Hail Friendship!

Better to Hunt

Technically it was illegal to use Quirks outside of certain work zones and home, but no one would report me for using it to carry wood.

Especially since everyone used their Quirk willy-nilly around here.

"Thanks for helping me out," I said to Shōto as we walked over to Hanako's home. Her husband was currently in America on a business trip and wouldn't return for another week. Not that he would have been able to fix the roof because holy smokes Uncle Eric could not use a hammer without breaking his thumb, or nailing something into his foot.

"It's no worry. Learning this stuff is useful," Shōto replied. "You have to do this all the time when you live here, right?"

"Not all the time," I defended. "Maybe six times a year, unless we went through a really bad storm. We're usually pretty good about keeping up to date with the roads and houses. Sakura-neechan is a bit of an exception, though."

"Who's, uh, Sakura?"

"She's new here," I answered. "Sakura-neechan moved here about a month ago with her two kids, Rika and Haru. They lived in the city all their lives, but I guess Rika and Haru have some healthy issues so Nee-chan moved here. They, uh, they don't know anything about farming, but they're definitely trying. We sometimes get cityfolk—er, I mean—people from the city that come and go during the summer, but they've never stuck around. Papa and the others feel like she'll stay around so we're trying to help her spruce up the old dump she bought. It was a real mess, and she doesn't have a lot of money."

"Oh," Shōto said.

"Wanna visit them after we fix up the roof?" I offered. "Rika and Haru are super cute."

"Okay," Shōto said.

I grinned brightly. "Good. I love kids. I want, like, a million of them when I'm older."

Shōto tugged down his hat. "A million?"

"Yep! Maybe two million."

"Oh," Shōto said, looking down at the road.

"I want to adopt like three. But I want to try the whole pregnancy thing once," I carried on. "What about you, Sho-chan?"

"Adoption sounds nice," Shōto answered. "I haven't put much thought into it, to be honest. I, uh, will now, though."

"Okay. Ah, Auntie's just up the hill. Let's get that roof nice and patched up."

Shōto and I headed up the hill, traveling the rest of the way in comfortable silence. Auntie Hanako was working the melon patch in the back, looking up long enough to wave us in and say, "Ice cream in the fridge, help yourselves darlings. Thank you so much!"

"I smell cake, too," I called back out, poking my head into her home.

"No more than one slice, missy! I know your Baba is making cookies too."

"Party pooper," I muttered under my breath, heading back outside and hopping on a flat bubble. I floated Shōto and myself up, and we set to work on patching up the roof. I wasn't very good at shingles, so Uncle Ruka would have to come back out and finish it, but this would keep nature out until then.

It didn't take more than half an hour to cut the wood up and nail it in. We did a couple layers—just to be sure—and we grabbed a couple cups of tea and cake to go; I managed to persuade Auntie to let me take some slices to Sakura and her children.

I teleported us over there right as Haru and Rika barreled out of the front porch like hell was at their heels. Both were covered in dirt, and Sakura was soon chasing after them, "No! You need to wash up for lunch, children!"