Chapter 3: Intervention
I was walking down the street after I got my rest at the park. At first, I wasn't sure how I would live with another person inside the same body but then again, at least I have a companion now.
I ask Eugen by speaking to myself. "So you're just going to stick around while I go?"
"Mhm, I don't care where we go. I'm just exactly in the same boat as you." a pause followed that remark.
"Was that a pun?"
She went silent after that and I could guess why.
I just wandered around the bustling streets, nothing out of the ordinary was going on. I should be acquiring some information soon. Despite everyone having powers of some kind, none of them was doing much.
Stores were littered around and were filled with patrons and employees. The hot day reached my skin and I looked up to the sky and could see the sun shining right in the middle of the sky.
It was noon I guessed. I must have lost track of time when I was just wandering around.
"Kyaaaa!"
A scream was heard just on the opposite sidewalk I was walking on, a woman was on the floor while her shield quirk created a barrier around her.
The store employee shouts for help while what looked like a person who jumped head first into the blended contents of a septic tank and called that his quirk quickly made their getaway.
He was running and going through objects, and bills of Japanese yen fell off his gooey body. Multitudes of people pulled out their phones to call for the police, or whoever could stop the runaway sludge person.
"Hey, where's the Hero?" A random passerby commented. The other passersby joined in on the conversation.
Hero? Quite fitting for what they're supposed to do. I wonder how they got that designation.
Someone else to the side responds "Usually, someone comes right away."
The automatic doors behind me opened as someone who was more skeleton than man walked toward the group that slowly formed to watch the scene. I took one look at the man and noticed me in the way of him being able to exit the store behind us.
"Oh, sorry for being in the way."
The man waves me off while carrying a bag full of groceries on his left.
"It's fine."
The chatter in front catches back my attention with the conversation picking up. I spun back to view the escape, turning my back from the skinny-looking man.
"He took advantage of the morning bustle."
That doesn't make sense though. Usually, if criminals are active, they'd go for less busy times and not in broad daylight. It was noon, so I'm surprised someone had the guts to commit a robbery.
"So many people don't know what to do with their powers. There's just no end."
I agree, but usually, people would turn to crime because they're desperate or they just have an oversized amount of greed.
Motivations usually vary, maybe the addition of quirks just led to more opportunities for those people to turn into a criminal. I'll need to find a computer in a public library or something to find out more.
"Yes, there is."
I turn back in shock, the addition of a deep voice and someone right behind me made me rebound to see someone completely different.
It seems like everyone else noticed it too since everyone just had their mouths open as if the man standing in front was a celebrity. He looked like one too with the number of muscles he had and the addition of a constantly smiling face.
"Why you say?" he continued. "Because I am here!"
The man stomped on the ground full force as a wave of air pressure was felt by everyone around. He chased after the sludge man and was catching up further into the city.
Is that what I should expect when people fight with quirks?
"Who was that?" I absentmindedly said.
A man turned to answer "You don't know who that is?"
"Not really, no."
The man looked at me as if I just killed an orphaned child right in front of him. Was not knowing who I was asking about apparently so much of an insult?
"He's All Might! The no.1 hero in Japan!"
Ah, that's probably why. The no.1 hero of Japan that I don't even know would probably offend people.
"Sorry, I'm not from here." I used an excuse.
He squinted his eyes and looked all over my outfit and general look. He glanced around and nodded. "Heh, you could be it big if you became a hero."
I'll take that as a compliment.
"Can't you just become a hero by fighting criminals?"
He raised an eyebrow. "No, the police handle criminals. Villains are the dangerous ones. Plus you need a permit for being a hero."
"So I can't just beat someone up if I see them robbing a bank?"
It took him a few seconds to comprehend what I said before he raised his tone at the suggestion. "Of course not! I don't know what country you're from but you can only use quirks to escape or prevent an attack aimed at you."
"Meaning the moment I even pinch a villain with a quirk, I would get arrested?"
He nodded rapidly, confirming what I feared. "A long sentence too for illegal quirk use," he added.
That's a load of bull. So I'm just to watch and wait for someone to come instead of taking the matter into my own hands? Now I really need to do some research on this.
Before he went away, I tapped on his back and just as I did he swung back around. "Do you know where the nearest library is?"
He shrugged but took out his phone anyways. "I don't, I can look up something on the internet." A few taps on his phone and he reached out with an open palm "Here."
He handed me his phone and the map showed one close by, a few more blocks and I could reach them. I thanked the man a bowed before I made my way over.
I quickly walked away after my apparent encounter with the no.1 hero All Might. Seems like a decent person, first impressions looked good to me. Although I was disturbed by that conversation I had.
"Eugen? What do you think about it? I don't think it's fair at all, if villains are using their quirks on people then they should expect the victims to use their quirks on them but if the government is preventing them from that, wouldn't more criminals exist?"
I lost control of my voice as Eugen spoke to reply. "I do not know but if others won't use their quirks why don't we use ours?"
I swayed my head and kept walking. "I can't get into trouble for now. There are too many unknowns when I came here. I don't need to announce my presence without settling down."
"Boooooo, I wanted us to fight villains." she jeered.
The villain is just a title, who knows what they went through to follow the path of a villain? Same reason the title of being a hero exists, I still have no idea how being a hero works but I can guess what it meant to be one.
"Well, we don't know if they are desperate. If they don't hurt anyone else directly or indirectly, then I can accept them."
The sound of steel boots stepping along the pavement filled the ambient noise of the streets. It seemed like Eugen was actually thinking about what I said.
"An interesting point of view."
I saw the sign on an old-looking building. Its front wooden door was starting to mold and the paint had seen better days, it was stripping off. Even in this world libraries were second to the internet.
"We're here."
I entered and immediately saw the person in front listening to music while sleeping. I forwent introducing myself and moved directly to scanning books on law and maybe some history.
Skimming some of the contents I saw the date of publication is 2370. Almost 300 years, maybe 400 years from when I lived back in my own world.
Flipping a page from the table of contents I read through the early years of quirks appearing. It had been in the 21st century. "So during the early years, they only had random people take up being a hero?"
"That would look like to be the case."
I flipped the next 5 pages and skimmed through each of them. "But when they passed regulations, it limited that kind of action. So the moment I even take a small action to defend myself I will be held equally accountable."
"Seems like it."
I curled my lips downward at the revelation. "That's… who would pass that law?"
"I mean ask yourself this, who are they protecting when they passed this law? Would it be the citizen or the criminal?"
"The criminal... but why?"
Innocents were going to be harmed yet they care more about how much damage the villain would receive. You shouldn't care at that point, if the civilian lives then the better right?
"I do not know, maybe it's better to find out yourself," Eugen said.
Myself? Find out why Japan prioritizes the criminal over the people? Don't tell me that's the reason why.
"I mean… I would like to but."
"But?"
"I don't know," I admitted.
"You doubt yourself?"
I am really not sure anymore. I was once a lawbreaker in my own world, but because I was sick of the government doing nothing to help us.
Ever since the city fell into anarchy, it's only been cops being paid off and shootings occurring every day without much attention from the top. So I tried to fight back against the system.
Now, though I am not sure if the law made sense. I got killed when I committed a crime. So the kid was in the right to shoot me. But if the same law applied here then I wouldn't be dead.
I was conflicted about whether the law was right in this regard. Perhaps some criminals deserve some kind of protection from excessive lethal force. But the difference was that I was doing crime for good.
Gah! I don't know what to think!
"Well...ummm... I used to be a-" Eugen cuts me off.
"Revolutionary, yes? I remember your memories as well"
So she got access to my memories too? I hope that I don't have any embarrassing ones. Even I don't remember what I did during my youth.
"Really?"
"Quite pathetic don't you think?" she deadpanned.
"Oh." I died a bit inside.
She must have seen me die after joining up with them for a week. Dying to a child I refused to hurt may be the reason why I died. Still, I'm not too long up about it... I hope so at least.
"That's why you have a second chance."
A second chance to try again and transform the world for the better huh? It would put my mind at ease, didn't the person that sent me here also say I didn't want to die?
"Then what should I do?" I asked.
"Just do what your emotions lead to, you don't like it when your emotions take over but maybe it's time for you to change."
I do repress my emotions quite a bit, I don't want to make horrible decisions since I've been taught that. Maybe Eugen does have a point.
"Change..."
*Boom!*
An explosion sounded in the city, the reverberations could be felt from all the way here where I sat. I got up and went outside, civilians around me felt the explosions which were increasing in volume and intensity.
There, right at the horizon was a large plume of smoke and ash rising to the top. A cloud of grey and black loomed over the city.
"What was that?!" a panicked passerby exclaimed.
One of the people who were closer to the explosion screamed out one after another until I could hear what was causing the explosion. "It's a villain!"
Nearby was the glass of the library windows, murky from being unclean. But seeing through it I could see myself in its reflection. I recalled what Eugen said to me.
"Now's your chance to prove it." she suddenly spoke.
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