"AAGHHHH.."
"MOVE FASTER"
"DAMN, WHY WOULD SOMEONE LIKE THIS MAN IS STILL ALIVE!"
"KEEP THE CHANGE"
"Move!"
The screaming started.
It began with a single shout from the lobby, three floors down. It wasn't a shout of pain, but of pure, unfiltered shock.
Then came the sound of running feet. Then the crashing of luggage carts
.
"Turn it up!" someone yelled from the balcony next door. "Turn up the volume!"
Kaito didn't need the TV to know what was happening. He could feel the shift in the air pressure.
The collective blood pressure of five hundred wealthy guests had just spiked.
The "All For One" broadcast had finished airing, and the reality was sinking in. The symbol of terror was back, and he wasn't hiding in the shadows anymore. He was on prime time.
Kimiko dropped her sun hat. Her phone buzzed—once, twice, then a continuous, angry vibration against the table.
"Kaito..." Her voice was thin. "My dad... my partner... everyone is texting. They say the trains are going to stop. They say the HPSC is locking down the prefectures."
Saki stood up, her hands trembling as she reached for her purse. "We have to go. We can't be stuck here. If the trains stop..."
"We aren't going to get stuck," Kaito said, standing up.
He picked up the coin and slipped it into his pocket. "Panic makes people stupid. We just need to be efficient."
He walked into the suite and grabbed his suitcase.
"Pack your things," he said. "I'll handle the checkout. Don't worry about the bill."
"But Kaito," Saki said, "this place... the cancellation fees..."
"I have the money, Grandma," Kaito said, his voice flat and steady. "I worked as a specialist for two years. We can afford to leave early."
He walked out the door before they could argue.
The lobby was a zoo.
People in expensive silk shirts were shouting at terrified receptionists.
A woman in pearls was crying into her phone, demanding a helicopter.
Children were wailing because their parents were screaming.
Kaito walked through the crowd like a shark moving through a school of panic-stricken tuna.
He didn't push anyone. He just moved with such deliberate, heavy purpose that people instinctively got out of his way.
Kaito reached the front desk. The receptionist looked like she was about to faint. Her hands were shaking as she held a phone.
"I... I can't get a line out, sir," she stammered. "The systems are overloaded."
Kaito placed his room key on the marble counter.
"Room 402. Checking out," Kaito said. He placed his black debit card on the counter.
"Charge it. Keep the change."
"Sir, the receipt printer is jammed..."
Kaito tapped the printer. A sharp, solid tap.
'Work,' he Updated it.
The machine whirred. The jam cleared instantly. The paper spooled out.
He took the receipt, signed it, and turned around.
"Let's go," he told Saki and Kimiko, who had just rushed off the elevator. "The taxi line is going to be forty minutes long. We're walking to the station."
The train ride back to Shizuoka was a different kind of hell.
Usually, the Shinkansen was a place of quiet dignity.
Businessmen slept.
Tourists ate bento boxes.
Today, it smelled of sour sweat and fear.
Every seat was taken. People were standing in the aisles, clutching the overhead rails.
The air conditioning was struggling to keep up with the body heat of a thousand terrified people.
"Did you see the footage?" a teenager whispered near the door. "He didn't even touch them. The guards just... blown away."
"All Might will stop him," an older man said, though he didn't sound convinced. "All Might fought with him last time and will stop him."
"All Might hasn't said a word!" a woman snapped back. "Where is he? Why isn't he on the news?"
"Damn! Why is this guy still alive. I though Hero X have taken care of him"
"Hero X is strong but don't forget he isn't a pro-hero. That Villain Boss got beaten up stupidly last week. Even Almight couldn't do that, he just fought him to standstill."
"Sh*t, the strongest man in the world is a f*cking vigilante"
Kaito sat in the window seat, staring at the blurred landscape rushing by.
Saki was asleep on his shoulder, exhausted by the stress.
Kimiko was texting Kenji, her thumbs moving in a blur.
Kaito checked his watch.
'We are slowing down,' he noted. 'We're five minutes behind schedule.'
The train lurched.
SCREEEECHED
The brakes hissed. The announcement chime played—a cheerful little melody that sounded grotesque in the heavy atmosphere.
[Attention passengers. We are holding at the signal due to security inspections ahead. Please remain calm.]
A collective groan went through the car. A baby started crying.
Kaito closed his eyes. He didn't hate the villain. He didn't hate the heroes. He hated the disruption.
Kaito had a plan and a schedule. He needed to get Grandma settled, sign the papers for the new house, and get himself to Tokyo before the night trains stopped running.
Every minute this train sat on the tracks was a minute of his life wasted on someone else's drama.
"It's going to be okay," Kimiko whispered, more to herself than anyone else. "It's just a check. They're just being safe."
Kaito opened one eye.
"They're panicking," he said quietly. "The police don't know what they're looking for. They're just stopping trains to look busy so the public thinks they're doing something. It's theater."
"Don't say that," Kimiko hissed. "People are listening."
"Let them listen," Kaito said, closing his eye again. "Fear is just a lack of information. Once everyone realizes the sky isn't actually falling today, they'll go back to work tomorrow. They have bills to pay. Even the apocalypse has to wait for rent day."
He felt the train vibrate. A few minutes later, the brakes released with a heavy clank, and the train surged forward.
Kaito let out a long, slow breath.
------
Shizuoka was grey. The clouds had rolled in off the coast, turning the afternoon light into a dull, color.
They took a taxi from the station to the western suburbs.
This part of the city was old money—high stone walls, tiled roofs, pine trees that had been pruned into perfect shapes for fifty years.
It was quiet.
The taxi dropped Kimiko in her house and pulled the two of them up to a house that looked like a fortress disguised as a home.
It was a single-story traditional build, surrounded by a wall of grey stone.
The gate was thick timber. The roof tiles were heavy ceramic.
It looked solid. Boring. Safe.
"Kaito..." Saki stepped out of the taxi, clutching her purse. "This is... this is a mansion. Look at the garden. Look at the size of the lot."
She turned to him, her eyes wide with worry.
"We can't afford this. Even with your savings. This must cost a fortune."
Kaito dragged the suitcases out of the trunk. He paid the driver and waited for the car to leave.
"It was a foreclosure," Kaito said. It was the rehearsed lie, delivered with the casual confidence of a man discussing the weather. "The previous owner went bankrupt and needed cash immediately. I made an offer this morning while you were packing. I used my savings and the severance bonus."
"All of it?" Saki asked.
"Most of it," Kaito said. "But it's an asset, Grandma. Money in the bank loses value when inflation hits. Land is solid. This is security."
He pushed the gate open. It swung silently on well-oiled hinges.
"Come on. Let's get you inside."
The interior smelled of tatami straw and cedar. It was empty, but clean.
The main room opened up to a garden with a persimmon tree and a stone lantern.
"Oh my," Saki whispered. She took off her shoes and stepped onto the tatami. "It feels... strong. This house feels very strong."
"Go check the kitchen," Kaito said. "I need to inspect the fuse box."
As soon as she turned the corner, Kaito dropped the act. His shoulders slumped. His face went blank.
He walked to the center of the room and placed his hand on the main support pillar. It was a thick trunk of Japanese cypress, polished smooth.
Kaito closed his eyes.
It was good wood. But it was weak. A fire would burn it. A shockwave would snap it.
'Not good enough,' Kaito decided.
He Updated the pillar.
'Kinetic and Energy Immunity.'
Kaito didn't turn it into steel. He didn't change the way it looked. He simply forced the concept of "Hardness" into the grain.
The molecular bonds tightened. The wood became denser than known material. It became an object that refused to break.
Kaito walked to the sliding glass doors that looked out onto the garden. He tapped the glass.
CLINK.
'Fragile.'
The glass didn't change, but the vibration stopped. Kaito had Updated it. A bomb could go off in the street, and inside this room, it would be as quiet as a library.
He moved through the house like a contractor doing a final punch list.
The roof tiles. He made them heavy, impossible to lift by wind.
The front lock. He altered the tumblers so they would only turn for two specific keys.
The perimeter wall. He pushed a thought of "Immutability" into the stone.
In five minutes, he had turned the charming old house into a bunker that could survive a direct multiple "United States of Smashes" from All Might.
"Kaito!" Saki called from the kitchen. "The gas range is brand new! And the water pressure is wonderful!"
"That's good, Grandma," Kaito called back, wiping dust from his hands. "It looks like a good investment."
He looked around the living room one last time. It was safe. It was done.
-----
The doorbell rang twenty minutes later.
It was Kenji, soon to be father and husband of Kimiko. He looked out of breath, like he had run part of the way from the station.
Kimiko was with him, holding a bag of groceries she had picked up on the way.
"You found it!" Kimiko gasped, stepping into the entryway. "Kaito sent me the pin drop. This neighborhood is... wow."
Kenji bowed to Saki. "Saki-san! I'm so glad you're back. When the news broke, I was terrified."
"We're fine, Kenji-kun," Saki smiled, looking ten years younger now that she was in her new kitchen. "Kaito found us a castle. Look at this place."
Wheew
Kenji looked around, impressed. He was a construction worker, and he knew quality when he saw it.
He ran a hand over the doorframe.
"This is solid stuff," Kenji muttered. "Real cypress. You don't see builds like this anymore. It feels... heavy."
"It's sturdy," Kaito said, standing by the door. His suitcase was still next to him. He hadn't taken his shoes off.
Kimiko noticed it first.
"Kaito?" she asked, putting the grocery bag down. "Why is your bag still by the door? Aren't you going to pick a room?"
Saki stopped wiping the counter. She turned to look at him.
Kaito adjusted his jacket. He didn't look at them. He looked at a spot on the wall.
"I'm not living here," he said. "I'm just taking a vacation for a week"
The silence in the room was heavier than the reinforced walls.
"What?" Saki's voice was small. "But... we always live together. It's a big house, Kaito. There are three bedrooms."
"I have to go where the work is," Kaito said.
"The job I took... it's in Tokyo. The commute from here is two hours each way. That's four hours of wasted time every day. I can't do that and perform at the level they expect."
"But Tokyo is so dangerous right now!" Kimiko argued. "With the villains... with everything happening..."
"The job provides housing," Kaito lied. "It's a company dormitory. High security. Gated. It's probably safer than here."
He looked at Saki. Her eyes were wet. She looked old and small in the middle of the big, empty house.
"I used the bonus to buy this place for you," Kaito said softly. "So you don't have to worry about rent. So you have a garden. You're safe here, Grandma. Kimiko lives ten minutes away. Kenji-san can help with the heavy lifting."
He looked at Kenji. It was a direct, hard look. 'She is your responsibility now.'
Kenji straightened up. He nodded, once.
"I'll watch out for her, Arisaka-shonen," Kenji said. "I promise. Don't forget I have muscle augmentation type quirk"
"Kaito..." Saki stepped forward and grabbed his hand. Her skin was soft and paper-thin. "Will you come back? For holidays?"
"Of course," Kaito said. He squeezed her hand, then let go. "I'll visit when the project stabilizes. But I have to go now. I have to check in tonight or I lose the placement."
"Take care of yourself," Kimiko said, wiping her eyes. "Don't work too hard. Make sure you eat."
"I always eat," Kaito said. "It's fuel."
He opened the heavy front door.
"Goodbye, Grandma."
He stepped out and closed the door before the guilt could make him turn around. He heard the lock click into place.
-----
'Safe,' Kaito told himself.
He picked up his suitcase and walked to the gate. He didn't look back.
TOO-TOOOOOT.
TOO-TOOOOOT.
The train to Naruhata was a local line.
It was night now.
The window reflected a young man in a comfortable suit.
Kaito stared at his reflection. He thought about everything. The whole thing is a mess. It seems thag the plot he knows is already useless.
'Whatever,' he thought. 'As long as my daily life and family are untouched. And besides my quirk is too strong right now.'
HUFF-PUFF
Kaito relaxed his posture. He let his shoulders slump forward. He let his eyes go dead and fish-like.
He wasn't a Hero X. He was just another man moving to another apartment.
TOO-TOOOOOT
The train rattled into the station.
"Naruhata. Naruhata District."
The platform was cracked. Weeds grew through the concrete. A vending machine buzzed loudly in the corner.
Kaito stepped off. The air smelled of exhaust and frying oil from the street stalls below. It was gritty. It was loud.
He dragged his suitcase down the stairs. He walked past a group of thugs squatting by the convenience store.
They had mutation quirks—spikes, extra arms—and they watched him with hungry eyes.
The thugs ignored him. He wasn't worth the effort.
He found the building. Naruhata Estates.
It was a grey concrete block that looked like it had survived a war, but just barely. There was no elevator.
He climbed the stairs to the second floor. The metal walkway rang under his feet.
Unit 203.
He unlocked the door and stepped inside.
The apartment was tiny.
One room. Six tatami mats that looked yellow with age. A kitchenette that was barely wide enough to stand in. The window looked out onto a brick wall.
It was depressing. It was dirty.
"Seems I have a lot of furnitures to buy"
Kaito dropped his suitcase. He locked the door.
"Finally," he whispered. "Let's tidy this room first."
SNAP
The sound is only audible to him. The entire room was arranged perfectly and cleanly. The only things missing were some furnitures.
Kaito took off his jacket and threw it on the floor. He sat down in the center of the room.
It was quiet. No grandma to worry about. No villains to fight. Just him and inner peace.
He closed his eyes. He prepared to enjoy the silence.
SQUEAK.
Kaito froze.
SQUEAK. SQUEAK.
It came from the wall to his left.
SQUEAK. THUD.
"Ouch!" A muffled voice came through the wall. "Man, these floors are sticky."
SQUEAK. SQUEAK.
Kaito opened his eyes. He stared at the wall. The drywall was thin. He could practically hear the neighbor's heartbeat.
He had bought a fortress for his family. And now, he was living next to someone who sounded like they were wrestling a rubber duck.
Sigh
Kaito sighed. It was a long, heavy sigh that scraped the bottom of his lungs.
"Welcome to another neighborhood, Kaito," he muttered.
~~~~~
[A/n]
Kaito in his past life haven't seen MHA: Vigilante. He died before that.
~~~~~
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