Location: O'Clock Agency – Japan
Time: Three Days Ago
Kaito sat on the edge of a desk. He looked across the room at Makoto.
"Are you absolutely sure you don't want to come to Texas?" Kaito asked, taking a sip of his coffee. "Sarah already promised to show you all the best shopping districts in the city."
Makoto shook her head. She kept typing on her laptop.
"Someone has to stay here and run the agency," Makoto answered without looking up. "And besides we already have countless vacation in the states."
"I tried inviting Grandma Saki too," Kaito sighed. "She totally ignored me."
"Because you just built her that massive smart-greenhouse in the backyard," Makoto laughed. "I went there last Tuesday and I see her almost living in that area."
Kazuho jumped up from the office couch.
"I will go!" Kazuho begged, raising her hand high. "Take me to America again!"
"No way," Makoto shot her down instantly. "You just went on a long vacation with Kaito and Tamao a while ago. Let someone else have a turn."
VROOM.
VROOM.
Loud motorcycle engines revved outside the building.
CREAK.
The garage door opened. Soga, Rapt, and Moyuru walked right into the office.
They carried their black helmets and wore their thick riding jackets. They looked completely hyped.
"Did someone say Texas?" Soga grinned widely. "Count us in!"
"We can bring the new AI bikes you gave us!" Rapt cheered, punching the air. "Imagine riding those things down a massive American highway!"
"A road trip across the country sounds amazing," Moyuru agreed.
Makoto crossed her arms and glared at the three of them.
"Absolutely not," Makoto stated firmly. "You three are staying right here. If you all leave the country at the exact same time, the streets in Naruhata will fall apart. You have patrol routes to run."
SIGH.
The three boys groaned loudly and slumped their shoulders.
Iwao walked into the office holding a stack of patrol reports.
Koichi walked quietly right behind him, wearing his usual blue track jacket.
"I actually have a better idea," Iwao announced.
He dropped the folders on the desk and pointed his thumb directly at Koichi.
"Koichi is going," Iwao said.
"Huh? Me?" Koichi yelled, pointing at his own face. His eyes went completely wide.
"You are the Sky Crawler," Iwao explained simply. "You operate under the Number Four agency in Japan right now. The public loves you. If you want to climb the ranks in the future, you need international experience. You need to see how foreign pro heroes operate on their own turf."
"If I remember correctly, Iwao-san went to china in the past." Makoto smiled and pulled a printed document from her desk drawer.
"I will called Cow Lady agency" Makoto revealed.
Koichi started sweating nervously.
"Wait, what?!" Koichi panicked, waving his hands in the air. "I have never even left the country before! I don't even have a passport!"
Makoto reached into her drawer again. She held up a small blue booklet.
"Then you can do that today. Kazuho will assist you." Makoto told him.
Koichi stared at the small blue book. He swallowed hard.
"This is crazy," Koichi mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.
Iwao walked over and gave Koichi a firm pat on the shoulder.
"It is a massive opportunity, kid," Iwao said. "Don't waste it."
Koichi took a deep breath. He looked at Kaito.
"Okay," Koichi agreed, his voice shaking just a little bit.
...
Location: Haneda Airport – International Terminal
Time: Present Day | 08:00 AM
CHATTER.
People rolled heavy suitcases across the shiny tile floors.
Koichi stood near the main check-in counter. He wore his casual clothes and carried a massive duffel bag over his shoulder.
He looked around nervously at all the different flight boards.
Kaito walked up to the counter.
Pam, Sarah, Mark, Dave, and the other seven logistics members of the Cow Lady team walked right behind him.
All ten of the American staff carried their luggage. They looked highly relaxed and ready to finally go home.
Kaito waved Koichi over.
"Pam, this is Koichi Haimawari," Kaito introduced him. "He operates as the Skycrawler. He is going to be your visiting sidekick for the next month."
Pam smiled widely. She dropped her bag and held out her hand.
"It is great to finally meet you, Koichi," Pam said in clear English. "Makoto told me a lot about you on the phone. We are really excited to have you on the team."
Koichi smiled back. He shook her hand firmly.
"Thank you for having me," Koichi replied in perfect, fluent English. "I am really looking forward to learning from your agency in Texas."
Mark raised his eyebrows. He looked completely shocked.
"Whoa, your English is perfect, man," Mark praised him. "I thought I was going to need a translator app on my phone to talk to you."
Koichi laughed and rubbed his neck.
"I actually graduated from college before I became a full-time pro hero," Koichi explained. "I took a lot of advanced language classes back then."
Dave stepped up and pointed down at Koichi's shoes.
"I read your file," Dave said. "You slide on the ground, right? When we get to the Texas workshop, I want to look at those friction boots. I can definitely upgrade the soles for you."
"That would be awesome!" Koichi grinned.
Sarah looked at Kaito, then looked back at Koichi.
"So, are you one of Kaito's private clients?" Sarah asked curiously. "How long have you known him?"
Koichi shook his head.
"Oh, no," Koichi answered casually. "I'm just his friend and the I'm also one of his tenants in his apartment building. He is my landlord."
"..."
The entire American team stopped moving. They stared at Koichi.
Then, Mark burst out laughing.
"Your landlord?!" Mark yelled, holding his stomach. "The Golden Manager collects your rent?!"
"Yeah, he own several establishments!" Koichi defended him quickly.
"You're really something else Kaito." Pam started laughing too. The rest of the logistics team joined in.
Kaito shook his head and smiled.
"Alright, enough laughing. It's just a side hustle" Kaito told them, grabbing the handle of his suitcase. "Our flight boards in twenty minutes. Let's get through security."
...
Location: Unknown Subterranean Laboratory
Time: Afternoon
BZZZT.
VWOOM.
The underground lab smelled heavily of burnt copper, ozone, and sterile chemicals.
In the back of the massive room, six identical clones sat at their metal desks.
They were completely silent. They typed furiously on keyboards and scribbled massive, complicated physics equations across large whiteboards.
Blue holographic numbers floated in the air above their heads.
Deborah and Gil stood near the heavy steel doors. They watched the entire process from a safe distance.
Gil rubbed his tired eyes. He looked at the floating blue numbers and groaned quietly.
"My brain hurts just looking at it," Gil whispered, leaning back against the cold concrete wall. "How long have we been standing down here?"
"Sixteen hours today," Deborah answered quietly. She kept her eyes on the center of the room. "Just stay quiet and watch."
"I am watching," Gil muttered. "I just don't get it. They keep turning the machine on, something sparks, and then they reset. It is just boring."
Deborah told him, crossing her arms. "They are literally trying to rewrite reality. Have some patience."
In the center of the laboratory, Dr. Garaki ran back and forth across a raised metal platform.
BZZT. BZZT.
He stopped at a large, circular machine hooked up to dozens of thick black cables.
Garaki opened a small metal panel on the side of the machine. He carefully loaded three small glass vials into a centrifuge slot.
"The delivery from Anna and Flect Turn is holding up," Garaki announced, his voice raspy. "These civilian DNA samples have weak time-displacement quirks. Individually, they are totally useless. But combined together in the centrifuge, the reaction is stable."
All For One stood at the main control console. He wore a simple black suit. He looked at the glowing monitors.
"Load the sequence, Doctor," All For One ordered calmly. "We are ready for experiment 69th."
"Loading it now, Master," Garaki said, typing rapidly on his tablet.
All For One took a step forward. He raised his right hand.
TAP.
He activated his primary quirk.
He absorbed the chaotic, raw genetic energy directly from the machine's port.
NRIZZLE.
All For One's arm glowed brightly. Streaks of purple, gold, and deep blue energy wrapped around his forearm.
"Hnn..." The physical strain was huge. The veins on All For One's neck bulged slightly.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
Over at the desks, the six clones started typing twice as fast.
They calculated the exact coordinates and fed the quantum physics equations directly into All For One's brain through their mental tether.
All For One channeled the stabilized energy straight into the machine's central coil.
VWOOSH.
The air inside the circular machine completely distorted.
"The chronal field is locked," Garaki yelled over the loud humming noise.
All For One narrowed his eyes.
"Drop the target," All For One commanded.
High above the distorted air, a small mechanical arm held a heavy steel bolt.
FLASH.
A blinding white light erupted from the center of the machine.
CLINK.
The heavy steel bolt hit the metal floor plate inside the machine. It rolled slightly and stopped.
"..."
Gil blinked. He looked at the bolt on the floor. Then he looked up at the mechanical arm.
CLICK.
Three seconds later, the mechanical arm finally opened its claws to drop the bolt.
But there was nothing in its claws. The bolt was already sitting on the floor.
Gil's jaw dropped.
"Wait," Gil gasped, standing up straight. "Did that bolt just fall before the claw even opened?"
"Yes," Deborah whispered, her eyes completely wide.
Dr. Garaki stared at his digital tablet. His hands shook violently.
"It worked!" Garaki screamed, his voice cracking with pure, manic joy. "Master! Look at the timestamp! We pushed the physical object exactly five seconds into the past! The target arrived before the launch action even happened!"
"Hahaha..." Garaki started laughing wildly. He jumped up and down on the metal platform.
All For One lowered his right hand. The chaotic glowing energy faded from his skin.
He looked at the steel bolt on the floor. He didn't smile. He didn't celebrate.
"Calm down, Doctor," All For One said. His deep voice cut right through Garaki's manic laughter.
Garaki stopped jumping. He gripped his tablet. "But Master, we broke the time barrier! We did it!"
"We pushed an inanimate piece of metal five seconds backward," All For One corrected him coldly. "It is a microscopic step. We are nowhere near the finish line."
All For One walked slowly toward the glass machine.
"A steel bolt does not breathe," All For One explained, looking at the metal object. "It does not have a heartbeat. It does not have cellular degradation. If we put a living rat in that field right now, the chronal pressure would turn it into bloody paste before it traveled a single second."
GULP.
Gil swallowed hard, listening from the back of the room.
Garaki wiped the sweat from his forehead. "You are right, Master. The biological shielding needs massive upgrades."
"We need a strict roadmap," All For One told him, turning away from the machine. "Experiment seventy will aim for ten seconds. Then a full minute. Then an hour."
All For One walked back to the main console.
"Once we can send a solid object back a full day," All For One continued, "we will start testing on living plants. Then small insects. Then rats. We will do this thousands of times if we have to. We cannot rush this."
"The math gets incredibly dense the further back we go," Garaki pointed out, looking at the clones working at the desks. "The Earth constantly moves through space. If we jump back ten years without calculating the exact planetary orbit, you will teleport directly into the vacuum of space."
"That is exactly why my clones are memorizing the dimensional coordinate mapping," All For One said calmly.
He leaned against the metal console and looked at the blue holograms floating in the room.
"Hero X appeared at exactly 3:50 AM during the Great Musutafu Fire," All For One said, his voice dropping lower. "Ten years ago. I need to be there minutes before it happened."
All For One closed his eyes, visualizing the timeline.
"We start slow," All For One promised the room. "We build the shielding and scale the machine up to hold a living human body. It needs to be absolutely perfect, I will travel back to that burning city, find the anomaly, and erase him from history."
All For One opened his eyes and looked at Garaki.
"Reset the coils, Doctor," All For One ordered. "Prep the machine for experiment seventy."
"Right away, Master," Garaki nodded quickly, running back to his tools.
By the door, Gil let out a long breath.
"He really is going to do it," Gil whispered to Deborah. "He is going to rewrite history."
"He is," Deborah agreed quietly, watching All For One orchestrate the chaos.
...
Location: Texas, USA – Interstate Highway
Time: 02:00 PM (Local Time)
VROOOM.
The massive Cow Lady Agency transport van drove smoothly down the wide Texas interstate.
Koichi sat in the back seat with his face pressed directly against the glass window.
He stared at the passing scenery with his mouth hanging open.
"The roads are so big," Koichi marvelled. "There are six lanes on one side! And those pickup trucks are the size of small tanks!"
Mark laughed from the driver's seat.
"Everything is bigger in Texas, Koichi," Mark joked, turning the steering wheel. "Wait until you see the food portions at dinner tonight."
They drove for another thirty minutes before pulling into a massive commercial lot.
A large, modern building stood in the center of the lot. The silver longhorn skull logo was already painted on the front doors.
Pam stepped out of the van. The remaining five local staff members ran out of the front doors to greet them.
"Welcome home, Boss!" one of the staff members cheered.
Pam hugged her team. She turned around and pointed at Koichi.
"Everyone, this is Koichi," Pam introduced him loudly. "He is a sidekick from the Number Four agency in Japan. He is working with us for the next month. Show him the ropes and get him settled in the barracks."
Koichi bowed politely.
The local staff immediately surrounded him, asking him questions about Japan and his hero suit.
Pam walked back over to the van and tapped on the passenger window. Kaito rolled it down.
"I will have Mark drive you straight to the hotel," Pam told him. "You get some rest and have some fun. I will text you if we needed something."
"Sounds good," Kaito smiled. "Good luck with the new Cow Lady Agency. Let everyone know the new you."
"Take care Kaito."
...
Mark put the van back in gear and drove out of the lot.
Thirty minutes later, Mark pulled up to the front entrance of a highly expensive, luxury hotel in downtown Houston.
Kaito grabbed his suitcase from the trunk.
"Thanks for the ride, Mark," Kaito said.
"Haha... Enjoy the vacation, Manager," Mark waved, driving away.
Kaito walked into the air-conditioned lobby, checked in at the front desk, and took the elevator up to his suite.
The room was massive.
It had a king-sized bed, a large balcony, and a dedicated workspace overlooking the city skyline.
But.
Kaito didn't unpack his clothes.
He walked straight over to the heavy wooden desk, opened his briefcase, and pulled out his laptop.
Tap.
He had one final piece of work to finish.
The four-million-dollar online consultation contract for the Otheon pro hero, Claire Voyance.
Kaito opened a massive digital document. He cracked his knuckles and started typing furiously.
CLACK. CLACK. CLACK. CLACK.
He needed to detail every single aspect of her agency's development.
[Quirk Development Path: Claire Voyance]
[Voyance quirk relies heavily on line of sight and optical processing...]
[Implement a mandatory ocular endurance regimen to prevent severe eye strain during extended combat scenarios...]
[Restructure support gear. Add a polarized, variable-tint visor to protect her retinas from sudden flash attacks...]
Kaito scrolled down to the next section.
[Agency Financial Routing]
[Diversify the agency's investment portfolio away from local Otheon merchandise...]
[Establish a secondary shell corporation to handle anonymous civilian donations, shielding the main agency from direct tax liabilities in the Otheon hero sector...]
[Reallocate thirty percent of the PR budget directly into street-level informant payouts...]
Kaito kept typing for another three hours, barely blinking.
[Sidekick Combat Integration]
[The primary sidekicks must act as physical defense...]
[Train the vanguard unit to form a defensive wall, allowing Claire Voyance to maintain an uninterrupted line of sight on the target...]
[Establish strict radio silence protocols. Use physical hand signals to relay her visual intel to the strike team without alerting the villains...]
Kaito reviewed the final hundred ninety-page document.
He attached the file to a secure email and hit send.
"It's almost seven now." Kaito looked at his watch and closed the tab. He opened his main consulting portal website.
CLICK.
He toggled the agency status switch. A bright red banner appeared at the top of the screen.
[Status: Vacation Mode Active. No new contracts will be accepted at this time.]
Click.
Kaito closed the laptop.
"Now.. What to do?"
...
Location: Unknown Location – Somehwere in America
Time: Evening
The television screen glowed brightly above a wooden bar counter in a quiet room.
[BCD NEWS LIVE]
[And shifting gears, Richard's hit television show, America's Got Quirk, officially shattered global viewership records this week,] the Main Anchor reported with a bright smile. [Millions are tuning in. Now, let's look at the weekend weather. Meryl, it looks really hot out there.]
The camera cut to Meryl Hope standing in front of a large green screen displaying a red temperature map.
She wore a sharp blue dress.
[It is definitely hot, Tom,] Meryl smiled warmly at the camera. [We are tracking a massive high-pressure heatwave moving straight across the southern states. Texas is hitting record highs today. Stay indoors and keep the air conditioning running.]
[Looking at that red map is making me sweat right here in the studio,] Tom joked from the main desk. [Are you going to hide indoors all week, Meryl?]
Meryl laughed naturally.
[Actually, I am stepping away from the weather desk for a short week,] Meryl announced, looking directly into the lens. [I am taking a much-needed vacation to just relax and enjoy the summer. Make sure you all stay hydrated out there.]
The television cut to a commercial break.
Distance away from the television broadcast.
Wolfram sat behind a heavy metal desk inside a highly secure warehouse office. He wore his signature red suit.
BEEP. BEEP.
His computer monitor flashed. The screen locked onto an encrypted, untraceable dark-web transmission.
VWOOM.
A blue holographic projector hummed to life on the center of his desk.
The light formed the shape of Flect Turn. The Humarise leader sat in his dark robes.
"You called me on a secure line, Flect," Wolfram said, crossing his arms.
[Wolfram,] Flect Turn answered smoothly. [Humarise is expanding our operations on American soil. I need a reliable partner to navigate the local underworld.]
"You want my shipping routes," Wolfram guessed, leaning back in his chair.
[Yes,] Flect nodded. [I need your established black-market borders to move trigger bombs and supplies across the country quietly.]
"Gyahaha..." Wolfram let out a low, arrogant laugh.
"I run the black markets here," Wolfram mocked him. "I supply the real weapons. Why should I help a bunch of cultists?"
"Because we have infinite capital," Flect stated calmly.
Wolfram smirked. He tapped his metal fingers against the desk.
TAP. TAP.
"I know exactly why you have money, Flect," Wolfram sneered. "The elites are throwing their bank accounts for you. Corrupt politicians and billionaires are wary and terrified of Hero X. You are just milking their paranoia. They don't want an uncontrollable god on their heads."
Flect didn't deny it.
[The funding is entirely real,] Flect told him. [We can fund your entire weapon smuggling operation for the next years. You provide the routes. We provide the cash.]
Wolfram thought about the money. He already planned to take the funds and use the cult for his own agenda.
"I accept the partnership," Wolfram agreed. "But I have a question about your old boss."
Flect Turn stared at the hologram.
Wolfram said, leaning closer to the holographic camera. "The League of Villains is completely destroyed and All For One is rotting in a max-security cell. If your Master is gone, you are just an agent trying to play boss."
Flect Turn didn't reply.
He slowly raised his left hand. He reached over and firmly gripped his right shoulder, right exactly where the burning Abyssal Mark was branded into his skin.
[He'll be back..] Flect Turn lied.
BZZZT.
Flect Turn cut the transmission immediately.
The blue hologram vanished. The office went dark.
Wolfram sat alone at his desk, staring at the empty space above the projector.
"Heh... No matter if he comes back or not. There is always some existence that can never be surpassed."
....
[A/N;
Wow, Chapter 200. I honestly didn't expect to reach this massive milestone when I first started writing, but I have genuinely enjoyed every single moment of creating this story.
Thank you guys so much for reading and supporting me all the way here.
And don't worry, I am definitely going to finish this book!
Also, just a quick heads-up. I have already started working on a brand new project on the side. It is a Jujutsu Kaisen fanfic! Keep an eye out for it, and thanks again for everything!]
...
Support the journey here:
patreon.com/Dr_Chad
(9 Advanced Chapters)