NOVEL WEB Issue #13: Judgment
That was dangerous Hachisuka. You were lucky that he prioritized the people over your capture. To think he got this close…
“Heh-heh, too close for comfort,” she said, as the buzzing sound from her hive drowned the sound of running water and the boring voice from her right earphone. Kuin looked at herself with an unreadable expression in the mirror of the house she was currently staying at and began the process of wrapping the wound of her shoulder. “Little ol' Smiley didn't hold back.”
You were too careless, the Trigger you've been entrusted with is yours for you to distribute at your own pace. But your rashness almost got you captured. We're wondering if you're up to the job as coordinator to begin with.
“Already trying to cut me off? No fair,” said Kuin, who didn't show any sort of discomfort as she took more gauze and bandaged her wound then smirked. “How am I supposed to deal with the vigilante when there's more of them sniffing around? Especially that old man, he gets on my nerves.”
The vigilante's presence grants us a great source of battle data without involving actual heroes to the mix. As long as you collect data in a controlled manner without alerting heroes or the police, we can benefit from this ordeal.
“Hum… benefit, huh?” she said as she looked over her work in the mirror, before she began to dress up, leaving behind her school uniform. She went for a more plain looking dress and black stockings. “Should I try to pump one of them with Trigger? I wonder what Smiley would look like if he was injected three times the regular doses?.”
The possibility of seeing the results of the data from Smiley is tempting, but refrain from doing so. Smiley has proven to be quite perceptive of your whereabouts and your underhanded tactics. He was the first one to clue in to the drug before anyone else. Don't antagonize him.
“What a shame,” the brown haired girl replied, looking disinterested at best at the whole ordeal as she kept admiring her looks in the mirror. She then took the rest of the med kit and threw it in the trash. “I was so looking forward to that~”
Kuin began her trek back towards the living room, ending the call as soon as she felt comfortable with her new look. She took a seat close to the TV and turned it on.
The brown haired girl changed between the news, showing her work on display, she could even see herself in a few of the shots hidden in a sea of people.
Was that how Smiley found me?
The buzzing sound in the background and the static sound of the TV was her only response. She remained in complete silence, even slouching on the couch as she admired her work and how little a few of the stations reported the involvement of Smiley in the news.
Her nose flared slightly at the strong odor of the two rotting corpses behind her.
“Hmm… I think it's time for me to find a new place to stay.” Kuin smiled.
“Water Flow, Constant Stream.” “Water Flow, 1st Wave.”
Air filled my lungs in small but refined intervals as the world began to move at a slower pace, even my clone, which was created months ago with the intention of acting as Smiley or as myself at a moment's notice, was moving at a slower speed than me. Meaning the training I was undergoing was proving to be effective.
My palms connected and redirected every single attack of the 'Water Flow: 1st Wave', leaving my clone open for an immediate attack, but I decided to abstain myself from doing so. Because that would end the training session early.
And I didn't want that to happen.
“Shave. Moonwalk.” my clone muttered, before kicking the ground forty times in half of a second and exploding in a burst of speed, that my eyes strained to follow, but I followed him nonetheless. “Razor. Iron Smash.”
Without changing my breathing pattern I immediately focused on the spot where my clone was moving to and redirected his attack away from me. The ground shook as my clone fist made contact with the ground, forming a huge spider web of pure destruction.
I relaxed every muscle of my being and tilted my entire body. Using 'Paper Arts' I evaded the upcoming wind blade that came from the smoke screen of dust. I wondered if I was ready to deflect that deadly attack now instead of evading and responding with my own.
“Storm Leg.” I jumped away and threw one of my own just as another wind blade came from the dust. Both blades collided, creating a huge explosion of wind that blew the cover of my clone who had both hands on the floor while stabbing his fingers on a hard surface and was about to…
“Storm Leg, Rampage,” my clone said as he began to throw wind blade after wind blade in quick succession in my direction. In any other situation I would've escaped from the onslaught with 'Shave', but that wasn't the point of the exercise here.
My body contorted and moved away from the blades while keeping my footing in place. If I escaped from every single problem that came to me then I wouldn't be able to call myself a hero.
Steadily I began to take steps towards my clone that kept sending fast-paced wind blades in my direction while I evaded every single one. It was when I got halfway that my clone gave up on the strategy and escaped again, this time with 'Razor'.
Behind
“Razor. Whirlwind Storm, Three,” my perfect reflection said, appearing in front of me three fingers raised spinning with the intention of cutting me in three perfect slices. I guessed that he found the possibility of attacking me from behind too dangerous to enact.
“Whirlwind Storm, Three Counter.” My foot stomped the ground, hard, and my left hand mimicked the movement. Our fingers met in perfect symphony, the surrounding ground exploding as debris flew away from us.
Even with the boost of 'Razor' my clone proved to be slower and weaker than me when we used the same technique. Maybe it was time to pay a visit to Jin and have me measured. Not only did I grow a few centimeters, but I had improved since the last time I saw All Might.
But it wasn't enough.
“Water Flow, Smash.” In an instant my body contracted and I hoped the blow wasn't enough to take me out as the hand of my clone connected with my chin. Even with 'Iron Body' I felt the muted pain of my chin being hit by one of my blows at full force.
My clone blinked and then jumped away from me.
“Is something wrong? You could've evaded that blow easily,” he asked, rubbing his chin as well even though he didn't suffer any blow himself. Then his expression became serious. “Is this about the investigation? How is it going by your side?”
Short answer? Bad.
I haven't relayed the information to the rest of the team or Manami yet. I just went back to training after the events of that night. My clones were less prone to action considering their main function was information gathering, their bodies being more squishy than mine, dying after being hit once. It's no wonder that the weaker clone was remade from time to time after a few weeks of 'use'.
But because they were clones it didn't mean they had every information like I did. They had glimpses, they acquired new information and relayed it to me. That's how I was up-to-date with everything going on.
“Not good.” I winced as I rubbed my chin, a small phantom pain surrounded the area I was hit. “With the help of the new girl I found the bee user, now I know her scent.”
“But she escaped.” my clone ended for me.
“Yeah, and now she's going to be harder to find than before.” I said, tightening my fists.
“Shit, that's not good” my clone grimaced, his upper lip trembled, almost developing a sneer. Meaning that my hatred was mutual between clones even if they haven't gone through the same experiences. “Do you have a plan?”
“Not yet.” I replied while cleaning the remaining beads of sweat from my forehead. “I was thinking of telling the girl about it and see if we can find the target again.”
“What about PopStep and Knuckles?” my replica said. He moved to a tree and then relaxed against it while folding his arms. “Should we tell them?”
“I don't know if that's a good idea either. That would mean revealing we're Smiley and all our operations.” a small glimpse of those two appeared in my head, and how I slowly began to warm up to them, quirks and all. “I don't know if I feel comfortable with that yet.”
“They're not that bad,” my clone mentioned offhandedly, a small but noticeable smile plastered across his face. “You get used to their antics with time.”
“You say that because you've been spending too much time with them,” I deadpanned, remembering the few times I interacted with Pop and how she would ask for food intended for the homeless I was supposed to feed.
“Of course I have, I'm stuck on babysitting duty.”
*Click *
Our conversation was interrupted by my walkie talkie which was next to a tree a few meters away from us. My clone didn't hesitate to use 'Shave' and appeared right next to it and clicked once.
Bzzh!
Kshh… Kon here. The clone went with the old man and the idol to deal with a black tongue in Naruhata. But there's another one in Yokohama that needs your attention. Over…
“Well, that's my cue to leave,” my clone replied before he approached his own duffle bag and began to dress into our hero costume. “Think about it.”
My clone gave me a salute and as soon as his mask was on he left at fast speed towards the indicated location, leaving me alone with my thoughts on the clearing we were training.
I sighed as I made my way to the camp with the intention of having something to eat, maybe a few grilled fish would calm me down.
I had been training like crazy these past few months, but it seemed the improvements had gone down as the 'equipment' and training partners only went so far. Even the training of breathing techniques only seemed to improve my reflexes slightly.
At the rate I was going, I was afraid I would never reach All Might’s level of strength.
The knowledge I had regarding anime told me that the prime of a character in an anime was always before they reached eighteen. Every single anime character that opposed the main villain were always teenagers, besides a few exceptions, but I felt this anime was as generic as the ones he knew of.
He?
As I made my way to the camp I reflected on his memories. Training regimes, ideas I could implement. But a lot of them required a source of power I didn't possess.
His memories…
Wait… aren't those supposed to be my memories?
Apart from the breathing training I had been undergoing, the only thing left was improving my musculature through lifting, punching the steel beam, fighting my clones and dropping myself from bigger and bigger heights. What other training methods did he have that I could use?
Huh?
He… ?
I… ?
But those are my memories, my experiences, my hopes, my dreams, they're all mine… right?
I suddenly stopped and looked around, feeling lost. I turned my gaze to my hands and spent a bit too much looking at them feeling the rough surface of each other as my thumbs rubbed the callouses and scars I developed through the years.
These memories… they're mine, right?
“Hi Pop. How was school?” she heard him say as she took a seat in front of him. A plate of warm food was already displayed in front of her. This was the third time he served her before she arrived. The first few times she had to demand he give her food, but it wasn't because she liked his food or anything.
The first time… she forgot to eat breakfast that morning, and naturally she was starving all day. So she sorta asked if he could share some of the food he was preparing with her, while thinking nothing of it. He seemed reluctant at first, but served her food regardless. That's so much like him.
Him, huh?
“Boring. It was so boring that I was counting the minutes until they let me out.” Kazuho Haneyama responded, admiring the stew over rice that Gurē prepared for her. It was way past lunch, so he was preparing the food for the shelter at night.
“And you came to hang out with us?” he replied, chopping the vegetables with precision while looking at his side from time to time.“Not having that many friends must suck, huh?”
“Yeah- I-I mean. What's that supposed to mean?” she exclaimed, about to use her chopsticks to eat but dropping them back at her stew with an angry, but not that angry, sneer.
“Hm?” the white haired boy said, looking somewhat lost even though they were having a conversation and nobody else was in sight, not even that fan who had a double personality. “Oh, I'm sorry, I thought the feeling was mutual. Not having friends and all.”
Oh…
S-Stupid.
Stupid Gurē
“I-It's not like that! I mean, that's not what I meant' Guh!” She tried to rectify her previous outburst but ended up just repeating herself. Kazuho needed a reason to drop the subject immediately. “I'm thirsty! B-Bring me something to drink.”
“Sheesh, I said I was sorry,” he said without raising his gaze from his work as he took a few more carrots and began to dice them with expertise. Once done, he took a glass and filled it with water from a jar he kept in the cooler under the stand. “Here you go. I need to find something else besides water and beer. Any cheap brands you know?”
“H-How I'm supposed to know?” the pink haired beauty said while drinking from the offered glass.
It's not like his statement was wrong or anything. She was a loner too. There was a reason why she liked to bathe in the attention she garnered by being an idol. She loved being the center of attention, there was a reason why her costume was… like that.
Her musings were interrupted by a sound.
“Hm?” The sound of cloth tearing was heard as Gurē went down to fetch a large pot to put the diced vegetables in. “Ah, the tear got bigger. Man… now I need to ask Jin to mend it for me again.”
“Why would you mend every single tear of that lame hoodie?” she said, her cheeks began to redden at the prospect of him actually buying something to look good at. “Why not simply get a new one?”
Her statement was met with the tired expression of Gurē who looked at her directly to her eyes, making her blush and avert her eyes.
Right.
He's homeless.
It wasn't like Kazuho didn't know that small tidbit, but the white haired boy in front of her showcased such maturity and took care of two shelters at the same time plus a food stand that it made her forget that the boy was another person who used to live on the streets.
“Ahh… don't worry about it,” the boy said, smiling slightly. He cleaned his hands with a rag after the work was done and then crossed his hands over his chest. “Truth be told, I used to have a few of them, but I've outgrown or torn them beyond repair. Uh, except for one I think.”
She perked at the last part.
“What happened?” the pink haired idol asked, inching forward.
“I gave it to some kid that I saved from a river when I was training nearby. When I was younger I wanted to be a hero, you see, so I trained whenever I could. I guess destiny drew us together.”
She blushed. Hard.
Drew us together?
That's… but he…
Wasn't Smi… uh?
She wasn't in the right state of mind to draw conclusions. She needed to get out of there as fast as possible
“I… I need to go,” the idol said, leaving her bowl half eaten.
“Sure.” Gurē said, looking at her strangely. Then he perked at as she began to run away “Don't forget that there's a meeting tonight!”
She leaped, and the stand was gone from her view.
For the longest time she thought she knew who her target was, she was hoping with her shows and her quirk she would be able to see him again. Then once she noticed him in her shows she was dead set on approaching him, until she found another person who reminded her of him so she approached him instead, at least for a little while.
And now…
She jumped from building to building, she felt the air rush through her hair as she leaped minding the distances and how far she could go. Arriving at her house, she immediately went to her room, walked to her closet and took an item she had long mended with the help of her mom.
A gray hoodie. It looked almost new.
She took the hanger and hoodie and held it against her chest. Memories flooded her mind of her as a kid trying to use her quirk to practice her leap and slipping into a river and seeing a hand reach for her from the sky.
It was him.
He was the one that saved her that day. She was so sure that it was Smiley the one that rescued her when she fell into the river, but in the end it was Gurē, not him.
Kazuho stared at the hoodie with fondness. A small memory of him making fun of her with a small smile flashed through her head. She scoffed as more blood began to accumulate on her cheeks. Then with a sneer, she took the hoodie off the hanger and put it on a bag.
She then went to a store and bought another similar hoodie, a black one that would compliment his white hair, that way he wouldn't complain about having a small wardrobe. On her way to the warehouse, she passed through a bakery and ordered two slices.
No real reason whatsoever.
Thank you.
I'm sorry for always eating the food you make for homeless people
Thanks for saving me all those times.
I'm sorry I'm such a burden
Could you forgive me?
“Oh, hey Pop.” he said, the night sky plus the light from inside the warehouse made his eyes look like they were shining. “Just in-”
“D-Do you think we could… talk?” she asked, holding her bag closer to her chest.
“Sur-” “Go ahead. What is it?” “Who is it, Gurē?”
Uh?
Her world stopped as she heard two distinctive voices. There next to a table inside the warehouse comfortably sat two other figures. One of them she knew, the other one she was unfamiliar with.
“Oh, right. Let me introduce you to our new partner. Manami Aiba.”
Eh?
“Her name is Manami Aiba. Normally I would prefer to keep the group small, considering our target. But Manami here has something neither of us has,” I said as everyone took a seat on the table I brought over from the new shelter. “She was capable of hacking into the cameras of the city and searching for clues.”
“Hrng… sounds suspicious,” the old fart said while he took a swig from his beer, ending my lively speech right there.
I sighed as I noticed the redhead girl began to shift nervously, she didn't even touch the cake PopStep brought over for her initiation. The pink haired girl on the other hand was looking at her with suspicion as she ate her portion of cake.
I only had one question of this whole ordeal; Who brings two slices of cake to a meeting of four?
“The only suspicious person here would be you, old man,” I said, taking an envelope I prepared in case old man Knuckles decided to ditch the meeting, then without further ado I dropped it on the table in front of him.
He curled an eyebrow and took another swig from his can of beer.
Figures.
“She was able to track us down just by looking at the cameras. Our routes, our patterns, you get the idea.” I told them, building the hype towards the contents of the envelope. Of course all the information I was providing was half truth, she only figured out my routes, patterns and the like.
“What are we waiting for?” the old man said, cracking his knuckles as he looked at the poor girl in a menacing way. “Let's beat her senseless so she keeps quiet.”
“Yeah!” I was actually surprised that PopStep took the side of the lunatic old person in the room.
“Eek!”
“That's enough!” I shouted, taking the envelope from the table and threw the contents for everyone to see. “I didn't bring her here to get harassed. We have a common enemy, and she's the key to finding her.”
Right there on the table, laid multiple photos, some of them were close-ups, some others were from a big multitude of people with a girl in the center. All of them featured the same girl. Brown hair done in a peculiar way to hide her left eye.
“I-I've seen her from the cameras whenever a Villain attacked,” I heard Manami say her line almost to perfection. We decided to bring the news in a way that looked almost natural to the team without bringing up the fact that the redhead stalked me before entering my life. “I-In almost every recent attack she seems to… appear.”
My gaze went from the petite girl to PopStep, who seemed surprised and looking at the photos with nervousness I haven't seen before. Then I glanced towards the old man, his expression was one of surprise, so much so he dropped his beer and began to rummage through the pictures himself.
“Which one is the most recent one?” he asked, no, demanded as his expression went from surprise, to anger, to hardened. It was almost a surprise to witness his face morph with each reaction.
“S-She changed into new clothes, so it's been hard to find her,” Manami said before I could answer the question for her. She was a natural. “Here.”
The old man grimaced as he took the picture the petite redhead pointed and held it as it to figure something out.
“W-Wait, this girl. I know her, she approached me for a photo the other day, I thought she was a fan!” PopStep voiced alarmed, watching scared at one of the close ups of the girl.
“You know her?” I asked, familiarizing myself with her new appearance. A basic change of clothes for the moment, but what if she decided that wasn't enough?
“Any info you have on her could help us finally deal with the bee user.” PopStep just nodded at my statement. It seemed that the fact she got really close to a villain frightened her.
“I have things I gotta take care of,” the old man knuckles finally said while folding the picture he was looking at and hiding it in one of his pockets. He got up and made his way towards the door. “Thanks for the info kid.”
He was soon followed by PopStep, her excuse being that she needed to get home for dinner, she took her bag before I could even ask about it.
I sighed again, feeling some fatigue.
I need a vacation.
“What do you think?” I asked the remaining person, who decided to stay, to review the meeting and future plan of action.
“Smi- I-I mean boss,” Manami squeaked, almost mentioning my hero name out loud, something I needed to correct, and soon. “They didn't seem too interested in stopping the bee user as you are.”
“Hm… figured that would be the case.” I exhaled running my hand through my white locks. “Did you notice something wrong with the old man?”
“Um… he looked at one of the pictures with familiarity.” she said looking from the pictures to me, then back to the pictures, a small tint of red adorned her cheeks. “Maybe he knows the bee user?”
I didn't know if that was good or bad news.
“H-Hello! Mr. Gurē sir,” the teen that looks really similar to Byclops greeted me.
“Hey… you.” I was half-expecting them to call me by my infamous hero name, which by that point my dislike went down significantly. I felt slightly bad that I couldn't recall their names now. “Sorry I was supposed to say your name but I never remembered it.”
“Uh, no problem Mr. Gure, I'm Ichinoku Samazu,” the teen replied back.
“Jube Namimaru,” his friend provided.
I'll just try to shorten their names so I don't forget.
I found myself in this awkward situation, again, because PopStep received an email from her… special super fans regarding a ‘senior fighter’ who was willing to join us. She wanted to check it out to amplify our operations… somehow.
So she ended up bringing me to a coffee shop near the shopping district, meeting two of PopStep's super fans before we could enter. I didn't know what got into her, but she seemed adamant in meeting the guy. All this behavior came out of nowhere, like she was trying to prove something.
Maybe meeting Manami gave her the confidence to add more people to catch the bee user?
For my part, I didn't really care much. The life of a clone was too short to worry about such small details. We only needed the new girl to catch the bee user again. And then she will be dealt with, captured or not.
Smiley will not fail a second time.
Once we all entered the coffee shop I found myself meeting someone I had long forgotten.
“Where's the old man?” a young man with spiky green hair, tight jeans, white shirt and sleeveless open leather jacket was sitting in a booth. A glass of water was the only item on his table.
“Haven't seen you in a while, still getting into trouble?” It took me a while to recognize him, but it was the leader of the punks we stopped a few weeks ago. I watched his expression shift from calm to slightly annoyed. “The old man ain't here yet.”
“Tch, so there's no point in talking to you,” the green haired man said, looking to the side.
“You wanna join, is that right? Then you're in, there's no reason to involve the old man on something so trivial.” I said as we got close to his booth. “As long as you don't try to get on that drug again, then all's good.”
Everything seemed like it was going to work out, but…
“Hey wait a second! I know who he is! Didn't he try to kill you?”
Next thing I know, he’s passing us by with an annoyed expression plastered across his face.
“Whatever,” he said as he began his trek towards the door. “I'm going.”
“Wait,” I said, my hand resting on top of his shoulder. “There’s no need to get mad over things of the past. Let’s share information on the bee user and plan ahead.”
“Don’t touch me!” he raged while shaking his shoulder away from my hand, spikes grew around his hands and body, but resided immediately. “Your face pisses me off.”
My face? What the hell is this guy on?
“I have nothing to say, I didn’t come here so you can make fun of me,” the green haired guy said before leaving the store.
“Uh…” “Just ignore him, Gurē!”
In any other situation, I would do just that, ignore it and go back to my daily life, but something felt wrong. There was this feeling in my gut that was telling me that I should do something or else I would regret it for the rest of my life.
So I went after him.
Tailing someone from building to building gets boring after a while, especially when they move at a snail’s pace. The green haired teen would often look back to see if he was being followed, which he probably was considering I caught the scent of the old man a few streets ago, but he didn’t put enough effort into his searches to spot us.
It wasn’t the only one either. I could also smell the perfume brand PopStep uses coming from behind me four streets away. She was trying to keep her distance. It was almost cute she thought I wouldn’t notice her from that distance, especially with how high she would jump.
‘I need to stop thinking about her while on the job,’ I thought, exasperated, as I jumped to another building and watched my target change directions.
I decided to follow my instincts and made sure that my target didn’t do anything stupid, like enter an alleyway all alone with a hardened expression.
I sighed as he did just that
I gave him a few seconds alone before jumping the building across from me to get a better view. I was just in time to see my target roar and transform into a monster of spikes while standing in front of a masked man dressed in black and red gear holding a katana, ready to strike.
My lungs expanded with air, as I descended from my position at high speed and positioned myself between both. Hands in the air.
‘Catching the Storm.’ I always wondered if I could catch wind blades with my bare hands during my training with clones. But because it implied getting close and personal with the cutting power of ‘Storm Leg’ I never went beyond catching sticks to my face going at full speed. I decided to still name the technique after the intended use, maybe in the future I would be able to catch or redirect those strikes, but today it only served the purpose of catching a real blade between the palm of my hands.
Then I immediately broke it and threw the remains to the side.
The spiked monster behind me made a surprised noise, as the man in dark gear leaped back, while throwing a knife towards my thigh. The back of my hand met the side of the blade, changing the direction of its flight and getting it stuck in the trash.
“Hooded Hobo, you’re in my way. Stand aside,” the sinister man said, relaxing slightly, but I could hear his muscles contract, as if he was ready to put me down at a moment's notice. “This villain is for me to slay.”
“He’s no villain, he’s just a troubled teen,” I said, trying to mitigate the situation. I heard my target give an annoyed ‘hey’ in the background. I only had six projectiles on me compared to the remaining seven the geared man had, not counting the hidden ones in his pouches. “He doesn’t deserve to die for something like- HEY!”
My speech was interrupted by the man speeding towards us, the remaining of his blade high up.
Without thinking, I raised my leg and struck the handle of the sword in a perfect split, making the geared man let go of it and jump away while throwing two knives; one at me and the other at the monster behind me. Two projectiles met the knives in the air, embedding them up on the walls.
“Don’t get in my way Hobo, this is my last warning,” the man said while fetching his sword from the ground then looking at it. “Next time I won’t hold back, so step aside.”
The monster growled, but stayed put, arms raised, just in case he needed to step in.
“Same goes for you, if you try to hunt teenagers on drugs then you’re no better than a villain.” I exclaimed.
I could smell the scent of cigarettes and perfume approaching from two different directions toward our location. Should I stall? Or should I end this before they arrive?
During our days as ‘heroes’ I hadn’t showcased much of my superhuman strength besides my running speed, martial arts, and throwing capacity. The only reason people even recognize me is because of that name PopStep’s fans began to address me on social media.
What a drag…
“I see… even an act of goodwill can become wicked in the aid of evil,” the man in red finally replied before taking three knives between his fingers. “I’ll stop taking you lightly now, Hooded Hobo.”
Three bladed projectiles flew toward us. My hands blurred to my pocket and positioned two projectiles between my fingers. I breathed in as time began to slow down, my brain calculated the trajectory of the three blades and shot.
*clank* *clank* *clank*
It only took one projectile to deflect them all. It was almost cathartic to see.
My body moved to the side as I evaded a swipe of the katana and delivered a kick to the hand holding it. This time he maintained his grip, but he let go of one of the hands and took two knives and threw them at me point blank. Another projectile met the knives mid air, shifting their trajectory and embedding them in the walls behind me.
The man in dark gear jumped away as I took another breath. I could see him slowly move from wall to wall throwing knives at either of us, making me groan as I sped towards the only sitting duck in the alleyway and threw the remaining projectiles I had on me to mitigate the damage.
“You’re out of projectiles, Hobo,” pointed out the threatening man as he pointed what remained of the katana towards me. “I only need to get closer… and you will be judged by the might of my sword. You might have caught me by surprise before, but it won’t happen again.”
“Judge? Where’s your wig then?” I asked as I tensed my legs. Screw taking it easy, this guy is going for the kill here.
“Hmph, I misjudged you Hobo,” I heard him say as he slowly approached until he was almost a few steps away from us. “I thought of you as a good samaritan, but it turns out yo-”
I kicked the ground twenty times in a row, positioning myself in front of him as I kicked his torso, sending him flying through the air.
“Stop calling me Hobo, asshole!” I screamed.
“Nice pass kid!” I heard old man knuckles say as he descended and delivered a strong punch towards the man in black gear, breaking his mask and sending him away, ending sprawling on the floor.
As the old man regained his footing, he made way towards the mask and grabbed it so he could inspect it.
“Hmph, this guy wears a mask to get into a role, he really is a mad slasher after all huh? You run into people like that.” I wish I had a few examples in my head, but as a clone I only have this example apparently. “By putting on a disguise or costume they convince themselves that they’re invincible. Those type of people are nothing but trouble since they charge in, ignoring common sense and safety, but…”
I didn’t ask for a lesson on heroism from someone who beats up people on the streets for fun.
“When someone steps up to them, they turn out to be fragile. In the end, they aren’t determined enough. They’re just human after all,” the old man explained as he made way towards the ‘monster’ that started to turn back into a teen again.
“I see… I understand now.” My gaze sharpened as I sped towards one of my projectiles on the ground and threw it towards the man on the floor only to jump away from building to building and come back, this time towards the old man, both arms raised, holding onto two blades.
The old man exchanged fists against the knives, getting hurt in the process. I threw another projectile I got from the ground, making the sinister man leap away.
“There are people more sinful than villains… I see, I see… those who lack determination and conviction yet still applaud themselves…” said the man as he stood on top of an air conditioner against the wall. He licked the blade he was holding onto. “Fake Heroes.”
My eyes widened as the old man went rigid and stayed put.
“Old man?” I asked.
“Yes! I see now! I am so happy for the lesson you gave me,” the man said as he held his face to stop the bleeding while sporting a deranged smile. Then without prompt he jumped away, leaving splashes of blood on the ground.
I made sure not to relax until his scent faded away.
But there was something else… a scent that felt almost familiar, yet unnatural.
She was here.
“Gurē! Are you ok?!” PopStep asked as she landed next to me while holding onto a first aid kit in her hands.
“Everything is fine Pop, no need to worry.” I replied, after all, if I were cut during the fight, my life would’ve ended a while ago,
I looked back.
“And you? Are you ok man?” I asked the teenager who I had been protecting until now, looking at me with an unreadable expression.
“Tch.” he said, making my expression sour. I guess saving his life wasn’t enough for him.
I took a look around as I helped the old man move again, it seemed the man’s quirk was something related to licking blood to paralyze them.
I better tell the boss just in case he encounters anyone like that ever again.
And relay the information about the bee user.
She was on the move again.
A/N: I have no real explanation for the lackluster last chapter. I guess people actually were expecting Gurē to lash out at Manami, which considering the state he's in he would normally do so, but people are forgetting he's a teenager and a major simp. Of course he's going to treat them differently. His own body reacted differently when he tried to kill Kuin. There was also the double POV which was something people liked and people disliked, I got mixed reviews on the matter considering I changed as much as I could from one point to the other. I'll try to do better in the future, so bear with me 
I got a few complaints about following certain aspects of canon from vigilantes, and believe me. There's a few things that go the same way while others go in a different direction altogether. I feel once Captain Celebrity is introduced the rails of 'Vigilantes' canon gets thrown out the window.
There’s another reason for me to follow canon Vigilantes a bit, and that’s it that a great part of people reading my fic appears to not have read the manga, or don’t plan to for that reason, so that means I need to carefully explain everything in a way people can understand and read as if they’re reading the manga for themselves (not that every event is going to be the same).
I hope you like this chapter, there’s more interesting stuff happening in the future, I hope I can deliver. See ya!