Chapter 25: Chapter 24: Reflection
Man, if the police keep me here any longer I may just break out and start my vigilante or villain arc.
I called Toga ahead before the police reached me and told her that I would be late but goddammit they were keeping me from enjoying burgers.
I have allowed people to park in handicapped spots for less.
From the officer's nervous gaze, I am fairly sure my displeasure showed in my eyes.
"So... when the hell can I go back? The criminal has been apprehended, everyone is safe and my frozen patties are starting to melt in my bag." I stared at the officers who stuttered, giving him my best death glare which was a pretty damn good death glare.
"W-well, since you don't have a provisional hero license and used your quirk to apprehend the suspect with very rough force we have to-" I tuned him out as I internally seethed.
Fucking laws. It's times like this where I was in a medieval might makes right world where I could just walk out and show them the middle finger. But no, I was in modern Japan but even more repressive this time.
...Well, if I am strong enough might would actually make me right.
What would the government say to me if I break laws when I am easily capable of nuking a city myself? After all, the only reason All Might is not the one ruling Japan is because of his morality. Prime All Might was so absurdly strong and fast that if he wanted he could have went country to country and dismantled their strongest militaries and could have declared himself the emperor of Japan without hassle.
The law is decided by the strong.
Unfortunately, I am not very strong at the moment.
Sigh
I was planning on saving this roll until I reached home and restocked on Toganium but I am utterly bored out of my mind so why not just roll it right now?
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Rolling Silver Gacha Ticket...
A Common Power!
[Common - Geyser]
|Rarity: Common| |Class: Emitter|
Allows you to summon a geyser of water that will erupt from the ground within 25 meters with enough force to cause injuries.
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Huh, even though it's a common this is actually very good for me? It's yet another water-based power that would get boosted by Anchor, plus, since it's a common it shouldn't take me more than 2 days to hopefully upgrade it to uncommon level. I will start refining it right after I am finished with exoskeleton.
Looks like my gacha is really pushing me toward a water-based build huh? I won't complain I suppose, more synergy is always good.
As I was waiting again, I heard a knock on the door, surprising the officer and me too to a lesser extent as he went to open the door and surprisingly Nezu himself walked in.
"O-oh, Mr. Nezu what business do you have here?" Said the police officer sweating and bowing politely, after all, Nezu was very famous, he was the head of the most prestigious school in all of Japan. Nezu turned to me and waved, honestly, even I didn't know why he was here.
"I came to retrieve my student of course. Yo! Hakari-kun, I came to get you, hope you didn't have to wait very long. Just follow me." Shrugging I went with the principal's words and simply followed him out of the station with no one bothering to stop us.
As we walked out and were walking side by side I decided to break the ice.
"So... it's not like I don't appreciate it or anything but why did you decide to come personally and bail me out Nezu-sensei?" Hearing my words Nezu laughed lightly as we walked side by side.
"Don't think much of it Hakari-kun, I was just in the area and heard you were in trouble so I decided to take care of it. Would you mind if I walked with you a little? We are going in the same direction after all." I nodded, Nezu was a pretty cool guy so I didn't mind him at all. I didn't question how he knew my registered apartment either, after all, he needed to know my address to send the letter.
As we were walking Nezu talked again.
"I'm sure you must find it infuriating for you to get put in an annoying situation even though you saved the day. But you really did the right thing there Hakari-kun, I am proud of you for acting so decisively and quickly to defend both yourself and the innocent bystanders." Did I really? I just wanted to knock that guy's teeth in. Hard to view my actions as pragmatism when they were fueled by just my selfishness.
For some reason, the way Nezu talked made me really self-conscious about my actions. He talked to me like I was a hero to be, not who I was.
I was the lowest of the low. I was just playing hero. I had no illusions about the grandeur of heroism.
"Not... really, I didn't act to help people. Just really felt the urge to push his face in after he threatened me and took up my time." I admitted while scratching the back of my neck, I felt really uncomfortable right now.
I couldn't read him, he was too smart and I wasn't an expert in reading bipedal mouse expressions, I barely knew his personality too.
To my surprise, he simply laughed a little.
"That doesn't really change anything Hakari-kun, in the end, thanks to you nobody was hurt other than the villain who only suffered a few life-altering injuries, you handled it perfectly despite what you say. From the perspective of the people in that shop, you were their hero and you weren't acting out with bad intentions either." I... guess?
If you looked at it from that perspective I suppose you could call my actions heroic? I just did not feel like one compared to my classmates. They wanted to be heroes to help people in need, I was just a selfish man acting on my own desires.
"Remember, Hakari-kun, you don't need to be an altruist to be a hero. Performing a heroic act doesn't always need to come from the willingness to throw your life away for others or from a burning desire to correct injustice, as long as you are moving to help someone I think that is heroic enough, because, in the end, you are still someone's hero regardless of how you feel." Nezu said casually while I fell into thought.
'Someone's hero...'
Does it really work like that? Urgh, this whole hero stuff was confusing me.
I really did not know what to think about that.
So I won't.
These are my thoughts and no one is living there rent-free.
"By the way Hakari-kun, what did you buy that made you so urgent to reach home?" He said pointing to my plastic bag while I shrugged my shoulder.
"Oh, Toga's waiting to make burgers back home and I can't cook anything more complex than an omelette or a sandwich. The burger meat is just about thawed now." Hearing my words Nezu nodded with satisfaction.
"Ah, I'm glad you are eating healthy, it slipped my mind that you were also living with Himiko-chan, how are you guys faring over there any problems?" There he was, unusually interested in my daily life again. I just can't read the guy.
" 's going pretty well, we get along well though the apartment is a bit far so 's actually a bit annoying. We were planning to move closer to the city centre since Toga is somewhat loaded with cash."
Nezu rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Well, you are in luck Hakari-kun, I know a lot of good places you and Himiko-chan rent near the Musutafu City Centre. When you guys are planning to move you can just give me a call!" I gave him a look that I hoped conveyed what I couldn't express in words.
"Uhh, I appreciate it very much Sensei but I wouldn't want to waste your time with that. You seem to be a very busy person after all." Busy was an understatement for someone in Nezu's position, he was one of the most influential people in the entire country and was similarly busy.
He just waved his hand, not really taking my words seriously.
"Don't worry about that Hakari-kun, it wouldn't take up any of my time at all, besides spending time helping my students is never a waste. Also, getting a second apartment at your age and records or lack thereof would be a bit difficult with no parents in the picture. I said you could rely on me Hakari-kun, it's not a problem for me." Well, I couldn't say I didn't appreciate it.
"Thank you very much Nezu-sensei." I bowed my head a little, even I could show respect to the people who deserved it. Seeing this the man just cryptically smiled like always.
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A bit later Nezu and I had to split up and I reached the apartment soon after.
I was greeted by a nervous Toga who I had to comfort a little, she herself did not have the best impression of the police for rather obvious reasons since she was still a former villain with connections to the underworld.
...Speaking of the underworld I may have to reach out to that Giran guy about Twice. He was incredibly important to an almost unreasonable level and I wanted to reach out to him before he got radicalized by Stain's ideology if he does in this world.
There were only two options, 1 was me recruiting Twice somehow as a very very powerful ally and because I wanted to see how his cloning worked on me and my unusual ability.
Option 2 was I kill him right then and there before shattering his body into tiny chunks with frostflare and then dumping them into the ocean. There wasn't a circumstance where I would let mr. Grey Goo Incident-to-be on the side of my opposition or any side that wasn't mine.
A bit ruthless I know, and I don't like killing mentally ill men who have been abandoned by society but at the same time when has not liking doing something ever stopped me? I was very good at pushing what I did not want to think about to the back of my head.
My bout of self-contemplation was finally ended by Toga having finished cooking, it was finally time for what I had been looking forward to All Day!
Toga cooked the burger ingredients I had bought her into a very succulent meal, I was truly blessed that Toga knew how to cook so that I didn't have to order out every single time. Sure, there was the chance of getting the cooking skill from the gacha but I would rather not, I am not interested in cooking and cannot be bothered with it.
Toga and I were happily munching on the burgers and fries she made, they were truly worth the wait. As we were munching away at the delectable goods however, Toga suddenly raised a question.
"So~, Hakari-kun, how is your harem quest going~? Snagged any other girls lately?" She suddenly said, making me accidentally choke on a fry, I had completely forgotten that I had, in fact, discussed this with Toga before, I was briefly forced into flashbacks of the girl whose mother I fucked stabbing me in the shoulder with a knife when she mentioned it.
Recovering my composure quickly I sipped on my drink before answering Toga.
"I would say yes, I mean I fucked Midnight-sensei. Sure, she didn't agree to be my girlfriend yet but I wouldn't give it too much time." Toga jumped on her seat and leaned over the table.
"What!? Really? Midnight-sensei? Isn't she a pro? I never thought that she- actually Midnight-sensei fucking you makes a lot of sense now that I think about it. I am actually surprised she didn't jump you like a predator the moment you stepped through the gate~" I nodded. She was oddly excited about this huh?
"Man, I really admired Midnight-sensei, I didn't think she was such a degenerate. You really are a Letcher Hakari-kun~! Even corrupting the poor Midnight-sensei~"
Now now, if you say it like that there was the tiny chance of me developing a proper conscience.
Me and morality never mixed well, sure I had a sense of what was right and wrong but I make sure to never think about my actions too deeply for certain reasons.
That aside, why was Toga so flushed? Was she into me seducing more women? Was she a cuckquean? I mean she is very sadomasochistic.
"Hey~ Hakari-kun~ wanna do it again~? I want you to do what you did to Midnight-sensei to me, I want to experience it personally~" Ah, her switch was truly flipped.
"Sure, but let me finish my burger first."
Sex is important but so was burger.
A/N: Hakari is forced to think and he doesn't like it. This chapter was more about Hakari and his character than anything else, how he really views the world and whatnot. Also, the reason he fails to see himself as anything remotely heroic is not just because of self-deprecation but him being too jaded to easily change his views on himself. For Hakari, he is the same person he was before transmigrating and nothing has changed.
Also, Nezu is really laying in on with the almost-but-not-quite parenting. Soon things will start picking back up. Also, Toga reveals some new concerning fetishes(As per usual)
What did you guys think of the chapter and Hakari's character? Hearing your thoughts about it would really help. Your comments help motivate me and help me improve