Two years later…

(A/N: It seems like you guys weren't up to the challenge on Sunday. But fortunately for you, I'm very magnanimous and decided to grant you with another chapter for reaching 100 power stones.

Enjoy.)

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-Ta!-

-Ta, ta, ta!-

-Ta, ta!!-

"Take this old man! Super deadly punch!"

"Haven't I already told you like a hundred times that you shouldn't scream out loud your next move, brat?!"

-Bam!!-

"H-huh...?"

"Yes you have, but that was just part of my plan!"

"Uh... Urgh... Impossible... It was actually a kick..."

"Hahaha, take that you old man! You can't comprehend my prodigious mind anymore!"

"Argh, shut it brat!"

-Bam!!-

"... Just because you hit me once doesn't mean anything! You are still too green to be proud of yourself!"

"You damn old man... Uuuurgh..."

"Hmph, that's what you get for your arrogance. Alright, enough for now. Let's end the spar here"

"... You could have ended the spar before you hit me..."

"It's necessary to discipline you brat. You are growing too overbearing"

"Fuck you..."

"Hmph, that tongue of yours keeps getting sharper and sharper each day, doesn't it? I wonder if I should tell your parents how you speak to your elders"

"A-and I wonder if I should tell them how much you beat me up every day... I bet none of this is legal..."

"Ahem... Don't mind the small details... Now, stop complaining and get on your feet already. I need to tell you something, and I don't like it when my students are not looking into my eyes..."

"-Hup-... Urgh... Give me a second..."

"Tsk"

Doing my best to stand up despite the pain that was enveloping my whole body, I coughed a little bit to let the stuck air escape from my throat, before I started breathing heavily and closed my eyes in exhaustion.

My throat was dry and it burned slightly to breathe. However, I really didn't mind that feeling, as I had long grown accustomed to it during the time that I had been training with the old man.

-Huff... Puff...-

Two years had passed since I became the student of this brutal old man. Now, I was already eight years old, and my body had matured a little bit.

I had grown a little bit taller, maybe around ten centimeters taller than when I was six years old... but that was it. 

There wasn't that much of a change between being six years old and eight years old.

At most, the biggest change that happened was that I had muscles all over my body because of all the training that I did during these 2 years. Unfortunately, though, unless I flexed my body, they were not visible to the naked eye.

Probably because of my still youthful body.

I guess I would have to wait until puberty hit me if I wanted to have a six-pack. Though, I can't say that I was looking forward to going through puberty again.

After all, my teens were the darkest times in my life. I didn't want to go through that phase again.

But what would I do? This was the price of reincarnation... The price of the life I was given...

I could only hope that my experienced and very mature adult mind would let me pass through puberty without much problem.

-Cough, cough-

Leaving the matter of puberty aside, during these two years, nothing much had changed in my daily life aside from maybe the intensity of my training here with old man Tatsuo.

I continued being friends with Arata at school, and my grades didn't get any worse as I was still in elementary and my intellect was still able to handle the classes there. However, I can't say that that will be the case when I get into junior high school...

My memory of the contents that I saw in school during my previous life was minimal, after all.

There was a tiny thing though... And that was that, for some reason, most of the kids in my class started following me around every recess after the incident with the three bullies, calling me their boss or something.

Most of the kids outside my class also started glancing at me with odd glances every time I went outside the classroom to eat something. As if they were seeing some kind of imposing being whenever I passed right next to them. Often muttering things behind my back with fearful eyes.

I didn't understand what all that was about... But since they were kids, I just went with the flow.

After all, I was more concerned about my training rather than about their perceptions of me.

There was no need to bother with kids and their antics! 

And besides, surely it wasn't anything bad, right? I'm sure they were just playing around or something.

"Ahem!"

"...!"

Suddenly, as I was immersed in my own thoughts about how these past two years had been, I heard the old man let out a fake cough as if hurrying me up and I let out a tired sigh at his antics.

'He doesn't even let me catch a breath...'

-Pat, pat-

Then, after patting my clothes, which were covered in dust and dirt due to the spar from just now, I cleared my throat and corrected my posture. Looking straight into the eyes of the old man as I did so.

Seeing that I had recovered somewhat, the old man sneered, before he then asked me with a raised eyebrow: "Are you done?", as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Huff... Yes, what is it?"

"Well, today you have proven yourself by being able to hit me... Even if by using a cheap trick..."

Shooting me a displeased glare, the old man continued.

"... However, normally, even cheap tricks don't work against the great me. So I have to give you that... What I wanted to tell you is that, now that you have proven to have at least enough skill in using my martial style so that you can hit me, I consider that you have reached the limit on what I can teach you"

"...What?"

Smiling slightly at my confused expression, the old man pointed at my body and spoke as his eyes turned serious all of a sudden.

"What you have learned until now was only the foundation of the fighting style that I created... The next part of your training will depend solely on you"

"... I... don't think I understand"

Scratching the back of my head while I frowned slightly, I glanced at the old man with a confused gaze, as he scratched his beard with a nonchalant expression on his face.

"Hmm... Well, I think I know why... Let me show you why I can't teach you any further"

Saying that, the old man suddenly took a fighting pose, to which I took a fighting stance as well in reflex expecting him to dash at me at any moment.

However, before I was even able to react, suddenly I saw his figure disappear from his previous spot and reappear right in front of me, with his fist sightly touching my nose.

"What...?!"

Perplexed, I jolted in surprise at a movement that I had never seen before and fell on my buttocks. 

-Thud!-

After that, I stood up and began rubbing my nose in confusion while I glanced at the amused smirk of the old man glancing at me with annoyance.

"HAHAHAHA, what's wrong kiddo? Surprised?"

"What the heck was that?"

Looking at him with a perplexed expression as the old man rubbed under his nose in arrogance, I soon shot him an inquisitive glance. Making him look at me with a grin.

"What you saw just now was the next step of my fighting style... Adding one's quirk, or talent, into the fighting style, and developing it into a path that suits you"

"...?"

Seeing me look at him confused, the old man sneered for a moment, before he then turned to look to the side.

Then, out of nowhere, he disappeared from his spot and reappeared a few meters in front of him.

"Just like most people nowadays, I was also born with a Quirk. Mine is called "Blink" and it allows me to teleport a short distance in front of me. Not to the sides, not behind me, not above me... Just to the front. And even doing that, still requires me to consider a lot of factors at the same time before doing it. Like the distance, the position of my body, or any obstacles in my way"

Scratching his beard with a troubled expression, the old man then pointed at his fist, as he began explaining.

"My fighting style used to be the same as yours. A fighting style that relied solely on the body to deal with your opponents. However, in a world like this, it is foolish to not use everything that you are born with to its maximum. So, I developed my fighting style to suit my Quirk and use it to its maximum potential... Which is also what you will do"

"You mean to say that I have to adapt my fighting style... to my Glasses Quirk...?"

Raising an eyebrow as I touched my glasses with a bewildered look in my eyes, soon, the old man shrugged his shoulders, as he continued.

"Who knows? It depends on you... You can develop your fighting style to suit those glasses of yours, or you can develop it around that abnormal body of yours. The path you take from here is only something you can do, and at most, I can only offer you some advice from time to time, or help you practice it and master it"

Raising both of my eyebrows in surprise at his words, I glanced down at my body and began thinking.

'Well, having a body two times better than a normal person's does give me a little bit of room for development... But I can't say that I'm exactly someone fit for developing a fighting style... The closest thing to making a plan that I have ever done in my entire life was when I thought about how to beat the enemy jungler in farm inside that game… and it didn't even wor—Hmm? Hold up'

Suddenly recalling something as I was still immersed in my thoughts, I glanced at the old man, who was calmly watching me think, and asked him what was in my mind.

"... Just out of curiosity... I can still spar with you and all that, right?"

Hearing me, old man Tatsuo raised an eyebrow for a moment before he then smiled and pointed at our surroundings, where everything we had used to train these two years laid ready for me to use.

"Sure, you can come and train the same way you have been doing until now. However, that will depend on you. If you find another type of training that fits you better, you can do that instead. I will not stop you"

"Huh..."

Looking at me with a strange look in his eyes, the old man suddenly shook his head, before he then made a "shoo" gesture with his hand and spoke at me with a tired tone of voice.

"Alright alright, enough for today little prick. You can leave. I have other matters to attend to"

"Tsk. What would an old man like you have to do? Meet another old man to play chess?"

Muttering that with a dissatisfied expression in my eyes, I went to pick up my things, before I then started to walk away. Not minding the pissed-off expression that the old man Tatsuo was shooting me as I left.

After a few minutes, I entered once again the urban area of the city and began walking in the direction of my home. Hoping to lay in bed for the rest of the day to take a nap.

However, as laziness was filling my body when I thought about taking a nap, suddenly I recalled what the old man had told me earlier, and frowned slightly as I looked at my hands.

'So now I have to train on my own...? Damn, let's just hope I won't lose the habit of training because of this...'

Caressing my forehead with a troubled expression, soon, I glanced at the sky and let out a melancholic sigh as I began considering taking a tragic yet necessary measure for the dark times to come.

'I guess I will have to store the Quirkstation away for the time being… Otherwise, who knows how much time I will waste procrastinating on it?'

-Sigh...-

As I made up my mind, the wind caressed my face, making my hair sway gently as the sunset illuminated my face.

'This is truly not a gamer moment... The fuck am I saying...?'

Cursing in my mind as I realized how dramatic I was being, I shook my head to shrug off my stupid thoughts and continued walking.

'Maybe the hit from the old man earlier messed up my head without me noticing...'

Thinking that, I stopped minding the words that the old man had said and just walked back home without any worry.

'The problems of the future are for the Future Suzaku to deal with them. For now, the present Suzaku is gonna take his nap as soon as he arrives home, and he is going to enjoy it!'

...

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|Somewhere, in a nearby building...|

...

"Alright, I see a kid... Red hair, and some big weird glasses on his eyes, right? Alright, that's our objective this time... Make sure to register every detail about his everyday life. That way we can "borrow" him in the most silent way possible during the next few days before handing him to our contractor"

"Be more discrete than last time though. We almost got toasted up by Endeavor at that time because you were too obvious... There isn't any great hero like him in this city, but it's better to make sure anyway"

"Yeah, yeah. No need to remember me of that day… Though, I wonder what our contractor wants with a kid like him? Is he some kind of rich kid or something?"

"Who cares, as long as we are getting our money, it doesn't matter"

"Right"

"We will begin moving from 2 days from now on... Be sure to be prepared to act when we get our chance..."

""Yes boss!!""

...

-To be Continued-

(A/N: Let us all pray)

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