Author's Note: 59000 words is bothering me so I will post an extra thousand to make it even. Here are some extras, and if anyone wants me to post summaries of the Catalyst Books, then I will.
Mashiro's Day at Work
"Eh?! Y-you're cancelling the series, why sensei?" the brunette stared at the miserable looking mangaka who hunched their shoulders.
"It's just, it doesn't seem to have a large audience, and I've had several people call it a villain's work. Plus I know that the publisher wants to drop me because of it. I'm sorry, but I'll start a work around Underground Heroes instead, it might get a better reception," Mashiro felt like screaming, or crying.
"There's a loyal audience, and horror is a popular genre, h-how about you continue drawing the manga and I can help get some other publishers interested," why oh why does this have to happen again?! Whenever he finally had an original work furthering a long-neglected genre, the stupid ideals of this society choked the mangaka till they conformed to whatever is 'wanted'.
It was that stupid Hero Commission's fault! So prideful about their contribution to licensing heroes and pushing for more media, each hero in the top ten had over twenty different mangas based around them.
He was getting tired of it.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think I can look at my work with any fondness considering the negativity towards it. There is an Underground Hero I became fond of, their dead at the moment so it shouldn't be too dangerous writing about them," Mashiro watched the mangaka walk down the hall and slammed his head into his desk.
"Ooh, I know that, another one gave up?" his fellow editor, one in charge of Romance Manga, gave him a sympathetic pat on the back.
"Isn't it too much to ask that Horror manga not have such a terrible reputation? Or that Mystery novels actually require investigation and police officers that are not sidelined? Or that they both get more interest so that we can have separate editors for them and not just one?" the biggest ones that sold were the Shounen and Shoujo, both focused around heroes.
He, he just wanted something original to be finished for once.
"Well, it's not like we can change people's minds, hero themed manga is the only one that'll be popular, can't really change that. Besides, I think you're the only one that enjoyed your client's manga," the Romance editor went off whistling and Mashiro sighed, wincing as he took out the folders containing info on his clients.
Looks like he'll have to just focus on the four mangaka that are left.
Ah, he really wanted to finish the Cursed Springs series, it was getting good too.
Izuku and Hitoshi's Harrowing Adventure
As they walked along a bridge, Hitoshi and Izuku talked about what they discovered so far and the way Hitoshi's mom had acted as soon as he relayed the words Kraken had given him.
"Oi DEKU!" the two froze as Bakugou Katsuki burst from a car that was still going, a frantic voice calling for him to go back.
"Shit, let's go," Hitoshi urged his friend, they had finally tracked down the woman by her cell phone number and while the picture of the woman had shocked them (she looked so much like Izuku's mom except for a few differences that it was scary.) they had gone on ahead and found out she booked a flight to South Korea.
"But if Kacchan's mom is also," Izuku protested as the angry blond caught up to them.
"What the hell is going on! Why did the old hag faint, who the fuck are Jackalope and Empress," Hitoshi narrowed his eyes.
"Why should we tell you, Izuku, we have to go, which airport is she leaving from?" Izuku looked down at the laptop, barely catching a glimpse of the name before there was the sound of an explosion as Kacchan destroyed it.
Hitoshi and Izuku stared at the smoking laptop now in pieces to Bakugo who huffed and sneered.
"Now tell me," Hitoshi interrupted him, eyes narrowed.
"Hey officer! This kid's threatening to blow both of us up if we don't give him our money!" he called to a police officer down the road just as the guy's dad stepped out of the car.
"Katsuki!" his normally calm dad looked angry and the blonde stepped back, realization dawning at being in a public place just as the officer came over.
"Kid, you know Quirk use is forbidden, especially when it comes to damaged property?" the blood drained from his face as Izuku and Hitoshi booked it out of there.
"I'll tell Izuku's mom how much that laptop was!" they ran, getting some distance as Bakugou Masaru joined the police officer who didn't look all that happy as the seven year old Explosion user tried to defend his actions.
"I managed to catch sight of the airport, but we need a different laptop if I'm going to log back into the tracking device," Hitoshi produced his laptop form his backpack with a sigh,
"Just don't get it blown up, I'll get a taxi," they finally arrived at the airport, Hitoshi leading the way as Izuku told him which plane it was.
Then came the part of the plan that Izuku did not agree with.
"Can't we get tickets?" he hissed into his friend's ear as they crouched behind some luggage that was being loaded onto the plain.
"Mo- no Dad and I do this all the time, it's fine," that really did not reassure Izuku at all.
Somehow they got on unnoticed, crouching behind animal cages where a dog started growling at them till Izuku calmed him down, somehow.
The flight was only three hours and Hitoshi kept the two of them hidden till it was time to get off.
Night had fallen and they tried to find a cab but no one would take them.
"You need an adult with you," was the general answer, others got suspicious, asking why kids were wandering by themselves, they ran at that point.
"Keiyu's at the hospital! And Mumichi Keiko is thirty minutes from there now," Hitoshi scratched the back of his neck in frustration.
"We'll have to do this the hard way, again," Izuku swallowed, he did not like that idea.
Five minutes later it was Hitoshi's turn to dislike the plan.
The moment Izuku grabbed the wheel, his nervousness disappeared and Hitoshi scrambled to put the seatbelt on when the wheels squealed as Izuku tore out of there onto the country road. Using some sort of platforms tied to his feet.
"Um, Izuku?" the six year old wasn't listening, green eyes intent on the road with a strange light in them that made his friend uneasy..
There were honks and threats from other drivers as Izuku maneuvered around them and made sudden turns that had Hitoshi clutching the door handle with all of his strength.
Then the sirens came,
"Hoh," Hitoshi flinched as the light in Izuku's eyes grew stronger and his lips stretched into a grin.
"Um, Overlord?" the lack of protest had him desperately wishing for a second seat belt as Izuku pressed down on the gas, making the car reach almost seventy as the sirens got even louder. A sharp turn came up ahead and he closed his eyes as the car went up into the air, only on its two wheels before falling back down.
Then he saw the railroad crossing and the whistle of the train and felt his spirit leave his body as the car got even faster.
Oh this was a bad idea.
