The room was unbearable to stay in. it was just way too hot.
Kota felt as if he were steaming the sweat off his body if he even had one only for it to evaporate immediately.
He could barely think of anything besides the heat. "What the hell is going on, and why is it so hot?" he spoke into the overwhelming heat around him.
"Oh, you're alive," spoke a new voice, overbearing, as if a wave of heat hit him with every word the sun spoke. "Usually souls burn to a crisp just from entering here. Anyway, you died from heatstroke uncommon, but it can happen. So here's what I'm gonna do: I'm either going to turn the heat up so you burn and become ashes in the wind, or I'll reincarnate you."
Kota looked directly at the sun and recoiled immediately. "Wait, wait, wait—hold on. I can't think with this heat, give me a minute."
Kota took a moment to think. "So I'm dead from heatstroke… worse than dying in a plane crash." He remembered when the plane started failing over the desert and shook his head, forcing the thoughts away.
"Well, I had nothing to live for anyway, so it doesn't matter. My options are burn to death or reincarnate? I'll be choosing reincarnation, thank you very much," Kota spoke to the sun.
The sun shone brighter for a moment as if it were smiling. "Very well, your wish has been granted. I know about your life, and I've seen that you read those stories about people with systems, so I'll grant you a system to help you in your day-to-day life. Good luck. And this will still hurt, hope you like the heat."
Kota's heart sank. "Wait, what do you mean, enjoy the burn?"
The sun shined brighter, then spoke, "Safe travels, Kota." Kota spoke immediately, "Wait, what do you mean by tha—"
In an instant, Kota was gone, burnt to a crisp, his soul somewhere else.
A ceiling. A normal ceiling like any other—except it wasn't his. Well, at least it's cool here, and that's better than anything, Kota thought trying to stay positive even if he had recently died and been in a room with unbearable heat.
"So where am I? Who am I?" Then the memories came—hot, searing hot, like being cooked on a grill. Then it suddenly ended.
"So I'm Hikaru Hayakawa… that'll take some time to get used to."
He sorted out his memories. Hikaru Hayakawa, 15 years old, dead mother, workaholic father who was almost never home. This world had heroes, the number one in Japan being All Might. This was the My Hero Academia He knew the story. He had the knowledge. He just needed to know how to use it.
He came from a family with quirks associated with fire—weak, but fire nonetheless. Except he had no quirk. "So I'm in My Hero Academia, and I have no quirk. Damn. Japan is going to be a scary place in the coming months, and I have about six to seven months to prepare myself for the UA exam and what's going to happen after that with no quirk."
He wiped some sweat off his head. He felt hotter than usual. not as bad as that place though what even was that place hell? whatever got to think strategy . Izuku has already been chosen for All For One. There's no way for me to get that power. What do I do? What can I do? he thought.
Musutafu was a dangerous place. He needed power. Luckily, he had been gifted a system. Let's get to work.
"System," he said aloud, and a window popped up. It spoke a pre recorded message, "Welcome to the Fire System. I have been assigned to you to help you in this world. You will get exclusively fire abilities and nothing else. Quests will start after you begin your path. Emanate heat like the sun and follow your dreams. Burn anything that gets in your way, burn it all down!"
After that pre-recorded speech, his stats, quests, and a gift box appeared. He clicked the gift box, and another window appeared:
[Claim gift now?]
Hikaru clicked yes without hesitation. [You obtained Johnny Storm's powers (2007). Claim now?]
Hell yeah—Johnny Storm's abilities would be great in this world. Unfortunately, it was the 2007 movie, meaning Supernova would be extremely weaker, but strong nonetheless.
So I've got a couple of months to get used to this power and push myself to my limits. Let's get started. I walked out of my room. It was empty, right, my father was always out. It was going to be empty all the time. Maybe that was for the better, I thought to myself.
I stepped into my bathroom and got a good look at myself. red hair and orange eyes, my skin tanner than most Japanese people as if I'd been in the sun too long, and a handsome face. Good enough for me.
I walked outside into my barren yard and prepared to use my newfound powers. "So I've got plenty time to familiarize myself with my powers. Let's get into this. Flame on." Hikaru's body instantly burst into flames. "Damn, this is cool, but I can feel that I'm not used to it. My temperature fluctuates wildly, and I'm nowhere near ready for flight."
I'm really going to need to polish up on my abilities if I want to be the strongest, he pondered. There were some factors that would be able to stop him if he wasn't hot enough, so that was something to work on.
He had to be the strongest, otherwise he'd just be another All For One victim. He'd just have to figure this out before the seven months were over, push himself to the very limit.
This would be the time for a time skip or training montage, wouldn't it?
Seven months later
After a lot of training and burning most of the clothes in his closet to bits, he was ready for UA. Hikaru thought to himself as he stood in front of UA.
The system never gave him any daily quests, so he trained his body as much as possible along with his powers. He got so caught up training like a madman that he barely went out, didn't even meet any main characters or do anything interesting. Hikaru thought awkwardly, Oh well, I'll meet them eventually. Time to get down to business.
As he walked to the gates he remembered his past life. working a boring office job dingy apartment coming home to no family and only finding happiness in reading stories about places like this. But now he's here starting his own story finally making something his past self would be content with.
With a deep breath he shook those thoughts away focusing at the task at hand Hikaru walked through the gates of UA, ready to start his new life.
like a phoenix rising from the ashes.