"Finally… he's here..."
The moment she heard All Might's voice, Konata couldn't help but let out a long breath of relief.
Due to excessive blood loss, her vision had already started to blur. And now, with her mind finally relaxing after the tension, everything went black before her eyes. All the dizziness and pain she had forcibly suppressed came flooding back.
She no longer had the strength to even sit upright. Collapsing weakly backward, her consciousness was finally swallowed by darkness.
In that deep, abyssal dark—like the depths of the ocean 20,000 meters down—Konata had a strange, surreal dream.
In that dream, she couldn't see anything. She couldn't feel her body, nor could she move. All she could do was vaguely hear something crawling slowly toward her in the pitch black void.
Closer and closer…
Konata's eyes snapped open.
The room she found herself in looked like the school infirmary. Judging from the sunlight pouring in, it was just about noon. The curtain that had been shielding the window was now drawn aside, and the sunlight streaming through stung her eyes.
"…Infirmary, huh?"
With effort, Konata sat up from the bed and rubbed her aching temples.
Her clothes had clearly been changed by someone; now she wore a plain white hospital gown. On the bedside table sat an assortment of fruits. She glanced at them briefly before turning away.
There was no one else in the infirmary.
"The broken limbs must've been healed by Recovery Girl's quirk. Makes sense. If she can instantly mend Deku's pulverized bones, then twisted limbs like mine should be easy... Still, I guess full recovery takes time."
Glancing at the thick bandages wrapped around her right knee, Konata hesitated for a moment before attempting to get out of bed and test whether she could stand— only to immediately collapse face-first onto the mattress.
"…Forget it. Probably won't take too long to recover anyway."
Giving up, she lay back down and let the warm sunlight wash over her. Covering her eyes with one hand to block the glare, she stared through her fingers at the drifting white clouds in the blue sky. The warmth made her feel strangely at ease.
This wasn't a game. There were no do-overs or restarts.
Even though she had ended up in such a state, she didn't regret her choices. If she hadn't fought back then, things would've turned out far worse—maybe even grotesquely so, like being turned into a Nomu…
She had no idea what had happened after she passed out, but since All Might had arrived, the other teachers likely had too. Otherwise, she wouldn't be here, safe in the infirmary. There was no need to worry anymore.
The biggest gain from that battle? She had started to glimpse how the system worked.
The strength and skills she could use while transformed depended entirely on the powers from the anime the character came from. In other words, if Shana could do something in the anime, then her transformation into Shana could do it too.
Since Shana could unleash Tenpa Jōsai (Heaven Destruction Earth Break), so could she. That also explained why, when she transformed into Misaka Mikoto, she could use electromagnetic powers without having to calculate complex formulas—because Misaka could do it, so she could too. No questions asked.
It was like if she transformed into Boa Hancock, she'd be able to use the Love-Love Fruit abilities even without ever eating the fruit. Whatever extent Boa had developed her abilities to in One Piece, she could reach the same. If Boa was hated by the sea, so would she be.
And since Shana didn't die after using Tenpa Jōsai, neither would she.
This was one of the system's "rules" she had figured out… but in reality, it wasn't all that useful.
For example, her next planned unlock was Hatsune Miku. As a virtual idol, that kind of rule didn't even apply. There was no "canon" for her powers, so there were no rules to follow.
She suspected Miku's role might lean toward support or healing… but that was just a guess. For all she knew, she could transform and end up wielding dual spring onions in some absurd "leek-blade slash of salvation." There was no way to predict these things.
"Hmm… Guess I should focus on unlocking more characters. If I'd already had a third character ready, maybe I wouldn't have passed out like that. After all, each transformation resets you to full health. Even if the damage comes back after the time's up…"
With that thought, Konata opened the system interface. On the transform panel, there were four character slots. Misaka Mikoto and Shana were unlocked, while the remaining two were still grayed out.
"Next step… start some 'evangelism' online to meet the unlock conditions for the fourth character."
Just as she lay there mulling things over, the infirmary door creaked open—and Recovery Girl stepped into the room.
Seeing the dazed girl lying across the bed, the old lady looked momentarily surprised. Then she smiled gently, turned back toward the hallway, and called out:
"She's awake. You can all come in now."
"Eh?"
Konata, still sprawled face-down on the bed, hadn't even had the chance to greet the kindly healer. But before she could process anything, the room was flooded with noise as a crowd of people poured in—instantly filling the small infirmary to bursting.
"Konata! Are you okay?!"
Thanks to her frog-like quirk, Tsuyu Asui was the first to hop over to her side, worry etched all over her face.
And behind her came Midoriya Izuku, Tokoyami Fumikage, Yaoyorozu Momo, Uraraka Ochako, Iida Tenya, Bakugo Katsuki…
Konata's entire face turned green.