A Gift from the Dead

Jilan Jiyu pulled his hands out from under the blanket and held his left hand flat in front of him. Naturally, there was nothing in his palm.

"...Was that an illusion?"

He had taken a handkerchief from Yoshikage Kira, and the hand that had fallen from Tomura Shigaraki had turned into a toy tank. If he had guessed correctly, that should have been his Stand's second ability-Sheer Heart Attack.

A bomb tank that could track a target indefinitely and explode.

Although Jilan Jiyu had named his Quirk "Killer Queen," it actually had only one ability: turning any substance his fingers touched into a bomb. There were two forms of detonation, one of which was for the object turned into a bomb to explode itself. The explosion could leave the bomb itself intact or destroy it, and it could also leave the bomb "partially destroyed and partially intact," giving it a considerable range of applications.

There were two ways the explosion could manifest: the object turned into a bomb could explode without affecting its surroundings, or it could detonate like a normal bomb and affect its surroundings. There were also two ways to trigger it. One was remote detonation, with Jilan Jiyu's hand acting as the detonator, allowing him to set it off regardless of distance. The other was a contact bomb: as soon as someone else touched the object turned into a bomb, it would explode almost instantly, like a landmine being stepped on.

These combinations produced four types of bomb: "automatic explosion," "automatic implosion," "manual explosion," and "manual implosion." Although the Quirk was powerful, it also had a major limitation. Only one bomb could exist at a time, and only after that bomb exploded could he set another.

Jilan Jiyu most often used manual explosion bombs, turning an object into a bomb and launching it before detonating it at its destination. Although he knew how to use the other types, he had rarely done so.

For individual objects such as bottles and drinking glasses, he only had to touch them with his hand to turn the whole object into a bomb. But for large objects such as doors and walls, which he could not possibly grasp in one hand, he could only turn the portion his hand touched into a bomb. Connecting parts such as doorknobs, however, could still be turned entirely into bombs.

As for living beings—that is, people—if the other person had no Quirk, or had a Quirk that altered their body structure, like Ojiro's tail, Jilan Jiyu only had to touch them to turn them into a human bomb.

But if they had a Quirk that affected the outside world, like Todoroki's or Yaoyorozu's, ordinary contact was not enough to turn them into a bomb. He could only use it on someone with no conscious intent to resist, such as a person who was unconscious or asleep.

In the original work, Killer Queen had another form of detonation: the object turned into a bomb would not explode, but the person who touched it would. Perhaps it had failed to adapt after coming to this world, but he did not have that ability. As for the abilities "Sheer Heart Attack" and "Bites the Dust," he had not received them at all and did not know how to use them.

Jilan Jiyu had thought that the ability he originally obtained was a "nerfed version," so he had not paid much attention to the Quirk before. After all, he had no need to use it in everyday life. But now he had a feeling that he seemed to have gained the ability called Sheer Heart Attack.

Perhaps Jilan Jiyu had moved a little too much and woken Tsuyu Asui, who had already been sleeping lightly. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Seeing that Jilan was awake, she said in delight:

"Jilan, you're awake!"

"Mm... yeah." His train of thought interrupted while he was considering his abilities, Jilan Jiyu became flustered, a rare occurrence for him, and quickly thought about what to do in this situation.

Seeing Jilan Jiyu's vague response, Asui naturally assumed he had not yet recovered. Blaming herself, she said, "If Jilan-chan hadn't been trying to save me, his brain wouldn't have gotten stupid..."

Asui seemed to make up her mind. She took Jilan Jiyu's hand, raised her head, and said earnestly, "Even if you've lost your memory, suffered brain damage, and become paralyzed on one side, Jilan, I'll take responsibility for you!"

??? Wait, how did things get to this point? What exactly did Tsuyu Asui misunderstand?

"Ahem... Asui, I'm fine."

Looking at Asui's tear-bright eyes, Jilan Jiyu pretended to cough to break the awkwardness. "I'd only just woken up, so I didn't understand what had happened."

"Huh... oh!" Asui blinked and began to understand the situation. Clearly, she had gotten it wrong. She quickly let go of his hand and said calmly, "The villains who invaded the school have been driven off, and everyone in our class is safe. To prevent the villains from taking revenge, the police escorted the other students in our class home after handling the aftermath."

She paused, then continued, "Midoriya-chan's injuries have already healed thanks to Recovery Girl's treatment. He went home under police escort this afternoon too."

"Then why didn't you go home?"

In the dim starlight, where Jilan Jiyu could not see clearly, Asui's face quickly turned red, but her voice remained calm. "Recovery Girl already checked you and found no wounds, but it was evening and you still hadn't woken up. Someone had to stay in the infirmary to look after you, so I stayed here to take care of you."

Is that so... I lost consciousness after talking with Yoshikage Kira, and I have no idea what happened after All Might sent the Nomu flying. I didn't expect to sleep all the way into the night.

"What time is it now? Won't your family worry if you don't go home tonight, Tsuyu-chan?" Jilan Jiyu remembered that Asui seemed to have asked him to call her Tsuyu-chan. The others in class called her that too, so the name came naturally to him.

"Tsu...!" Asui's body gave a sudden jolt, but she replied calmly, "Don't worry. I already called home and told them I wouldn't be back tonight. Besides, because of what happened, the school has given all the students tomorrow off."

That makes sense. After something this big, both the news media and government agencies will definitely make a big deal of it, and parents are bound to worry about their children's safety... But fortunately, none of the students were hurt this time, so the parents probably won't be too worried.

If I'm not mistaken, the school will even conceal the news that homeroom teacher Shota Aizawa and substitute teacher Thirteen were injured. At most, they'll let the public know that "a group of villains rushed into U.A. High School, but were sent running with their tails between their legs."

Besides, the police caught a large number of criminals this time. With results like that, the outside media will at most criticize the school's inadequate security system rather than question its strength. After all, it has All Might.

"Jilan, your watch." Asui took a watch out of her uniform pocket and handed it to Jilan Jiyu with both hands. "It's two thirty in the morning."

"Thank you." After accepting it by reflex, Jilan Jiyu realized something was wrong-did he wear a watch?

Jilan Jiyu normally checked the time on his phone, but after class started, he had left his uniform, phone, student ID, and other belongings in the changing room. As for watches, he had never had anything to do with them.

Holding the skull-shaped watch in his hand, Jilan Jiyu barely managed to keep his hand steady. He forced himself to sound calm as he asked, "Is this my watch?"

"That's right. The medical staff took it off your wrist so they could examine you more thoroughly." Asui stared at the somewhat rugged and menacing watch. "So you like this kind of punk design, Jilan..."

This is my watch? Don't joke around. It's clearly a gift from the dead...

Seeing Jilan Jiyu's dark expression, Asui said uneasily, "Jilan, did I break your watch? Sorry, I really couldn't figure out how to operate it..."

"Ah, it has nothing to do with you. There's nothing wrong with the watch." Jilan Jiyu threw back the blanket, sat up in bed, and smiled at Asui. "I just need to use the bathroom."

"I'll get your shoes." Hearing Jilan Jiyu say that, she breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly brought him the disposable slippers provided by the infirmary.

Jilan Jiyu put on the slippers and stood up. Suddenly, he placed a hand on Asui's shoulder and said with a serious expression, "You must be very tired now. Get into bed and sleep for a while."

Tsuyu Asui nodded blankly but still did not move, so Jilan Jiyu pulled her up from the stool by force and made her sit on the bed.

Asui had already bathed in the showers, and she was wearing disposable slippers too. Jilan Jiyu had her lie down, gently helped her take off her slippers, and covered her with a corner of the blanket.

"Good night."

Asui did not answer. She merely pulled the blanket up silently to cover her face.

Jilan Jiyu had been smiling warmly at Asui, but by the time he turned around, his expression had become unsettled. With that dark look on his face and the skull watch in his hand, he walked out of the infirmary.