NOVEL WEB Issue #19: An Explosive Encounter
Kazuho Haneyama sniffed, tears still fresh were falling from her cheeks. From the comfort of her home, the girl known as PopStep silently cried in her bedroom so she couldn’t alert her parents.
Stupid.
Stupid Gurē.
Stupid, stupid Gurē.
She was dressed in her pajamas and the hoodie Gurē gave her as a kid, she decided to keep it instead of giving it back.
It was always like this with him. Everytime she wanted to spend time with him a clone was already there for her. She appreciated the protection he offered to her and all but that’s not what she wanted.
She wanted Gurē to talk to her more often. She wanted Gurē to spend more time with her. She wanted Gurē to be there for her. She wanted Gurē to hug her.
She wanted Gurē to kiss her.
But she couldn’t get that, could she?
She shakily sighed.
Kazuho knew of his passion for vigilantism, after all he revealed to them he was Smiley. She hadn’t believed it at first, but after he showcased the clones before her eyes, his speed, his techniques and costume, it all made sense to her.
She learned of his passion, his calling, but at the same time a little part of her wished she hadn’t. It made her feelings for him hard to recall. Especially in situations when he sent a clone to protect her.
She sniffed again.
She wished she could tell him how she felt.
But their relationship was based on fake memories.
Gurē got the gist of it going by what the clones told him, but he wasn’t there, was he?
Should she start again? Or forget about him?
She didn’t know how to respond to those questions.
Kazuho felt her eyes drop and lay there on her bed, her last thought was the smiling face of the white haired boy as he taught her how to defend herself.
I jumped from building to building while holding a huge basket with less fruit and vegetables than I anticipated while sporting a frown on my face. The supplies were dwindling in size each time I brought them to the shelter. The abundance we previously had was vanishing before my eyes.
It didn’t help that the money we used to have was slowly diminishing as days went by.
It won’t be long before the only thing available for me to bring would be fish from the rivers which would diminish my training time.
As I approached the shelter I wondered if I was making the right decisions. Not only for my family but for everyone around me.
My feet touched the ground silently in front of the doors of the warehouse we used as a shelter.
Someone was there to greet me.
Salt.
“Heya brat,” the old man said. There was no beer or cigarette on sight. I could smell his stench from here, but the usual smell of tobacco and alcohol were nowhere to be seen. The man in front of me was sober. “We need to talk.”
I had to hold back a groan as I took the basket and put it on the ground. Salt was never sober or this serious unless he had something important to say.
“What is it? I need to deliver the goods and be off to training, old man,” I replied, wondering if the old man was going to put a 180º and send me to buy him beer and cigs. “Please tell me you don’t want me to buy you alcohol right now. I’m not in the mood to be on delivery duty.”
“Well, there goes my first request,” Salt… joked, I thought. “No, I wanted to request just a simple thing and I believe you’re capable of doing it.”
My face must have shown my confusion because Salt spoke soon after.
“My request is that let us go outside again,” my eyes widened as those words left Salt mouth. “You’ve been doing a terrific job so far, but the people at the shelter need to make money. Not only for themselves but for everybody’s sake”
“What do you mean? Are you implying I don’t take good care of the shelter?” I said as I picked the basket and showed the contents to the old man. “What about the vegetables and fish I bring? Isn’t that enough?”
But I knew that was just an excuse. I knew that there was going to be one day when the vegetables won’t be there to feed us unless I did something about it, but with my job as a caretaker of the shelter, my job as a hero and training my body constantly, that there was almost no time to take care of the orchard to grow our supplies, even if a few of them were low maintenance.
“Brat, you know exactly what I mean,” the old man responded, slowly walking towards me. “Everyone in the shelter wants to go out, even if it’s to shake their legs.”
“But I… I…” I tried to say but my words kept failing me. I looked to the ground for a few seconds, then I directed my eyes to Salt’s tired ones. “I can take care of you guys, why are you so adamant to going out? Don’t you remember what happened to-”
“We do, brat. We really do,” the old man said as soon as he was in front of me, slowly he put his hand on my shoulder. “But we can’t let it trap us forever.”
I remained silent, I didn’t want to accept his words.
“Please Gurē. Think about it.”
“You never called me Gurē before.” I said without thinking.
“Yeah well, there’s a first time for everything.”
“Manami… can you open your window, please?” I muttered from my earpiece while watching the window leading to Manami’s apartment. There was a small balcony for plants and the like she wasn’t using at the moment.
Maybe I should teach her how to garden so we could have more supplies for the… shelter.
I sighed.
I waited for a few seconds before I got a response.
S-Sorry Gurē I was in the shower, can you wait a little while?
“Sure,” I replied back before sitting down on the rooftop that was in front of Manami’s apartment. I looked at it intently before directing my eyes on the setting sun. Normally it would relax me to appreciate the sunset and bask under the warmth of the sun, but today it felt different.
I felt… off.
Sad could be one of the possible words to describe how I was feeling. After another day of training, spending time with the teens while I trained my fists against steel again, cooking, and a lengthy patrol I found myself here in front of Manami’s apartment. I didn’t visit often, but this time there was a reason.
Salt’s words held some truth in them. We won’t last forever as we are.
I needed to speak with Manami, she was one of the few people I was close enough to speak about these matters.
It also helped that she was super smart.
I’m r-ready Gurē! You can come in!
Without much fanfare I jumped from the rooftop where I was standing and jumped again in the air three more times to arrive at Manami's balcony just in time for her to open the window. She flinched at my sudden appearance. I guess she was expecting for me to appear in my hero costume instead of my civilian clothes.
“Ah! You startled me,” she said while she moved one of her locks behind her ear. She was dressed in her pajamas already, a plain white t-shirt and pink sweatpants, this wasn’t the first time I saw her like that. Quite frankly besides the one time we’ve met at the restaurant, I’ve never seen her wear regular clothes. “Please come in.”
As soon as I entered the small studio apartment I removed my hoodie and folded it, putting it on the floor next to me before I took a seat.
“It’s been a while since the last time I visited,” it really was, maybe a month and a half if my calculations were correct, time flew by so fast that I barely notice nowadays. “Being a hero gives me no time for meetups, I’m sorry if I forgot about coming sooner.”
“It’s alright Gurē… I know what you have to go through,” she replied, looking at me then back at her thumbs as she played with them. “I’m just happy to help you in any way I can.”
“That’s so?” I said with a small smile while keeping my posture. “Don’t stand there, have a seat with me. We need to talk.”
“About what?” Regardless, she took a seat right next to me. I noticed how her cheeks began to turn pink.
“We are friends… right?” I asked, feeling a bit nervous for some reason. I had tons of friends at the shelter, right?
“Yeah… I-I mean… yes! Sure!” she muttered at first with an almost disappointed expression that turned frantic when she directed her gaze back at me. “W-We are friends, of course we are! Haha”
Yeah, I have friends.
Of course I have.
“And friends share secrets right?” I timidly asked, scratching the back of my head.
“You can tell me anything you want Gurē, I’ll keep the secret,” Manami said, putting a hand on her chest which was starting to develop… not important.
I sighed again. I wanted something to drink, a glass of water would be nice.
“Things are not going so well at the shelter.” I finally let out
“What?” the red haired girl asked me while looking at me, confused. “Why? What do you mean? Did something happen?”
“Well for starters, the crops I’ve planted and keep maintaining from time to time are giving me less and less vegetables each harvest,” It was a steady decline but even I could notice the moment it would run out and the only source of food would be gone unless I planted more and took care of it. “The funds we used to have are slowly disappearing as days go by, and the people at the shelter want to help but I can’t let them go out.”
I ran my hand through my white locks, then directed my gaze back to Manami who looked concerned.
“You’re the only person that knows what’s happening,” I revealed as I put my hands behind, closer to my rear, changing my seating position. “If things go as they are, I don’t think we could survive another year.”
Manami blinked a few times, then she spoke.
“Why can't people at the shelter go out?” she asked, putting one of her fingers to her chin.
“You know why,” I said, my smile drooping slightly until it disappeared. “I don’t want anything to happen to them.”
“But they don’t want that, do they?”
“No… Salt told me everyone in the shelter wants to get out,” I mentioned as my expression soured at the words of the old man. “Why are they so adamant to get out? I’ll find a way, I just need time.”
And money I don’t have.
“They want to go outside for a reason,” Manami gave me a warm smile as she snaked one of her arms and hugged my arm. “They want to help you too, Gurē.”
“I can fix the problem myself.”
“Sometimes people need help Gurē,” she chastised me before smiling again, making my blood rush towards my cheeks. “You can’t do it all by yourself.”
“I wish I could,” I said with a sigh.
We remained in silence for a while. I admired her apartment in silence, then went back to looking at her, her features, her clothes, her che-
Her expensive computer.
I noticed she had been looking at my face for a while too. What’s up with that?
“Manami?”
“Yes, Gurē?”
“Do you think I’m doing the right thing by not wanting to let them go?”
“Oh Gurē… I think you should let them out and do what they’re asking you,” I heard her say, my eyes widened. ”They have the right to choose if they want to stay with you or go out and work, don’t they?”
“But I…”
“If they know the risks and still decide to go out, you don’t have the power to stop them,” at my curled eyebrow she waved her free hand. “We’re not talking physically.”
A memory resurfaced of me asking people to join the shelter only for them to refuse and live by themselves even though the winter was approaching
Why?
Why are people like this?
I sighed. I felt drained already.
“Manami?” I asked again, she hadn’t really stopped staring at me the entire time. “Do you think I’m doing a good job as a hero?”
“Of course you do Gurē. If it weren’t for you I would be dead,” she told me as she told me one more time how I saved her life and the moment she saw me change into my costume and changed her life forever.
I smiled.
What a cute friend I have.
My friend.
I pulled my arm out from Manami’s embrace and hugged her with my left arm instead. She began to stutter her words as she kept retelling her story.
I decided to stay for a while longer before doing my nightly patrol as Smiley.
I guess I wanted to hear the story again.
I jumped from building to building in my less than stellar hero costume, the one I used whenever I went with PopStep and the old man to the streets, an old hoodie, a mask that covered my mouth, hakama pants and worn down shoes. I was basically dressed in my civilian clothes with a half mask, the fact that heroes or cops hadn’t recognized me on the streets yet was insane.
Kazuho contacted Manami and told me she wasn’t able to come, apparently she was stuck with homework because she didn’t get entrance exams.
It had been a few days since she slapped me, and things were going back to normal for the most part, but I guessed I should apologize, even though I didn’t know exactly why.
Maybe she just doesn’t like clones?
“RUN! A VILLAIN” “Run! Run!” “AHHH!!”
Immediately I dropped to the street as soon as I heard the screams of civilians below me. People were running away from an octopus-like quirk user with six arms and powerful legs as he began to destroy everything on his path. I took a few pellets from my hoodie and threw them at great speeds towards the quirk user’s face.
It seemed that it only made him annoyed because he began to run in my direction.
I jumped away from him, one of his fists impacted where I was and a crater of the size of his fist was formed. I kept jumping away from him while telling people to run away or hide. I grabbed another pellet and threw it with more strength, this time the impact was more powerful but it only pissed him off.
‘At the time we’re going I’m going to run out of pellets before I can reach the strength necessary to knock him out…’ I thought, evading another fast coming fists then jumping over him and planting a kick on his face, staggering him a little. ‘I don’t want to kill him either.’
Annoyed, the quirk user began to punch concrete and then throw his own projectiles at me. Without blinking, I caught every single one in the air and threw them back at him, trying to equal his own strength. They all exploded at contact, the quirk user staggered but began to run towards my direction with more vigor.
“What a chore,” I muttered, speeding up and doing acrobatics to evade more of his punches. While doing somersaults and getting close to the ground, I plucked out concrete pellets of my own that I kept throwing out while slightly increasing my strength.
Worst part of the whole ordeal is that I couldn’t goof around like I normally did whenever I went out as Smiley.
He threw more projectiles that went past me as I caught one that was going directly to a few girls that were cowering against a wall. Before he could come to our direction I jumped to the side to the middle of the street and threw it back at its face.
I ran ahead alerting more people to get out and run, just in time to see a familiar face get out from a destroyed sliding door.
Eraserhead.
‘Ugh, not this guy again,’ I thought as I took more pellets from my hoodie, four more if I was correct.
“Isn’t he the Hooded Hobo?” One of the people besides Eraserhead that got out of the store said, he looked exactly to the man at his side, probably brothers..
“I think I’ve seen him around.”
“Hmm…?” The black haired hero said as he looked at me with a hardened expression. “Aren’t you-”
“Look out!”
I pushed the hero to the side just in time for the quirk user to punch where we were. I jumped back and picked one of the pellets and threw it with more force than before. The octopus-like face was turned back by the blow, but it seemed it wasn’t enough to take him out completely.
“Tch, we’ll talk later,” Eraserhead said before running to the quirk user.
It seemed something went wrong because the black haired hero tried to hold the quirk user with his scarf while using his quirk, only for the octopus-like scoundrel to pick his scarf and throw a punch that was coming directly to the hero’s face.
Before I could run to him the hero evaded every single attack and began to jump from place to place entangling the arms of the quirk user until all his arms were behind his back, trapping him.
It didn’t seem to last for long, because two arms began to form his torso and punch Eraserhead against a wall.
Air rushed to my lungs as I dropped my pellets. They began to fall in slow motion as I ran past them, past the other two people that left the store with Eraserhead, towards the slowly, almost unmoving quirk user.
I positioned myself and began to move my hands at high speeds. I moved every single fist coming towards us through ‘Water Flow’ until they were all aiming at the face of the quirk user.
Then I prepared myself to deliver the last blow.
And exhaled.
My fist met the stomach of the octopus dude with great force, almost forgetting to hold back at the same time his fists punched his face. Spit mixed with blood flew from the mouth of the quirk user.
He took a few steps back before dropping to the floor.
Alive… hopefully
“Woah! Did you see that?” one of the brothers said.
“And we almost got to use it to help him.”
“Hey, are you ok?” I asked Eraserhead without taking my eyes away from the quirk user on the ground, who was still breathing but at uneven pace, probably still awake but too weakened to move, or at least I hoped.
Before the hero could respond I felt the octopus-like man on the ground throw a rock at my face. I grabbed it in mid air and threw it with more strength than before. The rock impacted the quirk user’s temple, then he collapsed completely.
“You…” said the black haired hero behind me. I turned back just in time to see the man approach me while he bandaged his arm with his scarf. He narrowed his eyes.
“Eraser! That was legit self defense!” one of the brothers said, jumping on my defense.
“Yeah dude, not everyone that uses their quirk is a villain!” said the other one as they approached us.
As they came in close contact I could swear I smelled trigger for some reason, but it was a faint mix, like a watered down version of it, but then again I could’ve been wrong and the saturated smell of trigger from the downed quirk user is probably messing with my senses.
“Tch, I never said he was a villain, but the way he moved reminded me of someone… that’s all,” Eraserhead spoke.
My gaze lingered on his bloodshot eyes then his facial expression, he was frowning.
“I’ve been searching for you for a while now, I have a few questions to ask you and I need you to make a statement for the police.”
“Am I being detained?” I asked, my worry for the hero, gone. These kinds of interactions were why I liked to go out as Smiley and have my fun while I saved people, others took care of the rest such as calling the police for detainment or an ambulance… speaking of which. “Shouldn’t we be calling an ambulance for our friend over there?”
“You’re not being detained, but that doesn-”
“So that means that I am free to leave?”
“Not yet,” the black haired man said before directing his gaze towards the two brothers. “Hey, you two. Call an ambulance and the authorities.”
“How about we start with ‘thanks for helping me Hobo.’” “What he said.”
Stop calling me Hobo.
At this point being called the Hood was a better option than whatever these people were calling me.
As Eraserhead kept getting interrupted by the two brothers like they knew each other I returned my visage to the downed quirk user who hasn’t moved since I shot him down.
‘Good. That was what? 30? 40%?’ I thought, trying to decipher the output I used against the octopus man. It was really hard to tell. I directed my gaze back to Eraserhead. ‘As soon as the ambulance gets here I’m leaving.’
Feeling a presence looking directly at my back I rapidly turned my head back towards an alleyway just to see a person move at an incredible speed and disappear further into the alley.
“How very interesting,” said a shadowy figure as he replayed what he saw in his mind. “Little Hobo can surely move.”
‘A pity,’ he thought. ‘I might not have enough time to get a sample for the boss, not with Eraserhead and Hobo around. Can’t have myself captured now, can i?’
He began to make his way through alleyways towards his apartment with the intention of training his body. The fact that he barely saw Hobo move before the octopus villain was defeated sent shivers down his spine.
As he approached his home there was one thing plaguing the man’s thoughts
“I wonder who’s the fastest one?” he asked himself, a predatory smile was plastered all over his face
“What?” squawked the girl known as PopStep.
“They wanted someone to accompany them to a mixer or something, so I agreed,” Gurē said as he looked between his clean clothes, most of them looked old, with some tears here and there.
To Kazuho most of them looked like they deserved to be thrown into the trash, but considering Gurē’s actual monetary situation, he didn’t really have money for new clothes, so the pink haired girl kept quiet.
“Hmph, why are you even going? Why not send a clone instead?” she asked with a huff, her cheeks coloring slightly.
“Normally you would be correct, I would send a clone and just concentrate on doing hero work, but today is different,” he said, finally picking a shirt that was stitched together in certain places, and looked kind of stylish, specially combined with the pants Gurē was wearing.
“What’s so different about it?”
“They were offering me free food,” said the white haired teen as he gave her thumbs up, much to Kazuho’s dismay.
“What kind of idiot accepts going to a mixer just for the food?” she muttered while looking to the side.
Gurē just blinked at her comment.
Without much thought, the teen stood up and took off his hoodie and shirt and put the new t-shirt on.
“W-WHAT KIND OF MORON UNDRESS IN FRONT OF A LA-!!” She screamed sporting a blush on her face, only for her speech to die at the last second as she noticed with muted horror the white haired boy’s scars around his entire body.
She was used to the scars on his face and hands, having seen them before, but she never had seen them all. It was as if wild animals maimed his body all over.
The teen of her affection just stared at her for a while before scratching the back of his head.
“Sorry about that, I’m used to doing it at the shelter all the time, but I forgot this is the first time I’ve done it in front of you,” he said while sporting an apologetic expression, something that made her frown as she walked to him and took his hand. He let her, but curled a brow in response. “What are you doing?”
“What… what happened to you, Gurē?” she asked as she stared at his hand with marks around the knuckles, then his arms which were filled with healed gashes and tears.
“Hm, oh. You meant my scars?” as he stared at them and then back to her. “I got them through my training. They aren’t pretty… but they’re proof of my strength.”
Kazuho Haneyama only stared at him with concern.
How can a person be so nonchalant about being scarred for life?
“Anyway, I gotta go before they decide to ditch me and eat everything by themselves,” he said, taking his hand away from her grasp.
She decided to follow him as she saw him go through the door of the warehouse.
“I’m Gurē.” I said plainly, being the last one to introduce myself while I held a glass of cold water with ice cubes on it.
Why water?
Because it was the only thing free on the menu.
I decided to come in a hoodie after seeing PopStep’s reaction to my scars. It didn’t win me any points with the black haired woman in front of me, especially because the hoodie in question was the one with stitches and a few tears that Jin wasn’t able to fix yet.
My eyes roamed the girls that came to meet us at the bar. My eyes narrowed as I took a sip from my drink.
As soon as I took a seat next to the band members I noticed three familiar and distinctive scents coming from the three ladies that were in front of me.
‘That’s Kazuho… right? She smells just like her,’ I thought as my gaze zeroed in on the girl that was seated on the other end of the table, she had black hair and was dressed in a pink skirt and a yellow sweater. ‘Is she her sister? Does she use the same conditioner? This is going to bother me the whole night.’
Then my gaze shifted to the other two girls next to the PopStep smelling girl.
‘More importantly. The lady next to her smells just like the smelly hero Midnight, I think her name was…’ I grabbed my chopsticks again and took a gyoza and ate it in one bite. My eyes then landed on the last girl, who had bangs that obscured her eyes, she was holding her drink with both hands. ‘She’s clean, but her purse… is a different story.’
That smell was unmistakable.
After I had close encounters with it I knew straight away that scent.
She had trigger on her purse.
I took another gyoza and devoured it without leaving my eyes from the girl with the bangs as she talked with the girl that smelled like Kazuho. From what I could hear she was pretty close to the dark haired woman in front of me, who was looking at me with what appeared to be annoyance as she drank her beer.
My eyes shifted from the girl with bangs to the woman of black hair who stood up as she muttered she was going to the bathroom to puke. But before she could even take a few steps, she fell down. Without thinking I came to her aid, only for her to puke all over my hoodie.
I tried not to sigh.
Of course.
“Hey, are you ok?” I heard myself say as I tried to remain polite. The putrid smell of barf was assaulting my sensitive nostrils, giving me a hard time to keep me composed.
“Help her lie down, put a pillow on her head” said the woman who smelled like Midnight, followed by the girl that smelled like PopStep. “I’ll get help from the staff!”
“Uh, dude what about the puke on your hoodie?” the bass player of the band asked me.
I’m throwing it in the trash as soon as I’m out of here.
“Don’t worry, more importantly,” I answered before my eyes landed back to the woman who puked on one of my only hoodies. I guessed that was what I get for helping people. “Take it easy, please lie down.”
As I helped the girl into the pillow I was using as a seat I began to take off my hoodie.
“Gurē don’t!” I heard the girl who smelled like Kazuho say, my eyes darting immediately towards her, as soon as my name left her mouth.
She memorized my name that quickly?
I thought she was more interested in the girl with bangs instead of me.
More importantly, why would she be so concerned about me taking my hoodie off?
“Woah…” “Dude.” “Holy shit!”
As I noticed everyone staring at me in various expressions of concern and horror, it finally dawned on me that taking off my hoodie was a mistake.
But before I could say something about it the girl with bangs ran towards me and took my hoodie off my hands and ran off, much to the surprise of everyone.
Well that’s a way to take the attention away from me.
This is somehow worse.
Now I wish they were concerned about my scars instead.
Those were my thoughts as I sat in the middle of the table as the girl who smelled like Kazuho was seated at my side, while the woman who puked on me was seated on my other side, and lastly the woman who smelled like Midnight was behind me talking some nonsense.
The worst part of all, they were all talking to me at the same time.
This is what I get for not sending a clone.
I took a sip from what was left of my water as the girls kept talking and talking and talking like there was no tomorrow. Their previous concern for my appearance, gone.
I tsked in annoyance, wondering where the girl with bangs ran off to with my hoodie. She took her purse with her, so that means I couldn’t just steal it. If it weren’t for this nonsense, everything would be over and I could go home.
Just as I was to say something, the smell of trigger began to approach our private stall, only for a girl who looked completely different to the girl with bangs but smelled extremely similar, entered our stall.
Her bangs were moved to the side making her eyes visible and she had red lipstick on her lips.
It turned out, she was the same girl that ran off with my hoodie, which was nowhere in sight.
She made a beeline towards us and seated between the woman who barfed on me and began to… talk to me.
But this was better than I anticipated.
Because I pinpointed the smell of trigger on her, and it was in her right pocket, the one that was closer to me.
I inhaled and the world began to slow down. Everyone began still until they weren’t moving at all. My hand moved slowly towards the pocket of the girl who had bangs and took away a small tube containing the drug. It wasn’t the first time I’ve seen it but there was something different about it,
No time to examine, I’m running out of time.
I hid the tube under the table between my legs and I exhaled.
The world went back to normal.
It was at that moment that the girl that smelled like PopStep approached the woman who smelled like Midnight and pushed off of the stall/room we were staying at and began to talk.
Thing was I could hear them even with the noise of the two girls who were talking to me and the band members talking among themselves.
What I heard was a little revealing.
‘So I was right to identify the woman as Midnight, if she can arrest someone, she must have the authority to do so. Unless she’s an undercover police woman who smells just like her… ’ I thought as I directed my chopsticks towards the last gyoza and ate it. ‘And why are they talking about making moves on someone now?’
Just as they returned a server came to our private room holding a round of beers and drinks, just as I suspected the girl who had bangs made way towards the server and told him she would take care of serving the drinks.
As she put the table holding the beers on the floor I noticed she tried to fetch the tube containing the drug, only to increasingly get desperate about it when she didn’t find it.
That’s my cue.
“Looking for this?” I said as I showcased the tube for everyone to see. Her head snapped back towards me, her expression morphed into one of horror as I saw me holding what she was searching for.
“T-That’s mine! That’s my medicine, please give it back!” She lied, trying to make her way towards me and grab her drug.
Only for me to move my hand holding the drug away from her grasp.
“I’ve seen this tube a few times before, you know?” I told her, making her expression go from desperate to horror. “Were you trying to drug us? Was that your aim?”
Everyone began to mutter as I played with the drug between my hands.
“Give it back!!” The girl screamed her hand flying towards the drug, but before she could get close I crushed the tube on my hand, spilling the contents on the floor.
“Whoops,” I said, not really apologetic about my action as I stared at the girl with contempt. “Now, you’re going to respond a few questions before I call the police, and you better not run off, because if you do-”
“That’s enough…” My eyes widened as I heard the woman who smelled like Midnight say, I slowly turned my eyes to her who was now undressing only for my nostrils to flare at the potent smell that came from her “Hey there boys, please look at me.”
My eyelids dropped, as I tried to stay awake, but it was useless. My head landed against the table and I could only see black.
“... they tried to ask me questions but I left as soon as I could,” I explained to PopStep who was drinking cold water from the cooler at the stall as I prepared a soup for everyone to enjoy with as little ingredients as I could.
“How can you get caught in so many disasters by yourself?” Kazuho said between sips, showing what appeared to be some concern in her eyes.
“I guess it is part of the job,” I drawled, cutting vegetables into the soup, then adding meat bones I took from the freezer from the shelter.
“Hm… regardless of that, what did you think of the mixer? Did you have fun before everything went haywire?” The pink haired girl asked while looking into my eyes.
“I hated every second of it,” I said without taking my eyes away from the soup as I stirred it up from time to time. “The food was bland, they tried to charge me for the drink I didn’t order and the girls there were all talking to me at the same time, it was a mess.”
“You hated everything? Wasn’t there a charming and respectable girl from the bunch?” I heard Kazuho ask as I went back to the cutting board and began to cut the coriander to put on the soup.
Hm… now that I think about it.
“They were all annoying,” I simply said, adding the coriander to the soup and letting it on low heat. I directed my gaze towards PopStep who looked like something was bothering her. “By the way, do you happen to have a sister of black hair? One of the girls there smelled just like you.”
Her expression turned into one of rage.
“WHY ARE YOU SMELLING LADIES, YOU PERVERT?!”
“It’s just as I thought. They’re trying to deduce possible candidates to be bioengineered into villains.” Shota Aizawa said as he sat across the detective Tsukauchi. As more information came to life, more pieces of the puzzle got revealed for him to piece together.
It’s been a few weeks of back and forth with the detective as more and more information about trigger was revealed. It was almost nostalgic how his initial contact came from Smiley of all people, a vigilante concerned about villains of all people after defeating.
The mere thought of halting his pursuit for the vigilante over the investigation of the drug gave a bad taste in his mouth, but at the end of the day it wasn’t like anyone was going to help him catch him, not after the last time he tried.
Aizawa took a sip from his coffee as he ignored whenever the ‘Hotta brothers’ chimed in on the conversation. They were two annoying characters he met before in the search of the drug route who ended up being two guys who made their own mix for personal use. Their store of operations was used as their met ups with the detective.
“Mass producing villains, yes. That’s why the name ‘Villain Factory’,” the detective regardless responded to one of the comments from the brothers about someone stepping in after the incident in Osaka, something the detective was involved in. “Going by the testimony of our suspect in the mixer, the one distributing the new trigger we managed to get a small sample off, was the same as the man who destroyed the evidence of the crab route in Osaka.”
“The guy with the acceleration quirk?”
Shota hummed at the mention of the individual. Someone who was capable of moving at high speeds without anyone noticing. It somehow reminded him of that kid who moved to save him the other day. He couldn’t even have the time to say two words before he vanished at high speeds in front of him.
Was him the culprit? Or maybe someone else with a similar quirk?
He has seen the vigilante before, but to his knowledge he would only use projectiles at his disposal instead of moving at high speed and using strength beyond human standards. Was he another experiment?
That’s way too many questions for him to answer without a proper investigation.
The hero known as Eraserhead fetched a cigarette from a pack he held in one of his pockets and lit it up. He took a long drag as they kept talking about a possible Asian market distributing the drug to japan.
He wondered if he could truly do a dent to what was behind it all after the last encounter with a bioengineered villain.
I found myself once again accompanying Kazuho, she asked me to come so we could have some fun together, so I agreed. My clones on the other hand took care of the shelter and the streets. As the months passed by, without me noticing I found myself at the beginning of a christmas party organized by Captain Celebrity’s manager.
It was not a surprise that I didn’t even know what day it was.
It has been so long since the last time I… he experienced christmas. After training my ass off, took the mantle of a hero and made sure to help at the shelter, I never experienced the days like normal people in my life ever again. The only reason I know seasons are passing is because of Kazuho or Manami at this point.
I made my way towards the pink haired girl and helped reach the place she was trying to put the decorations on. I smiled as I helped PopStep, I’m glad she’s no longer mad at me, even though it’s a little weird she keeps asking me if I was a clone every time we meet.
“Pizza’s here!” one of the idols from the group said as a delivery man holding onto three boxes walked in.
“What’s up guys!” said PopStep’s fans, Ichi and Jube followed by the band members, walking in while holding food in packages and gifts.
It wasn’t long until the store manager made his way in to give everyone their christmas gifts, probably some coupon I won’t be able to use.
“Merry Christmas!” Everyone exclaimed as they used their party poppers, much to Kazuho’s dismay as she covered her ears.
Holding onto a cup of soda my eyes roamed the room. People were talking among themselves while having a good time. They were eating pizza and drinking soda or tea. The store manager who was dressed as Santa was giving gift cards to everyone. The band members were talking with the dancers. Captain Celebrity was playing with the three singer little girls, juggling with the three of them as they all squealed in delight. The lead singer and the lead dancer were on the balcony while looking at the stars.
And Kazuho… Kazuho was by my side as we quietly took turns to drink from our drinks.
At that moment, it dawned on me that I didn’t really like parties.
I barely know the people here, if they introduced themselves to me it probably was to a clone. So all those experiences with them I didn’t really have them for me to walk in and strike a conversation.
Ugh.
I wish I hadn’t come at all.
Before I could even attempt to ditch the party, I heard the pink haired girl speak.
“Gurē… are you having fun?” Our eyes met.
I wanted to tell her. I wanted to say I wasn’t having a good time. I wanted to tell her that I’d rather be with my people at home or doing a patrol as the ‘Hood’ or ‘Smiley’ than being here.
But I couldn’t say that to her face, after accepting her invitation.
So I lied.
“It’s pleasant to see everyone having a good time,” I said, shifting my gaze back to the people around us as they were preoccupied in their own worlds. “I’m glad I came.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“You don’t seem like it,” she said, while taking another sip from her drink. Our eyes met again, this time she was frowning, but there was a hint of something else. Maybe worry?
There was an awkward silence between us before I broke eye contact and just spilled the truth.
“I think I don’t like parties,” I said while trying to remember the last time I or he was at a party. Which was none. “It feels like I don’t know anyone here. Like I don’t belong.”
“Oh Gurē…” the girl voiced but I refused to stare at her… that was before I felt her hand hold onto mine. “You know me. That’s enough, right?”
“I think so,” I nodded at that logic, she was probably right. Then my gaze landed once more on our hands. “Quick question; Why are you holding my hand?”
“T-That’s because my hands were getting cold and wanted you to heat them up!” She stammered, looking to the side, pink dust covered her cheeks.
“Oh… that makes sense,” I told her before taking a sip from my drink.
Once it got dark I was standing outside with PopStep, Captain Celebrity, her managers and the trio of little girls who were about to go on a taxi back home. Hearing some banter between the manager and C.C. was a little cathartic, especially because the hero has problems with words. No wonder people misunderstood him often.
I saw them go with a smile, only to frown as my ears picked something coming from behind us,. I looked back just in time for a large beast-like quirk user with large wings to pass through and go directly for the taxi.
“A villain?!”
“It’s going for the taxi!”
“CAPTAIN!” I screamed, before kicking the ground thirty times in less than a second at the same time as the hero took flight. I landed on the roof of the taxi and kicked the beast away.
Just before it lit up.
Captain arrived in time as I felt something catch me and brought me closer.
Then everything went white as the beast-like quirk user exploded.
I felt myself fall as I noticed Captain Celebrity holding onto my hoodie while his other hands held tightly the trio of girls. He was severely wounded while I found myself spotless. Before hitting the ground I broke the fall by holding onto Captain so his back wouldn’t be the first thing that touched the asphalt.
“Is everyone alright? You three, are you ok? I hope not!” Captain Celebrity said as he fussed over us once we were on the ground, more importantly the trio of girls that wailed at their almost doom.
“That should be my line,” I asked as I took a seat on the floor next to him. “You took the explosion head on, are you alright?”
Before he could respond PopStep jumped forwards and landed a few steps away from us.
“Gurē! Are you ok?!”
Her voice was drowned out by the voice of people who were nearby or got out of their homes when they heard the commotion.
“What was that blast?” “Hey! Is that Captain Celebrity?” “C.C.’s hurt!”
People began to take photos of us, without our consent, so I stood up and made my way towards Kazuho. I’ll thank Captain properly for saving my life there.
Once I trained so that small mistake doesn’t happen again.
“Heh, how very interesting,” a dark figure muttered as he watched his phone containing the specs of the creature that almost killed Captain Celebrity and Hobo. “It almost took Hobo too, I wonder if he would have survived the explosion by himself.”
“Flight and explosion, a very nasty combination. It was strong enough to make a dent on Captain Celebrity,” the figure said, before smiling again. “Then again, it only scratched him, he seemed to put a barrier around the kids and Hobo, leaving him defenseless.”
The figure’s smile became predatory as a scar appeared to glow on his face.
“That barrier is the key to his defense. He’s only human after all. This gives me plenty to work with.” He pocketed the device and looked at the people fussing over the hero. “Let’s say… what if I release more than one of those bombers. Would he survive?”
A/N: Sup everybody, how are you feeling today?
I want to make sure that everybody knows that I’m not an expert on gardening, so I decided to just go for the fictional version of harvesting and the like, a large supply that never runs out. But I thought the feeling of running out plus the restlessness of the people at the shelter would lead Gurē to seek help, at least a little. I hope I'm explaining myself here.
We are nearing the end of “The Vigilantes arc”. Once done we’re going to go through a series of time skips showcasing how everyone is doing until the next arc commences, at least I hope that’s what is going to happen. Life is unpredictable, we never know where it would lead us.
Hope you liked this chapter, I had a hard time writing it, I almost went through another hiatus.