บท 98: Chapter 98: Grandfather
"Thank you, Shido. I owe you a lot." Eri went and hugged Shido as she whispered into his ears.
"We have a lot to talk about, so let's deal with this first, alright?"
Eri blushed a little as she thought about the confession earlier. She quickly shook her head and rid herself of any unnecessary thoughts as she ambled towards her tormentor.
"Kai Chisaki..."
"What do you want from me?!" Chisaki wildly screamed as he struggled within the grasps of the white hands. Although he may have realized the effect of Cacophony, it didn't mean that he could resist it.
He saw Eri take one step towards him before taking another one. One more step, one more step.
Eri slowly walked towards Chisaki as he was tied down with no way to move.
Her horn had already grown bigger to reach ten centimeters. The bullet's effect was terribly weak, and without Eri's direct blood source, their research could only progress at the speed of a snail.
Her face showcased various emotions - rage, anger, disappointment, sadness, and a bit of...gratitude?
"You may not be the best guardian, and even 'killed' me many times to get what you desire.
You may not be a great person in general, seeing that you willingly manipulate people and kill others for your own purpose.
You might have caused me to suffer in that hellhole for a few years, disassembling me and reconstructing me to bring me back to my prime, causing me to suffer much."
Eri slowly spoke with tears bubbling in her eyes.
"But I still have to thank you. If not for you, I might not grow to become as strong as today. I might not have been able to become who I am today. And most importantly, I might not have been able to meet Shido and receive his care."
Eri raised her hand and gently touched Chisaki's abdomen.
"But I can't forgive you for everything you have done. Goodbye, Kai Chisaki, no, Overhaul."
She activated her quirk, and Chisaki's body began to shrink.
"NOOOOO!" Chisaki screeched out, his voice gradually getting higher, "I haven't fulfilled any of my dreams yet! My ambitions! The Yakuza's future!"
Eri turned a deaf ear towards Chisaki's ranting and continued using her quirk on him until nothing was left, leaving behind only his clothes to show that he had once lived on this planet.
They were the only trace of his existence.
Eri didn't move from her spot, and her head was hung down. Shido slowly went towards her and hugged her.
"Waaaaah!" Eri couldn't take it anymore and cried her heart out.
Her tears were a mixture of happiness, gratitude, fear, and anxiety.
The happiness that she had finally gotten her revenge.
The gratitude she felt towards Shido for allowing her the chance to do so.
The fear that she had during her life and death fights with the entire gang by herself — the fear of almost losing her life many times in the process.
The anxiety that she felt when she thought that she had turned into a person much like Chisaki, a person who kills anyone he needed or wanted to for his goals and ambition.
"There, there...everything is over now..." Shido spoke soothingly, his voice as gentle as falling dew. He knew what terrible things he had put a twelve-year-old to go through.
"Waaaaah!"
Eri didn't stop wailing for the next few minutes, crying her heart out while Shido just stood still.
"Hic...thank you...hic..."
"No problem."
When Shido finally released Eri, he took a closer look at her eyes, which were puffy and red from all the crying. Seeing her wretched face, Shido couldn't help but snicker, causing Eri to pout.
"Alright, we'll have a talk at home. For now, let's see the last person from your blood-related family."
Eri paused a little before nodding timidly. Shido rubbed her head once more as they sunk into the shadows, never to appear here ever again.
This base was utterly cleansed of human presence. All traces of any humans that once walk this place was gone.
Not a single piece of paper, equipment, clothing was left. Not a single crumb of food or a drop of drinks was left. Every piece of research data had been destroyed - Shido needed none of them; Rasiel was much better. And of course, the last source of Eri's fear and trauma, the quirk-suppressing bullets, had disappeared along with everything as well. It seemed as though no one had ever stepped foot on this place before.
All that was left was just a traditional Japanese house without any traps, basements, or secret labs.
*****************
A few miles away, there was a hospital. It was located near the hideout as Chisaki wanted to remove any evidence or clues that would connect them to one of the patients in there.
Although the entire fight seemed to have gone on forever, it only lasted an hour before the place was completely emptied. It was currently noon, and it was full of people.
In this current society where quirks are present, although the healing technology has been bumped up as compared to the pre-quirk era, the number of injured people has also significantly increased due to a variety of reasons, including misuse of their own quirks, injured from fights, villain attacks and many more.
Especially now, where All Might has disappeared from the hero world, the crime rate has significantly increased, though Endeavor has been trying his best to fill up for All Might's position.
On the other hand, Shido accepted his hero license. However, he didn't do much other than his usual work, so his rank dropped from rank 0 to rank 2 since Endeavor had been actively stopping crime.
Although the billboard judges based on popularity, it's only a minor criterion. They mostly based it on results, so Endeavor gotten the top spot while Shido finally became an official hero after five years.
Eri and Shido appeared in the distance away from the hospital and decided to walk in since they didn't want to attract attention. After wearing a minor disguise, the two walked in, hand-in-hand.
Seeing two children walk in by themselves, the nurses and staff didn't even bat an eyelid and continue their duties. Every day, families are lost, leaving many children without a home. Children coming to visit their family wasn't an uncommon sight.
Walking straight to the lift, they entered as soon as the doors opened and clicked on the top floor. However, Shido found out that it was a restricted VIP floor, so he changed his plan and walked out of the lift.
Walking towards a handicapped toilet instead, they locked the door, and after seeing that there weren't any cameras (you can never be too careful), they stepped into the shadows and disappeared.
Navigating through the shadows, Shido found what he was looking for after a few seconds. He dragged Eri along to the top floor without wasting any more time, transforming all the cameras in the room into plush toys.
Eri walked towards the bed restlessly and looked at the old man that was present on the bed. Several tubes were connected to his mouth and nose, providing the necessary nutrients and oxygen to survive healthily.
"Grand...father...?" Eri apprehensively mumbled as she looked at the old man.
His face had little wrinkles despite being in his fifties to sixties, and his hair was neatly combed backward, reaching his nape while fully revealing his forehead.
He had an attire similar to other patients, a bluish-white patient gown. He laid down there so peacefully, as though nothing could ever disturb him in his rest.
"Grandfather..." Eri grasped onto his blistered but weak hand as she continuously muttered.
"If you want to wake him up, just use your quirk on him. He is only in this condition because he didn't support Chisaki's idea of experimenting on you, so Chisaki decided to put him in a comatose state." Shido explained.
Hearing his words, Eri didn't hesitate and used her quirk. A glow appeared from her hands as her grandfather could be seen rapidly growing younger until he was in his mid-forties.
At that point, Eri finally stopped using her quirk as she noticed his eyes open.
Ugh..." Eri's grandfather groaned as he tried to move his limbs, only to realize he was too weak to do so himself. Eri noticed it as well and hurriedly supported her grandfather so that he could sit upright.
As if just noticing the two presence beside him, Eri's grandfather let out a croak, "And who are the both of you?"
He first looked at Shido as he was right in the middle of his line of vision. His first impression of the child before him was nothing special. Black hair, black eyes, and an average face, which was rare nowadays with all the different mutations of quirks available.
He then realized that his arm was being supported by a young girl. With similar features to the boy in front of him, his first thought was that the two children were siblings.
"Grandfather..." Eri murmured in front of him, and he became shocked.
"What do you mean, Grandfather?!" He yelled, albeit slowly since he had just woken up from a comatose state, "My only granddaughter is only seven years old and has bluish-white hair."
Hearing his words, Eri smiled and nodded towards Shido. Shido took out his signature broom and pointed it at Eri, removing the disguise that she had worn, revealing an appearance that matched her grandfather's description.
"E-Eri?"
"Grandfather!" Eri didn't wait for anything anymore and jumped onto him.
However, Shido interfered and held on to her before she could jump on her grandfather.
"Eh?"
"Do you want to kill your grandfather?" Seeing Eri's questioning look, he explained with a 'Are you serious?' face, "He just woke up and is weakened. He wouldn't be able to survive if you jump on him. Just hug him softly."
Shido let go of Eri, and she followed his instructions, gently hugging her grandfather. Despite being shocked, he quickly snapped out of it and reciprocated her hug.
"Eriiiii!" Losing all his composure, he wailed like an old man (which he is).
After a blissful moment, he let go of Eri and looked at her better, and saw that she didn't have many injuries or anything.
"Good. It seems that my age has been getting to me, actually causing me to faint. Seems like Kai changed his mind and didn't experiment on you." The grandfather smiled and commented.
At his words, the entire room fell silent. Even the air-conditioner could feel the atmosphere present and decided to go into silent-mode to not disrupt anything.
"Actually, Ojii-san, you didn't just faint. Chisaki purposely put you in a comatose state to ensure that you wouldn't go against his plans and protect Eri." Shido intercepted with a grave tone.
"Eh?"
"You've been here for about six, seven years, and Eri had suffered in the hands of your 'loyal' underling for two years before I actually saved her from him."
Shido then revealed everything about Eri's life, only keeping secrets about him and his power. He also held the fact that he wasn't human a secret. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but he felt that it was unnecessary.
At the end of Shido's reveal, Eri's grandfather was so pissed that he slammed the bedside table in frustration, only to wince in pain.
"Ow...but damn that boy! I raised him up, and this is how he repays me?! Putting me in a coma for seven years while he experiments on my granddaughter?! What happened to him, anyway?!" He ranted before drinking some of the water that was offered to him by Eri.
"Oh, Eri killed him."
"Pfft..." Hearing Shido's nonchalant reply, he spat out the water and pointed angrily at Shido.
"You...it must be you who influence my little girl to kill, right?! Eri would never do that!"
"Yes." Shido didn't deny and directly admitted it, "If Eri never gets used to killing, she would never be able to grow strong."
"Why must she kill?! We live in a peaceful society! She could have just lived normally like any other adults!"
"Funny you should be the one who said that. Peaceful?" Shido sneered, "You of all people should know that society is not peaceful. I wiped out your Yakuza group, helped Eri get revenge, took care of her, and loved her for five years. More than what you have ever done for her."
Eri's grandfather didn't know what to say. Everything that Shido had said was true. It was hypocritical of him to say that society was peaceful when he ran a Yakuza gang.
However, before he could reply, Shido spoke again, "Besides, where we will be going in the future might not be peaceful like here."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Eri will tell you more. I'll wait for you downstairs to let both of you have some alone time. Take this chance to catch-up." Without waiting for a reply, Shido sunk into his shadows and disappeared, leaving one confused old man and a little girl together in the quiet room.
It was at this point where the air-conditioner started producing a whirling sound again.
*****************
A/N: And we have finally finished the Shie Hassaikai arc! It was a bit different from what I had originally planned since I planned to follow canon, but realized that it didn't make sense. So I just let Eri took her revenge instead.
So Nighteye didn't die, Mirio didn't lose his quirk (not that he would remain quirkless in the future anyway), and some characters didn't receive character development. A bit disappointed, but everything's good. Future wouldn't have much change, so...look forward to more?
If you want to support me or/and want 14+ chapters in advance, link:
https://www.patréon.com/spirits_everywhere
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