Chapter 112: Target Locked (1)
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"A...gah!"
Izuku hissed as Kurogiri applied medicine on his... on his body that was spotless with no wound present.
"Okay, stop. It's not working." Izuku raised a hand to stop Kurogiri. "As I said, I am hurt on a spiritual level." He said with a pained frown as his soul hurt—if that's even possible. "Master, do you believe me now? That kid can see and hurt me in my Astral Form!"
Izuku said to the monitor in the room, where only the silhouette of a man was visible.
"No need to shout, Midoriya." The deep crispy voice said from inside the monitor. "He was clearly targeting Stain, from what Kurogiri said. You just happened to be in his way. Even Kurogiri didn't see you, it's lucky that he noticed you suddenly groaning and teleported your real body."
Stain, at the mention of his name, turned his eyes on the screen from where he was lying. He was hurt, quite badly, from that beam of shockwave. Kurogiri was just in time. But... Midoriya was hurt more than him.
In fact, since Kurogiri couldn't see Izuku in his Astral Form, he had at first teleported Stain away, and only then did he teleport Shigaraki and himself along with Izuku's unconscious body after noticing the boy's loud and painful groan.
Meaning, Izuku received greater damage than Stain. He was in fact unconscious the whole night, and had only woken up a while ago after All for One teleported him to himself to do something. From the looks of it, he had managed to heal Izuku enough for him to wake up, but not enough for the kid to be completely unharmed. From what All for One had said, for the next month or two, he wouldn't be able to control his body that much. Meaning, he will be useless in fights and competitions in school.
"Then how do you explain my pain?!" Izuku yelled. "His beam hurt something that is not physical. That's not how shockwaves work!"
All for One sighed from the other sides.
'Foolish child.'
It was pretty much confirmed in his eyes that that Neji kid could see and hurt Izuku somehow. Kurogiri mentioned the 'Gold Dragon's Breath' he used was not so Gold this time around. There was a blue light circling it, too. That could be a side effect of when he makes his technique stronger, but it could also be that... he used some other form of energy on the attack, thus the blue light.
An energy that could hurt spirits, ghosts, souls.
All for One just didn't admit in front of Izuku, as he wanted all the people on the other side of the monitor to imagine Neji as just someone with a decently strong quirk—not someone who could do the impossible. That'd kill their self-esteem, and confidence when they go against that kid.
"Midoriya," All for One leaned his chin on his left hand. "I reckon your Summer Camp is in two months?"
Izuku looked confused at the question before his eyes sparkled.
—★—
'Obtain Companions′
That option didn't need Neji to be at UA. He had three more days until his internship ended, and so he was going to spend them trying to lure the bunny out of her rabbit hole.
He planned to take it slow at first... but he needed to up his game for this one.
So, he woke up even before Rumi could and started to sprinkle his magic seasonings in the kitchen.
Rumi woke up in her room with the warm aroma of dangerously delicious food. She was certainly surprised, but she took a minute to wash herself first before going to the dining room.
"Whoaa, not only are you up early, but you are also cooking for a lady?" She sniffed the air, her small nose twitching, as she looked in Neji's direction.
He wore an apron over a purple shirt with black stripes. He was certainly pleasing to the eye, but Rumi wondered why he was cooking at all.
'Maybe he's just trying to take his mind away from yesterday's incident.' Rumi nodded at that possibility. Besides, from the scent alone, she could tell he was cooking something... divine.
So she took a seat on the table.
"Ahh, a guy who can fight and cook at the same time. Ain't you a perfect husband?"
Neji walked out with two smoking plates in his hand as he chuckled.
"Perfect husband? For whom exactly?" He served the plates on the table. "Don't tell me Pro Hero Mirko is interested in a high schooler?"
Rumi had her right arm behind the chair as she clicked her tongue. "Dream on, kid. I was just trying to cheer you up, don't let it get to your head."
Neji sighed in an overly dramatic expression, as he made his way back to the kitchen. "Oh well, and here I thought I had a chance with my bunny girl senpai."
Rumi giggled as she took in the aroma from the steaming plate. "Really, now? Flirting with a woman a decade older than you? Though can't say I am surprised after what you did to my backside two nights ago."
"People will misunderstand if you say it like that, you know."
Neji spoke while walking back to her, this time multiple small plates floated behind him via telekinesis. He placed those plates on the table and took a seat opposite her.
"Or perhaps you want them to misunderstand...?"
He leaned his chin on his palm as he looked at her eyes, blurred by the steam rising from the plates. Their blue and red eyes opposed each other for a long minute before Rumi spoke, not taking her gaze away.
"At this rate, the food will get cold."
"They are already cold, though." Neji replied. "If we compare them with how hot you are."
"..."
Rumi tried not to, but a smile broke into her face as she giggled deeply.
"You flirt on every chance you get, eh? Though that makes me feel you do that to every girl out there." She shook her head and withdrew her face back from the steam of food.
Neji did the same with a shrug. "Well, that may be true, but I don't live under the same roof with everyone. It can be said there's a certain chemistry between us that no other girl I flirt with shares."
Rumi picked up a clean, fascinatingly orange carrot from one of the plates and took a bite out of it.
"Come to think of it, don't you have a girlfriend? Ya sure she'll be fine with you flirting like this?"
"Intriguing question." Neji started to cool the food with his chopsticks. "There are two answers to that. If I play around with a girl, and my girlfriend finds out, she'll be mad. But if I love a girl, and then do something with her... I can ascertain my Yaomomo will be open to share me with the other lucky 'gal."
Rumi raised an eyebrow at the world 'gal'. She was certainly no expert in relationships, or flirting as a general, but even she could tell what he was pointing at.
'...Is this kid serious?'
She shook her head internally. He must be joking, and even then... she wasn't interested in a high schooler.
"Now, the food will really get cold if we don't eat." She changed the subject. "I don't think it'll taste as good when cold."
Neji gave a nod. "That's true. Go ahead, dig in."
She looked suspiciously at why he wasn't eating with her, but he simply pointed at his chopsticks that were trying to cool his food.
So, with an 'Itadakimasu', she drove her chopsticks in the food and then brought it to her mouth.
But... as she took in the taste, gulping in, her eyes widened as something pleasingly warm ran through her throat before it flowed through her entire body. It was so delicious, so good, and so juicy, that she almost doubted if she was high above the clouds or not.
The next thing, however, was more unexpected than that. As the warm energy flowed within her, reaching her heart and blending with the pump of blood, it released out of her body with a gust of golden mist which blew and tore her clothes apart.
Rumi's eyes widened further as she saw Neji smile at her, his eyes lowering as he took in her perky, chocolate breasts and her neckline with a lick of his lips.
"You know it's good food when your clothes get ripped apart."
That didn't make sense.
—★—
Rumi stayed in her seat stunned for a moment. Neji used the time to pick up his plate and leave the room to give her some privacy since he was a gentleman.
Hours later, they gathered in the backyard in casual clothes.
"What was that, Neji?" Rumi asked with her arms crossed while standing a few metres far from Neji. "You never told me you had a second quirk."
Second quirks were rare, very rare, but they weren't exactly unheard of. Some heroes in other countries had two quirks, and "Nawab" was rumoured to have more than two quirks, too.
"What second quirk?" Neji gave a smirk. "That was my Shockwave quirk, «Surge». Does putting shock inside food sound so bizarre, when you can literally push someone's consciousness out using a so-called 'Repulsion' quirk?"
"..." Rumi had no comment on that. She had seen Izuku do exactly that in the Sports Festival, and it baffled her even now.
Besides, there was indeed a golden mist when her clothes were torn apart—which did go with Neji's obsession with gold and stuff
"Either way." She spat out her words. "Don't do that again, got it?"
To think she thought he was a gentleman cooking for a lady, whilst he only cooked just to see her naked...
"Sure~" Neji waved his hand. "Besides, we only have three more days together. After that, our pseudo marriage life will come to an end. Don't mind me spice things up a bit."
Rumi tried to say something but sighed deeply instead. She can go on and on for hours, saying she was his Mentor and not a classmate with whom he could flirt, but she realised she had given him too much of a leeway to say that now. She also doubted if that would stop him anyway. Maybe if she could give him a good beating, would he be scared.
So...
"Anyway, time to beat you up- I mean time to train you." She grinned. "I might sound lazy, but since you went through a lot yesterday, we can take a break today."
With that, without any other warning, she dashed at him and kicked towards his knees, only for him to dodge and his palm to descend on her ass.
"O-oy! We are not playing that game this time!"
"Oops!"
However, he didn't stop.
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Author's Note: The target's been locked, for real. Can Neji eliminate her in such a short time?