Chapter 125: Gotcha.

In a small, dark bar where wood predominated as the main material, there were two people. Behind the bar stood a figure that appeared to be male, dressed in an elegant suit consisting of dark pants, a long-sleeved white shirt, a dark gray vest, a black tie, and what looked like five metal plates running from his collarbone to his chin. But the most striking thing about this figure was that, beneath his clothes, he seemed to be made of black mist.

Meanwhile, seated at the wooden bar and facing the strange mist-like life form, there was a slender young man with white hair, wearing what appeared to be a hand-shaped mask on his face. He was dressed in a simple long-sleeved black shirt and black pants, which made his red sneakers stand out.

“Shigaraki Tomura, I was watching the kid you talked about—he’s really impressive.”

Suddenly, a television in one corner turned on by itself, displaying an image that read [Sound Only]. At the same time, a magnetic, aged voice came through it, drawing the attention of the two people in the bar. At that moment, the white-haired young man spoke in a serious tone.

“Who’s that bastard, Sensei? Why is he so strong?”

“He’s the son of the former number 5 hero in the Japanese rankings, and his quirk, apparently, is a combination of both his parents’ quirks, which grants him incredible physical abilities and an enviable detection capacity. It’s truly a great quirk…” The voice replied casually, though there was an evident trace of interest in its tone when it mentioned the quirk. At that point, Shigaraki commented with madness in his voice.

“Sensei, I don’t like that bastard. I want to destroy him…”

“…All right, but take your time to prepare and make sure to bring him to me first. I’m interested in his quirk…” The voice on the TV responded in an almost eerie tone, as if it could already sense its victory.

…

…

…

A couple of days after the sports festival, Kai was lazily stretching in the classroom after a class with Nemuri in which everyone chose their hero names. Kai simply picked his last name, which left Momo and Nemuri quite dissatisfied. But suddenly, Sage—who was sitting on his desk in [In] mode, working on different holographic screens at the same time—abruptly reported in a serious tone through their mental connection.

[Master, a remote connection with the target has begun.]

Without wasting a second, Kai quickly took a laptop out of his desk and started typing at such a high speed that his fingers seemed to vanish, fully focused, wearing an incredibly serious expression on his face and ignoring everything around him. This made the tie-wearing Salem have to change spots and lie down under the desk, since the noise was disturbing his nap.

“… Hey, Yao Momo, what happened to Saito?” Mina, who had approached Momo, asked quietly, to which Momo replied in a slightly confused tone.

“… I don’t know. It’s weird for him to suddenly start working like this. Something must have happened, but don’t talk to him; he’s super focused right now, and it must be something important. I’ll ask him later.”

“…All right…” Mina responded quietly, though a hint of disappointment could be heard in her tone as she watched Kai’s concentrated profile. At that moment, Momo asked with a smile, changing the subject.

“More importantly, where do you plan to do your apprenticeship, Ashido-san?”

“I’m not sure yet. I got some invitations, so I need to check my options carefully. Where are you going, Yao Momo?”

“To Ryukyu’s agency. She sent me an invitation, and since Nejire-nee-chan already works with her, I’m going to give it a try.” Momo answered with a smile. Just then, Jiro walked over to Momo’s desk and chimed in with a smile.

“You’re lucky, Yao Momo. You’ll have your big sister there to help you out.”

“Fufufu, yes, it’ll really be an interesting experience.” Momo replied with a somewhat playful laugh, sparking a conversation among the girls about their upcoming apprenticeship—a conversation that Hagakure, Tsuyu, and Uraraka joined a bit later.

…

“Hehehe, gotcha…”

After some time, Kai smiled with satisfaction and malice as he gazed at the screen of his laptop, where several system consoles filled with an endless stream of code and messages were displayed. Shortly afterward, they were replaced by a satellite image of what appeared to be a forested area.

This guy had been truly difficult. Not only did he know how to cover his tracks very well, but he also had a nearly insane number of proxies that concealed his real location, and he never kept a communication open long enough to trace the thread back to his base. But today his luck ran out—Kai had infiltrated almost all of his proxies, and the communication lasted just long enough not only to pinpoint his location but also to infiltrate his central systems. Now, he was an open book to him.

“What were you doing so intensely?” While Kai reveled in his little victory, Momo approached him and asked with a smile, drawing his attention.

“I was locating a slippery guy. I’ll tell you the details later.” Kai replied, clearly pleased and in a good mood, while closing his laptop. He then asked with a smile as Salem stretched out beneath the desk.

“How about we go for some ice cream?”

“Fufufu, you really are in a good mood. Let’s go!”

Momo answered with a beautiful smile on her face. At that point, Kai glanced around and noticed that aside from the two of them, only Mina was there, playing on her phone at her desk. So he casually said.

“Ashido, want to go get some ice cream?”

“Eh?! Who? Me?”

At the sudden invitation, Mina turned to look at Kai in surprise—enough that she almost fell out of her chair—making Momo and Kai both laugh. Then Kai casually added as Salem settled back onto his shoulder.

“Who else? But if you don’t want to, that’s fine.”

“I’m going! Of course I’m going!”

Clearly excited, Mina replied, raising her arms in the air. But at that moment, a thought crossed her mind, causing her to hunch her shoulders guiltily and turn to look at Momo with a remorseful expression. Momo smiled in amusement and said cheerfully.

“Then let’s go. I want mint ice cream! Fufufu.”

“Let’s go.” Kai stood up from his seat and extended his arm slightly for Momo to take it, which she did with a smile. Then he looked at Mina and said in a casual tone.

“Come on, Ashido-san. Today I’m buying so you can get whatever you want.”

“Is that really okay…?” Mina asked, feeling unsure, to which Kai only rolled his eyes and replied casually.

“Stop being dramatic, let’s go.”

“Yes, stop with the drama, fufufu.” Momo agreed teasingly, which somehow gave Mina enough confidence to say happily as she grabbed her backpack.

“Fine, then I’m going to drain your wallet, Saito.”

“That’s tough, but sure, let’s go.”

Kai responded with amusement as he walked toward the door with Momo, quickly followed by Mina, who couldn’t help glancing for a moment at the boy’s free arm. However, she shook her head and continued walking, which earned her a look from the cunning, blue-eyed cat.

Shortly afterward, the trio left the UA premises and arrived at a bustling shopping street, with Kai in the middle and Mina and Momo at his sides chatting merrily. They soon caught the attention of the passersby, inevitably causing people to talk.

“Hey, aren’t those the first years from UA?”

“Yeah, it’s them—Ashido, Yaoyorozu, and Saito, the demon king.”

“Did you see the report about the demon king’s life?”

“Yeah… it’s a bit creepy. Do you think he’s really insane?”

“That’s nonsense. The only proof they have is that when he was a kid he ran around the hospital for hours, and there are lots of other ways to explain that. Even the doctor in the report clarifies it happened because his quirk awakened at that moment, and he just wanted to test his strength.”

“But he's scary handsome. Just seeing him freaks me out—I’m inclined to believe at least part of those internet theories about his quirk. They experimented on him, and it drove him nuts…”

…

Hearing these comments made Mina and Momo lose their smiles and start glaring at those speaking ill of Kai, who quickly scattered in embarrassment. Then both girls turned to look at Kai with worried expressions, only to find him smiling casually, as though he couldn’t hear a word of it.

“Kai…”

With a look of pain on her face, Momo wanted to speak, feeling truly angry and helpless, but not knowing what to say to comfort the love of her life. At the same time, she couldn’t help questioning whether people capable of attacking someone innocent out of envy or boredom deserved help—something that inevitably caused a hint of doubt in her heart about her future as a hero.

In recent days, the media had been full of news about them, which inevitably unearthed the story of Kai’s tragedy. Although this time they were able to stop the press from going after him with baseless rumors, they couldn’t prevent the release of serious, impartial documentaries and reports. Indirectly, that caused the internet to overflow with all kinds of theories and direct attacks on him.

“Don’t worry. This is normal—this is how human society works: they comment, gossip, and attack those who feel distant to them, coming up with thousands of excuses to justify themselves. Then, when the same thing happens to them, they hate the world for ‘attacking them without reason’. And you, as future heroes, should understand that better than anyone. Have pragmatic and realistic goals for your careers, and work on your mindset—otherwise, you’ll have a rough time.”

In a calm, steady tone, Kai explained with a small smile on his face, completely ignoring the comments as if he couldn’t hear them at all. Mina and Momo’s faces grew thoughtful as they exchanged complicated looks; after all, they were witnessing first-hand the negative repercussions that their dream career could have on their loved ones.

“You’re really strong, Saito…” Mina remarked in a contemplative tone, prompting Kai to smile as he answered without placing too much importance on it.

“It’s not what you imagine. For better or worse, the human mind can get used to almost anything, and this is no exception. The question is, if you don’t have a strong enough mindset to endure until you’ve adapted, you’ll have such a miserable time that you’ll probably give up halfway.”

While the girls reflected deeply, the group kept walking until they arrived at a small shopping mall, where there was a franchise of ice cream that Kai and Momo liked. Upon arriving, the blue-eyed boy asked, snapping the girls out of their musings.

“Well, Ashido, which flavor do you want?”

“Eh? Oh, I like vanilla.”

Ashido quickly answered, and Kai nodded to place the orders. He then paid with a black card and handed out the ice creams to the girls, not forgetting to give Salem a special meat-flavored snack; otherwise, the lazy cat would have thrown a fit.

“It’s surprising that you like strawberry ice cream, Saito.” Noticing the ice cream Kai was eating, Mina couldn’t help commenting with a smile, to which the blue-eyed boy casually asked while eating his own ice cream.

“Why?”

“Well, you’re super tough and strong, so I thought you’d go for something else, I don’t know… something ‘adult’?” Ashido admitted, clearly not sure what else to say, which made Kai smile and retort playfully.

“Ah, that’s because I’m so ‘tough’ that no matter what I eat, I still look wickedly cool, hehe.”

“Fufu, let’s practice humility a little.” Momo joked at Kai’s comment while eating her mint ice cream, to which he responded in an amused tone.

“What can I do? I was born wickedly cool—it’s part of who I am, hahaha.”

“And since when is being ‘wickedly’ anything a good thing?” Ashido asked, laughing while gazing into Kai’s blue eyes, who replied by doing a fun impression of a flashy, vain man.

“Ever since I was born, sweetheart. Being evil looks awesome on me, hehe.”

Amid jokes and laughter, they left the mall while finishing their ice creams. That’s when they heard pop music playing, which quickly caught their attention, letting them see a blond young man in a colorful jacket and shorts, accompanied by several cameramen carrying speakers and cameras.

They approached to them, and the colorfully clad young man spread out a small red carpet in front of them, then began dancing with a smile. Mina’s eyes lit up at once; she quickly took the last bite of her ice cream and said enthusiastically.

“This looks like fun!!”

Mina immediately walked gracefully down the carpet, ending with a couple of dance poses as the group cheered her on. This also caught the attention of the passersby. Momo then looked at Kai with a huge smile and asked.

“Shall we?”

“Hahaha, let’s go.”

Kai answered with amusement, making Momo laugh. She took the last bite of her ice cream and then strutted down the carpet with elegance and style, striking a few model-like poses for the camera. At that moment, the young man turned to Kai, along with Mina and Momo, who were watching him with shining eyes.

Playing along, Kai activated his Conqueror’s Haki at low intensity, making everyone’s hair stand on end as they watched him. He then walked across the carpet with firm, measured steps, a smile full of power and confidence on his face. Coupled with the music, it made the onlookers feel as if an epic battle was about to begin.

“That was super cool!”

After signing a simple broadcast rights contract, they continued walking. Mina then commented happily, and Momo nodded, adding in a cheerful tone, feeling genuinely content.

“Yes, we need to go out more often, fufu.”

“Well, the apprenticeship is next, so that probably won’t happen, but maybe afterward.” Kai replied casually, prompting Mina to ask curiously.

“By the way, Saito, where are you doing your apprenticeship? You got a bunch of invitations, so I’m really curious.”

“With the Pussycats. We planned it that way before classes even started.” Kai answered with a casual smile. Ashido nodded, understanding.

“I see. It’s nice to have heroes in the family for these situations…”

“Though, I still don’t understand why you got fewer invitations than Todoroki and me. You won the festival.”

Since the subject came up, Momo couldn’t help but comment, sounding visibly displeased. Even though she was excited about receiving the highest number of invitations, she didn’t like that Kai had taken third place behind Todoroki.

“That’s true. Even though Yao Momo and Todoroki were impressive, you stood out even more.” Mina added, just as curious. Kai merely shrugged and replied in a calm tone.

“Who knows? Maybe they don’t want to get involved with my public image, or they might not like my attitude. In any case, it doesn’t matter. My destination for the apprenticeship was decided even before classes started.”

***

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