The training field at U.A. High School slowly emptied as Class 1-A finished their exercises.
Students talked, laughed, and compared scores.
But Shota Aizawa wasn't paying attention to any of that.
He was watching Ren.
The boy stood with Kaito near the edge of the field, joking about how Denki almost tripped during the obstacle run.
Normal.
Completely normal.
Too normal.
Aizawa's eyes narrowed slightly.
Something about Ren had been bothering him for a while now.
Not his fire quirk.
Not the strange blood-paralysis ability.
Something else.
Something small.
Something easy to miss.
And then Aizawa remembered.
A Few Weeks Earlier
Lunch at U.A. was loud.
Students talking.
Chairs scraping.
Food trays clattering.
A small argument had started near the middle tables.
A boy and a girl from another class were yelling at each other.
Aizawa had been halfway across the cafeteria when it happened.
Then Ren spoke.
"Stop fighting. You're in school."
His voice wasn't loud.
He didn't shout.
He didn't threaten them.
But the reaction was strange.
Both students froze.
Not physically frozen.
But… like their anger had suddenly shut off.
The boy blinked.
"…Yeah."
The girl rubbed the back of her neck.
"…Right."
Without another word, they walked away from each other and sat at different tables.
Just like that.
No argument.
No yelling.
Nothing.
Aizawa had watched the entire thing from across the room.
At the time, he assumed it was coincidence.
Some arguments ended quickly.
Students calmed down.
It happened.
But now…
Now it felt different.
Back to the Present
Aizawa watched Ren again.
The boy laughed as Denki dramatically complained about training.
Kirishima slapped Ren on the shoulder.
"Bro, that fire control was awesome!"
Ren grinned.
"Thanks."
Aizawa folded his arms.
The memory kept replaying in his head.
The moment Ren spoke.
The instant reaction.
The sudden calm.
"…Strange," Aizawa muttered.
Nearby, Izuku Midoriya was enthusiastically analyzing someone's quirk performance.
Nothing seemed unusual.
But Aizawa's instincts rarely lied.
And Ren…
Ren had already shown two quirks.
Fire.
Blood paralysis.
Now Aizawa wondered if there was something else.
Something hidden.
Something even Ren didn't know about.
Ren
Across the field, Ren stretched his arms.
"Man, I'm starving."
Kaito laughed.
"You're always starving."
Ren shrugged.
"Training makes you hungry."
As the group started walking back toward the dorms, Ren glanced over his shoulder.
For a split second, he felt something strange.
Like someone had just whispered in his mind.
But the feeling vanished instantly.
"…Weird," he muttered.
"Something wrong?" Kaito asked.
Ren shook his head.
"Nah. Probably just tired."
They kept walking.
Completely unaware that Aizawa was watching them carefully.
And somewhere deep in Ren's mind…
A power he had never discovered was slowly starting to wake up.