(This is for those who don't bother to read comments and stuff. I apparently kind of nerfed Mahoraga by arguing that there are some things he can't adapt to. Like mind control, intangibility and abilities like Kurogiri's teleportation. Turns out i was wrong.
Now, i'm not sure if you prefer the MC to have the absolute Adaption thing. That would entail Bullshit adaptation like:"Oh, you can become intangible? I'm gonna become intangible on the same wavelength as you and touch you."
Or if you'd prefer the MC to struggle a little. It wouldn't entail losing, but it would just make the fights more dynamic. Then the adaptation would be slightly nerfed.)
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CHAPTER START.
It was spring. The sun was out and the sky clear. The Petals of cherry blossoms slowly plummeted towards the ground and a light breeze ushered them away.
Only a few months had passed and it would soon be Riku Shindai's "second first-day" in Kindergarten.
He and his mother were currently walking towards the place. She was a little silent, probably unhappy about the choice of Kindergarten even though Riku had decided for it himself.
He had learned that his father and mother were discussing the topic of Kindergartens and that his mother wanted to put him into a "adapted learning place for special children."
Which Riku really didn't want. He didn't believe there to be anything wrong with these places... but he was a reincarnated adult for god's sake.
'Making friends with children is already gonna be weird, doing so with special ed children?'
Furthemore, he had been working on his cursed Energy. He could arrange the density and size of his reserves and believed to have found a good size and for his Sensor abilities. He was now capable of passively sensing everyone in a radius of around 4 meters without problems.
'And their feelings are becoming more obvious as well.'
And by focusing a little, he could extend his CE into a direction.
If he for example completely focused towards the north, he'd lose sight of West, East and south but his CE towards north would multiply by 4.
So his abilities were improving and getting along with Kindergarteners should be possible. He may not be able to talk with them but simply vibing with them should be good.
So they eventually managed to convince Kana about sticking him into a normal Kindergarten, but he couldn't escape the fate of having an accompanying teacher while in school.
'...i'll just ask the teacher to chill at the lounge. Making connections while having a teacher follow me around is an impossible task.'
He just hoped that the teacher would be reasonable.
They soon arrived at the Kindergarten where his mother had regained enough of her bearings in order to fuss over him before heading to the teacher's lounge.
It did not take long and they were soon introduced to a old bearded man who immediately introduced himself in Braille.
'Holding strangers hands is weird.'
Being the polite little Mahoraga he was, he introduced himself back and asked a few questions about how he came to know Braille.
'Mom finally left.'
He then asked the man to just hang back at the lounge during free time.
'I basically only need this guy to understand the teacher and maybe introduce myself to the other kids.'
The man did not seem to care much and simply told him where to find him in case he's needed. He'd still be there for introductions in order to translate.
'True enough, every Kindergarten has this circle thingy where everyone introduces himself.'
Now, he just needed to avoid the fate of being bullied by other kids. That'd be embarrassing.
'I bet my dad would join them if he were to learn i was being bullied.'
He and the old dude, who was called Heisuke Tadashi by the way, soon made their way towards the classroom.
...
...
(A few hours later)
Yeah. This definitely wouldn't be easy.
He didn't really mesh well with the other kids and did not bother to walk up to other kids in order to join them.
'It really is kind of weird.'
Or maybe... maybe he was just shy?.
He didn't even get to introduce himself at the beginning because Heisuke just did it in his place.
And from what Heisuke then translated, it seems he just "explained your condition."
The entire introduction made him look like a walking disability.
'Alright. The lonely path it is.'
Let's just hope his parents would understand.
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...
...
And indeed, the lonely path it was. Most kids didn't approach him... which was rather understandable.
What he felt from them wasn't truly fear nor disgust, but rather something inbetween.
Something akin to "what's his deal?" Apprehension perhaps?
Whatever it was, it led to Riku being by himself for his first day.
'At least i'm not the only one.'
Some other kids were by themselves as well, be it out of choice or shyness.
But one of them certainly stood out.
'Well, what do we have here?'
A kid with a birdhead and dressed in black.
'Does he have something similar to cursed energy?'
His emotional fluctuation was... low. As if suppressed.
But there was a second one. A second emotional fluctuation. It mirrored his but seemed to be a little more volatile.
'A spirit? Or some shikigami user?'
Well, obviously a quirked Shikigami. But the point was that there was a second presence. A rather violent one.
'Should i go up to him?'
He didn't know what this was. He imagined this is what two souls, one body felt like.
'But their feelings are too similar. It's just the... hidden one which is slightly more aggressive.'
He slowly walked over to him. The ... bird-man was just leaning against a corner while looking at a T-Rex toy with a yearning gaze.
"Hmm?"
The bird-man seemed startled as Riku stopped in front of him.
"..."
"..."
"Hi..."
"..."
That's right, Mini-raga forgot to think about what to say before waltzing over. Or rather how to even communicate.
'You know what? I'll just lean against this corner with you.'
So he did. The bird-man looked a little confused but didn't question him, instead simply closing his eyes.
'Alright. We gonna be friends if we chill here together every day?'
Because this was exactly what he'd do. He'd simply follow bird-man around every day, only giving him little bit of space every once in a while.
'Heh. You can't escape my friendship.'
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...
And so, the first day of school concluded. His target for friendship had been found and the difficulties of said journey would soon be overcome.
'Either the bird-man learns braille or i learn Hanami's telepathic speech.'
He was currently walking home with his dad, who happened to be the perfect test subject.
'Now... how do i start.'
He started in a simple way, simply focusing on his dad's presence.
The outline of his figure became clearer and so did his emotions.
He seemed rather neutral at the moment.
'Maybe if i...'
The presence of his dad vanished as his CE fully focused on emotion. He nearly stumbled as he lost "sight" of his feet and simply held tighter onto his dads hand as he slowed down a little.
Describing the feeling would be rather difficult. Using smell as a parallell, it was as if several different smells emanated from the same person, yet remained fundamentally different from each other, only blurring where different smells collided.
The emotions were like that. A snippet of joy, sadness, anger and more. Everything seemed to be present, intertwined but also very weak at the moment.
Small bursts happened at which one emotion grew slightly stronger but they did not remain.
'I can sense them... but i can't interact?'
He concentrated more. Specifically on joy. Could he amplify it?
'Nothing happened. Cursed energy is negative. Maybe...'
Sadness. That one should be it. He focused again.
'Nothing. Cursed energy doesn't interact with other people's emotions? Isn't that wrong?'
Maybe because they didn't have Cursed energy of their own?
'Wait.'
An idea occurred.
'What about my own emotions?'
Cursed energy by itself wasn't a exact representation of feelings after all.
He stopped walking. He felt his father's confusion rise but did not focus on it. He instead retracted his CE and focused it on himself.
He did not let it flow through his body, but rather simply created a concentrated bubble around his head.
'I can sense them... hmm, joy. Expectation? Confusion?'
Are these his emotions or states of thoughts?
Where does the line blurs between thinking and feeling?
'I should start with feeling. Maybe i can... push my joy to my dad? Would he sense it?'
He began. His CE caught his joy and pushed it towards his dad.
'It's not exactly my joy. It's a .... trace of it...'
It was similar to when the wind pushes the smell of something into one's face. Not truly the thing, just it's smell.
He watched as his " joy" reached his dad.
Nothing happened.
'Now what? Do i... compress it?'
The "joy" which had been carried over, slowly created a bubble around his father's head and shrunk.
He watched.
...
...
Masaki watched in confusion as his son suddenly stopped.
He had just picked him up from his first day of Kindergarten and decided to stop himself from asking how it was. Kana was sure to ask him later anyway.
And now, while walking home, he suddenly stopped but did not let go of his hand.
'The hell is he doing now?'
The weirdo was simply staring at him. Well, not staring, he was blind after all. But his head was turned to him and Masaki just knew he was the target of whatever the hell was going on.
'Alright, bring it you weirdo.'
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...
He waited. A whole fucking minute.
Then it started.
A light ring in his ear. And a wave of... something on his mind. Similar to when the wave of fatigue hits, yet not fatigue.
'His quirk huh? A sensory quirk... Is he trying to read my mind?'
He was kind of curious if he'd manage. He didn't feel anything in his mind though.
Just a slight feeling of ... joy? It felt distant.
'It's not mine... Is he sending me emotions?'
A downgrade from reading thoughts but cool nevertheless.
The ring in his ear intensified a little, but not enought to bother his thinking. The feeling of joy intensified.
Then it retracted. Riku's wing-eyes twitched and his head-tail sweeped as if unhappy.
'Can't leave him frustrated. I'll tell him i felt it. And that he should ask me in the future before pulling stunts like these.'
"I don't know what you tried, but i felt joy. Slightly."
The answer he received was rather curt.
"Trying to learn telepathy. Failed with thought. Success with emotion."
Oh?
'That'd be useful. Hero agencies would love someone who has both sensory and Telepathy.'
"You can try again at home. There was slight ringing in my mind. Maybe you need practice."
It wasn't as if his thought's were important enough to hide them from his son. He had come to like the weirdo so it'd be fine. As long as he didn't passively read his thoughts all the time.
'Makes me think... does the weirdo even want to become a hero? I mean... all kids want to. We'll talk about it... someday.'
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...
(Warning from author: I enjoy this topic way too much. High chance of getting off track. I'll highlight it a little so you can skip if you don't care.)
'Success i guess.'
He still wasn't too thrilled. It was already a good step, especially for a first try but sending emotions just wasn't his goal.
But well, at least it was a step towards telepathy.
Come to think of it...
'I wonder... shouldn't cursed energy be incapable of sending good emotions such as joy?'
Maybe it worked because it wasn't truly an emotion? Just a ... reflection of it?
'Whatever. A more important thought...'
The same topic as before. Where does a emotion end and a thought starts?
Emotions were chemical reactions to outward stimuli. They were usually created by the brain in order to force a reaction out of the body.
Survival instincts. Fear and Anger. They forced the body to move and pumped it full of Adrenaline.
Joy and Happiness. They were practically humanity's reason to live. They also served reproduction purposes.
Sadness and grief. An emotion which served as a deterrent for the body. These were things everyone wanted to avoid, and they pushed the body to seek out happiness and joy.
All of these and more were just bio-chemical reactions of the body in order to strive for survival.
They obviously weren't perfect. Anger and fear could lead to impulsive actions or freezing up.
Joy and happiness could lead to debauchery and greed.
And sadness and grief remained a powerful deterrent which would forever push humanity to seek out further pleasure.
So in conclusion, emotion was the body's immediate tool for survival. It was fast, messy and imperfect but it remained useful the majority of the time.
Fear=Run
Anger= Fight.
Sadness= Stop.
Joy= Continue.
So now. What was a thought?
Perhaps the counter to emotion? Emotions, as mentioned before had their own problems, perhaps the brain was a way to regulate and control these instincts?
It would also make sense as to why a animal which is both intelligent and emotional would have survived despite it's physical weaknesses throughout time.
We had enough emotions/instincts to have an immediate sense of survival, while our brain helped us regulate it's shortcomings and think in the long term.
So, using a drawing as a reference, emotion would be the paint and thoughts would be the lines.
A picture with only emotion (paint) would result in a chaotic mix of colors. Perhaps pretty but nonsensical.
A picture with only thought's (Lines) would result in a soulless and logical depiction. Unappreciable to our sense of attractiveness.
Combining both, results in a organized (thought) picture of reality which still has enough color (emotion) to make life worth living.
A pretty picture with structure equals a good/easy life.
But something is missing, isn't it?
That would be intent. A beautiful and logical picture becomes even better when it has a reason or a story. If intent lacks, then there is no reason for it to exist.
It is the same for a human. Emotion and logic are means for survival. But intent is what gives survival a reason. Survival by itself is just dictated by emotion.
But intent is the combination of both emotion and thought.
It forms something more complex. It's far more specific.
Why was this relevant to his Telepathy?
Because simply sending emotions without thoughts wouldn't result in Telepathy.
Sending thoughts without emotion was impossible given that cursed energy was linked to emotions.
:( END OF YAP):
'This shit sounds weird. Do i have to combine emotion and thought? Like, just send a feeling with a thought?'
Could he transmit... intent?
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...
(Timeskip= A few days later)
He and his dad were in the forest like always.
His dad had been really confused at his 5 year old's stubbornness about training, and that had led him to train as well because "he would not get outdone by a little kid!"
So now, here they were, mostly doing Cardio in the forest.
And for the record, the dad beat the kid in every footrace so far.
...
After the foot races, he usually tried his telepathy again and while it did become easier every to send his feelings after every attempt, he had yet to reach a breakthrough on Telepathy.
'Progress is progress.'
And progress happened on several fronts. He watched Videos on youtoube in order to learn martial arts.... but that wasn't exactly reliable.
'I really should find some school. Wonder what martial art would be best.'
Messily dabbling in the principles of several arts wasn't exactly an efficient way of training.
'Maybe i should just stick to Cardio and strength training later on. Mahoraga isn't exactly a martial artist after all.'
He remembered Mahoraga to fight with pure strength and speed in the beginning of battle, only then adapting a good counterstyle.
'But as long as the wheel is stuck...'
He still couldn't move it. So learning how to fight was probably not a bad move.
'And maybe getting absolutely slammed by some expert would get that damn thing to turn.'
.It was decided. He'd genuinely start looking for a school. He was in decent shape given his training so there ought to some school which would take him.
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CHAPTER END
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I kind lf struggled for this chapter. I wanted him to get acquainted with someone from class 1-A and couldn't decide between Ojiro, Tokoyami or Shoji.
I also don't know what martial arts school ks most similar to JJK's fighting style , so i figures i'll leave this for you to decide.
Andif you don't get how i rationalized the CE telepathy thing... sorry. I thought it makes sense.