My ceiling had more personality than I did.
Cracks ran along it like the branches of a dead tree, spreading out into uneven webs.
I lay there on my old, creaky chair, staring upward as if divine wisdom would tumble out of the peeling plaster.
Instead, what I got was a spider descending on its silky thread, dangling right above my head like it owned the place.
"Damn freeloaders," I muttered, tilting my head back to watch its little legs work. "At least pay rent if you're gonna stay."
The spider didn't answer, obviously.
Maybe that was for the best.
I sighed and dragged my gaze back to the glowing monitor in front of me.
My manga reader website was open again, the familiar black-and-white panels of My Hero Academia filling the screen.
I had reread this chapter too many times already, but something about it always pulled me back.
And there he was.
Light poured through the doorway in the panel, outlining the silhouette of a man who looked like he was carved from goddamn Olympus itself. Muscles bulging like boulders under a skintight suit, cape flapping dramatically even though there wasn't any wind in a classroom… All Might.
The embodiment of a hero.
The art caught him mid-turn, smiling that grin which somehow managed to scream "hope" and "I'll beat your ass" at the same time.
Two bright blue flames burned beneath his brows, radiating courage.
His chin looked like it could cut glass.
And that ridiculous hairstyle — short blond hair slicked back into those two side buns, jutting out like the horns of a samurai helmet.
Ridiculous, yet perfect.
"All Might…" I whispered. "You absolute legend."
This was the kind of hero manga rarely gave us anymore.
Not a moody edgelord, not a whiny crybaby.
Just pure, unshakable muscle-bound optimism.
The type of guy who could punch a mountain in half and still stop to help an old lady cross the street.
When I first saw him, I thought, This guy can really kick ass.
Then came the disappointment.
My mouth twisted as I scrolled further, staring at the fateful panels I knew too well.
The passing of the torch. All Might handing over his legacy — his very soul — to… him.
Deku.
Izuku "crybaby" Midoriya.
"God, All Might," I groaned, rubbing my temples. "Out of every person in your muscle-filled, quirk-infested world… you chose him? The whiner? The nerd who trips over his own shoelaces and cries every five minutes? You're a goddamn mountain of muscle, and your idea of a successor is some shaky twig of a kid who can't even speak properly without stuttering?"
I pushed my chair back, rolling across the floor a little, glaring at my shelves stacked with manga volumes.
The first ten volumes of Academka sat there proudly, bought during a Black Friday sale.
I even supported the author with real money when I could.
But none of that dulled the sting of All Might's decision.
"You had choices, man! You could've scouted someone with raw power, charisma, maybe even some brains. Instead, you hand your godlike quirk to Deku like it's a charity raffle prize. What the hell were you thinking?!"
I realized I was basically yelling at my computer screen, engaging in a full-blown argument with printed ink.
A normal person would've called this a sign to touch grass.
But then again, normal people weren't me.
"Alright," I muttered, forcing myself to calm down. "Enough arguing." I thought as I clicked open another tab.
It was actually a gallery of hentai doujins.
So what? We all like to relieve tension every now and then!
But unfortunately the authors of these hentais weren't exactly awash in imagination.
As I was scrolling through the gallery, the spider I'd been watching earlier decided it was tired of just hanging around. It rappelled down its little thread right onto my bare neck.
"Gah!" I yelped, slapping at my skin in panic. The chair tilted dangerously. My hand flailed out for balance, catching only air.
CRASH.
The world flipped upside down as I tumbled backward.
My head smacked the corner of the desk with a sickening crack.
Pain exploded through my skull, followed by a warmth trickling down my temple.
My vision blurred, the room spinning in dizzy circles.
I tried to get up, but my body refused.
My arms twitched uselessly.
My lungs wheezed like broken bellows.
Somewhere above, the spider crawled back up its thread, probably smug about taking me down.
"Seriously…?" I croaked, coughing on my own spit. "Death by… a spider panic attack?"
As the blood pooled beneath me, my eyes drifted back to the monitor, still glowing in the dim room.
The image of All Might filled the screen, his broad shoulders framed in that doorway of light.
He was smiling.
And then… I swear the smile moved.
"All… Might?" My voice cracked.
The silhouette stepped forward out of the screen, cape fluttering in a wind that wasn't there.
His massive frame loomed over me, and for a second, I thought I was hallucinating from blood loss.
His voice boomed like a thunderclap:
"Young man…"
The floor seemed to tremble beneath me.
"Even at the end… you still believed in me. That spirit deserves another chance."
My breath hitched. Pain was fading now, replaced by a strange warmth seeping into my chest.
The spider, the room, the blood—all of it blurred away into light.
"You got to be kidding me." I said as I gasped for air.
'What kind of sick joke is this.' I thought.
The last thing I saw was All Might reaching his massive hand down toward me, his blue flames burning brighter than ever.
His grin stretched wide, unshakable.
Then—darkness.
But it wasn't the end.
Somewhere beyond that void, I felt it.
A heartbeat.
A pulse.
A rhythm that wasn't mine but was becoming mine.