2 Shades of Grey

39: The Worst Of The Worst

The cashier gave me a strange look-- probably because of what I was wearing-- and took the clothes that I had chosen. As he was scanning them, I turned my head to look for Shinso. From where I was, I could see him eyeing a cat hoodie.

The reason why I needed new workout clothes was because I usually just wore my costume's jumpsuit to train. I didn't think it would be a great idea to just wear my villain/vigilante costume to a hero training camp.

I payed the cashier with some money that Kurogiri had given me beforehand. I got my new clothes in a bag and went towards Shinso.

"I-I've got my clothes," I acted a stutter, "I'll j-just walk around."

He responded with a nod. Shortly after, I left the store.

I walked past clumps of people. The sound of conversation and footsteps filled my ears. Occasionally, I could feel someone's eyes on me.

'Maybe some people recognize me or something.'

Even if they did recognize me, I didn't care. In my opinion, the only useful thing that a hero's fame could be useful for is lowering crime rates. Then again, a hero's fame could also cause the making of a villain.

I walked, looking around at the various shops.

'Now that I think about it, Izumi looked a little tired,' I thought, 'It was a little hard to notice, but there were dark circles under her eyes, though they weren't too bad.'

It was slightly concerning considering that I've never seen her have circles under her eyes. She also seemed to keep to herself a little more than usual, so it wouldn't be illogical to assume that something was going on.

As I was walking, I noticed something. I saw some kids looking at some masks. The weird part was that the masks were of Chizumo.

'Why are there masks of him?' I wondered.

I took a moment to think. Then, I remembered that Touya showed me a video once. It was a video of Chizumo resisting arrest. It took place after Kurogiri had taken me away from the fight in Hosu. In the video, Chizumo had activated Fear Inducement and he had given a speech about his ideals. It was very cool.

After that, Chizumo had gained popularity. There were talks about him on online forums and other websites. There were people that agreed with his views and some that rejected it. The Hero Commission hasn't said anything about it yet, so I guess businesses are just taking advantage of Chizumo's popularity by selling products made of him.

Curious, I walked into the store. There weren't that many people in it, and there were actually some people that were obviously avoiding it. I stepped through the store's racks. They were all filled with various merchandise. If I were younger, I might've freaked out seeing all of this.

Eventually, I made it to the back of the store. What I saw there... it hurt me. There was no way that what I saw here didn't permanently damage my soul. My eyes were beheld to these products, made of cloth and printed with various individuals on their surfaces.

I came face to face with body pillows!

Not only that, but right in front of my eyes was a body pillow of a person that I had looked up to as a parent figure for the past three years. There was a body pillow of Chizumo... One with him fully clothed in some sort of... bashful position???

There was another one as well! This one had a print of Chizumo in almost no clothing at all. He was in... no...

'Why does this exist.'

He was in some sort of... submissive position... with a... a strange expression on his face.

'I can't look,' I thought as I turned my head away from the monstrosity that I just witnessed.