Chapter 8: Argent Dilemma

The late afternoon sun of Tuesday painted the streets of Japan with illuminating gold unhindered by obscuring clouds and the skies above immaculate blue, delivering a flawless, lumen day to the citizens down below. Past school hours, Bakugou rid the silver bullet train leading from his district school to Hosu.

Excited, but bored in the inactivity during the meanwhile, he perused the internet through his phone, watching the latest media feed presenting recorded footage of the Hero Hunter's latest victims from the night before.

Ten victims found, scattered like litter discarded to rot, now in medical beds with their limbs cast and their bodies bandaged - to the point where they were almost mistaken for mummies. Arms and legs twisted in extreme angles, the villains laid prone in bed, their rasping breaths almost audible from the camera feed through the breathing apparatus, their states far more pitiful compared to those from the previous hunts.

While listening to the reporter's commentary through his earphones, Bakugou caught a familiar, irritating voice from beside him.

"K-Kacchan?"

All muscles stiffened as irritation coursed through Bakugou's veins. An angry retort exploded from his mouth at the sight of the worthless, Quirkless nobody that always followed him like an accursed shadow.

"Deku!? What're you here on this train for, huh?!" Bakugou roared at the irksome vermin.

Midoriya looked away, timidly attempting to form the right wording of his response but was cut off by Bakugou again.

"Don't tell me. You here to see it?" Bakugou accused, knowing Deku's mindset yet still angst by it.

"W-Well-"

"The next few stops will enter Hosu. There's nothing of interest beyond that point, so unless you have a relative there, you're here to see 'his' work, aren't you?"

Midoriya has no words to rebuke that. He cannot tell that All Might invited him to see 'it,' of whom stood several passengers away from Midoriya while attempting to act as conspicuous as possible. He did not want to attract attention from others, especially Izuku's supposed childhood friend.

"Y-Yeah… kind of."

Izuku could only shirk away from Katsuki's looming glare threatening t overshadow the remnants of his confidence.

"Go home, Deku! This doesn't concern you!"

Izuku pursed his lips with his eyes still averting Bakugou's gaze. He did not have the guts to refute how wrong the self-proclaimed future number one was.

Especially given the context of The Hero Hunter's newest 'trophy.'

"I-I'm just curious, that's all. I mean, I-I've never seen something like it ever."

Bakugou scrunched his brows, his left eye twitching. As much as he wanted to refute and demand Midoriya's leave, he cannot deny how unique this stunt was. Of course, Izuku would want to see it.

"Tsk, fine! Stare all you want, but mark my words! When I defeat this so-called Hero Hunter, I will present his body in front of that!"

Bakugou arrogantly declared, his mind filled with delusional fantasies of his 'ensured' fame and glory, standing atop of the Hero Hunter, the Bloody Demon, the Hunter Amongst Villains, over Garou himself.

His ears catching his declaration, the crippled skeleton could only imagine the youth joining the body pile, broken in spirit like his body before carried to the hospital in shame. As one who fought Garou, he knew that the man himself was beyond dangerous, someone who exists outside the borders of common sense. The first fight with Garou was more than enough indication of that.

And worse, Toshinori felt as if he hadn't seen the worst of what Garou had to offer in the end.

While submerged in his thoughts, the slowing of the train pulled Toshinori from his rumination as the automatic announcer informed their current stop in Hosu through the speakers.

"Tsk, we'll talk later." He flashed a final glare at IUku before stepping out the train, along with many others. Little did Izuku know, most of the passengers left at this stop, the other passengers also sharing Bakugou's desire to see the Hero Hunter's latest work, people flowing out like water flushed down the sink.

Hesitant, Izuku slowly left the train, joining his fellow onlookers unawares, followed by All Might, the Skeleton, as they mixed with the crowd likes stray droplets merging with the polychromatic river.

Switching their modes of transportation from the train to bus, the three traveled through the seemingly peaceful streets as they headed out towards a somewhat large gathering of what seemed to be similar curious minds after more than an hour. No monument of consecutive victories erected with the victims' bodies, no victims shamed for his amusement.

At the scene of the Hero Hunter's most recent crime, a growing crowd, cordoned by police officers and vehicles, stood outside the barricades and stared at the kanji of incomplete crimson. The strokes were messy, the colors losing linear cohesion from repeated attempts as if the calligrapher was working with dwindling paint and a flawed brush.

However, despite the blatant mess of attempts, the chaotic result only augmented the unsettling impact on the psyche twofold - even more so when the media divulged what he used as his 'brush.'

The Hero Hunter painted a canvas of misery with the villains as his crimson brush, completing a macabre portrait of his growing brutality. The level of unprecedented savagery not only rattled the morale of both heroes and villains but also rendered all thoughts mute with speechlessness.

A kanji in hellish red, faded, incomplete, amateur, but impactful - the trickling crimson seemed as if the word itself was crying in pain. The smell of acrid iron emitting from the 'paint' reached the nostrils of both police and onlookers, forcing Bakugou and Izuku amongst them to scrunch their noses from displeasure. The odor reminded them of that one villain from the internet article, how half his face lost its skin, scraped off, dipped in the blood of the other villains, only to suffer even more abrasions in repeated attempts. Both the news and the sites censored the image to protect the minds of children and parents from further unwanted terror.

The kanji for 'fear' adorned the wall, drawn with faces of humans as the hair of 'his' brush and blood as 'his' paint - a macabre sight for all the heroes and villains that dare cross his path regardless of their intent.

Despite the gory origins of the adumbrated graffiti, it attracted curious eyes like a landmark attracting tourists. After all, not even a single a case where a villain vandalized private property with the blood of villains occurred in the years after the masses established the Hero system to stabilize society.

Cameras flashed and clicked, cell phones raised as aleatory chatter exchanged between each lip, some marveling at the malice radiating from the graffiti as if it was a work of art while others were absorbed by how its mien alone could instill such fear and still drew them in. As if the kanji was enchanted with the power to seduce the viewers, unhindered by its simplicity of design and lack of thought.

Standing among the masses, Bakugou whistled at the sight, impressed.

"Got to say, it's savage." The living bomb praised The Hero Hunter's tastes. While gorily unsettling, it did have impact, and Bakugou respected it.

"Haha…" Beside him was the annoying gnat that kept following him around ever since they were little toddlers.

"And what the fuck are you still doing here, huh!?" Bakugou turned to the Quirkless annoyance, eyes sharp and glaring at the timid wimp with moss for hair.

"C-Can't I just watch?" He slowly averted his eye contact until his pupils hit a dead-end at the ocular corner.

Toshinori Yagi, in his skeletal form with his right arm still casted, stood a few feet from Midoriya's left, his shadowed eyes locked onto the blooded Kanji, and his face unreadable, submerged in his thoughts attempting to decipher the Hero Hunter's actions.

Until now, it was always body piles erected one after another - sometimes one comprised of solely heroes, sometimes only villains, other times both - his savagery dwindling with each Hero pile while worsening for the villains. While he did not condone the brutality for the villains, despite the drastic decrease of crime after each villainous hunt, he was somewhat hopeful that the Hero Hunter would retire from hunting heroes like game in the end at least and spare the future generation from excess fear and terror.

Although circumstance said otherwise in its visual loudest, already Toshinori could imagine the other heroes praying never to meet Garou in their lifetimes.

"Woooooow! It looks so cool!"

A child uttered far behind the vanguard of the crowd. Looking behind, Toshinori caught the sight of a silver-haired boy awing at the bloody graffiti. His short-sleeved shirt was white while his shorts were dull steel grey.

Not only that, the boy was riding atop someone's shoulders, but he couldn't see the kid's parent behind the sea of faces.

'Who in the world would take a young kid out to see this?'

Toshinori doubted any respectable parent would allow someone of the kid's age to see something rated for teenagers and adults.

In any case, he at least hoped that Garou wouldn't do the same to the heroes. He did not want to see Garou painting another callsign with the face of Endeavour should the time come. Knowing Garou so far, Toshinori was sure that Garou would do that without a second thought.

He sincerely hoped that day would never come. The tension settled just enough for the parents to consider allowing their children to enroll the hero schools of their dreams in Garou's respite.

He even recalled Midoriya's hardships in convincing his mother to let him enroll in UA after all. Still, he could not understand Garou's motivations behind this horrific calligraphy. Was he trying to intimidate the villains into forced placation? Some villains do prefer to work alone, after all, so the prospect of villains despising other villains wasn't uncommon, but his unfair treatment of villains compared to that of heroes was peculiar in comparison.

As he stood there in rumination, the two hopeful youths continued their chatter, though one of them was more screaming while the other whispering.

"K-Kacchan… ever wondered why Garou would do this?" Itsuku asked, hoping to shift the conversation to a different direction, one that did not involve Katsuki yelling his ears off.

"He's a villain. End of story," he spoke as if it was apparent.

Midoriya almost dropped a sweat at his terse reply.

"I-I mean will he do the same to other heroes as well?"

"Of course he might." Bakugou had no idea where he was going with this.

"...I'm not sure if our parents would let us go if he did."

This time, Bakugou felt his words clogged in his throat. His temper cooled as if doused with cold water as he pondered on that reveal.

"...did your parents finally let you go?" Izuku asked.

Bakugou almost grimaced at the question. He had a very, very hard time convincing his stubborn, loudmouth of a mother to bestow her blessings.

"How about you?"

Izuku still remembered how his mother tearfully begged him not to go. Garou's hunts did more than a number on her fragile heart.

"She's still crying for me to stay…"

Both remained in shared silence as reality slowly sunk in. It was almost of Garou was choking their futures, strangling them with infectious fear as his hands.

"Tsk, of course, you're going. Seriously, don't go. UA isn't a place for Quirkless wannabes like you." Bakugou broke the tense ambiance with words of his abrasive ego as his hammer.

Midoriya sighed once again, his senses already numb to Bakugou's constant jabs.

Silence returned as they resumed staring at Garou's art project. Midoriya pondered what kind of Quirk bestowed the Hero Hunter the power to defeat so many heroes and villains and include even All Might himself in his list of victims despite his weakened state.

"I wonder what kinda Quirk he has?" Izuku murmured. Bakugou did not miss his rhetorical question.

"Don't know. Some power type Quirk maybe." Bakugou shrugged, showing some interest.

"There is also the possibility of a speed Quirk. A hybrid maybe like that of All Might's?"

Izuku speculated, leaving out the glaringly precise details on some of Garou's abilities.

According to All Might, Garou possesses immense durability, profound strength, high speed, and extraordinary martial skills along with some… unconfirmed powers; especially Garou's mysterious ability to control blades of wind, ones he used to lacerate coiling wounds around All Might's right arm. Whatever it was, Garou's Quirk is on par with All Might's level.

"One like All Might's? Come on, the odds of that is almost zilch. Stop dreaming, Deku."

Bakugou waved off his conjecture without a second thought. There was no way a villain with a Quirk like All Might's could exist. If there were, they would've been on the news by now or so.

Izuku took out his phone and turned on the camera function, aiming its lens at the morbid art. With the press of a button, the phone clicked as he snapped a photo to save for later study. Bakugou took out his phone and did the same, mostly as a souvenir, evidence of his being here before the police erase Garou's art project.

"I'm off. Better not see you anywhere near UA, Deku, or I swear to show you a hell greater than anything the 'Hero Hunter' can make."

Bakugou then turned around, walking back through the sea of people and leaving Izuku alone with his idol.

"Bring me closer!"

Turning his head to the cheery voice, Izuku could see through the gaps of the crowd a silver-haired boy riding someone's shoulder.

Squinting his eyes, Izuku widened them from astonishment.

'Wow, what kind of Quirk does he have?'

Izuku had never seen anyone as intimidating as him, hair stained with the color of blood, the sclera of his right eye corrupted into wicked black and a face that screamed danger. His hairstyle was sui generis as well, slicked back in a unique V style.

Not to mention the overwhelming impact his presence wrought upon first glance of which affected even the other bystanders around him. They were uncomfortable standing next to the scary man though they didn't visibly show their displeasure.

That man would probably be more intimidating that Bakugou could ever achieve if he put his mind to it. Izuku wondered if the man has a Quirk that inspired fear to those around him.

Wanting to capture a moment, Izuku aimed the camera of his phone, steadied his hand, and tapped the snap icon as his phone clicked - taking a reference to later write down in his notes after returning home.

"Alright, think you can take a picture now?"

Although the man's demeanor and treatment of what seemed to be his little brother profoundly contradicted what his initial image would suggest, he seemed amiable despite his somewhat devilish countenance.

"Mmm!" The boy took out his phone from his pocket and aimed its camera at the hellish calligraphy.

"Almost… I got it!" The boy smiled as Deku heard camera clicks from his phone.

"Come on, don't take too much of it. One is enough." The man carrying the boy retorted the boy's repetitive clicking.

"No! I want the perfect shot!" The boy cheerfully denied as he continued taking more pictures.

"Really, you…" The scary man sighed.

Izuku almost smiled at the sight, glad that the man was not what his visage suggest. A textbook example of a life lesson to never solely judge a person by their cover.

"Alright, that's enough. We're leaving." The man said as he pivoted around an abrupt half circle before the boy could snap another pic.

"Wait! Just one more!" The boy whines, begging for more.

"Hmmm, nope!" The man playfully denied before walking away, leaving the scene as he melded back inside the crowd in his exiting.

"Noooooooooooo!" The boy wailed while his fingers tightened, pulling handfuls of the man's crimson hair in adorable protest.

Izuku chuckled at the interaction between the two. They were like family in a sense.

However, Toshinori almost gawped. Was that him? He rubbed his skeletal eyes after catching a glimpse of the boy's carrier through the narrow crevice between the wall of spectators. So shocked was he that he couldn't feel the warm feeling of blood trickling down the corners of his lips. He desperately attempted to parse what his eyes witnessed to the best of his ability, but he just couldn't. He cannot process the sight of Garou being a family man and returning to the scene of the crime as if to show off his work to what seemed to be his brother.

He shook his head. Must be his imagination, a trick of his eyes and ears. The possibility was as improbable as All For One turning to the light side. Plus, he could never imagine someone like Garou being that amiable to children of all people.

---------

"You should've let me take more pics! More pics!" Ghin continued complaining while pulling on Garou's crimson hair.

"Stop it," Garou demanded, frowning at the boy's pulling of his hair.

"No! I want to take more pics of my enemies' blood painted on the wall!" He continued yanking his hair to Garou's chagrin.

"You took enough. And get off my shoulders."

"I pay your meals, so instant Hierarchy!" He childishly rebuked, abusing the Hero Hunter's lack, or absence, of anything related to the financial. Like it or not, Garou was penniless here, and he preferred to pay for his meals more than stealing them to avoid unwanted trouble.

The Hero Hunter sighed, grousing to himself. He could understand his desire to record proof of his attacker's suffering, most likely as a memento that his life-threatening days are completely over - assuming that Garou would stay at his place until then.

"Also, record yourself painting next time! I want to see the rated R content!" Ghin yanked the pointy ends of Garou's crimson hair, earning more tick marks in the process. At this rate, he might go bald.

"Alright, alright. I will next time."

That earned some leniency from the hair-pulling as his apprentice/employer smiled brightly.

"Good. Now onwards, steed!" Ghin demanded, pointed his hand forward.

Garou chuckled as he continued carrying the kid. So far, his mood was elevating the days gone by, though that did not exempt the complaints and threats Ghin threw at him during training. His life seemed to be improving.

The sight of Garou carrying the energetic boy, of whom they assumed as his little brother, on his shoulders earned some warm smiles from the nearby passerby, relieving them of their fear that the man was a potential villain.

"So… when are you gonna teach me the Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist?" Ghin asked to pass the time.

"Months."

"What?!" The boy started pulling Garou's hair in protest.

"Ow, ow. I'm joking. I'm joking!" Garou playfully assuaged as the boy stopped tearing his hair.

"But I'm not sure if you're ready for that yet. You still haven't mastered the Old Fart's martial arts."

"Your master, right?" Ghin heard some mentions of Garou's martial arts instructor before, but the Hunter never divulged much on the subject - though he could conjecture some truths.

"You know you never told me what he's like, right?" Ghin asked, deciding to venture into dangerous grounds hoping that Garou won't punish him with even more mountain climbs.

Garou paused, his lips pursed and brows scrunched upon the mention of Bang. If there was a thought that crossed his mind since his arrival in this strange land, one came to mind.

"He is one of the strongest old men I know and can kick All Might's ass with one hand behind his back," Garou exaggeratingly summarized the old man with a hint of respect. Usually, he would reserve solely animosity for Bang, but after staying here for months, he started to appreciate his former master more. Who knew baptizing in the blood of truly worthless heroes would prove so enlightening?

"Ohhhhhhh."

Ghin awed in wonder, eyes sparkling as his vivid imagination run wild.

"Is he like you? How strong is he?" The boy started bouncing on his shoulders with impatience. Garou stopped as the question incited him into deep rumination.

How strong was the old fart? Garou, However, has absolutely no idea. He never got the old man to go all out on him to this point, but he at least grasped a general picture based on his personal, up-close experience.

"He can take on all the heroes in this… Japan without taking a scratch. Heck, probably all the villains too if he wants."

He paused in a sojourn upon remembering the country he found himself in before resuming his pace. It was strange, trying to recall the name of a nation. Only one country existed in his homeland as far as he knew with merely twenty-six cities to boot.

Unknown to him, the boy's eyes sparkled with wonder behind his head while visions of a genuine martial arts grandmaster wizened by age and tempered by experience swam through his imagination.

"Really?" Ghin asked to make sure.

"Well, unless they have a Quirk that can take advantage of an old man's back pain, he probably could beat them all in a fair fight," Garou jokes. He would laugh if someone with that Quirk that can topple the old monster actually existed, a cathartic, very entertaining thought he entertained.

"Ohhhh. Will I meet him one day?" Ghin asked, wanting to meet the guy.

Garou pursed his lips.

"Most likely no."

"Eh, why?" The boy wanted to see a real-life version of the stereotypical kung fu grandmaster, especially one so old and presumably wise.

"I don't think anyone can return to where I'm from."

Garou had no idea how he got here, but he had a hunch that a person with a Quirk brought him here. Albeit, whether on purpose or not he did not know, but he waged his odds on accidental. So far, he encountered no sign of his summoner months after his unwanted arrival.

Ghin remained silent upon remembering Garou's home.

"The one with the monsters?" Ghin still couldn't believe the stories behind Garou's home.

Natural disasters plagued his land like occasional rain, abominations roamed the cities preying on the weak, and other humans with might comparable with his Sensei's. He could barely imagine any living being that could literally touch the clouds with his sheer height alone. How one could reach that size without suffering the backlash of overheating was beyond Ghin's guess. It was impossible for anything to achieve that size, even with a Quirk, yet he was riding on a guy that hunted heroes for fun without a Quirk. Sometimes Ghin wondered if Garou was a Quirk that had taken human form, but he shrugged the thought away upon feeling himself progressing further past the normal human limit.

"Yeah, the one with the monsters. I doubt anyone of you guys can even survive there for a week. Hell, even All Might will end up as someone's excrement if he's unlucky enough."

The boy imagined those with mutant Quirks eating the non-mutated daily if Garou's description were sound.

"But… you think we can grow strong like you?" Ghin asked with hope.

"Yeah. You're living proof of that. You have actual potential compared with the losers I've hunted."

The boy smiled from his praise, his heart aflutter with hope for his future, as their home visited their sight in the distance. They have returned home.

As odd as Garou would say, he started to like this place, a far better environment compared to the old shack he used to hide out in the middle of nowhere.

'Now that I think about it, shouldn't I don a costume from now on?'

Which brought the question: Should Garou conceal his identity somewhat to protect his home?

He did start to like the kid, and his hunts drew a lot of attention, albeit it also drew another excellent question. Why didn't the heroes hunt him down so far? He stood out there in the open mingling with the civilians like he was one of them, out in the open without any disguise whatsoever, but that still did not invite the others to hunt him down.

A question for another day. He didn't even spot a single police officer or sneaky hero around his home in his patrols around the kid's house.

"Say, how capable is the police here compared with the heroes?"

"Hm, why do you ask?" Ghin tilted his head.

"Eh, just wondering."

"Well… they suck." Ghin summarized his views in two simple words.

"They are nothing more than the clean-up crew at this point. The heroes you downed so far are the only ones keeping the peace against the villains with Quirks, soooo…"

'Ah.' Now Garou understood. They were just as inept, probably even more so. Riding behind the vanguard all this time had dulled their hunting instincts and fangs, Garou summarized.

"That explains why no one bothered finding me here."

Albeit, Garou would probably search for a mask or something to protect his sanctuary. He likes this domicile.

Entering through the glass slide doors, walking to the elevator at the far end of the lobby across the wooden planks of beige while still carrying the boy on his shoulders, they rose to the very top floor, one reserved for the owner and the VIPs.

Garou sometimes wondered how rich the boy's aunt was, to purchase the building and yet still maintained its pristine condition despite not having any tenants. Why bother owning the thing if no tenants arrive?

"I should've asked earlier, but remind me why this building has no tenants so far?" Garou asked, wondering about the near-vacant state of the building.

"Um, Aunty got the rights from suing that one guy. Forgot his name though, but the guy was a major drug dealer with the deeds to this place."

"Ah." That explained the reason no one would rent this place. The woman probably had more than enough money to maintain the building or had connections to nullify the costs.

Enlightened, Garou exited the elevator with his passenger in tow.

The familiar fleur-de-lis patterning the walls, lit by dim ceiling lights encased in opaque, faceted and circular glass, instilled a sense of warmth in Garou like he had found a place he can indeed call home. Walking past the rows of empty doors at his left and right, he stopped at the most prominent of it all, the one linearly facing the elevator at the far opposite end like two engaging in an eternal stare down.

Unhooking the key chained to the strap of his pants, he unlocked the mahogany door embossed with the white lotus engraved in the absolute center and creaked the door open.

"Ghin. Care to explain what happened while I was away?"

However, an irrefragable debacle hid behind the door, taking in the form of a very, very angry aunt tapping her heel on the carpet. Garou blinked in surprise upon seeing her. Ghin paled as if the devil appeared before him, gawping at the sight of his aunty.

"Uhh…"