Time Flew, and Half a Year Passed in the Blink of an Eye

The next day, when Uraraka Shige returned home from school, he learned what had happened.

A fresh corpse had been found in the little park where he usually trained, apparently the work of someone imitating a serial killer from several years ago. Shige's class representative had been caught up in the incident and had taken time off to recover in the hospital, where he would need nearly half a month to heal.

Yet just one week later, Shige's class representative had unexpectedly recovered from his injuries and returned to school.

Two weeks after that, a classmate who was usually close to the representative suddenly noticed that his personality had changed drastically without anyone realizing it. He had become cold and short-tempered, the complete opposite of his former self, who had been strict but kind. Aside from a few children close to him and his parents, however, nobody cared.

That included Shige.

Time continued to fly, and two months passed.

The class representative had undergone a complete transformation compared to two months earlier.

His once excellent eyesight had become nearsighted at some point, leaving him unable to go a day without glasses. His big, adorable (ω) childish eyes had also grown accustomed to narrowing into something like triangles. His pupils were hard to see, but they occasionally flashed with a cold glint that made the hairs on people's bodies stand on end.

His clothes and style had changed from the lively look that suited a child to something that gave off a gloomy impression. His personality, once more exacting than that of other children his age yet gentle all the same, had also suddenly turned completely cold toward everyone one day. The air about him had quietly shifted from the vitality and exuberance of most children to something cold, gloomy, and full of decay.

Time continued to slip quietly by, bit by bit, until half a year had passed.

Shige and Ochaco had both moved up another grade, but they were still in the same class as the former representative, who had lost his position by now.

The former representative no longer spent time with other children his age. Instead, like Shige, he was shunned by children who appeared to be his peers. Every day, he went to and from school all alone. As people kept their distance from him, he also kept his distance from them, becoming so mysterious that no one had any idea what he was really like now. He also accidentally injured teachers and students at school every few days.

Shige did not care at all about the changes in the former class representative. To him, the boy was nothing more than a stranger whose name and gender he knew. With a personality that had barely changed over two lifetimes, he considered a stranger's life or death none of his concern. At most, a stranger might occasionally give him a show to watch and pass a little time.

Ochaco had her own little circle of friends, so the former representative's changes had nothing to do with her either. She had never paid them any attention, and her circle did not even occasionally bring him up as a topic of conversation.

It was as though the former class representative was gradually being forgotten by everyone.

Aside from the enormous changes in the former class representative, Shige and Ochaco had never stopped growing either.

Shige's physique was now quite strong. Though he was only nine and a half, the effect of maintaining Heavy Shackles every day had given him solid muscles and strong bones and sinews. If he tensed all the muscles in his body, then, in Ochaco's words, "touching him feels like touching a tree trunk with the bark stripped off." He was muscular all over, and he had deliberately kept his body fat at a good level. Though he was still far from perfect, and his explosive power, endurance, resilience, and reflexes still fell considerably short of those of well-built adults who exercised regularly, his growth compared to half a year ago was still considerable.

If he were compared with the pervert he had encountered before, he would not even need to use his Quirk now. A single punch to a vital spot would be enough to leave the man completely incapacitated and unconscious. If he used his Quirk to strengthen his attacks, he might even be able to put the man in a hospital bed permanently, never to wake again.

Unfortunately, although he had indeed grown much stronger again, there was one thing Shige deeply regretted. Like Teacher Saitama, he had paid a painful price to become stronger—he was short.

At nine and a half, even if he did not compare himself with the taller boys, he was still half a head shorter than Ochaco, who was also nine and a half... Although this was probably related to the Uraraka family's genes, his current height was hard for him to accept, since in his previous life he had been just at the average.

Great. In two lifetimes, he had never been tall...

Still, if he had to choose between strength and height again, he would probably choose to increase his strength at the expense of his height.

As his older sister, Ochaco had been influenced by him every day over the past six months, and her strength had naturally grown quite a bit as well.

Although the "heavily armored loli" Shige had envisioned was still nowhere in sight... No, perhaps even a future "heavily armored girl," "heavily armored mature beauty," "heavily armored middle-aged woman," or "heavily armored old lady" would never appear. But thanks to his efforts, Ochaco's mastery of her Quirk had improved by more than a notch, and she was no longer too far from her level when she first appeared in the original work. With the help of a certain interest of his, the current Ochaco had even developed skills such as Heavy Strike, Shield Wall, and Crouching Defense with Head Covered...

Yes, the last one was a skill that used Ochaco's own cuteness to make enemies lower their guard, then counterattacked to turn the battle around...

Although it probably would not be worth a damn in practice, given Ochaco's face and hairstyle, she really was adorable when she used it. After all, cuteness was a lifelong matter, so that was enough!

Aside from that, Terumi Genga had not contacted them again. Shige and Ochaco occasionally missed him, especially the free training equipment and snacks they had enjoyed when Genga was around.