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(9 Advanced Chapters)
~~~~~
The Shizuoka Grand Mall was a structural grid of steel, glass, and three thousand heat signatures.
Kaito Arisaka stood by the central fountain. He was seventeen years and six months old. He was not looking at the shops. He was looking at the air.
The Trust Value was a heavy, physical pressure. Because the global public believed Hero X was a flawless law of nature, reality tried to "Update" Kaito's physical form every second.
His skin wanted to be marble. His hair wanted to be light. His muscles wanted to expand into a hero's frame.
Kaito did not struggle. He used his power to "Render" himself with lower resolution, forced his skin to be normal and made his posture into a uncoordinated slouch.
Kaito wore glasses on top of these. He had to maintain this 24/7 because he was currently making his own existence to stay below the HPSC's threshold.
-----
Gran Torino sat on a wooden bench. He was eating a taiyaki. He looked like a senile old man.
But he was actually measuring the gait and weight distribution of everyone in the atrium.
Ten meters away,
All Might was patrolling the upper walkway. Best Jeanist was stationed by the south exit near a denim boutique.
"Toshinori," Gran Torino whispered into a micro-com. "Look at the boy by the hardware kiosk."
"I see him, Sorahiko," All Might's voice replied through the earpiece. "Arisaka-shonen. He's buying electronics. He looks remarkably ordinary."
"That's what's wrong," Gran Torino muttered. "He moves like he's made of lead. He's too heavy for a kid that size. Most kids have a bounce. This one is stuck."
"The HPSC data says he's a Dud," All Might reminded him. "They've monitored his home and school for years. I feel pity for the kid."
"Data is just paper," Gran Torino said. "The kid has the balance of a fighter. And besides, it's what HPSC specialty and they didn't harm the kidnToshinori. Well, I'm going to see if he flinches."
Gran Torino stood up and began to hobble toward the kiosk. He intentionally stumbled, heading straight for Kaito's blind spot. Can't ask for something better to do. The higher ups requested him and Almight to join the evaluation.
And he wanted to see if the boy moved before impact.
-----
Kaito saw him. He saw the old man's center of gravity shift. He saw the intentional "stumble".
'He's testing my reflexes,' Kaito thought.
Watching Gran Torino appeared before him, he was baffled how did those idiots in HPSC even bothered a retired pro hero in their schemes.
Kaito did not move. He waited until Gran Torino's shoulder made contact with his arm.
He allowed the impact to knock him sideways. He let his shopping bag slip. The soldering iron hit the floor with a plastic crack.
"Oh! Sorry, old-timer," Kaito said. He sounded breathless and panicked. He scrambled to pick up his bag, fumbling with the handles.
Gran Torino watched his hands. No tremor. No surge of energy. Just a clumsy kid with bad coordination.
"Watch where you're going, brat," Gran Torino grunted.
"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."
Gran Torino turned away. He was still suspicious, but the boy had no "tell."
-----
At 2:14 PM, the north glass wall of the mall exploded.
A low-level gang, The Shatter-Heads, surged in. They were high on Quirk-enhancement drugs. The leader was a man with obsidian-colored skin. He let out a kinetic pulse that buckled the support pillars.
"EVERYONE DOWN!"
The crowd panicked. A thousand people surged toward the exits.
Kaito did not panic. He stood perfectly still for 0.4 seconds. He saw the entire room in Wireframe.
Because of his two years of mastery, he saw the structural integrity of the building failing. He saw the exact trajectory of the falling glass. He saw the stress points in the ceiling.
Kaito could have deleted the villains with a flick of his finger. Instead, Kaito chose to "Lag."
He waited for a group of shoppers to run past. He timed his movement. He allowed a shoulder-bump from a running man to "knock" him down.
Kaito hit the floor with the uncoordinated thud of a civilian.
A concrete pillar above him groaned. It was five tons of reinforced stone. It tilted.
Kaito looked up at the falling pillar.
His body did not scream. He felt the Updates trying to activate his invulnerability.
Kaito refused.
He focused on the floor beneath him. He did not make himself strong. He made the floor Obsolete.
As the pillar descended, Kaito manually De-rendered the structural support of the tiles under his own body. He didn't use a quirk; he edited the properties of the matter he was touching.
CRACK.
The pillar slammed down.
To All Might, Gran Torino, and Best Jeanist, it looked like the boy was crushed into the foundation.
Kaito had slipped into a maintenance crawlspace a millisecond before impact. He was in the dark, smelling old grease and dust. But he needed a Data Point of Weakness. He needed proof that he was normal human.
Kaito saw a jagged piece of rebar sticking out of the rubble. He did not flinch. He lowered the durability of his calf muscle to match the density of soft fruit.
He grabbed the metal and forced it through his leg.
"HELP!" Kaito screamed.
The pain was real. He allowed it to be real. He was a god choosing to feel the agony of a human. He needed the blood to be fresh. He needed the HPSC to see the trauma.
-----
All Might was there instantly. He heaved the concrete pillar off the floor. He tossed it aside.
He reached into the hole and pulled Kaito out.
He felt conflicted and confused why did he even bother to make this kid suffer this kind of harm.
The boy was covered in grey dust. His face was pale. His circle-rimmed glasses were shattered. He was bleeding thick, red, human blood. It was pooling on the white mall tiles.
"I've got you, young man!" All Might's voice was full of concern.
Kaito clung to All Might's arm. He shook. He made sure his breathing was shallow and uneven. "My... my soldering iron," Kaito sobbed. "I saved up for it... it's broken. Everything is broken."
Gran Torino stood nearby. He looked at the blood. He looked at the way Kaito's body was limp and helpless. He saw the genuine tears of a boy who had just seen his death coming.
"He didn't use a Quirk," Gran Torino whispered to himself. "He didn't even try to dodge. He just fell into a hole."
Best Jeanist arrived. He looked at Kaito's clothes. The polyester was shredded. The fibers were cheap and broken. There was no "impossible" fabric here.
"He's a civilian, Sorahiko," All Might said, handing Kaito to the paramedics. "He's just an unlucky boy. Tell the higher-ups to stop."
"Sigh"
-----
The paramedics sat Kaito on the back of the ambulance. They cut his pant leg open to treat the wound.
"You're lucky to be alive, kid," the paramedic said. "That pillar should have turned you into a pancake."
"The floor broke," Kaito said. He was staring at his feet. "I just... I felt the floor go out and I fell. I thought I was dead."
"Adrenaline is a hell of a thing," the paramedic replied, dabbing the wound with antiseptic.
Kaito hissed in pain. He had to keep the wound from healing.
The Updates was trying to close the skin. He had to keep the cells from regenerating. He had to keep the it from fixing his leg.
Agent Mera was watching the live feed from a drone overhead. She saw the blood. She saw the medical report being typed into the system.
[SUBJECT: ARISAKA, KAITO]
[INJURY: 4-INCH PUNCTURE WOUND, LEFT CALF]
[RESPONSE: STANDARD TRAUMA]
"The 2-year surveillance is over," Mera ordered the tech in the van. "Update his file to Level 0: Non-Threat. He's just a kid with terrible luck. Hero X is a separate entity. We're moving the team to Hosu."
-----
Kaito sat in the basement. His leg was bandaged.
He had sent his 2D-Projection somewhere two hours ago. To get the attention of his back.
It was easy now. He didn't even have to think about it.
Kaito looked at his bandaged leg. He could heal it in a second. He could make the skin smooth.
He did not.
"What a pain in the ass. All of this happened because I saved a lot of people years ago. The government is useless. That's one of the reason why villains still keep appearing."
Kaito reached out and touched a rusted pipe. He did not fix it. He used his mastery to keep it rusted.
'But2 years of hunting me,' Kaito thought.
He took off his broken glasses. He set them on the table.
* Age 15: Survived.
* Age 16: Survived.
* Age 17: Cleared.
The HPSC was gone. All Might was convinced. Gran Torino had seen him bleed.
The "Quiet Life" was within reach.
Kaito closed his eyes. He just had to graduate for one more year.
He went to sleep in the dark. He smelled of antiseptic and dust.
-----
Kaito woke up at 5:00 AM. His leg throbbed. He kept the pain active.
He walked to the kitchen. Grandma Saki was already there. She was sharpening a kitchen knife. The sound of steel on stone was the only noise in the house.
"The news said you were at the mall," Saki said.
"I was," Kaito replied. He sat down at the small table.
"You got hurt."
"I wasn't fast enough," Kaito said.
Saki stopped sharpening. She looked at him. Her eyes were sharp and knowing. "The floor broke, Kaito. The news said the floor just gave way beneath you. They called it a structural failure."
"Cheap construction," Kaito said. He took a piece of toast. "I got lucky."
"You keep getting lucky," Saki said. "Or the world keeps breaking for you. Which is it?"
"I'm just a normal guy, Grandma," Kaito said.
He finished his toast. He grabbed his school bag. He limped out the door. He didn't look back.
-----
Aizawa was standing at the entrance. He was in his hero gear, arms crossed.
He watched Kaito limp toward the gate. The boy was slow. His movements were guarded.
"Arisaka," Aizawa said.
"Good morning, Aizawa-san," Kaito said.
"Your leg," Aizawa pointed.
"The paramedics said it'll take two weeks to heal," Kaito said.
"You know kid, if you joined the UA even in the support or business class. None of this would happen"
"I don't regret it. And I stand by my decision Aizawa-san"
Aizawa looked at Kaito's face. "All Might said you were terrified. He said you were crying about a soldering iron."
"It was expensive," Kaito said. "I saved up for it by working extra shifts at the store."
Aizawa stepped closer. He lowered his voice. "Gran Torino thinks you're the best actor he's ever seen. He thinks you chose to fall."
"I don't know who that is, Sensei. I just want to go to class. I'm already late."
Aizawa stared at him for thirty seconds. The silence was heavy. Kaito didn't break. He just looked tired and annoyed.
-----
Kaito sat at his workbench. He was supposed to be designing a power grid for a simulated city.
Instead, he was looking at his hands.
The Update was pushing harder today. The world was talking about the mall incident. They were talking about how Hero X wasn't there to save the mall, but All Might was.
The "Trust Value" in Hero X was shifting. People were wondering why Hero X was missing. They were calling him unreliable.
This was perfect.
If Hero X started to seem unreliable, the pressure on Kaito's physical body would drop.
If Hero X was "broken," then Kaito Arisaka could be "fixed."
But is it though?
------
Agent Mera sat in her office. She looked at the final report on Kaito Arisaka.
* [SUBJECT: ARISAKA, KAITO]
* [THREAT LEVEL: 0]
* [QUIRK STATUS: QUIRKLESS / DUD]
* [PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: PASSIVE / RISK-AVERSE]
She signed the digital document.
"We're done with him," Mera said. "The Shizuoka anomaly was a false positive. Focus all assets on the Hosu sightings."
The red light on the surveillance file turned green.
Kaito felt the shift. He felt the digital eyes turn away. He felt the drones leaving his neighborhood.
He picked up his soldering iron. He began to work on the power grid. He made a mistake on purpose. He shorted the circuit.
The spark singed his finger.
"Ow," Kaito said quietly.
He smiled.
The God was buried. The normal guy was home.
~~~~~
[Author's Note]
Kaito is trapped by a fundamental rule. He somewhat knew his quirk is fueled by attention. But his power doesn't care about his reputation. It only cares about the Definition the public has assigned to him.
Since the public defines "Hero X" as an entity that can shift dimensions and manifest anything, that is what he is.
Even if the public turns toxic and says, "Hero X is a jerk for not showing up," they are still acknowledging that he could have shown up and fixed everything instantly.
That acknowledgment—that belief in his capability—is the very thing that keeps the "Update" pushing against his skin.
He isn't being fueled by their love; he is being fueled by their certainty that he is more than human.