"Damn it... you bastard..."
The woman quickly transformed her arm into a rifle.
I stomped down on the rifle without hesitation.
She glared at me with a look full of hatred, as if I had betrayed her.
I pressed the muzzle closer to her chin.
"I’m not actually going to kill you. I’m just going to make it look like suicide."
When I moved my foot away, she angrily twisted the barrel with her hand.
"What does that have to do with this? Are you messing around now?"
I released [Overhaul].
"Of course not. Your corpse has to be carefully mimicked. People usually put a gun to their chin or mouth when they kill themselves, so I used that as a reference."
The woman answered in disbelief.
"Are you insane? You’re going to fake a death with nothing?"
"Cause of death: fought the teeth, injured her leg, couldn’t escape, then shoved a gun in her mouth and pulled the trigger. The body was badly mutilated, and the head was blown apart."
I pressed [Overhaul]’s hand against the pillar and reconstructed it.
The woman kept her distance with wary steps, but soon approached slowly to look at the pillar.
"...That’s me."
The pillar had become a perfect statue of the woman.
I turned the statue back into a pillar and said,
"There are corpses everywhere. I can use my own regenerating body if I need to, and making a doppelgänger is nothing for me."
"So... stop looking down and show me your face. Even if I’m going to damage it, it has to match the original."
"What... are you?"
I answered casually, as if it were a joke with no punchline.
"I’ve had a few jobs. I used to be a doctor. Right now, you can call me Tenma."
The woman let out a dry laugh.
"...So this is the kind of madness you need to bring down Public Safety. You really are helping me, right?"
"Yeah."
Public Safety, everything else, it didn’t matter as long as I got my revenge on All For One in the end.
If I could kill All For One, then smashing Public Safety was not some grand decision. It was barely more than tossing out a useful tool after it had served its purpose.
After that, I treated the woman’s leg and used my own body, as requested, to create her "corpse."
To hide it better, I mutilated the body and used the woman’s blood and bodily fluids to disguise it.
I was so used to handling corpses that, even though I made it myself, the result was flawless.
As I finished and wiped the sweat from my brow, my phone vibrated.
There were a ridiculous number of missed calls and message notifications.
I had forgotten about Toga.
[Tenma-kun! Why are you only answering now...?]
"The location changed. I’ll send it to you, so come here."
[Got it! I’m not allowed to run away, right? I brought plenty of blood, so make sure you have a reward ready!]
The woman asked with a flat expression,
"That’s a girl’s voice. Do you need her too?"
I let out a sigh.
"Unfortunately, she’s high-quality labor."
*****
While the woman and I sat in silence, Toga arrived.
"Tenma-kun, I’m heeere—!"
Toga’s smile, bright with anticipation, went cold in an instant.
She glared at the woman and wore a frosty expression.
Somehow, a kitchen knife was already in her hand.
"...Tenma-kun, who is this ‘old lady’?"
The woman’s blank face held a mix of contempt, irritation, and a faint trace of loneliness.
"Hah... she’s even louder in person. Your taste is certainly unusual. Old lady, huh... I did spend my time doing all sorts of things I’d regret. Kid."
"I’m not interested. Old lady."
Toga quickly came closer to me, hooked her arm through mine, and shook it like she was begging.
"Tell me quickly, Tenma-kun. If she’s someone you like... then I guess I can be that old lady too. Though she doesn’t seem very cute."
I peeled Toga off me, annoyed.
"I don’t know what you’re thinking, but no. She’s a new business partner and my bodyguard."
Toga puffed out her cheeks and looked sulky.
"That’s annoying. Don’t discriminate and make me a ‘partner’ too!"
Her whining made my jaw tighten. I needed to establish the hierarchy clearly.
"If you keep getting in the way, I won’t give you any blood, and I’ll tie you up and dump you somewhere no one will find you. Stop doing useless things."
At those words, Toga’s energy vanished in an instant.
She shrank her shoulders and trembled her eyes like a dog that knew it had done wrong, carefully gauging my mood.
"...I’m sorry. Don’t say scary things like dumping me, Tenma-kun. I’ll be good, really. But... you’ll still give me a reward, right...?"
The woman snorted at that.
"She’s no different from a dog."
Toga snickered and slipped in behind me.
"Dogs are cute. You’re not cute at all, and you’re mean."
"Enough."
The tension between them died down in an instant.
Then I roughly snatched Toga’s empty syringe and stabbed it into my arm.
After drawing out some blood, I tossed it to her without ceremony.
"There’s your reward. Take it and shut up."
Toga received the syringe and grinned as she rubbed her cheek against it lovingly.
"You’re so kind... Tenma-kun. It’s a little disappointing, but next time maybe your finger or your neck, hehe..."
The woman looked at Toga and me with utter disgust.
"That kid is completely insane."
"No kidding. But I didn’t hire you to be her tutor. Mind your own business."
I stepped close enough to touch the woman.
"Now tell me your name. Not your real one—your fake identity name. And your age."
The woman touched a finger to her lips and thought for a moment.
"Tsutsumi Kana. It’s not a rare surname, so that should be fine. Age... 36... Why are you suddenly taking a census?"
"You’re going to attend high school, so you can’t be too young."
"...What? Why would high school..."
Before she could finish, [Overhaul]’s hand touched Tsutsumi’s face.
Her body warped rapidly, and a golden radiance enveloped Tsutsumi.
The light was pouring out from a horned clone.
"[Rewind]."
When the adjustment was done, I caught the fist flying at me with ease.
"What the hell are you doing!! My vision dropped and everything feels wrong. What did you do to my eyes?"
"If I didn’t do it now, your focus would’ve slipped. The ‘surgery’ was a complete success. There’s no mirror, so look at this."
I turned on my phone and showed her reflection.
Her height had shrunk a little, the scars on her skin had almost vanished, and while her face was still recognizable, the details had changed.
Her purple hair had mostly turned black, grown longer, and only a few strands of the original color remained.
Tsutsumi’s expression turned complicated.
"I look like I did when I was a student... You even changed my height?"
"I made you younger by about twenty years. That should put you around fifteen or sixteen. If you’re going to escort me, you’ll need to attend the school that’s under contract with Public Safety too."
Tsutsumi’s face twisted.
"Public Safety? That’s not what we agreed on. You want me to wear Public Safety’s leash again?"
I smiled down at her smaller form.
"I know you hate Public Safety, so calm down. I’m the one in charge here.
At the end of the day, I’m only using them, and more importantly, this lets me get a better hold on Public Safety’s weak points."
"Weak points..."
"And I’ve already kept half my promise. ‘You’ died here. Even if they realize that corpse isn’t really you, they have no way to track you. You’re ‘free.’ The freedom I gave you."
Tsutsumi looked up at me and nodded.
"...Fine. I get it, so stop showing off about how amazing you are. If it’s you, maybe you really can bring down Public Safety."
Just as I was smiling in satisfaction, Toga, her mouth smeared red, let out a jealous snort.
"Tenma-kun is amazing, but old lady, you’re cheating.
Trying to lie with your age doesn’t change the fact that you’re still an old lady underneath."
Tsutsumi pulled out a hair tie from somewhere and tied her hair back.
"Call me big sister, kid. On the outside, I’m not that different from you now.
Did that kid and you change your appearance like this too?"
I briefly removed my mask to show my face, then put it back on.
"Not her."
Tsutsumi’s mocking smile widened.
"You’ve got a rotten personality. The fact that she follows you around means that kid must have a pretty wild story too."
I looked toward the entrance.
"Enough small talk. We’re leaving before the police get here.
I’ll explain the rules of where you’ll be staying on the way."
"Move fast. Stick close to me. We’re flying."
Toga squealed and hugged me, while Tsutsumi nodded and pressed in beside me with professional calm.
*****
While flying, I explained the safe house rules to the two of them.
To Tsutsumi, I only gave the basics.
To Toga, I laid out several conditions.
For Midoriya and Eri, they were to act somewhat normal.
Especially Eri—I warned Toga not to say anything about drinking blood or anything like that, since the girl had trauma and might lose control of her Quirk.
Toga clicked her tongue.
"What a shame. I thought I might get along with a cute little girl, and she even drinks blood..."
"Don’t say that kind of thing. If even a refrigerator full of blood might trigger her trauma, then I’ll put a whole refrigerator in your room just for storing your own blood."
"Wow! Tenma-kun is the best! You like me too, don’t you?"
Toga twisted my warning into special treatment for quarantine.
I ignored her, quietly adjusted my costume, and returned to the safe house.
It was around 3 a.m.
The moment I opened the door, I heard several tiny footsteps rushing toward me.
"Hey! You’ll trip if you keep running, kid!"
Eri came running over, teary-eyed, practically dragging Rappa’s hand along with her.
"Tenma big brother! I was worried... you turned your phone off..."
Eri tried to take Rappa’s hand and reach for mine, but when she saw Toga and Tsutsumi, she took a small step back.
Come to think of it, I’d been giving Toga orders by phone and she kept pestering me, so I’d turned it off and forgotten to turn it back on.
"Then just go to sleep next time."
At my blunt reply, Tsutsumi looked at me suspiciously.
"She’s even younger than I thought. Why is she here?"
Tsutsumi was paying attention to Eri. There was no need to stir up friction right now.
I stepped closer to Eri and patted her head.
"She’s a child who was used by a yakuza organization. I rescued her and I’m protecting her."
Eri wiped her tears and met my eyes.
At the word protecting, she gripped my hand tightly with her small one, trembling.
She seemed to find my sudden change in attitude strange, but not unpleasant.
"...Yes. Tenma big brother saved me."
Just as I was about to pull my hand away from Eri, Toga suddenly bent down toward her.
"Me too! Pat me too! We’ve got an emotional ‘contract’ story like Eri-chan too, right?
Can I call you Tenma big brother too?"
Eri backed away fearfully.
Right before I could tell Toga off with my eyes, Tsutsumi spoke up.
"Stop acting spoiled. There’s a real child here."
Tsutsumi said that, then knelt down to Eri’s level.
She was smiling with a gentleness I never would have expected.
"You’re Eri, right? I’ve ended up owing your big brother, so please take care of me. If you couldn’t sleep because you were worried, then I’ll apologize in his place."
Unlike Toga, Eri took one step forward and bowed her head slightly.
"...Hello."
"Hello."
I also took my hand off Eri’s head and gave her shoulder a light pat.
"All right, go to your room now. We’ll do introductions after you’ve slept."
"Okay..."
Though she still looked a little confused, Eri obediently followed my words.
After Eri went inside, I scolded Toga for a while and then returned to my room to rest.
*****
The next day, Saturday, Hawks sent several messages early in the morning.
He also attached a number of article links.
- What happened inside the "black sphere"? -
- "The next All Might"...? The black savior who appeared out of despair. -
- Raven: is he really a sidekick? The collapse of the Hero rankings. -
The articles were full of the usual media hysteria, the kind that came from society’s excessive dependence on reporters and Heroes.
Hawks’ message said that Public Safety was doing its best to contain it, but the incident had gotten too big and they were still cleaning up the aftermath.
He begged me to keep Raven’s identity hidden no matter what.
I had planned to let it slide, but then the idea I’d had yesterday while altering Tsutsumi flashed through my mind.
The perfect trap to hide my identity even further, and lure All For One out personally.
While everyone was asleep, I hurriedly packed my costume and went outside.
I changed into it on the back mountain, then used [Overhaul] to alter my vocal cords so my voice would match the one from that time.
I altered my face too.
Once everything was ready, I used [Strong Wings] to fly up into the sky until I was so high that I couldn’t be seen from the ground.
There was nothing around me but clouds and sky.
I turned on my phone. For the live broadcast.
([LIVE] Hawks sidekick "Raven" reveals his face exclusively!)
That title should do.
I didn’t do anything else.
I just held up my phone and silently showed my red wings against the blue sky, waiting.
[Live Chat] (214,000 viewers)
뜸부기: holy shit he’s finally live??? I’ve been waiting for this for days;;
ak47: Mount Lady’s arm getting cut off was real...? He fixed that?
[Super Chat] ₩50,000 / Anonymous: Just show your face already. You’re dragging this out way too much.
Hawks Fan Club: Wait, is he flying right now? Those wings look exactly like Hawks’—what the hell is his Quirk?
[Super Chat] ₩100,000 / Anonymous: If he tore Moonfish apart in ten seconds, doesn’t that put him in the top five for sure?
[True Hero Ingenium]: A Hero receiving donations! Stop the donations immediately!
The chat was packed with anticipation and suspicion.
Viewers flooded in so fast the stream started lagging almost immediately.
If I dragged this out any longer, Public Safety would make a move. Even now, I was ignoring Hawks’ phone calls as they came in nonstop.
I removed my mask.
My black hair was gone.
In its place was a frail body, long shaggy white hair, and green eyes.
It wasn’t perfect, but I made it resemble the person I remembered as closely as possible.
Thinking of that person, I smiled as gently as I could.
"Hello, everyone. Hawks’ sidekick, Raven..."
"No."
"My name is Shigaraki Yoichi. Long time no see, ‘brother’?"
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