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(9 Advanced Chapters)
-----
Kaito Arisaka sat in the center of his bedroom, or what was left of it. He was currently perched on a single, surviving joist of wood, surrounded by a literal crater of sawdust and splinters.
Every time Kaito tried to shift his weight, the floorboards groaned in a way that suggested they were considering becoming sawdust too.
Kaito's skin felt like it was humming—a low-frequency vibration that sounded like the static of a television tuned to a dead channel.
"Okay. Breathe. Just... breathe. But do it softly," Kaito whispered to himself.
"Don't panic. Panic causes cortisol spikes. Stress causes... whatever the hell this is to get worse."
Kaito looked at the wreckage of his bathroom. The sink was a shattered ruin of porcelain. The mirror was a spiderweb of cracks. And the safety scissors—the high-quality, stainless steel ones he'd bought at a discount from the hardware store—were currently embedded in the ceiling like shrapnel.
Kaito didn't see a miracle. He saw a liability. He saw a lawsuit waiting to happen. He saw the end of his "Normal Employee of the Month" streak.
"I need to audit this," he muttered, his mind retreating into the only defense mechanism he had left: his memory of his past life's media.
"This isn't just a quirk manifestation. This is a complete genre shift. I need to understand the 'physics engine' of this power before I accidentally delete my own apartment building."
He dragged a dented metal trash can into the center of the room. It was the only thing in the house that hadn't broken yet, mostly because he was treating it like it was made of nitro-glycerin.
'Analysis. Step one: The Haruhi Suzumiya Factor,' Kaito thought, his mind flickering back to the blue-ribboned girl who could rewrite the universe based on her whims.
'If I'm a Haruhi-type, my reality is shifting based on my subconscious. But that doesn't track. I want a 9-to-5 with a dental plan, not to be a god. So, if my desires aren't the trigger, what is? Is it a "Toon Force" logic?'
He reached out and touched the rim of the metal trash can. He didn't use force. He just focused on the sensation of the metal.
CRUNCH.
The galvanized steel buckled like a soda can under a hydraulic press.
'Okay, so it's not willpower. It's the Mask or Gear 5 Luffy logic,' he mused, referencing the physics-defying rubberization he remembered from the old manga.
'I'm ignoring the laws of physics. When I touched that pillar at the fire, it didn't feel heavy. It felt... flat. Like I was touching a piece of paper. I'm not just strong; I'm "editing" the properties of the world around me. I'm like Gwenpool—I'm interacting with the world as if it's a medium I can manipulate. I'm a 2D entity overwriting a 3D space.'
Kaito spent the next few hours in a state of frantic, methodical practice. He treated his power like a software engine he had to learn to navigate.
The Density Test: He tried to pick up a single sheet of paper without tearing it. It took forty-seven attempts.
Every time he stopped concentrating, his fingers would simply "pass through" the paper or slice it like a razor.
Kaito realized that his default state was now "High-Res," and he had to actively force himself to be "Low-Res" just to interact with 3D objects.
The Rendering Test: He focused on a small wooden pencil. He closed his eyes and tried to visualize it as a 2D object—a simple drawing.
With a flick of his finger.
SNAP.
The pencil didn't break; it literally flattened into a paper-thin, two-dimensional icon of a pencil. It had no depth. It was just an image on the floor.
"So it's 2D-3D manipulation," Kaito whispered, a cold sweat breaking out on his airbrushed forehead.
"I'm 'editing' the layers of the world. If I click my fingers, I'm basically hitting 'Save' on a new render. This is a nightmare for a clerk. How am I supposed to handle cash? I'll turn the register into a sticker!"
"If I'm like Altair from Re:Creators," he whispered,
"I'm a character who has stepped out of the screen. I'm desynced from the frame rate of reality. Everything around me is 'low-res' compared to my own existence. That's why everything breaks. It's like trying to run a high-end simulation on a calculator."
Kaito spent another hour practicing his "Mundane Meditation." He visualized himself as a grainy, 360p character from a low-budget 90s cartoon.
He focused on the feeling of being tired, bored, and unremarkable.
Slowly, the humming in his skin dimmed. The "glow" subsided. His hair stopped flowing in a non-existent wind. For a moment, he looked like a regular, slightly-too-handsome teenager again.
"Okay. I can mask it," Kaito breathed. "As long as I keep my 'output' low, I can pass as a normal human. I just have to stay focused. No emotions. No stress. Just pure, unadulterated boredom."
-----
The walk to school was a gauntlet of psychological torture.
Everywhere Kaito looked, he saw reminders of the "Hero X." There were posters on the telephone poles.
News vans were parked on every corner of the Ashita district. He saw a group of kids—some of them his own classmates—wearing makeshift white hoodies with red 'X's taped to the back.
"I'm telling you, it's a new evolution of the Quirk factor!" one kid was shouting, holding a tablet showing the "Snap" video.
"He didn't just save them; he corrected the world! He's a miracle!"
Kaito pulled his hood lower. 'I'm not a miracle, you little nerd. I'm a victim of a system error. Go do your math homework.'
He passed a shop window and saw a news broadcast. A famous analyst was being interviewed.
["The public reaction to 'Hero X' is unprecedented," the analyst said. "People aren't just fans; they are starting to treat him with a kind of reverence usually reserved for the divine. If he appears again, the world will be watching."]
Kaito's stomach did churn. He just thought the world was being annoying. He didn't realize that every time one of those kids looked at a poster and felt "Hope," his own body got a little bit harder to suppress.
-----
Shizuoka Middle School - 9:00 AM
Kaito walked into his classroom, and the room went silent. Even with his meditation, he looked like he was wearing a filter in real life.
His skin was too clear; his eyes held a clarity that didn't belong in a middle school classroom.
"Arisaka?" his teacher, Mr. Tanaka, blinked in confusion. "You're... late. And you look... did you get a makeover?"
"No, Sensei," Kaito said, his melodic voice making the lie sound like a Shakespearean confession. "I've just been using a new soap. Very boring. Not worth talking about."
Kaito sat down at his desk. Or he tried to. As he pulled his chair out, his hand—which he had forgotten to "meditate" on for a split second—gripped the plastic back.
CRACK.
The plastic didn't just break; it shattered into a dozen pieces.
"Arisaka! What are you doing?!" the teacher yelled.
"I... it was already broken!" Kaito shouted back, his voice hitting a high note that made a girl in the front row blush. "Poor school funding! This chair is a workplace hazard! I'm filing a complaint with the board!"
He sat on the remaining stump of the chair, sweating. 'Focus, Kaito. Focus on the job. Focus on the boring life. You are a normal low resolution character. You do not matter.'
For the next three hours, Kaito fought a war against his own existence. During Math, his pen exploded because he pressed too hard.
He had to spend fifteen minutes apologizing and "cleaning" the ink off his desk—except the ink wouldn't stick to his hands. It just rolled off his skin like water off a duck's back.
"Why is your skin so... hydrophobic?" the girl next to him whispered, staring at his hands with a mix of awe and suspicion.
"I use a lot of... industrial-grade moisturizer," Kaito lied, his baritone voice vibrating through the desk. "It's a hardware store secret. Very boring. Don't look at me."
By lunch, the rumors were already spreading.
"Did you see Arisaka? He looks like a statue."
"I heard he was at the Ashita fire. Maybe he saw the 'Soot Hero' too?"
Kaito sat on the roof, eating a soggy rice ball. "This is a disaster," he muttered. "I'm not blending in. I'm becoming a 'Mystery Student' trope. That's higher visibility than 'Hero Student'."
Kaito pulled out his phone and checked the headlines.
[NEZU ANNOUNCES 'SPECIAL ADMISSIONS' FOR UA: IS HERO X THE TARGET?]
Kaito's heart sank. 'He's building a cage. Nezu is using the hype to justify bringing 'unregistered talents' into the school. They don't want me; they want the 'Variable X' they think I have a connection. I shouldn't enroll or even go to UA.'
"If I go there, I'll be a child soldier. I just need to get through middle school, get a boring vocational degree, and find a job where I can hide in the background. Maybe plumbing. Nobody looks at the face of a plumber."
-----
That Evening - The Arisaka Hardware Store
The shift started like any other. The smell of sawdust and WD-40 was a balm to Kaito's frayed nerves. Here, at least, he was just "the kid who stocks Aisle 4."
"Arisaka! Stop daydreaming and finish Aisle 3!" Kimiko yelled from the back.
"Working on it, Kimiko-san!" Kaito replied.
Kaito reached for a bulb, his mind focused. 'I am static. I am grain.' He successfully placed the bulb in the socket. No shatter. No reality warping.
'Inner Peace. Inner Peace. Inner Peace'
"Yes," he whispered. "Control."
But then, the store's bell chimed. Kaito didn't even have to look up. The air in the room suddenly felt "thick."
It was that same feeling from the fire—a weight of expectation, a silent, heavy belief that was being directed at... something.
Kaito turned around, and his heart nearly stopped.
It wasn't Aizawa. It was a group of women. They were dressed in sharp, expensive business suits, but they all wore a small, silver 'X' pin on their lapels.
They didn't look at Kaito because they knew he was Hero X—they didn't even know he existed.
They were scouting locations for a "shrine" near the fire site, believing the entire district was holy ground.
"Can I... help you ladies find something?" Kaito asked, his meditation flickering.
The woman in the lead stepped forward. She didn't look at his face. She looked at his hands, which were currently gripping a box of lightbulbs.
"Is the manager in?" she asked, her voice hushed. Then she paused, staring at his skin.
"You have very... clear skin, young man. It's almost unnatural."
"I... I'm a hardware clerk" Kaito said. "I sell hammers. I don't know anything about clear skin. I barely know how to do morning routine."
As their intensity grew, Kaito felt the "Update".
But the presence of these "Believers" obsessed with the "Hero X" was forcing his body to adapt.
"Oh, for the love of—" Kaito groaned.
SNAP.
He didn't mean to do it. It was a reflex. A "clutter correction."
The world in the hardware store suddenly "re-rendered." The messy aisles became perfectly aligned, 2D icons.
The women were gently "shifted" toward the exit, frozen in a high-fidelity pose of shock.
Kaito stood in the aisle, his white suit flickering for a micro-second before he forced it back down. "Please get out. No fans or cults in the store who won't buy anything. It's against company policy."
The women walked out, confused but strangely calm. "Did you feel that?" one asked. "The air felt so... clean for a second."
-----
Kaito collapsed against a shelf. "That's it. My ROI is officially negative. I'm a walking physics glitch."
He looked at his hand. His adapting body was stronger than ever.
"High school," Kaito hissed. "I just have to finish high school. Get a vocational license. Then a blue-collar job. If I can just grind for a decade in the workforce, maybe this 'Update' will finally stop."
The long, exhausting journey of hiding his youth had truly begun.
~~~~~
[Author's Note: VERY IMPORTANT About His Quirk]
Kaito's quirk isn't 2d-3d Reality Bending. But a metaphysical one. 'Trust Value' or 'Trust Bank'
The reason why he can't awaken or use any quirk in his childhood because the Bank is empty and was never full.
During the disaster of Musutafu and due to his reality delusion in his childhood. He managed to edit reality as he fits from 3d-2d or maybe 4d in the future (Of course I choose Hero X ability).
He trust himself so much at that time that he deletes and re-edit the disaster as he fits. Of course the trust of the victims he saved and witnesses was an important factor on his Trust Bank. Of course he didn't know his actual quirk yet. He didn't see "To Be Hero X"
Regarding the Public Collective Belief, Trust Value in the Donghua "To Be Hero X". This system operates on a literal "perception is reality" rule.
How Public Belief Shapes Abilities
Direct Manifestation:
If the public believes a hero can fly, they will gain the ability to fly.
The "Power and Abilities" Logic:
If enough fans believe a hero has a specific form or power-up, that hero will physically manifest it.
For instance, the hero Nice has powers based on being the "perfect hero," and his battles incorporate ballet-like elegance because that is what the public expects from his persona.
If the public believe that hero is a master martial artist then he will also become the world's greatest martial artist.
Negative Side Effects:
Belief is a double-edged sword. If the public expects a hero to be "ever standing," they may lose the physical ability to bend their legs or sit down.
Loss of Power:
If a hero loses public trust due to a scandal or defeat, their physical powers can vanish instantly.
The Unique Case of our 'Hero X':
Hero X is the extreme version of this concept. Because he is mysterious and the public believes his power is limitless or omnipotent, he can effectively manifest any skill or ability needed for the situation, including:
Reality Manipulation: Shifting between 2D and 3D dimensions.
Instant Adaptability: If people view him as a
"god," he gains god-like abilities such as near-omnipotence and the potential to reach godhood.
Creative Manifestation: He can even pull objects (like cars) out of billboards because the public's perception of his power is so vast it allows for nearly any manifestation of his imagination.
Don't worry Kaito just awakened his quirk. And the public belief is still ever-changing. Given some time Kaito will master his quirk perfectly.