Chapter 9

The next morning, in the outskirts of the mountain.

Wearing my red capelet that covers part of my face along with my black and red long sleeved shirt, as well as a dark red pair of pants and red and black boots.

The blue ribbon with red trimmings aren't tied at my left wrist. Instead, I decided to leave it at the back of my head. 'This is to allow my left hand to move undisturbed and totally not for some sentimental reason! Totally! That right!' I nod to myself.

Moving through the forest, I make my way to the place where the secret base is supposedly located. Since it was closer, I decided to check it out first. It can also serve as a checkpoint just in case the land has changed a bit from natural or unnatural causes from the last 100-ish years.

Minutes pass and I've noticed something odd.

'This place has changed... Forget the dangerous animals with quirks, I can barely even see small critters running around.'

'Maybe they were culled or taken somewhere else for something'

Throwing those questions at the back of my head for now, I made it to the base.

It was hidden behind an artificial wall, contrary to the boulder that was placed as a door in the past.

Sending an explosive head with the weakest possible strength, the artificial wall had a hole that I promptly widened by breaking off more pieces.

Walking through a short corridor, I'm greeted with the familiar sight of the living room. Inspecting the other rooms had made me come to a conclusion

'The place didn't change one bit since the Gensokyo incident. The place is layered with dust but, the bedrooms, the freezer, the garden... It remained wholely unchanged.'

Going back out the base, I cover the entrance once more with leaves and moss. Using the entrance as a reference, I started running in the northwestern direction... Towards Gensokyo.

For 2 hours straight, I didn't stop to take a break and catch my breath. I simply ran continuosly, anxiously.

And now, in front of me is where the Great Hakurei Barrier is supposed to be.

Dread rising from inside me, I tried to touch, interact, or send my heads to certain points but I didn't feel the barrier.

Thankfully however, I felt some kind of faint connection when I used the same kind of energy that I use when making my heads. Like a very thin string connecting me before being cut off to the space in front of me.

I know Gensokyo is there but for some reason, I can't access it despite my multiple attempts.

Seeing the sun about to set, I dejectedly make my way back to the base.

Entering my room and dusting off my bed, I laid down, covered myself with the blanket and tiredly decided to think about everything tomorrow.

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It took an entire day for me to get over it.

Didn't really felt like doing anything and was dejected for a whole 24 hours.

Right now, I'm just running around the mountain range and checking the place out, see if I glean some clues from anywhere and get my mind off things.

I was never this... Weak.

In my previous life, my facial expressions barely change let alone my emotions. Like a puppet or something.

'Maybe this is caused by my current child body?'

During the time I was just moping around yesterday, I looked around the old base for some nostalgia or melancholic reason.

There was a think notebook that looked like a diary on Shinomori's bed, with a bookmark on a specific page. Reading someone else's diary is a bad thing but my curiosity won me over.

It read: "I'm sorry. Words cannot describe my grief over what has transpired. But nevertheless, I apologize.

That man, AFO was after me. As much as it pain me, the reason why is because of my quirk. It is a power he wants and I haven't the faintest idea how he found me even with my contingencies in place.

You disappeared somehow, somewhere.

Even if your village council member, Yukari, assured me that you're alright, I wrote this down incase you find yourself at a lost and in need of assurance.

'Everything will be alright on our end, so don't worry.' is the message she told me to give you before she promptly threw me out of the place.

I couldn't enter that place since then, and your three friends haven't visited either. But from how things seemed, I assume they only need some time to rest.

If, someday, you find yourself reading this then feel free to have everything here. Use it as you see fit. Remember to trust in yourself, and good luck.

-Sincerely, Shinomori."

Despite reading the letter over and being comforted by a guy a century in the past, it still took my a while to stop brooding.

The other pages in the notebook consisted of notes and tips on about the training we've done and about some training he wanted me to do eventually.

He's a nice through and through and helped m- no- he was also there, lending a hand to the villagers in Gensokyo during that day. And although it failed, he also helped against AFO at the shrine.

"I'll help out the current successors a bit, as I don't like to be in his debt and as thanks for what he's done... It's the least I can do." I said, determined.

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Hopping from city to city, I committed various acts of vigilantism.

I took a page out of The Crawler's book and did the small deeds along with cleaning up the usual punks and delinquents.

Cleaning up the thrash on the ground, giving directions, helping lost kids, etc. The mundane acts of kindness that even superman would be proud of.

I donned on a red motorcycle helmet and all black biker jumpsuit with black gloves and shoes. In honour and reference to the dullahan, Celty from the anime called [Durarara!!]. I only remember this character from that anime since I've always liked dullahans.

Of course, unlike hers which was made from the smoke coming from her body, my outfit was found in the base. I'm guessing that Daigoro forgot it there at some point in the past or maybe it's his present for Shinomori.

Since Daigoro is really big, some adjustments had to be made so it can fit my size and it also had to be easy to adjust in the future to accommodate my growth.

Being a jumpsuit, it sticks close to my skin and doesn't leave much for the imagination. Meaning my short height is a dead giveaway to my age. Not much you can do about that and the copies of my heads.

My red hair can reach my shoulders without being tied up by the ribbon. Put on a helmet for the head attached to the body and let the others have their hair flow free and looking like hair balls. Best disguise cover I can think of to hide my identity to be honest. Hence why I took on a mantle as a wandering vigilante.

Staying in one place too long is gonna get me caught sooner or later. Going place to place can scatter the trails and buy me time till the AFO vs All Might battle.

I'll know when they fight because the heavy hitters are gonna have a hard time pulling their punches, especially if they have bad blood between them.

Additionally, I'll limit myself to only using my head and it's abilities. Having a vigilante who can use "Hairballs" and a vigilante with "glowing orbs of doom" have a different image.

Fighting crime isn't the only thing I've done either.

I never neglected my training. Speed and mobility is the main focus rather than martial arts. In games, Max-min is usually only good at the start but they start becoming useless around the middle. In this life, I won't become a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none kind of person.

I also carry some gadgets to help aid me in my endeavours. If my heads fail to carry me over then use the grappling hook on my utility belt, nothing on the level of Batman and Robin but it'll do. A taser for obvious purposes, also found in Shinomori's room. And some throwing knives, which I will shelve for now as I still have to learn how to properly utilise them.

I can basically parkour around the concrete jungle of a city but my forte is still the forest. Living out in the sticks for a few years can do that.

Didn't neglect my studies either. Using the internet, I downloaded all sorts of academic books to the phone and devoted time to them every night or whenever chance it became peaceful.

If I find physical copies of the books, then it'd be even better. My heads can send over the memories when they disappear. Kinda like the shadow clones of Naruto. It's my small cheat to use different heads for different subjects all at once. Even if it doesn't necessarily increase my IQ, it boosts my learning speed and efficiency even if it did come with headaches afterwards but it's just a matter of getting used to it.

My hobby of painting wasn't abandoned, although I did tone it down a bit. I still do it often enough to not get rusty. Painting with just my mouth while my body rests after training is very relaxing. Most of my pieces are depictions of Gensokyo and it's residents though.

During one of my strolls around the mountains near the base, I found a building and an area that gave me déjà-vu.

Turns out that Nagano prefecture is also the turf of the Wild Wild Pussycats. Specifically the mountains, since they're a search-n-rescue type hero team. The area I found is the summer camp where they would teach the students of U.A. in the future. It's about 20-ish kilometers from where the Great Hakurei Barrier is supposed to be.

Big coincidence but their presence can be the reason why the dangerous animals around here are cleared out.

This also means that there's a chance of running into them whenever I'm around the base.

I need to be wary of them. Specifically the one member with that [Search] quirk, I vaguely recall that the only requirement for it to be activated is a single look so being sneaky is only way in and out of the base now.

Those aside, I'm still looking around for any signs of imminent battles between the two symbols of peace and fear.

Of course, I still steer clear of the Big Blondie himself. It's still not the time to meet some like him so whenever I fly, I go above the clouds.

Not a lot of people can do something like that. Even if they can, not many of them are willing. The air is thin, this altitude is freezing cold, not to mention how sharp the wind can be.

All Might can't fly but he can jump. His problem with going after me at this height is how to land without collateral damage. It doesn't help that I'm always makeing sure to be above busy sections of the city.

As for escaping? I have plenty experience with running away with the lessons from Sekibanki. Not to mention experience from escaping the D-tier heroes and police that tried to capture the Vigilante-on-the-rise, me.

Still don't have a name for my vigilante persona but the word is getting out that I do exist. Social media and all that, makes people wonder what the parents are thinking when their kid goes out into the streets and fight crime.

I understand that they're worried and all but it honestly get annoying after the third time someone tried to scold me. There were even a handful of adults alerting the authorities when I'm in the area.

'oh well, I guess.' I shrug.