It's funny, sometimes, the things people believe in. Samsara, karma, balance in all things. The inherent belief that the universe and life somehow balance the world in its infinite possibility. I think some see these simply as tools to help interpret the unrelenting and unforgiving nature of reality.
Little do people know just how much truth lies in these concepts, but I know.
My name is Kurikaeshi Gikan, and my quirk 'Chrono-Looper' makes me restart life when I die. More precisely, when I die I get sent back to when my quirk awoke at the age of five. The most inconvenient part of this quirk, besides requiring me to die, is that awoke when I was in the middle of drowning in a pool.
Essentially every single time I die, I drown in darkness, silence and the feeling of oblivion and then I drown in water with a really bright fucking light scattering into my eyes.
Though this quirk has its inconveniences, it has allowed me to divine some rather interesting properties of reality.
The first and most glaring would be that restarting life doesn't actually mean it replays the same way every time. In fact, I can't think of any two lives of mine that actually happened the same way, even with my taking the same actions. It just goes to prove that life really is chaotic and nearly unpredictable.
This brings me to the second, and probably the most interesting, aspect of reality is that there are overarching patterns, which visible only to those who can see across different times or live through many lives like me. The pattern is that life, reality, the universe or whatever will give either more or fewer opportunities to each life. These opportunities appear as both good and bad events or situations. They are times of growth and of learning. They are the birth points of change.
I have come to these two realizations about reality due only to a handful of events that seem to occur consistently, which also seem to act as triggers or 'flags' as I call them.
The first flag I discovered is tied to a house robbery that occurs to my family when I am six. If this robbery occurs, then I am able to find connections more easily for the path of becoming a villain. I have found over many iterations and a literal fuckton of hard work that it is nearly impossible to make the necessary connections if this doesn't happen.
On the other hand, the flag responsible for becoming a hero was much more subtle. If I have my arm broken when I become seven and go to the hospital, then the connections for the hero path become far, far easier to find.
The major setback for both paths is once again due to the nature of my quirk. Since it only activates when I die, I am effectively quirkless during all my lives. This results in never really moving beyond that of a low level strategist for the villains or a support gear specialist for the heroes.
One thing I've had to keep in mind is that just because a certain flag has been raised, that doesn't imply that all paths are available. Some are consistent, happening every 3 or 4 lives, while others only seem to appear ever 20 or so.
Beyond this it appears that there are also some events which truly once in a lifetime, or in my case once in hundreds of lifetimes. These events, as rare as they are, are moments of extraordinary change. The only one of these events I have lived through so far would be a very strange sequence of events which actually lead me becoming an actual side-kick to a hero named 'Nail-gun'.
No matter what I tried, I was never able to reproduce the sequence of events that lead to that outcome. But by god did I try, probably spent over 20 lives trying to figure out what sequence of events lead to being a side-kick. No luck in the end though.
That brings us to the present, where I found myself in what I believe to be another of these ultra-rare situations.
So here I am, sitting alone in a rather spacious waiting room preparing for my appointment with All For One himself, all while thinking about how I got here.
This time around I chose to be a villain, to spice things up and all as some of my most spectacular deaths occur being a villain, and then I found myself in a whole new series of situations where I was being relied upon for my strategic thinking, and by those much higher up in the villain hierarchy than I'm used to. It was only after helping a man by the name of Kurogiri with a bunch of tasks, a couple of missions and showing excellent results that I have found myself sitting here, waiting to personally meet the man at the top of it all.
Through my many, many lives I have only ever seen All For One on TV, usually when the big encounter occurs between him and All Might. It's one of the more consistent events usually occurring every two to three lives. I've picked up a few rumors along the way though, and I really hope they are true because they say he can give quirks to-
My thoughts are interrupted by a black smoke swirling into existence, tell-tale signs of Kurogiri warping in, and two gentlemen exit. The second man I recognize as Kurogiri in his usual bartender uniform. The first man though, jesus he's terrifying, I can only presume to be the man himself. I stand ramrod straight and bow ninety degrees at the hip.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, sir" I say to the rather tall man in a black suit with a large respirator-looking-device on his head. Holy Shit I've never felt pressure like this before, and I've seen my fair share through my many lifetimes.
"Please Kurikaeshi Gikan, there's no need for such formalities. Sit" He tells/commands me as he seats himself in a chair nearby. Hard to refuse the man so I sit back into my chair.
"Do you know why I've brought you here?" He asks with an air that demands all my attention.
I've been trying really hard to figure out what's different this time, but I can't think of anything out of the ordinary. "No, Sir. All I've been doing is assisting in Kurogiri and enacting contingencies plans when complications occur." I truthfully respond.
"That is true, but it's not of what you've done and more of how you've done it..." He trails off at the end, waiting expectantly for my answer.
It seems he really wants me to figure it- Oh, I think I know what he means "It's because I'm quirkless, isn't it?"
He hums approvingly at my response, imploring me to continue.
"Persevering in a world that rejects me, and moving forward with only my natural ability and skill. That and I somehow caught you attention?" I add after a bit of a pause.
He nods to me and leans forward a bit. "I had some reservations about you, but you really are as quick as they say. That's precisely why I've brought you here" He laughs a little before adding "I've been observing you and I've noticed a rather large reservoir of untapped potential."
"Potential, sir?" I meekly ask.
"Yes, potential to further my goals greatly" he responds before adding "It is unfortunate about your current disposition, but I can rectify that easily enough. The real question is what will you do for me?"
Oh my god, did I just hear that correctly? Does he want to give me a quirk? I could have the chance to do something different with my life, something new. It's been so long since I could try something new.
I know what I need to do.
I get off my chair and immediately perform my best dogeza at his feet. "Anything, sir. I will do anything for you for as long as I draw breath. Please."
I hear him laugh slightly and rise up. "I have seen your dedication, so kneel before me and accept my gifts."
I raise myself to a kneel and he puts his left hand on my head. Just after he does it feels like a torrent of water pounds into my head and pushes itself through my body. It takes everything I have to remain in the kneel and not collapse on the ground. After a few seconds of this, the torrent dies down but is replaced by the feeling of a hundred large needles sticking into my brain and a few thousand more in the rest of my body.
"I procured these two quirks recently, so I look forward to seeing how you use them." I just barely hear him say because it takes all of my focus to remain conscious.
"The two quirks I have bestowed upon you are these; The first quirk allows you to extract energy from the environment and store it in your body. The second quirk allows you to use energy from your body to either boost another persons power or discharge it directly." I hear him say all of this and momentary surprise takes over. I collapse to the ground while ignoring the pain in my body and wonder why he's given me such strong quirks, and TWO at that.
I suppose All For One realizes that I'm almost unconscious and says this to me "Take a few days to allow the quirks to integrate into your body. Kurogiri will have new assignments for you when you awaken to test your new quirks."
After that I fall unconscious on the floor, too overcome by pain to resist the temptation of sleep any longer.
.
..
...
I open my eyes to discover that I'm currently in an unfamiliar room. Looking around for a bit I realize that it is practically empty, containing a small dresser, two night tables, this bed and a window to the left of me. On the night table to the left of me is a piece of paper.
Reaching over and grabbing the paper, while ignoring the lesser pain that still resides all over me, I try focusing to reading its contents. It shows and address and a small note which says 'Come when you are awake'.
Slowly removing myself from the bed, I try to stretch to lessen the aches and pains in my body but it only makes it worse. Shuffling myself over to the window I begin to recognize my surroundings.
It's one of the more sketchier part of town, meaning this is probably a hotel owned by the villains, and the address likely isn't too far from here. I'm more suprised by the fact that the summer sun feels 'soft' on my skin today, which is weird as I've never been a summer person because I despise the heat, and I have a really strong urge to go outside.
Seeing no reason to stay put, I check the dresser and find a set of cloths inside that were likely left for me as their my size. Changing is a painful process but afterwards I check everything else in the room thoroughly, to which I discover that my phone is missing. Figuring that the contacts at my destination will know more, I head down to the main lobby and leave the building. Passing the clerk on the ground floor, I give a nod in passing and she responds by scowling at me. She also seems to shiver a bit, but I ignore it thinking that she should just turn down the AC if she's cold, and I head towards my destination.
Having walked these streets for many hundreds of lives, I know roughly how long it will take to get there. I have to take it slow today due to the all-encompassing pain, but focusing on the act of walking itself helps to distract me as I try to let my mind wander.
Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot...
I wonder when I'll get to start using these new quirks of mine? I've lived so many lifetimes essentially quirkless, how do I even go about activating them? This is so exciting! I can't believe I finally have some more useful quirks. I don't really mind that I had to make a deal with the -
"Hey, you! Look out!"
- strongest villain in the world to get ... Wait, was that person talking to me?
Getting a bad feeling, I take a quick look around and realize that I've been on autopilot with my heads been stuck in the clouds, currently in the middle of a crosswalk. I also realize that a truck is fast approaching me with no signs of stopping, and it's far to close for me to do anything.
Aww, shi-
CRASH
.
..
...
Well, here I am again. Stuck in complete darkness and the feeling of oblivion which means I probably died. Again.
DAMN IT
I didn't even get to use the bloody quirks I was given, and I seriously doubt I'll be able to get back to that point again.
FUCKING DAMN IT
Uuurrgh, what the hell was that stupid truck there for? Why did it have to be there, at just that time, to hit me. If I could cry right now, I would. Too bad I can't ever see anything he- wait, why can I see my fists? Why do I still have a body? This hasn't happened before? Why the hell are my fists glowing? Why are my hands closed anyways?
Curiosity getting the better of me, I try opening my hands. Doing so shows two pulsating orbs of light, one for each hand, and glowing two different colors, blue for the left and green for the right. After my hands open, they float a small distance away from me and start orbiting me in opposing directions. They accelerate their dance around me before crashing into one another in front of me and coalescing into one larger white orb. This larger orb hovers for a bit then slowly slips into my body, causing it to glow for a bit then everything is back to the usual darkness and oblivion.
What the hell?
Then as if on cue, a torrent of water comes crashing over my senses and I find myself once again drowning in my pool. This time though, I'm too confused about what just happened to put up a fight and try save myself, so I wait for my father to dive in after me and save me.
By the time my father pulls me from the pool I've already swallowed a good bit of water, but none of it made it to my lungs thankfully, and I cough it all out onto the side of the pool. There is always a nauseous dizziness that comes from looping back into your younger self tied with a young brain starved from its precious oxygen really makes you feel like shit.
"Giki, honey are you OK?!" I vaguely hear my mother ask me
"uuugh ... I'm ... OK" I weakly respond
"We should take him to the hospital to get checked out" My father states as he temporarily flickers and instantly becomes dry.
While I'm pulled into a princess style carry by my father, I can see the terrified look on my younger brothers face. I can also see the distraught look on my mothers face as she attempts to check my entire body for any bruises or scratches all while my dad is carrying me.
This is all pretty standard though, at least for me. I've gone through this exact scenario every single time I reset. Dad always carries me, mom always scans my body for damage and my little brother is always terrified.
"What were you thinking trying to swim in the pool when no one was around?" My mother asks me. This too always happens, and for the life of me I can never remember why I was in the pool to begin with. I've found that it really doesn't matter what I respond with, so I try to say something different every time.
"Saiki was about to fall into the pool, so I tried to pull him away and fell in myself" I guessed.
"I-I-I didn't m-mean to, I j-just saw something sh-shiny in the pool" Saiki weakly responded.
Well, that's new. He's always quiet about what happened, so maybe I actually guessed correctly this time. Cool.
"Oh, sweetie, it's OK. No one got hurt" Mother quickly says as she bends down to pick him up into a tight embrace. He seems to cheer up a little from that.
Meanwhile dad reaches the car and places me in my seat. He then takes a long look at me, unusual but OK, and then surprises me "You feeling alright son? Your really cold to touch today?"
Now that he mentions it, today feels like earlier. The sun seems soft today and it feels really good to be outside. It also felt really nice to be held, and I have this weird tingly feeling in my chest that seems to be getting slightly stronger with each passing minute. So I tell my father precisely that, minus the earlier today part.
He just raises his eyebrow at me, then shuts the car door and moves to the drivers door. My mother then straps my bro beside me then sits shotgun and off we go to the hospital.
As we head to the hospital, I'm once again given a few moments to ponder over the things that have happened. Met the biggest villain in the world, got not one but two quirks then immediately died. Had a freak light show in the void between worlds where time moves differently and woke up drowning. On the bright side, it doesn't feel like my body is being punctured by a thousand needles anymore, but its been replaced by a weird, warm tingly feeling.
We reach the hospital just as I begin to question what the hell that feeling is about. My father once again carries me into the hospital and I'm taken to an examination room. Nurses do their usual thing of taking blood, checking for woods, asking me questions and so on.
After the battery of tests were completed, we are left the stew in the examination room for a while as the hospital people do their tests and such. Were all quiet as we wait, but I notice a fly roaming around the room. In my boredom I attempt to swat it down, but it evades all my strikes. In a small bought of frustration I try to mimic the hero I side-kicked for, whose quirk was to create nail like objects from his fingers which he would use to weaken and pin down opponents, and try flicking at the fly. At that moment I felt the warmth in me surge outwards as a small bolt of orange energy leapt from my fingers and vaporized the fly.
This occurred just as the doctor was entering the room.
Everyone in the room stood stock still, not even breathing. They all just looked at me. I would be too if my eyes could actually jump out of their sockets. The hell was that?
The doc was first to make a move, it being slowly towards a nearby chair. Then I shared a look with my parents and bro. Then I looked at my hand. Back to my parent. Back to my hand. Over to the doctor. Back to my hand.
"What..." I said in complete confusion
The doctor was next to speak. "Well, Mr. and Mrs. Kurikaeshi, it seems the traumatic event of nearly drowning has caused your son to awaken his quirk. Further testing will be required to observe the extent of his new quirk, but from what we just saw it seems to be a rather powerful one."
My parents are confused because nobody in our family, or extended family, has any quirk that acts like what they just witnessed. My bro is looking at me with awe plastered on his face because, well that was just so freaking cool is what he's silently telling me. I am utterly confused because I really shouldn't be able to do that.
In my confusion something clicks in my brain. It makes no sense. It really shouldn't be possible. But I have an answer.
The two quirks All For One gave me, back in my last life, where the two lights I saw and they came back with me.
Energy storage, absorption, dispersion and boost. All these are mine now.
For the first time in hundreds of lifetimes, I'm excited for the future.
I can't wait to see what happens next.