Where was this fire loving bastard? I had been searching for him for a whole month. I even found a few small timers with similar Quirks, but they were too weak. It wouldn't have been so annoying if he hadn't burned anyone during this month. But there were three whole incidents in the same city. And I hadn't caught him. This was a serious blow to my confidence in my investigative skills.
Why was this making me so angry?
I also considered this activity the best way to distract myself from the confusing emotions I felt toward Mei. After that goodbye, she had been acting the same as always. But now I was the one who didn't know how to react. I even thought my claustrophobia had disappeared. But no. This caught me off guard. And realizing that Mei might mean something more to me than just a friend was like snow falling on a traveler's head in the middle of the Sahara Desert. Equally unexpected and sudden.
I understood that boys and girls could have romantic relationships. And that it could happen to me, although claustrophobia had made me seriously doubt that. But I wasn't going to give up on my dreams because of fear. So I had always thought of such relationships as something in the distant future. Like, after I achieved my goals, became strong, and so on.
The worst part about my current state was that I couldn't tell if Hatsume felt the same way about me, or if I was just overthinking things like some damn otaku sitting in his room 24/7 after a pretty girl said hello to him. So I decided to ignore this incident. Running away from a problem was a sign of weakness, but making a mistake and making a fool of myself was even less appealing. Besides, I hadn't known her that long, and I had plenty of other problems.
Having justified my escape from this complicated and slippery topic, I focused on the villain organization's request to find promising candidates. One of them, Muscular, turned out to be surprisingly easy to find. I decided to save a serious fight with him for the future. I thought it would be in bad taste during a recruitment attempt, and besides, I wasn't sure I could stop myself from killing him. This unexpected problem surprised me quite a bit, although I still didn't consider it that important.
When fighting serious, powerful opponents, I aimed to kill, not just win. After the fight with that creature, I had become even more fierce in my search for and invention of ways to kill my fellow man. Plus Ultra was cool, pompous, epic, and in some cases even powerful. But when that method didn't work, I would prefer to stab a poisoned knife into my enemy's ribs and make a quick getaway. The key was knowing when to switch from "Plus Ultra" to plans B, C, D, and even E, the so-called plan for idiots. It was a shame I couldn't always come up with that many plans for every situation. Then it was unclear whether I just hadn't thought of it, or the situation didn't allow for so many actions with a satisfactory outcome.
But to return to the A class villain, I found out his very straightforward philosophy and life stance. Might makes right. I practiced my wit a little while dodging his blows, and finally suggested he join an organization with the ambitious name "League of Villains." He told me to get lost. But I wasn't disappointed, expecting such an answer, and gave him a number to contact Giran. In short, I had a fun time. And, feeling encouraged, I set off to find the talented pyromaniac.
But with my current mood, if I did find him, the success of the search might end with the premature end of his career and his life.
My further thoughts were interrupted by a strange sensation from my developed "Gaze." A medium sized truck drove past me, inside which I could feel no less than ten weak life signatures of people. That made me curious.
I had to work hard to follow the fast moving truck in broad daylight without being seen. Fortunately, traffic jams kept me from losing sight of it. An hour later, the truck drove into a warehouse complex attached to a nightclub. Coming closer to the gate, which hid the truck from my sight, I could feel the life signatures underground.
After some thought, I decided to pay a visit here at night, wearing my villain costume. For now, it would be better to learn more about this nightclub.
Looking at the night sky, I yawned widely. My desire to go to this nightclub called "Devil's Pleasure" was slowly fading. But suppressing my laziness, I headed there. With my Quirk, I couldn't complain. I would sneak in quickly, look around, maybe learn something useful or liberate some valuables, and slip away.
Thanks to my curiosity and persistence, which sometimes bordered on sheer stubbornness, I had often come across various villains. And I robbed them. Some well hidden ones even filed police reports. Oh, I especially loved those moments. Especially the reactions of the police officers when they discovered compromising information on the "victim" of the theft.
Looking at the crowd of people gathered at the club's entrance, I recalled the club's description. There wasn't much interesting information about it. It was just that the children of wealthy officials and company heads hung out here quite often. The club itself had opened two years ago and had quickly become popular.
But I was more interested in what was underground. I used "Choice" to become invisible and passed through the ground down. I ended up in a room where two light silhouettes were moving quite actively. The pungent smell of sweat and the sounds of rhythmic clapping mixed with female moans left no doubt about what this couple was doing.
Well, I had already achieved the status of a voyeur long ago, so there was nothing to worry about. I walked through the door and examined the corridor with other rooms. No video cameras. At least half of the rooms had people indulging in the sins of the flesh. Either the club's owners had forgotten to mention the underground floor with cheap love motel style rooms, or this was an underground brothel.
I wanted to be here less and less. Because some of the women here were clearly here against their will. The atmosphere of this place made me feel pure disgust. I even wanted to tip off the heroes with the club's address and clear instructions on what to look for. Just because I was a villain didn't mean I had to like this place.
I was about to leave when a door to one of the rooms opened. A fat man came out, cursing loudly. I noticed the slowly fading weak light silhouette.
On a whim, I entered the room and stopped using "Choice." In the middle of a red toned room, on a huge bed, lay the naked body of a girl who looked about ten years old. A cold feeling spread through my chest.
I walked to the bed mindlessly and examined her carefully. A thick white liquid was flowing from her groin. Her small body was covered in bruises, and one of her arms was broken. The cold spread from my chest to my throat.
Her weak breathing was barely audible in the quiet room. Her gray eyes stared motionlessly at the wall. I looked closer at them. Some memory scratched at the edge of my consciousness.
Footsteps came from the corridor. Her empty, glassy eyes still stared at the wall.
*"...I realized what had seemed strange about that boy. When they were wheeling him, his head with open eyes was turned toward me. There were no thoughts or emotions in his eyes, not even pain. They were like glass..."*
The cold reached my head. The memory clearly showed the details of the boy I had seen long ago. His white hair, his blue, emotionless eyes, the black straps holding his body against the gurney. Something dark and hot began to burn in my consciousness.
[Rokuro Higa's Pov ]
Rokuro Higa listened with a smile to the fat man's complaints, hiding his inner dissatisfaction and slight contempt for the man. Rokuro was a fairly thin, handsome man who, thanks to his intelligence and cunning, had managed to become a pimp. He was in a very good mood.
Money was flowing into his pockets in ever greater streams. Bribed city officials and police ignored his establishment. Heroes didn't cause any problems, busy with petty thieves. And today, a new batch of toys had arrived. He had already been wanting to try one of them out when a regular client of the establishment, Yamaguchi san, approached him.
"Higa san, this is unacceptable. I started with this girl only three hours ago, and she is already broken. How do you explain this?"
Cursing the quickly broken toy to himself, Rokuro began to speak with an apologetic smile.
"I am very sorry, Yamaguchi san. We are ready to give you another…"
Suddenly, distant screams and the pounding of feet began to echo from the corridor. Frowning, Higa excused himself again to Yamaguchi and left the office. His hand began to pull a pistol from a hidden holster, and he headed toward the running guards.
From around the corner leading to the corridor with the client rooms came cries of pain and calls for help. Several gunshots rang out, then a sharp, squelching sound and a heavy impact.
Already realizing that this incident could put an end to his establishment, the pimp peered around the corner.
The smell and the sight made him vomit up his dinner. The entire corridor was covered in blood. Several poorly dressed or completely undressed corpses of men lay on the floor, and frightened women's screams came from the rooms. One of the three guards who had arrived was flattened against the wall between two doors.
The guard closest to Rokuro, his hands shaking, fired at the dark, blood covered figure slowly pulling a knife from the last guard, who was gasping for air. The stranger didn't pay any attention to the gunfire. The stone chips from the bullets hitting the wall at the end of the corridor flew everywhere.
Quickly turning around, the pimp ran toward the stairs leading up. Fear and the last guard's quickly fading desperate scream made him run faster than he ever had before. A sharp blast of air from behind sent his body slamming into a stone wall.
After hitting the wall, his body crashed to the floor. Feeling pain throughout his body and his facial bones broken, Higa started crawling toward the stairs. Whimpering in pain and spitting out several knocked out teeth, he crawled and called for help.
The pain clouded his mind. Fear and panic at the footsteps of the masked figure made him move.
Suddenly, a knife pierced his wrist. A scream of pain echoed through the room. With tears streaming from his eyes, the pimp's bloody face stared at the black mask with the bloody smile. Crimson coals seemed to stare into his very soul.
"Where are you rushing off to? We're not done yet. I have a few questions for you. Don't worry, the conversation will be quite interesting. I know how to entertain my guests."
A metallic voice said, ending with a chuckle.
[End Pov Rokuro Higa]