Chapter Text
They turn around a corner, and at the end of the hallway is the familiar plain white door that Itaru will always be pleased to see. He rushes forward and taps the button next to it, waiting for the red numbers to flash above him.
00:37:56
“GGWP,” Itaru says with a grin. “That’s my new personal best.”
To his right, a screen appears on the wall, showing the rankings, a list of superhero names and their respective total times. The two of them really did damn well, finishing it in a little over half an hour. Teaming up with Banri felt like cheating, because how the hell can a guy be that smart? Quite unfair, but, well, Itaru’s not complaining, especially if it’s to his advantage. Their rank should be—
“Huh?” Itaru squints and scans the list again, but nope, they’re not in the top 10. “What the hell?”
Banri, who has been walking like he’s at a park (since this is apparently a walk in the park even though it’s his first time, ugh), finally catches up with him. Staring at the list, he lets out an impressed whistle. “It’s mostly Crescent Moon… Chikage-san did seem like a guy who’ll like these.”
At the top of the list is Crescent Moon, followed by Crescent Moon, and then Crescent Moon, again. The streak is broken by Blaze, and Sword Lily is in 7th place, but the rest is goddamn Crescent Moon, either solo or with Cherry Bomb, the rookie he’s been mentoring. Sakuya, was it?
How does Chikage even find the time to drop by here? He should be busy as a top hero…
“This is on purpose,” Itaru mutters, taking a look at the time stamps. A consistent 10-second difference? Yeah, he’s definitely fucking with him, doing this just so Itaru’s own scores are out of the picture. Guess he wasn’t happy with the work left to him after Itaru went on a hiatus.
“We’re going back here later,” Itaru says in a tone that leaves no room for questions, “and we’re taking over these.”
Banri laughs. “Sure. Sounds fun.”
When he’s done lamenting over the rankings, Itaru pushes the door open and is unsurprised to see Tono waiting for them outside. After all, while he enjoyed playing the Escape Game again (and he’ll still call it that, no matter what Mizuno says), he hasn’t forgotten that he’s in the middle of the battle—
And this is the Boss Fight.
Though the ‘fight’ part doesn’t really feel necessary, not anymore. The malicious aura Tono exuded has disappeared, replaced with an air of defeat that clung to him like a second skin. While Itaru wants to know just what happened while they were in the building, he’s not going to pass up this chance to… Talk, with a capital T.
“Hey, Tono.” Itaru tips his head in the direction of the door. “Did you see the rankings? Chikage-senpai really crushed us and erased our existence.”
Tono doesn’t answer, doesn’t move at all, and Itaru takes the opportunity to take a proper look at him.
He looks terrible. The villain-esque outfit he has now—black gloves and harness and all—does nothing to hide the bags under his eyes, the tired tone of his skin. Just like Banri said, there’s also a sinister purple in his eyes that can’t be anything normal.
Yet somehow, Itaru thinks that Tono’s more in control now, that it’s really him in front of him.
The ex-hero finally opens his mouth. “You were leaving me behind, Chiga.”
Itaru blinks.
That… isn’t what he expected. What is he talking about—
“You kept on rising. I didn’t. Even though we were working together.”
Knitting his brows, Itaru replies in a measured tone, “You would’ve been given sponsorships if you—”
“No, I wouldn’t.” Tono hangs his head, clenching and unclenching his fists repeatedly. “Not with you around. I’m happy for you, but at the same time, I hated you.”
Oh. So that was how it was.
(Itaru already heard that earlier, but still, ouch.)
“And I hated myself for feeling that. I wanted to be free from you, and someone offered an opportunity to be recognized for being me, just me, so I thought…” Tono lifts his head, and despite the rollercoaster of emotions, Itaru finds himself mostly relieved as the purple in Tono’s eyes flickers. “Whatever. I don’t even know who I’m supposed to be now.”
Itaru doesn’t know what’s the reply Tono’s waiting to hear, the answer he needs to know. Should it even come from him? He still has to sort out his thoughts about everything too, and there’s just too much to handle right now.
While Itaru can’t do a lot of shit, he can compartmentalize. He’s a damn hero, and he will do his job even if it meant locking his feelings so he can instead casually ask, “Remember the bet we made back then? Fire-breathing villain? Arcade?”
Recognition flashes in Tono’s eyes as he looks at Banri with new eyes. “Huh. So you’re that kid.” Then, to Itaru, “Guess that means I lost.”
“Pay me later, Tono.”
Tono’s eyes flutter close, the dark purple swirling within flickering one last time before it disappears, his body slowly slumping forward. Pushing his feet against the pavement with Enhanced Strength, Itaru dashes forward to catch him before he hits the ground, the suppressant around his wrist dissolving into pieces.
Bless the power of Talking, Itaru thinks, inwardly sighing in relief as he carefully sets the unconscious Tono down. He wasn’t really in the mood for a fight cutscene, so thank god that worked. When Tono’s lying on the ground, Itaru pats his pants, hoping to find— “Aha! Now we can call Izumi.”
Tono’s still using the same phone from years ago. Password-protected, but it only takes Itaru two tries to get it right; the first attempt was his official debut as the hero Lancer, and the second was his mother’s birthday. Speaking of, Itaru hasn’t visited her in a while…
Banri kneels down next to him, ropes in hand.
“Where did you get that?” Itaru asks, pressing the phone against his ear. He’s about to tell him it isn’t necessary, but the line connects, and Itaru cuts off Izumi’s “who are you and why do you know my private num—” to explain their situation. He moves aside to let Banri do his thing since the younger hero seems to be in a bad mood, and why is he in a bad mood anyway?
The call ends with a strict order from Izumi to stay put and don’t do anything stupid I’ll be sending reinforcements, and Itaru pockets the phone, making a mental note to surrender it to Evidence later. He raises an eyebrow at the ropes tied around Tono’s body, then at Banri who is gathering the unused ropes in his hand.
“That’s a little overkill, don’t you think?”
“Just bein’ careful. Who knows, right?” Banri shrugs. “The mastermind’s still out there.”
“Tono already had his Monologue of Defeat so this really isn’t necessary,” Itaru says, reaching for the ropes, intending to get Tono out of it. “We have our powers back now too, so—”
“Do you really gotta keep touchin’—”
Banri steps in front of him, and Itaru takes a step back to avoid bumping into him, making him trip over his feet. He loses his balance, a hand darting out to grab Banri’s wrist instinctively, and they both fall on their asses. A leg tangled up in ropes, Itaru tries to get up, but it somehow makes everything worse and now they’re both stuck.
How the fuck? Just what kind of rope—
“Ah, damn,” Itaru mutters, finally recognizing the support item when he takes a closer look. “Don’t move. It gets tighter the more you do.”
Of course, Banri, the little shit, moves some more. Itaru winces as the rope digs into his thigh, and he throws Banri an unamused look that finally makes him stop squirming. After a long-suffering sigh, Itaru explains that the rope has properties similar to the bracelet suppressants so they can’t use Enhanced Strength, and it can be removed but Itaru doesn’t know how and yes, NEO-kun, even the great Taruchi doesn’t know everything, shut up.
They can only wait for the reinforcements to arrive and hope one of them knows how to get them out of their predicament. With nothing else to do, they simply stare at each other…
Okay, the silence is getting awkward.
“So what’s up with you? You’ve been acting weird,” Itaru says. Banri was all smiles when they were in the building, then he became grumpy when… “Oh. You looked up to us or something, right? Are you disappointed with Tono?”
“Not really,” Banri answers curtly.
“You know, I won’t be offended if you say Lancer is actually your favorite.”
“He ain’t.”
“Or are you jealous—”
“I, I’m not—”
“—because of his new powers? Teleportation is pretty neat.”
“That’s not, ugh, you’re—”
“I’m?”
Banri clicks his tongue, averting his gaze. “Nothing. Whatever. Our work here’s done.”
“We still have a lot to do, actually,” Itaru says. “Gotta catch the ones responsible in the first place.”
“And then…?”
At Itaru’s questioning hum, Banri turns back to him, staring him straight in the eye. Speaking of eyes, are Banri’s always this bright? “What will you do, Itaru-san? Are you… gonna work with him again?”
Blue, like the ocean, so deep that Itaru can drown in them— wait, what? “Huh? Why would I? I don’t even know if he wants to be a hero anymore. Who knows what he’s been up to recently.”
“Aside from pretending to be Kaiser?”
“So that’s his name,” Itaru mumbles. Then, louder, “How long do you think he has been pretending? Oh shit, where is the real Kaiser? Does he even exist?”
Banri leans forward, dropping his face on one of his folded knees, showing off his flexibility which Itaru doesn’t have. “Dunno,” he says, voice muffled. “You can ask Lancer, and you two can be partners again.”
“There's no ‘again’ since we were never partners. Besides, I do have a partner now.”
Banri’s head shoots up, and Itaru clears his throat, feeling his face heat up, and why is he flushed? Get a grip, man. It’s no big deal. The Novice just proved he’s competent, good enough to level up. “Teaming up with you isn’t so bad.”
“…Itaru-san, I—”
“Ehem.”
Their jerk, turning their heads at the same time to see Izumi staring down at them, a brow raised and a hand on her waist. “I wasn’t expecting this.”
“Yeah, this happened after I called,” Itaru says with a shrug. “Do you know how to remove— right, of course. Thanks.”
As Izumi dusts her hands, the ropes falling on the ground, Itaru rolls his shoulders while Banri stretches his legs. A few men in suits arrive, and Izumi instructs them to take Tono and double-check the premises.
“Hey, Izumi.” Itaru stands up, brushing the dirt off his pants. “We need to really focus on this villain group now.”
Izumi nods. “I was already planning to have a group in charge of it. Do you want to lead, Taruchi?”
“No.”
Izumi sighs. “I thought so—”
“We will lead it.” Itaru nods at Banri, who blinks back at him. “I’m with NEO.”
Izumi simply stares for a moment before she lets out a long oooooh, wiggling her brows. “Of course. Because you’re partners. Right?”
Ugh. What’s that emphasis for?
“Right,” Itaru says, waving a hand nonchalantly. He starts making his way to where a car should be waiting— “Oof!”
Itaru glares at Banri, who only grins in return, not removing his arm around his shoulders.
“Don’t go leavin’ without me, partner!”
“Ugh. Stop that.”
“Why not, partner?”
“Demoted. You’re back to Newbie.”
“You can’t do that, partner.”
“Watch me.”
“Always. Doin’ that for years now.”
“…”
“I mean—”
“Just get in the damn car…”
“Right.”
“…partner.”
“…”
“…”
“Oh.”
(The Konomi-and-Izumi intervention is working.)