The sharp sound of a body hitting the mats echoed through the nearly empty gym.
Shinso exhaled sharply as he lay there for a few seconds staring at the ceiling, clearly exhausted. Sweat trickled down his neck, and part of his black training shirt was already completely stuck to his body after nearly two straight hours of physical combat training.
Reiji, on the other hand, barely looked like he'd been training as he calmly drank so water.
"You left yourself open again," he comnted as he adjusted his black training gloves. "Your Quirk is strong, but you still rely too much on people responding to you. That won't always happen."
Shinso let out a weary laugh from the floor.
"Yeah, well… sorry I can't brainwash people who already know how it works."
"That's exactly why you have to make up for it."
Reiji held out a hand, and Shinso took it to help himself up. As soon as he was on his feet, he felt the pain building up in his arms, legs, and abdon again.
And honestly… He never thought training to be a hero would be this physically grueling.
"How the hell can you keep moving after all this?" he muttered as he wiped the sweat off with his T-shirt.
Reiji raised an eyebrow.
"Are you serious?"
The answer was too simple for just how absurd the question really was.
"I an…"
Over the past few months, Shinso had figured sothing out pretty quickly:
Reiji was ridiculously far above any normal high school student.
Speed. Reflexes. Stamina. Strength.
Everything.
Even without actually using his Quirk openly, he was still monstrously competent in physical combat. He clearly had no idea about the public scholarship Reiji had, let alone his private life.
Shinso rested both hands on his knees as he slowly caught his breath.
"...how you learned to fight like that"
"Hmm, it's really not that interesting"
"Sure, because the answer is probably super normal"
Reiji let out just a small, nasal chuckle before throwing a water bottle at him.
He caught it without a hitch this ti.
A few months ago, it probably would have hit him in the face.
That also showed just how much he'd improved.
In the ti since the visit to U.A., Shinso had ended up taking Aizawa's words way too seriously. What started as admiration slowly turned into a real decision.
He wanted to be a hero.
For real.
Not just because it was the dream of practically 99% of the children and teenagers in this world full of heroes.
But because Aizawa's words really hit ho—it didn't matter if his Quirk seed "villainous"; all that mattered was how Shinso used it.
And when Reiji found out about that… he simply started helping him.
Without making a big deal out of it.
Without any grand motivational speeches.
Just showing up after school to train him.
At first, Shinso even thought he was joking.
Until he saw Reiji actually fight.
After that, he stopped questioning it.
"Take a five-minute break," Reiji said as he walked to the side of the gym where they'd left several backpacks and training gear. "Then we'll continue with reaction and grappling."
Shinso let out a muffled groan of suffering.
"I'm going to die before the exam."
"No. But you'll probably throw up a lot, wish you were dead, and pass out a ti or two, but you won't die."
"That doesn't help."
"It prepares you ntally."
Shinso let out a small, weary laugh as he slumped down onto one of the mats.
The gym fell relatively silent again.
It was already dark outside, and the lights in the facility barely illuminated the place. It was one of the least-used municipal gyms in the area, which was precisely why they could train in peace almost every afternoon.
Reiji took a small sip of water while leaning his back against the nearby wall.
Eight months.
It had been quite a while.
And honestly, things had stabilized more than he'd expected.
The situation with Himiko was still delicate, of course.
But much calr.
After that conversation, she'd really started to hold back more. She was still close to him, still emotionally dependent on him to a large extent, and there were still uncomfortably tense monts between them…
but Himiko was trying to move forward.
In her own way.
Even her blood-related episodes had decreased significantly thanks to the control they'd both developed over ti. There were still occasional relapses, but they were no longer constant or dangerous.
And honestly… Reiji appreciated that effort far more than he'd ever tell her directly.
The investigation, on the other hand, was another matter.
Because it had co to a complete standstill.
There were no new cases. No more victims appeared. Nor any new traces of the evolutionary drug.
Nothing.
That was strange; it clearly wasn't the first ti this had happened, but there had only been one test before it disappeared, and most importantly, he had seen them in the alley. He didn't want to believe he had anything to do with it, but it was also a possibility that they had seen him and slightly altered their plans…
"What are you thinking about?" Shinso's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
"There are ten months left until U.A. If you keep this up, you'll be pretty well prepared for the entrance exams."
Shinso just nodded, knowing that perfectly well.
"Don't you know what the exam might be about? Your sister is at U.A., isn't she?"
"Himiko is in general courses; the exam was purely theoretical. I have no idea, though it could be fighting robots or sothing like that," Reiji revealed half-heartedly, without being certain of anything.
"Robots… It'll be tough if I can't use my Quirk at all."
Reiji let out just a small smile before setting the water bottle aside again.
"Your main problem is still the sa," he comnted as he moved back toward the center of the gym. "Your Quirk is excellent for neutralizing people. But for everything else, or if you fail to activate it, you still fight like a normal person."
"Thanks for destroying my self-esteem."
"That's why we train."
Shinso sighed heavily before getting up again.
The fatigue was already much more noticeable in his movents compared to the beginning.
And yet… There was sothing different about his eyes lately.
More determination.
More confidence.
Because for most of his life, Shinso had lived hearing exactly the sa crap about his Quirk.
"It looks like a villain's power."
"It's scary."
"It doesn't seem heroic."
He didn't want to live with that anymore; he wanted to prove he wasn't just soone capable of being a villain.
"Again," Reiji remarked as he raised his hand slightly in a defensive stance.
Shinso clicked his tongue wearily.
"One day I'm really going to hit you."
"Not today, not tomorrow, not in a couple of months… You're still too slow."
"How motivating."
But even so, he charged forward again.
The sound of blows and movents slowly filled the empty gym once more…
***
Reiji arrived at the cafeteria with dried sweat still clinging to the back of his neck and part of his neck damp from the heat built up during training. The place was relatively empty at that hour, with just a few couples chatting and a group of students occupying the tables near the entrance.
Hawks had chosen a table in the back, by the window.
As always.
A spot from which he could see practically the entire place without drawing too much attention.
He wore a crooked cap and fairly simple casual clothes, though even so he still stood out too much among ordinary people. Honestly, Reiji suspected the guy simply didn't know how to blend in.
Though to his credit, it was hard to hide the pair of wings on his back.
Without saying a word, he took a seat across from him.
Hawks imdiately slid a glass of iced tea toward the center of the table using just two fingers.
"For you. No sugar, just like those bitter souls."
Reiji took the glass and drank calmly. He didn't say thank you, but it wasn't necessary either. Between them, that sort of thing was already understood.
"How's the purple apprentice?" Hawks asked, stirring the ice in his own glass. "Does he regret training with you?"
"He's making good progress, though he still has a long way to go. He'll barely make it to the entrance exam."
"Ugh, how sweet. I'm sure he feels very loved. Just rember that no one is as crazy as you."
Reiji ignored him. He leaned back slightly in his chair, scanning the place with his eyes. An ordinary café. Small tables, the sll of reheated bread, a couple of students discussing notes. Nothing out of place. Not even them.
"Well?" he said at last. "I suppose you didn't bring here just for a chat."
"What? Can't I buy you a cup of tea without any ulterior motives?"
"You don't do anything without a third or fourth motive."
Hawks smiled, amused.
"Touché. All right, to the point: the Commission doesn't want you to continue with the experints. There's no new evidence. No victims are coming forward. No rewards, to put it elegantly. And without that, they're not going to lift a finger."
Reiji looked down, lost in thought. He'd investigated as much as he could, but every new lead on the subject always turned out to be a dead end. The mory of his past life haunted him in ways he didn't want to admit.
He took another long sip of tea.
"So that's it?"
"That's it, for now. If anything new cos up, I'll be the first to know. But in the anti… dead end. Truth is, cri has gone down in this area overall—with All Might's sudden appearance, everything calms down instantly."
Silence. Then Hawks shrugged.
"Oh, and by the way. Mt. Lady is moving to Musutafu this week. She announced it on a morning show, right before she accidentally knocked over a streetlight with her butt."
Reiji raised an eyebrow.
"And why should I care?"
" neither. But when heroes with gigantic egos—literally—change prefectures, it's usually for a reason. Even if it's the wrong one."
Reiji didn't respond. But his mind processed it.
'Wasn't it when Mt. Lady made her debut in Musutafu that the main plot started, or sothing like that?' The fleeting mory flooded him; he also imdiately connected it to All Might's sudden appearance. 'Looks like All Might will be a U.A. teacher after all. I hope he gets to et Izuku, too.'
"Did you know he once tried to kiss at an awards show?" Hawks continued, smiling as if he hadn't just said anything important. "A kamikaze pigeon saved . Right into the cara."
"Sounds like a scene straight out of a cheap ani."
"It was. They paid with a promotional T-shirt."
Reiji tilted his head, not smiling, but with a less tense look in his eyes.
"Maybe he's your soulmate; you two make quite a contrast."
"How awful…"
They both shared a mont of relaxed silence. For once, the world seed far away.
"Well," Reiji said, finishing his tea, "I've got sothing to take care of."
He stood up calmly, but before he could take a step, Hawks stopped him with a light pat on the arm.
"Hold on there, serious guy. How about we actually eat sothing for once?"
Reiji raised an eyebrow.
"Haven't you had your fill of nonsense for today?"
"No. I'm still missing two yakitori skewers and an awkward conversation about personal matters. Co on, don't make eat alone. It makes look like a sad guy."
"You are a sad guy."
"Yeah, but no one has to know that if you're at the table."
Reiji sighed, resigned.
"Only if you pay."
"I always pay. I'm the responsible adult here, aren't I?"
"That's scary."
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