Harleking31: Ah, so he'll learn to shoot from this videogame
Gotcha
Having your birthday so close to Christmas suuuuuucks
I'd know, mine's in January
*wheeze* I'm sorry, I just can't see the HPSC president as a good person
Or even believe for a second that Nagant would make any kind of deal with her lol
OK, *now* we get to Hatsume. *Lightning flashes briefly for effect again* What is up with the weather lately
Re: I've gotten caught-up again with MHA, and even though Quirks dominate the world, it isn't like Videogame Culture is going to disappear; especially in Japan. Hell, Horikoshi dropped a Super Mario reference right toward the very beginning, so I imagine if you can't become a Hero and don't want to become a Villain, that there'd be some outlets left; like video games, VR in particular since "eight generations" can easily carry the "baton" a couple centuries into the future.
Yeah, having my Birthday & Christmas be a few weeks apart bothered me as a kid… but once I was able to buy my own "stuff", it stopped being important when I could get "free stuff". Maybe that's just a sign of growing up; that you can take more pride in getting your own stuff than it being handed to you at some party?
Words like "good" and "bad" are extremely subjective; especially in a "Superhero Society", and as the recent chapters of the Manga have shown, you don't have to be part of a major organization to be some kind of asshole.
As for the "unspoken message" from the end of the last chapter… Tsutsumi Kaina might know that, and Kinoshita Sayaka might know that, but the other HPSC department heads, do not know that~ And even if she told them she did not have a deal like that with Kaina… would paranoid corpos in their positions really believe that~?
Jin Shirinue: This has been fun but it won't feel like Ratchet and Clank until someone whips out a gun the size of their torso that does something Over-The-Top.
Re: Well, I'll try to keep that in mind, but I'm not gonna ham-bone a BFG in without good reason to. That sort of buildup needs time, and I'm not going to give him a "Cheat Ability" he doesn't have to suffer a little for.
MAYATHEDEATHGOD: Lovely chapter as usual
Just wanna say could we get a little omake of stream chat's reaction to takehiko ?
If you wont/can't no biggie just do what you feel best for the story have a good one author
Re: Well, I'm flattered that someone cares so-much about additional content for an OC-centric story, so I might.
*AHA*
With the passing of the holiday season, "spring cleaning" was swift to arrive following the first shrine visit of the New Year. There was this one incident at aforementioned Shinto shrine where I thought we were being attacked by overly-thematic Villains and I tried siccing a visiting Hero on them, only for it to be part of the spectator show they did every year like clockwork.
Boy was I red-faced…
I personally didn't have a lot of "stuff" to clean out of my room, which unfortunately meant I'd "volunteered" my time to help Kuroko with her useless crap; i.e. the ankle-high wading pool of beer cans, snack bags, and snack wrappers.
Once that got taken care of, it was time for a little road trip.
*AHA*
"So remind me… Where are we going exactly?" I asked as Mon's black pickup navigated the winding mountainous roads outside of town.
"Out to the Asaka Dumping Grounds," Zombina answered from the driver's seat.
"The what?" I blink looking over my shoulder. "But the bed's completely empty."
"It isn't an actual dumping ground," Manako said from the back. "It's basically where everyone in the prefecture does their illegal dumping when they don't want to pay the fines for their non-burnables."
"So we're… what, doing cleanup for charity?"
"Half-charity, half-PR stunt," Doppel hummed languidly from behind her app game. "Since people use their Quirks to dump their trash farther and farther away from the roads, it makes the smaller Hero Agencies in the area look better if they send manpower out here to help with the cleaning efforts."
"Not to mention all the cool stuff you can find out there if you're lucky; especially after the holiday season~" Zombina grinned. "Why, if I had 100 yen for every gun or box of ammo I found out in these woods…~" she hummed nostalgically, making me wonder who the hell was throwing entire guns away.
I mean, from a purely technical standpoint, it made more sense to get rid of your guns in the river, that way nothing short of a dedicated dredging effort would find anything damning…
"Kuroko found a flatscreen TV the last time she went," Tio hummed. "And I found a bunch of lonely plushies wanting a good home. And you'd be amazed how many manga and comics are left out there with barely any water damage."
"So like a flea market, but it's 'Take What You Can Carry'?"
"Yeah, pretty much," Zombina shrugged. "Not to mention the woods are just gorgeous once you get past all the illegal dumping. Though word of warning, there might, or might not, be a small 'Bum Town' in there for all the hobos that don't mind roughing it, so don't wander too far in."
"I'll keep that in mind…" I hummed idly as I looked out the window.
Hell, if I could find cool stuff in a used book store of all places, then it wasn't completely outside the realm of possibility that I'd find something worth keeping at an illegal dumping ground…
*AHA*
Turning off the main road and driving up a gravel-lined path to a large clearing where campers and the like dropped their vehicles off, the two beat-up signs I found waiting for us (showing signs of possible Quirk-related damage) set the general tone for our adventure into the woods…
ILLEGAL DUMPING PROHIBITED
Don't leave your garbage here!
ILLEGAL DUMPING PROHIBITED
If you are found dumping, violators are
punishable by a minimum of 5 years
imprisonment and a 10,000,000 yen fine.
Well… Nice to know that even in a world of superpowers, people were still complete assholes tossing their useless shit into the woods…
"Huh. Looks like we've got some stiff competition this time around…" Zombina hummed as she spied a half-dozen other trucks, some owned and some rented by other Hero Agencies in the area, a few of the more shameless Heroes pandering for a few reporters while clad in hiker gear, but still wearing iconic headwear so their brand would remain recognizable.
"So… where to?" I asked ignoring the filth of humanity laid out before me.
And I wasn't talking what was visible in the woods.
"Pick your poison," Doppel said pointing to the array of dirt footpaths cutting their way through the brush away from the parking area like the spokes on a wheel. "As long as you keep your phone active, we'll be able to find you with a tracker if you get lost."
"It's dangerous to go alone. Take this," Zombina said handing me a flare gun.
"Thanks," I said clipping it to my side.
"And this is in case you see a piñata."
"Thanks…?" I asked as she held out a baseball bat.
"And here's in case you run into any zombies who aren't me."
"Zombina!" Manako cried as the team shock trooper tried passing me a sawed-off.
"What? It's dangerous to go alone."
"It's okay. I'll just pretend I'm a really short person," I said slinging it across my back.
"You are being way too nonchalant about this!" Manako cried out.
*AHA*
Manako, being the only one with a lick of sense out of the four/five of us, eventually conceded to letting me keep the bat and the flare gun.
Probably for the best, I admit. Even if I was their "young ward" and a potential target of vengeful Villains, who had-in-fact been attacked by Villains frequently and repeatedly with minimum to no Hero intervention, it may have been a bit of a stretch to give a minor a shotgun.
Even if most Quirks born to kids half my age were more-dangerous than most gunpowder-based weaponry…
"I wasn't a big hiker back… before… but I have to say, this is awfully soothing," I hummed as I navigated the forest path, dappled sunlight interspersing the chill of the forest canopy with warmth.
As for why I was out here on my own, I insisted of having a little "me time" to myself since the friends and family I'd made in this life were a little… exhausting. Make no mistake, I loved them to death and I swore I'd make the most of this second chance, but even still… Maybe being born and raised in a world of superpowers gave people a higher Bullshit Threshold?
No one expected me to do any heavy lifting, and I had Tio on speed-dial in case I saw something especially large that needed proper disposal-of (if not Looting), so I basically had a free day to myself out in nature.
So here I was, hiking through the woods and minding my own business when I heard a loud-
*CRASH!*
-followed by an-
"Ah! My baby!"
-cried out in a shrill tone.
"OH FUCK!"
Tearing through the shrubbery toward the source of the sound, I entered into a clearing with junk piled up against one side, and kneeling beside where part of it had spilled over was a lady clad in workshop coveralls with salmon-colored hair styled in uneven dreadlocks.
"Hey! What happened? Where's the baby?!" I cried scrambling to my phone.
"D… Down theeeereeee…" she cried turning green-yellow irises at me as she pointed down at… a large crowbar with mechanical arms on it?
What the hell?
"Ahhhh…! My Automatic Crowbar-kun! You were so young! So innocent!" the "lady" wailed with tears streaming down her face, and only now that I got a better look at her, did I realize she was a young girl around my own age, with chest measurements equal to my own.
"Sooo it's an automatic crowbar… that uses itself…?" I blinked, trying to make sure I wasn't "the crazy one" here…
"YEEEEEEES…!" the salmon-haired girl wailed, mourning the loss of her tool/robot.
"So… why exactly are you out here?" I asked hoping not to get bogged down by the sheer lunacy of the whole thing.
"Oh, I'm here to get me some good scraps!" the girl replied in a chipper tone, Automatic Crowbar-kun completely forgotten as she got all up in my grill. "People throw away so-many perfectly good appliances without stripping them for parts first, I just had to come out here! So many babies to make! So little time!"
" . . . Like 'Automatic Crowbar-kun'?" I asked, wondering in the back of my mind how a crowbar with arms would even give itself leverage…
" . . . WAAAAHHHHHHH!"
"I'm just gonna goooo-OH! CRAP!"
-thought I to myself as the girl grabbed my arm and dragged me down, sobbing and wailing into my clothes like a busted water fountain.
Faaantastic…
*AHA*
Meanwhile, with Zombina and Manako off on one of the other footpaths, armfuls of smaller detritus in their arms…
" . . . You've been acting a little weird around Take-chan lately," the zombie hummed. "Is it 'cause of what he said on New Years?"
"Maybe a little…" the mono-eye admitted, thinking back to what their young ward had said after the customary bow, bell-ringing, and praying.
"Dear god, please give Manako the courage to be the best self I know she is under the shyness and the bangs."
"I mean, did he even say that out loud on purpose, or did he let it slip…?" she asked chewing on her thumbnail.
"Like I said, he's gotta have a soft spot for cute mono-eyed girls."
"But… I'm not confident like Hitomi is…" Manako said, her hands going to her small bosom.
"I don't think he wants you to be like her. I think he just wants you to be the best version of you," Zombina asserted. "And besides, if the both of you are still single in ten years, Take-chan's going to be a real catch~"
The short mono-eye could only stutter uncontrollably, going completely red in the face as Zombina went on to say that most Japanese guys liked smaller breasts. Amongst other things.
*AHA*
I wasn't really sure how-long what's-her-name bawled into my shirt for, but I know it was enough time for Tio and Manako to pester me with text messages asking me how I was doing.
Given there was no actual baby in mortal peril, I just let them know I was taking in the scenery and having a little sit-down. Even if the salmon-haired girl was as flat-chested as Doppel, I just knew the shapeshifter would rib me constantly if she found me alone in the woods with a girl.
At least I assumed this was a girl, and not just a high-pitched boy, but I was going to avoid using binary pronouns in the declarative sense until I got some further evidence to substantiate my suspicions. Because if there was yet another thing that hadn't changed from "my own time", it's that people still got incredibly butt-hurt over political incorrectness, and in a world where Quirks could make anyone look like anything...
It was almost as if there was nothing better to spend your time worrying about.
"Sooo… What-exactly were you fishing around for when your… 'baby'… got pinned under all that trash?"
"A 3D printer…" the salmon-haired girl(?) sobbed.
WHO THE HELL THROWS AWAY A 3D PRINTER!?
"Geez, people will throw anything away, won't they?" I muttered darkly.
"Yeah, but one man's trash is another girl's treasure!"
. . . I'll take it.
"So… are your parents with you…?"
"Nah, they're back in Bunkyo," she said with a wave of her hand. "I borrowed one of the interns and a flatbed from the university, came out here for some epic loot."
"I see…"
*AHA*
Thankfully, with a second set of hands, Hatsume Mei, or "Mei-chan" as she insisted on being called, was able to get "Automatic Crowbar-kun" out from under the debris. After that, her demeanor markedly improved with the seizure of the 3D printer she had found.
How the hell I missed the quadrupedal luggage robot she'd taken into the woods with her, I'd never know…
"So your parents are professors at Tokyo U?" I asked amidst the small-talk.
"That's right! They've got tenure~"
"Huh. Neat," I nodded.
A part of me was tempted to cultivate a friendly relationship with this girl so I'd have an "in" at my dream college, but the other part of me reminded the first part what a scuzball move that was, and I immediately rescinded that plan.
"And they're just fine with you wandering into the woods on your own?"
"They… might not be 100% aware of where I am or what I'm doing or even for how long…" she said refusing to meet my eye.
"I see…" I hummed, riffling through the debris while also being mindful of any falling detritus.
"So what's your story? Why're you out here?"
"Oh… I'm just helping my adoptive aunties with a PR thing…" I shrugged while rubbing my hands together.
Though the snow was all gone and the weather getting warmer, it was still pretty brisk, though not uncomfortably so.
"Cool," she hummed. "So, you find anything good, yet?"
"Not… yet…" I trailed off as something caught my eye.
Casting some of the detritus away from where Mei was looking, I found a monster-sized wrench protruding upward from a pile of junk like the Sword of Selection that immediately made me think back to the Hollow Fields manga I got at the school book fair; one of the first manga I ever got, in fact. And boy did that make me feel homesick, on top of nostalgic.
Readjusting the gloves on my hands, with a mighty tug I freed the cobalt-colored implement. Three feet in length and a foot wide at the fatter end with a DETNERAT insignia on the side, this could only have been used on the biggest of Support Items; maybe a vehicle of some sort, or a mobile headquarters? A nerdier part of me thought it'd be right at home in the world of Mortal Engines, but I was thankful that nothing like that "Municipal Darwinism" nonsense rose to popularity once Quirks started manifesting.
"It's not an Omni-Wrench, but it'll do."
. . .
"Why did I just say that out loud?"
"UWOAAAH! Great find! I'm so jealous!"
"JESUS!"
"No, it's Mei-chan!" Hatsume returned, practically nose to nose with me. "So, what monster nuts are you going to turn with that baby~?" she asked eyeing it hungrily.
"Um…" I said as I adjusted my grip on my find, a panel depressing with a *Click*
The implement shuddering in my hands, with a yelp I threw it to the ground in time to see it fold in on itself like the Scissor Blade from Kill la Kill, getting smaller and smaller until it shrunk down to the size and heft of a pipe wrench.
"Whoa! Collapsible Frame technology! Man, I'm so jealous!" Hatsume grinned as I reached down to pick it up. "Could this have been made with I-Island's castoffs…? Man, I wish I'd found that first, but as a scavenger, I have to respect the Finder's Keepers Mandate."
"Did… Did this thing just get lighter?" I asked picking it up.
Best not to think about it.
I have no idea who would throw away a perfectly-good Support Item of this exacting nature, but given what people threw away on the regular back in my day, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that in the 23rd century with laser weaponry and functional battle robots, that people would throw away Hero-grade tools as well…
Everyone thinks that people in the future would be "more enlightened" compared to those from "the present", but the way I always saw it, it wasn't the people that ever changed, it was just their "stuff". That people in dystopian futures with future-tech were such douchebags to one another only reinforced that theory.
Slipping the "Collapsible Wrench" into my shoulder bag, Hatsume tugged at my shoulder, pointing down range.
"Lookit that! A trash panda! I wonder if he found any good loot today," she mused as a large racoon rounded the corner.
At waist height…
"Oh crapbaskets…" I swore as the thing fully rounded the bend, revealing itself to possess the body of a giant panda with the body of an ordinary-looking racoon for a head. "The fuck? Is that supposed to be some kind of lure?"
The next moment, the aforementioned "trash panda" released a furious hiss/growl, the racoon-like body splitting in half horizontally, a myriad of tentacular tongues scattering spittle every which way between rows o f razor sharp teeth.
"Oh fuck RUUUN!"
"I don't want to die as food! Oh the irony!" Hatsume cried having the good sense to follow after me.
*GROAAAAR!*
"WHAT THE HELL?! IS THAT AN ANIMAL WITH A QUIRK, OR JUST MUTATED FROM INDUSTRIAL RUNOFF!?"
"MY DADDY COULD PROBABLY TELL THE DIFFERENCE, BUT ONLY AFTER A THREE-HOUR LECTURE COMPLETE WITH SLIDES!"
"OH CRAP! DODGE!" I cried as the thing lunged at us with impossible strength.
Had I not tackled Mei to the ground, the thing would've been using her for a chew toy. Instead, the thing plowed into the nearby heap, debris scattering in all directions and a red canister of what I assume to be gasoline tipping over. The thing shaking its head/lure angrily at us, the thing looked about as-intimidating as a giant "trash panda" soaked in gasoline.
Which in of itself was still pretty fucking intimidating.
"Ohhh fuck this, I need a bigger weapon!" I said pawing furiously at my shoulder bag.
*Thump*
*FWOOSH!*
I can only stare incredulously at the dreadlock-ed girl beside me after she snatched the flare gun off my hip and shot the thing, a plume of firelight reflecting off her expressive crosshair-patterned eyes.
" . . . I panicked," she responded after a terse moment.
*AHA*
"NO SHIT!" I cried a few moments later as Hatsume and I ran for our lives, a flaming trash panda hot on our heels and threatening to start a forest fire.
If there's any consolation to be found, it's that all any of the nearby Heroes and quote/unquote "Heroes" have to do to know where we are is follow the high-pitched screaming.
That and, if I have to die again, I'm taking this crazy spaz WITH ME!
*AHA*
"Dammit, did some hobo light their bum town on fire again?" Doppel groaned as she saw the spreading column of fire-smoke.
"Um… That fire's spreading awfully fast…" Tio said worriedly, the sound of trees being felled echoing through the forest as it got closer.
"…elp…!"
"Hold on, I think I heard something…" Doppel said enlarging her ears to better catch the sound.
Her Quirk, [Doppelganger], might've let her shapeshift at will with incredible detail, but it didn't change that she was only as-strong as quote/unquote "an ordinary person". Sure, she could make her legs longer, or her muscles bigger, but at the end of the day it was all "just for show"; it was why she couldn't shapeshift into her teammates and use their Heteromorphic Quirks "in duplicate".
"Hm… Sounds like a call for-"
"HELLLLLLLP!" a familiar high-pitched voice cried as a familiar blond dragged a salmon-haired girl clad in coveralls out of the woods, an eldritch abomination galloping after them, while also being completely on fire.
"Ew! It smells like burning hair!" Tio whined.
"That's what you noticed…?" Doppel blinked. "Not the thing from the B-Rate Horror flick?"
"DON'T JUST STAND THERE DO SOMETHING!" Takehiko cried frantically.
"AUNTIE HAMMER!" Tio cried out her newest Super Move, delivering a powerful hammer blow to the not-panda's not-face, stopping its charge briefly.
"WE'LL NEVER FORGET YOUR SACRIFICE!"
"What sacrifi-KYAAAAAA!" Tio cried as tentacles started coiling around her arm and body.
"Tentacle Panda Monster & Ogre Girl… Talk about a niche category."
"D-D-D-DON'T JUST STAND THERE! HELP ME!"
"The best way I can help is call in backup instead of… whatever that is…" Doppel said taking out her phone and hitting the SOS.
*AHA*
"God that was horrible…" I groaned after setting Hatsume down, well the fuck away from what I refused to remember.
"Well, at least your auntie has it," she chirped.
"I DON'T HAVE IIIIIT!" Tio cried as she flew overhead, smashing through a tree on the way down.
"What the fuuuuck?!" I cried as the thing broke through the foliage, frothing at the mouth as a set of eyes inside of its mouth locked onto Hatsume.
"Well…" she hummed. "That's not good."
"You think?" I asked flatly. " . . . Why are you using me as a human shield?"
"I can't come up with a better idea."
"Hey, here's one," I said as the "Trash Panda" pawed the ground in our direction. "Run."
"That sounds rather agreeable."
" . . . "
"AAAHHHHGH!" we cried as the thing gave chase.
*AHA*
The next moment Zombina and Manako came into the clearing, blinking their eyes at what they had walked in on.
"Uh, Manako… Did I breath in fumes again?" Zombina asked as a flaming eldritch panda chased after Takei who was carrying a salmon-haired girl in a coverall over his shoulder like a sack of rice from the grocery store.
"Nope. I see that too."
"Oh good, so it isn't just me."
"Indeed."
" . . . "
" . . . HOLD ON, WE'LL SAVE YOU!" the two of them cried as they went for their weapons.
*AHA*
"DAMMIT! HOW IN THE HELL IS THIS MY DAY!" I cried as I broke through into the parking lot, a few of the quote/unquote "Heroes" who were still posturing for the media whipping their heads around as the smell of burning hair became more prevalent.
"Well, it probably didn't help that I set it on fire."
"Quiet, you!" I shouted over my shoulder, glad all my working out was starting to pay dividends; even if I could feel hot breath on my back.
"Don't worry! I have arrived!"
-said one quote/unquote "Hero" trying to emulate Japan's No.1 without infringing on copyrighted catchphrases as he lunged at the trash panda.
*CRASH!*
He was bitch-slapped into the side of a van half a second later.
"Don't worry! I'm sure that'll buff right out!"
"Dammit, Hatsume! Don't draw attention to yourself!" I shouted as the trash panda turned its attention back onto her.
"Don't worry, Take-chan! Auntie Tio's got this!" Tio cried as she wrapped her arms around the thing's waist before bending over backwards. "AUNTIE SUPLEX!"
A Super Move that would've put most-anyone else into the coma ward was trumped as the thing started galloping away on its face-tentacles like some kind of… Rhinograde? Whatever that fictitious animal from Seton Academy that walks on its multiple noses is called…
"Don't worry, Tio! You're wearing him down!" Kuroko called from the van, a can of soda in hand, the label conspicuously pointing toward the camera crews.
"Get some!" Zombina shouted as she slid across the ground and into the thing's path. A sawed-off shotgun raised into its mouth, before she could fire, the thing wrenched the barrel to the side with a tentacle, Tio letting out a yelp as the buckshot bounced off her skin. The ogre-like woman tumbling to the side, the trash panda got its feet back under it, a litany of tentacles wrapping around her body before-
*RIIIIIIIP!*
"ZOMBINA!" I cried as the thing ripped her in half, sutures giving way almost instantly before both halves were tossed away.
"TAKEI-KUN! WAIT! STOP!" Manako cried out from behind her briefcase rifle, my body moving on its own as I ran up to the thing that'd just ripped my auntie in two.
"Percy Jackson, don't fail me now!"
Depressing the highlighted section of the "Not-Omni Wrench" that seemingly controlled its size-changing functionality, I thrust the Support Item up to the elbow in the thing's gullet before running like hell. The thing's tentacles, grabbed at my limbs and tried to pull me back, but before it could do anything R-Rated to my body- *SQUELCH-SCLURCH-SCLUTCH!* -the Support Item expanded to full size inside its not-head, bit by bit, until its not-head was ripped free of its body, its tentacles going limp allowing me to pull myself free.
" . . . Well that's therapy-inducing…"
*AHA*
"So that thing didn't come from a Rift?"
"Nope. Just a regular, mutated animal that may or may not have had a Quirk," Kuroko shrugged as the proper authorities took the thing away for study… or disposal.
No reason it couldn't be both.
"Next question. Why is this guy called 'The Hose-Water Hero'?" I asked as a Hero in a very stereotypical "sexy fireman's" outfit hosed me down.
WITH WATER!
"Because the 'Water Hose Heroes' were already trademarked."
"Ugh, do they have a trademark on everything?"
" . . . I want to say 'no'… but the answer is probably-"
"Yeah, I get it," I deadpanned as I wrung out my shirt, giving the Hose-Water Hero an appreciative nod before-
"Hey, Tokehika!" Hatsume shouted, suddenly up in my face. "I cleaned off your thing!" she said holding it up for me to see, returned to its depressed size. "Just remember, wrenches don't belong in face-holes, they belong in toolboxes, you silly~"
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind, and it's Takehiko," I clarified.
"Right! Right! Thanks for saving my bacon!" she grinned, pressing a wet, sloppy kiss to my face for several seconds with a loud *MWAH!* before running off. "See you later!"
" . . . I think she likes you~" Kuroko grinned.
"She can't even get my name right. I doubt we'll ever meet again," I replied brusquely, putting my Collapsible Wrench away as the rest of the Mon Squad gathered together.
With the spreading fire creating an APB for the necessary Heroes, it was fairly obvious that our outing was pretty much over.
*AHA*
AN:
Obviously, Chapters 20 and 41 of Monster Musume were a big inspiration for the setting of this chapter. Not only does it give me an excuse to plug Mei Hatsume into the story prior to Yuuei organically (what with her being from a big "college town"; Headcanon), it also points out how even in a world of superpowers, capitalism and the detritus thereof are still a real and persistent problem.
Thanks to Quirks, people can get a lot more creative in throwing away all their useless crap, dumping their refuse further and further into the woods. And in some cases people might even go into the woods to "train"/go wild with their Quirks, which in of itself is inspired by Medabots Episode 34 "Eat, Drink, Man, Medabot" where the wood-cutter Medabot Kintaro was chopping down trees in the woods under the pretense of "training".
I mean technically the guy was "training", but those are some BIG quotation marks when you consider how many trees were getting chopped down for no good reason… The guy wasn't even a lumberjack or a wood cutter, just some guy with a wood cutter-themed robot who leaned wayyyy too much into his theme…
Anywho, tell me what you think of a 12-year-old Mei Hatsume, and I'll see you next time.