Fake Hero Vol2; Fight of the Valkyries

{Observations 5: New allies and mysteries}

In the middle of the northeastern part of the city was an abandoned comic book shop.

A relic of the past, forgotten and made fun of.

In such a cruel and unforgiving world, there was no need for heroes.

...Even if that weren't the case, such a paragon of virtue was only a lie.

So, if someone called themselves a hero and acted as such, then they were, without a doubt, lying through their teeth.

Sitting in the middle of the wooden floor, reading an issue of The World's First Hero, was such a liar.

To tell the truth, the only reason he wanted to do such heroic acts was because he was forcing his newfound morals on others.

There wasn't any such virtuous goal as 'doing the right thing' in his mind.

This person was Laurence, the fake hero of the city, who called himself Phoenix.

"Hm...This comic's really good, even more so than the others."

Laurence muttered this absentmindedly to the other person sitting in the room with him, Thomas, who was also reading a comic, albeit a different one from Laurence.

He looked up from his issue of The Lion and grinned.

"I thought you'd like it. It's more about the dialogue between characters than the action though. Thought it might help you with your troubles speaking like a hero."

At the mention of the hidden motive Laurence frowned a bit.

He knew Thomas only had an interest in him as a hero and not as a person.

Granted, Laurence only wanted the resources and a place to call his home for a while, so he didn't try to think of Thomas as a person either.

Yet, yesterday night, Laurence had thanked Thomas so sincerely that he felt sick to his stomach for even doing such a thing.

It was a little hard not to treat him like a person after that, and he doubted that Thomas was only thinking of Laurence as something to fulfill his dreams with.

It was actually more foolish to think that they didn't care about each other to begin with.

They were human, after all; even if you were an enemy, you at least cared about what the other was going to do and if it could affect you.

Thomas must have been catching what Laurence was thinking, because he sighed and put down his comic.

"Yeah... I guess this is a little awkward. We're too used to the idea of simply using people that it's hard to open up, huh?"

"But in your case, it's more like you force people to open up with your power."

Thomas scratched his head at the mention of his power and nodded.

"I guess that makes sense."

"So does this mean we're friends or something?"

Laurence posed the question with a pondering tone.

'Friends' was a word one didn't use too often.

Business partners or acquaintances was the most common to describe someone's relationship to another in the city.

Yet, mere business partners or acquaintances do not let someone live with them or share their food.

Thomas also seemed to ponder this dilemma before reaching a conclusion.

"Friends... doesn't sound too right. I haven't really told you anything about myself yet, other than I'm living on my own and that I like heroes."

"Hmm... I suppose that makes sense. So then are we just roommates?"