"I need gloves to hold this thing!" Ayumi glared at the glowing bottle of orangish-yellow liquid in her hands, the spherical bottle ebbing and pulsing with radiant, burning energy.
"I'm jealous, you already have your potion." Shinso suppressed a smirk, looking at Ayumi's bottle as the duo walked through the streets of Seraphis Kingdom.
"The Pollinators had all the ingredients on-hand. It seems like you're behind though."
Ayumi chuckled softly, playfully jabbing Shinso's side. The boy yelped softly, stepping away from the black-haired girl beside him.
"I'm gonna leave in the morning to collect the ingredients with Humphrey."
Shinso reached into his pocket, taking out the list. His eyes scanned the ingredients under the light of a streetlamp.
½ cups of Hemlock Spider Blood
1 cup of water
3 grams of Wollpip Tree bark
1 eye of a Stone Golem
Ayumi read over the ingredients too, her eyes widening. "Y'gotta kill a damn spider?"
Shinso nodded, his face grimacing slightly with hesitance. "It seems like I do."
"Everything else seems good enough though; I can easily collect them with Humphrey."
The duo continued to walk down the snow-powdered streets of Seraphis Kingdom, looking up at the street lamps that shone warm light down onto the ground below. For a few moments, Shinso and Ayumi stopped underneath one of the lamps, with Shinso exhaling into his palms and rubbing them together. Ayumi didn't need to do this, as she had been instructed by the echelons of the Pollinators to wear gloves.
"It's like a portable heater," Ayumi commented, looking at the bottle of glowing potion in her hands. Within the semi-illusory liquid, countless radiant suns and stars seemed to collide and burst in quick succession.
"What do you know about your next Order?" Shinso asked, studying the bottle.
"Hmm..." Ayumi fell silent for a few moments, struggling to recall most of the details.
After about twenty seconds, Ayumi returned her gaze to Shinso. "They didn't mention anything about new abilities."
"Perhaps we'd learn after drinking it. After all, isn't knowledge like... power in this world?"
"Knowledge is powerful, reading books all the time taught me that."
At this moment, Ayumi's expression suddenly grew distant, as if reminiscing on something. She drew a quiet breath and smiled.
"I never told you how I met Isaac, did I?"
"No, you didn't." Upon remembering my name, Shinso's face heated a little.
He quickly gathered himself, adjusting his collar and scoffing. "What happened between you two?"
"Well..." Ayumi chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. "It was at the park, the day after I had a little run-in with a few bullies. One of them grabbed by and pinned me to the ground, stepping on my chest and attempting to suffocate me. It was only after I temporarily lost consciousness did they leave."
"Oh..." Shinso's eyes softened upon hearing this. He inhaled quietly, locking eyes with the girl next to him, "I guess it was because you're quickless?"
"Yep. All of them had quirks from what I could remember. They always would go around picking on everyone, probably because our division of Japan wasn't very popular with the heroes. My neighborhood was all addicted and run-down with crackheads and crazy people."
Ayumi stopped rubbing the back of her neck, smiling softly as she ran a hand through her hair, which was now freely draped down to her shoulders.
"I met Isaac while he was reading under a cherry tree—the spot I usually sat in. When I told him that, the boy seemed to panic and overreact quite a bit. He put his hands all in his head, looking like he might break down."
"I mean, he was a bit of a softie." Shinso's voice softened, his face reddening even more.
"I then noticed he hadn't eaten much, so we shared lunch and became friends. Additionally, we were both quirkless, so we both knew each other's struggles well."
A cold, chilling wind suddenly brushed past the duo, causing Ayumi to shiver slightly. Shinso habitually reacted, removing his vest and offering it to the girl. Ayumi adjusted her rounded glasses, shaking her head as she smiled.
"No need for that."
"A-alright..." Shinso put his vest back on, leaving it unbuttoned.
Ayumi suddenly looked up at the crimson moon which filtered in through the thin clouds, it seemed to glow brighter tonight.
"I think we should get back to the apartment. We don't want Aizawa turning the place upside down looking for us."
Ayumi adjusted her shirt and kept walking, holding the potion in one hand while the other fiddled with the hem of her thick cotton top. It was designed to keep her warm in this weather, something she had found in her closet. She felt grateful the apartment had the courtesy to think of their guests, down to the most molecular details.
...
The small bell over the door rang out softly as Shinso and Ayumi stepped into the lobby of the apartment, immediately looking towards Aaron and Aizawa, who sat in armchairs situated near the large windows. Aaron smiled at Aizawa, while the other man heaved a sigh of relief.
"I told ya'."
"Alright, what happened?" Ayumi asked, tucking the bottle of glowing liquid into a pocket in her pants.
A look in her eyes told everyone in the room she had a thought, but the girl had refrained from voicing it. Aaron was the first to speak, setting his cup of tea aside.
"Aizawa was worrying about you again, thinking you'd get captured or killed."
Shinso huffed, fluffing his indigo hair which sat in tufts on his head. "Of course he did. You're a lot more worried in this world than you are back home."
Aizawa's grip on his teacup trembled as he put it down, pushing it aside. He huffed, his crimson eyes finding Shinso's own indigo ones.
"I already told you why I'm worried. Isaac was captured, the kingdom was overrun by spirits and demons, and the boy suddenly has horns and wings like some supernatural creature. Not that I favor him, but I'm worried about all of you."
He suddenly looked at Aaron, his brows furrowing as a death gaze filled his expression. "You shouldn't have let them run off alone."
"I let Isaac stay with me, the kids' like a dog at my side! I took him back to the apartment because he was tired, and when I checked on him, the fella was nowhere to be seen!"
Aizawa groaned, rubbing his glabella. "Goddamnit, Aaron. Don't make me wake up everyone for another damn search party."
Aaron raised his hands in defense, a genuine look of regret on his face. "Don't blame me! I don't know where he went off to. All I know is that he's also a Seeker, so he has abilities now—abilities he can use to defend himself."
The man across from him stole another glance at the window, his fists clenching around the teacup. "He may have abilities now, but we have no idea of their capabilities. If he now has horns and wings—something I'd consider in my book to be an entire quirk—how would he be in this world? He could be framed as a demonic creature and captured, maybe tortured and killed."
"I know what he's capable of." An illusory voice suddenly sounded under the table.
Everyone flinched, stepping back in shock and looking under the table. They all saw a black cat with yellowish-red eyes. It was the Umbridge cat!
"It can talk?" Aizawa asked, deeply taken aback.
"Yes, I can talk. Your friends already knew that; sorry if I startled you." The Umbridge leapt onto the table, stretching their feline limbs and yawning, before immediately moving to groom themself.
"But this pussy won't tell us anything about him," Aaron commented, slowly grabbing the black cat and stroking it in his arms.
The Umbridge retaliated, hissing sharply and clawing at Aaron's wrist. Aaron abruptly let go of the cat, letting it move freely. Once freed, the Umbridge scoffed and yowled, rolling onto their belly.
"I can't tell you because you'd most likely perish or transform into monsters. All the context I can give you is that he is a Seeker with lots of power, untapped power he has yet to realize by climbing his pathway."
"Are you like his friend or something?" Aizawa asked, gazing at the cat with a speculative expression.
The Umbridge's yellowish-red eyes looked towards Aizawa, rolling them. "I can answer that."
The cat looked back at Aaron, saying. "Cover your ears."
"What?"
"Just do it."
Aaron followed the cat's orders without much thought, covering his ears with his palms. After surveying the entire lobby to ensure there were any other people around, the Umbridge nodded their head.
"I'm a Spiritual Creature, an entity that sought interest in the boy and grew to aid him. I recognized his potential and decided to latch to him, becoming his spiritual companion."
Aizawa and the others absorbed this statement. Aizawa suddenly cleared his throat and asked a question.
"Why's Aaron have to cover his ears?"
The Umbridge explained in their illusory, layered voice. "Aaron isn't a Seeker; he'd die upon learning this knowledge. Nobody except Seekers knows Spiritual Creatures exist."
"Are they the same as mythical creatures like dragons and trolls?" Ayumi asked, feeling a surge of curiosity.
"No, we're different. We're more layered and ethereal."
Aizawa thought for a few seconds, a revelation suddenly crossing his mind. "But I'm not a Seeker, how can I have this information?"
The Umbridge looked towards the man, looking him in the eyes. At this moment, the cat's eyes seemed to reflect a series of doors, layered and ethereal, a seemingly infinite number. A shimmer of purple crossed the cat's eyes as it spoke again, its voice now resonating within the core of Aizawa's mind.
"Remember the peculiar state of your dream earlier tonight?"
Aizawa felt a little flustered upon hearing the question. He nodded his head, replying with a solemn yet shaky voice. "Y-yes, but I'm still not a Seeker. I still have to drink a potion, don't I?"
The cat nodded, confirming Aizawa's suspicions. "Indeed. You're of a deep yet few-numbered group that can develop a mindscape before you drink a potion."
"Why would that happen to me in particular?"
The cat fell silent for a few moments, meowing softly. "Your desire to protect, to nurture can reach almost supernatural levels. You desire safety over everything else, don't you, Shouta Aizawa?"
Aizawa's eyes widened upon hearing the cat's deduction—it had completely deconstructed and analyzed his mindset in a matter of moments!
"It's instinct. Instinct is a powerful thing in this world. The instinct to protect, to nurture, to destroy and cause calamity. The border between habit and instinct is blurry and ill-defined, but if you look deep enough, you can unravel more about yourself than you knew beforehand."
"Now..." The cat looked back at Aaron, signaling him to uncover his ears.
Following this, the black cat nodded to Shinso and Ayumi. "I believe one of you has important business with potion digestion?"