6 years. That's how long safety had lasted for Jun since he came into this world.
He was 14 now, in the last year of middle school, already looking into U.A.'s harsh entrance exam.
He had thought that the world was dangerous. He was wrong. The heroes were winning the day-to-day grind.
He had gotten too comfortable. Too safe.
All his preparations, all his training, even all his quirks were inadequate to a real villain.
That's what he found out when he turned onto a street to see a giant cornering Mina and her friends.
He wished he could move but he wasn't Izuku. He wasn't the pure-hearted hero who could sacrifice his body like nothing.
Every joint and muscle locked in complete fear of this giant, of this villain.
Kirishima was no better, maybe even worse as Jun saw his body trembling.
Jun locked his gaze onto Mina.
She was only here to meet up with them who were late. Now that decision put her directly into harm's way.
Mina, however, put her body between the giant and her friends. A small shield but brave nonetheless.
The villain reached up to the building behind the girls, placing a hand on the wall before cracks ran along it causing stones to fall.
Still, Mina stood tall, trembling.
Jun felt shame and embarrassment pulse through his chest. Here he was at a distance, freezing while she was in direct range of this villain.
But that shame fueled his desire to help, letting his adrenaline pump. Along with high-intensity training that he subjected his body to for 2 and a half years.
But the thing that made him move, was the motto that he had forced himself to bear.
Fuck you and your sense of responsibility, Spider-Man!
He took a step, then another. "Hey Ugly!!!"
The giant slowly turned towards Jun.
Jun gulped, but dropped the Heavy Touch effect from his weighted vest, instantly becoming lighter.
"Y-yeah, you! Think you should pick on someone a little more your size?!"
The giant stared at Jun for a moment, then as if deciding it was no longer interested, it slowly turned and walked away.
Jun felt relief flood through him, limbs feeling heavy as he looked towards Mina.
"You alright?"
Mina fell to her knees, crying. "Ahhh!! That was so scary!!" the two girls that she had shielded came up hugging her shoulders, saying their own gratitudes.
Jun looked back at Kirishima who looked down, fists clenched. "Why… why couldn't I move?"
Jun understood that helplessness, that fear. He had felt it too. Jun knew he wasn't brave, maybe not even a true hero.
His training along with his mentality as a reincarnated person was the only thing that let him snap out of that fear.
"Because we were scared. That's why we couldn't move."
Kirishima looked up, frustration clear in his face. "But you two did!"
"That's because we're idiots."
Kirishima's frustration froze on his face. "What?"
"You think if that villain got serious, we'd be standing here uninjured?"
Mina sniffled, looking at Jun. "We wouldn't, would we?"
Kirishima looked away. "But still… you two…"
"Eijiro. If you have time to think about it, you have time to train. I'm expecting to see you in U.A. with me."
Jun slid his gaze to Mina. "You as well, brave girl."
Mina blinked, confused. "Me?"
"Don't act like you weren't going to try. Though… you might wanna study more, would hate to get dropped for the academic portion of the tests."
Mina laughed, cheeks deepening in color. "Hey, it's not that bad… right?"
The two girls she saved stayed quiet, looking away, which made Mina ask again. "Right?"
Kirishima ignored Mina's question as he looked to Jun, the frustration replaced with resolve. "Alright, I'll definitely see you at U.A. Jun!"
Jun just smirked, pulling out his phone. "Should still report a villain sighting. Let the pros handle it."
***
The aftermath of the villain sighting was quick. They were all questioned, praised, and reprimanded in equal measure.
Parents were called and they were escorted home individually.
Jun rubbed his eyes as he walked into his home.
A sudden hug-tackle took him down.
Jun hit the ground, looking up at the cause. "Mom!"
His mother didn't care about his annoyed gaze as she checked him over. "Jun! Are you alright? Did the villain do anything to you?"
Jun rolled his eyes. "No, they didn't. If they did, you'd be visiting me instead of me being sent home."
Mom took his face in her hands, forcing him to look at her. "You don't joke about that."
"Sorry, Mom."
Mom smiled, satisfied with his apology. "Good, now do you need anything?"
"Sleep and food. Not in that order." As he finished saying that, his stomach rumbled.
Mom pulled herself up, extending a hand for Jun to pull him up. "Then I'll whip up something real fast."
Jun grabbed the hand, pulling himself up. "Thanks, truly the savior of my stomach."
"Of course! They don't call me the pro-mom for no reason."
Jun laughed as he followed her to the kitchen.
The food was simple and fast, but the company helped settle something in him that the day had left rattled.
When he finally stepped into his room, he collapsed into bed.
So that was a real villain? Scary. Overwhelming.
Jun focused inward, into the empty space in his mind that wasn't quite so empty anymore.
The space itself had dozens of orbs, but most of them were small first stage orbs.
But the orbs surrounding Jun were mostly the larger ones.
The biggest orbs, the Stage 5s, Grey and White. Still his parents.
The next biggest was Stage 4, Blood Crimson that was Toga's… which reminded him to check in on her tomorrow.
Three Stage 3s, Crystal Red, Neon Pink, and a metallic black. Kirishima, Mina, and Hiro respectively.
No Stage 2s. But 2 Stage 1s. Pale Green and a lightish pink. Biological Blueprint and Sweat less. He knew Doctor Roki was one of them and some girl from elementary school. Neither one he had seen in years.
Both Reds, the Pink, and the White were currently off. Jun found out the hard way that his active quirks had a limit. 3 is the soft limit, 4 is the hard limit.
The hard limit came with slight headaches and the feeling of being bloated.
But anything past that had his nose bleed and senses go out of whack.
What he currently had active was what he designated as his "Workout" loadout. Heavy Touch, Sweat less, and Biological Blueprint.
Heavy Touch was the main component, especially after training Hiro's quirk and achieving Stage 3.
Hiro's own quirk had reached 1.5 times instead of the 1.33 times he originally had and with a stage 3 orb, Jun was able to achieve 1.25 times by himself.
Sweat Less was purely to outweigh Heavy Touch's side effect of sweating, while Biological Blueprint let Jun see his body in depth whenever he felt something off.
My only real combat quirks are Hardening and Acid Slime from Kirishima and Mina… I probably have some odd ones floating around but at stage 1, those orbs will be roughly at a tenth of the original's strength.
Jun sat up, reaching for a baton he bought with his own money.
Weapon plus Heavy Touch, not an extreme answer unless I can increase my speed as well.
He flipped the baton in his hand. Let's look at all the stage 1s, maybe something I overlooked.
Diving back into the empty space, he started looking through the stage 1 orbs.
Boring… useless… ah? Flame quirk? Small fire control, not fire generation…
Jun grabbed it and moved on.
It wasn't until the end of his search where he found something else that seemed interesting.
Wind quirk? Allowed to manipulate already flowing wind… why not.
He grabbed it as well, placing it alongside the flame quirk.
But suddenly his head rang like someone smashed a gong next to his head.
The two small orbs barely touched, slowly falling into each other.
Another gong rang in his head as the two orbs finally became one.
What the FUCK was that?
He reached out for the orb, a flood of information hit him, unlike any he had before. Flame taking shapes. Still not fire generation but closer to real flame manipulation than before.
Jun pushed himself out of the space, finding himself with a massive headache as he looked around his room.
"I'll test it tomorrow… fuck my head…"
With that, he collapsed unconscious into bed.
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Welcome to my new novel that probably winning second place on my p*treon poll. Theres still time to vote!
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