Kaina's Lament.

Shido woke up groggily with his eyes barely open. But as soon as he stood up, a massive headache assaulted his head. He laid back on the bed, grabbing his head.

He rarely had headaches and even if he did get one, it would go away in a minute or two. So he waited... Waited for this headache to go away. He just lied there, doing nothing. While he was lying around, he tried to remember what happened last night.

He saw a weird dream where he dreamt of two people dying a horrible death and also saw a man's face, then he woke up in that dream where he fought Genesis and Caos. He disintegrated Genesis' arm and Genesis did something to his body.

Shido looked at the floor. There was neither blood nor an amputated arm. The room looks the same it was last night. This further increased his belief that whatever happened last night was a dream.

'But I saw a dream inside a dream and then woke up in a dream and fought Genesis. What the fuck is going on with me?!' Shido cursed himself.

Shido searched about it on google and he found out it's called 'Dream Within A Dream.' and some of the reasons for him to have such a dream was excess work or lack of proper rest. Well it was true as the moment he landed in America, He is just getting involved in so many things and he really needs to get some rest.

So he laid down and waited for the headache to die down.

A minute passed. Nothing happened, The Headache was still there. So he waited for more.

5 minutes passed. Still Nothing, The headache was still there.

'Fuck it!' Shido thought.

» » {HESOYAM} - Health, Armor, Money Cheat.

» » [Cheat Activated]

Shido used {HESOYAM} to stop this headache. It gave him a slight relief as it was now less painful than before and was bearable now but the headache was still there.

Shido sat right up on the bed and looked around his room. The room was the same it was like the last night. Some things were out of their place but he found nothing drastic that may clear the doubt whether the fight he had with Genesis was real or it was just a dream.

He pushed those thoughts away and started thinking about what to do with the day that is now in front of him. He doesn't know what to do here in America. He thought he would be very busy with Giran's mission and declined to bring Eri here now with him. But now he has nothing to do here, and now he is thinking that he should've agreed to Eri's plead and brought her here. At least he would have someone from his family he could spend some time with.

He wished to have teleportation powers like Caos.

'If I kill Kurogiri, then will I get his quirk or not? I don't know if he is a boss-level character, so I am unsure whether killing him would give me his quirk or not. If I get my hands on it. Oh boy... I am going to take the girls to so many places for a vacation in such a short time.' Shido thought but then he laughed at himself.

Becoming a father has really changed his thinking process. He was thinking of getting teleportation power just so he could spend more time with his family. But it made him feel good about himself as he has taken Fuyumi as his girlfriend and Eri and Himiko as his daughters completely and to the point of his subconscious brain. They are real to him now, not some characters anymore.

He started seeing them as real after that dream where Eri died. That changed his perception of the world he was in. People die if they are killed and are not saved by some plot armor. He resolved his mind and wanted to go home as soon as possible so that he could fulfill the promise he made to Eri that he will take wherever she wants him to take them for a vacation.

He smiled and picked up his phone to look at what time it was. It was 10 AM. He flinched for a moment when he saw the time. He had never woken up this late and was wondering what caused this. But again, he pushed this aside, put his helmet on, and went outside his room to freshen himself up.

There was one bathroom on either floor of the house that they've rented. Shido went to the one upstairs. He didn't hear any sound coming from the inside and was about to barge inside but then he stopped and knocked on the door.

"Is anybody inside?!" Shido shouted but since he got no reply so he barged in.

But when he entered he saw someone he didn't expect him to be there...

Genesis.

He stood there with his back facing Shido, then he turned to look helmet-to-helmet to Shido.

(A/N: Face-to-face but made it into a bad pun as both of them are wearing helmets.)

Shido was about to take out his weapons but then he couldn't find Genesis in the bathroom. It was like he was not there in the first place. Confused by the things that transpired in a matter of brief seconds, Shido - who was not able to find any reason behind this - blamed the headache that he was having since waking up.

He then locked the door and undressed. After undressing, he saw himself in the mirror found that he was now only in a pair of boxers and the Night Slash helmet. He found the attire funny but then he noticed something that took the smile on his face away.

He found a weird tattoo on his left chest.

He touched the mirror in front of him as if there was something with the mirror but he then touched his chest where the tattoo was at. The skin was smooth and had no red, itchy sores around it which is usually the case with new tattoos. It was as if the tattoo was there for years. But Shido knew that the tattoo just appeared in span when he was asleep.

He removed his helmet and his shock from the unknown tattoo further increased.

His hair... The usual olive-brown hair he used to have has changed to abyssal black. He touched his hair in disbelief. He only had one question in his mind right now,

'How come these changes occurred in me without my knowledge?'

He tried to put some thoughts into this, but his headache was preventing him from doing so. But he had an intuition that this must be a prank pulled on him by the teammates. He considered this as the most plausible he could think of in his current condition.

There were other things as well which were not so friendly to him and may cause unnecessary worry. One of them is if the dream he saw last night was real and he really fought Genesis. This change inside his body may be caused by him.

'This tattoo must be a temporary tattoo and they must've dyed my hair when I was asleep,' Shido gave himself the friendly reason he thought of and calmed himself down from the shock and worry he was feeling from the changes that took place.

Shido then spent half an hour checking his body completely to see if there was any other change that he might have not found yet. And he did find some changes other than the tattoo and the hair.

His face has some changes. His facial features have become sharper than earlier, a jawline sharper than before, a bit sharper and lifted eyes than his droopy eyes earlier. His skin is still the same, he did not get fair and clear skin which can be compared to jades that are used to describe someone's beauty for some reason. His Pupils which were green are now turned black.

Overall, The changes are not that drastic that people who knew him won't even recognize him. It's like you saw someone you know had their hair dyed and are wearing colored contact lenses. Initially, it would be a bit difficult but you will get over it eventually.

-- Will everything will be okay, Reid?

He was about to take shower but then he heard a voice. He felt he has heard this voice before.

-- Dad, Is mom going to be okay?

Again, He heard a voice but it was different from before. He knew this voice as well. These were voices that he heard in the dream inside the dream that he had last night.

But now he is awake, then why are these voices coming to him. He doesn't know what is happening to him. While he was contemplating, he felt something creeping behind him, so he slashed with his katana directly but he stopped when he saw no one was there.

'Am I going crazy? First the dream within the dream, then Hallucinating Genesis, then these voices... What is happening to me?' Shido

---⋉ 30% ⋊---

...

Shido after getting ready went downstairs to have his breakfast. Down there, he saw Kaina sitting at the dining table alone. She too was having her breakfast when he saw a plate of pancakes in front of her. She had a distraught expression on her face and the spoon was in dangling in her hands. She just sat there, looking at the seat in front of her.

Shido sat in front of her with his own plate of pancakes. He used Overhaul and removed the lower part of his helmet. Seeing Shido sitting in front of her made Kaina come out of her daze, she then started eating her breakfast as usual.

Shido looked at her for a moment, then he also started eating.

They ate in silence as he didn't say anything to her nor did she say anything to him. They just sat there and ate slowly. Gradually and Eventually, the atmosphere started becoming awkward.

"If you have something in mind and want to let it out, you can say it to me?" Shido took the initiative and started the conversation. The tone of his voice was low as there were only two of them at the dining table.

"What are you talking about?" Kaina showed a confused expression and acted ignorantly.

Shido didn't stop his spoon digging through the pancakes while talking, "Well you were looking like you were in a daze and maybe thinking about something. You also had that sad expression on your face. So I thought there something must be going on with you... If you are comfortable with it then you can share that with me... or any other teammate. It is better that you talk it out. It will feel lighten the burden on your shoulder.

I don't want to offend you but I don't think you have anyone else other than us with whom you can talk.

You know, La Brava is a good listener and as she is a girl, you will be comfortable--" Shido tried to suggest to Kaina but he got interrupted.

"I had one..." Kaina said slowly.

Seeing her start talking, Shido shut up and started listening to her.

Being a good Team Leader also needed him to be a good friend to his teammates so he is being supportive. Even after entering the team, Kaina kept her distance from everyone or they kept their distance from Kaina, It wasn't known to Shido but it was clear that she was not so cordial with the teammates.

Shido was imagining himself in her place. What if he had to go through what she went through... But he pushed these useless thoughts away and concentrated on Kaina.

Kaina started speaking in a sad tone, "I had someone...to whom I could talk to... to whom I could share my happiest or saddest moments... to whose shoulders I could use to cry. I always thought whatever happens in this world, He will always be there when I need him. Why? Because he said so. He told me that whenever I feel like I need help, he will be there. I just need to ask him once and all... all my problems will fly away. He will beat those bad guys off."

An awkward smile swept on her face, "We were Middle School kids and he was quirkless for christ's sake and he said those things so blatantly... Even though I was a year younger than him, I at least knew that whatever he said was not possible, maybe he also knew it was impossible but he just said to make me feel good. And I did feel good. I liked when he said those words to me because he was the only one who said words like those to me.

He was quirkless. Got beaten around by quirked bullies. I saved him every time from those bullies as the bullies feared me. My quirk is literally a big gun, Kids used to get fear struck whenever I just brought my Rifle out of my hand. I would help him clean the dust off and apply first-aid to his injuries.

I would always suggest he should tell about this to his parents or the teachers but he always denied it by saying 'If I back down now, then would I will be able to help you and my parents when a bad guy attacks. I am defeated now but I will win one day. I will train and become strong.' He always tried to act as if he was my big brother but usual goofiness messed that act. And This was how our usual day would go but..." Kaina stopped eating and took a sip of water.

"But one day, the kids planned to bully him somewhere other than their usual place. Usually, it happened in the playground. They were really pissed at me and him that I ruined their 'fun' every time. So they held him from leaving the school and started beating him. They released all their pent-up frustration and resentment on the 'weak' and 'frail' quirkless kid.

On the other hand, I constantly looked around for him at every place I could think he could be. And when finally I found him. He was beaten, bruised, unconscious... bleeding. Yes, unconscious and bleeding from his head. I quickly called the staff member to help me to take him to a hospital.

It became a big matter as the damage was too big. Severe Concussion, Cracked Skull, and several broken bones, Deep Scratches, etc. The ones involved were quickly found out. When interrogated they denied it at first but when were pushed further, they cried and accepted that they did it. They told that they wanted to have a target to use their quirks so they used him as their target for practice.

These kids used quirks in bullying. This made the case bigger. But the victim was quirkless. It was not America, where if something like this would've happened to a quirkless person, the protests would've flooded the streets but it was Japan, the country that couldn't give justice to a girl who was raped and tortured for 44 days, and then buried in wet concrete after she died, what justice could they give to him.

And as expected, Him being quirkless and the bullies being the kids with good quirks changed the course of the case. The Bullies were set free with a small punishment of suspension from the school and the court settled the case with them needing to pay a small compensation and pay his medical expenses.

His parents were disappointed by the outcome but they were not shocked at all. They somewhat anticipated something like this. So they moved to another city, So their son would not have to live in the city, reliving his trauma every day." Kaina again took a sip of water to wet down her throat.

"...And that's why you chose to become a Hero?" Shido asked. From what he heard it was obvious where things were going.

"Yes... After he moved out of the city, I didn't try to contact him as I was also a part of that trauma that he went through. But whenever I attended school it made me feel guilty and disgusted. Guilty because I could've brought this thing to his parents before things escalated to this point. And Disgusted because I had to attend this school with these kids who acted as nothing happened.

The Bullies returned after their suspension ended, and you know what happened?"

"The bullies were isolated by the other kids?" Shido asked as this was the most logical thing to do. Who would want to be around such troublemakers?

"No... The kids saw them in a respected light and laughed at the victim's 'pitiful' fate that he was quirkless. They say we live in a civilized society but on that day I learned that indeed this is a civilized society but the people living in it are animals. You cannot expect them to act civilized.

Just a facade of civilization, On that day, a seed of hatred got planted inside deep in my mind. Hatred... Hatred towards those bullies, Hatred towards the school, Hatred towards that Judge and court... Hatred towards this society.

The Judiciary, The School Authorities, The teachers... everyone failed that kid in order to save what? 3 little brats with a good quirk. I was disgusted by myself as well... to not take any action on time. So I searched for anything that I could do to remove this guilt and disgust.

On that day, I found about YAHP (Young Agent-Hero Programme) which at that time was recently started by HPSC to train talented youth to become Agent-Heroes from a young age. Agent-Heroes are heroes that are affiliated with HPSC. They started the program with great vigor but the participation was not something they expected.

Nobody applied.

What happened is that the Kids who wanted to be a hero in the future preferred to go through the already tried and used route of going to a Hero School and then graduate and Give an Exam for the License to become a full-fledged Hero. And another reason was that they didn't want to affiliate with HPSC as an Agent-Hero but wanted to become an Actual Pro-Hero.

HPSC is the one that provides licenses to the heroes.

In this program, HPSC will train the kids from a young age and train them till they pass the assessment exam. If they cleared within 3 attempts. Then HPSC would give them the license and they will become a fully-fledged Agent-Hero.

I was the only one who applied in my year and they let me in as they couldn't find anyone other than me. I applied as soon as possible because I didn't want to spare more time. I was already not able to take action on time that day but I thought I changed that by applying and starting my journey to become a hero when my peers were in their middle school..." Kaina ended her story.

"And after that, I think you already know what happened..."

"Yeah..." Shido said.

"So... what happened to the kid?" He asked.

"I-I... don't know. After enrolling, I put my whole being in my training and became an Agent-Hero, I put my whole heart and soul to kill the 'junk.' I did all these things to better the society but I was engrossed in those actions that I forgot about the goal. It hit me when I was in prison contemplating my life. I realized that I became so engrossed in things that I even forgot his full name.

Did it ever happen with you that you became so engrossed in things that you thought will lead to your goal but you were too late to realize that you strayed from the goal that made you pick up those things in the first place?" Kaina asked Shido.

Shido thought about his actions till now and he contemplated about Kaina's question,

'In my initial days of transmigration, My Hero Complex took over me and made me save Eri by becoming a Vigilante. Not that I regret it but there were other ways that I could've done that. Now here I am, in America while my family with whom I wanted to spend my time in peace. That was my goal and now I am too far away from the goal I intended to achieve.'

After thinking, he raised his head and nodded at Kaina, giving an affirmative as his answer to Kaina's question.

But he saw someone standing behind Kaina. His hands rested on Kaina's shoulder. But Kaina didn't act as if someone was standing behind her. It was as if he was not there in her perception. That Black Glass Helmet... That black hoodie.

No doubt it was Genesis. Shido brought out his gun to shoot Genesis and aimed at him. Genesis rested his head on Kaina's head.

"How can you talk to a girl when you have Fuyumi at home? Or are you cheating on her? Oh, my poor Fuyumi, Who would've thought her husband is cheating behind her back?

And are you cheating on me, Shido? I am your sole nemesis and you have me, so why are you wasting your time, instead of thinking about how to defeat me?

I don't think you have enough time to deal with others' problems when you have me in your life. I told you Shido, I am not going to let you go easily.

SO STOP LISTENING TO HER GENERIC, BORING, PATHETIC BACKSTORY!! And think about how to deal with me... That's what is interesting... not this.. this pathetic crying and sobbing over a kid who was bullied and this pathetic girl who didn't do anything about it! Nobody wants that.

Think about how will you kill a person that you have never dealt with. Think about how will you kill a person who has an entire law under their control.

THINK HOW WILL YOU KILL A GOD!

Think about it. You only have 3 days, If you cannot defeat me in 3 days... say goodbye to your family... say goodbye to everyone you ever loved... Because after 3 days you won't be in this world anymore.

And for your information, Whatever happened last night was not a dream... The fight, My conversation with you... they were not a dream. It all was anything but a dream."

Kaina was shocked as she didn't know why Shido was aiming at her and she was also not able to quickly compose herself as she was too emotionally unstable right now as she just told Shido about her deepest secret. Her hatred for society and the reason behind it.

Curtains waving slowly, Shido's finger slowly pressing the trigger. Everything was moving too slowly. Everything seemed to move slowly for Kaina. She didn't know why Shido was about to kill her right after listening to her story.

---⋉ 40% ⋊---

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---⋉ 45% ⋊---

"Yes, Shido... That rage... That distress... That instability... Let it grow. Let that flame of rage inside of you grow. Nurture it well and release all that rage on me. HAHAHAHA!!!"

Shido was about to shoot but then he saw Genesis was not there where he was standing. Shido turned around to look for Genesis but he didn't find anyone.

He then turned around to look at Kaina,

"I-I am... I am sorry. I don't think I will be able to extend this conversation with you. I don't feel so good." Shido apologized and stood up.

"Y-Y-Yeah, We can talk later... I guess," Kaina stuttered initially as she saw the change in Shido but she didn't voice anything other than a polite answer to his apology.

Shido then stood up and then left for his room.

...

He entered his room and sat on his bed. He then opened {Brief/Logs} and checked the Genesis tab. He then read everything. He then saw the latest notification that he had,

» »[The Law of Chaos has been scanned by the System.]

Everything became clear to him.

Last night's fight was real, What Genesis did to him was real and these changes he has gone through are real. None of it was a dream. Everything was real and it happened last night.

He was in deep thought after reading all that happened last night,

'There are people... other than me who can use the laws... and I need to fight Genesis in 3 days? And if I don't... I would lose my life?'