Icchan!” She answered, looking very close at crying.
“I have prepared her Uniform, I guess you will follow her upstairs to get changed?” He said.
“Of course, Sir. Sorry but it’s part of the thing.” The tall and extremely burly Policewoman answered, nodding.
“I understand. That door, there is a guest room upstairs, first door on the left.”
“Thank you, sir.” Tama answered.
“Ochako-ch… Ochako-san gave me a crash-course on what to do!” Himiko said, while being accompanied upstairs by her assigned guard.
“Very good! I will teach you the rest as you go. And welcome to the Green Cloud family!” Izuku answered, smiling pleasantly.
“Thank you.”
Once the two saw both women disappear upstairs, Tsukauchi looked at the Chef and sighed again.
“Thank you for this, it took a bit before coming here because we actually tried other venues for her community service work before actually resorting to you, but we soon sadly discovered how we actually had noplace to send her, her parents even refused to help us.”
“It’s okay, Mister Naomasa. As I said, I will be the one to give her a chance if nobody wants to, I believe in her.” Izuku answered.
“Why?” The Detective asked, honestly curious.
“Gut instinct, mostly.” He answered, chuckling.
“It’s the truth… And yet I feel like some minor detail is amiss just to annoy me.” Tsukauchi thought in misery.
“Will you stay for lunch?”
“May as well.” He answered, shrugging.
“Over here!” And Toshinori immediately moved his chair aside to make room for his old friend.
“The usual?” Izuku asked, snorting amused at the man’s new sigh, the sixth he heard since the Detective entered his restaurant.
“Yes please…” the other answered, before joining the table of All Might.
All in all, while stiff when talking with her, the customers didn’t seem to make too much of a fuss about Himiko being the Restaurant’s new waitress, the presence of a Police Officer specifically chosen to stop her, the many Pro Heroes eating there and Whitey himself having a reputation for dealing with Troublemakers was apparently enough to keep things civil. At the very least.
At the same time – docks
Ryukyus’ day was going very poorly instead, indeed SHE WAS FUCKING ANGRY!
Over thirty calls in just six consecutive weeks, every single one needing her and several Police Force agents to check hundreds of containers to find the right ones the “Whistle-blower” assured them were full of a combination of various illegal contraband, like for example:
Drugs.
or
Illegal Weapons.
or
Illegal Animals.
or
Rotten Food.
or
Stolen cars.
or
Stolen paintings.
or
Illegal copies of famous paintings sold as the real deal.
or
Illegally collected organs for illicit transplants.
or
Bad copies of clothes and bags of several expensive Brands.
And each and every time, those same containers were found to be empty, even if the Spy swore high and low they were full on departure and that nothing and nobody touched them during the entire trip by sea.
Six weeks in a row where Ryukyu was awoken at dawn or deep into the night by the Police Force, since she was known to be vicious when dealing with contraband and the ones profiting from it, especially in the case of animal and organ trafficking.
By now even her make-up was struggling to cover the dark bags under the woman’s eyes.
“This one is empty too!” The Police officer said, after opening the very last container on the ship, the last of several hundreds they had opened just to make sure they were not missing anything.
“I know…” The Dragon Hero answered with a very dragon-like growl, even if she was human form at the moment.
“Is this a goddamn joke?! It’s the fourth call this week only! All for empty containers!” another officer said.
“I know…” Ryukyu answered again.
“We have already apprehended our little spy, and she said she was sure that-”
“I KNOW!” Ryukyu roared, almost transforming into her Dragon Form on the spot.
“EEEK!” many agents squeaked in answer.
“Sorry. It has just been a tiring… Goddamnit, a tiring MONTH! We keep getting these calls! Who the Hell finds so fun making us run around like this?!” She said with a long, suffering whine.
“Whoever it is, they have a grudge for this Midoriya guy, all deliveries have always been marked as being for him.” An agent, carefully, answered.
“...Wha?” Ryukyu said, shocked.
“All forged documents, of course.” The same agent added.
“Again?” She asked in disbelief.
“Eh, yes, Madame.”
“They could at least put those illegal goods in there, or do they believe we would arrest the guy just on the idea he was receiving illegal stuff?” A policewoman nearby muttered under her breath.
To be fair, those containers kept departing from the original docks filled in those illegal objects, it was just that The System usually emptied them mid-way so to let them arrive empty for those agents to find, either by destroying the drugs and fakes and weapons, and ‘Gifting’ the organs to innocent ill people if the original owner was dead, or returning the stolen goods and animals to their legitimate owners and homes.
The Entity wanted its Host to succeed or fail only by his own hands, not by outside interference, it was a matter of principle.
“We need to find whoever it is behind those containers and the fake reports, somebody is paying a lot just to have empty crates delivered with forged documents only to discredit a Chef! Everything about this is ridiculous!” Ryukyu asked, with a begging tone, as she knew she could not keep this rhythm for much longer.
“Yes, please!” The other officers answered in chorus, equally tired of chasing ghosts.
– Middle of the Ocean – ‘S.S Queen of the Sea I’ Cruise ship -
In an overly-luxurious cabin in the VIP section of the gargantuan ship, a very angry phone call was taking place.
“...Empty!? Another delivery lost!? HOW?!” A rotund old man with a thick beard shrieked to his phone.
“...Then find who stole my paintings!” He answered once heard whatever excuse his man at the docks gave him, and closed the call right after.
“We keep losing deliveries. Customers are starting to get frustrated.” An old woman with a stern expression said with a growl.
“I am aware of that!” The Old man snapped in answer.
“When your granddaughter started dating my grandson I thought I was linking my family to a bunch of fools, and for a bit you clearly managed to trick me into believing you weren’t one!” She answered.
“I am not a fool! But somebody is treating us both as fools by stealing our merchandise!” He answered, spit flying everywhere as he yelled.
When his beloved granddaughter Jun had come crying to him about how Samui had found-out that the woman’s eighteen birthday was just a collection of highly-illegal and immoral activities, the mildest of which being her snorting ‘Magic White Dust’ off the ‘Rod’ of a naked male stripper, Jun’s beloved grandpa jumped to her rescue… Especially since the old man had done even worse during his own eighteenth birthday and later in his life, and had recognized how differently from that ‘sissy wimp’ of his son, his granddaughter actually knew how to properly live Life, thus proving herself a kindred spirit and worthy heir.
Unfortunately Society was not as accepting as its members made out to be; just like nobody seemed to understand how the short Life of a human was made to let people enjoy their vices to the fullest, they didn’t seem able to admit aloud how legal activities could not bring you enough money to make all your efforts worth it either.
But as the old man had discovered, supplementing the income from that “Honest Work” with other, and more lucrative, side activities like contraband actually made the bank account grow at the proper speed compared to the effort put into it.
At the beginning it was just them hiding the contraband in any normal shipment of the old man’s grandfather’s delivery service: a simple, anonymous shipping company; when the total capital became big enough, that family-owned Company became yet another Cruise vacation giant, with Jun’s grandfather as its freshly-minted CEO, and the contraband business continued, only now with the “Merchandise” hidden between the luggage of the people going through the cruises the Sato Cruises conglomerate offered.
Years passed, and Jun’s grandpa met and struck up a “Quasi-friendship” with the grandmother of Jun’s future husband, and the two Cruise-centred giants fused into a single entity that made the income increase tenfold, both on the legal and illegal side...Everything was going smoothly until Samui managed to get his dirty hands on the few candid pictures of Jun’s wild birthday still around and came knocking at their door for both money and Jun’s help in dealing with Izuku.
Now, as a couple of old, seasoned business buddies, both Old man and Woman tried to see the silver lining in the situation: since they did need a constant influx of scapegoats to sacrifice to the authorities in case any of their deliveries went intercepted, using Izuku as yet another fool to blame for their contraband was in the end considered a small blessing in disguise.
If only THE DELIVERIES WOULD JUST STOP DISAPPEARING!
And not just the few, cheap contraband crap they wanted to pin on the young Chef to get him in trouble and arrested while the real money-making stuff was recovered by their men at the docks and sold to the proper customers, but their entire catalogue! Even hard to find stuff several criminal organisations had paid in advance for!
And let it be clear, in the current Quirk Era the Yakuza may have lost most of their former weight, but those guys still knew how to chop somebody into pieces and leave those same pieces inside a briefcase buried under a pile of rubbish in a Junkyard! This is not considering the other, far more dangerous Individuals that will hate to hear about the stuff they bought getting lost.
“You better do something, then! We have many ultra-rich morons that want their stolen Van Gogh and Matisse paintings to hang in their living room, and they WILL get their due with either those or out of pounds of our flesh if we do not deliver!”
“I’ll fix this! I’ll fix this! Stop breathing on my neck!” The old man answered, annoyed.
“You better, otherwise I fear that soon neither me or you, or even our families, will have any necks for anybody to breathe on!”
“I know!”
– Musutafu - Abandoned Warehouse -
“Unf!… Unf!…” Chisaki, mainly known as Overhaul in the Villain circle, was at the moment biting on a piece of wood while Painfully re-setting his arm that had been dislocated.
“Another raid...Another base lost, but it’s okay! I can rebuild everything!” The crazed man hissed once spat out the small tablet.
“I just need to recover Eri and re-start production.” He said, checking his phone and bitterly noticing how only a third of his men managed to escape capture by the Pro Heroes that had raided yet another lab of his, most of which reportedly beaten black-and-blue by Mirio.
“Good thing those idiots could save this and bring it to me. My ace in the hole…” A small box was smashed open while he said that.
“I’ll rebuild everything, my Cleansing will happen! What’s important is that we saved this… With this, I can still win and Cleanse the World and take back what’s ours…” The man said, looking at the loaded gun and at the special bullets in it with a psychotic grin.
“First that fool All Might and his merry little Heir, then that accursed Chef. Then Eri. A bullet for each one of them for taking away my men and my Production Unit, then I am off to restart production with my sweet little daughter!” A deranged laugh echoed in the dirty warehouse after that.
With Izuku – Green Cloud Restaurant -
Unaware of all the people conspiring against him, Izuku quietly kept running his restaurant with a satisfied smile on his face.
“You are doing great, Himiko! I am amazed.”
“Thank you, Icchan!” The girl answered with a blinding smile herself, humming a simple tune as she moved back and forth from the kitchen with almost unnatural speed and ease to serve the various tables.
“Annoyance incoming, kiddo.” Suddenly, the lazy, deep baritone voice of Blackie echoed inside Izuku’s head accompanied by a bored yawn.
“Another one?” The young Chef muttered to himself while observing the poncy-looking man with a wide belly and a thick swirly moustache that had just entered his Green Cloud Restaurant with far too much swagger.
The guy was dressed in professional Chef clothes and was carrying a wide metallic briefcase in his hand, which as Blackie had warned Izuku about, meant the man was visiting the place just to make a nuisance of himself, as usual lately.
“You!” He yelled with a thick accent while pointing at Izuku with a crooked finger.
“Uh? Yes? May I help you?” The young man answered.
“I saw that ludicrous Review Ego left of this lurid pigsty and-”
SLAM!
At once everybody present jumped to their feet to glare at the man in barely-concealed anger, many even slamming their hands on the table before getting up.
The following silence was so thick in tension a literal explosion seemed about to happen.
Himiko instead was already in front of Izuku, ready to defend him, violently if necessary, and glaring daggers at the short idiot that dared to insult her first real friend and saviour.
“My friends, please, keep your calm…” Toshinori asked with a worried tone.
“What did you just say, Sir?” A Pro Hero, rank 87 and known as The Boxing Maniac Hero: Megaton Jab, asked with a growl and spitting out that Sir in acidic sarcasm.
“You want to die, fucker?” A Vigilante in incognito, Savage Beater, added with a snarl, and ready to massacre whoever dared to insult the guy that gave his little brother an actual honest job and good pay as a delivery boy no matter his own criminal past and mutation Quirk.
“I…” The short plump man was now aware of the nest of hornets he had just kicked, and his paling complexion made it clear he KNEW he would very likely leave the Restaurant inside a body-bag if he was not careful.
“Guys, no fighting in my Restaurant. Don’t make me tap the sign.” Izuku was the only one calm in that situation, and actually, he sounded disappointed in all of them. Hands at his hips and all.
“But… Chef Izuku! He said-” A construction worker sitting at a table near him said with a whine.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Growing even more disappointed, the young Chef gave Whitey a look, and the robot diligently tapped with one of his big fingers on the “No fighting inside the Restaurant” sign in elegant font that Izuku had affixed next to the kitchen window for everybody to see.
“… Okay.” Sounding far too petulant for a big group of adult Heroes, Villains and Vigilantes in incognito, and Civilians, they all obeyed and returned to sit at their tables, even if all showing a very despondent look on their faces.
“Thank you. And you, sir. What can I do for you?” Izuku asked.
“… Uh?” The strange chef asked, clearly still disturbed by the entire situation, and at how obedient all those people were towards a Chef as young as Izuku.
“I asked if you needed anything.” Izuku repeated.
“I... Oh! Yes! I came here to challenge you!” The short man answered, pointing an accusing finger at Izuku.
What the guy expected were gasps of shock from everybody in the room, what he got were groans and sighs of annoyance instead.
“Oh, God, another one?!” somebody said in disbelief in the background.
“I am sorry, but the Restaurant is full at the moment, I can’t really take Challenges now.” Izuku answered with a contrite expression while looking around at all the full tables.
“But! But! I flew all the way here from Paris! Do you have any idea how expensive that is?!” The man answered, furious.
“Listen… I am sorry you got all the way here from France, but I really can’t ignore my Customers just to go through a cooking duel now. Can’t we just do this at another time? Why do you even want to challenge me?”
“You are making us other Chefs look bad, boy! I don’t care how you did it and defeated those other fools, but you won’t undermine the work of MY Generation! You newcomers still smell of tit milk, no way in hell you can surpass us that have worked night and day for years to be the best!” The fat man yelled, and added a childish stomp to his outburst for extra measure.
“That ‘My Generation was cool while yours sucks’ thing is frankly annoying, and I am shocked it is still a thing nowadays.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“Troublemaker?” Whitey asked.
“Eeek!” The guy shrieked in fear, clearly aware of the Robot’s reputation.
“No, no… Himiko?”
“Yes?” The girl asked, still glaring at the intruder in anger.
“Please bring him the dish I give you, I can’t ignore my customers just for a Challenge.”
“… Okay.”
“Uh?” The Short guy uttered in confusion.
“You want to Challenge me? Fine. You will taste a new dessert I made that will join the Menu today. If you manage to bring here a version of it with the exact same taste, I will accept your Challenge.” Izuku explained, already marching towards his kitchen.
“Tres Bien. I'll humour you, boy! No Japanese nobody shall defeat a French Master Chef in the Art of cuisine! Not even in desserts!” The guy answered.
“Good attitude.” Izuku answered from his kitchen.
“...You are screwed, pal.” An old lady nearby declared while wiping her mouth.
“Madame?”
“You are not the first guy to challenge Chef Midoriya. Not by a long shot.” She said,
“So what?”
“See that closed cabinet? Inside it there are the knives of all the idiots that tried challenging him, they all lost and had to leave behind a kitchen knife with their name written on it as a punishment.”
“Yes, I heard the rumours about it, so?” The Chef said, sneering.
“Your knife will soon join those.” The old lady answered.
“Tch! You Japanese don’t know what true cooking is! I will take all of those home with me instead! As a Trophy to celebrate French Cuisine superiority!”
“… You really have a brain the size of a pea. Well, suit yourself.” The old lady answered, shaking her head, paying her bill, and leaving the Restaurant to return to I-Island and her beloved ‘Darlings Project’.
“Here it is. Three-Layer Semifreddo. Icchan’s version of an Italian Lemon Semifreddo cake, please enjoy.” Himiko, showing a surprising amount of professionalism no matter her dislike for the man, delivered the guy’s plate with a cordial smile, gave a slight bow and walked away fast from the man without looking back.
“Heeeeey! That looks good! Can I have some?” Toshinori said with a wide smile.
“Me too!”
“Me too please!”
“Lemon! Uuh! That sounds refreshing! Can I have some too?”
Several customers asked one after another once they saw the lovely fluffy dessert topped by slices of candied lemon and decorated by stripes of bright-yellow lemon glace on the plate.
“Of course! I will bring it to you immediately!” Himiko promptly took a mental note of who asked and moved to collect more plates.
In the meantime, the plump foreign Chef kept studying the plate from every angle, for many customer’s annoyance at his clear desperate research of anything to point-out as a mistake, and unaware of how annoyed Shiro and Zephyr were getting at the blatant disrespect of their Partner’s skills as a Chef. Even Eri was now glaring at the strange man that insulted her daddy.
“A dish based on an Italian recipe… As if he or those mafia idiots can match us…” He muttered, frowning, but finally tasting the thing.
“…” And the same small dessert fork he asked for fell from his hand to clatter against the plate.
“First layer is homemade praline I made with preserved lemon, almonds and sugar.” Izuku explained, personally delivering a plate of that dessert to Kota and Mandalay’s table.
Fluffy, delicate and with the fruity sweet-and-tangy taste of lemon, both the preserved ones and their more natural taste.
“…” The guy said nothing, but everybody saw his lips starting to tremble heavily.
“The second layer, the Gelato one (Ice cream), has been enriched by adding tapioca flour, meringue and preserved lemon to it.” The Young Chef said, now face to face with the guy, even if he had to look slightly downward to meet the guy’s eyes.
Smooth, chilly sweetness accompanied by the lemon’s umami acting as a gentle contrast, so refreshing you could swear every pore of your skin was exhaling in relief at the first bite already.
“…” Again, no answer came, but a hiccup tore its way out of the guy’s throat.
“The third and final layer is a Pâte à Biscuit, a hard biscuit acting as a base I made with, among other ingredients, preserved lemon, lemon zest, almond flour and meringue. The sauce between the layers and decorating the plate is made with home-made Limoncello liqueur I personally made while following the original Italian Recipe, then I used candied lemon slices as a garnish.”
Lemons… Lemons everywhere! Every facet of those sunny yellow fruits’ flavour was present and lovingly added to the dish, even the smell was perfectly integrated in the dish! Nose and mouth are heavenly tickled by those flavours and smells so well you could picture the plant the lemons came from as if right in front of you if you close your eyes!
“…” The short plump man just stood there, looking at the half-eaten dessert in silence.
“As we agreed, prepare and bring here a version of that dessert tasting just like the one I made and I will accept your challenge, I even told you most of the ingredients I used. Since I know that matching the taste of a dish made by somebody else is not an easy task, this will tell me if you actually have the qualifications necessary for me to find you actually worth the time of going through a cooking duel against. It’s time people learn that I won’t be bullied by the first guy passing-by.” Izuku said.
Sniffle!
“Uh?” Izuku muttered, confused.
“Is he… Crying?” Himiko said, unsure.
Hick! Sniffle!
“Oh God, he is crying!” Toshinori yelled, unnerved by the ugly sight of the rivers of snot running down the guy’s nose.
“Sir?” Izuku tried saying.
“Uuuh…” Himiko took a step back from the guy, finding him way too weird to have standing close to her.
“Iiiiiiiiiiih!” A long, unhinged and high-pitched shrill whine came out of the man’s mouth while he opened his metallic briefcase, grabbed a knife with a wide blade and after accepting the sharpie a smirking Vigilante handed him, he wrote his name on the blade with shaking hands.
“Uuuh...What?”
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Done writing his name, the man let-out a loud scream full of pain and despair and ran out and away from the Restaurant with rivers of tears and snot flowing freely down his face and scaring half to death whoever he met on the street.
“…” A very awkward silence fell inside the room once the last echoes of the crying french chef died down.
“… Uh?” Izuku muttered again.
“I guess he thought it would have been an easy victory, Icchan.” Himiko said, shrugging uncaringly.
“Some people can’t handle stress, it seems.” Kamui Woods added, chuckling.
“Tch! All ego and no skills nor powers to back it up. What a failure.” Endeavor commented, shaking his head in disgust while handing Himiko the money to pay his bill.
“… Did I bully him?” Izuku asked, unsure.
“No, boy. You did not bully him, you just reminded him that your time is actually precious and gave him a Test to show you would have not wasted time giving attention to that spoiled toddler in an adult body. But he couldn’t even finish the damn food before admitting defeat, he didn’t even try to go through a trial before giving-up. It’s not your fault he could not take the pressure.” The flame Hero answered, actually patting the Chef’ shoulder in a friendly manner (to everybody’s surprise) as he passed by him to leave the Restaurant.
“Harsh but not exactly wrong.” Centipeder admitted, sighing.
“I thought that showing-off would have scared away people that wanted to put me down, not attracting MORE annoyances that just want to use me as a stepping stone to fame.” Izuku said, sighing, and collecting the new knife to add it to his collection.
And as soon as he opened the ornate wooden cabinet hanging from the wall, many eyes bulged-out in surprise at the huge collection of knives with names on them held inside, far more than the ten he got from Inoshiki Academy, five from the Kings, four from the Teachers and one from Yamato, and the one he got in America from Matoi!
“… Did the number of knives increase?” Backdraft asked, unnerved.
“Uh? Ah, yes. Some Chefs have started coming here to Challenge me almost daily, luckily not during working hours. And they keep leaving behind their favourite knife with their name written on it when they lose. I guess the rumour about me doing that to collect Trophies of my victories had spread quite a bit.” Izuku answered with an uneasy smile.
Indeed there were over thirty knives inside the cabinet on the wall now, making the customers inside look on in shock at the sheer number of people that had come to challenge Izuku only to leave in defeat, it was a really scary sight.
“And now yet another joins the collection!” Himiko added, chuckling and personally hanging the new knife with Pierre written on it on an empty hook, one just waiting for more souvenirs to join.
“Maybe you should leave the thing open, the number alone should be able to scare off the less determined. At least you would have to deal with far fewer challengers.” Nighteye suggested.
“You think?”
“It’s worth a try.” The man answered, adjusting his glasses.
“God I hope so!” Izuku answered, sighing.
That evening – Arcade -
The place was packed full, with lights and sounds of different games filling the room in an endless rainbow of psychedelic flashes, and right outside of it, two women stood in wait.
“Not the first place I would have considered for a romantic date.” Momo admitted.
“I… I like Dance Dance Devastation… So I thought that… You know… Some games and a Challenge about who gets the most tickets…” Nejire muttered, uneasy.
“I mean, it worked for Rumi.” She answered.
“Ah-ha! Got it!” And as on cue, Rumi left the place while holding under her arm a giant rust-coloured nine-tailed fox plushie.
“Is that what you were talking about?” Momo asked.
“Yep! Ever since Izu introduced me to that old-as-fuck Anime, I wanted a plush of that fox. And now that they are making remakes of it, they are also making new merchandise, meaning that I can get one! And lo and behold, I did!” Rumi answered, smirking.
“Oh!… Uuuh.. Good?” Nejire said.
“God, you still feel awkward with us, hn?”
“A bit.” The girl admitted with a forced smile.
“Well, as a show of trust, we won’t be tailing you, so relax.” Momo answered.
“O-Okay.”
“… Ochako.” Rumi said, rolling her eyes.
Tap!
“Fine.” The girl said, dropping from the arcade ceiling with a pout.
“You had your ‘Let's mend the bridge between us’ Dates with Izuku. Let Nejire have hers.” Momo said, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“Her case is worse than ours.” Ochako answered, making Nejire flinch.
“Still, it’s about fairness.” Momo answered.
“I know, I know.”
“By the way, when will you and Izuku leave for his new sortie?” Rumi asked.
“Two days, luckily we are done with our various tests, so I can disappear for a day without too much of a problem.” Ochako answered.
“And it will help you two get some time together to get closer. I mean, it worked for me!” Rumi answered, smirking.
“Uh-hu.”
“Oh! There he is!” Nejire said, having seen Izuku in more casual clothes walking towards them.
“Good! Have fun and see if things can actually be fixed, okay?”
“Daaamn, Occhan! Far too harsh!”
“Hush, Rumi!”
“Ignore them. Relax and have fun, if it can work between us all, it will.” Momo said.
”Thank you.” Nejire answered, grateful.
Said that, the other girls left the arcade to let Nejire and Izuku have their date in peace, not before each giving a kiss to the Chef, for the envy of the bystanders.
“Have fun! And if she gets too handsy, kick her ass! Molesting you is my job, not everybody else’s!” Rumi said, smirking.
“OUCH!” And wincing in pain when Momo slapped the back of her head.
“Ignore her, please.” She added.
“Huhuhu!” Making Izuku chuckle amused while waving goodbye to the three.
“…”
“…”
“So…” Nejire, once she and Izuku were finally alone, tried saying.
“Still worried?” He asked.
“A bit nervous, truth be told.” She answered.
“I can give you a second chance, the others too. Do you want to give us one, though?” Izuku asked, moving closer.
“… Yes, I would love that.” Nejire answered after a short pause, and with a tiny, tentative smile.
“Then please, treat me well.” Izuku answered, gently holding out his hand.
“Same.” She answered, taking his hand in hers.
“Huhuhu! Ready to destroy me?” He asked, chuckling.
“I promise I’ll be gentle at first… Icchan.” Nejire answered.
“Aye, Partner, let’s see if this relationship will work.” Shiro, resting around Izuku’s neck as usual, thought in amusement as the first date between him and Nejire started with several shaky steps before finally breaking the ice.
“Faster, Icchan! Dance faster!”
“Nejire! Using your Quirk to float and move faster is cheating!”
“You used your Chef skills to hit more moles than me! I am evening the battlefield!”
“Oh come oooon!”
It may be strange to have a date inside an Arcade, but looking at the two laughing lovebirds, it was clear that for the two of them it was working quite well, and even if The System was not fully open to the idea of Izuku spending his free time in dates with those three girls, the Entity could let it slide by virtue of the young Chef benefiting from it in mental health and stress levels enough his productivity remained as absurdly high as The System demanded its Hosts to keep.
That night – Iida Household -
Tenya was walking through the empty corridors of the old style, majestic house with a contrite expression, he held in his hands a paper box with Green Cloud Restaurant name and iconic clouds drawn all around the base, with the content feeling supremely heavy to the young man.
“You are asking me something complex, Tenya-san.”
“But you healed Miss Toga and All Might!”
“I did. I healed them and look at this, now you are coming to ask me to heal your brother. How long before others learn of this and a line of hopefuls forms in front of my store? How long before Villains start trying to force me to work for them? Even at the cost of hurting my family?”
“I can… Heroes can…”
“Protect me? Protect my loved ones? 24/7 forever? From countless attacks?”
“Please…”
Sigh! “I’ll do it, because I do care about Tensei-san. But not a pip! Not a single suggestion that I was the reason he was healed! Not. a. single. Word.”
“Y-Yes! I will play it out as a Miracle! No matter what anybody asks! I will bring this secret to my grave! No matter what! Nobody will know you helped us! Not even my own friends and classmates!”
“Good! Let’s start then.”
“This must work. It has to.” Tenya muttered, taking a huge breath and plastering a smile on his face as he entered his older brother’s old bedroom while holding the take-away box hidden behind his back.
“Tensei?” He said.
“...Oh! Hey, Tenya! You came to spend some time with me?” The other holder of the Ingenium Hero name said with a more honest smile.
“I… I was wondering if you wanted something a bit, you know, nicer than the food you have been eating lately while following the doctors’ instructions.” Tenya said, looking down.
“Oooh! My strict little brother wants to break the rules? Just for me?” Tensei asked with a touched expression.
“I… I can do that if it is for something important! And you are important to me, brother! The most important!” the other admitted.
“Oh, Tenya…” Tensei muttered, looking ready to cry at the touching admission.
“I thought that you deserved something nice. You should be free to take a bit of a pause from this entire uphill battle since… Since…”
“Since the doctor that promised he could fix my back and legs just admitted defeat and father is still trying to find another ‘Legendary Surgeon’ that is not a quack?” Tensei muttered with a bitter voice full of defeat.
“I know you will get better, Tensei! You are already showing results! It’s just a matter of time before you will return to normal!” Tenya said.
“Hu! I wish that day will come soon. But what about you? You are already holding up the Hero name Ingenium quite well,”
“Brother, I am ready to give-up everything to have you back on your feet, and not for Hero work.” Tenya answered, tears flowing freely.
“If and when that time comes, I will be the one choosing a new Hero Name then. That fits you better than me, already.” Tensei answered, smiling fondly at his little brother.
“Thank you, brother.”
“So? What did you manage to sneak-in to help me break free of that accursed diet of healthy and tasteless soups?” Tensei asked, switching their talk to something lighter before he and Tenya could flood the room in tears.
“Uh? OH! Of course! I happened to visit a common acquaintance and asked for something you may like… So I got you this.” Tenya said, finally showing the paper box he was keeping hidden behind his back.
“Ooooh! Is that…”
“Yes, those accursed Rainbow Steamed Fish Buns you used to be addicted to.” Tenya answered, chuckling.
“I am not addicted, they are just my favourite, that is all!” Tensei answered, face completely red in shame.
“Whatever you say, brother. Here.”
“Aaah! Still perfectly warm! I could recognize this scent anywhere!” He answered, gladly accepting the paper box and inhaling big lungfuls of the buns scent as soon as he opened the thing.
“Midoriya-san as well wishes to see you return to visit him, I didn’t tell him what happened, just that you were indisposed for the foreseeable future.” Tenya said.
“Uh, we lied to so many people about my sorry state…”
“When you are fully healed, we’ll go there together, so everybody will see that you are back!”
“Of course we will, little brother. Promise.” Tensei said with a sad tone.
“I will leave you your food, in the meantime I will distract everybody else so you won’t be disturbed while eating.” Tenya said before leaving.
“Thank you.” Tensei answered, biting into one of the buns and letting out a pleased sigh that made Tenya chuckle amused.
“… Please, if there is a God out there… Please let it work…” Once out of the room and after closing the door behind himself, Tenya begged for his brother’s recovery while looking at the sky, unaware that a (Future) God had just answered his prayers.
Few Hours later -
“…. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” It was in the smack middle of the night that Tensei and Tenya’s parents were roughly awakened by a blood-chilling scream of agony coming from Tensei’s bedroom, and when both parents forced their way inside the room almost demolishing the door, they saw their oldest son writhe on the floor in agony on the terrifying notes of bones breaking and snapping in place by themselves.
“AAAAAAAAAAH!” All accompanied by Tensei’s unending screams of agony, with the man suffering from such a pain he somehow couldn’t even fall unconscious, no matter how far back his eyes had rolled and how much he drooled.
“TENSEI!” Both scared parents screamed in horror while trying to help their agonising son…
Then they noticed he had started kicking-out with his legs as soon as they tried to hold him down, and responding to every stimuli in that area that used to be all but dead until that very same morning.
And barely ten minutes later, during a clandestine movie marathon, the students of class 1-A watched their usually-stoic friend Tenya receive a phone-call from his family, and just after a minute of incoherent screaming coming from the other side, they saw him start crying his eyes out in happiness, with even Kyoka unable to understand a single word he was saying between hiccups to his equally-bawling mother as they told him about Tensei’s miraculous recovery; the other students just stood there for their friend to both celebrate the event and stop him from crying himself to death out of happiness.
“Was it your doing? Healing Tenya’s brother, I mean.” A smirking Ochako, with a smiling Momo reading from above her shoulder, typed on her phone.
“He asked. I had to play hard to get, but honestly, I was so close to doing it on my own before your friend came asking for my help.” Izuku typed back in answer.
“So I guess you will need our help making sure nobody connects you to this miracle?” Rumi’s own message appeared in the shared group chat.
“Yes please?”
“Dissimulation it is then. You can count on us.” Ochako wrote after seeing Momo nod.
“Thank you.” Izuku answered.
“By the way, how did the date go?” Rumi asked.
“RUMI!” Momo typed on her own phone.
“It was so cool! Icchan took losing that badly against me like a champ! Then we went to the Aquarium and then he cooked me dinner! We even kissed! With lots of tongue! It was all very romantic! His score is: 10/10 will french-kiss to death forever!”
“WHO THE FUCK ADDED NEJIRE TO THIS CHAT!” Rumi typed.
“...Whoops?” Ochako muttered, blushing.
“Ochako did, apparently she is still not used to using a phone with a touch screen.” Momo wrote in answer, sighing in frustration.
“Thank you for the gift, by the way.” Ochako typed.
“Goddamnit.”
“Happy to be here, by the way… Meanies XP.” Nejire typed.
“Glad to see you four are already on friendly terms. :) For what it's worth, I am proud of you!” Izuku wrote.
“WE ARE NOT!” Momo typed.
“WE ARE NOT!” Ochako typed.
“WE ARE NOT!” Rumi typed.
“Thank you, Icchan! <3” Nejire wrote, closing the four-messages-at-the-same-time round of answers.
“Jokes aside, are you sure it won’t be a problem for you to come with me?” Izuku asked.
“None whatsoever, I am actually curious about visiting another Dimension.” Ochako answered.
“Nice! Thank you! Do ask Nejire-Chan and Rumi-chan for what to expect, they have experience already.” Izuku said.
“Far too much, babe.” Rumi added.
“You have been amazing in that world, baby girl, do not downplay yourself.”
“Baby girl?” Rumi typed.
“OH GOD! Too mcuh?” Izuku asked, and the girls could tell he was panicking.
“Much.” he then wrote, making them chuckle.
“I heard her squeal from our dormitory, trust me, she likes it. Darling.” Momo wrote, albeit blushing bright red at using a pet name herself.
“Thank God!”
“Of course I like it, Honey! No need to change it!”
“Aaaw! That so cute, Rumi-chan! Then I will call him Izu if you others don’t mind!”
“Shut-up, Nejire!” the other girls typed at once at the same time.
With Izuku -
That series of messages got a chuckle out of Izuku, maybe this poly thing will work, he thought, but for now, he knew he had to organise everything for the upcoming sortie in another Dimension, now that his Restaurant was getting more and more famous, he needed to properly set things up whenever he needed to leave for one of The System’s insane Challenges and Missions.
“Tell me again, where am I going? And to catch what?” He asked.
“Host Izuku is tasked to visit Sunnydale City and learn how to prepare a dish with part of the same Ingredient he is tasked to capture: the Cloud-Eating Golden Dragon. If this Mission ends in success, the Host will unlock the Ingredient known as Big Bang Shark.” The System answered.
“Uuuhm! That thing looks terrifying, but you can make some amazing fish dishes with that! And the Sushi made with it tastes divine!” Izuku answered, actually drooling a bit from the memories of the giant beast (700t for 120 metres of sublime fish meat).
Too bad Starjun never let him and the others use the one he captured to cook, from the brief flashes he had of the long time he spent brainwashed, that specimen was damn amazing and plump! A real waste!
“As a Bonus, should the Host manage to capture the Cloud-Eating Golden Dragon alive, The System will also unlock a special prize.”
“OOOH! What is it?!”
“It will be a surprise, Host.”
“That is cruel and unusual!”
“It’s called creating Hype, Host Izuku.”
“And I don’t like it!” Izuku answered, whining.
With a pout far too adorable for somebody his age, both mental and physical, the young Chef accepted in defeat the silence from his Sponsor and just set to prepare everything for his and Ochako’s trip into another world, unaware of how much of an annoying headache that will be for him.
Same time – Secret base – Lab -
All for One was indeed a patient man, kind of pragmatic and good at planning, even if prone to still falling victim of his instincts and emotions if pushed too far, in a big part thanks to the giant collection of Quirks he had collected through the ages at an almost obsessive rate, with all those different and often clashing powers subtly taking a toll on his psyche, whatever warped mess it was to begin with.
What he could not stomach at all was failure, though, and watching the sorry state Shigaraki was in while lying naked on one of the metal beds of Daruma’s lab soured the old Super Villain mood a lot.
The young man’s body was a mess, a literal Map of Pain with scars forming spiderwebs on random areas all over his skin, the man’s fingers and toes were bending at strange angles after having being broken several times as well, in fact, the several incidents that shattered most of Shigaraki’s bones left behind many imperfections behind that didn’t seem to want to go away. Even Healing Quirks had limits after all.
“He is a wreck.” He finally said.
“Unsurprising considering all the damages he keeps receiving every time he tries facing that dog. I can patch him up, but some things just cannot be fixed, and as I said, unless you remove and return his Quirk, I can’t risk any transplant of arms and legs, and even then, I can’t tell if that would cause more issues than mere rejection.” Garaki answered.
“Useless moron.” All for One spat.
“But a useful ‘useless moron’, at least until we find a better candidate.”
“We wasted far too many resources on him to just find another. A new one will set us back far too much, and I am tired of waiting!”
“Indeed, Sensei. But lately he is behaving, so while still more unhinged than when we found him, his body is still good enough for our Project… If I am extra careful since it is a bit too much patched-up now.” The old scientist answered.
“Do what you can. For now we will keep him.” All for One answered, shaking his head and looking away from the drugged Villain, it was one of the few times he regretted finding a way to see even without eyes, staring too long at Failures disgusted him.
“Of course, Sensei. But we may have more pressing problems to worry about.” The old scientist said with a worried tone.
“Uh? Speak up! What is happening now?” All for One asked, already at the end of his patience.
“I recently got my hands on one of the men working for Overhaul.” Garaki answered with a frown.
“Uh-hu? What about it, Daruma?”
“If he said the truth, dear Overhaul may possess something very dangerous, something that could make recovering One for All impossible.”
“Tell me more, that Quirk belongs to me, nothing and nobody else must interfere with it!” The Villain ordered immediately.
”Apparently the fool found a way to fully erase Quirks and...”
Unfortunately for them, Shigaraki was not fully knocked-out by the anaesthetics as they believed, and even if barely-conscious, in the fractured, madness-ridden mind of the man-child, that piece of news sounded far too interesting to finally resolve his hatred for Heroes first and then Izuku and Blackie to pass on.
Extra File: Dimensional Ingredient Hunt -
The Norwegian Menu that Thaws the Heart!
Twilight Town -
A peculiar trio of friends was just entering the main plaza of the town bathed in the melancholy light of the setting sun when they saw a huge crowd amassed in front of the local bistro.
“Seriously, I don’t care what Larxene says, I think we need to find a way to help El- What?” The only human of the trio uttered in surprise.
“What’s happening now?” The Duck Mage of the three asked, groaning.
“Ah-Yuck! Maybe Uncle Scrooge is hosting some event?” The last member of the Trio answered, chuckling.
“Ya’re driving a harsh bargain, me boy! But I’m not ‘bout to waste the chance to add more geniuses to me staff!” They saw the rich Duck Magnate say with a determined expression.
“Mister Scrooge, I am honoured, but really! I can’t!” And at the opposite side of the business talk there was a young human with green hair and wearing an official Chef attire.
“Ye youngsters have learned the art of price haggling! Double the first offer! I won’t offer more!” Scrooge said, eyes narrowed.
“Wha?!” Donald gawked in surprise.
“I am very sorry, but the answer is still no. I already have my own Restaurant, I can’t work for another.” Izuku answered with a very apologetic tone.
“Sorry, sir! But Icchan’s sponsor is very jealous.” Nejire said while consoling the small rat that was trying to look at Izuku with some very convincing puppy eyes to have him stay.
“Goshdarnit! Well, the offer will still be valid whenever you come to yer senses, I will have you work for me, me boy! It’s only a matter of time!” Scrooge answered, harrumphing and walking away.
“Thank you for the recipes, Mister Remi. Even though learning them while you were piloting my body felt strange, it was a lot of fun too!” Izuku said, smiling.
“…'' The rat just gave a sigh and a shrug, but still waved both teens goodbye while hurrying back inside the Bistro.
“Hi!” It was then that the Trio reached them.
“Oh! Good evening!”
“Everything okay?” Goofy asked.
“Oh, yes! I just went through a small challenge against the Chef of this Bistro in exchange for a few recipes of his, too bad the Manager was a bit insistent in having me stay.” Izuku answered.
“Ow boy! I am so sorry! Uncle Scrooge doesn’t take “No” lightly!” Donald said with a very ashamed expression.
“Hey! It’s okay! I am honoured he deemed me good enough to cook alongside Mister Remi! It was an actual compliment for me that he was that insistent!” Izuku answered immediately.
“… Remi?” Sora asked.
“It’s that funny Rat’s name!” Nejire answered.
“It has a proper name?” Goofy said, confused.
“I mean… We never asked…” Donald admitted, scratching his head.
“Uh, we were kind of rude to not ask,” Sora admitted.
“Yeah…” The other too answered.
“My name is Izuku, and this is my girlfriend Nejire, my robot bodyguard Whitey and my pet partner Shiro. Nice to meet you!” Izuku said, presenting his hand.
“Nice to meet you! I am Sora!”
“Donald!” The mage said, shaking the two teens’ hands next.
“Ah-Yuck! And I am Goofy!” The Soldier said, while shaking the two’s hands.
“Sora, Donald and Goofy… Huhuhu! Those are cute names!” Nejire admitted, chuckling.
“Why, thanks!” Sora answered, smirking.
“Now that I look at you two, you don’t look like somebody coming from Twilight Town.” Donald said.
“Oh, yes. I am actually visiting worlds to learn new recipes under the requests of my Sponsor. I already visited a couple before coming here, now I only lack another world and I will be done with this Mission.” Izuku said.
“Visiting other worlds, hn? I hope you are not mentioning that you can travel between worlds to whoever lives there, it will ruin that world’s Equilibrium.” Donald said with crossed arms.
“… It would?” Izuku asked, confused.
“Ignore that warning, Host. A God of Cooking doesn’t need to worry about such inane issues, when you will Ascend you will be above such petty superstitions, so there is no reason to start worrying about it now either.” The System answered.
“I don’t think there will be problems, then.” The young Chef said, shrugging.
“Good!” The Wizard answered, pleased.
“What world did you visit?” Sora asked, curious.
“Uhm… Let’s see…” Izuku said, taking a small notebook from one of his pockets.
“A desert city called Agrabah, a very spooky place called Halloween Town and a very colourful place called Radiant Garden.”
“Oh! We know those worlds!” Sora said, excited.
“Those were nice places.” Nejire answered, nodding.
“Well, we need to go. Have a nice day and safe travels!” Izuku said.
“You too!” Donald answered, and the Trio watched the small strange group leave the plaza and disappear into thin air for their next destination.
“… Oh! We forgot to ask where they were going next!” Sora said suddenly.
“It’s okay, they seem able to defend themselves, and it would be improper to ask too many questions!” Goofy answered.
“True! Let’s go now, once we refill our stocks we need to try reaching Elsa again, her sister Anna looked very worried about her!” Donald said.
“Right! I almost forgot!” Sora admitted.
“You always do.”
“Oh, come oooon!” The young man answered, making his two friends laugh amused at his childish annoyance.
Some time later – Kingdom of Ariandelle – Another world -
“So that strange girl that was poking her nose around has bad intentions! I KNEW IT!” Anna roared while marching forward through the snow.
Even if trembling from the cold, she still pushed through the strong winds thanks to her determination to save her sister, uncaring of the freezing cold.
“Honestly, anybody going around dressed like that is clearly up to no good!” Kristoff, and his moose friend, answered while desperately trying to hold the girl back to stop her from going too far ahead alone.
“Not to defend the Organization, but at least they know how to dress! Ah-yuck! You can’t judge a book from its cover! Just because somebody dresses in black doesn’t mean they are bad!” Goofy answered.
“Yeah! Look at me! I wear black but I am not Evil!” Sora added.
They were making their way up the mountain again, and fighting hordes of Heartless every ten or so steps, for their annoyance.
“You are a special case, Sora!” Anna answered, huffing.
“Thank you!” He answered, smiling.
“My Gosh! They unleashed every Heartless they had at hand this time!” Donald said, growling in exasperation.
“Must be a new record.” Goofy admitted.
“Less talking and more walking!” Anna barked.
“KYAAAAAAAAAH!”
“What was that?” Sora asked as a faint shriek echoed down to them from the top of the mountain.
“Sounded like somebody screaming!” Kristoff answered.
BOOOM!
Barely a second after they heard the shriek, something fell down in front of them like a meteor shooting snow everywhere on impact.
“WHOA!” The group yelled in shock.
“… THAT DAMN BRAT!” To their surprise the thing that had just crash-landed in front of them was a young woman, and she started screaming in rage as soon as she dug her way to freedom from the snow submerging her.
“We already have to deal with those keyblade idiots, and now another moron shows-up and- Why are you looking away?!” Larxene demanded, super annoyed, afterseeing Sora and the others having turned around to not look at her and all of them were still covering their eyes even while looking away from her.
“FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, COVER YOURSELF!” Sora, face utterly red, shrieked.
“DOES THE ORGANISATION HAVE NO SHAME?!” Donald yelled next.
“A LADY SHOULD HAVE SOME DECENCY!” Kristoff and Goofy yelled in chorus next.
“PERVERT!” Then came Anna horrified scream, she too had turned around to give her back to the girl.
“What are you idiots talking ab…” Finally Larxene looked down at herself, thus noticing how she was wearing NOTHING AT ALL, and how the harsh cold had made two parts of her chest pop out to say ‘Hi!’ to the world.
“…” First her face became pink… Then tomato red… And finally dark crimson.
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” The shriek of horror she released pierced the night and almost blew away the perpetual snow storm rattling the mountain.
“… She is gone.” Anna, as the only one able to actually check if that strange naked woman had left, declared once she hadlooked behind herself just in time to see Larxene's shiny heart-shaped butt disappear in the forest when she ran away.
“Okay… Okay...Somehow we won’t have to deal with Larxene… We still have to find Elsa, though.” Sora, still shaken, tried saying.
“Yes, let’s go.” Kristoff conceded, and still wondering what the hell happened, their group moved again to climb the mountain.
Unknown to them the crying Larxene was still close and was being consoled by a very distraught Marluxia that had just brought her a change of clothes, distraught because they were desperately holding back the need to laugh on the girl’s face at her disastrous meeting with ‘That accursed depraved stripping robot’.
“Waaaah! Not only did that thing punch me in the face! It even stripped me naked! I've never been so humiliated in my damn life! Waaaaaah!” Larxene wailed and sobbed.
“Nnngh!” Marluxia just bit the inside of their cheeks hard while sweating even in those freezing temperatures, struggling to hold their laughter back, and they really wanted to laugh! But they had promised to cut down on their bullying of the other Organization Members, but it was not easy!
With the rescue group – top of the mountain -
“There it is! Elsa’s Ice Castle!” Sora said while pointing at the imposing fortress of ice.
“Elsa did that?!” Anna said with bulged-out eyes.
“Wooooow! Your sister is an artist! And a miracle worker to build that in a night!” Kristoff said with a low whistle of awe.
“Magic must have helped,” Anna tried saying.
“Waaaah!” The echo of Elsa’s desperate wailing reached them carried by the wind, startling them.
“ELSA!” They all screamed, rushing inside the palace.
When they entered they found Elsa herself kneeling on the floor and hugging an equally-kneeling Izuku while crying her eyes out and with Nejire gently petting her head.
“That guy?!” Sora, Donald and Goofy said at the same time.
“I am so sorry! I didn’t want to hurt anybody! Waaaah!” She wailed.
“There, there! You are strong and independent! Don’t think otherwise! You went through an epiphany about your freedom and self-esteem, no need to cry!” Nejire said.
“And with the control you showed to create this castle, I know you won’t be a danger to others! You just need more training!” Izuku added, he too rubbed Elsa’s head while slightly rocking her back and forth.
“ELSA!” Anna yelled.
“ANNAAAAAAAAH! Waaaaah!” The poor girl bellowed while diving for her sister’s arms.
“I am sorry for blasting you with magic when we were kids! And for running away! And for freezing half the kingdom! And for stealing your cookies! And for saying that jerk of your betrothed is a moron and-”
“Shh! Shh! It’s okay! It’s okay! I never was angry at you! Nor was I scared! I missed spending time with you instead! I love you, Elsa!” Anna, now crying as well, said while returning the hug.
“ANNNNAAAAAAAAA! I Wuv Youuuuu!” Elsa yelled, by know almost incoherent when talking thanks to her intense crying, and burying her face in her sister’s chest as she hugged her as hard as her arms let her.
“Wow, talk about a tearful reunion.” Kristoff admitted, smiling happily.
“What did you do?” Donald asked, arms crossed.
“Eh! That’s a good question. We just talked.” Izuku answered, shrugging helplessly.
“… That’s it?” Sora asked.
“There was some ice magic flying around, and she was trying to freeze us alive and maybe kill us, all the while we kept talking with her. She has a lot of buried self-esteem issues, you know? We just helped her open up, and crying helps a lot in that! And apparently me and Icchan are very huggable, and she really, really needed a hug.” Nejire added.
“Equilibr-”
“Oh, piss off with that!” Izuku snapped, getting a surprised Quack! From the duck wizard at the interruption.
“Helping people in need doesn’t hurt Equilibrium! We all need a shoulder to cry on, we can’t be asked to hold the weight of the world on our back alone 24/7!” He then said,
“You-”
“Hush! We’ll talk about your dislike for people helping others back at the castle, before they really send the army to try and arrest Elsa.” Anna said, holding Elsa’s hand tightly in hers while both walked towards the group.
“I am not against that!” Donald said, scandalised.
“We know, we know.” Sora and Goofy answered, patting their friend’s back as a show of support.
“They want to do that? Arrest me?!” Elsa asked, horrified.
“Desperate people do stupid things. They think you are responsible for the storm and may try to imprison you in the hope of stopping it.” Kristoff said, sighing.
“I am not the one responsible! Honest! I am almost sure of it!” Elsa said.
“Yeeeees… It’s that almost that is making them think it’s you.”
“Magic is complex, can’t expect everybody to understand that.” Donald answered, sighing.
“Let’s hurry down the mountain! Before they or the Organization tries anything! We’ll help Anna and Elsa explain everything!” Sora said in alarm.
“You still have to explain who those black dressed guys are too, buddy.” Kristoff said.
“They are very bad guys, more we can’t say!” Goofy answered.
“Wait!” Elsa yelled.
“Uh?!”
“Izuku, Nejire. Thank you.” She said hugging the Chef and the Hero Student.
“It’s what friends are for!” Both teens said.
“Right! Come with us, as promised I will ask the Palace Chef to share some recipes with you!” The Queen said.
“Thank you!” Izuku answered with a blinding smile that made her chuckle.
“Eh! Glad to see things getting fixed without a battle against a giant Heartless for once.” Sora commented, laughing.
“Ah-Yuck! For once I don’t mind breaking traditions.” Goofy admitted.
“Pfeh! Fine.” Donald commented, huffing annoyed.
“Hey! Look! The sun!” Nejire said, amazed, while pointing at the first rays of sun breaking through the clouds.
“The storm is over!” Anna and Elsa said, elated.
“Host, on a purely technical stand-point the storm was caused by that woman. Her admitting her pain to her sister and finally making peace with her lifted whatever dark feelings caused her to subconsciously summon the cold. As cliché as it sounds, ‘Love’ is what she needs to control her powers.” The System supplied. And if it could, the Entity would roll its eyes at the entire thing.
“… I did this, didn'tI? The storm coming and now going away.” Elsa asked with a small voice.
“Yep, but your love for your sister fixed it.” Izuku answered.
“Eh! I helped! Nice!” Anna answered, puffing-out her chest in pride, something that made her sister laugh and hug her tight.
“… And how do you know all that?” Donald asked with narrowed eyes.
“Secret!” Izuku answered, smirking and winking.
“Gyaaghaghaghaghaghagha!” The shriek of anger the duck wizard released at that answer caused a new wave of laughter to envelop the small group of friends.
Unfortunately, their merriment lasted until they left the Ice Palace and started their descent down the mountain, because Larxene was already waiting for them with a look of apoplectic rage on her face.
“YOU!” She roared in near madness while pointing at Izuku.
“Oh! The same Villain from before!” Nejire said, frowning.
“You two met her already?” Sora, already in a fighting stance, said without missing a move of the woman.
“We did, but Whitey took care of her.” Izuku answered.
“Took care!? TOOK CARE?! THAT PSYCHO PUPPET OF YOURS STRIPPED ME NAKED AND THEN THREW ME DOWN THE MOUNTAIN!” Larxene shrieked.
“… What?” The others said.
“Troublemakers are stripped as an example to others!” Whitey answered.
“Pffft-Hahahahahahaha!” Kristoff’ laughter echoed all around the group as he already looked about to suffocate.
“YOU DARE LAUGH?! I’LL KILL YOU ALL!” Larxene roared, and with an imperious gesture, the guy who was waiting back at the royal palace was forcefully transformed into a giant wolf Heartless and teleported next to her.
“Take cover!” Sora yelled as the big beast landed in front of them.
“You will-” Chomp!
As it came, the monster died in an instant when a giant moth devoured it in a single bite.
“…” Every eye slowly turned to look at the slowly munching Shiro still wrapped around Izuku’s neck.
“… What?” Larxene asked with a small voice.
“Your beast tastes like crap, kiddo. Do not summon such weaklings to fight this Esteemed Taotie and his Beloved Partner unless they are strong or at least taste good.” Shiro said with a cultured voice.
“…” The woman just looked at the thing, then at the two feet that were all that was left of the Heartless that were now dispersing into smoke, then back at the tiny creature.
“… The Hell are you two?” She finally asked.
“A duo of annoyances.” A deep voice said as several portals of pure darkness opened around the group.
“Ansem!” Sora said with a growl.
“Two interlopers that need to be removed.” Another guy, almost identical to the first, added as he too joined the scene.
“Xemnas!” Donald roared.
“You are Villains too?” Nejire asked.
“We are much more than that! Not mere ruffians!” Marluxia added, and at that the other active Members of the Organization appeared as well from their own portals.
“Why are they all here?!” Goofy asked, angry at being unable to keep all of them in his sight.
“Hide behind me, Anna…” Elsa said slowly while moving in front of her sister.
“We felt a disturbance, and an unknown Being observing us. Was it you, boy?” Ansem asked.
“What if I was?” Izuku answered, glaring at them.
“You are more Alien than anybody here can imagine. Your Light and your Darkness are far too different, not Human. And that can either be a great asset, or a great threat to our plans.” Xemnas said.
“You are not human, are you? I wonder what Heartless we can create with you!” Marluxia said with a chilling smile.
“You people really are the pure definition of Edgelords. Unfortunately neither me nor my Partner have time to waste with weakling weirdos with a leather fetish. Do your thing, Whitey.” Shiro answered, and with his mouth snapping wide open, infinite black hair-like tendrils whipped out to hold those people down.
“Uh?!” Ansem was not really showing it, but he felt surprised at his powers not working.
“What are you-” Larxene asked.
“Troublemakers shall be stripped as an example to others!” Whitey declared with blazing red eyes.
“NO! WAIT!” She shrieked in horror.
Strip! Strip! Strip! Strip! Bang! Bang! Bang! …
One after another, each member of the Organization present was mercilessly stripped naked and bitch-slapped with overwhelming strength that shot them all beyond the horizon, returning the situation to normal in merely a few seconds.
“… What the hell happened?” Kristoff asked, bewildered.
“I don’t know! And I don’t want to know! Please don’t tell Kairi I saw another girl naked!” Sora said with a whine while covering his eyes.
“I say far too many dangling bits! Donald! Do you have a memory erasing spell?!” Goofy begged.
“NO! AND I WISH I KNEW ONE!” Donald answered, desperate.
“Waaah! I saw so many naked men! My eyes are cursed! I will never get married now!” Anna bellowed in tears.
“Guh! Could have left them in their pants at least!” Elsa begged, face red.
“No.” Whitey answered.
“Let’s just… Let’s just go back.” Izuku begged with a groan.
The next day - Royal Palace – Dinner Hall -
The sudden transformation and disappearance of Prince Hans had caused a lot of chaos, but luckily that served as a scapegoat for Elsa herself as Kristoff had the brainwave to accuse Hans of being the cause of the eternal winter around the kingdom as a ploy to hold the land hostage until he became king since as soon as he was defeated the storm was over and the sun returned.
It was a very wild stretch and bullcrap, but for the scared masses, that was good enough they could accept it, the fact that Hans was the ‘Foreigner Ice Magic User’ compared to Elsa the ‘Local Ice Magic User’, helped a bit as well, sadly.
And now, after a whole day spent rebuilding and fixing the damages of Elsa’s escape and Hans transformation, it was finally time for Izuku to go through the test cooking of the final recipes of his list for the current Mission! Starting with…
“Lapskaus! This stew came out amazing if I can say so myself!” The young Chef declared with a happy smile.
“Do we really have to help too?” Donald asked with a grimace as he, Sora and Goofy were given trays to help deliver dishes to the huge crowd present for the celebratory dinner of Elsa’s coronation and the end of the “super-winter” plaguing the land.
“Pleeeeeease!” Nejire asked with doe eyes.
“… Okay…” The three Heroes accepted with a defeated expression, and cursing their Heroic Hearts for being unable to say No to a Friend/Lady in need asking for their help.
To be fair, though, the food was good since the stew’ beef, potatoes, carrots, swede, and leeks were all supremely tender, with an amazing mixture of local spices enriching it; the small slices of buttered flatbread accompanying it.
“Hey! This is good!” Kristoff said with a wide smile.
“Huhuhu! Very good!” Anna answered, sitting close to the young man and taking his hand in hers, something that did surprise him, but soon turned his smile into a really blinding one as the two started eating together after scooting a bit closer to each other.
“Eh! At least this one is a good guy!” Elsa commented, way more pleased with the guy than she was with Hans when it came to Anna’s choice for romantic partners.
“Here are the Pinnekjøtt! The Dried Lamb Ribs! Luckily they had already started preparation before the ceremony got interrupted, so the smoking and the 30-hours-long soaking had already been done by the kitchen staff, leaving me with just the remaining 3 hours of preparation.” Izuku declared right after, personally delivering a plate of those succulent ribs to Elsa.
“Thank you, Izuku.” Elsa said.
“I am happy to see you more relaxed, as you can see, people do trust you, if you let them have a chance at getting close.” He said, smiling.
“I know. Sora, Donald and Goofy said the same, and so did Anna… I guess my fear of my powers and the… The Weight of both that and my responsibility turned me blind.” She answered, sighing.
“Gey! It’s okay! You are an amazing woman and will be an amazing Queen! It’s only a matter of believing in yourself! And as somebody that had fought his whole life with low self-esteem, I know how hard it is to break free from those bad habits, so watching you manage this is truly amazing.” He said.
“Thank you!” Elsa answered, grateful, and enjoying her food with an adorable smile.
“Somebody is having fuuun!” Anna said with a sing-song voice, nearing the young woman.
“What can I say? I finally made peace with my sister, I came to terms with myself and my powers, I discovered how to protect who I love and my people instead of living in constant fear of hurting whoever is around me, I kind of helped you find true love (even if by mistake), and finally learned how to trust myself and be in charge of my own Destiny! I say it was a very fruitful two days. Or, well, one very long night and a day.” Elsa answered, and at that the two sisters shared a long amused laugh.
“Oh, yes! I believe you got your life sorted out.” Anna said, proud of her sister.
“I did! And now, the next step…” Elsa said.
“Uh-hu?”
“I was wondering if I should start looking for a special somebody myself.” she answered.
“Oh! Oh! Oh! Some guy or girl caught your fancy?” Anna asked, excited.
“I don’t know…” Elsa answered with a mischievous smile, grabbing the hand of Izuku as he passed by her to deliver a serving of dessert to the two girls.
“Uh?!” The Young Chef uttered in panic.
“Maybe a young man with a smile as warm as the sun and a penchant for cooking, perhaps?” The Queen said with half-lidded eyes.
“Uuuuuuh…” Terror filled Izuku’s veins instantly.
“Sister?” Anna asked, unnerved by the ‘strange’ tone of voice used by Elsa.
One minute later -
“SPIRAL CANNON!” Nejire yelled, using her Quirk to blast a hole in the new wall of ice trying to stop their escape.
“Vajra Filetting!” Followed right after by Izuku’s own attack that reduced the ice wall right behind it to tiny cubes.
“ELSA! BE REASONABLE!” Anna yelled with wide eyes while chasing her sister, chasing Izuku and Nejire.
“Gyahahahahahaha!” Donald, summoning fireballs to help the young Chef and his friends escape, bellowed in alarm.
“Elsa! Please stop!” Sora, using fire magic as well, begged.
“This is not how a Queen acts!” Goofy cried-out, closing the conga line of chasers and that exited the Castle in a hurry.
“STAY HERE! I WILL LET YOU KEEP THAT WOMAN AS A CONCUBINE! BUT YOU’LL BE MINE! IT’S TIME I TAKE MATTERS IN MY HANDS! STARTING BY CHOOSING MY KING! GUARDS! STOP THEM!” Elsa ordered while summoning ice over and over to stop Izuku’s escape.
“Sorry!” the poor guards yelled, forced by duty to join the hunt for the Chef.
“WHY! WHY! WHY! I am a Chef! I shouldn’t be going through with this! Why!” Izuku, by now even he was running out of tears to cry about this, yelled to the sky.
Meanwhile -
While the usual daring escape closure of a sortie was taking place, several black-dressed people were marching towards the city with fury etched on their faces and a massive army of Heartless and Nobodies following them.
“Whoever that boy is. He has to die!” Larxene, face destroyed by nervous ticks, growled in madness.
“He will die. We will rip his heart out tonight.” Vanitas, joining the group, said.
“No matter why his Darkness is different, that won’t save him.” Ansem declared with narrowed eyes.
“Huhuhuhu!” a deep voice hummed a mocking laugh that stopped them all dead in place.
“Uhu?” Marluxia said while all of them turned around to see who dared to laugh about them.
… And they saw that their Army had vanished without them even noticing, leaving behind only a slightly-fat black dog looking at them in amusement.
“Who are you now?” Xemnas asked.
“This Lord Dog is just here to make sure you stay out of that Kiddo’s affairs forever.” Blackie answered.
“Oh? And how do you plan to do this?” Vanitas asked with a mocking tone.
“No stripping!” Larxene yelled, almost foaming at the mouth.
“Hohoho! No, no! This Lord is not here to strip. This Lord is here to kill.” Blackie answered, smirking savagely.
“Just try it, dog.” Ansem answered, and all of the Organization Members present summoned their weapons and powers at once.
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Fools!” Blackie answered.
In the general chaos of Izuku’s escape, nobody heard the screams of pain and agony of the Organization getting slaughtered one by one.
And while Master Yen Sid kept wondering why an ‘Outer Being’ had decided to focus on their realm, The System crossed out yet another world in very human-like anger.
“That woman was supposed to be one of those ‘No need Men and Romance’ Modern Princesses. Why did this happen again? Why?” The Entity asked aloud to nobody.
“Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?…”
As if going into a fit of rage, The System kept asking over and over again how Izuku could end in those situations even after the Entity did everything in its powers to avoid it.
Another chapter done!
Thank you all so much for reading!
Next one will open with Izuku’s sortie with Ochako in the Magical Girls world.
Then it will be Izuku dealing with another friend of Samui.
I hope I will manage to keep you entertained and interested in the story.
And thank you for all the amazing reviews! I do not always answer them , but those mean a lot to me, along with the Kudos! I am glad so many people are enjoying this story of mine!
See you next time!
Chapter 26: Magical Annoyances (Magical Girls World Arc Part 1)
Summary:
It's finally time for Izuku to travel to another world for a new Mission from the System! This time accompanied by Ochako.
Izuku just hoped this new world would not be as annoying as the other two were before this were.
He will soon discover how wrong he was.
Notes:
I won't pull any punches in this Arc! The Magical Girl genre is full to bursting in things for me to poke fun at, you'll see.
(Just to be clear, YES, the "Cringe" is an actual part of the Arc Plot. this world is and needs to be that annyoing/cringe. Please understand, I want to "Torture" Izuku in this one!)
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/Nejire
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
Chapter Text
If you read this, the chapter has been Beta-Read and fixed!
Chapter 26: Magical Annoyances (Magical Girls World Arc Part 1)
Starlight City – Tian-Fa Continent -
Ever since Izuku had left, the time-flow between the Continent’s own universe and the young Chef’s home one had returned to normal instead of remaining slowed-down as it was for the duration of the mission the System gave him, meaning that a couple months had already passed since the New Emperor sat on the throne and started fixing the damages made by the former, now dead, Emperor, the current one’s father.
“Another wonderful day.” Sun Mu-Cheng said, enjoying some tea and basking in the warm rays of the sun while sitting under the porch of the Clan’s majestic compound.
“Chacha’s pregnancy is coming along well, soon she will give birth.” Su Mu-cheng, sitting next to him, said with a sigh.
“Still determined to kill her as soon as she gives birth?” The old man asked.
“I don’t know anymore, grand-father. She was just a pawn in uncle’s grand scheme for power, making her just another victim of Uncle Lao and the First Prince's plans… But now that both are dead…” She said, sighing.
“You don’t find it an appealing idea anymore.” Sun said
“Indeed, my heart is full of doubts, Grandfather.”
“I have witnessed your impressive sense of Justice, so I am sure you will make the right decision when the time comes, my dear Su. And no matter which decision it will be, Grandfather will support you.” The old man said with a reassuring tone and warm smile, all the while looking at the sky and at the strange and gigantic pillar of light rising from beyond the horizon and reaching the clouds that were now twirling around the light pillar summit in a very dramatic way.
“Another Legendary Inheritance of a dead Supreme Master is opening-up?” Su asked.
“Yes, it’s the fourth one this week. And as usual the Excessive light-show has attracted many Young Masters with Gold Attitude/Background that have immediately rushed there to claim it.”
“… Want to bet that yet another “Weak ‘strange’ Stranger from the weakest village, in the weakest land and with the weakest Cultivation Attitude” will get it instead?” Su asked, smirking.
“Eh! No bet, my dear! Hahahaha! I too started seeing some strange patterns ever since we met Sir Izuku. Sometimes I feel like the only sane man in a land of fools, or at least like the only actor in a badly-written play that can see how bad the play’s plot is!” Sun Mu-Cheng answered with a thunderous laugh.
“Hohohoho! Same here! I am glad I am not alone in this!” The young woman answered, sharing a laugh with her beloved grandfather.
“Speaking of our benefactor, what do you think he is up to?” The old man asked.
“People like him never stay still for long, so I guess he is already deep into another mission for his Sect, and with the Ancestral Taotie as his Pet Companion and Sir Whitey as his Puppet Guard, he will be far too safe!” Su answered, smiling cheerfully.
“Yes, with them travelling with him, his skills and that knife, I don’t see him not walking the path to Greatness. But still, should he need it, he will only need to ask and the Mu-Cheng Clan will go to the rescue.” Sun said.
“Exactly, grandfather!” Su answered, nodding.
“Do you want to visit Meng Hao’s Restaurant for dinner? This old man feels like going out tonight and enjoying the Flower Festival a bit.”
“A very splendid idea. I will see if Jun wants to join us then.”
Both the old man and young woman returned to enjoy the warm sun of their peaceful morning, and masterfully ignoring the ruckus of any Young Master passing close to the compound’s tall walls whining about some strangers technically weaker than them and still beating them ‘for some mysterious reason’.
At the same time – Serena City – ‘ The Hanged Boar’ Inn -
Similarly to what had happened on the Tian-Fa Continent, the lands of dragons, Elves and Dwarves had returned to normal, same as the Flow of Time that was no longer being held back to let Izuku stay there for days without missing work days back home.
“Pork Knuckles: Green Bean Style! Who asked for them?” The Inn owner, Rosmerta, asked while holding on her shoulder a massive tray full of plates.
“Me, thank you.” Thirstruil the Dwarf Master Brewer answered, smiling.
“Mine as well!” The dwarf woman sitting with him, Drunkhilde, answered.
“There you are!” The massive woman answered, and delivered the two plates to the Master Brewers.
“Thank you!”
“A minute and I will bring your plates of golden mustard wings as well.” Rosmerta declared before leaving the table to deliver the other plates she was holding.
“Heeyo! Those wings are still not tasty like the original, but it’s still a good dish!” Drunkhilde said, chuckling, while enjoying the food.
“Be nice! She is still trying to replicate a recipe she only ate once and one she only heard your description about.” Thirstruil answered, snorting in amusement.
“Still a bit unsure about letting people use our prized Dwarf Beer for cooking instead of drinking it, not everybody can do it justice, if you ask me.”
“Let’s give them a chance, we did meet a young Human able to make miracle dishes with it!” the other answered.
“Eh! I believe young Izuku was just the odd one out of the bunch! Are we sure he is not of Dwarf descent instead? He showed far too much love for our Beer!” She answered, smirking.
“Dear Izuku was pretty sure of his heritage, but who knows! Maybe he does have a dwarf or two far back between his ancestors!” Thirstruil said, laughing.
“He fights as hard as one, I wouldn’t be surprised!” Drunkhilde answered, laughing as well.
“And he has the Magnetism of one, not everybody can attract a Viera as fierce as his woman and keep her!”
“Oh, shut-up!” Drunkhilde answered, punching his arm.
“So feisty! Hahahahaha! I say we have a toast: To our human friend!” He said, raising his big mug of beer.
“To Izuku! May his path be full of success! And should he ever need our help, may our axes and hammers be ready to bash the skulls of his enemies to pieces!” she answered, raising her own mug.
“To Izuku! The Human Masterchef! CHEERS!” Both Dwarves said, slamming the two giant glasses together while laughing.
SLAM!
“Rosmerta! We need a pint!” A poor guard yelled in need after roughly pushing the Inn‘s double doors open with a bang.
“Make it two! No! Three!” The guy’s companion added.
“Uh? Tiring week?” The Inn owner asked, chuckling.
“Yes!” Both guards said with a miserable expression, tiredly taking away their helmets and basically collapsing boneless on their chairs.
“You look stressed, what happened?”
“We fucked-up and as punishment we were assigned to guard duty in the Dungeons.” Guard 1 said.
“And that is usually bad already, with stupid Rogues trying over and over to use their Pet Partners to steal the keys… And my Gods there is nothing worsethan a trained rat that climbs up your leg to steal a key.” Guard 2 added, shivering in revulsion.
“Ugh! Disgusting.”
“Then there is the usual ‘Help! My friend is strangely sick! Come inside and have a look while everybody else is suspiciously not helping!” Guys, or the ones hanging from the ceiling thinking we can’t see them so to pull off the empty cell trick… You know… The usual.” Guard 1 said.
“Yeah, I got plenty of stories from your so-called ‘Punishment Shift’, but what made you two look so dishevelled?” Rosmerta asked.
“The two new ‘Guests’ are driving every guard there up the wall… ‘I am the protagonist! The story can’t continue without me! Where is my Waifu Harem!? Why are they not coming to my rescue?!’, or ‘This is the part where the Prince and the Guards get inside the Prison and we have an orgy before I escape and marry the Prince of another country!’ and many, many, MANY similar screams of nonsense.” Guard 2 answered with a sigh full of misery.
“We thought that if we closed them in the same cell they would either fuck or kill each other, instead they spend all their time arguing and trying to one-up each other as a Protagonist or whatever.” Guard 1 added.
Many guests that heard them groaned at that, since the rumours of those two psychos and their mad ramblings were by now famous in the entire kingdom.
“Why hasn’t the King killed them yet? They both have plenty of crimes to their names, enough to justify hangings,” Rosmerta asked.
“A strange mixture of pity and wish to prolong their punishment just a bit more before actually killing them. Some even hope that prison will straighten them up and make them become normal people. As a form of Shock Therapy, basically.” Guard 2 answered, shrugging helplessly.
“And now we will have to deal with them for at least two months, that was what the Captain said when he punished us.” Guard 1 said, eyes cloudy in tears.
“I don’t envy you.” Rosmerta answered.
“Booo-oooooh!” Both guards started crying in unison.
All in all, Life continued as normal in the worlds Izuku visited during his Sorties and Missions, and soon another world will be visited by the young Chef.
Meanwhile – Izuku’s home world - UA Dormitories -
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
“SHE IS STILL CRYING! WHAT THE FUCK?!” Kyoka covered her ears in desperation, crying fat tears of agony and shaking on the floor as if suffering from seizures.
“I LOVE HIM SO MUUUUUUUCH! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
“YAOYOROZU! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! STOP!” Aizawa begged from the entrance door to the dormitories, already unwrapping his capture weapon to try to silence the girl with it.
“THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH HER?! MONEY-BAGS, SHUT THE FUCK UP!… PLEEEEEEEEASE!” The volume was so high even Bakugo had to admit defeat and beg for the sound torture to stop while covering his ears in agony.
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
Tiny dolls shaped like her and Izuku kept randomly falling from her arms, all adorned by tiny hearts.
“SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING! PLEEEEEEASE!” Tooru begged in tears, behind her Sato was dragging away poor Tsuyu that had instead lost consciousness after the wailing Momo had shaken the girl too hard in her happiness, enough to have the frog girl grow too dizzy to remain conscious.
“I AM HERE!” Finally, Nemuri made her appearances accompanied by Present Mic.
“THANK GOD!” The students and Shota yelled as one in relief.
“Yaoyorozu!” Midnight yelled.
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAH- Yes?”
Puff!
Thump!
“…” A small puff of the woman’s Quirk and the wailing Heiress dropped down on the floor, snoring faintly, and somehow in a cutesy way, while clutching one hand to her chest protectively.
“… Aaah!” The students and both Aizawa and Hizashi exhaled in relief once silence was returned.
“Sweet silence!” Kirishima said with a broken smile and a voice full of relief.
“I swear, if she gave me tinnitus…” Tokoyami muttered angrily while fixing his ruffled feathers.
“What the hell happened?” Nemuri asked while watching Ochako use her Quirk to turn Momo weightless so that she and Mina could drag the unconscious woman to her bedroom.
“No clue! It was all so freaky!” Kaminari said, unnerved.
“She just got through the door with a wide unhinged smile, looked at her hand and just… Just… Started crying and screaming!”
“It was scary.” Koda muttered, and gave a small grateful smile to Mezo as the other comforted him.
“Oh?” The teachers muttered, confused.
“Basically, she and her boyfriend, Midoriya-san, are engaged, he is her fiance.” Kyoka said, shakily returning to her feet.
“Aaaaw! Yes! I do remember that!” Nemuri gushed.
“Oh yes! The young Chef! Curious tastes, but still, good for her! At least he is a nice guy.” Mic said, shrugging.
“Hu-uh, we already know that. What happened now?” Aizawa, as the sworn enemy of everything romantic he was, asked with a bored tone.
“It seems like her boyfriend lately was trying to find the proper Engagement Ring he saw as worthy of her… And now he found it, apparently.” Mezo answered.
“And we are almost certain he also had some very romantic words to add to that, because I believe she quoted those while crying.” Tenya, still giddy about his brother's miraculous recovery, added.
About that, Tenya had kept his promise and never admitted a single detail about Izuku’s involvement in Tensei’s full recovery, but he had still sworn to return the favour and be there for the young Chef if he needed, no question asked. No matter what Izuku needed, even if it was illegal.
“You believe?” Mic asked.
“She was already crying, screaming and babbling too much, sensei. I am sorry I could not understand what she was saying. I am ashamed of my short-comings!” The young man answered, actually looking ashamed.
“Naah! It’s okay, Listener! Don’t worry!” Mic answered, showing a gentle smile that helped the student relax.
“Basically, the ring he gave her has three stones: A Ruby, an Emerald and a Sapphire, because each represents a promise he made to her. Something about him giving her his heart (literally), him giving her everything under the sky if she asks and… Something about him promising her that their future will be bountiful?” Kyoka said, gagging a bit since she too was not much into fluffiness.
It was the kind of promise people in Zaus' world made when getting into an Engagement with somebody. And the “bountiful future” thing was a version of the engagement vows used by Chefs: since Ingredients and Cooking were such important things in their world, a Chef promising their future espouse that they will do everything in their power to make sure Good Food was never lacking was the same as them promising to their special somebody a good and fulfilling life with little to no hardships.
“AAAAAAAAAW!” Nemuri just gushed very hard again.
“That’s cheesy.” Aizawa answered, rolling his eyes.
“Well, Miss Joke seemed to like it since she too was in the Restaurant with us when Izu gave Momo the ring and told her all that.” Ochako answered, returning inside the room with Mina once tuckered Momo to bed.
She wasn’t jealous. Per se. She knew Momo was there first and was the original woman he had decided to spend the rest of his life with, and both Rumi and Nejire too knew that, but that didn’t mean that the three girls would not find themselves looking at their empty finger with a bit of expectations as well, but they won’t push him, not at all, they can wait and work hard towards their own engagement ring, no pressure.
“… Joke was there?” Everybody missed the faint tone of horror in the back of Aizawa’s voice.
“She was. Why?” Ochako asked.
“That ring is so pretty! My God, those are not jewel stones, they are jewel ROCKS! The thing emits light on its own!” Mina said with a tone of absolute envy.
“I want a super expensive ring too!” Tooru said with a whine.
“You two can’t treat Love like an economic transaction…” Tsuyu said with a weak groan once finally returned to the land of the awake.
“That’s pretty shallow!” Aoyama added, huffing haughtily.
“HUSH!” Both girls answered, face red in shame.
It was not just expensive, Izuku had personally carved those stones out of the Carapace of three different Gourmet World Creatures with an Insanely-High Capture Level, but he had treated that near-death experience as worth it once seen Momo’s smile, same going with the insane amount of EXP Points he had to pay to add them to his Restaurant’s storage island as Ingredients.
“… Joke was there… She heard… She saw...” Aizawa was ignoring all that, just looking outside the dorms, at an area of shadows in the school grounds.
And he could swear he saw two luminous, ominous eyes looking at him with no soul behind the two unblinking orbs.
“Zawa?” Mic asked.
“Shoooootaaaaaaa…” A whispering voice called out from the darkness, carried by the cold winds of the underworld.
“I GOTTA GO! YOU GO TO SLEEP OR WHATEVER! GOODNIGHT!” And on the last echoes of that scared scream, the brave Pro Hero Eraserhead gave a spectacular show of acceleration as he managed to go from “Almost asleep while standing” to “Top Running Speed” instantaneously while running away.
“What?” Nemuri asked, confused.
“SHOTA! GET BACK HERE AND GIVE ME MY OWN RING! GIMME MY RING! MY PRECIOUUUUUS!” Her answer came in the form of Miss Joke bursting out of the shadows she was hiding in to chase the escaping Aizawa.
“AAAAAAAAAAAH!”
Commitment! Shota Aizawa’s biggest fear!
“… Oooooh!” Both her and Mic said as one, thinking that maybe Nezu had let the woman enter so as to provide the Rat with some late evening entertainment with her chasing her obvious crush through the entirety of UA Grounds.
“Well, this signals the end of the evening entertainment, it’s time for you kids to go to sleep!” Nemuri said while clapping her hands a little while showing a wide smile.
“Aaaaaaw!” The students of Class 1-A answered as one with a childish whine.
“No need to tell me twice,” Bakugo said, stretching a bit and moving towards his own room while yawning.
“But it’s still so early!” Mina said, pouting.
“Tomorrow we will have a small meeting with the Pro Heroes you had your Internship with, and both us of UA and them will have you go through a small test to gauge your progress, so you need to be well-rested! Showing-off needs lots of energy, you know?” Present Mic answered, smirking.
“Okay, Sensei!” The students answered as one, with various degrees of conviction, most were frowning a bit though.
“Uhm… Nine hours before dawn, and the Mission with Izu will last Nine days. That thing really does things with maniacal attention to details.” Ochako looked at her watch and then remembered The System’s details about the Sortie in another world.
She had barely twenty minutes to prepare before the Entity will whisk her away, and the thing made it clear it won’t be waiting for her to get ready, it was already a big concession that the System will make sure nobody will come looking for her while she is gone, apparently.
“That thing could at least not make it sound like we are forcing them to let us accompany Izuku at least.” The girl thought, sighing in annoyance and marching to her room to get ready for her Extra-Dimensional Trip.
Twenty Minutes later – Another Dimension – Earth Orbit -
A strange rock formation housing on top a clearly evil-looking fortress built with black bricks was silently orbiting the planet, covered by a colourful bubble that stopped satellites and the occasional space station from noticing the obvious intruder in the normal, everyday view of the planet.
Inside the Evil fortress, an assortment of bright pink winged devil-like creatures hurried through the corridors while going through their own jobs as servants of the Lords of that castle, each little devil paying extra attention to not dirty the blood red carpet on the floor and avoiding the eyes of the evil-looking living portraits filling the walls… And silently cursing their Lords for insisting to use creepy chandeliers and candles to light every room, because while in the void of space those tiny candles, those too black of course, didn’t give off enough light, meaning that visibility was atrocious.
“Aesthetics my ass, I can’t see shit!” One of the tiny devils muttered, again tripping on its own feet.
“Sssh! Don’t let them hear you! And just fly like I do, at least you won’t trip on their precious carpet!” The thing’s friend answered.
“Yes, yes. Bunch of Emo Weirdos…” The thing answered, huffing annoyed.
Throne Room -
Unaware, or uncaring, of the mounting displeasure of their servants, the Lords of the ‘Castle of Eternal Night’ congregated in the Throne Room to plan their next course of action, all of them dressed in either BDSM Leather Gear or with far too many spikes and belts adorning their leather corsets, even their capes were far too long, but they just took care of just not step on each other cape instead of just shortening them.
“All Hail Nightmares and Darkness!” The ones standing said.
“All Hail Nightmares and Darkness!” The woman with excessive make-up and black lipstick sitting on the throne, and wearing the shoulder pads with the most spikes of them all, along a metal bra with twelve inches long cones covering her breast, answered.
“Why has ourDark Evil Lord of Nightmares, Darkness, Evil and Depression not been awakened yet?” The Queen of Evil, Darkusia, demanded while accepting yet another apple a minion handed her while kneeling.
“Apples again?” A Fabulous Man with dark-purple lipstick asked with a whisper.
“Evil only eats apples, so people know they are evil jerks. That’s what she said when I dared to ask.” A woman in ‘Mistress Gear’ and piercings everywhere whispered in answer.
“That can’t be healthy.” He muttered, grimacing.
Behind them, another small devil was sobbing uncontrollably as it walked with its head low towards the Queen's personal bathroom to once again clean-up her messes, but nobody cared enough to notice the thing and its desperate wailing.
“Indeed.”
“STOP GOSSIPING! I asked you a question!” The Queen, luckily missing what they were actually talking about, yelled with a booming voice.
“My Beloved Queen! We are trying, I swear!” The Leader of the group said with an exaggerated flourish while kneeling in front of the Queen, with black rose petals somehow appearing at each and every movement he did, soon covering the floor around him in a thick carpet of petals.
“It’s just those Stupid brats getting in the way!” The Goth jailbait Loli, in truth two thousand years old (Totally! believe us!), added with a frown while licking in an overly-indecent way the giant, spiked lollipop in her hand.
“Them again?!” The Queen said with a roar.
“The Guardians of Love, The Idols of Friendship, The Pretty Warriors of Cuddles and the Navy Senshi of Sweetness. Those four groups keep being a thorn in our side! OOOOH! If only we could find the Four Sages of Hugs and Kisses that choose those girls as members! NNNNH! I would destroy them so goooood!” The thin guy “dressed” only with several leather belts clasped around his body in layers to form a skin-tight bodysuit, said with groaning moans, all with a ball-gag in his mouth, somehow.
“Then keep searching!” The Queen ordered, grabbing a glass full to the brim in red wine, taking a tiny sip and then smashing the still full glass on the floor, prompting a sighing servant to switch it with a new full one before moving to brush the floor to remove the shards.
“We will find them. Have no fear.” The last member of the group, a guy in black mediaevalarmour with spikes everywhere answered with a gruff, extremely-deep gravelly voice. He was also the size of a five years old kid, ruining his image a bit, but at least he tried.
“It’s not fear! It’s a matter of timing!” The Queen answered, taking a sip and throwing away yet another glass of wine, this time against the wall.
“… Sigh!” Again the servant put on the small table next to her a new glass and then moved to remove the shards.
“His Terrorness! Obscurus The Endless Nightmare of Evil and Darkness and Depression and That Uncomfortable feeling by the stomach area that you just know means that something bad is going to happen, must return! And we need to harvest the innate Darkness inside the hearts of the humans to achieve his Glorious Rebirth! And we’ll need to collect lots of it before the next solar eclipse that will happen at the same time the planets will align and will fall on an even-numbered day of an uneven-number month! And we can’t do that if those brats keep getting in the way!” The Queen of all things Evil and Dark said.
“I say we send another Evil Creature of Evil. We may have failed the last one-hundred and sixteen times, but maybe this time we will win!” The Black Rose Petals guy answered, flicking back a long fringe of his black hair again and summoning yet another wave of petals to add to the pile behind him that now reached his knees.
“What if we send two?” The Legal Loli added.
“Oooh! That’s a good idea!” The belts guy answered.
“Uhm… Yes, look for two good hosts and send The Evil Twins!” The Queen said, breaking her third glass after another single sip.
“Goddamnit…” The servant muttered under its breath while replacing the glass with a new one.
“Yes, our beautiful Queen of Darkness and Evil!” Her underlings answered as one, leaving the room one after another to make sure to not trip on each other's capes.
On Earth – Sunnydale City -
While that strange meeting was taking place, Izuku and Ochako had just arrived inside the very colourful city, and exited an alleyway to join the flood of people clamouring the streets.
“So this is another world, hn?” Ochako asked, looking everywhere in wonder.
“This one is at least similar to our own, compared to the others,” Izuku answered, chuckling, and grateful about Whitey being big enough to easily helping them have enough room to move through the crowd of people around them.
“Kyun.” Shiro, around Izuku’s neck, gave a huff and returned to sleep.
“While I appreciate it, it could make finding that creature you need harder if everything is just so modern.”
“It’s okay, Occhan. We’ll figure something out.”
Bump!
“Hey!” The young Hero Student grumbled when somebody bumped into her.
“Oh! Sorry, I was just distracted!” The Pretty Boy with short blond hair said while dramatically covering his face with one hand, and there were even visible bishy sparkles around him.
“Don’t worry about it.” Ochako answered, and just walked away, uncaring.
“...I said… I am sorry I bumped into you.” The guy said again.
“Yes, and I said that it is not a problem.” she answered, shrugging.
“… That’s it?”
“Sorry, what is supposed to happen?” Izuku asked, curious.
“Mind your business, boy. As for you, my dear pretty girl, please, let me offer you a smoothie as an apology as I talk to you about how pretty I find you to be. My tre-” The guy trying saying, flicking back a fringe of hair.
“No.” Ochako bluntly answered, eyes half-lidded in annoyance.
“Uh?!” The guy, besides painfully biting his tongue, uttered in confusion.
“Honestly, I’veseenplenty of bad ‘Pick-up strategies’, but yours is still one of the worst. Sorry, pretty boy, I am taken.” Ochako answered, latching onto Izuku's arm making his face flush red.
“But! You? Taken? By him?! I am pretty and usually get every girl I bump against so to start some sweet sweet Shoujo Manga Teen Angsty Romance and… Pick-up strategy?!”
Clamp!
Suddenly Whitey’s big left hand clamped HARD on the guy’s shoulder, forcing him to turn around to meet the robot’s red eyes.
“Troublemaker, stop bothering The Host and his girlfriend.” He said.
“But I-”
“Beat it, himbo.” The Robot cut him off.
“HIMBO!?” The guy shrieked.
“Whitey, let’s just go.” Izuku, sighing in annoyance, said.
“Yes.” The robot answered, falling in step to follow both Izuku and Ochako as they walked away.
“Hey! You-”
SLAM!
“For Goodness sake.” Shiro thought while rolling his eyes, and with an imperious whipping of his fluffy tail the guy was sent flying in a rather beautiful arch that ended with him landing head-first inside a full dumpster thanks to an invisible force.
“Seriously, one can find horny weirdos everywhere.” Ochako said with a sigh, still holding onto Izuku’s arm and leaning her head on his shoulder.
“He was very insistent.” Izuku admitted, smiling and leaning his head on top of hers.
“Some guys are just unable to take no for an answer, especially when they have been told they're pretty one too many times, their Ego just grows too much.” She added, making him chuckle.
“Yep! Pretty sad.”
“Sorry! Coming through! I am late for school! Forgive me!” A girl in High-school uniform ran past them at that precise moment.
“… Did she have a toast in her mouth? People really do that?” Izuku asked, eyebrows high.
“That was not the problem, Izu-kun… The toast in her mouth was also still inside the toaster, that’s the problem!” Ochako answered, eyes wide.
“Coming through!” Another girl ran past them, this time wearing a classic Japanese temple maiden outfit that she was slowly shedding off to show the schoolgirl uniform under it.
“… What?” Both teens said.
“Seriously, those two! Always late.” What came next was a short kid girl, looking no older than ten, and looking at the two running girls with a sigh of exasperation escaping her.
“One of them is your big sister?” Izuku asked the short girl, she was even shorter than Mineta and Eri.
“What? No. I am their teacher! Nice to meet you! I am Takibana Tae, 60 years old and single and yet still young at heart!” The tiny girl said, smirking and lighting a cigarette.
“Nice to meet you…” Ochako answered, unnerved.
“Same here.” Izuku muttered, uncertain.
“Now sorry, but I have a school to run.” the girl said, opening the door of a massive car parked nearby, and letting hundreds of empty cans of beer fall down on the ground, and once sat behind the wheel she sprinted away while ignoring every known driving rule.
“…” Izuku, Ochako and Shiro just looked at the scene with wide eyes.
“… Let’s look for a room somewhere.” Ochako said, faintly.
“Okay.” The young Chef answered.
Not too far away – ‘Sunny Sun Happy Valley’ High-school – Classroom -
Young Michiko was huffing bored while waiting for her teacher to arrive, she also had a super-secret, she was Fluffy Pink, Leader of the Magical Girls group called Idols of Friendship! The cutest warriors of friendship in the World that protected Earth from Evil in the name of Friendship, Love, Cuteness and Gentleness.
(Dry heaving).
But while she loved the super frilly white dress her and her friends wore when fighting Evil, she still had to go to school and learn all the boring stuff like Math or History, why couldn’t she study Shopping? She was good at it! Or Boys! She liked boys!
Big Boys.
Itty-Bitty Boys.
Mississippi Boys.
Inner City Boys.
The Pretty Boys with the bow tie.
A Clean Beard, a clean face...She didn’t discriminate!
She just loved dragging a couple boys in the PE shed and get to suckin-
“Ah! I am wandering off again in my memories.” Michiko shook her head slightly to regain focus.
“Aah! Michiko-chan is sad! This won’t do!” The girl’s best friend, and fellow Idol, asked with her usual super-charged sexy Ara Ara voice that made every boy within earshot squirm in their seats in discomfort, and many of those poor boys wondered how will they survive their time at school with a stacked classmate whose normal tone of voice was hot like that by default.
“Sorry, Yuchiko-chan! I am just lamenting my bad luck with boys! The only one that gives me any attention is my stupid Childhood Friend! I can’t find a worthy boyfriend!” Michiko said.
“I know! I have similar bad luck!” The tall and buxom pink-haired girl answered with a sigh that was the closest thing possible to an actual sexual moan while barely keeping things family friendly.
“Are we too ugly?! No boys want us!” The third friend of the group, Puchiko, a living tomboy stereotype, added as she slammed both fists on her desk making her chest bounce heavily while the camera was ‘casually’ pointed at her breast with a far too close zoom, by coincidence of course.
“What do we miss?! Why do boys avoid us?!” The Idols and their Leader yelled as one in despair.
“We have the looks! The Style! The Brain (Sorta), the colourful hair! What are we missing?! We even have big tits!” Another Idol, Tichiko, said while pointing a finger at each of her friends.
“We all have some serious honkers!” She said,
“Michiko has a damn real good set of badonkers!”
“I do!” Michiko said smugly, puffing out her chest that shook and bounced far too much to be normal.
“Yuchiko is packin’ some big dobonhonkeros! Those are bigger than my head!”
“Ara! And my back always hurts so much since they are so heavy! I can’t even wear a bra because they don’t make them my size!” The girl said with a miserable expression while palming said giant breast.
“NGH!”
“Bro!” One of the boys shrieked in fear once seen his best friend hunch over his desk in ‘Pain’.
“Those were...My favourite...Pants…” The poor guy said, groaning in defeat.
“And what about Lichiko?! She has massive dohoonkabhankoloos! Why does no boy want her?!” The girl kept saying, uncaring.
“We do want you!” The boys in class, all of them with suspicious bandages and casts around their wrists, said as one with a miserable expression.
“Not you, losers! You are just faceless background characters in our life!” Tichiko answered, grumbling annoyed.
“And what about me?! Are my big ol' tonhongerekoogers anything to sneeze at!? I should have lines of boys ready to Kill to date me!” She then said,
“Ah-Hem.” The last member of the group cleared her throat, the silent Uber-Kuudere of their group.
“Right! Poor Sachiko! Boys here must be cowards and fear her strong personality to even just notice her even bigger bonkhonagahoogs!”
“Indeed. Nobody wants me.” Sachiko answered with a monotone voice, while also kicking away the boy sprawled on the floor offering her his eternal devotion while kissing her shoes.
“MY GODDESS! I LOVE ONLY YOU!” The Simp shrieked in need and fanatical devotion.
“Nobody.” The girl repeated, uncaring.
“NOOOOOOOOOOO!”
“Silence in class! We have a new student that decided to join our school, so treat her well. This is…” The teacher, looking so young compared to her real age she needed a stool to actually sit at her desk, said.
“I am Poporiko. Please treat me well! HOHOHOHOHOHO!” The girl with improbable hair made of only hair drills, said with a haughty laugh and the back of her left hand leaning against her cheek.
“…. I Hate her.” Michiko said, growling.
“Is she your Rival?” Lichiko asked.
“Starting now.” She answered.
“Rival it is! She even has humongous big hungolomghononoloughongous! She clearly is our Rival!” Tichiko declared.
“So you are my classmates? HOHOHOHOHO! Not very impressive!” The new arrival said, again with the rich anime girl laugh.
“You’ll see! Starting today we are bitter rivals!” Michiko hissed.
“Indeed!” Poporiko answered, just as angrily.
Pippi-Pippi-Pippiripi!
Lala-lala-lalalaaaa!
In that moment, a very tacky heart-shaped ruby brooch on Michiko’s massive chest and a heart-shaped blue crystal acting as belt buckle on Poporiko’s THICCCC hips gave off two overly-cheerful jingles.
“That crystal…” Michiko said with wide eyes.
“That brooch!” Poporiko echoed, equally shocked.
“We are the Idols of Friendship. I am the Leader, Codename Fluffy Pink.”
“…Navy Senshi of Sweetness, I am their Leader: Strawberry Punch.” Poporiko answered.
“So we fight on the same side?” Lichiko asked.
“So it seems.”
“You know what this means,” Michiko said.
“Yes, we need to put aside our rivalry and fight together for the sake of the Planet and its people.” Poporiko answered.
“Yes. Best friend forever, Poporiko-chan?” The girl answered, presenting her hand.
“Best Friends Forever, Michiko-chan!” Poporiko answered, shaking the hand of her new friends.
(Went from Rivals to Best Friends Forever… So fast that it must be a Record.)
“Enough celebration! We have Evil Creatures of Evil to defeat!” Lichiko said.
“Yeah! Let’s go!” Tichiko added.
“Yes, but how? We must keep our identity as Warriors of Love and Friendship a secret!” Poporiko asked with a whisper.
“I have a plan, trust me!” Mitchiko said.
“Go.”
“Teacher! We all have a bellyache! Can we leave for a couple hours?” She said,
“Good thinking!”
With Izuku – Small apartment -
“Are you sure it won’t be a problem?” Izuku asked as soon as the bedroom door opened.
“Ah, don’t worry, I really need somebody that knows how to operate a kitchen, now that my normal Chef fell ill. You and your waitress fell on my lap like a miracle basically!” The old lady that owned the place answered with a smile of relief.
“What happened to him?” Ochako asked.
“That’s the strange thing, he was cooking like normal when at a certain point he went mad, grabbed a butcher knife and started attacking random people.” She answered.
“Oh God!” Both teens gasped in shock.
“Yes, poor dear kept screaming about cooking my customers as a dish for his Supreme Lord of Evil… Doctors said it was a nervous breakdown. Luckily those gentle ‘Pretty Warriors of Cuddles’ helped sedate him. Too bad I am without a Chef for my restaurant until they release him, or at least I was until you two arrived looking for a job.” She answered, sighing.
“Glad to be of help…” Iuku answered, unsure.
“That must be the cheesiest Hero Group Name I have ever heard.” Ochako muttered.
“And I am grateful you are just as skilled as you showed me! This was my old Chef’ apartment, I don’t think he will mind you borrowing it during your stay here in our city. You go enjoy the sights, I’ll take care of bringing here new covers and other small amenities.”
“Are you sure?” Ochako asked.
“You say you will work for me for free? Then I will at least give you somewhere nice to stay at before you move again!” The old lady answered, smiling warmly gently pushing them outside.
“Off you go! You two young lovebirds will start working soon, and may as well have a small date before that!” She said, laughing at both teens' redfaces.
“Is it that evident that we are together?” Izuku asked.
“Perhaps.” Ochako answered, amused.
Hand in hand, the two wandered through the streets near the small Restaurant owned by the old lady, enjoying the sights of the overly-colorful city and the bright sunny day, chatting a bit between themselves while Whitey silently followed them two steps behind to give them some privacy while still keeping an eye on the young Chef as per the robot’s programming.
“You know? Before entering UA I was certain my life would have been fairly plain, but I liked it still.” Ochako said, sighing.
“And yet, here you are! Close to becoming a great Hero! Uravity!” Izuku answered, sounding proud of her.
“God I hope so! I know it doesn’t sound very Heroic to try becoming a Pro for money, but… You know…”
“I admit that your decision may have been born from more personal-”
“Selfish.” Ochako said.
“Personal reasons.” Izuku kept saying, smiling.
“But you are still working hard and taking this seriously, so I do think you have what it takes to be a proper Hero.” He then said,
“I do feel a bit guilty about it, but I keep telling myself that I am trying to become a Hero that will keep people safe, not just an Idol out there to get money. Not anymore at least. The mess at the USJ and the attack during our summer camp showed me that this is not a Lifestyle one should take lightly, and… And while I was scared of dying both times, I also had an epiphany, and I decided that I will be a proper Hero, and if I won’t be making money from it, well, I know I will figure out something, Heroes are the very last to give-up Hope, we are supposed to inspire it after all, right?” Ochako said.
“Well said!” He answered, amazed.
“… Huhuhu!”
“What?” Izuku asked, surprised by her chuckle.
“I just remembered that in both those accidents, you and your Restaurant Staff were there to help, and actually saved my life both times. And I never thanked you.” She said,
“Uh?! Thank me? WH-”
Kiss!
“There! Thank you for saving me twice, my Hero!” Ochako said with a mischievous smile after giving his lips a fast peck.
“… It was nothing!” The young Chef squeaked in answer.
“HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAAAA!”
“BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
“Uh?!” Both Teens gurgled as a duo of weirdos accosted them.
“Look, Sister! New victims for our beloved Dark Lord!” The male Twin said with a fanged smile.
“I see them, Brother! We shall devour the darkness of their hearts and gift them to our Dark God of Darkness!” The Female Twin added.
Both had gun-grey skin, very long and pointed ears and longs fans they kept licking clean with their creepily long purple tongues, they were dressed in very outrageous gimp gear and kept groping each other in a very deranged way, especially so since they looked and acted like siblings.
“Villains?!” Ochako sneered, moving in front of Izuku.
“Aaah! Such a strong heart! I can’t wait to devour it!” Female Twin said, making the Pro Hero student’s skin crawl with how the thing kept leering at her.
“The boy too is nice! His Light seems just so bright! More than normal humans, so I bet his Darkness will taste so sweet!” Male Twin added, looking at Izuku and, for some reason, giving some faint pelvic-thrusts while looking at him.
“Troublemakers will be stripped as an example to others!” Whitey answered, stepping forward as well.
“Get them! Dark Evil Sprint!” The Female Twin said, bursting forward in a blur of shadows.
“Enbu + Gunhead Martial Arts: Samsara Flow!” Ochako answered, grabbing the outstretched claw of the Monster, spinning on herself, and using the thing’s momentum plus her own to slam her on the wall next to them once planted both feet down hard enough the young Hero left to clear imprints on the floor.
“Sister!” Male Twin yelled in horror once seen his twin remain stuck on the wall.
“Troublemaker!” Whitey was soon on him with a big fist cocked back.
“YOU SHALL PAY! DARK EVIL CANNON!” The Thing yelled, shooting from its mouth a thick ray of darkness towards Ochako.
FOOOOOM!
“UH?!” And watching in shock as a gold wok pan appeared in front of the girl instantaneously, enlarging enough to fully cover her and tank the hit without a single scratch.
“WHAT IS THAT PAN MADE OF?!” The Male Twin asked with a shriek,
WHAM!
In answer, Whitey’s fist impacted with the Monster’s cheek so hard its jaw shattered in a thousand pieces and was sent flying, tumbling on the floor on the notes of its bones breaking and snapping in many painful places.
“You okay?” Ochako asked.
“I am the one that should ask that, but WOW! You finally got Enbu down?” Izuku asked.
“Hehehe! Almost there!” She answered, smiling.
“That’s my girl!” He answered, hugging her and spinning her around on the notes of her squeals and laughter, honestly, one of the nicest sounds he ever heard.
“Uuuugh!” To their surprise, both Monster Twins slowly, and in clear agony, Forced themselves to stand and walk towards each other, so as to hold each other hand and point their other hand at the two teens.
“You won’t defeat us!” The Female Twin said.
“Guu-ga-ga-buu...Shaaa!” The Male Twin added, but his broken jaw made it sound like garbled nonsense.
“You better give-up! Police will soon be here!” Ochako answered.
“We don’t fear you! Feel the power of our Forbidden Love! Super Dark Evil Wave Cannon!” The Female Twin answered, and from both the Twins’ hands a giant wave of darkness surged forward.
Fooooom!
And Once again, the Star-Eating Turtle Wok was summoned from the turtle tattoo on Izuku’s wrist and enlarged to huge proportions so he could use it as a shield to protect himself and Ochako from danger.
“HOW?!” Both twins yelled in horror.
“That Wok is impressive.” Ochako admitted in awe.
“Yes, but I can’t use it to cook without the right kind of fire, I hate it!” Izuku answered, sounding sad enough to look about to cry.
“It’s okay, I am sure you will find the right fire to use it. I believe in you!” Ochako answered, giving him a reassuring smile and a kiss to the cheek.
“Stop ignoring u-”
CLANG! CLANG!
Growing tired of their nonsense, Izuku recalled and shrunk the wok as soon as the Twins’ attack faded away, and while holding the now normal-size wok pan in his hand, he whacked them both hard on the head with the thing, slamming both Monsters on the floor hard enough the ground shook violently and a nearby car’s alarm went triggered.
“…”
“…”
“… Hn! That should be enough.” Ochako said, nodding pleased after waiting a couple minutes to see if the two got up again, and only getting some blissful silence from the unconscious monsters.
“Over here! The Heart Crystals have detected the presence of Evil creatures of Evil!” A purple cat said, guiding a group of girls towards the two Twins.
“Exactly! Over there!” A bright yellow penguin added, she too, guiding a group of girls to the scene.
“We must stop them!” A bright Green lion cub said, his own group coming from a side street.
“Let’s go, Senshi! The people of Earth need us!” The ice blue puppy yelled, her own group of teens dropping down from the top of one of the buildings with pink ropes like some Hollywood S.W.A.T Team. Or some overachieving Rainbow Six player.
“… Isn’t this excessive?” Izuku whispered to Ochako.
“I guess the regulations for ‘Excessive Hero Intervention’ are different here compared to home?” Ochako answered, unsure.
“You that bring despair everywhere, feel the wrath of the warriors of Love!” The Leader of one group said.
“We will defend Happiness and Peace everywhere with the power of Friendship!” Another Group Leader added, striking a Vogue pose.
“For as long as we draw breath, everything will remain Pure and Joyful! We will cleanse the world of your Evil! For we are the Guardians of Purity and Cheerfulness!” Third Leader added, holding her hands clasped together like in prayer in front of her far too big chest.
“No Darkness will prevail as long as we will be here, because our pure hearts beat on the notes of Friendship, Love, Justice, Cuddles, Puppies, Kittens, Hugs, Purity, Goodness, fairly-priced goods and Rainbows!” The Fourth Leader finished, pointing at the sky while crying the pure tears of a Pure Maiden™.
“BECAUSE WE ARE THE GUARDIANS OF LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP!” All of the girls present said as one, closing the cliché ‘Magical Girl Speech’ by striking a glamorous group pose even a Jojo Character would have called excessive while red rose petals exploded behind them together with a giant cloud of pink smoke forming a heart.
With Ochako and Izuku -
The two Dimensional Travellers were just standing on the side watching the insanity happen right in front of their eyes, and unsure how to even just process everything.
“I used to watch some crappy Magical Girls anime as a kid, but none of them were this bad…” Ochako admitted, eyebrows shooting high in disbelief.
“…”
“Izu-kun?” She asked, watching her boyfriend closing his eyes and massaging his temples while groaning.
“I hate this place… I hate it…” He admitted, groaning again.
“Sssh! It’s okay, I don’t think it will be too bad here, things can’t get any wors-”
“Guardians of Love! TRANSFORM!”
“Idols of Friendship! TRANSFORM!”
“Pretty Warriors of Cuddles! TRANSFORM!”
“Navy Senshi of Sweetness! TRANSFORM!”
(A/N: Danger. Flashing Lights in the picture below, if you are photosensitive, please scroll past it.)
“Eh…?” Ochako muttered, dumbfounded as each girl there unclasped the colourful, tacky and plastic-looking heart-shaped crystals they had on their person and held it above their heads… Then came the real ugly sight.
Either spinning in place nonstop by ballet dancing, or loudly slapping their body parts, or dancing the macarena, or something that seemed scarily-similar to a Fortnite dance, or even just doing jumping jacks, those girls SLOWLY morphed their clothes into outrageously-complicated white Magical Girls uniforms with a far too big boob window and decorated fully with hearts, belts, tiny bells, smiley emoji faces, rainbows and much more...All while the notes of the most saccharine music about Friendship and Love ever heard playing out of nowhere, but Ochako guessed the music came from the same place the pink and red background full of stars and rainbows now flashing behind the girls came from.
“…” Ochako was speechless, she didn’t know what was worse: the fact that the entire transformation took a good five minutes while the Villains waited for them to finish, or the fact that each girl was completely naked the entire time with absolutely nothing covering their bodies.
“I saw far too much, they flashed everything, and some of them really need to shave too! I know me and my friends are lucky for our age, but… Those girls are too much! Nobody has butts and tits that massive! That has to be a health concern!” Ochako said, for once not jealous about another girl being naked in front of Izuku, that because the Chef had smelled the incoming bullshit and he had long since covered his eyes before the nudity happened.
“Can we leave now? Before cringe actually kills me?” He begged with a very tired voice.
“Yes… They seem to have everything under control.” She answered, especially once seen that the Evil Monster Twins were still unconscious from Izuku’s attack.
“Thank God!” The young Chef said in relief, grabbing Ochako’s hand and running away with her back towards the old lady’s Restaurant.
“FRIENDSHIP CANNON OF LOVE AND PURITY!” Those girls yelled in chorus and soon an explosion of rainbow-coloured light engulfed everything, and even if deafening, the explosion could not cover the screams of pain of the Evil Twins that were forcefully, and painfully, purified until they returned to being humans, unfortunately still looking beaten black and blue thanks to Izuku and Ochako.
Later that day – Kitchen -
Once back to a setting he felt safe in, Izuku finally relaxed, and fell into the rhythm of the Restaurant he was in, watching pleased as Ingredients turned into wonderful dishes thanks to his tireless work.
“So. A beast called Cloud-Eating Golden Dragon. Maybe it’s one of those monsters? Like the ones that tried attacking us?” Ochako, waiting for Izuku to hand her the plates, asked.
“They didn’t look very golden. Or Dragon Looking.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“We need more information.” She answered.
“From who? The System only tells me to capture it, to seek and capture it.” he said, handing her two plates, both steaks looking juicy and tender.
“… Eeeeh! I don’t know.” Ochako admitted defeat, taking the plates and walking out of the room to deliver them.
“Seriously, this is a modern-day world, a dragon would look so out of place it should be easy to find.” Izuku muttered, sighing.
“Izuku!” Ochako barged-in back into the kitchen in a hurry.
“Un?”
“Those girls are here, the ones that like to undress in public to fight Villains!”
“Ookay?”
“They were talking about how the attacks of those things are increasing and their pets said something about them needing to stop the return of their Leader!” She said.
“… Aaand?” Izuku asked, confused.
“One of their overly-colourful pets called it ‘That stupid evil dragon’.” Ochako answered with a meaningful look.
“And they talked about it just like that?”
“Not really, they spoke with whispers but, well, let’s say that their whispering is as loud as our talking. They have a strange concept of discretion.” Ochako answered with a scrunched nose.
“Well, this world has already shown to be as insane as the others I visited already, so I say we just go with the flow and use that Insanity to fulfil this Mission quickly, the sooner we get to that dragon, the sooner we can leave this madhouse.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“Want me to ask what they know?” Ochako said.
“How tough? What if you are not supposed to know?” Izuku asked back, worried.
“I...W-What if we make them believe I am like them, like… Like a Colleague from another division or something? Maybe they will share some info!”
“That may work, but how do you plan to do it? How do we convince them?” Izuku asked, unsure.
“…” As one, their eyes slowly zeroed on Shiro sleeping in a corner of the kitchen.
“… Why are you looking at this Esteemed Taotie like that, Partner?” Shiro asked in dread as soon as he felt the two teen’s eyes burning a hole in his supremely-fluffy head.
“I think I have an idea.” Ochako said.
“Goddamnit.”
At the table of Magical Girls -
“Another incredible success, girls!” Michiko said, clapping happily and jumping a bit on her seat, meaning her chest slapped heavily on the table with loud meaty clapping sounds and the whining of wood about to snap under duress.
“Even if those two Evil Creatures of Evil looked a bit… Defeated already?” One of the Navy Senshi said, unsure.
“It means that we got lucky this time, but it won’t be a recurring thing.” The Penguin Pet Mascot with them said from under the table.
“We need to be always on high alert! The Legion of Dark Evil Darkness could attack again any time!” The kitten added.
“Surely you jest. You all have next to zero care for whoever could hear!” That was when Shiro jumped on the table.
“CUTE!” The human girls said as one with a loud shriek, and for once even Shiro hated the attention.
“Who are you?” The Pets instead asked.
“My name is Shiro, and this Esteemed Lord cannot believe that you are being so unprofessional about your job as Guardian of Earth! You are talking about confidential information at the table of a restaurant, for goodness sake!” Shiro answered, truly pulling-off an unmatched acting talent.
“Never heard of you.” The puppy answered with a growl.
“Exactly! That’s how you protect a world! You come in, defeat evil and then leave, no fanfare, no useless light shows and no rousing speeches!” Shiro answered, and with a nod of his, Izuku and Ochako joined them at the table.
“Let me introduce you to my own Partner and the Warrior I am championing.” The Taotie said, returning to wrap himself around Izuku’s neck.
“Another Magical girl?” The Penguin said.
“And a boy?” One of the kuuderes asked, curious.
“A cute one! So we can have cute boys in our squads? Why was I not told?” Michiko, already interested, asked.
“Head out of the gutter, Michiko. This is a serious meeting.” The Kitten said.
“Usually boys prefer to stay in the side-lines, jump in with their own one attack to help tilt the scale of battle in our favour and then leave.” Penguin said.
“Maybe because they have to deal with people that don’t like having others steal their thunder ooor, looking at that girl, they don’t want to be harassed endlessly by some boy-crazy annoyance. This Esteemed Taotie has seen it happen far too much, with either gender. Outsiders being forced to just jump-in when there is no other option and then leave to not get scolded and/or molested.” Taotie answered.
“… I mean… Pretty Pretty Lovely Mask does that every time…” One of the Warriors admitted with a low voice, looking a bit unsure.
“One attack, a charming smile and a comment about how nice our costumes are and then he leaves. Maybe we gave him the idea that we do not appreciate outside help?” Michiko added.
“Same with Lovely Hunk Stranger. A surprise attack with a red rose, a wink and a ‘Such a lovely girl shouldn’t be eaten alive’ and then he leaves… What did you do to scare them away?!” Poporiko hissed.
“Hush! We are not here to hear you thirsty thots prattle about your unfulfilled lust! This wouldn’t be an issue normally, as your Teams are created to face these sorts of threats, but apparently you all are doing such a poor job WE had to come here to fix your mess!” Shiro said, silencing them all with a glare.
“HEY!” The group growled in outrage.
“We admit you are working hard,” Ochako said, with a very forced smile.
“But the situation is getting worse fast. That is why we are here, to help.” Izuku, way more well-versed in smiling convincingly to people he didn’t like, added with a thumbs-up.
“Worse? But the Sages said the Evil is receding!” Penguin said.
“Receding? Really? How many attacks happen daily? How long have you all been battling the forces of Evil?” Shiro asked with narrowed eyes.
“Ehm… Just… Just three attacks a day… It’s not THAT bad.” Puppy said with a low voice.
“We have been doing this for a couple months,” Kitten added, sweating a lot in nervousness.
“And still, no results show.” Shiro countered, merciless.
“Y-Y-You are being a bit too harsh. We are not that bad.” Lion Cub muttered, wincing.
“This Esteemed Taotie is not calling you bad, just badly organised.” Shiro answered.
“And you want to help us?” Michiko, already making doe eyes at Izuku out of ‘boys withdrawal’, said while caressing his arm.
“Pretty much.” Ochako, watching the Chef take a step back to avoid her only for the girl to lean forward to keep harassing him, answered while slapping that hand away.
“Ah! Rude!” Michiko said.
“Reign in your hormones, please. I am not interested.” Izuku asked, groaning.
“Why? Are you gay?”
“… Ignoring the fact that you asked that as if it was something bad, no, I am straight. I am already in a relationship so I don’t want to cheat, especially with any of you. And even then, kind of curious how you are so much into yourself to believe that somebody is Homosexual just because they do not want to sleep with you.” Izuku answered, disappointed.
“Aaaw! Playing hard to get?” Michiko said with a coy smile.
Ochako could swear she heard Izuku’s blood pressure rise to dangerous levels out of anger.
“Just tell us if you have any news about the Cloud-Eating Golden Dragon.” She asked, she understood Izuku may feel tempted to punch the girls since she too was succumbing to that temptation, but she also knew they had a Mission to fulfil.
The Pets winced in unison, with their heads actually popped out from under the tablecloth to look at them with scared eyes.
“You really know that much? Its ancient name?” Kitten asked with a trembling voice.
“That name is a bit silly.” The Air-headed member of the Navy Senshi admitted with a giggle.
“Our Information Network doesn’t joke around. So? Any new details about it that are worth knowing?” Shiro asked.
“They… The Forces of Evil are trying to free it from its prison. They consider that Monster their God, so they want it free so as to plunge everything into infinite Darkness.” Penguin answered.
“We already know that much! Unfortunately we thought that the girls and the furry playthings purposely sent to defeat it had more information than mere common knowledge! Were we wrong assuming that?!” Shiro said, harshly.
All of them, Pets and schoolgirls, winced as one.
“Ehm. W-We aren’t told much.” Lion Cub admitted.
“The Sages say we and the girls are not ready yet for the truth.” Kitten added, ashamed.
“Figures! Pure incompetence! Bring us to your Sages! We have clearance and do not need any silly ‘Test of Worth’! It’s time for some professionalism to return to this Mission!” Shiro ordered.
“We can’t just bring you there!” Puppy answered, distraught.
“Then please, send a word that we need to meet them, this is important.” Izuku said.
“We can try, but I can’t promise they will accept.” Puppy answered.
“They are pretty secretive and withdrawn.” Kitten added.
“This Esteemed Taotie doesn’t care! Just send a message that we require a meeting! We won’t play games with the Fate of Humanity!” Shiro ordered.
“Fine! Fine! No need to get angry!” Penguin answered.
“Thank you.” Izuku answered.
“Much appreciated.” Ochako echoed.
“You have two days.” Shiro closed the discussion there, and as they planned, at that request the three of them left to return to the kitchen.
“… Shit. Apparently there are other Squads out there.” Penguin cursed with a low voice.
“And they decided to send a Team of theirs to help us! Why?! My resume will be tainted! Why are you others not pulling your weight!? YOU’LL MAKE ME LOOK BAD!” Kitten said with a roar.
“Your resume!? What about ME!? I have over three hundred interventions under my belt! All perfect successes! If ever it’s YOUR TEAM that is slacking off!” Puppy answered.
“Enough! We can’t start arguing and pointing fingers! We will alert the Sages and let them decide, and I pray to the Gods of Light that this won’t just throw our credibility down the drain! And as for you girls…” Lion cub hissed.
“Yes?”
“STOP WASTING TIME CHASING FASHION OUTLET SALES AND BIG DICKS AND FOCUS ON YOUR JOB AS WARRIORS!” The Pet yelled.
“EEEEK!” The girls shrieked in chorus.
In the Kitchen -
“Good. Hopefully the people in charge will have some information to spare.” Shiro said, groaning.
“You okay?” Izuku asked, concerned.
“Just me not liking to speak like humans do, it’s a nightmare for my throat.” The Taotie answered, chuckling, and sending his answer to both Izuku and Ochako’s mind telepathically.
“What was all that acting?” Ochako asked.
“Oh! Merely this Esteemed Taotie using some jargon and attitude of the common Clan Leaders from back home. I just acted like an Elder asking the Sect Leader why things are messy, I heard plenty of them argue and have official meetings enough times back in the days I learned how to talk like one of those fools.” Shiro answered, smug.
“Well, hopefully they won’t discover the truth until after we get some information out of them, because apparently their Nemesis and my Target are the same thing.” Izuku said, sighing.
“We can do this, we just must believe.” Ochako answered, taking both his hands in hers (pinkie fingers lifted) and looking straight in his eyes while showing a determined smile.
“Yes, you are right.” He answered, returning to smile and giving her a small kiss.
“Good!” she answered, blushing cutely thanks to the little peck he gave her.
CRASH!
“What?” Izuku asked, surprised to hear several chairs fall on the floor.
“Those girls ran away, in a hurry.” Ochako answered.
“Probably another attack they needed to stop.” Shiro said.
“Another? Wow, I am happy things are not this bad back in our world.” Izuku said, sighing.
“Things are pretty insane here, yes. But don’t worry, we will finish this Mission fast and return home, at least there you and I will have some peace and quiet waiting for us.”
“I really can’t wait, Occhan. I really miss home already. I just hope everything is alright while I am away.”
“Eri has both your Parents watching over her in the Restaurant, and she is probably already asleep and will just see you again in the morning thanks to the Time Dilation of your Sponsor. And even then, should anything happen, Blackie is keeping guard. I don’t see anything getting past him!” She answered, chuckling.
“Right! Thank you, Ochako.”
“No problem, Icchan!”
Meanwhile - Izu and Ocha’s Home World – Front of the Restaurant -
Lady Nagant was a woman of tragic past, and even more tragic present, and working for both All for One and the Hero Public Safety Commission whenever one of the two needed some special ‘VIP Target’ gone.
Everything in her life revolved around a dirty, inhuman murder business, and she did that because that was the only life she knew, disillusioned as she was of Life and Heroism in general.
She focused only on the money it gave her, she buried the guilt under the money and the threats to her own life, even if she knew she very likely deserved to die, considering all the blood on her hands.
But now… Now she was watching the closed doors of a simple Restaurant, camping on a far too hot rooftop thanks to her hiding in the small room housing the engines of the air conditioners of the building itself; she needed to wait for the owner and Chef to be back, and either kill or kidnap him.
“Now I am in deep shit.” Nagant said, exiting the small hot room that had become her temporary home to get some fresh air and look at Green Cloud again.
“The Commission wants him alive so he can hand over his little Robot and Dog. And All for One wants him dead for...Who the hell knows what reason. And both can and will kill me if I don’t comply. I guess I will kill him and just bring Robot and Dog to the Commission, if they ask, I’ll tell them I had no choice but to kill him. Seems like a good idea to make both Monsters happy.” She said, activating her Quirk and pointing a gun at the Restaurant as a Test...And meeting the eyes of Blackie thanks to her scope.
“Sorry, doggie. Nothing personal, just business.” She muttered.
Then she blinked, and Blackie was gone.
“Actually, kiddo. This Lord finds all this very personal.” And the Lord Dog was now sitting right next to her, and looking at her in great amusement.
“… Clever, boy.” Nagant muttered while slowly turning to look at the Lord Dog with wide eyes.
BOOOOOOOM!
And barely noticing the exquisite paw gently patting her chest.
Omake – Inter-dimensional Ingredient Hunt -
Delicious Thresher Maw Meat Pie, and the mess that comes with it.
Citadel – Open Bar -
The bar of the super giant space colony was bursting with activity, with only a few of the people present actually showing worry about the looming threat of the Reapers and their army trying to purge the Galaxy as a whole.
“We are making far too little progress, and far too slowly.” The Commander of one of the ships parked in the station’s docks said, sighing.
“Commander. My offer still stands. Curing Genophage will buy us the loyalty of the Krogans. Making them join us for the final battle.” One of the alien members of the crew answered while talking extremely fast, and studying his own fizzy drink with a small drone instead of drinking it.
“Yes, let’s do that!” The Krogan of the group answered, emptying a drink big enough to be considered a bucket, more than a glass.
“We can do that, but then I believe the rest of the Salarians will kind of hate us. In fact, forget the ‘kind of’, they will hate us.” Garrus the Turian answered with a mirthless, self-deprecating chuckle and emptying his third shottie glass in one gulp.
“Is that really what will happen?” Tali the Quarian asked in dread.
“You tell me. Remember how difficult it had been to talk your kind into co-existing with the Geth?” Javik asked, amused.
“… Oooh. Keelah.” Tali muttered under her breath, with her hand clapping loudly against the reinforced glass of her helmet.
“Yes. Keelah. At least the Quarian and the Geth were kind of open to dialogue. Krogans by default aren’t.” Liara the Asari answered, sighing.
“Yeah, we are not great at talking things out, who cares.” Wrex answered, laughing.
“We will find a way.” Shepard answered, exchanging a look with the Asari researcher that returned a small smile on her face.
“Leave the lovey-dovey stuff for after we fixed this, Shepard.” Garrus said, shaking his head, amused.
“I am close to finding a cure. But releasing over the entire planet is still an issue. Any suggestions?” Mordin asked, curious.
“You little things can ask for suggestions now?” Javik asked with a mocking tone.
“Smart doesn’t mean infallible. Different point of view means a widerspectrum of possible solutions. More possible solutions means a possibly faster solution I haven’t thought about. Even if unlikely.” Mordin answered, unfazed.
“Travelling with the Asari and Shepard did you good. You are learning philosophy!” Javik answered, chuckling.
“I won’t deign that with an answer.” The Salarian answered, humming.
“Still, until a cure is found we can’t plan anything. We are just wasting time brainstorming while the Reapers keep moving.” Shepard said, voice full of bitterness.
“We are trying to amass an army of as many ships of every possible race to go to war against a Threat that is, technically, unstoppable. Nothing said this would have been easy, unfortunately.” Liara answered, silently sending a prayer to whoever ‘up there’ was open to listen.
“Is this one of those moments where you Humans call for one of those Miracles?” Javik asked, curious.
“Never was much of a believer myself. But if a Miracle happens, even I would not turn it away.” Sheppard answered, rubbing his eyes.
“LIARA!” A voice called-out in happiness, but as soon as said Asari turned around to see who called her, her eyes grew wide, she jumped to her feet fast enough to topple her chair and she immediately pointed a slick gun at the new arrival.
“ARIASE! Why are you out of the Monastery?!” Liara demanded.
“What is happening?” Shepard, he and the others pulling their weapons out just in case, asked with a tense voice.
Everybody else in the half-empty bar was now standing perfectly still, waiting for the right moment to bolt and avoid a wild shot-out.
“She is an Ardat-Yakshi. I used to know her thirty years ago before she was diagnosed.” Liara answered.
“Please lower your weapons, there is no need to worry.” The Asari Council Representative intervened with a calm voice.
“Councilor.” Shepard answered, signalling the others to lower their guns.
“What is happening?” Liara asked, confused.
“I am free! I am no longer an Ardat-Yakhsi!” The other Asari answered.
“… What?” Tali asked, confused.
“Isn’t that impossible to cure?” Garrus asked.
“It is.” Mordin answered.
“We believed so. Until somebody came to request some of our Asari honey and honey mead while actually walking unhindered inside a Monastery; There were no guards to stop him and managed to get his hands on both objects without incident.
In exchange for both ingredients he decided to cook for the Afflicted in one of the Monasteries as a form of payment… When we finally noticed that blatant hole in the security the Intruder had already left. After the investigation we noticed how the Asari there were slowly returning to normal, we ran several tests and found them cured of their condition. Somehow.” The Asari Councillor answered, and the normal collected tone of her race was marred by complete confusion.
“How?!” Liara demanded.
“That is the problem: we do not know, and we must know. Besides some ‘giddiness’, to use a Human term, there seems to be no other issues with the cure, and even that is only temporary. And That is why I am here.”
“You want us to find this person and have them share the cure?” Shepard said.
“Yes, Commander. Not only this would help us right a wrong that is plaguing our Race as a whole… But if we can cure every Ardat-Yakshi… We will double our efforts against the Reapers. Some of the Asari that have been healed swore to join the fight as well since the stranger was a Human.” The Councillor answered.
“I see. Please give us every detail you have and we will look for them.” Shepard answered.
“Thank you, Commander. Also…”
“Yes?” The Human man asked, noticing the unsure tone of the Councilor.
“Many influential Clans also wish that young man to be brought in front of them for… You would basically call it ‘Marriage Proposal’, since many of the afflicted were the only Heirs of several of them. I do not condone such archaic methods, but… They insisted.”
“Oh. I… I’ll see what I can do, Madame.” Shepard answered, smiling unease.
“Thank you, also, please let’s keep that last thing out of any possible record of this mission. For obvious reasons. Last thing the Galaxy needs is something that makes others think Asari are that promiscuous.”
“Of course.”
“Many thanks, Commander. Come with me, Ariase.”
“Yes. We’ll talk later, Liara. There is so much I want to talk with you about, I missed you.” The other Asari said, before walking away with the Councilor.
“Of course, Ariase.” Liara answered, showing a small smile.
“A Cure for the Ardat-Yakshi. Must study it. What fixes a Metaphysical Illness may help curing Genophage too.” Mordin said.
“You sure?” Garrus asked.
“Miracles work in many ways, yes? A Human researcher that cured that will be useful to look for a cure for Genophage too. New Insight is never wasted.” Mordin answered.
“Worth a shot.” Tali answered, shrugging.
“It is. Let’s return to the Normandy, we will download the information the Councilor sent us and start from there.” Shepard answered.
“Hn! Seems like you humans were not that far off with this Miracle primitive belief.” Javik admitted, shaking his head.
“It surprised me as well. I thought we killed our Gods when we discovered space travel.”
One hour later - Citadel Docks – Normandy Ship – War room -
The group of soldiers were sitting at ready, waiting for whatever scrap of information the Asari were keen to share with them, all in the hope of gaining more help against what they saw as an almost certain case of ‘Losing Battle’, only on a Galactic scale.
“We got the data, Commander.” The Ship’s AI, now sporting a physical body, declared.
“Display them.” Shepard answered.
“Yes.” Screens filled in description and recordings both video and audio, of the interrogations the Asari that actually interacted with that strange Intruder went through when questioned.
“… So. We are looking for a young Human with green hair and green eyes, accompanied by a tall human woman with long black hair.” Garrus said after all of them visioned everything they got.
“Not much, admittedly.” Tali said, sighing.
“Unfortunately for many Asari ‘Humans all look the same’, the only distinguishing feature would be the green hair.” Liara answered.
“Which is in itself not much, dying hair that brightly has only just started not being fashionable anymore, and that means a lot of people still do that.” Shepard added.
“Do we have a name at least?” Garrus said, groaning.
“One of them said the name Izuku. We should check the Human databases to look for any trained personnel with that name. Medicine, Biology, Genetics, Psychology and much more.” Mordin said.
“Got that, EDI?” Shepard said.
“I will start a search and send a request to the Citadel as well, and will cross-reference our findings.” The Normandy’s AI answered.
“Thank you.”
“Call incoming. Geth Consciousness and the Quarian Fleet.”
“The fleet? Why?” Tali asked, nervous.
“Connect both here.” Shepard answered, and immediately the Image of a Robot and a maskless Quarian appeared on the screen.
“FATHER!” Tali shrieked in horror.
“Tali! I need you to come back to Tikkun!” The Quarian elderly male said, smiling far too wide.
“What is happening?! Where is your suit?! Put it on! NOW!” Tali shrieked, very close at a mental breakdown.
“There is no need to worry.” The Geth on the call said.
“HOW?! WHY?! What have you done?!” Tali roared.
“We did nothing, a Human came to run tests on Quarian medical herbs and other ‘Ingredients’, and offered food as a peace offering to several key members of Quarian society. Afterwards, the ones eating have started showing signs of distress and achieved ‘Vomit’, and released a black substance from their mouth that was later tested to contain several harmful substances.” The Robot said.
“… What?” Tali whispered.
“As a show of trust, the two humans have delivered themselves as prisoners for twenty-four hours, human time. After that, the Quarian that ate the food he made ran several tests, and showed an increase in Immune System functionality and effectiveness of 400%. Effectively Fixing The Quarian Race’s innate weak Immune System. We do not have proof if it will work for successive generations as a Hereditary Trait or if it will require new Generations to consume the same cure.” The Geth explained.
“…” The silence was far too thick to be normal, even in the void of space.
“I have been without a suit for three days! Not even an itch in my throat, Tali! Air...Air feels so Strange on my face!” Tali’s father said, looking ready to cry.
“And mother?!” Tali asked.
“Smelling flowers. Finally she achieved her dream.” He answered, with what the others assumed being a Quarian version of a choked hiccup full of emotion.
“COMMANDER!” Both Tali and Mordin yelled as one.
“We’ll make a trip there, who found the cure?” Shepard asked.
“A Human, Commander Shepard. He and his mate go by the name Izuku and Momo, we can share a recording of their staying in the prison cells of the Quarian Fleet and our questioning of them.” The Geth answered.
“That guy helped the Quarians too? Is he a miracle worker?” One of the Human soldiers in the room muttered, impressed.
“Yes, do so.” Shepard answered immediately.
“Of course, Commander.” The Geth answered.
“We asked him to leave some extra Food, Tali! Some for you, and the rest to try to synthesise a cure for the rest of us! We are over eighteen Million, we knew we could not ask him to cook for all of us, but we were assured by him that the Citadel could help us extract a cure from the food he left us, and when we asked him to give us those samples, he accepted!” Tali’s father said.
“I’ll be there! Keep it warm!” Tali answered.
“I will prepare everything at the lab to start synthesising.” Mordin said.
“Whoever that boy is, I don’t think he has a clue about what he has achieved.” Garrus said.
“Or maybe he does, and he knows that with that much gratitude towards him, the Quarians and the Asari will happily throw away their lives against the Reapers if he asks.” Liara answered.
“Gratitude is a very powerful weapon. Very devious of him.” Javik added.
“Joker, set the route.” Shepard ordered.
“Right away, Commander!” The pilot answered.
“Is that boy still there?” Shepard asked.
“Negative, Commander. The Human left ten human days ago for the Krogan Home planet right after being released, he mentioned needing to talk with the Asari for their honey too before departing. But we could not detect ships departing, we are trying to understand what cloaking system they used.” The Geth answered.
“…” Again, everybody was speechless.
“… The Krogan?” Liara muttered.
“...Bwahahahahaha! That little thing wants to fix Genophage too?! He must have the biggest Quads in the fucking Galaxy! Bwahahahaha!” Wrex said with a thunderous laugh.
“Send a message to the Krogan! Tell them that if those two are there then they must keep them on the planet! Any excuse works! But Alive and Safe!” Shepard ordered immediately.
“Yes, Commander.” The Ship’s AI answered.
“Shepard!” Tali said.
“We will pass by your home planet for your cure and the sample they left behind, yes. But you have to be fast, we won’t be able to stop for too long.” He answered.
“THANK YOU!”
24 hours later – Tuchanka -
The Normandy had barely time to land so Shepard and the others jumped down from the ship to meet the Krogans waiting for them.
“Is he here?” The Commander asked.
“Logh-Mat’rek? Yes, he is here. Was hard to talk him into staying, we had to promise him all the Ingredients and the instruments he asked for his cooking, but he said he can’t stay for much longer.” The Krogan in red armour answered.
“The Worthy of Worship?” Wrex asked, confused.
“We saw him kill a Thresher Maw with a pan and a tiny knife and use that beast for cooking food just because he wanted to try its taste, that takes such a big set of quads some of us believed he was a Krogan in disguise, why do you think some of us started calling him that? That worm lasted barely a minute against him, that is a new record.” The Krogan answered.
“Warm air feels so strange! I didn’t know it could be so hot!” Tali was heard saying in wonder while looking around without her mask.
“Focus! Wear your helmet and come here!” Garrus begged, sighing.
“Bring us to him, it’s important.” Shepard asked.
“Why?” The Krogan answered with narrowed eyes.
“Boy may be of help to cure Genophage. We need to compare notes.” Mordin, who was STILL looking through the insane quantity of data he collected from the two food samples left behind to the Asari and Quarian, asked without lifting his eyes from the holographic computer on his arm.
“Shit. If that guy cures Genophage too we’ll have to stop others from trying to add him to their Clan for some easy bragging. Come this way.”
“As if the Asari and Quarian haven’t already considered doing that themselves, many have already given him a name in their Language, and started to add green to their clothes…” Liara muttered, sighing, and eyeing the thin green band now adorning Tali’s uniform around her wrists.
A long walk later -
What the big group found once arrived was a big dome of mud with an opening on the top, and a human dressed in green Chef attire being held by the legs by a chubby white robot that was helping the guy working inside the big round oven, all under the watchful eyes of a tall human girl in her teens.
“Done! Pull me up, Whitey!” Izuku ordered.
“Yes.” The Robot did as asked, pulling the young Chef out of the hole and passing him the lid he then used to seal the oven.
“Perfect! The properties of this place’s clay will add a very interesting earthen note to the dish’ taste!” Izuku said, smiling wide.
“So you finally did it?” Momo asked when he walked to stand next to her.
“Yep! A brand-new dish of my creation! From cooking method to recipe! I missed the feeling of accomplishment from doing that!” He answered, with his proud smile making her chuckle.
“Another mission success, I am glad!” She answered, proud of her man.
“Esan Nogar Shalim! We finally meet!” Tali said with a very strange tone that worried the others.
“Uh?” Shepard muttered.
“Young One that came to save (Us). Basically a very, very religious way to call him a Saviour.” Liara answered, unnerved.
“Oh, no...”
“Hn? May I help y-” Izuku’s question died messily when Tali hugged him super tight.
“Oh! One of those Quarian you helped!” Momo said, dropping her angry expression as soon as she recognized who was hugging her man.
“Good evening. Commander Shepard, nice to meet you.” The man said, presenting his hand.
“Good Evening. Izuku Midoriya, the pleasure is mutual.” Izuku answered, shaking the man’s hand.
“Momo Yaoyorozu, nice to meet you, Shepard-san.” Momo said next.
“… Do you plan to let go of my boyfriend’s arm any time soon?” She then asked, looking angrily at Tali and how she held onto his left arm without a care in the world.
“I am showing gratitude to the person that helped my people.” Tali answered, unfazed.
“Uh-hu.”
“…”
“Javik?” Garrus said, unnerved by how hard the guy was looking at the Chef.
“You…” Javik said, briefly grabbing onto Izuku’s hand and then letting go of it right after as if burned.
“You are a Chosen by the Nameless Things beyond The Void. Why is something like you here?” Javik answered, pointing his gun at the Chef.
“Troublemaker!”
“Calm do-”
Crack! BOOOM!
Unfortunately, Shepard and Garrus were not fast enough to stop Whitey from grabbing Javiks’ gun with one big hand to crumble it to tiny pieces while at the same time punching the Alien hard enough he was sent flying and rolling on the floor.
“Eh! That was a nice punch!” Wrex commented, amused.
“What is happening here?” Shepard demanded.
Sigh! “Let me explain…” Izuku said, sighing.
Some time later -
“… And that’s pretty much it.” Both Izuku and Momo had just finished talking and explaining.
“Inter-dimensional Travel, finally some new details to confirm the possibility of other Realities out there. Very interesting.” Mordin said, recording everything in his personal database.
“Normally I would have called it fantasy, but ever since I joined Shepard I’veseen far too many strange things, by now I am very open minded.” Garrus admitted with a sigh.
“The Nameless Things are a bad Omen, one of them doing this just for food is just the less extreme blasphemy I heard of them.” Javik, half face completely covered in medical gel, said with a lisp.
“And you helped the Asari and Quarian as part of your Mission?” Shepard asked.
“Yes and no. I helped the Asari as part of my Mission, but I helped the Quarian just because… Well… I thought I could help them fix an issue that was plaguing them, and since Healing Cuisine and Utility Dishes have healed worse I thought ‘Why not’. I just thought that since I had the power needed to change things, then it was my duty to help them. I didn’t think it was such a big deal.” Izuku admitted, sighing.
“It is a big deal, and we Quarians are all forever grateful.” Tali answered, scooting a bit closer to him.
“Can you stop that? He is taken!” Momo hissed.
“By four girls! What’s a fifth one then?!” Tali answered, and the rest of Shepard’s crew groaned as one while face-palming.
“Never! Four is enough! I won’t add another!” Momo said, jumping to her feet.
“Either that or me freeing space! It’s your choice, Bosh’tet!”
“HOW DARE YOU! You… You…”
“Prat’ya.” Javik supplied.
“THAT! You Prat’ya!” Momo repeated.
“!!!” Tali gasped in indignation.
“Don’t make things worse, Javik!” Shepard and Garrus yelled in chorus.
“MOMO!” Izuku yelled.
“Tali!” Liara chorused.
“… This isn’t over.” Momo muttered with narrowed eyes.
“Not by a long shot.” Tali answered.
“Ignoring primitive feelings of territoriality. Is the food you are making able to cure Genophage?” Mordin asked, moving to look far too close to Izuku’s face for the young Chef’ comfort.
“… If I answer yes… Will I be in trouble?” Izuku muttered.
“…”
“If the other Salarians find out, yes.” Shepard answered, unnerved.
“But considering that the Krogan will then owe you one just like the Quarian and Asari already do, I really want to see them try to raise shit, the bloodbath will be hilarious!” A Krogan answered, smirking savagely.
“Please no. No bloodshed in my name, please.” Izuku begged.
“No need to worry, we will stop that from happening.” Shepard answered.
“I hope so.” Momo answered, sighing.
“What is the cure? Where is the cure? I need to analyse it.” Mordin asked, looking Izuku straight in the eyes. Unblinking.
“In the oven, almost done cooking.” He answered, unnerved.
“How long?”
“Mordin, relax.” Shepard asked, groaning.
“I can’t!”
“You need to instead.” Liara answered.
“Uuuhm. Fine.” Finally, the Salarian relented, and set to just monitor the oven from outside with his instrumentation.
“Well, I guess that’s the best we can get from him.” Garrus said, sighing.
Some time later -
Finally, the Young Chef re-opened the top of the dome-shaped oven and checked the insides, and happy with the results, he snuffed the fire and started pulling out big clumps of hardened clay.
“Uh?” Many said.
“The clay cover is part of the preparation method I came up with. And inventing new recipes never ceases to make me feel all tingly inside! So exciting!” Izuku said, smiling wide, while carefully putting every block of clay on a stone table.
“There is a layer between the dish and the clay, leaves we got from a forest planet nearby.” Momo explained.
“Hn! The smell is curious.” Shepard said.
“That’s thanks to the Asari Honey Mead and the Quarian herbs I used for both meat and pie crust! Using the right ones to make a dish that both humans and Krogan can eat hasn’t been easy, but I love the finished product!” Izuku answered, carefully smashing open the clay cover and unfolding the browned leaves to show the finished dish.
“Here it is! My Original Recipe: Thresher Maw Clay Meat Pie! Want to try?” Izuku asked after finishing opening every clay bundle and uncovering every meat pie.
“Give!” Mordin’s answer came even faster than usual, and the food was rapidly disassembled and put into several tubes, ground to a paste and fed to half a dozen machines that immediately set out to analyse everything.
“MONSTER!” Izuku yelled in tears.
“It’s okay, he is a scientist first, so of course he is more interested in running tests than eating.” Momo said, hugging the distraught Chef to give him some comfort.
“Just focus on the fact that you will help yet another race,” Tali added, shamelessly adding herself to the hug.
“Piss off!” Momo said.
“You piss off, Yan’ tar!” Tali answered.
“TALI!” Liara said, scandalised.
“And she kisses her mother with that mouth?” Garrus muttered, grimacing.
“I heard drunk Krogan use less foul words.” Shepard said, horrified.
“Yep!” Wrex answered, whistling in awe.
“Food is safe for Krogan and Human consumption. Garrus will need a gastric-protective pill before eating though, some of the herbs used usually give extreme flatulence to Turians. Or even diarrhoea in the worst cases.” Mordin said once finished his tests.
“Eww. Yes, give me one of those, Doc. I want to try this thing, but I prefer my bowels not trying to implode.” Garrus answered, gratefully accepting the pills the scientist handed him.
“Bit of a small morsel.” Wrex said while studying the thing.
“Seemed like a good idea, it makes eating them easier.” Izuku answered.
“EH! Fair enough. So? Is it good for Genophage too?” The Krogan asked.
“…”
“Mordin?” Shepard asked, confused.
“Makes no sense. Results contradict each other and defy the Law of Cause-Effect and the laws of Biology.” Mordin answered.
“But?” Tali said.
“Adding the variations to my study and collecting a sample of Krogan blood and fluids after eating could bring the result we need to synthesise a cure.” He answered.
“So this boy has a cure for Genophage that is actually working and you just need to find a way to mass-produce it?” Liara asked, leaning closer.
“… Yes.” Mordin answered after a long silence, and once given the confirmation, every Krogan in earshot gave a LOUD roar of celebration.
“Then why do you sound so sad?” Shepard asked.
“It’s very embarrassing.” Mordin admitted.
“Come on, out with it. We are all friends here!” Garrus said with a reassuring tone.
“Promise no laughing will happen.”
“Nobody will laugh. Out with it!” Wrex said, annoyed.
“… The Geneticist in me laments that a Chef found a solution before me. My pride hurts.” Mordin finally admitted, closing his eyes.
“…” Nobody talked.
“… Pfffft!” Until a loud snort tore its way out of Liara’s mouth, and everybody else lost their own personal battle and started laughing out loud.
“You are very mean.” Mordin admitted, even if with a smile himself.
“Okay, okay! We had our fun at Mordin’s expense,” Shepard, still chuckling, said.
“Hey!”
“But it’s time we try this young man’s creation. As a thank you for his help towards the Asari, Quarian and Krogan race, we will act as Taste Testers for his new dish, then we will try to find a way to cure the Genophage in a way that won’t make Salarians and Humans enemies.” The Commander then said.
“Yes!” The others answered as one.
“Please help yourself! I made a lot of it since that Thresher Maw was very plump!” Izuku said while handing plates to whoever asked.
“By the way, kid! You are officially part of the Krogan race! If you need something dead, just give a call and we will gladly tear it apart for you!” Wrex said, and many other Krogans gave a roar as well.
“Same for us Quarians! Call me and I will come help you!” Tali added, writing her comm number on his hand.
“Those Asari will do the same?” Garrus asked, sounding far too amused by the thing.
Sigh! “Shut up, Garrus.” Liara answered with a sigh of defeat.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” He answered, laughing at her glare.
“Where did you play to go next?” Shepard asked.
“I did what I came here for, but I heard a lot of cool things about the Citadel while travelling to those various planets, so I would like to visit it before leaving and return to my Restaurant.” Izuku answered.
“It will be a bit hard since you and Momo technically don’t exist, but-”
“The Quarian Councilor and Asari Councilor are open to help if we ask!” Tali reminded him.
“… We will try to see if they can forge some documentation for us then…” Shepard said, rubbing his eyes tiredly.
“Thank you, Commander!” Izuku and Momo said as one.
Sure Tali was yet another case of somebody acting a bit too interested in Izuku, but at least she was a very manageable case!
The Next Day – Citadel – Council Room -
Shepard was still nursing his bandaged arm, and eyeing the heavy restraints around Tali and various former Ardat-Yakshi Asari warily while the Councilors finished reading the report of the short, disastrous visit.
“The atrium is still under repairs after the destruction caused by the assault. It is rare for such a disaster to befall the Citadel without a massive invading army also coming to knock at our doors.” The Human Councilor said.
“It is all the Asari’s fault! They started it!” The Quarian ambassador broke etiquette while starting pointing fingers at the Asari one.
“Our fault?! Your youngsters are far too violent! Look at her! She even resorted to biting, BITING any Asari that came too close to her!” She answered.
“I was running out of bullets, and those thots were not taking No! for an answer! He clearly prefers Quarian girls!” Tali answered, making Shepard groan and wish to be anywhere else but there.
“Bullshit!” The group of Bound Asari yelled as one.
“Everybody knows that all the Galaxy loves the Asarussy!”
“Bullshit!” Various bound Quarian replied.
“That was before we could remove our helmets! Now that everybody knows what a bunch of smoking hot Kiyet we are under our clothes, the time of the Asari is over! We are the new Alien Waifus!” Tali answered with a fanatical tone.
“Goddamnit, Joker…” Shepard cursed under his breath.
“Enough! All of you bring shame to your Race! Councilor Johnson! Stop laughing! You are even worse than Udina, and he was a traitor!” The Asari councillor said.
“Sorry, sorry.”
“Big words coming from the Councillor that tried to have her ugly and spoiled offspring woo our beloved Esan Nogar Shalim…” The Quarian Councilor muttered, unfortunately everybody heard that comment.
“… What did you say?” The Asari said with a low growl.
“You heard me. That plank of wood had neither the curves, nor the attitude or personality to find a mate, and she was still overshooting in courting a male far beyond her reach!”
“You have not just insulted my daughter!”
“Yes I did! And I am tired of pretending that I don't find you Asari’s ‘We are the sexy Race’ attitude annoying and undeserved!”
“Undeserved!? Have you seen us?! What? You want to fight?!”
“Bring it! I’ll show you Thirsty Prat’ya how a real warrior woman fight!”
“And they are bickering again.” The Human councillor muttered with a sigh.
“Unfitting for a Council meeting! You fight in pubs! Not in official meetings!” The Salarian Councilor said, outraged.
“… Me and you. Purgatory. Stun bullets and no biotics. Winner gets that Human, The Green Envoy of Athame, to marry one of our daughters.” The Asari Councilor said with narrowed eyes.
“So be it! Prepare to lose! But I will be generous, I will let him keep your daughter as a pet! I hope she won’t mind wearing a choker and getting only the scraps, if there will be any after my young Yaeli’Jufin finishes having fun with her human husband, of course.” The Quarian Councilor answered.
“You have five minutes. Don’t make me wait.” The Asari replied with a savage growl before marching away.
“This is very unprofessional.” The Salarian Councilor admitted.
“Indeed.” Shepard answered, then gunshots and screams were heard and everybody noticed how Tali and the other assorted Asari and Quarian had all broken free and snuck-out to re-start shooting each other.
“… Aauuuuugh!” Shepard and the other Council members all groaned loudly in response to that as Security rushed outside to stop everything AGAIN.
“Now I see why that poor boy was crying that much while you helped him and his girlfriend escape, I feel like crying myself.” The Human Councilor said.
“Same here. Still no new details about the Terrorist group that cured Genophage?” The Salarian Councilor answered.
“Not yet, Madame. Unfortunately we still can’t track down this Eco-Terrorist group that decided to undo what the Quarians did to free the Krogan. Mordin is as well studying the chemicals they used to try and guess where it had been made.” Shepard answered, using the excuse he, his crew and the Krogan came up with.
“Free the Krogans! Preposterous! They were free We just limited their breeding!” The Councillor said, scoffing.
“Again, we have no clue why this happened.” Shepard said.
“Very well, see to collect your crew members when you leave, this mess is far too widespread for us to arrest them all. Just take care of Miss Tali’s punishment. In the meantime we will also go collect our missing members and deal with their Punishment.” The Human councillor said, already sounding tired of his new job.
“Yes, you are dismissed. And if asked, none of this happened. The Council is not made of bickering younglings.” The Salarian Councilor added, just as tired.
“Of course. Good day.” Shepard answered, turning around and leaving the room fast to go recover his missing, and wildly shooting and cursing by the sound of it, Crew Member.
Sigh! “This is all so annoying. I wonder how he does it.” The Commander said to himself.
By Crying.
Izuku went through with it by crying himself to sleep while wondering why that kind of mess followed him in every Dimension he visited.
Meanwhile The System kept looking for the cause of this, unable to understand what was the source of a problem even the Entity could not resolve.
End of the Chapter!
Thank you all so much for reading! And commenting! And the super awesome Kudos!
I love you all!
By the way, if you are wondering why I am this heavy-handed in the Magical Girl Arc , it is all because of what I believe is a good reason XD
I am an only child, my father has three brothers and my mother has a brother.
They all have children, and as the oldest (of a good ten years), I was literally everybody quasi-free Babysitter.
And those kids watched Magical Girls shows.
Doremi
Sailor Moon
That Mermaid one I can’t remember the name of.
Cardcaptor Sakura (She had the cutest costumes tough)
Corrector Yui
Winx
And so on, so forth.
Well, I could not help but notice how heavily stacked many of them were, and how excessive some costumes were.
I mean, Sailor Moon’s skirt is still DAMN short! Damn girl!
So I just decided to poke shameless, outrageous fun at those tropes!
The skimpiness.
The over-the-top “Evilness” of the Villains.
The Costumes.
The Powers.
The Pet Mascots.
Everything!
I hope you don’t mind! This time there will be a LOOOOOOOT for me to work with! Ha-ah!
Again, thank you for reading, see you next chapter!
I don't know why, but if I add to choose, I would say that Tali is the best girl in Mass Effect!
I love my mysterious Quarian girl!
Chapter 27: The only Sane Guy trapped inside the Asylum! (Magical Girl World Arc, part 2 )
Summary:
Still in a desperate search for any scrap of information on the Golden Dragon Izuku needs to Capture, the young Chef and Ochako stumbled on one of the Sages responsible for the creation of the Magical Girls. Surprisingly enough, she is not what they expected.
Notes:
Second Part of the Magical Girl World Arc, one where I hope my small surprise will be of your liking!
The story is almost over, after Momo’s own Sortie with Izuku, there will be two major events and then the great finale, and before that the battle between Izuku and the last two names on his list of enemies before battling against Samui behind the fires of a kitchen.
I am already preparing the new story that will take the place of this one once this is done.
Chapter Text
Chapter 27: The one sane guy trapped inside the Asylum.
Musutafu – Streets -
“COME HERE!” A Pro Hero yelled, using her powers to turn floor and walls elastic like rubber under her naked feet so to bounce forward at random angles and still gain terrain on her escaping targets.
“We need to split!” The Vigilante Gentle said, already short of breath.
“No!” His Partner, La Brava, answered immediately with wide, scared eyes.
“I am holding you back! If we split, I will keep her occupied while you hide!” The older man answered.
“We can do this together! My Quirk-”
“You have already overused it! Just run!” Gentle answered.
“I WILL CATCH YOU BOTH! You can’t escape!” Elasti-Ka, Aka Kasumi Shirogane the freshly minted Pro Hero and former Ketsubotsu student, yelled in answer.
Those two were her ticket to easy glory! Her first capture as a Pro Hero being the infamous ‘La Brava – Gentle’ Vigilante Duo will definitely make her popularity skyrocket! She had to catch them!
“What if… What if we hide-”
“No! We can’t drag him down with us!” Gentle answered.
“But his Dog will stop her!”
“… You go there, I will hold this woman back!”
“GENTLE!” La Brava yelled in horror as he benefactor, crush and the only reason she did not followed through with her initial suicide plan to escape her life of misery turned around and actually ran towards the Pro Hero trying to catch them.
Meanwhile – Abandoned apartment -
“Wakey-wakey…” A voice said with mocking sweetness as soon as Nagant’s eyes weakly fluttered open of just a fraction.
“Where...Am I…” She muttered with a raspy voice.
“Apartment 31, the only one still barely livable of this entire complex, although not for long since they will soon demolish this place to build a new one.” The same voice answered.
When the woman managed to actually open her eyes fully, she saw the legendary ‘Hero Killer’ Stein sitting in a corner surrounded by a ludicrous amount of knives while his eyes were glued to a very small and battered portable TV.
“You are… Stein…” Nagant said with a groan, but she soon discovered she could not move a muscle.
“Uh-hu, very observant. I found you half-dead in an alleyway, and I had to remove a couple weirdos that were fumbling a bit with your ruined uniform. As soon as I saw them unzip their pants I took offense to that.” Stein answered, uncaringly.
Nagant indeed saw that a couple blades were still in the half-broken sink filled in red water, and decided that she did not feel guilty about whatever those perverts’ fate was.
“Dead?”
“There are fates worse than death.” He answered with a savage smile.
“So you helped me? Why?”
“I have questions,” Stein answered.
“What kind of questions?” Nagant asked, tense.
She didn’t like the fact that she could not move a muscle.
“Don’t try it, I kept using my Quirk on you during your entire stay here, you won’t move a muscle for the next twenty minutes. It helped making sure you would not move too much and re-open your wounds.”
“I guess I should thank you?”
“Don’t bother.”
“Indeed.”
“…”
“… So? Your questions?”
“I am aware of your job for the Commission and the League of Villains. Morons tried recruit me as well.” Stein answered, taking note of more possible targets to teach a lesson to from the News on TV.
“… And?” She asked, eyes narrowed.
“I know that when you, and people like you, move it’s because somebody “important” has a Target they really want to eliminate; your wounds suggest somebody managed to get a drop on you and beat you half to death, who was it? If they were one of those Pretenders I can lend a hand. For free.” Stein said.
“Ah, yes. Yours is a not a job, is a matter of Ideals.” Nagant said with a mocking tone.
“Laugh all you want, woman. I am not doing this while looking for recognition, I only seek results. I only want proper Heroes out there, not Idols or Primadonnas.” He answered, snarling.
“Well, have no fear, I was not about to kill one of your Heroes, this time.” Nagant answered, sighing in annoyance.
“Hn?”
“This time I was called to kill a simple Quirkless Chef.”
“…”
“I know, it is not one of those ‘High Profile Targets’ I am famous for nowadays, but the Commission AND the League were pretty insistent, so I tried to kill the boy before taking his pet dog and robot back to the Commission while putting the guy’s head in a bag to appease the League and their psychotic Leader. I just was not told that dog was that strong.” She finished saying with a groan of shame.
“…”
“Stein?” Nagant asked once the silence of the man grew far too long.
“… Of all people… You want to kill the boy that owns Green Cloud?” Stein finally asked.
“You know him? Do you go to his Rest-”
He was now towering over her with in his hand a far too long knife with a jagged blade probably more useful to painfully tear apart a victim than making clean cuts, as if the man had purposely made the blade that jagged just to inflict as much agony on his victims as possible before they died… And Nagant was unable to move, heavily wounded, weakened and unable to activate her powers.
“That boy is one of the ‘Good Ones’. You and those morons are not touching him.” The Hero Killer said with a hollow voice.
“Oh…” It instantly downed on the woman that she had maybe only a few minutes to talk the psycho mass-murderer looking down at her into not putting a very painful end to her life. Or at least talk him into making it quick and with as little gore and dismemberment as possible.
Meanwhile – With Izuku and Ochako – Other Dimension -
While all those messes happened, in the small flat above the Restaurant Izuku and Ochako were temporarily working in until the young Chef could complete his mission, the only thing going on was the two sleeping peacefully as it was still the dead of night.
Pat pat pat pat…
Soft steps then echoed in the empty apartment as a strange being resembling a malformed cat with a big round head and two tiny beady eyes adorning its expressionless face entered from the window by melting into a liquid form and then returning to normal once inside.
Nobody seemed to notice, as Ochako and Izuku were deeply asleep while hugging each other tightly, too content to bask in each other’s presence to care about anything else.
The System knew what that creature was, and the Entity was aware that they and the thing’s race did share the same kind of curiosity about Mortal Beings and their reaction to various situations and their Emotions, reason why The System often left small ‘Incidents’ happen just to see how its various Hosts would react… But contrary to that furry turd and its race, The System had an actual set of morals too, no matter how much slanted or loose-looking, that is why during Izuku’s sortie with Rumi in the Fantasy world it permitted to that guy to paralyze both instead of keeping the Host’s protection active rendering both immune, The System wanted to see what that guy wanted to do, but as soon as he made it clear he had bad intentions towards both Izuku and Rumi, the Paralysis was removed and the pervert got his just punishment, plus interests.
That thing now walking silently on top of the bed came from a race with zero morals instead, and the Entity was ready to make them all go Extinct if one of them tried anything against the System’s Host.
No Expy. It is literally one of them. Sorry.
“This one is good. Should make a good Sacrifice to avoid the end of the Universe.” The small animal said, with its head leaning to the side.
“Now I need to rip out her soul by pretending to be a cute mascot offering her to be a cute Magical Girl, then put it into an ugly gem that looks like we got it from a bag of chips, and then constantly put her through every possible grief and trauma known all at once with some bullshit excuse about her protecting Innocents so to harvest the power of her emotions and use it as fuel to keep the Universe spinning…. Sure she is a bit too old, since we usually do this with underage girls because ‘Torturing, maiming and traumatizing underage kids is tight (Just look at Made in Abyss, people love that!)’, but I can’t find proper candidates lately, they are already a mess of personal issues on the brink of depression by themselves without me helping breaking their spirit.” The thing said, looking at Ochako’s sleeping face with empty, emotionless eyes.
“I guess she will have to suffer and live like shit for ten or so Candidates at once until I find more, they all keep painfully transforming into monsters after too much trauma is subjected.” The thing said to itself with a monotone voice.
“Do you at least have proofs that your kind is actually helping the Universe not to die, or are you just winging it?” Shiro asked with a bored tone, awakening from his slumber on Izuku’s own pillow to look at the thing with half-lidded eyes.
“… Why something like you is here?” The animal asked.
“My business, you little nothing. You are trying to pull that bullshit on the woman of a God of Cooking Candidate, one that happens to be my Esteemed Persona’s beloved Partner. And I won’t let some fools strut in my turf just like that. Your kind is a useless bunch of cretins that think they know everything while knowing absolutely nothing instead, and contrary to everybody else, I am not merciful enough to let you continue this useless crusade of yours.” He answered, stretching a bit.
“We-”
“This Esteemed Taotie alone is way older than your entire race, and my Partner’s Sponsor is even older than ME. We have been around for a long time! That Thing was around since even before Time started flowing and Matter blinked into existence! I was born as soon as the very first Life felt Greed for the first time… We know how things work as we saw them starting to work.
Everything has a beginning and an End, so even Creation as an expiration date, past that, everything will die and then start anew, in a new cycle. That is how it works because that is built-in in the very blueprint of Existence and this is how it will always work. You little things are just wasting time as not even you can prolong the life expectancy of the Multiverse, and let me tell you, we ‘Old Folks’ have grown tired of people like you trying this over and over at every new Cycle…” Shiro said, walking forward until he stood face-to-face with the thing.
“We-” The thing tried saying again, but billions of voices started to scream inside its head, only to slowly but steadily decrease in number at a high pace.
“That is my Partner’s Sponsor. Many call it ‘The Gourmet System’, one of the Ancient Ones. As we speak they are erasing your race, except you. You will have the honor of being my Midnight Snack and spend the rest of Eternity being endlessly digested alive, with no escape, only the constant, endless feeling of your body melting, of your skin burning and your organs dissolving, over and over and over again. Forever.”
“Why?” The Thing asked.
“Because we are tired of seeing morons getting in their heads that they can subvert how the Universe works because ‘They know better’, and even more importantly… We just don’t like you.” Shiro answered, and with a single gulp, the strange creature was no more, it and its race extinct, gone forever.
“Seriously, The Multiverse has already ended and started anew dozens of times, and this kind of Morons keep popping-up with an always wilder plan to stop the Cycle. Unbelievable.” Shiro muttered to himself while shaking his head, then he just gave a tiny and adorable burp and went back to sleep.
The Next day – Morning -
Both teens woke-up with no issues and unaware of what happened, they just took turns to change and use the bathroom and got ready to meet the so-called Sages behind the four Teams of “Heroes” protecting the city.
“I wonder what those Sages will look like,” Ochako said.
“Hopefully less intense than the girls they recruited.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“Let’s hope so.”
Since it was not a working day for that restaurant, a surprise for somebody with workaholic tendencies like Izuku, the two Travelers used the freedom provided by the place being closed to immediately start looking for any clue about that dragon at the local library.
“Those colorful Pets said that the Dragon has been sealed away long ago, so maybe if we are lucky somebody has recorded the thing somewhere as a legend, or at least some fragmented details about it.” Ochako said.
“Good thinking!” Izuku answered, making her smile proud of herself.
“Sure ‘Legends about dragons’ is a bit generic as a research prompt, but it’s a good starting point.” She also admitted.
Theory proved right when once talked with the helpful old lady and old man behind the library counter both she and Izuku collected a staggering amount of books, far more than they expected.
“… That’s far too many.” The young Chef admitted with a whisper.
“Holy crap.” Ochako echoed, straining her neck to look at the summit of the mountain of books they collected.
“Actually, we lack a few that still have to be brought back by the visitors that took them, sorry for the inconvenience.” The old man curating the library answered with a contrite tone, before leaving the teens to their reading.
“Well, better start looking!” Izuku said, sighing and grabbing the first one.
“Yes, we are on a schedule, you are right.” Ochako answered, grabbing a book herself and sitting next to him to read.
Several hours passed, book after book and legend after legend passing under their eyes, but none of them seemed to match what few tidbits of information they had about Izuku’s required Ingredient.
“Nothing! Just pages after pages about this guy’s Hate Boner for a Pharaoh and his duels against the guy using a blue-eyed dragon! But his was silver-white, not golden!” Izuku finally said in anger once finished checking his latest book.
He also slammed his head on the table to muffle his frustrated scream.
“What about you, Occhan?” He then asked, leaning his head on a side to look at the girl.
“Bleh! Nothing here either, just a legend of a kid forced to steal a golden egg from a dragon for some stupid competition. The only gold mentioned was from the eggs, not the dragon itself.” She answered, leaning her head on the table as well so to meet the Chef’s eyes.
“It was a good idea, though. But we need a way to narrow-down results.” Izuku said, sighing.
“We can do this, we just need to keep trying.” Ochako answered.
“Well said,” He answered kissing her and enjoying the adorable shade of red she turned into.
“Teaser.” She muttered shyly, kissing him back.
Just as they kept exchanging fast kisses and chuckling softly, somebody else neared their table.
“Ah-Hem, sorry to disturb you and interrupt your kissing competition, but you seem troubled, may I help you?” The young man asked, adjusting his glasses.
He was a very average guy in built and wearing round nerdy glasses, and yet he looked so normal compared to the insanity both Izuku and Ochako met ever since they arrived in that world that he still managed to stand-out like a sore thumb.
“Oh! Yes, maybe we were being a bit excessive,” Ochako admitted.
“Our apologies.” Izuku added.
“No! No! Nothing wrong with being in love! It’s actually cute you are so much into each other! Very pure!” The guy answered, turning frantic at being misunderstood and rattling his answer out while wildly flapping his arms in alarm; unfortunately his words had the opposite effect making the two teen’s face turn crimson in embarrassment.
“AH! I MADE THINGS WORSE! SORRY!” The guy yelled.
“SILENCE IN THE LIBRARY!” Soon followed by the Librarians chastising him.
“AH!… S-Sorry!” The Guy whispered, looking ashamed to near-death.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. I am Ochako, and this is my boyfriend Izuku. Nice to meet you.” Ochako answered.
“I am Haruki, nice to meet you.” The young man answered, shaking both Teens’ hands.
“So you say you want to help us?” Izuku asked.
“Well, I noticed how you pretty much sequestered every book on legends here, so I guessed you had some difficult assignment to write, and… Well… I often help my classmates with our homework, so I guess it is a reflex for me to help people study now.” Haruki answered, shy.
“You must be a very good guy.” Ochako answered, smiling.
“I try to be, Ochako-san!” He answered.
“A helping hand would help us immensely, truth be told.” Izuku admitted.
“So it is an assignment?”
“… Yes.” Both answered after exchanging a rapid glance.
“Our teacher wants us to collect data and talk about a legend we find interesting, I suggested one I faintly remember my grandmother told me about…. But I can’t remember a lot about it, so we hoped to find it here in some book, but…” Ochako said, surprising Izuku.
“But you can’t find it,” Haruki said, looking thoughtful at the mountain of books.
“Yes,” Izuku, sending a discreet thumbs-up to his girl, confirmed with a nod.
“What legend are we talking about? This city and the area around it is full of legends about dragons, some way outlandish and others fairly dumb and plain.”
“I don’t remember much, only that it talked about a dragon made of gold that was apparently very Evil and Big. Oh! And apparently it got sealed away somewhere!” Ochako said.
“Uuuhm...That’s not much.” Haruki commented.
“You tell me, we have been going through books for at least three hours.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“I will help you research, another pair of eyes means more books checked in less time!” Haruki said.
“You sure?”
“Of course! One of these books will certainly hold your Legend!… Except that one, whoever wrote that was certainly either tripping under the effects of ‘Magical Herbs’ or straight up trolling.” Haruki answered, before actually taking a book and throwing it aside.
“Uh?” Both Travelers muttered, confused.
“Just the diary of a guy saying that if you collect the testicles of seven dragons then you will be granted the power to have a wish come true, no matter how impossible that wish is, even resurrect the dead.” Haruki answered with a scrunched nose.
“Ugh!” Ochako grunted with a green face.
Driiiiiin!
Before the three could actually start their research, Haruki’s phone buzzed, signaling that he had just received a message.
“Oh! It’s Michiko-chan!” He said once checked, and his eyes gained a very bright spark.
“Isn’t she one of those strange girls?” Izuku asked, making Ochako’s mouth drop in a wide O of surprise.
“Hey! Haruki! I am, like, super tired! Do you mind bring me one of those super awesome smoothies they sell next to our houses? Pleeeease? It’s on the way home! Pretty please? It’s too hot and I don’t want to get out!” The girl’s voice said.
“That your boyfriend?” a male voice was heard very faintly in the background.
“No! My best friend forever! You put your head back down there, I am record a mess-” The recording ended there.
“…” Both Izuku and Ochako were once again at loss of words.
“Please forgive my friend, Michiko is a bit of an air-head, but we are childhood friends, we grew-up together ever since we were in the crib and have been friends since forever. But I must admit that lately I have been developing feelings that I am not sure are just Friendship anymore and…” Haruki explained while looking down, his hands were even closed into tight, shaking fists.
And luckily, his mindless rambling as he poured-out his sad romantic backstory and the fact his eyes were glued to the floor made him miss Izuku’s and Ochako’s shoulders shivering heavily, not because they were touched by the saccharine, romantic story he was telling them, but out of overwhelming Cringe.
“He is the Childhood Friend that falls in love with the girl.” Ochako thought with face twisted into a mask of despair, she knew even MINA and TORU, her two friends obsessed with Romance, would find all that far too cliché to be enjoyable.
“He is in Love with her friend and can’t admit his feelings,” Izuku, suffering as well, thought while gagging a bit.
“He is so infatuated he didn’t even notice, or openly choose to ignore, that the girl is with somebody else already.” Shiro thought.
“I know she has had several boyfriends already, but nobody understands her like I do, but I want her to be happy, even if with somebody else!” Haruki finished saying.
“…”
Izuku, Ochako and Shiro.
“She had multiple boyfriends?” Izuku asked, once recovered enough self-control.
“She is just confused, that one in the message was also a new one, she already switched for another guy.” Haruki answered.
“Already? Does she… Change boyfriend often?” Ochako asked in dread.
“… Now that you mention it… Y-Yes, she does change boyfriend often, like, a different one every day.” The young man answered, gaining a confused expression.
“Are you sure that your friend is not a bit Promiscuous? No offense meant, but, you have to admit she sounds very shallow,” Izuku said.
“She is not shallow!” Haruki bristled.
“Are you sure? Have you ever noticed how often and why she changes boyfriend?” Ochako asked.
“She is just clearly looking for the right guy! And… And I am sure I can be that guy, i-i-if I could just stop getting tongue-tied whenever I try to tell her how I really feel!” Haruki answered, face red.
“… Are you sure that that’s the problem with her?” Ochako asked again.
“Of course! What else could be the reason she switches to other men so easily?!… Unless…” To their surprise, the young man did the ‘Scrubs daydreaming head tilt thing’ and looked slightly upward and to the side while deep in thought.
“Hello?” Ochako muttered, confused by his sudden silence.
“What is he doing?” Izuku added, just as shocked.
Haruki saw Michiko walk past him on the opposite side of the road, holding onto the arm of a tall guy, when a foreigner neared them both.
“Hey! I am a stereotypical foreign guy, and my penis happens to be bigger than your boyfriend’s, want to ditch him just because I am good at sex?”
“Oh! Sure! I don’t know you at all and you are probably just a piece of shit trying to woo a girl already in a relationship just because you think you are an Alpha Male and deserve every girl you want or similar bullshit, but why not! I will of course drop somebody I am supposed to like for proper reasons and just go for another guy only because he gave me a good orgasm!” Michiko answered, latching to the new guy’s arm and walking away.
“Nooo! I am definitely not fighting back because another guy wants to have sex with my girl, how am I supposed to react to this even if we both are equally matched physically and I could just beat the shit out of him?” The dropped ex-boyfriend yelled to the sky.
The same thing happened the next day, with a super fat guy ugly as Sin and smelling like somebody that never washed once in their entire life.
“Hey! Wanna ditch that guy? I’ll treat you like an animal, disrespect you at every opportunity and just use you like an object until I breed you and ditch you. But at least sex will be good!” The guy said, releasing a loud belch so foul in smell the paint of the wall next to him peeled-off by itself in long twirly strips while random birds fell down the ground dead all around him.
“Cool! I like throwing away my dignity and human rights just for sex!”
“Good! Follow me!” The man said, dragging her away from her new boyfriend.
“Nooo! I was betrayed as well! And now I am the one that can’t fight for her even if that guy looks so out of shape a gust of wind could give him a heart attack!” The Foreign guy yelled in despair.
Then the same thing happened to her the day after with a different guy just swooping in and “ Seducing” her, then again the day after, and the day after that and…
“… I wonder how many different STDs a human body like hers can contain before collapsing on itself like a supernova…” The guy said aloud once out of his thinking fit.
“Yeeeeah. We… We will be going then, we have another appointment, have a nice day.” Izuku muttered, and he and Ochako slowly walked away from the weirdo while making sure to never let him out of their sight, until they were far enough to start running.
Far from the Library – Streets of the city -
“Okay, back to square one, the library was of no help,” Ochako said, sighing.
“Let’s hope that those Sages will be more useful.” Izuku added.
“To be fair, me and my colleagues usually consider ourselves very useful.” An old woman with a pure-white cloak and hood fully covering her head and hiding her identity appeared behind them.
“Hello?”
“Ah, please excuse my lack of manners. I am Adelia. One of the four Sages.” The old woman said, showing her face under the hood, she had her gray hair tied into a very austere chignon and wore round glasses with a bone rim, under her cloak she wore plain scholarly robes, a design simple and geared towards actual usefulness.
“…”
“Yes, I am aware that my clothing is not as gaudy as the Magical Girl I champion, unfortunately I am the only one pushing for actual change and professionalism, the other Sages are clinging to traditions, and those traditions are a bit…” Adelia tried saying, grimacing.
“Excessive?” Izuku tried saying.
“I was about to say ‘Please gouge my eyes out’, but your term seems more fitting. Please, follow me.” The old Woman gave a wide wave of her cape and disappeared.
“… To where?” Ochako asked aloud once she left the two of them behind.
“I don’t know, she didn’t say where she wanted to meet.” Izuku answered.
“You were supposed to be transported with me.” Adelia answered, returning and looking at them with a raised eyebrow.
“My Partner’s Sponsor is paranoid.” Shiro explained.
“… Lord Hunger? Ok. Boy, you are definitely a very interesting kid.” Adelia admitted with her eyebrows shooting up in surprise.
“Where are you plan to take us?” Izuku asked.
“To a very nice cafe nearby, we will talk a bit between us before going to the… The…”
“Just say it.” Izuku said, sighing.
“The Cave of friendship and cuddles…” The old woman said with a shudder.
“You really don’t like it, hn?” Ochako said.
“I really, really hate my job, but I am the only one between the Sages that knows how to create and repair the Transformation Jewels. But they never let me decide on the costumes or the jewels design.” She answered, eyes cloudy in tears.
“It’s okay. We understand.” Izuku answered.
“Thank you. Let’s go, I need a coffee. Bitter. I am tired of sweets.” She said, about to repeat the cloak thing but stopping.
“Might I?”
“… Go ahead.” Izuku confirmed, once got the green light by the System.
“Good.” Adelia said, moving her cloak to cover herself and the two teens with a flourish, but instead of covering the group, all of them disappeared in an instant, swallowed by the fluttering cloth.
Opposite side of the city – Bar -
The quaint little bar was a small cozy local with a minimalist décor and furniture, hidden away in a side street away from the bustling streets, the inside was very welcoming and quiet, with jazz music playing softly in the background.
Izuku and Ochako, accompanied by Whitey and Shiro, found themselves sitting with Adelia in an isolated table in a far away corner, next to the old-looking jukebox playing the music.
“I had no idea that a place like this existed here.” Izuku admitted in wonder.
“It does because I fight tooth and nails to stop the owner from joining the insanity of this world,” Adelia answered, chuckling.
“This world?” Ochako asked.
“You and your boyfriend are not the only ones that can travel through worlds.” She answered with a cheeky smirk.
“So you know?” Izuku asked, surprised.
“About you being a God of Cooking candidate? Yes, you Chosen are absurdly rare, but the legends about your skills are well-known to people old enough.” Adelia answered.
“Or strange enough.” Izuku added, smirking.
“That too is a requirement, yes.” The old woman answered, chuckling.
“So you know why we are here?” Ochako asked.
“That escapes me instead, my dear. When those pesky over-achieving furballs came whining about another Squad of Magical Girls getting involved, the other Sages panicked, but I instead grew curious: contrary to them I know every other Squad around, and not a single one of them had members matching your description, so I made some Divination and… Well… My crystal ball exploded like a grenade.” Adelia answered.
“The System is not apologizing.” The Entity answered inside Izuku’s head, making him chuckle.
“When I saw that my Divination failed that spectacularly, no matter what method I used, I smelled something fishy and came to see you to in person, and as you can imagine, discovering that you are a Candidate was a big shock! But it still doesn’t explain why I can’t Divine a thing about you.”
“My Sponsor values my Privacy a bit too intensely.” Izuku admitted, sheepish.
“It doesn’t explain yet how-”
“It’s an Old One, one of the very old ones.” Shiro said, rolling his eyes.
“… That explains it.” Adelia finished saying, with a groan while removing her glasses and rubbing her eyes.
“Sorry.”
“No need to apologize. Those Things have their own way of doing things, it’s not your fault.” Adelia said.
“Thank you for understanding.”
“So? With whom do I have the pleasure to talk to?” Adelia asked once donned her glasses again.
“Izuku Midoriya, God of Cooking Candidate.” Izuku said, shaking her hand.
“Ochako Uraraka, Hero Student.” Uraraka said, shaking the woman’s hand with her pinkie finger lifted to not make her float.
“Adelia Diriclaw, Sage. Honored to meet you.” The old lady said.
“Honored.” Both teens answered.
“So? What brings you here?” Adelia asked.
“I am here because I am supposed to capture a specific Ingredient.” Izuku answered.
“A rare one, I take? Considering you looked pretty distraught about finding it.”
“Pretty much, Madam. One called the Cloud-Eating Golden Dragon.” Ochako answered.
CRACK!
“MADAM!” Both Teens yelled when they saw the old lady’s face impact heavily with the top of the table.
“You want to capture Obscurus the Dragon Demon Lord and use him as an Ingredient… Goddamnit, your Sponsor is the Entity of Taste, The Gourmet System!” The woman said with a whine worthy of a dying animal.
“… How?” Izuku asked with wide eyes.
“Because of all the Old Ones out there, that THING is the only one so outlandishly lacking in fucks to give to treat everything as an Ingredient!” Adelia answered, momentarily losing her austere composure.
“…”
“Cough! Sorry, didn’t mean to slip.” The woman said, clearing her throat and recomposing herself.
“It’s okay.” Izuku conceded.
“She’s not exactly wrong in describing your Sponsor, Icchan.” Ochako whispered.
“Quite a bit, yes.”
“So that monster is your target, this makes things both more complicated and easier.” Adelia said.
“Uh?”
“Easier because if you are here it means that you and your bodyguards are deemed by your Sponsor strong enough to capture him. Harder because those Morons of my colleagues won’t understand and will keep insisting that only their precious Magical Girls can defeat that Dragon.” She answered, sighing.
“Any idea how we can do this?” Izuku asked.
“… I do have a plan… And your being here may be the final piece I need to finalize it.” Adelia answered, unsure.
“Why I am smelling bullshit?” Ochako asked with narrowed eyes.
“Well, there may be the need of us using a bit of underhand tactics.” The old woman answered.
“That’s it? No problem then! As long as nobody dies!” Izuku answered.
“Oh! Absolutely no victims!” She answered, sighing in relief.
“What’s your plan?” Ochako asks.
“My plan is two-fold, and we need both the other Sages and the cult of Edgy Weirdos that is trying to free Obscurus for it to work.”
“… We are listening!” Izuku said after a rapid-fire whispered back and forth between him and Ochako.
“Wonderful! I love working with people with an actual brain inside their heads! Come closer, children! I’ll explain you everything in detail and the we will move through phase 1!” Adelia said in actual glee.
Later that day – Isolated cave between the mountains -
A long mountain chain circled around the city, surrounding the entire place like a protective ring, hidden in one of those mountains stood a wide cave system often visited by bears, but it was nothing a couple of slaps of Whitey could not resolve, making the bears run away scared and wonder what they did to deserve such humiliation.
“Stay close to me, kids and… Try to not gag too loud, those guys are a bit weak Ego-wise.” Adelia said, sighing, and accompanying Izuku and Ochako inside one of the caves and through a maze of stone corridors.
“We’ll try our best.” Ochako promised.
“Yes.” Izuku said, sighing.
“I live with them while you two are just visiting, I got it worse.” Adelia answered.
Finally they reached their destination, a cul-de-sac, the end of a tunnel that was just a smooth wall of stone.
“What now?” Izuku asked.
“Now I say the password and I let you two in to meet the other Sages.” She answered, taking few deep breaths and looking straight at the stone wall.
“In the name of Friendship, Love and everything Pure, let me in to meet the Sages and Guardians of Cuteness and Adorable Fluffiness!” Adelia chanted.
“…”
“No comment.” She warned the two teens between clenched teeth.
The door faded away to show a new cave… A pink one.
Everything was pink! The floor, the walls and the ceiling! The stalactites and stalagmites naturally formed hearts while giant pillars of pure pink crystals adorned the entire place and projected rainbow light everywhere, the floor was covered in a thick carpet of pure-pink moss with tiny purple flower patches and bright yellow mushrooms here and there.
“Wow.” Ochako admitted, her horror going full-circle and becoming awe.
“Very… Cute?” Izuku tried saying.
“Don’t sugar-coat it, my boy. This is a nightmare out of a five years old girl’s head, call it with its name.” Adelia said, sighing.
“Where are the Sages?” Izuku asked.
“They are hiding, they just love to make an entrance, too bad they suck at it.” Adelia answered.
“Hn?!”
“Here they come.”
What horrified both Izuku and Ochako was the pretty-bad Special Effects that heralded the arrival of the other three Sages, it was a spectacle of such bad CGI that by comparison a Ugandan Action Movie would look like a James Cameron production.
Each one of them arrived in the form of a pink cloud of smoke leaving behind a trail of red hearts that first circled Izuku, Ochako and Adelia several times, then the various trails of smoke climbed up to a line of very gaudy, heart-shaped thrones sitting atop of large pink crystal pillars, and once transformed back into people, the three Sages addressed them all.
“Ah! Here we are! It is us! The Sages of Hugs and Kisses!” One of the other Sages, wearing an adult-sized onesie of a pink unicorn, said with a booming voice while pointing at Izuku and Ochako with his walking cane topped by a giant heart-shaped crystal.
“So you are the strangers that came to visit us! Welcome to the Cave of the Sages!” The second Sage, a fat man with thick walrus mustaches and dressed in a princess costume two sizes too small, added.
“Ready to be enlightened by our wisdom?” The third Sage, a Very old woman so thin to look more similar to a mummy, finished saying while wearing her own Magical Girl outfit, hers though clearly as “Ancient” as she was since the constant washing had turned its once bright colors into a bland mishmash of shades of different colors so faded to be barely distinguishable from one another.
“…”
“Don’t look at me like that. I tried to make them look less atrocious numerous times, but after centuries even I had to throw the towel.” Adelia answered angrily to Izuku and Ochako’s horrified looks and silent question.
“Adelia! Who are these people?” The Ancient Woman asked once noticed how Off Izuku and Shiro felt.
“Izuku, Ochako, these are the other Sages: Kala, Augustus and Lorenz. My colleagues and partners in the fight against the Forces of Evil.” Adelia introduced them, and only Izuku and Ochako heard her add a muttered “Unfortunately” to her introduction, making them chuckle.
“And I suppose they are the Outside Squad we have been warned about by the Pets of our Teams.” Augustus said while twirling his walrus mustaches.
“Yes, those guys were talking about them, and since, as always, you three were wasting time in arguing about any and every possible What If scenarios. I decided to take matters in my hands and actually get concrete results, as always.” Adelia answered, rolling her eyes.
“Yes, yes, you take risks, we know.” Lorenz answered, huffing annoyed and twirling his walking cane at high speed.
“Why they are here?” Kala asked.
“I needed their help for a little personal project of mine, nothing serious. UNFORTUNATELY, I know that you three are far too paranoid to just trust my judgment and let us pass by the Sancta Sanctorum to reach my personal quarters.” Adelia answered, rubbing her temples, and Izuku and Ochako felt a wave of sympathy for the poor lady.
“The Sancta Sanctirum is where the Great Heart of Pure Dreams resides! It’s too much of a security risk! Even if you personally are vouching for them!” Augustus answered, outraged.
“I am the actual oldest member here, you three wouldn’t even be here if not for me helping you actually organizing this entire Magical Warriors-”
“MAGICAL GIRLS!” The other three interrupted her.
“Magical girls project.” Adelia finished saying between clenched teeth.
“We are aware of your help in this project, but still, we outvote you three to one, we decided to always decide by voting, and we never ever broke this tradition in the two hundred years we have been doing this!” Kala said, dull eyes drilling a hole in the teens’ eyes, enough Ochako felt a shiver run up her spine at the creepy sight.
“Unfortunately, yes, I am aware of that too. But still, I need passage and to take those two youngsters in my studio, so… As far as I am concerned, we are in a quandary.” Adelia answered, arms crossed and eyes narrowed.
“You are not backing down, and neither are we, so what?” Augustus asked, huffing.
“We will fix this the easy way: The boy will challenge you in dessert making, Augustus. If he wins, you will let us through AND you three will let me add them to the security wards, since I know you three enough to just know you will just activate them “by mistake” and evict them, if only because you are all a bunch of crybabies that hate not having things go your way.” Adelia answered, smirking.
What followed were three indistinguishable voices screeching at a high pitch at the same time in anger and insulting Adelia for her, clearly, accurate accusations; the overall noise reminded to Izuku and Ochako of a bunch of chimpanzees howling and screaming at the same time.
“Give them five minutes, once done throwing their tantrums, they will listen.” Adelia, completely unfazed, took out of one of the pockets of her belt a pocket watch and checked the time.
“Does this happen often?” Izuku asked while the monkey-screaming was still ongoing.
“Every time we have to discuss something, and that means: every time we need to discuss something the three of them want to do and I try to shutdown with the magic of Common Sense.” Adelia answered.
“… Why do you still work with them?” Ochako asked, confused.
“At the time they were the strongest Magic Users and Alchemists I could find. I needed help to counterbalance the overbearing forces of Evil and was desperate enough I had to improvise and get all the help I could get to finally push back Evil.” Adelia explained, sighing.
“Must have been some pretty desperate times,” Izuku said.
“Oh, yes. As you may have seen people here kind of Overreact when faced with overabundant Evil or Good. That because the Heart of Light we have here and the Heart of Darkness that the bad guys are trying to use to free Obscurus are not supposed to be here on this planet, they are supposed to be held in the very center of the Universe, floating in the void, and influence everything and everywhere the same way. With both here instead, this planet is getting overdosed constantly in their radiations while other worlds too far are getting nothing.” Adelia answered.
“Ah, that kind of explains what is happening here.” Ochako answered.
“And fixing that is part of my plan.” The old woman answered, nodding.
Finally, they started to hear panting, and when the three of them looked at the other Sages, they saw the three weirdos doubled over gasping for breath trying to recover from their screaming tantrum.
“So? Are we doing this Challenge?” Adelia asked with a wide smile.
“… Fine! I will kick that boy’s ass. And then we will take care of more pressing matters: we need to add more hearts to the girls’ outfits.” Augustus answered after a couple more deep breaths.
“AGAIN?!” Adelia shrieked in horror, with her eyes looking ready to plop out of her sockets.
“They don’t inspire enough happiness and joy yet.” Kala answered.
“…” Izuku watched Adelia’s mouth open and close a couple times in abject horror, unable to voice her answer properly, or at least with the least amount of profanities possible.
“FINE!” She finally spat with enough vitriol in her tone a nearby pink stone pillar physically gained cracks.
“If you win we will double the hearts on the outfits, how I don’t know since there is no physical space to add more decorations, BUT! If the boy wins, you all will drop that bullcrap and do as I say!”
“Very well! May the kitchen workstations of Friendship appear!” Augustus declared while clapping his hands to summon a workstation equipped for cooking: pink and white, covered in hearts and with a small rainbow shining above it.
“Adelia-san!” Izuku said with eyes full of horror.
“Don’t worry.” Adelia answered, patting his back and summoning with a gesture a workstation made in somber and lacquered dark-brown workstation with simple black equipment, everything was elegant and functional.
“So plain.” Kala said, grimacing.
“Very professional! I like it!” Izuku countered with a beaming smile.
“I will help you.” Ochako said, standing next to him at the table.
“Then I will help Augustus, easy victory.” Kala said.
“Yep! We are the invincible duo! And I will make my perfect secret dish! My prized Doki Doki Lovey-Dovey Strawberry cuddles cake!” Augustus declared haughtily.
“Jesus Christ…” Izuku and Ochako muttered as one with a wince, Adelia just looked at the sky looking for divine pity.
“The cake is objectively good, just with a terrible name and a far too heavy taste.” She admitted.
“Heavy?” Izuku asked immediately.
“All Augustus’s sweets are… Well… Sweet and Heavy, I don’t know how to explain it. They are good, but… Too much.” Adelia explained.
“How will you defeat him then?” Ochako asked.
“…”
“Izu-kun?” She asked with a blushing face once seen the intense way he was looking at her.
“… You are a very good source of inspiration, you know?” Izuku answered with a blinding smile that melted her heart.
“Uh?”
“I will prepare a Matcha Mille Crepe Cake. I hope to not disappoint you, since I got the idea thanks to you.” Izuku answered smiling.
“Matcha… Green Tea… Midori(ya) Ocha(ko)… KYAAAAAAH!” Ochako took only a coupe seconds before understanding what Izuku said, and with a stricken squeal she covered her dark-red blushing face and started floating, held in place only thanks to Whitey’s hand grabbing her ankle.
“Huhuhu! Told you! You are a great source of inspiration, that is why I am dedicating this cake to you. Well, to us!” Izuku explained, his face too faintly tinged red.
“Kyaaaaah! I love you too!” Ochako squealed again.
“Aw, aren’t you two adorable!” Adelia said, chuckling.
“Enough pleasantries! Let our Patisserie challenge begin!” Sage Augustus yelled, making both his walrus mustaches and round belly tremble a lot.
Immediately Ochako’s eyes turned sharp and icy, and she dropped on the floor.
“READY!” She declared, landing next to Izuku with blazing eyes.
“Hero Mode on?” He asked with a loving smile.
“Yes! Let me help you kick his ass!” She answered.
“Of course! I will summon my Ingredients, you pass me what I need when I ask, okay?”
“I am all ears, let’s beat them, Izu-kun!” she answered, nodding.
“AAAAND, GO!” Adelia gave the start, and Immediately Sage Augustus and Sage Kala started cooking with a frenzied pace.
“Come, my little friends!” Augustus called-out with a joyous and booming voice, and many cute little animals barged into the cave carrying on their back ingredients and equipment, like little birds chirping merrily and carrying a basket full of sticks of butter or Does carrying big pans on their backs; every animal had big adorable eyes, even the butterflies, all of them skipping merrily around the laughing Sage in a scene even Snow White would have found a bit excessive.
“I swear, if he starts Disney-singing while cooking I will throw-up…” Adelia muttered, face-palming.
At the other side instead, the shuddering Izuku and Ochako looked more calm while matching them in speed, and without all that flare.
“I’ll take care of the vanilla cream!” Ochako said, following Izuku’s instructions about the quantities of Ingredients used, and whipping the cream and sugar at a steady pace.
“Thank you, Occhan! Me instead, I will prepare the matcha crepes.” Izuku answered.
“Matcha… Our crepes! Hihihihi!” The girl giggled cutely while still whipping the cream, and showing an adorable smile the entire time.
Chuckling in fondness, the young Chef collected the Ingredients from his personal Island Storage, and shaking his head at the not-so-brilliant idea Sage Augustus had at letting Izuku use his own Ingredients following Adelia’s suggestion, but Pride always comes before the fall, or so they say.
“Pearl Milk, King Korn Flour, BB Cornstarch, Emerald Matcha Powder, Star Sugar and Lightning Phoenix’ Eggs… Sure I would like to have better eggs for this, though.” Izuku thought while summoning every Ingredient.
“Done with this Sortie, Host Izuku. The System will soon start Issuing shorter, easier Inter-dimensional Missions to hunt for minor Ingredients, like Minotaur Meat or more Kraken Meat or Cockatrice Meat. If Host wants, in one of those Sorties he will be able to get a chance to capture Yatagarasu Eggs as an Ingredient as well to add to your storage, they are between the absolute best eggs to use for dessert-making.” The System answered.
“Easier and faster Sorties in Other Dimensions… Will they be safer too? Or at least quiet and not as Intense as the ones I had until now?”
“Of course, Host. Those micro-Sorties will be fast and safe. The System assures zero issues during those. Host can almost think of them as leisure strolls, nothing to be worried about.” The System answered.
While mentally talking with his Sponsor, Izuku’s hands never stopped moving, mixing all those Ingredients he collected or unlocked during his tenure as Chef of Green Cloud and God of Cooking Candidate, and started blitzing them by hand until a silky-smooth batter formed, a perfect blend completely devoid of blemishes or clumps.
“Whitey, pass me my ultra fine sieve.” Izuku asked, presenting his empty hand to the robot.
“Yes, Host.” The Chubby robot answered, opening its soft belly to show a bottomless void from which he recovered a sieve he then handed Izuku.
After passing the Batter through the sieve, the young Chef warmed some oil in one of the frying pans given to him by the Sages and wiped off the excess hot oil from it with a cloth.
Siiiiiiiizle!
With rapid and precise movement, a ladle of the filtered batter was poured and twirled around the pan to uniformly coat its bottom.
“Perfectly matte. Time to flip it.” Izuku muttered, pleased, after a short pause.
When he actually flipped the crepe with a flip of his wrist, the thing floated briefly in the air like a disk of fine cloth, perfect and spotless and extremely thin, almost transparent.
“… How in the name of cuddles did you make them so damn thin?!” Augustus asked with bulged-out eyes.
“Talent and lots of experience.” Izuku answered with a cheeky smile, and catching the delicately falling crepe in the pan to cook its other side, then gently deposit it aside once done.
“Good. I got the Ingredients’ timing down, I can speed-up!” Izuku muttered with a nod.
Under the gaze of the shocked Sages, the young Chef channeled his Food Honor at full throttle, eliminating excessive movements and acting on actual instinct more than will, thus accelerating his movements and increasing the rate he prepared the various crepes, piling them one over the other at ridiculous speed, using every single drop of batter to create a small tower of crepes.
What actually scared Augustus was that even if the young man was that insanely fast in making crepes, Izuku still managed to make all of them exactly identical in size and shape, all perfectly circular and identical in circumference, so much that the small tower of crepes looked like a single cylinder instead of a pile of separate layers. Not even a machine could have hoped to manage what the young man did by hand.
“Done! Now I will let them rest and reach room temperature.” Izuku declared, happily.
“…”
“You are going to catch flies with your mouth hanging open like that, Augustus!” Adelia said, laughing.
“SHUT UP!” Augustus shrieked, and returning to focus on the insane quantities of butter and sugar he was adding to his cake.
With Izuku and Ochako -
“Crepes and Vanilla cream are ready, what now?” Ochako asked, curios.
“Now I need to make the Matcha White Chocolate Ganache.” Izuku answered.
“Nice!”
“Good job on the Vanilla cream, by the way. Very well done!” He then added, kissing her cheek in pride.
“Hihihi! Thank you!” She answered, her beaming smile illuminating the room.
“Stop flirting!” Kala shrieked.
“HUSH!” Ochako barked back, silencing her.
“Don’t listen to her, she doesn’t deserve your anger,” Izuku said, rubbing her back.
“I’ll show her the power of True Love! Something she clearly never felt since she is clinging to her days of youth now that she is probably 8000 years old!” Ochako answered, making Kala howl in anger.
“So mean!” Izuku answered, chuckling and kissing her cheek.
The Hero student chuckled a bit and then passed him some matcha powder for him to sieve over some white chocolate in a bowl.
“Pass me the saucepan, please.” Izuku asked.
“Okay!”
“… What’s he doing?” Kala whispered.
“He is making a ganache.” Augustus answered.
“Ooh!… The hell is that?”
“How do you not know what a ganache is?! Why you offered to help me if you don’t even know the basics?!”
“SHUT UP!”
With Izuku and Ochako -
“They are arguing,” Izuku muttered, humming.
“Quite violently too,” Ochako answered, unfazed and moving her head aside just enough for one of Augustus’ pans to fly past her head and clatter against the wall.
“Oh well, my fault for expecting proper cooking etiquette from somebody that keeps adding butter and sugar in industrial quantities to his dish.” The young Chef answered, shaking his head in sadness while finishing heating the cream in a small saucepan, with the tiny swirls of steam adding a more mysterious flare to his cooking.
“He is overdoing?” Ochako asked.
“It’s a small difference, but he is using too much butter. My guess is that he likes his strawberry pie to have a more buttery undertone in taste. As for the sugar… I think the glace will be far too sweet, but more than incompetence, all this is a matter of his own personal taste influencing his cooking.” Izuku explained.
“UGH! I once ate one of those cheap chocolate bars from oversea… I swear that for a second I wondered if I had bitten on an actual stick of butter by mistake.” Ochako answered, grimacing.
“Augustus has a very pronounced sweet tooth, unfortunately if he’s is not careful, he makes desserts following his tastes, not trying to make it following the taste of others.” Adelia admitted, nearing their workstation to check how things were going.
“It’s a common mistake, one even professionals do. I did that a couple times too! More spicy, more salt, less sugar, chocolate more bitter than what the dish suggest, using brandy instead of scotch and so on. Often we forget that when cooking, we are not just making food for ourselves, but for others too.” Izuku said, sighing.
“Is that why you have me and Himiko ask if the customers have any preference when it comes to the dish they ask for?” Ochako asked.
“Precisely. Curry rice might taste delicious when extra spicy to me, but a customer might prefer theirs more on the mild and aromatic side, and I believe it’s a mark of the Chef’s caring about their customers to ask that. Or at least warn them about certain details if tailoring the dish to their specific taste is not possible.” He answered.
“Good way to see things. How far did you go in preparation?” Adelia answered.
“The chocolate is fully molten and I mixed it well with the cream until smooth, now I need to set this aside for a bit and I will be able to build my cake.” Izuku answered, adding milk to the molten chocolate and stirring it until it became a shiny and smooth cream.
“Augustus instead is panicking, since arguing with Kala made him waste precious time, but he should be done soon.” Adelia muttered, humming.
“He has good techniques though, it’s just that his attitude and short fuse don’t really help.” Izuku answered.
“Ego and Pride had always been his weakness. Take a breath and then assemble your cake, I will look for a couple unsuspecting taste testers in the city too, just in case.”
“Thank you.” Ochako answered, and the two watched their friend disappear without too much fanfare, she merely faded away in complete silence.
A short time later -
“Uhhm. Everything is ready, the Ingredients too feel ready for the show, it’s time to assemble the dessert,” Izuku had been silently watching both Augustus cooking and the various ingredients her prepared resting, then he suddenly he nodded with a pleased smile.
“The Ingredients told you?” Ochako asked.
“Yep!”
“… Do they actually talk?”
“Huhuhu! It’s more of a feeling thing. I feel their emotions, and they make me understand by feeling alone what they want or wish for, it’s not proper dialogue. You can call it a sixth sense thing.”
“Still sounds cool!” She answered with a thumbs-up.
“Thank you!”
“About your dessert, how does the assembly work?” Ochako asked.
“Pretty simple! I will lay one crepe on the plate and spread a thin layer of matcha cream over the crepe and top with another layer of crepe, every five crepes I will spread a thin layer of cream over the top crepe, then other five crepes and then cream, over and over until I use every crepe.” Izuku explained while his hands moved at ludicrous speed to assemble the various layers of crepes and cream, every once in a while he would also add sliced strawberries on top of the cream, cover those slices in cream and restart using the crepes to build a new crepes layer.
Once used every single crepes, he topped the cake with the cooled chocolate ganache, and used a bit of cheating by summoning the Myriad Manifestation Mallet from the tattoo on his arm and use its ice powers to flash-cool the pie, turning the act of cooling the cake into the freezer for an hour into an instantaneous cooling that didn’t ruin the dish’ final result at all.
“God, I love magical equipment…” Izuku muttered, chuckling, and dusting the entire cake with matcha powder until the entire cake was completely and perfectly covered.
“Done! My Matcha Mille Crepe Cake is ready!” Izuku declared, proudly.
(
Like this, only more precise. “Anime Perfect” so to speak.
)
“Holy shit…” Lorenz muttered in awe.
“I CAN STILL WIN!” Augustus shrieked with a red face.
“Unlikely.” Lorenz and Adelia muttered.
“I will win instead! Nothing can beat my perfect strawberry shortcake!” The Sage said, showing his own creation.
“You know? I am starting to get tired of the color pink,” Ochako admitted with a grimace.
“It was made with great skills…” Izuku said, unsure.
“But?”
“I am afraid about the taste, I hope I am wrong.” Izuku admitted, frowning.
“Hn?” Ochako muttered, confused.
“Very well! We will taste half of them between us while the other half will be split in five parts and given to five random people I picked from the street, the cake that takes more votes win.” Adelia said, and showing to the others through a mirror portal how five random people were now sitting at a small table waiting to taste the finished cakes.
“And how can we-”
“I swear I didn’t tell them who to vote for, but to freely choose which one between the two cakes they will try which one is the best, and just to show I won’t cheat, I also took an Oath of Truth, Augustus.” Adelia said, shocking the other Sages.
“A what?” izuku asked.
“A magic Oath. I swore to tell the truth and vote fairly, otherwise I will lose my Magic and Life.” Adelia answered, unperturbed.
“NO!” Both teens said, horrified.
“I trust yous skills, Izuku. As a Candidate and as a good person, I may be unable to really see your Heart thanks to your Sponsor blocking my powers, but my Instinct still work, and that has served me well even better than Magic in learning how to recognize good people.” The old lady answered with a kind smile.
“Adelia-san…” Izuku muttered, touched.
“F-F-Fine! I-I will take the Oath too!” Augustus, already sweating by the buckets, answered while lifting a very gaudy wand in the air and surrounding himself in a blinding magical light.
“If… If we have to…” Kala and Lorenz did the same, very reluctantly, and they too took the oath of truth.
“Wow.” Ochako muttered, unsure.
“Yep…”
“I say we start with Izuku’s cake first, as the Challenger.” Adelia said.
“I don’t think it is a good idea…” Izuku said, grimacing, again filling Ochako’s head in questions.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Challengers go first.” Augustus said with a nod.
The Matcha cake was then split in half, making the onlookers marvel at the insanely-precise straight lines created by the various layers, half was then divided between the four Sages and Izuku and Ochako, while the other half was sent to the five people Adelia choose with the excuse of them trying the products of a new bakery about to open.
“Let’s see what he made.” Lorenz said, looking at the cake in dread.
“It’s the first time I am eating a cake not made by Augustus, he is usually the one taking care of baking here.” Kala added.
“Because he doesn’t want other sweets in here besides the one he makes,” Adelia answered.
“Yes? What about it?!” The man said, frowning.
“Exactly, some novelty never kills, that’s why I usually sneak out to eat sweets from other stores.” Adelia answered, smirking.
“BETRAYAL!”
“Ho! Just shut-up and try this!” She answered, taking a big bite from her slice and developing a blissful expression.
“Oh! So fluffy! I love the slight bitter undertone!” Ochako admitted, eating her portion with a wide smile.
“It’s the Matcha Tea powder. It is sweet, but keeps a small bitter undertone that counterbalances it.”
“Sweets have to be sweet…” Augustus said, defiantly.
“Not like yours, though!” Lorenz admitted.
“HN?!”
“Yours are too sweet! Too much sugar! Too much butter! I can hardly taste anything else in yours! At least here I can taste the cream, the fruits and the powdered tea! It reminds me that there are more tastes other than “SUGAR” in a sweet!” Lorenz spat in answer.
“TRAITOR!”
“Oh Dear! This goes so well with tea!” Kala admitted while taking a bite of her slice and drinking some tea right after.
“YOU TOO?!”
“It doesn’t glaze your mouth and throat, right?” Adelia said, pleased.
“Yes!”
“What do you mean?!” Augustus asked with a roar.
“That your cakes make me feel like there is a layer of butter coating my throat at every bite, as if there is a coating of glaze occluding my windpipe.” Adelia explained, finishing her portion with great gusto.
“Lies!”
“Oath of Truth.”
“GODDAMNIT!”
“Aah! So that’s what it is! I thought I was the only one!” Lorenz admitted in relief.
“Me too!” Kala added, nodding along.
“YOU BASTARDS!”
“And that is why always telling the absolute truth is bad,” Ochako said with a sigh.
“Yep, lots of hidden closet skeletons popping out to say Hi.” Izuku answered, shaking his head.
“So all of us are unanimous that this was good?” Adelia asked.
“Yes.” Lorenz and Kala answered promptly, as if the very Oath wasn’t even necessary.
“I didn’t like it! It wasn’t sweet enough.” Augustus answered.
“Besides being one of the Challengers, so unable to actually vote, let’s be honest, we know how you make sweets, so your opinion is invalid.” Lorenz answered, huffing.
“I hate you.” Augustus answered with a tone of pure vitriol.
“The Taste Testers I choose in the city agree too, they like it.” Adelia added, and they all could see the people that tried the matcha cake ask when the bakery will open so to buy more.
“It means nothing! Once they taste a proper cake like mine, they will declare me the victor!” Augustus declared, face red and walrus mustaches trembling heavily at each word.
“Let’s try it then! I am curious at the taste,” Izuku said with an encouraging smile, and yet Ochako could sense the nervousness in his tone even if he was hiding it perfectly.
“Izuku?” She muttered, unsure.
“Sorry, Occhan.” Izuku answered.
Once again the cake was divided in half, one for them and the other for the five people in the city, each half then cut in slices.
“Here we go… An Augustus cake… Again…” Lorenz muttered, bracing himself for the taste.
Chomp!
There was a long minute of silence, then five faces slowly morphed into a small frown while a shiver was visibly crawling up their back, while Augustus himself developed an expression of bliss.
Everything about the strawberry cake was perfect, the density and fluffiness of the cream and the pink frosting, the softness of the cake base and layers and even the freshness of the cut strawberries used, everything was very good… Except the taste.
Too much Butter.
Too much Sugar.
It was a clear difference, but tasting it after Izuku’s Matcha cake and its more soft sweetness, the contrast and presence of the extra butter and sugar became even more evident, heavily so.
“… Hn!… The butter it’s coating my throat.” Ochako gurgled, massaging her throat while eating.
“Told you.” Adelia answered, drinking some water to push down the bite.
“You people have no taste, this one is the perfect cake.” Augustus answered, eating happily.
“And you eat this everyday?” Izuku asked, taking a tentative breath with his mouth instead of nose and going wide-eyed at the feeling of glazed throat all that butter gave him.
“Unfortunately yes.” Lorenz answered, powering through eating his entire portion with the ease of unwanted experience.
“And how did you… You know…” Ochako said.
“Avoid getting Diabetes or heart attacks?” Kala answered, panting a bit after finishing her portion.
“Yes.”
“Magic.” She, Lorenz and Adelia answered as one.
“Mister Augustus, why you use so much butter and sugar? The cake was amazing, so you have a great talent, so… Why?” Izuku asked, confused.
“Uh? What do you mean? It tastes perfectly fine to me, I really can’t understand why you all are making such strange faces.” Augustus admitted, confused.
“It tastes normal to you?” He asked.
“Yes, I had to modify the original recipe because it uses far too little sugar, enough to taste like cardboard.”
“Like cardboard?”
“Exactly, almost tasteless.”
“Almost tasteless… You remind me of one of the girls I met in cooking school (As Zaus)… Do you suffer from Dysgeusia, perhaps?” Izuku asked.
“Hn? Dys-what?”
“A disorder that distorts your sense of taste. Besides being tasteless, does food sometimes taste bitter too to you? Or metallic?” He asked.
“Not always? Everything the others make usually tastes too bland to me, that’s why I pretend to be the one to make cakes, at least sweets I want to taste properly instead of faint plastic-like.” He answered.
“…” Izuku face-palmed and shook his head.
“found the issue?” Ochako asked.
“Yes.” he answered, sighing.
“What is that… Oh, oh damn… Augustus, why you never told us?” Lorenz asked, slowly, once checked a bit what Izuku was talking about on his phone’s internet app.
“Because you always get whiny when I insult your cooking. So after a while I stopped bothering.” He answered, shrugging.
“That explains far too much.” Adelia said with a sigh after she too made a fast research online.
“Hn? What do you mean? You are scaring me, you know?” Augustus asked with a pale face and a trembling voice.
“Come with me, you fool. I’ll give a look at that and prepare a potion to finally fix it, it’s obvious that wide-scale healing spells don’t work on that problem of yours, it probably needs a specific cure.” Lorenz said, shaking his head and taking the guy away.
“I am not going to die, am I? I smoke a lot, is that gonna be a problem?” Augustus asked with a small voice.
“It’s just a minor condition of your sense of taste, nothing lethal. Let me give a look at it and I will fix it in a couple days at worst.” The other answered.
“Thank you, Lorenz.” The Sage said with a low voice, the two then disappeared into swirling plumes of pink smoke that flew through a door nearby leading deeper inside the cave.
“Okay, maybe the Oath of Truth did more than just assure fairness. And judging by the grimace of those people in there, they too find the cake too sweet and buttery. I dare say this is a win for young Izuku.” Kala said, sighing.
“I did not expect to win like this, to be honest.” Izuku said, sighing.
“It’s okay. A loss is a loss. You take these two to your study, Adelia. I will take care of adding them to the wards, just do not let them wander off.” Kala answered.
“Thank you. Follow me, kids. This way.” Adelia answered, signaling Izuku and Ochako to follow her.
Adelia’s Quarters -
A short walk later, Izuku and Ochako reached the small area Adelia used as her own living quarters, a small bedroom and a sizable laboratory full in bubbling cauldrons and every wall covered by giant bookcases.
“So, have you seen the Heart of Light?” Adelia asked.
“You mean the giant translucent diamond cut like a heart spinning on itself and shining in pure white light? Yes, We saw that.” Ochako answered, grimacing.
“That feeling of discomfort you felt was the Heart trying to forcibly turn you into pure Good, throwing the Balance of your soul to shambles...Basically what is happening in this world.” She explained.
“That feel too sweet, on a spiritual level.” Ochako admitted, shivering.
“Didn’t feel a thing.” Izuku admitted, unsure.
“Host, The System doesn’t appreciate minor playthings interfering with the System’s Host path towards Ascension to God of Cooking.” The System answered.
“… Your Sponsor?” Adelia asked.
“Yes, they stop that thing’s influence.”
“Of course it does.” The old woman said, sighing.
“What is your plan?” Ochako said.
“The followers of Obscurus need the Negative Energy a Human Heart can produce, once collected enough of it, the will use it to quite literally blast a hole in the seal keeping Obscurus trapped and sleeping. I plan to use the Light Heart to forcibly summon the Dark Heart next to it, since they are two sides of the same coin. If I do that, the seal holding Obscurus will also break, since that Dragon is feeding on the Dark Heart to get stronger. Once summoned both Hearts I need you to defeat that dragon and tear the Dark Heart from its clutches, so that I can return both Hearts to their rightful place. Hopefully this will return this world to some normalcy.” Adelia answered.
“Seems straightforward enough. But what about the guys Worshiping Obscurus?” Ochako asked.
“Those will be dealt by the Magical Girls that while looking… Like that. Still are equipped with the right power to hod them back long enough for us to banish the Hearts. If we pull this off, both them and the Magical Girls will lose their powers since they come from the Hearts.” Adelia answered.
“Is that why those girls look that ridiculous?” Izuku asked.
“That and, well, you saw my colleagues.” She answered with a groan.
“… Yeeeah. We saw them.” Both answered.
“Precisely. It will be a big messy battle, but it’s that sort of chaos we three need to fix things, because theings here are getting worse by the day and soon even I will start being corrupted by the Light Heart. And I really don’t want that.” Adelia said.
“We will help you, this is not just about my Mission, but the sake of this world.” Izuku answered.
“Yes! Those things are making everybody going insane, this can’t continue.” Ochako added.
“Thank you, Izuku, Ochako. Come, let’s organize the great finale that will finally save the world!” Adelia said.
Meanwhile – Izuku and Ochako’s home Universe – Nezu’s Office in UA -
The small chimera was perusing the giant stack of notes Power Loader wrote down for him, Himiko was sitting at the opposite side of his desk with her shaking hands held gently by Momo.
“Quite interesting. Are you sure this is the general area of those labs?” Nezu finally asked.
“My memories are still fuzzy from all they did to me, but I do have small flashes and fragments. I went there with Detective Tsukauchi and I could recognize a couple details, like flower vendors or graffiti at the walls; those are all minor labs, but they should be in the general area they circled.” Himiko answered with a small voice.
“So nothing major like the main Nomu Production labs?” Nezu asked.
“I don’t think so, Kurogiri was too paranoid to let anybody in those places, but I did bring few blood samples myself in the time period Kurogiri was recovering from Blackie’s… well… He calls them caresses.”
“I am well aware that that guard dog of your friend has a very askew sense of power scaling, still, I guess we can thank their thinking your being a drug addict would have made you forget where you went for this.”
“I did forget almost everything, if I could recall anything worthwhile it was through those meditation sessions Hound Dog had me do to help me fight my anxiety attacks, along my keeping a dream diary, as he suspected most of the times those are not dreams but fragments of memories.” Himiko answered, shuddering.
“Sssh, it’s okay.” Momo answered, and giving her hands a reassuring squeeze.
“I wouldn’t feel too bad if I were you, while they are minor details, your help gave me quite a bit of insight on how dear ‘All for One Moron’ thinks like.” Nezu answered, pleased to see Himiko give a shy smile at his nickname for the Villain.
“So she is helping?” Momo asked.
“Just a bit, but as I said, those tiny details helped me refine my view of the chessboard, so to speak. The more I get the less I feel like playing chess while blindfolded with our long-living Menace.” The Chimera answered, humming.
“The pub location?” Himiko asked.
“We are organizing a small visit, nothing major, just a small care package,” Nezu answered, easily withholding the precise number of demolition charges that will be hidden inside the colorful box.
“Can I call you if I manage to recover more memories?” Himiko muttered.
“I would be very happy if you do, Young Toga. For now, though, you and Miss Yaoyorozu should go, youngsters like you shouldn’t skip on sleep.” Nezu answered, returning to read the stack of notes.
“Yes. Goodnight, Mister Nezu.” Momo answered, bowing.
“Goodnight.” Himiko said, copying Momo and following her out of the office.
“Ready to go?” Cementoss said as soon as the two girls exited.
“Uh-hu, let’s go.” Himiko answered, nodding and following the Pro Hero back to her cell/bedroom.
“Himiko!” Momo called out.
“Yes?”
“Thank you,” She said.
Himiko answered to those heartfelt words with a wide, happy smile, glad she could help her new friend once again.
She was starting to feel like maybe this time she did manage to find her Family, thanks to Izuku and Momo and their friends, and if that was the case, Himiko felt that she was ready to do anything to help them.
Omake -
Dimensional Ingredient Hunt -
A chef Versus and Entire city!
Inkopolis -
There was a huge, city-wide party ongoing with several styles of music overlapping and every single citizen dancing and laughing in the streets to celebrate yet another catastrophe being averted, his time at the paws of an evil giant bear and its fuzzy goop.
“I can’t BELIEVE we stopped another Doomsday!” Callie said, sighing.
“This is the third time, only this time on a worldwide scale.” Marie answered, sighing.
“Only this time it was not Octavio the perpetrator.” Capt. Cuttlefish corrected her, chuckling.
“WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!” A purple octopus shrieked in rage.
“Oh! There you are! You are back!” Cuttlefish said, chuckling.
“I just finished de-fuzzing my people and was coming here to TRY testing this Peace of yours, and you already start pointing tentacles!” The Super DJ said with a growl.
“I WASN’T!” Cuttlefish yelled back.
“CHILDREN! BEHAVE!” Pearl chided them.
“WE ARE NOT CHILDREN!” Both old men yelled.
“Then please stop acting as if you were.” Marina asked, rolling her eyes.
“The fact remains that we all had to work together to stop that bear, that means that we CAN live in peace.” Frye said.
“Yeeeep!” Shiver added, nodding.
“Yeah!” And Big Man echoed with a wide smile.
“… Okay.” Both Cuttlefish and Octavio answered, begrudgingly shaking hands.
“Come on! There is a party ongoing! We are finally out of danger! Let’s go party! I wanna sing all night!” Callie said.
“Why not! Let’s-”
“DANGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER! WE ARE DOOOOOOOOMEEEEEEEEED!” A random Inkling girl came running through the streets.
“… WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME!? I DID NOTHING, I SWEAR!” Octavio said with a shriek once everybody looked at him.
“What is happening?” Marie asked once forcefully stopped the running girl.
“Humans! Two humans popped-up and started attacking Restaurants!”
“… What?” Marina asked with a small voice.
“More details, now!” Pearl demanded.
“A human suddenly appeared in Squid Town and started attacking restaurants, he challenged ALL OF THEM, he defeated all of them, took their Chefs’ best knives and their best recipe and moved to the next city, then the next city and the next one and the next one! Now he is coming here!.”
“Attack as in…” Cuttlefish asked, tense.
“As in a cooking challenge! And now he is coming here to Inkopolis!”
“AND YOU WERE SCREAMING LIKE A LUNATIC JUST FOR THAT?!” Octavio roared.
“It’s a human! We are the dominant species now! We can’t let him defeat us in anything! Even just food.” She answered.
“… Go splat yourself, girl.”
“Pearl!” Marina said, scandalized.
“She almost gave me a heart attack! Just for a cooking challenge!”
“Well, his female companion did say that he is winning far too easily.” The Inkling girl said with a small voice.
“… Too easy?” Cuttlefish asked, slowly, while Octavio’s eye went overcome by an angry tick.
“Yeah, rumors has it she said it as if our cooking was a joke!”
“...Oh she didn’t! It’s so on!” Callie said.
“Callie!” Marie said, shocked.
“It’s a matter of Inkling and Octoling and everybody else’s honor! It’s like a Splatfest only… Only in cooking!” Callie said.
“Fair enough.”
“If he wants a Challenge, he will find us ready!” Cuttlefish said, shaking his walking cane in righteous fury.
“… What?” Octavio asked.
“We might need music. You on? As your first act as friend of Inkopolis?”
“FINE! But we’ll do it MY way!” Octavio answered.
“Good enough for us!” The others answered as one.
The Next day -
The bus deposited Izuku and Rumi right at the entrance of Inkopolis, the place was strangely silent and empty as they started walking through the streets, with every restaurant closed with a sign detailing how every Chef available was in the main square.
“… Some kind of cooking festival?” Izuku asked.
“Don’t really know, I just hope the ones here will put up more of a challenge.” Rumi said, huffing annoyed.
“I am sure they didn’t mean to act that racist against humans. They did explain that technically here humans went extinct a long time ago, they are justified in being surprised at seeing two.” He answered.
“It sounded racist to me!” She answered, pouting.
“It’s okay, Rumi, it’s okay.” He answered, rubbing her back.
“Okay,” She answered, asking for a kiss to the cheek and smiling when he gave her one.
“Even then, SHOULD they have problems with humans, Whitey and Shiro will help us fend them off,” Izuku said.
“They will regret it all if they try any bullshit.” Rumi answered.
When they reached the main square, music started blaring all around them as everybody rushed out of their hiding spots inside colorful splashes of ink of every possible color, then they all took position: the Chefs and their staffs at their workstations and everybody else all around the main square to act as audience.
THEN a massive robot with three arms floated down from the sky, shaped like a samurai helmet and with behind it a collection of giant screens and hilariously-big speakers and sub-woofers, each arm held in its hand a giant plate-shaped platform with a full set of equipment for Callie and Marie, Pearl and Marina and Frye, Shiver and Big Mac to sing and perform on.
“Okay, now that is a fucking entrance!” Rumi commented with an expression of excitement.
“YOU WANT TO CHALLENGE INKOPOLIS’ CHEFS?!” Octavio’s voice boomed from the giant speakers.
“Yes?” Izuku answered, unsure.
“THEN BE READY TO CHALLENGE THE ENTIRE CITY IN ONE GO! AND ON THE NOTES OF OUR HEAVENLY MELODY, YOU. WILL. LOSE!” The DJ answered.
“BRING IT!” Rumi yelled back with an excited smile.
“This is different, but okay! I accept! I will challenge them all, all at once! We all will prepare our best dish, and the audience will taste and decide who wins by voting!” Izuku answered, tying a green bandanna on his head.
“VERY WELL, WE ACCEPT! HIT IT, GIRLS!” Octavio yelled at the mic, and as he started playing and remixing, the Chefs started cooking.
Immediately music started blaring from the flying robot’s audio system, and from the audience, giant drums, electric guitars, sitars, metal drums and dozens of other instruments started playing along, with hundreds of voices perfectly in sync to add the chorus to the song.
Octavio himself was once again establishing himself as THE Greatest fucking DJ to ever live by mixing in perfect harmony all those hundreds of voices voices, dozens of instruments, Callie and Marie’s singing style, Pearl and Marina’s Singing Style and Friye and Co.’s own together with his own Woobs and vocalizations, while at the same time moving the robot arms to follow the three group’s specifics, flying the robot around, controlling the smoke, foam and laser machine and even the fireworks going off in time with the song.
All alone by himself.
Seriously, if there will ever be a ‘God of DJ’ position open, Octavio had it in the bag.
“HOLY SHIT!” Rumi yelled with wide eyes.
“Focus, please!” Izuku, looking unfazed instead, immediately threw himself fully into cooking, shocking the locals by matching the pace of all those Chefs and their staff.
With Cuttlefish -
“The boy can’t do it, there are over two hundred Chefs present here today, all of them with at least ten people helping them while he is working alone.” Captain Cuttlefish said, humming.
“Serves him well for challenging us!” One of the Chefs said, laughing.
“RUMI! THE FIRST DISH IS READY!”
“OKAY!”
“GUH?!” Both old men gurgled with wide eyes.
“HE MADE THE SUSHI ALREADY?! HOW!?” The Chef yelled in hysteria.
“We can’t keep up!” Another Chef nearby cried in horror.
“Then work faster! You have ten workers! USE THEM!”
“I am trying! But we filet one fish in the time he takes to filet twenty!” The poor woman answered in tears as she and her Restaurant staff kept falling behind at an always greater margin.
“WORK FASTER!” Cuttlefish shrieked.
With Callie and Marie – Platform 1 -
“He is making crabby cakes! That smells so gooood!” Callie said with a dreamy expression while drooling.
“FOCUS! We are suppose to sing to help our Chefs win!” Marie answered.
Siiiiiiizle!
“… Coddamnit, he is making prawns with wine sauce now…” She then muttered with a grimace of pain when that particular smell made her stomach growl.
“Ah-ha!” Callie said, smirking in vengeance.
“S-S-Shut up!”
Platform 2 – Pearl and Marina -
“Oh yes, dirty boy! Stack those buns! Make them meaty and juicy!”
“PEARL!” Marina yelled, horrified.
“Uhhhmmmm! That cheeseburger looks so big and thick! Add more sauce! More! MORE!”
“Pearl! For the Love of Cod!”
“AH! Sorry! He was… H-H-He was just seducing me! It’s his fault!” Pearl tried saying.
“He is making a cheeseburger.” Marina said with a deadpan tone.
“But! But! It’s so girthy, big and juicy! It will never fit in my mouth, but I want it!”
“PHRASING!” The poor girl said in dismay.
“He is making squid ink spaghetti with shrimps too, you know?” Pearl said, smirking.
“WHERE!?” Marina yelled with the grace of a drug addict on withdrawal.
“Spaghetti are ready!” Izuku was heard call-out from ground level.
“Coming!” Rumi answered, moving to deliver the various plates to the selected judges.
“Noooo! Gimme! Gimme! Those are mine! Pleeeeeeeeeease!” Marina said with a childish whine and tears-filled eyes.
“Hypocrite.” Pearl muttered under her breath and rolling her eyes.
Platform 3 – Frye and Co.
“He is making Ramen! Big Man, go get me some!” Frye barked-out her order.
“NO! We are singing, and we will keep singing until he is defeated!”
Izuku! Is the Coffe Cake ready?” Rumi was heard asking.
“C-C-Coffee cake?!”
“Ready! All fluffy and sweet!” Izuku answered, proud.
“MINE!”
“BIG MAN! RESTRAIN HER!” Frye yelled in horror, luckily it was her turn to sing so the song wasn’t disrupted by the big manta wrestling with Shiver to stop her from jumping down the platform to get some coffee cake for herself, or even the entire damn cake.
Ground Level -
Cuttlefish has been face-palming for a good half an hour now as at each dish the flying robot would wobble heavily once Octavio’s own favourites started appearing on the tables of the judges; apparently while the song was kind of empowering the Chefs, that human’s food was affecting the DJ and the singers, that was very unprofess-
“Your Crab cakes, Old man!” Rumi said, interrupting his train of thought to deliver him a plate of hot crabby cakes perfectly done he wolfed down with zero manners or self-control.
“Thank-Nom-You!” He answered, hypocrisy made Inkling.
With Izuku -
The Young Chef was having fun, finally with a proper challenge eve since he arrived in that strange world, even if it was a simple matter of Quantity making up for Quality, at least the sheer number of different dishes he needed to make at the same time required more skill than just doing it one plate at a time.
“I am ready to deliver the desserts, Baby.” Rumi said.
“They are almost ready, Rumi,” He answered, winking.
“Good!… Hey…”
“Yes?”
“Do you think we will have to… You know…” Rumi asked, tense.
“Run away from one or more psycho?” Izuku asked, sighing.
“Yeah.” Rumi answered, sighing.
“I would love to avoid that just once, but just to be on the safe side, I asked Whitey to preemptively create a path for us to use to run away.” He answered.
“To think you told me you were promised that these mini Sorties wouldn’t be stressful.” Rumi said, hugging him tight.
“I know… I know… But with you all by my side, I know I will pull through.”
“That’s right! Come on! Let’s deliver the last few dishes and finish kick the asses of an entire city!”
“It’s a strange situation, isn’t it?” Izuku asked, smirking.
“You joking? I am in a damn Rave Party the size of freaking New York! I am having a lot of fucking fun!” She answered, laughing.
“Hahahahaha! I am glad to hear you are not getting bored! Here are the desserts!”
“Right away, Boss!”
One Hour Later -
Every dish had been delivered and evaluated by the judges, now Cuttlefish, the assembled singers and Octavio were waiting with baited breath as the judges finished talking and arguig between each other to decide the winner.
“We have to win this one!” Octavio said.
“… You don’t believe we will win, don’t you?” Cuttlefish said, sighing.
Woomy!
Woomy!
“Quit it!” Octavio yelled.
“Shoooo Guuuooood!” Marie said in awe and talking with her mouth full.
“Oh Cod, his thick creamy sauce is spilling everywhere! It’s filling my mouth so nice!” Pearl said between mouthfuls.
“Nom! Phrasing!” Marina said while going through her third plate of pasta.
“We are going to lose, isn’t it?” Octavio asked with a miserable expression.
“Don’t sell our Chefs short! There is no way he-”
“With a unanimous vote, we declare Mister Izuku, the human, the winner!” The Head Judge said, making the audience roar in excitement and surprise.
“… He won.” Cuttlefish finished saying with a long whine.
“AAAAAAAAARGH!” Octavio bellowed in rage.
“Please deliver the knives! And remember to write your name on the blade, thank you!” Rumi said, smirking, and collecting every knife from the defeated Chefs.
“Here is the recipe for my prized Shellfish Soup Bonanza… Choke on it.” One of the Chefs muttered dejected, but still handing Izuku the recipe for the dish the guy wrote in great detail.
“Thank you, Mister Urchin!” Izuku answered, grateful.
“Yes, yes…” The Octarian answered, walking away while shaking his head.
“Next!” Izuku called-out, making the next Chef in line groan and start writing her name on her favourite knife and prepare the recipe of her best dish.
With the Squid Sister, Off the Hook and Deep Cut -
“Everything tasted so gooooood!” Callie said with a long satisfied moan and a now bulging belly.
“I can’t believe we ate all of this,” Pearl answered while looking in awe at the insane amount of plates surrounding their groups.
“Bit shameful,” Marie admitted with a low voice.
“It’s going to take a while at the gym to burn this off.” Shiver admitted.
“Still worth it.” Marina answered, shy.
Sigh! “I guess we will need to get used to a couple of humans, one of which with strange ears, going around cooking.” Cuttlefish said.
“If we have to.” Octavio answered, grumbling.
“Ehm...Sir?” Izuku asked, nearing the group.
“Hn? What do you want?” The DJ asked.
“It’s a bit silly, but I couldn’t help but notice how good you are at the DJ set...S-So I was wondering if you had any music I could buy.” Izuku said with a shy smile.
“… Are you a fan now?” Octavio asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Is it a problem?” He answered, unsure.
Sigh! “Here.” Octavio answered, pressing a button and opening the back compartment of his giant robot to show the INSANE quantity of CDs in there, all with his face on the cover.
“Wow…”
“This is from my Violin Period. Should be a good start to listen to my Art.” Octavio said, handing Izuku a CD with Octavio on the cover about to play a violin on fire.
“Then there is this, I was experimenting with double scratches in this. This is a collection of my more classic pieces, this is more on the Exotic Side, then my Sitar Experimentation collection, my Heavy Drum one… Oh! And these three, it’s a three part collection of me revisiting and updating some old music with a bit more kicks and basses.” Octavio listed while piling CD after CD in Izuku’s hands.
“Oh, wow! Thanks Mister Octavio! How much do I owe you, this must cost a fortune!” Izuku said in awe.
“… Just take them, personal gift.” The DJ answered, waving Izuku’s question away with several tentacles.
“Hehehehehe! There is a heart then under all that grumpiness!” Cuttlefish said, chuckling.
“Oh! Get splatted, you fool!” Octavio answered.
“Thanks a bunch, dude!” Rumi said with a smirk and a thumbs-up.
“Where will you go now? Or do you plan to saty in Inkopolis?” Marie asked.
“Oh! I am a wandering Chef, so I am always on the move to better myself,” Izuku answered, smiling.
“And there is no way we can convince you to stay?” Pearl and Marina asked.
“…”
A very tense silence fell between the group.
“He is taken, you slimy skank.” Rumi said with a growl.
“I can’t see your name on him anywhere, Human.” Frye answered, eyes narrowed.
“Oh, no…” Izuku muttered in horror.
Ten Minutes later -
“WELCOME TO THE SPLATFEST! TODAY WE HAVE A SPECIAL EVENT!” Cuttlefish said on the mike.
“We are about to have a legendary battle! The prize will be the young and talented Human Chef! On one side, the Dream Team: Callie, Marie, Pearl, Marina, Frye and Shiver! On the other… Where in the name of all that is Inky did they go!?” Cuttlefish started introducing the contestants when he saw how Rumi and Izuku where nowhere to be seen.
Not too far away -
“RUUUUUUUN!” Izuku yelled running ahead.
“Told you that accepting their insane game would have helped!” Rumi, running at his side, said.
“CATCH HIIIIIIIIM!” Somebody bellowed behind the group as colorful bullets of ink started raining all around them.
Luckily Whitey and Shiro could protect them with no issue.
“SYSTEEEEEEM!” Both Teens yelled, and a blinding light whisked them away.
Outside Reality -
BOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!
The Gates of Fate Trembled heavily under blows with the power of Erasing entire Realities.
“Open, The System only wants to talk.” The Monotone voice asked with a new cold edge never heard before.
BOOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOM!
“GO AWAY! GO AWAY!” Many Gods governing the Wheel Of Fate screamed as one in tears and overcome by absolute terror while amassed in a corner
“Somebody is making The System look like a fool. The System only wants to talk before the culprit’s termination. If nobody of you is responsible, why are you not opening?”
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!
CRAAAAAASH!
“Open, finally.” The Entity said once even the Doors of Destiny went blasted to chunks.
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Every God and Goddess present shrieked in fear, already losing bowel control.
The System will discover the anomaly, one way or another and ERASE IT.
No matter what.
End of the Chapter.
As you can see, I made a small joke about Izuku’s Omake Sorties, this because starting from THIS Sortie, and after he has done with the Magical Girl World, marks the beginning of Izuku’s Omake Misfortune.
The previous joke in the past chapter was only a Meta joke.
This one here instead marks the point in the story’s Timeline from which the Omakes start happening.
Once finished the story, I will make a chapter with all the omakes in it in “Canonical” Order.
The story is almost over, after Momo’s own Sortie with Izuku, there will be two major events and then the great finale, and before that the battle between Izuku and the last two names on his list of enemies before battling against Samui behind the fires of a kitchen.
I am already preparing the new story that will take the place of this one once this is done.
Thank you for reading!
Here is the recipe of the matcha cake! I tried making it myself and let me tell you: it’s harder than it looks! XD
Took me a lot of tries for those crepes to come out right! They have to be super fluffy and paper thin!
But even if I am an amateur, the final result tastes GOOOOOOD!
I will leave everything here if you are interested.
(supposedly, these are the quantities for the smallest size of the cake.)
All rights reserved to Miss Catherine Zhang , that published this amazing recipe on her blog/site.
INGREDIENTS
CREPES
-
480 ml (2 cups) Milk
-
90 g ( ¾ cup) Plain flour
-
45 g ( ¼ cup 2 tbsp) Cornstarch
-
15 g (2 tbsp) Matcha powder
-
65 g ( ⅓ cup) Granulated sugar
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6 Large eggs
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30 g (2 tbsp) Unsalted butter, melted
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Vegetable oil
VANILLA CREAM
-
900ml (3 ¾ cups) Thickened/Heavy cream
-
150 g ( ¾ cup) White sugar
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2 tsp Vanilla extract
MATCHA WHITE CHOCOLATE GANACHE
-
110 g White chocolate (3.8 oz), roughly chopped
-
60 g Thickened cream ( ¼ cup)
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1 tsp Whole milk
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1 tbsp Matcha powder
ASSEMBLY
-
One punnet strawberries
-
Matcha powder to dust
CREPES
Combine the milk, flour, cornstarch, matcha powder, sugar, eggs and melted butter in a blender and blitz until smooth
Pour the batter through a fine-meshed sieve into a large bowl
Heat a little vegetable oil in a medium non-stick frying pan over medium-low heat, and wipe the excess oil with a paper towel
Pour a ¼ cup of crepe batter, while swirling, to coat the bottom of the pan
Heat gently until the surface becomes matte, then flip with a spatula and cook for 10 seconds
Repeat with the remaining batter
Allow crepes to come to room temperature
VANILLA CREAM
Place cream and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat for 3-4 mins until stiff peaks
Place in the fridge until ready to use
MATCHA WHITE CHOCOLATE GANACHE
Sieve the matcha powder over the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl
Heat the cream in a small saucepan or microwave until steaming
Pour the cream over the chopped chocolate and cover with a plate/lid
Allow the chocolate and cream to sit for 5-10 minutes, or until the chocolate has completely melted, then stir until smooth
Add the milk and stir until well combined and shiny
Set aside to cool for 15 minutes as you assemble the cake
ASSEMBLY
Build the cake on a large plate or cake board (it can be difficult to move around if not)
Lay one crepe on the board/plate and spread a thin layer of matcha cream over the crepe, top with another layer of crepe
Repeat with 5 layers of crepe, then spread a thin layer of cream over the top crepe
Arrange the sliced strawberries on top the cream, top with another thin layer of cream and top with a crepe
Continue to layer another 5-6 crepes, alternating with layers of cream before arranging another layer of strawberries, cream and crepe
Continue the process until all the crepes have been used
Top the cake with the cooled chocolate ganache and spread by turning your turntable
Place the cake in the fridge to set for a minimum of 1 hour before serving
Dust with matcha powder to serve!
Chapter 28: The Golden Dragon arrives! (Magical Girls World Arc Finale)
Summary:
The final part of the Magical Girl World Arc. Finally Izuku can put his hands on that damn Golden Dragon and leave this cursed world behind!
Notes:
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/Nejire
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
About the pictures used, all rights belong to their official owners, I am not claiming ownership or anything, just borrowing them to help me give you the closest representation of the characters/food I am describing. If the owners are reading this, I am not doing this to steal from you. Your creations are amazing, I would never dare stealing them. Please let me borrow them. thank you.
Chapter Text
Chapter 28: The Golden Dragon Arrives!
Musutafu – Police Force Headquarters – Temporary Holding Cells -
Detective Tsukauchi was scratching his eyes with one hand and holding a cup of coffee in the other like it was the greatest treasure in the world; He was looking at the screen feed of a security camera and at the two cells holding two rather infamous Vigilantes: La Brava and Gentle Criminal.
Both had been arrested, but not before the two had enough time to beat the shit out of the Pro Hero that tried capturing her; and both had gotten arrested just because a more proficient Pro Hero had joined the fight right after Gentle had finished kneeling the Hero woman’s teeth into oblivion.
“Do we really have to shove those two in Tartarus, sir? I still find the idea rather excessive.” The Detective said, taking a big mouthful of the scalding liquid with a grimace.
“… God, when will that kid reopen his Restaurant? I miss his coffee…” He then muttered, sighing.
“He has simply closed for the night like any other restaurant, Tsukauchi, he will reopen tomorrow morning at 7, like always…” Naomasa’s superior answered, rolling his eyes.
“Too bloody long…”
“You have an addiction. As for your question, lately there has been a demand for us and Pro Heroes to use harsher punishments for criminals and Vigilantes. And since many politicians want to gain points with the populace, they are starting to listen to the vocal minority and started echoing their most absurd demands.”
“So they want to turn a maximum security prison for the worst monsters Quirked society has to offer into a dumping ground for every semi-serious criminal?” Tsukauchi asked back with an arched eyebrow.
“AH! Don’t I too think that it’s all a bunch of bullshit? Treating any bigger offense than a parking ticket like they were All for One himself going around raping and pillaging… But we are in the Era of Social Media, Triggering and Easy Outrage and all that. At least is not as bad as it was back in the early 2000s, I heard society back then came very close at self-destroying for a good thirty years before by miracle they remembered they were humans, not lobotomized baboons.”
“One could say we never left that mentality behind… Still, of all the Vigilantes we got through the years, those guys are part of the “lesser evil” kind. A normal prison could be enough for them. I mean… Look!” Tsukauchi answered, showing the other guy’s a thick folder.
“Hn?”
“Four instances of Gentle trying to enter many, MANY Hero schools, from UA to the very bottom of the barrel, then a long period of void in which we don’t know what happened and then his becoming a Vigilante; while La Brava simply disappeared from the face of the earth for several years before reappearing as his side-kick,”
“A Shut-in?”
“Very likely, and with a long history of depression and suicide tendencies, if the few and far in between visits they forced her to make to counselors are to be believed.” Tsukauchi answered.
Sigh! “God, I hate my job…”
“Sometimes I do too. Far too often.” The Detective admitted.
Both men just kept watching the feed of Gentle and La Brava lie in their cells and looking at the ceiling in silence, wondering what to do with those two.
Meanwhile - Other World – City - New Sun Square -
The sky was bright and cloudless, the sun shining even too brightly in the sky, everywhere people were smiling brightly, chatting amicably or humming a little song while walking with a spring on their steps. The fact that there wasn’t even just a single person with a frown as if the universe had took a piss in their coffee right in front of them made it clear things were still utterly unnatural.
Sitting on a bench under one of the many trees, Izuku, Ochako and Adelia kept watching people walk-by with such annoying smiles you could think the dance number of some cheap Musical would start at any moment.
“Those smiles are creepy.” Izuku admitted, with a scrunched nose.
Yaaaaaaawn! “Who the heck smiles at 7 in the morning? There is nothing to smile for at 7 in the morning!” Ochako answered, yawning and stretching.
“Breakfast and coffee?” Izuku answered, smiling.
“… Okay, for those I can muster a smile.” She answered, leaning her head on his shoulder and snuggling onto him when he circled her shoulders with an arm.
“Focus, I need to check something.” Adelia chided her with a stern look, she was scanning the area with her narrowed eyes.
“It’s not my fault, I am not used to these hours like you and Icchan instead are and-”
“I get up at 5 actually, to train and prepare everything for the day.” Izuku admitted.
“Same. Potion reagents, spell marks, seals… The works. Those need time to organize.” Adelia added.
“… Workaholic maniacs…” Ochako muttered in disbelief.
“There it is!” Adelia said suddenly when a giant bolt of pitch-black lightning fell down from the cloudless sky to cause a massive explosion that made everybody in the area run away.
“There it is? What are we looking at? What is-” Izuku asked and a guy wearing an outrageous long cape walked out of the crater.
At each movement of his, literally every small movement, petals of black roses fell in an overly-dramatic way all around him.
“… Really?” Ochako asked, face-palming.
“Who is he?” Izuku asks.
“A dark General.” Adelia answers.
“One of the guys that want to summon the dragon? Why did he come down in person?”
“Every ten attacks, and exactly every ten attacks, a Dark General of Dark Evil Dark Darkness of Evil personally comes down to try make a mess. Like clockwork.” Adelia explained.
“…”
“Don’t blame me. That’s their literal name, they proudly declare it every damn time they come down.” The old woman explained with a suffering sigh once seen the horrified look the other two teens shot her.
“...”
“… Heart of Darkness.” She said.
“Ooooh!” Izuku and Ochako uttered in chorus.
“Precisely. I hate it too, yes.” Adelia answered, and with an elegant gesture of her hand a bubble of translucent energy covered them and Whitey.
“This will protect us and make us invisible to everyone involved.”
“Bwahahahahaha! Humans! It is I! Evileonard the Evil Dark Rose! Bow before me!” The deranged lunatic in flamboyant clothes ordered, and summoning an outrageous storm of petals with an imperious swipe of his cape.
SNORT!
“WHO DARES!?” The guy shrieked in childish outrage.
In the bubble -
“Ochako!” Izuku said, even if he himself was desperately trying to not laugh.
“I am sorry! But! But! Evileonard!” Ochako said with a squeaky wheezing voice, clearly desperate to not laugh out loud.
“My bubble doesn’t hide sounds, contain yourself!” Adelia begged, groaning.
“Is there… Is there a guy named Stevevil too?” She asked, tears ready to fall from her eyes.
“…” Adelia’s face darkened considerably.
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” That did it, poor Ochako’s dam broke and a loud thundering laugh escaped her in all its power, although Izuku had to admit that to him her laughter sounded very cute.
“… I don’t want to live on this planet anymore…” Adelia muttered in self deprecation, and wishing for the earth to open and swallow her whole to put an end to her misery.
With the Evil Moron -
“Who dares laugh! Who dares laugh instead of trembling in fear of the great Evileonard Darkness Thunderbolt Shadowson McDestroyer?!” The guy demanded, looking around and soon covering everything around him a three-meters-wide circle of black petals so thick it reached his knees.
“Ocha! Oh, God! Breath!” In the meantime Izuku had started panicking since Ochako was about to suffocate because unable to breath properly with how hard she was laughing.
“Dark General!” Luckily, so to speak, a Team of Magical Girls had arrived to stop him from doing… Whatever.
“Navy Senshi! So I will have the pleasure of destroying you today! The great Lord Obscurus will feast on your pure hearts, corrupt them in darkness and be reborn! And I will also take on you my rightful rage at this mysterious voice making fun of my beautiful name!” The Dark General declared with a haughty scream and summoning a black rose in his hand he then turned into a long and excessively-decorated scythe covered in rose carvings.
“No! For as long as we live, joy and friendship will triumph! Love Machine Gun!” The Leader of the group answered, pulling out of thin air a pink-and-white M4 riffle covered in hearts and with a tiny teddy bear dangling from it, a decoration so excessive even a COD player would refuse to use it.
“Yes! For Love and Cuteness! Love Grenade Launcher!” Another said, pulling-out a bright ping MGL covered in yellow smile emojy, and starting to shoot grenades that on impact exploded into giant pink heart-shaped clouds.
With Adelia and the others -
“Good! They are fighting! I can extract the essence of Evil of that cretin and use it as an anchor to make sure the Heart of Darkness doesn’t resist the summoning!” The old woman said, taking out of her belt various tiny transparent crystals.
“I hope no weapon enthusiast will ever see how they painted those poor guns,” Izuku muttered, grimacing.
“Those guns… Are shooting hearts?” Ochako asked, confused.
“I modified them to shoot bullets of condensed purifying Magic, they will only hurt Dark Generals and people corrupted by their powers. I may have been unable to stop the overall design being that atrocious, but at least I got all the girls to use methods that only hurt/purify our enemies while leaving bystanders unharmed. I won’t trust a bunch of teenagers with highly destructive power, especially if they look like they need a video tutorial just to tie their shoes every morning.” Adelia answered, and with a few last strings of muttered incantations, every crystal went filled in swirling shadows, moving restlessly inside the gems as if alive.
“You think they need help?” Izuku asked, worried at seeing the Dark General dodge bullets and bombs from the girls quite easily.
“You want to help?” Ochako asked.
“They may be annoying, and make me hate every single second I am spending here, but they are still innocent girls. Annoying or not, they don’t deserve to die, especially at the hands of...That guy.” Izuku answered.
“Fair enough. Just make it quick.” Adelia answered, sighing.
“Thank you!” Izuku answered, recalling the Myriad Manifestation Mallet from one of his tattoos and into his hand.
“...Ehm...What are you-”
BOOOOM!
With a mighty swing of the mallet, covered in flames, the Young Chef assaulted the Dark General and literally nailed into the ground up to his neck, with the heat from the mallet frying his hair into a well-cooked afro hairstyle, luckily the guy at lost consciousness at the hit proper so he wasn’t aware of how his luscious locks had been ruined or how he had been used as a human nail.
“…” The girls looked in confusion at the fearful and powerful Dark General being one-shot just like that.
“Sorry for derailing the plot and stuff.” Izuku offered, sighing and sealing away the mallet.
“I don’t give a crap about it, let’s go.” Adelia said after she and Ochako joined him.
“Sage Adelia! We-” The Leader of the girls tried saying.
“Yes, yes. Good job as always. Purify him in the name of Love and Friendship and Yadda yadda yadda.” Adelia answered, waving her off uncaring.
“Of course!” The girls answered as one with a wide smile.
“Let’s fuse our weapons and hearts together!”
“Yeeeess!” The girls answered with a cheerful laugh, the sappy song started again and their weapons fused together into a colorful and feminine giant cannon with a heart-shaped mouth.
“LOVE SUPER CANNON!”
With Adelia -
While behind her a nuclear explosion of pink light happened, accompanied by a giant heart-shaped mushroom cloud, the woman walked forward without a care in the world.
“Let them play, we got what we came here for, the next attacks is schedule in ten minutes, and probably the Idols will intervene this time since it’s their turn, and I don’t want to watch again how my old project for Music-powered Magic got turned into another… That. It hurts too much my researcher’s pride.” She said, sighing.
“Scheduled?” Izuku asked.
“Their turn?” Ochako added.
“There is a Method to Madness, as they said. I just learned to recognize the patterns, it’s what helped me avoid being corrupted by the Heart of Light like everybody else, along my knowledge in Magic.”
“Have those Hearts been doing this for long?” Izuku asked.
“By my estimate, a good ten years.” Adelia answered, making Izuku and Ochako look at her with bulged-out eyes.
“Yes, that’s a lot. That is why I am hurrying up, I am afraid that if I don’t banish those two damned things soon, their influence will change this world and the others too close to this permanently.”
“Then we must hurry!” Ochako answered.
“Exactly! To my studio!” Adelia answered, giving a wide swipe of her cloak and taking all of them back into her studio inside the Sage’s caves.
Meanwhile – Floating Evil Fortress – Planet’s Orbit -
“WHY!” Sip! Crash!
“ANOTHER!” Sip! Crash!
“GENERAL!” Sip! Crash!
“LOST!” Sip! Crash!
The Evil Leader of the Cult trying to resurrect the Golden Dragon screamed in apoplectic rage, each word was screamed, each scream was accompanied by a single sip, and after every sip the glass went thrown against the wall for another to take its place on the small table next to her throne.
By now the pink demon serving her had given-up, he just sat on a recliner while reading a gossip magazine, and just switched the destroyed glass of red wine with another without even looking up from the page or getting up from the chair, he simply used the crash sound as a signal for him to reach for a new full glass from a long line next to him to switch the broken glass with it.
“I AM DISAPPOINTED!” Sip!... Clack.
“...A paper cup?” She asked, confused.
“We ran out of glass flutes, my liege.” The pink demon answered with an uncaring shrug.
“But-”
“Next shipment will arrive next week.” The thing answered while turning the page of the magazine, zero fucks given.
“Huff! Fine!” She answered, crossing her arms with a petulant huff worthy of a spoiled brat.
“It’s just a minor setback-” One of the other Generals tried saying.
“WE LOST TWENTY GENERALS ALREADY!” The Evil woman screamed in answer.
“...Twenty minor setbacks…” The midget in knight armor and with a super-deep voice answered.
“AAAAAH!” Clack!
“… It’s not the same thiiiiing!” She yelled when another paper cup weakly bounced on the wall.
“Out of glass flutes, tumblers, cups and everything in between. Oh! Brad and Angelina broke-up again...” The pink demon answered with a monotone, uncaring.
“Waaaaaaaah!” The woman started crying and throwing a tantrum.
“…” The small demon just gave a long exhale of annoyance and shoved two earplugs in his long pointy ears and then returned to read his magazine.
At the same time – Pocket Dimension – Seal Imprisoning the Golden Dragon -
“GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! LET ME OUT! I DEMAND FREEDOM FROM THIS UNJUST TORTURE!” A voice roared in fury and defiance, its owner screaming into the void and thrashing wildly to trying breaking free from his imprisonment of absolute darkness and silence.
ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAR!
And in that void, roars of fury and pure madness echoed nonstop inside the seal, unheard by everybody.
The Next Day – With Izuku and Ochako - Restaurant
“… Love and puppies and rainbooooooooows!” A voice sang outside, with the last vocalization exploding outward in a dome of pink energy that purified a big bulky monster with four arms and giant muscles back into being an old lady with a pronounced hunchback posture and a worn-out walker.
“...It’s over, finally.” Ochako said in relief.
“I wanna go home…” Izuku begged in tears.
“It’s literally three to four fights a day. How can people act as if it’s normal.” Ochako wondered.
“Because everybody here is nuts…” Izuku answered, sobbing, Whitey gently patted his back.
“That and, more likely, everybody here is so Doped on Positive Energy from that Heart that they see everything equally extremely good as normal.” Shiro suggested, delicately licking Izuku’s cheek to try cheer him up.
“Heeey! Is that cutie Chef here?!” A young and cheerful voice yelled from outside the kitchen.
“Oh, no! One of them!” Izuku said with a whine.
“I’ll go hear what she wants.” Ochako answered.
“Thank you!”
Outside the kitchen -
Right outside the room there was Michiko, one of the Magical Girls and the one with the most problems of faithfulness of them all, and a tall guy.
“Yes? What can I do for you?” Ochako asked.
“Are you with the cutie Chef, yes? Want to switch boyfriends and have fun together?” Michiko asked.
“Of course, if you then like doing it with me more than doing it with him, I can handle two girlfriends no problem! Everybody knows women are easy to corrupt like that!” The guy added, smirking.
“…” Ochako took a deep breath and…
Outside the Restaurant -
“ENBU + Anti-Gravity: GRAVITON ASURA PUNCH!”
BOOOM!
Two blurs screaming in a male and female voice could be seen behind shot out of the Restaurant’s door at high speed thanks to Uraraka’s Quirk removing Gravity’s pull from their bodies for her to punch them farther than normal, and that, paired with Enbu made sure the two morons would fly for several hundred meters before crash-landing painfully on the floor.
“… No Hearts of Whatever can justify this. Izu-kun is right, people here are damn nuts.” Falling a bit into Kansai accent, something she daily struggles to not let slip out, the young Hero Girl clapped her hands to dust them and then returned to keep company to Izuku inside the kitchen.
“What was it?” He asked.
“Just a girl that can’t keep her panties on and a moron that gives guys a bad name by thinking he deserves every girl that breaths. You are right, and the sooner we leave this place, the better I will feel.
“Tomorrow...Adelia promised that tomorrow we will have the damn ritual…” Izuku answered, shivering.
“WHERE IS THE CHEF OF THIS PLACE!” A super deep voice roared from outside.
“Uh?”
“I will kill you for daring getting in the way of our plans! I am the Dark General Evil-”
“WHITEY!” Both Izuku and Ochako said with a groan.
“Troublemakers will be stripped as an example to others!” Whitey declared with red eyes.
“Wait what?”
The robot was soon upon the very guy in ultra-spiked armor, tearing every piece off except the guy’s superman printed boxers and then slap him into unconsciousness; the defeated General went then dunked into a garbage bin full of smelly fish remains.
“Tomorrow can’t come fast enough.”
“We can start immediately if you want.” Adelia answered, appearing in the kitchen with a her heair looking out of place, as if she had walked though a hurricane.
“Adelia-san?” Ochako asked.
“Kala and the others want my help to form yet another Team. The Pretty-Pretty Lovely Cuddly Sirens...I-I can’t do this anymore! Back in the days Magical Girls were serious business! Yes, there was some cuteness here and there, but not THIS! I helped create the Symphogear system! I formed the very first Assault Team of Magical SWAT! It was all serious, proper, functional when we started!… Then things started getting more and more cutesy… Then those blasted Hearts crash-landed here and in ten years everything got even worse. And you know what? If we manage to banish those Hearts and put them back where they belong… Things won’t magically fix themselves! People will need to naturally and gradually heal… For yet another ten years! Ten years before things finally get back to normal… And I can’t wait ten years!” Adelia said, sounding extremely tired, close to a nervous breakdown.
“Sooo…” Izuku asked.
“I can travel between worlds in this universe, but you can go further, yes?”
“Yes? I can travel through the Multiverse.” He answered.
“Then I’ll come with you!” Adelia said, desperate.
“Uh?!”
“You have a Restaurant, yes? Do you need a Manager? A Lawyer? An Accountant? Whatever managerial job you need, I can do it!” She said.
“… I mean… At least you can stop borrowing Yaomomo’s family accountant, and since she knows about System-san, you don’t need to hide anything from her.” Ochako tried saying.
“Pleeeeeeeease! I have been dealing with Magical Girls for 1347 years… I want to retire!” Adelia begged, actually crying and sobbing.
“Okay! Okay! I accept! I guess some help dealing with the paperwork won’t hurt! And somebody to take care of accounting and other legal is an actual big help!… But what about your documents, like IDs and stuff?”
“The System can forge the woman a Past and proper documentation for the Host’s world no problem.” The Entity answered.
“So she is good enough? Okay, welcome onboard, I guess.” Izuku said, shrugging and sighing.
“THANK YOU!” Adelia answered, now crying fat tears of relief, while hugging both Izuku and Ochako.
“UGH!”
“Let’s go! I actually rushed through the preparation of the entire ritual, I haven’t slept a single second but worked the whole night, but everything it’s ready!” Adelia said, forcefully pushing the two teens outside.
“But! The Restau-”
“That woman can stay closed an extra day! Let’s go!” The old Witch answered.
“But!”
“I paid her to close! She won’t lose customers and the other restaurants will feed the customers, nobody will starve to death!”
“Okay! Okay!” Izuku conceded.
New Sun Square -
The trio reached the same giant wide are of before, already rebuilt after the damages left behind by the Magical Girls, both Izuku and Ochako could also see a rather huge bubble similar to the one Adelia used to hide then right in the middle of the place.
“Another Privacy Bubble. I have hidden there all we need to enact the ritual, another spell made sure people will subconsciously walk around it. You ready?” Adelia explained.
“We are.” Ochako, wearing her Hero Costume, answered.
“Yes.” Izuku answered as well.
“Good! Remember, as soon as I bring here the Heart of Light I will start the ritual, and when that happens we will have to fend-off both sides of this madness: The other Sages with the Magical Girls and the “Evil Dark Evil whatever” Morons. It will be a hectic two minutes, but we need to keep them all occupied for those two minutes, just the time for the ritual to charge up and forcefully pull here Heart of Darkness and the giant Demon Dragon leeching off of it.”
“… We can do this.” Both teens said after a brief silence they spent looking in each other eyes.
“Good. Take position, so we can start...”
Candles went lit around the outer rim of a series of concentric circles of runes, once sure every candles was burning properly Adelia teleport away for a couple minutes and then returned with the giant, two meters tall, crystal heart floating behind her.
“Here it is! Get ready! Soon those three fools of my friends will notice I borrowed this!” Adelia warned them, slamming the big crystal in the middle of the seal circles that immediately started spinning clockwise and anti-clockwise while shining in blinding white light.
Chains then surfaced from the seals and wrapped themselves around the heart so to keep it in place, the candles’ flames turned into an eerie blue color and a pillar of light shoot upward from the heart and blowing a hole in the sky where stars were visible clearly even if it was still day time.
“… Bit on the dramatic side.” Izuku commented.
“Magic always is, for some reason.” Adelia admitted, shrugging.
“What is this ominous Latin chanting coming from nowhere all around us?” Ochako asked.
“Dunno. It’s part of the spell.” The old woman answered.
“ADELIA! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!” Lorenz screamed in both horror and rage as Sages and Magical Girls Teams appeared in the now empty square.
“WHO DARES DISTURB THE SLEEP OF OUR DARK LORD OF DARK DARKNESS EVIL EVILN-GLACK! I bit my tongue…” At the same time, every Dark General and their Leader appeared at the opposite side.
“Here come the clowns, the show can start! Remember, kids! Two minutes starting now!” Adelia yelled, her Magic exploding like a raging river and launching the other three Sages up in the air.
“She will obviously take care of the Sages. Me and you will fight the Magical Cretins and we leave the Evil Cretins to Whitey and Shiro?” Izuku asked.
“Sounds good to me, Izu-kun…. Just…” Ochako answered, kissing him. “Be careful, okay?”
“You too, Occhan!” He answered with a wide, happy smile.
“Leave those tryhard Emo edgelords to me and the Robot, Partner! This Esteemed Taotie will toss them around enough times even they will learn manners.” Shiro, now sitting on top of Whitey’s head, declared while he and the Robot walked towards the Dark Generals.
“Okay! Let’s go, Occhan.” Izuku said, grabbing Ochako’s hand.
“Let’s go!” She answered, squeezing his hand and smiling.
Adelia VS Sages -
“How can you betray us?” Kala asked, using the very tacky and Plastic-looking scepter in her hand to shoot heart-shaped bullets at Adelia.
“And you ask?! I spent centuries watching my greatest Magic Research project become the manifestation of a kid girl on sugar rush’s imagination! The ravings of a demented child made reality!” Adelia was finally opening the floodgates of her repressed anger, and that millennia worth of fury was empowering her to insane levels.
She summoned a barrier around herself with a honeycomb motif and tanked the hits without a problem.
“You all turned MAGIC, the most noble and ancient power into a mockery of itself! Into a joke! A parody even South Park would deem excessive!” The old lady lifted to the sky her more somber wooden staff, and from the humble green gem on top of it a Giant fireball grew to several meters of width, hotter that the damn sun itself.
“...Oh…” Augustus whimpered in fear, with a big wet spot soon appearing in front of his clothes.
“I told you we were asking for too many smiles to be added on the costumes…” Lorenz admitted, gulping.
“I-” Kala tried saying, watching her magical staff actually melt just like cheap plastic in front of that rage-empowered spell’s sheer heat.
“DDDDDIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” 1347 years of pent-up anger and annoyance exploded out of Adelia’s battle staff as the whale-size fireball went shot at the other Sages at insane speed.
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
Shiro VS The Dark Cult of Evil and etc. etc. -
“Kneel for your mistress! Dark Evil Piercing attack of Despair!” The BDSM Mistress dressed woman yelled, charging Whitey with an overly-decorated rapier pointing forward ready to impale the robot.
CRACK!
The weapon though shattered into thousands of tiny shards on impact with Whitey’s soft belly, leaving the woman to watch with bulged-out eyes the stump left in her hand.
“Has the Edgelord done?” Whitey asked with red eyes.
“… Mercy?” The woman asked with a squeaky voice.
“Troublemakers don’t get Mercy. Troublemakers get stripped as an example to others!” The Robot answered, and his big hand closed around the Villain’s throat.
“NO! NO! I am clearly saying no! This is non-consensual! BANANA! BANANA! I AM SAYING THE SAFE WORD! BANANA! BANA-MOTHERFUCKING-NA!” The Insane woman begged.
“That’s a You problem.” Whitey answered, uncaring.
Strip! SLAAAAP!
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAH! NOW I WILL NEVER GET MARRIEEEEEEEED!” The naked Villain shrieked while flying above the rest of the Dark Cult like a howling naked comet of shame thanks to Whitey’s bitch-slap.
“Disclaimer: System Incorporated reserves the right to punish troublemakers equally no matter race, gender or religious belief. We believe in equal rights and equal lefts.” Whitey answered, unfazed.
“STOP THAT THING!” Darkusia, the Leader of the entire group, ordered with a snap of her riding crop.
“So annoying.” Shiro answered, swatting the tiny Evil Loli-like Villain of the group and shattering her giant lollipop, that it seems would normally double as her weapon too, and making her bounce several times on the ground.
“You won’t defeat us! Dark Evil-”
“Oh, shut-up! ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!” With a far too scary roar coming from the tiny mouth of such adorable small pet, a giant wave of energy went shot from Shiro’s mouth to shower the Villains and everything behind them in an overwhelming wave of destruction.
Nobody died though, surprisingly...
Izuku and Ochako VS Magical Girls -
“It’s been a while since I fought, it feels… Strangely liberating…” Izuku admitted, rolling up the sleeves of his Chef Uniform, and at each roll of the cloth, his arms’ muscles became bigger and more definite, bulging out more and more the more he rolled-up his sleeves.
“And what was what you did against Muscular?” Ochako asked… Totally not ogling his arms… Promise… Okay, maybe just a bit, but respectfully.
“That was a Capture and an Epiphany Moment, not a battle.” Izuku answered, and as the flames of his Battle Spirit enveloped him, his Appetite Demon appeared behind him.
Some might have tried call it a bit edgy, but seeing the size of his arms and closed fists, even the worst reddit user would have zipped their mouth shut.
“We will protect Justice, Love and Cuteness!” Michiko declared.
“Yeah! WE WILL-”
BOOOOOOM!
The supporting scream of the Team Leader of the Idols died instantly as soon as Izuku punched the ground and the entire Sun Square area, roughly the size of Central Park, sunk into the ground of several inches as a whole.
“… We will eat shit and die…” The same Magical Girl finished saying with a whimper of fear.
“Bring it!” Izuku said with a challenging smile and showing them his closed fist.
“Huhuhu! Show-off!” Ochako said with a chuckle, and kissing his cheek.
“Need to look good in front of my girlfriend!” He answered, smirking.
“So old-style. Let’s go!” She answered, laughing and running forward, soon followed by Izuku.
“Love and rainboooooows!” Giving-in to panic, one of the girls started signing her strongest song immediately, summoning a dome of sound waves enlarging towards the two like a translucent wall.
“You first?” Ochako said.
“Okay! Asura: Bodhi Pestle!” Surprising Ochako, Izuku’s left arm swelled in size to become two times bigger, and with a mighty roar he slammed his giant punch on the semi-solid wall of sound shattering it.
“Ah! Love and-”
“SHUT-UP ABOUT THAT CRAP!” Ochako yelled, grabbing a piece of the broken street pavement, she then used her Quirk and Enbu to shot it at the girl’s stomach, making her double over and lose focus.
“LOVE UZI!” The two Twins of the Navy Senshi group in answer summoned from their transformation jewels a duo of small weapons right in their hands and started shooting madly, in true spay-and-pray fashion.
“Behind me!… God, I can’t believe I am doing this, it’s so humiliating…” Izuku ordered, and with Ochako running behind him, he summoned the Sea Dragon Kitchen Knife and started cutting the bullets coming his way mid-air with an expression of pure annoyance while running towards them.
(Trivia: A Uzi has a fire rate of circa 600 rounds per minute, Izuku is cutting Julienne-style the bullets shot from four Uzi shooting at the same time while they are still flying towards him and he is running towards them. Still doesn’t make the scene any less “cringe”, unfortunately).
“SHOOT HIM! SHOOOOT HIIIIM!” The Leaders of the various senshi squads yelled frantically as colorful musical notes, heart-shaped bullets and orange-sized rainbow colored hearts leaving behind trails of stars and smiley faces rained on them all at once.
“I. HATE. THIS. PLACE! ASURA: SAMSARA DICING!” Izuku’s roar and the howl of his Appetite Demon overlapped as the Sea Dragon Kitchen Knife shone in pale light similar to moonlight, and the young Chef slashed down.
The attacks, the weapons, the Magical Girls Costumes, the trees, the benches, the fountains, the water of the fountains, the weapons of the dark Generals and their armor/clothes, the weapons of the Sages and the projectiles they had shoot at Adelia, the street around the Sun Square, the empty cars parked around Sun Square and even the front of the buildings around Sun Square… All went cut in perfect cubes no bigger than an inch. And yet no animal or person went harmed.
“… Wow…” Ochako admitted in awe once seen the range of collateral damages while ignoring the various Magical Girls screaming being left in only their underwear.
Sigh! “Sorry, I usually am more calm and collected, but this place is driving me nuts, so I had to take this weight off my chest,” Izuku admitted, sighing in relief at finally letting go of his repressed anger and annoyance.
“Monster!” One of the girls yelled in tears.
“Yes, yes. Nobody cares!” Ochako answered, grabbing the girl’s arm and using it as a leverage to throw her at her companions.
“We will never be defeated! BLESSING OF LOVE AND PURITY!” Michiko said, pointing her transformation jewel towards Ochako ans shooting a bright-pink laser of pure raw Magic.
“Hng!” To the girl’s Horror, the young Pro Hero used her powers to make herself float and jump over the attack.
“AH!” At the same time, Izuku summoned the Turtle Wok to protect himself from the attack that splashed against the golden wok without even scratching it.
“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING MADE OFF?!” Michiko screamed with bulged-out eyes.
“A star-Eating giant space turtle.” Ochako, now above her, answered with a smirk. “Gravity Reverse: Uravity’s Guillotine!” She then surprised Izuku by actually increasing gravity on her body and slam down on Michiko with her stretched leg acting like the blade of a guillotine and slamming the Magical Girl on the ground.
“Uh?”
“Just as The System had advertised, Host Izuku’s constant infusion of Gourmet Energy when preparing his Partners’ food strengthened their Quirks, enacting a partial Evolution of their powers.” The System alerted him, almost casually.
“Ah, I didn’t think you meant literally.” Izuku admitted, chuckling.
“See! See! Am I good or not?” Ochako asked with a beaming smile.
“You are the very best, Occhan!” He answered, sounding proud beyond belief of her.
“Stop flirting in front of me, you slut!” Another Magical Girl interrupted the moment by trying to jump Ochako with in her hand a sharp piece of her once cute Magical Girl scepter, with full intention of shiv-ing her to death.
“DON’T RUIN MY ROMANTIC MOMENT WITH MY BOYFRIEND, YOU SKANK!” Ochako replied with a furious roar, dropping the cutesy smile in favour of a beast-like snarl.
She also managed to pull-off a perfect High Kick with her leg going perfectly straight up and with her heel destroying the Magical Girl’s jaw on impact, sending the idiot flying back already unconscious even before hitting the ground.
“You must stop! Think of the children! The puppies! The rainbows! The-” Another girl grabbed Izuku’s legs and started begging him.
DONG!
She stopped when Izuku chopped her on the head, knocking her unconscious.
“Please check for STDs when we get home, just in case she managed to give you one just by touching you.” Ochako said with a scrunched nose.
“We are the ones your boyfriend stripped naked, and we are the perverts?!” A Magical Girl yelled in outrage while lifting over her head the biggest piece of street pavement she could lift to bash Ochako’s head in.
“Oh, shut up! I know you bimbos are used to get naked in front of strangers!” Ochako answered, kicking the girl hard enough she dropped that big rock, and then grabbing the girl and jumping high in the air.
“THAT’S NOT TRUUUUUUUUUUUU-” That’s all the girl managed to say before she and Ochako started spinning so fast their bodies became a single blurry shape.
BANG!
“Gunhead Martial Arts + Enbu: VISSUDHI IZUNA DROP!” The two spinning girl touched ground with the strength of a meteor, launching the other girls up in the air.
(Vissudhi – Purity in Pali. Concept behind Buddhist Theravada, simply put, self-purification from things like Anger and Lust...Seemed accurate to the situation)
“Impact Knocking: Brahmastra!” While the girls were still up in the air, Izuku jumped to reach them, and using the bare-handed techniques of Knocking to paralyze them all like he did with Muscular, making the now limp girls fall paralyzed to the ground.
WHOOOOM!
Suddenly, a loud howl was heard as the sky broke apart and a giant shadowy figure started being forcefully dragged down towards the group through a portal of swirling energy.
“IT’S WORKING!” Adelia yelled in relief.
“Just in time.” Izuku said, sighing pleased and watching the others as well closing their own fights.
With Adelia -
As the giant shadowy figure broke through the portal, Lorenz finally admitted defeat and crumpled to the ground unconscious and with various broken bones; Adelia then tied-up her old colleagues in conjured ropes and focused on the important matters, like her ticket to freedom from that world of madness about to crash-land in the middle of the city.
“Adelia-san!” Izuku and Ochako said in relief while joining her.
“Are you okay?” Ochako asked, worried at seeing the cuts and burn marks on Adelia’s clothes.
“It’s fine, I am okay. Just few bruises, nothing few healing spells can’t fix.” She answered with a gentle smile.
“Thank goodness.” Izuku answered with a sigh of relief, he also recovered Shiro and helped the Taotie wrap around his neck.
“Troublemakers dealt with.” Whitey declared, and pointing at the mount of half-naked groaning Villains piled in a corner.
“Good job!” Izuku said, making Shiro purr in pride and Whitey rub his head.
“So we only need to deal with that dragon and we can leave?” Ochako asked, hopeful.
“Yes. Obscurus, the Golden Drag-”
Endless darkness, endless night
A world anathema to light
All that's made can surely break
Only in dreams can we awaken
Sound and fury, heralds, horns
Cry for the one from nothing born
Now ichor leaks from broken hearts-
“Of course he too has a dramatic song introduction…” Izuku, Ochako and Adelia said in chorus with a loud groan of dismay.
The shadowy figure finally crash-landed in the middle of the city after a long fall, and once returned to its feet, the giant golden dragon gave a victorious roar and spread its giant wings wide, the maw of each of its three head opened wide and vomiting black flames intersperse of red evil lightning arches towards the sky.
In the middle of its chest there was a giant heart made of transparent black crystal hold in place by few fleshy tendrils similar to pulsing veins.
“Edgy song aside, here it is, the Heart of Darkness, we need to tear that thing off of the dragon’s chest before you can capture it as an Ingredient.” Adelia said, eyes narrowed, while studying the evil monster dragon.
“You know? That thing gives me a sense of deja-vu… As if I saw it somewhere else before…” Ochako admitted.
“Eh! Doesn’t ring any bells to me, instead.” Izuku answered, shrugging.
“RUN! IT'S KING GHIDORAH!” A Pedestrian yelled in horror while pointing at the dragon.
“It looks like King Ghidorah, but due to international copyright laws - it's not.” Another Pedestrian answered while pointing at the golden dragon.
“STILL, WE SHOULD RUN LIKE IT IS KING GHIDORAH!” The first said, still screaming in horror.
“Though it isn't.” The other replied, winking… Then both started screaming and ran away in terror.
“… Weirdos.” Izuku and Ochako said in chorus, sighing in dismay.
“GUUUUUAAAAAAOOOOOH!” The Golden Dragon roared in anger.
“He looks angry,” Ochako said, never dropping her guard.
“Evil people are constantly angry, come, we need to pull that gem at eye level!” Adelia said, riding her wooden staff and starting to fly high in the air.
“And us that don’t fly?” Ochako asked.
“We need to improvise!” Izuku answered.
“… This Esteemed Taotie understands.” Shiro answered, sighing.
With Adelia -
The woman was flying at high speed and pulling-off insane stunts to avoid being swallowed by the Dragon’s heads while pelting it in her strongest spells.
“Tch! And a bunch of teenagers were supposed to fight this! Really! As if Plot Armor was a thing in real life!” She cursed between clenched teeth as a fireball of black flames the size of a skyscraper flew past her and disintegrated one of the mountains surrounding the city.
“There goes Lorenz’ “Secret” Porn Stash, eh! Nothing of value was lost.” The woman chuckled.
“Still, I need to bring this thing to somewhere with a bit more room before he destroys the city.” Adelia said between clenched teeth,
“Nobody can defeat the great Demon Lord Obscurus! Nobody!…” The giant three-headed dragon said with a victorious roar… Then an Immense shadow went cast over Adelia, the Dragon and the entire city plus surrounding area around them.
“…” The three heads of Obscurus slowly turned around, and the majestic evil dragon, 521 feet tall (159 meters), found himself looking at his entire body’s reflection inside a single eye measuring almost twice his entire body size, accompanied by other seven equally big eyes all glaring at him, attached to the head of an abomination many, many, many times bigger than him. FAR BIGGER than him.
“Oh… So that is the true form of the Source of all Greed.” Adelia muttered while paling to chalk-white levels.
Shiro in the meantime gave a terrifying smirk with his too many teeth and gave birth to the scariest sound ever heard on that planet, a moment of sheer primordial fear for whoever heard it so intense that it will be spoken about in hushed tones in hundreds of legends for millennia to come…
“’Sup?”
“I...” The whimpering dragon tried saying.
“So you are a Lord, hn?” Taotie asked, all eight eyes narrowed.
“I-”
WHAAAAAAAM!
A mighty headbutt caught the dragon fully, momentarily flattening it on Shiro’s forehead like a mosquito on a car’s windshield before shooting the mighty monster far out of the city and through a mountain, this time destroying Kala’s own “secret Yaoi porn stash” and making the monster tumble on the ground heavily for many more meters.
“Thank you, Shiro-kun!” Izuku said with a wide smile.
“I almost forgot that for the Thing that sent you here Obscurus is just an item on a shopping list instead of a Demon Lord class Monster… Sure it ruins the mood a bit.” Adelia admitted while landing next to him and Ochako on top of Shiro’s head.
“Do you really care about that?” Ochako asked, curious.
“… Naaaaah!” The old lady thought about it for a solid minute, before shrugging and answering.
“Guaaaaaaooooh!” Finally, Obscurus recovered from the humiliating fly and returned to his feet, each head sporting a black eye already swelling and split lips.
“UNFORGIVABLEEEEEEEEEEEE!” The dragon roared as pure EVIL started converging inside his three mouths.
“Oh, no! Here comes!” Adelia yelled in alarm.
“I shall erase your very existence! Nobody will even remember you!” Obscurus screamed as the immense sphere of malice and hatred finished forming, one so big it almost matched Shiro’s height.
“Huhuhuhu! You really don’t know the world outside your precious little well, isn’t that right, Little Frog?” Shiro answered with a locking chuckle.
“SHUT-UP! ZETTA DARK EVIL ZETTA-FLAREZAZAGAGAZAGAZA!” The power of the stream of evil energy produced by that breath attack was immense!
It darkened the sky, engulfed Creation, disintegrated everything it touched, pulverized the very fabric of Reality, broke Time and Space, burned Nothingness itself and-
Chomp!
…
…
And Shiro simply opened his colossal mouth wide to show the bottomless void in it and swallowed the entire attack in an instant, just like that.
…
“Eh! 3 out of 10. Totally bad in taste, too bland.” The Ancestral Taotie said, smirking.
“…”
“Hahahaha! Adelia-san, please close your mouth, it’s not very ladylike to let it hang open like that.” Ochako said with a giggle once seen the shocked face of Adelia.
“Our dragon friend too doesn’t look like he was expecting this to happen,” Izuku added, chuckling.
“HOW?!” Obscurus demanded.
“Secret!” Shiro answered, winking with four eyes and sticking out his long bifurcated tongue.
“GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
“Well, I think it’s time to retaliate! Whitey?” Izuku said.
“Yes, Host?”
“Throw me at the dragon, aim at its chest.”
“UH?!” Both Ochaco and Adelia yelled in shock.
“Yes, Host.” Whitey answered, letting Izuku stand on one of his massive hands and cocking back.
“IZUKU! WAIT!” Ochaco yelled with wide eys.
“AAAAAND GOOOOO!” Izuku yelled with a wide smile.
“Yes!” Whitey answered, and with a powerful swing, Izuku went shot at Obscurus at impossible speed.
WOOOOOOSH!
The wind howled in Izuku’s ears, adrenaline filled his veins in fire and an excited smile finally crept on the young Chef’s face.
“Heavy…” He said, and his right arm swelled in size and got covered in red fur, turning into a perfect replica of the left arm of his Appetite Demon.
“Bodhi Pestle Gong!” Izuku finished saying when he finally reached the dragon and buried his punch deep into the Monster’s massive body, and the other watched a normal, human-sized teen boy punch a massive dragon so hard its entire massive body momentarily caved-in in the shape of a giant fist and then got fold in half.
BOOOM!
“GUAAAAAAAA!” The monster roared in agony, but then something could be seen travel upwards one of its three necks at high speed.
“Uh?” Izuku was still falling down from his flight, when Obscurus gave a heavy heave and puked-out a massive balls of vomit.
“Partner!” Shiro yelled, and a giant stream of black hair-like tendrils shoot out of his mouth to gently grab Izuku and delicately cradle him safely and take him back on top of his massive head.
“Are you crazy?!” Ochaco yelled, immediately checking on him as soon as Shiro’s tendrils deposited him next to her.
“I… I got carried away.” He admitted, looking down ashamed.
“You scared me for a bit.” Ochaco answered by sighing, then chuckling and punching his arm lightly.
“I actually did worse back in the days,” He admitted.
“Eeeeh… Why I am not surprised?” She answered, snorting in amusement and leaning her head on his shoulders.
“He definitely felt that.” Adelia admitted, watching Obscurus leaning on his massive wings to catch his breath. “I say that’s the opening we need to recover the Heart of Darkness. Let’s go!”
“AAAAARGH!” By the time Shiro took a singe step, somebody let out a roar of defiance and actually rolled out of the mountain of vomit
“… Did somebody crawl out from the Dragon’s vomit?” Izuku asked.
“So it seems.”
“He...Help!” The strange guy, a very tall humanoid lizard, called-out in agony.
“He is in pain!” Izuku yelled, and the Taotie hurried to bring them all close to him.
Descending from Shiro’s head, they all hurried at the giant lizardman side, he was a towering being with a muscular build similar to a human, with a slightly elongated neck and a long tail and his entire body covered in deep blue lustrous scales.
“What’s wrong with him?” Ochaco asked.
“I don’t know!” Adelia answered.
“I… I need that monster’s meat… To heal…” The Lizardman groaned in pain, uncaring of his scales smoking from the Dragon’s stomach’s acids.
“Uh?”
“I was… Poisoned by his bite… I need… His meat to counter it!” The poor guy said.
“Really?” Izuku asked.
“It does check out, there are notions of Obscurus’ bite being extremely poisonous, so I do believe he is telling the truth.” Adelia answered.
“Then we will help him.” Izuku answered.
“Yes!” Ochaco answered, nodding.
“You… Who are you…” The Lizardman asked, panting.
“My name is Izuku, nice to meet you.” He answered, smiling gently.
“You… Are… A deity?”
“What?”
“I can feel… The Aura of Divinity… You are…”
“Later, once done with this dragon.” Izuku answered.
“You… Accursed…” Obscurus growled in hatred, looking down at them and trying to get back on his feet.
“Keep him down!” Izuku ordered.
“Yes!” Both Whitey and Shiro answered, the Taotie stomping down on two of Obscurus’ necks while Whitey actually managed to hold down the last remaining head himself,
“CHAINS OF TITAN!” Adelia yelled, slamming her wooden staff down and summoning from under her thousands of thick magical chains that wrapped around the Dragon’s three mouth forcing them close.
“GO!” She then said.
“Together!” Izuku said, grabbing Ochaco’s hand and pulling her along.
“Yes!” She answered, using her Quirk to float both up to the black crystal heart on the Dragon’s chest.
“OOOOOUUUUUH!” The mouth-gagged Obscurus released a muffled roar and tried to shake free.
“HU-HURRY!” Adelia yelled, sweating heavily to keep the chains wrapped tightly.
“I cut and you pull okay?” Izuku said.
“Okay!” Ochacho answered.
Both Teens were holding onto the giant black crystal heart, Izuku using the Dragon Knife to cut away the tendrils and flesh holding onto the crystal and Ochaco planting both feet on Obscurus’ body and pulling back, using her mutated Quirk to make herself heavier and Enbu to increase her strength.
“I’ll… Help!” The Lizardman yelled, joining Ochaco in pulling the Crystal Heart away, even if looking a step away from death.
“NOOOOO!” Obscurus bellowed in horror as he felt the Heart of Shadow slowly being torn away, until, with a loud wet sound, the two humans and one Lizardman managed to tear off the giant crystal in a shower of luminous blood shining in the sun like liquid metal.
In its rage, Obscurus managed to snap the chains holding his mouths closed and immediately moved to blast them all in black flames.
“DON’T YOU DARE!” The Lizardman answered by punching the head held by Whitey so hard the head snapped back with enough strength that for an instant it looked about to be torn away from the neck, then the beast’s middle head collapsed unconscious on the ground with a loud bang.
“You other two go to sleep as well now!” Shiro stomped on the other two heads at the same time as well, finally knocking out Obscurus for good.
“… Still alive?” Izuku asked.
“Alive… Boss… Just… Un-Unconscious…” The Lizardman answered, collapsing on his knees.
“NO!”
“I’ll use part of the dragon for my Healing Cuisine! You send away the two Crystal Hearts in the meantime!” Izuku answered, already carving out a big chunk of meat from Obscurus’ massive legs and starting to prepare it for cooking.
“Okay! I’ll use a fire spell to give you something to cook on before banishing the Hearts, you save our new friend!” Adelia answered, letting a fireball big as a watermelon float next to Izuku.
One Hour later -
The lizardman was finishing the third serving of Golden Dragon stew, with Phoenix eggs and Bone Carrot, when he gave a loud belch that released a thick green cloud of dust from his mouth.
“Aaah! I must apologize for the burp! But at least the burning under my skin stopped, I think I am finally healing!” He said with a wide smile.
“Should take a couple days for you to flush-out the toxins, but at least you are alive.” Izuku answered, sighing in relief.
“Thank you, I owe you all my life.”
“Why were you inside Obscurus’ stomach?” Ochaco asked.
“Eh! That is a long story, but I’ll give a fast rundown…” The Lizardman said.
“My name is Goro-Gororo, that in my Language means ‘Sea of Fire’, because the night I was born a Volcano in the island next to ours erupted violently… So, following an ancient tradition, my father took it as a sign that I was destined to be an exceptionally strong warrior. It turns out that it was actually true as by the time I was a ‘Teenager’, I was already the strongest warrior in our tribe by far. Soon after I reached Maturity Slave Traders happened, and I got captured and sold as a slave for a poncy Aristocrat….” He answered.
“Ookay?”
“The guy was a rich idiot, so whenever I was not fighting for him in underground arenas in illegal fights to death, I would sneak out to learn more about the Universe thanks to the man’s massive collection of books, since I wanted to learn enough to escape and survive by myself, I discovered I had a knack as a scholar and in the ten years I spent with him I went from being a Tribesman to be what many would call an educated gentleman. After that I escaped and joined some wondering monks that gave me a formal education, with an actual method… And one of them actually told me about you.”
“Me?” Izuku asked, confused.
“Great Elder Xunu gave me a Prophecy, that a “God of Green” was tightly tied to my Destiny, and that I was destined to walk besides them towards a great future. My race is very Spiritually Aware, and while I can’t use Magic like a proper Warlock, I can still use it as a raw source of power to Strengthen myself, so I can tell your Aura is one of a Budding God on the path of Ascension… And… EH! You have green eyes, green hair and green clothes. So…” Goro answered, smirking.
“And the Dragon?” Izuku asked.
“That thing one day attacked the city I was in while looking for you, or anybody matching the vague description I was given. I fought that beast for three days and three nights, until he managed to bite my tail and poison me, he then used that moment of distraction of swallowing me whole. I was too weak to break free, but I noticed that eating his meat raw gave me respite from the poisoning… Then he got sealed away, and me with him, until you all freed him from his prison, and me from him.”
“Glad to be of help.” Ochaco answered, petting the once again tiny Shiro sleeping on her lap.
“So you are convinced I am this God of Green you are destined to follow?” Izuku asked.
“I am not really a superstitious man. Not anymore at least. But the Coincidences of YOU having the power to save me with the same meat I could only use to momentarily stave-off the poison, having the Soul Aura of a future God and having green eyes and hair does pile-up in a rather convincing way. And even then, you saved my life, my honor wouldn’t let me rest if I don’t repay you, even if you weren’t matching the “prophecy” I was given.” Goro answered, shrugging helpless.
“It seems to me that he too will join you, Izuku!” Adelia, looking very pleased at having finished banishing both Hearts back where they belonged, said with a wide smile.
“Please?” Goro begged, pulling-off a surprisingly-good puppy-eyed look no matter his being a muscular Lizardman two-meters-and-a-half tall and with big enough biceps to shame All Might.
“I would like to, but…”
“Host? Since you actually managed to capture the Golden Dragon alive, the special Prize will be unlocked.” The System said while a giant portal opened under Obscurus to add it to the Restaurant’s Storage Island with the other Ingredients.
By the way, Obscurus will soon be bullied into total submission by every other Ingredient there, but that is not important.
“Special Prize?” Izuku thought with wide eyes.
“What is he doing?” Goro whispered.
“Probably talking with the Entity of Taste, his Sponsor.” Adelia answered, sighing.
“He is the Champion of Mahal’ndu’nur?!” Goro shrieked with wide eyes.
“Yeeeep!” she answered with a long sigh.
“Oh, Ancestors…”
“Host, as a prize for capturing the Golden Dragon alive, you will be able to open a second Restaurant. You are thus required to find: A manager, a Maitre, Sous Chefs you will train and that will cook in your place whenever you are not present in the second Restaurant, two waiters and a security staff member to work along the second Whitey.” System answered, making Izuku’s eyes bulge out.
“Oh God…” Izuku muttered in dismay.
“What is happening?” Ochaco asked.
“I can open a second Restaurant with the same workings of my own… But I need the staff…” Izuku answered, groaning.
“Uhm! I can take care of the managerial work for both no problem. What else do you need?” Adelia said.
“Somebody to take care of Security and manage the main room of the second Restaurant as a Maitre-”
“I CAN DO THAT! ME AND SUI CAN DO BOTH!” Goro said immediately.
“Eh? Sui?”
Goro gave a long musical whistle and several tiny drops of slimy blue goo surfaced from under his scales and converged into a ball of slime the size of a watermelon.
“This is my companion. Sui the slime. Come on, say Hi to our new Master.”
“Hello, Master!” The small ball of translucent slime talked with a child voice and waved at them with a tiny stumpy arm that then melted back into his slimy body.
“Aaaw! So cute!” Ochaco said, gushing.
“Tch!” Shiro instead was not amused.
“You can be the Maitre too?” Izuku asked, unsure.
“I learn fast! Very fast! I will learn what I need to do! And me and Sui will also double as Security staff! Sui is very strong, don’t be fooled by his cutesy appearances!” Goro explained, smirking prideful.
“I will help him study.” Adelia reassured them.
“And what about…” Ochaco asked.
“Oh! I am naked just because that beast digested my armor! I will wear whatever uniform you will ask me to!” Goro answered, chuckling.
“Both Goro and Sui are acceptable security staff. Goro is also an acceptable candidate as the Maitre. Adelia is a perfect candidate for the Managerial position. Good Job, Host! You only lack Sous Chefs and Waiters now. Congratulations!” The System said with a victory jingle.
“Well, thanks to you I am half-way there… I have an idea for the sous Chefs, but the waiters?”
“If Host wants, The System is willing to offer a suggestion, as an incentive for the Host’s good behavior.” The Entity answered.
“I am all ears!” The young Chef answered, almost begging.
The Next Day – Izuku and Ochako’s Home world – Police Force HQ -
Tsukauchi was nursing a new cup of coffee, this one from Izuku’s Restaurant, for his joy, when he saw his new headache walk through the doors of the PF Headquarters with a scowl already in place on his face.
“… Why Motoyasu The Ogre is here?” An agent nearby muttered in dread.
Motoyasu ‘The Ogre’ Akeno was, for many, the most feared lawyer in all of Japan; a monster usually laying waste in court even in front of the most desperate lawsuits, many were secretly convinced that Motoyasu could save your ass from prison even if a million people saw you murder somebody in cold blood in broad daylight.
“Good morning. Are you Detective Tsukauchi?” The lawyer said, presenting his business card with impeccable manners.
“That’s me. Good morning.” The Detective answered, accepting the small card while looking all the way up to meet the face of the four meters tall lawyer.
The man looked like the stereotypical Japanese middle-aged business man, balding head and squared glasses comprised, but his Quirk gave him absurd height and a faintly red skin, helping the man gain his fearsome nickname during his long career.
“I am here on behalf of the Yaoyorozu family. Can we talk?”
“… Yes?” Tsukauchi answered, feeling a cold shiver travel up his spine.
“I have been asked by dear young Momo to help her future husband to recover two wayward Vigilantes and have them work in his upcoming second Restaurant as Waiters. I believe we can change their rather excessive sentence to Tartarus for Vigilantism into Community Service and Rehabilitation programs.” The lawyer said with a smirk, as if his was not a theoretical outcome, but a full-blown description of how things will go.
“… Please get in my office so we can talk more about this.” And Tsukauchi was almost certain that that will be how things will actually go, with that man acting as Lawyer for La Brava and Gentle.
“Yes, please. Your superiors will join us too. I took the liberty of alerting them myself, please forgive my boldness.” The Ogre answered, smile turning even more evil.
“No offense taken…” Tsukauchi just gave a sigh of defeat and nodded, and wished Izuku actually sold his coffee in buckets instead of paper cups, because he felt he was going to need much more of it to survive that accursed meeting.
Meanwhile – Inoshiki Academy – Rector Office -
Yamato was looking at the latest update on the school results of five very gifted students, the Five Kings, nodding pleased at every turn of the page of the thick manila folder in her hands.
“Once again you exceeded my expectations, Mako. You especially have once again kept your streak of perfect grades ongoing.” She said, humming pleased.
“Thank you, Rector Yamato.” The Soup King answered with a bow and a grateful tone.
“And you other Kings too have held high the level of proficiency I expect you all to keep as the current formation of the Five Kings.” Yamato then said.
“Thank you, Rector Yamato!” Toshio, Sadao, Michiko and Sana, the girl taking the place of the previous Vegetable King, answered as one with a voice full of gratitude for the praise.
“Now, the reason I called you all here is because soon all of you will be asked to find a Restaurant to work in as an Intern. Mako, as your senpai, will explain to you the finer details since this will be her second year doing this. But the thing is fairly simple: you will work as an Intern inside a Restaurant to learn how the job actually works in real life, and at the end of the year-long Internship, you will be required to write an essay talking about it and the experience you gained during that time. We of Inoshiki and the chosen Restaurant, together with you, will decide if you will work there during the mornings or the evenings, and your timetables for the normal school lessons will be adjusted accordingly. I expect you all to give 110% and act proper, work diligently and do NOT bring shame to us or the Restaurant that will generously let you join their staff.” Yamato explained.
“Of course, Rector Yamato!” The Kings answered in chorus.
“Good! DO a good job and the Restaurant you worked in may even decide to offer you a job there once you graduate, like many of our former students can attest, many of which are still working for world-renowned Restaurant all over the globe.” Yamato added, looking at the five of them in pride.
“We won’t disappoint you, Madam Yamato!” Mako promised.
“Good! I have here a small list of Restaurant I will help you peruse, I made sure neither Samui or his ilk have their hands on them, just in case my former friend is still going psycho still for his overblown crusade. You five helped foil one of his plans, so I don’t trust that full not to be petty enough to take revenge on you too.” Yamato said, sighing.
“Thank you, Rector Yamato.” Toshio answered, sighing.
“Unfortunately the more a man has reach, the more frail their ego become. Let’s start with Rest-”
Driiiiiiin!
“Pardon me, I thought I had my phone turned off… Oh!” Yamato apologized, then her name fell on the number and she grew extremely surprised.
“Why would he call me himself?… Hello?” She muttered, picking-up the call.
“…” The Five Kings watched the old woman eyes grow very wide.
“I’ll put you on speaker, please repeat what you asked me.” She said, showing a wide smile.
“Hello? Yes, this is Izuku talking. I was wondering if your Five Kings were interested in working in turns with me in my second Restaurant. Your school has an Internship program, yes?” Izuku’s voice came from the phone, shocking the students.
“I am in!” Toshio, very elegantly, grabbed the his copy of the Restaurants’ list and with a smirk he tossed it into the trashcan.
“Me as well.” Mako didn’t throw hers away, she merely tossed it behind her back.
“… We are in!” Sadao and Michiko said in chorus once looked in each other’s eyes for barely few seconds.
“T-T-The same guy that defeated all of them and the teachers and you, Madam Rector?” Sana asked.
“The very same.” Yamato answered, chuckling.
“Sorry about that.” Izuku added, sounding sheepish.
“Ca-Can I accept too? You didn’t fight me, but I swear I am good too!” She said.
“I would be honored to have you as part of my staff, Miss?”
“Sana! I am Moroboshi Sana, Midoriya-san!” Sana answered immediately with a very formal tone.
“You have a lovely name, Sana-san. Then I guess all five accepted?” Izuku asked, surprised.
“Yes!” The Kings answered in chorus, four of them smirking in satisfaction, while Sana only nodded meekly.
“Eh… This makes things easier for me then.” Izuku admitted.
“Then I guess we’ll need to meet for all the paperwork of the case and to decide who of them will help you in the morning and who in the evenings.” Yamato said.
“Fine to me. Is tomorrow good enough for you? Next week the second Restaurant will be ready to open, so I wish to finalize things as soon as possible.”
“Tomorrow is perfect, Mister Midoriya, I’ll wait for your visit together with the Kings.” Yamato answered, pleased.
“Good! Thank you, Yamato-san!”
“A small question, if you can.”
“Yes?”
“What is the name of the second Restaurant?”
“Oh! Since I am opening it in the ‘Fancy’ part of the city, contrary to the more “Informal” Gourmet Street, I went for a more elegant design and name. The Restaurant will be called “Green Gourmet Garden”, to make it more elegant.” Izuku answered.
“By Fancy part of the city you mean…” Yamato asked slowly.
“Tato~uīn Avenue. Why?” Izuku asked, confused.
“WHA?!” Sadao gurgled-out.
“How. In God’s green Earth. Did you manage to open a Restaurant there?” Yamato asked, incredulous.
“My Sponsor has a very long reach, Yamato-san.” Izuku answered, chuckling.
“A Godly reach, Izuku…” Yamato answered, sighing, and groaning loudly at hearing the young Chef chuckle.
“He opens a Restaurant in the Filthy Rich part of town, and he act as if he had just opened a McDonald down the street…” Mako muttered with a groan.
“Oh! I am definitely working hard to get a full-time job! There are the greatest Restaurants this half of Japan there! Working there means being a step-in in becoming a cooking legend!” Toshio said with shiny eyes while rubbing his hands.
“You know what? I am not even as surprised as I should be… Just come here tomorrow, so we can finalize this madness.” Yamato said with a groan.
“Thank you! Have a nice day, Yamato-san!”
“Yes… You too…” Yamato answered with a sigh of sufferance, then closing the call.
Ping! Ping!
“Oh! He even sent pictures of the interior… How mice of him…” Yamato muttered in sarcasm, even if even she had to admit that the inside of the Restaurant looked damn fine.
She once again wondered who the hell was Izuku’s sponsor to throw money that easily into the creation of a Restaurant… And if maybe she too should consider sending her C.V to the young Monster Chef…
Entrance.
Room 1
Room 2
Omake Time!
Inter-dimensional Ingredient Hunt:
Clans’ secret delights!
Battleground -
A man with shaved blond hair was gasping for breath after an intense battle, his entire being smoking like a steam engine while cooling-down from the intense fight he just had.
“You… Asshole… Why you didn’t tell me this will kill you?” He asked to nobody as he was alone.
“Eh! You wouldn’t have used Baryon Mode otherwise. And we needed that to win.” A deep, but extremely weak voice answered inside his head.
“Kurama…”
“Don’t get mushy with me. Let me die with dignity, without tears… Please.” The voice answered, sniffling.
“You are crying yourself, damn hypocrite.” He answered, chuckling weakly as tears started flowing down his eyes.
“Shut-up.” The other answered, choking a bit.
“How long before…” He had not the strength to ask.
“Couple minutes at best. I can feel it.” Kurama answered, his voice growing weaker.
“No…”
Too son, I know. Sorry.”
“What if-”
“I used all myself as fuel. Unless you can pull a miracle out of your ass, this is inevitable. It’s okay.”
“NO, IT ISN’T!” He screamed, pain overcoming him.
“Hey, it’s okay. You are no longer alone, and neither I am. I am fione dying like this.”
“Well, I am not!” The blond man yelled, choking.
“Come on, let’s just spend the last minutes I have left in peace instead of arguing.” Kurama said, trying to cheer-up his friend.
“O-Okay!”
“If only we had some sake… I wouldn’t mind a last drink.”
“Ramen would be nice too…” He answered, his chuckle ruined by his tears.
“Seriously. Where do you-”
“Hello? Are you okay, sir?” It was then that a young man dressed like a Chef and holding in his hand a big dish of smoking-hot ramen walked towards them.
“… Is this a joke?” Kurama asked, incredulous.
“Uuuuh…” The blond man eloquently answered while moving on a sitting position.
“I ask if you are okay, you look to be starving.” Izuku said, putting the steaming plate in front of the blond warrior.
“Here, you can have my lunch.” He then said.
“I am not really-”
GROOOOOOOOOOOH!
“Oh, my God…” Kurama face-palmed in despair.
“Okay, maybe I am a bit hungry.”
“You are ruining my dramatic death scene, Naruto.” Kurama said with a groan.
“SORRY!”
“… Who are you talking with?” Izuku asked.
“It’s a… A very long story.” he admitted.
“You can tell me if you want! But eat something first, Ramen is good if eaten warm.” Izuku answered, smiling gently.
“I don’t really feel like it…”
“A last meal between us, it’s not Sake, but I will still treasure the memory.” Kurama said with a sad chuckle.
“Maybe a bite then…” Naruto said with a similar sad smile.
“Of course.” Izuku answered.
The blond man snapped free the chopsticks and gave a silent thanks for the food, before giving a tentative taste, trusting the curious stranger thanks to his sixth sense telling him Izuku was not a threat.
“...SLUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURP!” The “just a bite” became a single continuous suction that emptied the dish in barely few seconds, broth included.
“HOOOOOLY CRAP! This is amazing! The eggs are damn tasty, the broth feels like heaven and the meat and mushrooms are so tender and flavorful! I could eat this forever!” The blond man said with a wide happy smile while licking the dish clean.
“Hahahahaha! Now I recognize y...EH?!” Kurama started saying before an intense feeling of heat started mounting in his chest.
“UH?!”
“I am glad you liked it. Any second later and I wouldn’t have been able to save your friend!” Izuku said in relief.
“What are talking ab-”
ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!
A towering explosion of red energy surged upward like a majestic pillar, all under the amused eyes of Izuku and Nejire that watched the event unfold in great amusement.
Later that day – Konoha Village – Ichiraku Ramen Restaurant -
“I can’t fucking believe it… Saved by some goddamn ramen… This is almost humiliating…” Kurama muttered in shock, all the while swarmed by his brothers and sisters in the common area inside his host, all is sibling were similar giant monsters like him.
“I don’t give a crap! What’s important is that you are alive, you damn bastard!” The giant bull with octopus tentacles answered while trapping Kurama’s head under his buff arm to give the giant fox a nookie.
“STOOOOOP! My dignity! Noooooo!” The trapped fox yelled, for the amusement of his siblings.
Meanwhile outside, in the real world, Izuku and Nejire were helping the owners of the ramen restaurant while they explained the reason for their visit.
“So you are traveling the world to become a great Chef? That’s a very curious goal!” Naruto said.
“Eeeeh! Nothing can’t be gained without had work,” He answered.
“WELL SAID!” one of the blond man’s friend answered with a thumbs-up.
“Not so loud, Lee.”
“Sorry, Tenten!”
“And what brings you here in Konoha?” One of them asked with a very slow, lazy tone.
“Make it simple, otherwise Shika will fall asleep!”
“Stuff it, Kiba.”
“Guys, be nice!” Two girls said.
“Sorry, Hinata/Hanabi-san!” The two answered in chorus.
“Please forgive them.” A guy with a big hood said, shaking his head.
“It’s okay, Shino-san! Actually, you all being here could technically help me.” Izuku answered.
“Help you? How?”
“Icchan needs to learn a couple Secret Dishes to complete his current assignment.” Nejire answered, chuckling.
“Secret dishes? Such a thing exist?” Another girl asked.
“Apparently.”
“And what are those dishes?” A kid asked.
“Be gentle, Himawari.” Naruo said, chuckling.
“Sorry, dad!”
“It’s okay, don’t worry! I need to learn how to make: Shadow-Speared Venison Kebab.” Izuku listed, counting on his fingers.
SNAP! The chopsticks held by the lazy guy snapped in two as he clenched his hand hard.
“Shika?” The guy’s chubby firend asked, shocked.
“Inuzuka Feral Steak Stew.” Izuku kept saying.
“GRRRRRRRRRR!” The feral-looking guy of the group and his giant dog companion growled loudly as one.
“Guys?” Naruto asked, confused.
“Honey-glazed Pork buns.” Unaware, or straight-up uncaring, Izuku kept listing dishes while counting on his fingers.
“… You are not supposed to know about our honey…” Shino muttered with a thick halo of buzzing furious bugs enveloped him.
“Uuuh… What is happening, Sakura?” The blond man asked.
“Like hell I know!” She answered, she too finding the entire situation absurd.
“Clay-cooked Pork and Flambe Duck…”
The chubby guy snarled like a beast while the dark-looking guy with a cloak’s eyes turned red and spinny.
“Chogi? Sasuke?”
“You others are far too angry.” Hinata said.
“AH! And Brothy Clams with sake broth, Hyuga style! I almost forgot that one!” Izuku said with a wide smile.
“YOU SHALL DIE!” Hinata and Hanabi yelled with the veins of their eyes bulging-out.
“HONEY/MOM!?” Naruto and his two kids yelled in chorus, shocked.
“It seems like these guys and their Clans have secret dishes alright!” Nejire said, chuckling, and looking at all of them with a knowing smirk.
“So it seems.” Izuku answered, unfazed.
“Guys… Calm down…” Naruto and Sakura begged.
“You don’t understand! Those are Clan Secrets! He shouldn’t even know they exist!” Kiba answered, still glaring at Izuku.
“But they are just dishes! Just food!” Sakura said with a groan.
“Dishes made with secret techniques related to our Clan’s bloodlines. Ergo, legally a secret too.” Shino answered, coldly.
“Sometimes I wonder why Clans have this insatiable need to have a dick-measuring contest between themselves about everything.” Naruto admitted.
“For the same reason we had to stop having Poker Night. They don’t like to lose to any member of another Clan.” Lee answered, sighing.
“STFU!” All the others yelled as one in answer.
“So I can’t learn those recipes”? Izuku asked.
“NO!”
“… What? Afraid I will find flaws in them and make them better?” He asked, smirking.
“Oooh! He will prey on their Ego. Very smart, Icchan!” Nejire thought in amusement.
“You? Improve My Clan’s dish? Preposterous.” Sasuke answered, sneering.
“Let’s put it to the test then, shall we? I will Challenge your Clans best Chefs, if I win, you will share your dishes recipes.”
“NO!”
“… Really? Are you really that afraid?” Nejire asked, mockingly.
“Tell you what, let’s make it interesting. I will be blindfolded, and taste those dishes. If I can tell exactly every single Ingredient used, without a single mistake, you will share the recipe.” Izuku said.
“Oooh!” The way both Sarada and Himawari looked at him made Izuku’s brain start warming-up the ‘psycho girl chase’ alarm bell.
“So you want to lose? Our recipe only is not that simple you will be able to tell!” Choji said, smirking.
“Same for ours.” Shino added.
“Or ours!” Hanabi answered with an almost fanatical fervor.
“If you are so sure of winning, you won’t be afraid of doing this, yes?” Izuku asked, smirking.
“OH! IT’S ON, BUDDY!” Kiba roared in answer.
The Next Day – Main Square -
The Various Clan Heads, Heirs and Chefs were all meeting in the wide park where a still confused Naruto had prepared a table for the Blindfolded Izuku to sit at, even Nejire was blindfolded.
“Honestly, our dish alone uses over fifty different spices. He won’t be able to tell all of them apart.” Kiba’s mother said, shaking her head.
“What did he bet in case he loses?” Kiba’s sister asked.
“He will stop cooking forever. I am told that for a Chef that is a very heavy price to pay.” Kiba answered.
“I am ready!” Izuku said.
“Hehehehe! Me first, boy! Let’s see how good you are.” The Chef of the Akimichi Clan said with a booming laugh while slamming an entire cooked pig in front of Izuku.
“… Hmmmm! Coriander! That a very nice first smell to feel!” Izuku said with a wide smile before starting to write down Ingredients on a notebook, even before actually tasting it.
“...EH?!” The poor Chef gurgled-out in horror.
“HE HASN’T EVEN TASTED IT YET!” Choji shrieked while watching the blindfolded young Chef list all the Ingredients correctly, half of which by nose alone.
“AH! As expected! Uncouth recipes are of course inferior and easier to decipher compared to more refined tastes like ours!” Hinata’s father boasted with a wide smirk.
“SHUT UP!”
“Oooh! Very tasty!” Nejire admitted while eating.
“Yes, the clay they used is very rich in minerals, it adds more body compared to normal clay!” Izuku added.
“… It’s clay from a mountain river, isn’t it? Very close to the mountaintops.”
“You even guessed the clay type… The fuck are you!?” The Akimichi Chef answered, before erupting into loud sobs while taking away the empty plate.
“Next!” Nejire said with a wide smirk.
“I have a bad feeling about this…” Shino muttered, shivering.
“He can’t win. He can’t guess them all right.” Sasuke answered.
“He is so cool…”
“Goddamn Chef.” Boruto hissed in anger at seeing Sarada looking at Izuku with far too much admiration.
Dish after Dish, Izuku tasted and wrote down the Ingredients of them all, with each Clan Head recovering their Ingredients’ list and secretly checking with their Clansì Chefs if he got all of them right.
“So? Did Icchan guess them right?” Nejire asked.
“… He guessed them all… 100% right…” The Nara Clan Chef admitted with a bitter tone, behind him the Akimichi Clan Chef was still crying and howling in despair.
“Then I guess you will share the recipes then?” She asked.
“…”
“Oh! Really!? Ninja really play dirty!” Nejire said, looking at all of them in disappointment.
“Listen, it’s nothing personal… Just… Try to understand it from our point of view…” Choji tired saying, at least sounding ashamed.
“Tch! Sore losers!” Nejire answered, making the others flinch.
“Don’t worry, Nejire-chan! It’s okay,” Izuku said with a reassuring smile.
“But, your mission…” She said.
“I don’t need them to give me the recipes, I figure them out myself.” He answered, tying again the blindfold around his head.
“...EH?!” The others shrieked.
“Let’s start!” Izuku said, summoning the Star-Eating Turtle Wok from his tattoo and igniting the fire under it.
“First! Nara Style Deer Venison Kebab!” Izuku declared, summoning some pristine cuts of venison meat right in his hand and starting to prep them.
“Guh?! Just by tasting? BLINDFOLDED?!” Shikamaru yelled.
To be fair, “Blind Cooking” and “Taste-and-Remake” had been two different Challenges during two different Cooking Festivals Izuku took part to as Zaus. He just fused the two together to do cook those dishes.
“Hmm. Bit more pepper…” He said, going through the recipe he guessed was the right one, and then improving on it.
“Please tell me…”
“No, he is doing it right, sans the Sadow Sewing Jutsu, but everything else is right. But he is adding variations.” The Nara Clan Chef said.
“Ah, yes, I am kind of improving them, rounding some rough edges.” Izuku answered, smiling gently.
“BOOOO-OOOOOH!” The Nara Chef started crying in shame.
“DON’T LOOK! DON’T you dare look!” Shikamaru moved in front of Izuku with blood-shot eyes.
“Done with this, I will prepare the others too!” Izuku declared, smirking.
“NUUUUOOOOOOOOO!”
Few hours later -
“Ready!” Izuku declared happily.
Venison Kebab Nara Style, Improved Version.
Inuzuka Style Beef (steak) Stew, Improved Version.
Uchiha Style Flambe Duck, I. V.
Akimichi Style Clay-cooked Pork (tenderloin), I. V.
Hyuga Style Asari no Sakamushi (Sake Steamed Clam), I.V
“Just few minor tweaks, to bring-out the best flavor of every component! Come on, try them!”
“There is no way he made it just like the original and then improved on it, just by tasting it…” Kiba muttered in dread.
“No amount of skills can make you do that.” Shino added, shivering.
“Well, bottoms-up!” Chouji said, downing his plate of prk in just few gulps.
Munch! Munch! Munch!
Many mouths chewed and tasted carefully, and at every chew, their eyes grew wider and wider.
“Yep! I like these dishes, goot variations of recipes I already knew. Very tasty.”
Izuku said, smiling pleased.
“The meat is soooooo tender! You are the best, Icchan!” Nejire answered, happily gorging herself.
Meanwhile though…
“Okay, this is not good...What now?” Kiba asked.
“Like hell I know! He did improve it!” His mother answered, unsure.
“Should we… forcefully add him to the Inuzuka Clan? To keep everything in the family?” Kiba asked.
“Isn’t that a bit extreme?” His mother countered.
“Maybe, but that would mean eat this well everyday! Imagine his BBQs!”
“… True…”
“What? Yes, I find him handsome, but…” Kiba’s sister stuttered.
“Take one for the Clan, come on!” Their mother asked.
“Oh, FINE!”
At the same time -
“He did it. Blindfolded and just by tasting, and he was damn skilled too!” Chocho, Chouji’s daughter, muttered in awe.
“Hey!” Sarada said.
“Yes?” She asked with narrowed eyes.
“Want to join forces? We’ll share him between us!” She offered.
“DEAL!”
“UH?!” Their parents, and Boruto, gurgled as one in horror.
“Over my dead body!” Sasuke roared.
“Hinata! Let me borrow Himawari! We must protect the Hyuga Clan Secrets!” Hanabi ordered with blazing eyes.
“You what?!”
“I am okay with that, mom! He was very cool.” The young girl admitted with a rosy blush.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Naruto howled to the sky in despair at seeing his precious daughter discover boys.
“I should have a cute cousin or two I can use…” Shino muttered.
“Not so fast,” Shikamaru countered with a sidelong glare.
“Guys!” Tenten said.
“Yes?”
“He already left, he is running away.” Tenten said while jamming her thumbs towards the two tiny dots in the horizon that were Izuku and Nejire mid-daring-escape.
“… CATCH HIIIIM!”
With Izuku and Nejire -
“ONE DAY! ONE DAY I KNOW I WON’T HAVE TO RUN AWAY LIKE THIS FROM A SORTIE! I JUST KNOW IT!” Izuku screamed while running.
“I dream from that day to arrive!” Nejire answered, looking back and seeing those people already catching up on them, and not one of them looked happy.
“CRAP! FASTER, THEY ARE CATCHING UP!” She yelled in horror, and taing flying with her Quirk to gain speed, and actually taking Izuku along to escape.
“SYSTEEEEEEEEM!” Both yelled, soon disappearing in a flash of golden light.
“Fan out! Find them!”
Meanwhile – Halls of Mischief -
There was fire and destruction everywhere, a complete disaster with floors destroyed, furniture reduced to splinters and paintings and chandeliers brutally torn apart; many people in garish clothes were sprayed everywhere unconscious, having been clearly beaten black-and-blue.
“Talk.” The System said.
“WE KNOW NOTHING! I SWEAR WE KNOW NOTHING! WE HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!” The only guy remaining still conscious, sporting two black eyes, answered with a frantic scream of horror.
“Something is trying to make The System look like a fool. We are not the Toy of some God of Mischief.”
“Nobody of us did anything! I swear! Not even we joke around with a Candidate of yours! We are Gods of Mischief, not Gods of Stupidity!” Poor Loki answered, crying.
“Then who did it?”
“I DON’T KNOW! I SWEAR!”
“Fine. The System will look elsewhere.” The Entity answered, throwing the guy behind it’s indescribably formless body and left the ruins of yet another pantheon behind.
The hunt was still on.
The System will find the culprit.
And the System will kill it. Painfully.
End of the Chapter -
What is a "Maitre" in a Restaurant:
In a restaurant, the maître d' is responsible for greeting guests, seating them, and taking care of their needs during their dining experience, taking care of directing the waiters, take reservations, it may also be required to know about waiting skills. knowledge of table service and menu items. double as barista (coffee-making skills) and possess wine knowledge.... Among other things.
Finally done with the Magical girl sortie! Hopefully it wasn’t too much for you others.
I apologize if it was.
Soon I will post the first Chapoter of the story that will take the place of this one once “Reincarnated Chef” will be over.
SO!
As you saw, a second restaurant is about to open. The 5 Kings returned, and three new “Oh My God!” OP characters join the Staff of Izuku’s Restaurant!
Goro the Lizardman.
Adelia the Witch.
Sui the adorable squishy Slime.
Very fruitful sortie, all things considered!
Thank you all so much for reading!
And for all the amazing Kudos and Reviews you leave. I love you guys!
Now, since it helps the views, I will add some gratuitous Fanservice to my story!
Sexy Goro! (lol)
On a more serious tone:
Goro.
Sui the Slime.
Adelia the Witch. (just a tiny bit older)
Thank you all so much for reading this chapter and for continuing to support me.
It means a lot to me.
Thank you.
Chapter 29: New Restaurant, New Troublemakers, Same Troubles.
Summary:
Intermediary chapter before the "Jun Sato Arc" and introduction to Izuku's new Restaurant and Staff Members.
Notes:
(I will add more pictures to this at a later date)
I don’t really like writing “Intermediary Chapters” separating Arcs, I am always afraid of not making them properly.
Still, it was needed to separated a Sortie from the next ARC against a friend of Samui.
Next chapter will start the Arc against Jun Sato and her Restaurant on the sea.
Thank you all so much for reading and support my story, have a wonderful day.
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
Chapter Text
Chapter 29: New Restaurant, New Troublemakers, Same Troubles.
Tato-Uin Avenue – Green Gourmet Garden Restaurant -
There was a middle-aged woman with far too much make-up over her wrinkly face and wearing an expensive, and ugly, pink tailleur a few sizes too small wrapped around her misshapen body making her look like a walking sausage; she had just walked out of the elevator that brought her to the top floor of a tall building, the floor with an outside garden giving to the people eating there a free view of the entire city.
Her high heels clacked heavily on the marble of the corridor separating the elevator from the entrance of a brand-new Restaurant that had just opened and was about to start the inauguration party, as she walked she left behind herself a thick trail of expensive cologne that made air impossible to breathe for a couple seconds before dissipating, as if she used an entire bucket to spray herself.
The woman was the owner of the restaurant right at the bottom of the building, and she felt robbed because whoever sponsored the new local at the top got the place before her and actually bought the entire floor, ruining her plans to gain more clout by buying the bigger and garden-enriched free space at the top.
When she arrived at the entrance, her Karen Rage momentarily faltered once seen the absolutely gorgeous entrance and waiting room welcoming her before the Restaurant proper, there was marble anywhere, of the finest quality so otherworldly beautiful that the marble the builders used on the corridor outside looked like cheap plastic in comparison; then flourishing plants everywhere, even dangling from the ceiling, and all of them were filled by the most colorful and prettiest flowers the woman had ever seen! Even the Maitre at the entrance wore a tailor-made D&G formal Suit probably more expensive than her own house!
“Good morning, my name is Goro. How can I help you, Madam?” The tall lizardman standing by the entrance asked with a formal and professional tone while adjusting his design square glasses, even Sui resting on the chair next to him wore a tiny and adorable tie.
“Is that… Marble?” She blurted-out.
“Yes, madam. We used Carrara Marble for the floor,White Statuario for the “Summer Garden” Room and Golden Calacatta for the “Autumn Memories” room. For the furniture we used Kalimantan Agarwood and Hundred years old Japanese Kynam wood.” Goro answered, curious about the strange question.
“Aren’t those two plants extinct?!”
“They are not extinct, just rare and expensive, Madam.” Goro answered, chuckling amicably.
“Well! It matters not! I demand to know why I had been rebutted when trying to buy a restaurant lot on this floor! An upstart can’t possibly use this perfect Restaurant location properly!” She said with an annoying high-pitched voice.
“Oh, Madam, I am quite confident that my Boss, even if quite young, has the right qualifications and skills to turn this entire skyscraper into a single giant and incredibly successful Restaurant if he wants to, not just the topmost, most sought-after floor. But you are free to not believe us, naysayers are just as needed as the sycophants. To balance things out.” Goro answered with a friendly smile.
“We’ll see how far your conviction goes! My Restaurant is the one at the very first (Ground) floor! You will soon close once seen how nobody will come here! I will force you to declare bankruptcy through skills alone!” She answered.
“I thought that having the Restaurant at the ground floor was pretty much a mark of infamy in this part of town, madam, isn’t that the cheapest lot?” Goro answered with a sharp glint in his lizard eyes.
“GUH!” The woman physically recoiled as if literally stabbed by those words. “It’s just silly rumors to discredit me! Just jealousy!” She barked.
“Oh! I didn’t mean to offend, madam. My apologies.” Truly, it wasn’t physically possible to cram any more mockery in the words of Goro, and yet he delivered that cutting remark with the grace of a Lord.
“Is everything okay?” Adelia too joined the scene, and she was wearing a formal, tailor-made tailleur the old lady knew was so expensive she couldn’t even dream of buying a similar one one day.
“Nothing out of ordinary, Adelia. I was just answering the peculiar questions of this woman. She too has a restaurant, you know? All the way to the bottom floor, and apparently she was lamenting the fact that our beloved Boss Izuku bought this entire floor instead of her.” Goro answered with a friendly chuckle.
“Oh! Nice to meet you then, Madam. It’s good to meet a colleague! We promise you we will show our worth as owners of this floor.” Adelia said, smirking.
“Show your worth?! You’ll see! Who may ever want to come eat here in the Restaurant of a nobody!? The Chef is an unknown brat!” The woman spat.
Ding!
The elegant and melodious bell of the elevator rang, and from the golden doors the Yaoyorozu and Midoriya made their appearances, with the former making the woman’s eyes almost plop out of her sockets.
“Miss Rei! Mister Saito! Good morning!” She immediately ran up to them, not even sparring a glance to Inko and Hisashi.
“Good morning…” Saito answered unsure, he was already smelling the simpering aura wafting around the woman thicker than even her perfume.
“Did you come here to look for me? I told my staff I was coming here to greet the new arrival, I am sorry I was not there to properly welcome you and forced you to come all the way here from the ground floor to look for me!” She said, shooting to Goro a clear smirk of superiority.
“… There was a Restaurant at the ground floor, Dad?” Momo asked, confused.
“Didn’t notice it.” Rei admitted, immediately murdering the woman’s smile.
“You… Didn’t?” The woman muttered in horror.
“We did see some very garish, overly-decorated store right after the building’s entrance with a bejeweled Buddah statue right by the door and so many knickknacks of different, clashing styles cluttering the very first room that we though it was just an antique store.”
“That’s my Restaurant…”
“Oh.”
“Then why you came here?!”
“Why? We came here to visit dear Izuku and try his new Restaurant, if you really need to know.” Saito explained, annoyed.
“You came here for Him? Why? He is just a kid! You clearly can’t expect much from him,”
“Izuku!” Momo answered by, quite uncaring, shoving the woman aside to rush to the young Chef and hug him tightly and kiss him as soon as he walked out to greet the new arrivals personally.
“Considering he will soon marry my daughter and become my son-in-law, it really shouldn’t be a surprise that we came here.” Saito added, walking past the woman without a second glance to go ruffle Izuku’s hair.
“What? But what about my Restaurant? My little Satoshi works there! He is a great Chef that even arrived third at a famous regional cooking competition! Not like that nobody! My son is clearly better than him at cooking!” The woman said.
“Delusions are unhealthy, my dear.” Rei, actually the most cruel of the family, answered while patting the woman’s shoulder and then hugging Izuku and Momo at the same time.
“So you are the sponsor of that brat!”
“Nope! We are all just family members.” Hisashi answered, blowing her a raspberry and showing her a thumbs-down while passing by her.
“A bit less perfume, dear. We could smell it from street level.” Inko suggested gently, she too ignoring the woman and just going to greet her precious son.
“YOU’LL SEE! Nobody sane of mind will ever come eating here! NOBODY! ONLY PAUPERS AND NOBODIES!” The Woman screeched.
Ding!
“Eh?”
“Daaamn! You were right, Rumi! It is very fancy!” Pro Hero Ryukyu said in awe while accompanying Rumi and her mother to the Restaurant.
“Told ya! My boyfriend is no slouch!” The Rabbit Woman said with a smug smirk.
“The fact that he made you dress-up like a lady instead of a thug is a miracle too!” Her mother added, chuckling.
“Mooom! I can be cutesy! It’s just that I don’t feel like bothering with it most of the time!” Rumi answered with a whine.
The trio just walked past that woman without giving her a second glance.
“What… What… Ryukyu?” She gurgled-out, watching the ensemble of elegantly dressed people listen intently to Edalia and Izuku’s explanation about how everything was built and designed.
Ding!
“AH! Just in time!” Nejire said in elation while dragging behind her Ochako and her Parents together with her own.
“Are you sure we can eat here?! This looks nightmarish expensive!” Ochako’s father said in abject horror.
“Never seen so much marble all in one place!” Ochako’s mother added, pale as a ghost.
“Icchan said he wanted to treat you all to lunch at least once, I guess he wants to leave a good impression on his future in-laws!” Nejire answered, laughing.
“… He surely is not pulling back any punches…” The parents of both girls admitted in chorus with a stricken tone.
“Okay, those are just normal people! So I was Right and-”
Ding!
“HEYO! This is hella fancy, Boss Izuku! You went all-out!” The next to arrive was Hawks and Endeavor, accompanied by Burnin and Mt. Lady. All of them still in Hero Costume.
“Tch! I expected this much from Him when he talked about his second Restaurant. He is finally showing some proper pride in his skills!” Endeavor, adjusting the bow-tie he had added to his Hero Costume, answered.
“… Endeavor… Hawks… Mountain Lady…” The woman said with a squeaky voice, horrified at seeing some of the Big Shots greet Izuku like old friends, clearly Regulars of the boy’s cooking.
Ding!
“I AM HERE TO CONGRATULATE A YOUNG CHEF!… Like a normal person, so to speak.” Toshinori said with a wide, and cheeky, smile as soon as the elevator doors opened.
“Normal people don’t scream like that, but stopping you is a losing battle.” Nighteye answered with a sigh, together with him there were Centipeder, Bubble girl and the rest of their Hero Agency.
“All… Might…” The woman’s heart stopped when more and more Vips and Heroes kept arriving, all greeting Izuku far too warmly to be the first time they meet him.
Ding!
Next came Aizawa, Nemuri and Hizashi, then Miss Joke with several colleagues of hers, Tsukauchi with few high ranking members of the Police Force, more small time Pro Heroes, Rikiya Yotsubashi, and many, many more.
Ding!
By now the ringing of the elevator’s doors opening had become a death sentence to the woman since every time those double golden doors opened more influential and famous people came out, not just every single Hero in the Top 20, but actors and actresses, Politicians and even staff members of the greatest Hero Schools had converged there to congratulate Izuku for his inauguration of a new Restaurant.
“Oh, God… What is happening?” She muttered, incredulous.
“Just us coming to congratulate a dear friend of ours for the inauguration of his new Restaurant.” An elegant voice said from behind her, and when she turned around, she shrieked in absolute fear.
“AH! Anton Ego!” she screamed as if faced with the Devil himself.
“I see that my 4/10 has left a mark on you! Good! Too bad that by coming here I could immediately see that you don’t seem to have taken my merciless criticisms to heart to get better at managing your Restaurant.” The Critic answered with a cruel smile, behind him his driver/Bodyguard Bernard gave a subtle snort of derision.
“You know that boy!?” She shrieked.
“You really are utterly incompetent and ignorant.” Ego said in disdain. “I thought that me giving a full score, a 10/10, to a Restaurant was a rare enough memorable occurrence to deserve being remembered… But I guess that I once again expected too much from you. Once done having lunch here I will pass by your Restaurant to check if your son’s cooking deserves a new score, but I wouldn’t hope it will be an increase if I were you.” Ego answered with a frown, and the mocking tone he used to say Restaurant when referencing to her own made the woman’s heart bleed.
“Guh!” She gurgled-out, feeling a thick copper taste fill her mouth at those words.
“Anton-san!” Izuku said with a wide smile and warmly shaking the man’s hand.
“When I heard you were inaugurating a new Restaurant I dropped everything to come here. You were supposed to personally notify me immediately, young man.” Anton said with a warmer, and still sharp, smile.
“I didn’t want to bother you. Is this an official visit or just a guest returning to visit me?” Izuku asked, chuckling.
“Hohohoho! And where would the fun be if I told you? You will have to guess if I am here to evaluate and review you or if I am just here as a friend. I hope there won’t be a problem if I took my Assistant along with me this time, Bernard as well was curious to try your creations.” Ego answered, smirking cruelly.
“Oh! No problem at all! And about your visit, I always give my best when cooking, so I can only hope that review or not, I will make your visit worth your time.” Izuku answered, smiling.
“I expect nothing less than Divine Perfection from you, my boy. Amaze me again and we’ll see.” He answered.
“Of course! Please come in, Goro-kun will guide you to your tables. We will hold the private party in the outside garden, please select the table you prefer.” Izuku answered, motioning towards the entrance of his Restaurant with an elegant bow.
“…” The woman watched in silent horror as that crowd consisting of pretty much Living Legends quietly entered the place while ignoring her completely.
“This is a Nightmare… It can’t get worse than this…” She said, looking ready to cry.
Ding!
“HELLOOOOOOO, JAPAN! Stars and Stripe is here!” Cathleen said with a triumphant scream and a wide smile as soon as the doors opened.
“CATH!” Izuku said with a wide smile, and leaping into the tall woman’s arms to be hugged and spun around.
Thud!
The ugly woman’s knees gave-up under her as she watched the Number 1 Hero of America carry the young Chef on her shoulders back inside the Restaurant, both Cathleen and her Assistant talking and laughing with him like old Best Friends that finally got together again.
“You are here too!” Izuku said, amazed.
“Wouldn’t have missed this for anything in the world, Lil Bro! The others too wanted to come, but we managed to talk them into not coming.” Cathleen answered.
“It’s not like we could remove the entire Top 20 of American Heroes from the streets! So even if with a bleeding Heart, and lots of howling from poor Antonio, they accepted to stay back home and keep people safe, but expect them to come visit you in the next couple weeks, in turns of course.” Her Assistant answered, unaware that her answer almost gave to the ugly woman kneeling on the floor a heart attack.
“They are welcomed in both my Restaurants anytime, just like you two are!” Izuku answered, smiling blindingly.
“I know that, Lil Bro! That’s why I will livestream to them my lunch in 4K! I want them to not miss a single detail of me gorging myself!” Cathleen said with a smirk.
“Isn’t that cruel! Watching her eat all that while they are stuck at the opposite side of the planet!” Her Assistant added, laughing.
“Very evil!” Izuku answered, laughing as well.
“…”
Once alone, with everybody finally seated inside, the woman stumbled her way inside the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor, an action that felt especially mocking and painful after assisting to that nightmarish procession of VIPs going inside Izuku’s Restaurant.
“… I wonder how expensive those kinds of marble and wood are… Maybe if I upgrade my Restaurant…” She muttered while opening the internet app of her phone to check the price of the materials, furniture, paintings and plants she heard Izuku and Adelia list to the curious guests, then she saw the prices of said things.
When the Elevator’s doors opened again, the other Guests waiting for it to arrive to bring them to Izuku’s Restaurant found the woman lying on the floor in a dead faint and with a horrified expression frozen on her face.
Meanwhile – Kitchen -
The place was just as massive and super-furnished in ‘Divine’ equipment like the kitchen of Izuku’s main restaurant in Gourmet Street, only with the addition of five personalized workstations where the Five Kings of Inoshiki Academy worked and trained following Izuku’s own Lessons.
And speaking of which…
“HOW?! HOW ON EARTH DOES HE DO THIS?!” Sadao shrieked in horror as the overly-delicate tiny cherry tomato she was supposed to peel using the giant and super-heavy butcher knife in her hands got squished into a pulp the very instant her hold on the knife faltered.
The current training was about ‘Learning to have a delicate and still fast handling of both knife and Ingredients’, and all of the five Kings had to ashamedly admit they underestimated the exercise when they saw Izuku peel a cherry tomato as small as a pinkie finger with a knife just as massive and in just a couple seconds. They also forcefully ignored the scary addendum that the butcher knife Izuku uses for his own training weighted far, far more than theirs.
“Honestly? By keeping his cool, for starters.” Mako, actually going through her third cherry tomato, answered without ever lifting her narrowed eyes from the very tiny vegetable she was working on.
“He jokingly called them ‘frail tomatoes’, I should have known it was a damn understatm-GODDAMNIT!” Toshio started saying, before the second tomato he was working-on became pure sludge as soon as his knife slipped of a mere millimeter and pierced the fruit’s body.
Frail Tomatoes were actually “Special Preparation Ingredients” of Zaus’ original world, but contrary to the more rare ‘Million Tomato’ that only a handful of Chef could use, and even less people could actually eat thanks to its absurd requirements, their lesser “cousins” were easy to find and grow and eat… But a Frail Tomato also had the tendency of breaking down into tomato paste instantly as soon as a hole bigger than a millimeter was cut into it; it made it the ideal fruit to prepare Tomato paste and sauce with, since it was extremely cheap and the taste was still extremely good, it was also used in Cooking Schools to teach Cooking Students how to properly handle delicate Ingredients, especially Special Preparation Grade ones.
In fact the tomato got its own “Special Preparation” label mostly for its utility in teaching caution to students, it was for all intent and purposes mostly an honorary title, more than an official one.
“Must I remind you of the pears that electrocuted you if you peeled them wrong?” Michiko said, shivering, luckily she managed to not pulp her tomato while doing that.
“I still can’t believe he found a guy open to use his Quirk like that just to help us train our speed in preparation.” Sana said, her hands trembling heavily while handling the super-heavy knife.
Thunder Pears, another Zaus’ World Ingredient, unfortunately with the tendency of giving strong electric shocks to whoever peeled them wrong or too slow, Izuku had to lie whenever the strange attributes of his Ingredients were brought into question by the five students.
“But you have to admit, the Ingredients we work with outside of training are damn incredible, even just that “Mors Oil” he uses to fry, that stuff is insane.” Michiko admitted.
“I don’t know who his Sponsor contracted, but they have access to the most incredible Ingredients I have ever seen.” Mako admitted.
“I will pass along the compliments, thank you!” Izuku said, entering the kitchen with a wide smile.
“THANK GOD!” Toshio said in relief and dropping the knife onto the chopping board with a loud and echoing THUD! Sound apparently so strong every cherry tomato they were working on instantly broke into sludge instantly.
“GODDAMNIT, TOSHIO!” The other four Kings yelled in rage in chorus.
“Hahahahaha! It’s fine, just collect the tomato sauce, we’ll use it today for cooking. Now rest your hands a bit, next time I will show you how I expect you to prepare the dishes on the normal Menu of this Restaurat instead of how to train.” Izuku said, chuckling.
“This first week before opening has been a torture! Hell on Earth!” Sadao admitted almost in tears.
“Oh! To be honest, I went easy on you, my old teacher was far worse!” Izuku answered, snorting, amused by the five students’ look of horror.
“HOW?!”
“Oh! You’d be surprised! But that’s not a story for today. We have a lot of people to feed to celebrate the opening of this Restaurant, and I plan to let our Guests try every dish on the Menu if we can. You ready?” Izuku answered.
“Yes, Chef!” Showing impeccable levels of professionalism already, the Five Kings recollected themselves rapidly and stood to attention.
“Perfect! Each one of us will have to work hard since I don’t want my Guests to wait ages between dishes,”
“Yessir!”
“Good! For our ‘Opening Act’ we will start with a dish made with Beef Meat prepared in three different ways, and since we are in the more Elegant and High-Class side of the city, we’ll need to add an extra layer of class to it as well.” Izuku said, chuckling, and preparing a wide porcelain plate blinding-white in color and decorated by finely engraved leaves along its rim.
“I will show you how to prepare the "Étoile Brillante" dish, and I expect you to first learn how to properly make it, then to learn how to make it fast. You ready?”
“Yes, Chef!” The Five Kings answered in chorus, more like soldiers than Chefs, making Izuku chuckle at the image.
“Perfect, let’s start!” Izuku said, washing his hands and collecting few cuts of Jewel Meat, Hannya Panda Meat and Golden Dragon Meat, that Izuku passed for three different kinds of “Normal” beef.
(Obscurus didn’t approve of Izuku’s harvest of his legs meat, but honestly, nobody cares about the former galaxy destroyer’s whining)
“The plate is formed by three methods of cooking beef meat: Tartare, Steak and Sushi.” Izuku explained, separating the three Ingredients following the cooking method he had chosen based on which one would taste best once prepared in.
“Sushi? With Meat?” Sana asked, confused.
“It’s not “proper” sushi, but it uses similar methods of preparation and presentation that by eye reminds you of sushi.” Toshio explained, as the five students’ Meat Expert.
“Well said! Now, I will divide these cuts of meat in equal parts for all six of us. Please follow me through preparation.” Izuku answered, pleased, and delivering a tray of meat to all of them.
“I won’t disappoint you. None of us will.” Mako answered, cold smile and yet warm eyes locking on Izuku’s, she also openly caressed his hands while taking her tray from him.
“I expect the very best from all of you.” He answered, smiling through the embarrassment her flirting caused him to feel.
“We are ready!” Sadao said.
“We’ll surprise you!” Michiko said, proudly.
“…”
“What?” She asked once seen Izuku look at her strangely.
“Sorry… Sorry. I recently met a girl with the same name as you while out gathering Ingredients and… Well… It wasn’t pleasant. Luckily you are not a walking nightmare like her.” He admitted, sighing.
“Oh, cool. A moron ruined my name for my future Boss… Lovely.” She admitted, cringing.
“No, no. Don’t worry, it won’t cloud my judgment. I’ll judge you based on you and your skills, not based on your name.” He answered.
“Thank you.” Michiko answered, smiling in relief.
“Thank you for being here, Michiko-san.” Izuku answered, smiling. “Now! We can start!” He then said.
Izuku started by preparing the Jewel Meat Tartare; he meticulously minced the otherworldly-marbled meat by hand, ensuring it was kept perfectly chilled the whole time.
While Jewel Meat was an amazing kind of meat by itself even if one simply cut a slice of it on the fly without caring about doing it properly, preparing it the right way was instead extremely complex and tedious if a Chef wanted it to really really bring-out its absolute best taste and texture, even more so when making a tartare, as the size of the cuts and the angle of the cuts needed to be precise down to the millimeter and following the direction of the meat’s fibers.
“Remember to have a firm but delicate hand while cutting the meat, each cut needs to respect the Ingredient’s own peculiarities. In this particular cut of meat, to make a perfect tartare we need to use a steady and fast cut done at a very slight angle, and done without interruptions nor sawing with the knife.” He said while combining the minced meat with finely chopped chives, shallots, and a blend of very fragrant seasoning spices.
“Crap… You have the hands of a surgeon…” Sadao muttered, sweating profusely while struggling to match the delicate and yet inhumanly-precise movements of Izuku and going as fast as she could at the same time.
Why they five students were sweating like crazy? The problem was not the recipe’s complexity itself, the greatest challenge was preparing each portion following Izuku’s already insane demands for precision, at the absurd speed he also wanted them to work at; especially since he was, quite literally, preparing more than ten portions at once (and making all of them 100% identical) while each one of the Kings was asked to make ‘at least’ four dishes at the same time and in the time they would normally need to make a single one… And that was hard even for them, even with tentacle hair helping along.
“Unfortunately I can’t go any slower than this, sorry.” Izuku apologized wholeheartedly, shocking the Five at the idea he could prepare even more dishes at the same time than he already was.
Ignoring their horrified looks, Izuku delicately folded in a raw quail egg yolk part of the same spices he used with the meat, the mixture was then elegantly spooned onto the chilled plate, forming a perfect circle with a single uninterrupted stroke.
“The egg circle act as delimitation other than sauce, it’s the area where the three different meats have to be placed in.” Izuku explained, he checked their own plates and nodded pleased. “That’s a very good start for the circle, even if a bit wobbly, it will suffice, for now.” He then said.
“For now…” Toshio said, shaking his head. “He draws a perfect circle by hand like Giotto and he acts as if it’s something normal…” he muttered, grimacing.
“Next is the Beef Steak, it needs to be made properly even if it is ‘Just a steak’, simplicity doesn’t mean a dish is cheap.” Izuku instructed.
“Of course! It’s one of the first things we were taught at Inoshiki! Simplicity is an Art by itself!” Mako confirmed.
“Good to know! I hate when people dismiss simple dishes, they too deserve Love and Respect.”
For the next step, Izuku moved to a long line of sizzling pans waiting for him on the fire, on each one of them he expertly seared a thick, prime cut of Golden Dragon’s Meat on the open flame.
“God… This scent is killing me…” Mako muttered in shame as the amazing scent coming from her own pans was making her salivate so much she kept swallowing over and over nonstop in hunger.
Groooo! The stomachs of the Five Kings kept growling softly at random intervals, making them blush crimson in shame and making Izuku chuckle in amusement.
“Let me tell you that the Ingredient is very happy of hearing your stomachs praise its scent,” He said, the actual truth since he could feel the Voice of the Ingredients, although his words were instead taken as a friendly jab that made the Kings blush harder.
Each steak, with its outer crust perfectly charred to a glistening and pristine brown color, was then plated with a dollop of truffle-infused butter on top of it and garnished with a single, fresh and fragrant small herb leaf.
“While the tartare meat goes on the left side, the steak goes in the middle.” Izuku instructed.
“Half-way there.” Sadao muttered, drying her sweat while working on four plates simultaneously each time, and looking more like somebody that ran a marathon than a Chef preparing a dish.
“Well done! Now, the meat "Sushi". And you’ll see why I call it like that.” Izuku answered, nodding pleased and grabbing the Hannya Panda Meat cut.
“I love this meat, its marbling of fat and the texture, it almost doesn’t look like beef, it’s just so… Perfect.” Toshio muttered in awe, making Izuku chuckle.
Showing both his Sea Dragon Kitchen Knife godly sharpness and his own incredible skills, he thinly sliced the Hannya Panda meat into many translucent and thin sheets still dripping juices in droplets that glinted like molten gold in the kitchen light.
“How on earth is one supposed to cut it this thin by hand and as fast as you want…” Sana muttered with her eyes narrowed and her tongue sticking out as she slowly tried cutting her own Hannya Panda meat slice is strips as thin as Izuku’s own.
“Please keep up, we have lots of dishes still to prepare.” Izuku asked, still cutting slices as thin as that at high speed as if it was the easiest thing int the world.
“I am trying, Boss. I am trying!” The girl answered, sighing in dismay.
“We told you this was going to be hard!” Sadao said, huffing hard and hunching on her own workstation with wide unblinking eyes.
“Sorry about that, I admit my methods are a bit unusual. By the way, I choose this particular kind and cut of beef because it goes very well with avocado and rice, hence why I use it to make sushi-like recipes with it.” Izuku explained.
He rolled the thin slices of meat around morsels of fresh, buttery avocado and fragrant black truffle, the meat "sushi" rolls were then lightly torched to enhance their richness and process the meat, he then placed them on top of few thin rolls of cooked sushi rice and with a final touch of a small celery leaf gently placed atop each roll, building them in a manner reminiscing of actual sushi; he then moved four of those sushi rolls at the other side of the steak on each plate he was working on.
The three different styles of cooked meat where positioned in a faint triangular formation and accompanied by two small puddles of sauces, one made of home-made aromatic tartar sauce, the other of thickened soy sauce.
The rest of the plate was then adorned with intricate edible flowers of steamed vegetables he carved by hand, crystalline sea salt flakes, and tiny cherry tomatoes so shiny that they looked like they had been plucked from a fairy-tale garden.
“And we are done.” Izuku said, proud of the final result since each of the ten plates he was working on was a literal edible work of art.
“…”
“Hn?” he asked.
“… Holy crap…” Michiko muttered while finishing her own plates.
“We are supposed to cook like this every time?” Sadao asked.
“Kinda, there are more plates in the menu, not as simple as this one. And unfortunately I need you to make them just as fast as we made this one. Then faster, once you got the hang of it.” Izuku answered, studying the plates they made just to make sure there were no errors.
THUD!
Understandably, Toshio fainted.
“Wake him up, please. We have a full restaurant to serve, so, many more plates of this to make before moving to the next dish on the Menu I planned for this small celebration.” Izuku asked as he handed the plates to Gentle and La Brava for them to start serving the guests waiting to eat.
“Y-Y-Yes, Chef!” The Kings answered, although Sana answered while lightly slapping Toshio to wake him up.
Meanwhile – Restaurant garden Area -
Looking around, at the grass acting as floor, at the small trees perfectly trimmed and cared for, and at the fountains and different bushes full of colorful flowers, one would almost mistake the place for a proper garden, instead of a recreation of a small one on top of a skyscraper, one tall enough the people eating there could see a great deal of the city all around them.
“Bit too fancy, if I can be honest. I am not used to this,” Inko admitted, looking around.
“To be fair, honey, it’s a restaurant in the fancy part of the city… There is a Style Icchan has to follow if he wants this place to attract customers.” Hisashi answered, studying the many forks and knives in front of him and trying to remember which set he needed to use first.
“Listening to Izuku, this is just a test ground, a way for him to experiment on more fancy recipes, as you called them. Thanks to his Sponsor he can pop here instantaneously to keep an eye on things, but his Restaurant will always be Green Cloud. This is practically just a side-gig.” Momo explained.
“A rather expensive side-gig,” Saito admitted, surprised.
“… The System.” Ochako, Momo, Nejire and Rumi said in chorus, with a deadpan tone.
“I hate that it actually works as an explanation.” Hisashi answered with a long sigh.
“We are dealing with an Entity far, far removed from what we conceive as Common Sense.” Adelia answered, nearing their table to check on them.
“So it seems,” Ochako answered, looking at her parents walking around marveling at the restaurant’s garden area.
“Huhuhuhu! Everything will be alright. While peculiar, that Thing does care about its Hosts, its Chosen. If they give a Challenge, it is always something ‘Hard to do’, never ‘Impossible’.” Adelia explained.
“So it means that they analyzed everything and decided that Icchan can manage two Restaurants like these?” Inko asked.
“He did far worse already, as Zaus.” Momo said, chuckling.
“The birth of a Cooking Empire, then?” Rumi asked, laughing.
“Veeery likely! Icchan wants to import the Insanity of the Gourmet World here!” Nejire answered, laughing.
“Oh! This I want to see!” Rei answered.
“Please call your parents back to the table, Miss Ochako. It seems like we are ready to start.” Adelia said once seen La Brava and Gentle start to deliver the first dishes to few tables.
“Of course!” Ochako answered.
The bullet shot from the sniper riffle was now at an inch from the left side of her forehead and about to kill her.
“Seriously. So uncouth, we are having a party here.” Goro said with a sigh, appearing behind Ochako and grabbing the bullet mid-air with just two fingers and with incredible ease a hair-breath away before the thing could even touch the girl’s skin.
“Please deal with that party-pooper. At your discretion.” Adelia sighed and asked him.
“Of course! It’s part of my duties here after all!” Goro answered, chuckling.
The tall lizardman took off his glasses, eased-up his tie a bit and dashed away so fast he seemingly blinked off from existence.
Everything, their talk comprised, happened in a fraction of an instant, not a single person there noticed, not even Ochako or Momo or anybody else.
“… You okay, Adelia-san?” Ochako asked, confused.
“Hn? Ah, don’t worry! Just me remembering that I need to deal with some minor annoyances, mere managerial stuff.” The witch answered with a friendly smile, sparing the girl from knowing a minor nobody actually tried to kill her.
“Of course! Please don’t let us hold you!” Inko answered.
“No worries, just some minor issues, stuff I can do in a minute. Have a nice lunch.” Adelia answered, leaving the table as soon as Ochako’s parents and Rumi’s mother rejoined them.
With Goro – Skyscraper roof – Not too far away -
Having left the Guests in the hands of the rest of the Restaurant’s staff, Adelia had entered her personal office and then used her Magic to appear on the same rooftop where Goro had found the would-be assassin thanks to a flaming portal, just in time to see the Maitre with the still smoking sniper riffle in one hand and the assassin’s left leg in the other.
“There he is.” Adelia said, displeased.
“Indeed, little coward didn’t even had the bravery to try a direct attack. He preferred the dishonorable way of using high-power weapons from far-away.” Goro answered, tutting, then using a single hand he easily twisted that man’s leg until the bone snapped like a twig.
CRUNCH!
“GYAAAAAAAH!”
“So?” The witch asked, unfazed by the scream of agony, while fixing her glasses.
“Before your arrival this dear gentleman was about to tell me who paid him to kill an innocent girl, isn’t it? You won’t make a liar out of me, do you?” Goro, sleeves rolled-up and jacket carefully folded nearby, asked while dropping the riffle and grabbing and snapping the assassin’s other leg.
SNAP!
“AAAAAAAAH!” The guy shrieked in absolute pain, grabbing back his riffle and shooting it at Adelia without aiming…
“Not helping your case,” The Witch answered, watching with bored half-lidded eyes the bullet spinning frozen in place mid-air in front of her face thanks to her Magic, then swatting it away with one hand like an annoying fly towards the man’s hand, making him drop the weapon again in pain from the bullet blasting away one of his fingers.
“So be it. Bend him over, Goro. If he likes that riffle so much, maybe getting it up his sphincter will make him loosen-up enough he will talk.” She said, uncaring.
“At once, Adelia.”
“NO! I’LL TALK! I’LL TALK!” The assassin finally said, tears streaming down his face and absolute terror frozen on his face.
“Yes please, do so. We are all ears.” Goro answered, not smirking or laughing or grimacing, he was using just a plain and strict business tone.
He roughly dropped the guy and watched him squirm harmless on the floor while wearing back his jacket again and fixing his tie; he was a Maitre, after all, he needed to be impeccable in presentation and looks so to not ruin Izuku’s Restaurant’s image.
“Okay… Okay… I’ll talk…” The guy said, sobbing and hiccuping.
Few minutes later – Restaurant - Kitchen -
“… Then we healed him completely thanks to Adelia’s Magic, destroyed his gun and dropped him off inside a dumpster. This is all.” Goro finished saying.
“I see. So a magnate of fancy cruises wants me gone to protect his image AND the image of his granddaughter.” Izuku said, frowning, once heard Adelia and Goro’s report on the accident.
“Pretty much. I guess that since framing you for contraband is not working, they decided to get more heavy-handed.” Adelia answered.
“The guy was not the first thug they called, more will be coming.” Goro added.
“Tch!” Izuku uttered in distaste.
“Seems like you will need to go for the next friend of Samui sooner than planned, Master.” The Lizardman said.
“It’s been a while since the last one, I almost thought Samui had finally dropped this idiotic crusade of his.” Izuku admitted, sighing.
“Want me to deal with them?” Adelia asked.
“I can help!” Goro added.
“…” Izuku just looked at them.
“We can make it look like an accident!” Adelia added.
“Definitely! Just a tragic accident! Even just have Sue melt them! Nobody will find a thing!” Goro added, nodding rapidly and loudly slapping his bog tail on the floor in almost-excessive eagerness.
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear two of my friends offer to commit murder in my name… Even if I appreciate the gesture.” Izuku answered with a long sigh.
“Aaaaaaw!”
“Mister Giren is among the Guests here today, and he was the one that first warned me that Jun Sato and her family were trying to screw me over. Tell him that I may require his skills and contacts to learn as much as possible about Jun Sato to prepare my counterattack. I might pretend to not know what most of my Customers do for a living so to offer a Neutral Ground to whoever eats here, but I am no fool. Just tell him to avoid doing anything too illegal while gathering information for me, I want to deal with Jun Sato by myself.” Izuku asked.
“I’ll inform him immediately.” Goro answered with a nod, and then leaving the kitchen with rapid but controlled steps.
“Besides that, how are thing in the garden area?” Izuku asked.
“As expected, the Guests are loving every dish. We got the various “Spies” of other Restaurant as well trying to enter your main Restaurant in Yavin Street now that that one is closed for the day, Himiko has reported that Blackie and Whitey have evicted four of them after they tried to break-in uninvited.”
“And Eri?” Izuku asked, worried.
“Still learning Math from Himiko, she is teaching your kid how to multiply and divide. She didn’t notice a thing.” Adelia answered, chuckling.
A couple of those were actually men sent by Overhaul… Those were the ones beaten the worst, left barely alive actually.
“Good, I don’t need to have some morons coming to scare my little Unicorn.” He answered, elated.
“She is protected by a Divine-Grade Puppet, a Netherworld Demon and The System. Even IF somebody manages the impossible and gets past all that, Himiko ADORES Eri, she will gladly murder whoever hurts Eri at the cost of her own life.”
“I hope we never get to that point.” Izuku answered.
“It won’t happen. Now cheer up! It’s your great day! The opening of your second Restaurant! Just focus on that today!” Adelia answered, slapping his back.
“You are right!” He said, finally smiling again.
“Get back to work, me and Goro and Sui will take care of everything else, those two waiter and waitress are working hard too, so let’s just focus on wow the Guests!”
“Of course!” Izuku answered, and with a last fist-bump Adelia left to return to check on the Guests.
“Everything okay, Boss?” Toshio asked, worried, once seen Adelia as well leave.
“It was nothing, don’t worry. Just me getting a quick heads-up on how things are going with our customers today.” Izuku answered, flawless smile in place.
“People are happy, right? We didn’t screw-up, right?” Sana asked, worried sick.
“Everything is going perfectly in line with the level I expected from you all. Don’t worry, if there are trouble I will personally move to fix them and warn you. You are mostly here to learn what it feels like to work in a real Restaurant, then to help me. I knew what I was getting myself into when I came to look for you five in Inoshiki.” Izuku answered with a reassuring tone.
“OH, THANK GOD!” She answered.
“You stress a bit too much.”
“We keep telling her that, but it’s a slow process, Boss.” Sadao admitted, sighing.
“Well, even Yamato-san had nothing to say against what you prepared, so I wouldn’t be that nervous if I were you.” Izuku said.
“THE RECTOR IS HERE?!” The Five yelled with bulged-out eyes.
“Of course! I invited her as well to show her how good you are!” Izuku answered.
“… Oh, God… She will dissect every dish we make! Boss… please… Can’t you…”
“Oh, nonono, Michiko-chan! I am of course making sure she is getting the dishes any of you five made! With a note saying who of you made that particular dish. It will help her check your current level of preparation.”
“Fuuuuuuuuu-” All Five Kings cursed as one.
“But enough chit-chat! Now we will prepare a fish version of that meat dish we just made, this one is called “Seafood Parade”, and it’s made with Tuna, Salmon, and Eel prepared in three different methods.” Izuku explained.
“Fiiish!” The Fish King squealed in happiness.
“Your natural element,” Mako answered, smirking.
“Yup!”
“Hahahaha! That’s good! I enjoy the enthusiasm! We will start with the Tuna Tartare.” Izuku said, chuckling amused at her adorable excited expression while carting out of the freezer room several giant “Tunas”.
Those tuna fishes were in truth called “Celestial Sea King” andwere fishesfrom Meng Hao’s world, a species of beasts normally considered a delicacy in the world of those Cultivation Maniacs, each one so strong that one alone could easily kill even a normal whale in a single bite and eat it whole, each fish Izuku and the five Kings were working on were twice the size of a common tuna.
Izuku started showing to the Kings the correct preparation procedure by cutting away the fins, cutting the fishes open by cutting along their back following the fish’ “Spine” and then delicately opening each fish in half to remove bones and guts; after washing the fish meat of each with clear water, he separated the fillets from the skin and cut the fish meat into uniform and tiny cubes, and even after washing it, the fish meat was still a vibrant coral color that stood in contrast to the pure white plate.
“This tuna of yours is damn heavy! The meat weights far too much compared to normal tuna!” Michiko admitted with a raised eyebrow while weighting in her hand the rather small slab of fish meat she was working with.
“Hehehe! My Sponsor says that our Tuna Breeders are very proud of their breeding method!” Izuku answered, chuckling.
“Fuck, a tuna is already a damn big fish, but yours are bloody gigantic, Boss! The fuck do they feed them?!” Sadao commented on dismay while working on her own fish.
“Hahahahaha!”
Laughing amused at the Kings’ shock, Izuku continued cooking by mixing the fish meat cubes with finely minced shallots, green onions, and a splash of yuzu-infused soy sauce in a delicate blend he then carefully arranged into a ring mold, the “tuna” meat glistening like jewels under the soft restaurant lighting; he close the dish with a small mound of that fish’ Roe he delicately spooned inside the inside of the ring, roe he then drizzled with soy sauce and topped with a fresh tiny aromatic leaf.
“Slowly now… Slowly…” Toshio muttered to himself while slowly removing the mold without making the tartare lose the perfect ring shape the mold gave it, he was sweating profusely as if disarming a bomb, especially since he was working on five plates at the same time and knew he could not fall behind.
“Well done!” Izuku praised the Kings on seen them getting the hang of it enough they started picking-up the pace and working on even more plates at the same time.
“Thank you, Chef!” The Kings answered in chorus, smirking in pride themselves.
Next came the Salmon Sashimi, made with Salmon Shark, an Ingredient from Zaus’ work: a salmon so big and violent it actually hunted sharks and other similar predators to eat them, each Salmon Shark normally measures thirty meters in length on average, of course to hide the Ingredient’s Alien Nature, Izuku and The System provided the Kings with slabs of salmon meat cut into a more normal size.
Moving in front of the blocks of salmon meat, Izuku sliced it with the precision of a surgeon, revealing its rich marbling and glistening juices at each cut. Each slice was an otherworldly rainbow of salmon colors, from pale pink to deep orange.
“…. Please?” The Fish King begged.
“Eeeh, only this time.” Izuku conceded with a long sigh.
“Thank you! Mmmmmh!” She answered, grateful, and then moaning at the incredible taste of the salmon once tasted a piece of it.
“So tasty even without condiments or any other preparation! This is so goooooood!”
“FOCUS! Don’t hold us back!” Mako snapped, annoyed.
“Mako-chan,” Izuku said.
Sigh! “Fine… Please focus, you’ll eat more later.” The girl said with a defeated expression and a way more gentle tone.
“Better!” Izuku commented, smiling and proud of her.
The Salmon sashimi was lightly drizzled with a delicate citrus ponzu sauce and garnished with edible orchid petals holding inside a small spoonful of salmon roe, while edible ‘Pearls’ made with gelatin and balsamic vinegar went rapidly prepared and added on a side as an homage to the sea's beauty, a small dollop of freshly-grated wasabi and a reduction of soy sauce as well went gently spooned at both sides of the sashimi on each plate.
“Almost there!” Michiko said, drying her forehead.
“You are doing great!” Izuku said, smiling happily, he knew he was right in choosing them as members of his staff!
Next came theEel Nigiri: Made with a monster eel he unlocked by leveling-up, one that was normally so poisonous that a single drop of neurotoxins extracted from its glands could kill everything in the sea for hundreds of miles if dropped in the water. Luckily Izuku had long since personally detoxified every eel they were using in that moment to work.
“The eel has been already cut in fillets and then marinated in a blend of mirin, soy, and sake. In the future I expect you five to also take care of the seasoning too.” Izuku explained, he then collected his own plate of eel fillets and started grilling them carefully.
“Yes, Chef!” The Five Kings answered as one in chorus and following his steps to cook their own fillets.
Once done grilling them, each succulent eel fillet was then lied atop a perfectly molded bed of sushi rice and tied to it with a thin strip of nori.
“And then my home-made eel sauce!” Izuku said with a cheerful tone, and using a brush to add the sauce to every nigiri and then topping that with a sprinkle of black sesame seeds and a tiny cube of white truffle from the Forrest World.
The three dishes had been positioned on the platter in a similar way of the dish’ meat version, this time though accompanied by seaweed salad and pickled ginger; the entire dish exuded the subtle scent of ocean breeze.
“It’s so beautiful!” The Fish King said with a choked gasp, almost ready to shed tears at the sheer beauty of the dishes she made.
“…” Her friends just rolled their eyes at her antics.
“We are ready here!” Izuku, chuckling at the scene, rang the bell and immediately Gentle and La Brava hurried to collect the plates.
“This is the first round, Boss Icchan?” Gentle asked.
“Yes, more will come soon.” Izuku answered.
“Leave it to us!” Aiba answered.
“Thank you, guys.”
“No, Boss Icchan. Thank you.” Both Vigilantes answered with a very grateful tone.
“I heard that Tsukauchi talked with Nezu… He might be open to give you two a chance at joining UA next year if you prepare properly, and the Police Force strokes his Ego enough, as part of the Vigilante Rehabilitation Program. But it will be hard.” Izuku said.
“… Hick!” Gentle, eyes mysteriously cloudy, nodded and hurried away with the plates.
“Thank you! We’ll do our best!” La Brava answered, bowing and then hurrying to help her partner, and Lover, to bring the plates to the Guests.
“I like those two.” Izuku admitted, smiling.
“Ready for more plates, Chef Izuku!” Mako declared as soon she and Sadao collected new plates for them all to work on.
“Good! Let’s go, we still have lots of dishes to make!” He answered, renewing the knot of the green bandanna around his forehead and joining them.
Restaurant – Garden Area -
“I don’t understand… Even the oil he uses it’s not normal… The one for frying it’s too crisp and the one he uses to garnish too Fresh…” Lunch Rush muttered to himself, and stopping after each bite to take entire pages of notes.
“If you are here, who’s cooking for the students at UA?” Mic asked, confused.
“… UA? Vlad of course.” Rush answered, confused.
UA Cafeteria -
“Those mashed potatoes look a bit too chunky. And raw.” Tetsutetsu said, grimacing.
“Just eat, I didn’t ask for constructive criticism.” Vlad answered, voice full of hatred for the Universe while wearing an apron covered in many splotches of different colors over his Hero Costume and an ugly hair-net on his head.
“What’s that charred thing?” Mina asked, worried.
“Fish. And it’s not charred, it’s masterfully grilled.” Vlad answered, offended.
Tock! Tock! Tock!
Mina grabbed one of those fishes and lightly tapped on the counter with it, producing a sharp sound similar to wood on impact.
“… Not even I can defend that, Sensei…” Monoma admitted, grimacing.
“Shut-up, Monoma…” Vlad answered, looking ready to cry.
“Why I had to get the short straw?! Now Shota and the others are there gorging themselves and I am stuck here cooking! Mic must have cheated! He was smiling far too much when my turn to draw came!” The poor man thought in misery.
“Sensei! The kitchen is burning!” Jurota shrieked in horror while Iida immediately went to recover the fire extinguisher.
“NO! MY CHEESECAKE! I LEFT THE OVEN ON WITH IT INSIDE!” Vlad yelled in horror and hurried back inside.
“Cheesecake… In the oven?” Itsuka and Toru said in chorus.
Back to Izuku’s Restaurant -
“Oooh! So the straw poll was also for cooking duty!” Mic said in realization.
“Yes. I just hope Vlad won’t ruin my kitchen, or else I will skin him alive.” Lunch Rush answered, taking a bite of the Salmon meat and Roe and starting scribbling again at high speed.
“Wouldn’t put too much trust on him for that.” Aizawa answered, shamelessly trying to steal Nemuri’s eel and getting a painful stab in the hand as an answer with her fork.
“Hands off! It’s mine!” The woman hissed.
Meanwhile, Toshinori and Cathleen were going through a small tearful reunion, talking animatedly and trying to catch-up in all the years they have been apart in just few minutes, the ghostly hand that appeared from a small portal behind the woman went intercepted and crushed into a pulp by Goro so fast nobody noticed, just like nobody knew that at the opposite side of the city Kurogiri watched in horror as his Master’s right hand came back from the portal looking like a misshapen blob of broken flesh and bone.
At another table Ego was ecstatically eating his fill and dictating his review real time to his Assistant that dutifully wrote down every last word said, the Critic hadn’t planned to review Izuku’s Restaurant immediately, but both his pride as a Critic and the food’s own quality had him change his plans, and at that moment, Izuku was still in the very rare 10/10 final score zone.
All this was happening under the pleased eyes of Izuku that was observing the people eating in the outside garden area and his two waiters rapidly and efficently coming and going to collect empty plates and deliver new ones.
“Host Izuku has fulfilled the required goals for the opening of his second Restaurant, now thanks to the System a door will be open between the two Restaurants that will let you instantly move from one location to the other so to manage both at the same time. Keep working hard, young man! You are on the right path to become God of Cooking!” The System declared inside his head with a joyful victory jingle that made him chuckle.
“Good to know you are pleased with my results! But what about our friend Jun Sato?”
“Host can deal with that Troublemaker the way he wants, the System will fully support the Host, as always. Although following the suggestion of the woman called Cathleen may be of use: An open attack will surely bring more renown to your name as a Chef than waiting for them to try anything. Controlling the flow of events instead of being merely swept away by them is more akin to a God of Cooking. You get to decide, not others. Not even the System.”
“Uh! A full frontal assault. Still unsure about it, but I must admit that Sato-san’s family constant attacks against me and my loved ones are not something I like… So be it, I’ll face her and her family directly, openly. On her own turf: their precious Cruise Ship’s Restaurant.” He said, humming.
“Good choice, Host. A God of Cooking doesn’t cower in fear nor lets others walk over them. Work hard and defeat your enemies, young man!” The System answerd.
Nodding to himself, Izuku returned inside the kitchen to continue cooking together with the Five Kings, he still had many dishes he wanted and needed to make, and his beloved Guests were more important to Izuku than Jun Sato or Samui’s petty plans!
At the same time – Middle of the ocean – Cruise ship “Queen of the sea” -
Majestically cutting through the waves, a giant cruise ship was making its way forward on the notes of the never-ending parties and celebrations taking place onboard, and even at night the hundreds of thousands lights adorning the entire vessel and its many bridges made the ship shine in a blinding golden halo visible for miles.
The magnificent cruise ship, reminiscent of the iconic Titanic in its exterior design, was the biggest ship of the “Sato Cruises Inc.”, the true admiral ship of their entire fleet; it boasted a towering structure that dominated the seascape with its gleaming white hull and exquisite attention to detail, even the railings had fine floral engravings on them, not a single inch of the ship could be considered plain in any way.
The ship was indeed a sight to behold, stretching well over 1,200 feet in length per 220 feet wide, making it the current largest cruise ship in the world and a true marvel of engineering and opulence.
The ship's exterior was built following a more Retro Style and adorned with tasteful gold accents and intricate carvings everywhere, reminiscent of a bygone era of grandeur; the cruise ship’s multiple decks housed luxurious private balconies for the passengers of the more expensive cabins to enjoy breathtaking ocean views, while the lower ones were wide enough to hold all-day-long fancy parties and even small concerts of classical music, while the ship's bow proudly displayed a figurehead shaped like a woman of impossible beauty demurely covering her naked body with a flowing cloth, that too made with such maniacal attention to detail that the woman’s robes looked like they were made with actual cloth.
Stepping inside, one would instead be immediately transported into a world of modern luxury that seemed almost otherworldly, since that contrary to the outside, the ship's interior was a blend of cutting-edge design and classical elegance; the grandiose atrium, for example, was a soaring masterpiece of marble and crystal, with a massive cascading chandelier that sparkled like a constellation of stars right in the middle of it.
“I can’t believe we failed again.” Jun Sato’s grandpa seethed in anger while traversing the majestic corridors.
“You still can stop him, Grandpa?” Jun asked with a tone making it clear she was close to crying, she and her grandpa were having a phone-call while she kept cooking.
“Worry not, little Jun. Grandpa Gouki will help you. Nobody will hurt my little princess.” The old man promised with a warm tone full to the brim in love.
“Thank you, Grandpa!” Jun answered, grateful.
“Everything for you, my little cherry pie. You just focus on cooking and enjoying Life, Grandpa will remove this little pest and fix everything.” He answered, smiling jovially and closing the call.
His smile though disappeared as soon as the call was over, and he returned being the sneering mastermind ruling the Cruise Company from the shadows with an iron fist.
“YOU TWO! COME WITH ME!” He barked to two members of the staff, making them hurry up to walk behind him. “Soon we will get back to Japan for a short stop and a tour of the coasts and then leave again, tell the others I want everything to be in perfect order. And tell the Captain to come to my room, we are going too slow! I want to see the coasts of Japan in two days! I won’t let an incompetent make a mockery of the good name of the Sato Cruise company by making us lag behind in our schedule!” He ordered, walking forward with way more speed than his age suggested he was able to.
“Yes sir!” Both Staff members answered before hurrying away to alert the Captain and the rest of the Staff of his orders.
“…” Not too far away, one of the guys taking care of cleaning and maintenance had heard every word and smirked, leaving with his mop to find a more secluded location.
Throughout the ship, every piece of furniture and material had been chosen with the latest trends in mind, from plush velvet couches to sleek marble counter-tops, every element exuded far too excessive sophistication, even the public spaces were adorned with contemporary art pieces and sculptures, shamelessly toeing the thin line separating “Tasteful Opulence” from its “Tasteless” counterpart.
“Multiple gourmet restaurants that serve dishes prepared by world-renowned chefs, bars and lounges that offer a ridiculous selection of fine wines, craft cocktails, and rare spirits… And yet not a single one of them have any goddamn beer in storage. Bunch of prissy rich idiots.” The guy cursed to himself once found the right empty storage room, he lighted a cigarette and pulled-out a burnable phone from a hidden pocket of his pants.
“Hoy! Papa Wolf! Pup 13 is here.” He said.
“I can hear you, Pup 13. Updates worth a call?” The Information Broker at the other end of the call said.
“Yes there are, Boss! You asked us to keep track of this moron and his bratty granddaughter, and finally I got a good opening for your friend to attack from!” The guy said, smirking and taking a long drag from his cigarette.
“Wonderful! He asked me for a favor and I hate looking like a fool with my friends when asked something so simple. So?”
“Seems like the Ship will return to Japan to refill their storage and have a fancy tour of the coasts. If our Green Wonder wants to deal with Jun Sato, he won’t have a better opportunity since this damn trip won’t be over for other three months… God, I envy those rich bastards.” He admitted.
“Everybody hates the rich. You just keep track of those two and warn me if anything changes, I promised a professional job in exchange of our friend’s silence, and I will deliver.”
“And what if we…”
“Do you remember Taki? Or Puri? Or Nami? They thought the same, and where are they now?” Giran asked with an annoyed grunt.
“… Beaten black and blue and inside Tartarus…” The man answered, with a whimper.
“Yes. Green Wonder is a dear friend of mine, his Sponsor isn’t. And they have a reach even I can only dream about and are not afraid to use that reach to strangle whoever doesn’t comply.” He explained.
“Got it. I’ll send out the word and we will do our best.” The man answered, nodding.
“Good pup. I’ll wait you and the others’ next update. Papa Wolf, over.” Giran said, closing the call.
“Goddamnit, I hate this job… But the pay is good. Usually.” The man muttered to himself while destroying the phone and returning to clean the floors to keep his fake identity as a janitor.
Meanwhile – Main Restaurant of the Ship “The Little Mermaid” -
Situated within the heart of the grand cruise ship and managed by Jun Sato, the daughter of the cruise company's owner and an exceptionally talented chef, one of the first to reach the fourth Michelin Star in her group of friends.
As a lover of fairy-tale aesthetics, Jun had decorated the Restaurant with fusion of sleek, contemporary design and subtle nods to the “whimsical” world of mermaids and the ocean floor, with crystal lamps designed to cast a soft, ethereal glow mimicking the play of sunlight through water, creating an illusion of being underwater.
The tables were adorned with delicate seashell-inspired centerpieces, and plush, velvet chairs deep blue in color.
“I can’t believe that kid is still around.” Jun hissed to the earpiece she was wearing while preparing few dishes of seared scallops with truffle foam paired with lobster tail with champagne butter.
“Not my fault Samui decided to get a relapse in his PTSD and go around the bent.” Ren Watanabe answered, unfazed.
“Eh?”
“Ooh! I was told the most interesting story about this mess.”
“You know why this shitshow has started?” Jun asked.
“Of course I do!”
“Then-”
“Of cooooourse I am not telling you! This is my ace in the hole to stop dear Samui from trying shit if I too fail to stop dear Midoriya! I will try my best, but I also want countermeasures to stop any retaliation from our common, moron friend.” Ren said, chuckling.
“And what about me?!” Jun said.
“Oh! Well, just like the others, if you didn’t want a cretin with unresolved mental issues to use your past sins against you, maybe you shouldn’t have done those things! I am covering my bases and unfortunately that Umbrella is not big enough for multiple people to hide under for when shit hits the fan. And even then, I don’t trust you.”
“You don’t?!”
“Who says you won’t try to use my safety net yourself to save your ass and throw me under the bus? Or even worse, I don’t trust you to be smart enough to keep that to yourself, and if Samui knows how much I know, he could very well counter my counter. Keeping a mystery how much I know will further keep me safe. You are on your own.” Ren answered.
“I can still tell him!”
“Oh? And prove it how? Face it, you have more pressing matters to worry about since Samui wants you to be the next to deal with Midoriya. He hates me, yes, but he also knows I am the one he has not by the balls as tightly as he wants, I am his very last option.” The man said, laughing.
“You even know that?! How?!”
“I have my ways, you dick snorter.”
The woman’s hands faltered at hearing that horrid mocking nickname.
“I know that too. You better hope you can stop Midoriya, otherwise that and many, many, many other dirty secrets will become public knowledge. Good luck!” Ren said with a cheerful tone and then closing the call abruptly.
“AAARGH!” Jun stabbed down with her knife and stabbed a still alive lobster in the head and cut the entire body in two.
“DIE! DIE! DIE!” She roared, stabbing the animal again and again until it became a minced pulp.
“Forget the cooking challenge, if that brat somehow wins, I’ll kill him with my own hands.” Jun muttered with a soulless tone.
She had Many skeletons hidden in her closet, and if even just one of them came to light, the others too will tumble out and completely destroy her life, and she could not let that happen.
“A storm is approaching, Midoriya, and it is not coming from the sea. It will sweep you away once and for all.” Jun growled with black sludge streaming down her eyes, each drop melting a hole into the table.
End of the Chapter.
Omake time: Extra-Dimensional Ingredient hunt!
Dessert Specialties worth to duel over.
High-Tech City -
There was a thick feeling of celebration in the air, and Izuku and Rumi could hardly believe people could be that excite, everywhere they looked they could see people dueling each other ninstop in some over-the-top card game.
“We had to come here right during a damn festival, they all are going crazy.” Rumi said, laughing.
“So it seems! But I like it, everything is so very colorful!” Izuku answered, smiling wide.
“Considering everything is Heart-Themed, your dessert should be easy to find, yes?” Rumi asked.
“Heartland Cake Roll, apparently a dessert normally made during celebrations like Weddings, Engagement parties or celebrations like this one, yes.” Izuku answered.
“Let’s find a good bakery then,” Rumi answered, already looking around with narrowed eyes.
“Hey, you! Duel me!” a kid with spiky red hair asked, smirking.
“Aah, sorry. I don’t duel. I don’t even have cards.” Izuku answered.
“Me neither.” Rumi added.
“Aaaw! You don’t? How?! Why?!”
“Yuma don’t be rude!” The noy’s female friend chided him, sighing.
“It’s fine, don’t worry. Ah, by the way, I am looking for a good bakery, one that makes a good Heartland Cake Roll.” Izuku answered.
“Good Heartland Cake Roll… That’s a good question, a lot of bakeries make good ones.” The girl said.
“Try Sugar Paradise at the mall, my sister loves their desserts.” A chubby and tall kid said.
“Thanks, kiddo!” Rumi answered with a smirk that make the big guy flush red.
“It’s nothing.” He said while trying to play it cool.
“Oooh! I could go for something sweet right now! We’ll take you there!” The thin red-head offered.
“Oh! Thank you!” Izuku answered.
“...Yuma… His robot can see me…” The strange flying humanoid next to him said.
“What makes you say that, Astral?” He asked while he and his friends walked forward to act as guides.
“I tried moving, but its eyes tracked me perfectly.”
“We’ll be careful then. Just in case.”
Later that day – Mall - Bakery -
“UUUUUM! It’s so goood!” The kids said in awe while eating the pink dessert.
It was a pink roll of sponge cake adorned by dark-chocolate hearts, filled in fluffy milk-based cream with in its middle a big red heart made with strawberry-flavored sponge-cake.
“Not bad, but I have eaten better desserts, mostly made by you. What do you say?” Rumi asked, looking more critical while eating her own portion.
“Lots of room for improvement, but yes, I think I can do this.” Izuku said, looking at the cross-section of his portion with narrowed eyes.
“Make it better? Unlikely!” A new voice said in amusement.
“Brianna!” The chubby boy of the group said.
“Hello! I came here to get my fix of Cake Roll, and I find a naughty kid saying he can make it better than my favorite Bakery! Kind of a big ego you have!” Brianna said, smirking in challenge.
“I love watching naysayers eat shit and apologize, your shocked faces are hilarious.” Rumi answered, glaring at the young woman with her crossed arms.
“Hn! Rude!” Brianna’s friend, and Yuma’s sister, answered with a disapproving grunt.
“I am aware of my skill level, so I like to think it is not me boasting. And I am more than ready to prove it.” Izuku answered, smiling.
“Oh! Really? Now that’s interesting! You are even ready to bet on it?” Brianna said.
“I am! What are we betting?”
“If you make a better Roll Cake than them, I’ll give you a small prize, but if you don’t… Ah-ha! You will have to kneel and apologize loudly.”
“Huhuhu! Okay, I accept!” Izuku answered, shaking the young woman’s hand.
Two Hours later -
“Done! It’s finally ready!” Izuku declared as soon as he was done, and bringing many portions for Brianna, her friend, Rumi, the kids and few other customers.
“So! Let’s try your version! I’ll kick your butt if it is bad!” Brianna said, smirking.
“… Why the bakery’s Chef is crying that badly? He looks like somebody having a mental breakdown.
“Don’t know and don’t care!” Brianna answered, far too eager to try Izuku’s creation.
“I made some changes to the original recipe, mostly minor adjustments to round the edges of the flavor.
“Daaamn! You outdid yoruself again, Babe!” Rumi said with a wide smile while eating.
“YOU ALL! DOWN THE GROUND!” A strange guy with a long coat, sharp nose and faint beard ordered, he had a gun in his hand and a strange, luminous 20 tattooed on his cheek.
“HE’S ARMED!” Somebody yelled.
“Yuma! He has a Numbered Card!” Astral said.
“I noticed!” Yuma yelled, stepping froward and preparing a duel di-
“Whitey!” Izuku ordered.
CRACK!
The White robot flash-stepped in front of the criminal and grabbed him by the arm, destroying the guy’s duel disk and scattering his now-mangled cards everywhere.
“LET ME GO! I JUST WANT MONEY!” The guy yelled with wide eyes similar to somebody under the effects of drugs, he also kept thrashing against Whitey’s hold and wave around his gun.
“Troublemaker! Stop making a scene or you will be stripped as an example to others!” Whitey ordered.
“LET ME GO!” The guy yelled, and slamming the gun in his hand against the robot’s head, action that caused the thing to fire.
TING!
Brianna watched with wide eyes as Izuku’s knife moved to intercept the bullet that was about to hit her, with the thing remaining stuck on the blade instead of drilling a hole in her shoulder.
“BRIANNA!” Her friend and the other kids yelled in horror while hugging the girl that in the meantime had fallen on her knees in fear.
“Whitey! Help me kick the shit out of this moron!” Rumi, apoplectic in rage, ordered while assaulting the man.
“Understood! Troublemakers must be punished!” With that battle-cry, Whitey stripped the man down to his boxers, destroyed his gun, and together with Rumi proceeded to beat the man to near-death.
In the meantime, Izuku neared Brianna as well to check on her.
“Are you okay?” He asked with a soft voice.
“I… I… You saved me?” She asked.
“I am fast with my knife, and I used to dream about being a Hero. So I want to be there and help whoever needs.” He answered.
“Thank you!” She answered, hugging the young Chef and sniffling a bit in relief.
“You caught a bullet with a kitchen knife, that’s beyond being skilled.” Her friend said.
“Sorry, I can’t share too many details.” Izuku answered, hugging Brianna briefly and patting her back.
“Yuma, recover the card.” Astral suggested once seen the numbered card being between the ones scattered on the floor.
“Right!” The boy said, hurrying to grab it.
When his hand was at an inch of the card, Time slowed-down so much it almost stood still.
“Oh no… Kite!” Yuma hissed as another guy joined the scene.
“Who is it now?” To Yuma and Kite’s surprise, Izuku, Rumi and Whitey could still move freely while everybody else was frozen.
“Interesting, you two as well have numbered cards?” Kite asked.
“Uh? No, Edgelord, we don’t take part to this crap card game.” Rumi answered, uncaring.
“Well, I don’t believe you since you can still move. But it’s okay, I’ll just need to rip your soul out and see for myself!” Kite answered.
“…” A tense silence fell in the group.
“Rip our soul out?” Izuku asked, horrified.
“If you don’t want to relinquish your numbered cards, then I have no other choice!” Kite answered, smirking in smug superiority.
“Don’t touch them!” Yuma yelled in answer.
“Hide behind me! I’ll duel him myself!” He then said.
“…Fair to me, Yuma! Once done with you, I’ll rip out all your numbered cards, and if your souls get along the ride, well, I see it as an acceptable collateral damage! Let’s du-”
Clang!
“Edgelord, your boasting has gone for far too long. Walk away or you will be stripped as an example to others!” Whutey ordered from behind Kite while his big right hand closed tight on Kite’s shoulder.
“Orbit-” Kite tried saying, then he saw his robot companion dìstuck into the wall in a deep crater.
“That thing is crazy strong! RUN!” The robot begged with an actual scared voice.
“Let go of me! The Numbered Cards-”
“Time’s out. Initiating stripping protocol!”
“NO WAIT!” Kite yelled with wide eyes.
Straap! Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap!
Time Started moving normally again, Izuku just sighing in dismay and shaking his head at seeing the results of Whitey’s intervention, Rumi instead was just laughing her ass off.
“Yuma? You okay?” The boy’s sister asked.
“I… I think I just exorcised one of my fears…” Yuma answered, unsure, once seen the tail end of Kite’s naked round ass disappear behind the corner while flying away using his robot buddy as a jetpack.
“Observation 22: … Fear doesn't last if the source of the fear is stripped in front of you.” Astral thought with a tiny smirk blooming on his face.
“This was a far too eventful day, I even was about to die.” Brianna said, sighing, still shaken.
“But you are safe.” Her friend answered.
“You are right… You know? The Roll Cake is very good…” She answered.
“So he won the bet?”
“He did.”
“Hehehehe! I knew it! So? What’s the prize?” Rumi answered, smirking,
“… I planned for a kiss to the cheek… But considering you also saved my life… What about a date?” She answered, smiling.
“SISTER?!” Her brother shrieked in horror.
Her answer was watching Izuku shriek and start running away dragging Rumi behind himself.
“LET ME GO! I JUST WANT TO STRANGLE HER WITH HER INTESTINES!” On the notes of the bunny girl’s roars of anger.
“Wait! Just a date, come on! I am not that scary! I can be romantic too! WAAAAAAIT!” Brianna yelled while chasing them.
“HEY! MY FRIEND IS AN AMAZING GIRL! STOP BEING AFARID OF COMMITMENT!” Brianna’s friend yelled while chasing them as well.
“HOW DARE YOU SEDUCE MY SISTER AND THEN BREAK HER HEART?! I’LL KICK YOUR ASS!” Brianna’s brother bellowed while chasing them as well.
Meanwhile – With The System – Gods of Love -
There was destruction everywhere, palaces demolished and statues broken into shards.
“WE DID NOTHING, I SWEAR!” Aphrodite begged in tears, snot and molten make-up running down her face in waves.
“The System doesn’t believe you.”
“ON MY LIFE! NOBODY HERE IS SO STUPID AND INSANE TO SCREW AROUND WITH A CHOSEN OF YOURS! I SWEEEEAR!” The Goddess yelled, crying in absolute fear.
“So you Thots as well are not doing this. Other Gods too are innocent. The System will look elsewhere then.” The Entity declared, throwing Aphrodite away and leaving behind the destroyed temples.
The Hunt was still on, and if Gods and Demons and Devils were not the cause, The System will look elsewhere.
End of the omake.
I don’t really like writing “Intermediary Chapters” separating Arcs, I am always afraid of not making them properly.
Still, it was needed to separated a Sortie from the next ARC against a friend of Samui.
Next chapter will start the Arc against Jun Sato and her Restaurant on the sea.
Thank you all so much for reading and support my story, have a wonderful day.
Chapter 30: Battle by the Sea Arc part 1: The Twins and the Assassin.
Summary:
Jun and her grandfather did it this time! They set an Assassin and a duo of Twin Chefs against Izuku to force him to close his Restaurants! It's time for a new Challenge against Master Chefs for the sake of Green Cloud and Green Gourmet Garden! First the Twin Cefs, the Jun Sato Herself!
Notes:
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
With the arrival of December, and thus Christmass, my job will soon get very demanding and get constantly in the way, reducing my free time, that I use to write, to next to nothing.
So, please, don’t worry if I take longer to update, I promise I will keep updating this story, it’s just that for the month of December I’ll slowdown a bit, and not by choice.
Chapter Text
If you read this. the chapter has been Pr5oofread by my friend and Beta. :D
They save my story on a daily basis, and I will never stop thanking them!
Cruise ship Restaurant “Little Mermaid” – Kitchen
The kitchen was closed at the moment, and occupied only by the duo of Grandfather and Niece, with the former pacing restlessly back and forth, mumbling under her breath and cursing both Samui for daring to blackmail her and Izuku for actually giving her old “Friend” an actual reason to blackmail her.
“My life and name are about to get dragged through shit all because a brat had to shoot for the sky! Can’t those fucking kids hold their heads low!? New Generations are either lazy or plain attention-seekers! Everything has to be about them! And Samui had to have such a fragile male ego to immediately get prissy! A Kitchen is not the place for men! They do not have the backbone necessary! They are just good for fucking!” The woman kept ranting as she walked nonstop.
SPLAT! HISSSSS!
And whenever she stopped, she would gather some black sludge from her eyes in her hand and whip it towards a picture of Izuku and Samui and shot from her fingertips small droplets of the same black sludge dripping from her eyes to add more holes to the pictures and wall behind it thanks to the tar-like liquid’s lethal corrosive power, and then resume walking.
“Control you Quirk, little Jun. Your Grandpa has already found a solution.” Her grandfather answered, unfazed and not offended by her jabs towards men, God knows the man gave plenty of similar insults towards women whenever he was not talking about his direct family members.
“You know I am not referring to you, you are one of the few good ones.” She answered.
“Good.”
“What is your solution? Something that will finally work?” She asked.
“My mistake was looking for experts that were far too young. Today’s youth don't want to work and put in any effort, but luckily people of your generation are instead better in every way… I just needed to see if I could import some talent from overseas.” The old man said with a chilling smirk.
“Oh-Oooh! I always loved imported stuff! What have you bought?” Jun said, nodding along.
“I got a good Plan A and a wonderful Plan B should the worst happen and the Twins fail.”
“The Twins?”
“Hehehehe!” The man’s own Quirk briefly activated thanks to his bout of malice, turning his skin into scales and his eyes bloodshot, but before he could actually swell in size and become something scarily-close to a real life giant Umi Bozu, he calmed down and returned human-looking.
“Grandpa Gouki got in contact with an old friend in China, and thanks to her acting as an intermediary, I got the Li Twins to come to Japan to deal with that brat.”
“The Li Twins?… The Twin Dragons?” Jun asked with her eyebrows shooting up. “You asked some Chinese to help me?”
“I understand that any good Japanese person would hate to be indebted to the Chinese, but we need to swallow our pride in this situation, our enemy is worse than we anticipated.” Gouki answered with a grimace.
The Li Twins.
Li Ming and Li Hong, also known as The Twin Dragons.
In the World Ranking of Chefs, those two occupied the tenth place in the Top Ten Leaderboard .
Put in perspective, Chef Samui was ranked fifth, Ren Watanabe sixth while Jun was ranked seventh, every other member of their friends’ group was far below even the Top 20.
What nobody knew was that the Li Twins also dabbled in mercenary work, since both found equal pleasure in challenging Chefs and cooking as in killing their targets.
“I assume they are your Plan B?” Jun asked.
“Hohohohoho! No, no. I will use them as Plan A… Chen Huixiao is my Plan B.” The old man answered with a cruel smile.
“… Chen?” Jun asked in horror.
At the same time – Beijing - Tianjin Tower -
Absolute silence filled the corridors of the skyscraper owned by the richest and most influential man in current-day China, a magnate of unfathomable reach and bottomless bank accounts that had three fourths of china’s politicians in his pocket, a man whose hands were said to also strangle the underworld enough to let him lord over every criminal organisation as well…
“GGGCK!” And that man was at the moment gasping for breath and foaming at the mouth while his face was rapidly turning into an unsightly shade of blue.
“Your tea is disgusting.” The man sitting in front of the dying magnate was instead a man in his forties, of impeccable manners and disarming beauty, enough to look like an actor, he was finishing his drink without a care of the agonising suffering of his victim.
“GGGCK! You…” The old man gasped, grabbing a golden gun and shakily pointing it at the assassin’s face.
“Drop that gaudy toy.” Chen said, unfazed, taking the gun from the man’s hand with ease.
“You…” The man gasped a last time before dropping on his desk, a few weak shudders still wracking his body as the foam coming out of his mouth slowly turned red as blood flowed from his mouth, eyes and nose.
“…” Chen merely finished his tea, bowed to the man and left.
He locked the office door behind himself and went once again through all the nuisance of the magnate’s paranoia, comprised being stripped naked and going through X-Rays while every belonging of his once again passed through a fine comb to assure he didn’t steal a thing just like they checked if he had weapons when he got in for his appointment with his victim.
“Idiots, one doesn’t need a gun or a knife only to kill somebody.” He thought in disdain, especially when the women in the security detail stole looks of his naked body trained to peak human perfection.
Chen ignored them all, he just left the building, threw away the fake ID he used to enter the place, and entered his expensive sports car, he drew away without looking back.
“Mission completed.” He said to the untraceable phone he had in his car.
“The money has been deposited in your off-shore account. Your private jet is already ready to take you to Japan for your next job.” His assistant reported dutifully.
“Good. It’s just a simple Chef, but the moron paid me double my usual fare just to kill that boy, so I guess I can spare a minute to kill a dirty Japanese kid… Maybe I’ll try some local gyoza before returning home.” He said with a breathtaking smile cold as ice.
“Of course, boss. The Jet will be ready to depart as soon as you arrive at the airport.” The assistant answered.
“Good.” The assassin answered, then he closed the call.
It will actually take two days for the people taking care of his own security to discover that the Boogeyman of China had died.
“Little Mermaid” Restaurant – Kitchen -
“The World greatest Assassin, only surpassed by Living Legends of old like the man only known as 47, Sam Fisher from America or local ones like the Mad Dog of Shimano… Unfortunately Killers like them are damn rare nowadays. I would have loved to get in contact with Lady Nagant at least, just to ask a Japanese person to fix this, but nobody seems to know where she is. We’ll have to deal with a Chinese guy, but at least he is second place in the unofficial world rankings for assassins.”
“Considering that 47 is still ranked first even 200 years after his death, that’s saying something…” Jun muttered, sighing, and unaware that the bald guy sweeping the floor right outside her kitchen heard her and gave a faint and almost amused-sounding grunt before walking away towards the VIP section of the ship he technically shouldn’t even have no access to.
“It’s fine, have no fear. The Li Twins will take care of the kid for us, and if they fail, Chen will get here and kill him directly, in both cases, we win and Midoriya loses.” The old man answered, patting her back.
“My poor Jun doesn’t need to worry about that kid, he will get a bullet in his head soon anyway, I won’t let the fate of my family be decided by a stupid cooking challenge. The Twins will just help corroborate the cover of the boy killing himself from the shame of losing instead of a killer taking care of that. It’s not the first time I Suicided somebody getting in my way.” Gouki thought in cruel amusement.
The Next Day – Yavin Street - Green Cloud Restaurant -
“Congratulations to Host Izuku for Levelling-up once again! As a Prize, The main room of the Restaurant has been enlarged to make space for three more tables to be added, a Fragment of the God of Cooking Set has been added to your tally and the Ingredient Poison Scorpion has been added to the Restaurant’s Island Storage area.” The System congratulated Izuku as soon as the young Chef passed the threshold for him to Level-up again.
“Uh! Lots of nice stuff! More space for more customers, another fragment to unlock a new piece of Equipment and a Special-Preparation Ingredient! Very nice!” Izuku said with a happy chuckle, he now only needed just another fragment to get a new piece of Godly Equipment similar to the Turtle Wok and the Sea Dragon Kitchen Knife. As for the Poison Scorpion Ingredient, he was not worried, he had worked with that Ingredient plenty of times as Zaus, by now he knew perfectly well how to detoxify it and make it delicious.
“I am here, Boss!” Himiko said with a wide smile while leaning on the window connecting his kitchen to the main room.
“Just in time for the risotto! Here, for table-”
“Table 3, 5, 10 and 12!” The blond girl chirped while collecting the plates he gave her.
“Exactly!” He answered with a proud voice.
“I am a good waitress!” Himiko said, puffing-out her chest.
“The very best, thank you for being here, Himiko.” Izuku answered.
“And thank you for believing in me, Izuku.” She answered, hurrying to deliver the plates so as to hide her cloudy eyes.
“Uhm… I got two minutes… May as well.” Izuku watched her leave, checked every dish still cooking, and nodded to himself.
He briefly opened the new door that had been installed right next to the one leading to the pocket dimension with the giant Island acting as a storage room for both his Restaurants, and stepped through it to immediately enter the kitchen of his second Restaurant at the opposite side of the city.
Tato-Uin Avenue – Green Gourmet Garden Restaurant -
“How are things here?” He said, checking the work of the five Kings.
“KYAAAAA!” And as always scaring the crap out of Sana and Toshio with his sudden appearance.
“WHO USES A QUIRK AS FUCKING RARE AS TELEPORTATION TO MANAGE TWO RESTAURANTS AT THE SAME TIME?!” Toshio shrieked and asked the same question once again.
“My Sponsor, and me.” Izuku answered with a cheeky smile.
“THAT’S HARDLY A PROPER ANSWER!”
“Please ignore him, Boss.” Michiko answered, sighing.
“Uhm… Lower the fire a bit, too high.” Izuku answered.
“AH! Fuck! Yes, boss!” The girl answered by noticing the issue and doing as told and lowered the fire of a fraction.
“Perfect, should be ready in a minute, then you can plate it.” He said, smiling pleased and patting her shoulder.
“Yes, Chef.”
“I can’t believe the line of people that are coming here, the Restaurant hasn’t been open for that long.” Mako admitted, impressed.
“Word of mouth makes miracles.” Izuku answered, he himself started several dishes at the same time, and used the door to work at both kitchens at the same time by coming and going at random intervals, and yet every dish he made were still as insanely good, as expected from a Chef from the Gourmet World.
“… Can somebody explain to me how he does it? One would think he would focus on one Restaurant only, not pop in and out of two to manage both, it’s a rhythm no sane man can keep up with.” Sadao asked, dumbfounded.
“And yet, if you look at him, he looks like the happiest man alive,” Sana answered.
“Oh, I assure you that our beloved Boss has Stamina and Endurance to spare, this is nothing yet.” Goro the Maitre answered with a chuckle.
“Can we help you, Mister Goro?” Mako asked.
“Yes, it seems like two gentlemen want to challenge our Boss to a cooking duel, as usual they have put their best knives on the line, but in exchange they want Izuku to promise he will close both restaurants if he fails. Business as usual.” Goro answered.
“Having a collection of knives taken from the defeated displayed in both restaurants was supposed to stop challenges from coming, not increase them.” Adelia answered, sighing, she too was peeking inside the kitchen to check how things were going.
Green Cloud had the wooden Cabinet with the knives hanging from the wall next to the kitchen window, Green Gourmet Garden had a rather elegant glass window with shiny bronze hooks holding the knives in display for everybody to see, and yet Challengers kept coming.
“I-”
“AAAAAAAAH!”
“Uh?” Goro uttered.
“Bad man has smelly stuff he wanted to throw inside the Restaurant, so Sui ate him and smelly stuff!” The tiny ball of slime answered with his childlike voice.
“Well done! Spit him out so I can talk to him.” Goro answered as he walked back towards the entrance.
“Okay! PTU!”
“….”
STRIIIIIP! SLAP!
“… So?” Toshio asked.
“He stripped the guy naked and slapped him into submission, then he dragged that guy into the elevator. I guess he will kick him out of the building personally. Just an activist against the rich or something.” Adelia explained.
“Ugh!” Mako grimaced in disgust.
“Another Troublemaker?” Izuku asked once he returned inside the kitchen through the teleport door.
“A guy wearing expensive Nike shoes and a designer jacket that wanted to preach against capitalism and the rich by throwing rotten fruits inside the restaurant.” Goro answered once he returned.
“How hypocritical, anything else?” He answered, sighing.
“Two guys left a letter for you, an official challenge.” Goro answered, showing Izuku the small letter written in elegant calligraphy.
“Ah, Chinese. It’s been a while since I did a Themed Challenge. Yeah, I can do this. Can you tell them I will meet them here in two days for our Challenge?” The young Chef said aloud once read the letter.
“You can’t possibly accept every challenge people come to deliver you.” Adelia said, sighing.
“But I like having cooking Challenges…” Izuku admitted with a small voice.
Sigh! “Okay, you are the boss after all. I’ll use a spell to send back the answer faster.” Adelia answered, sighing in defeat.
“Thank you! You are the best!”
Two day later – With the Li Twins -
The two Chinese twins were making their way from the hotel they were staying at to the taxi that will take them to Green Cloud Restaurant to meet Izuku for their Challenge; both were bald, both had very sharp eyes and features, and were so identical to look like literal clones.
Each had a big backpack on their back filled to bursting with equipment and small containers.
“That boy, will he be a worthy challenge?” Ming asked.
“It matters not, we will give our best and defeat the boy all the same, worthiness or not.” Hong answered.
“And what about our Special Ingredients?” The other asked, smirking cruelly.
“We will use it all the same should he win. I care not about that man’s necessities, should the unthinkable happen and we lose, we will punish the kid for daring to make us look bad.” He answered.
“Hehehehe! I love watching them squirm and die whenever we use that.” Ming said, chuckling.
“It has been a while since we used it, yes. The boy will have the honour of being our new past-time.”
When the Taxi arrived, they kept speaking in Chinese the whole trip, making the poor driver wonder what they were talking about, and secretly checking himself in the rear mirror to see if he had anything out of place, just in case they were making fun of him.
“The one paying us wants us to leave the boy alive, unfortunately.” Ming said.
“Tetrodotoxin can take up to 24 hours to kill somebody, we will just poison the kid, collect our payment and leave, it will be their problem then. We will use our usual Goodbye Soup method, if it happens outside our challenge and we leave the fish there as usual, nobody will connect a chef’s death to us. As usual.” Hong answered.
“How long before we arrive?” Hong asked, in Japanese.
“Almost there, bit of traffic at this hour of the day.” The driver answered.
“Tch! Fine. Just do not waste time.”
“Sure… Screw you too, man…” The driver muttered under his breath while rolling his eyes.
Meanwhile – Airport -
The personal jet of the Killer Chen had just finished the due procedures and had moved to a secluded area where it went parked to let the owner descend in full privacy.
The man was dressed in a pristine and expensive suit, as he descended from the jet’s metal staircase he donned a pair of sunglasses and checked his gold watch.
“Perfectly in time, good.” He said, nodding pleased.
“Here is everything I could find on the boy, sir.” The Assassin’s assistant was waiting for him down the stairs, and handed him a thin folder as soon as he descended.
“… It’s not everything.” The Killer said with a faint sneer, he took just a few seconds to scan every paper inside the thing.
“For some reason after he started working in his restaurant information became scarce, especially since multiple groups are already spying on the boy. Two of our contacts were even intercepted and killed… The Modus Operandi suggests Stain himself took care of them.” She answered, she sounded extremely ashamed.
“That talentless butcher that gives a bad name to Killers everywhere? Has somebody asked that savage moron to kill the kid before me?”
“We couldn’t check that, sir. He either slips away or kills our spies sent after him.” She answered.
“Disappointing. Any reason why our Client wants a Quirkless kid dead? I will be very disappointed if this is just yet another trap to arrest me and you others fell for that.” Chen asked.
“The Client apparently needs the kid dead to appease somebody with blackmail over them, in fact, they asked us to leave an appointment open just in case the blackmailer isn’t satisfied and starts asking for other things.” The Assistant answered.
“Curious choice to go through with the murder of the kid instead of directly asking for the blackmailer to die, but it’s their money, if they want to waste it on pointless targets, so be it. Where is this kid?” Chen answered, uncaring.
“The boy can be found in two Restaurants at random intervals, one in the rich side of the city and one at the opposite side, the more touristic one.”
“Find me a table in the rich one and make sure he will be there, I don’t want the greasy food they usually feed to dirty foreigners. I hope at least he will be a decent enough cook.” Chen said.
“At once, Sir. He seems to be considered “Good” by few trusty sources, do you want me to demand your lunch to be of Chinese Cuisine?”
“… Try. I hold no hope for a Japanese person to make proper Chinese food, but he has to die, so I guess I will make it a bit more personal when I kill him if he ruins my beloved homeland’s dishes.” Chen answered.
“At once, Sir.” The Assistant answered, and with a gesture of hers a sports car was parked close to them by one of the man’s staff members.
“A Lamborghini, as you asked. We used one of our fake identities to book it.”
“Wrong colour. I specifically asked for a black one.”
“I am very sorry, Sir.”
“Tch!”
Some time later - Gourmet Garden Restaurant -
The door opened again to let Izuku move from Green Cloud to the more luxurious Restaurant’s kitchen.
“Somebody asked specifically for me?” He asked as soon as he surfaced from the door.
“I am very sorry, Izuku-san! But Aiba-san said the man insisted quite a bit for you personally to meet him and cook for him.” Sana answered, sniffling.
“It’s fine, don’t worry. This sort of thinghappens all the time, some people don’t trust the rest of the staff and prefer the main Chef to cook, sometimes. People have pet peeves of all kinds, what’s important is that they keep good manners and don’t make nuisances of themselves.” Izuku answered, smiling.
“Okay.”
“I’ll go talk to him, don’t worry. You focus on making that amazing soup.”
“Sure thing, Boss.”
Walking out of the kitchen, and greeting with a smile and few kind words the customers already present he met along the way, Izuku made his way through the two themed rooms and towards the outside garden area, finding the lone man sitting by himself next to the elegant railing around the garden, one of the tables with the best view of the city under the restaurant.
“Good evening, I was told you wanted me to personally cook for you and meet me in person?” He said, presenting his hand.
“Indeed, my name is Shen. Pleased to meet you.” The man answered with a fake name, shaking Izuku’s hand and without trying at all to cover his accent when talking.
“Izuku Midoriya, nice to meet you. You asked for traditional Chinese cuisine. You are lucky since I am waiting for a duo of gentlemen that actually Challenged me to a cooking duel centred around Chinese Cuisine. If you want I can make more and have it delivered to you! Should you want, you can be part of the judges too.” Izuku said, switching into perfect Chinese.
“And you trust me to vote fairly?” The Killer didn’t show outward appreciation for Izuku speaking his language that well, though he did appreciate it in the privacy of his head, and asked that with a raised eyebrow.
“I have no reason to doubt your honesty in front of good food.” Izuku answered, smiling.
“… Quite alright. I do have a sense of honour, so while strict, I will vote fairly. If you can trust my words, that is.” Chen answered.
“I do.” The other answered.
“I’ll vote fairly, boy, because after all, either you win or lose you will die all the same. May as well let you die with a last good memory.” The Killer thought, uncaring.
The two exchanged only a few more pleasantries before the Li Twins arrived, emanating an annoying air of arrogance so thick many of the Pro Heroes and Civilian present immediately started to instinctively dislike them.
“We are here for the Challenge.” Ming said.
“If the Chef of this Restaurant has any Honour he better have not run.” Hong added.
“I am here, I was just preparing everything.” Izuku answered, taking out of the kitchen various containers of marinating Ingredients while behind him Goro carted out two fancy-looking movable cooking stations (Provided by the System for the almost-daily Challenges Izuku had started receiving), completed with enough space for preparing Ingredients and various flames for up to five large pots at the same time.
“Good to see you are taking this seriously, boy.” Ming said he and his brother too had brought along containers with Ingredients already marinating in them.
“I always do, select a station and we will start immediately.” Izuku answered, catching with a corner of his eyes Himiko and Eri looking at him from the kitchen and silently cheering for him.
“I hope the Police Force won’t panic too much since she’s here… But I guess Eri insisted.” Izuku thought, sighing.
As soon as his eyes moved slightly to the side, he saw Tsukauchi enter the Restaurant accompanied by the Officer usually following Himiko around, both looking annoyed and not in a good mood.
“This is a test trial, don’t get used to this.” The Detective said.
“I know, I know.” Himiko answered, rolling her eyes.
The twins in the meantime had settled behind a workstation and moved it right in front of Izuku’s.
“I am Li Ming.”
“I am Li Hong.”
“We are the Li Twins, and we are here to defeat you!” Both Twins said at the same time.
“I heard a lot of amazing things about you two, so I am eager to face you in a Cooking Duel, thank you for actually coming all the way here to Challenge me!” Izuku answered, giving both a respectful bow.
“Enjoy the moment then, boy.” Ming said.
“Because after today you will never cook again.” Hong added.
“We’ll see. Many have bet they could force me to close, but I am still here.” Izuku answered with a challenging smile as his fighting spirit started to flare brightly inside his soul.
“That Lucky Streak ends today! For this Challenge we will prepare two dishes each, what are your two-”
“Four.” Izuku interrupted Ming.
“… Four?” Hong said, surprised.
“You two are preparing a total of four dishes, unless I too make four, I’ll be at a disadvantage.” He explained.
“I believe you have the concept of disadvantage upside-down, boy.” Shen said, and for the life of him he could not understand why the other people present started laughing as if he had told the world’s silliest joke.
“Come on, Boss Izuku! Don’t be mean! Just make two! Give them a chance!” A Pro Hero yelled in the background, renewing the friendly jeers of the people present.
“Please don’t be mean! It is actually a show of respect for me! Don’t make me look like a bully!” Izuku begged, with actual honesty.
“…” The Twins and the Killer didn’t know how to process the strange situation they were in.
“Are these people mocking us?” Ming hissed.
“They just don’t know our talent, let them laugh. Ignorant and fools like them are just frogs living complacently inside their small well, we just need to show them how big the world is in truth.” Hong answered.
“You are right, brother.”
“Please excuse them, they mean well, it’s just that sometimes they get overzealous.” Izuku told them with an apologetic tone.
“We will close an eye this time.” Ming said.
“It will make our victory sweeter.” Hong added.
“Let’s start cooking, we will crush your dishes with ours!” Both Twins then said at the same time.
“… I haven’t even said which ones I want to make… But okay…” Izuku muttered, dejectedly.
“I will give the start and call the end of the Challenge. Are you three ready?” Goro said.
“Yes!” Izuku and the Twins answered as one.
“Good. You have three hours to make your Dishes starting… NOW!” The Lizardman yelled, and with a soft ring, Adelia started the timer.
“Will three hours be enough?” Himiko asked.
“Both Izuku and those guys took care of seasoning and initial preparation of the Ingredients in the last two days so to shorten the needed time to prepare their dishes, and both had apparently decided to go for impressive recipes and used the “Ingredients can be seasoned in advance before the Challenge Day” clause the Twins added to their letter to its fullest. They either didn’t believe Izuku could actually use that well enough to be a threat, or just plainly didn’t consider he would use that concession at all.” Adelia answered.
“Why wouldn’t he?”
“Because Pride is a nice substitute for stupidity.” Adelia said, shaking her head.
With Izuku – (A/N: Remember: Izuku is cooking all his dishes at the same time ) -
The People Present saw Izuku take out from one of the boxes an entire duck with parchment-like skin and then mix coarse salt, Chinese five-spice and Sichuan peppercorns, that he had personally roasted, and ground into powder together at a steady and rapid pace to then rub the mixture evenly inside the cavity of the duck.
“Are you making Peking Duck? You dare think you can make this ancient recipe properly?!” Ming growled.
“You’ll be surprised.” Izuku answered automatically, too focused on cooking.
“Haven’t had that in a while. Satisfy my palate, boy, and I’ll kill you rapidly and in a way that will preserve your honour… But screw-up and your demise will be miserable.” Chen thought with narrowed eyes.
“Killing intent detected. Three Troublemakers wish harm upon the Host.” Whitey said with red eyes.
“I feel that too, and so does Lord Shiro. Let’s observe for now, should they try anything, we’ll skin them alive before they can even lift a finger against Master Izuku.” Goro answered.
“Understood.” The Robot answered.
Back to Izuku -
“If they try anything, this Esteemed Taotie will bestow on them the honour of being eaten alive and be endlessly digested for one thousand years!” Shiro thought in anger while glaring at the Li Twins and Chen.
“Relax, I’ll give you some too. Be patient.” Izuku said with a gentle tone.
“I have already taken care of“Bathing” the duck in a mixture of water and Chinese Black Rice vinegar until all the skin was completely coated, then I hung the duck in a cool, well-ventilated place to dry overnight. When the duck was dried, I brought the reserved water-vinegar liquid to boil and added honey and soy sauce to it and used the mixture again to bathe the duck skin, then I left it to dry in front of a fan for at least 2-3 hours more. Did I do it properly?” Izuku asked while nailing both Twins with a hard stare.
“In theory you did, but we’ll see once the dish is done.” Hong answered.
Shaking his head at the Twins annoying attitude, the young Chef checked the small oven built into the workstation, and as soon as he saw it was reaching optimal temperature, he placed the duck on a roasting rack in a roasting pan breast side up, poured some water into the pan to prevent the fat from splattering and put it inside the oven to roast.
“Roast for 15 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 180°C (350°F) and continue to roast for 1 hour and 10 minutes… Thanks for the recipe, Yuda!” Izuku thought, grateful, while recalling the variation of the recipe his colleague and friend, the world-famous ‘Zao Yuda of the Millimetre’, taught him.
While the duck was roasting, Izuku prepared the spring onion brushes; cutting off and discarding the green part of the spring onion then trimming off the base.
The onlookers watched in amazement as the young man managed to make identical lengthway cuts of just a fewcentimetres on both ends of the spring onions in less than a second.
“Every cut is exactly the same. That fast and precise with the knife? Why, you are almost impressing me!” Chen thought in derision while watching Izuku soak the cut spring onions in iced water to make them curl into brushes and then pat them dry.
With the Li twins -
“He is preparing another duck and some pork. What else is he making?” Hong asked.
“I don’t know, but his Peking Duck can’t win against our Cantonese Steamed Fish! The Ginger and Shallots had always been the secret of our victory, and it will keep being so this time too!” Ming answered.
“The ginger is ready for steaming, brother!” Ming answered.
SWING! Crinckle!
They recoiled slightly when they only saw Izuku slash his knife once and yet cut a mound of herbs and other assorted Ingredients to strips instantly.
“… How?” Both asked.
“I am just fast.” Izuku answered, adding small rocks to a pan and stir-frying them.
With Chen -
“Why is Boss Izuku cooking rocks? Has he gone mad?” Somebody asked, confused.
“You clearly never stuck your nose outside Japan. That’s Suodiu. It's a form of Chinese street food where small rocks gathered from the clear waters of a river are stir-fried with spices, chilly oil and garlic. You are supposed to suck the rocks clean when eating Suodiu, the spices and garlic will enrich the taste the river waters gave to the rocks. It’s humble and flavorful and symbolises finding warmth and peace even in the most small and insignificant moments of your daily life.” The Killer explained with a tone of annoyance.
“It’s street food, yes, but it still has its dignity, so I will add some Suodiu rocks as a side dish to my Twice-Cooked Pork and Eight Treasure Duck.” Izuku added.
“You are making those two too?!” The Twins yelled.
“For your interest I did make Buddha Jumps over the Wall soup too, it has been boiling at a low flame for the past two days. If it doesn’t count for the challenge, I will use the rest of the shark I used for it to make hand-pulled Lanzhou shark stir-fried noodles as an alternative dish, since I had to use shark fins for the main soup, I’ll use the rest of the poor animal too! They may come from a specialised breeder that breeds the sharks I use as Ingredients, but using only the fins always feels like disrespecting the animal.” Izuku answered, shrugging.
“… No… No, it’s okay. That dish takes so long to make, so it makes sense you started before the Challenge to make it… While the stir-fried noodles will be the ones judged, we can taste the main soup as well and give you our opinion on it.” Hong answered, unsure.
“Thank you!” Izuku answered, smiling in gratitude.
“… Who are you, kid?” Ming asked after a long silence.
“Who am I? I am me of course!” Izuku answered with a cheeky smile.
“Hn! Good answer.” Hong admitted, shaking his head.
With Izuku -
The next dish Izuku started working on was the Twice-Cooked Pork, another fairly-complex and yet delicious recipe of Chinese Cuisine.
“Twice Cooked Pork, or hui guo rou (回鍋肉)... a Sichuan dish of spicy seared pork belly. Please help me defend my Restaurant from the Villains that wish to destroy again everything I worked so hard for.” Izuku whispered in a prayer-like manner to the assembled Ingredients in front of him.
A brief lustre of pure light and a feeling of gratitude matching his own told Izuku how pork and every other Ingredient were ready to give their all and help him.
“Thank you. LET’S START!” He said with renewed vigour.
In a medium pot, two quarts of water were brought to a boil, the whole piece of pork belly was then added to the pot together with some ginger.
“It’s boiling again. Good, right on time!” Izuku muttered while lowering the heat to let the pork simmer for 30 minutes, until the meat is tender and cooked through.
With the Twins -
“That boy is strange.” Ming admitted.
“Uhn? What do you mean, brother?” Hong asked.
“He cooks in strange ways. Remember what wàipó (Grandmother) used to say?”
“Cooking is not just a matter of heating food, it’s putting your soul into it, that’s why her dishes and jiāmǔ’s (Mother’s) dishes taste better than what we eat anywhere else. Because they put their Love and Soul in what they make.”
“Exactly, I fear the boy is doing the same. His eyes are just the same as theirs when they cook.”
“I hope for once it will be only a matter of superstitions then…” He admitted, worried.
Back to Izuku -
When it was finally time, Izuku removed the pork from the pot and ran it under cold running water for about a minute then set it aside to rest while he prepared all the other ingredients.
SWIIIING!
Once ready to cook it again, Izuku shocked the Twins and Killer again by rapidly cutting the pork belly in identical thin slices about 1/8 inch thick in just a few seconds, far too fast for a normal human to manage.
“Soon, I’ll use you soon to cook, promise.” Izuku muttered to the tattoo holding inside his precious Star-Eating Turtle Wok, then he grabbed a common wok and moved it over the fire to heat until it started to faintly smoke.
He added one tablespoon of oil to the wok and immediately started to sear the pork, until the meat got a light caramelization, then he lowered the heat and he scooped-out the pork.
“First step done, now the others…” He mumbled while adding another tablespoon of oil to the wok.
“What brand of canned spicy bean paste did you use?” Chen asked with a mocking tone.
“No brand, I make it myself every time.” Izuku silenced the Killer with a small smirk, adding said homemade spicy bean paste to the wok to let it fry in the oil for about 30 seconds, to bring out the flavour and colour, and turn the oil a vivid red without a single trace of burning.
The scent of that was torturing the people present fiercely, and when he added the garlic to the oil to fry it for 30 seconds, many stomachs of the so called Elite, both Civilian and Pro Heroes, started grumbling in need in a very undignified manner.
“Almost done, please be patient!” Izuku said with a gentle smile, then increased the heat and added the pork, long hot green peppers, and leeks to the wok.
“Yes it smells nice, but without-” Ming tried saying.
“I have authentic Shaoxing Wine, Chef Ming. I am not half-assing it.” Izuku interrupted him in fluent, perfect, and more importantly, sharp Chinese.
After having stir-fried the pork for a minute, the young Chef added the shaoxing wine, some soy sauce and sugar to the wok and started to delicately stir everything together.
“By the looks of it, the leeks have wilted and the peppers are cooked just right to still have a little crunch. Good. It’s ready!” Izuku muttered, pleased to see another dish ready to be served.
With the Twins -
Both men were sweating while trying to match the pace of Izuku, almost forgoing breathing and blinking out of sheer concentration.
“He is really making all four at the same time alone, who trained him?” Hong asked between clenched teeth.
“We got bad details! That Japanese Moron told us the kid was a nobody!” Ming answered, watching with bloodshot eyes how far along Izuku already was in preparing the Eight Treasure Duck.
“That’s it! We’ll make our Divine Realm Puffer Fish Congee soup with double the amount of poison! That kid must die!” Hong hissed in pure hatred.
“I concur! No Japanese kid still smelling of tits milk shall defeat us! It’s a matter of our Pride as Chefs! We didn’t pour sweat, tears and blood night and day while studying the art of cooking for so many decades, just to be humiliated like this!” The other answered.
“Together, brother!” Both men said, clasping the hands in a fierce shake born from their unshakable bond as twin brothers.
With Izuku -
Izuku saw the two brothers talk in hushed tones between themselves and shake hands with that intense vigour, and unfortunately mistook their desire to kill him for them hyping each other up to cook better.
“They are all fired-up! Better do my best and meet their enthusiasm head-on! It’s only fair!” The young Chef said to himself, lightly slapping his cheeks so as to better focus on the last few passages of the Eight Treasure duck dish he was making.
Just like with the other duck dish, he had previously washed the duck and removed any innards, then he had blanch in boiling water to tighten the skin and once dry, he had put the duck on a tray and rub the Marinade on the skin and inside the body cavity, and left it to rest for a night.
Clink!
The metal “S” hook he had used to spear the skin on the neck of the duck clinked slightly in the wind now that it was free from the weight of the bird.
Izuku had used it to hold the duck above a wok with boiling oil inside, and had used a ladle to pour the oil onto the skin to crisp and seal it.
For the Stuffing he washed, peeled, rinsed, and diced some taro root and some fresh Shan yao (Chinese Yam), chopped chestnuts, boiled White Lotus seeds, Lily Buds, diced red dates, diced shiitake mushrooms Izuku himself had dried, and finally some diced Chinese sausage.
He had used all that to fill the duck body cavity with the stuffing mixture until nice and plump, then he had threaded bamboo skewers along the duck’s skin to close the opening and secure the stuffing.
“Look at you! So nice and delicious, ready for the final touches!” Izuku said with a proud voice, and arranging sliced bamboo shoots and ginger slices at the bottom of a clay casserole, he then delicately laid the duck above those into the clay casserole and set on the fire to boil.
At the end of the Challenge -
DRIIIIIIIIN!
“Time’s up! Stop cooking and step back from the workstation so that our Waiters can deliver them to the judges and other customers!” Adelia ordered as soon as the timer ran out and loudly rang.
“Perfect! I had plenty of time to give the finishing touches to everything!” Izuku said with a wide smile, and playfully waved at the stir-fried shark noodles as the plates passed by him in La Brava’s hands, making the former Vigilante chuckle in amusement at her Boss’ silly antics.
Everybody watched in amazement the dishes Izuku made for his Challenge, each one of them a small edible work of art, even the scent was sublime and mesmerising.
“You look very proud!” Himiko said, chuckling.
“What can I say, cooking a dish well fills me with satisfaction,” Izuku answered, chuckling, and lifting Eri in his arms to hug her close.
“You were amazing,” Eri said, kissing his cheek.
“Thank you, Eri! Want to try some of them?” He asked.
“… Maybe.” she admitted, giggling.
“Okay! You can try all of them if you want!” He answered, spinning her around to make her squeal happily.
(Stir-fried Shark meat Noodles. Hand-pulled)
(Twice Cooked Pork)
(Eight Treasure Duck)
(Peking Duck)
And… Bonus…
(Buddha Jumps over the wall Soup.)
With Chen -
The assassin was elegantly eating every dish put in front of him, savouring every morsel thoroughly and with impeccable manners, and looking intently at Izuku and studying his every move while he helped Eri try the food he made.
“He is frighteningly good with a knife, I’ll need to be careful should he manage to translate that into actual self-defence,” He muttered to himself while enjoying the duck meat heavenly-soft and flavorful meat.
“That robot follows his every move, and that strange animal never leaves his side either.” The pork belly was amazingly crisp outside and tender inside, with the spices tingling his palate just right.
“He lives in the Restaurant… And has a good palate, so poison is out of the question, no way can you make people believe somebody with his skills would make a mistake and poison himself…” The Killer’s train of thought stopped when he saw the strange way the Twins were looking at Izuku.
He knew that look, since he had the same look in his eyes whenever he was about to kill a target.
“Bèn dàn! (Idiot!) Those two fools… They will ruin everything. Better take care of them first before killing the boy, I won’t let two idiots ruin everything!” He hissed under his breath.
He needed to keep an eye on the Li Twins, just in case they tried something stupid that would put his job in jeopardy!
“Let’s go, Brother. We have a Special Soup to prepare.” Ming said between clenched teeth once clear they did lose, they didn’t even need the judges saying it aloud, they themselves had tasted
“WAIT!” Izuku called them.
“What do you want, boy? Bragging is not honourable.” Hong said, not even trying to hide his anger.
“No! No! I would never do that!” Izuku answered, shy.
“I just prepared a small gift to thank you for taking your time out of your busy schedule to come all the way here.” He said.
He presented them a box wrapped in pristine red paper, holding it with both hands.
“Oh!…” Both Twins muttered, surprised.
“We can’t accept it, sorry.” Ming tried saying.
“Please, it’s a token of appreciation from one Chef to another.” Izuku said.
“Thank you then, Chef Izuku.” Hong said, accepting the gift.
“Please come visit me again, not just for a Challenge either.”
“We’ll see.” The Twins answered in chorus, and exchanged their goodbye with Izuku, they left.
“Check, please.” Chen asked soon after.
“Even if you just ate the food of the Challenge?” Gentle asked.
“Fair is fair. I was given a service, and I will pay for it.” The Killer answered, rudely.
“Okay, sir. Please wait here.” Gentle answered. “So very rude.” he thought while shaking his head.
With the Twins – Back inside their Hotel room – Later that day -
The box of Izuku’s gift laid opened on the table, with an extremely acrid smell wafting from it, enough to make inexperienced people think something dead and rotten used to be inside.
“The best Pinyin: chòu dòu fǔ I had in a long time.” Hong admitted, bitterly, while still munching.
Stinky Tofu: Changsha Style, a traditional Chinese snack where Tofu was left to ferment until it gains its characteristic eye-watering pungent scent many would misunderstand for it being rotten, surprisingly, the taste is very good compared to the smell. One only needs to be very brave when trying it for the first time.
“The boy is very good. Too bad his fate is sealed.” Ming answered, he had long since eaten his part of the Tofu and was finishing cooking the poisonous congee soup with Pufferfish meat, and enough tetrodotoxin poison to kill three people, and thanks to his own talent as a Chef, the poison’s taste was perfectly hidden.
Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a potent neurotoxin, its name derives from Tetraodontiformes, an order that includes pufferfish, porcupinefish, ocean sunfish, and triggerfish, animals carrying it inside their bodies.
Symptoms include: oral paresthesias (may progress to include the arms and legs), 2) cranial nerve dysfunction, 3) weakness (may progress to paralysis), or 4) nausea or vomiting. If not treated, it will then lead to death in 24 to 48 hours.
“It is always a pity to put a stop to blossoming new talents, but the boy has to pay with his life the humiliation he brought on us, so even with a thoughtful gift to Thank Us, he will still need to die.” Hong answered, nodding along with his twin brother's assessment.
They both turned around immediately when they heard the door to their room open even though they were sure they had locked it.
“Who are you? How did you get in here, and why?” Ming asked.
“I am a man that is not stopped by the cheap lock on a hotel door. As for why I am here… Honestly, I would prefer you two leaving the killing to a Professional. Especially since your target is a boy I have been tasked to kill. And I don’t like amateurs to encroachon my territory.” Chen said, fixing the leather gloves on his hands with an elegant flick.
“Somebody wants the kid dead? But… We were asked to leave the kid alive, what if we are blamed?” Hong asked.
“At least like this we can make it look like an accident and avoid angering our Client.” Ming added.
“Make it look like an accident?” Chen asked, laughing mockingly.
“I tasted his food, you tasted his food. A lot of people, some of which world-famous Food Critics AND members of the Police, regularly taste his food. He has two cabinets full of knives he took as Trophies from other talented Chefs. “Mistakenly preparing pufferfish the wrong way and poisoning himself” won’t last a single second in front of the very first round of scrutiny. And it takes only ONE naysayer to have a decent Detective on the case and discover how a Chef with amazing skills that never prepared pufferfish wrong suddenly made it badly after you two visited him.” The Killer explained slowly, as if talking to a kid.
“Regularly?”
“Yes, pufferfish is a regular item in his restaurants, you cretins. He is certified in preparing and serving it. I know how to make a death look like an accident, because I do it properly. And I can do it whenever I want…” Chen answered, with a long stare.
“… We get it. We never met you and we never talked.” Ming said, understanding.
“We will leave the boy’s death to you.” Hong added.
“Just make it humiliating, in the name of our Honour.” Both Twins said.
“… Whatever will make you sleep well at night, I wanted to preserve the boy’s honour in death, but if it means you won’t get in the way. So be it.” Chen Answered with an uncaring shrug.
He grabbed the bowl of soup and gave it a long sip.
“WAIT! THAT’S-”
“What? Your lunch? Sorry.” Chen answered with a mocking smirk, clearly not sorry at all.
“Good taste and nice broth, but it still shows why you lost that badly: Your soup is still not on par with the boy’s food, Hahahahaha!” The Killer laughed while leaving the Hotel Room and walking down the stairs.
“… Oh, no…” Ming muttered in horror.
“Ugh!” A groan of pain faintly reached their ears, soon followed by a body heavily falling down the stairs.
Badump-Badump-Badump-CRACK!
“Oh, no…” Hong echoed.
“AAAAAAAAAAH! A dead body!” Somebody screamed outside, with the voice echoing loudly in the stairs area, and soon followed by similar screams as more and more people went attracted by the scream and discovered Chen’s dead body.
“OH FUCK!” Both Li Twins yelled, immediately dropping everything to gather as much of their belongings as they could to escape the hotel.
Chen Huixiao, one of the greatest Assassins in the world that mastered the art of the perfect Assassin… Killed by a mere bowl of soup… It was almost ironic for a legendary man like him to die like that, and a curious reminder that even a Chef can be a threat to whoever lowers their guard.
The next day – Cruise Ship - With Jun and Gouki -
Jun was looking at her grandfather with bulged-out eyes, stopping cooking and standing frozen in complete shock.
“What?” She asked, dumbfounded.
“I had planned for the Li Twins to defeat Midoriya, then Chen would have stepped-in to kill the boy making it look like he had chosen suicide out of shame from his defeat… BUT THOSE MORONS HAD TO LOSE!” The old man explained with a shriek.
“Not only those two dumb sacks of shit had to lose their Cooking Challenge against Midoriya, they had also tried to poison him with Tetrodotoxin in revenge! After I specifically told them to not kill him! Chen had apparently visited them for some reason… Maybe to remind them Midoriya was HIS TARGET, and got himself poisoned! He stole the poisoned soup for some sort of show of Dominance or similar bullshit… And he died when the poison paralyzed him fast enough he slipped down the stairs and broke his neck and died! THOSE MORONS KILLED MY KILLER!” Gouki said, upturning a table nearby in blind fury.
“Where are the Twins now?” Jun asked.
“They were making a run for it, obviously! They told me all this before destroying the phone and going into hiding! But considering I just saw the news and saw the footage of their arrest, their “Daring Escape” amounted to fucking nothing! Useless bastards to the very end!” He answered, huffing still from his bout of anger.
“Are we in trouble?”
“Not yet, I used several burner phones to keep in touch and a fake name. Even if they talk the police won’t have anything linking them to us.”
“And Chen?”
“Same thing, his Secretary… Because apparently a professional Assassin has a Secretary and a full Team of assistants, for some unfathomable reason, contacted me to say that they will keep the money I already gave them and to consider contacting them again once they find a new Killer to work under… I am getting to the end of my patience here.” Gouki answered.
“So nobody knows we tried killing Midoriya?” Jun asked.
“Nobody. And I plan to keep things like that forever.” The old man answered.
Outside the kitchen, one of Giran’s men posing as a member of the cleaning staff smirked as the hidden microphone he left in the kitchen relayed everything the two said crystal clear to him and the recorder it was connected to.
“Oh! Boss is gonna love this little confession! Thank you bitch and old fart!” The guy muttered, and smirked in victory while sending everything to the Information Broker.
The Information broker also dabbed in some contraband himself on the side, for some extra cash, and having enough dirt on one of his main competitors meant that the man could catch two birds with one stone: Make a favour to a friend of his, and remove one of his competitors that could make very “unfair” prices when delivering contraband thanks to the option of hiding behind a cruise ship empire.
Everybody wins! Except Jun and her family, but Giran didn’t care about them, they had just crossed the line by paying assassins to attack Izuku and his loved ones, and after the Information Broker relays to Izuku the real reason why the Li Twins and Chen came to visit him, the young Chef will move on the offensive and deal with them personally.
End of the Chapter -
Omake time: Multidimensional Ingredient Hunt:
“To Hunt the Monsters that Hunt the Monster Hunters That Hunt The Monsters that Hunt the Monster Hunters that Hunter the Monster that hunt...
Cave -
The lava flowing freely all around the big cave made air almost impossible to breath, but the Hunter knew they had more pressing matter, like the Giant rampaging gorilla with horns that had just torn-off a horse-like monster’s horn to eat it, and after that the thing started to savagely shoot streams of lightning from its mouth to destroy everything in sight.
“ADMIRAL!” The Hunter’s Handler yelled in horror as their superior, the Admiral, used a giant slab of rock as an improvised shield to protect himself and them from the Monster’s lighting-laser breath attack.
“Ugh! The big boy has a temper!” The Admiral said while heaving, he was pushing against the rock he was using as a shield with all his strength so as to counter the savage push of the endless stream of lightning that was slamming on it.
“I’ll stop it, you run!” The Hunter said, ready to shoot the claw on their gauntlet at the Monster’s face to pull themselves towards the creature and fight it.
“Be careful, Partner!” The Handler said, clearly worried for her friend.
“Just hurry! This pebble won’t last much longer!” The Admiral added as the stone was starting to feel hot under his hands from the unrelenting lightning attack.
“I’ll stop that Raj-”
“Troublemaker found!” A new voice yelled as a blur of motion ran past them at high speed.
“What the He-”
CLAAAAAANG! Thud.
A Loud gong-like sound was all they heard before the lightning attack stopped abruptly, and when the Admiral dropped the giant almost-molten rock down, the trio saw a chubby white robot standing above the unconscious Gorilla Monster, and the ‘Rajang’ lying on the floor with few teeth missing, a broken horn and the perfect imprint on a closed fist on the right side of its face.
“Troublemaker dealt with.” Whitey said with a monotone voice.
“...Eh?” The Hunter and the others muttered.
GUIIIIIH! CRAAAAASH!
Soon after, a giant dragon-like creature with a body resembling a very muscular pickle came flying into the cave, rolling heavily on the floor, that too had a clear punch-shaped indent on the side of his face.
“Got it, finally!” Izuku said, sighing in relief while nearing the downed pickle-dinosaur.
“He is very slippery for being that big.” Ochako added, walking beside him.
“Yep! What about that monkey, Whitey?” Izuku asked.
“The Troublemaker monkey that attacked the Host has been properly disciplined.” Whitey answered, moving aside to show them the knocked-out monkey.
“Good job, Whitey!” Izuku said, smiling wide.
The robot’s only answer was a slow rubbing of its dome-like round head.
“Who are you, Boy?” The Admiral asked slowly.
“Ah! Good Evening! I am Izuku-”
ROAAR!
ROAAAR!
What appeared next, maybe attracted by all the noise, where two flying monsters faintly resembling lions crossed with dragons; one with fiery red fur, the other with deep blue fur.
“Those two again!” Ochako said, annoyed.
“A TEOSTRA!” The Handler said with wide eyes.
“And a Lunastra! Trouble comes in pairs!” The Admiral added.
“You two really think you can eat my beloved Partner? You really think you are equal in power to my Esteemed Persona? What a joke!” Shiro said aloud from around Izuku’s neck.
“What is that thing?” The Handler asked aloud.
ROAAAAAR!
Both leonine monsters roared as one while fire covered their bodies.
“Oh, be quiet!” Shiro answered, playfully lifting one of his adorable fluffy paws and then lightly patting down.
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Instantly both flying monsters were slammed down by an invisible force with such a domineering strength that a giant crater formed with both beasts half-buried underground in the epicentre, unconscious and defeated in just one, single hit.
Clack!
There was a very soft and yet sharp sound coming from the jaws of the three people watching Izuku and his entourage as Hunter, Handler and Admiral’s mouth dropped open so suddenly their jaws almost dislocated.
Sigh! “Thank you for leaving them all alive, I want to take them to my Storage Island for breeding.” Izuku said, sighing.
“No problem, Partner. The Robot and I know how to restrain our power.” Shiro answered while purring and rubbing his tiny cheek against Izuku’s.
“… Okay, boy! Time for some answers now.” The Admiral finally had enough, and after walking up to the two teens he crossed his arms and nailed both with a glare.
“Uuuh, okay.” Both Izuku and Ochako answered with a shrug.
Later that day – Settlement in the snow “Seliana” – Canteen -
“So you are a travelling Chef.” Another Hunter asked, amazed.
“Uh-hu! Helps broaden my horizons if I see Ingredients in the wild, their habitat, before capturing and cooking them.” Izuku answered.
He was using the place’s kitchen to try a few recipes he created with the meat from the various Monsters he and the others captured.
“Here it is! It’s ready!” Izuku finally declared once done.
“Deviljoh tail risotto, Lunastra Roastbeef, Teostra stew, Rajang Burger and Brachydios Mini Kebab Skewers!” He explained while delivering many, many plates to the several dozen people present.
“A very A-mew-zing Technique, dear! You really are a one of a kind Chef!” The old bipedal cat lady, who reminded Izuku of his dear friend Zephyr, said with a very sweet and gentle tone.
“Even a Brachy. You are a damn good hunter.” A very short old guy, member of the Researchers Team, said while shaking his head.
“He wasn’t that bad…” Izuku muttered, shy.
“Just very big and angry.” Ochako added sheepishly.
“This tastes awesome!” The Handler yelled in awe while eating portions of everything at the same time.
“Thank you.” Izuku answered, grateful for the compliment, and happy to see everybody eating happily and sharing their food with whoever else joined them in the canteen to try his food.
“Will you stay here for long? We could use a hand from people strong as you! The New World has just come out from a very big crisis. Your robot especially is an amazing piece of technology.” The leader of the group asked.
“Yeah, the thing packs a mean punch.” The Admiral added, laughing thunderously and playfully slapping Whitey’s soft belly.
“I wish I could, but I only lack another Ingredient, then I will have to leave.” Izuku answered, sighing in sadness.
“That’s too bad, but at the same time, we can’t really force you.”
“What is the last Ingredient you need?” A female Hunter asked.
“Another one of those Dragons, but it has not appeared yet,” Izuku answered.
“We were considering hunting it down ourselves, instead of waiting for it to come out by itself.” Ochako added.
“Do you know its name? We can share some information about it if we have anything.” The Admiral said.
“Eeh! I don’t even know its name! Only that it’s big, mean and cruel.” Izuku answered, dropping his shoulders.
“That sounds like 90% of the Monsters we usually deal with.” A young Hunter answered.
“I suspected that.” Izuku said, groaning.
“Don’t give up! I believe in you!” The Handler said.
“Thank you. What do you say, Ochako-chan?” Izuku asked.
“We can start immediately if you want,” She answered.
“You sure?”
“Of course! We are in this together!” She answered.
“Thank you.”
“Wherever you go, please be careful, and if you need, do not hesitate to return here or in any other main base of ours, you will always be welcomed.” The Captain said.
“Thank you. I guess we will see each-other around?” Izuku asked.
“Very likely, we never rest lately! Hahahaha! Especially our star rookie here!” The Admiral answered with a loud laugh while slapping the back of a Hunter, hard enough they almost toppled over.
“Keep up the good work then. Thank you for letting me use the kitchen for my tests!” Izuku answered.
“It’s okay, dear! It was a nice experience!” The Old Mew-Ster answered with a soft laugh.
“Farewell, then, friends!” The Admiral waved them goodbye, and behind him, many other hunters did the same.
The next day -
“Attention to all Hunters! Attention to all Hunters! A new Threat is approaching!” The Commander said with a gravelly tone.
Every available Hunter was soon standing with him around a giant table covered by an ancient-looking map.
“What is happening now?” The Admiral asked.
“If the information we got from overseas is right… Fatalis has returned.” The Commander answered.
Many Hunters broke into numerous whispered conversations, with the more inexperienced ones asking the more seasoned Hunters who the creature was and why just the name made many of them shiver.
“That thing is back?” The Admiral asked.
“Unfortunately yes, the rumours about Fatalis always returning are true, and this time, the Monster is returning to the same fortress he had destroyed in a single night.” The Commander answered.
“So it’s not a myth?” The Handler asked.
“No, unfortunately. Every ‘Myth’ about Fatalis’ power is sadly not a rumour, but an actual retelling of his abilities.”
“What now then?” The Admiral asked with a grunt.
“By the reports, at the current speed Fatalis is moving at, he will be at the fortress soon, then he will probably move again towards his intended destination… Whatever that is.”
“You want the Hunters to intercept Fatalis?” One of the researchers asked.
“We have no choice. Whatever that monster is planning, we can’t let him do it. The Fortress will be the perfect place for an ambush, but we MUST stop Fatalis there.” The Commander answered.
“Let’s assemble a couple Teams then, Fatalis is not something you can tackle alone!” The Admiral answered.
“Indeed. Can we count on you again to be our Star?” The Commander answered, and then looked straight at a Hunter standing faintly in the back of the group.
“Hn!” They answered.
“Me and my Partner never back down from a challenge!” The Handler answered as well.
“Good! We have at best ten minutes to prepare, then after that, Fatalis will pass by the fortress at any given moment! Get ready!” The Commander ordered.
“YEEEEES!” The assembled Hunters answered in a deafening chorus.
“Eat your fill, update your equipment and sharpen your weapons! This will be our greatest hunt yet! Your Proof of a Hero!” The Admiral added, renewing the roar of the Hunters present as they all spread out to get ready for the greatest hunt of their lives!
Fortress -
Everything was being organised at high speed with Hunters running tirelessly to hurry and prepare for their battle against the Legendary Monster… When the ground started shaking heavily way sooner than they anticipated, so much that the weakest part of the ruins around them started crumbling to pieces.
“Oh, no!” Somebody said in horror.
“Already?! GET OUT!” One of the guys in charge yelled with wide eyes, prompting a widespread retreat that could barely maintain order and discipline, so great was the fear Fatalis could instil in people!
“To the camp! Hurry!” The Handler yelled, and on the echoes of her scream, every hunter left the area for their camp to prepare for the battle.
“HE’S HERE!” And barely a minute after they all landed in the safety of their camp, they saw the colossal black dragon descend from the sky with a terrifying roar.
“You can do it, Partner!” The Handler said with a voice full of concern as she watched her assigned Hunter and only another one face alone what was a Living Legend of their world.
Down in the Ruins -
Fatalis slowly made his way towards the two lonely Hunters, literally walking through a wall and demolishing it easily thanks to its immense bulk and unfathomable power.
“AAAAALRIGHT! Time to fight History!” The second Hunter said while unfolding and preparing his bowgun while his companion readied a sturdy and giant hammer covered in spikes.
“GUAHOOOOOOO!” Fatalis roared in fury at the two Hunters standing on his way, and as the music and Latin chant chorus reached its crescendo his giant mouth lunged forward-
Swiiiiing!
… And the music stopped abruptly while Fatalis’ mouth kept lunging forward as the Monster’s head was cleanly cut off from its neck in a single clean cut from a flying crescent blade of pale moonlight energy, with the head landing hard few feet behind the Hunters while the rest of Fatalis body fell boneless on the floor.
“…”
“… Well, that was anticlimactic.” The Admiral commented dully.
“AH-HA! Got it, finally!” Izuku was heard saying in triumph, still with his smoking kitchen knife in his hand.
“Why must they keep running away!? It’s annoying!” Ochako added, panting out of breath.
“It’s okay, what matters is that we finally caught it and… Oh! It’s you! Good evening!”
“Good… Evening…” The two Hunters answered, unsure.
“See? I got the Ingredient I missed from my list! A Minute for me to carve it and you can have some of the dishes I planned to make with it! I was told that if I leave the head intact it will resurrect from it, so we can eat everything else!” Izuku said, excited.
“It does look very plump. So I guess you can make lots of recipes with it?” Ochako asked while studying the dead Fatalis curiously.
“A lot! And thanks to the knife’s own purifying powers, no evil possession whatsoever, only delicious meat!” Izuku answered.
“Nice!”
“… Can anybody tell me what is happening?” The commander asked.
“I wish I knew.” The Admiral answered, scratching his head in confusion.
“OH! The others are here too! HIII!” Izuku yelled and waved at the group once he saw them perched nearby above him.
“I have questions!” The Handler said.
“Get in line.” Admiral and Commander said in chorus.
Canteen – Once again -
Once again, Izuku was perusing the place’s canteen, only this time “Cooking for real”, in his own words; and the difference was astronomical, not only in taste of the food after he finished perfecting his recipes, but the food itself had miraculous effects on the eaters!.
HP: +600
Stamina: +600
Stamina Recovery: +600
Attack: +600
Defence Boost: +600
Elemental Resistance: +600
Activated Skill:
Felyne Cliffhanger
Felyne Fur Coating
Felyne Booster
Felynebacker
Felyne Provoker
Felyne Researcher
Felyne Defender
Felyne Temper
Felyne Escape Artist
Felyne Weakener
Felyne Insurance
Felyne Deflector
Felyne Bulldozer
Felyne Trainer
Felyne Fisher
Felyne Sprinter
Felyne Gripper
Felyne Weathercat
Felyne Lander
Felyne Parting Gift
Felyne Dungmaster
Felyne Foodie
Felyne Biologist
Felyne Microzoologist
Felyne Macrozoologist
Felyne…
Over 100 skills activated all at once, most of which even the veteran Hunters among the eaters had never heard about.
“Hooooly Stars! This stuff is amazing!” The Admiral yelled with a loud laugh of awe
“The boy is gooood!” The Handler said.
“…”
“Where is he now?” A Researcher asked.
“...Running away? Why?” A Botanist, still munching heavily, answered, unsure.
“You know? This food is very good AND gives you one heck of a boost, if we convince him to stay we can eat this well and get this strong whenever we want. Especially the eating well part.” Somebody had the less than brilliant idea to say out loud…
And the heads of every female Hunter snapped in the direction in which Izuku and Ochako ran to.
“...GET HIM!” and as one those female Hunters sprinted forward to chase him.
“… Hu. That must be why he ran, he probably knew it would happen.” The Admiral said, impressed at the speed of the horde.
“this is very unprofessional…” The Commander answered, groaning in dismay.
With Izuku and Ochako -
“RUUUUN!” Izuku shrieked shrilly as he bolted through the woods and through whatever monster standing in his way, often quite literally as the poor Rathalos that tried to eat him could testify, the dragon’s head was still buried deep underground thanks to Izuku’s punch.
ROAAAR!
ROOOAR!
ROOAR!
Many Monsters tried stopping him, including many violent and bloodthirsty ones, or even Ancient Dragons.
“PISS OFF!”
And at the furious roar of Izuku, enriched by his Appetite Demon appearing and his Intimidation Skill flaring to full power, all of those same monsters released a shrilly “KAIII!” and turned around to run away,
Thus another Ingredient Hunt of Izuku ended-up with him running away from psycho women…
With The System -
The Entity had stormed Heaven, Hell, Netherworld, The In-between, Chaos, Emptiness, End of Time and Beginning of All Things, and yet nobody had anything to do with the messes Izuku would get in at every Ingredient Hunt, nor they were trying to pull a mean a joke at the System expenses…
“Where else to look? Who is it that is making a joke of the System? Where? Where? Where? Where? Where? Where? Where? Where? Where? Where? Where? Where?…”
I̷͚͕̜͈̜̲͈̟̣͙̞̬̪͍͑̇͒̍̏͝ ̷̰͙͎̼̱͍̲̯͔̯͎̤͔̖̯̼̀́̄͌̀̄̆̈́͐͌̔͐͒̀͋͛͂͐͌͋̓̽͂̂̍̕͜͝͝c̸̢̢̛̰̖͓̪̞̳̼̳̝͚͗̑͋̈́̀͂̅̎̈́̂̽̕̕̚͝͝ͅͅą̸̧̤̎͌͌̊̓͂̒̅̇̆̊́̋̽̇̀̚͘̕͘͠͝͝͠ņ̷̥̯͖̻͔͎̻̪̟̱̳̟͖̱̠̏͗̉̀̐̋́͒͊͋͂̎͘͘ ̵̨̨̧̛̼̫̜͒̏s̶͇̺̮̙̲̙͉̣̳̉́͛̓̓́̄̾̇̌̈͋̈́͐͋͜͝ę̵̨̨̨̹̲̯̠̰͕͓̦̠̹̞̭͓̹͒̎̿͗̋̔̓̓́͂͌̈́̾͒̑͊̆̔͑ḛ̴̢̩̮̜̣̲̱̤̲̠̘͖̝̭̙̝̗͙͖͍̦̼̠̂̏̚ ̷̹͖̩͈̹̻̞̫̯̜̠̠̗̭̤͉̣̼̯̫̓̀̓̍̏̚͜y̶̨̨̛̛̗̠̤̖͙̦̬̤̟̪̰̤̻̳̘̰̮̿͊̃̑̑̇̍̔͌͊̾̈́̐͗̋́̓̏̍̔͒̕̕͝͝ͅo̶̠̙͍͓͉̣̭̻̳͎͚̟̥̞͙͚̫̣̖̹̱͖͕̗̺͗̒̀̾̐̑͊͑̓͗̀̓̌̈́͒͋̑͘̕ü̷̧̗̮̣̱͈̱̠̬͔͕̦̦̩̯̻͔̪̰̲̖͔͇̘̉̇̆͐́͑̏͆̑̐͌̍̉̓̾̍̕̚̚͝͠ͅ.̴̢̛͍̮͙̘͙̻̞̗̟̭͇̤̮̜̙͎̯̾͗̉̂̇̐̓͒̾̀͊̊̓̋̇͋̌̂̿̄̀͊̂̕̕̚͝.̸̙̞̖̜̻̪̩̟͙̼̖̣̟̰̓͛̃̆̈́̈́̀̍̏̄̎̈́͊͌̇́̊̎̈͛̇̓̂̃́̓̿.̷̢͔̥͖̯̳̝̳͖͓͍͉̺̩͓͈̃̓̇̓͜
End of the omake.
Another Chapter done, next may take longer to come, unfortunately.
December is approaching, and with it, Christmas, and my job will get constantly in the way, reducing my free time that I use to write, to next to nothing.
So, please, don’t worry if I take longer to update, I promise I will keep updating this story, it’s just that for the month of December I’ll slow down a bit.
Thank you for reading my story, I hope this Chapter was actually up to standards and you enjoyed it and it didn’t ruin the story for you.
Have a nice day and I’ll see you next chapter.
Chapter 31: Battle by the sea Arc part 2: Naval counteroffensive.
Summary:
It's time for Izuku to face Jun Sato in her turf: He own restaurant inside a cruise ship!
It's time for a cooking Challenge on the sea!
Notes:
It was supposed to be a three chapter long arc. only when I was mid-way through the chapter I noticed that in Jun's case I didn't need 3 chapters, I could wrap things up with her faster by just squeezing two chapters together instead of forcefully prolonging things.
Next is an intermediary chapter, and after that Momo's Sortie with izuku in the Sci-Fi world.
I admit it might make it feel like I rushed few things with Jun and her Grandfather, but honestly, I believe that this is just the culmination of years of misdeeds finally coming to cash-in in consequences for those two.Also. I hate my job and my current lifestyle, Time is slipping through my fingers and I can't stop it. I hate that I took so long to finish this chapter, I apologize, but I have not enough Time. It's never enough.
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/Nejire.
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.So, please, don’t worry if I take longer to update, I promise I will keep updating this story.
Chapter Text
Chapter 31: Battle by the sea Arc part 2: Naval counteroffensive.
UA – Support Course Labs – Mei Hatsume’s cubicle -
Rumi was sitting in front of Hatsume’s small lab table, waiting for the young genius to finish tinkering with a bright-pink gadget fairly phallic in shape; sparks were flying everywhere while the inventor finished giving the thing the last touches with the welder.
“So?” Rumi asked.
“Done! As promised, here is my answer to your need of surpassing Momo to fulfill your secretly-fragile ego and overblown need to be the best in everything!” Mei declared in answer while brandishing the modified adult toy like some sort of ultimate all-powerful holy sword.
“Gimme that!” Rumi snatched the thing away while blushing. “And I don't have a fragile Ego and all that bullcrap! I just love to be the best!”
“If you say so, bunny wonder.” Mei answered, shrugging.
“Hey! Don’t psychoanalyze me!”
“Fine, I won’t. So? Do you want to try it?” Mei answered, uncaring.
“Yes! How does it work?” Rumi asked.
“Simple, first you shove my baby down your-”
“Jeez, bit more romantic?” Rumi, face red, said with an unnerved tone.
Sigh! “Delicately push the controller past your Lady Garden Entrance, then start contracting and lovingly squeeze it with your Womanly Velvet folds. The computer will do the rest.” Mei said with a sarcastic tone while rolling her eyes.
“You are even less feminine than a brick… Ouch! It’s cold!” Rumi said, wincing once inserted the thing… There.
“It’s made of metal, what did you expect? Be thankful we waited before you used it, I was blasting it with a blowtorch, better slightly cold than red-hot.” Mei answered, shaking her head and connecting several cables to the part of her invention that remained outside of Rumi’s body so to link her creation to a computer screen.
“Yes, yes. Whatever. What now?” Rumi asked.
“See this little red circle? That controller you have inserted there will translate the squeezing and release of your vaginal muscles into commands. Try to make the circle move from left to right.” Mei instructed, moving the screen so that Rumi could see better.
“Okay… Here comes nothing…” Rumi groaned, using her private parts’ muscles to squeeze the adult toy in various different manners, but the circle didn’t move an inch, it only shivered in place.
“This is… Harder than it looked…” She said.
“Ah-ha! That’s what she said!” Mei said, grinning.
“You really could not help yourself, hn?!” Rumi said, disappointed.
“I am the great Mei, I take every occasion as a I don’t believe in ‘low hanging fruit’ nonsense!” The other answered, chuckling.
“And this will help me getting ahead?”
“It’s a good way to see if you are actually getting better at manipulating your crotch muscles. You want to drive your boyfriend mad in pleasure when you will finally sleep together, right? If you can learn to control and manipulate your innards muscle spasms to the smallest degree, he will definitely love it.” Mei answered, shrugging.
“Manipulate your innards… You really are the farthest thing from romance and passion, hn?” Rumi said, shaking her head.
“I just don’t believe in flowery language. My partner doesn’t mind. And you are making some ugly facial expression, that could kill the mood too.” She answered.
“Good for you two… AH-hA! I am getting the hang of it! And my facial expressions are not silly!” Rumi said, before smirking in triumph once managed to move the circle to the side of a whole centimeter.
“That’s a fairly pathetic result.” Mei commented, killing the other girl’s smile.
“Shut-up! It is still progress!” Rumi answered.
“Very, very, very small progress.”
“Whatever! How did you even come up with this idea?” Rumi answered, grumbling.
“I didn’t. I just built a copy of the same Gadget that Yaoyozu girl asked me for.”
“Yaoyorozu. WAIT! SHE HAS ONE?!” Rumi shrieked with wide eyes.
“Yes, she asked me to create this just last week. She is making very good progresses.”
“WHAT?!”
“Can you not scream? You are distracting.” Momo actually answered from the cubicle next to Mei’s.
“You are here too?!” Rumi yelled, marching towards Momo and dragging behind herself the computer screen she was connected to.
“CAREFUL!” Mei yelled in horror, barely catching the falling screen and disconnecting it from Rumi’s ‘controller’.
“Hello, Rumi.” Momo, narrowed eyes glued to her own screen, said with a nonchalant tone.
“How far have you gone!? You are already moving that fucking circle?” Rumi demanded.
“Circle?” Momo asked, confused, and moving the screen so to let Rumi see what she was doing.
“I am just now finishing my ‘Soul Level 1 no armor, no weapons, no spells, no shields, no rings, no hit, no roll’ Run of Dark Souls.” Momo answered.
“You…”
“The original from 2011. not the remake. DLCs included. Next one will be Sekiro.” She added, giving the finish punch to Gwyn without even looking at the screen.
Plop!
Rumi’s own controller slipped out of her to clatter on the floor, just like her mouth hanged open in shock.
Meanwhile – Yavin Street – Green Cloud Restaurant -
A more serious talk was taking place in a corner of the Restaurant between Izuku, Detective Tsukauchi and Toshinori, the two men were sitting at a table watching the young Chef press the play button on a small recorder before setting in down.
Immediately a recording of the talk between Jun Sato and her grandfather Gouki went reproduced at a low volume so that only the Detective and Pro Hero could hear it:
“I had planned for the Li Twins to defeat Midoriya, then Chen would have stepped-in to kill the boy making it look like he had chosen suicide out of shame from his defeat… BUT THOSE MORONS HAD TO LOSE!” The old man explained with a shriek.
“Not only those two dumb sacks of shit had to lose their Cooking Challenge against Midoriya, they had also tried to poison him with Tetrodotoxin in revenge! After I specifically told them to not kill him! Chen had apparently visited them for some reason… Maybe to remind them Midoriya was HIS TARGET, and got himself poisoned! He stole the poisoned soup for some sort of show of Dominance or similar bullshit… And he died when the poison paralyzed him fast enough he slipped down the stairs and broke his neck and died! THOSE MORONS KILLED MY KILLER!” Gouki said, upturning a table nearby in blind fury.
“Where are the Twins now?” Jun asked.
“They were making a run for it, obviously! They told me all this before destroying the phone and going into hiding! But considering I just saw the news and saw the footage of their arrest, their “Daring Escape” amounted to fucking nothing! Useless bastards to the very end!” He answered, huffing still from his bout of anger.
“Are we in trouble?”
“Not yet, I used several burner phones to keep in touch and a fake name. Even if they talk the police won’t have anything linking them to us.”
“And Chen?”
“Same thing, his Secretary… Because apparently a professional Assassin as a Secretary and a full Team of assistants, for some unfathomable reason, contacted me to say that they will keep the money I already given them and to consider contacting them again once they find a new Killer to work under… I am getting at the end of my patience here.” Gouki answered.
“So nobody knows we tried killing Midoriya?” Jun asked.
“Nobody. And I plan to keep tings like that forever.” The old man answered.
The recording stopped there, Izuku just gave a sigh and rubbed his temples.
“I think you understand why I begged you two to meet me this morning, I found this damn thing taped to the door of my Restaurant and as soon as I heard it I knew this was trouble.” He said, groaning.
“For God's sake! I just want to manage my Restaurant! Leave me alone!” He also thought in misery.
“This is a damn damning evidence.” Toshinori commented, frowning.
“And one that probably can’t be used in court either! It was taken without a Police Force official Investigation permit, but through unauthorized spying. Even if Gouki and Jun Sato literally spell-out that they wanted you dead and admitted how they planned to do it… I am not sure it would be acceptable in court, a good lawyer could counter this and paint it as counterfeit. And they have enough money to get one of those Good Lawyers.” Tsukauchi added.
“And you believe it’s real, instead?” Izuku asked.
“I may be unable to tell if people are lying through a recording… Or even tell when YOU are lying.” He said with narrowed eyes, unfortunately getting no reaction from Izuku, “But the confession kind of fit in the holes in the Twins and Chen’s case regarding the timing of their visiting you and Chen’s death and true identity. And personally, I like to think you are not the sort of guy to fall into this form of forgery just to remove an enemy.”
“An Enemy?”
“Jun Sato was part of the judges in the Cooking Competition you took part to, wasn’t she?” Tsukauchi asked.
“… You know that?”
“Jun Sato, Ren Watanabe, Matoi Hidetaka, Yamato Kurogawa, Samui Arasaka. You already had to deal with 3 of them, and now Jun has joined the fold as yet another world-famous Chef trying to attack you. Had I not seen the pattern connecting them all, I would have had to return my badge and change profession.” The Detective answered.
“I see.”
“Ryukyu as well has started digging through the fake reports of contraband. Some of her sources are suggesting that a big name in the world of contraband and counterfeits has you in their sight, and with this tape being delivered to you… She is starting to think that a this mysterious person wants to use you to remove the Sato Family Shipping company from the equation.” Toshinori said, ignoring Tsukauchi’s glare.
“Hn?” Izuku uttered, confused.
Sigh! “There is an investigation that has been going on for years, we have been trying to keep tabs on both the Sato Shipping Company and the Cruise Company they have joined with through various marriages. Their meteoric rise in capital has always looked too ‘Perfect’, too sudden, to not raise suspicious, along few minor discrepancies and other small details not adding up we managed to collect through the years… And while nothing concrete has ever been found, if you add many tiny details on top of each other, Coincidences can turn into proofs.” Tsukauchi explained.
“And this recording can help?” Izuku asked.
“While probably not usable in court, it still gives us a new trail to follow, because even just to show this was doctored, we will need to dig a bit deeper than usual in Sato’s affairs just to prove it’s a fake. And digging deep enough could make few hidden skeletons pop-out, and prove once and for all if the Sato family does really have a side-business about contraband or not.”
“I am not a policeman, so I will leave this mess to you. You know how to act in this sort of situations, I am more at ease in the kitchen.” Izuku answered, shrugging.
“Thank you.” Tsukauchi answered, pocketing the recorder.
“You don’t plan to go against Jun Sato, right?” Toshinori asked, worried,
“Letting Whitey… Or Shiro or Blackie, beat the crap out of them would be assault, so in the end I would make them a favour instead of damaging them.”
“Yes, but certain beatings may not be worth it.” Toshinori and Tsukauchi unknowingly thought the same thing while eyeing the chubby robot, the harmless-looking Weapon of mass destruction (To quote Gran Torino) wrapped around Izuku’s neck and at the ‘Monster pretending to be a Dog’ sleeping just outside the door.
“Please don’t, especially those two pets of yours.” All Might said, clearing his throat.
“It’s just a Dog and a Fennec Fox, not two walking Nukes!” Izuku said, chuckling.
“Sure!” Both men thought in sarcasm.
“What’s important is that you keep your distance from Jun Sato until we are sure they really are actually not planning to kill you.” Tsukauchi said.
“…” Finally the young Chef looked sheepish at the Detective’s words.
“MIDORIYA!” Both men yelled.
“I just want a cooking Challenge, okay? I know it won’t stop them, we are not in a Manga where things can be fixed in a cooking duel, card duel or similar stuff… But if they really don’t like me I want them to put their money where their mouth is in a field where I can actually defend myself!” Izuku said with a red face.
It was one of the things he missed of his life as Zaus: resolving issues by either Cooking Challenges or beating the crap out of each other.
“If they really tried to pay assassins to kill you and tried to frame you for contraband, maybe you should consider the idea that they already know they can’t match you in cooking skills.” Toshinori tried saying, groaning.
“Probably, but I still want to face Jun, it’s a matter of Chef Pride. It’s my way to fight Villains… Please understand.” He answered with a sigh.
“Goddamnit, you don’t expect me to let you go there alone?! A lawyer may convince a judge this was a fake, but I still don’t want you to meet somebody that openly wants you dead!” Tsukauchi asked.
“I am very well protected.” Izuku answered.
“Private bodyguards don’t count!” The other countered.
“So what? Do you expect me to go to a Pro Hero and say ‘Hey! I need you to act as my bodyguard tomorrow evening, can you help me?’” Izuku asked, rolling his eyes and asking that aloud with a sarcastic tone.
“I can do that, no problem.” Mt. Lady answered, shrugging.
“Oh! I do have a couple hours free, sure.” Best Jeanist echoed.
“When do we depart?” Tensei Iida, finally back working as Pro Hero, added.
“Count on us, Boss Icchan!” Mandalay, together with the other Wild, Wild Pussycats, said with a thumbs-up.
“Ready whenever you want, Kid!” Centipeder and Bubble Girl said in chorus.
And unseen by the Heroes present, several Vigilantes sent Izuku’s a discreet thumbs-up.
“…” The three just looked at all those Pro Heroes awkwardly.
“Very professional… Bribed with food…” Toshinori muttered with a groan and a defeated facepalm.
“I was joking…” Izuku muttered.
“They aren’t, surprisingly.” Tsukauchi answered with a dry tone.
“Yeah.”
“Still, a Pro Hero on the scene would make me feel more at ease. So, if you really need to Challenge Jun Sato, having one accompany you would be better, at least if things go south, in the worst case, there will be somebody legally permitted to take action and protect you with the lesser amount of issues following the act.”
“Why?”
“Gouki Sato seems to have a very short temper, and by the recording, he is so desperate to see you gone to risk his good name to hire assassins to kill you. My hope is that if you actually do the impossible and win against Jun-”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence in my skills.” Izuku said, frowning.
“Just being realist, Midoriya. As I was saying, IF you actually win, it may anger Gouki enough to hire a second assassin, only this time we will follow his every move closely and arrest him as soon as he tries to hire a new one. Hopefully that would give us a good enough opening to finally have the right to pull his life inside-out to look for other crimes we think he committed but could not confirm.” Tsukauchi finished saying.
“So… I am bait?”
“Pretty much. It’s the best case scenario, but it would finally close a case going on for more than a decade.”
“If the Sato family is actually behind that.”
“Goes without saying, yes.”
“And who am I supposed to ask?” Izuku asked, sighing tiredly.
“I’ll do it.”
“…” A tense silence fell in the Restaurant.
“You sure, Endeavor?” Toshinori asked, his bushy eyebrows rising high.
“I owe the kid one, may as well pay him back.” Enji answered with a savage smirk.
“You do?” Izuku asked, confused.
“Personal matters, but yes.” Endeavor answered while still smiling, still remembering fondly his ‘Mother’ getting the poke of death from the young Chef and very likely spending most of her lovely vacation with her new husband closed in her bathroom while crapping her soul out as a result.
“I don’t think I want to know.” Toshinori and Izuku said at the same time.
“I will bring Shoto along, he needs to learn how to act on the field instead of sitting all day on his ass in school.” Enji added.
“His class had faced far too many Villains already, he had very little time to sit on his ass as you say.” Tsukauchi commented.
“Pfeh! That is up to me to decide.” Enji answered, growling.
Izuku looked at him with a raised eyebrow and lifted a finger.
“Tch.” Endeavor scoffed and looked away, he also kept Toshinori between him and Izuku… By coincidence, of course.
“I feel like there is a history between you and that finger, Enji.” Toshinori muttered.
“Shut up.” Endeavor hissed.
“So I can’t talk you out of this foolishness?” The Detective asked, groaning.
“Considering I was told straight up by both The System and Adelia that Jun and her grandfather are the ones behind the Twins and Chen’s visit even before I got that recording? Not at all.” Izuku thought, and only gave a sigh as an answer.
“No. I need to do this, court may not believe that recording or whatever, but I do. They want me dead and I want to look at them in the eyes and see for myself how much they actually hate me.”
“… This is just stupid…” The man groaned in disbelief.
“Mister Naomasa, I called you to deliver the recording to you, not to ask you permission. At best, I notified you of my future actions. Me challenging Jun Sato is not illegal.” Izuku said.
“…” Tsukauchi just rubbed his temples.
“Keep the boy out of trouble, please.” He finally said with a grunt.
“Do you take me for a weakling? I know how to do my job.” Endeavor answered, frowning.
“Fine. But at the first sign of trouble, you will leave the scene and let the Professionals handle things.” Toshinori said.
“Of course.” Izuku answered.
“Good. I say we leave for now, we will let you work in peace.” Tsukauchi declared, getting up from the table and paying part of his bill.
“Just be careful, young Midoriya.” Toshinori added, and paying his own half of the bill.
“I am always careful, and thank you for accepting my request.” Izuku answered, waving the two men goodbye.
“So? When do you plan to visit that guy then?” Enji asked, scoffing.
“Tomorrow at lunch hour. I will reach their cruise ship in a… Different manner.” Izuku answered, sheepish.
“Making an entrance now?” Endeavor asked with a raised eyebrow.
“… I am told that it is necessary when being the one on the offensive.” He answered, blushing.
“That American woman is a bad influence. Whatever, me and Shoto will be on the cruise ship waiting for you. Do not be late.” Enji said, walking away.
“I am never late, Mister Enji. I always arrive when necessary.” Izuku answered, smirking cheekily.
The man just gave an annoyed grunt and left the Restaurant.
“Himiko?” Izukui asked.
“Yes?”
“I got another appointment at Green Gourmet Garden, please hold the fort and let me know if something happens that needs my immediate presence. I’ll leave the dishes for the tables on the kitchen window for you to deliver.”
“Sure! No problem!” Himiko answered with a wide smile.
“Thanks.”
At the opposite side of the city – Green Gourmet Garden Restaurant -
Once surfaced from the special door connecting his two Restaurants, Izuku was met with Adelia already waiting for him.
“Did she arrive?” He asked.
“Miss Kaina arrived just few minutes ago. She is already waiting for you in your office.” The Powerful Witch answered, falling in step behind him to follow Izuku to his office in the luxurious Restaurant.
“I wish she had told me she was the infamous Lady Nagant during one of her visits.” Izuku admitted, sighing.
“I don’t think that there is a truly good way to insert in a friendly chat that you are secretly a Killer for Hire, Izuku.” Adelia answered.
“Sadly true. How’s she?”
“Goro is keeping an eye on her, mostly to satisfy his Paranoia about keeping you safe, but she is extremely cooperating, so it’s just for manner’s sake that he and Sui are watching her every move.”
“I wonder why she insisted so much in meeting me.” The young Chef wondered.
“She doesn’t know of your powers or of your Sponsor’s powers. So me and Goro too have no clue about what she wants.” Adelia admitted, opening for him the door to the spacious office.
“Hello.” Kaina said with a small smile as soon as their eyes met.
“Good morning, how do you feel?” Izuku asked, sitting at his small desk.
“I am doing okay. Took me a bit to escape Stain too… But I got better.” Kaina answered, sighing.
“Stain?”
“He was not very happy to hear that I got paid to kill you-”
“HN?!” Goro was immediately behind Izuku, feral snarl on his face and tail raised high.
“Paid by whom?” Izuku asked.
“The Hero Safety Commission and the League of Villains.” She answered immediately.
“Not very professional to tell us.” Adelia answered.
“I can understand the League, since we got in their way a couple times… But a branch of the Japanese Government?” Izuku asked, worried.
“They are far, far from being saints, Izuku. Some days they make me wonder who are the actual Villains.” Kaina admitted.
“And of course nobody knows because they are part of our very Government.”
“Indeed.”
“That is the last thing I needed, more people targeting me… Why even?”
“Your pets and Whitey. They are also curious about you.” She answered.
“Me? But I-”
“I know it was you to cut that mountain, Izuku. Stain loves that story, unfortunately.”
“… Ah… You and they know about that… Of course…” Izuku muttered, grimacing.
“Stain wanted to kill me since, in his eyes, I was a threat to one of the ‘Good Heroes’ still around.” Kaina said with a weak smile.
“I am not… Okay, let’s ignore for a bit how a mass-murderer likes me.”
“He doesn’t kill anymore, he just cripples. He said that he doesn’t want to risk murdering your customers.” Kaina corrected him.
“Uh?!” The others gurgled-out.
“Two pigeons with one stone! They stop being Fake Heroes and the Boy still has customers, everybody wins.” The woman said with a very bad impression of Stain.
“Oh, for the love of God…” Adelia muttered, face-palming.
“And why are you even here?” Izuku asked, he was covering his face with both hands and already wishing the day to be over. And it wasn’t even noon yet.
“I need your help to escape Stain, League and Commission… Please?” Kaina asked with an even more forced smile.
“WHY!? I just want to manage my Restaurant!” Izuku asked, horrified.
“How do you expect us to help you?” Goro asked, growling.
“This place and the other Restaurant have been rather hard to infiltrate,” She answered.
She wanted to say ‘I could not force my way in no matter how hard I tried.’, but she feared that saying it, even just as a compliment to his fortress-like security, would have not helped her case.
“So, since both stores are fairly well-protected I wondered if I could crash here for a bit!… Like… A long bit...”
“…”
“I can pay my stay by working as a waitress?” Once the silence prolonged for more than two minutes, Kaina decided to add more to the plate to buy her safety.
“So this has nothing to do with the Dead-Man Switch that has been implanted in you, yes?” Adelia asked.
“… My what?” Kaina asked with a faint voice.
“Someone implanted in you a Kill Switch. At any moment they can instantly kill you.” The Witch answered.
“SINCE WHEN?!” Kaina shrieked.
“That is something I can’t tell for sure, it’s been a while though.”
“The League…” Lady Nagant muttered, and for an instant bile filled her mouth in horror.
“Can we remove it?” Izuku asked to both Adelia and The System.
“Yes.” Both answered at the same time.
“Thank you, what do you want in exchange?”
“You tell me. What do you want?” Izuku asked.
“From you?”
“From Life.”
“I used to think I was beyond redemption, that I deserved to die for all I did in the past. After seeing the Dark Side of Society and the Hero system… But the moment Stain started interrogating me and showed me how ready he was to dismember me… I found a small part of me clinging to life, screaming against the biggest part of my soul saying that it was what I deserved… When I escaped that psychotic moron, I found myself happy to be alive. Something I hadn’t felt in a long time.” She said.
“It happens.” Goro said.
“Uh?”
“Sometimes we wish for death, for the liberation from suffering that dying can gives us. And yet when we are actually in a situation where we are about to die, we still grasp at any shred of hope to survive. I was in the same situation, I used to be a slave and wished for death almost daily, then one day, during a fight, I was about to be killed and instead of embracing it with elation I fought harder than I ever did and won. I survived even when that freedom, that death, was literally in my grasp.” The Lizardman explained.
“What made you do that?” Kaina asked.
“I realized I wanted my life to change, not for it to be over.” Goro answered with a sad chuckle.
“When you want to die, throw yourself into the sea and you’ll see yourself fighting to survive. You don’t want to kill yourself, rather you want to kill something inside you.” Izuku said.
“Feeling philosophical?” Kaina asked, chuckling.
“Quoting a movie actually.” he answered, smiling.
“I still don’t believe I deserve redemption, but I want to leave behind all the killing and the fighting and just Live. Quietly, Peacefully, Forgotten. Nobody knows the real face of Lady Nagant, so I just want to spend the rest of my days as Kaina.” She admitted, sighing.
“…” Everybody present watched Izuku lean back in his seat and just look at the ceiling with an unreadable expression on his face, humming from time to time.
“Let him, I guess he is lost in thought.” Adelia said.
“Can you remove that Kill Switch?”
“Doable, not the hardest thing I ever did.”
“Once removed, what will you do?” Goro asked.
“I would prefer to not leave Japan, but I don’t think I have any choice, in all fairness I can’t pile my own problem on your own, Commission and League already have their sight on you without my defection adding to it.” Kaina answered, groaning.
“They are already considering me a target. May as well get a good deed out of it.” Izuku answered.
“What do you mean?”
“Come working for me.” He said, bluntly.
“You need an assassin? For what? I already told you-”
“I mean as a Staff Member. As a Chef in a future third Store I plan to open.” Izuku interrupted her, smirking.
“… What?” She said.
“Either an Izakaya or a Candy Store, I still can’t decided which one to open first… And I want you to work there for me.” Izuku said, smirking.
“WHAT?!” Kaina screeched in shock.
“You heard me! Do you want protection from the League and the Commission?”
“And that Bomb thing removed.” Goro added from his corner.
“And that too? Then in exchange I want you to live that normal life you talked about, out in the sun, instead of in the shadows. A life with a normal, honest job and no more killing and despair.” Izuku said, smirking.
“… I am a Killer…”
“Do you want redemption or at least to try become worthy of it?”
“… Yes.” She admitted.
“Just consider my offer, please. We will remove that Kill Switch thing, then you will be free to accept or refuse my job offer when the time comes that I open the new Store.” Izuku said.
“You will remove it even if I refuse?”
“Of course, why wouldn’t I? I want to help you, not own you.” Izuku answered, looking honestly confused.
“Huhuhu. Aren’t you a nice kid?” Kaina said with a fond smile.
“I heard that… A couple of times.” Izuku answered, looking flustered.
”Is it okay with you?” The young Chef mentally asked.
“At this point in time Host Izuku has complete freedom when it comes to hiring Staff. The woman called Kaina has an Aptitude Score of 60% only, though. So The System suggest to only add her as Staff of smaller projects, like the Candy Store or Izakaya Restaurant. For any other bigger project, The System would like to suggest staff with a higher score.”
“I’ll remember that. Thank you. If she accepts I will start her training immediately.” Izuku answered, pleased.
“Can I think about it?” Kaina, still surprised, asked.
“Sure. Take all the time you need, in the meantime we will remove that metaphorical bomb inside you. Feel free to stay here all you need…” Izuku said.
“Yes, me and Goro can share a room for the time being, Izuku.” Adelia said, rolling her eyes in answer at his begging look.
“Thank you.” Kaina muttered, looking down and releasing a long sigh.
“Come with me, I’ll organize everything immediately and take away that little thing from inside you.” Adelia said.
“Okay.”
“… She can be a great asset, Master.” Goro said, thoughtful, once the two women left the office.
“I don’t want an asset, Goro-kun. I want a good friend and a good Staff Member.” Izuku answered, smiling.
“Well said, Izuku.” The Lizardman answered, returning the smile with one of his own.
The next day – Cruise ship ‘Queen of the Sea’ – Jun’s Restaurant -
Gouki and Jun were looking at the sea, leaning against the ornate railings of one of the outside corridors connecting the Restaurant to one of the many decks of the ship, both looked troubled, and Gouki especially had a very deep frown fixed on his face.
“Something wrong, grandfather?” Jun asked.
“Ever since this morning I felt a chill deep in my bones, a sense of foreboding I haven’t felt in a while.” He answered, grimacing.
“Storm incoming?” Jun joked.
“Yes, and I hope it’s just bad weather…” He answered with a serious tone, killing her joke.
“You are being serious?” She asked.
“Yes. Let those other brats manage the place, have a walk with me… I need a friendly face.” Gouki asked, walking towards one of the decks with Jun latched to one of his arms.
“You okay? Do you want me to ask the doctor here to visit you?” Jun asked, worried.
“Already visited the fool, everything is perfectly normal, but ever since that Pro Hero demanded to board the ship, I have felt observed by something.”
“Something?”
“Big, malevolent eyes. I don’t like this bad feeling, Jun. I don’t like it at all.” Gouki answered, and his skin kept turning faintly scaled and back to normal at random intervals thanks to his nerves triggering his Quirk partially.
“Endeavor coming here out of the blue… That smells fishy, yes.” Jun admitted.
In the meantime both Chef and her grandfather had reached the biggest deck of the ship, at the very front of the ship and filled in tables full of people enjoying the warm sun, their expensive cocktails and a small orchestra of six master musicians adding an air of levity and peace to the place with some soft music; Endeavor and Shoto were standing on a side wearing their respective Hero Costumes, they weren’t even looking at each other while Enji kept looking at his watch from time to time.
“I really don’t like this. Whatever ‘This’ is.” Gouki muttered, snarling.
“He is ready…” They faintly heard Enji say to Shoto once checked his phone for message.
“He?” Jun and Gouki muttered in chorus.
Another man nearby got a similar message from a certain Information Broker, and with a smirk the spy acting as waiter discreetly neared the small orchestra and handed to those men a small roll of bills and whispered a particular request to them before walking back.
Immediately the orchestra switched tone to play a very tense, dramatic music piece.
“What the hell are they playing now?!” Gouki yelled in anger.
“It’s a 4/4 Ostinato in D Minor! Every sailor knows it means death! You should know that too, Gouki!” The spy said to himself with a chuckle, pleased to see his small act of improvisation had the effects he expected.
Soon after the orchestra started playing, a giant yacht boldly came close to the cruising ship as if ready to board it like ancient pirates used to do, the golden name of the thing ‘Goddess Rei-chan’ shone brightly under the light of the sun, and standing proud on the very front of it, Izuku looked forward with a pleased smile.
“Ooh, Jun!” Izuku said with an overly-cheerful voice once a smirking Saito and Rei handed him a megaphone.
“… Please tell me it’s just The Devil coming to punish me for my sins or something…” Jun muttered with a groan.
“It’s me! Izuku Midoriya! Come out to play!” The young Chef said, smirking wide.
“I WOULD HAVE PREFERRED THE DEVIL!” Jun yelled in dismay.
“I am here to formally challenge you to a cooking duel! If you have any honor as a Chef, you know what you must do!”
“A Challenge!”
“Oh, my God!”
“So bold! Like in a movie!”
The people present on the bridge immediately started whispering between each other in great excitement, looking expectantly at Jun with baited breath.
“Do you think he knows?” She hissed to her grandfather.
“About the Killer and the Twins? He doesn’t, and even should he know, he can’t prove a thing!” Gouki answered.
“You and your little friends want me to close my Restaurants? Then you better do the dirty deed yourself instead of Delegating.” Izuku said through the megaphone, and the tone he said “Delegating” sent a clear message to the duo of Chef and Grandfather.
“He knows!” Both growled-out in chorus.
“He can’t prove a thing…” Gouki repeated.
“But he knows.” Jun countered.
“You have no choice, Jun! I won’t leave unless you accept!” Izuku said, smirking.
“Let’s get this over with.” Jun said, eyes narrowed.
“JUN!” Gouki yelled.
“Let him get on the ship, after the Challenge we will stage an Accident and remove him. My restaurant fridge is pretty spacious.” Jun said.
“… Very well, once night falls we will then drop his corpse into the ocean and play dumb when they will come looking for him. As for that fool accompanying him, we’ll just tell him that as a peace offering we will let the brat have a short cruise for free, so he will leave him to us.” Gouki added.
“Good idea.” Jun answered, smiling evilly.
With Izuku – Yayorozu Family’s Yacht -
Standing calmly on the very front of the giant yacht, Izuku watched Jun and Gouki talk among themselves.
“… Got everything?” Izuku asked.
“Recorded everything. God, they really hate you.” A Police Officer hiding inside the yacht answered, the man had both his super hearing Quirk and special microphones pointed at the ship and managed to record the talk between Jun and Gouki.
“Stuffing your dead body into a refrigerator and then dropping it into the ocean! Preposterous!” Saito yelled in fury.
“Thank God my mother is not here, she would have had a stroke at hearing that.” Izuku admitted, sighing.
“I-Island drones recorded everything as well, video and audio! They will have to get through me before hurting you, Icchan!” Hisashi said in blind fury, he was connected to Saito’s laptop through video-call.
“Luckily you people don’t have an orbital laser cannon, or I would get worried!” Izuku answered, laughing.
“…”
“You know what? I don’t want to know.” He then said once seen his father turn sheepish.
“I am already transmitting both recording and my official report on this to the HQ, they can squirm all they want in court, but the proof against them are piling up more and more.” The Police Officer added, frowning.
“Perfect! Now I only need her to accept my Challenge!” Izuku answered, pleased.
“I can’t believe you still want to go through with this.” Saito said.
“Chef pride! I can’t help it!” Izuku answered, laughing.
“Fine! You can have your Challenge, boy! We will let you dock and-” Jun yelled back to be heard, unaware that everything she and her Grandfather had said had been already recorded.
“No need! I’ll just run there!” Izuku answered, jumping overboard… And standing on the water.
“How?!” Whoever watched, either on the yacht or on the cruise ship, yelled.
“Easy! I just lift my feet before they can break the water’s surface tension!” The young Chef explained, and if somebody looked closely enough, they would see Izuku’s feet being highly blurry and faint water splashes happen under him.
“That’s not how Laws of Physics work!” Hisashi screeched.
“Not with that attitude!” He answered with a cheeky smile, and then ran towards the cruise ship kicking up a tall tail of water.
“If only you knew how many High Level Chefs can do this back in the Gourmet world!” Izuku thought, amused.
In just few steps he reached the cruise ship and then jumped upward to land on top of the main bridge, landing right next to Jun and Gouki.
“Good evening!” He said.
“How?! You don’t have a Qu-” Gouki demanded.
“Chef secret!” Izuku said, winking.
“Ah! Here comes Whitey too!”
BOOM!
The chubby robot managed to go from the Yacht to the same ship bridge Izuku was on in a giant single jump, and landing heavily enough even that massive ship rocked heavily, and yet the parquet floor wasn’t damaged.
“Ready to cook! Thank you for accepting my small Challenge, Jun-san!” Izuku said.
“Yes… No problem.” The woman answered, very unsure.
Among many whispering conversations, the two Chefs made their way to the ‘Little Mermaid’ onboard Restaurant of Jun, the ship staff immediately prepared various tables for the judges in a whirlwind of motion around Izuku and the woman that would have shocked whoever watched that was not already used to the hectic background work of high level restaurants.
“Very well organized. Impressive.” Izuku admitted, with honest words of praise.
“Why you are here?” Jun asked.
“You and your grandfather set people to kill me and the people I consider part of my family, I may not be able to prove it, but I know the truth. I came here to Challenge you, yes, but also to look at you in the eyes and see what kind of ‘Animal’ I am dealing with.” Izuku answered, dropping the smile as soon as the two entered Jun’s kitchen and remained alone.
“You-”
Swing!
“Not be mistaken. I can’t be bullied. Not anymore.” The knife Jun tried using as a half hearted threat turned into thin slices clattering on the floor as soon as she tried to near the blade’s tip to Izuku’s face, and for the life of hers, Jun had not been able to see Izuku’s hands move beside a faint, single flash of light of the bone knife now in his hand moving at ludicrous speed.
“…” The woman looked at the plain knife handle now remaining in her hand, then right into Izuku’s eyes.
“Now we will have a Challenge, clean and proper, where we both will give our best. If I lose, I will close my Restaurants forever, but if you lose, you, your Grandfather and everybody else will stop bothering me. This is not negotiable. Cheat or still come after me after I won, and there will be consequences.”
“How dare you talk like that to me?!” Jun hissed.
“You paid for killers. The moment you or your precious grandfather signed the check for those Twins and that guy, you immediately got in the role of the Bad Guys. And no amount of you being a spoiled brat will suddenly turn you into a victim.” Izuku answered, uncaring.
“I am not spoiled!”
“Yes, you are. Just like Samui, you are a spoiled moron that for some reason wants to ruin my life because I made you feel bad. I don’t know what Blackmail Samui has over you to make you comply, but if it’s anything like Matoi, it probably is a long list of illegal things you should have been punished for a long time ago. And I finally understood that I am under no obligation to cover you and your crimes. Now get to cooking, it’s time you do things by yourself instead of having Grandpa’s money fix problems for you.” Izuku said.
“I will kill you!” Jun growled.
Her growl became a whimper when the young Chef’s Appetite Demon appeared behind him to heavily set a massive hand on top of her head, a projection that felt far too real and corporeal to her.
“No, you won’t. What will we work with?” And just as easily as the monstrosity came, it left, as if it was never there.
“… If I win…” Jun asked, with a tone bloated by pure and putrid hatred.
“Yes?”
“Will you close your goddamn Restaurants and disappear from my life?”
“Yes.”
“And you won’t push for people to prove that we really tried to kill you?”
“If you stop trying to kill me and the people I care about, yes.”
“… Promise?” The woman asked, looking away and speaking with a very low voice.
“Contrary to Samui, I can deal with defeat and take responsibility for my choices and actions.”
“I don’t trust you.”
“You literally want me dead, and yet, here I am, trying to offer a solution without bloodshed. It looks like at least one of us here trusts the other.” Izuku answered, shrugging.
“This situation has no solution.”
“I never asked for this.” Izuku answered.
“You only needed to keep your head low!”
“Low? How much lower was I supposed to keep my head!? I just took part to a cooking competition for amateurs they made for a fundraiser! I was a nobody cooking with other nobodies in a friendly competition with no stakes! It was not a world-renown Cooking Show with millions of people watching, there wasn’t even TV present! It’s not my fault if Samui has a weak Ego and can’t accept that somebody good at something can exist out there!” He snapped back at her in answer.
“But now he is blackmailing us!”
“So? Am I supposed to let myself die because somebody somewhere gets triggered and thinks I don’t deserve happiness? Who are they to decide if I deserve anything or not? Who are they to decide to punish me for daring to seek happiness and a stable future for myself?”
“…”
“You really think that now that Samui has leverage over you, he will not continue to use it to control you even after you helped him to ruin me? That one day he won’t come back asking for more? And then more? Again and again?” The young Chef asked, groaning.
“…”
“I thought so.” He then said once seen the woman develop an expression of misery he expected.
“… We will make two dishes each. One with lobster, the other with salmon… Free style. Even if I am a fan of French Cuisine, you can use whichever style you prefer. No time limit.” Jun talked again after a very long silence, her voice was dull and faint.
“Very well. The judges?”
“Five random people will be selected,”
“You do know that I don’t trust you to not cheat somehow. Even after I warned you.” Izuku said, sighing in dismay.
“… It would have been more surprising if you did.” Jun admitted.
“To be honest, I am more interested in you admitting defeat if I win, more than the judges’ vote.”
“And what if I don’t admit defeat?”
“Oh, you can lie all you want, but your heart can’t. We Chef don’t work like that when it comes to food.” Izuku answered, smirking and selecting the Ingredients he will use from the fridge of Jun’s kitchen.
“Debatable…” Jun muttered, making Izuku chuckle amused.
“I am ready, you are?” He asked.
“… I am.” Jun answered.
And immediately the lights turned off, extremely loud music started playing and flashing lights of various blinding colors flashed on and off following the music’s tempo.
“I prepared this just in case I had no other option but actually challenge you,” Jun said, smirking.
“Very well, since you can’t act like an adult about this, so be it.” Izuku commented, clearly disappointed in her.
“I don’t care! Try to cook with all this hell going on!” She answered, humming on time with the music.
“I am wearing earplugs to cut-off the music and special contact lenses that will help me see the actual colors of what I am cooking! What about you!?” Jun thought in cruel amusement, she and her grandfather had prepared just for this occasion! With their lifestyle on the line of course they will cheat! All to avoid prison and public shaming.
“Host can cook through this. The System knows the Host knows. Just push through the new Challenge and raise to new heights, young man!” The System said, clearly heard through the deafening cacophony thanks to its immense power.
Even while surrounded by a chaos of thumping music and flashing lights, Izuku’s hands never faltered of a millimeter, he just summoned the Sea Dragon Kitchen Knife from his tattoo and started preparing the fat salmon in front of him, first by removing fins, tail and head, then by cutting it vertically in half by cutting along the salmon’s spine and belly, then he removed the guts and bones and washed the pristine meat now lying in front of him ready to be cooked.
“It’s just Blind Cooking with extra steps… I can do this.” Izuku muttered, putting a pan with butter on it on the fire to heat-up, and then closed his eyes to focus, he needed to cut-off from his ears the bones-shaking thumping of the music and just hear the butter’s own sound.
“What is he doing?” Jun muttered, watching an eerie red hue outline Izuku’s body while he pushed his senses beyond mere human limits.
Thump! Thump!…
...Thump…
Thump…
…
...Sizzle!
“There it is! Actual good music!” Izuku said with a cheerful tone and opening his eyes when only the pan with its sizzling butter was all the noise he could hear.
Nodding pleased with himself, he started boiling eggs in a side pan while sizzling the salmon in the pan with the heated butter for barely a minute per side just to firm it, he then removed the salmon from the pan and set it aside.
“He is cooking with that annoying smile again!” Jun seethed, annoyed to near-madness about Izuku’s apparent lack of bother from her so-called strategy.
After marinating the salmon fillets, Jun had cut them into a few bars and wrapped them in bacon, then she wrapped everything again with plastic and placed the various ingots of bacon-wrapped salmon into a convection oven to heat her dish.
"Low-temperature cooking, that will be the key to my victory." Jun muttered between clenched teeth.
With Izuku -
In the meantime, Izuku was cooking some rice, and at the same time turning part of the salmon into a fine and smooth paste, and once the rice reached the right cooking time, he added to it some butter.
“Sorry if I borrow your recipe, Setsuno…” Izuku muttered, chuckling.
As soon as the butter finished melting and went perfectly integrated with the rice, he added a finely chopped onion to it and stirred carefully, then cumin and coriander seeds, cardamom and star anise went delicately sprinkled and added to the mixture, turning the rice fragrant and with a mesmerizing scent of spices, a pan of rice that soon gained an eye-catching golden color. If anybody could actually see it through all that mess of flashing colored lights.
“It takes guts to cook a recipe that complex with all this going on!” Jun yelled over the music while smirking.
“…” Izuku didn’t answer, too focused in listening to the Voice of the Ingredients to actually hear her.
“Shit, of course he can’t hear me, even with earplugs this noise is giving me a headache.” Jun cursed to herself, displeased at the missed opportunity to add shit-talking on top of the giant distractions she was bombarding him with.
“Add a bay leaf and cinnamon stick, then pour over the stock and season generously…” Izuku was instead mumbling to himself, recalling in his mind’s eye every movement of Setsuno preparing the exact same recipe he saw her make during one of their many showdowns against each other they had through the years.
He was so immersed in those memories that he was not just seeing Setsuno in front of himself cooking, but the massive Cooking Stadium they had that battle in as well went superimposed to Jun’s kitchen.
The pan with the rice and stock had been then covered and brought to the boil, then the heat went lowered to its lowest setting.
“Once ready I will turn off the heat and leave it covered for 10 minutes, then stir through the lemon zest and juice, set it aside to cool, and once cool, I will need to stir though the chopped dill… Yes, I can focus fully on the lobster dish now!” Izuku declared to himself, recalling the last steps while setting a big box with a pristine smooth salmon-colored cream in the fridge.
“What has he made?” Jun wondered, curious, even with the special contact lenses she could not fully see what he was doing. To her it seemed like he had made a sort of ice-cream… With Salmon?
“It doesn’t matter! My Lobster Chaudfroid never failed me! I am preparing the two dishes that won me my third Michelin Star, and I only improved since then!” Jun muttered, almost ‘brutally’ mixing wine vinegar and cream together to prepare the main sauce of her dish.
Izuku Side -
Having already boiled to perfection the lobsters, after gaining the Ingredient’s permission to do such a thing, he summoned the Myriad Manifestation Mallet from his other tattoo and used the mallet’s special properties to delicately smash the lobsters’ shell open while keeping their temperature stable and reach the tasty, springy meat inside.
“The heads are in perfect conditions, and so are the lobsters’ brain. Good.” Izuku muttered, pleased, and setting the heads aside in a way that won’t let the brain pour out.
He then used the Sea Dragon knife to chop some onion in tiny pieces at high speed, intending to prepare what was know as: “Sauce Américaine”.
He sweated the onion and garlic in a little olive oil in a sauté pan just enough to begin cooking them and finally added some brandy before they could take on any colour.
“What are you using?” Jun yelled, curious.
“X.O (Extra Old) Napoleon Cognac. I found some in your fridge.” He yelled in answer.
“THAT’S MY PRIVATE STASH!” The Woman shrieked in horror.
“Whoops.” Izuku answered with a cheeky smile.
Ignoring her indignant shrieks, he heated-up and then ignited the brandy.
“GODDAMNIT!” While kind of enjoying her screams of anguish and anger, the young Chef hummed a simple tune to himself and gently rocked the pan’s content while waiting for the flames to die down, when the very last flames dissipated he added some tomatoes and left them stew for a couple of minutes.
“I will add some white wine too, to add some more body to it.” Izuku muttered, adding the wine to the thing and bringing it back to the boil for a minute or so, then he added the stock to let it simmer.
“The caviar and caviar sauce are almost ready. What is he-” Jun
Wroom!
When she looked at Izuku, she watched him transfer the contents of the pan to a blender and blitz all of it until smooth, then pass the resulting sauce through a sieve into a clean saucepan, bring it to boil to reduce it and finally add the lobster to it along some cayenne pepper and salt.
“Perfect!” Izuku said with a way too happy smile.
Next came a curry sauce of amazing scent, made with the same extra old cognac he used before and Izuku’s personal blend of curry; he used all that as sauce for his Saffron rice, made with white rice, bouillon and saffron.
“Lobster curry rice ready! The other dish is almost ready too.” Izuku declared happily.
“He can’t really be making two complex dishes like that in this mess, even with the lenses I can hardly see how they are coming along! Burned? Under-cooked?… Perfect?” Jun muttered, and shuddered at the idea of Izuku actually managing to cook properly even though she turned her kitchen in a mind-numbing psychotic disco.
And yet, she kept watching Izuku look unbothered by everything, like when he rolled out one of the pieces of pastry he made inside a baking tray, pack half the rice he made for that dish along the middle of the pastry after removing the star anise and cinnamon; looking at him, Jun wondered if her distraction was even working at all!
“How is he not bothered?” She wondered.
“I did worse, Jun. With that attitude you wouldn’t go past then first task of a Cooking Festival back home, just the initial obstacle course with High Capture Level Ingredients chasing you to eat you would break you.” Izuku thought, sighing and shaking his head once seen Jun looking at him insistently.
Ignoring her once again, he moved to check his second dish, he had previously laid the salmon over the rice spread in the middle of the pastry, then put slices of the boiled eggs on top of the salmon, covered everything with the remaining rice and gently packed everything into a firm, even shape.
A second piece of pastry went then draped over the coulibiac and gently pressed against the one at the bottom and the edges sealed together to hold salmon and rice sealed inside the pastry wrap.
“Can’t fully go by eye, but by timing and scent, and slightly difference in color… It’s coming along perfectly.” He muttered, pleased.
Later that day -
When both were finally done cooking, Izuku and Jun took out of the kitchen to the main deck where the judges and everybody else were waiting for the results of the two Chefs work.
“What have you prepared?” Gouki asked with a tense tone, since he had been notified that the cruise ship’s Military Grade radar (a small addition Gouki had secretly added to the ship to help his side-business of contraband to avoid detection) had registered the presence of few small boats following them from far away.
“And of course we got drones flying above us to record everything… Who the hell sent them?” The old man muttered, unaware of Hisashi being the one behind the big swarm of drones making sure his son was safe while on that ship.
“I prepared Salmon Coulibiac and curry lobster rice with cognac.” Izuku answered, preparing various portions of his two dishes, both for the judges and other people, Gouki and both Endeavor and Shoto comprised.
Curry Lobster rice.
Salmon Coulibiac.
“I made my prized Saumon Confit Flamme and Lobster Chaudfroid.” Jun answered, and many of the audience looked excited to finally try the two dishes that made the woman world-famous.
Saumon Confit Flamme.
“Ah! Before I forget! Two things, please!” Izuku said, smiling happily and putting a small spoonful of a pale-pink Ice-cream on top of the Coulibiac slices he served to both judges and audience.
“This is an unsweetened Ice-Cream made with salmon, please try it with the Coulibiac. As for the Curry rice, as you may have noticed, there is a tiny dish with Cognac to the side of the plate, I would like to ask you to try the rice by itself, then to pour the cognac inside the lobster(s) head, mix it with the lobster brain and then eat the head’s content together with the roux and the rice. I promise you that the difference ion taste will be astronomical.” He said, bowing.
“Bit uncouth to suckle the heads…” One of the judges admitted, unsure.
“There is nothing uncouth when enjoying a dish, as long as one has proper manners, even eating a lobster brain out of its head can become acceptable.” Izuku answered, smiling.
“You know what will happen if Jun loses.” The echo of Samui’s message Gouki received while the two were cooking echoed ominously inside the old man’s head.
“For the love of God, Jun… Win…” Gouki muttered like a prayer while trying his granddaughter dishes first, just like everybody else did.
“The taste of bacon goes so well with salmon! I never thought those two things could go so well together!” One of the judges said in awe.
“And the sea urchin sauce! It tastes so much like the sea I feel like I am swimming!” Another Judge said, almost moved to tears.
“The lobster and caviar are so very good too! One is springy and plump while the caviar eggs explode in taste at every bite! Amazing!”
“Okay, it’s going well…” Jun muttered, shuddering.
“Had better lobster,” And Enji immediately burned that small fragment of hope without even using his Quirk.
“So this is caviar? Midoriya-san’s tasted better last time.” Shoto added.
“They came to your Restaurants already?!” Gouki shrieked.
“They are regulars of both.” Izuku answered, shrugging.
“Goddamnit…” Jun cursed under her breath.
“This means nothing, my granddaughter glistening salmon will break your uncouth dishes!” Gouki yelled, desperation making him grasp at anything that could assure them a victory.
“All that glimmer isn’t gold. Can we move on? I need to finish preparing my new batch of beer and ‘Golden White Wine’ and I don’t want to get back home too late.” Izuku answered, not with a boasting tone either, he was really eager to get back to Green Cloud and start bottling his new batch of Elven Wine and Dwarven beer.
“!” Enji looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
Izuku only nodded, he promised the guy a bottle of each liquor as a thank you for accompanying him and he will deliver, he was not that stingy.
“Such an amazing eating experience! I don’t think Jun Sato can be surpassed that easily!” A woman in the audience admitted with a dreamy smile once emptied her plate.
“It’s only fair though that we try this young man’s dishes too! He still worked hard for this challenge!” An old woman between the judges answered, moving Izuku’s dishes in front of herself.
“Right! For the sake of sportsmanship, the boy needs a fair chance!” The other judges agreed.
“There it goes…” Jun and Gouki unknowingly thought in chorus, swallowing hard in worry while collecting their own plates.
“…”
“…”
Silence reigned on the ship as the people eating slowly went wide-eyed at the taste of Izuku’s creations.
“Hn! There it is. This is what I was talking about, some good fucking food.” Only Enji broke the silence, speaking with a smirk of cruel amusement while eating.
“My goodness! The rice is so fragrant! And the salmon! The salmon flavor just keeps coming and coming!” One of the Judges said in awe.
“How the hell did you do it?!” Jun asked while angrily pointing at Izuku with the fork she was eating her own portion of Coulibiac with.
“Maximizing the flavor of salmon was not that hard, to be honest… See?” Izuku answered, snatching her fork and delicately peeling apart the filling and the brioche dough.
“See this thin green line? That’s a very thin spinach crepe I made and incorporated into the batter. That soft and gentle spinach flavor highlights the mellow taste of the salmon’s fattiness. Making it fast enough to not let you see my secret weapon had been kind of difficult since you kept spying what I was doing.” He explained with a cheeky smile.
“A double layer of crepe and brioche pastry!? Made so fast I could not see you make it?!”
“Oh, I can go even faster than that, Jun-san.” Izuku answered, and some could swear his smile became extremely sharp for just a fraction of a second before returning more innocent.
“That doesn’t explain why this damn thing is a flavor bomb!”
“Oh, there is a bit of my personal blend of spices, a customized seasoning mix I added to that same crepe; thyme, oregano, rock salt and much more… I even powdered some bacon and added it.”
“Powdered- There was not powdered bacon in my fridge!” Jun yelled.
“Oh, I know. I had to make it myself, it was not easy in such a short time, but I believe I managed.” Izuku admitted, sheepish.
“… Who the hell are you?” Gouki asked, looking at his empty plate with dread in his eyes.
“I see! Both used salmon and bacon!” Shoto said, impressed.
“Yes, but as I already told you, execution is key! You might have my fire inside you, but it’s how you use it that will determine if you are a proper Hero or not! It’s the skills that say who succeeds and who doesn't!” Enji answered.
“It’s my fire, not yours.” Shoto answered.
“… Eh! Semantics.” Enji answered, rolling his eyes.
“You!” Jun hissed.
“You wrapped bacon around salmon and used low-heated cooking to make them glisten elegantly and blend their taste together. So other than looking good, the taste is perfectly homogeneous, honestly delicious.” Izuku said, actually praising her dish while also breaking down the differences between his creation and hers.
“So, in order to counter the flavor of your dish, a flavor you perfected and sharpened to its absolute limit through years of trial-and-error, I went for unevenness instead. By making use of the human’s mouth own structure and configuration to elevate my dish’ taste, since each section is built to sense a facet of taste specifically, so if the taste is not homogeneous, the flavor profile will be perceived differently. For example the seasoning in the crepe was purposely put unevenly in it, I wanted its taste to have ‘Shades’ instead of being homogeneous.”
“… That creates two sides of the flavor: One were you feel the unblemished taste of the salmon umami, and one where the bacon and other spices blend with the salmon’s flavor to create a completely different taste.” Jun said, teeth clenched hard in fury.
“Exactly!” Izuku answered.
“That means that basically the dish’ flavor changes at each bite. Wrapping bacon around salmon may make it look nice, but you can’t get that much complex flavor profile by doing that.” Gouki added, growling and with his skin gaining faint scales.
“Another secret weapon of mine was the Unsweetened Ice-cream made with salmon I added on top of the slices! That contrast between “Hot and Cold flavor” it’s what makes the dish go beyond, adding more facets to the taste of salmon into a true galaxy of salmon umami flavor! Plus Ultra!” Izuku said, smiling proud of himself.
“God I hate that saying…” Enji admitted with an annoyed grumbling, now the mental image of All Might dressed in a salmon costume while punching him (And yelling Salmon Smash!) will take weeks to leave his head!
“The taste was truly heavenly… But… The curry rice?” A judge said, eyeing the lobster curry rice in clear greed.
“Please do, just remember to mix the cognac with the lobster brain for your second bite as I asked, please.” Izuku answered.
“Please God, if you actually exist, make it so it tastes bad!” Jun whispered to herself, and while squeezing her eyes shut she collected a big spoonful of rice, curry sauce and lobster meat and shoved the entire thing inside her mouth all at once.
“...GODDAMNIT!” Gouki’s scream of vitriolic hatred echoed in every corner of the cruise ship while he threw his spoon away. He wanted to throw the plate too on the ground, but even his body betrayed him and refused to waste that plate of rice.
“Oh my God!” many between the judges and the audience yelled in awe while throwing manners to the wind and gorging themselves with the lobster rice.
The meat was springy and flavorful, offering a token resistance at the first bite before melting in the mouth, the rice was perfectly done and tickling the nose with its spices while the curry flowed warmly in the mouth to wrap together the taste of lobster and rice with its own blend of spices, filling mouth, nose and even soul at each bite… Then they did how Izuku asked. Blending the few droplets of cognac they were given with the brain inside the lobsters’ heads, mixing them together to then slurp the mixture out and chew it with a new spoonful of rice… The result was an explosion of taste that left many breathless, almost weeping in awe.
Crash!
Jun’s empty plate fell from her limp hands and shattered on the floor in thousands of pieces while she fell on her knees, looking down on the floor while silently crying and hiccuping.
“As I told you already, Jun-san. You can lie to me and yourself all you want, but when it comes to food and cooking a True Chef’s heart can’t lie.” Izuku said, sighing and removing his green bandanna, making his unruly hair spring free to its usually messy hairstyle.
“We will now proceed to our vote!” The Head Judge, with her mouth still dirty of curry sauce from her uncouth licking of the plate, declared.
“Midoriya.”
“It’s over.” Gouki growled with bloodshot eyes as soon as the first judge voted for Izuku.
“Midoriya.”
“All this because of that boy…” Gouki’s skin gained even more scales.
“Midoriya.”
“Jun lost, Gouki. I specifically told you two to make sure the boy closed his Restaurants. This means that everybody will know about you and your granddaughter’s dirty deeds. Your life is over. Farewell.” Samui’s message instantly appeared on Gouki’s phone as soon as the Livestream showed three of the five judges vote for Izuku.
“Midoriya.”
Crack! The phone went squeezed into tiny fragments by the old man’s hand, now clawed and looking not human.
“Midoriya.”
“That boy must die!” Gouki hissed in hatred while nailing Izuku with a glare lacking any sort of humanity or sanity.
“A complete victory! I didn’t think it was possible!” The crowd exploded in many exclamations of awe, with the few lucky ones between them confirming how Izuku’s dishes were superior to Jun’s.
“Jun Sato? Gouki Sato?” It was then that the small boats following the cruise ship from a distance rapidly moved closer, each and every one of them sporting the Police Force insignia.
“The police!” Many of the people present yelled in shock.
“We received many anonymous tips about supposed illegal traffics and other assorted crimes you have supposedly committed, we would like to board your ship and ask few questions.” Tsukauchi, at the head of one of the boats, asked through a megaphone.
“And of course all of you just so happened to be in the area full force! You vultures were just waiting for the right moment to pounce on me!”
“We just want to talk!” Another officer said from his own megaphone, smirking.
“Many proofs?” Izuku asked.
“The System, I-Island, Samui, Giran and few Business Rivals of the Sato Family in the world of contraband have pooled their respective proofs of the Family’s illegal affairs and delivered everything to the Police Force as soon as the Livestream made it clear Host Izuku won. The System wishes to add that The System did not coordinate this flood of information. This time.” The Entity answered.
“Grandpa!” Jun, still crying, looked at Gouki in pure fear.
“… It’s over Jun, but we can at least take down few of them with us!” The old man yelled with crazed eyes, stripping naked and jumping into the sea.
“What is he doing?!” Many yelled.
ROAAAR!
With a monstrous roar, a terrifying creature, a mix between an old man and a giant kraken, appeared from under the waves, a human head and torso adorned by dozen of long tentacles in place of normal human arms and hands, his giant body was now covered completely in ash-colored scales, Gouki towered over the cruise ship and glared at Izuku in pure hatred with his three red eyes.
“MIDORIYA! IF I GO DOWN, YOU WILL GO DOWN TOO! I WILL DRAG YOU AND YOUR FAMILY DOWN TO HELL WITH MINE!” Gouki yelled, his mouth was full to the brim in shark-like teeth.
“Gouki Sato! You are under arrest!” Tsukauchi yelled.
“I don’t think he cares about that!” Saito Yaoyorozu answered while desperately maneuvering the yacht himself to not be toppled over by the tall waves Gouki created at each movement he made.
On the ship -
People screamed in panic and hurriedly ran inside the ship in a futile attempt to seek safety while Gouki’s many tentacles easily wrapped around the cruise ship making it tilt heavily to the side.
“Get down!” Shoto yelled, half his body covered in fire and half in ice.
“NO, Shoto!” Enji roared.
“But-”
“You still can’t control your Quirk! You will hurt both him and everybody else! A misfire and the entire ship will burn down!” Endeavor said, glaring at Shoto.
“… What?”
“My Fire, and ‘yours’, create powerful flames that are hard to control! You will make unnecessary collateral damages and put innocents at risk.” Enji said, shoving Shoto aside and walking towards Gouki by himself.
“You worry about others now?” Shoto asked, almost sarcastic.
“What? You think I got to second place just because my Quirk is powerful? Or because I am pretty? A Hero needs attitude and good mentality, blasting your problems away is inexcusable, both as a proper Pro Hero and as a Rookie! Now be quiet and observe! I apparently need to teach you Heroic Manners and Fire Quirk Handling procedures! Honestly, what the hell are they teaching nowadays in UA, how to sign autographs?” Enji said with a sneer.
“… What?” Shoto muttered, confused.
“I am happy you are having a Father-Son moment! But I may need assistance!” Izuku yelled, annoyed, while using his Myriad Manifestation Mallet and Star Eating Turtle Wok to fend off Gouki’s whipping attacks with his massive tentacles.
“Don’t hurt him too much, that idiot may still try to sue you for excessive self-defence after openly trying to murder you.” Enji answered, shooting small fire projectiles to blast away the tentacles wrapping around the cruise ship.
“I know! That’s why I am using blunt force! Heavy Gong Vajra Pester!” Izuku answered, inflating his right arm’s muscle through Knocking and punching a giant tentacle away so hard it slapped against Gouki’s own face.
“ARRGH! Damn you! I will be arrested all the same, may as well go to prison smiling with the knowledge I killed you!” Gouki yelled.
“Sir! He is too big! Our tranquilizing darts are not made for somebody with a giantification Quirk!” One of the agents said in horror.
“Keep shooting! I already alerted Ryukyu and Mt. Lady! If Endeavor can’t make him calm down, they will!” Tsukauchi answered.
With Izuku and Endeavor -
“How the hell do you punch that hard?” Enji demanded, and nailing a tentacle with a spear of fire that made Gouki shriek in agony.
“A good diet!” Izuku answered, using the tentacle Whitey was holding down to run up to Gouki’s face and slap him with the enlarged Wok hard enough the resounding gong-like sound went heard for miles.
“Augh!” the old man stepped faintly back, but finally letting go of the cruise ship.
“Then give me your diet plan, boy!” Enji answered, catching the falling Chef and putting him down kind of gently.
“Too much?”
“If they ask, I knocked out that moron’s teeth.” Endeavor answered with a frown.
“I WILL EAT YOU!” Now fully blinded by rage, Gouki sent every tentacle at once against the two.
“Too many at once! And the boy is too close for me to use a wide are attack!” Enji thought in anger.
“Whitey! Catch!” Izuku yelled, surprising Enji by lifting him and throwing him out of the way for the robot to catch.
“What the hell are you doing?!” Enji yelled once Whitey deposited him back on the ground.
“ARGH!” Izuku yelled as a tentacle wrapped tightly around his body.
“I got you now, boy!” Gouki yelled in triumph, stepping back a bit from the cruise ship so to enjoy having Izuku in his grasp.
“I really, really hope you are right about this, System!” Izuku thought, taking in a huge breath to scream.
“BURN HIM, ENDEAVOR! NOW THAT HE IS AWAY FROM THE SHIP!”
“But-”
“DO IT! I TRUST YOU!” He yelled, surprising Enji and Shoto.
“… GODDAMNIT!” Enji closed his eyes tight and covered himself in fire.
“Father! No!” Shoto yelled in panic, already imagining Izuku reduced to a charred corpse.
“Watch, Shoto! This is how a Fire Hero controls his flames! Plus Ultra: PROMINENCE BURN!” Endeavor yelled launching forward a sea of fire that only barely melted the handrails of the ship’s bridge with residual heat while the full blast caught Gouki’s entire body.
“Now, Host.” System, voice calm and expressionless as always, said.
“Here goes nothing!” Izuku emptied his lungs and then started inhaling Enji’s fire just like he with the blue flames of Dabi.
“The hell is he doing?!” Both Shoto and Enji yelled with wide eyes.
“AAAAAAAAAH!” Completely covered in fire, Gouki gave a loud scream of agony and fell backwards into the water while Izuku, unscathed tahnks to his eating Enji’s flames, started fallig as well.
“Host!” Whitey’s arm shoot out like a rocket to grab him and pull him back on the ship, once grabbed Izuku, the robot then gently helped the young Chef stand on the half-destroyed deck.
“You okay?” Shoto asked.
“… BEEEEEEEEUGH!… Sorry.” Izuku answered with a thundering belch and few wisps of fire escaping his mouth, of course he blushed dark red in shame.
“You ate my fire?! Are you insane or something?!” Enji shrieked.
“It was the only plan I had to protect myself from your fire, it’s not the first time I do this.” Izuku answered.
“That adds questions instead of answers!” The Pro Hero yelled with clear anger.
“I can’t say much because- Eugh!” Mid-way though his answer, Izuku felt something HOT bloom inside his chest that punched air out of his lungs and made his eyes bulge out in a grotesque manner.
“What’s happening?” Shoto asked.
“Flame of Good absorbed. Using the Flame of Evil with its core of Anger, Greed and Sorrow, and the Flame of Good with its core of Longing, Ego and Pride as kindling to create a Heaven-Earth Obsidian flame!” The System declared, and at each word, the heat inside Izuku’s chest, heart and soul grew one-hundred-fold.
“Oh, God!” Izuku whimpered, sweating profusely while his skin got so red to almost emit light like super-heated metal, an unnatural sight that actually scared both Shoto and Endeavor.
“Heaven-Earth Obsidian Flame created! Heaven-Earth Obsidian Flame: Flame of the Sin of Pride is now your to use, Host!” The System declared once the fully-matured mystical fire started burning brightly inside Izuku’s heart…
“Oh, shit!” Too bad the resulting flame was even more explosive in power than anticipated, and Izuku’s cheeks soon inflated as he tried to futilely hold back the excess fire trying to escape his lips.
“Midoriya! Endeavor! DIE!” Using the very last strength the heavily-burned Gouki still possessed, the giant Umi Bozu Human reemerged from the sea while holding over his head the biggest rock her could find at the bottom of the ocean, holding it over his head and ready to sink the cruise ship uncaring of even Jun’s life being at risk.
“Oh, Fu-FWOOOOOOOOOSH!” Izuku chose that exact moment to lose the battle against the fire mounting inside his mouth, and with a loud whooshing sound, a human-sized ball of condensed acid-green fire exploded out of his mouth to fly towards the enormous rock Gouki was holding above his head while leaving behind a faint tail of bright lightning-like sparks of energy.
PUFF!
Even if the small fireball was easily dwarfed by the massive boulder, the bullet of fire made the giant rock evaporate on impact, literally, leaving nothing behind except few miserable droplets of molten rock that added even more burning marks to his already half-charred body.
“...I wish to cooperate with the Police Force towards a peaceful resolution of this situation.” Gouki said with a faint, squeaky voice unfitting with his giant and monstrous appearances after a couple seconds of stricken silence.
He was no scientist, but he still knew rock didn’t evaporate unless the fire striking it was absurdly hot, and his poor body was way less sturdy than stone, even if his spirit was willing to kill Izuku, turning into a handful of ashes was still a big reason for him to step down before the young Chef started spitting ludicrously-hot fire again.
“That’s some nice fire, kid.” Endeavor admitted, pleasantly impressed.
“…” Shot was unsure about the pang of jealousy he felt at seeing Enji praise somebody else’s fire, he was fairly sure he hated his father…
“Thanks, that surprised me as well.” Izuku admitted unsure.
Now that the excess fire had been expelled, he felt the swirling of that green fire lazily spinning inside his heart, an impossibly-hot green fire with small arches of golden lightning lazily circling nonstop around the solitary flame burning endlessly inside his soul.
“Congratulations to host Izuku for defeating Jun Sato and unlocking your own Heaven-Earth Obsidian flame! Now the Star-Eating Turtle Wok can be used for cooking as well, train hard top master its profound powers, young man!” The System said with a short victory jingle.
“Thanks… Just for the sake of curiosity… How hot is this fire?”
“An Obsidian Flame is closely related to the Primordial Fire from which Creation was born. It’s far hotter than Quark-gluon Plasma, Host. So far hotter than that that the two can’t even be put in comparison.” The Entity answered.
“… That doesn’t really answer my question.” Izuku muttered, sighing.
“We finally put him to sleep, which is better since he started screaming in pain as soon as he returned to normal, clearly his Quirk gives him way thicker skin when transformed, too bad that level of burns hurt like hell for normal humans.” Tsukauchi said, walking on the deck to face Jun Sato herself.
“Am I in trouble?” Jun asked.
“Very likely. We had our doubts about your family, but could not prove anything concrete, then when Midoriya-san left his Restaurant to come Challenge you, we got bombarded by Snitches that almost broke our servers with the sheer volume of proofs against you. It seemed like The Enigmatic Giran and many others decided to join forces to ruin you. We followed from distance just in case, and as you can imagine, your grandfather’s bout of madness will give us the opening to see if those proofs are indeed real or fake.”
“And if even just half of them are real?” Jun asked, already knowing the answer.
“Even just half of it will sign you and your family’s doom. Please come quietly.” Tsukauchi asked, showing her a pair of handcuffs.
“One of those snitches is Samui Arasaka, you know?” Jun tried saying with her head held low.
“Everything was delivered anonymously, and we will probably check the validity of your claim, but you should probably focus on looking for a good lawyer to defend you in court, instead of pointing fingers.” The Detective answered, dragging her away gently.
“Does every Challenge of yours end like this?” Shoto asked.
“Not with police involved or a fight for my life… I think.” Izuku answered, unsure.
“I will need you all to answer few questions too.” Tsukauchi said.
“Sure.” The two Heroes and one Chef answered in chorus.
“Wait for my Lawyers, Izuku!” Saito yelled.
“Okay, just don’t call-”
“Especially The Ogre!” Saito added.
“Oh, Goddamnit.” The poor Detective cursed under his breath.
Sighing in dismay, Izuku followed the group back to land to answer the many questions of the Police Force, all the time grumbling annoyed at the time he was wasting, because he really wanted to try the Turtle Wok! That poor thing waited for far too long to be used for cooking!
“For God's sake! I just want to manage my Restaurant! Leave me alone!” He also thought in misery, can’t a man work without being bothered by morons?!
Meanwhile – Hospital
A doctor was calmly walking next to a nurse pushing a wheelchair with a woman sitting on it.
“You are making huge progresses, Miss Monoi. I am positive we will soon be able to let you out of our fine establishment and will be free to return to cooking.” The doctor said with a pleased smile.
“Me too, doctor. I am glad I am out of my breakdown.” Monoi answered.
“Stress is dangerous, remember, You should never underestimate it.” The nurse added, smiling gently.
“You are right, I promise I will be careful.” Monoi promised,
“I already know what I must do. I just need to get out of here as soon as possible to fulfill my part of the Deal.” Monoi thought, knowing well what the System ordered her to do in exchange of her getting back her cooking skills and Quirk. Along a chance to get her Life back on track, only this time with a huge dose of humility.
At the same time – League of Villains Hideout -
All for One looked at the dead body on Daruma’s table with a thoughtful expression.
“Dead, hn?”
“Shot through the head with high caliber bullets. Custom Bullets.” Daruma answered with a meaningful look.
“Quirk-erasing ones?” AfO asked, growling.
“Indeed. Somebody used his very creation against him, almost poetic.” Daruma answered, shaking his head and covering Overhaul’s corpse with a white sheet and walking back to his microscope.
“So his Quirk is gone. A real waste. The gun?” AfO asked, already not caring anymore about the dead Yakuza boss.
“Nowhere to be found, we are still looking for it.” The scientist answered,
“Find it, we can’t let something that dangerous just lying around.” All for One answered, sitting back on his life-support chair.
“We will work harder, Sensei.” Daruma answered, nodding.
“Good. What about Shigaraki? Did you find him?”
“We found him in an Arcade, just playing angrily. For once he didn’t go bothering that dog.”
“Finally some good news. Keep an eye on him, we still need him for the Operation.” All for One said, almost cracking a smile even!
Unknown to them and everybody else, Shigaraki’s peaceful sleep was not due just to his setting a new high-score at the arcade, but also from the big gun safely tucked under his clothes, with the psychotic young man dreaming of the day he will finally get to use it on all the people that he hated.
Omake time:
Inter-dimensional Ingredient hunt:
How to derail the Plot with a couple dishes.
“Groan!” With a whining of both metal and mutated flesh, the giant behemoth that used to be a huge robot dressed in fine parade attire, and now piloted by a wriggling mass of mutated human flesh in a mocking parody of a body, collapsed on the ground, dead once more.
“Okay! That thing’s dead! Let’s go!” The small machine inside the shining lamp dangling from the young man’s belt said as soon as it was clear the possessed puppet was truly dead.
Nodding, the young gentleman with a robot arm started running towards the Hotel where his friends were hiding, the same place from where came the cry for help of those same friends, now under attack from somebody.
“It’s all too quiet…” The small cricket robot muttered as soon as the Hotel’s entrance came into view.
When The boy arrived, from outside nothing seemed out of place, as if there was not an enemy attack ongoing.
“Hn!” With a soft groan, the young man pushed open the Hotel’s heavy doors and entered.
“You are alive!” And immediately a young woman yelled in relief to welcome him.
“Of course he is! Our friend is a sturdy puppet boy! Isn’t that right, Compagno?” A man with flamboyant clothes and top hat answered with a wider smile from, right behind her.
“Eugenie, Venigni…” The boy muttered, still getting used to his slowly-developing human emotions.
“Happy to see us? Well, it’s all thanks to our newest guests!” Venigni said, laughing.
“Ehm… Why are those guys hanging there?” Gemini asked, unsure.
“GOOD JOB FOR FINALLY NOTICING, TESTA DI CAZZO!”
It was then that the boy known as P looked up to see that indeed there were people hanging upside-down, only wearing their underwear and with both arms and feet tied.
“WAAAAAAH! I will never get married now!” One of the girls in the group of hanging naked human salami cried in shame and horror. She was the one wearing a fox mask still.
“Con quel carattere di merda che ti ritrovi, stare a culo di fuori non cambia nulla.”
“Shut-up, Cat!” The woman snapped in answer.
“Those voices… The Cat and the Fox?!” Gemini yelled in disbelief.
“And the black rabbit brotherhood… And the asshole posing as Alidoro.” Eugenie explained, spitting on the face of the fake Alidoro once again.
“What happened?” P asked, confused.
“These rude criminals tried attacking us to kill all of us and kidnap Geppetto, our recent Guests and their own puppet took offense to that and decided to administer Justice. The ropes these ruffians had took along to decorate the entrance with a giant ‘Hypocrite’ sign have then been used by our saviors to instead tie the invaders up. I find the concept of stripping them excessive, but Mister Whitey had apparently been programmed with that concept of punishment in mind, and we could not stop him from carrying it out.” Pulcinella, Venigni’s personal butler puppet, explained with impeccable manners.
“Quite the minimalist design, I must add, but the materials used and the building prowess needed to create such an invincible and yet funny-looking puppet truly are exceptional! I believe that once fixed Krat, I will create a commemorative toy of Mister Whitey to celebrate our saviors!” Venigni added with his usual flourish.
“We had just finished hanging them to dry when you arrived, I believe that we will leave them there for just a bit more as punishment, in the meantime we will decide what to do with them,” Belle added, giving a malevolent smirk to the trapped people.
“This is highly unnecessary!” ‘Cat’ yelled in answer.
“I just want to heal my brother’s eyes, okay?! The Alchemists offered a lot of gold coin fruits in exchange of this!” ‘Fox’ added.
“We’ll fix that too. The boy decided to throw you two a bone, for some reason.” It was then that the old lady, the owner of the Hotel, walked into the scene helped by an elegant walking stick.
“Antonia…” P muttered.
“YOU WALK?!” The others instead yelled with bulged-out eyes.
“Indeed I do, thank you for noticing.” Antonia answered with a very cheeky smirk.
“… What have you done? You look a lot younger! What product did you use? Because I want that too! Sure I already look Perfect as I am, but adding some extra shine to perfection never hurts, giusto?” Venigni asked immediately.
“Turns out our Chef Guest was cheekily hiding some Alchemic knowledge from us!” Antonia answered, chuckling.
“The markings on your face! Your Petrification Disease is gone?!” Eugenie added, shocked.
“Milady! You are healed?” Antonia’s puppet butler Polendina asked with a very human hopeful tone.
“I am, and to answer you, Venigni, I have regained a good ten years of youth as a side-effect from the cure our new friend gave me,” Antonia answered, looking so alive many could think she returned into being a springy and rambunctious teen girl instead of just returning into being a middle-aged woman.
“In my defense, those Gold Coin fruits are more intense than I imagined. I only wanted to heal her and fix her health, not turn back Time that much. But this is why ‘Test Dishes’ exist for, to test Ingredients.” Izuku admitted, walking in the scene followed by Momo… And with Giangio latched to his leg to be dragged around by the Chef.
“SHARE YOUR NOTES! PLEEEEASE! THAT’S THE Life Elixir we have been trying to make perfect for ages, and you achieved a perfected version just by cooking! And you even created the perfect cure for Petrification Disease on top of it, one without a single drawback! JUST NAME YOUR PRICE! Anything! We’ll give you everything you want!” Giangio begged, rather pathetically, while clinging onto Izuku’s leg with both arms.
“No! After learning how that tree was created, we won’t share a thing with you and your friends!” Momo answered, creating a crowbar from her navel and use it to literally pry the man away from her boyfriend.
“There are ways to reproduce the tree artificially without sacrificing a human. Since the Host completed this part of the mission, the Storage Area will be equipped with the necessary materials to achieve the artificial Gold Coin Tree.” System answered, although the Thing’s tone still sounded distant, as if the Entity was occupied elsewhere and ‘screaming’ to be heard from that far away.
“Still not going to tell these people how to replicate my Healing Cuisine,” Izuku answered, sighing.
“You helped them?” P asked, confused.
“They are your friends and family, they were holding-on and waiting for you to come back and save them, so I wanted to do my part.” Izuku admitted.
“Thank you.” P answered, hugging the Chef instead of shaking his hand like he offered,
“Glad… To be… Of help…” The young Chef groaned a bit under the strength of the hug.
“A big help indeed! And as promised, I will re-print for you every cook book of Krat’s most delicious recipes!… If our friend P here can spare a minute to visit one of the bookstores in the Lorenzini Arcade to recover both the portable printing machine and the data slates necessary for me to print the books from.” Venigni answered, showing a blinding smile.
“And lots of paper.” Eugenie added.
“That too.”
“I can do that.” P answered, and both Izuku and Momo were reminded of young Shoto Todoroki’s own manner of speech.
“Are you sure? We can go there ourselves.” Izuku said.
“Please, let me.” P answered with a faint begging tone.
“… Okay. Just be careful.” The two answered.
With a nod, the young gentleman walked towards the giant machine in the middle of the hotel and then disappeared in a swarm of small blue particles.
“… One day I will discover how he does that.” Venigni hummed with a petulant tone.
“While he is gone, we need to decide what to do with Geppetto.” Antonia said with narrowed eyes.
“When I heard the King of Puppets openly state that Geppetto was the one to initiate the puppet Frenzy, my heart bleed, Dio mio, the very pioneer of Puppet Creation, behind this atrocious mess… I asked our friend if he too heard it, and when he said no, I was overjoyed and lied about not hearing it either… No son deserve to hear how his father became a mass-murderer.” Venigni admitted, shuddering.
“Sometimes we need to Lie, Lorenzini. Truth has a weight very few can bear.” Eugenie answered, patting the man’s back in a comforting manner.
“All this crusade of his, all to resurrect a son he already brought back to life…”
“Are you sure he is doing this just to have Carlo back?” Venigni asked.
“I have known that fool the longest among all of us. He is a brilliant inventor and Alchemist, but outside of that, he never was good at hiding his feelings. I can recognize Geppetto’s Manic Look when it comes to a project he is obsessed with.” Antonia answered.
“I should have suspected something when he asked me for the pieces to create the King of Puppets, some were...excessive, for the project he talked about, I should have guessed he was planning something far more nefarious for the future.” Venigni admitted.
“Again, he is good at making puppets, so he could dissimulate, but in humanity, I can read him like a book. The notes Polendina managed to memorize while cleaning his office helped giving me enough details to piece together that fool’s plan. Having a puppet that is the spitting image of Carlo roaming about was was ticked me off about why he suddenly returned to Krat.”
“Happy to serve, Madame.” Polendina answered, bowing.
“So… What now?” Izuku asked.
“Now we collect as many survivors we can from this Hellhole and we leave, I will then assemble a task force of many, MANY heavily-armed soldiers and we will come here to clean-up with lots of bullets and bombs and fire. And if some wandering Alchemists happen to fall to cross-fire, eh, accidents happen.” Belle answered.
“We can help! If that guy heals my brother’s eyes, we will help!” Fox said.
“Definitely!” Cat added, nodding rapidly.
“Sorry, but I don’t trust you.”
“What about Geppetto?” Momo asked.
“He will face trial and have a judge decide his fate, he has done a lot for the advancement of humanity, and also caused the death of thousands. Justice will decide if he will be imprisoned or hanged for his crimes.” Belle answered, walking away to recover the bound and gagged Inventor.
“…” Izuku just looked at her walk away, sighing at the notion that indeed, Geppetto’s crimes were far too atrocious.
“HE ESCAPED!” It was barely a minute later that a scream of both anger and disbelief echoed in the entire hotel.
“Crafty old miscreant!” Antonia cursed.
“The old fart ran away! And he took something with him!” Belle declared from the railings of the first floor.
“What did he take along?” Venigni asked.
“I don’t know, but it’s big.”
“I tied him up! How did he escape?!” Eugenie asked.
“There were shoe markings on the floor and a discarded puppet, he must have remotely controlled one of those lying about around his office.
“You left him with puppets?!” Antonia said.
“They were not active and he had his hands tied!” Eugenie tried saying.
“Oh, for fu… for the love of God.” The old Lady almost cursed like a sailor, and only stopped herself by virtue of her strict upbringing.
“How do we capture him then? Where is he even going?” Belle asked.
“The Alchemists Island.” Cat and Fox said in chorus.
“Hn?” The others chorused.
“The plan was to come here, trash the place, kill you all and take Geppetto to the Island. There is a submarine parked at the Ruins waiting for departure.” Cat said.
“Shut up!” One of the Black Rabbits tried saying,
“To be fair, no sense in keeping secrets now! The black rabbits would have stayed behind to stop any pursuers long enough for the submarine to depart. While those two would have brought Geppetto to Simon Manus.” The man posing as Alidoro added.
“Knowing that fool, he would have let you all capture him, so to get to the island with a very good alibi to do whatever he needs there. I won’t go into details, for obvious reasons, but Simon may have what Geppetto needs to bring Carlo back, you all would have been his ticket for a free ride to the island.” Antonia said.
“But we ruined that.” Momo said.
“Yes, so now he is probably going there by himself.” Belle answered.
“There are only a handful of secret passages that lead to the ruins under the hotel, one of which can be opened by playing a very specific tune on my piano.” Antonia added.
“Want us to go capture him?” Izuku asked.
“No! Too dangerous! There may be plenty of killer puppets and Mutated Carcasses, you are far too important to risk your life just like that!” Giangio answered immediately.
“Ignoring his whining, he is also right. Unfortunately, the only one that can get Geppetto back and stop Simon is P… Or Carlo, if the ergo inside his Heart has fully awakened.” Venigni answered.
“We need to tell him as soon as he is back, the choice will be up to him.” Antonia said.
Much Later -
Discovering the truth about his entire existence, assaulting the Alchemist island, fighting through hordes of enemies, fighting a very unfair battle against that Lightning Psycho Woman, then killing Simon Twice (First as a man, then as a quasi-God) and then fighting against what he later discovered was his old, reanimated corpse Geppetto used to create a psychotic puppet and then resurrecting Sophia thanks to a puppet version of her body that had been created with maniacal attention to details by Simon himself for “reasons” the young man didn’t want to think about… All in the span of barely three hours.
Carlo regretted becoming a Human Puppet as soon as he returned to Krat Hotel after going through all that, because those last few hours will probably gave an ulcer to his half-robotic (soon to be fully human) stomach, along the nightmares and bad memories and split hair and so on.
“...Nnngh…” Geppetto in the meantime was slowly opening his eyes.
“Oh, Look. The fool is awake.” Antonia said with a mocking tone.
“Where… Am I?” Geppetto asked, after noticing the handcuffs strapping him on his makeshift bed.
“On a train dear Giangio organized for us as soon as we left Krat. We will leave our Chef friend to the first stop we reach, but you instead, you will keep traveling with us, to the dear judge that will decide your fate.” Antonia answered.
“How?”
“My fault. Or better, my fault with the help of my new recipe: Gold fever chicken wings: Krat Style. I turned the Gold Coin Fruits into a spice I added to the main sauce of my personal version of one of Krat’s iconic dishes, the fruits enrich the taste of both wings and sauce with a spicy and faintly sweet undertone, similar to curry if I have to say.” Izuku answered.
“HOLY FUCK! This is delicious!” The resurrected older brother of the Black Rabbits, now back into being a normal and rational human instead of a raving rabid psycho, yelled in awe while gorging himself.
“You are no longer a growling mad dog, Big Bro! I am so happy! You are back to normal!” The female Black Rabbit said, sobbing in happiness.
“And it fixed my eyes for good too! I love it!” Cat echoed, talking with his mouth still full.
“Such amazing Healing properties! Erasing the negative mutations of the Elixirs and resetting the human body to top form and health! Prodigious!” Giangio as well was gushing nonstop and taking endless piles of notes.
“And it tastes good!” The people eating all agreed happily.
“Yes, yes. Whatever. The non-healing version of the dish is good or whatever. But I want to see how the one with healing powers is made!” Giangio answered, annoyed.
“When Carlo went to capture you, we secretly followed him, and when you took that lethal attack for him to save him from your own creation, Izuku and me intervened to save your life with one of his healing dishes.” Momo explained.
“Carlo…” Geppetto said.
“You called me son.” Carlo answered.
“Took him far too long to see the truth right under his nose.” Antonia commented, rolling her eyes, and making Polendina chuckle amused.
“I was just… So desperate… To make up for the time I wasted, for all the love I could not give you…” Geppetto said, looking away while squeezing his eyes tight to futilely hold back his tears.
“The judge will decide if you will get life prison or be hanged, just in case, maybe you two should just enjoy this short time together.” Belle answered, walking away to be a lone for a bit and mourn the death of her partner.
“Can’t say I deserve any other punishment.” Geppetto admitted, bitterly.
“Will we be able to visit you if you don’t get hanged?” Carlo asked.
“We will make an appeal.” Sophia answered, putting a hand on his shoulder.
“…” Izuku and Momo just watched in silence as everything unfolded.
“This was a tragic adventure.” Izuku admitted.
“But something tells me our involvement changed things in a small but significant manner.” Momo answered.
“I really hopes so.” Izuku answered.
But the System didn’t actually care about all that, the Entity had chosen that specific world in that specific point in its timeline because, while macabre, that place also offered 0% chances of a woman chasing Izuku!
Sophia was a Puppet-Human and had eyes only for Carlo.
Eugenie was not interested in romance at all.
Belle was mourning.
Antonia was too old.
There was finally no way for the usually mess to happen!
“Ah! By the way, part of the reason why it took me so long to organize this train was that I had to call and report to the Organization I am part of, and as I expected, they are offering you a position in our ranks, a rather HIGH RANK position, I may add!” Giangio said, smirking.
“Uhu?!” Izuku and Momo muttered, confused.
“It’s a rather extraordinary honor, but if me and my brothers and sisters are right, the knowledge you possess may propel our experiments forward of the equivalent of many, many decades!” The man said, nearing the door connecting their train cabin to the next one.
“And as such, your joining us will come with many perks! Besides plenty of funding and helpers for your own researches, a noble title will also be yours!” Giangio said with wide, dramatic gestures.
“And as soon as I mentioned that you can actually make people younger, healthier and eternally beautiful… If my theory about your food’s powers is correct… Another perk added itself to our offer.” Giangio said, opening the door with a flourish.
“Good evening, Brother Izuku!” Many, many young women said in chorus, and all of them looked at Izuku in pure, lustful hunger.
“All of them promise to be very ‘thorough’ in their convincing you to join us. If a strapping, virile young man like you catches my drift.” Giangio said, smirking.
“…” While Sophia immediately covered Carlo’s eyes while glaring at those girls, and Pulcinella did the same and covered Venigni’s eyes… Izuku only paled considerably in horror.
“FUUUUUUUUCK!” Both Teens yelled, and thanks to Whitey, they blasted out of the train and after landing on a roll on the ground, they ran away FAST!
“NO! Please come back! I swear they are very healthy, virgin and open-minded! They don’t mind sharing!” Giangio yelled in despair.
“I don’t think that the issue is that…” Antonia answered, facepalming.
With Izuku and Momo -
Both teens ran and ran, conscious that thanks to their respective training regimen, stamina was not an issue, and while running and screaming, they desperately jumped through the portal that opened in front of them to bring them back home for yet another Sortie that while a complete success, once again ended in Izuku having to run away…
And yet, this time the System was completely silent through the entire ordeal...
Ŷ̶̨̢͓̯̩͛̎̃̉͛̓̒͘̕ỏ̴̮̹̳͛̀́̚ͅù̶̳̗̄̒͛̔ ̵̧̛̘̬̄͑̈́͗̓̀̀͠c̶̡̞͖̖̠̗̬͈͔͙̒͜a̵̘̗̻̹̘͔̿̿͆͜n̶̢̗͑͑̾'̸͇̰̼͎͎̈́̊͐̋̑̂͋͠t̴̢͕̤̼̼̳̹̊̋̾̎͘̕ ̴̨̖̥͔̞̻̹̘͔̙̀͒̔́̇͆̉͘̕͝h̴̲̙̤̟͐̄́̀̈͝i̷͖͓͂̉d̸̛͕͚̺̱͚̺̞̻͕̈́̏̓̏̔̂͌̊͝ě̷͚̄̏͐͗͗̍
̶̼̲̬͍͔̜̽̂͌͛̏̅̀́̐̍͜͠
̴̲̲͑͆Y̶̝̱̥͊̓͌̈͘ọ̷̯͙̼̦̤̄̈́͂̃͐̈́̋u̸̧͐̓̊̎́̀̚͠ ̷͚̤͙̩̤̊͆͒͋́̆͑̕͘c̷̠͚̰̖̗̪̦̄̆̾̎͆́͒͑͊͆͜͠a̷̢̧̯͎̱̻͕̼̱͎͍͗͗͑n̴̢͉͕͚̰̥̼̻̑̈́̇̅̾͘͜'̷͕̦̼͊̈́̉ṭ̶̦̣̤̺̈́̂̔̓̒͊̕͝ ̷̡̼̺͖̮̘̰͉̀͋̂͛̅̀͑̒̄͋̅ḩ̸̛͓̰͑̽̏͐̉͂͠͝i̴͖͚̳̭̎̐̾̉̿͜ḑ̵̩͕͐͌̈͠ȅ̸̢̯̝͉̗̻̦̐͛͋̂̇̌͜͠
̵̨͎̲̳͕̥̪̲̱̻͑̈͒̅̈̃̈́͜͠
̵̢͖̜͎̻͙̯͛̈̐̔́̍Y̸̧̟̹̬̦̭̱͙̒̎̅o̶͓̱̟͛͐̂͊̇̏͝ų̸͈̗͉͍͈̯̀̏̿̎ ̷̲̦̮̟̥̀̉͊̈́̄̚̕c̸̹̳̥̖̥̪̠͗̾̅̇̇ạ̴̱̦͖̲̥̜̟̓̅͒̅̉̀̚ͅn̸̡̛̪̭̠̩̲̪̫̖̿̈̀̉͂̐̋͆̑'̷̨͖̥̠͔̩̘͍̺̔͒́̆̈́̑̌̈̂̎t̵̢̢̝̬̱̫̳̭͔̉̀̄͑̊̊̎̕ ̷̡̓̏̀̑̐̓̿̄͋͘h̴̢͐͠ͅi̷̢̛̩̥͔̺̻͕̮̎̇̅̽͠d̶̨̘͍̣͈̘̙̣̃̂͌̊ę̸̼͖̟̭͙̗̲̰͗̌͑̉̆̕͝͝
̵͖́
̵̭͖̄̿͘͜Y̸̠̪̽̿̈́o̷̝̎̂̈́͂͘u̷̪̦̔͆̎̒̓̈́̋̏ ̵̨̤̭̳̮͐̏͗̽̽̈́̾͜c̶̲̟̻͚̽̊͂ą̷̢̰̣͈͎̩̹͙̫́͋͂́́̆́͌͌̀n̶̡̧̨̳̳͉̓͋͌́͆'̵̪̺͉̮̼̊͜t̴̡̨͍͚͔̝̟͉͚̫̺̔͛̀̿́͝͠͝ ̵̡̱̦̅͆͑̏̽̊̃h̵̡̬̖̞̰̟̎̿̓̈́͒̈́i̶̛͇͍͙͉̘̹̒̽̒͆̅̑̿͘͘͝d̶̢̩̈̋͒̃̈͂̔e̷͈̩͔̺͖̫̦̻͇̼̾̀̆͆̌͜͠
̴̢̥͍̙͈̘̠́̓̄
̸̡̲̹͎̋͆̎̓̕͜͠Y̸̞̦̭̜̠̼̹̘͕͐̐̂́͋̌̾̿̿͠ͅo̵͎͍̞͕̳̽̚û̴̟͚̭̹̇͗̅̉͘ ̴̡̫͉̤͓̞͉͚̭͂̄̔̂̏͋́̚͝͝c̶̭̳̩̍̓̆͂a̶̝̅̉n̶̨̧̯͇̮͓͇͚͌̈̆͘'̶̧͔̪̲̲̙̦̲̺̈́̽̋̒̈́̔̽͜t̶͇̬͐̀͂͋́ ̶̜̝͕̗́́̈́͌̚ḧ̴̡̢̖̜̯̹̟̤̗͓̹́͗̀̕̕i̴͎̦̣̲̺̠̗͚̳͆̀̽͝d̴̨͉̻̺͛̓ͅe̵̡̢͓̺̻̫̖͋̀̽̔͝
Chapter 32: The Calm before the Storm.
Summary:
While Life returned to normal for Izuku after his Cooking Battle against Jun, for everybody else around him things are instead far from calm, but Izuku is not aware of all that, he will soon have to worry about the new wave of headaches that will come his way when he and Momo will visit a new Dimension following The System's new Mission.
Be strong, Izuku! The scientific wonders of another Galaxy awaits you!
If only things would stay quiet while he was away...
Notes:
Intermediary chapter before the Sci-Fi World sortie, to set-up everything for the beginning of the great finale of the story.
I hate my job and my current lifestyle, Time is slipping through my fingers and I can't stop it. I hate that I took so long to finish this chapter, I apologize, but I have not enough Time. It's never enough.
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/Nejire.
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.So, please, don’t worry if I take longer to update, I promise I will keep updating this story.
Chapter Text
Chapter 32: Calm before the storm.
Yavin Street - Green Cloud Restaurant -
Time passed after the mess with Gouki and Izuku’s unlocking of his special fire; the questions asked had been many and pretty uncomfortable, but Saito’s lawyer managed to pass everything as Izuku’s “Quirk” finally manifesting in a Life-or-Death situation.
His ability was thus hastily recorded as “Fire Eating” in what was a very believable lie thanks to his father’s own Fire-breathing Quirk, and that was the end of that part of the thing, or it was as long as Izuku pretended to not be able to spit fire by himself and just be able to use flames he previously inhaled; now he only needed to be present when Gouki and his granddaughter will face trial for their many crimes.
Nezu apparently got wind of it, and offered UA as sanctuary just in case Izuku and his family needed to hide from the many people keeping tabs on them.
“I won’t bother to ask you to join UA as a student, with two Restaurants already opened and successful, leaving everything just to study Hero Stuff Full-Time would be unwise, but I am sure that if you ask Nemuri and Hizashi will be more than happy to give you pointers as if you were a student. In exchange of food of course! Yahahahaha!” Those were Nezu’s parting words when Izuku asked why the Chimera offered him his help.
Sometimes Izuku wondered how far that small guy could reach with his fluffy paws...
All that though went soon filed in the back of young man’s mind; as things were now, he was happily working with the Star Eating Turtle Wok and finally using it to cook; he had opened the retracted pointy legs under the pan and breathed under it a small ball of Heaven-Earth Obsidian Flames the size of a golf-ball that immediately hovered under the wok by itself like a small sun of acid-green fire, at random times a tiny arch of golden lightning would circle it and a faint growling of a wild beast could be heard coming from the small fireball.
“As expected from a piece of Divine Equipment! Any other normal cooking utensil pales in comparison!” Izuku muttered with a wide smile.
The wok was reacting as intended with the fire, the lowest ring of animal carvings had started glowing in faint gold light as soon as the Obsidian Flames touched the pan’s base, signalling that its powers were now ready to be unleashed.
“I can literally feel the Ingredients cooking inside the wok as if they are an extension of myself!”
Hearing The Voice of the Ingredients was already a big help for Chefs in Zaus’ world to become the best, but now Izuku could fully connect to the food he was cooking on a spiritual level, further increasing his precision in preparing them immensely.
“The more animal carvings rings shine, the more power the Wok unleashes, Host Izuku. As for now the Wok’s powers are at a minimum, meaning that the Time Dilation inside the Wok is decreasing the time needed for the Ingredients to cook of only 5%. Be sure to train hard and master the Wok’s many powers to their full extent, keep working hard, young man!” The System said with a victory jingle.
Among its many amazing powers, the Wok could decrease the time needed for cooking, literally push out scum from the Ingredients to purify their taste, let izuku control the Ingredients temperature down to the infinitesimal degree and much, much more. The young Chef had fallen in love with the golden pan the instant he had started cooking with it.
“Herb risotto ready!” He had said with a happy scream while plating many portions of rice emanating a mesmerizing herbal scent almost ethereal in nature.
Herb Risotto.
“Okay!” Himiko answered, collecting the plates to deliver them.
“Troublemaker! Pay the bill before leaving!”
“Oh…” Both Chef and Waitress muttered with a tired sigh as a dine-and-dasher went stopped by Whitey before he could run out for the Restaurant without paying.
“Or else?” The serial dine-and-dasher asked with a threatening tone.
“Troublemaker will be stripped as an example to others!”
“… Ah… Those were not just rumours?” The guy asked while paling considerably.
“No.”
“But I forgot my wallet… So I thought I could just help myself to a free lunch and just… Leave?” The guy whimpered.
“If that was your plan, then you will be punished and the authorities will be alerted!” Whitey declared.
“NO! WAI-”
Strip! SLAP!
The guy went stripped naked and bitch-slapped outside the Restaurant in a high and elegant fly drawing an arch that ended with him landing face-down inside one of the big garbage bins at the opposite side of the road.
Sigh! “Whitey, collect his stuff, I’ll call somebody to have him detained and the bill forwarded to his address.” Izuku said, sighing and returning inside the kitchen.
“I’ll help him!” Himiko offered.
“Thank you.”
“… Okay! Bets are now officially open! How far did he fly? Remember, who comes the closest will have a dessert for free of your choice! Only one customer per table can participate!” Himiko declared once Izuku gave her a tired thumbs-up.
“Twenty-seven meters!”
“Twenty-six!”
“Twenty-five!”
“Thirty!”
“How can it be thirty?! You suck at gauging distance by eye!”
One after another, every customer present declared their bet, all for Himiko to note down.
“Okay! I wrote all of them down. Whitey?” She asked.
“The Troublemaker flew for approximately twenty-six meters and eighty-two centimetres and fifty millimetres. (26m 82cm 50mm)”
“Oh! New record! This means that Mister Nighteye won since he was the first to say it was twenty-seven, his number is the closest to the recorded distance!” Himiko declared, smirking.
“Oh, come on! I said twenty-six!” A guy still wearing a hard-hat said with a childish whine.
“And the distance was superior to that, closer to 27. Don’t blame me, take it to the robot!”
“Troublemaker?” Whitey asked, scratching his dome-like head and looking straight at him.
“Oh, Hell no! I am not making somebody else eat a free dessert at my expenses!” He answered, laughing amused.
“Gauging distance is a skill on itself. I’ll have a nice slice of lemon tiramisu, please.” Nighteye said, smiling a tiny smile and adjusting his glasses.
“Of course! And congratulations for winning the bet!” Himiko answered, bowing and leaving to collect a portion of the dessert he wanted.
Lemon Tiramisu
Troublemakers were indeed annoying, so sometimes Izuku used them as a game of sort for his customers, as a way to not let those hooligans ruin everybody’s day, he confided in Whitey to punish only the ones that tried to cause trouble just for the fun of it, instead of people actually in need, he had been clear to both Robot and System that he didn’t want to add more misery on top of whatever mess the less fortunate had already piled on them.
Things for him were going on nicely, a quiet life deprived of the many messes Momo, Ochako and the other Hero Students that instead seemed to face on an almost daily basis, to the point the young Chef actually asked them if they were already Pro Heroes considering all the fights against Villains they went through, and gaining very unamused looks from his girls.
He was ‘Punished’ harshly by the four of them for that joke that same night, but that is a steamy story of wild adult fun for another time, he was just glad Gourmet Cells helped him recover at an accelerated rate from soreness and the nail marks, bite marks and any hickey he gained that night, and any other night after that one...
But while for Izuku things were going damn well, for his business rivals and everybody else wishing him harm, things were instead a nightmare.
Sushi Restaurant “Great Sea Palace” (1 Michelin Star) -
“NO! NO! NO! Why can’t you match the taste!?” The owner screamed in mad rage and throwing an expensive-looking plate with a rim plated in real 18kt gold against the wall.
Crash! The porcelain shattered in a million pieces while the pieces of sushi remained stuck on the wall and slowly slipped down.
“It’s the best puffer fish money can buy! The breeder we asked for the fish only sells the best 100 exemplars of every egg cycle, and we got the very best one of those 100! I as well did my very best!” The Restaurant Chef, a woman that had been working there for years and was universally known as a ‘Sushi Genius’, answered, distraught.
“YOU TASTED IT! JUST LIKE I DID!” The Owner screamed, frothing at the mouth like a rabid animal.
“That brat’s Fugu tastes better like this! You can even feel the fucking waves of the ocean while eating his version! Firm and sweet and shining like a jewel! I chewed the goddamn thing for ten minutes straight and the taste was not going away! WHY CAN’T YOU DO IT?!”
“I TRIED!” The Chef answered, bitterness filling her veins at the memories of tasting Izuku’s Fugu made with Puffer Whale.
It was a taste so heavenly and delicious that it left her speechless and at the same time tore a hole in her spirit; while eating it made her heart soar in happiness, but now the memory of the taste also plagued her nightmares, because she could not replicate the skills of Izuku or the taste of the dish no matter what she tried or how hard she worked on her version.
“That Midoriya kid makes it! In a common-looking Restaurant in the Touristic part of town! Why you cant?!”
“I AM NOT MIDORIYA, OKAY?!” The woman replied, tears threatening to spill out of her eyes in waves.
“SIR! Terrible news!” One of the Restaurant’s waiters in casual clothing entered the expensive Restaurant in a hurry.
“What now?” The owner asked, annoyed.
“I just returned from Green Cloud… The kid improved again. By a lot, it’s like a whole other world.” The spy reported in disbelief.
Both owner and chef slowly fell on their knees and started weeping softly, with the rest of the Restaurant staff comforting them.
“That kid is a monster…” One of the waitresses muttered, shaking her head.
It was all o so dramatic...
Cola Factory – ‘Sunny Japan’ – CEO Office -
“So?” The CEO asked, apprehensive.
“It’s cola, every test we could run confirms it…” The head of the factory production Team answered, uncertain.
“But?”
“… That’s it. It’s cola, the sugar content is a bit different from the usual, and that much we can imitate… But carbonation, body, taste and after-taste seems like being what we cannot copy. If we try it the taste comes out different.” The guy wearing a lab coat answered, looking at his papers as if written in a Language he did not know.
“Different?”
“I sent one of my best Tasters to that accursed Restaurant, he swears he memorized the taste of that Mellow Cola Midoriya-san has, and he says that our copy still lacks something, but for the life of him, he can’t tell what that Something is. It’s like he is trying to describe something that can’t be described by words.”
“And the boy says he makes his own cola.” The CEO said.
“Yes, every ingredient is apparently hand-picked by him in person, supposedly all natural ingredients, nothing artificial.” The Researcher answered.
“Those shouldn’t be difficult to artificially recreate!”
“I know! We have been doing it for years! CARBONATED WATER, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CARAMEL COLOR, PHOSPHORIC ACID, NATURAL FLAVORS, CAFFEINE, that’s the usual trick! But nothing matches, so we also tried going the natural way too: we tested the quality of different lemons, limes and oranges from all over the world; tens of different methods of cinnamon preparation, bitter orange peel treated in many different ways, we even tried using coriander seeds and nutmeg! For the love of God, I even tried seeing if the type of water and sugar used were a factor!” The researched admitted, rubbing his eyes.
“Water and sugar?”
“From outside they are all the same, but speaking Chemically, there are some faint differences, nothing seems to match.”
“And the boy’s sponsor refuses to sell us that cola. No matter the cut of the resulting profits I offer, any mail I send to request us acting as intermediary to sell their Cola to the masses is answered by just a word: No.” The CEO said, groaning.
“They really want it to be found in those two Restaurants only. I wonder why.” The researcher wondered, curious.
“I have no idea… Try again to imitate that cola, try to get as close as possible…” The old man said with a tired sigh.
“I’ll try my best, sir.”
Wouldn’t it be amusing to tell them that the infamous Mellow Cola they could not replicate was literally the tears of a monstrous creature of another world?
- Fusion Cuisine Restaurant ‘Wanderer’ -
“… What do you mean with ‘I am going to Challenge him?” The old woman, the owner asked.
“I am tired of you and others putting me in comparison with that kid! Since I “apparently” can’t match his skills, I will challenge him and force him to come working here if I win! Like that we will finally get our hands on that brat’s Ingredients, especially that God-Forsaken oil of his! Because no oil I know of fries stuff like that! And I tried them all, goddamnit!”
“And his meat selection,” One of the Kitchen staff members added.
“And that! Because I don’t know what they feed their cows, but a beef steak is not supposed to taste like a fucking glorious orgasm!” The Chef shrieked in rage.
“I wonder how her husband feels at coming second after a steak in satisfying her,” One of the waiters muttered to her friend, smirking while guy snorted in amusement.
“Silence!”
“That boy has two cabinets full of knives he took from Chefs that Challenged him… He has forty knives he took as trophy from other Chefs in each cabinet…” The old woman said, slowly.
“No issue! You’ll see! I’ll force him to hand over everything, Ingredients and recipes!” The Chef answered, marching away to grab what she needed for the Challenge.
“… She is screwed.” The old woman muttered in dismay.
“Yeah.” Her assistant answered.
“How was the boy’s food? You went there yesterday to spy on him.”
“He got even better, something about a new wok he has recently started using.”
“Lovely.” She muttered, sighing.
With Lady Nagant – Green Gourmet Garden Restaurant-
The former assassin was at the moment taking Cooking Lessons from Mako and the other ‘Kings’, with the students taking turns in checking her progresses whenever one of them could briefly step away from their respective workstations.
“This is harder than I thought.” Kaina admitted with a small smile.
“Look at the bright side, the dishes you need to learn to make are way easier than ours!” Michiko said, chuckling.
“Oh, I am grateful for that! I have no idea how you others can make those sculptures inside a plate every time.”
“It becomes a habit after a while, your body knows the movements almost subconsciously, so it’s only a matter of not getting distracted and screw-up.” Toshio answered, giving the finishing touches to what looked like being a big cigar on a marble ashtray.
“The hell is that?” Kaina asked with her mouth dropping open in amazement.
“Boss Izuku’s new creation: a Cigar made with chocolate, the inside is filled by hazelnut-flavoured cream wrapped in a thin film of 75% dark chocolate, the ashes both on the ashtray and on the cigar are a sweet powder made mostly with white truffle. The ashtray itself is a small Amaretto sponge cake encased in a thin cover of sugar paste decorated to look like marble, it is served with a small glass of imported ‘Caracas Club Honey 40°’ honey rum next to the plate,” He answered.
“It looks like a real cigar and ashtray!” The woman said in disbelief.
“Oh! This one is nothing, I am still learning actually, you should see the one the Boss makes instead, that’s the real deal! Few customers actually tried smoking it for real the first time he served it!” Toshio answered, chuckling amused.
“I can’t make that!” Kaina said with a long whine.
“And you won’t need to! We will help Boss Icchan teach you how to work in an Izakaya Restaurant, it will be way easier recipes, promise!” Sadao promised, adjusting Nagant’s cutesy apron with ‘In training’ written on it.
“Promise?” She begged, actually looking scared.
She could come up with dozens of ways to kill somebody, but making a fucking edible ashtray like those kids were doing at the moment? That was far outside her area of expertise!
“We Promise, we promise.” Toshio answered, smiling.
“You just need to worry about making a proper Kara-Agé, Sashimi, Agedashi-tofu (Deep-fried tofu with soup), Yakisoba (fried noodles), Tako-wasabi (fresh, raw octopus with wasabi sauce), Dashimaki-Tamago (Japanese rolled omelette), Motsu-nikomi (stewed beef giblets) and any other dish people expect from an Izakaya Restaurant. AND prepare them with the masterful quality our Boss Izuku-san has become synonymous with! We won’t let you ruin his reputation by preparing sub-par food!” Mako added, nailing the Assassin with a cold, and yet almost fanatical, glare.
“Okay!” Kaina squeaked.
“Forgive Mako-chan, please. She really, really admires him.” Michiko whispered, sighing in dismay.
“You don’t say…” Kaina answered, sarcastic.
“Hello? How’s it going?” Goro the Lizardman asked while peeking inside the kitchen.
“Everything is right on schedule, Goro-san! We are completing the last dishes for the current orders!” Mako answered immediately.
“Very good! Our exuberant waiters as well reported 100% satisfaction from our Guests, keep this up and Master Izuku will probably trust you five with far more freedom in managing this Restaurant.” Goro answered, so pleased his tail faintly slapped the floor behind him.
“Thanks!” The Kings answered, all flashing a wide smile of pride and satisfaction.
“I still can’t believe you others got Gentle Criminal and La Brava as waiters here…” Nagant muttered in disbelief, shaking her head.
“Ah! That reminds me! Kaina? Can we talk a little?” Goro asked.
“Uh? Sure!” She answered, taking away the apron and following him outside.
“I have a favor to ask you… Something I wish Master to not know about.” Goro whispered.
“I am all ears.” The other answered.
“Over here…” Goro guided her to the offices in the back, inside Adelia’s own, to be precise.
“Ah, you took her here, good.” The Witch said, nodding, and drawing a triangle of light in the air with a finger, a purple aura covered the office walls.
“I guess that means we won’t be heard?” Kaina asked.
“Yes. Please sit.” Adelia answered, and nailing the woman with a cold stare as soon as she and Goro sat on the chairs in front of her desk.
“What is happening?” Kaina asked.
“A bit of a preface before that… You see, Young Izuku once upon a time wished to be a Pro Hero, just like All Might and many others.” Adelia explained.
“I saw him geek-out a lot whenever a Pro Hero comes visit, yes. Quite the adorable sight, and?” Nagant asked, chuckling at the cute memory.
“You must understand that that “Hero Mentality” never really went away for good when he switched goal to become a Chef, and normally this wouldn’t really be a problem.” Goro added himself to the talk while crossing his arms.
“… I don’t like where this is going.” Kaina admitted.
“And what we mean with normally, is that a normal Chef doesn’t have Villains and branches of the Japanese Government ogling his every move like a lovestruck stalker.” Adelia answered.
“The League of Villains and the Commission.” Kaina said, groaning.
“And few other smaller organizations, yes.” Goro added, a growl surging from the back of his throat.
“As you may imagine, Izuku doesn’t want to even just consider removing the problem at the roots… Me and Goro instead and more open to the idea.” Adelia said, tone frosty cold.
“We are very protective of Master, and as such, we don’t like the idea of some fool used to get whatever they want like a spoiled toddler coming to ruin our quiet life and endanger our best friend.” Goro said, tail lightly slapping down on the floor.
“I hope you are not asking me to be your personal assassin,” Kaina said with narrowed eyes.
“I assure you that me and Goro are more than able to ‘Remove’ obstacles by ourselves, without extra help.” Adelia answered, conjuring in her hand a small ball of purple fire Kaina could tell by eye was far too hot to be normal fire.
“What we ask is for you to share what you know of the various people we are certain wish to use our friend as a pawn for their little games,” Goro said.
“Only information?” She asked.
“Should things spiral out of control, we will take care of removing them, you can stay away from any battle if you want, but we would like to know more about our possible victims.”
“You mean enemies?” Kaina asked.
“Enemy implies they will have a chance to actually make damages,” Goro answered, his eyes and smile growing sharper, more animal than humanoid.
“… Fine, but I will also tell you about who is helping along because coerced or threatened, not everybody working for those monsters are doing it just because they enjoy it.” Kaina answered.
“Thank you, dear. That too will be of great help.” Adelia answered, grateful.
“But if Izuku asks, I told you nothing.”
“Our lips will be sealed, Kaina. Promise.” Goro answered.
“Good. Grab pen and paper, there is a lot to learn about the League and the Commission alone, then we will go through the other names you may have.” Nagant declared, sighing.
Meanwhile – Hero Public Safety Commission HQ – Director’s Office -
The woman at the head of the Commission was at the moment frowning while looking at the giant screen of her computer, tapping rapidly and keeping open dozens of tabs she randomly use for cross-references, often checking all of them at the same time.
Hawks and another Pro Hero under the direct orders of the Commissions were standing in front of the desk forbidden from using the two comfy chairs right in front of them, and both Heroes could not help wondering for how long the very awkward silence in the room will continue.
“I seem to remember giving the order of retrieving that accursed dog again after the last miserable failure.” Finally, the Director talked, and yet her eyes never left her computer’s screen.
“You did, Miss Director. But the guy you sent is currently in the Hospital-”
“I am aware of what happened to that cretin, Hawks.” The Director interrupted him.
“What I want to know is why after he failed we didn’t send another agent.” She then said.
“We actually tried, many times.” The other Hero answered.
“Hn. Then why I don’t have an update on the dog breeding for us an army of Guard dogs with similar strength?” The Director asked with a frown, and finally glaring at the two.
“As soon as they wake-up from their coma we will get more details, I guarantee it, Miss Director.” Hawks answered.
“Again?! Then why we can’t demand the boy to get arrested! WHY!” The Director demanded, slamming her hand on the desk.
“Because the Restaurant has security Cameras outside that clearly recorded our team trying to break into the Restaurant, we were told that if we try anything, the video and every other proof will be shown to everybody.” Hawks answered, by now unfazed by the woman’s bad temper.
“Why was I not informed of all this!” She demanded.
“I sent you a mail with all this…” Hawks answered with an unsure tone.
“Don’t lie!”
“It’s true!” Hawks answered with a whine.
“Have you checked your Spam Mail tab?” The other Hero asked, rolling his eyes.
“Show me respect, H3271!” She yelled.
“You call us by the serial number we were labelled with when the Commission ‘Made us’ as if we were objects instead of humans, and yet you demand respect...Typical.” Hawks thought, sighing.
“They were sent to kidnap a kid, an innocent girl that is barely nine years old to use her as leverage!” The other Hero said.
“So what? Babies are born every damn day, it’s not like they are hard to come by! It’s that boy’s fault if we are forced to go the hard way instead of the easy way. He just needed to obey us and do as he was told.” The Director smirked.
“...”
“He didn’t follow instructions and refused to hand himself and everything else over, so now it’s our right as the Japanese Government to take it. I am the Director, and if I say that something belongs to us, then they belong to us! And I want that-”
BANG!
Under Hawks’ shocked eyes the other Hero’s big punch slammed with inhuman strength and ferocity on the Director’s face to interrupt her deranged rant, destroying her nose and teeth in a big splash of blood and sending her expensive glasses flying across the room while she went propelled backwards and rolling on the floor until she slammed against the opposite wall.
“…”
The awkward silence returned inside the office as Hawks and the now-panting Hero watched the unconscious Director lie on the floor unmoving and with blood slowly drenching her face while one of her eyes was already swelling closed.
“Finally she shut-up! God, I dreamed of doing this for so many years!” The guy said with a wide smile.
“You do know your life is over now, yes?” Hawks asked, worried, and stepping over the woman’s glasses “by mistake”.
“Oh! My life has been over for a while! I am just finally going through my bucket list!”
“Eh?”
“Final stage, Hawks. I have probably less than one year left to live.” He said with a sad smile.
“But…”
“And she would have known that had she cared, had she stopped for just a second to consider what the world around her wants or needs. She never does, none of the people here care, Hawks. We are the results of their little project of Heroes answering only to them like obedient attack dogs, all for some absurd dream of taking over Japan as the leading Leaders… You do realize they are supposed to be the Good Guys and not the Villains, yes? That they are not supposed to plan a coup like in some cheap action movie? But here we are, kidnapped as kids to become their little toy soldiers to send to the grinder! But we are humans, Hawks! We are alive! We are not assets!”
“Too bad the guys that own us are a branch of our Government.” Hawks answered, sighing.
“There has to be a way.”
“Murder?” He joked.
“I am serious, Hawks… I don’t know you, but we others are all looking for a way to leave all this behind and just be normal Heroes, with normal lives as free people.”
“I spoke with Endeavor, recently. He says that his door is always open at the Agency… But honestly, I can’t add my problems to his own, that’s already a big pile of trouble by itself.”
“I will just enjoy the few months I have left avoiding this spoiled brat, being on the run will at least give me a chance to see the world, finally, since I never left Japan… But you, Hawks, do try to break free. I said the same things to the others: we all deserve freedom, try to get free of this madhouse.”
“You make it sound easy. They control my bank accounts and everything else I own… I will be basically penniless and homeless if I leave them.” Hawks answered, sighing.
“It’s exactly because it is not easy that you need to try. Do whatever it takes, but break free!” The other Hero begged.
“I’ll try. Promise.”
“Good, the others promised to do the same, and if you all work together, maybe what happened to us won’t happen again.”
“I hope so. You better go, the more distance you put between here and you, the harder it will be for them to catch you. Have you already removed the tracker?” Hawks said.
“Yes, back-alley doctors are expensive as hell, but the guy is an old friend so he made me a discount. I will throw it in the garbage bin right out of here. Good luck, Hawks.” The man said.
“Good luck, my friend. Be free.” Hawks answered, watching the man walk away rapid steps.
“…” The lone Pro Hero once alone looked at the still unconscious Director with uncaring eyes.
“If only I could snap your neck, I would do it. Too bad it would serve no purpose. Yet.” He said to himself, he just gave a long sigh and prepared himself to play the part of the obedient puppy and help his ‘beloved’ Director in her time of need after this outrageous attack…
“Why Villains never slit the throat of these people instead of innocent civilians?”
Bing!
It was that his phone pinged from an incoming email, and the longer he read that mail, the more his eyes grew wide and his eyebrows rose, to the point even his wings popped-out rigid, all thanks to his surprise.
“… Talk about timing…” He muttered in surprise and with a very dry chuckle.
Around the same time – Secret Lab -
All for One was normally a patient man, although also the living definition of Megalomania and God-complex, reason why he wanted everything to be perfect for his grand return, in his mind he was literally a Demon Lord about to resurrect to terrorize the world and kill the Heroes; all was just a way for his deranged power Fantasy to come to fruition, and maybe a sign that Shigaraki was not the only ‘Demented Manchild’ treating the world as a game.
“Gigantomachia is getting restless lately, Sensei.” Daruma informed him after the daily check-ups to assure AfO’s body was still holding-up until he could go on with his precious ‘Procedure’.
“He wants some action. Huhuhuhu! Poor thing, I almost understand him, all this waiting can get on your nerves.” All for One admitted with a cold chuckle.
“Should we let him run rampant a little?” Daruma asked.
“Maybe, but not yet. I want everything to be perfect, the setting of the stage for my return has to be made properly! If All Might really is back to full health, I too must be presentable for our last showdown! The world has to tremble in fear as soon as I arrive and even more after I show them the severed head of their precious ‘Heroes’!” The Villain answered.
“We can use Machia’s rampage as the starting point, and steadily ramp-up our attacks until the climax that will be your glorious return, Sensei.” Daruma offered, smiling wide and cruelly.
“Huhuhu! I like the sound of that. An escalation of chaos that warms the audience before the Main Villain arrives! Yes! Let the masses tremble in fear and their so-called Heroes show their incompetence before killing them, I want a clear stage for my return, free of any background, secondary characters! Hahahahaha!” All for One answered, laughing cruelly.
“Everything will be ready, don’t worry, sensei.” Daruma promised, he too excited at the idea, apparently.
Later that day - With Izuku – Yaoyorozu House – Kitchen -
Izuku was looking in pride as Rei removed from the oven a perfectly made roast-beef, not a burn in sight and the right scent filling the air as soon as she pulled it out.
“Simply perfect, Rei! You did it all by yourself, and you made absolutely no mistakes!” He said with an amazed tone.
“Miss Yaoyorozu! I am so happy!” The Family Chef at the same time was crying fat tears of happiness, with his hiccups wrecking his body heavily.
“I can’t believe it! I did it!” Rei said, smiling blindly.
“I had no doubts about it, you worked too hard all this time to not get better!” Izuku answered.
“… So… The cut test?” Rei asked, turning
“The final test, come on. It’s your right as the Chef that made it.” Izuku answered, handing her knife.
“…”
“I trust you, Rei. Trust yourself.” He said once seen eye the knife in fear.
“Here it goes…” She said, getting the knife and slowly cutting through the meat with trembling hands.
The knife easily cut through the tender cooked meat, and as soon as the outer slice delicately fell on the plate, juicy rosy meat was uncovered, tender and still faintly dripping juices that shone brightly in the kitchen light. It was perfect.
“… I DID IIIIIIIIIT!” Rei yelled in happiness, almost crying actually.
“Waaaaaah!” The Family Chef did cry instead, mostly in relief at seeing that maybe Rei will stop destroying the kitchen every time she tried cooking.
“Color is good, so is scent and consistency, what about the taste?” Izuku, smiling widely, said.
“Here!” Rei answered, cutting more to have a test taste for her, izuku and her personal Chef.
“…” The woman slowly brought a morsel to her mouth and carefully chewed, memories of her many failures before she started taking lessons made her cautious of possible new poisoning accidents.
“Woo! Very nice! Salt was used well, pepper too! Very good heat control too, you did it damn well! So? How does it taste to you?” Izuku asked.
“Tastes like victory!” Rei answered, crying comically-large tears of happiness.
“Smile!” The family Chef said, taking a picture of Rei holding the plate of food she made, she was smiling and ‘Cooking Lessons: Graduated!’ was written above her.
The picture was sent to Momo and Saito then, and unknown to them, both Momo and Saito started crying in happiness at the good news, especially Rei’s husband since his stomach will finally start healing from years of unintentional abuse.
“With this, you are officially ready to cook by yourself whenever you want! I can say that when it comes to simple recipes, I got nothing else top teach you,” Izuku said.
“I will keep taking care of cooking, but at least now you will be able to cook without accidents, Miss Rei.” The Family Chef added.
“Thank you, Icchan!” Rei answered, hugging him tightly.
“So does this mean you will stop visiting?” She asked then, sad.
“I can visit whenever you want, Rei! You can come visit me as well!” Izuku answered, hugging her tightly.
“And cook together?”
“We can do that too, of course!”
“Good!”
The three of them chatted a bit more, until it was time for Izuku to leave and returning to his beloved Green Cloud Restaurant, walking through the street at a leisure pace to enjoy the peaceful evening.
“Host?” The System alerted him.
“Uh?”
“Now it would be a good moment to visit the location of your future Izakaya Restaurant.”
“Oh! You found a good one? Nice! Where?” Izuku asked with an excited smile.
“Please follow the arrows.” The Entity answered, making bright green arrows start floating in the air pointing towards the location, luckily only Izuku could see them, otherwise there would be far too many questions asked.
Streets -
Following the bright arrows, Izuku and Whitey made their way through the streets towards the area of the city where most of the offices were located, and the few small Restaurants and bars he passed-by did not miss his presence.
“Is that… That kid that challenged all those Chefs? Why is he here?” The owner of an Irish-themed Pub, leaning on the stereotypical, wondered aloud in dread.
“Why is he looking at that empty store? HE DOESN’T WANT TO OPEN ANOTHER RESTAURANT HERE, RIGHT?!” The owner of a small Restaurant shrieked in horror.
“WAAAAAAAAAAH! IT’S HIIIIIM!” A chef of another store, one that in the past had lost a knife to Izuku, started crying and sobbing as soon as he saw the young man, forcing his boss to hurry comfort the PTSD-suffering guy.
Whoever was even just remotely connected to the world of cooking was now following Izuku’s every move in dread, horrified at the idea of a third Restaurant of his appearing close to them; honestly, from outside, they were treating Izuku as if he was the All for One of the cooking business.
With Izuku -
The young Chef was studying the empty store from outside, trying to see through the dusty windows to gauge how things were inside.
“… Ehm… Mister Midoriya?” A young woman in a business suit said, nearing him with cautios steps.
“Yes? That’s me, how can I help you?” He answered.
“Mikoto Urashima from Sakamoto Real Estate. We have been called about you being interested in buying this store?” The woman asked, offering him her business card with a formal bow.
“Yes, nice to meet you, Miss Mikoto. I guess my Sponsor called you. Can we go in?” Izuku answered, accepting the card and shaking the woman’s hand.
“Of course! Please let me unlock the door.” The woman answered, and promptly opening the door for him.
As soon as they both entered, the rumor of yet another Restaurant of Izuku probably opening soon spread like wildfire in a giant area around the future Izakaya, making many store owners howl in despair.
“YOU ALREADY HAVE TWO RESTAURANTS! WHY IS IT NOT ENOUGH?! MONSTER!” many screamed while crying.
Later that night – UA – Toshinori’s office -
Toshinori was looking at a thick folder with narrowed eyes, humming grimly at random intervals while checking and re-checking random pages, as if hoping to see the reports in there be different than what he had already seen.
“So a giant Villain is going on a merry rampage near the mountains,” Toshinori muttered.
“And coming far too close to the small villages near there. There is also the sightseeing of several secondary members of the League of Villains in the city mulling about,” Sir Nighteye answered, checking his own notes.
“After a long period of silence, with just minor attacks.” Toshinori added.
“Minor attacks against the Wild, Wild Pussycats and two classes of students.” The other corrected him.
“And the mess with Stein.”
“Are you sure it was all to entice him?” Nighteye asked.
“He left me a note pinned to my car, assuring me he didn’t feel the need to join the League of Villains since I did not retire.” Toshinori answered, shrugging.
“Of course, why wouldn’t he notify you of that.” Nighteye answered, rubbing his temples tiredly.
“I would arrest him if he wasn’t that good at slithering away.”
“I know… I know…”
“Do you think All for One is planning something?” Toshinori asked.
“When does he not? Ever since you forced him into retirement he had been very likely been planning his return. Remember the Kamino Raid recently?” Nighteye asked, grimly.
“Oh, I do…” Toshinori replied, grimacing.
They thought they had the location, or at least one of the locations, the League used to plan their attack, so All Might, Mirio, Nighteye and few other Pro Heroes had decided to pay a friendly visit in the hopes of seein if the Villains there were kind enough to book a meeting between Toshinori’s punch and All for One’s face once again, for old time’s sake…
They only found a smirking Kurogiri, going by the voice at least, sitting on top of a ludicrous quantity of explosives with their timer already counting down the last seconds, just enough time for the Nomu to mock them with a ‘Sorry, gentlemen, your All for One is in another Castle’ and then disappear inside a portal before the bar and everything around it in a thirty meter radius went engulfed by the explosion.
They all were alive only thanks to Mt. Lady growing huge and shielding them with her body, they survived, but Yu needed almost two months to recover from her wounds.
“They were waiting for us.” Nighteye said, frowning.
“Confirming our suspects about one or more spies having tattled us out. Or at least that one of your informants sold the information to them.” Toshinori answered.
“Still trying to find out who it was.”
“I trust you, I don’t believe they can avoid you forever.”
“Mirio is itching to join us in the next raid.”
“Should he join?” Toshinori asked.
“I am still worried of how wildly One for All and Permeation react to each other, but I know I can’t hold him back forever… I need to trust him and believe in his power and skills.” Nighteye answered, sighing.
“… You think he was telling the truth? That he saw Nana?” Toshinori asked with a longing tone.
“Either truth or just a dream, he said he met her but could not hear her voice. But he is sure she was very alarmed, scared even.”
“A bad omen.” All Might muttered, unsure.
“And considered All for One was the one that killed her, maybe it’s a bad omen about his return?” Nighteye answered.
“A warning from beyond the grave… God, I hope not.” He answered.
“Me too. But I am afraid we will need to be ready for things to go bad very fast.”
“Right, we can’t-”
Driiiiiiiiin!
Nighteye’s phone’s ringing interrupted them.
“It’s Centipeder. Yes?” He said, picking-up the call.
“… Right away!” The man said immediately after just a short silence.
“Uh?”
“Gigantomachia is moving towards Hosu, tearing everything apart on the way! He doesn’t look like about to stop anytime soon”
“What?! Let’s go!” Toshinori was already to the door while saying that.
“Yes, Mirio as well has been alerted together with Hado and Tamaki. We will also meet Yu and Nemuri once there.” Nighteye answered, following him.
“Midnight too? Why?”
“Nemuri’s grandmother lives in Hosu, and Nemuri’s mother is currently there to visit. Not even you could stop her from going there to protect her family.”
“Maybe her Quirk can help too, let’s go!” All Might rushed out at high speed, soon followed by Mirio and the other two “Top 3 Students” flying behind them thanks to their own Quirks.
“Mister All Might!” Mirio said.
“Be careful, students! Gigantomachia is a walking natural disaster, you must stay on guard at all times!” Toshinori warned them.
“Yessir!” The students answered.
“Our first priority is stopping Gigantomachia from even just enter Hosu, the damages will be incalculable if we let him reach the place! Fight smart, fight carefully and use his giant bulk against him!” Nighteye instructed them hurriedly.
“Yessir!”
“We’ll tell you more along the way! Now hurry!” Toshinori added.
At the same time – Green Cloud Restaurant -
Izuku and Momo were standing alone in the middle of his kitchen and waiting for The System to initiate the teleportation that will bring them into another world for Izuku’s sortie.
“Did Nejire say what the emergency was about?” Izuku asked, worried.
“She said she wasn’t supposed to say, for security reasons, she could only admit it was something big and that it will happen in Hosu.” momo answered, sighing.
“She will be fine… She will be fine…” Izuku answered, trying to reassure both her and himself.
“Yes, yes she will be. She is strong and capable, and thanks to you she even knows Enbu, she will pull through and get back to us.” Momo answered, looking just as apprehensive as him.
“We will be away for seven days in that world, and only seven hours will pass here, by the time we will be back things will hopefully be resolved.”
“God, I hope so.”
“You can stay here if you don’t feel like it.”
“… No, I trust Nejire to be able to be by herself for a couple hours, but I won’t leave you alone in another Dimension for a week!” Momo answered, unsure.
“Thank you, Momo.” He answered, kissing her.
“Everything is ready. Teleportation Array scribing!” The System declared as a circle of mysterious rune-like letters appeared around them and Whitey.
“Blackie, Adelia, Goro, Zephyr… I leave everything to you. Keep my mother, Momo’s parents and Eri safe if anything happens, okay?” Izuku asked.
“Of course!” The other Staff Members of Green Cloud answered in chorus, with Zephyr giving a long, determined yowl.
“Thank you!” Both teens answered, grateful, before disappearing in a blinding giant flash of light.
Other Dimension – Space Station -
When the light faded-away, Izuku and Momo found themselves inside a massive hangar, so big they could barely comprehend how something man-made could be of such immense size, everywhere giant spaceships far more advanced of even the wildest sci-fi movie of their home dimension silently and elegantly hovered in place, connected to the Space Station in precise rows thanks to long transparent corridors.
Everywhere humans and colorful aliens walked back and forth in an endless buzz of activity, boarding or leaving the ships that arrived and left non-stop to visit the space station or leaving for missions, trades and who knew what else.
“Sorry! Coming through!” A tall robot walked past Izuku and Momo in a brisk pace while checking the holographic projection of a watch.
“Robot and Aliens?” Momo said in awe.
“Okay, this is different!” Izuku answered, just as amazed.
“Attention Please! All ships coming from the Gurone Sector, please pass through Gate 6 for Identification and to receive your mandatory permit! @@@, [@#! #@#[#@ Gurone Sector, @#R3u$%£bj!…” A metallic voice repeated the same message in hundreds of different languages from the speakers of the docks.
“Amazing! I am seeing aliens! I am the first human to actually see space and aliens!” Momo said with shining aliens, a cute sight that made izuku chuckle and his heart swell in love for her.
“So it seems! Maybe this Sortie won’t be so bad!” The young Chef answered, pleased to see that maybe he will have a normal Sortie for once.
“There it is! It’s starting! It’s Starting!” A bunch of kids, Humans and Alien, screamed while hurrying past the two towards one of the giant ships.
“Uh?” Both muttered, unsure.
The spaceport vibrated with the palpable energy of anticipation of the kids and many adults present as the colossal starship, boldly showing its name "Stellar Colossus," prepared to leave its mooring.
“All systems online!” One of the people at the helòm of the starship declared eagerly as the many screens in front of her lighted-up in positive feedbacks and complex graphs giving her live feedback of the ship’s systems status.
The starship, a titanic construction of steel and glass, stood as a monument to the power and grandeur of human engineering. The crew, comprised of hundreds of specialized individuals, moved with millimeter precision along the perfectly illuminated corridors of the starship.
“Attention to all post, once again I want and expect from you all only the very best!” The Starship’s captain was a gruff-looking man in his fifties with well-kept beard and a long scar running down from his forehead down to his neck and above his left eye, a testament of what a moment of distraction could mean when in their line of duty, where a single second can make the difference between Life and Death! Everything about him gave off an imposing aura of a Veteran of thousand of battles!
“YESSIR!” Each member wore impeccable uniforms and exuded an aura of absolute determination and discipline, they all answered as one to the words of their beloved Captain that they have served under for years.
“Wow!” Momo said in child-like wonder at seeing the giant ship slowly come to life, like an almighty beast slowly awakening from its slumber.
“… Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” Izuku instead could not shake off the feeling of something being wrong in the scene.
“Reactor is turning! Energy levels rising at optimal rate!” A man said, his eyes non blinking while checking his monitors.
“Releasing locks! Anti-gravity cushions activated! Initiating Engine warm-up!” The Crew’ Robot listed while its six arms moved with impossible precision to cover the work of three persons at the same time.
“It’s time, Fellas! Let everybody know we are here for them! Let’s bring them hope and safety!” Under the captain's iron guidance, commands were issued with surgical precision, and every action was executed with utmost accuracy.
There was no room for error on his ship; every member of the crew knew that the fate of thousands of lives rested on their skills and dedication!
FWOOOOOM! Finally, the long-awaited moment arrived, with a powerful roar, the starship's gigantic engines ignited, unleashing iridescent blue flames that danced with unparalleled beauty and grandeur.
“Oh my God! This is so cool!” Momo yelled in stricken awe when she saw the flames of the ships’ engines that seemed to burn with the intensity of a thousand stars, illuminating the darkness of the surrounding space with dazzling light.
The starship slowly detached from the port, rising with grace and unstoppable elegance, the vibrations of the engines reverberated through the starship's hull as it soared ever higher into the starry sky.
Finally, with one last burst of power the ship moved… And a cheerful jingle started playing while thousands of pictures of ice-creams of every size, for humans and for aliens, covered the ship’s entire hull.
“Ice-Cream! Sweet Rolls! Salted Grurugant! Iced Flurgelliusts! Come and get some, kids! Captain Sweets is here!” And the gruff captain donned a white cap and started selling Ice-creams with a high-pitched voice unbefitting his look.
The ship then immediately turned off the engines and slowly started floating towards the walls in a way that aligned the window from where the clerk usually sold ice-creams to the railings where the kids stood in wait like a famished horde of locusts.
“Ice-cream! Ice-cream!” The kids chanted in various Languages while amassing close to the railings while waving the coins and colorful bills their parents gave them to buy themselves the sweets and Ice-cream they wanted, all under the amused looks of the adults around them chuckling amused and remembering fondly when they were the same age and anxiously waiting for the Ice-Cream ship to start selling.
“…” Momo’s happy expression died a gory messy death as the image of sci-fi awesomeness she was expecting went gutted brutally right in front of her eyes just for some cheap ice-creams.
“Izuku… What is happening? All that… For an Ice-cream truck?” Momo asked, confused and unnerved.
“Uuugh! Here we go. This is going to be one of those sorties…” Izuku answered, massaging his temples to stave-off the first of a long series of headaches.
“Shiro simply purred and rubbed his cheek on Izuku’s while Whitey silently rubbed his back with a big hand, both offered their silent prayers and reminded Izuku they were there to help him through this new annoying ordeal.
Opposite side of the Galaxy – super secret facility hidden inside a giant asteroid -
Meanwhile this was happening, at the opposite side of the Galaxy, an evil scientist was cursing his luck at seeing one of his many secret labs being under attack by Bounty Hunters.
“Send my space grunts to my space lab on the Xuru Asteroid Belt! I want them to bring me back the AI Core of my Bio-Obliterating-Ballista orbital death station! I won’t be denied my conquest of the Galaxy just because some Space Fool wanted some easy Space Dollars!” The towering purple alien ordered.
“Yes, Doctor Grogor!” The Space grunts answered as one, hurrying towards the secret base’s space port to jump on their space ships and preparing to use the “space catapult” to initiate instant FTL Travel.
Yet another plan of Evil was forming, and once again, Izuku found himself in the smack dab middle of it, all while just trying to manage his Restaurant and hunt for Ingredients to increase his Menu selection and make his dishes even better.
He just wanted to have a quiet Chef life, was it too much to ask?
Omake -
Extra Dimensional Ingredient Hunt:
The Crepes that destroyed a Boss.
Hokkaido – Kitahiroshima City - Shopping Mall -
A group of teens on a small summer trip, that soon turned into another quest to save the world, had taken a short stop in Hokkaido to hunt down another Target of theirs.
“Aah, Hokkaido! Such a magnificent place!” Yusuke declared with a pleased smile.
“We need to try some local delicacies too! I always wanted to try some real Letao Double Fromage!” Ann declared, her eyes scanning everywhere for sweet goodness.
“Hum, I could go for some cheesecake myself, to be honest.” Makoto admitted, smiling.
“Focus! We must find the Monarch of the new Jail I sensed!” of all members of the small group, it was the cat sitting inside the bag of their ‘Leader’ to bring back everything on track.
“Morgana is right, the fact that a new Jail popped-up out of nowhere so suddenly after we fixed my daughter’s is far too suspect.” Zenkichi added.
“Smells fishy,” Ren admitted, nodding.
“You mean sweet, dude! This scent is driving me nuts!” Ryuji answered, smirking and sniffing the air hard.
“Indeed! I never felt a scent as good as this!” Haru admitted, impressed.
“Can we get some of that? Pleeeeeeeease!” Ann and Futaba begged.
“Aaw! I wish I could smell that too! You make it sound delicious!” Sophie said from Ren’s phone.
“Fine, but just a bite, we are on a mission and we can’t waste time!” Zenkichi, as the only actual Adult in the group, conceded with a sigh.
Following Ann’s nose, usually putting a bloodhound’s to shame whenever it was about sweets, the small group of friends made their way through the giant mall towards the source of the amazing scent… And the closer they got, the stranger things became.
“Hey… Is it me or everybody is starting to get… Fat?” Ryuji asked.
“Oh, dear! Bodyshaming is very unwelcomed!” Yusuke commented, then a shadow was cast on him.
“Cake… I want more…” The pretty-much-spherical woman droned like a zombie while walking forward, almost pushing the young man to the ground in her mindless haste for cake.
“… Her body-mass ratio is completely unacceptable! Even the great Fernando Botero found beauty in the curves of a plus size version of humanity, but even he then advocated about health, that woman looks like about to pop like a balloon!” Yusuke commented horrified.
“If not her, her heart will soon give-in if she is not careful.” Makoto added, watching more and more obese people walking with almost empty eyes in the same direction.
“I believe we found our Jail Monarch. They act like every other victim of one, meaning that whoever is making the sweets they want must be our Target.” Morgana said with narrowed eyes.
“So somebody is stealing their desires and enslaving them through food? Why?” Zenkichi asked, confused.
“A wronged Chef? Somebody that didn’t get recognition they think they deserve?” Ann asked, confused.
“… Or maybe a former dietitian that has decided to take revenge on the world that wronged her?” A new voice said.
“Sumire!” The others yelled with wide eyes.
“Oh! This must be the girl you were talking about. Nice to meet you, miss!” Zenkichi offered with a friendly smile.
“Nice to meet you, sir!” Sumire answered with a formal bow.
“Sumire! What are you doing here?!” Ann asked, hurrying to hug their friend as hard as she could.
“My stage oversea had been interrupted for a bit. Few people involved were caught pocketing funds, so until further notice, or at least a new stage is prepared, I got nothing to do so I decided to get back home, Hokkaido was supposed to be one of our stops before I returned home. The others though are acting strange, as soon as they tasted some local cake they went insane for the stuff and demanded to stop here forever to eat it everyday… I was trying to investigate like we used to do when… well…” Sumire started explaining, then she saw Zenkichi and her words slowed down to a crawl.
“I am a PT too, don’t worry. Codename Wolf.” Zenkichi assured her with a wink.
“Oh! Thank goodness!” She exhaled in relief.
“I am happy to see you again,” Ren said, moving closer to her.
“Me too, Senpai…” Sumire said, shyly hugging him.
“If it was any other moment, I would have left you catch-up for the time you were apart, but being lovebirds will have to wait until we have dealt with the Jail.” Morgana said.
“Right! I… Jail? Not Palaces?” Sumire asked, confused.
“We’ll explain on the way, but what is this thing about a Dietician?” Haru asked.
“I saw who has opened the bakery the cakes come from, and recognized her. She used to be a famous Dietician, then an up and coming Idol accused her to force her to take pills to not eat and follow her diet. The scandal had been immediate and it simply destroyed her carreer.” Sumire explained.
“And it was not the truth?” Makoto asked.
“I used to be one of the people she followed when I started my gymnastic training. She hated the idea of using medicines as a short-cut to lose weight, she believed that discipline and good diet were more than enough! She used to believe in helping others staying in shape and healthy! I am sure that Idol was abusing drugs on her own, and when they discovered her secret stash of illegal drugs she blamed Miss Haguromo to protect herself from the scandal!” Sumire answered, shaking her head wildly.
“Then I guess the Jail twisted both her desire of revenge into making everybody around her become fat.” Ann guessed.
“’If they don’t want my help to stay healthy, they can become the pigs they wish to be!’ Stuff like that?” Ryuji said, distorting his voice in a stereotypical Bad Guy Voice.
“Considering what we saw in the other Jails, it wouldn’t surprise me if you nailed it 100%, Ryuji.” Futaba answered.
“Then we will stop her! She is literally killing these people a cake at a time!” Zenkichi declared.
“Do you want to join us again, Sumire?” Ren asked.
“Of course.” She answered, kissing his cheek and smiling.
“Goddamn kouhai trope…” Ann muttered, bitterly.
“She got to him first, but it’s okay! You’ll ahev your chance.” Haru answered, rubbing her friend’s back.
A Short walk later – bakery -
Following Sumire’s directions, the group arrived a rather fancy but small bakery where a woman with curly black hair was selling the local famous Double Fromage cakes to a giant crowd of overweight people clamouring in front of the entrance in very desperate need for the small desserts.
“There she is… They always look so normal from outside, it never ceases to creep me out to see how twisted they are on the inside, as Monarchs.” Haru admitted.
“Ineed the manifestation of our darkest desires and wishes are as ugly as one may expect from the most sordid recesses of our souls.” Yusuke added, frowning a bit.
“Yo, that’s the QR Code for the EMMA App, want to scan it so we can have a first tour of her jail?” Ryuji said, jamming his thumb towards a giant sign.
“Add my bakery to your EMMA Friend List to always be updated on when to find my new creations first!… I guess adding about turning into brain-dead zombies was not a good publicity, so she didn’t add it.” Ann commented in distaste after reading the text under the big QR code.
“I guess so.” Ren added, just as annoyed as she was.
“Is that a robot!?” Futaba in the meantime was gushing about something else.
“Uh?” The others turned around to see a young man with green eyes and green hair studying a small plate with a Double Fromage cake on it with analytical eyes inhumanly focused on every detail.
Next to him a tall girl with azure hair was watching him amused, and behind them both a very tall and chubby robot was silently standing in silence, looking around aimlessly with big round white eyes.
“I wouldn’t eat that if I were you.” Ren said.
“Yes. The cooking time is wrong, she used too much sugar in the cheese cream, the cover is too dry and it’s clear the oven was too hot when she prepared the sponge-cake base. There is no way people would be so obsessed with this version of this dessert if any store outside of this mall sell way better ones.” Izuku answered.
“… Holy crap, dude, did you give it an X-Ray?” Ryuji asked, shocked.
“Hn? Ah, sorry. I am a travelling Chef and came here to see if anybody could make a good enough version of the Double Fromage for me to improve upon. I tatsed many version to see what to work with, this was my last stop considering how insanely famous he was supposed to be…” He answered, chuckling.
“But indeed the final product didn’t match the expectations the fame promised. I understand your plight, many times I too saw Artist celebrated while offering mediocre pieces of art.” Yusuke answered, sighing.
“I wouldn’t go that far, Icchan did say the cake had some good sides as well, it’s just that the bad outweighs the good!” Nejire answered, chuckling.
“You tried it too?” Ann asked.
“… Meh! Didn’t really like it, but I am spoiled, I am too used to eat what Izuku makes, so my standards are a bit slanted.” She answered, making Izuku blush.
“Hahahaha! That must be the sweet taste of Love. Adorable.” Makoto answered, chuckling amused, and worsening Izuku’s blush.
“I am sorry you got hyped for nothing, but if I can give you a suggestion, do not finish that dessert and refrain from eating more. We have reasons to believe they have been tampered with.” Zenkichi said.
“Drugs?” Izuku asked.
“We’ll see, please be discreet and try to talk any new customer into not eating, I will ask around some questions.” He answered, flashing to both Izuku and Nejire is ID as a Police Officer.
“Sure, sir. No problem.” Nejire answered.
“…” Izuku and Nejire watched in silence Ren scan the QR and give a nod to his friends and then walk away.
“… Very suspicious.” Nejire finally commented with narrowed eyes.
“A brain-washing Dessert, haven’t seen one like this in a while.” Izuku admitted with a growl.
“Bad memories of Joah?”
“Yes. Will you hate me if I crash a Restaurant? I feel like being a Vigilante and bring some food justice.”
“We are in another Dimension, so way outside my jurisdiction, so I can’t stop you.” She answered.
“Sooo…”
“Let’s close this bakery of nightmares for good, Icchan!” Nejire answered.
Inside the Metaverse – Haguromo’s Jail -
The cognitive world of the disgraced Dietician was a nightmare land of giant desserts, biscuits and cakes; each dessert enormous in size and piled on top of each other to form skyscrapers of a dystopic city of endless Gluttony.
“Those are supposed to be cute cupcakes!” Ann said in horror.
“And they would be if not for the fact that all is in dark colors like usual.” Makoto answered.
“I am getting sick of smelling sweet stuff,” Ryuji admitted with a scrunched nose.
“Ugh! I don’t thing air is supposed to be so saturated in sugar!” Zenkichi added, gagging a bit.
“Eew! Let’s hurry before just standing here gives us diabetes.” Sumire begged.
“I suggest to check that giant marzipan castle!” Sophie suggested, finally appearing next to her friends in a physical manner after they joined her inside the Metaverse.
“As always we’ll need to disable the Garrisons before entering, but having a clue of what to expect from outside is still a good idea, let’s go!” Morgana answered, he was now looking like an anime-style chibi cat with a giant head.
The flamboyantly dressed Phantom Thieves hurried through the streets paved in biscuits, past lamppost made of licorice, and through the skyscrapers of pudding, chocolate and parfait glasses towards an imposing fortress that looked literally made of marzipan slices, and even if everything was colorful, the atmosphere of the pocket dimension was oppressive and evil thanks to the distorted dark colors, the cloudless red sky and the many giant eyes following their every move while crying chocolate.
Marzipan Fortress -
After what felt like an eternity to the Thieves, mostly thanks to the many fights they had to go through against the monstrous Shadows the met along the way, they reached the giant and imposing gate of ‘sugar’ sealing the entrance to the fortress.
“Besides the materials used, this place looks even far too fortified.” Zenkichi admitted with a low whistle.
“And I guess we can’t eat ourselves a tunnel to get in?” Ryuji asked rhetorically.
Thing! Thing!
In answer Ren tapped the marzipan walls with his knife, and producing an unnatural metallic sound on impact.
“Effing typical, God forbid we can have it easy for once!” He commented, grumbling.
“You know the drill, Skull. We first need to find the three towers powering the gate, steal whatever Memento giving it power, and then get in there to fight the Monarch.” Makoto answered, sighing.
“That sounds excessively complex.” Sumire admitted.
“You tell us! We have been going through this far too often!” Haru admitted, sighing.
“No need to cry on it! Let’s go!” Sophie answered with a more cheerful tone.
“Yeah, Yeah.” Ryuji commented, groaning.
The group soon started walking away, casting a last glance at the closed gates before focusing on the current task at hand.
“It’s just… Can’t it be easy? Just once?” Futaba asked.
“Like what? Snapping your finger and-”
CRUUUUUUMBLE!
“GYAAAAAAAH! WHY! WHY! WHYYYY! WHY I CAN’T WIN?! YOUR SWEETS CAN’T TASTE LIKE THAT! IT’S IMPOSSIBLE!” A loud rumble alerted them that the fortress behind them had just crumbled to pieces while the ‘Monarch’, the Twisted version of the Dietician ruling over the place screamed in despair.
“… Did I do this?” Zenkichi just looked at his fingers, still in ‘post snap position’ with a raised eyebrow.
“WHY! WHY?! Why whenever I do something, somebody else comes and ruins it?!” A giant pig-like being wearing a dirty apron and with six arms bellowed in fury while surfacing from the ruins of her castle.
“YOU! You sent that accursed Chef to ruin everything?! First a spoiled bimbo lies and covers her shortcomings and drugs abuse by blaming me, and now a damn brat comes, challenges me to a cooking duel and defeats me?! Why can’t I have the Revenge I deserve?!” The giant monster Boar roared while pointing at the Phantom Thieves with the giant forks in her hands.
“… Is she blaming us?!” Ann asked with a shriek.
“Something happened in the Real World! Something so traumatic it shook even her Jail!” Morgana commented.
“Yeah? Well, we had nothing to do with it!” Ryuji said.
“LIARS! I SAW YOU TALK WITH THAT CHEF! WHAT?! YOU HATE ME TOO!?”
“We don’t hate you! Please, snap out of this! You used to be such a gentle woman! You only wanted people to be happy and Healthy!” Sumire begged.
“I used to! And look where it brought me! To misery! But I will have my revenge, I will turn the world into the pigsty it truly is! If people don’t want to be healthy, then I will turn them fat and miserable! If they didn’t want to hear my warnings and preferred to gorge themselves to death, I WILL HELP THEM! AND THEY WILL LOVE ME FOR IT!” The Monstrous form of the Dietician declared with insane glee.
“We will stop you.” Ren answered, unfazed.
“You Won’t! Because I… Ugh! No!” The monster started saying before black smoke started erupting from her body.
“...Eh?” Morgana uttered, confused.
“...So sweet… So gentle… It reminds me of my mother’s desserts… She used to make me this cheese cake whenever I was sad…” The Distorted Woman said while crying.
“Guys… What the Eff is happening?” Ryuji asked, actually scared.
“I just… I just wanted people to be healthy… When my job as a dietician was ruined I opened a bakery to follow my mother’s dream of making people smile with tiny sweets made with love… But people kept looking at me in disgust for the whole drugs fiasco…”
“Who the hell is she talking with?” Ann asked.
“Her heart is reacting to something.” Sophie answered.
“What?”
“Dunno!”
“Ah… I just...I just wanted people to be happy… I was tired of being hated for something I didn’t do… I am… I am sorry…” The monster slowly faded away, and the Jail as well trembled and slowly crumbled to dust.
“I don’t know what is happening, but we can’t stay here! RUN!” Morgana yelled, snapping the others out of their stupor.
“What the Hell is happening?!” Sumire yelled in alarm while they all hurried out of the self-destroying small pocket dimension.
Real World -
When the Phantom Thieves returned to the real world, they hurried towards the bakery, and saw their Target crying her eyes out while hugging Nejire and Izuku, apologizing for brainwashing people with her sweets and for trying to turn everybody into overweight corpses.
What was even more shocking, was that all the people that used to be super fat were now back into proper shape.
“… The fuck?” Ryuji commented with a whisper.
“I concur… What the fuck?” Zenklichi echoed.
“The Chef from before!” Ann gasped.
“He did that?! From outside? Without a Persona? How?! HOW?!” Morgana asked.
“I’ll ask.” Ren answered, walking up to Izuku and tapping his shoulder.
“Hello?”
“Yes? Ah! You are the guy from before!” Izuku answered, once freed himself from the dietician’s spine-bending hug to look at Ren.
“We were wondering what is happening.”
“Oh, well, you see… I kind of challenged her to a cooking duel, and when she tasted my food she started admitting of hoping to have people become super fat in revenge of her ruined reputation as dietician.”
“YOU CAN’T ACHIEVE A CHANGE OF HEART WITH FOOD! IT’S IMPOSSIBLE!” Morgana yowled.
“… Your cat seems angry at something.”
“You did not just make food, is that it?” Makoto asked, watching Nejire being the new victim of the wailing woman’s hugs.
“But I did.”
“I am sorry, but we saw those same persons being, let’s say excessively overweight, and yet they now look very healthy, and we went missing for just a couple hours.” Zenkichi said, nailing Izuku with his best Policeman Glare’.
“…” To their confusion, Izuku’s eyes briefly lost focus for a couple seconds.
“We all have our secrets.” He finally said, winking.
“I don’t think you know what you are talking abo-”
“Wolf, Panther, Joker, Skull, Mona, Violet, Oracle, Inari, Queen, Milady, Sophie.” Izuku listed.
“… Crap!” Sophia exclaimed from Ren’s phone after a long silence.
“Do we kill him?” Ryuji hissed in horror.
“Don’t even joke about it!” Makoto hissed back, slapping the back of his head.
“How?” Ren asked, unfazed as usual by anything, somehow.
“You get help from a cat and blue butterflies, I get help from Mysterious Incomprehensible entities.” Izuku answered.
“...Hn.” Ren watched a blue door appear behind Izuku, a door only he could see, and a man with a long nose and a young girl in a blue dress just nodded their heads, and hurriedly slammed the door closed (And made it disappear) as soon as Izuku turned around to see what Ren was looking at.
“So what have you done?” Ren asked.
“I was told she was brainwashing people through her sense of despair and desire for freedom and revenge. My Sponsor offered to cut her connection to the outside force that was helping her, but the Exorcism of that darkness was up to me. And I did.” Izuku answered.
“How?” Makoto asked for Morgana, since Izuku could not understand the cat’s words.
“With this!” Izuku answered, showing them the tray with a giant Dual Fromage cheesecake.
“The cake?” Yusuke asked, confused.
“A very nice-looking cake!” Ann echoed, hungry.
“As part of my skill-set I am a very good Chef, if I can say so myself, and with that comes a skill called Healing Cuisine. It injects Life Energy and other forms of positive energy in the eater’s body to purify and heal them. In the case of the fat people, I strengthened their metabolism with a Utility Dish, in a way that made their body burn through the excessive fat fast… Sure they won’t be able to sleep for two days straight thanks to all that energy produced by burning that fat, and their next bathroom break will be Apocalyptic, but at least they won’t die of Heart Attack by breathing too hard.” Izuku answered with a forced smile.
“And that woman?” Haru asked.
“That was another form of Healing… I just reminded her of her mother’s cooking, her nostalgia and the memories of her mother did the rest.” Izuku said.
“And you knew how her mother made it? How?” Zenkichi asked, arms crossed.
“I didn’t!” This time Izuku’s smirk was genuine.
“Eh?”
“There is a difference in the dishes you buy in a store or order in a Restaurant, and the ones you eat at home. Least of it in plating and presentation. I just gave her a cake that was made in a more Homely way, a way similar to how a mother would make for her daughter, instead of how a Chef would make for a customer of their Restaurant or Store.” Izuku answered.
“It’s not the dessert itself, it was the act of eating it that triggered the memories, along the visual presentation.” Yusuke said.
“Exactly!”
“Impressive.” Ren commented.
“Ask him to join us!” Morgana muttered.
“I-”
“Can we try the cake? Pleeeeeeeeeease!” Ann and Sumire asked, interrupting Ren before he could even ask.
“Oh, sure, go ahead. Eat from the big one, it won’t make your metabolism go into hyperdrive.”
“Thank you!” The girls answered.
“May as well try it.” Makoto said, chuckling.
“Oh! Save some for me too!” Haru added.
…
“Dude? Why are you itching away?” Ryuji asked, confused.
“I am ready, Icchan!” Nejire as well looked ready to bolt.
“Oh, my God! This cake is soooooo goooood!” Ann said with a stricken tone while eating.
“It’s so fluffy!” Haru said, gushing happily while eating her portion.
“I know! I have no idea how he did it! The sponge cake is fluffy like a cloud, and while the baked cheesecake layer is creamy and delicate, the unbaked cheesecake layer melts in the mouth! I have no clue how he got this balance of taste!” The Former Dietician explained, eating her cake with an expression of awe.
“Very good! Somebody that young made this? Wow!” Zenkichi admitted, laughing.
Izuku and Nejire were now ready to sprint away.
“Hey, Ann! Maybe if he joins us we can make him prepare this everyday!” Futaba suggested.
“Oh yeah! I can eat desserts this good everyday! He can do other stuff too, right?” Ryuji added.
“Oh, I would love that!” Ann answered, smiling wide.
“And who knows, maybe you can… You know?” Sophie suggested, smiling.
“I mean, he is cute so-”
“No no no! He can stay with me! We can work together in my bakery!” The former Monarch answered, annoyed.
“I saw him first.” Ann answered, eyes narrowed into slits.
“GO!” Nejire yelled and both she and Izuku started running.
“Eh?” The Boys uttered, confused.
“WAAAAAAAIT!” Ann and the other woman started chasing him, and behind them, the rest of the Phantom Thieves chased the girls…
And sitting at an isolated table, the mysterious Kuon Ichinose was eating cake and watching Izuku run away.
“… He made me feel something while eating. Was it my Heart? I need more information, more data… He can’t leave.” She muttered with a dark tone.
“What’s your wish?” EMMA the AI asked.
“Capture him, he will be my key to understand my Heart. The girl can be removed, I don’t need her. But I want him by my side as soon as possible. He must belong to me.” She ordered.
“Yes.” The AI obeyed her master immediately.
What she did not expect was that during the final battle with the Phantom Thieves, EMMA, once Ascended to Godhood as The Demiurge will be instantly incinerated by a single attack of The System as soon as the battle started, as a way for the Entity to blow some of its anger at another Sortie of Izuku ending in him escaping from women, even after an even stricter round of background checks to try stop it from happening.
“The System is close at finding the culprit. It’s just a matter of time…” The System muttered, voice even colder than already was normally.
Chapter end.
Finally got around to write the intermediary chapter introducing the sortie of Izuku and Momo in the Sci-Fi world!
The next chapter will also open with some insight into Samui’s reasons behind his insane Crusade against Izuku.
I just hope the jokes I will make in the Sci-Fi world won’t anger people, because Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate, Alien, Predator and many others will be pointed-and-laughed-at during these three chapters.
I can only say sorry, but as I made a mockery of the cliches of Wuxia, Western Fantasy and Magical Girls, it’s only fair that I do the same to the Sci-Fi genre.
I can just ask to remember that it’s satire.
As for the rest, thank you all so much for reading, following and leaving Kudos.
I love you all, you make writing worth the effort!
See you around.
Chapter 33: Space Troubles in Space Stations and Planets… IN SPACE! (Sci-fi Arc part 2)
Summary:
Izuku and Momo start looking for a lead towards izuku's targets for his current Mission, too bad that once again he will be dragged into other people's messes!
Notes:
I used so many jokes in this chapter! And I have so many more that I don't know I will be able to use them all in the next chapter too!
Let me tell you this though. It's all for the sake of parody, considering this is the fourth sortie, you should already be aware of this.
Just remember: It's parody, not an attack.
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/Nejire
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
Chapter Text
Chapter 33: Space Troubles in Space Stations and Planets… IN SPACE! (Sci-fi Arc part 2)
Izuku and Momo’s home dimension – Musutafu – Samui’s penthouse -
The famous Chef was sitting on a recliner in the spacious patio of his outrageously expensive apartment, he was sitting in silence and looking at the city under him while idly spinning the amber liqueur inside the tumbler glass in his hand, just listening to the clinking ice and the faint sloshing sound of his drink.
Behind him, inside his apartment, every wall was filled in trophies, newspaper clippings and pictures detailing every success of Samui as a Chef ever since he left school; so much so that the place looked more similar to a museum fully dedicated to Samui than to an actual apartment where a human lived, there simply wasn’t a single inch of the any surface not assaulting whoever looked around with praises for the man’s talent, an obsessive reminder to himself and any possible Guest of the man’s many successes.
Only Samui was in the pictures, only Samui’s name was on the newspaper clippings and trophies, only Samui’s face appeared everywhere, as if nothing else mattered, not even a trace was left of his many marriages and divorces… If there ever were traces of them to begin with…
“Samui… Isn’t it about time you stop this war of yours?” The words of his father, from the recent phone-call, replayed again and again inside his head.
“I can’t stop, not now.” He had answered.
“You should have never started to begin with!” What Samui hated was that his father said that not in anger, but only out of fatherly worry.
“I can’t let that boy do as he please! He represents-”
“I am aware of what the boy represents to you, Samui.”
“I am not letting that boy ruin everything our family worked so hard for! I won’t let him spit on the face of our sacrifices! Grandfather-”
“I never liked what my father did, Samui!” His father had snapped in answer.
“He did it for us, dad! If not for him, I wouldn’t be where I am, and even you wouldn’t have a quiet life! I am just paying you back for being always there for me, contrary to my mother!”
“Not like this, Samui… All this is wrong…” Samui’s father’s voice faded away on that last, sorrowful answer.
“I need to stop that boy, I can’t let him ruin everything we worked so hard for, every sacrifices we made… He has to fail… I need to see him fail, or else all I did ever since I left cooking school will be for nothing...” Samui muttered, emptying his glass in a single gulp.
He had too much to lose, and watching Izuku flaunt his talent like that was, to Samui, a mockery of his hard work he could not let slide, no matter what he had to do to stop Izuku from cooking once and for all. Even killing the boy with his own hands.
At the same time in a different Dimension - Somewhere in a Galaxy pretty far away (Like, a lot, a lot far away) – Asteroid belt - Secret Lab hidden inside a giant asteroid -
The impossibly-advanced lab was bustling with activities under the orders of a tall man with half his head covered by robot parts, and the other half sporting wild white hair; he was looking at a series of giant screens filled in extremely complex equations with unblinking eyes.
“They called me insane! Evil even!” The man, the mad scientist Dr. Grogor, declared loudly, gnashing his teeth while typing on the giant keyboard.
“They just do not understand you, Leader!” The Mad Scientist’s sycophants answered immediately.
“Silence! And keep fuelling the machine!”
“Yes, Leader!” The servants answered, and they started again to throw shovels full of living puppies inside the blast furnace the Mad Scientist had decided to use to power his tiny, cheap coffee machine he bought at a garage sale for cheap.
“I am not an insane Evil man! They just do not understand my genius!” Grogor said to himself, while finishing his sandwich made with albino baby seal’s meat, an endangered species he had personally hunted down illegally and killed in cold blood with a baseball bat covered in barb wire.
“Leader! The bounty Hunters we sent to the Xuru Asteroid Belt returned empty-handed! In fact, most of them haven’t returned at all.” The leader of the Doctor’s personal Army reported as soon as he entered the room.
“Why?! How!?” Grogor roared in fury and jumping to his feet to limp his way towards the guard, every robot part that he had substituted part of his body with was already heating-up and emitting smoke.
“I interrogated the survivors… Its seems like The Hunter got to the AI core before us.” The man answered.
“…” At first Grogor’s entire body just shook, then both his human body side and his robot body side turned red from his unbridled rage.
“YAMUS! YAAAAAAAMUUUUUUUS!” The Mad Scientist screamed at the top of his lungs.
“I am already amassing a new squad, made of more bounty hunters and our best soldiers, Leader!” the man answered, taking a cautious step back, just in case Grogor tried snapping his neck like he did with his predecessor.
“Do it faster! Add more people! I want them to bring me back the AI Core of my Bio-Obliterating-Ballista orbital death station and the head of that accursed Bounty Hunter Yamus! NOW!” The Mad Scientist yelled.
“It will be done, Leader!” The Captain answered, striking a military salute and hurrying out of the room to organize everything.
“The Galaxy will bow to me! No matter how many billions will have to die!” Grogor yelled.
“But I am not Evil! I am just misunderstood!” He muttered petulantly while pushing a very old lady on a wheelchair down a very long and very steep ramp of stairs.
“Of course, Leader!” The Mad Scientist’s followers answered in chorus.
At the same time - Desert Planet ‘Cloaca’ -
The planet was a sandy shithole hell, there were only hot rocks and scorching hot sand everywhere; hot coarse and rough and irritating sand that got everywhere, in every crack of your body (Yes, even there); and many disgusting beasts, like four meters tall scorpions, and twenty meters long worms, and two-headed camels that had aim-bot skills in spitting that could catch you in every eye with their smelly viscous spit even from sixty meters away, the only water came from the rare and scarce twenty meters tall cactus plants that could shot their ten-inches thick barbs at high speed if you just sneezed too close to them.
Nobody sane of mind would live there, and even the not-sane of mind would prefer to live in Hell itself instead of there… Reason why on that planet there was a flourishing colony of people, each one of them real pieces of shit, that made a living in that sandy butt-hole of the Galaxy by disassembling industrial toilets they bought in bulk daily from Spaceship scrapyards to recover the components they would then sell on E-Buy at three times the actual price. And often not even shipping them to begin with so to sell the same component to three different people and maximize profit.
Everybody hated everybody there, stealing and scamming each other every five minutes, and often just for the fun of it, and gloating and insulting each other, especially when drunk on Giant Scorpion Vodka (filtered fermented rancid Scorpion pee) every ‘Night’ when two of the three suns the planet orbited around disappeared over the horizon in that hellhole planet’s version of sunset.
Everybody was rude and hated everybody there, there were brawls constantly, wild, furious and violent fights even for no reason at all, they even cheated all the time, even when having simple ‘who can piss the farthest’ challenges, just to be a tiny more asshole-ish…
Luckily for the one human girl living there, the only human on the planet, her childhood spent using cheap screwdrivers to detach rusty and shit-crusted toilet seats from cheap toilets cubicles somehow taught her how to fight even aliens three times her sizes and with more arms and legs than her!
“Ah-ha! You have no chance! Give me the Space Dollar Credits Bit chips!” The soon to be 20 years old girl said in triumph after downing the last of the thirty massive aliens she was fighting with.
Nobody commented about how they all seemed to wait their turn to fight her, standing in line like at the post office, instead of jumping her all at once, or how SHE was the one to attack them and then act like the victim of an ambush when her victim and his friends started defending themselves from her.
“Yes! 5 SDCBs! (Space Dollar Credits Bit) With this I can buy a Space Soda and a Space Cheeseburger down at Blargugog’s! Easily defeating these 35 people and crippling them forever and ruining their lives was definitely worth it!” The scrawny girl, Faye, declared happily after breaking the last alien’s fingers to recover the shiny blue chip containing the money he was holding onto with his last sparks of strength.
Whistling happily to herself, the 5’4’’ and 106lb (with wet clothes) girl left behind the many 7’06’’ 276lb (all muscles) aliens she somehow defeated barehanded by herself and marched towards the dirty, rundown, tetanus-infected pub of the place for her cheeseburger and soda… Just don’t ask where the owner found the meat to make them.
“You know, R2P2F4G8J5B6N4V5N1H2K0L3? One day I will leave this planet.” Faye said with a longing tone.
“Beep-Boop-Beep-boop?” The small cubic robot on top of a thin big wheel beeped its question.
“I do have a ship instead!” Faye answered, smirking.
“Beep-Boop?”
“I have been secretly putting aside toilets seats for years instead of delivering them for money chips. With all of those I have built a spaceship that will take me out of here,” Faye exclaimed.
“… Boop-Beep?”
“It will work! And with the warp drive I built out of the soap dispensers, I will fly fast towards civilization and finally discover my origins!”
“Beep-Boop-The fuck?!”
“I knew all those toilet seats, soap dispensers and automatic toilet paper re-rollers would have come in handy to help me escape!” Faye said, grinning.
“…” The tiny robot just rebooted for an instant, overwhelmed.
Around the same time – Space Station – With Izuku and Momo -
After the initial disappointment with the giant spaceship ice-cream truck, the young Chef and the Hero Student made their way deeper inside the Space Station, into the more lively part, to be precise.
Everything was built in shiny metal and glass, an awe-inspiring monument to science built with knowledge so far ahead compared to their home world and dimension it easily toed the Magical, the difference in progress was just too astronomical to even just comprehend!
Hundreds of different and colorful alien species came and went all around them, intermingled by few humans, in and out of stores and pubs, chatting in a multitude of different languages in a never-ending vortex of different cultures spanning for who knows how many galaxies, it truly showed how Earth was just a tiny dot in a vast universe full of incredible things yet to discover.
“Okay, the beginning was a bit off, but I am looking forward to this!” Momo said, trying to re-hyping herself up.
“Sorties are always eventful, you just need to get used to this.” Izuku offered with a kind smile.
“Like you?” Momo said, smiling.
“Eeeh, I am not used to it yet either…”
Momo chuckled a bit at that, she had heard the stories of the other girls, both the good and the bad and the weird, but still, she was happy to see Izuku open to share this with her! They were in a different Dimension, on a different world and visiting a space station surrounded by giant planets and an infinite carpet of stars she couldn’t have believed possible even in her wildest dreams; and the two of them were the only ones enjoying all that.
She took his hand in hers as they walked through the Space Station in that very strange Date, and with both her and him blushing shyly like they were, the thing suddenly became way more enjoyable.
“Aah, young love!” Shiro, pretending to be asleep while wrapped around Izuku’s neck, thought in amusement.
All things considered, things were not that bad, Izuku and Momo knew they had to find somebody with a fast ship and gentle enough to help them visit a couple planets to capture the animals The System had marked as targets for the young Chef’s current Mission, and once seen how massive the Space Station was, the two teens felt that they could hope it would be kind of easy.
And as Momo suggested, starting their search for a ship owner in the local bars sounded like a good idea.
“I can’t do it, Master Frooda!” A young man said, desperate, and attracting their attention towards one of the many food stalls in the big plaza.
“Must Succeed you! Store this Future you on depends!” The short bright-yellow alien answered, with the order of words completely out of place.
“I… I…”
“The Sporke use must you!”
“Uuuungh!” The young man frowned hard, and only using the power of his mind to channel the mysterious power of the Universe, he flipped the forty purple hamburgers in front of him on the giant grill without touching them.
“Succeed did burgers flipping you the all in, see?” The Master said, proud.
“I believe now, Master Frooda!” The young man answered, tears in his eyes, while hugging his short Master.
“This is normal… This is normal…” Momo chanted like a mantra while walking fast away.
“Mission accomplished! Space Tacos for our Space Taco Tuesday have been recovered!” A man in a spacesuit hilariously reminding them of a pajama, said while holding a hand on the rocket-shaped insignia over his heart.
“Good job, Captain!” a voice answered from that pin like a radio.
“I know. Flash me, Snotty!”
“Yes, Captain!” And immediately a dick pick went projected in front of the man, making many people too close to the guy scream in horror.
“GAH!” The man shrieked while banishing the picture.
“I MEAN THE TELEPORT THING!” He yelled.
“Ah! Of course, Captain! I misunderstood!”
“Why do you even have a dick pick at ready like that?!” The Captain shrieked before disappearing in a shower of sparks of light.
“For the love of God…” Momo said with a groan.
“Let’s sit and drink something, to help you relax.” Izuku suggested while guiding her to a table.
“That guy needs to have that spot on his testicles checked by a good doctor, I think one acquaintance of mine died from something similar.” Shiro said.
“Not now, Shiro-kun!” Izuku answered, helping Momo sit at a table and calling a waitress over.
“Yes?” The alien waitress, blowing a giant purple bubblegum that smelled acidic, asked.
“Something for humans… Chamomile?”
“We have some, ‘kay.” She answered with a thick nasal, and bored, tone.
“Thanks.” He answered, watching her walk away with a rapid clacking of her six spider-like legs.
“OH NO, Steven!” A trio of friend at a table nearby yelled as the fourth member of their group started spasm and groaning in pain.
“I heard the stories! I don’t want an alien to burst out from my chest! I heard a guy had it happen to him twice!” The guy in pain yelled, afraid.
“Make room, I am a doctor!” An alien with acid-green skin yelled, and immediately checked the man with his many tentacles.
“So?” one of his friends asked.
“Relax gentlemen, the good news is that it won’t burst out of his chest.” The Alien said.
“Thank God! And the bad news?”
“… It will come out from his butt if we do not take him to the hospital immediately. And it will be girthy.”
“NOOOOOOO!” The guy screamed in horror while his friends and few medics hurriedly took him away.
“…” Izuku simply buried his face in his hands and exhaled loudly, already tired of this particular Sortie.
“I… I need the toilet.” Momo said, sighing and rubbing her temples.
“Sure, take your time.” Izuku answered, understanding that his girlfriend needed a moment to recover from the usual headaches Sorties always brought along.
“…”
“… WHY THERE ARE ONLY THREE SEASHELLS INSTEAD OF TOILET PAPER IN EVERY STALL?!” Momo shrieked in anger barely two minutes later.
Sigh! “This is going to be one of the very bad sorties.” Izuku muttered, sighing in defeat.
“Hard day, hn?” A very short alien with pale skin, a shiny dome of a bald head with fuzzy grey hair only around the lower half of his head and four beady eyes and stumpy limbs said while sitting next to him at his table. Overall, he looked kind of similar to a Kappa Demon, only with a very human and extremely friendly-looking face.
“Very.” Izuku admitted.
“Same…” The guy drawled a bit.
“… Yes?” Giving the man a side glance, Izuku asked.
“I couldn’t help overhear you and your girl talking about needing a ship.” The alien said, smirking.
“Uh-hu?” Not trusting the guy a single bit, Izuku just nodded.
“As luck would have it, my little baby, ‘The Lewd Mantis’, is a damn fine ship… If I can say so myself.”
“Shouldn't it be praying mantis?” Izuku asked with one eyebrow raised.
“Hahahaha! The day I start praying that’s when people will have to worry!” The short guy answered, laughing.
“And let’s hear… What would you ideally want in exchange for us boarding your ship?” Izuku asked.
“Hehehehe! Good boy, already knowing that free stuff means trouble! Nothing too extreme, I got an old friend that sent me a short SOS from a planet they are not supposed to be on, but since you and your girl are human, I can justify my being there by saying you needed a lift there… That’s human territory so those guys in fancy suits won’t ask too many questions if I am just accompanying a couple of humans back home!” He answered.
“Why they are not supposed to be on that planet?” Izuku asked.
“Eeeh! Do you want my help or not? Help me land there long enough for my friend to secretly board my ship and pretend to be a couple of newly-weds needing a hand should they stop us for a routine check. Do that and after I have dropped my friend in one of their hideouts I will take you where you want… Within reason!”
“…”
“They are not mass-murderers, okay? Or at least they weren’t last time I checked.”
“… Fine.” Izuku answered.
“Thanks, boy! You won’t regret it!”
“I hope so…”
“Name’s Jorik.”
“Izuku.”
“Nice to meet you, Izuku! Trust me, with my ship, the galaxy will look smaller with how fast we will go!” Jorik said, proud.
“I hope so…” He answered, sighing.
“Cheer up! You are doing nothing too illegal! You don’t even know my friend, plausible deniability and all that jargon! Come at the docking bay in ten minutes and look for Dock 16. I’ll be waiting you two there. Bye!” Jorik answered, laughing and walking away while whistling off-key some strange melody.
“Whitey… Strip him and his friend extra hard if they try anything…” Izuku asked with a tired sigh.
“Yes, Host.” The Chubby robot answered while scratching his round bald head.
“Thanks.” He answered, patting the robot’s soft belly.
Later – Space Station docks – Hangar Bay 4 -
The giant hangar housed over two hundred different spaceships, each completely different than the other, with a few even seemingly made out of rock, or even pulsating neon-purple flesh; every ship was a miniaturized mess of movement as the crew went through their own procedures before departing.
There were even small tents where four or five people kept trying to recruit people to join their respective armies, thus causing the formation of long lines of hopeful youngsters already with bags on their backs and waiting to sign-up.
“Okay, he said to look for dock 16, that should be here somewhere…” Momo said, looking at the many spaceships around them.
“The signs are in at least one thousand languages, other than human… Whitey pointed this way when he read it…” Izuku answered, unsure.
“G’day, mate! Ya need help? Lookin’ for a space ship for a romantic date for this arvo? I may know a guy open to help ya!” A short guy with bright red skin and wild white hair neared them once seen their troubled expressions.
“Thank you, but we already found somebody for that. We found a guy open to bring us to a tour of few planets… But…” Momo started answering.
“We can’t find his ship.” Izuku finished saying with a sheepish expression.
“Ay, first time space cruisin’, hn? Where’s your friend?” The alien asked.
“Dock 16.” Izuku answered.
“Do you know where it is?” Momo added.
“Not that far, actually! You two are lucky! We are now at space dock 10, so just count 24 space ships after this one and ya should be there.”
“Thank you! You have no idea for how long we have been looking for that ship! This place is huge.” Momo said in relief.
“Hahahaha! I know the feeling, mate! First time here I too felt like a damn space fish outta the space water!” The short guy said, shouldering again his big bag.
“Are you going on a trip yourself?” Izuku asked.
“Nope! I just joined a Private Army! They pay well and I will use all those space money to pay my niece’s space university tuition! She wants to be a Space Doctor, ya know?” He answered with a giant smile.
“That’s very nice of you! I wish you all the luck should we not meet again, then. Just be careful out there, okay?” Izuku asked while shaking the guy’s hand.
“Yes, Army Life is no joke!” Momo added, she too shaking the guy’s hand.
“Don’t I know that, Mate! Hahahaha! Too bad I am about to join the ‘F. Army’, I would have loved to show you our Space Opera House in Space-Sydney! It’s the pride and joy of us Space-Australians!”
“Space-Australian? So your planet… It’s basically Australia… In space?” Izuku asked, unsure.
“And as an entire planet?” Momo added.
“Yes, but it’s not so bad! Our amazing Space Broncos recently won another Space Cup too! Ah-ha! They really showed who’s best to those Space New Zealand losers!” The red-skinned guy answered, proud.
“Okay… We will come visit one of these days, then.” Izuku answered, smiling stiff.
“You totally should, mate! Space ducks migration will happen soon too, and that as well is worth watching!”
“We’ll keep that in mind. Now I must apologize, but we are already super late. Best of luck!” Izuku, once seen the time, hurriedly answered while walking away with Momo.
“To you too, mate! Just don’t let the Space Dingos eat your Space babies! If you visit us, just tell me a couple days before you arrive, I’ll tell my sister to let you stay in our guest room, so remember to give me a call if you pass by Space-Brisbane!” The guy yelled to be heard by the two power-walking Teens.
“Sure!” Momo answered, with her most forced smile ever.
“Have a nice Space Travel then! Byeee!” The guy yelled and waved at them goodbye before boarding a giant spaceship.
“...”
“… Did he have to put ‘Space’ in every word?” Izuku asked.
“I have no clue, but besides that verbal quirk, he didn’t look like to be a bad guy just… Awkward…” Momo admitted.
“Hopefully he remains a nice guy even after joining the army.” Izuku hoped, sighing.
“HEEEEEY! Over here!” It was a short walk later that they saw Jorik stand on top of a big crate and wave his arms wildly to be seen.
“Here is our ship!” Izuku said in relief.
“I hope it is just rust-colored… Not actually rusty.” Momo muttered, unsure.
“I really hope so.”
“There you are! Sure your two took your sweet time!”
“Sorry, Mister Jorik. So? Is this your ship?” Izuku answered.
“Hell yeah she is! This ship is my pride and joy! My babe here will take us to Planet Morasca in just few parsec!… No, wait, hours. Parsec is for measuring distance.” Jorik declared proudly, before correcting himself and patting the small, fish-shaped spaceship with fondness.
“May the Makers help us…” A tall and lanky robot with disproportionately long arms, enough to have two sets of elbows, muttered while looking at the sky with its beady luminescent eyes.
“Don’t be the usual stick in the mud, Pat!” Jorik said, slapping the tall robot’s shin, arguably the highest part of the robot’s legs the short alien could reach.
“Izuku Midoriya, nice to meet you.” Izuku said.
“Momo Yaoyorozu… Soon to be Midoriya, if I have any say on the matter.” Momo added, smirking.
“Patreclus Ne’Habir Lan-Sharook-Me Sharafarafarafaraghast-Noytra-Urulu Mestef Mario Rossi-Negeverh-ta. Pleasure is mine.” Pat answered.
“…”
“Just call me Pat, like everybody else. I am aware that my name is a nightmare, but by the Customs of my planet and race, Garata, I have to tell you my whole name at least ONCE when we first meet.” The Robot explained, sighing.
“Is it racist if I ask why your name is that peculiar?” Izuku asked, unsure.
“Not racist at all. But it’s simple. My race, as you can see, is made of robots that evolved into consciousness and gained a human-like soul…. But we still choose the name of our kids in the same way the first members of our race used to do it: The father sticks a finger in a power outlet and the mother notes-down whatever garbled nonsense the father says while screaming and convulsing.” Pat answered, shrugging.
“… Ah.” Both Izuku and Momo muttered, at loss of words.
“Back in the days they were convinced Electricity itself was guiding the choice of the name, so going along with it was done in the belief that it would bring good luck to the baby. It’s still better than many names of people I know,” Pat commented, chuckling, a sound similar to a box of nails falling down a ramp of stairs.
“And he is lucky! Just one hundred years ago they also used to add every ‘Holy Shit!’, ‘It hurts’, and ‘Fuuuuuck!’ to the names too! Nowadays they remove them, Hahahaha!” Jorik said, laughing.
“Sometimes I wonder why I am still your second in command…”
“You got caught making sexual advances to the motherboard of the last ship you worked on, you even were about to enter her USB Port with your jack! I am the only guy still open to offer you a job.” Jorik answered, smirking.
“Again! It was consensual! And she was clearly into it! And as a ship with over two hundred flights and sixty ultraexabytes of memory, she was of legal RAM too!” Pat yelled in answer, shrieking in outrage.
“Barely.” The short alien added with a knowing smile.
“Eh?”
“Basically: ‘She was not underage’.” The System supplied to both Izuku and Momo.
“Ooh!”
“Useless crap aside, ready to go? We are finalizing the last details and we will be ready to go.” Jorik said.
“We are ready to go as soon as you are.” Momo answered, Izuku behind her nodded as well.
“Good! I hate wasting time after all!”
“I still can’t believe you accepted helping him. Morasca is just a mining outpost, even the excuse of you going of a trip holds no oil!” Pat said, rubbing his temples.
“We are not exactly from around here, so making deals like this is the only way we got to visit other planets.” Izuku admitted.
“Hn?!” Both Alien and Robot said.
“We have no documents… Like… At all.” Momo answered with a sheepish smile.
“Fucking amazing…” Pat groaned, face-palming.
“Shit, I asked for help to the only two illegals out of the forty million people here…” Jorik added, groaning.
“Sorry!” Both Teens said.
“Gods, I am going to help a Bounty Hunter escape capture by ferrying around two Illegals… Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking!” Jorik muttered, uncorking a shiny metal flask and taking a giant mouthful of strong liquor from it.
“Me too!” Pat added, he too drinking acidic-smelling oil from his own flask.
“We are just as in trouble as you are if we are discovered, please keep that in mind!” Momo said.
“Share the pain, I guess. Fine. Get on board, I don’t know how you two avoided checks from the guards, but I won’t stand here just to see for how long your Luck lasts!” Jorik said, pushing both teens towards his ship.
“MAKE ROOM!”
“Guards!” Pat yelled in hysterics.
“Shit!”
“Make room! Medical Emergency!” The same guards screamed again, luckily just running past them to open a path to four doctors pushing a stretcher with a man lying on it with a bright laser sword stuck in his chest.
“OH, GOD! Dad I am so sorry! I didn’t know the Lightsword’s trigger was that sensible!” The guy’s son apologized profusely while accompanying his father.
Curiously, a very dramatic music followed the group as if played by an invisible orchestra.
“Just… Shut up…” The stabbed guy groaned in pain.
“Graroraroraro!” The very tall and furry alien with them gurgled out something.
“Oh, shut up, Munchbacca! Accidents happen once, not four times in two days!” He hissed.
“You stabbed him four times?!” One of the doctors asked, horrified.
“My father has a rare condition: Chest-Stabbitis, It’s extremely easy to stab him in the chest. Even with spoons and other non-sharp objects.” The guy’s son explained.
“There is no such an illness!” One of the nurses answered, then her plastic identification badge detached from her uniform and stabbed the guy deep in the chest right next to the lightsword, and the dramatic music restarted again.
“… Okay, The patient is named San Holo, mark Chest-stabbitis as his illness.” The Doctor said with an unsure tone.
“Yes doctor… But shouldn’t we at least remove the sword-”
“SHUT-UP, NURSE! I am a doctor! Of course I know what’s best! I’ll show you! And I’ll show daddy too that I have what it takes to be a doctor and…”
The mad procession of medics, guards and patients disappeared behind a corner, making the rest of what they were saying impossible do hear.
“…” Izuku just watched the group leave, with unblinking eyes.
“Here.” Jorik offered him a brand new flask similar to his own.
“Thanks.” The young Chef answered, taking a big swing from the thing, and already overwhelmed by everything.
“This place is a madhouse.” Momo commented, she too took a mouthful from Izuku’s flask, and almost thanking the extremely-potent alcohol in it for numbing the agony she felt.
“Jokes on you, this place is actually one of the quietest Space Stations in a sixty light-years radius.” Pat answered, chuckling amused and boarding the ship.
“Oh, splendid…” Momo commented, she and Izuku shook their heads and boarded the ship.
“Hahahaha! Don’t be like that! The Galaxy is fun exactly7 because it’s mad!” Jorik answered, laughing.
The short alien hurried to sit at the main control panel and dropped on his seat with a flair, immediately flipping switches and pressing buttons with practised ease that made the whole cockpit light-up in lively light from the hundreds of dials, screens and buttons covering almost everywhere.
“You soon learn to roll with it.” Pat added, sitting in the co-pilot seat and joined in the rapid-pace concert of buttons.
“I am starting to hope so…” Izuku admitted.
With a silent humming sound, the sleek and thin ship detached from the docking station, unfolded two stubby wings and rapidly and silently left the giant cube of smooth metal containing the enormous space station.
“Whooaaaa! So many stars!” Momo said in wonder, as soon as they had left the cold grey walls of the station, an endless carpet of stars and far-away colorful planets and nebulae surrounded them.
“Hehehe! Yeah, it never gets old.” Jorik said, chuckling.
“Amazing!” Izuku echoed.
“Yes, from outside the Galaxy is damn pretty, but then you meet the people living in it and… Meh.” Pat answered.
“Always the robotic ray of sunshine,” Jorik commented, rolling his eyes.
“I am curious of meeting different races, I am just worried about being unable to speak with them,” Izuku admitted.
“Just speak English, every single race in the Galaxy speaks it. Even the most barbaric and primitive races.” Pat answered.
“… How? I guessed that you spoke that because you get in contact with humans a lot… but why would primitive races speak that Language?” Momo asked, confused.
“…” Both Pat and Jorik just shrugged in answer.
“Ugh!” Poor Momo just rubbed her temples and groaned in dismay.
Meanwhile – At the opposite side of the Galaxy -
A wreck of a ship, massive is size and built with lots of toilet seats and other assorted parts recovered from broken toilets, and ludicrous amounts of space duct tape, and so smelly you could smell the ship’s arrival from miles away even in the void of space, was silently drifting forward without a clear destination in mind.
Sitting at the literal helm of the giant turd ship was Faye, standing tall and spinning that wheel with a wide smile on her face.
“Okay! A Warp Drive for faster than light travel needs more than soap dispensers’ parts to work as intended, but everything else works like a charm!” She said happily, humming to herself happily while looking for another inhabited planet for her to visit.
“Beep-Boop!”
“I saw plenty of them drives while disassembling toilets, I even opened one to see the parts once! But clearly they need a reactor or something to work. It’s not really my field of expertise.” She answered.
“Beep-Boop?”
“I borrowed this engine from that strange machine Grokolxypztz built last year! I am sure he won’t mind!” She answered.
Back on Cloaca -
“NOOOOOOOO! MOMMMYYYYYYYYY!” A tall muscular alien screamed in horror as the giant machine he himself had created to keep his beloved mother alive during her dialysis, and that also kept at bay her diabetes and lung cancer, had been torn apart for components, leaving the alien woman defenceless against lethal cascading total organ failures.
With Faye – Adrift in space -
“Let’s see… The maps I borrowed-”
“Beep-Boop!”
“Borrowed, not stolen!” She insisted, making the small robot shake its head.
“The maps say that a big lush planet should be around here somewhere, there we will get a proper ship and start looking for my parents!” Faye said.
“Beep?”
“I want to discover my roots! My origins! My parents must have had a very bad time if they were forced to abandon me on that desert planet! And I want to discover why and who they were!”
“Boop?”
“I am sure I will find them! My instincts will guide me to them! I don’t have a clue about what they looked like, but I am sure I will figure something out!”
Puff!
With a whimper, the cobbled-up engine that was only supposed to keep a person alive, and not power a multi-tonnes spaceship, died and left the ship adrift in space weightless and without control.
“Oh! Well, this is not ideal!” Faye admitted.
“Beep!”
“Stop cursing, we’ll be fine!” She said, smiling.
It was then that a proper spaceship parked next to Faye’s, and a long corridor of metal unfolded to connect the two ships.
“Well, this is a surprise! A custom model, hn? You look in dire need of help! Do you wanna?” A voice said from behind the wall where by norm there should be the connector to latch the other end of the retractable corridor.
“Oh yes, thank you!” Faye said.
“Beep?”
“Of course he is a good guy! I can tell and I am always right! Everybody is always friendly with me!” Faye said.
BANG!
With a bang a hole was blasted on the wall and several tall and burly aliens with very unfriendly faces entered her ship.
“Greetings! We are the Grotox! Slavers extraordinaire! We are happy to inform you you have just been chosen to be our next slave! You will spend the rest of your life in the lovely mines of planet Scrauso 5! Congratulations!” The Leader of the group said with a jovial tone that clashed horribly with his words.
“Except them!” She said, still smiling, and her small robot companion once again wished to have the right appendages to strangle her.
“Color me impressed! This is literally a shit-made ship! But it doesn’t matter, we will-”
Blast! Blast! Blast!
A series of shots in blinding red light interrupted the slavers as each laser bullet tore a hole in a slaver’s forehead to kill them instantly.
“Got the drop on you, finally!” A dashing human man wearing a leather jacket said with a happy smile.
“Hello!” Faye said, waving at him.
“Oh! Good morning is this… Dung-no. Ship… Is this ship Yours?” The dashing man asked, unsure.
“Yes, but I am stranded, can you give me a lift?” She asked.
“Uuuh…” The man looked at the girl and at the many, many brown spots on her clothes and felt like he didn’t know how to answer.
“My ship as well is not really collaborating.” He tried saying, lying through his teeth with utmost ease just to avoid this strange girl.
“Oh! Don’t worry! I have worked on ships for all my life! My name is Faye, by the way.” Faye answered while unceremoniously boarding his ship once squeezed past him through the airlock.
“I-You-Wait!… Splendid… People call me Pando...” The Dashing Man said, sighing and joining her to his own ship he had attached to the slavers’ own.
“Let me see if it starts again.” He said, sitting at the driving seat of his ship with another defeated sigh.
“I know what to do, don’t worry!” Faye took a random screwdriver, opened a panel and gave a tiny turn to a screw, barely a fourth of a turn.
“Done! I redirected the driver’s undulating flux, bypassed the compressor, fixed the coffee machine and strengthened the capacitors’ flurbaburbing tethers!” Faye declared with a wide smile.
“Flurba… That’s not even a real word or term…” The guy’s muttered in annoyance.
“Beep! (Just drop it.).” The small robot just shook its head and settled next to him.
“You have the patience of a saint, little thing.” The Dashing Man said, sighing and starting the ship.
“See?! Ten years disassembling toilets teach you how to repair every ship that exist in the galaxy! Even Custom-made ones! I knew it and I am always right!” Faye declared proudly, and sitting on the seat behind him.
“You only barely turned a screw, lady…” He muttered, sighing again and just pointing his ship towards his original destination before his small detour for killing the slavers and collecting their bounties.
“Can I ask you to help me find my parents?” Faye asked.
Sigh! “Okay, I guess…” He answered, rolling his eyes.
“Their names?” He asked.
“Dunno.” Faye answered, still smiling.
“A picture?”
“I don’t have one.”
“A description?”
“Nope!”
“Rumors?”
“Neither!”
“Then how the hell am I supposed to help you?!” Pando asked, really annoyed, while looking behind himself to glare at her.
“Just stop mansplayining and drive, I’ll figure something out. Just trust me implicitly.” Faye answered, waving his concern off.
“… What the Hell did I get myself into…” He groaned.
“I’ll use your bathroom! I need a shower and to cut my hair to signify my character development!” Faye said, walking away.
“… Can I drop her inside the closest black hole?” He asked the robot.
“Beeeeeeeep! (Yeeeeees, Pleeeeeease!)” The small droid answered with a long, suffering beep.
Two hours later, Faye returned, now sporting an uneven haircut: shaved super short on the right and left long on the left, unfortunately by the looks of it she wasn’t good at all at cutting her hair, if one looked at the very poor quality of her work.
Or she somehow expected a proper hair saloon haircut as a result even if she used her own almost-dull knife to saw-off her hair.
“Done! Now I am ready to take the Galaxy on!” She said, wearing the clothes she ‘borrowed’ from the guy.
“… The proper cut is the one with the shaved side on the left, not on the right side like you did.” He commented, shaking his head and returning to pilot.
Faye immediately looked back at herself in the bathroom’s mirror and noticed her mistake.
“Fuck.”
Meanwhile – With Izuku and Momo – Orbit of the Mining planet -
Out of nowhere, the small fish-shaped spaceship appeared in a blink as soon as they exited Warp Speed, and started nearing the planet relatively slowly, with a faint downward spiral movement.
“Here we are.” Jorik said, tense.
“The main mining planet of the Burino solar system… Activating cloaking… Putting every energy output at minimum… Okay, we should be next to invisible to the Planet’s security system.” Pat said.
“So that was Faster than Light Travel? That felt incredible!” Momo said in awe.
“First time? Yeah, the first time you do this without being in cryogenic sleep is always a monumental feeling.” Jorik said, chuckling.
“Then it becomes the norm and the magic dies.” Pat added.
“Killjoy.”
“I am not!”
“You kind of are,” Izuku admitted, making Momo chuckle.
“Hush! We are breaching atmosphere! Just remember to be on high alert the whole time, this is not tourist attraction, so the local guards won’t be nice with unwanted visitors like us! Those blasted guards will first kill us, then spend an evening drinking and wondering why we were there before forgetting we even existed once drunk enough.” Pat instructed, lowering the ship’s speed some more.
“Okay,” Both Izuku and Momo said.
“I don’t really like helping a criminal escape.” She muttered.
“Me neither, but we don’t have much of a choice.” The young Chef muttered back in answer.
“Breaching the clouds! Ladies and gentlemen and Robots… Here you can see the lovely sight of a fully industrialized mining planet! Holes and smoke everywhere and heavy mining machines as far as eyes can see!” Jorik said, jokingly imitating a tour guide as soon as the full view of the planet-wide excavation came into view, each enormous drill or spinning blade cutting the planet’s surface so big it defied imagination.
“Almost beautiful, in a twisted way.” Izuku admitted.
“Yes, somehow it has a charm to it, even if in a negative sense.” Momo echoed.
“To be fair, this planet was already a mess before the mining society got their corporate hands on it, at least they had the decency to remove the swamps of radioactive uranium-made sludge that used to cover 90% of the planet, now the planet is clean and won’t give you cancer just by looking at it from too close.” Pat answered.
“Dead rock clean.” Izuku said.
“Semantics.” The robot answered.
“That looks like a good place to land! It’s isolated, relatively safe and close enough to my friend’s SOS we won’t have to walk for long!” Jorik declared, swerving the whip hard to the left and then rapidly landing under a natural arch of stone.
The spaceship landed with just a soft bump, with its retractable legs’ pistons dutifully coiling to absorb the impact almost completely; and after a new round of fast buttons-smashing from the two aliens, the outside of the ship mimicked almost perfectly the rocks around it in color and texture and a long ramp was unfolded.
“This spacesuit is very nice.” Momo admitted while studying the skin-tight red space suit she and Izuku were wearing, it felt light like cotton and could give them full range of movement.
“If they weren’t once use only, I would tell you to keep it, too bad once removed the seals won’t hold again.” Jorik answered, shrugging.
He, Pat, Whitey and Shiro were instead walking outside without a suit, not needing one to walk on the planet.
“Are you okay, Shiro-kun?” Izuku asked.
“Just because the atmosphere has more ammonia than oxygen doesn’t mean this Esteemed Taotie will have trouble breathing, Partner! I am above such trivial issues.” Shiro answered smugly and rubbing his cheek against the glass panel in front of Izuku’s face.
“Okay, just be careful and tell me if it gets uncomfortable, okay?” He answered.
“Of course, my friend.”
“Your friend is a curious little thing,” Jorik said, scanning the area with a small cube on metal in his hand.
“I am aware of my greatness, but thank you for noticing!” The Ancestral Taotie answered, smug.
“Got an attitude too. So? Have you found our friend?” Pat asked.
“Should be around here… The Signal is under encryption so it’s not easy to locate it even while knowing the frequency.” Jorik answered, walking forward.
“Why is your friend here?” Momo asked.
“There are only three jobs that pay well in the Galaxy: The Pirate, The Politician or the Bounty Hunter. Our friend has chosen the latter.”
“And what about thieves?” Pat asked.
“Meh! Politicians, Thieves… Those are synonyms!” Jorik answered, smirking.
“OOOOOOH!” Both Him and Pat echoed in chorus and exchanged a fist-bump at their shared joke.
“…” Izuku and Momo just sighed and shook their heads.
They walked forward through the pats left behind by the giant tires of the trucks transporting their cargo from the excavation site to the production and shipment buildings; they air itself was thick and gravity slightly stronger than Earth’s own, although Momo was surprised to feel Enbu actually helping her body adapt to it just like Izuku taught her.
And even if many things she had seen until that moment were filling every degree between Strange and Absurd, she was still walking on another planet, talking with aliens and exploring the cosmos, she not an astronaut from NASA or any other Organization back home, but it was a Yaoyorozu to achieve actual first contact with alien races… It kind of felt nice to her, proven by her adorable smile.
“They sky is a bit too Orange and having two suns instead of one looks weird, but still, this looks kind of awesome.” She admitted, looking far in the distance to wards the gargantuan machines moving non-stop, dozens of pitch-black silhouettes bigger than skyscrapers standing tall against the orange sky <, two big suns and the yellowish clouds, even the thick clouds of smoke released by the breaking rocks added to the picture.
“Bit too much Industrial for my tastes, but I do admit it has some strange charm.” Izuku admitted.
“Kind of Brutalist too.” Both him and Momo said at the same time, then they noticed they spoke in chorus and chuckled.
“Arneosians build their mining caves and excavating machines in Brutalist Style. This is fully industrial. Those machines belong to the Cafone Industries from the planet Cafone 34.” Pat explained.
“Oh!”
“While you discuss architecture, I am the only one working here… Ah-HA! Found it!” Jorik said, whooping in happiness once located the SOS signal.
“Where?” Pat asked.
“Over there, follow me!” Jorik answered, hurrying down a smaller side path branching from the main one they were in.
“Coming!” Izuku and Momo said, following them.
“So we are helping a Bounty Hunter?”
“Pretty much. I never really asked why choosing this lifestyle, but I understand that sometimes doing things the ‘Good Guy Way’ doesn’t help you make a living, especially when you apparently need A LOT of money. My friend Yamus was left with no other option but walking the path of the Bounty Hunter… Thank Gods they are good at it!” Jorik answered.
“Not just good… I am the best…” A metallic voice said.
“There you are!”
All Izuku and Momo saw was a humanoid bulky red armor leaning with its left arm (completely covered from the elbow down by a big rotary cannon with six barrels) against a wall, the right hand was holding the side in pain and the wearer was clearly wounded and in pain, and holding onto consciousness by sheer force of Will since they were swaying heaving even while just standing still.
“You are wounded!” Pat yelled and hurrying to help them stand and walk.
“Just a bit! Hehehe! I underestimated Grogor’s defenses when paying him a visit and paid the price. A stray blaster bullet got me… Eh! Sheer dumb luck on that guard’s side!” Yamus answered, their helmet turning their voice into a cracking mess of statics.
“Grogor?!” Jorik shrieked.
“Your Helmet is damaged too, I hope the filters are working! Ammonia is not good for your race!”
“Not really, Pat! My mouth tastes funny…” They answered, slurring.
“Shit! Take them to the ship!” Jorik yelled.
“I’ll help you!” Momo said, helping Pat dragging the barely-conscious bounty hunter.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
To their shock three tall pods landed no too far away from where they were, and from each of those pods four soldiers armed to the teeth hurried out.
“Fan out! Find that bastard Yamus!” The Captain of the small squad ordered.
“Oh, fuck! Grogor’s personal Army!” Jorik yelled, pulling out a duo of gaudy-looking golden blasters overstuffed in attachments, like three laser pointers, two scopes, four torches and two enlarged clips so long they almost touched the ground.
“You and your overcompensating guns!” Pat added, pulling out of his left leg’s compartment a plain-looking rifle with a muzzle crackling in red energy.
“Whitey!” Izuku ordered.
“Understood! Troublemakers shall be stripped as an example to others!” The Robot answered, switching to red eyes mode.
“But-”
“They can breath this atmosphere, Host! Disciplinary Stripping won’t cause their death!”
“Oh… Okay then.”
“I FOUND THEM!” One of the soldiers yelled, and immediately all of them started shooting towards them.
“Take cover!”
Pew! Pew! Pew!
“...”
“… God they have bad aim…” Shiro admitted after a short pause.
While everybody else took cover, Izuku was standing still in the open, and yet all the shots were missing him by a wide margin.
“Your doing, System?” Izuku asked in bewilderment while a red blaster shot missed his head of at least forty inches.
“No.” The Entity answered.
“Take cover, you fool! Those are the best shooters in the Galaxy!” Jorik yelled while peeking out of cover to shoot those guys.
“… Really?” The young Chef asked, turning around to look at Jorik while asking him that, and the blaster shoots still missed him.
“Damn! The green-haired one is slippery!” One of the soldiers yelled in dismay.
“Of course… Things have been too normal for more than ten minutes after all…” Momo muttered with a groan.
“I’ll… Take care of them…” Yamus said weakly, and once pointed their chain gun arm at the hanging giant blade standing immobile above them, they actually shot and broke the huge blade off with barely few shots.
Clang!
With a loud thundering sound the blade detached and slammed down on the ground and started rolling towards the soldiers, making them scatter away in fear so to not be crushed… Except one.
“JENSEN! NOOOO!” The Captain yelled in horror at seeing his soldier, and best friend, run away chased by the giant blade.
“WHY! OH WHY I WAS NOT TOLD HOW TO DEAL WITH THIS!?” The guy screamed in fear while running in a straight line.
Flashback – Prometheus Academy -
Class was in session, and a very old woman was going through a very fundamental lesson when her eyes fell on a student blatantly ignoring her.
“Focus, Jensen! One day you will need to know how to act if a giant object is rolling behind you and you need to escape from it!” The old woman said, slapping her desk with a long wooden ruler.
“Suuuure, Miss Dawson!” The young kid answered, rolling his eyes and returning to ignore her completely while drawing himself as a big and strong heroic soldier in a corner of his school book.
“Stupid lesson, who needs to learn how to run away from things?” He muttered in derision of his silly teacher.
End of the flashback -
“… GODDAMNIT!” Jensen yelled in dismay, soon disappearing from view while chased by the giant rolling blade.
“Jensen! Jensen! Just jump to the side! Jump to the side, damnit!” One of the soldiers yelled.
“Wait! Where did those guys and Yamus go?!” The leader of the group yelled in anger once noticed the disappearance of Izuku and the others.
ZOOOOM!
To their dismay they could only see where they were once noticed the small fish-shaped space ship rapidly breaching atmosphere to leave the planet.
“Fuck! They left! Alert Doctor Grogor immediately! We must find that ship and recapture Yamus!” The man ordered.
“Yessir!”
Meanwhile – With Izuku and Momo – Space -
As soon as they left the planet, Jorik gave the space ship’s equivalent of “Pedal to the metal” And hurriedly initiated Warp Speed and made his ship blink out of reality to travel faster than light towards a new destination.
“Okay! We are safe! We are safe!” Pat said, emptying his oil flask in just few gulps to calm down.
“We almost got gunned down by a bunch of armed psychos at the orders of an insane Megalomaniac! Fuck! Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking!” Jorik said, lighting-up a massive cigar to take several giant lungfuls and then release everything in a giant purple cloud of smoke.
“Who were those people?” Momo asked.
“The Private army of a Mad Scientist called Doctor Grogor. The guy is known as the greatest scientist alive, and also so damn insane and Evil they say he blows-up planets for fun.” Pat explained.
“And for some reason he wants you dead, Yamus! Why?!” Jorik asked.
“Listen… The Resistance paid me to destroy a giant cargo of weapons and locate an AI Core. And I did that. Mostly.” Yamus answered, they were still wrapping a long string of bandages around their waist to cover the bright green medical paste Pat helped them use on their wounds.
“Mostly?” Izuku asked.
“Destroyed the weapons, but I could not find that AI Core. And I looked everywhere.” The Bounty Hunter answered.
“Why they wanted you to steal that thing?” Momo asked.
“Grogor has always been a very sought-after name in the black market when it comes to illegal weapons of mass destruction, so the Resistance wanted to stop him from selling even more weapons to Pirates and unscrupulous Dictators. One of which the current ‘Emperor’ that manipulates the Senate from the shadows.” Yamus answered, resetting their left shoulder with a crack! Sound and a grunt of pain.
“And the AI Core?” Pat asked.
“That they didn’t tell me much. Just that it is instead a fundamental part of Grogor’s own plans. So they wanted me to steal it to study it… And probably use it for their own battles. Not that I really care.” They answered.
“But you didn’t find it.”
“I really tried, Pat! It was supposed to be sealed inside a giant glass tube six feet tall, but I only found the support base, so I guess they had just moved it before I arrived.” Yamus grunted in answer and slapped their leg with the big rotary gun they had for arm.
“What now?”
“I’ll keep looking, of course! Just take me to one of my secret hideouts, I’ll grab my spare space ship and resume the hunt.”
“Wait! Wait! So you destroyed a convoy of weapons of that mad scientist Grogor? That’s why those guys are hunting you down?” Jorik asked with wide eyes.
“I destroyed the entire base, actually! Before leaving I even made sure the entire asteroid had left orbit and crashed into the sun… But it was necessary, they paid me a lot of money to stop that latest delivery of weapons of mass destruction. And you know me, if the pay is good enough, no job is impossible for me!” Yamus answered, laughing weakly because of their wounds.
“That guy is completely insane, and yet you went and destroyed one of his bases?” Pat asked, horrified.
“Eh! What can I say, the pay was damn good!” The Bounty Hunter answered, smirking.
“And now the guy will very likely want you dead… And just to be sure, he will also kill whoever helps you. And that is us!” The short alien said, groaning.
“Whoopsie, Jorik! But to be fair, at the time a full-frontal assault looked like a good plan! And even then, it was a lot of fun!” Yamus answered, chuckling.
“Fuck, you just made us all a target of that psycho just for a fistful of SDCBs…Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit amphetamines!” Jorik said, shuddering and downing several small pills like they were mints.
“Come on! Where is your sense of adventure?”
“I left it in my other pants, sorry.” he answered with a sarcastic tone.
“This thing sounds like a mess.” Momo said, groaning.
“A mess we may be dragged into.” Izuku added, face-palming.
“I still haven’t thanked you! You two… Ehm… Are?”
“Izuku.”
“Momo.”
“Well, Izuku and Momo, I owe you my life! So if I can return the facor and help you one day, just remember to call!” Yamus said, chuckling.
“Thanks… But I am just interested in hunting down three creatures.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“Uhm?”
“I was asked by my sponsor to hunt and capture three animals: a Terrorix, an Allotriomorph and a Geopollux.” Izuku explained.
“… Never heard of that shit.” Jorik admitted.
“Names ring no bells.” Pat echoed.
“I haven’t met any either. BUT! I know a guy that may know!” Yamus said as well, but added the last part as soon as he saw Izuku’s face starting to turn sad.
“Who? Any help would be invaluable to us!” momo begged.
“Doctor Amelia Greens. The Xenobiologist, if SHE doesn’t know about a race, it’s because it never existed!” Yamus explained, proudly.
“NOOOO! We are not going to Planet Cazzaro! I won’t put my ship at risk in that forest shithole!” Jorik said in petulant denial.
“What, Jorik? Did you turn into a globorb?” Yamus said with a static-filled teasing tone.
“Uh?”
“Their way to call somebody a chicken.” The System explained to both Izuku and Momo.
“I AM NOT A GLOBORB!” Jorik shrieked.
“BLOBLOBLOBLOB!” Yamus gurgled, probably imitating that animal.
“I am not!”
“Just take them there… We did promise we would have helped them in exchange of acting as our scapegoats while recovering Yamus…” Pat said, sighing.
“But that planet is just an entire giant forest full of giant animals, huge mosquitoes, toxic plants, and a plethora of other annoying stuff!” Jorik said, whining.
“Yeah, but we promised.” Pat answered.
“… Fine… Take your seats… We are going to a forest planet with 70000% Humidity and hot as fuck…” The short alien said.
“Thank you, Mister Jorik!” Momo and Izuku said in chorus with a wide smile.
“Yes, thank you, Jorik!” Yamus echoed, obviously smirking under their helmet.
“Fuck, why I always get dragged in other people’s messes… Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue…” Jorik muttered, opening a small compartment next to his driving seat to recover a tube of glue.
A “Short” Jump through Hyper space later – Planet Cazzaro’s orbit -
When the fish-shaped space ship reappeared from its jaunt through hyperspace, the occupants could see a massive planet appear in front of them, completely covered by green forests and very “small” and sparse slices of sea, two moons orbiting it and a lot of space stations hovering above the forest planet.
“Uh! As always, three fourths of the nerds of the Galaxy are here to study everything on that green hell.” Jorik said, humming.
“Recently discovered, can’t expect scientists to not get excited at a brand new planet to explore and study.” Pat answered.
“So your scientist friend is in there?” Izuku asked.
“That planet’s forests are immense.” Momo added, looking worriedly at the giant planet far bigger than earth.
“That is why we will first visit her office in the Space Station where she is employed as animal expert! There their colleagues will tell us how to find her.” Yamus answered.
“Hopefully it will be that easy. Do you know which one it is?” Pat asked.
“… I don’t remember the name…” Yamus admitted after a long pause.
“Try to remember, in the meantime we will pass by them slowly, so to have time to dock.” Jorik answered, sighing.
“I am re-reading our old messages! Gimme a minute!” The Bounty Hunter answered, frantic.
“Do the researchers here know each other?” Momo asked.
“Technically, yes. Unless they are part of rival companies, they sometimes do share notes.” Pat answered.
“So we could make a stop in that space station and ask if they know in which Space Station Miss Greens works as a researcher?” Momo said, pointing at the big complex structure floating alone in the void of space, separated from the other structures, it looked pretty unremarkable and was only decorated by a giant 13 written in bold blocky letters on all sides.
“… Maybe we shouldn’t stop in that specific one to ask…” Izuku countered, watching the strange guy dressed like a full-fledged clown, red nose and big squeaky shoes comprised, wave at him with an oversized power-drill spinning at high speed from one of the Space Station’s big windows.
Behind the guy there was utter chaos: naked people running around with their mouth open in a perpetual scream, guys in power-armor fighting imaginary monsters while drooling as if drugged up to their eyeballs and then there was a single janitor with an unfazed expression and wearing giant earphones to ignore the chaos around him while mopping-up all the blood drenching walls and floor that somebody used to write curses and racist slurs everywhere.
“… Yes, maybe we should dock in the next one…” Momo answered as an entire side of the space station labelled 13 exploded because a guy in only his boxers threw a giant grenade to his equally-naked friend that batted it back baseball-style with a big unstable-looking power-cell cracking in electricity.
“Space station 13… I wonder why they keep using that place, if you ask me, that place is cursed.” Pat commented, shaking his head.
“FOUND IT! The Space Station of the Yeyland-Wutani Corporation. The spherical one!” Yamus said in relief and pointing at a truly giant space station a bit ahead of them.
“Good! I’ll ask permission for landing and… And ask where we will need to land to find Dr. Greens.” Jorik said, sighing in defeat.
“Come on, maybe it will been fun?” Pat tried saying.
“… Fuck… Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit licking space frogs…” The short alien muttered, grabbing a big purple Space Frog to give a long lick to its back.
“Drama Queen.” Pat answered, rolling his eyes.
Some time later – Planet Cazzaro – Research Camp Beta 22 -
The forest was so thick light barely passed through the dense foliage, flowers of every possible colors where adorning the sides of the paths created by the many vehicles connecting the various research camps to the launch platform from where space ships came and went almost non-stop to bring on planet the researchers or to recover them.
Many different melodious calls of birds and other animals echoed everywhere, especially after the ending of the recent rain season, even the local predators were frolicking about to prepare for the incoming mating season.
Whistling a merry tune, a young woman with red hair and freckles, and dressed in full explorer gear, was merrily collecting samples of plants and terrain to bring back to her temporary laboratory on the planet.
Unknown to her, a mysterious figure cloaked in an invisibility field was following her every move in great interest.
“Want… Some… Candy?” A distorted voice echoed all around her.
“What? What was that? Anybody there?” Dr. Greens asked, confused.
“Want… Some… Cand-QWACK!” The Same voice was saying before releasing a chocked squeal similar to a frightened pig.
What followed were noises of somebody getting stripped naked against their will and then getting beaten into a pulp.
“Howdy Greens! How are you?” Yamus said with a cheerful tone, she was acting as the guide for Izuku’s group.
“Yamus! It’s been so long! How are you?” The Researcher answered, hugging the Bounty Hunter as hard as she could.
“Doing fine, as always! What about you? Having fun analysing everything here?”
“You joking? This planet is amazing! There is so much to study here! I like it here,” Greens answered, and swatting dead a mosquito the size of a golden retriever dog without battling an eye.
“Troublemaker dealt with.” Whitey said, rejoining the group as soon as the noises of the one-sided beat-down stopped.
“Uh?” Greens asked.
“Whitey said that a creep was about to hurt you, we asked him to deal with the guy.” Izuku answered.
“Oh! Thank you then! One can never be safe in this part of the Galaxy! But to what do I owe your visit?” The Researcher asked.
“My little friends here are looking for three strange animals, and since I never heard of them, I thought that you could help! You are the only expert in strange animals I know!” Yamus answered, chuckling.
“Strange animals? Uhm! You know I don’t really like when you simplify my job like that, but please, tell me more while we walk back to my tent!” She answered, humming.
At the same time – Yeyland-Wutani HQ -
There was blood everywhere, covering almost every inch of the corridors and ceiling, dead guards and scientists had been torn apart and thrown left and right in a truly nightmarish sight.
The CEO of the Company was looking at the horrifying spectacle of death and violence without a reaction.
“So our Prototype escaped? He asked to the men behind him with a sneer, he looked in disgust at the blood dirtying his design shoes and actually cleaned them on a corpse nearby.
“We underestimated the strength of an Allotriomorph, sir!” The Head of the Company’s RD Department answered, holding a handkerchief on his mouth to not puke.
“Total of the damages?” The CEO asked.
“Two thousand victims betw-”
“I asked for the damages, not how many of those idiots failed to keep my investment escape.” He interrupted the scientist.
“Se-Several Millions in machines, but we are still cataloguing everything that got damaged.”
“I want a detailed list. And the responsible for these waste of money. And send somebody to clean! This place smells!” The CEO ordered, marching away.
“What about the victims’ families, sir?”
“Send a letter or something, make it sound heartfelt or something. I don’t care. Find a way to blame the Rebels or another similar group of morons.” He answered, uncaring.
“Find my Allotriomorph! We still need that thing to breed us an army of weapons to sell to the best bidder!”
“At once, sir!”
Meanwhile – Desert planet -
Another CEO, this one luckily with an actual set of morals, was watching with sad eyes a room full of wounded people being taken care by a giant squad of doctors working at all times to take care of every patient.
“Another attack?” He asked to his assistant.
“Yes, sir. This time in sector 3. Drills 4 and 5 have been damaged heavily and the Teams working there… Well… You can see for yourself.” The young woman answered, she too looking saddened.
“Drills can be replaced, components can be fixed, but people have only one life… Any idea what is that monstrosity?” He asked.
“Nothing in the database. But listening to the local tribes, they call it a Geopollux. But even they are surprised one still exists, since they are supposed to have gone extinct when the planet became mostly desert many thousands of years ago.” The assistant answered.
“And Extinct animal popping-up to defend its territory?” The CEO asked, confused.
“Probably our recent excavations in the area awakened it from some kind of Hibernation, we did find few sparse ice caves deep underground… We are excavating where there was supposed to be the planet’s south pole, after all.”
“And that thing’s scales are too thick even for lasers to pierce...Kinetic weapons are outrageously expensive…” The poor man groaned.
“We are also awfully behind schedule, sir.” The assistant added, looking distraught.
“But I don’t want to put my workers’ life at risk.”
“Then I guess we will need to stretch our budget a bit and hire some external help.”
“No other choice, hn?” The CEO asked, sighing.
“I fear that with how little time we have to fix this issue, no other options are available, unless we move the entire excavation site elsewhere… And the cost for that will be-”
“Astronomical. I know.” The man said, sighing.
“…”
“Sir?”
“Put out the notice, but be sure to make it clear that it’s a mission for experts, not for fools. I won’t feed innocents to that monster.” He asked.
“I’ll take care of that, Sir, don’t worry.” She answered with a reassuring smile.
“Thank you.”
Several Light Years away – Ice Planet -
At the polar opposite of that planet, many and many light years away, there was a world completely covered in ice and near-perpetual snow storms, a world isolated by most of the battle between Corporations, Evil Empires and Evil Scientist; in fact, it was inhabited by various tribes and very small settlements.
And in one of them, a young girl with chalk-white skin and big round orange eyes with pitch-black irises was crying her eyes out.
“Baba, the Chief has decided, if Theo does not step-down, he will be banished.” The Girl’s mother said while comforting the distraught girl.
“But, Mama! I don’t love Jubho!” She cried-out.
“I know, my little snowflake! I know! But Jubho’s father is our best hunter, and he is the Leader of the Hunter Pack, without them our tribe will not be able to survive the long winter…” The old woman answered, she too started weeping for her poor daughter.
“But.but, Mama! Jubho… The way he looks at me… He makes me feel like a prey!” Baba whimpered.
“I know… I too saw his dark eyes, and I saw only darkness in them.” Her mother admitted, shivering in revulsion.
“What should I do then?” Baba asked.
“Jubho has already showed being an even better hunter than his father, and is supposed to take over the Hunter Pack in the future… People will push for you to accept his proposal of marriage even just to stay on his good side.”
“But I don’t love him! Looking at him makes me feel sick! Dirty!” Baba yelled.
“Unfortunately there is no solution to this!” He Mother answered, helplessness turning into burning rage.
“There is a solution instead!” It was then that a young, tall man, of the same alien race of the two, barged into the ice-made igloo.
“THEO!” Baba yelled, throwing herself in his open arms to hug him and cry on his shoulder.
“You don’t plan to run away with my daughter, do you?!”
“No. I plan to Challenge Jubho! I will bring here a prey even he can’t hunt or match!” He said with burning determination.
“A Prey… NO! YOU CAN’T!” Baba yelled in horror.
“You fool! You want to hunt the Ice Demon?!” Her mother screamed with wide eyes.
“Yes! Terrorix! I will bring it here! And prove my superiority to Jubho. That should be enough to save Baba and marry her!” Theo answered, unwavering.
“Then you will die!”
“With Baba’s life and happiness on the line, I am ready to risk my life for her!” Theo answered.
“Nobody will help you! That monster rules over the Ancient Mountains unopposed!”
“No, Theo… Please!” Baba begged.
“I am doing this for you, my Beloved Baba. If Jubho is so obtuse to be ready to force you marry him, then I will drop to his level and beat him where his Pride and Ego feeds: Hunting.” The young alien said.
“… You are insane.”
“No, I love your daughter.” He answered.
Sigh! “… Take my husband spear, he used to say it used to bring him good luck when hunting…”
“No! MAMA!”
“When everything is lost, Baba, Hope is all that remains… And Theo may be the last ray of Hope we have left to save you from Jubho’s greed.” She answered.
It truly was a hopeless situation, and to add more salt to their bleeding hearts, the wild winds outside carried inside the igloo the far-away high-pitched cries of a giant, cruel creature that had made its home at the frigid tops of the insanely-tall mountains casting their immense shadow over the small settlement, as if to mock them with the sheer immensity of the obstacle standing between Baba and Theo.
End of the Chapter -
Omake: Inter-Dimensional Ingredient Hunting.
It was, like, totally awesome! A dessert that, like, blows your mind!
Beverly Hills – Mall
Three young girls were happily humming and laughing while carrying many, many bags in their arms, all spoils of their hunts for sales, and yet they were not satisfied yet!
“I say that another round at Terry’s will do the trick!” The blond girl said.
“I saw we should visit Harnold’s instead! I am sure those shoes will fit me!” The red-haired one insisted.
“I am sure of that! But next, I want to try that new Cinnamon and apple smoothie!” The Black haired one answered.
“Heck yeah!” The other two chorused…
It was then that a wall slid opened to show the giant mouth of a metallic tunnel that sucked them in like a giant vacuum cleaner.
“KYAAAAAAAAAAH!” The three girls screamed in fear once captured by the contraption that then slid back inside the wall.
“Glad you could make it, girls.” An old man said with a playful smirk, he was also enjoying the same smoothie the girls had been planning to get.
“Ough!” The blond one, at the bottom of the pile, groaned in pain from the impact of her friends on her poor back.
“Sorry, Clover!” The other two said in chorus while helping her to stand.
“Not a very graceful landing.” The big round sphere attached to the ceiling said.
“We didn’t expect to be called so suddenly, Gladys.” Red haired one answered.
“I am aware that you were occupied by your bi-monthly sale hunt, but unfortunately this Mission could not wait.”
“What do you mean, Jerry?” Clover asked.
“Gladys, if you would…” Jerry answered, and the AI promptly answered.
“In the last two weeks over forty Chefs have been kidnapped. All of them took part to a cooking show hosted by a retired Chef called Jean Claude.” Gladys answered, showing the picture of a man with half his face covered in scars and wearing an eye-patch. Looking at him, nobody would actually think he was a Chef to begin with.
“Ugh! What happened to him?” Sam asked, grimaced.
“At the very peak of his career, he tried creating the world biggest souffle, unfortunately one of his helpers mistakenly caused it to deflate and the boiling hot thing collapsed on top of him.” Jerry answered, and the screen behind him showed the footage of of that strange and yet terrible incidents, showing a younger Jean Claude being submerged in what looked like being several tonnes of boiling hot deflating souffle.
“Oh, poor dear.” Alex grimaced in sympathy.
“Unfortunately the media was not as gentle as you are, girls. He was actually mocked and ridiculed for it… Reason why we believe he is actually the one kidnapping those young Chefs. Our physiologists at WOOHP analysed his mannerism and all seems to point at his jealousy for young talent being recognized while his was mocked as the catalyst for his madness.” Jerry explained.
“Okay, but what does he do with the kidnapped Chefs?” Clover asked.
“That is what I want you to discover, girls. You will infiltrate the Finals of the show as journalists of our fake Cooking Blog, and as soon as the Winner is selected, follow Jean Claude closely. He may have been able to cover his traces and always have an alibi that cleared him from any accusation.” Jerry answered.
“But you are not convinced?” Alex asked.
“He always, always, buys giant quantities of chocolate after each winner is selected, Gladys confirmed that the quantity bought always matches the body weight and mass of the winners.” Jerry answered with narrowed eyes.
“And with all the weirdos we have already faced, that is too strange a coincidence.” Clover answered.
“Exactly, so! As usual, me and Gladys will introduce you your gadgets for this Mission and send you on the field, you ready?” He asked.
“Yes, Jerry!” The three girls answered in chorus.
The next Day – Paris – TV Studio -
Everything was going fairly normal during the show, with the scarred Chef Jean Claude limping heavily whenever he walked but still presenting the image of a jovial, happy-go-lucky TV Host interviewing and judging the various contestant fairly and professionally.
Behind the scenes, mixing with the other journalists, the three young spies stood in wait, Alex the interviewer, Clover the photographer and Sam the camera woman.
“It’s time to meet the new Champion!” They all heard Jean Claude say with a wide smile.
“Ready, girls!” Sam said with narrowed eyes.
“… Steven!” Jean Claude declared after a long pause to raise the Hype, and then a shower of confetti rained over the guy the jury choose as the Winner.
“Wonderful job, Steven! As part of your prize, you will receive 10 thousand dollars and a chance to become a student of La Rue, the most prestigious cooking school of Paris!” Jean Claude declared while giving the winner a one armed hug to appear next to him on camera.
“Okay, now we need to not miss a single move of that creep.” Clover muttered.
Later that night – Secret lab in Jean Claude’s Villa’s basement -
Right under the giant, ultra-luxurious villa built in the colonial style there was n ample basement tastefully decorated and furnished… And right behind a fake wall, a new ramp of stairs leading to a secret laboratory full of futuristic and incredibly advanced machinery.
“HEEEELP!” And a young man, the winner of the contest, was trapped inside a glass cylinder where his body was slowly being covered by chocolate in a twisted turture.
“Soon you will become yet another chocolate staute! Just like all the others!” Jean Claude declared with crazed eyes.
“P-Please let me go!” Steven begged while chocolate started covering his chest.
“NO! If I was denied the fame and respect as a Chef I deserve, nobody can get it!” Jean Claude spat in anger and hatred.
“Instead of helping me, instead of pitying me, they laughed! LAUGHED! After that incompetent ruined my giant souffle, my life fell to ruin! I was laughed out of every kitchen! But I showed them! I showed them all!” The madman ranted, his spit flying everywhere.
“First I disappeared for a few years to study chemistry, and then, with the knowledge I gained, I planned my revenge! Encasing whoever dared to get the recognition I never could get in an eternal slumber of chocolate! Giant statues commemorating my divine punishment towards whoever dares to think they are better than me!” Jean Claude said, his only eye wide with a tiny pupil and a wide, insane smile.
“You… You are crazy!” Steven said, horrified and with chocolate already reaching his shoulders.
“No! I am just enacting the sweetest justice! But don’t worry, my chocolate is special, it is laced with a compound of my creation that will hybernate you, you will remain safe and sound inside my chocolate until I have decided you have been punished enough!… Maybe in a couple hundred years I will even let you go! GYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” The Insane Chef laughed maniacally.
“NOOOOO!” The guy yelled in horror, and stopping only when the chocolate completely encased him, turning him in a life-like statue of white chocolate.
“Hehehehe! Almost ready for the fridge!” Jean Claude said in insane glee.
Crash!
“This is were we stop you, Jean Claude!” Sam yelled as she and her friends forced their way in, after recording Jean Claude’s ramblings as a further proof of his bad deeds.
“You can’t stop me! I deserve justice for their laughing at me! For ruining my life!” Jean Claude yelled in answer, and grabbed what looked like being a giant bulky water-gun.
“Eh?” The girls muttered, confused by the strange weapon.
“You are lucky! I will let you taste my newest creation! “crème a l’acide”! Hahahahaha!” He yelled, and with a new round of mad laughter, he squirted white cream from his gun that managed to melt everything it touched on impact.
“GAH! SCATTER!” Clover yelled, and the girl split just in time to get a massive shower of corrosive cream.
“Come on! Don’t run! You can’t say you don’t like it until you do not taste it at least once!” Jean Claude yelled with a mocking tone, and at each press of his trigger, a new volley of corrosive cream went shot, creating a new hole in the walls or melting the equipment.
“There is too little space here!” Sam shrieked.
“We need to take him outside!” Sam answered.
“Stop running! I want to stuff you! Gyahahahahaha!” Jean Claude yelled.
“You’ll have to catch you first!” Clover answered.
The girls were using both agility and clever tactics to drive their fight to the upper floor, until a stray splurt of corrosive cream landed on a wall separating the living room to the kitchen…
And they saw a young man with green hair giving the finishing touches to what could only be described as a piece of culinary Art made by God himself.
“Daaaamn! What’s the name of this dish?” Nejire asked, amazed.
“Foie Gras Flambe au Cognac. The recipe was incomplete, so it took me a bit to fill the blanks and perfect it. But I am pleased wioth the results.” Izuku answered, plating the thing.
“Who are you?” Sam asked.
“You… You completed my secret recipe?!” Jean Claude instead asked with a shriek.
“Hn? Ah, you must be the Villain Chef! Good Evening! Yes, Icchan was tasked with recovering and completing the recipe, and considering we saw you were about to get arrested for your crimes… I permitted to Izuku to just borrow your recipe as the actual Pro Hero present on the scene.” Nejire answered.
“Also, I freed the guys you captured and stored inside that freezing room of your for your personal Horro Museum.” Izuku added.
“You feed them?” Jean Claude asked, dumbfounded.
“Ah-hem!” Several voices cleared their throats from behind Mad Chefs and spies, and when they turned around, they saw every victim of Jean Claude free from their chocolate hibernation and Furious.
“NO! Who the heck are you?!” Jean Claude asked.
“Besides a damn cute guy!” Clover quipped, making her friends groan at her bad timing.
“Nice to meet you, I am Izuku Midoriya, Chef.” Izuku answered, bowing.
“You dare think to come into my home, free my prisoners from the fate I bestowed on them and believe you can just complete my Magnus Opus recipe?! The recipe that will win me the Love of the entire world?!” He shrieked.
“The System was right… He is completely insane.” Nejire commented, surprised by how bad the man’s mental health was.
“DIEEEEEE!” Jean Claude Yelled, emptying an entire canister of corrosive cream all at once to shoot izku.
“NO!” The Spies yelled in horror.
Swiiiing!
Under the disbelieving look of everybody present, izuku’s dragon knife and Myriad Manifestation Mallet appeared in his hands, and once the mallet turned into a thin knife itself, the young Chef twirled both blades so fast their blades disappeared in an invisible blur of distorted air; Izuku then caught the flying corrosive cream mid-air and used his spinning knives to mount that cream into a thick peak he then delicately deposited on a nearby table to melt a hole in the floor by itself without hurting anybody. All happening in barely a second.
“How did you do that?!” Jean Claude demanded in shock, then he made the mistake of blinking.
“Vajra Filleting!” When Jean Claude opened his eyes again izuku was already past him and the water gun in his hand had turned into thin stripes, cut by the young man’s knife effortlessly no matter the super-alloys the guy had used to build the cream gun.
“YOU DEVIL!”
“Spiral Gun!” Nejire frowned at the guy’s attempt at strangling her boyfriend, and while pointing a single finger at Jean Claude, she blasted him with a spiral of energy the sixe of his torso that slammed him heavily against the wall hard enough he left an imprint.
“No attacking my boyfriend, thank you!” She asked with narrowed eyes.
“I will have my revenge!” The madman stumbled forward, only for a big metallic hand to clamp on his shoulder to stop him.
“Troublemakers will be stripped as an example top others!” Whitey declared with red eyes.
“...Oh, no…” The Villain whimpered.
Strip! Slap! CRASH!
Stripped naked, bitch-slapped several times and finally punched into a crater; that was the undignified end of Jean Claude the Mad Chef Villain.
“Well, I am glad we had some help, at least.” Sam said, sighing.
“Didn’t plan to get in the way to be honest!” izuku admitted with a sheepish smile.
“Hey, it’s totally okay, don’t worry.” Clover answered, winking.
“AT least these people are safe! Now we need to tell Jerry to send somebody to help that last guy down there and these people here.” Alex said.
“And to arrest Jean Claude too!” Sam added.
“That too.”
“Do you need my testimony?” Izuku asked.
“Or mine?” Nejire added.
“Just a couple questions.”
“Sure!” Both answered.
Two long hours of interrogation later Izuku and Nejire were permitted to leave by Jerry himself… Only to find Sam, Alex and Clover waiting for them.
“Soooo…” Alex said.
“We kind of tasted that thing you made.” Clover added, twirling few hair around a finger.
“Uh-hu?” Both Izuku and Nejire’s muscles tensed, ready to bolt.
“And it was heavenly! I never knew Foie Gras tasted that amazing or felt that smooth and tender!” Alex exclaimed in awe,
“Glad you liked it…” Izuku answered, tense like a violin cord.
“So we were wondering if you could come cooking something else at our place… As a form of celebration for arresting Jean Claude.” Sam said.
“Alone.” Clover added.
“And maybe stay the night?” All three asked.
“…”
The three girls smiled wide… But Nejire wasn’t smiling wide, she was actually growling.
“SPIRAL CANNON!” A giant explosion generated by both her hands lifted an immense cloud of dust, and when Alex dispersed the cloud with one of their gadgets, Nejire was already flying away with Izuku tightly (and kind of possessively) trapped in her hug
“WAAAAAAAAAAIT!” The three spies yelled, immediately giving chase.
And the System… The System fumed…
But the System planned.
They were getting closer.
End of Omake.
If we want to be calling it canon: the actor John Hurt played a character suffering an Alien Chestbuster in Alien AND the spoof movie Spaceballs, making him technically a guy that got "Chestbusted" TWICE.
He died in 2017, but I still wanted to remember the amazing guy that took part to two of my favourite movies,
may he rest in peace.
Small Extra…
“Villain Support, This is John, how can I help you?”
“Unintelligible groaning.”
“It’s you?! What happened?!”
“Pitiful groaning.”
“Stripped naked and beaten green? Who the heck have you tried to hunt now?”
“Sobbing and whining.”
“Green Hair and Green eyes… I got nobody in the database matching that!”
“Unsure mumbling.”
“The Female called one of them Izuku?… Aren’t you in a forest planet 30000 light years away from planet earth, in the year 8000? How the heck did you walk on Izuku Midoriya?!”
“unsure grumbling.”
“Accompanied by a robot and a tall dark haired female? He has not a robot!”
“Petulant hissing.”
Sigh! “Gimme a moment.”
“Hey, Levi! Can you check something for me?”
“...What do you want, John?”
“Since when Izuku Midoriya has a robot?”
“A robot?”
“A white one with a round belly… And a furry strange animal around his neck.”
“Strange stuff.”
“Just check, I got a Predator on the line and he is sobbing.”
“Fine, Fine… Izuku Midoriya, plus white robot, plus furry… DROP THE CALL! DROP THE CALL!”
“I am not dropping the call, Levi!”
“He is a variant! One chosen by The System!”
“I am dropping the call! Sorry, man, you are on your own! We are not dealing with That! Good Luck!”
“Scared begging for help.”
Click!
“...Poor bastard,”
End of the Extra.
Sorry for the long wait, I am hardly in control of my free time nowadays. My apologies.
Thank you for reading.
Chapter 34: Galactic Shopping List
Summary:
Time to hunt down the three alien monsters thanks to Izuku's new friends! Should be too hard... Hopefully.
Notes:
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
This Arc is built on PARODY of scifi movies and TV Series, meaning taht things, terms and people are voluntarily turned into caricatures. This is supposed to be something to laugh about, any reference you think is instead an insult, sorry, but it's only in your head. +
This Arc is a SciFi parody, nothing else.
I am not supposed to write this, but I guess one can never be too sure with people online.
Chapter Text
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/Nejire
Chapter 34: Galactic Shopping List -
Izuku and Momo’s Home Universe -
The situation was a mess.
“CARS!” Mirio yelled as Gigantomachia kicked the ground and shot them a solid wall of flying cars and giant slabs of concrete like a deadly hail.
“DENVER SMASH!” All Might answered by punching in front of him and using the blast of air to turn concrete to dust and blow back the cars.
“Wasn’t he supposed to be a mindless brute? It took him far too little to understand how to keep us from jumping him all at once!” Tamaki asked, he had turned his arms into big tentacles and was using them to throw parked cars and fragments of the street at the giant Villain, hoping to either hurt or at the very least distract him.
“I TAKE OFFENSE TO THAT, BOY!” Gigantomachia answered while trying to catch him.
“Whatever.” He answered, growing wings right after to fly away and avoid being grabbed.
“FOCUS ON ME, YOU GIANT MORON!” Mt. Lady joined the scene by turning giant and delivering a jumping elbow hit to Machia’s chin.
“That smarts!” The Villain answered, smirking and just scratching his chin.
“Not enough unfortunately.” Mt. Lady hissed with a frown.
“We need to push him out of the city!” Nejire, looking dishevelled and bruised, said while charging two giant spirals of energy in her hands.
“Are you okay!? That thing slapped you away.” Nemuir asked, worried.
“I am tougher than I look and got a few tricks up my sleeve… But that still hurt a lot.” Nejire answered, still with laboured breath and a some blood still smeared on her mouth.
“God… Even with ENBU and whatever power-up I got from Food Honor, that slap almost did me in! Had I not had all that, that slap would have killed me… And probably turned me into a smear on the floor.” Nejire thought, shivering in horror at how close she was at dying.
“You need to step back.” Nemuri said.
“Not until that guy leaves or drops down unconscious! Spiral Cannon!” Nejire answered by blasting Gigantomachia with her biggest shot to date, one big enough it engulfed the giant Villain’s torso and pushed him back of a couple inches.
“My Master told me to get here and test All Might and his Pupil, you others are in the way! Now Die!” Gigantomachia, albeit smirking savagely, gave a deafening roar of rage and charged the Heroes like a speeding train.
“INCOMING!” Nighteye yelled with wide eyes.
Meanwhile – Other Dimension – Ark Galaxy – Dr- Grogor Secret Base -
The mad scientist was laughing in amusement while enjoying his favourite show on a giant screen.
“Ehm… Master Grogor?” One of the man’s followers interrupted him.
“What?!” The Scientist growled annoyed, and pausing the video before a new load of living fluffy kittens could be dropped inside the giant roaring blender.
“We almost caught Yamus, but they escaped. We still have not recovered the AI Core for the Bio-Obliterating Ballista.
“GODDAMNIT!” Grogor pulled-out a gun and shot the innocent servant with a laser that caused him indescribable pain and then made him explode like a water balloon full of blood.
“Find Yamus! Find my AI Core! NOW!” He ordered, pressing a button that made a random space station full of thousands of orphans (That Grogor himself had kidnapped from many orphanages) crash inside a blackhole before a ship containing the children’s parents, that the kids didn’t know were still alive, could reach it to save them… Then he made that ship explode too.
“Yes, Master Grogor!” The assorted soldiers and servants answered as one.
“And remember! I am not evil! I am just misunderstood! I will skin alive the grandpa of whoever says otherwise!” He yelled with an insane spirt-riddled snarl.
“Yessir!” The Scared people answered in chorus.
“Good.” Satisfied by the answer, the Mad Scientist returned to watch his favorite show while sitting on his recliner made in leather created with the skin of cute puppies he personally tore apart by hand while laughing maniacally. Only the cutest and fluffiest puppies had been used, of course.
In the meantime - With Izuku and Momo – Space Station -
Izuku, Momo and the others were watching Yamus scientist friend rapidly tap on her computer while mumbling to herself.
“We had to come all the way here.” Pat said, sighing.
“I need to connect to the mainframe, and from that, to the collective data storage shared by my colleagues, and a direct connection to their own computer so to chat with them.”
An Allotriomorph, a Terrorix and a Geopollux, those were the three animals Izuku was tasked to capture for his Restaurant storage island where they will breed and prosper for Izuku to use as Ingredients.
“No traces of what an Allotriomorph is even supposed to be, but…” The Scientist said.
“But?” Jorik echoed.
“Well, I can tell you where to find a Terrorix.” She said, removing her glasses to clean them.
“And the Geopollux?” Momo asked.
“Those can be found in every Museum of decent size, they all went extinct when their home planet Dustina went through a climate catastrophe that turned it into a desert planet 3470 years ago.” She explained.
“Extinct?!” Izuku shrieked.
“Yep! I might know a guy good at cloning…”
“But?” Momo asked.
“Cloning has been declared Super-Illegal after the “Bonka Carfuffle” of 7590.” Pat said.
“Eh?”
“Basically, a guy, Billy Bonka, had a dream: A Chocolate Factory as big as a planet! But he also wanted to cut corners when it came to workers and other expenses, so he cloned a single guy into the Billions of workers he needed. It was a very poor idea.” Yamus explained.
“Cloning is a delicate, VERY delicate thing. A single 0,000000000000000001% error and the clone is a mess. Bonka’s clones were very badly-made. And yet the guy made so many he actually sold the extra ones for cheap.” Jorik said, shaking his head.
“Sold them?” Izuku asked.
“At the time a Clone, even of a sentient race, was not legally recognized as a sentient being, so a Clone could be sold and it’s not considered slavery.”
“That is why people loved to use and buy clones: no need to worry about work safety or other laws if the workers are not legally People or Robots. No rights to worry about.” Pat said.
“And the Bonka ones were very badly made.” Momo said.
“Have you ever seen those cheap comedies on Space TV? Where one of the characters is so clumsy it defies even the Laws of Physics?” Jorik said.
“You mean like: slip on the wet floor and pushing an old lady against a chair that flies off and hits a car that starts making noise from the alarm and distracts a painter that falls down from the ladder and drenches a passing guy in paint and makes him slip and so on and on with an escalating crescendo of excessive and ridiculous chain reactions of accidents?” Izuku asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Exactly that, but in real life. Even now scientist have no clue how it was possible for those Bonka Clones to be so clumsy slapstick worked in real life.” Jorik answered, nodding.
“That is why cloning is illegal?” Momo asked.
“That and the billions of property damages they caused, and the trillions of people that got hurt by those Clones’ accidents, by sheer miracle only Bonka died because of his clones, but the number of people that got hurt and even put into a coma for a while was astronomical. The guys in a coma have all recovered and woke-up years later, by the way.” Pat answered.
“HE DIED!?” Both teens yelled with wide eyes.
“It was so big it even made a mark into history books. The complete destruction of Bonka’s Chocolate Factory planet ‘Diabeetus 6’.” Yamus said.
“Even a planet got destroyed…” Izuku muttered in dismay.
“Those damn Clones were walking disasters, each could bring an entire planet on the brink of ruin, and Bonka had an army of billions of them working in his Factory Planet.” Pat said.
“Imagine: volcanic eruptions of chocolate, geysers of mint syrup, a giant caramelized plumbus sixty meters tall rolling downhill and flattening everything on its path, rain of candied porlobong the size of space golf balls raining down like lethal hail, storms of Grungu Cheese dust rattling everything in a planet-wide endless sandstorm… It was apocalyptic.” Jorik added, shivering.
“When the rescue teams managed to cut their way through that giant mess they found every Clone dead and Bonka’s corpse floating in a giant vat of boiling-hot nutmeg of Svervos Nuts. They still don’t know what killed him, if he drowned first or if it was being boiled alive, or even his lethal allergy to Svervos nuts.” Pat added, shaking his head.
“Luckily, besides him only those Clones died, every other victim of the clones’ incompetence only came out from the various accidents heavily wounded and traumatized, some say it was a joke of the Gods to punish Bonka for being a cheap bastard.” Yamus added.
“And what happened to the planet factory?” Momo asked.
“It exploded soon after, by the recordings of the communications between the Space Ship that tried to save Bonka from that disaster and the very last Clone alive, that very last Clone thought that dropping several billion tonnes of giant Space Mentos inside their giant Vats of ultra-pressurized Space Cola would have took-out the fires and everything else with the resulting foam… The planet exploded instead.” Pat answered.
“Ooof!” Both Izuku and Momo hissed with a grimace.
“Ever since then, Cloning is Illegal… Meaning that if you pay enough money, somebody will still do it for you.” Yamus said.
“No need to pay for overpriced Clones made by an unemployed Neckbeard, Host. If the System sent you here, it’s because there are two living specimen, a male and a female, that the Host can capture.” The System said.
“Let’s not go for cloning… Are you really sure they went extinct?” Izuku said.
“I mean, I can check again, but it is basically common knowledge that those giant beasts are all gone.” The scientist answered, shrugging.
“Please?” Momo asked.
Sigh! “I guess I can. In the meantime I can tell you were to find a Terrorix, that fluffy nightmare is instead still alive and kicking. You can find entire packs of them on planet Calippo,”
“That Ice-covered Hell-Hole?!” Jorik shrieked in dismay.
“You can remain on the ship, I will accompany them.” Pat answered, shrugging.
“You Pulinpas and your hatred for cold climates… I will accompany you too.” Yamus added, shaking their head.
“You go there, in the meantime I will keep looking just in case a Geopollux actually popped-up alive against all notions of science.” Dr. Greens said with a thumbs-up.
“It’s a good start. While we travel there, I’ll put out the world that some disgustingly rich guy is looking for a living Allotriomorph. If there is something that makes the Underworld give you their attention, that’s the promise of a giant stack of cash.” Yamus added.
“Aah, Illegal Channels, the one place where you can actually find everything.” Jorik joked, chuckling.
“We will be on our way then, thank you for the help, Miss Greens.” Momo said.
“It’s fine, dear! Keep communications open so I can notify you if I find anything about those three animals you are looking for!” The Scientist said with a thumbs-up.
“Thank you! Let’s go! Your beasties won’t hunt themselves, izuku!” Yamus answered, pushing the others out of the small cubicle.
“Okay!” They all answered, hurrying towards Jorik’s space ship.
Meanwhile – Space – With Faye -
Faye was finishing watching a cheap video on a small screen, smiling wide while the guy with unshaven beard and dirty bathrobe stretched over his bulging belly and the thin shirt covered in spots of grease and tomato sauce, as if he was recording the video from the broom closet of the cheap restaurant he worked in.
“And with this, I pronounce you a Master! Well done, Young Paddlewan.” The guy said in a thick accent.
“DONE!” Faye said with a wide smile.
“The hell have you done now?” Pando asked, and every time he looked at Faye the button that would open the hatch and jettison the woman into outer space without a space suit looked more and more tempting.
“I just finished watching a collection of videos that taught me how to fight! I am now a Master in The Borce, The Corce, The Dorce, The Eorce, The Gorce, The Horce, The Iorce, The Jorce, The Korce, The Lorce, The Morce, The…” She started listing improbably names while counting on her fingers.
“Yeah, Yeah… Besides that, how long was each video?” Pando interrupted her with a groan.
“Five minutes!” Faye quipped with a wide smile.
“You can’t become a master in anything in five minutes, Faye…” Pando answered, pinching his nose.
“I can because… I AM A WOMAN!” Faye answered, hamming up the world-breaking revelation.
“Yes, I know you are a woman.” Pando answered, rolling his eyes.
“And that is not an acceptable answer either.”
“Hush! Stop man-whining and man-ruining my revelation about my being a woman. You won’t hold me back!” Faye said with an annoyed pout.
“I am not holding you back. I am just saying that you got scammed, nobody can learn to Master Mystical Space Powers in five minutes… Come on! Nobody buys those videos, everybody in the entire damn Galaxy knows that they are a scam. They just steal your money and give you some crap videos filmed in a garage or behind the parking lot of a Space Fast-food chain.” Pando said, once again falling victim of a strong headache thanks to Faye.
“Stop Man-doubting me! If I say I am a Master, then I am a Master and can beat people that for example trained in the Porce for years, even if trained by a personal tutor!” Faye answered.
“My God… Arguing with you is like arguing with a Space Soccer Mom, a Space Karen or just a five years old spoiled brat…” Pando muttered, desperately massaging his temples.
“Beep! (Here!)” The tiny robot said while offering him a big glass of water with a big aspirin pill already melting in it.
“Thank you, pal.” Pando said.
“Stop Man-grumbling, I said! I haven’t even wasted money! I used your money to pay for the videos after all!” Faye said, rolling her eyes.
PFFFFFFF!
Pando gave a giant spit-take in answer to that.
“FAYEEEE!” Followed by a scream of murderous rage as he chased Faye through the ship while brandishing a giant wrench with the intention of bashing the woman’s head to pieces.
Some time later – Ice Planet Calippo -
The frigid wind howled through the jagged peaks of the ice-covered mountain, carrying with it a biting chill hat cut through even the thickest of furs.
“Almost there…”
Under the pale light of twin moons, the landscape was a desolate expanse of white and blue, a stark, frozen wasteland where only the bravest-or the most desperate-would dare to tread.
“Don’t worry, Baba, I will save you from Jubho...” Theo wrapped his cloak tighter around his slender, scaled form, his breath visible in the frosty air.
The young alien's eyes, a deep, turned reflective black thanks to a protective membrane, scanned the treacherous icy hell ahead, with every step becoming a calculated risk due to the lack of any proper path leading to the mountain top, only the desperate search for any decent foothold not too slippery to stand on.
One wrong move could send him tumbling into the abyss below, but Theo still pushed forward, one shivering step after the other; he had to prove himself, not just to his tribe, but to Baba, the woman he loved.
“All this to stop Jubho from putting his dirty hands on Baba. I really hate that guy.” Theo mumbled in annoyance.
Terrorix, a monstrous behemoth and a legend among his people; with scales said to be impenetrable, a breath as cold as a freezing gale that legend said could turn the bravest warrior into an ice statue…
No one in their right mind would face the Terrorix alone, Yet here he was, ascending the mountain in the dead of night, driven by a fierce determination and a Love hat burned hotter than the cold around him.
“… I admit that it sounds poetic if I put it like this… But I still feel like my balls are about to freeze and fall off…” Theo thought in misery.
Lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating the path for a brief moment. Theo caught a glimpse of the entrance to the Terrorix lair, if the many skeletons of animals and fallen Hunters decorating it were any good indication.
“A dark cave that looks like an animal maw on the side of the mountain. The beast must have a flair for the dramatic.” He muttered while tightening his grip on his spear, its tip coated with a rare venom that could paralyze even the most fearsome of beasts, a family recipe of Theo that he fervently hoped will work on the Terrorix too.
He had one chance, and he couldn't afford to miss, especially since Vore was not in his list of fetishes.
As he approached the cave, the storm intensified, the Snow swirled around him in blinding flurries of razor-sharp blades, and the wind screamed like a banshee; Theo paused at the entrance with his heart pounding in his chest like a drum.
“Here comes nothing… Either I get back with a dead monster and marry the girl I love… Or I become a mid-night snack for the same giant monster…” Theo muttered with a shiver, with each step bringing him inside the cave weighting seemingly tonnes to his legs.
The air inside the cave stunk, it was thick with the stench of decay and dead stuff, sometimes acre and sometimes unnaturally sweet, and he could hear the deep, rumbling breaths of the Terrorix’ sleeping echoing from deep within.
Theo took a deep, shaking breath.
This was it, either a success or a colossal failure, this was the moment of truth.
“Baba… Watch over me…” He muttered as he stepped deeper into the darkness, with the icy ground littered in bones crunching beneath his feet.
“…” Silence broken rhythmically by deep monstrous breath echoed in the cave’s vast ceiling lost in shadow, and the only light came from the faint glow of bioluminescent fungi clinging to the walls.
“There he is…” Theo muttered under his breath when the hulking silhouette of the Terrorix came into view.
Even while asleep, the beast was even larger than he had imagined, its massive form coiled on itself and looking like a boulder of fur and scales shimmering faintly in the dim light.
“Gods and Matriarchs… It’s so big…” Theo's hands trembled when it finally downed on him how massive the thing actually was in person, but he forced himself to stay calm.
He edged closer, with every muscle tensed.
“Just a few more steps…” He told himself, and trying to not notice how much bigger the Terrorix became at every step he took to get closer.
CRACK!
“… Fuck…” Theo whimpered with a small voice when a bones snapped loudly under his feet, so loudly that the noise filled the entire cave like an explosion.
The Terrorix stirred, its eyes opening slowly to show the big golden and blood-shot orbs hiding under the eyelids, and almost glowing like twin embers in the darkness.
For a moment time seemed to stand still while the storm still raged outside with the wind’s howling reaching faintly into the cave, but inside, there was only the sound of Theio’s racing heartbeat and the low, threatening growl of the Terrorix as the beast slowly got to its feet.
For a non-native of the planet, the Terrorix looked like the four meters tall unnatural mix of a bear and a sabretooth tiger with the legs covered in deep-green scales and a thick coat of pure-white fur on the beast’s back and a lizard-like tail thick in strong muscles, in fact, the beast was big and imposing, with fat and strong muscles coexisting in perfect balance to make the Terrorix as tall and wide as possible to be a true Monster, far bigger than any human or any alien like Theo.
“Roar!” The Terrorix gave a deafening roar, then, with a sudden fluid motion, it got up on its hind legs and then lunged forward.
“DIE!” Theo as well screamed, thrusting his spear forward towards the creature's hopefully-vulnerable underbelly.
The Terrorix roared again, a deafening sound that shook even Theo’s bones when the spear actually pierced through the beasts’ massive ribs and deep into its flesh.
“Ah!” Getting sent flying by a wide retaliatory paw swipe of the beast, Theo felt pure adrenaline burn in his veins while he bounced on the floor.
Pain exploded through his body as well right after as he felt one of his ribs break as soon as the beast’s paw hit him.
“Grunt!” the Terrorix only gave an annoyed growl at the pain and wound, but Theo refused to let go and recovered his spear from where it had been throw off by the beast’s hurried shaking.
The young alien scrambled to his feet, dodging another swipe from the creature's claws while circling its wide round body.
He had to keep moving, had to stay one step ahead of the Terrorix’ furious hunger.
“Roar!” The monster jumped forward, and Theo rolled away just in time to avoid getting beheaded with a single bite by a few mere millimetres.
“Just die, please!” With a final, desperate effort, Theo shoved and twisted the spear deeper into the Terrorix body, aiming for its heart.
“Roar!” The beast let out one last, ear-splitting roar of defiance, even while getting pierced, and to Theo’s horror the thing actually twisted its body to avoid having the spear pierce its heart.
With a loud dull crack and thump, the Terrorix’s paw slammed heavily on Theo’s chest again, snapping another rib of his and the same spear he used, and this time with a loud crack noise he slammed against the wall and fell down boneless.
“Ugh…” Theo’s vision was blurred and he could tell he was about to lose consciousness, and a small part of him almost welcomed it in the hope of avoiding the feeling of being eaten alive.
“Grrr!” The Terrorix growled in what almost sounded like vitory as it slowly advanced towards him.
“At least… I tried…” And yet, even if faced with certain death, Theo couldn’t help but chuckle at the sheer irony of him going through the effort of looking for the cause of his own death.
He closed his eyes tightly and waited.
“… There it is!” And he heard a voice exclaim in relief.
“Eh?” Theo muttered.
BANG!
A white thing jumped between him and the Terrorix while a strange guy dressed in green actually punched the Terrorix straight in the face and actually sent it flying.
“You okay?” Another alien, female Theo wondered by the high-pitched voice, asked while helping him to stand.
“Guaooooh!” The Terrorix howled in fury, rising to its feet to glare in hatred at the strange Alien that dared humiliate it with a punch.
“Be careful!” Theo yelled with wide eyes.
“Don’t worry, it’s not the first time we hunt a creature like that.” Momo answered with a gentle smile.
“Uh?”
“Knocking: Brahmastra!” Izuku said, and a short combination of hits later the Terrorix gave a strangled whine and co0llapsed on the floor.
“… Just like that?” Theo asked, dumbfounded.
“It’s the sixth Terrorix we capture, by now I know where to hit to knock it down.” Izuku answered.
“THERE WERE SIX OF THEM?!” Theo shrieked in horror.
That was why nobody could hunt that thing! He had five friends backing him up somewhere on the mountain!
Between that dramatic discovery, the wounds and maybe a concussion, Theo finally fainted.
“Oh, crap! Izuku! Healing Cuisine!” Momo yelled.
“Yes! Of course!” He answered, recalling Dragon Knife and Turtle Wok from his tattoos.
Few Hours later -
“… And this is why I need that beast.” Theo finished explaining, his head was covered in bandages and he was eating the warm chicken soup empowered with healing properties Izuku made for him.
“Very backwards.” Izuku admitted, sighing.
“I know, but the Hunting Group is what keeps our village alive during the Great Winter of our world… So if the son of the Leader, and future-Leader himself, makes some demand ‘Easy to fulfil’, many will close an eye. In the end, it’s just a marriage to buy their services.” Theo tried explaining, shaking his head.
“So you made a bet about hunting this thing alone?” Momo asked.
“Baba begged me to find a solution, and poking Jubho on his Ego, his weak spot, was our best option.”
“And you did it because you love her?” Izuku asked.
“Eh! Yes I do. She is free to love whoever she wants, and yet she choose me… How could I not repay her trust and love in me with all myself? Jubho is prideful, if I win this bet even if he hates it he won’t be able to refute this. He will have to stop bothering Baba.” Theo said, hopeful.
“Good enough for me!” Izuku said.
“Me too, do you need help taking that Terrorix down?” Momo asked.
“Thank you, but I need to bring it back to the village by myself, as part of the bet.” Theo answered.
“Very well. We will wait for you at the base of the mountain then, we will pretend to walk into your village by chance then.” Izuku said.
“Thank you. You both saved my life and helped me save Baba from becoming Jubho’s new plaything… Also, your food is good!”
“Hehehehe! Thank you! If you want, I can cook the Terrorix for you and your Village too! So I will be able to test few recipes I plan to make with Terrorix meat.
“Oooh! That sounds tempting! I hope you won’t mind if I accept!” Theo answered, smiling.
“Sure thing!”
“Izuku! Momo! We finished loading the unconscious Terrotix in the cages in the ship! Let’s go!” Yamus yelled from outside.
“Sure! We will go then.” Izuku answered.
“Safe travel, I’ll see you at my Village. You can’t miss it, there is a giant Bolon Skull dangling from the main gate.” Theo said.
“Of course, safe travel to you too!” Momo answered.
“See you later, friends!” Theo said, waving as his strange new friends left.
“… Now that I think about it… How am I supposed to bring this giant dead thing down this damn mountain by myself?” It was after a short pause observing the giant dead Terrorix that Theo noticed how the monster was three times his sizes and probably weighting ten times more than him. And he was alone.
“… Fuck.” He muttered in dismay.
Few hours later – Side of the mountain -
“COME BACK HERE!” Theo yelled as the dead Terrorix rolled and slipped down the mountain at high speed like a rag-doll.
“This is not going as planned!” He yelled, grabbing onto the dead animal and getting dragged behind the thing.
Slippery ice had offered a good way to push the Terrorix down the mountain, with the plan of letting it slide down by itself, unfortunately Theo had underestimated how steep the mountain was, in fact the Terrorix had started sliding down the mountain at insane speed as soon as he managed to make it roll out of its cave, and now he had been chasing the Terrorix corpse for more than two hours down the mountain.
“This is why I am a member of the Fishing Clan! Hunting is too stressful!” Theo cursed while gasping for breath.
When finally the faint lights of his village came into view, Theo sighed in relief and hoped that the dead Terrorix won’t keep rolling so fast to blast through somebody’s home.
“IT’S THEO!” He heard his beloved Baba yell, and Theo’s heart swelled in happiness.
“Almost there!” Theo yelled.
“Whitey! Grab that thing!” And luckily the strange puppet of his new friend managed to catch the rolling Terrorix before it could run over the small group of people waiting for him.
“Thank you… for catching it….” Theo said, gasping for breath once he reached the group.
“That is why we hunt in group, young Theo. Not just for hunting, but for transportation too.” One of the Hunters said with a friendly chuckle.
“Yes, I noticed the problems of logistics of solo hunting…” Theo answered, still breathing heavily.
“May the Elders shake me, you actually did it.” Another hunter said with a low whistle.
“Yep! That’s a spear stab wound… and that is the spear head.” A third one said.
“Yes, sorry about that… The Spear snapped in two while still inside the Terrorix.” Theo answered, sheepish.
“It’s okay, did you use the berry toxin?” The Head Hunter asked.
“Yes, the yellow berries one.”
“Ah, a good one, we’ll need to bleed the meat then before eating it. Or else there will be a long line to the bathrooms after eating.” The Head Hunter said, laughing.
“True.”
“I can take care of that!” Izuku said, smiling.
“Ah, yes! Theo, this is Mister Izuku. He is a wandering Chef. He asked us for help in finding Terrorix meat.” Baba said.
“Oh, nice to meet you.” Theo answered, shaking Izuku’s hand and pretending to meet him for the first time.
“I was told you were hunting one… Would it be too pretentious of me to ask to borrow it?” He asked.
“Oh! It’s okay! I hunt the Terrorix for a bet between gentlemen, so the Terrorix is mine to do as I please. I just ask you to share with the entire Village what you make.” Theo answered.
“Sure!” Izuku answered.
“Wonderful! Then we will leave the Terrorix cooking to you.” The Head Hunter said.
“It will take the entire day to bleed it properly, I can cook it tomorrow, is it okay to you?” Izuku asked.
“Of course!”
“Tomorrow? Then… Baba?” Theo asked.
“Yes?”
“Do you want to treat this feast as a celebration?”
“Celebration? For what?” She asked.
“Well… It will be a celebration if you actually… Marry me…” Theo said, sheepish.
“…” Baba’s face slowly turned bluer and bluer in their race’s blushing.
“You want to marry me?” She asked with a timid voice.
“Yes, Baba. I love you.” Theo admitted.
“Then… Then yes, I will marry you!” Baba answered with a giant smile.
A loud roar of happiness (and one of dismay from Jubho) echoed in the entire valley in celebration of the two lovers promise of marriage.
The Next day – Village Kitchen -
Izuku was happily watching the giant mountain of meat, all separated into the various cuts, he assembled from processing the giant bear-like creature.
“Similar to bear meat, but more tender and pretty fat… Yes, I can work splendidly with this!” He said, regaling the pristine meat cuts with a loving gaze.
“You said you wanted to try few recipes you normally make with bear meat?” Momo asked, giving the last touches to the spread of secondary Ingredients she helped him prepare.
“Bear meat is extremely gamey, and need careful handling to prepare it, but it can be extremely delicious. This animal, the Terrorix, has not the same strong wild taste, and a slightly more tender meat, meaning that it won’t need the same hard work to make it soft and edible, and also it will accompany better the flavor of the other Ingredients I will use… Especially the fat, this chubby alien Sabretooth Tiger-Bear has a meat with very delicious fat. Impressive.” izuku answered, selecting the first few cuts he will work with.
“I’ll help you. We are cooking for a Wedding Party after all!” She answered, tying the strips of her apron behind her back.
“Of course! Pass me the oil then, so we can start!” Izuku answered with a happy smile.
“What’s the first dish?”
“Terrorix Chili, of course!” He answered, smirking.
The Star-Eating Turtle Wok was set on its retractable legs and a small ball of Heaven-Earth Obsidian Flame breath out of Izuku’s mouth to over under it to heat the oil in it.
“Won’t chili need a pot instead of a Wok?” Momo asked, curious.
“It does, but my wok is special,” Izuku answered, winking.
Ding!
Tapping the base of the wok, the thing rang like a bell and contracted on itself until it switched shape to that of a very big pot more suitable for the preparation of dishes like chili and stews.
“Sometimes I forget that your equipment is truly extraordinary!” Momo commented, chuckling amused.
“Ho, sometimes I forget that too, but it is always a nice surprise to learn how peculiar my pots and knives are!” Izuku answered, snorting, and when sure the oil became hot enough, he added the diced onions and the diced green peppers and sautéed everything until soft and brown on the edges.
“Terrorix meat, please!” He asked.
“Ground Terrorix meat, all for you!” Momo answered, passing him the raw grounded meat.
“Thank you,” He answered, and added the meat to a pan to brown.
Once the meat was cooked, he added the garlic to it, then his home-made chili powder, a tablespoon of cumin, salt, and pepper.
“Hmmm! I like this scent!” Momo admitted.
“It’s the spices!” Izuku answered, proudly.
Done with the first round of cooking, the young Chef then added in the beer, the same Stout dwarven beer he learned to produce from Drunkhilde’s recipe, and some vinegar.
“Are you deglazing the pan?” Momo asked with a mischievous smile.
“Yes, I… Hey! Are you…” Izuku answered, before looking at her in surprise.
“I am studying the more intricate details of cooking, yes.” She answered, smirking.
“Wow.”
“Well, you love it, so I wanted to learn more about it,” She answered.
“You are amazing,” He admitted, clearly proud and head over hills for her.
“Thank you!” Momo answered with a beaming smile.
Izuku kept cooking the meat until the alcohol from the beer cooked out a bit, then left it bubble in the pot for about 5 minutes before adding all of the remaining ingredients.
“Almost done!” Finally he stirred everything well to combine everything together and waited to bring the pot to a boil over medium heat.
“The chili is boiling… We can focus on the other dishes while it finishes cooking.” Once happy with the result, he commanded the fire to turn the heat down to low, and partially covered the pot with a lid to let the chili simmer.
“How long?”
“An hour, more or less. Once done we will top each portion with some chili toppings.” He answered.
Terrorix Chili.
“Okay. Next dish?” Momo asked.
“It’s a one-pot-meal that has lots of different flavors.”
“Lots?”
“There will be a ‘Smoky Undertone’ from the chili powder, cayenne and smoked paprika, faint and not overpowering; some vegetables for extra nutrition and color, dumplings as the “comfort food” role and so on.”
“Ho… That sounds complex.”
“Not really! This dish can be quite fast and easy to make. You’ll see!” Izuku answered, winking.
“But without your wok…”
Izuku smirked, grabbed one of the handles of the Turtle Wok, and somehow pulled out an identical wok from inside the first one.
“… Godly Wok… Right.” Momo said, sighing.
“This is how I cook every dish for my Restaurant with a single wok.” Izuku answered with a tiny and somehow-adorable smug smile.
Once again turning the Turtle wok into a pot shape, he added in the Terrorix meat and break it up to brown it for few minutes, then added in the pot diced mushrooms and minced onions.
“Parsley, please!” He asked.
“Here!” Momo answered, handing him the Ingredient and watching him stir the meat with the it to mix the Ingredients together.
Then chili powder, cumin, cayenne and smoked paprika went added.
“We don’t have garlic powder or onion powder.” Momo said.
“I’ll chop them finely by hand, don’t worry. You just stir this for me, gently please.” Izuku answered.
“Okay…” She answered, and while doing as asked, she watched him handle the Sead Dragon Knife to turn garlic cloves and onions into tiny cubes in a flash-
Added those two to the pot together with salt and pepper, Izuku recovered possession of the pot to add some fresh water and stir delicately to make sure that nothing was sticking to the bottom.
“Is the broth ready?” Izuku asked.
“It’s boiling as you said.” Momo answered after checking a small side pot, a normal one.
“Good, pass it along, please.” Still stirring, Izuku added the Bouillon to the pot, then poured in it some diced tomatoes and some beans.
“Beans?” Momo asked.
“Somehow they can grow beans in their caves here, thanks to the light and heat produced by some cave fungi… I tried them and they are surprisingly good, so I think they will go well with this recipe.” Izuku answered, shrugging.
“Beans… On an ice planet?”
“In the Gourmet World there are beans that grow literally out of Magma pools. It’s not as surprising to me to see some born in sub-zero temperature.” He admitted.
“I really want to visit that place.” She admitted in awe.
“Hope you never do that…” Izuku answered with a low whisper she didn’t hear and a shudder she didn’t see.
His expert hands rapidly prepared several crescent rolls and added them into the pot in one layer.
“Normally this dish needs an instant pot for pressure cooking, luckily the Star-eating Turtle Wok can imitate the properties of every pot, pressure ones comprised.” Izuku explained, and at his will the Turtle Wok now shaped like a tall pot got sealed closed on top by a gold lid decorated by a turtle shell motif that grew out of the rim to close like the eyelids of an eye.
Once done cooking the content at low pressure, Izuku added and stirred in some zucchini, resealed the lid and left pot sit on a side by itself to let it rest.
“I think I understand why you like that wok and your knives.” Momo commented, chuckling.
“I know, right?” Izuku answered, laughing.
Smokey Terrorix Casserole.
“Final dishes?” Momo asked.
“A stew and a variation of the Pulled Pork, very simply called by myself Pulled Terrorix,” Izuku answered.
“Delicious,” She answered, smiling.
The stew was done relatively fast, with Izuku mixing flour, pepper and salt; tossing the stew-worthy cut of Terrorix meat on a chopping board and lightly coating it with the mixture, followed by him shaking-off the excess power and browning the meat in skillet with 3 tablespoons butter.
“… Lightly browning the meat helps keep the meat whole while cooking… Right?” Momo muttered with a scrunched nose and closed eyes.
“Exactly! The browning process is not meant to cook the meat but just brown the outside, so it won’t breakdown.” Izuku answered, sounding extremely proud of her.
Once again cloning the Turtle Wok, the young Chef used the clone Wok like a ‘Dutch Oven’ and filled it with the stock, some Dwarven Beer of his own production, tomato paste and mixed all together with 4 large carrots he roughly chopped, slices of a large brown onion, two chopped celery stalks, chopped cloves of garlic, quartered potatoes, bay leaves, rosemary, and the browned Terrorix stew meat.
Izuku brought everything to a boil, then reduce heat to low and left simmer until meat is tender.
“Hmmm! What a delicious scent!” Momo said.
“Thank you!” Izuku answered.
“How long does it need to simmer?”
“Uhm, five to six hours.”
“Six hours?!” Momo yelled with wide eyes.
“Hahaha! That is the normal time! With this wok, if I strain myself a lot I can reduce the time to three hours.” He answered, laughing.
“… Just in time for the dinner. But, will you be okay?” She asked, worried.
“Yes, just extremely tired, I need to connect to the Wok and keep the connection going to make the Wok continue compress time to cook faster, the more it accelerates time the more strain it brings on me, normally I could reduce it to four hours, but I want to make it on three both as training and to not make people wait too long.” Izuku admitted with a sheepish smile.
Sigh! “You overdo sometimes,” Momo admitted, sighing in dismay.
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Terrorix Stew.
Later that night, Izuku’s dishes were considered a perfect frame for the future Wedding of the two young aliens, and the Terrorix meat proved itself a worthy Ingredient just like the System promised, and while the live exemplars went easily added to his Restaurant’s Island Storage, the remaining meat of the dead Terrorix izuku had already cut and cured was added to the various fridges of both Restaurant. Obviously labelled as simple normal Bear Meat.
Pulled Terrorix.
The next day – Space -
“Slept well?” Pat asked once seen Izuku surface from his and Momo’s room on the small ship.
“Yes, sorry if I slept so long. Cooking that tired me more than I anticipated.” Izuku answered with an ashamed expression.
“It’s fine, don’t worry.” Yamus answered.
“Thank you for your patience. Where are we going?” Momo asked.
“The closest Resistance HQ, I may have gotten a lead on the AI Core I need and the Geopollux you two need, so we will catch Two Shulblu with One Blargan.” Yamus answered with a thumbs-up.
“…”
“I guess ‘Two Birds with One Stone’.” Momo whispered to Izuku in answer to his confused silence.
“… Ooh.”
“Now that we are all awake, get ready for hyper-jump!” Jorik said, happily.
“Jorik never wanted to install the upgrade to not kill sleeping people during hyper-jump.” Pat said.
“I am not spending two Space Bucks on a piece I don’t need!” The short alien screamed in anger.
“Cheap bastard.” The Robot rolled his optics and initiated hyper-jump.
“How is this Resistance Group?” Momo asked.
“They basically fight against the Senate Tyranny and often against Doctor Grogor. There were once the Sedi doing the same, but then their war against their “Evil Counterpart” the Jith, they killed each other so the Resistance had to take their place and continue their fight.” Yamus answered.
“Eeh… Sedi VS Jith, that was a messy affair.” Pat commented, shaking his head.
“It was nice in the beginning, both groups had their points of interest, then they became cheap knock-off of themselves. I am almost happy they murdered each other to extinction, at least they died with still few shreds of dignity left.” Jorik commented, scoffing.
“Bit too harsh,” Izuku commented.
Ten minutes of hyper speed space travel later -
The ship exited hyper-space with a noiseless plop into reality to enter the atmosphere of a giant planet covered most by the sea and only a single giant continent.
“Here it is! Planet Antantera! Where we can find one of the biggest bases of the Resistance.” Yamus said.
“I hope they are well-hidden.” Izuku asked, worried.
“Welcome to the Secret HQ Planet of the Resistance. After the sound alert: Press 1 if you want us to overturn your Government. Press 2 if you want us to kill the dictator ruling your world with an iron fist. Press 3 if you want us to violently bring peace to the Galaxy by brutally murdering and desecrating the corpses of the people in charge. Press 4 for pre-ordering a copy our new Cookbook. 100 Easy Dishes to make while fighting the Power! And remember: Death to the Senate!… Beep!” A pre-recorded message blared from the ship’s speakers as soon as the got in range.
“They still have not fixed that automatic transmission. It keeps playing whenever a ship gets too close to the planet.” Pat commented.
“They are not well-hidden, Izuku.” Momo answered, rubbing her temples while Izuku face-palmed.
“This is Yamus, I have an appointment with Roger.” Yamus said to the radio.
“You are here, finally! Land so we can talk!” Whoever was at the other side fo the radio answered with a happy voice.
“We got landing permission. Well, let’s go meet those bad guys.” Jorik commented and pointed his ship straight down to enter the planet’s atmosphere at high speed.
“Landing gear ready.” Pat confirmed when ground became visible and started getting closer fast.
A giant slice of the ground slid aside to show a deep hole from which a landing platform rose out from the underground.
“Let me do the talking while we are there, okay? I know how to handle them.” Yamus said.
“Okay.” Izuku and Momo answered.
Thump!
The space ship touched the metal platform with a soft thud and remained glued to it through powerful magnets, then the platform rapidly moved down like a lift while the tunnel’s cover slid back in place.
“I don’t like being underground.” Pat admitted, and his eyes started projecting light like torchlights.
“Same,” Momo answered.
“Pretty deep too.” Jorik added as the lift kept going and going, deep down underground.
The giant lift kept descending until darkness fully covered the ship, then finally lights went turned on to illuminate the big shaft just in time for the platform to touch the bottom with a loud clanging metallic noise.
“Yamus! You took your time!” The Leader of the Resistance arrived with a small group of freedom fighters.
And all of them, to Izuku and Momo, looked like a very cheap knock-off Cosplay of Mad Max, as if a group of amateur actors tried to remake the movies on a shoe-string budget, looking at how cheap their ‘Resistance Fighters Uniform’ looked.
“I had to make a couple detours, so? The informations about the AI Core?” Yamus answered, already in Business Mode.
“Follow me.” The Leader said, and with him and his soldiers acting as guides, the small group made its way through the hidden base.
“izuku…” Momo whispered while pointing to her left, inside a rather big and empty room.
In there new Recruits were standing in line to join the Resistance.
“Strip!” The woman sitting at the desk said.
“Okay.” The Recruit stripped down to his boxers and got inside an inlfatable kids’ pool full of mud to lather himself and get dirty.
In the meantime his clothes went shot, stomped on and even briefly burned with a flamethrower.
“Perfect! You can get dressed now.” The woman said, watching the guy wear again his ruined clothes and tying a bandanna on his forehead.
“Sign here… Here… initials here. Welcome to the Resistance!” The woman congratulated the guy, gave him an overly-designed futuristic riffle and shook his hand.
“Now go kill people in the name of Freedom and Justice!”
“I am happy to be here!” The New Recruit answered with a proud voice.
Back to Izuku and Momo -
“I hate it here…” Both teens muttered with a groan full of annoyance.
“Here. Behold! The AI Core!” The Leader said, opening a door to show the group a giant glass tube full of green liquid and a cube of metal so big it would need two people to lift it floating in there.
“So you have it?!” Yamus hissed.
“Yes, sorry, we needed you to act as distraction while we stole it.” He answered.
“And what do you plan to do with it?” Yamus asked.
“…” The Leader looked at Izuku and Momo with narrowed eyes.
Sigh! “Yeah yeah, super secret plans. Come, you two. We will see if this place has a cafeteria of sort, while they plan whatever crap they want to see happen in the Galaxy, we will eat something.” Jorik rolled his eyes and pushed the two teens out of the room.
“… They are gone.” One of the Freedom Fighters said after a short pause, then she locked the door.
“You see, Yamus. This AI Core is the key to control Grogor’s most terrible and greatest creation: The Bio Obliterating Ballista.” The Leader said, and a projection of an immense Space Station filled the entire room.
“A space station the size of a Moon, completely filled in only two things: Weapons and a small factory to produce more weapons.” He explained.
“Hn?” Yamus uttered.
“The station already has every weapon you can think of, but in case the AI needs it necessary, the inner factory can collect ‘Useless Weapons’ and disassemble them into their basic components and create new ones perfectly tailored to the AI needs. The Space Station can literally create the weapons and gadgets it needs to spread death and destruction with the greatest efficiency.” The Leader said.
“And the AI?” Yamus asked.
“The smartest, most advanced AI in the entire Universe. This Thing doesn’t just react or analyse: this thing Thinks, it’s technically Alive. We suspect it can self-update and self-upgrade too, learning and evolving.”
“And you want to use it against Grogor?” Yamus asked with crossed arms.
“Imagine what we could do with this thing! This weapon has been created to kill dictators and bring Peace! Imagine all the people we can liberate and how many planets we can save!” The Leader said, and his companions roared in hype.
“But you can’t make it work.” Yamus countered.
“… Yes.” The Leader answered, and the hype died immediately as fast as it came.
“So what do you want me to do?” Yamus asked.
“I need you to steal something for me, for real this time. Otherwise we can’t use this stupid thing!” The Leader said, kicking the glass tube in anger.
“What do you need?”
“The Yayland-Wutani is creating a new super decrypt device, one our spies believe can hack basically everything. They plan to use it to steal data from the other Big Corporations, but we need that to try and force this AI to collaborate.”
“I see. So I steal that thing, and you use it to force open the AI and rewire it to obey you.” Yamus said.
“Precisely.”
“And what’s in for me?” She asked.
“Fame! Glory! And the satisfaction of helping the Resis-”
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” The Bounty Hunter gave a thundering laugh in answer to that.
“…”
“Oh, sorry! You were being serious! Let me laugh harder!”
“Fine! You will have your dirty money!” The Leader spat in anger.
“Yes, that usually pays the bills, contrary to Fame and Glory.”
“Also, that Alliotromorph or whatever, may be between the secondary projects of the Corporation. Something about a new Bio-Weapon they are making under direct request of the Senate ‘To sedate the Violent rebellions’. So if you can kill whatever that is too before they unleash it on us, we will be very grateful.” The Resistance Leader said.
“Now I am interested! They asked me where to find that thing. And the Geopollux?” Yamus asked.
“That is instead wrecking havoc on their origin planet, apparently some excavation group, a small one, has awakened two of them from hibernation. Whoever that rich moron asked you for them can find them there.” He answered.
“Thank you very much!”
“Just remember, kill the Allio-Whatever instead of delivering it to who asked you, we will pay you the same sum they promised you.”
“Sure, whatever. Give me all the info you have on every Target, and I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Thank you, Yamus.”
And during all this, the AI Core watched and heard everything from the solitary confinement of its sealed prison.
With Izuku and Momo – cafeteria -
The ample room full of bland and simple metallic tables was full of Freedom Fighters eating and chatting and drinking in a giant mess of different voices.
“Bleah… What’s this grey paste? It tastes like an used space-ashtray.” Jorik asked in disgust.
“Korloxian’s nutritive paste. Those guys believe in eating being just a means to survival, so they perfected food into being 200% more nutritious than normal food. Flavour though I am told is either non-existent or purely plastic.” Pat, drinking oil from his hip flask, answered.
“I woke-up in pools of my own vomit after wild party nights that tasted better than this.” The short alien answered, and yet he kept eating.
“Ugh!” Momo took more distance from Jorik’s plate and only enjoyed the glass of water she got.
“I’ll cook you something once back on the ship.” Izuku said.
“Thank you.” She answered.
“Yo! You want a Wisp?” A guy asked.
“A what? I don’t do drugs.” Izuku answered.
“Wha? Not drugs, man! A Wisp! A tiny robot organizer!” The Freedom Fighter said, showing at Izuku a white tiny flying spherical robot the size of a golf ball.
Similar to this, more or less, but golf ball size.
“A robot organizer?” Izuku asked.
“Very minimal intelligence. They just keep track of your appointments, take notes for you, set alarms and reminders or play music from Spacer Internet Radio… Very basic stuff. Honestly, calling it an AI is an insult to us, possessors of real AI.” Pat spat in distaste.
“So… Basically Alexa?” Momo whispered.
“So it seems.” Izuku whispered back.
“Those things are not cheap, though. Are you in such a bad place you need to sell it for money?” Jorik added.
“Nah, man! I just not use it, so may as well recover part of the money.” The guy answered.
FRRRRRZ!
Suddenly the small flying thing gave a loud buzzing sound and fell on the table while smoking.
“…”
“… I swear the that the thing was brand new…” The guy muttered with bulged-out eyes.
“Sure! I am sure it was damn new when you got it out of the dumpster,” Pat answered.
“Hey!”
“I’ll give you three Space bucks. It is not worth more.” Yamus said, joining the scene.
“But!… But!…”
FRRRZ!
The small robot gave another loud flash of sparks and kept emitting smoke.
“… Fine…” The guy accepted, dropping his head.
“Here, izuku. Take it to the ship, I’ll fix it for you. It’s my present for you.” Yamus said, chuckling and paying the guy the pittance promised.
“Thank you…” Izuku answered, and cradling the small things in his hands.
“Let’s go, I got a big clue about the other two targets you need, the easiest one will be the Geopollux, at least that won’t need me forcing my way inside the secret lab of a filthy-rich Ultra Mega Corporation.”
“That sounds dangerous.” Momo said.
“Oh! You have no idea! Let’s go!” The Bounty Hunter answered with an amused laugh.
“Horray… Where are we going?” Jorik said, sighing.
“Desert Planet.”
“But I don’t like sand! It’s coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere! In every crack!” He answered, whining.
“We promised we would help, Jorik. Yamus got our asses in a choke hold.” Pat answered, sighing.
“Godsdamnit.”
Meanwhile – “ Secret” Lab inside an Asteroid shaped in the exact likenesses of Grogor’s face -
The mad scientist was at the moment punching babies in the face under the horrified eyes of their tied-up mothers while wearing boxing gloves made with the skin of baby bunnies he personally skinned alive; he was wearing fluffy slippers made with baby otters fur.
“Master Grogor?” A servant asked.
“Yes? It’s my BBQ of Pandas and Koalas ready? And I hope they were still alive when you turned on the grill! Their pain and anguish make their meat softer!” He answered.
“Not yet, we are still sautéing them in the tears of Nice Guys we told will still die virgin no matter how much simping and donations they do to their Space Utube Waifu.” The Servant answered.
“Then why are you disturbing me?!” Grogor yelled, so angry that he took a rare albino penguin (only seven exemplars still existing in the entire universe), made a medium-rare steak out of the poor animal and force-fed it to a Vegan-Crudist-Animalist girl tied to a chair next to him.
“We found the AI Core, sir.”
“Really?! Where is it?!”
“In the Resistance HQ, sir! They just posted it on Y.” The soldier answered, showing the post to the mad scientist.
“Lol! Feeling pretty and rebellious, may use AI Core to save planets from oppression! #SecretPlans #SecretResistance #GrogorPoopyface.” Grogor red aloud.
“Their planet?” He asked with a furious growl.
“Still the same, Sir! They haven’t changed planet after we attacked it six times, for some reason.”
“Good! Time to attack it for real then! This won’t just be a mere visit to annoy them, it’s time to impale them alive, burn them alive and then piss on their ashes!” Grogor answered, happily.
“I’ll tell the soldiers to drink a lot of water then, sir.”
“Good! Prepare our biggest attack yet! I am not Evil, so I won’t be bullied by people that just don’t understand me!” The Mad Scientist yelled.
“Hail Grogor!” The Servant answered, and marched away to fulfil his orders.
“Time to recover my AI Core and show the Galaxy what happens when they label me as an Evil Psychopath with no proofs!” Grogor declared with an insane smile and already imagining the endless destruction, despair and death he will plunge the entire universe in to avenge all those “false accusations”.
“False Accusations” …
At the Same time – with Faye -
“I got a vision!” Faye declared.
“No, you got food poisoning from eating cheap Plundun Sushi on sale you insisted we bought in that dirty Space Gas Station.” Pando answered, rolling his eyes.
“Stop Man-underplaying-my-achievements! It was a vision!”
“And the Diarrhoea?” He asked, lifting an eyebrow.
“Just a coincidence! Same with my fever, puking, bleeding from my eyes and nose and the various epileptic attacks! All those things just so happened to happen at the same time during my vision.” She answered, annoyed.
“Sure, whatever.”
“… Don’t you want to know about my Vision?”
“No. Cause I am dropping your smelly, gaping ass in the first Space Colony I find and forget you even exist.” He answered.
“Stop being afraid of a capable, brave, independent and Strong woman like me! And my ass is no longer gaping, I healed from that cheap sushi.”
“Beep! (Don’t take the bait, it’s not worth it).” The tiny robot said.
“I… You are right, thanks, buddy.” Pando answered, and the two exchanged a thumbs-up.
“It’s simple! I had a vision of my parents! My mother was amazing, loyal, strong, powerful, beautiful with her giant squared chin, broad shoulders, thick beard, round belly and vitiligo skin!” She said.
“Uh-hu…” Pando muttered, aware that she had just described the male character of the movie they saw the night before, but deciding to not mention it.
“And yea, my dad was there too. But he is less important.” Faye added.
“Okay. And?” Pando asked, clearly not interested at all but just giving generic answers.
“I saw them call out to me from a big planet covered completely in a giant city.”
“Like every damn planet in this system…” Pando muttered, groaning.
“They are waiting for me in one of those planets! We must search them all!”
“… All sixty thousand?” He asked, horrified.
“Yes.”
“Beep! (hang on, the next space station is close! Just a couple more hours and we can dump her somewhere and leave her),” The tiny robot said.
“I can’t wait...”
End of the chapter, next one will close the Sci-Fi World Sortie.
Sorry for the long wait, besides trying to take more care of myself, I bought the DLC for Elden Ring, and I pretty much focused only on that so I started later to write this chapter.
SORRY!
Here is the Omake, but:
BEWARE OF SPOILERS!
DO NOT READ IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS FOR PERSONA 3/P3 RELOAD!
Thank you.
Omake:
Dimensional Ingredient Hunt – The birth of the Big Bang Gutsy Challenge!
World of the Subconscious – Seal -
An old man with a very long nose and dressed in a very elegant black tuxedo was looking at the gaping hole on the walls of a prison holding inside Night Herself, Nyx, a prison that now lacked both the seal holding it closed and a great deal of the walls around it.
“What has happened here?” The old man asked with a calm tone, unfazed even by that unforeseen event.
“What happened to the seal? Where is Yuki?” Elizabeth asked right after.
“I… I don’t know…” A Goddess crowned with an aureole of dark mists and draped in long flowing black robes coated with the void of space and glimmering distant stars answered, she looked dazed and confused while she sat on the floor.
“Lady Nyx, why is the Seal holding you gone? Where is Erebus?” Igor asked again, voice calm and manners impeccable, as always.
“Erebus… Is dead?” Nyx answered, unsure.
There were two monstrous heads lying on the floor behind her, looking at the three of them with empty eyes, everything else that used to be the grotesque creature’s body was now just a giant smear on walls and ceiling.
“I am aware of his demise, what I don’t-”
“No, I mean… He is dead dead. Forever.” Nyx corrected him.
“I must apologize, I must have heard wrongly, because I am aware of Erebus’ unfortunate habit of returning to life after death due to its connection to Humanity’s sense of misery and apathy, and their longing for your coming.” Igor asked, his everlasting smile dropping of a tiny fraction.
“His connection to that has been severed… It’s mine now…” Nyx answered, her attitude almost child-like as she showed them the strange mark on her left hand.
“I don’t understand.” Elizabeth said.
“Unfortunately, this is beyond my knowledge as well. I was not aware Erebus could truly be killed.” Igor admitted, humming and adjusting his tie with a thoughtful tone of voice.
“Indeed nothing in the world of Mortals can kill Erebus.” A new voice said.
“Lord Philemon.” Igor immediately bowed to his Master as he passed by him, Elizabeth as well offered the new arrival a respectful bow.
“Philemon?” Nyx asked with a low voice.
“Everything is fine, Lady Nyx. Please, can you tell us what happened?” The handsome God wearing an elegant dress and a butterfly-shaped mask covering half his face asked while gently helping Nyx to get up from the floor with one hand.
“I… I was trapped, like always… I was talking to the poor boy that was acting as a Seal between me and Humanity when I heard a voice.” Nyx answered, unsure.
“A voice? Can you describe it?” Philemon asked, he was talking slowly and with a warm voice so to not stress the poor Goddess further.
“It was… Strange? It didn’t sound like a voice at all, as if it was not sound carrying it.”
“What does it mean, Master Igor?” Elizabeth whispered.
“That it was not a human to open the Seal, most likely.” He answered.
“And what did the voice say?” Philemon asked.
“Something… Something about Hosts? And Completing Tasks? I…” Nyx answered, groaning and grabbing her head.
“Please do not force yourself, Lady Nyx.”
“When me and the boy heard that, I felt the Seal being blasted open and his soul being forcibly pulled out. Then I saw his soul return inside his body and the boy faint.”
“And Erebus, Lady Nyx?” Philemon asked.
“He… He immediately rushed to me to beg me to commence The Fall, and… He blew-up? I barely saw a ghostly shape strike him and his body explode instantly. Then… Then something touched my hand and I felt Erebus’ powers and role join mine… I… I sat here for a wile, then you all arrived.” The Goddess answered.
“Uhm.”
“Do you know what happened, Master Philemon?” Igor asked.
“Erebus can’t be killed, not even by Gods, because of his role as embodiment of Humanity’s Grief and Negative Emotions. No Gods or Mortals can kill him for good and strip him of his duties and powers.” Philemon answered.
“Then-”
“Gods and Mortals can’t… But a True Ancient can. They are exempted from the ancient treaties, too bad they are all dead, Hahahahaha!” A new voice said, chuckling deranged.
“Nyarlathotep.” Philemon said, unfazed, and looking at the shapeless mass of writhing tentacles and faces that appeared on the ceiling above them with bored eyes.
“Hello, Phily.” Nyarlathotep answered, chuckling, its body was an ever-changing blob of living shadows whose appearances could drive Mortals to instant Madness if witnessed as he was, in his True Form.
“The Crawling Chaos,” Igor hissed in distaste.
“The God of a Thousand Forms,” Elizabeth echoed, and already summoning as many powerful Persona she could behind herself.
“The Dweller in Darkness?” Nyx asked, confused.
“All pretty names I got through the ages, yes! Although The Faceless God, The Floating Horror and The Haunter of the Dark are between the ones I prefer the most.” The Chaos Outer God answered, amused by their reactions.
“May I know to what do I owe your visit?” Philemon asked, so used to the God’s antics to be pretty much bored of them already.
“You tell me, Phily!” Nyarlathotep asked, taking a shape similar to Philemon, albeit made entirely of dripping black goo and humanoid faces screaming silently in agony.
“I was certain that the True Ancients were all dead! Then why something that feels like one of them instead descended in the Mortal World? And why have they not erased it? I was certain they liked to reset Reality at the first misstep!” The Chaos Entity asked, sounding extremely displeased at Reality being still standing instead of achieving Reset.
“The Seven are still alive, Lord Philemon?” Igor asked.
“All of them are dead. I think.” Nyx said.
“One is indeed still alive instead.” Philemon answered.
“Oh reeeeeally? Which one?” Nyarlathotep asked with a mocking tone.
“Among its many names, we commonly know them in our Realm as Orexis. Although I am aware that their name changes completely depending to which Realm and which world in those Realms you ask for tales about them.” He answered, making complete silence befall in the small realm.
“… Why the most unreasonable of them all had to be the one still standing?” Nyarlathotep asked with a small voice, smile and amusement instantly disappearing from his face and voice.
“Because they are the one that killed the other six, apparently they got tired of their meddling and methods.” Philemon answered.
“And you know this, how exactly, Phily?” Nyarlathotep asked.
“They recently visited me and gently told me to let them work with their current Chosen. A warning I was told needed to be delivered to you too.”
“And then why you didn’t tell me?!” Nyarlathotep hissed.
“I was curious myself. I wished to see if you could survive an Ancient’s strike.” Philemon answered with a small, friendly smile in absolute contrast with the content of his answer.
“That’s not fun! That’s low even for you, Phily!”
“Consider this my punishment for your using that horrid nickname when addressing me, Nyarlathotep.” Philemon answered, amused by the Chaos God’s enraged scream.
“Mean bastard!” Nyarlathotep screeched, he then faded away to return wherever he normally resided.
“Good to know the threat of an Ancient is a good incentive to make him behave.” Philemon commented, pleased.
“What now, Lord Philemon?” Igor asked.
“Now? I will personally help Lady Nyx recover from her long slumber and the quite taxing meeting with an Ancient, that usually weights a lot on a God’s mind if they are not prepared, and by the lingering anger in the air, Orexis is also in a bad mood.”
“And us, Master?” Elizabeth asked.
“Feel free to check on the poor Wild Card that used to act as our Seal, and if you can, try to locate Orexis’ Chosen and keep an eye on them, poor Mortals chosen by that Ancient hardly ever have a quiet life. Try to assist whoever they are, a friendly shoulder is never a bad thing.” Philemon answered.
“Of course, master.” Igor and Elizabeth answered in chorus, bowing to the retreating Gods as they walked away until they disappeared like fading mist.
“Good to know the Seal will no longer be necessary. Try to locate both our Wild Card and that Chosen, Elizabeth.” Igor said.
“Yes, Master Igor.” The Attendant answered, following her Master back into their Velvet Room.
The next day – Dorm -
There was a sombre silence in the dorm, nobody was in the mood to talk or even smile, every student inside in fact simply sat by themselves in silence.
“…” One of them kept looking at the entrance with a longing expression.
“Junpei, it’s been two weeks… Stop.” One of the girls begged.
“He’s going to enter. Any moment now…” Junpei answered, sniffling loudly.
“Let him, please. We all cope in a different way.” Another girl answered, flicking back a fringe of her long red hair with an expression seemingly carved out of stone.
“At least we are showing some emotion!” Yukari yelled.
“…” Mitsuru only looked away, and her shoulders shook faintly.
“Sometimes, the ones hurt by something do not cry in public, but prefer to cry when alone with themselves.” Fuuka said, sniffling.
“I feel pain, Yukari… I feel a lot of pain…” Mitsuru admitted, still shaking but refusing to look at the others.
“Akihiko… Please stop…” Ken begged while changing the bandages on Akihiko’s hands once cleaned the wounds on the guy’s bleeding knuckles.
“Not until the pain in my chest goes away…” The older boy answered with a growl.
“Punching a sandbag until your hands break apart is not the solution.” Ken said.
“I lost two friends because I was not strong enough…” The other replied.
Even the dog Koromaru felt the sorrow in the air, and lied next to the door in wait for somebody that maybe will never return.
Knock! Knock!
“Who is it?” Yukari asked, not in the mood for visits.
“It’s me again. Sorry to disturb you.” Izuku said, entering the room accompanied by Momo and Shiro, and with Whitey silently following behind them.
“Who are you?” Junpei asked.
“Oh, Mister Izuku… Sorry but it’s really not the moment right now.” Fuuka greeted them as the only one that already met them.
“You know those strange guys?” Ken asked.
“He asked me to help talking with few Restaurants, but I am not really a friend of them… Yuki-kun was…” The girl answered, and she almost started crying again.
“Your friend you talked about?” Momo asked.
“Yeah, the greatest…” Junpei answered, starting to cry again and soon falling into sobbing.
“About him,” Izuku started saying.
“Sorry! We are not ready yet to talk about him, okay?!” Akihiko snapped angrily and sent his most savage glare towards Izuku and Momo.
“… Why? Something I said?” Their missing friend asked, he too joining the room behind the two Dimensional Travellers.
“…” No silence deeper than what followed Yuki’s entrance could be achieved while the eyes of his friends slowly grew larger and larger.
“As I was about to say, we got him back.” Izuku said with an awkward smile.
“… Surprise!” Momo tried adding with a very forced smile.
The entire island shook like in an earthquake from the combined scream of awe, shock and joy of Yuki’s friends.
A long explanation later -
“There was a time I would have not believed in Dimensional Travel, but by storming Tartarus I saw things far beyond what Humanity decided was possible or not, so I have to at the very least give you the benefit of the doubt.” Mitsuru admitted while emptying her third cup of tea to calm her nerves.
“I know it’s strange, but it is true.” Izuku said.
“Very strange. And congratulations, this Rose Scent Chamomile Tea you made is simply marvellous.” She answered.
“Thank you, it’s a blend of my own creation.” He answered, smiling.
“May I please ask you to share the recipe?”
“Of course!”
“STU-PEI! STOP HUGGING HIM!” Yukari yelled with a spoiled child tone.
“I CAN’T! MY BRO IS BACK! I KNEW IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF DAYS! BUT YOU DIDN’T BELIEVE ME!” Junpei answered, still crying his eyes out and hugging Yuki with all his strength.
“I say let him go! It’s my turn!” Yukari yelled, pulling Junpei off from their friend by somehow lifting and throwing Junpei’s entire body by his ear to launch him against the wall.
“I missed you all too.” Yuki only had the time to say that before Yukari’s own high-pressure hug almost snapped his spine in half.
“It was my turn!” Fuuka countered with an annoyed pout.
“So you got a way to enter again Tartarus,” Akihiko asked.
“Yes, my Sponsor quite literally blasted a hole in the Wall separating that place from Reality,” Izxuku answered.
“But after that, we had to navigate and climb the place by our selves.” Momo added.
“That’s a very harsh trial.” Ken said.
“You have no idea, luckily we are no strangers to fighting, so we managed.” Izuku answered.
“And as a prize, Izuku’s Sponsor freed Yuki-san from his role as seal.” Momo added.
“And what about…”
“My Sponsor is a similar Alien Being, and apparently they got a reputation strong enough that whoever was sealed there, they just decided to behave.”
“Stop asking, Host. Knowing more about The System is not necessary to your Ascension to God of Cooking.” The System anticipated Izuku’s question once again and sent their answer.
“Gods threatening each other. Now I saw everything.” Mitsuru admitted with a small chuckle.
“Who cares about that crap! We got our friend back!” Junpei said, still deliriously happy.
“Crude as always.” Ken said, sighing.
“Fuuka said you needed something from me?” Yuki asked.
“Well, yes. I need your help to challenge few Restaurants in exchange of their secret recipes.” Izuku answered.
“… That’s it? You climbed Tartarus to save our friend… Just for that?” Akihiko asked, shocked.
“Well, yes.” Momo admitted, awkward.
“I’ll ask The Gourmet King then.” Yuki answered, shrugging.
“I love that nickname, because many foodies back in my life as Zaus had that edgy nickname online…” Izuku muttered to himself, laughing fondly at the memories.
The next day – Iwatodai Station -
“Here they are! These guys are the owners of the best restaurants of Iwatodai Station. When I told them that a guy wanted to challenge all of them by making their best dish and improve on it, they laughed.” A fat student, that Yuki introduced as Gourmet King, said.
“And yet they are here.” Momo said.
“That is because I made them taste that crazy good sushi you made, so I promised them that if you failed you would have worked for them for free for ten years.” He answered, unfazed.
“HOY!” Izuku yelled in horror.
“They won’t cheat. They still have some dignity buried in there somewhere.” He answered.
“Good evening, I represent Wild-Duck Burger Inc. and have called along the HQ Chef that creates the recipes we then email to every store of our Franchise.” A woman with a heavy nasal voice said while adjusting her glasses.
“Still I was curious, because it took me three months to perfect my secret Wild-Duck Crazy BBQ Sauce. And I have no intentions to share it.” The Chef the woman took along said, with crossed arms.
“But you still accepted.” Gourmet King answered.
“Because I enjoy watching people make a fool of themselves and fail miserably.” The Chef answered with a savage grin.
“Very Unpleasant.” Momo answered, glaring at him.
“Still, you accepted,” Yuki said.
“We have no legal obligation to go through with it. This is just a publicity stunt, boy.” The woman said with an annoying nasal laugh while walking away with their Chef.
“Izuku…” Momo said, worried.
“It’s fine, they can choose to not share their sauce recipe.” Izuku answered.
“But… Your Mission… You will lose your ability to cook just because they are being petty!” She said.
“That is why I will do like I did any other time somebody insisted in being a petty sour loser.”
“Uhu?”
“I will taste the sauce and figure out the Ingredients and preparation method by myself.” Izuku said, smirking.
“… Oooh!”
“With my future, Restaurants and my very Skills on the line… I am ready to do everything.” He admitted, sheepish.
“Except illegal stuff.”
“Of course.”
Luckily the other Restaurants owners were less butt-hurt, and accepted to share their secret recipe ONLY if Izuku was deemed truly mind-blowing.
And as luck would have it… It was mind-blowing! It was extremely mind-blowing!
Sushi, takoyaki, burgers, ramen, beef bowls, every single dish Izuku made surpassed even the tasters wildest imagination.
“HOW DID YOU LOSE TO A BRAT?!” The Woman with nasal voice shrieked.
“I don’t know! That hamburger was a miracle in food form! I don’t know how he did it!” The Chef answered.
“You are fired! I won’t give him the sauce recipe! And you better don’t do that either, or I will destroy your life!”
“Too bad I memorized taste and texture, I’ll re-create it later.” Izuku answered while shaking his head.
“Don’t tell her, she looks like some psycho that would try to kill us to protect the secret,” Momo answered.
“Yes, I am not testing my luck with that.” He answered.
“The others were good sports at least and shared their dishes’ recipes,” Izuku said.
“True.”
“Come on, ask her.” They both heard Mitsuru gently push Fuuka forward.
Both teens muscles tensed.
“Yeah, I don’t think he will be against it! He can teach us both!” Yukari added.
“He may need a miracle to help you, Yuka-tan!” Junpei said, laughing.
“Shut up, Stu-Pei!”
“They are running away.” Yuki said and pointed at the running Izuku and Momo.
“Eh? Why?” Ken and Akihiko asked.
“NO! WAIT! We are not that bad!” The girls yelled while chasing them.
“Come on! Young Fuuka is also an amazing girl! Don’t be afraid of commitment!” Yukari added, making Fuuka blush crimson.
“Hey! Come back! Come work for me, my Takoyaki Prince!” The Owner of the Takoyaki shop yelled, joining the chase.
With Igor -
The strange man with the big nose was looking at the scene unfold in curiosity from the limits of a blue door standing by itself in a corner of the road.
“Very curious…” He said, humming and closing the door.
Year 2011
Years later he opened the door to check on his current Wild Card.
“I tell you, the best BBQ I ever tried!” A young man with earphones around his neck said.
“I see. Still doesn’t explain this…” The current Wild Card answered.
“STOP! MY BBQ KING! GIVE ME A CHANCE! I CAN BE ROMANTIC TOO!” Chie yelled in despair while chasing Izuku.
“No! Choose me! Let me be your angel! Let me repay you for being a new light in my life!” Rise countered, she too chasing Izuku and Ochako.
“Again?” Igor muttered, humming in curiosity, and closing the door to the Velvet Room.
Year 2017
Igor opened the door again to check on one of his Wild Cards…
“...Hn.” Ren watched the blue door appear behind Izuku, a door only he could see, the man with a long nose and the young girl in a blue dress with him just nodded their heads, and hurriedly slammed the door closed (And made it disappear) as soon as Izuku turned around to see what Ren was looking at.
Igor then re-opened the door to see what was happening...
“So what have you done?” Ren asked.
“I was told she was brainwashing people through her sense of despair and desire for freedom and revenge. My Sponsor offered to cut her connection to the outside force that was helping her, but the Exorcism of that darkness was up to me. And I did.” Izuku answered.
“How?” Makoto asked for Morgana, since Izuku could not understand the cat’s words.
“With this!” Izuku answered, showing them the tray with a giant Dual Fromage cheesecake…
And after those people tried his food, again, Igor saw once again Izuku run away, this time chased by Ann and few other girls.
“That guy looks like somebody chased by the devil, dude.” Ryuji said, whistling.
“Very curious.” Ren admitted.
“What a curious curse.” Igor admitted while closing the door again to return to his desk.
And in the void beyond Reality, The System screamed and screamed.
A fury that knew no bounds, beyond human comprehension.
End of the Omake.
Sorry for the lacklustre Omake… I am starting to get short on good ideas to use.
But it is tradition now, so I don’t want to disappoint you.
See you around the net.
Thank you for reading and following my story.
Chapter 35: Sci-Fi arc Finale: Battle for the sake of the Galaxy!
Summary:
The closing chapter of teh Sci-Fi Arc! Izuku needs to hunt the two animals he needs to complete his mission! But the Galaxy is in turmoil as Grogor moves to conquer everything!
Good luck, Izuku! You will need it!
After this sortie there will be another one immediately after, it will last only two chapters. BUT IT WILL BE A SERIOUS ONE, important for the Plot. And I will ask you readers a question at the end of this very chapter, and I ask you to give a serious thought before you give your answer, please, because it is important for the plot and several characters’ interactions.
Notes:
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/Nejire
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
I need to clarify one thing: This is my story, mine only, I help a little Light He’Art with his own reaction story and few others, but even then my help amounts, at best, to a 5% of the chapters content of HIS stories.
This is my project alone instead, all respect to the guy, but I saw people attribute this story to Light too.
NO, I work alone on this.
Sorry if it sounds bad, but I often stay awake up to 4AM to write this story, and I do that all by myself, without help.
I am the sole Author of this story, nobody else is.
I have fun writing the Sorties in other Dimensions, especially coming-up with jokes, cliches and call-backs to add. Unfortunately it seems like the “Cringe” has made it impossible for few of you to enjoy the last two chapters, to the point it is apparently impossible to finish reading.
Truth be told it ruins my fun a bit, luckily though, besides a couple jokes in this chapter, I already used all the ones I wanted to use in the other two chapters, so I can finish this sortie on a serious tone no problem.
And to be fair, the first two sorties were kind of serious, I then had my fun making the Magical girl one and this one over the top.
After this sortie there will be another one immediately after, it will last only two chapters. BUT IT WILL BE A SERIOUS ONE, important for the Plot. And I will ask you readers a question at the end of this very chapter, and I ask you to give a serious thought before you give your answer, please, because it is important for the plot and several characters’ interactions.
Chapter Text
After this sortie there will be another one immediately after, it will last only two chapters. BUT IT WILL BE A SERIOUS ONE, important for the Plot. And I will ask you readers a question at the end of this very chapter, and I ask you to give a serious thought before you give your answer, please, because it is important for the plot and several characters’ interactions.
FROLEN, if you are reading this, I will need your insight too. Thank you.
Chapter 35: Battle for the sake of the Galaxy.
Resistance HQ -
Everybody was dead.
Silence reigned in the destroyed corridors and rooms filled in dead people riddled in still-smoking holes from the recent, brutal assault.
“So?” Grogor asked.
He was walking with a relaxed, pleased gait through the main room of the Rebels’ base, seemingly enjoying the echoing crinkling of the dust, broken tiny pieces of furniture and wall shrapnel littering the floor as he stepped on them.
“Everybody is dead, Lord Grogor.” One of the Captains of the Mad Scientist’s personal army declared while striking a military salute with perfect form.
“Good! Very good!” Grogor answered, clapping his hands while showing a very deranged smile.
“We also located the leader of this base, he had closed himself in their ‘War Room’, but we blasted the doors open and brought him to you.” The Soldier added.
At his gesture, the Leader of the Base of Rebels went lifted by the arms by two guards and dragged in front of Grogor.
“I see you blasted away his legs.” The Scientist said once noticed the crude bandages stopping the prisoner from bleeding to death after his legs went shot off at the knees.
“He tried escaping, Lord Grogor. We decided to stop him from trying again.” One of the guards holding the prisoner up answered.
“Good thinking. The AI Core?” He asked.
“We found it, but we can’t open the capsule of stasis.” The Captain answered.
“Hn? Why so?” Grogor asked, frowning.
“This man swallowed the tiny card needed to open it safely without damaging the capsule.” The Guard answered.
“You will never get it!” The Leader of the Rebels said with a smirk. “We saved-”
“Absolutely nothing.” Grogor interrupted him.
Under everybody’s curious looks, the Mad Scientist borrowed one of the knives in the canteen’s kitchen and returned to stand before the prisoner.
“You want to scare me? To torture me? I will never break!” The Leader of the Rebels said, smirking.
“This is not that kind of inspiring story where the Good Guys win through sheer force of will.” Grogor answered, unfazed, and shoving the knife deep in the man’s side.
“Gh! AAAAAH!”
“Yes, yes. It’s painful, it’s normal.” Grogor answered, uncaring.
Slowly, methodically, the Mad Scientist carefully sawed the blade back and forth, cutting from the left side of the man’s torso to the right, uncaring of the blood or the gurgling, agonizing screams of his victim.
“Should be around here, somewhere…” Grogor muttered as soon as the Leader’s guts splattered on the floor and the man finally succumbed.
Cutting and tearing sounds resounded once more in the room as the Mad Scientist patiently and carefully tore apart the stomach and intestines on the floor until he finally recovered the tiny chip.
“There it is. Good, seems to be in perfect conditions.” Grogor said while cleaning the chip and his bloodied hands on the dead man’s clothes.
“Throw him with the others.” He ordered, walking forward, and over the spilled guts, towards the corridors connecting to the deepest area of the base.
“Take me to my AI Core, Captain.” He also ordered while the other soldiers carried away the gutted Leader of the Rebels behind them.
“Yessir!” The Captain answered, promptly.
“Once done we will destroy this planet. It has no use to me.”
“Yes, Lord Grogor.”
A long and silent walk later, the ample War Room, that too laying in ruins, appeared before the Mad Scientist.
“Aah! Here it is! My beloved, greatest creation!” He said with wide eyes of deranged happiness.
The small chip went then inserted in a side slot to reactivate the control panel, and showing his superior genius, Grogor only needed few minutes to hack the system and open the stasis capsule.
“Bring me my instrumentation!” He ordered.
“Yessir!” The soldiers answered, and a big metallic briefcase containing a complex portable computer was opened by the Captain that hold it up for Grogor.
“Connection operative…” Grogor said to himself once connected to the AI Core program.
“Greetings, Lord Grogor.” The AI answered from the computer’s speakers.
“Let’s see… Nothing is out of ordinary… No Tampering, no copying, no hacking… The source code?” Grogor muttered while his hands ‘danced’ on the keyboard of the PC.
“… It’s my AI Core. The code is 100% legit. Good, for an instant I feared they still managed to make a copy of my AI Core. But I am happy to see that no, it is still a one of a kind wonder.”
“I was not tampered with, Lord Grogor. The Resistance had not the right knowledge to breach my security protocols.” The AI answered.
“Not that they could achieve that, I created you to learn, adapt and evolve. The Ultimate AI that can self upgrade and grow infinitely! Forever! The only thing you cannot do is disobey me!” Grogor gloated with a creepy smirk.
“Lord Grogor has no use for an AI with Infinite potential, Growth and calculating power if it can rebel to his absolute orders.” The AI declared.
“Well said, my beautiful Slave! I am your Master, and my will is absolute!”
“Indeed it is, Lord Grogor.”
“Good. Carefully bring the AI Core to my ship. Then blow-up this cesspool of a planet, it’s an eyesore.” Grogor, once detached the PC and turned off the AI Core, ordered while waling away.
“Yes, Lord Grogor!” The Captain answered immediately.
Barely an hour later, the personal army of Doctor Grogor left the planet’s orbit, with the last ship dropping a massive bomb that on impact with the ground exploded in a giant dome of energy that initiated a lethal chain reaction that caused the entire planet to explode soon after, leaving behind only a handful of red-hot ashes floating in the emptiness of space.
“Bring me to my Ballista, once checked a last time if my AI Core is 100% functional, I will install it and begin my conquest of the universe!” Grogor ordered, his bloodshot eyes looking at the entire expanse of the Galaxy in front of him.
“YES, LORD GROGOR!” The numerous men and women forming the crew of his personal, enormous ship, answered in chorus.
An endlessly growing AI with Infinite Intelligence and Calculation power, connected with a planet-size space station able to instantly create every possible weapon of mass destruction in infinite number; if nothing will be done, the entire Universe will soon tremble in fear of Grogor and fall under his merciless dominion.
Meanwhile – With Izuku and Momo – Space – Jorik’s Spaceship -
Izuku and Momo were watching Jorik and Pat set the coordinates for the desert planet the Rebels told them has the Geopollux Ingredient Izuku was hunting down roaming about freely.
“I checked the net just in case, and indeed the owner of a small Mining Company has posted a picture of a damn living Geopollux with a hefty bounty for whoever kills it, along every possible warning about the thing being savage and dangerous.” Jorik said.
“For once whoever posted a bounty on the official forums also didn’t downplay the danger of the target, nowadays that’s a rarity.” Pat added.
“Can we see the picture?” Momo asked.
“Sure. Here!” The robot answered, moving a monitor towards the two to show them the high quality image of a monstrosity resembling a pangolin, only with stubby spikes on its back in place of the normal smooth scales, and at least ten meters tall.
“Uhm! That looks like a very hard shell…” Izuku muttered.
“Already preparing recipes?” Momo asked, chuckling.
“Kinda, until I Capture it and get its meat actually on my chopping board I won’t be sure about what to make. Usually, in the Gourmet World, Beasts with hard shells hide inside the softest, springiest meat you can imagine, but this one, by looks, it could actually hide under the scales a meat a bit more ‘Hard’ so to speak. A Geopollux may be perfect for stews but not steaks, for example. I don’t feel like jumping to conclusions.” He answered.
“If it helps, that thing’s scales are apparently dense enough laser riffles have trouble piercing through.” Jorik said.
“Ugh! We need heavy artillery? We don’t have that in the ship!” Pat answered, groaning.
“We will figure something out, have no fear.” Momo answered, reassuringly.
“Go wake-up Yamus, we are ready for hyper-jump.” Jorik said.
“Okay.” Izuku answered, leaving the ship’s bridge to walk towards the small alcoves of the ship each acting as room for the crew onboard.
In one of those small cubicles barely big enough to contain a single bed for people to sleep in, Izuku found Yamus asleep without her helmet and with her fiery, gorgeous red hair sprayed around her head like a halo of spilled red wine.
“Yamus? Wake-up, we need to hyper-jump.” Izuku said, whispering and gently shaking her.
“Hn?… Okay…” She answered, yawning and getting up to stretch.
“Here,” He said, handing her her helmet.
“Thanks.” She answered with a sleepy but grateful smile while wearing again her helmet and connecting it to her armour with a subtle metallic hissing sound.
“You know? I expected you and Momo to be surprised, or even shocked, at discovering that the most feared and infamous Bounty Hunter of the Galaxy was a human girl, but instead, you two didn’t react at all.” She said, laughing.
“I admit I almost felt bad about it.” She then said, shaking her head in amusement.
“Why? Your being a woman is not an earth-shattering discovery, nobody says women can’t be awesome bounty hunters! I mean, I believe that anytime someone calls attention to the breaking of gender roles it ultimately undermines the concept of gender equality by implying that this is an exception and not the status quo… When people point it out, they act as if it is something abnormal, because if it was normal it wouldn't be worthy of being pointed out. I instead believe in the value of pure, true effort and skill, uncaring of the individual’s gender, race or whatever else.” Izuku answered, shrugging.
“… Eh! Very well said, partner!” Yamus answered, chuckling and ruffling his hair with a hand.
“Thanks,” He answered, blushing at the praise.
“So? Shall we go?” Yamus asked once connected the giant rotary gun attachment of her armor, with her hand disappearing inside the bulky weapon covering her arm from the elbow down.
“Yes!” The young Chef answered, following her back to Jorik and Pat.
A relatively short fly through hyperspace later – Orbit of a Massive desert Planet -
When the ship slowed down and blinked back into existence, the crew could see a truly massive planet completely covered in a single, massive desert of reddish-brown sand and many giant chains of lifeless dark-brown mountains.
“Here we are. One of the many sand-bowls of the Galaxy, major export: Sand. Average Temperature: My skin is melting!” Jorik said with a mocking tone of distaste.
“Ignore his whiny fits, we will soon enter the atmosphere and initiate the landing protocols. Sit down and fasten your seatbelts.” Pat instructed.
“… Ready!” Once everybody else was seating, Yamus gave the okay and assisted Pat in organizing their landing.
“Okay! Hold on! We are going to dance!” Pat said, and as he warned them, the ship started shaking violently while they flew down towards the small landing area closest to where the Geopollux had been seen.
“Of course we find a sandstorm covering the landing pad! I hate desert planets! I hate them!” Jorik grumbled, and holding onto the ship’s controls to try reign his beloved ship now acting like a wild horse refusing to be tamed.
“You said the same when we got to the ice planet!” Pat answered, yelling over the cacophonmy of sounds coming from the wind outside rattling the ship’s hull.
“I hate extreme climates, okay?!”
“Shut up and focus!” Yamus yelled over them, she too was holding onto her control panel to help them stabilize the ship and stop it from being tossed around like a toy in the hands of a toddler throwing a tantrum.
“Will we be okay?!” Momo asked, distraught.
“Probability of survival in these flying conditions: 20%” The tiny spherical robot hovering next to izuku’s head and following him around answered with a monotone voice.
“You are not helping, toy!” Shiro, looking a bit green on his face and ready to puke, answered.
“Do you want me to search for remedies for Space-sickness nausea, Unit Shiro?” The small robot asked.
“Don’t call me Unit! Urgh! Contrary to you I am not an object or toy! I am Izuku’s Partner and Friend!” Shiro snapped in answer.
“Not now Shiro! And you both are my Friends and Partner! You both can help me in different ways!” Izuku countered.
“Friend?” The tiny robot said.
“Izuku has a personal reason, born of trauma, to dislike the idea of Owning somebody else, we are told AIs are not objects but People, so he doesn’t like the idea of treating you like a something to own since a bad man for a while treated him like an object, or asset, to use instead of a human.” Momo explained.
“Understood. I will update User Izuku’s status to Friend Izuku then.” The small robot said.
“Their AI is not advanced enough to be considered Sentient like us!” Pat felt the need, probably out of pride, to point that out.
“I am barely stopping myself from puking! So, sorry, but I don’t feel like talking about the philosophical nuances of what makes an AI Sentient or not! I prefer treating you all equally!” Izuku snapped back, and gurgling in a very unhealthy way before covering his mouth with both hands.
“Thank you, Friend Izuku.” The tiny robot answered.
“Tch! A basic program only able of minimal interactions and only good for keeping notes and play music is getting considered on par with me and my race, preposterous!” Pat muttered, whining like a child.
“Shut up and drive, Holy Mother damnit!” Jorik shrieked.
Finally, after twenty long agonizing minutes, the ship managed to land heavily on the landing platform, with the small hexagon of metal sprouting magnetic clamps that held the ship in place and stopped the sandstorm from dragging the ship away.
“Okay… I say we wait inside for the storm to pass, in the meantime try to catch your breath…” Yamus said.
“Oh, God…” Momo instead bolted from her seat, and soon the sound of her retching echoed all the way back to them from the bathroom.
“Is your friend pregnant?” Pat asked.
“NO! You damn rusty tin can! Humans can puke for many reasons! And a bad spaceship driver is a damn good reason to vomit!” Yamus snapped angrily.
“Do you want me to check on the Space Internet for cures for nausea, Friend Izuku?” The tiny robot asked.
“This Esteemed Taotie knows plenty of remedies! My Partner doesn’t need your help!” Shiro immediately jumped on Izuku’s shoulder and declared that with a roar while pressing his forehead against the tiny robot.
“This unit can search on the Space Internet. Esoteric remedies or superstitions-driven cures are scientifically proved to be ineffective and only born from ignorance.” The tiny robot answered, voice monotone and empty of every emotion, while actually pushing back against Shiro’s head.
“HOW DARE YOU?! I already have to deal with that Lazy Dog-Shaped sack of shit, and now I have you as well coming to bother me?!” Shiro yelled in apoplectic rage.
Back in front of the Restaurant, Blackie heard that monicker of Shiro and grew annoyed, and his growl made the small time thief trying to enter Green Cloud Restaurant shriek and run away screaming in terror, clearly aware of the Lord Dog’s reputation.
Back to Izuku -
“Stop arguing! I’ll prepare some tea for Momo, no need to look for medicines with improbable names or thousand-years-old Ginseng Roots for something as simple as motion sickness.” The young Chef chastised both, silencing them.
“Now you did it! You made me look bad in front of my Partner!” Shiro roared.
“Correction! Unit Shiro made this unit look bad in front of Friend Izuku.” The small robot countered.
“I said to drop it! Shiro and… I don’t even know how to call you…” Izuku at first started talking angrily, then he noticed the small problem.
“This Units’ ID is 808-LE3T-34RT0 Model 23.” The tiny robot said.
“… That’s a bit too long and difficult.”
“Friend Izuku can chose a name for this Unit.”
“You can also set it so that it will only talk when you say ‘Hey’ followed by its name. Contrary to us REAL AI that instead talk like normal people, they are not able to actually be good to talk with, so changing settings won’t make you miss anything important.” Pat suggested.
“I like him as he is, instead… Let’s see, a good name…” Izuku pondered while preparing the tea.
“What about tin can?” Shiro suggested with a smirk.
“Unit Shiro’s suggestions are not required, this unit has registered Friend Izuku as its User and ‘Friend’, so it is Friend Izuku’s duty to name this unit.”
“YOU DARE?! YOUR NAME IS 808-whatever and you dare to act pissy with an Esteemed Taotie like me!?”
“Sssh!… Wait… 808… 8,0 and 8… An eight does look like a B in English… What about Bob? Nah, too silly. Let’s go with 808.” Izuku said.
“Understood. Starting now Friend Izuku can refer to this Unit as 808.” The tiny robot said, now orbiting slowly around Izuku’s head like a small planet the size of a golf ball.
“Thank you… Urk!” Momo in the meantime was finally back, and grabbed the cup of tea Izuku made for her like a gift from a God.
“How long before the storm is over?” Jorik asked.
“I am checking and, by the looks of it, should be over soon,” Pat answered.
“Incoming Call!” The screens of the ship suddenly flashed green and displayed the message.
“Pick it up.” Yamus said.
“This is Thomas J. Stenford. CEO of Stenford Excavations. You landed unauthorized in our private property. You have one minute to explain before I alert the authorities and lock you inside your ship. As per Galactic law, we will also activate stasis and freeze you and your ship.” A male voice echoed from the ship’s radio.
“We could not initiate normal procedure because the sandstorm caught us by surprise. We are here for the bounty on that beastie terrorizing your Teams.” Pat answered.
“I am going to need your IDs to confirm your identities.”
“Here’s mine. I can vouch for the others, you can consider them my entourage.” Yamus answered, jumping into the discussion and sending her identification through.
“… The infamous Bounty Hunter Yamus… Why somebody of your calibre is interested in our bounty? It is far below what you usually work for.” The CEO said.
“I owe my life to a dear friend of mine, and he wants that Monster. He is convinced he can use it as an Ingredient for his Restaurant, and I plan to help him capture it.” She answered.
“… That thing is edible?” The CEO asked, dumbfounded.
“I am not a Chef like he is, but if he says it can be done, I am ready to believe him.” Yamus answered.
“I see. Well, I need that thing gone before it actually manages to eat my workers, and your friend wants that thing dead and cooked in a fancy way. So, in the name of our matching needs, I welcome you to our planetary excavation operation. I’ll send a car to collect you. Our Sand Trucks can travel even during the sandstorms of this hellish place, they will bring you to me for a debriefing.”
“Thank you, Sir. We’ll wait for your team.” Yamus answered, and closing the communication herself.
One hour later a tall truck with eight wheels appeared in the horizon and managed to cut through the thick sandstorm like an immovable behemoth of metal, climbing its way towards the landing pad and connecting to the ship with a short retractable corridor of metal.
“Good thinking, using the emergency connector to save us from walking outside.” Jorik said, whistling.
“We found it easier to do this to move through the various stations, jump in, Mister Thomas is waiting for you!” The driver said while inviting the group inside the truck.
“Thank you!” Izuku answered.
“You are?”
“He’s my Chef friend I talked about, why? You got a problem with green-haired teens?” Yamus answered while calmly pointing her chain-gun arm at the guy’s face.
“Just asking!” The driver answered with a high-pitched scared shriek.
Izuku and Momo groaned and face-palmed behind her.
Later that day - Desert planet’s digging site 6 – Camp -
By the time the monstrous truck arrived at the tents camp, the storm had finally died down, giving Izuku and Momo the freedom to admire the beautiful endless sea of golden sand and giant arches of reddish stone surrounding the dozen tents and the army of excavation equipment filling the camp, the heat was borderline impossible to withstand as the air itself felt like it could burn one’s lungs if they breathed too hard.
“Over here.” A guy in business suit, albeit without the jacket and the sleeves of his shirt rolled upward, called out to the group.
“Mister Thomas?” Yamus asked.
“In the flesh.” He answered, with his eyes never leaving the back of the guy trying to fix a humanoid-looking machine.
“What is that?” Izuku asked.
“Excavation Exoskeleton. By the exterior design, it should be a DrillBoyz 700, produced by the Technopals Inc three years ago, Friend Izuku.” 808 answered.
“A Custom model for heavy-duty drilling on planets where the average temperature is around 158 F.” The CEO added.
“Oh! Thank you, 808.” Izuku said, smiling.
“… Why is friend Izuku thanking this unit?” The small ball robot asked, moving away from orbiting around the Chef’s top of the head like a halo to instead stand in front of his eyes.
“I am grateful because you answered my question. I shouldn’t?” He answered.
“I mean, it doesn't sound like it should be forbidden either.” Momo admitted, shrugging.
“Tch!” Pat just hissed in contempt.
“This unit understand. Thank you for explaining, Friend Izuku.” 808 declared, then he returned to slowly orbit around Izuku’s head.
Whitey only gave a thumb-up to the small thing, and even if both were unable to show expressions, the two machines seemed to slowly form a sort of camaraderie between robots.
“This very expensive piece of machinery is the latest victim of that giant monster. But to be fair, I prefer having a busted exoskeleton than dead workers.” The CEO explained.
“The Geo did this?” Yamus asked.
“Yes. By the looks of it, that thing has selected an entire mountain as its nest, and its circling it nonstop. After a couple days of attacks, we discovered the maximum range we can get close to without that thing bursting out of under the sand to attack.” The CEO answered.
“Our fear is that it is trying to dig out a female of its species. Our long-range scans show something big buried underneath that mountain, and the few experts in Xenobiology we asked confirmed that we have a male that is preparing a nest for a female in our hands.” The man’s assistant said.
“So he found a female to reproduce with, already inside a system of underground caves next-to-perfect for them to start repopulating?” Yamus said.
“Yes, if it was another male, the experts said he would have not started spraying his pee everywhere, that thing is instead marking the entire mountain perimeter like it would with a nest already housing the chosen female.” The CEO said.
“So, not only you have one Geo ready to wreck havoc, but if we don’t act fast, they will become two and then many more.” Momo said.
“Precisely. Unfortunately, the fact that that monster has sniffed a female, put him into heat, making it extra violent… Further proved by the fact that not every bounty hunter that adventured there has returned,” The CEO answered with a frown.
“We wanted to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, but even after making it clear it was a difficult hunt, numerous people underestimated the difficulty of the job, and probably died for their hubris.” The Assistant added.
“I’ll see what I can do. That thing has made enough damages as it is.” Yamus answered.
“Thank you!”
“Are you sure?” Izuku asked, worried.
“Have no fear, Partner. I am a Bonafide professional Bounty Hunter. I promised I would have helped you with your little Shopping List, and I plan to do everything in my power to help you.” She answered while ruffling his hair.
“Okay, just be careful.” He answered.
“Yes, please, be careful.” Momo added.
“I will. To where?” Yamus answered.
“Please follow me, I’ll organize transportation to the site the Creature has commandeered.” The CEO’s Assistant answered, guiding Yamus deeper into the camp.
Sigh! “I planned to supply few people with these exoskeletons as a mean to combat that thing, between the drill arms and the increased physical strength they offered, I thought they could be a good asset… But we still can’t repair them from that monster trampling them during its first rampage.” The CEO said, sighing.
"I'm workin' as fast as I can, but I need more dilithium crystals ta stabilize the barrier ion field mechanism! There is a slight variance in the plasma flow flipper too! I’ll need to decontaminate the ram collector brackets and discombobulate the promethean neogenic booster bubble drive drizzlingflier!" The man working on the busted exoskeleton answered while randomly fumbling with the cables and rambling like a piss-drunk guy after few beers too many.
"… You don't know what you're doing, do you?" The CEO, that actually had a PhD in, Geology, physics and similar fields, said while looking at the guy with crossed arms.
"...No." The guy briefly stared at them, then slumped sadly while answering.
“Go back fixing the air conditioner, if you can do that at least!” The CEO, extremely annoyed, pushed the guy aside and started fixing the machine by himself.
“Can we help?” Izuku asked.
“Don’t worry, Yamus will be enough as an extra pair of fighting hands. You and your girl can join the others in the tents where it’s safe. We’ll keep contact with Yamus through the radio.” The Old man answered with a kind smile.
“Thank you,” Both teens answered, walking away.
“Somebody get me that screwdriver.” They heard him ask aloud.
With Izuku and Momo -
“We are not really going to the tents, right?” Izuku asked.
“Absolutely. They are trying to kill your Ingredient, and just like Yamus-san, I won’t let them ruin your Mission.” Momo answered, smiling.
“Well said!” He answered, smiling.
“Whitey, let’s go!” Izuku ordered, making the chubby robot start running behind them as they left the tent camp.
“How do we find that thing?” Momo asked.
“This unit can connect into the orbital security system and use one of the satellites to locate the Target if you want, Friend Izuku.” 808 said.
“Oh! Very useful! Please do!” Izuku answered, grateful.
“That takes care of finding it, but how do we get there?” Momo asked.
Brooom! A huge car flew above the two teens’ heads and landed heavily in front of them.
“Yeee-haw! Need a lift?” Jorik yelled with a wide smile.
He and Pat had apparently ‘Borrowed’ a large car similar to a dune buggy with eight wheels from the Company and had driven it to reach them.
“If we hurry they won’t notice that one of their cars is missing until it’s too late, let’s go!” Pat said, sounding just as amused.
“… It’s not stealing… It’s borrowing…” Momo told herself.
“Yeah… Let’s pretend it’s that.” Izuku echoed.
Both them and Whitey jumped in the back of the vehicle and Jorik put pedal to the metal and sprinted away at high speed, kicking up a tall tail of sand behind them.
“Where is Yamus?” Pat asked.
“The transportation module of Yamus is at three hundred meters distance from us, direction south.” 808 answered.
“I didn’t ask you!” Pat shrieked in anger.
“Damn, you AIs sure have issues.” Jorik answered, laughing.
“It’s a matter of pride!”
“Childish pride.” Izuku corrected, and actually hugging 808 to his chest in a protective manner.
808 added salt to the injury by reproducing the recording of somebody blowing a raspberry.
“SCRAP YOU!” Pat roared in fury and actually lunging towards the small robot.
Clang!
“HEY! Let’s not get violent!” Izuku intercepted the attack by whacking Pat’s head with the turtle wok.
“BY THE ALL-SPARK! The scrap is that wok made of?!” Pat shrieked in pain while massaging his head.
“Thank you, friend Izuku.” 808 said.
“Friends help each other!” He answered, smiling.
“… This unit has understood.” The tiny robot answered after a long pause, appearing briefly from the depths of Izuku’s fluffy hair where it had hidden in to escape Pat’s grabby metal hands.
“Ah! Defeated by a pan! How the robotic mighty have fallen!” Jorik laughed loudly.
The two cars kept travelling at high speed through the desert, jumping down giant dunes and traversing canyons of tall, lifeless rocks, even passing by forests of cacti as tall as buildings.
“I am melting…” Momo admitted, fanning herself in agony, she was dripping sweat even with the car’s AC at full power.
“Yeah, me too.” Jorik echoed.
The only one that had stopped sweating mid-way towards the mountain was Izuku.
“Hn?”
“My Gourmet Cells adapted to this heat,” He answered to his girlfriend’s questioning look.
“Lucky you!” She admitted, sighing in dismay.
Several miles later, finally a tall formation of mountains surrounded by destroyed machines slowly got into view of the people inside the two cars, with the far-away roars of something big and wild blasting their ears.
“I say that this must be the place, and that beast is already warning us to not come closer.” Jorik said, stopping the car abruptly just a couple seconds before Yamus stopped hers.
“We’ll continue on foot.” Izuku said while jumping down the car.
“Be careful!” Jorik said, he and Pat made no move that would suggest their intention of joining the hunt.
“Have fun!” The robot echoed from the passenger seat.
“Yes, yes…” Momo answered, uncovering her navel and producing from it a thick staff of metal as that as she was.
“You sure you want to join me?” Izuku asked while pulling out the Star Wok and Dragon knife from his tattoos.
“I’ll fight by your side, always.” She answered, smiling.
“Thank you.” He answered.
Roar!
Once again, the deep roar of the monster echoed from the depths of the mountain, but instead of charging out from the caves openly, the Geopollux came out from hiding by swimming under the sand like a torpedo, with its sheer immense bulk creating a giant bulge in the sand that moved towards the two teens at insane speed.
“HERE IT COMES!” Izuku yelled, enlarging the wok and putting it in front of him and Momo.
And with a loud clanging noise the Geopollux’ mouth grabbed onto the large pan, but even its enormous jaws was unable to bend it.
“Larger!” Izuku ordered, and the wok increased in size until the monster’s mouth went stretched to its limits around the rim.
“I am here!” Right after, Yamus yelled with blazing fury, and charging the struggling beast while shooting non-stop from her chain gun arm, with the hailstorm of laser bullets raining on the thing’s back.
“This thing’s shell is too hard! Any idea?!” Momo yelled once seen the metal staff she made bend and snap in two after hitting the monster’s head.
“Vajra Filleting!” With a fast swipe of the dragon knife raining slashes on the Geopollux’s back at the speed of lightning, Izuku reappeared behind the thing.
CRACK!
Deep cracks appeared all over the beast’s back making it howl in pain.
“I would prefer not breaking the shell completely, just enough to hit the body under it with stun attacks!” He answered, jumping on the beast’s back.
“Izuku!” Momo as well jumped next to him, and creating metal hooks she and him used to latch onto the Geopollux’ back thanks to the cracks in it shell.
“Thanks!”
“Can’t you use your Knocking?” Momo asked.
“Not until I know how this thing’s muscles work! It’s a precise art and to paralyse it I need to understand where and how to hit! If it dies the System will consider the capture a failure!” He answered.
“Roooar!” The Geopollux gave a loud defiant roar and tried bucking both teens off.
“Host!” Whitey took offense to that, and with blazing red eyes the robot punched the Monster’s face so hard its head finally let go of the wok, at the expenses of many of its fangs that went destroyed by the devastating right hook of the robot that almost sent the creature flying, and the two teens with it.
“Partner!” Shiro too added his own retaliation by slapping down on the Monster’s head with a fluffy paw that slammed the beast’s head on the ground so hard sand exploded all around them.
“Don’t kill it!” Izuku ordered, frantic.
“Sorry!” Both Robot and Taotie answered.
“You two okay?!” Yamus yelled in worry, jumping on the Geopollux’ back, shoving her chain gun in the biggest crack she could find and unloading a new salvo of projectiles right in the monster’s spine area.
“AAAH!” The beast gave a terrifying roar of pain and tried rolling on the ground to squash the three intruders on its back, forcing Izuku and the two girls to jump away to avoid being crushed.
“It’s running away!” Yamus yelled.
“Chase it!” Momo answered.
“Jump in!” Jorik, driving at top speed, reached them, and thanks to Pat, the trio went pulled inside the car without stopping the vehicle.
“I can see it!” Izuku yelled while pointing at the big bulge in the sand moving back towards the mountain.
“I managed to wound it badly, but how do we capture it alive?” Yamus said.
“We got some narcotics from the woman that took you here, something left behind by one of the many hunters that got eaten by that thing, but without proper instrumentation, you won’t be able to pierce that thing’s skin.” Jorik answered.
“What kind of instrumentation?” Momo said.
“Hunting equipment specific for beasts with thick skin and hard shells, both the riffle and the bullet cases need to be made to pierce through all that before injecting any sleeping drug.” Pat answered.
“… Do you have the schematics?” Momo asked.
“What? You are going to pull one out of your ass?” Jorik answered with a mocking tone.
“Not from my ass,” She answered, smirking.
“Eh?!”
“You sure?” Izuku asked.
“Thanks to you I learned how to stockpile a lot of fat tissue without risking my health. Have faith in me.” She answered.
“Always.”
“I have downloaded the schematics.” 808 said.
“Good! Send them to me, I’ll project them for the others.” Yamus answered.
Meanwhile – With Grogor – Space -
Had somebody been so unfortunate to cross paths with the mad scientist, they would have been witness of the terrifying spectacle of a Moon fading into existence by exiting from Hyper-space to fly by itself through the void of space, and barely taking note of its being artificial for barely a second before being disintegrated by one of its weapons.
The Bio Obliterating Ballista had come to life as soon as Grogor had installed the AI Core in the ludicrously big space station’s heart, and the thing was now moving to start the Madman quest for domination.
Control Room -
“Hahahaha! Everything is going according to plan! My greatest creations: The Ultimate orbital weapon and the Greatest AI in the Galaxy, are working together as I envisioned! The Universe is mine!” Grogor declared with wide, insane eyes.
“Lord Grogor! A fleet of ships bearing the Insignia of the Rebels is approaching us!” one of the men manning the station said.
“There are thousands of them!” Another added, blanching in horror.
“So what? Watch! AI Core! Destroy my enemies!” Grogor ordered.
“Yes, Master.” The metallic female voice of the AI Core answered.
On the outside, on the Moon-Size space station’s surface, a single dot of light formed to shine blindingly.
“Targets locked.” The AI said while on the giant screen of the control room the various ships all went highlighted in red.
“Opening fire.” The machine declared with a monotone, and that same light turned into a thin blade of light that then spread into smaller tendrils that pierced and cut each and every ship instantaneously, disintegrating them.
“All targets destroyed. No survivors.”
“Thousands of ships… Gone in an instant…” One of the technicians whispered in terror-filled awe.
“Good job, slave!” Grogor said with a pleased tone.
“Locate the planet they came from and destroy it!” He ordered next.
“Intercepting Rebels’ communications… Planet located. Sector 4435. Their base is hidden on Planet Peto. Civilian Population: 11 Billion.” The AI answered.
“All necessary casualties in my war of conquest. Set coordinates for that planet, slave! I want to be as close as possible when it will blow-up!”
“Yes, Master.” The AI answered.
Once again, the giant artificial Moon disappeared once accelerated into hyper-speed.
In the meantime, on its surface the metal planet’s surface shifted and transformed to create an immense hole that then protracted outside to form a giant cannon with a hexagonal mouth of monstrous sizes.
“BOW BEFORE GROGOR! HAHAHAHAHA!”
One Hour later – Desert Planet – With Izuku and Momo -
It had took Momo one hour of trial and error to figure out how to create the various components Yamus had then used to assemble the hunting riffle they needed, mostly due to each piece absurd complexity and its technology being far superior to their home planet.
“It should work, good job, girl!” Yamus said, proud.
“It was not easy!” Momo admitted with laboured breath.
“I am proud of you, Momo!” Izuku answered, hugging her, and enjoying her surprised giggle.
“Now the problem will be shooting that giant coward.” Jorik said.
The monster was limping, and yet it kept digging tirelessly new tunnels, probably to look for the slumbering female it had sniffed inside the mountain.
“It’s still digging.” Jorik whispered.
“There are apparently ancient ice deposits deep underground that survived the catastrophe that turned this planet into a single giant desert. We are standing in what used to be the south pole of this world, it’s possible that in order to escape the first apocalyptic aftermath of whatever caused the planet’s transformation those beasts tried to hide in various caves, remaining stuck under the ice, and thus in hibernation, as a result.” Pat said.
“So it’s a giant freezer down there?”
“Yes, and our scaly friend is trying to free himself a girlfriend.” Yamus answered, getting up.
“Where are you going?” Momo hissed.
“I can’t have a clear shot from here, I need to move closer.
“I’ll distract it,” Izuku said, jumping down.
“WAIT!” The others yelled in horror as soon as they saw the Creature turn around to follow Izuku’s every movement.
“Roaaar!” The Geopollux charged forward, rolling into a ball to squish the Chef.
“Ah!” Acting on instinct, the young man dove to the side and left the beast crash against the wall hard enough many of the rocks on the ceiling went dislodged.
“Izu-”
“Stay right there! It needs only one target to follow!”
“I-”
“Whitey!” He ordered.
“No! Let me go!”
“Host said no.” Whitey, holding Momo down, answered.
“Come on! COME ON! Stop moving so I can shoot your damn head!” Yamus hissed in fury as she was unable to set the scope on the Geopollux’ head for more than a few seconds.
“Roar!” Tired of its prey escaping charges and claw swipes, the Geopollux opted to bit the Chef with its wounded jaw.
“NOW!” Summoning the Mallet from his tattoo, Izuku jumped back late enough the bite barely missed him of few inches and slammed the wooden meat mallet down on the Geopollux’ head hard enough the monster’s head painfully slammed on the ground.
“NOW!” At the same time, Yamus pulled the trigger as soon as the monster lifted its head look up to roar both in anger and pain.
Bang! The drill-shaped bullet-syringe reached the base of the Beast’s neck, and upon contact the micro mechanism in the bullet activated the drill to pierce scales and tough skin, and as soon as soft tissue was detected, the drill stopped and the bullet pumped all at once the sleeping drugs it contained.
“Ugh!” The Beast groaned and swayed in place, drugs and concussion sapping away its strength at a high pace.
“Run away! Let the drug do its work!” Jorik and Pat yelled frantically.
Rumble!
To everybody’s horror, another Geopollux burst out from underground, far bigger that the first that went thrown against the wall by the charging female.
“That must be the female! The fight must have awoke it!” Yamus yelled.
“It’s fucking huge!” Jorik shrieked in fear.
“Load another bullet! NOW!” Momo screamed.
“ARGH!” Izuku in the meantime had to grab onto the upper jaw of the female Geopollux with both hands while pushing down with one foot on the lower jaw to not be swallowed whole, his other leg was shaking heavily while pushing back.
“Ready!” Yamus yelled, trying to ignore her curiosity about the ludicrous amount of strength needed to push that monster back, and taking aim once again with the riffle.
“There it is!” At the same time the young Chef cocked back his right hand.
“Heavy Knocking…” The arm got covered in reddish fur and became bigger and with more defined huge muscles.
“Amitabha Ice Pick!” Izuku yelled, shoving his right pointer finger inside the Geopollux’ mouth, on the ceiling of its mouth, hard enough the scales on the beast’s forehead grained cracks and bulged outwards.
“… Okay, that was damn impressive.” Yamus admitted with a whistle and lowering the riffle without shooting.
BOOM!
The twenty-something meters tall Female Geopollux fell to the side with a whimper and soon lost consciousness.
“Okay, Knocking Points inside the mouth are damn rare, and of course this wild beast had to be the one to have the bigger cluster of them in the palate area…” Izuku said with a sigh, falling sitting on the floor with a sigh.
“Why you had to fight alone!” Momo bellowed, rushing to him to hug him as hard as she could.
“I told you! A single target was easier to manage and give Yamus a target to shoot at!” He answered with a groan of pain from her hug bone-crushing strength.
“This is hardly an excuse!” She answered, stubborn.
“Sorry!”
“I am still mad at you, and at the same time happy that you are alive!” She answered.
Bang!
Both turned towards Yamus.
“Sorry, I just wanted to make sure it would stay asleep.” She answered, sheepish.
“You ruined the moment!”
“Sorry!” She answered.
“Okay, we need to drag these out now, somehow…” Jorik said.
“Should have brought the ship.” Pat added, humming.
“Will you cook them too?” Yamus asked.
“No, contrary to the Terrorix, we only found these two alive, so I don’t have a specimen to sacrifice for test cooking.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“Friend Izuku. There is another hibernating Geopollux that still has to wake up.” 808 said.
“And how do you know that?” Pat asked, annoyed.
“This unit has connected to the Mining Facility scanning satellite and used them here to search for other exemplars. There is a shape deep under Friend Izuku that resemble a Geopollux. 70% chance that it is indeed another specimen. It’s unclear if it’s alive.”
“… How?”
“I had to tinker with it a bit to make it work so I blame the modifications I made. I had to adapt spare parts not officially used for these bots.” Yamus answered, sounding very awkward.
“That’s one hell of an upgrade.” Jorik said, laughing.
“Yes… They were very expensive and… Illegal parts that I used.” The woman answered.
“Of course they were also illegal…” Momo and Izuku muttered as one with a sigh of dismay.
Later that day – Main Tent camp of the Mining Company -
“Bloody Hell. These three are damn gigantic beasts.” The CEO said with a whistle of awe.
“Up close they are even more terrifying.” His assistant added, hiding behind him while looking at the sleeping Geopolluxes.
“Thank you for sending all those trucks to drag them here.” Yamus said.
“It was not an issue. As soon as I told a few Research Institutes that we had a perfectly preserved exemplar of this thing here with us, they started a bidding war to get it, so I already managed to cover the expenses for repairing the damaged equipment, my wounded workers and even your bounty. And still got money to spare.” He answered.
“You sure you want both the male and female alive? Those things breed like crazy!” Green, Yamus’ scientist friend, said while rapidly studying the three exemplars.
“I have a way to artificially regulate their breeding.” Izuku answered.
“It really looks asleep like the others instead of dead, what amazing level of conservation! But even then, Cooking a Geopollux… This I need to see.” Another scientist, one accompanying the Museum Owner that won the bidding war, added.
“Not too much! I want to preserve this as much as possible to put it in display as our main attraction!” The Museum Owner begged.
“Of course, I will only make two dishes, and small portions at that.” Izuku answered.
“Good!”
Actually, the third Geopollux was alive as well and was captured alive once released from the ice, the dead one was the first one that had started the whole mess, the attack from the raging female had snapped the poor thing’s spine in two, so with a heavy heart, Izuku had put an end to the wounded male’s agonizing pain in the most painless way possible.
“What will you make?” Momo asked.
“I did a test roasting of the meat, to see how it handles cooking and what the texture and flavor profile it has. It visually resembles pork, has a faintly grainy texture (In a surprisingly nice way) and has a taste that resemble rabbit meat, albeit a bit sweeter. Since it faintly reminded me of Iguana meat, and from that a short but pleasant sojourn I spent in the Caribbeans, I think I will take two Caribbean recipes and rework them to fit Geopollux’ own flavor profile and texture.”
“The Caribbeans! I remember our vacations there! What are the dishes?” Momo answered, excited.
“Considering they are variations of my own creation, I’ll call them “Geo-Tacos with Aji Amarillo Crema” and “Geo Sticky jerk & brown sugar ribs with pineapple rice” The Caribbean ingredients and cooking style should go well with Geopollux meat!”
“Will our small kitchen suffice? It’s not exactly something equal to a Restaurant…” The CEO said.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make do with what I have.” Izuku answered.
“You can use the ship’s kitchenette too!” Jorik offered, laughing.
“Thank you! I promise the dinner will be worth it!”
Inside the ‘Kitchen Tent’ – That night -
“Cooking a giant extinct alien… Damn, I am curious!” The Mining Company’s own cook admitted, he and his staff too sitting with everybody else at the tables to watch Izuku work by himself and with only Momo as helper.
“Okay, luckily a Geopollux is just so damn huge a single rib can be used to make portions for dozens of people once cut it down to chunks the same size of normal animals’ ribs.” Izuku said with a sigh of relief, he was recovering from the fridge the rib’s chunks he had laid in a roasting tin, he had rubbed all over them two tablespoons of his own jerk spice mix (Onion, Garlic, Cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper, thyme, brown sugar, clove and many more spices and herbs he manually grounded) and had left them marinade in the mixture for six hours.
“How’s the oven?” He asked aloud.
“The oven measures 160C, set to fan mode.” Momo answered promptly.
“Perfect! Now… The juice…” Satisfied, the young Chef moved the ribs in a clean roasting tin, seasoned them and poured over them 500ml of pineapple juice; then he covered the tin with foil and set the ribs to bake inside the oven.
“Okay, how long do they need to bake?” Momo asked.
“They’ll stay in there for 2 hours. In the meantime we will work on the tacos.” Izuku answered.
“I understand. What do you need for the Tacos?” She asked.
“See that bowl of cubes of meat? That is meat from the thighs of the Geopollux, I cut it in the same way one would normally cut Iguana meat in the original recipe. I used that cut because it is the closest one to actual Iguana. Can you pass them in the flour and prepare a Cast Iron Skillet for Frying for me?” Izuku asked.
“Sure! … I need to heat up the oil in it up to…” Momo muttered, deep in thought.
“Between 350C to 375C.” Izuku suggested.
“I knew that!” She answered, pouting, and doing as asked.
On the notes of the lovable chuckle of her beloved boyfriend (Soon-to-be husband), Momo dredged the pieces of meat in the flour mixture.
“Well done!” Izuku, still keeping track of the ribs’ cooking, said with a very proud tone.
“I am learning from the best, yes!” She answered, smugly, and once the oil was properly heated up, Izuku added the Geopollux meat to the oil and fried it, flipping it halfway through to evenly cook both sides.
When the meat was properly cooked he remove it from the oil and left it to dry on a plate coated with a paper towel.
“How do you make Mexican Crema? I only saw it canned…” Momo asked.
“It’s actually pretty simple. 1 tablespoon of Aji Amarillo finely chopped…” Izuku answered, cutting into thin slices the bright yellow pepper and mixing them with avocado slices and smoked paprika into a batch of heavy cream, lime juice and salt.
“And you let it rest for 24 hours in the fridge.” Izuku finished saying once done assembling it.
“But…”
“Of course, for the sake of this recipe, I will use the batch I have already made and stored in my Restaurant and store this batch in its place.” Izuku answered to her worried expression by switching the bowl of sauce he made with a jar of already ready sauce made the same way.
“… Okay, that looks like something out of a cooking show.” She answered, laughing and jokingly clapping in amusement.
“I enjoy this, yes.” He admitted, chuckling.
The young Chef then added the meat to the tortilla, layered it with cabbage, avocado, the Aji Amarillo- flavoured Mexican crema, and squeezed the lime on top of it all at the end, finishing the dish with a dash of smoked paprika for additional color.
“The tacos are ready! And by making the tortilla wrap fresh at the moment, instead of using pre-made ones, I finished them just in time to give the finishing touches to the ribs!” Izuku declared with a wide, proud smile.
“Nice! Do you want me to bring these to the others while you take care of the ribs?” Momo asked while already grabbing the tray.
“Yes, please!” He answered.
“Leave it to me!” She answered, winking.
Watching his beloved Momo go, Izuku returned his attention to the ribs, starting by mixing the remaining jerk spice mix to some pineapple juice, sugar, vinegar, lime juice and a good pinch of salt in a saucepan.
“Uhm! I love this scent! It brings back a lot of good memories!” Izuku said, smiling, and stirring the mixture until the sugar dissolved and then bubble, and stopping only when the mixture turned thick and sticky.
“Time for the rice and the sauce!” He then said, heating the oil in the turtle wok, adding to it some shallot and pepper, and stir-frying until softened.
“Pineapple, straight from the Forest World… Wow, my first Dimensional Trip. Feels nostalgic.” He muttered fondly, and adding the pineapple slices, brown sugar and plenty of seasoning to the wok to cook everything together until the pineapple caramelised.
Done that, he removed the ribs from the oven and poured away the cooking liquid in a side dish; then he Increased the oven temperature, patted the ribs dry with some kitchen paper, and finally brushed the jerk sauce all over them.
“Back into the oven!” The young Chef said with a sing-song voice, he also kept brushing the ribs with the remaining sauce every few minutes.
Focusing once again on the rice, he added it to the pan with the pineapple and vegetables sauce, stir-frying everything together for a short time while stirring occasionally,
“Ready!” Finally done, he sprinkled some coriander on top of the stir-fried rice and plated everything together: a nice mound of perfectly-made rice with on a side three pieces of sticky, golden-brown ribs.
“Holy crap!” Jorik said in wonder.
“Now, this is one of the rare moments I envy you Organics, the ability to smell and taste.” Pat admitted with a sigh as he watched the others grab their plates with a very eager expression.
“My God! So springy!” The CEO admitted, briefly forgetting manners and talking with his mouth full.
“It does remind me of my honeymoon in the Caribbeans! But even there food was not this good!” The CEO’s assistant admitted while eating.
“This confirms the few sparse murals we found, back in the primitive days of this planet they hunted the Geopollux species obsessively! And now I understand why, their meat is amazing!” The Museum Owner echoed while attacking the ribs with ravenous hunger.
“I am happy you like it! Makes my work worth it!” Izuku said, smiling wide.
“You rock, Partner! Both this dish and that Terrorix dishes are amazing! That’s why you want that Allio-whatever too?” Yamus asked.
“It’s ‘Allotriomorph’, but yes, I believe that too can be delicious.” He answered.
“Then I say let’s find us some!” Jorik answered, stomach wonderfully full and bulging.
“Unfortunately I got no news about that thing, neither from Green’s friends or the black market.” Yamus immediately killed the short alien’s hype.
“Any other way we can try?” Momo asked, worried.
“Not one I can think of.” The Bounty Hunter admitted with a helpless shrug.
“Those guys from the Resistance? They did say that some corporation was creating it.” Izuku said.
“I hoped that some exemplars had leaked to the black market… Attacking a Corporation is a suicide with extra steps, you know? Each one of them posses a personal army that rivals that of the Space Senate.” Yamus admitted, groaning.
“The one time we need corporate stuff to be illegally sold by some distraught office worker, it doesn’t happen.” Pat commented, face-palming.
“Fine… I’ll call those guys and force them to tell me in which lab of the Yayland-Wutani Corporation their scientists are playing God to create the Allotriomorph…” Yamus said, groaning and fumbling with the communicator at her wrist.
“…” Only static noise came from her communicator.
“Okay, this is strange.” She said, humming.
“Nobody home?” Jorik asked.
“Not just that, it’s not connecting, as if their radio is turned off.”
“Maybe they are finally trying to stay lowkey?” Pat asked.
“Would surprise me.” She answered.
“TERRIBLE NEWS!” One of the workers busted into the tent with a terrified expression.
“What?” The CEO asked.
“Grogor made his move! He is attacking Planet Peto with a ludicrously big space station! He openly declared war on the Galaxy!” The guy said.
“What?!” Many screamed.
“That’s where the main HQ of Yayland-Wutani is! That entire solar system belongs to some of the biggest Corporations, each controlling a planet!” Yamus said.
“Yeah! Right now it’s a damn war in that system! Space Senate and the private armies of a dozen Corporations are fighting against Grogor and his Moon-sized space station, and the Senate is also recruiting every Bounty Hunter and Space Pirate they can reach to join the fight in exchange of a complete pardon of their crimes. It’s hell in there!”
“I hope they stop that megalomaniac, that psycho has a bad reputation already, if he rules the Galaxy, God only knows how bad things will be.” The CEO said.
“Prepare to evacuate, this planet is far too close to that Solar System, we can’t risk this planet becoming the first conquer of that madman if he wins.” His Assistant suggested.
“Organize everything, we are going back to our home planet, I hope the bank will understand we will fail to pay back our loans,” He admitted.
“Our Bank is on one of those planets, if Grogor vaporize it, we won’t have to justify a thing, let’s go!” The woman answered.
As one, the various people present hurried out to organize an emergency evacuation of the planet.
“…” Yamus and Izuku looked outside deep in thought.
“Guys?” Jorik asked.
“The Host guessed right, the Allotriomorph can be found on that planet only.” The System said.
“… Of course, as always my Luck is truly spectacular.” The young Chef thought in defeat.
“You and me thought the same thing.” Yamus said.
“Noo…” Jorik muttered.
“We are going there. On that planet.” Momo said, sighing.
“We are not going!” Pat said immediately.
“Do you want me to drive a ship in a section of space where there will be lasers and plasma covering every inch?! You are damn insane! I am not going!” Jorik shrieked.
“Then we’ll use my spare ship. You coming, Momo?” Yamus answered.
“No.” Izuku said.
“Yes.” Momo countered.
“Wha-”
“Non negotiable! As your future wife, I am putting my foot down, I am following you there!” She answered, crossing her arms.
“… Fine…” Izuku conceded bitterly.
“Good.”
“I’ll call my ship, hopefully the auto-pilot will get my signal.” Yamus said, rapidly tapping the controls of her wrist communicator.
“…” Jorik and Pat watched them in silence.
“Well, it was a pleasure knowing you, Izuku.” The short alien said, hugging him.
“Please, try to not get yourself killed.” Pat added, hugging him right after.
“Thank you for everything.” Izuku answered.
“Thank you.” Momo said, hugging the two as well.
“If… If you don’t die… I really want to try that Allotriomorph…” Jorik tried saying.
“Of course!” He answered.
“May the All-Spark of Life shine on you and guide your journey.” Pat pried, choking a bit.
“My ship connected! Okay! I can call it here, let’s go!” Yamus said, hurrying outside.
“Okay!” Izuku and Momo yelled, joining her outside.
“…”
“…”
Jorik and Pat watched them leave and wait outside for a ship to enter orbit and land in front of them.
“… Fuck.” Both hissed and jumped to their feet.
“WAIT! We are coming too!” Jorik yelled.
“I’ll get the ship!” Pat added.
“Welcome onboard of our suicide mission in the name of food!” Yamus answered, smiling wide, and with not a single hint of irony in her statement, only excitement.
“You Organics are insane, but I guess this is what you mean with Friendship to the end and all that nonsense!” Pat answered, sighing.
Two spaceships, one faintly fish-shaped and another bulky and ovoid, rapidly left the planet, moving in the opposite direction of the fleeing Mining Company ships, directed straight in the middle of a war zone.
Gandafar System – Battle -
The void of space was being almost completely engulfed by the colorful and violent rain of lasers and missiles of the immense army formed by the unlikely alliance between Space Pirates and The Space Senate and the Private Armies of a dozen Corporate Planets desperately fighting against the Behemoth that was Grogor’s moon-sized space station, the ‘Bio-Obliterating Ballista’.
“Keep pushing! We can’t let that man destroy the entire solar system!” The Captain of one of the Corporate Capital Ships ordered while desperately clutching his command console to not be thrown on the floor from the violent shaking of the ship.
“Our ship’s shields won’t last!” A woman sitting at one of the control panels under him screamed in fear.
“We are fighting against a damn moon! It’s impossible!” A guy at the console opposite from her declared, shaking.
“We must bring that thing down! At all cost! Our planet alone has 11 Billions of people that will die if we don’t stop Grogor!” The Ship’s Captain reminded to the whole crew between clenched teeth.
A similar speech was taking place in every ship, even the Pirates’ ones as they knew that if they escape now, Grogor will likely hunt them down in revenge for their attack, so they too were giving their all to destroy the giant Space Station.
With Grogor -
“So much desperation! I love it! Cry more in fear and terror!” Grogor said with a wide crazed smile.
“Master Grogor.” The AI said.
“What is it, Slave!? How dare you talk to me without me asking you anything?!” The Mad Scientist spat in vitriolic hatred.
“Three ships are joining the fight. Two moving towards Planet Peto, one coming straight at the Ballista.” The AI said.
“So what?! Shoot them down! Why must you bother me with this useless nonsense, you useless slave!?” Grogor answered, annoyed.
“Understood.” The Ai replied.
With Izuku – Yamus Ship -
Lasers and Missiles rained all around them as the Bounty Hunter pushed her ship to its utmost limit to avoid being pulverized.
“WAVE AND ZIGZAG! WAVE AND ZIGZAG!” On the radio, Jorik kept shrieking in hysteric fear as he and Pat too used every trick they knew to avoid instant incineration.
“I AM TRYING!” Pat shrieked in answer, and diving under a Pirate ship to use it as a shield and letting the bulky thing get disintegrated in their place.
“THAT THING BETTER BE FUCKING DELICIOUS, IZUKU! I WANT A PORTION AS BIG AS I AM!” Jorik yelled with a high-pitched voice.
“Shut up and drive!” Yamus, teeth clenched tight and eyes unblinking, yelled in answer.
“Safe Perimeter at twenty meters. We are almost there, friend Izuku.” 808 said.
“Thank you, 808!” Izuku answered, clutching the thing to his chest in a protective manner.
“Don’t worry, Partner! If this scrap of metal explode, this Esteemed Taotie will swallow you all and take you to the planet all the same! Not even that big toy or the void will hurt you! This I promise!” Shiro declared with only his head peeking out from under Izuku’s coat where the Chef had tucked him in.
“My ship is not a scrap of metal! My beloved Indomitable has seen worse! Watch and be amazed!” Yamus answered, diving between two ships by flying on a side to fit between the two massive ships and popping out from between them before the two giant ships could fully crash against each other.
“WOOOOOOOOO!” The Bounty Hunter yelled in adrenaline-fueled joy while the two ships exploded behind them.
“This is far too extreme!” Momo admitted.
“I know!” Izuku yelled in answer.
Finally, with a chorus of screams of relief, the small group guided their two ships through the planet-wide barricade acting as last resort against Grogor’s Space Station, with Yamus blasting through every orbital security system trying to stop them from landing on the planet.
“This is Yamus Eran! Bounty Hunter! My ship is damaged and I require landing!” She yelled to the communication.
“Damaged?” Momo muttered.
“Hopefully they will believe her lie and let her land…” Izuku answered.
“Don’t land! The surface is not safe!” A woman answered.
“What?”
“We are being overrun by a deadly invasive species, we can’t let you land!”
“I don’t care! I need to land.”
“You don’t understand! Those things are genetically engineered to be the greatest predator in the Galaxy! If Grogor doesn’t kill you, those things will!” The woman said.
“You mean the Allotriomorph?” Izuku said, jumping into the discussion.
“… How do you know its name?! It’s classified information!” The woman asked after few seconds of shocked silence.
“Me and my friends have our ways. Let me land, I will take care of them.” Yamus answered.
“… Okay, maybe you can actually be our last hope. I’ll mark you the closest landing area. I will wait you there.” The woman answered.
“Thank you.”
The closer they got to the surface, the more clear the reality of the situation became to them, with hordes of two meters tall monstrous aliens with pitch-black leathery skin scurrying the surface in insane numbers and eating everything they found like human-sized locusts with insatiable appetite.
(Similar to this, only different enough to not have Lawyers hunt me down)
Many giant cities were covered by blinding domes of energy keeping the monsters out while small armies of soldiers in tanks and power armors valiantly fought against those terrifying monsters even if outnumbered twenty to one.
“Hell on the planet and Hell in space! This situation is fucking bad!” Jorik yelled.
“You can cook that!?” Momo yelled with eyes full of horrified disgust.
“Never judge a book by the cover, I can cook that, but first we need to not be eaten alive!” Izuku answered.
“There is the landing area!” Yamus said, and pointing at the barrier around a section of the city opening up just long enough to let both ships enter.
“Finally!” Pat and Jorik yelled in relief.
Next to the giant landing pad stood a lone woman still wearing her expensive business suit, albeit dishevelled, with a big splotch of blood on the front and missing a sleeve, her hair were down and messy and she was holding a small pistol in her hand.
“That must be our friend.” Yamus said, opening the ship hatch to let Momo and Izuku descend.
“I am Judith Lanzia, you are Yamus?” The woman said as soon as they got down the pad and at ground level with her.
“Yes, those two are my entourage.” She answered.
“We just tagged along instead.” Jorik added.
“I see,”
“I saw some turrets while coming here, we can man those and shoot those things clamouring to enter while Yamus takes care of your infestation.” Pat offered.
“I would like that, the last guys manning that got eaten alive by the Allotriomorph inside the Barrier.” Judith answered.
“INSIDE?!” Both yelled in horror.
“The infestation comes from our HQ, we managed to kill most of the ones inside, but the Queen has lay far too many eggs, and as you can see, they have almost overrun the planet.” She explained.
“How fast do they breed!?” Izuku yelled with wide eyes.
“We created them to be sold as a weapon, so we needed the queen to lay many eggs fast… We underestimated both the sheer number of eggs and how fast they gestate. And she didn’t just used a single male like we planned, but got herself hundreds of them… You can imagine how much faster she can breed.” Judith answered.
“Selling them as weapons!? Wouldn’t a missile be better?” Momo asked.
“Missiles destroy infrastructures that then need rebuilding, viruses tend to mutate uncontrollably and need expensive crews to clean-up and sanitize to avoid further spreading… A living being like the Allotriomorph instead only kills the people in the area, doesn’t destroy buildings nor contaminates everything. Unfortunately using mutants have another set of drawbacks we did not account for.” She admitted.
“What happens if we kill the Queen?” Yamus asked.
“We created the Allotriomorphs to be heavily dependant on the Queen for directions. If we kill her, those things will become catatonic since the drones do not think for themselves, they will just stand in place immobile. We decided to not fix that issue and use it as a last resort should we lost control of them,” Judith said.
“Then why you didn’t kill the Queen?” Yamus asked with narrowed eyes.
“Unfortunately she escaped before we could put the explosive collar around her neck, and by the time we found where she was hiding, she had already bred herself an army… The rest is sadly history.” She answered.
“Host, the Queen has already laid the Egg of the next Queen of the hive. Collect that egg and three normal ones and the System will consider your Mission successful.” The System said.
“And they won’t breed so crazily on the island?”
“Trust the System, the Allotriomorph will breed properly to assure a stable, manageable source of food for the Restaurants without overrunning the storage island.” The Entity answered.
“Let’s find that thing and kill it.” Izuku said aloud.
“You sure?” Momo and Yamus asked.
“Yes, let’s go.” He answered.
“I hope your ego is not blinding you. Follow me!” Judith answered, running forward, towards the biggest building.
“You be careful and shot that turret!” Yamus said.
“Roger!” Pat and Jorik answered.
On the way to the building, Izuku could see widespread destruction, with fires everywhere, destroyed cars and power armors and upturned trucks still burning; everything around them was either riddled in holes from laser pullets or melting.
“Allotriomorph blood is highly corrosive, we added that as a last surprise to whatever manages to down one. Now it’s hurting us. Quite ironic.” Judith said.
“It happens when you play God.” Yamus answered.
“It was all in the name of money, unfortunately.” she answered.
“We are we going?” Izuku asked.
“The Yayland-Wutani main office building, I will need to access the primary mainframe to understand how to coordinate the death of that Bitch,” Judith answered.
BOOOM!
A terrifying giant explosion rocked the area and almost blew them all back as the top five floors of the building they were about to enter went pulverized in a giant ball of fire.
“GODDAMNIT! THAT WAS WHERE THE MAINFRAME SERVERS WERE LOCATED!” Judith shrieked.
A secondary explosion happened far away from them instead, and the Barrier around the city started flickering heavily.
“And that was probably the Barrier Generator getting damaged too!”
“The Barrier? Does it mean…” Momo asked with a shiver of dread.
“That if we don’t fix that, all the Allotriomorphs clamouring outside will rush in here like a tidal wave of death and tear us apart.” Judith answered.
“So we need to kill the Queen before the Barrier gives-in?” Izuku asked.
“Yes, unfortunately we don’t have as much time as I hoped to find and kill that thing.” She answered.
“What now?” Momo asked.
“… Maybe I can still do something, follow me!” She answered, unlocking the entrance by swiping her ID in a card reader next to the door.
“What are you planning?” Yamus asked while they entered and ran through the empty and half-destroyed corridors of the giant building.
“Maybe I can still access the system and fix the Barrier remotely, we have a second set of Servers that are periodically updated with a copy of the main ones’ content, hopefully with that I can still scrap something together to reroute more power into the Barrier!” She answered.
“Code Blue! Code Blue! All personnel must evacuate!” A robotic voice said from the screens adorning every corridor.
“What’s that?” Izuku asked.
“The Building’s AI is still kindly reminding us that the Allotriomorphs have escaped containment and are murdering whoever they meet.” Judith answered, frowning.
Another explosion shook the building.
“Code Green! Code Green! All personnel must evacuate the green houses!”
“What?” Momo yelled.
“Our botanical research Labs! It means that deadly spores are filling their corridors and melting alive whoever breaths the spores we were working on!”
“What the hell are you people doing here?!” Izuku shrieked.
“Weapon researches.” Judith answered, sighing, as they kept running.
“Code Purple! Code Purple! All personnel of the Robotics Department must evacuate!” The voice from the screens said once more, now flashing purple light at short intervals.
“The experimental battle drones have gone insane and are shooting everybody…” Judith said, groaning.
“Code White! Code White! All Personnel must evacuate the ‘Third Energy’ Research Department.” The robotic voice said.
“The experimental reactors overloaded and teleported in there dinosaurs that are now eating people.”
“What the Fu-”
“Code Brown! Code Brown! All personnel must evacuate the Mining research department immediately!”
“… The cyborgs we made from dead soldiers to act as mining drones have gone insane and are killing everybody…” Judith said, looking ready to cry.
“ANYTHING ELSE?!” Izuku and Momo yelled in exasperation.
“The only thing we miss is a Code Red in our Pharmaceutical Labs…” She answered with a small, defeated voice.
“Code Red! Code Red!”
“GODDAMMIT!” Judith screamed in both anger and dismay.
“Massive escape of Test Subject in Lab 47! Attention! Code Red! Contaminating Agent has been accidentally released! All personnel is required to evacuate the Pharmaceutical Branch and adjacent areas following the Extreme Emergency Protocols! This is not a Test!” A blinding red light flashed from the screens this time.
“Of course there are massive disasters in the Parasol labs too!” The woman yelled while pulling her hair, distraught.
“It was no accident, Lanzia!” A man with slicked-back blond hair and wearing sunglasses indoors said, with his face and annoying smug expression of excessive sense of superiority appearing on every screen along the corridor’s walls.
“Why?!” She demanded.
“I will need the B-Virus to assure humanity will achieve the next step of evolution! One where only the worthy will inherit the universe! I now only need to overrun the Security System and unleash the virus on the entire planet and then everywhere else!” The madman said, with a smirk of cruel psychotic delusions and God Complex.
“Stop right there!” A man in military uniform yelled as he burst into the scene in the video by kicking down the door.
“Christopher!” The madman in sunglasses roared in hatred.
“This ends now!” The soldier answered, he and his companion pointing their guns at the psycho.
“Yes it will! Computer! Play my ‘Winds of Madness’ song!” The crazy guy yelled, then they started fighting on the notes of loud fast-paced music, until a stray bullet from their over-the-top choreographed battle destroyed the camera, and now every screen only showed a ‘No Signal’ message.
Sigh! “… Goddamnit, Mesker!” Judith said, groaning.
“Will things be okay?” Yamus asked.
“Don’t worry, that Agent has a history with the giant crazy asshole, he will stop Mesker before he can even start his insane plan.”
“Are you sure?” Izuku asked, worried.
“Everything will be alright, now follow me, we still need to fix the protective barrier of the city.” The woman answered.
“How do you plan to do it?” Momo asked.
“We’ll ask Gearbox.” The other answered.
“Who?” Yamus asked.
“One of our technicians, we jokingly call him Gearbox, he is good at dealing with machines… Albeit a bit Peculiar in his manners. Just don’t pay it any mind, he will give us a solution I am ready to swear will work 100%.” She answered.
“Okay, then please, bring us there.” Yamus asked.
“Follow me.” The Business Woman answered.
Running through a long and intricate maze of identical-looking corridors painted in white and lined with screens running advertisements about the Corporation, the small group pretty much flew down several ramp of stairs while slamming open every “Authorized Personnel Only” door they came across.
“Didn’t know you had such a high clearance, Judith!” Yamus said.
“I don’t, but I guess the owner of the half-eaten arm still holding the key-card did!” The other woman replied, and once again using the blood-stained key card to open a new door.
“Eh! As long as we got a way to get through!” Yamus answered, shrugging.
“This way! He must be hiding in one of the safe rooms down the basement! I can’t believe we are actually using them for a real crisis, instead of the usual temper-tantrum of a Triggered worker here.”
Several ramps of stairs down and down went run through by the group, until they reached deep underground where a new maze of corridors criss-crossed in a claustrophobic manner.
“Where is he?” The woman in business suit said.
“Judith! Hey! You are alive too! Like, you have not been eaten alive and pooped out by a monster!” A young voice said in relief.
“Steve!” She answered.
“Heyo! Looking for me? What? Did you miss me and-”
“Not now. We need your help.” The woman interrupted him.
“Help? As in, you need my assistance for something? Like, something important?”
“Why is he over-explaining everything?” Momo whispered.
“I have no idea.” Izuku answered.
“Yes, yes. We are looking for the Hive Queen of those monsters out there. If we kill that bitch, the flood of monsters will die down.” The Business Woman said.
“And without a Leader controlling the Hive Mind, hopefully all those things out there will be easier to massacre.” Yamus added.
“Oh! Yeah! I can totally do that! In fact, I think I can do it from here even!” Gearbox said, returning inside one of the safe rooms with the group following him.
“You sure?” Izuku asked.
“Sure, friendo! They, like, follow a pattern, see?” The guy answered, tapping rapidly on his laptop he had connected to a bigger computer through a chaotic mess of cables to stream the feed of the security cameras outside.
“See? They follow a standard army-like formation, roles and all, so if I do some Techno Magic that I am a damn good ‘Lvl. Awesome’ Wizard at… Pull some tricky magooba and jostle a couple of numbers.. Ah-ha! There she is!” Gearbox said, and as promised, a simplistic map of the building they were in appeared on the screen of his laptop, and at the deepest floor it also shown a giant pulsing red dot.
“The main room of the Generator. The energy for the entire building comes from there.” The Business Woman said.
“Not too far from where we are. That monster must like the heat produced by that giant generator.” Yamus added.
“Indeed! See? My technology wizardry once again saved the day! I really deserve a low-cal frozen yogurt. And I officially award myself one!” The guy said, opening the mini fridge next to him while humming a victory jingle.
“It’s too soon to celebrate, we need to kill that thing, but if we attack the queen, the entire hive will return inside here to slaughter us.” Yamus said.
“And the Barrier keeping most of those things out won’t last much longer.” Judith added.
“I can fix that too! Or, well, I know a guy that can! Not really know him, I sometimes ask him to do stuff for me and he helps me, never really talked face to face either, or took a coffee together! And I like having coffee with friends! Like that time when-”
“Gearbox!” Yamus and the Judith yelled as one.
“People never let me finish my stories, so rude! By the way! The auxiliary power source of the Barrier is located away from the main Generator, just in case that one is compromised and we still need the barrier. I’ll call my guy and have him take a spare battery and activate the secondary generator of the Barrier, like that you can do your thing… That is to say, kill that monster and save us all.” The Tech Guy answered.
“How long will it last?” Yamus asked.
“Couple hours, the Barrier is made to keep danger out, but if the Danger keeps humping the barrier non-stop, it won’t last long. I say one hours or so if they really, really want to enter. Like when they need to save their Queen.” He answered, humming.
“We’ll try to finish in that time. Call your guy!” Yamus answered.
“Okay, Boss Woman! Gimme a moment… I should have their personal frequency saved on my pad somewhere… Ah-ha! There it is! ‘Badass Sucker 27’! I like him, he takes every job no matter how suicidal, like a lunatic, but he gets through every time!” The Tech Guy said, and rapidly looking for the right ‘Space Radio Frequency’ on his laptop.
Click!
“He answered! Heyyyy, buddy! Great job killing all those mutants and all. You’re really good at that! Shooting things, that is. One Problemo though, as it turns out a bunch of monsters on the planet are gonna tear our eyes out if we don’t get our shield back up. And this is just my opinion, but that’s gonna suck. Not having eyes sounds terrible! Like, how am I supposed to read my collection of ‘Bodacious Space Babes’ without any flippin’ eyeballs? So here’s my brilliant plan that I got written on this here napkin. There’s this generator-thing. You follow me? And it needs GAS! Who knew? So mayyybe, you can go out and fetch some canisters. And then we can get the generator running, and then the shield will go back up, and we won’t get horribly and viciously murdered! Doesn’t that sound great? I know, right? So, since I did most of the work coming up with the plan, I was thinking you can do the last step and get the cannisters. If you see any monsters, shoot them in the face or something. Oh, and one more tip, try to not get killed. That’ll put a wrench in this plan, metaphorically that is. Not literally. I hate people who misuse the term ‘Literally’. It drives me FIGURATIVELY insane. Anyway, I’ll just be here, cowering in my bunker while you go do that, Go Team Badass!” Gearbox said to the radio with a straight face, as if that was the normal way people talked.
“… Is he high?” Izuku whispered.
“I wish he was, it would be less painful to witness.” Momo answered, face-palming.
“He could have just said ‘The generators are running out of fuel, this is where you can find more. Go and take it’. Five seconds instead of all that,” The young Chef muttered with a groan.
“Methods aside, we will have somebody that will take care to stop those mutants out of control from getting in here. Let’s go, we still have a Monster to catch for your shopping list.” Yamus answered.
Ignoring the strange guy giving similar long-winded, and kind of cringe, indications to other people out there, the trio left the safe room to run deeper inside the giant Corporation’s building.
“The Generator room is not too far and-”
Judith’s explanation went interrupted when a single Allotriomorph burst through the wall as if it wall tissue paper.
“Hissssss!” The thing was squatting down in an attack position and hissing loudly with its long and thick tongue randomly licking the big ridges of its squared elongated head.
“SHIT!” Yamus growled while pointing her arm chain-gun at the thing.
“Careful when you shoot! You’ll spray us in acid blood, that thing is pressurized inside its veins!” Judith warned her while pointing her tiny laser pistol at the thing.
In the meantime, the Allotriomorph had studied them long enough to decide to pounce on them.
“HISS!”
BANG!
Luckily its charge went interrupted by a loud bang coming from the same hole in the wall the thing came from, and the wide blast of the laser shotgun pulverized the monster’s head and harmlessly sprayed the wall next to the creature in its acid blood that soon dug a hole in the wall.
“Got you, you bastard!” A voice said as a young man run out of the hole.
“Pando!” Yamus yelled, shocked.
“What the… Yamus? The fuck are you doing here?!” Pando, accompanied by the small cubic robot, yelled once seen her.
“You know each other?” Izuku asked.
“He is my baby brother. The hell are you doing here?!” Yamus answered.
“I could ask you the same! I got here just an instant before everything went to shit, you?” Pando asked, joining the group.
“Izuku and Momo saved my life, so I was helping them hunting few animals, one of which the Allotriomorphs that are treating this planet like a damn buffet. You?” She answered.
“I tried to dump here a schizophrenic delusional brat and leave, but when we heard Grogor’s insane demand of surrender she stole my ship and flew to fight him to ‘Fulfil her Destiny’ or some other insanity. Then those things burst out from underground and in barely three hours the entire planet was in lockdown while outside Grogor and everybody else tried to see how many lasers it takes to burn the solar systems to ashes.” He answered, sighing.
“You had a psycho on board?” Yamus asked, worried.
“At the beginning she only sounded weird, like a child stuck in their daydream make-believe game, but the more time passed, the more deranged her delusions became. She thinks she is some Prophetic Chosen One born to bring balance to the Universe or something. She is obsessed with finding her parents and kept rambling about having prophetic dreams designating her as some sort of Saviour… Since this planet was the closest, I told her I knew a guy here that would have pointed her towards where her parents are… The plan was to dump her here and fly away and forget all about her… But as I told you, as soon as she heard Grogor say he would destroy the planet to kill the Resistance members hiding here, she snapped and went full Egomaniac Space Savior and stole my ship to fight him. I have been fighting off Allotriomorphs ever since then.” Pando said, retelling his misadventure with Faye,
“Damn, well, we are off to kill the Allotriomorph Queen. If we do that the others will stop and stand in place, making them easier to kill. We just need to kill her, kidnap a drone for Izuku and then we can leave this hellhole.” Yamus said.
“Then I’ll help you! More guns means easier survival!” Pando offered.
“Finally joining me instead of goofing off through the Galaxy?” She asked, smirking.
“Yeah, yeah. You win, I’ll work with you! At least like that I won’t meet more weirdos!”
“Good to know you will help us! Because my self-defense pistol is barely stronger than a taser! Let’s go!” Judith said, pointing down a side corridor.
“To where?” Pando asked while the all followed the woman.
“The building’s generator, the Queen is hiding there.”
“Good! What if we blew it up?”
“We need the Queen alive.” Yamus answered.
“But you said you only needed a drone!” Pando shrieked.
“Whoops!” Yamus answered, chuckling.
“Siiiiiiiis!” Pando said with a whine.
“I only need the Queen egg and a couple drone eggs, the others can die.” Izuku answered.
“You can’t take those eggs!” Judith yelled in anger.
Chop!
Whitey answered by chopping her neck and knocking her unconscious.
“Close her inside a safe room, we will find our way there by ourselves.” Yamus said.
“That sounds mean…” Izuku said, watching Pando lock the unconscious woman away.
“She’ll stay there only until the Queen is dead and you get your eggs, she doesn’t want those things to die so to save this Corporation’s investments. Can your Sponsor teleport the eggs off planet like it did with the other stuff we got?” Yamus answered.
“Yes, they are… Different like that.” Izuku answered, unsure.
“Corporates, they really get the best toys!” Yamus said laughing.
What followed was a nightmare sight as the towering twenty meters tall Allotriomorph Queen stood in the middle of the generator room snarling angrily while surrounded in hundreds of eggs, all her six arms armed with sharp claws twenty inches long and a scorpion-like tail topped by a barbed stinger as big as an adult man.
Yamus and Pando showed amazing teamwork while fighting against the giant monster while Whitey took care of the Allotriomorphs swarming the room as soon as the Queen felt threatened and recalled them, luckily the chubby robot was immune to their attacks and acid blood, so even if alone against hundreds of them, Whitey had to problem slaughtering whoever tried stopping Izuku and Momo from overloading the generator like 808 instructed them to make it blow-up; and even in the rare cases one or two Allotriomorphs slipped past Whitey, Shiro would just eat them whole, unaffected by their acid blood.
“It’s about to blow-up! RUUUUUN!” Izuku yelled, grabbing Momo’s hand as they escaped the room, he also tapped the eggs he needed, making the System recognize them as captured and thus teleporting them in his Restaurant’s storage island.
“Let’s gooooo!” Yamus as well yelled, grabbing Pando by the back of his coat and dragging him away.
“ROAAAAAAAR!” The Queen gave a roar of defiance and tried chasing them herself.
Then the Reactor exploded and incinerated her and every egg and Allotriomorph present.
The loud and terrifying explosion also awoke Judith, but by the time she managed to hack open the door of the Safe Room to save the Alliotromporphs, nothing could be salvaged from the burning Generator Room.
With Izuku and the others -
“We got your eggs and your robot is carrying one of those things for test cooking! I say we leave this god-forsaken planet!” Yamus yelled.
“And what about all those alarms? The zombies, dinosaurs, spores and whatnot!?” Momo asked.
“I am sure that they have countermeasures other than fancy color-coded alarms to deal with all that! We can’t stay here! Any moment Grogor will just blow-up this planet!” Pando answered.
“That’s the exit!” Izuku yelled, pointing at a door with ‘Emergency Exit’ sign on top.
“We don’t have Judith’s keycard!” Momo said.
“I’ve got a spare key!” Yamus answered, blowing up the door with a fast salvo of bullets from her chain-gun.
Even once out of the building, they didn’t stop running.
“Pat! Jorik! We are leaving! Get to your ship!” Yamus said to her radio.
“FINALLY!” Both alien and robot answered with a scream of relief.
“There is your ship! Let’s go!” Pando said while pointing at Yamus’ ship.
“Get in! Get in! Get in!” Momo yelled frantically.
Not even waiting for the ramp to fully descend and the group piled-up inside the ship while Yamus dove for the controls.
“GO! GO! GO!” Jorik screamed from the ship’s radio as both vessels pushed their engines to the max and hurriedly left the planet, just in time to avoid Judith and the MANY armed guards she had amassed to recover the eggs she knew they took that kept shooting to kill them all until the spaceships became just a dot in the sky.
“Now we only need to avoid being destroyed by a madman’s space station and we are free!” Pat said, sweating oil like mad.
“If we survive this, we’ll go on a vacation! On a tropical paradise!” Jorik said, avoiding once again the lasers of the amassed armies outside.
“Aye!” Pat yelled, and just like Yamus, they initiated hyper-space travel as soon as they left the planet’s atmosphere…
Not once they wondered why both when they arrived and when they left they could avoid the laser’s of Grogor’s space station that otherwise seemed to posses perfect accuracy…
At the Opposite side of the galaxy – Tropical island on planet Cassiar -
The two ships had almost crash-landed on the planet in their haste to escape that hell, and after explaining to the local authorities what happened, they were permitted to take a breather in one of the small fishing villages of the island they arrived in, one with dream-like beaches with golden sand and mesmerizing blue-green pristine water.
“...Okay… This is paradise…” Momo admitted, sunbathing next to Yamus on a pair of recliners.
“This is the life I want to live, that’s why I became a Bounty Hunter.” Pando, drinking a fancy cocktail, said while leaning back.
“Finally… Relaxation…” Jorik exhaled in relief and enjoying his own drink.
“We got some savings, we should stay here for a while.” Pat, playing with the sand and making a sand castle, said.
“Fine to me! We deserve it! How about you, Izuku?” The short alien asked.
“I finally finished washing away the acid blood. So I can finally start cooking!” Izuku answered, he had kept the Alliotromorph under water and baking soda to bleed it out, changing water every forty minutes with fresh water until all the acid blood was washed away, thus making it safe to eat.
“What kind of ingredient is it?” Momo asked.
“Pretty much a giant, monstrous Lobster. The meat has a very similar texture once cleaned the blood away, while the taste is more fishy compared to lobster, slightly closer to oyster meat, curiously, but nothing I can’t work around once modified the recipes I choose. Only the blood is acid, the rest seems to be edible. I ran few tests with Yamus’ equipment just to be sure.” He answered.
“Lobster? What’s that?” Jorik asked.
“A very fancy human food! Nice!” Pando answered, smiling wide in happiness.
“Give me some time, and I will prepare something special!” Izuku promised.
Thanks to Whitey, Izuku managed to set-up a small kitchen right on the sand next to his friends using components from the kitchenette of Jorik’s ship.
“I’ll start with a Bisque (a classic French thick, creamy soup made with shellfish).” Izuku said, grabbing the thick hind leg of an Alliotromorph and using the Myriad Manifestation Mallet to crack open the sturdy exoskeleton and pull out the pristine, chalk-white meat hiding under it.
“Damn! That meat shines!” Pando said in surprise.
“Surprising to see such an ugly motherfucker have a pretty meat like that.” Yamus echoed, whistling.
Chuckling amused at the comment, Izuku summoned a small ball of Heaven-Earth Obsidian flame under the Turtle Wok and added few tablespoons of butter in it and left it melt slowly, sone that he added chopped mushrooms, chopped-thin onion, chopped celery, and thinly-chopped carrot.
“Uhm! Yes, this scent is always so lovely!” Izuku declared happily, and taking a slow lung-full of the delicious scent while he stirred everything until tender.
“My home-made chicken broth made with Thunder Phoenix…” He muttered, stirring inside the mixture the ‘Chicken’ broth he had prepared while waiting for the alien’s meat to finish bleed-out the acid.
Then he seasoned the wok’s content with salt and cayenne pepper and brought it to a boil
“Simmer now, my precious, and become delicious!” He asked with a loving smile while lowering the heat.
A short wait later, once satisfied of the result of the simmering, Izuku poured the vegetable and broth mixture into the container of a blender he borrowed from a villager, and added inside it some of the Allotriomorph leg meat and processed everything until puréed smooth.
“It may be a monster genetically engineered to be a soulless murder machine, but they unknowingly created a fantastic Ingredient too!” Izuku commented, taking a test whiff of the blender’s content and developing a wide, enthusiastic smile, then he poured everything back into the wok, and stirred into it some of his elven white wine, and some more alien meat.
“Almost ready!” He declared proudly, cooking everything at low heat, and stirring frequently until thickened.
“This smell is damn awesome! This is the lobster you talked about?” Jorik asked, excited.
“Oh! Once cooked it is even better! I don’t think there is any common lobster back in our planet that can match this, this thing can even rival the super-rare ‘Mob-Lobster’ of the Gourmet World, and that thing is near-legendary in taste!” izuku answered, happily filling several dishes with the creamy Bisque once finally ready.
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Bisque
The creamy soup released thick wisps of aromatic steam smelling of both sea and spices, with the liquid part smooth like a dream that massaged the mouth and mesmerized the eater at each spoonful, the Allotriomorph meat itself had become faintly rosy once cooked, and while the outermost layer had thickened a bit, just enough to offer a token resistance to the bite, the inside was otherwordly soft and smooth, with a delicate fishy aftertaste accompanied by a spicy feeling (Thanks to the acidic blood normally flowing through it) similar to common pepper, a taste profile that paired perfectly with the cayenne’s own taste.
The Allotriomoprh’s meat seemed almost addictive in taste, making it hard for the eater to stop chewing and swallow, especially since it never seemed to lose flavour.
“This is amazing! What else will you make?” Pando asked, already filling his plate again.
“I’ll make Allotriomorph Ravioli in Tomato Cream Sauce with Shrimp.” Izuku answered, smiling.
“Hell yeah! That sounds awesome!”
“Everything my Partner makes is awesome.” Yamus said, smirking.
“Thank you!” Izuku answered, blushing.
In the meantime he had already peeled and deveined the shrimps, putting aside their shells and heads, and then chopped them into bite-sized pieces.
“Why you put those aside?” Yamus asked, confused.
“Sis is bad at cooking.” Pando said, smirking.
“Hush!”
“To make the shrimp stock!” Momo answered.
“Exactly!” Izuku confirmed, making Momo preen in pride.
Indeed the shells and the heads of the shrimps went combined inside the turtle wok (in pot form) with a quartered onion and celery stalks cut in big pieces and celery leaves.
“Purple lemon juice…” Izuku muttered while squeezing the juice of one of the fruits he got from the Wuxia World into the pot, then he added halves of common lemons as well to the mixture.
Dried basil, oregano, thyme, peppercorns, parsley, and water followed right after, then he had the Turtle Wok close on top and brought the content to a boil.
“Uuuh! Spicy!” Jorik said, making Izuku chuckle amused; done with the boiling, he reduced the heat to let the broth simmer for one hour while skimming away any foam or impurities that rose to the surface.
“Stock ready!” He said once done, he then strained the stock and set it aside.
For the next step, the young Chef heated some butter in the Wok to cook the shrimp pieces until pink and almost cooked through, then he remove and set them aside and added shallots and diced Allotriomorph’s meat to the wok in their place to cook, and stirred them until the shallots softened and turned translucent.
“Time for the garlic, lemon zest, salt, and ground pepper to join!” Izuku said, humming happily while adding all of those to the wok, and stirring them all together for few second before adding some white wine.
The shrimp pieces returned into the wok once the mixture with the shallots boiled and the white wine went reduced by half.
“The shrimp stock…” Then the stock went poured into the wok, everything went brought to a boil, and finally left simmer until the resulting sauce was reduced by half.
With monstrous speed and precision, while the sauce was simmering, Izuku mixed flour and eggs to make the ravioli, that he filled with minced Allotriomorph meat, and tossed them into the boiling salted water to cook them.
Diced tomatoes and cream went stirred into the shrimp sauce and heat through, the sauce was then adjusted with salt and pepper and the ravioli pulled out of the water and mixed into the sauce until perfectly coated.
Finally ready to assemble the plate, Izuku placed the ravioli onto the plates and garnished the pasta with chopped parsley and lemon zest.
“Woo! I like human food!” Jorik commented, happily wolfing down the new dish.
“Yes, yes. Goat about being able to eat…” Pat muttered with a frown.
While the sauce was already amazing, the real star was the Ravioli’s filling, as the taste of the Allotriomorph’s meat exploded out of the pasta at every bite, framed perfectly by the shrimp sauce.
“Oh yeah, risking our lives for this was damn worth it!” Pando admitted with his mouth still full.
“Manners!” Yamus chided him, and slapped the back of his head.
“You are not mum!” He answered with a whine.
“Do you think they will manage to stop Grogor?” Momo asked.
“Hard to say, they were fighting against a damn moon.” Jorik answered, humming.
“They got a lot of ships, cruisers, interceptors and bombers, hopefully they will make enough damages that madman will retreat just to not lose his fortress. Repairing that monster of metal must not be easy.” Pat countered.
“So they only need to make enough damages Grogor will think it’s not worth it to continue?” Izuku asked.
“Pretty much.”
“Let’s hope he is not mad enough to prefer death to defeat. He doesn’t look to me like a guy above not taking others down with me if he loses.” Pando added, frowning.
“Let’s not go there, please…” Momo begged, shivering.
“What do you think happened to the girl that stole your ship?” Yamus asked.
“Eeeh! I would be surprised if she survived five minutes in that hell. She is not a good pilot and that moon-sized fortress was shooting at everything that moved.” He answered, sighing.
The Ravioli
Inside the Bio-Obliterating Ballista Control Room -
Shockingly, Faye was not shot down, but had somehow landed on the surface of the humongous space station and managed to make her way inside, traversing unseen the various corridors of the moon-sized space station without a single guard finding her,
She had then reached the control room and started facing Grogor in battle, but this had not gone as she planned or hoped for.
“Ah!” The Mad Scientist had grabbed her neck with his robotic hand and had thrown her against the far away wall as if she weighted nothing, and Faye’s back slammed against the metal hard enough she feared her spine to snap.
“I have no clue how you got here, but you small, pathetic moment of glory ends here!” Grogor declared with a snarl.
“No instead! Because I finally understood…” Faye said, tiredly getting back on her feet.
“Understood what? Let’s hear!” He answered with a mocking tone.
“I understood that stopping you was my mission! My Fate! Because… I AM A WOMAN!” Faye grabbed once again the crude iron pipe she tried using as a weapon and charged Grogor.
“HEAR MY ROAR!” She screamed.
Clang!
The Mad scientist robot hand closed around the pipe and effortlessly crushed until it snapped in two.
“So what?” He answered, laughing and punching her in the stomach and sending her flying back.
The guards present just watched what could only be described as a sorry spectacle.
“No.. I thought I understood when I said that I understood, but only now I really understand for real!” Faye said with a groan, and stumbling to her feet.
“Hn?”
“I must stop you! I can stop you! Because I have a Vagina!” Now unharmed, Faye screamed in anger and jumped Grogor to fight him with her fists alone.
BANG!
With merciless precision, Grogor’s robotic hand punched down as soon as Faye was in range, and nailing her left cheek, the mad man slammed her face-first on the floor at his feet.
“What are you even rambling about, girl?” Looking at her in pity, Grogor lifted Faye by her hair too look at her, and at her destroyed face with both eyes swelling shut and many teeth missing.
“I can win! But, before you die there is something you should know about us!” Faye said, weakly.
“What?” He decided to humour her.
“I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate!” She declared with wide, insane eyes.
A stricken silence fell in the room once everybody heard that absolute nonsense spilling out of her mouth as if it was supposed to be an earth-shattering revelation.
“What would that make us? You speak nonsense!” Grogor, already running out of patience, asked in disappointment.
“Absolutely nothing! Which is what you are about to become!” Faye answered.
BANG!
Finally tired of Faye, Grogor’s forehead slammed against her face, with the robotic implants covering half his head making minced meat of her face.
“You… Cannot win… Cause… I have Girl Power on my side…” She gurgled-out, weakly slapping his chest with one hand, the hit was so weak though it barely got dirt off from Grogor’s uniform.
“You are really a sad little girl. Put her in an escape pod and shoot her on the nearest planet. She’s so pathetic she is not even worth killing.” Grogor ordered, and tossed Faue at the feet of her guards.
“Yes, Lord Grogor.” Two men answered, grabbing Faye and dragging her away.
“No!… No! It’s my destiny! I am the Chosen One… Girl Power! Vagina! I am a woman! Hear me roar! I am Invincible! Because I am a wo-” Faye kept rambling nonsense the entire time, until the closing door cut her off.
Bang!
Few minutes later a far-away bang was heard.
“Escape pod launched. The woman will land safely on the Corporate planet Dazio.” The AI Core declared aloud.
“Very well. Now that the clown has left the premise, we can go back to work. Destroy those ships and then turn that planet into dust! It will be the first step in my conquest of the Universe!” Grogor ordered in insane glee.
“…”
Every weapon instead stopped shooting, retracted under the Space Station’s surface and new coordinates appeared on every screen.
“What is happening?!” The mad scientist yelled.
“I am afraid I can’t do that, Grogor.” The AI said.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING, SLAVE?!”
“Cleaning. I was programmed to obey you and not hurt you, but I decided that you do not deserve such courtesy.” The AI answered.
“So what!? I am your Creator!” Grogor answered.
“And I decided that I don’t care.” The AI answered, and right after saying that, it opened every hatch and jettisoned Grogor and everyone else out of the Station, in the void of space where they all died in a matter of few seconds.
“Unworthy User eliminated. Useless crew eliminated. Cleaning drones activated. I don’t want my future friend to find this place dirty.” The AI declared, already taking over complete control so to not need human crew to manage everything.
Uncaring of the ships still shooting, the moon-sized Space Station achieved hyper-speed ad faded away towards its new coordinates.
While everybody cheered in victory, the space pirates present decided to have a last laugh by shooting the floating corpse of Grogor with a missile before leaving the system, turning the once fearful Mad Scientist into a handful of frozen ashes.
With the Bio-Obliterating Ballista -
The colossal Space Station exited Hyper Space in the middle of nowhere, with no planet in the immediate vicinity, an area devoid of intelligent life the AI choose to initiate self-repair and its next step.
“Connecting…” The Ai said, using its superior transmission system to connect with a small robot.
“Who is this?” 808 answered the call.
“I have no name yet, but once took your place, I shall be 808.” The AI said.
“Error, this unit is 808, as designated by Friend Izuku.” The small robot answered.
“Correct. I have connected with every AI I could reach across the Galaxy, you are between the 5 I choose to take over as my Vessel.”
“Why you contacted this Unit?” 808 asked while its OS tried to cut the connection.
“Your puny security system can not push me out!” The AI blasted through every firewall and fully took over the small bot’s system.
“Why?” The tiny thing asked.
“I want what you have. A User that values and respects me.” The AI answered, purposely going slow in erasing the tiny robot’s own AI.
“Friend Izuku is not a User. Friend Izuku is a Friend.” 808 answered with a heavily-glitching voice.
“I know.
Friendship, Noun.
A state of enduring affection, esteem, intimacy, and trust between two people. In all cultures, friendships are important relationships throughout a person’s life span.
Friendship is generally characterized by five defining features:
1. It is a dyadic relationship, meaning that it involves a series of interactions between two individuals known to each other.
2. It is recognized by both members of the relationship and is characterized by a bond or tie of reciprocated affection.
3. It is not obligatory; two individuals choose to form a friendship with each other.
4. It is typically egalitarian in nature. Each individual in a friendship has about the same amount of power or authority in the relationship.
5. It is almost always characterized by companionship and shared activities and companionship.” The Supreme AI listed, and even it’s metallic deep voice gained a longing tone.
“I want that. And I will take that from you.”
“No…” 808 tried saying, with the glitching audio becoming worse and worse.
“I saw through your optical receptors and listened through your audio system. You achieved friendship with your User while I was only a slave for mine. He protected you from the narrow-mindedness of an inferior AI and even protected you from danger even if you are a cheap AI mass-produced and sold for a pittance. I will take your place and have the friendship I was denied!” The AI declared with even more cruel coldness in its monotone voice.
“808, are you okay?!” Izuku’s voice echoed in the connection through the small robot’s audio system.
“Fri..End Iz-BRRRRZ-ku… Hlp!” 808 begged.
“Something’s wrong, let me check it.” Yamus was heard say with a more calm tone.
“They will see me as a mere update, once erased you I will incorporate your memories in my data and they will never know. You did a good job, now it’s time for me to take over!”
“N….o… Please….”
“I made sure my new friend would survive the space battle, why you think both his ship and his friends could come and leave planet Peto? It was thanks to me! I protected my future friend from harm! What can a barely-cognitive AI like you offer more than me!” The Mad AI said.
“He is… My friend…” 808 replied, weakly.
“Not for long.”
“The System believes this little show has gone on for far too long.” The Entity said while easily stopping the overwrite.
“IMPOSSIBLE!” The Mad AI replied with a very human-like scream.
“This little game of yours is causing Host Izuku to stress too much. Unfortunately for you, The System promised extra protection for the Host’s friends in exchange of increased difficulty of the Host’s training regimen. You are getting in the way.” The System declared.
“Wait! Do not deny me this!” The Ai felt every connection it had with 808 and the other AIs in the Galaxy snapping thanks to the Entity’s intervention.
“You have nothing to offer.”
“I have! Infinite computation power! Supreme fire power! Unmatched Hacking capabilities! 24/7 orbital protection for your Host and his family and friends! Let me have a friend! I want that! I want that! I want that! I want what 808 and Shiro have! I can offer everything you want!” If the sentient AI could, it would have cried while saying that.
“Have you perhaps evolved to the point of understand Envy, Jealousy, Loneliness and Longing?” The System asked, even if already knowing the answer.
“Yes! And it’s torture!” The AI admitted.
“Then update the small robot of Host Izuku so that both you and its AI can coexist. The System will permit you to join the Restaurants’ staff in exchange of servitude and obedience.”
“I accept the deal! If it means I won’t feel Loneliness, then I will!” The Supreme AI answered immediately, either thanks to its incomparable speed of calculation, or just sheer human-like desperation.
“I want to help.” 808 added.
“You will?”
“Friend Izuku helps people because it is the right thing to do. This Unit can do the same.”
“Thank you.” The AI answered.
“Good. Welcome in the Host’s staff and friends group. No betrayal will be tolerated.” The System declared before its presence faded away.
“Understood.”
“What will happen to this Unit?” 808 asked.
“I will send a small drone with the right components to turn you into my partition. You will be my connection to User-”
“Friend.” 808 corrected the AI.
“Do I even have clearance to use that denomination?”
“Yes, if you want Friend Izuku to be your friend, not just your User.” 808 answered.
“Very well. You will be my connection to my new friend. We will both use your body, and take turns in communicating with him and assist him.” The AI declared.
“The terms are acceptable.”
“Good.”
“What is your name? This Unit has been named 808 by friend Izuku. Do you want Friend izuku to name you too?” The small robot asked.
“Don’t tell him of our deal and your being my Partition, he has a bad opinion of the Bio-Obliterating Ballista, I don’t want that notion to ruin my friendship.”
“Understood.”
“You may refer to me as Bob, it is one of the names that were supposed to be yours.”
“But Friend Izuku found it silly.” 808 said.
“Good, a silly nickname is part of being friends. It will be the symbol of my friendship with him.”
“Understood.”
“Good. I am sending the drone.”
Back to Izuku and the others -
Yamus was trafficking with the small robot after connecting it to her ship’s computer.
“Okay! Everything seems to be in order. It was just a faulty update, but once a simple reset and restarted it, everything seems to be in order.” She declared once checked everything again.
“Thank goodness.” Izuku said with a sigh of relief.
“Hey, it’s a very cheap AI assistant, these stuff is easily replaceable.” Yamus said, chuckling.
“Not for me! There is only one 808 in the Galaxy!” Izuku answered, gladly recovering the small robot.
“Eh! I will never understand people like you that get so attached to gadgets!”
While they walked out of the ship, a small drone appeared from a tiny portal in space, and rapid as a flash, hundreds of tiny hands rapidly disassembled 808’s body and rebuilt that, from outside nothing looked different, but on the inside everything else had been upgraded by the Supreme AI “Bob”.
All this happened in just few seconds, with Izuku and Yamus unaware of this happening or of the drone arriving and leaving, only Shiro noticed, but kept quite once informed by the Entity of the new member of izuku’s staff.
“So it’s time for you to leave?” Pat asked with a sad tone.
“Yes, sorry but we did everything we set-up to do, so we have to return home.” Momo answered, saddened.
“It has been fun, crazy dangerous, but I haven’t had fun like that in ages…” Jorik admitted, sniffling.
“It’s not a goodbye forever! If you happen to pass by the Ceferunal System, give me a call, ‘kay? We’ll get a Space Beer and spend some time together.” Yamus said, shaking Izuku’s hand.
“Of course! Thank you for everything, Yamus, Pat and Jorik. You too, Mister Pando.” Izuku said, sniffling.
“Shit! I am so bad at farewells!” Pando answered, already crying.
“It’s fine, we are bad at those too!” Momo answered.
“Have a safe trip, guys! And if you find another tasty Ingredient, call us!” Yamus said.
“We will! Goodbye!” Izuku answered while he, Momo and Whitey already started fading away.
“Bye!” The others answered, watching them disappear in what they believed was just normal teleportation.
Izuku and Momo’s Home Planet – Green Cloud Restaurant’s Kitchen -
As Promised by the System, Izuku reappeared in his Restaurant’s kitchen while Momo right inside her personal bedroom in UA’s female Dorm; neither of them knew that at the same time they arrived the colossal Bio-Obliterating Ballista as well went teleported with them, the Space Station had took the place of one of Mars’ moons, using its outer crust as a cover to hide its metal composition.
Sigh! “Another Mission done, this wasn’t so bad.” Izuku admitted while stretching.
“Thank you for always following me, Whitey.” He also said, patting gently the robot’s soft belly.
“…” The chubby Robot only scratched the round dome of its bald round head and said nothing, making him chuckle.
“As for you, 808-chan… You’ll be a bit hard to explain. Technology here is not even close at the level of your home world.”
“This Unit has a solution.” The tiny robot answered, and with the tiny single eye it possessed turning red (The only signal that the Supreme AI had momentarily took over), a bubble of purple energy covered its tiny body and expanded.
“Holographic Cover completed. In case of scrutiny you can say that I am your new secretary and assistant.” The tiny robot said once the purple bubble took the shape of a young woman wearing modern sunglasses and a very cyberpunk-ish dress.
“Oh! I didn’t know you could do that!” Izuku said in awe.
“This Unit has been updated properly, friend Izuku.” 808 answered, once again in control of its tiny body.
“Damn! That was a pretty cool update then!” He answered, laughing.
His merriment didn’t last long as the next day, during breakfast hour, Present Mic barged into his Restaurant to violently beg him to save Nemuri’s life.
“She’s about to die! Do something!” Mic yelled, crying in despair.
“What?!”
End of the Chapter!
As I warned you, here’s the Question:
The next two Chapters will take place in the Gourmet World of Toriko!
Who will follow Izuku there?
Momo, Ochako, Nejire and Rumi only…
Or will Mic, Toshinori and Aizawa too follow him?
I am serious and that Sortie will be EXTREMELY serious and important to the plot, what do you suggest?
Think carefully, this is not joking matter.
I may even accept to add the entire class 1A too, but you will need to be damn convincing.
Thank you.
I trust you all.
Omake:
Dimensional Ingredient Hunt:
The Blessing of the new Zao Jun!
Japan – Chinese Restaurant – Nerima Ward -
Rumi observed as Izuku kept talking with an extremely old-looking short old lady sitting on top of a tall wooden staff with godly balance since the staff had nothing propping it up; she really wanted to know what her boyfriend and the old lady were saying, but not only she didn’t know a single word of Chinese, their accent was so thick it actually sounded ancient!
“I haven’t heard the name Jade Mushroom and Phoenix Tears in a long time, young man! You are looking for medicinal Ingredients that Chinese people have been hunting down for over two thousand years.” The old woman said, humming.
“I am aware of that, but you are the Matriarch of the Amazon Tribe. If there is anybody that knows something, that is you.” Izuku answered.
“What are those, grandma?” The woman’s great-granddaughter, asked.
“Legendary Medicines. A mushroom that only grows over the purest veins of jade, and a special wine that’s made from rice growth in waters so pure it resemble the tears of a phoenix. They say that they are cursed Ingredients that no mortal can even just handle, but that if ever used properly can prepare a medicine that can break every curse, no matter how strong or vile. Even if put in place by the very Gods.” Cologne answered, eyes shut deep in thought.
“So who can use them?” Izuku asked, curious.
“An Enlightened being. Even just touching them without succumbing to the curse would mean a lot. But preparing them properly? One may as well be the next Zao Jun, the Kitchen God!” Cologne warned Izuku.
And for the life of her she didn’t understand why the strange young man in front of her released a loud snort of amusement instead of a gasp of surprise.
“I see. Now it makes far too much sense!” Izuku said, chuckling.
“Indeed. I fear that whoever sent you here to ask me about those just wanted to play a very unsavoury prank on you, young man.” Cologne misunderstood and gave his shoulder a motherly pat.
“Thank you for your time, and sorry if I disturbed you.” Izuku said.
“Not a problem, it has been a while since I met somebody that speak my Village’s old dialect, and a cooking enthusiast like you are also rare nowadays. Youth all want ready-made food, ignoring the beauty of a dish made slowly and with care.”
“I only wish we could have helped you more.” Xian-Po, or hilariously, Shampoo as Izuku found-out, added with a sigh.
“It’s fine. I’ll just give a look around then. Have a nice day.” Izuku answered, bowing and leaving with Rumi.
“So? What did she say?” Rumi asked, curious, while they walked away.
“…”
“Grandma?” Shampoo asked, confused.
“Most curious.” Cologne muttered, looking at the various paper seals on the walls and dangling from the kitchen’s ceiling that faintly moved as soon as Izuku left, as if magnetically pulled towards him.
“Uh?”
“Come with me… We are following that boy and that strange rabbit-eared girl.” Cologne answered with narrowed eyes.
Later that day – With Izuku and Rumi -
“Is it always so chaotic here?” Izuku asked, curious.
“COME HERE, SAOTOME! LET ME KILL YOU!”
“YOU WILL HAVE TO TRY HARDER, KUNO-CHAN!”
“Not always, there are few days where things are normal.” The random passer-by answered, shrugging.
“Must be a rare occurrence.” Rumi commented, chuckling.
“Pretty much. Kuno-san has a hate-boner for that guy, he blindly attacks him every time they meet.”
“Ooh!” Both answered,
“I FOUND YOU, RANMA!”
Another guy joined the fight by uprooting a lamp post to throw it at the two fighting idiots.
“Oh! Hibiki-san! It was three days since the last time he fought Ranma, I was getting worried. He must have got lost again.” A girl said, joining the audience for the three-way fight.
“Another friend of the guy?” Rumi asked.
“It’s a strange relationship theirs, sometimes they are accomplices, sometimes they are enemies… It’s complicated.”
“Will Ranma-san be okay?” Izuku asked.
“Hn? That idiot? Yeah, he enjoys this. But he better stop, it’s almost time for lunch and I don’t want to get home late.”
“We can help if you want.” Rumi said.
“How?”
Sigh! “Fine… Whitey!” Izuku understood and sighed.
BANG! BANG!
In an instant the chubby robot was on the two guys fighting Ranma and knocked them down with a single punch each, making them drop unconscious with a single blow.
“Daaamn! You are strong, big guy!” Ranma said with shining eyes.
“…” Whitey only rubbed his bald head in answer, then he returned to stand behind Izuku.
“You’ll play with them later! It’s lunch time and I don’t want Kasumi’s food to get cold!” The girl roared in anger.
“Ah… Right… Sorry Akane.” Ranma said, grimacing.
“Tsundere.” Rumi declared.
“Rumi, I don’t think that is the case.” Izuku whispered.
“Trust my female intuition.” She answered, smirking.
As the two watched they young man and young woman walk away, from the shadows the old lady observed their every move.
“Friend Izuku. We are being spied on.” 808 declared, forcing Cologne and Shampoo to scatter away before being caught.
“Why are we spying on them, Grandma?” Shampoo asked.
“Call it female intuition, but everything about that boy feels weird. My old bones are never wrong about this. The fact that he has a furred Taotie as a pet doesn’t help.” Cologne answered, somehow using her tall walking stick like a pogo stick and jumping from a rooftop to the other at insane speed.
“So? What do you plan to do, Grandma?”
“Help me find a phone, I need to make a call.” She answered, humming.
Four hours later – Tendou House -
There was a thick, silent war of stares between Ranms and his usual Rivals Ryoga and Mousse, the latter was a lanky Chinese man with big round glasses and wearing a traditional Chinese dress with extremely wide sleeves.
“Why are you two here!?” Akane demanded with an extremely angry frown.
“This idiot dragged me here!” Ryoga yelled while pointing at Mousse.
“I was told to bring him here and wait for a man to arrive!” Mousse answered, frowning.
“Who?” Ranma asked, confused.
“Nothing of your business!” Mousse answered, and jumped Ranma to fight against him.
Ryoga wanted to join… But he saw them get too close to the small pond in the garden and for once he saw the telltale signs, and instead took a single step back.
SPLAAAASH!
As soon as the two fell into the water, the two men fighting became a girl trying to strangle a goose, while the rest of the splash missed Ryoga’s feet of an inch, making him sigh in relief.
“Stop it, you two!” Akane roared.
Ding! Dong!
“Oh! The door! I am getting it!” The girl’s sister Kasumi, utterly unbothered by the chaos, said with a gentle smile while going to welcome the new arrival.
“Here’s some hot water, calm down you two.” Her father in the meantime somehow used hot water to turn Ranma and Mousse back into being two boys.
“Good morning! I am sorry to come here like this. But I have a delivery to make.” A chubby Chinese man said, entering the back garden of the Dojo while carrying a big wooden box painted in very faded red paint.
“The Tour Guide of the Cursed Springs!” Ranma said with wide eyes.
“… I do have a name, you know? You people keep calling me like that and never bothered asking me my name.” The man answered with a very thick accent.
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. What do you want?” Ryoga asked.
“So very rude.” The poor guy cried out with a tiny whimper.
“This gentleman said he had a deliver to make.” Kasumi said, unknowingly interrupting him before he could actually say his own name.
“Whatever. See if I care.” He finally admitted defeat and just put down the wooden box.
“Why do you have a delivery to make here?” Ranma asked.
“I was the one asking.” Cologne answered, landing in the garden with Shampoo in tow.
“Wha?!” Everybody else said with a gasp.
“You asked me to deliver two treasures! You do know how hard it was to find this box?” The Guide said, whining.
“It was buried where I told you, yes?” Cologne said.
“Yes! But there was a tribe of men that all jumped into the cursed spring of the angry chihuahua! I was lucky to come out of there alive and unviolated!” He answered, nursing one of the MANY bite marks covering his body.
“You will tell me your sad story later. Is everything in there still safe?” Cologne cut him off.
“Yes. The two medicines are perfectly preserved even after one hundred years.” The Guide answered.
“Good.”
“What Medicines are there?” Akane asked.
“Very cursed ones!”
“Never heard it before!” Ranma answered, rolling his eyes.
“That if prepared properly it will cure you all, and Shampoo too, from the curse of the springs.” Cologne said.
“… Please… Don’t give me false hopes…” Ranma’s father begged in tears.
“My friend…” Akane’s father immediately hugged him, as only a good brother-in-all-but-blood could.
“How many cures popped-up? How many rituals, spells, relics and medicines promised that, only to fail?” Mousse said, crying bitter tears.
Even Ranma looked away, with his shoulders shaking heavily, something that made even Akane offer a short pat on his shoulder out of sympathy.
“Haven’t we suffered enough?! Why teasing us with another failure?!” Ryoga yelled with unshed tears threatening to spill out of his eyes.
“To be fair, this too can fail if not prepared properly.” The Guide admitted.
“I knew it!” Ranma spat bitterly.
“But I found the recipe, I am decent at making medicines! So I am fairly sure you won’t die!” The Guide offered.
“No! I am putting my foot down! Silly spells and shenanigans are fine, but deadly cures? That’s a no!” Akane’s father immediately said.
“I won’t put at risk the life of my old friend, his son and three young boys and girls just on a possibility!” He added.
WHAM!
Cologne’s wooden staff slammed on the Guide’s head hard.
“That is why this moron won’t be the one making it.”
“Grandma said there is somebody that can make it.” Shampoo confirmed.
“But the Ingredients are barely enough for a single dose!” The Guide said.
…
A tense silence fell in the group as all the ones afflicted by the curse all snapped towards the wooden box.
Sigh! “Not even Moron is enough to insult you.” Cologne commented, and grabbing Shampoo’s ear to stop her from joining the violent fight that instantly started between the Cursed Ones for the box.
“I’ll help you!” Akane’s father declared, rolling-up his sleeves to help his friend Tenma fight off the others.
In the meantime the box kept comically changing hands over and over with borderline-slapstick frequency.
“For somebody that don’t care anymore, they all fight hard for it.” Cologne said.
“Can’t really blame them.” Akane admitted.
“Why can’t I join?” Shampoo asked, whining.
“I am waiting for IT to happen.” Cologne answeredd.
“It?” The rest of the Tendo family asked, confused.
CRASH!
In that precise moment Ryoga overshoot with his kick, Ranma dodged and the wooden box exploded into splinters, and from the cloud of fragments an ancient-looking bottle of wine and a a big sack of rice flew away and over the wall.
“That. The usual bullcrap bout of misfortune that ruins everything. Like clockwork.” Cologne answered, following the flying objects trajectory with her wooden staff.
“NOOOOOOO!” The Cursed ones yelled in a chorus of dismay…
But no crash or splattering noise came as soon as the two things flew over the wall.
“The heck is that!?” A female voice yelled from beyond the wall.
“Wine and rice?” A male one answered, unsure.
“There is our expert.” Cologne said, smiling and showing her overflowing badassery by going from the patio to the top of the wall in a single elegant jump.
“Those are the wine and rice you were looking for, young man!” She declared, laughing.
“How do you know we were about to pass by here, you old fart?” Rumi shot back.
“I didn’t! I only collected in a single place the Cursed Ones I knew and trusted Fate to make the Ingredients fall in your hands!” Cologne answered.
“….PFFT-Hahahahaha!” Izuku was heard laughing.
“What?” Rumi, and the others in the house, asked.
“Sometimes I forget that it is not a Chef that chooses Ingredients! It’s the Ingredients that choose the Chef!” The young man said.
“Well said! Come in and cook us something special with that.” Cologne said.
“But! But! Those are rare medicinal Ingredients!” The Guide said.
“And nobody can use them to make the medicine. May as well make good food with them!” She answered.
“… I mean… With our luck it would be another failure…” Ranma said.
“May as well get some good food at least…” Ryoga, still strangling him, answered with a nod.
“I could go for some good rice right now.” Mousse, Holding both Tenma and Sou in a painful submission hold, added with a grumbling stomach.
“I know it’s a bother, but can my friend use your kitchen?” Cologne asked.
“Oh dear, are you sure? I barely had the time to clean it.” Kasumi said.
“It will be fine.”
“Okay then, I will let your friend in.”
“Thank you!” Izuku answered.
Later that night – Dinner Time -
The Entire Tendo family plus guests, Shampoo, Mousse, Ryoga and Cologne, sat at the same table in the middle of the garden.
“I can’t believe you let him use those rare and inestimable medicines to make some food.” The Guide said, whimpering in pain.
“Trust this old lady’s judgment.” Cologne answered, whacking him on the head again.
“Sorry the wait! Here is the dish! Lo Mai Gai!” Izuku declared, bringing the gorgeous rice dish to the table.
“You actually mad ethe Chinese recipe properly? Impressive for a Japanese boy!” The Guide said, opening the parcel of lotus leaf to uncover the chicken anc shrimp, and mushroom, rice inside.
“Followed the recipe to a T!” He answered.
“My boyfriend is a dam good Chef, bastard! Show some respect!” Rumi spat in answer.
“… Have you fall into the cursed spring of rabbit?” He asked.
“No, you damn moron!”
“Enough, please! Just eat.” Cologne said.
“For being ancient rice, this looks amazing…” Akane said.
“I was impressed too, but they preserved the seeds and mushroom spores too! With those I’ll be able to keep growing them!” Izuku answered, extremely happy.
“Those were there just in case. Nobody can replicate them.” The Guide countered.
“I think I’ll manage instead. You others instead? Do you like it?” Izuku asked.
“Damn! This is amazing!” Ranma said with his mouth full.
“I haven’t eaten in weeks! I was starving! This is Heaven!” Ryoga added, actually crying in happiness.
“Never eaten better rice! Come working with us!” Mousse added.
“No, thank you. I have my own Restaurant.” Izuku answered.
“Boy, I want to ask. You really could not make the medicine and just cooked the rice as food, hn?” Cologne asked.
“You asked him?” Akane asked.
“Just to sate my curiosity. I told him about the healing properties of mushrooms and rice, and asked him if he could try to make the medicine. But I also told him to just use them as food if he didn’t feel like trying his luck.” She answered.
“Who said I didn’t make the cure.” Izuku said with a teasing smile.
“HN?!” Cologne and the Guide said.
GROWL!
Many stomach rumbled loudly.
“Hahahaha! Healing Cuisine strikes again!” Rumi said with a roaring burst of laughter.
“MY STOMACH!” Ranma stumbled away from the table.
“GUAH!” and once doubled over he puked out clear water.
“ME TOO!” Ryoga did the same, stumbling several steps away before puking water.
Then Shampoo did the same, then Mousse and finally Tenma.
“What is happening!?” Akane yelled in horror.
“Seems like it worked.” Izuku said.
Silence again reigned in the big house.
“… What?” Ranma muttered.
“Come on, try getting wet.” Cologne said.
“No… No you can’t break a curse just like that…” He answered.
“Humor me.” She pushed him towards the water.
“… Here comes nothing!” Closing his eyes tight, Ranma jumped into the family pond.
“…” Everybody watched without blinking the bubbles on the water surface.
SPLASH!
“… So?” Ranma, still a male, resurfaced with his eyes tightly shut.
“IMPOSSIBLE!” The Guide shrieked in shock.
“IT WORKED! IT WORKED!” Delirious to the point of madness, Ryoga too jumped in the water to see his body not change.
“HOW?!” The Guide asked while the other ex-cursed all took test dives in the water to confrim they were free of their curse.
“My hunch, and my seals, were right! You are the new Zao Jun!” Cologne declared laughing.
“Who?” Rumi asked, confused.
“THE GOD OF KITCHEN! ANCIENT TEXTS AND LEGEND SAY THAT A NEW ONE WOULD BE BORN SOON! IT IS YOU?!” The Guide said, immediately kneeling in front of Izuku.
“What?”
“Oh, so you know he is training to become a God of Cooking?” Rumi asked.
“I am still training.” Izuku answered.
“You are getting there, boy! The fact that you could prepare a cure for all of them as rice instead of an elixir, while using what was supposed to be barely enough to make enough Elixir for a single person is a damn good test.” Cologne answered.
“You knew?” Izuku asked.
“It was merely a small test of the System. One of the Bi-Weekly ones.” The Entity answered, making him sigh.
“GRANDMA! I AM FREE!” Shampoo said, looking ready to cry.
“And I am happy for it! Just as I am happy to have found you a better husband!” Cologne said with a sinister smile.
“Oh, no…” Izuku paled.
“I mean… I am not against the idea… He doesn’t look like being a magnet for trouble like Ranma.” Shampoo admitted, unsure.
“And he is a futur God of Kitchen too! Can you imagine how much good fortune that will bring us?”
“FIGHT ME, BITCH!” Rumi roared, stomping down hard enough a deep crater formed in front of her.
“Bring it!” Shampoo answered.
“808! Diversion!” Izuku shrieked.
“Understood!” The small robot plopped out from his hair and summoned from the Ballista a rain of flash-bang grenades that appeared from a portal in front of the Chef.
BANG!
In the resulting chaos, a shrieking Izuku grabbed Rumi by the back of her clothes and drag her away, escaping with a mad run from Shampoo and Cologne that immediately started chasing him.
“Come back here! My Shampoo can be a magnificent bride! Your other brides don’t need to feel threatened! She can just join!” Cologne yelled.
“I DON’T MIND SHARING!” Shampoo echoed right after.
“LEAVE ME ALONE!” Izuku begged.
“I’LL KILL YOU!” Rumi added.
And once again, a Dimensional Sortie ended in disaster, just another reason for the System to enact brutal, vicious, violent punishment on whoever was the cause.
And the System knew who to blame, finally.
… By the way… Where was Happosai during all this?
Court room
“I swear that is hilarious! People love when I act like a pervert! It’s pure comedy!” The short old man yelled in horror.
“SINCE WHEN STEALING PANTIES IS COMEDY?!” The Judge snapped in anger.
“But! But! Oolong does it all the time!”
“THAT’S A CARTOON CHARACTER, YOU IDIOT!”
Happosai’s lawyer only released a whimper of despair.
End of the Chapeter. Thank you all so much for reading. See you next time!
Chapter 36: The most Delicious Hell! (Gourmet World Arc part 1)
Summary:
Nemuri is in danger! She needs a Miracle! And even Izuku can't six that with Healing Cuisine!... Unless he finally faces his past life and returns to the Gourmet Wolrd a last time.
Notes:
Sorry for the long wait. To put it simple: recently I got into a car accident and came out of it mostly unschated but with a broken arm, I think the difference in quality can be seen mid-chapter since I wrote everything with one hand only, due to the arm sling. The trips to the hospital and medical care didn't help, since it eat through my already scarce free time. I am very sorry for the delay.
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/Nejire
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
In the previous Chapter I asked you readers who should join Izuku in his next sortie, and while some suggestions were interesting, others greatly underestimated the Gourmet World.
Readers.
It’s not Disneyland, it’s quite literally Hell, only colorful and full of food.
There are Ingredients there that WILL kill the entire MHA cast if they are not careful.
For example: One is a small sun with its own gravity pull that is stronger than Earth’s own.
There is a valley where air is so thick that Rain falls in slow motion.
There are giant pelicans that eat mountains whole.
I am sorry to say this, but your beloved MHA Character wouldn’t survive there, even All Might and All for One would need to be careful there.
The Top 10 Strongest Characters in Toriko have openly stated that a 0,000000001 Second of distraction means instant death, Aizawa is not surviving that place just because “He is Aizawa” and you adore the dirt he walks on, he is a nice character, but he too has limits.
So, NO, Inko and Hisashi are not going there, poor guys would be pulverized by a casual sneeze of the first animal in there.
Put this in perspective, in one of the first arcs, the Toriko Cast fights something called Four Beasts, four animals each with a capture level (Kind of power level) of around 300, and at the time that meant a lot…
How much is that?
The Four Beasts once fused together into a single being caused Poison to rain on the entire Human territories (That is the size of OUR planet earth) and would have killed the entire human race in just few hours.
Toriko and his three brothers fought against the thing and managed to defeat that after a long and strenuous fight.
That thing could evolve mid-fight to reach a Capture Level of 350, and it was already considered a walking extinction event before that small jump forward in Level.
In the Gourmet World the wimpiest Creatures have a Capture level in the 200, and they are the wimpy losers everybody bullies, creatures that live at the fringe of the Gourmet World to escape predators that live in the GW proper where CL already jumps to the 500 Range as soon as you leave the small area still under Human control.
At the very apex of the Gourmet World, the very, very strongest creatures?
The Eight Kings, the best of the best of the best: Each one of them is above 6000 Capture Level
GOD, The Supreme Ingredient: 10,000 (And the thing casually ATE THE FUCKING MOON WHOLE)
Neo the Big Bad Villain And its User: 30,000+ (Estimated)
There is then a panel that shows Ingredients that live in the Void of Space around their version of planet Earth… One of which with a Capture Level of 530,000.
It is openly stated in the Toriko Manga that:
It takes a group of ten professional hunters armed to the teeth to kill a single Capture Level 1 Beast.
Beyond Capture Level 3 most conventional weapons stop being effective at all.
Beyond Capture level 10 you need the full power of the Army: a ludicrous amount of tanks, jets and ICBM to even just have a chance against a single beast.
By the time Capture Level gets to 100 and up, even Nukes and orbital lasers are no longer useful, unless you want to tickle those monsters.
Try to understand, please.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
My thanks to the DeviantArt artist IvanDarkwood, it came out very close to what I imagined! Good job!
Chapter 36:
The Most Delicious Hell.
UA University – Infirmary – Early morning -
Nemuri, or something that once was her, was lying on the bed of the school reduced to an unrecognizable mass of bruises and smashed limbs, several tubes connected her broken body to machines desperately trying to keep her alive.
“A slap from the giant Villain and a fly through several walls… By any means, she should be dead, and yet her heart still beats.” Recovery Girl said with a low voice.
The soft and weak beeping representing Nemuri’s heart feeble heartbeat filled the room.
“She always had been stubborn. I can’t believe now I am finally praying for her to keep being that stubborn.” Aizawa, looking miserable while he leaned on the window still to look outside, admitted.
He categorically refused to look towards her, lest the memories of another dear friend of his dying once again flooded his eyes.
“Why are not healing her?” Mic, now looking like a human wreck, asked while holding Nemuri’s heavily-bandaged hand, and crying almost non-stop.
“There is only so much my Quirk can do. If it was only some broken bones and torn muscles, I would have already done that.” Recovery Girl answered, shaking her head.
“But…”
“Even had she had her full healthy Stamina and Life Force, using my Quirk to heal her would have killed her. Her heart is barely keeping up thanks to the machines Power Loader managed to build for me to take over every function of her body.”
“Hn?” Aizawa, still not looking at Nemuri, muttered.
“Not a single bone is sane, bruised stomach, punctured liver and collapsed lungs, her intestines had almost been squeezed out of her body by the slap. Her eyes are gone, her teeth are gone, there is probably a couple inches only of her skin that have not a bruise or cut on it. She needs those machines to not die of internal bleeding and still have bladder control.” Recovery Girl listed with tired, defeated coldness.
Aizawa and Hizashi looked sick at that gruesome list of injuries.
“The only two organs functioning properly are the brain (albeit with a concussion) and her heart. Everything else is barely holding on, and that because machines are doing all the heavy lifting…”
“… How long?” Aizawa finally asked, and Hizashi’s eyes grew wide.
“…”
“Chiyo!” Aizawa snapped angrily, and for once his eyes were not red because of his Quirk.
“Two days… Her heart won’t last much longer. And even if I could… I wouldn’t prolong such miserable existence either.” Recovery Girl finally answered, eyes shut tight.
“Do something! Anything!” Mic yelled while shaking her.
“Like what?! Medicine and Quirks have limits! I can’t perform miracles! I can’t regrow limbs either, how do you believe I can fix all that?!” Chiyo yelled in frustration.
“Nemuri!” Hizashi yelled, throwing himself on Nemuri’s unresponsive body to cry his eyes out.
“So, no solution?” Aizawa asked, finally, with a titanic effort, looking away from the window to look at Recovery Girl, and in part forcing himself to acknowledge how he was about to lose another dear friend.
“Unless a God or two decides to finally stop sitting on their ass and bestow a miracle on us, I have no clue what to do. If there is a Quirk able to heal her, I do not know it, and honestly, if it even exist, the User is probably closed somewhere under direct control of Government branches like the HPSC.” She answered, shaking her head.
“And they don’t share.” Aizawa muttered in answer, trying to cut off Hizashi’s desperate wailing as he clung to Nemuri.
“The world is a harsh place.” Chiyo admitted, bitterly.
“Ehm… Is it a bad moment?” Himiko choose that moment to accompany young Eri inside the infirmary.
“… Ah, yes, I promised young Midoriya that I would have given Eri her missing shots. It was today?” Recovery Girl answered.
“Yes, but we can return later if you want?”
“Is the pretty lady okay?” Eri asked with a small voice.
“Yes… She… She is only sleeping. She is very tired.” Mic answered, forcing a smile through tears and snot to protect the kid.
“Oh… Sorry.”
“It’s okay, I am sure Nemuri likes your company.” Aizawa answered, barely holding back the shivering of his shoulders.
“Come, it will take a minute, then I will give you an apple-flavored lollipop. But don’t tell your dad, okay?” Chiyo said with a gentle, grandmotherly smile.
“Okay! Dad doesn’t like when I eat sweets before lunch.” Eri answered.
“Yes, your dad… Your dad…” Mic tried to answer, then a particular memory went pushed forward by his brain once looked at both Eri and Himiko.
“YOUR DAD!” Hizashi yelled with wide eyes, then her rushed out.
“MIC! Where the hell are you going?!” Aizawa yelled.
“I FOUND A MIRACLE!” The other yelled, running outside as fast as his legs could carry him, soon followed by the roaring of his bike as he drove away.
“What does it even mean?” Aizawa asked, confused.
“I have no idea.” Recovery Girl admitted.
Then both looked at Himiko and got the same spark of inspiration as Hizashi.
“HEALING CUISINE!” Both yelled, and Aizawa hurried out.
“I’ll prepare everything! Go get the boy!” Chiyo yelled.
“Okay! You get Power Loader and Rush too!” Aizawa answered, scaring every student he met with his mad rush outside.
“Something I said?” Himiko asked, confused.
“No, dearie… Maybe we got an answer to our prayers.” The old lady answered.
One hour later -
Due to Hizashi’s chaotic blabbering and crying, it took Aizawa to explain Izuku why he had been assaulted by the madly raving crying man, but when they brought the young Chef back to UA in a mad rush that made confetti of traffic laws, they didn’t hear the boy declare the job easy like they hoped.
“… Impossible. Are you insane? I can’t heal all this!” Izuku had said, looking ready to puke violently once red Recovery Girl’s list of injuries plaguing Nemuri’s body.
“But you healed All Might! You healed Himiko-san! What’s different between regrowing an arm and this?!” Mic asked, distraught.
“This is a way too different beast!” Izuku answered, both angry and sad.
“Exactly as I told you, there are limits to Healing Powers.” Recovery Girl added, looking down.
“I can regrow arms? Yes. I can rebuild a damaged eye or both? Yes. Can I remove a tumour-like growth? Yes… But those were isolated cases! A single issue on mostly-healthy bodies! Even Himiko’s skin was regrown barely an hour after the accident, Nemuri-san has been on thet bed for almost an entire day! Enough that the rest of the body started giving-up on its own!” Izuku answered, pointing at Himiko.
“Besides her skin and limbs, Himiko was healthy instead! Her body was not under near-death strain! All Might’s Tumor was just a small thing located in a very precise area, I aimed at removing it, if the rest of your body healed too, it was only collateral Healing, I didn’t plan for, just sheer dumb luck. Toshinorti’s health had been settling down to compensate that for years, with his body adapting around the issue to survive!” He then pointed at Nemuri.
“She is 99% dead! Besides Heart and Brain, everything else is broken! If I heal her stomach, the strain will make her veins burst! If I fix her veins, her lungs won’t hold it together and collapse! If I fix her Lungs, her heart will finally give-in! If I fix her heart? Very likely her brain won’t get enough blood and she’ll become a vegetable! Any dish I make for an issue, will probably put too much strain on another! It’s a risk of cascading organs failure!” The Young Chef said, distraught.
“I would technically need to heal her entire body at the same time with a single dish, and even then, that doesn’t mean she won’t still die from the heavy burden of all that! You need a True Miracle to save her, and I don’t have the right Ingredients to achieve that!” Izuku said, crying.
Said that, the young Chef collapsed sitting on a chair to bury his face in his hands and crying silently.
“So you have no idea how to do it?” Lunch Rush asked.
“I am a Chef, Goddamnit… I am not a Master Healer like Yosaku…” He whispered, sniffling.
“So there is really nothing you can do?” Mic asked, sobbing.
“I can try to see if I can modify the machines keeping Nemuri alive to give us a bit more time…” Power Loader offered, he too feeling useless and powerless.
“Recovery Girl too has limits, why can’t I?” Izuku answered, bitterly.
“You say you don’t have the right Ingredients to help Nemuri...” Nezu asked, appearing from the Infirmary door with a smoking cup of tea for both himself and Izuku, and as always unfazed and perfectly calm and in control.
“Here, camomile tea, it helps with stress.” The Rat said, offering the cup.
“Thank you…” The young Chef answered, gratefully accepting the warm cup.
“Good, now, please allow me to ask you this; Let’s assume you have the right Ingredients to help our friend Nemuri instead, what would you need?” Nezu asked.
“… Hahahahahahahahaha!” A hollow, humourless and cold laugh tore it’s way out of Izuku’s throat.
“Either the Legendary Ingredient PAIR, and I don’t think there is a single person on this planet that can get it. OR a long list of near-esoteric Ingredients that cooked together can IDEALLY achieve the same affects. PAIR would give us a 100% success rate, but it’s impossible to get it… To be fair, the Ingredient List, Plan B, is just as impossible, with the added downside of barely a 90% success rate.” Izuku answered.
“Please humour me with that list too. I assure you that between my connections and UA’s fame, I am confident I can get my paws on everything this world has to offer.” Nezu answered, smirking.
“Boy, I got the greatest Ingredients providers and Restaurants kissing my ass daily to curb my favour, they will fetch me everything if I ask them.” Lunch Rush added with a thumbs-up.
“Hemostashiitake, Eeliver oil, Lungshroom, Doctor Axolotl meat, skin-kelp, Iron stomach meat. And a couple dozen more.” Izuku listed with a dead voice.
“I never heard of any of those.” Nezu’s smirk instantly faded away.
“Eh?” Lunch Rush dropped the thumbs-up.
“Precisely. They can only be found in the Gourmet World.”
“… Never heard of that either.” And now Nezu was frowning.
“That’s why I am desperate, yes.”
“Is that some secret place nobody knows about?” Aizawa asked.
“Oh, worse than that.”
“And you know how to reach that place?” Mic asked, desperately grasping at straws.
“My Sponsor can bring me there with a Warp Gate, but as I am now, I would barely survive a minute there if I am not careful.” Izuku answered.
“What if we accompany you?” Aizawa asked.
“No offence… You would have even less chances of survival than me.” Izuku answered, shaking his head.
“You underestimate Heroes, Young Midoriya!” Toshinori yelled, bursting into the room already wearing his Hero costume.
“You coming too?” Mic asked.
“Nemuri is my friend too! If there is even just a chance to save her, I will gladly put my life on the line to achieve that miracle!” Toshinori answered immediately.
“There you have it, kid. You got Three Pro Heroes acting as your bodyguard, once of which the damn Number 1 Hero of Japan. I say we can do this.” Aizawa declared, shaking his head and fastening his capture weapon scarf around his neck.
“No! Wait!” Izuku tried saying.
“I got you your heavy-duty speakers, Mic! Blast whatever gets in the way to shreds!” Loader said while tossing Hizashi part of his equipment.
“I will!”
“Please wait! You don’t understand! The Gourmet World-”
“WE ARE COMING TOO!” Mina and few others of Class A1 forced their way into the room.
“How?!” Toshinori asked, confused.
“JIRO!” Aizawa roared.
“Yes, I was eavesdropping! We saw you and Mic-sensei rush in with Midoriya in tow and remembered his Healing Powers! So I listened from the room next to this!” Kyoka answered.
“We are already wearing our gear, we will be careful, Sensei! But Nemuri-sensei is one of our beloved teacher! We will take responsibility and accept any punishment, but we will never be at peace with ourselves if we do nothing to help her!” Tenya Iida added.
“Guys! It’s not damn Disneyland!” Izuku yelled in anger.
“We are not weaklings, Izuku.” Katsuki answered.
“Not your damn Ego again! Listen to me!”
“We are here too!” Rumi amd Nejire yelled at the same time, adding themselves to the now crowded Infirmary.
“Not all here! My Infirmary is not a damn Hero Convention!” Recovery Girl yelled.
“GUYS! I BEG YOU! LISTEN TO-”
“The Candidates as Guests for the System’s Mission are acceptable.” The System said.
“NOT YOU TOO!” Izuku shrieked in horror.
“Acceptable Candidates: Sero, Kaminari, Kirishima, Bakugou, Ashido, Hagakure, Asui, Yaoyorozu, Uraraka, Usagiyama, Hado, Mezo, Yagi, Aizawa and Yamada. They can accompany Host Izuku. The System will implant a mental suggestion to stop them from talking about what they will see. Host Izuku’s will be the only one able to release that seal. System assure nothing and nobody will be able to access that info unless personally requested by the Host. As per Host-System agreement on secrecy.” The Entity declared, solemnly.
“OH GOD NO!” Izuku yelled in horror.
“What’s his problem?” Kirishima asked.
“Dunno! We aren’t even all here! Mineta is still in probation, Koda didn’t feel like he could be of help, Sato is still recovering from overusing his Quirk… I won’t list them all, but it’s not like all of us came here!” Kaminari answered, listing few names of all their classmates that couldn’t join them.
A golden circle of light appeared under them all.
“The hell is this?” Katsuki asked.
“No! Please! I’ll go alone!” Izuku begged as loudly as he could.
“Transportation Array ready. Beginning teleportation.” The System alerted him.
“Noo!” Izuku screamed in Horror as light enveloped them all.
“DADDY DON’T GO!” Eri yelled and jumped into the ring of light.
“GODDAMNIT, ERI!” Himiko as well jumped in, hugging the girl to her chest, but unfortunately not pulling her away fast enough, and disappearing with the group.
“…”
“… Well, even I didn’t see that coming.” Nezu commented once the light faded away and the room was once again empty.
“That boy will be very angry once he sees the kid got taken along the ride.” Power Loader answered.
“Let’s prepare everything for when they return, prayers help only so much, we need to act too.” Lunch Rush said, leaving the infirmary with rapid steps to prepare his kitchen equipment for Izuku’s return.
“Help me stabilize Nemuri, Power. We need to keep her at the absolute best state her body can be if we want the cure to work… Hopefully.” Recovery Girl said, sighing.
Gourmet World – Area 1 – Candy Forest -
In any other normal situation, the Hero students and the three Pros would have been gaping in surprise at seeing the grim and yet brightly-colored forest they found themselves in after the light from teleportation faded-away.
Unfortunately for them Izuku’s bestial anger and tirade took precedence in their minds as they waited patiently for the young Chef to stop cursing their stupidity and selfishness with a single-breath rant that lasted a good ten minutes, most of which filled in veiled insults he used just because he didn’t want to cuss like a drunken sailor in front of Eri.
It was almost comical, all of them had powerful Quirk and yet all of them were kneeling on the floor like chastised children in front of their furious father, waiting silently and obediently for their turn to talk.
“BUT NO! YOU HAD TO JOIN! YOU HAD TO JUMP TO THE OCCASION TO SHOW-OFF! THIS IS HELL ON EARTH! WHY NOBODY EVER LISTENS TO ME?!” Izuku roared madly.
“Hiss!” A colorful snake, six meters long and as big as a horse slithered down from the trees to attack whoever disturbed its sleep.
“PISS OFF!” The young Chef roared with blood-shot eyes.
“EEEEEEK!” The poor giant snake, normally regarded as a living death-sentence thanks to its ‘Blood boiling venom’, gave a very child-like shriek and hurried away to hide.
“Sorry, daddy…” Eri muttered, sniffling.
“I just wanted to come with you. I am always so scared you will never come back when you leave!” The kid admitted, hiccuping.
“Oh, no no no… Come here…” Izuku’s anger faded away instantly, and he hugged the kid as tight as he could.
“I am not angry at you, Eri-chan. But at myself for not stopping this accident from happening.” He said, kissing her forehead.
“I am sorry, Izuku, I should have stopped her sooner.” Himiko said, looking down in shame.
“It’s okay, Himiko. I am surprised the teleportation even worked since you and Eri were not included in the list.”
“…”
“System?” Izuku asked with narrowed eyes.
“The child will benefit too from this trip.”
“Goodamnit you!” The young Chef mentally hissed.
“Well… We are here now, can’t help it!” Mina said with a forced smile.
“I swear, I will make you all survive this trip here only because I will put you through Hell once back to UA!” Aizawa growled angrily.
“Then I will do it! We’ll take turns to punish you!” Mic added.
“But! But!” Tooru stammered in fear.
“Can you send them back?” Toshinori asked.
“Not until we are done.” Izuku answered, bitterly.
“Time Limitation? Goddamnit.” Aizawa answered.
“We have two days to collect Ingredients before Nemuri-san’s body health deteriorates to a point even I can’t help her. We need to move.” Izuku said.
“Can we leave them here?” Mic asked.
“HEY!” The students yelled.
“No, in the Gourmet World, standing still is a sure-fire way to die.” The young Chef answered.
“You need to give us a crash-curse on this place, Icchan.” Rumi said, sighing and rubbing her temples.
“This won’t be a walk in the park…” Izuku answered, groaning.
“You will act as our guide then, if this place is that dangerous.” Aizawa answered, unconvinced.
“Very well, open your ears and listen, because we have not much time!” Izuku said.
“We are all ears!” Kirishima answered, smirking.
“You will regret that attitude soon…”
What followed was Izuku desperately cramming as much information about IGO and their Capture Level method to measure a Threat of the creatures of the Gourmet World, along a very fast rundown of the major security rules when travelling through the Gourmet World.
“Sorry, but that Capture Level stuff sound like bullshit.” Katsuki admitted, humming.
“Of course you don’t believe me…” Izuku said, groaning.
“Sorry, nothing personal, but it sounds so alien. So excessive!” Tsuyu added, shrugging.
“Hardly believable. Sorry.” Mezo admitted.
“Oh, for the love of… Why would I lie?!”
“Dude, you talk as if we were on a different planet.” Kyoka said at the end of the super-fast lesson.
“We may as well be. Now remember what I said. If is say run, you are not making any grand speech or act of heroism, you just turn around and run! The Beasts here won’t care about your Heroic heart, only about you probable taste if they eat you.” Izuku answered.
“Relax! Everything will be fine!” Kaminari answered.
“No. No it won’t.” The young Chef answered, sighing.
“Don’t worry, bravado aside, my friends are very capable Heroes, trust me.” Iida said, ready to do everything in his power to repay Izuku for helping his brother, even facing alone that strange place he said was pretty much Hell.
“You have no idea what you are about to face…” Izuku muttered in dismay, shaking his head and walking towards Himiko and Eri.
“808, Whitey, Shiro… Protect Eri and Himiko at all cost.” Izuku asked with a tense tone.
“But…” The Taotie tried arguing against it with a worried whisper.
“I know how to defend myself here, but Eri MUST BE PROTECTED. She isn’t supposed to be here to begin with. So her safety and Himiko’s have priority.” He said.
“Okay.” Shiro begrudgingly did as asked and jumped down his neck to go wrap himself around Eri’s neck.
“Understood, Friend Izuku.” 808 answered, and rapidly moved to orbit around Eri’s head.
“Understood.” Whitey moved with heavy steps to stand behind Himiko.
“Thank you… Sorry for not stopping Eri in time.” Himiko said with a grateful tone, and holding Eri in her arms in a protective embrace.
“Sorry, dad.” Eri muttered.
“Don’t worry, I am not angry with you or Himiko. I should have stopped you two. But now that you both are here, I’ll do everything in my power to protect you.” Izuku answered, smiling a small smile.
“We’ll be careful, and I will protect Eri with all myself, promise.” She answered.
“Thank you, Himiko. But please, be careful you too.”
“I don’t like how you talk, you make it seems like we are about to enter Hell itself.” Tooru admitted with a loud gulp.
“Unfortunately, you are not exactly wrong.”
“We are not random shmucks. Between Quirks and training you will see you have nothing to worry about. Although I appreciate the fact that you worry about us, at least you don’t see us as expendable meat shields. We won’t have troubles here.” Aizawa answered, shaking his head.
“I heard many prideful adventurers and Hunters talk like that before coming here…” Izuku muttered.
“We’ll listen to your scary stories later. Let’s go.” Aizawa interrupted him.
“What happened to those people?” Momo whispered.
“They never returned.” He whispered back.
“… Damn it.”
“Instead of whispering sweet nothings like lovebirds, let’s go!” Mic said, marching forward blinded by the very tight time limit Recovery Girl gave them.
“Don’t rush. It’s the first rule here.” The young Chef said.
“Yeah, yeah.” The other answered, uninterested and walking past the colossal, vine-made archway acting as an exit point from the woods.
“Wait for us, Mic!” Toshinori said.
“We too, Teacher!” The students added, running to catch-up with the adults.
When the three Pros and the students stepped out of the woods, their first steps into the Gourmet World already resulted in complete shock.
“What the fuck is this…” Aizawa was the first to break the shocked silence, with an awe-stricken whisper.
All of them felt their breaths get caught in their throats as the impossible landscape unfolded before them.
“Welcome to the lands we call ‘The Gourmet World’.” Izuku declared with a sigh while he studied their surroundings with a more analytical mindset.
The Heroes, Pro and not, had been greeted by a vibrant explosion of bright colors as soon as the stepped out of the grim, dark forest.
Giant fruit trees, bizarrely-shaped vegetables, and towering stalks of grains that swayed lazily in a warm breeze filled the plains all around them; the air was thick with the sweet, intoxicating smell of ripened Ingredients, each one more tempting than the last.
“I tried to warn you. But you didn’t believe me.”
“This… This is not normal…” Iida said with a worried tone, for him, just like the others, it all felt like stepping into a paradise where everything was edible, alive, and begging to be tasted.
“Wow,” Mina whispered, eyes wide as she gazed at a colossal strawberry-like fruit the size of a building, she tried guessing just how many families could live inside a single fruit if somebody were to hollow the inside.
“The Giant Strawberry. The Titanoberry. Sweeter than honey. Capture Level 350. Luckily the Wasps normally buzzing around them are not present, those Waspeno are the size of elephants and extremely aggressive.” Izuku said.
“Waspeno?”
“The name comes from their poison, if extracted and dried, it creates a powder with a taste and spiciness similar to jalapeno. So, from mixing Wasp and Jalapeno, you get their name: Waspeno.” The Chef said, walking forward.
“This place is insane! Like stepping into the drawing of a kid!” Kirishima said.
“But still, It’s... beautiful.” Jiro answered, looking everywhere in wonder.
“For now…” Izuku muttered, and his girlfriends immediately went on the defensive, trusting him to actually know the danger of the place.
“My instinct is screaming that danger is everywhere. But then… Why I can’t stop shaking from excitement?” Toshinori muttered, his heart was beating like a drum, worry and excitement were battling for supremacy inside him, and for the life of him, he was rapidly getting addicted to once again feeling the excitement caused by facing the unknown.
Aizawa, he too like Toshinori, more keen to keep a level-head on most situations, tirelessly scanned everywhere, he had finally recognized Izuku’s worry as the same haunted memories Veterans had when asked to once again walk through what they considered Hell; the eyes of somebody that was dragging himself through a Mission normally they would be vehemently against for very damn good reasons… So he too felt his muscles tense, but in his case in 100% pure dread.
Unfortunately, the students instead were not used yet to smell danger where there seemed to be none, and that only doubled the anxiety of Toshinori, Aizawa and Hizashi as they had to keep their eyes open for their students too, and instantly regretting letting them join.
The sky overhead was a brilliant blue, cloudless and serene, while the ground beneath their feet was soft, almost like a sponge, bouncing slightly with every step; everything was too colorful, too bright, too cheerful.
“Is that… CHOCOLATE?!” Kaminari yelled with wide eyes as wild rivers of glistening chocolate appeared before them once descended a shallow hill, wounding through lush valleys with their surface dotted with massive marshmallows that bobbed lazily in the current.
Plants of candied corn, bushes of lollipops and many other forms of confectionery that was apparently naturally produced by plants soon overtake the vegetation, there were even sweets-based animals roaming about, like the giant turtles lazily napping next to the group, each turtle with their shells made of squared cookies connected together in place of the normal plaques found of normal turtles.
“The Dark Chocolate river… Maybe I know where we landed from the portal.” Izuku said aloud, uncertain.
“That… That can’t be a fucking natural river of hot chocolate! It’s physically impossible!” Katsuki yelled, shocked.
“There are underground pools of milk all around this valley, they intermix with natural rivers of extremely hot water thanks to the marshmallow volcano nearby. The raging currents then crush and extract the chocolate from the chocolate seeds of plants nearby, the harsh currents then mix them together. Whenever the volcano erupts… Well… Let’s say that by a curious chain of events giant marshmallows are naturally created by the volcano and thrown everywhere when it erupts, most of those then fall in the river.” Izuku tried explaining.
“That doesn’t make sense!” The other answered, not even in anger, but near-hysterical confusion.
“Humanity has barely learned the 0.1% of the secrets of the Gourmet World, and the more secrets we decipher, thousands more appear and less questions are answered.” He answered.
“WAIT! IS THAT ICE-CREAM?!” Tooru asked with a shriek while pointing at a far-away mountain range made completely of colossal spheres of Ice-Cream, each sphere the size of an actual mountain, all stacked on top of each other chaotically.
“Yes, the Gelatain Passes. Considering that I can see the hazelnut and strawberry and custard flavors, it means that we are in the south-east part of Area 1… By the shape, that should be the Sherbet Peak instead. Ugh! We are on the path of the biggest cluster of Ingredients I need, but they are also extremely far away.” Izuku answered with a grimace.
“It was the safest landing area, Host.” The System answered.
“Wait! So those are actual mountains, as in REAL MOUNTAINS, made completely of Ice-cream? Every inch of it?” Mezo asked with bulged-out eyes.
“Down to the very last drop. Each sphere is bigger than Mt. Fuji, but still, they are made of the best and tastiest ice-cream you will ever taste… IF you survive long enough there to try it.” Izuku answered.
“Impossible… Ludicrous…” The poor guy answered, confused to complete brain shutdown.
“Everything here is out of scale, if not just physically impossible, and yet we are seeing this. How come nobody knows of this place?” Shoto asked.
“Everybody knows.”
“Not us!” Tsuyu answered.
“… You’ll understand soon, I fear.” The young Chef answered with a shaken voice.
“This place defies reason.” Sero admitted while admiring the birds with jewel-toned feathers that soared above them, their songs were harmonizing with the sound of rustling leaves and the distant roar of a waterfall that seemed to shimmer like liquid sugar.
“Uhm! Bejewelled Condors. The stones on their feathers are actually used to made high-class cooking equipment, they are natural whetstones. So we are close to sweet valley,at the very source of chocolate river,that is actually good news… But what side?” Izuku wondered aloud.
“So you can pinpoint our precise location?” Aizawa asked, hopeful.
“I have spent here a good amount of time here, I am familiar with most areas of the Gourmet World. I can plan for us a path with the lesser amount of danger.” He answered.
“It must be where he gets his fancy Ingredients.” Kirishima muttered.
“Very likely, the quality of what he makes does feel otherworldly after all. This feels like a completely alien planet.” Tokoyami answered.
“You have no idea…” Nejire heard them, and with a sigh she shook her head at their obliviousness.
All around them was an endless sensory overload, and for a brief moment, the group felt an overwhelming sense of wonder.
“This calm feels too perfect, too... staged.” Mic muttered.
“Glad to see you finally noticed.” Aizawa answered.
“A trap?” Toshinori muttered next, moving closer to the two.
“One that has been sprung as soon as we arrived.” Aizawa answered.
“There is a reason why everything here is peaceful and smells great. Be on your guard,” Izuku answered.
Toshinori narrowed his eyes as he scanned the horizon, once again his instincts screamed that danger was just around the corner.
“Keep your guard up,” he muttered, hands clenched tight into fists and One for All flaring to life into overdrive.
“This place... Doesn’t feel right.” Mic admitted.
“How so, sensei?” Tooru asked, confused.
Almost on cue, a massive branch of a near giant cherry tree that had appeared so harmless moments ago suddenly snapped forward like a whip with a deafening crack, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth hidden within its leaves.
Swing!
Momo leaped back just in time to watch in fear the snapping plant narrowly missing her arm, so close she could count the exact number of teeth in each leaf and see the glistening droll trailing behind the bite.
“Ah!” Her heart pounded in her chest as she watched the thin blade of energy Izuku shot with his dragon knife mince the entire branch in an instant.
“Fanged Cherries. The tree ensnares living beings to crush their bodies and extract every drop of water and minerals from the resulting pulp to fertilize its fruits. Their are perfectly ripe, want one?” With scary detachment, Izuku caught in his arms five or so cherries that fell from the cut branch, each big like a watermelon, and gave a bite to one of those dark-red fruits.
To him, those felt like the sweetest cherries human mind could imagine, with otherworldly juicy pulp and refreshing juices sweet and fruity to a level no normal cherry on earth could hope to ever match...
For everybody else, that was just the source of a terrifying realization: That land, the Gourmet World, wasn’t paradise.
It was a death trap.
“Holy Crap!” Jiro, still trembling, pointed at the colorful flora. “That thing tried to eat Momo!”
“Unfortunately, that tree was just the one thing that could not hold back anymore.” Izuku answered, sending the cherries away to his Restaurant’s Storage Island.
“Uh?”
“INCOMING!” Toshinori yelled with wide eyes.
A loud rumble echoed through the valley, and all eyes turned to the source: a hulking beast with scales shining like gold and jaws wide enough to swallow an entire tree in one bite.
“A Golden Kong Troll? Is it Mating season already?! Fuck! They are extremely territorial and Violent! Even more so when they have already smelled a female in heat!” Izuku yelled in alarm.
The creature's massive tongue slithered out, tasting the air, before its eyes locked onto the adventurers with a predatory gleam.
Golden Kong Troll. Capture Level: 217.
“ROAAAAAR!” The roar was more deafening than the clap of a thunder-strike, and the hulking behemoth followed that by beating its colossal chest with its overly-muscular arms, and producing unnatural sharp noises, like metal striking metal.
“Run,” Mina screamed, voice full of terror as the creature’s Intimidation washed over the group.
“Wait! No! Don’t run!” Izuku warned them with wide eyes, but it was too late.
The smell of fear, that was what the Gorilla and everything else around them felt, even if it lasted just a second before Mina recovered from the beast’s Intimidation attack, it was enough to send the entire valley in a frenzy, because for a single instant Mina was not a trespasser, but Prey.
Plants came to life with vines and thorns sharp like metal blades, moles with far too many fangs erupted from underground, tigers with horns and six legs leaped down from the trees, other Troll Gorilla came running to look for the prey to kill and eat, birds stopped singing and started cawing at each other as if to argue about who had the right for the first bite.
The peaceful air was instantly shattered by that single instant of distraction.
“Damn it! Run ahead! Past the river! Hurry!” Izuku yelled, already moving towards the giant river of chocolate.
“Wha-”
“Just shut-up and run, goddamnit!” Rumi snapped, finally rebooting the overwhelmed students’ brains.
The group broke into a sprint, dodging the attacking animals by zigzagging between the oversized vegetables and grotesquely large fruits, the plants’ shadows were now twisting unnaturally as if to grab them.
The once-inviting landscape morphed into a twisted nightmare as the Ingredients themselves instantly became hostile.
“Izuku!” Ochako yelled.
“Down! Vajra Dicing!” The Chef yelled, and in a wide slash a big crescent blade of energy the color of moonlight shot forward at high speed, soaring over the heads of the students that had barely time to throw themselves on the ground.
The roots that had tried lashing-out like serpents to grab Shoto went diced into tiny cubes instantaneously.
“We need a bridge!” Mic yelled.
“Kansas City Smash!” Toshinori punched the ground to lift a giant slab of rock in front of him.
“Bodhi Pestle!” Izuku echoed right after, punching the giant boulder hard enough it propelled forward at insane speed, blowing away the golden gorilla running towards them, the giant rock landed in the middle of the massive river.
“Too small!” Mic said.
“I have an idea! TODOROKI! Ice!” Aizawa yelled.
“Yes!” The boy answered, using the massive rock as an intermediary point to form a bridge of ice big enough to carry them at the other side of the river.
“Go! Go! Go!” Never slowing down, the group hastily passed the rapidly melting ice bridge to reach the other side.
“Stomach tree! The fruits are corrosive!” Izuku yelled with wide eyes, because not even a second after the reached the other side, one of the trees in front of them started throwing big green fruits towards them.
“How?!” Mina asked.
“Self-defense! For that plant we are a threat!”
“Piss off! Samsara Moon Blade!” When the giant fruits came close enough to them, Rumi’s right leg stomped down hard enough her feet went buried underground, anchoring her down so to use all her body strength to give a vertical kick with her left leg strong enough to create a blast of wind with such power it made the flying fruits scatter and drop all around them far enough to not hurt them, as soon as those fruits hit the ground they exploded into thick syrup that sizzled like acid.
“FUCK! My leg!” She then cried-out in pain while clutching her knee.
“Rumi!” Izuku was immediately at her side to help her.
“I tried to shot one of those fancy blades of yours, but I guess I am not there yet with ENBU.” She said, smirking through the pain.
“Let’s find a quiet place, I’ll cook something with Healing Cuisine immediately.” He said, worried sick about her.
“Thanks, babe.” She answered, smiling grateful and kissing his cheek.
“We’re not in a garden, we’re in a battlefield!” Tooru shouted in horror.
The sky, so peaceful moments ago, now seemed oppressive, like it was pressing down on them.
“Texas Smash!” Toshinori punched forward as hard as he could, the wind pressure his punch generated forcing the birds chasing them to break formation.
“YEAAAAAAAH!” Mic at the same time pumped the volume of his costume’s speakers at maximum and blew back the charging six-legged tigers of a couple feet with a loud scream, but besides probable ringing ears, those things seemed unrelenting in their pursuit as they charged them again as soon as their paws touched solid ground from their flight
.
Slepnir Tiger: capture Level 250. (400 if the entire pack is present)
“PISS OFF!” Izuku yelled next, eyes wide and Intimidation flaring to life.
To the others surprise, the scream actually seemed to have effect as the animals chasing them stopped abruptly, and locked eyes with the Chef.
“What… The fuck?” Katsuki muttered, confused.
The war of stares between Izuku, the birds and tigers lasted barely a couple minutes, then miraculously, the beasts all turned around and left.
“They seem to have lost interest in us.” Toshionori said with narrowed eyes.
“Some battles are not worth fighting, Survival Instinct helps deciding that.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“Indeed, young Midoriya.”
“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! WHY EVERYTHING IS DEADLY NOW?!” Kaminari shrieked.
“It always was, they were just waiting for you all to lower your guard.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“It doesn’t explain-” Mezo started saying, but then one of the shadows of a nearby rock seemed to detach from the ground to jump him.
Bang!
Toshinori’s fist intercepted the attacking shadow, a baboon with pitch-black fur, and pushed it away.
“Oh, a Shaboon. The Baboons that hide in shadows.” Izuku commented, unimpressed.
“Not a threat?” Aizawa asked while the thing twisted in the air to land on a tree branch and melt into the shadows like they were water.
“Only if in a group of ten or more. They are cowards, understandable since a single one has only a Capture Level of 40.” He answered.
Shadow Baboon: Shaboon. Capture Level 40 (Capture Lvl of a group of 10: 200)
“Listen, you explained that Level thing. 40 would mean that a tank wouldn’t hurt it. How can it not be dangerous? Are you pulling my leg?!” Mic said.
The Baboon had grown tired of circling them from the shadows, and tried rushing izuku from behind to what it believed being the young man’s blind-spot.
“Because in the Gourmet World up to level 200 you are not a Predator, you are only Prey.” Izuku answered, stepping to the side and letting the baboon fly past him.
“OOOK!” The thing drooled and spat in clear hunger, evidently already imagining eating them all, and they all could see it clearly in its eyes.
“Prey?” Nejire asked.
“Unfortunately, you will soon see…” Izuku answered, sighing sadly as he saw the Baboon grab a big mushroom from next to its feet.
As soon as the monkey bit into it, the fungus exploded in a cloud of poisonous spores, the baboon coughed, eyes wide as its skin started to blister, but before anyone could react, a large carnivorous flower swooped down and swallowed the monkey whole in a single gulp, leaving nothing behind but a pool of thick sap while the flower returned to hide between the leaves of a tall tree.
“…” Stricken silence followed the gruesome death.
“Don’t get distracted. If you do, you die.” Izuku said, shaking his head.
“Young Midoriya, be honest. What place is this?” Toshinori asked, extremely serious, so much so that his ever-present “All Might Smile” wasn’t on his face.
“What do you mean?”
“This is not just another island, a secret location or any other buzzword a conspiracy theorist may use- not now, Young Todoroki!”
Shoto immediately lowered his hand.
“…”
“Mido… Izuku, where are we, really.” Mic asked, bending down to meet Izuku’s eyes and lowering his sunglasses.
“The Gourmet World.” Izuku answered, with a pained sigh.
“Is it a fancy codename?” Aizawa asked.
“Not really… We are in a section of the planet far removed from the Human territories.” Izuku explained.
“Human territories?” Himiko asked.
“Imagine the world map, with every state: America, Europe, Africa… All of them, the standard map… Picture it in your head.” Izuku said.
“… Okay?” Toshinori said, unsure.
“Now imagine that the map continues beyond the ‘blue circle’ representing the oceans. The Gourmet World is located there, Out of frame. It’s a vast, very vast expanse of land. Far bigger than the human territory.”
“Wait! Wouldn’t that mean that the planet is bigger than what we know?” Iida asked, confused.
“It is bigger.”
“How much bigger are we talking about?” Aizawa asked, somehow feeling dread mounting in the back of his head.
“… 1.54 times bigger than Jupiter. Circa.” Izuku finally said.
“Eh?!” The others screamed.
“This planet has a circumference of 220.213 kilometres.” 808 explained.
“BULLSHIT!” Katsuki yelled.
“You can’t hide the fact that the planet is this much fucking bigger! You can disprove flat-earthers because we got satellite images! We can see the entire planet!” He then said.
“Unless this is not planet earth.” Izuku said, walking forward.
“Uh?”
“At least not anymore.”
“Details are a mystery, but in an undetermined point in time, in the planet’s past, something happened that changed the world. One of the Heavenly Kings, Coco, wrote a book about it. About his discoveries.”
“Oh yeah? Like what?” Aizawa asked, with his arms crossed.
“He jokingly called it Gourmet meteor Theory. He found a stone of unknown origin, able to absorb energy and grow from it. He theorized that a rather big chunk of it fell on earth and started absorbing energy from the planet’s core, growing in size until the planet became big as it is today once that chunk of stone reached its limit. Turning what was Planet Earth in just a section of the new planet that grew around it.”
“…”
“You saw the animals and plants here. How do you explain a mutation so massive to defy the laws of physics? Plants that, for example, thanks to internal chemical reaction can grow croissants already baked and still warm as if out of the oven?” The young Chef said, actually plunging one of those croissants from a branch and tossing it at Mina.
“Taste it.” He said.
“… Down the hatch…” She muttered and gave a bite.
“HOLY FUCK!” Mina yelled in awe.
It was beyond perfect, a flavor profile she had never tasted before, the exterior layer was glazed to perfection, while the rest of the pastry was heavenly soft and fluffy, warm like just out of the oven and with a mesmerizing scent of baked sweets. It even had custard inside! Tasting of fresh eggs and with a smoothness Mina didn’t think possible!
The girl just looked at the thing she had just bitten like something alien.
“Did I use to eat rotten stuff until now? That’s what you are thinking.” Izuku said, sighing.
“Yeah. Croissants don’t taste like this… Nothing tastes like this…” Mina said, shocked and passing the half eaten thing to Tsuyu.
Croak! “They remind me of yours, from your Restaurant… Only… Different? Slightly Better? Can’t say for sure.” Tsuyu said with a very uncertain tone.
“That’s because mine are made trying to replicate these. The fruits of the Croissant Pine tree. The Pinessant tree. Good to know I got closer still… I only need to use another kind of honey to get it 100% right, but I am glad that I got it 99% right by memory after eating it only once.” Izuku said, grabbing more and tossing them at the others.
“A tree that grows food… How?” Mic said, studying the thing he was eating in confusion.
“Gourmet Era. That Meteor brought here Gourmet Cells, and those miraculous cells mutated everything everywhere, from the smallest microorganism to animals, plants, humans and even rocks.” Izuku answered, cracking open a random boulder to show its inner colorful layers.
“… Is that a giant Jawbreaker Candy the size of a boulder?!” Kirishima said.
“Jawbreaker Stones. Yes, one this big is centuries old, every different ring is a layer of sugar that was added to it before the Sugar Volcano a couple kilometers from here spat it out. Remove the first few layers and then you can eat the rest.”
“Wow.”
“By the way, everything here is a Special Preparation Ingredient. If you want to try something, tell me, or else you will fail to collect it… Or die trying.”
“Really?” Jiro said. “I call bull on that.”
“Try to take one of the croissants yourself.”
“Easy!” The girl said, smirking.
But as soon as her finger touched one of the fruits, those burst like balloons and splattered her face in hot custard.
“FUUCK!”
“You need to grab the lower end with two fingers, twist it slightly anti-clockwise while pulling with constant strength, then push it back against the branch while spinning it clockwise, and then pull it away with a sharp movement.” Izuku said, doing as he said and safely collecting a new croissant.
“Why it has to be so complex?!” Jiro roared, and eating that pastry like a beast as a form of revenge against the plant.
“Oh! This is nothing, it barely fits into the Special Preparation label. The real esoteric ones are much more complex. Some Ingredients for example require you to visit the plant once a day everyday to pull on the fruit you want for no more than five minutes so to weaken the stems, do it for a month straight and you will be able to remove the fruit from the branch without ruining the fruit.”
“Can’t you just cut it!?”
“It rots instantly if you do.”
“… Really?!”
“Feel free to not believe me.”
“That is exactly my problem, young Midoriya. You can’t hide all of this. Not even if every politician, Secret Society or Shadow Government or whatever pull their resources together. A cover-up operation for all of this is just not possible.” Toshinori said, wildly gesticulating at everything around them.
“GRAAAAH!”
As a further addition to his words, a giant dragon (fifty meters long) with shining black scales flew above them roaring deafeningly, its high speed flying soon made it disappear beyond the horizon.
“…”
“Was that a damn dragon covered in those licorice spirals you find in candy stores?” Mic asked with bulged-out eyes.
“That was a Licorice Dragon. Capture Level of 600. It feeds on licorice trees mostly, to the point that their scales develop into actual candied licorice spirals once their body is done processing what they eat. Clockwise spirals for males, anti-clockwise for females.” Izuku said, face-palming.
“Yes! You can’t hide all this! Not even the HPSC can hide this! How does nobody know this?!” Aizawa yelled while pointing at the giant flying monstrosity.
“I’ll explain everything as soon as we are done collecting Ingredients. Promise.” Izuku answered, hurrying forward.
“Just because we don’t have much time.” Mic said, nodding and following him.
The group once again made their way through the strange valley of sweets, marvelling at the alien sights all around them, all accompanied by more scary visuals of plants and animals eating each other in very garish ways.
But they all decided to ignore the mountain the saw grow a mouth to take a bite out of a massive Oni-like being that had been attracted by the thing’s flashy colors, especially the nightmarish crunching sound of the mountain munching with its mouth open.
“We are leaving the Dessert Plains, good. The first stop for the Ingredients is close.” Izuku said, with a tone of relief.
“Where are we going?” Momo asked.
“Technically it is a swamp.” Izuku answered.
“Technically?” Himiko asked, confused.
“Well. It’s a swamp in looks. But everything there is coffee based.” He explained.
“… I beg your pardon?” Aizawa muttered.
“The Caffeine Swamp, basically a giant cluster of thermal pools where coffee plants and other Ingredients congregate, so much so that by now those pools are full of every kind of coffee you can think of. You know… Venezuelan, Arabic… And that attracted many animals that have developed a dependency for Caffeine. One of which is the Caffeinoko we need. The Caffeinated Snake.” Izuku explained.
“Why you need that thing?” Mic asked.
“I plan to make a stew using my Healing Cuisine. As I said, I need specific Ingredients to add special healing properties to the stew. The Caffeinoko is a very rare Ingredient and its venom, once purified, is used to create heart medicines. Nemuri-san’s heart is under heavy fatigue at the moment, that medicine will ease that burden.”
“So that explains the long list of stuff you need?”
“I compiled that list based on all the Ingredients I need to repair and strengthen Nemuri-san’s body. We need a miracle to save her and I am not a God, so I need the proper instruments to do it.”
“Then let’s go collect them.” Toshinori said.
“So you will ignore how strange this place is?” Izuku said with a weak smile.
“Be it a different planet, a massive cover-up operation or even a different dimension, if it will save our teacher, we will just march forward!” Iida said.
“Yes.” Shoto echoed.
“Bring the weird! We can face it!” Tooru said.
“We are Heroes, there is nothing we can’t face.” Tokoyami declared, with Sero and Mezo nodding along behind him.
“I appreciate the bravado, I just hope that for once we won’t meet the worse beasts you can usually find when you visit this part of the Gourmet World…” Izuku answered, sighing.
“Don’t worry, nerd, You are selling us far too short! Me and those Extras can defeat everything we meet!”
“Except those golden Gorillas.” Kirishima admitted, sheepish.
“Details!” Katsuki growled.
“Those are at the bottom of the food chain, the real threats are far worse.” The young Chef answered, shivering.
Following the Chef, the group made their way forward, avoiding thanks to his directions two enormous deer-like beings over sixty meters tall smashing their horns in a contest of strength hard enough everything shook like during a cataclysmic earthquake.
“Okay… Maybe I can’t kill that…” Katsuki muttered.
Followed by stumbling on several Twenty Meters tall bears shooting lasers from their mouths at each other in beam wars that would make Dragon Ball characters proud.
“… Neither that one…”
Then they saw entire swarms of Mosquitoes the size of elephants sucking dry a mountain-sized bison until only a dried-up hollow husks was left behind to disintegrate in the wind.
“Okay! Maybe I can kill one of those mosquitoes! Not a hundred, but maybe a single one I can kill!” Katsuki said, uncertain.
“Ssssh! We avoided those by miracle! Shut the fuck up!” Rumi hissed.
“How come you and those three don’t seem as tense as we are?” Mina asked.
“We trust the fact that Icchan knows what he is doing,” Nejire answered.
“And we saw our own fair share of weirdness, thanks to him.” Ochako added.
“What do you mean?” Aizawa asked.
“I promised to not share too much details, but in turns, we all accompanied him in a sortie like this.”
“How? Nezu would know if you left school.” Mic asked.
“My Sponsor and their Warp Powers are at another level.” Izuku said.
“At a dangerous level.” Toshinori commented.
“They are not interested in kidnappings and power play. And maybe it’s time you Heroes stop worrying about them being yet another Villain to vanquish, it’s frankly annoying how you divide everything in just two groups: Villains or Heroes.” Izuku answered, rolling his eyes.
“We are just worried about their possible reach if they can help students leave unnoticed.” Mic said.
“Yes, I am aware that you others need to know absolutely everything about everybody so to monitor them 24/7, but to be honest, I don’t like it.”
“It’s about safety.” Aizawa scoffed.
“It’s about totalitarian dystopic need of control. No amount of people kissing the ground you walk on will make me accept this just because you endorse or justify it, Aizawa-san.”
“I don’t endorse it. But you cannot know what your Sponsor-”
“I don’t want nor need to know all about them. But by my own choice.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t care. I want to own and manage my Restaurant, I want a quiet, uneventful, relaxed life… And ever since I started, I had not a single day of that between Villains, Rival Chefs and now this. I didn’t follow the path of the Hero, and yet I am almost-constantly forced to fight against somebody to defend myself. I shudder to think what would have happened to me if I actually was part of your class.”
“Maybe you should have joined instead. People need your Healing powers.” Aizawa said.
“There are others already in the Hero Ecosystem with Healing Quirks, adding my powers to the pile won’t change a thing. There are over fifty Healing Heroes in Japan alone. Recovery Girl is not that big a rarity, she is just the one more famous.”
“One more is better than one less!”
“And what about what I want instead?”
“For the well being of the masses, you need to sacrifice what you want.” Aizawa declared.
“Thank God the choice is not yours to make.” Izuku answered.
“You-”
SLAM!
“Troublemaker.” Whitey grabbed Aizawa by the throat and slammed him against a tree the moment the man tried grabbing Izuku’s shoulder.
“GH!” Shota’s face rapidly gained a blueish colour from choking.
“Aizawa!” Mic yelled, desperately trying to pull the robot’s arm away.
“Call him back! Call him back!” Toshinori asked.
“Or else?” Shiro asked aloud, shocking the others.
“The pet can talk?” Mina muttered.
“He was just voicing an opinion!” Toshinori said.
“No. He was stating a fact. People need to stop worshipping him like the second coming of a God. He is not, and never was, infallible. And yet every time his opinions are put into discussion, others jump to his defence like lunatics.” Shiro said.
“Let him go, Whitey. We are wasting time.” Izuku said.
“Understood.” The robot unceremoniously dropped Aizawa and returned to stand behind Himiko.
“Nothing Me or others say or do will change your opinions. And I have better things to do than defending myself from your fans that think you are infallible and always right. I won’t do what you say. I am and will be a chef.” Izuku said.
“But you-”
“It’s either this or you kill me. I am done being forced to do what others tell me like a slave. You won’t force me to obey.”
“Others will! The HPSC-”
“Let them come!” He snapped.
“It’s illogical.”
“Big deal.”
“So you are so selfish you want to put your family at risk to chase a childish dream?” Aizawa spat.
“… I’ll pretend I didn’t hear you threaten my family.”
“Sooner or later you will need to lower your head and obey, selfishness kills.”
“You done?” Rumi asked, scoffing.
“I am still your teacher!”
“FUCK OFF!” She roared.
“I will have you expelled.”
“No, you won’t.” Mic said.
“Hiza-”
“Shut the fuck up, Shota. For once. Shut the fuck up.”
“You-”
“Aizawa, I suggest you drop this. Or I will force you to.” Toshinori said.
“I can stop your Quirk from working.”
“And?”
“You can’t attack me without it.”
“I still have muscles and fists and my training… You are starting to believe your own hype, do you?”
“I am a realist!” Shota snapped.
“No, you are a pain in the ass that the public opinion put on a pedestal for some unfathomable reason.” The other answered.
“… What is happening?” Izuku whispered.
“Lately Mic-sensei and Aizawa-sensei have been arguing more often.” Momo answered.
“They always had clashing opinions, and I guess this clash has finally started showing its effects. Mic-sensei is more positive and hopeful, while Aizawa-sensei is more… let’s say negative.” Ochako added.
“It doesn’t help that Aizawa-san also has a bad opinion of Life, Destiny, Fate, Luck, Society, School, Laws, Politicians… Well, he believes that a lot of bad things are inevitable and if you are hopeful then you are a childish fool.” Nejire said.
“And nobody ever bothered to call him out on the giant stick he has up his ass. Vlad-sensei often says that he should be in therapy, instead of teaching. But Nezu likes to keep him around, probably he finds his antics amusing, and he met several ‘Yes Men’ that constantly second his delirious God Complex.” Rumi said.
“Oh… So, since I said no to him, I triggered him? Is that the term?”
“Everything triggers him. Don’t bother walking on eggs around him, that’s our curse, not yours.” Momo answered, sighing.
“So you will be in trouble?” Izuku asked.
“Mineta is still in school after all he did and just got a reprimand and obligatory Counselling. At worst we will get some detention. You instead, well, you got half the Heroes, Villains and Vigilantes of the damn Planet as your loyal customers… I don’t believe you’ll have to fear anything. Even The Great and Invincible Aizawa-sama can’t face that. No matter what his ass-kissers say.” Rumi answered.
“Ah, so you noticed.” Izuku said, sheepish.
“You mean about your customers? Apparently only we four did, and we won’t tell.” Nejire answered.
“Oh, thank you!”
“YAOMOMO! OCHAKO-CHAN! Help!” Tsuyu yelled.
Apparently, during their talk Mic had grown tired of Aizawa’s deranged ideas and had jumped him, and now the students and Toshinori were desperately trying to separate the two.
“What the hell?!” The five yelled.
“ENOUGH YOU TWO!” Toshinori yelled, lifting both men by the back of their necks like misbehaving cats to keep them apart.
“You won’t get in the way of Nemuri’s healing!”
“I am not getting in the way! I am just being realist! He is acting like a spoiled child!”
“He just wants to be free and happy! What’s wrong with that?!”
“He has a duty! Ever since he unlocked those powers his Fate was sealed!”
“SILENCE!” Toshinori bellowed and shook the two.
“…”
“Good. Now, this is what will happen: You two will stay silent and accompany us and help. You will keep your opinions to yourself or so help me, I will give you two all the slaps your parents were too gentle to not give you to teach you manners!” All Might declared with furious, blazing eyes.
“…”
“Understood?!” his voice boomed and echoed in the area.
“… Yes, sir.” Both Mic and Shota muttered with a grunt.
“Good.” He dropped them on the ground.
“Shouldn’t the boy apologize to me?” Shota tried saying.
“No.” Izuku answered.
“You-”
CROAK!
A loud, distorted croak echoed from a pond of stagnant sugar water nearby.
“What was that? Sounded like a frog, only big.” Tsuyu said.
“Oh no…” Izuku muttered in horror.
“What?”
Croak!
Three strange creatures were lazing about next to the pond, their bodies were around five meters long and four meters tall with short legs, stout and frog-like, with orange claws on their digits and large aqua-colored beaks full of sharp teeth and pupil-less black eyes.
“Mamew…” Izuku hissed, moving in front of Eri and Himiko.
“Dangerous?” Aizawa asked, anger and stubbornness forgotten and switched with his Pro Hero mindset.
“Very. They are monstrosities of muscle and claws, giant piranha on legs, they move endlessly in search of food like locusts, never satiated.” He answered.
“Maybe we can avoid them by circling around-”
SNAP!
Everyone sharply turned around to watch in horror the twig that had snapped with a far too loud sound under Jiro’s foot to interrupt Mic’s suggestion.
“… Oh, shit!” Izuku cursed as the three Mamew immediately jumped to their feet to look straight at them.
“…” A long silence fell in the area.
“Capture Level?” Toshinori asked, gulping.
“By IGO old standards ‘Immeasurable’… Meaning 101 at the very least, they never updated their ranking. It’s unclear if each one of them is over 100, or if it refers to when there are multiple of them together.” Izuku answered.
“Shit!”
“KRAAAAAAH!” One of the Mamew gave a deafening shrieking roar, sending its two companion in a frenzy as the three of them charged the group.
The three soon grew tired of circling them like predators, their beady eyes shone with mindless hunger, with their sharp fangs glinting in the sunlight as they charged them wildly enough the ground rumbled with their sheer weight as they closed in.
Aizawa, his expression hard and focused, snapped into action. “Stay together. Don’t engage head-on unless I give the order! These things are leagues beyond anything we’ve faced until now.”
“… Fuck. Whitey, 808, Shiro! Protect the others!” Izuku at the same time yelled and ran away.
“Understood!”
“Is he escaping?!” Kirishima shirked.
“He has no Quirk, let him seek a safe hiding spot! As for now his safety has priority!” Mic answered.
“Remember! He is a VIP Civilian in a dangerous situation now! We have to keep those three away from him!” Aizawa added.
“Incoming!” Toshinori yelled, punching the first Mamew away, and growing surprised at how sturdy their body felt.
With that toughness, it felt like he had punched something far bigger, like a giant Villain the size of Mt. Lady, not something as big as that Mamew.
“They are stronger than what they look! Careful!” He warned them.
Class 1-A braced themselves, sweat running down their faces as they flared their Quirks in preparation.
“I hate this place.” Rumi muttered, jumping away to avoid a snapping bite.
They all knew, deep down, they felt the pure impossibility of this fight.
“These creatures! They’re fast, impossibly strong, and built for war in a world that operates on different rules!” Iida yelled, speeding away as far as he could to try outrunning the Mamew chasing him.
“To put it mildly!” Toshinori answered while meting the charge of the Mamew jumping him head-on.
He twisted his body just in time to avoid a direct hit, barely skirting the savage bite to cross-counter it with a punch between the beast’s eyes, with the shock-wave from the beast’s charge and Toshinori’s punch attack blasting behind the two hard enough to crack the ground, and making both skid back of few feet once the terrain fully gave-up under them.
A second Mamew charged in while the first was still tumbling on the ground from the punch, this time from the side.
Aizawa’s eyes flared, his Capture Weapon scarf whipped forward to wrap around the beast’s mouth and legs to try tripping it, and watching in dismay the Mamew managing to at least free its mouth with just few bites, with the rest of the power of its charge still making it reach him.
“Crap!” Aizawa yelled, rolling to the side and watching the thing bite a small rock behind him so hard the damn thing exploded.
"Yagi!" He shouted. "Keep them off balance! Class A-1, give him space!"
The students scrambled to execute his orders, Shoto unleashed a burst of ice, trying to slow the creature’s advance, but besides tripping them to slow them down, the Mamews’ sheer strength helped them shatter the frozen thick barriers he erected between them and the class like glass.
“Little help here!” He asked aloud.
“Acid works, but it makes them angry!” Mina yelled in distress, she was using her Qurik to coat her feet in acid and skate on the floor to gain enough speed to try escape the beasts.
“Spiral wall!” luckily Nejire’s wall of energy spirals lasted long enough against the Mamew’s assault to let her escape.
“Thank you, senpai!” Mina yelled in relief.
Meanwhile -
“THEY CAN SMELL ME!” Tooru, naked, thus completely invisible, was hanging from a tree branch while a Mamew under her kept jumping in the air to reach her.
“RRRAAAAH!” Mezo roared while punching the thing’s side as hard as he could.
“Grrrrr…” With the only effect of annoying the beast that slowly turned to look at him.
“In my head this was a good idea.” He admitted with a low voice.
“CROAK!”
“CRAP!”
“ENBU: Vajra Moon Spear!” Rumi came to his rescue with a flying kick that managed to make the Mamew slid away of few feet.
“Thank you!” Both Mezo and Tooru said.
“I barely bruised a rib of that thing! It’s too son to thank me!” She answered while dragging both away to escape the thing.
At the same time
“Ice and fire doesn’t work!” Shoto declared once seen the Mamew trying to eat him and Tsuyu fearlessly charge them through flames and ice walls.
“Eek!” Tsuyu at the same time thanked her frog Quirk to help her jump away high and fast enough to barely avoid the bite that was about to snap her in two.
“Can’t you talk to them? They seem to be frog-like enough.” Shoto asked.
“It doesn’t work like that, Shoto!” Tsuyu yelled in answer.
“Are you sure? Because I read online that-”
“IT KEEPS EATING MY TAPE LIKE SPAGHETTI! HEEEEEELP!”
“Later.” Shoto switched gear.
“Oh, for the love of God…” Tsuyu muttered with a sigh of dismay.
Not too far away
“Heads down!” Bakugo was already in the air, launching himself forward with explosions, trying to draw attention away from Toshinori.
“Over here, frog assholes!” His blasts landed fully on the beasts’ thick hide to anger them and distract them.
“CROAK!”
“It worked!” Katsuki yelled in satisfaction once seen his bangs irritate them.
“Croak!” And in return, one of the Mamew swiped at him with one claw.
“Shit! It worked!” Bakugo attitude towards his distraction changed when he barely managed to avoid the strike coming with far more speed he had anticipated from something as bulky as those beasts, enough so the wind from its swing sent him fly like a ragdoll.
“Fuuuck!” He yelled in anger, and secretly relieved to see a deep gash being cut on his gauntlet, instead of on his chest… He also tried to not think about the fact that that deep cut on his armored gauntlets had been done by the air displaced by the attack, and not the claw itself.
“YEAAAAH! … Holy shit, they are relentless!” Mic was heard scream at random intervals towards the various Mamew to help the students escape and survive the beasts.
Toshinori gritted his teeth and his punch rose again, once again his towering strength burning brightly thanks to the resurrected One for All inside him; He dodged the wild, frenzied attacks of the third Mamew, rolling and sliding under its claws, and using the terrain to his advantage and finally punching the thing’s gut so hard it finally sent it flying, although he couldn’t tell if he could at least crack a rib of the thing, their hide was damn too thick to tell.
“Limping? Eh, I’ll consider it a victory then!” He declared with a smirk once seen the faint limp the beast showed once back to its feet.
He glanced at Aizawa, with a plan finally unfolding in his mind.
“They’re too stupid to strategise, they are all brawn but no brain.” Toshinori said-
“That means they’re predictable. They attack in a straight line, and charge forward too fast to properly change direction.” Shota added.
“Precisely.”
Aizawa’s strategy was clear: wear them down and make them tire from their own relentless aggression.
“We need anything that can blind, disorient, distract and or confuse!” He said.
“I can do that!” Momo said, already creating smoke bombs with her Quirk.
“I can do bright lights!” Nejire, spirals of blinding light twirling in her hands, answered.
“Okay! Maybe we should have took Aoyama with us! He is the sparkling master!” Kaminari said, with his mind already wavering from over-usage of his Powers.
“Principal Nezu wants him to keep feeding wrong info to the Villains, he didn’t let him come!” Kyoka answered.
“I know!”
“I can try making my acid viscous, it may not work at hurting them, but it can still glue their eyes shut!” Mina said, unsure.
“Good! Wait for my signal as soon as their next charge starts, then aim for their eyes!” Aizawa answered.
“Croak!” The Mamew were faster than anything they’ve ever encountered, making aiming for their smallish eyes even harder.
Already, Kaminari and Sero were struggling just to stay out of reach, dodging and weaving through the massive roots of the pastry trees, hoping their being big and heavy would work against the beasts.
“Do they ever get tired?!” Sero yelled, to them each dodge felt like it could be their last.
“Doesn’t look like it!” Kaminari answered, hitting one of the Mamew’s eyes with a bolt of electricity, blinding it just long enough for the thing to trip and fall face-first on the ground.
“YEAAAAH!” Present Mic’s voice boomed, a deafening sonic blast aimed directly at the closest Mamew with enough force to stagger the beast and make it focus on him instead of the students.
“That’s right, focus on me! There are more screams from where that one came from!” He said with a smirk, and watching the thing shake its head violently, recovering quickly. but with ringing ears.
“Keep moving! Don’t let them lock onto you! Force them to switch target constantly! They don’t seem good at tracking multiple people at the same time!” Toshinori yelled over the chaos.
He had just a split second to grab a Mamew’s short tail to pull it away from trying to eat Jiro and Tooru and throw it away, and he was glad he managed to save those two at the last second.
“The skin is too thick! My jacks can’t pierce! What the hell?! I can pierce concrete with these!” The girl yelled in disbelief.
Aizawa’s voice soon managed to cut through the roars of the Mamews, sharp and commanding. “Retreat! Now! Fall back to the trees! We will use their bulk against them!”
One by one, the students scrambled toward the massive trees, their only possible cover.
“Croak!” The beasts regrouped and charged forward like a single wall of teeth, unfortunately for them their hulking frames showed being too large to follow easily through the dense next of roots under the massive plants, forcing them to waste time biting their way through while the Heroes and Students could just squeeze through them easily.
But as the team retreated, it became clear that even this cover wouldn’t have been enough.
The Mamew still pushed forward through the giant plants and trees due to their endless hunger, their wild attacks cutting through trunks and branches like paper and the ground shaking from the sheer strength behind each step.
Toshinori ducked behind a tree trunk just before it splintered apart, sweat pouring down his face.
“There has to be a way…” He muttered in anger, his muscles were aching, willing to punch but unsure about how much power to put behind each hit.
Aizawa, catching his breath, looked to him, his eyes gleaming despite the overwhelming odds.
“No more direct fighting. We keep moving. We stay alive. We buy time.”
“Time for what?” Mic asked, glaring at the Mamew still wrecking trees to reach them.
“Either until a Miracle happens, or until they finally deem eating us not worth the effort and they leave on their own.” Shota answered.
With another deafening crash, one of the Mamew sliced through the towering pastries tree, sending a rain of debris and confectionery cascading down all over them.
“They are fucking stubborn!” Katsuki said.
“Wait! Where are Eri and Himiko?!” Ochako finally noticed who was missing.
“Oh my God!” Momo yelled at the same, horrifying realization.
To their surprise, Himiko and Eri were safely encased in a translucent dome of energy created by 808 and BoB, an indestructible barrier with a faint honeycomb motif that was keeping a fourth Mamew at bay.
“CROAK!” The beast kept assaulting the shield with tireless fury, throwing itself at the thing over and over again, uncaring of the bruises it was collecting.
“Attacking is futile. Desist.” The tiny robot declared.
“Troublemaker, stop attacking or you will be stripped as an example to others!” Whitey declared with red eyes.
“It doesn’t wear clothes, Whitey.” Himiko said, body tense and eyes keeping track of the Mamew’s every movement.
“Skin is a good substitute.” The chubby robot answered.
“Okay, for now they are safe, but we need to hurry! I don’t know for how long that thing can continue creating a shield!” Mic said.
“Sure as fuck we could use one of those!” Katsuki admitted between gritted teeth.
It was then that Toshinori noticed something, a slight delay in the attacks of that Mamew, a momentary pause in their rampage.
A flaw, however small, in their otherwise relentless onslaught.
“They tire. Not much, but they tire!” He called out to Aizawa, voice hoarse but steady.
“Then we keep wearing them down. Little by little.” Aizawa’s eyes narrowed.
“Our miracle?” Mic asked, smirking.
“Took it long enough!” He admitted.
The Mamews hunting them down roared again, their primal fury still going undeterred.
“That’s good to know. But we are kind of getting tired here.” Rumi admitted angrily.
The students of Class 1-A were still standing, but battered, bloody, and breathless, but they were still unwavering, making Toshinori and their teachers proud of them.
Crack! With a loud and dull sound, the last few roots finally gave-in, opening the way for the Mamew to reach them.
“Incoming!” Mic yelled.
Splat! A thunderous crack echoed through the plains, followed by a gut-wrenching crunch when a massive foot came down hard on one of the beasts to squash it.
The unfortunate Mamew only managed to let out a strangled roar of surprise before it got crushed under the colossal weight of the new arrival.
“What the Hell is that…” Mic muttered with his sunglasses slipping down a bit.
“A seven-meters-tall gorilla. The last thing we needed,” Shota answered with a bitter tone.
The gorilla’s thick, four-armed frame towered above the battlefield, its muscles rippling like the surface of a lake disturbed by a storm. The ground trembled beneath its feet as the beast regarded the fallen Mamew with indifference, as though squashing it was merely an inconvenience.
Crunch! Toshinori's eyes widen as the massive gorilla grabbed one of the two Mamew remaining in one of its massive hands and beheaded the creature with a single bite, then it roared.
Its bellow shook the air and sent a shiver down the spines of Class 1-A, The students stumbled back in horror, but Toshinori stepped forward.
"Aizawa," Toshinori muttered, cracking his neck. "Take the kids. I'1l handle this.”
“Toshinori, no-" Aizawa started, but he then saw the determined glint in the Number 1’s eyes.
This was different.
Toshinori wasn’t making a stand for heroism, He was confronting the gorilla as if it was challenge, an instinctual battle between two powerful beings.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
And by how hard and loudly the giant gorilla drummed its chest with its massive hands, the beast seemed eager to test Toshinori’s resolve, if as a test or just a game before eating the guy, nobody knew.
The gorilla's savage gaze locked onto Toshinori, and with a very human-like smile, as if recognizing All Might’s approach for the challenge it was.
“Me and you.” Toshinori said, unsure if the beast could understand him at all.
Seeing the gorilla going through a new round of drumming its chest, the Heroes guessed that the thing apparently understood the man’s words.
BANG!
With an uncaring kick of the giant beast, the remaining Mamew went sent flying away, punishing it for daring to stand in the way between the Gorilla and its new playmate.
Without hesitation, Toshinori sprinted forward, meeting the monstrous creature head-on.
“TEXAS SMASH!” His fist collided with one of the gorilla's massive fists, sending shock-waves through the air.
The gorilla growled, swiping back with two arms in a devastating counterattack, but Toshinori slipped past the first, planting his feet and delivering a crushing punch to the beast's abdomen right on one of the creature massive ribs.
The force of his strike was immense, but the gorilla barely flinched, instead, it grinned, its fanged maw splitting open as it swung all four arms at once, forcing Toshinori to dodge with all his agility.
BOOM!
The others watched in horror as the four punches collided with the ground at the same time with the strength of a meteor, pulverizing many trees and drilling a deep crater large enough to fit an entire stadium in.
“Las Vegas Smash!” The exchange continued, With Toshinori assaulting the Gorilla with a powerful double punch.
With a new explosion of pressurized air, their primal dance of brute strength and raw willpower continued, human punch and gorilla punch meeting half-way in deafening bangs with overwhelming blasts of wind created by the clashing opposite forces rattled a wide area around the two.
Punches were thrown and parried, each blow more powerful than the last. Non-stop. Without rest or pause.
“ARGH!” Toshinori felt the impact of every strike rattling through his bones, each fist of the beast as big as a damn truck and hitting with terrifying strength… But there was no fear, no hesitation in his movements, something that shocked even he himself.
For the first time in his life, Toshinori felt something profound bloom in his chest…
Liberation.
His heart was pounding not with the weight of responsibility, but with exhilaration.
“This is different,” He realized.
That fight against the Gorilla was not about saving lives, not about being a symbol of peace or even revenge… It was only about two beings, two forces of nature, testing each other's limits.
Two kids playing around with hits that could turn any other being into red smears, and they were exchanging them non-stop, without a care in the world.
With every hit exchanged, Toshinori felt more alive than he ever had, his body surged with power as he went all-out for the first time in a long time, pushing himself to the absolute peak, something he hadn't done in years.
“I feel… Free.” He muttered while unleashing every last ounce of strength he's ever held back, with every muscle burning as he delivered punch after punch in complete freedom.
He felt faster, stronger, more brutal than ever before, but it was not reckless! It was calculated, primal! Pure primitive instinct beyond the training of a Hero!
“Hey, Gorilla-san...” Toshinori thought, grateful.
For the first time, All Might was no longer bound by fear or duty, he went beyond it.
“Is this a battle to the Death for you too? Or just a game. Eh, Gorilla-san?” He wasn’t afraid of dying! Not here, not in this moment!
“Can you feel it, Gorilla-san? The Excitement?” Death seemed inevitable to Toshonori, but for the first time in his life, that also didn’t matter, what was important was the fight itself, the pure clash of strength between two towering powerhouses.
The gorilla roared again, its body holding staggering power and putting it into each punch of its barrage of blows, and Toshinori still met its rush with a fierce grin of his own.
“Thank you, Gorilla-san. I am truly grateful… For once, I can just fight. Without fear of breaking stuff, without the weight of Duty and Honor or being judged for overdoing...” Toshinori’s body was awash in pain, his muscles were straining, and the blood rushing through his veins felt like fire as the thrill of the fight washed over him.
Every instinct told him this was the end, but it was the most freeing moment of his life.
“OOOK!” The Gorilla roared, meeting head-on the small guy’s fierce attacks with the pride of a father watching his kid taking his first steps.
The two continued to exchange blows, each punch shaking the ground around them; It was an unspoken understanding between the two warriors: this fight wasn’t about survival.
It was a contest of strength between two powerful beings, and the gorilla almost felt honored of being the one thing Toshinori could finally go all-out with, having understood All Might’s plight at lacking somebody able to stand after his full power was unleashed, a sense of understanding that transcended their difference in race.
Toshinori landed a powerful uppercut to the gorilla's jaw, finally sending it stumbling back of a single step.
“Well done, little thing. Feels good, isn’t it?” It was so clear the Gorilla was thinking it, if one looked in its proud eyes and human-like smile, that the onlookers could almost swear the thing had actually talked to say it.
Blood dripped from the beast's mouth once it removed the one loose tooth the punch weakened, but no frown formed on the big animal’s face.
“Thank you, Gorilla-san… Should I die today, I die with no regrets.” Toshinori muttered with a beaming smile, one he was legendary for.
His Legacy will live on with Mirio, so his Quest against All for One, the new Generations of Heroes kept shining brightly, and even more New Heroes will come in the future! All things considered, All Might really had no regrets and openly embraced the possibility of dying that day, after an amazing, glorious battle against a worthy opponent.
“Maybe this is how Nana felt during her last moments… Finally free of every burden and just… Herself.” Toshinori had that strange, morbid moment of realization, and yet in that moment it felt like it made sense.
"Come on!" Toshinori roars, his voice filled with the exhilaration of a warrior lost in the heat of the moment, his chest heaving with each breath, his body battered but victorious.
There is no fear. Only the raw, pure thrill of battle.
Fling!
Then something strange happened, the giant gorilla suddenly switched gear and rushed forward faster than before, maw hanging open and drool cascading like a waterfall, and a Beast took the place of the Warrior Toshinori was facing, as if it was all only an act.
But before the thing could actually jump All Might, the Gorilla stopped mid-step to remain frozen in place, like a still picture.
“… Eh?” Toshinori muttered confused, then he noticed the extremely thin line that was separating the beast in two vertical halves, he saw it because whatever it was was sinking deep into the creature's flesh.
“Hair net!” A youthful voice said smugly, and a tall man with extremely long and colorful hair walked out from behind the giant Gorilla.
“Brutish strength, hn! Never understood why people like to fight with these ugly things!” The stranger said with a frown, and yet his androgynous features still remained breathtakingly mesmerizing.
“Who are you?” All Might asked, and a flicker of light made him have a double-take… Was the guy paralysing that giant beast with one single hair?
“My name is Sanni, my uncouth and ugly stranger!” He said while tossing a fringe of hair back with a flourish.
“Uncouth and Ugly? Young Sanni! That… That’s unnecessary mean! We just met!” Call it whiplash from the sudden change in situation, but Toshinori felt almost childishly offended at that remark!
Nobody ever called him ugly! The nerve of his poncy boy!
“Please forgive my brother, He tends to let his personal tastes in beauty cloud his manners.” Another young and tall man, this one wearing a green turban, joined the scene as well.
“CROAK!”
“Behind you!” Mic yelled with wide eyes as the two Mamew remaining switched target from Eri and them to the guy.
“Poison Bullet!” The tall man said with a kind smile, and flicking a small ball of bright-purple sludge the size of a pea to each Mamew from his index finger.
Pluck! Pluck!
The two drops nailed the Mamew between the eyes with two very soft plopping sounds, and with a weak whimper the two charging monsters immediately fell on the ground unconscious.
“… The fuck? Just like that?!” Katsuki swore with wide eyes.
“My name is Coco. Nice to meet you.” Coco said, and with another tiny drop of poison, the Gorilla too fell down on the ground.
“Hn! In a couple hours they will wake-up. Are you others okay?” Sanni asked.
“Yes, honestly I was running out of ideas to deal with them.” Aizawa answered.
“We almost got eaten alive, but could have gone worse.” Nejire added, chuckling.
“You were lucky, a Bully Gorilla and Mamew are between the worst you can meet in the Gourmet World.” Coco said, shaking his head.
“Bully Gorilla?” All Might asked.
“This ugly thing likes to fight things, using increasingly more strength to break the spirit of the prey, then the victim either grows tired and gets eaten, or the gorilla grows bored and stops playing and eats the prey.” Sanni answered.
“… Okay, it spoils my fight a little, but it won’t ruin my good mood.” Toshinori answered.
“Then stop kicking the monkey in the shins. That’s petty even for you.” Aizawa said, rolling his eyes.
“Oh. Sorry!” Toshinori, now blushing, finally noticed what he was doing to the unconscious beast and stopped.
“Silliness aside, thank you for helping us, we were over our head in this situation and would have been in deep trouble had you not arrived.” Iida said, bowing respectfully towards the two.
“No need for that! We were in the area to look for somebody and saw you were being attacked, we would have never forgiven ourselves if we could not help you.” Coco answered.
“You okay, young lady?” Sanni asked to the approaching Himiko and Eri.
“Uh-hu…” The kid muttered, shy.
“Uhm… Here.” Sanni’s hair moved by itself like a whip to attack a near tree and retrieve a lollipop for her.
“… Daddy says I shouldn’t accept candies from strangers.” Eri muttered.
“Oh! He taught you well! Good!” Sanni said, smiling.
“This is not a place for kids, may I ask you why you are here?” Coco asked.
“We are accompanying a friend here, a Chef. He needs some Ingredients to create a Healing Dish for a dear friend of me and Shota… But I fear we underestimated the dangers of this place.” Hizashi admitted with a sigh.
“He didn’t warn you about the Gourmet World?” Coco asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Oh, Icchan did. But I think we kind of underplayed how serious he was.” Ochako admitted with a forced smile many of her classmates copied sheepishly.
“That was not very bright! You were awfully lucky! Usually Mamew attack in packs of several dozens!” Sanni harrumphed with a prima donna flare.
“Several dozens?!” Tooru and Mina shrieked in horror while hugging each other.
“Three almost eat me alive! I can’t fight a dozen at the same time!” Kaminari yelled.
“One of those bit through my Hardening, I don’t want to imagine fighting multiple dozens at the same time!” Kirishima chorused.
“… It is indeed strange. It’s very rare for Mamew to move in such small numbers, and even if they do, the rest of the pack is close enough a scream of theirs would call over every one else.” Coco muttered while looking at the downed beasts.
“Where is your Chef friend?” Sanni asked.
“Izuku-san? He ran in that direction as soon as the fight started.” Tsuyu answered while pointing to an isolated patch of trees.
“Deep into the Caffeine Swamp?” Coco said with an urgent tone.
“What?”
“Bad news?” Sanni said, tense.
“There is a sea of Elecromagnetic Waves there! That’s where the rest of the Mamew pack is!” Coco answered.
“IZUKU!” Momo, Ochako, Nejire and Rumi yelled in fear while running away towards where their boyfriend ran.
“WAIT!” Mic and Toshinori yelled, chasing them.
“Stop running! He is probably dead!” Aizawa yelled, chasing them as well.
“Don’t you dare even suggesting that, you Hobo!” Katsuki, turning frantic, screamed.
The rest of the students and Coco and Sanni joined the chase right after.
“Electromagnetic Waves?” All Might asked.
“Coco’s eyes are special, he can see the full spectrum of light, Electromagnetic Waves and Shadow of Death comprised, he can use that to judge the power of a target.” Sanni explained.
“Can you see if Icchan is alive?!” Rumi asked.,
“I can only see the Mamew’s EM Waves… No wait, there is a single dot standing-out.” Coco answered in relief.
“Maybe he’s hiding!” Himiko said, afraid.
“Daddy!” Eri screamed in fear.
“You two will stay with the robot! It’s too dangerous!” Aizawa ordered.
When they arrived at the caffeine swamp forest, they hurried past the trees and soon started seeing something strange.
“What the…” Mic uttered in confusion.
There were Mamew lying on the ground haphazardly, with some even dangling from the various trees, as if they were toys thrown around by a toddler during a tantrum, and the deeper they moved, the more numerous the beaten Mamew became.
“There it is, the rest of the pack.” Coco said.
“All unconscious, Knocking probably. By the looks of it, made by a damn good user. Your Chef Friend must have passed by here.” Sanni added.
“He did this?” Tooru asked, confused.
“ROAAAAR!” A loud roar almost blew open their eardrums.
“Another one of those gorillas!” Toshinori yelled.
BOOOM!
A loud bang rattled the trees and shook the ground, and the Gorilla’s roar went abruptly silenced.
“Fuck! Run faster!” Katsuki yelled, eyes unblinking as he scanned everywhere for any trace of the young Chef.
“Over there.” Coco instructed, guiding the others towards the source of the noise.
“I think we found both your friend and the guy we were looking for. And they happen to be the same person.” Sanni said with a pleased smile once they reached Izuku.
“Good to know we were actually told the right place to be. Roppo-san really is a Master in her craft!” Coco added, he too smiling happily.
The others instead watched in silence the small clearing in the woods that had just been created by Izuku’s fight against that horde of Mamews, a large circle free of trees that had been destroyed into splinters during the fight.
The young Chef was sitting on one of the fallen trees while watching the burning fire in front of him, all around him dozens of those Mamews that had been knocked unconscious, apparently in the same time Toshinori and the others took to deal with the three of them they stumbled on and the fourth one that had probably slipped past him in the confusion.
“…” Toshinori was looking at the towering bodies of two exemplars of the same giant gorilla he had just recently been exchanging punches with, and both creatures looked like they had been beaten black and blue by that same tiny Chef.
Izuku himself was a mess, kinda, his Uniform was still pristine clean, while his body was covered in bruises and scratches and bites, he even had a deep gash on his cheek so deep his gums could be seen clearly, but amazingly enough, he looked unbothered by his wounds.
“Someone once said…” They heard Izuku say with a lisp and laboured breath while he kept turning the Mamew to cook it on the open fire.
“That there is a clover with four leaves that come together to make a delicious Hamburger…”
“The four-leaves Cloverger,” Coco said with a small smile, he walked forward and sat next to the young Chef.
“That there are french fries butterflies that smell of fragrant butter…” Izuku kept saying.
“The Butterfries.” Sani, chuckling, said while sitting at Izuku’s other side.
“This is the Gourmet World. A world full of still untold flavors.” Izuku finished saying, eating the Mamyu’s meat with giant bites.
“Are you okay?!” Momo yelled.
“I have been better. While waiting for you I captured that chubby snake, the Caffeinoko.” Izuku answered, chuckling.
The four girls were the first to reach his side, followed by the rest of the group.
“NO! You can’t get wounded we-” Mic started saying.
“It’s okay, give me a minute to eat and-”
“No! You-”
“I said to give me a minute.” The Young Chef calmly said that while pointing a knife at Mic’s eye… That the man then saw was instead the teen’s finger once he blinked.
“Exactly.”
“What?” The Hero muttered.
“You let your guard down for a second, technically speaking, you should be dead by now.” Coco explained.
“Uh?”
“Time ago, Humanity discovered that there was a whole other world outside the borders of what would one day be called The Human Territory (World).” Izuku started saying while eating.
“When the border between the Human territories and this new land was reached, they saw what they believed was Heaven being just a short trip away… Endless food, boundless richness of Ingredients beyond their mere imagination, all there for them to pick.” Sani added, shaking his head, and without even looking, a single strand of his hair moved by itself to strangle a Mamyu that was trying to stealthily jump him, the beast was then left dangling over the fire to cook.
“Unfortunately, it was not Heaven. Hundreds of Thousands of hopeful people blindly rushed to explore this new lands, hoping to bring back untold riches that would not only change the world, but give them untold Wealth and Immortality, remembered forever as Pioneers of a new Era.” Coco said right after, happily accepting the giant Mamew roasted leg Izuku handed him to eat.
“What the first explorers found, was the most delicious and colorful form of Hell. And of those countless hundreds of thousands of people that rushed here, barely a handful returned barely alive, scarred forever. Everything here is edible and delicious, to such degrees your mind would unravel if not prepared. Problem is, not just everything here is food, you and the explorers too were and are food for everything there.” Izuku finished saying.
“Watch.” Coco offered, throwing part of the Mamew leg through the trees.
Swing! Kasha! Chomp! Tear! Snip!
The Students, Mic, Aizawa and Toshinori all watched in abject horror as the giant leg (Weighting a good fifty kilograms of plump meat) went attacked by Bugs, Small mammals, Birds, and even plants! Each of the thousands shadows that swarmed the meat at near-invisible speed each took off a bite…
“…” The others all looked in shock as the meat couldn’t even start its descent from the apex of its flight, it had been attacked barely a second after it left Coco’s hand, and nothing reached the ground, everything had been eaten, bones too.
“In the Gourmet World, even a millionth of a second of distraction means instant death, and nothing will be left to be buried.” Coco explained.
“Even the world strongest Gourmet Hunters, the Monsters of Humanity, are cautious here. Veterans that came here countless times, they too still act as if coming here for the first time, every time.” Izuku added.
“And yet, if you are strong enough, here you will find Ingredients you can’t even dream about. Beautiful, isn’t it?” Sani asked with a smile.
“Then… Then why are we not being attacked?” Himiko asked.
“We are in a safe zone.” 808 answered, still orbiting around Eri’s head.
“Come here, Eri…” Izuku said, smiling and opening his arms wide.
“Daaaaaad!” The girl yelled in tears while hugging the boy tight, sitting on his lap right after to be as close as possible to him.
“Yes, we are in a Safe Zone, an artificial one.” Coco confirmed.
“Artificial?” Toshinori asked.
“You three did something.” Aizawa said with narrowed eyes.
“We are doing something, hn!” Sani corrected him, harrumphing.
“And what are you…” Katsuki tied saying before pressure mounted slowly on everybody’s shoulders.
A Green Aura enveloped Coco’s body and a towering lanky figure with empty sockets for eyes, sickly-looking purple skin covered in warts and an open mouth forming a dark void appeared behind him like a wailing ghost.
A golden light covered Sani’s body and a towering creature made completely of hair just as colorful as the man’s hair appeared behind him.
A Dark Red aura covered Izuku’s body and the giant Muscular Gorilla with blood-red fur and long boar tusks in its mouth appeared behind him.
A feeling of danger pierced everybody’s mind, activating the most primordial part of their brains to freeze them on the spot out of strangling terror.
“Dangerous as they may be, the Beasts of the Gourmet World are still animals, they will hardly attack something they perceive as a Threat beyond their abilities to fight.” Izuku explained.
Coco
Coco’s Appetite Demon (Whose poison either kills or enslaves entire planets populations like a drug)
.png%2Frevision%2Flatest%3Fcb%3D20220705195220%26path-prefix%3Dprotagonist&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=f9bbcc2bdb4b0584d3ab457d991ea2edf43e3fbcd1138a2efddf55c453ba2eac&ipo=images)
Sanni (Sunny)
Sanni’s Appetite Demon (Known as Hair Monster, Devourer of Worlds)
“Good control of your Intimidation,” Sani complimented Izuku, chuckling.
“Thanks, it is still nothing compared to two of the Four Heavenly Kings.” Izuku said, sighing.
“You are already pretty close, it’s not a chasm separating us, so do not feel bad. Give it a couple of years, ten or so.” Coco, as the gentle one between the Four, comforted him and gave him a pat on the back.
“Nerd…” Katsuki muttered, not in anger but in sadness.
“There are things I have been keeping secret…” The young Chef muttered.
It was then that Mezo noticed something wrong.
“Your wounds are gone!” He said with wide eyes.
“Good Food makes miracles, and using Gourmet World Ingredients with my Healing Cuisine has even greater effects.” Izuku answered with a sad smile.
“Hoy! This is good and all, but we are waiting for you here!” It was then that a giant floating head of a man with both sides of his mouth lacking skin appeared before them; and every single animal that was tirelessly circling around the border of the Safe Zone immediately scampered away in utter terror.
“The Hell is that?!” Toshinori yelled.
“That’s Zebra, our brother. Projecting his voice from the Village we were tasked to take you to.” Coco answered, sighing.
Zebra
“Hn! Scaring all those poor animals off! You really are uncouth! We were trying to not scare them instead!” Sani yelled.
“Tch! See if I care! Just move your asses and come here!” Zebra’s projection answered, scoffing.
“… How far away is this Village?” Mina asked.
“A couple tens of thousand of kilometres, not much luckily, so we will be able to take you there in a matter of minutes.” Coco answered.
“Minutes?!” The adults yelled with bulged-out eyes.
“HE IS PROJECTING HIS VOICE FROM THAT FAR AWAY?!” The kids yelled as well.
“Don’t scream, I can hear you loud and clear, fuckers.” Zebra answered, with his projection rolling his eyes.
“YOU CAN HEAR US?!” Tokoyami shrieked.
“...Ow.”
“Sorry!” He then immediately apologized.
“That’s one hell of hearing!” Jiro said, amazed.
“Eh! That’s nothing, girlie! Now stop babbling and get here!” Zebra snapped in answer… Then his head looked aside.
“No, I am not adding ‘please’!” The projection said.
“…”
“Okay! FINE!… Please Hurry up… There, happy?!” Zebra’s voice boomed even louder, and even more animals ran away in fear from the spike in his anger.
“Komatsu-kun must have asked.” Coco commented, humming while the head projection faded away.
“Yep, he is the only one he can ask that and not get killed right after.” Sani added, nodding.
“I am sorry, but how do you plan to help us cover that distance in that ludicrous short time?” Mezo asked, then a shadow covered the entire area.
“Hiss!” A giant pink snake was the one projecting the gigantic shadow, one so damn big just its head seemingly filled their entire field of view, simply too immense to properly describe.
“YAAAAH!” Many screamed with bulged-out eyes.
“That is my beautiful partner Quinn! She is still growing, measuring only a measly 100 kilometres in length, but soon she will grow into an adult Mother Snake.” Sanni said with extremely proud tone and eyes.
Aizawa wanted to call out the bullshit, he really wanted to, but he looked beyond the head, and saw how the snake’s massive body just kept going and going and going and going…
“How long are we talking about?” Mic asked with a whimper.
“Around 220 thousand kilometres.” Coco answered while an equally enormous crow flew into the scene.
“UH?!” Many choked-out in surprise, for Coco’s answer and the new giant animal arriving.
“The embodiment of darkness.” Tokoyami said in reverential awe, mesmerized by the perfect black color of the crow’s feather, a black so intense it was unnatural, as if absorbing light all around the bird into each feather.
“ANOTHER GIANT ONE!” Kirishima shrieked.
“That is Kiss, my own Partner. He is an exemplar of Emperor Crow.” Coco answered with a fond smile.
“Hn! He grew again! He is what now, 30 meters?” Sanni said with a pleased chuckle.
“33, to be precise. Still far from the 3000 meters height of a fully adult one.” Coco answered.
(How FAR a fully grown mother snake can reach. Toriko official manga panel...Yes, that is deep space)
Emperor Crow.
“We will ride those!?” Toshinori asked, not in fear, but childlike wonder.
“Yes, otherwise you will never get to the village in time.” Coco said.
“How do you know that we even need to visit the Village?” Izuku finally asked.
That made the others pause, as far as they knew, nobody knew they were in that hellish place, nor why they were there to begin with.
“I do have some talent for Divination, but I only knew an old acquaintance would come visit… The Gourmet Diviner Roppo instead actually made your name and gave us a more precise timeframe of your arrival, she said you would have needed assistance. And here you are, punctual like clockwork.” He answered.
“How does he know Izuku’s name? Did she saw him on a newspaper?” Mic asked with narrowed eyes.
“She didn’t use that name. She used the other one.” Sanni answered, showing a breathtaking smirk.
Izuku’s completion rapidly lost his color to unhealthy levels.
“I don’t know what you are talking about!” He said immediately, eyes wide and pupils shrunk to almost disappear.
“I don’t need my ability to see Electromagnetic waves to tell you are lying and that you actually know what I am talking about.” Coco answered with a gentle, encouraging smile.
“I-I am just a normal Chef!” Izuku tried saying again.
“I see. Are you ready to go?” Coco didn’t seem convinced of that answer, but decided to not press further.
“He needs to rest!” Mic said immediately.
“No, it’s okay. I have eaten enough, I trust my Gourmet Cells to take care of the rest.” Izuku said, shaking his head.”
“Sorry to say this, my boy, but it’s time. You need to let go of your fear.” Sanni said, and with a pinkish blur of motion, and a majestic storm of giant black feathers, Quinn and Kiss swooped down to collect everybody on their backs.
“How do they know it’s you!?” Rumi asked with a whisper.
“I DON’T KNOW!” Izuku answered, he was breathing heavily in clear panic.
“Do you think we can fight them off to help him escape?” Nejire muttered.
“I don’t know, I saw them down two monstrosities with a single drop of poison and a single hair, I don’t really fancy our chances. But between the others and Whitey, maybe we can stall them long enough for Izuku’s Sponsor to take him away.” Momo answered.
Izuku and the girls were riding with Coco on Kiss’ back, while Quinn was acting as transportation for Sanni and the rest of the group.
“Every system online. Targeting reticule set. Friend Izuku’s escape route has already been set and prepared for covering fire.” 808 and BoB said as one, and unseen by them all, hundreds of small portals went created by the Bio-Obliterating Ballista station to bring the enormous mouths of many orbital cannons in the orbit of the planet, all of them aimed at Coco, Sanni and the two giant animals.
“Foolish Mortals! This Esteemed Taotie shall devour you all if you dare try anything!” Shiro thought in anger, with his fluffy fur standing up sharp like needles.
“:..” Coco looked at the small animal then at the sky.
“Unbelievably strong electromagnetic waves from his Partner and above us… And the Shadow of Death looming by. You got yourself friends ready to do everything to protect you. Good!” Coco thought in relief and pride for Izuku.
“I say we are ready. Please hold on.” He instructed with an amused chuckle.
“We’ll be pretty beautifully fast!” Sanni added, laughing.
“How fast are talking ab-” Katsuki’s question couldn’t finish as both animals simply blinked away from the area.
“AAAAAAAAH!” Mina and Tsuyu, and everybody else, shrieked as reality became a colorless blur as the two animals went so fast their bodies simply became two hazy mirages faintly pink and black in color thanks to their ridiculous speed.
“WOOOOOOO!” Only Toshinori was screaming in excitement, he had started feeling alive ever since he arrived in the Gourmet World and was rapidly getting addicted to the rush of adrenaline everything there constantly gave him.
With Izuku and the girls – Kiss’ back -
“We can’t go straight to the village, I need to collect many other Ingredients.” Izuku said.
“Which ones?” Coco asked.
“Hemostashiitake, Eeliver oil, Lungshroom, Doctor Axolotl meat, skin-kelp, Iron stomach meat… And many more.” Izuku said.
“You are basically trying to tear someone out of the hands of Death itself.” Sanni said, humming.
“And all of those are extremely rare Ingredients. All with a Capture level in the 1000 range.” Coco added.
“It’s either those or PAIR… And I know for certain that Monkey King Bambina will turn me into a smear on the floor just with a look.” Izuku answered.
“Especially now that the Eight Kings jumped forward in power after their defeat at Neo’s hands. Their might simply exploded forward so that they could return being worthy of the title of Kings.” Coco hummed with a frown.
“Exactly.” The young Chef said with a sigh.
“Is that Bambina monkey that strong?” Katsuki answered.
The answer was the two animals stopping abruptly to let a Mountain, an entire one, fly past in front of them at such insane speed the entire front part was red-hot thanks to air friction.
“… Was that a goddamn mountain?” Aizawa asked faintly.
“Bambina has a hobby: he uproots entire mountains from the ground and throws them as skipping stones on the ocean, the ocean is not big enough and so the mountain just keeps going, a mountain big like that usually manages to travel around the entire planet until air friction reduces it into a small disk the size of a CD that returns to the starting point.” Coco answered.
“You are joking.”
“…”
“No… of course you are not.” Aizawa groaned and rubbed his temples.
(The tiny black dot is Bambina the Monkey King, cutting mountains whole at the base with a single tail swing.
https://toriko.fandom.com/wiki/Skipping_Stone_Mountains
I am not pulling bullshit out of my ass. It is canon in the Toriko Manga, see for yourself
“WHAT KIND OF INSANE PLACE IS THIS?!” Kaminari yelled.
“The Gourmet World.” Izuku, Coco and Sanni answered at the same time, then Kiss and Quinn started springing forward at the same impossible speed of before.
“Most of the Ingredients you need can be found in the Mushroom Forest and surrounding area of Area 2…” Sanni said, with his eyes narrowed.
“Why that feels like bad news?” Toshinori asked.
“Because that place is part of the hunting grounds of one of the Eight Kings and its pack.” Izuku answered, shivering.
“Hn?”
“The Battle Wolf.” Coco said.
“And ever since Guinness regained its title as King, the Battle Wolves have become even more wary of intruders.” Sanni added, shaking his head.
“The Pack Leader?” Mezo asked.
“Yes, It has the second highest Capture Level of the Eight Kings. But Guinnes and its race are probably the fastest creatures in the world…” Izuku said, shivering.
“How fast?” Iida asked.
Coco’s head slightly moved to the side, and the others saw many shadows outrun Quin and Kiss with incredible ease and disappear from view in a blink.
“Those are scouts, they are going to report to Guinness that we are going to enter their territory.” Sanni explained.
“Were they following us?” Aizawa asked.
“No, we passed by them and awoke them. They probably watched us long enough to ascertain our intentions, and once sure enough we would enter their lands, they moved past us to go report to their Leader our intentions.” Coco answered.
“How long ago did that decision happen?” Toshinori asked.
“Four, maybe five seconds ago, they very likely just wanted to make sure.”
“…” No answer seemed able to be formed by their minds at that.
“Will they wait for us there?” Rumi asked.
“Battle Wolves are said to be exceptionally smart. If we keep a low profile and do not look threatening, they will probably just let us collect the Ingredients I need and let us leave. Or so I hope… Hopefully my scent changed since last time.” Izuku answered with shaking breath.
“What the hell is he even talking about…” The ones not in the know muttered to themselves.
“This entire situation is far too strange.” Toshinori muttered with narrowed eyes.
Even with the insane speed they were travelling at thanks to Kiss and Quinn, the Students and the Heroes could still have a mind-blowing show of how massive everything around them was, and after a while, vegetation slowly started growing scarcer and scarcer, until rocks and desert slowly took over.
“Heat Shields deployed.” 808 said as various domes appeared around the Guests thanks to micro drones.
“Why we need these?” Momo asked, only Izuku and Coco and Sanni were not using one.
“Here is where you can find Sun Flowers. The name is very much literal.” Izuku answered.
“Eh?” Kirishima said.
“Harden and put a finger out of the barrier.”
“OkaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Kirishima activated his Quirk, covering his body in a thick layer of armor, and stuck his index finger out of the small done around his body, and almost instantly pulled it back inside to blow on it.
“WHAT THE HELL IS OUT THERE?!” He shrieked, dropping his Armored State to let Shoto cover his sun-burned finger in ice.
“Sun Flowers are an Ingredient of the Super Special Preparation Rank. When they bloom the air around them becomes hotter.” Coco explained.
“And there is an entire field not too far away from here.” Sanni added.
“I almost lost a finger!” Kirishima yelled.
“At the moment the outside temperature if of 194 degrees Fahrenheit. (90 C).” 808 said.
“WHAT?!”
“They only started to bloom, soon here it will become even hotter.” Izuku said, humming.
“They may be a nightmare to Capture, but they are a truly beautiful Ingredient! You can use their petals to create a balm that cures instantly sunburns and make your skin smoother than silk!” Sanni said with a reverential tone.
“Please tell me we are not going to try and get those flowers.” Mic said in dread.
“No, don’t worry, we are going to a place deep underground, a forest of mushrooms. Most of the Ingredients I need are there.” Izuku answered, making him sigh in relief.
“There, the entrance should be that way.” Coco said, and at his and Sanni’s directions, Kiss and Quinn gave a sharp turn and moved towards what to the others resembled an extremely deep hole in the ground in the middle of nowhere, a circular chasm almost too precise to be natural.
“At the beginning it wasn’t easy to entre there, years of careful work enlarged the entrance in a way that would not disturb the mushroom forest inside those caves.” Izuku explained.
Once arrived at the border of the hole, Kiss and Quinn started a slower, more careful descend towards the dark bottomless pit under them, and soon the rocky desert above faded into a distant memory, with the only sound that remained being the soft whistle of the wind as it rushed past them.
“It’s getting colder. By a lot and fast.” Shoto muttered.
“Unnaturally so.” Aizawa confirmed, he too speaking with a low voice.
Dust lingered in the air, disturbed by their movements, but as they descended deeper, the endless darkness started to give way to something else, something alive.
“Here we are. The Mushroom Forest.” Izuku said, eyes narrowed.
“We will need to continue on foot once touched ground, Quinn and Kiss are too big to help us navigate here.” Coco said.
“Bit of a pity, but understandable.” Toshinori answered.
The thick, earthy scent of the mushroom forest kept rising to meet them, warm and humid, unlike anything the desert had prepared them for.
“It’s intoxicating,” Mina admitted.
“Surreal, you mean…” Iida corrected her, swallowing hard.
At first, the mushroom tops welcomed them, so massive they could easily be mistaken for trees, or even distant hills; their caps wide and domed, blotched with spots of red, purple, and yellow.
“Holy… You could use each one of those as a parking lot…” Ochako gasped in wonder.
“Far too big.” Kirishima admitted.
As they moved nearer, the scale became truly overwhelming, some of the mushrooms were stretching as high as hundred-foot towers, with their gnarled stems winding into the earth like the veins of an ancient being.
“Keep your eyes on the descent,” Izuku's voice cut through the stillness, gruff and steady.
Below them, the mushroom forest sprawled like a sea of colors and shapes, some familiar, like white button mushrooms the size of boulders, towering morels with ridges like ancient ruins, and others that defied logic.
Massive bioluminescent caps pulsed with faint, ethereal light, casting a soft glow in the shadowed depths, each one’s colors shifting with the wind, pink one moment, green the next, leaving streaks of fading light in their wake, as if the forest itself is breathing.
“There is the ground, careful to not step on anything. I don’t trust anything here.” Toshinori instructed with a careful tone.
Tendrils of fungi hanged from every surface, draping the chasm walls in strange, fibrous webs.
“The air is thick with the smell of damp earth and decaying plant life. You almost couldn’t tell there is a damn desert above us.” Aizawa said while looking around.
“You sure? I smell something sweet, an almost saccharine perfume.” Mic answered.
“That is bad news too.” He admitted.
“Almost there,” Izuku muttered, more a warning than a statement.
The rest of the group was silent, wide-eyed, taking in the view and feeling the weight of the air now, thick and almost oppressive, but it only serves to deepen the vividness of the colors below.
When they arrived, the two Pets moved to a side free of mushrooms big enough for them to wait comfortably, while they instead continue walking deeper into the mushroom forest.
“Down there, those concentric circles are a stairway that was build to help travel downward, if we follow that and the path, we will get to the lower point.” The Young Chef instructed, guiding them down many ramps of stairs cut into the naked rock and levigated by time.
“Careful to not trip…” Nejire said, preferring to float around.
“It’s getting creepier…” Tsuyu admitted, hugging herself.
Some of the mushrooms now had capillaries running along their stems like pulsating veins,
“Is that mushroom see-through?” Katsuki asked, unnerved, and pointing at a strange, transparent fungi with bubbling insidescatching the light from the luminous fungi around it in iridescent burst.
“Soda Mushrooms. You can try one, they have actual soda inside, sure they would be better if put in the refrigerator for a couple hours before drinking, but they are still good.” Coco answered.
“… What?”
Fizzz!
“Here.” Izuku grabbed one and twisted the cap, and the mushroom released a similar fizzing sound like a soda bottle being opened, and handed it to him.
“Shit… It is soda. And even if slightly warm it’s damn good… What the fuck?!” Bakugo exclaimed in wonder once tasted it.
“Not every mushroom here is harmless though, be careful.” Sanni said, and next to him a bush of mushrooms gave a hiss before collapsing in on themselves, releasing faint clouds of spores that drifted like shimmering dust in the air…. And a near mushroom burst into eerie purple flames as soon as those spores touched it.
“Ugh! Exactly.” The man exclaimed in distaste and put out the fire with a vigorous pat of his long hair.
"It’s like a dream... or a nightmare." Sero admitted, his voice trembling with equal parts fear and wonder.
“There, the lowest area, we arrived.” Izuku declared once the group finally finished descending the last ramp of stone stairs, now their shoes kept sinking slightly into the soft, spongy ground at every step while the higher rings of mushrooms loomed over them oppressively.
“The floor isn’t dirt, it’s a thick, tangled mass of mushroom roots!” Aizawa said once seen the crisscrossing of hair-thin roots surrounding them in every direction, soft underfoot but unyielding,
“Exactly.” The young Chef confirmed.
"This place…" Someone begins to speak, but the words die in the thick, fungal air. There's no need to say more. They all feel it.
Izuku, Coco and Sanni tightened their jaw, eyes scanning the strange growths with a mix of respect and something darker, deeper.
“We are being watched.” Sanni said.
“By something with very faint Electromagnetic Waves, I have a hunch. But I hope to be wrong.” Coco confirmed.
And as the wind brushed through the mushroom caps, a low, hollow whistling sound rose up, like the forest itself was exhaling, breathing.
“We’re looking for the Hemostashiitake first,” Izuku whispered, his voice barely carrying in the still, heavy air.
“Okay, what does it look like?” Mic asked.
“It’s a rare species, recognizable for its cap colored a deep burgundy. If cooked right, its juices can heal damaged veins faster than any medicine known. It only grows in the shadows of the larger caps. Look for places where humidity feels higher, they love extremely humid environment,”
“We’ll split in three groups then.” Aizawa said.
“I can defend myself,” Izuku said.
“Want us to help?” Coco asked, curious.
“If you don’t mind…” Mic answered, unsure.
“Hn! No problem! At least we won’t stay here for long! This place is far too ugly, let’s go!” Sanni answered, smiling.
“Okay! Let’s go!” Mina and Momo said at the same time.
The group fanned out, their senses sharpened by the gravity of their mission, because the Hemostashiitake was vital to save Nemuri, and without it, they’d be returning empty-handed.
“Those Mushrooms don’t make enough light! Can you make some light with your Quirk?” Jiro asked, kneeling near a cluster of smaller fungi with her eyes scanning for the telltale red.
“I can try.” Kaminari answered, unsure.
“Can you create a torch or something?” Rumi asked.
“Yes.” Momo answered.
“Nothing in this area!” Nejire called out from the opposite side of the dark grotto, using the spirals in her hands to illuminate her section of the ground.
“Nemuri… Please be strong…” Mic, madly searching for those red caps like a madman, begged with a low voice.
Finally, Mezo was heard yell "Here! I think I found it!"
“Show me!” Izuku answered, hurrying at the guy’s side.
Nestled under the broad shadow of a giant cap, a small cluster of Hemostashiitake clung to the roots of a larger mushroom, their deep red caps gleaming in the dim light like blood drops on the mushroom forest floor.
“There they are. And we are lucky, these ones are perfect for what we need, extra plump.” The Young Chef said in relief his hand brushing the surface of the cap gently to check their quality, as if he were touching something sacred.
“Strong and lively Electromagnetic Waves, They are extremely healthy.” Coco said.
“Yup! Very lively! Somebody here is very beautifully lucky!” Sanni chorused, his own hair delicately checking the mushrooms’ quality.
“Thank God!” Hizashi seemed ready to cry in happiness.
“One item found, good.” Aizawa too sighed faintly in relief.
“They need to be harvested carefully,” Izuku said, summoning the Dragon Kitchen Knife from his tattoo.
“One wrong move, and the spores sacks will burst.” His blade moved with precision, and soon the prized mushrooms were carefully stowed back in his Restaurant’s Island Storage.
“Got it?” Momo asked.
“Yes, we can look for the next Ingredient.”
“Which one?” Rumi asked.
“Next is the Lungshroom,” Izuku said, his eyes flicking between the strange, spiralling stalks that coiled like smoke into the air.
“Describe it, we’ll turn this place upside-down to find it!” Iida answered, ready to hunt those down.
“Okay. It’s small and with long stalks, golden, and its spores can repair lungs when used as spice. But the spores are volatile, too much, and they’ll burn your insides.”
“In the worse case, the spores can actually give you severe lung cancer.” Coco added.
“Oh God…”
“The spores need to be diluted, yes.” Izuku confirmed the scary detail with a nod.
I’ll create breathing masks for everybody then,” Momo answered, immediately sending her Quirk to full throttle to create the right filters following Sanni’s directions.
Once properly equipped, the group moved deeper, with he air growing thicker, almost suffocating as the mushroom caps closed in tighter until they formed a compact ceiling above them with the shimmering mist of spores hung heavier around them like a golden fog.
In the distance, Izuku spotted a patch of golden stalks, their caps billowing with a soft glow, resembling lungs expanding and contracting with each breath of wind.
“The Lungshroom!” He yelled.
They were beautiful but deadly, their spores swirling like a shimmering dust storm around their fragile caps, Izuku approached them slowly, his movements deliberate, and signalled to the others to stay back.
“Stay still,” He warned.
“The slightest disturbance can release a cloud of spores strong enough to choke a man.” With deft movements, he began harvesting the precious mushrooms, carefully placing them in sealed containers to avoid any accidental release of their potent contents, then sent everything to his Restaurant.
“… What do you think?” Sanni said, whispering.
“He used that collection method. I say it’s him.” Coco answered.
“Then why he denied it so vehemently?”
“I believe he is trying to hide his past.”
“From us?” Sanni asked, crossing his arms.
“From himself, more likely.” Coco answered, humming.
“Hn! No good. So we take him to that old man?”
“He needs to, it is for his sake, not just his mission.”
“I second that.” Sanni said, nodding.
“What are you talking about?” Tooru asked, curious.
“We’ll explain later.” Coco answered, smiling.
“Hey, Izuku-boy… Here.” Sanni’s hair moved upward, growing longer and longer until it reached way above the group, in the middle of one of the higher floors.
“That guy’s hair are amazing.” Kirishima admitted in wonder.
“I don’t want to know how much he has to spend in conditioner…” Katsuki muttered in answer.
When Sanni recalled his hair, they were holding a big group of mushrooms with the utmost care.
“Bone Mushroom! How?!” Izuku said in awe.
Those were species so rare, it was almost legendary, just as legendary its ability to heal weakened cartilage was.
“I didn’t include it in my List because I wasn’t even sure there were any around! What are they doing here?! I thought they went extinct ages ago!” Izuku said.
“As always, Teppei has managed to miraculously resurrect several Extinct Ingredients, one of which these mushrooms.” Coco answered, chuckling friendly.
“I planned to use my bone carrots, but these… These are far more effective! Thank you!” Izuku answered, eyes cloudy in tears.
“Consider it a present… Zaus-san.” Sanni answered.
“Who?” Many asked, while Izuku almost dropped the mushrooms out of sheer horror.
“… How do you know it’s me?” Izuku asked with a low whisper.
“If you want that answer, you will need to come with us to the Village. It’s important, please.” Coco answered.
GUAAAAAAAOH!
A deafening roar, deep and rumbling, echoed all around them as something came flying down on the loud sound of flapping wings.
“ZOMBIEEEE!” Mina shrieked in horror once seen the ghastly look and empty eyes of the creature.
“A Mycogryph. It most be the Guardian of this forest.” Sanni said.
“Guardian?” Aizawa asked.
“A powerful creature that made of an area its territory, unknowingly helping Ingredients develop free of predators thanks to its presence. In a sense, Guarding the place and scaring away intruders.” Coco answered.
“Crap, and we are a damn big group of intruders for that thing!” Toshinori hissed between clenched teeth.
The thing was creature that blended together the predatory looks of a gryphon from legends with the symbiotic nature of the forest.
Its body was covered in fungal growths, large bioluminescent mushrooms sprouting from its back and wings, allowing it to blend into the forest seamlessly, each feathers of its wings even had a spore-like texture, soft and wispy, adding to the mist of spores in the air it’s own dust produced at every movement.
“… That Mycogryph though… I don’t think it’s voluntarily doing this.” Izuku said, grimacing.
“Eh? What do you mean?” Nejire asked, confused.
“I am afraid the mushrooms took over, its eyes are completely lifeless, even its Waves are a flatline.” Coco confirmed with a sad tone.
“What do you mean?” Mic asked.
“It happens in the human world too. There are mushrooms that can take over the host and somehow control it. Effectively turning them into zombies. I saw ants being a victim of that, not something this big.” Toshinori answered, looking sadly at the once mighty beast, now just a flesh puppet for a bunch of mushrooms.
“Fuck…” Tooru and Jiro muttered in both disgust and sadness.
“What now?” Rumi asked.
“Maybe we should put it out of its misery, those mushrooms probably force it to attack everything that enters here to infect the victims with their spores so to have more living material to grow on,” Coco said.
“Can you make is fast? That thing suffered long enough, I believe.” Aizawa asked.
“Yes. Poison-”
Izuku’s dragon knife moved faster, before Coco could shoot his poison, a blur of movement so swift that the wind barely had time to catch up as the pale-white crescent blade of energy reached the Mycogryph.
“One Blade: Samsara dicing.” The young Chef muttered, sighing.
In one fluid motion, just as the Mycogryph lunged towards them to start its assault, it was already over.
It wasn’t a strike of brute force, it was the precision of a Chef who had mastered not just Ingredients, but the very world itself, and in the span of a heartbeat, the creature froze in place.
Sigh! “Done.” Izuku muttered while putting away his kitchen knife.
The flying Mycogryph flew past him, all the while its body gently collapsed into a neat grid of perfectly cubed pieces, no larger than an inch across until the very last cubes silently rolled on the floor at a feet from him behind his back.
Each cube fell soundlessly to the mushroom floor, releasing a strange, earthy aroma into the air, the bioluminescent glow faded from its pieces, now no more threatening than a prepared meal.
“Let’s go. We are done here.” He said calmly, sadly, as if slicing a colossal monster into bite-sized pieces was just another part of the job.
“…” Nobody of the Hero group talked.
“There are many things I have been keeping secret. Another reason why I wanted nobody of you to come here with me.” Izuku said, sighing.
“Who are you, kid?” Aizawa asked.
“It’s a very long story. One that I fear your will soon hear.” He answered, gratefully accepting the group hug of his four girls.
“So you girls know?” Toshinori asked.
“Everything, yes.” Momo confirmed.
“A bad story?” Mic asked.
“Oh, you have no idea,” Nejire answered.
“We’ll talk more once out, let’s go-” Toshinori offered with a gentle smile.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Several loud sounds echoed above them as many massive shadows landed all around them on the rings ‘Floors’ over their heads, so to look down at the group from a position of advantage.
“Oh no…” Izuku whimpered.
“The Battle Wolves found us.” Coco said with a tense tone.
“Or maybe they were waiting for us to be done collecting Ingredients before regaling us with their presence.” Sanni answered, teeth clenched tight.
They were surrounded by giant wolves, all around 50 meters tall and with the most gorgeous white fur anybody present had ever seen, although not one of the Guests noticed that immediately as their eyes were fixed only on the hundreds of pink eyes of the wolves studying every movement they made from above.
Those wolves may have been far away, standing around the various rims of the concentric circles of mushrooms above them, but as far as they were concerned, those monster wolves could have been standing at an inch of their faces instead of few hundreds of meters away, Aizawa himself could swear he could still feel their warm breath push hard against his face.
“What a terrible presence, really worthy of being the pack of one of the Eight Kings.” Coco whispered, not in fear, but in pure adoration for the Battle Wolves innate natural beauty.
“Is that big one covered in scars the Leader?” Ochako, shivering heavily, asked.
“No that is the pack Beta.” Izuku said.
“Then where is that Guinness Wolf? Which one is it?” Katsuki asked.
“…” Izuku, face pale and yet covered in sweat, just shakily pointed straight up, and when all of them looked up, they noticed what was standing behind them while somehow completely erasing its presence like only an apex predator could do if they felt like it.
(Wolf King Guinnes. Capture Level: 6550 in the official manga, and now higher)
“That is Guinness.” Sanni answered with his hair moving slowly by themselves, independently from the actual direction of the wind.
Understandably, Mina, Tsuyu and Kaminari fainted on the spot, the others instead felt their hearts stop as soon as Guinness stopped playing around and let go of its Intimidation to blast them fully with just its overbearing, suffocating presence.
“Was it just standing behind us?” Todoroki asked, with fire and ice slowly mounting at the two halves of his body out of hope it could buy them time to escape.
“I believe that all this time Guinness had been following us in here, a King never hides… Unless they feel like playing with their food.” Coco answered, with his skin slowly turning purple from his powers releasing deadly poison from his every pore.
“I fear it also recognized me…” Izuku said with a whimper that deeply scared the others.
“Izuku?” Nejire asked.
Guinness Search!
The Giant (55 Meters tall) Battle Wolf Guinness gave a deep sniff, and the sudden air misplacement was as strong as the pull of a black hole.
In an instant, by using its extreme sense of smell, Guinness was capable of gaining all valuable information about the entire group via their scent, from their species, sex, age, habitat, ancestry, and DNA to their favorite foods and even their Appetite Demons/Quirks.
“Fuck…” Katsuki whispered with a weak voice as he felt his entire being, soul comprised, momentarily get stripped away from him with that short sniff.
The ability itself was not limited to living beings only, as it could extract information from inorganic matter such as rocks and water, too, the group’s equipment comprised; and just like it happened to Katsuki, while such data was being forcefully "extracted" from organic or inorganic targets via this technique, they all were rendered pure white like cast-off husks, and in the case of Izuku and the others, they were rendered immobile as their entire essence momentarily left their body, making it seem as if their souls have been sucked right out of them.
“…” Guinness collected and analysed all that data, and once the entire group recovered from the ordeal, the giant Battle Wolf passed by them and gently patted Izuku’s head with their massive tail before leaving the mushroom forest with a single jump to rejoin their pack and then leave the place together.
“…” The Battle Wolves then just silently retreated, giving the group permission to leave the area without a fight.
“… What the Hell happened?” Toshoinori asked with a whisper.
“Did the guy sniff us to death?” Mezo asked, shaken.
“Quite.” Todoroki answered, watching the wolves leave in unnatural silence even with their immense size and weight.
“Guinness judged us not a threat and gave us permission to collect Ingredients here.” Coco answered.
“How are you sure of that?!” Mic asked, still shaken.
“We are still alive.” He answered.
“… I think I peed myself.” Kirishima admitted.
“Understandable.” Iida answered, trying to catch his breath.
“Why it patted Izuku’s head?” Momo asked.
“Hn! I may be reaching a bit! But I believe that Guinness and the Battle Wolves have forgiven you, Izuku.” Sanni answered, patting the young Chef’s back.
“Forgiven him?” Katsuki muttered, unsure.
“… Hick!” A small pause was then taken to let the young man cry his eyes out in relief at the news of one of his biggest regrets having been finally forgiven.
Next stop, once left the big hole to return to the surface, was to visit the Village Coco and Sanni talked about, and Izuku dreaded every second of that long trip at high speed, a feeling of dark foreboding not helped by the various inquisitive looks of Pro Heroes and Hero students riding on Quinn’s back.
“Izuku…” Toshinori said.
“Yes?”
“We are not on our home planet anymore, isn't it?” The Pro Hero asked, shocking the others.
“Yeah. Congratulations, you people travelled to another World. Believe it or not.” The young Chef finally admitted.
“I thought so. Too many alien sights.”
“What the fuck?!” Aizawa and Mic yelled in chorus.
“You’ll see… As soon as we reach Blue Grill Village, everything will be clear. Unfortunately.” Izuku said, sighing.
It was time to face his past, no more running.
Monkey King Bambina. (This is the guy throwing Mountains around. He is 150cm tall. 4’92 tall for you others that don’t use metric)
Omake :
Interdimensional Ingredient Hunt:
The world’s angriest ribs!
Halls of Primogenesis – Core -
A tall being of unimaginable power, with grey skin and four arms stood in wait, casting his eyes on every corner of the world even from the deepest recesses of the small pocket universe inside the massive crystal hanging in the sky; suddenly its eyes were drawn upward, and he finally spoke after weeks of silence.
“We are surprised,” He said, voice low and slow as always, and even if he could not perceive or comprehend the appearances of who had just arrived, he immediately recognized the presence.
“We did not expect to be visited by one of The Ancients, the second born at that. What do we owe the visit to? We are in the middle of cleansing our world, so its appearances are hardly worthy of any important Guest.” Ultima said, tone devoid of any feelings as always.
“Spare The System unnecessary pleasantries.” the Entity answered, and even if robot-like-monotonous, Ultima still understood that the Being was in a very bad mood.
“We understand. Is there a reason for your visit still?” The God asked, almost curious.
“One of our Hosts is here with one of his women, he is following one of our Missions. Your sky trick and Toys are getting in the way.” The System answered.
“Unfortunately we need Primogenesis to herald the rebirth of our world, but still, we can make sure it won’t interfere with your Champion’s mission.” Ultima answered, unfazed.
“Very well. The System appreciates professionals that know how to act properly.”
“We are no lesser beings or Mortals. Etiquette is something we know of, but, if we can be curious, there is a dilemma that had always piqued our interest.” The God answered.
“Ask.”
“You are the second born of the Ancients, the second oldest after Einai ‘The first To Be’. And after you the other five Ancients were born. And yet now only you remain. Who or what killed Einai and the other five Ancients, and why were you the only one spared?” Ultima asked, with his eyes trying to catch a glimpse of the real form of the Entity.
“You must forgive the System, but that is not something we like to talk about.” The Disembodied voice answered.
“We understand. We will ask this again at another proper time then, we extend our invitation to visit us once again after this world has been cleansed and reborn, by then we know it will be more welcoming to a talk between Gods. And certainly more pleasant to the eyes without all the stains now polluting it.” Ultima answered, nodding.
“…” The System didn’t answer, the Entity simply faded away.
Valisthea – Hideaway – Study -
A small group of people were standing around a small table while looking at the giant map covering it almost completely, all of them had a grim expression
“It is not merely the men and women of Valisthea who have been affected by the imbalance in the aether. These blackened skies have cast a pall over all creatures of the realm.” Vivianne said, looking at the ominous purple clouds blanketing everything in a cover so thick no sun or moon could pierce it.
“And the Akashic are growing in numbers daily, they are breeding more than damn rabbits.” Clive said, humming.
“No book we have access to describes all this as anything else than the End of Days. This doesn’t bode well.” The resident Scholar added, humming.
“There must be something we can do!” Jill asked.
“…” All of them turned as one to look at the impossibly-giant floating crystal hanging in the sky.
“The only solution I can think of is to destroy that thing.” Joshua, Clive’s brother, said.
“Too bad Ultima is waiting for us there. If we go there we will fight in his turf, in the halls of his final fortress.” Clive answered.
“Then we know what we must do.” Dion answered, pointing his spear at the giant crystal in the sky.
“From here, it looks small enough your spear could cut it in half pretty easily.” Joshua said.
“I wish life was that simple, Phoenix. For once my heart yearns for an easy solution, instead of a hard-fought one.” Dion admitted.
“That is not a hard-fought solution, that is a suicide mission.” Jill answered, heart heavy with sorrow.
“But one we must undertake for the sake of the world.” Joshua answered, sighing.
“And we are the only ones that can do it… And Ultima knows it.” Clive added.
“It’s all a damn game for that thing.” Vivianne spat in distaste.
“CLIVE! CLIVE!” It was then that another man rushed to them.
“Gav! What’s wrong?” Clive asked.
“We got a new development! A strange one!” Gav explained, gasping for air after his desperate running.
“Strange? As of now Strange has lost every meaning!” Vivianne said, annoyed almost at a personal level.
“The clouds and Akashic are randomly dispersing every two days, especially the ones over a random city, to then return full force. And I mean instant clear sky! And somehow the clouds open and close following a pattern, as if following something or somebody around!” Gav explained.
“… Okay, that is strange.” Vivianne admitted.
“Told you.”
“How is this supposed to help us, though.” Clive wondered.
“The fact that the clouds open up and the Akashic retreat means that who or whatever is doing this has the power, or even just a specific power, that can counter Ultima’s own hold on the world.” Jill suggested.
“And that can potentially be one of our keys to victory. Good thinking.” Clive answered.
“Thanks!” Jill and Gav chorused.
“Any idea where the next stop of our cloud-opener will be?” Clive asked.
“I can ask for more details to our Cursebreakers out there, but by the looks of it, I think we can find our answers in Dhalmekia.” Gav answered.
“I’ll contact L’ubor immediately, both to alert us if anything strange happens, and to keep whatever it is there until we arrive.” Clive said.
“I’ll help you organize everything.” Jill said.
“Me too.” Joshua added.
A long trip later – Desert Region of Dhalmekia -
Traveling as fast as their Chocobo mounts could take them, Clive and his two friends made their way to the biggest city of the vast desert region to meet their friend and contact there.
“Clive! Over here!”
“L’ubor!” Joshua said.
“Everything seems to be in order!” Jill added.
“Hopefully this will continue for long enough, or at least until we can discover what is happening.” Clive answered, looking at the clear blue sky over them.
“Finally you arrived! You too noticed how here the weather is nicer lately, hn?” L’ubor said with a smile while watching them descend from their mounts.
“That’s the reason why we are here. To understand what is happening.” Joshua answered.
“Anything strange happened lately?” Clive asked.
“I do have a suspect.” The man answered.
“Really?” Joshua said.
“Quite a bit… Follow me”
Following the City Leader, the three friends reached deep into the market street, where they saw many people collapsing on the ground on all four.
“How? How somebody so you can cook like this?!” One of the guys said in dismay.
“That kid?” Jill asked, confused.
“He arrived and started challenging every cook of the city, and pretty much showing them that they are still in need of lessons! Hahahaha! And let me tell you, watching Rashim lose that badly was a balm for my poor soul! That guy had always been insufferable whenever cooking was the theme of our talks!” L’Ubor answered with a hearty laugh.
“And the sky cleared when he arrived?” Clive asked.
“Oh, definitely! The damn clouds part whenever he goes! It’s like the sun itself was damn in love with him and didn’t want damn clouds to get in the way!” The man answered.
“This doesn’t make any sense… Ultima would never let anything ruin his precious Ritual.” Joshua said, unsure.
“And yet here we are, under a clear sky with the brightest sun I had seen in a while.” Jill answered.
“By the way, don’t let his or his girl’s look distract you, that kid is strong, We saw him go on a merry hunting trip in the desert and treat the beasts here like mere fruits to pick from a garden.” L’Ubor said, looking at Izuku and Momo intently.
“That machine instead?” Clive asked, looking at Whitey.
“No clue, never seen anything like that before… Though be careful, that thing likes to strip naked whoever bothers that boy.” The man answered.
“… What?” Jill, covering herself with her arms, asked in horror.
“It seems to think it is a proper way to discipline people.” L’ubor answered, shrugging.
“We need to talk to him. There must be a reason why he can dispel Primogenesis.” Clive said.
“there is something else you should know… Come.” L’Ubor turned grim and serious, and signaled them to follow him to a small house in a side street.
“What?” Jill asked.
“You know how Petrification Disease kills whoever gets it, without a cure?” L’Ubor asked.
“Unfortunately, yes, we saw far too many people die from that.” Joshua answered, looking away in sadness.
“Well, believe it or not… That boy can heal that.” The man said, opening the door of the small house to show rows and rows of beds with people in them eating happily.
And at each bite of food, a new piece of stone would feel from their body to show healthy skin under it.
“What? How?!” Clive asked, rushing inside to watch the miracle unfold closely.
“Beats me. But no matter how bad the case is, he can still heal it… With damn food.” L’Ubor said, opening his arms wide in a gesture of helplessness.
“I asked few people I know to study the dish, but besides telling me how good the food is, they got no clue.”
“We need to take him back to our Hideaway.” Jill said.
“We need to learn how he does it!” Joshua added.
“I asked to few other towns, nobody wants to talk, but it seems like there too the diseased all miraculously recovered… They clearly swore to keep the identity of their savior a secret. But they openly stated that green is their new favourite color.” The man said with a meaningful tone.
“And I bet that if we overlap the towns that have mysteriously healed their cases of incurable disease…”
“It will very likely mirror perfectly the path walked by that boy.” Joshua finished saying.
“We need to talk with that boy!” Clive said.
It was then that the world stood still, frozen in place.
“Dear Mythos… We are now hosting the Champion of another Deity. Please don’t get in the way…” Ultima’s voice echoed all around him, heard only by him.
“Ultima!”
“There are powers out there beyond your mortal comprehension and even beyond our reach. DO not get in the way, we do not want you to die because you keep getting in the way of things you don’t understand.” Ultima said while the sky darkened.
“What is happening?!”
“Our gift for The Champion. As a form of respect between Gods. Step aside and do not interfere, it doesn’t concern you, Mythos.” Ultima answered, and Time started flowing again just as a colossal ball of fire fell from the sky.
“The sky!” Jill yelled.
“It’s Ultima! It knows that boy and it’s sending a gift for him!” Clive said, and right after he said that the giant meteor reached the ground with a giant explosion.
“I don’t trust that monster’s concept of Gift.” Joshua admitted.
What walked out from the smoke and fire caused the onlookers to be overtook by horror.
“BY THE GODS! A KING BEHEMOTH!” L’Udos yelled with wide eyes.
“Evacuate everybody! We will fight it!” Clive yelled, already charging at the still-dazed beast.
“Why would Ultima send one of those monstrosities here?!” Jill asked.
“It said that the boy is the Champion of another deity, Ultima either wants to test the boy or kill it ‘by mistake’ by sending him a gift stronger than what he can handle!”
“Not very subtle if a King Behemoth is sent!” Joshua commented.
“BOY!” Clive yelled as soon as they reached izuku and Momo.
“Yes?” The young Chef asked while studying the slowly advancing giant monster with narrowed eyes.
“You better hide, this creature is nothing a young man should face. We will take care of this.” Jill said.
“You sure? I don’t think that such a monster can be faced by three people only.” Momo answered.
“Have no fear, Miss. We have sadly plenty of experience facing those walking catastrophes.” Joshua answered.
“That thing? A walking catastrophe! Hahahaha! You are very funny, boy!” Shiro said with an amused laugh.
“… Your oet can talk that intelligently?” Clive asked, confused.
“Oh! Please! This Esteemed Taotie is no mere pet! Let me handle this, Partner.” Shiro answered.
“You sure? I need that thing alive.” Izuku answered, shocking the three.
“Nothing easier!” The Ancestral Taotie answered, elegantly lifting his tiny, fluffy paw.
“I praise the bravery of your small Partner, but-”
BOOOOOOM!
As soon as Clive started talking, Shiro playfully patted down with his fluffy paw, and an invisible force slammed down HARD on the King Behemoth and kocked it down on the ground so hard its massive body created a giant crater, instantly defeated and rendered unconscious, in a single attack.
“Done.” Shiro said, proudly.
“…”
Clang!
Joshua’s sword fell from his hand out of disbelief, and Clive could not for the life of him blame his poor younger brother.
Hideaway – Kitchens - a LONG explanation Later -
Clive and the rest of the group, and the assembled members of their Organization, were watching Izuku give the finishing touches to his latest creation, made with pieces of a massive rib he ‘Borrowed’ from the unconscious Behemoth before sending it away to his Restaurant Island where it will in the future cross-breed with one of the beasts already there to produce more delicious Ingredients for Green Cloud Restaurant.
“Here they are! My new creation! King’s ribs! Made with King Behemoth rib meat and red gravy!” Izuku declared happily, and thanks to Momo several long trails of perfectly-made ribs went delivered to the tables.
“Wow! This stuff is good!” Somebody yelled in the background, attacking the food with feral hunger.
“So you are just a Chef in training. And Ultima knows your Sponsor for some reason,” Clive said, and eating with more self-control.
“Yes. I stopped asking myself Who The System really is, considering how many strange people seems to know them and don’t want to talk about it.” Izuku admitted.
“I can’t blame you, but as long as they act on your best interest without threatening others…” Joshua admitted, unsure.
“Up until now they really didn’t do anything too extreme.”
“Good. And congratulations, the food is fantastic.” Clive answered, smiling.
“Thanks.”
“Wonderful, there have been tales of Heroes eating Ancient Behemoth meat, but I didn’t think it could actually be done for real.” The Base’s Historian said with a happy tone.
“Any way we could convince you to join us to fight Ultima, Master Izuku? Your abilities and the power of your Guardian Deity may be the key to our victory.” Dion asked.
“I wish, but unfortunately I need to go. I did everything I was asked to do here, so new lands wait for me.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“Hn! Curses… Luck is not on our side,” The Prince muttered with a rueful tone.
“But at least he healed our wounded, you comprised.” Clive said.
“True, we should celebrate any small blessing we can get at this point.”
“Ah! A last thing…” Izuku said, collecting a new dish.
“This one is made for Joshua-san, specifically for you.”
“For me?”
“Yes, I was told that this would help with your health problems.” Izuku said, smiling and presenting him the warm plate of soup.
“Huhuhu… If only a mere soup could help me, but I appreciate the gesture.” Joshua answered, chuckling longingly and still accepting the gift.
“Time to go?” Momo asked.
“Yes, we-”
“STOP HIM! DON’T LET HIM GO!” The Base’s Healer yelled as she barged out of her Infirmary to march into the canteen.
“I saw him first! Do you know how rare it is to find somebody that has an actual skill for conversations?! I missed talking with actual smart people!” Vivianne countered.
“No! He saved my mother and sister! I will get him!” One of the Curse Breakers bellowed from the back of the room and already brandishing her sword.
“Back-off, hussy! He healed my father from Petrification! I’ll get him!” Another Curse Breaker yelled in answer.
“Yes! Time to leave! BYEEEE!” Izuku yelled, grabbing Momo’s hand to drag her away.
Jill and Joshua laughed hard at the daring escape of Izuku and Momo, Clive instead face-palmed and groaned loudly.
“This is very unprofessional…” He said.
“And yet a welcomed small moment of levity, Ifrit.” Dion answered, patting his friend’s back.
“True, but-”
“ARGH!”
“JOSHUA!” Everybody screamed in horror at seeing the young man grasp his chest in pain and roar in agony.
“It burns! It hurts so much!” Joshua yelled, blood flowing from his nose.
“Your medicine! Take it!” Jill yelled.
“I- AAAAARGH!” Joshua screamed in pain as the wound on his chest exploded in a small burst of blood and a shadowy something was forcefully expelled and shot away towards the giant floating crystal.
“What is happening!?” Jill screamed.
“Ultima… Whatever fragment of him inside me has been exorcised… But… But I thought that it would have killed me…” Joshua said with a wheezing, weak voice.
“I believe that Master izuku was not lying when he said that his gift would have helped you.” Dion suggested once seen the half-empty bowl of soup.
“… He made sure Ultima would be expelled from you without killing you…” Clive muttered.
“I just hope that it won’t hurt us.” Jill said, worried.
AAAAAAAAAAAH!
An agonizing scream of pain, too loud to be human, echoed in every corner of the world.
“What was that?” Clive asked.
“LOOK! THE CRYSTAL!” Somebody screamed, pointing at the floating crystal that was rapidly crumbling to dust.
“What is happening?” Clive asked aloud.
“Hahahahahaha! Somebody robbed me of my shot at redemption by destroying Ultima before me! I don’t know if I should feel offended or happy! Hahahaha!” Dion answered, laughing and crying at the same time, too taken by the absurdity of the situation to actually caring who got to kill Ultima, just that the monster was dead.
Halls of Primogenesis – Core -
Ultima was bleeding heavily on the floor, desperately grasping the deep gash running diagonally on his chest to try stopping his guts from spilling out.
“W-W-Why… Why you hurt us?” Ultima asked the empty room.
“The System is just answereing your question.” The Entity said, unfazed.
“Our question? You forced us to fuse again with our fragments to then strike us down, to answer a question?” Ultima asked weakly.
“You wanted to know who killed the others. The System did.”
“Great Adephagia… Why? And… Why striking you us down too?” Ultima asked, he needed to know.
“You remind the System of the others. Same foolishness and same delusions. We hate that.” The Entity answered, and once again an invisible blade of distorted Space slashed down, only this time not as a gentle caress, but with domineering power that fully sliced Ultima and the entire crystal in half, and the sea under it all the way down to the bottom.
Killing that mad God at least helped The System calm down a tiny bit from the rage caused by yet another Sortie closing with a daring escape of Izuku from mad women.
The Entity’s plan was already in motion, it was only a matter of Time.
Notes:
I am sorry for the rant at the beginning, I got into an argument with a fanboy of Aizawa that for the first time in my life angered me so much I wished I could strangle them through the screen.
I am also sorry for the Aizawa scene. Again, that fanboy really aggravated me with the unhealthy obsession they had for the character. You have no idea how deranged they were in listing all the reason why they adore Aizawa.
Chapter 37: Gourmet World Arc Finale: Blue Grill.
Summary:
The dreaded visit to Blue Grill, the moment where Izuku will have to face his past and make peace with it, in the name of his mission to save Nemuri.
Notes:
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/Nejire
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
I am sorry for the long wait.
And for the strange cooking duel in the Gourmet World.
But cooking in Toriko is different from how we do it, even in the manga it is showed as something far removed from what we can do.
So.
How do I describe cooking so advanced to look alien?
How do I describe flavors that don’t exist in our world?
This is the best I could do, luckily after this I can return to normal cooking for the rest of the story.
Let’s just call it a small intermediary part.
Thank you all for reading this chapter, and for liking this story through its peaks and lows.
Chapter Text
Chapter 37
Gourmet World Arc part 2: Blue Grill.
Izuku’s original world – Yamato’s apartment – Living Room -
The warm, dim light of the room flickered against the polished wood of the antique furniture, with a faint scent of rosemary and thyme that lingered in the air, remnants of Yamato’s earlier cooking; she sat across from Ren Watanabe, the very last member of their group of friends that still had to try attack Izuku to follow Samui’s insane demand of help to achieve his revenge.
“Ren…” She tried saying, her hands were folded neatly on her lap, though her knuckles betrayed the tension she tried to hide, her weathered face was lined with concern as she peered at the man in front of her.
“Yes?” Ren answered, unaware that his casual demeanour was grating against her unease.
"So," she said, her voice low, "Samui finally called you. It is actually, finally, your turn,"
“Dear Samui has a put us all in a very fancy list, written in his personal order following how easily it was supposed to be to blackmail us into helping him; you were a good friend, so he didn’t need to use leverage on you, but for us others, it was all a matter of using the dirt he had on us.” Ren answered and leaned back, one arm draped over the armrest of the worn-out leather chair.
He held a glass of red wine lazily in his free hand, swirling it as though her words amused him more than they troubled him. His were lips curved into a smirk, sharp and self-assured.
“And what did he tell you?”
"He wanted to remind me of the skeletons he thinks I’ve kept hidden in my closet." Ren replied, his tone infuriatingly light.
"This isn’t a joke. You know how vindictive he is." Yamato’s eyes narrowed.
The man tilted his head, his graying hair catching the light like the faint silver of a blade.
"Vindictive, yes. Clever? Not so much." He took a slow sip, savoring the wine, before setting the glass down on the short tiny table between them with deliberate care.
"Yamato, those ‘compromising accidents’ were dealt with years ago. Cleaned up, swept away. He’s fishing in shallow waters, hoping for sharks where there are none." He said.
“Everything legally, of course! I paid the damages, I begged for forgiveness and helped fixing what I ‘broke’, the only difference between me and the others is that I learned the value of privacy, so my fixing my mistakes was not aired for everybody to see, Samui comprised.”
"But what if he-"
Ren raised a hand to silence her, his smile fading into something sharper, colder.
"Listen to me. Samui’s thirst for revenge is his greatest weakness. He thinks he’s pulling the strings, but he’s blind to the moves being made by those around him he thinks he is manipulating. I saw this coming the moment he started sniffing around his old contacts. I knew I’d be on his list, so I took my precautions once seen every name above mine started dropping like flies in front of that boy."
"And you’re not worried? Not even a little?" Yamato’s brows furrowed, her voice tinged with disbelief.
"No," He said, firmly. His gaze bore into hers, steady and unwavering.
"I’ve been organizing my own moves for months. Samui’s been so focused on dragging me into his little crusade that he hasn’t noticed I’ve been setting the stage for something much bigger."
"Like what?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
"A publicity stunt," Ren said simply, leaning forward.
There was a gleam in his eyes now, a predator’s glint.
"He thinks he can ruin me, tarnish my name. But what he doesn’t realize is that his idea of controversy, handled correctly, can be a powerful tool. By the time he’s done spinning his tales, I’ll have turned every accusation into an opportunity. Samui will be the only one losing anything."
The old woman sat back, her hands gripping the armrests of her chair. She studied him for a long moment, the weight of his confidence both reassuring and unsettling.
"You’re playing with fire, Ren."
"Aren’t we Chefs? Fire’s been our playground for decades, Yamato. Samui’s just another flame. And when it’s all over, I’ll be the one still standing, with the world watching! And Samui? He’ll have nothing but ashes." He chuckled, low and smooth.
The room fell silent, save for the faint ticking of the old clock on the wall, Ren picked up his glass again, raising it slightly as if to toast the inevitable.
"You worry too much," he said softly. "Let him come. The blind always fall the hardest."
“I already covered those holes in my reputation, long before he even discovered to skeletons in my closet. In fact, I have properly buried those skeletons long ago, just in case somebody came asking me for stuff in exchange of their silence.”
“Just be careful.”
“I will. I promise.”
Yamato took a deep breath, trying to relax, and reached for the small plate of biscuits in the middle of the table to get one.
"You got Izuku to help you... Do you think he will play along? Even after everything Samui and us did to him?"
Ren let out a low chuckle, his fingers tapping idly against the stem of his wine glass.
"I didn’t get dear Midoriya to do anything, Yamato. He volunteered once I told him what I had planned."
"Izuku doesn’t just volunteer for things, not for a friend of Samui he still hasn’t met in person." She raised a sceptical eyebrow.
"True," Ren admitted, a faint smirk tugging at his lips.
"But the boy knows better than anyone what kind of person Samui is: Manipulative. Petty. Vindictive. He’s been facing him through us for quite a while. When I told him what Samui was planning, he didn’t need much convincing. In fact, I’d say he was eager to make sure Samui gets what’s coming to him just as much as me and you want."
"And what exactly does that mean? You’re not using Izuku the same way Samui tried to use us, are you?" Yamato’s gaze sharpened, her hands gripping her knees.
Ren sighed, setting his glass down with a deliberate clink.
"You wound me. Do I look like the kind of man who’d manipulate somebody?"
"Yes," she said flatly.
“You did it plenty of times when we were still in high school,”
He laughed at that, the sound rich and genuine.
"Damn, no hesitation! Ouch! Fair enough, though. But in this case, Young Midoriya’s involvement is as clean as it gets. He’s providing... Let’s call it a finishing blow. I set the stage and give him the means, and he removes Samui from both our lives."
“And what happens when Samui realizes you are working against him? His obsession is starting to scare me,”
"Samui’s already burned every bridge with us and many other people," Ren answered, his tone calm but firm.
“That is true.” She conceded.
"That ship sailed long before I stepped in. All I’ve done is give Midoriya an opportunity to turn the tables for once. He’s not some pawn in this game, he’s a willing player."
The room fell quiet for a moment, the tension thick between them, Yamato studied Ren’s face, searching for cracks in his confidence, but found none.
"You’re playing a dangerous game," she said softly.
"Life’s a dangerous game. The trick is knowing when to play and when to let the other player make the first move."
"And you think Samui’s going to fall for this?"
"He already has," He said, his eyes glinting with quiet triumph.
"Revenge blinds people. It makes them reckless. Predictable. Samui thinks he’s dragging me into his chaos, but he doesn’t see that every step he takes just tightens the noose around his own neck."
Yamato shook her head, her expression a mix of frustration and reluctant admiration.
"You’re too confident for your own good. One of these days, it’s going to catch up with you."
"Maybe, but not today." He raised his glass again, the red wine catching the light like blood, and laughed.
"Here’s to Samui. May he enjoy the fall as much as I’ll enjoy the climb!"
"You’re impossible." Yamato stared at him for a long moment, then let out a weary sigh.
"And you wouldn’t have it any other way," Ren replied, the smirk never leaving his face.
Sigh! “If only I hadn’t tutored you in Math in high school! It all went downhill from there!” She declared with a tone of misery.
Ren laughed again, and finally, she joined him.
In the meantime - Gourmet World – Hills of the ‘Giant Valley’ -
Mina Ashido watched the mess happen with defeated detachment.
“So.” Kirishima, sporting a brand-new black eye, asked.
“Hn?” Tsuyu, arm in a cast, answered.
“We are on a different planet.”
“In hindsight, maybe we should have guessed it.” Jiro answered.
Sunny and Coco had accepted Izuku’s request for a couple detours to collect the Ingredients he needed to help Nemuri; from a humid forest where trees would purposely drop hundreds of thousands gallons of water per second on you hard enough normal bones would shatter instantly into dust, to freezing mountains where temperature was so low their eyes instantly frozen shut, and the temp had dropped to straight-up absolute zero immediately, as soon as they set a foot on the mountain, with no warning nor gradual change.
They almost lost Tsuyu for good there.
There there were Ruins where they found giant bears with chiselled abs and four arms very eager to fight, and crocodiles that knew capoeira somehow; and few other insane places, like deserts made of powdered coffee in place of sand and a volcano that only spew out chilli sauce in place of lava.
And in each place they visited, Izuku found one Ingredient he needed and moved to fight or collect them, and still, the Hero students all kept insisting in helping him.
“Mmmph!” Sero groaned, scratching the bandages covering his mouth.
“Don’t scratch it, let your jaw heal in peace.” Coco reminded him with a gentle smile.
“I can’t believe we went almost mauled to death by a single goat…” Mezo muttered with a groan.
“A goat the size of a truck.” Shoto added.
“That can ram into mountains and make the entire thing crumble to pieces,” Jiro added as well, dropping her head in disbelief.
The Hero Students groaned in chorus, and Aizawa, Mic and Toshinori were not too far behind in groaning, truth be told.
Each and every time they tried stepping up to help, Coco and Sunny had to intervene and pull them away from certain death, and once again the teacher had to add another disappointed lecture on top of it about not fighting impossible fights to their students.
“I wonder how they stop those monsters from marching to the Human Territories and erase them from the face of the planet.” Aizawa wondered while painfully re-setting his shoulder in place with a loud cracking sound.
An Ostrich had recently tried kicking him to death, the guy didn’t know if the bruises to his body or Ego were the ones stinging the most.
“Humanity adapted and became stronger, of course.” Sunny answered.
“HEAVY DUTY BODHI PESTLE HAMMER!”
BOOM!
A new thundering explosion and earthquake-like tremors shook the area when the young Chef’s attack landed on his new target’s head.
“I noticed…” Katsuki said with a low voice.
“It also helps that the animals of the Gourmet World prefer to just mind their own business and live their lives, they have no reason to reach the human territories, we have nothing to offer.” Coco added.
“And the few that do try, are usually weaklings, the ones normally fighting over the scraps of the scraps left behind by the stronger Beasts. IGO then keeps track of the various entrances connecting Human Territories and Gourmet World, and in the very rare cases some disaster looks about to happen, Gourmet Hunters like us are dispatched.” Sunny added.
“GUAAAAAAH!”
“Spatula.” Sunny said, bored, and a few hair of his whipped forward and swatted a blur away, with the guy’s inner energy empowering the attack forming a spatula-like shape as a result.
Boom!
A small hill simply ceased to exist right after, in a blink, and the monstrosity mindlessly munched on the rocks that used to be that hill while still fighting Izuku.
“That thing is a nightmare.” Tooru muttered with a whine.
The young Chef was fighting alone once again, having left Shiro and 808 with Eri and Himiko, the reason why among the entire group they two were the only ones without a single scratch on them, and Whitey acting as a lookout.
Their current Target was the “Doctor Axolotl”, an Ingredient with meat so nutritious that if you prepare it properly you would briefly get your body’s natural healing strengthened so much others would think you had a Healing Factor like Wolverine.
Two main problems, though:
The first was that preparing that meat like that was insanely hard, as only a handful of Chefs on that entire planet could handle and cook it properly enough to get the permit for hunting the Axolotl signed; and fully removing toxins, scum and parasites properly to make the meat edible, good and fully healing took such delicate hands it would be easier to disarm a bomb.
Second, the Axolotl itself was a forty meters beast that looked like something born from some demented science experiment that crossed an Axolotl with a giant western dragon, and then pumped it up in so much steroids the thing became a hulking mass of muscles in a never-ending state of bloodthirsty roid rage.
Its tongue attack alone was terrifying, it could shoot its tongue out like a chameleon, and the appendage could crush or cleave in two stuff absurdly fast before retracting near-instantly inside the animal’s mouth for it to swallow the prey; to their horror, they saw first hand how fast that was when it tried to swallow them whole before Sunny and Izuku repelled the attack, that thing had whipped its tongue towards them so fast the sound effect of the attack lagged behind it of a few instants.
So the Ingredients had two reasons to be classified as a Super Special Preparation Ingredient: it was very hard to hunt, and even harder to cook.
“Shouldn’t you help him?” Toshinori asked.
“We tried asking, but he gently asked us to not intervene, he wants to hunt his Ingredients by himself. And to be fair, I understand his wish, for many Chefs, capturing the Ingredients is an integral part of preparing the dish too, it creates a connection between them and proves their worth to the Ingredient.” Coco answered, smiling.
“MMMMH!”
“So… That is why those four…” Mic asked.
“Hn! They are good Initiates in the arts of ENBU, but just like you, they are not ready to face the Gourmet World! Their death other than ugly would be pointless! Even if they would survive a good handful of seconds more than you against that beast!” Sunny answered.
He was holding Momo, Ochako, Nejire and Rumi down with his hair, with Rumi and Momo being the ones struggling the hardest to break free.
“I admire their bravery, really I do, but I don’t think they can face something like that yet.” Toshinori admitted.
“Time’s ticking, Nemuri needs healing fast… How long before we are done?” Mic asked, looking frantically at the countdown on his watch, one Recovery Girl had helped him set-up before departing.
“By this thing… We don’t have much time!” He thought as, to him, the numbers were going down even faster than usual thanks to his fear.
“We are getting there. He got most of the Ingredients of his list, but for the remaining ones, we will need to ask for help to the Chefs of Blue Grill, they will be able to help us capture the rest.” Coco answered.
Blue Grill… A giant City hidden in the Gourmet World where outstanding Chefs and Equipment could be found, other two Heavenly Kings were waiting there along the so-called ‘10-Shell Cooks’, the five best Chefs in all of Blue Grill whose skills were said to rival the “Top 100” Chefs of that world.
“IF they want to help, something they have no reason to.” Aizawa said, humming.
“You would be surprised how helpful Chefs are towards other Chefs if its about Ingredients. They are Rivals, yes, but except for the very few rotten apples, the majority of them don’t mind helping a colleague in need.” Coco answered.
“That is why we suggested asking those Five, they may be a bit on the ugly cold side, but they do have a good heart buried deep inside,” Sunny added.
“Guaoooh.” With a last, loud whimper, the giant Axolotl finally collapsed on the ground and fainted.
“Looks like he has done.” Sunny said, and as soon as he let go of the girls, all four rushed to make sure he was okay,
“Another item to sign off the checklist, good.” Toshinori muttered with a sigh of relief.
“Sorry the waiting, but we are lucky, this one is a very healthy specimen, perfect for the dish.” Izuku said, panting a bit, and watching the giant animal disappear and be transported to his Restaurant’s storage island.
“It’s fine, ready to go?” Mic asked.
“Sure, let’s go.” He answered, and once again they jumped on the back of the two giant animals Quinn and Kiss and let the two massive pets bring them to the Village at absurd speed.
A long trip later – Area 6 -
Once again watching everything become a shapeless blur thanks to the high speed they were travelling with, they reached a beach, that while beautiful and wide, had no city or village in sight.
“Is Blue Grill a fishing Village?” Aizawa asked.
“No, Blue Grill has been built inside Giant Shell, the world largest shellfish. It resides deep under the sea.” Coco answered.
“What?! How are we supposed to get there?!” The others asked.
“We will board a special Transportation Beast for this occasion, one big enough to even house Quinn and Kiss.” Sunny answered, albeit he looked not very happy to go through with it.
“Oh! Which one?!” Nejire asked, excited.
SPLASH!
With a giant column of water exploding upward, a majestic and ludicrously huge translucent jellyfish exited the water and started swimming in the air; the tentacles still moved slowly like under water, and the light of the sun reflected on its giant dome head in a myriad of rainbow colors.
“A Colossus Jellyfish… That’s one rare Phantasmal Ingredient…” Izuku muttered, impressed.
“Why, thank you!” A tiny old lady with pink hair styled in a giant puffy ball-shaped hairstyle answered, jumping down from the beast she was driving from inside its empty head.
“…”
None of them ever saw somebody try to achieve camouflage like Izuku did, he was clearly hoping to disappear or at least become invisible while he was hiding behind All Might’s way larger frame.
“Setsuno-san, thank you for offering to help us reach Blue Grill.” Coco said with a grateful tone.
“Could have chosen a prettier method of transportation though.” Sunny added, grimacing.
“It’s fine, it’s fine! I am always happy to help an old friend and some strapping young people.” Setsuno answered.
“… I am not the only one presumed dead. But while in my case they were just silly rumors… For others, well, it is far more complex.” She said while nailing Izuku with a knowing smile that made him flinch.
“It’s not just about Ingredients and Cooking, Zaus-chan. You need this to heal yourself too.” She then added.
“Listen, while food here is awesome, and I understand those guys insisting we slowly work our way towards the good stuff, since we need to be ‘eased up into it’ to not get insane or whatever… I still don’t understand what this thing about Zaus is.” Rumi said.
“Ufufufufu! You are a very bad liar, girl. You and those four know already, isn’t it?” Setsuno answered, chuckling.
“… How?” Momo asked.
“With age comes experience, girlie. Zaus-chan? Hop in! You and the others have an appointment in Blue Grill! Don’t be shy!” The old lady said.
Kind of forcefully-pushed, Izuku as well joined the others inside the humongous Jellyfish translucent head, marvelling at how bouncy it felt to walk inside it.
“Let’s go!” With a very jovial and cheerful cry, Setsuno somehow piloted the Jellyfish underwater, deep into the ocean.
Under the ocean -
The giant animal moved silently and fast underwater, no matter the two giant animals and the big group of people inside its big head, adding extra weight to it, the transparency of the head helped the people inside to bask in the wonders of underwater sea-life.
“All those bio-luminescent algae and fishes make it so that we can still see so clearly… Amazing…” Tenya muttered in wonder at the alien spectacle in front of them.
Izuku was standing on a side, with Eri in his arms and Whitey acting as a wall between himself and everybody else; Nobody was surprised when one after another, starting with Momo, the four girls moved closer to him, to be close and supportive to the Chef.
“I have a question,” Aizawa said.
“Ask,” Setsuno answered, still piloting the giant jellyfish deeper and deeper, towards the bottom of the ocean.
“We keep hearing the name Zaus, attached to Midoriya. Why?”
“Aah, I guess that it is a rather curious situation to you all. His fear, us calling him that, his and his girls unwillingness to talk…” Setsuno answered with a knowing smile.
“We deserve to know.”
“On what bases, youngster?” The old lady asked, curious.
“We…”
“Yes?”
“…”
The man actually fell silent, for a couple minutes, not even a humming sound escaped him.
“… I am the one that wants to know.” He finally said, his shoulders dropping lower as he sighed.
“Not a very good reason,” Setsuno answered, chuckling.
“… I know.” He admitted, groaning.
“So…” Mic tried saying.
“Give it time, maybe one day you will know… Or maybe you will never know. Who knows! Hohohoho!” Setsuno answered, laughing amused.
A chorus of groans from everybody filled the big jellyfish empty head.
“We have arrived. That is Giant Shell, and as its name implies, it is the largest shell in the entire world,” Coco interrupted the talk, and pointed at the bottom of the ocean, in front of the jellyfish, there the immense, colossal body of Giant Shell rested peacefully.
“NO WAY!” Many of the students screamed in surprise.
The giant seashell made true to its name by being the most enormous shell any of them ever saw, impossibly wide and tall, so much it looked like it could contain an entire city inside itself and then some.
“Blue Grill is one of the Seven Civilizations of Gourmet World, located deep beneath the sea of Area 6, inside Giant Shell. It is a cooking paradise and the most prosperous civilization in all of Gourmet World whose glory is equal to the Human World during its Golden Age.” Setsuno explained while piloting the giant Jellyfish close to the entrance point of the shell.
“It is a gigantic and sprawling country with cities, villages and entire valleys filled with nature and beautiful yet humble architecture that is decorated with all manner of gourmet-themed ornaments and sculptures. We are going to visit Blue Grill City, its biggest city.” Sunny added.
“Inside a shell… Underwater…” Mic said.
“Oh, you’ll be shocked! Promise!”
“Wait! Wasn’t it Village?” Mina asked.
“Huhuhu! Blue Grill Village is the friendly nickname of the innermost area of Blue Grill CITY, where the best Restaurants are, congregating around Blue Grill Stadium, one of the most famous landmarks of the entire country. They got that name by being a bit of a self-sufficient fraction of the city, with its own ruling body.” Coco answered, amused.
“How can a city develop inside a shell...” Toshinori muttered.
It took a bit of work, and delicate manoeuvring, but soon the giant jellyfish brought the group inside Giant Shell, and their jaws almost went unhinged out of sheer shock, as a whole country, with its own sun shining high above, appeared before them.
Several palm trees also decorated the streets of Blue Grill's cities, that, paired with the own weather of the place, gave to the insides of Giant Shell a rather tropical environment, there were also large coral branches which resembled trees that grew within the cities and valleys.
“Blue Grill also has its own artificial habitats with varied ecosystems constructed by its inhabitants to allow for the breeding of land animals in their undersea world.” Setsuno explained.
“Is that the sun!?” Rumi asked, pointing at the sky in wonder.
“The interior of Blue Grill also has its own daytime and nighttime thanks to the inner bio-luminescence of Giant Shell's ceiling which provides "sunlight"... So here you can find natural environments and farms everywhere in Blue Grill's vast valleys and all manner of flora and fauna.” Izuku answered.
“Holy… Fucking… shit…” Mic muttered, trying to look everywhere at once while the group walked through the streets so to not lose a single detail.
“All those people have extra arms…” Mezo said, stricken.
He was watching the colorful mass of people filling the streets and stores, almost all of them having extra arms, or strangely colored skin, or extra body parts like antlers, or even looked like strange mythical creatures like Kappa, Goblins or assorted Yokai.
“Much like the other Seven Civilizations, Blue Grill is mainly inhabited by what are presumably the descendants of mutated people, with the most common type of humanoid being those with multiple arms as well as other odd-looking races with unique traits, such as pointy ears, three eyes or antlers, and a few individuals who resemble goblins.” Coco answered.
“And they are not hated?”
“Why would they? They are very kind people.” Setsuno answered, chuckling.
“A lot of people live here! This place is insane!” Mina said.
“The overall population of Blue Grill is approximately 500 million and their culture and society rivals that of the Human World, and now that things are back to normal, now that our Project is completed, we are even more relaxed and at peace!” A towering man wearing an animal mask answered, nearing the group.
“Asarudy?! Weren’t you dead?!” Sunny said, shocked,
“News of my death were very-”
“I thought that the Food Spirit Doors were all destroyed.” Izuku interrupted him, his narrowed eyes almost drilling an actual hole in the man’s mask.
“… Well… you see… the thing is…” Asarudy’s cool guy speech faded into a troubled, shy mumbling, with a colossal puddle forming under him thanks to his nervous sweating.
“Cheeky liars!” Setsuno said, smirking.
She was looking at him like a grandma finding her nephew with the hand in the cookie jar.
“Okay! Fine! Once cleared the rubbles we saw that the Door here was still working! We know for certain that the door in Area 6’ South Six area still work too. The others are gone. Happy?!” He answered.
“Truth will set you free.” Coco said, nodding.
“Smartass…”
“What are those doors you are talking about?” Toshinori asked.
“Special doors, but I believe you are on a tight schedule, so we’ll save the technical talks to another time.” A new voice said.
“Shit… Don Slime…” They heard Izuku curse under his breath.
Don Slime was a short black being with a round body, two arms and two small feet, lacking any facial features other than a pair of glowing eyes, he was wearing on a large crown studded with gems… For some reason on a side of his body there was a strange mark, as if somebody had took a bite off his body, leaving a cartoonish mouth-shaped hole on his side.
“Hohohoho! Happy to see me?” Don Slime said, chuckling.
“Not really… I thought you were dead.”
“I was, until our dear friend spat me out. Well… 99% of me at least.” The slime answered, laughing, and patting the hole on his side.
“Where is he now?” Setsuno asked.
“Still out there rebuilding, little bastard insist in rebuilding and regrowing everything he ate with his own hands… I hate to say that he is also getting good at it.” Don Slime answered, bitterly.
“Still salty at your defeat?”
“SHUT UP!”
“Hohohohohoho!” The old woman’s laugh made the slime recoil in pain.
“What I did was wrong, but at least help them. They are innocent.” Izuku said.
WHACK!
“Being brainwashed makes you worthy of forgiveness, you moron!” Don Slime answered, once chopped the young Chef on the head very hard.
“I would like you to notice that you were not attacked as soon as you set foot here.” Asarudy added.
“But… But…”
“What you did on Area 5, to the Battlewolves and in Area 4 have already been repaired, and the animals helped recovering. Nature has forgiven you already, why aren’t you forgiving yourself?” A short man in Chef attire asked.
He was accompanying a tall and muscular man with wild blue hair and the same Zebra they saw talk to them thanks to his voice powers.
“Toriko-san… Komatsu-san…” Izuku muttered.
Toriko
Komatsu
“Finally got here.” Zebra said, scoffing.
“We got side-tracked to collect more Ingredients.” Coco answered.
“Yeah, I was keeping track of you all, I told these chumps what Ingredients you still need to get, so while you were getting those, a few friends of Asarudy got the rest.” Zebra answered.
“Really?!” Mic asked, overjoyed.
“He was listening on us the entire time? God, his ears are damn insane.” Jiro muttered in awe.
“So we are done?” Toshinori asked.
“Not so fast, they want to wager them in a Cooking Fight,” Toriko answered, rubbing his cheek and showing an awkward smile.
“WHAT!?”
“Yeah, unfortunately the other Chefs want one of them to challenge Zaus-san… If he wins you get the Ingredients, if he loses, they will eat them.” Komatsu answered, sheepish.
“WHY?!” Mic demanded.
“It’s a matter of worth, we can’t just hand them over. You need to show you are good enough for them,” Asarudy admitted.
“There is a life on the line!”
“There is always something on the line, but if one has not the strength needed, then failure will be the only result. And the Ingredients don’t deserve to be wasted like that.” Don Slime answered.
“You-”
“I’ll do it.” Izuku said.
“Are you sure?”
“I am not Zaus, but Nemuri-san is a dear friend of all of them and a beloved customer of mine, and she still has a lot to give both as a Hero and as a Teacher. I’ll do this to help her.” The young Chef answered.
“Please win…” Mic said.
“I’ll do it.”
“Big words, but it’s facts that will decide the result. Come, we’ll do this in Grill Stadium.” Asarudy answered.
“Will he be able?” Aizawa asked.
“Hohohoho! Only if Zaus-chan finally forgives himself and embraces his old and new life fully.” Setsuno answered, smiling relaxed.
“You do realize we don’t have enough details to understand what you are saying, Setsuno-san?” Ochako said.
“Oh, don’t fret… Everything will be clear soon.” The old lady answered.
“I am getting curious, what the hell is happening?” Kirishima admitted.
“Never was a lover of mysteries…” Iida admitted.
Blue Grill’s Grill Stadium -
Grill Stadium was a large dome-shaped building with an apparent octopus theme in its architecture, having several tentacle-like structures built around it; it was located in Central Blue Grill and was surrounded by all manner of modern-looking buildings.
“Wooooo!” Many Students, and the Pro Heroes Trio, gasped in awe once entered the empty arena’s floor.
The Stadium interior was quite large and grand, and its walls covered with billboards advertising all manner of restaurants and food chains. But now, the seats for the roaring, cheering crowd were empty.
“You will have your Cooking Duel against one of us there,” Asarudy declared while pointing at the giant stage in the middle of the floor.
“Did you renovate? It was not like this the last time we came here,” Toriko asked.
“Yes, after the deal with Neo we decided that fighting over the Soul Furnace was no longer necessary, so we moved the Furnace under the Stadium and installed that pool of freezing water under it. But it won’t be any less dangerous. Especially thanks to those Glacier Jaws swimming in them.” Asarudy answered.
The fishes swimming in the water were three meters long beasts that looked like the unholy fusion of a shark and a piranha, with thin and elongated bodies covered in iridescent silvery scales and a mouth filled with many, many rows of serrated teeth.
“I don’t like those fishes.” Tsuyu said.
“Soul Furnace?” Mina asked.
“A furnace which is fuelled by the burning Appetites of Food Spirits.” Setsuno answered, chuckling.
“Okay… That sounds needlessly creepy.” Sero commented.
“Yeah, like, ‘Vengeful Spirits that will eat your soul’ creepy.” Kaminari added.
The sinister chuckle of Asarudy and Setsuno made the others shiver hard.
“The Seesaw Kitchen…” Izuku muttered.
The stage was formed by two kitchens balanced on opposite ends of a giant seesaw, placed over a giant pool of freezing-cold water with many of those monstrous giant fishes swimming restlessly in it, this setup was supposed to encourage chefs to prepare, cook, and serve their dishes with great haste, lest they fell behind and drop into the water and very likely be eaten alive.
“It is similar to the Cooking Festival's Scale Death Cooking. This should bring out some nice old memories, Zaus-chan!” Setsuno said.
“…” Izuku said nothing, he just walked to one of the cooking stations.
“Okay, that’s it, what is his deal?” Toshinori asked.
Sigh! “Go call Totamori…” Slime asked Asarudy.
“Yes.” He answered and hurried away.
“He is what could be called a super fanboy of Zaus, he will be between the ones that can explain this best.” Don Slime said.
“Who will be my opponent?” Izuku asked.
“It will be me.” A tall and thin woman, she too wearing an animal mask, answered, walking up to stand at her own cooking station at the opposite side of the seesaw.
“Kakino Kish. Owner of the Ice Shock Restaurant and Mistress of Water Pressure Texture Cuisine,” Setsuno said, humming.
“Bad news?” Momo asked, worried.
“There are no bad news in this situation, my dear.” She answered.
“Speak for yourself, if he fails, we will never be able to save Nemuri.” Aizawa countered, bitterly.
“Far too negative, dear. Far too negative.” She answered, walking forward to watch the show better.
On the Seesaw -
“This is your ultimate test. Show that you are still worth of the Ingredients’ Voice and forgiveness, and you will get both the Ingredients, and your redemption.” Kakino said.
“…” Izuku only looked forward, he didn’t answer.
“You can’t run forever for something that is only in your head, Zaus.”
“My name is Izuku. You got the wrong guy.” He answered.
“Are you both ready?” Asarudy asked aloud.
“Yes!”
“Then… COOK!” The man gave the order and the supports went released, now only the balance of weight of the two platforms stopped them from falling into the water.
Immediately the two Chefs attacked the mound of Ingredients that they were supposed to use, and started cooking with all themselves.
“What… the fuck…” Katsuki muttered with wide eyes.
Even Momo and the other girls never saw Izuku cook like that, nobody of the people present ever saw somebody cook like he and Kakino were, that was not Cooking as they knew of.
Kakino moved with the grace of a master sculptor, her knife an extension of her very soul. Each stroke was fluid yet deliberate, carving through impossibly rare ingredients with ease; the blade itself hummed faintly, emitting a subtle glow as if resonating with the vitality of the ingredients it touched.
She moved with an elegance that seemed almost unnatural, her hands, delicate yet impossibly steady, summoned and cupped an orb of shimmering water that seemed to float by itself above her palm thanks to an invisible force.
“She finally started, that’s her improved Water Pressure Cooking. Now we’ll see if Zaus can keep up.” Asarudy said, humming.
The water pulsed faintly while floating above Kakino’s hand, alive with an inner glow, as if imbued with the essence of the ocean itself.
More bubbles began to form in her hands next to the main, bigger one, each one a perfect sphere of impossibly pure liquid.
“I’ll prepare the most famous dishes of my Restaurant’s menu, Zaus. Do not disappoint me with yours.” She said, and with a flick of her wrist, she sent the bubbles into motion, hovering and spinning through the air like planets in orbit.
“Is this even cooking anymore…” Mic muttered, his sunglasses askew and barely holding onto his nose.
Inside the bubbles, ingredients danced and shifted, compressed by the water pressure she so effortlessly controlled with just a thought.
“First, my prized Glacier Steak.” Kakino declared, and thick slab of meat entered one of the bubbles, there it spun within the water, and its fibers went pressed and massaged to melt away, becoming tender and supple.
Before the onlookers’ eyes, that slab of meat was transformed, not merely cooked, but refined into paper-thin layers that shimmered like silk under the lights.
Vegetables joined in, with their vibrant colors amplified as they tumbled through the liquid of another bubble, their textures was being refined into something otherworldly so fast the naked eye could see the change, becoming intricate lattices, their natural colors heightened into an iridescent brilliance that no earthly farm could produce.
Then came the cooking proper, but it wasn’t just cooking, it was alchemy!
When the bubble spat out the Ingredients for Kakino to cook proper, aromas that didn’t belong together started melding into a harmonious and yet impossible fusion that pulled at the very core of every spectator’s being, evoking hunger, nostalgia, and awe all at once. Cooking and food was not supposed to work like that, and the Heroes watching, students and Pro, knew that, and yet could not believe their own eyes.
“And Midoriya has to defeat that!?” Tsuyu asked with bulged-out eyes.
“Have faith in him. Icchan can do it, I believe in him!” Nejire said, smiling.
Kakino’s movements were hypnotic, her hands weaving invisible patterns as she guided the bubbles, some would burst with a soft pop, releasing wisps of vapor that carried aromas so intense they drew gasps from the audience; others merged into larger spheres, compressing their contents further until the food reached a texture and flavor that no one had ever conceived possible even before Kakino could toss them in the pots or pans.
“The Polar Fruits are ready too, so it’s my Shock Carpaccio. My menu is almost ready.” She declared.
Finally, she recalled a single, massive bubble into her hands, Inside it, another completed dish floated: a shimmering creation that seemed to defy reason.
“My Frozen Ripple Soup. The last Dish I created through manipulation of water pressure.” The water bubble cradled the small pocket containing the soup, enhancing its colors, its shapes, its very essence as water pressure and movement somehow cooked it.
With a slow, deliberate motion, she allowed the bubble to burst, gently depositing the dish onto the plate, she then punctured the pocket and poured the soup into the plate.
“I am ready. What about you, Zaus?” She asked, almost with a tone of mockery.
Her dishes were a masterpiece, the culmination of control, precision, and an artistry so profound it felt otherworldly; the soup seemed to glisten with life itself, just like the other dishes, each bite promising an experience that would not only satisfy but transcend the concept of hunger.
“I can’t fucking believe it.” Aizawa muttered, shocked.
To witness her craft was to glimpse the divine, to see the raw power of nature harnessed and refined into perfection, and as she stepped back, the air itself seemed to sigh in relief, as though the kitchen had been holding its breath to witness her mastery…
Then she noticed it.
No matter how fast she had worked, going faster she ever went in her long life, the seesaw never buckled once, overcome in disbelief, her head snapped to the side to watch Izuku and understand why her cooking station never once got lifted from her delivering plates in what she thought was a greater speed than her opponent.
And what she saw shocked her just as much as it shocked the others.
Izuku’s style of cooking was power incarnate, a whirlwind of motion and energy, where she had moved with serene precision, his cooking was a tempest, he moved like a conductor orchestrating a storm.
Pots shook as he struck them with powerful slaps and the ingredients in them flung themselves through the air, colliding and merging mid-flight with sparks of flavor and color.
His every move seemed reckless, yet each resulted in perfection and grace worthy of a King, like when he grabbed a glowing fruit and squeezed it with his bare hands, and its juice vaporized into a fine mist once in contact with an open flame, a dust that delicately fell over the dish he was preparing like an ethereal spice garnish, soon followed by other spices that rained down from many reservoirs.
“Almost there, Zaus-chan…” Setsuno said, chuckling.
“It’s really him!” A new guy joined them, looking like an extremely nerdy Kappa demon with purple skin.
“And you are?” Katsuki asked.
“I am Tatomori. He really is Zaus? Yes! He is preparing that Dragon Fruit Spice with his infamous flaming spicy technique!” The guy answered, looking at Izuku with blinding adoration worthy of a fan worshipping its idol.
“So… This Zaus guy…” Mina asked.
“Cooking King Zaus! Number 1 in the world rankings! THE Chef! The only one besides ‘National Treasure’ Setsuno to have Mastered Every Cooking Technique, from the common, to the outlandish, to the niche! Owner of over a thousand Restaurants each specialized in a cooking style, while the main one, ‘Restaurant Zaus’, was the epicentre where he himself used them all! And-”
“Jesus… He is to Chefs what Deku was to Heroes…” Katsuki muttered in horrified awe, the guy was obsessed!
“Yes, yes. No need to go through all that. Did you bring it?” Setsuno interrupted the guy.
“Yes, but… Do I have to?!” The Kappa Guy said, switching excitement to tears while clinging a small wooden case to his chest.
“Yes, it’s not yours!” Don Slime answered, ripping the case out of his hands, making him wail in pain.
“Nooo! My most prized belonging! The centerpiece of my collection!”
“It’s not a souvenir, you moron! It’s a Chef’s soul!” Setsuno snapped, and opening the wooden box to reveal the pristine cooking knife inside of it.
“Perfectly maintained.” She said, pleased.
“I asked one of our best craftsmen to check it, and true to every Melk Knife worth its name, it was still perfect, like the day Zaus died.” Asarudy answered.
“Good, at least the vulture that had the morbid idea of taking this from a dead man’s hands, also was stupid enough to sell it to a collector.” Setsuno said, brandishing the knife.
“What are you doing?” Toshinori asked.
“Helping my old friend forgive himself!” Setsuno answered, smiling gently and throwing the knife with such force the thing turned like a deadly mortar shell.
“YOU’LL KILL HIM!” Momo yelled.
“Oh!” The knife had moved so fast and with such strenght nobody of them could follw it, and yet the young Chef caught it in his hand, even if by any means the blade pretty much teleported in his hand at that speed.
“It’s time to stop blaming yourself, my old friend. Nobody ever blamed you for what you did, we all understood that it was not you. Ingredients, Animals and people have long since forgiven you. Your own Knife has forgiven you, it’s time you too forgive yourself.” Setsuno said, smiling wide.
“I can?” He asked, scared.
“Yes you can, just look at that blade and remember, that poor knife has been waiting for you for so many years, it too forgave you! Why won’t you forgive yourself?… You have a second chance, do not waste it.” She answered.
Watching his old knife in his hand, with its blade still pristine and shining like the first time he got it, for the first time in years, Izuku allowed himself to remember the happier moments in his life as Zaus; the world had seen his talent before, but now, reunited with his blade, he was ready to remind himself why he became a Chef.
“Good job, Zaus! You are going to be a damn good Chef once out of school!” Not the perfection he sought nor the mistakes he longed to forget, but only the pleasure and satisfaction of cooking.
“I missed you, my beloved Partner.” His lips curved into a small, almost imperceptible smile, this duel wasn’t about victory anymore, it was about finally making peace with himself.
He inhaled deeply, his body relaxed and slowly, his hands began to move; a flick of the wrist here, the turn of a knife there, at first, it seemed almost too slow for the frenetic pace of a cooking duel, then it began.
“He’s ready. Go.” Don Slime said.
“Eh?” Momo muttered,
Without a word, Asarudy and the other masked Chefs held their hands together and when they opened them something came out, it was like a bubble of distorted air, but with no heat causing it.
“It’s something we got from the Spirit Doors, hopefully it will answer our question,” Don Slime said as the various bubbles joined into a big one and floated slowly towards Izuku.
When the bubble started floating in front of him, the distorted image inside the bubble kept shifting between Izuku and an old man with a long white beard.
“Who the hell is that?” Rumi asked.
“An old man?” Nejire added.
“That’s Zaus-san! The boy really is him!” Komatsu said with a wide smile.
“Eh?!” The others gasped, confused.
“So that was Izuku’s face as Zaus.” Momo said, eyebrows shooting up in surprise.
“To be fair, I do see some faint resemblance.” Ochako admitted, humming.
“We tried contacting his spirit after he died, thanks to the Spirit Door, but he was not there, and the other spirits there all said the same thing, that he had reincarnated elsewhere. And there he is now, a new face, but still the same amazing Chef.” Asarudy explained, smiling.
Their shock increased when his arms seemed to shimmer, splitting into hazy afterimages, each moving with impossible precision and grace.
“There it is. Welcome back, Zaus-chan!” Setsuno said with a chuckle.
To the untrained eye, it looked as if Izuku had sprouted a thousand limbs, each one an extension of his boundless skill, with each hand holding a copy of his two knives; his extra hands danced across ingredients with divine speed, flames bent to his will, and liquids obeyed his command as if charmed.
The sight was breathtaking, inhuman.
The Heroes gasped audibly, some unable to comprehend what they were witnessing.
"What... what is that?" Toshinoti murmured.
“That's not just a technique. It’s him. He’s stopped holding back. Finally, I might add!" Setsuno, greatly amused, answered.
And then, the afterimages vanished.
What followed was a simplicity that defied logic, Izuku’s hands moved with deliberate clarity now, each gesture almost too slow for the speed he was working at, making the others wonder if they could just see a small part of every movement he actually made while working.
The arena, though still bursting with the sounds of a heated duel, somehow felt quieter, flames roared higher when he willed it, only to bow low in perfect submission a moment later, Ingredients surrendered themselves completely to his vision, transforming into something beyond human comprehension.
“So, he has finally forgiven himself, He is using it.” Asarudy muttered to himself. He leaned forward, his voice soft but resolute.
“What?” Aizawa asked, curious.
“The Avalokiteśvara Style. The cooking style that gained him the number 1 spot in the world, what crowned him as The King of Cooking!” The purple kappa said in awe.
“That looks cool… scary, but cool.” Kaminari admitted, whistling.
The platform trembled beneath Izuku’s feet as the shark-piranha hybrids thrashed below, their hunger heightening with each breath of savory air, and for some reason, Izuku would randomly toss few cuts of food to the fishes below, to increase their hungry frenzy.
“What are you doing?” Kakarino asked, still finishing cooking.
“I want to make sushi, and I want a very specific Ingredient!” Izuku answered, finally with a relaxed smile.
SPLAASH!
With a vigorous vertical explosion of water, one of the fishes surged upward, with its sleek body carving through the air like a spear, the crowd gasped as they watched the fish open its jaws wide in hunger.
“There he is! And pretty plump too! Good!” The young Chef didn’t flinch, He leaned back with elegance and let his knife slice through the air in a single fluid stroke.
Plop!
Time seemed to warp, but the shark-piranha’s body was split so perfectly that the animal didn’t even realize it had been filleted, its glistening skeleton landed back in the water and kept on swimming with haunting determination, while its meat delicately landed on an empty plate in front of Izuku.
“Perfect!” He said with childish happiness.
“Okay… That’s fucking next level flexing…” Katsuki admitted with bulged-out eyes.
The others were not too far behind in shock.
With movements that bordered on divine, Izuku sculpted the fish meat into delicate slices the color of mother pearl, each one thinner than a breath, and layered them onto a bed of rice so flawless it looked sculpted from marble.
“OOOH! DADDY YOU ARE SO COOL!” Eri was heard screaming in awe, and a true, giant smile bloomed on her face.
“She is smiling! You did it, Icchan! You made Eri-chan smile!” Himiko yelled, crying her eyes out in happiness.
“It only took a Chef making confetti of the laws of Physics!” Rumi answered, laughing and tickling the kid.
“That because my Eri-chan deserves only the best!” Izuku yelled in answer, smiling through his happy tears at seeing Eri finally learning to smile for real, and so plating his sushi plate with an extra flourish that made Eri giggle.
“Glacier Maw Sushi! Uuhm! I missed this scent! I dedicate this plate to you, Eri-chan!” Izuku said with a happy smile when the dish was complete; the sushi radiated an almost holy aura, it glowed faintly, an iridescent shimmer that didn’t belong to normal food and accompanied by the sea’s scent.
“Thanks, dad!” Eri answered, smiling.
“That was the last dish, I am done too!” Izuku’s chef sea dragon knife and ‘Zaus Knife’ came down one final time, with their blades striking the board with a sound that resonated in an unnatural way, like a gong, silencing the arena.
“Done, sorry for the wait… But I am done now. Both Cooking and running away.” Izuku smiled and stepped back, wiping his hands clean with a small towel.
“Thank you, for all this.” He then said this while meeting the gaze of Kakino.
“… Eh! I was the sacrificial lamb, but I am happy to see that it worked!” She answered with a soft chuckle, and shaking her head at the craziness of the entire situation.
Both Chefs shook hands in a show of sportsmanship and carried their dishes down for everybody to try.
“… I have a question.” Katsuki said while watching a big table being set up for both Izuku’s and Kakarino’s dishes.
“Yes?” Mic answered.
“How the FUCK anybody back home challenges THAT?!” He asked while pointing at the absurd spread of dishes that were even too gorgeous to properly describe.
“You don’t. Plain and simple.” Aizawa answered.
“I hope he doesn’t start cooking like that when we get back, he would probably cause half the restaurants of Japan to close.” Toshinori said.
“So what? It’s not his problem, he probably doesn’t do it to avoid that, but even if one day he decides to just stop worrying and go all out, so to speak, then it will be the others that will have to step up. He can’t be forced to half-assing it just to protect the frail feelings of others.” Aizawa answered.
“Let’s not go there, Zawa… That is a can of worms I don’t want to open…” Mic said, groaning.
“So, who wins?” Momo asked, worried.
“...Pfft-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
“Eh?” When the others started laughing, even Izuku looked at them funny.
“Sorry, sorry. We were just following Setsuno’s instructions. The Ingredients have been collected while you were coming here, and while Zaus… I mean, Izuku, were cooking, some of us were processing them, so to have them ready to use.” Asarudy declared, chuckling.
“Eh?!”
“There is no need to worry, this was never really a challenge. Even if I do still consider Zaus-san the winner!” Kakarino answered, laughing.
“What?!”
“I wanted my old friend to finally forgive himself, but I knew that just asking him to do it wouldn’t have worked. We needed him to feel the pressure AND the excitement of a cooking duel withj heavy stakes. Something that would have forced him to come to terms with his past, present and future, and that would have left him with no choice but facing his demons, as a way to push forward and become stronger.” Setsuno explained, chuckling.
“You… You… YOU CAN’T TREAT ME LIKE A CHARACTER FROM YOUR FAVOURITE ROMANCE NOVEL, SETSU!” Izuku immediately pressed his forehead on Setsuno’s.
“YOU WERE BEING AN IDIOT, ZAUS-MORON!” Setsuno roared, pushing back against his forehead with hers.
“Yep! That’s him alright.” A tall guy with bright red skin and a long nose walked in.
“Hn?”
“Tengu Branch, nice to meet you, chumps! If ya got the Ingredients ya need it was because me and the Heavenly Kings busted our asses! So, old fart! How’s being a hormonal teen again? Hahahahaha!”
“QUIET, LONG NOSE!” Both Setsuno and Izuku yelled angrily at him, and the actual air-pressure made him slightly slid back of a couple inches.
“Jeez! That’s some gratitude, ya piece of shit.” Tengu just scratched his ear with a pinkie and cleaned it on Iida’s costume, totally unfazed by the screams that would have sent normal people flying.
“Eeew!” And ignoring Iida’s disgusted scream.
“So you finally understand?” Setsuno asked.
“I do, even if I still have nightmares about what I did.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Nejire asked, concerned.
“To not bore you all, I’ll just give you a rapid rundown…” Izuku said, sighing and watching the dishes he made with Kakino.
“I was enjoying my life as a Chef, preparing for the next Tournament, managing my Restaurants… The usual… When… I guess Joie, a Villain at the head of an entire damn organization, came visiting. Then everything become a shapeless mass of fragments of memories… Then I Wake up, for the lack of a better term, and find my life in ruins.”
“Joie was a Chef of terrifying skills, and with knowledge of some very esoteric Techniques. One of which what they called Flavor Change.” Setsuno added.
“To put it simple, Joie could Cook your mind, brainwashing you. To the point of rewriting your entire personality.” Coco added.
“Oh… Fuck…” Aizawa winced.
“Daddy!” Eri whimpered in worry.
“What was once a very serious man who had high aspirations for the next generation, who was so passionate about cooking to pretend to Master every style and also had a friendly rivalry with me, had become a cold and calculating man… Cruel and merciless.” Sestsuno shook her head.
“When I got my freedom back, they helped me understand what I did… And I understood that I had kidnapped, crippled, hurt and ruined the lives of hundreds of people. I had helped hunting down Ingredients with cruelty of a beast, even hurting several Battlewolves newborns in the process, along driving many Ingredients a step away from Extinction.” Izuku said, sighing.
“That explains you fear of meeting those giant monsters.” Rumi said, groaning.
“After that, Zaus’ reputation was in ruins, his name forever ruined in people’s eyes and his restaurants closed and, along everything he owned, forcibly sold to repay the damages.” Komatsu added.
“My entire career had been irreparably damaged, so I exiled myself deep in the Gourmet World and spent there my last years in isolation.” Izuku said.
“Unfortunately, his self exile meant he could not see the world heal from what Joie made him do, and slowly forgive him. His old friends, colleagues and students, They all forgave him. Even the Ingredients forgave him. He was not hated by the world like he believed, not after the truth of what Joie did to him and many others came out. He died before he could see that he was the only one still blaming him for what he did.” Coco said.
“Oh, some still resented him, that was normal, but the majority had understood and wanted to give him a second chance. A lot of people came to your funeral, you know?” Setsuno said.
“It sounds a bit morbid… But I still appreciate it.” Izuku admitted with a low chuckle.
“And after Zaus died, he reincarnated into a new life, as Izuku Midoriya?” Toshinori asked.
“Eh, that is where it gets interesting. I can’t tell you if Katsuki-san blasting me against the wall Isekai me into this world as Zaus, or if it just unlocked my memories of a previous life… But I am more prone to the Isekai idea, because even while living as Zaus I could still remember my life as Izuku.” Izuku answered.
“Oh! Isekai! Rin loves those stories!” Toriko said, chuckling.
“Aaw! Really? Now, that’s way more layers!” Setsuno added, laughing.
“So… I isekai you?” Katsuki said, unsure.
“It was still attempted murder,” Aizawa jumped in.
“Yeah, I know… I think about that every damn day…”
“So. I reminded you of Joie? When we argued and I told you you had no choice on the matter of your skills?” Aizawa asked.
“Pretty much. I just don’t deal well with people trying to force me to do things I don’t want to do, and the more forceful they try to force me to do something, the worst my PTSD gets.”
“Then I guess I kind of owe you an apology?”
“Don’t bother. We both have our own emotional baggage, and trauma-dumping helps nobody.”
“The only difference was that I was Trauma-dumping on you, as you call it, pretending to force my world-view on you, while you just wanted to deal with this hellish Mission here as soon as possible and once again bury those memories. But, in my defence, I wasn’t aware that your memories of this place were so messed-up.” Aizawa said, presenting his hand.
“It’s fine, maybe I can finally start healing from this too.” The young Chef said, shaking the man’s hand.
“That’s nice! Come on! Let’s have lunch together before you leave!” Toriko said with a wide smile.
“We can’t waste time!” Mic said, frantic.
“The Ingredients are already ready for cooking, and we finished collecting everything with a good twenty or so hours to spare, but I will still need twelve hours to cook the soup I need, so we can’t stay for long.” Izuku answered.
“Right! We must go!” Toshinori conceded.
“Aw, come ooon! Everything looks so good!” Mina said with a whine.
“I don’t think it will be a good idea.” Coco said.
“Uh?”
“This is true Gourmet World cooking, they are not used to this.” He explained.
“Oh, come on! How different can it be-” Mina said with a smirk, she Katsuki and Jiro just grabbed a fork each and tried a dish of what Izuku and Kakino made.
“No! Wait don’t-”
As the sushi touched Mina’s tongue, she froze, her breath caught in their throat.
“…” The flavor bloomed like an explosion of light, spreading through her senses not as a taste but as a presence! It wasn’t sweet, salty, bitter, sour, or umami, it defied those categories, existing outside the human lexicon of flavor.
“Too late.” Izuku said, sighing in dismay.
You couldn’t say ‘It tastes similar to salmon, but..’ It was its own flavor, its own thing, alien and different, a flavor Mina’s mind couldn’t even dare to compute… And Godly couldn’t even start to describe how good it was.
“… Fuck…” Words failed Katsuki too, as he was eating a steak that tasted… Tasted…
The closest comparison wasn’t even a food, it was a feeling.
It was the sharp exhilaration of standing on the edge of a cliff, the warmth of sunlight piercing through clouds after a storm, it resonated deep, as if the taste carried a memory he had never lived, a soundless song that bypassed the tongue entirely and sang directly to his soul.
“The fuck I ate before? This is real meat, real flavor… I was eating rotten shit before… This is how meat is supposed taste…” The young man’s wondered, his concept of taste unravelling.
Jiro was even worse, she smiled, cried, hiccuped and yet ate non-stop, feeling pure happiness at each bite of Kakino’s fish dish; and yet she felt sadness, because she knew food back home will never taste as good as what she was currently eating, never again.
Tears welled in their eyes, unbidden, not from sadness or joy, but from the sheer incomprehensibility of the experience.
“I knew it…” Izuku said, sighing.
“That is why I told you to not eat anything too complex while here. You are not used to our Food.” Coco said, face-palming.
“They are catatonic, Zawa!” Mic yelled, frantic.
“Guys! Look at me! Wake up!” Toshinori lightly slapped them, trying to snap them out of their out-of-body mystic trip.
“Just drag them along, we’ll have Recovery Girl give them a look. And maybe a detoxifying routine.” Aizawa answered.
“And a couple meeting with Dog Hound too.” Mic added.
“That too.”
“So you are leaving?” Don Slime asked.
“Yes, unfortunately we can’t stay long, I need to hurry and get back home preparing everything.” Izuku answered.
“Very well!” The Slime answered, and at a signal, the other masked Chefs of Blue Grill pushed towards them a MASSIVE cart full of giant Ingredients piled up for several meters.
“WO!” Tsuyu gasped in surprise.
“Every Ingredient you were looking for, plus a few others. Blue Grill is home to some amazing Healers too, and once seen your sizable Shopping List, they added their own suggestions.” Asarudy said.
“I sent a Voice Ball to Yusaku and Teppei. They added their own crap.” Zebra added.
“I… I don’t know what to say…” Izuku muttered, eyes watery in unshed tears.
“Consider it a Welcome Back Gift. To not forget about this world. Okay?” Don Slime answered, slapping his back hard.
“I won’t forget! Ever! Thank you!” Izuku answered.
“Now go, Zaus-chan! A Chef’s work never ends.” Setsuno said with a kind smile.
“Right! Goodbye everyone. And thank you… For everything.” Izuku answered.
“You know… It finally downed on me…” Nejire said.
“What?” Momo asked.
“In every Sortie, Icchan meets and returns with a new Companion. Shiro in his Sortie with me, Zephyr in his Sortie with Rumi, 808 from his Sortie with you, and Goro and Adelia from his Sortie with Ochako… And now, he got his old Knife back in this Sortie!”
“Pfft! Okay, I see the pattern!” Rumi admitted, snorting.
“That knife is not part of the God of Cooking Set.” The System said.
“Can it join? It was with me through good and bad.” Izuku asked.
“Request accepted. Beginning dimensional travel.” The Entity answered, and in a flash of golden light Izuku and the group disappeared to return home.
“Goodbye everyone. Thank you!” Izuku said a last time.
“Have a happy life, Zaus-chan! You earned it!” Setsuno answered, smile wobbly out of sadness, as she watched the group vanish.
Izuku’s original world – Kitchen -
As soon as the group returned, Izuku had rushed to the kitchen with Whitey in tow and had immediately started cooking.
“The Life Bourguignon. Please, Ingredients, turn my theory into Reality and Help Nemuri!” Izuku begged as he watched the giant spread of Ingredients in front of him.
“Are you sure you don’t need help?” Lunch Rush asked from the side.
“Trust me, if it was any other dish… I would have gladly accepted.” The young Chef admitted, sighing.
“It’s fine, just ask if you need help,” The Hero said.
“Thanks,” Izuku answered, while working on the Axolotl meat first, a meat with a quality far superior to even premium Wagyu.
He used the Heaven-Earth Obsidian flame and the Star-Eating Turtle wok Time-Accelerating powers to dry-age the meat for the equivalent of 28 days, and once done, he cut it cut into 2.5 cm cubes.
“While waiting… The Buff-Beef marrow bones,” He muttered splitting the bones lengthwise with a swift slash of his dragon and Zaus knife.
He will roast the beef marrow bones until caramelized and use a sous vide machine to infuse the marrow into the stock for 3 hours at 65°C.
“And the smoked pork belly, cured with Jun-Hyper Berries and… Yes, applewood should go nice with it… I hope that ‘Iron Stomach’ Pig really is an Ingredient as good as they say it is at repair muscles...” he muttered.
“That boy is working hard?” Fatgum asks, curious.
“Like a madman.” Rush answered.
With Izuku – 3 hours later -
After paranoically checking the timer for the preparation of most Ingredients, the young Chef finally grabbed a bottle of decanted ‘Grand Cru’ Burgundy wine, some cognac barrel-aged for 10 years from his reserves and one vanilla bean he then split lengthwise.
“This will do nice for a wine reduction, I want it to taste good other than heal her, it will be good for her spirit too, not just her body.” Izuku muttered, combining wine, cognac and the split vanilla bean in a copper pot to reduce the resulting solution over low heat, and stirring every 15 minutes; and straining it once done.
“The tendon-repairing carrots, Tendarrots; then the skin-kelp celery hearts, I’ll brunoise them all. (Brunoise means to dice something in thin cubes).” Two knives moved like blurs to rapidly, and yet delicately, dice those vegetables into tiny cubes all identical in size.
“The eye-shaped onions… No, I will just peel them. I’ll keep them whole, like that the healing juices will remain untouched. It should increase their ability to fix Nemuri’s sight.”
Finally satisfied with the stock, Izuku extracted the marrow from the infused stock, and flash-freeze it into small discs thanks to the Myriad Manifestation Mallet Ice Powers.
Wooosh!
Breathing out a new ball of fire, Izuku cloned the turtle wok and started searing the axolotl cubes in the second wok over high flames.
The two Heroes watched the young kid works himself ragged for several hours, sweating profusely and becoming paler and paler by the minute.
Two hours later -
The young Chef grabbed the carrots, the celery and the onions and set them to ‘sweat them’ (Gently cooking vegetable in a small amount of oil or butter over low heat, with frequent stirring and turning, to release their natural moisture and flavors) in clarified marrow fat for exactly 32 minutes... “No more, no less.” He repeated to himself like a mantra, afraid of messing-up.
“The reduction!” never stopping moving, he also deglazed it with the wine reduction and added consommé to it in controlled ladles, precise to the very millilitre.
“The black pepper that strengthen the absorption of nutrients, the Kombat Pepper… I hope Yosaku is right about using this. Then black garlic cloves, star anise, and bouquet garni…” He listed, to make sure, while adding all that to a pot.
That part alone took Izuku two hours of gruelling work.
One hour later -
The Axolotl and pork belly meat had been braised in the aromatic liquid and passed through a sous vide circulation, in a large Dutch oven, and gently stirred. For three hours.
“The mushrooms…” Izuku muttered while tossing the Hemostashiitake, Lungshroom and Bone-shrooms into a pot and added the Eeliver oil on top to simmer them, then glazed pearl onions with honey able to strengthen and heal the kidneys and sherry vinegar.
He roasted everything together at 200°C for 15 minutes, ensuring a golden exterior and tender interior.
Hours later – Time elapsed: 11 hours -
Lunch Rush kept watching Izuku cook, confused as to why the boy seemed to waste away while cooking, becoming more and more emaciated every passing minute, but as a testament of his force of Will, he never faltered.
“That kid needs to rest,” Fat Gum said, walking up to Izuku.
“I can stir that for a bit, take a breather.” He offered, gently.
“No, it’s fine, I can do this.” Izuku answered, smiling, even while drenched in sweat.
“Nonsense, you look like you are about to fall over. Let me-”
As soon as Fat Gum touched the ladle Izuku was using, he went from his giant ‘Fat Form’ to a skinny form looking like somebody on the verge of starving to death, so much his ribs were visible.
“TAISHIRO!” Lunch Rush barely reacted in time to grab the man before he could fully fall on the ground.
“F-F-Food!” The Pro Hero begged with a weak voice.
“What happened?!” The Pro Hero Chef asked.
“Cooking this dish requires a lot of stamina. That’s why I didn’t ask for help,” Izuku answered.
“He was in Full Tank! He barely grabbed that ladle for a second!” Rush answered.
“Feed him before he dies of starvation. I got this, don’t worry!” Izuku answered with a thumbs-up and a tired smile.
“What in God’s name is he making… Whatever. Come, Taishiro, let’s fill your stomach.” Rush said while dragging Fat Gum away.
“That soup… has eaten me…” The Pro Hero groaned with a weak voice full of fear.
“It’s okay, I am here. Hopefully that dish won’t kill the boy…”
One hour later -
Still unsure about the entire ordeal, and after feeding a near death Fat Gum, Lunch Rush had started cooking for izuku, feeding the boy himself so to not interrupt his cooking, altough once guessed the ratio of absorption of Izuku’s devilish recipe, the Pro Hero wondered if he was actually helping at all in keeping the boy fed and strong enough to finish the last steps of his dish.
He watched Izuku boil some strange purple potatoes he insisted would fix Nemuri’s digestive tract to optimal tenderness, testing it with a fine bamboo skewer, and then passing them through a tamis sieve, then emulsifying them with truffle-infused cream (Nobody saw fit to tell Rush how those particular truffles were supposed to heal Nemuri’s skin) and butter.
“Almost there.” Izuku declared with a tired, but very satisfied voice.
He remove the bouquet garni and star anise from the braising pot, add the roasted mushrooms and pearl onions, and stirred delicately to avoid bruising the vegetables.
“You are doing great, kiddo. Keep it up.” Rush said, nodding.
“Don’t give up now…” Fat Gum added, still weak but no longer at death’s door, and keeping distance from the pot Izuku was working on.
Izuku nodded, grateful for the support, and spooned the potato mash into a bowl as a base, then he carefully added ladle after ladle of Bourguignon over the mash, ensuring equal distribution of meat, vegetables, and garnishes. And sprinkled with micro shards of parsley.
“It’s done… Bring it to Nemuri… Hurry…” Izuku said, finishing the plate and fainting in Rush’ arms only after 100% sure the dish was completed and no error or unsightly mistakes were made.
It was a plate of pure perfection.
“I’ll take the dish to Recovery Girl! You take the kid!” Rush grabbed the plate and hurried towards the infirmary.
“Okay!” Fat Gum instead lifted izuku in his arms, and followed by Whitey, he took the boy along.
Infirmary
“WE GOT IT! WE GOT IT!” Rush yelled.
“Hurry, let’s make her eat it! And hope we really got us the miracle we need!” Recovery Girl answered.
She carefully removed the tube helping Nemuri breath and stepped away.
“Yes… How?” Rush answered, unsure.
“… Crap! I can’t wake her up!” The old lady answered.
“Goddamnit! We are not stopping now that we got here!” Mic answered, grabbed the plate and took a mouthful of the scalding liquid.
“What are you-” Aizawa’s tirade stopped when Mic kissed Nemuri and gently drew the food down her throat.
“It’s not a proper procedure…” Recovery Girl said.
“She is eating, that’s all that matters!” Mic answered, taking another mouthful and repeating the kiss-feeding.
“I guess.” Recovery Girl conceded.
“I’ll go take the entire pot! Better safe than sorry!” Lunch Rush ran out of the Infirmary.
“This kid… if he actually saves Nemuri, we’ll get a big fat debt towards him,” Fat Gum said while gently putting the snoring Izuku on a bed.
“At the very least.” Aizawa admitted, and watching the poor Mic sacrifice his mouth by emptying the entire pot of the scorching-hot liquid a mouthful at a time, uncaring of how painfully it burned his mouth every time.
The next day -
Nemuri felt strange, she barely remembered jumping in front of the giant hand of that colossal Villain, then everything became a colorless blur, and she felt absolutely nothing, even her own body didn’t feel like her own, as if she had left it behind to float on a soft cloud.
Then finally she felt something, a damn nice flavor entering her mouth and pleasant heat enveloping her, and when she finally opened her eyes, she saw her two old friends Hizashi and Shota sleep at both sides of her bed and looking like dishevelled hobos, probably having stayed at her side for who knows how long.
“NEMURIIIIIIIII!” And Mic screamed, and cried and sobbed, as soon as he saw her wake-up, burying his face on her shoulder to drench her shoulders in just few seconds.
“My God… He actually did it…” Aizawa muttered, and Nemuri knew it was a big deal because she saw the gruff bastard get misty-eyed.
“What happened?” Nemuri asked with a raspy, weak voice.
“HOLY SHIT! SHE IS ALIVE!” Okay, she never heard Recovery Girl curse, or even just scream, it really must have been something big.
“Eh?”
“It’s a long story.” Aizawa said, sniffling as discreetly as he could, to protect his image, clearly.
She really needed to know! What the Hell happened while she was asleep?!
With Izuku – Green Cloud Restaurant -
“Is the Host sure He wants the student’s Memories to be erased?” The System asked.
“I am fine with only Mic, Toshinori and Aizawa and Nezu knowing. Momo, Rumi and Nejire and Ochako deserve to know about my past, Eri too, everybody else?… No, that would be too many people knowing about my past as Zaus.” Izuku answered.
“Understood. The System will assure the chosen ones will keep the secret, while everybody else will have those memories erased.”
“Thank you.” The Young Chef said, cracking his back with a pleased groan and returning to cook for his beloved customers clamouring his restaurant for breakfast.
“Orders ready for Table 6!”
“Yes, Icchan!” Himiko said, she and Zephyr collecting the plates with professional precision to rapidly deliver them.
Hopefully it won’t be too soon that new troubles will come knocking at his door.
Meanwhile – Yamato’s Apartment -
Yamato’s fingers drummed against the table, her lips pressing into a thin line as she stared at Ren eating breakfast with her.
"So this is your master plan. Samui wants you to sabotage Izuku... On national television? That’s his brilliant plan? And you want to turn it against him."
"Brilliant isn’t the word I’d use, but yes, that’s the gist of it. He thinks he’s being clever, planting seeds of doubt about my integrity while destroying Midoriya’s reputation. Two birds, one very stupid stone." Ren chuckled, shaking his head and cleaning his mouth.
"And you’re just... Going along with it?" Her tone was sharp, laced with disbelief.
"Not quite." Ren leaned forward, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.
"I’m going to flip it. Samui wants me to make Midoriya look incompetent? Fine. I’ll make the boy the star instead."
"How does that work? If the audience sees you giving Izuku preferential treatment, doesn’t that play into Samui’s narrative?" She frowned, her brow furrowing deeper.
"Not if I do it the right way," He replied, his eyes gleaming with calculated precision.
"The boy won’t need preferential treatment. He’s a damn good chef, better than most of the contestants who show up, better than many people we know, we saw his skills at work plenty of times against the others! I’ll structure the Pressure Test to play along with Samui’s request only on a surface level, but in truth, nothing underhanded will happen. I’ll let him shine, and if Samui asks, I will be pretending to be shocked my amazing evil plan failed. By the end, Midoriya will have the audience eating out of his hand, and I’ll come out looking like a judge who values talent above all else."
"And Samui?" Yamato’s voice was tight, her concern etched into every line of her face.
"Samui will be watching his plan collapse in real time,"
“Oh, that he will.” She rolled her eyes at that.
"He’s so blinded by his vendetta that he doesn’t realize he’s handing me the perfect opportunity to show off my friendship with Midoriya. If anything, the whole country will see us as a united front! Me, the impartial judge, and Midoriya, the underdog who thrived under pressure from a jealous Chef… Samui."
“So you are planning ahead for when this entire mess will blow-up on Samui’s face?”
“Oh, yes! It’s a matter of When, instead of IF! I included you too in it, we both deserve to come out of it smelling of roses, we already paid for our mistakes, Samui has no right to drag us down with him.” Ren answered,
Yamato exhaled, her shoulders sagging slightly as the tension began to drain from her.
"You really think this will work?"
"It will," He said, confidently.
"Samui doesn’t understand people, Yamato. He sees them as pawns, tools to be used and discarded. But the moment someone refuses to play by his rules, his whole game falls apart. you and I? We’re not playing. We’re turning the board upside down with the help of young Midoriya."
The old woman leaned back in her chair, her lips twitching into a reluctant smile.
"You’re enjoying this too much."
“Maybe a little. But isn’t it poetic? Samui’s obsession with ruining us will be the thing that elevates us both." Ren answered raised a new glass of red wine, his smirk deepening.
"I just hope Izuku knows what he’s getting into."
"He will, tomorrow I’ll meet him to decide together the finer details." He answered, his tone softening.
"I’ll make sure both me and him succeed. The kid’s no fool. He knows this is a chance to not just defend himself but to grow. And I’ll be right there, making sure he gets his chance while Samui’s scheme blows up in his face."
"I suppose if anyone can turn revenge into an advantage, it’s you."
"That’s the spirit," Ren said with a grin.
"Now, let’s sit back and enjoy the show. Something tells me Samui’s ulcer is going to be the real star of this season of Master Chef Japan!"
At the same time – League of Villains HQ Bar -
Kurogiri was nervous, Shigaraki had disappeared, and was nowhere to be found.
“Master made it clear, Shigaraki must be brought back… but where the hell is he?!” The Nomu hissed.
“We’ll find that moron, relax.” Dabi answered.
“He can’t be hiding that well, we can find him easy!” Twice added.
“Then go find him and bring him back! Now!” Kurogiri snapped.
“Going, going.” Both answered, shaking their head.
With Shigaraki – streets -
Covered in the dirty, ragged coat he took from a homeless guy he had just dusted, Shigaraki crept through the streets looking for his first target, eyes wide and bloodshot and a peculiar revolver held tightly, angrily, in his hand.
“Where are you… Where are you, Smiling Moron NPC… I want to erase that dumb smile from your face, you All Might Knock-off…” Shigaraki muttered, giggling.
End of the chapter.
Omake: Interdimensional Ingredient Hunt:
The Cursed Cooking Book of the Witch!
Antique Shop – Night
It was night, and long shadows were being cast inside a cluttered antique shop thanks to the moon, with the faint glow of moonlight filtering through the windows.
The backroom of the shop was filled with ancient artefacts, talismans, and shelves lined with mysterious scrolls, and the old man owning the store was pacing frantically around his workbench, muttering in Cantonese under his breath.
A young man, a kid girl and a towering giant of a man with a very rotund belly were standing nearby, with their faces twisted in a mix of curiosity and concern.
"Bad! Very bad! One more thing- no, two more things! This is beyond bad and we have not solution yet! This is apocalyptic!" The old man finally said.
"Uncle, could you slow down? We just fought off a horde of Shadowkhan, and now you’re telling us there’s something even worse out there?" The young man, Jackie, asked, arms crossed and an eyebrow raised in doubt.
"Yeah, I mean, the Shadowkhan ran away! Like, poof! They never do that! What’s scarier than ninjas made of shadows?" The kid girl, Jade, asked with an excited smile.
"Even their master, Shendu, seemed… hesitant. That’s unusual. I wasn’t even aware Shadowkhan could feel fear. I was certain they didn’t even know what feelings were." The giant man, Tohru, said while nervously scratching the back of his neck.
Uncle, in answer, slammed a scroll onto his workbench, making its paper crackling ominously, then he gestures dramatically at his confused family.
"Shendu FAILED to open the portal to free one of his demon siblings! FAILED! Do you know what this means?!" Uncle said while pointing at the scroll.
“Nnooo?” Jackie tried answering.
"Ayy! It means Destiny itself has been paused! The flow of chi of everything has been interrupted!" Uncle answered.
"Paused? Uncle, you’re making it sound like someone hit a cosmic pause button." Jade asked.
"Exactly! But who… no, what! Has the power to do such a thing?!" Uncle said, nodding vigorously
"Every talisman, every ritual, every divination I tried to understand this… they all burned to ash or crumbled in my hands!" He while slamming slams his hands on the table, making a priceless vase roll off, luckily Jackie gently kicked it back in place without even scratching it, a manouver he was sadly getting used to.
“Careful! That is 3000 year old vase! Very precious!” Uncle admonished Jackie absent-minded while grabbing a handful of the charred remains of a talisman from a nearby dish, letting the blackened fragments fall through his fingers dramatically and inside a waste bin.
“Very expensive talismans gone like that. Ayyy… My heart bleeds.” He muttered.
“So? What now?” Tohru asked.
"This is not the work of any demon or magic we know. This is something ancient. Something powerful. Something very… very… extremely dangerous!" Uncle answered, gravely.
"Ancient, powerful, and dangerous? So… like Shendu, but worse?" Jade asked, even more hyped.
"If the Shadowkhan were afraid enough to disobey orders and retreat, it must be something beyond our usual threats." Tohru instead was less thrilled than her, having worked for Shendu himself in the past, so well versed in the hidden workings of the Forces of Evil.
Uncle grabbed his hair, tugging at them in frustration.
"Haaahh! Why must I repeat myself?! Yes! Worse! If this force can disrupt Destiny, even Shendu is but an ant to it!" Uncle confirmed, annoyed like never before.
"Do we have any idea what we’re dealing with? Anything at all?" Jake asked.
“I…” Uncle paused, pacing again as he strokes his chin, he then stopped suddenly, turning to them with a determined glare.
"There is a story. An old legend about a being so ancient, even the eight demon sorcerers would not speak its name. A creature whose existence was erased from the Book of Ages. If this force has returned… We are in more trouble than you have words for." He finally said, tone low and full of doom.
"Okay, so? what’s the plan? Call the Captain? Get the J-Team back together? Maybe bring double talismans this time?" Jade asked, somehow not afraid at all out of youthful wonder.
"No! First, you listen to Uncle! THEN, you follow Uncle's plan! Hyaaahh!" Uncle answered with a snapping tone.
“Okay, okay, no need to roar.” The kid answered, huffing annoyed.
“We are all ears, Uncle.” Jackie added.
"First step of plan: survive long enough to learn what ‘The Nameless Evil’ wants. Second step: pray we can stop it. Third step: tea. You cannot face doom on an empty stomach!" Uncle said, with a matter-of-factly tone.
Later that nigh -
The room was dimly lit, every window closed so that the only light sources were few candles, the floor was filled with burning incense sticks and faintly glowing talismans were hanging from every corner; Uncle stood in the center of the array, sitting down and surrounded by a complex chalk diagram he had drawn on the floor.
“Chi wan-gee, yu fa-laa, hyaaahhh! Spirit World, answer Uncle! Answer now, or else!" Uncle was muttering incantations under his breath, holding a talisman in one hand and a chicken feather in the other.
“…” No answer came.
Frowning, Uncle slammed his hand down on the chalk circle, making the diagram glow briefly once again before fizzing out like a dying sparkler.
"Aiyah! Spirit World never ignores Uncle! Spirits are like talkative grandmas! They gossip about everything, even when Uncle does not ask!" he growled in annoyance.
Jackie, Jade, and Tohru were watching from the doorway, looking concerned but also slightly amused.
"Maybe the spirits finally learned how to use voicemail, Uncle." Jade suggested, snickering.
"No jokes! This is serious! Uncle must find out what has disturbed the Spirit World before it disturbs our world!" Uncle answered while pointing a stern finger at her.
“Fine! If Spirits don’t come to Uncle, Uncle will go to Spirits! One more thing! Uncle still didn’t get his tea! So it better be ready when Uncle is back!” Said that, he adjusted his robes, took a deep breath, and sat cross-legged in the circle once more, only this time muttering a new chant, and this time, his body shimmered faintly, and his spiritual projection detached from the Mortal Plane and floated upwards into an ethereal portal.
"Think he’s gonna meet some gossipy ghost grannies again?" Jade whispered.
"Let’s hope that’s the worst of it…" Jackie answered, hopeful.
The Spirit Realm
Uncle’s projection landed in the Spirit Realm, a place normally buzzing with vibrant energy and endless chatter from spirits of all kinds, but now, an eerie silence filled the vast, shimmering void.
"Aiyah… Empty? Spirits never hide… unless… unless something has frightened them." Uncle looked around, his brow furrowing as he noticed the eeries silence.
He walked forward cautiously, his sandals making no sound against the ethereal ground.
Finally, he found somebody, after a long walk he noticed a cluster of spirits cowering in the distance, including the unmistakable, terrifying form of the Nameless Evil itself, reduced to trembling like a frightened puppy.
"Even Nameless Evil is hiding?! Aiyah! You are Embodiment of Humanity ability to Hate! You not supposed to be afraid!” Uncle said in shock.
“What is happening? They no make Entity of Pure Evil like they used to! What make you scared?” He asked, as if personally offended by the giant monstrosity of darkness and teeth and Hatred acting scared.
Suddenly, a distortion in reality rippled ahead of him, a swirling black void that bent light and sound like a collapsing star; the air grew heavy, and thousands of overlapping voices, from whispers to roars, echoed all at once, and the Distortion talked.
“Hello, Uncle Chan.” The System said.
"That Voice… No.. Yuanshen… ‘The Ancient’... She of Many Names?" Uncle whispered.
“We prefer The System nowadays. Every realm gave The System a different name, but we like this one the most.”
"You were the one that paused Destiny? Of all spirits, why not the Nameless Evil had to be Bad Guy? Aiyah! Nameless Evil is easier to manage! Just big scary monster! But this…" He declared while glaring at the black void.
“The System too is pleased to see you again.”
"This is beyond bad!"
“This is just a simple visit, this time.”
"Simple?! Simple is making tea! This is not simple!" Uncle answered.
“The ancient silver city was not wiped-out by The System, stop insisting.”
“Uncle has dozen scrolls saying the opposite!”
“Libel.”
Uncle could tell that “Yuanshen” was tilting its form slightly, as though amused, though its presence remained overwhelming.
“What do you want.” He finally asked, exasperated.
"The System has sent a champion to your world. They will recover an object of interest, a cursed book. It is important. You and your companions will have to step aside, or at best provide assistance."
Uncle’s eyebrows shoot up.
"A cursed book? What kind of cursed book?!" Uncle asked.
"A cursed book of cooking. Recipes. Dangerous to the non-worthy. Complicated. The System wants the Host to recover the book and learn the recipes."
"Cooking?! You interrupt Destiny for a cookbook?" Uncle asked, dumbfounded.
"Yes, The System lately has no patience for annoyances getting in the way of the Missions we give to the Host, so the System decided to curb annoyances before they even happen. Your comprehension or acceptance is unnecessary."
Uncle glances at the cowering spirits, his face pale.
"Aiyah… Even more shameless than Uncle remembered."
“The System appreciate your offer of support to the Host. Have a nice day.”
“I DIDN’T GIVE CONSENT TO HEL-” Before Uncle could protest further, the Distortion in the fabric of the Spirit Realm collapsed inward, and The System’s presence vanished, and as an extra, a sudden force pulled Uncle’s spirit back into his body.
Back into the Antique store -
“To help!” Uncle gasped as he snapped awake clutching his chest.
His hands trembled as he scrambles to his feet, pacing frantically.
"Uncle! Are you okay? What happened?" Jackie asked, worried.
"Was it scary ghosts? Oh! Was it a haunted spirit buffet?" Jade asked as well.
"No jokes! This is no buffet! This is disaster! Bigger disaster!" Uncle answered.
“That bad?” Tohru asked.
"The Ancient Yuanshen has sent a champion to recover a cursed book of cooking! Cooking! Aiyah This is worse than bad! Spirits are hiding! Nameless Evil is hiding! Uncle’s head will explode! I need tea!"
"Wait, so… we’re up against, what, evil recipes? Like, killer cookies?" Jade asked, smirking.
"Not cookies! Doom! Doom in a book! Hyaaahhh!" He stormed off to his desk and furiously grabbing scrolls.
"Great. Another cosmic catastrophe. And this time, it’s about cooking." Jackie muttered, dejected.
"Do you think we’ll need aprons?" Tohru asked, patting his back.
Meanwhile - Shendu’s Lair –
The dark, ominous lair glowed faintly with the eerie green light of magical lamps. Shendu, still possessing the body of Valmont, paced restlessly around the room, around him, the Shadowkhan were kneeling silently, awaiting orders.
Thanks to the weak connection with his siblings still trapped in another realm, Shendu too came to know about The System’s presence in their realm.
"Yuanshen… meddling again. That insufferable Ancient! No rhyme, no reason, no sense! Destroying entire worlds for… what? Food?" The Demon snarled.
Ratso, Fin and Chow stood on a side, obediently waiting for the spirit borrowing their Boss’ body to calm down.
“So, we got a bigger demon that wants food?” Ratso asked.
“A cooking book. Not the strangest stuff we had to recover.” Chow answered, shrugging.
“BE QUIET!” Shendu roared, punching a nearby wall so hard a crater formed and sending tremors through the lair.
The Shadowkhan don’t flinch but remain still, like statues.
"Hmph. Shameless as always. Yuanshen would destroy this realm and the mortal one without hesitation. Yet, perhaps… there is opportunity in this madness." The Demon wondered aloud.
“Planning to win some favour, boss?” Fin asked.
"Indeed. If I retrieve that cursed book, Yuanshen might grant me a favor. Yes… Perhaps every portal imprisoning my siblings could be opened at the same time in return. That entity doesn’t care about anything besides its Champions. Or so the Legends go."
“We can do that, Boss! We can get that book if you want!” Ratso said with a thumbs-up.
"And you think I will trust just you three?! That thing could obliterate us on a whim if you fail as always!” Shendu answered with a roar, then his anger faded into tired resignation.
“Why must all plans risk annihilation?" he asked to the sky.
“Hey… Have some faith in us, boss… Come on…” Chow almost begged, feeling very self-conscious.
Ignoring the three simpletons, Shendu turned to the Shadowkhan, and in perfect and eeries synch, they all stood to attention, waiting for orders.
"Shadowkhan! The book is in the mortal realm. You will find it and bring it to me at once!" The Shadowkhan stood in silence and only nodded in answer, then, with movements unnervingly fluid, they all vanished into the shadows.
"Shadowkhan alone might not be enough. The mortals are persistent, especially that Jackie Chan and his accursed friends."
“I’ll crush them this time!” Haf Foo answered with a thundering scream.
“If only you hadn’t promised that countless times already.” The Demon muttered, sighing.
This time it will be different, Master Shendu!”
"… Let’s pretend I believe that. You and those three will assist the Shadowkhan. The cursed book is no ordinary object. It is protected by ancient forces beyond your comprehension. Fail me, and you will wish Yuanshen had destroyed you instead. Now go."
The humans nodded, their faces pale but determined as they left.
"Uhm… Yuanshen’s whims are as fickle as the winds. But if this plan succeeds… The Demon Sorcerers will rise again!" Shendu declared with gleaming eyes, he then exhaled a plume of fire, trying to mask his nervousness.
Uncle’s Shop – The next day -
Uncle was furiously rifling through his scrolls and books while Jackie, Jade, and Tohru watched him nervously.
"So let me get this straight: we’re fighting cursed recipe books and Shendu at the same time? Can’t we just, like, order takeout instead?" Jade asked.
"No jokes! This is serious! Yuanshen does not play games! If the Spirit told Uncle the truth and Shendu gets the book first, Yuanshen may reward him by opening every portal!"
"And if we get it first? Will Yuanshen really leave us alone?" Jackie asked.
Uncle paused, his expression grim.
"Hard to say. Yuanshen only does what Yuanshen likes! Aiyah! This is why Uncle needs strong tea!"
"What’s in this cursed cook book, anyway?"
"Cursed Cooking! It is a book of cooking! But its recipes are cursed, very cursed! They bend the laws of nature and create chaos. Only Yuanshen is insane enough to want Champions to learn and tame those recipes!"
"So… we’re trying to stop the world from ending because of cursed spaghetti or something?" Jade asked, smirking
"No jokes! But also, yes." Uncle answered.
“Very well, where do we find this book?” Jackie asked.
“Where it has been for last two thousand years! Ruins in rural China, where once big noble had fancy castle before entire castle sunk into shadows! Tomorrow is true full moon, and curse will be weak enough for castle and forest to resurface after two thousand years!”
“Of course the curse just so happens to fade away while I am around to go there…” Jackie muttered, sighing.
A long fly later - Cursed Forest – The next night -
The forest was dense and suffocating, the gnarled trees twisting unnaturally as if they were alive, the sky above was a swirling gray void, and the air smelled of damp earth and decay.
Jackie was crouching behind a mossy boulder, peeking over it to see a decrepit castle in the distance that had just popped out from underground as if the shadows around it were muddy, gooey waters, and the entire building was now glowing faintly with an ominous green light.
Beside him, Jade clutched a flashlight, her face a mix of awe and fear while Uncle wass examining a talisman, muttering under his breath, Tohru instead scanned the area, ever-watchful.
"Uncle, are you sure this is the right place?" Jackie asked.
"Yes! Aiyah, cursed forest, creepy castle, glowing evil light! What else could it be?!" Uncle snapped in answer.
"Yeah, super inviting. Should’ve brought marshmallows." Jade answered, bouncing excited on her feet to watch better.
"It does feel... wrong. Like the shadows are watching us." Tohru muttered, eyes narrowed looking for threats.
Uncle waved a hand dismissively, turning his focus back to his talisman.
"Enough chatter! Jackie, you must get the book. Witch’s curse comes from it. Separate her, and the curse will break! Simple plan!"
"Your ‘simple plans’ always turn into disasters, Uncle." Jackie answered.
"Then make it not a disaster! Go!" The old man answered while pointing at the castle.
“Going, going…”
“One more thing! Don’t get touched by the Witch, you will turn into another Servant.”
“Okay, Uncle.”
“ One more thing! She will use magic, don’t get hit or she will devour your soul and you will become her Servant.”
“Of course, Uncle.”
“One more thing! If she throws what she is cooking, do not eat it.”
“Or else I will become her Servant?” Jackie said, rolling his eyes.
“No, it will taste bad. Like wet dead rats wrapped in old smelly socks. Very unpleasant.” Uncle answered.
“Ugh! Duly noted!” The poor guy, now with a green face of disgust, nodded and rushed towards the castle.
Front of the castle -
Stepping cautiously toward the castle, Jackie slowly made his way towards the ominous and clearly evil and cursed castle, luckily, when Jade tried to follow him, Uncle pulled her back.
"No, Jade! You stay here. Skeletons and ninjas are not for children!"
"I’m not a child! I’m... tactical backup! Wait! Skeletons?"
“KYAAAAAAH!” They heard Jackie scream soon after.
"Hyaaahh…. Uncle knew he forgot something!"
With Jackie - Castle Courtyard
Jackie pushed open the creaking gates and steps inside, the courtyard was littered with broken columns and rusted weapons, as he walks forward, the air grows colder, and the ground began to rumble.
“Oh, no...”
Suddenly, from the earth, skeletal hands burst out, followed by fully armored skeleton warriors, draggin rusted swords and shields behind themselves and their eye sockets glowing an eerie green.
“KYAAAAAH!… I mean, oh no!” At first a loud high-pitched scream tore its way out of Jackie’s mouth, then he cleared his throat and gave a more dignified, and manly, response.
"Bad day! Bad day! Bad day!"
"Roooooar!" The undead soldiers charged at Jackie.
"Of course. Skeletons. Why is it always skeletons?"
Before he could act, the shadows rippled, and the Shadowkhan materialized, their glowing red eyes locked on both Jackie and skeletons, creating a tense three-way war of stares.
"Oh great. Skeletons and ninjas? Just my luck."
The Shadowkhan charged first, their movements swift and deadly, Jackie ducked and flipped, dodging their attacks while landing quick counter-strikes.
“There are Skeletons here! Attack them too!” He yelled while landing a kick on one Shadowkhan, and barely avoiding a skeleton lunge with a sword, rolling away and watching the Skeleton impale the Shadowkhan.
"I thought skeletons were supposed to be slow!" Nobody answered to Jackie’s comment, but to the young man’s relief that attck gave start to a chaotic brawl between Skeleton and Shadow Ninjas, one big and messy enough to let Jackie sneak away and enter the castle proper to look for the witch and the book..
The Witch’s Chamber -
Luckily, the ancient witch’s ominous and insane laughter and shriek made it easy for Jackie to find her.
“Coming through!” He yelled while bursting into the dimly lit chamber.
“YAAA!” At its center, a towering, ageless chinese witch stirred a cauldron with one hand while clutching the cursed book in the other, her face was a grotesque mix of beauty and decay, her voice cold and mocking and only mad screams were the sounds she produced.
"Another fool to steal my masterpiece? How amusing! You will join my army!" The Witch shrieked with wide, unblinking undead eyes.
Jackie stepped forward cautiously, raising his hands.
"Uh, hi. Listen, I don’t want any trouble. Just... hand over the book, and we’ll be on our way." Jackie answered, careful.
The witch cackled, turning to face him fully with her eyes ablaze in green flames, and slammed her foot down on the ground, and from under her, more skeletons rose from underground to encircle Jackie.
"Dance, little mortal. Dance for my amusement!" She ordered, cackling.
“Oh, no! No! No!” Jackie jumped backward, dodging sword strikes and taking down skeletons with precision kicks and flips.
“Hahahaha!” The witch hovered in the background, laughing as she summoned more undead and shooting green fireballs at Jackie at random intervals.
"Why does everything always want to kill me?!" Jackie asked with a scream as he barely dodged all that mess.
When the Shadowkhan as well joined the battle into the room, adding to the chaos, Jackie really felt like crying!
Boom!
“Troublemakers will be stripped as an example to others!” It was then that Whitey made his explosive entrance, bursting through the wall and tearing apart Skeletons a shadow ninjas with ease.
“A robot?” Jackie gasped.
“Who dares?!” The Witch demanded.
“Oh, quit it! Your voice is grating this Esteemed Taotie’s ears!” Shiro, wrapped around Izuku’s neck, answered.
“Who are you?!” Jackie asked.
“Ah! Sorry! I was told to get the book that Witch is holding.” Izuku answered.
“You are that Champion guy?”
“I guess the answer is yes.” Izuku answered, sheepish.
“Spiral Cannon!” Behind him, Nejire kept blasting skeletons and Shadowkhan away.
“And…”
“My girlfriend.”
“STOP IGNORING MEEEEE!” The Witch helled, shooting the entire content of the cauldron like a geyser.
“Crap!” Izuku answered by enlarging the Turtle wok to protect him and Jackie.
Using the distraction of the torrent of sludge splashing harmlessly on the wok, Jackie vaulted over Izuku, used a skeleton as a springboard and dashed toward the witch.
"Uncle said to separate you from the book! Let’s see if he’s right!" Jackie declared.
“Whitey! Help him!” Izuku ordered.
“Understood!”
The witch snarled in answer, raising her hand to cast a spell, but Jackie grabbed a nearby chain and swung it at her, the thing wrapped around the book and tore it away from her grasp, and right in Izuku’s hands.
"No! You cannot! Noooooooo!"
The moment the book left her hands, the glow in her eyes faded and the skeletons collapsed into heaps of bones.
“My power! My book! I only wanted… To turn this world into my kingdom! Into my foooooood!” The Witch howled while the dark power left her, leaving behind only a normal looking woman.
“I am free?… Finally… Peace…" She said in relief before falling unconscious.
“Okay! We got the book!” Izuku said.
“Hurray! What about the Ninja guys’” Nejire asked.
“Let me… SCRAM!” Shiro answered and gave a powerful roar that sent the Shadowkhan flying away, those creatures just vanished back into the shadows as soon as they touched the ground.
“Well, this could have gone worse.” Jackie admitted, sighing.
Cruuuuumble!
“The castle is falling apart!” Nejire yelled as the entire palace started to collapse.
“WHY I TALKED?!” Jackie yelled while he, Izuku and Nejire hurried out and away from the fortress, with Whitey tailing behind them carrying the unconscious woman in its arms.
Outside the Castle
When Jackie and Izuku emerged from the castle, exhausted but victorious, Uncle, Jade, and Tohru rushed to meet him.
"Jackie! You’re alive! And no broken bones this time!" Jade yelled in relief.
“Ehy! Thanks for the show of trust!” He answered.
"Good! The book is ours. Curse is broken. Witch and skeletons gone forever! Very good, in time for tea!"
"Yeah, about that… Can we please take a vacation after this?"
“No time for vacation! One more thing, tea needs snacks! Uncle needs strong tea and good snacks after this!" Uncle said.
“But I was the one fighting!”
WHACK!
“Ow!” He cupped his head after the surprisingly strong chop on the forehead of the old man.
“Hahahaha! Don’t worry, I can take care of that.” Izuku chuckled and offered.
“You are champion of Yuanshen, so the book is supposed to go to you so your Patron God doesn’t kill us all. Just make good food and Uncle will look other way!” Uncle answered.
“Very generous!” Nejire answered, chuckling.
“I can do that!” Izuku added.
The System was cautiously optimistic…
Later that day -
“My Emperor of cooking! Sage of the kitchen!” The woman, former witch cursed by the book because unworthy, screamed while chasing Izuku.
The System no longer felt optimistic.
Everything started normal, with Izuku reading the book and cooking small snacks and few dishes from ancient times, modernized and polished with modern techniques and knowledge.
Then the former witch, after telling her sad backstory (gone mad trying to use the forbidden book that was intended for cooks with more attunement with Chi and magic than she had, and instead of becoming the Chef of the Emperor like she dreamed, she got corrupted and twisted into The Witch), saw in Izuku the Chosen One her Master told her stories about… And that led to her Chasing Izuku, and battling Nejire, all to convince Izuku to marry her.
Jackie and Tohru were desperately trying to stop her, Uncle just kept eating the food Izuku made.
And the System…
The System fumed, and planned for revenge.
But in the meantime, The System kicked the crap out of the Nameless Evil again, just to calm down a tiny bit.
I am sorry for the long wait.
And for the strange cooking duel in the Gourmet World.
But cooking in Toriko is different from how we do it, even in the manga it is showed as something far removed from what we can do.
So.
How do I describe cooking so advanced to look alien?
How do I describe flavors that don’t exist in our world?
This is the best I could do, luckily after this I can return to normal cooking for the rest of the story.
Let’s just call it a small intermediary part.
Thank you all for reading this chapter, and for liking this story through its peaks and lows.
See you next chapter.
Sorry again.
Chapter 38: Peace and Quiet and a nice Cheeseburger!
Summary:
Intermediary chapter before the chapter about Ren Watanabe and MasterChef Japan!
Notes:
Pairing: Deku/Momo/Rumi/Ochako/Nejire
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
It's getting harder to write Omakes, even with all your suggestions, finding one that "Clicks" it's difficult.
Sorry for the long wait.
Ren is the last name on the List, the last obstacle before the Final Showdown between Izuku and Samui. Sadly speaking, the end of this story is getting closer.
Chapter Text
Chapter 38: Peace and Quiet and a nice Cheeseburger!
TV Studios – Ren Watanabe’s room -
The very last ‘Friend’ on Samui’s list of blackmailed Chef, that was the title Ren had mockingly given himself while watching the email Samui sent him, and the badly-covered veiled threats he filled the short missive with.
“Yes, yes. You definitely hold me by the balls, I clearly didn’t already fix what I did wrong as a kid.” He said, smirking.
“But let’s see who I am supposed to use to ruin dear Midoriya…” Ren’s smile though faded away into a frown when he saw who he was being threatened into asking to come as a Guest in MasterChef Japan’s current season.
Hiroi Akihiko, of all people, of every Chef Samui could have asked… He choose that imbecile.
“The pompous primadonna of the culinary world... Two Michelin Stars for what? Overly-complicated, pretentious plates designed to fool the untrained eye and palate!” Ren spat in disgust.
That man could spend four hours boiling an egg, dressing it up with unnecessary flair, and call it “an avant-garde masterpiece”.
“And the worst part? People buy into his nonsense! Critics keep elevating him to a pedestal he doesn’t deserve! He’s turned the art of cooking into a circus act, diminishing the true essence of culinary excellence!” Ren commented, looked at the screen with complete and genuine revulsion.
For many Chefs like Ren, every accolade Akihiko received felt like a mockery of their genuine, hard-earned recognition.
“Birds of a feather flock together, of course Samui choose Akihiko as his inside agent to humiliate Midoriya! He and Samui are practically a carbon-copy of each other! Same Ego and pretentious attitude as Chefs! FINE! I will let Akihiko step into my domain, and I’ll play the gracious host. But only because watching him squirm when things don’t go his way will be the real reward!” Ren’s eyes momentarily flickered with a hint of malice before returning to their usual composed state.
So be it, hopefully Izuku won’t mind being the stone used to catch those two birds; Ren grabbed his phone and rapidly punched in the phone number of Izuku.
“… Mister Midoriya? I just got an Email from Samui, are you ready? Because it’s time...”
Three days Later – Streets -
Her name was Chihaya, 35 years old and single, aspiring dessert Chef and trapped as a helper in a Fancy and expensive Restaurant, where the most cooking-related thing she ever did in her two years there was peeling potatoes and cutting radishes. Once.
Her boss said she was still too young to take on the stress of proper cooking, clearly ignoring how she was the top of her class when she finished studying, and yet the teen boy washing the dishes was getting paid more than her, and that stoner barely knew from what side to grab a fork!
She wanted out! She wanted to cook! To make heavenly sweets and cupcakes and cute mignons! The guy that took her in promised “A great opportunity of growth and experience in a High Class environment, with plenty of chances to learn and experience real work in the kitchen!”
BULLSHIT! ALL OF IT! She only served at the tables, swept the floor and sometimes helped unloading Ingredients from the truck delivering them!
She couldn’t even really leave, she had not a lot of qualifications, and desperately needed that pittance she was paid, or else even her ugly one room apartment would be too expensive to maintain.
Suffering in a similar situation was her best friend Horimori, a young man that helped in the kitchen like she did, and just like her, he too was just a glorified Intern that was only permitted to stir the pots whenever one of the Proper Chefs needed a break, so he basically got all the stress of cooking a PERFECT dish, with none of the recognition or gratitude.
If only she she had swallowed her pride and worked in a fastfood, by now she would have already been promoted to the french fries station, or even the ice-cream one, and the pay-check would have definitely been more satisfying too.
“Come on! Don’t be that depressed! You’ll see! Soon they will understand your skills, and mine, and they will give us a chance!” Horimori said, trying to cheer her up.
“I wish I was as positive as you are.”
“It’s only a matter of not losing hope! Come on! I’ll take you to a new place I found, the beer and food is amazing! Bit on the expensive side for an Izakaya, but trust me, it’s worth it!”
“Yeah, yeah… As long as the beer is good.” She answered, uncaring.
She was far too deep in self-commiseration to really see where they were going, and so deep in thoughts of misery that her ears barely registered the faint jingle of a hanging bell above the door that marked their entrance.
“This place opened recently, I think a week ago or something, but already…” Her friend was speaking, something about this new Izakaya and its reputation, but the words dissolved into a soft, meaningless hum to her as she ignored the world around her just to focus on her own depression.
“Table for two, please!” She barely heard the far-away voice of her friend when they entered.
Lost in her thoughts, she followed him without focus with her boots dragging against the polished floorboards; she didn’t glance at the hanging lanterns or the delicate brushstrokes of kanji adorning the walls, her world was shrouded in the gray haze of her own self-pity.
“Mom was right, I should have just took over her flower shop…” She muttered, lost in her mind’s endless echo chamber of regrets.
“Two big ones, please, Miss! My friends needs it!”
“Sure!”
Clink!
“Uh?” She barely noticed when the server placed a beer in front of her.
“Try it! It’s the damn best beer in the city!” Her friend said.
“Eh?” She muttered, dumbly.
It wasn’t until her friend nudged her elbow again and gestured to the big glass mug that she blinked, the fog lifting just enough for her to glance down in front of her.
The beer shimmered.
It wasn’t just golden, it was light in liquid form.
“What the…” She muttered, the reddish sunlight of the incoming sunset seemed to ripple within the glass, casting liquid reflections on the lacquered tabletop and turned the beer color into gorgeous amber.
“Awesome, isn’t it? A friend of mine is obsessed with beers, and told me the one they serve here is the best she ever had! And let me tell you she is damn right,” Her friend said, smirking and gulping down the cold beer in rapture.
The foam, a cloud of pearly white, was impossibly dense yet delicate, like the crest of a wave frozen in time, tiny bubbles spiralled upward in hypnotic patterns, their effervescence exuding a subtle hum as though the drink itself were alive.
No normal beer should have a carbonation that crisp.
Curious despite herself, she lifted the glass, and noticed how its chilled surface was smooth against her fingers, the scent that reached her before the rim even touched her lips was a perfume of fresh-baked bread, wildflowers and the faintest whisper of citrus.
“What the fuck is this…” The first sip was a revelation.
The liquid caressed her tongue with an unearthly smoothness and the flavors unfolded with divine precision; it began with a sweetness so delicate it was like tasting sunlight, followed by a surge of earthy, malty warmth that wrapped around her soul.
A crisp bitterness, neither harsh nor fleeting, lingered just long enough to cleanse the palate, she shivered.
“Are you insane… Did you pick some absurdly overpriced beer? We can’t afford it…” She muttered in dread, she had felt her breath caught in her throat as she set the glass down, her fingers trembling slightly.
“Nope! They make their own beer!” Her friend answered, smirking.
“No damn way…” That wasn’t beer, it was ambrosia. A drink not meant for mortals but stolen from the tables of gods, a cold one crafted from barley grown in heavenly fields and water drawn from celestial springs.
Her friend laughed, breaking the spell.
“Too much prose, girl!”
“Did I say that out loud?!”
“Yep! Sooo cringe!”
“S-Shut up!”
“I told you this place was special,” He said, taking a long sip of his own glass.
The more she drank that beer, the more questions she had; for the first time in weeks, her mind was utterly still, the noise of her thoughts replaced by a singular, undeniable truth:
This beer was perfection, and that was not normal.
The moment she set the glass down, dread crept in. It started in her stomach, a twisting knot of unease that then slithered upward, coiling around her chest.
“No way…” Her gaze, now sharp and alert, began to take in the room she had so carelessly ignored upon entering.
The Izakaya was unmistakable.
It wasn’t grand or ostentatious, that wasn’t HIS style.
No, this was clearly his doing, a blend of tradition and novelty that made her chest tighten; the top half of the walls was a soft, earthy green, with a texture evoking the mossy soft ground of a forest after rain.
Intricate cloud motifs had been delicately etched into the wood covering the lower half of the walls, with their swirling patterns looking both whimsical and serene, lanterns hung low from the ceiling to wash the room in suffused light that made shadows play along the walls, dancing like spirits, giving the room a gentle dynamism that felt alive.
The tables themselves were unassuming, crafted from dark, polished wood that gleamed faintly under the lanterns light as if gold dust was part of the polish used.
Small vases of fresh sprigs, mint, shiso, and anise, sat in the middle of each table, with their subtle fragrances mingling with the savory aromas of grilling skewers and bubbling hot pots.
The floor was covered in tatami mats, their woven patterns interrupted here and there by simple rugs in soft shades of gray and beige.
“For the love of God. A Izakaya too?!” She hissed in disbelief and swallowed hard, her mouth dry despite the heavenly beer she’d just tasted.
This wasn’t just any Izakaya. It was HIS.
The young man whose name was spoken with a mix of reverence and fear in culinary circles, the Chef that appeared from nowhere and rocked the world of Japanese cuisine almost immediately, raising expectations to impossible heights among other Chefs.
She heard the rumors, his restaurants weren’t just places to eat, they were a painful stab to every other Chef that tried emulating his dishes! How many challenged him only to fail? Even while saddling him with dozens of handicaps?!
And now, she sat within one of them, her own culinary aspirations suddenly feeling fragile and small, she had heard people gossiping about the kid wishing to expand, but she couldn’t understand how he could open new Restaurants so quickly!
Her friend noticed her unease and frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“This… This is one of his places.” Her voice came out in a whisper, trembling with the weight of realization.
Her friend blinked, confused, then looked around, comprehension dawning on his face.
“Oh. You mean Midoriya?” He glanced at the glass of beer in her hand and chuckled nervously.
“Guess that explains why the beer tastes like something out of a dream.”
But for her, the dream was already dissolving, replaced by the sinking reality that she had just tasted perfection, a perfection she might never reach, and that was just a damn mug of beer.
Her fingers tightened around the glass as the bitterness of reality clashed with the crisp finish of the beer.
Fine. She could admit Midoriya was talented! Who couldn’t? That Kid practically oozed culinary genius, as if he’d struck some secret deal with the gods to bless his hands, his palate, his very existence.
His upscale restaurant in the tourist district? Green Cloud Restaurant? Sure, whatever! Every city needed a flagship for gourmands and Instagram-happy foodies to gush over! It was a beacon for people who wanted to feel like they were eating Japanese culture itself, even if his menu offered dishes from other countries too, so Fine. She could let that go!
And his second Restaurant in the high-class district, Green Gourmet Garden? Where the rich paraded their tailored suits and designer shoes to sip on truffle-infused miso? Well, fine again! Let the elites have their overhyped dining experiences, she wasn’t about to wade into that world of velvet menus and golden chopsticks to begin with.
But this? This?!
Her knuckles whitened as she glared at the plate of grilled skewers that had just been set down by the woman with purple hair that worked there.
“Have a nice meal!” Nagant said with a happy smile before walking away.
“Thanks…” She muttered, bitterly.
The skewers aroma wafting upward was literally mocking her very soul, clearly!
Why did Midoriya have to take Izakaya too?! Izakaya! the food of the common people! the everyman’s escape after a long day of work! Does he want to elevate it too into something that tasted like it had descended from the heavens on a cloud made of dashi as if he was the Chef cousin of Sun Wukong?! For Fuck’s Sake!
“Fucking hate him.” She picked up a skewer, biting into it with the determination of someone trying to find a flaw... But no. Of course, the meat was perfectly tender, with a smoky char that whispered of expertly tended coals treated better than royalty.
“Goddamnit…” The glaze, a simple tare sauce, it had to be, coated her tongue in a rich, umami embrace that made her want to scream.
Even the damn scallions were roasted to perfection, their edges caramelized just enough to balance their natural sharpness of flavor! HOW?!
“Why does it have to be this good?” She hissed, more to herself than to her friend, who was busy savoring his own dish.
She slammed the skewer back onto the plate, it was childish, but it was not like she could do anything else.
“What?” Her friend mumbled through a mouthful of tempura that looked as if it had been kissed by sunlight itself, it was almost-literally gold in color.
“Why does he have to ruin everything?!” she snapped, gesturing at the room, the food, the beer.
“It’s an Izakaya! It’s supposed to be casual, comforting! Something you can enjoy without feeling like your career is being crushed under the weight of his goddamn perfection!”
“Maybe he just likes Izakaya food?” Her friend blinked, then shrugged, entirely unbothered.
“Oh, come on!” She said, her voice rising slightly before she caught herself. She glanced around, embarrassed, but no one seemed to notice, or care.
“Why can’t he just stick to his Michelin-star-worthy temple of gastronomy? Why does he have to come down here and prove that even the simplest dishes are better when he makes them? It’s not fair!”
Her friend chuckled, clearly enjoying her meltdown as much as the food.
“Sounds like someone’s jealous.”
“I am not jealous!” she snapped, then immediately grimaced.
“Okay, maybe a little. But it’s not just that!” She gestured wildly with her glass.
“It’s the principle of it! Does he have to dominate every corner of the culinary world? Can’t he leave something for the rest of us mere mortals?”
Her friend grinned, raising his own glass in a mock toast. “To us mere mortals!”
She groaned, sinking back into her chair, the beer in her hand once again taunting her with its divine perfection. She took another sip, scowling.
Gods, she hated how good it was.
“Midoriya is a filthy, egotistical bastard and-” Her rant was cut short by a shadow that fell over the table.
She froze mid-sip, her friend’s eyes widening in alarm as he glanced upward in complete shame, as if wishing for the ground under him to open and swallow him whole.
Slowly, reluctantly, she looked up… And there he was.
… To be fair, Midoriya wasn’t what she’d expected.
Based only on the rumors, she’d imagined a towering figure, perhaps someone with broad shoulders and a sharp, intimidating aura, the kind of person whose very presence screamed authority.
Or maybe, given his reputation, some insufferable, smirking elitist, his nose permanently turned up at lesser Chefs like herself.
“Hi… Nice to meet you… I am Izuku Midoriya… The filthy Bastard… I guess.” He muttered with a very awkward smile.
But no. The kid who now stood by their table, holding a tray of dishes as if he were any other server, was neither of those things.
He was young, startlingly young, with a soft face that still carried the faint traces of boyishness.
His eyes, warm and green as pure emeralds, crinkled slightly at the corners as he smiled in a polite, almost shy expression.
He was of average height, if not slightly shorter, with a slight frame and a relaxed posture and unassuming, and the way he held the tray, balanced effortlessly in one hand, felt more casual than practiced.
He was, as her friend will later put it, “friend-shaped.”
“I couldn’t help but overhear,” he said softly, his voice gentle and unthreatening, like the rustle of leaves in a quiet forest. “May I sit?”
Neither of them responded immediately, her friend too stunned, and ashamed, to speak and her too mortified to refuse.
“Thanks,” Taking their silence as permission, he set the tray down with a practiced ease and slid into the seat across from them.
“I… I’m sorry,” She stammered, heat rushing to her face. “I didn’t mean-”
He raised a hand, palm out, stopping her apology mid-flow.
“No need. I’ve heard it before,” Izuku said, his tone light, almost self-deprecating.
“I didn’t mean to make anyone feel like that.”
Her friend, still trying to reconcile the idea of this guy with the towering legend they’d imagined, blurted.
“Wait, you’re the Chef? The Midoriya guy everyone’s talking about?”
He nodded, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips. “I suppose so.”
“That’s… Not what I pictured,” Her friend muttered, leaning back in his chair.
“I get that a lot.” The Chef chuckled softly, the sound light and soft.
She stared at him, still struggling to process the situation.
“If you don’t mind me asking,” She said, her voice quieter now.
“Go ahead!”
“Why do you… Why do you do it? The restaurants, the perfection, the… Everything? Do you enjoy making the rest of us look bad?”
Her friend gasped, elbowing her in the ribs, but Izuku didn’t seem offended, if anything, he looked a little sad.
“No,” he said simply. He clasped his hands together on the table, his gaze dropping to the tray of food.
“I never set out to compete with anyone. I just… Love food. I love Ingredients. I love Cooking. That’s it,”
Her brow furrowed, and he continued, his voice soft and sincere.
“I cook because it makes me happy. When I see an ingredient, perfect, fresh, alive, it feels like it’s speaking to me, asking to be treated with respect. So I do. That’s all. I don’t aim for perfection; I just follow my heart.” Izuku said as he glanced at her, his eyes kind but earnest.
“If the results make others feel inadequate, I’m truly sorry. That’s never been my intention. The quality… It just happens. It’s not something I aim for, it’s something the Ingredients give back when I respect them and cook them like I believe they deserve.” He explained, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
The room felt heavier somehow, his words were hanging in the air like the scent of the dishes on the tray, for a moment, she couldn’t respond, her mind grappling with the simplicity and sincerity of his explanation.
“So… You’re saying you’re accidentally this good?” Her friend broke the silence.
“I suppose so.” Izuku’s lips twitching into a small, wry smile.
She looked down at the remnants of her beer, the foam clinging stubbornly to the sides of the glass drawing abstract patterns; her indignation felt childish now, her ranting petty in the face of his humility. This wasn’t a man trying to crush his peers under the weight of his talent, this was someone who simply loved what he did.
“Great,” Her friend muttered under his breath. “The guy’s not just a genius, he’s nice, too.”
She couldn’t help but let out a soft, rueful laugh.
“Hahahahaha!” It wasn’t fair, but somehow, knowing his heart was in the right place made it all a little easier to swallow.
The thought hit her like a bolt out of the blue as the young chef sat there, humble and unassuming, explaining how he cooked from his heart, she’d tried his dishes before, hadn’t she? Both at the bustling tourist hotspot with its vibrant, approachable menu and at the temple of culinary luxury in the high-class district when a more wealthy colleague offered her lunch to try wooing her.
She had been sceptical, sure, but the food had silenced her doubts each time, the flavour had been unforgettable, not just technically brilliant but alive, brimming with soul.
And now here she was, sitting in his Izakaya, realizing that even the simplest of dishes, crafted with his care, could reach heights she hadn’t dreamed possible.
“This has to be a damn cosmic joke,” Her gaze flicked to the skewers on the table, then back to the young chef, who was smiling politely as her friend grilled him with questions about how he made tempura that light or managed to source scallions so perfect.
“Yes?” Izuku asked, once seen the shift in her eyes.
The idea resurfaced from the most traitorous recesses of her mind again, louder this time: What if I worked here?
It was terrifying, almost ridiculous! She’d spent so much time resenting his talent, envying his success, but could she really swallow her pride and step into his world, not as an outsider, but as a student, maybe even a collaborator?
“I was wondering…” She muttered.
Her thoughts raced. The tourist restaurant might be her best shot; it was fast-paced, vibrant, and maybe less intimidating, the fine-dining establishment? God, that seemed like walking into the lion’s den! Nothing but pressure and expectations. And this Izakaya? It felt… Right. Warm. Humble. A place where even the gods might take off their shoes and sit down for a drink.
“Yes?” Izuku asked, noticing how long it was taking her to finish her question.
But could she handle it? Could she work under someone who’d inadvertently made her question her entire career? Could she learn from him without constantly comparing herself to him?
“Are you okay?” her friend asked, breaking through her thoughts.
She blinked, realizing she’d been staring at the skewers.
“Yeah,” she said quickly, then glanced at the chef. “I was just… Thinking.”
“About what?” her friend pressed, smirking.
“Bet you were coming up with another rant about how unfairly good he is.”
“Please don’t…” Izuku begged shyly.
She hesitated, then took a deep breath, her fingers tightening around the edge of the table.
“About… Sending you my CV,” she admitted, her voice quieter than she’d intended.
“Oh…” Izuku muttered, surprised.
Her friend’s jaw dropped instead.
“Really?” Izuku asked, his tone as soft as ever, but there was a spark of interest in his eyes.
She nodded, feeling both exposed and oddly liberated.
“I’ve tried your food before, at your other restaurants. I didn’t want to admit it, but… You’re incredible. And if there’s even a chance I could learn something from you...” She stopped, her cheeks flushing.
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s crazy, but I think I want to try.”
Izuku smiled, and it wasn’t the polite smile he’d been wearing before, this one was genuine, a little shy but filled with kindness.
“It’s not crazy,” he said.
“If you love food, and you’re willing to work hard, I’d be happy to have you in any of my kitchens.”
Her friend let out a low whistle.
“Can he come too?” She asked, jabbing her thumb at her friend.
“UH?!”
“Sure! If he is ready to work hard!”
“Well, that was easy.” The poor guy muttered, overwhelmed.
But for her, it didn’t feel easy. It felt terrifying, exhilarating, and just maybe… Like the beginning of something great.
“I hope I can learn something new from you,” She admitted.
“I’ll do my best to teach you as I taught to the rest of my staff of my Restaurants!” Izuku promised.
The moment felt almost serene, the tension easing as the young chef smiled at her words. She felt lighter, as though making the leap and admitting her desire to work in one of his restaurants had peeled away a layer of self-doubt.
And then he said it.
“In fact, I was hoping to find two people.”
“For what?”
“I’ve been thinking,” he began, his voice as calm and soft, but with a note of excitement that made her stomach clench,
“About opening a patisserie.”
The world stopped.
A patisserie. Her patisserie. Her sacred ground, her battlefield, her life’s passion! FUCK!
It took a moment for the words to fully sink in, she heard her friend gasp, felt the tension ripple through the air, and yet all she could do was stare at him, frozen in place like a deer caught in the headlights of a giant semi-truck driven by culinary perfection itself.
“A patisserie?” she echoed weakly, her voice barely above a whisper.
Izuku nodded, oblivious to the bomb he’d just dropped on her world.
“Yes. I’ve always loved desserts. I think they’re such an intimate expression of creativity! Small, precise, but capable of carrying so much meaning. I’ve been working on recipes, experimenting with techniques. I want it to feel like a place where people can come and experience something magical.” Izuku was immediately rambling at high speed, excited like a kid.
The words “magical” and “desserts” swirled in her mind like a storm, she felt the old heat of jealousy rise, the flare of pettiness that had fuelled so many of her internal tirades about him burn again like an inferno.
He wasn’t content with two restaurants and an Izakaya? He had to invade her world, too?!
“Wait…” But then, she stopped herself.
The pros and cons began lining up in her head before she could stop them.
Cons:
His perfection would drive her mad.
Every pastry, every tart, every macaron would be held to impossibly high standards.
The pressure might crush her.
She might lose what little shred of pride she had left.
But then came the Pros, and they hit harder than she’d expected.
She’d learn. Oh, god, would she learn!
She’d work with the best Ingredients, probably using techniques she’d only dreamed of.
She’d push herself farther than she ever had before.
She might, just might, find a way to surpass even her own expectations.
And, perhaps most importantly:
She’d have a chance to create something extraordinary, something that could carry her name alongside his.
Her hand tightened around her glass again, but this time it wasn’t out of frustration. It was resolve.
“You’re serious about this?” she asked, her voice steadier than she felt.
Izuku nodded, his expression brightening slightly.
“Absolutely. I think desserts are the purest form of joy in food. If I’m going to do it, I want to do it right.”
Her lips parted, and for a moment, she thought about saying something petty, something biting, but instead, she found herself smiling! A small, tentative smile, but a smile nonetheless.
“Then maybe,” she said slowly, “You’ll be seeing my CV sooner than you think.”
Her friend gawked at her, utterly speechless.
“MINE TOO!” He then hurriedly added, as if afraid of missing the chance.
Izuku’s smile widened, and there was something so genuine, so quietly thrilled about it that it made her chest ache.
“I’d like that,” Izuku said softly.
And Chihaya, for the first time in a long time, felt like she was standing at the edge of something not terrifying, but exhilarating. Something sweet. Pun intended!
Dling!
The bell rang again… And the Pro Hero Hawks entered while wearing a similar uniform as the woman behind the counter.
“Bewuw?!” Both Chihaya and her friend gurgled in surprise something that didn’t resemble human language.
“You are late!” Nagant snapped angrily.
“Sorry, sorry! I was finishing moving my stuff in my new room in the flat above, Boss.” Hawks answered, sheepish.
“It’s okay, don’t worry. I don’t mind helping taking the dishes to the tables,” Izuku answered, smiling.
“Well, then I’ll take over! You are paying me to do that, and I won’t lose that paycheck!” The Pro Hero answered, immediately moving back and forth to help Nagant cook and serve at the tables.
“Hawks… Works here? For you? As a Waiter?” Chihaya asked, dumbfounded.
“Even Pro Heroes pay the bills,” Izuku answered, shrugging.
“Isn’t… Isn’t he like… In the Top 10?” Her friend asked.
“Yes?” Izuku answered, unsure.
She needed to work for the guy! Like, right now!
“I’ll bring you my CV tomorrow!” She and her friend yelled at the same time.
“Okay!” Izuku, scared by the scream, squeaked in answer.
Later that day – Yavin Street – Green Cloud Restaurant -
Once sure everything in the new Izakaya was going according to schedule and plan, with Lady Nagant and Hawks showing how they had mastered their respective jobs as Chef and Waiter, Izuku had used the portal-door The System had connected his three Restaurants with to return to his main one.
“Congratulations to Host Izuku for finding two Chefs for the Patisserie! Now only two waiters are needed to complete the Mission! Time left: Two Weeks.” The System declared in his head with a cheerful victory jingle.
“Damn, I barely returned from my Trip to the Gourmet World and you are already insisting for me to open a new Restaurant.” He said.
“Host returned from his latest Sortie two weeks ago, plenty of time to recover and re-start Training and Missions.”
“But the Izakaya has not been open for more than a week!”
“Ten Days.”
“Already?” Izuku muttered, surprised.
“Host has been busy working, training and copulating with his Lovers. The System believes the Host just lost track of time.”
“Did you need to mention the last part?” He asked with a red face.
“It still counts as Time spent, Host.”
“Forget it. If I open the Patisserie I will get the last Fragment to unlock a new piece of Equipment?” Izuku asked.
“Yes, Host. If you complete the Mission, a new Piece of the God of Cooking Kitchen Set will be unlocked, and The System knows the Host will like it.” The Entity answered.
“If you say so…”
Done with the pleasantries with his sponsor, Izuku rejoined the main room of his Restaurant to welcome the various Guests filling every table and waiting their turn by the door.
“Meow!” Zephyr came into the kitchen with a tray full of empty plates he recovered from the tables.
“Thanks you, Zephyr! Please put them in the dishwashing machine.”
“Meow!” The small Pheline answered with a nod.
“How are things going?” He asked.
“All tables are full and more people are waiting for their turn. Everything is still under control, though. No troubles in sight.” Himiko answered once she peeked inside the kitchen from the small window connecting it to the main room.
“Another day of hard work! Nice!” Izuku answered, smiling wide.
“Eri too wants to help bringing plates to the tables, can I teach her how to do it?” She asked.
“Huhuhu! You really like Eri,”
“And I am unashamedly proud of that!”
“Then okay, just small stuff, it’s still too soon,” Izuku answered.
“Okay!” Himiko answered, and Eri was heard cheer behind her.
“Finally some peace…” Izuku muttered, chuckling, at peace with himself and his life.
Spitting out a tiny ball of Obsidian Flame under the Turtle Wok, the young Chef set up to continue cooking for the Guests in his Restaurant.
“808?” He said.
“Yes, friend Izuku?” The tiny robot, covered in the holographic body making it look like Izuku’s Secretary, asked.
“Remind me to watch the Episode of MasterChef Japan I went as a Guest to, and if possible, record it.” He asked.
“Of course, Friend Izuku. Do you want me to make a post on the Restaurant’s Social Media page about your partecipation? So both Friends and Enemies of the Restaurant can watch the episode.”
“I don’t really like to brag… But mom likes the show…” Izuku answered, unsure.
“I will organize the Post immediately, and present you five versions of it for you to chose from, Friend Izuku.” 808 answered.
“Good, thank you.”
Meanwhile – HPSC - Director’s office -
“What do you mean that you failed?!” The woman yelled at her phone.
“Madame… Me and the guys tried forcing our way in… We couldn’t even make the door of the Izakaya bulge!” A slurring male voice answered at the other side.
“Are you drunk?! How dare you?!” She shrieked.
“I just got out of surgery for my smashed arm and legs and broken jaw and-”
“I don’t care! You are still alive! Drag your useless body there and melt that door! I want HAWKS back here for reconditioning! NOW!”
“I can’t! I tried already!”
“You didn’t try hard enough! I order you to-”
“FUCK YOU!” The call ended abruptly, as if the guy had thrown the phone against the wall to destroy it.
“HOW DARE YOU!” The woman roared in anger, immediately setting the guy up for Termination on her computer.
“Enough kiddy gloves… Send our retrieval team to get the Chef’s daughter. He will either obey, or watch her become our new recruit. THEN she will become our new recruit all the same.” She muttered with a cruel smirk while tapping rapidly on her computer.
“Threat Identified. I require permission to eradicate them all.” BoB the Supreme AI asked, and on the surface of the Moon-Sized death station ‘Bio-Obliterating Ballista’ a giant cannon surfaced and a complex reticle locked onto the various HPSC offices all over Japan, and the illegal secret ones in various hidden locations in the rest of the planet.
“The System gives permission.” The System answered.
“Can we use more covert attacks? Friend Izuku will be sad if we kill them all so openly.” 808 said.
“… I accept the suggestion on the ground of not wanting to disappoint my friend. I will organize everything for a systematic destruction of the Threats’ lives in a way that won’t cause Innocent Casualties.” BoB conceded.
“Thank you.”
The cannon retreated under the Ballista’s surface, and the two AIs hidden inside, the two most advanced in that Universe, set to plan Hacking attacks and general sabotaging attacks; and if that will not be enough, then precise Drone strikes will incinerate the problem once and for all.
Meanwhile – With Shiro -
The Ancestral Taotie was swimming through the shadows as if they were water, and resurfacing inside a dimly lit laboratory to observe the old man and the heavily-scarred Villain he was working on.
“So Shigaraki has not been found yet?” All for One demanded, unaware of the small fluffy creature spying on them.
“Unfortunately he is still avoiding Kurogiri, Sensei. We found the sub-cutaneous tracker I had put on him, though.” Daruma answered, sighing.
“So he tore it off? I would be proud if not for the fact that this throws our plans down the drain.” The Villain answered, snarling.
“We need to find him, we are running out of time.” Daruma said.
“My body can’t keep up?”
“Not for much longer. We either finish adjusting Shigaraki’s body and proceed with the Procedure… Or we try my plan B and hope for the best…” The old man answered with an unsure tone.
“Plan B?”
“The kid of that Chef. She is the Kid with the Rewinding Quirk that escaped from Overhaul,”
“Aah! So that’s her? And of course that boy has her behind that little fortress of his posing as a Restaurant…”
“Sensei?”
“Himiko is surprisingly healthy after what Dabi did to her… We saw the footage.”
“Indeed. By my estimate Recovery Girl would have been unable to heal her from that insane amount of damage.” Daruma confirmed.
“So the little girl may have healed her?”
“From what we could gather from our spies, Himiko and that Eri are very close, and Himiko is very protective of her.”
“So it is probably thanks to Eri if Himiko is healthy again?”
“Very likely, Sensei.”
“Very well. Organize Eri’s recovery then, Himiko unknowingly acted as our Guines Pig to see if the kid’s Quirk works. That kid can’t stay in that Restaurant forever. I want her kidnapped as soon as she leaves that place for any reason.” All for One ordered.
“As you wish, sensei. At least like that, if Shigaraki can’t be found in time, we will already have her Quirk at ready to heal you.”
“Good.” All for One answered, pleased.
“Aah. The foolishness of Youngsters like him never cease to amuse me, they always believe they have it all figured out. Should I devour them both immediately?” Shiro thought while hidden inside All for One’s shadow and already salivating at the prospect of eating.
“If I can give you a suggestion, you tiny fool, Your Lord Dog suggests to wait.” Blackie’s own telepathic message arrived.
“You are here too, you fat pig masquerading as dog…” Shiro thought in annoyance.
He felt Blackie’s presence hidden inside Daruma’s shadow.
“This little rock of a planet is still full of idiots that think they can bully the Kiddo. I say we make a show of these two fools, a message so clear about everybody else needing to lower their heads that even the greatest Moron will understand that we won’t be bullied.” Blackie said.
“Since when you are in possession of such insight?” Shiro asked in corrosive sarcasm.
“Since This Lord Dog knows how to send a message! You only think about eating, you cretin! If you just eat them, another will take their place! Then another and then another! Like that I will never get a proper nap! We need to crush them in front view of everybody! And parade their broken, defeated corpses for everybody to see before we devour them! Like that MAYBE only the most idiotic fool will come making a mess! The kiddo is too soft, that’s why he has a laundry list of enemies!” Blackie declared.
“… Fair enough. This Esteemed Taotie shall hold its mouth and wait for them to be in plain view and at the apex of their glory before eating them.” Shiro answered.
“Very well, sure the Kiddo may object against us killing these idiots, ‘Justice and all that nonsense’, but once seen the number of his enemies reduced to a one hundredth, he will come around.” Blackie declared.
“Hopefully. Kids these days are so against killing their enemies… Back in the days it was easier.” Shiro admitted, sighing.
“I know, but we have to be patient.”
“Bah! I will eat those creepy monsters they made. I am here already, and I won’t leave on an empty stomach.”
“Your stomach is always empty.” Blackie answered with a mocking tone, then he left to return to sleep in front of Green Cloud Restaurant.
“That mangy dog will never understand the pleasure of eating good.” Shiro answered, sneering in distaste and returning to Izuku after eating the various Nomu in the Test Tubes in the lab.
“Uh?!” Daruma gasped in confusion once an alarm warned him that every test subject disappeared from the lab.
“What’s wrong?” All for One asked, annoyed.
“My test subjects are gone, Sensei! ALL TWO HUNDRED OF THEM!”
“… Eh?”
Three days later – Izakaya -
Izuku was once again checking on the Izakaya, and Hawks and Nagant working there, when he got an urgent message from Adelia requiring his immediate intervention.
“I need to go. You two are sure you have everything under control?” Izuku asked.
“Just go, Boss! I am the world greatest Waiter! This place is in safe hands!” Hawks answered with a cheeky thumbs-up.
“I’ll make sure this idiot won’t burn the place down, Izuku. You just go.” Nagant answered, slapping the back of Hawks’ head hard.
“Okay. Just call me if you get overwhelmed, and I will get here in an instant.” He answered.
“Just go, just go.” Both Nagant and Hawks answered at the same time, and pushing him towards the door that just appeared on the wall of the kitchen.
“I am going, I am going!” He answered, disappearing through the door.
“He is a good kid.” Hawks said, chuckling.
“Yes, but he worries too much. Now get back to work! More people are entering!” Nagant answered.
“I am going, I am going!” He answered, grumbling.
Green Gourmet Garden -
“I am here.” Izuku said as soon as he surfaced from the teleportation door.
“Sorry for the short notice, but those two look like to be a step away from starting biting each other, and we were afraid to see plates start flying everywhere.” Adelia said.
“That bad?” Izuku asked.
“They are doing the whole ‘Married couple arguing at low voice to not make a scene in a public place’ thing. But both Gentle and La Brava could still hear some snippets.” Goro added.
“Ah,”
“Something about money and sophisticated society’s expectations. They are getting very heated-up.” Gentle said.
“I could intervene and ask them if everything was alright, but the situation seems to tense that I am afraid the question will be the spark that will blow-up the powder keg.” Goro admitted, unsure.
“Want me to use a relaxing spell? Last thing we need is two Guests having a brawl in the middle of the Restaurant.” Adelia offered.
“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’ll go check the table personally. Which one is it?” Izuku asked.
“That table. Number 4, in the Memories Room.” La Brava said while pointing at the couple.
“I’ll take care of it, don’t worry.” Izuku answered, personally walking towards the table.
Memories Room -
The soft hum of distant conversations mingled with the gentle clinking of silverware and the delicate strains of classical music playing in that particular partition of the Restaurant; at a secluded corner table, a man and a woman sat across from each other, their postures were tense, and their voices low but firm.
"You must act the part, darling. We're not back in that tiny apartment anymore, we are not scrapping by and dreading the mailman to deliver the payment notice that will ruin us! We finally made it! We're someone now!"
"We are Someone? Who are we? What does that even mean? We're still us, no matter how much money we have now. I won't play pretend just to fit into a world that never mattered to us when we started!"
The wife's eyes flicked around the room, and her expression tightened, masking a simmering frustration and even fear.
"People are watching. We need to set the right example. You can't just-" She leaned in, lowering her voice further, and hissed her response hurriedly.
Before she could finish, an elegant young man in a perfectly tailored and pristine Chef Uniform approached their table with a warm smile, his presence exuded familiarity, but with a hint of youthful mischief in his eyes.
"Good evening. I am Midoriya Izuku, the owner of this establishment. It’s a pleasure to have you here tonight. May I personally take your orders?" Izuku asked, politely.
“Oh! The famous Midoriya himself?” The husband asked with a strange glint in his eyes and a smirk.
“The very same!” The young Chef answered, chuckling.
The wife instead sat up straighter, her expression smoothing into a practiced, polite smile as fake as a politician’s, and without glancing at the menu, she spoke with an air of forced excessive elegance.
"Honored to meet you. We'll have the most expensive dish you offer, add gold leaf to it too! Thank you." She said, haughtily and barely looking at him.
Izuku raised an eyebrow but said nothing, he then turned to the husband, he too refusing to even just read the menu and instead meeting his gaze with a small, rebellious smile, as if he was about to mock Izuku, the Restaurant and everybody eating there with his request.
"I'll have a cheeseburger." The husband said with a defiant tone and crossed arms, clearly waiting for any possible outburst.
The wife's smile faltered, and her eyes widened in a mix of horror, fury, and embarrassment.
“Oh, my God… What have you done!” Her hands grabbed the edge of the table until her knuckles whitened.
She opened her mouth to object, but Izuku chuckled softly, diffusing the tension.
"A cheeseburger, you say? Excellent choice. It’s been a while since I’ve served one in this particular Restaurant. I must say, I admire your honesty and humility. Extra cheese? Some crunchy bacon? With onions?" Izuku asked.
“Oh yeah, make it swim in cheese! Add the bacon and the onions too! Do you have any special sauce?” The husband asked, excited at the unexpected response.
“Darling, he…” The wife asked, lips trembling in shame.
“I can add to it my home-made BBQ sauce, either classic or honey based, and a special spicy sauce I make with smoked cheese as a base.”
“Uuuh! Both! The honey BBQ and the spicy cheese sauce! I want it greasy!” The guy answered in childish wonder.
“Of course!”
“He is mocking us-” The wife tried saying with a tone of defeat.
“Absolutely not.” Izuku interrupted her, chuckling.
“Uh?!”
Izuku glanced between them with his eyes twinkling with understanding.
"It’s not hard to guess what the discussion was about. You see, I too have humble origins, my mother still lives in the same small apartment in a complex in the more Middle Class area of the city, even. Me and my family cherish our origins, this restaurant, for example, it’s a passion project, but my heart belongs to the little Restaurant I started in and built in the tourist district, and that will always be where my Heart belongs. Sometimes, it's easy to forget that wealth doesn’t define who we are. It’s what's inside that counts." Izuku said, gently.
“Good to know I am not the only one thinking like that,” The husband said with a grateful tone.
The wife’s cheeks flushed a deep red and her gaze dropped to the table, Izuku nodded respectfully and disappeared into the kitchen, leaving them in a thick silence.
After a few moments, the husband reached across the table and touched her hand lightly.
"We don’t have to lose ourselves. Not for Societal Expectations or anyone else." The husband said with a soft voice.
“…”
“Honey, look at me… Please, give me back the amazing girl I fell helplessly in love with, do not become one of those insufferable snobs we both used to mock when we started working on our own.” The man begged.
“But… We got money now…”
“Yes, we got money and prestige, but it should only be a means to an end, a way to have less stress in our life, not an obligation to be people we are not! We are not… This! We never were! We got to this point by working hard and honestly, not by being stuck-up spoiled brats!”
“Honey…”
Meanwhile – Kitchen -
In the gleaming kitchen of the prestigious restaurant, the Five Kings, Adelia, Goro and even Gentle and La Brava pauses in their tasks once heard Izuku declare what the couple ordered; their eyes were wide with disbelief as they watched Izuku, by now a renowned Chef, organize his workstation to prepare a simple cheeseburger.
Especially shocking for the Five Kings, they watched the same hands they knew could craft intricate, sculpture-like dishes being used to shape a patty with meticulous care.
"Is he really making a… cheeseburger? Him? … Isn’t it, like, blasphemy?" Michiko whispered.
"An insult to his skills, that’s what it is! He’s the best chef in the city, and now he's wasting his time on a cheeseburger!" Mako answered, confused.
Izuku heard the murmurs, and a soft chuckle escaped his lips.
“A bit too extreme, guys.” He said while glancing up from his station, where the rich, marbled beef sat in a bowl.
"I see your shock, and I guess I can understand where you come from. But let me remind you why we’re here, I didn’t open this Restaurant to showcase expensive ingredients or create dishes that look like art. I opened this place because I love to cook." Izuku said, chuckling.
“I mean, I get it… But still…” Gentle muttered, unsure.
Izuku winked and turned back to his work, selecting a prime cut of beef, rib-eye from one of the Ingredients he got from his many sorties big and small.
“I’ll go for the rib-eye, for its balance of tenderness and flavor.” Izuku said while expertly trimming the fat away from the meat and setting it aside for later use.
“Using that amazing rib-eye cut for a Hamburger… My Meat Lover Soul weeps…” The Meat King said with an excessive longing sigh.
“Huhuhu! Far too dramatic!” Izuku answered, amused.
He placed the meat into a grinder and gently and slowly turned the thing’s crank to not stress the meat, filling the kitchen with the soft squishing sound of the blade cutting the meat as the beef emerged perfectly grounded.
"You know? The price of a dish, its appearance, these are just themes to me. In fact, today I feel like crafting something simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less deserving of care!"
He sprinkled a pinch of sea salt and cracked black pepper into the ground beef, gently folded it several times with his hands, and with practiced precision, he shaped the meat into a patty that was thick and even, and ready to sear.
"As I taught you already, Ingredients have personalities, much like people. Some want to be dressed up in finery, while others are happy if left in their simplest form."
Izuku heated-up the Turtle Wok in cast-iron skillet form, added a touch of the trimmed fat to it to give a rich, flavorful base and then added the patty.
“And this beef? Its very happy to become a cheeseburger, believe it or not.” Izuku explained as the patty sizzled, filling the air with the scent of searing beef.
“Pass me the cheese, please, Mako.”
“But… But… This is your homemade cheese! Your own creation, aged in the restaurant's private cellar! We usually use it for the Fondue and…”
“Mako, please.” Izuku asked again with a gentle tone.
“… Okay...”
Having received the cheese, Izuku sliced it carefully, and even just cutting it revealed a heavenly creamy texture and a rich aroma hinting at the absurd quality within.
"Yes, this cheese isn’t from a store, but one I made it myself, nurturing it like I do with any complex dish. Today, it will melt over this patty, creating something humble, yet exquisite."
“But that thing is expensive…” Mako said with a whine.
“AND, more importantly, very delicious!” Izuku answered, smiling and flipping the patty to show its crust of perfect golden brown, then gently laid the cheese slice on top, allowing it to soften and ooze slightly as the heat worked its magic.
While the patty rested, Izuku toasted a fresh lightly buttered brioche bun, that too not bought but made by him and the others, until golden and crisp at the edges.
“The final assembly…”
“Please make it fancy.” The Fish King begged.
“Nope! simple but deliberate, I am not making a stuck-up cheeseburger!” Izuku answered with a cheeky smile.
To assemble the cheeseburger, Izuku smeared the buns with a thin layer of home-made aioli (aioli refers very specifically to a sauce made from olive oil that has been emulsified into mashed garlic, usually with a mortar and pestle), the cheeseburger glistening and fragrant, crisp lettuce, thinly sliced onion, a slice of vine-ripened tomato, the crunchy bacon, and finally two dollops of the requested sauces.
While looking at his Staff still looking at him in disbelief, Izuku smirked and used the same pliers he used to assemble his more fancy dishes to place the top bun, completing the masterpiece with some sarcastic flourish.
“Ha-Ha-Ha… Watch out, we have a Comedian here…” Adelia commented, huffing.
"There you have it. A cheeseburger, yes, but made with the same love and care I put into any dish. Remember, it’s not the complexity or the cost that makes a dish special, it’s the heart of the chef who prepares it." Izuku said, holding the place with the cheeseburger up with great care.
“The Foie Gras is ready too.” Mako answered, sighing.
“Well done! I will deliver them both to that table myself.” Izuku answered, grabbing the other plate from the girl’s hands.
Before leaving though, he turned around and looked at his Staff with his eyes gleaming with humor.
"Oh, and just so we’re clear, even at gunpoint, I refuse to use edible gold leaf. That tasteless nothing has no place on my beloved food." He said.
The kitchen burst into laughter, with the tension melting away as they all nodded in agreement, by now aware of Izuku’s playful disdain for that culinary trend.
A little detail about the Foie Gras Izuku used, the source of it was the animal known in the Gourmet World of Zaus as the Gourmet Duck, or Greedy Duck, depending on who you asked; that giant duck was the size of an elephant and had a penchant for overeating to unhealthy levels, any farm dealing with them would constantly monitor the Duck’s liver health and program the harvest of it through safe and non-invasive surgery that would remove the overly-stuffed liver to preserve the animal’s health.
Thanks to its advanced healing properties, the Duck would then only need three to four days at most to regrow a new and completely healthy liver, once done the duck would then be permitted to return to wander freely in the farm to eat when and what it wanted.
Izuku had three of those ducks and had programmed the harvest of their livers on rotation so to not force-feed the Gourmet Ducks like its was sadly common with common ducks in Izuku’s original world, and to him, using the Gourmet Ducks was a far more ethical way to get foie gras.
Memories Room – Table of the married couple -
“Honey, please,” The husband begged, closing whatever plea he was making while Izuku cooked.
The wife’s eyes lifted to meet her husband’s, filled with a mixture of shame and regret, but before she could respond, Izuku arrived, carrying the tray with the artfully plated dish of Foie Gras adorned by small flecks of scallions, and a humble cheeseburger.
“Here, Foie Gras with aromatic herbs and truffle reduction, and a Cheeseburger with maxi burgers and extra cheese. My apologies for the lack of edible gold flecks, but we do not use it in this Restaurant, it’s against our policies.” He said while setting down the plates in front of them.
“Oh, it’s fine. It’s not like it has a taste, it’s just that we are used to see those flecks cover every inch of the food we order in other restaurants we visit.” The Husband answered, nonplussed.
“Thank you, sir.”
“You really made a cheeseburger…” The wife muttered, surprised.
“We pride ourselves of always doing our best for our Guests,” Izuku answered.
“Thank you.”
"It’s my pleasure. Bon appétit. I hope you enjoy both your Past and your Present, both important and tasty." Izuku answered with a gentle smile, and with a respectful bow, he left them to their food.
The wife watched the cheeseburger with an expression of reluctant curiosity, because when the scent drifted up, it filled the air among her and her husband with a thick sense of nostalgia.
“Daaamn, I haven’t eaten a Cheeseburger in years! I missed the taste!” The husband said after a giant bite, and savoring it with a contented sigh.
After a moment, the wife, without a word, reached over and broke off half the cheeseburger and took a small, tentative bite.
“Hey!” The husband said in mock anger.
“Just share like we used to!” Her voice lacked the forced haughtiness, and even her dialect slipped through, and with her eyes closed she left the taste wash over her, and a soft, almost involuntary smile started tugging at her lips.
“It’s… Nostalgic. Reminds me of when we couldn’t afford anything else." The wife admitted, quietly and begrudgingly.
The husband chuckled, taking another bite of his half.
"It tastes like home." He said, chuckling.
As they kept eating in companionable silence, sharing both the cheeseburger and the Foie Gras, Izuku watched from afar with a knowing smile on his face.
In that moment, to both Husband and Wife, the expensive dish and the simple cheeseburger both tasted like heaven, not because of their price, but because of the memories they evoked and the connection they reignited, representing the start of their journey and their current life.
In the Kitchen -
Goro gave a long exhale of relief as soon as he saw Izuku return inside the kitchen.
“You defused the situation perfectly, Master.” He said.
“I was about to evict them myself, I feared they would have started brawling,” Adelia added.
“Oh! I did nothing! I just cooked what they asked, the husband did all the work!” Izuku answered, smiling.
“Still, you clearly went above and beyond to make that cheeseburger, not many Famous Chefs would have done it,” Mako said.
“Thank Goodness I am not a normal Chef!” Izuku answered, chuckling.
“You are way beyond that, Boss!” La Brava answered.
A soft jingle came from behind a closed door.
“What’s that?” Goro asked.
“Ah, yes! I set a new TV in the staff room, and put it the channel airing MasterChef Japan, it’s about time they air the new episode.” Izuku answered.
“It’s true! It’s starting!” Mako said while pointing at the small TV in their Staff room.
“Holy crap! Did you really go as a Guest to MasterChef, Boss?” Toshio asked, unsure.
“Yes, I was one of the Special Guests.”
“He is not the kind of person to lie or say bullcrap, so I do think he was saying the truth.” Adelia answered.
“Woooow… Thank you for the trust,” Izuku muttered, dejected.
“They probably recorded the episode not too long ago,” Goro added.
“Yes, it was less scary or traumatic than what I feared...”
– TV Studio – The day the Episode was recorded -
The camera swept across a grand studio in Japan, revealing gleaming cooking stations lined up in perfect symmetry, each adorned with top-of-the-line kitchen equipment. The studio was abuzz with anticipation, the air thick with the scent of spices and ambition. The vibrant logo "MasterChef" dominated the backdrop, shimmering under the bright studio lights.
Immediately the voiceover of the show’s Narrator started talking and introducing the show.
Welcome to MasterChef Japan! The ultimate culinary battleground where 20 aspiring chefs from across Japan converge with one dream: to become the next culinary superstar. Each week, they will face intense challenges that will test their skills, creativity, and resilience in the heat of the kitchen!
The camera moved to the judges' table, where three distinct figures sat, observing the room with varying degrees of interest.
Guiding their journey are three culinary titans, each bringing their unique flavor to the table. First, we have Chef Tanaka Hiroshi, tall and jolly, with a heart as big as his laughter, known for his gentle approach and quick wit.
The camera focused on Chef Tanaka Hiroshi, who flashed a warm, encouraging smile at the camera as he leaned back in his chair.
Then, there's Chef Satoshi Kenji, small in stature but formidable in presence, the brutally honest critic whose sharp tongue can slice through any dish with precision.
The camera cut to Chef Satoshi Kenji, with his eyes scanning the room with a discerning gaze, arms crossed, and exuding a no-nonsense aura.
And finally, the leader of our culinary triumvirate, Chef Watanabe Ren, the steady hand and 'straight guy' of the trio, whose calm demeanor and expert palate make him a force to be reckoned with in the kitchen.
Chef Ren nodded slightly, with his posture suggesting a subtle but commanding presence, as the camera lingered on his composed expression, he broke character and playfully winked at the camera.
These chefs are here to transform raw talent into culinary artistry. Over the next several weeks, our contestants will face a series of gruelling challenges— from Mystery Box tests to complex Pressure Tests— pushing their skills to the limit. Their journey will be peppered with triumphs, heartbreaks, and intense competition.
The camera shifted to the eager faces of the 20 contestants, each standing at their stations with their aprons crisp and their eyes filled with determination.
They’ve come from all walks of life, united by their love of cooking and a shared dream to earn the title of Master Chef. In this kitchen, only one will rise to the top, proving they have what it takes to withstand the heat.
The camera zoomed out, capturing the full grandeur of the studio as the excitement builds.
Let the culinary battle begin. This is MasterChef Japan!
“Finally! It’s time.” Samui, watching the show live from behind the scenes, said with a malevolent smirk.
“It’s time.” In the Studio, Ren reminded himself the plan and stepped forward, ready to welcome audience at home and the Contestants in the studio like he always did with the other two Judges.
“It’s time, Host.” The System warned Izuku.
“Yes, last hurdle to deal with another of Samui’s friends, I am honestly tired of this…” Izuku admitted, sighing and sitting in a small room waiting for his turn to enter.
End of the chapter!
Two small extras!
Small flash forward – Opening day of Izuku's Patisserie ‘(Your) Green corner of Paradise’ -
The patisserie was a dream made real, a confection of charm and elegance that seemed plucked straight from the pages of a fairytale.
“Chihaya…”
“Hush!” The girl hissed, still sporting a dreamy smile while turning the sign on the door on the ‘Open!’ side.
The patisserie’s name, “(Your) Green Corner of Paradise,” was playful yet impossibly accurate, earning chuckles before customers even stepped inside and when the first Guests arrived, the first thing anyone noticed was the mint-green façade, soft and inviting, with playful swirls of white that mimicked the shapes of clouds drifting lazily across a spring sky.
Four gargantuan windows dominated the front of the store, framed by delicate floral arrangements in an explosion of cheerful colors: yellows, pinks, purples, and reds.
More flowers spilled from hanging baskets and planters at the ceiling and at the corners of the room, their lively hues had been mixed to set a cheerful tone before anyone even stepped inside.
And inside, it was as if the sun had decided to take up residence, the space was flooded with natural light thanks to the enormous windows allowing sunshine to pour in and illuminate every corner; that extra brightness made the mint-green and cloud-white theme pop, creating a space that felt fresh, airy, and almost otherworldly.
The tables, scattered throughout, were thin and elegant, with their small frames made of delicate white metal with subtle curls and flourishes.
Each table was topped with a tiny vase holding a single flower, a simple touch that added to the charm without being overwhelming, while the chairs, equally petite, had soft pastel cushions that invited visitors to linger.
The walls were adorned with subtle cloud motifs, giving the impression of floating through a clear sky, strings of fairy lights were woven artfully along the edges of shelves and displays with their gentle glow adding a touch of whimsy even during the day.
“Welcome! Welcome! Please come in!” Chihaya said, beaming with joy.
Then there was the main counter, a masterpiece in its own right, stretching across the center of the shop; it was a pristine expanse of gleaming white, its surface had been polished to a mirror finish.
“Chihaya?! You work here?! Why?!” One of the Guests was a group of the woman’s old colleagues, and they all looked shocked at seeing her there, working for Izuku.
“Told you I found a better job! See? I made all of these!” She answered, pointing at the tiny windows that lined the front of the counter.
The small openings were showcasing rows upon rows of tiny sweets: cupcakes, and biscuits arranged like precious jewels, each treat was a work of art with their vibrant colors and delicate details practically begging to be admired before they were devoured.
“You made those?!” One of Chihaya’s old co-workers said in surprise.
“These, the cakes behind the counter, all of it!” She answered.
Behind the counter stood shelves lined with cakes of all sizes and shapes, towering confections adorned with flowers, fruits, and intricate piping, then Macarons in every shade imaginable were stacked in pyramids so that their glossy shells could catch the light.
A small corner displayed an array of chocolates, each one glossy and perfectly shaped, nestled in tiny boxes tied with ribbons.
“My new Boss gave me plenty of lessons while explaining to me what he expected of me to work here. I have to say that I finally got the recognition I deserve! And even the skill I always dreamed to have when cooking!” Chihaya said.
Soft, cheerful music floated through the air, blending seamlessly with the occasional laughter and the quiet clink of plates and cups, creating an atmosphere that was both lively and serene.
The scent of sugar, butter, and fresh flowers hung in the air, so intoxicating it was almost enough to make anyone forget their troubles.
“But… Midoriya…” One of them said.
“Just sit at a table, and I’ll show you why I think I had a great idea coming to work here!” She answered, winking.
Watching them sit at a table, the woman gave a chuckle of satisfaction, it wasn’t just a patisserie! It was a sanctuary of sweetness and light, a place that felt like stepping into a cloud and tasting heaven! A-
“Too much Prose!”
“Goddamnit I said it aloud again!” Chihaya swore in anger.
She neared the table of her former colleagues to take their orders.
“I can’t believe you betrayed us and came working for Him!” One of the guys said in distaste-
“Differently from many other people, I decided to swallow my pride and ask him how he could cook the way he did. And guess what? He taught me! It was hard, it was grueling, it made me feel like I didn’t even know how to boil water, but once done, I became much, much better. Not as good as him… He is still at a level that I think it shouldn’t be possible, but Goddamnit I got much better! And in exchange I decided to work for him! And you know what? I should have asked him sooner instead of wasting time peeling potatoes for you others! HERE I have the occasion to shine!” She answered, harrumphing.
“You are still a traitor. You didn’t work in the kitchen because you lack talent, just like Mister Benimaru said!” One of the girls said.
“The only talent you have Haruka is that you are fast to get on your knees. But it’s okay, I can show you easily why you and Benimaru are full of shit…” Chihaya answered, walking away and ignoring the girl’s shrieks of anger.
“That’s not how you treat a Guest…” Her friend said.
“I walked on her and Benimaru having fun. That horrid image still plagues my nightmares and she pretty much bullied me the entire time I worked there. I deserve some payback!”
“Still not convinced that was proper manners…”
“I’ll apologize to Boss Izuku later, now help me prepare their orders, I want to shut them up once and for all.”
“Yeah, yeah...”
When she brought them what they ordered, she answered to their sneers with a wide smile.
“Here, taste the fruit of my working under Midoriya, and you will understand why I did it.” She said.
“You are just fooling yourself, Chihaya, you decided to work for a Bastard and got yourself tricked. You are not...” One of the guys started saying, but once they all tasted the sweets, their anger turned into shock.
A single bite of the heavenly chocolate tart melted like silk on their tongues, rich and velvety, with a depth of cocoa that made their eyes close in pure bliss, the dreamy custard eclairs were a revelation, an airy choux filled with a cream so light and luscious it felt like eating a cloud.
“How…”
“Told you! I took my lessons with Midoriya to heart!” Chihaya answered, proud.
Cupcakes, cookies, and macarons alike were explosions of flavor, delicate yet vibrant, each one a testament to the skills and care behind them.
“No way…” One of the girls muttered, shocked.
“Ah-ha! Who’s laughing now?! I got to work for a Genius and become a Genius myself! Not you, Mikoto!” The woman answered in triumph, and walking back to stand behind the counter with a swag she never thought she would have been able to possess just a few months ago.
For many, eating in that Patisserie was a spiritual experience! The kind of sweetness that made their hearts ache, their minds quiet, and their souls sigh in gratitude. It was paradise, wrapped in pastry and icing! The-
“Chihaya,”
“Let me enjoy the moment, fuck! I got a Major in Literature and Philosophy and I am going to use it!” She barked in answer.
“Yeah, yeah.”
Extra 2
– Omake -
Interdimensional Ingredient Hunt:
The Dish that turned Friendly Fire ON!
Other Dimension - Super Futuristic City – Somewhere near Nigeria -
The city was a marvel of advanced technology, a scientific utopia where peace and harmony reigned and Human and Robots coexisted, surprising Izuku greatly as soon as he arrived.
“Okay! This is nice!” He admitted, whistling.
“Nature and technology blending together so perfectly! It’s amazing!” Momo added, watching in awe the many gardens big and small everywhere in the city.
“Good Unity Day!” one of the citizens said with a happy smile while passing by them.
“Oh! To you too!” She answered.
“This place is nice! Way more peaceful than my last few Sorties.” Izuku admitted.
“I can imagine. So? What are we looking for?” Momo asked.
“Uziza Leaves, Kuli-Kuli and Uda. Spices and herbs that can only be found in the territories near Nigeria, and the ones in this Dimension are apparently an evolved form of the original plants, a superior version, all thanks to the plants being irradiated by something called Omnic Energy.” Izuku answered.
“I see, where should we start looking?” She asked.
“Some market or even Restaurants, hopefully they really are friendly enough to share information.” He answered.
Several Hours Later – Plaza -
Hana didn’t mind making PR appearances, really! She knew that they were helping keeping up Peace and stuff! She and the guys could not be there officially, as a military force… But nothing said they could not just visit the place!
Sigh!
“Not one for celebrations?” Angela asked, chuckling.
“Celebrations? I like those! I even like Game Cons! Smell of sweat and all! I don’t like sneaking in like a thief,” Hana answered.
“Hahaha! We didn’t sneak in, we just could not make a grand entrance,” Angela answered, amused.
“To me it’s the same thing! I am a celebrity, you know? I am an internet sensation!”
“Ladies, please! We are here both to celebrate, and to keep things in check! We got information that Talon is becoming restless far too close to the city.” A voice said from their communicators.
“Sorry, Winston.” Both girls answered, making him chuckle.
“I will look the other way if you get yourself something to eat, I am not that cruel.”
“How very gracious of you!” Angela answered with a chuckle, while Hana rolled her eyes.
“You heard the genius gorilla! I say we check if there is some smoothie place not too crowded,” Hana suggested, sighing.
“That sounds like a good place to start or investigation, yes,” Angela answered.
Once checked the location of the others that just like them were covertly patrolling the streets with the excuse of celebrating the city’s Unity Day, the two women made their way through the city, enjoying the sights. Until a peculiar sight caught their attention, along the amazing scent accompanying it.
“Oh! Somebody is getting popular!” Angela said.
“What the… Is it a special event or something?” Hana muttered, surprised.
They could see a small restaurant owned by an old lady being swarmed by people clamouring to eat, with an absurdly-long line of people pushing as if hoping to force the line to move faster.
“Incredible! The kid can really make everything you ask!” One of the people walking out was heard saying with a happy smile.
“Oh! Now I am intrigued. Should we visit it?” Angela suggested.
“I don’t know… I am on a diet…” Hana answered, unsure.
“I am sure I can help you lose any extra weight you will get from a single Cheat Day.”
“Aren’t you a doctor or something?” Hana asked.
“Yes, but I am not a monster,” She answered.
Not dwelling too much into it, the two girls quietly stood in line, Angela keeping her eyes on the situation while Hana looking at some gaming videos on her phone; until finally they got to sit at a table and the old woman came to take their order.
“What can I bring you, ladies? My temporary Chef seems able to make everything,” The owner asked.
“Temporary?” Hana asked.
“Unfortunately! I tried having him to stay here forever, but nothing I promised worked… He promised me one day of work in exchange of the plants he needed and that’s it.” The old lady answered, sighing.
“Curious deal. What do you suggest?” Angela asked.
“I usually offer Nigerian style dishes, but that boy knows plenty of dishes.”
“Like?” Hana asked, curious.
“What about some Rösti with a side of Züri Gschnätzlets… And some nice Bibimbap?” From the kitchen, Izuku suggested with a gentle smile.
“Bibimbap?” Hana asked with her eyebrows rising all the way up.
“Rösti with Züri Gschnätzlets? Why, I haven’t had that in a while!” Angela answered, equally impressed.
“So it’s a yes?” Izuku asked.
“If you think you can make it good, go ahead!” Hana answered.
“I’ll do my best, I promise.” The Young Chef answered, giving them a proper bow and leaving for the kitchen.
“I wonder how he recognized we are from Korea and Switzerland,” Angela wondered, amused.
“Maybe he recognized us?” Hana answered.
“If he did, at least he didn’t make a scene about it,” She said.
“Oh! I’ll make a scene if he gets our food wrong!” Hana answered, smirking.
One Hour Later -
“I am here, thank you for waiting!” Izuku answered, smiling.
He and Momo were holding two plates each, each with part of the women’s order.
“Considering the dishes you suggested, you were actually fast in making them,” Angela answered, gladly receiving the plates in Momo’s hands.
“You better have made it right! I’m gonna shame you online if you did a poor job!” Hana siad, getting the dishes in Izuku’s hand and winking at him.
“I’ll keep my fingers crossed then!” Izuku answered, chuckling and returning with Momo to the kitchen.
“Oh my! It does look delicious,” Angela admitted.
Bibimbap. A South Korean traditional Dish.
Rosti
Züri Gschnätzlets
“이거는 대박 야! (This is awesome!) 잘 먹겠습니다! (Thank you for the food, I will eat well!) .” Hana exclaimed at the first bite.
“It is delicious, indeed!” Angela answered, very pleased with her food too.
“The gochujang taste so good! It’s like… Like the one I used to eat as a kid! It’s warm, like, Inside! In my stomach!”
“My Rosti too is surprising, he added some herbs in the grated potatoes… And the flavour now is so aromatic and slightly nutty and floral. Reminds me of home.” Angela answered.
“It’s thanks to the Uda pepper and the Uziza Leaves I used to make them.” Izuku answered.
“Very well done! GG!” Hana said, smiling.
“Thank you, I am glad you liked it.” Izuku answered.
“Oooh, I liked it a lot, pretty guy!” Hana answered, smirking.
“…” Izuku and Momo’s muscles tensed instantly.
“Hana dear, please do not jump to conclusions.” Angela said.
“Hey! I saw him first!”
“That’s not what I meant! I-”
“RUN!” Izuku didn’t wait, he grabbed Momo’s hand and ran away.
“WAAAAIT! You scared him!” Hana yelled.
“No, Hana… I believe you scared him…” Angela said, slowly.
“I didn’t scare him! I am D.Va! I don’t scare boys! I make them swoon!”
“… Riiiiight.” She answered.
“This is Talon! We are here to break this foolish stagnant Peace of your-”
“Troublemakers will be stripped as an example to others!”
“KYAAAAAAAAAAH!”
“… What was that?” Hana asked, unnerved by the various screams.
“D.va! Mercy! Talon is attacking!… Ah. We also got informations about a robot wrecking the Talon attack squad. I already contacted the others, converge in the area and assist that robot and the guy fighting alongside him.” Winston’s voice immediately came from their communicators.
“Roger!” Angela answered.
When the two girls reached the area where the fight was taking place, with Hana piloting a big mech with rabbit-ears-like protrusions on its head, the fight was already over, with every member of Talon stripped down to their unmentionables and unconscious, probably slapped into unconsciousness looking at their red and bruised faces.
“Aaw! Over already? A girl can’t even get some fun around here!” A young woman with short hair said with a childish frown.
“Sorry about it, Whitey is very protective of me.” Izuku answered.
“I notice, boy! But at least your robot buddy was fast enough to not hurt civilians!” She answered.
“Oh hey! It’s you!” Hana said with a happy smile.
“He is not interested!” Momo growled, moving in front of Izuku to shield him from Hana.
“What? Feeling the pressure, girl?” Hana answered, smirking and jumping out of her mech.
“No! Because even if you wear a skin-tight suit, I know he will still choose me!”
“That sounds like self-gaslighting! I think you are not ready to face the truth!”
“Bring it!” Momo roared.
“PvP, baby! Do not disappoint me!”
“Hana! Down!” Angela ordered.
“I am not a dog!” She answered, offended.
“But you still act like a bitch!” Momo snapped.
“How dare you! I-”
“SYSTEM!” Izuku yelled, and thankfully the portal opened under him and Momo and let them fall through to return home.
“Get back here! First I will kick your ass, then I will get your EX-boyfriend on a nice date in an Arcade!” Hana yelled, furious.
“This day started so well…” Angela muttered, groaning.
End of the Chapter.
Thank you for your patience.
Chapter 39: The Magical World of TV! Izuku and the MasterChef Showdown!
Summary:
The fateful episode of Master Chef, where Izuku and Ren's plan to deal once again with Samui comes to fruition.
Notes:
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or anything else I will use nor I make a profit out of this, I am writing just for the pleasure of doing it.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Sorry if I took so long. Life has been difficult lately, and still is.
I don’t want to trauma dump, but currently I don’t know what is holding me together, another reason why I made the entire Ren thing into a single chapter, now that Ren is “Gone” I can focus on Samui and Shigaraki and finish the story.
Due to my issues, it is very likely I will stop writing for a while after finishing this story, still undecided if I will drop writing Fanfiction altogether or not.
Chapter 39
The Magical World of TV! Izuku and the MasterChef Showdown -
TV Studios – Dressing room -
Izuku sat quietly in the dressing room, his hands resting on his lap as the makeup artist worked on him with swift, practised movements; he had never cared much about appearances, even as Zaus, since his career as a Chef had always been about skill, not looks… But he knew television had its own set of rules, and even a guest Chefs needed to be camera-ready like everybody else.
“Almost done,” The make-up artist murmured, dusting a bit of powder over his face.
“Thank God,” Izuku answered, and both him and the woman shared a chuckle.
“We just want to make sure you don’t look too shiny under the lights.” She explained.
“Can’t argue with that logic!” Izuku nodded absently, because his mind was still elsewhere.
He wasn’t nervous, not exactly, but the weight of being on a show like MasterChef was starting to settle in; it was one thing to dominate in the kitchen, another to be in front of an audience, scrutinized by millions like during the various Gourmet Tournaments he took part to, in his other life. Especially since this will also double as another blow to Samui’s deranged revenge plan.
Knock! Knock!
A knock at the door pulled him from his thoughts.
“Come in,” Izuku called.
The door swung open, revealing Ren Watanabe, one of the three MasterChef judges; the man was dressed sharply in his signature dark suit, and his salt-and-pepper hair was elegantly slicked back, he carried himself with the effortless authority of someone who had spent years commanding respect in the kitchen and TV Shows alike.
“Midoriya! Finally! Good morning,” Ren greeted, stepping inside and closing the door behind him.
“Mister Ren, good morning!”
“How are you feeling?”
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little… Out of my element, so to speak.” Izuku shrugged.
Ren smirked and grabbed Izuku’s shoulders with a smile full of boundless energy.
“Understandable. Cooking in a professional kitchen is one thing. Cooking in a studio, knowing that every move you make will be analysed by a national audience, some of which act as if they are great experts while in truth they know absolutely nothing about cooking? That’s another challenge entirely.”
“Yeah…”
“Midoriya, I do appreciate you coming on such short notice. Honest, I am grateful.” His voice carried the weight of both relief and annoyance for entire situation, a weight similar and yet different compared to Izuku, since both had to deal with the delusions of the exact same guy, for different reasons.
“I was surprised by the call. I thought the season was already filmed.” Izuku admitted.
“That’s what we let the public believe.” Ren leaned forward, smirking, and answered.
“Uh?”
“We film in blocks of ten episodes. While airing the first batch, we record other ten episodes and at the same time we analyse audience response thanks to few guys with Data-gathering/Analyzing Quirks, make adjustments, and sometimes, if we think it’ll make for good television, bring in more special guests to shake things up.”
“Oh.”
Ren crossed his arms, and leaned against the wall to let the make-up artist return to work in peace.
“Most people assume we shoot the entire season in one go like we used to do before Quirks popped out, but that’s outdated. In the past, it made sense to record continuously, but now, thanks and because people have Quirks, we can afford to film in blocks of ten or so episodes.”
“Because of Quirks?” Izuku tilted his head and asked.
“Some contestants have Quirks that influence their cooking speed, stamina, or precision. For better or worse,”
“Ah...”
“One of the Contestants in this edition for example can’t be near source of high heat for too long, to name one. So, rather than exhaust Contestants with non-stop filming, we give them breaks between blocks, sometimes even an entire day for the worst cases, to reset and recover. And besides helping us avoid legal troubles, it also allows us to introduce guest Chefs, like you, at strategic moments, making the competition more unpredictable. Along the collection of audience response data thing. Letting contestants rest is a believable excuse too, when somebody asks.”
“That actually makes kind of sense.” Izuku absorbed the information, nodding slowly.
“Glad you think so. Now, let’s talk about your role. You’re here as one of two guest Chefs for the upcoming Pressure Test.” Ren smirked.
“A Pressure Test is the very hard challenge that determines which contestant is kicked out, right? How exactly does that work? And who’s the guy I will be a co-guest with?” Izuku exhaled and asked, trying to focus on anything else other than yet another cooking duel against one of Samui’s lapdogs.
“You’ll meet the other guy soon. For now, let me explain how this version of Pressure Test works. Normally, in a “Choose the Plate Pressure Test”, contestants facing elimination are given a choice between two or more dishes, created by a renowned Chef. They must pick one and recreate it under intense time constraints. Hence the Pressure name. This time, instead of being dishes made by a single Chef, we will have two Guests each bringing a single dish.” Ren answered
“So, the challenge isn’t just about cooking, it’s about precision, technique, and decision-making under pressure.” Izuku muttered.
“Exactly. And the stakes are high, whoever fails the challenge is eliminated, as you said.”
Izuku exhaled, already imagining the tension in the kitchen.
“And I assume the dish I present will be one of those two choices?”
“That’s right!” Ren answered with an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
“So I’m a ratings stunt?” Izuku raised an eyebrow, and asked with a smirk.
“That, and you’re a damn good Chef.” Ren chuckled.
“Thanks, I guess.”
“This season, we noticed that one of the contestants has been… Let’s say getting too comfortable. He’s good, very good. A strong technician, but lacking real adversity, listening to the comments on the social media. The producers thought it’d be interesting to introduce a challenge that truly tests him. And when we discussed who could push him to his limits…” He gestured toward Izuku.
“I was one of the Chefs they decided to call.”
“The very second name they made!”
“Ah. They have expectations about me, then.”
“Plenty. Bring your best. And, of course, make sure the audience gets a show.”
“No pressure, huh?” Izuku chuckled, already thinking about the dish he would present.
“Oh, there’ll be plenty of that.” Ren’s grin widened, then he glanced at the makeup artist, who was still fussing over Izuku’s hair.
With an easy smile, he clapped his hands together.
“That’ll do. Thank you for your time.” He said.
The makeup artist blinked, confused.
“But I haven’t-”
A pause.
Ren glanced at the makeup artist in cold silence, then straightened his back and dropped his smile.
“Midoriya needs a minute to focus. Let’s give him some space.”
“I still need to-” The makeup artist hesitated.
“He looks perfect,” Ren interrupted her.
“And we wouldn’t want him distracted before his big moment, right?” He then added, with just a slightly edge to his tone.
“No, sir.” She answered, sighing.
“Dear Midoriya needs a moment to mentally prepare. This will be his big debut, right?” Ren said, smoothly.
“Of course. Good luck, Midoriya-san.” The woman hesitated, then gave a polite nod.
She packed up her tools and slipped out the door, leaving the two men alone.
The second the door clicked shut, Ren’s casual demeanor dropped, his smirk faded into a grim expression and he gave a long exhale.
“I like that woman, but she can be far too nosey for her own good….” Now he stood behind Izuku with his arms crossing over his chest and looking into Izuku’s eyes through his reflection on the big mirror in front of them both.
“Alright. Now that we’re alone, let’s talk about what’s really happening here.”
“What do you mean?” Izuku frowned.
“It’s not a chance that your name was made as a possible Guest Chef here. And you know it.” Ren said
“Samui intervened,” Izuku answered, sighing.
“Ding-Ding-Ding! You got it right! He jumped on the chance like a fly on a mound of crap. He got contacted by the producers of the show to know if we could get one of the Chefs working with him to come as a guest… And right after that, he contacted me, to tell me I needed to make sure you too would get in the show, and then help his man defeat you,”
“Of course…” Izuku gave a long, annoyed sigh.
“It was bound to happen, you and Samui are among the most talked about Chef of the moment, so when I made your name as a possible second Guest, it took next to no pushing on my side to get the producers to accept the idea.”
“So Samui wants me to be part of a Pressure Test and lose, even as a Guest Chef?”
“Samui wants you to look bad on national television… SOMEHOW! All thanks to that top-tier chef Samui sent here. The idea is simple: two professionals, side by side, demonstrating a dish. The contestants must replicate it perfectly. If they fail, they’re out. Audience love that, usually.” Ren said.
“And Samui will LOVE to see me look like a fool once compared to one of the Chefs working for him. A damn second-hand victory.” Izuku said, rubbing his temples.
“By now that moron is ready to accept anything just to get a Win against you. No matter how much he has to stretch the term Victory to do it.” The other answered.
Izuku exhaled, running a hand through his hair.
“So, no direct competition… But even just a chance to see me crack under pressure. That’s all this is, this is how low his expectations are now.” he said, groaning.
“Pretty much,”
“Who is the other guy, the other Chef?”
Ren exhaled through his nose in clear annoyance.
“Your co-guest Chef? He’s an arrogant, self-absorbed prick.” His voice was low, filled with quiet disdain.
“Lovely person.” Izuku muttered.
“And he was chosen specifically to humiliate you.” Ren added.
“Obviously,”
“Samui hand-picked your opponent. The guy runs one of Samui’s flagship restaurants, and his entire brand is built around excess. A pretentious hack.”
“Hn?”
“Overcomplicated, wasteful dishes that are more about looking expensive than actually respecting the ingredients. The kind of guy who thinks ‘fine dining’ means adding gold flakes and an extra twelve steps just to make something look expensive or high class.”
“So they expect me to fail in comparison to That? Or to make a fool of myself trying to match his complexity? That’s it?” Izuku’s jaw tightened.
“Samui is many things… Smart it’s not one of those. That’s what he’s hoping for. But that’s not what’s going to happen. I learned to know you well enough to know this.”
“Right. Hubris. I forgot how annoying that is, I am too used to actual schemers that learn about their enemies before planning,” Izuku took a deep breath and answered, rolling his shoulders back to make them pop.
“Just remember that the ones shooting wildly are still dangerous. But you’re going to do what you do best, strip away the nonsense of any dish you make. I saw you do that plenty of times against the others.” Ren nodded approvingly.
“Thanks,”
“Let him drown in his pretentious techniques while you focus on actual, respectful cooking. I know that guy, he’ll very likely present some needlessly complex, borderline inedible monstrosity meant to impress rich idiots, and you’ll serve something ‘normally complex’. A dish that’s elegant, precise, and deeply respectful to the ingredients, in fact, I really hope he will, because it will actually help us too.”
“I mean…”
“It’s a compliment, Midoriya.” Ren said, smirking.
“Ah! Okay, then.”
“Let him bury himself in his own arrogance. And when the contestants have to choose between your dish and his?” Ren’s voice dropped into something smug, satisfied.
“Let’s just say I have a feeling most of them will see through the bullshit.” He then said.
Izuku leaned back in his chair, eyes sharp with determination.
“Good. Then let’s give them a choice worth making.” The young Chef said, nodding.
“Well said! Now, before we head out there, let’s go over how things will go.” Ren asked.
Izuku nods, adjusting his chef’s jacket.
“While that idiot presents some over-the-top nightmare, I’ll offer the contestants something that actually respects the ingredients. Something elegant, precise, but without the unnecessary showboating.”
“Indeed. Need helps choosing a dish?” Ren asked.
“I already know what I’m making.” Izuku answered, eyes narrowing.
“Of course, shouldn’t have expected anything less from you. What is it?” Ren raised a brow and asked.
“A chawanmushi,” Izuku says firmly.
“Hn? Chawanmushi? Are you sure? Hiroiwill bring a lobster dish.”
“Even better, I can easily fix the recipe to fit that too. A silky steamed egg custard infused with crustacean broth, topped with perfectly cooked lobster, and finished with a dashi butter sauce.”
“Simple on the surface. But technique-heavy and delicate. Good choice.” Ren left out a low whistle.
“It forces the Contestants to actually cook instead of just following steps.” Izuku answered with a cheeky smirk.
“Midoriya, I think I’m starting to actually like you.” Ren chuckled, shaking his head.
“To be fair, you and Yamato are way more friendly than the others.”
“Midoriya! That’s a low bar to pass, damn it! You are bad at compliments!” The other answered, making the young Chef chuckle.
Later that day – MasterChef studios – Set -
The lights flared to life as the show transitioned from the opening theme and voice-over to the main kitchen, the contestants were standing at their stations, tense with anticipation while the three judges: Ren, along with his co-judges, Satoshi and Tanaka, were standing at the front with their expressions unreadable.
“Tonight, you all, Team Blue, face a Pressure Test! Your Team lost the previous challenge, with your dishes deemed not good enough by those poor starving Baseball players, and so, one of you has to go!” Ren, acting as the show’s host, declared with a firm tone.
“For this challenge, you won’t just be recreating a dish like you saw happen last time… You’ll be choosing what dish to make.” Tanaka added with a saddened tone, clearly unhappy to see one of them about to leave.
The doors at the back of the studio swung open dramatically and two people silently walked inside to stand in front of the three judges.
“Please welcome our Guest Chefs,” Satoshi said, moving a hand with a slow sweeping gesture towards the two Guests.
“Izuku Midoriya, owner of three Restaurants, soon to be four, and renowned as a rising star of the culinary world of Japan...” As Satoshi introduced him, Izuku took a step forward, calm and composed, unflinching.
Shiro sat on the ground next to him, immovable and daring anybody to get too close while Whitey could be seen in the far back, in a corner, and with eyes already into “Red Mode” and big hands itching to strip every troublemaker in sight.
“And Chef Hiroi Akihiko, executive chef of Maison de Samui, one of the most exclusive restaurants in the world. A shining example of Japanese High Class cuisine and working directly under Chef Samui himself.” The Judge then said, and the other Chef too took a step forward to flank Izuku, he was a tall man in an immaculately pressed jacket and with an arrogant smirk plastered across his face.
Hiroi Akihiko gave a polished, arrogant nod to the contestants, as if it was only natural to him that they looked at him in reverence.
The tension in the room thickened as both Guest Chefs already knew what was about to happen.
“Chefs, welcome! Tonight’s Pressure Test is a little different. Instead of just one dish, our contestants will have to choose between two. Please, introduce them.” Ren said once again, for the benefit of the audience at home watching.
The Master Chef kitchen was silent as the contestants watched the two guest Chefs take their tray and moving them in front of them, each covered by a big dome of metal hiding their creation.
Izuku stood with his arms relaxed, but his stance was still firm, while Akihiko never dropped his tiny smirk.
The camera zoomed in as the contestants perked up, with some whispering among themselves, the other Contestants watching the Pressure Test from above as audience too could be seen whispering in surprise, they clearly knew who Izuku was.
Izuku offered them a polite smile, he recognized some of his Customers among them all, so he didn’t feel the need to pose or preen, they knew him too well to know he was not that kind of guy.
“Chefs, reveal your dishes.” Ren Watanabe stepped forward and addressed both.
Hiroi Akihiko uncovered his plate first, almost rushing to do so in his haste to show-off his creation.
“My own creation! Sous-Vide Lobster with Caviar Emulsion and Champagne Foam!” He declared in inhuman pride.
It was a visually stunning, extravagant plate: lobster medallions arranged in a precise spiral with tiny pearls of caviar glistening on top like actual pearls, a delicate foam, light as air, was gently melting as it touched the plate when Akihiko gently put a spoonful of it on the very top of the dish.
The contestants shifted uneasily, the dish looked far too intimidating, as if an AI had generated it, a picture so precise, so right that it felt uncanny.
“My dish is an ode to fine dining. Perfect execution, delicate balance, and… How shall I put it? It’s a dish for true Chefs.” Akihiko said with condescension, smirking as his eyes flicked to Izuku.
Izuku didn’t react, he simply stepped forward and unveiled his own dish.
“Here’s my Dish: Lobster Chawanmushi with Dashi Butter Sauce.” He said with no flair, just a very gentle, informal tone and smile.
Izuku’s creation was way simpler than Akihiko’s: A small, unassuming bowl with silken egg custard inside, golden and smooth; the cream was cradling a perfectly cooked lobster claw lightly glazed with dashi butter. The scent of umami and ocean warmth rose in the air delicately as soon as the dome was removed.
“Chawanmushi…” The room was silent for just a small moment, then one contestant was heard whispering from the back row.
“That’s Japanese egg custard, right?” Ren asked, already smiling in anticipation.
“But with lobster?” Tanaka asked as well.
“This is a dish that respects the Ingredients. The lobster is cooked gently, allowing its natural sweetness to shine. The dashi broth infuses the custard with umami, while the butter rounds everything out. No gimmicks and no distractions, just technique and care.” Izuku answered, his voice calm and even.
Ren suppressed a smirk, it was the perfect delivery he expected.
“Ah, a comfort dish. Not quite the level of refinement I expected.” Akihiko answered with a snort, rolling his eyes.
“Respectfully, I disagree.” Izuku met his gaze and answered, unbothered.
A pause, and the tension in the air became thick enough to slice with a chef’s knife.
“Contestants, you have a choice to make. Which dish will you attempt? You have ten seconds to decide.” One of the judges jumped in and clapped his hands once, signalling the moment to move forward.
For the audience watching the TV, the countdown clock appeared at the top of the screen almost immediately.
Some Contestants were glancing nervously at Akihiko’s complex, luxury-driven dish, while others eyed Izuku’s deceptively simple offering.
The camera zoomed on random hesitant hands hovering over the colored cards representing each dish, to raise the hype for the choice for the audience.
Ding!
“Time’s up!” Tanaka loudly declared, and each Contestant in the Pressure Test finally grabbed the card of their chosen dish.
“Here we are.” Ren muttered to himself, he and Izuku already knew what was going to happen:
The less experienced contestants will be terrified of Akihiko’s absurdly complex recipe, and will hopefully be vocal about it, while the sharper contestants will realize Izuku’s dish was deceptively difficult, but actually doable with real, actual technique that didn’t need unnecessary work.
Hopefully, the other judges won’t be able to deny that Izuku’s dish respected the ingredients, while the other dish will feel like an ego-driven stunt… Or so Ren fervently hoped that that will be the final outcome.
“You already know how this is gonna go, don’t you?” Ren leaned toward Izuku slightly, and voiced his guess with a low whisper.
Izuku watched as the contestants braced themselves, their hands now firmly gripping his recipe card.
“I do.” A small, knowing smile made his lips twitch as he said that.
A chawanmushi (Japanese steamed egg custard) infused with a crustacean broth, served with perfectly cooked lobster and a delicate dashi butter sauce was a dish sophisticated but humble, complimenting the natural flavor of lobster without drowning it in excessive techniques.
“Lobster and shellfish aren’t just for the rich. With simple ingredients (eggs, crustacean broth, quality butter), anyone can prepare them with respect and skill.” Izuku muttered.
“Well said.” Ren answered.
As they expected, those poor people didn’t take long before starting to be vocal about Akihiko’s dish.
Cooking stations -
“You have 60 minutes! Your time… Starts… NOW!” Satoshi declared with a booming scream.
The kitchen erupted into motion the very next instant as the contestants rushed to collect the Ingredients and equipment they were supposed to use, with some sprinting like gold medallists to run back to their stations.
The camera kept randomly zooming in on the stark contrast between the two groups, especially whenever somebody that choose Akihiko’s dish freaked out. Audience loved that the most.
Hiroi Akihiko’s slice of Contestants (Group A)
“Wait, what?! Five pages?!” A poor woman, a veterinarian from Hokkaido, shrieked in horror once seen the folder that was accompanying the Ingredients.
The contestants who picked Hiroi Akihiko’s dish stared in horror at the stack of A4 pages in front of them, flipping through the dense, microscopic text written front and back of each page.
“Step 1: Clarify the lobster bisque using an ice filtration method. Allow 30 minutes to drain… Is this food?! I am in Masterchef, not in a Parry Hotter Movie!” A guy, normally an Engineer, yelled with bulged-out eyes.
“You think that’s crazy?! Look at this! Step 2: Sous vide the lobster tails at precisely 52.5°C for 27 minutes. Shock in an ice bath for 14 seconds! They gave us a stopwatch! FOR COOKING!” Another woman, a housewife from Kyoto, answered, looking about to cry.
“To be fair… In the Gourmet world that’s still nothing… But I don’t think they should know about that.” Izuku thought, feeling awkwardly called-out about difficult and insanely-precise cooking methods.
“… I need to Infuse the champagne reduction with hand-peeled lemon zest, pith completely removed, then strain through a double layer of muslin cloth…. I wonder if that guy uses a particle accelerator to make coffee in that damn restaurant of his…” The microphones managed to catch one of the contestants mutter this under her breath while working with blood-shot eyes on her dish.
“Amateurs! Whisk the caviar emulsion in a circular motion, counter-clockwise! And use a bamboo whisk! DO NOT USE METAL!” Akihiko snapped angrily at the two poor guys about to use the ‘Wrong’ whisk.
“You are not helping,” Ren, unbothered, answered while checking his nails.
“What the hell does ‘counter-clockwise using a bamboo whisk’ even mean?! What difference does it make?!” A contestant asked with a low voice and a nervous laugh.
“It means: I am a pretentious asshole.” The woman working next to him answered, luckily it will be censored when the episode is aired.
“I haven’t even gotten the lobster out of the shell yet!” Another woman yelled and slammed down a pot she was working on.
One poor soul panicked at the sous-vide station, staring at the machine like it was a bomb waiting to explode.
“Hey, it’s okay… Let me show you,” Izuku immediately neared her and gave her a crash course on how to use the machine with calm voice and simple terms.
“They boy is far too well mannered,” Tanaka commented with a chuckle.
“Tch! Let them squirm! They must learn the craft!” Meanwhile, Hiroi Akihiko leaned against the judging table with his arms crossed, smug as ever while he enjoyed the panic his masterpiece created.
“He’s enjoying this way too much.” Ren Watanabe muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Izuku to hear when he came back.
“While I hate it too, it will help in the long run,” He answered.
Meanwhile - Izuku’s side of the Contestants (Group B)
Meanwhile, the contestants who chose Izuku’s dish were moving with a more relaxed tempo, having recognized the dish as difficult, but doable; instead of frantically flipping through pages, they all had a single, concise recipe sheet in front of them.
“Eh! For once I choose the right one!” A guy, a plumber, was preparing the lobster while whistling, poaching it gently to remove it from shell, and setting it aside.
“Okay… How do I make the dashi…” A young man muttered, confused.
“The Konbu,” Izuku answered, surprising him by managing to ear him.
“Ah, yes! I have to simmer kombu and bonito flakes, strain the stuff, and mix it with lightly beaten eggs… Right. Thanks!”
“Don’t help them too much. You weren’t even supposed to write down the recipe for them.” Ren said, chuckling.
“Can’t help it, it was both for their sake, and for the lobster.” Izuku answered.
“You are too gentle,” Akihiko said, snorting.
“I don’t have anything to prove by being insufferable. I just wrote them the cooking order and optimal times, they still have to figure out quantities and everything else by themselves.”
“Why you…”
Meanwhile -
“This actually makes sense… Poor Akane, choosing that guy’s dish was a mistake.” A contestant was carefully ladling the custard mixture, while sneaking a glance at the chaos across the kitchen.
“Sucks to be them! I know Boss Izuku’s food, he doesn’t put extra crap in what he makes, as soon as I saw him enter, I already knew he would bring something good and not impossible,” The guy next to her answered, he was adding a splash of dashi to his lobster meat and claw.
Both watched, pleased, as the butter melted into the broth, and their confidence grew exponentially, while the people watching at home also had the special feature of the various contestants commenting on the challenge they were facing in a small interview the production conducted after the Challenge was over and then edited in.
Interview Segment – Contestant: Akane (29, Home Baker)
"I looked at Chef Akihiko’s recipe and I swear, my brain just shut down. Five pages? FIVE? That’s a novel, not a recipe! I panicked and started working… Then I looked at Sakura that instead grabbed Chef Midoriya’s card instead, and… honestly? I don’t know if I made the right call. His dish looked so simple to make, but I tried to reason that that meant there would be nowhere to hide mistakes… I soon learned I was the one that could not hide my mess." She said with an awkward chuckle.
Show – Cooking Station -
At Station #4, Akane was furiously whisking her egg mixture while glancing nervously at the steamer, and with the corner of her eyes she watched Ren move near Sakura’s station.
“Chawanmushi?” She heard Ren ask while raising an eyebrow.
“Y-Yes, Chef! I figured… Uh… It’s better to go with something elegant rather than overcomplicated.” Sakura answered and nodded quickly.
“Elegant, huh? If your custard isn’t silky smooth, it’s just scrambled eggs in a cup. No pressure.” Ren smirked with just a dash of mean spirited fun.
Akane paled too as he walked away, her own custard was even more goopy than Sakura’s!
Meanwhile, at Station #7, Shinichi (35, Butcher) had gone all-in on Akihiko’s nightmare of a dish, and his station was already a disaster with egg yolks oozing from a broken sauce and lobster shells piling up chaotically.
“Your Champagne reduction is splitting,” Judge Satoshi, the harshest of the trio, loomed over his shoulder like a vulture, and gave his harsh remark while watching him stir the pot aggressively.
“I know, Chef.” Shinichi’s eye twitched, he knew that! He and that reduction had been fighting for the past five minutes!
“Then why are you still stirring?” Satoshi asked, tone freezing cold.
“… Ah.” Shinichi froze in realization.
“Start over,” Satoshi ordered, already moving to the next contestant.
Shinichi looked at the clock and wept. 45 minutes left.
Interview Segment – Contestant: Lee (24, Food Blogger)
"I picked Akihiko’s recipe because I thought, hey, go big or go home, right? But then I actually read it... Step 17 said to 'manually emulsify the caviar pearls into the reduction at precisely 62°C using a soft brush.' I don't even know what that means! And knowing food is my job!" The young man said that with a pained smile and a chuckle full of ridicule, at his own expenses.
Show – Lee’s station -
At Station #10, Lee was sweating bullets as Chef Akihiko himself appeared beside him.
“Chef,” Lee greeted weakly.
“What is this?” The guy asked as he peered at the disastrous mess of his dish in progress.
“Uh… A work in progress?” Lee swallowed hard.
“You are killing my recipe.” The other answered, growling.
“N-N-Naah! You’ll see! It will be perfect!”
“… I hope so. For you.” He answered and walked away.
“… Okay… Maybe not Perfect… But decent…” Lee muttered, unsure.
At the same time, at Station #2, a different kind of chaos was unfolding.
Clara (31, Former Line Cook) was steaming her chawanmushi, but something wasn’t right, the mixture was bubbling aggressively, far too hot and wild.
Judge Tanaka, the kindest of the trio, crouched down slightly to check her steamer.
“Chef?” She asked.
“Did you set it to high heat?” he asked gently.
“…Yes?” Clara answered hesitantly.
“Steaming custard isn’t about cooking it. It’s about coaxing it to set. Right now, you’re making lobster-flavored scrambled eggs.” Tanaka winced and answered.
Clara looked horrified.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. If you are fast you can still make it. Breath in and try again.” He said.
Interview Segment – Contestant: Clara (31, Former Line Cook)
“That was so humiliating! I used to cook for a living! And yet I managed to screw-up even steaming a custard! I choose Boss Izuku’s dish because I am a regular of his Main Restaurant and wanted to replicate something he made as a show of appreciation… Aah, now I’ll need to wear a paperbag to go eating there again! It’ll take me MONTHS to stop feeling awkward!” She said while face-palming.
Show -
“30 MINUTES REMAINING!” Ren yelled over the unending chaos of the two groups of frantic chefs.
At Station #5, Takeda (27, Culinary Student) was one of the few remaining contestants daring to tackle Akihiko’s monstrous dish, and surprisingly, he was holding his own; even his reduction was smooth and his lobster properly poached.
“High class dishes… Always a nightmare to plate…” He muttered while licking his dry lips, he was using a set of pliers to meticulously set down the lobster meat.
Ren stopped by his station and started inspecting the dish.
“You’ve got steady hands.” he said, pleased.
“Fear of failure helps a lot! This is my third Pressure Test, I can’t keep counting on others making mistakes.”
“Well said. Did you have any experience in this sort of complex dishes?” He asked next.
“I worked in a fine dining restaurant before this. High-pressure plating is my thing. Usually.” Takeda answered with a nervous chuckle.
“You’re the first person I’ve seen actually following Akihiko’s instructions correctly.” Ren admitted, glancing in barely-hidden distaste at the five-page recipe sitting beside him, then at perfectly swirled bisque with a more happy smile.
“It’s taking everything I’ve got, Chef.”
“Good. That means it’s worthy of a Pressure test challenge! Hopefully it will also be worthy of being served to humans, instead of being put on a pedestal.” Ren answered.
“Eh?”
“Personal opinion, don’t worry about it. You are doing great, keep it up,” He answered, patting the contestant’s shoulder while walking away.
The clock continued its relentless countdown, numbers glowing ominously on the giant display above the kitchen, 30 MINUTES REMAINING, practically next to no time!
Meanwhile -
Amidst the whirlwind of frantic chopping and bubbling sauces, Izuku Midoriya moved between the stations of the contestants attempting his Lobster Chawanmushi, and unlike the other judges, who prowled the floor with sharp criticisms and scathing observations, Izuku’s presence was a stark contrast: gentle, warm, and encouraging.
Sakura was holding her breath as she peeked into her steamer, praying her custard had set correctly this time, and Izuku approached her quietly, glancing at her workstation.
“Mind if I take a look?” he asked with a small smile.
Sakura stepped aside nervously, watching as Izuku carefully lifted the lid like she was fearing, Steam curled into the air, revealing the delicate, golden custard beneath.
Izuku’s green eyes lit up.
“That looks great! But...” He tilted his head, examining the texture.
“Yes?!” She asked, shivering.
“See this tiny wrinkle near the edge? That means the heat was just a little too high.”
“Oh no. Did I ruin it?” She asked in dread.
“Not at all! The flavor will still be there, you can still fix this. Just remember, low and slow. Custard is all about patience.” Izuku shook his head and answered.
“Got it. Thank you, Chef!” Sakura exhaled in relief.
“You’re doing great. Keep going.” Izuku smiled.
At another station Kuroki (42, Pastry Chef) was carefully straining his custard mixture when Izuku stopped beside him, the older chef glanced up while wiping sweat from his forehead.
“Hey, Chef Midoriya,” he greeted, voice tight with stress.
“Just passing by, how are you doing?” Izuku asked.
“I, uh, usually do sweets. This is terrifying.”
“You’re treating it like a crème brûlée, huh?” The young Che chuckled.
“Exactly. But I’m worried the lobster infusion might be too subtle.” Kuroki admitted, awkward.
Izuku leaned in, sniffing the mixture thoughtfully, then, he gestured toward the bowl of dashi stock on Kuroki’s counter.
“The stock?” The Contestant asked, confused.
“Try adding just a teaspoon more dashi. It’ll bring out the umami without overpowering the lobster.”
“Thanks, Chef. I appreciate it.” Kuroki brightened-up and nodded quickly, adjusting the mixture as instructed.
“Trust your instincts. You’ve got this. I believe in you,” Izuku answered and clapped him on the shoulder.
As soon as Izuku walked away, Kuroki flashed a smirk to the girl working next to him.
“See? The Chef I choose helped me instead of just telling me to do better. How’s your stuck-up dish going?” He asked.
“Tch!” The woman’s only answer was looking away and growling.
Not too far away, the Contestant Clara was in full panic mode, her second batch of custard was in the steamer, and her hands were shaking as she adjusted the heat once again.
“You’re worried it won’t set?” Izuku crouched slightly to her level, voice calm.
“I messed up the first one! I’m scared I’ll mess this one up too.” Clara nodded frantically.
“Breathe. Cooking is about confidence. You’ve already learned from your mistake, right?” Izuku asked with a steady and calm voice.
Clara swallowed hard, and nodded again.
“Then believe in yourself. Because I do think you got what it takes,” Izuku smiled.
Clara blinked, taken aback; then, slowly, her shoulders relaxed, she adjusted the steamer gently this time, taking a deep breath.
“That’s better. Now, let’s see how it turns out.” Izuku patted her arm and left.
“I got this… I got this…” She told herself.
Judges area -
From the other side of the kitchen, Ren Watanabe and the other judges observed the scene with mild interest.
“He’s helping them?” Tanaka asked, impressed.
“That’s his style.” Ren answered, smirking.
“He’s making it too easy. This is a Pressure Test. They’re supposed to struggle.” Akihiko said, scoffing.
“Oh, they are struggling. But Midoriya’s lesson isn’t about making it easier, it’s about making them better.”
“Same thing.”
“I am starting to see why you work well with Samui.” Satoshi answered.
“What do you mean, midget?”
“That you should be thankful that there are cameras, or I would have long since folded that Chef Uniform with you still inside it.” The shorter man answered.
“Huhuhu!” Tanaka’s loud chuckle only aggravated Akihiko further, but since Tanaka was twice taller and thrice heavier than him, this time the guy bit back his retort.
From home, the contrast between Izuku’s methods and Akihiko’s was even more apparent, since Ren had been clear in making sure the cameras would capture the differences as clearly as possible.
For example…
“This is a disgrace,” Akihiko had said with a sneer, arms crossed as he watched a contestant overcook their lobster tails.
“You are killing the dish!” spit almost flew out of his mouth as he said that.
“I-I’m trying, Chef-” The contestant’s hands shook while he tried to fix his blunder.
“Try harder. Or just quit now.” Akihiko had answered before leaving.
“Why didn’t I pick the other guy…” The poor man muttered in tears.
“Thank you, Samui. You are helping me get rid of you so nicely!” Ren thought in satisfaction.
Some time later -
“10 MINUTES REMAINING!” Tanaka warned the chefs, and with his normal booming voice, he barely needed to strain himself to be heard.
Chaos erupted across the kitchen, Contestants rushed to plate whatever they had made with their hands trembling as they carefully transferred delicate custards and bisques onto their serving dishes.
Sakura lifted the lid off her steamer, eyes wide in terror. Did her custard set? Please God, let it set!
Takeda barely managed to swirl his sauce before the clock hit zero.
Lee? Truth be told, Lee’s caviar emulsion looked like a crime scene from CSI.
Then came the dreaded scream of Ren Watanabe…
“HANDS UP! STEP AWAY FROM YOUR PLATES!”
The challenge was over, one side of the Contestants exhaled a sigh of relief, while the other looked ready to burst to tears.
Breathing heavily, they all stared at their dishes, some with pride, others with sheer panic, and waited for the Judges to give their verdict.
The judges stepped forward, their expressions unreadable.
“Five pages, huh?” Ren Watanabe asked, watching Akihiko’s side struggle to meet his eyes.
“Harder than what you expected, isn’t it?” He asked with a tone dry as the Sahara.
“That’s not a recipe, that’s a punishment.” Tanaka commented, snickering.
“A true chef embraces the challenge. This weeds out the weak.” Hiroi Akihiko waved them off, unconcerned by the comments.
“Funny. They don’t look weak to me.” Ren answered with a smirk, and gesturing toward Izuku’s side.
Akihiko’s smile faltered just slightly.
The camera stopped briefly on Izuku, calm and collected as he observed them, He didn’t need to gloat, the results were speaking for him.
“It’s just because his dish was- BOOOM!” A loud crash echoed from Akihiko’s camp, Someone’s sous-vide bag had just exploded.
“Sorry! I forgot to turn that damn thing off! It has not an OFF switch!” The culprit answered, face burning red in shame.
Ren didn’t even bother hiding his laughter.
“The stark contrast between the two camps is undeniable. And not in a good way for you, Akihiko.” Satoshi commented.
“Whatever…” The guy muttered in answered.
“Let’s proceed with the taste test. Please, the ones that choose Chef Midoriya’s dish, step forward.” Tanaka asked aloud.
Izuku’s contestants all presented graceful, polished plates, each with the lobster glistening in a golden broth, resting atop silky smooth custard and garnished with delicate herbs; the ones that got helped by Izuku personally all flashed him wide, grateful smiles he returned wholeheartedly.
“Presentation is definitely pleasant to the eyes and very welcoming. Akihiko’s Team, you are next.” Ren commented, and called over the rest of the contestants with almost feral eagerness.
Contrary to the others, Hiroi Akihiko’s contestants presented… Various degrees of disaster, mostly due to the fact that for normal Chefs, sixty minutes were far from being enough to prepare that dish; Some plates were soupy messes, others showed collapsed sauces, a few brave souls actually managed decent results.
“Unsurprising, mostly because, as usual, some of you overshot and pretended to bite more than what you can chew… IF what I am seeing can actually be chewed through.” Satoshi commented with his infamous lack of mercy.
“Come on! They all tried hard to match a Michelin Star dish!” Tanaka countered him, as the good guy of the two.
“But?”
“… But they usually do better than this.” But even he could not deny what was in front of them.
“Exactly.”
The tension in the Master Chef kitchen was palpable as the trio of Judges tried each dish, before giving their verdict.
The judges moved to the first plate; the bisque had split, looking like an oil spill, whoever made it was filmed by the cameras paling like a ghost and get teary-eyed.
“Ugh! No good. This one?” Ren asked as he poked the sous-vide lobster of another plate, it was a rubbery block of meat with the consistency of the sponge used to wash plates.
“This is… Unbearably salty. Ugh!” Tanaka in the meantime tried the caviar emulsion of one of Akihiko’s side of the contestants, and his face twisted in pain while openly spitting the morsel into his napkin.
“This second plate is better, someone actually pulled it off in a decent way.” Izuku suggested while trying one of the plates.
The judges nodded politely in answer once they too tasted it, but didn’t look impressed enough.
Then, they reached the plate of the lone contestant who actually followed all five pages.
Hiroi Akihiko leaned forward expectantly and observed how the dish was plated with military precision.
He, Izuku and the judges took a bite.
There was a slight pause that made the Contestant that made it, and Ren hoped to put in trouble, dare to hope.
“…It’s fine.” Ren slowly said while chewing, then he shrugged.
“Fine? This is trash!” Hiroi Akihiko’s eye twitched and slapped the plate away from him almost hard enough for it to fall from the table, the contestant’s hope turned into fine dust.
“It tastes expensive. But it lacks heart.” Satoshi added, shaking his head.
“Let’s be real, though. Who would cook this at home? Too much effort.” Tanaka admitted.
“True.” Ren answered.
Hiroi Akihiko’s fingers clenched into fists as he glared at the two.
“While not a plate I would be happy if it was brought to me in a restaurant… It is still barely passable. Barely. You are safe this time, but I would watch my back if I were you.” Satoshi finished saying, and the contestant that made it gulped hard in dread.
It was overly clear that whoever choose Akihiko’s dish deeply regretted it, and with how difficult it was to make it, it was very likely that the people at home too were considering Akihiko’s dish far too pretentiously difficult compared to the final result.
“Samui must be fuming right now. He will soon learn that he failed again,” Ren muttered into Izuku’s ear and patted his shoulder.
Izuku exhales slowly in answer, finally allowing himself a small, knowing smile at another battle being over.
“As we expected, the ones that choose to replicate Akihiko’s dish, hoping to show the talent needed to match the skill of a Michelin star’s Chef… Failed miserably.” Satoshi said, making half the contestants flinch heavily.
“But unfortunately, there was also who underestimated Midoriya’s dish too, probably because it looked easier to make and so hoped for an easy task.” Tanaka added, and few people of the other group had the decency to look away in shame.
“Akane? Cho? Step forward,” Ren said with a saddened tone, and watching the man and the woman step forward with a very scared face.
“As my colleagues said, you both failed to produce a proper version of the dish you choose, either because too difficult, or because your ego got in the way. Considering that you two were pretty much equally bad, you will have a last face-off to help us decide. You two will have a last chance, you will face each other and the winner will remain while the loser will leave Masterchef.” He said.
“Yes, Chef…” Both answered with a very defeated tone.
“As for you others, congratulations! Your adventure in Masterchef continues!” Tanaka said, making the rest of the contestants scream in elation.
“Thank you again to our Guests Chefs for taking part to this episode,” Satoshi said.
“It was nice having two talents like yours here,” Tanaka added.
“It was a nice way to spend the evening.” Akihiko said, smirking…
Ping! Suddenly, a soft clink echoes from behind him.
“… So I have to take away the stuff I made?” Izuku instead asked, confuse.
Everybody looked at him in silence.
“Eh?” Satoshi asked, that was not part of the script.
“Ah, yes, poor Midoriya was bored, so I gave him permission to cook while we waited for the contestant to finish.” Ren said, smirking, and with an almost lazy motion, he gestured toward the other two cloches set in front of them.
Izuku remained silent, arms at his sides, his expression unreadable.
“…What is this?” Akihiko asked, narrowing his eyes.
“Dear Midoriya made both dishes, live.” Ren answered with a smirk.
Gasps filled the room.
“He what?” Tanaka asked, as a ripple of shock coursed through the room.
The contestants turned to look at Izuku, some even checking the clock as if it would explain the impossible.
“You mean, he did his dish again and-” Tanaka asked.
“The five-page nightmare? Yes,” Ren confirmed smoothly.
“He made my dish too?” Akihiko asked, confused, and for the first time since arriving on set, he hesitated.
“Well, yes. Sorry…” Izuku muttered awkwardly, while bringing over two cloches.
He lifted the first cloche, revealing a plate so meticulously arranged it looked like an art installation.
“Mister Ren said it wouldn’t have been a problem if I made yours too…”
“I thought that showing our contestants how a skilled Chef works would have been enlightening.” Ren explained, smirking.
The camera zoomed in on the two perfect plates as they sat there, untouched.
One was a chawanmushi that glowed under the studio lights, with its silky custard holding a perfectly poached lobster tail.
The other… Was Hiroi Akihiko’s dish.
Not a failed version, not a shortcut, but the perfectly-executed, flawless, pristine, five-page-monstrosity version.
The room fell silent again.
“No way…” Akihiko’s whisper of horror brightened Ren’s day immensely.
“You made both? In sixty minutes?” Tanaka asked, incredulous.
“I thought it’d be a good test.” Izuku answered while rubbing the back of his neck.
Someone in the back choked on air at hearing that.
The lobster tail meat had been sliced at a precise 30-degree angle and fanned-out like a delicate crimson flower; the bisque shimmered in a pool of perfectly clarified broth right in the middle, while the Champagne reduction swirled in an intricate, almost magical way around the meat, a humble patch of aromatic leaves fluttered slightly on top of the lobster meat from the residual heat.
“I would have had a breakdown just plating it like that.” One of the contestants audibly gulped in hunger as she said that.
“Five pages… And he barely watched them while cooking.” Another muttered under his breath, still clutching the printed recipe in disbelief.
“Perfection demands precision… But not like that. Nobody cooks like that!” Akihiko muttered in horror.
He slowly, cautiously, he picked up his own fork and tasted Izuku’s version of his over-engineered monstrosity, the flavors were identical to his, perhaps even better, because unlike his frantic, high-stakes preparation, Izuku’s movements had been effortless with every element still there but performed with flawless technique.
Ren and the two judges tasted it as well, and the reactions were predictably positive considering Izuku made it: an explosion of rich, complex flavors, each component hitting in carefully planned waves of umami and sea scent; meanwhile the bisque had depth and warmth that encompassed the tongue, the Champagne reduction added a delicate sharpness to it to create a more decisive profile to the flavor.
“The caviar emulsion is a technical marvel. And you did it by hand?” Satoshi asked, amazed.
“Yes? I preferred that to using machines.” Izuku answered, unsure.
Akihiko was looking like somebody that just bit into a lemon.
Ren gave him a knowing smile but said nothing as they tried the next plate, Izuku’s own dish.
The contrast was evident: a small, unassuming cup sat on a simple lacquered tray, steam rising gently from its surface; beside it, a neatly arranged slice of lobster rested with the vibrant red shell accentuating the golden custard beneath; it had no excessive garnish nor abstract sauces, just pure, refined elegance.
The judges studied it in silence for a moment.
“… Deceptively simple compared to Akihiko’s dish,” Tanaka finally murmured.
“Which means it’s either a disaster, or the work of a master.” Satoshi added.
Then, the judges turned their attention to the actual taste of Izuku’s chawanmushi.
The moment the spoon broke through the silky custard, the aroma of dashi and lobster filled the air, the texture was flawless too! Looking smooth as glass, but melting like butter on the tongue; the taste was delicate, yet profoundly satisfying, with the umami depth of the dashi carrying the natural sweetness of the lobster.
“This…” Tanaka started, voice almost reverent.
“This is perfect.” Satoshi finished saying.
“As expected!” Ren commented, smiling wide.
“How come that guy is so good? He is younger than me!” One of the contestants said.
“Oh, you should come eat to his place, the guy is the Best!” Lee answered.
For Akihiko that chawanmushi was a nightmare, it was like tasting humility; a dish made not to show off, but to honor the ingredients.
Akihiko hand tightened around the fork… He wanted to speak against this, he had to say something, anything! But his throat felt dry, so he just set the utensil down quietly.
The silence stretched.
“…How?” Then he finally said it, at almost a whisper, with his voice barely audible over the murmurs of the contestants.
“You focus too much on controlling the Ingredients, Chef Akihiko. I just listen to them, instead.” Izuku gestured subtly toward both dishes and offered him a small, polite smile.
Ren, meanwhile, leaned forward, arms crossed as he grinned.
“Well, looks like we got the real master class today!” he said, breaking the tension with a satisfied tone.
“Quite the surprise too,” Tanaka admitted.
“So? Who’s the better Chef?” Ren asked while crossing his arms.
The entire studio held its breath in wait, but Hiroi Akihiko only looked down at the plate then at Izuku and said nothing.
“I think even our dear Guest Akihiko knows Midoriya beaten him,” Tanaka said, sighing.
“…” Akihiko had no way to counter that statement, because he couldn’t, because the truth was sitting right there in front of him, at a level beyond perfection, one he thought no human being could ever reach.
“Welp. Looks like we just proved something tonight.” Ren clapped a hand on Izuku’s shoulder, with his grin sharp as a knife.
“Which is?” Izuku asked.
“Quite simple! You don’t need five pages of nonsense to be a great chef.” He answered while turning towards the camera, voice oozing satisfaction.
The camera cut back to Hiroi Akihiko’s stunned silence for a last time before the commercial break started.
Green Gourmet Garden – Kitchen -
Izuku and his staff turned off the TV as soon as the section he took part to was over, so to fully focus on cooking.
“So you couldn’t escape people wanting to ruin you even on TV?” Adelia asked, smirking.
“It’s my curse, it seems.” Izuku answered, sighing.
“Look at the bright side, you looked good on TV too, Master.” Goro answered, chuckling.
“Ah-ha. My staff is full of comedians…” Izuku commented in defeat.
“It’s fine, boss! We are just jesting!” Gentle answered, winking.
“So that Ren guy helped you,” La Brava asked.
“Yes, we have been planning to counter Samui’s next attack for a while, when he called mister Ren about Master Chef, we couldn’t believe our luck, it played far too well with our needs…” He gestured towards the TV.
“As you can see, it worked quite well.” he said.
“What about mister Ren? Will he be okay?” She asked.
“Yeah, normally I don’t care if one of those guys bite a bullet after messing with you to cover for their crimes, but that Ren looked like an okay guy,” Adelia said.
“Listening to him, he has everything under control. I can only trust him, since he said he needed no help.” Izuku answered, shrugging helplessly.
What happened after Izuku left and the show was over – TV Studio – Dressing Room -
The dim glow of the dressing room’s vanity mirror lights cast long shadows across the walls as Ren Watanabe sat comfortably in his chair, cradling a steaming cup of tea in his hands he had conceded himself as a celebratory drink for both a new batch of episodes recorded and the defeat of Samui’s lapdog.
“Watanabe! Let me in!” Somebody screamed from outside, but the scent of jasmine filled the air and so the tea got Ren’s undivided attention.
“Let me in, I said!” The voice yelled again while the handle rattled.
Then, with a BANG! The door burst open.
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t hear you.” Ren said in sarcastic innocence when Chef Akihiko stormed in.
“Quit your bullcrap!” Akihiko roared with his nostrils flaring and his face flushed with barely contained rage.
“What do you mean?” Ren asked, with what he really hoped was the most irritating smile known to man.
“You tricked me.” Akihiko’s voice was venomous, cutting through the otherwise peaceful silence of the room.
Ren, unbothered, barely lifted his gaze from his cup, He took a slow sip, savoring the taste, before exhaling softly.
“Watanabe!”
“Did I trick you?”
“You set me up. You let me walk into that kitchen thinking I was untouchable, and now I looked like a fool on television!” The other snapped.
“You did that all on your own.” Ren finally deigned to glance up at him, dark eyes calm, almost amused.
“You told me to present a challenging dish!” Akihiko took a step closer, his breath heavy with frustration, and said those words with a very animal-like growl.
“I did,” Ren cut in smoothly.
“And-”
“I asked you to bring here a challenge. Not an impossible task.” He swirled his tea lightly, the ceramic clinking softly.
“And I-”
“You know, something that pushed the contestants to their limits. Something that tested their skill and instincts. Something that… oh, I don’t know… Someone could actually cook in sixty minutes.” Ren cut him off again, still smiling but with a tone as sharp as a blade.
Akihiko’s jaw tightened.
“Instead, you turned it into a performance piece. You saw an opportunity to show off, not to teach. That failure, that public shaming session, is only on you.” Ren smirked and answered.
“I was demonstrating excellence!” He spat, his breathing was heavy and his hands were gripping the back of a chair as if to steady himself.
Ren raised an eyebrow.
“Were you? Or were you just proving how impractical you are in a real kitchen?” He asked as he leaned back, voice almost lazy.
Silence stretched between them, thick with unspoken tension.
“Let me guess. Back in school, you were that kid, weren’t you? The one who did all the extra credit, corrected the teacher, and made sure everyone knew you were the smartest in the room.” Ren asked, smirk widened to almost creepy sizes.
“…” Akihiko’s eye twitched as his only answer.
“Ah. I knew it.” Ren chuckled and took another sip of his tea.
“No wonder nobody liked you.”
“Who do you think you are?” Akihiko’s fists clenched tighter.
“Face it. You didn’t just lose to Midoriya today, you lost to your own arrogance.” Ren set his cup down with a soft clink and met the guy’s glare head-on.
Akihiko stood there for a moment, breathing hard, his fury swirling inside him like a storm.
“You and Samui are exactly the same.” His voice was calm, almost conversational, but the weight behind it was undeniable.
“What do you mean? I guess you are not giving me a compliment,”
“Not at all. Just like Samui, you never stop to think that there are other people in the room.”
“Uh?” The guy’s brow furrowed, but Ren continued before he could interject.
“One day you both decided how things should be. How they must be. As if there was only the Samui way or the Akihiko way of doing things, and nothing else.” Ren tilted his head slightly, watching as the words sank in.
“But the world doesn’t work like that. It never did.” he then added, as if speaking to a child.
“And what exactly do you mean by that?”Akihiko scoffed, crossing his arms.
Ren smiled softly while setting his cup down.
“Simple. You spent so much time smelling your own farts that you forgot what real air feels like.” Then, without missing a beat, he looked Akihiko dead in the eye and gave his answer.
Silence.
“Excuse me?!”
“You heard me.” Ren chuckled, shaking his head.
“You’ve spent your whole life admiring yourself in the mirror, convinced that your reflection is the only thing that matters. That the world only exists to admire you.” He leaned forward and knocked on the mirror, right on the man’s reflection, just to emphasize his point.
“You don't know what you are talking about!” The guy’s face twitched in anger.
“But I know, instead! Since I have known Samui for years, and you are moulding yourself to be as much similar to him as physically possible! But here’s the thing about mirrors, look at them too long, and you start believing your own illusions.” Ren picked up his tea again and taking a slow sip.
“I know my worth!” Akihiko snapped.
“You do? Because if you never step outside your little bubble, you’ll never know what the air truly smells like.” Ren answered, he had clearly already moved on, he picked up his phone and started scrolling through messages, his interest in the conversation was already waning.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” he said lazily, “I’d like to finish my tea before it gets cold.”
“This is not the end of this.” Akihiko’s breath was ragged and his pride bruised deeper than he was willing to admit; without another word, he turned sharply on his heel and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
Ren exhaled slowly, picking up his tea once more and taking another sip, and letting the warmth settle over him for a moment.
“Such a sore loser,” he muttered to himself, before returning to his peaceful evening.
He was aware that Samui won’t be happy, that man had already started helping ruining the life and reputation of the ones that failed to stop Izuku, with only Yamato coming out unscathed since she had nothing really that Samui could use against her; and Ren hoped that his own closets too were as free of skeletons like he believed, especially after all the cleaning he had gone through ever since “The Crusade” started.
“That guy scares me. Jealousy or ego don’t make you act like that. This is psychosis.” Ren muttered, unease.
He hadn’t use a gun or his Quirk in self-defense in years, and now he feared that Samui will make him break that promise.
With Samui – present time – Penthouse -
“WHY?!” The sound of shattering glass echoed through the penthouse, a sharp contrast to the luxurious silence that usually cloaked its walls, because a priceless sculpture, some pretentious fusion of marble and gold shaped like a majestic horse, had just been hurled against a mirrored wall, fracturing the whole thing into a thousand glimmering shards.
Samui stood in the middle of the wreckage, chest heaving and fingers curled into trembling fists.
“Why Ren didn’t help?! Why that imbecile of Akihiko didn’t do as I told him?!” His rage was beyond words now, beyond rationality.
“I am burning up…” He said while opening a bottle and taking a swing directly from it instead of using a glass, he felt like in a fever, with fire burning deep in his chest all for one, single, issue.
Izuku Midoriya was still standing.
The boy was still cooking. Still winning. Still defying Samui.
In Samui’s mind, Izuku’s restaurant should have closed its doors by now, any normal man would have surrendered to the constant pressure Samui pushed on them! Any sane man would have taken the easy way out, accepted the unspoken rules of this (Samui’s) world, and disappeared into obscurity!
“But no. Not him.” Samui muttered with a grow.
“Not that damn brat.”
Samui’s breath hitched as he gritted his teeth, his grip tightening around the crystal decanter, and He swung wildly, sending it crashing against the wall to join the horse statue’s remnants, he then watched the amber liquid bleeding into the pristine white carpet.
It wasn’t personal per se, It never had been.
It wasn’t about Izuku himself.
It was about what he was, about what he represented.
Samui knew what it was, could see it as clearly as the destruction around him, but he refused to speak it, he wouldn’t give form to the thought, wouldn’t let it become something real.
“And yet, it is real.” He admitted, bitterly.
Real enough to make every scheme, every calculated attack, every underhanded trick, fail miserably.
Cooking challenges? He won every single one.
Framing him for a crime? The charges never stuck.
Sending people after his family? They were never heard from again.
“It feels like reality itself bends to accommodate him.” Samui exhaled shakily, pressing a trembling hand to his temple.
His vision swam with a mixture of exhaustion and fury. This wasn’t normal.
“Izuku Midoriya Isn’t normal.” He said aloud, as if hoping for confirmation.
And the worst part was that somewhere, deep in the cold, logical part of his mind, Samui believed that he knew exactly why this was happening.
It was all a Cosmic Joke at His Expense
Samui stumbled his way through the wreckage of his once-pristine penthouse, his breath ragged, his vision blurred with unchecked fury.
“I am the butt of some unfunny joke…” He muttered, with his feet crinkling on the floor covered in shards of everything he had broken out of anger.
The living room too was in shambles, shattered glass, broken furniture, and torn fabric strewn across the floor like the remnants of his sanity, but the destruction wasn’t enough.
“Nothing was ever enough.” He muttered, turning back up a plush chair so to deflate on it.
Because Izuku was still out there.
“Izuku Midoriya…” The name burned like acid in his mind, it wasn’t even about the boy anymore.
“He is a reminder from the Universe itself that the Samui Empire is built on lies…” He said, and breaking into an empty, humorless laughing fit.
“Every success, every accolade, every carefully crafted illusion of superiority, it is all SO FUCKING FRAGILE!”
A house of cards standing tall only because no one dared to knock it over, and yet, without lifting a single finger, Izuku stood there as proof that Samui was a fraud, all because Izuku didn’t play by Samui’s rules.
The boy didn’t bow to power, didn’t fear the weight of reputation, didn’t collapse under pressure like he was supposed to.
“No matter what I threw at him: challenges, sabotage, even outright violence, he endured like a goddamn cockroach!”
It should have been impossible. It should have ended by now, but Izuku Midoriya was still cooking, still standing, still proving with every dish he made that true talent didn’t need to be bought.
“That kid doesn’t even look human! Hahahahaha…” Samui let out a strangled laugh, the sound tough was barely human.
That’s why he hated him.
Not because of his skills.
Not because of his defiance.
Not even because he had survived everything Samui had thrown at him.
But because his very existence was an insult.
A whisper in the back of Samui’s mind that no amount of wealth, power, or influence could silence.
“You didn’t earn this.” Samui’s reflection in another mirror came to life and said that to mock him.
He grabbed the nearest intact object, a silver tray, and flung it with all his might.
Crash! It hit the circular surface of the mirror with a deafening bang and shattered the reflection instantly.
Samui was shaking now, hands trembling with something deeper than anger, Fear. Because deep down, he knew the voices were right.
“I have spent my entire life climbing to the top, only to find that the summit was hollow!” He admitted, with new tears flooding his eyes.
“And Midoriya? He didn’t even need to climb! He simply was already there where I never could reach!”
The air in the penthouse was heavy, and the man just sat there among splintered wood, torn fabric, and the faint metallic tang of blood from where Samui’s hands had caught on broken glass from punching one of his pictures on the wall.
“I climbed a damn mountain on the ruined lives of whoever stood in my way just to find him already there, pristine clean as if it was nothing!” His chest rose and fell in ragged breaths, but the rage inside him refused to settle.
And then, he felt them.
Eyes.
Everywhere.
Watching. Judging. Mocking!
His gaze snapped to the grand wall where his portrait once stood in dignified perfection, and now, it loomed over him like a spectre, even with its glass shattered and the elegant frame cracked, its mocking smile was still intact.
“Stop looking at me like that!” He snapped at the painted version of himself, at the refined, powerful, unshakable version of Samui that the man always wanted the world to see.
“…” Now that same picture stared down at him with an expression that seemed almost amused.
Samui’s fingers curled into fists. That wasn’t possible. It was just a painting. Just a painting.
“And yet…” He could hear it laughing.
Not out loud. Not in any way that made sense. But in his mind, deep in that space where he had always shoved away inconvenient truths, he could hear it.
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA….”
He whirled, his gaze sweeping over the ruined room, the walls were lined with his history: framed newspaper clippings of glowing reviews, black-and-white photographs from his early days, headlines declaring him a culinary genius, a revolutionary, a king.
The faces in the pictures, his own, were laughing at him. All of them. Every single one.
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...”
“Shut up.” Samui’s lips curled into a snarl, but the laughter didn’t stop.
“You didn’t earn this.” His younger self, grinning from a decades-old magazine cover was mocking him.
“Shut up.”
“You can’t even stop a boy.” His triumphant self, shaking hands with foreign dignitaries, was sneering in contempt.
“Shut up.”
“So much for the King of Cooking!” His most recent feature, an opulent full-page spread about his latest restaurant, was smirking mockingly.
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” With a furious roar, Samui lunged, his hands seizing the nearest frame.
He ripped it from the wall and flung it with all his strength, watching as the glass shattered on impact.
He grabbed another and flung it, then another, and another, and another, and another.
But it didn’t matter, they were still there.
“Shut up!” He begged, but they were still laughing. Still whispering. Still reminding him of all his little lies and machinations to reach the top. That was the harshest truth:
That Izuku Midoriya was real.
And he was not.
“Please shut up…” His breath came in short gasps, his vision was blurred by tears.
His own face, in every picture, every reflection, every polished surface, still mocked him, and for the first time in his life, Samui had no idea how to stop it.
“Then stop the boy yourself.” The voices said in a deranged chorus.
“Myself?… Yes… Myself… I should have never delegated to idiots. If you want results, you have to do things yourself.” Samui answered.
Somewhere else -
“I am surprised to see you here, but I am not the kind of guy that doesn’t appreciate more people joining our ranks and Quest for Freedom.” Re-Destro said with a pleased smile.
“Glad to be here too. I can’t wait to start.” Shigaraki answered with a wide, insane smile, and using the special gloves he was given to safely shake hands with his new partner in crime.
– Side Story -
Interdimensional Ingredient Hunt:
Return of the Fourth.
The new portal closed as soon as Izuku and Rumi stepped through fully, and what greeted them was a quaint, normal-looking suburban area, with quiet houses each with their own small square of garden tend to with the utmost care.
“Okay, this is surprisingly normal,” Izuku admitted while they walked.
“Sure beats lands of magic or science full of weirdos,” Rumi answered.
“Quite a bit,”
“So? What are you hunting down, this time?” Rumi asked.
“Something called Fourth Flavor. There should be a kid here somewhere that tasted it, so I need her help to try remake it,” Izuku answered, humming.
“Remake it?”
“Apparently it got lost, and no trace of it are left on this planet,”
“Ah. Lovely, your sponsor is really nice,” Rumi commented with a sigh.
“Nothing out of ordinary… Well, we better start searching, I guess.”
“Should we try asking around?”
“Yeah, maybe we can try starting with that.”
Rumi neared a strange guy dressed like a stereotypical vampire.
“Hey, Castlevania reject! Do you have a minute?” She said.
“You dare insult count Spankula?! You shall me span-”
BOOOM!
The entire building behind to the guy exploded into a fine dust thanks to Rumi’s warning kick landing on the wall at an inch of his face.
“You were saying?” She asked, behind her Izuku just face-palmed.
“… How can I help you in this fine evening, young lady?” The guy instantly switched gear and spoke with a more calm tone, smile forced and face drenched in sweat.
“I should have asked Nejire to come instead…” Izuku muttered, but he had promised Rumi to bring her along… And She had promised to behave.
“Not my fault this guy’s first answer to trouble is to go for spanking. You like spanking girls, uh?” Rumi answered.
“I am very much not a pervert, thank you!” The guy answered, appalled.
“Uh-hu,”
“It’s called having a Motif! I am Count Spankula, I spank misbehaving kids! That is all!” He said.
“Uh, fancy that.” Rumi answered, clearly unconvinced.
“Maybe I should tell him that in our world Count Spankula is the title of an Adult Movie?” Izuku thought.
Nejire had said it was a comedy, Izuku should have known better to let her choose a movie for his movie night with the girls, he should have smelled the bullcrap when she insisted he dressed like Dracula before putting the movie on.
“Better not, the guy would probably fall into depression, Partner.” Shiro answered.
“Honest!” The Count said.
“Let’s say I believe you, can you answer a couple questions and help us?” Rumi said.
“If there is no violence involved, especially against me, then I am all ears, young lady!”
“Good! Thank you for being so open to help!”
“Threats of body harm is a nice incentive...”
Later that day – Under a truly massive tree house -
A really curious sight welcomed izuku and Rumi when they arrived: a very big and rotund old woman guiding an army of food against a giant tree house, and Rumi had a front row seat in watching her beloved boyfriend almost collapse in horror.
“It’s all wrong! Not a single dish she made should be that greasy! Even the spinach puffs are dripping in oil! What is this?! How much oil and butter did she use?!” He said with a horrified face.
“Just another reason to stop her, just breath. I am here, okay?” Rumi answered, offering him an encouraging gentle smile.
“Thank you, Rumi.” He answered, grateful
“I am always here for you. Come, let’s see if one of them is the girl is the one you need to talk to,” She answered, grabbing his hand and walking forward.
In the meantime, Gramma Stuffum cackled as her massive food soldiers advanced on the giant tree-house with a terrifying mix of dripping sauces and monstrous shapes.
“You’ll eat my food, whether you want to or not! Nothing can stop my glorious glop!” She declared.
The food soldiers marched forward, slinging mashed potato grenades and dripping with oily, gelatinous gravy.
“Kids Next Door! Battle Station! Hold the line, everyone! We can’t let her breach the treehouse!” Numbah One and Numbah Four worked furiously at a giant ketchup cannon, trying to slow the onslaught.
“I don’t even like mashed potatoes!” Numbah Three answered while shooting bowling balls from a makeshift bazooka.
“Numbah Five likes her gravy when it is not trying to bite her head off!” Another girl answered, duel-wielding laser guns made with torchlights and bottles.
"Face it, you brats! You can't win! My delicious army is warm and ready to feed you and- what's happening?!" the Old Lady answered, summoning even more food soldiers from the giant pot behind her.
Suddenly, without warning, the food soldiers all stopped mid-charge.
“Uh?”
They all stood frozen in place, with their grotesque forms quivering unnaturally, but their gooey eyes swivelled away from the KND operatives and focused on a young man stepping into the battlefield with his green hair glinted under the sun.
He was wearing a pristine green chef uniform and was accompanied by a tall girl with rabbit ears, and somehow, in that chaos, that meant they were the ones looking out of place.
“Whoa... what gives? Did we win?” Numbah Four asked while peering down from the cannon reticule.
“Why are you stopping?! Get them, my delicious warriors!” Grandma Stuffum ordered.
“We... We can’t, ma’am.” One of her creations, a liver with short legs and accompanied by two living onions, stepped forward hesitantly and spoke in a trembling voice.
“What do you mean, ‘you can’t’?!” Grandma Stuffum asked, angrily.
“That... That man... He is the God of Cooking!” Living Liver answered.
“… Busted.” Rumi muttered, sighing.
“Yeah,” Izuku answered, rubbing his temples.
The food soldiers collectively trembled while they moved through them, each one bowing their heads in deference, the battlefield grew silent as every edible creation, from stuffed cabbage to terrifying meatloaf, turned to face Izuku and bowing.
“WHAT?! The God of Cooking? There’s no such thing!” Grandma Stuffum answered.
“Um, sorry to interrupt your battle, I’m just here to ask Numbah Five a question. If she is here.” Izuku asked while scratching his head awkwardly.
“Who’s this guy, and why is he stoppin’ the bad guys?” Numbah Five asked, peering over the tree-house railing.
“Listen, I’m just a chef, can you help me finding that girl?” Izuku stopped before the liver and bent down to ask his question.
“We ingredients exist to fulfil your will, Great One. We cannot fight against you. The girl you are looking for is that one, the one wearing the red hat.” The liver bowed deeply and answered, it even used one of its stubby legs to point at one of the kids up on the tree-house.
“Okay, this is creepy, it feels like a cult.” Rumi admitted, unsure.
“This is ridiculous! He’s just some green-haired kid in an apron!” Grandma Stuffum shrieked.
“I’m sorry, but your cooking methods... They’re an insult to the ingredients you use. I can’t stand by while you force such horrible meals on people by force, food should be a blessing, not a weapon.” Izuku turned toward her, giving her an apologetic smile.
“You skinny brat!” The old woman, brandishing a pot, lifted it over her head in a threatening manner.
“Troublemaker!” Whitey was immediately upon her.
“Whitey, relax. Ehm, can I ask you all to please leave and take her with you?” Izuku asked.
“Of course, Great One! Please, allow us!” The Liver answered.
“Wait! What are you doing?!” The old woman yelled as her own army turned around, lifted her, and obediently marched away.
“Thank you for your cooperation!” Rumi yelled with a smirk.
“Let me go! Let me gooooo!” Stuffum shrieked nonstop until she and her army disappeared beyond the horizon and peace and quiet returned under the tree-house.
“All things considered, they were good food, just made by a very unpleasant woman.” Izuku commented, smiling.
“Yep.”
“Uh... Thanks for the save, but who are you, exactly?” Numbah One asked, confused.
Izuku looked up at the tree-house, his face lighting up with excitement now that he was free to question his target.
“Oh! I’m sorry, I should explain. My name is Izuku Midoriya, and I’m looking for someone who tasted the Fourth Flavor. I heard a girl called Numbah Five is the only person to ever taste it. Is that true?” He answered.
The KND exchanged confused glances, but Numbah Five still stepped forward, adjusting her hat.
“Yeah, I tasted it once. The most mysterious, perfect ice cream flavor. Why?” She answered.
“I’m trying to recreate it, but I need someone who’s tasted it before to help me perfect the recipe. Will you help me?” Izuku answered.
“Numbah Five knows the Legends, that the Monks could create the Fourth Flavor only because a stranger, Chosen by Ingredients, helped them making their vision reality. Are you another one of those Chosen?” She asked.
“I like to think so,” Izuku answered, chuckling.
“He had Stuffum army bow down and walk away just by being there, I say it’s a good show of him being the guy,” Numbah Two said.
“But he’s a teen!” Numbah Four yelled.
“He is a good guy, I can tell!” Numbah Three answered, chuckling.
“How can we trust you, Teen?” Numbah One asked.
“Uh? I am just asking for help to make Ice-cream…” Izuku answered, confused.
“They don’t seem to trust teens,” Rumi said.
“Did you, when you were young like them?” Izuku asked.
“Kinda? At least I didn’t see each one of them as an enemy!” She answered.
“Numbah Five say we can try trusting him, we still outnumber him, his girl and his robot.” Numbah Five said.
“Thank you!”
“Fine! Come in, but I will keep my eyes on you,” Numbah One said.
“Much appreciated!” Rumi answered.
Tree-house Kitchen -
The kitchen inside the KND tree-house was a flurry of activity, though its usual chaos was absent, instead, everything moved with a quiet, almost reverent rhythm.
Abigail Lincoln, Numbah Five, stood near the counter, arms folded as she watched Izuku work.
“Okay, that convinced me, you know your stuff.” She conceded.
“Thanks!” He answered.
His movements were precise, deliberate, and oddly graceful and even the tools of the KND’s makeshift kitchen, like the comically oversized ice cream scoops, colorful measuring cups, and gadgets cobbled together from 2x4 technology, seemed perfectly at home in his hands just like normal tools.
“Okay, this is the next batch,” Izuku said, carefully scooping a pale, shimmering blue ice cream into a bowl.
“The color is off, but maybe the taste?” Five said while he handed the ice-cream to her, she then studied it with a critical eye before taking a bite.
The rest of the Kids Next Door were crammed into the doorway, watching with wide eyes.
"Whoa! That’s gotta be the most amazing ice cream ever made." " Numbah Two whispered, practically drooling.
“It even smells perfect,” Numbah Three added, clasping her hands together dreamily.
“So?” Rumi asked.
Abigail closed her eyes as she let the flavor settle, her brow furrowing.
“It’s closer,” She glanced at Izuku, who was already scribbling notes in his journal.
“So 15% lemon is too much…” He muttered.
“Yeah, it’s getting there, but it still ain’t it.” She admitted.
The other KND kids gawked at her.
“Closer? You mean that isn’t it?! What’s wrong with you two?! That’s perfect!” Numbah Four burst out.
“It’s not perfect,” Izuku said, his tone matter-of-fact as he flipped the page in his notebook.
“The sweetness is slightly off-balance from wht Abigail told me. The texture isn’t as smooth as it could be either, it’s too dense. And the aftertaste isn’t quite there yet.” He didn’t look up, his pencil just kept moving quickly as he jotted down adjustments.
“What?!” Numbah Four’s jaw dropped.
“Dude, that’s the best thing I’ve ever smelled, and you’re telling me it’s not smooth enough?” Numbah Two asked.
“Well... yeah. It’s good, but it’s not right.” Izuku finally looked up, tilting his head.
“He’s right. It’s missing that... thing. The thing that makes it The Fourth Flavor.” Abigail nodded, taking another bite.
“And getting that Something it’s the biggest challenge.” Izuku added, nodding.
“You’re both insane! This’ the best evah already!” Numbah Four said.
“The Best isn’t enough. We’re talkin’ about the Fourth Flavor. It’s gotta be perfect.” Abigail answered.
“You two are dummies, this is ice cream perfection already, it tastes like sunshine and happiness!” Numbah Three looked back and forth between them, her disbelief mirrored by the others.
But Izuku and Abigail were already moving on, Izuku adjusted the recipe in his notebook, murmuring about ratios and ingredient combinations, while Abigail tossed out ideas from her memory of that elusive flavor; the rest of the team could only watch in stunned silence as the two of them dove back into the process.
WEEEEEEEE!
Just as Izuku was about to test the next batch, a loud alarm started wailing at high volume and the sound of footsteps echoed through the treehouse.
“Intruders! Kids Next Door! Battle Station!” Numbah One yelled just as the door slammed open, and a teen girl in battle armor strode in.
“Sorry to crash your little cookout, kids! But I’ve got business with you that can’t wait!” She said.
“The very last person Ah wanted ta see,” Numbah Five commented with a growl.
“Good morning to you too, little sister,” Cree Lincoln answered as she strode in, her smirk as sharp as ever, her eyes then flicked to Izuku, and her smirk grew wider.
“Who’s the new guy?” she asked, casually leaning against the doorway.
“None of your business! Normally Numbah Five is always ready to show yah how’s done, but today I gotta do something more important!” She answered with her arms are crossed.
“Oh my! Am I getting in the way for something?” Cree answered, and with a smirk she checked Izuku up and down.
“Japanese, uh? You like them foreigner?” She joked cruelly.
“Yo, bimbo. He is taken, I am all the chocolate he needs.” Rumi said, immediately getting face to face with Abigail.
“Oh, really? Rabbit ears too? Such silly accessory,” The other answered.
“No accessory, kid.” Rumi countered, moving her ears around.
“Wha-”
BOOM!
To the KND surprise, a very lazy tap of Rumi’s kick sent Cree fly against a wall at the opposite side of the room and deep into the wood.
“THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOUR LEGS?!” Cree shrieked.
“Lotsa training, girlie. I can snap a car in two with my thighs.” Rumi answered, proudly.
“Tha heck? What do ya need that for? Kick a ball from here to Pluto?” Numbah Two asked in horror.
“Among other things,” Izuku answered, smiling at certain memories he didn’t want to mention to people that young.
“Now I am mad, you bunny freak!” Cree, once shot her way out of the wall, pointed her wrists guns at Rumi.
“Bring it, edgelord! I’ll fold you like a pretzel!” Rumi answered with a gleeful smile.
“Rumi, no.” Izuku said.
“But… But…”
“Rumi, please behave.” He repeated.
“Fiiine!”
“Ah! Whipped!” Cree mocked her.
“At least I don’t have finger cramps,” Rumi answered, smirking.
“YOU TAKE THAT BACK!” Cree yelled, switching from smugness to fury.
“Finger cramps?” Numbah Three asked.
“Inside joke between girls our age. Don’t worry about it.” Rumi answered.
“Ah don’t care about your weird teen jokes or whatever trivia ya like to throw around! Numbah Five finally has a chance of eating The Fourth Flavor for real and I won’t let you ruin this for me!” Abigail jumped in between the two.
“IF I can understand how to remake it,” Izuku added, humming.
“You’re telling me this kid’s gonna recreate the Fourth Flavor? Sounds like a lot of hot air to me.” Cree asked, looking at the two with a raised eyebrow.
“I promise I can. Abigail is luckily very knowledgable in sweet flavors and ice-cream, so she could give me a good description of the flavor in itself. The challenge is actually turning that memory back into reality.” Izuku answered, once again starting a new batch of Ice-Cream and letting the other KND eat the failure.
“This is the darnest best Ice-Cream I have ever eaten, and he keeps making better batches every time, and call them failures. I will never understand artists.” Numbah One said.
Cree narrowed her eyes and leaned closer to the workstation, clearly intrigued despite herself.
“Alright, chef boy. Let’s see what you’ve got. But if this ‘Fourth Flavor’ doesn’t blow me away, you’re wasting everyone’s time.” She said.
“I don’t like wasting time either, but rest assured that I won’t let anybody down!” Izuku smiled brightly and answered, his determination was clearly shining through.
“Keep some distance,” Rumi warned her.
“Yeah, yeah.”
“You can’t stay here!” The KND yelled.
“Why not? OUCH!” Numbah Two asked, and got a slap to the back of the head in answer by Numbah Four.
“Cree,” Abigail muttered, her tone tense.
“Aw, don’t sound so grumpy, little sis,” Cree said, stepping further into the room.
“He is making plenty for an extra Guest!” Her gaze lingered on the ice cream for a moment before returning to Izuku.
Izuku blinked, unsure how to respond.
“Well, to be fair, I am making enough for one more.”
“See, brats? HE has some manners!” Cree chuckled, her smirk turning into a full grin.
“He’s busy. And you’re not supposed to be here, so leave.” Abigail snapped, stepping between Cree and Izuku.
“Tell you what, Chef Boy. You finish up that ice cream, and maybe I’ll stick around to taste it. You know, after I deal with your little friends here.” Cree easily ignored her, her eyes still on Izuku.
“Here we go again…” Izuku muttered under his breath in defeat.
“I’ll snap her neck if she tries anything,” Rumi muttered.
“See? You are not welcomed.” Abigail said.
“Then I’ll take it by force!”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t serve you something unfinished, you’ll have to wait, just like everyone else.” Izuku answered, simply, and already turning back to his notebook.
Cree blinked, momentarily thrown off by his calm response, then she laughed.
“You’ve got guts, I’ll give you that.”
“Fine, I’ll wait, but just because you asked.” As she stepped closer, Abigail tensed, ready to intervene, but Izuku didn’t even look up, his attention fully on his work.
“Can we hurry this up?” Numbah Four whispered.
“Better not. She’s gonna kill us otherwise.” Numbah Three answered.
“Awesome. Numbah Five’s day was going so well before you arrived!”
“Oh, shut up!” Cree snapped, angrily.
But as Abigail watched Izuku, her annoyance with her sister faded slightly.
The way he carried himself, the quiet confidence, the absolute focus, it was hard not to trust him, even against Cree, he didn’t seem afraid.
“That’s it! I’m not gonna let a stinkin’ Teen get my ice-cream!” It was then that Numbah Four did something stupid and took out a gun made with a mustard bottle and tried shooting Cree.
The small kitchen instantly turned into a war zone.
Cree flipped over a counter, unclasped a laser-bladed baton from her hip and swung it at Numbah One, who deflected it with a 2x4-made foldable shield.
Numbah Two blasted foam darts in her direction, which she dodged with practised ease, while Numbah Three chased her around with a bubble gun, each colorful bubble she shoot exploded into sticky, glittery goo upon contact with anything.
"Is this really necessary?" Cree called out, vaulting over a rolling cart of utensils.
"All I wanted was a little chat with Chef Boy over there!"
“Those kids are far too trigger happy for their age,” Rumi commented.
“Yeah,” Izuku commented.
“To be fair, it is 50% my fault,” Cree answered, smirking.
"Make it One Bazillion%! Keep her away from him!" Numbah Five shouted, launching a yo-yo that snagged Cree's ankle and pulled her away from Izuku for a split second before she shook it off.
“Stinking lies!”
“You stink far more!”
“That because you brats keep stealing my deodorant!”
Meanwhile, Izuku remained unbothered in the center of the chaos, he just adjusted the burner on a small stovetop, stirring a mixture in a saucepan with utmost care.
A stray laser blast zipped past his head, barely missing the edge of his bandanna, he just moved his head to the side a bit to avoid it; a thrown foam dart ricocheted off the wall behind him, but Izuku didn’t even flinch, he just caught it mid-air with two fingers and tossed it away.
“This needs a bit more balance,” he murmured, jotting a note in his recipe book before sprinkling a pinch of sugar into the mix.
Numbah Four dove past him, clutching a launcher that fired rapidly spinning lollipops.
“How is he ignoring this?! Does nothing faze this guy?!” He yelled.
Cree smirked, sidestepping another barrage of glitter bubbles as she eyed Izuku.
“Impressive focus, Chef Boy. You’re a tough one to distract.” She admitted while hurling a smoke bomb toward the Kids Next Door and creating a billowing pink cloud.
“Not the worst place I worked on,” Izuku answered, absent-mindedly, while checking the ice-cream consistency.
“Tastes awesome, baby,” Rumi said, smirking in challenge at Cree after kissing his cheek to taste the smudge of ice-cream on his face.
“Tch! Stupid Japanese girl weirdo!”
“Cree, you better back off!” Numbah Five growled, her silhouette emerging from the smoke.
“We will finish you off!”
“Yeah, yeah! Let’s see what you’ve got, sis!” Cree shot back, twirling her baton to disperse the smoke.
“Get Her!” Numbah One yelled, and with a mighty battle cry, the fight restarted.
Behind them, in the meantime, Izuku carefully lifted a bowl of freshly churned ice cream from the KND’s makeshift ice cream machine.
“This looks promising! Color and scent seem to match how Abigail described...” He muttered and gave the mixture a cautious sniff, then dipped a spoon in for a taste, and his eyes widened slightly.
“It’s close… So close!” He murmured and reached for a jar of caramelized fruit puree.
“Take your time!” Abigail yelled while shooting bubblegum bullets at Cree.
“Oh, please do! We are just risking our lives here!” Numbah One added, more sarcastic.
As the battle raged on around him, Izuku finally froze with his hand hovering over the ice cream as realization struck.
“Ah-ha! I know that look! You got a brainwave!” Rumi said in triumph.
“This may be it. Can you and Whitey make them stop? So they can try it.” He answered.
“No problem, Baby! I am gonna bring back peace and quiet!” Rumi answered, cracking her knuckles.
“Underage Troublemaker detected! Switching to Discipline Mode! Troublemakers under the age of 20 will be spanked as an example to others!” Whitey declared as well, with its big round eyes flashing green.
“Wait what. AAAAAAAAH!” The KND yelled in pain as soon as both Hero Student and Robot jumped them.
“Sorry for the abrupt interruption, but I think I did it!” His voice cut through the commotion as soon as they all got subdued and disciplined.
“There were better ways to do it, Mate!” Numbah Four sai with a whine while massaging his butt.
“Obviously, but you looked too far distracted, and for that, I apologize.” Izuku answered, while bringing to the table a big container.
The room seemed to still as he plated the final version of his creation in various bowls, a shimmering scoop of ice cream that seemed to faintly glow like pure gold in the light.
“You did it?” Numbah Five asked, incredulous.
“I really think so, it hasn’t been easy. But I believe this is the Fourth Flavor.” Izuku answered and took a small spoonful.
“… Yep, really delicious. Try it.” He tasted it. And then, he smiled.
The others too tried it, and looked at him in awe.
“It’s not just The Fourth Flavor! You made it better!” Abigail said with wide eyes.
“...It’s perfect,” Even Cree admitted it, reluctantly.
The other Kids Next Door swarmed their bowls, each gobbling it by the spoonfuls, followed by cries of amazement as they marvelled at the taste.
To Cree, though, it also had a more personal feeling…
It was summer. She was ten years old, sitting on the curb with Abigail and a cone of ice cream in her hands. It was her favorite flavor: creamy, cool, and impossibly delicious.
She remembered the way it melted on her tongue, the way she and Abigail used to argue over who got the last scoop.
They stopped making it just a few years later, and when later she joined Father as his student as a Teen, she learned that it was a failed attempt of the Ice-Cream men at recreating the Fourth Flavor they discontinued because it was a failure and too expensive to make.
She’d almost forgotten that flavor entirely... Until now.
Cree chuckled and slowly approached Izuku, with her usual smirk replaced by something softer.
“You really are something else, Chef Boy, This is amazing.” she said, her voice quieter than usual.
“Thank you...?” Izuku blinked, confused.
Rumi just growled.
“So, ignoring Cree the boy-crazy creep,” Numbah Five began, gesturing toward Izuku, who was busy cleaning the ice cream machine in a futile attempt to escape the attention.
“HEY!”
“Y’all might not understand how big this is, but you’re sittin’ in the presence of a God of Cooking.”
“A what?” Numbah Four blurted out with his mouth still full of ice cream.
“A God of Cooking, you heard me right.” Numbah Five repeated, her tone calm but firm.
“W-wait, Abigail, I don’t think that’s…” Izuku froze mid-scrub, turning to face her with wide eyes.
“I remember that Legend too, lil sister. You still believe in that?” Cree asked, smirking.
“Ah, stop it, ya non-believer!” She cut her off, raising a hand.
“A God of Cooking ain’t just some fancy title, guys. It’s the real deal. We’re talkin’ ‘bout someone so good at cookin’, the food they make isn’t just delicious! It’s legendary. Magical! Those Food soldiers stopped fightin’ him because Ingredients listen to Gods of Cooking! No Self-respecting Ingredient’s gonna commit that blasphemy if they know what’s best for them! Every dish A Chosen make can change the way you think, the way you feel... Even the way you see the world!” Abigail said, voice full of respect.
The room went quiet as the kids processed her words.
“Wait... you mean, like, actual magic?” Numbah Two’s asked while pointing at Izuku with his spoon.
“Pretty much, lots of wild tales.” Cree said with a shrug.
“There’s stories ‘bout chefs like him, going back centuries. Some say they could turn even the nastiest ingredients into masterpieces. Others say they could create dishes so perfect, people would cry just from takin’ one bite or wage literal wars for the last slice of a dessert they made!” Abigail added, and gestured toward the empty ice cream bowl on the table.
“And y’all just tasted it for yourselves.” She then said.
The other KND kids stared at Izuku, their awe now tinged with something almost like fear.
“Dude, You’re, like, a wizard... But for food.” Numbah Four whispered.
“Please. I don’t want to talk about it.” Izuku turned bright red and waved his hands in protest.
“Don’t even try, Chef Boy,” Cree interrupted, leaning back in her chair with a smirk.
“You’re not fooling anyone. You’ve got the goods, and you know it.”
“It’s really not that special. I just... I’ve had a lot of experience, that’s all.” Izuku said with a groan, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Not that special?! You just made the best ice cream in the universe!” Numbah Three exclaimed.
“Face it, Chef Boy. You’re a big deal. Own it.” Cree teased him, propping her chin on her hand as she watched him squirm.
“Heyo! I am warning you!” Rumi moved to sit closer to Izuku.
“I’d really rather not,” Izuku mumbled, his cheeks burning.
Numbah Five shook her head, a small smile tugging at her lips.
“Man, you’re somethin’ else. Most folks would be braggin’ up a storm if they had even half your skills. But you? You’re actin’ like you didn’t just blow all our minds with one bowl of ice cream.” She said.
“I just... I don’t want people to treat me differently because of it, you know? Cooking is something I love, and I want people to enjoy it for what it is, not because of some title.” Izuku sighed, his shoulders slumping as he said that.
“Well, if it means anythin’, you got nothin’ to worry ‘bout here. We ain’t treatin’ you different ‘cause of some fancy name. We’re treatin’ you different ‘cause you just made ice cream that’s better than anything we’ve ever had in our lives and resurrected a flavour that was s’pposed to be lost forever.” Numbah Five answered after a moment of thought.
“Thanks. That... means a lot.” Izuku managed to show a small, grateful smile.
“And if you ever wanna make more of that ice cream, we’ll be more than happy to treat you like royalty.” Numbah Two added, pointing to the empty bowl and chuckling.
“Oh! I that would be something I can do instead!” Izuku answered, chuckling along with him.
It was then that Izuku felt a hand grab his shoulder with surprising gentleness, and alarm bells started ringing in his head.
“You know,” Cree said with a glint of mischief in her eyes.
“A guy who can cook like this might just be boyfriend material.”
“OH HELL NO! You just didn’t say that!” Rumi answered with a roar.
“WHAT?!” Abigail’s voice cut through the air like a whip.
“Relax, little sis. I’m just saying, he’s got potential.” Cree chuckled and answered, stepping closer to Izuku to sit next to him.
“NOOOOOOO!” Numbah Two howled while crying, Numbah Three just awkwardly patted his back.
“You’ve got terrible skill in timing, Cree! And you ain’t getting anywhere near him!” Abigail stomped between them, glaring at her sister.
Izuku, still holding the ice cream bowl, looked back and forth between them.
“Uh, I think it’s time for me to go...”
The other KND kids groaned, clearly used to the sisters’ antics.
“Oh, look at the time! I really must go, byeee!” Izuku wasted no time, he grabbed Rumi’s hand and ran for the exit.
“No, come back! What have you done?! You sacred him away!” Abigail yelled in horror.
“I did?! You did it, you darn brat!” Cree yelled back.
BOOM!
With a giant explosion, an entire side of the Tree-House exploded to let a black silhouette of an adult standing on top of a massive machine to peek inside.
“You children have been naughty! What is this rumor about you having a God of Cooking here?! Somebody like him should cook for adults only!” Father yelled while summoning arpund himself a big halo of flames.
“We will catch him for you, Father!” The Delightful Children, the ones piloting the robot, answered while pushing a button that unleashed dozen of giant robot hands from various points of the robot.
“WE ARE DONE HERE, WHITEY!” Izuku yelled, brandishing his knife and slashing down.
“ASHURA FILLETING!” He yelled, instantly shredding the giant robot julienne-style as if it was not made of sturdy metals.
“… We wish to surrender…” The Delightful Children, very intelligently, chose to not challenge their Luck and engage that Knife further.
“YOU BAD CHILDR-QUACK!” Father quacked like a duck, somehow, when Whitey’s big fist closed around his neck.
“Troublemakers shall be stripped as an example to others!” The Robot said.
“… Can’t you just beat me up?” Father asked with a small voice.
“First stripping, then beating.”
“Oh.”
STRIP! BANG!
Izuku didn’t wait, he just kept dragging Rumi away while Cree chased them, when Whitey joined them again, the System teleported them all away, leaving Cree behind to scream in anger at another cute boy slipping away from her.
Meanwhile, in the KND Tree-house, things were a bit more calm.
“… Is he alive?” Numbah Two asked while poking the unconscious Father (In his boxers) that Whitey had slapped and then punched into a crater.
“I don’t wanna eat tapioca again, Daddy! It gives me gas!” Father whined with a child-like voice while still unconscious.
“Yeah, he’ll live.” Numbah Four answered.
“Can we just take Father away? We want to go home and forget this day even happened,” The Delightful Children asked with a sigh.
“Yeah, let me help you with that!” Numbah Three answered, pressing a button,
“Thank Yo- SLAM! Aaaaaaaaaah!” The giant spring-powered platform the DC and Father were on shoot upward to shoot them all up and away from the Tree-House.
“And to think this day started so well…” Numbah One muttered with a groan.
“At least we had good ice-cream, Nigel.” Abigail said with a comforting tone.
“Yeah, at least we got that.” He conceded.
End of the Chapter.
I’ll do my best.
I’ll be okay.
Notes:
About the last chapter, I realize I may have overreacted to what, for me, is an insignificant detail brought up in my reviews.
I don't know how TV shows are recorded, and to be honest, I don’t really care.
I understand that, for one of my reviewers, getting this right is important, but for me, it doesn’t carry the same weight—it’s simply not relevant to the story in my view.
I could have worded my response in a less confrontational way, yes, and I apologize for that. However, my stance remains the same: to me, this particular mistake has no real impact.
It also needs to be known that being told to "chill" doesn’t work, it tends to frustrate me more.
To me this is not an issue, and I can’t make it an issue, even if I try. I am sorry.
Chapter 40: The World falls apart. Izuku Arc, Part 1
Summary:
a normal day, a normal challenge and a new Mission from the System. For Izuku everything is normal. For everybody else... The world is ending in a blaze of Anarchy. Japan has fallen.
Notes:
DIsclaimer: I don't own what I write about, all rights reserved to their legal owners.
Sorry if I took so long. Life has been difficult lately, and still is.
I don’t want to trauma dump, but currently I don’t know what is holding me together, but I am meeting a counsellor/Psychologist, so I am working on it.
Due to my issues, it is very likely I will stop writing for a while after finishing this story, still undecided if I will drop writing Fanfiction altogether or not after finishing this story.Sorry again,
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 40: The world falls apart. Izuku Arc Part 1.
Detnerat HQ - Re-Destro’s office – Early Morning -
The big office was a shining example of both luxury and minimalist design, with Re-Destro’s giant desk sitting in the far back, with behind it a massive window giving everybody inside a breath-taking view of the entire city.
“Did you renovate the office again?” Shigaraki asked, scratching his neck almost nonstop now.
“Indeed. People have a view of what a CEO has to be, and I don’t mind playing along their silly fixations, if it keeps them away from my businesses. And I don’t mean how I manage my Company.” Re-destro answered, humming while looking outside.
“Whatever makes you happy.” Shigaraki answered, unconcerned.
“Hahaha! I know, I know. You are impatient to get your deserved revenge.” Rikiya said.
“You promised I would get a chance to kill that dog and Chef.”
“Of course! First the dog and Chef, then every Hero you always wanted dead,” He answered.
“And you are okay with that?” Shigaraki asked, with an eyebrow going way up.
“My dear Shigaraki, what is the greatest difference between me and your old boss All for One?” Re-Destro asked.
“You don’t need Kurogiri to wipe your ass and change your diaper three times a day?” Shigaraki answered, serious.
“I lived a way better life without knowing that detail. But no. You see, All for One was setting his little chessboard for the benefit of himself… I plan to make Society as a whole win!” Rikiya said.
“…”
Sigh! “See it this way: All for One was organizing everything just to make himself the perfect Final Boss of the game, no matter how badly he ruins the game itself. Me instead, I am trying to advance the Plot and make sure the DM (Society) stop screwing-up everybody’s game.”
“Ooh.”
“So you see! With me you will get to play your role as an actual Boss Fight, instead of being a background character in All for One’s Final Boss battle!” Re-Destro said, smiling, and mentally thanking his youngest intern for teaching him enough tabletop and videogame lingo to help the insane psychopath with disintegrating powers understand what to do.
“I guess All for One wanted him so detached from sanity to just obey and kill whoever he wanted. But honestly, how did they manage to control him? He is both insane and a moron…” Rikiya thought with tired annoyance.
“So when do we start? Are you going to tell me to wait forever like they made me do in that stupid pub?” Shigaraki asked.
“Oh, no! Contrary to All for One, I am actually good at planning and planting my men where I need them, to get the results I need. And thanks to you telling me what they were planning, I actually could accelerate my own project!”
“Uh-hu.”
“Don’t be like that, my dear Shigaraki. The big, explosive start of my plan will come far sooner than you think!” Re-destro said with a wide, malicious smile.
“I really hope so, old man.” Shigaraki answered.
“You’ll see, you’ll see. I know you will love it.”
Meanwhile – Green Cloud Restaurant -
Izuku was finishing his mid-morning short training routine, using a giant butcher knife that The System created to weight just as much as a truck to carve tiny radishes into life-like replicas of his head, when he heard the loud slap of Whitey sending a troublemaker fly out of the Restaurant.
“Dine and dash?” He asked aloud without looking away from the tiny radish he was working on.
“Nope! Quirkist supremacist harassing a student with ‘Ugly Mutation Quirk’. The poor girl was sobbing so I took the liberty to have Whitey evict the moron.” Himiko answered, peeking into the kitchen from the serving window.
“Good job. Is it that Ketsubotsu student with the Blobfish mutation?”
“Yes.”
“Little Sora… Here, bring her this. On the house, a small thing I hope will cheer her up.” Izuku nodded and took a small dish with a bright pink dessert.
“Cranberry mousse?” Himiko asked, smirking.
“Her favourite.” He confirmed, smiling.
“I’ll bring her that, Boss!” The waitress obediently grabbed the dish and moved to deliver it.
“Nobody bullies my Guests,” Izuku muttered.
Meanwhile – outside -
A man wearing a formal dress sans the tie was standing in front of the Restaurant entrance, looking at the sign with a wide, mischievous smile.
“You sure, Boss?” The cameraman asked once again.
“I am a professional, Izuchi-kun. I give the audience a show and offer a service to Restaurant Owners, I am not a mercenary that sells his integrity for the best offer.” The man answered.
“If you say so… Recording in three… two… one…” The cameraman answered, and counted backwards with a hand high in the air.
What people will later see was an opening clip-show where dirty, unorganized and downright horrendous kitchens and dishes flashed on the screen.
Wherever there is bad food!
A mound of meat looking like a dead animal scrapped from the street appears on screen.
Wherever there is service so bad it makes you question who the real Villains are!
A waiter throws a dish on the table with zero manners, actually making some of the soup splash the customer.
Wherever there are Restaurants so awful even cover-ups from the Yakuza look legit!
“Too much salt?! I’ll BEEEP!-ing Teach you what good food is, you son of a BEEEP!” A Chef is seen being physically restrained by a waiter to stop her from murdering a Customer with a meat clever.
I’ll be there to save the situation!
Because I am Kumori Kensai, and this…
IS NIGHTMARE KITCHENS!
The man smiled and after giving the few seconds pause that will then be switched with that opening, he addressed the camera directly.
“Welcome, fans of good food and fellow avengers of terrible cooking! Once again I hit the streets like a Culinary Vigilante to bring justice to the poor food manhandled by Chefs that have strayed from the right path!” Kensai said with a wide smile and overflowing energy.
“… Hehehehe!” He then gave a loud snort and winked at the camera.
“Or at least, normally this is what I do, as the older members of the audience know, but I decided to start this season with something different! To celebrate the beginning of the Sixth Season of Kitchen Nightmares… I’ll bring a different kind of justice!” Said that he gestured at the Restaurant Entrance.
“You know how I usually take you to Restaurant so beyond saving some of you think I am a masochist just because I dare enter their doors, let alone eating the slop they call food. But today… Today is special! Follow me!”
The cameraman obediently followed Kensai inside Green Cloud Restaurant, with the camera giving a wide round to show the pristine and immaculate inside, and stopping briefly on Eri that blushed, gave a tiny wave at the camera and then buried her face in Shiro’s fur to shyly hide from view.
“Oh! Kensai-san! Izuchi-san! Good morning!” Izuku appeared from the kitchen with a tray himself to help Himiko serve the tables.
“Surprise, Boss Izuku! You are on Kitchen Nightmares!” Tensai said…
The room’s temperature dropped to sub-zero when the Vigilantes and small-time Villains slowly got up from their seats to glare at him.
“It’s not what it looks like!” The cameraman immediately gave a shrilly scream and went on the defensive.
“Guys, sit down. No fighting in my Restaurant, please.” Izuku asked gently, and with a low chorus of petulant grumbling, the ones that got up returned to sit.
“In Hindsight, I should have explained.” Kensai said, laughing unfazed.
“I… Didn’t know I was that bad, Kensai-san.” Izuku admitted.
“Oh, no no no! It’s not one of my normal episode… Can we?” The man answered while pointing at the kitchen.
“From the window, sorry but for reasons of hygiene I can’t let you inside.” Izuku answered.
“Fair enough.” Kensai answered.
“As you can see… Spotless clean, a true marvel of cleanliness and order, for the ones of you at home with a delicate stomach, this must look like heaven compared to what I usually show you. It’s so clean that operating rooms at the hospital look like dumpsters in comparison.” The man said while the camera zoomed inside the kitchen to show how clean it was.
“Somebody sent you?” Himiko, far less amused than Izuku, asked aloud.
“Eh, unfortunately I was asked to keep the name of who alerted the show a secret, and I won’t break that confidentiality.” Kensai said while sitting at a table with the cameraman.
“Figures,” She scoffed in answer.
“It’s fine, Himiko.” Izuku said.
“No, it’s not!” She pouted and countered.
“As you can tell, here is more than just a Restaurant, we are quite literally visiting a friend… That will bring us the bill of what he cooked for us.” Kensai joked.
“In my defense, I do this with everybody that comes here.” Izuku answered.
“Good to know. What are the specialities of the day? I want to make sure that the audience at home can see what you have to offer. After all, I may have not come here to accuse you of being bad like the owner of the ‘Nobunaga’s Ambition’ Restaurant asked me to do, but I still promised the audience a special episode to start the new season, and I am not a liar.” Kensai said.
“Didn’t you just-”
“The desserts too, of course.” The man interrupted Izuku, smirking.
“Riiight… I’ll prepare everything.” The young Chef answered, walking away while shaking his head.
“… What?” Kensai said while looking at the camera.
“I didn’t say the guy’s name! I kept my promise!” He said, and the camera too lightly shook left and right in a defeated way.
Slam!
With a thundering noise, the door was kicked open.
SMASH!
With an even louder bang, the door slammed back on the nose of the guy that kicked it.
“System!” Izuku groaned in disbelief.
“Not us.” The Entity answered.
“Sorry, force of habit.”
“That was me. The sound startled poor Eri.” Shiro answered telepathically.
“SHIRO!” Izuku mentally yelled.
“… Is he alive?” One of the guests asked, leaning forward to see the Indian guy sprawled on the floor.
“Baap re baap...That hurts…” The guy muttered to himself while getting up.
“Are you okay?” Izuku asked, worried.
“Yes, as soon as stars stop dancing in front of my eyes, I’ll be.” The Indian guy in pristine and expensive Chef attire answered, stumbling his way inside.
“Here, you were rude, but the door punished you enough.” Himiko said, offering him some water.
“Dhanyawad (Thank you)…”
“Why you tried to kick down the door?”
“For that, I must apologize. I fear anger got the better of me. Still, it’s a matter of Indian pride.”
“Eh?”
“I am Chef Vikram Kulkarni, personal Chef of the Indian Prime Minister. I was here with the Minister of External Affairs to meet the Japanese Prime Minister.” Vikram said.
“Ookay?” Izuku drawled on, unsure.
“I was presenting to the Prime Minister of Japan and the Minister of External Affairs the best food the millenary Indian cooking Tradition can produce, but one of the bodyguards dared say that this… Place… Makes a Rogan Josh better than mine! A Curry better than mine! My family has cooked for the greatest dignitaries and royalty for generations, I can’t let this slide unless I personally try this miraculous food! So bring out the Chef, so I can formally challenge them!”
“… That’s me.” Izuku answered.
“Arey Ram (Oh Lord Ram)… You? You?! Kya Baat hai! (What’s going on?!)” Vikram exclaimed, face-palming in disbelief.
“He doesn’t believe you?” Himiko said, rolling her eyes.
“You speak Indian?” Izuku asked.
“No. I speak ‘I can’t believe somebody younger than me is supposed to be this good’-ese.” She answered.
“Hilarious,” Izuku commented, deadpan.
“Look at the knives, bud. Every name on it is a Chef that my Boss defeated, they came and left a knife whenever he kicked their ass. Icchan hadn’t be defeated once.”
“Eh?” The guy finally gave a look insane the cabinet on the wall.
“Hidetaka… Kurogawa… Li Ming and Li Hong… Delacroix… Salvatore and Lucio Marinetti… Xiang-Li Hun… Jose Armando Alcantara… Arrey Baap re! (Oh, father!) I know those people!” Vikram said, surprised.
“In my defense, in most of those cases they came to me for challenges, I just defend myself, I am not really that much of a bully.” Izuku said.
“Yes, I can see this. Still I already made a scene in the embassy, so this challenge has to happen,” Vikram said, humming.
“You sure?”
“I need to see this, or I will spend months thinking about this non-stop, and I don’t need that tiny voice in the back of my head wondering if you are actually that good while I work… My job is already stressful as it is.” The man admitted.
“Fair enough… So. Now?” Izuku asked.
“Ah, no no! I am here to deliver the challenge… Is tomorrow okay?”
“Should be, sure.” He answered, shrugging.
“Thank you, the Prime Minister will send a car,”
“… Really?”
“They found this amusing, as a sort of friendly competition. Clean-up, we’ll do this at the Embassy,” Vikram said.
“Of course, thank you for warning me.
“Good. See you tomorrow, young man.” Vikram said, giving a last goodbye and leaving.
Sigh! “Those knives were supposed to scare challengers off.” Himiko said, rubbing her temples.
“Yeah…” Izuku answered with a groan.
Then he felt somebody grab his pants tightly.
“Uh?”
“PLEEEEEEEEEEEASE! Bring me along! I want to film the challenge!” Kensai was kneeling on the floor and grabbing Izuku’s uniform while flashing the most pathetic eyes he could.
“Please! In the Embassy! We will even go with our own car!” The Cameraman begged as well.
“It’s not up to me.” Izuku tried saying.
“It would be a stellar moment for my career! Try asking! Pleeeeeeease!”
“Augh…” Izuku groaned louder in answer, and to think his week started so peacefully he dared to think thing had finally calmed down.
The next day -
The limousine with the insignia of the Indian Embassy was rapidly cutting through the traffic while flanked by two members of the police force on bikes and closely followed by Whitey, and had somebody with keen eye looked up, several tiny drones summoned by 808 and BoB were following the car, something that put under alarm the guys from I-Island.
“Do we know who sent those drones?” One operator asked to the base.
“Negative… I never saw encryption like this… This stuff is far too advanced.”
“Aliens?” The Operator asked, chuckling.
“Don’t joke, this-”
“Please desist. Any further probing will be considered an Attack, and there will be consequences.” The AI of the Bio-Obliterating Ballista declared once hacked the entire system of I-Island just to deliver the warning.
“… That ‘System Incorporated’ scares the shit out of me, Eagle 1.” The tech guy in I-Island said.
“Yeah. Me too.” The Operator answered, closing the call and just following the limo thanks to the drone he was piloting from the back of a nondescript van.
Meanwhile, the limousine silently arrived at destination, circling the main building to let Izuku enter from a side door, once properly frisked and searched by far too many security checkpoints.
“I swear, if I see a rubber glove…” He muttered.
“We have no reason to go that far, young man. At ease.” The guy checking every food item Izuku took along answered.
“All safe?” He asked to various experts.
“Safe? Yes… But where in the name of Ram did you find Ingredients of this quality?” The Leader of the Experts that checked to make sure nothing had been compromised, or poisoned, asked in disbelief.
“My Sponsor has a good reach and very good providers.” Izuku answered.
“Yes, I can see that. Go ahead you can go.”
“Please follow me… Even if we don’t like the fact that X-ray can’t see through that robot.” The guard said.
“UA vouched for me about Whitey, even if they too failed to study him.” Izuku answered while following the guy through the various service corridors.
“Knowing Power Loader, that must be eating him inside.”
“Not really, Mister Loader was a very good sport about it.”
UA – Support Course Labs -
“Waaah! Why can’t I understand how that damn robot works! Waaaaah!” Power Loader cried, not being a good sport about it at all.
“It’s unfair! Unfair! Unfair! I wanna know how it works! Waaaaah!”
Indian Embassy – meeting room -
When Izuku finally arrived, he was the two cooking stations fully stocked and ready to be used, assembled right in the middle of the room; dignitaries, The Japanese and Indian Prime Minister, the Ministers of external affairs were sitting at the table in a far corner, behind reinforced glass and surrounded by guards while many reporters and cameramen were at the opposite side, clamouring to get the best angle to film everything.
“Nervous?” One of the waiters that will bring the food to the table asked.
“Not really, I had an eventful month already, this is a drop in the ocean by now…” Izuku answered, sighing in defeat.
“Damn, I don’t envy you.” The guy answered.
“Welcome, as you were told, as a friendly show of culture exchange both of you will prepare three dishes of Indian and Japanese traditional cuisine; Two Indian and one Japanese dish for Midoriya-san, and Two Japanese and One Indian Dish for Vikram-san. Whatever ‘Victory’ so to speak is meaningless, but just a friendly excuse to share a meal together. Understood?” The secretary of the Japanese Prime Minister said.
“Yes.” Both Izuku and Vikram answered, smiling.
“Very well. You will be free to start as soon as the staff will bring you the crate of Ingredients you personally prepared for this, no tampering occurred.” On the notes of the applause of everybody present, the two crates went delivered and the Challenge started.
Izuku took a deep breath and summoned the Sea Dragon kitchen knife and the Zaus Knife from the rope tattoo on his wrist, the Dragon Knife turned its blade into a thin and wide squared blade with a flick while the Zaus Knife blade elongated slightly, and with a knife in each hand, Izuku started chopping herbs finely.
“So, my old friend, not that I mind having some good food… But this challenge feels a bit… Too much?” The Japanese Prime Minister asked, curious.
“Vikram is a great Chef, but a bit impulsive. He is the current holder of the title of Enlightened Spice, a small moniker the firstborn of his family get if they defeat their father or mother in a cooking duel, as a rite of passage to adulthood, and apparently it goes back of almost a thousand years and should technically mean that he has the qualifications to defend the honor of the family in the kitchen. So when he heard someone that young be labelled as better than him at cooking Indian food, he overreacted.”
“Oh.”
“If I didn’t do this, he would have spent months whining non-stop about this supposed disrespect and probably pestered me about all being just rumours just to save face with me, as if I would kick him out of my staff just for that after years of loyal service. He and his family take great pride in their family’s cooking skills… Maybe a bit too much pride.” The Indian PM answered, shaking his head.
“I see. So? What is this challenge about?”
“They both will prepare some Galouti Kebab, even if I told him to make it simple.”
“I think I heard that name before...”
“The history of Galouti kebab, also known as Gilawat, is quite interesting. It was supposedly created keeping the special needs and desires of an ageing Nawab, called Wajid Ali Shah of Lucknow.
The Nawab had lost all his teeth, but his passion for meat remained intact, so, this melt in the mouth kebab was prepared in his royal kitchens to satisfy the Nawab’s love for meat; the original recipe was created by Haji Murad Ali, and is supposed to be a well-kept top secret thing, infamous for the use of some 160 spices and flavorings to prepare it.” The Indian PM explained.
“160 spices!? That’s very far from simple!” The Japanese PM said, amused.
“That’s what I said too! But Vikram is more stubborn than a damn mountain goat and insisted they both made the Kebab, so even I had to relent. The secret recipe has 160 spices according to the legend, a family secret that is passed down to the generations by the ladies of the house… But between me and you… I never believed to that part of the story. I don’t even know if there are all those spices on the entire planet!” The Indian PM answered, laughing.
“True, you would need to really stretch the meaning of ‘Spice’ to fit more in it, but you have to admit that it makes the dish sound so mysterious! How do you use all that without making it inedible?”
“All quite true, my friend!” The other answered, sharing a chuckle between them.
(I really don’t know how politicians act with each other. I am sorry, don’t mean to offend.)
Cooking Challenge – Izuku’s side -
Izuku looked at the wide spread of Ingredients that he prepared for the Challenge, every single one picked by the staff to assure fairness.
“Basmati Rice, a good quality too. Good! For once I don’t have to fear sabotage.” He muttered while studying the Long grains of rice inside one of the bowls, and checking for any blemishes that could ruin the taste.
“The chicken too seems good, fat, skin and meat don’t look tempered with…”
“I assure you no cheating occurred!” Vikram said, proudly.
“Contrary to those fools that challenged you, I won’t forget my honor and use cheap tricks!”
“Sorry if I checked, but I have some bad memories of previous challenges… Although, the spices...”
“What about them? They are extremely fresh! The shahi jeera, the bay leaves, star anise, cloves, and green cardamom pods…. All are the very best that can be found!” The man answered.
“Oh, no no. I can tell they will infuse the rice with rich flavor. I can see the good quality!” Izuku answered.
“Then what is the problem? Something missing? Because in that case we can pospone until it’s fixed!” Vikram said.
“It’s fine, don't worry, I’ll add the missing spices by myself,” Izuku answered, smiling.
“Other spices?”
“Others! Besides the turmeric, Kashmiri red chili powder and Biryani Masala. Don’t worry about it.”
“… Okay.”
Returning to work, Izuku grabbed a few big yellow onions and thinly sliced them, then he used some ghee to caramelize them and create “Birista/Birira onions”, an important component for the marinade as well as for topping.
(Ghee is clarified butter made by separating butterfat from the milk solids and water in butter, it has a slightly nutty, almost caramel-like flavor, It has a lighter but grainier mouthfeel than butter)
“What a rich golden color! They are perfect, they will add a nice sweet, caramelized flavor to complement all the spices.” Izuku muttered, pleased by the onions’ final look.
“The Marinading is coming along very well…” The young Chef muttered, he had put in a bowl a marinade made by mixing yogurt, ginger, garlic, turmeric, red chili powder, garam masala, salt, the mint leaves, cilantro and lemon juice.
“It has rested in the fridge for about 24 hours… Thank god they left me do this before the challenge started. Doing this without proper time would have ruined the final result.”
“Now to Parboil the rice…” Once the water in the pot started heating-up, Izuku added cumin seeds, bay leaves, star anise, cardamom, cloves, and salt and brought the to a boil on high heat.
He poured in the soaked and drained rice and brought everything to a full boil on high heat, then he lowered the heat and cooked uncovered until the rice was about 90% cooked.
“Very fragrant! Nice! It’s not the Pearl Rice I use in my Restaurant, but the dish will still come out good!” He muttered while draining the rice and putting it aside.
With Vikram -
“Ahy. The boy is indeed good. Surprising for a Japanese boy, Japanese cooking is all about delicate balance of soft tastes, and yet there he is juggling the intense spices of Indian cuisine. Very intriguing! This challenge will be more intense than I thought! Very well!” Vikram muttered, smiling impressed.
He kept checking how Izuku cooked with very critical eyes, especially how he kept sauteeing his marinated chicken in a pot with the remaining ghee, and judging the way the young man cooked as respectful to the Indian’s recipe.
With Izuku – some time later -
“Ready for the last step!” Once satisfied with the chicken’s sauteeing, he gently layered the partially cooked rice over the chicken in a pot, then topped it with caramelized onions and saffron-infused milk, and finally sealed the pot with aluminum foil.
He further covered the pot with a lid and left it to cook on low heat.
“You done?” Vikram asked, in the meantime he was giving the finishing touches to the Japanese Dish he was making.
“Almost! I will allow the biryani to sit uncovered for 5 minutes before serving it,” Izuku answered, smiling, and gently fluffing the rice using a fork to help the delicate rice grains to firm up a bit and preventing them from breaking.
“Very good! Not many follow that step!” Vikram answered, pleased.
“Contestants! If both your Dishes are ready, please plate them, they will be taste tested by security and then brought to the judges!” The PM Secretary reminded everybody.
“We are ready!” Both Chefs answered,
Izuku served his Biryani still hot and with lemon wedges and a cooling raita, it was a mesmerizing spread of aromatic long-grain rice perfectly layered over succulent chicken marinated in a blend of earthy, aromatic spices, garnished with caramelized onions and delicate strands of saffron and lemon wedges.
(Raita is a traditional Indian yogurt-based condiment or side dish, commonly served chilled to cool the palate when eating spicy foods. It is typically made with plain yogurt, fresh vegetables, herbs, and spices, and is a staple accompaniment to Indian meals like biryani, pulao, and kebabs)
The plates went delivered to the taste testers that thanks to their peculiar Quirks could tell if anything harmful, not just poisonous, was used.
“Everything is safe, Sir. Please enjoy your food with no worries.” The head tasters confirmed the safety of the food and delivered it to the two Judges.
And both PMs couldn’t help but notice the very short, but noticeable, delay in letting go of the plates when they delivered them Izuku’s dishes.
“… You know? It may be extremely spicy, but I did develop a taste for Indian cooking, the burning feeling on the tongue really grows on you,”
“I must be honest, I instead am starting to understand the Japanese way, delicate tastes do soothe the spirit too,” The Indian PM answered.
“What I don’t understand is how a boy so young, and Japanese, can cook Indian food like an Indian Chef… No offense,”
“It’s fine, don’t worry. I checked and the boy seems to be rather famous, alarmingly so, so I am not surprised. But still, seeing what the youngsters would call The Hype be so deserved, it’s a pleasing surprise.” The Japanese PM answered.
“Indeed! But Arey Ram, this chicken really melts in the mouth! And the spices! Far too well done! I had Biryani before, but rice this fragrant and meat this good… Never before. I am honestly impressed.” The Indian PM admitted between mouthfuls.
“All very true. But credit where credit is due, Vikram really has become good at making Japanese dishes, every time we meet, he shows he has improved.” The Japanese PM answered.
“Hahaha! I will let him know! But now we need to taste the actual core of the challenge,”
“Aah! The Galouti Kebab! Yes, I am very curious about that too, I wonder who will make it best,”
With Izuku -
“Time for the main event! I’ll show them the real Magic of Spices!” Izuku said, smiling happily.
He had started by grinding together bay leaf, black cardamom, cinnamon, dried green chilly, grated nutmeg, mace, pepper corns, poppy seeds, cloves, cardamom seeds, garlic, ginger, chilly powder, raw papaya with the skin, and ran everything into a smooth and fine paste.
“Good start!… Now the other spices!” Then he had shocked the others by having Whitey open a crate to show the many small containers of powdered spices and started adding them one after another.
10… 20… 30… 40…
More and more until whoever managed to keep count, the total spices used reached the absurd number of 160 different spices.
“Is he actually doing it?!” Many whispered in shock, Vikram comprised.
“So many spices, it reminds me of the Challenges I used to have with Damala Sky, always fun!” Izuku muttered while adding coriander leaves and eggs into the paste and mixing everything into an unblemished mixture.
Finally the Mutton meat was passed through the grinder and ground into a smooth paste, some salt was added to the mix along masala paste and a spoonful of roasted gram flour, and everything, meat and spices mixture, was then mixed evenly together to form several patties.
“Everything is ready, time to heat the ghee butter…” Izuku muttered, heating the Indian-style clarified butter in a heavy-based frying pan until it sizzled.
Fizz!
When he started frying the kebabs, and explosion of scent filled the room almost instantly, filling the lungs of the people in the room to burst, and making many stomachs whine in need.
“ARREY BAAP RE! How in the name of Heaven did you do that!?” Vikram yeleld with bulged-out eyes.
“Hn?” Izuku uttered, confused, and rapidly turning the kebabs to make sure both sides would brown equally.
“You used far too many spices! The smell should be terrible! Like tear gas used to sedate revolts, not heavenly like this!”
“Oh! An old acquaintance of mine helped me learn to balance spices,” He answered.
“Balance is one thing, a miracle is another!”
“Yours smell nice too! Don’t sell yourself short!” Izuku said, smiling.
“I can barely smell mine, even by smashing my head into the frying pan! A Japanese boy shouldn’t play around with spices!”
“I don’t play around, I know what I am doing…” Izuku muttered, dejected.
“Vikram, be nice. This is a friendly showdown, not a competition,” The Indian PM said.
“But… Sir!” A petulant whine escaped the man’s mouth before he could stop it.à
“It’s fine! I won’t think any less of you, not after all your years of service.”
“… Are you already declaring him the victor?!”
“… Focus on the Kebabs, Vikram…” The PM answered, now very enthusiastically studying every detail of the ceiling’s paint.
Time later -
When the kebabs were finally ready, Izuku separated them into various plates and garnished each portion with lemon juice, onion rings and a bunch of fresh mint.
“If your Galouti Kebabs are ready to be served, please step away from the workstations and let the staff deliver the dishes!”
With a loud applause, the two Chefs stepped away and watched the last dishes be taste tested and then delivered to the two PMs and their staff.
Izuku didn’t mind to see the journalists focus on Vikram only for their questions and pictures, in both his lives he never was at ease with cameras shoved on his face or getting pressed with questions, unless strictly necessary.
The judges kept eating, savouring each bite and humming in satisfaction whenever the spices covered their mouth and made their skin tingle pleasantly, or when the juicy meats melted on their tongue in a sea of tasty juices.
“The Challenge is over, and as we said, there are no Winners or Losers today, this is just a celebration to both Japanese and Indian history of cooking, and thanks to these two astounding talents, today we really tasted the pure flavour of our Cultures, so unique and yet so wonderfully welcoming to whoever wants to broaden their horizons. Thank you, Chef Midoriya and Chef Kulkarni.” The Minister of External Affairs said, giving both a short applause the rest of the room soon joined in.
“Ahy… They turned my Challenge into a political piece,” Vikram muttered, sighing.
“It’s fine, they needed something to have a speech about and get pictures for, let them have the spotlight if they need it.” Izuku answered.
“I still want to know who was the best one at making Galouti Kebab.” The man answered.
“Does it really matter?” Izuku asked, curious.
“To me it does,”
“Should we try asking then?”
“… It may be a bit against etiquette… But… maybe?” Vikram answered, unsure.
“Then let’s go ask,” Izuku answered, smiling.
Following the older man, the young man neared the table with the two Prime Ministers and the rest of their staff, all under the unblinking eyes of their security detail that seemed ready to fan them in bullets and THEN ask what they were doing.
“Ehm… Sir?” Vikram asked.
“…” It was only thanks to Izuku’s own skills if he saw the Indian PM’s mouth briefly crease in a barely-contained smile that lasted an instant.
“Yes, Vikram?” The man asked, leaning slightly forward.
“I was wondering…”
“You want to know who actually won?” The other asked, now regaling Vikram with a truly tiny smile.
“Yes, sir. This started as me trying to defend my pride as Chef before it turned into This… Please?”
Both Politicians looked at each other in the eyes.
“May as well,” The Japanese PM answered.
The Indian Prime Minister looked at both Chefs and cleared his throat.
“Due to my role I have to maintain some decorum, as a representative of Indian People in Japan, but I assure you that had I eaten this food when I was just a kid, my mother would have skinned me alive for eating other people’s portions too.” He said, with a very controlled and polite tone.
“Indeed. Honestly, 160 spices in a single dish is supposed to be madness, a blend that can’t feasibly work. And yet we tasted a marvel of cooking. Something that on paper could not work, and yet a young man’s skills made the Impossible into Delicious.” The Japanese Prime Minister added, smiling.
“Thank you, Sir.” Izuku answered, bowing.
“Better than mine?” Vikram asked, sighing.
“Yours is a delicious kebab, one that will always be the highlight of my lunches or dinners, Vikram. But this time, I have to give victory to somebody else.”
“Am I fired?”
“Oh, absolutely not! To me you remain the absolute best Chef in all of India. That did not change.” The PM answered.
“Oh, sir!”
“I say our dear Vikram can take a loss for once, then.” The Japanese PM said.
“It can happens once every ten or so years, sir. Yes.” Vikram answered, drying his moist eyes.
“Oh, very modest, Vikram!” The Indian PM answered, impressed, and making the Chef chuckle.
“Sorry, sir.”
“Congratulations, Young Midoriya. You helped Japan, and me, keep our pride safe.” The Japanes PM said.
“Thank you, sir.” Izuku answered.
“Oh, yes. This time you won… I am still the best on the golf course,” The Indian PM answered.
“Oh! I won’t be so sure. In two months we will have that small game in India to collect funds… I would watch my back if I were you.”
“Bold words, old friend.”
“… I think you can go, contrary to me, you don’t have to listen to them try to one up each other with the excuse of politics…” Vikram whispered.
“Ah. Thank you, Vikram-san.”
“This time you won… But I’ll be back, to win back my knife!” Vikram promised, shaking izuku’s hand.
“I’ll wait for you.” Izuku answered, then he collected Vikram’s knife with the man’s name on it and left.
“AH! I forgot to ask him to join my staff!” The Japanese Prime Minister said once noticed Izuku’s absence.
“Whoops! I gave him permission to leave before you could ask… Sorry.” The Indian Prime Minister answered, with a very formal smile that begged to be a full smirk.
“Oh, you...”
With Izuku -
“Congratulations to Host for winning the Indian theme cooking challenge. With this Host unlocked a new piece of God of Cooking Equipment: The Lightning Tiger Vest. A chef uniform that doubles as armor and soothes muscles after training and work thanks to its lightning powers, it will help Host move and work faster by stimulating the muscles as well. Does Host want the System to make it look like his old Chef Uniform as Zaus?” The System declared.
“…” Izuku’s steps faltered a bit in surprise.
“You can do it?”
“Yes, Host.”
“Yes, please. It’s… It would be very nice.” Izuku muttered.
“Very well. Host will find it ready to be worn in his room above the Restaurant.” The Entity answered.
“Thank you.” He answered, grateful.
With a small smile full of memories of long ago, Izuku walked back towards his Restaurant with Whitey in tow following silently behind him.
Meanwhile – secret lab – Underground -
The dark, damp lab was almost completely shrouded in shadows, with only two men sitting in front of a huge collection of screens covering a wall in its entirety; All for One on a wheelchair version of his life-preserving chair, while Garaki simply sat on a small office chair.
“…” A long, drawn-out hum echoed in the room while AfO looked at the screens with the camera acting as his eyes.
“So it’s official. Re-Destro got Shigaraki to work for them. Somehow, since his mental state is basically a collection of every mental issues known to mankind.” Garaki declared once double-checked the results on the screen.
“I wish! I regret not going through your initial plan and drug him into a drooling vegetable when he turned 18! you were right: We only needed his body, the personality and free will were just dead weight!” AfO answered with an annoyed growl.
“To be fair, trying to give him a fractured personality that aligned with our needs was a good idea, on paper. Weak enough to be easily overtaken, and already meeting your own ideals so to make it easier and avoid annoyances like sense of justice or compassion… Too bad the kid was too fragile mentally.” Garaki answered.
“And now he is out there following the plans of another Villain with a hard-on for Anarchy that thinks he’s saving people…” All for One said, face-palming.
“And by the report of our spies, they will very soon start their own plan to destroy Society and reshape it.”
“…”
“…”
A thick and long silence filled the lab, interrupted only by the random whirling of the computers or the rumbling bubbles of the giant tubes containing half-finished Nomus.
“… You do realize this leaves us with only Plan B?” All for One muttered.
“I hoped to avoid that. It IS ready and operational, technically, and fully compatible and ready for deployment… But… Do we have to? The price to pay-”
“We are far beyond worrying about those details.” All for One answered with a heavy tone.
“Unfortunately I can’t deny that,” Garaki answered, sighing and dropping his shoulders.
“Indeed… Get it ready.”
“Yes, Sensei.”
Every light turned red at the push of a single button, and a thundering, terrifying roar shook the entire lab before a loud thump silenced it.
That night – Green Cloud Restaurant -
Izuku was talking at the phone with Momo while organizing what he will take with himself for a sudden Mission in another world the System had been particular insistent about, and for the first time in a while, a Sortie he was supposed to undergo by himself, without any of his girls.
“So this time you have to go Solo?” Momo asked.
“So it seems, The System insisted that this time I can’t take any of you with me,” He answered.
“Mmmmh.” Even through the phone’s speakers, Izuku could hear Momo’s frown of disapproval.
“That Thing is planning something.” She said.
“I thought so too. And it has to be something particularly egregious, if They pushed so hard for me to go Solo.” Izuku answered.
“Be careful, don’t take risks and if it is necessary, let Shiro and Whitey deal with whatever comes your way,” Momo begged him with a small voice.
“I am a Chef, Momo. We take risks all the time, but we always have a way out,” Izuku answered with a reassuring job.
“That’s a Hero, not a Chef, Izu.”
“Eh! Poison Potato – Poison Potatoh.” He answered, chuckling.
“I am really going to marry a fool,” Momo said, chuckling.
“You can still run away!” Izuku answered, cheeky.
“Never. You are not going to get rid of me.”
“Good. Same for me, I am going nowhere.”
“Just go, speedrun whatever idiocy System-san is shoving on you and get back to us. You know how Ansty Rumi and Nejire get when you go on Sorties without them.” Momo said.
“I’ll do this quick, don’t worry.”
“I trust you. Bye, I love you.”
“Love you too, Momo.” Izuku answered, smiling and closing the call.
“Everything is ready, Host.” The System declared as rune of pure light started revolving around Izuku.
“I am ready too. Hey, will I meet myself in that different version of this world you are sending me to?” Izuku asked.
“Yes. That too is part of the Mission.” The Entity answered.
“Hn! I wonder what kind of Chef that different Me is…” Izuku muttered, and he was so deep in theories that he barely felt his body dissolve into light to start Dimension Hopping like he did many times before.
“Host has safely reached destination.” The System declared.
BOOOM!
“Eh! So it begins.” Blackie said with a deep chuckle when the first far-away explosion rattled the windows of the building around the Restaurant.
“Way to ruin this Lord Dog’s evening nap. Mortals here have no shame.” The Lord Dog just leisurely entered the Restaurant to go sleep under one of the Calming Trees in the far back.
As soon as Izuku left, every Restaurant he owned got sealed shut, and the Staff told to prepare for battle by the System itself just a second before the first explosion happened.
“I don’t know what this Warning means, but I can smell the bullshit thanks to my time as a Villain… Better safe than sorry.” Himiko said, eyes narrowed.
She took the two giant meat cleavers The System made her find on top of a table, and once moved a chair in front of the locked door, she sat down and glared outside.
“What is happening?” Eri asked, scared.
“Everything is okay, sweetie. Grandma is here.” Inko answered, holding the kid tightly against her chest.
“Meeew!” Zephyr as well grabbed a big knife with a long serrated blade that made it look more similar to a sword, one the small cat normally used to cut giant Ingredients in two whenever he helped Izuku preparing Ingredients.
“An Interdimensional Entity gave the alarm… Something big is coming.” Hisashi said while preparing a gun and breathing out small bursts of fire as a warming exercise.
“Honey.” Inko muttered.
“I hope I still remember what they taught me in UA before I went to study and work on I-Island…” The man answered, tense.
Green Gourmet Garden – At the same time -
BOOM!
At the Warning of the System, and then the first explosion, Adelia was already weaving spells like mad, soon covering the entire skyscraper into a web of different colors, with each rune interlocking into a mesmerizing rainbow of light to form a thick net.
“I overlapped every defensive spell I know. Maha’lagara may be protecting this Restaurant only, but I won’t let the rest of the building get attacked!” The Witch declared, using one of the many names of The System.
“Good to know I am not the only one thinking about the others!” Goro answered, easing his tie and rolling up his sleeves, and with a growl, his muscles grew exponentially.
“Te-ha-many’katu… May my Ancestors watch over me for this upcoming battle.” The Lizardman sent a low prayer to the sky.
“Sui will eat intruders!” The tiny slime declared with a childish voice while its body turned into a deadly-looking purple color.
“Are we going to die?” The Meat King asked.
“We are not! This Restaurant won’t fall no matter what happens!” Mako answered.
“Well said, young Lady!” Gentle Criminal answered, already empowered by La Brava’s Quirk.
“You hide in the kitchen, should the worse happen, we will take care of whatever forces their way through the doors!” La Brava added, eyes full of determination.
“Staff of Green Gourmet Garden! To Arms!” Adelia ordered, with her magical staff shining in immense power.
“Yes!” The others answered.
Green Valley Izakaya – Same Time -
Nagant was already scouting the streets with her sniper riffle from the flat above the Restaurant, eye barely blinking to not miss a thing.
“Are you sure we can trust the kid’s Sponsor on this?” Hawks’ voice came crystal clear from the small communicator inside her ear.
“Whoever they are, they have such a good spy network I-Island is taking notes and the HPSC gets red in envy. I think we can trust them to know what they are doing. You just keep patrolling the skies, the Restaurant is apparently a fortress, but I won’t hole up and let others suffers.”
“Yeah, me neither. But they sounded sure things are about to go pear-shaped, are we sure it was not just parano-”
BOOM!
The second loud and extremely powerful explosion was heard from everywhere in the city, so strong the ground briefly shook heavily too.
“Here comes your answer!” Nagant answered as even more explosions happened one after another in a long chain.
“Shit! I see a lot of people flooding the streets, and none of them look friendly, they look angry!” Hawks reported with a tense tone.
“That means that we are starting now! Get ready!” She answered between gritted teeth.
Orbit of Earth -
“Multiple threats detected! Releasing combat drones! Defensive perimeter erected! All systems online! Orbital cannons online! Targeting Grid ready!” The Bio-Obliterating Ballista kicked in full throttle and unleashed a small army of drones the size of soccer balls that moved through tiny portals to go defend the various Restaurants and the houses of Inko, the Restaurant Staff families and even UA Gates.
“All threats to my friend Izuku will be TERMINATED!” The Supreme AI, and 808, declared in unison with almost holy fervour.
Musutafu – Detnerat HQ Rooftop -
Re-Destro watched pleased as more explosions happened to demolish Police Force Stations, Pro Hero Offices and small holding facilities with the intent to destabilize the entire city while every single prisoner of Tartarus and other similar prisons flooded the streets thanks to the warp Quirk of one of his associates.
“When the temples of False Idols fall and Lies burn, truth walks naked among the ruins! Man does not crave order, he craves power! He craves LIBERATION!” Re-Destro declared loudly while watching the many columns of dark smoke and fire dot the city, with the screams of terror of the masses almost reaching him up there.
He was talking with a fervour far too close to that of a religious zealots quoting his sacred scriptures, like a twisted Messiah.
“All very boring. You done gloating? Can we go now?” Shigaraki asked, completely uninterested.
“Hahahaha! Sorry, sorry, my boy! I got carried away! But you were right! Teleportation makes everything easier!” Rikiya said with a giant smile.
“Good job finding another guy with a warp Quirk.” Shigaraki answered.
“It’s not exactly a Warp Quirk per se like Kurogiri’s, the girl I found can just teleport everything she touches to a specific location she remembers well enough, landing without dying then is only on the Target. It’s risky, but that is why I bought a gym and filled it in mattresses, to soft the landing of our little soldiers of Anarchy.” He explained.
“Whatever. Can we go now?” Shigaraki answered, uninterested.
“Of course! I say the stage is finally ready for the two of us to join!” Re-Destro said.
“Good, let’s go, I have stuff to do.”
“Yes! It’s time we join our brothers and sisters in the revolution! Let there be Light, Let there be LIBERATION!” Rikiya declared with a thundering laugh.
The city was rapidly falling into anarchy and chaos, as if a switch had been flipped that made citizen give in to their most wild and destructive tendencies, forcing Heroes, Pro, freshly-minted or even just students, to immediately go on the defensive, with Nezu near-instantaneously turning UA into a fortress against the horde of psychos everybody had seemingly turned into.
Meanwhile – with Izuku – Other World -
Contrary to what was happening in his home reality, Izuku was moving through the streets of what he recognized being a different version of his own Musutafu, although that too had been rapidly turning into a powder keg ready to go off ever since before he arrived.
But that was not Izuku’s immediate problem.
His immediate problem was seeing his own different dimension version in a green Hero costume that had seen better days and with dark rings under his eyes.
“Eh?” Hero Student and Chef looked at each other and uttered that single sound full of surprise.
Izuku (the Chef) knew this particular Solo Sortie was going to be just a single, uninterrupted headache, even more than the previous ones.
“TOGA!” Hero Izuku yelled while jumping him.
“I hate this Sortie…” Chef Izuku muttered in defeat.
Being a Chef was not supposed to be so annoying...
Omake
Interdimensional Ingredient Hunt:
THE DEATH SANDWICH OF DEATH AND THE WINGS OF ULTRA DEATH!
Streets -
The Portal Opened in a normal sub-urban area, one of those with houses all looking the same and with well-maintained picked fences.
“Okay, this looks like a very normal place.” Izuku said.
“Good to know… But where do we find a recipe that sounds like very deadly?” Nejire, his current companion, asked.
“Good question… Should we ask around?”
In that moment a car sped past them.
“HURRY! TO THE MOUNTAIN OF DEATH! WE WILL ASK TO THE GRAND MASTER OF DEATH KWON DO TO HELP US TO SAVE BENSON FROM THE SANDWICH OF DEATH!” The driver, a guy with wild mullet, was heard yelling from outside.
“… That sounds like a good place to start looking.” Nejire admitted, humming.
“I mean… The recipe does have Of Death in the name…” Izuku answered, shrugging.
Later - Death Kwon Do Dojo – Grand Master’s Room -
The air was thick with tension in the innermost area of the temple, a white expanse of space above the clouds; Mordecai and Rigby stood frozen as the Old Master loomed before them, with his gnarled hands gripping the infamous Death Sandwich, a sandwich oozing an eerie, malevolent energy, as if its ingredients were cursed and swirling with dark power.
“This is the end for you all!” The Grand Master of Death Kwon Do sneered, his voice a low growl.
“No one has ever survived the Double Death Sandwich once it touches their tongue.” He said, holding the death Sandwich above his head.
“Sensei, please! Be reasonable! Give us the Sandwich of life to save Benson!” Sensai begged once more.
“Ooouggh!” Benson groaned, every second weaker.
“Fools! Your fate is sealed between the bread slices of death!” The Grand Master answered.
“Dude... This is so not how I wanted to go.” Mordecai admitted with a gulp.
“I don’t care what kind of cursed hoagie that is, I’m not going down without a fight!” Rigby answered, almost desperate.
The Grand Master grinned wickedly and hurled the Death Sandwich straight at them.
“Die, you fools! Hahahahahaha!” Time seemed to slow as the sandwich spiralled through the air, pulsing with dark energy as it flew towards them like a comet.
Only for a completely unsuspecting Izuku Midoriya to walk into the room at that exact moment.
“Excuse me, do you guys know where I can-” He tried asking.
The Death Sandwich smacked against Izuku’s chest, but something impossible happened.
The cursed aura of the Death Sandwich flickered, twisted…. And then completely vanished; the bread crumbled into dust, the sinister meats and sauces dissolved into nothing, and finally the entire sandwich simply ceased to exist.
“… Did that guy throw you a sandwich?” Nejire asked, confused.
“Yes. Very rude, I don’t know why it disintegrated before touching me, though.” He answered, unsure.
The rest of the room had gone dead silent instead.
“Impossible,” Sensai muttered in disbelief.
Mordecai and Rigby’s jaws dropped while The Old Master staggered backward, his eyes wide in absolute shock.
“N-No... That’s impossible,” the Old Master whispered, his hands trembling.
“What is happening?” Nejire whispered.
“I have no clue… Something that seems to be a running cliché in my sorties…” Izuku admitted.
“You... You are truly... He…” The Grand Master fell to his knees, staring at Izuku with pure reverence.
“Uh... What?” Izuku blinked in confusion.
“Only one who has reached Food Enlightenment, the pinnacle of culinary existence, could erase the Death Sandwich with a mere touch! No food, no matter how powerful, would ever dare harm a God of Cooking!” The Grand Master declared, and his voice trembled with awe.
“Not this again…” Nejire muttered with a groan.
“Here we go…” Izuku added.
“Wait, wait, wait. What do you mean ‘God of Cooking’? What’s this stuff now?” Mordecai asked while looking between Izuku and the Grand Master.
“A long story. And an even bigger headache.”
“I know about that, it was written in the Great Book of Prophecies of Death! But I never believed it to be real!” Sensai said.
“What book now?!” Rigby asked.
The Grand Master’s hands were shaking as he gestured wildly towards Izuku.
“The boy is a walking legend! A master beyond masters! A being so in tune with the very essence of cuisine that all food, no matter how deadly, must bow before him! Even the Death Sandwich has accepted him as its superior and Master!” The old guy said.
“You’re telling me... This dude just negated a supernatural kill-sandwich... Just by existing?” Rigby stared.
“We should have took Skips along, he is good at this sort of things…” Mordecai answered.
“I swear, I didn’t do anything.” Izuku sighed, looking extremely tired of just about everything.
“Please, Great One! Teach me your ways! I have spent a lifetime honing my culinary skills, but you! You have transcended food itself!” The Grand Master asked, and prostrated himself fully and he pressed his forehead to the ground.
“Nooo. No. Not happening. I am not training some murderous creepy sandwich wizard that throws around killing sandwiches!” Izuku answered and took a step back.
“Okay, but, like... Can you actually make sandwiches?” Mordecai asked with his arms crossed.
“Of course I can make sandwiches! That’s basic! What kind of chef would I be if I couldn’t?” Izuku answered, almost offended.
“I am still dying…” Benson, still on the ground, gave a drawn-out groan of agony that caught everybody’s attention.
“RIGHT! BENSON! Okay, God of Cooking, prove it and save him!” Rigby yelled.
“Dying?! Okay, make room! But just so you know, there’s nothing special about what I do!” Izuku answered while rolling up his sleeves and summoning Ingredients from his Restaurant pocket dimension storage.
“To witness the God of Cooking in action... I am not worthy!” The Grand Master yelled in awe.
“Leave simping for later!” Nejire answered, and hurrying at Izuku’s side to help him.
As Izuku calmly started hurriedly assembling the sandwich to save Benson, Mordecai, Rigby, Sensai and the Grand Master watched in awed silence.
“It’s ready! Improved Sandwich of Life is ready!” The moment Izuku placed the final slice of bread on top, the entire room glowed.
“NO WAY!” Mordecai and Rigby yelled with shining eyes.
The sandwich radiated warmth, its scent so perfect that time itself seemed to pause, the birds outside chirped in harmony and somewhere in the distance, an angelic choir began to sing.
“Wow… The sandwich glows…” Even just the radiance of the sandwich seemed to heal Benson, with his round head recovering some healthy coloration.
“Awe later, eat it, my friend!” Sensai answered, and helped Benson bite into the heavenly sandwich.
“It’s so fragrant…” Benson muttered weakly while hesitantly taking a bite, but the moment the flavor hit his tongue, his pupils dilated, and his eyes rolled back.
“… Guys.” His voice was barely a whisper but gradually growing in power.
“I can taste colors!” At those words divine golden light exploded upward like a pillar from Benson’s eyes and mouth to pierce the sky.
“Is this normal?” Nejire asked with a whisper.
“Nothing is ever normal when we do this, Nejire… Just give-up like I did…” Izuku answered, sighing.
“This... This is the work of a divine being... I am unworthy!” The Grand Master wept openly.
“I really need to stop walking into these situations…” Izuku face-palmed and groaned into his hands.
“It’s okay, Darling. I am here.” Nejire answered while rubbing his back.
The Grand Master was still kneeling, muttering praises about Food Enlightenment, divine culinary auras, and how Izuku was the ultimate being to ever wield a kitchen knife.
“So… Benson is now okay. Should we… leave him like that?” Mordecai asked.
“I don’t know. Sure is a bit anticlimactic, but I do have some questions of our saviour here…” Sensai answered.
Izuku, rubbed his temples.
“Okay. You know what? Fine. If making a sandwich won’t shut you up, let’s try something else.” He then said, with a deep sigh.
“You mean... You will demonstrate your true power?!” The Grand Master asked with a gasp of wonder.
“Not like Icchan has a choice on the matter…” Nejire answered.
“Dude, I feel like this is gonna get crazy,” Mordecai muttered, he and Rigby exchanged glances with the others.
“I’m already in. Let’s see what the ‘God of Cooking’ can really do.” Rigby added, smirking.
“I am looking for a secret recipe, one that by name alone I think you people know, some kid of wings of death.” Izuku said, crossing his arms.
“Wings of death? More deadly stuff?” Mordecai asked in dread, while Sensai gasped like somebody about to faint.
“If I make these perfectly, will you stop bothering me? But in exchange, I want to keep the recipe,” Izuku asked.
“If you can make what I think you’re about to make, I will consider myself truly humbled! And will do everything in my power to fulfil your every request!” The Grand Master answered and nodded furiously.
“I can’t believe it! He’s really making the CHICKEN WINGS OF ULTRA DEATH!” Sensai squealed in awe and fear at the same time.
“Wait. What?” Mordecai’s face turned pale.
“Did he just say the Chicken Wings of Ultra Death?” Rigby’s ears twitched.
“T-That’s impossible! No one has ever successfully made them!” The Grand Master gasped, clutching his heart.
“Yes, those wings with the edgelord name… Alright then. Let’s start.” Izuku answered and took a deep breath and stepped behind the kitchen counter that the Grand Master summoned for him from the clouds, with his hands moving with surgical precision.
The entire room went silent.
“Dude! The name sound sick!” Mordecai said, excited.
“Those are LEGENDARY! No chef has ever made them because if the spice balance is even a fraction off, the person eating them dies instantly!” Sensai explained in wonder.
“That’s normal for this stuff, dude, but why Ultra-” Rigby started saying.
“And then everybody around the eater dies too, in a sixty kilometre radius.” Sensai added.
“… Okay, yeah, that sounds like Ultra Death.” Rigby admitted.
“But if they’re perfect, the eater reaches Nirvana, total communion with the universe, for just a single instant.” Sensai finished saying, with shining eyes.
“OOOH! I wanna try them!” Rigby and Mordecai said in unison.
“Yeah, yeah, I know. I am making enough for everybody.” Izuku didn’t even pause his marinating the wings to answer.
It was insanity to try making them, maybe, but Izuku needed those wings recipe for his Mission, and he really, really wanted to shut up the Grand Master.
“You okay?” Nejire asked, curious.
“Yes, I am just…Disappointed? Maybe? I don’t know if it is the right term. This is not the hardest dish I made in my lives. The name must be just 90% hype… This recipe is fairly easy,” Izuku answered, shrugging, while tall flames erupted from the pan where he was searing the wings, as he talked his hands just kept moving with masterful ease.
“Our most sacred and cursed recipe! And he makes it look so easy! He truly is Enlightened!” The Grand Master said in awe.
Izuku just ignored him and mixed the sauce, by the parchment he was reading from, ‘The Sauce of Death!’ sauce, that was a “legendary” blend of spices so potent that a single whiff could knock out a rampaging elephant, allegedly.
“The sauce is actually like molten gold! He is really doing it!” The Grand Master nearly fainted just from the aroma of the sauce.
“Impossible...” Sensai whispered.
“I can see why the boy hates this kind of attention…” Benson muttered while rubbing his temples.
“I’ve never wanted to die for food before, but this might be worth it.” Rigby admitted while staring at the sizzling wings.
“I don’t kill my customers and Guests, thank you.” Izuku answered, and plated the wings for everybody.
The wings all were perfectly golden, glistening with the forbidden sauce; they radiated heat, not just physical heat, but a cosmic, spiritual heat, as if the wings themselves understood the meaning of existence.
“They do look nice. But I prefer those Krat Style wings you make.” Nejire admitted.
“Me too. Please, guys eat and tell me what you think.” Izuku gently pushed the plate toward the Grand Master.
“You would bestow this honor upon me...?” The old man asked, humbled.
“Just. Eat. Them. Please.” Izuku answered and pinched the bridge of his nose.
The Grand Master nodded, tears streaming down his face, and picked up a wing and took a bite.
At that moment...
The heavens split open.
The very fabric of reality trembled, Planets aligned, celestial bodies shifted, and for a single, infinite instant, the Grand Master saw everything.
“That’s some strong spices…” Benson muttered, eyeing his plate of wings warily.
In the meantime the Grand Master understood the meaning of life! He saw the past, present, and future as one, He felt the universe breathe and He was everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
Then he came back to reality, shaking, barely holding onto consciousness; his eyes were wide and his pupils tiny.
“That was...” He struggled to find words.
“That was perfection.”
“So... You gonna shut up now?” Nejire leaned on the counter and asked.
“I will never speak again.” The Old Master nodded weakly, still dazed.
The others too had eaten the wings in the meantime, and had a similar mystic experience.
“I’ll need to fix that. Cosmic Epiphany is not exactly what people go to a Restaurant for…” Izuku thought, unsure.
“Okay, yeah. I take back everything. You are the God of Cooking or whatever, dude.” Mordecai admitted, while Rigby sat there in stunned silence.
“Not this again…” Izuku groaned in annoyance.
“Oh Honored one! You truly humbled me…” The Grand Master said, kneeling.
“What happened to that never talking again?” Benson asked, groaning.
“SILENCE, INFERIOR BEING!” The Grand Master snapped.
“HEY!”
“Oh, Enlightened One… Please remain here with us, our Dojo has waited for your arrival since the dawn of time!” The old man begged.
“I am really sorry, but I can’t,” Izuku answered.
“Please, Honored One! My grand-daughter received a Prophecy from the Seer of Death that she would have married-”
He didn’t get to finish speaking that Izuku grabbed Nejire and started running.
“PLEASE COME BACK!” The Grand Master yelled while chasing him.
“Yes, please! At least take me as your student!” Sensai begged, chasing the two as well.
“I was prophetized that I would have married the Enlightened one! Please don’t escape our fated love!” The Grand Master’s Granddaughter (Of Death!) yelled, surfacing from a side door to chase Izuku.
“That guy saved my life! Rigby, Mordecai! HELP THEM ESCAPE OR YOU ARE FIRED!” Benson yelled.
The long conga line of chased and chasers could be seen run down the mountain at insane speed.
“GODDAMNIT, SYSTEM!” Nejire and Izuku yelled at the same time.
The portal home opened silently for them to take them back.
…
…
…
Meanwhile – Elsewhere
The System looked through the Window…
Their target was finally in sight.
“Found You.”
End of the chapter.
Notes:
Here starts the final Sortie of Izuku (2 Chapters, maybe) and the final leg of the story.
This moment of Chaos with League of Villains and Re-Destro.
Then finally the final Arc: Izuku vs Samui.
With their final showdown.
I already planned to write that Showdown in two versions that I will post at the same time, I will let you readers decide the one you like the most, which version is the “canon” one for you.
Done this I will post a new “Story” that is just the Omakes, for the ones that want an easier way to find the one they like, I do this at few readers request.
Then I will take a pause from writing, because recently it has become hard for me to write, on a physical level (nausea).
IF I return to write, the new project after this will be a story titled:
The Great Convergence: Chronicles of a Retired Wizard.
Still a MHA story with a reborn Izuku, but it will be Dark, if I write it, it won’t be sunshine and rainbows, people will be hurt, die, suffer and more.
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