The Protagonist System

186 Another Short Skip

That afternoon was a mad scramble as everyone moved their things into the new apartment building. It was only partially furnished with just the appliances and not much else, so none of the new tenants had any trouble bringing all of their things from their old places to their new homes.

A few of the students saw the new place and chose to make it their permanent home instead of only during the week, like Ochaco Uraraka. She had become a hero to try and make money to ease the strain on her parents. She wanted them to have an easier life and she was working hard to make that dream come true, so she was grateful to Izuku for making things so much easier for her.

Others saw it as an opportunity to live on their own and without the influence of their parents, like Momo Youyorozu. It was going to be her place and no one else's, so she was quite grateful as well for the chance to live on her own. Being his next door neighbour was also a chance for her to see how a normal family lived.

Inko Midoriya on the other hand, saw it as moving on from her old life and into a new one. With a little girl to help take care of and five daughters to adore and spend time with, her life had gone from being almost empty with her son growing up and leaving soon to being more full than it had ever been. She couldn't have been happier about it if she tried.

Izuku and his future brides saw it as a great launching platform for their operations to expand. They had been restricted by their living arrangements and having to hide their costumes and when they met up to work. Now they were living in the same building and didn't have to worry about getting caught coming and going.

They were much closer to the action at the new place and they could start operations in the adjacent cities and towns to start taking down all the criminals they couldn't get to before, because they didn't have the time before they had to return home and their normal lives.

The biggest target they had missed was Stain, The Hero Killer. He kept moving around and out of their grasp, leaving them frustrated and unable to track the villain down to take him out. Unlike a lot of the others, the girls had no problem with Izuku sacrificing the multiple murderer. He needed to be taken out as soon as possible and the girls were eager to get back to work.

*

Classes in high school weren't much different than a hero school, except for the few subjects about how to deal with rescues, emergencies, and procedures for dealing with the police and hero agencies. The teachers wearing full costumes as they taught was a novel experience, too.

Of course, the first time we had Midnight teaching in our classroom, she zeroed in on me and quickly found out who my five girlfriends were. The teasing was subtle, so none of the other students mentioned it, probably because they expected there to be a lot worse. She was the Rated 18 Hero, after all.

The girls and I took it in good fun, since we knew she wasn't actually serious. She was our teacher and crossing that line wasn't going to happen for at least three years, not until we graduated anyway. Once we were officially heroes, all bets were off.

During the evenings, we did our homework and then gathered intelligence on the crimes and villains around the city. During the day, we were students and didn't even hint that we were actively hunting villains.

Classes were pretty normal, thanks to not having the disrupting elements of Bakugo and Mineta. There were no loud outbursts or explosions from Bakugo and there was no perving or degeneracy from Mineta that he would have infected a couple of the other guys with. It made the classroom almost wholesome in comparison to what it had been in the show.

We had the training session in the Unseen Simulation Joint and no villains showed up to crash it. It turned out to be a great lesson by Thirteen, The Rescue Hero, whom was Ochaco's favorite. We ended up staying late into the evening because we were learning so much and did so well. Everyone was happy when we finally left the place and had performed well above what the teachers had expected.

It took another week before I found out where All Might lived. Once I did, I snuck in and added healing potions to his nutrition shakes. With enough doses, his massive damage from his injuries and the surgeries he had to suffer through, would slowly be reversed and healed. It wouldn't be perfect; but, it would definitely ease the man's suffering.

I also took the opportunity to check on the echo of One For All he still had. Because he had held the power for so long, he still had the ability to use his power for a limited amount of time per day. So, I tweaked it and stopped it from reducing any further. With luck, he wouldn't even notice until after he was healed up enough. After that, I could use the specific healing spell I knew without trouble.

*

“Having our own place to live is awesome!” Ochaco said at lunch one day.

“I agree. It is quite enjoyable.” Momo said.

“The sleepovers are the best, aren't they?” Hibiki asked and all of the girls nodded.

“Momo's stereo system is the best on the market.” Jiro commented. “The hi-def quality really lets us belt out the tunes on Karaoke Night.”

Momo blushed slightly. “I will admit that was fun. You have a great singing voice, Jiro.”

“Thanks!” Jiro said. “I haven't had much practice the last while. Getting into UA wasn't easy.”

“No, it wasn't, and we all kicked ass to do it!” Akari said and the girls let out a soft cheer.

“Are you always this lively?” Mina Ashido asked. “Because I love it! You guys are so much fun!”

“Yes, they are, and I wouldn't have them any other way.” I said and all five of my future wives blushed. “Mom and Eri adore them, too.”

“She's such a cutie!” Ochaco gushed. “You should have warned us you adopted your very own unicorn! I'm so jealous!”

That made all the girls laugh, because they all had that wish when they were younger.

“You can just visit more. Eri doesn't mind having more people to pamper her.” I said and Ochaco beamed a smile at me. “She's too young to enjoy a good sleepover with teenagers, though.” I said and looked at Tsuyu. “Tsu? How old are the tadpoles again?”

“Old enough to give me headaches without trying.” Tsu said and everyone let out laughs.

I chuckled, too. “I know it's a bit early and our families haven't formally met yet; but, we could arrange a play date with the kids and maybe let your sister stay over for a night or two? Maybe give you and your mom a break?”

Tsuyu gave me a wide smile. “That sounds nice, Izuku. I'll ask mom when I get home.”

I nodded and went back to eating.

“You want more kids around?” Jiro asked.

I thought back to the two daughters I had with Viper and nodded. “I like having a house full of love and caring. Children are the future and being a part of that makes all the trouble worthwhile.”

My words had all of the girls exchange questioning looks, as if asking if they felt the same way, and my girlfriends nodded. They had been around us enough to know I took raising a child seriously. Even Inko had been surprised by both my knowledge and how well I was raising Eri.

The conversation changed again and went back to the hero course that we would have that afternoon. I let their voices wash over me as I thought about things. Without the big bad pushing things and training his replacement, things had calmed down to the point that we were all having a normal school experience and weren't in constant danger.

This also ended up changing the course of events slightly. The sports festival was still happening, since there was no controversy over villain attacks, and after that was the hero agency placements. What had changed was the summer training camp. There was none. With no reason to rush the students to learn how to fight against the threat, things were calm and there was no urgency at all.

I was going to make sure that everyone performed well at the sports festival and that they chose good placements this time. There was no way I was letting Momo take a stupid modelling job instead of going with a real hero agency where she would actually learn something besides how to look good for the camera.

“Why are you frowning?” Hibiki asked me and poked my side.

“Hm?” I hummed and turned to look at her. “I was thinking about the internships and making sure a certain students didn't waste their potential by taking a modelling job instead.”

All five of my girls blushed, because they would totally take the modelling job.

“It would be a novel experience.” Momo said. “It would only be for a week as well.”

I let out a sigh at my plans already starting to fail. “You don't think it's a waste?”

“No, it should give a unique perspective into the media and the perception of the public.” Momo explained and shot down the rest of my plans. “I believe Gyaru Fashionistas would have the best reception.”

I saw the looks on their faces and had to agree. “Fine. I'll drop my objections.”

My five future wives let out squeals and I was soon kissed five times on my cheeks.

“We need to start planning our outfits for the sports festival to show off our best looks.” Hibiki said and stood, as did Akari, Rin, Keiko, and Mia. “We'll see you all in class.”

I didn't watch them go and looked at Momo instead. “You might as well join them.”

Momo blushed at the double implication of my words, then she smiled as she leaned over to kiss my cheek, stood up with her head held high, and followed my girlfriends out of the cafeteria.

“Wow.” Mina whispered. “Just... wow.”

The others at the table nodded. I held in my smile at that reaction and kept eating. If the girls accepted Momo, and I fully expected that they would, then I was going to be busy trying to figure out how to make her happy, too.

*

We finally tracked down the elusive villain named Stain after a month of searching. I was grateful that my portal ability let us traverse the space instantly instead of having to travel the normal way, or he would have gotten away. He still put up quite the fight and we were all grateful that my armor enchantments couldn't be pierced by his normal blades and he never got any of our blood.

I was also sick of him expounding his rhetoric about real heroes and how he was cleaning up the trash the entire time we were trying to fight him. When we finally manged to hem him in and he had nowhere to go, with Mai holding one arm and Akari holding the other, I wasted no time and shoved a black energy sword through his heart and held onto it.

“You believe in it, too?” He asked as the disintegration energy started to consume him.

“Not at all. If they are heroes, even if they are wastes of space, they're needed. Unlike you, a waste of talent.” I told him.

“But... you kill.” He said as the two girls let him go.

I chuckled and let the sword hilt go. “That's because real heroes don't need to kill off the competition. We protect the innocent from people like you.”

His shocked face was the last thing we saw before he disintegrated and there was nothing left. Rei handed me his two weapons.

“Thank you.” I said and wrapped them in evidence tape and stored them.

“We're going to have quite the bounty payoffs when we get our licenses.” Hibiki said.

“And you've all earned it.” I said and smiled. “Let's go home and hug our little girl.”

“After a long shower. I feel really dirty after fighting someone like that.” Akari said and wiped at a smudge on her armor.

“His name had more meaning to it than we thought.” I joked and none of them laughed. I sighed and opened a portal back to the apartment where we stored our suits.

We all went through and stripped off, set the suits aside to be cleaned later, and went into the bathroom. The communal shower was quiet as all we did was wash ourselves off. There was no playing or carrying on, not after listening to that man's drivel for almost half an hour. His view of society was pretty twisted and that was why I said we needed to hug Eri. We needed her reassurance.

Eri was more than happy to be hugged on top of the girlfriend pile when we entered the main apartment where we lived. Inko saw us and nodded in understanding. She prepared some tea and snacks for us and joined in on the cuddle pile, making Eri giggle and squirm under tickling fingers. Sometimes, even mothers needed reassurance.

*

Rikiya Yotsubashi sat in his plush office and looked down at the file folders on his desk. He didn't bother trying to flip through them, because he knew what they contained. Details of the disappearances of certain high-ranking members of his supposedly secret organization.

Someone had stumbled upon one of the rank and file and gained a name, then more, and then gutted the Meta Liberation Army of all its lieutenants. They had even somehow found Gigantomachia and removed them somehow.

He didn't get angry. He didn't get upset. He didn't do anything, because the ticking of the bomb on his chair was taking all of his concentration. He suspected that whoever planted it, knew of his enhanced durability and planned for it. His Stress Quirk needed time to build up and he knew he wouldn't have any time left if he moved.

A purple portal opened up underneath him and he dropped through and reappeared a mile up in the air. He cursed and tried to throw the chair away, only for it to explode as soon as he shifted his weight. He kept cursing as he slowly disintegrated, because his Stress quirk had activated at full power and keeping the energy at bay.

As he plummeted towards the flat ground, the villain named Re-Destro read the message carved into the dirt that was large enough to be seen from so high up. “Thanks for keeping detailed files about your secret organization and all their quirks.”

Rikiya let out a sigh of defeat and stopped using his quirk to let the energy consume him. He had lost and the people would never know the freedom his revolution would have given them. His body completely disappeared long before it would have reached the ground.

*

“...and also in the news tonight, there have been a rash of disappearances of various political leaders around the country. Some of their aids, various heroes and their sidekicks, and a few policemen have gone missing as well. If anyone has any information about any of them, please contact your local precinct or hero agency.” The anchorman on the screen said. “Now on to the weather...”