I don't own One Punch Man, nor do I own My Hero Academia. Each Franchise i owned by their respective owner..
...
Sonic gritted his teeth, looking at the hideous reflection of himself staring right back at him in the mirror. The seat wasn't exactly comfortable either, and the hair shaver behind him was inept as well at doing his job.
This cheap barbershop was going to tarnish his look for the rest of his days...
Damn you, Hero Commission...!!
"It's done, sir." The hair saver behind him said.
Sonic whipped his head around, glaring with the eyes of a viper, "You think this is a savory result?! I'm absolutely appalled by your unprofessionalism!"
"Sir, we did the best we can..." This statement alone irked him to no end.
He abruptly stood up, "I could sue this business if I so willed it. You don't want that, don't you?"
"S- sir, I don't think that's-"
"You cut too much of it!" Sonic cut him, "Do you know how bad I'll look?! Me?! The Speed O Sound Sonic, the hero with the superior ninja techniques-?!"
"Give it a rest." A familiar voice spoke from the end of the room, "Sonic."
Sonic's eyes shifted to the source of that voice, "Ah. You."
"To be honest," Flashy Flash stepped forward as he digested the new look of his old comrade, "that look suits you."
Sonic scoffed, "You think so? I think it looks hideous. I might not be able to uphold my public image this way."
"That's not entirely accurate." Flashy Flash shook his head, pointing at his hair, "The general consensus of your entire image is that you look more like a female more than a male."
Sonic's eyes twitched at the mere mention of that. Though, the barber worker besides him seems to be in agreement with the other ninja.
Sonic quickly unsheathed his knife, pointing it at the worker's neck, "Say a word, and I'll cut your spine."
"N- noted.." He replied in a faint voice.
Sonic moved towards the other ninja, wrapping his purple scarf around his collar, "Well, since you're generous enough to grace me with your presence, let's go to somewhere else more pleasant."
"Right. Public Bathouse it is."
"No." Sonic interjected, "What's with you and public bathouses?"
"They're the only place that I can think of at the top of my head," He replied, grunting, "though, if you have any other suggestions, feel free to add it to the table."
"I was thinking maybe we could go to a waterfall. It's more blissful there, and less crowded." Sonic recommended, "Suited for ninjas like us."
"Less crowded, but filled with nuisances, courtesy of the wildlife residing in there." Flashy Flash shook his head, "We can go to a Thai Food-oriented Restaurant."
Sonic felt nauseous, "Sounds disgusting."
"Might as well not go anywhere else if we're always at odds with each other." Flashy Flash hissed.
Sonic exhaled, "Fine, we can talk it out over a stroll." He turned his head over to the worker, "You might have provided me with a lackluster service, but add the fee to my hero agency's tab. They'll pay you in advance."
"Y- yes!" The man stammered on his tongue, twisting his hip to the front, bowing down vigorously, "T- thank you so much for using our services!"
"Whatever. Let's go." Sonic gestured for Flashy Flash to follow him.
...
As they took a stroll at the side of the street, Sonic noticed that the pedestrians passing by has been looking at him funny for the past couple of minutes.
"These little...!" Sonic's hands trembled, switching between clenching it and unclenching it, "They're mocking me!"
"Pay it no heed." Flashy Flash consoled him, "They'll get used to it."
Sonic wasn't convinced by that, apparently, "This is their fault."
"Their fault?"
"The Commission's." Sonic grunted, putting a head cover in order to conceal the embarrassment, "They set me up."
Flashy Flash's lips contorted in dismay, "In what way?"
"My contract with their Fashion Department was manipulated from the start." Sonic said, as he slipped the last strand of his hairs into the cover, "None of them mentioned anything about 'Creative Control', which, I could've signed if they told me about it."
"Why..did you sign in the first place?" Flashy Flash asked.
"I dunno, it was a new policy they enforced. You could say it was obligatory in a way." Sonic replied, "When I signed my contract, they didn't tell me about the 'Creative Control' clause, which what led me to this unfortunate circumstance in the first place."
Flashy Flash chuckled a little, "They're turning the Hero Industry into a corporate fest."
"I simply think that this is just a scandal." Sonic replied.
The other ninja raised his brow at that, "A scandal for what?"
"An endorsement of an idea. A problematic one, that is." Sonic exclaimed, "The notion that a male cannot look or sport anything that has a 'feminine' aura is an issue in itself."
"...What are you saying, exactly?" Flashy Flash asked, even more confused.
"I'm saying, they're promoting a toxic ideology, that all men should abide by the deadly essence of poisonous manhood." Sonic replied.
Flashy Flash looked at him for a moment, his lips quirking back and forth, before erupting in a hysterical laughter.
"What the hell are you laughing at?!"
"D- did you even hear yourself?!"
"Am I wrong?!"
"Are you?!"
Sonic clicked his tongue, "Tch, you're not even trusting my intuition."
"You come up with the worst theories on a daily basis, I can't even take you serious anymore." Flashy Flash replied, letting his laughter settle, "I don't even think they had that idea in mind when enforcing this rule!"
"Whatever! It doesn't change anything."
"Sure it didn't." Flashy Flash said, "Let's just put that topic aside for now."
"If you say so." Sonic conceded, his shoulder slightly hung down, his head fixed in it's place.
"By the way," Sonic began again, shifting his head to the right, "What brought you here? Not gonna lie, visiting me without a notice does seem a little odd."
"I can't visit an old comrade?"
"We are not comrades." Sonic huffed, crossing his arms, "But that's besides the point. If I remember correctly, you resigned from the hero gig, and I don't believe that you came to me just for a little social visit."
Flashy Flash stared at him for a moment, releasing a heavy exhale, "It's...I have concerns of my own regarding the hero industry, and it's unfortunate decline."
"Is that so?" Sonic raised his brow, "I thought you didn't want to bother yourself with this anymore."
"That's correct, but," Flashy Flash paused for a moment, visualising the frame of a certain someone in his mind, "I have to admit that I have to do something about it, especially in the wake of recent...schemes."
"Huh?"
"I have my own means of garnering intel," Flashy Flash elaborated, "With the adequate price, I was able to take a peek into the Commission's deepest part of the iceberg. They're on the deep end, as we speak."
Sonic hummed, "Now that I think about it, yeah, they're acting a bit shady, though it's none of my business. My only concern is to hone my skills and hopefully beat that damned hero who humiliated me years ago."
"You're still on that vendetta to this day?" Flashy Flash's brow furrowed, "You can't be serious."
"Why can't I?" Sonic's lips trembled as the wrinkles in his skin tensed, "My pride is not something that gets swept aside by time."
"Right." Flashy Flash sighed.
"Speaking of, where is that poser, All Might, anyway?" Sonic proceeded with his own inquiry, "That cretin has been evading me for months now."
Flashy Flash replied, "He went out of town. Again."
"Again." Sonic emphasized on the word, deflating at the news, "As expected of that spineless coward."
"There's more to it than what you would normally assume." Flashy Flash said.
"Sure." Sonic shrugged, "Anyway, we're getting a little sidetracked. I'm curious about that intel. Tell me more about it."
Flashy Flash cleared his throat, "Let me narrow it down for you: they're planning to stage a massive abduction on the UA premises, presumably, to stack their manpower, to boost their morale."
"Wait, wait, wait, wait," Sonic halted for a little, "So that's what it is, then?"
"What?"
"This is the super duper confidential mission that I kept on hearing about. They never gave me the details, but I knew it involved kids in some way." Sonic felt repulsed at the idea itself.
It took him back to the days where he was nothing more than a mere tool, expendable and ready to be plucked by the ninja village he was raised in. Forcibly pushed to endure the harsh lifestyle of a ninja...
He was glad that someone else was generous enough to destroy that damned place. He didn't miss it anyway.
Oh, how he itched to get his hands on the executives behind this plan. Just the thought of tormenting them exhilarated him, imagining the blood tainting his h-
"Sonic?" Flashy Flash slit through his trail of thought like a sharpened scythe.
"Ah! I dozed off."
"Thinking of many ways to dismantle the ones responsible for this, aren't you?"
"You know me too well." Sonic waved him away, "Honestly, takes me back to our earlier days."
"Don't remind me about that." Flashy Flash flinched at the mention of that particular era of his life.
Sonic's eyes fixated on him for a brief moment, before speaking again, "We can try to help."
"Hm?"
"You heard me right." Sonic replied, "I have nothing better to do since my rival went MIA."
"Since when is All Might your rival?" Flashy Flash was perplexed by that.
Sonic growled, "He is MY rival, whether he considers me as such or not!"
"Regardless," Flashy Flash tried to divert the conversation's flow back to it's intended course, "Yes, that is precisely why I came to you. To ask for your assistance."
Sonic shrugged, tossing one of his blades into the air, before it precisely landed on his palm with it's tilt, "Guess I can kill a phony or two."
"You know better than to exact lethal measures on a human being."
"Was being figurative, but whatever." Sonic dismissively retorted, "When's this supposed abduction is taking place?"
"...where they least expect it."
"The last thing I need is a cryptic hint." Sonic rolled his eyes, "I need the full details."
"That's the detail."
"Now that's just stupid." Sonic replied dryly.
"That's the only information that my men was able to wring," Flashy Flash replied, "We'll have to make do with what we currently have."
Sonic threw his hands in the air in light exasperation, "We'll play the guessing game, if that's the case."
They then marched into the direction of the UA Grounds, as the sun soared above them, casting it's light like no other.
...
Garou reluctantly gripped his hands onto the tilt of the door, dreading what he was about to see on the other end.
However, the earlobes girl besides him encouraged him to proceed anyway, "Come on, it's not like anything bad is going to come out of this."
Garou scoffed. As if he didn't knew that. He just can't see...
He can't see that kid in that pitiful state. It's almost terrifying, in a way, "Is his condition any better than from where it started?"
"Beats me." Jirou replied, "I'm not even sure myself, but I trust the doctors will do their job."
"Yeah. Acute radiation poisoning isn't something that can be scoffed at.." Garou said, feeling a pang of guilt gripping his chest, "Okay, here goes..."
He twisted the doorknob, steadily sliding the door backwards, greeted by the sorrowful sight of Kaminari being wrapped in a blanket and a couple of protruding wires sinking into his skin.
Ah...
"Hey there..." Garou said to the kid, who, as it seems, was in a comatose state. Naturally, he didn't response.
Garou's expression contorted melancholically, his hands quivering as it stretched to reach the boy's cold and almost lifeless hands, "I.. I'm about to head out in a moment but..Well, I'm just checkin' on ya. How you holdin' up?"
The boy didn't answer.
Something swelled in his chest. His teeth bared, sweat swimming down his forehead as he continued, "Just letting ya know, if you can hear me, if you're ever awake, first thing first...contact me, okay? I know there are surveillance cameras around here so the least you could do is check them after waking up."
He held the boy's hand in a tender grasp, "I'm.. I'm sorry, for everything."
Still no response.
Exhaling, Garou turned around, only to see Jirou looking at him with a smile, "You know, I didn't believe him at first but," Jirou puts her hand on the man's shoulder, "I think there's more to you that I'm missing from the surface."
Garou was idle for a moment, before closing his eyes, "Thanks for letting me see the brat."
"Back to name calling now, are we." Jirou giggled.
Garou didn't respond, as he walked past her. But then, she called out after him for one last time, "Hey, I gotta say something to you. Call this a mandate if you will but...keep Izuku safe for me, will you?"
Garou stopped short in his tracks, tilting his head slightly, his eyes narrowly caught the glimpse of the hopeful girl behind him.
With a slight gesture, he replied, "No promises."
"Just try." Jirou insisted.
"I will." And with that, Garou made his way to the exit door.