Chapter 16: Hunter Meets Hero

The screen replayed Mt. Lady's humiliation. Garou stood on her fist, lasing her with menacing eyes. The Hero Hunter smacked her cheek, tilting her chin sinistrally after concaving her face. Garou seized one of her horns midairs and, channeling his weight, pulled her down, headfirst overhead his descent, and he slammed her skull deep into the pavement.

Mt Lady was watching the replay from her phone with a hung jaw, her mind refusing to digest the events her lead her bedridden in a hospital with all the other heroes. She did not know whether she should be scared or angry. She looked so stupid on the screen, drooling like an idiot as Garou walked away without giving her a second glance. How in the world was that guy Quirkless? That was definitely a Quirk right there!

"So, how was your first taste of his famous beatings?" Eraserhead spoke up beside her bed.

"Shut it, mummy! At least I'm getting out tomorrow!" She was not happy. She felt as if Garou took away her pride, and she wanted it back.

"You're quite lucky, though." Kamui woods spoke up, athwart her. His bandages only covered his face and abdomen while his right hand was casted.

"Lucky? How is losing to a 'Quirkless' guy on live cameras even lucky!? Uuuuggghhh, it's even worse when they sent me to the hall of losers…"

My Lady was fuming. Her chance to fame was even further from her reach behind a wall of shame.

"You talk big for a rookie who lost on the screen," Eraserhead commented.

"Hey, you guys told me He's Quirkless. How is that guy not Quirkless? Someone that packs a punch like that definitely has a quirk, which, by the way, thanks for lying to my face," she sniped.

"You're not the only ones with that thought, Mount Lady," Kamui rebuked with sternness.

"Are you sure it isn't because that guy's eyes aren't working, right?" Mt lady asked with brazen crass.

"Aizawa's Quirk did function." A familiar voice spoke from behind Eraserhead, from the next bed past Eraserhead.

"Hm?" Mt Lady knew this voice.

Peering over his shoulder, she spotted the battered form of the number two hero - the bandaged form of Endeavour. She saw that he was looking downcast. The fiery gaze that burned before seemed… dim. But she could see some light still flickering.

"Holy crap, it's you!" Mt Lady asked, pointing at the sullen hero. She didn't know that Endeavour was still in the same hospital as her. Heck, then all of the Manhunt Team was here.

"Yeah… it is." Endeavour sounded drained, unlike his more vigorous self. "Our being here is from a different… hubris. Our plan relied on Eraserhead's performance as our crux, but our efforts only failed - and the realization that the threat out there was more than he seemed."

His response did not match what Mt Lady knew of him by far. He sounded fatigued, drained of his passion. Whatever motivated Endeavour here seemed to be in disarray, his eyes lacking focus and wandering in a search for his missing flame.

"I… Okay. Well…" Mt Lady turned away, facing forward at Kamui across her.

"He's quite shaken that he lost, even more so when he heard that Garou's equal to All Might," Eraserhead pointed out.

Endeavour didn't retort to Eraserhead's remark.

"Oh…" Mt Lady turned to him, grasping the chance to escape the awkwardness. "What'd Garou do to him to end up here?"

Eraserhead, the mummy, glanced at Endeavour for a second before returning to Mt Lady.

"He got blasted in his ribs, multiple fractures, and heavy contusions. We couldn't even stop him from getting knocked out of the ring before he turned his fangs at us," Eraserhead sighed. "And it ended how you see. We are not exactly proud of it either, so don't take Garou's Quirklessness for granted next time."

"Huh." Mt Lady wasn't sure what to say.

She came to Garou under that mindset, thinking that Garou was powerless since he had no Quirk. After speaking with the other heroes, Mt Lady thought she needed to update her current know-how of the Quirkless, at least for those sharing Garou's unique case.

"So… what're you guys gonna do after you get out?"

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Meanwhile, a man was eating at a noodle stall streets away from Garou's arena for the challengers. His hair soaked in scarlet, his right eye drank blood, and his face looked as if it endured the worst life could throw at him, hardened from years of battle. The man stood behind the wooden counter, middle-aged and donned in a standard white chef uniform. He placed down another serving of Tempura for the scary man, the hot steaming plate joining its brethren in wait for the monster to dine while he continued slurping his noodles from the warm, steaming bowl.

"Hah, regular or not, I still won't forgive you for scaring away the customers." The man said, speaking from his shrimp mouth.

The regular looked up, staring at the chef's shrimp head. The owner of the outdoor noodle stall had a shrimp for a head while the rest of his body was humanoid. His eyes could protrude out of their sockets like worms and can turn his gaze without moving his neck. He had the eyes of a mantle shrimp, a crustacean with peerless perceptive abilities.

"Sorry for troubling you, Ebiken," Garou said with his mouth full, chewing the noodles stuffed in his cheeks. "But they'll come back. Don't worry."

"Your 'plan' to attract the others back with 'public stunts' in town does not inspire confidence." Ebiken Shoshi, the owner of the stall, poured Garou a glass of cola while his eyes gazed at the lack of traffic flow. Before, the populace was as low as it could be, but now it was scarce.

Garou took the glass of cola and chugged it down, "Ahhhh."

Cola was always his favorite refreshment.

"Give it time," Garou threw shrimp tempura into his teeth, chewing audibly.

"Remind me again why I shouldn't ban you from coming here, Garou?" Ebiken asked.

"I butchered the villains that harassed you?" Garou reminded Ebiken of how he bloodied four gangsters robbing his cash register when he made his first villain pile in Hosu.

"You also reduced my usual customers by half with that stunt." Ebiken sighed as he finished cooking another set of noodles for the Demon of Hosu.

Life had taken a quiet, morbid turn for the simple man and the rest of the kind people. Now they had to struggle to get by thanks to the man dining in his stall. He wanted to hold him accountable, but he couldn't bring himself to do so. The man wasn't a villain like the rest, and Ebiken did not want to test his luck. Garou had made his mark on Hosu, and there was nothing a simple civilian or the heroes could do about it.

In the meanwhile, someone else entered through the curtains, sitting beside Garou two seats away.

"Welcome! What kind I…" Ebiken greeted the newcomer as he slowly cut himself off. His shrimp eyes popped out of his sockets, literally, when he saw the man's face.

"I would like one of whatever he is having." The man pointed at the assortment of dishes in front of the Hero Hunter.

The customer's smile was warm and friendly, but his identity spoke otherwise, at least to Ebiken. The regular chef knew who the customer was.

"Oh… I…" Ebiken flicked his sight to Garou, seeing that he stopped his eating to peek at the presence of the Hero, Ingenium, sitting at his table with strings of unfinished ramen still dangling from his lips.

It was the worst combination at the worst time, and the Hero Hunter unmasked and a hero in casual attire sitting next to each at his stall. The shrimp-headed chef could see his humble stand decimated by the conflict that would spark in one second as Ingenium's body landed beside him in the next. Tears streamed from Ebiken's black, protruding eyes as he bid his shop farewell.

Garou glared at the man, his eyes coruscating with spite, "Youuuuuuuuu."

"Hahaha. Hello, again. You're quite a big eater, aren't you?" Tensei Iida asked.

"If you're here to gloat, I will send you back in the hospital. In the morgue." Garou threatened as bulging veins squirmed under his skin.

Tensei only chuckled, "Hahahaha, well, your secret is safe with us. Besides, I'm not here to fight. Oh, chef, my order?"

Ebiken snapped out of his teary depression for a moment. His stall was still standing… but for how long?

"Please don't break my stall. I'm begging you." Ebiken pleaded with teary shrimp eyes.

"I'm not here to fight, and he would knock me out before I can raise a fist anyways," Tensei assured, unfazed by Garou's laser-like gaze.

Ebiken hoped so; he returned to the grill, preparing the order with a spatula and sizzling oil, and started to grill the picked ingredients, eel, flour, and octopus for takoyaki and unagi, for the friendly neighborhood hero. A tense silence stood between Hero and Hunter. Tensei looked so casual sitting next to the man that sent him and his self-esteem to the hospital that it was souring the atmosphere.

Garou slurped the rest of his dangling noodles and gulped before speaking first, "Skip the long talk and get to the point. Why are you here?"

"Ahahaha. Well," Tensei rubbed the back of his head, "I just want to talk. Heck, I'm probably the first hero talking this casually with the Hero Hunter now that I think about it."

Garou could not deny that.

"Just small talk? No declaration for a rematch or heroic speeches to send me to jail?" Garou egged Ingenium for a more personal response. He did incur Tensei's smile to straighten.

"...a part of me does want to redeem myself from that day," Tensei admitted solemnly.

"What's stopping you? Crippling shame?" Garou scoffed.

Tensei's smile returned upon hearing Garou's poking his ego for conflict, "You're quite strange compared to the rest of the villains, you know? Usually, the villains would either run away or fight back."

"So, you do want that fight?" Garou asked, hopefully.

"Hahaha, no, no. I'm not reckless enough to throw away my entire health… besides, I just want to ask some questions."

"I won't apologize for beating you up." Garou instantly answered with a determined mien, holding nary an atom of regret for his actions.

"Hahahahahaha!" Tensei laughed heartily this time. "No, no! Not that… well, it would make me feel better if you did."

"I will never apologize for beating up every hero I fight." Garou planted his standing firmly in that regard.

"I wouldn't expect you to," Tensei replied as Ebiken served him a plate of steaming, round takoyaki, and a plate of smoking unagi. "Thanks."

Tensei took the single-use chopsticks from a cup near him as he broke off the two sticks after taking it out from the paper wrap, digging into his meal as he placed a takoyaki in his mouth. In one crunch, the flavor spilled into Tensei's mouth, the sauce and taste flowing like a river breaking the dam.

"Mmmm," Tensei responded positively to the takoyaki. "It's good."

Garou watched as the hero continued eating his meal. He kept staring at the strange hero that walked up to him for a moment, deeming the hero weird before resuming his meal, drinking the noodles from his bowl, and devouring the other plates.

Midway, finishing half of his takoyaki, Tensei stopped and turned to Garou, "I was wondering where you got that mask. It looks quite nice."

Garou stopped as well, his cheeks full of chewed okonomiyaki, "So?"

"If you ask me, I never thought I would see you in a costume given your… daring habits so far. Was Kenji's threat that bad?" Tensei smirked when he heard about the Police Force's miraculous stunt.

"I will make you eat your chopsticks." Garou threatened.

"Sorry, sorry. My Quirk doesn't let me digest something this hard," Tensei joked as he pointed at the engine tubes sticking back of his elbows. "By the way, there's something I want to ask… are you Quirkless as you said?"

Garou did not give him a second glance as he responded, "Yeah. It's not that hard to believe."

"I'm pretty sure that everyone I know would disagree with that statement," Tensei retorted. "But what I want to know is, how did you get so strong without a Quirk in the first place?"

"I trained hard," Garou said as if it was a natural response.

The path Garou reached could never amount from training. Tensei Iida and Ebiken both knew this very well. While there were Quirkless individuals with abilities that would equal to those with Quirks, there was no case of a Quirkless that could reach the level of someone like All Might. The common sense in Tensei quickly denied Garou's response as truth, but his experience with Garou in direct combat days instilled doubts otherwise. So the best word Tensei could muster was two simple words.

"I see." Tensei looked downcast, fingers clenching into his palms. "Have you ever idolized heroes before?"

Garou paused. He finished two-thirds of his meal as Ebiken took his finished bowls and plates silently. There was a somber air around the friendly neighborhood hero, an anchor weighing him down inside, and the feeling was palpable.

"…once," Garou admitted. Usually, he would answer with his fist to every hero's face should they talk, but this world had fed him more than enough heroes to spare his patience for this one. That and he wouldn't hunt the same hero twice.

"Hahaha, of course. There isn't a person out there that doesn't idolize heroes at one point. What do you think about All Might?"

Tensei touched a particular subject, a subject that would arouse a peculiar response.

"He's overrated," Garou responded with a tinge of spite. "The bag of muscles is a joke. His techniques are horrendous; the way he presents himself makes me want to gut him, and how everyone seems to idolize him as a religious figure is creepy. I don't know what people see in him."

Tensei gave Garou a small smile, "So you did meet him?"

So the hero asked that to confirm Garou's encounter with All Might.

"You can say that. I will admit he can put a fight at least, but I will not forgive his fighting style."

"Hahaha. Even though you copied his techniques?" Tensei pointed out. He sounded as if he didn't mind that Garou fired a shockwave at him at that time.

"Reformed. Like hell, I'll waste so much energy just to show off. He would've beaten me if he did sharpen his techniques as I did." Garou did not include the fact that All Might had his guts messed up. He had no incentive to keep All Might's secret, but he did. Not because of a whim, but because he wished to deface him when All Might was at his peak. Otherwise, it'll leave a bad taste in his mouth.

"I can see that." Tensei smiled somewhat. He looked as if a weight left his chest after talking with Garou.

"My little brother is going to apply for UA next April."

Garou's last tempura was just in his mouth when he heard a word that he could not register for a second. It sounded familiar though… where did he hear it-ah, yes, the boy. Ghin ranted all he knew about All Might to Garou.

"The hack school that All Might went to?" Garou was never fond of the idea of societal schools designed for the sole purpose of raising heroes from the young. Integrating Heroes as a profession was one thing, but cultivating them from young? He refused to tolerate that. Schools like that would usually force-feed societal bias to teenagers.

"Did you apply for a Hero School before?" Tensei asked, expecting Garou's derision for UA.

"Like hell. I prefer training in a dojo over a seedy school any day," Garou vehemently rejected.

"Hah. This may be our first time talking, but I feel like we're close acquaintances already."

Tensei did not even expect the Hero Hunter to be this amiable to others outside combat. It would explain why the stall chef was serving the Demon of Hosu with casual closeness.

"You want another beating?" Garou flashed a bulging vein and thrown a sidelong glare.

"Hahaha, no, no. One time is enough, thank you."

The atmosphere warmed. Ebiken watched whenever he could with interest, seeing Garou show a side he would usually hide behind a mask to a hero he defeated without care. It was a rare moment that the humble chef was seeing, something that would garner millions of views online if someone recorded it. But, knowing Garou, it would result in him slaughtering the one responsible for the recording if it gets out.

"Besides… I am kinda worried about my brother." Tensei looked down at his empty plate in rumination.

"Why? Afraid he won't get in?" Garou joked.

"No. I'm afraid of what he'll do if the school accepts him…" Tensei's insinuation did not fall on deaf ears. "After all, he wants to become a hero - the kind of hero that is there for the people in their time of need, though that was before you showed up and shook the Hero world with your hands."

Both pairs of eyes fell on the subject in question. Said subject slowly bit into the tempura held in his chopsticks, chewing it in silent awkwardness.

Garou stared at Tensei with his mouth still chewing, ignoring the additional pair of protruding eyes bearing down on him from behind the stall, "I won't apologize."

Tensei stared at Garou for a moment before he sighed in defeat, "I don't expect you to… but what about you? You've won. You beat most of the strongest heroes in Japan, became Japan's symbol of fear, but you don't seem to care much about your accomplishments. You've done something all villains dreamed of, but you don't seem to think much of it."

"You call this hell an 'accomplishment?'" Garou retorted as he looked at Tensei incredulously. "All of the heroes I faced are weak losers, like one of those mass-produced, everyday merchandise in stores. Your 'best' is nothing more than a glorified waste of meat, and I still can't believe how easy it is to cull your excuses of heroes to this point. That isn't an accomplishment. That is a disappointment. Would you feel accomplished when everything you did was so easy it's laughable? That's how I feel right now."

His disappointment was apparent like a kid finding his idol got involved in a scandal, his ideals betrayed, and tossed into the trash.

"A hero that isn't stronger than his ideals isn't a hero at all. You are weak. All of you. In and out. Your quirks are nothing more than crutches carrying you to where you are now, and it has gotten so bad to where all of you forget what it really takes to carry that title," Garou chastised.

His rebuke drove the hero and chef into silence. Tensei looked at Garou, surprised, not expecting him to carry such a sharp image of his ideal within him. It should be a mixed feeling, but hearing Garou's spoken models was… refreshing to Tensei.

"Hahahahaha." Tensei laughed again, smiling more extensive than before. "You sure know how to keep surprising others."

Taking out his wallet, Tensei took his money from pocket and placed down his dollar-yen bills.

"Thank you, Sir." Ebiken nodded as he took the money and gave Tensei his change.

"It was nice talking to you. Though I do hope that one day, we can talk as acquaintances, not hero and Hunter." As Tensei turned around to leave, Garou called out from behind.

"You're not gonna beg me to spare your brother?" Garou asked bluntly.

The way he just stood there in silence already answered Garou's question. A hero doesn't beg unless they hit their lowest. Tensei almost seemed to reach that low point judging how his hands tremble with conflict.

"...you never listen to your victims in your hunts. Should this be any different?" Tensei asked hoarsely.

"True," Garou rolled his eyes. "But pass him a warning for me." Garou gave Tensei his message to Tenya, a glimpse of what the young hero-to-be shall face if he chose his path. "Don't come into the monster's den without knowing what's inside. The monster will not spare the foolish that walks in aware."

Tensei stood in a tense, awkward pause, taking in Garou's warning. He pictured how Tenya would react if he passed on Garou's message. He had a good idea of Tenya's response to the letter.

"...I never took you for a villain that would take his time with a hero like this, Garou."

"Why should I waste my time with children? I hunt heroes and otherwise, but not people." Garou rolled his eyes at the apparent insinuation.

"…I don't know about that." Tensei muttered to himself.

He walked away and left Garou alone with the silent chef. The shrimp human turned to Garou and then forked his hand out.

"That'll cost you around twenty-five thousand yen."

The chef would not let Garo leave without getting paid. Garou flicked his eyes back to the shrimp man, and the human hand laid out supine without the worry of the customer breaking it. His absence of concern was because he did perform business with Garou frequently, and Garou took out his wallet and gave Ebiken his money for his feast of a meal.

"Thanks, Shrimp."

"Don't call me that." Ebiken blandly stared at Garou when he left his stall.

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The Lone Hunter wandered the streets, casually patrolling the quiet town. He did not pay any mind to the flickering glances thrown his way, not caring if the other civilians knew of his identity. They were either witnesses or someone Garou saved after he cleansed Hosu of the remaining villain elements. Whether they report his identification or not, he was sure that the media wouldn't dare reveal him to the world since he had a lot of leeways. After all, holding the truth that he defeated the Symbol of Peace hostage was a powerful card in this fragile society, but it would suck if the Landlord caught wind of his identity.

In his idleness, Garou let his mind wander to the boy, reviewing his growth so far.

His version of the Water Stream Rock Smashing fist was more… primal compared to Garou's. There was a lot of emotion in his strikes, almost like Ghin was venting more than fighting. The problem with his way of fighting was that it usually consumed more energy than usual, but it wouldn't matter since the boy's stamina was improving at a surprising rate.

Not only that, the boy's control over his body was frighteningly attuned. His reflexes and senses were at a level where he could react to attacks outside his range of vision. Garou was growing proud of the boy while his disappointment in the heroes grew. He really hoped that they could surprise him… well, surprise him more than they did. The people with Quirks around him was surprising enough. There was even a kid with the head of an eel holding hands with eel-headed parents, and Garou could not take his eyes off them until they disappeared around a turn in the corner of the street. The only value in Quirks so far were civilian diversity to his eyes, adding more colors to the polychromatic variety of what life could bring.

When Garou cleared the underbelly of Hosu, he barely met resistance, all of the villains escaped the area after the media declared Hosu as his personal territory. As for spies, they were hard to track, but he did catch one, some man cloaked in a shroud of fedoras.

But the man was peculiar, stating his visit was to contact him. His coming here was to deliver an invitation, one similar to that of Phoenixman's, only this time it's from a shadowy organization called the Union. He did not know what the Union was, but they were offering their services to the Hero Hunter, willing to provide illegal costumes and equipment to any who wish to do good or evil. It turned out that they even offered their services to vigilantes once upon a time, a name for illegal heroes unrecognized by national law.

Once upon a time, the Vigilantes confronted Garou during his body-piling spree. They joined the body pile, unnoticed by the public nor the media. Legal heroes or not, Garou did not differentiate, anyone that bore the mantle of hero will fall regardless. He did respect their resolve to carry out their dreams against the law, though. Too bad the hero system was rigged against them, another reason to continue his hunt.

As for the Union worker, Garou released him. The Union only sell costumes to villain kind. Garou did not want to try their product since the Aunt would cause quite a commotion, so he stole a mask from one of the villains. The boy made a very great suggestion, pilfering costumes from the fallen villains for himself. Garou made a slight habit of taking their weapons as well, though he made sure to hide them from the eyes of the Landlord.

He cursed the hierarchy they placed. Just because they owned some land… in any case, he needed to take care of two problems. Around a corner, Garou entered an alleyway, entering the shadows of the two paths. Once out of sight, he jumped up from wall to wall until he reached the roof, looking down on the two stalkers following ever since he left Ebiken's stall.

He could never forget the walking, talking skeleton spouting gouts of blood at random. His condition was called hemoptysis upon researching the internet, a convenient tool it was. The recollection of his days spent learning through the web both enlightened and embarrassed the Hero Hunter, from learning the world's forgotten martial arts like Baji Quan, Tai Chi, Wing Chun, and Taekwondo, and him becoming a part-time shut-in. The boy shared a lot of his interests with the Hero Hunter, and playing with the boy was enjoyable.

The moss-haired boy next to the skeleton was unknown, however. Garou had never met him, but he then recalled that the skeleton mentioned an apprentice before. The 'apprentice' was peeking into the alley and whispering to his companion. Garou's sharp ear caught his words, saying 'H-He's gone! U-Um, d-do you think he i-is he onto us?'

Why did you even follow me in the first place, Garou thought. The moss-haired boy looked like he was about to wet his pants from fright alone at any second. Garou already started to dislike him from his cowardly demeanor alone.

Garou dropped down from the roof, landing soundlessly behind the two. The presence of civilians was dry, meaning none noticed his landing.

"Long time no see, skeleton."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"ADWOEFJERIFHELDJWOEDJIERGNWIJFQEJO!"

Yeah, this was the same blonde skeleton from before. His wildly flailing reaction was no different than the first time.

"Our second meeting, and you're still rude as hell, huh?" Garou quipped, staring at the skeleton's sweating form before his eyes rolled to the boy.

No matter how Garou looked at the moss for brains, he deemed him a wimp. And he had a strangely instinctive dislike for the boy. There's something about him that compelled Garou to torment him, but he didn't know why.

The skeleton quickly composed himself as he coughed into his hand, trying to look like he did not freak out a few seconds earlier.

"I-I'm sorry. Anyways, it has been a while since then, Bang."

Garou's expression soured. Like hell, their encounter was a coincidence. Barely anyone comes to Hosu these days unless they either have an unavoidable business or a wish to go to the hospital.

"Why are you following me?" Garou got to the point, narrowing his eyes. He could only think of a few ideas why the skeleton came here, though he did not understand why he had brought his 'junior' along the way.

The Skeleton opened his mouth for a tense moment before he closed it. Then he opened it again… and closed it. He repeated this cycle until it looked like he was clacking his teeth from panic. His unhealthily emaciated body was even jittering by the ankles.

"I-I-I-I-well-"

"M-May I have your autograph?!"

Moss Head spouted five words that failed to sink into Garou's ears at that moment. Skeleton even looked down at his 'junior' equally baffled, his eyes and lips stuck in a rictus of confoundment.

"Hah?" But the bafflement from Garou came with a myriad of questions, most of which were questioning the kid's sanity. What the hell was that kid spouting? Garou was confused.