Chapter 1: A New Beginning
It was a rainy night in Washington, D.C. The streets were nearly empty, slick with water that reflected the dim glow of streetlights. In a narrow alley drowned in darkness, a boy lay motionless. Rain pattered against his face and pooled beneath his head, mixing with the faint trickle of blood seeping from a wound.
For a long moment, he didn't move. Then, with a weak groan, his fingers twitched, and his eyelids fluttered open.
"Ugh…" he breathed, clutching his head as a sharp pulse of pain tore through his skull.
"My head's about to explode," he muttered, voice hoarse. His teeth clenched as he tried to sit up, every motion sluggish. The cold rain only added to the ache in his bones.
"Why the hell am I lying on the street… in the rain?" His confusion slipped out in a half-groan. Then, as he pressed his palm harder against his temple, fragments of memory flickered in his mind. "I remember… I was riding my bike and then I—" His eyes went wide. "Crashed?!"
The shock gave him a jolt of clarity, but that clarity didn't last. As his gaze shifted downward, the breath caught in his throat.
His hands weren't his. They were small, delicate — the hands of a child.
"…What the f*** happened to me?" His voice broke, the words barely audible over the sound of rain. He scrambled to his feet, stumbling as if his legs weren't quite his own. His reflection in a puddle confirmed what his eyes refused to accept: his entire body had shrunk into that of a boy — eight years old, at most.
Before panic could fully take hold, a flood of alien memories surged into his mind, crashing against his consciousness like a tidal wave. Images of a young boy's life. A family. A neighborhood. And something more — a world utterly unlike the one he knew.
A world filled with heroes and villains. A society where superpowers, "Quirks," were the norm.
Realization struck, and despite the pounding headache, excitement overwhelmed him.
"No way… No freaking way!" His lips curled into a wild grin, his heart pounding. "Holy shit! I'm in the world of My Hero Academia!" His laughter echoed through the alley, manic and unrestrained. "I've reincarnated… I've actually reincarnated!"
The memories of his previous life were still sharp. He had watched the anime to the end, loved it, dreamed about living in a world like this. And now, impossibly, that dream had become reality.
"PUHAHAHAHAHA!" His laughter grew louder, bordering on unhinged. For the first time since waking up, he forgot the pain, the rain, and the blood on his skin.
But his celebration was cut short.
A scream pierced the night. High-pitched. Desperate. Female.
His smile vanished. With effort, he forced his aching body to move, staggering toward the sound. The pounding in his skull threatened to slow him, but adrenaline drowned it out.
The closer he got, the clearer the scene became. In another stretch of the alley, under the flicker of a broken light, a woman was pressed against the wall. A filthy, drunken man had her pinned by the neck, his back turned to the boy.
The woman was no ordinary human — her features were distinctly animalistic, her head bearing the sharp, vulpine traits of a fox.
"Please… let me go. You can have everything, just… please…" Her voice trembled with terror.
The man laughed, a sound more twisted than the rain-drenched night itself. "Heh… what's the rush? We've got all night." His words slurred, his grip tightening cruelly.
...….
Aaron's POV
My name is Aaron Black.
In my past life, I was… ordinary. Never the best at anything, never the worst. A happy-go-lucky kind of guy. I didn't lose my cool easily. But there was one thing — one kind of person — that I truly despised: those who preyed on the weak.
So when I saw that scene in front of me, the man choking that terrified woman… my blood boiled.
I forgot the pain. I forgot the rain. I even forgot that I was in a body that wasn't mine.
Without hesitation, I pulled my shirt up to cover my face and grabbed the nearest weapon I could find — a broken wooden rod sticking out of a trash can. My heart pounded as I crept closer, careful not to make a sound.
Then I swung.
The rod cracked against the back of the man's skull with a sickening thud.
"W-uhhg…" The man groaned once before collapsing to the ground, unconscious.
The woman screamed, falling backward in shock.
"It's alright!" I quickly said, raising my free hand. "I mean you no harm. You're safe now."
It took her a moment to calm down, her chest heaving with panic. Finally, she looked at me with wide, trembling eyes. "Thank you… thank you, thank you…" she repeated, voice breaking as she clutched her throat.
"No worries. You're not hurt, are you?" I asked gently.
She shook her head. "No… you came just in time. He didn't…" Her voice trailed off, but I understood.
"Good. Then you should go. But… a word of advice—don't wander into alleys alone at night. It's not safe."
Her lips twisted into a bitter smile. "Safe? For people like me? There's no such place."
Her words hit me hard. She wasn't wrong. People with physical mutations — mutant-types — were often treated as outcasts. Discrimination ran deep.
I sighed. "You're right. Life isn't fair. None of us choose where or how we're born. All we can do is make the best of the cards we've been dealt."
Her eyes softened at my words. For the first time, she seemed to truly look at me.
"I'll handle him. You should go." I gestured to the unconscious man.
She nodded hesitantly, stepping past me. But after a few paces, she turned back. "I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Samantha Williams. Who are you?"
I hesitated, tugging the shirt higher over my face. "Apologies… but I can't tell you that."
She gave a small, rueful smile. "I should have guessed from the mask. But… thank you, stranger. You saved me tonight." With that, she finally disappeared into the rain.
I turned my attention back to the limp man. "Not dead, right?" I crouched, pressing two fingers against his neck. A steady pulse beat beneath my touch. Relief washed over me — but then, something strange happened.
A spark.
Not electricity. Not heat. Something deeper. A pulse of energy, dormant yet alive, buried within him.
Curiosity overrode reason. I reached for it.
And the moment I touched it, the spark vanished from his body.
A jolt surged through me, making me flinch. The energy was inside me now.
"What the hell…?" I whispered, staring at my trembling hands.
I wanted answers, but I knew this wasn't the place. "I should get out of here before he wakes up. Whatever that was… I'll figure it out later."
Pulling my shirt tighter around my face, I hurried out of the alley.
.....
Later — Aaron's POV
I finally reached the apartment. The body's memories had guided me. The keys in my pocket opened the door easily.
Eight minutes later, I was sitting on the couch, clean from a hot shower, half-full from a quick meal. Only then did the full weight of everything crash down on me.
"First question," I said aloud, staring at the ceiling. "How the hell did I end up here?"
I remembered the crash. The blinding pain. Then nothing. "So I died, huh…" My voice was quiet.
Eighteen years old. Freshly licensed. The bike had been my birthday gift from my parents. They had warned me again and again to drive carefully. I hadn't listened.
A humorless chuckle escaped me. "Guess I should've listened."
Then I sifted through this body's memories. The name was the same — Aaron Black. Eight years old. Parents dead, killed earlier today in a villain attack on their way home. The grief had been unbearable. The boy had run into the rain, slipped, hit his head… and died.
Now here I was.
"So I'm an orphan now. And an elementary schooler…" My laugh was hollow. "Great. Just great."
The sharp ringing of a phone startled me. I followed the sound into the bedroom, where a smartphone buzzed on the bed. The caller ID read Auntie Meagen.
Right. He had an aunt. She had even called earlier, saying she would visit.
I picked up. "Hello?"
"Aaron! Where have you been? Do you know how worried I was? You weren't home, you didn't answer your phone—"
"Sorry, sorry!" I cut her off with a sheepish grin, even though she couldn't see me. "I… went out to buy something and forgot my phone."
She sighed. "I couldn't find you, so I checked into a hotel nearby. I'll be over first thing tomorrow morning. You'd better be home, young man."
"Of course. I'll be waiting."
"Good. It's late. Get some sleep. See you tomorrow."
"Yeah… goodnight."
The line clicked off. I exhaled. "Hoooh. That felt like an interrogation."
But now, there was no avoiding it. The spark. The thing I had taken.
"What was that?" I whispered, staring at my hands again.
The rain outside beat steadily against the window. The night had no answers.
But I would find them.