Chapter 76 – The Ripple Effect

The morning homeroom was typically a quiet affair, a buffer between the bustling dorms and the demands of hero training. But for Lena, stillness was a luxury no longer afforded. As Present Mic boomed through the speakers, introducing the day's lesson, the temporal tremors hit Lena with jarring intensity.

It started subtly. Mic's voice seemed to skip, a brief, robotic repetition of "…oday's… today's lesson…" Then, the whiteboard flickered. The digital display above the teacher's podium, which showed the date, briefly cycled through several random dates from the future – 2028, 2035, 2026 – before snapping back to the current day. Students blinked, some shivered, but most dismissed it as a momentary tech glitch.

But then, as Mic gestured with his hand, the pen he held briefly duplicated, creating a ghostly, transparent twin that vanished a millisecond later. It wasn't just in Lena's perception; a few students at the front blinked, rubbing their eyes. Even Present Mic paused, shaking his head. "Whoa, static much? Get it together, smart board!"

Lena felt a cold sweat break out. The pressure in her core intensified, the "Hole" churning, a raw, uncontrolled power that threatened to erupt. She gripped the edge of her desk, knuckles white. She was losing control. The fear was a bitter taste in her mouth.

During the morning break, Kyoka pulled Lena aside, her expression grim. "That wasn't a 'tech glitch,' Lena. My Jacks were buzzing like crazy. Like a broken record player. And… I saw the pen. It actually duplicated for a second." Kyoka's voice dropped, concern etched on her face. "You said it was getting worse. What exactly is happening? Because this is more than just 'feeling out of sync'."

Lena swallowed, her throat tight. "I… I don't know, Kyoka. It's like my Quirk is pushing outwards, forcing time to stutter around me. I can't stop it." Her hands trembled slightly. "It feels… alien. Like a part of me, but too big. Too strong."

Kyoka reached out, taking Lena's trembling hands. "Okay," she said, her voice firm, unwavering. "Okay. We don't know. But we're going to figure it out. Together." She looked around, then lowered her voice. "We need to talk to someone. Aizawa-sensei, maybe? Or Recovery Girl?"

Lena shook her head vehemently. "No! Not yet. They'll just… they won't understand. They'll think I'm breaking. Or worse, they'll try to lock it down, experiment on it. I can't let that happen." Her gaze hardened, a flicker of fierce protectiveness in her eyes. "Not when I don't even know what it is."

Mina and Momo had witnessed the whiteboard glitch. As the class dispersed, they exchanged troubled looks.

"Did you see that?" Mina whispered, eyes wide. "The dates? And the pen?"

Momo nodded slowly, her brow furrowed in thought. "That was beyond a simple technical malfunction, Mina. The temporal aspect… it's too specific. And Lena was right there. She looked... terrified."

"She blew us off for movie night," Mina said, a note of hurt in her voice, but quickly replaced by worry. "She's trying to push us away, isn't she? Because she's scared."

"We can't force her, but we can't ignore it either," Momo stated, her gaze resolute. "Something is clearly wrong. We need to be ready to support her, no matter what it is."

Deep within UA's network infrastructure, the glitches continued. Aizawa found his personal device sporadically freezing, then fast-forwarding through missed notifications. Security cameras in a seldom-used corridor flickered, briefly showing distorted images – shadows moving too fast, then too slow.

"This is no longer simple faulty wiring," Principal Nezu declared, reviewing the latest incident logs with Tsukauchi, a police detective occasionally consulting for UA. "The pattern of these 'malfunctions' indicates a highly sophisticated, targeted intrusion. It's like a digital poltergeist, leaving temporal anomalies in its wake. Someone is testing the boundaries of our network, and likely, our students."

Tsukauchi tapped his chin. "Could it be a new Quirk user? Or a support item gone rogue?"

Nezu's eyes narrowed. "Or something far more insidious."

From a vantage point overlooking the city, Reaper observed the growing chaos. His internal systems registered the amplified temporal disturbances emanating from UA. "The girl's power is breaking through," he rasped into a secure comms line. "The fluctuations are constant. She's a perfect storm. Ready for the next phase, Moira."

On the other end, Moira O'Deorain's smile was chilling. "Excellent, Reaper. My models are confirming the exponential growth. Sombra's preliminary data is invaluable. It appears our 'catalyst' is indeed self-accelerating. Begin the next phase of observation. Sombra, prepare for deeper penetration. The Timekeeper is beginning to make waves."

Miles away, in his highly secured home lab, Winston Oxton hunched over his consoles, a breakthrough electrifying his mind. He had correlated the recent, more severe temporal signatures with specific locations: not just Musutafu, but UA High itself. His data clearly showed intense fluctuations radiating from the school grounds, moments of localized time distortion, even brief causality loops he'd detected on his high-frequency scanners.

"It's centered on Lena," he whispered, a cold dread washing over him as the implications sank in. This wasn't just a Quirk instability; it was a phenomenon of potentially global scale. He thought of the unique properties of Lena's Quirk, the data from I-Island he'd vaguely reviewed years ago about highly entropic Quirks.

He ran a hand through his already dishevelled hair. This was beyond his current expertise, beyond what he could analyze alone. This required a mind with an unparalleled understanding of advanced Quirk mechanics, someone who had dealt with truly unique and dangerous power.

He activated his secure comms unit, the screen glowing with a single, highly encrypted contact. "David," he muttered, his voice grim. "I think we have a problem. A very, very big problem." He pressed the call button, the gravity of the situation settling heavy on his shoulders. He was a father, and he was about to pull his brilliant, terrifyingly powerful daughter into a world even he couldn't fully comprehend.

Lena, back in her dorm, felt the pervasive hum of the "Hole" within her. It was a constant presence now, a vast, alien power that gnawed at her control, threatening to unravel not just her but the very fabric of reality around her. She was scared, yes, a primal fear that tightened her chest. But beneath it, a spark of defiance, fueled by the memory of Kyoka's unwavering hand in hers, ignited. This was her power. And she would fight it. Or she would learn to wield it. No matter how terrifying the cost. The game had truly begun.