After the events of a few days ago, everyone had started to move on in their own way.

Daisuke closed up, not wanting to share how he felt with anyone, but he still showed up for training, something we started doing inside the shelter.

The teens did their best, but they weren’t able to communicate with the kids besides some awkward words of encouragement, so they moved on as well. And the rest, well… They were used to being seen as less, so they didn’t bother. It was just business as usual for them, one faceless person less in a world that didn’t want them in the first place.

The other exception who ‘tried’ would be Salt, who sometimes offered the kid a beer.

One time I heard the phrase; ‘people move on’. It was pretty commonly used for breakups or when a loved one passed away.

The thing was that I underestimated how quickly others would move on.

Or maybe the keyword here was; ‘want’.

How quickly they wanted to move on.

Emiko’s death hit everyone differently, but only the adult portion of the shelter was already past the grieving part while the younger part was still stuck on processing her death, myself included.

It made me extremely mad.

Even the marginalized suffered from lack of empathy, but I couldn’t really fault them, could I?

After all, I was trying to do the same.

…

Once it became apparent Daisuke wanted to continue training I decided to do the same. We began by circling the shelter, doing the exercises there and sparring against each other as a start. I, on the other hand, would go back to my previous routine, one step at a time.

I went back to running early in the morning through the shopping district of Naruhata. I knew I could go back to the forest again but there was something about these streets that kept me in a state of alert that the forest couldn’t provide for some reason.

I admired, while sporting a bored expression, the clouds that drifted through the sky as light began to bathe my surroundings. The sun was beginning to rise again.

My expression remained stoic as I heard the familiar sound of propulsions from a few streets back beginning to approach my direction. I changed my speed and moved slightly to the side so the person closing on me would catch up and have the necessary space to speak to me.

“Ah! Gurē! It’s been a while! Haha,” I heard the hero Ingenium say as soon as he was next to me. His expression remained almost jovial in contrast to my own, even though I couldn’t catch a glimpse of it. “I was almost thinking you were going to abandon these routes! Then I would lose my jogging buddy!”

I knew the moment he was going to appear too, it felt planned as well. Like he had a device with my general direction.

I remained in silence as we kept running through the streets, changing routes in a blink of an eye while maintaining the same speed.

“Not much of a talker today, huh buddy?” Tense-something asked after a long pause. “That’s fine! If you don’t want to talk to me today it’s ok! I’ll figure out a way to ‘make you talk’, haha.”

The way those words left his mouth pissed me off. But I ignored him and focused on my breathing pattern as we both ran through the deserted streets.

As I kept training my body I left behind one of the aspects that gave me a semblance of calm. One of the most important aspects of my improvement was because of my breathing pattern, and between the rage and apathy I’ve been feeling it had slowly started to stagnate.

Even the gourds I bought were left behind as I concentrated in stopping the issue of the black tongues.

No time like the present I guess…

Once I leave this guy behind I’ll put some of my time into them.

It took us less than a minute to reach the usual vending machine where we normally stopped to grab a drink or go our separate ways. It didn’t surprise me that Ingenium offered a meal in the ramen stand from the other time where I left him behind.

The smell of broth and spices brought back memories but they were immediately squashed as the memory of all those bodies hidden behind that door flashed before my eyes. My left eye trembled. I could only feel rage and disappointment on myself.

But I needed to move on. Salt was right.

If I despair as a hero, who’s going to protect the city?

I didn’t know how long I sat there in silence, but I was brought back from my thoughts by the annoying voice of the hero pretending to be my friend.

“Say Gurē, a colleague of mine told me you were having tons of fun at a concert a few days ago,” he said before he began to awkwardly laugh, probably because he remembered the reason why he didn’t go himself. “What a shame I wasn’t there to see it for myself!”

I wasn’t there either. That was a clone of me. I still debated the decision of ending his life after we had our talk on the roof of the shelter. But in the end Jin needed to measure me again after those days of ‘training’ in the forest.

They were just clones.

“Maybe you should have,” I said before bringing a great amount of noodles into my mouth.

“Haha! Maybe I should’ve,” Ingenium repeated before he too went back to his food.

I contemplated leaving the hero to pay for the food and see each other when he sends another of his goons to spy on me, but I decided to stay. Even though I was still shaken by the recent events, I was curious about what he really wanted this time.

So instead I finished my food and asked for another bowl.

Just as the ramen arrived in front of me I saw the hero shift slightly and direct a sad smile towards me.

“Hey, I’m sorry for what happened last time,” he apologized. “But you need to know that I’m just concerned about your situation as anyone would be, Gurē, that’s all.”

Just as his hands were about to touch my shoulder, on instinct my hand shot over and held his wrist in a tight grasp.

“I’m getting tired of these games we’re playing,” I said as I let out a small growl. “What’s your aim? This play you’re trying to do is pissing me off.”

He gasped in discomfort. Ingenium tried to pull out but my grip was as hard as steel so we remained in the same position until he spoke.

“I-I’m just trying to make sure you’re safe.”

“Doesn’t look like it.”

“People were found-”

“I know,” I replied. His eyes widened before they softened. His discomfort, almost forgotten. “A good friend of mine is now dead because nobody was there to help us.”

Because I was too slow to help her.

The image of Emiko’s smiling face flashed before my eyes

A gasp brought me back to reality, I’d put more pressure on Ingenium's wrist without thinking.

“Tell me you’re sorry,” I said as I regulated the pressure output. I was so used to training that I forgot to control my own strength.

“I… I’m sorry,” he managed to gasp as he closed one of his eyes and tried to keep what was left of his composure.

“Tell me everything is going to be alright,” I muttered as I added more pressure.

“E… Everything is going to be alright,” Ingenium managed to gasp out.

“How can it be alright when one of my friends is dead!”

“Let me help you!”

“How can you offer me help when you weren’t there to help me before?” I bared my teeth as those words left my mouth, I could only see red. I wanted someone to pay and Ingenium was the poor sod to be another annoyance I needed to rip off the bud.

The image of Emiko practicing with her brother and falling to the ground flashed through my eyes.

“H-How can I help you if you won’t let me Gurē?” the guy managed to say before my grip lessened and stopped altogether.

The image of Emiko watching me cook while telling me to give her some flashed through my mind as my lip trembled.

If Smiley despairs, who’s going to save the city?

I remained silent, my food untouched. Tensei held his own wrist, massaging it to alleviate the pain he was feeling. But even still looked at me with a comforting gaze.

“I’m sorry I said something to set you off. I’ll try to be more careful next time, ok?” he said, smiling.

“Ok,” I repeated.

It pissed me off how weak I sounded.

---

PopStep.

Originally an eye candy I used to admire whenever I had lunch in the general area she sang, then an annoyance who tried to make me her assistant and now an acquaintance. Whenever I shared my thoughts about the old man and Pop with my clones, they seemed adamant on making sure to let me know that PopStep was a nice girl who just needed a friend.

Our opinions were completely different on the girl and it showed.

The clone who didn’t know about the mission had a fantastic time with Pop and seemed eager to let me know the details of the event. While the clone that has been working with her as a hero in the streets spoke about her performance as a helper even though her combat skills were lacking.

Then there was me. I’ve saved her a couple of times and even interacted with her, but it was always on a small scale. She already knew about me because of my clones, so we haven’t exchanged names, ambitions, likes and dislikes. To me she was a familiar stranger who formed part of the circle of people I knew.

Nothing against the girl, we hadn’t had the time to know each other.

Which led me to admiring the city from the roof of the warehouse. There wasn’t much to see besides the clouds and the concrete structures in the distance but it certainly kept my thoughts in check. That conversation I had with that hero left me with a sour taste in my mouth, not because he was wrong, but because he was right.

If I had trusted him… would Emiko still be with us right now?

“G-Gurē,” the shy voice of PopStep, broke me off my musings. I directed my gaze towards the pop idol who was staring at me while sporting a concerned expression. “Did… did something happen? You haven’t talked to me since the event… you’re the real one, right?”

I nodded before turning back to watching the clouds creeping out on the horizon through the buildings.

“Yeah, something did happen. And I’m the original, why do you ask? Already missing my clone?” I asked, but there was no mirth in my voice, just pure boredom.

“H-He was a lot nicer to talk to,” she muttered, but I was able to hear it through my sharp senses. “What did he tell you about the-”

“Event? He told me he enjoyed it. It was one of the happiest moments he ever had.”

“R-Really?” Pop said, there was a hint of hope in her eyes, a slight blush marred her face. I could perceive her hand getting close to mine. “So that means you saw it?”

“Not really,” I replied with a straight face. Her face deflated at my words, and retracted her hand from where it was. “I can’t see what my clones see, nor do their memories flow back to me when they disappear. They’re me, but our experiences might be totally different.”

“B-But…” she started to say but then stopped.

“A shame too, it sounded like a beautiful experience,” I said while keeping my gaze on the clouds.

A hat covered in blood appeared-

I immediately closed my eyes, then opened again, the image now forgotten in the back of my mind.

My left eye trembled slightly before going back to normal.

“Did he even tell you my name? My real name?” PopStep finally asked after a moment of silence. She looked defeated, like all the air inside left her body.

“I’m sorry, but we were preoccupied with another matter,” I remembered how his content expression went through the motions of surprise, disbelief, anger, rage, and regret. Until I felt sorry enough and decided to deliver the blow to end his life.

“Will I ever see him again?” she asked while directing her gaze towards the horizon.

“I’m sorry.”

“I started to enjoy his company y’know,” she sighed in disappointment, there was a hint of sadness in her voice.

“It’s still me,” I said, closing my eyes and letting the breeze hit my face. “We can talk and know each other if you want to.”

“I’m…” she began but stopped midway.

Then she directed her eyes to me, alarmed.

“Gurē… did someone from the shelter…?” she asked as her eyes began to widen in realization. “Was someone from the shelter in that storage unit?”

The only response she got was my tired eyes meeting hers. It appeared she was smarter than what she looked, because she clued in immediately.

“Oh Gurē.”

“I appreciate the effort Pop, but there’s nothing we can’t do right now but keep working as heroes so it doesn’t happen ever again,” I said, using the words of Salt as a mantra.

I got up and took a look at the remaining rubber balls I had in my pockets. I put my mask on and took a look at the idol one last time, who looked at the border of tears.

“Suit up, we’re burning daylight.”

---

The last thing I wanted to think about right now was what happened to Emiko. I didn’t fault PopStep for bringing it up, but being constantly reminded about it didn’t help things either. So instead of spending more quality time with Pop I decided to go back to the streets. The old man hadn’t shown his face since he regained his daughter so it was time for me to take the lead.

I walked from the rooftop of a building as I saw PopStep in disguise. It seemed she wanted to implement her plan to trap the weirdos that kept stealing underwear in the middle of the street. Her plan sounded solid so we went with that.

My lips tugged upwards as I looked at her disguise herself to catch the thieves.

Only to disappear as another memory of Emiko resurfaced.

“Gurē!”

I sighed in annoyance. That was my cue.

I took three pellets from my front pocket and launched them towards the three perverts who were about to direct their attention to me.

Chin. Shoulder. Leg.

Once destabilized they fell to the floor, giving enough time for an angry mob to close in and reclaim their stolen items.

I directed my gaze back to PopStep, just to see someone next to her in a trenchcoat. I could only see red as my body was already in motion. Kicking the ground thirty times in less than a second I was already in front of the person and PopStep, before he could do anything I punched him right in the stomach, sending him back while spitting saliva mixed with blood.

I took a look back to PopStep, who was looking at me with her eyes wide open before she nodded uncertainty.

I approached the guy on the ground, who was muttering nonsense laced with heavy breathing before he succumbed to his injuries and fell unconscious.

On close inspection by his lack of clothes under his trenchcoat and once I checked his tongue I realized that he might be just some random guy… with a strange fetish. But just to be sure I took the decision to tie him up.

I had spare rope.

“No black tongue, sorry I… I over reacted,” I said to Pop as soon as we got down from the building and finished tying up the dude in a trenchcoat to a pole.

“Don’t worry Gurē,” the idol told me after making sure to call the proper authorities. “I-I understand.”

She didn’t. She really didn’t understand. She knew nothing. How many hours did that poor girl wait for me? Did she convince herself that I was going to rescue her soon? Did she mutter my name before her life was snuffed?

But I didn’t want to tell her that.

The mere act of thinking it was enough to make my blood boil.

“Nwa ha ha ha!” Just when my anger was at its breaking point I heard a man laugh. A blond man of big stature, dressed in white pants, light brown sweatshirt and arm warmers of the same color. He was moving his hands in a way that looked like they were moving in slow motion. Women were trying to escape his approach. “Excellent, excellent!”

My lip trembled in annoyance again. My fists tighten.

Just as the man was boasting about his lust for battle I stepped in.

“Lust for battle? Let me see if I can do it as well,” I said, mimicking his stance perfectly up to the last detail. Then I applied the refined movement of ‘Water Flow’, and lastly, I took a deep breath.

His eyes widened.

Before the man knew it, my hand met his arms, his stomach, his chest, his crotch, and his face. It was to such a degree that I could see the swelling happen in real time as soon as I hit. On a last ditch effort he tried to punch my face, but he only injured it as ‘Iron Body’ protected me.

I grabbed him by the face and drove him to the ground with all my might. I brought up a fist into the air but I felt a hand reach for it and held myself there.

“Kid, that’s enough,” the voice of the old man stopped me right in my tracks. I was so mad, so focused on bringing the man down that I forgot I was in front of people, displaying strength beyond what I’ve shown before.

I was so distracted that the old man got behind me without me noticing it.

“I wasn’t done,” I finally said after a few moments of silence, but even though I said that I relaxed my muscles, there was no reason for me to fight anymore.

My eyes caught the man who had his mouth wide open and his eyes were rolled back his skull. No black tongue, just another weirdo.

“Well, now you are,” the old man spoke while bringing a cigarette to his lips and lighting it up. “Kid, we need to talk.”

“Right now?” I asked, getting up and looking around me, people were in total silence. “We still need to finish our patrol.”

“Hrm, too many people here. Meet me in the hospital, you know the one. I’m going to be on the rooftops,” he instructed, then he took a turn and entered an alleyway.

“Tsk, I’ll be there once our patrol is over,” I uttered as I began to make my way towards a small building before jumping to the rooftop. “Come on, Pop.”

“R-Right!” she said before jumping after me.

---

“About time you showed up, old man,” the kid said to Iwao while leaning on the railing of the rooftop of the hospital of Naruhata. He was wearing his Smiley outfit without a care of the world. “Why hurry me if you’re going to keep me waiting anyway?”

The ‘old man’ grunted as he got close, contemplating lighting a cig to calm his nerves but deciding against it. He didn’t want his baby girl to wake up to him smelling like that. That and it was illegal to smoke in or near a hospital.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, kid,” he said without directing his gaze to the kid, but instead admiring the jungle of buildings of the ward of Naruhata. “But it’s important. Where is the girl?”

“At her house, she had homework to do.”

“Good, it’s better if she doesn’t know.”

“Know what?”

Iwao kept looking at the horizon for a few seconds in total silence, then he sighed and directed his gaze back to the kid who was waiting for a response. Better to rip off the band-aid immediately.

“Kid, the day we saved my daughter, you killed someone,” Iwao revealed, his expression stoic but firm.

“What?” the teen said, unfurling his arms and directing his full attention to him.

“It was another victim of trigger.” Oguro added, feeling the anger rising up from Gurē. “A kid going by its voice.”

The teen posing as a vigilante had a moment of realization as he slowly brought up one of his hands to his mask, then to his head. Then he sighed with disappointment.

“A part of me knew that was the case.” Gurē’s voice sounded tired. It reminded him of his defeat at the hands of that monster. “I was so mad. So angry that I didn’t care who it was, I wanted it gone.”

Another beat of silence followed next.

“I wish I could understand where you are coming from, kid. But the fact is that at the end of the day your actions have consequences,” Iwao said, putting a hand on the railing and looking below. “Learn from that so the next time it doesn’t happen again.”

“Is that why you made me come here?” he asked, sounding defeated as he too directed his visage to the horizon and put his hand on the railing, deforming it with his strength.

“I didn’t make you come here to listen to a sermon, especially with something troubling you right now,” the retired hero grunted, taking his hand away from the railing and directing his gaze to Smiley. “There are more important matters we need to discuss. ”

“Such as?”

“I have a few questions and answers for you,” the masked vigilante faced him. Oguro could feel the murderous intent the kid was displaying. “Don’t look at me like that, this is important.”

The teen sighed.

“What do you have for me?”

“I’ve seen you move and the way you fight, adding the clones makes one wonder… What’s your quirk?” Iwao said, starting to see the similarities with the quirks of a few current heroes. “Do you perhaps have more than one?”

“Nothing of the sort. I’m quirkless.” Gurē revealed.

“Bullshit.”

There was no way that the kid in front of him was a quirkless nobody. He had seen Smiley move at incredible speeds, he had seen him fight with the strength of one hundred men, he had seen him fly through the skies, and he had seen him have clones of himself.

It didn’t make any sense.

“Well, it’s the truth,” the teen now sounded annoyed. “Was this the reason why you wanted to talk? I’m on patrol today.”

“That can’t be right. How do you explain the flying? The super strength? The cloning?”

“I trained really hard since I was a kid. I’ve been lifting rocks and trees since I could remember.” Smiley responded as he put a finger up and started to tap his mask. “And I don’t really fly, I just kick the air with enough strength and as many times as I possibly can.”

To prove a point he jumped in the air and started to ‘levitate’ but Iwao saw how small air explosions formed as he ‘kicked’ the air, it took him a few seconds to notice the fact that Gurē was ‘kicking’ the air more times than he thought he saw.

He stopped doing it after a few more seconds, falling back to the rooftop while adjusting his black gloves.

“About the cloning, a good friend of mine is able to clone other people. He’s only able to create two clones.”

So that meant it was probably Salt or the person with personality disorder.

“I… Hrmph, that’s really hard to believe, but I'll take your word for it.” Iwao really wished he could get a cig right then and there.“However, this complicates things.”

“How so?”

“Listen kid. Have you ever heard of a man capable of stealing quirks?”

---

I left the hospital as soon as our conversation was over. A man able to steal quirks, who not only stole the old man’s quirk but is probably behind the whole ordeal with the black tongues fiasco. The distribution of ‘trigger’ might be connected, as well as what happened to that victim that I…

I killed.

I stopped on the rooftop of one small skyscraper surrounded by taller ones.

My fists tighten as hard as I could.

That man…

He made me kill.

That man…

Was responsible for what happened to Emiko.

He’s dead.

I didn’t care how unapproachable it was, how impossible it was, how powerful he was. I vowed that I wouldn’t rest until he was dead by my own hands.

He’s fucking dead.

I looked at the sky as slowly but surely it began to rain. Normally my sense of smell wouldn’t work under these conditions, but for some reason today they felt enhanced. So it didn’t surprise me when the familiar scent of a woman in her early twenties approached and landed on the same rooftop behind me.

“Found ya!” slowly I directed my gaze to the rabbit hero who had been hunting me down a few times as Smiley. She was smiling from ear to ear. “I've been searching for you all day… and I finally found ya.”

I could feel my face deform into a sneer. I wasn’t mad with this woman in particular. But I really didn’t want to deal with her either.

Not right now.

“I’m not in the mood,” I said, tensing all my muscles in anticipation. “Get lost.”

“Nah! I’m good” she said, her smile becoming predatory. She tensed her leg muscles and jumped towards me at high speed. “You’re not getting away from me!”

The heroine extended her leg up high and delivered a powerful kick. But I positioned myself slightly to the left and moved both of my hands in perfect fluid motions.

“Water Flow,” I said, redirecting the kick and the lady away from me, she landed next to the railing of the rooftop and stayed there. “I told you I don’t have time to waste on you. Leave me alone.”

“And I said I’m not going to let you go, idiot!” she screamed, jumping towards me again but this time she changed tactics and threw a diagonal kick. I leaped over it, but it seemed to be a mistake, because she used the momentum of her initial kick to throw another one at my torso.

My hand shot up and caught the kick but instead of stopping it I managed to use it to springboard me away from the rabbit hero,

As soon as I landed I watched how the woman in front of me kicked the ground with such intensity, that it almost broke it to pieces. My eyes widened as her speed increased.

“Luna Rush!” she screamed as soon as she was at close proximity. In an instant she threw multiple kicks towards me.

“Water Flow, Constant Stream,” I muttered as I parried and evaded every single kick that came my way. But as the test of strength continued, I noticed that her kicks started to become more refined and harder to parry.

At the last second I kicked the ground ten times in less than a second and got away from her. But I was once again surprised when she kicked the ground four times at the same time and was a few feet away from me, leg raised.

“I already know that trick asshole! Try this on for size!”

I refined my breathing and I raised my leg with the intention to meet her in the middle.

Crack

I winced as I heard a cracking sound coming from my leg. We exchanged another strike between our legs, and I could feel how each time my left leg was going numb.

It hurt, but I ignored the pain.

She jumped forward and extended her legs to catch my head. I jumped over it and extended my hand.

“Water Flow, Smash!” my hand formed into half a fist and shot at great speeds towards Mirko’s chin, only for her to quickly try to evade the move. The attack struck true and we both landed a few steps behind each other. I looked back just in time to see her spit blood and smile again.

“You attacked me, that makes you a villain,” she said as more droplets of blood began to fall from her left lip.

If I wasn’t so angry, I would have had an entire conversation about that logic.

“Last warning. Leave me alone,” I repeated, my lungs expanded and my vision sharpened. I wasn’t going to hold back anymore.

“So you finally show me your true colors, villain!” she screamed while kicking the ground four times as she emulated ‘Shave’, at least the incomplete version of it, to appear above me. “Let’s see you dodge this! Luna Fall!”

“Water Flow, 1st Wave.” I evaded the attack at the last second and delivered half of the attacks of the ‘1st wave‘. I struck the leg, thigh, abdomen, shoulder and chin.

Her kick struck the rooftop with great force, almost breaking it, but halfway her body sagged a little as she began to feel the strikes I delivered in quick succession.

“Geh! Is that all you got?” she said after checking her own body.

It seemed I held back at the last second.

Why? Because she was a woman?

Don’t make me laugh.

“Luna Ring!” While I was distracted she rushed once again and spun in a circle at fast speed.

I raised both of my hands in the air and with fluid motions I redirected her spin away from me.

“Water Flow, Counter Spin.” She flew away from me at high speeds and then landed with an expression of discomfort.

She wasn’t the only one. She had more strength in her legs than me. If it wasn’t for ‘Water Flow’ it would’ve been over on the first kick.

“I told you, I’m not in the mood,” I spoke before she could attempt another attack. “Leave me alone.”

She flinched at my last words. That was all I said before kicking the ground thirty times in less than a second and ‘flying’ away from there.

As I flew I noticed how the strength of my left leg began to dwindle. I needed medical attention.

---

“Gurē, I heard the news. I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Manami said as soon as she saw me. She didn’t even seem concerned that I was on her window in need of help.

“Can I come in?” I asked. By then my leg was completely numb but I still felt some jolts of pain from time to time whenever I willed it to perform ‘Moonwalk’, keeping me in the air.

“Y-Yes! I-I mean, yes sure, come in.” I let out a sigh of relief as I entered. I immediately took off my mask and admired the small studio apartment. There was a small tv, an expensive computer, some furniture spread around and one of those futons wrapped at the edge of the room. ”S-Sorry for the clutter, I forgot to clean up.”

“This is not the first time I’ve been here Manami, don’t worry yourself,” I said while removing my blazer jacket and dropping it on the floor. I was about to remove the rest of my costume when the girl ran up to me and hugged me, making me wince as her body collided with my leg. “Is there something wrong?”

“Oh Gurē,” the red haired girl said as her arms tightened around my clothes. “I'm sorry I wasn’t there for you.”

“It’s… ”

It wasn’t fine.

I was not fine.

The image of Emiko running with his brother Daisuke in toe flashed before my eyes.

I will not be fine until that man is dead.

But all those thoughts were squashed as I heard the poor girl cry, for me. I breathed in then out.

“It’s fine. There’s a reason why I came here again. And you’re the only one that can help me,” that was a lie. My first two options were Salt and PopStep, both of them knew basic first aid and had helped me before. But Pop was at her house right now and Salt… I really didn’t want them to see me hurt again.

So I was here instead. My last option.

But I’m not telling her that.

“What is it?” she asked, her eyes met mine, she was still crying.

“First let me show you. Can you stop hugging me please?”

“O-Oh, I’m so sorry!” As soon as she said those words she stopped hugging me and took a few steps back.

I began to unbuckle my pants in front of her without a care of the world. Immediately her response was to put her hands on her face and elevate her voice.

“Ah! Ah!! G-Gurē! I’m not mentally prepared for this!!” she screamed while looking through her fingers.

“Huh?” I uttered as I dropped my pants and threw them to the side, showcasing my swollen leg. “What are you talking about? I need first aid.”

“Oh… Oh! I’m sorry!” she said, going to one of her cabinets to fetch her first aid kit I made her buy just in case a situation like this occurred. “I thought… f-forget it.”

What did she mean by that?

As I took a seat on the floor and she began to administer the proper bandages on my leg, we started to talk about recent topics, how we were going to communicate now after losing the earpiece and what our future plans were.

I ended up sharing the information of the man who could steal quirks just in case she knew something about it. It turned out she did not.

After I was all wrapped up, we stayed in silence. Manami took a seat next to me.

“Thank you Manami. You’re a lifesaver,” I muttered as my eyes began to drop ever so slightly.

“I’m happy to help you Gurē,” she said, before hugging me again.

I relaxed my muscles as we stayed there in complete silence.

Maybe I’ll stay like this for a little longer.

---

I oversaw the training of the teens one more time as I kept punching the steel beam until it began to deform. So far I’ve made great progress on my training, now that my leg has healed and all.

My eyes met the visage of Daisuke, who had an expression of anger mixed with sadness as he quietly made the same drills as the teens. I gritted my teeth, before going back to the steel beam.

I wondered if I was making the right call as the kids passed from where I was punching away at a steel object without the use of ‘Iron Body’ to protect my skin.

Everyone wanted to go out and have their lives again, but I wanted them to stay inside and be safe. I knew I couldn’t keep them inside forever.

Deep down I hated how everything turned out. I wanted to go back, I wanted to go back in time to when everything was fine, when I was having fun as Smiley, when everything made sense. But I couldn't.

I had to move on.

I sighed.

It took some time to adjust to the feeling of sadness and anger that always creeped up on me whenever I thought of Emiko or the quirk stealing man. But I slowly regained some semblance of calmness. Maybe it was because I had more people besides me. Maybe it was because of the conversations I had with Pop… or Kazuho. Or the help I often receive from Manami. Or the usual visits I got from PopStep fans.

But somehow, everything went back to normal. There were still some black tongues for me to deal with, but never on the same scale as before. It seemed that with queen bee gone, I could finally relax.

And without me noticing, a year went by.

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A/N: Sup! How’s everyone doing? Hopefully good!

I’ve heard a lot of people talking about the angst, but we’re not even close to the end of it, so strap in, we’re going to an angsty adventure haha (THIS IS A JOKE, UNDERSTAND THIS IS A JOKE). Joking aside, I’m trying to develop Gurē as a character, and how he responds to trauma is one of them.

These following chapters are the aftermath of the bee arc, considering it’s going to take a while for the next arc to fully develop, but I’ve left hints for the next villain for the people that know. Also don’t worry, shonen elements are not getting left behind, I hope the encounter with Mirko is enough to mitigate the need for that.

Also it wasn’t haki what Gurē did, there’s something else in the MHA world that doesn’t quite get there but has a similar effect, which is killing intent. Gurē has gone through so much stress that he unlocked the anime ability to project his killing intent.