The sound of the surf, the gentle lapping of the waves breaking on the shore, always had a calming effect on him. Probably half an hour had passed since they arrived. Izuku lay motionless, completely relaxed, his head still resting on Chocolate's knees.
His anger had subsided, leaving behind only a slight fatigue. It was not so much physical as mental — the kind that cannot be dispelled by a simple night's sleep. Chocolate had not said a word the entire time, just quietly and rhythmically stroking his head.
He was too exhausted to react, but... to be honest, it was nice. Lying there with his head on the lap of a beautiful girl who looked like she had stepped out of the pages of a romantic manga — what more could he want?
Come to think of it, Izuku had unwittingly fulfilled the dream of half the boys at his school. Chuckling to himself, he imagined how Kachan would react if he saw him now: most likely, he would explode not out of jealousy, but because "Deku" had beaten him to it.
"How did such a weirdo get such a beauty? " he thought with a smirk. That alone would be enough to make half of his classmates burst with envy.
He opened his eyes and saw Chocolate leaning over him, looking into his face. Several strands of her long golden hair hung down, barely touching his cheek and forehead.
"Are you feeling better?" she asked, her voice filled with genuine concern.
Her blue eyes seemed to reflect tender compassion. Izuku blinked, feeling warmth rush to his cheeks.
"Yes. Thank you... very much," he replied quietly.
He stood up and stretched, feeling his joints crack pleasantly. Shaking his clothes a little, he looked up at the evening sky. Could one say that the gods were watching him now? In theory, yes, but considering everything he had learned about them today, he understood one thing: the gods were idiots.
However, that was probably for the best. If they weren't interfering, then he could...
He took a deep breath, raised his head to the sky, and shouted without hesitation:
"GO TO HELL, GODS!
And to make sure his message got through, he showed the heavens the middle fingers of both hands.
"FOR RUINING MY LIFE!
The sky responded... with an even, indifferent silence. No thunder, no lightning, no divine indignation — just lazy rolling clouds.
Izuku lowered his hands, exhaled wearily, and, squinting slightly, looked ahead. He began to count in his mind — three... two... one... — and, as if on cue, a familiar translucent console with two options flashed before his eyes.
[1. The believer who hears your cries will go home, thinking you are unhappy.]
[2. The believer who hears your cries will try to help you return to the true path.]
"The first... definitely the first," he muttered without a shadow of doubt and chose the option.
Looking around cautiously, he saw no one nearby. Breathing a sigh of relief, Izuku even allowed himself a faint smile.
Of course, he expected that such an insult to the gods would immediately be followed by a new series of nasty "absolute" choices, and most likely they would be even more twisted than usual. But... nothing. Silence.
Almost a gift... he thought, but immediately frowned. He knew these "gifts." More often than not, they turned out to be nothing more than an ominous calm before the storm.
Who knows... maybe all this will turn into something unpleasant. And in the very near future.
Shaking his head, Izuku dismissed the unnecessary thoughts. There was no point in guessing when and in what form the next dirty trick would come — it would appear at the moment when he was least prepared for it. He shifted his gaze to Chocolate. She was still sitting on the sand with her legs tucked under her, looking at him with childlike, almost naive curiosity. There was no awkwardness, condemnation, or pity in her eyes — things he had grown accustomed to from others. And it was nice to know that even though she had lost a significant part of her memories, she still wanted to help him get rid of the curse.
Remembering this, Izuku decided to clarify:
"By the way... the god mentioned tasks. Do you know anything about that?"
Chocolate thoughtfully put her finger to her lips, tilted her head slightly, and then smiled happily:
"Not a clue!" " she admitted with such carefree sincerity that his eye twitched.
Izuku stared blankly at her.
"So... you're my 'helper'," he emphasized the word, making quotation marks with his fingers, "but you don't know what you're supposed to do?"
"Of course I know!" she exclaimed indignantly, jumping to her feet and putting her hands on her hips. "I have to help you!" She said it as if she had made an irrefutable argument and put an end to the dispute.
Chocolate proudly straightened her shoulders, as if expecting spectacular fireworks to explode behind her at any moment. Izuku just exhaled heavily.
He had neither the desire nor the strength to argue with her now. There was only one option left — to turn to the one who, in theory, should know at least something about what was going on... Although experience told him that this "someone" was unlikely to be of any help. He glanced at the backpack lying nearby, and then at his phone. He reached for it... and the screen immediately flashed, automatically dialing a number.
The name of the caller lit up as if mocking him: "GOD".
"Here we go..." Izuku muttered, bringing the phone to his ear.
"Calm down, Izuku," asked a familiar voice.
He nodded silently.
"Well, since you're back to normal, I'll continue. About the missions... there is one very important condition: if you fail even one task, the curse will remain with you for the rest of your life." The voice paused, as if to give weight to its words. "That's all I have to say... well, bye, baby!"
"Hey!" Izuku jumped up, but before he could even formulate a question, the call was cut off.
He immediately pressed redial, but the phone mercilessly informed him that the number did not exist.
"You've got to be kidding me..." he exhaled, lowering his hands.
For a second, he just stared at the dark screen, as if hoping it would change its mind and light up again. But the display remained dead. In the reflection, he saw his own face—tired, angry, and a little lost.
Meanwhile, Chocolate stood up and stretched, as if she had just finished a light workout, as if everything that had happened over the past couple of hours was just part of her usual routine.
Not knowing what else to do and deciding that he had had enough excitement for one day, Izuku shoved his phone into his backpack and headed for the beach exit.
"Where are you going, Midoriya?" she asked lazily, catching up with him.
"Home," he replied curtly. His body felt sluggish with fatigue, and he wanted silence, hot food, and... for the next 24 hours, nothing to fall from the sky or flash before his eyes in the form of those damn elections.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a strand of hair twitching treacherously on Shokoladka's forehead, and genuine interest lit up in her eyes.
"Oh, cool. Can I try?" she asked, her 'antenna' wiggling from side to side, almost like a happy dog's tail. She looked at him as if he had just invited her to the party of her dreams.
"To my place?" he asked, just to be sure.
"Of course," she nodded without a shadow of a doubt, as if it were the most logical course of events.
Izuku exhaled heavily. He knew perfectly well that he would not be going home alone tonight.
As they walked, Izuku found himself increasingly lost in thought. He looked ahead, but his mind was filled with questions that had no answers yet. Frowning slightly, he looked up at the darkening sky and decided to ask:
"Listen, Chocolate... you're my... assistant, right?
"Uh-huh," she nodded affirmatively.
"And how exactly will you be helping me?
She immediately stopped in the middle of the road. She folded her arms behind her back, tilted her head slightly to one side, and stared off into the distance, as if he had just asked her a question on which the fate of the universe depended. The wind gently ruffled her hair and dress, and her face froze in an expression as if she were trying to remember something very, very important.
"Hmm..." she said, looking thoughtfully at the clouds, as if the answer might be hiding there. "How would you like me to help you?"
"I don't know..." Izuku admitted uncertainly, scratching the back of his head.
Various options flashed through his mind, but they all boiled down to one thing—he didn't know what to expect from her. She was essentially a divine creature who had fallen straight from heaven, but she behaved like a child who had wandered into an amusement park. Lost memory, strange habits... and now she was asking him questions, as if he were supposed to come up with her role.
"It all comes down to the fact that you don't remember who you are or what you're supposed to do..." he muttered under his breath. He tapped his cheek with his finger, but couldn't come up with a clear answer and shook his head.
"To be honest... I don't know." I'm used to dealing with my own problems," he began quietly. "You can just... be there for me." He exhaled the last words as if lifting an invisible weight off his shoulders.
He looked at her, waiting for a reaction.
"Uh-huh," she nodded again, but after a couple of seconds, her eyes twinkled mischievously. "And when you're sad, I'll sing you a song! Well... as soon as I learn one that's not too long!"
Her sincerity was so disarming that Izuku, without realizing it, smiled slightly.
Izuku smiled quietly and shook his head. Then, as if remembering something important, he rummaged in his bag and took out his phone. For a few seconds, he just stared at the screen, as if arguing with himself. Finally, sighing, he opened the messenger app and typed a message:
"Mom, I'll be home soon. I'll be with... a friend."
He hesitated slightly, holding his finger over the send button, but then pressed it decisively. The message was sent. Izuku glanced at Chocolate with an unreadable smile, and an alternative scenario began to play out in his head—what would happen if he wrote the truth, if he told the girl to come home.
In his imagination, his mother would instantly switch to level five cleaning mode: every stain on the floor would be sentenced to immediate execution, every pillow would be fluffed to museum exhibition standards, and every towel would be dried to the perfect softness. And the kitchen? Her cooking would be worthy of a full dinner at a five-star restaurant. And all this in just half an hour. And, of course, when they arrived, she would greet them with an imperturbable expression on her face, against the backdrop of a sparkling clean apartment, smiling easily:
"I just tidied up a little. Just a little."
These thoughts made him exhale with a half-smile.
"You know, sometimes I think Mom needs to be saved from herself," he muttered under his breath.
Chocolate was walking by at that moment, happily swaying her head and humming a simple tune to herself. The lock of hair on her forehead bounced energetically, betraying her pure delight. She seemed to be floating somewhere in the clouds, not particularly concerned with earthly matters.
"You know, Chocolate..." he called, getting her attention. "My... mom will be waiting for us at home." He said the last word noticeably more quietly.
"That's wonderful!" the girl clapped her hands happily. "I hope she'll be happy to see me!"
"Yeah..." he muttered, looking ahead and continuing to mumble something like, "Angle of attack... throwing power... flight path of the shoe..."
That is, of course, if she doesn't find out that this girl was sent by God himself and that the origin of her quirks is connected with divine alcohol. He definitely didn't want to burden his mother with this revelation. She already had a hard enough time as it was. Better to keep her in the dark.
But Chocolate herself was skipping along like a child, looking forward to the meeting and getting to know him.
"Chocolate, I have a favor to ask you," Izuku said, stopping unexpectedly and looking at her with a serious, almost stern expression.
"Huh? What is it?" She turned around cheerfully, shaking her head slightly, and the strand of hair on top of her head swayed in time.
He lowered his voice:
"When we get home... please don't tell my mom who you really are."
"Huh? You mean that I'm an assistant sent by God to help you break the curse?"
" she asked innocently, smiling as if there was nothing strange about her words.
"Don't say that!" he hissed, looking around nervously, as if afraid that someone was listening.
"Why not?" Chocolate puffed out her lips slightly. "It's true!"
"Yes, but..." Izuku rubbed his face with his palm. "Imagine if your son brought home a girl who, as soon as she walked in the door, declared that she had been sent by God to help him break some kind of curse. How do you think you would react?"
Chocolate Bar thought for a moment. It was impossible to tell what she was thinking from her expression. It was unusual for Izuku to see her looking so serious. Then again, he had only known her for half an hour.
"Then... okay," she said unexpectedly quietly and seriously, lowering her gaze. "If it's important to you... I won't say anything. I promise."
Her voice became softer, calmer. She didn't even smile — she just nodded and walked forward, looking ahead. A strand of hair fell slightly over her forehead, as if reflecting the change in her mood.
Izuk bit his lip, suddenly feeling a slight pang of guilt.
He wanted to protect his mother, but now he wondered if it had sounded like he was rejecting Chocolate, as if he was embarrassed by her presence.
"Hey..." he called softly, trying to catch her eye. "I didn't mean to make you feel... like an outsider. It's just... I really don't want Mom to worry."
Chocolate stopped and turned around. Her usual broad smile appeared on her face — just as bright as ever, but now there was something new in it, something warmer, softer.
"You're silly, Midoriya. You're worried about her and me. So everything's fine!" She winked cheerfully.
"And besides, I'll prove how cool I am! You'll see — your mom will call me 'Chocolate' herself!"
"I'm afraid she'll start calling you 'bride,' " he muttered, turning away and feeling his cheeks flush.
"Huh? What did you say?" She narrowed her eyes with mischievous interest.
"Nothing! Let's hurry up!" He waved her away hastily.
Chocolate laughed and, skipping ahead, ran ahead of him. Izuku shook his head and followed, his inner "disaster scriptwriter" already buzzing in his head, hastily jotting down notes for a new chapter: "How everything will go wrong, part 54."
***
Standing in front of his apartment door, Izuku hesitated a little. Inviting a beautiful girl to his home... it was something completely new. Even too new. He would never have believed that he would one day find himself in such a situation. With his curse, it seemed like a scenario from a parallel reality. Until today, he would have been more likely to believe that he would be struck by lightning on a sunny day than that he would be standing at the door with a companion who had literally fallen on top of him.
He had no idea how guys behaved in such situations. Should he say something like, "Make yourself at home," with a confident smile? Or pretend to be a cool host who has guests over every day?
He imagined how that would turn out and almost groaned with embarrassment. Shaking his head, he pushed the thoughts away.
"Okay..." he muttered under his breath as he inserted the key into the lock. "Just don't think about it. Everything will be fine. It's just... a new strange chapter in your already strange life."
The key turned, the lock clicked. Izuku pushed the door open and, stepping over the threshold, said:
"I'm home... I have a guest."
At that moment, he heard quick footsteps coming from the kitchen. Izuku, as if on cue, stood up straight and closed his eyes, as if preparing to take a blow from fate. His face froze in the expression of a doomed sufferer — as if he were standing before a monster that would inevitably devour him.
"Hello... make yourself... at home," Izuku's mother said with a noticeable hesitation as she appeared in the hallway.
At the last word, her voice became noticeably quieter, and all the joy with which she had run out to meet her son vanished. It was as if someone had flipped a switch. Izuku dared to open one eye and glance at his mother. Her face was frozen in an expression of utter shock — even her eyelashes seemed motionless.
At that moment, Shokoladka, beaming like the morning sun, bowed cheerfully and exclaimed enthusiastically:
"Hello! I'm Shokoladka, your son's friend!" I promise I'll look after him!"
Izuku gripped the strap of his backpack so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
"F-ri-en-d?" his mother said slowly, syllable by syllable, her eyes widening as if she were undergoing an internal "system update." "My son's?"
"Um, Mom, it's not what you think..." Izuku tried to interject, but it was too late.
Chocolate Bar, seemingly oblivious to her reaction, stepped forward and waved her arms enthusiastically, her voice so bright that the room seemed to light up:
"Yes, my friend! And, by the way, the best! I will help him with absolutely everything: accompany him, monitor his condition, provide moral support, and, if necessary, physically restrain him in case of uncontrollable hysterics, monitor his diet..."
"Chocolate!" Izuku cried out, almost choking on the air.
But without turning around, she stretched out her hand as if putting up an invisible barrier and resolutely showed him her thumb with an encouraging smile.
Inko blinked, as if trying to make sure she hadn't heard wrong. Then her gaze slowly shifted from the beaming Chocolate to her son... and back again.
"Don't worry, Izuku, everything's fine. I feel like she's starting to like me," Chocolate said with a satisfied look.
"NO, THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEAN!" he cried out so loudly that it seemed as if his soul had quietly left his body and, waving a white handkerchief, had emigrated.
His mother, meanwhile, covered her mouth with her hand, looking at Chocolate with an expression as if she were a gift from the gods to their family. However... she wasn't far off the mark. Inko's eyes moistened, and she quickly wiped them with a handkerchief, turning away slightly.
Shokoladka, deciding that her emotion was a signal for maximum warmth, suddenly hugged her, pressing herself against her as if she were an old friend, and quietly murmured something.
"Listen, Chocolate, I understand everything, but... since when are we best friends?" Izuku asked in a strained voice, looking at her suspiciously.
Without letting go of his mother, she turned over her shoulder and said with an innocent smile:
"Aren't we? Especially... aren't best friends allowed to accidentally look up a girl's skirt when they first meet?"
The world froze. Izuku stared at her with his mouth open. His eyes trembled slightly, his lips moved silently, and in his head there was a distinct sound, as if the last pillar of logic had collapsed, dragging the remnants of his vocabulary into the abyss.
He slowly turned his head toward his mother, praying that maybe she hadn't heard...
Alas.
"Izuku Midoriya..." Her voice was so cold that even the most powerful freezing spell would have seemed like a summer breeze. "I thought I raised you to be a gentleman."
A cold wave ran down his spine.
"Mom, it was an accident! She fell on me, and..."
"Fell?" Inko's eyebrow shot up. "And, of course, she fell so that your face ended up..." She made a threateningly precise gesture toward Chocolate's skirt. "Right here?!"
"Well, yes... I mean, no! I mean..." Izuku frantically racked his brains for a way out, but, as if to mock him, the familiar "choose"
A menu with two disastrous options flashed before his eyes:
[1. Mom, I did it for scientific purposes. I was trying to figure out what kind of panties I like.]
[2. No matter what you say, white panties with brown stripes look good on her.]
Izuku froze, staring at the options like a man who had been asked to choose his own method of execution: a noose or a guillotine. Why... WHY now?!
He screamed inside, but only a pitiful sound escaped his lips:
"Um..."
The seconds dragged on agonizingly. Both options were terrible, but there was no choice to be made. Deciding not to sully his hands with moral arithmetic, he left it all up to chance. And fate, grinning maliciously, pointed its finger at the first option.
"Mom, I did it... for scientific purposes," he said doomfully, feeling the universe itself fold its arms in anticipation of the spectacle. "I was figuring out which panties I like... It was my choice."
A second of silence.
The next — smack!
A slipper, launched with maternal speed and precision, slapped him right in the face.
"Ouch!" he yelled, grabbing his nose, which immediately began to take on the perfect shape of a shoe sole.
Chocolate clapped her hands:
"Oh! First level complete! Now it'll be harder!"
"This isn't a game, Chocolate!" he moaned through the pain and humiliation.
Chocolate Bar, oblivious to Izuku's suffering, watched what was happening with the same expression as a tourist seeing an unusual local ritual for the first time.
"These are family customs, right?" she asked, almost in a whisper, but with genuine enthusiasm. "Wow... how cute."
"Choice, you say?" his mother drawled, slowly raising an eyebrow and clenching her slipper so tightly that it was clearly ready for another launch.
"That's exactly right," Izuku said quickly, raising his hands in a conciliatory gesture.
"You know what some of the options are... terrible. And that situation with her... ahem..." He coughed, blushing and looking away. "Anyway, I didn't mean to hurt her! It just happened. If I had chosen another one, I would have been crushed by a Buddha statue!"
He exhaled as if he had lifted a sack of bricks off his shoulders, but his eyes still said, "Mom, please don't hit me again."
His mother stared at him silently for a moment, narrowing her eyes as if trying to X-ray his soul. Then she sighed heavily and dropped her slippers on the floor.
"All right... I believe you." She looked at Chocolate. "And you... please forgive me for this scene."
Chocolate blinked a couple of times, then broke into a soft smile, shaking her head sincerely:
"Oh, it's nothing! You have such a lovely family relationship!" I'm even a little jealous..." she said warmly, as if she had witnessed a touching moment. "And the slipper... is that your disciplinary tool?"
A dangerous gleam flashed in Mom's eyes.
"Yes, and if you want, I can show you how it works," she replied with a barely perceptible smile.
"No way!" Izuku and Chocolate shouted in unison, the former taking a step back and the latter a step forward, clearly still not understanding what was so dangerous about it.
"But..." Inko grunted, finally relaxing and taking a step back. "Better with words, of course."
"Then next time, if he peeks again, I'll talk to him first!" Chocolate declared happily, raising her finger as if she had just discovered a new law of the universe.
"No 'next time'!" Izuku and his mother exclaimed in unison.
There was a moment of silence, then all three burst out laughing. Even Izuku, though he covered his face with his hand, trying to hide his blush and embarrassment.
Inko came closer, gently stroked her son's hair, and said with a tender smile:
"All right, dear. Come on into the kitchen, dinner is ready. We're having curry today, your favorite."
She glanced at Chocolate, and her smile widened slightly:
"And if you're hungry, you can join us too. I've saved some sweets... if you like sweets, of course."
"Like them?!" Chocolate lit up as if she had been offered a ticket to paradise. "That's my name!"
Izuku groaned quietly, realizing that the evening was just beginning...
"Can I call you Mom?" Chocolate beamed, her eyes literally sparkling.
Inko Midoria froze, blinking a couple of times as if trying to comprehend what had just been said. A slight, almost palpable tension hung in the air.
Izuku, sensing disaster approaching, quickly stepped forward, raising his hands in a conciliatory gesture:
"Mom, you did notice that she's a foreigner, right? So... in some countries and cultures, this is normal. It's like... a form of politeness, you know? It doesn't mean that she literally... well, you understand!"
Chocolate lowered her head, watching his attempts to explain with genuine interest.
Inko finally came to her senses and shifted her gaze from the girl to her son, then back to the girl again. Her lips trembled... and suddenly broke into a soft, almost motherly smile. But her eyes narrowed so much that Izuku immediately understood—she was up to something.
"Sweetheart, if you want, you can call me Mom," she said warmly, but with a clear hint of mischief in her voice. "Oh, and you have such good taste in girls, Izuku!
"I... I didn't choose! It's all because of that damn multiple choice!" he whined, feeling his ears burn.
"So fate brought her to you?" his mother continued with a dreamy sigh, completely ignoring his protest.
Chocolate pressed her palms to her cheeks, beaming like a New Year's garland:
"Destiny! That's so romantic!"
Izuku closed his eyes and took a deep breath, mentally begging the universe to grant him a portal to another reality... preferably one without a curse and without his parents' teasing.