The Date

AN: I'm back, baby! Just finished studying and catching up a bit with chemistry, math, etc. After some consideration, I'm deciding to just push out more chapters and when I more time to look back a my previous ones and then revise them. Another thing is that this version of deku is like a salt in water. If deku was the salt, then Naoto would be the water, where the salt is dissolved and their solution no homogenous. So not everything is deck, and not everything is Naoto. Anyways, back to this date chapter :P.

P.S. I'm planning on making a Squid Game fan fiction later? Idk how that's going to work out though.

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It's been four years since he died.

Gone was the weak shell of his former self. What rose from his ashes, was stronger than ever.

He'd been once a foolish apprentice to a senile old man with morals that didn't match his strength. Why did he have to bow to those weaker than him? Why did heroes' reign as those praised? What about the monster in the world?

From a young age, Garou had a strange fascination with the bad guys, the monsters who always lost against the big hero. He sympathized the loser, the villain, the monster.

Walking down the hallways, he avoided stepping on the branching branches of wood that had spread throughout the underground base.

No doubt the this headquarters was just above squalor conditions, but the people who were in this organization... they were the real monsters.

A wide grin stretched across his face as he remembered the pure strength and power they radiated.

"Soon." He said to himself. "The world will realize that the villain can beat the heroes."

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"What outfit should I wear?"

On her bed was clothes she had rifled from her closet and drawers. She had searched in her room for clothing that she liked and laid them out before her on the bed.

"If I wear these short-shorts, I wonder what Senpai will think?" An image of Senpai fainting as she showed her butt to him came to mind. "Wouldn't that show that I'm coming off too strong?" Blushing, she clapped both hands to her face to try and alleviate the blush.

"How about this dress...?"

"What about that dress?" Another voice said.

Leaning against the doorway to her room was young woman with medium length, straight black hair that falls on her forehead in a thick fringe.

"Onee-chan!" Nagatoro exclaimed, rushing to hug her sister. "I thought you were staying late at Uni today?"

"I was suppose too, but the Professor got sick so we had a free day." She answered, ruffling her hair. She wouldn't admit it anyone, but she liked it when her big sister caressed her hair.

"So what's this about a dress?"

"O-Oh, it was nothing. I was going to hang out with my friends tomorrow."

Big sis raised her eyebrow. "Would this friend happen to be a certain senpai of yours?"

"W-Wait!" She exclaimed backing away from her older sister. "How do you know about him?!"

"So you're not denying it? Well I overheard you talking about some boy as I was talking upstairs, so I decided to stop by and see what's what." Her sister walked up to her bed, glancing a the clothes before picking some up."Here try these on."

"Wait, what?" She asked dumbly.

"You want to pick clothes for your date, right? Hurry up so that I can help you with your make-up after."

"I don't need make-up." She grumbled under her breath.

Her sister smirked. "But you don't deny having a date?"

"Onee-chan! Stop teasing me!." She pouted.

"Hehe, my bad."

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It was currently five minutes before three.

Sitting at the bench near the fountain in the city plaza, he double-checked to make sure he was prepared.

Flowers? Check.

Wallet? Check.

Hair? Sorta.

He tried to comb his hair down for ten minutes before asking the hair spray out and giving up. It seemed that curly hair would never escape him.

He had made sure to silence both of his phones and left his smart watch at home. He had planned this date for the past week and he wanted it to succeed.

"Senpai!"

Turning around, he saw the familiar sight of Nagatoro running towards him. As she got closer, he could make out her appearance, and she was stunning.

Nagatoro was wearing a blue blouse with floral designs splattered across it along with a modest skirt that went down to her knees. On her face was makeup that made her face seem slightly flushed along with a deep-red lipstick that stood out as she puckered her lips.

"Beautiful." He said unconsciously. It must've of been louder than he realized it too be because people nearby turned to look at him while Nagatoro began to blush furiously.

"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" Nagatoro said, lightly banging his arm with her fist. She was close enough that he could smell the scent of perfume that she applied. It smelled like strawberries.

"Why did you have to say something so gross out loud." Nagatoro complained, her face still red.

"Sorry," he said apologetically. Seeing this as an opportune moment, he presented before her the rose banquet he had bought recently. "Um, here are your flowers."

Nagatoro had finally calmed down, now giving him a deadpanned look. "You do know that by the time the date will be over that the flowers will be half-dead right?"

"Oh..." Well that one was on him.

Sighing, she took the flowers before giving him a smile. "Thanks anyway, Senpai." It was then that he her face light up brightly. "Let's go see the movies now!"

Grabbing him by his hand, she dragged him to the theater across the street.

Once inside, they greeted to the large interior decorated in a red-velvet and gold themed. Well, it wasn't real gold, but the wall schemes were close enough and the carpeting was just a dark royal red. He turned his attention to list of movies on the sign above their heads as they queued in line.

"What movie should we watch?" Originally, he wanted to try something more on the romantic side, but knowing Nagatoro, maybe she'd want something more unorthodox.

"Hmm, isn't there a new movie by that American Adam Handler?"

Looking up, he did see the movie listed on there for the three thirty show.

"Comedy, huh?"

"I already watched his first movie, I can't wait for to see this one!"

After they got their popcorn and soda, they managed to get into their seats just as the movie began.

Settling in his seat, he began munch on some popcorn when he noticed Nagatoro next to him staring intently at his bag. Her own bag was left untouched in her own lap.

He chuckled.

Picking up a piece of popcorn, he dropped it in her already open mouth.

"Mhmm, popcorn does taste better when someone is feeding you" Nagatoro said, nodding her head. "Oh, the movies about to begin!"

The people around them began to quiet down as the theater began to dim. A text appeared on the screen in front of them.

"What?!" Nagatoro whispered indignantly. "The last movie had Japanese subtitles."

"Maybe because it's still too new?" He guessed.

Slumping her chair, she grumbled. "There goes my new inspiration for jokes. Now Senpai will have to deal with my old ones."

"Well, maybe I could translate if for you?" He offered.

"Really?" Nagatoro asked with wide eyes. "But won't that be too loud?"

"I-I'll just next to you and whisper it." He stammered out.

Nagatoro started to smile wickedly. "Oh? Are you, Senpai?" Grabbing his arm, she brought over her own shoulder, forcing him right next to Nagatoro. "There, is that close enough for you, Senpai?"

"Y-yeah."

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"I didn't understand half of what they said." Nagatoro pouted.

"It wasn't so bad, some parts were pretty funny."

"Easy for you to say, Senpai! You practically translated the whole movie to me!" She said.

Standing outside the movie theater, he noticed it almost six. It was about time to enact phase II.

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"How did you get tickets for this, Senpai!" Nagatoro tried to shout over the roar of the crowd. But the deafening roar of the crowd along with the loud music blasting almost made it impossible to hear if he wasn't standing right next to her. "I heard the Sakura's concerts were impossible to get by Yoshi!"

"My mom's friend gave her two!"

Suddenly the crowd started to tighten up. Not wanting for Nagatoro to get lost in the crowd of people, he pulled her into a hug from behind. "You ok!" he asked.

Not hearing a response, he looked down and found Nagatoro blushing. Realizing that he may have been to forward, he started let go before Nagatoro grabbed his hand. She said something he couldn't quite hear over the singing and fans, but he assumed it meant not to let go.

"Are you ready my lovely fans? Here's my new single, 'Lover Boy!'"

""WE LOVE YOU SAKURA!!""

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"...Right there..."

"You can do it, Senpai!"

They were both in an arcade, standing in front of a claw machine. The timer was ticking down as he made slight adjustments to the claw's position. Making sure it looked good, he stepped away before gesturing to Nagatoro to hit the button. "The honors is all your's."

Smiling, Nagatoro cracked her fist. "Don't mind if I do." Bringing her fist down, she slammed down on the red button. The claw descended, landing loosely on top of a squid plushie. They both watched as the claws slowly started to close, holding the plushie in it's grasps. With abated breaths, their eyes were glued on the ascending claw as it brought the stuffed animal to the top with a violent shake.

But the plushie still remained in the claw's grasp, slowly moving to the drop point before dropping the plushie with a satisfying sound.

"YES!" Nagatoro screamed. She began celebrating with he new stuffed animal by dancing. "Oh yeah! Oh yeah!" But something seemed to catch her eye as she was doing her celebratory dance. "Hey, let's go try that out!" She said, dragging him across the arcade.

They stopped at a machine with decals of muscular boxers posing on its side. There was a screen along with a small, tear-drop punching bad dangling from it's roof.

"I saw these on YouTube before." Nagatoro said excitedly, looking over the machine. "People post themselves testing how hard they can punch." Looking smug, she crossed her arms. "I bet I can max it out."

'I heard from Bang that Nagatoro was working really hard,' he thought, glancing back her now doing shotguns with her biceps and flexing, 'but isn't the max strength on this 3000 kilograms?'

"Hey, Senpai."

Turning his attention back to Nagatoro, he noticed that she was now right up in his face. "Wanna make a bet?"

"What type of bet?" He asked curiously.

"To see who can hit harder." She began to explain. "If I win, you have to complete one of my request."

"What if I win?"

"If you win, you can ask anything you want."

"Isn't this like that the nipple game we played earlier this year?"

Ignoring his comment, she put her hand out. "Are you in?"

He cracked a smile. "Sure, I guess."

"Alright, let's do rock-paper-scissors to decide who goes first." Nagatoro said.

After three rounds, Nagatoro was declared the winner. He for sure thought she was going to choose rock for the last one.

"Here I go!" He watched as Nagatoro got into a familiar stance. 'It looks like the round-house kick she did when we first met.' He thought. But this time, it was clear that she had refined her kick.

'But why is she preparing to do a kick?'

*BANG*

Nagatoro had delivered a beautifully arced kick that had maximized the power her body could produce. She had started it like a roundhouse kick before transitioning to a more Tae-Kwon-Do like spinning kick.

The numbers flashed on the screen before slowly stopping at two thousand seven hundred and thirty six.

Nagatoro glanced down at her nails, seeming nonchalant about her accomplishment. "Man, I forgot to hold back."

"Why did you kick?!"

"Did I say we weren't allowed to use kicks?"

He sighed before preparing to punch the machine himself.

"You can do it, Senpai!" Nagatoro cheered from behind, using her plushie as a pom-pom.

Thinking for a moment, he decided use the infamous peak-a-boo stance. Just as he was about to close in on the punching bag, he felt his feet roll under him. Apparently, when Nagatoro was doing her kick, a marble she had left in shorts had slipped out, causing him to slip. The slip pushed him to fall forward and hit the punching bag with his head instead.

*Bang*

"Senpai! Are you ok?"

The numbers flashed before landing on two thousand and one kilograms.

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They were walking home together after eating dinner.

He offered to take her to a fancier restaurant, but she declined, saying it was too much, instead proposing that they grab some fast food instead. It would've been all great if Nagatoro wasn't constantly trying to steal and munch on his chicken nuggets.

Next to him, he noticed Nagatoro slightly shiver while they walking down the road. He forgot that she was wearing a blouse. Especially when fall was approaching. Taking off his jacket, he placed over the shorter girl's shoulder. "Here, that should keep you warm."

Nagatoro looked down as she walked, her face lightly red.

"Thanks." She whispered.

They continued to walk back to her house in silence, both soaking in the realization that they were more than friends. They were... something.

Stopping in front her door, Nagatoro turned to face him. "Senpai."

"Y-Yes?"

"Close your eyes. I want to do my request now."

"O-Ok."

He stood there with his eyes closed. He could hear both their breaths in the cold night. He suddenly felt the heat coming emanating from the proximity of how close Nagatoro was getting to him.

"You're now my boyfriend, Senpai."

Before he could react, he felt a pair of soft, moist lips kiss his cheek. When he opened his eyes, Nagatoro had already closed her front door.

He stood there for a few minutes in daze.

"Hey, Senpai." Looking up, he saw Nagatoro from her bedroom window. "See you tomorrow."

Smiling, he gave her a wave.

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Shibabawa was an old women.

With long fingernails and very thin eyebrows and many wrinkles, she resembled a scarecrow more than a person. She had sunken cheeks and very few teeth left after most had rotted away from her unhealthy addictions to cough drops ever since she learned she had got chronic tuberculosis.

She looked half-dead and certainty felt that way.

She ran a small fortune-telling shop below a dance studio so she often heard the faint sound of music and thuds through the thing walls of her shop-cum-home. The sounds and thuds of footsteps certainly helped convince many of her patrons that their loved ones were communicating from the other side of the veil.

Of course, she couldn't actually talk to the dead. Well, not the ones people came to her for. Her sessions were more therapeutical in nature, consoling people that their was more to their long-dead friends and family members than the grief left behind. And who was she to say not to a hundred session? She had to eat as well.

Sitting in her chair, she gently caressed her crystal ball as she popped another cough drop in her mouth. The lemon-flavored zing pervaded her mouth and she closed her eyes in delight.

"I almost forgot to get you your cigar as well." Shibabawa said. On the table next to her was a picture of a younger, youthful version of herself being hugged by a man.

She sighed as she lit the cigar and placed it in the ash bowl on the table. "These damn things are getting expensive each day. I had to use my walker to beat an old lady to get this pack. Can you believe the audacity of the police to take me in?!" She shouted as she ranted about her day.

But only silence met her in the dim-lit shop.

"You're telling me to not push myself? Who's the one to get lung cancer, huh? Serves you right for loving those damn cigars so much. Cool my wrinkly butt."

Feeling that she had won the argument, she felt pleased. "You want me to tell a fortune? Hmph, fine."

Grabbing a handful of cough drops, she gobbled them from her hand. Deciding that was enough, she began her work.

To the naked eye, it seemed as if the old women leaned back in her chair as she fell asleep. To any practitioner in the lost art of magic, they would witness a sight even the masters of sorcery would be shocked at.

Slowly, a pale, translucent cloud of miasma-like aura seeped from several pores of the old women's body. They congregated next to the old woman, slowly starting to take shape. Eventually, a young girl with shoulder-length hair appeared, an exact replica of Shibabawa in the picture with her husband.

Giving herself a once over, she turned her bored eyes to meet her now visible husband. "After this, leave me be in my body so I can die unpeacefully in pain so that I haunt you."

"What?" The ghost man said, floating over to hug his disgruntled wife. "How can you haunt me when I'm already dead. Stop being tsun-tsun and admit you just want to die earlier you can be with your best, lovely-dove husband Issei."

"Only when you admit that you died because of porn mag."

"Hey! Don't talk about my reason for grievances so lightly. It's the only one that the judges would take to let me still be here you know."

Ignoring her husband, Shibabawa slashed her hand downward in practiced motion, opening a wound in space. Without a word, she entered the hole while her husband continued to talk.

Her clairvoyance did not come from visions like most believed. What she did was open a little hole in the timeline to travel either back or forth. Of course, she couldn't interact with anything, but she could move along the many infinitisemal branches of timelines attacher to hers. Normally, any antigens in the time stream would be expelled or eradicated without prejudice due to the almost incomputable amount of energy present. But due to the unique qualities of her soul, she could act as a boat, albeit a small wooden toy boat, in the turbulent ocean's of time.

Deciding to randomly stop some branching timeline that was the result of her not using her ability to see in the future, she dived down before opening another hole to slip in. As soon as she came out, she met with a horrifying sight.

The earth around her was razed to the ground, dust filled the air as the surrounding buildings were still melting from the intense heat around. Half burned skulls littered the ground, evidence of an attempted escape miserably failed. But it wasn't what below her scared her, but upwards.

Along the horizon was a multiple gusts of wind visible from the dust they carried, overlapping each other. They reminded her of the patterns of Jupiter's swirls. A faint outline could me made out, showing the shape of a man crouched into a fetal position.

Holding her hands to her mouth, she let out a whisper. "What the hell is that...?"

Suddenly, the massive being's head turned to face her.

W̵̳͍̰̤̣͒̾̿̌̂̈́̿̍̚͝͝ḩ̵͋͜o̶̢͓͓̓̃̔͐͆̇̽̏̽́́̅.̵̤̞͓̫̳̭̮̲̝̬̠̲̅̏̑͐͝.̴̟̠̄̽̈́̏̋̈́̅̓͗̒̽̚͝.̷̪̲͔͕͔͖̺͎̱̒̌̑͆͑̽͜ẅ̵̳̼͉͕̺̰̏͆̄̎̀ḩ̴̼̺̰͇̮̩̈̎͌̍̿́̊͗̽̚͝͝ő̴̗̖̮̠̗͚͛͂̍̓̍̃̀ ̶̨̜͈̫͔̫̬̾͛̅̾ŝ̵̢͈́̀̃͋̏͆̄͒͘ǎ̶͙̬̺̦̫͔͎̹͖̗̗̜̳̒̎͐̋̿͋̔̾̎̕͝i̸̢͙̺̯̘̤̊̍͗̒͐̀̐̾͗͐́͜d̷̢͕͇͉̻͉͇̾̿̐̚͝ ̸͇̯̻̰͋̇̍͛̄͑̏̿̿̿̕t̵̡̪̹̖̼̯̭̥̣̤͂̂̌̔͊̔̆̐̚͜͠ḥ̷̢̘̙͔͍̝̀̓̃̕͘a̵͉̟̤̫͖̠͇̟̗͙̽̾̾́͜t̸̢̡̜͇͎̭̝̱͕̐̅̓̇̒͋͋̊͐̀͠?̵̡̢̝̄͌̍̔̋͝͝

'How is this possible?' She thought. Slowly backing towards the hole she made, she made sure not to make any sudden moves. 'This shouldn't be possible.'

The figures head suddenly formed eyes, lighting up in a ominous red color.

I̴̧͉͗̌̍͗̉͒͗͆͒̈́̾̑̔͗̉͋̄̽̈́́̅̈̑̒̕͠͠ ̸̡̡̰͙͕̬͍̬̙̩͙͇̗͇̔̈́̒̀͑̚͜ͅs̸̡̤̟̣̗͍̳͖̥̳͓̺͈̜̳̲͈͚̪̫͉̞̮̯̍͆̇̐̓̃̐̎͗̆̚̕͜͠ė̵͚͓̹̟͔̀e̴̛̤̤̥͈͓̠̼̹̜̞̫̔͛̋̇̍̓̍͌̿̿̌͐͘͠ͅ ̸̢̡̡̧̛̤̯͕̤͉͉͎͙͚̲̲̰̙̺̤͖̟͕̒̋̇̀͗̉̅͊̂͋̏́̀̍̂̕̚͝͝ͅy̸̺͍͛̊̿̇͋̏̽̇̃͌͗̇̎̀̅̓͌͂͂͛̽̕̚̕̕͘͝o̷̡̨̠̱̹̹̩̞͍̼̠̻͇̝̰̺͎̳͖͉̮̯̝̣̓̿̃̿̃͌̎͋̑͐̒̚͘͝ͅͅǘ̶̢̡̨̝̺̬̪̱̻̜̹̰̘̟̼̝͓̤͚͎̯̯͐͗̌̅̈̏̿͂̇̉̆̀̍͘̕͜

A force unlike any other came down upon her spiritual form, flattening and destroying most of her form. But a sliver of her soul escaped, closing the wound in space behind her.

Back at the shop, the man was still talking to himself. "I can't believe she ditched like that. Always saying 'you're soul's not strong enough,' pfft. If I wanted to, my soul could easily benchpress 100 kilograms if I trained for it."

Seeing his wife abruptly shoot out of the hole and closing it, he greeted her. "Welcome bac-." But he stopped realizing how small her form was. All jovial tone left his body, quickly moving to crouch and hold her weakened form.

"What happened?" He asked concerned. Shibabawa was not slowly fading in and out of existences, pulling blue before dimming more and more.

"Body-now" she whispered. Without hesitation, her husband brought her back to her aging body.

Shibabawa, now back in control of her physical body, quickly got a pen to write her final message. Wasting no time, she used her cough drop wrapper as paper instead. Feeling her should begin to wither more and more, she quickly wrote one word before picking up her phone to call.

But as he call connected, her body stiffened, letting her phone drop down to the wooden floor as a voice incoherently was heard.

The name of the phone spelled out 'JDA.'

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(Madagascar)

"Oi, you lost an arm to this bug, old man?"

"I'll be forever grateful if you could shut up."

"Totally sending this to everyone else."

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