The sun was still up, but the sky already turned a reddish hue. Long shadows of poles, trees and buildings were drawn across the pavement and the footsteps of walking people resonated on it.
Coffee shops were filled to the brim with tired men and woman, allowing themselves some relaxation after a long day of work. Others were directly heading home or went to pick up their children from school or Kindergarten.
And others were leisurely walking through the city, perhaps because they had nothing better to do. The elderly and jobless were the vast majority in that category.
Among the elderly, there was one who stood out. A slightly hunched figure of small stature, bearing a mutated physique. The old man's skin was a gray tone and a volcano sat upon his head. His arms were thin and his hands disproportionally large. His teeth were as if made of stone and iron and he only had a single, large eye.
That however, wasn't the reason as to why he stood out.
The actual reason, were his clothes. The elderly Mutant's attire was a traditional one, a Hakama for pants and a yellow-black Haori-like garment, similar to an open front jacket. There was a clattering sound at every step he took, due to his traditional sandals, which were for some reason made of stone, and he used a wooden cane to walk.
Such traditional attire, in the midst of a modern city. Jogo however, did not realize that.
'Hmpf. It seems i attract attention.'
Jogo, the elderly Mutant, frowned at that. He was currently walking in a very busy part of the city, a place surrounded by tall buildings filled with offices. All kinds of people and Mutants were walking here, which is why he wondered about the looks he received.
'Not fear. They're looking at me like they looked at Geto.'
It was uncomfortable not to know the reason for those glances, but he did not think about it long. He had more important things to consider. Having come to the realization that he needed more information, not about the structure of this place, but rather of the people themselves, Jogo wanted to try to understand how the people here ticked.
Before his death, Jogo had already bothered himself with Humans. He had observed them and thought over their actions, but ultimately deemed them nonsensical. They kept lying and failing at the simplest stuff, it was agonizing to watch.
But, he had never talked to them.
So now, that was exactly what Jogo was going to try.
'The question is how?'
Jogo kept walking at slow pace. His lone eye darted around as he thought about who to talk to and how to even do so.
Should he threaten them? This was the easiest for him. He could simply walk over to a person, grab them, carry them to a rooftop and threaten to throw them down if they didn't give him information about their opinions.
But the fact that he even considered another approach, made him dismiss this one entirely. Because Jogo knew that it meant he didn't fully consider these people enemies. At least for now.
Then, his gaze fell onto a television behind a glass window. People were gathered in front of it, cheering and leering at the screen with strange enthusiasm. Jogo's eye furrowed and he approached the group of people.
"...footage of the Pro-Hero Thirteen, rescuing civilians from a collapsed city block. The details as to what happened are unclear, but the likeness of ...."
Jogo tuned the voice out as he stopped next to another watcher, his eye intently focused on the footage. It showed a collapsed Building, filled with rubble and bent steel and Sirens rang in the background.
People were moving around the rubble, and the footage zoomed onto a person wearing a thick space-suit, clearing the rubble in front of them by simply pointing a single finger.
'That should be a Hero. Thirteen...'
Jogo's face remained impassive as he watched them work. Even from a screen, he could tell how careful the Hero was. The ...pull-based ability seemed to clear large chunks of rubble and disintegrate them with ease, and the Hero seemed to be careful not to direct it towards a person.
'Hmm, that person was called a Hero? Seems like nothing but a human whose powers are getting put to use.'
He didn't see anything Heroic. Perhaps the Humans could appreciate those actions, but they seemed pointless to him.
Despite that, he remained there for a moment, watching the crowd who watched the footage alongside him. Their expressions were mixed between excitement and worry, as they watched the Pro-Hero clear the rubble and search for survivors.
"Look Mom! Thirteen is using her Quirk!"
"She does! Look how careful she is not to injure anyone! Isn't she great?"
Jogo turned his head towards the source of the voice. A woman and her child who stared at the screen. The child had an excited glint in her eye, one which had Jogo scoff.
But, he immediately understood something. The woman in the Alley hadn't lied when saying that this Society was all around Heroes and Villains. The way in which the Mother complimented the Hero's actions, advocating for care and control was telling enough.
She wasn't the only one, as plenty of people around him started to discuss other Heroes track record when it came to rescue Work.
'...it looks like they love those who restrain their power.'
It was strange to him. Despite Jogo having held himself back, it had been inadvertent after all, he had always respected strength and power. People like Sukuna and... for better or worse, Satoru Gojo. Power measured in what it could destroy, not leave untouched.
And Power, when restrained, was useless.
Had Jogo gone all out from the beginning in his fight against Gojo... he would have still lost But not like this. Not with his pride so shattered. Restraint had cost him, and that was something he'd remember.
Yet, here they seemed to celebrate it. A Hero whose Quirk had so much destructive potential, used to clean up rubble. Ridiculous.
...
'...what now?'
The elderly Mutant looked at the people around him. Some gave him a polite nod when noticing, others ignored him.
'Even if these Humans are ridiculous, what am i to do?'
Burn them down? Kill them all? For what? To be the last person alive on this world?
What would be the point?
'...how strange that i can think like that.'
In the past, Jogo had never overthought that topic. He was a curse and he hated humans. His philosophy was tied to it, but it was the instinct that truly mattered.
But now, he lacked it. While it wouldn't bother him to do so, he didn't feel like doing it.
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The elderly Mutant found himself wandering the streets once more. He'd grown disinterested in the Footage in which the reporter kept praising the Hero's carefulness, and decided to walk a bit more through this part of the city.
Coffee shops, Restaurants, shopping malls and cinema's, all kinds of commercial places surrounded him as he walked. He saw people eat and drink while laughing, others talking about a movie or what clothes to buy.
And more importantly, televisions broadcasting live news or Hero footages. A lot of them.
Not only thirteen, but plenty of these so called Heroes were being broadcasted. And the crowd around the screen, like they did everywhere, cheered again.
'Is that all these People do? Plenty of them have Quirks with potential, but they spend their time leering at screens instead of attempting to increase their power?'
This was another version of restraint, but the real word for it would be restriction.
The woman in the alley had explained that using one's Quirk without a permit was illegal and punishable. Which was ridiculous. Jogo did not believe something like that could have worked.
But it did. People here did not train or use their power because they lacked a paper saying them they were allowed to so. It was honestly insulting to him.
As Jogo mulled over that topic, silently fuming, his eyes settled on a man sitting at a table of a small Shop.
'...I did say i'd talk to one of them in order to appraise them.'
Why that man? Because he was calm, different than all these hopeful fools. He hoped to have conversation in order to understand more about where he was. He didn't care to hear about how great and amazing they supposedly were.
And so, with the experience of over a 100 years of lifetime of near-solitude, the Curse of the Iron mountain approached the Human and sat down in front of him, ignoring the man's questioning look.
"...i do not mind some company, but it'd have been polite to ask, you know...?"
Jogo's expression remained impassive, but he was refraining the impulse to create a volcano underneath the man for his comment.
"These people are really obsessed with their Heroes, aren't they?"
Jogo's grating voice came out flat and he reached into his pockets, finding one of the small transfigured Humans in form of a pipe, which Mahito had once gifted him, and lighting it.
The man's questioning look remained for a moment as he stared at the strange looking pipe in silence before breaking into a light smile.
Unbeknownst to Jogo, the man assumed him to be a lonely Elder and decided to entertain him. And the human pipe? It looked like a cool decor, nothing more.
"I mean, they're everywhere and they do good work. At least most of them. What's there to dislike?"
The elderly Mutant's expression did not change, his lone eye simply darting back to the crowd standing in front of the screen.
"They are that common place, huh?"
The man just raised his eyebrow at that. "Guess you could say that."
Jogo's gaze shifted back to the man and exhaled a plum of smoke from his human pipe. The man stared at it in amazement and slight bewilderment as he saw the decor on the pipe shift expression.
Jogo spoke up again. "What would happen, if one of them caused damage?"
The man blinked.
"Well, if you property damage, Insurance usually covers that. But sometimes the Heroes do it out of their own pockets."
Jogo, about to take another smoke out of his pipe stopped mid-motion and adjusted his ear plugs. His voice was filled with bewilderment... and slight indignation.
"You hold them accountable? And they allow it?"
The man's face shifted into a slightly uncomfortable expression. He chose his words carefully and took a sip of his drink.
"I mean, yeah. They're not above the law, if that's what you're asking."
Jogo frowned at that. For him, Power was synonym to freedom. Those who could, did. Someone like Satoru Gojo or the King of curses would never stop at something due to something as ridiculous such as regulations.
"Pathetic. Allowing oneself to be leashed like that."
This time, the man visibly recoiled at the elderly Mutants statement. A statement like that was not something one usually heard. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he answered.
"I... wouldn't really call it a leash. I mean they're just rules."
Jogo scoffed, disdain evident on his expression.
"Pah. No distinction."
The man just shrugged, looking at Jogo with a complicated expression. Then, as if deciding to risk it, he leaned back into the conversation.
"...it seems you've got strong opinions about it. Still, whether its a rule or leash doesn't matter if its for safety, right? Someone as strong as All Might being careless with his punches would be pretty bad for everyone, right?"
"Hmmpf." Jogo scoffed again, exhaling another cloud of smoke. 'All Might, a pretentious name if i ever heard one.'
The elderly Mutant and the man remained in silence for a moment. The man slightly relaxed, seemingly deciding that Jogo was just interested in debating his abnormal point of view.
"I mean... your Quirk for one, seems pretty intense. If you didn't restrain yourself... wouldn't it be pretty bad?"
Jogo froze mid-motion. His mind replayed several things at once. Among them, his second battle against Satoru Gojo, during Suguru Geto's plan to seal him.
And Hanami's death.
Would she have died, had Jogo brought up the might of his technique? Had he threatened to bury Satoru Gojo's students in a sea of Lava, instead of attempting to break through using Domain amplification, would she perhaps have survived?
The thought left Jogo fast. With Sukuna's awakening, she would probably have died soon after. Their entire path had been one of war, thinking that way about her death was an insult to their determination.
Still...
"Restraint has cost me a lot."
His voice came out calmer than it did during the entire conversation. The man stopped for just a moment.
"...yeah. I guess we all make choices we regret. Still, i think..."
"I'm leaving."
Jogo stood up, sensing his mood worsening at the man's every word. He tucked away the Human pipe and walked off his steps as slow as ever.
But the heat around him simmered and he felt the pressure in his ears rise. Despite that, he did not do anything and simply walked, silently mulling over the man's words about safety. They did not mean anything to him, he considered them pointless.
And that annoyed him even more. Because it disconnected him even further from anyone in this place.
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CHAPTER END