The sun streamed through the kitchen window with an intensity Yu Takeyama found personally offensive. She stood before the coffee maker with her arms crossed, staring at the dripping dark liquid. Is this machine going to give me the answers I've been looking for since that night with Izuku?
She heard footsteps behind her. She knew exactly who it was without having to turn around.
"Good morning, Yu. You woke up early."
Izuku's voice was calm. Too calm. Yu felt a shiver and turned quickly, nearly hitting the counter with her hip.
"Yeah, well. Duty calls. There is a lot to do today. Plans, reports, patrols. You know, hero tasks."
Izuku stopped a few feet away, watching her with those green eyes that seemed to scan every inch of her body language. "The coffee is burning, Yu."
She jumped and turned off the machine with a jerky motion. "I know! I was just... checking the temperature. Do you want some? There are mugs in the cupboard."
"Thanks." Izuku stepped closer. As he passed her, his shoulder brushed against her arm.
Yu tensed immediately. That physical contact, which used to be a minor thing, now felt like a high-voltage wire hitting a puddle of water. She took a step back until she bumped into the fridge.
"Hey, about the other night..." Izuku began, pouring the coffee with an exhausting level of composure.
"Nothing happened!" Yu interrupted, throwing her hands up. "I mean, it happened, but it doesn't count professionally. It was an anomaly. An extension of your training, Izuku. That is it. It was a high-intensity practice session."
Izuku set the carafe down and turned to face her, leaning against the edge of the counter. "A training session? Yu, it was your first time. I do not think the U.A. manual classifies that as a standard exercise."
Yu felt her cheeks burn. "Could you not be so blunt? It was important, yes. But now we are coworkers again. I am your boss. You are my consultant. We have to keep things professional, Izuku. If the press finds out, or if the other girls in the class realize my assistant is doing more than just managing my schedule, I am finished."
"I do not care about the press, Yu. I care about how you feel." Izuku took a step toward her, closing the gap. "When we were in that moment, your skin changed. It is something we have not explored yet, and you have been ignoring it."
Yu sighed, letting her shoulders drop. The mention of the physical change pulled her out of her romantic panic and back into the technical territory they both understood.
"It felt like my pores were sealing with something much harder than normal skin. I tried to shrink and I felt resistance, like I was trapped in a shell."
"It is a mineral manifestation," Izuku said, using the tone of someone who had spent hours processing data. "My Quirk, Train, did more than just optimize your muscle fibers for gigantism. It seems to have triggered a latent function in your DNA. Your body is learning to protect itself from the internal pressure you generate when you change size."
"A stone armor?" Yu looked at her own hands, clenching her fists. "I felt like I could go through a building without a scratch."
"We have to test it," Izuku said, finishing his coffee in one gulp. "And we also need to test your new scale control. Yesterday you managed to stay at eight feet stably. That is revolutionary for you."
Yu nodded, grateful for the change of subject. "You are right. If I can fight in tight spaces without destroying the whole street, my property damage fines will go down. My bank account will love you for that."
"Then get moving. We have a reservation at the agency's private gym in ten minutes."
The training center at the Mt. Lady Agency was spacious, reinforced with impact panels and high-speed cameras. Yu stood in the center of the floor wearing her tight tactical suit while Izuku configured sensors on a tablet.
"Alright, Yu. Forget sixty feet for now. Try to hit the middle ground. Stay at the level you reached yesterday. Eight feet. Just focus on the pressure in your chest."
Yu closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Usually, activating her Quirk was like opening a dam; the power flowed and she simply grew to her natural limit. But now, under Izuku's direction, she was trying to put a valve on that power.
"I feel like I am going to burst," Yu groaned. Her muscles began to tighten, straining the reinforced seams of her suit at the shoulders. Her height increased steadily: five feet, six feet, seven feet...
"Stop right there!" Izuku shouted. "Visualize the limit. Do not let the energy expand. Make it compact."
Yu't gritted her teeth with the effort. Her feet sank slightly into the reinforced floor due to the sudden increase in density. She stood there, breathing heavily, looking down at Izuku from a height of nearly nine feet.
"I... I have it. God, this is exhausting. It feels like I am holding my breath with my entire body."
Izuku walked around her while taking notes. "Your density is incredible, Yu. You weigh much more than you should for this size. That means your strength per square inch has skyrocketed. You are a human wrecking ball."
Yu extended an arm, marvelling at herself. Her movements were not slow or clumsy like they usually were when she grew. "I feel fast. I can move, Izuku. Look at this."
She threw a punch into the air. The sound of the impact against the oxygen created a small sonic pop that vibrated the windows on the upper floor.
"Impressive," Izuku commented. "Now, the second part: the defense. I need you to think about what happened. I need you to summon that armor."
Yu stopped, feeling the heat rise up her neck again. "Do I have to think about that right now? In here?"
"It is the biological trigger, Yu. Your body registered that protection as a response to a specific stimulus. You have to recreate the feeling of needing absolute defense."
Yu looked at her. He stood there with his notebook and that expression of cold professionalism that irritated and attracted her at the same time. "You are shameless, do you know that? You are asking me to relive the most embarrassing moment of my professional life for a lab test."
"If it works, no one will ever be able to hurt you on the battlefield," Izuku replied, unfazed. "Do it."
Yu closed her eyes again. She tried to block out the noise of the gym and focused on the heat. She remembered the feeling of Izuku's hands on her skin, the way his Quirk seemed to be rewriting her nerves. She remembered the fear of losing control and the desire to be strong enough for that moment.
Suddenly, a grayish glow traveled down her arms. Yu's skin changed texture, becoming opaque and gaining the tone of dark granite. The transformation spread across her shoulders, her torso, and her legs, covering her like a second mineral skin.
"There it is!" Izuku moved in quickly, reaching out to touch Yu's arm.
"Wait!" she warned, but Izuku was already pressing his fingers against the gray surface.
"It feels like volcanic rock," Izuku whispered, fascinated. "But it is flexible. It moves with your muscles. Yu, your skin has become an ultra-compressed carbon and calcium compound."
Yu looked at her reflection in the glass panels. She looked like a living statue. "I feel heavy. But... invincible."
"Let us test the resistance," Izuku said, grabbing a steel rebar from a rack. "Do not move."
"Izuku, what are you going to do with that?"
Without warning, Izuku swung the bar directly at Yu's forearm. The steel hit the stone skin with a metallic clang. The bar bent at a ninety-degree angle instantly. Yu did not even flinch.
"I did not even feel it," she said, her eyes wide with shock. "It was like a mosquito hitting me."
"It is what I suspected," Izuku said, dropping the bent steel. "Your physical durability has multiplied. In this state, you could take a direct blast from Bakugo and probably just need a shower afterward."
Yu let out a laugh of pure relief. She shrank back to her normal size, and the stone armor faded away, leaving her skin soft once again.
"You are a crazy genius," Yu said, wiping her forehead as she walked toward him. "If word of this gets out, every agency in Musutafu will want to hire you."
"I am not going anywhere, Yu," Izuku replied, putting his tablet away. "I have a contract with you. And other matters to attend to."
Yu stopped in front of him. The professional tension broke in the face of his proximity. She could smell the coffee and the clean scent of his clothes.
"Izuku... about being professional," Yu whispered, looking down. "It is hard. Especially when you make me feel like I can conquer the world and then treat me like a biology experiment."
Izuku set the tablet down and took her hands. "You are not an experiment to me, Yu. You are the woman who gave me a chance when no one else would. I am just trying to make sure you are the best. I want to make sure no one can touch you."
Yu looked into his eyes, feeling her resolve to keep her distance crumble. "I hate that you always have the right answer. It makes me want to hit you or... do something else."
"What else?" Izuku asked with a small smile.
"Do not push your luck, consultant," Yu said, though she did not let go of his hands. "We still have to review the patrol reports. And if you ever mention that night in front of Midnight, I swear I will kick you into the next prefecture."
"Understood, boss," Izuku laughed.
Yu let go of him and walked toward the exit, trying to recover her model-like stride, even though her legs still felt a bit shaky.
"And bring me another cup of coffee!" she shouted from the door. "That is an official order!"
Izuku watched her leave with a thoughtful expression. He knew the armor was only the beginning. Yu's Quirk was evolving, and with it, the complexity of what they shared. The hero world was about to get a lot more dangerous, but for now, watching the giantess try to hide her shyness was enough to keep him focused.
"This is going to be a problem," Izuku said to himself as he picked up the bent steel bar. "But a problem worth solving."
*****
Followme on patreon.com/shurazero