Chapter Text
“You know I’m gonna hate this, right?” Izuku asked, hand-in-hand with Yaoyorozu as they made their way to school. Setsuna had already gone on ahead of them.
“It’ll be awkward, that’s for sure.” Momo replied, walking down the street as the procession of students came into view.
For a brief moment they were able to blend into the cavalcade. They were just another face in the crowd. But most of the students there were also Awakened. Every single one of them could sense the presence of a true monster in their midst.
Slowly, heads turned to scan the crowd, looking for the strongest Japan had to offer. And eventually, they caught sight. To say the students parted like the Red Sea would be cliche… but it would also be perfectly accurate. For a moment, no one said a word. It was just a second of uncomfortable silence with everyone staring at them.
Then, like air rushing back in after an explosion, Izuku and Momo became crowded amongst the students once again. Many asked for autographs, some asked for phone numbers, and some even shouted marriage proposals.
It may have sounded crazy, but in the advent of Awakened Humans, something called a “Power Marriage” came into popularity around the world. This resulted in families marrying away their sons or daughters in exchange for power, money, and influence. With Awakened Humans being the new pinnacle of humanity, they represented a “desirable” or even “superior” demographic.
These were essentially arranged marriages, and they resulted in a lot of abuse. Physical, verbal, emotional, and sexual all happened under the pretenses of these marriages, and most governments refused to step in. Of course, there were always exceptions to the rule and some Power Marriages went quite well, but the vast majority were… repulsive, to say the least. Those immoralities were ignored by the legal systems around the world as politicians were apart of many Power Marriages, and directly benefited from the suffering of their children and others in these positions.
In other words, many students, male and female alike at UA, had been asked… or rather ordered, by their parents to marry Izuku or Momo. The news that Izuku was open to polyamory opened the floodgates even further than they would have been otherwise. There was the chance for several students to marry into the relationship and some siblings even made these foolish attempts together.
Of course, neither Izuku or Momo cared for this blunt tactic. They openly detested it for obvious reasons and made sure to fix stern glares at the ones who thought they could just snap their fingers and get one of the two to fall for them. It wasn’t entirely their fault, they were just misguided children after all, but it sent a message. .
This didn’t deter any of them, especially not the lower Ranks, some of whom only came to UA in order to attempt Power Marriages with other more powerful classmates.
Izuku knew that some would see him as a womanizer the second he took another partner. They thought he would be captive to the whims of sexual appeal as he was “clearly” only interested in beautiful women. They had no idea he had very powerful reasons for choosing the women he did.
As a result, he had to direct his eyes upward as many female students flashed their panties, or less than that, at him. It was getting out of hand, and just as he was about to call upon the Shadows to disperse the crowd, a voice washed over it.
“I’d assume you kids had somewhere else to be…”
The voice was quiet, but it carried far. And it was accompanied by a sensation that the UA students were far too familiar with. A Quirk that limited the flow of Mana through the body by looking at them.
The smart ones scattered immediately, just hoping the owner of the voice and Quirk hadn’t seen them directly. The ones too obsessed with obtaining something of worth from Izuku or Momo were blinded by greed, too much to think of self-preservation. They would all receive…
“Personal advisor meetings with your parents and Principal Nezu.”
That sentence seemed to snap most of them out of it, and they ran for their lives, but Shota Aizawa was not a man with a faltering memory. He’d keep his promise. The more egregious offenders would likely be expelled.
“Professor,” Both Momo and Izuku greeted, bowing to him and the two guests behind him.
“You two are a handful,” He focused his ire on Izuku. “Did you have fun in Maui while your classmates worked hard?”
Izuku’s voice caught in his throat. But thankfully, Aizawa’s guests stepped up for him.
“Hey, he’s done a lot these past few months, all in secrecy. He deserved a little break.” It was Sung Jin-Woo and his wife.
“I’m not going to punish him, but that doesn’t stop me from berating him.”
Sung Jin-Woo chuckled and looked down at the two, who were just raising themselves up from their bow of respect. “Man, I imagined some grizzled faces under those masks, not kids.”
“Uh… well…” Izuku was too awkward to handle the situation. He had operated much better under the veneer of secrecy.
“What are you guys doing here?” Momo asked. Sung Jin-Woo spoke Japanese, but Cha Hae-In didn’t, so he was there as the interpreter.
“We’re here to give first hand accounts to the Commission about Jeju and Endeavor. Since we were in the ‘neighborhood’ we thought we’d stop by to see our Heroes’ faces in-person, for the first time,” He responded with a smirk. “Your professor here was helping us out.”
“I see… uhm… hello?”
“Thank god you haven’t done any real interviews yet,” Jin-Woo responded, translating what his wife said upon witnessing Izuku’s awkwardness. “Maybe you need to do a class on public relations, professor.”
“We do. Midoriya is not our brightest student in that category.”
Thankfully, UA had an extremely proficient security perimeter that stretched beyond their school walls. Journalists were known to harass the students, and the school took drastic and effective measures. Izuku was also good at evading them thanks to his stealth and teleportation abilities, but it was no less annoying.
However, eventually Izuku would need to get used to it without a mask or helmet. He could still use the helmet, but refusing to take it off would look weird now that everyone knew his identity.
“Class starts in 30 minutes. I’ll expel you if you’re late,” Aizawa threatened, walking away, leaving the two sets of lovers behind.
“Sorry, we came at a bad time, huh?”
Izuku brushed Jin-Woo off, “We can teleport, we’ll be fine. How was the wedding?” Freed of Aizawa’s glare, he was able to speak much more freely.
Cha Hae-In showed off her wedding ring, a glimmering black diamond inlaid with a band of Magical metals. Izuku could feel waves of Mana from it alone. It might’ve been one of the most expensive wedding rings in the world. “It was amazing! Although my dad got drunk… Wait, maybe don’t translate… that…” Sung Jin-Woo trailed off as he caught up with the words from his wife.
“Well it was still a great time,” Jin-Woo concluded, grinning awkwardly. “So, is it kinda weird going back to school after already saving the day more than a few times?”
“Not really. I have a lot I want to learn and catch up on,” Izuku answered.
“And I’m the sort of nerd who loves school,” Momo added.
They could’ve dropped out right then and there. There would have been no consequences and they would continue to live luxuriously thanks to their sheer power. But school was more than just the Heroics to them.
Sung Jin-Woo nodded appreciatively at that. He could respect their continued thirst for knowledge, even if he didn’t resonate with it himself. The second he Re-Awakened, he dropped out of school. And now he was rich and married to the woman of his dreams. That was all he needed.
“Sorry about the secrecy,” Izuku said, trying to make up for the awkwardness.
But Jin-Woo just laughed. “We’re the last people you need to apologize to. You saved our lives. Besides, sometimes I also dream about being able to avoid the fame my face draws. Can’t blame you for any of that.” He quickly looked around to make sure no one was watching them. “Also, I’ve got something special for you guys.” Cha Hae-In pulled a pair of envelopes from her purse. “Word already spread about your discoveries in the scientific community. You two have been invited as prime speakers at I-Island during the Inter-National Summit in a couple of months. You were obviously invited to begin with, being National-Ranks, but very few Heroes ever get the chance to speak in front of everyone.”
While Izuku didn’t seem too impressed at first, likely because he was dealing with the idea of speaking in front of a massive crowd. Momo, however, was euphoric. “This is like… this is like a Nobel Prize…”
Sung Jin-Woo nodded. “Everyone agreed your work was worth more than a Nobel, which you’ll probably also be receiving at some point. The work you’ve both done… well I don’t fully understand all of it, but it’s apparently pretty earth shattering to the scientific world.”
“M-My work?” Izuku asked in disbelief. “Not just Yaoyorozu’s?”
“Don’t underestimate yourself.” Jin-Woo translated for his wife, “What you’ve uncovered about the Soul and Magic is pretty exciting.”
“She’s smarter than me,” Jin-Woo added.
While Momo had discovered the source of Magic and already used that info to cure a disease, Izuku was hard at work trying to understand the Soul. Using Momo’s discovery, his own knowledge of physics, and his powerful Dark Magic, he began concocting a strong theory that helped explain the Soul and the origin of Magic. And theories won awards all the time, that was how science worked after all, theories.
“Wow…” Izuku was now just as dumbstruck as Momo.
The Inter-National Summit was a yearly gathering of Heroes and scientists from all around the world. Notably all Heroes above S-Rank were invited, with the National-Ranks having their own special council of sorts.
Taking place on I-Island, it was a chance for all experts to come together to discuss the Gates and their war against Chaos Inhabitants.
Being well above National-Ranks, Momo and Izuku were obviously going to be invited, but this was on a completely different level. The world already knew about them, and their exploits had been well documented, but nothing about them screamed “unique” aside from their Shadows. Outside of Japan, they were just another pair of National-Ranks, of which the world already had several. Reporting on them was just repeating the same info citizens had heard dozens of times. Most countries reported only on their own National-Ranks or reported on the others very lightly.
In other words, Izuku and Momo were not special to the rest of the world yet. They gotten attention for sure, but with this, they’d evolve from mere Heroes into scientific revolutionaries. Some of their research would change the world in ways that could only be comparable to the industrial revolution.
The group talked for a while longer before Momo and Izuku excused themselves. They agreed to meet up later, but they wanted to see their classmates before the bell rang. So they teleported up to 1-A.
“Well if it isn’t Emperor Meiji himself!” Kaminari shouted the second Izuku opened the door, referencing the last Japanese Emperor to have more than one consort.
“Hey there he is!” Mina shouted.
“Midoriya!” Uraraka and the others raced over.
“Were you really the Shadow Monarch all this time?!”
“Hold on a minute, that means that it was you who saved us on Europa!”
“And the Recursive Gate, Setsuna wasn’t telling the truth was she?!”
“Uh wait… one at a time?”
“So how many wives are you taking?!”
Most of the class was just excited. There was no ulterior motive or bad blood, they were just curious. Of course, there were a few that didn’t look quite so amicable. Shoto, as always, looked cold and unapproachable, but there was something strange in his eyes.
Ibara looked ready to kill Izuku, for more than just raising the dead. Taking a second wife was pretty blasphemous in her own eyes, and she’d never really gotten along with him, citing a “Sinful Mana.” Of course, “Sinful Mana” was just a made-up insult that religious groups used to condemn others. Izuku’s Mana sense was way stronger than Ibara’s and there was no such variation in Mana that could be classified as “Sinful” versus “Virtuous.”
Finally, there was Bakugo, who was averting his gaze with a fervent scowl. He was still reeling from such a revelation and while he had followed Brandon’s advice to try and make friends, notably with Kirishima, it was another thing entirely to address the past.
“Alright alright!” Iida walked over to the crowd. “This is too much chaos! We’ll handle this one question at a time, please take your seats and I’ll direct the questioning.” No one was happy to be pulled away, but by this point, they knew Iida was immovable as class president. This was just how they’d have to do it.
*******
As the day began to wind down, Izuku found himself in the Mana Lab, where students could use measurement devices and items of varying qualities to record differences in levels. This data, in the past, was combined with traditional theories of physics in an attempt to understand it. In many ways it was like the radiation labs of the 1940s and beyond, just without the dangerous adverse effects.
“Hey, pretty boy!” A voice called from the back of the lab. Her pink curls bounced up and down as she ran over to him. “What’re you up to today?!”
“Evening, Hatsume,” He greeted politely. He’d gotten used to her boisterous personality long ago. “It’s just some boring data compilation. My Shadows have different Mana readings compared to Mana in humans or items. I was just creating a guide between them, comparing Rankings and such.”
“Fascinating,” She responded blankly. “Ya know what’s even cooler, I knew you were a False-Ranker long before you revealed yourself!”
“I suppose because everytime I came in here, the readings from the sensors changed quite a bit, and they varied each time?” He wasn’t all that surprised. It was always just a matter of time before his identity was revealed. There were too many factors in play.
Hatsume nodded, clearly proud of herself. “Yep! And I falsified the data each time just so you wouldn’t be caught!”
Izuku felt like doing a spit take at that. “Excuse me what? Why?! If that came out it would kind of be a scandal right?”
“Nope! See Nezu took one look at my transcript and saw a whole host of red flags!” Izuku could understand that, she rarely behaved herself. “But he made me a bet, if I could fool him by the end of the first couple months of school, and outsmart him in some way, he’d let me stay regardless of the complaints from faculty! I paid off one of the professors to tell me what he said in private meetings, and apparently he’s been agonizing over this, so as soon as you revealed yourself, I took the data to him, proving I knew the Shadow Monarch was under his nose the whole time! I even had data from your Shadows! So now I have complete freedom!”
“Scary…”
“Well I guess I should thank you for keeping it secret that long…”
“I was gonna spill before my test period was up, so it’s good luck you revealed yourself anyways!”
Izuku wasn’t even sure what reaction to have by that point, so he just laughed and got to work compiling his measurements.
No Applicable Comparison: E-Rank
No Applicable Comparison: D-Rank
No Applicable Comparison: C-Rank
Normal: B-Rank
Elite: A-Rank
Knight: Low S-Rank
Elite-Knight: S-Rank
Captain: High S-Rank
Colonel: XS-Rank
Commander: National-Rank
General: High National-Rank
Marshal: No Applicable Comparison
Grand-Marshal: No Applicable Comparison
Lord: No Applicable Comparison
Higher Being: No Applicable Comparison
Primordial: No Applicable Comparison
Izuku was a little upset by the amount of non-applicable comparisons there were, but he wasn’t sure what to do about them. For the higher Rankings, how would anything a human was capable of compare to those? So he decided that those were the Ranks past National-Rank, starting with Marshal. A Marshal would be many times stronger than a National-Rank, but honestly most of the comparisons weren’t fair to begin with.
For example, a Commander had National-Rank level energy, but a Shadow at that Rank would completely trounce any National-Rank since they were unkillable. A General would barely notice the breeze from a National-Rank, and a Marshal would just squish one with their thumb.
On the flip side, there were the three lowest Ranks. Beru suggested naming them, from strongest to weakest, “Weakling,” “Pathetic,” and “Infant.” For a number of reasons, Izuku rejected those names. But in some ways, Beru wasn’t wrong with his suggestions, the mere existence of a title called “Normal” implied a status as less than normal.
“Maybe I’ll rename that Grade as well… not like I use it much…”
Mortal: E-Rank
Brawler: D-Rank
Warrior: C-Rank
Soldier: B-Rank
They weren’t perfect, but Izuku needed a name for those lower Ranks at the very least. These were the best he could come up with.
[Reformatting Grading.]
The System, surprisingly, acknowledged these changes. It made Izuku wonder if Raia was doing this, or if the System had a baseline artificial intelligence that could handle these things.
Once he had that done, setting one of his notebooks to the side, he moved on to compiling his Soul data into their respective charts. Size, brilliance, number of Skills, etc. Thankfully, UA gave him access to a lot of people, whom he could call in to interview for this data and visually inspect with Soul Magic. Of course, he had to convince UA in the first place that he could even see Souls with Dark Magic, which was unproven at the time in order to start his thesis.
“I knew I’d find you here! You never came to greet your favorite professor!” Izuku knew, just by the smell of leather and perfume, who was standing behind him.
“Sorry Professor Nemuri,” He said, using her first name, which she requested of all her students. “It’s been a busy day.” He spun around to see her holding a small present in her hands. “What’s this?”
“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise!” She said, winking at him as she took a seat in the nearby chair.
He just chuckled, taking the small box and unwrapping it. Inside was a small folded sheet of paper.
“It’s my mother’s secret recipe for the perfect breakfast in bed,” She explained as Izuku unfolded it.
“Where’d this come from?” He asked. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love gifts! I’m just curious.”
Midnight folded her hands in her lap. “It’s a little early, you’re still just a freshman here, but I see all of my students as my children. I… still haven’t found the right one, so I feel like a proud mother when I watch you kids move forwards with your life! Especially when you’re moving forwards with a few special someone’s,” She said teasingly. “It’s hard to pick a gift for the man who has everything. But I wanted to give you something.”
Izuku nodded gratefully. “It’s perfect.” And he meant it. He needed an excuse to get better at cooking anyways. It was the thought that counted most. “I’ll make sure to put it to good use.”
“I know you will.”
*******
After class and some time in their respective labs, Izuku and Momo snuck away to the medical area of the UA grounds. It was a section of connected buildings that could serve any number of purposes. From treating flesh wounds, to disease, to providing what the two were there for, bloodwork, an ultrasound, and advice. Momo had gone much earlier to let the staff take some of her blood.
The old woman who ran the medical center hobbled into the private room with a file for the two. Her name was Chiyo Shunzenji, but most people just called her Recovery Girl.
“We got back your bloodwork. Unsurprisingly, you are pregnant,” She stated bluntly. They had done an additional pregnancy test with blood just to be sure. “And your bloodwork is mostly unremarkable, aside from the high concentration of Mana in it, which is to be expected. The only thing of note is a slightly low Vitamin B level. Overall, you’re perfectly healthy, as you should be at such an age.”
She pulled up next to the ultrasound machine, prepping it to do an examination of Momo, who was resting on a table, her stomach exposed. “Of course, when it comes to medicine, nothing is certain. However, you might just be one of the luckiest young mothers I’ve ever met. Rich, Awakened, and smart as hell,” She continued to ramble as she smeared the ultrasound jelly over her stomach. “Pregnancies in Awakened mothers are very smooth. You’ll have almost no morning sickness, no cramps, no fatigue, none of the usual symptoms we expect of pregnancies. However, there will still be some moodiness and weirdness with food. You might want to eat nothing at all, or you might feel like eating only a candy bar. All very normal,” She looked at Izuku. “That will be your responsibility to handle maturely. Don’t mock her for weird cravings or emotional outbursts.”
“I would never!”
“Good,” Recovery Girl turned the monitor towards them both. “It looks normal for this stage in development.” It had been several weeks since the conception of the baby, but it was still just a tiny blob forming.
Izuku and Momo, holding hands, smiled joyously at their fortune for a time. Their future, their family.
“For now, you should refrain from using your Awakened powers in any physical manner.”
“Wait…” Momo looked concerned. “I thought Awakened mothers subconsciously shielded their babies in Mana?”
Recovery Girl tilted her hand side-to-side. “They do, but only to a certain extent. You're too powerful for that Mana to be enough. The momentum your baby would feel is too much. You need to be very careful about moving too fast or exerting too much effort. Using your Quirk to make things, and using Mana in general is fine. Just don’t start running at a hundred miles a second.” She handed Momo tissues to clean herself off. “Other than that, your body is the perfect shield for the baby. Between the ease of pregnancy, delivery, and the overwhelming durability of your body, you should handle it all just fine.”
“So… no Hero work?” She asked.
Recovery Girl sighed. “Theoretically, it wouldn’t be a problem in a support role, but I really can’t recommend it.”
“Me neither,” Izuku chimed in, taking a stance. “You can’t risk that. And you’ve got a lot of important things you’re doing right now anyways. No one will blame you for sitting out for a little bit.” Momo wasn’t just curing the Eternal Slumber, she had a whole host of other inventions on her plate that could reasonably change the course of human history.
For a moment, Momo seemed like she would protest. After all, she knew about the additional threats the planet faced, which went well beyond the Gates. Thankfully, however, she recognized the necessity and promised not to do anything rash.
Izuku asked Recovery Girl a couple other questions, namely about his own Dark Magic and how he used it to teleport. He’d already used it with Momo, but the old lady insisted that it not be used from now on.
“It doesn’t appear to have affected the fetus at all, but there’s not enough information. You should stick to normal means of transportation for now.
“Of course,” Izuku quickly agreed.
They talked for a while longer, asking the list of questions they had prepared. Eventually, with everything in order, they bid farewell to Recovery Girl and the school, making their way home.
They were exhausted from the long day of mental strain, but still managed to talk about the two big things they had to decide on for the System.
“Part of me feels like we should just dismiss him,” Momo remarked, commenting on Nine’s Soul. “He seemed so depressed and lost.”
Logically, bringing back humans was no different than bringing back Chaos Inhabitants, but it still made them uncomfortable. Even Igris, who was once human himself, had readily chosen this fate, so they could at least feel at ease about him.
“Well, there’s no reason not to bring him back and talk it out first,” Izuku replied. “If he wants to go, we’ll let him go. Simple as that.”
Momo still seemed conflicted, but Izuku wasn’t sure why. He’d gotten the run down of her conversation with Nine. Why would-
“Ohhhh…” The piece clicked into place. “She feels guilty cause she couldn’t save him or disprove his methods. She had to kill him instead. Yeah… that’s not good.”
“I think you should talk with him. Even if he wishes to go, you clearly have a lot you need to say to him.”
Momo scoffed. “That obvious huh?”
“Not for me, it took a minute to figure it out.”
She sighed. “Okay…”
Just before they could move onto the second topic, that being the Lord-Rank Item they could claim from the shop, they arrived home, and everyone was gathered around the television. Even the Todorokis were there. It seemed like Fuyumi and Inko got along well.
“Oh! You’re just in time! All Might’s about to make his public statement!”
Inko was still pretty frail-looking, but her complexion had improved and she had a lot of energy. Igris and Esil had been helping guide her through the physical therapy, using Healing Magic when necessary, and interpreting Deep Blue’s commands.
Surprisingly, she got used to the Shadows and Esil within just a few days. It was probably because the Shadows all treated her like royalty and raced around the house to ensure she had everything and anything she could need. And Esil was human enough to not put people off by her appearance.
Izuku and Momo took their place by the TV, looking up at the empty podium, faced by dozens of reporters. It didn’t take long for the skeletal Toshinori to emerge from the doors behind the podium, sharply dressed.
“Thank you all for coming here to give me just a moment of your time! This will just be a short address, but I promise you, it is the news that has long been awaited by millions around the world!” He cleared his throat. “Just days ago, the Shadow Empress, Momo Yaoyorozu, came to me with a new medication. A supplement that binds with Mana in the liver and excretes it in urine. After testing and continued observation we can confirm that over a dozen victims of the Eternal Slumber have been woken up with zero negative side effects.”
All Might hadn’t even finished his sentence and the crowd erupted with boisterous questions and some cries of relief. It would later be revealed that some of the reporters present family members of their own suffering from the disease.
Toshinori had to speak up to be heard over the cacophony of questioning. “Scientists from all around the world have received and verified our data! In time, we will move to mass produce as much of this medication as possible and spread it until this disease is conquered! Humanity has been under the thrall of that which they cannot understand for far too long! But if there’s one thing we as a species are good at, it’s fighting back and always moving forwards!”