—Cole POV—
"How the hell…do you have…so much…energy…", Mirko panted lying on the ground, "We have been at it for…three hours, and you…haven't broken a…sweat."
"Please be mindful of how you phrase things. If you said that in near a reporter, you and I will be in the news headlines.", I sighed shaking my head with a smirk.
Telling me to get my mind out of the gutter, she said it wasn't like that till she remember how thirsty for a story some reporters were. Helping her to her feet, I handed her a towel and a bottle of water to drink. Thanking me, before chugging the water down, she told me she appreciated letting her have some of my time.
"It's hard to find good sparring partners, most of the ones I used to have quit on me.", she snickered with a playful smile.
"It's no problem, I look at it as ensuring my skills don't get rusty.", I replied looking at my phone, "Anyways I have to get going, Eri will be out of class soon and I am sure the Hero Association will be looking for me. I am honestly surprised they haven't called me yet, are they really this slow to react?"
"They are probably gauging how to react, it's not every day we have wackjobs running around with bullets that destroy Quirks.", she remarked, "I will give you a call sometime soon, I'd like to thank you properly for putting up with my sparring requests with a homecooked meal."
Looking at her, I placed the back of my left hand on her forehead. Asking her if she was alright, she started twitching with anger. Pushing my hand away, she demanded to know what I was suggesting.
"I am surprised you are asking me on a date.", I chuckled.
"Who said it was a date!?", she spat.
"If you were going to thank me, you'd have offered to get coffee with me. Since you suggested a homecooked meal, you are trying to show your feminine side to me.", I teased having played this cat-and-mouse game before.
"Ugh…can't you at least just make it seem like you didn't know.", she said with a sigh, "Listen, this feelings crap isn't something I am all that familiar with so cut me some slack. It's clear the two of us like spending time together, otherwise, you'd never agree to train with me."
Seeing where she was coming from, clearly, she didn't take into consideration the amount of badgering she did to get me here the first time. Deciding to let this one go, I was curious to see how far she took things. She was an attractive, single woman so I saw no issue with accepting a meal from her for our sparring. If there was something between us, I wasn't going to say no to it.
Parting ways from her, I headed to Eri's school to pick her up. Waiting with her at the front gate was Fuyumi who immediately pushed Eri forward when I arrived. Nervously walking towards me, Eri was clearly worried about something and I was almost certain I knew what it was. Feinting ignorance for the moment, I asked her if something was wrong.
"I…I am sorry.", she told me as she hung her head in shame, "You could have lost your Quirk because of me."
"You have nothing to apologize for, it isn't your fault.", I assured her with a smile, "That man will never hurt you anymore, he won't hurt anyone anymore now."
"But I-", she tried to argue before I placed my finger on her lips to quiet her down.
"There wasn't anything you could have done differently, you are only five years old. Even if you could go back and change things, the results wouldn't have changed. Now that this is settled, all we can do is move forward and leave the past in the past.", I said softly, "I know you haven't been in my care long, but as far as I am concerned you are my daughter now. Let me worry about adult things, and you just be a young girl. You don't have to worry about anything anymore, I will take care of you."
Running forward, she clung to be and began to cry loudly. This was probably the first time someone had shown her love in a long time, so all the hurt she'd been carrying came out. Picking her up carefully, I held her close to me while I glanced back at Fuyumi. Giving me a pleased smile, she told me she'd call me later tonight to discuss getting Eri caught up on her learning.
—3rd Person POV—
Having watched Kessler effortlessly kill Overhaul and several powerful Yakuza members, All For One recognized that Kessler was a much bigger threat than he initially anticipated. Kessler had shown he wasn't afraid to shoulder the consequences of killing villains and even went as far as to challenge the Meta Liberation Army and himself on national television. His actions today would definitely send shockwaves through the villain community as many murderers and serial killers would go into hiding trying to avoid running into him.
'Moreover, he didn't try to shift the blame for what he did to someone else. The public is going to be eating out of his hands now for this.', All For One thought, 'All the careful work I have been doing to weaken public trust in heroes is going to start crumbling now.'
"Master, is everything okay?", Kyudai Garaki inquired noticing the irritated look on All For One's face.
"Kessler has thrown a wrench into my plans now. It's clear his Quirk is far more powerful than he lets on, he is being extremely careful with how much he shows the public. A man like that is unpredictable which makes him difficult to plan countermeasures for.", All For One stated, "We will need to ensure that Kessler isn't at UA when we launch our attack. A distraction will be needed to draw him away from the campus, and then we will need to jam their communications so they can't call him back."
Thinking about the best way to draw him out of UA, Tomura returned from his meeting with their allies in the media. Wearing a disgusted look on his face, their allies must have added some new heads to their collection. Leaving the matter of the distraction for a later time, All For One asked how the meeting went.
"They have agreed to assist with the testing.", Tomura replied scratching his neck, "In return, they want us to gather some new prey for them. After seeing what Kessler did, they decided to lay low for a while and left for their island."
All For One was about to respond when an idea came to mind. Thanks to their spy on the inside, they had a complete roster of students in the school. Remembering that some of the students fit the description of the prey they frequently hunted, All For One smiled as a plan came together.
"Tomura, I have another task for you. See if you can't find some additional hired muscle for our upcoming plans.", All For One told him, "Make sure you follow the normal procedure so Kessler can't trace back to us."
Doing as his teacher asked, Tomura took Kurogiri to start the search for more hired muscle.
—Several Days Later, Cole POV—
Going about my normal routine, the Hero Association took their sweet time contacting me about my punishment. I knew they were going to do something as they had to dissuade others from following in my footsteps, but the punishment I got was rather light given the circumstance. I had to pay a modest ten thousand dollar fine and work under a local Agency for two weeks before I could resume my independent patrolling.
As Togo thought, crime plummeted like a stone after I killed Overhaul and several of the Yakuza. The thought that I would kill villains for committing violent crimes had scared many of them into hiding, and some of the idiot, non-violent ones turned themselves in thinking I was going to kill every villain I saw. It certainly made the police laugh at their stupidity when they told them I had requirements for killing people…after they threw the villains in a cell.
Since I had to work with an Agency for two weeks, Mandalay ended up inducting me into the Wild, Wild Pussycats as a temporary member. Thankfully their team allowed me to keep my normal attire, and not where anything cat-oriented…aside from a button they had me attach to my coat. When I showed up for my first day with the pussycats, Kota almost exploded with excitement.
"You are going to be working here!?", Kota shouted with excitement, "Does that mean you will be taking me to school, and picking me up?!"
"I don't know about that, but yes I will be working here for the next two weeks.", I chuckled patting him on the head, "We can discuss taking you to school and picking you up with your cousin."
Turning to her with a pleading gaze, he begged her to let me tag along with them. Seeing no reason not to, Mandalay agreed to his request.
"Thanks Cousin Sosaki!!", Kota said running around the room, "You are the best!"
Seeing her face light up, it was probably the first thank you she had gotten out of him in a while. Giving her a few moments to collect herself, Tiger reminded her that I was here to work and not play with Kota. Snapping out of her daydream, Mandalay regained her composure and accepted my words of gratitude. Reminding me that I would have to follow her orders while on the job, I nodded my head and acknowledged her words.
"So what are we doing today?", I inquired seeing if they did a morning briefing.
"After we drop off Kota, we will go out on patrol.", Mandalay told me as she handed Kota his backpack.
Dropping him off at Cherry Blossom Elementary, the five of us hit the streets looking for any criminal activity. Taking up a position in the rear, I kept my head on a swivel looking for anything out of the ordinary. Listening to them talk about their upcoming weekends, I took a look at my phone as I was getting emails from the police and Hero Association servers.
All For One's moles were feeding him information on what the officer confiscated, and about the Yakuza members they currently had in custody. The villains were of no consequence to All For One so the logical target would be the research the police had collected on the Anti-Quirk bullets and the trigger drug. They were currently scheduled to be dropped off at the police disposal site today so he was bound to send some grunts to collect the materials.
"Mandalay, since it seems pretty quiet today do you mind if I make a suggestion?", I asked her.
"What's up?", she replied turning to look at me.
"Word is that the contraband that police took from the Yakuza is going to be disposed of today. The convoy is going to be leaving soon, I was thinking we could tag along as extra support given how dangerous it is.", I suggested.
Looking at her teammates for input, all of them agreed it wouldn't hurt to follow my suggestion. Asking me where we needed to go, I told her we could join up with the convoy a few blocks from here. Heading over to the spot, the trucks started rolling down the street ten minutes later. Waving them down, we asked the escort if we could join them as extra security. Telling Mandalay that I would stick to the rooftops to see impending problems, she tossed me a radio and told me to report back to them if I saw anything. Zipping up to a nearby rooftop, I moved a few blocks ahead of them and started surveying the area as we moved toward the disposal site.