"The fuck?" Momo blinked.
She looked at him closely for a few seconds, trying to find any hints of deception.
"For real?"
"For real." Shigure nodded.
"I have so many things to say. Why can't I also awaken my quirk randomly?" She complained.
"Hey now. I have been waiting for this moment for a long time now. I have been at the top of Tier 3 since your birthday."
"Mhm. You did mention that you have lived for more than a century, actually more than two centuries now. Is that really true?" Momo was still sceptical about the claim.
"I told you. That's true. Even gave you the chance to try it out." Shigure shrugged.
"And I remember rejecting you. I fucking don't know how you body doesn't age. What if that is exclusive to you only? What if I suddenly aged?" That was Momo's biggest concern. The same was true for Hawks, who hadn't tried training his quirk with the help of Shigure's.
Shigure had told them this usage of his quirk a few months back. It was an indirect way to tell them that he trusts them because if this information leaked out, Shigure's life would be in danger.
Even the government might start hunting him down if that happens.
"Well, now you could try it, as I came to know why that happens with this awakening." 'Along with why my eye was healed during the assassination attempt at New Year.'
"Oh? Did you learn new abilities? Or an upgrade in existing ones?"
"Mainly new ones. I told you that my quirk could be understood from remote analogy, right? The new features I unlocked are Repeat and Reversal. The former allows me to put anything in my domain, repeating a certain span of time again and again as many times as I want, given that my energy consumption supports it.
The latter allows me to revert anything in my domain to any previous state since it was in my domain. Though how many seconds I revert back is drastically proportional to the energy consumption."
Momo took a few seconds to process his words. "So, that age thing, it's reversal? But how is it not, you know, not reversing a person's consciousness... Or do you mean, it could exclude the consciousness from reverting? It should be the same for Loop, as otherwise it's kind of useless."
Shigure smirked, "Spot on."
"Damn. Your quirk is really broken."
"Wanna now try Speed Up?"
"Yeah, but what are we going to do? If I am going to train my quirk, then we need to change locations. How about my private training grounds? I will call the driver."
---
Date- 12th January
The alley was just a shortcut.
Shigure strolled through it with both hands in his pockets, humming softly to himself. His coat swayed with each step. The air smelled of rusted metal and wet trash. Rainwater dripped off broken pipes and pooled around his shoes. One of the overhead lamps buzzed and flickered.
He didn't mind the dark. Didn't even flinch when a rat scurried past.
But he missed the shadow.
It wasn't natural. Didn't belong.
The moment passed.
And then so did he.
A shape emerged silently from the wall behind him—no footsteps, no sound, just liquid motion. The figure slid out of the alley's shadows like mist drawn to gravity. A blade flicked out, gleaming only for a second before it plunged in.
Straight through Shigure's back.
He gasped, legs giving out.
There was no chance to activate anything. No time to react. He fell forward, face down, blood pooling fast beneath him.
The assassin stepped back, retracting the blade. His suit, matte black and cling-wrapped to his frame, bore no insignia. His movements were precise, calculated. He touched a device on his wrist. It blinked once.
"Target neutralised," he whispered into the comm, and then walked into the wall—vanishing completely into the darkness.
Just like that, Hatsune Shigure died for the second time.
---
The alley fell quiet again.
Minutes passed.
Then—his fingers twitched.
Slowly, the blood began to recede. Not spilt, but reversed—like the rain itself had begun to unfall. The dark pool under his body warped upward, sucked back into him. Flesh reformed. Muscles stitched. Bones locked into place.
His eyes opened.
"Huh…" He grunted, lifting his head. "Didn't see that coming." 'That guy is quite dangerous. I knew that Reversal could be used in this way to revive myself, but I haven't tried it before.'
Shigure rolled onto his back and lay still for a moment. Then he sat up and unwrapped a high-calorie chocolate bar from his coat.
He started analysing the guy from the encounter.
"Shadow travel," he muttered between bites. "Tier 2... Sneaky bastard."
He stood up.
And vanished.
---
The assassin crouched inside a warehouse's top floor—bare walls, broken windows, and a bitter wind. A digital tablet blinked with encrypted data: transaction confirmed. Payment completed. Job clean.
He was just about to slip into the wall again when he heard a soft, deliberate crunch.
He turned.
Shigure stood behind him.
His coat was soaked. His expression was blank.
No words.
He raised one hand—and time distorted.
The assassin blinked—
—and a staff cracked against his ribs.
He coughed and fell sideways, the blow echoing in the empty space. He tried to crawl, eyes wide with panic.
Then the moment reset.
'Loop: Infinity'
The staff connected to his head again, followed by dropping to the ground and then crawling.
Then came the reset.
Again.
And again.
The assassin whimpered, each loop dragging the panic deeper into his bones.
It was around the 31st loop that he started speaking.
"P-Please… what do you want from me?"
Shigure tilted his head.
No answer.
Reset.
The man trembled, vision blurring.
He tried various questions to gauge Shigure's exact intentions.
Around the 123rd loop, he finally gave him the information.
"I-It was from the Black Latch," he cried. "They flagged you. Said your CMLA were interfering. You have quite a large bounty in the underworld. That's all I know."
The assassin hoped that Shigure would stop his quirk.
However, that never happened.
Shigure's expression didn't change on receiving the information, as if he didn't care.
The loop continued.
And continued.
The man felt the pain of the staff hitting his head again and again.
He didn't know how long it took, but finally, the loop broke.
He lay there, panting, broken more inside than out.
Shigure crouched.
Tapped the man's cheek twice.
A feather drifted down nearby.
From the far side of the room, a figure stepped out—sharp suit, sharp eyes. One of Hawks's people.
Shigure stood up.
"He's all yours," he said quietly.
His voice wasn't cold.
It was tired.
"Erase everything from his mind... except the fear. Let him keep that part."
'Can't let the detail of my quirk be leaked so early. Also, I was lucky in finding the guy's position initially. Guess I would praise Ki later.'
---
It was late afternoon.
The sun cast long shadows across the room. The windows were tall, spotless. Nezu's office looked like a quiet observatory—bookshelves crammed with texts, paper stacks neatly aligned, and monitors showing various live feeds of the school grounds.
A cup of tea steamed beside Nezu. Shigure sat on a padded chair, legs crossed, hand fidgeting with a pen.
"You were correct," Nezu said, tapping a graph. "Your prediction on the villain cell's migration patterns held. Almost 89% accuracy."
"Should've been 92," Shigure replied. "I overestimated the priority they'd place on manpower versus location."
Nezu smiled. "A common error. The human factor is always unpredictable."
They shifted to another display. Maps lit up, strings of text marking surveillance zones.
"Now, this," Nezu gestured, "was where you struggled. Why?"
Shigure leaned forward.
"Because I assumed they'd be strategic. But they weren't thinking tactically. They were thinking emotionally—pride, revenge, paranoia. They scattered not to survive, but to taunt."
Nezu nodded once.
"You're learning. True analysis isn't about cold logic. It's about messy motives."
Silence passed. Then Nezu folded his paws. As if considering his words.
"What if… your quirk was stolen?"
The question dropped like a pebble into still water.
Shigure blinked. Not expecting to indirectly be talking about All for One.
Then laughed.
It wasn't loud. But it wasn't fake, either.
"I'd still be me," he said simply. "I am the quirk."
Nezu tilted his head. "Curious. Care to elaborate?"
Shigure looked out the window.
"Even if you rip the wires out of a machine... the design still exists in blueprints. I am the design. You'd have to erase me completely for that to change."
Nezu studied him for a few long seconds.
Then gave a small, approving nod.
"That... is a terrifying answer." 'Does he really believe what he is saying? From what I have known so far, he has spent quite a large amount of time due to his quirk. He said more than a century. Though I am doubtful about his claim, it does make sense for him to have that much expertise in Artificial Intelligence.
Hawks did mention that he hadn't had the first therapy session yet, but he has noticed quite a few troublesome tendencies.
***
A/n- Guys, we didn't reach the goal. I was actually planning to give you a freebie even if we reached 50 Powerstones, but despite it being 24 hours since then, we still haven't reached 50 Powerstones.
Here is a little motivation. If we reach 70 Powerstones before 24 hours, then a double release tomorrow.
***
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