Chapter 229 - 228: Original

Location: The Fourth Dimension

Time: Outside Time

Makoto gripped Kaito's arm tightly.

She looked down. The completely transparent glass floor showed nothing but an endless, dark void beneath their feet.

"Kaito," Makoto whispered, stepping closer to him. "Are we going to fall?"

Kaito placed his hand over hers.

"No," Kaito answered, his voice echoing perfectly in the quiet space. "The floor is solid. It just looks like glass."

Step. Step.

Grandma Saki didn't look scared at all. She walked a few steps away from them.

She put her hands on her hips and looked up at the massive black hole swirling silently in the sky above.

"This is better than the aquarium," Grandma Saki said, nodding in approval. "Much quieter too."

"Grandma... please don't walk too far," Makoto let out a nervous laugh.

She looked around at the floating, jagged glass shards. They were huge, glowing faintly as they drifted through the void.

"What are those?" Makoto asked. "They look like broken mirrors."

"Hmm..." Kaito stared at the shards.

He didn't need to scan them or analyze them.

Because he was standing in the 4D space, the knowledge just came to him naturally. It was a feeling.

"They are branches," Kaito explained quietly. "Different timelines."

"Timelines?" Makoto repeated, looking at the glowing glass.

"Yeah." Kaito felt the connections.

Every time one of those glass shards shifted, he felt a faint pull in his chest. He felt the massive, dense web of his own timeline fracturing and expanding.

Kaito felt the results.

Every time a new branch formed where Hero X existed, the public belief from that entire universe funneled directly into him.

He was the prime anchor.

He was passively absorbing the faith of infinite timelines without lifting a single finger.

'No wonder I felt stronger,' Kaito thought, feeling the raw, conceptual weight settling into his bones. 'I am literally feeding on the possibility of multiverse.'

He closed his eyes. '...But why am I getting some MCU vibes here... Wait~~'

He focused his senses past the dense cluster of glowing shards connected directly to him.

"..."

He felt a strange, distant tug.

Way out in the void, completely disconnected from his web, he felt a single, isolated timeline.

It was a world where Kaito Arisaka was never born.

'Is this the world where I dont exists? The original My Hero Academia?'

Kaito felt like he could reach out and touch it if he really tried.

He opened his eyes. He lowered his hand.

"There are a lot of them out there," Kaito muttered.

"Can we go inside them?" Makoto asked, looking at the closest glowing shard. "Like... visit the other worlds?"

Kaito smiled slightly. He looked at the distant, hollow timeline.

"Sure," Kaito said. "I haven't tried jt yet but we will try it on the future. But right now, we still have dinner waiting."

He raised his hand.

SNAP.

The dark void vanished. The black hole disappeared.

They were standing perfectly still in the living room in Shizuoka.

The smell of fresh soil and green tea filled the air again.

Grandma Saki patted her chest. "Well, that was a lovely detour. But Makoto is right. I need to start prepping the ingredients."

"Let me help Grandma..." Makoto.

...

VWOOSH.

The machine erupted with a blinding blue light.

THUD.

All For One crashed onto the metal platform.

His knees hit the grated floor hard.

"Ahgg..." All For One gasped loudly.

He gripped his chest. His shoulders heaved up and down.

A cold sweat broke out across his forehead. He stared wildly at the toes of his boots, pulling his feet back slightly.

Dr. Garaki dropped his metal clipboard.

CLATTER.

"Master!" Garaki yelled, running around the console. "What happened? Are you hurt? Did something go wrong again?"

Garaki reached out to help him up, but All For One held up a shaking hand.

"I am fine," All For One rasped, forcing his breathing to slow down.

He stood up slowly. He looked down at his boots again, making absolutely sure there was no black static clinging to the leather.

He stepped off the platform.

"Turn on the main monitors, Doctor," All For One ordered, his voice still tight.

Garaki didn't ask any more questions. He ran to the keyboard and typed quickly.

The massive screens hanging from the ceiling flickered to life.

All For One activated his quirk and passed his memories.

BEEP.

He pushed his memories directly into the network.

Garaki looked up at the screens.

The video feed started.

Garaki watched All For One blow the doors off a warehouse. He watched him grab a younger variant of himself by the throat and snap his neck.

Then, the audio kicked in. Garaki heard All For One roar as the physical surge of power hit him.

"I absorbed him," All For One explained, standing next to Garaki. "The moment the variant died, his baseline strength and his quirk funneled directly into my body. It wasn't temporary. My baseline power permanently stacked."

Garaki's eyes widened behind his goggles. "You absorbed his actual existence? Master, if you repeat that process... if you do that in a thousand different timelines..."

"I will probably reach godhood," All For One finished the thought, a dark smirk forming behind his mask. "Yes. I figured that out."

"Then why were you panicking on the platform?" Garaki asked, genuinely confused.

"Keep watching," All For One said quietly.

The memory on the screen shifted.

Garaki watched All For One land in a small front yard in Shizuoka. He watched him blow up the modest house, killing Takumi and Saki Arisaka instantly.

"You erased his lineage," Garaki said, nodding in approval. "You killed the X's grandparents. Hero X won't exist in that timeline."

"Look closer, Doctor," All For One said.

Garaki stared at the screen.

He noticed the dead silence. Then, he saw a piece of broken wood near All For One's boot.

The wood started to glitch.

It turned into black, static pixels. The pixels floated into the air and vanished into a dark, empty void.

The static spread rapidly across the grass, deleting the dirt and the streetlights.

Garaki stopped breathing.

He watched the entire physical world dissolve into nothingness.

He watched the absolute panic as All For One barely triggered the temporal belt before the void swallowed him.

The screens went black.

Garaki took a step back from the console.

"What... what was that?" Garaki stammered. "The timeline just... deleted itself?"

"I'm not sure as well but my feeling says otherwise...," All For One confirmed coldly.

Garaki paced back and forth, grabbing his bald head.

"I don't understand," Garaki muttered, talking as fast as he thought. "You killed your own variant, and the timeline was completely fine. You kill two civilians, and reality collapses into a void?"

"Figure it out, Doctor," All For One said.

Garaki stopped pacing. He looked at the blank screens.

"It has to be a paradox," Garaki deduced slowly. "Kaito Arisaka... Hero X... he isn't just an anomaly. He has to be a structural pillar in that specific universe. The timeline literally requires his existence to function."

Garaki looked at All For One.

"When you prevented his birth, you broke a fundamental law of that reality," Garaki explained. "The universe couldn't handle the contradiction. So it just deleted the entire branch. Master... maybe we can't erase him in the past at all. If we prevented the birth and emergence of Kaito Arisaka, the universe deletes itself."

All For One crossed his arms. He didn't look angry.

"Is that so? It's fine..." All For One

Garaki looked confused. "Fine?"

"I don't care about erasing him in the past anymore..." All For One said. He looked at his own hands, flexing his fingers. "I felt the power increase, Doctor. That is the real prize."

"What do we do next?" Garaki asked.

"It's just an assumption... send some clones and try to kill baby Kaito or his parents in different timelines," All For One replied.

Garaki hesitated. "But Master, we just established that causes a reality collapse."

"I want to know if it happens every single time," All For One said firmly. "I want to know if his existence is an absolute rule across the entire time, or if that collapse was just a fluke. I want data, Doctor."

Garaki nodded slowly, understanding the logic.

"I will prepare them immediately, Master," Garaki said.

"... As for me, I'll hunt down every variant of myself across time and space."

...

Location: Shizuoka - Saki Residence

Time: Three Days Later

The afternoon sun shined brightly on the wooden porch.

Kaito sat in a small chair, holding his phone to his ear.

[Kaito-shonen!] All Might's booming voice echoed loudly through the phone speaker. [I hope I am not interrupting your vacation!]

Kaito pulled the phone slightly away from his ear. "You're fine, Toshinori. What do you need?"

[Principal Nezu and I would like to invite you today... Are you free?] All Might said, lowering his voice slightly. [The UA Entrance Exam starts in two hours. After all, you're a guest lecturer so you're already part of the faculty.]

"I don't know," Kaito replied lazily. "It's pretty hot today."

[Come on, Kaito,] Principal Nezu chimed in from the same line. [We even ordered the expensive green tea you like.]

[And the successor I have chosen is participating today,] All Might added casually. [I think you will find his performance very interesting.]

Kaito smiled.

He already knew him.

"Alright," Kaito agreed. "I'll be there in an hour."

[Excellent!] Nezu cheered. [We will see you soon!]

BEEP.

Kaito hung up the phone. "I can also see the training results for Tenya with the quirk development plan his brother contracted to me."

He stood up and stretched his arms. He walked back inside the house.

​The kitchen was a complete disaster area.

​Flour covered the countertops. Empty eggshells sat in the sink.

​[The additional batter eggs, integrity of requires structural this two.] Baymax said calmly, staring down at the bowl.

​The large, white robot was wearing a massive, custom-made apron that said 'Kiss the Cook'.

​

He was holding a small metal whisk in his balloon-like hand, clumsily trying to stir the thick cake batter.

​Little Emmy sat on the kitchen island right next to the bowl.

She was wearing a small pink dress and giggling loudly.

​"No, Baymax!" Emmy laughed, clapping her hands. "More sugar! You need a whole bag of sugar!"

​Baymax stopped stirring.

He turned his head slowly toward the little girl, blinking his black dot eyes.

​[Consuming an entire bag daily vastly exceeds your recommended glucose intake,] Baymax stated, his synthetic voice polite and clinical. [This action will lead to a sudden spike in your blood sugar levels, followed by hyperactivity and an inevitable energy crash. I cannot recommend it.]

​Grandma Saki stood next to Baymax.

​She was gently holding his large mechanical wrist, guiding the whisk back into slow, steady circles.

​"Don't listen to her, Baymax," Grandma Saki smiled. "We have enough sugar. Just stir gently."

Makoto stood near the fridge, wiping a smudge of flour off her cheek with a paper towel.

She was laughing at the absolute mess they were making.

Kaito leaned against the doorframe, watching the chaos.

"You know we can just buy a cake from the bakery down the street, right?" Kaito asked.

Makoto turned around and smiled. "Where is the fun in that? Emmy wanted to teach Baymax how to bake."

"She is teaching him how to induce a sugar coma," Kaito joked.

He walked over and kissed Makoto on the cheek.

"I have to go to UA for a few hours," Kaito said. "Toshinori and Nezu invited me to watch the Entrance Exam from the observation room. Do you want to come?"

Makoto's eyes lit up immediately.

"Yes!" Makoto said, dropping the paper towel. "I really want to see the results of the specialized quirk training programs you sold to those students."

"They definitely improved," Kaito assured her. "Let's go watch them break some robots."

They said goodbye to Emmy and Grandma Saki, leaving them to their baking lesson.

...

The massive metal gates of UA High stood wide open.

Hundreds of middle school students poured into the courtyard.

Some were checking their gear.

Most of them just looked nervous, staring up at the massive glass building.

Izuku Midoriya stood off to the side, leaning against the brick wall away from the main crowd.

Kuro sat comfortably on Izuku's right shoulder.

The black cat swished his tail slowly, watching the other students walk past.

Toshinori Yagi stood next to Izuku.

"Are you sure about this, Young Midoriya?" Toshinori asked quietly.

Izuku didn't look away from the building.

"Yes," Izuku answered firmly.

Toshinori sighed. "I can still write the recommendation letter right now. Nezu will accept it instantly. You don't have to take the entrance exam."

Izuku finally turned to look at the older man.

"I appreciate it, All Might," Izuku said respectfully. "But I have to do this on my own merit. I want to pass this exam with my own hands."

Toshinori smiled softly. He understood the pride. He respected it deeply.

"Alright," Toshinori agreed. "I won't push it again."

Toshinori reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small, shiny metal tag attached to a black collar.

He handed it to Izuku.

"Principal Nezu granted Kuro a special privilege," Toshinori explained. "That tag registers him officially with the school's security system. He is allowed to roam the campus freely. He won't set off any alarms."

Izuku took the collar. He looked genuinely surprised. "Really? They made an exception for Kuro?"

"Meow," Kuro purred happily.

Izuku strapped the collar around the cat's neck.

Kuro jumped from Izuku's shoulder. He landed perfectly on Toshinori's shoulder, rubbing his head against the older man's cheek.

"Kuro is going to sit with me in the observation room," Toshinori smiled, scratching the cat under the chin. "You have to ace the exam, Midoriya-shonen..."

Izuku nodded confidently. "I'm ready."

"Hahaha. Plust Ultra!" All Might laughed.

...

Location: UA High School - Observation Room

Dozens of glowing monitors lined the front wall, showing live camera feeds of the fake city battle centers.

The UA faculty stood near the railing, talking quietly among themselves.

CLACK.

The heavy metal door in the back of the room opened.

Kaito and Makoto walked inside.

The teachers stopped talking immediately. They turned around.

"Mr. Arisaka," Vlad King greeted him with a polite nod. "Good to see you again. Thank you for your gift again. The robot helped me a lot."

"Hey Vlad," Kaito replied casually, shaking the large man's hand. "No problem."

Kaito waved at Ectoplasm and Nemuri standing near the coffee machine.

They both nodded respectfully.

Kaito stopped walking when he saw Thirteen standing near the front railing.

"Thirteen," Kaito smiled, walking over to the rescue hero. "It seem my gear last time still works. Is the thermal regulators still holding up?"

Thirteen nodded quickly. "Yes, Mr. Arisaka! The upgrades you suggested back when you audited my gear completely fixed everything. I can't thank you enough."

"Just doing my job..." Kaito said, leaning against the railing next to her.

Makoto stood next to Kaito. She looked at the massive monitors on the wall.

"Where are they?" Makoto asked quietly, scanning the screens.

Kaito pointed at the monitors.

He spotted Tenya Iida doing strict, robotic stretches in front of Battle Center A.

Then, he spotted Izuku Midoriya. The main character whose meme in his past life was so famous.

"Shouldn't the son of Endeavor and the daughter of the Yaoyurozu family were one of your clients?"

"They must have recieved a recommendation letter directly," Kaito.

"That's true..."

Then, the speakers in the observation room cracked to life.

[RIGHT, LISTENERS!] Present Mic's loud, echoing voice boomed over the loudspeakers outside. [THE EXAM IS ABOUT TO BEGIN!]

The students on the monitors tensed up. They bent their knees, getting ready to sprint except Midoriya and Tenya looking so relaxed.

[WHAT'S WRONG?!] Present Mic yelled, his voice echoing across the testing grounds. [THERE ARE NO COUNTDOWNS IN REAL BATTLES! RUN! RUN! RUN!]

The exam officially started.

...

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