Chapter 43: Inferna, the Blazing Villain
Maybe I should’ve been more careful.
Delta’s got a silver tongue, real charisma. The kind of skill that can turn any wannabe criminal into a full-fledged supervillain. I knew that much.
But I didn’t think about how if it were Delta, he could even push Inferna—someone who once almost became a villain—over the edge again. That’s on me.
And yet, I went and fanned the flames. I thought as long as the goal was taking down Delta, Hina wouldn’t run off in some strange direction.
Turns out, Delta’s even smoother than I am.
Hina, blazing in brilliant blue flames, turned to me with a cry of joy.
"Ah, Inori! For your sake, I’ll do my best!"
"Uh… wow…"
She’s really hit the limit. Normally I’d joke about it out loud, but right now if I open my mouth, I feel like the inside of it’ll burn to a crisp. That’s how hot it is.
"Inori, help! Hina’s gone totally off the rails!"
While desperately lowering the rising temperature around us, Snow Fox came running, shouting for help. Hina, scattering blue fire everywhere, declared:
"The one who was strange was the old me. This is the real me now."
And what did all that effort lead to, for her to end up like this?
She was always serious, always trying too hard. When I first met her, she had already gone past her limits, and because of that she was constantly creaking under the strain. A heart that’s cracked once can never be fully healed. She made it this far without her wounds ever being properly treated.
I always knew a day like this might come, but knowing doesn’t make it easier to watch when it actually happens.
Even if it was inevitable someday, I wanted to stretch out that “someday” forever—that’s why I stayed by her side.
Guess it was more than I could handle. My hands are full enough as it is, with my father’s life depending on a cure I’ve been trying to develop. How much time did I really have to think about Hina?
"Mio, can you handle fire control?"
"And leave my post when there’s a villain standing right in front of us? What kind of bodyguard would that make me?"
"But Snow Fox is suffering here."
"I-it’s fine, I’ll manage somehow! But I’m really close to my limit! Please, get Hina back to normal as fast as you can!"
"I’ll try my best, but still…"
This is basically a fight against Delta.
It’s a battle between me and him—whose words are smoother, whose voice can shake Hina’s heart.
Not that I’ve got much confidence. Delta’s basically the final boss. Maybe I can scrape by just on the time I’ve spent with her? We’ve barely known each other a year, but that’s still longer than Delta’s had, right? Maybe that’s enough?
No time to waste, though. Snow Fox is already at his breaking point, and Mio will probably prioritize guarding me over putting out fires, even if it means the city burns. Villain through and through.
"Let’s change the world!"
Talk about ambitious. Maybe she’s cut out to be a politician. Still unemployed and without a new job, Hina was now shouting her ideals at the top of her lungs.
"Let’s get rid of this cramped, suffocating world and make it so everyone can live free!"
She looked happier than I’d ever seen her before—overflowing with hope.
"Let’s burn everything down, and only leave the gifted behind."
She’s found an unshakable purpose.
Were these the kinds of words Delta whispered to her? The usual villain clichés—supremacy, world conquest, all that evil-organization template stuff.
"Let’s burn all the gifted who can’t withstand my heat."
She no longer needed to hold back. Hina, who once said she didn’t have the courage, had learned how to unleash herself.
"The world only needs Inori and me. Let’s be happy together, Inori."
Hina had finally reached the point where she could think about her own happiness. It was flattering that I was part of it—but the problem was that no one else existed in that world.
Snow Fox, resisting Inferna’s intense heat and continuously lowering the temperature, pointed at himself and shouted:
"What about me!?"
"Yukiya-kun, you can freeze, so if you try, you won’t burn. Let’s live together, it’ll be fun, I promise."
"Yesss!"
Yukiya screamed in desperation. He was clearly at his limit.
Ah… I really hate doing this kind of thing.
I sighed, steeled myself, and took a step forward.
"Inori, I can’t get any closer than this."
For Flux, both Snow Fox and Inferna were dangerous. For Mio, who had to remain liquid, sudden temperature changes were deadly. The last time he fought Omokage, he said that if the assimilating liquid ran out, he’d lose his sense of self. Apparently, he could revert to human form if he fainted—but evaporation or freezing were different dangers altogether.
"Yeah, stay back, it’s dangerous."
I said that to Mio and slowly approached Hina. The flame-headed girl tilted her head in curiosity.
"If you plan to burn everything down, then I’ll burn too."
And with that, I wrapped myself around Hina. I pressed myself close to her, trying to make full contact with her scorching-hot body.
I was instantly seared.
"Ah, no, nooo!"
A scream tore out of me. It was far more agonizing than the time I’d accidentally burned my arm the first day we met.
I felt guilty for interfering with the path Hina had finally found to her happiness.
But this desire… it was far too hot. Hot enough to incinerate everything.
"Let’s burn all the gifted who can’t withstand my heat," Hina said again.
Then I should be burned too.
I couldn’t withstand the heat. All I could do was regenerate.
If Hina was going to burn the entire world to ashes, then I would burn with her.
Ideals are sweet and easy when only imagined. Only when you experience the path you must take do they blur into something real.
I’m an adult, so I have to show the young what reality is like.
What a lousy role to play, really.
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