"Let's move on to your other abilities," Dr. Tanaka said, and suddenly the air in the room felt different. More serious.
"The black rods?" I asked.
"Among other things. Can you create one for us?"
I held out my hand and thought about it. The familiar weight materialized in my palm—about the size of a pencil, perfectly black, somehow both solid and not-quite-there at the same time.
"Dense material," Dr. Tanaka muttered, running some kind of scanner over it. "Minimal radiation, but there's definitely an energy field of some kind." She looked up at me with the expression of someone who'd just found buried treasure. "Have you ever thought about patenting this?"
I blinked. "Patenting what? Something only I can make?"
"Fair point. Can you create multiple rods at once?"
"Don't think so. And I can only make maybe five or six a day before I get tired."
"Interesting. What about the immobilization effect? I read the report about the sludge villain."
"It basically shuts everything down," I said. "Movement, quirks, everything just... stops working."
Dr. Tanaka and Yoshida exchanged another look.
"We need to test this properly," Dr. Tanaka said. "Would you be willing to demonstrate on a volunteer?"
Twenty minutes later, they'd brought in a Hero Commission employee named Yamamoto. His quirk let him harden his skin like iron, and he looked about as thrilled to be there as I felt.
"This won't cause permanent damage, right?" he asked nervously.
"According to Ken's account, the effects are temporary," Dr. Tanaka assured him. "We'll monitor everything and remove it immediately if there are problems."
I created a fresh rod. "Where should I...?"
"His arm. Just break the skin—we don't need to go deep."
I pressed the tip against Yamamoto's hardened forearm. The black material slid through his steel-like skin like it was butter.
The effect was immediate and terrifying.
Yamamoto's hardened skin flickered and vanished. His eyes went wide as his body locked up completely—not paralyzed exactly, but like someone had just unplugged him.
"Can't... move," he managed through gritted teeth. "Everything's numb."
I yanked the rod out. Within seconds, he stumbled forward, gasping, his quirk flickering back to life.
"Jesus," he breathed, flexing his fingers. "That was... I've never felt anything like that. It wasn't just the quirk. My whole body just stopped responding."
Dr. Tanaka was scribbling notes like her life depended on it. "Complete quirk nullification, total nervous system disruption. Ken, do you understand what this means?"
"That I have a really unfair quirk?"
"This isn't just quirk suppression," Yoshida said slowly. "This is complete system shutdown. Once someone's hit, they can't fight back, can't run, can't even defend themselves."
The weight of that hung in the air like smoke.
"Have you heard of Eraserhead?" Dr. Tanaka asked.
"No."
"Underground pro hero. His quirk erases other people's quirks while he looks at them."
"Oh. Similar idea, I guess."
"Similar, but yours is more..." She searched for the right word. "Aggressive. Eraserhead's quirk is surgical—just the quirk factor. Yours is like hitting someone with a shutdown virus."
I shifted uncomfortably. "Is that bad?"
"Not bad. Just powerful. Very, very powerful."
Dr. Tanaka was still making notes when she looked up with that gleam in her eye again. "Ken, would it be possible for us to keep one of your rods? For research purposes?"
I glanced at the black rod sitting innocently on the table. "Why?"
"Quirks like Eraserhead's are hard to study," Yoshida explained. "Can't exactly dissect his eyes. But your rods recreate the effect in a physical object. If we could analyze the suppression field..."
"You mean like, make gear that shuts down quirks?"
"Exactly. Riot gear for villain encounters, specialized containment cells. Your rods could revolutionize how we handle dangerous situations."
I thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. "Sure. Knock yourselves out."
"Excellent. Now, let's talk about your barrier effect."
*This was the part I'd been dreading.*
I activated Infinity, feeling that familiar sensation of the world becoming just slightly more distant.
"Try to touch me," I said.
Dr. Tanaka reached out, and her hand stopped several inches from my shoulder. She frowned, pressing harder, but it was like there was invisible glass between us.
"How?" she asked.
"I just... decide things can't touch me, and they can't."
"Can you turn it off?"
"Yeah." I deactivated it, and her hand immediately made contact. "It's like a switch."
"Can you choose what gets through?"
"Sort of. It's not perfect, but I'm getting better at it."
They ran me through test after test—water, air pressure, temperature, even electromagnetic fields. Infinity blocked everything I wanted it to.
"This is unprecedented," Dr. Tanaka said, voice filled with the kind of excitement usually reserved for Nobel Prize announcements. "You're creating a selective barrier with no detectable energy signature. Do you understand the implications?"
"Not really."
"Most barrier quirks show clear energy readings—electromagnetic fields, hardened air, telekinetic force. Yours shows nothing. It's like space itself refuses to let things touch you."
More tests, more measurements. The barrier extended in a perfect sphere around my body, blocked everything I wanted it to, and apparently operated on principles that made grown scientists make excited squeaking noises.
"You're effectively untouchable when this is active," Dr. Tanaka said finally. "Physical attacks, environmental hazards, most energy attacks—completely negated. This is defensive capability we see maybe once in a generation."
"What's the energy cost?" Yoshida asked. "How long can you maintain it?"
"I honestly don't know. Never really tested the limits."
---
Agent Yoshida sat down with us afterward, tablet full of notes and that expression adults get when they're about to deliver Important Information.
"Ken, your quirk classification is going to be complex," she began. "We're looking at what appears to be a composite ability—extreme physical enhancement, selective spatial barrier, and quirk nullification."
"What does that mean practically?" Mom asked.
"It means Ken has one of the most powerful and versatile quirks we've assessed in recent years," Yoshida said. "His physical capabilities alone put him in the top tier. The barrier is essentially perfect defense. And the nullification component makes him uniquely suited for handling dangerous situations."
"So... that's good?"
"Very good. We'll need to process the data and determine his official classification, but for now, you'll be registered as Class A Enhanced Individual with Special Monitoring."
"What's special monitoring mean?" I asked.
"Just periodic check-ins to make sure you're adapting well. And your threat level will be marked as 'Significant'—but that's actually a compliment. It means we take your abilities seriously."
Mom squeezed my hand. "What happens now?"
"Now Ken is officially registered, which means he can legally use his abilities for self-defense and hero work. We'll also be sending a recommendation to U.A. that they give his application serious consideration."
"A recommendation?"
"Based on today's assessment, you've demonstrated capabilities comparable to professional heroes. That's... well, it's impressive for someone your age."
As we left the building, Mom was practically glowing. "You were amazing in there. So calm and confident."
I nodded, but my mind was elsewhere. Something about the way Dr. Tanaka had looked at that rod, the excitement in her voice when she talked about applications...
I had a feeling that little black stick was going to change more than just my future.
___
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