THE CURSED GAMER

Chapter 109: Ah yes… (1)

—

The next day, Neji woke up early. Or rather, he hadn’t fallen asleep at all after Rumi had woken him up.

Rumi did sleep, though. But she woke up at her usual time and went to wake Neji up in the living room. She was surprised to see him playing video games on his phone and lectured him a moment about how he should train instead.

“You could have done 500 push-ups in the meantime, ya know?”

Neji had shrugged her words off and followed her to the dining room. He does train whenever he is free, but doing push-ups wasn’t going to help him that much, if at all. Stats above the 200s like his would need him to put an extra-large bounder on his back for his push-ups to be effective at all. 

So he played games, instead.

While on breakfast,

“Yesterday, as you saw, there ain’t really many villains around here. That's why I usually go on a stroll around multiple cities, which is easy because of my speed.” Rumi gulped on her food and licked the sauce from the corner of her lips. “But we gotta go somewhere where villains are common—or at least big bad villains are hidin’. We want you to get the most outta this internship. You get me?”

Neji inclined his head. “In other words, we would be going to another city?”

Neji spoke, barely containing a sigh.

Rumi chuckled. “Yeah, we are. Ever heard of that punk named Hero Killer? I was planning to hunt him down later, but now that you are here, I suppose it’s better to do it in front of you to give you hands-on experience.”

‘Ah yes.’

Neji finally sighed. “I see…” he shook his head softly. “That works. The Hero Killer was spotted in Hosu city most recently, right? So are we  going there?”

Chewing on her drumsticks, Rumi nodded again. “Oh-ho, so you were keeping track of him as well? I guess you’d like to meet him, then. Anyway, yeah, he should be in Hosu, currently. Since he hunts at least 4 Heroes in each city, and by far he has only injured one, Ingenium.” 

As Neji nodded, Rumi stared at his face for a while before asking. “...Are you perhaps one of them who supports Stain’s mindset? That the Heroes of the current society are just wannabes, and they all should die? I am asking because Ryukyu told me you have a bit of a different view towards society, though I am not sure about the details.”

'Ryukyu… that woman.' Neji growled in his head.

He shook his head. “I do have a bit of a different view, but that doesn’t complement Stain’s ideology. To me, it doesn’t matter if someone wants to be a Pro for money, fame or whatever. As long as they’re saving people, they are a hero in someone's eye.”

A Hero and a Villain are two sides of the same coin. A villain to someone is a hero to another.

For example, Nawab, the absolute ruler of the entirety of South Asia. He's rumoured to be ruthless, and vicious. Unwilling to even negotiate with the outside world at all. However, to the people who have accepted his ruling, he is the kindest god.

Though that was all rumour, even then, Nawab was a villain in the world's eyes while he was a hero to his people's.

Neji stopped whining in his mind with a sigh. “Well, I guess we will try and see if we get to meet the Hero Killer there or not."

Of course, they would meet him. As his System had said before, the World had a will of its own, after all. Meaning… there’d be Izuku, the main character, in there, as well.

—★—

Hero Killer Stain stood inside the League's bar and simply stared at the three people around him. Two were wounded, bandaged, as they grunted softly now and then. While one was harmlessly whistling.

The one, greed-haired boy, had a glass of juice in his hand as he leisurely held it while sitting and staring at Stain’s eyes.

“Really interesting view you have of this society, Hero Killer.” The boy, Izuku Midoriya, said in a soft but chilly voice. “I don't usually find people who share my ideologies–even if only a portion of it–as they are pretty rare."

Besides his personal, self-accepted narrow-sighted goal, Izuku had a much broader goal in his mind as well. The Hero Society was too corrupt at this age, it needed a reset. Which, Izuku Midoriya will initiate by eliminating all the current heroes.

Stain's own ideology matched his to a certain degree. Though Izuku and he had fought too, because of Izuku's so very twisted desires towards All Might.

Remembering the last part, Stain hissed. "It's true, I don't usually find people sharing similar goals to me." He said. "However, just because we have some similar qualities doesn't mean I like you, either. You are a twisted motherfucker, did you know?"

Izuku chuckled at his words and turned to meet Shigaraki's eyes who was behind him. He leaned over and then whispered, "See? This is how you talk to someone, you little man-child. Even though he is clearly angry, he is calm enough to initiate a conversation. So, stop throwing tantrums and mature up, learn from me."

Shigaraki's body visibly shook as he barely held his hand back from touching Izuku's leaned-over neck. Kurogiri placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him from making rash decisions.

With a chuckle, Izuku turned his head back at Stain. "Let me be clear, Stain. Even though you don't like me, I like you a lot. But anyway, I thank you for joining the League in my words, even though I am not its leader… yet."

Izuku mumbled the last word only enough to be sounded by himself.

Stain had decided to join the League after he was defeated by Izuku's <Astral Repulsion>. Izuku would have much rather liked to form a new team with Stain, but his master told him otherwise... 

Stain merely growled. "...Just put me back into Hosu, I have unfinished business there. We will start whatever plan you have, after that."

Izuku hummed casually. "Oh yeah, yeah. You hunt at least 4 villains in each city, after all." Stain's eyes narrowed while Izuku turned to Shigaraki while glancing at Kurogiri. "Shigaraki, my fellow disciple, since you are the leader of the League, it's better for you to ask Kurogiri to drop Stain, yeah?"

Izuku could already see how Shigaraki would initiate a frenzy if he were the one to order Kurogiri.

So he chose some sweet words, instead. In response, the man-child scratched his neck and growled before turning to Kurogiri and ordering him to open a portal at Hosu.

However, as Shigaraki stood over a multi-story building beside the other three, chucked in his mind as he brewed a plan.

'Tch, you dare disrespect me? I will ruin your plans, you two bastards.'

As he saw Stain jump down on the city, he made up his mind.

Releasing some Nomus in Hosu would do, for now.

—★—

Normal heroes usually travel to other faraway cities via train, since they don't want to tire themselves out on the way. However, Pro Hero Mirko found the idea of travelling via hopping over skyscrapers a fun deal.

That's why, an hour ago, Neji and Rumi had started hopping over buildings while glancing at their phones from time to time, to make sure they were on the right track.

Hosu wasn't exactly close to the city Rumi operated in. It was better to say they were almost situated on the opposite part of Japan, even. However, with Rumi's thick legs she quite easily guided the way while Neji followed suit.

Jumping like this was good training, Neji realised. He got +1 in STR, just from this, since he isn't using his quirk here.

"Listen, Neji!" While hopping over to a 13 story building, Rumi yelled out to Neji following her. "After what you did yesterday!" She yelled. "I don't want to restrict you anymore. In other words, just kick any ass you want!"

She would manage the police, somehow. Not that she ever cared about them. This kid at least deserved that much after what he did.

Neji yelled out a thanks, causing Rumi to giggle to herself mid-air, as she jumped onto another building. 

"Though, don't steal my kill! I dislike that!"

She only heard a chuckle from behind before she saw the billboard, saying: 

"Hosu City: 3 kilometres ahead"

Rumi kicked forward.

—★—

Todoroki was sitting inside a car, watching the scene outside the window.

"You seem dazed, Shoto." His father's voice asked from the seat beside the driver. "Are you nervous?"

Todoroki ignored him. 

Dazed? He wasn't dazed, he was like this all the time. His old man, even though they'd been together for 15 years, couldn't tell that?

In the end, as he recalled his mother's face that he's been seeing every day for the past two weeks in the hospital, he sighed.

"I am fine… father," Todoroki said before he drew his face away from the window to look at Endeavour's back. "You probably don't know… but I like quiet and calm places, and so I like to be quiet too. I am not dazed."

"Oh…" Endeavour sounded surprised. "I see… That's good to know. It's always good for Heroes to be calm and collected. I might not look like it, but I am always calm."

'That's not true,' Todoroki wanted to say it out loud. His father, or rather, Endeavour—when at work—always had his mind clear, but it didn't exactly mean he was calm.

"Good to know, too." Todoroki said before turning his head back to the window. 

He ignored the small awkward grunt from his father and focused on his mind instead– or at least he wanted to before the car stopped as Endeavour's sidekick, Burnin, who was driving the car shouted.

"We are here, you two awkward nincompoops!" She yelled and Todoroki sighed. Even though he had just said he liked quietness…

In the end, he opened the door and walked out of the car. Today they were going to patrol around this part of the country, precisely five cities. Todoroki wondered… if Neji was around this part or not. There was always a chance, after all.

Then again, he could just ask his dad.

"Father," As Endeavour walked out of the car, Todoroki asked. "Where is Mirko's Hero Agency?"

"Huh? Oh. She doesn't have an agency." His father replied. "She operated in a city almost opposite to this one. Heh, why are you asking? Do you want to meet that Neji kid or something?"

Todoroki didn't answer and started to look around instead. After a while, he spoke. "I don't see any villains around here. Are you sure being here wouldn't just be like the two other days we spent?"

Todoroki was really tired of the boring patrolling where there wasn't even a thief in Endeavour's area.

Endeavour was about to speak again, however, right then, something screeched in the sky. Todorki's head snapped upwards as he saw it. 

A grey-skinned humanoid creature flew in the sky, circling around their car, before it rushed towards Todoroki with apparent hostility. 

Todoroki's body paused as he realised the terrible similarities between this creature and the two in USJ. He didn't know the details, but just knowing that someone like Neji was severely injured against those two... 

Amidst his thoughts, it was too late for him as the claw of the Nomu came towards his neck.

At the last moment, an orange and blue back covered Todoroki's vision.

No. 2 Hero, Endeavour stepped between him and the Nomu, grabbing the creature's neck mid-air before he released a scorching beam of fire turned blue from his palms.

Seconds later, in front of Todoroki, the Nomu fell to its back on the ground with burned skin.

"Next time," Endeavour spoke with his back turned to Todoroki. "Be on guard, you were dazed."

Despite the heat in front of him, a soft chill ran down Todoroki's spine.

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