"Woah… What the hell?" Asked a clone as I kept practicing with my breathing pattern while fighting my copies without breaking a sweat. "You feel like a totally different person. What happened?"

My palm shot up and pushed a fist to the side and then my other palm added enough force to the body of the clone who tried to strike me to send it flying away from the clearing.

"It's been only three days since we last saw you," came from my left, another copy. "What type of training have you been doing?"

My cheeks reddened.

The only thing I had been doing besides a few short patrols was having sex with Manami and Kazuho.

After losing my virginity to the two of them, I woke up brimming with so much energy that I had to do something. Both of the girls were too exhausted to go again right away so instead I concentrated my time on doing a few patrols to release the excess energy I had in my body.

It took me a while to notice, but I was doing my patrols at a higher speed than I would have normally done, as if I was making time just for the girls to refresh themselves so we could go back to it.

…

Which we did.

Multiple times.

In fact it took us another night for me to finally reach my release.

And it was at that moment that I felt something fall into place.

I had never felt so much at peace as I do now.

I felt as if I could control my entire body with just a thought.

Without looking my right hand shot up and redirected another human shaped missile. I let out a long breath, feeling my lungs deflate and immediately inflate as I breathed in.

"Like I said. I wasn't training," I replied, relaxing my body by using 'Paper Art' and folding myself to evade a kick to the head from behind.

"We have been fighting you since yesterday. No fatigue whatsoever. I mean, we haven't managed to land a single shot so far," a clone replied, watching me with suspicion.

A small droplet of sweat formed and ran down my brow.

"You must have been taking it easy on me, that's all," was my response. My body quickly moved to the side and with my leg I sent another copy away from me, then I jumped as another clone shot itself towards my legs.

I did a non handed cartwheel mid air and with my momentum sent the other clone away too.

"Hey! Careful, that attack almost killed me!" yelled the clone I kicked away.

I tried to look sheepish but it ended up looking insincere.

"Easy huh?" "Well, we usually give him a small window to speak, maybe we should stop the talk and go for a full assault." "No time for talk. I like the idea" "Me too!"

My expression froze as two clones flashed before me and I almost relied on 'Water Flow' to change their flow of movement… but I steeled myself and ended up redirecting their strikes by hitting their fists in different directions, sending them flying away.

Worry began to creep up on me as more and more clones began to jump towards me.

But I kept myself composed.

Breathe in…

Breathe out…

My hands began to move at higher and higher speeds to meet the bodies that flew at me at speeds beyond human comprehension.

My hands moved so fast in fact that a clone exploded before my fist could properly land on its body.

The entire clearing stopped and directed their attention to me.

"You really need to stop doing that," a clone said.

---

Weeks went by and I felt like I was growing closer to both Manami and Kazuho.

Since I was a hero it was hard for us to find the time… But when we did, we would often go for a walk in the park, visit dating spots they prepared beforehand, watch the sunset on the top of one of the shelters all together or visit each other's bedroom… Mostly to spend the afternoon… Or the night.

A few patrols with Kazuho would end with both of us talking on top of a building, before she would initiate a kiss and spend an hour or two in our own little world.

A few visits to Manami would end with both of us in her futon making love for hours. We would wake up next to each other and kiss until it was time for breakfast.

Kazuho would visit the shelter often and bring new recipes for me to try and Manami would teach me new cooking gadgets from the comfort of her apartment.

These experiences… I thought they were out of my reach.

Impossible to attain.

Something I would look at from a distance while I wasn't fighting crime while perched from the top of a building.

But somehow I managed to experience the joy that love could offer me.

…

At first I wanted to hide the relationship from everybody.

After all, heroes protect their families by keeping their lives private. But before I knew it, people from the shelter and those who would often visit the food stand began to catch on. It was kind of obvious since Manami and Kazuho stopped fighting whenever we were together and they would often act more affectionably with me in public.

When I decided to confirm the fact I was in a relationship, most of the people in the shelter didn't show any reaction at all.

I guessed I wasn't close enough with them for them to care.

The only few reactions that were worth noting were from those close to me.

'So, it finally happened. Congrats boy.' Those were the exact words from Salt.

Jin embraced me and cried while giving me his best wishes but also insulted me at the same time for reaching happiness. I just smiled and hugged him back.

Kon was with those that didn't care about it, too busy renovating the bathroom to care.

Cream had a better reaction, almost ecstatic over the fact I found someone, but it seemed she was clueless who was dating me in the first place.

Daisuke… didn't form a response besides asking about his training.

Toga was happy for me, or at least that's what she said at first, she gave me a big dopey smile before dropping it when she thought I wasn't looking.

Ena on the other hand looked annoyed.

'Relationships are the weak link for every hero. They're nothing but trouble.' That's what she said before asking for another can of coffee… She was out, again.

I frowned as I remembered her words.

Weak link…

Was that true?

Ena had experience in the world of heroics as a retired clothing designer. She has seen multiple heroes come and go. She wouldn't tell me that if every hero who she had contact with was open about their social status.

I let out a sigh.

Even if she was right, I wasn't going to abandon Manami or Kazuho just to protect them. Not after everything we went through.

Instead. I put my all on getting stronger so I could keep them away from harm.

Which I've been doing constantly by training my body to exhaustion. Only to eat the next day and start over and over until it was time for me to come back to civilization and pay a visit to everyone.

Through training I discovered a new technique… Well calling the technique 'new' was a stretch because it utilized the principle of one of my own techniques to develop it.

'Moon Walk' was a technique of kicking while in the air ten times in less than a second, propelling me in the direction I was kicking as if I was jumping in the air.

It was a shock for me to learn that I was able to do something similar with my fist whenever I delivered ten punches in less than a second in the same direction. A punch made of air.

I decided to call the technique 'Moon Landing'. I was tempted to call it 'Moon Punch' or 'Moon Fist', but I didn't quite like the sound of those names after a few tries I said them outloud. The first option sounded like something a child playing hero would say. And while the other felt more like the name of a martial art, it didn't work with the ideas I had for future combinations.

At first I was elated for the discovery.

That was until my clones started to implement the technique to our spars.

Before that it was starting to become an easy feat to handle multiple clones capable of using my techniques. But now that they knew 'Moon Landing' as well, it was almost impossible to escape their combined attacks.

I rubbed my neck at the phantom pain of ten fists condensed into one hitting me not only there, but multiple places one after another.

I tried not to wince.

My clones didn't know how to hold back.

That or they enjoyed going all out against me.

I looked at the sun as it started to rise, bathing the buildings with its light while I held a serene expression.

'I guess it has been enough time since the last time,' I thought, getting up from where I was meditating from the top of a building. I began to stretch and I made sure every bruise was neatly covered by medical gauze.

While the protests hadn't completely stopped, they had lost their initial momentum.

Something I quietly appreciated.

Because…

'Today I'm going out as Smiley again.'

---

…you might be able to see the smoke in the sky. Aim there, people are trapped in the top floors!

"Got it!" I replied before my legs blurred at high speed making the world around me warp as I flew towards the building that was slowly becoming engulfed in smoke.

I stopped my momentum and looked down below just to see firefighters and a few heroes with water based quirks begin to fight the fire. I watched two of the heroes redirect the water the firefighters were spraying to properly aim towards a specific point in the building.

I directed my attention towards the higher floors where I could see people in their balconies screaming and waving for anyone to help them escape the inferno that was starting to consume the lower floors.

I immediately circled the building checking the balconies with the intention of determining the civilians closest to danger.

The moment I had everything mapped out, I put myself to work.

Without giving people time to react I started getting people away, first the children and then old people and lastly adults.

Knowing I didn't have enough time before things could go from bad to worse I started to leave the civilians I took on the closest buildings instead of getting them down to safety on the ground.

Halfway through the rescue of an old couple I heard a voice coming from my back.

"Smiley! Long time no see!"

Once I put the couple next to their granddaughter who was still crying and didn't attempt to move from where I left her, I turned and saw a man with gray hair dressed in a classy black suit with white gloves and a black domino mask. He looked more like a butler than a hero.

The man was drinking from a cup of tea while standing in the middle of the air.

"Heh-Heh. Mr. Gentleman, it's been a while." I acknowledged him before I started to jump in the air towards the next balcony. He followed me by jumping in the air as if the air acted like a springboard. "As you can see my hands are quite tied up at the moment, can we save the tea for another time?"

"Let me help you then!" he said, changing directions and jumping around in the air until it made some sort of path towards a building with some people I left who for some reason decided to take out their cameras and record me instead of getting down to safety.

I landed on the balcony of a mother of two kids who I previously dropped off on the building while Gentleman went towards and reached for the woman.

"Smiley!" I heard the man of grey hair scream behind me.

"A little busy here!"

"Just throw her from where you are, she'll land on the building, I made a path for you!"

"WHAT?!" the woman screamed, she started to back off.

I tried not to sigh

"You're not making my job any easier, Mr. Gentleman!" I replied getting into the woman's personal space and holding her from her waist, she immediately held me as her life depended on it.

Literally.

"P-Please don't t-throw-" she began but her voice was lost by the man in suit.

"Just trust me!"

"Sorry lady, see you on the other side." I said, making up my mind and throwing her towards the place Gentleman pointed.

"W-WAIT!!! AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!" She screamed as I watched her fall…

Until…

BOING!

She bounced - while screaming - in the air exactly where Gentleman jumped before and began to lightly bounce around a path until she landed in the man's arms - still screaming.

I tried not to sigh as the kids of the mother flocked the man and probably asked him to do that again.

I on the other hand went to another balcony and started to work with the hero by following his directions. And while it wasn't as fast as I wanted it, it helped with certain families or floors in which a lot of people went towards one apartment out of fear.

Of course, I used this method with adults only. Kids and the elderly were transported gently … or as gently as I was able given the circumstances…by me.

Once I was sure everyone was safe I directed my attention back towards Mr. Gentleman who was being scolded by a grandmother, who was two steps away from hitting him with her cane.

I tried not to smile at the scene.

It kinda reminded me of when I used to screw up a few times in my early days.

Then my attention was directed to the ground towards the firefighters who were still controlling the flames that were starting to go down. My eyes then met the eyes of the heroes down there and elevated a brow as they looked in different directions or resumed their work the moment they noticed I was looking at them.

I frowned.

They just acted…

As if they were scared.

Scared of me.

'Come to think of it, a few heroes are starting to act weird around me each time I go out as Smiley,' I thought as I brought a hand to my chin and began to rub it. 'It's only been three times already, but every hero I come into contact with looks the other way even if we cross paths. Is this related to the protests?'

Maybe I was overreacting, but as more heroes started to act that way around me, it made me wonder.

Of course, there were some exceptions such as Mr. Gentleman, but that just brought more questions than answers. Gentleman was not a hero like the ones below, he was a hero who worked alone, without regulations, a vigilante. Or those were the words Kazuho told me.

Was that the reason why Mr. Gentleman acted differently than the other heroes?

I hummed before jumping away.

As I flew in the sky the thought of a certain heroine with bunny ears came to mind.

'Now that I think about it, I haven't seen her ever since the Sky Egg incident either,' I thought while staying alert of another development as I flew through the city. 'Is she evading me too?'

I mean, it was a good thing I didn't have to constantly fight against her, but her lack of presence made me nervous.

As if something was about to happen.

---

While I had my arms folded I analyzed every action the original Gurē made from the edge of a clearing. His breathing was almost flawless, after months of training he still struggled with the breathing technique during his sleep, and while being able to maintain it for hours was a great achievement, it wasn't perfect.

Not to mention it was also one of the main reasons why the physical training was taking a step back.

This training involved a lot of attention from the clones involved. It was a grating experience considering the main body needed to sleep for hours and they often needed to stop because the boss was able to wake up after five hours of sleep and he was no longer tired after that.

The boss groaned as his body began to shake uncontrollably and he slowly began to approach a tree, a strained expression across his face.

I hummed in interest, wondering if the original Gurē could finally replicate the technique one of his fallen brothers experienced first hand.

The moment his hand touched the bark of the tree, it exploded in a shower of leaves and sawdust, it almost looked like a balloon pop.

"Congratulations!" "You did it!" "Good one, boss!" "Yeah, good one, boss"

My eyes narrowed as I saw the boss look slightly redder than before, shaking and letting out labored breaths as he tried to regain his composure and return to his previous stance.

"You're overextending yourself," I said to him, watching as he directed his attention solely on me. "That technique… Is it really that useful? The shaking needed to implement the technique would kill a clone faster than he could deliver the attack."

The only response I got were a few murmurs from the clones around the clearing and the ragged breathing from the main body.

"Don't you think we should practice with other techniques instead?" I suggested.

"Which one do you suggest?" he asked, still trying to bring his breathing pattern back under control.

"When we fought the hero killer we almost killed him when we tried to use the motion of 'Whirlwind Storm', but since we closed our hand-"

"I, ahh… Know which, ahh… Technique you mean," the boss replied between breaths before inhaling a great amount of air and let it out past his gritted teeth. Once he could correctly breathe he let out a sigh. "I call it… 'Empty Rotation'. I practiced it against an abandoned train in the training spot old man knuckles showed us. It's just a less lethal version of 'Whirlwind Storm'. I already mastered it. There's no need for me to keep practicing it."

Right…

Since we had to stay in the woods away from society or die after a few weeks of being alive we're often behind the original's training regime. In fact, we should be close to the replacement of clones.

The original Gurē turned away and began to shake his body once more and started to repeat the process of exploding trees or clones who would volunteer to see how the shaking ability would hold against the other techniques such as 'Water Flow' and 'Whirlwind Storm'.

While 'Water Flow' was the best suited to redirect the attack, if the clone was too slow it would receive an after effect of the technique, meaning it would explode by mere contact. So the first few who tried it at a slow pace ended up dying while the others that increased their speed ended up spotless besides feeling a small rattle on their hands.

On the other hand 'Whirlwind Storm' was easily countered by the shaking technique, no matter the speed or force applied the clones would die on contact. 'Whirlwind Storm' would often leave spiral marks in the original skin after contact.

The main body let out a huge amount of air through his clenched teeth.

Fshhhh

Then his body moved faster than my eyes could follow and struck a huge tree, making it disappear in a huge explosion of air, sawdust and leaves.

Gurē held the striking position for a few seconds while he tried to regain his breath, but something was wrong.

His breath was ragged, his entire skin was red as if he was suffering from sunburn and the beating of his heart was three times faster than it normally was. The palpitations were so loud everyone in the clearing could hear them.

Then the boss dropped to one knee and held his chest while gritting his teeth.

Before I or any other clone could approach to help, Gurē immediately stood up and held his right hand up.

He breathed in… Then out.

He stood there while breathing faster than normally would and then the beating of his heart slowly, slowly began to slow down and with that the redness of his body began to recede. The boss took one step and fell on his face. Unconscious.

He did it again, didn't he?

Gurē discovered another technique…

That or he stressed himself into a heart attack.

---

She walked to the room where they would debrief the 'plan' while holding onto an eager smile.

It has been a year and a few months since the last time she saw the bastard Smiley face to face. Normally the operation would have been put into motion months ago, but the team working with Midnight needed a bit of extra time before they were ready.

'Feh, like that's going to work against him,' she thought, ignoring the policemen who stopped what they were doing to dumbly ogle her. 'They only need me.'

She grunted the moment she arrived at the conference room - which was filled with the heroes who would most likely only get in her way. Her eyes narrowed when she noticed the amount of sidekicks in the room.

With a shake of her head she passed through the door and made her way to the nearest seat and sat there.

Her eyes roamed the room.

She immediately noticed the heroine Midnight, making her frown.

'Wasn't she supposed to be useless for the capture plan? Why is she here?' She thought before her attention fell on Endeavor who looked as pissed as ever. 'Is he going to get involved too? What a pain…'

The detective in charge apologized before telling them to wait a little longer for the last member of the team to arrive.

Hawks.

Quite frankly she didn't know shit about that hero besides the fact that he was a hot shot who was rising in the ranks. And that was enough information for her.

Someone tried to make small talk with her but she just ignored him and waited with the rest of the team.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, a blonde man sporting a yellow visor, aviator jacket and pants, a black shirt with a yellow pattern, brown boots and big red wings - entered the room while doing a small wave and offering a lame excuse.

Rumi breathed through her nose and crossed her arms under her bust as he was immediately flocked by both male and female sidekicks and began to fawn over him.

After a few tedious minutes of that they had to wait until everyone was seated to begin with the presentation.

She tried not to groan as the detective started to talk about the protests Smiley's speech caused. It seemed that he wanted to showcase every single crime the vigilante was involved with before they could actually get to something worth her time.

Her theory was proven right when the detective started to speak about a few of his rescues and the way he handled them and how his victims would often end up in rough shape after their encounters. The presentation ended with the reason for his capture. The killing of an unknown individual close to the Sky Egg during the terrorist attack.

Then Ingenium stood up and took a spot next to the detective.

She rolled her eyes when they started to detail the plan for his capture.

But her interest returned when they announced the date.

Smiley was making fewer appearances than before, but that didn't mean they could plan along his schedule. He would go out once a week now. And he would change the day depending on whether there was a protest that day.

Meaning that they only needed to put their plan into action the moment Smiley was seen on social media. There were a lot of weirdos who tracked the appearances of heroes.

Once Ingenium was done with his part of the presentation he turned towards the detective who went on and on about the dangers of what the mission entailed.

They didn't know how Smiley would react to his status as a Villain.

But to her, it didn't change anything.

She was going to kick his ass.

---

After a long day of heroing I let out a tired sigh as I flew through the sky.

It took me a while to understand what happened during the training session in which I felt my heart almost burst from my chest after I continuously shook my body to master the technique which I named 'Seismic Aftershock'.

For a second I had thought I had a heart attack.

Instead, I drove my own heart to pump blood two to three times faster than it normally would. That would normally mean bad news for me considering the strain on the body. But the fast flow of blood and oxygen in my veins enhanced my muscles to such a degree that I was able to increase my strength, speed and awareness.

From what I was informed, I only used it for ten seconds. But during those ten seconds it felt like a minute… A minute of pure agony.

I felt as if I was going to double over and die.

My heart was beating so fast and hard that it was almost unbearable to hear or feel.

My veins felt like they were filled with hot lead as every action I took was painfully slow, even though from the outside perspective it looked like I moved faster than the speed of sound.

At first I didn't notice the changes, but the more aware I was, the more painful it became to move or even stand.

I let out a long breath as the city blurred around me.

This new phenomenon…

This rush of power at the cost of extreme exhaustion and pain…

How was I going to weaponize it?

It didn't take a genius to know the possibilities it could provide me should I be able to master it to such a degree that I could use it for longer periods of time. Of course the downsides would leave me vulnerable considering the exhaustion after its use.

I hadn't tried it since then. The pain in my chest was akin to a heart attack. I wasn't ready to experience it again. But it was a matter of time before I did it again.

I knew the steps leading to the 'technique', if I could even call it that.

It was more of a state.

One would believe the reason it happened was because I kept shaking my entire body, but that was only partially the case. What truly happened was that as I kept pushing my body, I unconsciously made my heart speed up.

It worked on the same principle as most of the techniques involving the control of my own body.

While 'Iron Body' involved every single muscle in my body tensing so it became an impenetrable defense and 'Paper Art' to relax every single muscle so I could easily evade attacks… What I did to my heart was an unconscious command that happened after multiple instances of relaxation and contraction of the body as I kept using 'Seismic Aftershock' and relaxed afterwards. It was during the state of relaxation and compression that kickstarted the effect.

I just needed to accelerate my heartbeat again… Easy peasy. No problem… No problem at all…

I let out a hum as I noticed the bare streets now that the stores are closing.

'Maybe I should head home,' I thought, stopping on the top of a building and looking down below just in case. 'Today is Kazuho's turn, so I should pay her a visit… Man it feels so weird to think of our relationship this way.'

Before I could leap from my position I put my finger in my comm as the voice of Manami came through.

Smiley, there's a report of a robbery in process a few streets away from your position!

"Send me the coordinates," I muttered, a frown marring my face.

Kazuho can wait.

There's work to do.

---

He let out a small breath as he watched from multiple monitors the image of upcoming and known heroes. It's been a while since the last time he did a proper investigation on the matter.

The footage of the Wild Wild Pussycats doing their poses came to view. He brought a hand to his chin and began to rub it.

'Earth manipulation… Stretching… Mental transmission… And my, my… A Quirk that relays information to the user… How very interesting,' he thought as he let out a hum that resonated through the tube connected to his neck.

The man named 'All For One' by his enemies relaxed into his chair while he tried to ignore the pain of his still recovering wounds.

While he had been quick in getting his hands on healing quirks after his defeat, none of them could heal his body, not fully at least.

Crippled like the man who put him in this state to begin with.

All Might.

He grunted as rage began to bubble in his entire body.

He was so close…

"Garaki," he suddenly addressed a man who suddenly appeared through a portal. But he was not alone, next to him came a medium sized dark purple monster of serrated teeth and his brain exposed. "It seems that your project turned out to be a success."

The man in medical garb nodded.

"At first I wanted to bring both Nomus, but since our priority lays with All Might and not Smiley I decided to bring the one compatible with the vigilante and should you give the order we can release the other Nomu who is in standby," supplied the Kyudai as he held onto a small being with two feet with shoes and its brain exposed. The being with the quirk capable of teleportation.

"So… Today is the day?" He mused as a grin began to spread across his face. "Very well. Once Smiley makes contact with the heroes…"

There was a small pause before he continued.

"I want you to release the Nomu in the city."

Smiley's quirk was going to be his tonight.

---

A/N: (22 Dec, 2025) Welp, I liked the replies I got on QQ and since a few people were waiting for the capture plan to start, here it is. This chapter (which I'm still writing as I write this author notes) is supposed to be the last 'Calm Before the Storm' before the next arc begins, sorry that it ended in a cliffhanger, but that was always the plan lol.

(27 Dec, 2025) What did you think of Gentleman (Gentle) in this chapter? I showcased him a few times in passing but since I wanted to write a chapter of Gure saving people from a fire I decided it was a good idea to bring him here and help (give people the scare of their lives).

(17 Jan, 2026) I apologize for the short chapter, but I didn't know what else to write. There was a lot of padding in this chapter as you can see. But oh well. See you next time!

Anyway, here's my plug:
: https://www..com/c/QtaroCujoh
Discord: https://discord.gg/6bE7gbKFbc