The quirk doctor's office smelled like Hansintizer. Kusuo sat on the examination table while his mother hovered nearby. His father stood by the door.
"So, telekinesis," Dr. Hiro said, flipping through notes on his tablet. "Your father mentioned over the phone that it manifested yesterday, quite suddenly."
"We'll run standard measurements," Dr. Hiro continued. He gestured to a series of objects arranged on a counter across the room. "Weight capacity, duration, precision.
Dr. Hiro pointed at a tennis ball on the counter. "Let's start simple. Can you move that for me?"
Kusuo focused, and the ball lifted smoothly, hovering at eye level.
"Good. Now the book beside it."
The book joined the ball, both floating together
"Excellent control, now both at once, if you can, and bring them to me."
He guided both objects across the room. Dr. Hiro took them, nodding. "Very good. Most children your age struggle with multiple objects."
Dr. Hiro set the items aside and pointed at progressively heavier objects. A five-pound weight. A ten-pound dumbbell. A twenty-pound medicine ball. Kusuo lifted each one without issue.
"Impressive. You're showing signs of a powerful quirk." Dr. Hiro made notes on his tablet. "Let's try something different."
He produced a small wooden puzzle box with a marble inside. "This has a maze inside. Can you guide the marble through without opening it?"
Kusuo took the box and felt its weight; he sensed the marble inside through telekinesis. The maze was simple, it had three turns and one dead end. He guided the marble through in fifteen seconds.
Dr. Hiro blinked. "That's… very good. Here, try this one."
The second puzzle was more complex, but Kusuo solved it in thirty seconds.
"And this?"
The third took forty-five seconds.
"Remarkable. Your accuracy is beyond what I'd expect for-"
The room suddenly changed.
Kusuo blinked. He was standing on the other side of the examination room near the window, with the puzzle box still in his hands.
His parents stared.
Dr. Hiro stared.
He looked down at his hands, then back at where he'd been sitting. Five meters away.
Oh.
"Did he just…" his dad said in shock.
"Teleport," Dr. Hiro finished. He set his tablet aside. "You just teleported."
Kusuo's mind raced; he hadn't meant to. He'd just thought about being near the window, wanting to see outside while he worked on the puzzle, and then he was there.
"I didn't know he could do that," Himari said.
"This changes things. Teleportation is an entirely separate quirk classification from telekinesis. If he has both, then that means he has a very rare type of quirk, which is dual aspect. I'll need to run more tests and see if other abilities are manifesting."
Kusuo walked back to the examination table. His parents watched him like he might vanish again.
"Can you do it again?" Dr. Hiro asked. "The teleportation?"
He tried, focusing on the spot near the door where his father stood and thought about being there, but nothing happened.
He tried again and concentrated harder, but there was still nothing.
"It might be instinctive right now," Dr. Hiro said. "Stress-activated or emotion-linked. That's common with newly manifested abilities. You weren't trying to teleport, were you?"
Kusuo shook his head.
"Thought so. Your subconscious did it for you." He made more notes. "We'll document this as a dual-aspect psychic quirk. Telekinesis as the primary ability, teleportation as secondary. I'll schedule follow-up appointments to track development."
"Is he going to be okay?" Himari asked.
"Perfectly fine. He's healthy, and his quirk isn't dangerous to himself or others. He'll just need monitoring as he grows. Psychic quirks can be unpredictable during development."
Takumi grinned. "A Dual-aspect quirk, that's incredible. The family's going to be thrilled."
Dr. Hiro finished his notes and looked at Kusuo's parents. "I'll send the documentation to your quirk registry. He's officially documented now. You'll want to enroll him in a quirk-development program soon. There are several good kindergartens that specialize in quirk training."
"We've already been looking," Himari said. "There's a private academy in our district, a former pro heroes run it."
"Excellent choice, he'll benefit from the training immensely."
-----
The kindergarten was called Sunrise Academy, his mother had spent the morning fussing over his uniform, a simple navy tracksuit with the academy's logo on the chest. His father had given him a pep talk about legacy and responsibility. Kusuo had nodded through both and said nothing.
Now he stood in front of the building with his parents, staring at the front entrance. It looked normal enough. Playground to the left, main building ahead, kids running around screaming.
"You're going to love it here," Mom said, straightening his collar for the third time.
"Make some friends," Dad added. "Show them what a Saiki can do."
A woman in a track uniform approached. She was tall with short red hair. "You must be the Saiki family. I'm Coach Watanbe. I'll be Kusuo's homeroom instructor."
She crouched down to Kusuo's level, smiling. "You ready to meet your classmates?"
He nodded.
"Great, now say goodbye to your parents and follow me."
His mother hugged him tight, and his father ruffled his hair. Then, they left, and Kusuo followed Coach Watanabe into the building.
In the classroom, there were fifteen kids, all around his age, scattered across the room. Some played with blocks, and others drew pictures. Two kids were arguing over a toy truck, while one kid sat alone in the corner, staring at his hands.
"Everyone, attention!" The room quieted down. "We have a new student, this is Kusuo Saiki. He's going to be joining us starting today."
"Hi," Kusuo said.
"HI KUSUO!" several of them shouted back.
One kid, a girl with bright yellow hair, bounced over. "What's your quirk? I can make sparks!" She held up her hands, and tiny electrical sparks popped between her fingers. "See?"
"That's enough, Akari," Coach Watanabe said gently. "Let's not overwhelm him on his first day."
Akari ignored her. "So what's your quirk?"
"Telekinesis," Kusuo said. "And teleportation."
Her eyes went huge. "TWO QUIRKS?"
"It's one quirk," he corrected. It just has two abilities."
"That's so cool! Can you show me? Can you teleport right now? Where would you go? Can you lift me?"
"Akari, give him space." Coach Watanabe guided her back toward the blocks. "Kusuo, you can sit anywhere you'd like. We're doing free play for another ten minutes, then we'll start morning exercises."
He picked a spot near the window, away from the main cluster of kids. Within seconds, three others had come over.
A boy with horns introduced himself as Kaito, and another boy, Ren, had extra arms, four total. A girl named Hana had vines growing from her wrists.
"You're tall," Kaito said.
"Thanks," Kusuo replied.
"Are you older than us?"
"I'm Four."
"Me too! But you're still taller."
"It's genetics."
"What's genetics?"
Kusuo decided not to explain. "What do you do here?"
"Lots of stuff," Ren said, waving all four arms. "We learn about heroes and practice using our quirks and play games and eat snacks."
"Snacks are the best part," Hana added.
Morning exercises turned out to be exactly what Ren had described. Coach split them into pairs and had them demonstrate their quirks in scenarios like lift this object, create this effect, and show your classmate what you can do.
Kusuo got paired with Akari, who was still beaming with excitement.
"Okay, you two," Coach said. "Kusuo, show Akari your telekinesis, and Akari, you watch and tell me what you notice."
He lifted a foam block and moved it in a circle, then settled it down.
"He didn't even move!" Akari said. "He just looked at it, and it moved!"
"Good observation. That's how many psychic quirks work. Kusuo, can you lift something heavier?"
He lifted three blocks at once, stacking them mid-air.
"Excellent control. How does it feel?"
"Normal," Kusuo said.
"Any strain? Fatigue?"
He shook his head.
"You've got a strong quirk, but remember, even strong quirks have limits. You'll need to learn where yours are." She turned to Akari. "Your turn. Show Kusuo your sparks."
Akari grinned and held up both hands. Sparks crackled between her fingers, brighter this time.
"I can make them bigger, but Coach says I'm not allowed to yet because last time I shocked Kaito, and he cried."
"It hurt!" Kaito yelled from across the room.
Coach smiled. "We're learning control, that's what this place is for."
The rest of the morning followed a pattern. Quirk demonstrations, basic exercises, and a lesson on a pro hero named Rescue Red, who specialized in disaster response. The kids paid attention for maybe five minutes before someone asked if Rescue Red could beat All Might in a fight.
"Different types of heroes," Coach explained. "All Might is a combat hero while Rescue Red saves people from danger, but both are important."
"But who would win?" Kaito insisted.
"That's not the point."
Lunch was rice balls and fruit. Kusuo sat with Ren and Hana, who were arguing about whether plants or extra arms were cooler.
"Plants can grow anywhere," Hana said. "Even in cracks in the sidewalk."
"Arms can hold things," Ren countered.
"Plants can hold things, too. They're called vines."
"That's not the same."
Kusuo ate his rice ball and watched the other kids. They were loud and excited about everything. He'd forgotten what it was like to be around people who hadn't learned to hide their emotions yet.
After lunch, Coach gathered them in a circle.
"Story time," she announced. "Today we're talking about hero ethics."
Several kids groaned.
"Ethics means doing the right thing," she continued. "Even when it's hard, who can tell me what a hero's job is?"
"Beat up bad guys!" Kaito shouted.
"Save people!" Akari added.
"Look cool!" someone else yelled.
Coach smiled. "All of those, yes, but the most important job a hero has is protecting people who can't protect themselves. That means making hard choices and putting others first."
She pulled out a picture book and started reading. It was about a hero who had to choose between chasing a villain and saving civilians; the hero chose the civilians.
"Was that the right choice?" Coach asked when she finished.
"Yes!" most of the class shouted.
"But the bad guy got away," Kaito argued.
"True. So why was it still the right choice?"
"Because people are more important than catching bad guys," Hana said.
"Exactly. Being a hero means protecting people, even if it means the villain escapes. You can catch a villain later, but you can't save someone who's already dead."
Kusuo thought about that. Here, everyone expected him to become a hero eventually and make sacrifices, but he wasn't sure he wanted that.