Day Goes By… (3).
I was watching the interview on the TV, but the interview took an unexpected turn. I flinched when I saw the Justice Rider bow and thank me on national television. The skinny duo was also surprised.
:: Mr. Rider, May I know why you are thanking a killer? :: The host asked, as he was also surprised by the sudden change of events.
:: I am thanking Mr. Night Slash because he saved me from a villain. Two co-workers, who were accompanying me, died and I was about to die too but he saved me from that villain. I researched a bit and I found out it was the First Day of the 'Villain-Slaughter Week'.
When I was on the verge of death. My entire life was playing in front of me like a movie, I saw how inconsequential my life was. I lived, did not achieve anything in my life that I was proud of and then I was about to die. It was a feeling much worse than death that you wasted an entire life. So after being saved, when I got a chance to help someone, I did it. It was an achievement that I can say to others, that I am proud of it.
He may be a killer but he is only killing bad guys who are irredeemable as I have read the reports of him threatening small-time criminals and leaving them for the Police and Heroes. I think he is a Vigilante with a very radical set of beliefs but he is at least standing for it and doing something, which is saving someone's life, and one of them who he saved is me. :: Justice Rider gave his explanation as to why he thanked me.
(He is the person who was saved by Shido in Chapter 14. Shido asked the guy to call the police after saving him.)
The Interview soon ended as Justice Rider delivered his message of 'Thank You' to me.
I was looking at the TV with a bit of complicated emotion.
When I started all of this Vigilante stuff, It was my Hero-Complex that drove me to do that. But when I recognized my Hero-Complex, I still did things but lowered the intensity a bit as I still had to save Eri at that time.
Now that I have saved Eri, I didn't have any particular reason to continue the Vigilante work, but that was too late to step back as the HPSC wanted to catch our trails. I dealt with the HPSC. Now things have come a long way that even if I want to pull back everything it will be difficult. It's not like I want to stop doing things as it gives more color to my otherwise bland life of being a single parent and a noodle shop owner.
But his sincere 'Thank You' may have become another reason to continue doing things. It was a great feeling to be appreciated for things that you are doing for yourself. (He is killing Villains for his own self. There is no 'betterment of Society' feeling behind this.)
"Hey Toshinori, Why isn't he arrested as what he is doing is ultimately Vigilantism?" I asked as I was curious about this. From the clip shown before the interview, it was clear that Justice Rider does things in broad daylight.
"I would say.." Toshinori was about to explain but another person interrupted him.
"Vigilantism alone is not a crime but it is a set of crimes that makes Vigilantism illegal. I have read many reports about him and I can tell, Justice Rider is very different from the other Vigilantes. As
1. Killing or Causing Fatal Harm to the Criminal, which he doesn't apply to his case. He just helps people or defends them. There is no case of him beating a criminal to death or giving fatal wounds.
2. Not Co-operating with the National Institutions, which also doesn't apply to his case as he closely co-operates with the Police, as the Criminals apprehended by him are given to the Police.
3. He is very well received by the people and his title 'Lolicop' is not for naught. He has saved many little kids especially little girls from being kidnapped or assaulted, hence very popular in every age demographic of the city. Whether it is elderly, middle-aged, Young adults, or Kids. All of them like Justice Rider
So you can call him a 'co-operative' citizen who co-operates with Police and helps people." Izuku gave his insight into the case of Justice Rider. But I had a different theory why he isn't arrested.
'He is basically acting as the mascot for the Police. All the criminals he apprehends are given to the Police, creating a tie between them in the eyes of the public. Thus increasing their popularity and credibility. And I don't think the Police will let go of such a chance to increase their image in the Public eyes when HPSC clearly sits on the top in terms of credibility and Public Image.'
After this time went by, the two completed their food and paid for it separately, and left the shop. I was just sitting there without doing anything. I then stood up and brought some potted plants inside the shop and started fiddling with the {HESOYAM} cheat and [Law of Time].
I wanted to create the same effect as Eri's quirk. And the plant is a good experiment as its branches have been cut numerous times. I tried using the {HESOYAM} cheat on it normally, nothing happened.
Then I tried to channel [Law of Time] with the {HESOYAM} cheat which led to numerous branches growing back and then all shrunk back into a single seed. This showed the {HESOYAM} cheat gives affects the entire body of the target.
Then I continued practicing on the plants and trained to control the time it rewinds to. All of this was not that hard as the 2-hour practice session brought some results.
I now can locally affect a part of the body instead of the whole body effect of the cheat. The Effect of {HESOYAM} with [Law of Time] gave the expected effects which were the same as the effects of Eri's quirk but were not that Overpowered to turn a full-grown adult into a fetus in a matter of seconds. The amount of time required to turn back the object is directly proportional to the time you want to turn back.
The whole training was simple, as I don't have to control the [Law of Time], I just have to channel it to {HESOYAM}, to modify its effect.
It seems I have more things in my arsenal now. Then, I looked at the clock, which showed 11:30 AM. I rushed to make lunch as Lunch Time is 30 minutes away. I was so engrossed in the experiment on {HESOYAM} that I forgot to keep track of time.
I made Chicken Yakisoba. Easy and quick to make. I completed the dish in around 20 minutes. I then quickly placed all the dishes on the table and went to bring Eri for Lunch. She came and eat lunch quickly and wanted to watch more cartoons but I snatched the tablet from her hands and stored it in the Inventory.
"I completed my lunch... Then Why?" She asked in complete bafflement. She obliged and ate her lunch peacefully but she was betrayed as her tablet was again taken as a hostage.
"You are not getting enough sleep. So I have decided that from now on, you are going to take afternoon naps on a daily basis." I had to put the rules clearly in front of her or else she will try to get away from this.
"But I don't feel like sleeping now." She refuted the new rule.
"Try to sleep once. You will automatically sleep in no time and no effort." I said and picked her up to the bedroom, where I placed her on the bed and pushed 'Rilakkuma' to her, to sleep.
I had to be strict in these things or the girl will do anything she wants to do. After putting her on the bed, I walked out of the room.
I checked on her 15 minutes later and found she fell asleep and was now sleeping peacefully with Rilakkuma being squeezed to the limits.
I then went downstairs and contacted the Lawyer Fuyumi suggested. I had to complete Eri's Adoption Process, as soon as possible because I don't want to delay this any longer.
I called the lawyer and he said he can take care of the entire process if what Fuyumi told him is true. He then asked for Eri's documents which I sent him through the phone. The documents were a bit modified but there was no need to worry about being caught as La Brava modified Eri's documents from the government's data storage and Police's Database without needing me to go there.
She said Government's Data Storage which stores Citizen's Data are not that strictly protected. She has done this kind of thing in the past, so it was not a big task for her to do. And she also deleted the Investigation report on Danjuro and her from the Police Database.
The Lawyer said I had to make an appearance with Eri in court, as this is not a normal adoption because of Eri's background. He assured me that the adoption will be a success as the government encourages and facilitates the adoption of kids having parents with a criminal record or background, to give the kids better parents and an atmosphere to be raised well.
In the case of Eri, Legally she was the daughter of Kai Chisaki as he had adopted Eri from her biological mother, and the granddaughter of Boss of Shie Hassaikai. Her mother discarded Eri after Eri's Quirk manifested and made her father disappear. She was termed as cursed by her mother and Kai Chisaki. The reason behind the title 'curse' is that Eri's Quirk Rewind doesn't relate to any of her parents' quirk and seems to have gone through a lot of mutations.
Since Eri is the daughter of Kai Chisaki who is a Villain, then her adoption process will be much faster. La Brava has destroyed the case of Eri's father's disappearance from documents and files related to Eri.
After talking with the Lawyer, I again went for the practice of {HESOYAM} and [Law of Time] combination. I had to raise my efficiency in this particular thing, as this can make a difference in the life and death of me and my allies during any fight.
.....
I completed my training a few minutes ago and now I was sitting on a chair, thinking about the plot that is going to start after 5 days. I was thinking about what changes I made in this world after my arrival.
'I basically smashed an entire arc off the main plot, so it is good as that arc now doesn't even exist, so not much change there. I am dating Fuyumi and adopted Eri, so I don't think that will affect the plot too much. Danjuro is going to make videos again with La Brava, which is similar to the plot with a small twist of Danjuro doing heroic acts. Knuckleduster doesn't show up in the main plot so no problem there.
The HPSC isn't even mentioned in the initial phases of the plot so no changes there. Basically, I didn't change the plot much..... I hope so.'
*CHING DING*
The shop doorbell chimed, notifying me of the entrance of the customer. But when I raised my head to look at the customer. It was Fuyumi, coming from her job as a teacher. She had a tired expression on her face. It must be very tiring to deal with students and their documents who are about to go to High School in just a few days.
She came and sat in front of me and took out a lunch box from her handbag.
"Here is the empty lunch box. The lunch was delicious as usual. I also shared some with my colleagues, they also complimented the food and said 'I wish my boyfriend could cook like yours.' and you know that was the moment I was proud of you. I also told them you cook breakfast for me and they were so jealous of me You know..." She said proudly with a puffed chest and she then patted my shoulder.
"So, at other times, you are not proud of me?" I asked.
"No..No. it's not like that. I was just saying..." Her proud look vanished and a panicked expression was now on her face. She was trying her best to explain herself.
"hehe, Don't mind it. I was just teasing you." I told her my true intentions behind the question. I like to tease her whenever I get a chance.
"Meanie." She said and pouted a bit.
I then poked the pout to flatten it. But she continued to pout and I continued to poke it. I then changed the topic.
"You look tired. Are you having a hectic workload?" I asked.
"No, it's not that much. It's just that the documents to the process have increased as the students are about to go to High School. There are two more teachers helping me but the students are too much." She said with a sigh.
I stood up from my seat and went behind her.
"Do you want a massage?" I asked. I thought it would be a good idea to massage her shoulders and neck as sitting on a chair for so long can make the muscles stiff.
"Is that... Do... you really want to do that?" She asked but her voice was trembling. I don't think a massage would be too much as we have been dating for a bit less than a year.
"Yeah. I think you have stiff shoulders so a massage would be good."
".....Okay...." She said in a low voice.
'I never thought she was this shy, that she will be shying away from a massage from her Boyfriend.'
Then, I placed my hands on her shoulders. I made a C-shape and grabbed her shoulders and then started squeezing them with firm and light pressure. I then continued for some time doing this, but Fuyumi was just sitting there with a straight face without showing any comfort or discomfort.
But then a small sound came from her mouth, which contained pleasure and comfort,
"...More..."
This proved my massage was good, so I continued the massage as usual and pushing the stiffness out of her shoulders and back.