December 1st, 201X- Kamurocho, Tokyo
What are you doing around here, Sato-San?
About a year ago, a man had walked into Sky Finance with a request for a loan of over ten million yen.
He was rather young, only about 23 years old, and he seemed to be rather downtrodden.
His name was Taro Sato and he had just lost his job.
The company he had been working for had gone under, due to poor decisions on the executive level, and when that happened, he was left hung out to dry with his fiance.
He was a pitiful sight. His suit was wrinkled and creased in a few places, his bloodshot eyes darted around the room constantly, and he was slouched over too, almost like he was trying curl in on himself while he clutched a briefcase to his chest.
Izuku had expected Akiyama to dismiss the man out of hand, but he didn't.
Instead, he looked at the downtrodden and jittery man and said one word.
"Why?"
He asked why Sato needed that specific sum of cash and why he came to Sky Finance for it.
And what happened after that was almost miraculous.
Sato sat up straight and said, "I want to start a business of my own. One for me and the people who got left in the cold at my company. All of the other places laughed me off and told me to get lost, but then I heard about this place. You'll loan me any amount of money regardless of my history, right? I need this money as a seed and then I can focus on making this work out and I'll pay you back ten-fold!"
Gone was the meek, shaking, and somewhat unimpressive man that sat on one of the office's couches.
Sato stared forward, his eyes filled with conviction and words hitting with purpose.
And that was even before he pulled out a fully detailed business plan that, to Akiyama and Izuku(who had been learning from the moneylender for several years at that point), appeared to be quite plausible.
So, all that was left was the matter of a test.
You see, Sky Finance was different from other credit companies for two reasons.
One, you can ask for any outrageous sum of money, such as ten million yen, and receive it without having to pay interest or collateral.
And two, Sky Finance didn't give loans based on credit rating but rather based on how committed someone is to getting their desired loan. This commitment is measured by a test. The larger the loan, the more outrageous the test.
Izuku didn't remember the test that Akiyama gave the man exactly, but he remembered how determined Sato looked, even if he paled slightly.
And as soon as he left, the moneylender told Izuku to prep a briefcase with ten million in cash.
And when Sato came back hours later, task complete, he remembered seeing tears in the man's eyes as he handed the briefcase to him.
He didn't usually remember the clients at Sky Finance, but Sato was a special case. Something about the man's extraordinary conviction made him stand out, despite his rather ordinary and unremarkable presence.
So a mere year later, it was a huge surprise to see that same man in a gaudy and expensive suit, his hair in a strange updo, and walking with a strange swagger in his step as he walked into the district of ramshackle bars, cafes, and clubs.
That's not even mentioning the drone that followed from above.
How he hasn't noticed it yet is lost on me.
He followed as the man walked into a side alley just off of the entrance to the Champion's District.
He pressed against the wall and peeked around the corner as he saw Sato stop and speak with another person there.
Straining his ears, he could hear that it was a woman, but he couldn't hear much else aside from, "Horse", "Number 8", and "Best odds".
Needless, Izuku liked none of what he was hearing.
He knew the rules at Sky Finance. Once a client gets their loan, that's their money to spend, no reason to chase 'em down.
Izuku was disappointed though. He was rooting for Sato, the man seemed so earnest when he had come to the office, but a year later they'd not seen a cent from the man in repayment.
Akiyama wasn't bothered, but it bothered Izuku plenty.
It wasn't about the money, it was the principle of the matter. The man said he'd pay them back after he started his business but just looking at the man's clothes, how could the greenette be sure that the guy didn't just blow all the money he'd been given on silk suits and other bullshit?
The thought of having been manipulated rubbed Izuku the wrong way.
"-strung me along like a puppet."
It really rubbed him the wrong way, but even so, he realized that he could just be misinterpreting things. Poise and rationality are a moneylender's(and hero's) best friends.
So he took the most logical and elegant course of action and stepped around the corner to confront the man head-on.
"Oi, Sato-san!"
"Huh?"
Sato turned towards the teenager with wide eyes.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Sato-san, I'm hurt. You don't remember one of the people who changed your life a year ago."
Sato seemed confused.
"Changed… my life?" Confusion gave way to recognition in a flash. "Y-You're that kid from Sky Finance, aren't you?"
Izuku grinned and clapped, "Bingo!"
"W-what are you doing here?"
"Just checkin' up on ya! Wanted to see how life was goin'. Is that your wife?"
The lady that Sato was talking to seemed rather uncomfortable and made a speedy retreat past the grinning teenager.
Turning back to Sato, Izuku's demeanor changed immediately.
The grin on his face dropped as he quirked an eyebrow and looked at his former client.
"Okay, Sato-san, I'd like to ask you something."
Sato gulped, "A-and that is?"
"The fuck do horse races have to do with your business?"
"H-huh?"
"Your business. You know, the one that we lent you money to get started. 10 Million Yen, all in dollar bills. Tell me, did I miss the part of your incredibly detailed business plan that said you'd have to spend over a hundred thou' on useless shit and gambling?"
The suit the man was wearing was expensive, he could tell that at a glance and he wasn't naive enough to believe that the man was making small, strictly legal bets on horse races.
Then there was the matter of the drone that was still hovering up above the pair. Someone else was following Sato. Whether that someone happened to be friend or foe, Izuku didn't care, he just wanted an explanation.
"A-ah, well you see. I've been planning to make a payment, but…"
"Couldn't find the time?"
"Y-yeah."
Izuku sighed, "Y'know, you're kind of pathetic."
"Huh?"
"You heard me. If you wanted the money for luxuries and gamblin', you shoulda just said so. You're in Kamurocho, ain't ya? No one's gonna judge ya for livin' the high life. I mean, Chief totally wouldn't've given you the loan, but that's just life ain't it?"
Sato-san's face was getting redder and redder. He tried to speak, likely to explain himself.
"I-"
Izuku raised a finger.
"Shut up for a sec, I'm not done."
The man did as instructed.
"Look, I've got places to be after this, and you've likely already spent the money, so I'll cut to the quick. You've disappointed me and I'm sure that when I tell Chief about this, he'll be disappointed. There's no return date on your loan, so feel free not to darken our doorstep again."
And with that, he turned away and made to leave.
But of course, it wasn't going to be that easy.
He heard the footsteps before anything.
Dodging away from the subsequent punch was pretty much child's play.
He turned to look at his furious former customer.
The guy had taken some form of martial arts, it seemed.
Maybe karate? He was certainly grounded enough.
Even so-
"You don't wanna do this, Sato-san."
"Fuck off, you brat! I've worked too hard and lost too much to have some little shit part-timer from a shady loan business looking down on me!"
Izuku tilted his head slightly.
"But Sato-san. Where else can I look but down on such a small man?"
The man was fuming now. He was grinding his teeth and his face was turning even more red than before.
That was the moment that Izuku knew… he wasn't worth shit.
Worthless Shitbird
The man ran straight at the green-haired teen, winding up a punch and swinging a hook straight at the lad's cheek.
Woosh!
Only to be left dumbfounded when his fist struck nothing but air.
"Swing and a miss, Sato-san."
The voice came from behind him, so, turning on the ball of his grounded foot, he lashed out with a spinning heel kick-
Woosh!
Unfortunately for him, it was another miss.
"What are you aiming at, Sato-kun?"
The former salaryman growled.
He turned to the sound of the voice, which had come from his left.
There stood the greenette, his lips turned up lightly in a smug grin.
It rubbed the fraudulent gambler the wrong way.
He charged at the boy like a raging bull.
[!] Heat Move: Essence of Hurdling Blindside
As soon as Sato sprung into what would've been a beautiful spear tackle, Izuku vaulted over him, rolling like one would do over a table, and then-
"Alright then, Sato-chan. My turn."
The green-haired lad pulled back his leg, and drove it forward and up.
The fight was over after that, with naught but a squeal and a whimper.
As he left the crumpled Sato seeing stars and lightly crying, he offered the 'man' a few parting words.
"All the hard work and loss doesn't entitle you to be a lying shitbird. We gave you that money out of trust. Now, let's hope you can trust whatever surgeon's gonna hafta cut your scrote outta your intestines. Later, Sato."
He left, passing by a man wearing a very loud orange shirt.
He gave the man a nod and received a slightly hesitant one in turn.
And with that, he made his way to Elise.
Elise.
A hostess club owned by Shun Akiyama.
It was located in a strategic place, just across Millennium Tower, the shining beacon of Kamurocho.
Izuku also happened to work part-time there for a time.
Just as a waiter on occasion.
Not anything weird.
Not anything that he would tell anyone about.
Ahem, so anyway-
He was there for a reason, he was meeting some people.
Important people.
Well, people who were important to him.
Chief was gracious enough to rent them the space.
A good thing too, because-
"Try again
Wakare tsugeyou itsu mo no TRAUMA e
Rameiro shita ashita e Fly away
Me no mae ni wa
Kagayaku Shining gate!"
"Yeaaaaah, go, Minami…"
"Yup, you're… doin' great."
"Get it, Minami."
-That was happening.
That was the scene that Izuku walked in on.
It was an absolute affront to his senses.
It started as a sort of ringing in his ears.
It turned into a foul stench that made him wrinkle his nose.
His visions became blurry as his eyes began to water.
And then he felt like something foul sat on his tongue,
Ah, I see. I have entered Hell.
"Oh, hey, the Mini-Boss is here!"
That was his cue to step further into Hell.
With but half a second of hesitation, he did just that."
"Glad you make it, Little Boss."
"I wouldn't miss this for the world, Nishida. It's the first time you guys've been back in town in months, and it's your birthday."
"Awww, shucks, it's not that big a deal."
"Nah, nah, it totally is. You and the guys have been nothing but good to me since I was a tot. This is the least I could do."
The acting president of Majima Construction just gave the greenette a laugh, slapping the kid's back.
"Alright, fine, if you say so."
Izuku took a sip of water from his glass.
"Gotta say though, it's been weird not havin' you guys around. Street punks 'round here have been gettin' kinda uppity and I've been seein' a lot more Kansai Yakuza just out and about in the streets, and the smaller families haven't been doin' a damn thing about it."
"Ah, yeah, I'd imagine there would be a bit of a vacuum. We held a lot of the territory in here and kept people in line. It is odd that the smaller families are just letting it happen, though. Remind me, who's around nowadays?"
"Arakawa and Matsugane."
"Ah. Arakawa makes sense. Their family was only ever big enough to make up an afterschool club. They never really made any major moves. And their patriarch hasn't really been the same since his son died."
"Ah, I see."
It would make sense that the Arakawa Family couldn't do much. Last time he went to their office, he couldn't even find anyone there.
Their family wasn't likely to last much longer in the state that they were in.
"Matsugane… well, to be completely honest, Matsugane's always been loyal. The family's just come on hard times lately. It might not be that they don't wanna help, sometimes people's hands are just tied, y'know."
"Yeah, I guess."
"Just don't do anything crazy, Little Boss. I don't know what I'd tell your uncle if something happened to you."
"Tell him it was fucking hype, and I went out like a savage."
"What you said sounded like words that I knew, I don't at all what they meant in that context."
"Eh, don't worry about it. HEY, MINAMI!"
"Mayowazu ni go! yume ni kagayaku
Kimi no-"
The tattooed karaoke singer stopped his assault on the ears of the room's occupants and turned to the young lad.
"Sup, Chibi Oyabun?"
"You're the only tone-deaf person I've met in my life. Why are you the only one that's hogging the mic?"
The pierced gangster raised a brow.
"You trying to say somethin'?"
The greenette grinned and walked over to the stage.
"Yeah, hand over the mic."
"[I'm sorry]
Umaku waraenai yo
Anata no yorokobi wakaranai no ni
[I know I'm so lost…]
Aisowarai de gomakasenaku tte"
It was a new song, one that he didn't quite know by heart, like Judgment or MachineGun Kiss, but one that he thought felt right at that moment.
"[I'm only trying to figure out the way]
Najimenai mure kara hanarete mita
[I know I'm alone]
Demo kodoku wa kokochi ga yoku tte"
He was feeling it. That fire in his chest.
The Heat rising from embers to a blazing inferno.
The cheering he was getting was a bit strange for the context of the song, but that was just the nature of karaoke.
"Tsumetai yoru sora wa kuriasugite
Watashi no kokoro wo aburidasu
Itai yo hitori de aruku no wa
Demo uso tsukenakute"
"Kill it, Little Boss!"
"Dammit, stop showin' me up, Oyabun!"
"Looking red hot, Mini Boss!"
He kicked into the chorus, and it all exploded from there.
"Dare no mono demo nai "watashi" ga aru kara
Warawaretemo, kirawaretemo"
A spotlight shown on his face.
Cameras flashed, and people called out to him.
What was going on?
It was recognition, he knew that.
But for what?
"Mamorinuku yo
Itsuwatte warau gurai nara."
He was wearing the hero costume idea that he'd made alongside Mei.
A grey leather blazer atop an emerald green dress shirt, matched with a pair of black leather gloves, grey leather slacks, and a pair of red wing-tipped, steel-toed boots.
Ah, that's what it was.
He was a hero.
Maybe it was his debut.
Should he smile and wave like All Might?
Scowl and be a dick like Endeavour?
Or maybe-
"Nigamushi tsubushita kao de niramu yo, niramu yo
Uso itsuwari nai "watashi" de"
A massive pile of sludge and slime erupted from behind the crowd.
Izuku grinned.
That. That'll do.
"[We're going up and down, you know
We're going up and down, you know
Say NO to the world
Say NO to the world]"
He kicked off the stage that he was on, straight at the giant green miscreant.
"[We're going up and down, you know
We're going up and down, you know
Say NO to the world
Say NO to the world, NOW]"
And as he did, he did it with the biggest smile on his face.
Back in reality, as the men of Majima Construction cheered for him, he raised the mic.
He was sweating and panting, having put his soul into his singing, but he still had the biggest smile plastered onto his face.
That was a good evening.
A calm prelude to the strange events that Izuku would find himself wrapped up in soon after meeting Takayuki Yagami.
Um, so yeah... This is the MDOS content until November rolls around. Yay! Don't you just love when a game releases DLC that should've been content in the original game, but had to be cut due to time? I sure do. Anyway, Judgment time.