Chapter 68 - When Eyes Meet

The boy flipped his head to the side and repeated his actions for a while before finally having enough willpower to stand up and ruffle his hair. He fixed his bed and arranges his pillows neatly.

Then, the boy grabbed his phone from the nearby desk and a white towel hanging on a rack.

With a click, the door opened and he walked through an empty house with its only resident being him.

'Sigh, an orphan in my previous life, and still an orphan in this life. At least I'm not a greedy psychiatrist exploiting children anymore.' The boy chuckled in his self-deprecating thoughts while opening another door downstairs.

He entered his bathroom and swiftly took off his clothes, throwing them to the side and into a basket filled with clothes. Strangely enough, most of them are black in color; black pants, black shirts, black socks, and even black underwear.

Fwish.

He turned on the shower as cold water rained down on him, reinvigorating his exhausted mind and damaged soul. He waved his arms around and watched as water dripped down his skin, and he muttered with a mystical voice, "Null."

He squinted his eyes, staring at the unmoving droplet of water in midair. It was colorless and dark, like a droplet-shaped void that removed all light upon contact.

"Pretty nifty…" He mumbled under his breath and activated his Quirk once more, returning the water droplet to normal and allowing it to fall down to the bathroom floor.

After a while, he grabbed his towel and wiped his hair and body dry. His long black hair covered the majority of his face, annoying him for a bit with the inconvenience it brought.

"Null?" He muttered in a perplexed tone and widened his eyes in delight upon seeing his hair go from wet to dry and fluffy, a state that he considered his optimal hair condition.

"Pretty nifty!" He repeated once more and chuckled. "Now I can be more lazy than usual. I don't have to erase time again with Void so my hair can instantly dry!"

Exhilarated by this newfound discovery, the boy hummed a poppy tune and walked out of the bathroom door with a subtle smile on his cute face.

He was a pretty short guy no taller than 5'6, and his frame was a bit slim, unlike the absurd physical strength he could display. His hair was long and fluffy and swooped over his rainbow-colored eyes. His skin was pale white as if it hadn't seen the sun in months.

He entered his bedroom once again and opened his wardrobe, showing his unique sense of fashion.

Black shirt, black pants, and black socks.

If not for his rainbow-colored eyes, he would have been entirely black and white in terms of color and design.

He then grabbed a black umbrella, his black leather wallet, a black face mask, and a pair of shades.

'Should I also wear a cap?' He contemplated and shook his head. 'Nah, that would be too much. This should be enough for a one-day outing.'

With all his preparations done, the boy walked out of his house and opened his umbrella with a loud whoosh, blocking the sun's harmful UV rays from affecting his already ghostly white skin that desperately needed some sunlight.

He took out his phone from his pocket and walked down the road with an indifferent gaze.

People all around him looked at him with weird gazes.

Why wouldn't they?

Have you ever seen a weirdo like this guy? It's okay if he wore all-black, but the shades and face mask only served to give a worse first impression.

"Where the fuck is this guy?" The boy muttered and stared at the time.

9:45 a.m.

He looked around the crowded park with an annoyed gaze. He opened his phone again and swiftly messaged a person named Ethan Cress.

'Oi, where are you?! I've been waiting here for 5 minutes already!'

As he sent the message, he suddenly heard a ding from behind, and he looked behind him to see a teenager with a terrifyingly tall frame (compared to his), with sparkling blue eyes that caused the light to refract in a colorful rainbow. His tight white shirt showed his athletic frame, with his bulging chest and solid abs.

Strangely enough, he also had snow-white hair reminiscent of a certain psychic hero that complemented well with his simple white shirt and beige pants.

"Chill dude, it's only 5 minutes," Ethan said with a smile and stared at the boy with a sigh. "Also, you look like a weirdo with your outfit."

"Well, at least I ain't no slut who showcases their boobs every single day." The boy remarked with a glare and pointed at Ethan angrily.

"Okay, fine, I'm sorry." Ethan relented. "I'm sorry to the almighty Eric Dream."

"Hmph, that's right," Eric remarked with a grin and closed his umbrella. With a wave of his hand, it then disappeared into nowhere.

"Woah there, buddy." Ethan raised his eyebrows. "Last time I checked, when you stuff one of your pens into your dream, everyone fell asleep in class."

"Dude, that happened months ago." Eric groaned. "Just trust me."

"Sure, sure." Ethan shrugged his shoulders. "It's just that if an accident does happen, I won't be an accomplice in any way shape, or form."

Eric rolled his eyes and followed along.

On the last day of summer, these two childhood friends who have been with each other since the age of 4-5 decided to go out on a fun stroll on a sunny Sunday morning.

One was Ethan Cress, a man that was recognized nearly instantly by the people around him who were into hero news. He was the son of Albion Cress and Christine Cress, and they were known respectively as the pro-hero Psy and the pro-hero White Star.

Both were famous and powerful heroes and are considered in the top 100 heroes of America. They hold a great deal of influence on the entire country with their strength alone.

Eric, on the other hand, was a nameless nobody that wore strange garments and accessories that caused him to look like a kidnapper or someone who's gonna do something malicious at any given moment.

If he wore a cap, this would have been a lot worse already and a nearby hero might have inspected him already with how suspicious he looked.

Heroes were practically just like cops, wandering around the streets in their flamboyant costumes like cosplayers. If this was to be seen by the populace over a hundred years ago, they would have thought that those heroes were weirdos who lacked shame and self-awareness.

But, this is reality, and everyone was already accustomed to it.

In a way, Quirks have done more than just give humans godlike abilities, it also warped their development and notion of what is normal and what is not.

'Damn, fifteen years, and those guys still look strange.' Eric silently shook his head and walked beside Ethan. 'But, they're less strange compared to those other timelines like the one that has cats as the dominant population and are the ones who have Quirks, or those highly advanced dinosaurs who persisted for millions of years and almost caused the extinction of humanity by relying on their sci-fi tech.'

'Maybe that's why some of the dreams I've been in before were that weird. Maybe they weren't just dreams and were actually different timelines and I just didn't know it yet.' He shook his head as he remembered all the strange dreams he encountered before he became a dream-hopping world savior.

'But damn, even though I was reincarnated, I was still a side character! If not for my unique ability to travel to other timelines through the Astral Realm and not be an Anomaly because of some unknown reason, I would have been killed already by Astral Court already!'

He shuddered and sighed. 'I don't even know why the Divergence Factor of any timeline doesn't increase when I enter them with my Quirk, but now I'm a part of Astral Court and save timeline after timeline to uphold the stability of the entire universe.'

'That sounds a lot more glorious than being fated to be this world's number one hero with a Quirk like One for All.'

They soon arrived inside a mall and wandered around with no real plans other than to have fun.

Eric was already tired from his special work, so this day was something he savored quite a lot even though he's a bit of a shut-in.

They ate food and drank drinks. They took pictures and walked through the giant mall like spring flower youths.

Summer. Oh how beautiful it was. It was a time with no classes and a time that was blazing hot.

In the year 2165, the entire world's school curriculum has already changed a lot. It followed a quarterly system and divided the school into four quarters, with two and a half months each to form ten months per grade.

There are usually breaks in summer and in winter, splitting the school into two halves.

Because of this, they would have to resume school staring tomorrow until the end of the school year, and then school starts again and takes a break for the winter.

Of course, it had its flaws, but the large amount of breaks in between the ten months of suffering was something that students greatly appreciated.

Eric and Ethan each held a metallic gun and aimed at the screen in front of them. Zombies walked endlessly as they covered the entirety of the skin, with their health bar going lower and lower the more zombies managed to break past their defenses and reach them.

"Fuck fuck fuck!" Ethan cursed and was desperately shooting one bullet after another, but eventually, his bullets ran out and he was killed by the swarm of zombies.

With his partner now dead, Eric was helplessly killed by the swarm of undead.

"Argh!" Eric clicked his tongue and placed the gun back in its place with a loud thud. He ruffled his hair and cracked his fingers audibly.

Just as the two were getting over their defeat, Eric and Ethan simultaneously grabbed their stomach and heard a low growl.

"Ah…" Eric widened his eyes and looked at his phone to see the time. "It's already 1:15?!"

"Damn, we played this game for an hour straight," Ethan mumbled in regret. "We could have done a lot of other stuff instead of raging over and over again."

"I told you that we shouldn't have played this game." Eric sighed and looked outside the arcade. "We should grab lunch already."

"Where do you wanna eat then?" Ethan asked as they walked out of the arcade and wandered through the mall.

"Maybe…" Eric scratched his chin. "Maybe some Wac Donalds?"

"Hmm, it's a bit unhealthy though…" Ethan squinted his eyes and contemplated.

"Fuck it, I already ate a lot of junk food already, eating some Wac Donalds won't change a thing." Ethan shook his head and the two decided to eat at a fast food chain.

As soon as they arrived there, they were met with a surprisingly short line of people and heaved a sigh of relief.

"I guess there is a perk to being a bit late." Eric grabbed his growling stomach when he suddenly widened his eyes. From deep within his soul, the dazzling star of his Quirk—Dragon of Dreams, pulsated for a moment before it then disappeared.

He looked around, confused and bewildered by this sensation, when he heard a series of footsteps from behind.

"Huh, I expected a lot more obesity when I arrived here, but it seems like the rumors were true after all."

"K-Kacchan, that's rude!"

"Ha! That's true though."

"Ugh, you two are insufferable."

"Well, according to statistics, the overall rate of obesity did lower this past few years in America."

"Wowzers, really? It must have been because of the government, right? With all their helpful posts and campaigns that were created in the past 5 years! Heh, the creative and genius mind behind such actions must truly be a selfless saint!"

A group of five walked into the store.

One was a tall young man with a wide frame, dark blue hair, and wearing a pair of glasses.

Another was a young girl with black hair and a slim frame. She had the air of a young mistress that commanded respect from others.

The source of the rude remark seemed to come from the boy with spiky yellow hair wearing a tank top and baggy black pants.

There was also another boy with fluffy green hair. He appeared worried and sorry for the others in the room.

Lastly, there was a young man with tanned skin, short black hair spiking up to the sky, and a pair of piercing golden eyes. He was tall and muscular, with a physique even more impressive than Ethan's.

As Eric's eyes met with the unknown man, it was as if the entire world came to a pause as a strange feeling emerged from deep within his soul.

One of uncertain familiarity, yet unfamiliarity.

AN: This chapter has 2202 words.

HMMMMMM??? Uh oh, things sure are getting interesting.

Sadly, this might get butchered soon and you guys won't see the interesting shit that would have happened in this arc.

(June 29, 2023 - 581st day of writing)