"So, how many quirks do you currently have?" Torino began.
"Three. Exchange, Threat Detection, and Blood Manipulation." Jugram replied.
"I get why you said that your original dream was to be a businessman," Torino said, rubbing his chin casually, though he looked slightly disturbed. "People would sacrifice almost anything to get a hold of even a single additional quirk."
"I figured that I could try and contact the director or U.A or something and instantly become the wealthiest man in the world... or something like that," Jugram admitted, refraining from telling Gran Torino that his former plan was to-
"You also said something about selling to the Meta Liberation Army, too," Yuto mentioned casually.
Son of a...
"Really? Those relics? I'm surprised you have even heard of them." Torino said, eyes growing sharper, "They were dangerous terrorists and criminals set on overthrowing society."
Luckily, Torino didn't think that a child would have all those details, no matter how seemingly mature, so he didn't start to be suspicious of Jugram's character from Yuto's comment. His outburst was to inform the two about the organization's true nature, especially since the older man didn't entirely buy the fact that they had died out.
There was too much resurging attention on the group for it not to have made a comeback in some way, shape, or form. However, even Gran Torino didn't have any inklings of the powerful backers developing behind the group in the modern era yet.
"I just read that they were an influential and big group in a book that was packed away in my grandfather's house." Jugram lied, inwardly cringing at including his dead grandfather in the lie, but dead men tell no tales.
"Hmm, well, don't go around mentioning them anymore. You don't want to give people the wrong idea," Torino said, rubbing his face, "Anyway, have you actually ever given someone a quirk? The only other...being that I know of to manipulate quirks, could give them, but it would drive most people crazy or cripple them outright."
"I don't have that problem." Jugram said simply, "I can take the ability to store a quirk from the person as well. So, I could theoretically safely place all the Quirks into a single person."
Of course, in reality, that person would die a horrendous death before even getting close to that threshold, just from the different quirk effects tearing them apart. He thought but didn't say that.
"The safety must be a byproduct of the more conditional transfer, perhaps," Torino said to himself, muttering.
Yuto and Jugram glanced at each other briefly, but Gran Torino quickly broke out of his stupor despite his hatred for AFO and the dark thoughts and memories even mentioning the man indirectly must dredge up.
"Let's switch to the topic of your quirk awakenings, " the older man said, shaking his head as if to rid it of the unpleasant thoughts. "I can guess when it happened, but how do you know what it is?"
"It's simple. I can feel something extra within Blood Manipulation." Jugram said, placing a hand on his chest for emphasis. "It's like an ice cube in a glass of water. Hard not to notice the difference, especially when I can clearly feel the quirk factors inside of me.
"Then how do you know?" Torino said, shifting his attention to Yuto.
"I don't even know what a Quirk Awakening is. This is the first I have heard that I have one." Yuto said with a shrug before he turned to face Jugram and continued. "Is that why you were asking so many questions earlier?"
"Yes, I could feel the difference in you, too, so I wanted to see what it had done to boost your quirk," Jugram said.
Before Yuto or Jugram could speak again, Torino clapped his hands, silencing them.
"I've heard enough for now. I'll explain everything about awakening soon, but this raises the risk of you two acting out, especially considering what you have been through. Quirk factors already inherently change some people when they manifest, but awakening a quirk at such a young age may add additional strain.
I was initially going to give you both the option to either train under me or at least learn some basic self-defense due to my job as a hero, but now neither of you has a choice. I will train the two of you until your control over your quirks is second nature. It's better to master the extra power granted from the awakenings earlier.
Especially you Jugram, every experimentation you do will be under my direct supervision. Do you two understand?" Gran Torino said, finally winding down from his monologue.
"Of course," Yuto said, perking up. This arrangement was practically a dream come true for the wannabe hero.
"I understand," Jugram said, nodding gratefully.
This saves me the trouble of having to ask or beg him to train me, Jugram thought. He would have been a fool not to try and maximize his gains from living with one of the best teachers in MHA. While he has meta-knowledge of the plot, Jugram was by no means an experienced combatant. He had been able to stumble through events relying on Blood Manipulation so far. He desperately needed actual training, so this was a golden opportunity.
x-X-x
The next day, Jugram awoke bright and early, startled momentarily by the unfamiliar environment before remembering the previous day's events. Looking over, he saw Yuto still fast asleep, so he took the opportunity to slide out of bed and get freshened up. Then, he moved into the next room, where Gran Torino was drinking coffee on his couch.
"Good morning," Tornio called out as Jugram entered the room, "Where is the other one?"
"Yuto's till asleep. I wanted to come out and do a few experiments since I figured you would train us together later, but I need to see what Exchange can do first. I've had it for a little while but haven't been able to test all my ideas yet," Jugram said.
"Alright," Torino said, looking more serious. "Tell me what you plan to train and in what order first."
"This is the order of things I wanted to go through:
- The possibility of lifespan trades
- Trading objects between people
- Timed trades
- Conditional trades
- Switching my awakening to one of my other quirks,"
"Now I can see why you wanted to start earlier," Torino said with a chuckle. "Let's get started."
. . .
First, I placed my hand on Gran Torino's chest and tried to feel for everything that I could trade the older man for. I closed my eyes and looked past everything I already knew was there until lifespan was all that remained. The problem was that there was no option for me to trade lifespan. It wasn't even like looking through a thick layer of ice or glass to a possibility for further development down the line. It simply wasn't even there to see.
My quirk doesn't even register as lifeforce or lifespan as a viable target for trade. Jugram realized, clicking his tongue in annoyance.
"No luck?" Gran Torino asked.
"Not even the possibility to trade lifespan." Jugram confirmed, "Just thinking about the money I could have made from it annoys me."
"Quirks don't turn people into gods," Torino said with a somber chuckle, "Some may seem like it, but ultimately people live and die. That's just how things go. There's no outdoing nature."
Jugram shrugged, unable to argue with the older man, turning his attention to trading objects between people.
To test this, he crossed the room from Torino and initiated a trade.
Once he reached the far wall, Jugram said, "I'll trade you my shirt for your coffee."
"How does this work exactly?" Torino asked.
"You just have to give some sort of verbal agreement that we've struck a deal," Jugram said.
"Alright then. Deal." Torino said.
Instantly, Jugram's shirt appeared in Gran Torino's hands while the streaming cup of coffee materialized in the air before Jugram. Gran Torino grabbed the shirt while Jugram did the same with the cup of coffee. Then, with a second deal, both objects were switched back to their original owners.
"It seems that any traded object just pops up in front of the recipient regardless of what it is," Jugram called out.
"Now, let's see about conditional trades." Gran Torino said, "If I take a sip of coffee, you get my socks."
"Deal," Jugram said, raising a brow.
For a few moments, Gran Torino didn't do anything. Nothing happened, but Jugram could feel that the conditional trade was in effect. It felt as though there was an invisible string that led from his body to Torino's. Judging from the older man's look, it seemed like he felt the connection, too.
"That is a strange sensation," Torino said, taking a sip of his coffee.
With a snort, Jugram batted the socks that appeared before him away with the back of his hand.
"I'll trade your socks back to you if I get your battle experience for five seconds," Jugram said.
"Alright," Torino said a bit more cautiously.
Jugram watched the socks disappear; then he staggered as a load of information crashed into his mind. He would have collapsed if he hadn't leaned heavily on the wall for support, but just as soon as the experience impacted his mind, it was gone.
For a few moments after it vanished, he tried to recall any of the experiences, but it was like all the information had been extracted from his brain. He couldn't recall a single thing from Gran Torino's battle experience.
"I could have told you that was a bad idea," Torino said, appearing at Jugram's side, moving faster than the eye could see.
"I know, but I wanted to see if I could retain anything after extracting information or experiences," Jugram said, moving to the couch and taking a seat.
"Could you?" Torino asked curiously.
"No," Jugram said, rubbing his forehead until the pounding headache vanished.
That was too much information! Jugram silently chastised himself. It wasn't like his grandfather's minuscule practical experience with Blood Manipulation. Gran Torino had spent his whole adult life as a hero, fighting crime. Of course, there would be an overload of information when trying to get his battle experience.
"Are you still up to try and switch around your awakening?" Torino asked. "I don't know exactly how it will work with your quirk, but you may be able to directly transfer it internally without any external trades."
"That's what I want to see," Jugram said, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes.
Once he closed his eyes, it only took a moment to locate the quirk factors within himself. Each appeared like a cup, full of luminous liquid to his mind's eye. The cups were the quirk containers, while the liquid was the quirks themselves.
True to what he had said earlier, the 'liquid' comprising Blood Manipulation seemed almost bloated within its container. At least, that was how his senses interpreted the presence of the awakening as a part of Blood Manipulation.
Jugram took a few moments to examine the quirk before he carefully reached out and 'grabbed' the awakening mentally. To his surprise, the power popped right off Blood Manipulation at his command and easily fused with Exchange when he placed it into his original quirk's container.
He expected some sort of jolt of power when the awakening switched over, but there was no such thing. He only felt a comfortable warmth bubble up inside himself briefly. While the feeling was pleasant, he was busy examining the changes the awakening made to his quirk.
Soon, Jugram opened his eyes with a complex look on his face.
"Did you do it?" Torino asked.
"Yes." Jugram said distractedly, "I switched the quirk awakening from Blood Manipulation to Exchange."
"What changed?" Torino asked, leaning forward almost anxiously.
"I can make trade through written contracts now," Jugram said, feeling conflicted.
He now had access to scam people through trade documents and fine print, but it wasn't precisely the upgrade he had hoped for. Still, it was a pretty good extension of his original quirk.
★ End of Volume 1 (Prologue) ★