Ten years had passed since that rainy day. Now, Aoi Kanzaki was fourteen.
He had grown taller than most of his classmates, lean and athletic. Muscles had formed where once there had been only a child's frail arms and legs. His hair white a soft, dusty, almost silver in the sunlight and his eyes glinted a sharp red, always alert, always calculating.
It had been ten years of discovery, trial, and error.
He had explored his quirk more than anyone else could have imagined. Upgrade - the ability to enhance objects based on intent, imagination, and the object's natural function. It was powerful, but it had rules. Rules he had learned the hard way.
At first, he could only upgrade one object before exhaustion set in. One stone, one stick, one pencil even a small item would leave him drained, and he would collapse after a few minutes. He would wake up with headaches and nosebleeds, frustrated and exhilarated at the same time.
Now, with careful control, he could maintain three upgraded objects simultaneously for a significant period without being drained. More than three, and his body rebelled with intense headaches, nausea, even nosebleeds. He had learned not to push past that line recklessly.
The rules had become clear:
The object had to be inanimate. He could not upgrade biologically alive material but nails and hair work just fine. This could be attributed to nails and hair being composed of dead cells allowing his upgrade to work on them.
His intent mattered. The object responded not to blind command, but to his imaginative understanding of what it could do in that moment and enhanced the object and its function.
Physical strain was real. Overuse hurt. Overexertion could leave him incapacitated for hours.
He had trained his body to handle it better, too. Upgrades took mental energy as much as physical stamina, so he had strengthened both. Running, climbing, lifting, and sparring in the dojo became routine, because a stronger body meant he could focus more on the upgrades rather than tiring from his own fatigue.
Sitting in the quiet of his room, Aoi picked up a notebook - pages full with ideas for his upgrades. His powers required external objects to be useful so he had thought of workarounds to make sure he was never caught powerless.
He smiled faintly.
Three at a time. That's enough for now.
He turned to the small TV in the corner of his room as urgent screams echoed. The news was on. A flurry of activity filled the screen: reporters running, people screaming, and in the chaos, a boy with green hair sprinting toward a villain. Flames licked the walls, and a strange green, slime-like creature seemed to be enveloping someone inside.
Aoi's eyes narrowed. The slime incident .... so it is finally happening.
He watched as the boy pushed through the fire, dodging the slime, and then HE appeared; All Might. The footage was grainy, shaky, but the presence was unmistakable. He had seen the headlines before, the chatter about his strength, yet watching it unfold in real time still awed him.
One For All… it's about to be passed on soon.
Aoi leaned back, letting the tension in his shoulders ease. He had one more year before UA. One year to train, one year to refine control, one year to prepare for whatever the world would throw at him.
I have to be ready.
Even after ten years, there was still so much to learn. The possibilities were endless, and each success only revealed more. But Aoi didn't rush. Control and precision mattered more than power. And as he stared out at the city from his bedroom window, watching the sunlight glint off rooftops , he felt ready for whatever came next.
For Aoi Kanzaki, it was only a matter of time before his own story fully began.