Stone-hearted

A celebration

Izuku trudges back to his house, dragging his feet. Momo walks beside him, keeping silent to herself.

'I can't believe it's him... He's so scary... But, he's kind of cute, under that mask... NO! Bad Momo! Don't think that! He's just a cold-hearted murderer...' Momo stares at the back of his helmet.

Izuku stops.

"Something on your mind?" He asks, turning around.

Momo jumps, shaking her head.

"N-no, nothing..." 
'He can't read my thoughts, can he?'

"We're here," Izuku says, pulling open the door to a small house in front of him.

Momo recoils for a moment, thinking that there would be goblin corpses everywhere and that the inside of his house would be a nightmare.

Instead, She is greeted by the smell of stew and bread.

"Izukun!!" Mei and Mina shriek, pouncing on him.

"Get off, Mei. I'm covered in blood right now..." He responds, albeit in a tired voice. 

Momo stands in the doorway, incredulous, as Izuku trudges through the house, into the back.

Mina's attention diverts to Momo. 

"Who are you?" Mina asks, wary.

"I'm Momo. Izuku and I ran into each other while he was murdering that Goblin Lord. I can't understand him. Why is he like that? Why does he only ever have goblins on his mind?" Momo begins her rant.

"Don't you think it's a bit overkill? Those goblins feel pain, too. Surely, God would forgive them all?" She grips her staff tightly.

Mina shakes her head.

"'Yep, you're still a porcelain rank, all right..."

Mei pats her shoulder. 
"Well, why don't you have some stew? Izuku made it for us before he left. I'm sure it's still warm. I'll try to explain it all for you, okay?"

Momo nods slowly, approaching the table, sitting down. Mei sets down a bowl of beef stew, with a square of bread. 

"Well, I'm sure you know this by now, but Izukun isn't exactly, how do I put it... he's not exactly all right in the head," Mei explains.

Momo nods, putting her hands together, intertwining her fingers. 

"Bless us, oh Lord, and these, thy gifts, which we are about to receive from thy bounty. Through Christ, our Lord, Amen."

Mina scratches her cheek, grinning. 

"Oh, that's right... You're the porcelain rank priestess Izukun saved a couple of weeks ago, aren't you?"  

Momo nods, putting a spoonful of stew into her mouth. 

"Well, as I was saying, Izukun has a couple of screws loose. He hasn't explained it in detail before, but he's told me that he has recurring nightmares of his sister, who he lost when he was young.  Other than that, I can't get him to crack." Mei stares at Momo, as she swallows her food.

"I still don't like his methods..." 

"Well, my methods are logical, calculated, and as far as I'm concerned, very effective. whether anyone else thinks it's overkill or not is not my issue." Izuku says, walking out of the back room.

Momo turned, to see Izuku staring at the three of them, his usually rage-filled eyes gone, now replaced by a compassionate gaze, and snow-white hair wet with water.