Location: Naruhata Ward – Kaito's Apartment
Saturday | 09:00 AM (Two Weeks Later)
RRRIP.
Kaito Arisaka pulled the heavy packing tape off the large cardboard box.
He opened the flaps and carefully lifted out a pristine, jet-black Fender Stratocaster electric guitar.
He set it on the stand, then turned to the second box, unboxing a high-end 88-key synthesizer.
He spent the next twenty minutes adjusting cables, running lines into a digital audio interface, and hooking up a pair of heavy studio monitors to his laptop. He also clamped a condenser microphone to his desk.
Kaito's living room looked like a recording studio.
He hadn't bought them for a mission. He bought them because it was his day off, and his bank account was severely inflated from his recent contract bonuses with the Ryukyu Agency.
More importantly, he bought them for a practical application of his expanding mental library.
Through the thin apartment walls, Kaito could hear the faint, melodic humming of Kazuho Haneyama—Pop★Step—practicing her idol routines next door. She loved music. She dedicated her life to it. But her backing tracks were always low-quality, recorded on cheap software.
Kaito had never played an instrument in his past life or in the present life.
He sat on the edge of his sofa and picked up the guitar.
Somewhere on the internet, on a massive, hidden hero-watcher forum, a fan had posted a theory: "I bet Hero X is a genius at everything. Like, a modern music god. He's too perfect not to be."
That single post had garnered tens of thousands of upvotes overnight. A massive collective believed the reality-warping god was a musical prodigy.
Because the world believed he knew everything, the knowledge simply downloaded into his head.
His mind categorized the information neatly, like a massive, quiet memory palace. Today, he just walked down the hall and pulled the book labeled 'Music Theory, Composition, and Vocals.'
Kaito opened his eyes. He looked at the fretboard. It wasn't confusing anymore. It was a familiar map.
The soft skin on his fingertips suddenly tightened and hardened, developing the thick calluses of a veteran guitarist so the steel strings wouldn't cut his hands.
Strum.
He placed his fingers on the neck and ran a quick acoustic sweep to test the tuning. The notes rang out, crisp and perfect.
He needed a real test track. Something upbeat and energetic that fit Kazuho's heroic idol aesthetic.
His mind drifted to a specific opening song of MHA anime from his past life. A fast-paced, iconic song called "Peace Sign."
Kaito plugged the guitar in, put on his studio headphones, and hit record on his laptop.
He started with the intro.
His fingers clamped down on the frets, and he struck the heavy, driving opening chords.
Dun-dun-dun, dun-dun!
He set the guitar down and rolled his chair to the keyboard.
Click-clack.
Kaito switched the synthesizer to a bass setting, listened to the guitar track he just recorded, and played the driving bassline right over it.
Then, he switched to the drum pads. He aggressively tapped out the fast snare rolls and heavy kick-drum beats that gave the intro its signature hype and momentum.
He listened to the instrumental playback. It sounded like a platinum-selling record. But it was missing the core.
Kaito pulled the condenser microphone closer to his mouth. He tapped the pop filter.
"Check. One. Two," Kaito said.
He cleared his throat. He needed to shift his vocal cords.
He hit record on the vocal track. The upbeat guitar and drum intro played in his headphones, building the hype, right up until the beat dropped for the first verse.
Kaito opened his mouth, matching the exact energetic pitch from his memory.
"Oh, oh, oh"
"Oh, oh, oh"
"Itsuka bokura no ue wo suresure ni..."
(Someday it will slip over us....)
His voice completely transformed. It was rich, powerful, and carried a raw, slightly raspy rock edge.
He hit the notes flawlessly, his pitch mathematically perfect but filled with a fiery passion.
"Toorisugiteitta ano hikouki wo..."
(That plane that passed by)
He sang through the first verse, completely losing himself in the rhythm. He leaned into the mic, his foot tapping heavily against the floor as he pushed his vocal range higher without a single crack or strain.
"Fushigi na kurai ni oboeteiru... Imi mo nai noni naze ka..."
(I remember it so strangely well... though there's no meaning to it, why...)
He delivered the bridge, letting his voice build up the tension, right until the drum track exploded into the chorus.
"Mou modorenai kakeashi de koronde..."
(I can't go back, tripping as I ran...)
When he finished the chorus, he hit the spacebar to stop the recording.
He took off his headphones and clicked play on the master track.
The studio monitors blasted the full, completed version of "Peace Sign" into the room.
It was loud, emotional, and flawlessly mixed.
It didn't sound like a cheap cover; it sounded like Kenshi Yonezu was standing right there in his living room.
"Good, good, good," Kaito muttered.
His voice instantly snapped back to its usual flat baseline.
The rockstar was gone; the tired logistics manager was back.
A genuine, faint smile touched his face as he adjusted the volume slider, letting the final guitar chords ring out.
He was fully prepared to spend the rest of his Saturday arranging a backing track for Kazuho's next underground concert, just to see her reaction.
then~~
BZZZT. BZZZT.
His encrypted work phone vibrated on the coffee table.
Kaito frowned. He picked it up. The caller ID was masked, but the prefix belonged to the Minato Ward.
"Arisaka speaking," Kaito answered.
"Arisaka-san! Finally!" a loud, brash female voice boomed through the speaker.
It was so loud Kaito had to pull the phone an inch away from his ear. "I've been trying to get past your firewall all morning! It's Kamiji! Moe Kamiji!"
Kaito recognized the name instantly.
Moe Kamiji. Hero Name: Burnin'. The lead sidekick of the Number Two Hero, Endeavor.
"It is my day off, Kamiji-san," Kaito said, his voice flat. "My consulting hours resume on Monday at 8:00 AM."
"Yeah, yeah, I know! But the boss is breathing down my neck!" Burnin' shouted, the sound of street traffic echoing behind her. "Listen, I am not asking you to work. I'm asking you to drink coffee. Meet me at the Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall in thirty minutes. The Endeavor Agency is transferring one million yen into your account right now, just for you to show up and let me talk for twenty minutes."
Kaito looked at his tablet. A notification popped up from his offshore bank.
Deposit Received: ¥1,000,000. Origin: Endeavor Support Corp.
Kaito stared at the screen.
They were throwing money at him just for a conversation. Ryukyu's meteoric rise in the Hero Billboard charts over the last two weeks had clearly terrified the top agencies.
"I prefer black coffee," Kaito said. "I will be there in thirty minutes."
_-_-_-_-_-_
Location: Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall – 4th Floor Cafe
Saturday | 09:45 AM
The mall was packed with weekend shoppers. Families, teenagers, and tourists crowded the walkways.
Kaito sat at a corner table in an open-air cafe on the fourth floor, overlooking the massive glass atrium in the center of the mall.
He wore a simple beige trench coat and a black turtleneck.
Sitting across from him was Burnin'. She wasn't in civilian clothes.
She was in her full hero costume, her vibrant green flaming hair flickering with her high energy.
People were staring, taking photos from afar, but she ignored them.
She slammed a thick, gold-embossed folder onto the table.
"Ryukyu jumped eight spots in two weeks," Burnin' said, leaning forward. "Eight! She's operating with zero civilian casualties, fifty percent less property damage, and her sidekicks look like a military strike team."
"I am a freelance logistics manager," Kaito replied, taking a slow sip of his black coffee.
"Tatsuma-san purchased my Standard Operations Package. That is all."
"Don't give me the corporate PR script, Arisaka," Burnin' grinned, showing her teeth.
"Endeavor wants you. He doesn't want to be out-managed by a private dragon. Look at the folder. It's a blank check. Name your salary. Name your benefits. You want a penthouse in Roppongi? Done. You want your own dedicated server farm? Done. Just come manage the flaming side of the charts."
Kaito didn't open the folder. He set his coffee cup down on the saucer.
Clink.
"I respect the Endeavor Agency's raw output, Kamiji-san," Kaito said evenly. "But your boss relies heavily on overwhelming firepower to solve tactical problems. My system requires absolute obedience to routing and restraint. Endeavor does not strike me as a man who enjoys taking orders from a dashboard."
"He will if it makes him Number One!" Burnin' argued, slamming her hands on the table.
"Look, just come to the office for a week. A trial run! I promise you—"
RRRRUMBLE.
The coffee cup vibrated off the saucer.
Kaito didn't flinch. He looked at the center of the mall.
CRASH!
The massive glass skylight of the atrium shattered.
Thousands of razor-sharp shards rained down onto the ground floor.
The weekend shoppers screamed.
A colossal figure landed in the center of the plaza, crushing the central fountain under its weight.
It was Ryuichi Gojiyama, a villain with a dinosaur-mutation quirk. He was fifteen meters tall, covered in thick, reptilian scales, and his jaw dripped with corrosive acid.
ROAAAAAR!
The roar shattered the storefront windows on the first three floors.
_-_-_-_-_-_
"A Villain?!" Burnin' shouted, instantly kicking her chair back. Her green hair flared violently. She tapped her earpiece.
"Endeavor Dispatch, this is Burnin'! Code Red at Kiyashi Mall! I need a strike team and evacuation support immediately! I can't hold a heavyweight in a fragile structure!"
"Dispatch here," a panicked voice crackled over her comms. "All nearby units are tied up in a pileup on the expressway! ETA for backup is twelve minutes!"
"Twelve minutes?!" Burnin' cursed, looking down at the panic below. The villain was thrashing its massive tail, taking out structural pillars. "The roof is going to collapse in four! I have to engage!"
She stepped onto the balcony railing, preparing to leap.
A hand grabbed her shoulder.
It wasn't a hard grip, but it was unyielding. Burnin' looked back. Kaito was standing behind her, his briefcase already in his left hand.
"Do not jump blind," Kaito commanded, his voice slicing through the panic like ice. "If you fight him now, the crowd will be caught in your crossfire. Give me your secondary earpiece."
"What?! I don't have time for a consultation, Arisaka!"
"Give me the earpiece," Kaito repeated. "I am taking Theater Command."
Burnin' looked into his calculating eyes. She ripped a spare comms unit from her belt and tossed it to him.
"Don't get killed, Arisaka!" Burnin' yelled, leaping off the fourth-floor balcony.
FWOOSH!
She used her flames to slow her descent, landing in front of the roaring Kaiju.
Kaito didn't watch her.
He opened his briefcase on the cafe table. He pulled out a specialized tablet and jammed a cable into the mall's public Wi-Fi router mounted on the cafe wall. His fingers flew across the glass screen.
BEEP
Kaito hijacked the mall's public address system.
"Attention all civilians," Kaito's voice boomed through the hundreds of speakers across the five-story complex. It wasn't panicked. It was the voice of absolute authority.
"This is Pro-Hero Dispatch. Do not run. Do not push. Follow the green emergency floor lights to the East and West exits. The North exit is compromised."
On the ground floor, a terrified mother holding a toddler stumbled.
She was about to fall backward into the path of a stampeding crowd.
From the fourth floor, Kaito watched her. He didn't blink. He visualized the kinetic momentum of her fall.
Snap
A silent, invisible edit rippled through reality.
The mother didn't fall. The kinetic energy pulling her backward was simply deleted.
She regained her footing perfectly and kept running, completely unaware of the miracle.
"Security personnel," Kaito continued over the PA, isolating the mall guards' radio frequencies. "Form a wedge at the South corridor. Direct the bottleneck to the service elevators. Do it now."
Down below, the security guards, shocked into obedience by the commanding voice, moved perfectly into position.
The chaotic mob transformed into a fluid, efficient stream.
In exactly eighty seconds, the immediate danger zone was empty.
Kaito tapped his earpiece.
"The board is clear, Kamiji," Kaito said, looking down at the giant reptile. "Engage."
"Finally!" Burnin' yelled.
She pulled a clump of her burning green hair and threw it like a fastball. It exploded against the Kaiju's chest.
BOOM!
The villain roared, turning its massive, acidic jaws toward her. It lunged, its speed terrifying for its size.
"Two steps left. Duck," Kaito ordered over the comms.
Burnin' didn't question it. She shifted two steps and dropped.
SWISH
The giant claws missed her head by millimeters, smashing into an empty kiosk instead.
"He is sluggish on his left side due to his immense weight," Kaito analyzed, tracking the villain's center of gravity. "Do not use wide-area attacks. You will melt the steel supports. Compress your flame into your right fist. Do not release the oxygen until the point of impact. Treat it like a concentrated jet thruster."
Burnin' grinned wildly. "Like a rocket punch? I love it!"
She ignited her right arm, forcing the fire inward instead of letting it bloom. The heat intensified, turning the green flame white-hot. She dashed forward, sliding under the villain's blind spot.
"Now," Kaito commanded.
Burnin' drove her fist into the Kaiju's left knee joint and released the compression.
KRA-KOOM!
A concentrated spike of fire blasted into the joint.
The villain shrieked, its massive leg buckling under its own weight. It crashed to the floor, shaking the entire mall.
"This is insane!" Burnin' laughed, flipping backward to gain distance. "I'm untouchable! You're seeing things before they even happen!"
"Do not celebrate. Finish it," Kaito said. He looked at the structural integrity map on his tablet. "The foundation is cracking. We need to knock him out without blowing up the building. Plant your feet."
The villain was trying to stand, its throat glowing yellow as it prepared to spew a massive wave of corrosive acid.
"Left hand aimed behind you. Right hand aimed forward," Kaito instructed, drawing on the tactical physics of a popular anime he remembered, Katekyo Hitman Reborn "X-Burner".
"Fifty percent output from the rear for physical stabilization. Eighty percent output forward for destruction."
"My quirk doesn't work like that!" Burnin' shouted, taking the stance anyway. "I have a thermal limit! If I push forward, the recoil will shatter my arms, or the fire will just scatter!"
"Trust the logistics. Do it." Kaito ordered.
Burnin' gritted her teeth. She thrust her right hand forward and her left hand back. She screamed, pushing her quirk past its absolute limit.
"Concentrate. Your quirk is just a part of your body. Just focus on singular point. Use your Blazing Hair to maximize the attack at a single point."
From the fourth floor, Kaito tapped his finger against his tablet.
Snap
He didn't just edit reality; he edited her output.
He temporarily deleted the oxygen combustion cap on her quirk. He deleted the recoil physics that would break her bones.
The green flames erupted from her hands. But they didn't scatter.
They focused into two perfect, hyper-dense beams of pure thermal energy.
The rear beam locked her to the floor like a concrete anchor. The forward beam tore across the atrium.
FWOOOOOOSH!
The blast hit the Kaiju square in the chest. The sheer kinetic force lifted the fifteen-meter, multi-ton monster off the ground.
"Hold it!" Kaito yelled.
Burnin' roared, sustaining the impossible blast.
The villain was thrown backward fifty meters, smashing into a reinforced concrete pillar at the far end of the mall.
The thermal shock instantly knocked the beast unconscious, cauterizing its acid glands.
The flames died down.
Silence fell over the ruined atrium.
Burnin' stood there, her chest heaving.
She looked at her hands. They weren't broken. She wasn't burned.
She had just outputted a level of concentrated firepower that rivaled Endeavor's Prominence Burn, and she had completely soloed a Kaiju-class villain without destroying the civilian infrastructure.
"Target neutralized," Kaito's calm voice echoed in her earpiece. "Excellent execution, Kamiji-san."
Burnin' looked up at the fourth-floor cafe. Kaito was standing at the railing, perfectly unbothered, sliding his tablet back into his briefcase.
She used her flames to launch herself up to the balcony, landing heavily in front of him.
"Did I... did I just do that?" Burnin' panted, her eyes wide with adrenaline and pure awe.
"You followed instructions perfectly," Kaito said, picking up his trench coat.
"Arisaka," Burnin' grabbed his sleeve. "I don't care about the blank check anymore. You have to come to the agency. You made me a god down there! With you on comms, Endeavor would be unstoppable!"
Kaito gently pulled his sleeve free.
"You performed admirably, Kamiji-san. But I must politely decline your offer," Kaito said.
"... I have a prior commitment to an ongoing contract with the Ryukyu Agency. It is a matter of professional courtesy."
He gave her a slight bow, turned, and walked toward the emergency exit, leaving the Number Two Hero's lead sidekick staring after him in stunned silence as the first wave of police sirens finally arrived.
_-_-_-_-_-_
Location: UA High School – Principal's Office
While Kaito was rejecting the big leagues, his legal trap was being sprung.
Iwao Oguro sat in a plush leather chair in the pristine office of Principal Nezu. Beside him, Makoto Tsukauchi sat with perfect posture, her pristine business suit contrasting with Iwao's rough flannel.
Sitting across from them was the towering, skeletal form of Toshinori Yagi—All Might—and the small, impeccably dressed chimera, Principal Nezu.
"It is good to see you alive, O'Clock," All Might said, his voice quiet but warm. "When you vanished years ago, we feared the worst. To hear that you survived an encounter with Him... it is a relief."
"I got lucky," Iwao grunted. "But my luck ran out when I got caught on camera in Naruhata. The Commission is going to put me in Tartarus for illegal vigilantism if I don't legitimize my operation."
Makoto slid the thick manila folder across Nezu's desk.
"This is the business charter for the newly reformed O'Clock Hero Agency," Makoto said smoothly. "We are requesting UA's official sponsorship and backing to process it through the Hero Public Safety Commission."
Nezu picked up the charter. His beady black eyes scanned the pages.
His High Spec quirk activated, absorbing the legal jargon, the zoning loopholes, and the tactical corporate structuring in seconds.
Nezu's whiskers twitched. A wide, terrifying smile spread across his furry face.
"Oh my," Nezu chuckled, taking a sip of tea. "This is not just a business charter. This is a weapon."
All Might frowned. "A weapon?"
"Indeed!" Nezu beamed, tapping the paper.
"Whoever drafted this used the Disaster Relief Act to effectively annex Naruhata Ward. By registering Iwao as the primary localized responder, and tying his jurisdiction to private property laws, the HPSC requires a court order just to set up a surveillance camera in his neighborhood. This document legally secedes a portion of the city from the Commission's control."
Nezu looked over the top of the folder at Iwao.
"Who drafted this, Oguro-san? This level of bureaucratic malice is truly inspiring."
"A freelance logistics manager in my neighborhood," Iwao said casually. "Kid named Arisaka. Hired him just for the documents."
"Arisaka... It's him again... Then it is understandable. He even made Christopher Skyline a Symbol of Hope," Nezu hummed.
He picked up a red fountain pen. "Well, I simply must support such brilliant legal architecture. The HPSC has grown too comfortable with their monopoly."
Nezu signed the document with a flourish.
"To ensure the Commission cannot retroactively arrest you," Nezu stated, pulling a blank classified dossier from his drawer,
"I am officially documenting your 'missing years' as a Class-S Deep Cover operation sanctioned by UA High and All Might. You were never a vigilante, O'Clock. You were a ghost operative."
"Thank you, Principal Nezu," Makoto smiled, knowing the trap was completely sealed.
"And your two young students—the Crawler and Pop★Step—are hereby registered as provisional sidekicks under your legal umbrella," Nezu added, closing the folder.
"Welcome back to the light, O'Clock."
_-_-_-_-_
Location: HPSC Headquarters – Command Room
SMASH!
The HPSC President slammed her coffee mug onto her desk, shattering it.
Yokoyama and Akane Mera stood nervously on the other side of the room.
The massive monitor behind them displayed the finalized, UA-stamped charter for the O'Clock Hero Agency.
"A deep cover operation?!" the President hissed, her face pale with fury. "Do they think we are idiots? We have footage of him brawling in alleyways for years! He is a thug!"
"He is a thug with Principal Nezu and All Might's signatures on his paperwork, Ma'am," Yokoyama pointed out, adjusting his glasses.
"Our legal team reviewed the charter. The zoning loopholes are airtight. If we attempt to arrest him, or his sidekicks, Nezu will drag us through a public tribunal. We would look like we are attacking a veteran hero who just saved a ward from a terrorist attack."
Mera rubbed her tired eyes. "The reality is... we lost Naruhata, Madam President. We have no jurisdiction there anymore. O'Clock owns the streets, and someone much smarter than us wrote the lease."
The President slumped into her chair, looking at the grainy footage of the 2D Graffiti left by Hero X.
"The system is fracturing," she whispered.
"Vigilantes are becoming untouchable. Gods are rewriting reality. If we don't regain control soon... there won't be a Commission left to run."
_-_-_-_-_-_
Location: Endeavor Agency – Musutafu Branch
The heavy glass doors of the agency slid open.
Burnin' walked onto the main dispatch floor.
She was covered in soot, but she was vibrating with residual adrenaline.
The entire room of seasoned sidekicks—including the veterans Kido and Onima—were silent.
They were all standing around the central monitors, watching the news broadcast.
["...stunning display of raw power," the news anchor reported over the footage of Burnin' blasting the Kaiju villain through the mall.]
["Pro-Hero Burnin' soloed a Class-A threat with zero civilian casualties and minimal structural damage. Experts are calling it a flawless execution."]
Kido looked away from the screen and stared at Burnin'.
"Moe..." Kido breathed in disbelief. "Since when can you do a dual-directional concentrated blast? You should have shattered both your arms trying to pull that off."
Burnin' walked over to her desk. She didn't brag. She didn't boast. She just looked at her hands.
"It wasn't me," Burnin' whispered, the awe still heavy in her voice. "I mean, it was my fire. But it was his brain. He played me like an instrument. He saw the entire fight before I even threw a punch."
Onima frowned. "Who?"
Burnin' looked up at the top floor, where Endeavor's private office was located.
"Kaito Arisaka, the one Endeavor's looking for." Burnin' said.
"We need to hire that guy, Kido. Whatever he wants, we pay it. Because if someone else gets him... we are never reaching Number One."
~~~~~~
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