Chapter 38 - Success?

“S-s-strip?!”

“That’s right. I need direct skin contact for a more accurate diagnosis. Of course, you don’t have to take off your underwear- just the other clothes are enough. And don’t worry, I promise I will not touch any sensitive places.”

Hiro said. His tone was clinical, like a doctor informing their patient what needs to be done. It made the frantic Mina subconsciously calm down, though her face was still flushed. 

Unlike her, Momo didn’t react much after hearing Hiro’s request. She was already used to being exposed because of her Quirk.

With practiced ease, she unbuttoned her uniform and shrugged off her skirt. Her plump butt rested on the bed as she took off her knee-high stockings.

“Should I lay face up or down?”

“Face up, thanks.”

Hiro said, idly thinking how much Momo really loved the color red. It does suit her though.

He walked beside the bed, and after confirming with Momo that she was ready, placed his palm over her stomach.

Then, amidst Mina’s exclamation, his hand began to expand.

Skin grew in the space between his fingers, until his whole hand became circular. The edges slowly started to crawl along Momo’s skin. It circled around her back, before simultaneously moving towards her upper and lower body. 

Hiro made sure to avoid her chest and pelvic area, along with her mouth, nostrils, and eyes. 

In the end, a mummy covered in flesh and wearing red underwear was the only thing left visible on the bed.

“…you know, this reminds me of a scene from a horror movie I watched. A young and beautiful girl being deceived by some bad guys, chopped off, and then their body parts stuffed into a large doll.”

“What the hell kind of horror movie are you watching? And how did you make that association?!”

Hiro sweatdropped. He glanced at Mina, who had now seemed to completely calm down from her embarrassment and was now intrigued.

“I-it wasn’t my own decision! Our group voted to watch it as a test of courage!”

Mina said, chuckling a little. She circled around the other side of the bed, gazing curiously at the faceless figure laying on it.

“So this is how you’d do your copying. I thought you’d like, touch the whole body one by one or something.”

“Of course not. That would just be inefficient. Momo, you don’t need to freeze. You can talk and move as you want.”

“Won’t it disturb you?”

Momo the mummy, who had been trying her best to keep steady, opened her mouth.

Hiro shook his head in the negative. As long as they remained in contact, everything was fine. This process would take a while, not trying to move or talk during that whole time would be very uncomfortable for her.

Thus, while he began to memorize her cells and genes, Momo and Mina conversed by the side.

He would ask her to create some items from time to time, trying to identify which among her cells were more active in the process.

His in-depth study allowed him to determine the mechanism of how her Quirk worked. 

Her adipose tissues, which store the body’s fat and are located directly beneath the skin all over the body, can somehow process and assemble those stored fats into the material she desires.

Hiro focused his search at the cells which composed those tissues, and soon found a cell which had more activated genes than its surrounding adipose cells.

His senses soon picked up cells like those scattered at various parts of her adipose tissue- similar to how his Quirk cells were at the beginning. This made him further solidify his guess.

Now, it’s time for the confirmation.

“How is it? Did you succeed?”

The two girls simultaneously turned to him as the fleshy skin covering Momo’s body started to retract. 

Their voices trembled. Their faces tense as they both stared at him.

“Only one way to find out.”

Hiro murmured. 

From within his body, he focused on the hair sample he obtained from Momo. He had already cut off the part with dead cells, nourishing only the living ones.

Now that the hair was inside his body, surrounded by his other cells, he could control it as easily as his own.

He separated a single, living cell and deactivated and activated its various genes to turn it similar to what he suspected was her Quirk cell. 

Then, he carefully brought it closer to one of his adipose cells. The nucleus of the two cells were carefully peeled away, the DNA disassembled, before Hiro inserted the genes he suspected were Momo’s Quirk Factors into his own DNA.

He destroyed Momo’s now useless cell and slowly reassembled his own back. And finally, he made that cell self-replicate.

…

From the outside, Momo and Mina watched Hiro close his eyes and stay silent for a few minutes. They didn’t dare breathe loudly, for fear of disturbing him.

Suddenly, he opened his palms face up. A familiar wooden staff slowly emerged from his hand, causing both girls to gasp.

“I-is that..!”

“You succeeded!”

Hiro opened his eyes. He glanced at his palm for a second, and then at the wooden stick he made, before he smiled and nodded to the girls.

“It’s still rough around the edges, but yeah, my conjecture was a success.”

Mina and Momo quickly gathered beside him, the black-haired girl uncaring about her current state of undress.

He chuckled as the two showed more excitement about his new ability than him. 

In fact, he would have been over the moon too- if the result had been entirely successful. However, he noticed two problems when he used the Creation Quirk. 

First, when he wanted to push out the wooden staff, the skin of his palm was almost punctured. 

He solved it by making a hole to allow the item to pass through, but this event means there are other faculties of the Quirk in Momo’s body that he hadn’t explored yet.

That was just a minor problem though. But the other one? It was more troubling, possibly even fatal.

The cells with her Quirk Factor had a genetic breakdown. 

With the way he crudely inserted her Quirk Factor genes into his own, Hiro had expected something like this to happen. It was why he only replaced the adipose cells in his palms for the testing. 

However, he was pleasantly surprised when he found that his own Quirk could forcefully stabilize the Creation genes and allow him to use it. Although it needed him to use a miniscule amount of his focus to maintain the stability, that was thousands of times better than not being able to use it at all. 

Hiro already verified the high compatibility of Creation with his own Biokinesis. His pseudo-photographic memory allows him to create items much more easily than Momo. In addition, he could make his own fat as fuel for Creation. 

Even though he hadn’t memorized the composition of any extraordinary materials yet, just from what he currently knows, it had already increased his versatility and survivability. And all this just from a single Quirk.

But Hiro knew. If he wanted to integrate more Quirks in his body in the future, he had to find a way to more stably absorb the Quirk Factor genes.

For now though…he smirked as he created two roses from his palm and gave it to Mina and Momo.

Just verifying that possibility was more than enough.

—

A week has passed since then. Right after Momo, Hiro also replicated Mina’s Acid Quirk. However, he faced the same problem with hers as with Creation.

He spent the rest of the week trying to insert their Quirk Factor genes in his DNA in various ways. But so far, aside from getting more familiar with the Quirks of the two, all his attempts were met with failure.

Now, as he headed towards his agreed meeting location with the Rabbit Hero, Hiro could only hope to find a breakthrough by studying more types of Quirk.

A/N: Sorry for the late chap. I woke up with a high fever, massive headache, and sore throat three days ago. Thankfully, except for the sore throat, I’m fully recovered now. 

I’ll strive to make up for lost time. And uh, as well as the 3 chapters I already owe. Damn, I really need to lock in. 

Anyways, Hiro is now becoming more and more like an evil scientist. I tried to put him in this lewd situation, but he easily brushed it off in favor of exploring his Quirk.

I’m really worried about my original plan for him. Hopefully, Mirko can help awaken his base instincts more in this arc.