In the bathroom, Kaminari stood naked, his muscular frame glistening with water. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back, letting the warm water cascade down his face and flow along his chest.
He was lost in thought about his attitude toward All For One. Based on the information he had so far, the man was undeniably a villain and one who had lived for hundreds of years.
A major villain who still maintained a mature, robust physique.
However, despite the man's villainous identity, after two encounters, Kaminari didn't find himself disliking him.
On the contrary... he even felt a bit of goodwill toward him. After all, the gifts the man had given him were substantial… ahem.
No, it wasn't just about the gifts. It was the man's demeanor, words, temperament, and bearing that made him surprisingly likable.
But Kaminari also knew that if he let All For One destroy the current Pro Hero system and establish his rule of darkness, his current stable and happy life might vanish.
And... Mom, Dad, Kyoka, and the others probably wouldn't enjoy living under All For One's regime either, right?
So, should he just turn against the villain and try his best to help the Pro Heroes defeat him?
Even if he had the strength to do so, which he doubted, he really didn't want to clash with All For One just yet. After all, the hooded villain had promised to help him find more compatible new Quirks...
Kaminari turned off the shower, lowered his head, and opened his eyes. Hesitation was evident in his gaze. He knew he was playing with fire.
This fire could make him stronger, but it could also consume him, burning not only himself but everyone he cared about.
He fully understood that the gifts he received weren't given out of pure admiration. That might have been part of it, but it certainly wasn't the main reason.
The more he accepted, the more he'd have to repay later.
Of course, there was one way he could avoid worrying about this, he could just keep taking and accepting everything without hesitation.
That would mean... completely siding with All For One. Helping him eliminate every Pro Hero who stood in his way.
But could he do that?
Would he be willing to?
Honestly, right now, he wasn't.
"Tomura Shigaraki... the League of Villains..." Kaminari muttered softly, ignoring the water dripping from his soaked blond hair.
From his previous conversation with All For One, he'd learned that the villain was connected to the group that had attacked U.A. during the USJ incident.
Back then, Kaminari had even mocked him, saying, "You're the boss of those low-level thugs? That's a bit underwhelming."
He'd expected a villain like All For One to head a more sophisticated organization, so he'd been disappointed.
But the man had immediately denied it. According to him, the League of Villains wasn't his creation, it was his disciple Tomura Shigaraki's organization.
However, Kaminari had picked up on something.
"A larger, older, and more powerful organization behind the League of Villains..." he mused, wiping his body with a large towel while staring at his reflection in the mirror.
"And... U.A. isn't entirely clean either."
A faint smile appeared on his lips. Despite the increasing danger surrounding him, he couldn't help but find the situation intriguing. He even felt a subtle sense of anticipation.
"This... is what being a reincarnator should feel like. If you're in a superpowered world, how can you just spend your days singing and drawing manga?"
After getting dressed in his casual clothes, Kaminari walked out of the steamy bathroom, feeling refreshed.
"You're finally out! What took you so long?" his mother asked from the kitchen as she set out the bowls and chopsticks. On the dinner table, a simple home-cooked meal awaited, grilled fish, miso soup, fried shrimp, and a fresh salad.
"Nothing much, just tired. I soaked for a bit," Kaminari said as he sat down.
"Then you must be starving. Eat quickly and get some rest later," his mother said with a concerned look.
"Okay. Thanks for the food," Kaminari said, performing the proper pre-meal etiquette before digging in.
Ah... there was nothing better than Mom's cooking.
Half an hour later, Kaminari returned to his room while Pikachu stayed behind to keep his mom company.
In his room, instead of collapsing into bed, Kaminari sat cross-legged on the wooden floor, his expression calm.
"New Quirk..."
He raised his hand, staring at the lines on his palm before closing his eyes. He concentrated on sensing the new Quirk he'd gained.
Soon, a golden glow shimmered across his skin, and tiny, firefly-like particles danced through the air.
He sat like that for nearly ten minutes. The only sounds were the faint trickle of water outside and his mother's quiet voice from the living room.
I get it.
Kaminari opened his eyes, and the golden glow vanished. He finally understood the nature of the Quirk known as Electricity Absorbing Physique.
When All For One first explained it, he'd assumed it was a purely passive ability. But after testing it, Kaminari realized it was semi-passive.
The Quirk's original owner couldn't actively discharge electricity and was so worried about power overflow that he never dared to test its true potential.
But now Kaminari could tell, it worked both passively and actively. Passively, the Quirk naturally absorbed electricity from the surroundings. Actively, it could absorb power at an accelerated rate.
And the active absorption rate was easily twice as fast as the passive one or at least close to that.
Considering this was the state of a Quirk from a four-year-old child, its growth potential was astonishing.
If the original owner had understood this, he'd have realized that even without discharging at will, he could have chosen a safe, open area to charge to full capacity and release the electricity at a controlled time.
Instead, the original user let the Quirk control him.
Talent should control the Quirk not the other way around.
There was more. As Kaminari had sat there meditating, he'd noticed something intriguing: the range of electricity being drawn toward him was increasing.
When he first sat down, his skin had only absorbed static electricity within a centimeter of his body. By the time he opened his eyes, the range had grown to nearly two centimeters.
This likely meant that the Quirk was adapting to his body.
All For One had said the Quirk was like that of a four-year-old child's, but Kaminari was already fifteen. His body, far stronger and more developed, was helping the Quirk rapidly catch up.
He just didn't know when it would stop. Maybe at fifteen centimeters?
That sounds reasonable, Kaminari thought, rubbing his chin.
"But if I train it... how far could the range extend?"
He turned to look out the window. The night sky was clear, and the moon shone brightly.
"Could I... one day attract lightning from the sky and use it to charge myself?"
---
(PS: Kaminari's second Quirk is revealed! If Midoriya's multi-Quirk ability comes from inheriting his predecessors' powers, and All For One's Quirks come from stealing others', then Kaminari's Quirks are the result of fusing powers from the same category. So, is Kaminari a single-Quirk or multi-Quirk user?)
***
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