(Kata POV – Outside of Library)
I waved goodbye to Momo as her sleek black car pulled away. 'What a joy it is to be rich.'
The wait had been surprisingly enjoyable. I’d always been curious about the true extent of her quirk, what it could achieve if she truly pushed it to its limits.
'I guess I’ll find out if she decides to take my advice seriously.'
Shaking my head, I began the walk ho. The evening air was cool, the streets relatively peaceful—if you ignored the lingering stares and whispers from passersby who recognized from the Sports Festival. Thankfully, none of them approached .
I stepped inside the house, half-expecting so kind of chaos, only to find Toga curled up on the couch, watching TV. 'I... didn’t expect her to behave and stay put.'
"I'm back," I greeted her calmly.
Her head snapped toward , eyes lighting up with excitent. “You’re finally back! What took you so long?” she whined dramatically, stretching like a cat as he leaned over the sofa.
“Everything took a while to sort out,” I replied, heading toward the kitchen. “I also ran into a friend on the way to the library and we talked for a bit.”
At that, her expression shifted. Her smile didn’t change, but it felt more mischievous and curious. “A friend?” she echoed, tilting her head in genuine confusion. “You don’t seem like soone who’d have friends.”
I kept my expression neutral, but inwardly… 'Ouch.'
She wasn’t wrong. Outside of Class 1-A, I hadn’t really made an effort to connect with anyone. Not that it's worth doing so.
“I agree,” I admitted, shrugging as I gathered ingredients for dinner. “But they’re nice people, and have been quite accepting of this far.”
'Although, would that change if they really got to know ?' I wonder as I continue prepping for dinner.
Toga curled up tighter, resting her chin on her knees as she watched work. “I wonder if they’d want to be friends with too?” she mused.
I glanced at her. Her voice was playfully curious, but I could tell there was genuinely longing buried within.
“I’m sure they would,” I said, before adding plainly, “assuming you don’t try to stab them for their blood. Not everyone is as... open-minded as .”
She humd absentmindedly, gaze drifting back to the TV. A peaceful silence settled between us, punctuated by the cutting of vegetables and the sizzling of oil.
Once dinner was ready, we ate together, watching whatever was on, which was a rare mont of normalcy and peace.
Afterward, I retrieved the books I got from the library, letting them float around as I read each one simultaneously at rapid speeds using radar.
An hour later, I had consud all five, a small part of regretting not bringing more. 'But these are enough for now.'
The biology books would help refine my regeneration. More importantly, they gave the confidence to attempt things I hadn’t dared to before.
The advanced physics book provided insights into physical force manipulation. The molecular chemistry book gave so ideas to master my property manipulation. And then… the most important of them all—
The book on quirks.
Despite its simple title, it was an in-depth breakdown of quirk classifications, functions, and limitations. Pretty useless on its own, but depending on it's user...
'This is the most important step.' I take a deep breath and focus inward, isolating a few thousand cells in my body, analyzing them as I activate the quirk factors within each of them.
They begin generating Telekinetic Energy. 'I'm also an emitter type, so of I succeed here, there's a likelihood it'll work for other emitter types.'
I take note of which parts of my cells change when I do this. I then start systematically and forcefully deactivate segnts of these genes, trying to pinpoint exactly which part is responsible for activating my quirk.
It's a slow process despite the rapid speed I was working at. Many cells died in the process. Not surprising as I was ssing with their DNA structure.
I observed many interesting phenona throughout the process as my quirk reacted to each change I made until I nearly made a fatal mistake.
I deactivated a segnt of DNA that seed to be a natural limiter. In an instant, that cell started generating large quantities of Telekinetic Energy than should be possible.
'Almost 10 tis the amount...'
It died violently as it tore itself apart from the sheer force it generated.
I montarily stopped my experiennt, as I repeated the process in a few other cells. Without exception, they all violently exploded after generating vast amounts of energy.
I narrowed my eyes in thought. 'It could be very useful... And I think it might be a clue to quirk evolutions.'
But it's neither essential now, nor is it my main focus.
I continued, more carefully this ti, until I found it—the exact genetic switches that controlled my quirk’s activation.
When a cell just stopped generating energy and I failed to manually activate it, I realised that I had discovered how to disable emitter type quirks.
This accomplished 2 goals. If I know what deactivates it, I can keep prevent it from happening. 'I don't need to worry about my quirk being erased anymore.'
But more importantly, 'I can even disable quirks... permanently.'
I clench my fists with determination. 'All that's left is to act.'
(Kata POV – Class 1-A)
The next day, I left for school while Toga stayed ho. 'Hopefully she'll behave.'
It was raining, so I grabbed an umbrella and walked at a normal pace. My aura could easily keep dry on its own. 'But it's better to act normal and avoid drawing attention.'
When I arrived at class, I sat down quietly, listening to my classmates buzzing with excitent, discussing how strangers had been approaching them ever since the Sports Festival.
Then the bell rang, and Aizawa stepped in.
Instantly, silence fell over the room.
“Morning,” he greeted, his voice as tired as ever. “Today’s hero informatics class will be a special one.”
Tension spread through the class as many beca visible nervous.
“You’ll be coming up with your hero aliases.”
The room exploded.
“Hell yeah! This is it!” Kirishima cheered.
“It has to sound aweso!" Mina exclaims.
Many voices drown together as everyone starts sitting in excitent.
Amid the excitent, Aizawa activated his Quirk, his glowing red eyes scanning the room. The class instantly fell silent.
My heart skipped a beat.
'My radar is still on. But he might not have erased it quirks. I need to confirm it.'
Before arriving, I had ensured a few segnts of my quirk factors wouldn't be deactivated if ever this occurred. About half the cells in my body, and all the ones in my brain.
I imdiately tried to activate my quirk in cells I hadn't protected sbd... Nothing.
'Wonderful. That proves my hypothesis. I’m immune to Erasure.'
I kept my face neutral, but the discovery made elated despite having suspected as much.
While all this occurred, I checked the other emitter type students. Identifying similar changes in their quirk factors as mine, which further confird my thod was universal and would work in all emitter types.
Aizawa continued as if nothing happened, snapping out of my thoughts.
“Before that, let’s talk about the pro draft picks I ntioned the other day.” He pulled up a list on the board. “Rember, these offers aren’t set in stone. Agencies are simply showing interest in your futures... but this interest can increase it decrease based on your performance for the next 3 years.”
The screen displayed the rankings, and unsurprisingly, I was at the top.
1st: Kata – 4,832 offers
2nd: Todoroki – 4,123 offers
3rd: Bakugo – 2,857 offers
4th: Yaoyorozu – 761 offers
...
"The numbers are usually more spread out," Aizawa explained, "but our top three took most of the spotlight this year."
A few heads turned toward , Todoroki, and Bakugo—but mostly .
“Gah! They’re in a whole other league…” Kaminari groaned, slumping in his seat.
I sighed. 'Todoroki and I have similar numbers. Not because of our skills—but because there are only about that many heroes in Japan to begin with.'
“With that settled…” Aizawa continued, “whether you got offers or not, you’ll still have the chance to work alongside the pros.”
“They’re only tentative, but you still want to pick sothing appropriate—” Aizawa was abruptly cut off.
“—Or else you’ll know true hell!!”
A dramatic voice bood through the room as Midnight strode inside, arms behind her head in a seductive pose, and a sly smirk on her face.
“The na you choose may be what the world rembers you by,” she added playfully.
“Midnight!”
The class, especially the boys, echoed in excitent.
Aizawa sighed. “She’ll be evaluating your choices. Pick sothing that reflects who you are and what you want to beco.”
A stack of whiteboards was passed around, and we were given fifteen minutes to decideon a na.
'A na that represents …'
I tapped my marker against the board, watching as my classmates debated over their nas.
Once ti was up, people started presenting their nas. Midnight gave everyone sincere feedback, encouraging so while tactfully shutting down the more questionable choices. None of her usual sensuality on display.
I watched as Midnight seriously discussed Kirishima’s chosen na, Red Riot.
'She’s really reliable when she’s like this…' I mused absentmindedly. 'She’s more attractive like this than when she’s overly sexual.'
I didn’t realize I was staring until our eyes t. Midnight’s lips curled into one of her playful, sultry smiles, and she shot a teasing wink.
I imdiately looked away, pretending I hadn’t noticed.
'When did I space out? How embarrassing…' I groaned internally, forcing myself to refocus. With the mont gone, it was ti to get back to the task at hand—picking a na.
As the class continued tossing out nas—so being approved, others brutally shot down—I settled on my choice.
I wrote it down with a sigh, and Midnight, noticing, smirked mischievously.
“Okada, your turn!” she called theatrically.
The glint in her eyes told everything. This was payback for what happened during the Sports Festival.
I exhaled and rose to my feet, walking to the front of the room with my board in hand. Excitent buzzed through the class as they watched, eager to see what na I’d chosen.
I raised the board, revealing my chosen alias.
“Apex Hero: Zenith.” I said calmly.
Silence.
Eyes widened. Mouths gaped. And then—
“What kinda bullshit na is that?!” Bakugo shot up, slamming his hands into his desk, his face twisted in anger and frustration. “Apex?! Zenith?! You tryin’ to say you’re above ?!” His palm crackled with small explosions, his rage barely contained.
'He's frustrated because I've already proven that.'
Izuku muttered furiously under his breath, trying to decipher my reasoning. “Apex… Zenith… Is he just confident…?” Then, his fists clenched, and he looked up, determination blazing in his eyes.
'He probably thinks he has to surpass to live up to OFA.'
The most surprising reaction, however, ca from Todoroki.
He didn’t look frustrated. He didn’t even seem shocked. Instead, he just… smiled. It wasn’t smug or mocking... just calm. But his gaze spoke volus, and for once, I couldn't completely understand it.
'What’s he thinking?' I wondered, before the chatter of my classmates pulled back.
Excited whispers, exclamations of disbelief, and confused murmurs filled the air... until Midnight spoke.
“Apex Hero: Zenith, huh?” She tilted her head, giving an amused look. “That’s quite ambitious.”
She took a step closer, scrutinizing with a curious glint in her eyes.
“Are you saying you’ve already reached the top?” she teased. “Or that you’re aiming to get there?”
Her tone was playful, but I could tell she was serious. She would not tolerate it if I was just being arrogant or ssing around.
The room went silent, all eyes locked onto .
I shook my head. “Neither.”
The class stilled.
Midnight’s brow furrowed slightly. “Then what do you an?”
I t her gaze. “To everyone here, the ‘top’ ans being Number One—the position All Might holds, right?”
Around the room, heads nodded instinctively.
“That’s the problem.” My voice remained steady and matter-of-fact. “You’ve already set a limit for yourselves.”
A flicker of confusion passed through them.
“You see All Might as the peak. The goal. The finish line. The apex of strength and heroism.” I exhaled lightly. “But what happens when you reach it? Will you still there?”
The question hung in the air.
“I don’t think like that.” I gestured slightly. “I’m not chasing the title. I’m not aiming for the rank.” My gaze swept across the room. “I don’t need to. If I keep growing, they’ll co on their own.”
So students stiffened. Others frowned, deep in thought.
“I’ll keep pushing forward. Beyond rankings. Beyond titles.” I let the words settle. “And when I reach my peak—my Zenith—it won’t be on the mountain All Might built.”
Silence.
I turned back to Midnight, my expression calm. “That’s what it ans to be the Apex—to reach the Zenith.”
I let the silence stretch, then spoke, my voice quiet but firm. “Why stop at the peak of soone else’s mountain... when I can build my own and rise beyond it?”
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