A few weeks had passed since that day.
The consequences were minor; thanks to his regenerative abilities, he had a quick checkup with the doctor, but nothing serious. His mother's injuries had been minor, and within a few days she was back to full health.
Himiko, on the other hand, experienced so minor psychological distress due to the shock, but as the weeks went by, it gradually faded, as did her parents' concern for their two children.
Now, everything seed to have cald down.
The room was dimly lit by a desk lamp. The curtains were drawn, the door locked. Reiji sat on his bed, a towel draped over his legs and a small pocket knife in his hand—the sa one he used to "feed" Himiko.
He made a clean cut on his index finger. He took a deep breath as the blood slowly flowed out. A drop fell onto the towel. Then another. And another.
Reiji held out his hand in front of him, closing his eyes.
"Co on… move."
The drops trembled. They floated just a few milliters. They vibrated, then sank back down.
He clicked his tongue in annoyance.
He tried again. This ti, he applied light pressure to his palm. More blood. More control.
Finally, he managed to form a small spinning filant, as thin as a fishing line. It didn't last more than five seconds before it dissolved.
But he smiled bitterly.
"To think that day was out of necessity…" he murmured. "This power reacts to my instincts, and conscious control is almost nonexistent"
He'd been doing this for weeks. Practicing over and over to gain full mastery.
He always practiced in private to quell the bloodlust that accompanied the use of his power; he still couldn't control the craving for blood, but avoiding being around other people allowed him to calm it.
His parents had taken him for a general checkup after the incident. What they discovered was strange, but not alarming.
"You possess advanced regeneration of genetic origin. It's not due to a Quirk as such, but to a physiological mutation… What we consider a mutation Quirk. However, your recent manifestation—blood control—clearly stems from the Quirk factor."
Two Quirks. One was physical, while the other ca from his Quirk factor
Strange. Very strange.
'Just as I thought. One cos from what I was… and the other from what I am.'
Reiji took a notebook—the sa kind he used for his observations of the world of Boku no Heroe—and began jotting down the progress of his Quirk today. He read one of his first notes.
"Blood only obeys if it's alive. After five minutes, it stops reacting. Volu defines the shape, but control doesn't improve much—I can't seem to find the right amount"
He ran his hand slowly over the page. There were many more notes like that, strangely similar to the ones Reiji had hated in his previous life.
'It's funny to think that I hated being soone else's experint, but being my own test subject is actually interesting' he thought bitterly, as he jotted down a few observations about his progress.
He closed the notebook when he finished writing.
'I didn't choose to be an experint. But I can choose what to do with what I learned over all those years of being an experint—not everything can be in vain.'
He looked at the dried blood on his finger. He pressed his lips together, lost in thought.
'With these two powers, I might be able to match the great figures... Or at least not beco obsolete in their presence—One For All and All For One... I haven't forgotten you, but I have a lot of problems to deal with first...'
He put his notebook next to the journal containing the entire history he rembered of this world. So far, he hadn't interacted with any other characters besides Himiko, nor was he dying to do so; for him, this was currently his ordinary, everyday world.
Not a comic book.
First, he'd solve the problems in his life, and then he'd think about what to do. He just hoped certain organizations wouldn't even notice him. Especially now that he possessed two Quirks—it's sothing that draws quite a bit of attention.
Besides, his two powers complented each other perfectly; the only clear downside was the craving for blood.
He still didn't know the full extent of his second Quirk, but the first one already allowed him to beco quite strong through muscle regeneration; intense and constant training was much easier for Reiji—his muscles would regenerate and strengthen at a faster rate than anyone else's.
As for his other Quirk, although he didn't know the full extent of its functions, he knew perfectly well that it wasn't a weak ability. He saw what it could do the mont it manifested against the attacker, and Quirks are supposed to evolve only with their bearer.
That's precisely why certain characters' Quirks in the series evolved, including Himiko's.
If he managed to master it, he had the confidence to beco a great force like renowned heroes, but it all depended on him.
"A prodigy will be just another face in the crowd if he doesn't put in the sa effort as a stubborn fool..."
He smiled. Because he wasn't a prodigy. And he wasn't a fool either.
He was Reiji. Forrly Ethan.
And he was willing to be both… If that would take him to the top.
***
"No… I can't go on…"
The whisper escaped his lips. A solitary confession in the darkness.
He'd been tossing and turning in bed for hours; the constant tingling in his jaw had kept him awake all night. The sharp, tingling sensation, like electricity behind his teeth, was asking him for sothing.
It was asking him to satisfy its thirst for blood...
It was unlike anything he'd ever felt before. It was no longer an occasional sensation, nor a discomfort that could be soothed by deep breathing or isolation. It was constant. Pulsing.
As if his Quirk had fused with his nervous system.
'Himiko is okay thanks to … I'm not going to ask her… Not her.'
Himiko slept peacefully in the bed next to him, hugging her favorite stuffed animal. He could feel her breathing slow and grow calm. The urge had been there too, whispering to him: "Just a drop. Just a little."
But Reiji ignored the temptation. He would never do that to her. He couldn't do that to her.
Reiji got up. Looking at the dark sky seeping through the window, he knew exactly what he had to do.
He opened the window; the fresh air hit him with a slight chill. He turned to look at Himiko, who only curled up even tighter in her bed, completely unaware of what was happening.
He stood at the edge of the window and looked down; her bed was on the second floor, and even with his recovery, jumping wasn't a viable option. Abusing this could be detrintal to her growth—he was quite clear on that.
However, it didn't matter. A single thought, and blood had unconsciously seeped from his fingertips, ready to carve a path for him.
'Tsk, react on instinct... Out of necessity'
Trusting that the red stain floating below him would support his weight, he began to move slowly toward his backyard.
The night air enveloped him the mont he touched the ground. The blood beneath his feet dissolved into a reddish mist upon contact with the grass, returning to Reiji's body. The tingling in his jaw wouldn't go away, but his breathing grew faster… Anticipatory.
His backyard was small, with an old tree in one corner. Right there where, years ago, Himiko had stained the earth with the blood of a dead bird.
Now, the scene was similar.
A small squirrel moved clumsily along one of the branches. It had climbed down the trunk until it was almost touching the ground, sniffing around to see what was happening.
Reiji saw it. And the squirrel looked back at him gaze, sowhat curious about the boy's presence. It was still too far away to consider him a threat.
A grave mistake.
Reiji's pupils dilated. His fingers began to tremble slightly. A crimson drop welled up on its own from the tip of his index finger.
He approached slowly, holding his breath. Without thinking. The squirrel didn't flee until it was too late.
He reached out his hand. A red needle shot out of Reiji's finger, almost unconsciously.
The animal let out a faint squeak, the filant pierced straight through the squirrel's chest, pinning it firmly to the tree. Reiji approached the creature; the animal had stopped moving and its breathing had ceased entirely.
It was dead...
A tingling sensation spread throughout his jaw, teeth, and even part of his nose, which clearly picked up the tallic scent of the blood from the animal before him.
He picked up the squirrel in his hands, and just like his sister, he sank both fangs straight into it.
The blood flowed in a thin stream, being completely absorbed by the two sharp teeth.
The warm blood slid over his tongue, slowly trickling down his throat. He felt every muscle relax. He felt the pressure in his temples disappear. He felt the burning in his jaw fade as if it had never been there.
Peace. Finally, his body felt peace and tranquility.
Giving in to his instincts felt was delicious, just like the damn taste of the animal's blood.
His fangs kept the flow under control, extracting every last drop from the animal.
When he was done, Reiji dropped the small creature. Fully aware of what he had done, Reiji knew he had to leave no evidence behind and grabbed the lifeless body, devoid of warmth and life, to toss it into the trash bin in the courtyard, hidden among so many other things.
With his craving sated, Reiji set out to return to his bed.
He looked up at the window leading to his room, trying to reactivate his Quirk.
He raised his hand. And a faint trickle of blood erged from his fingertips, insufficient to hold even a twig.
"Co on… bring back…" he whispered, but all he managed was to lose control of the blood, and the small trickle of blood fell pitifully onto the cold grass.
Once his need was satisfied, his Quirk would instinctively stop working.
"Shit…" he said with a sigh of resignation.
The sky was still dark, and the window was too high for him to reach.
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