As living Vestiges inside their vessel, one has to wonder, what do the Flame Chasers get up to in their free time?
Why, watching their successors private life, of course.
/ --- /
The Lounge did not strictly follow the laws of physics, which suited its current residents perfectly.
It was a space conjured from memory and data—a sprawling, golden hall that resembled the lobby of the Golden Diva's opera house, but with the cozy, chaotic clutter of a junk shop tucked into the corners.
A massive, floating screen dominated the center of the room, currently displaying a grainy, first-person view of a simulation room floor at 2:00 AM.
On screen, the world spun violently. There was a sickening THUD, followed by the wet sound of someone spitting out dirt.
"Ow," Kenji's internal voice echoed through the Lounge, "I really hate gravity sometimes…"
Kenji pushed himself up from the ground, wiping dust off his face. He looked miserable. He had been trying to activate a new quirk, Float, for the last hour.
The result was a consistent 100% failure rate.
"He falls like a sack of potatoes!" Pardofelis groaned. The cat-eared girl was currently hanging upside down from a floating crystal chandelier, her tail twitching with second-hand embarrassment.
"I keep telling him! You gotta land on your toes! It's not that hard! Why doesn't he listen to me?"
"Did you forget that he cannot hear us? And your advice was simply 'don't hit the ground', Pardo," Vill-V chimed in.
The Great Magician was standing before a chalkboard she had conjured out of thin air, furiously drawing diagrams of parabolas and vector thrusts.
"His issue isn't dexterity. It is a fundamental lack of style. He treats the quirk like a rocket booster instead of an extension of his will! Look at this trajectory! It's an insult to aerodynamics!"
She tapped the chalkboard aggressively with a pointer. "If he simply adjusted his center of mass by fifteen degrees and visualized a rising thermal, he would soar! But no! He tries to brute force gravity!"
"Oh, hush now," Elysia chirped. The pink-haired leader of the Flame-Chasers sat front and center on a velvet sofa, hugging a pillow shaped like a manta ray.
Her eyes sparkled with genuine, unbridled delight. Even if they were unable to talk to Kenji right now, seeing him so determined to get stronger always lifts her spirit.
"He's trying his best! He gets knocked down, and he gets right back up! Isn't that just what we wanted in a successor?"
"He is getting up," Su noted, his eyes closed as he sat in a lotus position, floating slightly above the floor. "But his frustration is clouding his focus. He is trying to force the door open, rather than finding the key. His karma is currently... turbulent."
"And muddy," Eden added, swirling a glass of vintage wine. She sat elegantly on a chaise lounge, watching the screen with a smile.
"He certainly has persistence, though he lacks the grace of a bird taking flight. He reminds me more of a penguin."
On the screen, Kenji slapped his cheeks, leaving muddy handprints on his skin. He took a deep breath, steam rising from his shoulders in the cold night air.
"How is this so hard? I control a higher percentage than Midoriya did. Shouldn't controlling more quirks be easier for me?" he muttered to the empty room. "One more time."
He crouched low, One For All sparking green across his skin. Then, he jumped.
For a single, glorious millisecond, the connection snapped into place. He hovered. His feet dangled inches off the ground.
"There!" Griseo pointed with a paintbrush. The young girl was painting on a canvas that floated beside her. She had rendered Kenji as a small, round bird with tiny wings, looking very confused. "He flew. For a second."
Then, on screen, Kenji's focus wavered. He looked down, realized he was floating, and quickly lost focus. The quirk sputtered out like a wet candle.
CRASH.
Kenji flailed and face-planted directly into the sim room's wall.
"Ooh," Pardo winced, covering her eyes with her paws. "That sounded expensive. I bet he broke a tooth. Dental isn't cheap in this era, you know! Boss, we gotta intervene before he bankrupts himself on medical bills!"
"10 out of 10!" Elysia cheered, holding up a scorecard. "For training with such passion! Bravo, Kenji! Do it again!"
"I think I swallowed a tooth," Kenji's thought echoed through the room as he lay on the floor.
"Make that an 11 out of 10," Elysia giggled.
The rest of the Flame Chasers looked at the former Herrscher of Origin with an amused expression. Out of all of them, she seemed to enjoy looking at Kenji's daily life the most.
Pardofelis shook her head as she silently apologised to their successor. They had turned his life into a form of entertainment.
But it was really good entertainment, so she didn't feel too bad about it.
/ — /
Now, it was mid-afternoon in St. Freya. The campus was bustling with students rushing between classes, carrying datapads and weapons cases.
On screen, the camera focused on a petite Valkyrie-in-training with short brown hair. She was currently fighting a losing battle against a luggage cart stacked perilously high with suitcases, cardboard boxes, and a very wobbly potted plant.
She was clearly relocating to the West Dorms, a trek that was notorious for its uneven pavement.
The cart hit a loose cobblestone. It lurched violently to the left. The girl gasped, reaching out futilely as the tower of luggage began to tip.
A hand shot into the frame.
"Whoa, careful there," Kenji's voice said.
With a blurring display of speed, he caught the falling tower and hoisted the heaviest trunk onto his shoulder as if it were an empty cardboard box.
With his free hand, he righted the cart and even caught the potted plant before it could hit the ground.
"You stacked the heavy stuff way too high," Kenji noted, looking at the cart with the critical eye of someone who had spent too many summers working logistics.
"If you put the big things on top, everything is just going to keep falling. You gotta keep the base wide, or this thing's gonna tip over every five feet."
The girl stared at him, wide-eyed. Her face instantly turned the color of a ripe tomato. "O-Oh! Aoyama-san! I... I didn't see you there! Thank you so much!"
"It's fine," Kenji said, already rearranging her boxes with frightening efficiency. "I'm heading that way anyway. I'll help you bring your luggage."
"luggage?" the girl squeaked, fanning herself with her hand. "You mean... my pa—I mean, my clothes! You don't have to! You must be busy training!"
"Nah, Himeko threatened me to take a break, or she'd knock me out, and I do not want to test her," Kenji replied, completely missing her slip-up. He gestured forward. "Lead the way."
In the Lounge, the reactions were loud.
"He's doing it again!" Pardofelis wailed, throwing her paws up in the air. She was currently raiding a phantom fridge that had appeared in the corner.
"That's manual labor! Kenji, tell her to pay you! Ask for the shiny bracelet she's wearing! Anything!"
"He is not a mercenary, Pardo," Su said calmly, though he had opened one eye to watch the screen. "He operates on a currency of goodwill. Though the return on investment for this particular interaction seems to be... emotional chaos."
"Not emotional chaos, but love!" Elysia squealed, kicking her feet happily. She had conjured a pair of opera glasses and was peering intently at the screen's background.
"Isn't this just like those dramas? Come on, Kenji, show them the charm you inherited from me!"
The others Flame Chasers sweatdropped.
On screen, Kenji and the girl began their trek across the courtyard. As they walked, the girl kept glancing up at him, biting her lip and trying to work up the nerve to speak. She reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle of iced tea.
"Umm... Aoyama-san?" she stammered, holding it out. "If you're thirsty... You can have this. But I did already take a sip… Only a little though!"
Elysia squealed.
"Oh, thanks," Kenji nodded, taking the bottle. He didn't drink it. He put it in his pocket for later.
"Why?!" Elysia shouted.
The others ignored her.
The girl looked a little crushed, but then she smiled, seemingly just happy he accepted it.
However, the real drama was happening around them. As they passed a group of students near the fountain, the atmosphere shifted.
Several other girls stopped talking. They glared at the brown-haired girl with an intensity that could melt steel beams.
One student snapped a pencil she was holding. Another narrowed her eyes, whispering something to her friend while pointing accusingly at the girl walking next to Kenji.
"Oh my," Eden chuckled, sipping her wine. "The Walk of Envy. He walks through a minefield of affections as if it were a simple garden path. That poor girl... she has no idea she just painted a target on her back."
"Why are they looking at her like that?" Griseo asked, tilting her head. She paused her painting, which now depicted Kenji as a large bear carrying a tiny mouse's luggage. "They look... angry. Like when Pardo steals my paints. Did she steal their luggage?"
"She stole their chance," Elysia explained dramatically. "They all want to be the damsel, Griseo! But she got there first! Oh, the drama! If looks could kill, that poor girl would be disintegrated right now! And Kenji doesn't notice a thing!"
On screen, Kenji did notice something. His Danger Sense wasn't tingling, but he felt the weight of the stares. He frowned, his eyes darting to the groups of students whispering and glaring.
He leaned in close to the girl—so close she nearly tripped over her own feet.
"Stay close," Kenji whispered, his voice low and serious. "Don't look around, but everyone's acting weird."
"W-Weird?" the girl breathed, looking like she might faint from his proximity.
"Yeah. Super tense," Kenji muttered, eyeing a girl who was aggressively crushing an empty soda can. "I bet there's a surprise inspection coming up. Or maybe Theresa is on a rampage about grades again, and everyone is bracing for impact. Let's get this stuff to your dorm before the storm hits."
"S-Storm..." The girl looked like she had ascended to a higher plane of existence. "Yes! Protect me from the storm, Aoyama-san!"
"I-I can't take this anymore!" Elysia laughed so hard she fell back onto the sofa. "He's hopeless! He's absolutely, delightfully hopeless! I love him!"
"The hostility index in the immediate vicinity has risen by 400%," Su noted dryly. "Kenji remains the only variable unaffected. His ignorance is truly his strongest shield. If he knew the truth, he would likely flee the country."
"I'd flee too!" Pardo shivered. "Those girls look scary. Reminds me of when I pranked Mobius. You don't mess with that energy."
On screen, Kenji successfully delivered the luggage to the dorm entrance. The girl bowed profusely, her face beaming.
She tried to say something else—Elysia thought she wanted to invite him inside—but Kenji already spoke again.
"All done," he said. "Good luck with the unpacking. I'm gonna head back now, see ya!"
He turned and jogged away, leaving the girl staring dreamily at his retreating back, while a dozen other students emerged from the shadows to interrogate her.
"Run, Kenji!" Pardo yelled at the screen. "Don't look back! They're gonna eat you alive!"
"He will be fine," Eden smiled softly. "He is protected by the armor of pure, unadulterated density."
Elysia relaxed onto the sofa, "While this is entertaining, I do hope he gets a partner soon. I can't believe he's living with three beautiful girls and hasn't made a single move!"
Fu Hua's vestige looked at her with a raised brow, while Pardofelis seemed to realize something.
"So you want Kenji to NTR Kiana or Mei?"
Elysia snapped up from the sofa, looking completely insulted at the accusation. "What?! No! I just want to see him act more like his age. Getting into some romance, maybe with Bronya, since Kiana and Mei are obviously a thing."
With a subtle smirk, Eden turned to look at the pink elf. "What if he decides to date all of them?"
Silence.
Everyone else stared at Eden, surprised that she would even suggest such a thing. But their expression turned worried when it looked like Elysia wasn't entirely against the idea.
"Technically…" Elysia started, "He wouldn't be hurting anyone if he dated all of them, sooo—H-hey! Stop looking at me like that!"
/ — /
Later that evening, the bright sunlight of the St. Freya courtyard had changed into the stark, sterile white of a private training simulation room.
The atmosphere in the Lounge was entirely different. The playful teasing from before was gone, replaced by a sharp, focused silence.
On screen, the air was vibrating with the sound of violence.
CRACK. THUD. SWISH.
Kenji was moving. And for the first time that day, he wasn't stumbling.
He ducked under a high kick from Fu Hua, the living one, and pivoted on his back foot, using the momentum to deliver a sharp strike to her ribs.
Fu Hua blocked it, of course. But had to shift her weight to absorb the impact.
"Good," she said, her voice calm amidst the chaos. "Again."
"You know," Kenji wheezed, wiping blood from a split lip, "most teachers give their students a water break. You're running a torture camp."
"The Honkai will not give you a water break," she replied. "Stance."
Kenji groaned and got back to it.
In the Lounge, Su leaned forward, his eyes opening slightly—a sign of genuine intrigue.
"Something is different," the introspective doctor noted. "His reaction time is... slower. By approximately 0.4 seconds. Yet his anticipation is sharper."
"Wait, you're right!" Pardofelis squinted at the screen, her tail flicking. "He's getting hit more often, but he's not flinching before the hit. Usually, he twitches right before an attack lands."
"He has deactivated Danger Sense!" Griseo realized.
The translucent Vestige of Fu Hua stepped forward, watching her student with intense pride.
Elysia chuckled at her expression. "He is refusing to rely on the quirk's warning system because he knows it is a crutch. He wants to improve without always relying on precognition."
"Ooh, a handicap match?" Vill-V grinned, adjusting her goggles. "Bold strategy. Let's see if it pays off."
On screen, the spar intensified. Living Fu Hua sped up. She launched a flurry of strikes—a jab, a cross, and a sweeping low kick.
Kenji took the jab on his guard. He slipped the cross. But when the low kick came, he didn't try to jump or block.
He stepped into it, jamming her leg before it could generate full power, effectively nullifying the attack.
"You are leaving your left flank exposed," Living Fu Hua stated, seemingly critiquing him. She dropped her left hand slightly—a clear opening.
It was a trap—a classic feint to draw him into a counter-strike that would leave him open for a takedown.
In the Lounge, Vill-V gasped. "It's a trick! Don't look at the opening, Kenji!"
Kenji didn't look.
He saw the dropped hand. He saw the subtle shift in her shoulder that promised a devastating uppercut if he took the bait.
"Nice try," Kenji thought, his voice echoing through the vestige scape.
Instead of striking the exposed left side, Kenji spun the opposite way. He feinted a high kick, forcing Fu Hua to raise her guard, and then drove the leg down into a powered sweep at her standing leg.
It forced Fu Hua to hop back to maintain balance. She didn't fall, but she was forced to retreat.
"AHA!" Pardo cheered, punching the air. "He didn't take the bait! He read the feint!"
"He is growing quickly," Vill-V noted, frantically scribbling notes on her chalkboard. "He realized that the opening was a negative space—a zone of danger. He targeted the structural stability instead. That is... surprisingly tactical for someone who eats floor tiles for breakfast."
On screen, the Living Fu Hua lowered her stance. She wasn't attacking anymore. She was smiling. It was a small, barely-there thing, but it transformed her face.
"You are improving quickly," she observed, not asking.
"Kinda have to," Kenji wheezed, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Any slower and you would have given me the Himeko treatment."
"Himeko treatment?"
"N-never mind," Kenji replied, straightening up. "After fighting you for a while, I realized if I keep chasing the obvious openings, I'm going to get dismantled by someone smarter than me. Which is... basically everyone."
Fu Hua chuckled softly. "Not everyone. Your adaptability is becoming your most dangerous weapon, Kenji. You possess a fluidity that cannot be taught."
She offered him a towel. "That is enough for today. Your instincts are sharpening. Soon, you may even stand on equal footing to me."
"Really? Coming from you, that's a—H-hey, why are you laughing?!"
In the Lounge, The Fu Hua's echo let out a breath she didn't need. She was relieved to see that even if her counterpart was diminished, she was still doing somewhat ok.
"He's still rough around the edges," Vill-V dismissed, though she looked pleased. "But is quickly smoothing them out… I can work with that."
"I kept my money," Pardo grinned, counting her coins. "He didn't get knocked out. Good job, Kenji! Keep growing those brain cells!"
"His path is clearing," Su said, closing his eyes again. "He is beginning to walk on his own two feet, rather than being carried by the power."
/ — /
The projection screen in the Lounge dimmed, the harsh white lights of the training room fading into the soft, blue-grey shadows of night.
It was 3:00 AM in the physical world.
On screen, the chaos of the day had finally settled. The screen showed a small, cluttered dorm room. Textbooks on quirk theory and Honkai history were stacked haphazardly on the desk, fighting for space with empty nutrient bar wrappers and a half-assembled gauntlet.
The screen was slowly darkening as Kenji fought to stay awake.
He had almost passed out on top of his covers, still wearing his track pants and a compression shirt.
He hadn't even managed to take off his left shoe. An ice pack, long since melted into a warm bag of water, was sliding precariously off his bruised shoulder.
Without the bravado, he looked painfully young. He didn't look like the successor to the warriors of the Previous Era. He just looked like an exhausted kid.
"He didn't even eat dinner," Pardofelis grumbled, tail twitching as she curled up on her rug. "Look at him! Skipping meals to study? That's stupid! You can't save the world on an empty stomach, Kenji! You're gonna stunt your growth!"
"He treats his body like a tool. Unwilling to give it time to properly rest." Vill-V sighed, wiping a smudge of grease from her goggles. "Though I suppose, it only proves that he's human."
"He is stubborn," Su voiced, stepping closer to the screen. He crossed her arms, looking down at their successor with a mix of pride and stern disapproval. "He thinks that if he sleeps, he falls behind. He does not understand that rest is also a discipline."
"His mind is too loud," Su added, his eyes closed in meditation. "Even now, he is fighting battles in his dreams. He must learn to let the water settle."
"Well, he certainly won't learn if we just stand here grumbling at him," Elysia's voice cut through the scolding, light but laced with a gentle warmth.
The former Herrscher stood up from her sofa and walked toward the screen.
"You're all so strict," she teased over her shoulder, though her eyes were fixed on Kenji. "He's just trying to make us proud. He's trying so hard."
She reached out, placing a gloved hand against the projection of Kenji's sleeping face. The mirror between the Mindscape and reality hummed under her touch.
"But they're right, you know," she whispered to the sleeping boy, her voice dropping to a tender, motherly hush. "You worry us when you do this. You can't carry the whole sky on your shoulders if your back is broken, silly."
She traced the line of the bruise on his cheek, her expression softening into affection.
"You don't have to sprint every second of the day, Kenji. You aren't just a vessel for us. You're you. And we want you to be okay.
She leaned her forehead against the cool surface of the screen, closing her eyes as if trying to send the warmth through the connection.
"So sleep well, my cute little successor. Let the bruises heal. Let the worries wait until sunrise, and rest to your heart's content."
She pulled back, beaming with a radiant, protective smile.
"Goodnight, Kenji."
"Goodnight, little spark," Eden echoed softly from the chaise.
"Don't die on us, kid," Pardo mumbled, pulling her hood over her eyes. "And eat breakfast tomorrow. The expensive kind."
"Rest well," Su hummed.
"Hope you have a good nap," Griseo added.
The Lounge settled down into a comfortable silence. On screen, Kenji shifted in his sleep. The furrow in his brow smoothed out, his breathing deepening into a rhythm of proper rest, as if he could feel the seven guardians watching over him from the dark.