Chapter 9: Mutations
"How are you not drunk?" She asked the million cap question.
"Mutations," I sighed and answered her truthfully. "Trust me, they're a pain in the ass."
"Mutations?" She asked, "Like mutation-based quirks?"
"Close, but not quite." I sighed and began telling her. "These mutations are due to radiation or other outside effects affecting me. For example, due to one instance of radiation combined with a certain chemical, I absorb sunlight like a plant. The result was that I have a regeneration factor in sunlight."
"Really?" She asked with disbelief in her eyes. "Sounds like science fiction."
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I shrugged and saw that the sun had risen during our talk. Seeing was believing after all. So I stripped off my leather jacket and held my arm up to the sun that was shining through the window. Nemuri was confused as to what I was doing. But her eyes widened suddenly as I pulled a knife and made a shallow cut on my arm.
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"Why would you do that?!" She screamed and then flinched at how loud she was.
"Watch," I told her and she did.
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Just as the sunlight touched the cut, my skin turned a shade of green. Not a sickly green, more along the lines of a plant green. Nemuri watched as the cut slowly started to stitch itself up. And in less than 30 seconds, the cut was gone. Not even a scar was left.
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"Impossible..." She whispered, hoping her eyes were playing tricks on her. "Radiation shouldn't be able to do anything like that."
"Well, I did say, 'along with a certain chemical'," I told her as she pushed herself up and came over to inspect my arm. "This was just the ending result. And one of my many mutations."
"How many do you have?" She asked, "If they're anything like this, then they could be considered Quirks."
"I rather not say." I spoke in a low tone, "There are some things I rather keep close to my chest. Like any good poker player." My tone was somber.
"I understand," She spoke, "I know what it's like to keep secrets close to your heart. I have a few that not even Aizawa knows and I trust him with my life."
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I nodded my head, understanding what she meant. We talked for a bit before I told her to get some sleep as her eyes were beginning to droop. After that, I left her room and headed back toward my dorm. I wasn't surprised to find Aizawa standing there waiting for me.
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"You didn't take advantage of her did you?" He asked and I could tell he was ready to attack me should I say yes.
"I may be a lot of things, but I ain't no scumbag," I spoke as I rolled my eyes at him. "She wouldn't let go when we got here. I sat on the ground with her in my lap and waited for her to wake up. Once she was up and off of me, I put her into her bed. We chatted for a bit then I left." I spoke truthfully. "Anything else?"
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Aizawa didn't say a word. He just looked at me for a moment. Then, without a word, he turned and left. I sighed, knowing what type of person he was. He may not seem like it, but he was one of the people that values his friends and doesn't trust people easily.
Once he was gone, I entered my dorm while checking my [Pip-boy] for the time. It was close to six in the morning and classes started at nine. So I had a little over three hours before I had to deal with a bunch of hormone-driven teens. I couldn't help but sigh, wishing Arcade was here. He would have loved teaching those brats. After all, he did teach wasteland kids the basics of survival and numbers. Hell, I wonder what each of my family would teach if they were teachers.
Arcade would teach sciences with all the state-of-the-art things they had here. Boone would most likely try to teach the kids how to scout should they break through his cold exterior. Lily would probably teach the kids how to sew and assassinate someone with a sewing needle. Raul would be teaching mechanics to those in the support classes. Cass would probably just get drunk and harass the students, or teach them how to brew booze. Veronica would just be gushing over all the tech that is just laying around along with her wife Christine.
ED-E and Rex would just become the school's mascots.
I just giggled at the thoughts of them and their reactions to me being a school teacher. Boone would be surprised, that's for sure. Arcade would praise me before laughing when he finds out about me being swindled into it. Lily would support me in my endeavors. Cass, well, she would laugh and be drinking at the same time. Veronica and Christine would be okay as teachers, after nearly blowing up the school once or twice.
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My thoughts came to an end when I heard a knock on my door. Grunting, I got up off my bed and walked towards my door. On the other side, I was met with 13, the space-themed heroine in her spacesuit. She had her helmet in her hands and her galaxy-like eyes stared into my gray ones.
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"Hello, 13," I greeted her as she usually didn't speak with me.
"Please, call me Anan when my helmet's off," Anan spoke politely.
"What can I do for you at this hour?" I asked, being polite.
"Well, it's just that I never thanked you for saving my life," She sighed and told me then bowed. "If it weren't for your quick thinking, I wouldn't be here today. Thank you."
"Stand up," I sighed. "Trust me, saving you wasn't my plan. You were just a bystander that needed help, you were in the right place at the right time."
"Be that as it may, you still did save my life," Anan said as she looked directly into my eyes and I could see the unwavering conviction in them. "And I can't repay you enough for that."
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It took me almost an hour to convince Anan that she did not need to pay back the life debt she thought she had with me. She was stubborn about it but my charisma managed to win out. Our talk lasted for a few hours, and by the time we were finished, classes were about to start. When the two of us realized it, we ended up running toward our classes. For me, class 1-A, and for her, class 2-C.
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x-x-x-x-x
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"Alright brats, the results for the exam to make up for the sports festival are in," I announced to the class with Aizawa in a sleeping bag by my side. "Now then, the exam, as you know, was in two parts. A written portion and the physical. I won't drone on, so here you go. Remember, this exam was out of 200 points. Don't bitch about your score."
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The exam in question was held a day after the sports festival was attacked and went on for two days. The first day was the written part of the exam. The written part took up most of the day in which the students had to go through all that they learned from all their classes. From basic maths to heroing laws and types of heroes. The second part was a mock exercise where they had to operate either alone or with a randomly chosen team among the classes.
I wasn't allowed to watch the exams. Why? I don't know. I was tasked with roaming the school looking for anything that stood out. During my walk, I did find several corners where the security cameras had blindspots. I notified Nezu about them and went on my way.
Anyway, here were the results for Class 1-A. Bakugo scored the highest with 189 points alone. Yaoyorozu, or Momo for short, scored second with 188 points in a team. Todoroki scored third with 184 points alone. Fourth was Midorya with 180 points with a team. And finally in fifth was oddly enough Mineta with 173 points who fought alone.
I swear that kid somehow managed to cheat in the exam. But it wasn't my job to be skeptical of students' abilities.
Anyway, once the results were up, the students were either happy with their scores or down in the dumps. For me, my job was done and Aizawa was to take over from here.
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"Quite down," Aizawa spoke and the entire class became silent in less than a second. "Now then, your Hero Internships have been decided for you based on your results. Those of you who have two or more, are those who received an invitation from Heroes that watched the first race. I don't expect you to understand but to accept what you got. But one thing is missing before you head off to your internships."
"Codenames!" Midnight shouted as she slammed open the door. "Due to how irregular things have been in the past few weeks, this was the soonest we could do them."
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She then went on about the dos and don'ts of picking their names. I zoned out as this wasn't my area of expertise. I mean, Six was just what I could remember about who I was. I still know jack shit about what my real name is or where I'm from. As I mentally grumbled about being unable to remember shit, I tuned into the kids picking their codenames.
Tsuyu Asui went for the name 'Froppy', the rainy season hero. Mina Ashido got stuck with the name 'Pinky'. Ochaco Uraraka picked the name 'Uravity'. Koji Koda went with the Petting Hero, 'Anima'. The bird-headed teen known as Fumikage Tokoyami went with the edgy name of Jet-Black Hero: Tsukuyomi. The last to go was Izuku Midoryia who went by the name 'Deku'.
Some had weird names, some went with just their names, and others were outright stupid. But again, not my problem. I was just here against my will as a teacher.
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"Okay, now that you've chosen your hero codenames, it's time for you to pick your internship workplace," Aizawa stated. "You have til tomorrow to choose. Good luck." He then promptly fell back asleep.
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The class then started to murmur amongst themselves, talking about their choices and who they would intern with. I nodded when I heard a few of them make smart choices like Froppy choosing to go with a water-based hero or Uravity going with a battle-heavy hero to make up for their shortcomings. Tokoyami was surprised when he got an invitation from the Winged Hero: Hawks. Me, I wasn't surprised as Hawks was always looking for people like him.
Hey, I did my homework during my off time. So I know about the stupid hero ranking system and the popularity system as well. I even have the top ten heroes memorized in case I have to deal with them.
I may or may not have also found out about the Hero Public Safety Commission's dirty deeds. About certain heroes that are killers and stay out of the spotlight. And about what happens when those heroes crack under the pressure.
I wasn't even surprised at what I found out about the Hero Public Safety Commission. I knew no matter how bright something was, there was always a shadow waiting behind the light. But I digress, they're not my problem.
For now at least.
Man, I could go for a drink. Then again, Nezu did ask me to keep it to a minimum during the school hours.
So I just pulled out a [Sunset Sarsaparilla] and popped the cap. The ice-cold fizzy drink was a delight as I sipped the carbonated beverage. Man, I could make a fortune if I could recreate all the big name drinks before the war. Nuka-cola, Sunset Sarsaparilla, Vim, Quantum-varieties...
Man, I could see them making me millions.
But that's food for thought for later.