Chapter 53 - Challenge?

(AN: I didn't upload for 2 days, did you all miss me so terribly? Do not worry, for I am here! to provide you with another chapter during these boring times!

Here, have the Rabbit Hero All Might as a gift)

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"Oh that, no you won't have to," Melissa reassured him. "I-Expo is an event where scientists and developers come together to show off their products, and if a hiccup such as a shield being destroyed by you were to happen, they can't blame anyone since their main selling point was protection, can they?"

Hiroto nodded, but before he could continue, his stomach grumbled, to which Melissa giggled and said, "I'm guessing you haven't had dinner yet? Since I was supposed to show you around, I can take you somewhere to eat."

"That would be great, thanks," Hiroto responded. The two then proceeded to get up and leave the hotel, with Melissa acting as his guide and introducing him to the various facilities and venues that are on offer.

"I'm quite curious about your suit design," Melissa said as the two walked past a small map booth. "It's quite simplistic, but it does stand out in its own way. I'm guessing you designed it yourself?"

"Well, there's no need to make something so complicated," Hiroto responded.

"That's true, but if you want to include some support items into your arsenal in the future, you'll be limited in terms of expanding." Melissa looked over Hiroto's costume, walking behind and to his right.

Hiroto shook his head, saying, "I don't need any support items really, I've been doing fine so far."

"Fine so far? Do you mean that… you've fought against villains before?!" Melissa exclaimed.

"Really?! That's amazing! What's your Quirk? From what I saw before, I'm guessing it has to do with body enhancement? Strength enhancement? A mix with durability?" Melissa started firing questions towards him.

Hiroto made a thoughtful expression, saying, "Although I would usually say it's a mix of both strength and durability, it's kinda hard to explain."

Melissa looked confused, but then from the corner of her eye saw an attraction that had a large hill and rock formation surrounded by various robots littering it.

She pointed over to it and said, "How about you try that out before it closes down for the day? We can go for our food immediately after!"

Looking to where she pointed Hiroto shrugged and said, "Sure, I haven't moved my body in a while anyway."

Melissa smiled and dragged him over. Walking towards where the attraction, the two came over to where a small seating area with rails was overlook was the main attraction was.

Down below was a little body of water with a bridge that led to the rock formation with a stage in the middle.

Looking up to where Hiroto and Melissa just arrived, the female announcer smiled at them and said, "Are you two interested in participating?"

Melissa looked towards Hiroto with a sparkle in her eyes, to which Hiroto said, "I'll go." He then jumped down and walked to the centre of the stage. Seeing someone new walk-in, the various people that were leaving sat back down and looked forward to the new participant's results.

Looking up to where the robots are, Hiroto was deciding how much effort to put into this challenge. 'Well, I am getting hungry, so I should finish this as soon as possible.'

The woman saw that Hiroto was ready and said, "Now, get ready… go!" With that, a large horn was run out and a timer started counting down.

Hiroto, standing on the stage, disappeared from his position. Before the woman was able to commentate on the battle, dozens of explosions rang out behind her with chunks of rocks being blasted apart.

"Shouldn't you stop the timer?" Hiroto's voice came from the stage again where he disappeared a second ago.

Blinking rapidly, the woman and the crowd shifted their attention to the rock formation and saw all of the robots completely destroyed, leaving only smoking remains. Some part of the rock formations were even destroyed and broken apart, leaving craters and large gaping holes.

"T-This…" The woman didn't know how to react, neither did the crowd of people. By the time she announced the start of the competition, less than 2 seconds had passed, and yet, he was already back here with the robots destroyed.

"W-We have a new record of… 2 Seconds!!!" The woman cried out, both in excitement and great confusion.

The crowd finally reacted and stood up to cheer, also confused, but still cheering nonetheless.

Melissa was completely struck dumb, not knowing how to react. Jumping up to the balcony and landing next to her, Hiroto said, "Where's this restaurant you're taking me? I'm getting hungry."

Although Hiroto found the way she was behaving strange, he wasn't one to judge and merely followed behind Melissa, who was still in autopilot mode and deep in thought.

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"Can you stop staring at me like that?"

Within a restaurant, Hiroto was sitting across from Melissa in a booth, who only kept looking at him in a blank stare, not saying anything.

"What did you do back there?" Melissa asked absentmindedly.

"Hm? What do you mean? I just cleared the challenge as they told me to do so." Hiroto said, taking a bite out of his burger.

Melissa shook her head, gaining her clarity once more, "No no no, I meant, how did you do that? I thought that your quirk was mainly to do with enhanced strength and durability, but it also includes superhuman levels of speed?"

"Oh, you mean that. Well…" Hiroto then leaned forward, acting as though he was about to reveal a large secret to Melissa, to which she also leaned in with an expectant gaze.

"I just moved legs really, really fast," Hiroto whispered, leaning back to take a sip out of his drink.

Hiroto nodded and was absorbed into eating his food. Melissa exited from the restaurant, staring into the now night sky and took her phone out, dialling All Might's number. A few short seconds afterwards, it was picked up.

(Authors Note: [] Is for people on the other end of phone calls, "" Is for the person phoning them, i.e. Melissa in this context)

[Hello? Melissa?]

"Uncle Might! You finally picked up!" Melissa said.

[Yeah, I couldn't pick up earlier, sorry. There was a situation that came up.]

"No no, that's alright! You still have to do your duty as the Symbol of Peace after all!" Melissa responded.

[Hahaha, thank you for not blaming me. So, what did you call me for? Ah, did you meet with young Moriyama?]

"About that… Uncle Might, is he… your disciple?"

[*cough cough cough* What? No no, he's not. Although young Moriyama is very talented, he's not my disciple.]

[No, he's not. I wouldn't lie to you. Why did you ask? Did… Did something happen…?]

Melissa could hear his hesitation towards the end, asking him, "Did you already know that something like this would happen?" She then went on to explain what happened when she was still trying to find Hiroto, from the whole helicopter and stage debacle to the villain attack challenge.

On the other end of the call, All Might was sweating profusely, thinking to himself, 'It's been less than a day, only a few hours and he's already caused multiple… situations.'

Making sure that his facade wasn't exposed, All Might merely laughed and responded.

[Hahaha, t-that's Moriyama for you! I'll tell you more when I fly in tomorrow, but you're free to ask Moriyama anything you're confused about. I can't wait to meet your father again tomorrow after so long!]

Melissa smiled, "Me too! I can't wait for you to finally meet papa again, he's going to be so elated!"

The two continued talking for a bit longer until All Might had to hang up. Entering the restaurant, Melissa went back to her booth but saw that Hiroto wasn't there anymore.

Surprised for a moment, she began t panic and muttered, "Did he disappear again?"

"Who disappeared?" From behind, Hiroto asked her, causing her to jump from fright and put a hand on her ċhėst to catch her breath.

"That would be ridiculous, there's no way I would leave you here only after having eaten." Hiroto said, sweating a bit, thinking, 'My body just instinctively reacted the moment the bill came…'

Sitting down, he picked up the receipt with shaky hands, saying, "I-I'll go pay now…"

Melissa tilted her head, but then smile and said, "Oh that, you don't need to! With your ticket, your meals will be covered by I-Island instead!"

Hiroto's eyes narrowed as he addressed her with a serious tone, "Are you absolutely certain on that?"

"Hm? Well, yes. There shouldn't be any-" Before she could finish responding, Hiroto already went to the front where the cashier is.

The person manning the register said, "Are you ready to pay, sir?"

"About that," Hiroto merely smirked, tilted his head slightly up and fished his ticket out, saying, "I'm already covered."

The man smiled and accepted his ticket. After a bit of time, he handed it back and said, "Please, do come back again."

'...I imagined that to be cooler in my head…' Hiroto then walked out with Melissa following behind him, still a bit flushed but already recovered. Hiroto then turned to her and said, "How much does my ticket cover?"

Melissa tilted her head and said, "Well, it should cover the majority of facilities and establishments in I-Island. As far the limit you can purchase, the limit I believe was 5 Million Yen."

Standing there in place, Hiroto blinked repeatedly, the ticket in his hand fluttering in the wind.

"Hiroto?" Melissa asked, confused and a bit worried about his state.

Hiroto recovered and turned around, thinking to himself, 'I love this place.'

(AN: Oh, don't forget to join my discord if you want to pester me or just want to chat with your fellow degenerates. A warning tho, I will ping you when a new chapter comes out, no crying: discord.gg/BT6wfHu)