On the very first day after crossing worlds, Ethan was baptized by none other than the Railgun herself. He could feel an electric current surge through his entire body, tingling and numbing him all over.
It had been a long time since he felt something, anything, like this.
He remembered it clearly: as a child, he'd once curiously stuck his fingers into an electrical socket at home. His skin had burned black, but he didn't even know to let go. It wasn't until his parents came running in panic that they saved his life.
Only years later did he understand the tears in their eyes.
It was then he first realized what a freak he was, born without pain. And from that day on, in this hollow, numb world devoid of sensation, he learned how to protect himself.
"Electricity? That was just my childhood toy."
When Ethan opened his eyes again, the punks who had been surrounding him were already flat on the ground.
Thud!
All around him, bodies twitched like frogs in a storm, convulsing so hard they couldn't even scream.
Ethan instinctively raised a hand, expecting charred skin and a puff of smoke. But to his surprise, the part of his body that had been shocked was already healing, regenerating.
Did Misaka's lightning unlock my hidden ability or something? Did I just have an enlightenment moment?
No, not quite.
Thinking carefully, he realized something had shifted in his mind.
From the moment he arrived, the usage of heal had already been etched into the very structure of his mind. Chosen by this world to become the Hero of Recovery, even if "hero" wasn't really a profession that existed in the Index universe.
"You're still standing after my discharge?"
Misaka Mikoto looked at him, visibly surprised.
"No… it looks like you're healing. Some kind of regenerative ability? But it shouldn't be able to cancel the current itself… Seriously now, how many freaks with weird immunity powers are going to show up overnight?"
One hundred thousand volts, not from Pikachu, but from the living, breathing Railgun.
Seeing her in real life for the first time, Ethan's heart raced. He wanted to talk to her, make a connection with this anime heroine brought to life, but then he realized a crushing truth.
I don't understand a single word.
"Hey, why are you ignoring me? Is this how you treat the person who saved your life?" Misaka's brow twitched with annoyance.
If this were a dating sim, a minus affection prompt would've popped up.
Ethan gave an awkward smile. "I… don't understand Japanese."
"Oh, you speak other language?" she replied in his native tongue, albeit with a heavy accent.
In this cosmopolitan city of science, encountering foreigners with blond hair and blue eyes was common, but visitors from the mysterious East? Still rare.
Misaka forced a friendly smile and tried to say hello.
She was a top student, after all. The curriculum at Tokiwadai was already college-level, and with brain development, her linguistic skills had grown too, fluent in English, French, Russian, even Italian.
Outside of that? Not so much.
Ethan racked his brain and managed to choke out: "Ko… konnichiwa?"
That was the best he had.
Judging by how he hadn't been barbecued alive, she must've held back. With a Level 5's mastery over electricity, she could've easily avoided hitting him or dialed up the voltage, but she'd settled for a light stun.
He scratched his head, now a staticky puffball. Each strand stood on end like a hedgehog's quills.
So that's why anime protagonists always have such messy hair...
Even visually, the arc lightning that ripped through the air should've been fatal. Yet, in this world, it seemed manageable, especially coming from someone like Misaka, who could precisely calibrate her power to subdue a crowd without inflicting lasting damage.
She was too kind for her own good.
"Onee-sama!"
A new voice burst in, sweet, syrupy, and clingy. Another tea-haired girl appeared from thin air and immediately tackled Misaka into a hug.
Yep. He recognized this one.
Wearing the same Tokiwadai uniform, her twin tails tied with butterfly ribbons, and a warped, yuri-loving gleam in her eye, this had to be Shirai Kuroko, Level 4 Teleportation user and notorious siscon.
Name: Shirai. Read as: Pervert.
"I told you already, Onee-sama, wandering around after school isn't allowed!"
"It's not what it looks like! I was helping someone. Some foreign exchange student was being bullied, and I stepped in…"
"That's a job for Judgment! As a civilian, Onee-sama shouldn't misuse her powers!"
Shirai's shoulder bore the green armband of Judgment. Despite standing before the third-ranked Level 5, she had no fear whatsoever, arms crossed, chastising her beloved with practiced elegance.
"It was just attempted extortion," she sighed. "Even if we caught them, they'd only get a slap on the wrist. Still… Onee-sama, don't forget we're running out of time before curfew."
And she said all of this with that distinct ojou-sama dialect, ending her sentences with "~desu no."
Misaka panicked. "Oh no, Kuroko!"
Before she could say more, Shirai had already taken her hand.
With a flicker, both were gone.
"Come, we must return at once~"
Only her lovesick voice lingered in the air.
Poor Ethan. Gloriously ignored by both heroines.
He rubbed his eyes. Yep, they were gone.
Teleportation, ridiculously OP, and yet… all she was used for was chauffeuring Misaka around. It really was like a magic show.
This is real. I'm really in an anime.
Ethan closed his eyes and burned the scene into his memory.
The sun setting over Academy City.
A tea-haired girl glancing back, electricity dancing from her fingertips…
A moment so beautiful it pierced the dimensional wall.
Lyrics from the song "Only My Railgun" echoed in his heart.
"The spark on your fingertips is my unshakable faith."
The original Bilibili even got its name from her, "Biri-Biri," the Railgun.
He was too old for these feelings.
And yet, remembering the bullet comments he once spammed on anime videos made him cringe. So embarrassing. So full of secondhand shame.
He wasn't some hero saving damsels.
Wasn't a noble warrior.
He was just the guy who got saved by a girl.
The nameless background character the heroine wouldn't even remember.
Ethan looked down at his hands, and clenched them tightly.
"If I really have the powers of the Healing Hero… then maybe I can even copy esper abilities."
One day… even the Railgun will be mine.
"…Well then."
He looked at the punks strewn across the alley, an idea forming.
Misaka had defeated these "wild mobs" and left without looting the drops. For someone like him, still weak, these were precious resources.
Time to test the power of Heal.
Ethan crouched down, ignoring the stench of alcohol and smoke. He placed his hand on a delinquent's head, whispered the incantation, and green light glowed softly.
Ping!
That feeling again.
Ethan's pupils dilated. Suddenly, he saw through the delinquent's eyes, reliving the moment Misaka's lightning struck. Experiencing the shock. The agony.
This time… it hurt.
But not just now. He could feel every past trauma this body had endured, pain, despair, helplessness, burned into the mind like a brand. It was as if he had fully experienced the life of a "Level 0 loser" in Academy City.
Living like trash… it hurts so much…
The memories weren't just data. They were pain. Electric shocks, classroom beatings, street fights, stab wounds, each a different flavor of suffering. Spicy. Bitter. Sharp.
His brain trembled.
So… this is pain?
And the thrill, was intoxicating.
More addictive than any forbidden pleasure. Ethan's entire body trembled as the memories and abilities surged into his brain, knowledge, street-smarts, life skills.
Mimic (Heal)!
Acquired: Basic Japanese Fluency
The delinquent stirred, warmed by the healing light. He blinked groggily.
"Y-you're… not a bad guy after all…"
And then Ethan punched him in the face.
CRACK
The punk went out cold.
"Used your own brawling technique. Learned it instantly."
Ethan looked at his fist, swollen from the blow.
Ping!
He cast heal again. Instant recovery.
It was surreal.
In dreams, there's no pain. Only when you wake do you remember what pain is. As the heal faded, the memory of pain dulled… and he actually missed it.
Pain… still lingered in his mind.
He rubbed his temple.
"Mild quantum-level discomfort," he muttered.
Too weak.
These delinquents were all low-level trash. But they'd been perfect for farming life skills.
He hadn't brought a phone when he crossed over, nor did he have any local currency. Luckily, in this tech-heavy city, cash was still widely used.
Wild mobs really do drop yen!
"These 'abilities' are just cheap stage tricks…"
One by one, he cast heal on each punk… and then promptly knocked them out again. After confirming none were Level 2 or higher, he looted every wallet.
According to their memories, all currency here had embedded IC chips tracking the owner, but black-market bills like these were untraceable.
No doubt Aleister was already watching through the city's surveillance systems. A foreigner with an unknown power that copied abilities? Looked awfully like a spy.
Ethan had already resigned himself to the risk.
"One bill worth two thousand yen, the highest denomination in this city… and only one of them had it? Pathetic."
When he spoke again, it was fluent Japanese.
Anime Universe Default Language: Unlocked!
"If you plan to rob others, you'd better be ready to be robbed yourself.
Consider this compensation for my emotional damage."
His mind was clear. No guilt.
From the moment he arrived, Ethan had decided, he would survive by any means necessary.
This was no law-abiding modern world. Everyone knew anime cops were useless. Even Judgment had shown up late and done nothing.
At least he hadn't been dropped into some war-torn Middle East scenario. Or one of those Western "zero-dollar purchase" simulator worlds.
"Damn foreigner…"
The last punk passed out from rage.
Oops. Guess I'm playing Fallout: Scavenger Edition.
Thanks, Misaka. That was one hell of a starter pack.
Ethan stood, emerald gleam in his eyes. It had taken ten minutes to fully grasp the rules of this "game" called Isekai.
The spirit eye he brought with him saw through everything.
He shook his hand, sore from punching everyone. A chant later, full stamina restored.
But the mental fatigue…
"Wait… what if I heal them again, then beat them up again? Would I be able to keep extracting pain over and over…?"
An endless cycle.
An infinite loop of pain.
Finally, he had found… the feeling of being alive.
Ethan took a deep breath, letting the sterile, purified air of Academy City fill his lungs.
Who cared about 2D or 3D? He was an untouchable freak, a man with no pain, ready to restart his life from zero.
"W-wait a second! You! Taking other people's money like that is wrong!"
A high-pitched loli voice broke through his thoughts.
And that's when a tiny hero of justice stepped out, right in front of the "hero" whose mind was just starting to crack.
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