The Deity Entertainment Network

John was just finishing tidying up the kitchen when Rumi stormed into the house, barely pausing to pull her boots off before flopping down on the pillows in the living room face-first. "Argh! We almost had him!"

"Who?" John said, grabbing a couple of carrots and a drink she liked from the fridge and made his way over to her.

"The Hero Killer. I found him and a couple of his buddies on a rooftop, but by the time reinforcements arrived, they disappeared through a weird, gassy purple gate."

"That sounds like it could be one of the same villains from the U.S.J. attack."

"Yeah. That was the assessment of the other heroes. *Crunch* Mmm, thank you."

"No problem." He replied. She looked really stressed for some reason, so he activated Scouter to see what else she was thinking.

{Not a threat! I'll show him not a threat! ARGH! Why does everyone look down on me because I don't have some flashy Quirk!}

John reached out and pressed the back of her neck with his fingers, activating his healing hands skill. He could feel a slight trickle of mana leaving his body and entering hers, causing her to immediately moan as her tense muscles were forced to relax.

"Mmm..." she said, her ears slowly drooping to the sides of her face. "Damn it, John, your fingers feel almost magical."

He chuckled a bit and started to massage the base of her scalp with both hands now. "Who knows, they just might be." He continued to work his hands over the sides of her head, including the muscles supporting her long, white ears, and ending at her temples. Her ears were a little different from Nanaella's, at the side of her head instead of higher up, which made sense. She was a human with a Quirk, not a beastfolk.

"This feels amazing. Do you mind doing my traps and shoulders too?" She asked. She didn't wait for his reply and sat up, stripping the heavy coat off and tossing it to the side. She was wearing just a thick band underneath, supporting her heavy breasts by squeezing them tightly to her chest.

"Heh, it will cost you extra." He replied, already moving his hands to the base of her neck. Her dark skin was beaded in sweat, the day's exertions clearly having taken its toll on her.

{Oh, is this how he was going to choose to flirt. Here I thought he didn't find me attractive.}

"Just keep training me to become a more proficient fighter." He said, working his fingers deep into the dense muscles around her neck, causing her to moan yet again.

{I mean, at least I don't need to turn him down, but I thought he was going to go for more than that.}

Her ears drooped again. "Is that really all you want?"

"Of course. I heard this rumour that I needed to land a hit on you to earn a kiss. I'm not going to get that without training to be a better fighter."

Not without cheating anyway.

She didn't say anything at first, melting more under his ministrations, leaning back until she was almost resting on his chest. However, her ears had perked up at his words, and he could see the edges of her lips curling upwards in a small smile. "You're playing a dangerous game, John."

"The best games usually are." He replied, pushing his fingers even deeper into her well-defined muscles. "Even if I lose, I still got trained by the best fighter in Japan."

{That's right! I'm the best!}

"Nope! Let's go!" She said, suddenly bouncing to her feet.

"Hun?"

"You don't get to say 'even if I lose'. That is defeatist, and I won't train someone who isn't out to win and win it all. You're gonna work hard to earn your prize." She replied with a wink, pulling him to his feet. "Now, come. There are still hours left to train! And don't think I'm going to go easy on you!"

With that, Rumi dragged John out to the dojo and proceeded to train the ever-living crap out of him. If she couldn't find someone in the 'wild' who could beat her, she would train up someone who could. She wanted nothing more right now than to have this man as her equal, so she could enjoy both his cooking and his hands every night.

John continued to chuckle at her thoughts. This dark-skinned beauty's earnestness and direct way of thinking were obvious even if he wasn't using Scouter. She really wanted him to hit her so he could claim his reward. It was one of the weirdest situations he had ever been in. Her eagerness was infectious; he would do his damnedest to land a punch on her.

No, he would beat her. He would settle for nothing less.

---

The Next Day

Musutafu Museum

John still wasn't sure how his plans had changed from exploring the historical castles of Japan to visiting this museum that looked like a castle. Well, actually, he did know how.

"See! This is the actual armour an ancient samurai would wear into battle. Did you know that near the end of their era, they often wore a pistol alongside their katana? They would even use some of the early rifles if they could get a hold of them." Rumi said, dragging him around from exhibit to exhibit and giving him a guided tour.

They had trained late into the night with an intensity that surprised him. He had to sneak some healing spells in under his breath just to keep up with the enthusiastic rabbit, who seemed intent on making him move fast enough to land a strike on her in one go. Alas, he didn't, but he could feel that he was growing quickly with this focused training. They stopped sometime after midnight, had a late meal and crashed out. They repeated it again in the morning, with her practising with his bow while he did other exercises.

When he mentioned his plan to explore some of Japan's castles under the guise of learning more about the country's history, she immediately suggested they come here instead, calling the other castles nothing but tourist traps. She then got dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a white shirt, and followed him to the station, stating she hadn't taken a day off in over a month and she was due for a break.

I was more interested in seeing the layout of the land around the other castles, but I'm enjoying this history lesson.

"Oh, come over here. This is the hero exhibit. Many of the suits and weapons of the early heroes are on display here."

John chuckled and followed along, carrying both of their drinks in his hands. This was a side of Rumi he hadn't seen yet, excitement over something that wasn't fighting. It was adorable and brought a different kind of intensity to her face than he was used to seeing. He was beginning to like this woman a lot.

Though it's a damn tall order to be able to beat her in a fight, she is still fun to be around.

As they moved through the exhibit, John stopped, overhearing two voices he didn't expect, who said something that made him nearly spill the drinks. Mei and Mt Lady were looking at a mannequin donning a set of armour that was placed over a white dress, with a longsword propped up in front of it.

"What was my mother like, Mom?"

"Well, you know I was pretty young myself when she died, but from what I remember, she was always strong, and she loved helping others. I miss her."

"Do you think she would be proud of me?"

"I know she would be, Mei. Sobo-chan said you are a lot like her when she was growing up. You just had different paths to take as you got older. You might not be as powerful as she was, but you have big brains and a knack for inventing things. I'm sure she would be proud of the young woman you have become. Unlike me."

"What do you mean- Oh, Mr Wayne! Good morning! I haven't forgotten about making you a prosthetic!" Mei said, waving at them.

He sighed a little and walked over to the pair of them, Rumi looking on curiously. "Good Morning, Mei. You know you don't need to do that, right?"

"Oh, I know, but optics are kind of my thing! See these here, I made them to augment my Quirk even more, letting me see things in great detail over five kilometres away." She said, pointing to the oddly shaped binoculars on her head. "Oh, have you met my mother, Yu?"

"Those are pretty amazing gadgets; you do some amazing work." He replied, then bullied her head a bit, causing her to squawk, bat his hands away, then giggle. "I have met- Wait! Your mother?" He paused, looking from Mei to Mt Lady. She was wearing a much more modest dress today, a dark purple sundress covering most of her ample cleavage, along with a large purple sunhat.

Much better than the other day. Though that dress she had on before would really look out of place here.

"Adoptive mother. When my sister died, Mei moved back home with us. Good morning to you as well, Mr Wayne. I see you are keeping... interesting company." Yu said, looking over at Rumi with an odd expression on her face.

"Yep! We are out enjoying your family's museum. Though I didn't expect to see you here, Mt Lady. Shouldn't you be making another social media post with your ass out while you step on top of some villains again? I particularly like the ones when you crash into the side of a building when doing it, causing more damage than the villains did." Rumi replied, hands on her hips and a vicious smirk on her face.

"I pay to repair all that damage, you know. I try not to go gigantic unless I really have to anymore; it was getting expensive." Yu said defensively. "As for social media... I have been making a few changes recently. It's been brought to my attention that it isn't a good image for a hero to have."

"I told you that years ago. I'm glad you have changed your ways. Now, if you excuse us, I saw a little cafe outside and want to sample some food there." Rumi said, grabbing John's arm and steering him away. "The offer is still open for you to train under me, Mt Lady. Some discipline would reduce the collateral damage you cause."

"Mirko! Stop... I-I'll think about it, okay!" She said, sounding like she was almost pleading with Rumi about something.

"No more asses on the internet if you do! I won't have some hussy in my dojo!"

When they got out of earshot, Rumi released John's arm. "Sorry, that pampered princess and I have a little bit of history. She shunned my offer to train her a few years ago when I started out as a hero, saying I was nothing more than some brute who kicks things. Then, on her first job outside of the school, she knocked down three buildings while trying to stop a pair of villains.

The last one was when she was sticking her ass out for a social media post. She was just lucky they were unoccupied at the time. In that one incident, she caused more damage than most heroes have in their entire careers. Then she kept doing it, wreaking havoc across Japan. Her family was paying for the damages at first, but I heard she has to do it out of her own pocket now."

"Her Quirk is that strong?" John said. He admittedly didn't even look her up on his phone, not really caring to see how she fought criminals or why she was called Mt Lady.

"Hah, one could say that. She turns into a woman twenty metres tall, yet has all the mobility of someone of normal size. She is like a toddler surrounded by sandcastles if she isn't careful."

"Heh, she is like Godzilla then." He replied, finally understanding why the short woman was called Mt Lady.

"More like King Kong, but yeah. She had some martial training at the school, but never took it seriously. With her power, she could easily subdue most villains, but instead, she focused more on shaking her ass around on social media. Such wasted potential."

The pair of them continued towards the cafe, chatting about different displays along the way. John's thoughts drifted back to what he had overheard before Mei had noticed him.

She adopted her niece? Good for her. I had no idea that Mei had lost her mother; it wasn't in the school notes. Not that she let me say more than a couple of words in our meeting. She seems happy enough for a dozen people, so Yu must be doing something right.

"Oh! Here is the exhibit on the space program. Do you want to go through that first before we get something to eat?" Rumi asked, bringing John back to the present.

"Sounds good, darling." He replied. He might not have gotten a chance to study the lay of the land around the castles, but nonetheless, he was enjoying his time here with this bouncing ball of energy with rabbit ears and a cotton ball tail.

---

Yu watched John and Rumi disappear around the corner, her thoughts once again in turmoil. That man... that man once again seemed to be making inroads into her life, yet had a blatant disregard for her. She wore this more subdued dress to not stand out as much, and he didn't even comment on it; he barely even glanced at it. Instead, he focused his attention on her daughter, making her smile on this sad day.

The day her biological mother had passed away.

Yu had barely known her sister, their fifteen-year age gap dividing them almost as much as the fact that her sister had moved to Oslo to marry a man there. Still, she wanted to be closer to her, and adopting her infant daughter was the right thing to do. She was only seven years older than her, but with her family's help, she raised her as best she could. Looking back, it was a very odd way of doing things, almost like she was more of an older sister to Mei than a mother, but when she was old enough, she officially adopted her. The only living piece of her sister she had left.

I should have done better. I was too focused on myself, letting the nannies take care of her. I couldn't even take Rumi up on her offer; I was more interested in getting likes on my phone than in focusing on the people around me. God, what an idiot I was.

She knew that thought was unfair; she was still a kid, but it persisted. Not that it changed that much when she was older. Even after she graduated and became a pro hero, she had neglected her daughter, letting her grow up more with the servants than with her. It wasn't until more recently, with the mounting cost of the collateral damage her Quirk had caused, that she started to become more involved in her life. The servants had moved back to the main house, leaving the pair of them to live on their own for the most part, with her mother cutting off much of the financial support she had been given over the last four years.

She was still in line to become the next family head, though her mother might still be alive for another few hundred years, and if Yu didn't receive a mystical Takeyama Fruit, she might never become the next head in her lifetime. That was a problem for another day.

"Mom? What's wrong?" Mei said, looking up at her, her good mood gone now that John had left in such a rush.

"Nothing, sweetie. Just regretting some choices I made in the past. Come, let's keep looking around for a bit more, then we can head out to the tech expo in Tokyo. I know you were looking forward to that." She said, forcing a smile on her face.

"Sure. Can we stop by the cafe before we go, though? I like the creampuffs here."

"Of course." She replied, glancing one last time towards where John had disappeared. She had a strange thought about him adopting her daughter and making her smile every day, but she squashed that again.

Get over yourself, Yu. He has another woman on his arm right now. One that you spurned years ago because she was a brute. What is so great about her? I could provide him with all the wealth of Japan if he could just make Mei smile like that every day.

She paused for a moment, realising something rather uncomfortable.

It can't be. Am I... jealous? Oh, Yu, you're such an idiot.