🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺
This text: English
𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭: 𝐉𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐞
𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕖𝕩𝕥: 𝕀𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕒𝕟
ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴛᴇxᴛ: ꜱᴘᴀɴɪꜱʜ
𝓣𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓽𝓮𝔁𝓽: 𝓕𝓻𝓮𝓷𝓬𝓱
🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺
(L/n) Manor, (L/n) Private Island, Japan
The pain never subsided. It dominated every thought and controlled every action. You dropped to the ground from (B/n)'s bed. When you coughed, blood gushed out of your mouth and flowed out of your limp body, and splattered onto the floor. It seeped into every corner of the room. An unpleasant warmth settled in your stomach. You've always prized yourself when you often ignored the pain and simply rocked on regardless, but that wasn't the case here. It burned.
A bullet would be a heaven-sent gift, but with no other choice, you lifted your hand and placed it over your forehead.
Haemopotent Regeneration.
You regained consciousness which jarred your mind and recoiled. Once you deactivated your quirk, the pain eased. With newfound clarity, an idea popped into your head.
'The thermal imprints of a person's blood vessels may be treated as the ridges in fingerprints, and fingerprint recognition techniques may be applied on thermal imprints of human faces for their recognition...with the right technology... I can track him down!'
"(A.I/n), utilize all global satellites. Inspect the entire planet for any thermal signature close to (B/n)'s. Use every security camera, cell phone, microwave, and television. No stone must be left unturned."
"𝚈𝚎𝚜, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖. 𝚂𝙲𝙰𝙽𝙽𝙸𝙽𝙶..."
You touched the bloody ground, Bloodport, and confronted All for One.
...
His grin grew bigger, "𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐟 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝, 𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝."
"𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐲 𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐤?"
"𝐎𝐡, 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧, 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐤? 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭? 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨. 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐤, 𝐈 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐫."
Your eyes lit up, your fists unclenched.
'(B/n)...'
Without another moment wasted, you activated your newfound Quirk, Bloodport, and teleported back into the bloody room.
...
8 P.M
(L/n) Manor, (L/n) Private Island, Japan
"(A.I/n)?"
"...𝚂𝙲𝙰𝙽𝙽𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝙵𝙰𝙸𝙻𝙴𝙳. 𝙰𝚕𝚕 (𝙱/𝚗)-𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚍. 𝙳𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝚝𝚘 𝚒𝚗𝚙𝚞𝚝 𝚔𝚎𝚢?"
You evaporated all the blood off the floor and into the air.
'I'm so sorry, (B/n)... I let you down...again...'
"𝙸𝚗𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕. 𝚄𝚗𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚗𝚞𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛. 𝙳𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚒𝚜𝚑-"
"Just patch them through."
"𝐘𝐞𝐬?"
"(𝐇/𝐧). 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨."
"𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐢?"
"𝐒𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲, 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞?"
"...𝐍𝐨. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬--𝐮𝐦--𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞. 𝐇𝐨𝐰'𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐦?"
"𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐲."
"𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐲?"
"𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐌𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐬. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐟."
"𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫. 𝐀𝐧𝐲 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐬?"
"...𝐈'𝐦 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐬𝐲𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰."
You recalled his conversation with Midoriya earlier. "𝐈 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥."
"𝙺𝚞𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚘 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚜𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚟𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚍, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖. 𝙳𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝚝𝚘 𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚑𝚒𝚖?"
"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐞?"
'Kurono...'
You paused, "𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞, 𝐤𝐢𝐝. 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭. 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭."
"(𝐇/𝐧)-"
"Where is he?"
"𝚂𝚒𝚡 𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚊𝚜𝚝, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
"Is he alone?"
"𝚈𝚎𝚜, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
You inhaled, "Here goes nothing."
Bloodport.
Stepping onto the sandy marsh several feet away from the dock, your heart pounded at the sight of the Yakuza marching toward the Manor.
"𝐊𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐨."
Almost instantly, he turned in your direction, startled.
"(𝐇/𝐧)--𝐧𝐨--(𝐋/𝐧)? 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐢𝐝-"
"𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡?"
"𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝, 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐈 𝐧𝐨𝐭?"
"𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡. 𝐖𝐡𝐲?"
He paused for a moment, his mask piercing through your cold stare. "𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐭. 𝐌𝐲 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐮𝐭𝐲. 𝐈...𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞...𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞, 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐈 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐲. 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭."
The assistant looked back toward the giant Manor, vividly recalling the murders he witnessed. Seeing his hesitation, you stared into the eyes of the mask he adorned. His posture stiffened.
"𝐈 𝐚𝐛𝐡𝐨𝐫 𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝'𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐢."
"𝐀𝐦 𝐈 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭?"
"𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭-"
He shook his head, "𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐦𝐞. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐈 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝. 𝐈 𝐢𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐬, 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞."
"𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐈'𝐦 𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨?"
"𝐍𝐨, 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫."
"𝐊𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐨, 𝐈-"
"𝐈'𝐦 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 (𝐇/𝐧) 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰. 𝐀𝐦 𝐈 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐛𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐦𝐞?"
"𝐈...𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰."
He scoffed, "𝐎𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞."
"𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐲 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲. 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐮𝐱 𝐫𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐤. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐈 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬. 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨. 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐦𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐥. 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐞." You indolently stepped over to him, "𝐀𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧. 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈'𝐦 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐝, 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮."
"𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈'𝐦 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝?"
"𝐈 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐢. 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 (𝐁/𝐧). 𝐎𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞."
"𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞?"
"𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬." You extended your hand, "𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧?"
Kurono froze as you valiantly stood a few feet away from him. Feeling alarmingly safe in your presence, he nervously unclasped his mask and revealed his subdued face. A momentary silence soon ensued while you both stared into each other's eyes, interrupted when he gained the necessary strength to speak.
"𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐬𝐡, 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞."
You smiled, feeling his hand gently intertwined with yours. "𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐲."
He sighed, relieved. "𝐀𝐧𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐈 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟?"
"𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞?"
With your free hand, you summoned a crimson portal beside him.
Bloodport.
His eyes wandered over to it and marveled at its splendor. Unsure of what he was faced with. Taking the lead, you carefully guided the Yakuza through it and ended up in your hideout.
...
(H/n) Secret Headquarters, (L/n) Manor, (L/n) Private Island, Japan
Upon entering, the portal disappeared.
"𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐫."
He gasped, "𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐖𝐚𝐢𝐭, 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐥𝐞?"
You released his hand, "𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐤. 𝐓𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐦𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐀𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝."
"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭?"
"𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐤. 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐅𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝. 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 (𝐁/𝐧). 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐈 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬."
"𝐂𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 (𝐀.𝐈/𝐧)? 𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠."
"(𝐀.𝐈/𝐧) 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥." You double-tapped the bracelet on your wrist, "𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 (𝐀.𝐈/𝐧) 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢-𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐲𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐳𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐈 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈'𝐦 (𝐇/𝐧). 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 (𝐀.𝐈/𝐧), 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭 (𝐁/𝐧) 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 (𝐔/𝐧) 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬. 𝐀𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥, (𝐁/𝐧) 𝐬𝐚𝐰 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐞. 𝐈𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐮𝐬. 𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐲. 𝐈 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 (𝐀.𝐈/𝐧) 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 (𝐁/𝐧), 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞. 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐮𝐥𝐥-𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐲𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝. 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 (𝐁/𝐧) 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐨𝐟. 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨."
He frowned, "𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝?"
"𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐝𝐚𝐲. 𝐒𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝, 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭? 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐘𝐨𝐤𝐨𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐚, 𝐈 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐨 𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥. 𝐍𝐨𝐰, 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲. 𝐈𝐟 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟. 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭."
Hearing the slight tone of dread in your voice, Kurono softly patted your head in a manner of reassurance.
You showed a holographic spreadsheet, "𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝. 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥. 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞. 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬. 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞. 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐎𝐧𝐞'𝐬 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞. (𝐁/𝐧) 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞. 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦-"
Kurono pulled you into a tight embrace and rested his chin against your head. Seeking comfort, you nestled your face into his chest and quietly sobbed. Your muffled cries haunted him, unable to offer any solid assistance. If (A.I/n) couldn't help, how could he?
"𝐈'𝐦 𝐬𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲. 𝐈 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐬. 𝐁𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞. 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐬. 𝐈...𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨𝐨. 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝."
"𝐈'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐈 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞."
You wrapped your arms around his waist, "𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐝. 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭. 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐢 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝."
He patted your head, "𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞'𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞-𝐚𝐧𝐝-𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭."
"𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭?"
"𝐈 𝐝𝐨."
"...𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬...𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐜𝐞-𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐫, 𝐈 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐤."
He immediately pulled away and stared at your melancholic face. "𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭?"
You double-tapped the bracelet and showed every piece of information (A.I/n) had collected on him since then. "𝐀𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬. 𝐈 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐈 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐞𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 (𝐁/𝐧)."
His face became physically sick, appalled at what he had just gazed upon.
"𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐮𝐩𝐬𝐞𝐭. (𝐁/𝐧) 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐨. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭, 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 (𝐀.𝐈/𝐧) 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞. 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞."
"...(𝐀.𝐈/𝐧), 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐞?"
"𝚃𝚠𝚒𝚌𝚎."
"𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝?"
"𝙸𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚔 𝚘𝚏 𝙰𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚕 𝚊𝚝 𝟼 𝙿.𝙼, 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍, '𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐊𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐨'𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐩. 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠...𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 (𝐁/𝐧)'. 𝙸𝚗 𝚊 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛, '𝐆𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 (𝐁/𝐧)'𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.'"
"𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐀, 𝐈 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐈 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐨 (𝐀.𝐈/𝐧). 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞. 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 (𝐀.𝐈/𝐧). 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤-"
Kurono backed away, "𝐍𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝. 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞--𝐬𝐨, 𝐮𝐦--𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝'𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐞?"
"𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐬. (𝐀.𝐈/𝐧), 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐈 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐢, 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐊𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐨?"
"𝙽𝚘𝚗𝚎, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
"𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞?"
He gasped, relieved as a slight tint of red appeared on his cheeks. "𝐀 𝐛𝐢𝐭. 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥."
You grabbed his hand and caressed the top of it with your thumb. "𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐬."
"𝐀𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐈 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟?"
"𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰."
"𝐒𝐨, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬?"
"𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐨 𝐛𝐲 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬?"
He smirked, "𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐧𝐨𝐰. 𝐈'𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬."
You smiled, "𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬, 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?"
He feigned a grin, "𝐎𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞."
"𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐥 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐫-"
"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭?"
"𝐍𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝟗-"
His eyes widened in a panic, "𝐈 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠."
"𝐖𝐚𝐢𝐭-"
Kurono delicately squeezed your hands with his, "𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐮𝐩 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧. 𝐆𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥. 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨."
"𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰."
"𝐔𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧."
"𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧?"
"𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐧. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐰𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦."
You activated your Quirk, Bloodport, and summoned a portal leading to the Yakuza's parked limousine on the mainland, letting go of the gleeful assistant.
"𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐢."
He waved you goodbye, "𝐒𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬, 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥."
With your Quirk deactivated and left alone to your thoughts once more, you stared at the disappearing red portal.
'I don't know why AFO would give me this Quirk...but I'm not exactly hating it...'
"I should get some rest. We have a lot of work ahead of us tomorrow, don't we (A.I/n)?"
"𝙸'𝚖 𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚔 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
...
7 A.M
CEO's office, RED, Kyoto, Japan
Bloodport.
The sun had risen through the open blinds of your office. You rested your head against the cool glass window and stared out into the city. The sky had an unusual pigment of orange which complimented the blushed clouds. The road was washed jet by a recent drizzle and the once empty sidewalks were now filled to the brim with city-goers.
How peculiar it seemed to view the world beyond the scope of a hero. To be considered a Quirkless individual much like the diminishing majority of the planet's population. One of them. The average citizen. There remained but a few who knew the truth. The question remained.
Is it their view that is flawed or yours?
(Asst.1/n) and (Asst.2/n) cheerfully entered the office and greeted you warmly.
"𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐦𝐚'𝐚𝐦."
"𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠!"
"𝐀𝐦 𝐈 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐨 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬." You crossed your arms behind your back, "𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐚 𝟓𝟎% 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲."
The twin assistants gasped, left in utter shock.
You gracefully walked over and handed them each a sealed envelope with your signature embellished on top. "𝐀 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞, 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭."
(Asst.1/n) bowed serenely, "𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐋𝐚𝐝𝐲 (𝐋/𝐧)."
(Asst.2/n) jumped ecstatically and hugged you for a short moment before backing away, terrified of their brash actions. "𝐒𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲! 𝐖𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬."
"𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬. 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠."
"𝐖𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝, 𝐋𝐚𝐝𝐲 (𝐋/𝐧)."
"𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐨 (𝐋/𝐧)𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐩 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬. 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝. 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞, 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫."
"𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬! 𝐖𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞."
You smiled and made your way over to the private room, inside the hidden elevator.
With all the formalities being handled by the twins and (A.I/n), the highly anticipated (L/n) Z8X project was what required your utmost awareness. The mutinous idea of a newly revolutionized automobile would allow any driver in imminent danger to alert nearby heroes in the area at a push of a button. It won't be done overnight, but it couldn't be done soon enough.
Though remained a few technical bugs to be resolved; say for example if some bastard decided to lure a hero into a trap by using the car's emergency system. It'd backfire, tremendously. Hence the collaboration with numerous innovative companies such as Tesla and Carbon. Rest assured, all would be resolved in due time. With your engagement to precise detail, of course.
All that persisted was the commercial and the casting. A-list celebrities had been contacted, but it was the high-profile heroes which had yet to be dutifully managed. (A.I/n) had sent out sponsorship offers to hundreds of heroes. Many accepted. Few have neither accepted nor declined. Today, your only focus was that. To meet with the unknown remainder and see if they'd participate in the (L/n) Z8X campaign.
Upon arriving in your underground lobby of rare vehicles, you hopped into the nearest one and started the engine.
"First candidate, please."
"𝙰𝚒𝚣𝚊𝚠𝚊, 𝚂𝚑𝚘𝚝𝚊, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
"I should call and give him a heads up." You drove out into the wet pavement, "Do I have his number in my contacts?"
"𝙽𝚘, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
"Really? I did give him my number, right?"
"𝙲𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚝, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
"Has he ever called?"
"𝙽𝚘, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
"Oh." You frowned, "Well, he's a busy man. Take the wheel, (A.I/n)."
"𝚈𝚎𝚜, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
...
8 A.M
Eraserhead's home, Japan
Across the street, you exited the advanced automobile and courteously wandered to the front door. Your hand reached for the doorbell until you stopped yourself.
'What if he's not home? What if he's asleep and I end up waking him? I should skip him. I doubt he'd want to be in the commercial. I should ask anyway. Better safe than sorry. What if he doesn't answer and his neighbors see me and suspect something? The media would not let that rest. No, I've been here before. Why would they say anything? But no one else knew I was staying here. This is a bad idea. I should go back before it's too late-'
"(𝐋/𝐧)?"
A voice chimed from behind.
'Crap...'
"𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞?"
With a turn of your heel, you faced the gruffy man and nearly gasped.
"𝐈𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠?"
"𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐞."
He shyly nuzzled into his scarf, "𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲."
Noting his healed injuries, it was the deep scar underneath his right eye that caught your undivided attention. Then came the torrent of tumultuous memories of that day at the USJ facility. Regret and sorrow began to seep into your mind, thinking of how everyone you cared for ended up hurt.
Aizawa observed your restricted mannerisms, shifting the bag of groceries to his other arm which held a rather familiar prosaic custom-made white umbrella. He picked his keys from his pocket and slowly approached the door, nearing your dazed figure.
Feeling his warmth, you snapped out of your abject state and moved to the side. As the door flung open, he gestured onward. Although hesitant, a purr at your feet swayed your decision.
You picked up the tame cat and kissed the top of its head. "Kitty."
The grim hero closed the door behind you as you gleefully headed into the living room, accompanied by the furry companion. The cat jumped from your embrace onto the couch and yawned. While you turned to the creature's owner, you immediately recognized the umbrella in his grasp and smiled. Having completely forgotten the object.
Aizawa hung the white accessory on a coat rack and dropped off the groceries in the kitchen. "𝐒𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲."
You looked around. Other than the assortment of paperwork on the coffee table and numerous sleeping bags piled around, it seemed as though the place remained intact since you last cleaned.
He returned with a mug of coffee in hand, "𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞."
Taking the cup, you sighed.
"𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬. 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝. 𝐖𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐜𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬, 𝐬𝐨 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐰𝐤𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝."
He reluctantly shoved his hands into his pockets, "𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭."
"𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐈'𝐦 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐬𝐨 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥."
"𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐍𝐞𝐳𝐮?"
You sipped the hot drink and shot him a perplexed look.
He continued, "𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞. 𝐓𝐨 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐞𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭."
"...𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞?"
"𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫?"
You placed the empty mug on the coffee table, "𝐈𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭, 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲."
"𝐈𝐬 𝐍𝐞𝐳𝐮 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠?"
"𝐌𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥."
"𝐈'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠."
'Should I just tell him? It would make this conversation a lot less uncomfortable. Am I willing to risk involving yet another person in such hectic danger? I mean, Nezu knows... But AFO doesn't know that. Kurono knows. I can protect him... But I can't do that to Eraserhead...I don't know him well... I didn't know Nezu either yet I told him... What do I do?'
Aizawa's stance stiffened, "(𝐋/𝐧)?"
"𝚃𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝙰𝙻𝙴𝚁𝚃. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝟺𝟻𝟹 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚟𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚝, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
'Perhaps another day...or perhaps...never...'
"𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞, 𝐄𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝. 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭." You frowned as you neared the front door, "𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐲."
Aizawa spoke, only for his words to be tuned out by your agonizingly intrusive thoughts of contrition. You ventured back to the parked vehicle, turned the engine on, and sped away.
"Who's next?"
"𝙱𝚊𝚝𝚎, 𝙲𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚕𝚎𝚎𝚗, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
"She's in Japan?"
"𝚂𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚊 𝙼𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚌𝚊 𝙿𝚒𝚎𝚛, 𝙲𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚊."
You sighed, "Park the car somewhere inconspicuous. Looks like I'll just teleport there. Keep an eye on every camera. Should I be discovered without my knowing, interfere by any means necessary."
"𝚈𝚎𝚜, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
...
8 P.M
Rock Lock's Agency, Japan
Having left Takagi's work residence, you persistently drove without direction. Unconditionally apathetic and bone-weary and ravenous.
"𝙼𝚊'𝚊𝚖? 𝙲𝚊𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚖𝚎?"
"A minute, please. We've been doing this for twelve consecutive hours. I deserve this break at the very least."
"𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚡𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚊 𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
"That's the closest any darned hero has been all day. Alright, who's next?"
"𝚃𝚊𝚔𝚊𝚖𝚒, 𝙺𝚎𝚒𝚐𝚘, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
Your heart sunk to your stomach.
'Him?'
"He didn't respond to the sponsorship?"
"𝙽𝚘, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
"When did you send these offers out?"
"𝚈𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
"Any news on my meeting with heroes today?"
"𝙽𝚘𝚗𝚎, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
"It is late. He must be either eating or patrolling one final time before heading home. Either way, I can't risk being seen with him as (L/n). Not out in the open. Take the car around the block while I'm gone."
"𝚈𝚎𝚜, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
You grabbed the spare hero suit in the glove compartment and quickly changed as the wheel spun automatically, avoiding oncoming traffic. With the bracelet unsnapped, you placed it over your face and activated the Artificial Intelligence in the dark shades.
"Where is he right now?"
"𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚑𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚑𝚒 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝙼𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚒, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
'Don't tell me...'
"I got it from here."
Bloodport.
...
Matsusakagyu Yakiniku restaurant, Osaka, Japan
On a nearby roof overlooking the busy street occupying the nostalgic place of cuisine, you stared at the location. Unlocking every painful memory you subverted a year ago, not wanting to ever return. Yet, here you were.
'I can't believe it. Does he usually come here?... After all this time...'
"𝙸𝚗𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
As the winged professional hero flew closer to his destination, with his acute sense of sight, he recognized the silhouette of the woman he loved. Inquisitive, he descended onto the building's rooftop and lowered his yellow headphones.
"𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐝?"
'Here goes nothing...'
You spun around, "𝐇𝐞𝐲 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐲."
His eyes slightly widened, staggering at what he had heard. Were his ears deceiving him? He nervously chuckled, "𝐆𝐞𝐞, 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠."
"𝐈'𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐈 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮."
"𝐈 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐭."
"𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞? 𝐈𝐟 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭."
"...𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐭."
You serenely approached him, "𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝟑𝟏 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬. 𝐆𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞?"
His eyes widened with pure joy as he realized you were asking to join him for dinner. Without a second wasted, he interlocked his hand with yours and smirked. "𝐀𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬."
With one arm, he wrapped it around your waist as you adjusted his headphones onto his ears. In one swift swoop, he landed at the front entrance of the restaurant and let go of your hand. Holding the door open, he longingly gazed at your passing figure as you both entered the establishment.
The owner welcomed the winged hero and eagerly guided you to a private room, honored to be hosting dinner for two powerful individuals.
Comfortably seated, Takami greeted the head chef as they approached the table.
"𝐘𝐨𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐳𝐮𝐦𝐢! 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭'𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬?"
"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐤𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐮𝐦 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐟 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐤𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬."
"𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭."
You nodded, "𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐰𝐨."
The chef bowed their head, "𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐮𝐩."
Two waitresses then appeared. One situated a complimentary Daiginjo Sake bottle to the side while the other set the marbled roasted sushi and chicken peach appetizer in the middle of the table. As they left, Takami grabbed the bottle with both hands and poured the slightly chilled liquid into your ceramic cup.
"𝐇𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟𝐟-𝐝𝐮𝐭𝐲."
You served him his drink one-handed, "𝐈 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨."
He placed the bottle to the side, "𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐓𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐈 𝐨𝐰𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧?"
"𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥?"
"𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐫, 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?"
"𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭'𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐭."
"𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡?"
"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐈 𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐬𝐨 𝐈 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫."
Takami devoured the chicken peach dish and shrugged his shoulders. With a pair of chopsticks, you picked up the marbled sushi and quietly ate the tidbit. After more than a day without food and being constantly bombarded with problems, this moment of gluttony brought bliss.
As your mind relaxed, you admired the ambiance of the restaurant and the privacy given to each customer. This place was once a safe haven where (H/n) and Hawks would secretly venture to after their afternoon patrol routines. Heavenly nights spent together, enjoying one another's presence and sharing plenty of memorable meals. Your heart ached as it remembered the outburst that ruptured before the inevitable breakup. How ironic that you'd return to this place together, only this time you both entered through the front entrance.
"𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥."
"𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲?"
"𝐈𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞."
"𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬, 𝐈'𝐦 𝐚𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈'𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐧𝐨 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭."
He smiled, "𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭."
You lowered your head, "𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐥. 𝐈 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈'𝐦 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐦 𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬?"
"𝐋𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜."
"𝐈𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐦 𝐈 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐧?"
"𝐀 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐲𝐞𝐬. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬. 𝐂𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬. 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐭."
The two waitresses returned, their arms occupied with numerous dishes. As they plated the entrees onto the table, they picked up the empty appetizer plates and left. Takami grinned from ear to ear, fully entranced by the sweet smell of premium beef. The vibrant green glass receptacles shimmered underneath the deep brown broth, the hues of a chef's true work.
"𝐋𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐞𝐚𝐭!"
As the hero eagerly consumed his meal, you hesitated. Dining was a way to nurture oneself. To show their body that it was worth the effort of good nutrition. And recently, your body has been denied the proper three square meals and small supper. To eat well is to love the self. You glanced at Takami, who was enjoying himself. Perhaps sharing good food in the company of others created a temporary feeling of euphoria.
Taking a small bite of the well-seasoned rice and beef slice, an overwhelming warmth filled your mouth. The tangy sauce of the meat easily slid down your throat, the cooked grain providing a moist, tender chewy sensation. Indeed, momentary bliss.
You hummed merrily.
'That hit the spot...'
Takami chuckled, "𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞, 𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐢𝐭?"
"𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐲."
"𝐈 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧."
"𝐁𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠?"
"𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐭, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡?"
"...𝐊𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐨, 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞... 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝... 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭. 𝐒𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥... 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞."
"𝐀𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰. 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭."
"𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. 𝐅𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞."
"𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐥𝐝, 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐥𝐝."
"...𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨."
"𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐭?"
You pulled out your wallet and placed a wad of yen on the tray. "𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐭𝐨."
He wiped his mouth clean with a napkin, "𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞?"
"𝐌𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐫."
"𝐒𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟. 𝐀𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐠𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧."
"𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟, 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲? 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐫𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲."
"𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐇𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐬𝐮 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐲𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐒𝐎𝐒 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞."
"𝐈 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞, 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐈?"
"𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐨. 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬, 𝐢𝐭 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧."
You frowned and stood up from your seat. "...𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠?"
Takami ventured outside of the booth, heading back to the front door with you slowly following behind him. A couple of girls approached him and asked for selfies to which he obliged. While you waited, you spotted a familiar pair of people.
'Is that...'
(Asst.2/n) grabbed (Asst.1/n)'s arm, jumping up and down in an excited manner. "𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 (𝐇/𝐧) 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐇𝐚𝐰𝐤𝐬! 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐠𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦? 𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝?"
"𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. 𝐓𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫?"
You waved at them and smiled.
"𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝!"
Finished with his fans, Takami nudged your shoulder. You continued to follow him until he abruptly stopped at the front door. It had finally dawned on him.
He grabbed your hand, "𝐖𝐚𝐢𝐭."
"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭?"
"𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞?"
"𝐄𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐞?"
"𝐍𝐨-"
"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭?"
"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐫, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬."
"𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞." You gently squeezed his hand, "𝐋𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐠𝐨."
Feeling eased by your reassurance, he placed an arm around your shoulder. "𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲, 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐝."
Gambling on the prospect of being mobbed by flashing paparazzi, you proceeded to exit the refined establishment. Immediately met with a group of enthusiastic fans, several pedestrians stopped in their tracks and began to record the rare encounter.
"𝐎𝐡 𝐦𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐝, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐇𝐚𝐰𝐤𝐬! (𝐇/𝐧)?"
"(𝐇/𝐧), 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠??"
"𝐏𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐆𝐎𝐀𝐋𝐒!!"
Releasing the winged hero's hand, you perfunctorily pecked his cheek and whispered sweetly into his covered ear. "𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞, 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐲."
He smiled, "𝐁𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞."
Bloodport.
The crowd, astonished by the red portal spectacle, cheered. As Takami appeased the fans with selfies and autographs, his mind trailed back to you rejecting his advances.
For the longest time, he regretted leaving you to yourself. How you alone suffered the emotional turmoil of a staggering heartbreak. Having left not a single crumb of closure. The disastrous effect of such a coarse action can be devastating. He should know. He heard it all.
The red feather, adorned on your necklace, belonged to him. That was no secret. It was the fact that you didn't know what it was capable of.
With the ability, Vocal Espionage, Takami is able to distinguish sounds from the minute it changes in the air, allowing him to decode conversations and vocal information by sensing surrounding vibrations. The one technique which allowed him to be a dangerous spy. Because his feathers are organic and not at all technological, (A.I/n) would've never figured out that you were bugged this whole time.
He knew of the complicated life you've led thus far behind closed doors.
All of it.
He knew better than to judge the course of actions you've taken then. Usually, those who become lost are hurting. And his choosing to show compassion was a way for him to assure you that those mistakes mattered not to him. Even if you knew not of this secret. But seeing how vastly different the paths you've both chosen have become, the winged hero decided to mend his heart.
And the first step toward moving on was to remove that singular feather. Perhaps, the next time you meet he will do what's right and tell you the truth.
Next time.
...
Bloodport.
You slouched into the driver's seat and sighed. "I haven't had such a good dinner in so long. It was nice seeing Keigo again. I suppose I should finish the list of candidates soon. No time like the present. Who's next?"
"𝚃𝚘𝚍𝚘𝚛𝚘𝚔𝚒, 𝙴𝚗𝚓𝚒, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
"Take the wheel while I undress."
"𝚈𝚎𝚜, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
...
9 P.M
Todoroki Abode, Musutafu, Japan
Pulling up to a traditional Japanese house, (A.I/n) parked near a reserved parking space. Having walked out of the advanced vehicle, you pressed the intercom button at the closed gate and waited for a response.
"𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐢 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞."
"𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 (𝐋/𝐧). 𝐈'𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐄𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫."
"𝐋𝐚𝐝𝐲 (𝐋/𝐧)!? 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧!"
The gate automatically moved to the side. You trekked through the walkway, admiring the garden on your way over to the front door. A pair of intelligent turquoise eyes appeared from the now opened door. Her shoulder-length white hair, flecked with traces of a crimson-like color flowed downward as the female bowed.
"𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞."
The interior of the house resembled Japanese-styled rooms with tatami mats. The design was orthodox yet sophisticated. You took off your footwear and set it to the side. The unfamiliar woman extended her arm out and grinned.
"𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐋𝐚𝐝𝐲 (𝐋/𝐧)! 𝐌𝐲 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐅𝐮𝐲𝐮𝐦𝐢, 𝐈'𝐦 𝐄𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫."
You shook her hand, "𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐢."
She pointed behind her, "𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥. 𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭."
"𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬."
As you followed the path she directed you to, you knocked on the door and waited.
"𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫."
Upon arriving at Japan's No.2 Pro Hero's office, you approached the head of the Todoroki household, who wore a grey tank top and black sweats.
"(𝐋/𝐧)."
"𝐄𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫-"
He interrupted, "𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐲. 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐚 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞."
"𝐃𝐨𝐧𝐞. 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞."
"𝐈'𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐧𝐨𝐰."
You pulled out your checkbook, "𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡?"
"𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝."
You handed him the neatly written paper, "¥𝟏.𝟓 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧." ($14 million)
He set it to the side, "𝐓𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲?"
"𝐈'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭. 𝐈'𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥, 𝐄𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫."
He watched as the door closed behind you and looked down at the check, completely taken aback by your full cooperativeness. Expecting a stern remark at the very least.
'𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐲...'
Back at the front door, you slipped on your polished heels and turned as someone poked your shoulder.
"𝐄𝐱𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐞, 𝐋𝐚𝐝𝐲 (𝐋/𝐧). 𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬?"
"𝙸𝚗𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕. 𝚄𝚗𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚗𝚞𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛. 𝙳𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚠𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚝?"
"My phone."
The device in your pocket abruptly rang and Fuyumi bowed.
"𝐒𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲, 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭."
You looked at the caller ID and stared at the unknown number. As the call ended, a voicemail popped up on the screen. You turned the device off and turned to the female Todoroki.
"𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐨."
She smiled, "𝐌𝐲 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬! 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞."
From around the corner, you glanced at a familiar pair of heterochromatic eyes. It then struck a mental cord in your empty brain.
'Crap! I forgot to call him back last night.'
The youngest Todoroki approached their older sibling who watched you nearly run out in a frantic manner.
"𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭?"
"𝐋𝐚𝐝𝐲 (𝐋/𝐧). 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫."
"𝐓𝐡𝐞...𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐞?"
Fuyumi nodded, "𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐡𝐞𝐫."
'𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐈 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝 (𝐇/𝐧)...𝐈 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝.'
He shook his head. The two siblings then headed back into the kitchen.
As the gate automatically closed, you hurried inside the expensive automobile.
"That was close. I forget my voice isn't disguised when I'm either (L/n) or (H/n). Had I stayed, that kid would've figured it out and I've about had enough of people finding out my secret. Let's return his call before we go to the next candidate."
"𝚈𝚎𝚜, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
"(𝐇/𝐧)?"
"𝐇𝐞𝐲, 𝐤𝐢𝐝. 𝐒𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐦𝐞?"
"𝐈𝐟 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰. 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐈'𝐦 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐤."
"𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲? 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝟖 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫."
"𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮."
"𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. 𝐒𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰, 𝐤𝐢𝐝."
"𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, (𝐇/𝐧)."
"𝙸𝚗𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕. 𝙽𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚢. 𝙳𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚠𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚝?"
"Right! I've forgotten all about the Mob. Let it go to voicemail and call Overhaul instead."
"𝚈𝚎𝚜, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
"(𝐋/𝐧)."
"𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥. 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭, 𝐰𝐞'𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬."
"...𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧?"
"𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐨𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰?"
"𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?"
"𝐈'𝐦 𝐞𝐱𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲."
"𝐓𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞. 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐲...𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭... 𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠."
"𝐍𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬. 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭."
"𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥."
"Return Nosey's call."
"𝚈𝚎𝚜, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
"Boss, we've arrived in the city of Ota to introduce you to the two new members of the Five. We're at the Haneda airport where your private jets are stored."
"I'll meet you there."
"How long until you get here?"
Bloodport.
...
Haneda Airport, Ota City, Tokyo, Japan
You teleported in front of the group of men, ending the call and crossing your arms behind your back."Hope your trip was well."
Nosey slightly jumped, "I-I didn't know you could do that!"
Mushy curtsied, "𝔾𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝕥𝕠 𝕤𝕖𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕨𝕖𝕝𝕝, 𝔾𝕠𝕕𝕞𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣."
"Gentlemen, let's keep this brief."
A short, chubby old man tipped his fedora, "Godfather, pleased to serve you. Danny the Lion."
A taller man with silver hair smiled, "Delighted to make your acquaintance, my queen. I'm Wonderboy."
"Daniel Leo and Steven Crea."
Both men pricked their thumbs with the edge of their rings and raised their bloody thumbprints.
"Omerta, Godfather."
"Omerta, my queen."
You continued, "I need our businesses handled overseas while I deal with All for One. Leave the legalities of the corporations to me. Gentlemen."
Nosey bowed, "A-actually Boss, there's been a slight inconvenience. A few of our rivals have figured out that the Sicilian Mafia has a Godfather."
"And?"
"T-they've threatened to e-expose the truth to the world."
"Which gangs know?"
He stammered, "W-we're not sure. It could be all of them for all we know."
You crossed your arms behind your back, "I'll handle this. Goodnight."
They bowed their heads as you teleported away from their sight.
...
Todoroki Abode, Musutafu, Japan
Bloodport.
"𝙽𝚎𝚠𝚜 𝙰𝙻𝙴𝚁𝚃, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
In the reserved parking space, you manually drove the car away from the traditional Japanese house. A hologram screen appeared from your bracelet, showing numerous articles with pictures of you and Takami. Racy headlines popped up.
"𝙳𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚝 𝚊 𝚓𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝?"
You shrugged, "This is just the publicity Z8X needed. With this little rumor, once the public finds out that those two heroes are working together on my campaign, it's guaranteed to be a major success. For now, let's finish this candidate list. Who's next?"
...
8 A.M
(L/n) Manor, (L/n) Private Island, Japan
"'Good morning, my Lady.' 𝙸𝚝'𝚜 𝟾 𝚘'𝚌𝚕𝚘𝚌𝚔, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
Yet another day of drowning commenced. A bleak cold only you felt. Getting up has become more difficult to do. You didn't want to move at all. In that moment, it took all your strength to open your eyes and take a breath. Your thought circulated once more. They weren't nice. Last night's salty rivers, now dried, blocked your tear ducts.
Dejection was a bitter emotion not everyone was well-prepared for, let alone someone who neglected such concepts.
To learn to be alone. To find the strength to move on. To not fall into the comforting familiarity of the salt and the sensation of drowning. To wander once more in peace. It wasn't something you were at all anticipating. To put one foot in front of the other wasn't as easy as it looked. To knock down emotional barriers for the sake of those around you. It was hopeless. Though you were a fighter, without the support you've had your entire life the memory of a smile seemed impossible.
How could someone who nearly died even live at all?
Warm embraces and well-intentioned words cannot heal the gash which was to come. The one you surely, for absolute certain, anticipated. His return.
"(B/n)..."
Like a waterfall, his name spilled out of your inward-drawn lips. The fiery color of your eyes lost its harshness. Then all at once, your face buckled, and your breathing stopped momentarily as tears streamed downward.
"𝙸𝚗𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕. 𝚄𝚗𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚗𝚞𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛. 𝙳𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚠𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚝?"
"Who is it?"
"𝚂𝙲𝙰𝙽𝙽𝙸𝙽𝙶...𝚃𝚘𝚍𝚘𝚛𝚘𝚔𝚒, 𝚂𝚑𝚘𝚝𝚘, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
"What does he want?"
"𝙻𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚜𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗. 𝙰𝚗 𝚊𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚙𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚞𝚙 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚛, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
You sniffled and cleared your throat to the best of your ability. "Patch him through."
"𝚈𝚎𝚜, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
"(𝐇/𝐧), 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨."
"𝐇𝐞𝐲, 𝐤𝐢𝐝. 𝐒𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲, 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐮𝐩."
"𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐲. 𝐈𝐟 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤, 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞."
"𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧."
You sighed before forcing your body upward and out of bed. The visual antonym of spry. A sleep-deprived billionaire undercover hero.
"𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎'𝚜 𝚊 𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚞𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚍𝚎𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎, 𝚙𝚞𝚕𝚜𝚎, 𝚋𝚘𝚍𝚢 𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎. 𝙸'𝚍 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚗 𝚒𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚘𝚍𝚊𝚢'𝚜 𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚊, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
"I'll be fine, (A.I/n)."
"𝙰 𝚏𝚎𝚠 𝚑𝚊𝚕𝚏-𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚗𝚊𝚙𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚍𝚟𝚒𝚜𝚎𝚍, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
"This isn't the first time I've operated on two hours of sleep and it definitely won't be the last. Ready the shower and let the two assistants know that I'll be working late tonight."
"𝚈𝚎𝚜, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
...
Todoroki Abode, Musutafu, Japan
Bloodport.
Todoroki stood in front of the closed gate, attentive to the cellphone in his hand. He wore a pair of white shoes, black pants topped with a white tank top covered by a denim flannel. Over his shoulder was a white backpack.
"𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨?"
He slightly jumped at your voice, "(𝐇/𝐧)."
"𝐒𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭. 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭."
"𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐲."
Bloodport.
A bright red disk appeared from behind as you gently grasped his wrist and safely guided him through it.
...
(L/n) Private Park, Japan
You turned to him, your Quirk deactivated. "𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?"
He breathed deeply for a few moments then sighed. "𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲."
"𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲?"
"𝐀 𝐣𝐞𝐭?"
"𝐈𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭, 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝."
"𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭."
You unbuckled your utility belt and placed it on the ground. "𝐋𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐦-𝐮𝐩. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐝𝐮𝐞𝐥?"
He set his backpack beside your item and followed you toward a large area devoid of tall grass. "𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞?"
"𝐀 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤."
"𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞?"
"𝐖𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞. 𝐈 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞."
"𝐈𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧? 𝐈𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐝."
"𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐛 𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐱 𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐩."
"𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞?"
You glanced toward a high hilltop, where the tombstone plaque that commemorated your parents' memory stood. "𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐈 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐤𝐢𝐝, 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲. 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬, 𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬. 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬, 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥. 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐮𝐞𝐥."
With a few kilometers of distance set between you both, stillness settled on both sides. As Todoroki activated his left side, you activated your Quirk.
Blood Pressure Manipulation.
You then teleported to his side and caught him before his unconscious body could hit the ground. Half of his body felt warm as you gently placed him on your lap while the other half remained cold.
Haemopotent Regeneration.
His eyes slowly pried open.
"𝐒𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐱. 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝?"
He slightly blushed from embarrassment and watched as you returned to your previous position.
"𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭."
He composed himself and quickly activated his right side, attempting to freeze you in place but inevitably failed.
'𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭? 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐞-'
Bloodport.
You poked the back of his head, "𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐧."
"𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭?"
Without another second wasted, he trapped your body in a block of ice and turned around.
You looked down, "𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐤𝐢𝐝."
Suddenly, the frostbite spread to your face. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. No matter how warm the blood in your veins flowed, your face became frozen.
'...I'm cold.'
"𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥, 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞."
You shook your head, "𝐍𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝."
Blood Transformation.
The ice turned into a pool of blood and evaporated soon after.
"𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐧?"
You grimaced, "𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐈 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲? 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐤𝐢𝐝, 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐞, 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐤𝐬. 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬."
He looked down at his hands.
'𝐁𝐨𝐭𝐡...𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐤𝐬?'
You returned to your position, "𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞!"
Determined, he activated his left side. A thin layer of ice formed on the ground, leading to your feet. In one adrenaline-fuelled jump, you leaped into the air and felt a huge wave of flames headed your way. With nothing but air beneath your feet and a perfectly set up trap, Todoroki felt as if all the mundane worries of his life had been muted.
All there was to know about was this moment.
The thin layer of ice beneath turned into giant spikes.
Bloodport.
You successfully dodged the fire blast and teleported behind the humongous ice peaks.
Blood Transformation.
The peaks transformed into blood, Blood Aura, revolved you like an atom.
Todoroki vigorously used his left and right side simultaneously. He rained blows in your direction but struggled. His fire was deflected by the blood shield while his ice turned into blood upon contact with it. The tension and intensity of his Quirk could be heard. A great deal of emotion was sensed behind his actions.
In this frozen stand-off, his eyes flickered from you to the blood. Your face was no longer readable, no emotion invoked. He banked on the fact that you would make the same mistake again and predicted if he could trap you once more, he'd win this round. Persistent, he unleashed more power. He mixed his ice and fire which created steam and obscured your vision.
As soon as you lost sight of him, he created a colossal ice peak and melted it with his left side. A massive tsunami splashed through the steam and hovered over your tenacious figure.
You deactivated your Quirk.
'Woah...that thing is huge...'
Todoroki soon realized the magnitude of the disaster he had caused and deactivated both of his Quirks. He screamed for you, only to watch in horror as the iceberg harshly collapsed on the ground and the water drenched the surrounding area. Worried, he ran over and attempted to melt the large piece of ice with his left side.
"(𝐇/𝐧), 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐦𝐞?"
The more firepower he exerted, the more the steam obscured his vision. It would take an entire hour to get rid of such a monstrosity. He fell to his knees, sinking in the shallow puddle.
'(𝐇/𝐧)...'
Unexpectedly, the ice fell through a red portal and faded from sight. The water around him had turned into blood and evaporated soon after. The young boy turned abruptly and gazed at your unharmed frame.
"𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐧."
Without any thought, he wrapped his arms around your back and pulled you in.
"𝐒𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲." He pulled away, "𝐈 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐫."
You patted his head, "𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥, 𝐤𝐢𝐝."
"...𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭?"
"𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐧. 𝐈𝐭'𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐦𝐞. 𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝟒."
Perplexed by your insistence and calm attitude, he blinked a few times. The compliment then echoed in his mind. Reassurance was always given to him, but solace from a hero of a higher league than his own father? Indescribable.
He smiled, "𝐎𝐤𝐚𝐲."
...
12 P.M
"𝐀𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐥𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤."
You ventured over to a rusty bench and seated yourself down as the young boy did the same. He grabbed his backpack and opened the large zipper. Inside the bag, he had pre-packed a few snacks for the session. He offered a tapioca milk tea drink and a box of chocolate pocky.
Accepting the snacks, you smiled. "𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮."
Simultaneously, the two of you poked through the top of the milk tea drink and looked at each other.
"𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐮𝐧?"
He nodded.
"𝙸𝚗𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕. 𝙺𝚞𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚘. 𝙳𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚠𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚝?"
You raised your finger at the boy, "𝐀 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞. 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥. Go ahead."
"𝐘𝐞𝐬?"
"𝐇𝐞𝐲, 𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬. 𝐀𝐦 𝐈 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮?"
"𝐈𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠?"
"𝐈 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝, 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐭 𝟖?"
"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧?"
"𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐥𝐥 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫."
Your cheeks became flushed, "𝐑-𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲?"
"𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐢 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭."
"𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐨?"
"𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐈'𝐝 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐮𝐩. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡."
"...𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝."
"𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨. 𝐖𝐞'𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫."
"𝐁𝐲𝐞."
Staring at the desolate field, a wave of emotional turmoil began to brew.
"𝐈𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?'
You nodded and tapped your mask. "𝐒𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭. 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬. 𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈'𝐦 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟."
He sipped his drink, "𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐦𝐞?"
"𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝. 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐈'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠."
"𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨?"
"𝐈 𝐚𝐦. 𝐈𝐧 𝟏𝟗𝟑 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭."
"𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲?"
"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦. 𝐀 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥."
"...𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭?...𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚 𝟑𝟎-𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫-𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫?"
You smiled, "𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐤𝐢𝐝. 𝐀𝐦 𝐈?"
He pondered for a bit before turning back in your direction. "𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐞?"
"𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐚...𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧."
"𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬. 𝐌𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡. 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭'𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠."
"𝐁𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞. 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐣𝐨𝐛𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐚𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐭. 𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈'𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞."
"𝐒𝐨 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤?"
"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞?"
"𝐅𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧?"
"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐬 𝐈 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐬𝐞𝐮𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐲𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐟𝐟. 𝐍𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞."
His eyes slightly widened, shocked.
You continued, "𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐬𝐨. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐨, 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐲."
"𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥?"
"𝐂𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬, 𝐤𝐢𝐝."
"𝐒𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐇𝐚𝐰𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠?"
'Keigo... Right... I've forgotten all about last night...'
You finished both the drink and chocolate biscuits, Blood Transformation, and evaporated the trash.
"(𝐇/𝐧)?"
"𝐖𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬."
"...𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰...𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡?"
"𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭. 𝐇𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐭 𝐈'𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡. 𝐖𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐭."
"...𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐭? 𝐀 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐬, 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧."
"𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐤𝐢𝐝." You smirked in his direction, "𝐖𝐡𝐲? 𝐆𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡? 𝐈'𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧."
The sweet color of a spring rose kissed his pink crystal complexion. He remained silent. For the next few minutes, he stayed that way. Even after he finished eating his snacks, not a single word slipped from his mouth.
"𝐈'𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲, 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐝. 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠."
"𝐇𝐚𝐝 𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫, 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮?"
"𝐎𝐡, 𝐤𝐢𝐝." You scooted closer to him, "𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐩 𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐈 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭."
He frowned, "𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭'𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬, 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐈'𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐞. 𝐀𝐦 𝐈 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞?"
"𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞'𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲. 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐒𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟."
"𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭...𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭."
"𝐖𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬. 𝐋𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞'𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧. 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫. 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞, 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐰𝐡𝐨'𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮?"
"...𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬?"
You patted his shoulder, "𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲, 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫, 𝐤𝐢𝐝, 𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝. 𝐖𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫."
Todoroki's long bangs swept to the side, uncovering his hidden eyes as he stared at your reassuring figure. Uncertainty was always a fear, but perhaps in recognizing his own self-worth he'd be strong enough to fight against his father's desire. He won't be molded into this 'perfect' version his father always envisioned. He won't forgive him for what he's done either.
You stood up, "𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐖𝐞'𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐛 𝐚 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞. 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨."
He nodded.
Endeavor will no longer rule over him. That was for absolute certain.
...
10 P.M JST / 8 A.M COT
Bogota, Colombia
The morning had a bite of frost and the air made your lungs feel chilled when you breathed in. Senses sharpened with adrenaline, you held your breath, strained to hear with every ounce of your concentration.
The men of the Colombian drug cartel carried various guns on them, those soulless clunks of metal. There they stood, the vacuous men. Your prickled skin soon relaxed. No threat here.
As soon as you stood up, your heart stopped beating.
The men turned in your direction. The strong early light of the sun shone from the steel barrel of their revolvers. You formed a fist, Blood Pressure Manipulation, and squeezed. In less than a second, 500 men fell to the ground unconscious.
You barged through the rustic, metal door that these foolish men had protected. The Capo of the Medellin Mafia sat in his rotten throne with a tiny, gold pistol in hand. You pointed your hand at him, Blood Pressure Manipulation, and froze him in place.
He screamed, "ɪ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴇʀᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ!!"
"ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ʀᴜɴ ᴀᴛ ᴍᴇ ᴇɴ-ᴍᴀꜱꜱᴇ. ᴍʏ ʀᴇᴘᴜᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ʜᴀꜱ ɴᴏᴛ ʏᴇᴛ ᴘʀᴇᴄᴇᴅᴇᴅ ᴍᴇ."
The Capo then fainted as you increased his blood pressure.
You looked back and called out to the local police. "ɪᴛ'ꜱ ꜱᴀꜰᴇ."
The tiny men, with their pathetic toy guns, peered from the corner and approached slowly.
You gave them a thumbs up.
Bloodport.
...
(L/n) Manor, (L/n) Private Island, Japan
As the blood portal disappeared, you collapsed on top of your bed and heaved a long sigh.
"𝙽𝚎𝚠𝚜 𝙰𝙻𝙴𝚁𝚃, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
"If it's about what I just did, don't tell me."
"𝚈𝚎𝚜, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
You frowned.
'Now that AFO forced (H/n) out of retirement, I have no choice but to return to hero work in order to avoid suspicion. As Godfather of the Sicilian Mafia, I must protect myself...while I still can...I will not allow yet another to hold such power over me. My identity is my own... Might as well kill two birds with one stone...'
"That's enough rest. Time to burn the midnight oil on paperwork. Brew some coffee at the office, (A.I/n). We've got a long night ahead of us."
"𝙰𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚌𝚎, 𝚖𝚊'𝚊𝚖."
Bloodport.
...
11 P.M
Shie Hassaikai Compound, Japan
Chisaki stared at the large television screen, disgusted as he flipped through every news channel.
"ᴛʜᴇ ᴇʟᴇɢᴀɴᴛ ʀᴇᴅ ʀᴇᴀᴘᴇʀ ɪꜱ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴀɴᴅ ʜᴜɴɢʀʏ ꜰᴏʀ ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ! ɢᴏᴏᴅʙʏᴇ ɪʟʟᴇɢᴀʟ ɢᴀɴɢ ɢʀᴏᴜᴘꜱ! ᴍᴀʏ ɢᴏᴅ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴍᴇʀᴄʏ ᴏɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ ꜰʀɪᴠᴏʟᴏᴜꜱ ꜱᴏᴜʟꜱ, ꜰᴏʀ (ʜ/ɴ) ꜱᴜʀᴇ ᴡᴏɴ'ᴛ!" a Colombian reporter spoke harshly.
"(H/n) has appeared out of nowhere and single-handedly taken down Colombia's biggest cocaine cartel, which supplied 80% of the United States' cocaine market!" ranted an American news anchor.
"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐨, (𝐇/𝐧), 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐫𝐮𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲! 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐰-𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧 𝐘𝐚𝐤𝐮𝐳𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥!" a Japanese news spokesperson reported.
"𝓗𝓾𝓷𝓭𝓻𝓮𝓭𝓼 𝓸𝓯 𝓬𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓽𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓼 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝓪𝓽 𝓹𝓮𝓪𝓬𝓮 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 (𝓗/𝓷) 𝓱𝓪𝓼 𝓻𝓮𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓷𝓮𝓭 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓲𝓼 𝓫𝓪𝓬𝓴 𝓸𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓼𝓬𝓮𝓷𝓮! 𝓥𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓪𝓲𝓷𝓼 𝓫𝓮𝔀𝓪𝓻𝓮! 𝓞𝓾𝓻 𝓫𝓮𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓭 𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓸 𝓲𝓼 𝓫𝓪𝓬𝓴 𝓯𝓻𝓸𝓶 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓰𝓻𝓪𝓿𝓮!" cheered a French reporter.
'𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧?'
His calm expression grew ravenous. It seemed as though the entire world now laughed at him, a measly Yakuza Capo. Since (H/n)'s unprecedented return, Chisaki questioned the validity of his sources who guaranteed that she wouldn't return. Yet here she was. And worse, she was back with a thirst for gangsters.
He let out a small gasp at the sudden realization.
'(𝐋/𝐧)...'
In quick haste, he picked up his cell phone and patiently waited for a response.
"𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨?"
"𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬?"
"𝐖𝐡𝐲?"
"(𝐇/𝐧) 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝."
"...𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐝?"
"𝐒𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐬, 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲."
"𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝?"
"𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐉𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐧."
"𝐈𝐟 𝐬𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐫𝐮𝐠 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲."
"𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐯𝐮𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐈𝐟 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐝𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧?"
"𝐈𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝. 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭, 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐥."
"𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬, (𝐋/𝐧)."
"𝐎𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞, 𝐲𝐞𝐬. 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭, 𝐈 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐳𝐞."
"...𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝, 𝐬𝐨 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭."
"𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞? 𝐈'𝐦 𝐞𝐱𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝."
"𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝟖 𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰. 𝐉𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐟 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞."
"𝐃𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧?"
"𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐫. 𝐀 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩, 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐬."
"𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞."
He raised a brow, "...𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, (𝐋/𝐧). 𝐔𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰."
"𝐁𝐲𝐞."
Chisaki turned off the television and reclined in his office chair.
'𝐈'𝐦 𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝...'
...
Kamino, Yokohama City, Japan
Shigaraki turned to Tenko and grinned. "𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞."
🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺
Steven Crea (Wonderboy)- Lucchese family
Andrew Russo (Mushy)- Colombo family
Domenico Cefalu (Greaseball)- Gambino family
Michael Mancuso (Nosey)- Bonanno family
Daniel Leo (Danny the Lion)- Genovese family
🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺
Haempotent Regeneration: to regenerate oneself or others using blood
Bloodport: to spawn portals out of blood (no manipulation needed) and teleport anywhere with a simple destination in mind
Blood Transformation: to transform matter into blood
Blood Pressure Manipulation: to manipulate the pressure and flow of blood inside bodies (high blood pressure causes someone to faint)
Blood Aura: surround yourself in blood
Blood Propulsion: to propel oneself or others via blood
🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺