The rooftop event has ended, but the world doesn't go silent—it just shifts, deep and electric beneath the city skin.
Kaelin leans against the railing, breathing in the last cold breath of dusk. Lights flicker on across the skyline, some steady, some trembling—every window a rumor, every shadow alive with consequence. Crew members drift, half-visible in the neon fog. Minji's laugh lingers; Jay's sketches vibrate on phone screens; Dao's voice is an echo lost in calls not answered.
System UI drops down, impossibly bright:
[SYSTEM UPDATE: Worldline Transfer Pending]
Kaelin's vision shakes. Windows to new realities flash in patterns only he can see.
"Legend doesn't rest," Minji texts. "It migrates."
A hush falls as the group descends the stairwell. Rina is first to break the silence, boot scuffing metal. "We made the system stutter."
Dao appears last, shuffling, eyes wary but fire rekindled. "They wanted us alone, but we're still together."
Jay's sketchbook falls open: figures blurred at the edges, lines unsteady, the quad swirling into graffiti and memory.
Kaelin's phone buzzes—different now, slick with new icons.
[SIGNAL BREACH — Worldline Unlocked]
Crew chat explodes before shutdown. "Tomorrow?" asks Minji.
Kaelin types, "The system won't let us go quietly. It needs a show."
Night seeps in. Kaelin heads home. As he steps inside, news reports loop—"Rogue signal at local school. Mystery crew disrupts order. System authority challenged. Future uncertain."
He stares at his reflection, eyes pixelating in bathroom glass. Something inside is recalibrating—a new algorithm, a new stage.
He collapses into bed, dreams flickering with static, old and new.
It's mid-dream when the transfer hits.
No falling—just an urgent acceleration, every direction at once.
He wakes without moving, body pinned in two worlds.
System overlay burns:
[WORLDLINE SHIFT — INITIATE]
Kaelin's senses fracture then solder, reality stretching.
He blinks, and the familiar city vanishes—replaced by towers sculpted for heroes, monorails swinging past billboards of capes and gloves.
Alarm sirens ring out.
Crowds jostle by, talking Quirks and internships.
[SIGNAL: QUIRK REGISTRATION REQUIRED]
Kaelin glances down. His phone now buzzes with new data.
[Quirk: Illusion Manipulation. Rumor Ripple. Glitch Zone (beta).]
First task: survive, confirm crew, enter U.A.
Signal pulsed—crew positions scrambled.
Minji's ID arrives in his inbox: "Support Course, U.A. High. They trust hackers more than heroes, I guess."
Jay's location: "Gen Studies. Got transferred. Sketches coming soon, stay weird."
Dao? Off-grid.
Rina? Unreadable, data noise.
Kaelin fakes calm, steps into new shoes.
Rumors about the "transfer anomaly" swirl. He lets them bloom, feeding the legend.
He walks by flashing screens: "U.A. ENTRANCE EXAM TODAY - HERO SOCIETY RECRUITS WORLDLINE MYSTERIES."
His uniform changes hue as system overlays update each status:
[Charisma: Adaptable]
[Followers: Fragmented, traceable]
[Luck: Unregistered]
City encompasses him; flashes of old school mixed with new hero society.
First stop: registration center. He walks in, masking nerves with a system-grade smile.
Proctors eye him. One whispers, "Doesn't match any file. Still, roster says he's got a slot."
Forms require Quirk description—Kaelin types carefully:
Specialization: Illusion, Perception Management, Reputation Manipulation.
A side quest appears:
[Outperform at exam. Subvert expectations. Avoid official classification.]
He remembers lessons learned: power isn't direct. It's the side wind, quiet and certain.
Moments before the test, Minji hacks a campus server, pinging Kaelin with queues and blind spots.
Jay texts a sketch—"glitches" map, entry paths, likely rival locations.
Kaelin draws a breath, feeling old tension and new optimism.
Exam room is chaos—Quirk-born thunder, fire, shadows dart.
Kaelin picks pathways nobody else even sees—illusion Quirk in play, past rumors sharpening possibilities.
Robot targets explode; a rival with Gravity powers tries to pin him. Kaelin disperses—appears elsewhere, luck rippling.
Proctors mutter, "He's rewiring the field."
One instructor flashes a rare smile, noting Kaelin's hero points count and chaos ratio.
After, Kaelin regroups on the steps.
Minji sits with him, offers a fake badge. "U.A. loves main characters. But they fear system glitches more."
Jay's sketchbook documents hero struggles—his art already trending on new social networks.
Dao remains out there, sending cryptic code:
"Don't fail the legend now."
System flashes—status overlay:
[Checkpoint: U.A. Entry. Rumor Pulse at 28%. Crew Status: 60% located.]
Kaelin looks ahead. U.A. gates gleam, possibility wrapping the skyline. Rumor is oxygen.
System signals:
[Chapter Complete. Worldline Breach stabilizing. Next: Integrate, disrupt, regroup crew.]
He steps forward, legend humming beneath his skin, story rewriting itself with every breath.
Kaelin's first night at U.A. is a study in vertigo. The dorm is clean, too bright, packed with restless energy that's not his own.
He listens closely—each hallway breathes rumors, every window holds secrets.
His system device auto-connects to campus feeds, snatching fragments:
Hero hopefuls debating quirks, villain sympathizers swapping encrypted jokes, staff murmuring about "the anomaly."
He texts Minji: "Check-in."
Her reply comes coded with urgency: "Support course goes harder here. Schematics aren't just blueprints—they're network entry points. Already found two backdoors."
Jay sends a photo: a mural of his work—sketches of battles, faces caught in motion, one tagged with Kaelin's silhouette, a question mark for a face.
Kaelin falls asleep holding his system device, its light blinking quietly with new objectives.
Morning is harsher.
Assembly—heroes on the stage, Principal Nezu tiny but terrifying, scanning the crowd for outliers.
Aizawa names Kaelin without looking up: "Transfer, seat eight. Keep your quirks—and your drama—contained."
Bakugo grumbles, "Bet he's just another nobody."
Kaelin answers by letting his Quirk sizzle for just a moment—half the class blinks, missing his smile; a rumor sprouting: "He's already hacking minds."
Lessons are relentless.
Hero theory, Quirk development, social strategy.
Kaelin's Illusion Quirk adapts—he's more a presence than a person, impossible to pin down.
Midday, rumors online call him "Ghost Transfer"; some suggest villain potential, others say Pro Hero in disguise.
At lunch, Minji appears beside him. "Teachers are suspicious. Data trace says you don't exist."
Jay sits opposite, sliding new sketches—a breakdown of cliques, threats, opportunities.
Any hope for an easy integration fades during Quirk control drills.
Students show off—flashy powers, raw strength.
Kaelin keeps it subtle:
He dodges attacks without moving, refracts perceptions, lets whispers muddy the trail.
An examiner notes, "Unclassifiable. Possible meta-quirk. Watch closely."
U.A.'s social games are sharper than rumors at the old school. Alliances form and fracture in real time; every rumor becomes a weapon or a shield.
After classes, Kaelin roams the courtyard.
Minji hacks a vending machine for free drinks. Jay's sketches have already been pasted to three lockers.
Rina reaches out at last—texting from the city outskirts: "Villain organizations scouting transfers. Met two today. Didn't tell them my real name."
Dao sends one message, scrambled for security: "Crew's not whole, but the signal is stronger. Waiting for your next move."
Kaelin replies: "Disrupt safely. Regroup priority."
Night falls and the first real mission statement flashes:
[SYSTEM QUEST — Unify crew. Survive first confrontation. Integrate or destabilize hero society.]
Kaelin, watching hero students training under floodlights, wonders who he is to them: a shadow, a myth, a spark for chaos.
He returns to his dorm. News breaks on the internal feed:
"Unclassified transfer stirs up Quirk rumors. Faculty divided on threat potential."
Kaelin files it away.
Tomorrow, the games get louder.
Tomorrow, he's ready to step into a new legend.
He writes a note to himself before bed:
"Let them chase the rumor. By the time they catch it, I'll already be somewhere else."