CHAPTER 1: Echoes in Amber and Gold
The morning sun over Musutafu cast a blinding sheen across the concrete archway of Ground Beta. Around you, hundreds of aspiring teenage heroes bounced on their heels, stretching muscles, adjusting high-tech armor, or mentally preparing for the U.A. High School Entrance Exam.
And then there was you.
Standing at a modest 158 centimeters, your shin-length, vibrant turquoise pigtails swayed gently with the morning breeze, catching the sunlight like molten gems. The dark gray floating clips hovering effortlessly near your crown clicked with a faint, futuristic hum. Your outfit—a sleek, sleeveless white collared blouse with crisp teal trims, a neatly pinned tie, dark gray detached sleeves, and a pleated skirt resting over thigh-high socks—drew endless stares from the surrounding crowds. On your exposed left shoulder, the stark red ‘01’ mark gleamed brightly against your pale, soft skin.
To every teenage boy passing by, you were the picture of ethereal, breathtaking feminine perfection—a anime idol dropped directly into a superhero battleground.
They had no idea.
Underneath that soft, doll-like face, delicate jawline, and long, fluttering turquoise lashes was the mind of a twenty-something young man from Seoul, South Korea. Two years ago, an utterly unexplained dimensional shift pulled you out of your ordinary reality and dumped you into this world of superpowers and costumed heroes. You had managed to survive, adapt, and learn the language, but your bank account was currently sitting at a devastating near-zero balance. You knew nothing about this world’s lore, its famous heroes, or the plot of whatever story was unfolding around you. You only knew one cold, undeniable truth: U.A. High School offered generous hero-course stipends and dormitories, and you desperately needed a roof over your head.
“Look at her... Is she a hero candidate or a pop star?” a boy nearby whispered, his cheeks flushing deep crimson as you turned your deep teal eyes toward him.
“She’s tiny... will she even be okay against those giant villain bots?” another murmured, stealing glances at the smooth curve of your bare legs and slender wrists.
You suppressed a weary sigh, adjusting the dark gray headphone band resting over your hair. I’m a guy, you idiots... and if I don’t crush enough metal today, I’m sleeping on a park bench next week.
"RIGHT THIRTY SECONDS! WHAT’S THE MATTER, EXAMINEES?! THERE ARE NO COUNTDOWNS IN REAL BATTLES! RUN! RUN! RUN!"
Present Mic’s thunderous voice echoed through the loudspeakers. Before the massive iron doors had even finished sliding open with a heavy mechanical groan, a blur of motion exploded past you.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY, YOU EXTRAS!"
A fierce, explosive heat scorched the air as a ash-blond boy shot forward like a missile, propulsive sparks bursting violently from his palms. His ferocious roar shattered the crowd’s hesitation, sending a stampede of examinees surging through the gateway.
You gritted your teeth, your pleated skirt swishing around your thighs as you kicked off the pavement, sprinting into the mock city.
The faux urban district was already descending into chaos. Concrete structures shuddered as massive, olive-green robotic monstrosities emerged from the alleys. Steel treads ground against asphalt, and glowing red optical sensors scanned the streets.
“Two-Pointer located!” a mechanical voice boomed as a massive steel arm swung downward toward a group of trapped examinees.
Your heart hammered against your ribs. Your Quirk—Time Stasis—was a spatial phenomenon of pure, terrifying potential. But it carried one fatal flaw: you had no offensive power of your own. You couldn’t punch through armor plating; you couldn’t shoot fire or crush steel. You were the ultimate force multiplier, a support entity that required an attacker to turn frozen time into catastrophic kinetic impact.
Up ahead, the ash-blond boy—Katsuki Bakugo—was already tearing through the frontlines like a wild beast.
His explosive blasts tore through steel, leaving a trail of smoke and twisted metal. But three heavy Three-Pointer robots were converging on his flank, their massive treads trapping him in a narrow intersection. One giant steel fist hurtled directly toward Bakugo’s side while his attention was turned toward another target.
There.
You didn’t hesitate. You darted straight into the heat of the fray, your detached sleeves fanning out like delicate wings around your wrists as you slid across the cracked pavement.
“Get out of the light, kid!” Bakugo barked, catching a glimpse of turquoise hair in his periphery, his crimson eyes flashing with annoyance at what he assumed was a fragile girl jumping into a death zone.
“Stay right there!” your soft, surprisingly deep voice cut through the roar of explosions.
You raised your slender right hand, extending your fingers outward toward the towering Three-Pointer robot.
“TIME STASIS!”
SNAP.
In a four-meter radius surrounding the giant machine, reality violently buckled.
The color of the world within the zone was instantly subsumed by a celestial color shift—a suffocating, cosmic bleed of amber gold and deep navy blue. The dust particles hovering in the air froze instantly into suspended, shimmering specks. The screeching roar of the robot’s engines, the crumbling concrete, and the distant screams were entirely swallowed into a vacuum of dead silence.
Thump... Thump... Thump...
The only sound remaining was the slow, rhythmic beat of a pulse, accompanied by the distinct, heavy ticking of an ancient clock ringing directly inside the ears of everyone nearby.
Tick... Tock... Tick... Tock...
The massive three-ton steel fist hung motionless just inches from Bakugo’s face, completely trapped in the spatial lock.
Bakugo froze, his eyes widening in genuine shock as he felt the sudden, eerie pressure in the air. He glanced from the frozen titan down to you. You stood mere feet away, your pigtails suspended mid-air by frozen physics, blood slowly beginning to trickle from your left nostril as the intense mental strain of holding spatial temporal coordinates clawed at your brain.
“Now! Hit it with everything you’ve got!” you yelled, your voice straining against the cosmic drag. “The damage won’t trigger until time moves!”
Bakugo didn’t need to be told twice. A feral, bloodthirsty grin split his face as he lunged forward, thrusting both palms directly into the chest of the frozen giant.
"DIEEEE!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A rapid succession of devastating, concussive explosions blasted from Bakugo’s palms straight into the robot’s armor. Yet, under the influence of Time Stasis, the robot didn’t fly backward. It didn’t even twitch.
Instead, every single blast left a glowing, transparent golden crack across the steel hull, radiating outward like shattered glass. Golden, shimmering phantom echoes—afterimages of Bakugo’s blazing palms—remained frozen mid-air around the target, recording every ounce of kinetic force delivered into the temporal vault.
Three seconds... Four seconds...
“I can’t hold it longer!” you gasped, your vision swimming with dark spots as a sharp pain flared behind your temples.
You slammed your hands together, severing the domain connection.
“RELEASE!”
CLANG!
The ticking clock shattered. The ambient sound of the battlefield rushed back in a deafening sonic boom.
In a fraction of a millisecond, every single explosion, shockwave, and structural tear that Bakugo had inflicted over the past three seconds detonated simultaneously. The massive Three-Pointer didn’t just break—it was instantly pulverized into a cloud of shredded scrap metal and screaming sparks, the concentrated kinetic momentum launching the shattered frame hundreds of feet into the air before raining down in harmless pieces.
Bakugo landed heavily on his feet, his jaw slightly slack as he stared at the smoking crater where the robot had stood moments ago. He turned his head slowly, his breath coming in ragged hitches as his crimson eyes locked onto you.
You were panting softly, wiping a thin smudge of crimson blood from beneath your nose with the back of your sleeve. Your slender chest heaved beneath the white blouse, the tight fabric stretching against your delicate form as you tried to catch your breath.
“What the hell... are you?” Bakugo growled, stepping closer to you, his towering 172 cm frame casting a long shadow over your tiny 158 cm figure. His glare was intense, mixed with a chaotic blend of shock, irritation, and an odd, visceral pulse of intrigue he couldn’t quite name. “ThatQuirk... what kind of monster support power was that?!”
You looked up at him, your turquoise eyes glittering with exhaustion, offering a small, breathless smirk that accentuated your impossibly cute features.
“A broke guy who really needs a passing grade,” you muttered softly.
Bakugo’s eyes widened, his mind short-circuiting for a brief second as he processed your voice and words. Before he could scream another question, a terrifying rumble shook the very foundation of Ground Beta—the towering shadow of the Zero-Pointer emerging from the cloud of dust down the main avenue.
