ALL NOVEL Assimilation and Reveal.
[Defense Protocol initiated. Hostile System to be usurped and assimilated in 5..4..3..]
'What is happening??!!'
Then several notifications started popping up.
[..2..1]
[The System cannot be fully usurped. Some parts of the target System are deeply connected to the soul of the System User: 'Fuyumi Todoroki'.]
[Permission to destroy Soul: 'Fuyumi Todoroki' to complete the take-over of the targeted system.]
[Accept/Decline]
'Hell no!!'
[Permission to destroy Soul: 'Fuyumi Todoroki'... Declined. Choosing the alternate pathway in the protocol.]
[Taking over the remaining parts of the System in 5..4..3..2..1.]
[Process of Usurpation: Completed... Process of Assimilation: Initiated]
[Assimilation may take some time.]
".....ido.. Shido.." Fuyumi called my name several times after that I could turn my attention to her from the continuous flow of System Notifications. She didn't look affected in any way. I thought the System Usurpation Process will be painful for her, but I was wrong. But the question is how did she get one in the first place.
"Yes... Fuyumi, what happened?" I tried to act normal, but I'm still a bit disturbed by the fact that the System asked for my permission to destroy her soul. One wrong thought and her soul would've been gone forever.
"You were explaining who is the little girl upstairs and why is she in your home?" Fuyumi said in an irritated tone. I sighed after seeing her being irritated, I had to explain everything one day, so no need to hide things now.
"It is related to the thing I was hiding from you. I think it is time to explain everything to you as I promised." I said in a serious tone.
Fuyumi flinched as she thought I will take more time to tell her about the thing I was hiding from her but it came earlier than expected. I wanted to confess that I am the Vigilante Night Slash, but the hesitation that came from the thought she will hate for being a murdering Vigilante, made me stop.
'I am such a fool, I promised her to tell everything I hide from her earlier, but now, when she is sitting in front of me, waiting for my explanation, I am having cold feet.' I berated myself for chickening at the last moment.
Fuyumi clearly saw the hesitation on my face, she cleared her throat "Shido, let me first tell more about what happened after I got the wound. It can be termed as a secret, so You will not be alone revealing things." She said in a caring voice. She really is too good for me.
"After I was injured, I was admitted to the hospital. Natsuo took care of me, Shoto and Dad also came after some time. They were worried about me even though nothing was serious. You know what touched me the most, Dad also being worried about me along with Natsuo and Shoto. Earlier it seemed like he never cared about us, but after that injury, I got to see him being worried about the family, which really moved me and I thought 'He is changing'." Fuyumi started telling about her time in the hospital. She had a small happy smile, which made her look more attractive.
"Well, but this is not the secret. The secret is that I got a mechanical voice speaking directly to my mind when I woke up in hospital." She paused and looked at me for a reaction. I, who heard her saying 'a mechanical voice in my mind', already knew what it was, so I had a neutral reaction on my face.
Seeing my neutral expression, she thought I wasn't surprised much or I didn't believe her, therefore she continued in hopes to surprise me.
"The voice sounded directly in my mind, so I was a bit scared and thought I was going insane after the injury. But the voice said it was a System and I was chosen as its host. Do you know what a System is?" To this, I just shook my head showing my ignorance in the topics of Systems.
"Well, I also didn't know it. The System said systems are like a ..helping tool for the hosts and they help the host in ..overcoming various hurdles in their life." She said while trying to recollect the words the system mentioned to her.
'Overcome Hurdles in their life? They put you in the problems through their quests, make you greedy for making system points by showing you overpowered stuff in their shops.' I scoffed at the explanation but I still maintained an 'I am Listening' expression on my face, while I nodded several times during her explanation.
"Then, it started explaining what the System I possess does. It was called 'The Secret System', A system dedicated to unraveling the hidden secrets. Whether the Secret is beneficial to society or detrimental, it is to be unraveled. This is the System's motto." Fuyumi said while radiating excitement like a kid watching superheroes movies and imitating them.
'The Secret System, Unraveling hidden secrets, what is this system?' I was confused about what the system's functions are. From the name and description, it doesn't sound that ominous.
"So what does the 'Secret System' does?" Curiosity got the better of me, as I couldn't find the function of the system so I directly asked her.
She had a small smile as she was finally able to grab my attention. She clapped her hands in front of her face and slowly separated them. "Unravel the Secrets.". This earned a twitch on the corner of my eyes. I looked at her deadpanned, she chuckled for some time and then continued.
"It said it's a basic system or something as it doesn't have intricate features such as ..umm. shops, Inventory, and others. But it was special as compared to other basic systems as it can communicate with me anytime." Fuyumi counted the features on her fingers.
'A Basic system but with an AI to communicate, this is really special.'
"This is the secret you were hiding?" I asked since I thought her explanation pretty much explained how she got the system and what it does. It is nice to know that it is not a heaven-defying system. I cannot fathom the thought of Fuyumi becoming so strong that she became next the No.1 Hero and beating the shit out of All for One while All Might and Endeavor are cheering for her in the background.
Fuyumi had a smug smile on her face "No, there is more to it. I got a Quest and Starter-Pack which is normally given to new System hosts."
'I didn't get any Starter-Pack from mine.' I was a bit sad as I didn't get any Starter-Pack as any usual System User. But I turned my attention towards another word she mentioned before the Starter-Pack.
"Quest? What Quest?" I asked her. I am worried about her as the majority of the first quests of the system are seriously dangerous and might take the life of the majority of the hosts, only some being able to survive who can be regarded as the Protagonists of their world.
"Do you know about the Two-Explosion Incident in Hosu City?" Fuyumi asked me. I am having a bad feeling about this and I don't like where this is going.
"Yeah, I know... it was a very.. disturbing incident." I chose my words correctly, making it sound like from the perspective of a civilian, but calling your own actions that you are proud of, as disturbing was not a good feeling.
"Yeah, so I was watching the Press Conference by the HPSC about the incident and after the Press Conference ended. I got the Quest. It tasked me to find the truth behind the incident, as the system believes the things told by the HPSC were lies." Fuyumi explained the Quest and its description. On the other side, I am not feeling good, but I breathed a sigh of relief as the System is long gone and being assimilated.
"So, How are you going to do it?" I asked her as I cannot be too sure about this.
"I haven't thought about it as I got the quest yesterday evening. I will think about it later." Fuyumi said nonchalantly. I am a bit relieved. I think it's my time now to start revealing things but I will hear a twisted version, as I am still not feeling good in telling her my Vigilante Identity.
"Are you feeling good now to reveal?" Fuyumi asked. Well, I will have to praise her way of relieving the tension. I think I can talk to her about that now without much hesitation.
"Well you see, I awakened my quirk a few days ago..." I look towards Fuyumi for a second then continue,
"Then I went to Hosu city and fought with a group of gangsters to save the girl, you saw going upstairs." I looked at her for her reaction, but there was no expression of worry or amazement. I think the strength I showed during my fight with Endeavor was enough to back this statement.
"How did you knew the girl's existence as from the talk we had in your room, you already knew about her didn't you?" Fuyumi asked the question after some time of thinking.
I nodded "You are right, I did know about her conditions earlier. I got the news about her from my friend, you have already heard him through the phone. He tried to report the police but when the police went to the reported area, they couldn't find anything. My friend was berated for misguiding the police. So, after some time searching around the city, he again found her and asked me for help, as I am a capable fighter. I helped him and rescued her." I told her an entirely different story.
I continued, "After rescuing her, We couldn't decide what to do with her, we couldn't leave her in an orphanage or the gang will reclaim her. So I decided to adopt her." I said and looked at Fuyumi who had her eyes widened.
"YOU KNOW WHAT ARE YOU DOING??!! Do you have any idea how difficult is to raise a child by yourself?? How can you pick a kid from the ground and decided to adopt her? Just because you saved her? Tell me Shido" Fuyumi started throwing questions at me in anger.
"I know it is difficult to raise a child on my own, but I cannot let the little girl stay like this. The little girl reminded me of myself when I was an orphan, waiting in the orphanage waiting for someone to adopt me, but nobody adopted me as everyone wanted a toddler there. I waited until Old man and Mom came and adopted me, raised me like I was their own. The girl has already suffered more than enough, I want her to live a normal life." I said to her.
"Suffered?" Fuyumi asked with a confused expression on her face. I started explaining her Eri's backstory, The granddaughter of BOSS of the gang, BOSS in a coma, The next Boss used her for research and did some inhumane experiments on her. After listening to all this, Fuyumi had her head downed a little.
"I am sorry, I didn't know about her past, I said some insensitive things in anger." Fuyumi apologized.
"No need, I can understand your anger as I just made a decision without thinking much about it," I said this to reduce the guilt she was feeling, by justifying her anger for my impulsive action. But it wasn't an impulsive move, I had already decided to adopt her almost a year ago.
"So how are you going to adopt her? Her identity will pose a problem in the adoption process."
"I haven't thought about that much," I said
"If you don't mind, I can contact a lawyer for you, He works in Dad's Agency. He will be able to deal with this situation." She said.
"I can't thank you enough for the help." I stood up from my seat and bowed to her. She also stood up.
"No need to thank me yet, The adoption process hasn't even started. When all this ends, just give me and my colleagues a huge discount for our next order." Fuyumi said in a childish tone, I just smiled at her.
She started packing her things "I think it is enough for today, I still have some chores left in the house to do." She said and left. I feel a bit guilty to still hide the things but it is good as long as she doesn't hate me.
After she left, I took a look at the System Notifications.
[Process of Assimilation: Completed]
[{Stats} function to be recalibrated according to the assimilated Syntax.]
[Law of Time is updated in the Library.]
'Only two things... But what can I expect from a Basic System.' I thought and went to open the shop.
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[Fuyumi's POV]
I was walking down the road, thinking about the things we talked about. Most unexpected was the news of him adopting the little girl I saw earlier, she was cute from what I could see. Several thoughts started running in my mind.
'If he adopts her then, she will become his daughter that means MY daughter. MY cute daughter. Hehe, I will surely take good care of her. I will not let her become sad or let the shadow of her past affect her.'
Then a blue translucent panel appeared in front of me, which took my attention away from my thoughts.
[Appraisal Results]
[Name- ****ENCRYPTED****
Skills- ****ENCRYPTED****
Abilities- ****ENCRYPTED****
Titles- **** ENCRYPTED****]
'{Appraisal} worked fine on Dad, Shoto, and Natsuo, but it didn't work on you, Shido.'
'What are you hiding from me, Huh Shido?'
'Well don't worry I will find myself whatever you are hiding from me, my dear Shido.'
'As there are no secrets in the family.'