Chapter 03: The Hybrid
The pediatric ophthalmologist's office felt entirely different this time. Four years ago, this room, with its cheerful cartoon animals, had been a cold, sterile chamber where a verdict was passed. Today, Haru and Aoi sat in the same waiting chairs, but the air was thick with a new, terrifying static: hope.
Aoi's hands were clasped so tightly her knuckles were white. Haru had his hand on her shoulder, rubbing it gently. When she looked up at him, his sharp, dark eyes were smiling. It was a nervous smile, but it was genuine. "It's okay, Aoi," he murmured. "Whatever he says, Kaito is... Kaito."
She nodded, trying to return the smile, just as the inner office door opened.
Dr. Himura stood in the doorway, his white coat immaculate, but his hair was slightly disheveled. He was staring at the clipboard in his hand as if it had insulted him.
"Mr. and Mrs. Kurosawa," he said, his voice strained. "I am... utterly baffled. Please, come in. The tests are finished."
They hurried in. Kaito was sitting in the center of the room, the same colorful, sticky sensors attached to his scalp, wires fanning out to the monitor. The faint, violet glimmer in his dark eyes, which had not faded since that first night, was pulsing softly. He was not crying. He was calmly stacking a set of wooden blocks.
"Look at this," Dr. Himura said, pointing to the main monitor. Where Haru remembered seeing a flat, dead line, there was now a chaotic, beautiful explosion of activity. "Four years ago, there was no response. Nothing. Now... his brain is processing spatial information. It is not light, not in the way we understand it. But he is seeing."
Haru watched his son. Kaito reached out, his hand unerringly closing around a specific red block from the pile, bypassing the green and blue ones, and placed it on his tower.
"As I understand it," the doctor continued, "you call these 'Quirks' now. Your son's eyes are still physically blind. But his Quirk has created a bypass. It's... it's like a thermal sensor, but infinitely more advanced. He's not just seeing heat; he's seeing... energy. He sees living things, yes, but also the residual energy in inanimate objects."
Aoi's hand flew to her mouth. "So... he can...?"
"He can see," Dr. Himura confirmed. "I have no idea what he sees. Perhaps the world looks like purple shadows to him. But he is processing it. He is not 100% blind."
The word "miracle" caught in Aoi's throat, but the feeling was overwhelming. Her knees buckled. It was not a faint; it was the sudden release of four years of compressed grief and fear. She crumpled to the floor, her sobs finally breaking free. "This is... so reassuring," she wept.
Haru was instantly on the floor beside her, pulling her into an embrace, his own eyes wet. "He can see, Aoi. He can see."
"A truly remarkable development," Dr. Himura said, giving them a moment. He then cleared his throat. "Which brings me to my next question. In the interest of genetics... what are your Quirks?"
Haru stood, helping Aoi to her feet. "Mine is simple." He focused his gaze on the doctor's breast pocket. A silver pen suddenly leaped out and zipped across the small room, landing perfectly in Haru's outstretched hand. "Attraction."
Aoi wiped her eyes. "I... I don't have one."
"Ah," the doctor said, rubbing his chin. "A recessive gene, then. Perhaps from a grandparent..."
They were interrupted by a new sound. Kaito, having finished his block tower, was laughing. It was a high, bubbling sound, and as he laughed, the toys around him began to rattle.
Then, Kaito's body... lifted.
The wires on his head went taut as he rose smoothly from the floor, his legs dangling.
"HAAAAH?!" Haru and Aoi yelled in perfect, terrified unison.
"What now?!" Dr. Himura shouted, stumbling back against his computer.
Kaito just kept giggling, drifting upward like a balloon until his black, spiky hair gently brushed the acoustic tiles of the ceiling.
"Kaito! Get down from there!" Aoi shrieked, her maternal instincts overriding her shock.
Haru, his mind racing, saw the emergency blanket folded on the exam table. "Aoi, quick! Grab the other end!"
They snatched the thin foil blanket and stretched it between them, scrambling under their floating son, who was now calmly patting the ceiling.
"This is impossible!" Dr. Himura was yelling at his screen. "This... this is a completely different energy signature! This power... it was not present on the scan 60 seconds ago!" He whirled on the frantic parents. "When exactly did the violet glow in his eyes appear?"
"T-today!" Haru called up, shuffling to the left as Kaito drifted. "Less than an hour ago! During dinner!"
Dr. Himura stared. Then, he started to laugh. It was a low, amazed, slightly hysterical chuckle. "It has been years since I've seen a case like this. Mr. and Mrs. Kurosawa... your son didn't awaken one Quirk today. He awakened two. He is a hybrid."
"A hybrid?" Aoi panted, her arms already aching.
"Yes! The only other recent case I've heard of is... well, I'm sure you know the name. Todoroki Enji."
"The Number Two Hero?" Haru gasped. "Endeavor?"
"Precisely," the doctor beamed.
Just then, Kaito, hovering near the bright ceiling light, let out a massive, drifting yawn. The violet glow in his eyes flickered, sputtered, and died. His body went completely limp.
And he fell.
He landed with a soft whoomp in the center of the blanket, fast asleep.
Aoi and Haru lowered him to the ground, their hearts hammering. Aoi immediately scooped him up, her cheek pressed against his hair. "That was... crazy."
"This second Quirk," Dr. Himura said, adjusting his coat, "is clearly tied to his consciousness. It will be... troublesome... until he learns control. He will need your full attention. Please, give him the necessary care, so no harm comes to him."
Aoi looked at her son's peaceful face, now just a normal, sleeping boy. Haru placed a hand on his head.
"Of course," Haru said, his voice firm. "We will. He's our Kaito, after all."
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Plz help the story with your power stones.
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