Never once did Monoma think that he would rescue people too soon in his early days as a human, so it was a shock for him to find himself standing in front of the scene with which he fled not long ago.

A lot has changed since then, and not for the best. What's worse is that the fear he had inside of him grew stronger than ever.

Maybe this wasn't the right decision, after all. Perhaps, the man on the other end was mistaken. I should just call a pro-hero. Yeah, that's what I will do.

This thought seemed to appear the moment he saw what happened to his neighborhood. You can't blame him for thinking of this because he was just a kid, consumed with fear. After all, his dedication to becoming a hero hasn't grown that much yet. Plus, what could he do right now with a quirk that copies other people's quirk when he cannot even get close to people who have one in order to copy their quirk?

Certainly, there's only one thing he can do—flee the scene for the second time, and this time, call the right person.

Hence, that's what he did or most probably, would've done because apparently, the time he took to fully decide to run away took longer than he expected, so before he could flee the scene, someone spotted him. It was not just anyone. It was the leader of the bandits—the brains behind the operation and the most powerful of them all.

To say that he was scared would be an understatement of his feelings when the tall and muscular guy came up to him. In fact, he thought that it was the end of him. You cannot blame him, though, because there have been a lot of death tolls attributed to gang violence. In fact, too many that the joint number of fingers and toes a person has wouldn't be enough to count them.

Was he going to be one of them?

Hopefully not because he still has his pipe dream to fulfill. Plus, he hasn't even done anything meaningful in his life yet, so if he were to die at this moment, nothing much would change. He'll just be another dead victim of gang violence, and sooner or later, people will go on to forget him.

He cannot let that happen, can he? He sure has something up his sleeve, right?

Fortunately, he does have one, and that is his quirk. His quirk, which was unhelpful not too long ago, suddenly became worth using now since at the moment the leader touched him, he was able to copy his quirk. One downside of it, though, is that he didn't know what quirk he copied, so the first time he uses it will also be the first time he understands how it works.

The bandits' leader dragged him to the place where other people were. Monoma took this as a chance to look at the people's faces. They didn't display their natural smiles, nor did their eyes show any emotion but hopelessness. To him, this only meant one thing: they were asking for help.

Could it be his help?

Certainly, it wasn't and he knows that. He was just a kid, after all—and a coward one at that. However, he knows he is their only chance because no pro-heroes or other people have been contacted yet regarding their situation except for the random person he talked to on the phone a while ago. Through his conversation with him, he learned that he is not someone to help others when he is busy.

Hence, he's their only hope, and he needs to move now because his five minutes are nearing their end.

With a deep breath and a small amount of confidence he mustered a while ago, he activated the quirk he copied. Upon doing so, he felt a tremendous increase in his body mass. His arms and legs were no longer in their usual bony state. He was now a kid with an adult body.

So this is the quirk of that guy. No wonder he was so big. Monoma thought.

He began his attack. With one swift motion, he balled his hand into a fist and brought it in contact with the leader's left cheek. The leader did not flinch, nor did he feel any pain. That was unexpected. He should've felt something. He should've at least felt a teeny bit of uneasiness, but he didn't.

Did Monoma possibly not copy the quirk?

No, he should've because his physique changed, but why didn't it have any effect?

Why was he still a weak kid?

In the most unlikely of times, Monoma learned the limitations of his quirk. He can only copy quirks that do not require an accumulation of power and surely, that guy had some previously-stored muscle in him. In short, that guy was already muscular, and his quirk was only a tool to enhance his muscle strength tenfold, enabling him to absorb contact and power up his attacks. In the case of Monoma's body, there was an absence of muscles. There was nothing to enhance at all. He was just a walking stick, masked as a brawny man.

Maybe his quirk is not really suited for being a hero, after all, because if other people were in his position, they could've done something better, right? They could've fought the leader and inflicted some damage, long enough to hold them from hurting the other people held hostage, long enough until the pro-heroes came to rescue them, so why couldn't they? For sure, there were other people in the crowd with more superior quirk than him, right? Certainly, other classmates of his with better quirks than him were also in the crowd and so why, why do they need to let a kid like him do the saving?

Before he could back away from the guy, he found himself on the receiving end of a strong fist. He was sent flying, his back hitting a wall in no less than a second after the attack was made. His body felt like it was crushed by a falling building.

What transpired after was a blur for Monoma. All he knew was that he failed. He wasn't able to do something for the people. He didn't live up to the expectations of the man from the receiving end of the line but most importantly, he failed himself.

Maybe, being a hero was truly just a pipe dream, after all.