Chapter Text
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Soul Eater nor do I own My Hero Academia, both are respective properties of Studio Bones.
Also want to say thank you for your patience with this chapter and sorry for the delay, but I and my good friend Dmandog056 worked hard to make this chapter come and to its best quality possible. So please favorite, follow, and especially review as much as possible, as every time I see any one of those it warms my heart deeply.
So with that out of the way, here's the latest chapter!
Chapter 5: A starting point
CENTRAL HOSPITAL THIRD FLOOR
Ezio continued walking back down the hall to Maka, Crona, and Soul's room with the utmost speed in his mechanical legs' movements. Still recounting everything he had learned from the mangaka writer before he left for home to view his new source material. The man was practically skipping in joy as he left the hospital, no doubt due to feeling so overwhelmingly happy by the plentiful creative material at his disposal.
Well at least somebody benefited from this whole messy ordeal. The same unfortunately couldn't be said about the three children who were now trapped in another world with no way to head back to their home.
All while their friends and comrades were still struggling to fight off a godlike villain no less. Or perhaps possibly...even worse may have happened at this point.
Eizo tightened his metallic fist in righteous anger. Wishing more than anything, that he could beat the living sh*t, out of whoever or whatever, was responsible for kidnapping them to this dimension.
Well, whatever the case may be, there's no point in brooding about it anymore. Right now he needed to address the far more important issues that sent his brain's gears into overdrive. Trying to figure out what exactly to do about the three inter-dimensional immigrants he was returning to?
Thankfully Eizo wasn't blindly charging into this completely unknown territory ignorant. Ōkabo had taken the time to explain everything he managed to learn of this other world. And needless to say, he still didn't know what to fully make of any of it.
Maka, Soul, and Crona originate from an alternate earth where magic and all sorts of insanity seems to exist. Such as the shibusen academy that Maka and Soul go to. An esoteric academy where Teenagers go to be taught to become meisters and for demon weapons to learn to master their abilities; all governed by that cartoony man who was the actual grim reaper himself. Something Eizo never thought could sound simultaneously hilarious and terrifying.
But in all honestly the more he heard of this place, the he felt this alternate universe was some anime version of Halloween Town from the nightmare before Christmas. But again it's alternate timeline so that was to be expected.
Shibusan seemed to be almost exactly like a hero school as EAT students and other graduated meisters would be tasked to hunt down evil humans. Which were Basically this worlds version of villains. With Meisters who slayed them have their weapons claim their souls as a reward.
At first, this major piece of information about demon weapons, horrified the detective to no end. He already learned the mind-blowing revelation that the literal concept of the soul itself actually existed. So, hearing that the vital spiritual component of a person's very existence, could be easily consumed by weapons like soul for power was extremely nightmarish to no end.
But despite the fears he held for such inhuman appetites running rampant, eizo doubted with soul's carefree personality and that creatures lack of dominance over his attached partner crona, there may not be any need to fret over them feasting on human souls.
Yet as eizo heard more of how shibusen worked, he grew more than a little uncomfortable by how shibusen tended to recklessly throw their EAT students into the jaws of mortal danger.
While eizo couldn't deny shibusan was capable of training EAT students at an admittedly much better rate than hero schools, they still flung the children too freely into facing mortal dangers even before the kishin had threatened the world. Why the governments of that earth never even bothering to place more restrictive age laws on these shibusan academies was beyond him. Then again these EAT students from what okabo described seemed to be just as capable as any top pro hero around, so maybe there was merit to their methods.
Either way, he was just glad that only these three kids had been sent to this world. He'd deal with some supernatural teens any day in comparison to the other horrors and nightmarish fiends that dwelled there,. Eizo couldn't help but shudder to imagine what would've happened if any of those diabolical fiends he saw had been brought here.
Or God forbid that demonic creature, kishin Asura...
The detective felt Icy chills run down his spine at that apocalyptic scenario playing out in his head. His mind envisioning destruction and ruin all around, with anyone whether they were civilians, heroes, or even villains attacking and killing each other in demented insanity. All while a demonic red-suited figure with three eyes stood watched the chaos spawned by his unholy presence.
The balding man harshly shook his head, ridding away such dark possibilities infecting his thought process and refocused on the task at hand.
Eizo eventually made it to the trio's room and was met with none other than Mirko standing outside beside the white door. Ezio already managing to glimpse at Mirko's annoyed expression and felt a stabbing sense of guilt hit him. Still feeling shameful for keeping her in the dark like this. But knew, his current mission was far more important right now, and couldn't afford to mess up.
Mirko noticing Eizo walked up to the approaching detective.
"So, what did that otaku have to say?" her impatient tone of voice already signaling to Eizo how indignant she was at this point.
Ezio released a long sigh. "He gave me plenty of insight into their home, alongside any necessary details I asked for." Eizo placed a hand on his forehead to ease the dull headache forming. "Though it didn't make it any less easy to comprehend and accept either."
"And here I thought there wasn't anymore crazy bullsh*t those brats could throw at us." Mirko rolled her eyes.
Eizo shook his head in exasperation. "At this point I'm starting to think there's little to no limits on how anymore ludicrous that place is. Cause I'm pretty sure what we saw in maka's memories was only the tip of the iceberg."
"Okay now I know you're bullsh*tting me. What the hell could even come close to topping a sun and moon that laugh their asses off?" Mirko incredulously asked the detective, not believing there could be anything else to top the crap she's seen today.
"How about the fact soul and maka live with a magical talking cat, that can transform into a sexy woman who loves to-"
"Alright forget it!" Mirko indignantly cut off the detective, and only grew increasingly pissed at the detective chuckling his ass off.
"Hehehehe I did warn ya, and keep in mind all of this is just from the perspective of solely maka, so I don't even think ōkabo knows what else goes on in that mad little universe." Eizo said in amusem*nt at the possibilities, before calming down and his expression taking on a more serious gleam. "Either way now that I have more context about what I'm dealing with, I think it's time to see what can be done to help them."
Mirko's anger vanished as her features contorted into a grimace, as she remembered that these kids were still pretty much trapped here with no way at the present to return to their home. And their breakdown several minutes ago only showed them finally giving the time to release all the pent up emotions and frustration over their crisis. The rabbit heroine already feeling a heavy weight of sympathy sunk into Mirko like an anchor, as she was reminded of all the tears she heard behind those doors.
"How are those kid's anyway rumi? Did anything happen while I was gone?" Eizo asked the rabbit hero, yet can already sense something amiss from the somber grimace mirko had on her face.
"Yeah you could say that," mirko sighed, as she locked gazes with the veteran detective. "They sorta broke down after you left and with my quirk's enhancing my hearing, I wasn't exactly deaf to everything that went on in there."
"sh*t." Eizo cursed and ran a hand down his face from hearing this unfortunate news, before looking at mirko with a worried expression. "And how are they now?"
"It took a while but everything's gotten pretty quiet in there. Those kid's must've finally pulled themselves together after bawling their eyes out and releasing that baggage." Mirko told eizo, which brought some relief to the older man.
"Thank god for small miracles. I just hope they've calmed down enough so I can talk to them, and we can finally fix this goddamn mess." Eizo wearily told the shorter rabbit woman.
"So did you finally cook up some kind of plan to actually do that?" Mirko asked curiously, yet eizo only sighed with the same amount of tiredness in his aged face.
"Yeah... I kinda did. But with those kid's dire positions I was sorta forced to ask for help again."
Mirko raised a suspicious eyebrow. "And just who the hell did you ask for help this time?"
"It wasn't an easy decision to make but given those kid's circ*mstances...I had to take some chances. All I can do now is hope for the best and pray this doesn't come to bite any of us in the ass." Eizo told the rabbit hero, who now grew more confused by whatever the heck the old man did to resolve all this.
But she could already tell for now it wasn't the best time to ask that kind of question yet. At least not until she learns what he plans to do for maka, soul and crona. So for now she'd just have to bite her tongue and ask later, when the time was right.
Thus with a reluctant nod, Mirko walked back to her previous waiting spot and allowed the cybernetic cop to walk into the vigilantes' room.
Eizo entered through the room and was met with trio sitting together on the bed Maka had been resting on. Judging by their reddish eyes, and the wet stains on Crona and Maka's hospital gowns, they had no doubt cried many tears. The kids must have taken the time, to release the grief each of them held inside themselves when they learned the truth of where they are.
Maka, Crona, and Soul immediately noticed the presence of the detective entering the room and turned their heads to meet his sad gaze.
"Oh, hello there Mr. Eizo." Maka calmly greeted, her green forest eyes filled with much more life than before, but still seemed to swirl around with wisps of lingering melancholy.
"Hello maka, sorry for leaving so suddenly, we had to clear some things up about...the interview." Eizo quietly said to the three children as he walked further into the room until he stood a few feet away from them.
"Kids... about your contacts…" Eizo swallowed the lump of shame in his throat before continuing. "We called the American embassy and dug through every single archive they had but-"
"You couldn't find any of them...yeah we kind of figured." Eizo stared at the sitting trio with a moment of surprise before shifting into sullen sympathy. The veteran detective honestly wondered as he saw these downcast kids, if even the symbol of peace could have enough optimism to keep his beaming smile if he were in these kids' shoes.
A brief lapse of saddened silence took over within the room, the medical machines acting as the only source of noise in the room; until Eizo took a single step forward.
"I...I am truly sorry...for trying to lie to you, and even more sorry for what has unfortunately happened to you all. There are no words that can ever describe how unfair it was to be forcefully taken away from your world; all while trying to save it no less." Eizo softly apologized to the teens sitting in front of him; their expressions softening somewhat after hearing that.
"It's alright man, this isn't your fault. Getting sent to another world just happens I guess." Soul meagerly shrugged. "I'm just shocked you're actually believing us instead of thinking we were a bunch of crazy people."
Ezio bitterly chuckled. "I'm still struggling to comprehend everything I've heard, but I can't deny all that impossible sh*t I saw on the TV." soul weakly nodded and despondently looked down at the white bedsheets.
"S-so if you believe us, then what will you be doing now?" Crona muttered in worry. fiddling with his thumbs to try distracting himself from the chilling fear trying to gnaw at his stomach.
Eizo released a long-tired sigh. "I'm not gonna lie, this dilemma you kids got caught in...it's far beyond anything I, or any other investigator on the planet has ever dealt with. I don't even know what sort of protocol there could even be for something like this. I'm in uncharted territory here." Eizo admitted, wishing he had a better idea as to what to do here. But alas, nothing else he could conjure in his well trained mind could seem to fit into plausible plan for such an alien dilemma.
"That figures." Soul grunted.
"And since you kids don't seem to possess any feasible method in returning to your world, you're pretty much stuck here for the foreseeable future." Eizo grimly told the trio, who despite their best to remain calm and emotionally stable; felt their chests tighten in suffocating sadness.
"Can't we just go back to America and find a way to f-fix our problems back t-there?" Crona asked with a slightly more hopeful expression but unfortunately that shattered, Ezio slowly shook his head.
"I'm sorry Mr. Gorgon, but I don't think that's a good idea." Eizo sadly answered the pink-haired teen who sulked down in further sorrow. "You simply don't have any kind of legal identification to go there, or even possess the necessary funds to establish yourselves there for that matter. The minute you three leave this hospital, all you guys will have left are the clothes on your backs and nothing else. Not even a goddamn penny." Ezio grimly elucidated to the three teenagers. True they must have some funds from their world on them, but he and they especially knew it was worthless in these different lands.
Maka, Crona, and Soul tried their best, but even with their strong willpowers couldn't keep back the sharp strings of uncertainty and emerging fear constricting their sullen hearts. Making them feel as if their own souls were being weighed down by this heavy anxiousness.
yet amidst their relentless worries, maka broke the silence as she opened her mouth and spoke.
"Yeah...I already suspected that would be the case. But what’s going to happen to us until we find a way back then? From the way your describing our situation, we’re basically a bunch of orphans with no way to support ourselves." Maka quietly summed up as she felt her hands ever so subtly tremble as the gravity of their dire problem’s reappeared in full force. “Just what are we going to do now?”
Eizo stared at the heartbroken form of Maka in great pity for a moment and exhaled through his nostrils. "I cannot deny Ms. Albarn that your situation is quite frankly very bleak...But even so, it's not completely hopeless either." Maka, Soul, and Crona immediately looked back at the detective with baffled expressions.
Ezio's a small smirk formed on his lips. "There may not be any chances of you guys getting American citizenship. But there could be a way to get you kids Japanese citizenship instead, and live here for the time being."
Maka let go of her legs and blinked a few times in astonishment. "A-Are you serious?" and to her further shock, Eizo instantly nodded.
Ezio sighed and scratched the back of his head. "It took a while but I managed to convince hawks to help you kids, after I explained your situation to them."
"Wait a minute, are you talking about that guy crona fought last night?" Maka asked in surprise, as the detective once again nodded.
"Believe it or not he's actually considered to be the third best hero in the country. So trust me when I say crona kicking his ass was no small feat." Eizo explained to the teens, with crona subtly flinching in guilt for his brutality last night against apparently one of the best heroes in this country.
"When I told hawks your story he was shocked for words, that's for sure. And of course he didn't believe a single thing I said. At least not until I had shown him the footage of your memories to him." Eizo said, as he recalled the number two hero's reaction to the truth of these kids, before he came down here.
TEN MINUTES AGO
"So do you still think I'm making this all up?" Eizo asked the number two hero as he put away ōkabo's camera, he borrowed from the mangaka to show It's contents to the winged hero. But so far the detective was only met with the blonde still staring at them with a blank and stunned expression the hero failed to hide.
"I...I'm not sure." Hawk's blinked slowly before reluctance appeared on his features. "A part of me still want's to believe everything I saw was a load of crap. Yet I'm pretty sure it's impossible to fake a video that came from someone's memories ain't it?"
Eizo shook his head, and gave the recovering hero a sympathetic glance. "I can't blame you for wanting to deny that video and believe everything I showed you was fake. But fact of the matter is, what you saw was very much real."
After hawks had finished his report with the chairwoman, eizo had coincidentally walked into his room, to discuss what he had learned from his consultant interviewing the vigilantes. Hawks had expected the old man to give him a sensible explanation for why those kids spouted all that nonsense earlier about their "death city". And with how neither the embassy or the HPSC could find anything on these kids, made him question who they hell they really were in the first place. That's why eizo had brought in that special consultant, to set up another interview to expose that ridiculous lie for who they really were and why they came to japan to cause trouble.
But no, that wasn't at all what he learned.
Not even close.
As the consultant who was meant to bring some clarity to the identities of these vigilantes, ended up discovering their actual origins. But instead of hearing the name of a country, an actual city in Nevada or somewhere else in the US, he discovered that they all came from another dimension. An actual alternate world where magic and soul's existed, with maka and soul really being apart of a supernatural academy run by the grim reaper and tasked with keeping global peace.
When hawks first heard all this come out of eizo in such a casual tone no less, the blonde, like any average person, was very quick to question the sanity of detective eizo. Heck he almost feared if the old man had spontaneously gone senile from the stress of this case. But the old cop seemed to have expected that answer and presented him with a video camera that was used to record the interview, saying it would be proof to hold up his delusional sounding claims.
And what hawks saw on that camera...made him almost wish he'd had gone insane himself, and everything on that video, was nothing but some kind of hallucination from those anesthetics for his injuries. But eizo detailing the nature of his consultant's quirk and the fact zero information could be found on the trio, made him start to begin believing what eizo was telling him.
Yet it didn't make it any easier to accept nonetheless.
"Yeah I know, I know, but if this is all true then it's no wonder those guys are so damn strong." Hawks said with subtle amazement in his voice, as recalled the memories of their world's academy they were in enrolled in. "That shibusan academy seems to do a pretty good job at training their students for fighting against villains. Or their version of them at least."
"No kidding, to be honest it's pretty crazy to think they could make a bunch of teenagers as strong as some of society's finest heroes." Eizo remarked with a smile, still imagining what the other EAT students like maka and soul were capable of.
"But why are you telling me this in the first place? I mean I appreciate you sharing something this...monumental, but wouldn't it have been best for you to keep this concealed as possible?" Hawks inquired from the veteran cop, who's eyes taking on a more serious gleam confirming his suspicions.
"Don't worry, I agree that nobody else should learn about where those kids came from. But even if we cover this up, it still leaves me with the problem of what to do with those kids." Eizo explained his reasoning to the winged hero as he grimly stared down at the ground.
"Maka, soul and crona are basically stranded here with no way to return home or feasible way for those kids to support themselves. I mean I'm good, but a man like me can only do so much." Eizo looked back up with a smirk on his lips. "But you, on the other hand, are exactly the kind of guy to fix this whole matter."
"And why's that?" Hawks slowly asked with a confused expression, but had a feeling what it might be.
"Look we both know your not just third best hero in this country. I mean yeah your reputation is astounding, but that's not the entire reason why I came here. I know the HPSC pretty much sponsor's you considering how close your ties to them are compared to other heroes in the industry. Plus you are reporting this whole vigilante case to them which makes things even easier." The minute those words came out, the blonde's face immediately froze with astonishment, before swiftly calming his features down to a more calm expression.
"And what exactly are hoping the HPSC would do about three interdimensional visitors that have landed here?"
Eizo dropped his smirk and shrugged. "Well since they're a government connected agency, they probably can pull a few strings to establish some people in japan, so to speak." Eizo alluded with the same smirk on his face, as hawks expression grew more astonished.
"Hang on a second, are you saying you want me to convince the HPSC to literally forge identities for maka, soul and crona, so they can live in the country?" Hawks said with disbelief practically pouring out of his voice, as he learned the reason why eizo revealed this secret to him.
"You really think they won't jump at the chance to help three youngsters with incredible proficiency using their powers and strive to help others, live here?" Eizo refuted the winged blonde and continued. "You've seen firsthand just how powerful these kids are, and maka's memories are only further proof of how strong their spirits are. They're practically flooding with potential, and if realized, they could become some great heroes. And you know it."
Hawks for a moment took the detective's reasoning and plan into consideration and as he contemplated eizo's plan couldn't see much faults or reasons to disagree. Sure this meant blatantly forging identities for a bunch of people that technically don't exist, but hawks knew the HPSC has been forced to do much shadier actions for the sake of peace. And eizo wasn't exactly wrong, since his superior's have already gained interest for maka, soul and crona. Chairwoman nikama still held her optimistic ambitions for them to become heroes. But once they heard where these teens truly came from, they're interest will practically skyrocket. But at the same time, their caution for those kids.
After all these children are living proof that the honest to god multiverse actually exists. Of there being other world's out there beyond their scope of comprehension.' With three residents from one of these worlds landing here, without anyone even knowing it. Yet from what he saw of this alternate earth, there also exists the significant threat posed if this phenomenon wasn't managed in some capacity.
Such as crona...
"but you do realize that I will need to tell the HPSC everything I've seen and heard, once I present proof of their world. That includes what I've seen of crona as well." Eizo bit his lip, but couldn't blame hawks for deeming crona as a dangerous threat, after witnessing the worst of maka's friend.
"Yeah I kinda figured you'd have to warn them about crona, but don't you think from learning his past, he should be given a chance?" Eizo reasoned with the cautious pro hero to try to changing his mind.
Hawk's stern expression soon turned contemplative, as couldn't say tanuma wasn't wrong. This kid...he was beyond dangerous, much, much more than he ever imagined possible. But despite his history crona seemed more of a tragic victim than a legitimate villain. A kid who held a past that hawks was unfortunately very familiar with.
Only with crona...it was far worse than anything he had ever gone through with his old man. A victim of hellish mental and physical abuse. A boy broken to the point of becoming a deranged weapon of mass murder, for an utterly monstrous woman that was his own mother. How could he not sympathize for someone who'd gone through this much suffering?
"While I can't ignore the atrocities crona may very well be responsible for back in his world. Nor the danger he potentially poses now he's here, I do believe that this boy needs help more than ever." Hawks admitted, still clinging onto some flicker of hope that crona could be redeemed if maka was so determined to save him despite all the crimes he had committed.
"So will you be willing to try making a case for crona, so he doesn't land in Tartarus?" Eizo asked curiously.
Hawks released a long sigh. "I'll try my best but I can't make any promises. But since he saved that child and helped his friends stop that robbery, I got a feeling the HPSC maybe be willing to help crona with how he's shown the capacity to do good." The blonde's yellow orbs quickly took a serious gleam. "But I'm warning you right now, if he ends up going nuts again and endangers innocent lives, then there's nothing else I can do for him."
Eizo nodded slowly. "I understand completely, though I'm optimistic that we can prevent that scenario from happening."
"I hope too, tanuma." Hawks conceded, as he prepared to call the chairwoman as soon as possible, and deliver a massive update on his initial report.
"So barring some minor issues to work over, he took everything I said pretty well than I expected. And better yet hawk's is willing to see what he can do for you guys." Eizo finished retelling what occurred with his discussion with hawks, with the teens being left quite surprised by the end of the older man's story.
Maka's expression however filled with wariness at the thought of someone connected to such an important organization learning their origins. "Sir I don't mean to question you, but are you really sure that was a good idea?"
Eizo raised his hand in a placating manner. "I assure you, he doesn't plan on telling anyone else about your true origins. Hawks knows full well the pandemonium that could come about, should this information get carelessly leaked out."
Maka's features eased up slightly hearing eizo's assurances. "Okay, but how could this HPSC agency help us, live here?"
"Well the hero public safety commission are a law enforcement agency, tasked with managing the interactions between heroes and society as a whole. And with such an important role, they're supported by the japanese government to maintain the peace." eizo explained the hero organization to the three teenagers who listened intently. "So with their connections to the government, they can easily forge the necessary documents to help you guys stay here as japanese citizens."
The two meister’s and death scythe stared with dumbfoundedshock at the detective, for this golden opportunity he was miraculously presenting to them.
Maka most of all was left completely speechless by Eizo's unexpected act of kindness, and how far he was willing to go to lend a hand to them. To the point he was willing to ask for help from a government agency to forge identities just for them.
"But I don't understand why would you and this agency be willing to help us easily? Shouldn't you be more cautious after the mess we caused?" Maka questioned in minor disbelief in her voice.
“Maybe you're right. But you should know what it mean's to wear this badge." Eizo said as he presented the badge in question. "It's my job as a detective of Japan's police department, to not only stop crime, But also help those who are in need of it. Otherwise, I'd be quite a sh*tty cop if I couldn't bother to assist three children in desperate need of help."
"Anyone would be willing to help you guys after learning how you risked your very lives, to save your entire world from certain destruction by the hands of Asura." Ezio noticed the subtle flinches in the trio and quickly pushed the dark topic away. The three children carefully listened to the man's words in astonishment.
"If that wasn't enough, the first thing you kids did when you came here was run straight into the face of danger, to take down those villains before anyone else could get hurt. You're prime examples of what true heroes should be. So, there is no way in hell I'm gonna forsake three people, who have so much potential to do good in our world while they're here."
The trio couldn't find anything to say, merely continuing to gape at the old detective in shock by his passionate speech. This man who didn't even know who they were, besides watching various clips of memories, was so willing to lend such a helping hand to them despite the risks he was taking. All because of the strong belief he held for them being good people.
"Y-Y-You...you actually think t-that way?" Crona stammered in overwhelming disbelief.
Ezio nodded. "Yes Mr. Gorgon, I mean every single word. Even if some trouble came along with your arrival here, my admiration for the brave young heroes I see before me remains firmly placed."
faint pink blush began to lit up on Maka's cheeks from the kind words and praise given to them. "I-it's not a big deal sir...we don't deserve to be praised and called heroes considering what happened."
Ezio raised his hand. "That was an accident, one caused by a series of events you had little control over. While you did cause the building to collapse, you prevented anyone from getting seriously hurt or killed, so you already atoned for your mistake." Ezio corrected the remorseful teen before he apologetically bowed his head for a moment. "If anything, I should apologize for the sh*tty welcome to our dimension, since all you did was help put an end to a crisis at the time."
Maka blinked and lightly waved her hands at the apologetic detective. "It's alright sir, we only wanted to do the right thing. We just didn't know how the laws of your world work, that's on us."
"That is no crime young lady, you and I both know that." Ezio lightly reprimanded the teen.
Maka nervously chuckled while rubbing the back of her neck. "Yeah, I-I guess it would be pretty hard to consider that a wrongful thing to do, wouldn't it?"
"You got that right, though getting back on topic, for all this to work and get you guys ready to live here, the HPSC is gonna need whatever personal information you haven’t told me yet." Eizo carefully told the trio, as he got his notepad and pen ready to write.
All three teens simultaneously nodded in agreement. "Of course, we'll tell you whatever you need."
"Good." Ezio clicked his pen and prepared to write. "Now let's start with something simple, how old are you and what are your birth dates?"
"November 11th, 1996, and I turned fourteen years old a month back." Maka told the detective, who looked at her strangely before slowly writing down what was told to him.
"July 2nd, 1995, I'm fourteen and a half years old." Soul said with a bit of pride in his voice.
Crona unlike his companions seemed to have a hard time answering the question, as his features were engulfed in cluelessness. "Um, I...I think I'm 15? I'm sorry sir, but I-I honestly don't know when I was born." Crona's sad ebon eyes looked down at the bedsheets below his lap. "M-Medusa never considered my birth to be regarded as important."
The room was swiftly sent into a moment of stunned silence as the four other people in the room were in shock from the disturbing information from crona.
Soul and maka were already quite aware of what their friend had endured through his whole life. The albino simply glared coldly at the floor, while maka’s own shock soon turned into righteous fury, as her hands tightened her hands into fists of silent fury.
Of course, that horrible woman wouldn't even bother to care for the day she gave birth to her son. In the eyes of Medusa, Crona was only born to be a pawn to serve in her apocalyptic plan to create a kishin. Anything else that didn't meet her goals would be immediately discarded as worthless.
It only made maka even more glad that snake-witch suffered a brutal death at the hands of the son she tormented for so long.
Maka however, shook herself out of those wrathful thoughts and gently placed a reassuring hand on his back.
"Hey, it's alright Crona, even if you don't know your birth date, it doesn't change the fact you still have a birthday." Maka's lips curved upwards into a cheery, bright smile. "You can just pick any particular day you want, then when it comes, I promise we're gonna throw you both your first and best birthday yet!"
The boy in question gazed his dark-colored eyes at Maka, Her happy smile was practically infectious, and soon enough, his face switched from being melancholic frown to a smile of soft joy.
"T-Thank you, Maka, I can't wait for it." Though Crona was the kind of person to not be very vocal about his emotions, his quiet expressions were more than enough to prove he was happy.
"No problem, just make sure to tell me which day you want it to be and I'll get hard at work!"
"As much as I hate to kill the tender moment you guys have got going here...I have to advise that all of you change the year's you were born." Ezio butted in, soul and maka turning their heads to look at the detective staring at his notepad with a bewildered expression.
"What? The hell is wrong with the year's we were born?" Soul incredulously asked.
"Mr. Evans I'm pretty sure you all have seen that our world is quite different from your version of earth. One of the obvious differences being the presence of superpowers and superheroes. But there are also other subtle changes, like for example…"
Ezio pulled up his black iPhone to present to the trio. "Everyone who uses smartphones, instead of mirrors and flip-phones Atushi told me you normally used back in your world. The reason for the technological difference is very simple, in your world it's most likely the year 2009 but here...it's the year 2148."
...
...
...
Maka, Crona, and soul said nothing back to the adult standing in front of them. Merely staring at the detective with eyes wide as saucers, and their jaws hung open. All three teens stunned to hear they had not only crossed dimensions but have also jumped forward in time.
Maka blinked a few times before managing to mostly recover from her shocked stupor. "I-I see... So we're also in the future too, huh? To be honest I didn't think I'd be too surprised by this, considering everything else we just learned, but...I guess I was wrong."
Soul shook out of his own stupor and turned his head around to look at the window, displaying a view of the city. "So, detective I've got to ask...do people drive any flying cars now?" Soul casually asked, yet his red eyes glinted with excitement for the chance of that answer being correct.
"Soul are you serious?" Maka pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. Of course, he'd ask something so childish as that, why should she have expected anything else from him?
"What? You're telling me you aren't the least bit curious to see if something as cool as that exists?"
"Oh please, you just want to know so you can buy some motorcycle version and fly all over the place with it, don't you?" Maka retorted with a furrowed brow, as exasperation seeped into her expression.
"Whaaat no, of course not." Soul denied yet Maka's suspicious glare made it very hard to keep a straight face. "Well...okay maybe." Soul admitted quietl.
"Ugh, why couldn't my death scythe be mature more often?" Maka groaned dryly, but at the same time, shouldn't be too surprised either considering this was his weapon partner she was dealing with here.
"Hey cut me some slack here Maka, we're literally in another damn dimension! You can excuse me for being just a little interested to see what else this place has in store for us?" Soul argued back, but the ash blonde wasn’t the least bit buying his line of reasoning.
"Really? Cause if I remember correctly you said you admitted to being scared about being trapped in said dimension!” Maka snarked back sharply to his scythe's previous statement. Honestly talk about a hypocrite! Could he at least bother to be a bit more humble instead of denying what he said for the sake of his precious coolness?
“Okay so I freaked out a little, so what? It seems pretty appropriate when you're sent to another world without any warning!"
"Well, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't just go and start asking about something so stupid as flying cars existing."
Soul groaned in exasperation at his meister being so damn uptight. "For god's sake, why the hell can't you just lighten up for once? Now I'm starting to see why Blair always calls you a sourpuss when aren't around."
MAKA CHOP!
And just like that Soul was left lying flat down on the bed, clutching the book-shaped dent now formed on his bruised skull. Maka still with her trusty textbook raised, sat above the fallen form of her chopped weapon; with an angry vein pulsing on her forehead.
"What the hell Maka?" Soul gasped out, feeling his brutalized brain cells screaming in agony.
"Hmph! Maybe that'll teach you to start acting more appropriately." Maka rebuked as she put away her trusty textbook back to...wherever the hell she hides that thing.
'Seriously, does Maka have a pocket dimension inside her or something?' Soul mentally asked himself as he stewed in pain.
Crona the whole time he witnessed this argument between his two friends, looked so confused. At this point, he was unsure of what they were even talking about anymore. The swordsman only tried to figure out why anyone would make a car fly, to begin with.
Yet Crona suddenly felt a sharp spike of pain hit his back. A splash of tar colored emerging from none other than Ragnarök. "Not gonna lie, I'm on shark boy's side on this one! I'd say if they're real, we go and borrow one of those flying cars and have some fun!"
"No way Ragnarök, t-that's stealing."
"Who gives a sh*t!? We'd only take it for a spin before anyone realizes it!" Ragnarok barked.
"But I don't even know how to drive a car!" Crona stuttered his reply.
Ragnarök in a fit of childish rage pulled away two long pieces of his hair. "Then start learning how to drive one, ya damn wimp! God, you are such a f*cking party pooper!"
"Ragnarök, let go already! That hurts!" Crona struggling to push away the tiny arms of the sword pulling on his pink hair.
Ezio meanwhile seeing this conversation was quickly devolving into pointless arguing, coughed loudly into his fist, causing the teens along with Ragnarök to turn attention to the detective.
"Sorry to break it to you guys, but I can safely say that we definitely don't have any of those invented yet." Eizo flatly told to the albino teen who further moaned in pain.
"Damn it all! There goes the one thing that could've gone right today! Ugh f*ck this pointless sh*t, I'm going back inside the wimp." And with that, the sword melted into his embarrassed meisters back.
Ezio sighed and rubbed his forehead to ward off the headache trying to form. Realizing this was going to be way harder than he first expected. "Alright then, I think I'm gonna need more than just the rest of your personal information before we move any further with this."
"But I thought that guy you brought in used his power on me and showed you where we came from?" Maka questioned in puzzlement by the adult's need for more knowledge of both their world and the lives they led there.
"Atushi may have told me about your world. But his quirk only presented us with a series of basic, jumbled-up scenes played out from your memories Maka. I need a lot more context of your home before I can fully help you. So, tell me right from the beginning, without any details left out." Eizo implored the teenage girl, his pen already pressed to a blank paper on his notepad and ready to write everything she would say.
Maka bit her lip contemplation for a minute, she was still heart aching and her mind was exhausted from everything that she's learned. And talking about her home in detail would probably revitalize her homesickness. Yet before she could decide not to accept Eizo's request, her eyes glanced at Crona and Soul, the latter of whom was now sitting back up from the previous Maka chop.
Through their small smiles and friendly eyes, the boys gave the kishin piercer their acceptance and loyal willingness to follow through with whatever choice she made. Her heart glowing brightly in warmed joy by their loyalty to her; and found the mental strength necessary to push back her emotional exhaustion. The wheat blonde released a deep breath and looking back at the patient detective with a calm face. "Okay, but I think you should get comfortable cause it's probably going to be a long story."
Thus, without further delay, Maka and her friends told Eizo everything they knew.
Maka for the next few hours, explained in great detail to Eizo everything about their world. From its history and current events,while the adult kept close attention to everything that was being told to him.
Throughout their conversation, Eizo kept his straightforward expression the whole time he listened and wrote in his notepad. The man putting his absolute attention and effort to jot down anything and everything he deemed was vital information.
"And I guess that's how we ended up here, so is that enough?" Maka asked as eizo skimmed through his notes.
"It's more than plenty Ms. Albarn, I greatly appreciate the cooperation you and your friends have given me."
"Glad to have helped." Maka told the detective as he skimmed through everything, he had written for the past thirty minutes.
"Though I must say despite all the supernatural craziness that transpires in your world, your lives in death city seem overall semi-normal," Ezio said in surprise by how they still managed to lead normal lives despite the dangerous adventures shibusen makes them go on. "If it wasn't for all that stuff about magic, monsters, and witches I would've had a hard time seeing the difference between you guys and three kids in a normal private, middle school.
"Well, what were you expecting? That we be some kind of scary aliens coming to eat everyone's brains off?" Soul joked in amusem*nt.
"No, but Atushi did tell me you eat literal souls, so maybe that possibility isn't entirely wrong." Ezio teased back.
"Don't worry man, you definitely won't catch me doing anything uncool like that, otherwise I'd hear no end of it from my meister." Soul chuckled, pointing towards the ash-blonde girl sitting next to him.
"Your damn right." Maka remarked with a lightly reprimanding expression. "I didn't work so hard to make you a death scythe, just so you could throw it all away, you hear?"
"You got it, boss." Soul lightheartedly replied back with a lazy thumbs up.
"Well, in any case, I think I can use your history with shibusen to help make your forged I.D.s, particularly your backgrounds." Eizo pondered this idea with the gears in his head running rapidly. "So until then, I'll see what strings my friends can pull alright?" Ezio elaborated to the two shibusen students and ex-demon swordsman who nodded in understanding.
"Of course, sir, we're extremely grateful for what you're doing for us...we wouldn't dare to ask for anything else from you." Crona humbly told the detective glancing at the pink-haired boy with a neutral stone face.
Even with Atushi's explanations to justify the crimes he heard were committed by this boy sitting right in front of him, Eizo still held mixed feelings about him. Before his actions on the moon crona had possibly killed hundreds and proceeded to have ragnarök devour their innocent souls to accumulate power. Heck, he even slaughtered an entire gang the very same night he first met Maka.
But eizo has already learned that crona wasn't born a killer, he was made into one. And the person responsible for that was none other than his very own mother, Medusa Gorgon. She was the very same woman he saw on the tv screen during the interview.
After being further enlightened by Atushi what she had done to her son.
That bitch monstrously abused her child since he was barely even a toddler. Forced the poor child to kill small animals, and starved him in a dark empty room for days every time he disobeyed. All in the sickening effort to break her son's sanity and become her personal killer. The more he learned of the details about crona's torturous life made Eizo sick to his stomach. Thankfully Atushi also confided to him that Medusa was slain before these three came to their world, so at least that particular monster was destroyed.
"Don't mention it, Mr. Gorgon, I just wanted to do the right thing and help you kids out. It's the least I can do after all the sh*t you've all been through" Ezio said to the pink-haired swordsman.
Crona turned his head away in shy embarrassment. "Y-yes detective e-eizo."
Ezio's neutral gaze slowly became softer as he saw more of this boy's timid and humble nature. Though Crona had done many terrible things, Eizo can see this boy truly did have a gentle heart inside the darkness dwelling inside him.
"So after you make those I.D.s and we can stay in the country, where exactly are we going to live?" Maka asked with an unsure expression on her face. The scythe meister more than anything wanting to know the best solution to their living situation.
Eizo exhaled through his nose. "Well, Mrs. Albarn that question has both a simple and a complicated answer. You see, for you three to live here, you're gonna need two things." Ezio raised his index finger. "Due to you three still being minors you're gonna need to finish your education in this world. Which is why I think foreign exchange students is the best call to make for you." Eizo thoroughly explained to the trio.
Maka and Soul however couldn't help but feel disappointed sadness by the fact they wouldn't be able to properly graduate from shibusen. But even so, they understood the importance of requiring a complete education of this world to live here.
Eizo then raised a second finger. "Secondly, you're going to need a guardian to take care of you until your of age to live on your own." Eizo indicated to the three surprised teenagers how they now needed someone to live under until further notice.
"A guardian?" Maka blurted out in surprise at such a condition, with soul’s eyes also widening in astonishment for needing something like that.
“Well I can’t just have three minors roam free on the streets, without any family or parental figure. Even if you get part time jobs, you're still minors and that's nowhere near enough to afford the expenses needed to live by yourselves." Eizo reasoned.
Maka blinked in surprise, but began to realize he wasn’t wrong, since due to their age and whatever laws existed here, they probably couldn't find work to afford even an average apartment room. And the last thing she wanted was herself and especially her friends was to wind up fending for themselves in the streets just to survive.
The ash blonde once she regained her composure nodded at the detective’s reasoning. "Okay, I understand why we need one, but who's going to take us in?" Maka questioned worriedly.
Eizo scratched the back of his head with an unsure expression. "And that’s where things get complicated. Since you guys have no family or relatives to take care of you whatsoever, you'll probably end up in the foster care system." The detective grimaced when he said that last part as he witnessed Maka and soul cringing and honestly couldn’t blame them. "And I unfortunately have no power over that, so I'm afraid you'll have to wait till the HPSC can-"
But before anyone knew it, the two white doors to their room were violently kicked open. The culprit responsible being none other than the grinning rabbit-eared heroine marching in. All four occupants jumped in surprise by Rumi's loud intrusion into their conversation. The three children not at all expecting that the rabbit-eared Amazon would make her appearance. While Eizo had forgotten, the rabbit heroine had been standing right next to the hospital room this whole time.
"Rumi, what are you doing!?" Ezio shouted in startled alarm as his old friend made her sudden and violent entrance now of all times.
"The hell does it look like? I'm here to stop you from screwing these kids over." Mirko brashly declared, having eavesdropped on them and decided she needed to intervene.
"I heard everything you said old timer, and while I get why you need to have the HPSC involved, like hell I'm gonna stand by and let you be an idiot and make a mistake like this!" Mirko haughtily exclaimed to the balding detective, who could only sigh in exasperation.
"Rumi I appreciate your concern, but they are much more suited to helping them find a guardian than i am." Eizo said while holding back a groan in his throat.
"Maybe but I think I have a better idea to help your sorry ass find a place for these guys to stay." Mirko said with her sharp smirk still instilled onto her face.
Eizo rose a skeptical brow. “Mirko I appreciate your input, but I don’t see how you could do anything to solve this problem and provide a way for three American teenagers to live in japan.”
Mirko didn't answer the detective, stepping forward and prepared to do something she never thought in a million years she’d consider doing in her life. But right now felt there might be no other choice if she wanted to prevent such talented youths to waste away in some run down foster care home of all this.
Ugh…these brats owed her big time for what she was going to say.
“It’s simply really, seeing as they got nowhere else to go, I'll go ahead and take the brats in and give em a place to stay."
The three teenagers and detective's eyes bulged out of their heads from Mirko's declared offer. "what!?" Ezio blurted in shock.
"H-Hold on a minute, you're willing to let us live with you?" Maka exclaimed as soul and Crona kept stared baffled at the heroine's declaration to be their guardian.
"Why not? Somebody's got to keep an eye on you guys." Mirko shrugged with a side smirk on her face. “You have no idea our our world works nor the laws of the country, so why not have one of Japan's top heroes be the one to teach you brats how to live here?"
"But that doesn't make sense. Why the hell would you want us living under your roof, after everything we put you through last night?" Soul questioned, trying to understand her reasoning for such a charitable offer.
Mirko waved a dismissive hand and placed a hand on her hips. "Oh Please! Do you think I'm gonna have a grudge over that? Don't get me wrong I'm still pissed off from that stunt you and the girl pulled on me. But I think you could make it up to me, by proving you're worth all the effort I'm putting out to help you."
Eventually, Eizo finally snapped out of his shocked stupor and with a stone-cold face walked towards Mirko. "Mirko I know you have good intentions; But I don't think you fully grasp the weight of what you're doing here." Ezio warned the young woman in Japanese, wanting to make sure she gets a reality check. "This isn't simple as pulverizing villains. You're requesting to take responsibility for not one, not two, but three teenagers." Ezio counted each child off with his right hand. "I need to know what makes you think you can be a proper guardian for them before I can remotely consider allowing you to take them in."
Mirko’s rabbit ears twitched in annoyance. She wasn't stupid. She knew damn well the motherlode of responsibility she was putting on herself by becoming the guardian for these kids. One’s that apparently came from another dimension no less.
And really a part of her didn’t want to bear such responsibility since she preferred to not have anyone weighing her down. It’s why she never took in interns for every sports festival considering all those students would be too weak to handle working under her.
But she had a feeling these kids wouldn’t be anything like that. From everything she saw these teens go through in their world, it was clear as day these kids were practically prodigies. And as much as her pride got her pissed about it, for two of them to beat someone like her at such a young age, was beyond impressive. And if she can provide a way for hero society to benefit from these guys staying her for a while, then why shouldn’t she try at least giving them a home for now?
"Eizo, I get why you're acting so freakin skeptical about my ability to do this. Quite frankly I'm quite shocked I'm going through with this myself." Mirko admitted in Japanese before returning to her daredevil expression. "But these kids are prime hero material if everything on that screen was legit. Something that the country’s top hero school’s like U.A would be slobbering to have as students.”
“If that ain’t enough, they've gone out of their way to stop two crisis', and save others who were in danger. Sure, they broke the rules and royally f*cked up, but they still had the guts to fix their mistakes." Mirko removed one hand from her hip and placed it on the center of her chest. "They just need someone like me to teach em the ropes, and a sh*tty foster home won't provide that. I can do this Eizo, you got to trust me on this."
The cybernetic detective narrowed his eyes towards Rumi's while keeping his dead-serious attitude. Internally contemplating his old friend's reasoning to adopt these three kids.
Crazy thing is...she may have a point.
Those children practically screamed hero material in just about ever facet. From their backgrounds in their world, along with Mirko's speech mixed in; painted a picture that was clear as day. That these children could easily become some of the best heroes society has seen in decades.
Even if one of them had a...very unsavory history, they were undeniably heroic in some shape or form. And if they did fall under Mirko's care and guidance; She can easily mold them into something that could truly benefit all of hero society. But even so, he couldn't just accept this choice so freely, he still had to be sure he was making the right call here.
“While I can’t say your points ain't valid, I think you're forgetting about crona here,” Eizo jerked him towards the confused teen. “Does that also mean you are willing to take responsibility for someone like him as well?” Mirko’s confident smirk finally fell off as a more serious and somewhat uncertain frown formed on her lips.
“Yeah…I can’t deny I am more than cautious when it comes to him and what he’s capable of. He practically fits the bill of a villain, if not some of the worst kind imaginable.” Mirko frowned grimly, never imagining someone so young could be capable of being such a vicious villain.
Any other pro hero like herself who saw such horrors would’ve had Crona locked up in Tartarus prison in a heartbeat. Heck she had only recently gotten over the strong temptation to do just that. But if what she heard that mangaka say about him...then she knew crona wasn't born a killer. He was simply forced into one. And the person responsible for that was none other than his own damn mother.
She knew now that crona wasn't some evil scumbag like she assumed. He was just a victim of the most horrific abuse anyone could ever imagine, and that made it hard to find it in her to despise the kid anymore. "Yet I don’t think that otaku was lying about what he was saying about crona. Somehow maka managed to bring out the best out of him, and even when he relapsed, she still tried to help him and actually got through to crona.”
“So maybe hawks was onto something about why we should help the guy. It take some time but once he settles in, maybe I can work something out to start fixing him.” Mirko reasoned, as, despite her brash demeanor and caution for that swordsman, she was a hero for god’s sake. It should be at least fair he’d be given a chance on this world to redeem himself.
Eizo rubbed his chin with a thoughtful look in his face. “He really does seem to have a good heart somewhere despite all that darkness he’s carrying. I’ll have to see if hawks or I can find any decent therapists that can deal with the kind of trauma he has, but it shouldn’t be too hard.” Eizo’s eyes soon narrowed into a steely gaze. “But what exactly are you planning to do if things go sideways?”
Mirko’s eyes took on a far more serious glare as cold steel emerged within her hardened gaze. “Then I assure you I will personally take him down myself if he starts causes trouble.”
She may wanted to try helping this kid but she wasn’t naïve to think it go perfectly smooth either. If the worst came to pass, mirko wouldn’t even hesitate to send him packing to the deepest cell in tartarus. She may pity him for what he's gone through in his life, but there's no way in hell she'd let the same psychotic monster she saw on that screen run wild here.
Eizo ran his only real hand down his face before looking back at Rumi with a narrowed gaze. "Are you sure? Can you truly live up to your word and be able to take care of three young teens? Provide them all their basic necessities and perhaps more, while being a pro hero all at once?" Eizo tersely asked Rumi, waiting for a hopefully good answer.
Mirko's heart and will remained steadfast, even if parts of her logical brain began churning their gears to overcome her emotions controlling her decision, she still wouldn't give in. She couldn't deny she had no idea how being a guardian worked, but it didn't seem too complicated. All she had to do was give three teens a place to call home, feed them, give them clothes and other necessities...while doing her job as the number seven hero of Japan.
Goddamnit this really was gonna be far harder then she was telling herself wasn’t it? But even with all these doubts swimming in her mind, there was no way in hell she was going to be a puss* and back down now after everything she just said. She was a hero for god’s sake, and right now these children needed someone in their time of need.
She just hoped this was all going to be worth all this effort in the end, and she can make some of the best damn heroes anyone ever saw out of these brats.
Thus, after affirming her iron resolve, Mirko curled her lips into an assuring smile. "You better believe I can. I wouldn't have dared to open my mouth in the first place."
Eizo didn't say anything, only continuing to stare at her with a deadly serious expression. Most likely trying to scout out any possibility of doubt or false emotion, within her face and see if she was telling the truth. His narrowed eyes darted back in forth a few times between Rumi and the confused trio behind him, until he pinched the bridge of his nose and released a heavy sigh.
"Um, detective Eizo? Can you tell us what's going on?" Maka asked in curiosity as she, Crona, and Soul had been trying to figure out what the two adults had been talking in japanese about for almost five minutes now.
Eizo briefly glanced at three interdimensional teens sitting on the hospital bed, before turning his head to fully face them. "Well kids, it looks like luck's on your side today. Cause mirko here will be acting as your parental guardian for the time being." Eizo pointed towards the very same woman in question, who gave a cheeky grin towards the stunned teens.
"S-So your...you're r-really going to do this for us?" Crona asked in astonishment as Mirko chuckled at his surprised face.
Mirko placed a hand at her hip. "Of course, I am, it's my job to help people, why the hell would I call myself a hero otherwise?"
"I g-guess that m-makes sense."
Eizo lightly clapped his hands together and looked at the trio with a lighter expression. "Alrighty then, I guess my job here is finally done. The doctors said you and Mirko can leave tomorrow, so while you're getting settled, I'll be busy with all the paperwork and get back to doing my job." Ezio then turned around and began walking towards the room's doors.
"Wait Mr. Eizo!" Maka called out, the detective stopped walking turned around to meet Maka's gaze.
The scythe meister's lips went upwards and her jade eyes slowly but surely grew wet with unshed tears of relief. "Before you leave, we just want to go ahead and say thank you Eizo. Thank you so much for helping us like this." Maka said with absolute sincerity dominant in her voice. "I couldn't even begin to imagine what would've happened had things turned out differently, or if you never came. So, I want you to know that we'll be forever grateful for the kindness you gave us."
"Seriously man, thanks for everything you did for us, it was cool as hell." Soul sincerely told Eizo with his trademark smile.
"T-thank y-you Mr. Eizo, we’re s-so grateful for you both helping us this much." Crona timidly dropped his head for a short bow causing his pink bangs to fall down and hide his blushed face.
Eizo chuckled and wore a small yet happy smile on his. "It's no problem kids, I just hope to see some great things come from you guys in the future."
"Of course, sir. We won't disappoint you." Maka said with a happy smile.
Ezio's smile slowly broadened when he heard that satisfying response, the veteran detective could already see a bright future coming ahead. Making Eizo more than glad to be able to help them get set on that path.
Eizo turned to face Mirko. "And I recommend you go back to your room to rest up for tomorrow. You'll need to be fully prepared to handle your new responsibilities from here on out."
"Yeah, yeah I heard ya bud." Mirko said nonchalantly as she followed Eizo out the door. "I'll see you brats later; we'll have a lot to talk about when I bring you guys to my place."
With the doors closing behind Mirko an Eizo the two adults left the room. Now leaving Maka, Crona, and Soul once again alone, to absorb in everything that had just occurred In the span of a few hours.
"Well, I guess that solves all our problems, or at least most of them anyway." Soul remarked, who like his two other friends did not expect in the slightest, that their interdimensional residency issues to be resolved so quickly.
Maka herself was especially astonished by the events that in retrospect's took place in the blink of an eye. She had been gravely fearing they were gonna be forced to fend for themselves in the streets. Or be put into the foster care system like Eizo was planning and endure the process of finding a guardian to live with. Yet in the end all those fears proved to be unfounded. She was immensely happy of course, but was still shocked by it all happening nonetheless. Maka was soon shaken out of her astonishment when she felt a gentle hand place itself on her right shoulder.
"H-hey Maka are you alright? You look very tired." Crona questioned as his brow furrowed into a concerned expression. Noticing Maka's green eyes didn't have their usual liveliness to them, instead looking tired and almost drained.
Maka curved her lips as best as she could into a kind smile. "Yeah, I'm fine Crona, but your right *yawn* I am a bit winded after today. I guess learning you're in another dimension can be kind of an exhausting experience."
"You know what? I think I'm gonna go ahead and get some sleep." Maka softly announced and began shifting herself to the middle of the bed.
Soul's brow furrowed. "Shouldn't you have something to eat first? you've been up all day with an empty stomach."
Maka lightly shook her head. "Nah, I'm not hungry, Soul." Maka settled herself on the bed and laid on her head on the pillows. "But I might be peckish later, so just wake me up if dinner comes, okay?"
Soul looked reluctant at first to follow along with his meisters wishes. The scythe still believed she should try and fill her stomach up with something before falling asleep. But that was before his rest comes, red eyes glanced at the clock hanging on the right side of the wall, finding that it was shockingly almost 7:00.
'Sheesh, we've been at it for a while now.' Soul never realized how time flew by so fast with everything that had occurred since Maka and Crona woke up.
Maybe some rest would do his meister some good. Allowing her mind and body to recover from today's events and regain the energy needed for the big changes coming tomorrow.
So with a simple nod Soul obeyed his meister's wishes, the albino gesturing to Crona to follow along. The boys stood up from Maka's hospital bed and returned to their original spots while the ash-blonde covered herself in the white bedsheets and closed her eyes.
Maka soon pulled the plug on her brain's thoughts and the rampant questions of what they will do once they start living with that Rumi woman. Or the possibilities of where she could start looking for methods of finding a passage back home. Allowing Maka's brain to slowly begin the process of falling asleep.
‘I just hope we can return home soon. Kid, blackstar, tsubaki, liz and patty, stein, spirit, mrs. Marie and everyone else…we’ll be back soon so be patient, I promise we won’t abandon you.’ Maka swore internally as sleep began to take hold.
But unfortunately, by doing this, Maka had unintentionally removed the mental wall that kept out the lingering sorrow she had still been repressing this whole time.
Maka knew deep down that it was most likely going to be a long, long time before that day ever came. That single realistic fear running through her mind being more than enough, to cause a single lonely tear to slide down from Maka's closed right eye, before she was sent into a much needed slumber.
HOSPITAL LOBBY FLOOR
"Gotta say eizo, never thought you'd be willing to put so much effort, for a bunch of foreigner brats." Mirko remarked in amusem*nt as she and eizo walked back to the elevator.
"I can say the same for you too rumi, I'm still trying to comprehend what I just witnessed. Never in my life would I think mirko the battle craving rabbit hero would actually adopt three kids out of the secret kindness of her heart." Eizo playfully snarked back, Rumi's rabbit ears twitched in annoyance before the short woman "gently" elbowed the detective in his ribs. Causing the balding man to yelp in pain before rubbing his stomach side.
"Jeez, rumi I was just joking, no need to get so rough." Eizo coughed.
"Well, that ought to teach ya not to be a wise-ass, Baldy. I only decided to take in those kids because I felt pity for their sorry asses and decided I could give em a chance to redeem themselves for the sh*t they pulled." Rumi fumingly elaborated to her old friend, who even though was still in pain rolled his eyes from hearing her explanation.
"Sure, whatever you say." Eizo replied with subtle sarcasm.
As the two were about to reach the elevator however they found it was already opening its doors; revealing none other than hawk's himself walking out of the elevator. But while rumi had retained her causal attitude, eizo got his guard up when the fierce winged hero casually walked towards them. Both the robust rabbit hero and detective having a pretty good idea why hawks was here, and what he was probably going to be talking to them about.
"Oh hey hawks it's good to see ya, I'm guessing you finished up your little chat with the head honchos from the public safety commission?" Mirko asked the blonde man who only answered with a simple nod, before eizo spoke up.
"Don't worry hawks she was there when we conducted the second interview, so she's already filled in on the situation." Eizo informed the number two pro hero.
Hawk's blinked for a moment in surprise before signing in relief. "Oh well that's good to hear, would've been a pain in the ass if I had to wait till mirko left."
"Oi did you forget I'm standing right here, jackass!?" Mirko growled in anger, as she felt an angry vein pop out of her forehead.
"S-sorry about that rumi, but considering what were trying to keep secret from the public, I have to be as cautious as possible when talking about it." Hawks calmly reasoned with the herione, who's temper started calming down.
"Tch, whatever." Mirko muttered, while crossing her arms.
"But I'm just wondering how you took the news since you actually saw it firsthand with eizo. It must've been quite a shock to see and learn huh?" Eizo asked with with mischief hidden within his casual tone.
"Well who the hell wouldn't be shocked to see that sh*t?! In fact I bet your jaw went slack the entire time you saw everything i saw." rumi scoffed angrily.
"And bet your saying that since that's exactly happened with you."
"Can it, you feathered ass!"
Hawks chuckled in amusem*nt at rumi's rant, before calming down and focusing on the matter at hand. "Anyway I spoke to the HPSC and updated them on what was really going on with those vigilantes," hawks paused as she released a sigh and scratched the back of his head with an exasperated expression. "And boy was the chairwoman stunned beyond imagination when I told her that whole story. If I hadn't said that I would be sending a copy of that interview, she'd probably demand that I have a psych evaluation."
"Well we're talking about kids who came from another dimension, the hell did you expect would happen without any proof? Besides your guilty of reacting the same way when I told you." Eizo remarked with shrug, to which hawks only nodded in defeat.
"Yeah that's pretty fair, though once I send a copy of that footage to the HPSC, they should begin to help establish those kids here once their shock has died down." Hawks explained to the rabbit hero and detective, the latter of who wondered just how the hero public safety commission will do with this information in retrospect.
While he already knew they would want to control this information as soon as possible and keep it from the public eye, eizo suspected those old farts may be planning something else eventually. Once they see the clips of maka's memories showing off what those kids were capable of, the HPSC will be seeing a goldmine of opportunity.
He just hoped the HPSC isn't gonna be too pushy about wanting maka, soul and crona to become pro heroes and take advantage of their situation to make that happen. It almost made him wish he hadn't been driven to rely on the HPSC for help, from this possibility alone.
"But if it helps I did manage to gain some general information on their world and abilities, to help fabricate their identities." Eizo said as he presented his notepad to the number two hero.
"Ah that's great to hear! I think that might actually help us in that particular area. It's kinda hard to create certain information on guys from another world, without anything to base it around." Hawks said with a grateful smile as eizo handed the notepad to hawks.
"I've already written my release forms so I should be outta here by tomorrow at the latest to deliver this and that camera to the HPSC." Eizo however hearing this, scratched the back of his balding head with a frown.
"I just hope ōkabo doesn't mind his camera being borrowed for this long without biting my head off."
"Don't worry I'll make sure to create a copy for the HPSC and return the original to you. From what you told me that mangaka seems to be trustworthy enough. But I hope he only uses this as creative material and nothing else." Hawks then glanced to the detective standing next to Mirko. "But before I go ahead and leave, I've been wondering since those three have nowhere to go if they'll land in the foster care system right?" Hawks said in sympathy but internally felt optimistic for the HPSC can start their plan sooner.
The HPSC may have originally wanted to have these children monitored and eventually recruited, hawks already knew it was going to need a massive overhaul in light of this new information.
If these kids truly came from another world, then they were far more important than he or the chairwoman could've ever imagined. They possessed incredible powers not born from quirks, and two of them were some of the best students in their world's version of a top hero school. They were beyond invaluable to hero society and japan as a whole could gain so much if the commission can manage to recruit them.
Once they set up the teen's lives here in this city, and after some time will step in and be hopefully successful in recruiting the kids into the agency. After all, foster care wasn't the perfect place for kids like them, especially if they've never experienced it before. The experience would no doubt take a toll on them and would want anything to break out of that monotonous life. Combined that with their instinctual desire to help and the HPSC will be able to have them accept their offer quite easily.
Though Hawk's couldn't hide the fact he was feeling more than guilty about what he was helping chairwoman nakime with such blatant manipulation. Even if it was for a good cause. These were kids who had just been taken away from their world, while trying to save it from certain destruction. They were the purest example of what heroes were, and shouldn't be played like pawns in a grand game.
But hawks felt maybe nakime would feel the same hopefully and ease up on recruiting those kids and lean more to just helping them. Then once she helped them adjust here and give them stable lives, could convince them to utilize their abilities for the good of society.
After all, while he was much younger than maka, soul and crona when the HPSC came to him, and no offense to those three, but in a much more dire position. He still held onto some faint memories of the days he and his mother were rotting away on streets; till the fateful day the commission found him. And after he took their offer managed to escape that grim life he held before he became hawks. In the end, Keigo knew this would all work out for maka, soul and crona. All they needed to do was to simply take the helpful hand that would be offered to them.
"Actually, about that...there won't be any need for them to go to a foster home." Eizo told the number three hero as he tried ignoring the quiet snickering of a certain rabbit in the room.
Hawks raised an eyebrow at this bewildering reveal, the hell was he talking about? "And why's that?"
"Well, you see, it's because-" But before Eizo knew it, Rumi shoved past him and stood directly in front of Hawks with a snarky as hell smile.
"-It's cause I'm going to be taking them in!" Mirko proudly exclaimed, much to Eizo's exasperation and Hawks' immense shock as he tried mentally grasping what he just heard.
'D-Did I hear that right?' Hawks internally sputtered from what his ears registered to his brain. But the gears running in his poor cranium were far too clogged with disbelief to properly comprehend; what was quite frankly one of the most surreal things he had ever heard in his life.
Rumi Usagiyama, one of the most tenacious, blunt, and loud-mouthed people, he had ever met in his whole career as a pro hero had just decided to adopt three vigilante kids, whom she just met...
...That couldn't be t-true right?
Hawks with great effort managed to snap out of his frozen shock. Slowly blinking a few times before speaking. "I-I'm sorry Rumi but I think I misheard you...what the hell did you just say?" Hawks slowly asked the shorter woman.
"You heard me damn well Keigo, the brats have nowhere else to go so I volunteered to have them live under my roof, you got a problem with that?" Mirko haughtily questioned, silently daring the winged hero to try speaking against this decision.
Fortunately for Rumi that never happened as Hawks was still gaping by this sudden revelation. Much to Rumi's evident amusem*nt as she chuckled at the number three heroes astonished features. So, it was true then...Rumi had become these kids' guardian. The battle-hungry rabbit hero of Japan had just become a parental figure to three young impressionable teens...
At that point, Hawks seriously began to wonder if the depths of hell itself had now begun to freeze over into an arctic tundra if something this ridiculously impossible has somehow happened before his own eyes.
"I know how you feel buddy, I couldn't believe she wanted to do this either. But I couldn't refuse, not just because she is surprisingly qualified, but if I said no, she'd probably kick my ass until I changed my answer." Eizo exasperatedly explained to the still immensely astonished Hawks.
"Damn right I would've!" Mirko huffed proudly.
"You see what I mean?" Ezio sweatdropped with an exasperated expression on his face.
Hawks lightly shook his head to snap himself out of his stunned stupor and managed to mostly return to his previous demeanor. "Detective eizo are you positive this is the right choice here? Even if Rumi is...somehow considered qualified to be a parental guardian, do really think she can dedicate the time and effort to take care of three teenagers?"
"Look Hawks, I won't deny that Mirko can be a bit of a thrill-seeking musclehead at times," Eizo whispered as quietly as possible to avoid Mirko's wrath, thankfully nothing was heard due to her bandaged ears and being too caught up in her own amusem*nt to fully notice. "But she's the number seven pro hero for more than just her brawn in fighting, Keigo. She has the expertise and resources to be a mentor to them, one that can blossom the potential these kids yield for heroism." Ezio tried to reason with the skeptical Keigo, who still had more than a hard time fully trusting this older man was right here.
"And you're positive you aren't being biased in n this decision?" Hawks countered with a flat expression, beginning to see that his friendship with Rumi may be influencing this decision.
Ezio shrugged nonchalantly. "Maybe I am, but you can't deny that the number seven hero is an excellent candidate to help hone their potential." Hawks however still didn't seem too convinced by his words so he decided to pull the big guns. "Plus, Rumi can also keep them in line should they start causing trouble again, which I seriously doubt will happen."
Hawks didn't say anything, only keeping his doubtful expression towards the detective before after a few moments passed before he spoke. "You really thought this through, didn't you? And in such a short span of time too." Hawks released a deep sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Fine detective Eizo... I'll allow it. It's not like I have much power to stop this anyway, not without this turning into an ugly custody dispute." Hawks then removed his two fingers from his nose's bridge. "So, I guess I'll just have to hope that this all turns out as well as you're selling it out to be."
Eizo felt a crushing weight lift from his mind with an immensely relieved feeling taking its place. More than glad to hear that his silver tongue was still sharp enough; to sway Hawks from going against rumi being the trio's guardian.
"But I just hope Rumi can handle the task she's put on herself, especially with being that pink-haired kid's guardian." Hawks told the detective before his expression became a bit more serious. "That boy is still dangerous, detective. Even though I sympathize with hell he endured, I still feel we aren't leaving a pandora's box to be opened here.
"I know Mirko isn't a pushover, you can understand my concerns with letting a kid with such power and possible psychological issues living in her home." Hawks told the detective, who admittedly held the same fears concerning crona's stability.
Eizo's expression became more serious. "You're not wrong, not entirely anyway, but I have faith in Rumi's abilities to make sure he doesn't get out of control. Plus, with the two people, he cares so much at his side while they recover. It's unlikely he'll have any...outbursts like when he fought you." Eizo further reasoned with Keigo who started to be more swayed by what the detective was telling him.
"Alright, but I am recommending that we assign a therapist to crona and help him deal with his trauma. I meant what i said before, I want to help that boy and i think that's the best way to start." Hawks said with determination leaking into his voice and face, as he wouldn't dare not trying to help this kid however he can.
"Yeah, maybe that could work..." eizo murmured to himself while he scratched his chin in contemplation, of how to set this all up.
Rumi having eavesdropped on their finishing conversation, walked over to Hawks and decided to make sure bird boy didn't have any more issues with adopting these kids.
"So, I guess there isn't any more to discuss over this, is there?" Mirko rhetorically asked the blonde man with her usual haughty grin plastered on her face.
"Yeah, I guess not." Keigo reluctantly admitted, even if he had come earlier and found out what Mirko was planning, he still didn't think he could've been able to stop her from doing this. Maybe he could've tried persuading her to back out, but all that would've probably done was make the stubborn rabbit more dead-set to be the children's guardian.
The same could be said for anything else she set out to do for that matter.
"Well then if the matter is finally settled, I guess I'll take my leave. All that paperwork for this case won't be written up by itself." Eizo told the two pro heroes as he made his way to the elevator.
"I'll see you around Rumi, you better take care of those children, ya hear?" Eizo warned the rabbit-eared woman with a light and almost teasing tone of voice.
Rumi in response to that lighthearted warning waved her old friend off. "Don't worry old man, those kids will be treated like f*cking royalty compared to some of the weakling brats I intern." Rumi assured the detective who was unaware or perhaps didn't care about the nervous smile Eizo made While Hawks quietly cringed when hearing that.
The reason for such concern was due to knowing quite well that Rumi rarely interned young heroes in training every year after the annual U.A sports festival. Not just because mirko's lone wolf attitude made her not want to intern any dead weight's, as she was willing to make some exceptions. Oh no, it was because mirko was practically infamous, for making students endure brutal and grueling as hell hero training methods on any poor student interned under her. With most coming back looking like exhausted zombies for weeks, or for others less keen on such intense training, would outright quit halfway under their internships. When she was later confronted by media in interviews for having such brutal internships that always scared off anyone who signed up; she stated "it wasn't my fault the brats were too damn weak to handle it", as she so bluntly put it.
Since then, almost every hero student in U.A or from other hero schools like Shiketsu have avoided mirko's internships as if it was the plague itself. Being far too afraid of being mentally and physically broken by the experience to think it was worth the blood and sweat. Then again rumi must've done this as an attempt to try and toughening up the young interns, and prepare them for the brutal experience the full job of a pro hero will be like.
Unfortunately, despite her good intentions, rumi didn't see that she may be a little too drastic when it came to this reality check of being a pro hero.
But then again, maka, crona, and soul had already faced and gone through so many dangerous situations throughout their young lives. Ones that rivaled, if not surpassed what even the top ten pro heroes would deal with. So, rumi may not need to make those kids go through that hellish experience should they want to be heroes. But the doubtful parts in both eizo and hawks had a bad feeling that if anything, mirko may just not hold back at all. Instead making them undergo somehow even more brutal methods than she'd usually do. The two men shuddered in secondhand fear by whatever torturous challenges may await maka and her friends in the near future.
God help those poor souls...
"Yeah...I bet they're gonna love it." Eizo muttered with a nervous smile, feeling so much sympathy for the poor kids already. The detective silently prayed for the trio to be able to endure the grueling experiences awaiting them.
But despite the worry he held for the trio when they no doubt go through mirko's training plan, eizo had a good feeling they may be able to overcome it and become even stronger than before. Maka and soul had already accomplished so many insane feats, that far surpassed what even allmight in his prime had done in the entire six years he was the number one hero.
Eizo thought back to seeing all those memories of the adventures she and her friends went on, the missions to save the lives of others. To fight those who lust for power. Defeating those who would commit evil and seek destruction and suffering for their own amusem*nt or twisted goals. Throughout all these tribulations and dangerous moments in this one girl's life she never wavered in bravery. Never succumbing to the darkness, she willingly fought against it and persevered no matter how badly the odds were against her.
Eizo smiled. 'I hope you and your friends do well here Maka. I'll be expecting incredible things from you three.' The old man's smile curved up into a small yet excited grin. Hearing the elevator doors finally open up, he strolled inside and pressed the button. The twin metal doors closing themselves as the veteran detective went on his way back to the station.
Mirko waved her old friend goodbye until the twin metal doors closed and took him down the hospital lobby. The number seven hero then turned her head to meet birdy's gaze. The poor schmuck just kept standing in that same spot this whole time, looking so freakin dumbfounded right now, it was f*cking priceless!
Mirko unable to keep in her amusem*nt any longer she briefly turned her head to meet his gaze and pulled an akanbe gesture. Pulling down her lower right eyelid and childishly sticking her tongue out, in front of the baffled (and slightly offended) Hawks. Until she quickly strutted into one of the other available elevators and headed back to their hospital room.
The whole time the amazonian woman kept an excited grin on her mouth, her mind racing with many different plans and ideas for the brats once they start living under her roof. 'You brats better get ready, because I got BIG plans ahead for you three. I just hope you can handle what's in store.' Rumi thought with further excitement infecting her mind. Already envisioning the greatness she'll help them achieve in the future while under her tutelage.
Hawks however didn't share anywhere near the same excitement his colleague held as she left. The mystified blonde still trying to fully comprehend how the hell this all happened in the first place.
'The chairwoman may not be too happy to hear of this.' Hawks thought in worry of how his boss was going to react to finding out that her plans have now been utterly torn apart.
It would unfortunately appear recruiting these kids, just got a helluva lot more complicated than he thought it was going to be.
The next day soon came to pass as the trio along with the number seven and three pro heroes; were quickly released from the hospital. All parties were given back their clothing to switch into. Once the trio was properly dressed, they followed their new guardian Mirko herself to a nearby train station and boarded the westbound line. The ride was a fairly long one, now having been about nearly 4 hours since they were on the train. And besides the small chats they had between themselves Maka, Crona, and Soul simply sat together with Rumi inside the train cabin in silence.
Not because they didn't want to talk but merely because they didn't know what to say. That and the trio were far too entranced by the sights they saw of the numerous cities and skyscrapers of Japan. Despite apparently being sent to a version of earth in the future, they still couldn't believe how everything looked almost exactly the same. The trio occasionally glancing at the train's clear windows, revealing the many urban cities outside in uncertainty. The teens still felt unsure of what to expect, anything could happen in this unpredictable world they've landed themselves in.
Maka looked down at her injured foot, examining her bruised limb now encased in a slim black boot caste that allowed her to slip her foot in. Before leaving the hospital, the doctors switched out her original caste and replaced it with a "walking caste" as they called it. Allowing Maka to walk around while her foot was still healing from its injuries. But even then, she was still advised not to walk around too much and simply let her foot rest as much as possible.
Maka's brow furrowed as she was reminded of the doctor's medical advice. She knew that her lower limb needed to heal and can't be strained too much, but it still didn't help make her feel any less irked by how her temporary handicap would continue weighing her down.
And she still had to deal with being in this condition for a month...
"So, kids, what do you think of Japan so far?" Mirko asked the trio in front of them in curiosity.
"Oh-um...I-it's nice I guess." Crona mumbled, while his ebon eyes around the cabin. "W-we haven't r-really gotten the chance to explore the city; except when we w-were..."
"Being hunted down all over the place? Yeah, I know." Mirko finished as Crona flinched from her gaze, Rumi's brow furrowed before releasing a short exhale. "Look I get you guys aren't too proud about the sh*t that happened last night, but that's all in the past. This is a new start for you brats, so quit acting so sad and sh*t."
Crona shyly nodded. "Y-yes ma'am."
"Kid, you don't need to call 'ma'am' like I'm your freakin boss or something. Just call me Rumi, alright?" Rumi told the timid pink-haired boy who said nothing back and merely nodded in response; Much to Rumi's internal exasperation.
'I'm gonna have to really put some effort into giving this kid some damn confidence.' Rumi noted as she continued to observe the boy's quiet behavior. If this kid was as powerful as Hawks told her, then he would need to lose this introverted demeanor to fully realize his potential.
"So let me ask you something,” mirko started, feeling it be a good time to start getting to know these kids. “Compared to your world just how similar really is it? Cause from what I got watching maka’s memories and what that mangaka told me, it all seems to be something straight out of Halloween town.”
“Honestly it seems pretty similar at a first glance.” Soul shrugged. “I mean yeah compared to this, our world looks pretty damn weird, but we still have some relatively normal sights.”
“So what made you realize you weren’t in kansas anymore?”
“Well gee, maybe the fact we saw crowds of animal people walking around in broad daylight had something to do with it?” Soul deadpanned, with a dry tone.
“Oh like you have any room to talk about this place being weird, considering I’m speaking to a bunch of teenagers that came from some anime hogwarts!” Mirko scoffed as she rolled her eyes.
“Okay first off we don’t even know what you just referenced,” maka spoke up, ignoring mirko’s surprised expression. “And second, I don’t even know why you think our world is the crazy one-when being a literal superhero is an actual profession here!” Maka exclaimed, whilst the teen crossed her arms.
“At least it’s not as crazy as having f*cking witches and a sun that laughs be the common norm for you people. Seriously how the hell could you ever think that magic crap could ever be considered normal?” Mirko remarked with a sarcastic tone, and at the same time couldn’t believe all that stupid sh*t just came out of her mouth.
Maka kept her annoyed expression at the older woman for a few seconds before ultimately sighing in defeat. “Fair enough, I guess. If anything our world’s are in some way’s similar, as they are radically different, since we almost mistook it for our own.”
“But it still kinda surprises me that you took us in considering all the crap we caused yesterday.” Soul said quietly, While maka slightly slumped her shoulders in minor shame of their previous actions towards the person who now offered to be their guardian.
Mirko blinked before she trio, boisterously laughed in amusem*nt, much to the trio's stunned bafflement. "HAHAHA! Are you freakin kidding me?! Didn't eizo tell you everyone got over that sh*t already? You guys didn’t know where you were and what the hell was going on. I can’t really stay mad at you for those reason’s. Hell looking back I’m almost impressed by how well you caught me off guard with that technique your’s.”
Soul blinked. "Uh...I'm flattered?”
Mirko chuckled. “It’s honestly gotten me pretty interested to see what kind of weird ass powers you guys have; now I know you guys don’t have quirks. I got the gist of it from that mangaka consultant, but I got a good feeling there’s more to it with you guys.”
“Well you aren’t wrong, cause I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of how maka and I utilize the power of the soul whenever we fight.” Soul said casually, peaking the heroine’s interest as she rubbed her chin with a thoughtful expression.
“Oh yeah, atushi did mention all that back in the hospital. But wait a minute, are you telling me all that crazy crap about using your soul’s was actually true?” Mirko said incredulously as she crossed her arms.
Maka felt her right eye twitch in annoyance as she stared flatly at the pro hero. “Well I wouldn’t call it something as crass as ‘crazy crap’ but trust me when I say it’s very much true. After all it’s how we managed to beat you when we first met.”
Mirko scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Please brat, you just got lucky and caught me off guard with your weird ass soul magic. Otherwise I would’ve kicked your asses.” Mirko smugly grinned, unaware of the ash blonde’s increasingly peeved expression aimed at her. “But it doesn’t even matter at this point, cause I can already see you that you three will become some pretty impressive pro heroes if you stick around long enough.”
Maka’s annoyed glare ceased as surprise took over her features as she heard the older woman mention pro heroes. “Actually miss rumi since we're new here, there's something I want to ask you." Maka spoke up, catching the attention of the woman in question. "I’ve been hearing how you and that winged guy were called 'pro heroes', what does that mean exactly?”
“Well since you and your friends are technically a bunch of aliens, it only be natural to start asking me that.” Mirko said before she sat up straight and decided to answer the trio. “But to sum it up, we heroes are basically people with superpowers licensed to protect civilians from villains or when a disaster occurs.”
Maka nodded in understanding. "I see, and I'm guessing you’re called one of the top ten from arresting a lot of those villains, right?"
Mirko's eyes briefly widened in surprise. "Damn you catch on quickly, here I thought I needed to do a whole f*cking lesson, but I guess not." Maka's cheeks blushed pink at the praise given to her by their new guardian; before quickly calming herself down, and refocusing her attention back on Mirko.
"But it's not actually because I only lock up villains and other criminals that I became the number seven hero. While that helps my reputation, all that really does is a raise in my paychecks I get for doing my job." Mirko corrected before delving further into the specifics of her job as a hero. "We're paid and rated in popularity based on performance in the field, level of strength, number of resolved incidents, contributions to society, and overall public approval."
"So, what you're saying is, the better these hero guys are at their jobs, the higher they're paid and rated?" Soul implied curiously, with Rumi nodding her head in confirmation.
"Yep, and if you do well enough, you could end up being ranked as one of the top ten best pro heroes in the whole country." Mirko further explained to the three youths in front of her, the kids stared at the rabbit-themed woman with great interest mixed in their expressions from learning this information.
Soul and Maka were especially intrigued by how the system for these "pro heroes" functioned. It sounded like these heroes acted like utilitarian versions of meisters, who just like the shibusen students, used their powers to keep peace and order in their home country.
But the difference they easily noticed was how these heroes seemed to have the overall job, of needing to solve every disaster that occurs in their respective countries; something that meister’s didn't do unless it was an absolute emergency. The shibusan academies were only to engage and stop supernatural matters that needed their intervention.
But it still gave the teens the perspective of how despite being similar in some regards, this alternate world can be vastly different from their home as well. Although before anything else could be said, a certain imp decided to add his own input into their conversation.
"Wait a goddamn minute! Are you telling me you and those other leotard wearing weirdos; actually, get f*cking paid to go around and be some superhero cosplayers?!" Ragnarök exclaimed to Rumi, who while felt irritated by the sword's rude words, kept a calm demeanor.
"If that's what you wanna call it, then yeah pretty much." Rumi nonchalantly answered, yet hints of annoyance were subtle in her voice.
Ragnarök shot his ping pong eyes down towards his meister. "Well, then why don't you have me and this puss* sign up? He already has the stupid outfit going for him, and with my badass self doing all the heavy lifting, we'd be making all kinds of cash!" Ragnarök gleefully suggested to his very embarrassed meister, the sword already salivating at the riches and fame they could gain from doing such an easy as hell gig.
Maka and Soul rolled their eyes in disgust at the blob's immensely greedy motivation to try and make Crona be a hero. But they weren't surprised by this either. Both the former shibusen students knew full well, that the only things that motivated the sword into doing anything were born of purely hedonistic and self-serving desire.
Thankfully the scythe duo knew all too well, that Crona was the complete opposite of his self-indulgent weapon. Immediately proving that by frantically shaking his head in response to his selfish weapon's request. "A-Absolutely not! That job is meant to help people, not for you to indulge in fame and money!" Crona scolded his bratty weapon who twisted his "face" into peeved fury, before punching the boy's head with his ball hands in a fit of childish rage.
"You little goody-two-shoes sh*t! Who the f*ck are you to suddenly grow a pair and say no to me, HUH?!" Ragnarök barked as he continued his angry assault on his merged meister. The swordsman managing to defend himself from his weapon's attacks fairly easy, but would get occasionally hit by the tiny fists fired by the tiny demon.
"Enough Ragnarök! H-hurting me won't change my answer so just-H-HEY STOP IT!" Crona shouted in mortification, as the sword decided to change his tactics by relocating himself to Crona's chest; and began trying to pull up the bottom of the swordsman's robe.
"Really? Then let's see if you'll keep your answer when I show everyone what's under your man-skirt, loser!" Ragnarök sneered as the douchebag of a weapon; prepared to publicly humiliate his meister in front of the few occupants within the train.
Maka meanwhile felt an angry vein pop on her forehead, as she witnessed one of her best friends about to be embarrassed, by the tiny asshole attached to his back. And like hell, she was going to sit here and allow it to happen any longer. Thus, with a furious glare, Maka shot up from her seat; preparing to march over and deliver an extremely painful Maka chop to the hellion's skull.
But just as the scythe meister was about to stomp over and punish Ragnarök, someone had beaten her to the punch.
WHAM!
The sentient concoction of black blood couldn't even blink before he was soon met with a nasty axe kick to the top of his head. The punishing kick being delivered by none other than the amazonian rabbit hero herself. The heroine in question, harshly glared at the annoying creature as it screamed in pure agony; by the nasty kick wrought onto its spherical cranium.
"WHHHYYY?!" Ragnarök shrieked in utter pain, as a fresh heel dent was freshly made on his jet black "skin" and tiny tears flowed down his ping pong eyes. The sword plummeting like a dropped toy on Crona's lap while twitching in pain.
The annoyed rabbit girl crossed her arms over her chest and loomed over the injured form of the small bully. "Because I just can't help but feel a strong need, to put obnoxious assholes like you in your damn place." Rumi lowly growled in irritation by the vexing sword, who continued writhing in agony from the devastating blow.
"The pain...oh god the paaaiiin." Ragnarök gasped out as stars swirled around his pain-blinded vision.
Maka blinked in surprise by the rabbit heroine's surprise attack on the annoying sword. Never having seen anyone beat her to physically reprimanding some idiot that got on her nerves. The imp almost seemed to be in even more pain, than what she'd seen him be in after getting a Maka chop. Maka let out a short gasped in shock at this revelation.
Impossible...Someone had managed to surpass the disciplinary power of her Maka chops?
Maka didn't know whether to feel jealous or impressed, but she felt like choosing the latter. An impressed smile slowly formed on Maka's lips as Mirko may have just gained a new fan. One who greatly wished to learn some of her punishing techniques.
All the while Soul for some reason, grew more and more uncomfortable by the way his meister was eagerly smiling.
Crona released a long sigh of relief, before looking up to face the woman who saved him from Ragnarök's tantrum. "Thank you, M-Mrs. Rumi, I'm so sorry you had to intervene. I-I should've been better at controlling him." Crona meekly apologized, to the adult standing over him.
Rumi exhaled through her nose. "It's alright kid, you did the right thing standing up to him. But I have to ask, how often does he act like...that?"
Crona didn't say anything, merely cringing as soon as he heard that question. "I wish I could say not very often...b-but I'd be lying." Crona quietly told the rabbit hero, who shortly groaned in response to such unfortunate news.
'Great... glad to know I'll be dealing with that little prick often.' Mirko exasperatedly thought, already seeing that this little dick attached to Crona was gonna be a major pain in the ass.
But thankfully she had many ways of silencing that sh*tty gremlin's loudmouth. With that axe kick being one of the lighter methods she had available to silence the obnoxious quirk.
"But getting back to the topic at hand, becoming a pro hero is nowhere near as easy. Just because you got a flashy quirk and slap on a costume, like that dumbass rambled about doesn't make you immediately a hero." Rumi corrected while pointing to the brutalized sword moaning in pain until he retreated back into Crona, to avoid the woman's ire. "You've got to be granted permission by the government to be a pro hero, and in the process be allowed to freely use your quirks to help society."
Maka Placed two fingers on her chin and thought back to a certain term they kept hearing for the past two days. Until she widened her eyes from finally remembering the name. "Wait a minute, is that what those hero licenses you guys have been talking about are for?" Maka asked.
Mirko's lips unveiled another impressed grin as she redirected her attention to this smart as hell girl. "Right again kid, they're certificates that allow hero’s like me to use our powers freely in public, and intervene a stop any disaster or crimes occurring nearby."
"But what happens if you don't have one?" Maka questioned further, but she along with soul and Crona could already tell what the answer was gonna most likely be.
"If you don't have a hero license then you gotta just let heroes like me who have one handle the situation. And if you still try to go ahead and use your quirk illegally then..." Mirko started to explain.
"-Then those poor guys become 'vigilantes' and get hunted down like we were until they're arrested, right?" Soul finished Rumi's explanation with a sarcastic tone subtly mixed into his voice.
Rumi sighed in a mixture of exasperation and pity. "Look I know it f*cking sucks, and I do think people need to stop thinking all vigilantes are like thugs on the street. But people can't just think barging in during a crisis will have no consequences." Mirko's expression turned slightly reprimanding. "Sure people may see you as a hero, but playing hotshot without using your head could have the good chance of making things worse."
"And while your here, you gotta do the same and don't use your quirks in public and mess with any hero related matters like you did before. Otherwise your just going to f*ck up all the work eizo is doing to let you stay in the country. So while I know it's hard don't use your quirks unless it's absolutely necessary, understand?" Rumi explained to the trio with a semi-stern voice.
"Y-yeah, we understand miss rumi." Maka responded, but it still didn't stop the frowns made by soul and maka.
The pair did agree that what rumi just told them was a very justifiable reason for such laws existing. Given how any untrained civilians who have their powers; could easily put themselves and others in mortal danger, if they were careless. But what the duo found to be absolutely ridiculous was how you needed permission to be allowed to use their abilities to help others.
It was beyond frustrating that both she and her friends weren't allowed to use their powers at all without risk of being arrested again. But no matter how much these hero laws felt restricting, she understood and legitimately respected how necessary they were to keep order in the end.
But soon the trio felt the train beginning to steadily slow down and a voice echoed throughout the train.
"Attention all passengers, we are now arriving in Shizuoka Prefecture station. Please prepare to depart shortly." The female announced in Japanese.
"About freakin time." Mirko breathed out in Japanese before standing up from her seat. "Alright kids, this is where we get off." Rumi told the trio in English.
"Okay then, let's go guys." Maka told her friends, the trio stood up with Maka and followed the rabbit heroine out of the train once the train finally stopped. The trio along with Mirko walked out of the opened metal doors, revealing the crowds of people either walking out or preparing to enter the train.
As they walked through the passing crowds, the trio more than once, blinking in astonishment by the diversely shaped people seen every few seconds. Such as seeing a humanoid stegosaurus in average clothing; or an even a woman with gold skin, and rubies for eyes pass by the stunned teens.
Mirko noticed the kids surprised faces and quietly chuckled in amusem*nt by their reactions. “Look’s like you guy’s still need some time adjusting to some of the common sight’s here, huh?”
“Well can you blame us? It’s not like we had the time to try getting used to stuff like this yet.” Soul told the older woman, while glancing at the more chimeric looking passerby’s walking near him.
“Well you better get over your interdimensional culture shock soon, cause it’s pretty damn rude to just stare at people like a bunch of weirdo’s.” Mirko chided the teenage weapon and his friends, who promptly listened to their guardian and stopped staring at the passing crowds as much.
Mirko couldn’t help but roll her eyes in exasperation as she realized it was gonna be a bigger pain in the ass to have these brats adapt to hero society than she thought. But then at the same time it might also not be so difficult either if everything she heard and saw from their world was true. I mean if one were to somehow push aside all the magical bullsh*t and just how f*cking weird their world is as a whole, saw how similar their shibusan academy was to how hero society functioned.
Even though she only heard barely a handful of stuff about the place. That school already earned her respect for having the BALLS to let their students fight villains. Even if soul and maka were a part of the elite of their class-it was still pretty f*cking dangerous to assign students barely in their teens, to fight against all those vicious monsters she saw on that television.
And to top it all off, they even made these students fight against what was basically a freakin villain terrorist organization!
At first, she was initially shocked by such recklessness performed by this school, but then her shock morphed into impressment. The fact they were able to train their students to do operations that only veteran heroes could be fit to do, was nothing to scoff at. That alone earned some major points in her book. And while most others would’ve probably been aghast or uneasy by shibusan’s methods, she honestly approved it, as clearly maka and soul were definitive proof of how well that world's system worked.
Unfortunately that old timer eizo didn’t really share the same opinions as she did, and thought that shibusan was “too reckless” with throwing their EAT students into the jaws of mortal danger.
But why on earth that man would try applying their logic to a world that threw that concept away like yesterday’s trash, was pretty stupid to begin with.
Either way, these teens for better or worse were here, and complaining about their old school wouldn't change much. If anything it was gonna make her job of further blossoming the potential their academy helped seeded in them way easier.
But as they were about to resume their walk out of the train station, a small crowd began walking into the station to board the next train. But while the quartet tried to walk through, many of the civilians noticed the pro hero and rushed up to her in excitement.
“Holy sh*t, everyone look! It’s mirko the rabbit hero!”
“Oh my god, can my girlfriend and I get some autographs!?”
“Oh I gotta get some pictures too!”
Mirko sighed exasperatedly yet still kept a small smile for the crowd of teens and adults gathering up. “Alright listen I appreciate the hospitality your giving here, but I got some important places to be so can-“
“C’mon miss mirko, can you please sign my hoodie!” A young boy begged as he stood closer to the rabbit hero.
Mirko sighed. “Okay you guys win, five minutes is all I can give you.” Mirko relented and started signing a few of the fan’s items.
And as the fans cheered and grouped around mirko, the two meister’s and death scythe stood there in speechless surprise. While they had already figured out mirko was pretty popular from being one of this country’s best heroes-but it was still baffling to see people so enamored seeing mirko.
“Geez guess people love the idea of heroes running around more than I thought.” Soul remarked as he stared at all the excited fans taking pictures.
“No kidding, I never imagined being a pro-hero would mean being treated around here like some kind of celebrity.” Maka replied in surprise at the sight in front of her. She could already imagine blackstar absolutely loving the idea of adoring fans like these coming to him for his autograph’s for once.
“Then again she is one of the top heroes around here, so it makes sense why they’re excited to see her walking around.” Soul said, as he watched rumi signing a couple autographs.
“It looks overwhelming, I-I really don’t think I could ever handle so many p-people coming over to me at once like that.” Crona muttered while nervously eyeing the crowd, but was caught off guard when he felt someone tug at his robe.
He and the other teens turning to see a young boy and girl smiling up to them with eagerness written all over there features.
Crona flinched at their sudden appearance’s, but kept kept a calm yet confused expression. “Oh uh…h-h-hello there?”
“Hi!” The young pair said together through their excited smiles, as crona grew increasingly uncomfortable and confused at the young pair holding out their own notebooks.
But thankfully maka stepped forward to crona’s aid with her own smile to greet the kids and spoke up. “It’s nice to meet you two, but what exactly are these for?”
Soul blinked in surprise. “Wait you actually understand them? I thought you didn't know zip about speaking japanese yesterday?”
“I still don’t, but I've been trying to remember some basic words my mama taught me before she left.” Maka explained, being immensely grateful for her mama being such a good teacher regarding their native language.
“Can we please get your autographs too!?” The kids yelled up to them as they presented their notebooks to them.
Maka was taken back by the request as she stepped back a bit. “W-Wait seriously?!” Maka turned to her friends with a nervous smile. “Uh…I-I think they want our autographs.”
Crona’s eyes widened greatly in shock and outright flinched back in panicked astonishment. “W-what!? W-why would t-they ever w-want that?”
The girl tilted her head in confusion. “What’s wrong? Aren’t you guys mirko’s sidekicks?” The girl pointed at them. “I mean your all wearing costumes and everything.”
Maka shook her head. “I’m sorry, we are not sidekicks.”
The kids instantly pouted heavily hearing this. “I knew it, their just a bunch of cosplaying nobodies, ugh let’s get out of here.”
“Excuse me!?” Maka exclaimed in shocked outrage at the kid’s sudden attitude change, as the little girl mockingly stuck her tongue out before they walked away “Unbelievable, what the hell is their problem?”
“Beat’s me, but I can sorta understand why they'd be so upset. Nobody likes to see a guy flaunt around as a copycat to the real heroes running around.” Soul remarked casually.
Maka frowned. “But that's still ridiculous! we aren’t even trying to pretend to be heroes in the first place.”
“No you ain’t, but with the way you guys dress, it’s pretty easy for people to mistake you as real heroes.” Mirko spoke up as she approached the trio, having finally appeased those fans enough to start leaving.
“Now c’mon I think we should start getting out of here before more fan’s like them, start swarming us again.”
The quartet soon made their way out of the station and to the bustling city street. “Alright, my place is a couple blocks away from here so the walk ain't too long. Once we're there, I'll cook up some curry to chow down on, that sounds good?"
At the mention of being offered a nice hot meal made the trio salivate in their mouths. While the hospital food was pretty decent and filled their stomachs up nicely, it just didn't compare to eating freshly cooked food.
Maka rubbed her abdomen, already feeling it quietly growl in hunger for a nice meal. "That sounds incredible actually, thank you!"
"It's No problem Maka, I bet you haven't had anything nice to eat in a while." Mirko said before pointing towards a startled Crona. "Especially pinky over there, I think out of all of you, he needs it the most."
"M-me?! I-it's okay I-I d-don't need much to e-eat, I-it's fine." Crona stammered bashfully while waving his hands in a "no" manner, but Rumi wasn't having any of it.
"Kid you look like you haven't even eaten a crumb in weeks. I'm pretty sure you're gonna starve to death at this rate." Rumi retorted as her red eyes looked more closely at the young man's skinny frame.
And when she did Rumi's eyes nearly widened in shock, when she saw his body barely had any muscle or fat. Almost appearing to be nothing more than skin and bones.
'Jesus Christ! Forget a damn crumb, when was the last time he ate anything at all?' Rumi thought in genuine concern for the boy's near emaciated condition.
How the hell was this child able to fight Hawks, and nearly beat him, when he was in such sh*tty physical health?
Yet already mirko had a horrible feeling as to why this kid was nearly emaciated. As the image of the malicious woman crona had for a mother came to her mind.
Mirko felt her hands tighten into hands as she thought of what that vile woman could’ve done to her own kid. And it was obvious from his lanky frame, that sick bitch had probably starved her son as one of the ways she abused him.
Mirko may not know the full story of that villain and she did to crona, at least not till eizo sends the full report from what atushi saw, but she could easily tell the poor lad had gone through nothing short of absolute hell. It was already more than enough to get her blood boiling with rage to know that vile excuse of a “mother” had done this to him.
‘It’s honestly no wonder crona became such a mentally unstable villain…dammit to think I actually thought he was a total scumbag at one point.’ Mirko chastised herself, feeling more than guilty, for not realizing these were the factors to have broken this kid so badly.
But whatever the case may be, it was clear the first way to help him was getting crona to gain some weight before this got any worse. And what better way to start then giving him and his friends a damn good dinner?
"Now c'mon, my home is this way." Rumi pointed to the left side of the street; the trio nodded before following the number seven hero. As they walked down the street the three children couldn't help but glance around the busy urban scenery surrounding them.
Everything looked so similar to back home from the billboard advertisem*nts illuminating the street, the buildings, even the cars driving pass them looked almost no different from their world. Yet when the trio looked up to see the late afternoon sun, did tight knots form in each of their stomachs. That circular ball of bright light in the sky setting down for the evening, harshly reminding them of the fact this place wasn't exactly their world, just a different version of it. They just needed to adapt and live here for the foreseeable future, until an opportunity to return to their home presents itself.
The only question was when...or even if that opportunity would ever come.
And at that moment the same knots in their stomachs grew even tighter than before.
"Oi brats, quit spacing out we're almost there!" Rumi's loud voice rang into their ears, snapping them out of their anxious funk.
Maka lightly shook her head, pushing back the negative emotions trying to ensnare her. "O-oh sorry about that, we just got lost in the scenery."
"Uh-huh, just don't get caught in the clouds again alright?" Rumi hummed.
"Sure, but can you please stop calling us brats already?" Soul asked in minor annoyance, now getting tired of their guardian calling them that term.
Rumi looked over her shoulder. "Yeah, that ain't happening any time soon." Rumi said with a cheeky smirk before continuing to walk the street. The rabbit hero barely containing her amused giggling as she heard the albino sigh in exasperation.
God these kids were gonna be so much fun to mess with.
Speaking of which...
"And here we are!" Rumi pointed straight ahead to the right with a smug grin. "And if you were wondering if there are enough rooms, then I assure you…there's enough."
Maka, Soul, and Crona stopped walking and looked towards where Rumi was pointing,
"Wait, what do mean by enough…" But before she could ask further, Maka went bug-eyed when she looked to her right. "Woah..."
Soul and Crona didn't say anything as both boys simply gaped in stunned shock; by the unbelievable sight of where they'd be living. All while Mirko crossed her arms and looked at the astonished trio, in satisfaction as their minds were blown away by what they saw. The trio had a feeling that due to their guardian holding such a prestigious position as; "The number seven pro hero of Japan." She would be living more comfortably than most did. Kind of like Kid and his weapons who lived in a nice big mansion in death city.
Yet what they saw completely blew away those expectations out of the water.
the trio gazed before the massive building in front of them. It's entire size eclipsing most of the apartments and housing that resided in the block. The mansion was two to three stories tall in height, having plenty of windows on its face and sides; with enough width to be nearly half the size of a baseball stadium! Or at least as far as someone with good measurement calculation skills like Maka could tell.
"Pretty impressive, am I right?" Mirko said proudly. "Though it's kind of alright compared to the other houses some of the higher top ten heroes tend to live in." Mirko commented causing the three shocked teens to turn their heads to Rumi.
"Lady, this house makes the richest guy we know, look like he's living in a goddam bungalow. how the hell can you say this place is 'alright'?" Soul muttered to his fellow albino, who merely gave the teen a toothy grin in response.
"Really now? sh*t kid, I'm flattered my home managed to outdo whoever the hell that is." Rumi confidently remarked as she walked towards the door and unlocked it. "Well, are you guys coming in or what?" Rumi asked the teens, snapping them out of their shock as they slowly walked into the entrance of the building with the heroine.
When they walked inside the trio was once again left stunned, this time by the entryway into Rumi's home. Smooth jet-black obsidian made up the flooring of the entrance, while the walls were nicely painted with a coat of blaze-shaded orange. The ceiling of course being illuminated with dim yet strong lights that revealed the plaques and posters placed on both walls.
"Wow...it looks so nice." Crona murmured in awe, he'd never really seen anything like this since he went to Kid's mansion for that party so long ago.
"Well if you kids think that's impressive wait till you see the rest of the place." Rumi smiled as she walked towards an empty stack. "Though first things first, you've got to take your shoes off before you dirty the place."
Maka, Crona, and Soul looked down to see a white shoe rack placed on the left side of the entrance.
"Oh, of course!" Maka said as she quickly went over to the empty stand and took off her black boots, with the boys following suit.
Afterwards, Maka, Soul, and Crona followed Rumi down the hallway, passing by many different rooms with some having labels.
Unfortunately, the trio couldn't understand what was written due to the labels being in Japanese kanji.
'We've really got to start learning Japanese.' Maka mentally added to their list of priorities. Yet despite not knowing what oddities were in these rooms, Maka knew that Rumi would inevitably give them a tour of her home.
As they walked further into the hallway the three teens saw a peculiar door that seemed slightly wider than the others catching their eyes.
Rumi noticed they stopped walking and turned around to see the trio staring at the wide door with piqued interest.
"Interested about that one, aren't ya?" Rumi casually asked the curious teens.
"Kinda." Soul said before glancing at Rumi. "So, what's in there exactly?"
Rumi smirked. "I'll tell you guys later, but I got a feeling you'll be liking what's down there."
Soul raised an eyebrow at Rumi's foreshowing but shrugged and continued following the heroine down the hallway. The trio was then met with a wide living room painted in the same blaze orange color scheme. A white and comfy sofa was set in middle of the large room, along with a fur rug and various plaques hung on the rooms four walls. But what truly attracted the attention of the teens was the 55-inch plasma screen tv staring directly at them.
Needless to say, the teens were once again stunned in awe by the lavish living room before them.
"Holy sh*t, this place is awesome." Soul muttered in awe at the coolest living room he's ever seen in his life.
"Yeah, no kidding..." Maka agreed with her weapon, beginning to wonder how Liz and patty reacted similarly to it when they first came to Death the Kid's home.
Crona however, didn't say anything and continued staring at the living room in silent amazement. Yet it wouldn't be long before his weapon would voice out his own opinion.
"Goddamn, this place is loaded!" Ragnarök shouted as he emerged out of his meister's spine. "Perhaps you didn't totally f*ck us over after all." The sword surprisingly admitted, yet Crona paid no attention to his brash weapon and continued admiring this woman's living room.
"Well, I'm glad you kids are impressed." Rumi chuckled before walking down to a nearby door. "You guys can chill out here while I get changed have dinner ready, I'll call you when it's done." Rumi told the teens as she walked towards where the kitchen was located; Thus, leaving Maka, Soul, and Crona to their own devices.
"Well, you heard the lady." Soul said as he walked towards the comfy sofa and plopped himself down on its soft surface with an exhale. "Time to finally have some nice R and R."
Maka turned her head to face Crona. "C'mon Crona, let's go sit down and watch some T.V while we wait for Rumi to make dinner." Maka smiled urging him to come follow her.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but for once listen to the cow. I wanna see what kind of tv shows this freaky ass world's got!" Ragnarök demanded. For once Crona complied, as the swordsman followed Maka and sat together with her and soul on the sofa.
The trio turned on the television screen and watched whatever was pleasing on its smooth surface as the two meisters and demon weapon waited for dinner.
About half an hour passed until Rumi, now wearing black sweatpants and a purple t-shirt, returned to the living room and announce that lunch was ready. The trio and Rumi sat together at the dinner table eating the delicious curry; all while beginning some small talk as they ate.
"So, brats, how's the food?" Rumi asked the three teens, and was very pleased to see them all have big smiles as they ate.
"It's fantastic Rumi, again thank you so much for the meal." Maka happily thanked the heroine between bites of rice as she ate.
Soul wholeheartedly agreed with his meister and would have made similar compliments, if his mouth wasn't stuffed to the brim with curry. But he made sure to give his thanks with a positive thumbs-up at the very least.
Crona swallowed before giving a nod. "Y-Yes it is, t-thank you for d-dinner." But that brief moment of thankfulness was all it took; for the impish sword to abruptly pop out from Crona's chest, and swiped away his bowl. "Yoink!"
"Hey, that's my dinner!" Crona exclaimed.
"Ya snooze ya lose, wimp!" Ragnarök barked triumphantly. "Should've paid more attention instead of being all thankful and sh*t." The sword then unveiled his maw and began shoving the food down his gullet.
"Stop it Ragnarök, you already had a bowl!" Crona reprimanded his weapon as he tried pulling away his weapon from his bowl but to no avail.
"Well blame Lola bunny over there for giving me such crappy portions!" Ragnarök yapped as he gobbled up the food.
"She was being fair!" Crona shouted as he pulled harder on the bowl.
"Don't care, I'm hungry and yours is the closest dish available, so it's mine!" Ragnarök growled greedily. Thankfully before Ragnarök could further ransack his meisters dinner; a textbook was flung straight into the imp's face.
"MAKA CHOP!" And just like that, the little devil was sent swirling, as he now had a nice bruise form on his X-shaped face.
"Ow! Where the f*ck were you even hiding that thing!?" Ragnarök demanded while he fervently rubbed his bruised face with his ball hands.
"That's none of your business." Maka said angrily as a tick mark appeared on her forehead. "Just like you have no right to steal Crona's dinner, you overgrown leech!"
"couldn't have said it better myself." Rumi angrily glared at the obnoxious asshole currently whining in pain. No wonder Crona was so damn thin, this greedy little parasite was stealing all his food whenever it had the chance.
'For god's sake, what the hell did this kid do to be born with such a stupid motherf*cker attached to him?' Rumi wondered in sympathy for Crona's plight. She could only imagine how many times that muppet bastard pulled this kind of sh*t on the poor lad. But she was at least happy to know he had good friends like Maka to help punish that devilish quirk whenever possible.
"Oh, f*ck this sh*t, I don't need to deal with you people!" Ragnarök then turned around to face his meister. "Thanks for the food loser, and don't worry, I made sure to leave some scraps for you!" Ragnarök then blew a loud raspberry at everyone before dissolving back into Crona.
"God what a dick." Soul muttered in annoyance; the scythe really wished the sword just remained mindless like before.
Crona lowered his head in shame. "I-I'm so sorry Rumi for his behavior, it was unacceptable." Crona apologized.
Rumi's expression softened when he saw the boys saddened face. "Hey don't beat yourself up, what happened wasn't your fault." Rumi then glanced down at Crona's now empty plate and immediately knew what to do.
Rumi soon got up from the table and walked over to Crona's seat. Taking away the dish before walking into the kitchen. Barley half a minute passed before the rabbit heroine returned to the dining room; now with a plate full to the brim with curry and placed it down in front of Crona.
"Here ya go buddy, now you better dig in." Rumi smirked as she walked back to her seat as Crona looked at her curiously.
Crona blinked. "W-Wow...um t-thank you R-Rumi, but I-I don't think I can h-handle eating all this." Crona said while nervously staring at the large amount of curry, much to Maka and Soul's amusem*nt.
"Well too bad brat, cause you ain't leaving until I see that plate is empty." Rumi declared with a co*cky grin.
Seeing as there was no way out, Crona nodded and obeyed and began taking slow spoonfuls of curry into his mouth. But those slow spoonfuls as time progressed became faster and faster each minute, much to Rumi's satisfaction. Maka smiled in equal satisfaction and joy as she watvhed her friend finally eating a healthy amount of food for once.
He probably hadn't eaten a decent meal like this in months or in retrospect years.
Maka however shook away all those depressing thoughts, feeling there was no need to revisit or ponder such saddening topics. All that mattered at this moment was that Crona could not only start healing mentally but can now begin to also heal physically too.
"Now that's settled, I think it's time we talk about what's going to happen from here on out." Rumi told the three teens who quickly paid close attention to what the rabbit heroine had to say.
"After I sign all the paperwork needed to officially be your legal guardian and the HPSC mail's in all the crap to make you citizens here, I'll get you kids started with your education." Rumi explained before taking a sip of water. "However from what eizo and I heard of this shibusan, your gonna need to be enrolled in a middle school, one that can provide you with foreign exchange classes to adjust here."
Maka nodded in agreement. "That makes sense, we'll probably need the extra curriculum if we're going to be living here." But that would also mean she needed to study her butt off to adapt here as soon as possible. The same also applying to crona who would definitely need her help with certain topics in those classes.
That also includes a certain death scythe in the room…
Maka sent a brief yet stern glance at the demon weapon in question. The albino realizing what she meant through that glare, nervously looked away from his meister to avoid her disciplinary gaze; but all that did was harden her glare further. She would need to make sure her slacker of a weapon would keep up with his foreign exchange studies and not fall behind. And if it meant unleashing a couple Maka chops on him then so be it. What better way to have motivation to learn than from the fear of being pummeled?
Thus, after giving Soul her silent warning not to slack off in the future, Maka redirected her attention back to Rumi. "So, Rumi how long will it take for us to be enrolled in a middle school?" Maka asked hoping they can begin school as soon as possible.
"Eh most likely a few weeks at most, then again considering the freakin HPSC is making your identities might be even less time." Rumi answered Maka as she took a few spoonfuls of curry before speaking again. "But even after you get your I.D.s you guys will have to lay low for a bit and not go out often, considering all the action you caused in a single day."
Maka lightly frowned, trying not to look too disappointed by this news. "Okay then, I… I understand."
She knew that the incident they caused two days ago had attracted a lot of attention to themselves. But it still annoyed the scythe warrior to no end that they would most likely be stuck in this place till further notice.
Rumi noticed the young girl's subtle displeasure at the news and soon felt pity for the poor kid. "Look kid if you're worried about being bored outta your mind, then don't, cause trust me I have plenty of things here to help you pass the time until it's safe to be more open." Rumi assured the scythe meister as her eyebrows peaked up in keen intrigue.
"Really? Like what?" Maka asked curiously, her green eyes filling with anticipation at the prospect of doing something productive.
"Don't worry, I'll promise to give you three a nice tour of the place tomorrow when I have the time, alright?" Rumi smiled warmly.
Maka's lips curved upwards into a smile. "I'll hold you to that."
Rumi chuckled in amusem*nt at the girl's tenacity for being active, something Rumi admired in the fiery-spirited teenager. The girl already earning sh*tloads of her respect for having the drive for some action. For god's sake, it hasn't even been a full day as their guardian and already she was starting to like these kids.
Maka however, as she was excited with the promise of a tour of their home, decided she needed to finally ask an important question she'd been waiting to be answered since the train.
"Hey, Rumi there's something I need to ask you," Rumi's expression soon turned curious as did Crona and souls. "Back when you were talking about heroes, you mentioned that a person would need licenses to use their powers to help others?" Maka received a confirming nod from Rumi before continuing. "So…how do you go about getting those hero licenses in the first place rumi?" Maka asked with curiosity and faint determination seeping into both her voice and facial muscles.
Soul and Crona immediately their gazes morphed with surprise at the scythe meister, both boys having known Maka long enough, to see where she may be going with this.
Rumi once again blinked in surprise at the question, before almost immediately afterwards, a small yet excited smile made its way onto her lips. "Well kid, it's still not an easy process, but there is one way to receive hero licenses."
"And that's by enrolling in one of those hero schools we've heard about, right?" Maka conjectured from what she's put together from these past two days, as Rumi's smile evolved into a full-on toothy grin.
"Pretty much, kid! Once you graduate middle school, you can choose to head there instead of a regular high school, to train and learn how to become a pro hero. And it just so happens the prefecture has some of the best hero schools in Japan-If not some of the best in the whole world." Rumi embroidered with growing excitement in her voice, hoping this conversation will go where she wants it to. "With the most famous and popular hero school out of all them being none other than U.A academy."
Soul and Crona immediately their gazes morphed with surprise at the scythe meister, both boys having known Maka long enough, to see where she may be going with this.
Rumi once again blinked in surprise at the question, before almost immediately afterwards, a small yet excited smile made its way onto her lips. The trio, particularly Maka, absorbed everything Rumi had been explaining to them. Having finished their dinners, the kids listened closely to what the casually dressed number seven hero can provide.
"U.A. Academy?" Crona repeated in light bemusem*nt. "I-is it really that good?"
"Well besides Shiketsu academy it easily boasts the best hero education in all of east Asia, kid." Rumi answered the curious pink-haired boy. "I'll admit, I never graduated there myself, but every hero I've ever seen who came from there always goes to high places." Rumi then raised her right arm and pointed her index finger towards the three teens sitting around her. "And I think if you go there too, considering the power you all possess. Along with the dedication you have to save lives and take down villains like those robbers, you're gonna be heading to even higher places if you choose to enroll."
The trio simultaneously widened their eyes and their mouths partially gaping in astonishment by Rumi's declaration. The teens now seeing through Rumi's words and finally discovered her hidden desires behind this conversation. In fact, it wasn't even just that, they may have just learned the main, or at least one of, the major reasons why she became their guardian.
She wanted them to enroll into a hero school and become pro heroes like her.
Maka honestly felt a little silly for not realizing some of her intentions sooner. As Rumi had previously complimented her combative skills and commented how she would've wanted soul and herself to be in her "agency" after their harsh scuffle. And Rumi must've still seen the potential for the heroic job despite all the trouble they caused and decided to adopt them in the hopes of making them pro heroes. And to be honest she was very flattered by Rumi's strong belief that she and her friends would do well in such an altruistic job. It wasn't really anything new to the meister, different in many areas, yes, but overall, still generally involved in protecting the innocent from those who would threaten lives and stopping disasters that struck. Which was nearly the same as what meisters and their weapons were intended to do in the first place.
Maka's face became scrunched in contemplation and her brow furrowed from the many conflicted feelings layered in her Soul's wavelength. The scythe meister feeling unsure if she wanted to immediately take up such alien academics so soon.
On one hand, a part of herself wanted to jump at the chance to enroll in this "U.A." and earn the right to use her abilities to help save lives. Wanting nothing more than to take up a similar role she had back in her world and be someone who can save lives just like she and soul did in shibusen.
But the other half of her on the other hand felt… reluctant to say yes to Rumi's proposition. After all, she and her friends only planned to temporarily stay in this world, until a method to return home became present.
They couldn't afford to make obligations that would root them here in this other world; They already had their responsibilities to return home and help their friends save the world from the kishin. But at the same time…it felt so wrong to reject the chance at being somebody that can bring hope to others in need of saving and defeat those who would prey on the innocent. That was her duty as a meister of shibusen, and what she had always strived to accomplish ever since her first day as an EAT student.
So, to refuse the chance at continuing her duties as a warrior of lord death, would be like betraying everything she stood for. And no matter how much it stung her, she knew they may very well be stuck here for the foreseeable future despite how much it stung her so should they really train to become heroes?
"Well then? Do you guys think you're up for that kind of gig?" Rumi asked in anticipation, yet her excited smile began to falter. Immediately noticing the flickers of conflict written on Maka's face; with Crona and soul yielding similar reluctance in their features.
“I…I think we will consider enrolling into UA, if it really is as close to shibusan as we can get.” Mirko for a second grinned but immediately slipped into a frown, as maka paused and released a short, tired sigh before continuing. “But I think we’re going to need some time to adapt to living here, before jumping into that yet.”
Soul blinked in surprise at maka’s answer, as he expected his meister to immediately jump at the chance to join these hero schools. But he sorta understood where maka was coming from as well. As the last thing they should do is rush into this without getting acquainted with this world first.
“Yeah I think that’s for the best, not that I’m saying your proposal isn’t cool and all, but I think we need some time to adjust here first you know?” Soul said calmly, to the once excited rabbit heroine who’s features cooled into a neutral understanding.
Crona somberly nodded in agreement with his two friends. The swordsman was feeling that he couldn't handle making such a decision yet. He already knew that with all the horrible crimes he's done, a sinful man like himself wasn't fit for such a righteous career like that.
Rumi's expression faltered into one of sad pity mixed in with light fragments of disappoint at their unified answer. But to be honest she should've seen this coming. She felt so damn stupid for not considering they still needed time to adapt before making such a monumental decision so soon.
But they didn’t exactly say no either didn’t they?
All they needed was some time before being ready to enroll, which could easily provided both before and during their tenure in middle school. So what’s wrong with waiting a while longer to get these kid’s molded into becoming prodigy heroes?
The tanned skinned woman nodded in acceptance. “Alright that’s fair enough, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of time for that while I set up your enrollment in a middle school.” Mirko smirked eagerly. “just don’t keep me waiting too long either, cause like hell I’m gonna see your potential wasted.”
“Of course, trust me when I say we don’t want to end up sitting around and doing nothing either.” Maka commented in agreement with the rabbit woman. “We just need some time to learn how this world works, since we’re stuck here for the foreseeable future. Otherwise I wouldn’t dare waste the opportunity to try doing some good here.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” Rumi glanced her red eyes at clock placed on the nearby wall. "sh*t it's 10:39 already? Well, I guess we got to start hitting the hay soon, now c'mon I'll show you where you'll be sleeping."
"Alright then, lead the way." Maka said as she, Soul, and Crona stood up and followed her out of both the dining and living rooms; and towards a staircase located on the left side of the living room. The four went up the stairs and towards a hallway lined with at least four different rooms.
"Damn, just how many rooms does this place have?" Soul asked, feeling surprised by the rows of doors presented within the hallway. He'd begun to feel like he was in some five-star hotel rather than an actual house.
"Pretty nuts, I know." Rumi chuckled to herself. "Half these are just the spare guest rooms. The other one is the bathroom, while the last one is my home office when I'm not at my agency." Rumi explained each room on this floor in simplified detail. "But don't go into that office without my permission, I've got a lot of important crap in there involving my hero work."
"Understood." Maka along with Soul and Crona nodding at Rumi's request.
"Good." Rumi walked past the trio and to the first three doors on the right and opened them. "And these will be your bedrooms."
The trio looked to find that all three doors each held spacious bedrooms with a nice ceiling lamp/fan and a window view of the city with some curtains. Alongside it was a king-sized bed, a nightstand placed nearby, and a large clothes cabinet or closets containing clothing racks and a mirror placed on the other side of the door.
"Well do you brats like em?" Rumi asked with a smile as the teens took a few steps inside their respective rooms.
"Are you kidding?" Soul flipped on the light switch. "This is freakin sweet!" The scythe already loving his new bedroom here, the room easily going beyond his cool expectations. Hell, it looked almost two times bigger than his room back home!
Maka rolled her eyes at soul's childish excitement towards their new rooms, but she still held a small smile for the scythe. Happy to at least see that her weapon was enjoying something out of this whole experience.
The same can even be said for crona too. As maka peeked into his new room, to see the pink haired warrior possessed a small smile on his lips as he explored his new quarters. Maka herself also felt, while not as excited as Soul, very happy to have such a wonderfully accommodating room for herself and her friends. But in the end, she was simply grateful to even HAVE a room in general.
"Alright then, while I'm happy to see you kids like your bedrooms, you'll have plenty of time to look at them later. Right now, you guys should start going to bed soon." Rumi reminded the teens. "There's some clean spare clothes in the cabinets or closets. But if they don't fit, don't worry, we'll solve that problem later this week." Rumi told the teens as she began walking to the staircase.
Rumi Looked over her shoulder to meet the trio's gazes "But tomorrow we're gonna need to plan out where you three will be eventually going for your foreign exchange classes." Rumi announced in a surprisingly mature tone before a pondering expression was worn on her face. "And I think I know a place that may suit you guys nicely…"
Maka tilted her head while her features became mixed with light confusion and curiosity; the scythe meister wondered about just what kind of middle school Rumi believes will be good enough for them?
ALDERA JUNIOR HIGH
It was an average day for every student in Aldera Junior High, with class going about as perfectly normal as one would expect it to be. Even the short, spiky, ash-blond haired boy with a pair of sharp angry red eyes, otherwise known as Katsuki Bakugo wasn't even causing any explosive trouble; Both figuratively and very, very literally. Instead, he was merely sitting grouchily at his assigned seat, glaring at the wooden desk surface as if it had done something to piss him off.
But besides that, today was looking up to be a remarkably average yet bright day for these young children in their class.
At least… for all but one student.
Sitting in one of the desks placed near the back of the classroom, was a short round-faced young boy with short yet fluffy dark-green hair which stuck up at odd angles around his head, casting noticeably dark shadows onto itself. His round circular eyes were the same shade of green as his hair while having a set of four symmetrical freckles in diamond formation on his cheeks. This was Izuku Midoriya, and he was a very, very tired young man right now. With very little, besides sleeping or course, being able to change that. He could have his childhood friend turned bully Kachan (who had been lately less violent for some reason) blast him out of his desk with his quirk, but it still wouldn't fully shake him out of his exhaustion.
The reason for why he was so tired in the first place?
Well, it's because he's been waking up at the crack of dawn and training nonstop for two whole weeks now. His young yet surprisingly lanky body now achingly sore, from the stress and constant heavy lifting it's been forced to endure. All in the hopes that his body will have physically developed in enough muscle mass to be worthy of the incredible offer being bestowed upon him in nearly ten months.
One offer he never thought could ever be possible in trillions of years, but it looks like logic and reality decided to take a break two weeks ago. As he, a quirk-less nobody, was now being prepared to inherit the quirk of none other than the symbol of peace himself, All Might!
Yes, Izuku knew that was the most ridiculously impossible thing that was ever heard of in the history of man. But it was in fact true! He had not only met his idol All Might and learned of his unfortunate crippling condition. But on the very same day, after risking his own life to save his bully Kacchan from a slime villain, All Might had told him that…that he could be a hero.
Izuku honestly couldn't even remember the last time he cried so much in a single day. But who wouldn't break into tears after years of people never believed in you, only for the person you looked up to the most say the words you've always wanted to hear? And as if enough miracles hadn't already happened, all might had decided to make him his successor and inherit his quirk: One for All.
Once his training was completed; he could finally inherit one for all, and enroll in U.A to achieve his dream of being a hero!
But before all that, he first needed to finish middle school. And that can only be done by regathering his energy and getting himself ready for today's lesson. Thus, with enough effort Izuku managed to snapped his dark green eyes fully open and pay attention to the teacher who was just about to start class.
"Alright everyone settle down, it's time to start class!" The teacher announced before raising his index finger up. "But first things first, I have a very important announcement to make." The teacher revealed to his students, causing everyone to stop whatever they were doing and direct their full attention to the adult.
"Thank you, now then starting today there's gonna be a change in our classroom arrangement." The teacher calmly explained. "And by that, I mean, we'll be having three new students joining our class!" The teacher announced to his students, who was needless to say quite surprised by the sudden news.
'New students? This late into the school year?' Izuku thought in surprise, now having fully shaken off his previous exhaustion as he listened further to this astonishing news.
Bakugo meanwhile widened briefly widened his eyes in bafflement, before narrowing them down to a sharp annoyed glare. 'What is this bullsh*t?'
"Now, now, class I understand your confusion but let me explain." The teacher asked and thankfully the students heeded his words. "Yes, it is quite bizarre for there to be new students at this point in the year, but these children, in particular, are a special case. You see these new students aren't from any part of Japan; they're actually foreign exchange students." The teacher revealed as soon enough the effect of such news was almost instantaneous.
A couple of quiet gasps were then made while the rest of the students began muttering amongst themselves.
"Wait a minute, foreign exchange students are gonna be in our class?"
"What the heck are people like those doing here?"
"I didn't even think our school did foreign exchange programs."
"Where do they even come from?"
Izuku however was not like the others gossiping about the shocking reveal, but instead sat in stunned silence. Having at this point dropped his pencil and merely stared at the teacher in astonishment.
Foreign exchange students were going to be attending their school? And they were joining their class no less?
While the news wasn't anything world-shattering, and could never compare to what he's seen and heard these few weeks; it still left the moss-haired boy more than astonished.
Seriously, how could so many surprises happen in a single month?
"HA! Are you freakin serious teach?" The class loudmouth Bakugo exclaimed, with a mocking grin on his face, as he pointed to his fellow classmates. "Do all these rejects suck that badly, that we need drag in a bunch of foreigner losers to redeem this crappy class?" Bakugo arrogantly scoffed as casually insulted his lessers as per usual.
"Oi the hell you just say!?"
"Go screw yourself Bakugo!"
"Good to know he's still an asshole."
Bakugo paid no attention to the weaklings bitching about him. If they could only whine their asses off, instead of disproving his words, then he already proved his point. These dumbasses knew full well that, HE was the only one with the most potential to be a hero. And once he got into U.A he was gonna prove his spot as the new number one hero of Japan!
He already drilled that through Deku's quirk-less skull, who still had his delusions of heading into U.A like him. And the same will apply for these three foreign rejects being shipped here.
"Well, mister Bakugo how about before you go ahead and insult your new classmates, why don't you allow them to introduce themselves?" The teacher suggested with a very annoyed tone in his voice while he crossed his arms.
The blonde teen made a scoffing sound before sitting back down to his desk, allowing the teacher to continue with this pathetic charade.
The teacher released a short sigh. "Now as I was saying, these three are indeed foreigners, ones who came all the way from America. They already finished the first two years of their middle school education, but due to personal reasons, transferred to Japan." The teacher elaborated more about the new foreign additions to the class. "And since our school provides both foreign exchange classes; and teaches English to its Japanese students like you guys, their guardian has decided our school was best suited to finish their education."
The teacher then uncrossed his arms and put on a cheery smile as he walked towards the classroom door. "Now then kids, they're not very fluent with Japanese, so please speak your best English until they've learned enough." The teacher then turned the knob and began opening the door. "But more importantly make sure to give them a nice warm welcome."
The teacher opened the door wide open, as three new faces walked into the room.
The first one that entered was a young boy with spiky white albino hair and red eyes similar to a certain explosion boy. But the most unique part about him was the pointy shark-like teeth he had in place of normal square teeth, shown through a sharp smile he made as he walked in.
The second one to enter was almost the polar opposite of the first student. As a tall yet thin boy with short, unsymmetrically cut pink hair with bangs slowly walked into the classroom room. The boy's lavender puppy eyes nervously glanced at the group of students that gave lightly bemused stares at him.
And among those students staring at him, was a certain explosion boy who was just barely resisting the urge to guffaw at the meek little twig coming into class. Already these foreigners looked to be no better than the scraps in this class.
The last student to enter was a petite young girl with medium-length wheat blonde hair kept in pigtails and a pair of forest green eyes. But what all students, and Izuku in particular noticed, was how her right foot was wrapped in a slim black caste that surprisingly fit underneath her unique buckled boots.
Izuku raised an eyebrow at the casted foot, wondering what happened to cause such an injury, that a young girl like her to need that.
The teacher closed the door and walked back to his seat as he raised his index finger up. Yet this time it began to lengthen until it was like a thin snake-like appendage that pointed towards the three new students.
"Now kids, why don't you introduce yourselves to the class then?" The teacher cheerfully asked in English, as the sharp-toothed boy decided to start his introduction first.
"Yo, the name's Soul Evans, nice to meet you all. To be honest I don't have much to say except that if we can keep it nice and cool, we'll all get along just fine." Soul said in a relaxed tone with his shark-tooth grin, causing more than a few of the girls in the class to blush at the exotically cool boy and his laid-back attitude.
Soul walked back where he was as the pink-haired boy was next to introduce himself. Yet as he began to speak, he kept tapping his index fingers together and darting his timid ebon eyes around the class.
"H-hi, m-my name I-is C-Crona Go-gorgon, I-it's nice to meet y-you all a-a-and I hope-" yet before he could stammer out anything else, a black plushie like creature with a white "X" on its face emerged from his back and took the reins on the introduction.
"For f*ck's sake! Can you speak already, or are you just gonna keep stuttering like a retarded dumbass!?" The impish creature insulted the boy as it shook its ball-shaped fists in annoyance.
"R-Ragnarök stop it! I'm-" But sadly, Crona was interrupted as the imp leaned on the boy's pink head and then faced the very startled classroom.
"Listen up dweebs! I don't give a f*ck who you losers are, this brat is my BITCH! So, if any of you f*ckers think your some tough sh*tstain and try anything, you better believe I'm gonna whoop your sorry asses!" Crona having heard enough of the rant launched a steely punch towards the rude weapon. But it missed as the irritating blob submerged back into his body before Crona could reach him.
Thus, leaving a very confused and slightly insulted class staring at the embarrassed teen. Bakugo twitched his right eye in boiling anger by that wise-ass puppet, feeling more than tempted to blow both him and that twig of a loser into nothing but ash.
A red faced Crona turned back to face the class, mumbling apologies and quickly walked back where he stood before. Crona's two companions glanced at him in sympathy before the girl walked forward; and curved her lips upwards into a happy smile.
"Hello everyone, my name is Maka Albarn! It's very nice to meet you all, and I really hope we can all get along well." Maka then gave a short greeting bow before standing up straight once again and walked back to where she stood.
The class smiled back at the pig tailed girl and her cheery demeanor, already taking a liking the third new student. Izuku etched a small smile on his lips from the American girl's friendly aura, but soon his cheeks blushed a deep pink when he saw the girl glance at him.
It was amazing how despite all that was going on in his life, he still didn't know how to handle talking to a girl. But every challenge can't be taken at once so maybe eventually he can conquer that particular social flaw.
"Alrighty then, now that introductions are out of the way you guys can take your seats." The teacher said in English, as scanned the room for any available seats. "Soul and Crona, you two can sit in the two chairs on the left in the third row. While as for you Maka, you can sit in that seat over there." The teacher told the trio as Izuku felt his stomach drop like a dead heavy weight when he saw his teacher was pointing to the row he was sitting in.
'W-what? D-does that mean…' Izuku began to panic, fearing the worst outcome would happen. But the freckled boy held hope that maybe, just maybe, he would be given this one act of mercy and avoid-
"Oh, hi there! Looks like we'll be sitting next to each other." Maka kindly greeted the moss-haired boy as she put her books on her desk and sat down.
That's right…how could he forget? the seat next to him was empty.
Izuku at that moment felt his heart was going to jump out of his chest and explode into pieces. Along with his brain currently going on the fritz as he could feel neurons bursting into sparks. Both vital organs were unable to comprehend or find a proper solution to this awkward dilemma. He had never interacted with women besides his mother, as any other girls who met him never wanted to be around him due to his quirk-less nature. So, seeing a girl (a cute one at that) sitting and talking right next to him was like being in a life-or-death situation for the poor boy.
Maka's tilted her head lightly in confusion. "Is something wrong? You're looking pretty pale." Maka asked in light concern, also noticing the small jittering made throughout his body.
Izuku turned his neck to face the confused girl doing his damnedest not to blush cherry red, as their green eyes made contact with one another.
"O-oh hi there, i-it's v-very n-nice to m-meet you." Izuku said nervously yet in surprisingly good English, having gained it like his other excellent grades in his English class.
Maka's confusion disappeared and her friendly attitude returned once more. "Nice to meet you too! Sorry if I startled you, I just wanted to make a good impression since we'll probably be seeing each other a lot here." Maka apologized for her abrupt greeting.
"N-no it's okay I understand c-completely." Izuku waved off the girl with a nervous smile plastered on his face. "To be h-honest, I'm surprised you'd care about something like that."
Maka raised an eyebrow. "Well, why wouldn't I? That seems pretty normal if you ask me."
"Y-yeah guess it does seem normal." Izuku stuttered.
A short silence ensued between the two teens as the teacher began his lecture, one that lasted a few minutes before Maka spoke once more.
"You don't talk to girls often, do you?" Maka chuckled as Izuku momentarily flinched at the brutally correct question.
"W-what? I-I don't k-know what your-I-I mean…" Izuku blushed bright red.
Maka briefly raised a hand up. "Hey, hey it's fine, there's no need to get yourself worked up." Maka gently assured the nervous boy. "To be honest I'm more than a little nervous myself when I sat here."
Izuku blinked. "Really?"
"Of course, I am, it's kinda nerve wracking to go to a school in a country, one you haven't been in for even a month." Maka told the surprised future one for all successor, who felt himself calm down ever so slightly by her relatable words. "Even more so, when you're deciding to start talking to somebody on the first day no less."
"O-oh I see…" Izuku nodded.
Maka then smiled as she saw the freckled boy calming himself down. The Albarn daughter began to feel she made the right choice sitting here.
"Say, what's your name?" Maka kindly asked Izuku who nervously gazed into her emerald eyes.
"I-Izuku, my name is I-Izuku Midoriya." The boy replied.
"Oh! well in that case, I'm very happy to meet you Izuku." Maka greeted as she extended a hand for Izuku to shake.
Izuku felt his nervousness around girls trying to drown him in overwhelming social anxiety, yet despite his nervous nature nearly overcoming him, Izuku gained enough mental strength to push past it and extend his hand.
Izuku took Maka's offered hand, albeit shakily, and gave a short yet friendly handshake. And suddenly while he couldn't properly explain it, he felt his heart become surged with enough courage to ask something of the American girl.
"Y-yeah and I…I hope we can be friends, Maka." Izuku said in a mostly stutter-less manner, yet internally he was screaming about why he would something like that so soon. His mind was filling with worries and fears; of this seemingly nice girl getting weirded out, and wanting nothing more to do with him.
But that didn't happen.
Maka instead smiled brightly. "Same here, I hope we do!" Maka happily said back, almost sounding like she was hoping he would say that, much to his astonishment.
Wait so…she actually wanted to be friends with him?
Izuku never expected this to happen, he…he honestly couldn't even remember the last time somebody was hoping to be his friend.
At least not since when he was but a five-year-old boy, who had friends and dreams of being a hero. Only for both to be shattered at that same tender age, and force him for years to cling on to his near-dead dream of heroism. All while everyone either never believed in him or simply saw him as a quirk-less outcast. But not Maka, instead of after a brief yet semi-pleasant conversation she was jumping at the chance to be his friend. Izuku wanted to say this was impossible but considering all the other equally impossible scenarios that have occurred recently he couldn't say it.
For the first time in years, Izuku made a friend.
And as he saw Maka's smile he also noticed Crona and Soul, if he can remember their names correctly, glance at them with happy expressions at their exchange. All while Kacchan stared in silent incredulity at the scene before grunting and turning his attention back to their teacher.
As did Maka, but all the while she kept her bright smile as she took notes, Izuku followed suit and began to focus on the teacher's lesson. yet, even so, the whole time Izuku couldn't shake off the feeling that something very important had just occurred at this moment now he befriended this pigtailed girl. And whatever exactly it was, could prove to be a great change in his life.
AUTHORS NOTE
FINALLY! AFTER ALL THIS TIME, I FINALLY FINISHED THE CHAPTER! Guys seriously I am so sorry for not updating for nearly three months, but this chapter was hard at times to make. That being due to the numerous writers blocks I unfortunately had when making certain parts of the chapter. But I promise I will try to update at a more understandable rate than this.
Seriously though this chapter's quality was all thanks to my good friend Dmandog056 who revised this chapter. So please thank him by giving the story he worked to help bring out love and attention along with checking out his own content!
Otherwise I'm glad I finally managed to get this fifth chapter up, and I must say I am impressed by the positive reaction given since then!
Not only do I now have 85 favorites, 104 follows but also 80 reviews compared to the near sixty reviews I saw last time, so I'm happy this story is starting to become more popular now.
Also yes after hearing some reviews of while liking the content but not the over amount of writing, have decided to do a 20-30 limit on my chapters for now on. But I'll only be increasing the word count in certain chapters if it involves major events or fight scenes.
But i think you've already noticed that I have taken down the ships that were on the summary of this story and before you get mad, let me explain. Look I have to be honest when I first started this story back in 2020 I kinda rushed the ships and just guessed two people I thought would be best paired due to being similar. Not only that but i didn't even consider that maybe, it be best to just develop these characters relationships before stamping a pairing together.
Well now that I have evolved and grown as a writer I can safely say that if I'm gonna do romance, I gotta treat it like a plant. Plant the seeds, giving time and necessary development, then at a certain point I'll eventually decide where I want to take these relationships.
So just to clarify I'm not taking down the ships forever, I'm just redoing the process. Allowing the characters to interact and as I write decide which ones should be together, who knows? Perhaps we'll see one of them return or maybe something different? Only time will tell once I write enough into the story to judge the best course of action for romantic relationships. But won't be a central focus in the overarching story, plot and character development take importance above all else.
But onto more lighter topics, it would appear that some pretty big things have happened in this chapter as the story has begun to move forward.
One of the biggest things to happen was how mirko has stepped up to become maka, crona and souls guardian! Yep this was something I had always planned to do for such a looooong time. As I thought it be very unique and different for Rumi to be involved in the story as a parental figure for the trio. And not as some romantic love interest for a a character or a minor part of a fanfic. Plus it helped the trio avoid falling into the sneaky plots of the HPSC but it won't be long before they continue their observations on our protagonists.
And not only that but eizo having to tell hawks the truth about the trio, was something i decided to do was better since i realized in the original, eizo being so secretive didn't make much sense. Nor did his lies add up, so this was a change i decided on to make things easier. Plus with the HPSC now aware of maka, soul and crona's origin's will grow keenly interested and be deciding what to do next with this new information.
But in the end it all led to the kids have already in enrolled into none other than the junior high school. The same one izuku and bakugo are enrolled in, and once we head to the next chapter see how these two are gonna interact with the soul eater trio.
But now onto the review responses!
YELLOWPIKMIN88: glad you liked it!
And…yeah, I was kinda inspired by friendly foreign dimensional exchange student, but I've thoroughly made sure to make that part as different and original as possible and not outright copy that amazing authors work.
Glad you like my first OC dude! It just felt so right to give the man who made one of my favorite anime/manga's a place in this soul eater crossover. Also yeah…no, I'm not ripping of another authors work like that either, but I assure you I already got plans for aizawa and the trio eventually as the story progresses.
And your right, those three children are going to need to stick together if they want to adapt and live in this new world for the time being.
Also…sorry to break it to you but the HPSC is not helping for wholly altruistic motivations. They're trying to basically trying to recruit them and train them into becoming loyal agents to keep their version of "order" in hero society no matter what. And if you've read the MHA manga you'll know these guys aren't exactly what they seem.
So don't think the HPSC is doing this out of the bottom of their hearts, their doing it out of the profit of creating heroes to maintain peace. As despite their good intentions ain't afraid to do what needs to be done for the sake of "peace" or what they deem it as that.
Also yes U.A is only a few chapters away and I cannot wait! Also nice ideas man!
GUEST/SPARTA352:look I won't lie, yes it's not very original and has been done no doubt loads of times before; but I honestly thought it was the best way at the time. But I'll promise to do my best in being more original and use less of these tropes in FanFiction again.
GUEST/HATCH TO NOWHERE: yeah I know dude, it was just a joke. And thanks for the positive feedback, I'm glad you liked it!
ZHARSHOUL: yeah trust me nobody likes dragging on a story like that, so i totally agree with you there. And thanks for liking the memory quirk of Atushi. Though while I do think it's a wee bit unoriginal, like you said there's bound to be a memory viewing quirk in this world, and I'm happy you thought it was a nice addition to the story.
GUEST/DuHastMich: your right, and I'm glad you gave me this criticism as I do admit chapters 2 and 4 are indeed a bit too long. But rest assured I have already fixed that issue in the rewrite.
GUEST/Bananaboatcaptai: glad you understand why I use the memory quirk, as while having been used before, can be very easy to prove their origins. And trust me they are gonna need time to adjust.
GUEST/CHINJILLO: don't worry I am fully aware that those three are very powerful and can become OP if not handled correctly(especially since I'm using the manga versions of them) but rest assured I'll make it fair as possible.
GUEST: I totally agree with you about there being too many maka X soul stories. But as i stated above, I'm not getting rid of the ships merely redoing them and see what pairings are best after I've developed them enough.
But don't worry there's not gonna be any maka X soul on this story, there's been far too many stories with that ship already.
GUEST: thank you for your brutally honest criticism, and looking back at my writing you are correct. I did tend to repeat a lot of what I said just write it in different forms, and over explain things such as the characters thought processes. But don't worry thanks to your review I'll be careful not to repeat this flaw in the future.
GUEST: I will!
DMANDOG056: thanks man for your positive feedback and glad you think so highly of my story. And thank you even more for the help you've given me ever since then as well my friend and I promise to deliver more satisfying content in the future.
GUEST: indeed, it has finally come!
GUEST:Glad you like to man, and like I said I promise not to make the trio too overpowered but will still be very stronger than most of class-1A given their from the manga verse of soul eater.
GUEST:thanks man, I'm happy you like it!
And I'll possibly consider your suggestion, but again I want to develop the characters before placing pairings.
GUEST:got it, I'll take your advice wholeheartedly.
GUEST:don't worry it's here now.
GUEST: like i said above, it's finally here.
GUEST: And that's what I've been aiming for! Making a good soul eater story for soul eater fans!
GUEST:can't say much due to spoilers but don't worry about the latter question. I have something in mind.
GUEST:exactly, the HPSC while aren't absolutely evil, aren't really good guys either. The best way I can summarize them is that they're MHA version of CADMUS and Amanda Waller from justice league: unlimited. They're a neutral yet slightly antagonistic force and aren't afraid to do some dirty things to keep their version of order up and running.
GUEST:again like I've been saying, I won't make them too OP, don't worry.
GUEST: it's something revealed in the recent chapters of MHA's manga, and allows us to further see that my hero academia takes place in another different universe.
GUEST:thanks for your feedback! But as for the glowing mark seen in chapter two? Well don't worry I'll explain that eventually, just be patient.
GUEST:we'll that's something I plan to address in later chapters, but let's say what I plan to reveal is…interesting, and if you've read the soul eater manga you'll understand what I mean.
GUEST:I agree, though I am planning to redo the ships and build them up before slapping pairings left and right.
GUEST:Thanks dude! Though as for your question…let's just say they'll be there for a while.
GUEST:can't say anything cause of spoilers, but I plan to make the reveal worth the wait.
GUEST: sorry for the delay, but don't worry here's the newest chapter!
MONSUNO GAMER: yeah…sorry but no, not happening.
GUEST:yes and no, while soul and maka have mastered the black blood pretty damn well. Soul couldn't control those keyboards because the only time he ever used them when he was infected with madness from crona's mad blood in Ukraine. And since he only ever used that ability once, it was needless to say very hard for him to fully control.
But this won't be the last we see of those keyboards again, don't worry.
GUEST: don't worry I plan to continue this story for the long haul.
GUEST: I'm happy you think that way man! Hopefully I'll live up to your expectations and make this a damn good soul eater fanfic!
Wow…a lot of guest reviews last chapter huh? While I don't mind the guest reviews, I ask that you review using your profile if you can and not under guest reviews. As it tends to get confusing if it's multiple people or the same guy.
Anyway thank you all for the positive feedback and responses I've gotten for this story! I honestly never thought this crossover would become THIS popular and I hope it only continues to grow and become more loved as time goes on!
But Of course Reviews, followers and favorites for this site and fanfiction.net are GREATLY appreciated, INCLUDING criticism. Especially criticism, as those help me improve my stories. If you truly think my story is good, then a compliment is very helpful as well But I will not tolerate straight-out insults. If there's something you dislike about this story, please tell me so in a polite manner, and I'll do my best to fix it.
Next time: maka and the trio begin to adjust and adapt to their new lives here in this hero filled world. As they make new friends yet also the opposite, all while their rabbit eater guardian decides to see what they got! But eventually will have to make an important decision for their future…
I'll see you all in chapter six!
Shados960 out!
