"Hi, Dad."

"Good Morning, Kiddo. Going on your morning run?"

"Yeah, but there's something I wanted to tell you."

Dad's eyes gained clarity. He looked up at me from the newspaper he was reading.

"Umm—what is it about? You know you can tell me anything, right?"

"Yes, dad. It's just, I was thinking and Just—It's just been a long time since I told you. But I just wanted to say that I—love you, dad. I am thankful that you are my—I don't know—" I let out a nervous chuckle, I should have gotten my words in order. I continued"—, dad. And that you are there for me."

He doesn't speak. I don't look at him either. The ground was more fascinating at that moment. As the silence grew thicker I spoke up again.

"So that's it. Nothing serious. I am going on that walk. Just thinking and stuff. I realized I hadn't told you this in some time."

I shouldn't have done this. Now he will think something strange is going on with me. But when I was under that rubble, being crushed to death. I told myself that If I ever got a second chance then I would.

As I tie my shoes and get ready for my run. I feel familiar hands wrap around me.

"I love you too little owl."

He sounds like he was crying, but I don't turn around to see.

"I know dad."

He let go of me. I wait a few more minutes for him to say something else. I don't know what. Maybe I was hoping for him to tell me that second that he will be better from now on. Or Maybe I was waiting for him to ask me why? Or maybe even comment on how much more athletic I had gotten.

"Going now. See you in the evening."

I try not to think about anything too serious as I ran. I let my legs and new instincts carry me. No doubt a result of [Body of an Athlete] and [Shinobi Physicality] but I don't bother seeing the limits of those Skills I just let myself enjoy the run. I let the morning air wash over me as I ran faster than I ever had.

But I can only ignore it for so long as I wait at a traffic signal thoughts about everything that happened come back to me.

I was surprised to find out that the time in my world was frozen for those five or six hours I spent in that— let's call it the 'Ninja World'. How does that work? Surely my power didn't freeze time for my whole universe. Did I move from one time stream to another? Or did everything that happened in that other universe happen all in my mind?

I don't know. All I know is that I need a notebook and I have to carry it around. I have asked more unanswerable questions today than I have in the past few years.

So I have a superpower. I had magic papers and five ninja uniforms. And the question is what do I do about any of it?

I was back in school. Couldn't run from this place, no matter how much I wanted to. School had this mystical power to always bring me back to it. My ruminations about my power were occurring in the background as I enjoyed another gorgeous and productive day at Winslow.

Hi there Mads are you here to laugh at me? No, just going to throw wet paper balls at me throughout the class we shared? That is so hilarious. I am sure you are having a jolly good time. No wonder I love your sense of humour so much.

Oh almost didn't see you there Sophia. Wow did you just try to trip me? Must be an accident. My new instincts helped me plant my face on the floor. I am sure you are pleased. Wait, you are not? Why are you frowning? I thought for a second that you were going to punch me. She misses because she would never do that, not because I ducked and ran away. She was just taking some fair aggression on the other girl that was encircling me for her nefarious reasons. I love my friend and protector Sophia.

And how could I ever not talk to my best friend Emma? Oh, We are talking with our other friends about how much this other girl sucks? Interesting. I am not really into it, you know, It seems a bit rude. What? We are not talking about some random slut, whore and a virgin? Someone whose mother killed herself due to how terrible she was and someone who killed her mother herself? We were talking about me the whole time? How lovely. I love when my friends talk about me.

I love my three friends, But you know who I love even more? Everyone else at the school. They care so much. They care so much about every single thing happening in my life. They care about my health, They want to hear my stories, They are there for me anytime something terrible happens to me, and They laugh at every joke my three best friends make.

Why do I continue coming to this god-forsaken school? Didn't I want to burn this whole place down when I was dying? I don't remember feeling the tiniest bit of pride in myself when I was being crushed under the rubble for enduring all this. No, what I felt was shame and regret.

I look down at my bracelets. There are three there now. I want to crush one and find out what will happen. But should I? Would they come back? My instincts tell me they will.

Being crushed under rubble comes to my mind again. I think about everything I felt at that moment. The few moments I looked back and smiled even in all that pain. And the many, many regrets.

I make my decision and leave the stall I was in.

I chickened out and left the school early. I was going to confront Sophia but—no. I could beat them up. But then what? What would I get out of it? I am not ready to kill or disfigure any of them. They will go Scot-free and I will be suspended or worse.

I also thought about trying to talk to some sort of authority. Not Blackwell, maybe the cops or some organization concerned with bullying. For didn't Shikaku take my plea seriously? But I still remember the echo of that voice that told me [Removing aid: Appeal to Authority.]. And I can't go ahead with that plan without knowing how much of his believing me was goodwill, belief in subordinates, belief in Inoichi, his own supernatural competence and experience and how much of it was the... [Aid].

There is no easy salvation for Talor Hebert.

I revert my attention to more fun matters. The powers. I can be a hero. Just have to figure out how.

I was back at home. I hadn't opened the giant cart of things I had received. I was too overwhelmed today morning for that. I walk up to my room.

First, how do I open the cart? It doesn't look like it's screwed shut or anything. Oh, I just have to pick up the lid.

The first item I see is marked as a bundle of uniforms. 10 of them. Can I use them for my cape costume? I pick up one and see if It would fit me. I also pick up a notebook to jot down my questions. I open the first uniform from its purple kimono. Uhh… I open more of them and find out that none of them is truly a 'uniform'. Every single one follows a general theme but none are the same. Though, they all look perfectly fitted for my new athletic form.

What was I being all mopey about? I should stop going to Winslow altogether. For a second I forgot how much better I looked. I had abs now, Abs.

I thought I would glaze over the uniforms. But these are good-looking. Some of these are too Asian Looking for me to wear outside without being jumped by the ABB and the Empire at the same time.

Is that a bra made of bandages? Who wears those? What is the world's fascination with bandages? This one's a full-body fish net. Do they wear these to seduce people for covert political assassinations? That's what Ninjas did right? I wish I had gotten to see how that world functioned and meet some people when it wasn't a disaster hour. I also wanted to see how a society where powers can be learned functioned outside of Assassin villages.

There are a few clothes here that I could use for my cape costume. The tactical Jacket and the female version of the standard ninja uniform look promising. I like all those pockets.

There is a violet hoodie that looks comfy. And a cute red top. It's so strange to wear clothes that fit you after years of wearing clothes too large for me.

I will decide on what goes into my cape costume and what I can wear outside later. What else did I get? I start jotting them down

Throwing Knives, 200 of those. Too lethal. But I think there can be non-lethal uses. I will have to test it.

Try the knives at a target.

Explosion Tags. I saw these being used. I did notice that the explosion these makes varied in size the few times I saw it in action. My new instincts tell me how I can use it and adjust the explosion slider—a good offensive option.

Test tags. Boat Graveyard(?)

Tie these to knives for throwing them at bad guys.

Storage Seals. I love these. Initial tests tell me that I can use each to carry a backpack worth of items per seal.

Check if there is a limit to the number of times I can use them.

Check if there is a limit to the types of things I can carry

Make a list of caping essentials and decide how to carry and where to carry

See what happens to a damaged seal

See what it takes to damage a seal

Need a system to distinguish between full storage seals and empty ones.

Chakra Ink

What seals can I replicate?

Do I need a special kind of paper?

Curse Tags. I think I know what it does.

Nope. No. Nope.

Teleportation seals.

So much to test with these ones. Distance. Reusability.

Try it out once. Tie the seal to a throwing knife and see If I can teleport to it.

Keep one seal at a secure location (get a secure location).

Can I make one? I don't feel like I can.

Fūinjutsu Trap. This one came in form of a large scroll. Instincts tell me it's some sort of dimension trap to seal away monsters like that fox. Though I don't think it would have worked on that fox.

Would it work on an endbringer? Too much to hope for?

Once I had unpacked the items, I divided them up and put them into storage seals. I also put the crate away in seals.

Now onto my Skills. First [Body of an Athlete], I run my hand over my Abs again. Because I had abs and I think this is the skill to thank for.

[Shinobi Physical Enhancement(Chunin)] made me faster and stronger. I can measure how strong. I go downstairs and try to lift a fridge. I was able to do it but it was hard. My strength increase wasn't very impressive. But what's impressive was my running speed, I might qualify as a Mover 2 or 3 if I go all out, though it was not even close to what I saw the Ninja reach. I think they were boosting their speed somehow. I can also jump a lot higher. I am more agile too.

[Minor mental resistance] was untestable because I didn't know any masters. And I can't say I am broken up about it. Same for [Fatebreaker]. It sounds impressive. Is it some sort of an anti-precognition skill? Does it also imply that Fate is real? Neither of them gives me anything to measure it by so I have nothing to do with them now.

[Seal Activation] lets me use seals. It also implies that most of my items would have been useless without this skill. I test if I can remotely activate a seal. To my surprise, I was able to remotely dislodge the contents of a seal. That gives me so many ideas.

For [Body Technique], I will have to start practising every day. It's all fresh in my mind but I don't know how long it will remain that way. I also can't entirely let my instincts carry me. Something tells me that I have to absorb what I've learned so that I can build upon it or use it for my unique scenarios. Because most of these are too lethal and taught with the assumption that the opponent is also an expert supernatural martial artist.

I was disappointed to learn that [Sealing Techniques], My tinker power only had the 'blueprint' for four seals. Would It grow? The ones I had were a wind variant of the standard explosion tag, low-yield explosion tags, standard sealing tag and the most basic seal taught to a regular sealing student, the seal that seals things that are already physically 'sealed'. So three of them since the last one was useless outside of giving me, the student, chances to try and work through the basics of sealing.

Another limiting factor I had was the Ink. I had a limited supply and didn't know how to create more. At the very least these four seals weren't dependent upon the type of paper I used.

Overall I give it a 6/10. Not an Alexandria package, Did not fix my relationship with my dad, fight away my bullies or fix my school, it's too lethal in areas, and is currently dependent on a scarce resource. But now I have abs and I don't think other powers give out cute clothes.

I spent the rest of my day doing every test I can from home.

The next day I woke up with five bracelets again. I tested if I can create portals. But it seems as though that has a larger cooldown.

This—means so much. It changes everything. I am not going to do this if I keep putting this up. I have to see if I can reset the day without dying. I decide I will crush a bracelet. No more putting it off.

I wrap my fingers around one and I press.

Four more lives. I am back in my bed. I will have to learn when they regenerate. But that's for the future. For now, I knew what to do.

I tried to correct some of my dying regrets yesterday. I tried to open up to my dad. I couldn't. I tried to confront my bullies. I failed. I tried to get out of the hell my school had become. I ran away. I couldn't do any of it. But it made me realize there was something that I cared about more than any of those. Something I regretted more than any of those.

It came as a shock to me but at that moment when I was about to die, I regretted that no one would care. That there would be no one in that world who even knew my name. I want to matter. Next time I was stuffed in a locker or I was buried under rubble I want people to care. I want someone more than my dad who would remember me. I wanted friends to remember me as the best person they ever knew, I want someone to remember me as their lover and maybe eventually even a mother. I want to live, change the world and be remembered as a hero, a visionary, an artist and a scientist. In a mask and outside one.

As long as I don't have to barter my soul for it. As long as it doesn't take me having to wallow in depravity to achieve my goal, I will do it. I want to be known. Worldwide and for ages if I can. Call it vanity or a doomed quest, Call it delusions of a girl. But I want that small sliver of immortality a legacy can bring me. And that's something I was ready to die for.

AN: Do you guys like reading about protagonists ruminating on power? I don't. I tried to condense it as much as I could but I think this much is necessary for the first time. I can think of more interesting scenarios to show what new Skills and Items do if Taylor starts having a social life again.