"SO PATHETIC... your goal is so low... you have to surpass All Might at least, Akari Hayashi."
"Surpass All Might, huh? Not bad, I guess," Akari said with a slight smile.
After saying that, he raised his right arm and made a punching pose. Then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"It's gonna hurt a lot." Saying that, he punched straight toward the large chunk of stone without hesitation.
Thunk!
The sound of a fist hitting stone echoed. Akari gritted his teeth to stop himself from shouting, but his expression clearly showed he was in pain.
Opening his eyes, he looked at his trembling hand. Blood was dripping from his knuckles.
"Tch, I didn't hit hard enough. Seems like my punching skills need some honing," he muttered.
Then he started again — this time with his left hand.
The results were the same as before. Akari repeated it again and again until—
Crack!
The sound of bone breaking filled the air, followed by intense pain shooting through his hand.
"Ahhhh, that hurts so much!" he screamed — then punched again with the other hand, breaking it too.
"Fuck, it hurts like hell! Hahaha!" he laughed, even as pain twisted his face. A green light pulsed around one of his hands — his quirk at work, healing the broken bones.
The effect wasn't immediate. It took a full ten minutes to completely heal one hand.
And while healing, Akari had to endure the pain, which made focusing even harder — especially with internal injuries. His quirk wasn't some simple healing spell that instantly fixed wounds.
No — even though his quirk was called Heal, it was highly technical. A small mistake could cause more harm than good.
As he used his quirk, Akari could see inside his body — the damaged parts slowly knitting back together. That meant, theoretically, he should be able to see hidden wounds in others too. But it wasn't that simple. His power hadn't reached that level yet.
Currently, he could only see and heal his own injuries. At most, he could treat simple surface wounds on others.
"Hmm, good... I can feel they're stronger than before," Akari said, flexing his wrist a little.
"But the increase isn't much." Breaking his bones and healing them — it was a brutal, but effective method Akari used.
"Not to mention, if I want to surpass All Might, this way would take too long. I might not even reach that level..." Akari looked down at his now-healed arms, deep in thought.
"That punch of All Might's... it was so strong. A human could never reach it. Unless..."
As if struck by an idea, Akari immediately closed his eyes and began channeling his healing power throughout his body, trying to understand it better.
"Breaking the limit is..."
He opened his eyes, looking from his hands to the blood-stained rock.
"Let's try it." With a grin, he took a punching stance. "120%."
Saying that, he punched the rock. Blood burst from his knuckles as cracks spread across the stone.
"That fucking hurts... haha..." he laughed weakly before collapsing from the pain.
"Heal... heal... heal... ahhh, focus!"
The pain was overwhelming — he couldn't activate his quirk immediately. It took him a full minute before he could begin healing. This time, the damage was far worse — his muscles, bones, even his shoulder were a mess.
The healing took thirty minutes, after which he just lay on the ground, completely exhausted.
"This can't keep going... my quirk is too weak. I have to strengthen it," he muttered.
He knew the only way to do that was by improving his concentration, body understanding, and control. That could increase his healing speed, sure — but he needed to evolve the quirk itself.
And he knew exactly how to do that.
Death.
That was the fastest way to strengthen his quirk.
It sounded insane — how could a healing quirk grow stronger through death?
"Maybe it's related to willpower or the soul..." he murmured. When Akari was younger, there were several times he had come close — no, escaped — death's door. Each time, his quirk had grown stronger.
"If I had to link it with a theory, I'd say it's connected to the Quirk Factor — how the body and mind are intertwined. Something like that... but I can't be sure. I was too young to remember clearly."
Now that he had decided to become a hero, those questions and theories haunted his thoughts.
"Still... how do I do that again? That's the question..."
He tried to recall the moment from his childhood — the dead bird, the rock, running from home...
"Can't remember... ahhh, my head hurts." Akari grabbed his head as a heavy headache struck him.
"Seems like I used my quirk a bit too much... I should rest for a while," he said, lying down on the grass.
"Let's just try to master this limit-breaking technique first, before thinking about dying... HAHAHAHAHA!"
Thinking about death, Akari didn't know why — but he felt like laughing.
Which was crazy, because deep down, he knew what he was really feeling was an....intense..urge to destroy.
---
1 Month Later
"200% Overdrive." A strong wind pressure formed as Akari punched a large rock covered in cracks, with both dried and fresh blood all over it.
The rock shattered into pieces, and blood began flowing from his right hand.
"That was a bit too much, I guess," he muttered before vomiting a mouthful of blood. His whole body was in immense pain, and he could feel his body growing cold, as if death itself was approaching.
It was truly dangerous and life-threatening — he was losing blood too fast.
"I have to concentrate on healing... or I'll lose consciousness and die... That's not how I can evolve my quirk for... su...re... ahh s..hi.t..."Akari felt his consciousness slipping away with each passing second.
[YOU ARE SUCH A LOSER '#@$$'... WHO CARES IF YOU DIE... ROT IN HELL... JUST DIE LOSER... LOSER... DIE... DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!]
As he lost consciousness, he seemed to see a girl—no, a woman—but she had no face. Still, he felt it. Hate. A strong, burning hatred. He wanted to kill her—really, truly kill her.
But despite that deep resentment and rage, he felt himself sinking further, until all that remained was darkness… and a voice echoing, telling him he should die.
Maybe it would be better for everyone if I just die... I really want to di—
"How long are you going to rest, Hero? HAHAHA!"
"Hero... right, I have to be one... damn, I can't even..."
Akari opened his eyes and painfully tried to get up, only to fall back down. With what little strength he had left, he looked around and saw blood everywhere.
"First, the internal organs," he muttered.
He focused his mind on healing the internal bleeding in his vital organs caused by the immense strain of pushing his body to 200%.
He kept healing, and by the time he had fully recovered, it was almost morning.
"Got to go before Mom notices I'm not home," he said, then sprinted off.
'I should take it a bit more gradually… I jumped straight to 200% from 150%, even though that was already dangerous… No, it's okay. If I keep practicing at 200%, I'll grow faster.'
It was only then that he noticed something—his quirk had actually strengthened. Not by much, but enough to notice. He wasn't completely knocked out after all that healing. Sure, most of it was thanks to his sheer willpower, but still.
When he finally reached home, he collapsed flat on his bed and immediately fell asleep. Luckily, it was Sunday, so he didn't have to go to school.
He could finally rest for a bit.
"Akari, dear, are you up? If so, can you go out and buy some vegetables?"