"I Reincarnated in Boku no Hero but They Forgot to Give Me a System"

Chapter 22 – The First Step of the Plan

The next morning, Aoi was already up before the birds began to sing. While the sky was still covered in shades of dark blue and violet, he stood by his bedroom window — dressed, focused. The silence of dawn matched the stillness of his heart: calm, yet unshakable.

He took a deep breath, grabbed his backpack, and stepped out into the fresh morning air.

— "If I want to build a company, I need to start with something simple... and profitable," he murmured to himself, walking steadily through the empty streets.

When he arrived at the neighborhood public library, the lights were just starting to turn on. The doors had barely opened. He was the first to enter.

The librarian looked up from her desk and blinked in surprise at the serious-looking boy with a stuffed backpack and a pen in hand.

— "Are you sure this isn't too advanced for you?" she asked kindly, pointing to the tall shelves in the technology section.

Aoi smiled politely.

— There's nothing I can't learn, he said, passing her without hesitation.

Thus began the most intense study sessions of his life.

Day after day, Aoi returned to the library and dived into knowledge. He devoured books on programming languages — Python, Java, C++, and others — absorbing their syntax as if they were native tongues. He read about software architecture, app development, user interface design, and digital security. Concepts that confused even university students were effortlessly broken down in his mind.

His skill, the incredible compression, worked like a supercomputer in his brain: connecting ideas, building models, and simulating code in real time. Diagrams, algorithms, lines of code — everything became as natural as breathing.

But even so, he didn't neglect his body.

Every afternoon, after finishing his reading, Aoi ran around the mansion wearing heavy clothes. He pushed his body to the limit with push-ups, sit-ups, and flight exercises. He fired at moving targets, trained precision strikes on reinforced dummies, and honed his reflexes against drones he programmed himself to simulate ambushes.

At night, while others rested, he sat cross-legged in his room — a book on his lap and a dumbbell in one hand.

— "Physical strength is my shield... intelligence, my sword," he murmured, sweat dripping from his forehead as his eyes stayed fixed on a complex diagram of an operating system kernel.

His routine was relentless, but not reckless. Every movement was calculated. Every minute, strategically used. He wasn't just seeking strength anymore — he was building a foundation.

After a whole week of this double training, something changed.

On the eighth day, while reviewing advanced backend frameworks, Aoi paused. He leaned back in his chair, narrowing his eyes with a sudden clarity.

— "I've reached the limit of what books can offer," he whispered. "Time to put everything into practice."

Without wasting a second, he stood, walked to the safe under his bed, and turned the dial with practiced precision. Inside, stacks of yen — earned from the growing success of the Fire Force manga, licensing contracts, and the anticipation of the anime adaptation.

With money in hand, he headed to Musutafu's central electronics district — a tech hub where even professional heroes came to buy tactical gear and simulators.

Under the bright lights and the hum of screens, he bought the best of the best: a state-of-the-art processor with an integrated AI coprocessor, massive RAM capable of running dozens of virtual machines simultaneously, a graphics card designed for 4D simulations, and an ultra-wide curved monitor that enveloped his field of vision.

The cashier raised an eyebrow when he saw the name on the payment: Aoi Todoroki. But the transaction went through without questions.

When Aoi returned home, the mansion was silent. Everyone was asleep. But he didn't waste time.

He carried the parts to his room and spread them across the floor. One by one, he assembled the machine: motherboard, CPU, liquid cooling system, SSDs, custom power supply. Every screw tightened with precision. Every cable carefully routed.

The final touch was the monitor — curved like a command center, its frame softly glowing.

When finished, Aoi stepped back and admired his work. The machine gleamed like something out of a sci-fi movie — sleek, efficient, perfect.

He pressed the power button.

The fans whirred. Lights flickered. The screen lit up with a blue glow — the same shade as his flames.

And then, he started typing.

The next five days turned into a haze of code and caffeine.

He barely slept, surviving on protein shakes and nutrient pills. His enhanced endurance, combined with the healing properties of his quirk, allowed him to keep going. He took regeneration breaks to rest his muscles and clear his mind, but even then, his brain never stopped.

Line after line, he wrote code — front-end, back-end, user interface, security protocols, server architecture. He debugged as he went, reading error messages faster than most people read headlines. His hands flew across the keyboard; his eyes tracked every symbol, function, and logic gate.

Hours turned into days. His posture collapsed. His voice faded. But his will never wavered.

And finally… on the fifth day, as the sun began to rise again…

— "Done…" he whispered, almost lost in the silence.

The screen displayed the name of the app he'd built from scratch:

"FaceBook: version 1.0 – Created by Aoi Todoroki."

He leaned back in his chair and exhaled slowly. A faint smile appeared on his face. Not arrogance — but quiet satisfaction.

He turned his head, dragged himself to the nearest bed, and collapsed without even pulling the covers over himself.

He didn't move. He didn't speak.

For the first time in a long while, he slept not because his body demanded rest... but because his soul deserved it.

He wasn't exhausted from reckless training.

He was tired because he had just taken his first real step…