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Dr Shimada checked his watch again, changing it to analogue right before the time changed from 6:59 to 7:00 PM.
Nedzu had gown a tendency to always appear thirty seconds right after the agreed-upon time. Some found it annoying, and others found it beneficial, meaning that he would only be thirty seconds late. For Dr Shimada, he would count it as a blessing.
After all, Polly was still a child after all, and from his limited knowledge about pre-adolescent people, they had a very small attention span. As he waited in the reception of his facility, the door swung open right as thirty seconds passed from 7 PM. A well-dressed rodent with snow-white hair walked in, eyes meeting with Dr Shimada.
The doctor walked over to Nedzu and looked down on the hero. “Good evening principal,”
“And a good evening to you too Doctor, I say we had quite an interesting sports festival this year don’t you think?”
The doctor coughed as he remembered what had happened. “I… I enjoyed some snippets of the first and second years yes. But then again we’re not here to discuss the Sports Festival are we?”
“No, we are not. Unless you want to discuss it?"
“Please follow me,” Dr Shimada slowed his pace to keep with Nedzu’s smaller stride. “I have to say those forms you sent up about our ward to your care were easier than I had thought,”
“UA is known for setting up international students for prolonged periods of time, the only new forms I had to fish out was regarding my suitability to be what is practically a parent, but it took perhaps only thirty minutes maximum to complete,” The two kept on walking. “Were you able to start the immunizations?”
“Yes, surprisingly her immune system is very similar to that of Izuku Midoriya, her original DNA host. Although for certainty we were able to give her most of the injections for a three-year-old, she should be ready for her next shots in around three weeks.
“That is reassuring that I do not have to worry about any life-threatening infections. From what I know of it her vocabulary has been growing at an exponential pace from someone her biological age,”
“Yes, her vocabulary should be at around three thousand, it is quite premature for her age, but it is growing at an exponential rate far above the average. Around one hundred and twenty words per day just by looking at the definitions. We would do an IQ test but we believe at her accelerated maturation that it may be incorrect even after a week of the original test,”
“From what you are telling me Dr Shimada is a very promising individual,” The doctor took the keycard around his neck and pressed it against a door handle, opening it. Nedzu looked into the double-sided door and saw a small forest green-haired girl sitting down cross-legged reading a book.
From what Nedzu was able to see was Kanji that nine-year-olds learnt in school.
“So tis is the infamous Polly the parrotfish. In all honesty, I am a little underwhelmed,”
Dr Shimada looked at Nedzu. “About?”
“Oh about the parrotfish part. You see I would never think I would see another animal with an intelligence quirk. but she just looks like a normal girl,”
“You see that's the thing,” Dr Shimada moved towards a laptop and opened a few files, showing Nedzu some remnants of her past. “We were able to record any sort of physical differences between her and Izuku Midoriya. First and foremost it seems that she is around fifty per cent denser by average, weighing at around thirty kilograms,” He clicked his fingers. “Increased Metabolism, around sixty-five per cent water, gills are located on her neck so she still can breathe underwater. The third eyelid likes crunchy stuff… and really likes fish documentaries,”
“Fish documentaries? Perhaps some lingering instincts to be at home. Perhaps I should take her to the beach on numerous occasions in the following year,"
“Perhaps, we have extended her bath time to thirty minutes otherwise she causes a tantrum. I hope that you can train her out of that?”
“I believe that is within capabilities,” Nedzu looked at the girl who closed the book and walked over to the television. Turning it on and placing a pre-quirk documentary about the Great Barrier Reef. Almost lost due to the power struggle of quirks, after the original struggle however many countries began a relief effort to heal the environment, proving successful, as the reef is holding at around 75% of its maximum size since the 1970s. “David Attenborough,” Nedzu spoke which invoked a reaction from Doctor Shimada.
“You know the man speaking?”
“His voice is quite calming, I tended to enjoy watching his documentaries about extinct species,”
“Huh, the more you know,” Dr Shimada turned off his laptop. “I sent you her medical files in case there’s anything that you want to know about her health,”
Nedzu watched as the girl picked up a plushy and set it down on her lap. “I believe I’m ready to meet her now,”
Dr Shimada looked down and smiled before looking back up. “Just saying that we do have to have some procedures before you can see her if that is alright?”
“Dr Shimada, if I didn’t need to be checked before I meet one of two sentient quirked animals on the earth at the moment I would be insulted,”
<--->
“These fish play a large part in the erosion of the roof. The rock and coral they swallow emerge later as fine sand,”
She looked at her book about different fishes, reading through the parrotfishes out loud as she listened to a part of a documentary about parrotfishes. It was getting late and she was getting tired and was going to go to bed soon.
Or she was if it wasn’t for her door opening?
She looked at it wondering who it could be. Could it be Tomiko with new fish clothes? Could it be Kiyomi with new books? She didn’t know, but her face lit up when she saw who it was.
“Shimada!” She closed the book and ran up. “It’s so good to see you!”
“Hello, Polly,”
“I told you not to call me that,” She pouted. “I don’t like my name,”
“I know I’m sorry but I really like your name! What is it today?”
“Call me MidoMizu!”
“Mido as in Green and Mizu as in water correct?” A small rodent walked up to her. “Hello, MidoMizu! I am principal Nedzu of UA!”
She blinked a few times and squealed. “Are you an animal like me?”
He nodded. “Just like you. But I’m not a fish! I am an undisclosed mammal!”
“Undisclosed?”
“It means that no one knows,” Dr Shimada said. “Do you remember what we talked about a few days ago about someone like you?”
She blinked at him and then at Nedzu. “Are you my new caretaker?”
Nedzu nodded his head. “I am… I will be the one taking care of you from now on,”
MidoMizu looked at Nedzu for a moment and then back at Dr Shimada. “What kind of school is UA?”
“UA is one of the best hero schools in the world…. Gang Orca went there,” That prompted a reaction.
“I LOVE GANG ORCA!” MidoMizu ran back at a quick pace and came back with a plushie the size of herself. “I love him so much!”
“Hmmmm… Perhaps I can set you up with one of his aquarium tours sometime in the near future. Would you like that?”
“I would love that!”
“Well after you are settled in the first thing I will do is take you to the aquarium,”
“I think that is a wonderful idea,” Dr Shimada crouched down in front of MidoMizu. “Nedzu has a lot of things set up for you in your new house isn’t that right?”
“Yes correct, unfortunately, I did not realize how… Much you already had, and I didn’t bring any sort of moving vehicles. Would it be alright if you could bring one soft toy for tonight? We’ll get the rest of them first thing in the morning!”
“Really?”
“Yes really! I’ve set up a room as well that is filled with aquatic-themed items, just for you,”
MidoMizu hmmed for a moment. “Will I see you and the others again?”
“We won’t be the ones caring for you but I believe that Nedzu can set up some meeting times if you want,”
“Okay,” She looked back at Nedzu. “I’ve never been outside before,”
Nedzu smiled. “That was the exact same thought I had when I got out,”
<--->
“Are you sure you can handle a child? I know there are some skills that can correlate but can you even?”
“I know that I don’t have all of the adequate skills, but I do have the qualifications to teach and handle children from preschool to college. Although being the main caretaker will be a much more substantial workload for me,”
“Can you handle it?”
“If I believe I can I will… Tell me do you know the speed that MidoMizu is growing?”
Dr Shimada sighed. “It's getting faster…. From our calculations, she should reach the same physical maturity as her host by the start of UA’s year,”
“Midoriya Izuku, fifteen in June… So she could attend high school at the start of UA's year?”
“If you can teach her the fundamental knowledge of a junior high student which I believe you can than yes, yes you could,"
“Excellent,”
Polly holding her Gang Orca plushy looked around the reception desk. Dr Shimada smiled solemnly as he walked up to MidoMizu.
“I guess this is goodbye,”
MidoMizu looked up. “I’ll see you again,”
“I know you will,” Dr Shimada crouched down and hugged the small girl. “Remember to eat,”
“I’ll eat thiiiis much,” Her arms began to grow in length for a moment before returning to normal.
“And you’ll soon eat this much!” The doctor spread his arms even wider before he stood up and ruffled her hair for one final time. “You take care of her Nedzu,”
“I will Dr Shimada,” The automatic doors slid open, causing MidoMizu to step back at the sudden change of air. “Deep breaths, you can make it to the car door can you?”
“I… I think I can,”
“Then take my paw and follow me,”
<--->
It wasn’t much of a house for someone like Nedzu, but it was home for him.
From someone without a keen eye, it would have looked like a middle-class house that a couple could have saved up on for twenty-five years to pay off. Due to his personal size, it was smaller than an average house, which made the garden a respectable forty per cent of the total land of it, had his own personal greenhouse filled with different kinds of vegetables and tea leaves.
The car door opened and Nedzu stepped down, holding his hand towards MidoMizu. She looked out the front of the car door, and back at Nedzu’s paw. Slowly she took it again and was led out of the car.
He had seen children act this way before, but this circumstance would be considered one of a kind, or rather two of a kind. He had been there once with no one like him to help, he wouldn’t let the same thing happen to her, in fact, he already prevented that.
Nedzu looked at the doorlock, causing it to open on its own. MidoMizu looked in amazement at this before Nedzu walked into his house.
“I’m sorry but you might find this terrifying,” He clapped his hands together causing the lights to light up.
“Cool!” She walked in and clapped her hands together, causing them to turn off. “And you have switched!” She ran over and flicked them up and down, up and down. “Cool!”
“Yes cool,” Nedzu walked towards her. “Your room is up the stairs and to the right. Would you like to see it by yourself or with me,”
“I’d like to see it by myself thank you,”
“If that's the case I’ll start dinner,” As Nedzu headed to the kitchen MidoMizu rushed upstairs and turned to her right, seeing a single door at the end of the hallway. She walked up to it and opened the handle, showing all of its glory.
The walls were painted teal with specks of Aquamarine scattered all over it, her favourite colours. What she noticed was a large bookshelf, some drawers, and a desk that seemed to be filled with different colours. But what she looked at a whole lot was a small aquarium. She jumped up on her bed also the same colour as the walls and looked at it.
It was quite large, seeming it could house many different species, maybe she could just try freshwater instead. Looking above her bed she saw what seemed to be some bookholders. Looking at them she saw that they were all about fish.
Not sure what kinds she clapped her hands and the lights shone in her room. She picked out one of the books and opened it, smiling as she found the page about parrotfish.
<--->
“It’s time for dinner!” Nedzu yelled.
“Dinner time!” MidoMizu yelled as she flung herself out of the room and over the railing. “Oh no!” A large thud was heard and Nedzu ran over to the living room. “I’m okay!” She jumped up and rubbed off the dust.
“MidoMizu you can’t just do that! If anything happened to you it would be on me,”
“It’s fine my quirk just heals it!” She opened her arms, and Nedzu saw the beginnings of large bruises soon form into nothing, her skin became normal. “See?” Her stomach grumbled causing the girl to look away and blush.
Nedzu only smiled at the situation. “Interesting but it seems that you’re hungry, we can talk about the rules after this,”
It was a simple japanese breakfast for dinner. Nedzu cooked multiple servings of fish and tofu. He also prepare multiple servings of seaweed, miso soup and way too much rice. Sitting on the table he and MidoMizu began to ate. He watched for a few seconds at her manners and eating etiquette. Despite eating fast she ate like a lady, something that the principal was glad she knew.
Finishing her large meal in minutes, her stomach grumbled again. Hearing this Nedzu said that there was more food available, even for seconds, thirds and perhaps thoughts for most of the dishes. Hearing this Midomizu shot up and quickly refilled her plate before running back, thanking the meal again and kept eating.
Nedzu finished his dinner by the time Polly was halfway through her third. He quickly put his dishes in the sink and watched in awe as MidoMizu ate the remaining scraps of the dinner, her stomach still grumbling.
After hearing this he offered up an entire litre of ice cream. Her mouth watered at this sight as Nedzu handed her the vanilla flavour bucket and a large spoon, reminding her to eat it normally.
He saw the girl eat the ice cream like it was nothing. It didn’t even phase how much she had consumed, It didn’t affect her at all.
“What is your quirk?” Nedzu asked, MidoMizu put her finished bucket down.
“I can control my body I guess,” She lifted her right hand and turned to scales, as some red coral and another hand popped out of her forearm, slowly disappearing. “I can’t really move the hand at the moment unless I really try,” The forehand began to tense. “Like that!”
“Did you have this quirk as a parrotfish?”
“I think I didn’t, the doctors told me it was spontaneous and then I had some human blood and here I am,”
“Well, from a small preview, I believe I have the general premises of your quirk,”
“Premises… You know what my quirk is?”
“It’s only a guess.. I believe you can forcibly grow and change the expression of your cells,”
“I can express?” Nedzu gave a shallow nod.
“The human body is made up of cells, and each of these cells are different. Our eyes are different from our skin for example but they are both cells,"
“I can make another eye?” MidoMizu tensed her arm and watched as an eyeball formed. “Ew!” The eyeball closed and disappeared.
“It could also be a little bit more about that considering that you can make coral but that’s for the future,” Nedzu checked his watch. “For now I think there is something much more important,”
“Oh! What is it?”
“Your name of course! I’m not sure if you really want to be called MidoMizu, so,” Nedzu walked up to the lounge room table. “I got some books filled with girls' names… I expect that you want to be a girl correct?”
“I can become a boy or a girl but I like being a girl much more so can I have a girls name?"
The rodent smiled and opened the page. “Excellent manners, well done... Now if you may excuse me, I just have something to do quickly, if you find a name you like or have trouble with any kanji you can call on me alright?”
“Okay,”
“Now don’t you move from that couch, I just need to make some arrangements tomorrow is that alright?”
“I think so,”
“Excellent,” Nedzu smiled and turned around leaving the faint rustling of pages to take his place
He hopped onto his computer and scanned through the multitude of emails about the recent attack. He just sighed and decided to forward most of them to his legal attorney. He quickly typed up an email to one of his favourite subordinates about a certain task that required his company.
From: Nedzuprincipal@UAhigh
To: AizawaShouta@UAhigh
Dear Aizawa,
I require you to miss lessons 3 and 4 tomorrow for a specific activity that does not require your expertise, but you are the most capable candidate to tag along. Meet me in my office at the end of session two, I have already notified your replacements for those two classes.
Kind Regards, Principal Nedzu
P.S: Comply and I will allow you and Yamada friday off to tend to your new son, I approve of your choice.
Nedzu smiled as he pressed send, right before MidoMizu began to yell his name. Nedzu hopped down from his seat and walked back into the living room, showing a jumpy girl in his seat. He walked over and saw the girl point with her finger.
“Can my name be Minori?” Nedzu looked over.
“There are a lot of ways to spell Minori, would you like to pick one out now?” She nodded. “One moment as I fetch my tablet,”
Quickly coming back, Nedzu brought up a list of ways to spell Minori through different Kanji and was ready to explain each word that she brought up if she didn’t know it already, but Minori didn’t say anything. All of a sudden she saw one and pointed at it.
“Beauty and greenery,” She looked at Nedzu. “I’m pretty and have green hair! My name is now Minori!... But what is my last name?”
“We can figure out a last name later… it doesn’t even have to be a word, it can be played on words like my last name,” Hearing this Minori yawned. “Are you tired?”
“Yes,”
“Would you like to go to bed?”
“Can I have some water first? I like having a big glass of cold water before bed,"
“I think that can be arranged,”
<--->
“Why do you care so much about me?”
Nedzu turned off the nightlight as he heard this, looking at Minori he pointed to his scar. “Would you like to know the story behind this?”
“Can you leave out the scary parts?"
“It’s a very scary story so let me see. You see I was… experimented on… A lot. And when I was found I made it one of y lifes goals is that if another animal with a quirk like ours shows up, making us as smart as a human. I would take care of them, in hope that the next animal with an intelligence quirk will be taken care of,”
“...But what if I don’t know if I want to do that? Will you get rid of me,”
“If you don’t want to that is fine, you can get others to care for them,” Nedzu smiled. “And I would never get rid of you, you are way too important for that okay,”
“Okay,”
“Now no staying up late you here. I need to go to school tomorrow, I know I’m supposed to take care of you but something important has come up,”
“Will I see you later then?"
“Of course! But i’ll get someone I trust to take you out shopping alright?”
“Okay,”
“Good Night Minori,” Nedzu watched as she tucked herself under before closing the door.
Before he retired for the night Nedzu went outside and took a nice cigarette. As he did so he looked up at the visible stars that could be seen from the middle of a city. Taking a deep breath he began to remind himself about the plan for tomorrow.
And how it would go swimmingly.