Recap:

Last time in The Bohemian Hikigaya Series –

Hikigaya returned to Japan and started looking for a job opportunity as a detective consultant. He had an interview at Anteiku, where he more or less was interrogated by L, Major Motoko Kusanagi, Kanra Orihara and Yukino Yukinoshita. Afterwards, Izaya Orihara himself took a private interest in him and the second round of his interview began – the practical round – where he would be tested in the field.

Carl 'CJ' Johnson broke into Hikigaya's hotel room and tried to kill him. But Izaya had already texted Hikigaya and told him that a guy named 'CJ' would be breaking into his room to deliver a message. Since Hikigaya is a skilled potioneer (thanks to Severus Snape), he had already taken a few drops of The Liquid Luck potion. Hikigaya defeated CJ and the two put their differences aside and went out for a drink at the hotel bar.

Hikigaya received another text from Izaya – 'An assassin was after him'

At the bar, Hikigaya and CJ were approached by a woman named Yor Forger. She was married and was trying to flirt with Hikigaya. Yor bought them all drinks and spoke to Hikigaya about assassins and the fabled 'John Wick'. Afterwards, when CJ started feeling dizzy, Yor invited the boys back to her hotel room.

After reaching her hotel room, Yor told Hikigaya to put CJ on the couch, while she went inside to slip into something nice, so that she can invite him back to her bedroom for a fun night. Hikigaya inspected the room and found bugs, hidden cameras and listening devices, along with a bag full of sex toys. While Yor got dressed in the other room, bumping into things and knocking things over all around, Hikigaya told her that he had figured out she was an assassin from her conversation back at the bar. He had also seen her slip something into their drink. But unbeknownst to her, he had switched their drinks and now Yor was the one who was drugged and by his estimate, she had a few seconds before she lost consciousness.

Immediately Yor Forger tries to take out Hikigaya and the two of them start fighting. Yor is wearing sexy lingerie and stockings, because she wasn't able to put on her Thorn Princess outfit, but nonetheless she is a fierce fighter and she draws first blood and before long, she has Hikigaya at her mercy. But Hikigaya fights dirty and surprises Yor Forger with a kiss and a rough grope of her breasts. Yor is beyond livid and she decides to kill Hikigaya right then and there - to hell with the mission! – for stealing her first kiss. Yor goes in for the kill, but just then CJ's desert eagle goes off and with luck still on his side, Hikigaya throws something at Yor – a banana peel. And the unthinkable happens – Yor slips on the banana peel, knocks her head against the coffee table and loses consciousness.

When Yor regains consciousness, Hikigaya has her restrained to the bed and he starts interrogating her. First he tries logic and reason, telling her she is just a pawn and Izaya Orihara is just playing her. He tells her about the hidden cameras and the sex toys, which were meant for his use to get answers out of her. But Yor isn't scared and doesn't fold. As such, Hikigaya resorts to his last option and forces her to take a few drops of Veritaserum, the strongest truth potion known to wizardkind.

Yor is forced to tell the truth – The Thorn Princess was hired by Yukino Yukinoshita and her real target was the notorious serial killer known as 'The American Psycho'. She had heard it being discussed in a chatroom that nothing happens in Ikebukuro without Izaya Orihara knowing about it. So she went to Izaya for information. Izaya gave her L's notes on 'The American Psyco', but Yor found out that L had figured out everything, except for the serial killer's true identity. Feeling duped, Yor confronted Izaya, but the information broker told her that he has a guy working the case – Hachiman Hikigaya – and if she wants more information on her target, she should get it from him. But Izaya also told her that Hikigaya might not cooperate with her, because their goals are too different, so he told her to get creative and gave her the idea to seduce him, drug him and then take him to her room to interrogate/torture the truth out of him.

Hikigaya told Yor that Izaya had played her like a fiddle - he didn't have any information about the case. In fact it was the other way around. Izaya had sent Yor, so that he can get the necessary information out of her, and catch 'The American Psyco'. Yor has L's notes with her and Hikigaya goes through them. He finds out that 'The American Psycho' has changed his modus operandi and expanded his hunting grounds to other parts of the globe. L's notes suggest that the serial killer is rich, stays in expensive hotels, travels to foreign locales, kills women, mostly prostitutes, before returning to America. The last victim who fit the M.O. was a young woman who worked as a rental girlfriend, and her body was found a few blocks away from The White Lotus, the luxury hotel Hikigaya and Yor are at right now. Yor also confirms Hikigaya's suspicion – L thinks the killer is one of the foreign guests staying at the hotel and since he has already killed, he would be leaving for America tomorrow.

Hikigaya promises to catch The American Psycho and bring him to justice. Just then there is a knock on the door and when Hikigaya looks through the peephole, he sees a small pink haired child on the other side. After her conversation with Yor, Hikigaya knows it's her daughter, Anya Forger. Thinking, he can take care of a little kid, Hikigaya opens the door - And receives a dropkick to the groin.

Anya Forger bursts into the room and makes a couple of observations and says a bunch of things – "Mama is cheating on Papa!" "CJ's a gangsta!" "Hikki kissed Mama!"

And before Hikigaya can figure out what the hell is going on, Anya runs out of the room. It's a small chase, but Hikigaya catches upto Anya and the little girl locks herself in the girl's bathroom. Hikigaya tries to reason with her, tells her to come out, but it's no use. In the end, he has to fall back on his rotten ways and guilt trips the poor girl into opening the door. It works and he also manages to figure out the kid's secret – she can read minds. By then Anya Forger starts crying and Hikigaya feels genuinely sorry for what he has done, so he promises her that he will keep her secret and not tell her family that she can read minds. Anya Forger also promises not to dropkick Hikki in the 'pee-pee.' Feeling a bit better, Hikigaya decides to buy Anya some ice-cream and so the two of them head to the biggest restaurant located inside the hotel – Dorsia.

Since Hikigaya doesn't have a reservation at Dorsia, he decides to talk to the maître d', a woman named Sarah Connor, who doesn't buy any of his bullshit and has no time for his lies and excuses and tells him point blank that if he doesn't have a reservation, he can't dine at Dorsia. Just then a woman lets out a loud gasp and Hikigaya finds out that a guy is proposing to his girl. But then something interesting happens. Anya tugs on his trouser leg and tell him – 'Rach is gonna leave.' And that's exactly what happens. Rachel Karen Greene, the woman who was proposed to, just leaves and the guy with the diamond ring runs after her. Before Hikigaya can figure out what the hell just happened, the maître d' gives him some good news – Now since one of the patrons had cancelled their reservation and left, they could finally grab a table and eat.

NOTE: After this point in the story, I haven't written any new chapters, because the site was giving me a lot of trouble and I wasn't receiving any notifications and the view count was stuck at zero, so I was worried that if I upload a new chapter, the readers might not be able to read it, because they might also not get a notification.

But as of this moment, I am now receiving email notifications of reviews, follows, favourites, PMs, etc. Although the view count is still stuck at zero. But I try not to let it bother me too much. As long as the readers get notifications when I post a new chapter and read my work, it's all good.

Okay. Got that out of the way.

On with the show –

While Anya eats her ice-cream, Hikigaya decides to ask her something which has been really bothering him – Did Anya use her telepathy powers to mind control the woman and have her reject the proposal, so that they could get a table at the restaurant. Thankfully Anya puts his mind at ease. It's true that Anya's telepathy powers are growing, but she is not powerful enough to mind control people. At the moment, she can only make people do something, if they really want to do it. Hikigaya asks Anya why she is keeping her powers a secret. While not everyone has powers and abilities, espers and people with quirks are quite common in Japan. Anya tells Hikigaya that she is worried that Papa and Mama will abandon her if they learn she can read minds. Anya tells him that she is adopted and she is worried they will take her back to the orphanage like the other families. Anya tells him sometimes she wished she didn't have these powers, so that she could be a normal kid. Hikigaya, having realized that he has upset Anya, tries to cheer her up and tells him his own secret – he has powers too.

Hikigaya tells Anya about his quirk – 'Pure Empathy' – It lets him take the view point of others and become someone else. When Anya asks whether he means that he can shape shift or copy someone else's powers, Hikigaya says no. Anya is confused, so Hikigaya tries to explain it to her. If he were to use 'Pure Empathy' and become 'Loid Forger', then Hikigaya would cease to exist. There would only be 'Loid Forger'. Anya still doesn't get it. But by now Hikigaya is busy inspecting the contents of the envelope CJ had brought for him. Contrary to popular belief, Izaya had meant CJ to deliver a message. He had just phrased it in a way that led to a misunderstanding, with CJ thinking he was sent to kill him.

Inside the envelope is a dagger with a black blade and a business card. Hikigaya grumbles that he should have asked Yor if she knew anything about these things. The dagger looks to be made from a metal he can't quite identify, but the business card looks normal. Just then Anya surprises him by saying that she can hear the thoughts of the dagger and the thing is alive – It's name is All Black and it's a necrosword forged by Knull at the dawn of time using his first born symbiote. Hikigaya asks Anya what the hell she is talking about, but Anya has no clue. She is just repeating what the dagger told her. Hikigaya jokes and asks whether she can tell him anything about this normal looking business card by reading its mind and Anya honestly replies that Mama has a similar card and it changes colour from white to black with red letters when you hold it under a lighter.

Hikigaya thinks about his next course of action and he comes up with a rather unorthodox approach. Since he can't take any more of The Liquid Luck Potion, as in higher dosage it can prove toxic and fatal, he decides to ask Anya whether she wants to try out the potion that will magically increase her luck tenfold. Anya is really excited and agrees readily, but not before Hikigaya makes her promise that she will help him first by reading the minds of the people and finding out who among them is a serial killer. Hikigaya gives her a few drops of the potion and in the very next instant Anya is bouncing out of her seat and checking on all the people, reading their minds, making comments, embarrassing him to no end. But it was worth it, because quite abruptly she comes to a halt before a man - He is white, in his late twenties and from his accent he seems to be an American. After getting a nod from Anya, Hikigaya goes to introduce himself - The man says his name is Paul Allen.

Anya shouts and calls him a liar and tells Hikigaya that his real name is Patrick Bateman. Patrick looks at Anya for a moment. He says nothing. But Anya lets out a scream and runs out of the restaurant in terror. She is reduced to tears, crying, weeping, searching for her Papa and Mama. Patrick turns to Hikigaya and reintroduces himself and tells him that Anya is a weird kid. Hikigaya shrugs and says she's adopted and asks Patrick what does he do and Patrick replies – "I'm into murders and executions."

At that moment, Hikigaya realizes a couple of things - Patrick Bateman is The American Psycho and he wants to be caught.

NOTE: Okay at this point I realized that I am doing a disservice to my story and just spoiling it for all the older readers and reviewers who have supported me through thick and thin. As such, I think I should just stop right here.

But this is just the first arc of the story.

There are two more arcs left and I think I will give a small summary/recap/preview right here. But I should warn you, with the rest of the two arcs, I have just a rough outline. I just know some of the things that I want to do in the next two arcs.

Okay. On with the show –

2nd Arc – Breaking into Alchemax:

After dealing with Patrick Bateman, Izaya gives Hikigaya his second task – He has to break into Alchemax, a cutting edge research facility and steal a package. When Hikigaya asks Izaya what kind of package, he just says – "Anything!"

Hikigaya breaks into the Alchemax, but is caught. As it turns out, Izaya had already informed them that someone would be breaking into Alchemax. Gendo Ikari, the head scientist decides to kill Hikigaya. But Izaya tells him that Hikigaya could be useful for their ongoing experiment, as he has a unique quirk – "Pure Empathy" - and his DNA could act as a binding agent.

Hikigaya is captured and thrown in a holding cell and he finds out his other fellow prisoners are Gwen Stacy, Miles Morales, Hobie Brown and Pavitr Prabhakar, who all happen to be Spidermen/woman from different dimensions. They were sent on a mission to rescue one of the supervillains who goes by the name 'The Spot', who was captured by Alchemax and they were performing illegal experiments on him. There's also another prisoner – Hitagi Senjougahara – who like Hikigaya had tried to break into Alchemax to expose their nefarious schemes and save someone Alchemax is holding in one of their labs.

[Note: Now I haven't decided yet whether to go with Lloyd Asplund and Nina Einstein. But for this part of the story I need some really evil scientist characters. What kind of evil? The Shou Tucker kind. So if you want to suggest some characters, please let me know in the reviews.]

Lloyd Asplund, one of the scientists asks Hikigaya about his quirk – 'Pure Empathy' – and tells him it is the only reason he is keeping him alive. Hitagi snaps and says that he is lying, that they are keeping other people in the lab so that Alchemax can carry out their human experiments. Lloyd smiles and tells Hikigaya that she is right. He also sends out security to retrieve Hitagi and Gwen from the holding cell and beat them to death, unless Hikigaya explains the abilities of his quirk in a manner which he finds satisfactory. And so Hikigaya explains while he watches the women get beaten to an inch of their life the full scope of his quirk.

Pure Empathy allows Hikigaya to become someone else. But it's different then shape-shifting or copying someone else's quirk. The moment he uses his quirk – and he can only use it after he has done extensive research and truly understands the person he wants to become. And for some reason he can only take on the persona of villains. His theory is that it's because only the lives of villains, their psychology, their motivations are extensively researched. There's another theory, one which he doesn't like to admit, but maybe it's true – he can only become villains, because deep down he knows he is a bad guy.

But like he said, he is not copying the powers of villains. He becomes them. When he uses his quirk, the person known as 'Hachiman Hikigaya' ceases to exist and he literally becomes the other person. Lloyd wants to see a demonstration and asks Hikigaya to become him, but Hikigaya shakes his head and says it doesn't work like that. Lloyd is unhappy and asks one of the goons to shoot Hitagi. But Gwen dives in front of the bullet and saves her. Lloyd smiles and tells the goon to shoot again, and this time the bullet hits Hitagi. The goons grab the bleeding girls and throw them in the holding cell and Lloyd tells Hikigaya to use his quirk and save the girls.

Gwen and Hitagi murmur something to Hikigaya and he replies with one word – "Always".

The next thing they know, a strange man is standing in the holding cell with a wand and he introduces himself as 'Severus Snape'. He starts healing the girls and when Lloyd tries to send in the goons again, Severus kills them with the sectumsempra curse, slashing them up and making them bleed to death. But before Severus can do any more damage, Lloyd tells him that the quirk suppression collar that the prisoners are wearing have a bomb and if he doesn't change back to Hikigaya, he will blow them all up. Severus says he doesn't know how to revert back, because he is not Hikigaya. Lloyd grows annoyed and shots him in the head and as his body hit the ground, 'Severus Snape' is no more – Hikigaya is back and he is still breathing.

Lloyd is impressed with Hikigaya and tells him about their experiment. Alchemax have captured a supervillain named 'The Spot' and he has these dark spots all over his body which are portals made of dark matter which help him teleport to other dimensions, other universes, other realities. Lloyd thinks these portals could help them better understand the GATEs which opened all over Ikebukuro, through which beings from other dimensions arrived and attacked Tokyo five years ago in an incident which is now known as 'The Battle of Ginza'.

But there's more. Nina Einstein, another scientist at Alchemax performed certain tests on 'The Spot' and discovered something really interesting. Lloyd holds up a syringe with a black concoction and tells Hikigaya that it's alive. It is an alien life form which they were able to extract from the dark matter portals inside 'The Spot'. Preliminary research shows that it's a symbiote and needs a host to survive. But all the human hosts who were bonded to the symbiote died withing six hours. Hikigaya asks Lloyd if this thing has a name, to which Lloyd says that there is a boring scientific name for it, that really isn't much interesting. But the human subjects have come up with a cool name for it – Venom.

Nina Einstein tells Lloyd that they have prepped for the next experiment, and Lloyd picks Hitagi Senjougahara as the next text subject. They strap her to the table and Lloyd injects her with the symbiote, telling her that she will most likely die, because she is not special, just another statistic, not even worth a footnote in an obscure science journal. But for some reason the symbiote starts to bond with Hitagi and it's a perfect match. However, the symbiote isn't black like all the others – It's red and it says one final thing before it goes on a rampage – 'Let there be Carnage.'

NOTE: Okay as you can tell from the last paragraph, things have become a bit disjointed. Don't get me wrong, I know what's gonna happen, but I haven't figured out the finer details yet. Also, I don't want to spoil the whole arc, you know. I think I have given you guys enough to know what is going on. But if you are interested here's what happens next –

Hitagi loses control of the Carnage Symbiote. Carnage releases the other symbiotes and they take over the other human subjects including Gwen Stacy, Miles Morales, Hobie Brown, and Pavitr Prabhakar. Hikigaya has no other choice but to use his quirk one last time. This time he becomes – 'The Joker'. And since he has the All Black, the Necrosword, all the symbiotes bond with him and he becomes the King in Black.

NOTE: Again, I haven't figured out this part yet, because I was doing research and just learnt about the All Black, the Necrosword from the comics, which is really different from the one we see in Thor: Love and Thunder.

And I think I should just stop right here and not spoil anything more.

Now it's time for the 3rd and Final Arc and for this I just have the characters. I have a rough outline of the plot, but with how many changes I made to the first and second arc, I am pretty certain that the third arc will have a ton of changes. Hopefully the characters I have in mind won't change. So I think for the third arc I will just list the characters and give a small outline of the plot. Okay. Here we go…

3rd Arc – Lost in Sunshine

Hikigaya rides Odokawa's taxi after retrieving the package from Alchemax. Izaya tells him to meet up with him at Sunshine City Mall. But Hikigaya is being followed by four female bikers – Celty Sturluson, Ryuuko Matoi, Minene Uryuu and Kino. Izaya has told these women that Hikigaya had broken into Alchemax and he has retrieved a package. And he then leads the girls to believe that this package contains the thing they have been searching for in Ikebukuro – Celty's missing head, Ryuuko's Kamui Senketsu, Minene's Escape Diary and Kino's bike Hermes. (Note: Izaya told Kino that Hikigaya is responsible for destroying Alchemax where her bike was being kept and she wants to know if Hermes survived the destruction.)

Hikigaya leads all the women to Sunshine City Mall, thinking he might be able to lose them in the largest mall in the city. And then it devolves into a cat and mouse game - Hikigaya Vs all the girls.

At the end, Hikigaya wins…by losing and Izaya meets up with him personally and tells him he is hired and that he should drop by his office next morning for a new assignment.

Note: Yeah, that's how the story is gonna end. I know the third arc isn't fleshed out at all, but after I finish the first two arcs, I will focus all my attention on the last arc and I promise it's gonna be great.

So yeah, hope you enjoyed reading this chapter.

Leave lots and lots of reviews, follow and fave.

Won't betray your dreams.