Chapter 34: Chapter 34 - Customer
"What are you doing here, Deku?!" Katsuki stood up and pointed at Izuku with a fierce glare.
"Deku?" Ryuji paused and stared at Izuku with a curious smile. "That's a weird nickname you have there."
"K-Kacchan? Why are you here?" Izuku stammered and stepped back and almost caused the plates of snacks to fall down to the ground.
"Woah, easy there." Ryuji lifted his foot up, and with swift but graceful movements, hooked the edge of his foot on Izuku's body. With the added support, Izuku regained his balance and avoided toppling down by accident.
"You didn't tell me this little twerp would also be here!" Katsuki glared at Ryuji with eyes that could kill.
"Hey, now, you two…" Ryuji wore a wry grin. He walked to the table and calmly placed his plates on it, before he then coughed and asked, "While I might not be a genius… which is a total lie on my part since I'm kinda talented as hell, I could tell that you two have quite the history together."
"Heh." Ryuji laughed and, without the two even knowing where it came from, nudged his glasses that gleamed exaggeratedly like in an anime. "I can easily tell the background you two have with my all-seeing eyes."
"In a time nearing more than a decade ago, two youths were the best of friends. They frolicked on fields of grass and blew bubbles on hot summer days. They walked side by side and played rock paper scissors as children usually do."
"But, a certain young boy with bombastic hair turned into a living bomb, and became a quirkist and discriminated against his quirkless friend."
"It's a tale as old as time where power corrupted the hearts of man!" Ryuji stood up and pointed at Katsuki with an arch back. "YOU! My dear customer, is a goddamn villain!"
"AND YOU!" Ryuji spun on the tips of his toe and pointed at Izuku. "IS THE STUPID HERO THAT WANTED TO REMAIN FRIENDS WITH THE VILLAIN!"
"You're basically Naruta trying to befriend Sasuge!" Ryuji shook his head in disappointment and took off his glasses.
'T-That's kind of spot on…' Izuku gawked in disbelief, but there were obvious hints of depression amongst his feelings of surprise and awe. 'Is it because of his quirk? No, it can't be. He said his quirk allows him to conjure illusions and gain supernatural strength, speed, and durability. This must mean he concluded all of that with educated guessing alone?.'
"Are you a stalker?" Katsuki scrutinized Ryuji's face, his eyes full of suspicion to Ryuji's innocence.
"Are you doubting the abilities of the world's number one psychiatrist?!" Ryuji laughed. "I'm also a top-tier detective whose mind rivals even those who have quirks that enhances their brains! No secret can be hidden from my all-seeing eyes!"
His eyes swirled and twisted, and a cross symbol replaced his irises as they glowed brightly, shocking the duo.
"M-Multiple quirks?!" Izuku shouted in disbelief before he then shuddered on the spot as if a metaphysical force swept through his entire body, displaying all of his secrets for another person to see.
Katsuki felt the same, and even when he tried to resist the strange feeling, he was still overwhelmed by the pair of eyes that seemingly belonged to a higher existence. His legs trembled as he struggled to even formulate articulate thoughts, let alone utter a word or take logical action to counteract what he was currently feeling.
Izuku almost lost all the strength he had in his legs as fear and irrationality overtook their minds.
"Hu-" Ryuji covered his mouth and turned around abruptly. The suffocating feeling they felt instantly disappeared as the godlike pair of eyes turned away from them. Instead, they heard a loud burst of laughter from Ryuji.
"AHAHAHA!" He laughed and clutched his stomach. Tears of joy welled up in his eyes as his laughter came to a stop."You should have seen the looks on your faces!"
"You guys really thought you were being stared down by God or something." Ryuji wiped the tears away from his eyes. "Anyways, blame my quirk for my jokey personality. I mean, only a cute, talented, and awesome goofball like me could have such a quirk, right?"
"…"
"…"
The two remained silent, their minds still unable to process what just happened. Fortunately for Izuku, he regained his composure and sat down on the ground with trembling arms and legs.
"T-That was all an illusion?" Izuku stammered his words while he tried his best to fully calm down.
"Duh." Ryuji slapped his thigh and rubbed his hair. "I can't believe you fell for it so bad. I mean, who in the world would have multiple quirks, right?"
"And you, I bet you felt like your sins were weighed in an instant, right?" Ryuji turned to look at Katsuki and snickered.
"You bastard!" Katsuki glared at Ryuji, but he remained sitting on the couch like a deflated balloon with no strength to muster. "If you do that again, I'll kill you!"
"You mean this?" A pair of crosses once again reappeared within his golden irises, scaring Katsuki out of his wits as he almost jumped up from fright. But unlike before, the suffocating feeling didn't appear and instead, Ryuji laughed louder than before at his humorous reaction.
"Hahaha! You really got traumatized by me, huh? So much for my good Samaritan and helpful psychiatrist identity, now I'm out here traumatizing patients." Ryuji shook his head and pointed at the vacant couch beside him.
"It's proper etiquette to take care of our guests, so I suggest you sit on the couch over there rather than on the ground if you want to witness something great up close."
Izuku gulped and nodded his head. He braced himself, avoided locking gaze with Katsuki, and placed the plate of snacks on the table before sitting down.
Katsuki glared at Izuku and snorted. Next, he moved his gaze back to Ryuji and was about to ask a question when Ryuji interjected him.
"Ahem, while we may have gone off with a bad start, let's get down to business, shall we?" Ryuji coughed and took out a coin from his pocket.
"I thought we'd never start." Katsuki rolled his eyes and straightened his back. "I've already got the money right here."
He pulled out a wad of cash from his pocket and placed it on the table in front of him. Not caring for any formalities, Ryuji grabbed the wad of cash and carefully made sure that it was the right amount they settled on.
"Mmm, 2500 yen, just like we agreed upon." Ryuji pushed the wad of cash aside while Izuku looked at them with curious eyes.
"If you don't mind me asking, Ryuji-san." Izuku looked at Katsuki for a second and looked away swiftly. "But why is Kaachan here?"
"Oh, him?" Ryuji snorted. "That dude's mind was so frail he got traumatized by nearly dying with that sludge villain a few weeks ago, so he begged me to treat his mind, and since I was feeling like a good Samaritan, I lowered the price down to 2500 yen, unlike my usual 10000 yen service price."
"Enough with the bullshit!" Katsuki gnashed his teeth. "You were the one who begged for me to buy your bullshit!"
"And you fell for it, so sucks to be you." Ryuji shrugged his shoulders. "Luckily for you, I ain't no scammer, so you're getting beyond your money's worth from the world's greatest psychiatrist."
"Now, enough with the chit-chat!" Ryuji clapped his hands, and the lights in the room dimmed down causing the atmosphere in the room to be more serene and quiet.
"Izuku-kun, I need you to stay quiet, okay?"
"Mmm!" Izuku nodded his head and covered his mouth.
"Good." Ryuji smiled. "Now then…"
He stood up and walked towards Katsuki. Sitting down on the table, he sat at eye-level with the rowdy patient and played with the coin in his right hand.
"For today's lucky winner, I'll be using a simple hypnosis-illusion-combination treatment. So, dear patient, I need you to focus on this coin in my hand right here." Ryuji pinched the rounded edges of the golden coin with his thumb and index finger, raising it to Katsuki's eye.
"Ha!" Katsuki sneered. "Hypnosis? As if you can do that with your quirk."
"Who said I'll be using a quirk?" Ryuji smiled. "A godlike talent such as mine doesn't even need a quirk to cast an illusion on your feeble mind."
"Sure, sure." Katsuki rolled his eyes and stared at the coin. "Let's see what your god-given talent could do."
As he focused his entire mind on the coin, Ryuji remained as still as a statue and didn't utter a single word. Izuku who was watching from the side also remained silent and watched with curiosity at the ongoing treatment.
'Is this what professional psychiatrists do?' Izuku wondered. 'I thought hypnosis was just a sham?'
On the other hand, the more Katsuki stared at the coin, the more he noticed something strange about it. While the coin wasn't particularly large, it was still big enough that words can be inscribed on it at a big enough size that he can read it.
'All of my trauma would go away? What the fuck is this?' Katsuki stared at the words on the golden coin in a daze.
"Wha-"
"Just stare at the coin, Bakugo-san." Ryuji's gentle words echoed in his ears.
'Fine, you little fraud.' Katsuki closed his lips and stared at the coin once more.
As more and more seconds passed, he couldn't help but read the words embedded on the golden coin once more from sheer boredom.
'All of my trauma would go away.'
'All of my trauma would go away.'
'All of my trauma… would go away.'
'All of my… trauma… would go away.'
His eyelids started to turn heavy as if a spell were casted on them to turn them as heavy as rocks. Slowly, his mind started to turn blank as the words on the golden coin echoed in his ears.
"All of my trauma would go away." Ryuji whisphered with a gentle grin.
"There we go…" He muttered with clear maliciousness in his eyes.
'W-What is Ryuji-san planning to do?' Izuku gulped and clenched his fists.
"PSYCHIATRIST ARTS!" Ryuji roared, his voice causing a break in Katsuki's dazed mind. "FIST OF THE DRAGON!"
BANG!
Like a bullet hitting a steel wall, Katsuki's eyes rolled to the back of his head as a punch landed right on his liver, knocking him out cold within an instant.
'Huh?' Izuku stared in a daze at the twist of events.
Katsuki's body immediately turned limp, and he fell to the back of his couch while saliva dripped down from his mouth.
"Whew! Another trauma solve like a pro!" Ryuji wiped away the sweat on his forehead and stood up to stretch his legs and arms. "Now that's how you help pricks like him. He really deserved a good beating with that attitude of his."
"W-Why did you punch K-Kaachan, Ryuji-san?!" Izuku stood up and pointed at Ryuji with trembling hands.
"Why?" Ryuji laughed. "That's the treatment, you buddy."
"It's a good old placebo effect coupled with a few psychological triggers, and he's now in dream land dealing with all of his trauma. Once he wakes up, all of his previous trauma would be fully gone like they never existed." Ryuji explained with a smile while munching on a freshly baked muffin from the oven, muffins that he himself cooked.
"R-Right…" Izuku stepped back.
"You don't believe?" Ryuji asked with a smile.
"N-No! I believe you, Ryuji-san!" Izuku mumbled his words as beads of sweat formed on his forehead and back.
"I can see right through your obvious lie, Izuku-kun." Ryuji stood up with the same gentle smile he wore before he punched Katsuki. With slow and steady steps, he approached Izuku while pinching a golden coin with his thumb and index finger.
"Since you're already here, I might as well give free treatment to my dear customer. You also got traumatized by that sludge guy, right? Why don't I help you for free!" Ryuji approached Izuku, but he kept stepping back till the point his back was planted against the wall.
"No! Please!" Izuku begged for mercy as tears welled up in his eyes. "We can talk this out, right, Ryuji-san?! I don't need free treatment!"
"Shut up and just accept the service of a good samaritan like me!" Ryuji grinned widely and held up the golden coin so that it was right in front of Izuku's eyes.
"Read it! All of my trauma would go away!" Like a devil in human flesh, Izuku felt the shadows all around him turn into sinister tentacles that wrapped around his limbs, disabling his ability to move.
"N-NOOOOOO!!!"
AN: This chapter has 2146 words.
Bruh, gusto ko na mamatay. Tangina nalang sa lahat. Ang annoying! Anywho, I find it hilarious that someone, as of now, has a crush on me. And it's hilarious because I'm such a big red flag.
I dont even know how that's possible, considering I'm only 6/10 max, but I'm also indifferent to it since I don't even know who they are. All I know is that I can trust my source.
(May 8, 2023 - 529th day of writing)
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