NOVEL WEB Issue #7: Black Tongues, Part 2
He managed to get away again.
'To think he would notice the snipers from this distance… ' Aizawa observed, still puzzled by Smiley's words. 'Black tongues? This is the first time I'm hearing about this. What's more, he mentioned other cities too… so that means the rumors of moving between cities were true after all.'
Eraserhead gaze dropped to the struggling villain, still trying to get free from its bindings. Unfocused eyes, lack of sense, black tongue. The erasing hero takes a few steps closer and lowers himself to the man on the floor. The only smell his nostrils receive are the polluted air of the streets.
'He mentioned a peculiar smell, but I'm not smelling anything. Does he have a strong sense of smell as well?' Aizawa tried to hold back a grumble. Another power to be added to the file of the Smiling vigilante. It doesn't help that every time he comes close to deciphering the illegal hero's quirk, he showcases a new ability contradicting his previous assessment. 'Not logical, not logical at all.'
Bringing a finger to his earpiece he spoke.
“You shot him.”
You told us to shoot his legs if he started to move.
“We weren't done talking either… Did you at least get all of that?“
Affirmative. Snipe is telling me about a report of a captured villain with 'black tongue' in Saitama a few weeks ago
“Was he involved?”
… Smiley was seen confronting the villain, yes. He captured it and left as soon as the authorities arrived at the scene. The assailant was later freed after interrogation.
After that, the line became completely silent, leaving Shota alone with his thoughts. It feels so weird to know so much but so little at the same time of the vigilante he's been trying to capture all these years. Once he thinks he knows what his Quirk does, the illegal hero shows him a new piece of information that makes all his previous theories completely useless.
The only theory that doesn't appear to be proven wrong was that Smiley had more than one quirk, a mutation type. But that leaves open a can of worms that even himself doesn't want to deal with.
Air based attacks and propulsion, super strength, super speed, shock absorption, iron type hardening, water based attacks, at least in name, and… enhanced senses.
Repeating their conversation in his mind, Eraserhead attempted to come up with a reason for why Smiley stopped their conversation mid sentence. He was distracted, or appeared to be. But Eraserhead didn't call the shot, not yet at least.
'His head tilted before he ran away. Was he really interested in the butterfly or did he try to look back?' Police officers started to approach to apprehend the villain as Aizawa pondered on Smiley's escape. 'Was he able to listen to them from here? Or did he catch their voices from my earpiece?'
“Hm… I'm starting to believe he was able to hear you both.”
From this distance? Are you sure?
“I believe he was able to hear you from my earpiece. It would match the file on his abilities, something related to the wind quirk theory”
… His file says many things. Do you think he could see the future?
“Like precognition? Don't think so. His early and recent behavior doesn't match the description of a precognitive ability. It could also be enhanced hearing.”
Aizawa blinks as the police officers take away the villain under quirk cancelling chains. With a tired sigh he puts finger on his intercom.
“We need to report to the authorities. Come down you two.”
Understood. Coming down.
Vigilantes. In the early days they were the average joe who decided to carry out justice by their own hands when quirks started to manifest. Normally the pros wouldn't act on vigilantism unless the police or the 'Hero Public Safety Commission' had a say in the matter. But there's a difference here. Smiley isn't just your average troublemaker/vigilante. He's dragging the name of the Pro Heroes through the mud.
When he presented his early findings to his peers, they treated it like an issue beneath them. After all, what can a mere individual who takes care of the 'small fries' on the streets do to them? Death Arms joked about giving Smiley a scolding if they ever meet.
It wasn't until they encountered the vigilante themselves, had a look at his record of 'heroism' and searched him up on social media that it dawned on them the implications of what his vigilantism is actually doing. He isn't just a nameless vigilante doing what he thought was right, but a popular and competent one. A person who is stirring the perception of heroes on people.
Even 'The Hero Public Safety Commission' can barely keep up with the constant upload of content on all platforms, they can't censor the content fast enough. At this point trying to take down videos or fan pages or forum threads would add more fuel to the fire Smiley's actions started.
Does he even understand what he's doing? The damage his actions are causing?
“What a drag… I wish I could go for a smoke now.”
Heroes of Today Forum!
Home ► Heroes ► Upcoming Heroes ► Smiley
►Discussions!
Brave Red-One (Original Poster)
► Smiley's identity revealed? [Thread Closed]
Posted by Brave Red-One, yesterday at 20:20pm:
While visiting one of the hot spots Smiley is regularly seen acting as a hero, a villain with a gigantification quirk attacked the premises! I was so scared!! ( ' ºnº)
Sources!
[Link] [Link] [Link]
But that's not all! \(º v º )
Because I managed to get a glimpse at Smiley's identity when he saved me!! He was so cute too!! (´´v´´ )
He's a teenager between 15 and 18yro, has white and cute messy hair. Strong yellow eyes and he's definitely covered in scars, so manly!! (º A º *)
I don't have sources for this one but I'll try to bring you photos next time!
Smiley fighting the villain!! \(^ - ^ )
[Link] [Link] [Link] [Link]
Page 1 of 10 [Thread Closed]
Maleficient30 [user was banned for this post]
Replied yesterday at 20:24
What the hell is this crap? I came expecting pictures of smiley but all i get is just things i already know and fanfiction shit. There's a board for fanfiction if you wanna write stupid shit. Kill yourself!
Roshi the Great
Replied yesterday at 20:28
Um, i appreciate the links for the actual source but i can't believe the middle of your post. Are you sure you didn't misclick and posted on the wrong board?
abyss_walker
Replied yesterday at 20:31
why was this posted on the discussion board?
KaMiSoRi
Replied yesterday at 20:37
Not to be rude or anything but we already have a discussion thread about the events of this evening. You're welcome to join us, I haven't seen a few of those sources posted on the thread either, if you have more DM me.
OfficialLurker69
Replied yesterday at 20:43
this fanfic is crap, where's the lewds at? lol
SonofBi [user was banned for this post]
Replied yesterday at 20:46
FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU!!!
GOD IM SO FUCKING MAD!! I REALLY THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO SEE SMILEY'S FACE, WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT???
Sweating Dude
Replied yesterday at 20:55
i would refrain from writing these types of posts on the discussion board. thanks for the sources i guess…
Thinkering13
Replied yesterday at 20:57
►RE: SonofBi
Woah dude calm down.
Thanks for the sources OP but as mentioned earlier we already have a thread for the villain attack and a Smiley identity discussion. You're free to join us, as long as you keep the less realistic part for the fanfiction section.
Here's the threads:
Giant Villain Attack [Link]
Smiley Identity [Link]
Lungio2
Replied yesterday at 21:02
Someone close this thread already! It sucks so bad. OP stop posting!
All Might Fanboy1
Replied yesterday at 21:09
I haven't seen the last two sources of Smiley vs the villain of this evening. One of his attacks looks a lot like All Might's signature move California Smash! (less powerful though!) and with both fists this time. This is completely different from the last time Smiley fought a villain with a giant quirk (He's growing stronger!). OP might be onto something, maybe smiley could be a teenager (o_o )
Which brings up the question, if Smiley is a teen, could he grow to match All Might's strength? After all, going by my calculations Smiley could have been 10 or 12 years old when he debuted.
That also brings up the question of Smiley's quirk. I thought it was a wind-related quirk, going by his propulsion and attacks, but in this and a few other fights he uses an iron type of hardening… [read more]
ArcQuirk
Replied yesterday at 21:11
►RE: All Might Fanboy1
Oh no, this guy again.
Someone close the thread before allmightfanboy1 derails another thread about who would win a fight between All Might vs Smiley (Spoilers: All Might wins)
End of page 1 of 4 [Thread Closed]
Sniffing, she silently reads the forum thread she excitedly made last night for the tenth time. It wasn't until she came back from the shower drying up her long red hair that she got a glimpse at the replies her post created, none of them positive. She ended up spending a great part of her night and morning reading every single reply, feeling worse as she kept reading her forum thread.
She was too excited.
The lack of positive relationships in her life and the yearning for recognition led her to do something she would later regret immensely.
She knew Smiley's face and tried to unmask him to dozens of strangers.
As soon as she saw his face, she had this urge, she HAD to tell someone, anybody. She didn't have any friends to talk to. She was lonely and yearned for positive feedback no matter how little. The worst part of her actions was that she didn't get any.
Drying her tears with the back of her hand she closes the forum and goes to her video feedback. Maybe a cat video or two would take her mind off… off…
They tried to shoot Smiley! [re-upload]
Uploaded 1 minute ago
… Wha-
THE VIDEO OF SMILEY THE GOVERNMENT DON'T WANT YOU TO SEE [re-upload]
Uploaded 3 minutes ago
W-What's…
I captured Smiley's shooting while I was recording my bird feeder [re-upload]
Uploaded 5 minutes ago
What's happening?
RANT: WHAT'S WRONG WITH HEROES? [re-upload]
Uploaded 7 minutes ago
A chill ran down from her spine as she scrolled down through her feed.
OMG!! THEY ACTUALLY TRIED TO KILL HIM [re-upload]
Uploaded 1 minutes ago
This… this…
Smiley escapes again [re-upload]
Uploaded 3 minutes ago
In defense of Pro Heroes
Uploaded 20 minutes ago
Giant Villain Stopped by Pro Heroes | HBC NEWS
Uploaded 24 minutes ago
Eyes widening she opens one of the re-uploaded videos just to meet face to face with the 'This video is unavailable' page. Panicking, she refreshes her feed just to find the most recent videos she saw at the beginning deleted.
Going to the search bar her fingers move and enter the words 'Smiley' and 'shooting'. A few familiar thumbnails appear on the screen. Clicking on the most recent one, a man greets her with a rant about the actions of the 'Pro Heroes' and how they tried to shoot 'Smiley' the vigilante. The man mentions that he cannot post the link because they keep flagging the videos down or outright deleting accounts that post them.
Her breath hitches as the video keeps going. She listens attentively at the man's words of the events he managed to piece together the events of the shooting after watching the different videos posted on the platform. Stopping the rant midway, Manami goes to the search bar and starts to type away with the intent of getting more information.
As she consumes more videos of the shooting her mind starts to wander to Smiley's yellow eyes looking at her with worry, concern and tenderness. Nobody looked at her with those eyes before…
Why did the heroes try to do something like that?
Why did they shoot him?
What would've happened if he didn't dodge on time?
The video ends and the screen of her computer goes black for a moment showing her own reflection staring back at her through her tired pink eyes. Closing the site she lets out a tired sigh. The memory of Smiley holding her still fresh in her mind.
She wanted to see him again.
She wanted him to hold her again.
Partially biting her thumb she starts to walk around her room. Any other person would think they missed their chance on interacting or getting any information of the elusive vigilante and give up. But not her. She spent a great amount of her time alone developing skills in case she needed to search for a job she could do from home, informatics, social media management and hacking. Hacking being one of the skills she's proficient at.
There was an online article she read once, about a group of 'villains' hacking the security cameras of a bank to learn the patterns of the guards and the perfect time for them to get in without interference.
Her line of thought stops abruptly.
The street Smiley saved her from…
She knew that street.
And that street had cameras.
Her gaze falls onto the monitor in her desk. She was in that street specifically to catch a glimpse of Smiley, after all that's one of his usual spots for patrolling. Theoretically she could hack into the cameras of the city to figure out his civilian walking pattern. But that was just crazy talk. Smiley wouldn't use the same civilian clothes every day, right?
Sitting down she begins to tap away. No real goal in mind, not yet at least. After all, those are just possible scenarios. There's no way she can easily bypass the security of the street cameras and go unnoticed. There's no way she would identify Smiley through street cameras.
Right?
And if she did. What would she even say to him?
So into her own thoughts, she completely forgot all about the forum thread.
Block. Deflect. Evade. Block. Evade. Deflect. Counter. Block
Breathe in.
Time moves at a slower pace as my hand deflects another swipe to my throat and then I move my body to evade another projectile thrown by myself. It feels so weird to fight two perfect copies of me at the same time.
Jumping in the air my legs blur in motion driving me backwards. Two more projectiles fly from my right as the copy in front of me imitates my movements to close in. Punching the rocks away I let out a long breath as my clone and I keep flying through the air maintaining the same speed.
I wince slightly as my clone hard fist collides against my hardened forearm. Using the small window left for me, my knee flies towards the copy's face but it's stopped by his own forearm. My leg hits the same spot ten times in less than a second creating enough force to hit away my clone creating a gap between us. My head moves out of the way as another projectile flies from behind.
Air fills my lungs once again. My vision sharpens as does my stance. My clone uses 'Razor' around the clearing incrementing its speed by each 'step' he makes.
When I first began implementing the breathing exercises to my way of fighting I didn't notice any noticeable change. It felt like a unnecessary step I did that stopped me right in my tracks to regain my composure. I felt that the breathing techniques wouldn't work the same way as the 'Six Skills' work. While the 'Six Skills' can be reverse engineered by just doing them daily until they work… for the breathing techniques you need an experienced master to train you in how to properly breath.
But the exercises helped me as a way to relax and heal, so I kept doing them.
It wasn't until one day while doing the exercises with the intention of improving my lung capacity while training the speed of my throwing that I felt something shift. Everything moved slightly slower. My vision was much sharper and I had a surge of energy in my body that I didn't have before. It was like experiencing an adrenaline rush.
All these years of hard training the way I breath, finally gave fruit in the most unexpected ways.
My hand flies forward and in one fluid motion, reminiscing of a wave, I deflect a kick directed at my face. My clone serves as a shield for three projectiles that were coming from behind.
I jump away and direct my attention to both of my doppelgängers. The sniper hides and changes positions while the other unharmed shifts into a fighting stance.
Clones.
I still remember my reaction when Jin showcased his quirk in front of us. It was incredible. A cloning ability. One of, if not, the strongest ability around. As soon as I saw it in action my mind went through all the possibilities and how I would use it for my benefit if I had it. Anime taught me that clones could be used in so many ways, from training to cleaning, a powerful ability for multitasking.
But as any ability from this world, they have a drawback. Jin can only do 2 clones at a time, the second one being weaker than the first. But he discovered a way to bypass that drawback by cloning himself, then the next clone repeats the same action indefinitely. Anyone with that power could become unstoppable.
But not Jin Bubaigawara.
After an incident he would later reveal during one of our private talks he became afraid of his own power. He convinced himself he's just one of his clones after the incident and the mere thought of getting hurt and 'dissolving' scares him.
I wanted to help. I wanted to tell him that he doesn't need to be afraid. But how do you convince someone who has already made up their mind? How can you convince someone with trauma that everything is going to be ok?
We can only offer our support as a family.
My hand deflects another rock thrown from my blind spot and redirects it to my approaching assailant who just tanks the hit with 'Iron Body' while coming my way. Adopting one of the improvised kata I developed for 'Water Flow' I parry the incoming fist to my right and strike with a wind strike of 'Whirlwind Storm' with the same hand. The tree behind my clone explodes in splinters as strands of my hair blow on the wind.
We maintain the same position for a few seconds but I have to quickly abandon my spot after three more projectiles are thrown in my general direction, one of them almost hitting my clone but he just redirects it towards my position in the air. My hand flies and catches the rock between my fingers and throws it with all my strength towards my clone snipping from the distance, exploding his head in the process.
I land and breathe out. The familiar sound of the air leaving my lungs through my teeth reaches my ears. My eyes land on the remaining clone. Both of our stances are mirrored.
“You killed him,” he says, shifting his gaze from his 'fallen' comrade towards me.
“I was getting tired of all those rocks,” I replied.
“We do need to learn how to evade bullets and projectiles from all angles. It was important.”
“I haven't tested my speed throw against different types of guns, so it's useless for now.”
“Maybe we could've practiced while evading multiple 'Storm Leg' at the same time?”
“Not a bad idea. I should've said stop instead.” I said, finally relaxing my stance. My copy follows my lead a few seconds later, “How much more damage can you still take?”
“I can still fight if that's what you're asking. But that's not it, is it? Do you want me to go back to Twice and tell him to make new clones?” he asks, approaching me while taking off the sweat from his brow.
Clones that sweat. What a bizarre world.
“Not necessarily. The incident of a few days ago-” I begin, relaxing my muscles as I keep my breathing at a steady pace.
“The one with the giant guy with black tongue, right?” my clone interrupts.
“Yeah. Made me realize that I can't be everywhere to help people and save the day. Especially if I'm using part of my time to train to keep my abilities sharp.”
“Not forgetting that we have to take care of the guys at the shelter too.” the clone responds moving away from me towards his discarded clothes and begins to put them on.
“It really pains me to think that without Jin at our side, I wouldn't have enough time to save people. If I had chosen to stay in the woods that day… ”
“But you didn't,” I hear. Turning my gaze towards my now clothed clone looking at me with a small smile. “Remember what Salt said: 'You'll find a way one day', that old fart can be a pain in the ass but he usually gives good advice.”
“Is this how it feels to get the anime talk from the other side?” I ask, returning the smile back. “Try to patrol in your civilian clothes before arriving at the shelter. Tell Jin to make another clone for cooking. And try to stop Kon from doing anything stupid.”
“Heh, the last one is impossible,” my clone says before jumping away from the clearing.
'I hope my clone remembers to not use 'Smiley's abilities' in my civilian persona' I think, looking at my clone disappear in the distance.
Walking towards my now expanded garden I pick a small apple from one of the trees and take a bite out of it. I can't believe it all started from collecting seeds of stolen fruits and things I no longer wanted to eat.
Taking a seat on the tree stump I made years ago I begin to eat in silence while thinking on ways to improve my physical abilities.
Huh.
It's so quiet.
Am I getting used to the sounds of the city?
So weird…
I blink owlishly watching Kon and Cream tiredly pass by me while I'm still on the ground doing push-ups, five tree logs strapped to my back serving as temporary weights until I get my hands on something with more weight. Maybe I should check if there's an abandoned train station close by. Not that I think I would be able to lift a train right away, but I can always try.
After a while I can see the approaching exhausted forms of Daisuke and Emiko. It's been months since they asked me to train them, but I can barely see improvements. I mean going by my world standards they're doing great, better than great even. They can go beyond 50 push-ups, sit-ups, squats and 5 kilometer run, at least Kon and Cream can, the most experienced ones of the bunch, while the kids still struggle to match the original goal I had for them.
What's more, they get tired and need a day or two to recover after the training lesson is over.
It's so weird. I was doing double the amount of load they're trying to meet right now back when I started. In less than a month too. There was a point where I felt I wasn't improving with just the regular training exercises and started to add weights and different kinds of training ideas from anime until I got used to them.
Is it the drive for improvement that separates me from the rest or is there something else I'm missing?
I believe I started my training at the age of five. And after a good meal or a night of sleep I would be up the next day, training and hunting like usual. I don't think I ever took a day off.
I mean…
This world functions like an anime should, weird physics and all. I'm not even the protagonist of this series to begin with. So, wouldn't these simple training exercises be an easy feat to people of my same age? Did I improve because I started when I was younger?
Finishing the last of my push-ups, I stand up and begin to do the rest of my early training routine, squats being the next step before I do handstands with each finger. A couple of elder people calmly walk by, their stare lingers on the comically large sized logs strapped to my back by rope as I exercise at the side of the road of the park.
I let out a long breath as my nose catches the smell of Kon who apparently left Cream behind to finish the last of his laps. Our gazes meet. Kon tries to say something but his breathing is all ragged from all the running. He closes his mouth and then quietly walks towards the backpack I borrowed beforehand, filled with water bottles and a few snacks.
6km run.
That was his limit
At the beginning, it was just Kon who asked me for training. The first and only one. A quiet teenager that ran away from home, who would later on have the courage, the need, to become strong to protect the community, our people, whenever I wasn't there for them. Kon was born with a really 'weird' quirk that extended his fingers up to a certain length and that was it. He thought it was a useless ability, something that wouldn't be enough to be a hero. But I thought differently. No ability is useless, even a fart could potentially save a life, not that I would say that to Kon out loud. An ability that extends small parts of limbs such as fingers is a perfect match for 'Finger Pistol' and could potentially evolve to grow other extremities as well, like the neck, arms and legs.
It wasn't until he started following me on my morning runs that the others took notice. After a night shift Cream approached me about learning self defense, there wasn't any other reason other than knowing it just in case. Cream is a free spirit kind of teen and a bit of an airhead. She saw me and Kon training together and she wanted in. Then the kids.
In hindsight, telling them about my quirkless status was a mistake.
Because once they knew all my 'special abilities' came from training and hard work, they wanted to learn them too.
Not that I would ever teach any of the techniques I know though.
Not because of secrecy or anything of the sort. But because of the true nature of those techniques. Even if it took them years to accomplish, the 'Six Skills' are techniques developed with only one intention in mind: Assassination.
I don't know what I was thinking back then. Techniques developed for killing were a poor choice to properly 'kick start' my training. The concept of learning those skills was something beyond me. It was an impossible task and even then it was like a side project for me. 'Kick the ground ten times in less than a second' after stretching just to see if I could do it with no real goal in mind. I became overwhelmed with so much joy when I successfully applied one of them, that I couldn't stop myself from aiming my training on reverse engineering the rest.
I had a realization that sunny day, after crashing against a tree.
It was possible.
And now I don't even know if I should share this knowledge with anyone.
“What's your time?” I ask, dropping down from my handstand position and walking towards Kon. I'm not particularly thirsty, but I accept the water bottle the young adult offers me regardless.
“Hm… 32 minutes,” he offhandedly saids after fetching his phone out. “Shaved a minute off from last time.”
“That's good though.”
6 kilometers in 32 minutes.
It's… so slow.
For anyone living in my original world that would be an impressive feat. A person that hasn't done any training in all his life and only has two meals a day, manages to work his way up from 4km a week to 6km every day, shaving off minutes each time after a few months of training.
“Hey,” I heard Kon said after pocketing his phone and looking at the direction where he came from waiting patiently for Cream and the kids to come back, “When do you think I'll be ready to learn any of them?”
“Hard to say,” I responded after drinking half of the bottle, pouring the rest on my head to cool me down. “Your legs still lack the proper strength to attempt the first exercise. If you do it incorrectly you might pull a muscle.”
The teenager lets out a tired sigh, then rubs the back of his head.
“No need to feel bad about it. It took me months to learn the first step. Everyone has their own rhythm, or whatever bullshit Salt says.” I tell him, spotting Cream and the kids slowly make their way back to us.
“I guess so,” he said, not sounding convinced.
My gaze drifts towards Kon again. A frown plastered across his face.
“Once you can do 10km for the same time, I'll tell you the next step in your training,” taking a few steps back, I return to my previous position and start to stretch my limbs before I begin the rest of my early routine. Side steps should be next in the list “For the time being, resume with your training. Add 10 more reps to each exercise from now on, your body is already used to the original goal, let's start lightly until we double the amount.”
Lightly jumping from side to side I hear the dark haired man grumble as he plops down on the floor with the intention of doing push ups.
While 'Shave', 'Moonwalk' and 'Paper Arts' are the only ones I wouldn't mind for them to learn, it requires an almost perfect control of one's body. Something that I still have grips with. I don't even know if they'll ever be able to manage more than 4 kicks in less than a second at the speed they're going.
Even though I don't plan for them to learn any of the offensive techniques the 'Six Skills' has to offer, I can still teach them self defense and basic exercises to stay in shape.
Who knows, maybe they would need the help one day.
“Jin, could you clean up the onions and tomatoes for me? We're making meat stew today” the 'weak' clone of his bestest friend says while holding a knife in his hand.
“Of course boss! I love cooking with you! No I don't you bastard, I hate it!” he happily replied, sporting a mask made by his other best friend Ena the grumpy granny. A simple grey mask made out of a scarf they found in the trash.
“Please don't call me that.”
“Ok boss!”
“Jin… forget it.” his boss sighs, of happiness Twice hoped.
Sometimes he wondered how he managed to land such magnificent people to call friends. So used to life in the streets and taking care of himself that he completely forgot what it felt like.
To have someone by his side.
Bark!
“Twiiice, could you pretty please make another Gurē? We need to move a few things to the second warehouse.” asked Cream while being followed by an old pup. A crate filled with valuable items they found in the trash the other day rests under one of her arms.
“Uh-”
“No can do. Jin already made two clones today.” 'Gurē' responded before he could finish his sentence “Once we finish we'll help you.”
“Hum! But he said he could do more than two the other time” she whined stomping her foot, the pup barked in agreement. Gurē's clone in response simply threw a meat bone to the dog who quickly caught it between its teeth and walked away.
“He did, but two is as far as he wants to go,” the clone said while cleaning the cutting table with a wet cloth, so he can begin to dice the vegetables for the stew. “Don't try to push him, Cream. I'll help you in a minute, we're almost done here.”
“Hum!” and with a huff, the teen turned around and went back inside, leaving the two to work.
With a wince, Twice observed his female friend go. Then directed his gaze to his bestest friend, peel and perfectly dice the onions in small squares before adding it to the pot with oil, salt and spices. Then the previously cut meat in small squares and finally the tomatoes.
He makes it look so effortless.
Cooking, that is.
“Sorry I can't help beyond cleaning, man. Not like I could do anything else!” Jin said after a few minutes of silence.
At first Gurē chose to remain silent while cleaning his station and checking the other pot filled to the brim with rice, tasting it before killing the flame and setting the pot aside.
“You do a lot for us Jin, don't let her impatience bring you down,” the friendly clone said, holding half a smile while cleaning his hands with a cloth strapped to his belt. “As crazy as it sounds, I wouldn't be here to begin with, if it weren't for you. Heh”
“That's… no-” he tried to protest, still feeling guilty by the measures he takes daily to keep himself alive. Even to this day, Jin Bubaigawara still tries to keep his distance from any actions or sharp objects that could potentially 'end' his life… as a… clone. “That's not true man.”
“Heh, you do so much for us and you barely notice.,” his friend replied. “Right now I'm at three places at once, helping people, cooking for all of us and improving myself. And it's all thanks to you.”
“I wish I could do more for you guys. I wish I wasn't such a disa-” Jin tried to say but was soon interrupted by getting lightly smacked in the head by a wood ladle. “Hey! What the hell man!? You could've killed me with that for sure!”
“Heh-Heh! But you survived! A limp dicked strike like that could never defeat you!” his boss cheerily said, not even feeling sorry for his crude comment.
Wh-
“Who… WHO TAUGHT YOU THOSE WORDS BOSS?! I'LL KILL THEM!!” Twice ragged. It was Salt. He was sure of it. That shitty old man's only skill is babbling his mouth like a drunk sailor. The next time he sees him he'll… he'll…
“Heh… hehe hahaha!” Jin's rage dimmed as he listened to his boss chuckle and laugh.
Ah… it was a joke.
Twice released a small giggle in return, joining his boss even though he didn't completely understand the joke.
“Sometimes, the bare minimum is enough,” the clone told him once he stopped laughing. “Any help is welcome Jin, no matter how small.”
Turning down the stove, Gurē started to move the pots on the wood cabinets installed under the cooking tables and called for old man Salt to take care of the stand.
“Alright, enough chit chat. Let's see what they need us for,” his best friend said, while moving in closer and starting to shove it towards the warehouse with a huge smile on his face. “Hurry it up man! The faster we move the faster we eat!”
'Is cleaning enough? Is there other ways I could help my friends?' he wondered that day as he and his friend's 'clone' took crates and boxes away towards the second warehouse, talking about mundane things.
He wanted to help. He wanted to be needed. He wanted to be useful for the people he loved, for the people that were there for him when nobody else was.
As he took a seat next to the real Gurē once he came back from training in the woods, they all ate together while sharing personal anecdotes, but most importantly, his boss' heroic lifestyle.
A smile spreads across Jin's face as he listens to the silver haired teen that saved his life, narrate how he stole the wallet of the hero 'Death Arms' after dealing with a band of armed robbers in a small store at the edge of the city during one of his patrols.
Sometimes the bare minimum is enough.
He didn't understand it.
But…
Jin didn't give it much thought as he started to laugh with the others once his best friend imitated the musclehead hero as he continued to narrate the events of his encounter.
He didn't understand it, but he didn't feel like he needed to.
Right now, he just wanted to enjoy the moment with his friends for a little while. He'll figure it out one day.
I'm starting to think I should invest in a big bag to carry all these groceries. Double paper bags won't cut it anymore, even if I take one of Jin's clones with me. It's not that I'm unable to carry them all myself, but juggling them all in my arms is the problem. It doesn't help that I'm getting used to buying a shit ton of groceries at night just before all stores close.
'Maybe I should ask Ena if she could make me a bag, like those from the food delivery services,' I thought, shifting my body weight to the left a little bit, regaining the balance of the additional weight in my arms. 'Do they even have those services in this world?'
Better explain the overall idea and ask later if she ever saw such a concept before.
Hm
As soon as I take one of the usual shortcuts through an alleyway a strong scent of alcohol, vomit and piss assault my nostrils. There's a drunk guy close by trying to unzip his pants to relieve himself. Well, nothing I can do here, when you gotta go, you gotta go. I'll see if I can pass tomorrow with cleaning supplies, maybe bring Jin and the kids and teach them something about what being a hero actually entails. Heh.
Another scent. Very similar to the scent of the alleyway.
No, there's more. There's this peculiar scent of cologne, one of the expensive ones, the kind that actually hurts your nostrils when you smell a concentrated amount.
There's also the sound of his steps, the way they- no, he moves… a man.
My ears pick the murmurs of a gruff and hoarse voice, a smoker perhaps.
I don't even stop my stride through the long alleyway when the stumbling figure of a middle aged man walks by, dressed in 'formal' business wear and a trench coat while holding a bottle of booze. A peculiar scar seems to be dividing his face diagonally, I wouldn't be able to perceive it if I wasn't used to total darkness.
'Huh, Salt was right. There are people that actually smell worse than him' I think, quickly holding my breath as soon as I get closer to the man.
His eyes move to meet mine for a sec but later shift to his feet.
Good. I don't feel like taking care of old people now. I've been training and changing places with my clones a lot lately in order to cover more ground, people only see one Smiley, but sometimes there's more than one patrolling. For a place filled to the brim with heroes, criminal activity seems to never go away.
Especially with those fuckers that keep getting on my turf and snatching people away. Sometimes there's a trace that goes around the city and then disappears, and some other times there's no trace at all.
I breathe in once I'm a distance from the scarred man. I need to keep my anger under control, I can't do anything but wait and warn the homeless that visit my food stand. Whoever is behind the kidnappings, they're going to be careless one of these days and I'm going to be there to pay them back for all the people that went missing under my watch.
I breathe out letting go my negative emotions for now. This is the perfect opportunity to think of new recipes to try next.
'Mmm… how about I teach the kids to eat bell peppers by cooking it with ground beef, onions, carrots and cheese on top?' I think in amusement. Grandma used to hide veggies I didn't particularly like with other things I did like, such as beef, cheese, or noodles.
Something to think abo-
“Hey, you… I'm gh- looking for a drug… the latest one,” my walking stops as soon as I hear the old man talk. He's not addressing me but the other guy that was trying to take a leak, “If you know anything… spill it out.”
A drug?
Was that guy a drug dealer or something? He smelled like cigarettes and cheap beer.
“Ah? What the fuck are you talking abo-”
Thunk!
Very slowly I put my bags on the ground close to a wall that hadn't been pissed before and slowly made my way towards the old man with the scar on his face. I rather not get involved, but an angry drunk is a danger to everybody. Better I put him out before he hurts somebody.
“Ah, ah… Your tongue, is it black? Let me see it!” His words stopped me right in my tracks.
What did he say?
Did he just casually ask if the guy had a black tongue?
Is this fucker involved?
How much does he know?
Without even noticing my hand lands on the old man's shoulders just as he knocks the drunk guy out, at this point I don't even care about him or what he said next. My eyes are looking straight to the unfocused eyes of the scarred old man.
My hand tightens against his shoulder, drawing a wince from him.
“Excuse me mister, did you just say black tongue?” my voice sounded alien to me. I didn't quite notice it back then, because it was laced with anger and hate, it felt like I was releasing all my emotions that have been bothering me for years at that very moment. “I clearly heard you say that. How much do you know? Would you mind telling me about it?”
A/N: Bruh I started this chapter at the beginning of July and now I'm finishing it at the beginning of September. A lot of things happened in such a small time frame. My grandma died and I had to take flights from home to the capital of my country to home and now I'm back at the capital. Sorry for the wait, I really thought I was going to update in august, but here we are lol.
I wanted to address a few complaints I received regarding Gurē's development. Truth be told, this fic was intended to be smut heavy because I enjoy those types of fics. I love drama, training montages and heroism. So, after the few two chapters were done I just kept going, leaving the smut idea behind.
The original idea was going to be about a Gamer system based on martial arts, that way I could explain the inclusion of different sets of techniques from other settings such as One Piece, Demon Slayer, HunterxHunter, JoJo and so on. But after listening to a friend complain about numbers and calculations I decided to scrap that idea entirely. So I went with the explanation of anime training/anime physics hoping it would clear any doubts. (Didn't work entirely lol)
I mean in different settings you have normal humans becoming the most powerful guys around just by training. The worst cases are shonen protagonists that train for a few days, months or a year and become the most powerful guy in their respective universe. So I went with a mix of both. Gure is the protagonist, but he also worked really hard to get to where he is now, even using what he knows of the techniques from animes to reverse engineer the others. And even then it isn't enough for future treats MHA has in store for him.
Thanks to a few theories in the Questionable Questing thread, I developed a more satisfactory explanation, which is briefly showcased in this chapter. Hope it manages to mitigate a few of the concerns about the fast paced growth of the character.
Also one last thing. People are so obsessed with Quirks, they're pretty cool and all, but if you have a main villain that can steal them, why even write about them if you can make a MC that doesn't need one?
What I'm trying to say is that I get more joy writing about someone at the bottom of the barrel whose only direction is going upwards. Might keep this concept with me whenever I decide to write that One Piece idea I had at the beginning of my journey.
TL,DR: I love overpowered mc and there's going to be an explanation in the fic later on. And no, it doesn't involve a Quirk. A few people already figured it out.
Sorry for the long rant. I wanted to move the juices in me, I haven't written anything in a week and didn't have any motivation to start.