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[The Beating]
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| A month later… |
…
-Sip-
"Hah~… Life sure is great."
<[+1 Aura]>
"Hahaha. There goes another one."
Taka lounged on a beach chair in his garden, sipping a cool lemonade while shades shielded his eyes from the harsh UV rays—truly embodying the image of success.
He reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and opened YouTube, scrolling through a saved list of videos—all of them featuring him crashing villain and hero battles, putting on his usual performance in the middle of the action.
Opening one, he watched it from start to finish, a small smirk tugging at his lips. When it ended, his gaze fell on the text below. He squinted, pleased.
[Views: 80,000]
With a satisfied sigh, he turned off his phone and slid it back into his pocket, running a hand through his hair.
"It truly seems I've ascended to stardom."
<[+1 Aura]>
"Hahahaha! Let it rain, let it rain!"
Another notification popped up. He laughed aloud, raising his lemonade in celebration and spilling a bit without caring.
It wasn't quite at the level of being called "rain" yet, but his passive aura income had increased noticeably compared to a month ago, back when he first performed his stunt at Force Kick's battle with the chameleon villain.
The boost was thanks to everything else he'd been doing in the past month.
After his initial success, he had decided to reuse the same formula. The arrest of a gang, dangerous villains on the run, petty thieves—Taka took advantage of every heroic incident nearby to set up impromptu concerts, playing the same DMC song every time. Mostly because he hadn't had the time to learn another one.
Recomposing songs from memory was a nightmare, even with his enhanced talent. He hadn't been deeply involved in music in his past life beyond being a listener... so no, he didn't magically remember a music sheet for every song he knew, nor could he recreate them perfectly with some photographic memory he didn't have.
Still, it wasn't impossible. With effort—and thanks to his new skill—he had been working on recreating another song from his old world. Sometimes it didn't sound exactly like the original, but those flaws were easy enough to fix with time.
Once perfected, he could either upload it or, better yet, save it for another hero-versus-villain event to ride the wave of action and fame again, boosting both his aura and passive income—which, by the way, had doubled. From around 5 per day to roughly 10.
That meant about 2,700 aura by the end of the remaining nine months.
"Hehehe…" Taka chuckled, smirking at the math. "Why was I so worried about being left behind? At this rate, I'll be invincible by the time U.A.'s exam arrives."
With a satisfied grin, he opened his status window, ready to bask in the results of his month-long grind.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[STATUS PAGE]
▸ Strength: 75
▸ Defense: 150
▸ Aura Projection: 1104
─────────────
Total Aura: 1104
─────────────
Skills:
▸Clean
▸Trouble Radar
▸ Connoisseur
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Nearly 400 aura gained in a month.
It was the combined result of his passive income and his stunts—though none had matched the ridiculous gains of his first big performance, they still brought in plenty.
Satisfied with the numbers and his bright prospects, he stood up, stretched, and headed inside, planning to go straight to his room.
He needed to practice the new song so that when the next opportunity arose, he could give his best performance yet—and cash in as much aura as possible.
"Sounds like a plan," he muttered as he walked, a sly grin creeping onto his otherwise dull face.
-Shaaa-
However, just as he slid the glass window open to step inside the house, a figure blocked his path.
Taka raised an eyebrow, recognizing the person in front of him, and deadpanned.
It was Seiji—who returned Taka's deadpan with one of his own.
"Hey, kid, shouldn't you be heading to school right now?"
"Hah? Oh, right… Tsk."
Taka clicked his tongue as the realization hit him. He'd been so engrossed in admiring his gains that he'd completely forgotten there was school today.
With a heavy sigh, he shook his head in lament.
'I guess I'm still not famous enough to skip school.'
…
°
°
°
| Hours later… |
…
Taka leaned on his palm, boredom written all over his face as his teacher droned on with the lesson. A yawn escaped him for what must have been the tenth time, making his feelings on the class crystal clear.
-Ring!-
The second the bell rang, his posture shifted instantly. In one smooth motion, he stood up, gathered his things, and made for the exit, obviously unwilling to spend a second longer here than necessary.
His teacher shot him a baffled look. Couldn't the kid at least pretend to care about his feelings?
But in the end, he let it go. It wasn't like Taka was doing badly in class anyway.
So, with no one to stop him, Taka left the classroom, his bag slung casually over one shoulder. He headed for the lockers to swap his shoes and grab the rest of his things before heading home.
After a brief stop to change, he finally stepped out of the school building, a faint smile forming as he looked at the setting sun in the distance.
But just as he was about to cross through the school gates into the outside world, a hand clamped down on his shoulder.
"Hey, we wanted to have a little chat with you…"
Taka turned his head—and his eyebrow twitched faintly when he saw who it was.
A trio of thugs with ridiculous hairstyles. He knew them well. They were infamous around here—high-ranking members of a gang of delinquents that had sprung up between this school and several others nearby.
Teenagers with superpowers tended to go on massive ego trips in this era. Of course, when actual heroes stepped in, their bravado tended to vanish. Sadly, no hero had stepped in for this gang yet; they hadn't caused enough trouble to warrant official attention, which explained why Taka was in this situation.
The group from his class that had tried to mess with him months ago had been part of this gang. After he'd casually swung them around like ragdolls, he'd basically put a target on his back.
Not that he cared. His current stats were enough to take on small-time villains, so a few delusional teenagers didn't exactly worry him.
'Besides, if someone sees me beating them up, I might gain some aura… Sure, why not?'
Suppressing the grin tugging at his lips, Taka gave a simple nod, not uttering a single word.
The trio blinked, clearly not expecting him to accept so easily.
Still, they shrugged it off with a snort and motioned for him to follow, which Taka did gladly.
They led him to a secluded spot behind the school where no one ever went. With no one around to interrupt, they shoved him against a wall and closed in with smug expressions.
"Oi, I heard you roughed up our juniors pretty bad a while ago. We can't just let that slide, can we?"
"Yeah, haven't you heard of us—the Apocalypse Gang? Or did you just not care about the consequences of provoking us?"
"I believe he thinks he's better than us… We ought to teach him his place, brothers."
""Agreed.""
Taka gave them a calm gaze. Holding back a mocking sneer from escaping his nose as he heard their supposedly intimidating chat.
'I'll make sure to put you three to good use… Maybe I'll even make you do acrobatics in the air, that'll yield some aura for sure... given that someone's watching, of course.' His eyes darted around, looking for anyone peeking or similar.
Unfortunately, they seemed to be truly alone.
'Well, whatever. I guess you can't always gain aura.' Taka sighed, shaking his head helplessly. 'I suppose I'll deal with this quickly then...'
However, just as the trio was about to get on the move, and Taka was about to do so as well, a window popped up on Taka's peripheral vision.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[Seeing someone beat up their opponents with overwhelming power is amazing—but you know what is even more jaw-dropping? Having someone tank their attacks unaffected, until they make them realize the difference between powers! Show these punks that they're not even at the level of making you lift a finger.]
Conditions for completion:
▸ Take all their hits without fighting back, and don't wince or groan.
▸ Do not fall.
▸ Do not use aura to lessen the beating or boost your defense.
▸ Do so until they give up or the beating stops.
Reward: +100 Aura | Gain the skills [Pain is just a feeling] and [Innamovible object] | Gain a Mysterious Reward!
(Note: Host may be exempted from continuing with the mission if the conflict escalates to causing potentially dangerous injuries.)
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
'Huh?' Taka eyed the screen with wide eyes. 'You've got to be kidding me—'
-Bam!-
A sucker punch connected right with his face the instant that thought went through his mind.
His face was thrown back, saliva coming out of his mouth, and he stumbled a bit backwards, his back hitting the wall where he had been encircled earlier.
The lack of aura on anything other than his Aura Projection stat made him virtually a normal teenager in physical terms, so even if he wanted, he wasn't able to shrug off the attack like nothing.
Seeing the attack connect, the two at the back snickered, glancing between their companion who had swung and the struck Taka with an amused face.
Their joyful faces froze the next second.
Just an instant after being struck, Taka's face turned back to face them, eyes squinted in evident anger, and a trail of saliva on his mouth from the punch.
Without turning his defiant gaze away, Taka swept the saliva off and walked back to them.
Seeing no fear or hesitation in those eyes, the one who had struck grinned savagely, preparing another punch. "Oh, so you're feeling brave?!"
And then, he swung again.
-Bam!-
The fist connected right with Taka's solar plexus, bending Taka in half for a few seconds.
However, despite the strike, not a sound escaped him. He went as far as biting his inner cheek to hold the groan from leaving.
Shaky and in undeniable pain, Taka still forced himself up, meeting eyes with the main punk who had been punching him so far.
-Whack!-
Right away, another fist hit his face, snapping it to the side, along with his body, making him almost stumble.
And yet, Taka regained his footing, his eyes never leaving the three teenagers.
This time, the amused gaze from the main guy faltered a bit, and even his two goons behind him looked a bit confused.
"What's with you? Are you masochistic or something?"
Taka snorted and lifted both hands, beckoning them to come at him by smugly.
The three didn't leave him hanging.
Soon, the main punk threw a kick and folded Taka in half, the impact forcing him to take several steps back and end up with his back hitting the wall again.
Then, not letting up, the three rushed at him with savage grins.
-Thud!-
-Whack!-
-Smack!-
'These fuckers…!' Taka gritted his teeth as he felt several kicks connect with his body, followed by several punches. '... I could beat them up so easily, and yet I'm here pathetically getting beaten up like a pushover… How is this aura farming?!'
As Taka questioned the veracity of the mission from the supposed Aura Farming System, the relentless thrashing suddenly ceased.
His eyes opened for a moment in confusion. What had happened?
But then, he felt one of the guys pull his clothes and him along with them up, before slamming him against the wall, almost making him let out a groan as the air escaped his lungs.
He held it in, somehow.
As Taka caught his breath, the main punk glanced at him with disdain, smirking at Taka's sorry visage. "We had considered inviting you to join our gang, considering you were capable of beating our juniors alone… but what's this? You're so pathetic, not doing anything despite us using you like a punching bag!"
Taka didn't say anything.
-Bam!-
"...!"
But then, he almost let out the best profanity he could come up with as he felt a fist sink right in his stomach, taking him by surprise.
That's when pain and frustration piled up.
'That's it, I'm tearing you fuckers down! Mission or not, I'm turning you bunch into meat powder today!'
Taka's eyes widened from the anger, and he lifted his hand, preparing to deliver some payback.
The aura began moving, wrapping around the trio, who looked oblivious to their approaching fates.
But just as Taka was about to move… he stopped, his hand falling, and his eyes closing depotently for a moment... before opening back again.
-Slap!-
Suddenly, he slapped away the guy's hand gripping his shirt and took a step forward, coming face to face with him.
The sudden action took the three by surprise. They prepared, thinking he was about to use his Quirk. But instead—
"Hit me."
"Huh?"
Taka pointed at his jaw, lifting his head slightly.
Looking down at them.
"I said, hit me."
The trio glanced at each other before turning back to Taka.
"Well, if you say so—!"
With no hesitation, one of them threw a punch directly at Taka's face.
-Whack!-
This time, blood was drawn, having been hit hard enough to tear his lip.
But just a second later, Taka turned to face the guy who had punched him again, taking another step forward, and meeting his gaze just a few centimeters away.
"Hit me."
"Y-you…"
The guy stepped back, startled by the sudden, non-hesitant attitude of what was supposed to be their victim, but Taka followed after him.
"Come on, hit me!"
The runt threw another punch.
-Whack!-
It hit Taka, but it barely moved his head before he turned back with the same unshaken gaze.
"Come on, hit me, you fuck! Isn't that why you're here?!"
"If it's a beating you want so much, take it!"
Then another of the guys joined in, punching his face again from the side.
But unlike before, Taka's head didn't move; his cheek sank from the impact, but that was all. Slowly, he turned to face the newly joined participant. His beyond-angry eyes locked with the startled punk's.
"I told you to hit me! Is that all you lame fucks can do?!"
The trio looked at each other, clearly baffled by Taka's attitude. From his gaze alone, they could tell he wanted nothing more than to tear them apart, and yet, he was asking them to hit him more?
They hesitated. Something was clearly wrong with the guy in front of them.
But could they call themselves proper delinquents if they backed down just because some guy was messed up in the head?
"Let's see if you like this then!"
"Yeah, you fucker!"
"See if this is enough for you!"
Soon, punches began raining on Taka, who folded a bit under the storm of strikes. But even then, no sound came out of him. He simply closed his eyes tightly throughout the whole beating.
Thanks to that, and their increasing frustration due to not being able to topple the teenager despite their best efforts, they missed the sound of approaching footsteps once they began hitting harder in desperation.
But in doing so, they ended up tiring faster than they had expected.
"... Damn, why is he still on his feet?" One of them muttered, taking a step back with a baffled look.
"Didn't they say his Quirk was some telekinetic shit? How does that equal taking a beating this long?" His partner looked just as dumbfounded, whispering back with a deep frown.
"My hand hurts already." The leader, having heard them, nodded, massaging his fist with a pained look.
The first one looked at the two with a lost look. "Should we use our Quirks? This guy doesn't look like he is going down any time soon otherwise."
The three seemed to consider it for a second before slowly turning to Taka again—and taking a few steps back instinctively when they saw Taka still standing tall, despite the plenty of bruises evident on him now.
A wave of hesitation passed between them as they faced the still unyielding eyes of their opponent.
Eventually, one decided to give up. "Tsk. This is getting boring… Hey, let's dip out of he—"
But just as he was about to propose leaving, a voice called out to them.
"Hey, you three, what the hell do you think you're doing?!"
Steps rustling with grass hurriedly, and the angry voice of someone snapped them out of their thoughts.
The group turned to look who it was, Taka included.
A short black-haired girl with two long earlobes resembling earphone jacks was stomping her way to them, her face clearly not very happy.
For a moment, Taka felt a faint familiarity with her appearance, but given the current situation, he didn't bother to pay it any mind.
As the girl arrived in front of them, she placed herself between Taka and the group, almost like trying to shield him from them. "Enough of beating him up, can't you see he's not even defending himself?!"
The trio sweatdropped.
"I mean, he was kinda asking for it."
"We were just leaving anywa—"
"Move aside."
"H-hey!"
The trio froze when they saw Taka push the girl aside and step forward.
For a moment, they thought he'd ask for more like earlier, but then, they all felt a chill when they saw his otherwise stern look twist into a crooked grin.
"If you stopped hitting me, then I'll assume you're done with your flimsy attempt at a beating."
In the corner of Taka's vision, a screen popped up.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[Seeing someone beat up their opponents with overwhelming power is amazing—but you know what is even more jaw-dropping? Having someone tank their attacks unaffected, until they make them realize the difference between powers! Show these punks that they're not even at the level of making you lift a finger.]
Conditions for completion:
▸ Take all their hits without fighting back, and don't wince or groan.✔
▸ Do not fall.✔
▸ Do not use aura to lessen the beating or boost your defense.✔
▸ Do so until they give up or the beating stops.✔
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
<+100 Aura>
<+Skill: [Pain is just a feeling]>
<+Skill: [Innamovible object]>
<+Mysterious Reward: [Harness of Perfection]>
His eyes flickered briefly from it before snapping to the three once again.
Right now, he didn't know if he'd be able to continue on the path of heroism, or if he'd have to live a life on the run from now on, charged with triple homicide.
But he didn't care.
Right now, he'd return the beating he took, with interest.
"It's my turn then."
…
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°
| Minutes later… |
…
Taka let out a satisfied sigh as he admired his work of art.
The three punks, who'd been so cocky earlier, now hung beaten and humiliated—swollen eyes, bruises everywhere, broken noses, and dangling from a school flagpole by their underwear. The old but classic wedgie never failed when it came to humiliation.
He could have left them naked for everyone to see, but the girl was still there. He decided to spare her the view. Besides, after the beating he'd given them, he was already feeling plenty satisfied. He was pretty sure he had broken something in them.
Whether that was a bone or their pride, it didn't really matter to him. He was done with them now.
Although, when the pain of the bruises he had sustained through the beating flared again, the thought of giving them a more proper humiliation and hanging them at the entrance of the school for everyone to see felt pretty tempting.
In the end, though, and for the sake of maintaining his somewhat stoic facade, he held back.
The matter was over.
With the annoying mission finally complete—and the strong urge to just collapse into bed—he turned to head straight hom—
"Hey, you're not just gonna leave like that, are you?"
'Nevermind.'
Taka turned to the girl, deadpanning.
Honestly, he wasn't in the mood for conversation, not with his body aching all over, and especially not with someone who had seen him get beaten up, so—
"What?" He cut straight to the point.
The girl sweatdropped at his bluntness but spoke up anyway.
"Well, if you could've done that from the start, why didn't you? I thought you were about to die back there."
Taka stayed silent for a moment, trying to come up with an answer.
He couldn't exactly say he was a slave to some system and couldn't resist the temptation of racking up aura and new skills.
So he went with the quickest excuse that came to mind.
"I was making a point."
The girl frowned. "Huh? What point?"
A beat of silence passed before Taka replied.
"That they're not even worth defending myself against."
With that, he turned and started walking away, leaving the girl glancing between his retreating figure and the knocked-out trio.
"What's with that…?"
...
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-To be Continued…-
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(A/N: How was that? I didn't see much problem with how Taka handled it, but you are the readers, you tell me. Maybe it was too annoying to see him get beaten up.
Hopefully not.)