Cutscene

Exactly three hours later, Manami showed up with a bag of books. I opened my eyes, standing as I wiped a thick layer of sweat off my forehead.

"Whoa… did you do all this?" Manami slowed as she approached me, looking around at the bark of the surrounding trees. Several of them were beat down into disturbingly smooth panes.

"A result of some training. It's… unimportant, more importantly though, you brought the books?" I asked her, glancing absentmindedly at my MP bar before reactivating Scales and Dash to passively gain experience points.

Manami glanced around for a moment before nodding, waddling awkwardly over to me. It suddenly made a lot of sense why it took three hours for Manami to come back with the books.

"Sheesh, here ya go!" Manami sat her bag down and took a deep breath. After a moment, she opened up the top and grabbed the first book, handing it to me. "Firstly, we've got the one and only secret martial arts of the Azure Dragon!"

[Would you like to learn the skill: "Azure Dragon's Scales"?]

Ah….

My disappointment must've shown on my expression, because Manami's excitement faded.

"Ah, what happened? Can you… can you not use the book?" She sounded genuinely worried, so I gave her a smile and shook my head.

"I… already have this skill. I actually got it from…." I stopped myself before I finished.

Could I tell Manami about my Quirk? And could I extend that trust to Dabi?

Most Quirks have very big weaknesses that can be manipulated, so sharing one's Quirk is almost taboo for people, especially heroes. Does that apply to me though?

My Quirk, "The Gamer," seemed to have far more advantages than disadvantages, and if my allies know of my limits, it will be better in the end. If I could train with Dabi for a bit… it won't be bad. And if I could go find some more dungeons with Manami's help… it wouldn't be bad either so….

"Well, I have to explain my Quirk…."

The explanation was kind of difficult, to be honest. Manami had some questions that I couldn't answer, like "How does your Quirk know people before you do?" or "Does your Quirk have a level-cap?", but I think I dealt with most of them fairly well.

I explained my Inventory, Map, Skills, HP and MP, EXP, levels, and growth rate. She picked up what I was putting down extremely quickly. It turns out, just saying "my Quirk turned my life into an RPG," saves you a lot of time in the long run.

"Damn, that's broken. Good for us, but absolutely broken," Manami nodded before gesturing to the book in my hands. "So, you already have the Azure Dragon skills. Because of that, these skill books are basically useless to you."

I nodded, "Yeah, but something that is worth noting is that…."

[Due to already having Azure Dragon's Scales, you can absorb this skill book to raise your skill level by one.]

"I should probably keep these if you aren't using them. I can completely skip the grueling process from level 98 to 99 with these books," I noted, receiving a nonchalant nod from Manami. I tucked it in my Inventory with the confirmation from her.

I did the same to the rest of the Azure Dragon skills, but there was one more book that Manami held in her hands.

"I hope you don't have this…! Apparently, this is an in-depth understanding of electricity-based Quirks! Written by an author that no one really cares about!" Manami handed me the book, and my eyes grew wide.

[Would you like to learn the skill book: "How Electricity Based Quirks Could Be Far More Powerful, by Tokotachi"?]

[Yes/No]

So, it was him again. I had no damn idea why he was worming his way into each one of my conversations, but I'll remember to thank him if I ever meet him.

"Now this one… this one is impressive!" I grinned, absorbing the book in an instant. The book disappeared in a purple light, and I could feel the knowledge flow into my mind.

I walked towards a tree, holding my hand close to the abused trunk.

Now… if I added a positive charge there and a positive charge in the center of my hand….

The feeling was weak, but my hand was most certainly being pushed away from the tree. And if I changed the charge on my hand, it was pulled towards the tree.

It only took a little bit of force to pull my hand away, but in the middle of a fight, with an unsuspecting person, that could be enormously powerful, even at its weak level.

"Did…. Did it help you?" Manami asked, her voice filled with confusion.

I got pulled into my thoughts as soon as I received the skill. I let out a small laugh at Manami's words.

"Ah, yeah. It's gonna be particularly useful," I nodded, walking past Manami. "I'll be back here as soon as possible, but I've gotta have a conversation with my parents first."

"…Will you need help?" Manami asked, sounding very tense.

Ah, I guess she thought that I was going headfirst into a lion's den for her? I guess I am, but it's more than that.

"Nah, it's cool. It's a conversation I probably should've had a few weeks ago. I'll be back, then we'll start with our plan on stealing the Ultraphone."

Manami nodded, and I was gone in a flash, the wind racing in my wake.

-----

I approached my home and stopped on the sidewalk, looking far away to the barely visible black tower where the Ultraphone was being held. It stood high and powerful, about six blocks away from U.A. Highschool. I shook my head and let out a small sigh.

I approached my front door and pushed it open, peaking inside.

"Hey Mom, you home?" I called out, and after a moment, I heard her reply.

"Yeah, I'm here!"

I stepped inside, closing the door behind me. I took a deep breath and stepped deeper into my warm home.

"Hey, can we talk?"

"Yeah, yeah! Give me one sec though!" She yelled from the other room, sounding like she was frantically cleaning up something. Whatever it was, she handled it quickly, coming to meet me with a slightly flushed face.

"So, how'd your date go?" My mother grinned, stroking an imaginary beard inquisitively. "Never mind, you're my son, so it definitely went horribly!"

"I…. Mom," I groaned before shaking my head. "That's not important. Are you busy right now?"

Mom bit her lip in thought for a moment. It could've been entirely for show, because she'd clearly put up whatever she was doing to greet me, but she took her slow time with it regardless.

"Nope, I'm free. Free as a bird. What do you need, my one and only son?" She asked, gesturing towards the couch. She sat down first in a nonchalant huff, but when I didn't move, she grew quiet.

"I think I'm just gonna stand for now."

My mother studied me for a moment before shrugging, "Eh, so what did you wanna talk about? Did you get rejected so hard that you're rethinking your sexuality? Am I gonna have to destroy all those oh-so precious Midnight figurines and start buying you Endeavour and All Might ones?"

I could feel my face go red, but I didn't shy from my mother's jokes. Upon doing that, she seemed to start taking the situation far more seriously.

"What's wrong, Mineta?"

I thought about where I should start, so I decided the beginning probably wouldn't fail me too much.

"I got a new Quirk around two weeks ago. That's what happened to this," I pointed towards my hair, then towards my body. "And y'know, all of this."

"I didn't mean to wait so long to say something, but I just…." I didn't know how to finish that sentence.

I just wanted to be proud before I brought it up to anyone else?

I just wanted to become strong before bringing it up?

I don't know. I don't know if I will ever know.

My mom nodded, so I continued.

"Regardless, I've been training a lot. Doing a lot of exercises and training my 'skills,'" I shrugged. "I haven't been sleeping very much, but my Quirk seems to ignore the bad effects of doing that."

"Ah," My mother chimed in. "I was going to bring that up if your grades dropped, but they never did, so I let you handle your business. Natural consequences and all that jazz."

I nodded, "Yeah. I just needed some time to figure everything out. An additional eight hours to exercise and been doing wonders for me. I actually think my grades went up, rather than down."

I shook my head, "That's fairly irrelevant though. I woke up to a new Quirk and soon enough, I basically got rid of my old one. I can still make my Pop-Off balls, but that's just a bit different now. My new Quirk actually named itself 'The Gamer' and basically turns my life into a video game."

Seeing as my mother was the person who introduced me to video games at all, I didn't think I needed to explain much to her.

"What kind of game? A board game, choose-your-own-adventure game, FPS?" She asked, leaning forward as she brought her hands together, interweaving her fingers.

"An RPG," I expanded, causing my mother to let out a low hum.

"So, you've got levels, EXP, quests, boss fights, a party menu, an inventory, a mini-map, stats, equipment, and more?" My mother casually flexed her gaming knowledge, receiving a small smile and nod from me.

"Whoa. That's… whoa. Have you ever gotten… loot? Wait, more importantly, are you putting yourself in danger?!" My mother jumped up from her spot upon her realization, so I quickly shook my head.

"No, no! I… haven't been throwing myself into danger. But that's basically the basics, but now I need some advice. Have you ever…." I tried to grasp the correct words to not frighten my poor, unsuspecting mother.

"Have you ever just… needed to do something that could put you in danger? Like, a lot of danger?" My mother burst out into a surprising laughter at my vague words.

"Yes, my son. I know. I know quite a bit about that," My mother laughed, gesturing for me to continue.

"Okay. So, this time, a friend wants me to do that. And I'm going to help her," I could see my mother's expression grow serious. I could see she wished to chime in, but I didn't stop talking. "My friend―Manami―has the right intentions of the general betterment of everyone, but I think her idea is absolute garbage. I don't think there are any better options in the long run, but that doesn't change that her idea is stupid. But it can help people, so I'm going to help her out. People… will suffer if I don't."

My mother frowned.

"I… know a lot about that. More than you probably think, to be entirely honest. Is it dangerous? Could you go to a teacher, or the police, or a Hero Agency about?" My mother asked, and my eyes drifted above her head before I shook mine.

There was certainly a silent, "or me," within her words, but she didn't dare push that line of conversation. I certainly felt my stomach churn at such a realization, but I pushed forward.

"No, I can't go to any of those. The worst part of it all is, if I don't do anything here, the problem could become worse for a whole lot more people. This could be… this could make everything so much worse."

"Everything? What do you mean by 'everything'?" My mother questioned, but a silent look from me gave her everything she needed. "Ah. Everything, got it."

I don't know what she thought everything was, but I'm pretty sure she had a similar idea to what I was thinking.

"So, what should I do?"

My mother's face softened, "Well, even if I told you that I'd ground you forever and take away all of your privileges, you'd just do it anyways, so… do as you want." Her words were simple, but after a moment of silence, she continued.

"This life is only worth living if you live it without regrets. But I will only allow you to leave if you promise me that you'll back out at the first sign of real life-threatening danger. My son can be arrested, my son can be a vigilante, my son could even be a madman of a villain, but you―my son―cannot die here. I cannot handle that," My mother's voice was strong, firm. She wasn't normally like this, so I took her words with absolutely sincerity.

"This life isn't fair, my son. It will kick you down and beat you as you try your damnedest to fight back. You're guaranteed to lose a thousand times before the world even thinks about giving you one victory. Fight, my son. Fight against a world which wants you to fail," She was serious, solemn. I had never seen her so serious.

I nodded once.

"I understand. I promise you; I will come back. And when this is all done and over, I'll train to become a hero. In fact, I'll become the strongest hero that the world has ever seen!" I grinned, causing my mother to laugh.

"Ah, there you go. That's my stupid son!"

"Did you really have to add stupid…?"

I shook my head and turned on my heel, taking a deep breath. My mother spoke up before I could.

"You're sure you don't need any help? Even if I'm your mom of all people, I'll drop everything in order to help you," My mother reassured me, but I shook my head.

More accurately, I forced myself to shake my head.

Based on what was above her head, I wanted her help more than I wanted the help of anyone else in this world. After all, I knew I could trust her. She was my mother of all people.

But I couldn't. I wouldn't. Pulling her into my mess would only make things worse for us as a duo. If it's just me, I can figure it out. If it was the both of us, our entire lives could be at stake. So….

"Nah, I'm cool. After all, bringing my mom to a party with older kids would be so lame," I shrugged.

My mother let out a sad sigh, nodding, "Okay, okay. I'm trusting you. I'll be here, just waiting for you. If anything big happens, I'll be there, okay?"

"Alright," I turned and turned open the handle to my front door before stopping abruptly.

Did I… should I…?

"Hey Mom, I'm gonna be turning in the work for the next month of school early. I'll be missing class every day to train so…." I shrugged nonchalantly, almost shocked by Mom's laughing sigh.

"Jeez, I've made such a troublesome son, haven't I?" She joked, and I couldn't help but smile at her words.

"Well, I guess I come from a troublesome mother," I turned around, giving her a smile and a thumbs-up. "I'll be back, alright?"

"Okay. If you ever need anything, remember that I'm here," Mom smiled.

I gave her a nod and glanced above her head before turning and walking out the door.

As I Dashed towards the forest, I sighed, the thoughts of my mother's title and name vivid within my mind.

[???]

[Lv. ???]

[Saiko Mineta]