Location: Sir Nighteye's Agency – Underground Gym
Time: Afternoon
BEEP.
The loud buzzer echoed across the large underground gym.
Huff-puff.
Huff-puff.
Huff-puff.
Mirio, Tamaki, and Nejire stood in the center ring. They were already breathing hard.
Standing ten feet across from them was Sir Nighteye. He was still wearing his dress shirt and tie. He held a small, red ink stamp in his right hand.
"You still have three minutes," Mirai said flatly, adjusting his glasses with his free hand. "Take the stamp from me. Go."
SWOOSH.
Nejire didn't wait. She floated up and thrust both hands forward.
A massive, yellow spiral of energy blasted across the room.
It was huge, but it was slow. Mirai didn't even blink. He just took one calm step to the left.
The yellow wave rushed right past his shoulder.
CRASH.
The blast hit the padded wall behind him, shaking the room.
"Hey! How can you dodged it!" Nejire pouted, landing back on her feet.
"I just moved," Mirai corrected her.
Down below, Mirio made his move. He activated his Permeation again and sank straight into the floor.
Everything went black and silent for him. He counted in his head, guessed the distance, and deactivated his Quirk.
POP.
Mirio shot out of the floor right where Mirai had been standing a second ago.
But Mirai wasn't there. He had already taken half a step back.
The moment Mirio's shoulders became solid, Mirai calmly stuck his foot out.
THUD.
Mirio tripped over Mirai's shoe and face-planted hard onto the mat. "Ow!"
"Tamaki," Mirai called out, not even looking down at Mirio. "Your turn. Coordinate with your team."
Tamaki panicked.
He stood there, sweating.
He had eaten takoyaki and crab for lunch. He tried to grow an octopus tentacle from his right arm to grab the stamp.
But right as the purple skin started to form, Tamaki second-guessed himself. He thought a crab claw would be better to snatch it. He tried to switch.
"Uh... wait..." Tamaki mumbled.
His arm cramped up. It turned into a weird, useless mix of a shell and a tentacle.
Sigh.
Mirai just sighed.
He walked right past Tamaki's confused guard and gently pressed the red ink stamp right onto the center of Tamaki's forehead.
BEEP. BEEP.
The three minutes were up.
Mirai hadn't even broken a sweat. He didn't use his Foresight Quirk once. He just let them beat themselves.
"..."
Tamaki touched his forehead, feeling the wet ink. He looked like he wanted to cry.
Mirio sat up on the mat, rubbing his bruised nose. Nejire just crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks.
Over by the wall, Kaoruko and Juzo watched from the bench.
"That was fast," Kaoruko whispered to Juzo.
Mirai looked down at the three students.
"Nejire," Mirai started, his voice completely serious. "Your blast was so wide you almost hit Tamaki. You have raw power, but you lack spatial awareness. If you get distracted and fire like that on a real street, you will level a civilian building."
Nejire looked down, her pout instantly vanishing. "Oh... I didn't think about the spread."
Mirai turned to Tamaki.
"You hesitated," Mirai said bluntly. "You couldn't pick a weapon. In the real world, a three-second hesitation means someone dies. Your anxiety is literally turning your Quirk off."
Tamaki pulled his knees to his chest. "I know. I just... I panic."
Mirai finally looked at Mirio.
"And you," Mirai pointed at him. "When you popped out of the ground, your eyes were wide. You looked terrified. If the people you are trying to rescue see you looking scared of your own powers, they will lose all hope."
Mirio swallowed hard. He looked down at his hands.
The gym got really quiet and heavy. The three teenagers looked completely miserable.
TAP. TAP.
Kaito walked onto the mats. He was holding three cold water bottles.
He didn't yell or look disappointed. He just gave them a relaxed, warm smile.
"Don't look so miserable," Kaito laughed a little. He tossed the water bottles to them. "He does that to everyone. Drink up."
Mirio caught his bottle. "Thanks, Mr. Arisaka."
Kaito sat down right on the mat with them, crossing his legs casually. He pulled out a digital tablet.
"You guys want to know why that just happened?" Kaito asked.
Tap.
He tapped the screen. It played a short clip of their Sports Festival failures.
"It's physics," Kaito told them, keeping it simple. He pointed at Mirio. "Mirio, you sink into the dirt because you don't know how to anchor your mass. You treat the floor like a place to hide. You should be treating it like a launchpad."
Mirio wiped sweat off his chin. "A launchpad?"
"Yeah. When you unphase, the ground rejects you. We can use that," Kaito explained.
Kaito looked over at Tamaki.
"Tamaki. You froze because you were trying to invent a brand new combo right when you needed to punch," Kaito said. "You can't do that. You need a pre-set menu. You need to know exactly what meal makes what weapon, and lock it into your muscle memory before the fight even starts."
Tamaki slowly nodded, holding his cold water bottle against his cheek. "A pre-set menu. Just pick one and stick to it."
"Yes," Kaito smiled. He turned to Nejire.
"And Nejire. You missed the boss because you push the air with flat palms," Kaito gestured with his own hands. "If you cup your hands and compress that shockwave through a tiny gap, it turns into a fast laser instead of a slow wave."
Nejire's eyes lit up. "Oh! Squeeze it tight!"
"You got it," Kaito nodded.
Kaito set the tablet down and looked at the three of them.
"We aren't going to make you perfect in one week," Kaito told them honestly. "That's impossible. But we are going to tear down these bad habits and build you a new foundation."
Mirai stepped forward, adjusting his tie.
"Here is the schedule," Mirai announced. "In the mornings, you are with me. We do active street patrols and detective work. I will teach you how to build your hero personas and stay focused."
Mirai pointed to Kaito.
"In the afternoons, you are in this gym with him," Mirai finished. "He will break down your Quirk mechanics until you want to throw up. It will be hard. Do you understand?"
Mirio looked at Tamaki. Tamaki gave a small, nervous nod.
Mirio looked at Nejire. She was grinning and gave a thumbs up.
Mirio gripped his water bottle tight. He looked up at Mirai and Kaito. The panic from the spar was gone.
He forced a massive, genuine smile onto his face.
"Yes Sir!" Mirio yelled loudly. "We accept!"
"Good," Kaito laughed, clapping his hands together and standing up.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked around the gym.
"We start the real work tomorrow. But for right now, you guys need protein. Who wants pork cutlet bowls? My treat for the whole agency to welcome you three properly."
"Yey! Free food!"
Nejire cheered loudly, floating a few inches off the mat. Tamaki let out a long, heavy sigh of relief, and even Mirai gave a small, approving nod in the background.
*-*-*-*
Location: Unknown Underground Facility
Time: Evening
BZZZT.
Three holographic projectors hummed to life on the damp concrete floor.
Dr. Garaki didn't look at them right away. He grabbed a heavy metal wrench from his workbench and hurled it across the dark laboratory.
CLANG.
The wrench smashed into the wall, chipping the brick.
"It's all gone!" Garaki yelled, his voice echoing in the damp room. He gripped the edge of his table. "Decades of research! The tanks, the Trigger factories, the warehouses! Wiped out in a single day!"
In the center of the room, two figures flickered in the pale blue light.
Miss Anna, Anos Scervino, stood tall in a sharp black suit. She projected from somewhere in Italy.
Flect Turn stood next to her in his dark robes. He projected from a secure, hidden bunker.
"The heroes didn't just get lucky, Doctor," Anna said quietly. Her voice was steady, but her eyes were tired.
"They hit our exact weak points. Every single blind spot. They knew our exact layouts." Flect Turn added.
"Of course they did!" Garaki snapped, turning to glare at the holograms. "It was a leak! Someone got into the encrypted servers. It's the exact same bastard who leaked our data years ago. The WHA didn't plan this. They just followed the map some bastard handed them."
Flect Turn folded his hands into his long sleeves. He looked completely calm compared to the frantic doctor.
"Getting angry won't rebuild the factories," Flect said smoothly. "We need to focus on what we actually have left. Miss Anna, what is the situation in Italy?"
Anna shifted her weight.
"Valdo Gollini and his family are rotting in an American maximum-security prison," Anna reported. "Star and Stripe took them down. But their capture left a massive power vacuum in the underground."
Garaki narrowed his eyes behind his thick goggles. "And you filled it?"
"I did," Anna nodded. "I brought the remaining mafia families under my direct control. The Italian underworld belongs to us now. We will have capital flowing again by next week."
"Good," Garaki grunted, rubbing his bald head. "I need money. Rebuilding the labs will cost billions."
Anna didn't smile. She slowly raised a hand and touched her forehead.
Her mind flashed back to her family's mansion. She remembered looking at Giulio's face right before she knocked him out.
She betrayed the man who fought through hell to save her, all to stay loyal to the League. The guilt was heavy, but she pushed it down.
Garaki turned his attention to the blue man.
"And you," Garaki sneered, pointing a crooked finger at Flect. "You abandoned Valdo. You ran away while the Americans raided the base."
"I survived," Flect corrected him easily. "Valdo wanted to pick a fistfight with the Number Two Hero of America. It was suicide. If I stayed, I would be in that prison cell next to him, and the disaster bomb blueprints would be in the hands of the WHA. I retreated to protect the research. Don't forget Doctor that her quirk is also a reality manipulation."
Garaki scowled, but he couldn't argue with the logic. "The WHA just put a global, highest-priority warrant on your head. You can't show your face anywhere."
"I am aware," Flect nodded. "That is why I am asking for your permission to start a new project. We can't rely on the criminal underworld right now. The heroes are watching the black markets too closely."
"What do you want to build?" Garaki asked.
"A sanctuary," Flect said. "I will call it Humarise. It will act as an anti-Quirk religious movement. We preach that Quirks are a disease. You have no idea how many wealthy, terrified people will throw their millions at a cause like that."
Anna raised an eyebrow. "You want to start a cult?"
"I want to build a front," Flect answered while hiding his motives, looking at her. "We gather funds, resources, and biological data from thousands of willing followers in broad daylight. The WHA will just see crazy religious fanatics. They will never link it back to the League."
Garaki stared at the blue hologram. A wide, raspy laugh bubbled up in his throat.
"Brilliant," Garaki grinned showing his teeth. "Do it. Build your cult. Keep the money flowing. Keep the heroes looking the wrong way."
"...."
The laboratory went quiet for a few seconds.
Anna looked down at her hands. When she looked back up, her expression was completely grim.
"There is something else we need to talk about," Anna said. Her voice dropped. "The Master."
Flect Turn slowly nodded. He knew exactly what she was going to say.
"I saw the broadcast," Anna continued, gripping her own arm. "We all did. I watched Hero X fold All For One into a literal piece of paper. He defeated the most powerful man on the planet in one second."
"He isn't a man," Flect Turn added heavily. "He is a god walking on the earth. He stopped a global earthquake by slapping the ground. I don't see a path to victory against someone who can just warp reality."
Garaki didn't look scared.
HAHAHA.
He let out a loud, wheezing laugh that echoed off the damp walls.
"You doubt the Master?!" Garaki laughed, walking right up to the holographic projectors. "Look at your shoulders!"
Anna and Flect both flinched. They reached under their clothes and touched their shoulders.
The Abyssal Marks were still there. They were still burning hot against their skin.
"As long as those marks exist, the Master is alive!" Garaki shouted, his eyes wide and manic behind his goggles. "He anticipated this! He knew the risks! He has cheated death before, and he just did it again!"
Garaki stopped laughing.
He leaned close to the blue light, looking right at Anna and Flect.
"Listen to me carefully," Garaki whispered. "Hero X is a god. Yes. But there is no such thing as perfection in this world. It's a cliché, but it's the truth."
Garaki stood up straight, raising a finger.
"In ordinary life, the idea of perfection makes people try harder," Garaki said, his voice dripping with absolute certainty. "But from a scientific point of view? Perfection is a dead end. It means nothing more can be created. There is no room for intelligence. There is no room for talent. Gods do not evolve. They stagnate."
Garaki grinned widely, a terrifying, confident smile.
"We are flawed. We are broken. And that means we can adapt," Garaki told them. "We will use science. We will bide our time. We will find his blind spot. Trust the Master. Now get back to work."
"Oh and remember... Having an abyssal covenant isn't the same as those covenants that those prisoners have. Slicing off you arms doesn't mean your free. Master's quirk were already inside you. That's why you can use more than one quirk without drawback."
"..." Anna and Flect Turn.
BZZZT.
The holograms vanished.
The laboratory went completely dark, leaving Garaki alone with his thoughts.
*-*-*-*
Location: Sir Nighteye's Agency – Lobby
Time: The Next Morning
RING.
RING.
The agency lobby was packed.
Cyber-agents hurried past the front desk holding coffee cups, and the phones were ringing non-stop.
Mirio, Tamaki, and Nejire stood near the main doors.
They were wearing their full hero costumes. Mirio adjusted the big "1,000,000" on his chest.
Tamaki pulled his dark hood up a little higher.
Nejire was floating a few inches off the floor, looking around at all the busy people.
Step. Step.
Kaito walked up to them. He was holding three thick, heavy paper folders.
"Morning," Kaito said casually.
"Good morning, Mr. Arisaka!" Mirio smiled, bowing quickly.
Kaito handed a folder to each of them. "These are your Quirk Documents. I spent last night writing them up. They are completely tailored to your biology."
Nejire flipped her folder open. Her eyes immediately went wide.
"Whoa! Look at these drawings!" Nejire pointed at the paper. "Internal Loop Mobility? It says instead of blasting waves to fly, I can spin a tiny spiral inside my boots like a jet turbine! It saves eighty percent of my stamina!"
Mirio quickly opened his own folder. He read a bold heading on the first page.
"Controlled Repulsion Teleportation," Mirio read out loud. He blinked, reading the paragraph underneath. "When two solid objects overlap, physics pushes them apart. If I angle my body underground, I can use the repulsion to launch myself like a targeted bullet instead of just popping up randomly."
Mirio looked up, completely amazed. "I can use the ground as a literal launchpad?"
"Yeah," Kaito nodded. "You treat the floor like a place to hide. You need to treat it like a weapon."
Tamaki stared at a detailed diagram in his folder.
"Material Layering," Tamaki mumbled softly. "Octopus tentacles coated in hard clam shells... normal animal skin is too soft for blades, so I need to overlap the textures..."
Tamaki looked up at Kaito. "This is... this is incredibly detailed."
"Don't try any of that today," Kaito warned them, pointing at the folders. "You will definitely hurt yourselves. That is your homework for the next six months when you go back to U.A. High."
Kaoruko, Bubble Girl, was walking past the desk with a clipboard.
She stopped, staring at the thick folders in the kids' hands.
Her eyes practically bugged out of her head.
"Are you kidding me?" Kaoruko gasped, pointing at the paper. "Do you guys have any idea what you're holding?"
"Uh... our homework?" Mirio guessed.
"Pro heroes literally empty their bank accounts for a contract with the Golden Manager," Kaoruko said bluntly. "Millions of yen! And you three just got tailored, step-by-step blueprints to the Top 10 for free!"
"..."
"..."
Tamaki's face went completely pale.
"M-Millions?!" Tamaki squeaked. His hands started shaking violently.
He held the folder out by the very edges, looking terrified that he was going to drop it and wrinkle a multi-million yen document. "I can't hold this! It's too expensive!"
Mirio started bowing frantically, his head almost hitting the floor. "We can't pay you back for this! We don't have jobs yet!"
"Just put them in your lockers before Tamaki passes out," Kaito laughed, waving his hand to brush it off. "Consider it an investment for your future. And besides your three are interns in this agency. Now get moving. Mirai is waiting for you outside."
*-*-*-*
Location: Tokyo Streets
HONK.
Traffic was loud.
Sir Nighteye walked down the street in his sharp grey suit.
Centipeder walked right beside him. The three U.A. interns hustled to keep up with their long strides.
"We received a tip from Yamada's civilian radio network late last night," Centipeder explained, not looking back. "A caller reported heavy crates being moved into a shady electronics shop near the station. We are just doing detective work today. We observe the location."
"Got it," Mirio nodded, keeping his eyes peeled.
They walked past a row of colorful storefronts.
Nejire stopped walking.
She spotted a display window filled with custom drone parts and blinking lights.
"Oh! Look at that one!" Nejire smiled.
She completely ignored the patrol formation, floating over to an older man sweeping the front step of the shop.
"Hey mister!" Nejire asked rapidly. "Did you build that drone? What kind of battery does it use? Does it fly really fast?"
SNAP.
Mirai snapped his fingers sharply. The sound cut right through the street noise.
Nejire jumped and turned around. Mirai was staring a hole right through her.
"Separate your curiosity from your duty, Nejire," Mirai commanded strictly. He walked over to her. "You are acting like a tourist. You are an investigator. If you let a shiny object distract you on a real raid, your lack of focus will get someone killed. Hyper-focus. Now."
"Sorry Sir!" Nejire nodded quickly.
She floated back into formation, keeping her eyes glued straight ahead.
They turned a corner onto a much busier street. Dozens of people in business suits were rushing to the subway.
BUMP.
A businessman accidentally bumped into Tamaki's shoulder.
"Oh, excuse me," the man said, fixing his tie. He looked at Tamaki's hero costume. "Hey, you're a hero, right? Do you know which way the East subway entrance is?"
Tamaki totally froze. The man was looking right into his eyes.
Tamaki's social anxiety spiked instantly. He looked at the ground, then tried to turn his back to the man and press himself against the nearby brick wall to hide.
"I... um... I..." Tamaki mumbled to the bricks.
Mirai stepped right in.
He didn't pull Tamaki away.
Mirai grabbed Tamaki by the shoulders and physically turned him back around, squaring his posture so he was facing the businessman directly.
"Two blocks down, take a left," Mirai told the man smoothly.
"Thanks," the businessman smiled and hurried off down the street.
Mirai let go of Tamaki's shoulders and looked him in the eye.
"If you look terrified, villains will prey on you," Mirai said bluntly. "And worse, the civilians you are trying to protect will panic. I know you have anxiety. But you need to project boardroom composure."
Tamaki looked at his boots. "Boardroom composure?"
"Turn your quiet fear into cold, stoic intimidation," Mirai instructed. "Look them in the eye. Stand tall. Let them think your silence means you are dangerous, not scared."
Tamaki took a shaky breath. He forced his shoulders back and nodded. "Yes Sir."
They finally reached the target location.
It was a narrow, dark alleyway tucked between two tall buildings.
It smelled like old garbage and engine oil.
Mirio stopped at the entrance.
He instantly dropped into a rigid, wide fighting stance. He glared into the dark shadows, his muscles totally tense.
"Mirio," Mirai said, stopping next to him. "Where is your smile?"
Mirio blinked, looking over his shoulder. "Huh? But it's dark back there. We might find villains."
"That is exactly why you smile," Mirai told him. He pushed his glasses up his nose. "You dive into solid walls, Mirio. You fight in the pitch black. A hero who works in the dark must smile to keep his own panic down."
Mirio slowly stood up from his rigid stance.
"If you walk in there glaring and sweating," Mirai continued. "The villains will know you are nervous. If you walk in there smiling, they will underestimate you, and any victims will immediately feel safe."
Mirio understood.
Huff-puff.
The tension completely left his shoulders. He took a deep breath.
He flashed a massive, bright, unshakeable smile.
Mirai looked at Mirio's face. He gave a single, sharp nod of approval.
"Keep that face, Lemillion," Mirai said, turning toward the shadows. "Centipeder, take the left flank. We're going in."
*-*-*-*
Location: Agency Underground Gym
Time: Afternoon
The underground gym was packed.
Over by the far wall, the Vanguard unit was already grinding.
CRACK.
Kenjiro slammed his heavy shoulder into a concrete slab, shattering it to pieces.
A few feet away, Juzo stayed low to the mat, whipping his long, segmented arms in wild arcs against a dummy.
Kaoruko took a deep breath, tossing dense purple bubbles against the corners of the room to practice her bounce angles.
Everyone was working.
Even two floors up in his dark office, Mirai Sasaki was currently rubbing his tired eyes.
He rewound a noisy, crowded holographic video for the fiftieth time, relentlessly practicing his lip-reading.
Nobody in this agency got a free pass.
In the center of the gym mats, Kaito stood with Mirio, Tamaki, and Nejire.
Kaito tossed a baseball up and caught it.
"Alright," Kaito said, looking at the three of them. "You finished the morning patrol. Leave those thick folders in your bags. Today, we just focus on feeling the physical mechanics. Tamaki. Step up."
Tamaki flinched slightly, but he walked forward.
Kaito pointed to a small plastic cooler sitting on the bench. He popped the lid off.
"I checked your daily diet," Kaito said. "You eat a lot of beef, pork, and chicken. It's great protein for lifting weights. But for your Quirk? It's terrible for combat."
Tamaki blinked. "It is?"
"Standard animal skin and muscle is soft," Kaito explained, pulling out a few plastic containers. "If a villain swings a sword, a cow hoof is going to get chopped clean off. You need to stop thinking like a zoo and start thinking like a modular weapon system."
Kaito opened the containers.
Inside were cooked crab legs, hard clams, and a small bag of roasted mixed insects.
Tamaki looked at the bag and took a small step back. "Grasshoppers?"
"Insect exoskeletons are basically unbreakable armor relative to their size," Kaito said casually. "Think about the biology. If an ant or a beetle was scaled up to human size, they could flip cars and tank bullets without a scratch."
Tamaki stared at the bugs. He never really thought about it like that.
"When you go pro," Kaito added, offering him the bag. "You can hire a support company to build you a specialized belt. It could dispense highly condensed insect and animal proteins right into your mouth mid-fight. Instant, overpowered loadouts anytime you want."
Tamaki's eyes widened.
A support belt like that would fix his entire stalling problem.
He reached into the bag and grabbed a handful of the snacks, chewing them quickly alongside a clam.
"Now, we try material layering," Kaito instructed, stepping back. "Don't just sprout a tentacle. Make the tentacle, then force the hard clam shell to grow over it like chainmail armor. Overlap them."
Tamaki closed his eyes. He took a deep breath.
SHHH-POP.
His right arm shifted, expanding into a thick, purple tentacle.
Tamaki gritted his teeth.
Sweat immediately beaded on his forehead. He grunted, trying to force the shell to manifest right on top of the muscle.
Small, jagged white shells popped up along the purple skin.
But the mental and physical strain was massive. The shells were uneven.
Huge gaps of soft skin were left exposed.
"Ahhh..." Tamaki groaned loudly.
His knees buckled. His arm cramped so hard it instantly reverted back to normal flesh.
He dropped to his hands and knees on the mat, panting heavily.
"It's... it's too heavy," Tamaki gasped, clutching his right arm. "I can't coordinate both at the exact same time."
Kaito crouched down next to him and handed him a cold water bottle.
"That's completely fine," Kaito said calmly. "You tried to do it simultaneously. That overloads your brain. Separate the steps. Build the muscle first. Lock it in. Then push the armor down from your shoulder to the tip. Drink up, then we try again."
Tamaki took a sip of water, his hands shaking a little, but he gave a determined nod.
Kaito stood up and walked over to Nejire.
"Your turn," Kaito said. "Remember what we talked about this morning. The garden hose."
Nejire bounced on her toes, her blue hair swishing. "Right! Squeeze the air! Don't use flat hands!"
She held her hands out. Instead of keeping her palms open, she pressed the heels of her hands together.
She interlocked her fingers tightly, leaving only a tiny, diamond-shaped gap right in the center.
"Aim at that heavy dummy on the far wall," Kaito pointed. "Squeeze your stamina straight through that tiny gap."
Huff.
Nejire took a deep breath. She channeled her energy.
BZZZZT-PEW!
She didn't fire a wave.
A thin, hyper-fast kinetic laser ripped out of her hands. It moved so fast she didn't even have time to blink.
CRACK.
The laser slammed into the heavy practice dummy and punched a clean, perfect hole straight through the thick, reinforced chest padding.
"Whoa!" Kenjiro yelled from the other side of the gym, ducking instinctively. "Watch your fire over there!"
Nejire dropped her hands. Her jaw hung wide open.
She stared at the smoking hole in the dummy, then looked down at her own palms in absolute shock.
She had never moved her energy that fast in her life.
"Your aim is a little high," Kaito laughed, giving her a thumbs-up. "But the pressure is perfect. Next time, brace your legs wider so the recoil doesn't knock you off balance."
Kaito finally turned to Mirio.
Mirio was already stretching his legs, bouncing on his heels.
"Mirio. Matter displacement," Kaito said directly. "Two solid objects cannot occupy the same space in this world. When you solidify underground, the earth violently repels you to fix the physical overlap."
"Right," Mirio nodded. "You said I need to use it like a launchpad."
"Treat your body like a bullet inside a gun barrel," Kaito instructed. He walked over and propped a heavy gym mat against the wall at a sharp angle. "Don't just drop straight down. Drop in at an angle. Bend your knees against the concrete while you are intangible. Use that violent repulsion to launch yourself exactly where you want to go."
Mirio looked at the angled mat. He took three big steps back.
He ran directly toward the mat and activated his Quirk.
FWOOSH.
Mirio phased perfectly through the mat and into the solid concrete floor.
He was entirely underground. He tried to angle his knees, bracing for the ejection.
But he miscalculated his posture.
POP.
Instead of shooting forward like a bullet, the floor violently rejected him completely sideways.
"WAAAH!"
Mirio shot across the gym like a loose cannonball.
THUD.
He slammed face-first into the padded side wall.
"Ughh!"
He slowly slid down the vinyl padding and collapsed onto the floor, groaning.
Kaito chuckled and walked over, offering his hand.
"You angled your left shoulder way too high," Kaito said simply, pulling the blonde boy back to his feet. "It threw off your center of gravity right before the floor pushed you out. Drop your shoulder and keep your core tight."
Mirio rubbed his bruised nose. He didn't look frustrated at all.
He looked at the angled mat, flashed a massive, unshakeable smile, and cracked his knuckles.
"Left shoulder down. Got it!" Mirio yelled. "I'm going again!"
.....
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(9 Advanced Chapters)