Infinity.
That was the name Shigure had given his vigilante persona.
It took Ki's months of effort to change it to that from Heretic Smasher.
Though not the best, Infinity was way better than Heretic Smasher.
'Smasher makes me feel like I am a barbarian or something. I want this persona to be elegant.'
Throughout the entire street, Shigure walked alone. Elegantly.
'Should I change cities? Saitama is too far away. Maybe I'm being too paranoid.' Shigure pondered.
He walked and walked. Before long, he stopped.
A warehouse.
'This seems like a perfect place to store some shady things. Should we look inside?' Shigure was excited to pick the lock.
Unfortunately, there was no lock.
'Ugh. Abandoned.' Shigure lost all interest after he entered it.
He looked at the switchboard and turned on all the switches.
Actual bulbs.
Instead of LEDs, there were bulbs on the roof.
'How old is this? I don't think anybody uses bulbs in this age... or do they?' Shigure was surprised at this.
Flickering.
The bulbs gave out a yellow light and were flickering. Ancient.
That's when Shigure saw it.
A shadow.
"Who's there?" he barked, staff already drawn.
"Hmm?" A hummed voice could be heard echoing throughout the entire warehouse.
He saw the shadow getting up—a person.
Pink hair. Red eyes. She was holding a big scythe.
[ Scanning. This individual is highly likely to be the villain that goes with the name: Reaper. Her quirk is unknown. She seems to go after villains similar to you, however, the similarity ends here. She is ruthless. Multiple of her victims' bodies had been found dismembered. ]
"How the fuck can you compare me to such a barbarian?" Shigure was flabbergasted.
He was sadistic, sure—but not a goddamn butcher.
[ ... ]
"Turn on the communication mode."
[ Activated Communication mode. Your voice is now hearable to people other than me. ]
"Of all people, it had to be Reaper." He said to the woman who was standing on the first floor.
She jumped above the railing and landed gracefully on the ground.
"Who are you?" Her scythe lazily moved towards Shigure.
"They call me Infinity." He sidestepped the swing and stabbed at her throat.
With the handle of her weapon, she deflected the staff. "Infinity? That rings a bell." She narrowed her eyes in concentration.
Shigure backed off, dodging another swing.
"Wait, are you Smasher? Heretic Smasher? Damn, I wanted to meet you for a long time." She grinned, all fangs now. All the laziness disappeared from her visage.
Her scythe moved through the air at a rapid speed. Shigure's eyes widened behind his visor.
The blade almost kissed his neck, eager to decapitate.
'Slow Down.' Shigure focused his domain around the blade of the scythe.
'The fuck!? SPEED UP 40x' Shigure quickly changed the domain around him and activated his quirk, quickly walking backwards.
"Enhancer? I thought your quirk was slowing down things or something." She tilted her head in confusion.
'Why did my quirk not work on her weapon? What if I use it on her?' Shigure was too panicked to reply.
He increased the size of his domain, engulfing her and then used his quirk.
'Her whole existence is immune to my quirk. She's untouchable—immune to time fuckery. Is her quirk something similar to Aizawa's?'
Shigure's hypothesis was ruled out in the next instant.
THUD
A spiderlike crack appeared beneath where Reaper was standing. She launched like a missile.
"Seriously, what even is your quirk?!" Shigure asked, dodging her swing again.
"It's called Reaper. I am a Grim Reaper who takes life." She smirked, rushing at Shigure.
"Is that so? Well, I don't want to die. So, I would be leaving first." 'Is her quirk similar to Star and Stripes? I dunno what it is, but it's troublesome. Prolly Tier 1 Reality-influencing quirk or there's even a chance that it's Tier 0 with some other bullshit power.'
He swung his rod at her, however, she deflected it.
TINK
Her strength was so much that Shigure found his entire right hand shaking. The rod was flying backwards.
Shigure started running in the opposite direction, towards his staff.
"Check out my new move." She swung her scythe, the blade detached itself from the body, and connected through a chain.
"Merry Go Round." She started spinning, and the blade at the edge also started rotating around her as the centre.
Shigure jumped before the blade reached him. At the same time, he caught his rod while in mid-air.
'Speed Up 40x'
Time bent. He thought.
'If I hit the ground now, then my legs would be caught up by that. That's going to be brutal.'
He looked around and then smirked when something caught his eye.
A very big cylinder with Danger written on it.
'How convenient. Due to how old this place is, that thing won't have much defence.' He changed the grip on the rod in his hand and threw it at the cylinder.
BOOM
A loud explosion occurred. The flames and the force were enough to throw Shigure and the scythe away from each other.
Shigure found himself hitting the wall of another building outside the scythe.
'Damn. It's just been a few weeks since I signed the contract, yet I am rich enough to buy such good equipment.'
Shigure was currently wearing special clothes, which had flame resistance and, to some extent, shock resistance.
'Run.' Just as Shigure got up, he found a scythe rushing at his eye.
'Speed Up.' He tilted his head, dodging it.
"Can you, like, not?" Shigure cursed.
"Don't want to."
---
Date- 11th Feb
"Hatsune Shigure, it's my pleasure to get a chance to interview you."
"Mm."
"Indeed. So, let's get to the main point. My first question for you is, How did you do it? CMLA, How did you make it?"
"I would say that it was mainly due to three reasons. First inspiration. You might have seen it, but there are multiple components named in it that kind of sound like what humans could do, like a cognition cell. It was based on humans after all, but you get the idea, no?
Second is my expertise. It might not seem obvious now, but I have spent a ridiculous amount of time on this. I think without that, it would have been impossible.
Thirdly, my quirk helped in training the thing very quickly. This did help mainly in checking what the result looks like and finding where things could be improved."
"That's amazing. I need to ask a few follow-ups. You mentioned your quirk in helping train models. Can you tell me about it?"
"..."
"No worries. My next question is about how much time you spent making it? You said it took a ridiculous amount of time, and from what I have heard, various experts say that this project wouldn't have been completed in just a few years."
"…Pass."
"Is that so?... How about we move on to the next question, then? My second question for you is about your age. Many are shocked that a 12-year-old boy won the Nobel Prize. What do you think about this? Any suggestions for other kids or even adults who want to replicate such a feat?"
"Hmm...I would say that I never liked people to look at me for my age. Well, it's complicated. I would say that for other people to replicate this, they should focus on their strengths and quirks. You might be surprised by how many people are dissatisfied with their quirks. Like bro, it's not even funny. One other day, I saw a person dissatisfied with their tier 1 quirk.
It was ridiculous. Quirks are not just tools to do some barbaric fights. I think our evolving workforce has already proven that, but it's just a reminder."
"Indeed. That is pretty insightful. Quite a lot of people like to curse the hands they are dealt with instead of actually taking action. Here is my final question: What are your plans moving forward? First, it was RGSC, and now it's CMLA. Do you mind sharing in what direction you would be moving forward?"
"Absolutely nothing."
"Sorry?"
"I said nothing. I have no plans moving forward. I would be taking a long break, preferably a long one. To be honest, I won't be creating or going to researching something new. Just do enough not to deteriorate my skills and knowledge."
'I have spent too much time on this. Initially, it started with a passion, but soon the passion was snuffed out. What remained was my desire. Desire to reach the end. That has also been reached. The process wasn't really what I wanted it to be, and the result doesn't feel worth it... I will start focusing on curing my insomnia and get better at fighting. Maybe start bulking up a bit... nah, it's too early for that.'
---
Date- 23rd Feb
In a small room, two individuals were sitting on chairs.
A desk separated them. One faced the window, the other the door.
The one by the window had a taller chair—the kind that said 'this is my office.'
Calling him a person was generous. He looked like a hybrid—part animal, part intellect.
A boy, seemingly in his early teens, sat across from him.
At first glance, the room was simple. A second glance revealed the lie—hidden high-tech equipment everywhere.
"It's my honour to meet one of the smartest creatures on this planet," The boy said, grinning.
He was practically vibrating in his seat.
His excitement was justified—he was in Nezu's presence.
The name alone commanded recognition among the masses.
"A pleasure to meet a bright young man like you. Your new solution for improving the efficiency of LLMs was... fascinating." Nezu was indirectly talking about CMLA.
He liked that the boy had done this feat without having an intelligence-related quirk.
"Just lucky," The boy said modestly.
"I won't say that it's luck, after all, it's quite rare to find multi-talented people like you."
"What do you mean multi-talented?" The boy tilted his head.
"It's rare for a boy your age to shake up the tech world—rarer for the same boy to be part-time as a vigilante."
The boy's smile twitched.
Just for a second.
"Am I correct? Shigure, or should I say Mr Infinity?"
His eyes sharpened.
How? That was the question screaming behind his smile.
'Apart from Him, nobody should have known about my identity. Not even Aizawa had seen this face, so how?' Keigo was the only one who knew about his identity.
He'd been careful.
In fact, too careful.
Yet here sat Nezu—pulling his identity out of thin air.
His thoughts spiralled, but his body didn't flinch.
If anything, his eyes gleamed brighter.
Amused. Intrigued.
Almost... thrilled.
As if being cornered like this was part of some twisted game.
His mind started tracing back—digging through his past, searching for the crack in his perfect silence.
***
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