Shin had somehow pushed his regeneration ability to its absolute limit just to stay alive. As a result, his body's cellular recovery mechanisms had undergone extreme fatigue, temporarily shutting down his natural regeneration. This backlash rendered him highly vulnerable—even a minor injury could become fatal, as his body would be unable to clot blood properly or close wounds on its own, leaving him at severe risk of excessive bleeding or infection.

  To make matters worse, normal healing Quirks, which typically accelerate natural regeneration, would have no effect on him for the next several weeks. However, as long as he took complete rest, he would make a full recovery within two months. Though, he was expected to regain consciousness only after about a month.

  Relieved that Shin wasn’t in a critical condition, Hawks sighed and subsequently contacted Nezu to inform him of the situation. When he asked Nezu to reach out to Shin’s family, he learned that Shin was an orphan. Hawks felt a pang of sadness, knowing he had no family to care for him. Nezu reassured him that Shin would be transported to UA the following day, where Recovery Girl could assist in his recovery once the backlash subsided.

  Before ending the call, Nezu instructed Hawks to investigate the motive behind the attack. The anger in Nezu’s voice was unmistakable—of course, he would be furious that someone had tried to kill one of his students. Hawks ended the call and left the hospital, determined to uncover the truth behind this assassination attempt.

  ……

  On the first day after the students returned from their internships,

  Class 1-A buzzed with conversations about their experiences. They eagerly shared the insights they had gained, the changes they had undergone, the people they had met, and the training they had received. Then, Aizawa entered the classroom, prompting the students to settle into their seats. Everyone was present except for Shin, a fact that did not go unnoticed. Momo was especially worried—he hadn’t answered her calls for the past week. Though she knew he sometimes did this when deeply focused on something, it didn’t make her any less concerned. Not that she could blame him—she did the same herself.

  "Welcome back, everyone. I hope you all had a valuable learning experience," Aizawa greeted them. "Starting today, you will be focusing on theoretical subjects for your final examinations of this semester. There will be both theoretical and practical components, so study hard. The exams begin in 20 days—seven days of theory exams followed by a single day for the practical test. Good luck." With that, he left.

  The next teacher entered, and lessons resumed. The students diligently attended their classes, dedicating most of their day to studying. They formed study groups, and Momo even suggested studying together at her house to ensure everyone passed. On exam days, they arrived at academy in the morning and left after three hours of testing. The theoretical exams were tough, but thanks to their preparation, they felt confident about passing.

  Throughout all this, Shin remained absent, which worried many of them. However, after discussing it among themselves, they assumed he was preoccupied with his business or something similar. None of them were concerned about his safety—after all, they knew how strong he was. What they had failed to realize was that, despite his strength, he was still human. Over time, they had unconsciously placed him on the same pedestal as All Might, having witnessed their sparring sessions. In their minds, Shin had become an unshakable figure—someone who never lost, never got hurt, and always came out victorious.

  Then came the day of the practical exam. The students gathered as their teachers stood before them. Aizawa stepped forward and began speaking.

  "You all must have some idea about what this exam will entail. After gathering information—"

  "The robots from the entrance exam, right?" Kaminari interrupted.

  “No! Not this time.”

  A voice came from behind the teachers. The group instinctively parted, revealing Principal Nezu.

  "Due to various reasons, we are making some changes," Nezu stated in a serious tone. "Starting this year, we will shift our focus to one-on-one combat and real-life scenario training."

  His words immediately caused a stir among the students.

  "You will be split into pairs and tasked with fighting a teacher," he continued.

  "Against a teacher?" Uraraka gasped, eyes widening in shock.

  "We have already selected your partners and the teacher you will be facing," Aizawa explained. "Your movement patterns, grades, quirks, and other factors were all considered in forming these pairs."

  "But we have an odd number of students since Shin isn’t here. He’s probably busy with his business or something," Setsuna pointed out.

  "For that, one group will have three students," Aizawa replied. Then, with a hint of confusion, he asked, "But why do you all assume Shin is busy with work?"

  "Well, he hasn’t been coming to academy for days, so it was a natural conclusion," Izuku reasoned.

  The teachers, who were already aware of Shin’s condition, finally understood what was happening. The students had genuinely believed Shin was invincible. In part, this was the teachers' fault for not informing them sooner. They realized they needed to shatter this illusion immediately. Nezu stepped forward and delivered the grave news. "Shin is currently in a coma after being critically injured in an assassination attempt."

  The entire class froze. Their strongest classmate—the one who could fight All Might on equal footing—was injured?

  "You’re joking, right? Haha… great joke," Kaminari said, forcing a laugh.

  "How could someone like him even be injured?" Mina questioned; disbelief evident in her voice.

  "Enough," Aizawa cut in. "Nezu is not joking. Shin was seriously injured during his internship. He is not invincible, no matter how much you want to believe it. He is human, just like each of you."

  His words shattered their perception of Shin completely. The students now understood their mistake and were filled with concern. They began bombarding Aizawa with questions about Shin’s condition and whether they could visit him. Realizing that the students wouldn't be in the right mental state to take the exam today, Aizawa relented. He explained Shin’s injuries and his expected recovery time. He assured them that Shin would likely wake up within a week or two and that it would be best to visit him then.

  The news left the students deeply shaken. Momo, in particular, was overcome with despair. At first, her mind couldn’t even process Nezu’s words. Her entire body froze, her thoughts consumed by worry and anxiety. Her eyes welled up with tears as worst-case scenarios plagued her mind. However, when Aizawa explained Shin’s recovery status, a wave of relief washed over her. Immediately, all she could think about was seeing him—staying by his side until he fully recovered. She masked her emotions behind a neutral expression, unwilling to reveal her true feelings.

  Seeing that the students had calmed down, Aizawa announced the exam groups and confirmed that the test was postponed to the next day. The students protested, arguing that they shouldn’t have to take the exam under such circumstances.

  "A hero is someone who saves others even when it’s difficult," Aizawa responded. "Even if their loved ones are suffering."

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  That silenced their complaints. They all had different reasons for wanting to be heroes, but they understood Aizawa’s point. This test would measure their resolve—to see if they could remain strong even when burdened with personal hardship. Besides, they now knew Shin was alive and recovering. They could wait one more day before seeing him. Determined to complete the exam quickly, they went home, discussing strategies to defeat their assigned teachers. However, Momo stayed behind.

  Noticing this, Aizawa approached her. "I’m sorry for not informing you about his condition earlier. We thought it would be best for Shin to explain it himself after waking up. We didn’t want you or your classmates to neglect your studies because of worry."

  Momo met his gaze, her voice firm. "You should have at least told me. Yeah, you’re right—I would have ignored my studies, but that would have been my decision, not yours. I hope this doesn’t happen again." She then took a deep breath before continuing, "Also, I want to take my practical exam right now. And don’t tell me I can’t. Think of it as your way of apologizing."

  Aizawa studied her for a moment before nodding. He turned to the other teachers, who had been silently observing, then looked back at her.

  "Normally, we assign the teacher you’ll be fighting," he explained. "But this test was designed for two-on-one matches. Since you’ll be facing it alone, I’ll let you choose your opponent."

  Momo scanned the teachers standing before her, scrutinizing each one carefully. Despite her extensive training under Mirko and her refined techniques, she wasn’t certain she could win against most of them. However, there was one teacher she knew she could easily defeat. She took a step forward and declared, "Midnight! I choose you as my opponent."

  ……

  The first thing Shin saw when he woke up was the face of the beautiful woman he had come to care so much for. No, in fact, it would be more accurate to describe her as the young woman he had fallen deeply in love with. She stood beside the bed where he was lying, looking at him with an expression that was both excited and relieved.

  As he gazed at her breathtaking face, memories began to resurface, reminding him of what had happened. He recalled the last person he had seen before everything went hazy, and his mind quickly connected the dots, allowing him to easily deduce where he was.

  To confirm his guess, he immediately spread out his Force Pulse. But the sensation he experienced was entirely different from what he was used to. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that it had improved dramatically. The amount of information he received, as well as his control over it, was far superior to anything he had felt before.

  In an attempt to understand what was happening to him, Shin closed his eyes and focused on sensing the skill within him. The moment he reached out, he realized something had changed. To explain the difference, he would have to use the analogy of the marble again. The marble, once made of plastic and representing the skill, had now transformed into a tennis ball. This meant that not only had the quality of the skill increased, but its total capacity had expanded drastically. He then checked his other skills, only to find that the same transformation had occurred with each one.

  Shin tried to make sense of what could have happened. After a little contemplation, he realized that perhaps one of the skills, which had been at full capacity when he left the gang, had broken through, triggering a qualitative change within him. This change, in turn, seemed to have spread to the rest of his skills as well. His conclusion wasn’t the result of mental gymnastics but rather based on a noticeable shift in his status screen, which he had quickly opened in response to his confusion about the source of the change.

  NAME : Shin Akatsuki

  TRUE SOUL LEVEL : Null

  RANK : 2

  RACE : Artificial Human

  SKILLS : Superhuman Physique, Karmic Vision, Half-Link, Karmic Contract, Revelation, Force Manipulation, Force Manifestation, Spatial Lock, Force Pulse, Force Regeneration, Spiritual Influence

  His rank had increased from one to two. But that wasn't all. He had even gained an additional skill, Spiritual Influence, which allowed his force energy to interact with the spiritual realm. This meant that he could now see and even interact with a person’s soul.

  From all this new information, Shin came to a realization. What had happened to him was that the sudden danger had caused his so-called "quirk"—the one he had taken from All For One—to awaken, which had propelled him to the next rank and granted him a new skill. To be precise, from the perspective of how he suspected a high-dimensional existence would view it, he guessed that, among the skills forming his quirk, his force manipulation skill, was the one that broke through its capacity barrier, resulting in the change. This theory even aligned with what he had learned about quirk awakenings.

  With how he had ranked up, he suspected that this same process occurred for everyone in this plane when they awaken. They would gain a new skill based on the one that had broken the barrier, yet they wouldn’t know it. This was because they didn’t possess a TrueSoul, and they would simply assume that all their abilities stemmed from a single quirk.

  However, this raised an important point: no one could experience a second quirk awakening, at least not until they reached rank three—which he didn’t think was possible for anyone on this planet. If it were, such a person could easily destroy the planet. After all, Shin knew from the very depths of his being that, even without ranking up further, he would eventually have the power to destroy this planet. This rank-up had not only increased the quality and capacity of his skills, but it had also expanded his potential for the future.

  At the peak of rank one, it could be said that he had the power to destroy the largest possible continent. However, he felt that, at the peak of rank two, he would have the potential to destroy an entire planet. And he was also certain that the planet he currently resided on could not be considered large. These feelings were not based on any foreknowledge but instead came from the fact that, in his original world, he felt he had reached rank three—likely the moment he became the pinnacle of that world. Additionally, Shin was able to correlate rank two with the previous cultivation levels he had encountered there.

  Still, he suspected that this power varied from person to person, depending on the abilities they possessed. He, for instance, had a skill set that was heavily geared toward offense and destruction, which made him sense that he could destroy the planet in the future. But someone else with a different skill set wouldn’t have the same capabilities. Despite that, the overall potential for both him and others would be similar, though the effect would differ.

  Still while he didn’t think that the existence of a rank 3 was likely, he still held out hope for such a possibility. After all, if it were possible, then he could strive for it as well.

  For now, however, Shin decided to stop pondering all this and instead performed an internal body scan using his Force Pulse to assess his current situation. It was then that he realized what was wrong with his body. It seemed that the upgraded force regeneration skill had overclocked his natural healing so much that it had caused a backlash. Technically, it wasn’t his fault; he hadn’t known that his rank had increased during that time. While assuming the skill remained the same, he had used it to its fullest capability. So, naturally, something had gone wrong.

  Shaking his head at the situation, Shin slowly sat up, leaning against the back of the bed. He looked toward Momo, who was patiently waiting for him to collect himself. Smiling, he spoke, "Good morning, Momo. I hope I didn’t worry you too much."

  “Yes, you did. You worried me so much.” Momo gave him a look of loving indignation. “After my internship, I came back longing to see you once again, to feel your love and warmth. I had so many plans when I returned—to go on various kinds of dates, watch movies together, and maybe even live together at your place.”

  “But you were a no-show in class for an entire month.” Momo raised her pitch as more emotion started flowing into her voice. “At first, I thought you were just busy with some kind of work, since Aizawa-sensei and the rest of the faculty decided it was better to keep your condition a secret from us—even from me. It was only two weeks ago that I finally learned what had happened to you.”

  Shin raised his eyebrows in surprise at the unexpected revelation. But before he could say anything, Momo continued, her voice rising even more than before. “Do you know how much despair and anxiety that news filled me with? When I saw you lying unconscious on that bed, do you know how badly I wanted to take care of you? But I couldn’t—I didn’t—because I was afraid, I’d somehow make things worse for you because of your condition.”

  Her hands trembled slightly as she clenched them into fists. “I stood there for hours, just watching you, not knowing what to do. I wanted to hold you, to make sure you were okay, but I couldn’t even bring myself to touch you. I was scared, Shin. Scared that if I did, you’d slip away completely. I just couldn’t bear the thought of making things worse.”

  Her voice wavered, the tears slipped down her cheeks as she struggled to speak. “I love you, Shin. And seeing you like that—so still, so lifeless—made me realize just how much I can’t bear to lose you. It was like everything stopped. All the plans I had for us, everything I imagined… it all felt so far away. I thought I might lose you before I even got to do any of those things.”

  “So, promise me—promise me that no matter what happens, you’ll always come back to me.” She wiped at her face, but the tears wouldn’t stop, “Don’t disappear like that again. Don’t shut me out. Just... be here, with me.”

  Her breath fastened, and she took a moment to steady herself. “Because if I ever lose you… I don’t think I could live without you.”