The walk to U.A. passed surprisingly quickly.
Partly because Ochaco spent most of it fiddling with the web-shooter glove still attached to her wrist.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Every few seconds, she would press the trigger pad.
Not enough to fire.
Just enough to familiarize herself with where everything was.
"You're really excited about those, huh?"
Ochaco looked up.
"Can you blame me?"
"No."
She grinned.
"I can already think of a hundred ways to use them."
"Only a hundred?"
"A thousand then."
"That's better."
Ochaco puffed out her chest proudly.
I laughed.
"I hope you don't lose that confidence later."
She looked at me with a smile.
"Not a chance."
Before long, the gates of U.A. came into view.
Students were already making their way toward the main building.
The familiar sight made it feel a little more real.
This was only our second day.
Yet somehow, it felt like we'd already been there for weeks.
As we approached the entrance, Ochaco checked the time.
"We should probably hurry to class."
I nodded.
"Go ahead."
"Huh?"
"I need to stop by the bathroom first."
"Oh."
She tilted her head.
"Don't take too long."
"I won't."
Ochaco gave me one last smile before jogging toward the classroom building.
I watched her disappear into the crowd.
Then headed in the opposite direction.
A few minutes later, I found myself standing in front of a row of urinals.
The bathroom was thankfully empty.
After taking care of business and washing my hands, I glanced at my reflection in the mirror.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Rewards:
• 10 Accessory Tokens
• +9 Skin Tokens
(+3 Powerpuff Girls Tokens [Low–High Tier])
(+3 MHA Skin Tokens [Low Tier])
• +1 Special Summon
• +1 Daily Spin
• 1 Mystery Cartridge
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
"...Right."
I had almost forgotten.
With everything that had happened recently, I hadn't properly checked my Spins & Tokens.
My gaze settled on the Daily Spin.
A small frown appeared on my face.
"It's still at one."
The reward had been sitting untouched for what felt like forever.
At first, I'd assumed the system would give me one spin for every day I spent inside the MHA world.
That theory had died quickly.
Very quickly.
After all, I'd already spent over a week here.
Yet the system hadn't given me a single additional spin.
Which only left one explanation.
"...It's counting the day-night cycle of my main world."
I leaned against the sink.
That meant the system wasn't measuring time based on how long I spent inside alternate worlds.
It was measuring time from my home reality.
Thanks to the ridiculous time dilation between worlds...
To the system, only a little over three hours had passed.
Three hours.
Meanwhile, I'd gone on dates.
Enrolled into U.A.
Made friends.
Influenced a future hero's costume design.
"That's insane."
My eyes drifted downward.
The Mystery Cartridge.
Curiosity won.
I tapped it.
A new window appeared.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Mystery Cartridge]
Grade: Special
Description:
A disposable dimensional key.
Temporarily opens a gate connected to one Alternate World linked to a future Skin Gacha Win.
The destination is selected randomly.
Once a Skin Roll is performed again afterward, the gate will begin destabilizing.
Continuing to roll for additional skins will accelerate the collapse.
Upon gate closure, the user will be forcibly returned to their current world.
Warning:
The gate cannot remain open indefinitely.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
"...What?"
I stared at the description.
Then reread it.
"What kind of reward is this?"
My expression twisted.
"Is this supposed to be useful or a drawback?"
The more I thought about it, the worse it sounded.
"What if it opens a gate to some weak world because I rolled a common skin?"
That would be terrible.
But the opposite wasn't much better.
"And what if it opens a world I actually want to stay in?"
That sounded even worse.
I could already imagine it.
Finding an incredible world.
Meeting interesting characters.
Discovering powerful technology.
Then being forced to leave because I wanted to keep rolling for better skins later down the line.
"Talk about a double-edged sword."
With a sigh, I closed the description.
My attention shifted toward the next reward.
Special Summon.
"...Ah."
I had completely forgotten about that one.
Given the name, there was no way I was activating it in the middle of school.
The last thing I needed was accidentally summoning a giant alien, magical princess, or superhero in U.A.'s bathroom.
"Yeah. That's staying in storage for now."
That left one final reward.
Daily Spin.
A grin slowly appeared on my face.
"Now this I can use."
I pressed it.
A giant wheel materialized before me.
Unlike the limited version I'd started with, this one had become absurd with its selection.
Affection Points.
Johnny Test.
Ben 10.
Monsters vs. Aliens.
Powerpuff Girls.
Danny Phantom.
MHA.
Various item categories.
Skin fragments.
Token bundles.
The wheel seemed almost twice as large as before.
"It's been a while."
Back when I'd first received the system, the wheel had mostly contained Ben 10 and Powerpuff Girls rewards.
Now?
The thing looked like a crossover event.
I grabbed the wheel.
And spun.
WHIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR—
The sections blurred together.
Ben 10.
MHA.
Powerpuff Girls.
Danny Phantom.
Affection Points.
More Tokens.
Alien Tech.
The wheel gradually slowed.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
My eyes narrowed.
It skipped over a Susan Test reward.
Barely missed an MHA token bundle.
The wheel stopped.
DING.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
DAILY SPIN REWARD
[Prototype Omnitrix Repair Kit]
Origin: Ben 10
Grade: Rare
Description:
A specialized repair and maintenance package designed for damaged Omnitrix technology.
Contains:
• Self-replicating Nano-Tools
• Diagnostic Scanner
• Universal Circuit Gel
• Limited Restoration Components
Can restore minor functionality to damaged transformation devices.
BONUS ITEM ACQUIRED
[Slimebiote Sample]
Origin: Ben 10
Grade: Uncommon
Description:
A living fragment of a Slime-Biot.
While harmless in its dormant state, Slime-Biots are highly adaptive single-celled proto-plasmic species capable of attaching to a host and utilizing DNA to manifest weaponry, limbs, and cross-species power fusions.
Effects:
• Minor Physical Enhancement
• Increased Agility
• Enhanced Reflexes
• Limited DNA Manipulation
Warning:
The sample is immature and unstable.
Proper growth conditions are required before long-term bonding is recommended.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
"..."
I stared at the reward screen.
Then looked at the tiny glass capsule that had appeared on a separate system panel.
Do you want to retrieve Slime-Biot Containment Capsules?
Yes / No
I pressed yes, and a light shimmered as the glass materialized outside of the system panel.
Inside floated a small blob of green slime.
The thing immediately pressed itself against the glass.
"...Mrrr."
The Slime-Biot sloshed against the side of the capsule.
"Aren't you something?" I grinned.
To think I'd get something so useful along with that repair kit.
The blob wiggled.
Then formed what looked suspiciously like a tiny pair of eyes on its face.
The Omnitrix repair kit was one thing.
The potentially living DNA index was another.
Only one question came to mind:
Could it interact with quirks?
Slimebiotes adapted to DNA.
Quirks were biological mutations.
Theoretically...
With it by my side...
Could I copy Quirk Factors?
My heart skipped a beat.
No.
There was no way it was that broken.
...Right?
My grin only widened as I opened the top of the glass capsule.
"I have a feeling you and I are going to be best friends."
The Slime-Biot bounced happily against the side of the capsule.
I pulled it free before placing it over my left shoulder.
It didn't protest and instead seemed happy to no longer be in confinement.
I dried my hands and left the bathroom.
The halls were noticeably quieter now that classes were about to start.
Eventually, I reached Class 1-A.
The door slid open.
Several students were already in their seats.
The moment I stepped into class, the Slime-Biot shifted on my shoulder.
Its tiny eyes locked onto Izumi.
Then the blob shivered.
As if it had sensed something.
"Aoyama!"
I looked over.
Izumi waved enthusiastically from his desk.
Her arm swung back and forth like she hadn't seen me in months instead of yesterday.
A few nearby students glanced over.
Izumi didn't seem to care.
I couldn't help smiling.
"Morning, Izumi."
"Morning!"
She pointed at an empty seat.
"Hurry up. Class is about to start."