[A/n]
Hey everyone! Just wanted to give a quick update on my end. The healing process for my extracted molar has been super fast. The gums are finally closing up nicely, and I don't have any bleeding, swelling, or aching anymore, which is a huge relief. I actually took a paid leave from work so I could just rest and recover properly.
Thank you all so much for being patient and waiting for the updates, and a massive thank you to my Patreon members for the continuous support! Let's get right into the chapter
.....
Support the journey here:
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(9 Advanced Chapters)
_-_-_-_-_
Location: Kanagawa – Route 4 Highway Overpass
Date: Friday | 08:00 PM
(One Months Later)
Pitter-patter.
Pitter-patter.
The rain was coming down hard, drumming loudly against the roof of the black luxury car.
Kenzo sat in the back seat. He wore a sharp black suit instead of his usual hero costume.
Sitting next to him was Daisuke, the CEO of a major tech firm.
Daisuke kept wiping his sweaty hands on his expensive pants. He checked his phone every ten seconds.
"Take a breath, Daisuke-san," Kenzo said gently. "We are almost through the city."
"I just want to get home," Daisuke muttered, his voice shaking. "It's my daughter's birthday. I missed the cake last year. I can't miss it again."
"You won't," Kenzo promised.
BEEP.
"Kenzo, heads up," Ryu's voice crackled casually over the earpiece. "Shizuka caught a sonar bounce. The drone feeds just confirmed it. You have a roadblock exactly two hundred meters ahead."
"I see it," Kenzo replied softly.
SKRRRTZT.
The driver slammed on the brakes. The heavy car skidded slightly on the wet asphalt before coming to a complete stop right in the middle of the overpass.
Four men stood blocking the highway.
The man in the front was huge. His arms were covered in thick, rocky plates. His name was Gourai.
Gourai walked right up to the front of the car. He didn't look like a mindless street thug. He looked completely desperate and totally furious.
"Daisuke!" Gourai screamed over the rain, pointing a thick, calloused finger at the windshield. "Get out here! It's because of you my son died at your company! Your negligence killed him!"
"I'LL AVENGE HIM!"
In the back seat, Daisuke went pale. He shrank back against the leather seats.
"Why would someone lie on their resume about knowing how to operate heavy machinery?! He caused his own accident!"
"Corporate grudge," Kenzo reported into his collar mic.
"We are in position," Ayane's voice replied over the comms.
Outside, Gourai reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small glass vial filled with a glowing red liquid. His three thugs did the same.
Enhanced Trigger.
They snapped the vials and drank them.
Instantly, the dark veins on Gourai's neck bulged.
The rocky plates on his arms expanded, shifting into heavy, jagged concrete armor.
But he didn't roar at the sky like a wild animal. He didn't lose his mind. The Enhanced Trigger just pushed his Quirk to the absolute redline. His eyes stayed completely focused.
"Rip the doors off," Gourai ordered his men. "Don't let him out of the car."
The three thugs charged forward.
Kenzo kicked the back door open and stepped out into the rain.
He didn't throw a punch. He just dropped to one knee and snapped his massive hands open right at the charging thugs' feet.
VWOOM.
The sudden, violent suction of the pocket dimension ripped the legs right out from under two of the thugs. They hit the wet asphalt face-first.
Kenzo turned around and opened a vault right under the back seat of the car.
"Happy birthday to your kid," Kenzo said.
"I-it wasn't my fault! The kid lied on his resume about the machinery!"
Daisuke fell through the portal, perfectly safe inside the silent dimension.
CLACK.
Up in the steel rafters of the overpass, Kyohei and Ayane looked down at the remaining thugs.
"He's using Enhanced Trigger," Kyohei noted, clapping his hands together. "Don't let them breathe."
FWOOSH.
A massive, incredibly dense cloud of grey fog dropped from the rafters like a heavy blanket. It slammed into the pavement, covering the thugs entirely.
Ayane dropped down a second later. She landed lightly on the wet road and pulled her heavy titanium fans.
"Spinning it up," Ayane called out.
SWIISH.
SWIISH.
She ran a perfect, tight circle around the edge of the fog, swinging her fans in a smooth rhythm.
The wind caught the dense fog, whipping it into a violent, roaring cyclone.
The two thugs were trapped inside instantly. The air pressure locked them in a total sensory blackout.
Gourai backed away from the cyclone. He saw how coordinated they were. He knew he couldn't fight the wind.
So he aimed for the bridge.
"If I can't have him, you all go down!" Gourai yelled.
He slammed his heavy, tectonic hands straight into the concrete deck of the highway.
CRACK.
BOOM.
The drug pushed the impact deep into the structure.
The massive concrete pillars holding up the overpass splintered and shattered.
A huge section of the bridge tilted violently.
Three civilian cars, completely unrelated to the fight, started sliding backward toward the broken edge of the highway. People inside screamed.
"UWAAAAH!"
"HELP"
"HELP US! THE DOOR WON'T OPEN!"
A red blur dropped from the sky.
Edgeshot didn't panic. He fell toward the gap, unraveling his body in mid-air.
He split into hundreds of microscopic, razor-thin threads.
Shinobi's Cradle.
SWIISH.
SWOOSH.
SWIISH.
His quirk shot out like a massive spider web, weaving tight patterns around the surviving concrete pillars and the steel guardrails.
In less than a second, he created a massive, unbreakable Kevlar net across the broken gap.
The three civilian cars slid off the edge.
BOUNCE. Boing. Boing.
They hit the red web. The threads stretched, absorbing the heavy impact perfectly. The cars hung safely over the drop.
Gourai watched in total shock as the red threads pulled back together, forming Edgeshot right on the broken edge of the bridge.
"You hero trash!" Gourai screamed.
He lunged forward.
"Instead of helping those at the bottom, why do you protect the people at the top?!"
He threw a massive, Trigger-fueled punch straight at Edgeshot's chest, aiming to crush his ribs.
Edgeshot didn't dodge.
He compressed. He folded his body fifty times into a single, microscopic point right where the fist hit.
Fractal Density.
BAM.
It sounded like a sledgehammer hitting a solid tungsten wall.
"Aghhh!"
Gourai screamed, stumbling backward and clutching his wrist. The bones in his hand were completely shattered.
"Answer me! Are our lives at the bottom worthless?"
Desperate, Gourai grabbed a massive, jagged piece of steel rebar from the broken road. He swung it like a baseball bat right at Edgeshot's head.
Edgeshot didn't answer or he can't. He just extended his right hand, keeping his arm solid but localizing the vibration purely to his taped fingertips.
Resonance Edge.
BZZZZZT.
SHING.
Edgeshot swiped his hand through the air. The thick steel rebar simply fell apart into fine metallic dust.
Gourai froze, his eyes wide.
Before Gourai could even swing his broken arm again, Edgeshot stepped directly into his guard. He turned his left arm into a surgical thread, piercing it right into the side of Gourai's neck.
He didn't cut an artery. He pinched the specific motor nerves.
THUD.
Gourai collapsed to the wet pavement. He was totally paralyzed, unable to move a single muscle, but his eyes were still wide open and completely conscious.
"I'm sorry. But you shouldn't endanger innocent civilians."
Edgeshot stood up, brushing the rain off his shoulder.
He tapped his earpiece.
"Threat neutralized," Edgeshot said calmly. "Call the police for pickup. And get a crane for the civilian cars."
"Copy that," Ryu's voice came back. "Flawless work, guys."
"And lastly tell Mr. Daisuke. That he is going to look into that man's family and compensate them for their loss. If he didn't, Edo-Lines drops his contract." Edgeshot added.
"Got it, Boss."
_-_-_-_-_
Location: Edo-Lines Agency (Lounge)
Date: Friday | 11:30 PM
The agency lounge smelled like garlic noodles and fried pork.
The high-stress atmosphere of the highway ambush was completely gone. The team was sitting around the large couches, dressed in dry sweatpants and t-shirts.
Kenzo sat on the floor, leaning against the couch, laughing with a mouth full of noodles.
"I swear, the guy literally fell asleep," Kenzo laughed, pointing his chopsticks at Kyohei. "I opened the vault to let Daisuke out at the police station, and he was snoring. The guy paid us for a bodyguard and got a free nap."
"Hey, no complaints from him," Kyohei chuckled, grabbing a pork bun from the box on the coffee table. "We delivered him without a scratch."
Kaito sat in the single armchair near the window. He was drinking a cold soda, scrolling through his tablet.
Shinya sat on the opposite end of the couch. He had his ninja mask pulled down around his neck, eating a bowl of rice just like a normal person.
"Good call on the net drills, Kaito," Shinya said, looking over at him. "If I hadn't mapped out the thread patterns in Nagano, those civilian cars would have gone right off the edge."
"You did the work, Shinya," Kaito said, putting his tablet down. "I just pushed you to do it."
Ayane walked into the lounge from the hallway. She was staring at her phone. She looked completely pale.
"Uh. Guys," Ayane said. Her voice cracked.
Ryu looked up from his laptop on the counter. "What's wrong? Did the cops find more Trigger on those guys?"
"No," Ayane said, shaking her head. She walked over and held her phone out so everyone could see the screen.
It was the official website for Shinobi-Tech.
"The factory dropped the first global shipment of the streetwear jackets tonight," Ayane explained, her hands actually shaking a little. "We stocked fifty thousand units."
"Okay," Kenzo said slowly. "Did nobody buy them?"
"They are gone," Ayane breathed out. "The website says sold out. They sold all fifty thousand jackets in under twelve minutes. The servers almost crashed twice."
The lounge went dead silent. The only sound was the low hum of the refrigerator.
Ryu slowly set his laptop down. He looked at Kaito.
"Wait," Ryu said, doing the math in his head. "Did we just make millions if yen in twelve minutes?"
Kaito smiled. He took another sip of his soda.
"I told you guys a month ago," Kaito said casually. "Ninja fashion is popular right now. Ryu, call the manufacturer in the morning. Tell them to double the next batch."
Shinya just stared at Kaito, shaking his head with a quiet, disbelieving laugh.
_-_-_-_-_-_
Location: Musutafu – Bakugo Household
Date: 05:00 AM
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
Mitsuki Bakugo stood in the kitchen, holding a warm mug of coffee.
She looked up at the ceiling. The heavy, rhythmic thudding was rattling the light fixture above the dining table.
SIGH.
She took a slow sip of her coffee and sighed.
It was five in the morning. Katsuki had been awake for an hour.
A year ago, getting that brat out of bed before seven was a screaming match.
Now, he was up before the sun every single day.
Mitsuki leaned against the kitchen counter. As a mother, she was incredibly proud of his drive.
But honestly, it was starting to freak her out.
Katsuki had completely changed over the last twelve months.
He stopped hanging out with those two lackeys from his middle school. He stopped going to the arcade on weekends. He stopped watching stupid television shows.
Every single day, he woke up, ran five miles until he practically threw up in the street, and then locked himself in his room to lift weights.
"What happened to you, brat?" Mitsuki muttered to herself.
It wasn't just the physical stuff either. It was his attitude.
He was still loud, and he still yelled at her over dinner, but the weird arrogance was gone. It was replaced by this terrifying, quiet obsession.
And the weirdest part of all?
He hadn't screamed the name "Deku" in a whole year. He hadn't even mentioned the Midoriya kid once.
Mitsuki set her coffee mug down. Whatever happened between those two boys a year ago, it completely broke Katsuki's ego and rebuilt it into something else.
Upstairs, the thudding stopped.
HUFF.
PUFF.
Inside his dark bedroom, Katsuki Bakugo collapsed onto the floor.
He was completely drenched in sweat. He was doing one-handed pushups, and his heavy school backpack loaded with textbooks and iron dumbbells was strapped tightly to his back.
CLICK
He unclipped the heavy backpack and shoved it aside.
He sat up, wiping his face with a towel.
He didn't look like a scrawny middle school kid anymore.
A year of brutal, punishing physical training had bulked him up. His shoulders were wide, and his arms were thick with hard muscle.
He dragged himself up from the floor and sat in the chair at his desk. He opened his laptop.
Bakugo didn't open social media or video games.
He pulled up a folder full of downloaded fight clips. He clicked the first video.
It was a shaky cell phone recording of the Rabbit Hero, Mirko, fighting three thugs in an alleyway.
Bakugo didn't blink. He watched her footwork. He watched how she didn't waste any movement.
Every step was tight. Every kick was perfectly balanced.
[Luna Storm Leg!]
Bakugo closed the video, he still couldn't understand how this woman could kick wind blades with her legs and step on the air."
He opened another one. Endeavor.
The Number Three hero was fighting a villain made of solid rock.
Endeavor didn't just throw a giant fireball. He grabbed the villain's arm and shot a concentrated blast of heat right into the joint, breaking the rock armor from the inside.
Bakugo paused the video. He stared at Endeavor's hands.
'Wide swings are garbage,' Bakugo thought, clenching his jaw.
The memory of the dirt lot flashed in his mind.
He remembered charging at Deku.
He remembered throwing his absolute hardest right hook.
And he remembered Deku simply stepping to the side, grabbing his collar, and throwing him into the dirt like he weighed nothing.
Deku didn't overpower him. Deku just let Bakugo's own wild momentum do all the work.
'Big explosions make big smoke,' Bakugo told himself, rubbing his sweaty neck. 'They block my own eyes. If I swing wide, I leave my ribs open. That nerd just steps inside my guard and hits my nerves.'
Bakugo looked down at his own hands.
They looked terrible.
His palms were thick with rough, yellow callouses.
The skin around his fingers was blistered and red.
A year of setting off constant explosions without any support gear to protect his skin had basically cooked his hands.
It hurt constantly. He didn't care.
Bakugo stood up from his desk and walked over to the center of the room.
It was time for Quirk drills.
He took a fighting stance. He kept his elbows tucked in tight to his ribs. No wide swings.
He imagined Deku reaching out to grab his wrist.
POP.
Bakugo sparked a tiny, sharp explosion right on his knuckle.
It wasn't a big blast. It was just enough concussive force to instantly blow a grabbing hand away.
Point-blank parry.
If Deku tried to grapple him, Bakugo would break his grip before it even locked in.
Next drill.
HUFF.
Bakugo took a deep breath. Deku won fights because he read muscles. Deku watched shoulders and hips to predict the attack.
If Deku couldn't see, he couldn't dodge.
Bakugo pulled his hands together. He focused on the oxygen and the sweat in his palms. He didn't want force. He just wanted the ignition.
FWOOSH.
A blinding, intense flash of white light erupted from his hands, lighting up the dark bedroom like a camera flash on steroids.
Bakugo blinked the spots out of his own eyes. A makeshift stun grenade.
"Perfect."
He turned around and faced the heavy leather punching bag hanging in the corner of his room.
He had to test the finisher.
Deku's weird metal bracers had blocked his biggest explosions a year ago. The shockwave just bounced off the metal plates.
"You can't bounce a bullet," Bakugo whispered.
He held his left hand out. He curled his fingers inwards, making a tight, small circle with his thumb and index finger.
He brought his right palm up and pressed it flat against the back of his left hand, right over the hole.
He let the sweat pool up. He felt the heat rising in his right palm. It felt like holding a burning coal against his own skin.
He gritted his teeth, fighting the pain.
"Compress it," Bakugo growled. "Don't let it spread out. Force it through the circle."
He built the pressure. He squeezed his hands together until his arms started shaking.
BOOM.
It wasn't a normal blast. A hyper-fast, concentrated beam of explosive heat shot straight out of the circle of his fingers like a laser.
CRACK.
The beam slammed into the heavy punching bag. It didn't push the bag backward.
It punched a clean, burning hole straight through the thick leather and the dense sand inside.
Sand instantly poured out of the bag, spilling all over the bedroom floor.
Bakugo lowered his hands. They were smoking.
The recoil sent a sharp ache all the way up to his shoulders, and the skin on his left hand was burned red from guiding the blast.
"KATSUKI!"
Mitsuki's voice screamed from downstairs.
"Are you blowing things up in the house again?! I swear I will come up there and ground you!"
Bakugo ignored her. He didn't yell back.
He just stared at the smoking hole in the punching bag.
Armor Piercing Shot.
"I finally got it to work. Three months of this crap."
Bakugo walked over to his bed and grabbed a small towel, wiping the sweat off his face and arms.
He grabbed his school bag and threw it over his shoulder.
He had spent three hundred and sixty-five days building a body, a mindset, and an arsenal specifically designed to dismantle Midoriya Izuku.
"Just a little more training."
_-_-_-_-_
Location: USA – Nevada Desert
Time: 01:00 PM
The desert sun was beating down hard on the dry, cracked dirt.
There was nothing out here.
Just miles of empty wasteland, a few dead bushes, and an old, rusted gas station that looked like it hadn't been used in fifty years.
High up in the sky, two fighter jets broke through the clouds.
WHOOSH.
"Approaching the target coordinates, Cassie," Ethan's voice came through the comms.
Cathleen Bate sat in the back seat of the lead jet. She wore her full Star and Stripe hero uniform. She wasn't smiling today. Her jaw was set tight, and her eyes were furious.
It had been months since her battle with All For One's clone, back when he raided the secure American facility and stole Quirk data. Especially targeting her, New Order."
The Pentagon was still running around in a panic, holding endless security meetings.
Cathleen was sick of meetings.
"Drop me here," Cathleen ordered.
The canopy of the jet popped open. The wind roared into the cockpit.
Cathleen didn't hesitate. She stood up and jumped straight out of the jet, falling fast toward the desert floor.
Down below, the rusted gas station wasn't empty.
It was a deep-state smuggling hub.
Underneath the cracked concrete was a massive underground base used by the American branch of All For One's empire.
Three minions holding heavy energy rifles ran out of the gas station, looking up at the falling hero.
"It's Star and Stripe!" one of them yelled. "Shoot her down!"
They aimed their rifles up and fired. Red energy blasts shot into the sky.
Cathleen didn't even try to dodge.
She reached her hand out and grabbed the empty air.
"New Order!" Cathleen's voice boomed like thunder. "The air one hundred meters below me is now as solid as steel!"
The energy blasts hit the invisible wall of air and exploded harmlessly.
Cathleen landed hard on her own invisible platform right above the gas station. She looked down at the thugs.
"You stole from my country and threaten my family," Cathleen said coldly. "You don't get to hide in the dirt."
She dropped her rule on the air. She fell the rest of the way, landing right on the concrete in front of the old gas station.
CRACK.
The ground spider-webbed under her boots.
She didn't wait for the thugs to shoot again.
She rushed forward, grabbing the closest villain by the shirt and throwing him straight through the front window of the building.
CRASH.
She walked inside.
There was a heavy steel vault door hidden behind the old counter.
Cathleen touched the steel door.
"New Order. This steel door is as soft as a wet towel," she commanded.
She grabbed the heavy metal and literally tore it open like a piece of wet cloth, tossing it aside.
A dark staircase led down into the underground base.
Dozens of villains were rushing up the stairs, drawing weapons and screaming.
"We have clearance to flatten the whole hub, Cassie," Timothy's voice radioed from the jet above. "Want us to bomb it?"
"No," Cathleen said, cracking her knuckles. "I need to hit something today."
She jumped down the stairs, throwing a massive right hook into the crowd.
BAM.
Three villains went flying backward into the concrete walls.
Cathleen fought like a bulldozer. She didn't use finesse.
She used overwhelming, brutal power. She smashed weapon crates. She ripped support pillars right out of the floor.
She was sending a message.
_-_-_-_-_
Location: Edo-Lines Agency (Lounge)
Date: Sunday | 08:00 PM
The agency lounge smelled amazing. A massive pile of greasy pizza boxes, garlic bread, and buckets of fried chicken covered the coffee table.
It was their rare day off.
The whole team was lounging around the big leather couches, wearing old sweatpants and oversized t-shirts.
Ryu grabbed a slice of pepperoni pizza. He pointed at the large flat-screen TV on the wall.
"Turn it up, Kyohei! It's starting!" Ryu yelled, shifting to the edge of the couch.
Kyohei grabbed the remote.
BEEP.
The volume went up just as the commercial break ended.
Millions of people across Japan were tuning in. Chitose's publishing company had completely taken over the media after the insane success of the Todoroki documentary.
Now, they were dropping their brand-new series.
Kaito sat in a comfortable armchair near the window, drinking a cold soda. Shinya sat on the opposite end of the main couch.
His red mask was pulled down around his neck, and he was casually eating a piece of fried chicken.
On the TV screen, the premiere of "Project Hero: The Runway" started playing.
The camera panned over the bright studio lights. It focused on the judges' table.
Best Jeanist was sitting on a massive, custom-made denim chair. Uwabami, sat right next to him, looking completely unbothered.
A nervous amateur designer was standing in front of them.
The kid was sweating heavily. He was presenting a terrible hero suit made out of thick steel plates and heavy metal chains.
["This is a tragedy,"] Best Jeanist said on the TV. His voice was calm, but the dramatic music in the background swelled perfectly.
The sidekicks in the lounge instantly burst out laughing.
["You wrapped a hero in thick steel,"] Jeanist continued, pointing a long finger at the suit. ["Do you know what happens if they fight a villain with an electric Quirk? Your hero becomes a giant lightning rod. They will fry to death inside that metal trap."]
"Oh man, he is cooking that poor kid," Kenzo laughed, shaking his head and reaching for a piece of garlic bread.
"He's right, though," Shinya said casually, chewing his food. "A bad costume will get you killed on the street."
Ayane leaned over and grabbed a napkin. "That's exactly what you told us, Kaito. Remember when you rejected the first Shinobi-Tech jacket design?"
"I rejected it because the fabric was too heavy," Kaito nodded, resting his soda on his knee. "If you guys get trapped in Kyohei's fog, you need material that breathes. You need thermal dampening. Fashion doesn't matter if you can't move."
On the TV, Uwabami leaned into her microphone.
["The PR is terrible, too,"] Uwabami added, glaring at the metal suit. ["Heroes are supposed to look reliable and reassuring. This looks like a military tank. You are trying to save civilians, not declare war on them. Start over."]
"Brutal," Kyohei winced, taking a sip of his drink. "But she makes a solid point."
Ryu had his phone out. His thumb was scrolling wildly down the screen.
"Guys, the internet is losing its mind right now," Ryu said, his eyes wide. "Look at this."
He turned his phone around so they could see the live social media feed. The hashtag for the show was blowing up.
[@HeroFashionista: Shoowaysha does it again! The Todoroki show was intense, but Jeanist roasting this kid is pure gold. 10/10.]
[@TokyoStreetwear: Uwabami is right. That suit looked like a trash can. We need functional fashion, not iron boxes.]
[@QuirkNerd99: I honestly never thought about the electricity thing... Jeanist is actually giving a masterclass on Quirk physics right now.]
"It's trending number one nationally," Ryu announced, shaking his head in disbelief. "It hasn't even been twenty minutes."
Kaito took a sip of his soda and smiled.
"It's good TV, but it's really a disguised educational broadcast."
Kenzo looked over, confused. "Educational? For who?"
"For the support tech companies," Kaito explained. "Think about how many massive headaches this show is going to save them. Rookie heroes always send in stupid costume drafts with heavy armor and giant spikes because they think it looks cool."
"Yeah," Shizuka nodded from the floor. "My first costume draft had these massive sonar dishes on the shoulders. I couldn't even turn my head."
"Right," Kaito laughed. "But now, every aspiring hero watching this is going to actually think about Quirk physics and mobility before they ask a designer to build something."
Shinya leaned back on the couch, setting his plate down. "And the kids in the support courses at U.A. and Shiketsu get to watch the Number Two hero point out fatal design flaws. They learn what not to do before they even build their first prototypes."
"Exactly," Kaito nodded. "The aspiring creators learn how to address possible mistakes ahead of time, the rookies stop getting themselves killed over bad fashion, and the publishing company makes a fortune in ad revenue. Everyone wins."
"Well," Kyohei laughed, pointing a thumb at the television. "Everyone except that poor kid getting absolutely destroyed by Best Jeanist right now."
The whole room laughed again.
They grabbed more food and settled back into the couches, passing the pizza boxes around as the next terrified designer walked onto the screen.
_-_-_-_-_
Location: Edo-Lines Agency (The Boardroom)
Date: One Month Later | 12:00 PM
The boardroom looked completely different from three months ago.
The messy black cables and extension cords were completely gone.
The cheap laptops were replaced by a sleek, quiet server stack sitting in the corner of the room.
The air didn't smell like old coffee and stress anymore. It smelled like expensive catered food.
It was noon, and the sun was shining brightly through the large windows.
A massive spread of premium sushi, grilled fish, and cold tea covered the long wooden table.
The entire team was sitting around it, taking a midday break.
They were all in their hero suits, but their masks were off, and the vibe was totally relaxed.
Ryu leaned back in his chair, tossing a piece of sushi into his mouth.
"Man," Ryu mumbled, chewing happily. "I could definitely get used to this."
"Don't get spoiled," Shizuka laughed, pouring herself a cup of green tea. "We only get the high-end catering because it's Kaito's last day."
Kaito was sitting near the window, eating a piece of grilled salmon. He smiled and reached into his jacket pocket. He pulled out a thick, sealed envelope and tossed it onto the middle of the table.
SLAP.
"Final metrics report," Kaito said.
Ayane picked up her chopsticks and pointed them at the envelope. "Do we even need to read it? We already know the Shinobi-Tech money bought out our government stipends. We don't have to beg the Hero Commission for funding anymore. We literally own ourselves."
"It's not just the money," Kaito said, taking a sip of his tea. "Look at the street data. Ryu and Shizuka, your drone network dropped Kanagawa's petty crime rate by forty percent. The police are actually complaining they are bored on the night shifts."
"Yeah, they can deal with it," Ryu grinned. "I like having free time on the weekends."
"And the VIP escort service," Kaito continued, looking at Kenzo and Kyohei. "You guys have a flawless zero-disturbance record. Not a single client has been scratched."
Kenzo swallowed his food and wiped his mouth with a napkin.
"I still can't believe how easy the Vacuum Trip makes things," the giant man laughed. "I used to just punch guys through walls and wreck the street. Now I just open a hole, trip them, and lock the client in the vault. They don't even see the fight happen."
Shinya was sitting quietly at the head of the table. His red mask was pulled down around his neck.
Kaito picked up a single sheet of paper from the table and slid it over to him.
SWIISH.
"That's the leaked preliminary data for the upcoming Hero Billboard Chart," Kaito told him.
Shinya picked up the paper. His eyes scanned the numbers.
"I'll be honest with you, Shinya," Kaito said, leaning forward resting his elbows on the table. "You didn't outrank anyone yet. Best Jeanist and Endeavor are pulling insane numbers right now."
"....."
Shinya nodded slowly.
He knew Kaito had worked with those two monsters. Kaito fixed their agencies too. They weren't going to just roll over and give up their ranks.
"And O'clock is a veteran," Kaito added. "He's holding that Number 4 spot tight. But look at your own metrics."
Shinya looked closely at the middle of the page.
"Your disaster relief scores skyrocketed," Kaito pointed out. "That highway fight last month went completely viral. People saw you weaving that Kevlar Net and stopping a bridge collapse. They saw you use the surgical threads to take down a villain without destroying the city block."
Shinya set the paper down.
"You aren't just an ninja anymore," Kaito said. "You broke your Rank 5 ceiling. Your public trust numbers are completely in the upper echelon now. You have the actual fangs to fight O'Clock, Jeanist and Endeavor for those top spots."
"....."
"....."
The room went quiet for a moment.
Shinya looked at the paper, then looked up at Kaito.
"Three months ago, I was stuck," Shinya said quietly. "I called you to this room because I hit a massive wall infront of me. And my team..."
Shinya looked around the table at Ayane, Kenzo, Kyohei, Ryu, and Shizuka.
"We were just five people working in the same building," Shinya admitted. "We fought alone. We just happened to wear the same logo."
He looked back at Kaito.
"You didn't just give me better moves," Shinya said, his voice filled with deep, genuine respect. "You gave us a foundation. You turned us into a real unit."
Ryu grabbed his glass of iced tea and held it up in the air.
"Best boss we ever rented," Ryu joked loudly.
Kenzo grabbed his massive cup. "To the Golden Manager!"
"To Kaito!" Ayane and Shizuka cheered, holding their glasses up.
Shinya grabbed his own glass and held it out toward Kaito.
CLINK.
CLINK.
Everyone tapped their glasses together over the spread of sushi.
Kaito raised his tea, laughing with the rest of them.
The contract was over, but the Edo-Lines agency was totally alive.