Chapter 3: Ice-Snow Hero – Yukiko①

Once again today, I got blown away by a villain, crashed through some store window with my body, and made a dynamic entrance.

No screams went up, and I was relieved to see everyone had already evacuated.

Good thing everyone ran fast. I’m slow, so I usually end up at the tail end. But if everyone’s already out, that works fine too. Nobody around means nobody’s going to see me half-dead and drag me to a hospital.

As I sat up and checked my wounds, Raiden came rushing in, flustered. Looks like the fight with the villain had already ended. Guess he’s steadily leveling up. Good for him.

"Oh. If it isn’t the original hero, Raiden-san."

It’s been about three years since I first met Raiden. I was now eighteen, used to school life… and also kinda used to getting beat up by villains.

Being able to call him "the original" hero was a milestone worth celebrating. It meant new heroes had finally shown up. Villains kept popping up one after another, but for some reason, there were far too few heroes. Maybe that’s just how it works—after all, in real life, criminals outnumber cops.

Up until now, there’d been plenty of posers calling themselves heroes, but most were just ordinary people seeking attention. This new one was the real deal, though. They had actual powers. Maybe—just maybe—things were about to get safer.

But even after defeating the villain, Raiden looked panicked.

"If you can talk that much, I guess you’re still pretty lively!?"

"As you can see."

"As I can see, you look either half-dead, fresh out of some brutal torture, victim of one of those infamous Chinese executions, a mafia warning, a captured spy, or someone who just lost a death game!"

Wouldn’t someone who lost a death game be, you know… dead?

After crashing through the window, my body was shredded, covered in cuts from all the glass. With Raiden’s help, I pulled out every shard stuck in me. For a so-called hero, his gore tolerance was nonexistent—he was shaking, about to throw up—but I couldn’t reach my back, so he had to help anyway.

This guy never gets used to my injuries. Even though I keep telling him I heal. Even though he’s seen it countless times by now. Still doesn’t seem to trust it.

Though I did look like a hedgehog with glass sticking out everywhere, this time’s wounds weren’t actually that bad. Punctures are easy to heal.

"Don’t worry. Lately, it feels like I’m in a growth spurt or something. My healing speed’s been going up bit by bit."

"That doesn’t make me feel better at all! If you know that, it means you’re constantly getting injured! Even when I’m not around, aren’t you!? Say it isn’t so!"

So much for the reaction I was expecting. Figures—heroes must be a hundred times more gentle and sensitive than I am.

"Thanks for the hero-like concern. But no, I’m not smashing my skull every day. I’ve just got this old habit from when I was a kid: stab myself with a safety pin and time how long it takes the bleeding to stop."

"You’re still a kid, you know."

"Hah? I’m a college student."

"Yeah, yeah."

He brushed it off like I was making things up. I always thought I looked mature for my age, but Raiden still saw me as just a brat. Fine by me—I think flaunting education like it’s some kind of status symbol is tacky anyway.

"Word is, a few people have started calling themselves heroes, following your lead."

I changed the subject. Ever since he learned about my healing, Raiden had stopped trying to haul me to hospitals. Instead, he’d stick around until I fully recovered. At that point, we’d exchanged names, so now we were acquaintances of sorts. Just recently, when the cops tried to take me in for protection, Raiden even carried me off to save me. For someone like me, who doesn’t want my powers exposed and end up a lab rat, that was a huge help.

"Yeah. I was happy about the cosplay with my mask, but seeing real powered heroes appear makes me even happier. Much better than more villains showing up. Would be great if villains just switched careers and became heroes instead."

"Not forming something like a Hero Alliance?"

"I’d be all for it, but I don’t know about them. Haven’t actually met any of the new ones yet. I’ve been too busy with villains. And it looks like they’ve been busy too, same reason."

"Huh. If I meet one, I’ll tell ’em. Raiden wants to team up."

After three years of knowing him, even without ever seeing his real face, I’d gotten a sense of what kind of guy Raiden was. He’s talkative. Really talkative. He almost never shuts up. As a hero who controls electricity, he races around like lightning—but his mouth moves just as fast. Guess that means his brain works at lightning speed too? Something about electric signals in the brain… I dunno.

But for once, Raiden went quiet. Just for a short moment.

"…Don’t bother passing that on. Instead, how about you just try not to get yourself into situations where a hero needs to save you?"

"What, jealous? Don’t want me being saved by anyone but you? Gahaha."

"This kid… has no idea how I feel…"

Raiden sighed, exasperated. But it’s not like I want to get dragged into these superpowered fights. It’s all just coincidence. The real issue is how often villains pop up in this city. No way one hero alone can keep up.

I’ll size up the new hero when I meet them. Heroes should work in shifts, make sure they get proper days off. And knowing my rotten luck, it’s only a matter of time before I run into them.