The Terumi Family's Message, and the Possibility of Using a Quirk in Close Combat

In the end, after the ugly man called Ikyu used his Quirk to "heal" Uraraka Shige's injuries, Terumi Genga's family and his father's many subordinates all hurried away, leaving only the person who had previously claimed to be Genga's father.

When Uraraka Shige woke from his coma again shortly after they left, the only news he heard about Terumi Genga was a brief message the group had left behind, relayed by the girl who had maintained her disguise all along and caused Shige to fall unconscious. It amounted to just two sentences.

"Genga has received the best treatment and is no longer in any serious danger. However, he broke the family rules and must therefore be punished, so you needn't worry."

That was the beginning of the brief message, its first sentence. It was mainly meant to put Uraraka Shige at ease and make him understand that, although Terumi Genga was not seriously harmed, he had to be punished by his family because of Shige.

Then came the blunt second sentence, which sounded like a reprimand and brought the brief message to a close.

"As for you, the family originally intended to make you sever all ties with Terumi Genga. But it's quite clear that your concern for Terumi Genga is entirely genuine. I suppose Terumi Genga has already become someone very important to you, hasn't he? So the family head has decided to give you a chance to prove yourself within ten years, to prove that you're capable enough to be Genga's friend. If you can do that, Genga will naturally contact you again in ten years. And if you can't, then ten years from now, let Genga see what has become of you, the one who caused my little brother to get hurt!"

Those words naturally left Uraraka Shige's parents, who were at his bedside, looking conflicted. The girl delivering the message, meanwhile, still looked the way she had when she claimed to be Genga's father. After saying her piece, she left without giving any thought or consideration to the opinions or reactions of Uraraka Shige, Ochaco, or their parents.

After the person who had claimed to be Genga's father, but was actually his older sister, left, Uraraka Shige did not get much peace. Less than a minute later, two police officers came in and began talking with his parents. As a result of that conversation, Uraraka Shige was soundly scolded, and then, with great concern, his parents said things like, "You're not even a hero, so why did you have to go and show off?"

Finally, after his father and mother took the young Ochaco home, Uraraka Shige was left all alone in the private monitoring room once more. He lay quietly in his hospital bed, silently gazing at the ceiling.

Only then did Uraraka Shige finally have some time to himself to think in peace.

Thanks to the treatment from the Quirk of the man called Ikyu, Uraraka Shige's body had mostly recovered. All he needed now was a few weeks of rest, and even his face, which had previously been ruined by the villain's Quirk, had returned to normal... But that was all. His skin, for instance, still bore the terrible marks of having been directly scorched by extreme heat, a sight too pitiful to look at. He didn't care about that, though.

"Genga..."

After spending some time in silence, Uraraka Shige murmured Terumi Genga's name, whether in contemplation or simply under his breath. Then he thought of the two sentences the very self-centered person had left behind, and his feelings, which had already settled down, suddenly turned somewhat sour. He muttered an assessment of the person who was actually Genga's older sister but had insisted on pretending to be his father.

"Willful, self-centered, childish... What an awful person... And she's Genga's family too?"

An expression of slight sympathy mixed with considerable disgust appeared on Uraraka Shige's face. As he mocked and derided Genga's sister behind her back, he also wished Genga well.

"It must be hard, having family like that... I hope life gets easier and happier for Genga from now on. At the very least, he really needs to work on being so shy around strangers."

After saying that to himself, Uraraka Shige fell silent again, and the private monitoring room grew quiet once more. He thought of the policewoman again, but unlike the previous times, he did not sink back into sorrow and guilt. Instead, he was reminded of another person to whom he owed a debt of gratitude-All Might.

"I can't go on like this..."

He suddenly began murmuring to himself again.

"I'm growing too slowly... If this keeps up, there's no way I'll be able to repay All Might when the time comes."

Would he only be able to stand there and watch All Might suffer a grievous injury when the time came?! Or should he seek someone else's help? But who could help?

Leaving those questions aside for the moment, his earlier fight with the villain had made Uraraka Shige realize something he had always understood but instinctively ignored.

"Even with the help of those works from my previous life that existed only in fantasy, my development of my Quirk is still far too one-sided."

Uraraka Shige began to recall his fight with the villain from not long ago, and found a possible way to address the problem.

"Close combat... using my Quirk inside my body..."

Until now, he had always focused on developing his Quirk in ways such as expanding and tapping into its potential and building a solid foundation. He had been working toward those overly ambitious goals from the works of fantasy in his previous life. Even though he had constantly trained his body, he had only done so to improve his ability to adapt to, control, and withstand his own Quirk. And although he had learned some fighting techniques as well, he had completely overlooked the fact that his powerful Quirk could be used for more than support or unleashing big moves. He could even incorporate it into every punch and kick he threw.

Although he could not actually do that yet, and did not even know how long it would take before he could do what he now envisioned, the way he had used his Quirk when he successfully dealt with the villain was at least real, and had already worked.