The train rattled quietly, a steady rhythm that did its best to be calming. Levy sat across from Kazu, knees drawn slightly inward, looking at him with the expression of someone who'd been holding a question for hours and had finally reached the point where silence bothered her more than the answer.
She waited until no other passengers were close enough to overhear. "Earlier… when you said you 'lost Ethernano'… what did you mean exactly?"
He stared out the window for a second, watching the blurring coastline. "..."
She frowned. "Kazu."
He met her eyes. No excuses, no evasions. Just the blunt truth. "I lost 10 per cent of my total Ethernano capacity. The siphon circle wasn't meant to drain mana temporarily—it tore it right out of my reserve. I broke out before it took more."
Her face went pale fast, then flushed with a mix of anger and worry. "You—why would you even let yourself get caught in something like that?!"
"I didn't let anything happen. They were smarter than I expected." He didn't raise his voice; he didn't need to. "I underestimated the whole setup."
"So you admit it."
"Yeah." He leaned back, arms crossed loosely. "I got overconfident. Thought I could read the room faster than they could. They proved me wrong." 'I trusted too much in my instincts, and though I was curious about the sealed being's strength, I didn't think I would lose my Ethernano.'
"Just… don't pull something like that again," she muttered. "You can't keep taking hits like you're invincible." Though Kazu was S-rank, if he pulled such stunts a few more times, he might not remain S-rank anymore
"I know." His tone carried no bravado. Just a fact. "I learned my lesson."
Levy grumbled something he didn't catch, but didn't push the topic further. The train's rhythm filled the space between them again, steady and soft.
Kazu leaned his head back, closed his eyes, and let the sound wash over him—not restful, not heavy, just enough to mark the end of a very long, very strange arc.
'I can finally see the next path forward. To overcome pure defence, I need to create a technique that bypasses it. Maybe something like Internal Destruction.' The battle had already given him some insight into how he would create such a technique.
***
"After that, we looked through the temple and destroyed some artefacts which could be used to resurrect that being again." Kazu briefed Makarov on the contents of the mission.
Makarov frowned. "I didn't think I would need to tell you of all people, but you were too reckless."
"I know." Kazu himself knew that and had to face the severe consequences of his actions. How could he not know?
Makarov wanted to say more, but seeing the expression on Kazu's face, he withheld his words.
"Go and have some rest."
"Yes, master."
***
Kazu waited on a mossy stump, idly flicking pebbles into a tree trunk. The forest around him was quiet in the practical way forests got when there weren't many predators—just the occasional scrape of branches or the faint crack of something small stepping on dry leaves.
He'd picked this spot because it was out of the way, empty, and gave him enough open ground to move if things got weird. ''Should've told him the exact tree. He's probably circling three times by now.''
A soft pop came from behind, and Mest materialised a few feet off the ground, dropped half a meter, and landed with a grunt. He brushed off his coat like nothing had happened.
"I meant to do that," Mest said immediately. Then he realised what he'd said, shook his head, and forced a straight face. "Uh—sorry. Teleport landing's still… a work in progress when I can't see the place."
"It shows," Kazu said. "Sit."
Mest hesitated like Kazu had asked him to walk into a trap, then settled on a fallen log across from him. He kept his hands on his knees and his posture uncomfortably formal, eyes flicking between Kazu and the ground.
"So," Mest said, "you said it was important? And private?"
"Yeah. I wanted to talk about your magic." Kazu leaned forward. "Both of them."
'This man is literally the potential man of this series. If I train him well, he might even become the ace of the guild.' In Kazu's opinion, Mest was one of the, if not the most talented, person in the series.
Mest blinked. "Both?"
"You've got way more potential than you've shown. Teleportation's already rare. But you've been holding back the really interesting part."
Mest tried to answer, failed, mouthed something silent, and finally managed a weak, "I… only showed teleportation."
"Right. And you thought that was subtle." Kazu pointed at him. "Your footwork, your pauses when people ask certain things, the way you phrase sentences around personal details—you hide information too cleanly. It's unnatural."
Mest stiffened. For him, that counted as a panic attack.
"How much do you know?" Mest asked, voice cracking halfway through.
"Enough. Enough to know you manipulate memories." Though that observation was not enough to give away the fact that Mest had that magic, Kazu wasn't going to mention his meta-knowledge.
Mest's breath hitched, just slightly. He didn't deny it, which already told Kazu he was the cautious but honest type. "How…? How did you figure that out?"
Kazu gave the most infuriating shrug possible. "I have my ways."
Mest stared at him as he'd just admitted to being a mind reader. "O-Okay. So, you called me here to confront me?"
"No. If I wanted to confront you, you'd be tied to a tree right now." Kazu rested his elbows on his knees. "I called you here because your magic is strong, but your current use of it is inefficient, predictable, and honestly? A waste. Super waste, to what it could be."
Mest had the expression of a man being complimented and scolded at the same time, and not knowing which reaction was correct.
"…Thanks?" he said carefully.
"It wasn't a compliment."
"Oh."
Kazu stood, gesturing vaguely with his hands as he talked, pacing a line in the leaf-covered dirt. "Memory Control—what you're using now—has a major flaw. It needs surprise. If someone knows you can alter memories, they can resist or counter it pretty easily. And the cast time is slow. So in a fight, it's basically useless unless your opponent stands still for you, which they won't."
Mest nodded slowly. "I… I know. That's why I only use it for support or emergencies." 'And it was a secret.' Mest didn't point out how Kazu knew the specifics of his magic. It was futile.
"Right. But you're thinking too narrowly. You're treating memory magic like a single trick. It's not. It's a framework. If you break down the mechanics, you can branch it into multiple applications that don't rely on the original surprise factor."
Mest's eyes widened a bit. "Framework…?"
Kazu snapped his fingers. "Exactly. Let me walk you through some of the branches I think are highly possible in practice."
Mest leaned forward unconsciously, which for him was the equivalent of screaming: Please teach me everything you know.
Kazu lifted one finger.
"First: Memory Control, what you already have. Add or remove your existence from someone's memory. Takes time and requires them to be unaware of the magic. Useful but risky."
Mest swallowed. "You make it sound more dangerous than I thought."
"It is," Kazu said. "If you mess up, you can give someone a mental fracture. Or scramble a timeline in their head. Worst-case scenario? You overwrite too much, and they forget their own reflexes. Isn't that pretty dangerous?"
Mest paled. "…I'll be more careful."
"Good. Now." Kazu raised a second finger. "Memory Communication. You can train for faster use. Instead of manipulating their memories, you insert one. Directly. Like a message."
Mest frowned. "That… wouldn't count as surprise anymore."
"Correct. They'll know their memory was altered. But they'll also know what you want them to know." Kazu shrugged. "Think of it as a magical voicemail in someone's head. Like how telepathy magic work."
Mest blinked. "Voic… mail?"
"Forget it, analogy's terrible. The point is, it's quick and useful. Gives you a long-distance communication method without needing lacrima."
Mest's expression softened with something close to genuine curiosity. "And there's no backlash?"
"Only if you push too much detail at once. Keep it simple. Images, short instructions, warnings. Anything more complex could jumble."
He raised a third finger.
"Third: Memory Disruption. Similar to communication, but weaponised. You add a memory or idea that contradicts the opponent's instincts. It forces hesitation."
Mest grimaced. "That sounds… messy."
"It's controlled," Kazu said. "You're not rewriting them. You're interrupting them. Think of it like shouting in someone's ear mid-punch except the shout happens inside their brain."
"…That sounds worse."
"Yup. Because this one's useful in real fights. Not game-changing, but it'll buy you openings. With your teleportation magic, those openings are a game-changer."
Mest nodded slowly, absorbing the information like he was taking notes in his head.
***
A/n:
Alright, before I begin my rant, I will just say that this chapter is already 1.5k+ without this author note. With that out of the way, let's begin.
MHA is PEAK.
Seriously. Stop reading this right here if you don't want to get spoiled.
In the last few days, I completed the S7 and S8, and it was a peak. I haven't touched MHA for a long time because, after a point, I had lost interest in anime itself.
I rarely watch new anime, and it was just a bit of curiosity after knowing the ending that I gave S7 a try, and I don't regret it.
Bakugo's character development was quite unexpected, but it was pretty welcome.
I kind of really like it how MHA's main theme was not power fantasy, but rather more in that you need help from others in most scenarios.
It's kind of hippocritical for me to say this, given this fic is power fantasy oriented—MC doing everything alone or being too strong to take care of the problem, but I think that is true for most of the fics on this website. In fact, most of the Shonen is like that, which is alright as it's of the genre.
Maybe I will try adding more of that theme in this Fic moving forward, as Fairy Tail also resonates with it strongly.
Anyway, Izuku's ending is also pretty good. Though I feel complicated about his quirk, I think that gives a kind of good symbolism to Hero's Journey Technique.
The main character is back to where he had started his journey(Quirkless in this case), but he is clearly different from the boy he once was. It also gives a bit of appreciation to technology, as those creating those technologies are probably quirk-wielders.
Then, there's Toga... I think I can now understand why some of the fics use her as FL. Her ending was pretty good, Ig? I mean, it's sad, but villains did a lot of villainous deeds.
It's kind of a retribution for what they did. All the league's villains were given a good enough ending imo.
Then, there's Toru...
Actually, one of the main reasons I picked up MHA again is that I saw some of the MHA shorts (mainly some clips after 8 8-year time-skip or of S7 or 8).
I mean, I did know her appearance for more than a year now, as she did have a coloured illustration in the manga, which I didn't read, but word does fly around.
Seeing her animated...was pretty pleasing to the eye imo. I mean, I don't even feel lust or gooner tendencies towards her.
The only thing that comes to my mind when I see her is 'She's pretty.' I guess I associate her with 'cute' rather than 'sexy'.
She's gonna be the FL
of the new MHA fic I am gonna cook.
Yeah, I am gonna cook another fic, but before you guys panic, the release schedule for this fic won't be changing anytime soon.
I am planning to write the MHA fic to a decent size before releasing it (Like 50-100 chapters). This way, I would have chapters stockpiled, as that way I would at least be able to release bonus chapters properly, which isn't possible for this fic, as it's kind of hard for me to just maintain 5 chapters per week for this fic due to either my laziness or other workload.
That's all. I will keep you guys updated on how the developement of that fic is going in author notes 'coz why not?
***
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