Chapter 26

Chapter 26

After waiting at the door for an hour without seeing anyone, Kirisame thought she had arrived early because it was her first time encountering a door barrier. Then she got a call from Midoriya and realized they had gone to the wrong place.

The little girl, crestfallen after her joyful expectations came to nothing, turned around and headed home with drooping shoulders.

...Although her shoulders were drooping, she walked extremely fast.

Walking home with Kirisame-san's family, Midoriya was so nervous he was moving with stiff, awkward steps.

That Mr. Klaus, though imposing, was tolerable for him since Midoriya had grown up watching the All Might videos. The problem was—

That gentleman had not said a single word after explaining his identity. Aaah!

Sweat was about to drip down Midoriya's forehead as he secretly glanced at Mr. Klaus beside him—

Mr. Klaus had a slight smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

Whoa, ten minutes had passed, and that smile hadn't changed at all—

"Hey, Leo, is the boss... nervous?"

Watching the boss and Midoriya walking side by side ahead, in an oddly tense silence, Zapp poked the little bow on Leo's head:

"He's obviously overjoyed and doesn't know how to strike up a conversation with his daughter's classmate, so he's just kept that silly smile! Right! This is rare!! If I secretly snap a picture and show it to Stephen, do you think he'd be so happy he'd forget about my troubles?"

The curly-haired girl still sported a bump on her forehead from their earlier scuffle and didn't want to acknowledge him, but the topic was too amusing to resist, so she couldn't help but retort: "No, you're probably already dead meat with Mr. Stephen. Doing this would only get Mr. Klaus to beat you up too."

"Oh, you little—" Zapp initially raised his hand to smack Leo but paused, clearly finding new entertainment, and began taunting wildly: "You little girl, pfft haha little girl hahaha—"

Unable to bear it any longer, Leo fought him.

So Midoriya was walking down the street, with a strange, towering, Western-looking man wearing a mysterious smile beside him, and behind them, a silver-haired young man and a narrow-eyed girl who would start fighting again within two minutes of being separated.

They were attracting a lot of stares.

...So much pressure, really so much pressure.

When they were almost at the door and unexpectedly saw Kirisame's figure in the distance, Midoriya felt completely relieved.

"Kirisame-san—"

The freckled boy waved at his friend with tears in his eyes.

But just as he raised his hand, before he could even wave it once, he saw his friend's eyes light up. She dropped her schoolbag on the spot and sprinted toward him.

[Kirisame-san... must have missed her family a lot...]

The boy's gaze softened at his friend's unusually intense reaction.

...Wait, no, even if she's excited to see her family, moving that fast is too much, isn't it?!

Hey, hey, hey, why are you drawing a sword?!

Kirisame accelerated to almost her limit, leaped into the air, and swung both blades in a cross shape, pressing down from above.

Almost simultaneously, Zapp, who had been bickering with Leo just moments before, suddenly crouched low and swept his leg from below toward the boss.

The movement was so fast and coordinated that both Leo and Midoriya were stunned for a moment.

...Leo silently covered her face.

What followed felt like slow motion. In Midoriya's horrified gaze, Mr. Klaus seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. The moment the dark-skinned young man's leg swept in, he raised his foot and stomped down with a sharp crack!

That casual step directly halted the momentum of the leg, crushing it so hard that the young man let out a yelp of pain and collapsed to the ground.

At the same time, the man raised his hand. The light on his cross-shaped gloves flashed as he caught Kirisame's descending twin blades with a twist and a turn, effortlessly disarming her and catching the little girl as she lost support and fell into his arms.

"Favoritism! I protest! This is blatant favoritism!" Zapp thrashed wildly.

Kirisame, having failed in her attack, didn't persist. Paying no attention to her senior still pinned underfoot, she happily hugged her guardian and nuzzled him.

The whole process took less than three seconds. By the time the boss had dealt with the two of them, the ribbon from Leo's hair, stirred up by Zapp's passing wind, was only just slowly drifting down.

Perhaps suddenly realizing there were still others around, the curly-haired girl with a "can't bear to look" expression, the black-haired little girl who had just been rubbing against her guardian, and the silver-haired young man who had been lying on the ground desperately twisting to free his leg—

All three froze simultaneously. After a two-second pause, they slowly turned their heads to stare at Midoriya.

Midoriya was stunned into a daze.

For some reason, Leo, looking at him, felt like she was seeing her own initial days when she first joined Libra, and a sudden surge of camaraderie welled up.

Leo patted Midoriya on the shoulder: "Don't worry, they can't beat Mr. Klaus."

[No, no, is that even the issue here?! I almost thought they were enemies and was about to Smash...]

[And she's so close!!]

Realizing the other person was still there, Kirisame felt a bit embarrassed and jumped down, receiving a gentle head pat from the red-haired guardian: "You've improved. Faster than last time."

"Why... ah," Midoriya thought carefully about how to phrase his question.

Leo understood completely.

"As for Kirisame, it's her master's requirement—she has to defeat Mr. Klaus to consider her training somewhat successful. As for Zapp..." The girl's expression turned odd: "Maybe it's out of some kind of interest..."

They both looked at Zapp, who had stopped struggling and was sprawled resignedly under Klaus's shoe, falling silent.

[Is this really okay?!]

After Kirisame thanked her friend, they parted ways with Midoriya at the door.

The freckled boy's retreating figure was still a bit dazed. Leo thought he probably had a lot to digest.

Unlike the grand European-style interior of Libra, the house where Kirisame was staying was a typical Japanese modern style. Thanks to Midoriya's mother's care, it was filled with little details suited for a girl's room.

The boss sat upright on a pale yellow fuzzy round stool, his long legs folded in a way that looked almost demure. Zapp could barely restrain his itching desire to take a photo, but having just been disciplined, he held back with great difficulty, his entire body fidgeting restlessly.

Kirisame was squatting in front of Leo, enthusiastically examining his new look. Leo had lost all patience and just spread his arms in resignation.

Leo coming was expected, but the fact that Mr. Klaus, who was usually very busy, had also come! Having sent a letter with little hope, Kirisame was a bit happy.

"Is work okay?" The little girl was clearly delighted but hesitated before finally asking.

"Yeah, coincidentally there's a mission around here."

"Stephen's working overtime anyway, so don't worry!"

The boss's voice spoke simultaneously with Zapp's. Kirisame, upon hearing "Stephen," raised her head and gave Zapp a pitying look.

One look made Zapp bristle: "Oh, getting bold now, Kirisame? Haven't seen you in a few days and you dare look at your senior like that? You know, if you hadn't been so slow, we would've succeeded. Scared just by hearing Stephen's name—with that kind of cowardice, you'll never graduate in this lifetime if that old man finds out."

"Isn't it because you're too useless that you got stepped on? And besides, it wasn't me who got beaten to tears by Mr. Stephen last time."

Kirisame wasn't intimidated in the least; they lunged at each other and broke into a fight.

Amazingly, despite their flashy, broad attacks, they were astonishingly agile while fighting, banging around at odd angles without knocking anything over.

Leo watched nervously, then seeing nothing broken, curled up on the sofa to watch Kirisame practice calligraphy with the boss.

The crashing and banging from next door made Midoriya's mother, who was in the middle of cooking, a bit worried. The kind-faced, elegant woman gently knocked on the door.

The two fighting in the room froze, startled.

Leo opened the door, his head spinning.

"Izuku said Little Kirisame's family came to see her today, so you must be—"

Facing the lady's friendly but slightly confused gaze, Leo racked his brain for a way to explain himself, eventually forcing out through gritted teeth: "Yes, I'm her... her... sister."

...That "sister" cost him every ounce of his strength.

A thunderous laugh came from inside, but it was cut short and turned into a muffled groan as a punch landed.

Having finished with Zapp, Kirisame ran out and bowed to Midoriya's mother, taking the box of sweets she offered and thanking her.

"Hello, I'm Klaus von Reinherz, this child's guardian. Thank you for taking care of Kirisame." The red-haired gentleman bowed as well.

Zapp barely opened his mouth before Leo jabbed him in the stomach with an elbow, silencing him.

Midoriya's mother looked suspiciously at the four of them, who clearly didn't look like they were related at all.

But Kirisame did seem genuinely happy.

Midoriya's mother, who had known the child for over a year, smiled warmly and waved a little sheepishly.

Once the door closed, all four of them breathed a sigh of relief.

Kirisame and Zapp didn't dare to fight anymore.

The little girl sat obediently next to the boss, listening to Leo talk about what happened when they arrived, only after a while remembering the topic they'd discussed before the fight.

"Why would there be a mission out here? Don't we only handle HL matters?"

The Libra chief closed the workbook in his hand, his expression serious.

"That's the problem. We received information." The silver-haired young man straightened up from his chair.

"The forbidden secret drug, Angel Armor, from years ago, has been discovered here."

On the far side of the city, the doctor hummed a tune as he strolled casually through the door.

...Then he was startled by what was in the culture tank.

"We haven't seen each other for a few years... and you've awakened this kind of interest?" He looked at the man sitting in the chair, covered with tubes, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

AFO's faceless head turned, and he waved a hand modestly: "Not at all, it's been like this ever since you left."

He pressed some unknown button, turning the chair around: "So, what brings you here today?"

The doctor glanced at his pockmarked face, found it unpleasant to look at, and turned away, only to face a row of Nomus, feeling thoroughly freaked out.

"Could you occasionally research how to make yourself look a bit more presentable?" he suggested with difficulty.

AFO shook his head noncommittally.

"I've been away from here for a long time. Today I came to ask," the young man, his jewel-like emerald eyes shimmering, said: "Is it possible for pre-'Supernormal' un-evolved humans to awaken a Quirk?"

After a long pause, a man's voice replied, emotionless: "What do you think? You know more about this than I do, don't you?"

The doctor grinned: "Just asking casually, in case you've done something interesting behind my back."

AFO didn't reply, and he didn't ask how the doctor had found him.

After waiting a while, the brown-haired doctor, understanding his meaning, sighed: "I forgot you're still busy coaching your little successor."

"Soon, Tomura won't need my guidance anymore."

...Are you sure? Judging by his performance at U.A. the other day...

The doctor was speechless, barely suppressing the urge to retort. Having asked what he wanted, he waved his hand in farewell.

"Oh, by the way, there are some troublesome people coming. That little gadget your new partner has been using recently—better put it on hold for a while." He spoke as if suddenly remembering, just as he was about to exit: "After all, I wouldn't want to lose an old friend."

The brash but good-natured doctor, once his joking expression vanished, exuded an almost palpable pressure.

The young man gave a faint, enigmatic smile toward a corner of the room, and the figure in the white coat walked out.

...Then came a clatter and crash, accompanied by a scream: "Whoa, what is this tripping me!" adding an unexpected liveliness to the gloomy, silent lab.

"..."

AFO unclenched his hand.

The bald doctor cowering in the corner let out a trembling sigh.

So, Little Kirisame... what exactly is going on with you?

Half his body bathed in the evening glow, the brown-haired young man looked somewhat puzzled.

Setting aside how Kirisame dragged the boss around to all the interesting places she knew, or how the actual groom who woke up in the bathroom that day felt, or how Class 1-A's students spent their two days—the weekend finally came to an end.

The U.A. Sports Festival was coming.