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·Chapter Nine Jun 7
Mornings had started to feel normal.
Almost too normal.
I stared at the faint steam rising from my cup of tea, its warmth curling into the chilled kitchen air. The silence of the morning, interrupted only by the soft clinking of dishes, should've been peaceful. But my mind was anything but.
"Yuuji," Mom called gently from behind the sink, "you're spacing out again."
I blinked, forcing a smile. "Just thinking."
"You've been doing that a lot lately."
> Too much, I thought.
There was a heaviness creeping into the corners of my mind. Between school, my ever-growing collection of tech projects, my double life of training with Izuku and Mei, and now that letter from Nezu…
It felt like I was teetering on the edge of something bigger than myself. Something I wasn't sure I was ready for.
---
Back in my workshop—technically a repurposed garage—I crouched beside my latest prototype.
The Stealth Field Generator.
It was a compact hexagonal disk, no larger than a large coin, with fiber-woven copper traces across a polymer base. It wasn't the finished version. Not even close. But it worked—briefly. I'd tested it once last night, and it flickered for six seconds before burning out.
> [SYSTEM UPDATE: Task "Refine Stealth Gen I" - Progress: 41%]
I sighed.
"Okay. Let's break you down again."
I carefully unclasped the chassis, my fingers steady despite the weariness clinging to them. One mistake here, and I'd short the entire array.
Part of me loved this—getting lost in the precision, the logic, the clean beauty of circuitry and innovation. It was the one place where the world made sense.
But part of me also feared it.
Because for every success, the system demanded more. Bigger, faster, better. It fed me blueprints, yes, but not understanding. That had to come from me.
I wasn't building toys anymore.
I was building weapons.
And sometimes, I wondered if that made me any better than the villains I was designing to outmatch.
---
After School
"DUCK!"
I barely had time to twist aside before a prototype drone whizzed past my ear and embedded itself into the classroom wall.
"Oh crap—Yuuji!" Mei's voice rang out in panic as she sprinted in, holding a jury-rigged controller. "It wasn't armed, I swear!"
I glanced at the drone—still humming—and nodded slowly. "Right. Not armed. Just murderously fast."
Izuku peeked into the room. "You okay?"
"Just grazed my pride," I muttered.
This had become our routine. Mei would rope me into stress-testing her ideas, I'd push her designs into safer boundaries, and Izuku—bless him—played the anchor between our extremes.
Still, I noticed something lately. Mei had started hanging around more. Even when we weren't building.
She'd lean over too close when examining my work. Touch my arm a little longer than necessary. Laugh harder at my dry jokes than before.
And I wasn't sure what to do with that.
In another life, I'd never have dreamed someone would look at me like that. Not when I was a loner obsessed with sci-fi, buried in code, buried in fear.
Now?
Now I was becoming something. Someone. Slowly.
And people were noticing.
---
That night, I found myself on the roof again, the stars overhead dusted across the dark sky like scattered diamonds. I leaned against the railing, arms folded, mind racing.
Izuku joined me minutes later, two cans of soda in hand.
"You looked like you needed air," he said, offering one.
I took it, cracking the tab. "Thanks."
We stood in silence for a moment, just listening to the city.
Finally, he broke it. "You ever feel like we're getting closer to something big?"
I glanced at him. "You mean U.A.? Or…?"
"Everything," he replied. "The entrance exams, the way people are watching us now. Even the teachers are acting weird. Like… they're preparing us for more than school."
I nodded slowly. "You're not wrong."
"You always say that when you know something."
I smiled faintly. "Maybe."
He laughed, but it faded quickly. "You've changed, Yuuji. You're still you, but… you feel different. Smarter. Sharper. Like you're holding back."
That hit a little too close.
I didn't reply right away.
How could I tell him the truth? That I had the intelligence of multiple fictional geniuses crammed into my brain? That a cosmic system fed me knowledge like intravenous lightning?
That I was playing chess while everyone else was still drawing the board?
Instead, I said, "I'm just trying to be ready. For whatever comes."
Izuku looked at me, and for a second, I thought he might press further.
But he only nodded. "We'll get there. Together."
---
Later that night, while modifying the drone that nearly took my head off, the system pinged.
> [NEW TASK: Advanced Recon AI Core (Tier 1)]
[Parameters: Must mimic human decision-making in surveillance conditions]
[Reward: Emotion Recognition Algorithm, +300 EXP]
[Optional Bonus: Field test with external partner]
This was new.
The system wanted me to involve someone else now?
I frowned.
It made sense. Testing tech in isolation only went so far. But giving someone access—even limited—to what I was building? That was risky.
> Mei would love this.
She was the obvious choice. Brilliant, enthusiastic, fearless.
And the only person outside of my family I had let glimpse what I truly was capable of.
---
The Next Day – Lab
"I want you to help me field-test something," I said the moment she walked in.
Mei's eyes sparkled. "Finally! Something risky?"
I chuckled. "Sort of. It's a recon AI—think of it like a drone that thinks like a person. Learns from surroundings. Recognizes danger."
She leaned in. "You already finished the core?"
"Beta version," I said, handing her a small data chip. "I need you to run it in a real-world environment. School grounds only. Nothing flashy."
She took it reverently, like I'd handed her a sacred artifact. "You trust me with this?"
I looked into her eyes. "Yeah. I do."
For once, her playful grin faded. "Yuuji… can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Why do you build the way you do? It's not just 'cool tech.' Your designs… they feel urgent. Like you're always racing a clock I can't see."
I hesitated.
A thousand answers floated to my tongue, but I gave her the most honest one I could.
"Because I'm scared," I said softly. "That I won't be ready. That the world will need me before I finish building what I need."
She didn't speak for a moment.
Then she reached out, resting her hand gently over mine.
"You're not alone in this."
And something in my chest shifted.
---
Back Home
That night, after dinner, I sat on my bed, staring at my hands.
Hands that once trembled in fear of being average. Hands that now crafted miracles in metal and light.
Mom passed by the door, pausing.
"You doing okay?"
I nodded. "Yeah."
She smiled. "You seem… stronger lately."
"I think I'm getting there."
She left me with a soft "goodnight," and I turned to the drone on my desk.
Tomorrow, I'd test the AI. Then keep refining the stealth generator.
And maybe…
Maybe ask Mei out for coffee.
Not as a lab partner.
As something else.
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End of Chapter
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