A/N

Hello dear reader! Fortunately, I've had the events for this chapter in mind for a while now, so there shouldn't be any delays while writing this. Before getting into the story, I just wanted to thank you so much for all the support; every review makes me happy. Keep them coming, and please enjoy the story!

Chapter 4: Face The Music

"Okay class, settle down now, I'm taking roll." The teacher stands at the front of the classroom, looking at all the students individually to confirm their presence. "Hanamura, Hase, Minami, Hiroki- wait, where's Hiroki at?" Confused, the teacher begins flipping through his notes, trying to find some kind of absence form before finally finding it. "Ah yes, I remember now, he's in the hospital." As he returns to taking roll, the class begins whispering to each other excitedly. Things like "You think he's dead?" or "Maybe he finally threw himself out of a window?" all ended by snickering before coming up with something even worse. The teacher hears this, a look of distaste plaguing his visage before a student speaks up. "Excuse me, sir, but what happened?"

He wipes the look of disgust off his face before looking up at the girl who asked him. It's obvious that she, as well as the other students, are hoping that Hiroki never comes back. Children can be so cruel… He thinks to himself before answering her question. "He awakened his quirk and worked himself to exhaustion training with it. I dunno." With that, the quiet becomes silent, their hopes of never seeing that "quirkless" loser dashed. But then, the heckling continues in a new form. "Whatever, I bet his quirk is super weak," one girl said. "Yeah, I bet all he can do is stretch his fingers or something," another one said. The look of disgust returned to the teacher's face as he finished roll and began class. Little did anyone know, the school's delinquents were planning something.

"Who does that little fuck think he is?" One of them said, snickering to his friend who responded: "We should teach him a lesson, right Orochi?" The two boys turned to their leader, the most feared delinquent in the prefecture, who showed off his wicked grin as he spoke. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm itching to beat that little shit's face into the ground. Next time he comes to school, we'll show him who the predators are, and who their prey will always be."

Katsuo awoke to a white tiled ceiling, in a bed he didn't recognize. An unfamiliar ceiling? He sat up slowly, taking in his surroundings. He was almost scared he had somehow gone back to the future, but fortunately, that wasn't the case. His hands still looked like those of a teenager. Soon, he noticed his mother beside him, the red around her eyes telling him that she had been crying. While all this information would have been confusing before, Katsuo's newly enhanced intelligence was able to take it all in and process it quickly, coming to the simple conclusion that he had awoken in the hospital.

Katsuo nudged his mother awake, who was happy enough to see him alive and well. "MY BABY!" The tears began flowing again as Katsuo embraced her, rubbing her back and assuring her that he was fine. Soon, the same doctor from before walked into the room. "It pains me to have to see you two so soon, but I believe this meeting is very important, so listen up." The doctor's words caught Katsuo and his mother's attention, who began to worry that something may be wrong. Fortunately, that was also not the case.

"It seems we were initially wrong about your quirk. While we believed your nose was somehow strong enough to "smell cancer", it seems that was only a side effect of what we believe is your real quirk: Full Body Strengthening. Your 5 senses, as well as your physical prowess, are all boosted, most likely permanently." While this came as a shock to Mrs. Hiroki, Katsuo was more confused about the second part. "But how did you know that my body was heightened as well?" The doctor, who was looking at his notes, looked back up at Katsuo. "For one, you worked yourself to near exhaustion after discovering your quirk, so It was half an educated guess. Second, your muscle definition is drastically different from the last time I saw you, most likely because your body needed to get acclimated to your quirk first."

I didn't notice it before, but my arms do look a LOT more muscular than they did before. Looking down the neck hole of the hospital gown, Katsuo discovered a chiseled six-pack where his ordinary chest used to be. Oh shit. "In light of this discovery, I'll need you to go to your local quirk registration building to have your quirk registered. They'll perform a variety of tests for you so we can see what your quirk is truly like, just in case I was wrong." Before leaving the room, the doctor stopped with his hand on the door handle and turned around. "Oh, and make sure not to work yourself to exhaustion again," the doctor said with a smile before leaving the room. Heh, I'll try not to.

My "quirk" is exactly as the doctor said it was. After doing various tests, it was recorded that both my physical and mental capabilities had improved a lot, something that couldn't be done normally in a few days. After registering my quirk and going back home, I fell asleep nearly instantly and didn't wake up until the next morning.

It was the day Katsuo had been dreading ever since he got used to the idea of being in the past. Today, Katsuo had to go back to school. If it were 80% of the other kids in the world, it was just a matter of being too lazy to go back, but for Katsuo it was because he had the worst days of his life in school. He was sure that word of his quirk had already gotten back to the class, and he was probably getting ready to do something stupid. Even so, Katsuo got out of bed and faced the music. He had already decided back in The World of The Dead that he wouldn't back down from the challenges ahead of him.

With that being said, it didn't decrease his anxiety any. He hid it pretty well from his mother as he left the house, but practically every instinct was screaming at him to run in the other direction, lest he face the same trauma he experienced in the future. But his instincts were wrong. He knew, deep down in his heart and his mind, that it was now or never. If he didn't act today, then he might as well just consign himself to that useless fate for the second time. So he took a deep breath, steadied his hands, steeled his valor, and opened the door to the classroom.

When he entered the classroom, the first thing he noticed were the glares of all of his classmates baring deep into his soul. He could practically hear them telling him to screw off and other stuff he didn't care to think about. He simply ignored them and took his seat by the window. Normally, he would be screwed because he couldn't remember where he sat, but every other seat was already taken so it didn't matter much. Any plan of flying under the radar for now went completely out the window. Excited by the prospect of being able to answer any question about the material they learned perfectly, Katsuo slowly drew the avarice of his classmates as he answered every question they couldn't.

By the time school was over, Katsuo had already proven himself to be a force to be reckoned with in the academic world. He also outclassed all of the athletes during gym, showing off his new strength and agility. All in all, the king of delinquents was furious. Who does this fuck-up of a human think he is?! I'll show him… I'LL SHOW HIM THE TRASH HE REALLY IS! The evil aura emanating off of Orochi did not go unnoticed by Katsuo, who had been paying attention to Orochi the whole day, both out of fear and caution that he would attack him at any moment. So of course, when Orohci's gang of dumbasses punched him in the back of the head and dragged him behind the school, Katsuo wasn't surprised.

The light from the sun, being blocked by the school building, does not reach Katsuo. Two guys are keeping him on his knees, 2 guys are on his left, another 2 on his right, and Orochi is straight ahead, sitting on top of a crate while he smiles madly at the sight of a bleeding Katsuo. The men took advantage of Katsuo being unconscious by kicking the crap out of him, but now that he was awake, it was time for the show to begin. Orochi takes Katsuo lifting his head towards him as his sign to start the performance.

"Do you know what you are, Katsuo? You're a cancer on society. You're a leech. You, being the weak, powerless fuck-up that you are, provide nothing to the world while expecting everything in return. Your weakness is both revolting and deadly! You are so weak, in fact, that when people look at you, they take time out of their day to stop and help you up, all while wondering why they're even bothering. You are useless. And for some reason, you think that just because you have some lame quirk all of a sudden, you're not a fuck up anymore? I don't think so! So here's what's going to happen. There are predators, and there are prey. It's about time you learned which one you are in this world. Beat him."

The four men approach, all cackling and sneering as they get ready to put Katsuo back in the hospital. But they stop moving at the sight of Katsuo smiling. It's not just that either. It's his eyes. They look, different. Were they always glowing blue like that? Suddenly, fighting him doesn't seem like such a good idea. Like some sort of deep-rooted, primal instinct inherited from their caveman ancestors is telling them to run as fast as they can and not look back. But it's too late.

"Ha ha ha… Ha Ha HA… HA HA HA HA HA!" The sound of Katsuo's laugh throws everyone off guard as he slowly stands up despite being held down by two big men with power-type quirks. Even worse, he's not even struggling. The two men try to let go, but Katsuo grabs them and keeps them there. In their eyes, their arms are stuck in the jaws of an apex predator. They want to scream, but Katsuo throws them over him and into the ground, knocking them unconscious immediately. Still laughing maniacally, Katsuo activates the skill he got from the scenario quest, bouncing off of the walls and ground, leaving a glowing blue trail in his wake as he knocks the other four men unconscious as well.

Stopping across the yard from Orochi, Katsuo speaks. "You were both right and wrong. There are two types of people in this world, predators and prey. You seem to think you are a predator, but you're wrong. Because… I… am… THE HUNTER. WHY?! WHY AM I SO SCARED?! Orochi clenches his fists and bites his lip to draw out some kind of adrenaline, but it doesn't work. The adrenaline in his body is from his fear. As he stares at Katsuo in fear, Katsuo jumps forward, running at Orochi at top speed. "WHAT'S WRONG OROCHI, IT'S TIME TO SHOW SOME BACKBONE YOU WEASEL!" Seeing the predator approaching rapidly, Orochi activates his quirk in a desperate bid for protection. Katsuo analyzes his quirk the way a lion analyzes its prey.

Hirota Orochi, quirk: Speed Devil. He can make a certain appendage move faster for a short period of time. It would be effective against most people, but I'm not most people.

Orochi sends a barrage of fast-paced punches, so fast even that they create after-images. But with Katsuo's advanced perception and strength, he's able to deflect every punch, throwing Orochi's arms to either side without stopping, delivering a heavy blow to Orochi's solar plexus. With the wind knocked out of him, Orochi crumbles to the ground, growling and wheezing. As Katsuo looks down at him in disgust, his eyes are drawn to a system notification that stops him in his tracks.

ALERT: BLOOD LUST HAS BEEN DETECTED. HIROTA OROCHI MUST BE KILLED BY THE PLAYER, OR ELSE A PENALTY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE SYSTEM. UPON KILLING HIROTA, EXPERIENCE WILL BE REWARDED.

The glowing blue light fades from Katsuo's eyes as he stares at that word, KILL. Sure, he hated Orochi with his entire soul, and he had done the same thing to the zombies, but it wasn't the same. A memory was brought forth by the thought of killing Orochi, this time in high detail due to his increased intelligence. The image that was burned into his mind as he ran to escape the Nomu. It was the image of his boss, a complete asshole, painting the pavement with his blood. All of the hopes, dreams, memories, everything now just another corpse on the pavement. While Orochi probably deserved to die, a voice in the back of Katsuo's head told him not to do it. His mother's voice. It was like she was there, comforting a 23-year-old Katsuo as he cried, rubbing his back and telling him everything would be okay.

I can't do it. I won't. I will preserve the smiles of every person on the planet. And to do that, I must not kill the villain in front of me.

Despite saying that though, Katsuo certainly enjoined knocking Orochi out with a quick punch to the jaw. Man, that felt good! Katsuo, totally feeling himself after kicking his bully's ass, called the police, told them what had happened and where to go, and sat on the wall, waiting in anticipation to see Orochi dragged into the back of a police cruiser. But that never came, because the system didn't forget.

The system has detected that the Player has not killed Hirota Orochi. A penalty will now be incurred. However, because the opponent was defeated, his quirk has been turned into a skill for the Player's use.

With that, the air changed around Katsuo, like when he entered the system. But this time the air wasn't just cold, but lifeless as well. Katsuo was now standing on some sort of black liquid, but it was as hard and flat as glass would be. Despite that, it still rippled when he took a step forward. The horizon was a light gray, with a black ceiling probably hundreds of miles above him. Black ink from the ceiling traveled along the sky like raindrops before stopping at random places at the top of the horizon. And in front of him, a knight wearing pitch-black armor. Strands of ink were also coming off of the knight's armor, floating into the air before dissipating.

As punishment for not killing Hirota Orochi, the player must now survive for four hours against the Death Knight.

The knight jumped forward at a high velocity. It wasn't for Katsuo's heightened reaction time and kitchen knife, that the knight's sword would have gone clean through his body. However, the blade of Katsuo's knife broke clean off the handle, leaving him with nothing to defend himself with. SHIT! Katsuo jumped as far away as possible, but the knife was already on him in seconds. It took a combination of running, jumping, and flipping around the knight just to not die, and yet cuts were still appearing all over his body.

Crap, what the hell is with this shitty system?! I don't kill one person and it condemns me to death? What happened to being a hero? If only I could get a weapon to defend myself with- At the thought of getting a weapon, the system sent another message, automatically opening a window to Katsuo's side.

Congratulations on unlocking the shop!

GO FUCK YOURSELF! Katsuo pressed the first thing he saw, a sturdy-looking matte-black dagger that cost him 14,000 coins, whatever those were. The knife appeared in his hand instantly, and he used it to block the knight's attack. Even with a sturdy knife that wasn't giving out on him any time soon, the knight's brutal strength drove Katsuo to one knee.

Things went on like this for the rest of the four hours, Katsuo dodging and blocking while the Knight remained on the offensive the entire time. Eventually, though, the time ended, and Katsuo's jump landed him on the warm ground, now being covered by the sun. He was broken, bleeding, on the verge of passing out again, but he was happy. He had survived not only his encounter with the bullies who made his life hell for the next several years but also a "death knight" who could have killed him with one swing. If he had learned anything today, it was that he was stronger and that he could get even stronger, but he also wasn't the strongest. It was a lesson in humility, and Katsuo was grateful for it.

Seeing the sun close to its final descent for the day, Katsuo made his way back home, ready for rest and relaxation, but not for the conversation he was going to have with his mom about the cuts and bruises.

I should find out what happened to Orochi. I know the police probably got him after I left, but it'll be funny to see what other crimes he gets busted for.

At the happy thought of seeing Orochi's ugly mug on the evening news, Katsuo saw something strange ahead of him. Under the bridge going over the river was a young boy, and some kind of sludge monster. It was clear to anyone with half a brain that the boy was being attacked by the sludge monster, so Katsuo jumped into action. Remember, don't get cocky. He summoned his dagger and used the tight space to his advantage, cutting through the sludge rapidly using the jump barrage skill. After successfully dispatching the villain, Katsuo helped the young boy up. They were the same age, with the boy having green hair and emerald eyes that just screamed insecurity.

"You alright? That looked rough." Looking down in embarrassment, the young boy spoke up. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for the help." And then, like some kind of switch flipped in his head, broccoli head got excited and started rambling into Katsuo's face. "THAT WAS SO COOL! WHAT'S YOUR QUIRK?! HOW DID YOU DO THAT?! HOW-" The boy kept firing off questions like a machine gun, and Katsuo tried his best to answer them one by one as fast as he could.

"Oh yeah, my name is Izuku Midoriya, what's yours?" After finally getting the introductions out of the way, Katsuo had a sudden thought. I don't have many… any friends… and this guy seems cool. "Wanna be friends?" Katsuo asked, smiling widely as Midoriya. Then he started crying. "Hey wait, I didn't mean to make you cry!" Katsuo was trying to calm the boy down, who simply waved him off. "No, it's just that… I'm so happy!" Midoriya was now smiling widely too, and Katsuo helped him up. After exchanging numbers, the two boys were discussing what to do with the sludge villain when Katsuo noticed a heavy presence behind them. Whirling around, Katsuo was met with-

"DO NOT BE SCARED! WHY? BECAUSE I AM HERE!"

… Wait, who is this guy?

A/N

And with that, the Ties That Bind Arc is over! This arc was used to help Katsuo learn what he needs to know about the system for now, as well as allow him to begin the transformation into the kind of hero he wants to be. I know the addition of the shop was a bit sudden, but I'll get more details about that next chapter. And finally, the story is beginning to fall in line with the story of My Hero Academia. I hope you guys enjoyed this climatic chapter, and until the next release, Go Beyond, Plus Ultra!