Capítulo 40: NO. 40 - It Never Ends
[General POV]
"What a pain in the ass." Said a man wearing a thick pair of sunglasses despite the night sky. He had brushed back brown hair while he wore a pristine three-piece white suit.
The man was sitting in the back of a white SUV as it drove through the streets of Shinjuku. He looked beside him where a young little girl with black hair pulled up into twin tails cried loudly. Her once frilly pink dress was now stained red with blood. "Shut the hell up, you damn kid!"
"Mommy! I want my mommy!" The girl cried. Only to be silenced once the man smacked her on the cheek.
"You better learn to follow directions. Otherwise, you'll end up like your mommy." The man said mockingly. He then looked over to his driver. "How much longer?"
"Just another ten minutes, Takakura-san."
Nodding, Takakura looked down beside his leg, where a small paper bag containing a few thousand yen was sitting. "What a waste of time. That bitch didn't even have enough to cover the drive here, much less pay off her debts to us." He then looked over to the silently crying girl. "That means her debt is now yours to pay. You got that, you damn brat!"
The now orphaned girl said nothing as she tried to press her body against the car door in an attempt to get as far as she could from Takakura. Grinning in amusement, Takakura pulled out his phone and began to scroll through several images.
The images were of a middle-aged black-haired woman being punched, cut up, and kicked by two men in suits. The pictures scrolled one after another, each one showing the woman in a worse state than before. The last photo, a selfie of Takakura making a peace sign with the dead woman in the background, could be seen on the phone. Causing the man to chuckle in amusement.
"Huh?" The driver said as he squinted his eyes. "What's that-"
Kablam!
Without warning, the vehicle in front of them that held his underlings exploded in a ball of flames. Freaking out, Takakura's driver spun the wheel, but their SUV was suddenly launched into the air, spinning through the air before it fell roof down on the road. A loud screeching filled the inside of the vehicle as it slid across the pavement, muffled by the scared yells from within the car.
"Eguchi! You dumb bastard! What the hell did you do?!" Takakura yelled in anger as he picked himself up from the roof of the SUV. A large scratch stretched across his forehead to his left cheek, spilling blood down his face. He then looked off to the side and found that the little girl he took was no longer beside him. "What?"
The loud sound of glass shattering stole Takakura's attention as he watched his driver, Eguchi, be grabbed by an arm. With a mighty pull, Eguchi was pulled out of the SUV with a frightened scream. Takakura remained silent as a very bright flash of orange light and a wave of heat struck him.
"W-what is this? What's going on!"
It was then that a charred, smoking skeleton fell down in front of the broken windshield. Takakura looked on in silent horror as he noticed the lone gold tooth on the jaw's central incisor. Exactly where Eguchi had his own.
"…Eguchi?" Takakura muttered before the door beside him was ripped clean from its hinges. Before he could react, Takakura's left ankle was grabbed by a powerful vice grip. "Gah!" He yelled as he was dragged out of the vehicle, his face scraping along the ground where several shards of glass sat scattered.
Looking around wildly from his upside-down position, Takakura screamed until a martial arts shoe kicked his teeth in.
"Shut up," Sukuna muttered before looking down at a phone with a green case. On the case were a pair of bunny ears. Placing the phone in one of his pockets, Sukuna lifted Takakura up, only to drop him on his head. Causing the man to cry in pain. Crawling onto his back, Takakura was about to beg for his life when he finally noticed the tattoos on Sukuna's body.
"I-it's you…" Takakura muttered with dread.
Sukuna said nothing as he raised his hand, summoning a ball of fire in front of his palm. Takakura's eyes widened with terror, seeing the burning ball of death.
"Are you with the Shie Hassaikai?"
"Me? I-I'm not with those guys." Takakura said. Unfortunately, that was not the answer the King of Curses was looking for. "No, wait-"
Watching the now burning body with expressionless eyes, Sukuna walked away as the man's screams eventually died down. Stopping midstep, Sukuna looked around at the dozens of scared observers without a care.
Without saying a word, Sukuna leaped away from the scene. Leaving behind dozens of scared observers who would all quickly spread what they saw that night.
x x x
[Shimizu Souta POV]
Photo Manipulation, Hasaba Nanako's cursed technique.
It was one of the newly added techniques I gained a week ago during a gold tier pull. Not much was known about the technique due to its short appearance during the Shibuya arc in JJK.
However, from what was shown of the technique before Sukuna killed Nanako, it appeared to give her the ability to manipulate the subject within any photograph she took. That would have explained how she and Mimiko survived Jogo's attack.
Its true potential was made clear to me after all of the technique's information was poured into my brain. As I suspected, Photo Manipulation did give me control over the subjects within the photo I took with the cursed tool that was her phone. Once the photo is taken, I can move, cut out, or even delete anything I take a picture of.
However, using this technique requires a lot of CE. Especially the option to delete the subject of my choosing. That was probably what Nanako was planning to do to Sukuna before he killed her. Though, I doubted that would have been enough to kill him.
This was the technique that allowed me to remove the girl from the car earlier tonight from the men who murdered her mother. Using the technique had eaten up around 30% of my overall CE. And all I really did was move the girl over to another photo I took, which was the rooftop I was standing on before I attacked the two vehicles.
Cutting a subject from the picture would take up 55% of my CE, and deleting something would cost 75%. It was an extremely useful technique in a controlled situation, but the CE it takes up made it a useless technique in actual combat. Even so, it's what allowed me to move the girl from a tight situation.
The poor girl was confused and scared of me at first, but after I messed up my hair and removed my tattoos, I comforted her as best as I could before taking her to one of the best orphanages in Japan.
The orphanage that I had a heavy hand in molding ever since my actions as Sukuna began.
I used around 60% of all the money I took from my escapades to fund the operation. At the same time, I made sure to take a closer look at all of its employees to make sure they did their job well. I even introduced myself to the Director in charge of the orphanage. He was suspicious of me at first, but after two years of working together, the man now trusted me and my intentions heavily.
After explaining the little girl's situation, the Director took her with a heavy heart. As I left, the girl had a sad and lifeless expression. Seeing that caused me to regret not being able to save her mother.
But I failed to get to them in time.
Using Construction, I gave the little girl a large rabbit plush toy. She tentatively took the plush before being guided inside by one of the orphanage's caretakers.
Taking down Kobashigawa ended up causing more problems than I had hoped. With such a large power gap left behind due to his death, dozens of criminals have come out of hiding to try and fill that gap themselves. All in hopes of becoming one of Japan's newest and cruelest crime lords.
Unfortunately for them, I was still here.
Damn, I'm starting to sound like Batman…
Even so, I had to focus on my primary objective.
Find Overhaul and save Eri.
Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, I scanned the streets below underneath my black hood. Landing on a tall light pole, the people below were unaware I was above them with the light below me.
Just as one of the bar-hopping college students was about to look up, I was gone.
"Three weeks. Three weeks of searching and still nothing."
I frowned as I scaled the side of a tall apartment building. Reaching the top, I landed in a crouch and leaped toward the building across the street. With a roll, I sprung up and landed on the roof's edge.
"How frustrating…"
Some would question why I was so pressed on finding Chisaki and his goon squad. It wasn't because I was interested in fighting or killing him.
No, I needed to find Eri and get her away from him. From the snapshots, they showed us from the original canon, the poor girl was sliced and pulled to pieces who knows how many times. It was why I had my crows search for her right away ever since I acquired MeiMei's technique.
Much to my annoyance, after so many years of searching high and low, I've yet to find a sign of the Shie Hassaikai. I just needed Chisaki to slip up once, but the man has been cautious. But knowing that his quirk-nullifying bullets were now on the streets, I had to boost my search.
I wouldn't let Eri suffer a second longer if I could help it.
Something's coming!
I blasted off to the side just in time as a high-speed object crashed where I once was. The corner of the roof cracked as a long, pink, and indigo bullet rested within the ruined rooftop.
[+15 SP]
"A bullet?" I calculated the bullet's trajectory and where the crack of the rifle sounded out from; I spun to the right and looked straight at a high-rise building in the distance.
There, crouched on its rooftop, was a figure with long pink and indigo hair in a high ponytail. Her most distinguished feature was the long sniper rifle sticking out of her right elbow.
Bang!
x x x
[General POV]
…a few weeks ago…
"It's all a sham."
"We have two heroes pushing civilians to commit crimes. Afterward, they turn them in to the police and collect rewards for capturing them." A blonde man wearing a suit said. His glasses reflected the small streams of light coming in from the small gaps between the shades within the large, dark office he was in, giving his spectacles an eerie glow.
This man was the Hero Public Safety Commission Chairman.
"It wouldn't do for us to bring any official charges against them. But they must be dealt with." The Chairman finished.
Standing across from the man was a woman. She had long hair wrapped into a ponytail and secured with a hair clip. She wore a hero costume, which consisted of a simple dark sleeveless turtleneck jumpsuit with two plates underneath her chest, a utility belt, and knee guards. She also wore white boots and a long scouter over her right eye, shaped like a lightning bolt.
The woman's name was Tsutsumi Kaina. Otherwise known by her fellow heroes as Lady Nagant.
"…you think that by killing them, society will be improved?" Kaina said, her eyes half-lidded. The Chairman frowned at her words but remained silent. "If we don't show people the bad side of things, that's brainwashing by omission."
"Nagant. Wouldn't you agree that the most important thing for us to do is to maintain the hope that public-facing heroes have brought into the world?" The Chairman said as he walked around the lone table within the room. Sitting down, he looked up at an unconvinced Kaina with cold, calculating eyes.
"If this is the only way… then what does the future hold for us?"
"Your duty is to follow orders." The Chairman said firmly. "This is not a job-"
Ring Ring!
A soft ringtone interrupted the Chairman. Pausing, he kept his eyes trained on Kaina before reaching over to his phone, which was resting on the corner of the desk beside a laptop. Lifting his phone to his face, his eyes narrowed before turning to Kaina. "Excuse me for a moment… Report, Hawks."
Kaina's right arm twitched as she looked away as the Chairman spoke on his phone. As the man talked, Kaina's mind swirled and fizzled as her thoughts threatened to drown her.
"…very well. We'll proceed with plan C then… Yes, we can't risk Sukuna's existence reaching the public and disturbing the peace." The Chairman said before turning to Kaina with an expression that she'd never seen on the man before. "We're sending in Nagant."
Hanging up the phone, the Chairman crossed his fingers in front of him. "Change of target. You are to find the man known as Sukuna and eliminate him at all costs. This will be the most important job of your career. Is that clear?"
"Sukuna?" Kaina said with recognition. "I thought there was already a task force focused on him."
"There is," The Chairman nodded. "But after several months of nothing, we can't afford to wait on them to do their job any longer. Sukuna needs to be removed from society at once. You have full access to any and all resources you require to get this done. You are to begin immediately. Understood?"
Kaina looked down at her right arm before turning to the Chairman's head. Her eyes grew cold and lifeless before she closed them. Taking a deep breath, Kaina nodded and walked out of the office.
'After this… I'll stop this madness.' Kaina thought as she walked down the hall to prepare for her next and final mission for the Hero Public Safety Commission.
-
AN:
I know that the timeline between when Nagant was arrested was around 5-15 years before the start of canon or so. So, some of you might have an issue with me including her so late in this story's timeline. Regardless, I don't think moving her up on the timeline really affects the overall story for MHA, considering her role in the original canon.
Still, her character was a favorite of mine, and I wanted to use her throughout my story.
With that quick statement over, let me know your thoughts and comments!
Until next time!
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