I got reincarnated just under thirty days ago.
My eyesight has gotten a lot better, though it's still not quite back to normal.
Despite being only a month old and being unable to do any research on my own. I've been able to learn about some major differences between this world and my own, mainly through educated guesses and television audio.
Quirks, a supernatural type ability, which grants the users all sorts of mysterious powers, telekinesis, fire generation, intelligence, teleportation, if you can think of it, there is probably someone with the quirk.
That doesn't mean someone with a fire quirk would be able to create a fireball with the temperature of the sun. The quirk is usually not very powerful upon awakening, working similar to a muscle getting stronger the more you train it.
They are often passed down through genetics, sometimes combining both parents abilities, or in more rare cases spawning an entire new quirk. Generally speaking, quirks are awakened at the age of 4.
Being born with a powerful quirk can let you live life on 'easy mode,' as my father would call it.
Since quirks come in all shapes and sizes, those who aren't born so lucky are looked down upon by those around around. Those with weak or villainous quirks commonly get bullied in schools, singled out by their employers, ostracized by society. They feel isolated, helpless, worthless, finding themselves turning to crime as a means of survival.
Naturally giving everybody and their mothers powerful abilities leads to some not very nice people using their 'god-given' abilities for some not very nice things.
The government wasn't too fond of villains using their quirks recklessly, which led to the rise of professional heroes. Individuals with powerful quirks or skilled usage of them, who were given legal permission to uphold justice, revered by the general public.
My parents are in the low percentage.
The Quirkless.
My father, Sato, has low confidence, self-esteem issues, works as a manager in a call Centre and due to his reputation as the only quirkless person in his office, has clearly lost his ambitions long ago.
My mother, Hana, is the opposite. She's currently on maternity leave and never talks about her job to her friends whenever they come over. I'm unaware of what she works as, not that it matters much, but guessing by their savings, not every much higher than Sato.
Due to my lack of emotions, I was sent to the two different hospitals, both times being sent back, telling her I was perfectly healthy.
Hana, only after making continuous attempts throughout the month in getting me to smile, all resulting in failure. Accepted the fact that I wouldn't be smiling any time soon.
Six months have passed since my addition into this world.
I can already walk and my parents know so, but it's far more efficient to just get carried everywhere. Hence, my parents arms have gotten stronger.
I've found out that both of my parents are tech illiterate. A simple observation of them while using their electronic devices showed them using it only for the most simple of tasks. It'd be remarkably easy to hide my usage by simply opening incognito mode.
My instant decision was, when she left her phone in front of me while cooking or doing laundry, I'd immediately start my research about anything I couldn't have figured on my own. Most of my important questions were answered by my third secret phone investigation.
Surprisingly, this universe is extremely similar to my own.
Quirks arrived roughly 200 years ago, and the origins of which are still a mystery, with the most popular theories being through evolution or a disease transmitted by small animals to people.
The hero ranking was chalk filled with heroes that mostly relied on their quirks, the biggest culprit being All might. The amount of power his quirk gives his is insanely powerful, just from the videos I've seen of him, far above the current 2nd ranked hero in Japan. It makes perfect sense as to why he doesn't learn any techniques or martial arts, he simply never needed them.
Quirks may be the most noticeable difference between this world and mine, but that's not the only supernatural thing I've discovered. There are heroes who, even without a quirk enhancing their physical abilities, are faster, stronger, and more resilient than anything I could have achieved in my previous life.
On the topic of my previous life, I looked up the full list of presidents of the USA to compare it with what I knew. While they're were people I knew, 10 or so people were ones I had never heard of, the ones I did know had different careers as well, meaning it'd be accurate to call this a parallel universe.
And finally, back to the current time.
Hana's maternity leave ended a while ago, and she's gone back to her job in a warehouse, working part-time, sending me to daycare because Sato works at around the time as her.
Spending time at daycare is k-
*SLAM*
The front door was slammed shut.
Hana sprinted out from her bedroom with a hair dryer still in her hand, her hair soaking wet dripping water onto the floor. She had just come out of the shower minutes ago.
"What's going on!?" Hana shouted and stopped her sprint right in front of me.
The man had a slightly surprised look, which quickly switched a guilty one.
"Oh... Hana.. That was accidental. I didn't mean to put that much power into shutting it..."
Sato's eyes were glued to the ground, and his fist was clenched, shaking ever so slightly. Something had clearly been done to him, Hana noticed this and kept silent, waiting for him to explain what the issue was.
"I got fired..."
He stopped for added suspense.
"About a month ago, I didn't tell you about it, our company was bought out by a larger company and I had gotten a new boss... My old boss was kind and didn't care what you looked like or if you had a quirk..."
Sato talked while he walked and sat down on the couch without looking up at me or Hana. Hunched over, his arms on his legs, hands intertwined, and his head tilted down significantly.
"My new boss was kind as well... she was strict, yes, a bit on the quieter side too, but didn't show any sort of disgust when she saw my co-workers with the insect mutation quirk. We had a bunch of new employees ever since the change in management, so we decided on going out drinking together and officially introduced ourselves. I told her about how I was quirkless as well, and she told me about how her little sister was quirkless as well, so she didn't care about that thing..."
It's obvious where's he's going with this.
With an unmistakable look on her confusion, Hana chose to stay quiet again, waiting for Sato to finish his story.
"Today, she called me into her office when I arrived in the morning."
He took a deep breath.
"The first thing she did was ask 'Why do you think I called you here?'. I told her, 'I'm not sure ma'am, did I do something wrong?'"
His voice was shaky and slowly, getting louder, matching the growing anger in his expression as he recalled what happened.
His voice was shaky and slowly, getting louder, matching the growing anger in his expression as he recalled what happened
(edit)
"She had a poker face, and her voice was monotone, so I wasn't sure what she was thinking. 'Let me ask you something. I was once asked by a pupil of mine, in Japan, right now, do you think society is equal?' I replied. 'Does that question have to do with why you called me here?'. She answered back, 'Just answer it, humor me a little', so I humored her. 'Well, I don't believe society is equal'. 'I agree. Equality is just a fantasy.' Her voice had a tint of amusement, which was making me nervous..."
"It's alright, just take your time." Hana began rubbing Sato's back in an effort to calm him down.
"'Um... What's your point?' I accidentally spoke informally she could tell I was getting nervous and held back a smirk turning to the window so I couldn't see her face. 'Well, you see, Ayanokouji-Kun, we had someone with a minor intelligence quirk apply for your position.'"
Right, my full name is Kiyotaka Koji, I really doubt that was a coincidence.
"I asked her '...are you saying that... you don't need me anymore? You're planning on replacing me with them?' her back was still turned towards me.'We've only known each other for a short time and for a defective you've done well, but'."
Clenching his fist with as much strength as he could muster, Sato's was finding it increasingly harder to keep himself calm
(edit)
"She turned around, with the most malicious smile I've ever seen, and said 'You're Fired.'"
Hana, still gently rubbing his back, realizing that Sato was only getting more upset as he kept talking. She understood what had happened and knew that allowing him to vent further could be counterproductive.
"That's enough, Sato. I got it."
Both of my parents sat in silence.
"We could report her to the Labor Standards office -" Hana shouted the first thing she could think of.
"There's no point. Everyone knows the labor standards office can take months before they respond to any cases. That's not even mentioning their not so secret discrimination towards quirkless and mutant quirk users. My boss acted normal the whole time. No one knew about her secret dislike for me, so even if they sent someone to investigate her, chances are nothing would be done against them anyway."
"Then the Ministry of Labor, they could -"
"That's another no, we tried that last time, and you remember how it turned out."
Sato once again turns down her idea due to some past problem he had with them.
Biting down at her lip, Hana made one last attempt to support Sato.
"C-court! We can take her to court."
"That's the worst option of the bunch. We don't have any extra money to put into hiring a lawyer. Just trying would bankrupt us." He once again immediately denies Hana.
While I may not know the current laws on this, I doubt they have any laws that would blatantly exclude quirkless people. Even if he would have to find another job while waiting for his case to resolve, It'd be better than sitting around feeling pity for himself.
"What are you going to do then Sato? We're already in debt, and ever since we had Koji, we have been living paycheck to paycheck." Her voice came out barely louder than a whisper
"I don't plan on doing anything. I couldn't do anything to them if I wanted to."
Putting his hand on his face in shame, they sat in silence again. Thinking over what they'll have to do if they want to stay afloat.
"I'll have to find a new job. I don't know how long that'll take, It's not like I have many options. And from there... We might need to sell some stuff, but we'll get through this, I promise."
Unconvinced by his own words, Sato felt compelled to maintain his strength for his beloved wife and their unnervingly smart child. Grabbing Hana's hand, he pulled her into a tight embrace as they cuddled in their small two-bedroom apartment while I watched quietly.
---
Ch 2 End
Not much to say this chapter, kiyo recaps his research, sato gets fired by a girl with a suspicious resemblance to a female teacher in cote and does nothing about it.
The time skipping will go on for a few more chapters, ch 3 is mostly done as well
If they're are any inconsistences or spelling errors do point them out thank you.