Chapter 8: The System's Influence on the World
"Mom, Dad! I'm home." Yuki whistled a cheery tune as he walked into the house, throwing his backpack to the side with a hum.
"Mom, Dad?" Yuki called out again, and then he heard the sound of the television's volume getting louder in the living room.
...o0o...
---BREAKING NEWS: TEENAGE VIGILANTES TAKE DOWN VILLAIN???---
Although the camera was shaking in the background, once it became stabilized, the image of the video was clear.
With the sounds of screams and explosions in the background, female news reporter, Fuwari Ten, with dog ears on her head, took a breath in, and then turned to look at the camera with a professional look. "This just in, the Sludge Villain that was being chased by Japan's No. 1 Pro Hero, All Might, in the morning, has suddenly made a shocking appearance and has taken a highschooler captive as his hostage!"
The camera's footage showed the image of the Sludge Villain trying to wrap himself around Katsuki, while at the same time, swatting away any Hero who tried to get in his way.
There was also another factor, Katsuki's desperate use of explosions caused fire to ignite in the alleyway.
The reporters voice came back "The Heroes tried to get close, but has failed to inflict any damage onto the Villain or even saving the hostage! The people are also wondering what happened to All Might, could the Villain manage to beat the Symbol of Peace, or was he able to escape from our Hero and make a get aw-" a shout interrupted her.
"Look up there in the sky!"
"It's a bird, It's a plane, no..."
The crowd, including Fuwari looked up, only to gasp.
"Mr. Gekishou!" Fuwari quickly gestured, "Aim at them!"
"Got it!" Gekishou Taketa, aimed the camera at the sky.
Fuwari Ten's partner, Gekishou Taketa, has a quirk called 'Lucky Lens' which allowed any camera that he controls to capture vivid and perfect shots with unusual luck, and has also granted him the ability to get the clearest picture no matter how shaky, or unsteady his hands are at holding the camera, or how old the outdated graphics in the camera he possesses has.
The camera was aimed and now has a clear shot, four highschoolers, three boys, and one girl, falling down from above, heading straight towards the Villain!
Fuwari and Gekishou were shocked, not just them, but even the surrounding people, whether is be Police, Hero, or Civilian, none of them can keep their eyes away from what's happening in front of them.
"It's... a bunch of kids!" an office worker, standing close to the reporter and cameraman, cried out.
"Get the footage, Mr. Gekishou!"
"Already on it, Ms. Fuwari!"
...o0o...
Yuki flinched, "Oh no..." a bad feeling came.
And as he stepped into the living room, his intuition was correct. There they were, on the couch, watching the tv together.
His father, Tadashi, was rubbing his wife on the back, to keep her calm.
Hearing someone walk in, Tadashi looked up, and his worried face instantly became a smile. He looked so happy that his little mustache jumped in greeting.
"Yuki, you're home!" Tadashi stood up with a grin.
"Hey, dad, I'm home!" Yuki grinned, "What's up with mo-"
Before Yuki or Tadashi could react, Natsumi moved faster than any of the two has ever seen her go before.
One second, she was hunched over at the couch, the next second, her palm cracked across Yuki's cheek with enough force to snap his head sideways.
The slap echoed loudly throughout the living room.
Yuki was stunned, a burning sensation on his left cheek.
Tadashi sighed, "Sorry, son, but you got that one coming."
Yuki's breath was soon taken away as his mother wrapped her arms around him like an octopus, fingers running through his hair, pulling him in and crushing him against her chest with terrifying strength.
She silently ran her fingers in his hair, and then she shook.
Something wet fell on Yuki's face, and when he looked up, that was when he finally realized that his mother was crying.
Why was she crying? Yuki already knew the answer, so with a sigh, he wrapped his arms around his mother.
Natsumi sniffed, leaning down to take in the scent of her son, as if needing a confirmation that he was alive.
Another whimper escaped her throat. He's alright, everything's okay, he was here, back at home together with his mother and father.
"Do you..." Natsumi held onto her only child harder, rubbing her head fiercely against his. "know how worried we are? You fought a Villain. All you needed was a haircut, and then come home, but then your father and I saw the trending news on live tv!"
"Everything is fine, right?" Tadashi patted his son on the shoulder, "You're not hurting anywhere, Yuki?"
Looking at both of his parents, Yuki's eyes soften, even the burning slap's sensation was cooling down, "I'm fine. No broken bones or anything, besides I'm strong, ya know. I can take care of myself."
Tadashi smiled in response.
Seeing that her son wasn't paying attention to her, Natsumi angrily hugged him tighter, causing the boy to squeak.
She spoke, her tears drying up from all the worried cries she did, "Do you have any idea what it was like? Seeing my only child, my baby boy, appearing on the news, fighting a Villain of all people?!"
Natsumi bit her lips. "I saw it... I saw that monster nearly swallow Mitsuki's child. I was scared for him, but I was even more scared when seeing you charge in there like some kind of idiot!"
Yuki hesitated, and then rubbed his mother on her back, whispering that he was okay.
And then, his mother spoke in a tone that oddly sounded dark. "Knowing your attitude, you probably went to rescue Katsuki along with the other kids, but next time... never do that! Call me greedy or selfish, but if I had to choose, I choose your life over Katsuki's own!"
Blinking, Yuki kept silent.
"Because..." she pulled back, staring straight into her son's eyes with determination. "as a mother, how can I just watch my only son die in front my eyes! You just need to focus, and study, and then get a job or family!"
"Or become a Hero?" Tadashi smiled.
Natsumi sent a glare over her son's shoulder.
Tadashi nervously looked away with a whistle.
"Or... a Hero. But not now, as of now, your job is just to continue school! Understand?! Any trouble like that, you report to the Police or the nearby Pro Heroes, and after that, you get away from there because it is NONE of your business. Understand, Yuki?"
"..."
"I said... do you understand?" Natsumi asked in a soft, but stern voice.
"I... I understand. Don't worry, I promise I won't get into trouble." Yuki smiled.
"G-Got it." with one last squeeze, Natsumi let go of her son.
"Great. Now that everything's out of the way, let's eat. Food is ready." Tadashi walked to the kitchen, followed by his wife, "We're eating good tonight!"
In the living room, Yuki stared at their backs with emotion.
He lifted his hand up, rubbing his sore cheek. "Yeah, I promise..." he shook his head, running after his parents with a shaky grin. "What we eating tonight, folks?"
...o0o...
Later that night, curled up inside his bedroom, Yuki was silent as he stared up at the ceiling.
"Hey, System." Yuki contacted the System that stayed with him since he was reincarnated.
[System Initialized. Is there a question that you would like to ask, owner?]
"Hey." Yuki playfully smiled. "Remember what I said before? Call me Yuki, no need for owner or user. Just my first name is enough."
[... Understood. Is there a question that you would like to ask, Yuki?]
"My parents, Natsumi and Tadashi Aoi. They were created by you, right?" Yuki asked.
[Yes, anything or anyone created by the System is linked to the My Hero Academia world, thus, the real world. In order for the character of 'Toge Inumaki' to be created, the System must lay out the foundations in the real world first. But even though the character is named 'Toge Inumaki' since the host preferred to keep the name of 'Yuki Aoi', the System has made slight adjustments into creating Natsumi and Tadashi Aoi, also creating false memories and data about them so the world acknowledges their existence.]
"Hm." Yuki thought back when he later on received the character cards of Hanami, Mahito, and Takako.
When Yuki played these characters, the System actually edited not only these characters data, but the world as well.
The Shiozaki household for example, the couple were only supposed to have one child, Ibara Shiozaki, but when Hanami was brought into existence, the System falsely modified the memories of everybody in the world.
Editing, modifying, encrypting, and soon, Hanami was born as the twin of Ibara Shiozaki.
The blood flowing in her was also edited with the Shiozaki genes.
As far as the world and the Shiozaki family knows, the couple had twin daughters to which they had 'witness' to, unaware that those memories were created by the so called System that Yuki possesses.
This is actually a good thing for Yuki since the System can create ready-to-use backgrounds for the characters, he would like to play.
If he were to use a new character card right now, the System has already made a separate file, a background for that character in the My Hero Academia world, so nobody would find that person suspicious when appearing.
All it needs to do is to upload it and done, the character is ready to go!
But still... even though Yuki knew that his parents were fake.
That they weren't even real, just two people created by the System to 'fulfill' their roles as Yuki Aoi's parents...
But... Yuki rubbed the side of his cheek with a grin.
They may be from the system, but... Yuki smiled. You cannot fake the memories that he and them had created together when growing up. You cannot fake the love they shared in their hearts.
Yuki clicked his tongue. What's so complicated about it? Just treat them as your real parents in this world, and besides, since they raised him for 15 years, fake or not, they ARE his REAL parents!
After that matter was done, Yuki remembered about the reward for completing the System's Quest.
He entered the System's settings only to be confused.
...o0o...
[On/Off]- Domain Expansion.
Party:
[On/Off]- Black Flash.
Party:
[Give/Take]- Equipment.
Party:
...o0o...
Noticing the confusion, the System started to explain to Yuki.
Yuki started understanding, for the Equipment setting, the information was simple, is that he would be able to give or take away the item that the party member is holding.
This, however, made Yuki confused since he can already do that between his clones...
The Domain Expansion and the Black Flash setting, on the other hand, caught Yuki's attention with excitement.
By toggling between the functions, party members will be given the opportunity to learn a Domain Expansion or to use a Black Flash through their actions, increasing their chances to do either one at a time.
Of course, by toggling it off, the functions would be cancelled.
The Black Flash setting made Yuki tremble with motion, although it will be hard to pull off, it is at least better than to depend on the Guaranteed Black Flash skill cards!
To Yuki, these were legendary cards, but he refuses to use them and prefers to store them up in case of emergencies.
Stack them up like how he stacks up on potions from the Pokemon Center in Pokemon games, hahaha~.
Throughout his 15 years, he only managed to obtain 7 of these cards, that's how rare it was!
The Domain Expansion setting made Yuki think about something. Could he perform his own Domain Expansion as Toge Inumaki? But, what would his Domain Expansion be? Like a stage with a microphone in his hand, or...
After thinking for awhile, a yawn escaped from Yuki's mouth. "Eh. I'll think about it tomorrow." he happily pulled the blankets up to cover himself.
After a few seconds, his eyes soon opened.
Now that he thought about it, he probably wasn't the only one who got punished by their parents.
... He's suddenly scared to see Momo's side, unwilling to get punished by two pairs of parents, Yuki turned off the link between them and slept.
The thing with clones is that Yuki can see all of their memories, actions, and thoughts, unless he himself either turns off those functions, or turning away and rejecting/ignoring the memories. If not, then he will be able to see and hear what his clones do.
Sometimes, Yuki turns off the connection, feeling odd with a bunch of voices and visions popping up, unless he ignores them.
Yawning a large one, the boy turned off his lamp light, before going to sleep.
Today was both a good and rough day. Haha.
He needed a good sleep after all that.
++Chapter End++ *May be fake, but the feelings and emotions made, were real!*