Update as of November 2019: Cleaned up dialogues, plot flow (so it's not too long) and some character interactions (mostly between Nagai and Hitoshi.)
High Hopes, Good Times
A few days have passed since the sports festival closed.
It still hurt that he lost, but it was a lot easier to move on from it because of everyone's support. It was also a little comforting to know that Midoriya lost in the semi-finals against Shouto Todoroki. He didn't mean any ill-intent toward Midoriya, but to see him try like he did to prove himself, only to lose, was yet another cathartic feeling.
He envied everything Midoriya had, but he also found it ironic that the latter was still able to fail despite what he had. In a way, Midoriya's loss made him think as though they were two sides of the same coin. They wanted the same thing, idolized the same person, yet were blessed differently. If Hitoshi chose to be bitter about the match's outcome and resented his position, he would probably hate Midoriya.
However, the more Hitoshi convinced himself to improve instead of being angry at everything and everyone, the more he respected Midoriya.
Midoriya struggled to prove himself despite his gifts. He did not undermine other's dreams just because he was stronger. Midoriya empathized with him when Hitoshi screamed out his personal frustrations. Hitoshi was just too angry to realize it back then, but somehow, Midoriya understood his pain. Regardless of how or why, Hitoshi would make sure Midoriya never looked at him that way.
He was going to come back stronger and better than he ever was.
The first hurdle he had to face was to actively seek Fumei out for more practice. He still found the guy annoying, and a nuisance, but he had something Hitoshi needed and he wasn't going to ignore that. He also pushed himself to be more tolerable with the class. They've supported him far better than anyone did, and it felt right to repay them in some way.
He still believed they could… present themselves in a more mature manner, but he could handle them. Hitoshi accepted their antics as just another part of his life now. He tried to be less cautious off them too, and it lifted a huge weight off his shoulders. He didn't see anyone as a threat now, and it made life a lot easier to bear.
He still scowled, and a smile on his face was still rare, but it made talking to others easier. Even approaching Nusumi, who he initially disliked because of how she acted with her quirk became a lot easier to do. With how carefree and wild she was, Hitoshi thought she only joined the training sessions because it seemed fun.
She wasn't in this because she wanted it, she merely to fuck around. However, after the festival, Nusumi became motivated to grow right behind his success. She would still play around with her quirk, but she was more responsible with it.
Riding along their new found momentum, the other aspirants begged Awaseru-sensei for more training. As much as Sensei wanted to give them what they wanted, he reminded them to focus on their studies first. They all hated it, but they also understood why he said it.
They were general student's first, and aspiring heroes second.
Kureito was kind enough to remind him that Yuuei was still an academic institution. Hitoshi hated being told off by Kureito of all people but he had a point. If Hitoshi carelessly let his grades slip, no amount of hero potential would make him a worthy candidate for a class promotion.
Hitoshi let his mind flow back into the boring aspect of being a teenager and studied. He tried to forget about his loss, and the lost opportunities to train, and focused. Regardless of how determined he was to do just that, no one else seemed to and instead kept reminding him of the things he wished he was doing rather than not.
His story kept getting retold by his own peers, and even the other classes that have now grown interested in talking to him. He may not have won, but his "almost" win garnered him the attention of others. They'd stop him in the halls, ask questions, ask for advice, ask for his number, or even ask him to eat lunch together.
Hitoshi liked the attention but he's not quite sure he liked the constant attention.
He hated being called a villain, but at least the infamous moniker gave him some peace and quiet. Hitoshi liked the silence. It gave him time to think and be by himself. The more he put himself out there to socialize, the more Hitoshi missed the quiet.
He'd asked for this moment to come multiple times in the past, and he's grateful for it, but at the same time, Hitoshi just wished he can pause everything for a few seconds and breathe.
Sunday morning was practically a dream come true.
Hitoshi sat alone on his bed, with his phone fixed on silent and the chat placed on mute for the next twenty four hours.
He forced himself out of bed and nested in the living room with a bowl of cereal. He flipped through the channels and settled for the rerun of the festival. It was awful to watch, but Hitoshi understood the necessity of pain to improve.
Hitoshi turned away, embarrassed to see the desperation on his face as he screamed at Midoriya. The video didn't pick up what he said; but he remembered it clearly. He let himself be overrun by emotion and acted on instinct.
The very thing Fumei warned him against.
He didn't think nor followed Fumei's rules, he just acted on rage. He was angry and Midoriya happened to be the closest person he could take it out on. In the end, his own hangups caused his downfall.
Hitoshi noted all his mistakes for future reference, and assessed which areas he needed to work on.
He wasn't able to utilize his quirk as well as he liked because of how cautious Midoriya was against it. He needed to work around that. His dodges worked for a bit, but it was nothing compared to Midoriya's polished movements.
He needed more combat practice.
"You're up early," said a tired voice. Hajime Shinsou, who sported the same messy locks of indigo hair and a fresh stubble, flopped beside Hitoshi with a cup of coffee on hand. He picked up Hitoshi's notebook and quietly read through. "What this?"
"Self-analysis. It's supposed to help me figure out what I need to work on to be stronger."
"Is it?"
"Enough to get me this far."
Hajime glances at the television and smiled when it played highlights of Hitoshi's match. "You did well out there. I was cheering for you in the office the entire time. They almost kicked me out."
"I guess," he said bashfully. "Midoriya still beat me though."
"You gave the hero kid a run for his money. I've never been prouder," Hajime said while he ruffled Hitoshi's hair. "But you should've roughed him up more. You used to do it so well in middle school."
Hitoshi slapped his father's hand away from his hair, and huffed at the reminder. The way he fought in middle school was nothing compared to what he just did. This was beyond just fistacuffs.
His phone then rang amidst their silence, and Hitoshi eyes glanced over the screen. He groaned at the familiar number and threw it back onto the table. It rang again after a minute.
"You're not going to answer that?"
"No. I'll be upstairs."
Hitoshi lifted one side of his headphones and listened. He frowned when he didn't hear it. He could've sworn he - RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING.
Oh.
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING. RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING.
Hitoshi chucked his headphones away and angrily peeked from his window. Who the fuck would abuse the doorbell at this hour?
He spotted a split second color of bright blond hair, and Hitoshi quickly jumped away from the window. He stormed down the stairs for his phone and clicked open the chat. There were about a thousand unread messages in the group, and another twenty from Fumei and Nusumi's private messages.
.
.
Sun Rays: You awake? [Sent 7 32 AM]
Sun Rays: Were going to Akisuta today. Wanna come? [Sent 7 32 AM]
Sun Rays: 'the star' shouldn't be missing in his own party [Sent 7 33 AM]
Sun Rays: Shinsou? [Sent 7 35AM]
Sun Rays: Im pretty sure your insomniac ass is awake and just avoiding me [Sent 7 35 AM]
Sun Rays: Alright you did this to yourself [Sent 8 00 AM]
.
.
Hitoshi quickly back read through the chat and found out that they took full advantage of his tendency to mute the chat to plan their attack.
They were going to drag him to Daystar Mall regardless of his decision, and Fumei was there to make sure he was ready.
"You going out?" Hajime asked as he returned to find Hitoshi on the sofa.
"No?"
"I told him you're asleep," Hajime said. "I can send him away if you want."
Hitoshi considered it for a moment, until he felt his phone vibrate in his pockets. He knows. "No I - I'll… I'll get ready."
Hajime smiled. "Alright. It's nice for you to go out with friends for a change."
"I wouldn't exactly call them friends."
"They're making an effort to include you," his father said.. "That hasn't happened since... you know... Give them a chance, then if you decide you really don't like it, then you can stay shut in your room till you graduate. I'll have him wait outside."
.
.
Sad Eyes: Really? My house? [Sent 11 19 AM]
Sun Rays: AHA YOU ARE AWAKE! [Sent 11 19 AM]
Sad Eyes: I'm awake now. [Sent 11 20 AM]
Sad Eyes: How do you even know where I live? [Sent 11 20 AM]
Sun Rays: Is that really your question [Sent 11 20 AM]
Sun Rays: clue 1: scar face [Sent 11 20 AM]
Sad Eyes: Akusa? [Sent 11 21 AM]
Sun Rays: I dont like him but he has uses [Sent 11 21]
Sun Rays : Are you done yet? [11 27 AM]
Sun Rays : I may control light but Im not immune to heat stroke. Get your ass out here [11 27 AM]
.
.
"Wow!" Fumei gaped as Hitoshi begrudgingly joined him in the front yard. "I didn't think this was actually going to work."
"You show up to my house, bother my dad, and messaged me until I forced myself out of bed. If that isn't pathetic then I don't know what it is."
"I can be pretty stubborn when I want to," he said with a shrug. The blond took a small step back and checked Hitoshi over. He raised a thumb at him and said, "For someone who doesn't want to go out, you dressed pretty well for it."
Hitoshi looked at his clothes and wondered what about it was considered "well dressed". It was just some striped shirt he pulled from the closet on top of some freshly laundered jeans, and a denim jacket. It wasn't anything special.
Fumei on the other hand wore some dark blue sleeveless parka on top of his signature baby blue hoodie on top of brown pants and red high-cut sneakers. Fumei grinned when he caught Hitoshi staring and struck a pose. "How do I look?"
"No different from usual."
"Oh come on!" he cried. "Learn to pay a compliment. It took me fifteen minutes to find out what looked good to layer with this hoodie."
Hitoshi could only describe the next thirty minutes towards Akisuta as torture.
Somehow, Fumei managed to convince him to give his music taste a try. Hitoshi couldn't describe it other than, one, it was definitely Korean, and two, Fumei somehow knew the dance to it like the back of his hand. Hitoshi wanted it to stop, but Fumei was adamant on making him just as interested as he was through some compilation videos.
Thankfully, Shirogane and Kioku arrived in the café after they did.
Fumei complimented their outfits like he did to him, and Shirogane narrowed her eyes at the blond but nevertheless bowed in kind. She seemed apprehensive of him after what he did during the festival was not petty enough to start something this early in the morning.
Kioku on the other hand twirled around in her dress. She pulled out Polaroid camera from her bag and urged Fumei to pose for her, which the latter did without pause.
They sat in silence, tapping away on their phones until Shirogane noticed Fumei dancing to a familiar set of choreography. Their eyes met then shook hands, somehow they achieved a silent truce for their common love of Korean girls. Unfortunately their peace was short lived when they started bickering as to who was best girl.
The others trickled in small groups shortly after. Only Tenmei, Akusa, Shiosai, and Kureito were missing due to personal matters or other prior arrangements. As they set out into the mall Koharu pulled Hitoshi to the side. "He actually got you to come huh?"
"Dragged is a better word," he groaned. "Akusa had my address."
"He does? I thought Fumei just knew, considering…" Hitoshi raised a curious brow at the brunette as he dragged out the idea, but did not finish it. "Never mind. Just enjoy yourself alright? It's your party."
"I didn't ask for a party," Hitoshi said..
"Tough luck, you're here, and we're having it."
Tatsumaki and Okami screamed as they spotted a limited edition Rabbit Hero: Mirko figure on display, and started to count their money to purchase it. They came up very short of the price, and Tatsumaki begged Koharu to lend him some money. Unfortunately, even if he asked for everyone to pitch it, it wouldn't be enough.
Soon enough their group started to break off into smaller units. Kioku excused herself to fetch more Polaroids, with Kimura and Makito accompanying her. Shirogane and Fumei also quietly disappeared behind a music store to get albums.
Kamimura then led everyone to a popular boutique found in the center of the mall. She claimed to own this branch and was willing to give them a discount. She slyly added that Hitoshi could get any set for free as congratulations. Hitoshi denied the offer, but she - they - didn't have it. They decided that he was getting a new set of clothes today.
Tatsumaki pushed him into the changing room, while Kuchisake and Kamimura ran around to mix and match clothes for him. Regardless of his opinions or complaints about trying on five, maybe ten tops and pants in the span of twenty minutes, the class insisted on dressing him up for their own amusement.
Kioku even begged him to do a small fashion walk before snapping shots of each attire. The way they had fun at his expense pressed the wrong buttons, and soon his stoic face feel to a heavy scowl. Everyone immediately left him alone.
Hitoshi retreated to some couch near the dressing rooms and simply waited for everyone to grow tired of playing dress up. Unfortunately for his sanity, they didn't.
Kuchisake, who Hitoshi just now realized heavily resembled Sadako because of her hair and skin color, asked around if they sold any Gothic lolita clothes. She was disappointed that they didn't cater to her clothing choices but happily compromised. She picked every dark colored, mostly black or red, laced or intricately hand-sewed fabric she could find and put them on. She even handed Hitoshi a really cool jacket that he considered buying for a bit until he saw the price. She bought three outfits in bulk without a semblance of regret in her eyes thanks to Kamimura's generous hand.
Fukuro had fun trying a bunch of animal onesies with Shanti. She offered everyone a pair she thought captured their look. She shoved a Sloth onesie at Hitoshi, and he tried his best not to be offended by it.
The boys also tried their luck and ransacked every rack. Much like Hitoshi's sense of style, the majority of them just put on a bunch of shirts over pants. The only standouts were Hadesu's ripped jeans and punk style, or Koharu's clean boy next door look.
Kimura's eyes were drawn to a set of pastel prints, and the girls pretty much fawned over his peculiar choice and urged him to be daring with his choices. At first it was just adorable feminine tees and even brighter colors, but then Katagiri had to stop them before Okami can shove him into a dress.
Just as everyone seemed ready to move on, Nusumi had the, oh so brilliant idea to start a contest as to who can pull off the weirdest, most unorthodox pieces together. Hitoshi chose to excuse himself but everyone forced him into it.
On the bright side, the "game" only required him to put on one set of clothes; not a dozen, so he fought his way through it.
He walked out of the changing room wearing an oversized bi-colored polo shirt with white board shorts, and some horrendous Crocs with calf high socks. Tatsumaki took the competition by storm by somehow making red stiletto heels work with the mismatched accessories on his arms and neck.
After that, they finally grew tired of the boutique and move on to the arcade.
They split up to have fun on their own for a while, and agreed to meet near the dance machine after an hour. While some of them went in pairs, Hitoshi quietly slinked away from the crowd. He didn't exactly have a friend circle despite his efforts to be closer with the class. It just didn't feel normal for him to settle with anyone yet.
He walked around, searching for any game that seemed interesting to spend money on. He found himself venturing into the fighting games and spotted Nagai button mashing the controls a gamepad.
He stopped behind him, interested, as Nagai beat Mirko using the villain infamously known as the Peerless Thief with a perfect health bar. "You're pretty good at that," he said, and Nagai turned to him, a little shocked to find him standing there the whole time.
"Oh, hey dude!" Nagai said. "Yeah, I... I'm pretty into arcade games."
Hitoshi looked at the loading screen of the game titled Heroes: Rising and pressed one of the buttons on the second player slot. Nagai blinked, surprised, but nonetheless grinned. "You know how to?"
"I've played it before." Hitoshi owned a port of the game on his console at home. He knew how to play it. tHis online ranking was something he's proud of.
"Alright then Mr. Hero," Nagai sneered. "Let's see what you got."
The raven haired devil pushed his sleeves up then and pulled out a card wallet. Nagai swiped three or four collectible cards on the pad in the middle of the game, and wiped his nose. Hitoshi frowned. He'd chosen to fight the wrong person.
Nagai was a hardcore Rising player. He had the cards that boosted character stats and introduced new combos that weren't found in the base game. Nagai noticed his concern and offered him some All Might cards to keep the game fair, but Hitoshi refused.
His pride would not allow it.
In the end, he succumbed to Nagai's mastery of the game, and lost several times.
Nagai punched the air, and Hitoshi conceded. "You're a monster."
"What? Boy wonder going to cry because I beat his ass in a game? Boo hoo, you," Nagai said, and Hitoshi glared at him.
"Sorry," he backed away immediately. "Got a bit of a competitive streak with this game."
"I didn't notice," Hitoshi said, joking.
"It's just such a cool game. Usually arcade games are a smorgaboard of hero brawlers, but to have villains be playable characters too? It's rare for a game like this to reach the popularity it has. It respects both sides. The trading cards are a plus, so it's a win win for me." He bashfully scratched his cheek and said, "Don't tell Hadesu, he already thinks I'm a nerd for liking this."
"I won't," he assured him. "Just didn't think you'd be into this stuff because of..."
"My hair? My uncanny good looks? Yeah I get that a lot," Nagai shrugged. "You're not the first, so's cool. They don't ask, and it's not like I tell 'em either. I'm seriously into heroes, but that's a pipe dream so I stuck to doing what I can."
"You wanted to be a hero?" Hitoshi asked, surprised that Nagai also once dreamed to be a hero.
Nagai laughed as he picked another character and swiped two cards over the pad. "Oh yeah. Even had a hero name picked out and everything."
"What was it?"
"Mmmmm nothing cool, I'll tell you that," Nagai said. "Not that it matters. It wasn't going to work out anyway."
Hitoshi frowned, "Why not?"
Nagai shrugged. "It just wasn't. Anyway - do you know about this villain I just picked? Dude's pretty insane back in the day."
Hitoshi shook his head. "Not really."
"This here's Destro," Nagai said. "He used to be one of Japan's most wanted. Popped up right after the Public Use of Quirk Law was approved. He rallied around the idea that quirks shouldn't be regulated, and that it's like our basic human right or some shit to use them as how wanted to. Not everyone liked it, of course, cause s'long as you have bad intentions you can use that as an excuse."
Hitoshi blocked the attack and quickly retaliated with All Might's Texas Smash. "So they caught him?"
"I think they did yeah. If they didn't we wouldn't have all these laws on on quirk regulation," the other said as he pulled a fast aerial combo to shave half of All-Might's life bar. "But like imagine if he won though? We could use our quirks whenever we like, maybe even save other people in trouble just because we can."
If things did end up that way, then maybe the world wouldn't be as judgemental of his quirk. He wouldn't be called evil, and he wouldn't be a villain. He could be a hero just by having and using his quirk whenever he has to save people. However, under that logic, if everyone in the world is free to use their quirk then chaos would reign.
No one would be above the law, and no one could enforce the law. Heroes wouldn't exist because their very existence would be muted by everyone's individual spirit. If everyone could be heroes, then they wouldn't be special, they would just... be. The world wouldn't need a symbol or a pillar of peace, no one would work hard to be recognized for their efforts to save others - to be a hero.
All Might wouldn't exist. "If he won," he mused, "then we wouldn't have all these heroes and games right now."
"Right!" Nagai agreed as he finished off All-Might with a fully animated super move. "I have some rare characters with me, want to try them out?"
Hitoshi nodded and two unfamiliar figures flashed on screen. The first was a girl with fluffy pink twin tail hair in a black succubus leotard; while the other was a well-built man in full body red suit with yellow lines and a symbol on his shoulder.
"Who are these?" Hitoshi asked as he chose the latter of the two as his character.
"Cutie here is Pop-Step, she was a masked idol that used to do vigilante work on the side," Nagai said. "You got O'Clock! He was in the running as top hero like six years ago, but he suddenly disappeared and was never heard from again. There's this big conspiracy theory online about it."
Hitoshi spammed the buttons and somehow activated a special technique that took the first round off Nagai's hands. "Maybe he just got hurt and retired without saying anything."
"Be real dude, when has that ever happened?"
"A couple of times. Remember Missy?"
"Well, yeah, but that's different she's like super popular!" Nagai said. "O' Clock literally just vanished in his prime. There's this rumor in this forum I'm in. It's like super-secret dark-web stuff, you're not even supposed to know about it."
"Then why do you?"
Nagai shrugged. "I like sticking my nose in places I shouldn't, but that's not the point! There's word about this ancient big bad villain hiding in the shadows that can steal quirks. It was a dead myth for a while but some vigilantes in the forum started bringing them up again ever since the Nomus appeared."
Hitoshi paused, unconsciously letting Nagai knock O'Clock down. He heard him, but somehow Hitoshi focused on just one word. "Vigilantes. You... you talk to Vigilantes?"
Nagai squared his shoulders. "Well, chat, not really talk? Don't worry! It's completely safe, just uhhh - helping them help out heroes. Nothing too shady."
"They're illegal."
"Not everyone can be legal heroes, Shinsou," he spat with enough venom to make Hitoshi hold his breath. "Some of us wants to help look out for the little guy and the only way we can is by supporting others than can. I help them look for patterns with criminal movements or quirks. I'm not very good at it, but I make do, because that's the only thing I can do."
"You can be charged with being an accessory to a crime," Hitoshi said.
"I know. That's why I said I'm being careful," the other assured him. "You may not think what I'm doing is nice and noble because you got a chance, but the way I see it, not everyone does, or can. No matter what they do. Still, deep inside, they'll always want to help, in any way they can. I want that too."
Hitoshi noticed regret in the other's eye and decided not to pry. He and Nagai weren't friends.
Today might have made him one of the few people Hitoshi could tolerate, but as it is now, Nagai wasn't ready to share about his hang-ups at being a hero. Hitoshi could respect that, but he didn't quite agree on choosing vigilantism over working hard to be a hero.
Vigilante's walked a dangerous line between good and evil. Their actions bordered on hero and villain work at the same time. They operated in the grey and answered to no one. Hitoshi didn't see their existence as something noble. Regardless of his opinion, he had no right to preach against Nagai because the latter was right.
Hitoshi did get his chance and for the longest time, he almost believed he wouldn't. Not everyone got a chance, and its possible Nagai never did.
"Anyway!" Nagai said to erase the growing tension between them. "Going back to this evil legend, people think this guy stole O'Clock's quirk and gave it away. Then that handsy guy and warp villain from USJ pulls out a creature with enough quirks to put even All Might down. It was like a bone being thrown to us. People think they're working together. What'd you think?"
"Maybe it's real, maybe it's a boogeyman," he said. "If there was a guy like that, then we'd know about it."
"I suppose you're right. I think he's real! Tides are moving Shinsou, and one day he'll grow tired of hiding and pop out! Once he does, we're all toast."
"Don't sound too excited over it."
Nagai laughed and offered to accompany him around in looking for a new game. They bumped into Nusumi and Okami in the racing aisle and decided to play a few rounds. Hitoshi won most of them, which left Okami a little too annoyed to move on.
She challenged him to a bunch of other games wherein he won most, and she only won some.
Their final game was decided through multiplayer Pac-Man. Fukuro and Makito then joined them to complete the remaining slots.
Okami tried to eliminate Hitoshi first, but Makito got to her first, then she took Hitoshi down, then Fukuro. They tried it again, calling Makito's win lucky, but she did again, and Okami finally admitted defeat.
They then joined the others by the dancing machines. Hitoshi excused himself before anyone could drag him to anything, and surprisingly, people let him be. He settled down on the floor and watched Kimura fumble on his steps while Shanti cleared a hundred combo steps..
"Hey," Fumei flopped down beside him with an extra drink in hand. "You enjoying yourself?"
"I don't know," he answered, unsure. "I thought it was stupid, and I did want to leave, but now, not so much."
"Well you're not running away, so I call that a successful mission."
"I'm not letting you drag me out with them again. It's exhausting."
"Oh?" Fumei hummed. "Then how about I drag you elsewhere?" Hitoshi arched a brow up at him, and Fumei grabbed his hand. "It's not far, come on."
Hitoshi quietly followed him towards the counter, and looked up at the prize shelf Fumei just pointed to. His mouth fell open, aghast at the limited edition All Might figurine that stood unboxed, and in mint condition on the shelf. He leaned closer, completely at a loss for words.
Fumei pulled out a string of tickets from his bag and grinned, "I told the others there's nothing else you'd like more than that figurine and they decided to pitch in. We're still 800 short, so I was wondering if you want to pitch in too? They're going to be in that dance machine for about another hour or two. Nusumi's having fun stalling with her new abilities."
Hitoshi studied the tickets then glanced at the figure gathering dust. Hitoshi took Fumei's arm and dragged him towards a co-op shooter. He wanted that figurine. "Don't die on me."
"Only if you don't, hero."
They spent the next thirty minutes hogging all the games that gave away as many tickets as possible until they emerged with a thousand. Fumei handed him the figure and Hitoshi stared at in awe.
He's so never taking this out of the box.
"You still have 500," the attendant said. "What do you want for it?"
"We'll take those," the blonde pointed towards a pair of Tsuchineko charms; one calico and the other, an angry gray one. Fumei offered the gray one to Hitoshi, who raised a sarcastic brow at him. "Aw, come on. It looks just like you!"
"No, it doesn't," Hitoshi huffed, but accepted the chain either way. He rolled the small fluffy chain around his palm and felt a surge of warmth travel from his hand to his chest. It settled into nothing before he could comprehend what it meant.
"Yes it does! You're making the same face now," Fumei said. "Make sure to keep it with you all times alright? Our little pact for making it this far."
Hitoshi really didn't want to own some matching pair of keychain with Fumei but he supposed he owed him something.
"Just this once. I'll actually do what you want."
Fumei cheered and clapped his shoulder. They walked back to the others, and Fumei pushed him unto the dance mat without warning.
Korean music burst through the speakers, and Fumei joined him in the middle. Hitoshi reached game over in record time, while Fumei laughed at how bad he was at the game.
A/N: A breather chapter for the kids to have some fun; and for Shinsou to have a good time (no alcohol required). Next chapter will pick up the Stain/Hosu arc but not in the direction you'd expect. I've been reading a lot of Vigilante's and I wanted to give them more love by throwing a nod at it. Could be potential Vigilante's crossover? Who knows, possibly. Maybe. If you write a review I'll think about it (joke no blackmail here, only love)
Also reposting the seating list for people who are starting to see double's when figuring out who's who. sta. sh /010 21ta 6 sg e6 (take out the spaces). Sushi Out!
Fun fact: Akisuta and Daystar Mall are a reference to the planet Ahakistam and the Daystar casino from SW: The Last Jedi