A Lot More Complicated

"Let's just say I can wield the power of Gods themselves."

"Welcome to my humble abode." Opening the door to his penthouse apartment, Hizashi stood to the side to let his new permanent guest in, watching her look around at the vast area in amazement.

"This is quite the place you have, Yamada-san." Athena was impressed at the space she stood in, with modern furniture and a great view of the new city she was in. Never did she think the man she would call her guardian was living in such luxury.

"Ah, can't say I don't agree but why not spend money taking care of myself when I can?" Hizashi chuckled, urging her to follow him further into the apartment, through a corridor and right in front of a door. "Lucky you that I have a spare room, this will be yours from now on. So why not you go get comfortable a little, I'll prepare some food for 'ya." 

"Thank you for such kind hospitality, I promise I won't be a burden to you." Athena felt grateful that he welcomed her into his home, he seemed like a really friendly person to get along with. "It's no problem, kid. Besides, we can't possibly just let you roam around an unknown city by yourself."

It was true, even though at first Hizashi did find the sudden presence of Athena a bit daunting, he kind of realised how much more pressure she must be feeling by being in a completely different world. So he felt some sort of sympathy for her, to be so far away from home must be frightening.

-x- -x- -x-

Athena had never tasted food so delicious in her entire life, not even the food served at the royal palace could compare to the amount of flavour she was tasting right now. "I present to you my specialty, Hizashi's ramen in white wine chicken soup and a side of mapo tofu!" 

"This is amazing, I've never had food like this in Magnolia before!" She said, picking up another piece of the tofu. Athena could tell that Hizashi was proud of himself for this dish, she could see the arrogant look on his face across the table.

He laughed at the way she looked eating his food, the gleam of pure fascination and amazement at the taste so obviously shining in her eyes. This was the first time anyone else had complimented his skills in the kitchen. Hizashi remembered the last time he invited Aizawa for dinner only to receive such backhanded compliments from the latter, that was the last time he would ever invite him over.

"I'm glad the food's to your liking! But I think we should discuss what you're gonna be doing from now on." Swallowing down her food, Athena nodded. Now that she was permanently stuck in this new world, everything she does from here on could affect her.

"Right, I'd like to try and get to know more about this place first. Your city is really different from those I've seen." Taking a glance at the large window, out to the city that lit up so brightly during the night. It was a magnificent sight, one that Athena's never seen before.

If she were to stay here until further notice about her situation, then she'd have to gather as much knowledge as she could on this foreign land and its workings —both inner and outer. Meaning she must get to know everything she can about this world and its 'quirks'.

"Could you tell me a little more about your quirk?" When Athena directed her question to him, she could see a contemplative look on his face, as if thinking deeply about something before nodding his head.

"Alright, I'll tell you about my quirk, and maybe a general idea of quirks too.-" Something like curiosity was in his eyes when he stared back at her, an excited grin on his face when he pointed to Athena. "-But in turn, I want to hear about what magic is like in your world and what your magic is!"

It took her a while to fully grasp what Hizashi was asking of her, and when she did she laughed at how enthusiastic this grown man was to learn about magic. He reminded her of the people back in her guild, always so rowdy and happy, it made being stuck here just a little more endearing.

Athena nodded in agreement at his deal. "Okay, seems fair to me."

After witnessing the odd dance Hizashi did around his kitchen for a few moments, he finally sat back down across Athena again. This time, looking a little more serious compared to just before.

"Alright first things first!-" When he tried to sit up straighter to look professional, it made her chuckle. "Based off my very extensive knowledge of fantasy-based video games, I can say that your magic works very different with our quirks."

Athena hummed at his declaration, very much amused. "Is that so?"

"Yep! Our quirks are pretty much just another physical ability to us! Many quirks are either physical modifications or extensions to the original human body. Take mine into account, my quirk amplifies the sound of my voice up to tremendous levels.-" Hizashi made a show to tilt his head upwards and point at his throat while explaining. "-But just like any normal human, my throat can get sore or tired."

"Most quirks are like that, enhanced versions of our normal physical- ah doesn't matter if it's internal or external traits. Got a strength quirk? Well, if you pull a muscle it's still over for you till you heal it." He gave a minor shrug after his statement, pouring himself a glass of water and downing it.

With a hum in thought, Athena tried processing the information about quirks that was being explained to her. "I can understand that, but then what about other quirks? Not all of them are physical enhancements are they?"

"Yes, we were just about to get to that part." With his now empty glass, Hizashi explains again. "Emitter type quirks are a little similar to magic in some cases. Like, your power comes from external sources that you can control rather than it being from your body. The only thing emitter quirk users would need is good endurance."

These quirks that this world had in replacement of the magic Athena grew up with, seemed simpler theory-wise but they had more complications when it came to the process. Like the physical strain Hizashi said he experienced.

"Are these quirks hereditary?" She asked.

Hizashi nodded. "Yep, quirks can be passed down through families, they can also get stronger or weaker from the combinations of the parents' quirks."

With this brief explanation that Hizashi had provided her, Athena could grasp some better understanding to everything that was going on around for now. She supposed that their manifestation of quirks looked like evolution rather than the inherent and ancient magic of her world.

"Thank you for explaining quirks to me, Yamada-san. This has really helped me." It was true, if Athena was sure that there were few people that could've handled her arrival so calmly like Hizashi or the rest of them from U.A., she'd probably be distressed and confused had she not.

"It's a Pro Hero's job to ensure the safety of everyone that they can ensure. You've just potentially done inter-dimension travel to a world you know nothing about, and you're just a kid." He gave a reassuring smile and a pat to Athena's shoulder, then picked up the now finished dishes to wash.

"I can wash the dishes, Yamada-san. You've already done so much for me, it's the least I can do." When Athena already started to get up from her seat to round the table, Hizashi just waved a hand dismissively and blocked her from the sink.

"It's no problem, just a few plates. Not anything I don't already do."

"I do have a question though." He started, still washing the dishes. "About what you said earlier, ethernano was it? If you need that to refill mana, then how will you do that here when magic isn't something we use."

Athena visibly halted for a moment at that, and furrowed her eyebrows. Right, this place doesn't use magic, and without magic there simply was no way ethernano could exist here.

Taking in a breath, she closed her eyes and tried calling for her magic. To feel the pull of mana from her reserves and use it to expand her magic aura, as her aura grew around the room and take control of her sense.

Hizashi, upon receiving no answer had turned away from the sink to Athena. What he saw was an almost ethereal white glow coming from her body and surrounding his entire kitchen. He thought he was tripping. "W-woah! What are you doing?!"

"Expanding my magic aura to sense the area for ethernano." The furrow in her eyebrows deepened, Athena had felt something. She tried getting closer to it with her aura.

There it was, the familiar sensation of ethernano trickling into her mana veins again. It was the same feeling, like cool water against her skin that made her shiver a little. But it was not much, the ethernano was in small amounts unlike the steady stream she was used to.

Athena stopped expanding her aura, and the glow Hizashi was witnessing faded when she opened her eyes again. Confusion was written in bold all over her face, that made him feel a little scared for some reason.

"What's going on? What did you sense?" He asked.

"Logically speaking, there should be absolutely no traces of ethernano in the atmosphere whatsoever if magic doesn't physically exist here. But,-" Her words trailed off, and her confusion mixed with frustration at all the new questions that were popping up. "I can feel it, even though it's in very small quantities, there is a sure amount of ethernano."

"And this shouldn't be the case, right?" Hizashi caught on to why she was confused now, and he really didn't like where this train of thought was going.

"No, it shouldn't. Something is amiss here. I believe the reason for my arrival here just became a lot more complicated."

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alright, i finally decided to finish this. i wouldn't say i'm returning, bc i've long since lost the heated passion i had for both the MHA and FT fandoms as i once had.

but i won't stop writing this, since my ideas had already been formed from the start. i genuinely do like this series i've cooked up in my fantasies, but i won't be writing much. probably small bursts of writing motivation here and there whenever i'm free from university work.

along with unlimited, i also have other drafts that i intend on working on. tho i don't have any current plans on publishing any of them anytime soon. but i like to write on them time to time. (to count, i have 5 other works i'm currently writing on not including unlimited)

i'm also planning on editing unexpected and fix my very uhm- embarrassing writing from my earlier chapters. that's gonna be a piece of work.

so, thank you everyone so so much for your patience with me. i sincerely apologise for those that have waited so long on my updates. long hours of sitting and writing just doesn't come to me as easily now.

please, as a reminder, writing isn't my profession or career. i merely write as a hobby so i won't prioritise writing or updating over other things in my life that are more important. thank you (again) for understanding.

much love from this terribly late author,

-kuno.
19 - 6 - 2022 (unedited)

(ps. happy pride month from your local bisexual writer !)