8 Hunting the Hunter

As a person bounded within the society, how important do you think 'truthfulness' is?

For me, the answer was a bit on the complicated side, yet I would delve into the topic without any hesitance, unlike most others who would stumble when asked such a question. As a pathological liar, I understood the value of truthfulness more than the common populace. It is utterly priceless, both in the sense, it is so precious no material worth could compare to it, yet at the same so emotionally meaningless it is of no worth at all.

Using truth is akin to min-maxing your character stats in games. A blunt person who speaks out their mind and goes all-in betting others would accept your opinion without getting too offended or freak out. On the other hand, lies are more balanced builds, as they have a skill called being polite. Therefore to me who lived a life full of lies, extremities are something to be avoided. They are dangerous and volatile, uncontrollable.

However, following society's definition truthfulness is often interconnected with righteousness. And the allure of being righteous is not so easily denied. To be correct. To be just. That sense of pride and fulfillment one gains when they are doing something they perceive as good. There is no denying that facet of humanity no matter who you are.

So many times people have tried to do the right thing, with the motive of merely being right rather than anything of meaning like care for others or something more sacred. Because let us be honest what part of wish-fulfillment is exactly sacred huh?

And I am not different from any of them. The pitfall of being correct has fooled me countless times in the past, and I idly wondered if this struggle is merely another that will be added to the list of my failures.

…However there is no option for the desperate. For the liar who wishes for something 'genuine' more than anything, creating more bonds formed though lies would be nothing but self-torture. A form of hallucination to pretend he has attained what he could never actually reach in reality.

Right. This is not some wish-fulfillment power-trip.

This is the tale of a boy who needs to grow up and accept reality, and his struggle against it.

My steps quickened. It has been a few minutes yet no encounter of note has happened. I have to hurry or the school staff might just catch me before my business is over and done with. Now is the time for blitz. I do not know how competent the school staff is and I have no intention of knowing long as things were to go my way. To meet Stain and defeat him before the school staff catches up with me. That would be the ideal progression.

HG: I encountered Hero-Killer Stain while walking around.

Still nothing.

HG: I encountered Hero-Killer Stain while walking around.

Nothing.

I continued to abuse HG without end. My goal as I have put it before was to meet Stain and beat him into submission. However, things did not go well as minutes changed into hours and yet nothing happened. In fact, I have now arrived at another town away from Musutafu, all the way just from walking.

At this point going back to the school was probably going to take me an hour even by riding the train or the likes. And considering I have no proof of identity of any kind using public transportation might prove to be a challenge.

Therefore calling Aizawa with the phone he gave me early on before the school started would probably be my best bet to return into UA. Maybe my act this time was a bit hasty. I am starting to regret my bold choice as I often do. Even after all this time this humble liar never learned his lesson.

Apologizing and making an excuse for escaping from school towards the staff will be extremely troublesome. Convincing them I did this without any particular reason would be near impossible considering they are already suspicious about me. And yes they are suspicious, that is my explanation as to why they let me train for a whole week under their supervision (cameras galore) and the fight against everyone else in class 1-A was probably a test to see my full might as well.

Hmm… I can't think up of a good way to make them misunderstand these actions of mine. Fully lying against them is not an option considering they have a lie-detector on their side. Telling the truth and saying I was hunting for the Hero-Killer will make them see me like a petulant child and they will probably punish me real bad and strictly monitor me, meaning my actions will be restricted.

Maybe I should just teleport to another world already. Ah, I truly screwed up bad this time around.

Being initiative was never my strong point. I liked to play passive and follow wherever the wind may blow. Doing things this aggressively blows me out of my water and boy is it working against me really quickly. Now I am left in a troublesome place and have to make a decision which was unneeded if this whole scheme of thing was left alone. Just had to open the Pandora's box did I not?

Nevertheless, I whisked out the phone deep within my pockets and pressed the speed dial button. Guess this is the time for a pick-me-up. This useless search has gone for hours and I have no intention of continuing it anymore. Suppose my HG is not quite the omnipotent skill I painted it out to be.

"Oh, what is this? Someone from UA out here?"

That voice did not come from the oldie flip phone Aizawa provided me, considering how it is still loading the call. The raspy voice came from directly behind me. As in there is someone who just snuck up right behind me and spoke those words right beside my ears.

Huh.

HG: Tell me I did not just encounter Hero-Killer Stain.

"Don't worry; you did not just encounter the infamous Hero-Killer. I'm just a random old man passing by."

Funny joke Mr. Stain. Now time to find a way to escape from this encounter with death. I did plan to meet Stain but not in this kind of uncontrollable situations. I planned to sneak and ambush him while he is not on guard. Right now he is not only very on guard but also ready to maim me.

Calm down Kuzuno, the first thing you have to do is to buy time. Hopefully, Aizawa and the rest will come to the saving. Your current position is so disadvantageous your chance of survival is almost laughable. But laughable means is it not zero, and you must grab onto that non-zero probability of survival. Otherwise, you will be truly hopeless.

"Care to tell why you're hunting chumps like me instead of proper heroes?"

Those were my words of engagement. Hopefully, he will take the bait and response in a general villain-like manner. If small talk fails then this will turn into a straightforward battle and I might not survive that. This is the first true crisis I have faced and failing here would mean the end of this adventure. That I simply cannot allow.

"Tch. Thinking only of your own hides even if it means others would get hurt instead… Typical pretentious heroes."

A small success if you were to ask me. Managed to stall my impending doom by a matter of a few seconds is no laughing matter, especially when one thinks of what one can do within those few seconds. Usually not much according to most people, but most people do not have an extraordinary system following them around do they?

HG: I mule kicked Hero-Killer's nether region in my panic

After doing that I ran away as fast as feet could go. However, I was no naïve enough that doing so will let me escape from the Hero-Killer. Therefore…

HG: The Hero-Killer followed right behind me.

One might wonder why I went out of my way to make sure he was right behind me again by using HG, and if so their answer would come in the form of gigantic rubble right from my Dimensional Storage, appearing right above me. And for extra measures…

HG: The Hero-Killer will get crushed under the large rubble I summoned.

I rushed forwards before looking backward, just right in time to see the sight of Stain getting crushed by the gigantic rock I summoned. He quickly dropped to all four, the large boulder sitting right above his back forming a great lock considering the bastard won't be able to put power into any of his four limbs unless he bends them along the ground, but that would not only make him look like a frog but also will be very painful so I could easily prevent it if he were to even try doing that option.

I decided to take his sword away into my DS for safety reasons anyway though. Well, that and the fact I require a good weapon and Stain's sword certainly fits the bill considering how nasty it looks.

Huh. Enemy capture confirmed. To be honest this was over far quicker than what I initially thought this whole thing would take. Well, finding him took me hours so not that part, but this encounter ended so quickly I couldn't help but squint at this nonsensical occurrence.

Looking back towards the dangling flip phone which was still calling Aizawa, the old thing seems to have finally connected to its destination considering how it finally stopped its constant repeating tone. Most likely Aizawa or another of the school staffs are on the other side of the phone right now. There was a rough grumble coming from the other side though, so I assume it was Aizawa himself rather than anyone else. He was probably having a headache because of yours truly considering my missing state.

"Aizawa-san, are you there?"

"Kid, where the hell are you?"

"Oh please do not bother making an excuse that you don't have any form of tracker on me. More importantly, I need you to send a pick-me-up to my current location right about now. I have captured a vigilante and have no idea on how to handle the following procedures properly."

"What are you—Sigh… Wait for a second while I confirm with the rest."

Aizawa interrupted his own words after hearing mine properly. Guess they do have a tracker somewhere around me. Maybe it was on the phone, maybe they have something on my school suit or maybe someone is watching over me through some kind of clairvoyance quirk. And maybe Pluto is not a mentally disabled being enslaved by Mickey. Who cares honestly.

I closed the slip phone of my own accord. Well, this was not exactly how I imagined the whole Hero-Killer hunting trip would go. This should have been a much safer and cleaner story where I managed to ambush Stain properly and knock him unconscious with one rubble throw. Right now the man is still struggling under the gigantic rubble he was put under still fully conscious.

Whatever happens, happens I suppose. Or rather to quote William Shakespeare himself, all's well that ends well. Things went off the rails a tiny bit but no need to bother with the small things anymore now that the whole thing is done and over with. Now all left to be done is wait for Aizawa to capture the Hero-Killer properly and I could earn the forgiveness of the UA staff.

Thinking back the reason for hunting Stain was to prove my worth to the UA staff themselves. Considering the one-week observation and the fight against everyone within class 1-A, I have no doubt the school staff was expecting something out of me. They were testing my worth, and hopefully defeating Stain would be enough to prove I am capable of whatever they are planning for me. Most likely they intend to recruit me to defeat One for All, which I have no problem with.

Just watching Stain constantly trying to get up and fail in doing so was getting boring though, so me being me I decided to once again strike up a conversation. A stupid idea I know but boredom does stupid things to people so who could blame me? Or rather who cares if people blamed me anyway, that's more their problem than mine.

"Hey, any reason why you decided to attack me out of nowhere?"

Stain merely grunted without answering. Ah, this is hopeless. The man is too focused on trying to raise himself from the ground to even bother hearing my words. Guess there will be no conversation to fill the lull then. What a sad day for humanity when a boy gets ignored when trying to converse with a man.

"Do you think you can escape from this situation?"

No response.

"Is living for an ideology really that fun?"

Those words, on the other hand, made Stain pause for some reason. Guess I managed to catch him with the bait. Good. I was getting bored with the suffocating atmosphere surrounding us two up till now. It would do well if he could entertain me within the short amount of time we have left before Aizawa and the rest comes in and bust up this man.

"It's not fun and games, it is my duty." He said. "Though someone like you wouldn't understand that."

"Would not understand, rather than cannot understand, is it. You really have a good grasp on your ideology do you not?"

The man raised an eyebrow at those words of mine. To others, those words must have been unreasonable considering they are without context. Rather, were they something that could be explained merely with some context?

Even that was a question I do not know the answer to. Whether those words could truly be justified however was a question needless to be asked. Because to me, the answer would be assuredly 'justified'.

"To me, ideology equals selfishness."

"To stand by what you think no matter what, there is no form of selfishness clearer and more stubborn than that."

"Therefore it should be clear that the most selfish of ideology would be the strongest is it not?"

"That is my ideology. To be the most selfish man in the entire world, and flourish the most."

Throughout my explanation, the Hero-Killer kept quiet while gazing at me like looking at an utter lunatic. Right, to him or most anyone else my nonsensical words must have sounded like utter rubbish. They were the result of cultivated selfishness that grew deep within my psyche, something inexplicable to most other people. However, it seems Stain had enough of my opinion the moment those words were uttered, as he grunted deeply.

"…You're a sociopath."

"And I am a sociopath who defeated you. Does that not mean my ideology is more fitting within this world, as it lets me survive longer than yours did?"

Afterward, silence enveloped the surrounding environment. I considered the ensuing silence as a victory. A pleased smile graced my lips. This would be the first time such an overwhelming amount of pleasure came since the moment my memory has been wiped. Satisfaction welled up from this once in a blue moon event where I could speak my mind out.

[Through special actions you have earned the Trait: Egocentric +6SP +1EVO]

[Skill: One's Own Justice(EX) has been derived from Trait: Egocentric]

[Rank Quest: Rank 6 Clear +15SP]

Another EX rank Skill. This should be the second one after Triumph. Same as last time no information came to me on how I am supposed to use this Skill. What are these EX rank Skills supposed to be anyway? I can neither upgrade nor evolve them with my SP and EVO according to the System when I tried to upgrade Triumph(EX) in the past. Their usage was unknown to me as well so there is no good way to utilize them. For now, let's just act like it does not exist at all.

Nevertheless is it not about time for Aizawa and friends to come?

"…You really are a piece of work, brat."

Oh, speak of the devil and they shall appear indeed. Aizawa has finally come to the rescue. It seems like there are Ectoplasm and Midnight around as well. I would consider that way overkill considering there is nothing to take care except for the Hero-Killer who is already incapacitated.

They sure are quick though, considering it has only been a few minutes since the phone call I made. Mm, mm. Such efficiency is only fitting for something of UA caliber. It makes me proud to be one of them, even if only temporarily.

Now that I think about it wonder how much longer will I stay here before moving on to another world. The cooldown period of Dimensional Teleport2 will soon lift and considering there is not much to do within UA this early in the year it might be smart to teleport into another world sooner rather than later.

Also, why am I feeling so… Sleepy…

Ah crap, Midnight's quirk.

…Why though?

[Through special actions you have earned the Trait: Vigilante +7SP +1EVO]

[Skill: Seek(2) has been derived from Trait: Vigilante]

"Kuzuno, why did you escape from the school grounds?"

"Oh come on, an interrogation? And what's up with these handcuffs?"

I shook my arms, making some extra noises from the metal cuffs for emphasis. I have woken up from my sleep just a few seconds back, still somewhat lethargic actually. Right now we are all within a small gray room probably meant for interrogation like what they are practicing on me.

Aizawa's eyes darkened.

"I will repeat the question. Why did you escape from the school grounds?"

I flinched at his gaze.

"...I just wanted to catch the Hero-Killer and send him to you guys."

"And what possessed you to think doing so would be a good idea?"

I took a deep breath. The current condition has rolled far beyond my imagination. Guess they are mad I managed to escape from under their purview. Considering the situation I might as well put all the chips on the table.

"Because All for One is interested in using Hero-Killer."

As I said those words you could hear a pin drop within the silence.

"What are you-"

"let's not fool around here. We both know who I meant by All for One."

"...And why could you not just tell us so before doing something this reckless?"

"Are you kidding me? Your reaction to my escape was bad enough as is. If I were to reveal all my information straight away then I'd probably be locked at an isolation room or something already. I could not trust you guys the same way you could not trust me. And don't even bother trying to deny it when your first reaction to my missing state was to kidnap me back here."

He clicked his tongue.

"That was because of your reckless action. Were we to go through this entire process while properly communicating with one another then this mess would never have happened."

"Bull is what I would call that speech you just made. You don't get to blame me from being initiative. Now mind letting me go? I am tired of my first true battle with another sapient."

"No."

"...Excuse me?"

"A simple warning first. We will watch your every action from now on, to the smallest detail. Try anything like this again and we will lock you even tighter." Aizawa then proceeded to sigh. "As this is your first offense however we will give you a pardon. That is the decision made by Principal Nezu himself. Be thankful to him."

I tilted my head.

"That... is more reasonable an offer than I would have thought."

He scoffed.

"What, you think we would lock you up without listening to your words? Still, I believe you should have been strictly punished for this act of yours. Be thankful for Principal Nezu's pardon, otherwise, you would be in a heap of trouble right about now."

"And my knowledge of All for One?"

"…We will have to discuss that with those in the known later. For now though I'll treat it that you didn't say anything."

"Right. Small information first. All for One is training someone called Shigaraki. He has a fake severed hand covering his face all the time. You can't miss him. I have no idea as to why One for All is raising him up though."

"…And how do you know that?"

"I know a lot of things I really shouldn't."

Aizawa lets out a fed-up sigh before moving behind me, unlocking the cuffs locking my hands. Not that I couldn't break them with OverLoad4+ but his help is appreciated nonetheless. Honestly, maybe I should have broken them though. Not only would it have looked extremely cool but it would also piss off Aizawa and the rest a lot.

If you haven't caught my drift yet I was intentionally goading Aizawa to get mad at me during the conversation that just occurred. My intention was for justification, so I could leave this world with grudge and hatred towards them rather than missing them.

And yes I fully planned to leave right about now. The next two arcs will be an invasion and school tournament arc. The second is too far away while the first is too risky to be participated considering how volatile OverLoad is.

Or at least that was my plan before Nezu decided to give me a pardon. 'Considering the current situation maybe I can be a bit more honest towards these people.' That was my current line of thought. For a liar like me, the thought of being able to be honest towards others makes me feels giddy. As expected the allure of truth is not so easily denied.