Next day,
Naruhata
Iwao Oguro was a good dad, or so what his daughter kept telling him these days, just to make sure he didn't do anything stupid at nights.
Ever since the Naruhata Incident, in which he had ended up busting his right leg against the Villain, he had been forced to use a cane.
However, that didn't prevent him from playing a Vigilante during the night, replacing the cane with a bracer.
During the day, he was just another, regular salary man.
Today, in the evening, though, the Oguros welcomed an old friend at home.
"Kazuho!" Tamao, Iwao's daughter, stepped down from the stairs with a bright face.
Kazuho helped herself in, removing her shoes and smiling at the girl.
She wasn't a close friend of Tamao, despite being of a similar age as her.
However, there was one thing that both the girls shared, making them understand each other better than anyone.
Before the Queen Bee had turned Kazuho her host, the parasitic entity had been possessing Tamao Oguro, using her to do all kinds of Villainous activities.
Later, Iguro had successfully removed the Queen Bee from Tamao, but that left Tamao's Quirkless with broken memories and, yes, an eye patch on her left eye.
Hearing the noise, Iwao came out of the kitchen, wearing an apron.
"Well, you look at that!" he said in a thick voice, smiling. "If it isn't our famous idol!"
Kazuho blushed, making a fist toward the old man.
Iwao Oguro, who still went by the Vigilante name of Knuckleduster, was a towering, heavy-muscled man, with a scar running down the left side of his face.
Unknown to many, Iwao Oguro hadn't born Quirkless.
Before his Vigilante days as Knuckleduster, Iwao had been a Pro Hero, with the Quirk — Overclock.
It was a very powerful quirk that had let him accelerate his brain's perception to extreme speeds, making it appear to him as if the world was moving in slow motion.
But All For One had stolen his Quirk, leaving him Quirkless.
Strangely, Iwao had never truly learned the name of the evil who had stolen his Quirk.
After catching up for a while, and having dinner, Tamao left the two alone.
A grave expression settled on Iwao's face suddenly. "Now, tell me, kid. What happened?"
"Sorry," Kazuho said, taking out the bundle of documents from her bag. "I couldn't tell you about these over the call yesterday."
Then, as Iwao began going through the documents, Kazuho told him about the unsettling meeting in a dark alley in Tokyo.
The more Iwao read, and the more he heard, the more his face paled.
And the moment he read the name — All For One — his scar itched, his instincts telling him that this was the evil he had been seeking all this while.
"Is it true?" Kazuho asked, worried. "Did the true Villain behind all that happened years ago was never caught…"
Unknown to Kazuho, her hands were shaking.
The mere knowledge that the person who had turned her into a Villain was walking free outside, kept sending a chill running down her spine.
Iwao, though, was much more experienced, burying the emotions within with a deep breath.
He lighted a cigarette and let out a puff of smoke.
A rice bowl hit him on his face out of nowhere. Bam!
"What gives, old man?!" Kazuho snapped, picking up another rice bowl. "I told you never to smoke near me!"
Iwao's mouth twitched.
He dodged the second bowl, and then the third.
By the time Kazuho picked up the ladle, he had already finished the cigarette.
"I always had a feeling…" he said, making Kazuho pause, holding the ladle high. "I never told you how I lost my Quirk, no?"
What's going on? Kazuho wondered, a heavy weight settling over her heart. Old man never talked about his Quirk before…
Then, Iwao briefly mentioned his past, and how he had ended up Quirkless.
Kazuho gasped. "You don't mean to say…"
Iwao nodded. "This could be it, kid," he said, frowning. "This is the real stuff. Tell me again about this man. How he looked?"
With a light stutter, Kazuho described the man.
Iwao's eyes widened. He hurriedly got up and brought a leaflet, slamming it on the table between them.
Kazuho looked at the bounty over the image of the same person and gasped again.
"Dr. Blessed, they are calling him," Iwao said. "Every third-rate Villain across the country has one of these in their pockets these days."
"That can't be…" Kazuho blurted. "There's nothing on the news…"
Suddenly, she remembered Dr. Blessed's words — Do you know that the Jaku Incident was nothing but a big cover-up?
Iwao nodded. "There might be some truth behind that…"
"I don't understand," Kazuho said. "Why did he give me these documents…"
"Because he knew you would come to me," Iwao replied, narrowing his eyes. "I don't know on whose side this man is, but he sure is not just any random character… What did he say at the end?"
Kazuho could still hear those words ringing in her mind. "Praise be to Mr. Fool…"
"Mr. Fool—" Iwao looked at the documents again, a spark of justice flaring in his heart.
He smiled, cracking his knuckles. "It's been a long time… since I cracked a religious fanatic's head… Haha!"
…
Saionji Mansion,
Musutafu
"So, Mr. Principal and All Might wanted you to impersonate this man?" Toru asked, stunned.
Luke nodded, Nyx nodding next to him.
"You remember the explosion during lunch hour?" he asked, sensing Toru nodding at him. "After that, they contacted me. To find out on whose side this man was, they asked me to impersonate him in front of Villains because I have the same build as him, you know.
"Of course, they wanted to do with All Might watching over me. I just got caught up in the moment in the facility and stupidly ended up going through the plan by myself."
If there was a fourth person near Toru, Luke, and Nyx, he/she would have been looking at Luke with their jaw hanging low in disbelief.
Just who in their right mind would believe this bullshit?!
But Luke knew Toru would believe him. Not because the girl trusted him so much, but because of the Quirk Nyx was using.
…
[
Quirk: Blind Trust
Complexity: S
Consumption:
— Spirit 101
— Stamina 28
Contact Time: 12 seconds
Activation Time: 5 minutes
]
…
"Is that why the Villain attacked you?" Toru asked, gasping.
Luke nodded. "I didn't want to include anyone else, as it was already dangerous."
"That was stupid!" Toru snapped. "You could have died, Luke!"
Luke smiled wryly. "That's what Mr. Principal said… Anyway, if you want to tell everyone, I won't stop you. I just felt embarrassed because I had run away from the Villain instead of facing them head-on…"
Toru shook her head. "You did the right thing…"
Suddenly, with a bam, the bedroom's doors threw open.
Aina stared at Luke and the clothes seated in front of him. "Oh…" she fumbled, shifting on her feet. "… you are just chatting…"
Then, she went back, closing the door.
Luke frowned. What else we would be doing?
"… alright," Toru nodded at Luke, getting up. "I won't tell anyone — only if you promise to not do something so stupid again."
Luke nodded, smiling.
When the girl had walked out, Luke laughed. "Haha! We fooled that innocent girl! Haha!"
Nyx eyed Luke weirdly as he laughed like a maniac.
"This Blind Trust is bound to disappear when she figures out things later," she said, noticing the wetness in the corner of Luke's eyes. "… much later, I guess."
"All investments come with risks, Nyx," Luke said, his smile widening. "It was a coincidence that let her see us… let's see where it leads to…
"Meanwhile, we have a Sports Festival to deal with."
****************
AN: Original Image of Iwao Oguro is available
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