So I've been without a laptop for months now and I'm not sure when that's gonna change, but luckily I have a tablet and was recently able to acquire a wireless keyboard! So I cooked this up real quick instead of writing my next chapter for Ice Flame oof. It's a crossover au between Ice Flame and Reige's CHAOTIC. Since I don't really have any plans bc I'm a terrible writer, I'll just leave this bit here and if I actually expand on this properly, I'll post it as its own thing.
I honestly don't know why I thought everything was going to be exactly as I remembered it to be. Considering the fact that I was born at all, I should have expected other differences. Since this world only previously existed as a shounen anime to me, I suppose I internalized certain beliefs about the way the world worked. I stupidly deluded myself into thinking 'Well, super powers are real, so why can't problems be solved through the power of friendship? Surely everything will work out in the end?' Yeah, I want to go back and smack my younger self, too.
I didn't notice at first, how things seemed to be...darker? An oppressive air that seemed to make life a little more bleak than I was used to. I'd chalked it up to the fact that it wasn't an anime that I watched safe and entertained behind the screen of my laptop. This was my actual, real life now. Of course, it didn't feel like a fun story.
I hadn't quite realized that things were so different, so dire, partly because of my isolated childhood and partly because I assumed I already knew what I needed to know about this society of quirks and heroes. It came as an unpleasant surprise when I naively made a comment about something or other that I can't remember, but do recall the absolute fit Endeavor threw. It was the first time I ever heard the name Gunnarsen. It didn't mean anything to me at the time, just thought it was another person that got in his way and put it out of mind. But then it kept popping up now and then in conversations, usually related to hero work, and always as the reason anything ever went wrong. Reports of rising mortality rates for heroes and civilians threw up red flags. Wasn't this supposed to be the era of peace ushered in by the strength and charisma of All Might himself? What kind of villain was this Gunnarsen person that they could singlehandedly undermine All Might's presence as the symbol of peace?
The thought had crossed my mind that it wasn't so out of the realm of possibility that Gunnarsen was like me. He didn't exist in my memories of this world, and if I was here, who's to say that there weren't others out there who'd died and got a second chance? I didn't want to get my hopes up, but the thought wouldn't go away. Until recently, I had no real plan for what I wanted in life, besides protect Shouto. Endeavor had already decided our futures as top pro heroes and despite my reluctance, it wasn't as if I had anything else I felt like doing. Now, the seed of an idea took root, a goal I could strive for myself. Could there be someone out there who understands? I wasn't the only one; I couldn't be! All this supernatural crap happening and I'm the only person in the world affected by it? Yeah, I call bullshit on that. I'm not some mystical, predestined Chosen One- that role would be filled by the boy who would one day become the greatest hero.
At the end of the day, though, I couldn't do anything about it. Being mentally mature doesn't mean squat when you have the body of a six year old. I could do nothing but bide my time until I was in a position to go looking for other reincarnates, or perhaps... Could I make big enough waves with my knowledge that someone else might notice my presence the way I'd noticed Gunnarsen? Only one way to find out, but what change could I effect with just the right words to the right people?
