Masaki Shindai's morning should have been normal.
Well, as normal as it could be when you lived with a Wing and tooth-faced kid who growled at least 3 times a day.
The weirdo's existence was already weird but tolerable. Taking care of him was surprisingly fun, he tended to go along with most things and it was always fun to watch him growl or snarl at ice-cream vendors.
Going into shops and dressing him up in weird styles also had become one of his favorite ways to pass the time.
And now, it seemed like he was once more adamant on surprising his parents...
A Wheel. Not that of a car but simply an eight handed wheel which could have once steered a Pirate ship was floating above his head.
"Hmm, maybe not. Pirate ship wheels are a bit different."
Well, it was certainly similar. Although it looked more... religious?
The wheel then seemed to move a bit. Floating behind his head, it hovered a little higher and placed itself right above his head.
"So uh... it's not just a random wheel he picked up with Telekinesis?"
His wife just shook her head.
"No. It simply appeared."
Hmm. So not telekinesis?
Walking over to the weirdo, he took his hand and asked.
"Do you know what it does?"
Instead of an answer, the weirdo's grin just widened.
Then, suddenly... barely noticeably... the wheel twitched.
The weirdo's expression fell and was instead replaced by a look of concentration.
The Wheel twitched again.
'How impressive.'
The weirdo seemed to have noticed his mental sarcasm as he bared his teeth and snarled at him.
'Hey, it's not my fault your quirk is faulty.'
Wisely keeping his mouth shut, he simply took a step back and let Kana deal with this.
'Alright. Time for breakfast.'
His eyes darted towards kana who seemed to distract the weirdo with all her fussing.
'Heh, rookie getting distracted. I'm taking your plate.'
Kana tended to give Riku a better breakfeast. Fluffier eggs, sweeter fruit. Even his bread was cut into cute shapes.
And now it was his.
'I wonder if he'll notice.'
He didn't.
'Having a blind kid is awesome.'
He hurried to eat. Didn't want Kana to notice until after he was done.
"GAHR? RÄÄÄÄH!"
'Looks like he did notice.'
His sensory ability must have gotten a lot better if he could notice the difference between good and bad breakfeast.
'Good thing i already finished the good stuff.'
Taking his grieving son's hand he signed.
"It seems i accidentally took your plate."
He slowly pushed back the plate. The bread was half gone and so was the egg.
"Here. Have the rest~"
The little weirdo's wheel audibly twitched again.
...
...
Breakfast concluded without any major incidents, if you ignored the scolding he had received from his wife.
'The little shit did that on purpose.'
The weirdo had started making "sad" sounds and that had of course led to his wife taking action.
'Tch. Can't even fight your own battles.'
He had clearly seen the kid smirk afterwards. Looks like he didn't want to receive an ice cream cone today...
Ah! That reminded him. He turned to his wife.
"So... do we go to the quirk generalist? Or to the quirk specialist office in the centrum?"
"The specialist office might be better. They'll need high tech equipment in order to keep up with our Genius little Angel."
"Make's sense."
'He's that weird huh.'
...
...
...
Emotions weren't always straightforward. It was strange, but feeling several things at once were quite frequent occurrences.
Like now. He felt both annoyed and excited.
His quirk had come to Life, more specifically, Mahoraga's wheel.
It was cause for celebration. Having that cool wheel floating above his head was something he had been waiting for after all.
And his annoyance? It stemmed from bad breakfast. He had clearly sensed his dad smug attitude while giving back the half-empty plate.
He was also pretty sure his dad had made fun of his failure at using the wheel. He was that kind of person after all.
And now, the bad mood lingered. The three of them were currently sitting in the train and heading towards the Centrum in order to register his quirk.
'Heh, he did get scolded at least.'
It took them more than 45 minutes to arrive.
Given their lack of appointment, they'd have to wait in the waiting room for a bit. But that was fine.
There was one of these classic waiting room toys to pass the time.
Indeed, a "bead maze."
One of the best toys to have been invented.
'Reexperiencing the fun of playing with one of these has got to be the part of reincarnating.'
Sadly, the waiting time wasn't very long and he soon had to abandon his fun and get his quirk identified.
'Even though i already know what it is.'
...
...
...
"No clue."
Kana and her husband went silent at that.
Even their deaf and blind son froze,somehow noticing the parents confusion.
The doctor scratched his head.
"I don't know what to tell you. I really have no clue."
Masaki tilted his head.
"You not a doctor?"
"I may be a doctor but that doesn't mean i can understand and analyze a goddamn wheel!"
His eyebrow twitched before he let out a sigh.
"Listen, most people's quirk are a little more... showy? Or obvious? They consist of ...actions. That wheel floating above his head? Might as well be a mutation."
It was now Kana's turn to tilt her head.
"So... you can't tell us what it is?"
The man sighed.
"Not in detail. Only thing i know is that it's heavily reliant on that sensory ability of his."
He took out a few print-outs.
"Those are the readings of your sons sensor ability. The first thing i will say, is that it is fascinating."
"He is projecting an energy into the air around him. This energy forms a bubble in which he should sense the presence of others who are inside."
"It may be small now, but it will surely grow."
"But it's more than that. Riku seems to be able to control the energy and decide how dense it is. The denser it is, the smaller the range.
Seeing the parents look confused, he racked his brain for comparison.
"Just imagine a circle of energy around him in which he senses everything. But if he wants to sense things further away, he needs to take the energy from the circle and push it into the direction he wants to sense.
And if he wants to sense more details then he compresses the energy and his field of Vision narrows."
"Oh." Masaki blinked. "...you're just repeating what we already knew. He has a sensory ability."
The doctor shook his head.
"It seems like a normal sensory ability. But it's more than that.
The energy, is intruding into the brain's limbic system. That is a part of the brain which regulates emotions.
And when i say intruding, i mean that he doesn't only do that to himself. By concentrating a bit of energy, he can essentially create a one-sided mental link to the Valenced state of a person!"
Kana and Masaki still looked confused.
*Sigh. "It's telepathy. But for emotions."
"Ohhh."
"But what does that have to do with the wheel."
A sigh escaped him.
"I don't know. If i had to guess, then i'd say it's a gate which connects Riku with his energy. It seems to be made out of a fusion of Biomaterial and heavily condensed energy.
But you mentioned Riku already controlling the energy before the wheel appeared, so perhaps it's simply a conductor.
Until it does something, it's impossible to tell."
Masaki scratched his chin.
"So what you're saying, is that the wei... Riku can sense people's emotions in addition to sensing his surroundings. And the wheel just helps that?"
The doctor nodded.
"...and maybe even more. You have to understand that he essentially creates a mental domain with his energy. Reading thought's might not be out of the question."
"So like an observer? He can mentally stalk people?"
Masaki turned to the kid who had just remained seated, playing with a Bead-Maze.
The doc watched him scribble signs on the kid's hands and Masaki soon turned back to them.
"Uhh, yep. He confirmed it. Says he can feel what other's feel. Denied anything about reading thought's though."
"I see. Then it is possible that i was wrong. But it is still a possibility for the future.
And about the wheel, i'm really sorry but i cannot tell you what it is. It is present, but doesn't seem to do anything. It might truly just be a conductor for his energy."
Masaki and Kana just nodded. They had confirmed their little weirdo/angel's quirk and could rest easy.
Kana leaned down to her son and took his hand.
"Do you have an idea what you to call it?"
"Cursed energy..."
"Pfft."
A chuckle escaped both Masaki and Kana upon seeing their son's answer. The doctor smiled as well after being told.
'I see he's going through the phase.'
Indeed. He had another patient a few days ago, whose quirk name seemed quite similar.
'Dark Shadow.'
'Yeah, they'd get along.'
Two silent brooding types. With edgy naming senses. And mutations.
It was simply meant to be.
...
...
...
'Well, they're certainly enjoying themselves.'
It seemed like both his mom and dad were in a rather good mood.
Now, he wasn't exactly a master when it came to reading feelings, but that was clearly amusement.
'Cursed energy... it's fitting in JJK but it really is edgy here...'
Damn. Now he felt ridicoulous.
'I suppose it's good that i can brighten their day.'
But what else was he supposed to call it? You can't just give a name to something that's already named after all.
'Maybe i should have.'
But the past was in the past, even if only 10 minutes ago.
So, Mini-raga reincarnation's mind soon darted back to the wheel.
'Should i have told them?'
He believed to have done the right decision by keeping the Nature of the wheel to himself.
And there were a multitude of reasons as to why.
The first one?
It simply wasn't that deep. He may have the wheel, but he hadn't actually mastered that power.
He could simply tell them about it once he'd have figured out how to use it.
Was it a lie? Technically yes, but it wasn't a malicious one.
Another reason? Well, he used to watch a lot of Anime and if there was one thing that always existed in Isekai's, it was ... danger.
He may not have recognized the world he was in, but that didn't matter. It was a world with superheroes and villains.
In a world like that, there'd be Protagonists, Antagonist's and Deuteragonist's along with more. I mean... people here literally went around calling themselves villain's.
So, keeping a few cards close to your chest was always good, because there were too many people in Anime who enjoyed Human experimentation.
Screaming "I CAN ADAPT TO EVERYTHING" was a good way to end up on this world's Kurotsuchi Mayuri or Orochimaru's dissection table.
'Let us avoid that fate.'
And frankly? He wasn't that strong.
Don't get him wrong, he really did believe to be able to become like Mahoraga. Probably even better thanks to his sentience.
But that would take time and until then, he'd have to avoid getting one-shotted.
'Let's keep it to myself until i'm big enough to tank.'
But even at full power, there were far too many quirks which could prove dangerous to him.
They weren't conventional and Mahoraga's adaptation wasn't sure to work. It worked best for physical and elemental attacks after all.
But abstract quirks? Mental quirks? Spatial quirks?
How did you adapt to someone controlling your brain?
How did you adapt to someone who could make you feel more anger?
How could you adapt to someone who could become intangible?
Because, Mahoraga's adaptation was focused on defense. His offense was only supported by his base stats and adapting moveset.
Mahoraga's physical adaptation was limited as well. He could grow bigger, stronger and faster and change small aspects of his body, such as the length of his headtail, but he couldn't fundamentally change himself like Mahito did.
No. Mahoraga's power mostly came from his healing and his base stats.
'He's OP but ...so are quirks... I mean... All might's punches apparently change the weather!'
Indeed. He may not watch the news but he read newspaper and the descriptions of the number one hero in action was definitely something.
'Still, i'll get there.'
He just had to figure out how to get that damn wheel to move.
'I probably need a reason to adapt...'
But would he be able to control the adaptation? Or would the wheel turn by itself?
'I mean... i can kind of feel the wheel. I should be able to control it a little.'
Maybe he could decide between different ways of adapting? Like whether to focus on speed or strength? And are the adaptations even permanent? If i gain strength, do i keep it? Or is it just temporary adaptations?
He'd have to find out.
'I'm 4 years old, it's about time to start martial arts.'
The early bird gets the worm after all. And the even earlier Worm escapes the bird. And so on.
'I guess i'll be the earliest.'
He took his father's hand.
"I want to do martial arts."
His father was rather surprised.
"Why? To become a Hero?"
...Why indeed. He didn't have a real reason. The only reason for him to grow stronger was because he had Mahoraga's power.
'I basically just don't want to become a second potential-man.'
"Yes."
Well, being a hero certainly didn't sound bad. Fighting villains and gaining fame?
Awesome if you're strong.
He felt his father sigh before answering.
"...We can look for a place with a teacher. But you probably won't find places taking kids your age. How about we just do a little training regimen for you now?"
True enough. In his first life, there were plenty of martial arts schools which took in younger kids in order for them to develop a passion to training. Martial arts weren't a necessary part of life and most people simply didn't develop much interest unless they started young.
But here? In a world where heroes and battle was glorified, kids started seeking those places out by themselves after Kindergarten.
The martial arts schools rarely had a shortgage on applicants. So a deaf and blind 4 year old was... unlikely to be accepted.
'I'm gonna have to show the teacher that i can get around by myself... and it'd be even better if i know the basics of martial arts.'
Which he believed he could quickly learn. They may not be perfect, but shaky basics were better than no basics.
"Yes. Let's do that."
This was the official start of his training journey. The first step to build up his body and motor control.
...
...
...
It started with the simplest exercise of all.... running.
Because Stamina was the base of... everything.
The trick when it came to superpowers was always Stamina and strength.
For example One piece. The Gura Gura no mi was the most powerful Paramecia, but only because it's only known users had powerful bodies.
If the fruit ended up in ... Usopp's hands... it'd be useless.
In Naruto? Chakra was the mix between spiritual and physical energy. So getting that physical energy up was always good.
It was basically a golden rule in Anime. Train your stamina. If you can't push yourself, you lose. Because all your cool powers rely on you stamina.
So, running? It was the best starter exercise.
In the forest with his father, he alternated between sprinting and jogging.
Quirkle (this world's google) had explained that young kids should train their stamina recovery by sprinting short distances.
... Given that neither Riku nor Masaki knew anything about training, they figured they'd just ... do as told.
So, there he was in the forest, sprinting until he couldn't and then switching to jogging for a few minutes before going back to sprinting.
'..Haah, haaah, now i haah, get why the gym people hate haah, cardio.'
It was torture. Ironically enough, the sprint part was easier for him.
His first training session ended after just 20 minutes. His dad didn't know how much kids should train and probably didn't want to risk his wife's wrath.
And riku was exhausted enough as it was.
He was only 4 after all.