Chapter 1
Obvious Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia or Nier! Both stories would be very different if I did...
A few critical notes!
1) I almost didn't list this as a crossover because the Nier elements are actually pretty minimal. You do NOT need to know pretty much anything about the Neir series to read this. I myself have only played part way through Automata and am leaning heavily on the wiki for the bits I've taken from Nier. No characters other than 2B from Neir will EVER appear in the fic. Any of the very limited knowledge you need of Nier concepts should be explained within the fic itself. Or, at the worst, in a chapter note.
2) UA is a University. However, this is NOT just a handwave so that I can Lewd the characters (there isn't anything more than kissing in the first 40k+). This is a full-on conversion of UA into a University, complete with heavy-duty restructuring of how its courses work. It's never made any sense for 15-year-olds to be training as heroes. That's purely an artifact of the Shonen age group My Hero Academia is aimed towards. I've put a LOT of effort into restructuring my version of MHA around it being a University, which will cause some major changes in places. Though, YES, I will eventually include a few lemons for Izumi/Momo. And possibly for one other girl that might join them. I haven't actually decided on that yet. No, it won't go full harem even if I make it a trio.
3) Some canon events will happen. Do not expect them to play out the same. Do not expect the same people to be friends. Do not assume basically anything from canon will play out the same. Canon and I barely talk to each other most days, for any fic I write.
4) Izumi is NOT Izuku. Part of the reason I changed Him into Her was to make 2B riding along less awkward. However, the rest of the reason was as a way to make the difference between Explicitly clear. Izumi will still have some traits in common with Izuku, but she's going to grow up in a VERY different environment, with extremely different influences. She will be a hell of a lot more competent than Izuku ever was, and considerably less socially awkward. Though she's still hardly an extrovert.
5) Izumi isn't going to get One for All. The reason? She bloody well doesn't need it. When I first conceived this fic, I tried to get a handle on just how relatively strong 2B actually IS. Eventually, I was able to track down the work some very awesome (if also very obsessive) people have done over at the VS Battle Wiki. Which breaks down shown/known feats for various characters and attempts to rank their power level. To my surprise, 2B is actually THE SAME RANK as All Might. Possibly a little weaker, but certainly in the same weight class. Given that Izumi will eventually have all of 2B's strength, giving her One for All as well would have been hilariously overkill.
6) Despite appearances, Izumi isn't actually going to be that OP by MHA standards. At the start of canon events, she'll be a lot stronger than Izuku would have been for years...but she'll be suffering a similar endurance issue as All Might. Only even worse. She IS going to be stronger and more capable than canon Izuku. But I think I've kept her within reason, despite appearances at times.
Now, enough from me! Onto the fic...
FYI: This is being crossposted from Ao3. I also have a P-atreon with a few early-release chapters. But I'll save talking about that until I've caught this up to the Ao3 release.
Chapter 1: New Beginnings
-The Void?-
2B never expected to get an answer to the question, "Do androids have souls?"
Yet, as she hovered in darkness, awareness returning to her after she knew perfectly well she'd died for good, 2B was suddenly left wondering if maybe they did. She didn't know how long she wondered over that. None of her internal systems seemed able to calculate time in…whatever this place was. For that matter, she couldn't really access her internal systems. Probably, she assumed, because they no longer existed. However long the silent darkness lasted, it was finally broken by a tiny spark of light, a floating ember that hovered before her…face? She wasn't sure she had a face, in this place. But it hovered near something that approximated one. Then, only half to her surprise, it spoke.
"Such a loyal little spark, with such a sad end. Tell me, little one, would you like another chance to serve your masters? A real chance, rather than a lie? It wouldn't be quite the same…"
Images suddenly bombarded 2B, thousands of flashes of another Earth, of a green haired human girl with a blinding smile. Images of a dark fate coming for them, just as it had her own Earth, though wearing a different form. Images of Maso, of how it had already reached this world…but how the humans here had mutated in a way those of her reality had not. Hope. But only a tiny, flickering candle flame of hope, as likely as not to be accidentally snuffed out by the humans themselves, before the true threat could even appear. Purpose stirred in 2B and she spoke. She wasn't sure how she spoke. But she did. Just a single word.
"How?"
More images. It really would be a different fate. Far less autonomy…but did she really need that? If it meant a chance to serve mankind? A different mankind than the one that had made her, perhaps. But mankind nonetheless. A chance to save them from not only what was coming, but from themselves as well. No. A chance like that was worth any inconvenience. And she could already see from the still-flowing images that the inconvenience would not last forever. Even if that, too, would take a different direction than her old life. The answer, to 2B, was obvious.
"Yes."
For just a moment, the dancing spark of light looked…happy? Then, 2B's vision began to fade.
"I'm afraid I can't let you warn them outright. I'm already bending the rules for them as it is, by sending you. But you can at least guide them. Good luck, little spark. I'm counting on you…"
-Shizuoka Prefecture-
"Sorry, there's no chance she'll develop a Quirk. You see this extra join—oof!"
Midoriya Inko stared in shock as a…bolt of telekinetic force? Was that what it had been? Whatever it was, the mother blinked several times as whatever-it-was her five-year-old daughter had just done punched the doctor right in the groin. After several more seconds of gaping at the doctor, who was whimpering on the floor, her mind finally whirred back to life. Surprisingly, the voice in her head sounded suspiciously like Mitsuki as it worked its way past Inko's usual timidity. This…this little shithead had just tried to tell her daughter. HER daughter. That she didn't have a Quirk. With a callous voice that would have shattered her daughter, that had shattered her currently confused looking daughter, when the braindead little fuck had said it the first time. With firmness and poise that would have shocked everyone that knew Inko except Mitsuki, Inko stood and scooped Izumi up into her arms.
"Well, you're clearly a moron. Therefore, we will get a second opinion elsewhere. Fuck you very much for your time."
Her daughter gasped at her mother using a bad word. But Inko ignored it. She as she ignored the renewed agonized sounds from the doctor as a medical textbook 'accidentally' fell off a nearby shelf, straight onto his head…from halfway across the room. She also ignored the mildly-terrified stares from the rest of the medical staff as she marched out of the doctor's office with Izumi on her hip. She was far too busy considering what she needed to do now. First, was set up another appointment for Izumi, this time with a competent Quirk specialist. After that…a call to a certain lawyer she knew from college was in order. And then she needed to pick up the ingredients for Katsudon. It wasn't every day that your little girl got her Quirk, after all…particularly not when that Quirk was a full year late in coming.
...
The highly-recommended Quirk specialist shook her head, even as she went over the file for the third time, eyes occasionally straying to a video on loop as she did. Sighing, she finally gave up and turned to the green-haired woman that was playing with her daughter as she looked everything over. Clearing her throat, she got the pair's attention. Despite her bafflement, a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth at the bright-eyed, beaming grin on the younger greenette's face. Well, even if the news was weird, none of it was bad. She'd just…focus on that for now.
"Well, Mrs. Midoriya, I have to admit that your daughter's case is a strange one. Almost strange enough for me to pity the idiot you're suing…or that would be the case if he'd been honestly confused, instead of using outdated testing methods. As it is, I have to say that Izumi here's case is one of the most unusual I've ever seen. Not in its capabilities, I've seen some very much weirder effects from Quirks, but in their sheer…scope? I suppose that's the best word I can use."
The woman across from her obviously didn't like the uncertainty in the term, her eyes sharpening. But Doctor Nishimura wasn't concerned. There was a reason she was reaching for the right words, after all. A reason she was about to explain.
"As you undoubtedly know, Quirks are normally categorized into one of three general types. Specifically, Heteromorphic, Emitter, and Transformation. Your own weak form of telekinesis is, of course, an Emitter type. Your husband's Quirk is slightly more unusual in that it's a combination Quirk, primarily Emitter, but with a Transformation element. That, honestly, is still a fairly common crossover. A lot of Emitter Quirks come with either Heteromorphic or Transformation components meant to protect the body from backlash. In your husband's case, his throat and mouth gain a nano-carbon coating when he breaths fire, to shield him from his own flames."
As Doctor Nishimura's explanation rolled on calmly, the sharpness faded from Midoriya Inko's expression, being replaced by puzzlement. Clearly, she recognized that the Doctor was leading up to something, but didn't know what.
"What makes your daughter's case so unusual is that it appears to be primarily a Transformation type, with an Emitter component…that also exhibits progressive Heteromorphic changes, as well as sentience. The last one, by the way, is the single most unusual feature of a Quirk. So rare that there are exactly eleven recorded in Japan right now, including your daughter's. Her Quirk has obvious, if radically more powerful, connections to both yours and your husbands. But from there it just seems to have…decided to run off and pick up a dozen other features that don't seem connected at all."
Doctor Nishimura pointed at the screen where the video had been playing and started it from one of her bookmarks, making sure both of her clients were watching before she started it. It played out, showing little Izumi moving around their child-sized obstacle course with fits and starts of clearly superhuman speed, strength, and balance. But then, by skipping forward to another bookmark, a new portion of the test was shown where Izumi had telekinetically picked up a sandbag that weighed more than she did and tossed it to the other side of the room. A quick click to another bookmark point and another portion of the test, a much more tired-looking Izumi sucked on a juicebox…as Doctor Nishimura herself talked to a monitor. A monitor that was not connected to a computer, and was answering questions as fast as the Doctor asked them. Shaking her head, Doctor Nishimura turned off the video and picked up her explanation again.
"I can tell you at least some of what young Izumi can do right now. And, if the information her Quirk itself provided proves to be accurate, I can tell you what she'll have to look forward to in the future as she grows. But I can't even begin to categorize the Quirk itself. It won't be a problem for the official paperwork, sentient status trumps all other Quirk classifications, even if that same status comes with some legal issues of its own. But I can tell you right now that there are going to be a lot of people interested in trying to figure out just what the heck her Quirk actually is, to have all of these effects. I know I'm certainly interested in that question myself, but I'd honestly suggest you think very carefully on who you tell what. Izumi has the type of Quirk that's going to interest people that might not have her best interests at heart. Like some of the HPSC's more questionable programs. Or basically any criminal group on the planet."
Mrs. Midoriya had paled a bit at the last part, clearly attempting to process everything. Eventually, the woman mustered two very important questions. Ones which the doctor had hoped for.
"I…see. Do I need to worry about what your office will report?"
"No." The response was immediate and firm. "Intentionally or not, you came to the right place. Our office often handles legacy hero families. As such, our patient privacy clauses are much more rigid and legally binding than a normal doctor's. I'm obligated to report the sentient status of Izumi's Quirk, under law. But aside from that, I don't need to tell anyone anything…and neither do you. Since sentient status trumps all other Quirk classifications, and this happens so rarely, you actually don't need to tell them much about what else her Quirk can do. The Quirk itself is, ironically enough, covered by its own patient confidentiality. Since it is, for all intents and purposes, another sapient being, it has its own set of rights. Which include not having to provide invasive details about itself."
That clearly set the woman back for a moment. But she rallied after a few seconds and asked the next question. The less important one, but the one that the Doctor knew Izumi was likely waiting for.
"Umm…okay. That's a lot. But you said you know what the Quirk can do?"
Thankful to be heading for more stable ground, the Doctor grinned and directed a wink at the practically-vibrating little girl held in a half-hug by her mother.
"That much, at least, I can tell you. Though, frankly, it's a lot. I'm going to very strongly recommend that Izumi get some sessions with one of our Quirk counselors, and possibly our trainers too. Normally, that would be somewhat expensive. But the Sentient status of her Quirk actually extends a few little-used government benefits for her, which will cover nearly all of the cost."
Grinning as she saw her deflection was making the child nearly die with impatience, Doctor Maya Nishimura turned to the monitor and brought up some scans.
"Now, the first two things to explain are the Transformation element and the Heteromorphic changes it seems to be slowly inducing with every use. Here, we can see the clear influence of her father's own transformative properties. When Izumi 'turns on' her Quirk, her bones and muscle fibers are layered with an immensely tough organic nano-carbon that…"
The explanation would be the first of many given over the years. Eventually leading both Midoriyas into taking numerous online classes so they could even begin to understand half of what was going on…
Chapter 2: Growing Up
-Izumi: Age 6-
"Wait, I can dataize normal things? Not just summon ones you already have a blueprint for?"
"Of course. It should be easier, in fact, since the object is real. Also, I believe the correct term is 'digitize.'"
"Why didn't you tell me I could do that! That would make carrying my school stuff so much easier! Ohhhh and I bet I could do hero stuff with it, too! Like carry extra cookies to give sad people when they're hurt!"
"You didn't ask. You seemed intent on training with basic telekinesis and your partial-transformation strength. As both are core assets to your future skill set, focusing on them made sense to me."
Izumi froze as a thought occurred to her.
"Wait. 2B. How many things other than telekinesis and transformation can I do?"
"Well. Since I was given comprehensive blueprints for all YoRHa models when I became your Quirk, you should be able to do anything any model can do. In theory. Such as…"
Izumi's eyes grew wider and wider, the juice glass and snack she'd been consuming forgotten. She was going to be so awesome! Oh…but she was also going to have so much training to do…
-Izumi: Age 7-
"Ugh! 2B, why is this material so hard to understand!"
"According to my research into human learning. It has to do with the fact that you are seven years old, and this material is usually not covered until a human is in middle school. The enhancements to your memory and processing speed only go so far. Particularly as they are still ongoing."
Izumi pouted at the wall. She really wanted to understand some of the words the Quirk specialists had used about her Quirk. But, when she'd asked, they'd explained that she'd need a serious grounding in biology, engineering, materials sciences, and nanotechnology to truly understand it. That even they were consulting with experts to understand what was happening to Izumi's muscle and bone when she transformed. Let alone to understand the slow process by which those changes were becoming part of Izumi permanently.
They'd indulged her when she'd asked to learn, loading her down with more advanced math books and basic engineering texts. But, as Izumi had been finding out over the last several days, understanding something wasn't the same as memorizing it. She'd already memorized much of it, but she didn't understand very much of it yet. 2B was helping her by providing practical examples for lessons, but it was still going so slowly. She might be old, like twenty or something, before she figured all this out! Sighing and glancing at her favorite poster of All Might, one that featured him working alongside several other heroes at a disaster site, she summoned up her will to be like all of them someday and got back to work…
-Izumi: Age 8-
Izumi scowled at her former friend, standing between him and the boy he'd knocked to the floor with his explosions. It was a surprisingly intimating cowl, coming from an eight-year-old. Though it was possible it had something to do with the way her school uniform was moving and flowing in a non-existent wind.
"Heroes don't beat people up, Bakugo. Take your minions and leave."
Those minions looked more than ready to flee. But, predictably, Bakugo Katsuki did not. He snarled at her, firecracker-sized explosions popping in his palms, even if there was a hint of wariness in his eyes. He already knew that this wouldn't end without a lot of pain if he pushed things. Yet…Izumi pissed him off. They both knew it. And it had only gotten worse now that he knew Izumi was about to escape his immediate orbit by essentially skipping grades. Katsuki, despite being the top of his year now, still had three more years of middle school. Izumi, with the ever-increasing benefits of her Quirk, had qualified for a program meant to deal with those that had intelligence-boosting Quirks. This would be her last year of middle school. In another three months, she would be moved into a private school system that would let her start on high school material, alongside others whose Quirks gave them some sort of academic boost.
Her acceptance into the program had sent Bakugo into a frothing rage, resulting in him actually being suspended from Aldera for three days. He'd only been back for two and a half days since that suspension ended…and it was painfully clear his rage had only been bottled up, not dealt with. Despite knowing most of his anger would fade once she was gone, Izumi wasn't about to let any of that rage spill out on their classmates. She could handle anything he threw at her, and the school wasn't about to let him get away with targeting her, anyway. There was too much attention on her from the advanced program. Aldera would be in for a world of trouble if she was attacked. A point she was sure the principal had driven home to Bakugo, a clear warning that had likely been the only thing holding her former friend back. As it was, one of the minions actually grew a spine. Mostly, she was pretty sure, in self-defense. Both of them had been suspended along with Bakugo, after all.
"Come on, Kats. She'll be gone in a month anyway. Just leave it be."
Unfortunately, the minion hadn't grown a brain along with the spine. Reminding Katsuki of his 'inferiority' was the last thing that the idiot should have done. With a cry of rage, Katsuki launched himself forward at Izumi, palms crackling with explosions...
It was over in an instant. Katsuki had amazing natural instincts and he'd recently figured out how to boost his speed with his Quirk. But Izumi had already had her Quirk active and her speed and reaction time with it engaged were so far beyond human that Katsuki might as well have been standing still. Despite that, and despite her enhanced strength, Izumi was extremely gentle as she grabbed one of his wrists and spun. She pulled him off balance, down to the ground, in a near-flawless execution of a basic Aikido move. A precise strike followed a moment later…and Bakugo slumped into unconsciousness. Izumi sighed, even as she heard the two minions running away. She really hoped she wasn't in trouble for this…
-Izumi: Age 9-
"Are you…serious?"
"Of course. You know I would never lie to you Izumi. I only waited this long to tell you as I deemed it would have been difficult for you to comprehend at a younger age."
That was…absolutely true. After all, even as far ahead of her peers as she was, and as mature as she acted compared to most of them, Izumi was reeling from what 2B had just explained.
"Okay. Okay. So, let me get this straight. I mean, I know I remember it right. But I kinda need to process this. So…you existed before becoming my Quirk. That…I'd honestly sort of figured that out. Kinda. Some of the things you've said over the years made it pretty obvious, even if I hadn't really thought through what it meant."
Izumi closed her eyes, tipping back in her desk chair, very very glad it was the weekend. She had a feeling her poor brain was going to have a lot of trouble understanding all of what 2B had just dumped on her. Not that she was blaming her oldest, closest, and only friend.
"Before being my Quirk…you were an Android. One of what was basically an entire race of Androids. A race created by a dying humanity, in a reality other than this one. You're…completely sure that it was another reality? Not, like, the future of ours?"
"I am 99.596% sure. It took some time to correlate the data, particularly given how much was lost both to my people and to this world regarding the most relevant time periods. From everything I have been able to compile, however, the first appearance of a Quirk matches almost exactly with the first recorded case of White Chlorination Syndrome in my original reality. I have also detected considerable levels of ambient Maso in your atmosphere. The levels are lower than my original world, however. My current theory is that the same event which caused Maso contamination and WCS in my original reality also affected 'nearby' realities. Such realities only got a fraction of the dose, rather than lethal levels, and it resulted in mutation of your humanity to use Maso, instead of being destroyed by it. Thus, Maso is identical to Quirk Energy, which I have been referring to as QE for both you and your doctors. Humans are absorbing it and using it to fuel singular abilities, 'Quirks,' with those abilities growing in power as farther generations are born with more refined absorption and conversion abilities."
Izumi felt faint. All this time, nearly 200 years, with no one on the entire planet having any real idea where Quirks had come from. And now she had a working theory…one with significant evidence to back it up if 2B's scans of 'Maso' and 'QE' were truly as identical as she said they were. At the very least, it meant that she knew the energy was extra-dimensional in origin. And, presumably, no one else knew it. Izumi's mind was blown. Eventually, after a long, long pause to try and process that, Izumi gulped and took a deep breath.
"Okay, 2B. I think you need to start from the beginning…"
- Izumi: Age 10-
"You know you can't keep this up, Izumi. It's not healthy for humans to have so little social contact."
Izumi flinched, reaching for the obvious excuse.
"I don't know what you mean. I have plenty of contact, between mom and you, 2B. Not to mention my trainers!"
"You know full well that your mother and trainers don't fulfill all your complete psychological needs. And I'm even less suitable. I still struggle to understand humans."
"You're getting there, 2B! You're loads better than you were at first! I mean, you even realized that…" Izumi groaned. "Damnit, 2B. Stop using the psychology books you memorized to make me admit my problems. It's not exactly playing fair."
Izumi could feel her constant companion's smug smirk as 2B replied.
"Now that you've admitted it. I've identified an ideal candidate that would make a good friend for you."
Izumi whimpered…but 2B was literally inside her head. Unless she flat out ordered the Android to stop, something she hated doing, 2B would continue to harass her about this until Izumi at least heard her out.
"Fine. Who does my oh-so-amazing-at-humans Quirk think would make a good friend for me?"
"Why, the only one keeping up with you in class, of course. Even better, she appears to be as socially isolated as you are, so any mistakes are likely to be forgiven."
Izumi blinked. Wait, what? The only person that was keeping up with her was…but she was…surely she wasn't as isolated as…
"Explain why you think that please…"
- Izumi: Age 11-
Momo's head cocked to one side, looking adorable with their prototype covering her eyes like a bulky blindfold. She frowned, then sighed.
"Damn. The eye-tracking was a good idea Izumi, but it's still not fast enough. I just don't know that anyone without some sort of cyberpathy is going to be able to get full use out of these visors."
Izumi slumped, nodding agreement with Momo as the other girl took the crude replica of a YoRHa tactical visor off. The thing would have been completely impossible for them to make, regardless of 2B providing the full specs on it, if it hadn't been for Momo's Quirk. It had been a bit mind-breaking for poor Momo when Izumi casually informed her new friend, almost a year ago now, that 'no' her Quirk wasn't what she thought it was. Momo had been resistant to the idea, having been seen by high-priced Quirk counselors from a young age…right up until Izumi asked her where she got the programming for the electronics she could make.
Her inability to answer that question had caused a bit of an existential crisis for Momo. Followed by her bringing it up to her parents…followed by lawsuits against several expensive-but-useless Quirk counselors. All of which had ultimately resulted in the Yaoyorozu family suddenly being a new client of Doctor Nishimura. Which had made both Momo and Izumi happy, as it had meant more time they could spend together, exploring their Quirks and training with them at the Nishimura & Croft facilities. It was the most freedom that Momo had ever gotten, and the rapid improvement she'd shown had won her parent's approval of both Doctor Nishimura and Izumi.
All of which had led to their current project. The Yaoyorozu's were okay with Momo spending time with Izumi now, so long as that time was being spent productively. They weren't against their daughter having fun. They were both simply very driven people who believed that even 'doing what was fun' should be pointed in a useful direction. A direction like tinkering with Momo's Quirk to try and replicate advanced tech. It was, thankfully, something that both of them enjoyed anyway. Tinkering in general had become a hobby of sorts that didn't really directly benefit either of them, save perhaps in expanding Momo's options bit by bit.
"Well, we always knew it was unlikely people would be able to get full usage out of them, Momo. And the Scouter is still going to change heroics in a big way, if we can sell the idea to your parents."
Momo's face twisted into a scowl. Between the two of them, she was definitely the perfectionist. Even so, both of them were out of ideas at this point. Maybe they could come back to it later, but for now they were stuck. And Momo knew it, sighing a moment later as she discarded the visor.
"They're already sold on it. They are just waiting to discuss the profit split with your mother. I think they recommended a lawyer to her, just to be fair."
Izumi looked at her friend weirdly.
"Profit split?"
Momo's scowl shifted to one of confusion.
"Yes? The blueprints were almost entirely your and 2B's work. I might have helped at the prototyping phase. But the Scouter is like, ninety percent your work." Seeing the lack of comprehension on her friend's face, Momo's own took on an expression of incredulity. "Izumi! You didn't intend to just give the tech away, did you? The ability to detect Quirk Energy levels alone is worth billions of yen! And that's just scratching the surface of the Scouter's abilities! Real-time facial comparison to wanted lists, tactical feeds, weak-point scanning, thermal and night vision? All in one wearable device?"
There was a long pause where Izumi failed to answer…and Momo slumped. Carefully putting the visor away, she reached over to Izumi…and grabbed her by the ear.
"Ow! Ow! Hey! What…"
"That's it! Our next project is hammering basic business sense into your thick skull, even if I have to use an actual hammer! Come on, Izumi. I think our library still has some decent beginner books. Even if I haven't touched them since I was, like, six."
Izumi could only whimper as her mortally offended friend towed her off to learn about something she'd never considered the need for before…
- Izumi: Age 12-
Izumi shifted nervously.
"Are you sure about this 2B? I mean, the first time I manifested a weapon it…went poorly. And this is…more than that."
"Yes. That incident was unfortunate. But it gave us a good measure of your reserves. After all the effort we've put in since then into expanding those reserves, I'm completely confident you'll be able to handle the summons. The only question that remains is for how long."
Izumi took a deep breath and nodded. Focusing hard on what she wanted to do, she began materializing the data 2B had provided her with. This was a much more complex set of data than any of the weapons that Izumi had previously summoned. Nor was this an object that she'd previously converted into data and was merely bringing back from her 'inventory.' These were blueprints from 2B's memory, modified slightly for a new purpose. Slowly but sure, the object she wanted took shape. In total, it took nearly three minutes and left her feeling slightly drained, but…
"Excellent job, Izumi. I must admit that I never thought I'd see the world from a Pod's perspective. But having a form of mobility restored is quite relieving. I will be better able to protect you once we've built up your reserves enough to keep this form summoned."
Izumi smiled hugely as she heard 2B's voice coming from the floating, overly-well-armed drone in front of her, instead of from inside her own head. 2B's core consciousness still resided in Izumi's Quirk, of course. But the Pod was made entirely of her Quirk's energy. Meaning that 2B could link directly to the Pod and control it! It would help in combat immensely of course, but for now…
2B made a strangled, embarrassed sound as Izumi glomped the pod, hugging it for dear life. It was amazing for her oldest companion (aside from her mom she supposed) to finally have a solid form. Izumi immediately began planning how to put 2B in a far more huggable form…
- Izumi: Age 13-
Izumi ducked with a yelp as her best friend tried to shoot her.
"Momo!"
Said best friend looked utterly unrepentant, actually pouting at Izumi managing to dodge. When Izumi directed an injured look at her, Momo just rolled her eyes.
"What? You're practically bullet-proof even without transforming Izumi, and it was a low velocity round."
"You just Ambushed me in the library! With a gun!"
"So? There's no one else here and this is private property. Plus, how else am I supposed to hit you! Your reflexes are just unfair! I haven't been able to get you in training for months. And now I can't even manage to ambush you, either! It's a good thing you're not evil, or the world would be so screwed."
"Hey! All Might could still take me, if I went evil or something!"
Momo's expression was flat as she calmly reached up and flicked Izumi between the eyes, causing her friend to yelp and flinch on instinct, even if it didn't really hurt.
"Yes. Because it's totally normal for a 13-year-old to only be afraid of ALL MIGHT."
Izumi pouted.
"There are others! Miruko is still faster than me, I think! And I bet Edgeshot could bypass my armor…probably."
Momo's lips twitched, her expression shifting from exasperated to amused.
"Izumi, the fact that you immediately had to reach for two members of the top twenty to back up your argument isn't doing you any favors."
Izumi's pouting intensified. Then, with an instant of inspiration, she grinned.
"Oh! That's what we can do next! Let's figure out how to make you faster! I mean, you'll probably never match my reflexes but Ibetwecanincreaseyourstraightlinespeedifyoulikeproducerocketsinyourbootsor…"
Momo lost her fight to keep a straight face, giggling as her best friend got lost in a mumble storm. Still, she made sure to pay attention. Izumi didn't do this nearly as often as she used to, and when she did, it meant she was too excited by a thousand ideas for even her ridiculously enhanced brain to cope with the overflow…
Who knows, maybe she'd actually come up with something that will let Momo keep up?
- Izumi: Age 15-
Izumi groaned, flopping back on her friend's bed, throwing one arm over her eyes. She heard a giggle and half-heartedly lifted her head to glare at her best…honestly only…friend. Well, if you didn't count her Quirk, of course.
"Oh, come on Momo. You know what it's like even more than I do!"
Momo's giggle was interrupted by a much-less refined snort, a sound she'd never make where her rather uptight parents could hear. The young beauty was sitting, perfectly poised, on her desk chair, even as Izumi pouted at her from Momo's ridiculously oversized bed.
"I do. But I think I handle it quite a bit better than you do. That would have been painful to watch, if it hadn't been immensely funny at the same time."
Izumi's pout redoubled.
"I've been a terrible influence on you."
Momo nodded agreeably, eyes dancing with mirth. It wasn't exactly something that could be argued against, after all. Izumi groaned and let her head flop back again, covering her eyes as she blushed.
"It's totally not fair that you literally got a course in how to politely turn down suitors when you…developed."
'Developed' was understating things. Despite being slightly younger than Izumi, Momo had been the first between the two of them to develop a figure that women half again her age would cheerfully commit murder for. And Momo was still growing. The side effects of a Quirk that stored lipids were…obvious to anyone with a brain that looked at Momo for more than five seconds. Despite absurdly dense cellular structure being part of Momo's Quirk, the material still had to go somewhere. What few people realized was that Momo could actually control where, and that her best friend did have some measure of vanity. Hence an hourglass figure that might or might not feature in Izumi's dreams from time to time. She firmly blamed puberty for that and refused to look closer at the types of dreams those curves featured in.
Of course, Izumi had come to regret initially teasing Momo over how many guys twice her age hit on her when something similar had started happening to Izumi as the carry-over mutations from her Quirk had built up. As she'd learned, if not quite understood, clear back when she was all of five, Izumi's transformation had a slow but steady carry-over into full Heteromorphic mutation. What had started as having nanocarbon covered bones only while transformed, had eventually shifted as Izumi's entire body structure slowly altered even in her un-transformed state. For most of her childhood, the changes had all been internal. Ridiculously strong bones. Muscle fiber that was now made out of some material no one even had a name for, let alone understood. Better ligaments. A brain overhaul that left her with insane computational power and a perfect memory. All useful, but all internal. Aside from her eyes shifting from the same green as her hair to much more of a teal, there hadn't been much in the way of visible change.
That reality had taken a sharp turn when Izumi had hit puberty. While the effects weren't nearly as quick or dramatic as Momo had gone through, the end result was rapidly becoming just as eye-catching. While Izumi's breasts were only a modest B-cup to Momo's C-cup, that still put her at the upper end of average for her age. And that was definitely not Izumi's standout feature. Having seen mental images of 2B since she was a little girl, Izumi had long since figured out what was happening. Namely, that her body was slowly shifting towards 2B's body density and sizes. She, much like Momo, already weighed an absurd amount for her apparent size. And a certain…'ass'et…was becoming rather obvious. And attracting just as much attention as Momo's ridiculous-for-a-15-year-old boobs.
The fact that Izuku's mother remained quite attractive in her own right, having joined Izumi for training quite a bit over the years, helped keep people from thinking it was too odd. But, for those who knew about 2B, it was pretty obvious that Izumi was slowly beginning to resemble her 'Quirk' far more than she did her mother. Even the earlier changes to her eye color had been a sign of this, with 2B's blue-silver eyes mixing with Izumi's own green. It was a comparison that took added point whenever Izumi fully transformed these days…but the mature form of that transformation was still taxing enough that Izumi rarely used it outside training. The fact that it was tied to her…well…'ultimate move' wasn't quite right. But 'last resort' came close. The fact that it was tied into her 'last resort' option, only made her more wary of showing it off.
Of course, the teenage girl part of her wasn't exactly complaining about any of this. Knowing that she was pretty much destined to be a knockout took quite a bit of the angst out of puberty. Angst that might have gotten ugly if she'd had to constantly compare herself to Momo while remaining plain herself. But the problematic side effects were still annoying. Namely, the side effect of an uncomfortable number of guys, many of them several years older than her or worse, asking her out on a regular basis. And unlike Momo, Izumi tended to freeze up and revert to stuttering when it happened, rather than smoothly letting them down. Speaking of which…Izumi rolled over onto her stomach, to better face her companion-in-woe. Fixing Momo with an intense stare that stopped the ravenette's smirking laughter, Izumi employed the dreaded Puppy Dog Eye Attack.
"Please, Momo! You have to teach me your magic! Help me practice letting guys down easy! Or using a taser on them! Either one!"
The taser comment caused Momo to grimace, remembering that she had done that last week to one of her more…persistent…suitors. Still, there was no way she could tell Izumi no. If, maybe, not for the reasons that Izumi thought. After all, she wasn't about to let some random guy butt in on her Izumi-time…
- Izumi: Age 16-
Yaoyorozu Momo wasn't nearly as socially inept as her best friend. Which wasn't to say that she really understood people all that well. It's just that, with all the knowledge forced on her as the sole heir to the Yaoyorozu Group, she could at least recognize social cues. Even if she didn't exactly know what to do with them when it came to her private life. All of which explained why she recognized the fact that her best friend constantly sneaking peaks at her boobs meant something. She was even fairly sure she knew what it meant.
This did not, unfortunately, mean she knew what to do about it.
It probably would have been simpler if she hadn't been doing the same thing to Izumi's ass whenever the other girl wasn't looking. The thong she'd convinced a red-faced Izumi to try on, at least in the security of Momo's bedroom, had certainly gone a long way to cementing one certainty of the situation for her. Momo was now completely, 100%, sure that she was physically attracted to Izumi. And she was roughly 98% sure that Izumi was equally attracted to her. Sadly, she was also 115% sure that Izumi hadn't figured it out yet.
Which left the ball in Momo's court. And Momo was feeling very unprepared for that fact. Maybe she could put it off for…annnndd Izumi was bending over in a gymnastics unitard. Nope. Momo wasn't waiting. She'd read one too many romance novels where waiting backfired, damn it! Time for action!
Izumi was very, very confused a few minutes later when she received her first kiss from a very unexpected source. She was considerably less confused several minutes after that when they finally managed to stop…mostly because Momo moaning into her kiss as Izumi instinctively groped her friend's chest had sent them both into nuclear meltdown.
They would both remain blissfully ignorant of the number of people at the training center that quietly exchange yen over a certain bet.
Chapter 3: Getting Attention Unintentionally
- Izumi: Age 17-
"Shit! Momo, more bandages! Come on, we are not losing him!"
Grim faced, Momo produced more bandages from her Quirk, grimacing at how low her reserves were but powering through regardless. Knowing she couldn't produce a set of replacements if they soaked through, she added a clotting agent to the strips of cloth. The difference in cost was negligible, more taxing on her mind and imagination than her body, and this way it would hopefully stop the man's bleeding long enough for the paramedics they'd signaled to get him to a hospital.
Five minutes later, the stabilized man had been handed off to be transported, and the two of them were scrambling back into their place in the search pattern. Izumi's visor was deployed, even though she looked ragged herself, already having had to give up on maintaining 2B's Pod three hours ago. Neither said anything about the other's obvious exhaustion. Both of them knew they wouldn't give in until they couldn't move any longer, or they'd found every last person still alive in the wreckage of the massive apartment complex. Destabilized in a villain fight, Momo and Izumi had been two of the first people to respond…and neither had left since they rushed to the scene.
A few of the heroes to respond early on to the disaster had tried to shoo them off, only to have a pair of first-responder Quirk licenses shoved in their face to shut them up. Heroes may be the only ones with effective carte-blanche to use their Quirks in all situations, but there were other conditions under which you could get a less comprehensive license. Such as by having Quirks suitable for search, rescue, and first-aid. All you needed was the appropriate training, which hadn't exactly been hard to get. First responders were always needed. And there was no arguing against the fact that Izumi's sensor suite and Momo's ability to make medical supplies on site were extremely valuable in such situations. It would be a year yet before they could apply to UA, but they both refused to let that stop them from helping people right in front of them.
Toshinori Yagi watched with sharp eyes as a pair of teenagers staggered into the medical area, carrying a man nearly the size of his hero form between them. In truth, it seemed that the shorter of the two was carrying most of the stone-skinned man's weight. But the other, black-haired young woman was doing a good job helping balance and guide the two, using her greater height to help keep the heteromorph's awkward size from causing the shorter woman issues. Indeed, despite clearly being dead-on-their-feet, the two young women work with a fluid teamwork that spoke of long association, and possibly some mutual training.
In the grand scheme of things, he might have missed the two of them. There were plenty of other rescue workers around, after all. Enough at this point that they might have faded into the background. Except, of course, that it had been him that put the villain that caused the disaster down. He'd been too short on time to do much more than deliver the villain to the police after he did, but he'd been unable to stay away from the site of the collateral damage. He hadn't arrived yet when it happened, but that didn't make him feel any better about not being able to do much about the rescue efforts.
Not much.
He hadn't gotten this far in his career without at least the solid basics of first aid, and even in this weakened shell of his former self, he was still a lot more physically powerful than he looked. He'd thrown himself into the efforts at recovery, even using a few tiny sparks of One for All here and there without buffing up to his hero form, in order to help clear debris.
And as a result of that effort, All Might had not missed the pair. The two young women had already been here when he'd returned to the site, two of the very first people to respond. And, sixteen and a half hours of back-breaking efforts later, in the early dawn hours…they were still here. Even most of the professional paramedics had rotated by now. And Yagi himself had been forced to take multiple breaks, albeit short ones. But these two…
Toshinori Yagi surreptitiously snapped a photo of the pair. He had a little digging to do. And he knew just the rat-bear-dog-thing to help him do it.
UA University – Dean's Office – Three Weeks Later
"I have to say, Toshinori, that you do have a talent for finding me the most interesting puzzles! Why, I never anticipated you giving me this much entertainment so soon after you agreed to teach! It's quite delightful."
Yagi tried not to shudder at what sounded suspiciously like unholy glee in Nedzu's voice. He'd known it was a possibility, of course. The Dean could often find trouble from the most innocuous of requests. He had to admit, however, that he couldn't imagine what had triggered this strong of a reaction.
"You said this was about the information I requested regarding those girls, Nedzu. What on earth did you find that qualifies as a puzzle? They didn't seem dangerous to me."
The rat-bear-dog-mammal grinned unsettlingly, before taking a sip of his tea. Not wanting to be impolite, particularly to this host, Yagi mimicked the action as the Dean spoke.
"Oh, they are quite dangerous. Though not in the criminal sense. One of them is considered a Class 1 International Economic Risk. And the other has one of the twelve recorded sentient Quirks in all of Japan. The fact that both of them are independently wealthy, from a series of inventions that include the Hero Scouter and its network, and that the Class 1 threat is also the heir of a multinational megacorp..." Nedzu paused for effect, even as Yagi choked on his tea, "…suffice it to say that they were far more interesting than I expected them to be. Indeed, between the Yaoyorozu Group's corporate security and what I suspect may have been Ms. Midoriya's Quirk at work, it took quite some effort for me to gather information on them. Quite an entertaining challenge!"
Yagi, using one of the many handkerchiefs he was forced to carry these days, cleaned up the tea and blood he'd coughed up in his surprise, even as he stared at the Dean in consternation. Any one of the things he'd just said would have been worthy of a spit-take on its own. All of them at once, in response to a simple inquiry on his part, was a bit much. Wrestling with what to ask first, he finally settled on what seemed the most alarming bit of information.
"What on earth is her Quirk, that one of them is a Class 1 Economic Risk?"
"Why, I'm glad you asked! It's truly something special…even if I did have to hack a few databases to get much detail on it! Dear me, if the HPSC knew just how badly they are underestimating her Quirk, they might have done something unfortunate. Or tried to, at least. The Yaoyorozu's private security is really quite a bit better than I think anyone realizes. Truly, the auto-turrets took even me by surprise! And I'm very interested in how they got lasers with that much throughput into such a small package! Though I suspect the girl's Quirk might be the answer."
Yagi rubbed his forehead, fighting an oncoming headache.
"The Quirk, Dean Nedzu?"
"Right! Ms. Yaoyorozu's work is, officially, called Creation. According to the official registry, she's capable of converting her lipids into any material that she understands the molecular structure of! Quite a powerful Quirk, one that would easily let her destabilize a dozen precious metal markets if she really wanted to. Which is what earned her the classification, of course. Given her family's immense existing wealth, monitoring has been fairly light for her classification, however. Young Momo simply doesn't have a motive to break the world economy, even if she technically has the means."
Well, that certainly explained a few things. Including a few comments he'd overheard from the paramedics at the disaster sight who'd been surprised at the quality of some of the supplies used on victims. Some of them had been shocked enough at getting patients that had been treated with expensive blood clotting agents to comment on it. With the girl's power, though, and then there was the fact that…
"You said that was her official registry entry. But you wouldn't have needed to hack that, given your position as head of a major Hero University."
"Quite right! No, the far more fascinating information was when I managed to get into the Nishimura & Croft patient archives! The information on both young women there was far more interesting than what the HPSC had in their registry."
Yagi winced. Okay, he probably owed a lot of people some serious apologies if he'd accidentally convinced Nedzu to go on a hacking spree of that level. Nishimura & Croft were one of the premier outfits for handling children of pro-heroes. Under normal circumstances, even Nedzu would have left them alone. Still, the fact that the terrifying-force-of-nature-disguised-as-a-rat had found something that had caused him to go that far was worth noting…and asking about.
"I…trust you found something that justifies that level of invasion of privacy?"
Nedzu didn't even have the grace to pretend to be sorry at his All Might is Disappointed in You Voice. Instead, the rat just poured more tea and answered the question.
"Several things! For example, both of them have intelligence boosting aspects to their Quirks! Ms. Yaoyorozu might have been able to pass as a natural genius to most tests. But N & C turned up some distinct changes to her brain, specifically ones that allow for enhanced processing and memory retention. Added to the fact that she truly is a natural genius and it's quite a potent combination with her Quirk…which is also considerably more than it seems. It appears that she only needs to understand what she's making, rather than focusing on it in minute detail. And her lipids only act as some sort of fuel, rather than being directly converted. Combined, those details make the Quirk quite a bit more versatile and quick to use, with a much higher mass ceiling than the public files would indicate. It also likely explains why she already has a number of University level engineering, physics, and chemistry classes on her record."
That was…interesting. And the Quirk was powerful. But it didn't quite manage to explain the unholy cheer the dean was still exhibiting. Which meant…
"And the other girl?"
"Oh, dear me. The other girl is a positive delight. And quite a mysterious one! Why, I'm quite sure I barely scratch the surface with young Ms. Midoriya. N & C had several dozen unpublished papers regarding her Quirk. Which is called, interestingly enough, Automata…"
Earthquake Recovery Site – Four Months Later
All Might had run out of time again. Though this time, at least, he'd done so after managing to spend over an hour helping with relief efforts. Honestly, by the time he had been forced to make a hasty exit, everything but the rebuilding was mostly done. Despite that, he'd stuck around in his civilian form, because he'd recognized a pair of faces during the relief efforts. He'd kept a quiet tab on the two of them, in so much as he could do so through their admittedly effective security screen. Still, young Midoriya and Yaoyorozu had popped up fairly regularly at disaster relief sites, and there had been one very amusing encounter where they'd stopped a slime villain with an overpowered taser.
He'd actually seen that one personally, having been about to intervene when young Midoriya had made the villain stop by throwing a bag of flour in his eyes, and young Yaoyorozu had proceeded to taser him while he was blinded. It had been quite effective. It has also, notably, left the police stymied in their lecture of the pair by the fact that neither had obviously used their Quirk. All Might was fairly certain that Yaoyorozu had created the taser. But she hadn't been seen doing so, which left the police no valid arguments. He'd gotten close enough to hear the duo lamenting that they'd have to double back to the store for more flour, or else go without the cookies Ms. Midoriya's mother had promised. And he'd been even more amused at the fire in young Yaoyorozu's eyes at the idea of missing out on those cookies. She'd practically dragged her companion back to the store…
All of which was somewhat relevant to the current situation…but not entirely. The truth was, the unconscious, unhesitating actions he'd seen with the slime villain had crystalized his decision. Up until now, he'd simply been putting things off because of the obvious complication. Specifically, the fact that there were two of them. Well, he had a plan for that. If they both accepted his initial offer of training, fully accredited through the credentials he'd had whipped up for Toshinori Yagi as a trainer from the Mighty Agency, he'd have until UA started to figure out which one of them was the better fit!
For now, he just had to focus on not being creepy when he made his offer of training to two seventeen-year-old-girls, while looking like a walking skeleton. On reflection, this might be slightly harder than he'd hoped, come to think of it.
-One Month Before UA Entrance Exams-
One month before the start of term, All Might was internally sweating, even as he stared out in pride at the completely clear shoreline of Dagobah Beach. When he'd set this task as part of their training, with the rest being spent in the facilities at either Might Tower or the N & C training complex, All Might had assumed that one of the two girls would prove more dedicated than the other. That, he had reasoned, would have been the final means to choose between two, frankly fantastic, possible successors.
It hadn't worked out that way.
It hadn't worked out that way at all.
Instead of either of them giving in, the two of them had taken it as a challenge to finish it faster than he'd asked. They'd worked together, with an equally scary determination mirrored in each other, to create a detailed plan of attack and tackle the beach with an almost terrifying level of efficiency. Neither had slacked off in the slightest. Not on the beach project and not in their other training. Worse, while Midoriya's Quirk probably made her more physically suited to One for All, the adaptations Yaoyorozu's body needed for her own Quirk made her a perfectly serviceable vessel as well.
Which means he still didn't know who to make the offer to.
Well…when all else fails…chicken out and make them decide! Besides, the two of them were dating anyway, so whichever one he'd chosen was bound to have told the other, right? Pushing aside his doubts, All Might approached the two as they sat staring out over the water…
Momo and Izumi stared at All Might in shock. Slowly, in nearly perfect sync, they glanced at each other, then back to the massive hero. They had, of course, figured out his secret some time ago. Even if it had only been polite not to dig into his private affairs, even to discover just how he'd ended up as he was. But this…a fight that had left him crippled? A transferable Quirk? He wanted one of them to be his successor?!
Perhaps surprisingly, given her love of analyzing Quirks, it was actually Izumi that recovered first.
"Momo should take it. For several very good reasons."
Her girlfriend made a sort of strangled sound, looking at her in disbelief.
"Izumi! You can't just say that…you're way more…I mean I'm…"
Izumi shook her head quickly, lifting a finger to Momo's lips to silence her. Momo blushed at the intimate gesture in front of All Might…but it did work to stop her from spiraling.
"It's not just me. 2B thinks so too. And that's just one of the reasons. There's no telling what a Quirk like this One for All would do to a sentient Quirk, right?"
All Might blinked at the question, clearly directed his way. Frowning, he shook his head.
"No. It's never come up before. I know my own mentor's Quirk got a major boost from One for All. But what it would do to a sentient Quirk…"
Izumi nodded. Sentient Quirks were rare. And 2B wasn't normal even for Quirks like that. There was no way Izumi would risk her oldest friend. Not even for All Might. Besides, there were other reasons.
"And that's just one issue. There's also the fact that…it might be a bad idea, Momo. You know, even better than All Might, just how powerful my Quirk actually is. As is, I'm probably one of the few people that can fight him toe-to-toe. For a little while, anyway. Adding One for All on top of that? Bad idea. Better to have two heroines that can serve as a check on each other rather than one stupidly over-the-top one. What if I got corrupted by some Quirk? Or someone with a stronger cyberpathy Quirk overcame 2B's Firewalls?"
With obvious reluctance, Momo nodded. It wasn't something she had a counterargument for. Momo herself was the one that had first pointed out how ridiculous Izumi's Quirk made her. She wasn't going to give up completely without a fight, though. Pulling back from Izumi's finger, she made her own point.
"It would be easier to hide it with you, though. You're already so fast and strong that you could easily hide the boost as an awakening."
Izumi grinned, eyes twinkling madly. This she already had an argument for. Thanks to 2B being much faster to recover that she had been.
"Already figured that out! Or…well…2B did. Do you remember Project Titanium Girl?"
Momo blinked at the seeming non-sequitur.
"Of course I do. We worked on it for years before finally giving up. We couldn't find a power source that…would…"
Momo's eyes had blown wide open as the gears turned in her head.
"Right. The only generator that could run it required a constant flow of…Quirk energy."
Izumi meant 'Maso' and Momo knew it. The fusion power plant that powered YoRHa androids had used Maso to kick start and sustain itself. Izumi had long since shared the information, with Momo at least, that 'Maso' existed and was nearly identical to the energy that fueled Quirks. That only some difference in their reality had given rise to Quirks, instead of turning everyone into salt. Though both of them were still concerned that White Chlorination Syndrome might still be the end result, if the Quirk Singularity Theory was correct. Humans adapting to use the energy might have only stalled the problem, rather than solved it. Still, that was a problem for the future. For right now…
"Your Quirk wasn't suited to supplying a constant stream of energy to fuel the reaction. One for All should be able to do that, if it's a power stockpile type. Better yet, we can streamline the suit to remove all the strength enhancers. You won't need them. And since no one will know you don't have them…"
Momo looked excited as she worked her own way through the problems.
"You're right, it would hide the fact that I'm the one actually providing the power, wouldn't it? Without the need for strength boosters, it would be a lot more agile, too! We could actually make it work!"
A quiet cough from All Might, who both of them had somehow forgotten was still there, caused both of them to stop brainstorming and blush. He gave a hearty laugh at the sight of them both looking sheepish, getting them back on track with an ease that made him feel nostalgic for his time working with David Shield in the States.
"I don't know exactly what you're cooking up, but I believe this means that Young Yaoyorozu will be the one accepting? And that you think you have some way to disguise her Quirk taking an unusual turn?"
Momo bit her lip, glanced at Izumi's supportive expression…then bowed deeply.
"I-I accept, All Might. That is, if you're sure? I mean, surely there must be better people…more deserving people."
All Might's booming laugh filled the empty beach again, even as he reached up to pluck a hair off his head.
"There is a difference between being a good fit and earning this, young lady. And you earned it. First when you, despite all the advantages you were born with, choose to go out and help everyone you could. Without any thought of reward. When when you moved with no conscious though to put down a villain. When you dedicated yourself to this community service project, never questioning if it was the right thing to do and putting your whole heart into it. You've earned this, Yaoyorozu Momo. Now…eat this!"
Complete confusion descended as All Might tried to feed Momo a bit of his hair…