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[Consequences]
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| The next Morning… |
…
"I'm completely sore…" Jiro muttered, glaring at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, her mood foul.
She reached up to her earphone jacks, gently massaging them—only to wince as a sharp sting ran through them.
"My poor earlobes…" she half-laughed, half-whined. "Why did I even listen to that guy? The only thing I'm training like this is my pain tolerance…"
With a sigh, she let go, then straightened slightly, her gaze hardening as she stared at her reflection—almost as if she were looking at Taka himself.
"When classes start, I'm telling him I'm doing my own training. No way I'm sticking with this weird routine anymore. At this rate, I'm gonna lose my Quirk because my jacks are going to snap off!"
She huffed, nodding firmly to herself before turning and leaving the bathroom.
A few minutes later, she stepped into the living room, where her parents were already seated, breakfast waiting.
"Good morning, Kyoka."
"Did you sleep well, honey?"
"Yeah," Jiro gave a small nod as she walked over and took her seat.
As she settled in, she poked at her food, her expression somewhere between moody and thoughtful.
"Something on your mind, Kyoka? You're not looking very rockin' today," her father asked, glancing up from his plate with a curious look.
She let out a tired sigh.
"It's just the Sports Festival. I was watching recordings from previous years, and… there aren't many events where I can really stand out."
"Your Quirk is great, Kyoka," her mother said, turning toward her. "I don't see why you're so worried."
Jiro rested her cheek against her palm, looking drained. "I know it's not bad. But the way the events are set up makes it hard to show what I can actually do. At this rate… getting an internship is going to be rough—"
Her voice slowed near the end, like there was something else she wanted to say.
She hesitated, then took a breath, looking away with a faintly annoyed expression before continuing.
"Though… a classmate's been helping me train. So maybe I'll figure something out with him before the festival starts."
"A classmate?" her mother asked, intrigued.
Jiro looked troubled by the question. "Yeah, he, uh…"
"HE?!" her father shot upright, his head snapping up from his food, outrage written all over his face.
Jiro stared at him flatly.
"Chill out, old man."
"You didn't tell us you had a friend." Jiro's mom covered her mouth, trying to hide her amusement.
"And a boy at that!" her father added, clearly outraged.
"Half of my class are boys. What the hell are you getting so worked up for?" Jiro shot back, her annoyance growing.
"You don't understand, Kyoka. Boys are all wolves!"
"…I'm just going to ignore you."
With that, Jiro pulled out her phone, effectively tuning out her father's ongoing rant.
She idly scrolled as she picked at her breakfast with her chopsticks every now and then, eventually opening YoTube to pass the time.
What she didn't expect, however, was the bizarre thumbnail and even stranger title that greeted her the moment the app loaded.
{"Super Vigilante/Villain Team-Up! Goes Very Wrong (For Our Enemies)!!!"}
The thumbnail showed a hoary—though not particularly old—man in a flamboyant costume, posing dramatically with his arms crossed, cape billowing behind him.
Beside him stood another figure, positioned slightly behind due to the camera angle.
Yet, despite not being at the center, she could affirm that the person drew far more attention.
Clad in a tight, sturdy-looking coat that hugged his frame, the figure's physique was evident even beneath the fabric. The coat extended into a hood that cast his face in shadow, while a mask beneath it concealed everything except a pair of sharp, determined eyes.
'Is that…?'
Despite the change in outfit, she recognized him instantly.
Rockinesis.
Whether it was the way he carried himself—even in a still image—or the overall simplicity of his gear, reminiscent of his earlier appearances… there was no mistaking it.
Without thinking twice, she tapped the video open.
If it turned out to be clickbait, she could just close it.
So she watched.
Minutes passed.
And she didn't move.
Her attention was completely locked onto the screen, her breakfast all but forgotten.
Eventually, even her parents noticed.
"What's wrong, honey? You haven't touched your food at all," her mother asked, pulling Jiro out of her trance.
Jiro blinked, snapping back to reality.
"Uhm, it's just that there was something interesting. I'm eating now."
Right away, she paused the video and went back to her breakfast, as if nothing had happened.
Minutes later, after helping her parents with the dishes, she returned to her room.
There, she grabbed her phone again and, without wasting a second, threw herself onto her bed to check on the video again.
It turned out she'd been right—the figure in the miniature was Rockinesis.
After three whole months of apparent retirement, with the only signal of him being alive being the new songs he uploaded now and then, the vigilante had finally reappeared... And he had a new costume, at that.
Although she was a sucker for the simplicity and underground feeling of the old one, she had to admit that this new one wasn't bad at all.
But the costume was the least of her concerns.
Not only had he come back from retirement, but he had apparently decided to do so with a BANG... Raiding a villain's hideout.
Right from the start, he tore through a criminal group, systematically weeding them out without mercy—all while being aided by the man beside him in the thumbnail.
She didn't know who he was, but from the looks of it, he was also pretty strong, given his ability to take care of three villains who looked pretty strong.
The video shifted constantly between the perspectives of him and Rockinesis' clones, dealing with the villains in the hideout, and ultimately wiping them all out.
That's where she had left it before her mother called her out for not eating her breakfast.
Now, though, she could watch in peace.
So, without wasting more time, she resumed the video.
Right away, it started playing from where she had left off. The real Rockinesis, facing off against the one who was clearly the boss.
It was a breathtaking fight. Her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to follow the rhythm of the battle.
There were plenty of things she was missing, since they were moving at such high speeds that even with the video clearly slowed down for spectators not to get lost, it wasn't being able to capture every single thing.
But despite it, she was getting a gist of the general situation.
That villain was on a completely different level from what students like her could fight right now. It'd probably take her becoming a pro before she'd maybe consider being able to do anything against him.
Maybe he was not as overwhelmingly strong as the Nomu had been… but still powerful enough that she couldn't even imagine beating him in a long time—if ever.
She didn't know what limits her Quirk would reach, after all.
And yet, despite the incredible combat prowess the villain demonstrated—
Rockinesis dominated.
Most of the fight wasn't even a fight. It was a hunt.
The villain ran with everything he had, while Rockinesis chased after him. Almost enjoying himself.
It was strange. Aside from his music, Rockinesis never seemed like the type to drag things out unnecessarily.
And yet now, he was deliberately making the man suffer.
"Do they have some kind of history…?" she muttered, eyes glued to the screen.
Eventually, the chase reached its climax. Her eyes widened as Rockinesis suddenly raised his hand, poised to strike the villain down.
But then—
Two other members of the group appeared at the edge of what had become their battlefield.
She recognized them. In another perspective earlier in the video, one of Rockinesis' clones had dealt with their partner—and, for some reason, let them go while following after them.
So they made it here, huh?
What happened next, however, completely baffled Jiro.
The villain suddenly broke away from Rockinesis, trapping him behind thick walls to slow him down even if only for a second, before lunging toward his own allies—
And fuse with them.
A horrifying transformation unfolded before her eyes.
What had once been a human form twisted into something else entirely.
A monstrosity of six arms, wings, and barely recognizable human features.
And the moment Rockinesis broke free from his prison—
The battle resumed.
This time… on far more equal ground.
A fierce battle unfolded—one where both sides went all out without holding anything back.
They tore through what had once been a clean arena, leaving nothing but destruction in their wake.
Just imagining those two fighting like that anywhere else made her shiver. If it happened in the city, it wouldn't be surprising if an entire district got wiped out.
'A villain this dangerous… was just out there?' Jiro wondered, a deep, unsettling unease settling in her chest.
They weren't on All Might's level—but even then, she could hardly picture another hero capable of handling something like that.
Even Endeavor… she wasn't sure how well he'd fare against a monster like this.
And somehow, a villain like that had existed quietly, completely under the radar.
It was almost lucky that Rockinesis was the one dealing with him now. Even if the fight was intense on both sides, she already knew how it would end.
Otherwise, the video wouldn't exist.
And just as she expected, as the battle dragged on… something shifted.
Rockinesis' movements grew smoother, more fluid, faster..
Before long, he began overwhelming the villain again. The until-then even match was crumbling to Rockinesis' side in one instant.
But as it did, her brows slowly furrowed.
There was… something familiar about the way he fought.
That style—efficient, sharp, almost like a dance…
One of her eyebrows lifted slightly as a thought crossed her mind.
But she quickly shook her head.
"No… that doesn't make sense," she muttered, a wry smile tugging at her lips.
Her attention snapped back as the fight neared its conclusion, with the villain crashing one last time against the borders of their battlefield, and with Rockinesis pulling him out of the rubble, standing eerily before the seemingly defeated villain.
—Until, suddenly, everything flipped.
A spike shot forward, piercing straight through Rockinesis by surprise.
Her eyes widened.
Rockinesis staggered back, a trail of blood marking his path until his back hit a chunk of debris, his body slumping down to the ground.
Somehow... the villain had won.
—Or at least, that's what she thought.
Because the next moment, several figures began closing in from all directions, unnoticed by the villain.
She blinked, her eyes widening in surprise.
Slowly, as the villain seemed to begin monologuing—something she couldn't say for sure since the video had no sound of them talking, only music—the several figures surrounded him.
All of them, Rockinesis.
And then—
The video cut, showing the usual "next in the playlist" screen, declaring the end of the footage.
"Argh—come on, how can it end like that?!" Jiro grabbed her head with a frustrated look.
What happened to Rockinesis after that?! What happened to the villain?!
'Wait… if all of those were clones… don't tell me the one fighting the whole time was a clone too?!' Jiro froze, her expression shifting into disbelief.
Annoyed, she let out a loud groan as she exited the video and immediately started searching for answers.
There were already countless commentaries, theory videos, and, of course, news reports covering the incident.
She clicked on an official news channel and watched their segment on it.
Through it, she managed to piece together a bit more context.
The villain's hideout had actually turned out to be the base of the Shie Hassaikai, the Yakuza group that distributed a new Trigger variant developed by them, and led by Overhaul, the villain who had appeared in the video.
The whole thing suddenly felt far deeper than she had expected.
It had gone from Rockinesis decimating a villain's hideout, to Rockinesis tumbling a drug empire and their incredibly dangerous leader, feared across the underworld.
There was also some information on Rockinesis' partner, Gentle Criminal. A villain who had begun recording his own crimes and uploading them online a while ago.
Even so, there wasn't much about why the raid had happened—or what became of Rockinesis afterward.
She did, however, learn what happened to the villain.
All his arms had been cut off. As a result, he'd lost access to his Quirk—the ability to assemble and disassemble anything he touched.
A terrifying power… and an even more terrifying person.
Still, it wasn't enough.
For the rest of the morning, she ended up completely absorbed, binging theory videos one after another. Most didn't add anything new—but it was oddly satisfying listening to people who were just as much fanboys of Rockinesis as she was.
Until, eventually, one video caught her attention.
At first, it didn't seem any different from the others. No new information, no particularly bold claims. Basically, nothing of note.
At least… not until the end.
The creator suddenly brought up an "anonymous" testimony from someone who had been present during the aftermath of the incident.
They went on to explain some pretty questionable information—about Rockinesis leaving the scene with a child on his shoulder, and that Overhaul had apparently been experimenting on her.
It sounded horrifying.
But she'd already seen plenty of videos making things up for views, so she didn't believe it outright.
But then—
The man mentioned something that made her freeze.
The reason the police's response had been so fast was that Rockinesis had contacted a hero beforehand and told him everything regarding what was about to happen and the location.
Super Monkey.
Of course, she already knew of him. He was the top hero currently stationed in Shizuoka, and also the first one to fight Rockinesis head-on—at least, until it was revealed he'd only been facing a clone.
But as she recalled that clash…
Her mind, almost on its own, made a connection she hadn't consciously considered before.
The similarity between Super Monkey... and someone she had met about a month ago.
Moving quickly, Jiro pulled up the official hero registry. Filtering it to Shizuoka and sorting by rank, she found him.
Super Monkey.
Along with a profile photo.
And that was all she needed. She instantly recognized the face there.
Super Monkey… was the man she had met after the entrance exams.
Taka's guardian.
As that realization dawned... Jiro's earlier thoughts began bubbling again.
'What if...?'
…
°
°
°
| At that moment, at Taka's home: |
…
—Yawn—
Taka pushed himself out of bed, rubbing at his eyes with a sleepy expression.
A quick use of Clean, and the stickiness and grime were gone.
Finally able to see without squinting, he sat at the edge of the bed, dragging both hands down his face as he massaged it.
"What a night…" he muttered, letting out a long sigh.
After a few seconds of staring blankly into nothing, he stood up and stepped out of his room.
Heading downstairs, he reached the living room—only to blink in mild surprise.
Seiji wasn't there. The usual rustling of him checking the newspaper, or the sound of the TV playing, were completely gone.
A second later, it clicked.
'Right… I dumped Eri—and all the legal trouble that comes with adopting her—on him. He's probably busy dealing with all that instead of coming home.'
A flicker of guilt surfaced.
But what else was he supposed to do?
He'd like to believe things would just work out now that Eri was safe, even if he left her to her own devices under the authorities… but knowing what the HPSC pulled with Hawks, he wasn't about to be that naïve.
So, in the end, Seiji got saddled with another kid.
Still… the guy had managed to raise him, so the tame Eri shouldn't be a problem.
…Then there was Nezu.
Fortunately, it was Saturday. He had a couple of days before going back to school... and facing whatever emotional fallout his "betrayal" had caused.
'Hopefully, he's not too pissed,' Taka scratched the back of his head, frowning slightly.
Worst case… Monday would be the day he officially became public enemy number one, with all his vigilante activities exposed.
Or worse—
He gets banned from participating in the festival.
…
'Yeah, no… that'd suck,' Taka winced.
If that happened, that was a massive power-up down the drain.
'Speaking of power-ups…' His eyes shifted to the side.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[STATUS PAGE]
▸ Strength: (169 Base) 3000
▸ Defense: (338 Base) 5000
▸ Aura Projection: 40,000
─────────────
Total Aura: 48,217
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
His aura had increased again.
About four thousand gained from passive gains over the past few days, plus everything he'd earned after Gentle uploaded the video edited by La Brava a few hours ago, which was about a whole thousand.
But considering yesterday's events were only now starting to spread… it would probably keep growing.
At this rate, he'd break 50k in a few more days.
And that wasn't all.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[MISSION COMPLETE!]
[Having broken out of the illusion of false aura farming, it's time for you to shed that shiny but imperfect shell and become what you were meant to be.
The Aura Farmer, Takahashi Fukumoto.
And for that, what better start than to mend the mistake you made.]
Conditions for completion:
▸Wipe out the Shie Hassaikai.✔
▸Rescue Eri successfully.✔
▸Do it however you please.✔
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
<+1000 Aura!>
<+Skill [The Throne]!>
After returning yesterday and receiving his clones' memories once they dissipated, he got completely drained mentally—so much so that he hadn't even checked the rewards for completing the mission, and instead simply chose to go to sleep.
Getting pierced by a spike, straight to the chest, wasn't a nice memory, after all.
'I guess that says a lot about my current carencies...' Taka thought, wincing slightly in both frustration at his clone, and at himself.
But leaving his mistakes aside for now, he went back to what he had gotten after yesterday's craziness.
Now, with the reward applied, his aura shot up to 49k.
50k was right around the corner.
Next, his attention shifted to the new skill. It had been a while since he'd gotten a proper one. The recent additions had all been sub-skills of Aura Projection.
Curious, he opened it, wondering just what a skill with such a strong name would—
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[The Throne] (Active)
Description:Even the strongest aura farmers need a place to rest, for a king cannot remain standing while everyone is sitting.
But even in what would be considered a vulnerable position, the aura farmer doesn't stop with his main goal.
Aura Farming.
For the true Aura Farmer gathers admiration and awe, even while doing something as mundane as sitting.
▸ You can convert a fraction of your aura into a seat of your choice.
▸ The seat will vanish after a while, and the aura will return to you.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
"…Alright."
Rolling his eyes, Taka dismissed the system and headed to the kitchen to make himself breakfast. He wasn't even going to address the clearly bizarre skill in his repertoire now.
If he found a use for it, then he'd use it. Until then, he was taking it out of his mind.
So, having checked his gains from yesterday's whole raid and feeling lighter now that he had taken out one thing from his list, Taka refocused his gaze back on his original objective.
Preparing himself—and his classmates—for the upcoming festival.
'Two weeks... that's all I need.'
If he were allowed to compete, that is.
Nezu wasn't going to be pleased, that's for sure.
Wincing, Taka glared at the ceiling and narrowed his eyes as he pictured his one and greatest enemy.
Consequences.
…
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-To Be Continued...-
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(A/N: Not much progress this chapter, at last in what regards time. Now, at least, Jiro's onto Taka's trail, and he doesn't know it.
It'll be about one or two more chapters—one for dealing with Nezu and whatever else that might need to be addressed after Taka's actions, and another one briefing on Taka's training for his classmates—before we at last jump onto the festival, which I already have many ideas for.
Hopefully you'll like them.
Anyway, off I go.)