“Boss-ACK!”

“Quit talking.”

Ken found himself back in the foamy room.

Apparently, this was a training space for the boss and anyone with blunt-type quirks.

Though he was informed, it could also serve as a prison and torture chamber.

Jumping to the left, he narrowly avoided an arm with such surprising strength that it caused the air to crackle.

The most surprising thing was that the punch came casually from the boss himself.

Ken jumped to the similarly foamed room before blasting downwards off  towards Ehno, who sent another right swing towards the boy's face.

Tilting his head to the left, it became evident that Ken's jumping path wasn’t to crash into the burly man but to land right in front of him.

Ken landed in a crouched position under his opponent's nose. Rapidly standing up, all of Ken's fingers curled back, and his palm attempted to connect with Ehno’s chin.

A rattling to the brain would normally knock someone out or even kill them, but Ken noted that with the boss, things that could normally prove fatal were only minor setbacks.

Thus, Ken's current attack wasn’t intended to end the fight but to buy time for his next move.

However, that time never came, as the boy's palm strike landed on the leader's elbow joint.

Jumping further back, Ken clenched his now dislocated hand while watching his boss physically shake off the jolting feeling a strike to the funny bone must have sent him.

Twitching his mouth, Ken readied himself to go again.

“Ken, I said that you're better than your other half because of your brain, but no matter how smart you are, there will be some enemies that you’ll need your quirk against. A quirk that won’t be up to par if you don’t train it now.”

The air grew heavy as the presence of Ken's opponent increased several-fold.

“Do you take me for some chump who can be defeated without your quirk?”

Suddenly, the boy's vision changed as he found himself lying on his back, looking up at the demon who was supposed to be ‘training’ him.

“Don’t hold back, or you’ll die.”

With that, a hard punch landed in the ghoul's abdomen, making him reflexively recoil upwards.

Knowing that his opponent meant it, Ken moved his feet to wrap around the leader's waist as his hands crossed over each other and gripped Ehno’s head.

If he wanted to be deadly, then Ken would respond by trying to twist his head like a bottle cap and yank it off.

But the expected blood spurting didn’t happen. Instead, bulging, visible veins kept any damage from happening.

‘How did he train his neck so much?’

His question was left unanswered as he was flung around the room like a rag doll once again.

Still not wanting to give up, Ken used the wall as a foothold and dashed back with black eyes and red veins going across his face, along with one red kagune on his right.

It went for the leader's neck in a normal fashion, but Ken wasn’t done.

Unlike before, when it split open and headed towards different parts of his body, Ken optimized its splitting-open function for something more.

He sent the two split parts to the top and bottom of the floor, allowing himself to be ‘pushed’ by them.

Then he recalled them and, at the decisive moment, created them again, reducing the air resistance and keeping all of the KE he just built. Once released, they turned into one deadly spear, seaking Ehno's life.

Even Ehno recognized the faint but still existing trace of danger. So he ended the fight with a fist that bent this ‘spear’ and slammed into the boy's face.

.

.

.

“Stop beating the boy half to death!”

“It’s fine; look, his regeneration is already fixing everything.”

“That's not the point. Sigh Most quirks are a result of the brain instinctively using them. If you shock his brain too much, he could die.”

“Yeah–Yeah, I’ll take it ‘easy’ on him later. I need to discuss the mission details with Seneca.”

Watching her irresponsible boss walk away.

Reiki non-quietly practically shouted, “That guy! Everyone knows Sen will take care of everything anyway. UGH! He gets on my nerves sometimes.”

‘-What the hell happened?’

Sitting up, Ken recalled his body slumping down after being pummeled to the ground by the boss.

‘No, Ehno, let himself get trapped.’

Though Ken believed his precision to be rather high, he’d experienced firsthand how fast the leader's eyes and brain could react to information.

‘That's thanks to his busted quirk, though.’ 

Adaptation; allowing all of one's abilities to adjust over time, is essentially a weaker but faster version of evolution.

Ehno’s eyes were strained, and his skin was punctured. Over time, they strengthened to react faster, more accurately, and work for longer periods of time.

“Normal temperature, 98F (37C), no other signs of damage. Hmm… The boy's quirk works fast, I wonder…”

Not liking the sound of things, Ken opened his eyes from his pretending-to-sleep state.

He also sneakily placed his thumb over the knuckles of his index finger, preparing if he needed to fight.

“Ah, you’re awake, Good.”

But the wary gaze still remained on him even after he recognized her as a coworker.

“Don’t worry, I’m not doing any secret tests on you.”

Still seeing his suspiciousness, she lightly stated,

“It’ll be hard for us to work together if you harbor such suspicion towards me. Besides, what can you even do? Who’s to say I didn’t input your “secret” into a computer, and without my constant reminder, it will be sent to everyone you know.”

Stare

“W-What? I can use computers. But that's not the point; we both have things we don’t want the public to know about. So if you regard me as an enemy, you should be keeping me closer; you know the whole thing.”

“Keep your friends close and enemies closer; yeah, I get it; I’ll just keep an eye on you. And if you slip up....”

The sight was comical: a thirteen-year-old glaring up at a woman at least in her twenties and speaking on equal levels.

“Sure, sure, do whatever you want. Anyway, unless you didn’t hear what I just said, you’re pretty normal, with a faster heartbeat than usual, but besides that, you're fine.”

Sitting up off the couch in the familiar break room, Ken patted himself down before nodding to Reiki and walking to the door. As his hand grabbed the doorknob, her words stopped him.

“As your doctor, a word of advice: protect your head. Even though you boast great regeneration, a good hit to your head and you’ll seriously die. I’m sure your loved ones wouldn’t like that.”

Ken, who was focusing on the last part of her sentence, didn’t register the tone of melancholy she spoke it with.

‘Loved ones,’ he thought back to Himiko’s situation a few weeks ago.

She's avoided talking to him ever since.

Though he could catch her peeking at him, she always refused to interact. Anger appeared on her face whenever he tried to initiate something.

Unfortunately for Ken, who was rather well-versed in a plethora of knowledge, this was out of his expertise.

‘What use would an information broker who lives alone and has no meaningful connections need emotional knowledge for… Wait, that sounds like I lived a pathetic life alone!!!’

Regardless, he needed to swallow his pride… albeit the little he had, and ask for help when he needed it.

“If you can offer some doctor's advice, then can I get a woman's advice?”

Reiki's eyebrows rose. "Look, kid, I may be a criminal, but there are crimes that even I won’t-”

“No, not that! I need help fixing my relationship with-.”

“HELLO! Did someone order a coffee?”

Ken didn’t finish his sentence, as he had been pushed to the left since the door opened. Incoming was Naia, holding a tray of… waters?

“Oh~Did no one order this?”

Feigning a mock surprise, she put the tray of three waters on the table behind the couch before going and taking a seat right next to the doctor.

With Reiki's legs over one another and Naia’s both to the side of each other, Ken looked like he was getting interrogated, good cop, bad cop style.

“What about the shop?” Ken worriedly asked, lest Ehno stick one of his punishments on her and he get implicated.

“The shop? That was closed down yesterday.” This time, real confusion laced Naia's voice.

‘Yesterday!’

“Oh, did I forget to tell you? You’ve been knocked out for 12 hours.” Reiki's smug expression said otherwise, however.

"Then, Naia, if the shop's out, why?”

“Because she’s nosy.”

The blue-haired girl put a hand on her chest and said, “I’m not.”

Scoffing, Reiki explained, “You once interrupted my interaction with a customer who was all the way in the break room when you were originally behind the bar.”

“Interaction is a light way of putting it. He was literally screaming for bloody murder; you were bothering the customers.”

“They know this place isn’t normal; if they don’t like it, they can leave–”

“And what of Seneca when he asks why profits are so low for the month?”

Turning back to Ken after Reiki shut up, Naia started, “I overheard-”

“Eavesdropped.”

“I overheard, that you were having problems with a friend and wanted advice, and knowing that Reiki talks to corpses more than she interacts with humans, I thought that a second opinion would be useful.”

“Okay-”

‘Two heads are better than one, after all.’

So Ken explained the situation as best he could.

“So your girl…-friend is angry because you can’t spend as much time with her as you normally did?”

“Pretty much.” Ken, now sitting in a white chair in front of his two impromptu therapists, nodded.

“And you want to reconcile?”

“Yes, for the third time. Any solutions, or are we going to go in circles? Thanks to a certain someone, I don’t have much time to pack and prepare last-minute things as we leave tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I have an answer, Naia. You?”

Seeing her blue-haired companion nod, Reiki said they’d answer in three.

“One.”

“Two.”

“Three.”

“Forget about it; the situation is hopeless.”

“You need to show your willingness to stay with her.”

The two immediately turned to each other.

“You think he should continue.”

“Why should he not?”

“It’s a pointless endeavor.”

“Why?”

“People of this world never truly mix with those outside, even more so for an emotionally scarred girl who's obviously in need of someone’s constant care, touch, and reassurance that they're not going to leave her when that someone is a boy whose entire schedule screams unavailable.”

“It’s better than being a coward and regretting things forever. Besides, Seneca had something working out for a few years.”

“And how’d that end?”

“It wasn’t his fault.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that his job and work interfered, leading to the result.”

Turning to the boy, Naia took a deep breath before steadying herself.

"Look, Ken, what Reiki said holds some merit. Most don’t mix well with our current lives; therefore, statistically, it may be better for you to end the relationship.”

Reiki’s haughtiness didn’t continue as Naia wasn’t done.

“But… if you’re serious about your relationship, if you really care for her and want to keep your connection, then fight. That’s something nobody here seems to be willing to do,”

A self-deprecating smile formed on her face.

“We're assassins; we kill, take, steal, and are some of the most hard-headed scum of the earth. Yet everyone seems unwilling to stand their ground, so all I can offer you is the idea to fight for what you want.”

As if a boulder were pushed off of Ken, he could picture the other side, a future when he’d retire, and in that future of happiness, Himiko was smiling and laughing next to him.

He stood up, ignoring Reiki's complicated expression, and bowed to the two and said, “Thank you.”

With that, he walked outside with a new mindset, though he was thinking, ‘That was strangely brutish, kind of something I'd expect from the leader.’