MHA: Horizon(Ope-Ope No Mi)

Chapter 36: (Making Friends)

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pat.reon (5 Chapters ahead): Keanu_Eugene

CHAPTER START---

"Alright, see you all tomorrow," Eraser finally wraps up class, the sun already setting on the horizon as everyone begins packing their bags.

Horizon just places his blank book and pencil case in his desk and checks his phone.

'5 Minutes,' Nezu's text says. And he can feel Yagi still in the teacher's lounge reading something.

Focusing on Nezu he feels him talking to Recovery Girl over a cup of tea in his office, and decides not to interrupt.

Bakugo is the first to leave, sulking away with a blank expression, and Deku immediately leaves his items and rushes out of the room to talk to him.

Horizon only shakes his head and leans back, closing his eyes, trying to enjoy a few minutes of peace as everyone leaves.

"Horizon," Tokoyami interrupts his 'me time', "sorry to bother you but aren't you leaving? I assumed you would have warped away the moment Aizawa dismissed us."

Horizon looks to his right to see Tokoyami sitting on his desk, Sero at his desk in front of Tokoyami, turned in his seat to face Horizon, and in front of him, Momo and Jiro are talking quietly at Jiro's desk.

"Normally I would, but Nezu wants to talk to me in a few minutes, probably about the new abilities I showed and some other stuff," he shrugs.

"Makes sense," Sero taps his chin and nods along. "Telekinesis and Air Slashes, pretty strong on their own but you've got both, I'm sure he wants to know more about them."

"And in addition to your Warp and Heal, I can certainly understand why he has such faith in you," Tokoyami adds.

"Don't forget the Ghost Bullets," Jiro adds, causing both girls to join the conversation.

"Yes those are quite dangerous, but Recovery Girl couldn't understand how they worked," Momo says. "Atleast when Todoroki and I went to the infirmary before getting changed."

"I assumed they were just Air Bullets," Jiro says.

Horizon laughs, "Air Bullets is a really pathetic Quirk in comparison, mine are a lot more hard-hitting, but less versatile, they can't be used to push objects or people around, only damage."

"And they aren't air," Momo says. "They tore through layers of concrete but when they hit Todoroki it didn't break the skin, destroying his clothes and the floor behind him, but never broke the skin, very odd."

"Honestly most of my abilities are scarier if you know how they actually work," Horizon shrugs. "But until my big debut at the sports festival, I'll be keeping everything close to the vest. I don't like the idea of people knowing what I can do, but heroes have to be marketable to be successful, and the public gets more invested if they can actually understand what you're doing, that's why signature moves exist."

"I didn't even think about that," Jiro says. "But its not like you have to do much, Warp alone would be enough to get every pro in the world sending you offers."

"Indeed," Momo solemnly nods along. "A near-mythic status Quirk, and to think it's only one of your abilities."

This particular phrase causes Shoji to turn around, bag slung across his shoulder as he approaches the group. "I have a question."

"Uh-huh," Horizon looks up at him.

"What's the name of your Quirk, or Quirks, I'd imagine it has to be something cool, mine is Dupli-Arms, it lets me duplicate any body part on the end of my extra arm tentacles, and they're an enhanced version of my usual set," Shoji creates a second mouth at the end of a tentacle and smiles at them with it.

"Any body part?" Horizon says with a curious tone, causing Shoji to groan.

"Yes, even that..."

"Ahh, the ladies must love you," he chuckles, but everyone else in the conversation just blushes.

"Somehow that's always the first thing people think about," Shoji mutters.

"It's literally human nature, if we can't fight it, fuck it, or feed on it, we don't really care about it, our kids are the only exception... atleast for sane people."

Momo cringes at the thought and his crass language, "then I suppose we should all introduce our Quirks, my Quirk is Creation, it allows me to create any non-living thing from the lipids in my body, I can essentially transform my body fat into items," she says with a proud smile.

"That's awesome!" Sero cheers. "So you can make gold and just get super rich!"

"She's already super rich," Horizon says. "She's a Yaoyorozu..."

Momo freezes, not expecting this to surface so soon. Forcing herself to smile she continues, "well yes, my family is rather comfortable, but I also cannot use my Quirk in such a manner. The restrictions because of its nature are numerous, including banning me from making certain items like firearms and precious gems and minerals, as well as currency. I also have to know the molecular composition of anything I'm making."

"The most versatile Quirk in the world," Horizon says. "When we were watching the Quirk test in his office I told Nezu that nobody here could match me, but you're one of the only people in the world that could make a plan that I can't predict, because basically anything in the world can be in your pocket."

Momo blushes deeply, but a moment later she's crushed by even more expectations placed on her, atop the mountain of pressure that comes with being a Recommended Student and proving that you deserve your spot, now the potential future Symbol Of Peace is complimenting her potential.

Jiro gives her a pat on the back and begins talking to distract everyone, "my Quirk is Earphone Jack, basically, my earlobes are Aux cords, I can plug them in to listen to music or amplify my heartbeat with them to attack, they're also tougher than store bought jacks, oh, and I can extend them," she extends one all the way to the ceiling and taps it before recalling it.

"Hmm, I didn't expect the heartbeat thing, not too strong on their own but since they work with technology you can make up for that, at least they're cute," Horizon says.

Jiro fights through the blush, "uh, thank you," she twirls one on her finger. "And yeah my boots in my hero costume act as speakers and amps."

"Smart, can I touch one?" Horizon asks plainly.

"Um, you want to touch one?" she's surprised at how blunt he is.

"That's what I said yeah."

"Right...sure," she extends one out to him, about a meter away until he reaches out and touches it, holding it carefully in his hand.

SCAN

He immediately gets a full breakdown of her body, he can even tell that she had rice and curry for lunch. But what really gets his attention are the extra bones in her ears and dense layers of cartilage that make up her Earphone Jacks, hidden beneath a layer of soft skin.

He also senses the many extra bones in her ears to better differentiate sounds, and finally, the nerve clusters that point out the tips of her jacks as erogenous areas.

He seemingly absentmindedly begins playing with the jack, gently touching the nerve clusters at the end of it while turning to Sero, "so, Tape?" he asks. All while Jiro is frozen in embarrassment and panic, never having someone else, especially a boy play with her jacks, and not knowing how to handle the situation.

"Yeah, I can just shoot tape from my elbows," Sero shrugs. "It's pretty simple but there's this guy in America, Web Slinger, his Quirk is similar and he's in their top ten, so I've been trying to follow his lead."

"Is it just one type of tape?" Tokoyami asks, now pulling all attention to him.

"Nah, I can make a bunch of types, but the stronger the tape the more it drains out of me, and the more I use the more water it takes from my body. If I use too much I get really dry skin," Sero explains.

"Web Slinger, that's the guy who swings around New York," Horizon says. "But he's also got super strength and a few other things, but I suppose you could try to make up for it with versatility."

"That's the plan," Sero grins happily.

"I suppose I'm next," Tokoyami says, being the next person in the circle before Horizon. "This is Dark Shadow," a birdlike shadow demon creature appears from his belly. Dark purple and seemingly having the same pattern as static on a TV.

"Hi everyone!" Dark Shadow cutely greets them, currently only as big as a small dog.

"Can I?" Horizon raises his right hand, asking permission to touch him, all the while still playing with Jiro's jack in his left. Glancing at her through the corner of his eye he could see her nervously sweating, standing a bit behind Momo and out of the circle, eyes glazed over and staring at him.

"Go ahead," Tokoyami says, and Dark Shadow bows its head.

He reaches out and pets it, and Sero does the same.

SCAN

Pure energy made physical, he could sense everything within Tokoyami as well, including four apples. But what made him very curious and excited was the cells in his belly, seemingly constantly producing the same energy as Dark Shadow, but very fragile against other energy types, with no other information it could have taken him hours to solve.

But the name Dark Shadow and its appearance was a dead giveaway as to what energy it was weak against.

"Looks cool," Horizon says, pulling his hand away as Dark Shadow blushes. "So what does it do?"

"Well, I can extend him a fair distance to fight for me, and some basic shapeshifting, nothing too crazy yet, he can also think independently or with my influence," Tokoyami says.

"Versatile and it looks cool, you'll definitely stand out," Sero says.

"Assuming you can solve the issues with it," Horizon draws all eyes back onto him, his voice becoming a bit more serious. "The obvious weakness is one thing, support items can fix that," he sees Tokoyami's eyes widen in worry. "Don't worry I won't tell anyone, honestly I had it figured out since the Quirk Test. But your mastery level is around the weakest in the class, right down there with Todoroki and a few others."

Tokoyami nods, "improving my Quirk is one of the main reasons I'm here, I'll be sure to consider your advice about support equipment as well," he retracts Dark Shadow.

"Power vs Mastery huh," Shoji says. "You explained that earlier and I didn't quite get it, but now I kinda do. With Dark Shadow, it's more about how he uses it rather than just sending him out to box, right?"

"Exactly," Horizons says. "Basic enhancer Quirks are easy to gauge because you can put a number to how good they are, how much they can lift or throw, that kind of thing. But with Quirks like all of ours, we need to be more tactful with how we use them, and some Quirks require both."

"I see, and what exactly is your Quirk?" Momo asks, still oblivious to Jiro's predicament behind her as he continues playing with the jack.

"My Quirk is called Hand Of God, I've got a lot of abilities but the potential is boundless, only limited by time, experience, discipline, and energy," he shrugs.

They all stare at him before Sero shakes his head and speaks, "that's such a lame name man..."

"It's meant to be descriptive," Horizon says.

"Name aside, what exactly does it do? Like how does a Quirk that can 'potentially do anything' even work, or exist?" Tokoyami asks.

"It's actually a lot more simple and complicated in certain regards than what I explained just now," Horizon admits. "All you need to know are the abilities it gives me, those slashes, healing, the warping, the bullets, what you call telekinesis, and a few other things," he shrugs.

"There are more?" Momo asks, a mix of surprise and fear in her voice.

"Yeah," he says casually, fully aware of how insane this sounds, but used to it. "Honestly each of my abilities is equivalent to a Super Move from a Pro, I don't even know what an intentional Super Move for my Quirk would look like."

"Damn, I knew competition at UA would be tough but this is insane," Sero says.

"That's a matter of perspective," Horizon says, dropping Jiro's Jack which instantly retracts to the flustered girl, now covered in a thin layer of glistening sweat with her face beet red.

She stared at him with a mix and embarrassment and anger. Forced to bite her tongue to prevent further embarrassment but also wanted to yell at him, partly for what he presumably unknowingly did, and partly because he stopped just before the finale, leaving her panties drenched and body hot with no proper payoff.

Horizon just glances at her beneath his visor, an amused look on his face as he sees how flustered he made her, like putty in his hand. 'Too easy,' he thinks to himself.

"I figured you were over that whole phase man," Sero says. "You seem pretty chill today compared to yesterday when you were just calling us worthless."

"Not worthless," Horizon says. "Just not competition when compared to me, I don't have a problem with people in general once they can stay in their lane. I just really don't like when my time is wasted, or when people who are objectively trash think they can stand beside me...like Deku. I came to UA expecting everyone to have the most basic level of competence, honestly, he should quit and let someone from general studies take his place, rather than waste time that can be used to train a useful hero..."

"Isn't that a bit harsh?" Momo asks.

"Well the bare minimum for any sort of emergency service member is to be an asset, not another liability, if the first thing you do is hurt yourself, you're certainly not an asset."

They all frowned, but nobody tried to argue against that logic, they were all here to be heroes, people that the public could depend on during a crisis, not people who needed to be saved like everyone else.

"I see," Tokoyami nods along. "While I don't entirely disagree, everyone has the right to chase their dreams, and since he's already made it this far there must be potential in him that our teachers recognize." The others nod along, but Horizon doesn't react, and Jiro finally catches her breath.

"Well I don't really believe in potential, I believe in what you can do. I doubt civilians will accept 'I just needed a bit more training, I have the potential to save those people next time' as an excuse."

Everyone looks a bit sad at that example, another situation that they couldn't argue against.

"Well enough about such dreary things," Tokoyami looks past Horizon, leaning slightly to the side to see his sword. "May I try out your sword?"

"You like swords?"

"Everyone likes swords," and everyone nods in agreement.

"You know, Nezu told me not to hand it to just anyone, especially anyone untrained, since it's a bit special, but pain is a good teacher," he reaches out toward Tokoyami and warps it into his hand. "Just don't do anything too bloody, I can heal you but I can't get rid of bloodstains easily."

"Thank you," Tokoyami reaches out and holds it, and the moment Horizon lets go the end of the scabbard hits the floor. "Heavier than the replicas I have at home..." he says.

Now with someone of more average size sitting beside it, the sword was taller than the seated Tokoyami. Measuring in at 145cm -4ft10-, it was suddenly very apparent that the only reason they hadn't properly realized how big it was is because of Horizon's large 193cm -6ft3.5- size.

"It's almost as tall as me," Jiro -154cm, 5ft- mutters as Tokoyami carefully lifts it.

"It needed to be bigger to fit all the Tungsten and Carbon Fibre into it," Horizon says. "Average katanas weigh about two and a half kilograms -5lbs- with the scabbard. This one is nearly three times that. I needed the durability because it's meant for any close encounters with Power Type villains. Can't have my sword breaking against their skin after all, and if I ever have to block instead of just warping away I'd like it to not shatter. Power Loader is a genius at support items so it only took him like a few hours to make it, he also made my visor," he reaches up and taps his visor.

Tokoyami carefully unsheathes it, revealing the pristine white blade with a blue edge, "is everything blue and white with you?"

"That's part of the Horizon brand," he shrugs.

"Your Quirk must provide some sort of Super Strength then, if you can use this without getting tired, right?" Momo asks.

"Not really...a byproduct of my Quirk is that I have enhanced physical attributes...nothing that would count as 'super' in any way, just better than most. It's also why I'm so tall, I mean Shoji is tall and he's a Mutant type so it makes a lot more sense than me in some ways, and I'm taller than him," he shrugs.

"Wait a minute!" Sero puts his hands up, causing everyone to stare at him. "Your Quirk...is super powerful, rare, versatile, and makes you tall and buff---"

"I work out a lot to build muscle."

"Man...life really does pick favorites, the girls are gonna be all over you," he groans in annoyance and jealousy.

"UA is just one big gym for hero course students so we'll all have people wanting us, plus we'll be celebrities to the public. I mean literally all the girls in our class are hot," Momo and Jiro both blush at that.

"Yeah you're right," Seo says. "But you've still got a lot more going for you than most."

"Don't forget super rich," Horizon adds. "Miracle Surgeries cost a lot, and I work for the highest bidder, it adds up, and being good-looking is just a bonus."

"I hate you," Sero mutters jokingly.

Horizon just chuckles, "it's not that you're bad, I'm just perfect..."

For some reason, nobody could make an argument against that.

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

Horizon's phone alerts him to a text, and glancing down at it for a moment he sighs.

"Time to go see Nezu, I'll see you guys tomorrow."

SHAMBLES

He disappears from his seat, replaced with an inconspicuous pen.

"Huh?" Jiro and Sero stare at it for a moment before it's replaced with one of his cards, then both that and his sword disappear.

"I'll never get used to that," Sero says. "But man is it cool, just being able to disappear whenever you want like that..."

"It certainly is enviable," Tokoyami says. "Warping alone is enough for entire nations to fight over him, adding everything else is simply stacking the deck even further."

"It's no surprise they wanted him in UA so badly," Shoji says. "That power is too dangerous to be just out there independently, it's like giving someone a button that prints money and asking them not to use it...uh," he looks at Momo awkwardly.

"It's quite fine, I understand," she says. "The Yaoyorozu's were among the first heroes in Japan, and the first Hero Agency in this county, because of that we've always had exceptional Quirks, and although we haven't had a hero among us in over a century, I too can see how my Quirk would be too great a temptation for most, even myself had I not been fortunate enough to be born into our financial situation."

Sero laughs, "yeah, if I had that Quirk back in middle school I'd get to buy all the candy and games I wanted!"

"Eat a pizza and make a bar of gold," Jiro nods in agreement. "Definitely too much temptation for anyone that isn't a hero."

"Hmm, wait a minute," Sero put on his thinking face. "If she turns food into items, then isn't her Quirk just fancy poop?"

And the last thing he sees is Jiro's jack flying toward him...

END CHAPTER---

pat.reon (5 Chapters ahead): Keanu_Eugene

Fun Fact, this conversation was supposed to be the first section of the chapter...but I have no self-control, and the friend group was influenced by a pat.reon poll+where Law sits in class+Shoji is cool :)