"All right, all right... no need to pout," Akira said with an amused smile. "Come here."
The two children walked over to the wide wooden steps outside the temple's prayer hall. Akira sat down first while Izumi let out a tiny huff before plopping down beside him, still crossing her arms dramatically.
"Hmph."
Akira couldn't help chuckling. "You really wanted your birthday present that badly?"
"Of course!" Izumi answered without hesitation. "You've been teasing me ever since we left my house! Anyone would be curious!"
Akira laughed softly. "I know."
He turned toward her, his expression becoming gentler. "But... before I give you your present...I want you to meet some of my friends."
Izumi blinked. "...Friends?" She tilted her head in confusion.
She knew Akira didn't really have many friends. Besides herself...The only child he regularly interacted with was Kacchan, and even that usually ended with Akira smacking him on the head whenever he started acting like a bully.
"So... who are they?" she asked curiously. Akira smiled mysteriously. "You'll see."
Before Izumi could ask another question, Akira gently reached forward and held both of her hands inside his own.
"...Eh?" Her entire body stiffened.
Akira then leaned closer until his forehead lightly touched hers. The distance between them disappeared entirely as Izumi's brain froze.
"...Eh?"
"...E-Ehhhh!?"
Her face instantly turned bright red.
"S-S-S-Stay away!"
"W-What are you doing, A-Aki-kun!?"
"We're outside!"
"W-What if someone sees us!?"
Her entire face looked as though steam might burst out of it at any second.
Akira blinked, then he realized exactly what this looked like. A helpless smile appeared on his face.
"Calm down. I'm introducing you to my quirks."
Izumi froze. "...Quirk souls?" Her embarrassment disappeared so quickly it was almost frightening.
Instead, her emerald eyes began sparkling brighter than the temple lanterns.
"Living Quirk souls!?"
"I-I can actually meet them!?"
"I've never seen living Quirks before!"
Akira couldn't help laughing. 'Her mood changes really are fast.'
"Close your eyes and relax."
Izumi nodded rapidly. "O-Okay!" She immediately closed her eyes and steadied her breathing. Akira did the same.
The diamond-shaped openings within both of his palms slowly began glowing with a crimson light.
The energy spread outward like flowing water. Soft red light enveloped both children before wrapping around their bodies completely.
Against the backdrop of the ancient shrine...The scene almost appeared divine.
The sacred temple...The crimson aura...Two children connected by their foreheads while mysterious energy surrounded them.
For a brief moment...It looked less like a Quirk...And more like an ancient ritual.
Izumi slowly opened her eyes. "...Huh?"
The temple was gone. The mountain had disappeared. Even the cool breeze had vanished.
She stood within an endless black world that stretched infinitely in every direction.
There was no sky. No ground. Only darkness.
"...Where are we?" She looked around in amazement before noticing another figure slowly materialize beside her.
Akira.
He smiled reassuringly before taking her hand. "This is the space inside my Quirk."
Izumi looked around again.
"So this is...The inside of All For One..."
Akira nodded. "It changes every time I grow stronger."
He gently guided her forward. After walking only a short distance, Izumi suddenly stopped.
"...Beautiful..."
Far above them floated an enormous crimson sphere. It resembled a blazing red sun suspended within the endless darkness.
Orbiting around that giant crimson star were dozens of colorful spheres of light.
Some glowed blue. Others shimmered gold, emerald, silver, violet, crimson...Each one revolved peacefully around the great red sphere like planets circling a sun.
"They're beautiful..." Izumi whispered unconsciously.
Akira smiled. "Those are my Quirks."
Izumi stared in complete wonder. "So many.."
Akira looked upward alongside her. 'Looks like they've all settled down after I made them.'
Over the past few days, after obtaining fifteen new Quirks, he had spent countless hours inside this very space experimenting with their souls.
During those experiments, he had made an unexpected discovery. He didn't necessarily have to fuse entire Quirks together.
Instead he could carefully extract specific traits, abilities, or concepts from purified Quirk souls, duplicate those individual aspects, and merge only those pieces into another Quirk.
It wasn't true fusion. It was closer to...Evolution.
That discovery alone had increased the possibilities of All For One exponentially. The results floated proudly above him.
BoBoiBoy: A sentient quirk in the shape of a boy. It grants the user the ability to transform, create, control and manipulate elements like lightning, fire, water, earth, wind, ice, nature, solar, lunar, crystal, etc.
Senku: A sentient quirk in the shape of a boy. It passively makes the user 10 times smarter and also increases the user's thought process by times 20. Their thinking speed, calculations, reaction planning and decision-making abilities are all accelerated tremendously, although the body itself does not automatically move faster. And when used actively, it makes the user's IQ level 300 while increasing the thought process by times 30.
Luffy: A sentient quirk in the shape of a straw hat man. The quirk allows the user to transform the user's body into rubber, granting tremendous elasticity and flexibility. The user's limbs can stretch, bounce and twist in numerous ways, making conventional blunt attacks ineffective. However, piercing attacks remain highly dangerous. The body is also sensitive to extreme temperatures, and inexperienced users risk injuring themselves through uncontrolled recoil if they stretch beyond their limits. The user can also deflate or inflate their body, while also being able to increase their rate of blood flow and enter a state called Gear 2.
Pegasus: The user is able to summon a Pegasus. It has the ability to fly at high speeds capable of reaching the speed of a jet, is powerful enough that one of its stomps is capable of taking down a building. It also has the ability to control winds empowered by its wings.
Panny: An unusual sentient quirk in the form of a pan. It allows the user to summon frying pans. Once summoned, the frying pans can be telekinetically control them, allowing them to fly independently for both offense and defense.
Meliodas: A sentient quirk in the shape of a yellow-haired man. Whenever the user commits an action considered sinful—such as lying, insulting someone, causing harm, killing, or deliberately provoking others—they generate a unique form of energy that automatically heals their injuries while also being able to use that energy to rebound physical or energy-based attacks back at the attacker. Greater sins produce greater healing, making the quirk exceptionally dangerous in the hands of someone without morals. The rebound effect of the quirk depends on the energy used. If the energy required to rebound the enemy's attack is less, the attack will not be rebounded.
The silence lasted only a few seconds before Izumi noticed something strange.
"...Eh?" She pointed toward the sky of the mindscape. "But... why is that one bigger than the others?"
Akira followed her finger. Floating some distance away from the crimson sun and the orbiting Quirk souls was a single, much larger white sphere. Unlike the others, it wasn't revolving around the giant red sphere at all.
Instead, it remained perfectly still, quietly hovering by itself. It almost felt...Separate and Isolated.
Izumi tilted her head. "And why isn't it circling around the sun like the others?"
Akira looked at the white sphere for a brief moment before smiling. "That...We'll talk about later."
"First...I'd like you to meet my friends." He closed his eyes for a second before sending a mental command throughout the mindscape.
Immediately...Every Quirk soul orbiting the crimson sun trembled.
The colorful spheres shot across the dark sky like countless shooting stars before descending around Akira and Izumi.
As they landed...Each sphere transformed into its true form.
The larger Quirks, such as Groudon and Ddraig, intentionally shrank themselves so they wouldn't frighten Izumi.
Izumi's emerald eyes widened in amazement.
Standing before her was a graceful woman with long white hair flowing down her back. Her skin was pale white, while her pure white eyes resembled the mysterious Byakugan Akira had shown her before.
The elegant woman smiled gently. "I am Kaguya. It's nice to meet you, Izumi." Her calm, motherly voice immediately put Izumi at ease.
Beside Kaguya stood a tiny version of Groudon. Although "tiny" was relative. He was still roughly the size of a small car.
The miniature crimson kaiju looked up at Izumi before letting out an adorable little growl. "Grou...don."
Izumi instantly clutched her chest. 'Too cute...'
Not far away, Ariados lazily spun a silky web before weaving it into a soft cushion. The giant spider happily plopped onto it before lifting one of its legs in greeting. "Ariados."
On the opposite side, a huge gorilla-like creature with the sleepy face of a sloth yawned loudly. Without asking permission, Slaking stole Ariados' freshly-made web cushion, leaned against it comfortably and scratched his stomach.
"Yawn...Name's Slaking."
Ariados stared blankly at him. "...That's my cushion."
Slaking simply closed his eyes. "I'm borrowing it."
"..."
"You say that every time."
Next to them floated a small crimson dragon. Despite his reduced size, his emerald eyes radiated confidence. He folded his wings politely. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Master's friend."
"I am Ddraig, the Welsh Dragon."
Izumi instinctively bowed back. "I-It's nice to meet you too!"
A cheerful voice suddenly interrupted them. "It's nice to meet you, kid!" A boy wearing an orange cap flashed a bright grin before giving a confident thumbs-up. "My name's BoBoiBoy!"
Standing beside him was a white-haired young scientist wearing unusual clothing. He calmly adjusted the thick book resting beneath one arm. "My name is Senku. It's ten billion percent nice to meet you."
Izumi blinked. "...Ten billion?"
Senku nodded seriously. "Accurate estimations are important."
Only then did Izumi notice the title written across the cover of the thick book he was holding. Fanfiction of Another World
Akira immediately looked away. 'I refuse to explain that.'
A loud laugh echoed nearby. "Hahaha!" A young man wearing a straw hat stepped forward, pointing proudly at himself.
"I'm Monkey D. Luffy! I'm gonna become King of the Pirates!"
Izumi blinked twice. "...Pirates?"
"Yep!" He grinned even wider.
Behind him stood an elegant white Pegasus. Blue energy softly shimmered around its beautiful body as its enormous wings folded neatly against its sides.
Rather than speaking aloud...A gentle telepathic voice echoed directly inside Izumi's mind.
L "Pegasus." The majestic horse bowed gracefully before letting out a soft neigh.
Floating above Pegasus was...A frying pan. Not an ordinary frying pan. A cartoonishly large frying pan with wobbly eyes and an oversized smiling mouth.
It spun happily in circles. "Hey there!"
"The name's Panny!" It leaned forward excitedly. "Do you want eggs?"
Izumi stared.
"..."
"..."
"...A talking frying pan..."
Finally...A short blond young man carrying a broken sword over his shoulder stepped forward with a relaxed smile.
"Sate Sate Sate...My name is Meliodas. It's nice to meet you."
Izumi stood completely frozen. Her eyes slowly traveled across every single Quirk.
The graceful Kaguya.
The adorable Groudon.
The sleepy Slaking.
The energetic BoBoiBoy.
The serious Senku.
The carefree Luffy.
The majestic Pegasus.
The bizarre Panny.
The polite Ddraig.
The relaxed Meliodas.
Then...Her eyes began sparkling. The Quirks collectively felt a chill run down their spines.
"...Amazing..." Izumi whispered.
Then all hell broke loose.
"Can you eat!?"
"Do Quirks sleep!?"
"If Akira becomes unconscious, can you control his body!?"
"Do all Quirks have souls!?"
"Can I touch you!?"
"Do you grow older!?"
"Can you learn things by yourselves!?"
"Do you have birthdays!?"
"Can you feel pain!?"
"Can you have children!?"
Questions exploded from her mouth one after another without pause. The barrage was so overwhelming that the entire group comically shook backward as though struck by invisible bullets.
"W-Wait!"
"One at a time!"
"I don't know!"
"What was the last question!?"
"I forgot!"
Panny spun around in panic.
BoBoiBoy held his head.
Even Senku looked completely overwhelmed.
Meliodas slowly stepped behind Ddraig for cover.
Kaguya covered her mouth while laughing helplessly.
Every Quirk simultaneously turned pleading eyes toward Akira.
'Master, Help us!'
Akira looked at the group...Smiled innocently...Then quietly walked away. 'Good luck.'
The Quirks stared at his retreating back in complete betrayal.
'Master!! How could you!?'
Ignoring their cries, Akira calmly made his way toward the lone white sphere floating away from the Quirk solar system.
His expression slowly became thoughtful.'Now then...it's time to prepare her gift.'