"How did you find out?" Shigure's heartbeat quickened.
A strange thrill stirred in him.
'Was it due to Keigo's involvement? Keigo's history with vigilantes might've tipped Aizawa off—especially if I stood out. This, along with how my real-life persona is deeply associated with Keigo, might have given it away.'
"You're accepting it? I was expecting you not to accept it right away, but I wanted you to take your time. Well, it was due to..." Shigure found his assumptions correct.
"I see." He sipped his tea, slow and steady.
"You're not panicking?"
"Not really. I am resigned now. You can do anything to me, now that you have blackmail material."
"Your face says otherwise. Anyway, I had talked with Hawks about this before. I have a proposal." Nezu passed a single-page document to Shigure.
"You did? What did he say?" Shigure took the document, scanning it.
"He was calm too—just like you. Though on hindsight, it's not that surprising."
"Figures. You've got no proof anyway. The worst you could do is take away my reputation, but I really don't care. It might be problematic for some of my future plans." Shigure put down the paper.
Slurp.
He took another sip of the tea before making eye contact with Nezu.
"The clauses of this contract are pretty good, but why are you putting this in a contract? Wouldn't a verbal promise be enough here?" Shigure pushed the paper back to Nezu.
"Indeed. I just thought you might not agree to a verbal promise. What are your thoughts on this contract?"
The contract boiled down to three points:
1. Hatsune Shigure would receive UA's support and training for the next six years as a Hero-in-training.
2. He must consistently meet with a therapist.
3. He has to halt his nightly activities during his term in UA.
In return, UA won't disclose his vigilante identity.
"I have a problem with point three. Will my vigilante persona be evaporated? I spent so much time building it. Also, I already have a therapist. I just haven't started talking to them."
"Unfortunately, yes. But this is just for 1.5 years. You would then be eligible to give the Provisional License exam. Moreover, you could still tag with some of our faculty on their patrols. Just not alone."
Shigure frowned. 'If I agree, this might set me up for the Hero path. Do I really want to give up on Infinity—or becoming a villain?'
Slurp
"Fine. I would concede." Shigure sighed. 'Honestly, I was getting sick of the Saitama trips anyway.'
"Wonderful. I will email you the details. Let's talk about CMLA next. I wanted to ask multiple questions." Nezu changed the topic.
Shigure had a pretty wonderful discussion with him.
'I could distinguish between non-experts and experts. But this guy... Calling him an expert feels like calling Hawks 'decent.'
---
Ding Dong
Creak
The door opened "You are finally here..." Momo paused. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Shigure.
"What's up with the makeup?" She asked, pointing at his eyes.
Shigure rolled his eyes, stepping inside. "I just had a meeting with someone. So had to hide the eyebags."
"Hmm", Momo closed the door. "You mentioned having insomnia or something. Does sound painful."
"Rather than painful, I would say it's more of an annoyance." Shigure dropped onto the couch.
He'd abused 'Speed Up' for years now. Living in a time-dilated world has quite a lot of benefits.
The best benefit was that you get a lot of time.
But the downsides were brutal.
The worst disadvantage is that you get a lot of time.
Shigure didn't always have sadistic tendencies. He didn't see people as a source of entertainment from the beginning.
It happened in the last few years.
'I can't even get enough rest, even when I take 10 hours of sleep for 14 hours of being conscious. The mental fatigue is always there.' Shigure had been facing this kind of fatigue a little before he sold his personally created training method to the Association.
He had even tried increasing the sleep hours, but it didn't help much.
For him, sleep was just dead time.
Close eyes. World pauses. Open them—resume.
Literally that.
After much experimentation and opting for efficiency, Shigure found the current scheme of his sleeping cycle.
10 hours of sleep for every 50 hours of being conscious.
Brutal, but efficient.
"Hey!"
"Yes?" Shigure blinked. He looked at Momo's frown.
"I was calling you. You spaced out again. Are you sure that you don't need sleep?" She poked at his forehead.
"Yeah. Your words just reminded me of something. Anyway, should we start with some 1v1? I have around 3 hours to spare. We could play a few matches before going for a battle royale." Shigure glanced at the wall clock while grabbing the controller.
"Sure. Don't whine after you lose." Momo agreed. Despite being 12 years old, their schedules were packed. This gaming session was agreed upon 2 weeks before.
"I should say that to you," Shigure smirked. Behind his contacts, his eyes morphed into a forward arrow.
Using quirk during the matches wasn't banned. Though he hasn't said to Momo that he uses them.
...
3 Matches later.
"The fuck? How are you winning despite having the worst matchup in every round?" Shigure's grip on the controller tightened.
"Language." Momo subconsciously said, picking up this habit from her mother. "Coz you suck."
Shigure had given the handicap to choose any character for himself and for Momo. It has been this way since their first session.
Since then, He had never won once.
Shigure's grip loosened. "Am I really that bad?" He muttered while reflecting on the battle.
"Actually, no. Though you might look like a noob, you are better than an average one. All your tactics during the battle are brilliant, as if you had thought of them and improvised on the spot. The reason you suck is that you don't have command on the game movements themselves. You press keys fast, but something feels off—like it's not synced right. Moreover, some of your decisions, though logical, are not good for the long term. Like during that fight..."
For the next 10 minutes, Momo had a discussion with Shigure about his gaming sense.
After this discussion, Shigure realised something. 'I am not the one who sucks, but rather she is the one who is unnaturally good at the game.'
"Say, I have noticed this, but at the beginning of almost all sessions, you always seem like you haven't played the game in a while. Is this the only time you ever play?" Momo asked while twirling her bangs.
"Yeah. Who plays a multi-player game alone?"
"..." Momo froze.
"This is a multi-player. You could just go solo or go with random teammates for a battle royale or any modes."
"Play with randos? Nah, not worth it. It feels like I don't have friends or something to play with. Solo is fine, but it gets boring too quickly." Shigure nonchalantly said while changing the mode to a battle-royale.
He had enough warm-up.
"...Is that so? Suddenly, I am getting an urge to play a bit more 1v1."
"Hmm?" Shigure furrowed his eyebrows. 'What's with that smile? Suspicious'.
...
2 Matches later.
"..." Shigure looked at the screen in dismay.
He looked like a man who'd lost everything.
On seeing his expression, a passerby might have thought that he had lost his family to a villain or something.
On the other hand, Momo had a jovial expression. Almost as if she had done something relaxing.
'I fucking even used 40x while consuming my stash to defeat her. Yet I lost so miserably.'
The reason Shigure is so devastated is not that he lost, but rather that he lost quite easily.
Despite having the same conditions as the previous 3 matches, these two matches took less than what one full previous match would take.
He was completely defeated.
'I didn't know the skill gap was so large.'
"So, where's my prize?" Momo grinned like a Cheshire cat.
"Tch. Here." Shigure took out a chocolate bar.
Red Velvet.
His favourite flavour!
"Why did you even gamble when you knew that you would lose?" She opened the wrapper and took a bite.
"Because I thought I could actually win." Shigure hadn't gambled on his victory but rather on how long he would last.
He had done that while taking the estimate of the first 3 matches.
"Wanna go again?"
"No." 'I have a feeling that she would still win again. She must not have shown her full capabilities yet. How clever.'
"Anyway, are you sure that you won't die while eating this? This one is 500,000 calories packed in one bar." Shigure grinned.
He purposely said this now, not when he gave her the chocolate.
"Yeah, I would be fine. I always check things before I eat." She rolled her eyes at his antics. "Anyway, let's switch to battle royale."
---
"So... you going to train me?" Shigure looked at Aizawa, who was looking at him.
More like glaring at him.
Though the man had dry eyes, so he might just be looking normally.
At least, that's what Shigure told himself.
***
A/n- 24 hours! We are very close to our goals. 2 Bonus Chapters are on line!
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