Word spread fast online.
"Vigilante Saves Girl in Musutafu Warehouse."
"Unknown Quirk User Defeats Armed Gang—Alone."
"Who is the Black Hood?"
Masato sat on the edge of a radio tower, legs dangling over the city skyline, watching the news play on building-side screens far below.
His mask was off. Wind swept through his hair as he stared, unsure how to feel.
The city looked beautiful from above. But he knew the truth. Heroes strutted in daylight, smiling for cameras, but corruption festered underneath. Garaki had shown him the data. Payoffs. Lies. Pro Heroes who turned a blind eye. Sidekicks used as cannon fodder. The poor forgotten. The weak left to rot.
A part of him agreed with Garaki. This world needed cleansing.
But another part—the part that saved that girl—was uncertain. Maybe not all heroes were liars. Maybe some people deserved saving.
"Masato," Garaki said through the link. "You've caused a stir. The Hero Public Safety Commission is investigating. Stay off the radar."
Masato didn't reply.
Instead, he pulled the mask back on. "I've seen enough."
He dropped from the tower—freefalling ten stories before rebounding off a billboard and vanishing into the night.
---
That evening, he tracked a Pro Hero named Iron Pike, known for using a reinforced skeletal quirk and leading drug stings.
Garaki had evidence Iron Pike worked with an underground syndicate. He fed them targets. Took a cut.
Masato watched from a rooftop as Iron Pike laughed with a known villain in an alley behind a karaoke bar.
Masato's visor blinked red. Confirmed.
He dropped into the alley without warning.
Iron Pike turned. "What the—?"
Masato didn't hesitate. A blinding burst of solar plasma surged through his fist as he struck the ground.
Flash. Boom. Screams.
When the light faded, Iron Pike was out cold. The villain was twitching on the pavement, half-melted pavement around him. Masato had burned only the area surrounding them—controlled, precise, surgical.
He looked down at them. "Fake heroes fall harder."
Then he left again, vanishing before authorities arrived.
---
By morning, the streets buzzed with fear and awe.
"Masked Vigilante Takes Down Pro Hero in Corruption Scandal!"
"Is This Justice... or Something Else?"
"Hero or Weapon?"
Masato stared at the headlines in a convenience store window, hood drawn.
He muttered to himself, voice cold.
"Neither."
"I'm just cleaning the filth."