Dawn had barely touched the edges of the window when Reiji opened his eyes, feeling a strange sensation in his body. It wasn't pain... it was pressure. An enveloping, throbbing warmth. Alien, yet familiar.
It took him a few seconds to realize where he was.
And with whom.
Himiko's left arm rested on his chest, her fingers tangled carelessly in the wrinkled fabric of her pajamas. Her breathing was slow, calm. She was sleeping soundly. She was wearing a large nightgown—probably one of his own—so loose that it revealed part of her underwear when she moved. The panties were simple, almost childlike, but nothing about the scene was innocent.
Her body had slipped between the sheets during the night and now clung to him with the ease of someone who had always belonged there.
One of her legs was crossed over his hip, high enough to brush against sensitive areas Reiji would rather ignore. Her face rested against his neck, breathing just below his jaw. Her nightgown had ridden up a little, revealing part of her thigh and the soft curve of her waist.
Reiji didn't move.
He didn't remove the hand that had inadvertently wrapped itself around the small of her back, straying dangerously from her prominent peachy figure. Nor did he change the position that kept them so close that he could feel every heartbeat, every inhalation. He just closed his eyes for a moment longer, letting the scene sear itself into his memory with brutal honesty.
'Himiko again...' He thought, though this time there wasn't that usual annoyance whenever she did this. His senses and body never rejected her, that much was clear. The fact that she had sneaked into his room, snuggled up to him, and he hadn't noticed—there was clearly something about that that wasn't normal.
Reiji raised his hand, his intention clear. He woke her up with light touches on her shoulder, but at the last moment he regretted it. Who was watching to say this was inappropriate? Not even his parents cared about the closeness she always showed him!
In this world, marrying siblings wasn't as damn rare as it had been in Reiji's past life. In a way, it was equivalent to marrying cousins. Quirks had changed certain rules, and to maintain a strong line, many families kept genes between relatives.
Even so, Reiji never thought of it that way...
The touch of her leg against his hip reminded him that his body responded too. Despite the mental training, the control, the boundaries he'd tried to place between them, his body was still that of a teenager. One who felt. One who desired.
The hand was still there. Barely separated from where his sister's most pronounced curves began. It took only a single finger to cross that invisible line. But he didn't.
'What does it matter... Tomorrow I'll probably wake up the same, and the day after, too, and so on.'
He lowered his hand with a silent sigh. His gaze lingered on the ceiling for a few seconds, until Himiko shifted slightly, pressing herself closer to him, as if sensing his hesitation.
'Mmm... you're hot,' she murmured with an unconscious smile, in the midst of her strange dream. Her cheeks flushed as her body pressed a little further into Reiji's.
Her hips crept further up the side, her legs wrapped around him like a koala, and her breasts pressed against his side as his face was dangerously close. His hand, still trapped beneath her body, lingered in a much more compromising position.
He narrowed his eyes.
'Yes... and you're not helping.'
Silence fell over the room again. Only the soft hum of dawn slipping through the window accompanied her thoughts. Today they both had class, and even if he'd resigned himself to moving, as time passed, that was no longer an option.
Finally, he forced himself to move. Slowly. He separated his body from hers with almost surgical precision, taking care not to wake her. Himiko mumbled something unintelligible and rolled onto the opposite side of the bed, taking part of the sheet with her.
Reiji sat on the edge of the bed. He took a deep breath. He looked at his own hand, the one that had rested on it all night.
'I can't go on like this.'
He got up. He walked silently to the bathroom. The cold shower would be his punishment.
***
"So you did go to the aquarium?" Mina asked, her eyes shining as she gently tapped Uraraka's desk.
"Yeah, I went with Tsuyu," she replied with a tired smile. "There was a giant squid that almost scared me to death."
"That sounds epic!" Denki blurted out from his seat, turning around. "I spent the whole weekend trying to make a smart toaster. It ended up exploding... but it only worked for three seconds, huh?"
"That's not something you should celebrate," Momo said diplomatically, though she couldn't help but smile. "And besides, a smart toaster already exists."
"Mine talked! And it screamed when the bread burned!"
"How awful..." Jirou whispered, barely raising an eyebrow. "What kind of alarm did you set?"
"A recording of mine. It said: PAN PAN PAN PAN PAN!"
Laughter spread through the classroom like a spark. Iida tried to maintain his composure, but his tense expression betrayed that he also found the comment funny. Kirishima was laughing openly, banging his desk hard as he commented on something about making improvements to turn it into a weapon.
Reiji sat in his seat, watching with his elbows propped up and his chin slightly tilted. He said nothing. But it wasn't that he wasn't paying attention. He was. Every word, every laugh, every silence. Everything was perfectly normal.
The sun shone through the window, pale but constant. The air was clean, the noise was harmonious.
And yet...
'Why do I feel like something bad is going to happen? Aoyama isn't here, Shigaraki didn't sneak in, but...'
The sliding door opened.
Aizawa entered without a word, his sleepy gaze and expression unchanged. He walked toward the desk as if time meant nothing. No one spoke. No one dared.
She placed a folder on the table and looked at the class.
"Stand up."
The students obeyed instantly. The atmosphere changed from soft laughter to contained tension.
"We won't have class in the classroom today," she continued. "We'll be going to the U.S.J. for real-life rescue practice in simulated environments. Put on your tactical uniforms. We'll leave in twenty minutes. Specific instructions will be given on-site."
Some students looked at each other in surprise, others murmured excitedly. It was a new activity, and many were excited.
"U.S.J...?" Melissa whispered, sharing a glance with Momo. "I thought that center was only used for high-level tests."
"Are we going to train with All Might?" Denki asked aloud, excited.
Aizawa didn't respond. He just walked to the door and added before leaving:
"Prepare as if it were a real rescue."
Reiji didn't move. He looked out the window. The sky was clear. There were no threats.
But his body didn't believe him.
When Aizawa left the classroom, Reiji followed him silently. He caught up with him in the hallway.
"Sensei."
Aizawa glanced at him.
"What's going on?"
"I have a feeling something bad is going to happen. I don't know how to explain it, but... I just wanted to let you know, just in case."
The teacher watched him for a few seconds, with more attention than he usually showed.
"Instinct?"
"Yes. The kind that's usually right."
A barely audible sigh.
"Then listen to yours. If something happens, you're authorized to act. No restrictions..."
And with a slight twist in his tone, he added:
"Just remember who you're willing to lose... and who you're not."
Reiji lowered his gaze. He nodded. Aizawa had just told him he trusted him, even though he'd caught him engaging in illegal activities on more than one occasion.
***
The bus hadn't departed yet. The sound of the idling engine vibrated softly under the students' feet as they filed onto the bus, some talking among themselves, others simply looking for a spot next to acquaintances.
Reiji was one of the last to board.
He calmly looked around the interior, calculating the available spaces. Not because he was worried about who to sit next to, but because he preferred to avoid unnecessary overlaps.
"There's room here," Melissa told him, waving a hand to the seat next to her.
In front of her, Momo was already seated next to Uraraka, while Kinoko occupied the spot behind her.
Reiji nodded silently and took the seat next to Melissa. The bus closed its doors with a hydraulic click and started smoothly, beginning its journey to the U.S.J.
"You don't seem very excited..." Melissa pointed out, barely turning her face.
"When do I seem excited?" Reiji replied with a raised eyebrow, causing Melissa to laugh slightly.
"You're right, forget it."
He looked back ahead, but his expression remained that restrained smile that forms when you don't expect a sincere answer.
"Although if you want, we could teach you how to smile without it seeming like an attempted threat," Uraraka commented from the front seat, twisting over the backrest.
"Do you think his smile is threatening?" Momo asked, curious.
"A little. Sometimes," Uraraka joked.
"Depends on the light," Kinoko chimed in from behind with amusement. "In the dark, it's scary. In the sun... not so much."
Reiji shifted his gaze toward the window. Not bothered, but somewhat exposed.
"I'll take that as a weird compliment."
"It is what it is," Kinoko muttered.
Melissa looked at the bracelet Reiji wore on his wrist. He'd seen it before, and she wouldn't take it off even with her outfit; clearly, it had sentimental value, or something else. Taking advantage of the atmosphere, he decided to ask.
Reiji looked down at his wrist. He didn't answer immediately.
"It's a stabilizer," he finally said. "It helps keep the side effects of my Quirk at bay."
Momo, who was sitting in front, immediately turned around. Curious about the revelation.
"Side effects? What kind?"
"Are they dangerous?" Uraraka added curiously.
"Only if I don't control myself," Reiji replied. Then, as if it were something trivial, he added:
"When it accumulates too much... I need other people's blood. My own is of no use to me."
The sentence fell with just the right weight to alter the atmosphere.
"Blood?" Melissa repeated, her brow furrowing slightly.
"Like a vampire?" Uraraka whispered, looking at him closely. "Do you have something to do with that?"
Reiji turned his face slightly toward her. His mouth curved into a smile that wasn't quite friendly.
And then he showed his teeth, subtle but clear. They weren't exaggerated fangs, but there was something unusual about them. Slightly elongated canines. They didn't seem offensive, but suddenly, they extended slightly and sharpened, almost as if they had a life of their own.
Uraraka stepped back slightly.
"That's not a joke, is it?"
"I never said it was," Reiji replied, his voice calm.
Melissa narrowed her eyes, analyzing him as if trying to solve an equation.
"And the bracelet regulates that?"
"It doesn't prevent the urge," he clarified. "It just keeps my system under control while I ignore it. After a while, it passes." He lied; clearly, he wouldn't tell them that he used to drink fresh animal blood every so often.
They all saw it.
Uraraka froze, her eyes wide.
"So... you do need blood? Really?"
"It's not a metaphor," Reiji replied calmly, almost as if he were talking about the weather.
"And if you don't get it?" Melissa asked, lowering her voice slightly.
He shifted his gaze toward the window.
"Eventually, I lose control."
"What kind of control?" Momo asked cautiously.
Reiji looked straight ahead again.
"The kind that doesn't let me distinguish friend from foe."
The girls tensed.
And that's when he added, in a completely neutral tone:
"So, if you ever see me acting weird... run away. Don't stop. Don't try to reason with me. If they don't, I can't promise I'll remember them."
The sentence fell like a stone in the middle of the group.
Momo swallowed unconsciously. Melissa looked at him as if trying to read his vital signs. Kinoko shrank in her seat. And Uraraka...
...Uraraka turned completely red.
"Wait..." she said quietly. "That sounds like... like those movies where the vampire begs the girl to run, but she stays because she's in love, right?"
"Uh...?" Momo blinked. "What?"
"Yeah, yeah! "Like the ones where he loses control, but still doesn't bite her because deep down he loves her," Uraraka added, clearly overwhelmed by her imagination. "Oh no, I've already made up that scene in my head!"
Reiji raised an eyebrow, looking directly at her. Amused by the strange turn of events.
"Do you want me to bite you or save you?" he asked calmly.
"N-neither!" Uraraka shrieked, covering her face with both hands.
Momo looked away, her cheeks flushed, toward the hallway. Melissa let out a long sigh, as if she didn't know whether to hit her or laugh.
Kinoko mumbled something that sounded like "happy ending, soft bite, with a kiss..." but no one would confirm if they heard it correctly.
Reiji leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes as if nothing had happened.
"I didn't say anything weird. You guys filled in the blanks."
"Your tone is the weird one!" Uraraka protested, still red-faced.
===
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