Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
May 22 2xxx - Izumi Pov.
I came out of unconsciousness, fully alert, yet I still felt tired. I didn't need to look at the clock; I knew exactly what time it was. My body had woken up with the sunrise since I was a baby. No matter how tired I was, my body woke up at the same time of day. It wasn't a fixed time; the sun woke me up.
Even though I'd been having sex for hours the night before and had only slept for a couple of hours, my body was forcing me to get up. I was terribly tired, even with Total Concentration Breathing. Oh, I knew I could fix everything by circulating my aura properly. But it wasn't necessary. This kind of pain and tiredness was terribly pleasurable.
Even more so when I was surrounded by naked bodies. Taylor to my right, Azula to my left, and Ruby on top of me. They all snuggled even closer to me. If I had the strength, I would have started to get an erection, I would have, but apparently, being exhausted at the moment, it wasn't possible.
I guess this is what they meant by saying, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak… maybe.
I had to get up. I had to dance and welcome the sunrise like I'd done for years without missing a day. But… I didn't want to leave this place. With the three of them pressed against me, I didn't even mean it sexually, just… intimacy. This was perfect.
Surely, the sun would forgive me for not paying homage to it today, or whatever god or goddess is its equivalent. I was agnostic, so I didn't believe in any gods, but I couldn't claim they didn't exist either. Not when I was in this world, with a host of characters from different animes with their own very real Gods. I hadn't met any that could prove they did exist.
"You're thinking too hard." Azula moaned softly beside me as she snuggled further into me before letting out a pained groan. "My pussy hurts, I blame you for that." She growled once more. I couldn't help but snort in amusement at the crudeness of her statement.
"I'll accept that guilty plea with honor." I muttered proudly. Azula snorted.
"...what were you thinking?" Azula mumbled sleepily.
"I was apologizing to the sun for not receiving it and having an existential crisis about whether or not gods exist." I mumbled distractedly. Azula opened one eye and stared at me incredulously. I laughed lightly, trying not to move as much as possible.
"Go back to sleep," Azula grumbled in a tired voice. We both fell silent. Just long enough to think she'd fallen asleep again.
" What time is it?" Ruby growled as she writhed on top of me before moaning. "My pussy and ass hurt. I blame you for this, Izumi." Ruby growled in pain, echoing Azula. I couldn't help but laugh even louder.
"Someone is trying to sleep here," Taylor yawned. Azula grunted.
"Now we're all awake, happy?" Azula growled. I chuckled.
"Not really, I'm tired too." I snorted amusedly.
"Can we go to sleep?" Ruby murmured as she snuggled into my chest. I hummed softly.
"I love you." I said with a huge smile as I closed my eyes.
"Me too." Taylor murmured almost immediately as she scooted closer to me.
"Same here." Ruby murmured, her voice hoarse from sleep.
"I love you too. Now shut your mouth and go to sleep." Azula groaned sleepily. Wait...she just-.
I opened my eyes and looked at Azula's sleepy form. She looked completely at peace. It was adorable. In fact, I wasn't the only one; Ruby and Taylor also opened their eyes and stared at her in disbelief. I honestly didn't expect that from her. She was the only one who hadn't told me she loved me until now, and it was to be expected.
First, we'd only been together for a little over a month, so I wasn't expecting anything yet. Ruby had confessed in that time, but Ruby was completely different. This brought us to the second point: she's Azula. She's had miles of trauma and even more mistrust. I wasn't blind enough to ignore it, even when Azula was exceptional at hiding it. And I wasn't foolish enough to think she was using me to help her get stronger.
I still didn't know why, but it didn't matter. I loved her enough to help her willingly. Besides, whatever she had planned, it definitely wasn't short-term. There were definitely a few years until she made her move.
I hoped that by then, she would be worn down enough to ask me for help early enough and maybe try to convince her not to commit war crimes or start another coup… although I saw that as very difficult.
We continued looking at Azula for a few seconds until she opened her eyes wide awake. She immediately sat up and looked at me in horror.
"I didn't say anything, you didn't hear anything, nothing happened!" Azula said immediately. I lay back completely naked and smiled at her arrogantly.
"And forget your declaration of love? Of course not," I said playfully. Azula growled in anger as she blushed bright red.
"I didn't say that! I was tired and sleepy. I wanted you to shut up already." Azula growled, embarrassed.
" Are you sure? You know the saying, sleeping people speak the truth, In somno veritas, and all that." Ruby said, oozing confidence with a hint of sleepiness in her voice. The three of us looked at her, confused. Taylor was the first to moan loudly.
"It's way too early for you to mangle a Latin phrase, Ruby." Taylor groaned, sounding tired as she laid back down in her spot, using me as a pillow and closing her eyes. "My pussy hurts, and it's Izumi's fault. I wanna sleep." I snorted in amusement once more. I was awfully proud of that fact.
"Fine for me." Ruby yawned as she snuggled into my chest again. Ruby rested her cheek on my chest and giggled as her eyes closed. I rolled my eyes and looked at Azula. I beckoned with my free hand, and Azula got a conflicted look before giving up and lying back down in her spot.
"I didn't say anything, and I definitely didn't say that, forget it," Azula growled softly.
"You're the only one talking about it, Azula," Taylor growled from my other side. "You said it, we all heard it, you can't take it back, end it, now go to sleep." Azula growled softly.
"...is it so wrong... that you love Izumi?" Ruby asked sleepily. Azula didn't answer and remained silent for a long time, possibly minutes. Taylor and Ruby fell asleep soon after. I closed my eyes and relaxed once more, preparing for sleep.
"... yes." Azula murmured, almost so quietly, that if it weren't for my heightened senses, I probably wouldn't have heard it. I nearly wanted to confront her, but there was too much baggage in that statement alone. I was sure that if I confronted her now, Azula would run away to another country... maybe quite literally. Time, I had to let her come to terms, so... I let Morpheus's embrace claim me again.
Finally, a couple of hours later, we got up and started the day when the alarm went off. Unfortunately, it was a school day, so we couldn't just lie in bed much longer. Azula and I went to dance the sun god dance with the sun already in the sky, and unfortunately, we had much less time than usual, which was a shame.
Azula acted like nothing had happened that night, and I played along. I would let her come to me first unless something came up. Unfortunately, that was the best way to deal with Azula and her feelings. So, I had to be patient with her.
I made breakfast while we started talking with our other classmates. It turns out that missing half of the previous day only made them all more anxious. Even more so because they all had questions about Draw Sword and, obviously, about the photos I took and posted on my social media about Tawata.
I took the time to answer the questions honestly—well, honestly enough without getting into the details and the whole Taylor thing. They also had questions for Taylor and Ruby. Taylor replied that she had an internship with my grandfather, a retired hunter, while Ruby began babbling about her mission with her mother.
Certainly, most of them didn't believe most of what she said. I also noticed there were a lot of things she hadn't told about Merlot and the green Grimms. It must have been an order from her mother and someone else. It apparently didn't work with us, or she simply ignored it since Ruby took it upon herself to tell us everything in great detail.
They also focused a bit on Azula, the hero killer and Endeavor thing. However, it seemed like Todoroki and Midoriya had already answered most of the questions the day before.
The funny thing was when Bakugo came down from her room with a hairstyle that reminded me of Best Jeanist, who, apparently, received the same internship. I obviously started laughing out loud at her hairstyle.
"Don't laugh, shit, I'll kill you!!" Bakugo exclaimed angrily. I just laughed harder. Bakugo growled, and explosions erupted from her palms. "I knew I shouldn't have gone to a male hero agency!" she growled angrily.
"I think you look pretty," Midoriya said from beside her with a shy smile, which stopped Bakugo completely in her tracks. A conflicted look appeared on her face.
"Smooth Midoriya, Smooth." I said playfully.
"You're whipped." Ashido laughed from beside Bakugo with a mocking smile. She just groaned. Finally, her hair exploded and returned to its normal, completely disheveled form. There was a disappointed look on Midoriya's face.
Once we finished breakfast and prepared for class, we finally began classes. It was an abrupt change from killing monsters in an A-rank dungeon the day before to attending class today.
Luckily, the whole day wasn't boring. I'd forgotten what was happening, but today was the rescue run training at the Gamma Playground. It was a huge city, really. What's the UA budget for building all of that?
That aside, the races went just as I expected. Midoriya had been using Full Cowl since the first few days of school, so it wasn't surprising that he could get through the race quite comfortably and quickly. So there weren't any strange surprises with everyone else.
We finally finished morning classes and were about to go to lunch.
" I FOUND YOUNG MIDORIYA!" All Might exclaimed. I looked over my shoulder at him. "LUNCH." He said simply as he pulled out a small box of food. "ARE YOU JOINING ME?" All Might asked shyly. I laughed lightly as Midoriya happily agreed.
"Shall we have lunch?" I asked playfully. The three girls nodded absentmindedly.
"Mmm, by the way, Izumi, your grandfather said that All Might is Midoriya's father. Is that true?" Taylor asked distractedly. I stumbled on air and looked at her in disbelief.
"Wait, what?! He said what?" I asked quickly. Taylor looked confused but nodded.
"That's what he said. We were talking about the national hunters, and the conversation came up," Taylor said simply with a shrug.
"That's amazing!" Ruby exclaimed excitedly. Azula hummed.
"Now that I think about it, Midoriya was interning with that retired hero, Gran Torino. Midoriya slipped and called him grandpa," Azula added. I stopped dead in my tracks.
It was wrong, very wrong. Was it… possible?! No… maybe… adopted? Maybe. They were just those very close family friends who were family in every way except blood… But if not…
If Izuku Midoriya was All Might's son, and if All Might was Sorahiko's son, the question is who his mother is, but it's very likely that the answer is Nana Shimura. If Nana is Midoriya's grandmother, and if Shigaraki is also her granddaughter... then Izuku and Shigaraki are cousins!
This was wrong, very wrong, terribly wrong. I needed answers.
"Is everything okay, Izumi? You're pale." Taylor asked, her voice worried. I immediately composed myself and extended my Observation Haki. I found All Might's aura almost immediately. It was a huge flare that warmly covered all of UA.
"I'm fine! I just... need to find All Might! I have something to tell you! They reminded me of that! I'll tell you later!" I said before running out without waiting for any of their responses. I stopped in front of All Might's office door, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.