It took the thief a few seconds to recognise the young adult due to the latter being in "casual wear".
It was FREAKING HAWKS.
"What the actual—" The thief froze. No way this was his luck.
Correction: the unluckiest man in the room.
Normally, the situation would have unfolded exactly like how he imagined: Citizens panicking a bit, him showing his gun, them complying, one or two complications before he escapes.
This was the perfect place to rob, as not many people expect themselves to get robbed in a hospital, of all places.
The security is generally tight.
So yeah—on paper? Solid plan.
Reality, however, had other plans.
He met the wrong person.
A wrong person in a wrong mood.
The thief's instincts flared up. He lifted the arm holding the gun, intending to shoot Keigo.
He hasn't moved his gaze away from Keigo, clearly afraid.
And then, Keigo moved.
Specifically, his hand moved, putting the gun on the chair beside him.
"Huh?" The thief stared at his now-empty hand.
He looked up—and the world turned black.
THUMP
Just like that, he fainted on the ground. At the entrance.
Keigo didn't bother to look again. Eyes shut, focusing back on the feathers moving outside the hospital.
Surprisingly, the crowd present in the hospital didn't react much either.
Sensible people.
Or maybe just people with good instincts.
Though that was far from the truth.
Most didn't approach. His expression alone said: stay back, which made him look far different from Hawks's normal persona.
So, most of them thought that the man looked like Hawks. Though with slight hope, they took pictures of him. Luckily, Keigo didn't react.
When faced with a daylight robbery, half of the people went blank.
A robbery at a hospital.
Is this for real?
The other half kind of believed that the man was Hawks after all.
Just looking at Keigo, some of the people could feel a different aura.
It was similar to how celebrities stand out even if they are dressed normally.
They have a different aura altogether.
So, due to him, even subconsciously, everyone knew that they were not going to get hurt.
Their instincts didn't disappoint.
The thief was defeated even before they knew it. Blink or not, you'd still miss it.
It was bizarre. Unnatural. Dangerous.
This was the reason most of the heroes speak out their attack names or pose for the public.
To give them familiarity with their moves.
To make them comfortable.
To deflect the fact that they were mass weapons of destruction.
This was also the reason many are scared of Endeavour.
Unintentionally, Keigo had echoed his childhood idol's style.
Leading to nobody approaching him.
---
The light in the emergency room finally turned off.
"Took about an hour," Keigo muttered, standing.
The doctor, along with a few assistants, left the room.
"Are you his guardian?" The doctor asked.
"Technically, no. He is a legal adult, but I am his mentor. So, yeah."
"I see." The doctor nodded. "Fortunately, you brought him on time. He had been stabilised now. How did he get so... gruesome injuries?"
"Assassination."
The doctor paused. Looking again at Keigo.
He didn't exactly scream 'money.' Though the doctor could see that Keigo was in his sleepwear, it was hard to say.
'Likely a hero.' Like the receptionist, he also didn't recognise Hawks instantly.
"How is his concussion? What about his arm and the eye?"
"The damage to his head was restored. without any side effects. His arm was cleanly cut off, so we were able to reattach it." The doctor said in a monotone voice.
'He probably let it be cut like that.' Keigo could already draw some conclusions.
"About his eye." The doctor paused. Keigo got a bad feeling.
"Unfortunately, I wasn't able to heal his eye. It was already too late for that. Unless you meet one of the top doctors, it's not possible to heal his right eye."
"I see. Thank you for your efforts, doctor." Keigo bowed.
"It's my duty. He had lost a lot of blood, so he needs to be kept for observation for at least 48 hours. He will wake up in around 3 hours."
Keigo nodded, and after exchanging a few more words, he took out his phone.
The phone he had made his feathers retrieve from his house while he was waiting.
He tapped the manager's contact with one hand while cracking his neck with the other.
"Moyai? Yeah, he is fine. Though there were some complications. I want you to gather information on somebody who could restore a damaged eye. Already sent you the medical reports." He told his manager about the situation.
"Is Arisa already in the office? Just asking. She really is diligent. Anyway, what about Saya? No, I am not asking for the sake of asking. I need a bit of her help. Yeah. Just send her to the hospital. Thanks."
Hawks put the phone back and oversee Shigure being transported from the emergency room to another room where he would be lying for the next 48 hours.
Collapsing onto the guest bed in the same room, he let out a sigh.
"Didn't know you could also seem like this."
A lady said, suddenly appeared in the room. She wore a sleek violet suit with a spider-leg motif. Long scarf woven from her own threads. Her eyes were shielded by goggles.
"Like what?" Keigo asked without getting up.
"Hmm, emotional? Showing emotions, I guess." She inspected the room. Looking for traps.
"Are you trying to say that I am emotionless? I am hurt, you know." Keigo clutched his chest.
He could feel the deadpan stare even with his eyes closed.
"Very funny."
"I know."
The girl felt silent. Just stared.
"So this is the mystery boy? The one you didn't shut up about by not talking about him?" She asked, looking at Shigure lying with multiple bandages on his body.
"Bragging? I never even brought up the topic."
"Right. But the way you were hiding it was seen as bragging. He looks younger than I assumed. Who assassinated him?"
"Dunno." Hawks shook his head. "I had restrained them, but even before I reached the hospital, all of them were dead. Probably a quirk in effect."
"So, professional assassins. What did the boy do? Seeing how you were secretive about his information and your connection to him, how did the information leak?" Saya asked, taking a seat on the chair.
"It wasn't my connection. Haven't you heard the recent news? You know the new AI architecture one."
Saya blinked. She knew the news. So, it didn't take her long to understand Keigo's words.
"Damn." She was speechless.
"Anyway, I need to take a dump. I am going home, just look after him before I come back. Also, there was an idiot who tried to rob the hospital. He is down there, call the police on him." Keigo tossed her the laser gun before leaving the window.
Saya expressionlessly looked at Keigo leaving.
'You intentionally framed the words like that...' Her grip on the gun tightened.
---
"I am back." Keigo returned after 2 hours.
Saya glanced at him for a moment before focusing back on her phone.
"So cold." He slumped on the bed. Then he took out his laptop and mouse from the bag.
"Didn't know you were a gamer. Is that how you generally spend your holidays?"
"It's one of my hobbies. Recently got into this one."
"Anyway. The downstairs guy was taken care of. I would be going then. Call me if you need me." With that, Saya disappeared from the room.
"Thanks!" Keigo shouted without looking away from the screen.
Typical Gamer.
---
The doctor had told that it would take 3 hours for Shigure to wake up, but surprisingly or unsurprisingly, he didn't wake up.
When it hit the 6-hour mark, Keigo finally grew concerned.
Concerned enough to finally shut his laptop.
"Wakey—Wakey," Keigo shouted in Shigure's ears, but he didn't wake up.
The doctor entered the room after a few minutes. He checked Shigure with his quirk. "It seems his quirk is acting subconsciously and taking energy. It wasn't mentioned, but how much does he usually?"
"I am not sure myself. Though I have seen him devour multiple chocolate bars branded with tags like 100k calories." Keigo remembered the time he almost died due to the chocolate bar Shigure had offered.
"I see. That's a lot for his age. Should be around 500k calories in a day." The doctor nodded, lifting his pen.
"In an hour."
"Pardon?"
"I was talking about one hour, not the entire day." Keigo corrected.
The doctor was left speechless for a second.
'How much are his food expenses?'
"Is that so? That's pretty rare, given what his quirk is."
"His quirk registry is outdated. He had awakened his quirk recently."
"I see. It shouldn't matter anyway. I will call an assistant to gauge his current calorie requirements."
The assistant showed up after a few minutes.
'Quirks really come in different shapes and effects.' Keigo was impressed.
"2.7 million," the assistant whispered, like he had seen a ghost.
'I was expecting a bit more for the day, but I guess it was that high due to him training that time. Still, that's a pretty high number.' Keigo nodded.
The head doctor frowned. "For how many hours?" He asked.
"For an hour."
"..."
"..."
"..."
The room went utterly silent. The assistant himself couldn't believe this. He checked again and the result was same.
'I don't think even elephants consume that many calories.' [1]Keigo thought.
---
It took around 12 hours since Shigure was admitted to wake up.
Keigo was playing on his laptop, lying on the guest bed.
CLICK CLICK CLICK
It was around 10 PM.
Shigure opened his eyes. He didn't make a sound or try to move his body. Just stayed still.
'Am I kidnapped?'
He felt his body for around a minute before taking action.
He created his domain and expanded it. It was at that moment, Keigo jumped from his bed. Feathers were already surrounding Shigure's bed.
"You fucking... nearly gave me an heart attack!" Keigo cursed. Seeing that it was only Shigure, he focused back on his laptop.
He didn't put on his headphones, though.
CLICK CLICK CLICK
"How do you feel?"
"Peachy," Shigure said, getting up from the bed.
"What does that mean?" Keigo asked without looking.
"I don't know. Heard it somewhere." Shigure walked towards the mirror.
"You shouldn't use unknown words like that. You might get misunderstood."
"Give an example." Shigure started doing some stretching.
"Do you know what a gooner means? How will you use that in a statement?"
"Maybe messing around. You know, like saying I was gooning around or something."
"Pfft." Keigo snorted. "You will understand what I mean when you look up the meaning of that word."
"Why don't you tell me directly?"
"What's the fun with that?"
"Hmm." Shigure hmmed. He then removed the bandages covering his one eye.
CLICK CLICK CLICK
Despite not looking directly at him, Keigo could tell what he was doing.
Feathers were present in the room.
Currently, he may not look like it, but he was the future number 3 and the current number 7 hero in Japan.
"I don't think you should be taking that off. Anyway, I talked to my manager—gonna talk to a group of high-level doctors who can heal your eye."
"From what I have heard so far, your manager sounds like an angel. I really want to meet myself. I wonder what gift I should bring to look polite."
"Hmph. Maybe you should sometimes act polite in front of me, too." Keigo snorted again.
Shigure ignored him. "Maybe I will pack myself as the gift. You know, covering myself with red ribbons."
CLICK CLIC— Pause.
Keigo paused.
"Despite how wrong it sounds or implies, it definitely is going to be funny." Keigo chuckled. Already imagining Moyai's face when Shigure does that.
"Is it funny?... I guess it is. I might do that a few years later when I look a bit more appetising to her."
CLICK CLIC— Keigo's fingers paused again. This time briefly. Before continuing.
"My manager is a he. Not a she." Keigo deadpanned.
"Grrhhh... The fuck. I thought it was a she... How the fuck can you find the scene funny if it was a guy." Shigure made a disgusted sound.
"Dunno. It does sound funny. Why did you think it was a 'she'?" Keigo glanced at Shigure. His disgusted face was quite funny. Almost like an anime character.
Despite how Shigure is internally, most of the time, he is quite an expressive guy.
He focused back on the game.
CLICK CLIC— Keigo cocked his head back at Shigure.
"Your eye? How the fuck?" Keigo made a Pikachu face.
***
A/n- Lol, this is the longest chapter I have written. Even longer than the article one. I was going to reveal the eye part a few moments after Shigure woke up.
But somehow, the banter between these two naturally flowed. How does it look? Was it
Funny?
Amusing?
Unnatural?
Feedback would be appreciated. I will give you a reward. Wink* Wink*
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
***
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Bonus ^ 50
[1] Hmm, on average, elephants eat 50-70k calories a day. A normal human, on average, in our world, eats around 2k calories.