Kenta sat down on a piece of debris a suitable distance from the other defenders and tried to figure out what the fuck happened.

Things were running together. Names, faces, perspectives.
Times and places and dates crashed and mingled.
And it was messy, differentiating between what was himself and what was not.

The worst of all were the words.
Memories of reading about himself, discussions that made it seem as if he was nothing more than words on paper. Trivial. Nothing more than entertainment. Meaningless. Worthless.

I am Kazuma Kenta! I have faced an Endbringer and lived! I will not fall to this!
His fingers dug into concrete, shrugging off the sudden bout of nausea.
He was real, knew he was real, and that was all that mattered.

A breath.
The question now was what he should do next.
The woman in the suit, Contessa. The Yangban. Skitter. And Zion.

"I speak of other enemies, insults old and new. I will defeat each of them in turn, and then I will rule." he muttered.

That's what he would say, when he recruited that bomb tinker.
If that Worm wins, there will be nothing left for you to rule over.
And what happened to his mother? There was no mention of her after they had moved to Chaohu.

No, he couldn't try and replicate how he had lived last time.
Of course not; you've already changed things too much this time.
Kyushu had not sunk into the ocean. Japan's economy wouldn't be crippled beyond repair.
The changes he made had already rippled out, distorting the future.

Cauldron would respond, that Kenta was sure of. There was a possibility they would manoeuvre him into joining the Sentai Elite or the Protectorate, make him a staple of endbringer battles. He could be a hero.

He frowned at the thought.

A hero. The days where he could do as he pleased, whenever he pleased would be gone. There will be rules, responsibilities, people that he must respond to, or who must respond to him. Conformity. He found himself thinking of the restrictions he'd faced in school as a youth, the joys of rebellion.
To be brazen, to stand out on purpose. Breaking rules, breaking convention.
A rogue then? Or something like Faultline's crew.
Perhaps.

Well, it's better than getting your balls rotted off and eyes carved out.
Hmph.
And Path of Victory may mean that you might become a hero whether you like it or not.
What a bullshit power. Daiichi and the rest of the gang were dead the moment they had encountered that women

Of course, it all goes back to Cauldron.
The man in the flying armour, the one who dealt the final blow to Leviathan, Hero.
Manton goes insane and the Siberian kills the world's greatest tinker. Production of Case 53s would begin.
And Eidolon. Powers waning, more endbringers being created.
He could stop all that from happening, make a deal with them.

Would they believe you?
Path of Victory. She would believe him, or think he was insane.
Then wait until they make contact?
Yes, that is what he should do for now.


"Arriving at: Namba Station. Change here for Yotsubashi and Sennichimae Lines."

Kazuma Kenta awkwardly shuffled around an old lady as the salarymen pressed against him jostled and shoved towards the doors. Whatever relief he may have felt was quickly gone as another crowd of overcoats packed into the train, adding to the stuffiness of the air. The fact that his shirt was a size too small did nothing to alleviate his discomfort.

He looked up to where the screen was showing the gutted remains of Nakasu, most of it lying under the flooded Naka River.

"-called an emergency meeting of the National Diet. Both Kitakyushu and Fukuoka have sustained- ''

The shaky recording of the battle against Leviathan, zooming up to Kenta's monstrous form. It's surreal watching your own guts get blown out.

"-statement issued by Mr. Shimano, representing the bōryokudan Yamaguchi-gumi, has confirmed that the cape who played this pivotal role is Lung, affiliated with the Azuma-gumi, based in Osaka with- "

Kenta sighed and sorted through his memories. An organization predating the arrival of superpowers, the Yakuza is in large responsible for colouring the actions of the Villain side of the Japanese cape scene. Even before their first cape inducted into their ranks, the Yakuza has had a form of honour and duty set right beside the brutality, crime and general lawlessness of any criminal organization. Thanks in large part by early Japanese cape events, despite being the top-dog in Japan's criminal world, the Yakuza's criminal enterprises are still largely run by unpowered individuals.

That being said, a Yakuza cape is still a villain, assisting and abetting in crime and criminal activities. It's just that they are always self-aware of their status, and as much as they do crime to assist the Yakuza with their goals, they will also try in their way to become a shadow organization to keep the peace in both their zones of control and their status as leaders of crime with their lawful counterparts.

"Arriving at: Dōbutsuen-mae Station."

Kenta navigated the streets and alleys of Kamagasaki with ease; the shabby, narrow condos clawing for every inch of available space filled him with a sense of familiarity. Yet, a part of him recoiled, a stranger in a familiar land. All that stirred up a sense of nausea that coiled up to his lungs.

Turn right at Airin Labour Welfare Center, then cross the street. Second floor, number fourteen.
The building was old and poorly lit; the staircase creaked and squealed under him. Yet, it felt like home.

Kenta opened the door and paused.
Standing in the middle of the room was a woman in a black suit.
At least she had the courtesy to take off her shoes.