NOVEL WEB Issue #11: Buzzing Around
No no no! It’s all wrong!
It was another morning before she had to go to school again. Just a few more months until she can decide what to do with her life as an adult in the real world.
She immediately shook her head and ignored every dark thought that started to come up whenever she thought about her near future. Her plan had to work, it had to… she just needed a miracle and for her beloved to stop changing routes and, and, and for those hussies pestering him to back off!
Ugh!
If only he could see me…
She began typing and changing her cameras once again. It seemed that her savior decided against visiting the shopping area. She scanned for possible parts of the city with cameras on that would pinpoint the possible location of her hero. He was in Naruhata, in the mornings at least, then when she’d be at school she would search for any new activity related to Smiley on the news or her video feed, then go back home, repeat between the two while adjusting her plans for ‘interception’.
As she furiously typed, in the background in a small tv there was a news report about a giant villain being defeated by Smiley from last night. Manami completely missed how one of the civilians on the site looked exactly like the person she was searching for on the cameras.
It’s not like she thought too much about her plan. It could easily fail if her savior had someone else in his heart already. But as the inspiration, the symbol of happiness and love that is Smiley, she had to try.
Love will win at the end
And by love I mean me!
‘If only he didn’t change the- THERE HE IS!!’ she gasped as she saw her beloved run in a park with tree logs strapped to his back through rope. It took less than a second before she began to take screenshots of the white haired teen. ’Oh my gosh! No wonder he’s so strong!’
Kyaaahh… a-and so manly too!
She watched him and captured a few more frames for her… fun nighttime adventures. But she had to leave the feed, just for a few minutes, so she could write the new location into a post-it and stick it into a map that was glued to her wall with locations of interest, usual routes, shops her target frequents and unexplored places due to lack of cameras.
Once she declared the park as a new location of interest and possible route she went back to her seat and readied herself. She still had a few more minutes before she had to take a shower, eat her breakfast and go to school.
As she changed from camera to camera, to see if her savior was still in the park, she stumbled onto the image of the white haired teen that saved her, on what appeared to be talking to a few kids, another teen of black hair and… a blond girl with big boobs, while they were doing exercises,
‘Ugh! Why are bimbos flocking him all of the sudden!?’ Manami thought while closing her eyes and moving both of her arms wildly in frustration. It’s not like she was jealous of them, she just wanted some of that too. ‘Leave him alone! You don’t even know him like I do!!’
The conversation didn’t take too long, because her savior immediately took off the logs strapped to his back and began to jog away from them.
But this time, she was ready for it and immediately began to hack and follow her target who was moving at a normal jogging speed towards a certain location. It wasn’t that she couldn’t follow him fast enough, but that the camera feed ended on a certain street with only one restaurant, a tea shop and a shoe store in between closed or abandoned stores and shops.
She sighed, disappointed. She almost had him.
Taking a pen and another post-it she marked the new location on her map. Today she managed to get two new locations, maybe these were more frequent than the shopping district?
She winced as the alarm on her desk alerted her upcoming appointment with more disappointment at school… at least the new information she obtained and the new feed of Smiley videos during and after school are going to keep her entertained.
Discarding her clothes on the ground she began to make way towards her bathroom while thinking of her white haired beloved.
Wouldn’t it be magical?
To meet for the first time and reveal it?
She reveals she knows his darkest secret, but he doesn’t need to hide it anymore?
Manami Aiba could only daydream her plans as she felt the lukewarm water start to pour down on her body.
“You know? I shouldn’t be this surprised that you guys are this shameless,” I said, sporting a disappointed look while holding a broom on my shoulder. Jin was on my side looking between awe and annoyance, you never know with him until he speaks. Kon and the rest of the kids are still painting the remaining walls outside. “But to barge in while we’re repairing a homeless shelter, eat the food and use the water? You guys have gone too far!”
“Y-Yeah, but I told you I was going to give a big donation once I’m famous” the pink haired girl said, huffing, then she looked to the side and crossed her arms in mild anger. “I’m an Idol, once I start getting deals I will be able to buy a skyscraper so everyone lives in luxury instead of this dump!”
‘Dump?’ I thought, blinking owlishly. ‘The place WAS a dump before we began fixing it. What does she know?’
I looked around the place, then directed my gaze back to her. I deadpanned.
“Until then, you’re just another freeloader, like that old man over there.” I offhandedly pointed towards the old man ‘knuckles’ who was getting out of the bathroom while brushing his teeth, his only clothing being his briefs and a towel wrapped around his shoulders.
“Oh my god boss! PopStep is in our shelter! Like I care about that!” Jin couldn’t handle it anymore and let out a scream of happiness at meeting the idol who he has only seen less than five times, but for some reason became a big fan in just one showing. “When were you going to let me meet her you bastard! Thank you so much boss!”
I gave a look of bewilderment towards my friend, considering this was the first time he inverted the script, meaning he was actually angry at me for keeping quiet about following these two so they don’t get into trouble.
“No Jin, just…” I sighed, feeling drained already, and morning just barely started. “Not now Jin, go back to the kids and help them finish the painting,”
“Like hell I will! Ok boss!” my masked friend said, before taking his equipment and made his way towards the door while fuming.
Ok, maybe I don’t know how to identify his true feelings when he’s mad.
What a drag…
“Uhh… ” whatever word PopStep tried to get out, it remained in her throat for a few seconds as she saw Jin go. “Is there a reason why he calls you boss?”
“Ignore that.”
“Hey kid, tell Salt there’s no more beers in the fridge,” said Iwao with his eternal frown, while brushing his teeth and then after closing the fridge he spat on the ground. He immediately noticed my animosity. “I’ll clean it later kid, you worry too much.”
Breathe in… Breathe out…
“Why don’t you go and tell him yourself then?” I asked, already done with the conversation. “Because unless you don’t have anything to do today here I’ll appreciate If you visited the other shelter where everyone is!”
Without further ado, I took the broom off my shoulder and started to use it for its intended purpose; cleaning the shelter.
It’s been a few days since I started to follow these two, and they already made the shelter their home. At least the old man did. PopStep just kept following me around so I’d become her manager and made friends along the way.
If speaking with Cream once and screaming ‘pervert’ at Kon and the kids could be considered being friends.
Finishing the sweeping from the side of the shelter I was on, I directed my gaze towards the problem children I have to deal with on a daily basis. Only to see them arguing about whatever.
‘Guh, I don’t know if watching PopStep’s tight suit is actually worth it anymore’ I thought, sighing in contempt.
‘Oh-ho! Today there’s a sale on kombu and cabbage. I have a few dish ideas for these ones,’ I thought, arriving at the vegetables section of the mom-and-pop shop I decided to go to. ‘It’s a good thing they use english words for sales or I wouldn’t know what they even say.’
A week has gone by since my clone was seen with the old man and PopStep. I had to get the details through the original source to understand what the hell was going on. So now one of my own was delegated as a babysitter for those two while I trained and my other clone did my work as a hero. At least until I manage to destroy the gourds with my breath.
It wasn’t until I held them in my hands and heard the tale the old lady told me about japanese legends of old that I remembered that was the last training I've seen from that anime I got the breathing pattern from. There were different breathing techniques too, but I only knew to train in one form.
The training wasn’t as spectacular as I believed. Instead of using wind from the palm of my hands or fingers to break them, I had to blow air from my mouth on them until they exploded. That and normalizing my breathing techniques to such a degree I could use them while sleeping.
This type of training would be useful once I could manipulate my pathways to maintain my breathing constantly during a fight or while flying. I’d noticed the way my speed increased every time I used them in battle. Being able to use them all the time could prove to be useful.
It didn’t take long for me to get my shopping cart full of items for the next couple of weeks, and considering the other two are sticking around, I might as well stock up on things I can freeze over in my stole- I mean, totally not stolen and new freezer.
As I stayed in line to get my things charged, I began to think about how my life has changed.
I’m Gurē.
But who was I, before Gurē?
Checking out of the store with massive bags around my hands I pondered. The memories of my past life kept disappearing. That brought up a real problem for me. Were our minds merging? Are certain memories being forgotten to fit this brain? Who was really who here? Am I the kid? Or the adult?
In my dreams I only saw the same kid, but I never saw myself.
Who am-
“AIEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!”
My musings were rudely interrupted by PopStep running away from… something. Didn’t give it a proper look as my lungs expanded with air and my foot met its slippery skin and sent it away until it hit a pole and stayed down, before transforming into a kid.
I took a look at my groceries, just in case something was amiss, only to hear one of the worst insults in my whole career as a hero.
“Ah! It’s Hooded Hobo!” my left eye twitched as the familiar faces of the actual Byclops and Marine from this world arrived at the scene, probably following PopStep with the intention of helping her.
“If you want to keep your arms and legs intact you’ll stop calling me that,” I warned them. I showed them I was serious by creating popping sounds coming from my neck without moving a single inch. The trick was just increasing the pressure in my neck area and then releasing immediately. The two fans winced slightly, more in discomfort at the sound than at the threat
My nose flared in response to the new presence, making me sigh.
“There you are, old man,” my gaze shifted from the two highschoolers, to Knuckles, wearing his usual frown.
“Hey,” he grunted.
“GAHH!!” “IT’S THE FIST GEEZER!!”
‘I cannot believe that these guys are more afraid of the old man than me?’ I thought ‘I can kill them just as painfully’
“Tsk, you took care of him already.” Knuckles said. He took a cigarette and fetched for his lighter, while taking a look at the scene, then a PopStep, who was watching us from the rooftops.
“He was pretty weak.”
“Figures,” he hummed, taking a long drag from his cig. “It seems that most of them appear without clothes because their clothes get ripped off. So we gotta-”
“What? Take them down before they transform?” I finished his statement before he could finish, he just grunted in response, meaning that I was right in the center. “Ain’t that just your original plan of beating anyone suspicious? We went through this one already old man, your memory is slipping.”
Oh that was a good one, too bad nobody can hear my thoughts.
“Guys it’s the cops!” “Yeah let’s scatter” “Ah! I can see them from here!”
As the sound of police cars began to approach we decided to split up to cover more ground.
As for me? I just went to the shelter. I still had groceries on my hands.
I gave up.
If she didn’t want to pay for the food, then I won’t even bother with her.
Those were my thoughts as I saw PopStep in her school uniform eat the meat stew I made with one hand, while in the other she browsed the web on her phone. An object that I missed, but at the same time, I didn’t. For one, everything was in Japanese, so there went my initial enthusiasm. Secondly, at this point they would distract me from the real importance: taking care of the shelter and the people in it, my work as a hero and training.
I gave another side glance at the idol wannabe in front of me as I cut another batch of meat into slices for the upcoming rush hour in a few hours. Even in her ‘civilian’ clothes she looked stunning. There was something about it that made some heat rush to my cheeks. I sighed and soldiered on. Must be the hormones of a teenager.
Right?
I kept cutting at a slow pace, there wasn’t any need to rush, I had a lot of vegetables in the freezer, as well as the rice already cooked and ready. I just needed to finish here and I would pass the work to a clone and Jin.
“Oh! Gurē, I’ve got an email,” said PopStep out of nowhere. But I never stopped working on slicing the beef in front of me. I was almost in trance, besides the mild annoyance I felt for being called just because someone got spam mail.
“Is it that important? I’m in the middle of something here,” I replied. After I finished with the piece of meat, I went for another and sliced in the same way.
“Rude!” came the quick response of the pink-haired girl. “Remember those fans from my concert? Those school kids?”
My hand stopped in the middle of a cut, before continuing like nothing happened.
“Oh yeah, those kids… those kids that kept calling me Hooded Hobo even after I told them not to do that, and now everyone calls me that because of them?” I began as I kept cutting slightly faster, then stopped again once the piece was over and placed my knife to the side, and directed my piercing glance towards PopStep. “Those kids?”
“Y-Yeah,” the idol stuttered a bit bashfully—after all, she didn’t even try to correct her own fans for spreading that ridiculous name. “Um… well, do you remember the other day when you saved me from that slimy villain? Th-”
“I don’t.” I replied, getting back to work.
“LET ME FINISH!!” she screamed, startling a few customers who were eating peacefully around the food stand. “They met up with him and became friends. They said somebody tricked him into using the drug.”
That piqued my interest.
“Do you know who gave it to him?” I noticed how my finger slightly twitched. Seemed I was more interested than I expected, considering how I almost jumped at the opportunity to change into my Smiley outfit and go there immediately.
“Not yet. They told me he might talk to me about it,” PopStep replied with a frown, looking back to her cellphone one more time. I nodded once, and with that I stopped everything I was doing and made my way back to the shelter. “Um, what are you doing?”
“I’m going to tell the old man. He’s still in the shelter, so might as well take him for his regular walk.” I said continuing my walk.
“H-Hang on. He might start swinging those fists of his if he meets the kid,” Pop stopped me again, this time by placing her hand on my shoulder. I looked back just to see an expression of panic, like she just imagined the old man actually killing the kid. “I don’t want to be responsible for something like that!”
“Alright then let’s go. Get in costume,”
“Wait! I don’t want him to get scared and run!” the pink haired girl told me, both hands turned into fist as she got close. “He might think we brought the geezer!”
“So… we’re walking there?” I slowly blinked, baffled at the way she put that scenario through her head. “Please don’t tell me that’s what we’re doing.”
We ended up walking there. In hero costumes no less.
It’s not like I was bothered with walking while PopStep stumbled slightly because of her big boots, but the matter of fact was that this little guy's only defense were those two kids and I was moving at a snail pace because my companion felt we needed to take the slow route.
Ahhh…
Might as well enjoy it.
As Pop stumbled one more time I offered my arm with a slight smile.
“Here,” I said. I noticed how her face went slightly red as she finally took my offer and got closer too so we could lower the speed, “Those boots weren’t made for walking, huh?”
“T-That’s because I usually leap on these shoes,” she responded, while shifting her glance from side to side, nervous. “Hmgn… this could lead to a scandal, what if someone sees me hugging a hobo all of the sudden?”
“I can drop you if you want” I told her, amusement gone.
“No no, I’ll be good, I swear!” she replied, now used to the walking pace.
“Ahhh!! It’s PopStep!” “Kyaah!!”
She immediately released my arm and started to flail her own while staring at the person who called her name.
Honestly I’m not even surprised she got spotted while we were making our way to the meeting spot in the way she was dressed, in just a big hoodie and her ‘idol’ costume. I was surprised that nobody recognized her until this point really.
“Wow! It’s really you! Lucky me!” I directed my gaze just to see a brown haired girl dressed in a school outfit, gray skirt, white blouse, green ribbon, striped socks and a green school blazer. She had an eye white eyepatch on her left eye. “Is there an event today that I missed? I…”
I began to drown out the conversation. There was something amiss here, but I didn’t know why. The girl’s scent was all wrong. She smelled bad, really bad. She smelled like garbage, rotten food, piss, blood and shit, like she lived inside of a dumpster, but she was dressed too nicely to smell like that.
Was she a homeless person? Did she run off from home? Was she a hikki-something?
I must’ve been too lost, because I just caught up by the time they were asking me to take a picture of them. Before I could return her cellphone, the last thing I could do was offer the shelter as a possible place for sleeping.
“I-”
“Oh? who is this? Is this your boyfriend?” the mysterious girl that smelled horrible said, while pointing at me once she retrieved her phone.
“A-Ah! It’s not l-like that…” “Don’t think so.”
“DON’T DENY IT SO QUICKLY!” PopStep screamed, startling me. “He’s just my manager! My assistant, nothing else!”
Why would you get mad at me if you’re going to deny it too?
Whatever…
As the girl got close to retrieve her cellphone, I heard the familiar buzzing sound of that insect with the substance similar to the drug from the other night.
‘That sound,’ I thought, slightly wincing as I sniffed the area to see if I could pinpoint the smell of the insect myself, but all I could smell was that putrid smell. ‘Shit, that smell is making me dizzy.’
We ended up walking at a leisure pace, looking at the stores and people who walked past by living their own lives. Barely nobody knew or recognized PopStep during the rest of the trail towards the meeting place. My nose flared at two presences close by.
I sighed. Before the PopStep fan could utter any words from his mouth I stopped his speech.
“If you call me Hooded Hobo one more time, your buddy’s swords are gonna end in places you don’t want them to be.” The kid quickly nodded, before I directed my glance towards my right. Right there, sitting on a chair in the terrace of a coffee place holding a newspaper. “Hey old man Did you follow us? Don’t lie.”
“EEK!” “GAH!”
The old man grunted, meaning that he indeed was hearing us and decided to tag along. How he managed to stay out of my range, I don’t know. Then again, considering the speed at which we had been traveling, I wasn’t surprised.
I looked at the old man once again, who was trying to read the newspaper but seemed impatient, like he was expecting something was going to happen soon.
My train of thought was interrupted by a buzzing sound, immediately reminding me of the night I encountered one of them. Without a second thought I jumped two meters in the air, startling Pop and her fan and peaking the attention of the old man, and caught the insect between its wings, this time without destroying it. It thrashed and tried to prick me, but I didn’t let go.
I landed a few meters away from the old man Knuckles, who also got up when he saw the bug fly by. My enhanced hearing could discern people beginning to scream from the other side of the buildings.
“Gurē?” asked PopStep once I landed, worried.
“Old man… what do you know about this?” I dropped the pretense that this man was someone who didn’t know what was going on beyond helping the needy. If he was going to interfere in my work as a hero, he was going to be dealt with just like last time.
Breathe in.
I tried to drown out the sound of the air explosions as I flew by the night sky towards my next target. Some asshole on the drug speeding through the streets. Not exactly my problem as a hero, but from the report I got from the old man’s radio, the dude was sane and playing with the police forces. Meaning I could get a better lead if I interrogated him before the police apprehended him.
Breathe out.
I tried not to sneer as I felt multiple sources of rage coursing through my veins. The thing was bigger than I thought. A bee user, someone that can administer the drug without people noticing. For what purpose? Just to get a kick out of it? It doesn’t make any sense, but at the same time it does.
Breathe in.
Was that girl that smelled terrible the culprit? The scent I was perceiving, maybe it wasn’t trash, but something else, something worse. Were the people disappearing all this time… dying? Was she killing them?
Breathe out.
‘I can’t think straight. I really hope she isn’t, because if she is, I’m killing her myself.’ I decided against telling the old man about my theories about the girl at the moment, there was a lot going on, too many emotions. He was furious at the bee user, but he didn’t know who they were, so he sulked after exchanging information. PopStep tried her best to calm us down, but knowing that we missed the kid with the information only soured the mood.
As I approached the highway my hands tightened in preparation. I needed answers, and I needed them now. The sooner the problem was resolved, the sooner I could relax and go back to my routine and save more lives instead of losing them.
“There it is,” I muttered, I could barely hear my own voice at the speed I was going. One of my fingers stood up while the others stayed in a fist formation. ‘It would be so easy. There, no more problem.’
But that wasn’t the real reason why I needed to capture him before others got to him.
My hand went back into a fist, abandoning the position of ‘Finger Pistol’.
I slowly blinked as I saw a big truck approaching at high speed and releasing a man covered from head to toe in armor like suit, who immediately began to speed through the street almost catching up to the quirk user on the drug. A man that had a black visor, long animal-like legs and messy black hair, wrapped in skin like clothings.
I added three more kicks to the fifteen I was doing in less than a second and I got close enough for me to hear them from the distance I was in the air.
“Too slow Turbo hero!” the drug user said, evading a swipe from the hero. “You gotta stake your life on the line if you wanna run!”
“Razor, Iron Body,” I muttered, kicking the air thirty times in less than a second with both feet and then immediately toughening every single muscle of my body. Flesh met flesh in an instant, generating an explosion of asphalt and a splatter of spit and blood, ruining part of my mask suit. “It’s too bad that I’m here then, isn’t it?”
Eyebrows kept going because of limitations of his quirk. But I paid him no mind. The guy under me was still alive and awake, just disoriented from my initial attack. He was going to be fine… if he talked that is.
“Hello, I’m Smiley. End of presentation. You can begin with who’s distributing the drug,” I said to the groaning druggie while taking a handkerchief and cleaning the blood staining my mask. Once done, I positioned my foot on his torso and stared at him. “Any answer I don’t like means a toe goes missing. Sounds good? Good. Start.”
“Ugh…” was the only reply I got from him.
“That’s too bad. Let’s go with one of the smaller ones and we go from there.” My feet pressed the spot I struck a moment ago, making the man groan in pain.
“Smiley! Wait!” Tensei said, arriving at the nick of time before I could remove the toes of the person under me. My glance went towards the hero who was standing above the crater, but not making any provocation or movements that could be interpreted as aggressive. “This isn’t like you! What are you talking about?”
His total lack of knowledge made me lose my footing on the user of the drug.
“Has Eraserhead ever said anything about the drug to you guys? Have you been sleeping under a rock all this time!?” I screamed, it almost sounded like the scream of an older teenager. My rage from before came back twofold. “Homeless people are missing now, they could be dead already!”
“I… That might be true, but you need to trust us too, Smiley,” Ingenium said, sounding almost sad that he had to admit such a thing. “If something is going on, then you need to communicate it with us so we can help. Breaking people fingers for answers isn’t the way you do it”
It appeared that it was enough of a distraction that the druggie needed because he jumped high up and began to unfurl bat-like wings from his shoulders. But I didn’t give him a chance to get away from me.
“I told you, didn’t I?” I replied, less furious, but still angry. “Razor, Iron Body: Smash.”
My fist impacted the back of the villain, making him scream in pain. Air began to flow my lungs, my gaze sharpened as well as my senses. I felt the world move in slow motion as I began to strike, not once, not twice, but ten times in different points of one wing in fluid motions, similar to waves hitting the rocks of a shore.
“Water Flow: First Wave.” I fell down next to my prey, who began to spin in place at the lack of mobility from one wing. Before he could hit the floor, I grabbed one of his feet and threw him at the fence of the highway hard enough to almost break it.
“I’ll trust your judgment.” Once I noticed that the quirk user was down for good, I directed my gaze to the Turbo hero. “I forgot to hold back anyway.”
Without another word, I left the scene.
I wanted to go home.
A/N: Hello! Didn’t expect an update so close after the last one, didn’t ya? Well, that was the good news, the bad news is that the chapter is now half of what I used to write, mostly so I have a more consistent schedule. Hoping it stays that way.
It has come to my attention that people found Gurē detached in the last update. Normally I’d respond by pm, but I felt I should address a few concerns here, including this one. Gurē’s feeling of detachment comes from his restless involvement as a vigilante and owner of the homeless shelter, plus the external forces that are slowly getting close from all sides. Gurē barely has time for himself and his sleep schedule is close to nothing.
Manami’s plan of action had some difficulty considering my original plan was for them to meet in this very chapter, but since I decided to shorten the chapters, she will be introduced in the next chapter.
Hope to see you guys soon!