BNHA: I am Reiji Toga

"Tsk, damn it," exclaimed the children's mother. The knife had slipped on the tomato juice and cut her finger; it wasn't deep, but just enough for a thin trickle of blood to begin slowly trickling down her skin.

She set the knife down on the cutting board, grumbling under her breath, and headed straight for the sink. As the water ran, part of her mind was focused on finishing lunch on time.

Sitting a few feet away, Reiji watched the scene intently.

His eyes followed every drop of blood, every movement of the red liquid.

For a few seconds, everything else lost its significance.

The surroundings were still there, but they no longer mattered.

A draft came in through the open window, gently moving the curtains. That slight change was enough to break his fixation.

Reiji blinked.

'Shit... I have to learn to control this.'

He frowned, looked down, and forced himself to resume the task of setting the table.

It was that same feeling again.

That inner unease. That heavy heat in his stomach every time he saw blood.

Three years had passed since the incident with Himiko.

And Reiji was now around the same age Himiko had been when she first developed that taste for blood, and for some reason, Reiji was feeling exactly the same as Himiko had.

The memories hit him like a cold current.

After the incident, many things changed. His parents, their faces heavy with worry, enrolled Himiko in sessions with a child psychologist specializing in "atypical behaviors."

It was a polite way of saying their daughter was a potential danger.

The sessions were weekly, lasting more than two long years. Long enough for the situation to appear to stabilize.

But it didn't disappear.

Reiji knew this better than anyone.

He knew every little gesture and feeling Himiko had like the back of his hand; he knew the impulse persisted despite everything, and precisely for that reason, he decided to quell that impulse.

He took advantage of her regeneration and used his own blood to soothe Himiko's breakdowns.

Any cut, bite, or other injury to her skin would be erased in minutes by his accelerated healing, which was absolutely ideal given the situation.

And it worked; he had managed to ensure that Himiko didn't react to the sight of blood and didn't do irrational things because of it, turning to Reiji when she was on the verge of exploding.

He also taught her to control her Quirk, playing cheerfully when she took the form of her younger brother—though, of course, without their parents watching.

"And now I'm the one who can't control the urge… Irony…" he thought bitterly.

For weeks now, Reiji himself had begun to experience it. It started with his teeth; his two fangs grew a little, just like Himiko's.

The doctor dismissed it as "a shared genetic condition"—it could happen; they were siblings, after all. The problem arose when, weeks later, his nose developed an exaggerated sensitivity to certain smells, accompanied by changes in his own sense of taste.

Experiencing the craving himself was very differen from noticing it in someone else; the changes were subtle and almost imperceptible to a 4-year-old, and even he, with his teenage mindset, had a hard time distinguishing them.

The hardest part was when his instincts kicked in—a scene quite similar to Himiko's first encounter with blood. He could feel the tingling in his jaw, begging… needing to consume blood.

He fully understood why Himiko had given in to her impulses; it wasn't that she wanted to give in… It was irresistible to control that craving for blood; it was like being given the most delicious food in the world and only being able to watch as it went to waste.

The craving was horrible!!

"Come on, Reiji. Call your father and sister who are in the courtyard; lunch is served."

Reiji was snapped out of his thoughts by his mother's call.

"I'm coming!"

It was strange that he shared Himiko's weakness for blood. Especially considering that his body was adapted to be in perfect health at all times.

He always wondered why the characteristics of his body from his previous life had transferred with him; he took it as a whimsical coincidence so his torment wouldn't end immediately, but… Was that his Quirk, or his body?

Although his 'Quirk' was active, his own Quirk factor—an extra organ that forms with the emergence of Quirks—hadn't developed.

Which made for a strange case—not unique in the world, but certainly very rare.

'What if I have a Quirk, and the recovery is just somehow the same as in my previous life?'

***

Reiji walked hand-in-hand with his mother, while Himiko fluttered ahead of them with a bag of candy. His father, as always, was at work, so that afternoon was just for the three of them.

"Himiko, be more careful."

They were heading straight home, the same routine as every day. They picked them up from kindergarten and elementary school, respectively, then arrived home, had lunch, and were free for the rest of the day.

The day didn't seem any different.

"Huh?"

However, Reiji's nose twitched and his pupils dilated. Himiko, a few steps ahead, also froze upon sensing the distinct smell. Their mother, who didn't notice anything strange, kept walking down the deserted avenue.

Before Reiji could stop his mother and yell at Himiko to come closer, an unknown figure appeared from the corner of the street. He was running at full speed, his body splattered with fresh blood, and the sound of sirens behind him was clear.

"Himiko!"

Reiji's body tensed as he watched the man collide with Himiko and send the girl crashing to the ground.

"Tsk, move it, you stupid girl!" he cursed, glancing up at the mother and son. The sirens grew louder by the second, while a mysterious smile began to spread across the man's face.

Suddenly, the man's right arm turned dark and his muscles swelled dramatically. Before the mother could try to defend herself, the man struck her side, sending her crashing into the wall.

A groan of pain escaped the mother's lips as a thin trickle of blood began to run down from her head at the point of impact. Reiji barely had time to process what was happening when the man's hand grabbed him by the neck and lifted him effortlessly.

"You'll be my way out of this."

The man's maniacal smile widened as the sirens in the background began to grow louder.

'Shit... I can't breathe.'

Reiji brought his hands to his neck in a futile attempt to break free from the man's firm grip.

"C-Calm down, p-please don't hurt him." From the floor, his mother tried to reason with the criminal, but he barely gave her a glance.

"Himiko… Don't do it…" Reiji tried to say, watching as Himiko approached the criminal with tears in her eyes.

"Let him go!" Himiko shouted just as her small fists struck weakly against the man, who let out an annoyed sigh and raised his other hand, which was also turning black.

Reiji's instincts kicked into high gear, and, enduring the pain in his neck, he stretched as far as he could and slammed his foot into the man's face. His heel struck his attacker's right eye directly, causing the grip on his neck to loosen and the man to fall to the ground.

"Aaggghhh! I'm going to kill you, you damn kid!" he screamed angrily while clutching his right eye. His other eye seemed bloodshot, filled with deep hatred toward the youngest of the Togas.

Himiko, seeing that Reiji had been released, tried to help him, but the man's deranged gaze forced her to stand completely still out of fear, just like the children's own mother.

Reiji coughed as his regeneration worked on the wounds on his neck; when he looked up at the man, a chill ran through his entire body.

The man wanted to kill Reiji, and it showed in his gaze, but...

Can you scare someone who has already survived death?

"Do you think you scare me? I won't let you touch a single hair on Himiko…" he thought with conviction, when the man's leg moved at great speed and kicked Reiji hard; his small body was sent flying backward, and intense pain spread through his stomach.

"Reiji!"

Reiji's body slammed into the streetlight pole as his mother screamed his name. He could swear that along with the sirens, a faint sound of something shattering echoed inside him.

But none of that mattered; his recovery might help heal that. Instead, his attention shifted entirely to the defenseless Himiko, who stood completely still, watching everything unfold.

The sirens were getting closer and closer, and the man noticed it instantly; his crazed gaze shifted to Himiko, and he changed his plan.

"You're the one I'm taking…" he declared with conviction. The man's hand moved to grab Himiko completely off guard.

'Shit, shit, shit. I need... I need to protect her, I won't let you hurt her! You won't do it!'

In that instant, everything froze.

Time seemed to stretch out as he watched the criminal's hand slowly approach Himiko's face. The only thing Reiji could feel, besides the uncontrollable urge to protect Himiko, was the distinct smell of blood

The blood trickling down his mother's forehead, the blood oozing from her wounds, the blood caked onto the criminal's clothes.

'You won't get Himiko's blood!'

A moment before it struck, Reiji felt a sharp, intense sting right in the open wounds on his body; a crimson stream gushed out at high speed, heading straight between Himiko and the criminal's arm.

"What the…!?" the man exclaimed as his arm was struck by a sort of red mass, preventing the criminal from touching the girl, who remained completely still in her position.

"Himiko, move!" Reiji shouted with difficulty, as blood trickled from his mouth due to the wound inside.

"What the hell…!?" stammered the attacker, staring at the mass in front of him.

Reiji was gasping for breath, still on the ground. The blood was still there, suspended in front of the man like a liquid extension of his will. He didn't know how he'd done it. He just… wished for it.

"Reiji…" his mother whispered, paralyzed by what had happened in just a few short seconds.

"Reiji!" Himiko cried, running toward him. Himiko completely ignored the assailant, who continued to stare at the floating mass.

But Reiji wasn't listening. The metallic scent of blood intoxicated him. The burning in his rib began to fade.

His jaw ached. His fangs had grown. His instinct wanted more. He wanted to attack.

He wanted to devour blood!

'No… Not like this.' He clenched his teeth in a desperate attempt to quell the rising urge coursing through his entire body. Himiko didn't help when she hugged him tightly, tears in her eyes.

Reiji was trembling. Every part of Reiji's body begged him to throw himself at any nearby source of blood. But then… a shadow fell over both children.

"You brat… You'll die!"

The man charged forward, ready to finish off both children, blinded by rage over all the trouble a mere child had caused him.

It was then that a tall figure, clad in a white suit and blue cape, landed with a crash that made the pavement shake. The sirens were arriving on the scene.

"Get away from the child, now!" thundered a deep, authoritative voice.

The criminal tried to launch one last attack, but with a simple snap of the hero's fingers, a series of metal bands emerged from his belt and shot like shining snakes toward the attacker.

In an instant, they immobilized him completely, restraining his limbs with surgical precision and an extra one to prevent him from speaking.

Reiji remained on the ground, suppressing his thirst for blood. Himiko held him close, protecting him even though she was the one trembling the most. The blood around them no longer swirled, but it still glowed faintly.

"You've got guts, kid," said the hero in a softer voice now, turning to look him straight in the face and continuing with a small smile,

"And a rare gift… did you know that?"

Reiji didn't answer. He just looked at him, his breathing ragged, his eyes analyzing every move the man in front of him made, while their mother slowly came back to her senses behind them.

"You protected yourself. You protected your family. You're a true hero today, aren't you?"

Reiji swallowed hard. He felt his body go numb. The Quirk… His blood… It still tingled beneath his skin as if it wanted more. But those words pierced Reiji like a precise needle. A true hero, a hero who chose to risk his life to prevent anyone else from suffering—to prevent his mother and sister from suffering.

He wasn't someone locked away in a laboratory, being examined day and night for the sake of humanity, with a false heroic purpose when he was nothing more than an experiment—including for his father.

Reiji trembled. Himiko hugged him tighter.

"What… what's your Quirk called?" the hero asked.

The hero mistook the gleam in the little boy's eyes for something very different from reality.

"I-I don't know…" he murmured, pressing his lips together.

The hero smiled slightly.

"Then you should give it a good name."

The children's mother approached immediately, her hands still trembling, and wrapped them both in a tight embrace. She said nothing. She just held them close to her chest, as if afraid to let them go and have the world shatter again.

The sirens finally arrived on the scene; they had been delayed by only five minutes, but everything had happened so quickly that they had barely managed to avert the worst possible outcome.

It was all over.

***

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