"Congratulations… Toji Fushiguro!" All Might announced.
Wow… I won?
That was… really lucky. I looked up at Mother and saw her smiling ear to ear before she quickly looked down at me, scooping me up into a hug.
"You did it, baby! Haha!" Mother said excitedly, hugging me tightly as she jumped around.
As Mom continued to celebrate, All Might walked back toward the center of the stage and made another announcement.
"Now that the winners have been chosen, I would like to announce that we will be leaving tomorrow afternoon! So pack your things, because we're going for a ride on the Magic School Bus! Haha!" All Might exclaimed.
No one really laughed, though. They didn't seem to get the American reference. Feeling a bit awkward, All Might quickly pointed toward the sky to redirect everyone's attention before dashing off.
With All Might gone and the hour growing late, people began heading home.
Mother kept holding me as she carried me along, despite me being much heavier than a normal child.
"Toji, you should go to sleep while I carry you home. Once we get there, I'll put you straight into bed. Tomorrow's a big day," Mother told me.
"Okay," I said, snuggling into her arms as sleep slowly took over.
---
(The next morning.)
I stirred awake and pushed myself up from the floor, heading toward the kitchen in search of food.
Instead, I found Mother already there, cooking eggs.
She noticed me right away and smiled, setting down a plate of rice with eggs and fried chicken.
"Good morning, baby. Eat up. We need to leave in about an hour, okay?" Mother said as she grabbed her own plate.
As we ate, I noticed the snake I had found last night coiled around Mother's wrist while she fed it a live mouse.
Where she even got the mouse was beyond me, so I didn't question it. After about ten minutes, I carried my plate to the sink and headed back to my room.
I grabbed a fresh pair of shorts and made my way to the back of the house, where a river flowed nearby.
We had a normal bath inside, but I much preferred washing myself in the forest river.
After taking off my clothes, I jumped into the cool, flowing water. I didn't need soap—I didn't really sweat, and all I needed was to rinse the dust and dirt from my body.
While swimming, I felt something brush against my legs beneath the surface. I looked down and saw a group of fish nibbling at my feet.
It tickled more than anything and didn't hurt, so I let them continue.
After floating along the river for another ten minutes, I finally swam back to shore and climbed out of the water.
Standing there, I felt my body quickly absorb the remaining moisture. I pulled on my clean clothes, gathered up my All Might outfit from the ground, and headed back to the house.
By the time I returned, Mom had already packed the rest of the bags we needed.
"Toji, come here. I need to put your dirty clothes in a separate bag so we can wash them when we get to the new house," Mother said, quickly taking them from me.
Once she packed them away, I grabbed as many bags as I could carry and slung them onto my back. Almost immediately, their weight began to drag me down.
Mother noticed and asked if I was okay. I smiled and told her I was fine.
She still looked a little worried but picked up the remaining bags and headed outside.
I followed, and once we were out, she locked the door before we started toward the town where All Might was supposed to be waiting.
As we walked along the dirt path, the bags slowly began to wear me down. I didn't want Mother to notice how hard it was to carry five bags, so I pushed through it.
Then, without warning, the wheel above my head turned.
In an instant, the weight vanished. The bags suddenly felt almost weightless.
I still wasn't entirely sure what my quirk was. In the four years I'd lived in this world, the only thing I knew for certain was that it made things easier for me.
If I had trouble seeing underwater, the wheel would turn and fix it. If I got injured, it would turn again and heal me almost instantly.
No matter how small or insignificant the problem, my body adapted so I never had to struggle with it again.
The only thing it didn't seem to affect was my mind… though even that was starting to change.
Ever since I came to this world, I'd been unusually calm. Things that should scare me just didn't have the same effect anymore.
Thankfully, my emotions were still intact—I wasn't some mindless machine following orders.
Well… except for Mother's.
As we continued along the path, Mother slowed her pace and walked beside me.
"Hey, baby, what should we name this little one? We can't keep calling her 'snake,'" Mother said as the snake slept around her neck.
I looked up at her and thought for a moment.
"Well, I'm not very good with names, so… Snaky?" I suggested.
"We are absolutely not calling her that. Try again," Mother said.
"How about… Pennywise? That sounds cool," I offered.
"Better, but it doesn't really fit her," Mother said, gently petting the snake.
"Then how about… Rika? That sounds nice," I said.
"Rika is much better. Alright then—from now on, this little girl's name is Rika," Mother decided.
I nodded, and before we even realized it, we had reached the town. The guard greeted us and let us through.
Inside, we saw a sleek, futuristic helicopter with other parents and their children already waiting.
One of the kids looked strange—well, not as strange as me. He had multiple arms and an oddly shaped head, but aside from that, his skin looked completely normal.
As we approached, the other parents greeted us. A man in a suit stepped out of the helicopter and told us to board.
Someone asked where All Might was, but the man explained that he was busy dealing with a villain.
Once inside, the helicopter blades began to spin. Before long, we were soaring above the clouds, leaving behind the small town I had called home.
I hadn't known what to feel until that moment. As I looked down and watched the town grow smaller and smaller, something warm slipped from the corner of one of my winged eyes.
A tear.
Mother noticed right away. She pulled me into a comforting hug, resting my head on her lap as she gently patted it. Then she placed Rika on top of me, letting the snake curl up against my chest.
Why was I crying? I barely knew anyone there.
So why did it hurt so much?
---
Happy New Year!