--Sunday, August 2, 2172

"Alright, here goes our first team. Kai and Ashido Mina! Go!"

With Ryuko’s announcement, Kai and Mina advanced into the forest in silence, gradually making their way into the darkness. Visibly nervous, Mina pulled her arms close to her body as she looked around. Curious, Kai couldn’t help but glance at Mina and comment in a somewhat surprised tone.

"For how excited you were, I didn’t think you’d be scared."

"Hehe, it excites me, but it also scares me a little." Mina replied with a nervous giggle. Kai nodded with understanding and commented.

"So you’re one of those."

"One of those?" Mina couldn’t help but look at Kai and ask curiously, to which Kai replied while putting his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, the kind who likes adrenaline and strong emotions at any cost. Is that why you want to be a hero? Are you chasing the thrill of risking your life?"

"Uh, no, not really." A bit surprised by the question, Mina replied somewhat awkwardly, then looked up at the stars visible between the trees and spoke in a slightly nostalgic voice.

"To be honest, at first, being a hero wasn’t my dream or anything like that... I liked dancing more..."

"Then why be a hero? For the money?" Kai asked a bit more curiously, looking at the beautiful pink girl, who seemed to have lost all her initial nervousness and replied with a calm smile that held a hint of melancholy.

"Not really... My family isn’t rich or anything, but we’re not doing badly either. I’ve never really had to worry about money... It’s just that, I don’t know, people would see my quirk, see me, and say I’d make an incredible hero... At first, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do with my life, so I thought maybe they were right; I should become a hero and save people.

"But one day, leaving school, a villain attacked my friends and me, so I tried to protect them, and help soon arrived... Even though it scared me a lot, everyone congratulated me for my bravery and told me over and over what a great hero I’d be, so I ended up thinking it might be a good idea... From there, I set my sights on getting into U.A., and here I am."

"I see. Now I understand." Hearing her story, Kai nodded with understanding, which led Mina to ask, somewhere between curious and confused.

"What do you understand?"

"Why, despite having a quirk with so much potential, you barely stood out before we started training." Kai replied in a calm tone, but seeing the confusion written across the beautiful girl’s face, he let out a sigh and explained in a calm voice.

"Your acid is absurdly corrosive and versatile, and you yourself have impressive agility and mobility, so you should be placed on the same level as Bakugo and Todoroki. But that didn’t happen, and the reason is simple—you never really trained your quirk seriously before, and when you did train, you focused on support. Being cheerful, charismatic, and having a useful quirk was all you needed to stand out, and you left it at that."

"Do you really think I’m that impressive...?" Mina asked, visibly surprised, to which Kai nodded casually.

"Yes, and you saw it yourself. With just a little serious training, you were able to give Todoroki trouble and came out of a fight with him unscathed. So imagine what would’ve happened if you’d trained like that for a couple of years. How strong would you be?"

"...I never thought about it..." Mina commented in a deeper voice, which made Kai laugh as he remarked, somewhat amused.

"I figured. But it really doesn’t matter whether you want to be a hero or not—I don’t want to be one myself—but if you want to get stronger, I’ll help you. You have a lot of potential."

Hearing Kai speak so casually, Mina couldn’t help but feel a strange sensation in her heart, which led her to ask in a somewhat nervous voice.

"...Saito, can I ask you something...?"

"Sure." Kai nodded while looking curiously at Mina, who, after thinking for a few seconds, asked somewhat shyly and nervously.

"Um, well, you know. At first, you weren’t very nice to us, and you could even tell how much it bothered you to be near us or have us in your house... But you’re not like that anymore... Now you’re not as scary, and it really seems like you want to help us become strong heroes."

"Well, I can only say that habit is a terrifying thing." Kai commented with a somewhat odd smile while looking upward. Mina asked, confused.

"So you got used to us, and that’s why you treat us better...?"

"Something like that." Kai nodded and then grabbed Mina’s arm to pull her aside, keeping her from tripping, and continued explaining in a calm voice.

"Don’t get me wrong, I really didn’t have anything against you guys. It’s just that U.A. and all of you reminded me of things I’d rather forget, so my mood was terrible, and I’ve never been the type to have a lot of friends. But over time, I got used to it, and a certain recent event made me realize that maybe there’d come a time when I’d need help.

"That’s why I decided to push all those annoying feelings to the back of my mind and started helping you get stronger—and in the process, make you owe me a favor. If you all become strong heroes, you’ll keep this country safe, which would indirectly help me keep my family safe. And if I ever needed help, I could cash in those favors."

"...You’re a strange person, Saito..." Mina commented as she looked at the handsome young man beside her in a new light. Kai let out a small laugh and remarked calmly.

"You’re not the first to say that."

"Thank you, Saito. You’ve really helped me a lot. If you ever need me, rest assured I’ll help you—as your friend." Mina said with a warmer smile. Kai looked at Mina and asked with a grin.

"So we’re friends? I thought you all were scared of me."

"I won’t deny it, you really are terrifying when you want to be, but I’d like to be your friend. From the little I know about you, I can see you’re a great person, so I’d like to get to know you better." Mina nodded with a smile. Kai extended a hand toward Mina and spoke with a grin.

"I’m not as good as you think, but you’re a good friend of my future wife, so it’s best we get along. Let’s start over on the right foot. Nice to meet you, Saito Kai."

"Nice to meet you. I’m Ashido Mina, you can call me Mina, no worries." Mina shook Kai’s hand with a smile. Kai soon replied, amused.

"Nice to meet you, Mina. You can call me Kai too, if you prefer."

"That’s a little scary; your fiancée might get upset~" Mina released Kai’s hand and said in a playful tone. Kai shrugged and commented in an amused tone while looking ahead.

"I think there are things that are scarier."

Curious, Mina turned her head to look where Kai was looking just in time to see a head rising from the ground as if it were a wandering ghost. As if her soul had left her body, Mina screamed at the top of her lungs and jumped into Kai’s arms, who caught her with ease.

"W-w-what was that?!" Mina asked while burying her face in Kai’s chest. He replied casually as he walked toward a tree.

"The Class B, the girl with black hair, specifically. There are more. Look, wave over there."

Seeing that Kai was pointing in a direction, Mina fearfully peeked out just in time to see a sinister shadow hanging down from between the trees. This made her scream again and cling to Kai as if her life depended on it. As an annoyed click of the tongue echoed through the area, Kai laughed, visibly amused, and collected the tags with his and Mina’s names.

...

"...I’m sorry, it caught me completely off guard. I’m not normally like this..."

A few meters ahead, Mina climbed down from Kai, visibly embarrassed, and spoke while staring at the ground, completely red. Kai, between laughs, commented casually while the white cat on his shoulder looked at the pink-skinned girl with disdain and Salem yawned, a bit annoyed at having been woken up.

"Don’t worry about it. It was fun."

"..."

With her heart torn between shyness, anger, and the memory of Kai’s firm muscles, Mina could only remain silent. But quickly, the lively Mina shook her head vigorously, banishing all the strange thoughts, and declared with excitement.

"I hope you enjoyed that, because it won’t happen again! This beauty will show you why they called her the Queen of Courage in middle school!"

"Really? Then wave over there." Kai said while pointing in another direction, which prompted Mina to look bravely, just in time to find what appeared to be the glowing eyes of a beast about to attack her.

"AHHHH!!!!"

...

...

...

Amid the sporadic screams, Kai and Mina finally reached the end of the course with all the tags, at which point Ryuko announced with an enormous smile as Shino approached with a grin.

"Our first group is back!! You can turn in the tags and start getting ready for your turn to scare!"

Kai nodded with a smile and began walking toward Shino with the exhausted Mina, but halfway there, he stopped dead in his tracks and turned to look behind him. Through his fully extended Observation Haki, Kai could sense several ’things’ appearing out of nowhere and then running toward them, which made him ask his reliable assistant, visibly puzzled.

[They seem like humanoids in motion, but I can’t sense their voices. Are they robots?]

[Most likely, Master. These are the satellite and nearby hidden camera feeds.]

Sage promptly replied in a serious tone while creating several portable screens for her master. Using [Gyo] on his eyes, Kai tried to see anything invisible in the images, at which point his eyes widened with a hint of disbelief.

[Those don’t look like robots, Sage...]

[They certainly don’t, Master.] Sage replied as a dangerous light gleamed in her beautiful eyes, at which moment Shino’s solemn voice echoed in Kai’s mind.

[Did you sense something, Kai?]

[Something got in. I’ll go intercept them, take care of the students.]

Kai replied in a cold voice that slightly startled Shino, at which point the air around Kai became heavy and terrifying, and moments later, he shot into the forest at a frightening speed.

...

[We have "visitors!" We need to get the students to safety! Ragdoll, Chatora—follow Kai to intercept them! Everyone else, start moving! I’ll send a mass message to all students to pull back!] At the same time, Shino’s solemn voice echoed in the minds of all the adult heroes.

[Damn it, I’m on my way!] Vlad King’s voice soon resonated in everyone’s heads, followed by Tomoko’s and Chatora’s.

[[Right away!]]

[Mandalay! You’re in charge of coordination and communication; our priority is the students!] Aizawa quickly added with visible urgency, closely followed by Ryuko.

[I’ll use the earth beasts to escort them!]

[Students, intruders have been detected; return to the camp immediately! Even if you encounter the enemy, retreat and do not engage in combat!]

At the same time, Mandalay’s voice echoed in the minds of all the students, making them open their eyes in disbelief as Mina looked toward the forest with concern, confirming her suspicions about Kai’s departure. At that moment, Shino touched Mina’s shoulder and spoke in a serious tone.

"Head back to camp. Don’t worry about Kai. He’s the strongest person here."

"Mandalay, I can help!" Mina replied with a serious expression. Shino responded in a calm but firm voice.

"I know. You’re strong, but you don’t know who we’re fighting. For now, it’s best that you take shelter."

Mina bit her lip in frustration as Kai’s words echoed in her mind—about wanting her to become a strong hero who could help him. At that moment, Shino spoke in a firm voice.

"Go. Your moment will come in the future. Right now, it’s our job to protect you."

"Fine." Mina replied with frustration and soon began running toward the camp, escorted by two earth beasts.

...

At the same time, Kai appeared in the middle of a cluster of dark trees with a cold gaze, at which point a sword emerged from Salem’s fur. Taking the sword, Kai unleashed a series of cuts at a terrifying speed while commenting coldly.

"Let’s see what you really are."

Although Kai’s cuts seemed directed at empty spaces, they soon met resistance in several places. Meanwhile, in other spots, screams of pain rang out as crimson blood sprayed in every direction. This sight brought a predatory grin loaded with murderous madness to Kai’s face as he spoke in a voice capable of chilling the bones of the bravest.

"It seems the ten-year hunt finally comes to an end."

Along with Kai’s words, several humanoid figures dressed in tight black suits materialized in the air—some on the ground with deep gashes, while others, who had managed to withstand the cuts, stared at the terrifying young man through the gleaming glass eyes of their tactical masks. At that moment, a distorted voice echoed from one of the figures.

[Saito Kai. Surrender and come with us qui—]

"Do you really think you’re still the hunters here?"

Kai commented in a voice dripping with mockery as he suddenly appeared in front of the figure that had spoken, which was sent flying backward with a deep cut across its chest before it could finish speaking. But right at that instant, Sage’s furious voice echoed in Kai’s mind.

[Master, unknown intruders attempted to breach the mansion and triggered the defense systems!] 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

***

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