Thorny Path of a Pro-Hero

Time went on. Setsuna didn’t change much.

"Alright. This won't do. Listen. Get used to the idea that you won’t look glamorous, beautiful, and well-groomed a hundred percent of the time, gyaru-san."

"Huh?"

"Heroes like that don’t exist at all, not even All Might. He gets covered in dust and blood too, you can Google the photos. But it so happens that your main weapon, Setsuna, is your body. This automatically means you’ll be covered in dust and blood almost all the time."

"My weapon is my body... like yours is for you?"

"More so. To a greater extent than anyone else."

...

"So, your levitation speed is definitely improving, and so is the duration. What about your lifting capacity? No? Then, starting next week, we should focus on carrying mats..."

"Ugh..." Setsuna blew her bangs out of her eyes without even trying to argue. After today’s training, she was so exhausted that she couldn’t even levitate and was trudging around the gym, picking up her body parts one by one.

Quite a sight.

"I get it, I’m wiped out too. But you can carry a lot of stuff, and that’s invaluable. For example, you could save a lot of people if there was an earthquake. Clearing rubble, for instance. And you could even carry people, about four or five medium-sized pieces of... uh... school of Setsuna. You know, like fish, except..."

A growl came from the corner of the gym.

"I’m going to bury you! You’ll need rescuers yourself soon! Just... wait... stay right there..."

I looked at the floor, concerned:

"Hey, it really does feel like the ground is shaking. Could it be an earthquake? Alright, Tsuna, take care, I’m out of here; it’s not safe to stay. You should leave too. Bye-bye!"

"Wait! Face your death with honor!... ugh..."

...

"Alright. You’re doing it again! Stop doing that!"

"Stop doing what?" I asked, surprised, having been cut off mid-sentence.

"You’re trying to open my eyes to some stupidity of mine that I didn’t think about, making me feel ashamed again, not knowing where to blush or how to look! I mean, the opposite! I mean, you can’t do that to a girl, Niren!" Setsuna, somehow getting up from the mat, switched to a lecturing tone, raising a finger to the ceiling. "If you treat girls like that, especially beautiful ones like me, you’ll never find family happiness and die! I mean, die single!"

"Not accepted," I cut her off after listening to her tirade. "You’re not just a girl; you’re a U.A. applicant! A larva of a pro hero who came to me as a student! If you act like this with your teacher..."

Groaning and not listening, Setsuna literally fell apart like a construction set, crumbling gently to the floor. It looked rather creepy.

"I can’t do this anymoooore..."

However, I was relentless:

"Well, since you can’t do it anymore, let’s work on your endurance tomorrow. You’ve got the most problems with that. Let’s say, twenty laps around the gym in a half-squat. And since I see you’re still training your quirk, let’s use the time efficiently and also work on levitation, spatial control, and multitasking. Send this, this, and this part of Setsuna to the corners of the gym and watch from there for..."

The eye lying on the floor looked sad and pitiful.

...

"Today, I'm interested in multitasking. Tuna, how many elements of yourself can you control at the same time?"

Tsuna frowned and grumbled.

Today she arrived looking more annoyed, disheveled, and toothy than usual.

But, after all, it’s still Tokage, so I wasn’t risking anything beyond a friendly scuffle.

"Stop calling me a fish!"

"By the way, tuna is a very useful fish! You’re lucky to be just as useful..."

*sounds of angry biting*

"Ouch."

"Yud btter stp cllng mgnfcent me nams!"

I drove her biting mouth away with a well-aimed flick.

Kami-sama, you have no idea how much I love playing flicking games and how much my comrades fear my enhanced flicks!

"Oww... you’re mean!"

"So?"

"I already answered this recently... around fifteen to twenty. Well, maybe two or three more thanks to training," she said, moving her mouth back in place, brushing a strand of hair away and smiling proudly, though tiredly.

"Got it. You’re doing great. But that’s not exactly what I’m talking about. It’s one thing to split up. It’s another to consciously control each part, you know?"

Tokage paused. She puzzledly ruffled her crow’s nest of hair at the back of her head:

"But I can only strike with a fairly large part... well, maybe also the mouth with the throat and ears for communication, eyes for spatial awareness... that’s at most fifteen, well, twenty. Why do I need more? And actively using them would be just five to ten."

I sighed.

"First of all, a phalanx of a finger is enough to poke someone’s eyes. Secondly... What’s around us, Tsuna? In general?"

"... Well... space?"

"Yes. Space. And you have pronounced abilities to control it. That’s a big advantage."

"Hmm... Setsuna the Magnificent is like that, yes."

"And how did Yui beat you the first time? How?"

"... Um... preparation?"

"No, not that."

"Skillful use of space?"

"Closer, but not quite what I want to hear."

"... Items?"

"Tools, yes. Auxiliary accessories. Environment. Essentially, separate parts of that same space that you can use in a fight. It’s not about preparation; it’s ingenuity. To wrap an opponent in a volleyball net you picked up from the corner, you need to improvise, think fast, and have good coordination. But..."

"But I can do that wonderfully?"

"But most people, including Yui and me, are limited to more or less human limits of speed, agility, and accuracy. In the end, we have two hands. But not you."

"Hmm..." She brightened up a bit, though not for long. "I think I understand. But... aren’t you exaggerating, Shoda-senpai? Like... well, I could really wrap simple criminals in jackets or pour superglue into their shoes, but what could I do with someone stronger? Like, I don’t think such small tricks would impress All Might, you know?"

"Sets... what did I start the conversation with?"

"A flick?"

"With the word 'multitasking.'"

"But Nireeen... I understand I can do more things, but what’s the point?!"

Doesn’t want to think for herself, huh.

I turned to her, ignoring her cutely puffed cheeks, and issued a new directive:

"Alright, private, listen to my command! There’s a book that will be very useful for you to read, especially since you don’t believe that numerous small impacts can be dangerous to a strong opponent! The book is called 'Worm.' It’s a very old story, even from the pre-quirk era, about heroes. In it, the main character is capable of..."

***

Half a year passed like that.

I worked a lot. Yui worked a lot. Setsuna... she was a monster, not just someone who worked a lot.

In particular, she learned to separate body parts much faster, especially striking ones. And she could basically deliver strikes from almost any position and almost in any direction.

"Listen, as I understand, your main style is Muay Thai, right? How did you choose what to focus on, and how do I choose my main style?" Tokage asked me once.

I got distracted from my phone, not having completed the next item on my future preparation list. I have a habit of hanging out on the internet, but... it’s all for the sake of work, yeah.

All just for work.

At that moment, I was searching for any mentions on the web about a villain capable of multiple self-replications and copying other things and people. Was his name supposed to be Twin, or was it, Twice...?

I didn’t find anything substantial.

A certain "Duplicate" appeared in the public registry of wanted criminals, capable of creating several of his clones, just like the hero Ectoplasm. But the "Duplicate," as dubbed by the press, chose the path of a criminal and robbed banks several times in major cities of Japan. Nevertheless, he appeared suddenly and disappeared just as abruptly a few years ago, for unknown reasons.

Could it have been him?

Or not? The ability to create several duplicates and the terrifying skills of Twin (Twice?) from the anime, which represented an unstoppable cascade of cloning, are two different things. Not to mention, "Duplicate" was described as a confident blond man in a beige coat.

There are many similar abilities in this world, aren’t there? At every turn. The devil is in the details, the small differences, the missing constraints...

In short, another dead end.

It’s even a bit frightening—based on my notes from the long-lost memories of the past world, I knew of several opponents, but I could find clues about a regrettably small number of them.

But every day, I learned with new horror how incredibly many strong villains and ambiguous, grim heroes there are in this world, of whom there was no mention in my notes. A Dictator who can control an unlimited number of people; Moon Fish, a crazed maniac who creates hundreds of controllable blades straight out of his mouth; Annihilation, a hero who is a nightmare for villains, literally erasing any matter or energy in an unknown way; or the erratic Mr. Smiley, who, with a single damn smile, makes everyone around laugh uncontrollably, and his power works even through video cameras!

Fortunately, the latter disappeared somewhere a few months ago and hasn’t shown up on the radars.

I blinked. Remembered the question. Tried to gather my thoughts:

"Not quite. My style is a mixed bag tailored to personal preferences and the specifics of my quirk. You shouldn’t focus on me. Besides, I’ve been picking and borrowing techniques for many years, and my path probably doesn’t suit you. Actually, it definitely doesn’t. Every fighter, after going through the basics and getting a foundation, starts forming their own style, just like a musician, an artist, or a football player. What suits one may not suit another," I smiled slightly at Yui, who was listening to me attentively. We had a similar conversation a couple of years ago.

"So yes, try to adapt and adjust any hand-to-hand combat techniques that we give you. Some things will suit you. Some things won’t at all. You have a unique fighting style, just like Yui and Mashirao. But your style can be fast, even ultra-fast, and include combos of dozens of strikes. And you can’t be overwhelmed by numbers. The main thing is not to forget about spatial control."

"My eyes will soon grow stalks like a crab’s..." Tokage complained, so cutely that Yui and I couldn’t help but smile.

"In any case... my experience tells me there’s nothing more reliable than a simple punch. A properly executed one, with the right stance, full-body coordination, and from the leading hand, I mean. That’s how I started, anyway. But I also believe that a fighter should know significantly more techniques and styles than they use or could even theoretically use—to be able to counter any opponent and all their styles and techniques."

"So... you mean it makes sense for me to look at other people's techniques too, and try them on myself? I saw one move from Mashirao-kun..."

"I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who could adapt techniques from different schools so easily as you. But don’t get carried away; you still have a lot of work to do on the basics. And yes—try not to give yourself away before striking—not with your stance, not with your gestures. That’s a great trait—you can attack independently. Yes, I know this goes against what you’ve learned before, but it’s a very powerful advantage, both in terms of surprise and range. And if there’s an advantage..."

"You have to use it," the girls finished in unison, just like they always did whenever I nodded and pretended to stroke an imaginary gray beard.

***

Over time, Setsuna got comfortable and started proposing her own ideas. Often—they were crazy. And her questions grew more complex and sophisticated.

However, I didn’t lag too far behind.

For example, since pulling a pistol trigger, in Setsuna's case, could be done with any small enough part of her body, I sent her to firearm training. The same training that Yui and I had already attended. Setsuna tried to argue, but I was relentless: if there’s an advantage, it’s... well, you get it.

In general... her quirk is fascinating.

I mean, even more so than any other quirk I've encountered here so far. Even more than Yui’s.

When Tsuna separates a body part, the "wound" surface is matte black. No internal organs, blood, or flesh is visible, thank Kami-sama.

However, why is the inner surface black? Moreover, it's an absolute black, absorbing light. Like a missing piece of reality, an inside-out, an absolute void. Just a black spot that cannot be illuminated.

We tried it, after all—I took her to our old research center.

So, this blackness is almost perfect camouflage.

That’s why one of the specific techniques we developed for Setsuna with the girls uses this feature. While levitating, Tokage surrounds herself with large parts turned inside out. It works fantastically in deep shadows or at night; she’s really hard to spot. She looks like a black alien sphere.

Moreover, it turns out the black surface is quite strong, much stronger than human flesh. It acts as a kind of framework for the separated parts of the body and is the reason why each part, no matter what it is, retains its structure, shape, and doesn’t turn into a floppy piece of meat.

As a result, she can strike even very tough opponents pretty hard with literally any part of herself—with her fist, elbow, knee, or even... softer parts.

Honestly, Setsuna's quirk is really creepy, and I’m even glad I don’t possess it—I think if I were in her place, I’d quickly face an existential crisis or a crisis of self-identity as a humanoid.

But Tokage is thick-headed and down-to-earth, and such things don’t bother her much.

And that’s not all. Somehow, in some unknown, impossible way, the connection between her parts was maintained at one hundred percent—that is, her hands could still grip, her fingers could press buttons and transmit tactile sensations, her eyes could see, her mouth could speak, regardless of the absence of lungs or vocal cords nearby, and so on.

Even though I knew all this from her initial "surveillance," it still impressed me.

In the end, tormented by confusion and trying to fit all these properties into some cohesive hypothesis, I concluded that Setsuna’s power was nothing more than a portal. Except it opens not outward but inside the body, and instead of instantly transporting her through space, it maintains a connection between body parts.

On the one hand, this concept explained almost all of Tokage’s abilities.

On the other, it didn’t cover levitation and enhanced regeneration. And I constantly observed the latter in action—serious training can’t be done without bruises and bumps, and Setsuna occasionally walked around with black eyes like a Christmas tree. However, all her bruises healed within half an hour! Not to mention that she can instinctively dampen inertia when falling using levitation.

Makes me jealous.

And yes. Of course, it’s not nice to hit girls, but, believe me, such high moral standards evaporate quite quickly when you get kneed in the face five times in a minute. Or not even with a knee, but with something higher up.

About that—meaning the portals, not the beatings—we had a separate conversation:

"If I’m right, try to feel this... ‘spatial’ sensation. When you separate, make sure to register and try to analyze how exactly you feel where each part of you is. You feel there are a dozen meters between your hands and feet, right? Maybe over time, you’ll learn to sense distortions that arise in the presence of other people working with space or, for example..." I frowned, "... teleportation quirks."

"Are there such quirks?" asked the now-brunette (her image change is a separate story) in surprise.

I looked away, avoiding the answer.

Someday, maybe, I’ll tell you, guys, about myself. And about the possible future too.

Someday...

Not soon.

"... you must be prepared for anything, right?"

Illustrations:

"Duplicate"

Confident Setsuna in her costume.

Not so confident anymore, Setsuna.