YAWN

"Nothing like taking a nap on lush, soft grass with the cool breeze, the warm sun, and the blue sky. Nothing like it." said Yuuichi, having just woken up from an outdoor nap while he still had the chance.

Summer in Japan was hot and humid, while winter was cold and snowy, so it being the final days of spring, it was the last opportunity for Yuuichi to take a good nap outside. And he intended to take full advantage of it.

"Nii-chan, are you finally awake?" asked Momo who sat up and rubbed her eyes to get rid of the drowsiness.

"Eh? Momo? When did you get here?" he asked since she wasn't there when he fell asleep.

"Mom told me to come get you, but you were asleep. I laid down next to you and I fell asleep too."

"What does Mom want?" he asked, as he picked out some blades of grass from her hair.

"I don't know. She just told me to get you."

"Wait, how long ago was that?"

"I don't know. I fell asleep." she said.

"Let's hope she's not mad. Come on, let's go." he said as he picked her up since she was still a little sleepy before he made his way inside.

"Young Master." said Ayako, who was waiting by the entrance.

"Ayako, where's Mom?"

"In her study."

"Thanks. Oh, here, take Momo to her room. She fell asleep on the walk over." said Yuuichi as he handed her over.

"Of course, Young Master." she said before leaving to put Momo to sleep while Yuuichi made his way to the study.

"You wanted to see me?" said Yuuichi as he walked into his mother's study.

"Momo fell asleep with you?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Ah, why couldn't I have been there to take pictures?" she lamented as Yuuichi sat down.

"Mom."

"Right. Have you heard?" she asked switching from her Mom face to business woman face.

"No, heard what?"

"The son of a fairly large company was kidnapped a while ago, remember that?"

"Yeah. The police came to question us again because they thought it could be related to our attempted kidnapping."

"Mm. Well, he was found dead this morning."

"Damn."

"This is all under wraps from the public, but we have our sources."

"If it's been kept under wraps, how'd you expect me to hear something?"

"No secret is truly safe nowadays. I thought maybe you'd heard something through friends or classmates. With U.A. being a hero school, I wouldn't be surprised if you'd heard something. But that's beside the point. What I wanted to tell you is that he was found dead, but changed."

"Changed? How?"

"His quirk factor was off the charts because he was injected with Quirk-boosting drugs causing his Quirk to go out of control, and change his body."

"Trigger?"

"Unfortunately, yes. And a stronger variant than usual. It seems like it was too much for his young body, and he died."

"So, you want me to be careful?" asked Yuuichi, figuring out why he was being told of the news.

"Yes. The fact that they kidnapped another CEO's child may be a pure coincidence, or it may not be. But, my years of experience running a conglomerate has taught me to air on the side of caution, which is why I've allocated some of our men as security detail for your sister."

"Not for me?"

"No. I know you'd only find it a nuisance so I saved us both the time of me trying to convince you and you convincing me of why you don't need it. But still, be careful on your way to and from U.A., and tell Kunie and Kentaro to be careful as well. They're good boys, I don't want them to end up in a bad situation."

"I'll definitely tell them." said Yuuichi before falling silent.

"Something on your mind?" she asked seeing her son lost in thought.

"What was his quirk?"

"The kid's? He could take on the property of a material he came into contact with. Why? Do you think the kidnapping attempt wasn't for money but for his quirk? And you think the ones who tried to kidnap the two of you were after the same thing?" she asked, realizing why he was asking that question.

"It's nothing but a guess, but yes. At least, I think the villains who were trying to kidnap us thought it was for money, but actually, it was for our quirks."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"That's a pretty outlandish theory."

"Mm. I guess so. Just a theory. Anyway, where's Dad?"

"In Tokyo. Business meeting with Detnerat."

"The lifestyle support item company? What for?"

"Guess. Let's see how much your Dad has taught you."

"They want to collab on something." he said with no hesitation.

"Wow, correct." she said, surprised he was able to answer so quickly.

"Not surprising. Dad's told me they've wanted to collaborate on big projects for a while now and they always ask for a meeting with him."

"They are nothing if not persistent. Almost like they do it on purpose knowing we'll say no. Anyway, that's all I wanted to talk to you about so you're free to go. Unless you want to spend some bonding time with your mother."

"Pass."

"Tch. Alright, go." she said shooing him away which he gladly did.

As he walked back to his room, Yuuichi began thinking about what he had learned.

'Targeted for our quirks is just a very, very thin theory but my gut is telling me that's what it is. I should drop it, but Momo almost got kidnapped and that's not something I can forgive. The only thing I can do now is to wait till I'm a hero.' he thought as he walked before stopping.

'Or, I could go there again. Seems like the place where quirk-boosting drugs would be used. Gives you an edge in the fight, and you win more money. Makes sense. Guess I'm sneaking out tonight.'

~

After doing a much better job of sneaking out than he did the night he manifested his quirk, Yuuichi walked to the station where he took a train back to Musutafu. Once there, he made his way to the ramen restaurant in the alley where he put on the mask before entering.

Just like last time, there was no one in the restaurant except the chef and like last time, the faint sound of cheering could be heard in the background.

"Go on down." said the chef, only sparing a glance at Yuuichi before going back to what he was doing.

'A hero in training potentially participating in semi-vigilantism. Definitely won't be a good look for me if I'm found out. Not like I care anyway. I'd do anything to protect my family, even if that means throwing away my future as a hero.' contemplated Yuuichi as he followed the same path as last time before reaching the bottom of the stairs to see a crowd much bigger than last time.

'This is at least twice the amount of people than there was before. Not surprising though considering we came right after school last time. Anyway, the plan right now is to just spectate and see if I can find anything. If I do, I'll keep coming to continue to gather information before doing one of two things.

Once enough information is gathered, I'll anonymously send it to the police or a top hero. Or hold onto the information until my work studies in my second year when I can act as an actual hero. I can decide if and when the time comes, but right now I should bet some money to blend in more.' thought Yuuichi before walking up to the bet counter and getting in line.

A few minutes later and it was his turn to bet, but since he didn't know the fighters or anything about them, he just put 2500 Yen on two fighters with lower odds of winning.

'Bet made, now just to walk around before finding a good spot with a view of the ring and a view of anything important looking. Don't want to arouse suspicion from the organizers of the event, so I better pick a good spot.'

Taking a quick look around, Yuuichi spotted a set of double doors that were being guarded.

'Best thing to go on at the moment.'

While moving to a position with a view of the ring as well as a good view of the double doors, the first fight began with the two fighters being introduced courtesy of the MC. One of them was a person that looked like an anglerfish while the other was a regular guy with weird goggles.

Thanks to the MC, Yuuichi was able to see what the fighter he bet on looked like, and he had to say he wasn't totally disappointed. The fish person on whom Yuuichi placed his bet, had a rather muscular frame and was in a stance that Yuuichi could tell was practiced with very few gaps in his defense.

'This fish guy is definitely going to win. Unless Goggles has a surprise hidden up his sleeve that isn't connected to his eyes, he's losing.'

And sure enough, Yuuichi was correct. Goggles, unsurprisingly, had an eye-related quirk that let him shoot out lasers that had a long cooldown that the Fish-Man was able to take advantage of, netting him the win.

After being taken down quite brutally, a team of medics rushed out to put Goggles on a stretcher before taking him away through the guarded double doors.

'A med-bay of some sort wouldn't warrant two guards. Must be something else back there. I could go balls to the walls and just break through by force, but I'd rather not. Especially since my quirk isn't exactly subtle. Not to mention, it'll probably put a target on my back by whoever runs this place. The other option would be to join as a fighter, lose, and be taken back there to see what's there. Sounds like a plan.'

Walking back to the bet counter, Yuuichi got his money while asking how to sign up to fight.

"Sign up? You don't have to sign up. Just ask the MC and he'll slot you in." explained the bet counter guy.

"Appreciate it." said Yuuichi while slipping the guy a 1000 Yen bill for his help.

'I'll have to make the loss believable while trying to avoid taking any damage. Time to put .' he thought before walking up to the MC who was getting ready for the next fight.

"Yo, I wanna fight." said Yuuichi in a deeper voice and with a dialect.

"Good. One of the fighters that was up next is out so I needed a replacement, you're in. I just need a name."

"Monk."

"Monk? You sure you want to go with Monk and not something else?" asked the MC.

"I'm sure."

"Your choice, kid. Wait by the blue entrance. I'll introduce you and then your opponent. You know the rules, but I'll say again, anything goes. Quirks, weapons, dirty blows, anything."

"Got it."

"Good. Go wait for your intro. Good luck, kid. You'll need it for this next guy." said the MC, patting Yuuichi on the back.

Moving to stand by the blue entrance, Yuuichi began to do some warm-ups while waiting.

'He said I'd need some good luck for this next guy which means I might have to really try to not get hurt. Which means I might have to use my quirk. I'll disguise my quirk by using it to create energy projections of my fists instead of full-on constructs. I'll take it a step further and use Lunar Energy instead of Solar.'

"In the blue corner, a new challenger has decided to enter the ring! Nothing is known about him except for the name he uses. Give it up for Monk!" said the MC before Yuuichi entered the ring to the scattering applause of a few people.

"In the opposite corner, you know, you fear him! It's Kuma!" said the MC as a hulking mass of flesh of a man with a bear head entered the ring.

"I love fucking up newbies." said Kuma with a bloodthirsty smile and a look of disdain.

'Never mind, I'm winning. I can come back another day to lose. Today, I'll wipe the floor with this guy.'

"With a name like Kuma, I thought you'd look cuter and slimmer." said Yuuichi while rolling his neck to limber it up.

GROWL

"Guess I poked the bear." said Yuuichi.

GONG

With the sound of the gong, Kuma barreled forward with a shoulder charge while Yuuichi waited for him to nearly collide before quickly dropping into a split and punching him in the nuts with an energy projection.

"Ooh." said the crowd and MC simultaneously.

"Ah." squeaked Kuma as he cupped his balls while falling into the ground and passing out.

"Oof." said Yuuichi.

"Uh, ehem. I-it seems our newest challenger, Monk, has defeated our feared combatant, Kuma, with a blow to the jewels! He is our winner!" said the MC before the crowd erupted into cheering.

"Tell him I said sorry when he comes to." whispered Yuuichi to the MC, feeling bad that he used that much strength on his jewels even if he did threaten him.

"I'd run away, and never come back if I were you, kid." said the MC.

"Noted."

"Good. Go to the bet counter to get your winnings." he said before leaving while Yuuichi went to get his winnings.

"Nice fight." said the bet counter guy as he handed him the money.

"Thanks." he said before leaving the place while making sure no one was following him. After going through some confusing alleyways, Yuuichi took off his mask and went to the station.