Triumvirate Knights: Chapter 40 (Patreon)

Chapter 40:

Asui wasn’t a very emotive person.

Expressive and blunt; yes. But not emotive. A drawback of her mutation quirk.

Mina on the other hand was very emotive, and expressive and while not blunt per-se she was honest and wore her heart on her sleeve.

As such they tended to get along well, at least in Asui’s humble opinion. From their classes, to their tests together; Tsu had no real complaints.

So it was a little curious that she felt so nervous when she opened the door of her apartment to see Mina standing there with a look on her face that could charitably be called ‘determined’ though it may have qualified more easily for intense or intimidating. Smiles like hers belonged on reporters, TV salesmen...even All Might, occasionally.

“Hi Mina.”

“Hey Tsu.”

Awkward was a funny sort of word.

Still, awkward or not; common decency and ingrained politeness were allowed to take over for Tsu, placing her actions on a sort of fuzzy auto-pilot.

Let Mina inside, offer some water or tea, sit down at the table- that sort of thing.

So by the time she actually had to get into the proverbial ‘driver’s seat’ and not just run on automatic Tsu could at least be content in the knowledge that there’s a rather large mug of warm tea to act as a shield and a convenient distraction in front of her.

“So-” Mina began and Tsu’s insides were fluttering like she just ate a bowl full of live dragonflies. “You and Greenie?”

Asui offered a shrug, trying to seem as careless as possible. Talking about this over text seemed so much easier. “I think I like him.” She admitted; and looked to Mina. “I wanted to know if you did too.”

It wasn’t that surprising when Mina blushed, her cheeks flushing a deep cherry red against her pink skin before the girl looked away.

“I don’t…” Mina sighed. “I don’t think so.” She said; then shrugged after a pause. “He’s one of my best friends. He’s sweet, smart. Kinda dorky.” A fond smile tugged at her lips. “I can see myself liking him-”

“But you don’t right now?” Tsu pressed, just to make sure.

Mina sighed leaning forward, elbow on the table, cheek on her hand. “No… no I don’t right now.”

She didn’t sound certain, but Tsu wasn’t going to get picky. The light was green as far as she was concerned.

“Still-” Mina continued. “What brought this on?” She asked. “You liking Green?”

Tsu shrugged. She isn’t sure honestly. Maybe it started all the way back during the first combat test where they fought against Bakugo and Shoji. Maybe it was the Sports Festival when he tried to save her; or afterwards when he stayed after so many others left

There were a lot of moments that could have been ‘it’ just as easily as it could have been all of them together.

“Like you said-” She answered instead in her typical blunt way. “There’s a lot of things to like.”

Mina offered a cheeky grin, a fang peeking out from between her lips even as she flushes again

“Well-” The pink skinned girl began. “I hope you don’t mind but you and Midori are going right at the top of the chart!” Her smile promised teasing for weeks.

“Right next to you and Kirishima?” Tsu shot back with all the finesse of a point blank shotgun.

“Can’t add what was already claimed.” Mina shot back with finger-guns. Tsu blinked.

(X)(X)(X)

She didn’t get much sleep in the night; her mind whirling too quickly and in too many directions for something like sleep. So she hoped Midori could forgive her for not taking the detour towards his home to check on Eri this morning and that he himself isn’t late to class again; Aizawa may have accepted the excuse yesterday given that it was justified; but she doubted he’d be quite so forgiving two days in a row.

As such; even though she had a bit of a headache from lack of sleep she was, nevertheless very much on time before the bell rang for first period in UA when she heard the, uncharacteristically cracking voice of Bakugo scream out a rather distressed-

“Deku- What the Fuck!?”

“I can explain!”

Oh, so Izuku was here, and not late.That was good.

“It better be a good fucking explana-mphfh”

As Asui rounded the corner to enter their classroom she found the rather surprising and somewhat delightful smell of freshly baked cookies.

One of them was currently being stuffed into Bakugo’s mouth.

“It's too early to be shouting so much dear.” A green haired woman muttered, little Eri holding a tray of cookies next to her. Ochako, Mina and Jirou were gushing over how cute she was.

The woman reached over, grabbing a cup of something before shoving it into Bakugo’s hand and manhandling him towards his seat. “Here. Now have some tea and take your seat Katsuki-chan. Class will start soon.”

Bakugo let himself get shoved towards his seat, but his red eyes glowed like embers as he glared at a nervous looking Izuku as the woman kept handing everyone a cookie and a cup of tea.

Asui was very confused; but took the offered confectionery with a grateful, albeit bemused smile.

The woman even knew her name. Maybe Izuku told her.

Were they siblings? Izuku hadn’t mentioned an older sibling.

They must be, given the woman’s a perfect blend of Izuku and a younger Ms. Midoriya

“Hi Eri-chan.” She whispered. Eri nodded back, stuttering out her own greeting as she and Izuku’s sister walked around the room, distributing cookies.

By the time they got done everyone in the class had one cookie. Although she’s pretty sure Mina and Tooru stole Kirishima’s and Tokoyami’s.

Aizawa walks in, and Eri leans up on her tiptoes to hand him his cookie.

“Class.” Aizawa drawled, smoothly taking the treat without looking at her. “This is Eri, and Mrs. Midoriya. Due to extenuating circumstances they’ll be… attending classes for a short while. I expect everyone to treat them with respect and not let this be a distraction.” He took a rather noisy bite of his cookie. “Do I make myself clear?”

Mrs. Midoriya?!

Asui felt her eyes swivel over towards the nervous looking, rather thin, young woman who waved hesitantly at the class.

She looked to the rather nervous Izuku, and followed the death glare demanding an explanation still being given by Bakugo.

Hmmm…

She was confused.

(X)(X)(X)

It wouldn’t be until lunch hour that answers would be given.

Well… demanded really.

“Deku!” Bakugo snarled, pops and cracks from his quirk crackling along his palms. “I’m gettin real tired of all this weird shit going on around you! Now why the fuck does your mom look like she wound back the clock ten fucking years!?”

“Ahh… well… yeah- funny story that-”

“Wait- Midoriya that’s your mom!?” It was Kuroiro who asked the question. “Not gonna lie; she kinda hot-”

“Ahh well tha- WAIT WHAT!?” And yup; that was green lightning…

Before the green haired boy could choose violence today the woman in question, humming a happy little tune marched out of the classroom-

And  came back handing everyone lunch bags.

Shoji got grilled cheese.

Bakugo got a turkey club stuffed in his maw to stop the shouting at Kuroiro.

Tsu got Peanutbutter and Jelly.

It was good too.

(X)(X)(X)

Eri

Eri wasn’t entirely sure about everything that had happened over the last day or so.

She only knew that it must’ve been her fault.

It had to be. She used her power and that’s when Ms. Inko changed. And after Ms. Inko changed is when Mr. Aizawa and Ms. Midnight and Mr. Mic had shown up with Zuku

They talked a lot. And Eri had been scared that they’d take her away from Ms. Inko and Zuku. Take her back to the bad place for bad girls.

But they didn’t.

Ms. Inko explained that they had to stay with Mr. Aizawa for a while, at least until they understood what happened to Ms. Inko; Mr. Aizawa could make sure it wouldn’t happen again.

She was scared of Mr. Aizawa. He would hurt her. Stopping her quirk always hurt.

So she tried harder than ever to stop her quirk herself. So Aizawa wouldn’t get mad and hurt her.

Ms. Inko said they should help Zuku and his friends; so Eri tried to help. She tried to keep quiet so Mr. Aizawa wouldn’t notice her. She watched Zuku and Ms. Tsu to see who was safe to be around and who wasn’t.

She didn’t want to be sent away.

After Ms. Inko handed everyone their lunch bags, Eri stood by the door, willing herself to be small and quiet.

Then, there was a touch on her shoulder and Eri tensed just for a moment before she looked up to see Zuku smiling at her.

“Hey Eri; would you like to eat with us today?”

She blinked, turning to Ms. Inko in askance; and the woman nodded with a bright smile over her face.

“Ok.”

She took Izuku’s hand. It was rough, not like Ms. Inko’s hands; hers were soft. But Izuku’s hands were still warm and nice.

(X)(X)(X)

Asui

“Alright Deku fucking spill it! The hell is going on!?”

“Kero; Don’t curse.”

Asui wouldn’t normally care about Bakugo’s language choices; but there was a child sitting at the table today and so the boy had to watch his language.

Bakugo turned his red eyes on her, glaring; Asui met his angry glare with a challenging one of her own.

When Bakugo turned his attention to Eri sitting next to her for a split second he seemed to get the message, scoffing angrily. “Don’t talk like you’re my mother unless you can back it up.” he grumbled before looking towards Izuku again.

“Ahh… well-” Izuku began nervously, starting some form of explanation. “Asui and I-”

“Tsu-”

“Tsu and I.” He corrected “After the… ummm… after the exam-” Tsu noted with some satisfaction a twitch in Bakugo’s facial muscles; what emotion it precisely betrayed she wasn’t sure.”We were on our way home when we found Eri she was… in trouble.”

The blonde bomber was listening intently, as was Shoji, Ochako, Mina, Momo and Kirishima and Iida all sitting at their table

“So you rescued her?” Ochako asked. “Like, when you were walking back to your houses from school?”

“From here to the train; Kero” Tsu nodded.

“That’s so manly!” Kirishima gushed. “How many bad guys were there? What quirks did they have?”

Asui recognized that Kirishima had misunderstood and Izuku hastily began trying to correct him. “O-oh, no it wasn’t that dramatic.” He said; but Tsu could recognize the questions starting to form in the minds of their classmates.

“It's not really table conversation.” She hastily cut in and tossed a look towards Eri who nibbled on her food besides Tsu and Izuku for good measure.

The others seemed to get the hint; and Bakugo simply bulldozed through onto the subject that interested him.

“And your mom?”

If Tsu were being honest- she was curious too.

“Eri activated her quirk by mistake yesterday.” Izuku explained; and Asui saw the little girl cringe, wincing where she sat. She reached over, placing her larger than average hand over the tiny girl’s back, rubbing circles to try and calm her down. She must’ve been very bothered by the accident. “And mom kinda got hit with it; and… well…” Izuku shrugged.

“So now everyone’s staying within line of sight of Aizawa;” Bakugo deduced, very quick to put the pieces together as usual. He stood up from the table. “Fine whatever. Keep anymore weird shit to a fuc-” He must’ve felt Tsu’d pointed stare drilling a hole into the side of his skull. “-a minimum Deku”

He stalked off, apparently ready to go finish off the other half of his sandwich somewhere else.

Tsu considered things for a moment; a quick little plan forming in her mind.

“Kero, Midoriya?”

The green haired boy turned to her, blinking with open curiosity.

“Maybe we can take Eri for an ice cream or something after class.” She offered. “Show her around the area.”

She could feel Mina’s sly smirk somewhere behind her.

Was it manipulative and underhanded? Maybe. Was she above such tactics?

Clearly not.

Oblivious, Izuku nodded, smiling. “Sure; that sounds great-” He looked to the girl sitting between them. “Would you like to go Eri?”

Tsu’s tiny wing-girl nodded. “Ok.”

(X)(X)(X)

Melissa

If you were to judge by the impressions of someone like say, Hatsume, what the support course was like you’d think it was nothing but building stuff that (half the time) blew up.

That was certainly a part of it. A pretty big chunk really (the building part, not the exploding part) but if it were to be properly quantified it was roughly thirty percent of the course. The rest of it was of course spent in the classroom.

Calculations. Formulas, experiments, troubleshooting, quirk synergies, endless hours of research. There was a lot that went into even the ‘simplest’ support item. Even right down to the ‘fittings’ needed for any individual body type; which was complicated a hundred fold if the quirk was a mutation quirk or a shape shifter or any number of other considerations.

Was their quirk like Yaoyorozu’s that required exposed skin? Did the material need to be resistant to corrosion like Ashido’s? Did it need high tensile strength like Kirishima’s? Was it a custom design like Aizawa’s? Did it have extremely specific requirements like Togata’s?

On and on the lists went, until by the time the actual support item was being built the crafter knew more about the wielder than they did the item.

Even for a relatively ‘baseline’ design like anything made for Terry or Izuku required extremely detailed information about them, from their measurements down to their shoe sizes and height to how much grip strength and punching power they could deliver reliably.

So it was no surprise really that sometimes, just sometimes Melissa and indeed other support students would choose to forgo lunches with their peers in the crowded mess hall and opt for something… quieter. Much quieter, something where they might even forgo lunch altogether and just sleep for a solid hour.

Not that she was planning to sleep, but a quiet lunch was definitely in the cards today.

So, she was somewhat surprised and maybe even a little dismayed when she stepped out of her workstation to find none other than Aiya Rivu waiting for her.

The blonde blinked, confused and curious but not overly alarmed. “Rivu?”

“Wayne.” The dark skinned young woman nodded. “I…” She hesitated; just for a moment. “-have a question.” She gestured down the hall. “Can we talk?”

“Sure.” Melissa’s answer was more reflex than anything. Tired or not; it wasn’t right to not help when she could.

Turning and walking down the hall with the upperclassman; she wondered what exactly Rivu wanted to ask her. Most likely it had something to do with Terry, Beyond a suit that could handle her shapeshifting; Rivu was notorious for not using any support gear at all, so she doubted the Water Dragon had suddenly changed her mind on that front.

Still she didn’t have to wait long; reaching one of the UA courtyards they took their seats in one of the empty outside tables.

Rivu’s features were serious and her eyes staring off into the distance seemingly contemplating her question.

Finally, Melissa just decided to breach the subject.

“Is this about Terry?” She asked.

“In a way.” The upperclassman nodded. “I… have a hunch…” She answered vaguely before turning and looking at Melissa.

“How did you and Terry meet?” She asked. “More specifically; how was it; that he became Batman.”

Melissa blinked, then her own expression turned stony.

“That’s rather private.” She said. “What makes you think those subjects are related?”

“Like I said-” Rivu shrugged. “I have a hunch.” She stared at Melissa. “Am I wrong?”

She wasn’t…

Melissa averted her eyes, turning her head away as she weighed her next words.

“Part of me wants to tell you its none of your business… or that its not my story to tell.” She shrugged. “But- realistically; I’m probably the only one who would even consider giving you a straight answer.”

“Yes.” Rivu seemed to sigh. “I noticed how evasive McGinnis gets whenever the subject came up.”

“So you came to me.” Melissa concluded. “Why do you want to know?”

“He is my partner.”

“That’s a reason, but it’s not your reason.”

The young woman let out a snort that may have been a laugh before she grew serious again.

“Curiosity?” She shrugged.

“Or envy?” Melissa shot back. “Want to know how he landed the ‘dream job’ and you didn’t?”

She didn’t answer; but she didn’t deny it either.

Melissa took a deep, slow breath.

“I met Terry just a few years ago…” She began. “I was… fourteen… he was fifteen.” That was right; yes? Hard to believe it’d already been nearly three years.

“I suppose… he became Batman the day we met. Not officially, of course. But might as well have been.”

(X)(X)(X)

So as you might guess; next chapter we get to see how Terry became Batman and Asui 'subtly' nabbing herself a first date :p

Catch you all in the next one :D