Seeing the barely restrained excitement on Akaya Kaiun's face, Shigaraki couldn't help rolling his eyes.
This girl…
she was taking things too lightly.
Did she really understand what it meant for a Quirkless person to stand on the same battlefield as Pro Heroes?
The price for that wasn't something an ordinary person could even imagine.
One wrong step—
and it wouldn't mean failure.
It would mean death.
"…Don't get ahead of yourself."
His tone turned serious.
"My training is brutal."
"For an ordinary person, it's the kind of thing that could drive you insane."
He fixed her with a sharp, unwavering stare.
"So you'd better prepare yourself mentally."
Then his expression hardened completely.
"I'll ask you one last time."
"Are you really ready to give everything for this dream of yours?"
"Even if the road ahead is hell?"
Because that was the truth.
If someone ordinary wanted to achieve something extraordinary, then what waited for them wouldn't just be hardship.
It would be torture.
A living hell.
That was why he asked again.
Because he didn't want her regretting it halfway through.
—
But Kaiun—
had waited too long for this moment.
This chance might be the only one she would ever get.
So she nodded without the slightest hesitation.
Her eyes were still wet, but her answer didn't waver.
"Mm."
Even if the road ahead was covered in thorns, she would force her way through it.
Even if it ended in an abyss, she wouldn't regret it.
She wasn't afraid of living.
So why should she fear suffering?
Why should she fear hell?
—
"…Good."
Shigaraki nodded, satisfied.
As expected—
he hadn't judged her wrong.
This girl…
wouldn't disappoint him.
She might really be able to do it.
Not just because she had met him.
Not just because fate had handed her one last chance.
But because she already had the qualities that mattered.
A dream.
A will that wouldn't break.
The stubbornness to keep moving.
And the courage to act.
People like that—
sometimes really did create miracles.
…Who knew?
Maybe she really could pull off something even Quirk users couldn't.
Maybe—
just maybe—
she might even reach the top.
And the moment that thought crossed his mind, a cold mechanical voice echoed inside his head.
Emotionless.
Distant.
As if it had descended from somewhere far beyond this world.
The system—
which had been silent for so long—
had finally appeared again.
—
"Target detected: Akaya Kaiun. Fate deviation confirmed."
"Current worldline divergence: 11.26%."
"Hidden Mission Activated: [Twins of Fate]"
"Two identical destinies. Two different endings."
"Can the forsaken rival the chosen?"
—
Mission Objective:
"Train Akaya Kaiun into a Dark Hero capable of standing on equal footing with Izuku Midoriya."
—
Mission Rewards:
10 Free Attribute Points
3 Apocalypse Baptisms
—
"…Heh."
Shigaraki narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at the mission panel.
So—
her name really was Akaya Kaiun.
And more importantly—
this was basically the discarded prototype protagonist.
A gender-flipped early version of the kind of lead My Hero Academia could have had.
Of course, that concept had been abandoned long ago.
Because the real story only began once Izuku Midoriya inherited One For All.
And Akaya Kaiun—
from beginning to end—
had remained Quirkless.
Midoriya's existence was tied directly to One For All and All For One.
That was what gave the story its center.
So a character like Akaya Kaiun had naturally been left behind.
And yet—
here she was.
Standing right in front of him.
The thought made him shake his head with a faint, crooked smile.
"…So you really do have protagonist vibes."
He had mocked her earlier for thinking she was special.
But looking at it now—
in a way, she really was.
Just not anymore.
That role had already been taken.
Rewritten.
Replaced.
"Guess I ended up playing the villain for nothing."
He muttered it under his breath, sounding almost amused.
Still—
this development was interesting.
Very interesting.
If someone like her could appear in this world, then things weren't as fixed as they looked.
There were more variables here than he thought.
More uncertainty.
More room for chaos.
And that—
made everything much more fun.
A faint smile curved on his lips.
—
Meanwhile—
at N City Police Headquarters—
"Kamui Woods."
Inspector Inoue lit a cigarette and exhaled slowly, using the smoke to hide the complicated look on his face.
"That boy—Shigaraki Tomura—needs to be monitored."
"He's too dangerous."
"But he hasn't committed a crime."
Kamui Woods shook his head, his tone firm.
"If we start treating people like criminals just because their way of thinking is a little different—putting them under surveillance, keeping tabs on them—"
"then we may as well give up on everything else."
"Just chasing so-called thought criminals would eat up all our time."
"…A little different, huh?"
Inoue glanced down at the report in his hand.
It had been put together from the statements of the three hospitalized delinquents.
His expression darkened.
"That's what you said this morning."
"And what happened?"
"It hasn't even been a full day, and he's already caused another incident."
"Luring targets into an alley. Robbing criminals."
"Who does he think he is?"
"A Pro Hero?"
His voice turned colder.
"Even if he were one, he wouldn't be allowed to act like that."
Kamui Woods fell silent.
Because this time—
there wasn't much he could say in response.
When he first learned from the injured delinquents what their attacker looked like, he had been genuinely shocked.
Shigaraki—
had only just left the police station that morning.
And now, before the day was even over—
he had caused trouble again.
Even if the police hadn't caught him at the scene, the delinquents had remembered his face clearly.
And the department had access to someone whose Quirk could pull recent visual memories from a subject's mind.
That meant that even without direct evidence—
they already knew.
The one who had done it—
was Shigaraki Tomura.
Now—
the only question left—
was what to do with him.
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