Location: Central Hospital in Tokyo, Japan
Time: 10:04 AM
(Rei POV)
I sat in a cold metal chair, wires snaking from my arms and chest. It felt strange. Every time I shifted, they buzzed a little—like they were tickling me on purpose.
I looked toward the glass window. My eyes widened slightly when I saw Mom and Dad. But their nervous expressions made me uneasy. What happened to me? Why do I have wires connected to me?Had I done something wrong?
A sudden voice brought me back to my senses. "Hello, Rei. How are you feeling right now?"
I wondered where the voice was coming from?
"Uhm... I´m nervous..." I wanted to say more. I was confused. A little scared. But that's all I could get out.
"That's completely okay, Rei. I assure you, this won't take long." The voice spoke gently, trying to reassure me. It didn't help much.
I looked down at my gown. It was too big and itchy. My feet didn't touch the floor. I felt small. Like everything around me was too loud or too big or too strange.
"Why am I here? Did I do something?"
"Well, yes—but nothing bad, of course. Let me put this simply..." The voice paused for a second. The man behind the glass scratched his head and looked tired, like dad does when he stays up late working.
"You have a power inside you that appeared recently. We just need to look into it and see what it does."
A power? Like a superhero? I didn't know what that meant. But Mom and Dad still looked worried. So I was still worried too.
The next thing I knew, my room looked different. A bunch of new things were in there now—some toys, a tall stand with a shiny red button, and other stuff I didn't recognize.
The man behind the glass talked again, "Rei, could you go and press the button behind you?"
I didn't want to. My feet stayed still for a moment. But I heard Mom's voice in my head saying, It's okay to try new things. So I slowly turned around.
The button was bigger up close. It had a tiny light blinking on it. I crept toward it, my hands curled tight at my sides. What if it makes a loud noise? What if it breaks something?
I reached out and touched it with just the tip of my finger. The surface was cold. I paused. Then I pushed it.
I jumped back with a yelp. The machines stopped humming. I spun around, heart pounding, and looked for the window.
I could still see Mom and Dad—faint shapes behind the glass—but their faces were harder to make out now.
I didn't like this. I hugged myself tight, staring into the dark. My eyes stung a little. I didn't cry—but I felt like I could.
Then something weird happened.
I felt a tingle—like a chill crawling up my arms and down my back. My chest got tight, and the air felt heavier somehow. And then… something moved.
Not me.But from me.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw it. A faint shape, like a wobbly shadow made of fog, slipped out from my side and stretched across the floor. It looked like… a hand. But not like mine. It was too long. Too thin. And see-through.
I gasped and stumbled back. The ghost-hand thing flickered like a light about to go out. Then—it vanished.
The lights flicked back on a second later.
"Interesting..." I heard the man behind the glass say quietly. He was writing something down.
I looked down at my arms. My hands were shaking. I didn't know what just happened.But I was pretty sure it came from me.
"What happened? What was that?" I asked, my voice coming out louder than I meant. It sounded kind of bossy, and that surprised me. I didn't usually talk like that.
"That was your quirk, Rei. It´s the power inside you, which I mentioned earlier." the man behind the glass said. His voice was still soft, like he didn't want to scare me more.
"I didn´t like that..." I mumbled, fiddling with my fingers. They felt cold and sweaty. I didn't want that ghost-hand thing to come out again. It felt too weird. Too big. Like it didn't belong.
The man didn't answer right away. He turned around and started talking to Mom and Dad instead. I saw their mouths move, but the voices couldn´t reach me. I just stood there, waiting. Finally, the man turned back toward me.
"Let's just get through this more carefully, okay?"
I nodded, but I didn't really mean it. I just wanted to go home.
We kept going. One by one, I touched or picked up the objects they gave me. Blocks, balls, toys with lights—nothing special happened. No ghost-hands. No strange feeling. Just... normal.
I sat back down on the chair. My legs dangled again. We'd gone through so many objects now—puzzles, toys, blocks—and nothing weird had happened. A part of me felt relief. Another part felt... itchy inside. Like something was waiting.
Behind the glass, the man leaned toward Mom and Dad again. He said something I couldn't hear. Mom looked worried. Dad said something and nodded.
Then the door opened.
Mom stepped into the room.
My heart jumped a little. I wanted to run to her, but I didn't. I just watched as she came in, holding something in her hands—a tray. A tray with cups on it. They were full of red and orange juice, like the kind we sometimes had at home.
She looked at me and smiled. "Hi, sweetie. We thought you might be thirsty."
She started walking slowly toward me. The tray wobbled a bit in her hands.
Then—just like before—Dad came through the door behind her. He bumped into her shoulder by accident.
The tray tipped.
My eyes went wide. The drinks flew into the air.
And something inside me moved.
That cold, crawling feeling came rushing back—but faster this time. My arms flinched. And just before the cups could hit the ground...
They didn't.
Two big, see-through hands burst out from the sides of me. They moved fast—faster than I could think. One caught a falling cup. Another snatched the tray out of the air. The drinks wobbled but stayed up.
Then the ghost hands vanished, like smoke fading in the sun.
Everyone froze.
Mom stared. Her mouth hung open a little. One of the doctors behind the glass whispered something, but I didn't catch it.
I stared at my own hands. They were shaking again.
"...I didn't mean to do that," I said quietly. "It just... did it."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(Takashi POV - after the tests)
"Follow me!" the doctor said, turning on his heel and heading down the hallway. I exchanged a glance with Yumi before we followed in step, our shoes echoing softly against the polished floor.
We stopped outside a familiar door—Rei's testing room.
Through the glass, I saw him first. He was sitting on the edge of the exam chair, swinging his feet. The moment his eyes met ours, they lit up. That small smile of his made my chest ache. The boy must be exhausted after everything they put him through.
A younger doctor standing beside Rei stepped forward to greet us. "He's good to go now. We just needed to take a few precautionary measures, to make sure his quirk wouldn't—well—go off the second he stepped outside."
The doctor chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "Not literally. But we've had, um... incidents in the past with first awakenings. Sudden manifestations. Overreactions. You understand."
I nodded, lips tight. "Yes. I do."
He glanced at his clipboard, then back at Rei. "We've done an initial suppression calibration. It's nothing invasive—just a temporary sensory tether to help him stabilize under stress. He won't even notice it's there. But I recommend close supervision and, when possible, getting him into an early quirk development program."
"Of course," Yumi said softly. Her eyes hadn't left Rei. "Can we take him home?"
"Yes. He's cleared." The doctor stepped aside.
As we entered the room, Rei jumped off the chair and ran into Yumi's arms without hesitation. She scooped him up, holding him close. I reached over and ruffled his hair gently.
"Did you see it?" he asked, voice muffled against her shoulder.
I nodded. "We did."
He looked up at me with wide eyes, his voice barely a whisper. "I didn't mean to do it... it just happened again."
I knelt beside him and placed a hand gently on his shoulder.
"I know, Rei," I said quietly. "But you need to understand something now. What you have—this power—it's not a toy. It's strong, and it can hurt people if you're not careful. Not because you're bad—but because it's big, and you're still small."
He frowned, staring down at his shoes.
"That's why we're going to train it, okay? We're going to learn how it works, how you work. So next time it shows up, you control it—not the other way around. You protect people with it, not scare them. Do you understand?"
He nodded slowly, then looked back up at me.
"I want to be strong like you and Mom."
I smiled. "And you will be. But strength isn't just about power. It's about knowing when to use it. You're already strong, Rei—but now you've got to be smart, too. That's how heroes are made."
He puffed out his chest a little. "I'll be smart!"
I raised an eyebrow. "And careful?"
He nodded again, firmer this time. "Careful!"
"Promise?"
His face lit up with a grin. "I promise!"
I promise.