Chapter 31

Chapter 31

The conversation with Shota Aizawa didn't bring Klaus any insight.

The intelligence obtained from Dun Arul El was only very vague, yet it had cost an astonishing ninety-nine hours of game time. Considering that the old fox never lied about the exchange rate between the importance of a wish and its duration, even KK, who had accompanied Klaus to play chess and initially thought the matter of her background was not that serious, began to worry.

Kirisame was not born in HL. According to the information, she suddenly appeared in HL many years ago, and not near the Eternal Void that opens to another world, but on an ordinary street corner. At that time, she was estimated to be less than a year old, but she miraculously survived in the chaotic otherworldly city, acquiring her current ability at the age of three, which she has used ever since.

Regarding her ability, the information Dun Arul El provided was also very vague, almost nothing new besides the seemingly meaningless phrase "good compatibility."

"Her ability is very likely to be classified as a Quirk," said Shota Aizawa, his face still covered in bandages, maintaining his listless tone but speaking with certainty.

Both of them, who had been to more than one world, knew very well that the basic principle between different worlds was "non-interference." Apart from properties inherent to themselves, such as the super regeneration of the Blood Clan, the abilities born in different worlds were also different. Shota Aizawa couldn't learn the techniques of Hellsalem's Lot, and likewise, Klaus couldn't suddenly awaken a Quirk.

Abilities born from different physical structures and different application systems cannot affect each other, forming the cornerstone of peaceful coexistence among many different worlds. The only violation of this basic rule so far was the Great Collapse of HL.

That world was once on the verge of destruction because of it.

Now, Kirisame's ability, from HL, could be erased by Shota Aizawa and copied by Neito Monoma.

If other factors were not considered, the most direct guess would be—

She was originally from this world but had fallen into another world for some reason.

After all, some people awaken their Quirks before the age of four.

But—

"Mr. Aizawa, I think you may not be aware of another matter," the red-haired gentleman said with a very serious expression. "Kirisame's teacher is the Blood God. Although it's different from the Wind God and Fire God, the old man opened a separate school for her, but Kirisame also knows the basics of Blood Combat Art."

"Like the flash of that old-school hot-blooded manga-style red script when she activated her Quirk during the entrance test?" Aizawa clearly knew the nature of their group's abilities.

The boss nodded, automatically ignoring the words "old-school hot-blooded manga-style."

...The clue ended there.

Without sufficient information, further guessing would be meaningless, so the two didn't dwell on it.

"Libra will continue to investigate. Please keep an eye on things, Mr. Aizawa, and contact us if anything comes up," Klaus said, bowing slightly.

Aizawa waved his hand in agreement. "I'll ask All Might about it later. After all, the League of Villains that attacked a few days ago—the dark mist—I feel like he recognized the kid."

"By the way," he handed a cup of tea to Klaus, "are you sure you don't want to have an open discussion with her about this?"

Klaus shook his head. "That child is sensitive in some ways. Having her come here alone to avoid the underground forces in HL was already a last resort. We... want her to be able to take it easy."

The red-haired guardian gave a gentle smile. "Leave the rest to her family to handle."

[You really are treating it like raising a child...]

Aizawa, who knew Libra's working style well, twitched the corner of his mouth beneath his bandages, not knowing what to say about the rare indirectness of this chief.

The homeroom teacher, who had looked after Kirisame for over a year, glanced at Klaus, recalling the bright-eyed expression the girl had when mentioning her guardian, and the way she had crouched alone on the rooftop that day. He didn't insist further and sighed. "No matter how mature a kid is, they still need attention. When you have time, come see her more often."

The boss suppressed the worry in his heart and nodded, his hands clasped behind his back.

...If his guess was correct, that Fallen King should know something.

After lunch, there was entertainment.

After parting ways with Bao Hao, who hadn't eaten lunch yet, Kirisame headed to the common lounge of the main building.

Then she stood frozen, staring at her classmates, all dressed in cheerleader uniforms.

Yaoyorozu said that the school required the female students to gather on the field during the break dressed in cheerleader uniforms. Kirisame, who knew what that was but had never worn one, suddenly felt excited amidst the girls' uneasy expressions.

The fourteen-year-old girl had just begun to develop the contours of a young woman. Though her chest was not particularly prominent, her figure under the orange-red fabric was slender and graceful. Still carrying some childishness, she didn't stand out much compared to her classmates.

Erlang Xiangxiang, with her short purple hair, glanced at Yaoyorozu's chest and then her own, feeling terrible. "Xiao Kirisame, only you're still keeping me company!"

Kirisame tilted her head, not understanding what she meant.

Ye Yin bounced over and hugged Kirisame, rubbing against her. "Xiao Kirisame is a year younger than us; she can still grow."

This unintentional arrow hit Erlang right in the knee, and the earphone girl drooped in defeat.

"O-one year..."

Asui felt the topic was a bit embarrassing but patted her shoulder and comforted her in her usual calm tone. "Xiao Erlang will still grow, ribbit."

Yaoyorozu covered her face. "Please stop..."

Kirisame felt the soft touch of the invisible girl's chest against her cheek, secretly rubbed against it, and closed her eyes in bliss.

"This is romance between girls!" Uraraka clenched her fists.

Of course, the romance between girls didn't affect their anger at Feng Tian and Kaminari. Following the will of the popular vote, Kirisame passed by them and used a ten-minute illusion to give each of them a little pig tail.

Watching these two guys dragging their curled tails, completely unaware, trying to hit on the girls from Class B, the girls they had tricked went off to enjoy themselves, satisfied.

Kirisame couldn't enjoy herself.

As soon as it was over, Zapp ignored Leo's attempts to stop him and went to harass Teacher Midnight. Annoyed beyond measure, the female Pro Hero used some hypnotic fragrance to beautifully knock him out and had a broadcast put out for someone to claim him.

Kirisame, thinking he had gotten lost, found the silver-haired young man sprawled on the table, drooling in his sleep, with Teacher Midnight standing beside him looking speechless. Although the teacher said she just found a sleeping person by the roadside and brought him along, Kirisame knew his personality well. She added another note to her little notebook labeled "Mr. Steven, Zapp bullied me."

Then, after the teacher left, she went up and kicked him awake without a second thought.

"Having fun pretending to sleep?" the girl asked with a smile.

"Eh~ ehehe~" Zapp's expression was dreamy from being helped along by the female hero all the way.

"..."

"Go die!!!"

The third round was indeed a one-on-one elimination tournament.

If she made it to the finals, there would be four matches in total. Kirisame had already skipped over the first opponent, Aoyama. She happily found Tokoyami in her list of opponents.

Provided he could defeat Yaoyorozu and Kirisame could eliminate Aoyama.

The black-haired girl and the dark shadow high-fived happily. The crow-headed boy, who had no idea why his Quirk liked Kirisame so much, remained silent.

On a stage where it's kill or be killed, emotions will eventually be trampled under the will to victory.

Perhaps due to the nature of their Quirks, Koda Koji, who felt a certain affinity with Tokoyami and could always understand what he was thinking, patted him on the shoulder. When Tokoyami looked up, he jumped up and shook his head hurriedly, indicating that he wasn't laughing.

Tokoyami: "..."

Mina Ashido looked sympathetically at Yuga Aoyama. It wasn't that Kirisame was incredibly formidable—after all, anyone who could get into Yuei shouldn't flinch in the face of any opponent.

...Just look at Uraraka from the first match against Bakugo.

But little Kirisame... well, how to put it—most of the well-informed students in the class would rather fight Bakugo than face Kirisame.

Not to mention Shoto Todoroki, whose bangs had barely grown back. The story about Kurogiri at the USJ had already spread through the class. And then there was Monoma this morning...

The pink-haired girl swallowed hard.

Meanwhile, the dazzling blonde Yuga Aoyama was still preoccupied with the equally dazzling Monoma from this morning, completely unaware of what was about to happen.

Until he stood face to face with Kirisame on the stage.

At the start, Shoto Todoroki had frozen nearly half the stadium with ice. It took a while to melt all the ice he'd made. Kirisame, feeling the terror of her classmate's ice power for the first time in a while, touched the ice wall that was almost touching her nose and shuddered uncontrollably.

...At the same time, Zapp and Leo in the stands shuddered too.

Bakugo looked at her pitiful demeanor and thought it was lucky he had faced Shoto first.

When Kirisame had a knife in her hand, she was in a completely different state from when she didn't. Rather than merely being serious, once she actually started fighting, it was as if she cast aside the part of her that was human, revealing a coldness, swiftness, and emptiness like that of a blade.

Midoriya watched the black-haired girl slightly hunch her back and predicted this match would end quickly.

"Yuga's main attack method is long-range laser attacks, while Kirisame's fighting style is more close-quarters. So the key to this match is whether she can close the distance."

And the best time to close the distance and suppress the enemy is—

Right at the start!

START! Mic's voice rang out.

Yuga Aoyama knew in his heart how important it was to strike first, but he had one bad habit.

Every time he was about to fire his laser, he had to strike a pose first.

The basic move was to put both hands on his head, then thrust out his chest and hips, and only then would he release the laser.

...He only got as far as putting his hands on his head.

A nearly invisible slash swung past, and his belt snapped in two, falling off.

At the same time, the girl swept a kick at him. The boy didn't have time to pull up his pants before the kick landed square on his stomach, sending him flying into the air. Then Kirisame caught up to him mid-air and struck the back of his head with the hilt of her short sword.

Less than ten seconds into the match.

He hadn't even managed to fire off a single navel laser.

"Yuga Aoyama is unconscious. Aizawa advances to the second round!"

It was very similar to Shoto's match. The audience hadn't even reacted yet before the match was over.

On the vast field, the boy lay alone in the middle with his pants down to his knees, the white waistband of his underwear clearly visible.

A stunned silence fell over the arena.

Kirisame, reminded of Yuga's golden armor transformation that morning, put her knife away and breathed a sigh of relief.

...Good thing she didn't let him have a chance to speak!

The Class A students, who had long expected this outcome, looked down at the scene with complicated expressions and said in unison:

"...Good thing he passed out."