Capítulo 19: Chapter 19
"NO! NOPE! ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Izuku exclaimed at the Herrscher. After the Herrscher had revealed her solution, Izuku made a beeline for the nearest vacant space he could find. Now in an alley with no one else in sight, he was screaming his disapproval at the Herrscher.
"Relax, Izuku, I'm not going to do anything violent to your mom." The Herrscher raised her hands in an attempt to calm him. Suffice it to say it had mixed results. "I'm just going to meet her so we can clear things up. She tried to explain it as simply as she could.
"I thought the whole deal was that we wouldn't reveal your existence," Izuku argued. She had made it a big deal for him not to tell, now she was just going to go and reveal everything just like that. It was an absurd thought to the quirkless boy.
"We aren't, I'm going to pretend to be your girlfriend." The Herrscher deadpanned.
"Wait what?" Izuku froze as he tried to register her words. Did he hear her right? Or was his mind finally cracking from the stress? "What did you just say?" He asked her, trying to make sure he heard her properly.
"Your mom wants to meet your girlfriend, so I will pretend to be your girlfriend." The Herrscher explained. "When I meet her, I'll be an awful girlfriend. She'll be appalled that her baby is with such a terrible person and demand you break up with me. I pretend to be heartbroken, I make a scene and tell her I'd never see you again and then I leave, never to be seen again. Simple." The Herrscher explained.
"That plan is anything but simple." Izuku deadpanned at the Herrscher. "And what do you mean by being an awful girlfriend? Are you going to hurt my mom or destroy my home?" Izuku questioned.
"It's tempting…but no. I don't think that's needed." The Herrscher told him. "I'll just try to act in a way she might disapprove of. What are some qualities of your friends that your mom dislikes?" The Herrscher questioned.
"I don't have any friends, at least none that my mom dislikes," Izuku told her. He never invited any over, not that any would come. Most kids didn't really want to have anything to do with him.
"Okay." The Herrscher sighed. Right, her host was always alone and ostracized. "Well then, what about who your mom does like? I'll just try and behave the opposite to them." The Herrscher told him.
"My mom liked Bakugo," Izuku noted.
"Okay…so in order to make your mom hate me, I need to be the opposite of a loud, arrogant, violent insect and inconsiderate insect." The Herrscher noted. She raised an eyebrow as repeated the words over and over in her head. "Are you sure she will hate that?" The Herrscher questioned.
The opposite of Bakugo's behavior would result in her acting, calm, humble, and considerate. It was a far cry from her usual behavior, sure, but it still felt off. Then again, neither Kiana nor Sirin had actual normal childhoods and normal social interactions. Kiana had a deadbeat dad who abandoned her when she was 11, with Theresea lying to her about her nature and Himeko being a bit of a drunkard at times. Sirin herself had most of her final years as a lab experiment.
"Well, she's also friends with Bakugo's mom who behaves similarly to Bakugo at times," Izuku noted.
On second thought, maybe the Herrscher really didn't know what normal human interactions should be, outside of those involved with Honkai.
"Okay, so I pretend to be like the opposite of those people." The Herrscher added. "Your mom dislikes me and that's the end of the story."
"But wouldn't she recognize you from the news?" Izuku pointed out. "Your face has been plastered everywhere, you are technically public enemy number 1." Izuku pointed out. "Not to mention she'll recognize you specifically because it was you that hurt her friend's son," Izuku added.
"That's an easy fix. I'll just wear a disguise." The Herrscher pointed out. "She'll never suspect a thing."
"Seriously?" Izuku questioned.
The Herrscher was in fact very serious about the plan. Serious enough that now Izuku found himself in front of a nearby sporting goods store, the Astral Experience. He had passed a few times, it was good from what he heard, and cheap, thankfully. Not wasting any time he entered.
"Welcome to the Astral, how may Pom Pom help you?" A store employee asked. Izuku looked down at the worker, Pom-Pom, a small anthropomorphic rabbit person.
"Um…I'm just looking around." Izuku told the rabbit. He didn't quite want to divulge any extra information, not unless he absolutely had to. Luckily Pom-Pom didn't seem to press him further, leaving him be, but not before showing him where the young men's section was.
Now on his own, Izuku looked around, curious just what the Herrscher might find to disguise herself. Much to his surprise, he found her looking over at some jackets. "It's not quite the same." She mused.
"Did you find anything?" Izuku questioned. He took a good look at the jackets she was staring at, they were sports jackets, a few sizes bigger than either of them.
"Yeah…I think this is the one." She noted as she pointed to a blue jacket.
"Isn't it too big?" Izuku wondered.
"That's the idea." The herrscher told him.
"I'm confused."
"Trust me, it will work." The Herrscher informed. "Just grab a few of those hair scrunchies and those cheap glasses." The Herrscher told him as they headed for the changing room. Izuku was still doubtful but did as she instructed.
Once in the changing room, he gives the Herrscher some control letting her transform them. Now in control, the Herrscher took the jacket and wore it over her usual dress. Next, she parted her hair in two before braiding it into two very long braids. Finally, she placed the glasses on her face and pulled the hood overhead.
"How do I look?" The Herrscher questioned as she glanced at the mirror. Izuku stared at her disguised form. The jacket hid her figure well while the glasses and the hairstyle change did make her face look slightly different. Still….
"It's different but I can still tell it's you," Izuku noted. Even with the minor changes, he still felt the girl he saw was the Herrscher.
"Alright then, I still have one last trick." The Herrscher told him as her lips curled into her smile. She closed her eyes, darkening Izuku's view of the outside world. He felt her adjust herself, though not in the same way as before when she altered her body.
When the Herrscher opened her eyes once more, Izuku saw a different girl looking back at him. She looked meek, with her shoulders hunched forward, her sleeves stretched over her arms with quite a bit of excess hanging over. She kept her hands forward, always rubbing them.
"Herrscher," Izuku whispered. It couldn't actually be her.
"Izu…. Izuku-senpai." The girl stuttered with a very soft voice as she looked at him. "Do I look cute?" she asked, her lips quivering as she did.
Who the heck was this? Izuku thought this was some sort of joke. Maybe she had gone and found someone else with the same hair color and outfit. He knew it was impossible, but his mind just couldn't believe it.
Yet apparently it was. The girl standing before who looked just as anxious as he usually was apparently the same person as the woman who blew up the beach. The girl was supposed to be the Herrscher, yet, she didn't have the same kind of aura as the Herrscher. He didn't feel the same weight in her presence. It was baffling.
She giggled, not in the sinister and confident way he had heard her snicker before, but in a softer, more innocent, and more girly way. The air of superiority she had was gone. Almost like she had completely changed.
He had no words. She must have changed their body again. That was the only logical explanation, how she could look so different. "How?" He asked.
He saw a familiar smirk form on the girl's face. She straightened her posture standing tall and proud, like the Herrscher he had known. She rolled her sleeves back and unzipped the jacket revealing the same outfit she always wore underneath, the same physique. He watched as the Herrscher even pulled the hood back revealing the same white hair she had, still braided, but still the same. She hadn't altered her appearance in the slightest, only her body language.
Finally, she lifted the glasses off her face and rested them on her head. Then she narrowed her gaze, even with her eyes dimmed, Izuku still felt the same chill run up his spine as usually felt when the Herrscher stared into his eyes.
"Miss me." She whispered. Her voice still lacked the usual reverb, but the edge had returned. Her tone was firmer and more confident just like it always was.
"How?" Izuku repeated. He had heard of some heroes having secret identities, a holdover from the days of old, but it was the first time he ever felt or saw such a distinction. The Herrscher he had known and the girl he had just seen felt like two different people, yet there was no physical change in appearance or wardrobe.
"Body Language. It's something I've picked up on watching humans, other Herrschers, and even my previous host." The Herrscher explained as she removed the jacket and glasses and unbraided her hair. Once she finished, she handed back control to Izuku as their body reverted. The Herrscher's form manifested beside Izuku who now glanced down at the items she had left.
"Humans are by nature, very deceptive creatures. They can appear a certain way one minute and then in another, they can become almost unrecognizable. Take for instance All Might," She explained. "On the news, he portrays an energetic and very optimistic personality, the Symbol of Peace as you call it, but in reality, he's a tired and worn down man who even admits he's terrified behind his smile."
"I think that might be a different case. His powers still change his appearance." Izuku pondered.
"Fair enough, that was a bad example on my part." The Herrscher sighed. "How about your mother then? On the surface, she's a very soft-spoken lady, very polite and very kind. Yet yesterday when she needed to be stern with you, her actions made her seem like a completely different person." The Herrscher pointed out.
"I guess that makes sense," Izuku noted.
"It's what happens when you have expectations. If you have it in your mind that a person will only act and behave a certain way, you become complacent and start to underestimate them." The Herrscher informed. She knew from her own experience how very suddenly people could change. Murata Himeko, Raiden Mei, and Fu Hua were the most vivid examples of her.
Himeko would spend her off time from work getting drunk on beer, trying and failing to get a date, and somehow landing in Kiana's bed when she was hung over, but when the time came to be a teacher and a Valk, she was a dead serious no-nonsense woman.
Raiden Mei and the Herrscher of Thunder were some slightly more extreme cases being different entities in the same body, but the point still stood. The Herrscher of Thunder was much like HoV herself, a cold and serious individual who carried herself with an air of confidence and pride as was expected of the Honkai's chosen. Raiden Mei by contrast was a much softer individual, a girl who had self-esteem issues and was weighed down by guilt for most of her life as a Herrscher. They shared a body but rarely had they shared the same demeanor.
Finally, there was Fu Hua and the Herrscher of Sentience. One was a 50000-year-old hag trying to be a teenage girl and the other was a literal toddler in a teenage girl's body. They couldn't be more different even if their body was practically the same with only the hair changing.
"Still…I can't believe it was such a drastic change." Izuku remarked. "Have you done this before?" He questioned.
"Not really." The Herrscher admitted. "But I've seen enough of how others act to try and fake it." Especially when that person was Kiana. The girl had lived life very lax and carefree at first before the Herrscher of the Void had revealed herself and Himeko had passed. After those events, Kiana had gotten more serious, and her demeanor shifted. A change HoV would recognize as the Kiana whom she had known in Arc City was a drastic change to the one she faced in the Theatre of Domination.
Of course, Kiana wasn't the only source she drew inspiration from, the Herrscher also took cues from Kiana's other friends and acquaintances about how to act 'girly', except the maid, that one was just all kinds of creepy.
"So…is this all?" Izuku wondered as he looked down at the stuff, a jacket, a pair of plain glasses, and hair scrunchies. It wasn't much but she proved it could work.
"Just grab me a pair of shorts, a vest, and some rubber slippers, that's all I'll need." The Herrscher told him.
"Okay then," Izuku answered as they headed out.
Getting the rest of the items was far easier than expected. The Herrscher of the Void wasn't picky so long as they were the right size and Izuku was grateful. She was ironically easier to shop with than his mom. Of course, it could never be smooth sailing for Izuku.
While he was looking at the vests on one of the shelves, the Herrscher noticed a box that was kept at the top. From what she saw, it was some old baseball bats that were marked down for sale, probably old stuff. Still, it was quite lucky they had found them. Using a bit of her power, the Herrscher gently tugged the box outwards.
It only needed to be a few centimeters off before…..
"Look out." The Herrscher warned Izuku, moving him to the side. The box fell right beside her host. The bats scattered around them. Immediately Izuku began apologizing thinking it was his fault but Pom-Pom put his fears to rest.
"Caelus, Stelle, clean up this mess." Pom Pom ordered two of the other staff members. He then turned to Izuku. "Please forgive my staff." He apologizes to Izuku.
"No…no…it was alright. I should have been looking." Izuku told him.
"Are you sure?" Pom-Pom questioned. Izuku merely nodded his head. "Still if you are hurt or require any aid, please tell us." Pom-Pom reiterated.
"I'll keep that in mind," Izuku told him as he stood up and dusted himself off. He was about to move when he noticed a bat rolling by his foot. He reached down and picked up the bat, glancing it over. It wasn't the same one as in his dream but it did feel nice in his hands. "This is a nice bat," Izuku commented.
"Yes. It was a part of our trailblazer series." Pom Pom noted. "Really good material that one, a real shame it never sold much. People just aren't interested if you don't have a quirk." He sighed.
"It's still useful." Izuku thought as images passed in his mind about the dream where he used a bat to fend off his bullies. The Herrscher looked on with hope as he glanced down at the bat. She took note of how he gripped it and the uncertainty on his face. "How much for the bat?" Izuku asked. The Herrscher smiled.
"I can't believe he gave you 10 bats." The Herrscher commented as she glanced at the box in Izuku's hand. She had expected him to buy 1, not get a box of them for free.
"He said he needed to clear up inventory," Izuku told her.
"I swear he's just bribing you." The Herrscher commented. The store worker just gave 10 free bats, either those bats weren't any good, or he was just bribing Izuku to come back for more not to mention the whole, box almost fell on top of him.
"Well, I'm not complaining," Izuku told her. "Still how am I supposed to carry all this back." Izuku wondered.
"Put it in your bag." The Herrscher told him.
"I don't think it will fit." Izuku wondered. Still, she hadn't been wrong so far today, so he trusted her and took his bag off his back. When he opened it, it was empty, but then the Herrscher held out her hand, and a portal opened inside right above his books.
"A pocket dimension. Just drop everything inside and I'll keep it for later." The Herrscher told him.
"Why are you being so nice?" Izuku questioned as he finally zipped up his bag. "This isn't usually like you." He noted. Throughout the day and evening, the Herrscher's behavior shifted a lot. It was a welcome change of pace but after hearing her spiel about people being deceptive, he wonders if there was any reason for this sudden change.
"I've said it before, you showed backbone today and I respect that, hence that's why I'm respecting you more today." The Herrscher told him. "Is that a problem?"
"No…no this is good." Izuku quickly defended. The Herrscher was far more bearable when she wasn't constantly criticizing him.
"Alright." The Herrscher answered as she turned her attention forward. "Although I must admit, that's not the only reason." She explained. "I may also feel partially responsible for getting you into this situation." She confessed.
"Really?" Izuku exclaimed.
"Don't get it twisted. I still stand by the idea of you saying you had a girlfriend was just pure folly, however, I did make the circumstances that landed you here. Consider this my apology for that." She told him.
"Okay…wow. I did not expect that." Izuku told her. "I was expecting some angle."
"Oh, there is. I get to show how much better I am than humanity by owning up to my mistakes." The Herrscher admitted.
"So you'll own up to this…but not the people you hurt." Izuku wonders.
"Those weren't mistakes." The Herrscher answered.
"Okay," Izuku answered. He will leave this subject as is for now. The Herrscher's morality and mindset were still dubious to him, though he felt he got a little more insight into her as a person now. Hopefully, he could figure out what to do about her in the future. For now, he'd have to deal with his mother and how to introduce the Herrscher to her.
Wait.
"Who am I supposed to introduce you as?" Izuku questioned.
The Herrscher turned to him with a slightly confused look. "What do you mean? You're introducing me as your girlfriend." She told him.
"Yes, but I mean, what's the name I'm giving." Izuku wondered.
"Name?"
"Yeah, what's your name," Izuku asked.
The Herrscher opened her mouth and then closed it, a perplexed look crossed her face. "I don't have a name." She told Izuku.
"You don't have a name?" Izuku repeated.
"Never needed one. Everyone always just called me the Herrscher of the Void, it's my title and it's been the only real name I ever needed." She explained.
"Yeah, but that's still just a title. Surely you must have some name." Izuku inquired.
"Well…I do…but they aren't technically mine. The two of the other names I have are ones I shared with my previous life and my previous host, but I doubt they apply to me." She noted. She couldn't just tell him that Sirin was her name, that would raise questions about the dreams she was giving him. Nor was she willing to sink low enough to take Kiana's name. "I suppose the only other name I have besides my Herrscher title is K-423." She noted.
"K-423, it's like a serial number. My body at least the previous body was the 423rd in a series of clones. Apart from that, I don't have any other actual names." The Queen of the Void, and the Queen of the Honkai, it was all just intimidating titles.
"Okay," Izuku answered. He was not expecting this. He always figured she had a name even if she didn't say it. That was the norm, right? Everyone had a name, even if villains changed and took new ones, they still had a birth name. "Do you…want one?" He asked her.
"It's never really mattered before." She reiterated. "Still if I had to pick one….I suppose I'd take the name Void." She told him.
"Isn't that just your title but shortened." Izuku wondered.
"Yes, but, if a name is supposed to represent you then I think it's only fitting for Void to be mine." Most of her existence had been defined by her power, her nature as a Herrscher, and her connection to the Honkai. Without it she really didn't have anything else, Kiana had her family and friends, but the Herrscher honestly didn't have that. Raiden Mei took Benares from her so the Herrscher didn't have anything else to fall back on, not like needed anything else.
"So…I can call you Void from now on then," Izuku questioned the Herrscher, questioned Void.
"Yes, you may address me as such," Void answered. "But only you have that privilege, no one else must know my name." She told him.
"What about mom?" Izuku questioned.
"As much as I like this name, it would still be too on the nose," Void told Izuku. It was still just a shortened form. "Do you know the names of any cute girls?" She asked Izuku.
"Uh…cute girls?" Izuku repeated. He didn't know or talk to many girls. Not that many girls actually talked to him. Now that he thought about it, the only girl he knew of in recent memory was the girl from his dreams. Sirin.
"Sirin?" Void mused with a smile on her slips. "Who's Sirin?" She asked Izuku.
"Oh. Did I say that out loud?" Izuku wondered.
"You thought it," Void noted.
"Oh." Izuku realized.
"Still it's a nice name. I'll take it," Void commented. "I'll introduce myself as Sirin Schriac. How does that sound?"
"Well, I guess it sounds right," Izuku answered.
"Good, because we still have one last thing to discuss before I'm ready to meet your mother," Void told him.
"What is there left to do?" Izuku wondered.
"We need to figure out how we'll both be there." The Herrscher told him.
"Wait what?" Izuku exclaimed. He thought only Void was going.
"What did you think I was going alone? I'm meeting your mom, you need to be there." Void told him.
"But how…we're sharing a body."
"Don't worry…I have a plan."
Izuku felt very worried.
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