"Guys, we need to intercept the villain; somebody else will take our place." 'Hopefully.'
After yelling once, he tossed the megaphone to one lady. "I see heroic potential in you, so I am expecting great things." He made a serious face, like he was going to a battle with his death guaranteed.
"Very well." Unexpectedly, the lady seriously nodded.
Shigure was surprised, but he didn't show it on his face. He ran towards where Momo had run off to.
BOOOM
Ice collided with Wind, creating ice to shatter around. The shockwave created a lot of dust, obscuring the area.
"What's your problem?"
"That's my line!"
Two people yelled despite not seeing each other.
Inasa used wind to blow away the dust cloud.
"Don't interfere—" Inasa's eyes widened.
Edgeshot was wrapped around his body. Multiple areas on his body were sliced, pouring out blood.
"It seems I am being taken too lightly since that newbie started blowing up in the ranking. I didn't know it was that bad that kids would forget about me when they are fighting against me." Edgeshot sarcastically said.
Wind immediately wrapped outside Inasa's body from all directions, intending to capture Edgeshot.
"Too Slow." Before it could do its function, Edgeshot's string-like body disappeared. Suddenly, Inasa found half of his body frozen.
"What the fuck?" If he hadn't had his windshield, most of the damage, he would be an ice statue by now.
Shoto clicked his tongue. "Tch, almost got him."
"Who are you even targeting? Inasa or Edgeshot?" Momo appeared beside him, a visor-like device covered her eyes.
Shoto glanced at her before shooting ice shards at Edgeshot, the latter dancing through the barrage.
"Damn. Aren't you a literal manifestation of ice-princess? Will you change your personality to a tsundere if I poke you?" Momo teased, and a sword formed in front of her.
In the next second, Edgeshot appeared on her right—in human form.
She swung the sword towards her right. "It's been so long since I saw someone wield a sword. Reminds me of my younger days. Edgeshot appeared on her left, his right hand converted into a thin string, intending to knock Momo.
"Fuck." She muttered. Her face was not facing Edgeshot, so the latter missed the smirk creeping on the former's face.
Edgeshot's eyes widened when his hand didn't make contact with flesh but something else.
'Metal?' Something had grabbed his thread-like hand. He couldn't see it clearly as something was attached to Momo's back, hidden by her clothes.
He quickly thinned his hand to the limit and retracted his hand. This delay had bought enough time for Shoto to do a point-blank full-power attack at Edgeshot.
"Heaven-Piercing Ice Wall."
"Not bad." Edgeshot commended. His whole body converted into threads, already moving away at a speed beyond the speed of sound.
"Not on my watch." He heard a new voice before his movement slowed down to a terrifying degree.
'Slow Down' Shigure had used his quirk to contain Edgeshot just before Shoto's heaven-piercing attack hit him.
The land was entirely covered by ice where Edgeshot was last seen.
The clearing was silent for a few seconds before Momo commented.
"That should have definitely taken him out."
Shigure's eyes turned into a betrayed look. He twisted his body, dodging a strike that was supposed to knock him out.
"I FUCKING hate you Momo. If you raise a flag for the third time, then we can not be friends anymore." He yelled.
Blood dripped on the ground. Shigure resisted the urge to use Reversal.
'Already below 20 per cent.' He grimaced.
Edgeshot disappeared from his position. Shigure turned around and walked towards Momo.
"I am sorry." Momo didn't look a bit apologetic. She even dared to have a grin on her face.
Shigure's eyes twitched. "I... We are going to talk later. Anyway, why are you carrying a sword?" He gave her a confused look.
Momo grinned. "Just wanted to bait that old man. Heard that he has some shinobi background. He fell for it."
"With a sword?" Shigure's face showed confusion.
"How dishonourable."
Edgeshot appeared behind Momo.
Bang.
Suddenly, something was shot from Momo's right shoulder, and one part of Edgeshot caught on fire.
Edgeshot disappeared from his position, his speed enough to extinguish it.
Momo's shoulder dropped. "Guess, his string-like body is not flammable. The fire would have been more intense due to the chemical I put on him."
"The fuck? Are you trying to burn the old man? Do you know what would happen to us if we accidentally killed Japan's top 5 heroes in a PROVISIONAL HERO license exam? We would go to Tartarus!"
Momo shrugged. "Does Tartarus even take juveniles? I had other measures ready. Plus, he is one of Japan's top heroes, just getting burned won't kill him."
"Impressive strategy. Your deception skills are commendable." Edgeshot appeared at a far-off distance, before vanishing. Wind crushed the area where he stood.
Shigure turned towards him, "And weren't you just seconds ago whining about being dishonourable?"
"I am a ninja, what would you expect?" Shigure heard a voice behind him. He immediately used 'Slow Down' in his domain.
Nothing.
'Fuck, he is faster than speed of sound. He was already gone before the sound reached me. I forgot that this is an exam. He could have got rid of me already if we were fighting for real. I really need to make the spatial awareness be activated unconsciously if I want to fight at this level.' Shigure's face grimed.
He glanced at Momo, who was occasionally firing gunshots in random directions.
'Will that thing even hit him?... Nah, she is deceiving him by firing random shots. It would keep Edgeshot on edge coz that bullet is faster than his speed. Seeing how she is acting, he would also think this is an act. She really has come far, huh.'
"I raised her." He muttered, feeling proud.
Fortunately or unfortunately, gunshots drowned out his sound.
He clapped his hands. "Guys, we are collaborating." Seeing that nobody even glanced at him, he missed the megaphone that he had given to that civilian.
"I am listening," Momo spoke up without listening.
"Good." Shigure then turned towards Inasa. The latter, similar to Momo, was playing Whack-A-Mole Edgeshot edition.
Shigure threw his staff at the Inasa. The winds blocked it. Inasa looked at him.
"Sorry for that. Needed to get your attention. We need to work together. They are definitely going to test us on how we are going to collaborate with random people."
Inasa gazed at him for a few seconds. 'His eyes... they are so blank.' Inasa, from childhood, could tell a lot about people just by looking at their eyes.
That was also the reason he hated Todoroki, 'coz not only were his eyes the same as Endeavour's, cold fury shimmering in them.
Even so, Inasa didn't let initial impressions guide his actions, yet Todoroki's actions so far have only deepened his initial impression.
According to Inasa, people who don't have passion should not be heroes. Especially those like him.
"Dude, did you hear that? Want me to whisper it in your ears?" Shigure broke him out of his thoughts.
"Y—yeah. But, what are you going to do about him?" He pointed his finger at Todoroki, who was standing still.
"He is definitely not going to cooperate."
Shigure reassuringly smiled. "Don't worry. That's my problem to solve. I have some plan even if he doesn't cooperate directly."
"Very well. I will follow your lead." Inasa got back to trying to restrain Edgeshot.
After saying that, Shigure moved towards Todoroki.
"Dude, you probably didn't hear it, but we need to cooperate. They are going to score us on our ability to work in a team." Shigure glanced through the field.
Multiple other people had attempted to confront Edgeshot. Most of them fell. Others were lucky to retreat and focus on rescuing.
Edgeshot had disappeared from this part of the exam site. 'He probably went to test others.'
Shoto shot him a glance before looking away.
'Damn. How long has it been since somebody ignored me? I was the one who was supposed to be ignoring people.'
Shigure looked at his ice-covered body and quipped, "Dude, you are like an ice-princess? If I seduce you, will you turn out to be a tsundere?"
Shoto's eyes twitched. However, apart from that, he didn't do anything before walking towards the direction where Edgeshot had disappeared.
Shigure looked at Inasa, who shot him a 'Told you so' look. Shigure gave him a reassuring look. 'It would be fine.' He mouthed.
"Dude, I literally said the same thing a while ago about ice-princess. Did you overhear me?"
"Nah, I didn't. Haven't you heard about the phrase, 'Great Minds Think Alike?'" Shigure remembered the romcom they had watched last week.
The FL's personality was the epitome of the ice-princess trope.
"So, what are we going to do?" She asked.
"I have a plan." Shigure frowned. He looked at his hands, which were trembling.
'It's fine. Won't change anything.' He put his hands in his waist bag and took out something.
Inasa tilted his head, confused.
"Don't tell me." Momo's eyes widened in shock.
Shigure was holding a Blindfold.
***
Join my Patreon to support me and get up to 10 advanced chapters:
- DESIRE96
(search it up)
Check out my other works.