"His na is Giran. He works directly with soone nad Kurogiri." Reiji kept his eyes fixed on the docunts spread out before them as he finished organizing his thoughts. "I still don't know who's in charge of them, but Giran is clearly the main distributor of the drug. And there's sothing even stranger… the people who receive it consu it imdiately. They don't wait for instructions; they don't try to sell it or hide it. They inject it or take it right away, as if that were always the intention from the start."
Hawks leaned against the tal railing on the rooftop, listening with far more serious attention than he usually showed. The wind gently ruffled so of his red feathers as he looked over Reiji's impromptu report following the fire man incident a few days ago.
"All four victims reacted the sa way," Reiji continued without pausing. "The Quirk attempts to evolve forcibly from the Quirk factor itself, but the body cannot withstand the process. Three died in less than three hours. The last one survived more than twenty-four hours since the evolution process was slower… yet he ended up dying anyway."
That did manage to make Hawks set aside so of his relaxed attitude.
Because illegal experintation with Quirks had existed for years. Clandestine labs, physical enhancers, neural stimulants, inhibitors… the black market was full of similar junk. But directly modifying the Quirk factor was a completely different level.
And yet…
Hawks didn't react with alarm.
Rather, with caution.
"You've handled this pretty well, haven't you?" he finally remarked, crossing his arms as he watched Reiji. There was a genuine mix of surprise and a certain approval in his expression. "You got two real nas, plus identified a clear network."
Reiji ignored the complint.
"You need to elevate the case to a 'social danger' category," he said bluntly. "As soon as possible."
The statent caused Hawks to raise an eyebrow slightly.
That classification was no small matter.
A "social danger" investigation ant massive intervention by multiple agencies, national cooperation between heroes, police, and governnt bodies, extraordinary resources, and priority monitoring by the Public Commission.
It was a massive protocol.
And extrely rare.
Hawks let out a small, nasal laugh before slowly shaking his head.
"You're moving too fast, kid."
"I'm not exaggerating."
"Yes, you are," Hawks replied, much more seriously this ti. "I understand you're concerned about the case, but with what we have right now, this is still just a string of failed illegal experints. Serious, yes. But not enough to mobilize half the country."
Reiji frowned slightly; it was the expected response, but he pressed on.
"Four dead."
"In half a year," Hawks replied imdiately. "No political pattern, no visible organized terrorism, no targeted attacks, no public distribution, and no evidence of stable or mass production. What you have are clandestine trials that end up destroying the user before stabilizing. And at this rate, we'll dismantle it before it becos a serious threat."
It was cold.
Practical.
And unfortunately logical.
Hawks sat up slightly from the railing as he continued speaking.
"Besides, there are already agencies investigating within Musutafu. Local police, independent heroes, and private intelligence. They aren't ignoring the problem, so you're not alone either," he explained, pointing to the docunts. "But you're trying to escalate this as if we were facing an imdiate national threat."
Reiji looked away toward the city for a few seconds. Because that was exactly the problem.
He knew sothing Hawks didn't.
All For One was the one pulling the strings here, the villain with the greatest influence within Japan, even during the era of peace that All Might had managed.
But he couldn't say that.
He couldn't just casually ntion All For One as if it were nothing.
First, because he had no real proof.
Second, because the vast majority of the world believed that monster was dead or didn't even know of his existence.
And third…
because if he were to say he'd obtained that information thanks to mories from another life where this world existed as a work of fiction, he'd probably end up locked up in so asylum before he could finish explaining.
"It's a bad feeling," he finally admitted wearily. "But a very strong one."
Hawks watched him in silence for a few seconds.
Then he let out a small sigh.
"That's not enough to trigger special protocols, Reiji."
The hero leaned back against the railing as he watched the traffic several stories below.
"I understand you want to stay ahead of the curve. And honestly, you probably have better intuition than many within this organization," he said with a slight smirk. "But you can't turn every suspicion into a national crisis."
Reiji clenched his jaw slightly.
Because rationally, he knew Hawks was right.
"I don't want this to play out," he finally admitted after several seconds of silence.
"Hmm…" Hawks brought a hand to his chin thoughtfully. "I see."
The wind ruffled his hair again before he continued.
"But it's not that simple either. After the Nagant incident, the Commission is proceeding with extre caution," he explained in a lower tone. "There are too many eyes on us lately. If we start moving agents, resources, and special classifications without solid evidence, we're just going to draw unnecessary attention."
Reiji remained silent.
The Commission was weakened. Nagant's arrest had left huge internal rifts, and no one wanted to risk another public scandal.
"Listen," he said, barely looking up at him.
"Since the Fire Man incident, there haven't been any new cases," Hawks continued. "And before that, entire months went by without any activity. That ans they're either still testing slowly… or they're still far from stabilizing the product."
Reiji knew that.
But it didn't reassure him at all.
"So do the smart thing," Hawks concluded. "Stay away from the center of the problem, keep gathering information, and wait for a real opportunity. Musutafu has been relatively quiet lately."
Relatively quiet.
Reiji almost wanted to laugh at the irony.
Because now he knew he was probably living in the very sa city where All For One had been operating in secret for years.
But in the end, he simply nodded.
"…I understand."
And he said nothing more.
Because insisting any further wouldn't change a thing.
Hawks couldn't help him any more than he already was.
And the Commission would never throw its full weight behind anything based solely on a thirteen-year-old boy's "bad feeling."
So he'd have to find another way.
Another clue.
Sothing concrete.
Sothing impossible to ignore.
Though it probably wouldn't be anyti soon.
"And by the way… that inventor, i Hatsu." Hawks changed the subject so suddenly that Reiji barely looked up, his evident annoyance clearly contained. The hero had propped his phone on the railing while checking so ssages that likely ca directly from the Commission. "The device she gave you attracted quite a bit of attention."
Reiji didn't respond imdiately. As part of his mission at that event, he had sent her videos and photos of how the device worked, along with so other things for its developnt.
"The Commission wants to take a closer look at it," Hawks continued calmly. "They'll probably try to offer her so kind of experintal contract or technical sponsorship even though she's still a student. If it was just an insignificant prototype that she handed over without much trouble, they expect her more serious projects to be even better."
That did make Reiji frown slightly.
A contract?
Even understanding the monstrous potential i Hatsu had as an engineer, it was still strange to hear that an entity like the Commission would set its sights on soone barely thirteen years old so directly. Although, to be honest, it wasn't that surprising coming from an organization obsessed with gaining an edge over everyone else.
i fit that profile perfectly.
"They also asked you to arrange another visit to U.A.," Hawks added as he put the phone away again. "They want more information on her. How she works, how long it takes her to design things, ntal stability, production capacity… you know, the usual boring questions."
Reiji let out a small internal sigh.
"So keep yourself busy with that for a while." Hawks smiled faintly, clearly trying to lighten the conversation after the drug topic. "They're the sa age, aren't they? You never know, you might end up with a girlfriend and everything."
Reiji's expression tightened for just a mont.
More than embarrassnt, it was pure annoyance.
Hawks had that unbearable habit of acting like an older brother, sticking his nose where it didn't belong, especially when it ca to his personal life.
"Whatever you say."
Hawks let out a low chuckle.
And Reiji simply turned on his heel to leave the rooftop before listening to him any further.
But even as he descended the building's stairs, his mind was already working on the real problem behind that conversation.
***
Well, guys, it's a new week and new chapters. I know I was MIA for almost half the week, but I got sick and I thought I'd scheduled the chapters. The truth is, it was probably just one of those delusions you get when you're sick—I didn't even have them scheduled after all. Oops.
Anyway, I've written them now and I'm going to post all the ones I didn't upload, plus a bonus chapter, to thank you for your support even when I wasn't posting chapters. I hope it doesn't happen again, but you never know—anyway, these are things we learn from.
I hope you like the chapters, and I'll see you with the next ones.
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