Chapter 170: Kai did the right thing.

Upon hearing Chatora’s words, Eva lifted her gaze, filled with countless emotions, opening and closing her mouth repeatedly as she tried to say something, but the words simply wouldn’t come out. At that moment, Chatora smiled warmly and spoke in a gentle voice.

“Let’s go inside. You’ve also been through a lot.”

“…I want to see my son.” After a moment, Eva spoke in a rough voice, to which Chatora nodded and responded with a smile.

“Of course, although he’s still in the MedPod and will be there for a few more hours.”

“It doesn’t matter. For now, I just want to be by his side.” Eva said as she wiped away her tears, at which point Chatora got up from the ground and extended his hand to her while commenting.

“Then follow me, I’ll take you.”

“Thank you… for everything.”

Taking Chatora’s hand, Eva stood up from the ground and spoke in a low voice while looking at the beautiful woman talking among themselves around the unconscious young man. At that moment, Chatora smiled and spoke.

“Don’t worry about that. Most of this family are professional heroes, so it’s part of our job.”

“That makes sense… That young man, Kai, was truly impressive.” Eva commented with a voice full of emotion, which made Chatora smile somewhat bitterly as he responded in a kind voice.

“Kai is a bit of a special case, but you’ll find out later. For now, do you have a relative you’d like to call or anything like that?”

“Well… I’m not sure yet. Let me think about it.” Eva replied with a complicated tone, so Chatora wisely decided to stop asking questions and led the woman to the medical room.

…

While Chatora and Eva were walking to the medical room, Keiko and Yumiko stood up so they were kneeling on the ground, still reluctant to move away from Kai—especially given the miserable state in which they first saw him, which still filled them with fear. At that moment, Nemuri sighed softly and then said.

“Let’s go inside. Even though Sage said Kai is fine now, I’d like a doctor to see him so I can feel more at ease—and also check on the child. Although the MedPod is good, it’s best to have a thorough examination.”

“You’re right, that’s best. I’ll contact Recovery Girl to come; that’ll be more private, and all the necessary medical equipment is here.” Shino said in a serious tone as she gently brushed through Kai’s visibly dirty and sticky hair, which earned unanimous agreement from the girls.

“Although an examination is a good idea, calling Recovery Girl at this hour… better to call someone else.” Ryuko remarked as she looked at the dark sky, which quickly made the girls nod in agreement. Shocked by Kai’s condition and how well-lit the garden was, they momentarily forgot the time, prompting Keiko to speak in a serious tone.

“You’re right. I’ll call someone. He’s good, and he doesn’t ask questions.”

“Then let’s go with that. Although I think we should clean Kai up a bit, and we also got a little dirty.” Yumiko commented as she looked at her white dress, which had small dirt stains, prompting Keiko to speak in a calm tone.

“Alright, here’s what we’ll do: I’ll call the doctor, give Kai a bath, and put him in something decent while you get in touch with All Might.”

“Let me help you, Keiko. Kai’s already grown and pretty heavy; it might be complicated for you alone.”

Yumiko nodded with a small smile, which led Momo, Ryuko, and Shino to exchange discreet glances among themselves. Then all of them, including Nemuri and Nejire, heard Shino’s voice in their minds, asking in a serious tone. Using a trick she’d developed after years of having her Accomplice, she could basically create a kind of ‘telepathy room’ where everyone could communicate through it. Even though it had several limitations, it was quite useful.

[What do we do? Do we let them bathe Kai?]

[What’s the problem? Are you jealous or something?] Nemuri asked back, somewhat confused, to which Shino replied with a slightly uncertain tone.

[It’s not that; it’s just that… you know…]

[I understand what Shino means. We’re his girlfriends; we should be the ones to take care of something like that.] Momo quickly added in a serious tone, prompting Nejire to speak in a solemn tone—light years away from her usual cheerfulness.

[Now isn’t the time to argue about that. If Mom and Aunt Keiko want to take care of Kai, so be it. The most important thing right now is to find out what happened to Kai. Only someone like All Might could have left Kai in the state he arrived in, so if that 'thing' is still alive, we have to stop it.]

[Nejire is right. Let them do what they want. In the kind of relationship we have, jealousy makes no sense. Let’s focus on what’s important. Sage said she uploaded the information about what happened onto the servers, so I’m going to look at it right now. I won’t be at ease until I find out who hurt my husband that way.]

Ryuko added in a cold voice, which earned unanimous agreement from the girls. They looked at each other once more, but this time there was a cold light in their eyes. At that moment, Nemuri looked at the pair of mothers and spoke in a serious tone.

“Then we’ll make the calls and check the data Sage mentioned and talk to Miss Eva. It’s important to know what happened and if there’s any danger.”

“I’m counting on you.”

Hearing Nemuri, Keiko—who was picking Kai up from Ryuko’s arms—turned to look at her and spoke in a serious tone. She wasn’t overly worried about immediate danger, since if there really were any, Sage would have activated the mansion’s defenses before disappearing or at least warned them. But since she did neither, she was sure they were safe, at least for the moment, so focusing on Kai was more important.

“Let’s go.”

Yumiko, who shared a similar opinion to Keiko and was still nervous about the wounds Kai had only a few moments ago, spoke in a tone that tried to sound calm. She wanted to check him all over immediately to calm her nerves.

As Yumiko and Keiko made their way up to the second floor—with Keiko carrying Kai like a princess and Salem closely following them along with Tama—Momo, Nejire, Ryuko, Shino, and Tomoko sat in the first-floor living room, gathered around the coffee table in the center. All of them wore solemn expressions, while Nemuri stood a few meters away, making the necessary calls.

“Shall we begin?”

Momo asked in a serious tone, to which the other girls nodded with focused expressions. Momo then quickly extended her hand and gently touched the coffee table, causing it to light up softly as a fingerprint scanning interface appeared, at which point several holographic screens materialized in front of her.

“What are you doing?” At that moment, Chatora entered the living room, looking confused, so Shino turned around and answered in a serious tone.

“We’re going to look at the data Sage left behind.”

“I see.”

Chatora quickly nodded seriously and sat in a nearby armchair. Meanwhile, Momo navigated through the server’s files using the coffee table as a controller and quickly found what she was looking for—a folder with all the information about the spiders, images, maps, databases with different records, and so on. But what caught her attention most was a video showing, in its thumbnail, a huge creature—half-spider, half-humanoid.

“There’s a video Sage recorded of the entire 'journey'...”

After looking at the preview still, Momo turned to the others and spoke in a slightly trembling voice, prompting Shino to ask in a serious tone, while shifting her gaze between Momo and Nejire.

“What’s in that video must be difficult to watch. Are you sure you want to see it?”

“I’m absolutely sure. Kai was the one who experienced everything we’re about to see. If I can’t even bring myself to watch it, I wouldn’t be fit to be a hero.” Nejire replied in a serious tone, looking Shino straight in the eye, at which point Momo added with a voice full of conviction.

“I feel the same way. It may be hard to watch, but we still need to see it.”

Meanwhile, Ryuko couldn’t help but look at the unusually silent Tomoko beside her, who still looked pale and seemed lost in thought. Concerned, Ryuko reached out and placed a hand on Tomoko’s shoulder, asking in a low voice.

“Are you alright…?”

“Eh?!”

Ryuko’s question pulled Tomoko out of her thoughts, making her exclaim in mild surprise. But upon seeing the worried look on her friend’s face, she quickly replied in a calm tone.

“Oh, yes. Don’t worry. It was just a bit shocking for me to see Kai in the state he arrived in. That’s all.”

“It might be better if you take a break—you don’t have to watch the video...” Ryuko said with concern, to which Tomoko replied firmly.

“No, I have to watch it. I can’t stay without knowing what happened.”

“I understand… but don’t push yourself too hard.” Ryuko responded with concern. At that moment, Nemuri came back with her phone in hand and sat in one of the armchairs, then spoke seriously.

“All Might is already on his way. Sage informed him that Kai was safe. He’ll be here in a few minutes.”

“Well, since we’re all here, I’ll play the video on the big screen.”

Momo commented in a serious tone as she looked at the large screen in the room, and everyone else nodded. After a few seconds, the screen turned on, and the video began to play, starting with Kai running over water at great speed.

Soon, they all watched in astonishment as the brutal storm was unleashed, clenching their fists in panic when they saw how easily it consumed Kai. Only to breathe a sigh of relief when they saw him unleash colossal power to escape the place at full speed. But what followed left them completely speechless.

From the strange island to the full moon, to the fact that the place didn’t show up on any satellites, plus the overwhelming power of the spiders—visible thanks to the tags that appeared over each entity in the video—everything seemed more shocking than the last. But things only got worse when Kai on-screen saw what they were doing to Eva and her son.

Even though, as professional heroes or aspiring ones, their hearts told them that Kai had to help Eva at that moment—and even though they already knew how everything turned out. As they watched Kai’s expression, clenching his fists and teeth while staring at the holographic screen, they couldn’t help but hope he wouldn’t do it, that he would stay hidden. It was far too dangerous, even for him.

But they quickly watched Kai dash out of the hut, destroying it in the process, then stab the leader directly in the neck—a sight that made them clench their fists with mixed feelings. While it’s inevitable that a hero will, at some point in their career, end the life of a villain, it’s quite rare and only happens in extreme situations—the last resort no hero truly wants to take.

To save someone in the midst of an unimaginably dangerous situation, Kai—the child they’d known all their lives, the man they loved—had become a killer. It was an incredibly bitter feeling they wrestled within their hearts. Still, the video moved on without regard for their emotions, showing how Kai activated Accompany to return home.

With hearts pounding, they watched as Oliver was suddenly pulled from within Accompany’s barrier of light—something none of them even knew was possible—causing them to gasp sharply. Now they understood why Kai didn’t just run; he couldn’t. Possibly sending Eva and her son away was the best he could do at that moment.

With their hearts racing, everyone watched Kai cancel the ability and run to get Oliver back, only to be enveloped by an enormous shadow that left only a purple streak in the air, along with a loud roar—this shadow then quickly took the form of a colossal, monstrous Drider, leading them to understand Eva’s earlier words. It really was a terrifying monster.

As the video showed Eva inside the metal walls conjured by Sage, everyone exchanged glances with no idea what to say, seeing the same expression on each other’s faces: an incredibly complicated look, mixed with panic, apprehension, and uncertainty, creating an awkward silence. Finally, Tomoko spoke in a solemn voice, breaking the tension.

“Kai did the right thing. In that situation, it was what had to be done to save a mother and her child. Anyone who says otherwise will have to answer to me.”

“…”

***

You can support me on .com/lordanl and get up to 10 advanced chapters.