Chương 31: Chapter 31 - 2500 Yen!

A few days later, inside Ryuji Anwir's house.

Ryuji was sitting inside the living room once again and watching TV. Unbeknown to everyone else, a floating screen was occupying his view and he stared at a certain beach littered with trash and garbage. On the beach, a young boy and a muscular man seemed to be training, with the muscular man being the boy's trainer.

At first, that would appear just a little bit strange before being promptly ignored, that is if you didn't know who All Might is and lived under a rock. Ryuji shook his head at how All Might was blatantly training Izuku, the boy who would be the inheritor of One for All.

'It would have been better if he was in his Toshinori Yagi form.' Ryuji chuckled and leaned his head on his arm.

On the screen, the young boy with fluffy green hair was pushed to the limit by All Might's workout regime. He moved fridges, dragged wheels, and lifted trash from the ground and piled them over; a method where the boy trained while cleaning the beach.

'A hero is indeed a hero.' Ryuji grabbed the glass cup ahead of him and sipped on some water, all the while not moving his eyes away from the screen. 'Even in training, All Might still find a way to help out the environment.'

'Compared to his training with Gran Torino, Izuku should be happy that it isn't as hellish as what All Might experience back then.'

As he watched them end their morning session, Ryuji dismissed the screen and stood up from his sofa. Going up the stairs, he enters his bedroom and browses through his cabinet. 'I knew I should have bought some legit tracksuits. All of the stuff here is manufactured with materials many times stronger than Kevlar. If I'm not careful, All Might might notice this and be suspicious of me.'

While that's a small possibility, it was still something that can potentially happen, and after experiencing a sudden death already, Ryuji wasn't going to leave his success up to fluctuating luck and fate. Instead, he would rather be prepared and cautious to a great extent to minimize the risk he would face.

Because of this, Ryuji decided to buy some clothes and a tracksuit for his upcoming plan that he already concocted in his mind.

'If I want to get closer to One for All's new owner and gather more data through that, I should establish connections early on while I still have the chance to do so.'

Plugging out his phone from its charger and grabbing his wallet, he puts on his shoes and opens the door to his house. A soft breeze then greeted him as the flowers in front of his house were slowly turning more and more beautiful with spring swiftly approaching.

Admiring the pleasant scenery for a short while, Ryuji activates his quirk and lowers his presence to a minimum before taking off with a jog. Even though he considers it a jog, it was already faster than what most people would consider a sprint.

Passing by the pedestrians around him as they ignored his presence, he crosses through streets and took many turns before finally arriving at one of Musutafu's malls.

Musutafu was a pretty prosperous city and where Japan's highly regarded school, a school that even rivals Glory Academy of America, U.A High School, was located at. While this might be one of the various reasons Ryuji decided to live here in this city and in this nation, one of the bigger determining factors was that Hidden Order's island base was located near Japan!

Because of this, he has more subordinates scattered around Asia and Japan, giving him a bit more freedom compared to when he lived in America. Now that the prying eyes of his parents and the government were gone, the restrictions on his ability to influence certain things and move around were greatly loosened.

Increasing his presence closer to that of a normal person, he puts on his black cap to cover more of his stunning face and enters the mall. Slipping through the gaps between the crowd of people and walking at a neutral pace, he steps on an escalator as he approached the second floor.

Arriving there, he turned to look around and saw the store where he was planning on buying some new clothes for himself.

"What should I buy?" Ryuji hummed a melodic tune while staring at the assortment of colored tracksuits in front of him. One was red, another was blue, while others were neutral in color like gray or black. 'Should I go with this cheap one, or should I buy this cheaper one?'

Fiddling with the price tag on a black tracksuit, he rubbed the edge of his chin and looked around the room to see if there were any other tracksuits that would catch his fancy. 'Well, a black tracksuit would be fine.'

Picking it up from the rack, he proceeded to drag it around while moving on to other sections to buy more clothes for himself.

'Oversized gray shirt, oversized white shirt, oversized black shirt, now that's what you call good.' Ryuji nodded his head and grabbed more clothes. 'We can't forget about matching pants. Black trousers, navy blue jeans, gray chinos…'

By the end of his short venture, he already filled his basket with an assortment of clothes and walked over to the line that lead to the cashier. Even though it was still quite early in the morning, there were already quite a few people in the line and inside the mall in general, so he would have to wait for some time before he could pay for his clothes.

'Hmm, I should also eat brunch while I'm here. Maybe some curry would suffice?' As he wondered about what he would eat, he turned to look behind him and almost widened his eyes in disbelief.

Behind him, a young boy around the same age as him with a head full of spiky blond hair was holding a handful of clothes as well. Even though they have never personally met, Ryuji knew this guy all too well due to the stalking he has done on him.

'Katsuki Bakugo, Izuku's bully and "friend". He's a talented kid whose quirk causes him to secrete explosive sweat that he can ignite on command.' Ryuji recalled all of the information he had on Bakugo and whizzed up a plan on the spot. 'This is my chance!'

…

"Oi, what are you staring at me for?" Bakugo, irritated by the man staring at him, asked.

Surprised by the sudden remark, the boy with gold eyes wearing a black cap regained his senses and chuckled, "My bad, my bad."

Scratching the back of his head, the unknown guy turned to look around before turning to look back at Bakugo, "Aren't you the dude who became the sludge dude's hostage?"

"The sludge villain?" Bakugo paused and he immediately recalled memories of the time he spent with that sludge villain.

He could feel the chilly sludge covering his body from head to toe, the way he desperately fought back as rising flames roared around the vicinity. He could feel the sludge entering through his nose and mouth, blocking the air from entering his lungs to the point that he felt he was going to suffocate to death.

Even though days has passed since then, the moment still lingered in his mind like an unforgettable imprint placed on his heart and soul. The moment he heard the word sludge, it was as if he returned back to that time a few days ago.

His legs shivered and his arms trembled. He struggled to breathe and his eyes dilated in extreme fear. His legs soon gave up on him as his heart beat faster than it ever has.

"Shit!" The boy clicked his tongue as he quickly noticed Bakugo's strange situation. At a speed Bakugo couldn't even perceive, he felt a finger tap his glabella and the trauma in his heart quickly receded. The extreme fear he felt was seemingly washed away by the warm stream of water that washed through his entire body. It was illusory, but Bakugo wanted it to be realer than reality.

"Whew, I was stupid to ask that question. I kind of expected you to have already gotten some counseling, but the trauma must have been way more than I expected." The boy shook his head and sighed. "Sorry about that."

Groggy from the sudden shift of events, Bakugo grabbed his head and asked, "What did you just do?"

"I just helped relieve your PTSD for a bit." The boy explained. "Also, you should really get some therapy if you want that trauma to get taken care of. It's not good for your mental health if you don't deal with it soon."

"Is it that severe?" Bakugo widened his eyes. In a matter of seconds, he has already started to trust the boy's judgement as if he was speaking to a professional psychiatrist.

"Kind of." The boy helped Bakugo stand up straight as he continued, "It's not that bad and would fade away with time, but professional help is still better than no help. Ah, yes, I forgot to introduce myself. The name's Anwir Ryuji."

"Anwir?" Bakugo mumbled and shook his head.

"Hehe, if you're interested, we can talk more about your treatment at a restaurant I know of, and since I did indirectly cause you to suffer some trauma, lunch would be on the house." Ryuji offered with a smile.

"Hmm…" Bakugo raised his eyebrow. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, yes." The boy replied with a smile and patted the bulging wallet in his pocket.

"Sure." Bakugo sighed.

Just like that, Bakugo was swept away with the conversation without him even realizing it.

…

"So, are you a psychiatrist or something?" Bakugo asked as he bit on a spoonful of rice and curry.

Ryuji gulped down some water and wiped his mouth with the tissue provided by the restaurant. "Kind of. I had been given professional training before, and my quirk makes me a natural-born expert in this kind of stuff."

"But, I am in no way a legalized professional so you can say that psychiatric activities is more of a hobby for me." Ryuji explained with a smile.

"So you're not an actual psychiatrist, got it." Bakugo sighed.

"What? Are you feeling scared now that you know I'm not a professional? Heh, not to brag, but I'm practically on par with the best psychiatrists in this world right now."

"I can treat that PTSD of yours without any problems in less than an hour without using my quirk. If were to use it, then it would only take me a couple of minutes or even seconds to do it!" Ryuji pointed his nose to the sky and arrogantly proclaimed.

Bakugo scoffed, shaking his head and pointing at Ryuji with a suspicious gaze, "Who would believe that a kid like you is a world-class psychiatrist?"

"Doubt all you want, I'm just saying that an hour of my treatment is pretty cheap." Ryuji rolled his eyes and went to take another bite of his food.

"Oh?" Bakugo raised his eyebrows. "How much?"

"Considering its basically CHILD'S PLAY for me to deal with your trauma, I'll be a good samaritan and only require 5000 yen!"

"5000 yen?!" Bakugo almost coughed out the food in his mouth. "Why don't you just rob me in broad daylight already?!"

"Hey!" Ryuji clicked his tongue. "Just so you know, my services should be more than ten times that! This is a once in a lifetime's chance you know? And 5000 yen is basically pocket change from what I make in a day!"

"You should just work as a professional boaster with how much you boast!" Bakugo crossed his arms.

"Fine, 2500 yen! That's literally a freebie already!" Ryuji slammed his hand down on the table.

"2500 yen…" Bakugo muttered the price and scratched his chin. While 5000 yen might have been too much for someone as sketchy as the guy in front of him, 2500 yen was worth considering. It was neither cheap nor expensive and was just right in the middle of what he can afford with his savings.

'While he does sound arrogant, I can't deny the skills he has already shown. Besides, 2500 yen is some money I can pay for my mental health…' Bakugo sighed and gritted his teeth.

"Sure, I'll pay 2500 yen."

"Finally, you scrooge. Here's my number, you can just text me your address later."

…

The next day.

Ryuji woke up at the break of dawn. As the first rays of light dyed the sky a tinge of orange and yellow, he was already fixing his bed and drinking his morning cup of coffee. Of course, he doesn't need coffee for energy as his body was already stronger than most humans in the world, he was only drinking to satisfy his cravings.

After that, he stared at the screen and saw the duo was already starting to train, and swiftly put on his black tracksuit.

Combing his hair and putting on his shoes, he opened the door and stepped out of his house with a grin. 'Hehehe, just you wait, Izu-kun, I'll make you my friend soon enough.'

AN: This chapter has 2238 words.

"Izu-kun." Shivers crawled down my spine the moment I wrote down that nickname. Saiki Midoriya, you fucking wretched bastard born from the abyss, you're the stain in my writing career! Now whenever I write anything related to MHA, this guy and Telekinesis just pops into my mind.

Anyways, YOUR AUTHOR'S JUST NOT BORN TO SOUND LIKE A DOMMY MOMMY. Like, I haven't said it as much but "fun fact," your author can do a girl voice (which was deeply intertwined with the SOD saga which is old lore in NND History), and I've been practicing lately because I kinda want to develop that skill a bit more after a long time of not using it. Just check out my twitter (@OldAncestorNND) if you want to hear it.

Now, why? Well, who wouldn't want to try it out and be surprised to see that it's actually as fuck... so why don't you try it out yourself :)

(April 30, 2023 - 521st day of writing)