Chapter 7: Memory

The bright blue gradually receded, and Izuku emerged, holding Momo in his hands. She glimpsed most of the city after the blue flash faded. It was the roof of his apartment building—a place where Izuku and Momo would retreat when they sought solitude. The doors were always locked, and no one visited this place. To get in, they would use magic; phasing through doors, unlocking them with magic and locking them after, busting them, repairing them, or other ways that didn't require the keys.The place was very plain at first: a railing on the edge and an empty middle. But that was boring for Momo and Izuku; they brought many furniture parts and made something to cover them, to shield them from the weather. Many of the items were ruined, having been left neglected. Some of the books they brought were ruined by rain, since their covers had not been maintained. Some of the chairs were destroyed, and a couch had holes in it and likely rats as well.Izuku missed hanging out here; those were good memories that both of them had forgotten about.He placed Momo on the few intact pillows he could find. There wasn't much to do except wait; he couldn't do anything, which frustrated him on many levels. He felt helpless.Izuku was about to call his mother to explain the situation, only for his phone to die in his hands. He also couldn't do much with magic; he used a lot of mana in the illusion, and he would only be back at full capacity in about an hour. There were less than 10 spells he could muster up and most were useless in this situation, except the one he had already cast.Memory manipulation and reading don't require a lot of mana except for the linking process, which he had already done. But another dilemma awaited him. He wanted to hear it from Momo, from her mouth, willingly. But on the other side, based on the situation and his pushing today, that had a low likelihood of happening.He pondered it for a considerable amount of time, almost an hour. He only knew what time it was thanks to the watch on his hand and the small arrow 10 minutes away from the full circle. In the beginning, he tried to find other resources for mana, mainly from rats. Living creatures release mana after they die, so if he killed enough of them, he could gather some mana for his use, but that proved ineffective. Finding only one rat already dead drained off everything, so he ended up in the waiting game. At the 20-minute mark, he sent the message to his mother through a wave manipulation with magic. He scanned the whole area at the 40-minute mark, looking at who was home and who was out of town.Seeing as there weren't any signs that Momo might wake up, it seemed unlikely until she suddenly spoke. "I can... you.. have..... no... believe me..." There were a lot of things that could go wrong if he woke her now with traditional nudging and shaking but with no other option and with time running out, he shouted, "Momo, get up!"Grunting sounds came from her as she stirred. He tried again with nothing except the same response. The third time he tried, she opened her eyes in a flash, and her right arm quickly moved toward Izuku to remove the hand he had put on her shoulder. She rolled away in an instant after that, her hands stretching before her. One lit up with faint pink, activating her quirk, and one with sky blue for her magic."Third time's the charm," he muttered before slowly taking one step back for Momo to observe her and calm down. Every time after her panic attacks, she would be terrified of everything around her, weary of every danger, walking on her toes until she found someone she could trust to calm down. Izuku was well aware of that, so he tried to make his whole body visible so that he was the first thing Momo would see.Her eyes darted in many directions, stopping a few times for a second. They calmed down as Momo gazed around. Taking in where they were and who was here. "Izuku...the roof," she mumbled to herself, curling into a ball. Her head was buried between her hands, and her forehead rested on her knees.Izuku approached Momo cautiously, his footsteps soft and deliberate. He knelt down beside her, placing a gentle hand on her back. "Momo, it's okay," he whispered. "What did you see?" Momo asked in a weak voice."Just as I already told you, I didn't dig any deeper," he responded as he sat next to her. "You don't have to tell me if you don't wanna.""Then why is there a memory link?" Momo asked with a little smile, passing weakly through her words. "I can't talk about it; just read my damn memories." A tear fell from her face to the floor."Are you sure?""Yes, I am sure."Still hesitant, Izuku started to strengthen the link bit by bit. Soon, his vision began to fade, and everything started gaining the color blue until it switched to black all of a sudden. He hated using this spell on Momo, with or without permission, but it never stopped him when he needed to use it.The black void was filled with circles containing gray moving images, each connected to the other by a light blue string, creating a net in the empty space. Izuku's job was to find the specific bubble and enter it for the purpose of witnessing it like Momo. However, finding the corresponding one was a tedious process that revealed more information than was required or intended.The memories weren't sorted in any way, it was a complete mess. So in his search, Izuku came across some from when Momo was a child. He tried not to watch those he wasn't supposed to and he tried to concentrate on the one from a few nights ago. He tried to spot it by looking for the silhouette of her father, but didn't succeed. In the end, he came across it by complete accident.As he entered it, he was overtaken by a gray mist covering everything, not allowing him to see anything. After a few moments the mist reformed into gray silhouettes. As fast as the mist changed its form, it changed its color,now gaining cobalt blue outlines and vintage blue cores.They started moving before Izuku could recognize anything. The only thing he managed to spot was Momo as he stood behind her. Even finding her had been difficult because of her different get-up and surroundings.Figures gained color not long after; the colors glitched and more often than not escaped the bodies they were supposed to be in. Soon, sound came to the memory; it was more unclear than usual but audible enough to understand what someone was saying.Izuku was following Momo the whole time; the moment she started walking, he passed through walls and other people to keep up with her. It seemed she was headed to a restaurant. Izuku's English wasn't the best, but he managed to read the sign in front: "White Dove."The inside was, as the name suggests, white, a floor made from marble, walls painted in pale paint, and tables made from the lightest birch Izuku had ever seen."Takasi Yaoyorozu?" Momo asked as she stood in front of the host, who was typing on the computer and checking the names. "Here, madam," he signaled with his hand for her to follow him.He led her to the stairs, distanced a few meters from the table. They led up to the next floor, which didn't have a single wall; it was completely encased in glass. Usually in New York, this kind of architecture would lead to an unpleasant view of the city, but not this time. The restaurant was by the edge of Manhattan on higher ground, looking to the Hudson River and the boats that passed through the night on it.The tables weren't placed in any particular order; the only thing that they had in common was a view outside that was easy to achieve. Out of seven tables, only two were occupied, the one with a couple enjoying the meal and the one on the opposite side that a black-haired man with a chubby face occupied, waiting for someone.His eyes were even darker than Momo's, and his hair was covered with hair creams to hide the spiked ends. His dark suit was stretched in the stomach area due to the excess weight piled up with his lifestyle.There wasn't anything on his table except a wine bottle that he took a sip from time to time. Tadashi came early and waited for some time, following his favorite saying that he preached to everybody: "Early means ready."Momo sat on the chair pulled out by a staff member who appeared out of nowhere. The enormous menu waited for her on the table, indicating to the staff member where her father had prepared for her to sit."Welcome, Momo," Takshi said, gesturing at the table in front. "Good evening, father," Momo responded as she took the seat on the other side of the table. She slid through the menu, pretending to look for something interesting; in fact, she already knew what she wanted. Just a normal meal, nothing fancy."Let's order something, and you can talk about the meetings," he said before taking another sip from his glass. "I want to hear your opinion.""Well, there isn't a lot to say; I can explain it in seven words." She answered with a dull voice. "There isn't a single offer worth your money.""Really? What makes you say that?" he said, laying his bottle on the table as he leaned a little forward."May I take your order?" the waiter interrupted, bringing a second full wine bottle and a clean glass for Momo."Baked lobster tail.""Just a steak."Both answered in unison, just to make him leave. Before he did, he filled half of Momo's battle as he walked backward, slightly bowing."For starters, Jonhon Company is in debt, and they are trying to get out of it with rushed ideas, obviously affecting others," Momo said, following the lead of her father as she took a sip from the wine glass. "Kim and the CdC company don't have enough resources to support the program." She laid back a little before she continued to explain. "Ivan Industry might have everything checked, but they are not to be trusted based on their approach to the topic.""My daughter!" Takashi exclaimed, looking into her eyes. "Why tire yourself with that humble nonsense about being a hero or a doctor when you can lead the Yaoyorozu industry into prosperous times."Momo knew better than to answer; she couldn't afford another argument, she didn't want another one, and she didn't want to tear the family apart more than it already was. All she did was another sip from the glass. She might be below drinking age in both countries, but when she was in private areas with her father, she was allowed to drink as long as she did it 'gracefully.'"You outdid your brother in a week and did what he couldn't do in a year." His arms were crossed, his stance firm, his face stiff, covered with pride and shame, each directed at someone else."Don't talk about Jun like that; all he needed was more knowledge and a little bit of experience.""Knowledge and experience, you say. He had two years of experience when he lost billions of yen." Shame took his face, and the places that were showing little pride for Momo now showed disgust for her brother."Remember, Momo, one small mistake in that gig of yours, and it's over."It was devastating for Izuku to hear what happened, let alone for Momo, who experienced it. He wanted to look and listen further, but the shaking made him think twice. He was perfectly still, and the thing that was shaking was everything except him, but he somehow felt it.Soon, the blue waves came from the corners of his eyes, slowly blinding him. His other senses dulled as well. The first thing he felt was two hands placed next to his eyes as a powerful smoke filled his nose."Izuku!""Izuku, wake up."High-pitched screams called after him, but Izuku wasn't waking up. Overstimulation led to a terrible headache; his head was burning, his head felt like it was constantly being hit with a brick. Thoughts escaped at an alarming speed, he desperately tried to complete at least one incantation to escape the mindscape."Izu–ahhh."Screams became louder as the words became disfigured. Except for himself and his will, something else was trying to wake him up. Where he failed miserably, the mysterious force succeeded as his eyes were forced open.Upon seeing Momo rolling on the floor, screaming in pain, his immediate reaction was to stand up and help her. The only thing was that he couldn't move; his arms and legs twitched in an attempt, but it didn't work out.Her screams eventually calmed down; however, the slight twitching and moving stayed. Neither of them uttered a word; it was complete silence, enough for the explosions on the streets to gain Izuku's attention. He couldn't see them, and he couldn't turn his head to look at them. He could only hear the violent bursts and breathe in the thick black smoke that managed to climb high enough for it to get to him.Both of them were overstimulated due to the phenomenon when someone disturbed the memory spell, resulting in too much information for both sides. All the target's memories were flashed every second to both the target and caster of the spell, but because of too much information, neither could experience any of it. It rarely resulted in major consequences, usually just a few minutes of paralysis when the spell was undone.However, those few minutes seemed fatal for both of them due to a supposed 'villain attack' happening on the streets. The crackling of lighting exchanged itself with fire every few minutes; the explosions continued to play a scary song to everybody surrounding them; and the roars of wild animals rang through Izuku's ears.He started preparing teleportation spells, not for himself but for Momo. It was his apartment building they were on top of, and there was a high chance that his mother or sister was in when it all started, or they may still be in. He wasn't arrogant or bold enough to think he may stand a chance in the encounter. His plan was pretty cowardly: go in, find them, and escape. That was how a normal person in his situation should think.However, as Izuku lay on the rooftop, his heart was pounding with fear. Every shout and cry for help from people down on the streets intensified the pounding in his chest. Police sirens and chantings of heroes' names on the streets didn't mean or help him at all.Jerking his head a little, clenching his fist, moving ever so slightly, he was slowly regaining control over his body. He was finally in a position to see what was happening instead of just hearing it. In a mess of flames and smoke, he managed to differentiate the woman causing the floods around her and a man dressed all in orange causing the explosions with a swing of his arm. A woman was breathing fire from her mouth as she ran with a man who destroyed everything around her with his agility only.Between different colors and dressing styles, Izuku caught one similarity. Their left hands were engulfed in an obnoxious red light with a black circle on their wrists. The group of ten heroes managed to distract their group and invoke a fight with them.The most promising and easily the most powerful among them were Kamui Woods and Death Arms, engaged in their respectful one-on-one battles. Two heroes who could fly separated themselves from the group as well. Their flying abilities were much more useful for saving than for fighting.And that was the cue for Izuku. He may be capable of teleporting, so forceful removal from the location didn't restrict or worry him at all. The question he would get when they caught him on top of the roof would be a much greater nuisance.Barely capable of moving anything with all of his strength, Izuku raised his hand towards Momo and uttered: "Pre spatium permoves." The bright blue flash covered Momo as she disappeared with it, safely teleported to her home.Next on Izuku's to-do list was to conceal himself until he returned to normal. With his body somewhat curled in as he sat on the edge, it was easier to cast an efficient illusion spell. Soon, blue smoke came out of his hands, dragging over his body and bending light to make him invisible. It's time to play the waiting game.