NO. 33 - New Housemate

"All my stuff… gone! Hey, at least we don't have to clean the apartment this week."

"Hmm," I held my chin in thought as Jin and I glided through the air on Nue's back. Jello was gliding behind me lazily while Zaiko rode on its head. The masked man was curled up into a depressed ball beside me. "It seems that the crew mate that betrayed you and your old group must have gotten all your home locations. They must have ransacked it before setting it on fire."

"That damn snake! Ima kill 'em!" Jin roared as he shook his fist in the air, causing him to wince in pain.

"Easy there, Bro. Let's get you all healed up first." I said, patting his shoulder. I looked ahead and saw the large black curtain over my home in the distance. Jin followed my gaze and freaked out.

"Crap! We're gonna crash! It's so spherical. Spherical!"

"Relax. We'll be fine." I said as we effortlessly flew through the curtain.

Jin patted himself after we passed by my barrier as if to check if he was all there. He then looked around at the large forest surrounding my home.

"Neat place. Wonder who it belongs to."

"It's mine."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

[+10 SP]

Nue landed on the courtyard and lowered itself so Jin wouldn't agitate his injuries any further. I helped him get to the ground before dismissing my Shikigami.

"Goodbye, you majestic bird." Jin gave Nue a solute as it melted into my shadows. "May we meet again in the field of glorious battle."

I slid under his arm and helped him move towards the main house, but before we made it too far, the shoji door leading to the living room slid open to reveal Himiko.

"Sukuna-kun! You're back!" She jumped out to the patio but stopped when she saw Jin. "Who's this?" She asked before blushing. "He's all covered in blood!"

"Sukuna? Wait! As in the Demon God?!"

I ignored Jin's incredulous masked expression and turned to Himiko. "This is Bubaigawara Jin. He's a good friend of mine who will be staying with us."

Jin turned to me in shock. "Wait, really?!"

[+30 SP]

"Of course. I can't have my best Buddy living out in the streets when I have more than enough rooms at my place." I said, watching as his wide eyes trembled. "You're more than welcome to stay as long as you want."

"Souta…"

[+50 SP]

"Yay! New housemate!" Himiko celebrated as she got under Jin's other arm, an excited smile on her face. "I'm Toga Himiko! How'd you get all cut up? Oh, oh! Do you mind if I taste some of your blood?!"

"I may not have enough to share. Absolutely! Go for it!"

I grinned as the two continued to talk to one another while I sat Jin down before patching him up.

It was no wonder why the two got along so well in the original timeline. I could see that both Himiko and Jin were ecstatic to meet another person who didn't mind their individual quirks, which left them both to talk to one another with ease.

"There," I said as I applied the last bandage on Jin's back. The three of us were now in the dining room. "All done. Now, let's go show you to your room so you can get some rest."

Jin nodded as I guided him through my house. Himiko had stayed back in order to heat up some food for Jin.

As we walked, I noticed that Jin was uncharacteristically silent.

"Souta," Jin said, not in his Twice voice, but in his own. "Thank you. Truly."

[+10 SP]

"Don't mention it. Besides, I still have to kick your ass in Street Fighter."

"Heh… yeah, you're right."

[+30 SP]

x x x

"Good morning, Shimizu-san!"

"It's good to see you!"

[5x10 = +50 SP]

I blinked in confusion as a large group of my fellow students all bowed to me. I stared at them in confusion before looking over at the other students near the shoe lockers. Some smiled at me, while others quickly sped off with fear in their eyes. Some of the female students were even waving at me with rosy cheeks.

The hell is going on. What happened while I was gone?

"Ah, yes. Morning?" I muttered as I grabbed my indoor shoes. "How's uh, how are things going?"

"There were some rival gang members bothering some of our fellow students yesterday after school, but we quickly got rid of them, Boss!" One of the gathered delinquent-looking students said after standing at attention. He had spiky orange hair and brown eyes. He also strongly resembled a certain substitute Shinigami. "We then walked that student all the way home!"

"That's right!"

"We showed those losers!"

"Fuck them!"

"Great work...?" I said while scratching my head.

[5x10 = +50 SP]

My compliment seemed to throw them into a frenzy as they all yelled in happiness as if they just won the lottery. I then walked away from them to head to my homeroom. Some of them even bowed to me as I left.

"S-Senpai!" A short girl with white hair and red eyes stopped in front of me shyly. Two girls stood a few feet behind her with encouraging smiles. "P-please accept this!" The girl held out a bag of cookies as she bowed her head.

"...okay?"

I accepted the bag of cookies, causing the white-haired weirdo to smile widely. She and her friends then all ran away, giggling while looking over at me with blushes on their cheeks.

[+5 SP]

"Okay, detour time." I changed directions and headed off to the rooftop of the school. As I speed walked, I received smiles and small bows from my fellow students throughout all three years. I ignored the sheer insanity of my surroundings and walked out onto the roof. "Okay! Explain, you motherfuckers!"

My four clones all quickly rose from the ground; their faces were etched into wide, proud grins as they brushed their hair back and posed.

"Hah! What do you think, Boss Man?" Clone C said with his arms crossed. "The school is now your oyster! No one will disrespect us ever again!"

"That's right! We now rule this school!" Clone B smiled in pride while placing a leg on a nearby bench, his right hand grasping the chainlink fence. "Isn't it great! Big C sure turned this school around from the dump it used to be."

"I took a few months off from school, and you created a delinquent group," I said to Clone C as I held my face at the sheer absurdity of the situation. "I didn't want all this attention!"

"Why not? Everyone at this school either admires you or fears you now." Clone C looked at me like an ungrateful child. "Besides, I thought you weren't coming back here, Boss. So I decided to have some fun while you made me come here in your place. Talk about scut work."

"Hey, you pulled the short straw. Stop complaining." Clone D muttered as he leaned on the door leading inside. "Besides, it's not all sunshine and rainbows drawing and writing all day."

"I literally heard you three say what a sucker I was..." Clone C glared at his fellow clones, causing them to look away.

"Shit, I told you we were being too loud."

"That bastard has great hearing..."

"We all do."

"This is my fault." I sighed and took a seat next to Clone B, who nodded. "What else have you done, Clone C?"

"Not much else. I turned down a few confessions, got into some fights with some fellow gangs, and set up a community garden for the delinquents here to work on. Small stuff like that." Clone C said as he pulled out a small notepad I know I didn't have. His eyes scanned the notepad. "I think that's it."

"...I'm going home."

x x x

[General POV]

The spacious room was filled with the soft beeping of several medical machines. A figure lay motionless in the bed. The elderly man, his silver hair well-groomed, slept with a calm expression beneath his white blanket. Standing beside the comatose old man was a tall 26-year-old man.

The young man had short brown hair and thin, golden eyes. Covering his face was an old-style red, magenta, and gold plague mask designed to filter bacteria from the air. He wore a dark green bomber jacket with a purple fur-lined hood. Underneath, he had on a black button-up shirt and matching pants, complemented by a light grey tie, a belt, and white lace-up shoes. On his hands, he wore white surgical gloves that helped manage the effects of his Quirk and kept his hands clean.

This man was Chisaki Kai, otherwise known as Overhaul.

Kai stood motionless for several more minutes, simply gazing at the sleeping man with calm eyes. His right hand reached out to the man in front of him, but at the last second, Kai hesitated.

"Chisaki... Haven't I told you no already? The child, really...? How little do you think of people?"

Blinking away the memory, Kai brought back his hand.

"I'm sorry, Pops... but this is for the future of the Shie Hassaikai. Once I put the Yakuza back on top, I'll bring everything back like it was."

Closing his eyes, Kai turned away from the man he respected deeply and walked out of the private room.

"Overhaul."

Kai looked over to his right and saw a man with fair skin and thin, dark eyes. The man had pale chin-length hair that formed arrow shapes that resembled that of clock needles. He was dressed in a long white raincoat with its hood down. This man's name was Kuruno Hari, Kai's right-hand man and a leading member of the Eight Bullets.

Standing beside Hari with a nervous expression was a little girl with short, messy, and unkempt bluish, off-white hair. The little girl had wide, innocent-looking red eyes. Poking out from the right side of her forehead is a small, brown horn while she wears a dirty, pale, short-sleeved dress.

The girl's name was Eri.

"Chrono," Kai said as he looked at his direct assistant. His cold eyes then turned to stare at the little girl, causing her to whimper. Eri tried to move away but was kept in place by Hari.

"Are we moving forward with the plan?" Hari asked.

Kai's eyes remained on Eri before he looked over to Hari, giving him a nod.

"Yes. Prepare the surgical room... The research phase will now begin."

-

AN:

And with that, Souta's little family now has a new member: Twice!

We also get a glimpse into what's going on with Overhaul and Eri as well. I can't wait to show off to you all what I have planned for that arc.

Like always, please let me know your thoughts and leave me plenty of comments on todays chapter!

Until next time!