You know, one of the worst ways to die is undoubtedly rabies. The only way you realize you have it is very late in life, and that's what happened to me.
A year ago, I was exercising, running in a park near my house, when out of nowhere a dog appeared, which for some reason chased me.
In the shock, I didn't notice there was a pothole right in front of me, and after stepping in it, I fell to the ground, skinning my knee, and the dog bit me. It was painful.
After kicking it hard, it ran away, disappearing into the alleys.
I immediately went to a hospital where the doctor told me to just take vitamins, clean the wound, and take anti-inflammatories.
Now, let's fast forward a few months later.
I was at home with my parents when I suddenly fell unconscious. There was no warning; one moment I was fine, and the next thing I knew, I was in a hospital bed, unable to move my body at all. The following days were intense and full of suffering. My body burned, and my face felt slack. I think I even lost my memory; I don't know.
Finally, a week later, I died. Yes, just like that, I had died, and then I appeared in a kind of courtroom with three giant figures resembling demons, each in a judge's stand.
"Have you finished reviewing the cause of your death for the third time?" asked the largest judge, looking at me with serious eyes.
"Yes, sorry," I apologized, not daring to be disrespectful to that entity.
"Let me give you some information about where you are now," the judge continued.
"You are in the judgment chamber. Here, your sins and actions in life will be evaluated," said the Judge, pulling out a tablet that read:
"Book of Death and Life."
Reading the title confused me.
Wasn't it a book? When did they change it to a tablet? Did everything get modernized?
With more questions than answers, I decided to focus my attention on the judge who would decide my fate.
The judge looked at the tablet for a while before setting his eyes on me.
The whole time, I remained nervous and quiet, not daring to make a single sound.
"I see. So, you are a 'mistake'," said the judge.
"What?" I asked in shock.
"Originally, you were supposed to live until you were 70 years old, surrounded by your grandchildren, after having become a world-renowned professional boxer. But it seems that due to an error, that destiny changed, killing you," announced the judge, turning off the tablet.
"Sir, I don't understand what you mean," I said, looking at the Judge nervously. I didn't understand his words.
The judge looked at me and then decided to explain in more detail.
"Due to the rapid expansion of the number of humans in recent times, Hell began to feel overwhelmed. The judges and 'the one above' had a severe staff shortage, so they introduced automated management models into this universe and the nearby universe. However, due to the new management model, certain gaps were left."
"Although this gap is almost non-existent, the possibility still exists. And that error has occurred." The judge then pointed at the tablet. "What I said before is how your life's original destiny would have been, but thanks to the management, that error occurred, killing you at the age of 18. And since this was our mistake, we are going to compensate you with three wishes."
An error killed me and completely changed the course of my life. And now they try to compensate me for their mistake?
I didn't know what to think of this situation, but I would accept the wishes. If it was their error, then I could get a bit of an advantage from it.
"Any wish?"
"As long as it is within my possibilities. You can ask for anything."
Hearing that, I thought about what kind of wish I could make. I could reincarnate in the same world with better advantages, but that would be boring. There are more possibilities for an exciting one in another world.
"Can I go to the world of My Hero Academia, keeping my current gender?" I asked.
"The world of fantasy with heroes and villains with abilities called Quirks? Right?"
"Yes. Can't I?"
"Of course you can. This is a very acceptable request and simple to fulfill."
"The second wish is a bit special. I want a symbiote, one that is special, taking the best of Venom, Anti-Venom, Toxin, and Carnage, and whose personality is compatible with mine," I requested hopefully, as I liked the idea of having my own symbiote. With the abilities of those four symbiotes, I would be ranked as one of the most powerful heroes in that world.
I didn't want overly broken abilities, as they would take away the fun.
The judge looked at me for a few moments before nodding.
"It's a slightly more complicated request, but it is possible to fulfill," said the judge, to my relief.
"Now, let's talk about the third wish," he said.
"The third wish is to remove its weaknesses, and that it can eat normal food or energy of any type, and above all, not consume emotions or my vitality," I said, being clearer in this request, as with that, I wouldn't risk it draining my life force every time I used it.
"Haha... Well, kid! Alright, I agree to the three wishes," the Judge changed his expression from serious to a cheerful one, agreeing to my wishes since the last two were to have the greatest advantage and ensure I kept growing.
Then the judge created a kind of reddish spear that flew and pierced my body. Surprisingly, I felt no pain and only felt some heat, as well as feeling how energy was filling my body.
While immersed in this sensation, my head spun, and with that, I fainted.
Opening my eyes, I felt a strong pain in my body that made me scream. I felt tight and small, not to mention a bright light that I couldn't distinguish, but I felt I was being passed to another side, something that was warm. I heard a female voice saying words, but I couldn't understand, except for my name.
"Kaito Yurei."
Soon, the years passed in the blink of an eye, and I turned four years old. By this time, it meant I would have the symbiote, but there was a problem: I couldn't feel it.
I thought it would be included in this body, but I see I was mistaken. Unfortunately, I was classified as Quirkless, since I used my wish to ask for the symbiote. Not that I cared much, as my mother didn't possess any Quirk, and my father had been a hero who died at the hands of a villain abroad who used fire when I was barely one year old.
My mother was devastated by this but moved forward and strove to give me all the love she could, which I received. This made me very close to her. Thanks to my father being a hero, he had gathered quite a bit of money that would last us a while, and once I grew up, my mother would get a job to support us.
I was happy with my new life, so I was in no hurry to grow up and just focused on my childhood.
Of course, there were idiot kids who wanted to use their Quirks to intimidate me, but a beating from me taught them not to mess with me. Oh, by the way, that reminds me.
I'm in the same city where most of the events occur, called Musutafu, the place where the protagonist Izuku Midoriya and the explosive guy named Bakugo live.
We went to the same schools since our mothers met after they were called because of mischief each of us did, which allowed us to meet and become friends.
As happened in the anime and manga, Deku was classified as Quirkless, just like me, which made Bakugo become arrogant about his Quirk and try to attack me, but I was superior to him since I knew how to defend myself. This infuriated him, and he attacked the green-haired kid, who became his target.
I didn't get involved much in this since it was Izuku's problem, although I significantly reduced Bakugo's attempts to attack the green-haired kid. This angered him, but he knew that in a fight, he would simply lose, with a Quirk or without it.
Thus, the years continued until I turned fourteen. My mother got a job at a company as an office worker that paid well, while on my side, I began to train my body to develop muscles.
My appearance was that of a healthy young man entering his prime due to all my training: hard, rock-like muscles, tall stature reaching 170 cm, short gray hair, dark gray eyes, and fair skin.
I was quite handsome, I must admit.
That's what happened all these years.
—×××—
I was sitting in my chair in the classroom while checking my phone, watching this morning's video where Mount Lady defeated the giant villain in the first chapter of the anime, the place where the canon events begin.
"Today, I've just made my debut! My name's Mount Lady! Remember it!"
I finished watching the video with a small smile. Officially, the canon had begun, although I must admit that Mount Lady looked better in real life than through a screen. Although I prefer Nejire Hado, seriously, she is my type.
"Alright! Now you're all third-years!" The instructor grabbed a stack of papers roughly while shouting.
"You have to think about your future! Now I'll pass out the future career aspiration forms." The teacher slammed his desk forcefully while the class fell silent.
"But who cares? All of you want to become heroes, right?"
His words made the whole class get excited while they activated their Quirks, which were all strange.
One could inflate his mouth like a pufferfish, another stretched his neck, another grew horns, another had a large mouth with big teeth.
Seriously, there were only two others with good Quirks: one of wind, another that shot fire from his hand flamethrower, and a girl who had some telekinesis. Most of the others had useless Quirks.
While the teacher was talking, a noisy voice was heard throughout the classroom.
"Don't lump me in with these extras!" Bakugo shouted with great arrogance.
"Actually, I'm not trying to make friends with someone 'who is individually weak,' you know..."
"What do you mean by that, Katsuki?!" shouted most of the class.
Soon the classroom turned into shouting, which I ignored since I didn't want to be part of the chaos.
Bakugo made his diatribe about being important, I'm better than you, and all that before the teacher interrupted him, informing him that Midoriya and I were taking the U.A. exam.
The whole class quieted down before staring at us and laughing out loud.
"Seriously, two Quirkless? It's impossible for them to even enter such a prestigious school," shouted one.
"Someone who only knows how to study and another who barely knows how to defend himself in the hero course!" shouted another.
"Shut up, idiots!" My voice rose above everyone else's, making them quiet down.
"If I want, I can kick all of your butts without even breaking a sweat, and if you want to try it, take a step forward." No one moved at all.
They had learned over these three years that it wasn't good to make me angry.
"That's what I thought," I said, sitting back down in my seat. That was until Bakugo smiled as he approached.
He was about to launch his usual explosion with his right arm, but I moved to the side, grabbed him under the armpit, and threw him toward the wall in a fluid motion, then sat back down calmly.
"Turn down your aggression a couple of notches. I'm not Izuku, got it, Short Fuse?" I mocked.
"You bastard!" Bakugo shouted, lunging to attack, but I moved backward, letting him fall to the ground.
"You'll pay for this," Bakugo growled, but I ignored him, opting to take out my phone and continue watching the news.
After the homeroom teacher calmed everything down, classes resumed for the next few hours without any incident.
After classes, I organized my things and left class. I knew what was coming and wasn't interested in being part of it; I needed to sleep.
After leaving school, I began walking back home. There was a tunnel I always crossed to take a shortcut.
It was an old tunnel about 200 meters long.
While crossing the tunnel, I felt a shiver. Something wasn't right; I felt like I was being followed.
Looking around, I didn't see anything strange. Walking forward, I decided to walk faster. My heart beat faster with each passing second.
I don't know when, but without realizing it, I was already running.
I heard something slithering, something slimy and sticky that left a strange sound.
Looking back, I saw a large black mass with red touches that writhed and contorted.
That black mass lunged at me in a swift movement that I couldn't react to in time.
The mass enveloped my body, restricting my arms and legs, then began to enter through every orifice: eyes, nose, ears, mouth. The sensation was disgusting and painful as hell.
I fought against the substance for almost a minute until I fainted, falling unconscious.
(Minutes Before)
The slimy creature, after landing on that planet, had a mission. Its mission was to find a host to achieve a successful symbiosis and survive on the planet.
It couldn't last long without a host due to fires, smoke, low temperatures, and the atmosphere itself would kill it sooner or later. It needed a host, food, and hopefully find the others of its kind to carry out its plan.
The creature arrived at an underground tunnel that was warm enough to allow it to live longer. And with some luck, it would manage to find a temporary host until it found the right one.
The creature didn't have to wait long; fortunately, a promising host had appeared.
There were no others, and it doubted there would be any in the next few hours. Linking to the nervous system and taking control would be quite simple, although it preferred it to be a developed specimen and not an underdeveloped one. Often, infants were more irritable and changeable as they developed; this, of course, was until the individual's full development.
The creature decided it was its best moment to have a temporary host until it found a better option for complete symbiosis.
The creature came down from the ceiling and observed the human. It noticed the human had good instincts since he had sensed it and started to run, but it wouldn't be enough to escape from it.
This amused the creature.
The creature decided it was the best time to take control of its future host.
The creature grew and grabbed the human. Using its gelatinous body, it began to infiltrate his body through every available orifice to be inside him. During the symbiosis process, the creature was surprised because this human was incredibly compatible with it.
While the human struggled to resist the symbiosis, the creature decided to drain the air until he was unconscious. Once fused with his nervous system, it decided to search through the host's memories over the next few hours.
A minute later, the human woke up confused and left.
The next time I woke up, I was in the same place, but there was nothing. I didn't feel anything strange inside my body.
Confused, I returned home. I needed to get back before my mother worried about me.