1. The first ray of light.
CHAPTER ONE.
SEPTEMBER 11, JAPAN
The Labor and delivery unit was a world in constant motion. Bright overhead lights bathed the pristine white walls, their glow softened only by the occasional flicker of monitors displaying the vital signs of mothers-to-be.
In one room, a woman gripped the bed-rails, her knuckles white with effort as waves of pain rippled through her. Beads of sweat formed on her head, her breathing labored as she screamed profanities at her husband who could only smile awkwardly with undisguised worry written on his brows. A nurse stood beside her, whispering words of encouragement while adjusting the IV line unfazed by the screaming woman. Honestly as midwives they had seen their fair share of similar scenarios; this was a rather tame situation in comparison. The obstetrician clad in sterile scrubs watched the monitor carefully wary of any complications as sleep deprived as she was this was clearly a very important moment.
The obstetrician stood at the foot of the bed, her gloved hands ready, her voice calm. "Alright, it's time. You'll have to take a deep breath and then push as hard as you can."
The mother, with a guttural cry like the bellow of a wild beast, acting on instinct summoned strength from deep within, trembling from the exertion. Then, with one last groan—finally, relief.
A deep silence settled on the room as the nurses and everyone else in the room waited for the anticipated cry that seemed to take eons to form. As the silence continued, a growing unease settled on the newly minted mother, her relief long gone.
"Doctor, why isn't my baby moving?" Having never dealt with a case like this, the doctor was obviously at a loss for words and was slowly about to offer words of comfort until a nurse picked the baby up and slapped him on the butt.
And then, with a jolt, the baby coughed, and with a kaleidoscope of colors flooding its eyes, It could see—It lived. With a loud cry, the baby screamed at the top of its lungs, and everyone seemed relieved, with the doctor giving a thumbs-up to the midwife, who had just taken action.
"It's a boy, congratulations." The doctor said as he handed the baby to his mother
A stinging pain erupted from his backside but he suppressed his urge to cry. 'That f-ing hurts.' And immediately he burst into tears, his baby impulse control non-existent.
Opening his eyes the world was but a kaleidoscope of colours greeted it. Trying and failing to gather its bearings, After what felt like an eternity the baby's vision settled, and It could finally make sense of what was going on. "I fucking hate hospitals—why, though? I don't know for sure. And why am I surrounded by giants? And—the hell—why is that woman's head a blob of water?" With that startling revelation, sleep immediately claimed him.
FIVE YEARS LATER.
"Okay, kids, it's time for recess. Split into groups and have fun," the blue, misty-haired kindergarten teacher said gently, a warm smile plastered on her face. The fifteen or so children immediately scattered, laughing and screaming all the way.
In the midst of all these screaming children stood—or rather sat—an interesting anomaly. A black-haired and dark-skinned kid sat in the middle of the classroom, staring intently at the tower of JENGA blocks as he slowly removed a tile from the base of the tower.
"Hayami-kun, quit playing with those weird blocks and come play with me," a blue-skinned child with large ivory horns beckoned as she stood at the doorway.
"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute," he said dismissively, clearly disinterested in whatever she had to say.
Hana pouted, clearly displeased that her calls were being ignored once more. Making her presence more pronounced she made her way towards his desk as she stared intently at the top of his head.
"Hayamiiii, Boji-kun from class B awakened his quirk! His hands went whaa, and then swoosh—they stretched like tape! You should really come see it!" Hana said while towering over his seat, resting her hands dangerously close to the tower he had already stacked.
With a resigned sigh, he looked up at his classmate, who had made it a habit to try to involve him in her escapades since school started. It had been a month already, and he half expected a child to lose interest by this time.
"What is it this time, Hana? As you can see clearly, I'm currently preoccupied," he said halfheartedly. He still was not ready to submit to the reality where he would have to mingle with snot-nosed brats. As he looked up at his assailant, he was met with black pupils brimming with tears. "Am I a bother to you? Do you hate me?"
At this point, he was at a loss for words, as he really did not expect her to start crying out of nowhere. He sighed for about the umpteenth time today as he raised his hands to wipe her tears. "No, I don't hate you, Hana, and I don't find you annoying at all."
While he was initially annoyed by these encounters, the little girl—who in his past life would have definitely been labeled as a monster—had quietly grown on him. She was undoubtedly a cute kid compared to the other loud, obnoxious kids in the class.
"So that means you like me then, so that means we're friends" as Hana said as she smiled foolishly bouncing around excitedly. Only a six year old would have such clear cut likes and dislikes. Age would teach her that the world wasn't so simple.
" What no, that's not-" he wasn't even halfway done and she already seemed like she would cry again "Never mind sure we're friends" he said in an exasperated tone as he rose to his feet and gently rubbed her hair, she beamed even more at that gesture and then he already resigned himself to whatever she had planned.
Seeing that he approved of her presence Hana launched into an endless tirade. The gist of it was that a student here apparently awakened a quirk that shoots out his fingers or makes them grow. He couldn't really understand the description, as Hana usually used nondescript sound effects while describing the ability.
Ah, quirks—The nurse in the delivery room being a literal blob of water wouldn't be the weirdest thing I've seen. It all started in Qingqing, China, a couple of hundred years back with the birth of a baby who could glow and produce light. Since then, this world has become a superhuman society, with people having powers that only existed in fantasy. These powers were termed quirks. Although a gradual process, now roughly 80% of the population possesses quirks.
At first, Rio was excited by the possibility of getting a quirk and excitedly pondered what quirk he would eventually possess and how to best develop it. But five years had passed, and he still hadn't sensed the slightest bit of power stirring in him.
I thought it was something that could only be awakened under extreme duress, like the X-gene, which led to some stupid decisions and a serious spanking—memories I would really not like to recall. Then, recently, I believed it could only be awakened by deep concentration. So far, I've been doing a lot of thought exercises and engaging in deep mental activities to no avail for the past year. Thinking of the kid who sat by him at school—who ate crayons and was always easily distracted, blowing bubbles that don't pop and levitate in the air—He had come to the conclusion that his theory had proven completely infeasible.
When a news clip of this country's number one hero—yes, a professional hero, two words that one would never think to be strung together—individuals tasked with taking down dangerous people who use their quirks to destabilize society, "villains," calling those who don't conform to society's standards "villains" was a very dangerous thing. But as a person existing in the system, Rio believed there wasn't much he could do about it in the short term.
As a video of all might rescuing citizens from a sinking ship, a vague impression of him surfaced and then immediately after a soul splitting headache, recollections, saying strange names, weird ideas of things that do not exist and memories of a past life that are fragmented led him to the conclusion that he had been reincarnated into a fictional world.
The thought that my memories had been tampered with or possibly altered with terrifies me, especially the kind of being who could place me silently in another world.
"Are you okay, or are you hungry, Hayami-kun?" Hana said, passing him a stick of candy.
"It's nothing, really. I just spaced out for a bit," he said apologetically and kindly accepted her offer of candy.
"Oh and Hana, my name's Rio, you can call me Rio".
He was still not sure what purpose he was sent to this world for; he had no idea what the future would hold, but for now—at least for now—the future was something to look forward to.