Chapter 115: The Flower of Evil
In the end, no one could stop the Director's decision. The next morning, Kira and Aoi Hana took the early bus down the mountain.
"By the way, Aoi-san, you're from Oma City, right? Is it okay for you to be staying at the zoo every day?" Kira asked suddenly as they reached an intersection in the city.
"Ah, and whose fault do you think that is?" Aoi suddenly turned, a pathetic smile on her face. "When I was just a high school student, he came to my house uninvited, saying things like 'I need you' and 'I can't do it without you'! And he even showed my mom his Pro Hero license, which he got from who-knows-where!"
"In that situation, anyone would think I was being scouted by a Pro Hero to be his sidekick! My mom supported me leaving home with both hands!" At this point, Aoi suddenly squatted down in the middle of the street, clutching her head and shouting, "Who would have known that in reality, I'd just be a zookeeper at an unpopular zoo!?"
"Um..." Kira crouched down next to her. "Then why don't you just leave and find work somewhere else?"
"Because... I love animals," Aoi said softly, watching a line of ants on the ground as she rested her face on her knees.
She loves animals... that's a hard reason to argue with. Yoshikage Kira stood up and took a deep breath, his eyes meeting those of a cat on top of a nearby wall.
The black cat froze, staring at him without blinking. It wasn't until another cat nudged it from behind that it reluctantly turned its head and continued on its way, following the line of cats along the wall.
"Aoi-san, let's go."
"Okay."
"Eh!? The park's rental department can't actually make a decision on rentals!? Then what's the point of calling it a rental department!?" A shout suddenly came from a building in the corner of Oma Park.
"Miss, I'm sorry, but even if you say that, I can't make the decision," a middle-aged man in a suit said, wiping the sweat from his brow. "You haven't shown any identification, you have no business license, no rental certificate from the land services department, and you just show up and say you want to rent several hundred meters of land..."
Kira sighed and stepped forward, taking Aoi's arm. "Let's go. Without any documents, this man can't do anything."
"Yes, yes! That's right!" the man nodded repeatedly.
After leaving the service office, Aoi looked at the lush, empty expanse of Oma Park, which covered several hundred meters without a single person in sight, and stomped her foot in frustration.
"This park is completely empty! But that old coot still won't budge! It's not like we're not paying them a rental fee!"
"No, I think anyone would be a little shocked if a high-school-aged girl showed up without any proof of identity and demanded to rent out several hundred square meters of land."
Aoi was dejected. As a girl who had gone straight to work at the zoo after graduating high school, she didn't know anything about these procedures. She looked at Kira, who seemed to have known all along that they would be turned away. "So what do we do now?"
"First, let's eat." Kira was quite familiar with this area; it was the same road he had taken from the Oma City train station. "I know a pretty good restaurant nearby. Let's go eat together."
It was already noon. According to what the park manager had said, they still needed to go to the land services department to get a temporary rental permit and register the members of their event... There were a lot of troublesome things they had to do. They definitely needed to get something to eat first.
"I'm the local here, but I need an outsider like you to tell me where to eat..." Aoi grumbled, but she obediently followed Kira.
The restaurant Kira was talking about was, of course, the Fujiwara restaurant, whose owner was rumored to be an "old driver." Kira still remembered the "Phantom Shrimp" vividly; he could still recall the taste.
"Boss, I'm back." Kira pulled back the curtain and walked into the small shop.
"Yo! Young Kira! I didn't expect to see you again!" There weren't many people in Fujiwara's shop. He greeted Kira warmly, then leaned to the side and saw Aoi behind him. "Isn't that Hana-chan?" he said, surprised. "I thought you were working as a sidekick for a Pro Hero."
The moment he said it, he understood. He smiled at Kira. "So you're doing your work-study at Hana-chan's agency, young man. I was wondering why the name 'Mad Rabbit' sounded so familiar. I must have heard it from Mrs. Aoi."
Clearly, Fujiwara knew Aoi and was quite familiar with her.
Aoi had just been unconsciously following Kira. When he stopped, she looked up, surprised. "Uncle Fujiwara? Kira-kun, you've been to this shop before? I remember your location isn't very good. No one comes here except for the regulars, right?"
"Well, there are a lot of reasons for that..." Fujiwara said with a wry smile, showing them to their seats. "What can I get for you two?"
"Lobster sashimi." "Seafood donburi."
As Fujiwara went to prepare their lunch, Aoi said to Kira, "I already called the Director. He said he'll have Takami deliver the relevant documents to us. He has a communication device."
"You mean that eagle, Takami? Does he know the way?" Takami was the bird-man. The Director seemed to trust him a lot and rarely tormented him.
"The Director usually uses Takami as his personal transport. They've been to Oma City many times. As long as we're in a conspicuous location, he'll be able to see us."
It wasn't long before Uncle Fujiwara came back with their food on a tray, a broad smile on his face. "Sorry to keep you waiting!"
At the same time, in a bar in Tokyo.
"Hey, hey, Mr. Supervillain, you went a little too hard, don't you think? We don't have a healer here, and the injuries I got before were just about to heal," Tomura Shigaraki said, staggering to his feet. Blood dripped from his right hand.
Opposite him was a person in tattered clothes. The most conspicuous things about him were the scarf around his neck, which looked as if it had been soaked in blood, and the numerous sharp knives on his body.
This was the criminal that the Pro Heroes were currently hunting with all their might: the Hero Killer.
He stared grimly at the powder that was trickling away from Shigaraki's palm along with his blood. A moment ago, that had been his favorite knife.
"What is your ultimate goal? And what do you want from me for joining you?"
"I've told you already. I don't have any of your grand principles. I just want to mess up this society that All Might built," Shigaraki said, adjusting the hand on his face. "I originally thought a supervillain like you would be a great asset to us, but now it seems we're not on the same path at all."
The Hero Killer, Stain, saw Shigaraki crouch slightly, as if preparing to attack. He sheathed his short sword. "Wait. Although our ultimate goals are opposite, on the point of 'destroying the present,' we are in agreement. You may have no conviction, but there is a warped ideology taking root in your heart. It won't be too late to kill you after I've seen what it grows into."
"Hmph. So you're still going to kill me in the end," Shigaraki said, relaxing his stance. He didn't want to fight this infamous villain right now either.
Shigaraki looked at Kurogiri and said in a sarcastic tone, "Now, hurry up and send our 'senpai' on his way. Doesn't he have a very important goal to achieve?"
"Does this mean our deal is made? Then send me back to Hosu City."
The Hero Killer paid no mind to Shigaraki's sarcasm. He had more important things on his mind.
After Stain and Shigaraki had stepped through Kurogiri's warp gate, just as Kurogiri was about to leave the bar, the television suddenly flickered on.
"Kurogiri. There is something I need you to do."
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