9 Chapter 9: Vagrant Hired

An unforeseen obstacle greeted Garou behind the doorstep, facing at him with evident distrust. The boy ensured the case would occupy the woman for another week or so, yet here she was. After many weeks, the time to speak with the one the boy called Auntie finally arrived, his fate as the child's protector placed on the fulcrum.

"I admit that my absence was prolonged more than I estimated. However, I must ask, what has happened while I was away? Who is this man you're riding on?" The woman asked, her brow quirked in impatience, still tapping her foot on the polished floor of wood.

The boy gulping on his shoulder, audible enough for Garou's ears, his nervousness tangibly conveyed through the ambiance.

"Hi… Auntie. A-Aren't you busy dealing with Piggy?"

'Piggy' was the boy's nickname for Fuai, a nom de plume he coined out of pure spite.

Her foot tapping halted as her eyes closed for a moment. Taking a deep breath as if preparing herself, she reopened her gaze as she divulged what transpired.

"'Piggy' is no longer with us. He has… unexpectedly passed away." She gently worded.

Her answer creased the Hero Hunter to slant his brows in confusion. The fat man was dead? Did a heart attack finally occur in that fatass?

As for Ghin, he took a long time processing this revelation. The man that made his life purgatory kicked the bucket? That answer alone brought many conflicting emotions, many of them repressed and festering for months in the depths of his heart.

"He's dead? Really?" Ghin asked, now baffled aghast.

"How'd he die anyway?" Garou asked. This morning's media did not cover his sudden, but furtively desirable, departure.

"Apparently, someone managed to infiltrate his office and murdered him. Not only that, which is also undisclosed, all data from his personal computer was somehow erased, every possible direct evidence to any misconduct gone to the wind. While it was extremely unfortunate for someone of my profession, that alone left me out of the list of suspects responsible for his supposed assassination since I do require said evidence to condemn his sorry ass. Honestly, his end came so fast and abrupted the case ended with no conclusion as the authorities investigate the matter. Which brought me here, on an early leave vacation."

After lengthily explaining her story, she pointed at the man painted in demonic crimson.

"But now I've delivered my exegesis, tell me. Who is he?" She asked with fiat.

'Exegesis?' Garou did not know that word.

"My bodyguard. I hired him."

But apparently, the kid does for some reason as he answered immediately. Not only that, Garou noticed Ghin's incredible lack of delay in his reply.

'Did he prepare for this?' Garou was both proud and quite caught off guard by his preparation. He didn't even notice the boy's planning. Did Ghin plot his schemes under his nose all this time?

"Bodyguard? Where did you find him? No, what are you even paying him?" She asked, her eyes narrowed in a disapproving glare.

"Somewhere out the streets. He saves me from villains on the way home, so I asked if he wanted to be hired. And I am paying him food and shelter. He's very cheap." He replied with practiced steadiness in tone, but it broke into slight amusement when he mentioned his affordability. His indirect jibe did not please Garou.

"Oh? Did he?" Tsukihana looked at him slightly surprised. "Are you a vigilante?" The woman asked, now directing to Garou.

"Oh, um, yes." Garou followed Ghin's lead, placing trust in the kid for now - albeit he had no idea how to play a vigilante in the first place.

"Hm."

Humming to herself, she walked up to Garou, eyes glazing him from head to toe. Her face closed in, inches away from Garou's own, cursorily inspecting Garou's most prominent and minute minutiae. Upon proximity, Garou could smell the woman's permeating perfume, the aroma vanilla with a rosy floral tang.

Her eyes gravitated towards his most prominent features, his pitch-black demonic eye, his crimson-stained hair, and an overall countenance that inspired initial terror at first encounter.

"Shouldn't you be more scared of him? He looked more like a villain than a hero."

"He's more awesome like this. Plus, there are villain-looking heroes like Gang Orca, so he's cool."

Tsukihana hummed in thought, nodding in understanding. Heroes with villainous appearances do exist, so she cannot criticize his appearance.

"Where's your costume?" The woman now wondered where the man stored his costume.

'Costume?' Garou almost flinched from the word, finding the concept of costumes, especially those of this world's, abominable. That one word piqued an unwanted image of himself donned in one of those ridiculous costumes both the heroes and villains wore, a vision he quickly erased from his memory. He detested the idea of hero costumes, even more so after encountering the ilk infesting these lands.

"He doesn't have one," Ghin answered for him before Garou could stutter.

"No costume? You perform your duties in public naked?" The woman asked with a mix of suspicion and amusement.

"He's poor. So much, he can't even afford a cup of water." Ghin jibes sheepishly.

Several tick marks swelled under Garou's skin, his head thrown back at the boy on his shoulders. The boy did that on purpose to tease him by bringing up his financial state, evident by his furtive smile behind his head.

"A vagrant vigilante without even a one yen coin? Interesting, but I find your reasoning unsound. How did that alone gives you credence to hire a wandering homeless man?"

More tick marks erupted from Garou's skull at the fulminating yet intentional remark. Did the woman join the kid against him?

"I had to! There's no one else, and he's the best one there is! Plus he's cheap!" Ghin defended from atop Garou's shoulders, though the second mentioning of his extremely economical inexpensiveness earned Ghin another tick mark from Garou. The Hero Hunter swore the woman almost deflated a chuckle from her stern exterior. He started to despise her.

The woman narrowed her eyes at her nephew's steed, still inspecting the man as if scouring for any reactions indicating furtive motives.

Although all she detected were signs of irritation and angst, she did not know why, but his responses were very entertaining, a feeling shared by the boy as well.

After spotting nary a single sign of malice, the woman asked, "…what's his Quirk?"

"It's-"

"No. I want to hear it from him."

The woman dragged the boy down from the high ground, removing his role as Garou's defendant. Sharply swift, she did not allow the man recourse, wanting confirmation from the man's lips, not the boy's.

Slightly caught off guard, Garou felt only awkward silence filling his throat. Not a single idea came to mind, and the concept of Quirks abhorred Garou.

However, an idea arrived, one will answer her curiosity without needing to divulge his origins.

"Let me show you," Garou answered upon finding his remedy, earning a quirked brow from the lawyer in response.

Walking up to the couch centering the living room, his passenger still on board, with a squat followed by an extension of his arm, he gripped the couch's leg and lifted it effortlessly in one hand, demonstrating his monstrous might to the woman.

Tsukihana blinked twice in reflex to the sight of his casualness. He seemed to lift it so leisurely as if the furniture was as light as a feather.

"Is it Muscle Reinforcement?" She guessed.

"Nope."

In the interim, Garou gently returned the couch to its prior position, setting it down on all its four legs without jolting the furniture before the woman continued.

"Weight manipulation?" She cocked a brow as she second-guessed.

Garou smirked, "Wrong."

The woman slanted her eyes to sharp slits. Walking up to the 'bodyguard,' heels clicking on the planks with palpable impatience, she placed her hand under the couch and grunted in her attempt to lift the couch. However, the weight fought against her attempts, unaltered by any supernatural forces, and proved her suspicions false.

"Are you going to tell me afterward?"

"If you guess right, I might. But that will never happen."

Challenged, Tsukihana narrowed her eyes with a countenance reformed by provoked pride.

"Do you really want to challenge me, boy?" She said with emphasis on the last word.

"And if I do, girl?" Garou's smirk widened, emboldened with confidence.

Tensions in the air sparked with tangible friction between the lawyer and the man who hunted heroes for fun. One acting as if invaders encroached her territory without permission while the other felt as if his rights were threatened without just cause.

Their first encounter and their relationship already degenerated to that of rival wolves fighting over a plot of territory, though none could discern it at a single glance.

While the two antagonists clashed with glares and threats, still on Garou's shoulder, Ghin attempted to stifle his giggles at the amusing interactions between them. At first, he dreaded that Garou's digging his own grave, but instead it leads to something unexpectedly funny - despite knowing that Garou's staying here was at risk.

"Hoh, you have some grit for talking back. I could kick you out to the streets, you worthless vagrant."

Several more tick marks popped, swelling with cordoned angst. His first encounter and the woman defeated him in a verbal bout, the perks of a lawyer maybe. Or the smarm that comes with it.

"Aunty, can we keep him? Pleaaaaasse? I promise to keep him well-behaved," Ghin begged.

'I'm not a puppy,' Garou retorted mentally. The conversation felt like that of a child begging the parent to keep a stray dog.

Tsukihana looked up, seeing Ghin attempting to look cute - the boy's eyes widening and his bottom lips quivering. The lawyer returned the gaze for a moment, seemingly contemplating her options.

"As capable as… what is your name, by the way?" Tsukihana asked.

"Bang."

"As capable as Bang may seem, I cannot allow a man with such an unknown background stay in our home."

The boy whimpered, sniffing in protest - actively taking advantage of his age to maximum effect.

It was super effective; the lawyer's steeled heart melting like ice under the sun.

"But… I will allow it - only to see if he is truly capable of earning my trust. Which brings the question."

Before she allowed herself to blush, Tsukihana lowered her gaze from Ghin to Garou.

"Do you have a resume? Any identification?"

Both boy and Hunter stiffened, their blood flash-froze to ice. The boy did not plan for any form of resume for Garou, nor did Garou expect to need such things.

"Of course, you don't. I wasted my breath asking that from a homeless vagrant…" The silver-haired woman sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose as if to vent her growing stress.

"When hiring an employee, you must ensure that the applicant possesses a decent background, Ghin. You cannot just pick someone up from the streets without checking their history. That is the prime rule of an employer, but I don't blame you for not doing so." The woman sighed, her pinching fingers sliding down the bridge of her nose and past her cheeks. Stress seemed to radiate from her like rejected heat from a cooling furnace.

"In any case, I shall permit the opportunity to present your worth, Mr. Bang. My nephew's trusting you, and your presence seems positive enough for his health."

While his smile was beaming at Tsukihana, the boy pumped both fists in the air with celebration.

"Yay!"

"However."

The Auntie narrowed her eyes at Garou. Tsukihana rested a hand on her hip before she continued.

"If I catch any criminal elements from you, I will not hesitate to kick you out penniless you vagrant."

"I do have a name, you know?" 'Bang' interjected.

"Vagrant will be your name until I say otherwise."

Now confirming her newfound fondness of ridiculing him, picking on his poor state to her whimsical delight, Garou ground his teeth behind his lips as he fumed. Ghin nearly laughed in response to her verbal antagonism, his eyes briefly glancing down at Garou from his shoulder to check his reaction while holding his mouth shut. Usually, he would fear for Tsukihana's safety, but knowing Garou after a few months, he was sure he would not pound a civilian woman to a bloody pulp without a valid pretext.

"Are we clear on the terms of your 'employment,' vagrant?"

This time, she spoke with a sense of smugness in her tone. It was super effective given her authority.

"Crystal," Garou seethed.

"Good. But first…"

Looking up from Garou, she laid her eyes on Ghin. In a complete change, she smiled at Ghin and held out her hand.

"Ghin, sweety. Come on down. I bought your favorites like always. I even got you a new All Might toy."

Her tone dramatically shifted, as if with the flick of a switch, from acerbically strict to motherly and gentle. Garou raised a brow as he looked up though, from his perspective, could only see from below his chin. So the woman had a soft side, he surmised, her austerity reserved for strangers and the suspicious.

Now that Garou thought about it, she had every right to suspect him. He was the Hero Hunter, The Hunter Amongst Villains, The Nightmare of Heroes… he had many titles. He preferred the first but later grew fond of the latter upon hearing it. It complimented him and his character very well to a satisfying extent.

"But I don't wanna…" The boy shook his head, hugging Garou's head with his small arms.

Tsukihana raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

Ghin never denied her ever since he moved into her home. He was usually obedient at home, as opposed to the presence of strangers. But here he was, attached to an outsider as if he was family.

"I don't wanna," Ghin repeatedly whined.

Tsukihana blinked. His disobedience caught her off guard, his attachment to the stranger worrisome.

"Why?" Tsukihana asked.

"I like it here."

His attachment was worse than she conjectured.

"I… Please?" She asked, urging for him to get down.

"No."

"Pfff."

Garou almost laughed at her being troubled by the young child's defiance. It was hilarious to him, but not so much for the lawyer.

Annoyed, she shot a flashing glare at the smug Hero Hunter before warmly returning to Ghin, "Come on, Ghin. I know it's been a while since we last saw each other, but please listen to Aunty."

"No," Ghin childishly refused.

Garou could see a vein swelling underneath her skin, the sight filling Garou with pride. He had turned the boy to the dark side, his side, a famous phrase from an ancient but iconic sci-fi movie he watched with the boy during the months. He liked the laser swords and choreography, he admitted.

"Please climb down. It's not right to ride a stranger's back." A slight semblance of authority mixed with her motherly tone, her impatience almost showing.

"But he's not a stranger," Ghin argued.

She looked at Garou, seeing 'Bang's' smug smile widening by the second.

"Um, I see… what is he?" She asked as the two corners of her lips creaked down, from a smile to a frown, slowly as if a Mutant Quirk user was bending a straight iron bar into an arch.

"He's family."

His answer was surprising, almost touching Garou's soft spot. It was… heartwarming in a sense for the boy to consider him like family, piquing his memories within Bang's dojo before he defected.

"Uh-I-I see… much has happened since I was sequestered." She almost stuttered, caught off guard by his statement. Her composure shaken less than a second before it refortified.

"Well, it… seems I have to apologize for my initial rudeness slightly. Little Ghin seems more attached to you than I thought… which is astonishing."

Tsukihana's lips quivered at the sight of Ghin hugging Garou's head. Her discouragement almost seemed palpable, prickling even.

"So you take back your words?" Garou's smirk curled into a demonic twist, his evil almost showing. It unnerved and irritated the female lawyer.

"One more word and I will make you sleep outside," she threatened.

Garou did not mind sleeping outdoors, though. He appreciated the taste of starlit air in the absence of sunlight.

"So he can stay?" Ghin asked with a hopeful tone, his eyes sparkling with anticipation and ahoge wagging with excitement.

"Hah…" the woman sighed almost as if defeated.

"Fine. I will permit Bang's crude employment and the… discount terms of his pay."

Garou wondered if he should demand a raise, now livid with their mocking his generosity and way of living.

"Yay! Thank you, Aunty!" Ghin pumped both his arms up in genuine joy, smiling with radiance at the woman.

Before she could respond, the boy hopped down from Garou's shoulders and patted his feet towards Tsukihana, hugging her left leg with hands and cheek. From Garou's perspective, the boy now acted his age. From Tsukihana's perspective, he looked absolutely precious.

"Hah…" She sighed with a tone of fatigue. However, Garou could see the lawyer smiling in contrast, seemingly warmed by the boy's adorable mien.

"Alright, he can stay." She placed a hand on Ghin's silver hair, gently rubbing his head out of maternal affection.

The Master-Disciple duo has overcome their first obstacle. The master of the den had accepted the wolf into the fold.

"But he will sleep outside every night. I don't trust him with our possessions yet."

"I'm not a stray dog," Garou reminded.

Responding with a wry smile, "I know. You're a vagrant, aren't you?" Tsukihana chimed with delight.

Garou's right eye twitched. The woman grew fond of her nickname for him. Now that he thought about it, how long did the woman usually stay home?

"So… how long do your breaks usually last?"

Tsukihana cocked a brow, "I've got a few months at least. This might be our first meeting, but my cases usually last a week or so."

"The boy didn't see you for months, alone and afraid. Care to explain that?"

That was one blunder he refused to let go. While the lawyer did seem like an upstanding citizen, she still abandoned the boy for months - leaving the boy vulnerable and in harm's way under the eyes of unwanted predators.

Hearing this, Tsukihana softened her features, her eyes downcast as her lips squinted.

"I know… and I appreciate your looking after Ghin. It was unforgivable on my part."

The lawyer admitted, but that only stokes Garou's ire. Garou's tone lowered to tense suspicion, "Then why do-"

"I made a mistake." She swiftly broke him off.

Garou knew. The boy did explain the concept of 'sequester.' "You were blindsided, weren't you?"

It made sense. She didn't leave her nephew unprotected out of pure negligence. Her opponent ensnared her into a judicial trap.

"…it was my second case against someone of Fuai's level. He did not allow me respite and took advantage of some articles of the Constitution to trap me in office. I was locked out."

"Then why do it if you knew the consequences?"

"I don't need to explain myself to a stranger who has no business in our lives. But fine, I had no choice. It may not seem like it, but I'm… mmm, struggling. I… didn't expect my sister and brother-in-law to lose her life so soon."

The atmospheric shift from happy to awkwardly crestfallen as the boy looked down at the mention of his parents, his small eyes quivering with sorrow from memories long gone. The duo's victory now soured by nostalgic pain from the child's past.

Pursing his lips in uncomfortable understanding upon touching a sensitive subject, Garou slowly nodded as he spoke, "Sorry."

Tsukihana sighed as she exhaled, closing her eyes as she calmed herself from her stress.

"Apology accepted. I do not blame you for your criticism but remember your place here in this household. If it were anywhere else, you might've been fired for outspeaking your boundaries."

Garou could understand that. But now that he overcame his trial with the actual landlord of this demesne…

"Anyways… what now? Am I supposed to…"

After settling their tensions, Tsukihana pursed her lips in thought, "Since you are technically my nephew's employee, I have a simple errand for you to run."

"What kind of errand?"

"I need you to… go shopping, buy us ingredients for our supper. I'll hand you a list later on. I trust you won't botch this task, vagrant?"

"Hah?"

The sparks rekindled between the two as the two clashed with unyielding, frictional stares.

From the sidelines watching the two territorial predators resuming their silent bout, the boy smiled impishly. His life might not encounter the usual silence anytime soon, a life he was looking forward to in the coming days.

---------

Evening clouds were slowly smearing the twilight, the sun slowly descending in the horizon as the land darkened from radiant yellow to orange. The weather forecasted rain the next morning as the humidity of Hosu's air thickened.

Standing at the front of Garou's calligraphic graffiti, several heroes stood to gaze at the macabre art with various reactions. One felt disgusted and horrified by the implication behind the red kanji. One believed that the painter had gone too far with his stunts. One found an opportunity to surpass his better, his lips curving into a smile filled with anticipation.

The manhunt team had arrived in Hosu, heroes selected explicitly to handle and deal with the Hero Hunter and bring him behind bars. Standing straight with his bulky arms crossed on his chest, Endeavour scrutinized the graffiti to its detail, deciphering Garou's psychological profile, albeit all he discerned behind the painting was the mind of a violent villain like the rest.

Eraserhead stood beside Endeavour, wondering what laid behind the enigmatic mind of the Demon. Frankly, he never thought that one person could escalate terror to this extent, even though he did fear that a villain possessing an unstoppable Quirk would surface one day, but he did not expect one would emerge like this and so soon. However, as long as the villain wasn't a mutant-type, Aizawa was confident he could remove the fangs and claws of this predator for safe capture. Garou's supposed Quirk was most likely of the active type at least.

"Damn, this seems a bit too morbid even for villains. I think… well, what do you guys think?" Snipe asked behind Aizawa, the lens of his gas mask reflecting the graffiti.

"I don't think I need to specify how dangerous this man is," Aizawa replied.

Every hero at this point was aware of the threat Garou posed alone. Anyone not aware of Garou should not be possible.

"Which is even more important we end this promptly. The longer we wait, the greater the chance we'll lose him." Endeavour spoke before turning around, his back now facing the Hero Hunter's callsign.

"One moment. Think you can track this guy, Hound Dog?" Eraserhead asked.

Hound Dog, another Pro Hero from UA, approached the red stain on the wall and sniffed the controlled blood stains in hopes of catching the Hero Hunter's scent.

However, he grimaced instead, snarling with displeasure. He could barely smell Garou's scent anymore, but he did scent the tears of his victims mixed in with the coagulated blood. The Hero could imagine the victims begging and crying the Hero Hunter for mercy, only for Garou to continue his art project unfazed.

"The stench of blood is palpable. I can smell Garou's trail as if seeing moonlight at night time."

Hound Dog's answer tensed the hearts of the heroes present. Edgeshot, Kamui, Best Jeanist, those determined to end Garou's reign of terror once and for all. Some were nervous, clenching their fingers and bracing their hearts for the inevitable encounter with the Hero Hunter. Others were resolute, ready for whatever dangers Garou had in store.

So far, Garou's Quirk demonstrates exceptional speed, extraordinary might, uncanny agility, and undisclosed supernatural applications. No matter what Quirk the Heroes and Villains threw, Garou would punish them tenfold for their resistance. The reports of their encounter shared only one similarity: Garou is a monster in human skin.

His presence inspired doubt, extracting fear from the stoutest hearts, only for the negative emotions to amplify once Garou engaged them. All layering securities, all assurances, both physical and mental, torn to apart like paper as Garou laid his victims' insecurities naked before his reach. Hope and courage doused by blood ripped from their wounds, their confidence, strong as castle walls, collapsed under siege like their bones, and ideals left broken like their very bodies, leaving them only empty shells of what they once were - an accurate summary that complemented the consequences of encountering the bloodthirsty demon, compiled from the earliest Heroes that fell in the first month.

The Heroes hunted after that did not suffer such dire fates as Garou grew more lenient with the heroes, but not the villains as Garou slowly channeled more of his violence towards them, leaving them in states that were too graphic for the media to promulgate.

The police officers around the heroes, standing in wait bedecked in heavy SWAT armor and armed to the teeth with rifles, prayed, not only for their safety but also for the heroes' success. Ever since Garou conducted his hunts, none of the police fell under his eye, left alone to their devices, unlike the heroes. However, his actions indirectly lead to their endangerment, carelessly inciting mass villain outbreaks that took months to quell due to the mass absence of heroes.

Endeavour almost grinned as his path to glory was in sight. This manhunt was his opportunity, his most excellent chance to reach All Might's and subsequently surpass him. Even with the competition at his side, he will be the one who defeats The Hero Hunter at the end.

In the silence, Hound Dog continued sniffing, trying to catch Garou's scented trail.

"Then let us move. Today will be the last the Hero Hunter walks the streets a free man."

Endeavour proclaimed with supreme confidence.