"Huh?"
That was Hand Man's only comment upon laying eyes on me, Souko-chan, the ultra-beautiful warrior maiden. Allow me to declare: what garbage.
When you see me, you should at least prostrate yourself in reverence.
After that, you should offer prayers of "All hail Lady Souko" and present monetary offerings as tribute—that's the doctrine of the Souko Faith.
Well, I doubt talking would get through to him anyway, so I'll graciously keep quiet.
Ugh, this is throwing off my rhythm.
Hand Man scratched at his neck while staring at me. His gaze was way more perverted than Eraserhead's. It made my skin crawl.
"What are you? Where'd you come from?"
What a difficult question.
Too poetic.
How should I answer?
I thought really hard.
This was my first conversation with Hand Man. If I said something wrong here, I'd obviously get yelled at. I'm a pacifist, so I want to avoid fighting as much as possible. I want to create a world where everyone can laugh together.
So I thought really, really, really hard...
"If I were to answer sincerely about where people come from, one night wouldn't be enough to tell the whole story. What do you think?"
"...That's not what I'm asking."
That wasn't what he was asking.
"Then, from the right?"
"Right?"
The moment Hand Man turned toward what I called "right"—meaning his left—I activated my attraction Quirk while smashing a left elbow into his wide-open right cheek.
He reacted, but couldn't keep up with the acceleration from my attraction Quirk, so it hit dead-on.
Serves you right.
"Gah, you brat!"
"You're getting beat by a brat! How pathetic! Hah!"
Hand Man's nasty hands came at me.
I calmly used my attraction Quirk to shift the impact point and threw a counter into his solar plexus.
I was worried since he'd guarded against Eraserhead, but it worked better than expected.
This is just a guess, but my taunting seems to have rattled his composure.
Yeah, let's keep taunting him.
"Stupid, stupid!"
"Hah?! ...What's that? Are you trying to provoke me? Tch, kids these days—"
Ah, no good. He's calming down.
Damn it, Kacchan would get angry at this!
Insults are hard!
Ugh! Nothing's coming out!
I'm such a good girl that I can't think of words to put people down! Because I'm such a good girl!
"Come on! You could at least get a little mad, Hand Man!"
"...Hah?"
"I'm a good girl, so I don't have many insults! I don't know what pisses you off!"
"No, what are you even—"
"Shut up, Hand Man! You've been reeking this whole time! It stinks! What stinks? Your junk, squid-boy! Huh? Which hand do you use? Hey, hey, which hand's your favorite? Do you switch based on your mood? Does it fit perfectly on your crotch? Eek, gross! There's a pervert here! A pervert who switches hands for a whole new kind of masturbation master is here—eek!"
I heard something being gouged.
"You should die."
Hand Man, blood flowing from his neck, stared at me with intense eyes.
He got angry... he got angry!
He's maaad! He's angry!
Hand Man got angry!
Now—
"Nomu, do it."
—not that one!
I thought since he had no resistance to taunting, if he snapped he'd come at me himself—but apparently he's the type who gets colder when angry. This is bad.
Souko-nyan didn't expect this-nyan.
Once it starts moving, dodging is impossible.
I figured that out from watching Eraserhead.
So if I'm going to dodge, I have to read the initial movement.
"Ngh!"
The black muscle-brain's arm grazed past my head.
I thought I was dead.
It was a big swing so the follow-through was slow, but at this rate I won't dodge the second one. Normally.
"What?!"
I hooked my foot around the muscle-brain and activated my attraction Quirk at full throttle. Then I positioned myself so Skinny would be caught between me and the muscle-brain. Just as expected, the muscle-brain's arm stopped right before hitting Skinny.
I kicked the shocked Skinny twice in the back with my knees and immediately dashed away.
Gotta get some distance—it's dangerous up close.
After getting some distance, I turned around and Hand Man was staring at me.
Anyone could tell—he was pissed.
"What the—what are you?!"
If he's asking, I'll answer.
"Listen well... I don't have a name for the likes of you!"
"Seriously, what the hell are you?!"
The more I provoke him, the more Hand Man loses his composure.
His resistance to taunting is way too low. He's definitely that type—the kind who gets baited once on a forum and bites like an idiot. Definitely. He's an elementary schooler pretending to be an adult.
"Nomu, do it!"
I activated my attraction Quirk at full throttle and flew toward the muscle-brain. Passing the accelerating muscle-brain, I tried to land a jump kick on Hand Man who'd gotten conveniently close, but since he was positioning his hands, I gifted him some flames instead.
He was burning. Serves him right.
"Damn brat!"
I get called that a lot.
Even though I'm such a good girl—how strange!
I secretly repositioned so Hand Man would be between me and the muscle-brain. The muscle-brain only makes very limited movements, so if Hand Man's in its direct path, I don't think it'll charge. Even if it does, it'll stop at Hand Man.
The muscle-brain actually looks around properly with its eyes and hears sounds. But it doesn't use its brain. It's a living thing, but more robot-like. It looks like it follows orders properly, but probably can't do anything too complex.
So I thought there might be a safety feature, and I was right.
With that much speed and power, complete control would be difficult. I figured there had to be safeguards so the commander doesn't get hurt at minimum. Plus, it's being used by an elementary schooler. Nice safety design.
It'd be troublesome if it started counterattacking, so I won't miss this chance—I'll keep pressing the attack. The best option is to defeat him before he can give orders. Hand Man's dumber than I thought, so I just have to exploit the openings in the muscle-brain's movements.
I took a deep breath and exhaled toward Hand Man.
One of the 108 ultimate techniques passed down through generations of beautiful high school girls—the Fire Dragon's Blaze.
"Nomu."
With a single word from Hand Man, the muscle-brain appeared in front of him like a shield and blocked it. A bit unexpected.
It's probably one of its basic movement patterns, but it's way too troublesome.
"..."
And barely any damage got through.
Wait, no—even if it's robot-like, there's no way it'd be fine after taking that high temperature.
So then, probably...
When I looked closer, I saw something I didn't want to see.
The burn marks were healing, flesh squelching back together.
That confirmed it—it has some kind of regeneration ability.
No wonder Hand Man uses it as a shield without hesitation.
"Well, doesn't really matter though."
I used my attraction Quirk to yank Hand Man.
Hand Man's body stopped at the muscle-brain, but with no support, I flew right toward him. I'd never thought of using it as transportation, but it's surprisingly convenient.
The order he gave the muscle-brain is probably to protect him.
The fact that it's not reacting to me approaching is proof.
Using the immobile muscle-brain as a springboard, I vaulted over it.
I breathed out flames with all my might at Hand Man, who was clinging to the muscle-brain.
"Tch! Nomu!"
The muscle-brain moved to cover Hand Man.
Seriously, that thing's annoying.
Building protective movements into one-word commands is cheating.
This sucks to admit, but the muscle-brain's designer is probably smart.
They really understand how the muscle-brain will be used.
Couldn't be more annoying.
I aimed for the gaps between the covering muscle-brain's arms and added more fire. It's just harassment-level firepower, but I heard a scream of "Agh?!" from inside, so I'll call that a win. Serves you right.
If I'd known this would happen, I should've grabbed some fuel from that boat. If I'd used it well, I might've been able to take down Hand Man.
Hand Man's weaker than I thought.
If things keep going this well—
"Tomura Shigaraki."
—I thought, but no good.
Why do unnecessary things keep happening?
It's breaking my rhythm—I'll never be able to play Rhythm Heaven at this rate.
"Tch, Kurogiri, did you get Thirteen?"
Ah, he came out. He came out of the black kamaboko. Your head's all fuzzy—you okay? You're slightly afro'd—you okay?
Also, that's an incredibly ominous conversation.
Wait, did they die? Did Thirteen die?
"I managed to incapacitate them, but I failed to scatter one student... One escaped."
"...What?"
"Pfft."
I accidentally laughed, and both of them stared at me.
No, but it's your fault.
Of course I'd laugh at that. A bunch of grown adults working together, and someone still escaped. That makes me go "pfft." Obviously.
I'm Not At Fault.
"You, from earlier—!"
"I Don't Know You."
"Still mocking us?!"
If anyone's mocking anyone, I think it's you guys. Villain Alliance? What's that? Is that cool? Is that supposed to be cool? Hey, hey—
"Nomu, do it."
—that's bad.
I quickly activated my attraction Quirk on a thug lying nearby and launched myself. But from stamina depletion, my attraction power was insufficient and my speed—
My vision spun.
The pain in my shoulder told me I hadn't dodged completely.
It wasn't a direct hit. If it had been, I'd probably be dead.
"Just grazing me and this..."
How ridiculous.
Really.
I saw the ground, then the ceiling, then the ground again.
A pitch-black mass appeared before my eyes—
***
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