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[Reality Check]
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…
So hours later, the students were finally allowed to leave the school premises to rest after the turbulent day.
Naturally, the news regarding the USJ incident spread quickly. Within hours, every major news program was covering it. The best hero school in Japan had been attacked by villains, sothing that went far beyond a simple cri. To many, it felt closer to an act of terrorism aid directly at the foundation of hero society.
However, official information was scarce.
Reports only confird that the villains had been defeated without major damage or injury to the students involved, that the two who seed to be the ringleaders of the whole operation had managed to escape, and so brief descriptions of the Quirks involved. With no further details released, the public assud what seed obvious.
All Might, supported by U.A.'s faculty, had resolved the crisis.
As a result, after the initial shock, public attention slowly began to settle as both the school and hero society remained ultimately unshaken by all this.
…
At least, that was the case—until sothing happened late at night on the sa day.
As news stations prepared to wrap up their final broadcasts, sothing unusual occurred in several of their main offices. Flash drives appeared on the desks of senior producers and late-night editors. Each carried a short, handwritten note.
"USJ Incident."
So ignored them, others dismissed them as a prank of their coworkers, while others simply didn't see it.
But a few, driven by curiosity and the promise of exclusive information about the most recent villain attack on the best hero school, decided to check their contents.
That was all it took.
Once the footage stored there was seen and confird, the decision was made.
Soon, the truth about what took place inside the USJ was aired as breaking last-minute material by the stations that fell for their curiosity, transmitting for the whole of Japan to see that night, and with it, lots of talk online soon followed.
Not only because U.A. was involved anymore, but because of what was shown there.
A battle.
One fought not between heroes and villains as was usual—but between a villain and a student.
At first, the young man's identity was unclear. His damaged, intimidating costu led many to believe he was a villain himself. But after verification and cross-referencing, the truth erged.
He was a student, a first-year one to top it off.
And that only raised more questions.
The footage showed the student shielding his classmates from a dark, mist-like villain that sought to engulf them, breaking through the encasent with a burst of red light that functioned as both offense and protection.
It showed him incapacitating dozens of villains in seconds, moving with speed that barely registered on cara.
It showed him standing his ground against an overwhelmingly powerful mutant, the fight so fast that broadcasters were forced to use slow motion to follow it.
It showed blood, injury, and a brutal exchange in which the student drew a blade and struck the creature down several tis—only for it to regenerate.
And finally, it showed him unleashing one last attack, lightning and fire surging from his palms, pushing the monster to its limits before turning his attention to the villains watching from afar.
By morning, the entire country was talking, trying to make sense of what they had just seen.
The idea that a first-year student had taken down so many villains and fought evenly against a monster-level opponent, one who, from the looks of it, was strong enough to seriously injure top heroes, felt unreal.
He was fifteen, after all. Not even All Might had shown this much promise when he was that age.
Though, to be fair, neither did he have a terrorist attack happen at U.A. to deal with it.
But it wasn't just the outco that stunned people. It was also the abilities on display from both sides, sothing almost bizarre in the eyes of everyone.
The mutant villain seed able to negate blunt force with his Quirk, judging by the ease with which he ignored the student's early barrage of punches, only to sohow be affected by the slashes of his opponent once he took out his blade.
But then, it went even further, as the mont one of its arms was sent flying, the footage showed clearly how he regenerated it in a matter of seconds.
So either he had one Quirk able to sohow negate blunt force and heal him at the sa ti… or he had two.
The student, however, didn't let down either. During the fight, he showed overwhelming speed, strength, and endurance, and displayed an energy-based ability that acted like telekinesis—yet also sliced and transford into both lightning and fire.
A strange Quirk that left many baffled and wanting for answers about its true nature.
But the mystery didn't obscure the main focus of the people.
That being that a re student was the one who dealt with all this, right at the beginning of his high school years, at that!
What had initially been dismissed as another major incident swiftly handled by All Might was now being seen in a completely different light: A disaster that most Pros would struggle with, top ones even, handled by a kid alone.
Naturally, the public was excited. The idea of such a strong student becoming a future hero brought hope.
If this was his ability only two weeks into U.A., how strong would he beco by graduation?
For many, the future looked bright.
—But not everyone agreed.
So looked past the raw power and fixated on sothing else.
The violence shown.
A fifteen-year-old, already capable of mutilating a villain? The brutality could be chalked up to desperation, but his posture, precision, and discipline didn't look desperate. It looked like carefully thought-out and calculated steps.
That raised concerns. Although injuries and worse were sotis expected from a profession such as this, it wasn't just the act that shocked the people, but the age of the one doing them, and his attitude toward it.
A kid already capable of doing that without batting an eye, just what kind of pro hero would he grow up to beco?
And probably not only a pro hero, but one of the top ones at that.
Others questioned U.A.'s teachers for allowing a kid to be the one to shoulder all that. Where was All Might during that fight? Why were the teachers not there to help?
In summary: How the hell had a re student been forced to deal with a terrorist attack on his own?
But while debates about morals and ethics continued, online discussions had already drifted to more chaotic territory, as was characteristic.
[Nuloc1L: So ppl out there winning the quirk lottery while I'm stuck with the power to make my nose hair longer.]
→[Captainbush: Mine's making my ass hair longer, we must be related.]
[Aretne_ehcel777: He's got moves. Unless his Quirk teaches him to fight like that, he must have trained a lot. As expected of a UA student.]
[TeamcoldxX: What's with that villain? He looks like he dumbs out at the end when the kid slams him without resistance.]
→[IcreatePallets: Maybe he was just too tired. Dude went wild in the last minutes moving even without so extremities. Maybe his body hit its limit.]
→[QuirkConnoisseur42: He freezes up when the other two villains leave. The student also went for them, so maybe the big guy was being controlled? Brainwashing or sothing?]
→[HotdogMaker: Maybe he was sad he got abandoned lol.]
[LemonstoneGOD]: Who would win, unknown U.A. first-year or All Might?]
→[Sceptik89: Bro comparing anyone to All Might is a joke.]
→[SteelLunchbox: Compare him to soone actually asurable lol.]
→[RkinesisFanboy: How about Rockinesis? Both have a telekinesis-type quirk.]
→[Iwriteragebait: Now that you say it, they are kinda similar. The only difference is that Rockinesis has like ten abilities in one quirk. This kid's like three.]
→[Joemama66: Maybe he'll get more. The energy around him seems to be the source. Maybe he compresses it into blades for cutting? No clue about the lightning and fire tho.]
→[TinFoilHero77: Maybe they're related lol.]
→[NoMight: Hear out, what if they are the sa person?
→[TinFoilHero77: Soone kick this delusional guy.]
Talks like those were happening all across the internet wherever the footage had reached.
Outside the online storm, though, life continued as usual. So people were shaken by the violence or impact of the incident; others weren't, and after a raised eyebrow or two, they simply went on with their day.
But one thing was certain.
This was the day the na Takahashi began spreading.
—Like, because of Taka, not because the na suddenly got trendy or sothing.
…
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| Kamino's secret bar, hours earlier… |
…
"Damn it!" Shigaraki snarled as he slamd his fist onto the counter. Behind it, Kurogiri continued polishing a glass with calm, chanical composure.
Shigaraki staggered forward, one hand already clawing at his neck.
"Why, why, why?! What kind of garbage luck is this? Why does a secret-boss show up right when I'm trying to raid the final boss?!"
-Tap-
Kurogiri set the glass down.
—CRASH!—
Shigaraki imdiately slapped it across the room, sending shards spraying against the wall.
{"Now, now… calm down, Tomura,"} a voice echoed from a nearby monitor—audio only, no image. {"What matters is that you escaped. You live to try again."}
"Master…" Shigaraki turned toward the speaker, his rage simring but not dying out.
{"Oi, Tomura!"} another voice snapped through the sa speaker, sharper, older. {"Where's my precious Nomu? I don't see it with you!"}
"It was defeated," Shigaraki said flatly.
{"By All Might?"} The first voice asked, almost entertained.
"No. By one of the brats. He handled everything—the villains, Kurogiri… and the Nomu, all alone."
{"Impossible!"} The second voice barked. {"Nomu was designed to beat All Might into the pavent! How could a student defeat it?!"}
"I don't know! I don't know, okay?!" Shigaraki exploded, scratching harder. "So brat just appeared and tore through my entire plan like it was nothing! The Nomu put up a fight, but in the end, it still got wiped!"
{"How, Tomura?"The first voice asked calmly.
Shigaraki clicked his tongue. "The kid hit it at first. It did nothing as expected... But then he pulled out so weird, blunt blade and sohow sliced Nomu apart over and over. Regeneration did what it was supposed to until he made fire and electricity appear out of nowhere and burned the healing out completely."
Kurogiri spoke up next. "... He was surrounded by a crimson energy that behaved similarly to telekinesis. It nullified my Quirk entirely, almost like a direct counter. And based on the other abilities he displayed… that 'energy' may be capable of more."
"A Quirk that versatile?" the second voice muttered. "How did we never hear of him?"
The first voice, still unfazed by everything, gave a light chuckle. "Who knows, doctor? Maybe the Association raised him in secret, intending to eventually make him a replacent for All Might. Or maybe he's just so lucky boy with a rare Quirk. Either way…I'll ask our little insider to dig up information. A child like that is too interesting to ignore."
"Hm… that reminds ," the 'doctor' said, "it is strange that both of our recent operations were ruined by telekinesis-type Quirks. And both users seed to wield multiple abilities."
"You're right," the first voice mused, sounding almost but not completely surprised. "I almost forgot what happened to Machia… Well, no harm in being curious. Let's dig into this boy's past—see what sort of creature we're dealing with. What did you say his na was?"
Shigaraki practically hissed, hatred bleeding into his tone. "Takahashi. That's what Eraser Head called him."
"Takahashi…" the first voice repeated, amused. "Let's see if his Quirk will make a fine addition."
…
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| U.A.'s office, one day later… |
…
"We've gathered here to discuss yesterday's incident. I apologize for calling everyone in so soon. How are you feeling, Aizawa-kun?" Nezu asked, turning toward one side of the table.
Aizawa sat there calmly, wrapped in multiple layers of bandages.
"I'm fine. Recovery Girl handled my injuries fairly easily, since there weren't too many. She advised I rest for a while."
"Efficient as always," Nezu nodded, pleased. Then he turned to the opposite end. "And you, All Might? You overworked yourself a bit yesterday during your rush to save the students."
All Might—currently in his shrunken form—waved him off with an embarrassed smile. "Since I wasn't able to do much, aside from the lingering pain afterward, my muscle form wasn't taxed too heavily."
Nezu nodded again.
"Well then, since everyone seems okay, let's get to the heart of the matter… how this disaster happened in the first place."
One teacher raised a hand. "It must have stemd from the press incident last week. They probably used that chaos to slip in and gather whatever information they needed, it also answers who was the one who destroyed our gate."
"I was thinking the sa," Nezu agreed. "Though the speed at which they acted is still baffling. Leaving that aside… do we have any information on the two who got away?"
Aizawa lifted a hand slightly.
"The police don't have much. However, from the brief exchange I had with the one who seed to be in charge—'Shigaraki' was his na, according to Takahashi's testimony—I was able to get a read on him. As a grown adult who still hadn't shed the sense of omnipotence kids have, he behaved like a man-child. Treated the whole attack like a video ga, and got easily frustrated when things didn't go his way... As for his Quirk..."
One of his hands touched his elbow, where the villain's Quirk hurt him yesterday.
"It seems to decay whatever his palms touch. However, it appears to require prolonged contact; otherwise, the effect stops spreading."
Nezu nodded slowly.
"For soone like that to gather so many villains, no matter how petty or low level… and to have soone by his side strong enough to allegedly contend with All Might… sothing doesn't add up. I'd lean towards the possibility of soone behind all this, backing him... Soone powerful."
All Might's expression darkened. He had already spoken with Tsukauchi, and based on the Nomu's abnormalities, both had reached the sa unsettling conclusion. The possibility that that person was behind this wasn't small.
"We were incredibly lucky this ti," Nezu ultimately said with a sigh. "We were taken by surprise, and at a mont when All Might wasn't available. Had Takahashi not been there, I genuinely wonder how things would have turned out."
"About him, Principal," Aizawa said, his brows furrowing. "During the fight, he demonstrated abilities beyond what his Quirk should allow. His abnormal power, for what appears to be a relatively normal Quirk, was sothing I overlooked once—there's always the chance a simple Quirk hides great potential. But these other abilities are too much to ignore. Do you know anything about it?" Aizawa asked.
Nezu paused, thinking.
"Takahashi has indeed inford of a few changes his Quirk has undergone over the past week. Though they most likely span over a few months."
"That makes it sound like you're acquainted with him, Principal," Aizawa noted, brow arched.
Nezu seed unbothered. "Yes. He and I t so ti ago. His case was quite unusual—awakening a Quirk very late, much like Midoriya in your class."
All Might flinched slightly.
"I took an interest in his situation. After eting him and seeing his potential, I offered him a spot in the recomndation exam. Funnily enough, he refused and insisted on taking the regular entrance exam. Still, he's soone I have very high hopes for."
All Might sweatdropped. This all sounded fairly similar to his own situation and young Midoriya's.
Have a "late awakening" of their Quirk, and then receive the support of a high authority in the world of heroes. There were differences, sure, but both their situations were almost comically mirroring.
Was Nezu also raising a future Number One in secret?
Nezu turned to him with a polite smile—one that sohow said everything and nothing at the sa ti—before facing Aizawa again.
"What's even more surprising," the principal continued, "is that in the short ti he's had his Quirk, it's undergone multiple growth spurts through training. And since U.A. started, he has confided in about new applications of his Quirk—precisely what you witnessed yesterday."
'Though not the ability to manifest electricity and fire.' Nezu thought, his smile stretching a tiny bit as he spoke.
But he didn't ntion that part.
Aizawa nodded, silent for a beat before sighing. "I'll need an exact description to know what I'm dealing with. And you should docunt all this with the Quirk Association before it gets classified as a purposefully misleading Quirk."
"I'll prepare a dossier with everything you need by the end of the day," Nezu replied. "As for re-registering his Quirk, he and I are handling it. Given the Association's limitations on reapplications, we'd prefer to let as many changes manifest as possible before submitting."
Aizawa nodded in his usual bored tone. "Fair enough."
…
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| Takahashi's house… |
…
"Achoo!"
Taka's head snapped forward as a sneeze escaped him.
Wiping under his nose with a finger, he grumbled, "Damn, soone must be talking about ."
A couple of seconds later, he burst out laughing.
"Of course soone's talking about . I'm fricking famous!"
On his screen, a Yotube video replayed the USJ fight—specifically his clash with the Nomu. Below it, the view counter was already sitting in the several hundreds of thousands.
Not on the level of his music video, sure… but if you considered the ten or so reuploads on other channels, News stations' official accounts, and platforms, the reach was massive.
And so was the aura.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[STATUS PAGE]
▸ Strength: (169 Base) 1472
▸ Defense: (338 Base) 1507
▸ Aura Projection: 40,000
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Total Aura: 42,472
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Since last night—just one night after the video went viral—his aura had gone up by roughly five thousand points.
A pretty substantial jump, considering it encompassed at least a month of constant passive earnings in just one night.
And this was just the first few hours since it beca viral. The gains would probably grow a bit more after this.
Taka eyed the numbers with satisfaction.
Of course, he doubted the surge of aura would last. Two, maybe three days more, with each day slowing down, and then the gain would drop hard to its usual rate of around a hundred sothing per day, if maybe a bit bigger.
Such was the sad reality of relying on news and whatnot.
Music was a steadily growing passive farm of aura, as people would revisit the song and feel awe, even if not as strong as the first ti.
News, on the other hand, burned bright but died pretty fast.
No matter how impressive the video was, eventually it would fade from public mory, right alongside the whole incident, when sothing else took the spot of the most important news of the day. There were epic battles galore nowadays, although a bit shocking, it was sothing plenty of seen around.
That's just how the world worked, sadly.
By his estimates, he'd maybe cap out around 46k or 47k before things slowed down again. Not an enormous increase, but more than enough for what ca next.
The Sports Festival.
Now that… THAT was an aura-farming event.
If everything he rembered about it held true, this would be the mont to rake it in.
The entire country watched it—not just casually, but culturally. It was like THE activity to watch that day, no matter the age or place.
Kinda like World Cups for football/soccer in Taka's old world. Those disrupted pretty much all activities due to their importance in many countries.
And in this case, the Sports Festival was that.
Not to ntion that the overseas numbers were nothing to scoff at either. Although he didn't know how effective their influx of aura would be due to the distance, maybe it'd be a step to start earning aura globally.
Sure, the third-years usually stole more attention overall, but things might be a bit different from previous competitions.
After all, this year had Todoroki and Iida—big nas, big families, and thus big reputations.
Bakugo had a villain incident last year, too, but he doubted it would steal much spotlight.
And then, of course… There was him.
The USJ video he had his clone take hadn't been only for aura farming—it was bait. A perfect hook to draw eyes toward the first years at the Sports Festival and make sure his na was fresh in people's minds.
Now the stage was set.
All he needed was for classes to resu, for Aizawa to make the announcent, and then?
He could focus on his own performance and that of his class, so everyone could put on the best show they could.
So he could shine the brightest and get even stronger.
Taka chuckled to himself, smug as ever.
Then he flopped onto his bed, hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling.
"There's truly no rest for the aura farr," he sighed.
Honestly, yesterday's fight had drained him of all energy. Good thing U.A. had canceled classes for a day after the whole disaster.
He was definitely going to catch up on sleep.
'And it was revealing too,' he thought, rembering the instant he clashed directly with the Nomu.
In ga terms—just how Shigaraki would love to phrase it—the Nomu was like a late-ga mini-boss dropped into the tutorial area to stomp underleveled protagonists.
Still far weaker than the true end-ga bosses, but beating it was a solid benchmark of where Taka currently stood… even if he'd had to pull a few hidden cards from up his sleeve to win that fight.
He recalled that Nomu was seen as All Might–tier by the fans in his old world, but in his opinion, it was just a matter of type advantage—like fire beating water.
If soone like Endeavor had shown up, he might've turned Shigaraki's "secret weapon" to ash in a single blast, cauterizing the regeneration and using a kind of attack the Nomu couldn't absorb.
If he managed to do that before he had his face stomped—but nevermind that.
All Might just struggled because he was a brawler—the literal thing the Nomu countered—and was weakened. Yet, even then, he managed to outspeed and outdamage the Quirk zombie, going beyond its absorbing threshold.
Without that shock-absorption Quirk, the Nomu would have probably been dead in just one punch.
Regardless, the fight gave Taka a clearer picture of his actual strength.
He was nowhere near All Might or All For One.
But he was undeniably strong—stronger than sothing on the level of the Nomu.
Which already put him leagues above most villains in the near future.
'On that note… everything ahead seems a bit weak, doesn't it?'
USJ had been an abnormal event, a ridiculous spike in difficulty that, originally, only All Might could have handled.
Well—him too, now.
Everything after that was more manageable for the protagonists, not enough to sideline them.
Stain. The League's antics. The Shie Hassaikai…
…
The Shie Hassaikai.
Taka blinked at that thought, his train of thought derailing completely as his eyes slowly widened, as if soone had thrown over him a bucket of cold water.
Not because of Overhaul—yes, the guy had a strong Quirk, but one utterly countered by Telekinesis. Taka could fold him instantly right now.
No—what hit him wasn't the villain.
It was Eri.
His eyebrows drew together slowly as the realization sank in.
A wave of guilt hit him.
Taka sat up, posture no longer relaxed, staring ahead with a blank yet conflicted look.
"What the hell have I been doing?" he muttered.
Twelve months.
Twelve months spent focused entirely on getting famous, getting stronger, farming aura.
And not once—not even once—had he thought about Eri's situation.
He had completely forgotten about the kid suffering right this second, being experinted on for profit.
All he'd cared about were the future arcs and how to milk them for aura as efficiently as possible.
Aside from a few deaths later in the tiline, he hadn't even considered altering canon until much later.
His brain had just… accepted that Eri would have to wait until her arc arrived to be saved.
Because that was the efficient way to aura farm, the efficient way of using his knowledge.
He hadn't questioned it in the slightest, just accepting it had to be like that, and acting in accordance with it.
For twelve months.
"Shit," Taka whispered, sliding to the edge of the bed, clutching his head with one hand.
The excuse of a lack of power was long gone. He had been in the top tiers of the world for a while now, and even if he hadn't, Overhaul had only been a problem in the show because the guy had so prep ti before the heroes arrived. Without it, even Taka from three months ago would have found it easy to deal with him.
And yet, he hadn't done so.
Not even once did the thought pass through his head.
"..."
A few seconds passed, silence stretching as Taka's thoughts ran wild.
Then, a clone burst from his aura, slowly materializing, until the image of another Taka, serious and no longer carefree as clones tended to be, was standing there.
"We have two or three weeks before the Sports Festival," Taka said to him. The clone stayed silent.
Then more clones began materializing one after another, until eventually the room was completely full.
Taka looked up, expression steeled.
"Let's find her within one."
""Yes."" the clones echoed in unison.
…
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-To Be Continued...-
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(A/N: Now cos the awakening arc. Hopefully, you'll like Taka's character developnt.
I am the author, and I think I did a good job. But who knows, tell once we are done with it.)
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