In the quiet stillness of death, he could feel it. The last beats of his heart, the fading breaths. It wasn't painful—it was peaceful, almost serene, as the numbness crept through his body. He had lived a full life. A life of struggle, of balancing studies and expectations, of moments of joy peppered with hardship, born into a modest Indian household where discipline and hard work were virtues drilled into him.
But now... now it was over.
Or so he thought.
Suddenly, a rush—a blinding, suffocating force pulling him from the void. He gasped, or tried to, as his senses awakened to new surroundings, unfamiliar and strange. The first thing that hit him was how small he felt. Too small. Too weak. His mind raced, struggling to make sense of the disorienting sensations. Then the sounds: muffled voices, tender cooing, and gentle hands lifting him up, cradling him.
"Welcome to the world, little one," a soft, unfamiliar voice whispered.
It was a woman's voice, filled with warmth and love. But it wasn't his mother. His real mother. He tried to cry out, to say something, but all that came was a faint, pitiful wail. Panic surged. He couldn't move properly, couldn't speak, couldn't understand. His mind was alive, his memories intact, but his body… It wasn't his.
He was a baby.
Two Years Later
Time, for all its bizarre elasticity, had a way of grounding him. The first year was sheer madness. He had no control over his tiny limbs, no way to articulate the storm of thoughts in his head. He had been a man—a grown man! Yet here he was, unable to even hold his own head up. Every day was a struggle, a war between his adult consciousness and the infant body that refused to obey. He had to relearn everything: how to walk, how to talk, how to communicate without sounding like a mindless infant.
His new parents—Shin and Hina—were kind, patient, and incredibly doting. They lived in a comfortable home, clearly upper-middle class, with plenty of space and the best amenities. A stark contrast to his old life in India, where space was a luxury and silence was rare. Here, everything was calm. Gentle. There was no bustling noise of crowded streets, no expectations weighing him down from extended family or the pressure to succeed academically. Just warmth and safety.
Yet, despite the security of his new life, there was a lingering sadness that followed him like a shadow. He missed his old world, the culture he had grown up in. He missed the scent of spices in the kitchen, the Hindi that flowed naturally from his tongue, the closeness of his family. Shin and Hina were wonderful people, but they weren't his people. They spoke Japanese, a language he was only now learning to understand, and their customs, while similar in some ways, felt foreign.
But adaptation came, slowly. He learned to appreciate the small things. His new mother's gentle lullabies, the way his father would lift him up and spin him around until they were both dizzy with laughter, the cozy warmth of their home. He grew stronger, too, as the months passed. His muscles responded better, faster than they should have.
It wasn't until he was nearing his second birthday that he began to realize something strange was happening. He had memories—vivid ones—of an anime called My Hero Academia. A world where people had Quirks—superhuman abilities that shaped society. And now, in this new life, he started to notice peculiar things. There were mentions on the news about "hero rankings" and "villain attacks." At first, he thought it was just a coincidence. Maybe he was in some kind of parallel world. But when he saw All Might on television for the first time, his heart nearly stopped.
He wasn't in some random alternate reality.
He was in that world. The world of My Hero Academia. And more than that… something inside him was changing. He had always been athletic in his past life, but now? Now his body seemed to respond in ways that defied logic. When he ran, even at his young age, his muscles surged with power. He felt a fiery energy coursing through him whenever he exerted himself, almost like a pressure building, ready to explode.
The realization hit him like a bolt of lightning. He hadn't just been reborn into this world.
He had been reborn with Might Guy's power—the power of the Eight Gates. He could feel the dormant potential within him, as if his muscles remembered a strength he had yet to unlock. It terrified and thrilled him all at once. He knew the risks, the strain it put on the body, and here he was, a two-year-old with a power that could obliterate him if he wasn't careful.
Yet, despite the overwhelming weight of this revelation, he found himself settling into his new life with a surprising sense of contentment. He wasn't burdened by the same responsibilities he had once known. Shin and Hina adored him, and though they had no idea about the storm brewing within their son, they nurtured him in every way. Their love was unconditional, and slowly, despite himself, he came to love them in return.
He was no longer just a man from Earth. He was reborn, in a world of heroes and villains, with a power that could rival the strongest of them. And though he had much to learn, much to control, he knew one thing for certain:
This was his second chance. A new life, a new world, and a new beginning.
And he would not waste it.