Chapter 1: Raiden Hero・Raiden①

I can’t be a hero.

I can’t hold up such a noble ideal as throwing my life away to save some stranger. That hasn’t changed, even after I died and got reincarnated.

While I was writing a report with a research paper in hand at my usual café, the glass windows suddenly shattered into pieces.
People sitting by the windows screamed in shock.
I was on a sofa seat in the back, so I wasn’t hurt—but it wasn’t exactly the time to sit there calmly.

With the glass broken, the sounds outside became much clearer.
Crackling noises like thunder, rumbling booms like collapsing buildings, and the tremors shaking the ground.

In this world I’ve been reincarnated into, there are superheroes.
Which, of course, means there are also supervillains.

I threw my pen aside and helped a nearby staff member who had fallen in panic.

"Everyone, run!"

I shouted it over and over, guiding people out.
Luckily, there were no elderly or children inside the café, and everyone was healthy enough to run on their own.
After making sure no one was left inside, I headed out too.

That’s when my timing turned out to be the absolute worst—
A huge impact slammed into my abdomen, and I was thrown against a wall.

The concrete cracked from the blow, and my spine might’ve snapped.

"What are you doing!"

The one voicing my feelings was the superhero Raiden.
He was the guy I’d seen all over the news lately—the first Japanese hero, if I remembered right.
This world has heroes now, but apparently that wasn’t the case until recently.

Until a little while ago, supernatural phenomena were considered fictional, and superhumans all lived quietly, hiding their powers.
What shattered that silence was a villain named Delta.

No one even knows what Delta’s ability is.
But one thing’s for sure—he’s got command over others.

Until now, people with superpowers, no matter how much they wanted to stand out, never had enough influence to escape being completely covered up by public security.
Delta changed that. He took these superpowered criminals and raised them into full-blown supervillains, using them for some hidden agenda.

Villains under Delta’s command have been popping up one after another, wreaking havoc everywhere, and Japan’s public safety has been spiraling downhill.

The one holding the line against all that chaos is Raiden.
As his name suggests, he has the power to control electricity. Wearing his hero suit and hiding his identity, he’s been fighting the villains.
His flowing scarf is his trademark.

By now, this is the kind of information every Japanese person knows—
They run it on the news every single day, after all.

The one who slammed me into the wall was a villain with an exoskeleton made of steel beams.
Judging from how he was covered in scraps of steel and manipulating them around his arms, his superpower probably had to do with controlling metal or magnetism. A pretty strong-looking opponent, honestly.

I’ve never felt pain like this in my entire life.
Getting caught up in a fight between a hero and a supervillain… maybe this happened because I’ve always had lousy reflexes.
I was definitely too slow to run away—that probably sealed my fate.
While thinking such pointless things, I coughed up something wet.

I felt guilty for ignoring the usual manners of covering my mouth when coughing, but this was an emergency.
Not that I could’ve covered it anyway—my arm wouldn’t move. Must’ve been broken.
I couldn’t even wipe away the blood dripping from my mouth.

"Pathetic, Raiden! You let a civilian die!"

"Don’t push the blame on me—that’s your fault!"

From the sound of it, they were assuming I was already dead.
Not true, but that actually worked in my favor. As long as the villain wasn’t into kicking corpses, I wasn’t in immediate danger anymore.
Still, realizing I looked so dead the enemy bought it… that stung a bit.

Then again, considering these were villains, it wouldn’t be surprising if they were into corpse-kicking. That thought didn’t help my mood.

I don’t know what happened after that.
I must’ve blacked out for a while—or maybe I took a quick trip to the underworld.
By the time I came to, the villain was gone, and Raiden was supporting my body.

"Thank goodness, you’re alive! I’ll get you to a hospital right away!"

Raiden tried to lift me up, and I quickly raised my hand to stop him.
When I opened my mouth to reply, blood came out before my voice did—must’ve been clogging my airway.
After a few rough coughs, I finally forced out some words.

"I… I’m fine."

"That’s putting it extremely mildly. If you’re fine, then there are no injured people in this entire world!"

"Ah, uh… are there any other injured people?"

"None worse than you."

"That’s… good."

"‘Good,’ you say?"

"Thanks for saving me, Raiden."

At that, Raiden’s eyes widened behind his mask, obviously startled.
Was he not used to being thanked? That didn’t seem right. Maybe it was because he was still a rookie hero?

They say Raiden is famous for his lightning-fast speed, so maybe he usually leaves before anyone even gets the chance to thank him. Like a ninja.
Honestly, his hero suit kind of has that vibe too.

While wondering about that, I heard the wailing sirens drawing closer.

"The ambulance is here—you’ll be okay. Look, sounds like it’s just arrived."

"That’s a police car."

"…Eh, close enough, right?"

"A three-year-old could tell the difference better than you."

I couldn’t help but laugh at Raiden’s joke.

Probably not the kind of situation for laughing—but maybe it was because it wasn’t the kind of situation that it felt funny.

I didn’t really want to ride in an ambulance, but I couldn’t walk, so I had no choice but to be carried on a stretcher.
Raiden kept looking at me with concern until the very end, but when the police arrived, he left.
As a masked hero, he couldn’t really cooperate with their questioning, I guess.
I wanted to refuse too—but that was probably impossible.

Now, my special “superpower” is healing.

That’s why I could stay calm even after taking a fatal blow.
The wounds had already started slowly mending, but I keep this power hidden from the world.
It’s better to be called a monster than to be dissected as some kind of lab guinea pig. I don’t want anything to do with public institutions, including medical facilities.

Psychics, mutants, yokai—whatever you call them, it seems that society has only just begun to recognize people with abnormal abilities.
I guess they still don’t really have human rights. There’s no legal framework.
Apparently, America is more advanced on this front, but conservative Japan is still far behind.
So there are probably lots of people like me, hiding their powers and pretending to be ordinary citizens.

Because of my injuries, the questioning got postponed, and I secretly felt a little victorious.
By the time I finished the detailed medical checkup, the organs that had ruptured were completely restored.
The doctor kept shaking his head in disbelief at how minor my injuries were—but he didn’t suspect I had superpowers, which was just fine.

The doctor hadn’t seen the moment I got slammed into the wall and ended up all messed up.
They just assumed I was covered in blood but otherwise okay.

I ended up being admitted to the hospital, but I slipped out at the first chance.
If I stayed longer, it would be obvious that something was abnormal. Plus, the police would show up—what a hassle.

My wounds healed from the inside out.
Priority went to organs, blood vessels, and muscles, then bones, and finally the skin.

Eventually, I’d be back to perfect condition with not a scratch left—so hospitalization was completely out of the question.
These wounds would take about three days to fully heal, but for a normal person, it would be at least three months… and I might’ve even died on the first hit.

Once I could at least walk while limping, I snuck out through a window.

Because of my terrible coordination, I landed badly and broke both my legs. Oh, my god.

There are editorials saying that if you have powers, you should do something for others—but for me, hero work isn’t my job.
Landing like a superhero? That’s impossible from the start.

Still, there are plenty of things I could do behind the scenes.
Sure, I got beaten up by a villain, but if I look at it positively, my being the one who got hurt meant no one else got injured.

Maybe that’s the kind of job I could aim for in the future.
“Sacrificial villain victim”—where the hell would the money come from for that?
For a young girl’s future dream, it’s far too hopeless.

My name in this reincarnated life is Inori Katagiri.
I used to be a rough middle-aged man, but now I’m a 15-year-old girl enjoying student life.

I became a delicate girl with a healing ability, but it only works on me—so no thanks to any heroine role.
Even if I’ve undergone TS (gender change), I don’t intend to become a girl at heart.
Judging from the fact that I still flinch every time I see my reflection and think, “Whoa, I’m weirdly cute,” there’s no way I’m taking the classic heroine route.

With both legs broken, I crawled to a nearby park.
I straightened my bent legs and sat in the shade for about an hour.
I wasn’t fully healed, but I could probably walk soon. Unlike internal organ ruptures, broken bones heal relatively quickly.

Thank goodness I had just left my parents’ home.
The dorm supervisor would be furious, but I’ve gone out without permission before.
She definitely wouldn’t suspect I nearly died, got hospitalized, and then broke out.

The dorm room being on the first floor was convenient too.
I could sneak in and out without breaking both legs again.