Mind Games - Chapter 37

“Okay, the votes are in,” Kirishima – Buster, currently – chuckled as he looked over the final tally. “Top two slots are another karaoke party and a test of courage for Golden Week.”

I sighed, bringing my hands up to rub at my face. “I reserve the right to blame both Buster and everyone who voted when this goes catastrophically wrong.”

Eijiro laughed. “C'mon dude, it won't be that bad! We can even time it so that we do the karaoke after you get your UA letter. That way it'll be a celebration when you get in!”

A few comments scrolled by and I rolled my eyes.

“Yeah, look, not to give myself too much of a glow up here, but I'm pretty sure I did well enough on the exam to get in. Or, at the very least, snag a spot in one of the other tests to try for general admissions,” I waved the haters off, barely dignifying what they'd said with a response.

“So we're go for the karaoke party. Right, I'll let Pinkie – oops! She's blowing up my DMs already,” Eijiro laughed.

Just for saying that, the chat exploded with Buster/Pinkie discourse.

“I'm shocked.” My deadpan statement got some cheers from the chat. “Utterly shocked. Can you tell how shocked I am, Buster?”

“Ahh... maybe just a bit? Um, anyway... what are we going to do for the test of courage?” He swapped rails.

“I'll take care of it,” I shrugged. “I kind of figured that would come up eventually, so I've been mining some haunted location forums and things like that.”

“Sounds great, just... uh, nothing too scary? Please?” Buster pressed, clapping his hands together and bowing his masked head in supplication.

“I'm honestly more concerned about making sure we don't get tetanus or run into a villain hideout using an abandoned-” I raised my fingers to put the next word in air-quotes. “-haunted building as cover.”

The chat spiraled with the implication and I shrugged as I replied to the questions.

“Do I believe in ghosts? No, I don't.” I paused dramatically. “They don't need me to believe in them for them to be real. And, yes, for the record, ghosts are real.”

“Whoa... My Man Bootstrap actually putting his foot down on something... don't see that everyday,” Kirishima teased. “For all the people losing their minds out there on the internet right now with the new lore you just dropped... wanna share how you know?”

“Most of it boils down to personal testimonial stuff,” I replied bluntly, causing another cascade in the chat. “Which – yes – I know does not constitute replicable scientific proof. I am aware of that. Nevertheless, what I've seen has convinced me of the factual truth that ghosts exist and I'll haunt that hill after I die on it.”

“Alright, and with that... I think we're getting a bit close to log-off time. It was super manly seeing all you here for the stream! Next time we'll get into the nitty-gritty of hero licensing and which kind you should be pulling for,” Kirishima revealed.

“There's more than one type of hero license, yes,” I confirmed to the statements of disbelief scrolling downwards. “I'll also show off my own license next time around, so make sure you show up for that.”

Then I cut the feed.

“Dude... you sure you ain't a villain? Cause that was evil,” Kirishima stated, a bit of awe in his voice.

I found it easier than I expected to push away the memories that question brought up, Eijiro not having meant it remotely the same way as so many had before. “I'm sure. Now, I've got some stuff to do before I wind down for the night, so unless there's something pressing...?”

A few more pleasantries and an agreement to meet up sometime soon and we both signed off for the night. Even when shutting down the program, though, I kept the neat little background function running that replaced my background with an image of my bedroom, keeping the illusion that I was still operating out of the same space as always. Still, staring directly into the camera for over an hour was taxing and made me yearn for some private time.

Which was the cue Himiko had been waiting for.

“Are you all done playing with your friend, Husband?” She asked, wrapping me in a hug from behind.

“We just finished up, Wife,” I replied, leaning back in my chair and letting her nuzzle the nape of my neck. “Are you finding your butler to be useful?”

“Hehehe!” Himiko laughed, glancing towards where the former yakuza oyabun was setting up a display of fine china. “He's been really helpful! My husband's so thoughtful!”

I flicked my own glance towards Naburo. The man was in something of a fugue state, having disdained the option to remain conscious while he was serving as the Home's butler. I couldn't say I entirely blamed him, and part of me wanted to simply mind-wipe him to the best of my ability and drop him off to make a new life for himself...

But that wouldn't be a punishment, not in truth.

At least, not to my satisfaction.

No, he would provide me with the sum total of his knowledge regarding the Japanese underworld and, while he wasn't doing that, serve as a household aide for myself and my 'retinue' as well as a secondary line of defense in the unlikely event this safehold was breached.

I'd eventually get rid of him, though it was yet to be seen if that would simply be releasing him to his own devices in a few decades or if that would mean a shallow grave that would never be discovered. Regardless of the ultimate outcome, though, I felt little sympathy for a man who had spent his lifetime as a brutal crime boss, then had the gall to retire and cast judgment on those who had attempted to take up the reins in his place.

No, if I ever decided to release him, it would be into a world that had completely forgotten him and his entire existence after a lifetime's worth of helping me and mine undo the damage he'd had a part in inflicting on society.

The outer shell of my peripheral essence ghosted over the bindings I'd placed on him, gossamer threads stronger than steel, woven to subdue his personality, his desires, and his will. A charm to bind his fate and tie his future to my manse. That wasn't something I would normally unleash on another person – for a variety of reasons – but this man had both earned it and wouldn't leave the confines of this space for the foreseeable future, which meant there was no chance of him attracting undo eldritch attention wearing the heavy mantle of my power.

“What's that, dear?” Himiko asked, leaning in a little bit to more closely look over my shoulder.

“The Hat Man,” I replied absently, sighing. “My current target for information gathering and evaluation.”

“He's a monster, then?” Himiko probed further.

“Unknown at this time,” I grunted, displeased with how little there was on the figure. “He's something of an urban legend. What makes him rather unique is that he's not geographically bound – meaning that he's free to move about from place to place without any apparent ties.”

“That's rare?”

“There are other cases,” I stated, “but not many. The Hat Man, Laughing Jack, The Killer, and the Shadowman. Notice the pattern?”

“They're all people,” Himiko paused, frowning against me. “Or look like them. Pretending to be human to hunt more easily?”

“The most likely factor in their appearance, yes,” I nodded, sighing. “The animals, plants, places, and objects I've logged seem to prefer to stay in the same general location-”

“Places move?” Himiko interjected, finally pulling away from me and sliding around to drop into my lap.

“These places do,” I chuckled, clicking over a few images to let Himiko's piercing gaze watch as the pictures shifted. Forest clearings, alleyways, a few small lakes... each of them had a 'before' and 'after' version. One where they'd possessed things that were generally considered geographical features, and another where it was just... done. “They tend to pop back up eventually, but not where they were. Maybe a few streets over or in the next valley past a mountain.”

“No one notices?” Himiko asked, sliding her hand over mine and looking over more images I'd harvested from the various boards, all now neatly arranged into files with detailed summaries and dossiers.

“No one credible,” I shook my head, wrapping an arm around her waist. “A few of them are officially-recognized phenomena, but not widely publicized. The ones that most people admit exist are written off as DAPs. Dark Age Phenomenon.”

“Oh! I heard about those!” Himiko jerked slightly in surprise. “One of my classmates gave a report on them! Even if he's kind of a cryptid otaku, it was pretty interesting.”

In a minor fit of curiosity, I moved one hand over to my second keyboard and began hitting keys. Himiko's middle school was... well, it was a middle school. Their security was essentially non-existent. The girl sitting in my lap made a thoughtful noise as I pulled up her classroom's register of students, then reached out and pointed at one.

“Him. Shinobu Sekai,” she stated firmly. “His quirk is environmental endurance, so he never sweat during PE or got hot or cold.”

I hummed, looking him over. He was more fit than one might expect a nerd to be, but appeared mostly human baseline other than that. Obligatory thick glasses, of course, but otherwise pretty average. “I might offer him a job, if he can keep his mouth shut. Or is so non-credible that no one will believe him.”

“He's quiet. Doesn't talk much,” Himiko replied. “I think he has a friend or two in other classes. They talk about stuff during lunch on the rooftop. Sometimes other students go up there to look at them and come back down saying things like, 'wow, I thought that was just in anime.' Or, 'they really do exist!'”

I snorted and asked Himiko to pick out his friends, short-listing them for a potential operation I'd been building in the back of my head, but hadn't got around to, yet.

“What was so special about the Hat Man, though?” Himiko asked, dancing back to the original topic as she guided my hand to pull up the scattered images of him.

I assumed 'him,' of course.

“Because he's one of the few creatures or cryptids I've found that seem somewhere between benign to helpful,” I stated, lingering on the best photo I had of him. It was basically just a shadow cast in the shape of a human being. The proportions were off and gangly as he moved through the night. This specific photo was taken as he passed under a streetlight and... just kept being a shadow. I'd seen quirks that came close to the effect, but none of them precisely captured the unnerving uncanny valley of two-dimensional existence and complete absence of light that I saw in the Hat Man.

I'd even gone out of my way to look up Tokoyami and – while unsettling – Dark Shadow just didn't compare. The sentient quirk was very obviously something. It was alive and sentient and motive and spoke understandably.

The Hat Man was like a hole in the world – a complete absence of light – had decided to get up and walk around, pretending to be human.

“London, New Orleans, New York, San Francisco, Lima, Cairo, Johannesburg, Cape Town, the ruins of Old Dubai, Petra, New Constantine City... all over Europe, Asia, even down in Australia,” Himiko scrolled down the list. “That gives him a very high Mover rating, correct Husband?”

“Correct,” I agreed, watching short videos of the figure saving cats from trees, helping old ladies (usually blind ones) cross the street, and generally doing the most mundane hero shit imaginable to the point where he'd earned the name, 'Friendly Neighborhood Cryptid' from someone on the internet.

I was more interested in the reports of him dragging back missing people from parts unknown, though, usually heavily traumatized and deliriously thanking the strange being.

There were even rumors online that he'd managed to find his way into the highly-secure floating island full of mad scientists out in the Pacific Ocean, which was noteworthy in and of itself considering how many protections they'd put in place against teleportation and other forms of instantaneous transmission or covert entry.

“How are you going to meet him?” Himiko asked, her hand still on mine as I maneuvered it to a different document and tapped it. “Huh...”

“After culling what I consider to be the least reliable or trustworthy accounts I documented, he has a clear preference for one particular area of Shizuoka,” I confirmed, explaining what the colored dots showed to erase any doubt. “I especially want to see if I can contact him because he might have information on other phenomena and creatures that I can use to reduce my own exposure.”

“And your backup plan is... The Bargain?” Himiko frowned, ghosting the cursor over another one of the dots, this one red instead of blue. “Husband...”

I sighed at the dangerous tone her voice had taken as she turned her head to make eye contact with me, her cat's eyes flexing into piercing slits. “All of the reliable rumors I've been able to dig up say that, as long as you're polite and courteous, it responds in kind, even if you can't come to terms on a deal. It also takes payment in valuable objects, of which I have quite a few I'd be willing to part with if it got me information.”

Himiko made a displeased noise. “These files also say that this creature can be vindictive and manipulative, exacting prices like intelligence, self-control, and even your ability to speak.”

“If it asks for those things, I'll know I've fucked up, offer it a deal for its forgiveness with whatever I have on-hand, and politely excuse myself,” I replied bluntly.

“I'll be on standby while you meet with this thing, Husband,” Himiko stated in a tone that broke no disagreement.

“As my beautiful and capable wife wishes,” I conceded, seeing no reason to fight her on an objectively good idea.

“Good,” Himiko nodded, then looked around at the Home we'd been settling into and kissed my cheek. “You're not allowed to do silly things, Hitoshi. We have a house now and that means you're my husband and we still need to finish decorating. I can't do that on my own!”

Which, I knew, was her own way of showing concern over my health and position.

Still, it made me chuckle.

“Your room is yours to do with as you please if you'd like to made any modifications now that you've gotten used to having your own space,” I reminded her, pulling her close. “Once you move into the apartment for school, we can start sharing the master suite properly.”

Himiko relaxed at the reminder. “And I still need to meet your father properly, Husband. Not just a phone call.”

“He's being... difficult,” I admitted with a grimace. Niko was still fighting me on having Himiko over, no matter what reassurances I gave him that she wouldn't be bothered by his 'condition.' Although, I think part of it was that he didn't want to admit or know how to handle me having a steady relationship or growing up. “If he doesn't agree to a firm date without an escape clause by next week, I'll just text you to come over while I'm cooking last-minute. That should be after you get your acceptance letter so it'll be a shorter trip and you won't have to explain things to your parents.”

Himiko nodded again, happy with the concession.

Honestly, I was getting to the point where I'd use part of the last stash of those roofies I'd stolen to knock the man out so I could tape him to a chair.

“I still want to meet your mother, too.” That reminder made me... well, it made me feel a certain way.

“I'd like you to meet her after she gets out,” I stated, unhappy with putting it off while also unhappy with introducing my wife/girlfriend to my mother while the latter was behind bars. “I think she would too, but I'll ask her about it the next time Dad and I go see her, which should be soon. He tries for a visit during Golden Week.”

Himiko's face blanked – something that was becoming a less-common occurrence as time went on, but was still a sure indicator that she was struggling how to process the situation and unafraid to let me know. “I... think I should let you decide? This is your family. You haven't tried to tell me how to interact with Mother or Father, even if you don't like them.”

“It would be pointless if you cut ties with them to make me happy,” I nodded.

She dipped her head in return slowly. “I don't understand, but okay.”

“It's a matter of how my Mother would want to interact with you, not how you would want to interact with her,” I explained, which... well, it was an elaborate way of saying, 'it's not you, it's her.' But it was also true and Himiko understood that without a fight. When it came to 'other people' she could still only model them in an academic sense rather than see them as greater than the sum of their independent characteristics and traits.

“Okay,” Himiko nodded, guilelessly accepting my judgment on the matter. “How is All Might doing?”

I clicked to a new screen once again, this time the All Might Tracker site. It was showing a significant uptick in his activity, but not as much as one might assume after he'd been completely healed and returned to youthful stamina. If anything, he was logging maybe five or six total hours per day as a hero.

“I believe Nezu has managed to convince him that working even a full eight hour day would tip his hand to All for One too much. Keeping his schedule to this level of activity helps maintain the illusion that he can't do more, while also giving him an excuse to stay home and parent Eri,” I explained, drawing the most likely conclusion that I could from the data available.

I very much doubt that Ersatz-Superman had just decided to stay home on his own and not save people, after all.

“That's good. The pictures you showed me of her were so cute,” Himiko stated, her eyes momentarily darkening. “Ostrich-Mask and Butler-jerk are jerks for being so mean to her.”

I gave a vague noise of assent, having already worked the topic over multiple times. I mean, really, what kind of idiot thought that handing a six year old – who'd just accidentally killed their father and been abandoned by their mother – over to a murderous germaphobic yakuza enforcer was a good idea?!

“No one will know you did it, will they?” Himiko asked me suddenly, a frown pulling at her face. “You should get credit.”

I snorted and shook my head. “I will, for other things. Not for this. This was... community service. Paying All Might back for everything he's done. Karma, maybe. He doesn't get to know who I am, how to repay me, or anything about me for this.”

Himiko pursed her lips, then nodded and began pulling off her clothes.

I blinked.

“Butler! Go set up the jewelry case in my room,” Himiko commanded as she continued to peel off articles of clothing.

Hearing the retreating footsteps of our household help, my eyes remained locked onto the girl in front of me as she pulled down her pants and panties in one clean move, then set them neatly to the side in a folded pile.

“Even if no one else knows, I will,” Himiko smiled at me as she knelt on the floor and reached for my belt. Obligingly, I raised my hips as she worked the buckle and pulled them down. “So I'm going to reward my husband for a good job.”

I sighed and leaned back as Himiko dipped her head forward and began to work on my dick.

Honestly? I'd take this over a stupid medal or a parade any day.

~~~

...what am I doing? 'Last chapter of Mind Games for the month,' my ass.

Ugh, okay, I'm going to go do something else, now.

For real this time.

All of you can enjoy the warm fuzzies of a rest chapter with Himiko and Hitoshi just chilling. Slightly risque piece there at the end.

I'll have the polls for September out in an hour or so, after I eat.