Internet Café – 4:07 PM
The place was exactly as Kaito remembered.
Dim lighting. Private booths with curtains. The smell of instant ramen and energy drinks.
I found Yuki in booth seven.
She was short. Maybe 5'2". Purple hair cut in a messy bob. Glasses. A laptop covered in stickers—heroes, memes, random code snippets.
She looked up, her eyes widened.
"Holy moly, Kaito. You look…"
"Different?"
"Alive." She gestured to the seat. "Sit and start talking. What happened? You ghosted everyone."
I sat. "Parents left. Had to work. Didn't have time for—"
"For friends?" Her expression softened. "I get it. Survival mode. But you could've messaged."
"I know. I'm sorry."
She waved it off. "Water under the bridge. Sooo, you said you need a favor?"
I glanced around and made sure no one was listening.
"I need medical records. Mine. From Musutafu General."
Her eyebrows shot up. "That's… highly illegal."
"I know."
"They're encrypted and backed up on secure servers. Protected by multiple firewalls."
"I know."
She leaned back and started to study me.
"Why?"
"I need to understand what happened to me. My Quirk. The erasure. Everything."
"You think they're hiding something?"
How would I know I just spawned in this world.
"I just want the truth," I said.
Yuki tapped her fingers on the table, thinking.
"This could get me in serious trouble."
"I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."
Another long pause, then she sighed.
"Fine. But you owe me. Big time."
Relief washed over me. "Thank you."
She opened her laptop, her fingers flying across the keyboard.
"Give me your patient ID number."
I pulled out Kaito's hospital bracelet from my pocket. Read the number.
She typed and waited. Typed more.
Five minutes passed.
Then ten.
Her expression shifted. First confusion and then concern.
"That's weird," she muttered.
"What?"
"Your file. It's… incomplete."
"What do you mean?"
She turned the screen toward me.
Patient: Yamamoto Kaito
Age: 15
Quirk Status: Erased – Quirk Erasure Syndrome
Diagnosis Date: [REDACTED]
Attending Physician: [REDACTED]
Treatment History: [ACCESS DENIED]
Notes: [FILE CORRUPTED]
I stared.
"Someone scrubbed your records," Yuki said. "It was done professionally. This isn't accidental corruption. This is deliberate deletion."
My blood ran cold.
"Can you recover it?"
She bit her lip. "Maybe. But it'll take time. And if whoever did this is monitoring—"
"Do it anyway."
She looked at me. Really looked at me.
"Kaito. Just what in the world did you get yourself into?"
I don't know. I have no idea.
But I was starting to think Kaito's death wasn't an accident.
And whatever happened to his Quirk—
Someone didn't want anyone to know.
"Just get me the files," I said. "Please."
She nodded slowly. "Give me three days. I'll dig deeper. Carefully."
"Thank you."
I stood to leave.
"Kaito?"
I turned.
"Be careful," she said. "If someone went through this much trouble to hide something… they won't want you digging it up."
I nodded.
To fuck with them. I'll kill them all if they come before me.
I then walked out of the café.
Into the fading afternoon light.
Three days.
In three days, I'd have answers.
Or more questions.
Either way—
I was getting closer to the truth.
In the meantime, I trained with Masaru every evening after school.
We made progress. Slow progress, but progress.
Day One – The Training Ground
"Catch."
Masaru tossed a baseball at me.
I caught it.
Too hard.
The ball exploded in my hand. Leather and cork scattered across the concrete.
"Again," he said.
He tossed another.
I concentrated.
Gentle. Light touch. Feather grip.
The ball smacked into my palm.
I held it for three seconds.
Then my fingers twitched.
The ball compressed into a dense sphere the size of a marble.
Masaru sighed. "Better than yesterday."
"Barely."
"Progress is progress." He pulled out another ball. "Again."
We went through two dozen baseballs that afternoon.
By the end, I could hold one for almost thirty seconds before my control slipped.
Not great. But much better.
Day Two – The Training Ground
Masaru brought weights.
Small ones. One kilogram each.
"Lift it. Slowly."
I picked up the weight.
Easy. Too easy.
I could feel the power wanting to surge, to crush and to destroy.
I held it steady.
"Now walk," Masaru said. "Ten meters. Don't drop it. Don't crush it."
I took a step.
The weight crumpled slightly.
Damn. My fingers are dancing.
"Focus," Masaru called. "Breathing. Remember?"
I breathed.
In and out.
Took another step.
The weight held.
Another step and it was still intact.
By the fifth step, sweat dripped down my face.
Not from exertion but from concentration.
Every muscle, every nerve and every fiber of my being had to stay focused.
One slip and—
The weight flattened like a pancake.
I'd made it seven meters.
"Not bad," Masaru said. "Tomorrow we'll try ten kilograms."
I stared at him. "You're insane. That's a high jump."
He grinned. "You're the one with the world-breaking Quirk. I'm just the trainer."
Day Three – Morning
My phone buzzed during homeroom.
Yuki: "Got something. Not everything. But enough to raise questions. Meet me after school. Same place."
My heart raced.
Answers. Finally.
The rest of the school day crawled by.
When the final bell rang, I practically ran to the internet café.
Internet Café – 4:15 PM
Yuki looked tired.
Dark circles under her eyes and three empty energy drink cans on the table.
"You look like you met the god of hell," I said, sitting down.
"I sure did." She turned her laptop toward me. "This took forever. Whoever scrubbed your files knew what they were doing. Military-grade encryption. Multiple layers and I had to—"
"What did you find?"
She pulled up a document. Partially corrupted and text fragmented.
Patient: Yamamoto Kaito
Quirk Factor Analysis – Age 13
Initial Diagnosis: Minor Strength Enhancement
Quirk Factor Stability: 87%
Prognosis: Normal development expected
Then a gap. Corrupted data. And below—
Follow-up Examination – Age 13.5
Quirk Factor Stability: 34%
Rapid deterioration detected
Cause: [REDACTED]
Treatment: [ACCESS DENIED]
Attending Physician: Dr. [CORRUPTED] – Specialty: Experimental Quirk Medicine
Notes: Patient enrolled in [REDACTED] program. Parental consent obtained. Side effects include [FILE CORRUPTED]
I stared.
"Experimental program?" I said slowly.
Yuki nodded. "That's what caught my attention. Your Quirk didn't just disappear naturally. Something—or someone—caused it."
"My parents consented to this?"
"Apparently." She scrolled down. "There's more. Look."
Another fragment.
Final Report – Age 14
Quirk Factor: Undetectable
Program Status: [REDACTED]
Patient Outcome: Negative
Recommendation: Cease monitoring and file for archival.
Additional Note: Family compensation processed. NDA signed.
I read it twice. Then three times.
Family compensation.
NDA.
"They were paid," I whispered. "My parents were paid to let doctors experiment on me."
Yuki's expression was grim. "And when it failed, they took the money and ran."
My hands clenched and the table cracked.
Just slightly.
Yuki's eyes widened. "Kaito—"
I released my grip and forced myself to breathe.
"Sorry."
"It's okay." She closed the laptop carefully. "I tried to find more. The name of the program. The doctor. The organization behind it. But everything's gone. Wiped clean."
"Can you keep digging?"
"I can try. But Kaito…" She hesitated. "Whoever did this has serious resources. Government-level, maybe. If they find out I'm poking around—"
"Stop."
She blinked.
"I don't want you in danger," I said. "You've done enough."
"But—"
"Seriously. Thank you. But stop."
She studied me for a long moment. Then nodded slowly.
"Okay. But if you need anything else—"
"I'll let you know."
We sat in silence.
Somewhere, hidden in shadows, someone had experimented on a kid.
Destroyed his Quirk.
Paid off his parents.
And erased the evidence.
Was this guy associated with Nomu experiments? I don't think so. He would've directly died otherwise.
It is some other criminal gang. But who?
UA High School – Administration Office – Two Days Later
The building was massive.
Gleaming white walls. The UA logo prominent on every surface. Students in hero costumes walked past, laughing, training.
This was the pinnacle. The dream.
And I was about to register for the entrance exam under false pretenses.
It looks so cool in person.
I walked to the administration desk.
A tired-looking woman with cat ears glanced up. "Can I help you?"
"I'd like to register for the entrance exam."
She handed me a tablet. "Fill this out. Name, age, school, Quirk registration number."
I took it.
Started filling it in.
Name: Yamamoto Kaito
Age: 15
School: Eisei Junior High
Quirk Registration Number: I paused.
Kaito didn't have one. Not anymore.
"Problem?" the woman asked.
"I… lost my Quirk temporarily. It came back recently. I don't have an updated registration."
She frowned. "You'll need to register with the Quirk Registry Office first. Can't apply to UA without it."
"Where's that?"
"City Hall. Third floor. They close at 5 PM."
I checked the time. 3:42 PM.
"Thanks."
I left. Fast.
Quirk Registry Office – 4:23 PM
The office was sterile. White walls with fluorescent lights. A bored clerk behind plexiglass.
"Name?"
"Yamamoto Kaito."
She typed. Frowned. "Your file says your Quirk was erased. Permanently."
"It came back."
"That's not possible."
She paused then sighed before pulling out a form. "Fine. I need a demonstration and a detailed description."
Demonstration. Great.
She led me to a testing room. Concrete walls. Reinforced. Cameras in every corner.
"Show me what you can do," she said.
I looked around. Spotted a punching bag in the corner. Reinforced steel core. Designed to measure impact force.
I walked over.
Only a little bit of my power.
I pulled back my fist.
A fraction. A sliver. Come out.
I punched.
The bag flew backward.
Slammed into the wall and cracked the concrete.
The machine beeped. Displayed a number.
Impact Force: 847 kg
The clerk's eyes widened. "That's… impressive. For your age."
I'd held back.
Way back.
"What's your Quirk's name?" she asked, typing notes.
I hesitated. This was it.
The name that would define me.
Think of something underwhelming, forgettable and common.
"Kinetic Boost," I said.
She looked up. "Description?"
"I can stockpile small amounts of kinetic energy. Release it in short bursts. Increases strength and speed temporarily."
She typed. "Limitations?"
"Can only store a limited amount. Using too much causes strain. Recovery time needed between bursts."
All lies. But believable lies.
"Classification?"
"Emitter. Maybe Mutation. Unclear."
She finished typing. Printed a card.
Quirk Registration
Name: Yamamoto Kaito
Quirk: Kinetic Boost
Class: Emitter
Registration Number: KB-77432
She handed it to me. "You're officially registered. You can apply to hero schools now."
I took the card and stared at it.
Kinetic Boost.
A cheap imitation of what I really had.
Perfect.
Walking Home – 6:47 PM
I stopped by a convenience store.
Bought instant ramen with the last of my money.
Hana would be hungry.
As I walked, I thought about the files Yuki found.
Experimental program.
Parental consent.
Negative outcome.
Kaito's parents hadn't just abandoned him.
They'd sold him.
Let doctors use him as a lab rat.
And when it failed, they took the money and disappeared.
Leaving him and Hana to survive alone.
Bastards.
My phone buzzed.
Masaru: "Training tomorrow?"
Me: "Yeah. Same time."
Another buzz. This time an unknown number.
I opened it.
"We know you're looking. Stop. For your own safety."
I stopped walking and looked around.
The street was empty. Normal. Nothing suspicious.
But I felt as if someone was watching.
Someone knew I'd accessed Kaito's files.
And they wanted me to stop.
I deleted the message.
Kept walking.
Too late, you asshole. I won't stop now.
The apartment building soon came into view.
Lights on in unit 402.
Hana was waiting.
I climbed the stairs and opened the door.
"I'm home."
She gave a heartwarming smile. "Welcome back, Nii-san."
TO BE CONTINUED...