Everyone had begun preparing for the Sports Festival.
"Nine…" Momo breathed out, lowering the bar slowly to her chest before pushing it upward again. "A-And… ten—"
Her arms trembled.
The bar wobbled.
It started dropping—
Ren caught it with one hand.
He lifted it effortlessly and racked it.
Sixty kilos total.
Ren sighed.
"Momo… you still have a long way to go."
"I… know…" she panted, sitting up slowly.
She was wearing black gym leggings and a pink training shirt, her long hair cascading freely down her back, slightly damp with sweat.
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Ren placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Seraph."
Warm light pulsed faintly beneath his palm.
The fatigue vanished instantly. The micro-tears in her muscles repaired in seconds.
Momo exhaled softly, blinking as strength returned to her limbs.
She had improved a lot these days—largely thanks to Ren repeatedly healing her after intense sessions.
Ren sat beside her on the bench and casually wrapped an arm around her waist.
Momo froze.
Her entire face turned bright red.
Ren tilted his head slightly, amused.
"You know… for someone who gave the first kiss, you get way too embarrassed when I do this."
"T-That's different!" she stammered, growing even redder.
Ren leaned closer.
"So why don't we stop the useless teasing… and make it official?"
"O-Official?" she echoed, barely able to form the word. "W-What do you mean?"
Ren leaned toward her ear, his voice low enough to make her shiver.
"That we're boyfriend and girlfriend."
Momo's brain short-circuited.
"B-B-B—"
Ren lifted her chin gently and kissed her.
She stiffened for half a second—
Then slowly melted into it.
When he pulled back, she was visibly overheating.
"You'd better get used to this," Ren teased. "I don't want you passing out every time I—"
He was cut off.
Momo grabbed his collar and kissed him instead.
It was brief. Soft. But deliberate.
When she pulled back, her face was still pink—but her eyes were steady.
"Is… is it alright like this?" she asked quietly.
Ren smiled.
She was beautiful.
And those clothes... they make her so...
He blinked and shook the thought away.
Calm down.
Just like any normal kid his age, Ren was going through puberty.
...
After school.
Ren stood atop a rooftop, staring over the city.
One week until the Sports Festival.
He pulled a cloth up over his nose and mouth, obscuring the lower half of his face.
Then he vanished.
He shot across the skyline at blinding speed.
He was heading toward his clone.
It had found something.
Not a petty thief.
Not some street-level thug.
Someone stronger.
Strong enough to give the clone trouble.
Of course, the clone wasn't as powerful as the original.
The replication of structure had been perfect.
The flaw lay in the material.
Cow fat bought from a supermarket wasn't exactly optimal for a combat-grade body.
Still—
With Multitask, Grip, and Livewire—
It had won.
Ren dropped into a narrow alley.
Dark.
Silent.
There stood his clone.
Clothes torn.
Skin slightly bruised.
An exact copy of himself.
And kneeling in front of it—
A humanoid figure with scaled, greenish skin and slit pupils.
A chameleon-type mutant.
His dagger lay on the ground, already confiscated.
Ren smiled faintly.
"Good work, Ren #2."
He paused.
"…I'm congratulating myself."
Technically, he was the one controlling both bodies.
The chameleon man stared between the two Rens, eyes wide.
"T-There are two of you…"
Ren crouched slightly in front of him.
The villain's voice shook.
"Wait—how did you do that?! Your Quirk was lightning—! I saw it! You were throwing lightning!"
Ren's smile widened just a little.
"That's a secret."
He tilted his head.
"Now… shall we get to know each other a bit better?"
His tone was polite.
Almost friendly.
But the alley suddenly felt much, much colder.
...
Screams.
Raw.
Animalistic.
Echoing through the empty alley.
"I'll ask you again, little reptile…"
Lightning flickered across Ren's fingers, thin blue arcs snapping violently between them as he held the chameleon-like man by the collar.
The clone stood a few meters away, watching silently.
Ren leaned close to the villain's ear.
"Have you ever heard the name… Shigaraki Tomura?"
"N-No—!" the reptilian man stammered, shaking violently. "I swear! I don't—"
"Wrong answer."
The lightning discharged.
The alley lit up in a blinding flash.
The scream that followed tore through the air.
...
Time blurred.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Ren kept the voltage controlled—precise. Around 110 volts. Enough to overwhelm the nervous system. Not enough to stop the heart.
He knew exactly where the line was.
An hour passed.
The chameleon man hung limply in Ren's grip, smoke rising faintly from his clothes.
He was still conscious.
Barely.
His nervous system was ruined—burnt pathways, shattered responses. His limbs twitched uselessly.
He wouldn't fight again.
He wouldn't walk again.
Ren released him.
The body collapsed onto the cold concrete.
"…He really doesn't know anything."
Ren exhaled slowly.
"Damn it."
They're hiding better than I thought.
The man hadn't even recognized the name.
That meant one of two things:
Either he was truly small-time—
Or Shigaraki's circle was tighter than Ren expected.
Ren glanced down at the broken figure.
"…I may have exaggerated a little."
The man's eyes were still open.
Still aware.
But trapped inside a body that barely responded.
Ren clicked his tongue softly.
"I'll drop you at a hospital."
He paused.
"But first…"
He crouched and placed a hand on the villain's shoulder.
Camouflage.
That was his Quirk.
A Mutant-type ability that allowed him to blend nearly perfectly into surroundings.
The Quirk factor formed within Ren's body instantly.
He felt the shift.
The potential.
Ren smirked faintly.
"…I don't feel like becoming a lizard, though."
He activated another ability.
Alteration.
A Quirk he had created recently by merging a copy of Creation with a copy of Merge.
It allowed him to alter the state of things.
Matter.
Structure.
Even Quirks.
He hadn't expected to use it this soon.
He focused inward and grasped the newly copied Camouflage factor.
Then—
He rewrote it.
The process wasn't painless.
Sweat beaded along his temple.
His breathing slowed as he forced microscopic changes into the Quirk's structure.
This took far more energy than copying.
It was modification at the source.
Finally—
The mutation shifted.
The reptilian traits were removed.
The passive mutation became active transformation.
Instead of altering his biology, the Quirk now manipulated pigment cells beneath his skin—allowing precise environmental blending at will.
Ren glanced at his hand.
The skin shimmered—
Then blended into the concrete wall behind him.
Seamless.
To be continued...
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I am back, guys! I've got a prostethic leg now.