SWIISH.
The gravel shattered under Mirko's boots.
She launched herself directly at Kaito's chest.
She closed the distance in a fraction of a second.
SWOOSH.
Her leg snapped up in a high-speed kick aimed right at his temple.
Kaito kept his hands in his pockets.
He simply tilted his head two inches to the left.
FWOOSH.
The kick completely missed his face.
The wind pressure from her leg blew his red tie over his shoulder.
Mirko widened her eyes in surprise.
'He didn't even blink,' Mirko thought.
She planted her gloved hands on the dirt road.
She used her forward momentum to spin her body upside down.
"Luna Ring!" Mirko shouted.
SWIISH. SWOOSH.
She unleashed a continuous barrage of kicks aimed directly at his torso.
FWOOP. FWIIP.
Kaito swayed backward.
Step.
He stepped slightly to the side.
SWIISH.
He ducked under a spinning heel.
A heavy boot swiped at his ribs.
He turned his torso just enough to let it pass.
She aimed a knee at his chin.
"Still miss..."
He leaned his head back and joked.
He dodged every single rapid strike by a mere hairsbreadth.
'Damn, are you serious?' Mirko gritted her teeth.
She pushed her leg muscles harder.
She increased her speed to catch him.
"You favor your right leg always," Kaito commented casually.
Mirko stopped her spin out of frustration.
She threw a straight punch right at his throat.
Kaito leaned back.
Her white glove grazed his collar.
"Your flexibility is still great," Kaito added.
He kept his face completely blank.
"You leave your left flank entirely open when you pivot your hips," Kaito pointed out.
Mirko felt a vein bulge on her forehead.
She hated people who talked during a fight.
She hated people who treated her like a student even more.
"...Shut up!" Mirko yelled.
SWOOSH.
She leaped high into the night air.
She raised her right leg straight up above her head.
She extended her thigh muscles.
"Luna Fall!" Mirko roared.
She brought her heel down in an axe kick.
Kaito took one single step backward.
BOOM.
Mirko's boot smashed into the gravel road.
The kick completely missed him.
CRUMBLE. CRUMBLE.
The impact created a wide crater in the dirt.
A cloud of rocks and dust kicked up around them.
The dust slowly cleared.
Hero X stood perfectly still on the edge of the crater.
His hands remained deep in his pockets.
His white suit did not have a single speck of dirt on it.
Mirko stood up from the center of the crater.
Huff. Puff.
She breathed heavily from the exertion.
She glared at him.
Her red eyes tracked his relaxed posture.
"...Are you taking this seriously?" Mirko demanded.
Kaito looked at her through his gold glasses.
"I am," Kaito replied.
Mirko pointed an angry finger at his pockets.
"Then take your damn hands out and fight back!" Mirko barked.
She stomped her boot against the broken gravel.
"I don't need a dancing partner!" Mirko yelled. "Hit me!"
Kaito stared at her angry face.
He felt a brief moment of hesitation.
'If I actually use my Quirk, this fight will end in exactly one second,' Kaito thought.
--<>--
Location: United States Air Force Base, Briefing Room
Time: 8:20 AM | Same time
Commander Timothy Agpar stood at the front of the room. He rubbed his eyes and pointed a laser pointer at the projector screen.
Cathleen Bate slouched deep in a leather chair.
The Number One Hero of America rested her heavy combat boots on the edge of the conference table.
Chew. Chew. Chew.
She chewed slowly on a piece of bubblegum.
Ethan Drive sat in the chair next to her. He leaned forward and squinted at the screen.
Several other pilots from the squadron sat scattered in the back rows. They all wore their green flight suits and drank black coffee.
The screen played leaked footage from Japan.
A man in a crisp white suit appeared on a street Tokyo.
SNAP.
The villians instantly turned into a flat paper square on the street.
The briefing room went completely silent.
Commander Agpar clicked a button on his remote.
CLICK.
"The Japanese government knows him as Hero X," Agpar explained tiredly. "He debuted a few weeks ago."
Ethan picked up a pen. He twirled it around his thumb.
"...Those stats you gave us are completely insane," Ethan muttered. "Zero collateral damage. Zero civilian injuries. A perfect capture rate."
Cathleen blew a small bubble with her gum.
POP.
"The guy just ignores physical durability entirely," Cathleen said casually. "He skips the fighting phase and just snaps his fingers."
Ethan pointed his pen at the screen.
"It is a total anomaly right?" Ethan stated. "He bypassed the basic rules of a fight."
One of the pilots in the back row leaned forward.
"Didn't the symbol of peace just retire over there?" the pilot asked. "All Might finally stepped down, right?"
Cathleen nodded slowly.
"Yeah," Cathleen confirmed. "He left a massive power vacuum in Japan."
Ethan scoffed and leaned back in his chair.
"So they put that fire guy in charge," Ethan said. "Endeavor."
"Yes, Todoroki" Agpar sighed.
Ethan laughed out loud.
"And now some rookie in a tuxedo is completely stealing his thunder," Ethan joked. "Imagine being the Number One Hero in your country, and your target is already a piece of origami by the time you run down the street."
The pilots in the back rows chuckled.
"I bet the fire guy is absolutely furious," a pilot added.
Commander Agpar tap his hand on the desk.
Tap. Tap.
Agpar groaned.
"Look at this next file."
Clack. Clack.
He tapped his laptop keyboard.
The projector screen switched to a new image. It showed a massive steel warship sitting in a Japanese harbor.
"He registered a company called Canvas Construction," Agpar added. "He sold a customized mobile warship to a Japanese marine hero agency."
Ethan stopped twirling his pen.
He stared at the picture of the massive steel boat.
Ethan asked. "The intelligence reports do not show any industrial facilities under his name."
Agpar rubbed his temples again.
"He bypasses the construction phase entirely," Agpar said. "He just looks at an architectural blueprint and snapped the finished ship directly out of the paper."
Ethan dropped his pen onto the table.
THUD.
He looked at Cathleen. A massive grin spread across his face.
"...Commander," Ethan started, waving his hands at the screen. "Do you realize how much money the defense department wastes every single year?"
Agpar looked at the bravo leader.
"Where are you going with this, Drive?" Agpar asked defensively.
"We spend billions of dollars to develop a single experimental plane," Ethan joked loudly. "It takes five years just to get a working prototype. Why are we paying military contractors?"
Cathleen started laughing.
"Just email the blueprints for the X-68 jets to Japan," Ethan pitched eagerly. "Have this Hero X guy print us an entire squadron by tomorrow morning. We can pay him in cash!"
The pilots in the back rows immediately burst into laughter.
"Bravo Leader is right!" one of the pilots cheered. "Save the budget! Just send him a PDF!"
"We could get the jets by the weekend!" another pilot yelled.
Commander Agpar just stared at them with a very tired, defeated expression.
"This is a serious security briefing," Agpar complained. "Not a comedy club."
Cathleen wiped a tear from her eye. She kicked her boots off the table and sat up straight.
"Relax, Commander," Cathleen smiled. "If a new guy in Japan wants to clean up villains, let him. It is great for world peace."
Ethan picked his pen back up.
"I am completely serious about the jets, by the way," Ethan murmured. "Maybe we can even customized some planes that has advanced weaponry..."
Cathleen smirked.
She looked back at the frozen image of Hero X on the projector screen.
'I would really like to meet him someday,' Cathleen thought.
--<>--
Location: Abandoned Warehouse District, Mountain Outskirts
Time: 9:25 PM
Kaito looked down at the frustrated rabbit hero standing in the center of the gravel crater.
"You want me to fight back," Kaito clarified calmly.
"Yes!" Mirko yelled.
She slammed her gloved fists together.
"Use your Quirk on me!" Mirko demanded loudly. "Stop dodging!"
Kaito sighed softly.
"That is a very bad idea," Kaito warned her.
He slowly pulled his right hand out of his pocket.
He raised his hand in the cool night air.
Mirko grinned aggressively.
She dug her boots deep into the dirt. She bent her knees and tensed her powerful leg muscles.
She was completely ready to dodge whatever energy beam or projectile he was about to throw.
SNAP.
Mirko's entire world vanished.
The dark gravel road disappeared. The cool night wind stopped blowing against her skin.
Mirko blinked.
She looked around. The environment was completely flat.
It looked exactly like a blank, white piece of paper. There were no shadows. There was no depth.
She looked down at her own hands.
They were two-dimensional ink drawings. She was completely flat.
She did not feel pain. She was not suffocating. She simply lacked a Z-axis.
Mirko tilted her head. Her rabbit ears twitched curiously.
"What the hell is this?" Mirko asked aloud.
Her voice echoed strangely in the flat space.
She tried to jump forward.
Her 2D legs moved like an animation, but she did not travel anywhere.
She was stuck on the page.
"Did you turn me into a damn cartoon?" Mirko yelled, looking up at the blank white sky. "Hey, rookie! Where are you?"
Kaito's calm voice echoed from everywhere at once.
"This is a two-dimensional pocket boundary," Kaito explained patiently. "You are currently a flat drawing on a piece of paper."
Mirko crossed her ink-drawn arms.
"This is weird as hell," Mirko commented, genuinely fascinated. "How do I punch my way out of here?"
"You cannot," Kaito replied. "Unless you possess a Quirk specifically related to advanced space or time manipulation, escaping is impossible."
"..."
Mirko stared at the endless white void.
"This is cheating!"
She realized her incredible leg strength and battle instincts meant absolutely nothing in this place.
"Edgeshot warned the public about it during the broadcast," Kaito added. "It is an absolute containment space."
SNAP.
The white void vanished instantly.
Mirko stood on the gravel road. The cool night wind hit her face again.
She looked down at her gloved hands. She clenched her normal 3D fists.
She finally understood.
He was not looking down on her earlier. He was actively holding back to prevent the fight from ending before it even started.
Fighting his Quirk was completely pointless.
Kaito pulled his left hand out of his pocket.
He stepped forward.
Then he lowered his center of gravity.
He raised his fists near his chest in a flawless, traditional martial arts guard.
"But you requested a fight," Kaito said.
Mirko stared at his stance.
"I will not use my Quirk for the rest of this exchange," Kaito promised. "I will fight you using purely physical skills."
A massive, wild grin spread across Mirko's face.
The battle-craze ignited in her red eyes once again. She loved a good brawl more than anything else.
"Now you're talking my language," Mirko laughed loudly.
SWOOSH.
She kicked off the ground with explosive force.
She lunged at him and threw a brutal, full-power right hook directly at his jaw.
Kaito's body went completely limp.
Kami-e
He rode the intense air pressure generated by her fist.
SWISH. SWOSH.
SWISH. SWOSH.
His torso swayed backward fluidly. He moved exactly like a piece of paper caught in the wind.
The heavy punch grazed his chest harmlessly.
Mirko did not stop.
She planted her hands on the dirt and spun her body.
She swept her leg toward his exposed ribs in a devastating, bone-breaking low kick.
Kaito did not dodge.
He planted his feet firmly on the gravel. He tensed his core muscles.
Tekkai.
CLANG.
Mirko's heavy boot smashed into his ribs.
The metallic impact echoed loudly down the dark road.
Mirko winced in sharp pain.
A shockwave of pain shot all the way up her ankle. It felt exactly like kicking a solid block of hardened steel.
Kaito did not budge a single inch from the blow.
Mirko widened her eyes wildly.
'How is his body that hard?!' Mirko thought. 'He doesn't have an enhancement Quirk!'
She tried to pull her leg back for another strike.
FWOOP.
Kaito vanished from her sight completely.
He did not leave an afterimage. He was just gone.
Mirko's long rabbit ears twitched violently.
Her enhanced biological hearing picked up a rapid, overlapping sound right against the dirt.
TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP.
She heard his boots kicking the gravel dozens of times in a fraction of a second.
Soru.
'He isn't teleporting,' Mirko realized in shock. 'He is just that fast!'
Kaito appeared directly behind her back.
He raised his open palm.
Instead of throwing a heavy punch to shatter her spine, he just lightly slapped the back of her right shoulder.
SMACK.
"Your guard drops completely when you overextend your kicks," Kaito commented casually.
"This guy!" Mirko spun around in a blind rage.
She threw a desperate backhand swing at his face.
Tap.
Kaito ducked smoothly under her arm. He tapped her left ribcage with his knuckles.
"You forget about your blind spots," Kaito added.
Mirko growled like a wild animal.
She launched a furious flurry of punches, knees, and spinning kicks.
Kaito smiled internally.
He remembered teaching these exact Marine Six Styles to the Mirko in his reality.
The heavy nostalgia made him hold back his actual strength.
He treated this entirely like a master-student sparring session.
Mirko pushed her physical speed to the absolute limit.
SWIISH. SWIISH
She chased him aggressively across the dirt road. She tried desperately to tag him just once.
Kaito continuously outmaneuvered her.
She threw a high kick.
He jumped backward into the night air.
Mirko leaped after him, ready to strike him while he was airborne and vulnerable.
Kaito simply kicked the empty air beneath his boots.
Don. Don. Don. Don.
Geppo.
A small sonic boom popped under his feet. He walked higher into the sky, completely defying gravity.
Mirko fell back down to the dirt, staring up at him in pure disbelief.
Kaito vanished using Soru mid-air.
He reappeared right next to her on the ground.
He flicked her forehead hard with his index finger.
"Ouch!" Mirko grunted.
She swung a left hook.
He ducked and tapped her wrist. He pointed out every single time she left an opening.
"Stop slapping me!" Mirko yelled.
She laughed loudly despite her extreme frustration.
She had never fought someone with this kind of martial arts mastery. It completely defied normal martial arts she knew.
He was walking on air and turning his body into iron.
Mirko roared in pure, unadulterated excitement.
"This is it!"
She dug her boots deep into the cracked ground.
She launched herself high into the air.
She spun her body tightly.
She channeled all her raw kinetic energy into her right leg. She prepared a massive, full-power finishing kick.
"Luna Arc!" Mirko shouted at the top of her lungs.
Kaito did not dodge.
He stepped directly into her descending guard.
He raised both of his fists. He placed his knuckles just two inches away from her right side.
"Rokuogan!"
Kaito intentionally aimed the attack slightly past her body to avoid harming her.
BOOM.
A massive, concentrated shockwave blasted outward from his fists.
The sheer kinetic force visually distorted the air itself.
The shockwave bypassed Mirko completely.
It slammed directly into the massive corrugated steel warehouse right behind her.
CRASH.
CRUMBLE. CRUMBLE.
The entire back half of the steel building crumpled inward instantly.
Thick metal shrieked and tore apart like wet tissue paper.
BANG. THUD.
The heavy warehouse collapsed entirely into a massive, choking cloud of dust and debris.
Mirko landed heavily on the gravel road.
"..."
She stood completely frozen.
She slowly turned her head.
And looked at the massive, smoking crater where the warehouse used to be.
The entire building was just gone.
She slowly turned back and looked at Hero X.
Kaito lowered his fists. He casually slipped his hands back into his pockets.
The angry, battle-crazed grin completely melted off Mirko's face.
It was replaced by pure, wide-eyed excitement.
Her red eyes practically glowed in the dark.
She looked at him like a child who just discovered a brand new toy.
"...What the hell was that?" Mirko asked.
Her voice actually trembled with excitement.
"A physical technique," Kaito answered calmly.
Mirko took a very quick step toward him.
"Teach me that," Mirko demanded immediately.
Kaito raised an eyebrow behind his gold glasses.
"Teach me right now," Mirko insisted.
She pointed a firm finger directly at his chest.
"I don't care what I have to do," Mirko declared loudly. "I want to learn how to punch a building in half."
Sigh.
Kaito let out a soft sigh.
'Some things never change,' Kaito thought.
"..."
"...No"
--<>--
A/n: The boil bursted this morning so the throbbing pain was gone. Chapter release will be back to normal. Thank God...
--<>--
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