3

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The voice of a man echoed through the room. A low-end computer was responsible for that voice. The man sounded extremely confident. The laptop displayed a video of a blond hero, two meters tall, dressed in a tight suit that prominently displayed his inhuman muscles. He was surrounded by intense fire and destruction all around, but he rose from the rubble with a bunch of rescued people on his back.

A scene worthy of science fiction..., but no, this actually happened, and it's a video from years ago that has suddenly gained a lot of popularity in recent months. There are many videos of this kind in these hero fan forums. They really have evidence of everything they do, which makes me wonder: Don't heroes worry about that? Are they not afraid that their personal life will be leaked or that a shameful moment of their life will be captured, which everyone would want to erase from their memory after seeing it?

I suppose as long as the money was enough, they would choose to sell themselves in that way, or maybe they just like the fame, they like having all those strangers constantly looking over their shoulder. Personally, I would be afraid of that.

Yellow journalism and the mainstream press seem like flies; no matter how much you swat them away, they'll come back to bother you in a few seconds.

But this video of the number one hero, All Might, tells me something else, and it's important:

My current age must be the same as Izuku's, at least one year older or one year younger. That's news... Good?

Logically, it's good, it means that the anime and manga I read out of boredom actually served some purpose. Who would've thought? But obviously, there's always something against it: the villain of the piece.

(The legendary butterfly effect).

Should I intervene and manipulate things as I please? Of course not, I would basically ruin my only advantage. So what do I do?

Nothing.

Japan in the future will become the second hell. To begin with, I don't even have a quirk yet; I can't start scheming anything. I'll consider my options..., and then I raised a hand to count; I only raised two fingers.

(First... Leaving Japan?)

Probably the most feasible and sensible of all. The downside: I won't be anywhere near the eligible age to immigrate when the disaster strikes. Therefore, I would have no choice but to do it illegally.

Then there's the second option, probably what the public wants: relying on myself with my own strength when the disaster strikes, playing my own cards.

Although then I think and look at my reflection on the computer screen, my fragile child's face slapped me with the hand of reality.

I laughed mockingly at myself and said with slight amusement mixed with frustration:

-What the hell am I talking about?-

All of that is obviously totally out of my control. I have no idea why I took on the role of puppet master to start playing with those imaginary strings that supposedly I had under control. I slapped myself and closed the laptop, lowering my head with a slight expression of shame and frustration.

Him, in a five-year-old body, planning to deal with a national-level threat? A joke, and a good one. Without knowing his own power, then he couldn't plot any route; there's no basis for anything, in other words.

I let out a big sigh, looked at a baseball on the floor, and held it in my hands. I wanted to lighten those emotions, so I'll play for a while; let it bounce off the wall and come back to my hand, like that until my mind stops worrying.

My child's body affects my thought process; a developing brain is not the deepest-thinking brain, so to speak. But time passes and waits for no one, and I'm not so worried about that. No one can go against time; growth days will come sooner or later.

With a casual throw, I threw the ball with enough force to bounce off the wall..., or so I thought. A strange sensation, right in the palm of my hand, suddenly emerged. After that, the ball didn't even fly a meter before falling as if defying gravity. It connected with the floor and...

*TRAACK!!*

The wooden floor beneath my feet instantly cracked, even continuing a bit until reaching the concrete, which also made some cracks. The ball, upon receiving that kind of weight, when it fell, collapsed on itself; basically, it ended up like a tortilla.

The impact sounded really loud, as if I had thrown an anvil against solid rock.

-What the...!-

But I couldn't complete my generic surprised kid's sentence because mom opened the door with all her weight.

-Sho!!, what happened, are you okay?-

Mom saw that I was alone, looking at the shattered floor at my feet. She was about to open her mouth to ask what happened, but upon seeing the baseball, she instantly understood everything. From one moment to the next, the sadness about the cost of repairing the floor was replaced by genuine joy for her son.

-Son!, you finally awakened your quirk, I'm so proud!-

Mom didn't give me time to do anything and gave me a hug that lifted me into the air... Well, I couldn't refuse or resist; basically, I owe my life to this woman, so I let her do what she wants. And at that moment in the air, I took the opportunity to feel my body, and somehow it was different; I felt that some kind of invisible extremity grew in the center of my body, accompanied by a warm sensation...

After a while, she lowered me from her embrace, still excited, and said:

-We have to go to the hospital to catalog and name your quirk!-

Ah, yes, it's true that by law, every citizen since awakening their quirk must be registered and cataloged.

Mom didn't give me time to regain my composure

and dragged me by the arm.

In a room with white floors, decorated walls with a bunch of informational brochures about the human body, sat a five-year-old boy on a stretcher. Next to him, a woman who shared certain features with her son looked half-dead, but she had a glint in her eyes that indicated she still had time to live.

A woman in a white coat and square glasses sat on a reclining chair next to the boy. She held a document and looked at it with some interest.

-Let's see what your report says... Name: Nosaku Sho Age: Currently five years old and a nursery school student Blood type: O negative Height: 116 centimeters Previous injuries: No Chronic diseases: No -

The doctor spoke a little more after that. Come on, she almost didn't say the exact number of eyelashes I have per eye; that was basically all my information. I think this is the first time they describe me so technically.

Then she looked at me and smiled slightly.

-I'm Doctor Nishiki. I can see that you're very healthy, little Sho. Doctors like to hear that. I'm also glad that you've left your quirk-latent state; it must have been frustrating.-

She didn't believe that herself; I know she has to treat me like that because to her, I'm just a child, but still, it's something... I just played along and nodded affirmatively. She gave another look at my document and then stood up.

-Well, let's start with the tests, how does that sound?-

She smiled and then handed me some kind of steel marble.

-In your case, I think it'll be a pretty quick test...- She then turned to my mother and asked, -Did your husband have any kind of quirk?-

It was an interesting question. I had no idea either. I turned my head to see my mom.

-No, my husband didn't have any quirks.-

That makes sense, considering my situation.

Doctor Nishiki nodded in understanding and then gave another smile toward me.

-Can you activate your quirk on this marble? Just increase its weight a little, not too much. Can you?

Well, I actually can... She handed me the marble, so I held it in the palm of my hand. That "invisible extremity," which in this world is considered as a muscle, moved; it was like some kind of energy or something, like a new type of bloodstream. It felt slightly warm, but it was all in an instant, and the sensation I had, I transferred it to the marble. In fact, it felt as easy as breathing; it was like a natural movement. Then, as if by magic, the steel marble, the size of a grape, gained considerable weight in my hand.

I played with it between my fingers. It just felt unreal. When do I wake up from the coma?

I handed the marble to the doctor. She, upon feeling the weight on her hand, widened her eyes a bit.

-Quite impressive...- She turned around, searched among the boxes on the shelves, and brought down a particular box. It contained a small scale. Then she placed the marble on it - 674 grams..., more than half a kilo.

She sounded slightly surprised. The marble originally weighed about 30 to 35 grams, but Sho's quirk increased that number hundreds of times. She pondered that, then handed the marble back to Sho.

-Can you make it lighter than it was when I gave it to you for the first time?-

I nodded and held the marble between my hand. The marble was covered by that invisible energy I felt. I couldn't see it, but I could feel it was there. I keep hallucinating every time I do this. Then, all I did was remove that energy, and I felt the raw weight in my hand decreasing.

(What madness..., real madness).

As an earthling, experiencing this could only be in a lucid dream.

Then I moved that energy again, but now my intention was the opposite, and as if my body responded to that, the once-turbid stream became cold as a winter breeze. It was almost sudden enough to give me a chill, but the energy moved uninterrupted until it reached the marble again.

And this time the sensation was much crazier than the previous one. Clearly, I could see the marble on my palm, but I couldn't feel its weight. It was like the equivalent weight of a fluff and dust.

(....I hate the realm of higher existences. What kind of violation of the laws of physics is this?)

Without saying a word, I handed the marble back to the doctor. She, upon holding it, was more astonished than me. She tried to feel the weight using her hand as a balance, but from her expression, it doesn't seem like she managed to tell the difference.

Then she looked back and forth between my mom and me, then tossed the marble to my hands with a slight tired smile.

-This is not any new quirk; it is, in fact, yours, Mrs. Nosaku, only that your son's is much stronger, exceeding the parameters you established when you first came to catalog your quirk...-

I watched in silence as the whole panorama unfolded. Indeed, yes, I have an extremely versatile quirk. It's useful as far as the word goes. I already have many methods in mind to use it, but my ears dropped on the conversation between mother and the doctor.

-The quirk is already cataloged in the system, Mrs. Nosaku. No further tests are needed in this case. I'll just put the same description in your son's record, and we'll save some time.

My mother nodded happily. The visit ended almost as soon as they arrived. Usually, this type of visit lasts much longer, to calculate the limits of each "new" quirk that presents itself.

-Then we'll leave immediately so as not to take up any more of your time, doctor. Thank you for attending to my son.-

Then my mother made a slight bow, and I had to do the same by her side. If there's anything I haven't quite gotten used to living here, it's the customs and manners of the Japanese, not to mention the language.

After that, we both left the hospital. My mother had a strange sense of achievement; it was unfounded, but for some reason, the feeling was there.

And so ended another day.