Mysterious fellow

[Blinded by your trust in heroes, you are deaf to your own calls for help.] -Antlike

-*-*-

Some months passed since the start of my artificial intelligence manufacture and the beginning of my training with the blonde girl named Katsura.

I did some pretty progress and I am sure that it would be done for the time I would have to enter UA.

If there are no unknown factors that I did not already anticipate, I can say for sure that my plan would be a success.

Did I just rose a flag?

There is no ship though.

Not a very good pun I grant you, but you see, the training with Katsura which was supposed to be pretty chill became more straining for me every time because of the new instructor.

Talking about him, the door of the training room in which we spare just opened.

The man or more like the old man walking him had nothing impressive. No special aura, no weird behavior. He was just like your everyday old man. But if you would stare carefully at him, you will notice some weird things.

First, his steps were... firm and powerful. His body was covered by impressive lean muscles that were so compressed that they look like made from a metal alloy.

Fully turning around, I stood a few meters from him as he stopped too, observing my figure.

"You changed a lot in 8 months, kid." He said a smile on his smile.

He seems to be happy to see that I progressed more than he predicted.

"You torture me almost every day, it would be absurd not to... Master."

Master Chen. Surely the most powerful martial artist of Japan, if not the world.

He practically beat almost every pro hero who uses some kind of martial art.

He doesn't need a quirk to be clearly superior to a lot of them, that a fact.

He also doesn't look interested in getting famous or settle somewhere to open a dojo as he usually likes to travel and discover new ways to fight. He only stopped here for so long because he was searching for a talented individual like me, and because his daughter who is the owner of the dojo together with her husband had a kid.

He used this excuse to stay by their sides for a while and teach me how to fight.

-*-*-*-

A few months ago.

Katsura and Eizen were facing each other, a few meters apart.

Katsura was clearly panting as she tried to do almost anything she could think of to strike her opponent, but Eizen was just dodging each of her hit by a hair, maintaining his playful smile.

Seeing this smile was clearly pissing off Katsura even more, as she went past her exhaustion and launched her body at him once again, trying to tackle him down.

Reading her intention before she even thought of doing that, Eizen began to slowly lift his right foot.

Katsura who was flying at Eizen thanks to her quirk, was hoping to take him by surprise, but she clearly underestimates him as before she could fully reach him, the sole of his feet met her face.

Her body being stopped so suddenly and her forehead taking the brunt of the damage immediately made her lose consciousness and drop on the floor.

Seeing this, Eizen only sighed and sat on the ground next to her.

Even though it made the girl learn from her mistakes and gain some fighting experience, for him it was plainly annoying after a while. The pleasure he gained when defeating a weaker opponent was nonexistent. He also knew that this much time waiting for her to awaken could be used to programming his artificial intelligence.

"Whatever, I can't help it." He whispered.

However, just after saying that he turned around as he actually noticed a third presence in the room.

Not only this person shouldn't be here as the spot is still reserved for a few hours, but Eizen's perception actually failed to recognize this guy's existence.

"You have sharp senses for sure, kid." The old man walked toward the duo.

Eizen raising to his feet felt alarmed at what he was living.

His quirk let him feel other people's presence thanks to the oxygen they breathe.

However, this old man's amount is so little that he did not notice! He also could simply not feel his presence at all, as if he was not here in the first place.

"Who are you?"

"I go by the name of Chen, a martial artist." He replied, extending his hand toward Eizen.

Shaking hands with the man, Eizen continued to demand some applications.

"... And what are you doing... here?"

"I am looking for an apprentice, and you seem like the perfect type. I saw you fight with the girl there..." He said, pointing at the sleeping Katsura.

Strangely enough, when she sleeps she looks calm and... happy?

"You have a lot of ground to grow, she also does."

"It seems like the plot of a very bad manhwa... An apprentice you say? Would I have to fight against a dragon or a whole dojo or something along the line?"

"Nothing like that. Though some people could be coming to you for sparring, never would say come to trouble you. I have a little less than a month before leaving Japan. Would you let me teach you how to properly fight and not play around?"

"For free?"

"For free." The old man said, nodding his head.

"Then I don't see any problem. But just for... you know... security. I would like to have your full identity." Eizen asked.

With that, he would be able to look in the database of Japan and look at who he really is.

"You are a smart one, I like that." The old man said, brushing his white hair in the back of his head.

"You are almost like me younger, less handsome of course." Chen grinned.

"If you say so, old man."

"Call me Master kid."

"Mhm..." Eizen did not reply but simply tilted his head on the side, still 'looking' at the man.

Sighing at his apprentice behavior, the old man simply removed his coat and threw it on the side, revealing a simple black Gi.

"Let's spare, I will show you to respect your elders, kid."

"Old people are really troublesome these days..."

Eizen smirked, looking at the man who was stretching.

He had a very impressive physique for sure.

Not like the majority of these heroes with useless muscles there and there, who only looked buffed but had actually no combat power.

Chen took a fighting stance and nodded toward the young blindfolded man.

The moment the two agreed on the start of the fight, Chen seems to disappear from his position.

If not for Eizen's impressive reflexes, the kick directed at his head would have forced him to use his quirk.

Slightly leaning on the left, Chen's feet barely touched Eizen's cheek.

Not wanting to leave him any time to react at all, the old man continued to strike series of kicks and punches at a frightening pace.

Each one of his hits was making the air tremble. Eizen which was originally smiling, at a much more serious expression as he was forced to try his best to continue to dodge at the best of his abilities.

He could actually see the trajectory of the hits but was almost unable to react in time as it constantly changed.

"You are pretty good for a total beginner. Not a lot of experts could continue to dodge as you do."

"..." Eizen could not offer himself the luxury to reply as he beyond focused on dodging the series of impressive moves that could have defeated some pro heroes by now.

The fight continued for a few dozen minutes. During it, Eizen started to improve as his body moved more smoothly than before, and Chen who observed that could not help but smile even wider since the young man he was fighting was more impressive than he thought.

After a few minutes, Eizen began to try to retaliate but it was still too unskilled to fight with the man in front of him.

"Let's stop here." Chen said, stopping his flurry of kicks and punches.

Eizen put down his guard and began to catch his breath, eyeing the man who did not break a sweat at all.

"As I thought, training you will make you reach unimaginable height. How old are you again?" The old man asked, going to take his coat which was on the ground not too far.

"Fifteen."

"Come here with your friend next week, I will give you a diet and workout product."

"Okay." Eizen simply replied.

He was still curious about why the old man was so interested in training him, but to be honest, as long as he doesn't wish to harm him, he did not care much.

He could learn a lot from him, even though his quirk gives him a clear immunity to almost every physical attacks, if he does not know to fight properly, he will be like a ghost.

Chen who was walking toward the door stopped and turned back, asking the last thing to our main character.

"What is your name again?"

'He did not even ask me one time, and he tries to make it look like he forgot...'

"Eizen, my name is Eizen Kumo."

"I will be living in the dojo if you need me to talk to the receptionist... Eizen."

With that said, he disappeared through the door, leaving an unconscious young girl and a young man who was lost in his thoughts.

"How am I gonna explain to her that she missed so much? Whatever, it is gotta be fun I guess."

-*-*-*-

Return in the present.

He seems lost in his thought for a while before he suddenly nodded and took a fighting stance.

It was the most serious stance he could ever make.

It was clearly a sign that he now considered me as an equal.

The fact that I could learn everything he taught me and everything he used against me, coupled with my perfect sense of balance and reaction time far superior to normal people made me a clear monster in close combat.

In these last months, I lost only because he has an insane amount of experience to get him out of these perilous situations I put him in.

"Show me how much you evolved kid."

The smile on my face widened, showing a clear amusement.

"With pleasure." I replied, and instantly our two bodies disappeared from their spot.