The first thing Taiko did was find a suitable place, spread some leaves under himself and sat down. He began to think logically. "What is a quirk? It is an internal tool that is powered by an unknown energy, or is a concentration of this energy. A person is definitely a place where this mysterious otherworldly energy is concentrated."
Exhaling the morning steam from his mouth, Taiko sharpened his senses and concentrated on his internal sensations. "Where should I look? Inside, probably." He relaxed every part of his body, slowly moving into a lying position. The croaking and singing of birds was disturbing at first, but after a while Taiko filtered out these sounds too. Eventually, he fell asleep.
A moment before waking up, he barely felt warmth in the area of his back. It felt like a couple of minutes had passed. Taiko turned his attention to the sky, and indeed, only a couple of minutes had passed. The sun was still early.
-Ah-h...- Taiko stretched, throwing his arms high into the sky. The temperature outside was comfortable, despite the coolness in the forest. Although the reddened moon seemed unnatural across the entire sky. His satisfied eyes widened and at first he didn't realize what was hanging above him. Seconds. Two.
The outlines began to resemble bird wings of an unreal size. It seemed as if a huge bird from the Jurassic period was standing right behind him. He turned around sharply, ready to run away, but he saw no one, and the wings remained above him.
- What is this... - Taiko looked to the left and saw how the feathers spread out to the sides. With each passing second it became clear that the wings were coming from his back. Everything was leading to this.
- But... how? - he pinched himself, checking if he was in a lucid dream. Doubts were finally dispelled when Taiko did not wake up. Taiko pulled his shoulder and the wings moved along with him, resting against a tree. The birds in the trees looked with obvious interest at this unprecedented huge bird with a human body.
Fear turned into curiosity and interest. The idea of flapping his wings seemed funny. He began to stretch his wings with black feathers.
- If you think about it... then this is not a destructive quirk. Mutation? Auxiliary?
The wings were a couple of heads taller than him, and the wingspan reached five meters. At some point, he realized that the wings were resting and rubbing against the ground. Considering his small height, being on the ground became uncomfortable. He can control this part of the body, but not feel it. At some point, the wings began to get stuck between the branches.
Taiko saw the nearest cliff leading to the city of Jaku and a risky thought came to him. He went through the branches, squeezing his wings so that they took up less space. Step by step, Taiko reached a rocky cliff several meters down.
- Phew... - it's incredibly difficult to decide to fall and trust your wings when you've been walking on the ground your whole life as a human. For starters, he decided not to try to fly, but to dive and reduce the speed of the fall to land smoothly. Taiko tensed his wings and jumped. The wings significantly reduced the speed of the fall and a couple of meters did not seem like an obstacle to him. The next cliff...
Every time it was getting better and better. Until he began to feel confident enough for a full-fledged flight. But a problem appeared. The wings suddenly began to fall apart.
- No. No-no-no... - Taiko tried to collect the transformed dust, hoping to return everything to how it was, until the wings fell apart completely. Leaving two holes in his torn jacket and an aftertaste of disappointment. Suddenly Taiko remembered after which his wings grew. All the time this warmth spread first on his hands after which the tree flew apart, then on his back and wings grew. He was like... a miracle worker. He performed some incredible miracles with just one touch.
The warmth manifested itself consciously and controllably, he concentrated this warmth on his back and thought about wings. Slowly but surely, those same black wings began to grow back, from the holes in the jacket that had already formed from the previous ones. Overjoyed, he stepped into the abyss.
After some time, his silhouette hovered high above the city of Jaku. Having gained even greater altitude, he found himself above the sky and the beautiful view of the sun really turned out to be blinding, and the cold at high altitude penetrated to the bones, so he lowered his altitude. Until now, Taiko refused to believe what was happening. Yesterday he walked on the ground like ordinary people, and now he soared in the sky like a bird.
Alas, as soon as Taiko realized the limitlessness of this power, the wings suddenly evaporated again, but he could not summon them again. A couple of kilometers to the ground, Taiko panicked. Consciousness completely switched off. The streams of descending wind blew in his face and did not allow him to concentrate. The ground was getting closer, gradually and inevitably.
Taiko saw his short life pass before his eyes. A moment before he hit the asphalt in the middle of the city of Jaku and the prospect of being turned into a cutlet, Taiko opened his eyes and woke up.
***
Taiko spent a couple of minutes recovering from what had happened and did not realize the sudden change in his surroundings. He was lying in the same place, still in the same forest. Disappointed and dejected, slightly scared. His heartbeat continued to beat strongly even minutes after waking up from a lucid dream. His little hands were shaking from overexertion and shock. At some point, he started to cry.
It was incredibly quiet in the thicket of trees, which contributed to a quick calm. Taiko got up and ran to the hatch, now most of all he wanted to hide in his father's laboratory, but as soon as Taiko touched the steel lever covered by foliage, he stopped.
He was ashamed to show himself to his father without success, but on the other hand, who claimed a significant chance of failure before? The alternative to stay and strain for success in the forest is the worst of all possible. Through his tears, Taiko decided that he would come here every day until he proved to the whole damn forest and every bird watching him that he was worthy of the quirk.
As expected, Kyudai was not thrilled. It was morning, a couple of hours had passed since the start of training. Of course, Taiko was counting on his father's new method, but his expectations were too high. He thought that the old man would use his knowledge of biology or surgery, or maybe use some kind of super-secret drug, but as experience shows, everything turned out to be much simpler.
Seeing Taiko's apathetic mood, the scientist decided not to press him, but this does not answer the question. What happened to Taiko? Kyudai was naturally nervous and worried about his creation, but one must not forget about the original idea - raising an heir. So far, Taiko has the best chances, but he should check the other clones.
-"Whatever Taiko is planning, I think he should not be disturbed and left alone for a while. I need to check on the others. While I'm visiting the shelters, I need someone to look after Taiko." - The only person who comes to mind is the organizer who helped with the vats.
Having dialed his number, Kyudai was surprised at how quickly the call was answered.
-...
-Mr. Ujiko, you are just in time, Sensei will be with you soon.
-I see. After talking with Sensei, I will ask you to stay with Taiko for an indefinite period of time, look after him.
-Oh. That's great, no problem. I hope nothing bad happens. - the happy voice of All For One's loyal subject was heard.
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