Location: Abandoned Industrial Warehouse, Shizuoka Prefecture
Date: Day One of the Contract
HUMMM.
The old fluorescent lights buzzed near the high ceiling.
This place used to be a shipping warehouse. Kaito rented it out and cleared everything inside.
It was right in Shizuoka, the perfect halfway point between Kamui's turf in Tokyo and Fat Gum's base in Osaka.
Kaito stood near the wall, holding two clipboards and a few cold water bottles.
He wore a simple black tracksuit. He looked completely relaxed.
RUUUMBLE.
The heavy metal garage doors rolled open.
Kamui Woods walked in first.
Fat Gum squeezed in right behind him, carrying a sports bag and looking around the massive, empty concrete box.
"Morning," Kaito smiled, walking over. He tossed them each a water bottle. "Did you guys find the place okay?"
"Yeah, no problem," Fat Gum grinned, catching the water and cracking it open. "Man, this place is huge. Who's paying for this?"
"Don't worry about it. I put the rental on the Golden Manager tab," Kaito said, taking a sip from his own bottle. "I wanted neutral ground. No media, no fans, no distractions."
He handed them the clipboards.
"First things first. I need you both to sign these."
Kamui Woods took the clipboard. He read the top line. "A Non-Disclosure Agreement?"
"Yeah," Kaito nodded. "I don't play favorites, and I don't share secrets. If we're going to fix your flaws, we have to drag them out into the open. I don't want either of you accidentally leaking the other guy's weakness to the press. What happens in this room stays in this room."
Kamui Woods didn't argue. He pulled a pen from his belt and signed.
Fat Gum shrugged, chugging half his water, and scribbled his name at the bottom of his paper.
Kaito took the clipboards back and tossed them onto a metal crate.
"Alright," Kaito said. "Drop your bags and go stand in the middle of the room."
Kamui and Fat Gum looked at each other, a bit confused, but they walked to the center of the concrete floor.
"So what's the game plan, Kaito?" Fat Gum asked, stretching his massive arms.
"I need baseline data," Kaito pulled a silver whistle out of his pocket. "I know how you both fight on paper. I want to see it in person. You two are going to spar. Go all out. I want to see what breaks first."
Kamui Woods narrowed his eyes. He lowered his stance.
Fat Gum cracked his knuckles. "You sure about this, Shinji? I hit pretty hard."
"Just don't cry when I tie you up, Taishiro," Kamui Woods replied flatly.
Kaito backed up to the wall and brought the whistle to his lips.
FWEEEEET.
Kamui Woods moved instantly. He didn't waste time testing the waters. He threw his right arm forward.
SWISH.
Massive, thick branches burst out of his forearm. They shot across the room like a wave of wooden spears.
"Pre-emptive Binding: Lacquered Chain Prison!" Kamui shouted.
The wood wrapped around Fat Gum in a split second.
The branches twisted and locked together, forming a solid, heavy dome of timber around the giant hero. It looked like a giant wooden cage.
Kamui landed on his feet, pulling the tension tight. "Got you."
"Not yet!" Fat Gum's muffled voice echoed from inside the wood.
Fat Gum didn't try to dodge the attack.
He just stood there and let the wood hit him. But he wasn't just a soft punching bag anymore.
He remembered the advice Kaito gave him two years ago in that Aichi clean room.
KRMM.
He layered his fat.
He tensed his deep muscle tissue, acting like a giant spring. He absorbed the crushing pressure of the wooden cage, storing the kinetic energy deep inside his chest.
Then, he released it all at once.
BOOM.
A massive shockwave blew outward.
CRACK.
SNAP.
Kamui's ultimate binding shattered into hundreds of sharp splinters. The recoil was massive.
Fat Gum busted out of the prison, his yellow hoodie covered in sawdust. He charged forward like a bulldozer.
Kamui Woods was shocked, but he adapted instantly. He realized a static hold wouldn't work on a guy this dense.
Kamui slammed both hands onto the concrete floor.
RUMBLE. RUMBLE.
Roots and branches erupted from his body, crawling up the walls and across the ceiling. In five seconds, Kamui turned the empty warehouse into a literal indoor forest.
He jumped into the canopy, disappearing into the thick branches.
WHIP.
A heavy branch swung down from a blind spot, hitting Fat Gum in the back.
THUD.
Fat Gum didn't even flinch. "Is that all you got?"
SWISH. SWISH.
Kamui rained down sharp wooden spears from above.
They hit Fat Gum's shoulders and chest, but they didn't pierce his skin. They just sank into his thick layers of fat and stopped.
"Hehe."
Fat Gum grinned.
He flexed his muscles, trapping the wooden spears inside his fat.
Kamui tugged on his arm, but the wood wouldn't come loose.
"Gotcha!" Fat Gum yelled.
He grabbed the thick branches attached to Kamui's arms and yanked backward with all his massive weight.
"Whoa!" Kamui yelled, getting ripped out of the canopy. He went flying straight toward Fat Gum.
Fat Gum pulled his right arm back, winding up a heavy, localized kinetic punch. His fist was aiming right for Kamui's chest.
At the absolute last second, Kamui realized he couldn't block it. He gritted his teeth and forcefully detached his own wooden branches from his arms.
SNAP.
Free from the grip, Kamui flipped backward in mid-air, dodging the massive punch by a hair.
SMASH.
Fat Gum's fist hit the concrete floor instead. The ground cracked wide open, sending chunks of rock flying.
Kamui landed hard on the ceiling rafters. He was panting heavily.
Over-producing that much wood was draining his stamina fast.
He looked down at Fat Gum, who was pulling his fist out of the crater.
Kamui raised his arms. "Timber Avalanche!"
CRUNCH.
A massive, heavy dome of thick logs dropped from the ceiling right on top of Fat Gum. It weighed over two tons.
BAM.
Fat Gum was pinned down under the massive pile of wood. The dust settled.
From inside the pile, Kamui could hear Fat Gum grunting.
The logs started to shift and crack. Fat Gum was flexing, getting ready to blow the whole pile up with another shockwave, but he was clearly tired.
Burning those calories took a toll.
Kamui stayed in the rafters, completely out of breath.
If Fat Gum broke out, Kamui didn't have the energy to build another forest.
FWEEEEET.
Kaito blew the whistle loudly.
"Alright, stop!" Kaito yelled, walking through the ruined wooden forest.
Kamui Woods dropped down from the rafters, landing on the cracked concrete. He was breathing hard.
Fat Gum pushed the last few logs off his shoulders and stood up, wiping sweat from his forehead. He tossed a broken branch aside.
"Good," Kaito said, looking at the mess. "That gave me exactly what I needed."
"He's way too slippery," Fat Gum complained, pointing a fat finger at Kamui. "I couldn't land a clean hit."
"And you are a walking brick wall," Kamui fired back, rubbing his sore arm. "My binding couldn't crush your core, and my spears couldn't pierce your skin."
Kaito reached into his bag and handed them both a clean towel.
"You're both right," Kaito said calmly. "You both have massive holes in your game. Shinji, your wood is too soft. You have the agility and the area control, but absolutely zero piercing power. Taishiro, you have absolute defense, but you just stand there waiting to get hit. You have zero speed to catch a moving target."
"..."
"..."
Kamui and Fat Gum stayed quiet. They knew he was right. The fight was a total stalemate.
Kaito pointed at Fat Gum. "Hit the showers, Taishiro. Take a break. You're up next. Shinji, follow me to the field office. We need to have a talk."
*-*-*-*
CLICK.
Kaito shut the heavy metal door. The small field office was completely soundproofed, cutting off the echoes from the main warehouse.
Kamui Woods walked over to the folding chair across from Kaito's desk and sat down hard.
He reached up, unclipped his wooden mask, and pulled it off his face.
He was sweating heavily, his brown hair sticking to his forehead.
He tossed the mask onto the desk.
THUD.
"I didn't even scratch him," Kamui muttered. He wiped his face with his sleeve. "My strongest hold, and he just flexed his way out. It's frustrating."
Kaito walked over and grabbed a cold bottle of water from a small cooler. He set it right in front of Kamui.
"Drink," Kaito said, pulling up his own chair. "And don't beat yourself up. Taishiro is a walking brick wall. But you did exactly what I wanted to see out there. You showed me exactly why your wood shatters."
Kamui opened the water and took a long drink. "Because I don't hit hard enough."
"Because your wood is hollow," Kaito corrected him.
He grabbed a black marker and walked over to a small whiteboard on the wall. "Let's talk about your new game plan, Shinji. I call it the Thicket."
"The Thicket?" Kamui asked.
"Right now, you're a tree man," Kaito said. He drew a quick, empty circle on the board.
"When you rush to grow massive amounts of wood to trap somebody, the branches grow fast, but they are hollow inside. They turn brittle. Any heavy hitter is going to snap them like dead twigs."
Kaito drew a thick, heavily shaded circle right next to it.
"First rule, Iron-Wood," Kaito tapped the board. "Stop focusing on the size of the cage. Focus on compression. I want you to practice squeezing the wood fibers together the absolute second they leave your skin. Make the branches as heavy and hard as solid steel."
Kamui stared at the drawing. "Compressing the growth... yeah. I can feel how that would work. But that's going to burn a lot of stamina."
"You'll build up your endurance," Kaito said flatly. "If you lock a guy in an Iron-Wood prison, nobody is breaking out."
"Okay, I get the power upgrade," Kamui nodded, leaning forward. "But what about my weak spots? Iron-Wood is still wood, Arisaka. If a street punk has a lighter or a fire quirk, I'm done."
"Not anymore," Kaito smiled. He picked up his tablet and tossed it onto Kamui's lap.
Kamui looked at the screen. It was a purchase order for a massive shipment of industrial chemicals.
"Elemental Grafting," Kaito said, sitting back down. "I am ordering a specialized, bio-absorbable fire-retardant sap from a support company in Tokyo. You are going to absorb it through your skin. It will lace your branches from the inside out."
Kamui's eyes went wide. He looked up from the tablet, totally stunned.
"If a thug throws a fireball at you, you won't catch fire," Kaito said seriously. "It completely removes your natural counter. You won't freeze up or hesitate on the streets anymore."
"Arisaka... this is crazy," Kamui breathed out. "This completely changes my threat level."
"We aren't done," Kaito pointed a finger at him. "Third rule, Spore-Cloud Lacquer. If you run into another giant tank like Taishiro, you don't fight him head-on. If you can't crush a guy, you put him to sleep."
Kamui frowned behind his mask. "My quirk is Arbor, Arisaka. I make wood. I can't naturally grow sleep spores."
"I know," Kaito smiled, tapping his desk. "So we are going to cheat. I am contracting a medical support lab to make micro-encapsulated sleep spores mixed into a bio-adhesive liquid."
"A lacquer," Kamui realized. "So I just coat my arms with it before a patrol?"
"Exactly," Kaito nodded. "It dries onto your wood. When you wrap a heavy hitter in your prison and tighten the branches, the heavy friction crushes the tiny capsules. It will blast a massive cloud of sleep gas right into the villain's face. Even if they are physically stronger than the wood, they pass out in ten seconds. It's a guaranteed, non-lethal backup plan."
Kamui leaned back, completely stunned by the tactic. "Wait. If I'm right next to them, wouldn't I breathe it in too?"
"That's why I'm also ordering a custom high-flow respirator to fit under your wooden mask," Kaito said flatly. "We aren't going to accidentally knock you out. You'll be totally immune to your own cloud."
"....."
Kamui sat back in his chair. He ran a hand through his sweaty hair.
He came here hoping for some basic combat tips. Kaito was turning him into a tactical nightmare.
"Now," Kaito tossed the marker onto the desk. "Let's talk about your agency and your money."
Kamui put the tablet down and sighed. "My agency is struggling right now. Tokyo rent is killing my budget. I can barely afford my gear."
"Because you are playing the wrong game," Kaito said. "First, we are changing how you move. I am having my team map out every skyscraper and solid anchor point in your patrol zone. You are going to stop running on the pavement and causing property damage to cars. You are an aerial hero now. You swing from the rooftops. You catch guys from above."
"Okay, less property damage means fewer lawsuits," Kamui nodded. "But how does that pay the rent?"
"Because we are going to sell your brand," Kaito smiled, leaning his elbows on the desk.
"We are launching the Reforestation Movement."
Kamui looked confused. "A movement?"
"Corporate sponsors have deep pockets, Shinji," Kaito explained. "Right now, you are just a guy made of wood catching purse snatchers. We are going to rebrand your agency into a massive Environmental NGO."
Kaito held his hands up, framing a headline.
"The pitch is simple, For every single villain Kamui Woods arrests, the agency plants one hundred trees in a local park. It becomes a massive, city-wide green movement."
Kamui blinked. He was starting to see the scale of the idea.
"The media will eat it up," Kaito continued, his voice steady and confident. "The public will love you. And the best part? We pitch this to green-energy companies and sustainable construction firms. These massive corporations will pay huge endorsement checks just to attach their logos to your green movement. They fund your gear, they pay your rent, and you become the face of sustainable heroics in Japan."
Kamui Woods just stared at him. He felt a shiver go down his spine.
Kaito wasn't just making him a stronger fighter. He was handing him the keys to the city.
"Well?" Kaito asked, raising an eyebrow. "Are you in?"
Kamui Woods reached down and picked up his wooden mask.
He didn't look frustrated anymore. He looked incredibly determined.
"I'm in, Manager," Kamui said firmly. "Let's build the Thicket."
"Good," Kaito smiled warmly. He stood up and walked over to the soundproof door.
He pulled it open and yelled out into the massive warehouse. "Taishiro! Get in here! Your turn!"
*-*-*-*
CREAK.
The heavy door opened. Fat Gum squeezed into the office, bringing the smell of cheap gym soap with him. He had just taken a quick shower.
He sat down heavily in the folding chair Kamui had just left. The metal chair groaned under his weight.
"My turn?" Fat Gum asked, grinning wide.
"Yeah. Let's talk about the Osaka Shield," Kaito said. He wiped the whiteboard clean with an eraser and grabbed his marker.
"I remember what you taught me in Aichi, Kaito," Fat Gum said proudly, pointing at his own chest. "The Spring method. Layering the fat to bounce the damage back. It works great out on the streets!"
"It was a good start," Kaito corrected him, leaning against his desk. "But you are still using it like a sponge. You take a massive hit, store it, and then throw one big counter-punch. The problem is, that punch burns all your calories. You turn skinny."
Kaito looked him right in the eye.
"If there is a second villain hiding in the alley, Skinny Fat Gum is in danger."
Fat Gum stopped smiling. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah. I had a close call with a local gang last month. Ran out of gas after the first guy."
"We are fixing that today," Kaito said. "First part, Kinetic Storage Buffers. Stop letting the kinetic energy travel through your whole core. It burns too much mass. I want you to push all the stored damage directly into your fists."
Fat Gum looked down at his huge hands.
"They should literally glow with heat," Kaito explained. "You punch the villain, release the energy from your knuckles, but you keep your body fat right where it is. Keep your armor. No more getting skinny unless it is an absolute life-or-death emergency."
"Store the hit just in the hands," Fat Gum muttered, making a fist. "That's going to take a lot of focus."
"You'll practice," Kaito said simply. "Second part, Adhesion. Shinji was bouncing all over the walls out there. You couldn't even touch him. Fast villains are your worst nightmare."
"Tell me about it," Fat Gum groaned. "I hate runners."
"So we trap them," Kaito said. "I want you to change the surface tension of your skin right when they hit you. Make it sticky."
"Sticky?" Fat Gum asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes," Kaito snapped his fingers. "When a fast guy punches you, trap his fist in your fat like a fly in honey. Don't let him pull his arm back. Once he is stuck, you hit him with the glowing fist. Fight over."
Fat Gum's eyes lit up. He started laughing loudly, his belly shaking. "Oh man, that is nasty! I love it!"
"Third part," Kaito held up three fingers. "Thermal Regulation. Fat isn't just for taking punches. It is insulation. If a villain throws fire or ice at you, don't dodge. Take the hit. I want you to train your body to absorb extreme temperatures and turn that heat or cold into raw physical fuel."
"...."
Fat Gum just stared at him. "You want me to eat fire?"
"Basically," Kaito smiled. "Now, let's talk about your agency."
Kaito turned to the whiteboard and drew a quick sketch of a building.
"Your current office is boring," Kaito said bluntly. "You are sitting at a desk doing paperwork. It doesn't fit you. We are tearing out the ground floor and turning your agency into a 24/7 high-calorie cafeteria."
Fat Gum's jaw actually dropped. "Are you serious right now?"
"Dead serious," Kaito nodded. "You need constant fuel for your quirk. But it does more than feed you. Civilians will come eat there. They will feel safe. And more importantly, it becomes an intelligence hub."
Kaito tapped the board with the marker.
CLACK. CLACK.
"Criminals don't talk to the police. But they do talk to street vendors, taxi drivers, and bartenders," Kaito explained. "You treat the local food network nice, give them a warm place to eat, and they will talk to you. You will know every single trigger drug deal and gang movement in Osaka before the cops even get a phone call."
"....."
"....."
"A restaurant agency," Fat Gum whispered. He looked like he was going to cry tears of pure joy.
"But you can't run it and fight crime all by yourself," Kaito said strictly. "I have already scouted two very specific sidekicks for you. I didn't hire standard brawlers. I hired support."
"Who?" Fat Gum asked, sitting on the edge of his seat.
"A Healer and a Porter," Kaito said. "One guy who can transfer calories from the food he eats directly into your body, and a girl who can shrink massive amounts of food into pocket-sized boxes. I'll introduce you to them next week. They are going to make sure you never run out of ammo in a fight."
Fat Gum stood up. He reached across the desk and grabbed Kaito's hand in a massive, crushing handshake.
"Arisaka," Fat Gum said, his voice actually cracking a little bit. "You are the best manager in the entire world."
*-*-*-*
Location: Endeavor's Private Training Ground, Tokyo
Date: Tuesday | 06:00 PM
The air in the private courtyard was freezing cold. Frost covered the grass and the stone walls.
Shoto Todoroki stood in the center of the yard.
He wore his standard gym clothes. He was panting heavily. His right arm was covered in a thick layer of white frost.
CRACKLE.
Shoto held his right hand out. Frost pulled together in the air. He formed a massive, heavy broadsword out of ice. He gritted his teeth, forcing the shape to hold.
He swung the ice sword hard against a thick concrete pillar.
SHATTER.
The ice broke into dozens of useless pieces. They fell into the grass.
"Tsk"
Shoto clicked his tongue. He rubbed his right arm. He didn't flinch or brace himself. He just looked annoyed.
"You are rushing the surface temperature," a deep voice called out.
Endeavor stood a few yards away. His arms were crossed over his massive chest.
His flaming beard flickered in the cold air. He didn't yell. He was just watching. The atmosphere was quiet.
They had been doing this routine for over a year now.
"I made it solid," Shoto argued, looking down at his hand.
"You made it look solid," Endeavor corrected him calmly. He took a step forward. "You dropped the outside layer to negative twenty degrees. But the inside core of that sword was still too warm. When you hit the concrete, the structure failed. It was just a hollow shell."
Shoto frowned, but he listened.
"Focus," Endeavor said, his voice steady. "Drop the temperature at the absolute center first. Build the core before you expand the shape. Increase the density."
Shoto closed his eyes. He pictured the exact center of his palm. He pushed his quirk inward, packing the cold together.
CRRRRACK.
A spear of dark blue ice shot out of his hand. It wasn't clear or jagged like his normal ice. It looked heavy. It looked like solid iron.
He grabbed the ice lance with both hands and swung it as hard as he could at the concrete pillar.
BANG.
A massive chunk of concrete blew out of the pillar. Dust filled the air.
Shoto pulled the lance back. The blade was perfectly intact. Not a single chip or crack on the ice.
Shoto stared at the weapon in his hands. He looked satisfied.
"Good," Endeavor said. "Now, drop the weapon. Defensive construct."
Shoto let the lance fall to the grass. He raised his right arm.
FWOOSH.
He instantly molded a thick, hexagonal ice shield directly attached to his forearm.
Endeavor threw a sudden, low-level fireball right at him.
HISS.
The fire hit the dark blue ice. It didn't melt. The dense shield completely absorbed the heat.
"Faster," Endeavor pushed. "Precision control. Ground trap."
Shoto dropped his hands to the grass. He didn't throw a giant, messy glacier like he used to. He controlled it.
RUMBLE.
A ring of sharp, perfectly uniform ice spikes burst from the ground right around Endeavor.
They stopped exactly an inch away from his boots. It was sculpted, deliberate weaponry.
Shoto stood up straight.
HUFF-PUFF.
His breathing was ragged. He started shivering violently. Frost was creeping up his neck. He was hitting his physical limit for the day.
In the past, Endeavor would have pushed him until he passed out. He would have yelled at him to keep going.
Endeavor just held up his hand.
"That is enough for today," Endeavor said. "Go inside. Get a hot drink and raise your core temperature naturally before you get frostbite."
"....."
Shoto nodded. He turned around and walked back toward the main house without a word. He was tired, but he didn't look angry.
Endeavor stayed out in the cold courtyard. He looked at the un-melted, dark blue ice constructs left behind on the grass. The shield, the spikes, the lance.
He thought about the manila folder sitting on his office desk.
Hee paid millions of yen to Kaito Arisaka for that file. The document outlined "Static Ice-Make" and "Density Control."
Endeavor crossed his arms. He realized that just this one single module turned Shoto into a lethal, precision fighter.
Kaito understood the boy's quirk better in a few days than Endeavor did in fifteen years.
'I paid millions for that document,' Endeavor thought to himself, staring at the unbreakable ice. 'And it was worth every single yen.'
*-*-*-*
Location: Parking Garage, Tokyo
Date: One Week Later
Kaito walked across the concrete floor of the parking garage. He held a hot coffee in his left hand and his car keys in his right.
He walked up to his car. It was a standard, black sedan. Nothing flashy at all.
CLICK.
He unlocked the door, slid into the driver's seat, and put his coffee in the cup holder. He turned the key. The engine purred to life.
Kaito reached forward and pressed a small, custom red button on his dashboard.
HUMMM.
Kaito's reality-warping quirk activated through the car's mechanics. The entire vehicle shuddered for a split second.
Outside the windows, the world suddenly shot up into the sky. The normal concrete pillars of the garage now looked like massive skyscrapers.
The painted white lines on the pavement looked like giant, wide highways.
FWPPP.
The car shrank down to the size of a remote-controlled toy.
Inside the cabin, Kaito didn't feel a thing.
Everything felt completely normal. He turned up the radio, relaxed in his seat, and pushed the gas pedal.
VROOOOM.
He drove out of the garage and hit the main street. Tokyo rush hour was in full swing. Traffic was completely gridlocked, bumper to bumper for miles.
Kaito just took a sip of his coffee. He drove right underneath the massive exhaust pipe of a stopped delivery truck.
SWIISH.
SWOOOSH.
He zipped through the tiny gaps between the tires of the stalled cars. To anyone looking down, he was just a fast-moving black blur on the asphalt.
He bypassed a two-hour traffic jam in exactly six minutes.
Kaito pulled into the empty back alley behind Kamui Woods' new office building.
CLICK.
TWHOOP.
He hit the red button again. The car instantly grew back to its normal size.
He grabbed his coffee, locked the doors, and walked through the back entrance.
The agency was small, but it was loud and busy. Phones were ringing.
"Arisaka! Hey!" a stressed voice called out.
Yuna Morita. Quirk, Paper Mill. She can generate sheets of blank paper directly from the skin on her forearms.
CLICK. CLACK.
CLICK. CLACK.
Yuna jogged down the hallway. She had a pencil behind her ear and a massive stack of folders in her arms.
She peeled a fresh, blank sheet of paper right off her wrist and slapped it onto the top of the pile.
"I have the new corporate sponsor contracts for the Reforestation group," Yuna said quickly, handing him the stack. "The green-energy guys signed off on everything. They are paying the rent for the next six months."
"Nice work, Yuna," Kaito said, taking the folders. "You holding up okay with all the new calls?"
"Barely," Yuna laughed, wiping her forehead. "But I'm not complaining. The budget is actually looking great for once. Daiki is up on the roof if you're looking for him."
"Thanks," Kaito nodded.
He walked past the main desks and pushed open the heavy door to the roof. The morning wind hit his face.
A young man in a jacket was sitting right on the edge of the roof, his legs dangling over the side.
He was staring blankly into the sky. His eyes were glowing solid white. A huge flock of pigeons was circling the skyscrapers a few blocks away.
Daiki Chiba. Quirk, Pigeon View. He can share the eyesight of any bird within a one-kilometer radius.
"Hey, Boss," Daiki called out without looking back. His eyes slowly faded back to their normal brown color. "I mapped out three new anchor points on the bank building. Shinji can clear that whole block without ever touching the sidewalk."
"Good," Kaito walked up to the edge. "Is he out there right now?"
"Yeah. Look down 4th street," Daiki pointed.
Kaito looked.
SWISH.
Kamui Woods swung high above the traffic. He fired a thick branch into a concrete balcony and vaulted over a billboard, moving insanely fast.
He didn't even look at the ground.
Kaito took a sip of his coffee. Week one in Tokyo was working perfectly.
_-_-_
Location: The Osaka Shield Agency, Osaka
Date: Three Days Later
CLATTER.
Loud talking and the sound of clinking bowls filled the air.
Fat Gum's new agency didn't have a lobby or a front desk.
The entire ground floor was a massive, open cafeteria. It smelled like fried pork, rich broth, and hot oil.
Normal civilians, off-duty cops, and local kids were packed into the tables, eating huge bowls of ramen and laughing.
Kaito sat in a corner booth, drinking a hot cup of green tea.
Fat Gum was sitting across from him. He wasn't wearing his hero suit, just a huge casual t-shirt. He was happily crushing a mountain of takoyaki.
An older guy wearing a dirty apron walked over to clear some empty bowls from the next table. He leaned in close to Fat Gum.
"Hey, Taishiro," the old vendor whispered quietly. "Some guys with matching tattoos bought a lot of food from my cart last night. They were talking about a big shipment of trigger down by Pier 4 tonight."
"Thanks, old man," Fat Gum whispered back, slipping a few extra yen onto the table. "I'll check it out later."
The vendor nodded and walked away.
"See?" Fat Gum grinned at Kaito. "You were right. The food brings them in, and they just talk. I know more about the streets now than I ever did."
"Keep feeding them, and they'll keep talking," Kaito said, resting his arms on the table.
A young guy wearing a white cook's apron walked out of the kitchen area.
He wiped his hands on a towel and walked up to their booth.
Kenjiro Hata. Quirk, Caloric Transfer. He can transfer calories from the food he eats directly into the body of someone he touches.
"Here you go, Boss," Kenjiro said. He slapped his hand down hard on Fat Gum's massive shoulder.
Kenjiro's hand glowed with a faint yellow light for a second.
"Three thousand calories, straight to the tank," Kenjiro grinned.
Fat Gum sighed happily. His body physically swelled up a few inches, absorbing the raw energy instantly. He didn't have to sit there and chew for hours to build his fat back up.
"You're a lifesaver, Kenjiro," Fat Gum laughed.
Right behind him, a teenage girl with a massive backpack walked over.
She reached into her pocket and dropped a tiny, toy-sized plastic container onto the table in front of Kaito.
Mari Sato. Quirk, Bento Box. She can shrink massive amounts of food into pocket-sized Tupperware containers without ruining the taste.
"There's forty pounds of compressed protein bars in that little box, Taishiro," Mari smiled. "Just pop the lid open when you get hungry on patrol tonight."
"I love this team," Fat Gum grabbed the tiny box and shoved it into his pocket. He looked at Kaito. "Seriously, Arisaka. Thank you. This place is perfect."
Kaito just smiled and took another drink of his tea. He leaned back against the booth and watched the crowded restaurant.
Handling two rising heroes at the exact same time wasn't a problem.
...
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(9 Advanced Chapters)