Date- 10 August 2XXX
The grappler failed to fire.
Shigure's eyes widened. He yanked the trigger again.
Still not working.
He yanked it again and again—nothing.
'Speed Up' The world slowed for him, and Shigure tried to find a solution.
To an outsider, he was normally falling. But if Shigure started flailing his arms, it would be quite obvious that his fall was anything but normal.
A full minute passed—still, nothing. He could only helplessly watch the water approaching him.
'Well, at least it's water. I still have a high chance to survive.' He sucked in a breath and shut his eyes before impact.
His brow tightened. The expected impact didn't come.
He opened his eyes—feathers clung to his body, holding him up. Somehow holding his body despite their small number.
He looked up and saw the man giving him an unimpressed look.
"I got captured." He muttered.
Hawks opened his mouth... before closing it. His eyes narrowed—calculating. "Brat... I told you I wasn't coming to capture you. Just wanted to chat."
"Liar." Shigure didn't believe him.
The man sighed, but didn't say anything.
Both of them started flying away, a palpable silence between them.
"Where are we going?" Shigure broke the silence.
"A cafe."
"Still keeping up the act. I guess top heroes do need to keep up their act." Shigure shook his head, resigned.
"Hehe, you have got a good humour, kid."
"I am not a kid."
"Oh? My bad. You look like a kid."
"Mind You. I am considered a legal adult." Shigure retorted.
He loathed that word—kid.
He was a fucking adult mentally, and with the amount of time he had experienced due to his quirk was enough to call himself at least in Top 10 most oldest people in the world.
In Japan, few could rival his mental age—maybe All for One, maybe that ghost of a brother.
'Though I wonder if my age would count. It was pretty much grinding only. I think multiple types of experience are required to say you are older.' Despite being this old, Shigure had enough self-awareness to know that he couldn't be considered mature for his mental age.
He would say that he has regressed in maturity since his first awakening.
'Looking back, I have started going insane since I arrived in this world. Though it is valid coz I was put in a kid's body, stripped of all the freedom an adult has, the real insanity was after my first awakening only.'
Next thing he knew, he was across from Hawks—seated, surrounded, stuck.
Shigure stared at him. "Wait, are we really in a cafe? Or is it an undercover for this place?"
"I told you before. We are just in a normal cafe."
Somebody came to take their orders. Shigure ordered something sweet.
If he were here, he might as well eat something sweet.
'I don't care if they are going to poison me or make me unconscious. What's the worst that could happen?' He told himself it wasn't temptation. Just strategy.
'The worst they could do is mind f*ck me with some quirk. Good luck trying to find something out of my memories, which have distorted beyond recognition. Unless Nezu saw them, no one could decode those memories.
And even if he gets it somehow, it would take a considerable time even for him. Time which they won't get as I would be dead by then.' Shigure briefly glanced at his chest.
"This place isn't normal," Shigure muttered, looking at the waitress walking away.
"Indeed." Hawks nodded. "After all, it's a maid cafe."
Hawks ignored Shigure's judgmental stare, looking out past the skyline.
The cafe was on top of a skyscraper and was one of the prime spots for Keigo to relax.
"You should remove that mask and wig of yours. I am surprised that it didn't fall off during the chase."
"..." Shigure silently stared at him. He scanned the room—exit routes, blind spots, and distance to the door.
After half a minute of contemplation, he removed it.
'Fuck it. I don't care.'
"You look younger without the wig. Like, way younger." Hawks blinked, carefully examining Shigure's face.
"I turned 12 recently." No point hiding it—Hawks would find out by morning.
"Is that so... I thought you were a legal adult." Hawks stroked his chin.
"That I am."
"I see." Hawks nodded.
There was silence before it was broken again.
"Lenses?"
Shigure paused. "How can you tell?"
"I just have a good eye... good eye for seeing disguises." An indescribable look appeared on Hawks, before getting replaced by his nonchalant attitude.
"Hmm. I won't be removing this. My eyes are blue only. You have enough info already" Shigure said in a matter-of-fact tone, not intending to budge on it.
He didn't like people knowing when his quirk was active.
Hearing Shigure's tone, Hawks nodded, deciding it was not worth pursuing.
Then, their orders came.
He dug into the oversized chocolate cake.
"So... How about we go with introductions first? I think that would be a better way to break the ice, no?"
Shigure continued eating the cake while staring at Hawks.
His stare said it all: You think I'll make this easy?
Hawks wryly smiled before grinning.
"Okay. If you won't tell me your name, I will call you however I want."
Shigure shrugged. He didn't care.
"Let's go with rip-off Gojo. Has a nice ring to it."
Shigure's fork stopped a few centimetres away from his mouth.
He blinked.
"No." And then, instinctively replied.
"Why not?" Hawks said in an amused tone. "You even have powers similar to his, no? He has powers related to space, you with time. Also, your manifestation is like a domain. That, without considering your white hair + blue eyes package."
"No." Shigure ignored the fact that Hawks had already analysed his quirk.
He saw it coming during the chase.
"Tch." Hawks clicked his tongue.
"Anyway, I didn't expect one of the rising stars to be an otaku." Shigure quickly changed the topic, not wanting Hawks to give him even more ridiculous names.
Currently, Hawks is a hot topic throughout Japan. In just a few months, he rose from a starter hero to a person in the top 20.
"Technically not an otaku. I've only watched the mainstream stuff." Keigo shrugged, sipping on his latte.
"I see." After finishing the cake, he started eating the ice cream while ordering another cake.
"Anyway, what were you doing... so late?" Hawks asked, looking at his watch.
2:18 am
"I was beating some villains and thugs alike. You know... normal things." Shigure nonchalantly said, his expression betraying nothing.
"Oh? Interesting. How was your experience so far?" Hawks decided to ask him.
For a moment, both ignored that Hawks had seen Shigure "beating" Ryu.
"It's fun, I guess. I even discovered a new side of mine." Shigure smiled.
"You smiled when you said that. Must've been… liberating, right?"
Shigure's smile freezes. He raises an eyebrow.
"Let me guess. Reflective listening, labelling emotions, pacing for rapport… Are you running therapy protocol on me or trying to get a confession?"
Hawks blinks.
Then he grinned—busted, like a bird caught mid-flight.
"You noticed. And here I thought I was being subtle."
Shigure shrugs.
"I studied a bit of psychology too. Not everyone who's 'crazy' skipped their homework."
"I wonder about how much that 'bit' is. What exactly gave it away?" Hawks asked, reflecting on his entire interaction with him.
Shigure paused, framing his next words properly.
"I would say that you were pretty good at being subtle. Too good." Shigure narrowed his eyes. "The way you blended in. I would have been normally fooled for that to be real you."
"Is that so?" Hawks lazily smiled. However, his eyes didn't smile. Rather, they gleamed unnaturally.
"Indeed. You must be a good liar. Anyway, if not for me mentally profiling you myself, I wouldn't have come to notice this fact. Your posture, tone, the pitch—everything was perfect... perfect to make me comfortable."
"I will take that as a compliment." Hawk smiled. "Which model do you use for mental profiling?"
"CBF... a modified version of CBF."
"Oh? What a coincidence. I also use CBF. Though only the original, coz never needed to modify it... until now."
"I can see that." Shigure got back to eating his ice cream.
There was silence again.
"Anyway, how did you know my location? I purposely chose that location due to it being discreet." Shigure asked.
Hawks paused. "I was just strolling. Today was my off-day, and I thought I would try to meet the famous vigilante who had appeared in Saitama just a few weeks ago. Guess, my luck was good."
"Famous?" Shigure furrowed his brows, tilting his head.
"They call you Heretic Smasher."
***
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