Chapter 34: Poison Mist Villain – Usuzumi①

On the way back from university.

As I walked down the road at dusk, a distant roar echoed.

Not unusual these days. Either a villain rampaging, or a gas explosion. Or a gas explosion because of a villain rampaging.

Well, if it was really dangerous to keep walking, Mio would warn me.

I kept going home without worry, and up ahead I spotted a familiar scarf fluttering.

"Oh, Raiden. Feels like it’s been a while. Been doing good?"

"That’s my line. But from the looks of it, you don’t seem to have been attacked today."

This time, it didn’t look like a shadow-clone of Raiden.

Yeah, makes sense. Raiden talks a lot, but he likes his personal space.
That double of him closed in on me without hesitation to stab me, which had felt seriously off.

"Flux, is Inori safe?"

"Shouldn’t you be asking me that?"

When Raiden asked, Mio appeared in Flux’s form from out of nowhere. His liquid body rippled as he touched his cheek and let out a small sigh.

"Of course I’d love to say I protected her perfectly—but…"

Mio trailed off.

Raiden leaned forward and burst out.

"Something definitely happened, didn’t it!? No way! When!? Today!? That villain earlier!? I thought I handled it perfectly, but she got caught up before I found her!?"

"I told you, ask me."

"No, it’s fine. Say too much and I’ll just make her worry. I’ll stop here."

"No, it’s already way too late! Do you know how much you’re making me worry!? And you call yourself her bodyguard? Totally unreliable! Switch with me, Flux, I’ll take over!"

"Hey, Raiden. Flux is seriously amazing, you know. His guard ability’s insane. Plus, his transport ability too."

"I’m the only one you treat like a pack cart, Inori."

That shadow managed to stab me because I told Mio to let it happen.

Otherwise, he handled D.E.T.O.N.A.T.E.’s bombardment, carried off the collapsed Ratlord, carried away the bound shadow too—yeah, he’s competent.

Raiden held his head. Since the mask hid his face, he used big gestures to show his feelings.

"You’re getting along so well…!"

"Well, spend enough time together and yeah. Not that—we just click, anyway."

"So that means you and I don’t click…!?"

"Gyahaha! What’s with that, Raiden, saying something that cute. I figured we were at least friends by now?"

"…I thought so too! Of course!"

Raiden pointed at Flux and declared:

"I’ll leave Inori to you a little longer, but if you try anything funny, I’ll come take you down myself, Flux!"

"My, my~. So if I do anything funny, you’ll come right over?"

"Don’t, Raiden doesn’t get that kind of joke."

Mio shrugged and promised Raiden, "I’ll keep her safe."

Hearing that, Raiden said, "See you then!" and vanished with his lightning-speed.

Busy as ever. Too many villains, not enough heroes.

After all that, when I got home, a furious "Kuraaah!" echoed from Sudama.

Sudama loves giving lectures—just another day.

Wonder who’s getting scolded today? I peeked into the living room, and surprisingly, it was Mio.

Mio had Ratlord tied up with liquid. What?

"Yo, so you’re here, Ratlord. How’s your health?"

"More important, there’s something I need you to hear…"

Ratlord said wearily. Tied up, but not like he felt his life was in danger.

"Man. Thanks to Sudama butting in, I didn’t make it in time."

"Stop fighting, both of you! Why are you young folks so hot-tempered!"

I think Sudama’s pretty hot-tempered too. Already fuming.

"You planning to finish Ratlord off while I wasn’t looking?"

"Not kill him, he’s a cute junior after all. Just thought we’d change the place for our talk."

"A secret talk, huh? Sorry, but this is my house. Not the best place if you don’t want me overhearing."

"Boss, let me borrow Flux for a bit."

"Ah, geez…"

Mio sighed.

Ratlord must have come looking for him.

Since Mio stalks—uh, guards me, he’s usually with me. He doesn’t show himself, but he’s always close, as proven when Raiden called him earlier.

Ratlord wanted me to hear too, which is why he came all the way to my place.

So when Mio noticed him inside my house just before I came home, he tried to tie him up and drag him somewhere else to talk without me knowing. But Sudama got in the way.

This time, Ratlord outplayed him.

"Borrow him? Mio’s not my property. You two decide that yourselves."

"He won’t leave your side ‘cause he says he’s guarding you. So if you’d give your permission…"

"Mio protecting me is his choice. Nothing I say changes that."

From the way he spoke, it sounded like this wasn’t the first time his request had been turned down.

"Are you familiar with the Poison Mist Villain, Usuzumi?"

"Yeah. I’ve been hit by him before."

That was back when Snow Fox and Inferna’s team-up was just starting to gain momentum.

I only got caught by the poison, so I never saw him directly. Even Inferna—who can detect living beings by their body heat even outside her line of sight—said she hadn’t seen him there.

Turns out those two had just finished capturing another villain when they stumbled upon me writhing in poison on the ground and panicked.

"I didn’t think you knew that much, but I see. That one’s been a real thorn in Public Safety’s side. We’re desperate to capture him. With Flux’s power, I figure we could bag him in a few days."

"I’ve already quit Public Safety. Can’t have you relying on me forever."

Ratlord’s eyes gleamed sharply.

"No, you still bear some responsibility. Usuzumi quit Public Safety and turned villain because of you. He thought you were dead, that you’d slipped away for good. To someone who admired you, that must’ve been a heavy blow. Probably made him stop caring about anything at all."

"…You’ve got to be kidding me."

Mio froze in shock for a moment.

"You’re really popular, Mio."

"Haaah, if he liked me that much, he should’ve made it clearer. I never would’ve known otherwise. Hearing this now, ugh…"

"If you want to go, then go. I’ll be fine."

"No, it’s not fine. If Inori dies while I’m gone, how do you think I’ll feel?"

As far as I’m concerned, if nobody says I’m dead, then I’m not dead.

But having promised Raiden, Mio didn’t want to step away from his bodyguard duty.

"Too heavy a role for me to take Flux’s place. And I’m sure you’d hate it if I brought in another Public Safety esper to watch over her."

"Absolutely not. Don’t even think about it."

Mio grimaced.

He was already leaning toward answering Ratlord’s request, toward doing something about this Usuzumi. His only hang-up was my safety. But before Mio came along, I managed things on my own. He doesn’t need to treat me like some princess.

"I’ll just cut down on going out for a while. This house already has Ironclad and Sudama. Between the two of them, that should be enough to fill in for Flux."

"Their personalities are the problem, not their strength."

I get that about Jin, but Sudama too?
Well, she’s a fox-eared little gremlin. Not surprising that she doesn’t move by human logic.

"Listen, Inori. Don’t die, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I don’t want to die either."

Mio gave me a suspicious look. Maybe my reply was too half-hearted.

But the truth is, I’m always living to avoid dying. The problem is, this world is crawling with people who’ll kill you regardless.

After a long, heavy sigh, Mio finally released Ratlord.

"Sigh. Well then, time to settle the past. Let’s make it quick. Come on, Ratlord—you’ve got at least some idea where he is, right?"

"I’ve narrowed his bases down to a handful. With your speed, you can cover them faster than I could."

The details, they kept from me. Figures—this was Public Safety business, after all. Secrets come with the territory.

Since they said they’d change locations, I watched the two of them leave through the front door.

Even so…

"Hey, Ratlord, you’re dropping the ‘-yansu’ talk? I kinda liked that."

"Putting on a character act in front of old acquaintances gets exhausting."

"So when it’s just us two, you’ll still use it?"

"If you like it that much."

"Yesss!"

I’m looking forward to how Ratlord keeps refining his ‘-yansu’ speech.