"—Hah…!"
Egawa suddenly gasped for air as he snapped back to consciousness, greedily drawing in breath after breath. It took him a long moment to recover. When he finally looked at Shina Etsuha again, there was a clear trace of fear in his eyes.
"…What just happened?"
"I was trying to cut off the muscle control in your limbs," Etsuha said awkwardly, scratching his cheek. "But I think I hit the wrong spot… you almost blacked out."
In truth, it had been a complete miscalculation. When Etsuha severed part of Egawa's muscular control, he had accidentally interfered with the function of his heart as well. Fortunately, he noticed in time and reversed the damage before anything irreversible happened.
"I… almost blacked out…" Egawa muttered, still unable to process it. Replaying the fight in his head, his eyes widened in disbelief. "Wait—wasn't your Quirk ice? You didn't use any freezing abilities at all during our fight!"
Etsuha shrugged casually. "I have more than one Quirk."
"…What?"
Egawa was completely dumbfounded.
—
Inside the monitoring room, everyone had witnessed what happened. Unlike Egawa, who didn't fully understand, Aizawa and the others had been observing the entire battle closely. They had clearly seen that Egawa's condition resembled a sudden cardiac arrest—if Etsuha hadn't intervened in time, the outcome could have been fatal.
"Egawa doesn't have any history of heart problems, right? Could this kid really be behind it?"
"That's impossible. We all know his Quirk. How could Egawa end up like that?"
"This wasn't an accident…"
As murmurs spread through the room, Aizawa Shouta shook his head.
"It wasn't an accident. That was Shina's Quirk."
"Isn't his Quirk ice?!" someone asked, echoing Egawa's confusion.
"He has two Quirks," Aizawa explained calmly.
"…What the hell?!"
In an instant, everyone's gaze toward Etsuha changed. No wonder Egawa had ended up like that—it was the result of a second ability!
"The winner of the third match is Shina Etsuha," Aizawa's voice came through the speakers. "Egawa, you're not seriously injured, right?"
"I… don't think so," Egawa replied slowly, testing his body. "But I feel completely drained…"
Etsuha's genetic manipulation had severed and then restored parts of his body. That process alone consumed a huge amount of Egawa's stamina. Compared to Aizawa, his endurance was far lower—his legs now felt like jelly, barely able to support him.
"That's normal. Shina probably used his medical-type Quirk on you. You shouldn't have any internal injuries," Aizawa said. "Alright, let's proceed to the fourth match."
"…Medical Quirk…" Egawa repeated absentmindedly. Then his eyes snapped wide open. "Wait—medical Quirk?! Shina has a healing ability too?!"
The entire room exploded.
"Oh my god—our school actually has another healing-type Quirk user?!"
"From today onward, anyone who dares mess with Shina is my enemy!"
"No wonder he's so confident. With a healing Quirk, that makes sense… honestly, we were the petty ones."
"You idiot, don't turn into a bootlicker!"
"Hmph. If anyone gives Shina trouble, we seniors will personally teach them a lesson about life."
"Shina… has a medical Quirk…"
—
With the revelation of Etsuha's second ability, interest in the fourth match dropped sharply. As soon as he returned to the monitoring room, he was immediately surrounded.
The hostility from earlier had completely vanished—replaced by burning enthusiasm. The second-years looked at him like he was a priceless treasure.
After all, a healing-type Quirk was incredibly rare. Even an unrefined one made its user indispensable.
The commotion lasted for the rest of the day. To Etsuha's surprise, all the chatter and attention actually caused his energy to recover at a noticeably faster rate.
"At this pace… I'll be unlocking new abilities again soon," he thought, rubbing his chin.
—
Nothing particularly eventful happened after that.
Since U.A. hadn't built dormitories yet, Etsuha stayed overnight at a nearby hotel. The next morning, he arrived early at the second-year classroom and soon spotted Aizawa Shouta.
"Everyone's here, so I'll keep this brief," Aizawa said, glancing at Etsuha before continuing. "The Pro Hero invited for the upcoming event is—"
He paused deliberately, building suspense.
"…Mt. Lady."
—