Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Vongrak.
September 15 – Izumi Pov.
I took a deep breath as Mai, in her sword form, rested in my lap. I let my aura flow into her, feeling it gently brush against Mai's aura as it tried to reach her.
Mai had little Aura, far too little compared to the immensity I possessed. My Aura seemed to almost consume her completely, but I didn't. I gently enveloped her and waited. Mai finally reacted; her Aura seemed to vibrate against mine, almost like an invitation. Eagerly, she began to collide with my Aura.
I tried to keep up with her aura, no, I had to adapt to it, the soul resonance, it works by pushing one person's aura onto another, this second person had to return that amplified aura to the first, and then create a cycle between both auras so that they both unite and empower each other.
The problem was, Mai's aura was too small, too delicate, my enormous aura was too much for her at the same time, not because she was overloaded or anything, simply because she didn't know how to handle that amount of aura.
Even so, we were progressing faster than I expected. Mai was able to push her aura into mine; I adapted my aura, combined it with Mai's, and pushed it back as gently as I could. Mai received a colossal surge of aura, almost hundreds of times stronger than her own.
I could sense her slight panic, but she controlled it, circled her aura as quickly as she could, and began to push it back in my direction. I easily grabbed it and pushed it back. Our auras began to slowly circulate between us.
I could feel the connection slowly forming, we increased the speed of the cycles before Mai lost the rhythm and our Auras began to leak outwards, destabilizing the resonance.
I maintained my composure as we separated once more. I took a deep breath as I opened my eyes.
"I'm sorry," Mai gasped. I could feel her tiredness and exhaustion. I shook my head.
"Don't worry. You did great." I said with a smile. Mai laughed dismissively at herself.
"You don't have to comfort me." She mocked, and I shook my head.
"I don't. It really was an excellent attempt. You went from not being able to control my aura at all, to almost achieving partial resonance in two days. You're amazing." I told her honestly. Mai just sighed.
"If you say so." Mai said, not wanting to argue, but the self-loathing was still there.
"I mean it, it was an excellent attempt," I told her easily. And I wasn't lying. I mean, having a teacher like Derf, who really knew what he was doing, had helped a lot.
The only previous advice I'd received was to have sex to equalize auras and brute strength. While helpful, this wasn't something that could be consciously applied to a person's aura; it was simply a natural adaptation and needed time to take effect.
But Derf was intimately familiar with the theory behind soul resonance. And I must say, now its damn name made perfect sense.
Resonance is a physical phenomenon in which a system vibrates at maximum amplitude when an external periodic force is applied at the same frequency as its natural frequency. It sounds very elegant when put that way, but to summarize, something starts vibrating more strongly when it's pushed at the exact frequency it already likes to vibrate at.
I remembered Shinigami-sama comparing them to a guitar and an amplifier in canon, and while I could see the sense, this resonance worked differently.
The easiest example to see this is a swing set. A swing set has a natural back-and-forth rhythm; pushing it at a random moment won't do much, or might even stop it. But pushing it at the right moment, at the right point in its frequency, would make each push add energy, causing the swing set higher and higher with each cycle.
And that's what resonance was, my aura had to 'vibrate' at the same rate as Mai's, I had to use Mai's vibrations to amplify my aura, then Mai would use my amplified aura to amplify hers, then I would use her amplified aura to amplify my own again, and so on, cyclically, continue until it reaches a state of maximum amplitude and they stabilize each other.
That made a lot more sense; there were several requirements to meet, basic compatibility, and a fairly high level of trust between Meister and Arma, but once that was overcome, it was quite easy to replicate.
At least it was easy for us. My aura control was exceptionally good; even with my large aura, my control over it was precise enough to adapt to Mai's aura with ease. Especially during resonance.
And Mai was capable of achieving it too. The fact that Mai has so little aura and her quirk is completely wasteful doesn't mean she hadn't trained at all. In fact, she had tried hard to improve, even if it was futile.
Most importantly, she tried to control her aura to help her quirk function correctly and efficiently, and she trained really hard, enough to have perfect control over her aura.
She knew how to control her aura, but she wasn't used to doing it with a much larger one. My aura pushed against hers and increased it several dozen times; the more cycles passed, the more her aura tried to match mine, and at a certain point, that's when Mai lost control.
Unlike Mai, the growth of my aura was almost minuscule compared to the amount that Mai's aura increased. So, most of the resonance at this time depended on Mai.
But even so, she was improving tremendously. She was really pushing herself to be able to achieve it, and she was succeeding. Mai was truly talented in her own right, but like Maki, she was born with major disadvantages—a real shame.
I didn't think I could do it with the other girls. Well, at least not in such a short time. We could probably get there if we practiced for a while, but for the moment it wasn't necessary. None of them had really fine control over their auras; they had focused on other areas during training, and normally it wouldn't be a problem, but for resonance? Yes, having good control was a requirement.
Although, a resonance with Taylor, the one that had the most aura among them all, really made me wonder how far I would be able to go.
"Nice try! I told you that you'd be able to do it soon!" laughed Derf near us, perched on a sword stand that held him upright.
"Yes, yes, yes. We just need to be more intimate." I said casually. And by intimacy, I meant closeness, not sex; the closer, more intimate we both felt, the easier it would be to connect.
"It's not just intimacy, trust is the most important thing. You're uniting both auras, both souls into one. A bond is created between you. You have to become one, entrust your soul to your counterpart," Derf said, lecturing. I nodded while taking a deep breath.
I trusted Mai. Maybe not as much as the other girls, only because I'd known them longer, but I did trust Mai. She was my fiancée, and trusting her was one of the first things I did, even though I'd only known Mai for a little over a week.
But it was more than enough. From my point of view, trust was given freely, at least at the beginning of any relationship. No relationship, friendship or romantic, begins without a foundation of trust, regardless of how little or how much that trust is. But what's important is what the other person does with that trust. Whether they decide to betray that trust, maintain it, or cultivate it—that's what matters.
Mai had shown nothing but goodwill despite being a sort of grumpy raccoon. She complained, acted annoyed, and even made fun of other people, especially her sister, but at no point did she do anything to undermine my trust in her; in fact, she only increased it.
Mai could complain about having to train, about university, about having to go with Mirko and fight villains, about having to constantly guide me everywhere and many other things, but she didn't hesitate to do it; she continued to accompany me everywhere with ease, even before I actually asked her to.
She also trusted me as her Meister, to handle her with respect, to take care of her as befitted her in her sword form, and not to take advantage of her.
So yes, I trusted Mai, and that trust was constantly growing.
"I want to try one more time," Mai said suddenly, with all the determination she could muster. I could feel she had regained some strength, but I still frowned.
"It's not necessary, you need to rest. We've already been practicing for an hour. We can try again tomorrow. We have to prepare for classes," I told her easily.
"I want to do it." Mai said immediately. I just looked at her before sighing wearily and smiling.
"You really do look more like your sister than you think." I mocked, and Mai gasped indignantly.
"Are you really insulting me when we're about to try to resonate?" Mai asked incredulously, and I burst out laughing.
"Come on, come on, it was a compliment," I said playfully. Mai just snorted in opposition. I rolled my eyes and smiled. "Let's give it one last try, and then we'll get some rest," I said, giving in with a smirk. Mai just snorted, but I could sense her agreement as she took a deep breath and got ready.
I closed my eyes again and refocused. The process was repeated once more, with the same calmness, confidence, patience, and precision. I could feel Mai's tension; it was still there in abundance, but this time, there was no panic, only the steely determination I usually saw in her sister.
I smiled slightly as we crossed our previous threshold and-
My eyes snapped open as I felt my Quirk vibrate intensely before something seemed to unlock. This time, for the first time since we started training, the resonance failed because of me.
"What? Izumi?! What happened?" Mai asked quickly, confused. I blinked.
"Oh... I forgot I could unlock more summons by resonating with other people." I said, almost in shock.
"Oh, right, you mentioned it... how come you forgot?!" Mai asked incredulously.
"I was focused on something else!" I said, embarrassed. Mai just huffed with a tired grunt.
"Was it at least worth it?" Mai asked as I reverted to my human form and crossed her arms. I could see her sweating slightly and her breathing was ragged. I sighed and stood up. I began to delve into my quirk and—
Without hesitation, I placed my hands in the exact position; two patches of shadow bubbled at my sides as the shikigami began to emerge from my shadows.
"Divine Dogs." I said, almost ecstatic, as the pair of black and white wolf twins appeared beside me. I ignored the complete irony and coincidence that a twin had unlocked my wolf twins.
I didn't even hesitate again when I beheaded both wolves.
"Izumi?!" Ignoring Mai's shocked scream, I grabbed the power of the wolves and pushed it into my body. I could feel a pair of wolf ears and a tail growing on me, along with teeth and claw-like nails.
I just focused on what was happening. I lifted my head and started looking around for confirmation. Then I started laughing.
"Hahahahahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" I started laughing maniacally, a wide smile spread across my face. I stretched out my hands and looked up at the sky. "I'm perfect! I'm in my final form!!" I laughed joyfully. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
"What the hell?" Mai murmured next to me, I just kept laughing.
"From now on, I am unbeatable!! I am the one who stands at the pinnacle of all the races!!" I laughed out loud as I raised my hand and pointed my finger towards the sky.
"Wh-" Mai tried to speak. I turned around and looked at her with a huge smile, I lunged towards her, and threw her into the air in joy. She squealed in shock. "Put me down right now!!" Mai screamed in surprise. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" Mai exclaimed in shock.
"I can orient myself!!" I said happily, as I grabbed her by the waist and stared at her. Mai blinked.
"Can you orient yourself?" she asked, confused. I nodded excitedly.
"Yes! My wolves! They are excellent trackers and can detect and find lost allies and locations! My Totality made me inherit their abilities! My Disorientation no longer exists, I am able to orient myself normally!!" I said unbelievably happy, Mai looked at me incredulously.
"Did you go crazy... did you have a psychotic episode bordering on total arrogance... just because you're now able to find your way?" Mai asked incredulously.
"It's not arrogance when it's true! My only weakness has vanished! For over 18 years I've had just one weakness, and not anymore! Now I'm a perfect being! It's my final evolution!" I said with a huge smile. Mai looked at me like I was crazy, how rude.
"During what? The 2 hours your Totality lasts?" Mai asked dryly.
"Two hours where I'm perfect! Where I'm the strongest! It's an incredible feeling!" I said with a proud smile. Mai just blinked as she looked at me. Then she sighed wearily.
"You won't be able to change his mind, girl, let him vent," Derf said curtly. I ignored him, put Mai down, and started laughing happily, looking north.
Haaaa! What a pleasure! I'm facing north! Completely and irrevocably north! I turned around and started running, right, left, left, right, all without making a mistake! What a pleasure!! I shuddered with pleasure and hugged myself, then continued pacing back and forth with my chin held high.
Ignore Mai's stare, she didn't understand anything! This was the best!!
Author's Notes: Obviously, I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to have a twin give Izumi his twin wolves.
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