The gym was quiet, too quiet.
No voices, no footsteps, just the faint hum of the ceiling lights and the rhythmic sound of Rei's breathing echoing through the empty training hall.
Aizawa was supposed to oversee his session today, but a last-minute staff meeting had pulled him away. That left Rei standing in the middle of Gym Gamma, surrounded by reinforced walls and scattered equipment, his training schedule clutched in one hand.
'Guess it's just me, then,' he thought, dropping the paper to the side and stepping forward. His shadow stretched across the floor, split faintly by the pale glow of his visor.
The ghostly aura flickered around his hand as a translucent limb formed beside it, faint at first, then solidifying into shape. He flexed his fingers, feeling the connection through the spectral tether.
"I need to be faster," Rei muttered under his breath. "They're strong, but not fast enough. By the time I attack, someone like Bakugo or Todoroki could've already countered."
He threw a punch. The ghost hand mirrored it instantly, slamming into a nearby reinforced dummy. The impact left a deep dent.
Rei didn't stop. Another strike. Then another. The ghost hands multiplied, each one punching or grappling the training targets in different directions. His movements were methodical, not wild. Like a machine running a precision test.
'They're strong enough to hold down an opponent, but the delay between thought and movement is too long. I need to reduce that.'
Sweat began to form under his collar as he summoned six ghost hands at once. Each responded to his intent, though slightly out of sync. It was like trying to conduct an orchestra where every instrument lagged by a fraction of a second.
"Focus…" Rei's voice was steady, though his muscles strained. "They move when I move. Not after. Together."
He closed his eyes, letting the ghostly limbs hover in silence. His heartbeat steadied. He could feel them, each one like an extension of his own body, waiting for command.
Then — motion.
The ghost hands surged forward, perfectly synchronized this time. They struck the targets with near-simultaneous precision, the sound echoing like thunderclaps through the room.
Rei exhaled slowly. "Better. But still not enough."
He adjusted his stance, the faint light of his visor pulsing brighter as the next round began.
Rei steadied his breathing, the faint hum of his quirk still resonating in the air around him. The dummy he'd just hit now had a fist-sized hole through its center, edges still flickering with the residual energy of his ghost hand.
"Now, shoot it, Rei." He repeated the words to himself, a mental echo of Aizawa's calm instruction from previous sessions. His expression hardened with focus as his stance lowered, hands tightening into fists.
'Think of it like contracting a spring, then letting go,' he reminded himself. 'But the spring is the ghost hand.'
He felt the familiar pressure build in his chest. Not painful, but heavy, like coiling raw power inside his body. Then, with a sharp exhale, he released it.
The ghost hand erupted from his torso like a compressed burst of energy, slamming into the reinforced dummy and blasting straight through it. The recoil threw him slightly off balance, his boots screeching against the training floor as he caught himself.
Rei exhaled sharply, running a sleeve across his forehead to wipe away the sweat. His heartbeat pounded against his ribs, adrenaline mixing with the dull ache in his muscles.
"Great," he muttered, watching the spectral limb dissipate into mist. "I can do it at will now." His tone was calm, but his chest still rose and fell with uneven breaths.
He rolled his shoulders and clenched his fists again, gaze sharpening. "Now I need to do it faster. And more effortlessly…"
He dropped into stance once more, ghostly energy flickering around him, ready to push himself further, alone in the echoing stillness of Gym Gamma.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Midoriya walked down the long corridor of Gym Gamma, the soles of his shoes squeaking lightly against the polished floor. He held his hero notebook close to his chest, scribbled full of notes from yesterday's battle trial — notes about everyone's quirks, but one page in particular had his attention.
Rei Kageyama — "Ghost Hands."
He glanced down at the heading, eyes scanning over the hastily written observations.
- Capable of creating multiple spectral arms.
- Can extend them over long distances.
- High precision and control.
- Potential drawback: delayed summoning? Drains energy?
'He countered Bakugo's attacks head-on,' Midoriya thought, adjusting his bag nervously. 'And that last move… it looked like he fired one of the ghost hands directly from his body instead of summoning it first. If that's the case, maybe the ghost hands are connected to an internal point of origin, like his soul, or his core!'
Midoriya couldn't help but grin a little at his own theory, before catching himself.
"Ah- stop it, Midoriya," he muttered, shaking his head. "You're supposed to train your own quirk today, not analyze everyone else's."
Still, curiosity tugged at him as he neared the training area. The rhythmic thuds and faint echo of energy crackling against reinforced dummies made him pause. Peeking inside through the observation glass, he spotted a familiar figure in black and silver.
Rei was there, focused, calm, and moving with purpose. His ghostly hands shot from his body like precise strikes of light, piercing targets one after another. Each motion looked deliberate, controlled… but there was strain behind it.
'He's been here a while,' Midoriya realized, seeing the sweat on Rei's jaw and the faint trembling in his arm.
Then, Rei stopped. His breathing was ragged, but he reset his stance and did it again — faster, cleaner. A ripple of pale energy exploded from his chest, blasting another target apart.
Midoriya's eyes widened. 'He's improving in real time…! He's training his firing technique, just like a projectile-based quirk user!'
The notebook was already open, pen flying across the page before Midoriya could stop himself. Outside the glass, he couldn't help but feel a mix of awe and determination.
'Kageyama's getting stronger. Which means… I have to catch up too.'
He took a deep breath, pushed the door open, and stepped inside.
"Hey, Kageyama," he called, trying not to sound nervous. "Mind if I train here too?"
Rei stopped mid-step, the echo of his last strike fading into the empty gym. He turned his head toward the voice, chest rising and falling with sharp, rhythmic breaths. Sweat clung to his temples, and faint wisps of residual ghostly energy shimmered around his shoulders before fading out.
"Oh, Midoriya." His tone softened as the rush of adrenaline began to fade. "Sure."
He grabbed a towel from the nearby bench, wiping his face before leaning back against the wall, arms loosely crossed. The smell of ozone and dust lingered from his earlier training.
Midoriya walked up beside him, rolling his shoulders and stretching out his arms. "It seems like you've been at it for a while," he said, his tone part admiration, part curiosity. "Is there a specific reason you're pushing so hard?"
Rei exhaled, eyes fixed on the cracked floor tiles beneath his boots. "I need to get stronger." His voice was calm, but heavy. "You saw how Todoroki just froze the entire building during the battle trial, right?"
"Yeah…" Midoriya nodded slowly, the image flashing through his mind. A building covered by ice, flawless and absolute. "Todoroki's… incredible."
Rei's gaze drifted up, distant but steady. "Exactly. He ended that fight before anyone else could even move. If I want to stand on the same stage as people like that, I can't afford to stay where I am." He paused, the faintest flicker of blue light pulsing at his fingertips as one of his ghostly hands briefly manifested and faded. "I don't need to be the strongest. Just strong enough to keep up."
Midoriya paused mid-stretch, lowering his arms. "That's… really admirable, Kageyama."
Rei raised a brow slightly. "Admirable?"
"I mean, yeah!" Midoriya said quickly, waving his hands. "You already fought Bakugo head-on and won! You've got great control over your quirk and amazing combat instincts. Most people would take a day off after that, but you're already back here, trying to improve."
Rei let out a quiet breath, glancing back at the training dummies. "Winning doesn't mean much if I can't keep up next time. Todoroki didn't even break a sweat."
Midoriya nodded, understanding the frustration all too well. "Yeah… I get that. When you see someone who's that far ahead, it's hard not to think you're falling behind."
For a moment, silence hung between them, the soft hum of the gym's ventilation the only sound. Rei pushed off the wall, grabbing his water bottle.
"I've been trying to make my ghost hands faster," Rei admitted. "If I can fire them like projectiles —almost instantly, then I won't have to rely on raw power as much."
"That's smart," Midoriya said, eyes lighting up with interest. "Like minimizing the startup time of your quirk's activation sequence! You'd be able to chain attacks or intercept opponents before they can react."
Rei gave him a sideways look. "…You think about this stuff a lot, huh?"
Midoriya rubbed the back of his neck, sheepish. "Heh… yeah. It kinda just happens."
He then adjusted his gloves, glancing toward the training dummies across the gym. "Well… since we're both here," he started, rubbing the back of his neck with a nervous smile, "maybe we could train together? It might help both of us improve."
Rei blinked, slightly surprised by the suggestion. "You sure? I don't really hold back."
Midoriya chuckled sheepishly. "Neither do I… though that's kind of the problem." He stepped forward, raising his right hand. "My quirk is a strength enhancer. It boosts my physical power to crazy levels, but the moment I use too much, it… well…"
Midoriya clenched his fist. "It breaks my bones if I go overboard," he admitted with an awkward laugh. "So, yeah, I've still got a lot to figure out."
Rei tilted his head, intrigued. "So your own power works against you."
"Pretty much," Midoriya said, nodding. "I have to find a balance. Use just enough strength without wrecking myself. But if I hold back too much, the hit doesn't do anything."
Rei took a few steps closer, his expression thoughtful. "Then maybe you need control training instead of strength training. Power means nothing if you can't channel it properly."
Midoriya blinked, a little surprised by the straightforward advice. "That's actually… a good point."
Rei summoned one of his ghostly hands. A transparent arm glowed faintly white, its form flickering in and out. "My problem's kind of the opposite," he said, watching it hover beside him. "I can use my quirk fine, but I need more of it — faster, stronger, sharper. I want to summon multiple hands without losing control."
Midoriya watched the hand drift and stabilize, his analytical brain already working overtime. "The versatility is amazing. And the way you control the shape… it's really impressive."
Rei shrugged lightly. "Impressive isn't enough. I need them to be stronger — faster — if I ever want to keep up with people like Todoroki."
Midoriya paused, then nodded with a small smile. "I get it. I really do."
The gym fell quiet for a moment, the sound of distant training echoes bouncing through the metal walls.
Finally, Midoriya took a breath, rolling his shoulders in a stretch. "Well… if we're both here to improve, then let's start."
Rei exhaled, summoning a second ghost hand, its outline wavering like a flame. "Yeah. Let's."
They moved to stand a few feet apart. Not sparring, not yet.
Midoriya adjusted his stance.
Rei steadied his breathing.
Two different paths.
Both driven by the same goal: to close the gap between where they were and where they wanted to be.