After Itsuka is adopted, Kaito's days pass by in peace and quiet as he keeps himself busy with training—cardio during the day and Quirk training at night.
Nine months of monotonous training pass by quickly, marking a full year since he arrived in this world. By now, he's been pretty much labeled a 'gloomy loner' by the other children.
Sitting on the rock by the pond, his Pokéball-shaped eyes gleam in the night as the irises slowly start spinning, while Kaito observes Zorua's training.
'So far, our progress has been slow but steady. If all the research I've done on Quirks is right, things should pick up once I hit puberty.'
His face remains neutral at the thought, but he is anything but calm on the inside, as he struggles to contain his 'curse.'
"I can't stand this place anymore..." Kaito mutters.
The same routine, the same building, nothing new to see. He tried browsing the internet to satisfy his curiosity, but he found that it's not the same if not seen in person.
Just as he gets up to leave, his irises stop their spinning.
"Come on Zorua, let's—"
The words get caught in his throat as Zorua uses Shadow Sneak, making her shadow move to attack the battered tree they've been using up to that point.
A spark of excitement lights up in his eyes at the new move.
"What's changed? She wasn't able to use it before..."
Making a quick inspection, the only major difference is that the number has turned from '11' to '12'.
"I'm sure it was '11' yesterday. That means this isn't a coincidence..."
After a year, Kaito can finally form a theory for its purpose.
"I did notice how Zorua was slightly stronger when the number went up, but I always chalked that up to our training. Now that she acquired a new move, presumably because of it..."
Combing through his memories, he confirms his hypothesis and opens his mouth.
"I'll call it the 'Level'—a sort of rough strength indicator."
With a bright smile on his face, Kaito crouches down and pets her.
"Congratulations, Zorua!"
Being praised for using a move like Shadow Sneak makes her slightly embarrassed, but the smirk tugging at her mouth betrays her true thoughts.
Getting up, they make their way back towards the orphanage.
As they walk, Kaito turns to the fence on his right, gradually slowing his pace until he comes to a complete stop.
Staring at the easily climbable chain-link fence, he realizes he has finally reached his limit.
Kaito turns to Zorua with a mischievous smile on his face.
"We've still got a few hours..."
She returns the gaze with anxiety in her eyes but follows him nonetheless.
Walking up to the fence and before he starts climbing, Kaito turns to Zorua to use a trick he found a few months ago. Activating his Quirk, his irises make one complete spin and Zorua is pulled inside of his Pokéball-shaped eyes in a beam of blue particles.
Interestingly enough, he can still communicate with her while she is inside.
As Kaito climbs the fence, he voices his curiosity.
"I've been wondering, what's it like in there?"
'It's just a big open field...'
Zorua replies, clearly not very interested.
"Must be boring..."
'But I can see what Kaito sees!'
Smiling slightly at her enthusiasm, he jumps down from the top, releasing her right after.
"Let's go explore!" Kaito declares.
With no set destination, they start walking. While not the most interesting of places, going wherever he wants does please him.
Turning into random alleys, he spots drunkards walking around, their Quirks activating randomly unbeknownst to them. Kaito analyzes it all.
"His Quirk seems to have turned his hair into spikes that he can grow and shrink... Hmm, that guy doesn't seem to have anything going on... Maybe he's Quirkless? And that guy has an elephant trunk for a nose..."
Kaito pauses as he stares at the individual. In all his research, he of course has seen what most of society thinks about 'heteromorphs'.
Just remembering the words used puts a deep frown on his face.
"Tch, what a disgusting mindset."
Before he can ruin his mood further, Kaito continues walking. Turning into another alley, he plans on coming out the other side.
But it seems his luck has run out. While in the middle of the alley, a man rushes in from the direction he is walking toward, clearly running away from something as he holds his left shoulder with his right hand, blood dripping from his left arm.
Spotting Kaito, his eyes light up as a sinister smile crosses his face.
"Blame your luck, kid! I need to get the heroes off my back!"
Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a knife as he rushes toward Kaito.
As he gets closer, the man notices the neutral expression on the kid's face.
'Why is he—'
Before he can finish the thought, he falls to the ground, screaming in pain as Kaito quickly turns and leaves.
'He didn't seem to have any visible Quirk, so I made Zorua use Shadow Sneak to injure his Achilles. Seems it worked out well.'
Not particularly minding the man and his situation, Kaito wants to continue exploring but is stopped as Zorua bites onto his pants.
'Kaito...'
Turning to her, he sees her worried expression.
"Sigh... All right, let's go back for today."
Crouching down, he picks her up and makes his way back.
A year later...
Once again on one of his nightly escapades, Kaito has pretty much seen all there is to the city, but he still makes a weekly trip to walk around.
'In a year Zorua has risen 3 levels, having reached level 15 a few months ago. Seems progress is already slowing down slightly from last year...'
Sighing loudly, he thinks about the next obstacle in his path.
"School starts tomorrow..."
Sitting in a room full of kids, learning things he has known for years.
"I'm so excited! Just kidding..."
As Kaito is walking, lost in thought, a presence makes itself known behind him.
"What are you doing out here, kid?"
He flinches slightly as he reprimands himself.
'Am I so distracted? How did I allow someone to get so close?'
Turning around, Kaito expects to see a police officer — or at the very least, an adult — but is surprised to find a girl in a high school uniform, wearing a luchador-esque mask and sporting a pair of rabbit ears.
Raising an eyebrow at the bizarre sight, he can't help but question back.
"What are you doing out here?"
She mimics his expression before bursting into laughter.
"You're funny, kid!"
"…"
'What a bizarre person.'
As she is laughing, Kaito picks up Zorua, who is standing on guard, and starts running away.
'She doesn't seem dangerous, but no point in risking it. Zorua, use Hone Claws just in case.'
Zorua's claws shine at the command.
Before he can get too far, he hears a loud sound behind him. Glancing at the noise, Kaito sees the same girl leaping toward him at high speed.
Analyzing the situation, he considers his chance of escaping to be close to none.
'She's strong…'
As she reaches out her hand to grab him, he utilizes his smaller height and ducks to the side, avoiding it.
"Zorua, use Extrasensory and fling her away," Kaito commands with a calm tone.
As he runs, Zorua holds the girl in midair. Just before the psychic beam dissipates, she flings her away from them as the girl laughs loudly, yelling at him:
"Hahaha! You're good, kid."
He tries to get away, but being 122 cm (4′0″), his legs can only take him so far, and he hears a noticeably louder bang behind him.
'Tch, it's like I'm fighting a damn Mega Lopunny.'
Attempting the same maneuver as last time, it fails and he is caught by his shoulder.
"A young kid shouldn't be out here so late, so I'll bring you to the pol—"
Before the girl can finish speaking, Zorua leaps from Kaito's arms onto his shoulder, using Leer and Scratch at the same time, forcing her to let go to avoid it as she feels weakness overcome her.
Figuring he can't escape, Kaito turns to the bunny girl with a calm expression as she grins at him.
"I know where to go. You don't need to bring me to the police."
She looks at him for a second before replying.
"Sure, but I'll follow you there."
Realizing it's the best compromise he's going to get, he nods and puts Zorua down, beginning to walk back toward the orphanage.
Having nothing better to do, he turns to the girl and asks:
"What are you supposed to be? Some sort of hero? Vigilante maybe?"
"Haha, you're real interesting, kid. Yeah, I guess you can call me a vigilante. Everyone calls me Tiger Bunny."
Her words remind him, and he asks in excitement:
"Is your Quirk something to do with rabbits?"
She smirks at him.
"Did the ears make it too obvious?"
Ignoring the sarcasm, Kaito nods his head.
"I was just thinking—it's a simple but solid combat Quirk. Probably the best I've seen in person."
"It sure is! So how old are you?"
Kaito gives her a sideways glance as his irises start slowly spinning and answers:
"I'm six. You?"
"You fight well for a six-year-old…"
She leans forward, looking at his unique eyes as they stop in place.
"What?" Kaito questions.
Taking in the phenomenon for a second, she is slow to respond.
"...Why are your eyes spinning?"
He stares at her in confusion before turning to a nearby window to check his reflection, where he confirms it. Checking the level, it still shows '15'.
'I wonder why…?'
His answer soon comes in the form of a blue beam of particles coming out of his eyes, as the spinning makes an abrupt stop, making Kaito widen his eyes in realization.
'Finally! I wonder who it will be…'
Materializing in front of him is a 40 cm (1'4") tall, pastel pink-colored Pokémon with pale blue hair hiding most of its face. A similarly colored party hat sits on its head.
"Hatenna!"
A familiar wave of dizziness hits him, making him fall onto his butt. But this time, he doesn't pass out.
'Looks like all that training paid off.'
Tiger Bunny raises him up by his shoulder.
"You good, kid? What just happened?"
Calming himself slightly, Kaito answers:
"Yeah, I'm good. It's just my Quirk."
Hatenna snaps out of her stupor at his words, as she starts to jump up in place, tears flowing from her eyes.
Kaito bends down with a gentle smile and picks her up to hug her.
"You've always been the crybaby of the group..." he says as she nuzzles up to him.
It takes a few minutes for her to calm down as Tiger Bunny shifts around in place, clearly uncomfortable with the situation.
Now composed, as Kaito pets her, Hatenna spots the spectator and blushes slightly. Embarrassed and shy, she turns into blue particles and returns to his eyes.
With a happy smile on his face, Kaito turns to the bunny girl and urges:
"Come on! Let's go!"
She murmurs as he walks away, "What a bizarre kid. I wouldn't expect those sorts of expressions from someone who was fighting me so calmly…" Catching up to him shortly after.
Some time later...
Standing outside the chain-link fence, Kaito turns to the bunny girl and tells her:
"We're here."
She raises an eyebrow, glancing around.
"And where's here?"
"The orphanage."
"You're an orphan?"
"Yeah?"
They stare at each other for a while before Tiger Bunny opens her mouth first.
"How often do you sneak out?"
Kaito stares at her in bewilderment at the question.
"...Once a week."
Nodding her head, she tells him:
"Do it on Saturdays. I'll meet you at midnight."
Walking away shortly after.
Kaito can only stare at her back.
"Sigh... Just what have I gotten myself into?"