Chapter 14: Issue #14: Our Masks​

“It was a trap,” the old man grunted as we all sat on the old furniture I asked Jin to bring over from the other shelter.

“She wanted to see us fight to the death,” said Soga, the leader of the band of hooligans we stopped a few nights ago, who seemed to know me beforehand thanks to the boss.

‘There’s no way, I couldn’t see her or smell her from where I was,’ I thought, possibilities began to form in my head. ‘I get that she can manipulate quirk users from a distance with her bugs but how would she watch us? Does she have another quirk? Maybe she’s working with someone? A camera?’

“How?” I asked, everyone directed their gazes towards me as I adopted a serious expression. My cloth mask was put to the side, since we were going to be working together from now on. “I was the first to arrive and it was just you and the slasher.”

“She tricked me! She told me she was going to be there to offer me a new deal,” he responded. A dark expression flashed through his eyes before he looked directly at me, raising a fist as three spikes were released from his knuckles. “I was going to show her I’m not someone to mess around with”

‘Yeah, but to cut ties like that? And how was she supposed to watch it develop?’ I pondered, as I looked from Soga to PopStep, then my gaze drifted to the hardened expression of the old man.

“Look how that worked up for you,” said PopStep, gaining a ‘tch’ from the green haired teen, before she sighed and directed those pink eyes towards me. “What are we gonna do now Gurē?”

“Old man, you know something?” I finally said after a few seconds of silence. We’ve been pretty lax about his lack of words regarding the bee user, sometimes he knows as much as me but other times he showcases this emotion of familiarity that almost pisses me off. “If you’re hiding something about the bee user it will be harder for us to catch her.”

I felt his gaze on me then move towards the only member who wouldn’t hold their weight around in a fight, then back to me.

A grunt was heard, then he sighed as he fetched a cigarette and lit it up.

“I’ve… encountered a bee user before, very similar to the one we’re searching for,” he said as he took a drag from his cig and then exhaled a long trail of smoke. “It’s not a person controlling the bees, but a hive controlling the user. A ‘Queen Bee’ more specifically.”

That bit of information made me pause. Did that mean that the user was another victim? More importantly, the old man mentioned that he encountered one before. Why didn’t I hear about it until now? Was that the reason we have been dealing with black tongues for so long?

So many questions…

“How do we stop her?” I found myself asking, if there’s more than one lurking around then he might as well be wasting his time here instead of being on the streets.

“Don’t worry yourself with that.” The old man grunted as he took another drag and glanced at PopStep again, who looked angry almost ready to retaliate. “We need to find her first. If you do, report it to me immediately.”

“But why? Wouldn’t it be better if we all gang up on her before she tries anything?” asked the green haired teen, followed by PopStep’s enthusiastic ‘Yeah!’.

“Too dangerous. After today’s events, it’s clear that she’s too dangerous for you kids to handle alone,” old man knuckles said before taking one last drag, dropping the rest of the cigarette to the floor and taking it out with his shoe. “I shouldn’t let you participate in the first place.”

Soga growled but remained quiet. PopStep looked to the side.

And me…

I was pissed. Not because the old man wanted to keep everyone safe. But because of the lack of details and useful information. I had intel on the bee user but it brought the problem of how would I take her down should the original or I encountered her.

I sighed. That uneasy feeling creeped out on me again.

What a mess.

We decided to end the meeting there. After that everyone went home. I stayed alone for minutes pondering on what I should do. I went towards my backpack which was resting to the side of the warehouse, fetched inside the bag for my walkie talkie and clicked once.

*click*

“Boss? There’s something you need to know.”

---

‘Of course there was more than one bee user,’ I thought as I oversaw the training the group of teens and kids were undergoing. Their progress had been steadily increasing in small increments compared to me, but I felt they were almost ready to learn their first technique from the ‘Six Skills’.

But I could barely care that the people I’ve been training for the past months were going to take their first steps into their future as heroes.

I was vexed. Once my clone relayed all the information he managed to get on the bee user, I felt a mirage of emotions. Anger, frustration, disappointment, defeat and regret.

I should’ve been there.

All that time training in isolation while talking with Manami from time to time about any sightings took me away from that encounter. Not only that, I was disappointed in myself. I was so blinded with rage that I never thought of the possibility of the bee user being a victim in this whole ordeal.

I almost killed an innocent person.

My face hardened. I tried to keep that thought hidden, after all I didn’t know all the details at the moment of our standoff, but it kept resurfacing after being told of the events of that night.

“Um, Gurē?” I heard one of the kids, Emiko say.

I felt my features relax slightly at the visage of the kids and teens approaching me.

“We’re done with training for today,” said Kon, cleaning the sweat that accumulated during his last couple of reps. “Are you feeling alright? You haven’t spoken since the beginning.”

“Hum! And you’ve been standing there all this time doing nothing, Kyahaha!” Cream ‘supplied’ next, small sparks of electricity formed around her body.

She must’ve pulled a muscle.

I then realized that I was standing there with tree logs strapped to my back, deep in my thoughts for minutes, maybe hours.

‘I shouldn’t burden them with my troubles.’ I thought as I began to formulate my reply. I brought my hand to my neck and began to rub it as I smiled. ‘The less they know the better. I don’t want them to involve themselves and get in danger.’

“I was thinking it’s time to finally teach you the first technique I promised to teach you when all of you became strong enough,” I said while pondering if I should show them with or without the logs strapped to my back. In the end, I decided to leave them on.

“Really?” “Yes!” “Woah!” “Hum!”

“Quiet down!” I told them as I began to walk a few steps away from them but made sure that everyone followed me with their eyes. “First of all, I don’t expect any of you to get this technique down by the end of the day, or tomorrow, or in a month. It took me months to narrow it down.”

“I’m just telling you the secret on how to do it, then I’m going to do it a few times, so look carefully” I said, as I put my feet on the ground and decided to just go with the small amount instead of the usual i’m used to by now. “Sounds good?”

A series of nods and a lone ‘yeah’ was the only response I got.

I sighed.

Let’s get this over with.

“After every training session, I want you guys to start with this exercise and do it as many times as you can, so pay close attention.” I motioned to my legs while getting in position to use ‘Shave’. “For this technique to work you will need to kick the ground like this.”

For demonstration I began to lightly kick the ground in the same way I would do so when using the technique, but I did it so slowly that it might as well be the very first attempt I did when I began training all those years ago.

“You will have to do so ten times in a row ” I mentioned off-handedly as I kept kicking the ground to match the number then begin again.

“Is that it?” asked Kon. I noticed how everyone looked kinda disappointed at the explanation. They expected something else, a trick that would help them go fast.

The thing was, that the only trick there was is more hard training.

“In less than a second.” I revealed, making them gawk.

“Wait what?!” “Eh?!” “W-Woah.”

It wasn’t a surprise that the only one that remained quiet was Kon, who was looking directly at me, expecting me to reveal anything else. But sadly that was it.

“Like I said before. No quirk involved, think of it like kicking the ground to start running, but you do it ten times before a second passes.” Just as I finished that statement I did just that and in less than a second I was in front of them, startling them in the process. “It’s that easy.”

My smile grew at their dumbfounded expressions. Of course, who in their right of mind would believe that you could do that just by kicking the ground really fast? Interacting with these kids almost made me forget about my problems, almost.

“How… how long did it take you to get it right?” asked Kon as he stared at me with a new sense of wonder I’d never seen before.

“Hm, I don’t know, a year maybe?” I asked, trying to recall the hellish training I went through and how I would usually cry as I tried to alleviate the pain by rubbing my sore muscles in the middle of the night. “I pulled a few muscles attempting it, so be careful.”

“And make sure you’re not facing a tree while you’re at it,” I warned, recalling the first time I successfully pulled ‘Shave’, only to hit a tree and break my nose. “Or you’ll be in a world of hurt.”

“From you or…? ” joked Kon with an amused smile as he crossed his arms.

Oh you shouldn’t have done that.

“Well since you asked, let’s add more reps to each leg exercise from now on, ten daily should work, how does that sound?” I voiced. The groans of displeasure were music to my ears.

---

“Thank you Jin.”

“Don’t mention it boss. Like I care asshole!” My friend with personality problems responded as he held a sewing kit and carefully stitched my shoes with patches for me. Normally he would stay away from anything sharp, be it furniture, nails or knives, but it seemed that he finally took the first step into recovery and began to learn how to sew so he could stitch my clothes back together.

It was a beautiful gesture, but I couldn’t help but feel a tad disappointed that the only person who would even put the effort into helping me by mending my clothes would be Jin of all people. Even Ena, who I often paid for special suits and stitching my hero suits, would straight up refuse my civilian clothes and money, often telling me that ‘I should throw them into the trash’.

I didn’t want to resort to ‘borrowing’ clothes from shops like I used to, so I was stuck with just the few outfits I had, which would get torn in a few places during training or whenever I went with old man knuckles and PopStep.

It was a hard decision, but it was for my best interest that I should stay more often with PopStep and the old man, at least until we deal with the bee user. I would be switching with clones whenever I need to go as Smiley or get bored. Once that was dealt with, I felt I could relax and go back to training my ass off.

“Be careful Jin, you don’t want to prick yourself, do you?” I said, as I noticed Jin trying to pick up the speed. His eyes met mine for a brief moment, then nodded before going back to stitching.

“I just want to be useful to you boss. As if!” mentioned Jin, while deep on his ‘work’. His eyes met mine again. My gaze drifted towards his scar that ran from his scalp to his forehead, a remainder of his emotional trauma. “You’ve done so much for me. I have friends, a family, a place to stay and excellent food to eat. It tastes disgusting! Bleagh!”

‘Getting mixed feelings here Jin,’ I thought with a deadpan.

“You don't have to be useful in any way Jin, we’ve been over this haven’t we?” This conversation brought back some deep memories. I smiled as I remembered fondly the first time I saw this man walking with a bottle of alcohol in his hand while talking to himself. “Remember the first time we met?”

My friend stopped what he was doing then put one of his hands to his chin and began to rub it with his eyes closed.

“Hmmm… nope! I don’t remember anything, I remember being really happy to meet you boss! Lies! I hate you guts!” said Jin, first having the realization then immediately crossed his hands in the form of an ‘X’.

“Well, I do remember. And I remember someone who was drunk and in need of help. The only thing I had on hand was a paper bag and money for ramen” I said, remembering fondly our first meal and how we talked for hours. “Remember now?”

Jin's eyes widened.

“Nope! Not a clue boss,” said Jin happily before he went back to stitching my shoes. This time it was one of the last patches and it seemed he had chosen the heart shaped one.

I sighed.

“Ah… whatever, I forgot where I was going with all of this anyway,” I replied, slightly relaxing and dangling my feet as I looked at the clouds. We were on the roof of the warehouse, having decided to take a breather from cleaning and repairing the place. Jin noticed my shoes were in a state of disrepair again so he took them to mend them for me.

“OW!” Just as I was relaxing I heard Jin scream in pain. My eyes opened just in time to see Jin shaking his hand while looking at the border of a panic attack.

“Jin, are you alright?” I asked, getting close I directed my gaze towards his hands and noticed small droplets of blood coming from his index finger.

Jin blinked, then he directed his eyes to me and after a minute of silence he nodded.

“I-... I think so boss” he said, directing his gaze towards his finger again, he looked at it almost in a trance.

“Let’s go inside and get you a bandaid,” I said after another minute of silence. The fact that Jin just stayed like that in silence while watching his finger bleed creeped me out for some reason. “And stop calling me boss.”

“Ok boss,” Jin said, still looking at his finger.

I sighed, again.

---

Normal.

I am normal.

I am a normal high school girl.

It was another day of school and Himiko Toga was already bored out of her mind as she calmly ate the food her mom carefully prepared for her. Fried shrimp, plain white rice and steamed carrots.

No meat this time.

She and a couple of her friends ate next to each other by uniting their tables together. While she ate, her friends were more preoccupied with their phones, something she wasn’t allowed to have.

I don’t need it.

They were watching clips of heroes, video tutorials, exchanging pictures and the like. Not that she was particularly excluded, more often than not they would show her what they were doing out of sympathy. Like Hitomi who liked to show her cute pictures of her cat during recess.

A small glimpse of the image of a cat bleeding to death in the middle of the street flashed between her eyes. She was there but refused to look further.

Because she was a normal girl.

Then it happened.

*I’m sorry, I guess I got carried away, Heh-Heh*

“Oh! Oh! Look!” “Ohhh! Smiley!” “Ah! There’s so much of it.”

Her friends would usually have this reaction whenever they spoke about heroes and boys they liked, something she didn’t have any interest in.

Because she was a well behaved and normal girl.

Why bother with boys when it was more normal to maintain her grades? So she kept on eating without a care in the world.

“Himiko here, look!” exclaimed one of her friends, the one who sat in front of her. She was pushing her phone towards Himiko’s face.

It took her a few seconds to register, but she could clearly see a hero beat a villain three times his size with only the palms of his hands. She was about to question what was so important about the clip, until it happened.

A spray of blood left the mouth of the villain, and splattered on the mask of the hero. Who in a slow motion began to slide his fingers across his mask, leaving more trails of blood.

Her mouth went dry.

“Oh yeah, right. You don’t like Smiley, do you?” her friend said, lowering her phone, but Himiko couldn’t concentrate on anything else as her eyes began to lose focus. “You’re more of an All Might fan, right?”

“E-Excuse me, I need to go to the restroom.”

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“Himiko?” “Oh ok!” “Hurry up, recess is about to end.”

Beads of sweat ran down her face as she made her way towards the bathroom. Miraculously, there were few girls there once she entered. She went straight to the sink and washed her face.

Himiko looked at herself in the mirror, but could barely focus. The image of the hero with blood sprayed on his mask was latent on her mind. She couldn’t get that image out of her head, even as the bell to initiate classes was heard and girls passed by to return to their classes.

She entered one of the stalls and opened her lips, before burying her long fangs into her hand. Blood rushed to her lips.

She blushed.

It was delicious.

---

“Hey guys,” I said, entering through the front door of the warehouse where everyone was currently residing. I could pinpoint familiar faces in the crowd and there weren’t any signs of the idol or the old man fist.

“Gurē is here!” “Hi Gurē!” “Hum! Took you long enough!” “Bark!”

Once inside the warehouse I dropped the basket in which I had fruits and vegetables for the upcoming days, fresh from the garden in the forest. Cream immediately made her way towards the fruit side and took an apple. The others decided to stay where they were, some were mending their own clothes or resting, or watching tv.

Speaking of…

Right there almost as close as he could to the TV was Salt, watching the latest news while taking sips from his cheap favorite brand of beer. As I got close, I could hear his usual style of complaining whenever he would tune up the TV, but this time it was directed to some guy. A hero more specifically.

“Captain Celebrity? Bah! What do they know? I barely know him!” he said as he took another swig from his can. Right there on the TV I saw a man with blond hair sporting some kind of shield sunglasses, dressed in cyan and yellow, a red cape flowing from his shoulders. It reminded me of a lame version of All Might.

Or maybe it is the other way around?

I stayed in silence as the news showcased some of his accomplishments. Turns out the guy was from the states, and won the lottery in the power scale of this world.

“Some people have it easy, huh?” I said, folding my arms while looking at the guy flying up and holding a cruise ship with only his right hand. Salt saw me from the corner of his eyes but didn’t say anything. The footage changed to the hero stopping a few petty crimes in the city while taking girls for a fly.

I wonder if PopStep wou-

‘Nope, stop that thought right there,’ I thought, trying to eliminate the image of me holding onto PopStep while walking in the air. ‘That’s just the horny side of your brain talking.’

Besides, if she trained like I told her to, she would be able to do it by herself. Her quirk let her leap in the air, which was pretty similar to the concept of Shave without the training. If she trained her legs and flexibility she could hold her own against criminals instead of getting in the way.

The footage changed again, this time to… me and the Captain Celebrity guy. A clone as Smiley fought side by side with the hero against a giant godzilla knock-off.

It was in that moment that my eyes stayed glued to the screen as the news showcased some people running away, or giving interviews. I tried to pinpoint the location of her, but to no avail.

I sighed, an expression of disappointment was plastered across my face.

Maybe Manami was able to find something.

“Hey kid,” I heard Salt say. He had an expression of utter boredom while watching the tv, his cheeks were colored red by the alcohol. “Sit with me.”

As on cue, the person who was sitting next to him got up and found a seat elsewhere. I sighed as I dragged my feet towards the seat and plopped my ass next to the man I’ve been helping for years.

“You seem tired,” Salt spoke as he took another sip from his brevage.

“I am tired,” I responded. Frankly it was almost unbearable being the one here instead of the streets or training, I wanted to do something else. No wonder my clone was ecstatic to switch with me.

“And you can’t relax because of the tongue problem can’t ya?” I nodded. Salt was always the wise one. Stupid and often childish, but wise. “There’s always going to be a new issue in this city. Relax a little.”

“I can’t relax. The bee user has been nothing but trouble. People have gone missing on the streets, how long until one of us disappears?” I asked, my eyes were fixed on the TV, but I wasn’t actually watching it, at this point I just let the images of the hero fly through my eyes.

“Then go outside and follow everyone in the city,” Salt said before downing the rest of his beer and loudly burp. “See how that works up for ya.”

My fists tightened and my expression hardened.

I…

I breathed in then out. He was right. I can’t stress about every single detail.

But I couldn’t stay in one place for long either. I needed to move away from this place. So I began my trek towards the basket and stashed everything on crates for later use or consumption. As I was about to leave the warehouse I stopped next to Salt, before continuing my walk towards the exit.

“Thanks for the tip, Salt.”

“You’re welcome brat.”

---

Tensei Ida sighed as worry crept up on him. He was in the police headquarters for a conference on the instant surge of ‘villains’, that turned out to be civilians who were forcibly drugged by a quirk boosting drug. During the conference, Tensei couldn’t shake the words he received from Smiley that night, so he decided to approach his colleague Aizawa with the hopes to discuss what he knew.

After all, nobody knew more about Smiley than Eraserhead. It’s been a few months since their last conference and his opinion on the underground hero has changed considerably. Some of his ideas of the vigilante might still be wrong in the eyes of Tensei, but they were coming from a hero that really cared for the safety of others.

“Eraserhead, right? A moment of your time?” Tensei asked as he approached the underground hero who was in the middle of a conversation with Midnight the R-rated heroine. Aizawa immediately took the opportunity to leave his colleague while giving her a mocking salute, clearly amused but the turbo hero wasn’t close enough to hear it.

“Ingenium.” Eraserhead addressed him, nodding as he got close. “It’s rare for you to speak to me. You must have a reason.”

“I do. Walk with me for a bit,” the turbo hero said as they both began to walk in the opposite direction towards the exit. They made their way past a few policemen and heroes in their civilian personas leaving the conference room until they were alone next to an open window. “I spoke with Smiley a few nights ago.”

It wasn’t an immediate reaction like he hoped for, but Eraserhead interest perked as he curled one of his eyebrows.

“Smiley, huh? What did he say?” he asked. He sounded truly interested in what Smiley said, but there was a hint of cynicism in his voice, like he was expecting ridicule. “Must’ve been something important for you to seek me out. Did Smiley send me his regards?”

“I’ve not come here to make fun of you, Eraserhead,” Tensei said, frowning as he tried to think of any hero that would approach Aizawa with the intention of taunting him. “You know I wouldn’t address you in private for something so petty.”

“Oh? Then what is this about?” Eraserhead asked as he approached the window while fetching a cigarette from his back pocket and lighting it up.

“You smoke?”

“I started to. Helps me relax,” he replied before taking a drag from his cig. “So?”

“Right. The drug they were talking about during the conference. Smiley knew about it before it was even addressed.” Tensei noted how his colleague didn’t alter his posture or his view, meaning he also knew beforehand. “During our encounter Smiley mentioned you by name. I’m not accusing you of anything, but have you known of the drug before the police?”

Aizawa remained silent for a few minutes. The only sound he made was whenever he would take a drag from his cigarette.

“I did.”

“Might I ask why didn’t you say anything during the conference?” Tensei asked as he approached the window himself and admired the sunset over the city. A worried expression marred his face.

“No point to it. Now everybody knows about the drug,” the black haired hero replied. Their eyes met as he took another drag, before releasing it to the air. “But I imagine your real question is why didn't I speak about it before?”

“Yeah… that’s right.”

“I didn’t want to take his word for it. I spoke about it with two other heroes, but there were too many variants. So we decided to let the police investigate the matter.” He shrugged then went back to watching the sunset while sporting a bored expression. “I didn’t expect them to take this long to figure it out.”

“What about-” Tensei began but was immediately interrupted.

“Disappearances of people in poor neighborhoods from different cities? I’ve also shared my own findings with the police. They told me to keep investigating.” Aizawa said, once finished with his white stick he put it out on the window’s frame. “They said they would share what they know with me if anything were to happen.”

“Hm,” was the blue-haired hero’s only response as he shifted his gaze from the underground hero towards the sunset.

“I can tell it wasn’t a pleasant experience,” Eraserhead pointed out, straightening up then directing his gaze towards him. “Something in your mind?”

“He has become more violent with criminals,” said the blue haired hero. “Last report I read mentioned broken bones and internal bleeding. I fear that he might end up killing somebody.”

“Another reason to catch him.” Aizawa remarked before taking his leave, leaving Tensei alone.

Tensei remained silent, watching his colleague go.

If Smiley was right about the drug…

…What would be the fate of the people missing?

Tensei’s stomach turned at the implications.

---

“L-Like this?”

“Kinda. Here, let’s move your arm this way, then your hips.” I instructed my new pupil, PopStep. It took some doing, but I had convinced her to train with us from time to time, mostly so she could put her own weight in a fight or at least take a villain by surprise. “Add more force to your legs too… yes that’s it.”

“Don’t forget to push your weight into each blow,” added the old man as he took a swing from his beer while he kept messing with his radio. A pair of headphones rested comfortably on top of his head in such a way so he could hear the radio transmission but also us at the same time.

She nodded sporting a small blush at my instructions, only to blow a raspberry to old man knuckles.

We were on the top of the warehouse again, waiting until there were any sightings of quirk users on the drug with the hope of finding the bee user again. Soga and his two followers were on a separate mission the old man gave them. If everything went according to the plan we would be able to learn her new appearance and pattern so we could capture her when she least expected it.

We don’t need another blunder.

As I instructed PopStep into another kata, I couldn’t shake the smell of her perfume, or how her eyes kept looking at me, or how plump those lips looked, or how her barely covered posterior kept slightly grinding against my-

“Concentrate kid,” I heard the old man say as he kept changing from station to station without even looking at us.

We both separated at the same time.

‘Right,’ I thought, trying to remain calm. I breathed in and then out, letting my stress move out from my body and blood move away from that specific area.

Life Return, reduced to erasing boners. If only my past self could see me now…

Once done with the katas I signaled PopStep to come at me with everything she had. Her only protections were the knuckle gloves the old man gave us and the boxing pads I used to reduce the damage to the minimum.

She went at it while using the tips we gave her. Her form was sloppy and her blows weren’t strong enough to be considered punches. They felt more like taps.

“Add more strength to your legs and put more force into your shoulders when you punch,” the old man added before focusing back on his radio.

She nodded before coming at me again.

“Hiya!”

This time I felt something, it wasn’t a big change compared to the old man when he stopped holding back, but there was a difference from before. I breathed in and out feeling the world slow down and resume as she moved at a slower pace than normal. I wondered if there was a way for me to see the world slower than I would normally do.

Maybe the boss figured it out.

The original was currently visiting the other warehouse by now, delivering food for the week or training the kids again. It would be a matter of time before they’d need to exchange places with each other.

Speaking of the kids…

They were taking their sweet time to arrive here, there was still a great portion of the warehouse that needed to be fixed and cleaned before the others could move back here. Salt mentioned he was going to help with the electric installations once everything else was ready.

As we kept sparring I noticed the scent of forest, water, sweat and blood approaching. The boss was approaching our direction at great speed.

Oh I guess my time is up.

I just needed to wait for the walkie-talkie to click once and then I’d have to made an excuse before changing places with the real-

Wait.

Why isn’t he stopping?

“Hiya! Ow!” I was so caught up in my own thoughts that I forgot to catch one of PopStep punches, and my body reacted on instinct and contracted all my muscles into ‘Iron Body’. “Ahhh! I punched you! Why does it hurt?”

“Oh, I’m sorry Pop,” I said with both hands up trying to comfort her even though I didn’t know how. There was also the fact that the original body was approaching fast and it seemed like he forgot to send a clicking sound so he needed to improvise. “That’s why we were using the gloves… wait here, I’m going to get you some ice.”

“No need,” the original said, making my eyes widen in shock. I turned around just in time to see everyone do the same and admire myself looking back at them.

“Boss w-wait!” I heard Jin say before he entered through the door leading to the roof just to look at all of us. “Oh too late, I-I’ll be going now. Like hell I will!”

Once the door closed, I felt PopStep and the old man's eyes on me again, then back to the original then back to me. I needed to think something fast.

“My… my long lost brother!”

“Shut up,” the original said. It was at that moment that I noticed that the place the original had landed was filled with cracks, that his muscles were hardened, and his fists were trembling with rage as his eyes looked at me with such a strong coldness that I could almost feel it.

“Kid?” the old man said, standing up while he looked between us, trying to discern what he should do.

“G-Gurē? What’s going on?”

The original sighed and then took a step forward.

“I’m Smiley,” he said, making me gape. I was trying to figure out ways to get us out of this and he just came out and said it. “The one behind you is a clone of me intended to protect you when I’m working as a hero.”

“Boss I don’t think-”

“More importantly,” he interrupted me. “The reason I’m revealing all of this is because one of my people has gone missing. A little girl named Emiko. And I won’t sleep until she’s safe and sound.”

---

A/N: Welp, can’t please everybody. At first I felt really bad that the chapter had mixed reviews after my betas told me it was pretty good, but then I thought about it, read them again and decided to learn from them.

Either way I will still write slow chapters with character interactions and conversations, because even if I want and like flashy fights, they will mostly be over in an instant if Gurē decides to stop messing around. That’s why I decided to introduce Hooded Hobo as a way for Gurē or his clones to limit themselves. It also is part of the problem Gurē has with his own identity. He’s the person before Gurē, he’s the kid, he’s Smiley, he’s Hooded Hobo, he’s a caretaker. And he’s a mess for it, nobody can’t shoulder what he does alone.

Himiko's introduction came a lot earlier than I wanted her to appear. She was supposed to appear after the Sky Egg arc, but here we are. Hope you guys liked this chapter, next we are going to move along the story.

And one last thing for the people that feel that the story moves slower than before, you need to remember that each chapter is 5k-6k compared to the 10k-13k I used to write. And I’m writing them faster too! Hope I can maintain this type of writing speed, see ya on the next update!

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