Date- 29 Jan Location- Musutafu
Shigure walked with his hands in his pockets, his loose hoodie fluttering slightly from the breeze. Sunglasses rested on his nose, but he wasn't wearing them to look cool. He just didn't want people trying to figure him out through his eyes. They often told more than words.
Moreover, believe it or not, he was slightly famous.
He had just finished some side errands. A pack of his special chocolates rattled inside his hoodie pocket, already half-melted.
'Have to re-freeze it after putting it in the fridge'
As he turned onto a smaller street, he paused.
Ahead, two boys were towering over a third. They were maybe around his age, but that wasn't saying much. The third one—scruffy green hair, hunched back, holding onto his notebook like it was a shield—was clearly the target.
"C'mon, Deku. You gonna cry again?" one of the bullies said, snickering as he smacked the notebook out of the green-haired kid's hands.
The second one shoved him against a fence. "What's it like, being useless? Bet your mom cries herself to sleep."
Shigure said nothing.
He just stood there.
Watching.
The sound of the notebook hitting the ground drew one of the bullies' attention. The guy turned and locked eyes with Shigure.
"The hell you lookin' at?"
Shigure didn't reply.
He didn't blink. Didn't move.
It pissed the guy off.
He stomped toward him. "I said—!"
The boy raised a hand to grab Shigure's collar.
Crack
Shigure's hand blurred and landed clean against the side of the guy's neck. He went limp in an instant, hitting the pavement with a dull thud.
'Guess all that training with Sensei was worth it. Now I could knock out a person with just my hands.'
The other bully bolted.
"Take him with you," Shigure shouted, but the bully didn't stop.
Midoriya stared, stunned. "Th-thank you."
Shigure tilted his head. "Why do you get bullied?"
The question was flat, almost lazy. But his eyes stayed locked on Midoriya, scanning.
'He doesn't scream protagonist on first glance.'
Midoriya blinked. "Huh?"
"You're not fooling anybody." Shigure crouched to pick up the notebook, brushing it off before opening it.
He looked at the latest analysis. 'Damn. I won't comment on the formatting, but the analysis is already at the professional level. He could easily get himself a job at a hero agency as an analyst. Heck, if he contacted Nezu, he might even get tutored to become one of the top ones.'
"Your eyes don't match the rest of your act."
Eyes are the window to the soul.
Shigure believed that to some extent, and it was reinforced when looking at Midoriya.
"What do you mean…?"
"I mean, you don't look helpless. You look like someone who knows exactly how things work... and is playing dumb because it's safer."
Midoriya laughed. But it wasn't happy. It had too many layers—frustration, bitterness, resignation.
"You're not wrong," he said. "But what would you have me do? Record them? That just gets me sued. No support, of course kid has the money to survive a legal battle. And even if I win, no agency's gonna take someone who stirs up legal noise before even enrolling."
Shigure's eyes narrowed slightly. "You make it sound like the only options are suffer silently or destroy everything."
"They kind of are," Midoriya said, running a hand through his messy hair. "That's what this world's like. If you're quirkless, no one cares until you're dead—and even then, they'll blame you for it."
"So?" Shigure leaned against the wall, arms crossed now. "So you give up?"
"I didn't say that. I just don't make things worse for my mom. She's the only person who hasn't treated me like garbage." His voice softened. "She's already tired. I don't want to add court hearings and public mess to that."
There was a pause.
Shigure clicked his tongue.
"That's not the answer either."
Midoriya looked up. "Then what is?"
Shigure glanced toward the knocked-out bully. "You're smart. Smarter than you let on. If you really wanted to stop them, you could've destroyed their lives without ever being caught. Blackmail, exposing them on anonymous forums, getting dirt on their families… whatever."
Though Shigure hadn't met many people, he could recognise capable ones with a glance.
I didn't think that I would call Izuku smart. Well, he was smart, but not to this extent. Then again, this is reality— the reality of living being quirkless. Moreover, he has shown intelligence in battles multiple times.'
Midoriya frowned. "That would make me no different than a villain."
Shigure laughed. A short, dry sound.
"Those two weren't heroes either. And they probably won't ever be. Most people don't want justice—they want the illusion of being on the right side. You think the system works just because heroes exist? Nah. It works because people believe it works."
He wasn't looking at Midoriya anymore. His gaze wandered—somewhere far.
'Actually, no. I am wrong. Bakugo's existence proves my point wrong. Then again, I wonder if U.A didn't do a background check, or they pretended to be ignorant about it.'
Midoriya stretched his hand, retrieving his notebook. "Still… that's not the path I want."
"Hmph." Shigure glanced back. "You're weird."
"I get that a lot."
"But I didn't expect this."
"What?"
"That you'd be entertaining."
Midoriya tilted his head. "Huh?"
"I expected a lot of stuttering and fanboying. Instead, you gave me a rant about legal systems and social narratives." Shigure smiled—subtle and slow. "I like surprises."
"Well… sorry I'm not boring enough?" Midoriya was confused.
"No, don't apologise. It's rare."
They started walking down the street, side by side, though neither had planned to.
Shigure looked at him again, this time more curious than cold. 'Guess his fanboying and hero obsession really did overshadow the actual genius underneath. OFA wouldn't have worked if he didn't have some brains.' Shigure reaffirmed his thoughts about Izuku Midoriya.
Midoriya looked back at the boy beside him. "You seem around my age. You have a provisional license?"
"Why do you think so?" Shigure smirked.
"Then, are you a vigilante? You know you used your quirk in a public place."
"I am not a barbarian. It was just self-defence."
Midoriya just deadpanned.
"Your quirk—what is it?"
"Why do you assume I have one?"
Midoriya didn't answer. He just grinned.
Shigure chuckled. "Fine. Maybe I'll show you sometime."
"Just don't chop me in the neck."
"No promises."
They both laughed.
For a brief moment, it didn't feel like two people on opposite sides of the system.
It felt like two people who understood how broken it really was.
And that made all the difference.
---
Date: 2 Feb.
"Momo, let's play." Shigure grinned.
"Why are you so enthusiastic?"
"I am going to beat you today."
"Really? Let's see."
One 1v1 later...
"I actually lost," Momo muttered, her eyes widening. Shocked.
Shigure had a triumphant grin on his face.
This was his first victory against her last year.
"Are you using your quirk?" She narrowed her eyes. Normally, she doesn't mind him using the quirk as it never changed the result.
However, today that changed.
"Nope."
"Prove it. Remove your contacts and play another match with me."
"Kay." Momo was taken aback by how fast he agreed.
It was almost suspicious.
Another 1v1 later.
"I won. Too easy." Shigure smirked. "Guess, you don't amount to that much." He casually teased Momo.
She frowned, biting back the retort that almost surfaced.
"Tch. Guess you finally used your quirk to spend time on learning games."
"Uh, yeah."
"Wait, really? How long did it take?"
"Well, I was just messing around with my abilities. Took around 7 days to reach this level. After that, I grinded a bit and took part in rankings."
"Rankings? Did you get into the global rankings? What is your user name? Also, isn't one week too much? I thought one day should have sufficed?"
Shigure played on Momo's secondary account whenever he came over.
"I am currently ranked one. Both in-game rankings and in-competition rankings. Eclipse. Apart from learning procedural skills, I also focused on strategy and tactics, along with predicting what people will do. It's not perfect, but with Speed Up, it's quite efficient. I could replicate what Principal Nezu could do to some extent. Though energy costs are high."
The game had two kinds of rankings. One was in-game, where your rank is decided by the trophies or points you earn from winning matches. This is more dependent on how much you grind rather than your skill.
The second is competition rankings, which depend on your position in weekly battle royale competitions that take place. This is Momo's bread and butter, and she ranks 96th globally, which is kind of ridiculous if one considers that her quirk doesn't really enhance her gaming skills.
"Damn. You are the one whose rank hasn't changed for the last 3 weeks. It's almost unprecedented for rank 1. Maybe you could use this point to start a streaming career or something."
"Streaming career?" Shigure muttered.
"I was just joking. Anyway, how about we play a battle royale? I want to see your skills in action."
***
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