June 3rd 2417 --- Durand Family Compound --- Musutafu, Japan
Sage was wrong.
As much as he didn't want to acknowledge it, the evidence stacked against him proved too much.
For the past three and a bit years he had focused so intently on completing quests that he forgot to actually take the time to do other things, like be human.
It was something he had come to understand after a long day out with his friends, the simple action snapping him out of his long-standing routine.
Returning home after a long day playing, talking and all around having a good time with his friends, he was entirely caught up overanalysing his encounter with All Might and what it could mean if events butterfly away from the plot.
So it was without him realizing that he descended the stairs to his lab on routine alone, the dull hiss of decompressing doors snapping him from his reverie. Looking around the cold and clinical lab he had built and designed himself, he found it lacking the warmth that permeated his day.
What was once his favourite place to be now became a gloomy place forever tainted in his mind by months of constant dead ends and repeated failures.
Faced with a choice to either return to his usual dull routine or choose something else, he made the only sensible choice. He turned and left.
Walking back up the stairs, he made his way to his room, and after changing into his pyjamas, he slipped under the covers to sleep.
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June 4th 2417 --- Durand Family Compound --- Musutafu, Japan
Waking up in the morning to the tender rays of sunlight streaming through the edge of the curtain, Sage basked in the warmth for a few minutes.
It had been far too long since she was woken up by the morning sun, not since she had gotten the USWS skill allowing her to rest half her mind at once, this combined with Split Thoughts let her go on with minimal sleep.
So for the last few years she had used her skills to work late into the night before waking up early the next morning after two to three hours of sleep.
So to be woken up by the sun for once after a nice long rest was... pleasant.
Swinging her legs off her bed and rising to her feet, she walks at a casual pace towards her wardrobe, stepping into the small room filled entirely with clothes.
Filtering through the clothes, she casually chose a set of clothes for the day, one for her female form, another for her male form. Moving the clothes for her male form to the front of her wardrobe, she made sure to memorize its location as well as possible.
With the way her Quick Swap skill worked, she either needed to be able to see what she was swapping or know exactly where it was, so to ensure she could swap her clothes whenever needed, she made sure to put her spare outfit in a specific spot.
Donning her outfit, a flowing black dress that reached her knees and a pair of matching leggings, she left her wardrobe.
Making her way out of her room, she then proceeded down the hallway to the kitchen where her mom was humming happily while cooking breakfast.
"Morning mom, what are you cooking?"
"Huh?" Turning on the spot, Inari looks at her daughter with a shocked look on her face, clearly not expecting to see her.
"Morning Sage, why are you up here? You're normally cooped up down in your lab around this time."
Taking a seat by the counter, Sage tapped her chin in thought.
"I suppose you're right, I am normally working on some project or another downstairs. But I realized how much I was wasting my life, so I've decided to take some time to think over what I want to do."
Nodding slowly, Inari eyed her daughter with a critical gaze, mentally trying to assess if she was okay. Eventually she decided that letting her daughter figure herself out was for the best, for as much as she wanted to stand by her, Sage had long grown beyond her intellectually and possibly physically.
Smiling softly, Inari placed a plate of food in front of Sage before reaching over the counter and ruffling her hair.
"Well if you want to work on yourself, that's fine, as long as you're happy I'll support whatever decision you come to."
Sharing a silent moment, the atmosphere was cozy between the two of them as they ate their breakfast.
Finishing her breakfast first, Sage got up from the table and took her dishes to the sink to wash, once the plate was spotless she put it on the drying rack nearby before drying her hands.
"I'm going to go train for a bit, mom, do you need anything before I go?"
"No thanks, have fun." Thinking for a few seconds, Inari swallowed a mouthful of food before responding.
Left with nothing to occupy her in the kitchen, she made her way to the dojo deeper in the house, and after grabbing a sword from the wall, she performed a few warmups before making her way to the centre of the room.
Lowering her sword, she pointed the tip at an imaginary dot on the wall before settling into a near perfect stance, one she'd honed through years of practice.
Closing her eyes, she cleared her mind of thoughts, a phantom opponent materializing in her imagination. Taking a deep breath, Sage's eyes snapped open with steel-like determination as she stepped forward, her sword curving around in an arc before stopping against the blade of her imaginary opponent.
Muscles straining, she utilized Split Thoughts to basically fight a battle of skill against herself, each movement ending as her muscles rapidly negated her blade's momentum.
Slash after slash, the air rippled around her sword as it carved a path through the early morning light washing in through the window.
Entering a meditation-like state, the world seemed to fall away around her as only she and the opponent she imagined remained. Left with little distractions, her mind eventually wandered to thoughts that had plagued her for months.
'How should I proceed from now on? At the moment I plan on joining UA but is that really the best idea? In the best case scenario my addition to the mix could make everything easier, in the worst case scenario I could cause events to butterfly out of control, potentially causing the end of this world.
But this is my life, isn't it? I was born a part of this world, and no matter what my memories say, this world is real, yes it may follow the plot of an anime but nothing I've seen so far indicates it's locked to that plot.'
Thoughts falling silent for a moment, Sage moved into a series of rapid slashes, each swipe of her blade causing a distinctive noise in the air. Sweat dripping down her forehead, Sage steps back into a defensive stance as her opponent presses the attack.
Muscles groaning in effort from constantly stopping her attacks mid-motion, each movement she made amplified the strain on her body many times over. Mid-way through a counter attack, a lingering idea reemerged, one she'd considered before but had never been able to effectively put into practice.
Deciding it wouldn't hurt to try again, Sage carefully channels her restorative powers across the entirety of her body.
Instantly the drain on her stamina surges and a green sheen covers her body in gentle light, at the same time the ache that had been accumulating in her muscles practically disappears.
Laughing lightly to herself, she pushes onwards, channelling more and more power into her muscles. Deepening in colour and brightening in intensity, the aura across her body drains more and more stamina.
Steadying her thoughts, she does her best to multitask, stabilizing her energy and fighting at the same time, which was the issue she had with this technique.
Focusing her mind to the extreme, Sage imagines herself in a fight to the death against her opponent, their hits falling heavy against each of her blocks and pushing her back. She imagines her opponent overpowering her with ease, pain racking her body as she struggles to gather the needed strength.
Each blow from her non-existent foe pushes her deeper into the fantasy she had conjured till she was so deep in her own imagination that she was able to trick her mind into believing she was going to die.
Instantly Sage feels her strength surge as adrenaline floods her veins and hysterical strength takes hold, a strength that normally would only be used by the body in the most dire of circumstances due to the damage it could do.
Now with power flowing through her muscles and her aura constantly healing the microscopic tears caused by over-exerting her muscles, Sage was able to overpower her imaginary opponent.
Pushing back the imaginary foe, she linked each move into a deadly dance, till she knocked them off balance.
Slashing down with a final fully powered slash, her mental illusion finally shattered, her aura receding beneath her skin as her muscles turned to jelly.
Collapsing to the floor in a pool of her own sweat, Sage's breath came quick and fast as she attempted to catch her breath.
After a few minutes on the floor, Sage finally recovered enough to prop herself up on her blade. Looking at the room around her, she had the decency to blush in embarrassment, long cuts covered the walls, floor and even the ceiling in some parts.
The worst of them though was her final blow, three meters in length and 60cm at its deepest, the size of the cut belied that of the actual sword that made it.
Tracing the edge of the gash with her finger, Sage marvelled at the destruction she was capable of, something she never would have been capable of in her past life.
Sighing, Sage rose to her full height, she'd found that recently she seemed to be comparing her current life with her old one a lot, something she recognized wasn't a healthy mindset.
Glancing down at her sword in an attempt to reconcile the damage she could do, she was instead further embarrassed to see barely a sliver remained of the blade, the long sword resembling a rapier more than it did the original design.
Sighing again, she took the remains of the blade over to the wall and hung it up.
Leaving the dojo, she stopped the first maid she saw and asked her to contact the groundskeepers to repair the trashed dojo before moving on.
Making her way outside, she walked down a clean paved path to a wooden gazebo set up by an artificial pond. Taking a seat in the hanging chair, she swung back and forth slowly while enjoying the lovely view and warm sun.
'I was finally able to get that move to work for more than a single motion, it still needs a bit more practice but this proves it's feasible.
It's definitely not a move I can use often though, constantly healing my muscles while overclocking them with adrenaline drains my stamina like a bitch, it hurts like hell as well.'
Reflecting on her practice fight and the new move she came up with, Sage's mind eventually wandered to other uses for her quirk.
'I wonder what else I could use my quirk for, maybe if I knew more about how it worked I could come up with some ideas but right now I've got nothing.
My Enhanced Mobility quirk on the other hand seems to have plenty of room for growth, if my memory serves me right when I first awakened my quirk I was able to phase right through a door, I wonder if I could do that again?
And if I can do that, what else is my quirk capable of? I wonder what would happen if my goal was suspended in mid-air? According to the description appraisal gives, it allows me to reach my destination by any means, so how would that work out?'
Thinking of all the possibilities with her quirks, an excited gleam flickered through her eyes.
'Oh I know! I should text Izuku and see if he wants to help me brainstorm ideas, I could also get Momo and Himiko in on it as well. Yes I like that idea.'
Mostly recovered and with a new idea in mind, Sage happily hopped off the chair and made her way inside to look for her phone she'd forgotten to grab earlier.
As she made her way to her room, the low sound of a tv piqued her interest, stopping by an open doorway she glanced in, seeing the tv playing with no one around.
Entering the room, she picked up the remote to turn off the tv, but before she could push the power button the program changed. Looking at the videos of large snow-capped mountains, deep valley jungles, and finely crafted megastructures, a new light bulb lit up in her head.
"Hmm... I suppose I never considered traveling the world, maybe it's worth it though?"
Tapping her chin in thought, Sage watched the tv with newfound curiosity, her mind ticking through the pros and cons before she settled on a decision.
"I've got nine months till the UA exam, and I've got nothing to lose by giving it a go. Maybe it'll help me settle my decision regarding how I should proceed in this world."
Smiling to herself, she finally pushed the power button, the tv turning off as she left the room. Her mind filled to the brim with new ideas. People only live once so she might as well give everything a shot.
{A/N: If possible could you drop a review so my story can get on the powerstone rankings?}