3 Chapter 3 - System Activation

"Hmmm hmmm…"

Jason hummed a pleasing jazz tune as he casually walked away from a few ATMs, his hood covering his face.

For some reason, he was so hungry that after five minutes, his stomach grumbled during his walk, so he thought he could buy some food first before he went on his crusade. It was only then that he realised he was broke. Joe didn't give him any of his stored cash from his past life for an unknown reason, but then again, would the money he had even been legal in this world? Probably not, but he could do a lot with all that money and as far as he knew, no one would be able to track it.

Now, a normal person would have thought of getting a job or borrowing money from someone they knew.

But he was far from normal.

So with his technological expertise and sheer skill in hacking that could get him into the most advanced and secure corporate networks like LexCorp, and using the Wayne tech he had in the ring, getting into the bank's network and making the ATMs spew money out was a cinch. Disabling the security systems, which included the security cameras in the area, barely slowed him down by a few seconds.

Minutes later, he was more than half a million yen richer, which was about 3700 US dollars if converted. He could've gotten more, but for now, this was enough. Carrying that much money on his body would've been rather difficult, even with pockets, but the ring saved him the hassle of all that.

"Let's see…" Jason's phone illuminated his face as searched for the nearest place he could get food on his phone. "There's a convenience store that's only around fifteen minutes away from here."

Having memorized the path towards the convenience store with one look, he stored the phone in the ring and started taking the fastest route, continuing his humming as he does so.

Compared to Gotham City, Tokyo seemed to be an overall better city to live in based on what he'd seen so far.

Jason's eyes swept around the area as he walked. "I would definitely prefer living here. Air's clean, crime isn't as bad, and they have good sushi. But Gotham has its own attractiveness to it."

Its streets were much safer and enjoyable to travel on. They even had backstreets between houses that were specifically made for people and two-wheeled modes of transport, something Gotham City lacked in most areas. But then again, Gotham City and Tokyo were both completely different in culture and architecture.

The street lamps shone brightly, illuminating the streets with a warm yellow glow. The buildings weren't as towering as Gotham's, allowing the tranquil moonlight to blanket the city. Instead of the acrid smell of trash and dried blood, each breath he took was filled with the crisp, clean scent of fresh air. The streets were almost free of any debris or garbage, and the bins were all in good condition, not blown over by the wind or people.

With his enhanced senses, the experience was much better, letting him immerse himself in the city's pleasant atmosphere as long as he could.

What was strange was that it wasn't his first time in Japan… was it? This was surely the side-effect Joe talked about. He had memories of being in Japan, but… he knew he had never been to the country. Busy as he was with his All-Caste training and business in Gotham City, he almost never had time to go to other countries. Yet memories of travelling the world, learning and becoming an expert in multiple skills and mastering martial arts of every kind were vivid inside his mind.

The sets of memories weren't complete, though. There were gaps between them. The biggest ones in particular were the gaps between being Robin… and their revival. A gap he couldn't fill in no matter how hard he tried, and he suspected it was most likely memories of his other selves' time with the Joker, including his death. There was no other possibility in his mind.

It seemed like he was stupid enough to try killing the Joker *alone* in other universes, too.

One set of memories was of him being trained by the Deathstroke of all people and setting up a top tier mercenary organization. It seemed his other self trained just as hard as him to accomplish his goals, whatever they were. Those goals likely involved killing the Joker, but you never know. It was a different him, so maybe it was also someone else who caused the majority of his other self's anger and pain.

For a moment, Batman popped up into mind. He shook his head at the thought, but it was possible.

His other version's memories were of travelling the world, following Bruce's footsteps. Learning from the same teachers, just to make sure he was prepared for his eventual confrontation with Bruce.

Jason's thoughts traced back to the photograph. Bruce's smile specifically. It was a genuine smile from Bruce and that look in his eyes… It was as if he was… proud? No, maybe… understanding?

Batman never agreed with his methods, even forcing him to resort to non-lethal methods whenever he operated in Gotham. But maybe… just maybe… he knew that doing things his way, sticking to his code, wouldn't always work out for everyone's best interest. That maybe Red Hood could serve justice differently. Not necessarily by killing criminals, but Red Hood crossed lines Batman never would. And sometimes… lines needed to be crossed, no matter how many people denied it.

Jason always argued that monsters like the Joker should not be allowed to live, knowing that they would cause death and chaos with no remorse. But killing a criminal was too much for Bruce.

He could imagine the look Bruce would give him if he even suggested or hinted it. But Batman should have already killed him years ago, when he lost a son to the Joker.

Jason Todd.

The Robin who was always overshadowed by his predecessor, who was determined to make a name for himself, and who did his best to prove himself to Batman. And yet, he suffered a tragic death at the hands of the Joker. To this day, the Joker's cruelty still haunts him in his nightmares, and the pain and suffering he endured still lingers in his memory.

'Hehehe...hahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!'

Jason shook his head, calming himself down with a deep breath as flashbacks of his time with the Joker and that awful laugh of his echoed inside his mind. He'd rather stay far away from those memories. They brought too much pain… too much anger… and those weren't what he needed right now.

He glanced down as his stomach growled, bringing him out of his musing.

Right. Food was the current number one priority.

With a sigh, he continued his journey, silently making his way through the cold streets of Tokyo.

-===-

Jason reached the convenience store minutes later at an intersection. Its automatic glass doors slid back with a ding.

Entering, Jason pulled down his hood and brushed back his bangs.

"Welcome to our… store…" said the cashier, trailing off as soon as her eyes locked on Jason.

'Hm?' He glanced curiously at the store's female cashier.

The cashier, a young, black-haired girl dressed in a white and green striped top and abnormally short skirt, seemed to be in a daze as she looked at Jason. It was a look most people would imagine being on someone falling in love at first sight.

'Why the hell is she looking at me like that?' His appearance wasn't bad per se, but he didn't think he was good-looking enough to have a girl fall for him with one look. Curiously, he looked at his reflection in the store's glass, and his eyebrows rose in surprise. 'What did Joe do to my damn face?'

Clear skin which was free of any blemishes or scars from past battles, and his previously dull blue eyes were now a deep shade of blue that had a vibrant shine to them. Aside from those, the shape of his nose, the depth of his eyes, and his jawline all changed. Even his general facial structure transformed to be perfectly symmetrical. However, most of his attention was mainly on the resemblance he had to Dick and Bruce. It was as if his face was the perfect meld of all three of their features.

Also, was it just him, or did he look taller?

Jason tilted his face at multiple angles, scrutinizing every detail he could. 'Did that guy do this on purpose just to fuck with me or is it because of all that soul merging stuff that I now look like this?' He did not like the prospect of seeing something resembling Bruce or Dick's face every time he looked in the mirror, but it seemed like he had no choice but to live with it from now on.

"Um, do you need help with anything, sir?" The cashier stuttered. She seemed to only now realize that she was staring at a customer.

Jason stopped what he was doing and looked back at the girl, who now had a growing blush on her face. "It's nothing. Just wanted to see if I had anything on my face. You were staring at me for quite a while."

"O-oh," she bowed. "I-I'm sorry for bothering you. Please excuse me."

As she straightened, she locked eyes with him for less than a second before looking away, hands and legs fidgeting.

"There's no need to apologize." Jason shook his head.

'Slightly timid, easily flustered by a handsome face, and doesn't seem to have any combat training or experience.' His brows furrowed. 'Wait, where did that come from?'

As far as he knew, he wasn't so cautious as to create a mental profile of a convenience store employee. Most of the people he knew who would do that would be… Bruce and everyone he trained.

But still…

'If I turn into Bruce, I'm giving Joe a peace of my mind and maybe a bullet or two… Or three.'

Jason gave what he hoped to be a disarming smile. "If you'll excuse me, I need to make sure my stomach doesn't eat itself."

She seemed to fall into a daze again before she shook her head. "R-right! If you need anything, please tell me, and I'll do my best to help."

Jason responded with a nod, grabbing a basket while doing so.

As he browsed the aisles, it didn't escape his notice that the girl's orange eyes followed him while he roamed the store. Barely taking them off for a second before returning.

He threw the food and drinks in the basket, which were mostly food bars and water bottles, and reassessed his plan and the information he got from Joe. All while ignoring the cashier staring at him.

Joe told him he had four weeks to save Saki Yoshida, but he doubted he would need an entire hour to know where to find her. If Japan's government stored their citizens' private information on the internet, which is unlikely, accessing the government's database should give him her whereabouts and anything else he would need to know. After that, it's just a matter of monitoring her, scouting the locations she frequents and making sure that she isn't tricked by the man in the store to come with him.

So why give him four weeks?

The reason could simply be just to give him more time to prepare, but his intuition was telling him that there was another purpose for the extra time given to him. But what was it?

As he mulled over his thoughts, he overheard the cashier he met and another employee's conversation.

"Yui, have you seen that creepy old man anywhere?" the other employee asked.

"Huh?" Jason felt Yui take her eyes off of him. "O-oh, hey Shi-chan. Um, I think he went to the bathroom."

"Damn it. Just as I needed to ask that useless uncle something…" She paused for a moment. "You okay Yui? What're you looking a—oh wow…"

A strange atmosphere covered the store as the two employees stared at him with red faces and fidgeting limbs while he pretended not to notice and continued to "browse" the food items. While he was here, he might as well get a face mask that wouldn't seem out of place. That should solve his face issue. The ones he currently had were for his outings at night.

"H-hey, who is that really hot and tall gaijin? Is he a supermodel?" Shi-chan whispered, but with his senses, he still heard her words loud and clear. "He's totes the hottest guy I've ever seen in my life!"

"I don't know. But don't stare at him, it's rude!" Yui whispered back.

"W-what?! You hypocrite! Why are *you* telling me that when you were doing it first?!"

Finished placing items in his basket and having heard enough from them, Jason started heading towards the cashier with a ten thousand yen bill in hand.

Both girls quickly stopped talking and did a poor job of pretending to be busy doing work. Did they think they were being quiet at the end of their conversation? He could tell his senses were many times better than an average human's now, but even a normal person paying attention would just need to strain their ears to hear a conversation *that* loud.

Jason placed his basket on the counter, both girls straining their necks as they looked up at him. "This'll be all. Can you put all this in a plastic bag if you have one?"

Both girls nodded before their eyes widened when they realized the number of food bars and water bottles that were in the basket. They stared at each other with strange looks. He contemplated telling them he was a bodybuilder going on a specific diet, but he settled on staying quiet. That usually worked better.

Finally, Yui started scanning each item and handed them over to Shi-chan, who placed them in plastic bags. In the end, two large plastic bags were bulging with food bars and water bottles.

Yui looked up at Jason with a customer-friendly smile, the prominent blush on her face ever-present. "That'll be 5780 yen."

Suddenly, the sound of a thud followed by a curse and footsteps coming from the bathroom entered his ears.

Jason took note of it and handed over his ten thousand yen bill, and as Yui counted the change, he noticed Shi-san kept glancing at him with a red face.

He kept his face neutral as a sudden realization hit him. 'Wait a minute, what the hell is Japan feeding these teenagers for them to have breasts that big?'

Before Jason could speculate further, Yui finished and handed the change to him.

"Here is your change, sir."

Jason accepted the money, covered the change in his hand, and pretended to put it in his hoodie's pocket when he instead put it in the ring.

The doors of the bathroom swung open. An old, and obese Japanese man wearing the store's uniform went behind the counter. "Hey girls, I think the toilet supplies need to be restocked soon. Could either of you be the one to do that?"

As he talked, his eyes discretely ogled both of their figures, focusing on their chest before lowering to their thighs. Shi-san seemed to notice as she uncomfortably turned her body away from him and crossed her arms in front of her chest with a disgusted expression on her face. Yui was the only one who didn't seem to notice — because of reasons Jason couldn't fathom — the man's actions as she kept her smile while she answered him.

Jason's cold eyes slightly narrowed at the man before a red holographic screen suddenly appeared in his vision, surprising him.

[All conditions have been fulfilled.]

A robotic yet surprisingly human male voice echoed inside his mind, speaking in an English West Country accent.

[System activation process commenced.]

'What the hell…'

[System activation process completed.]

[… Hello? Is this working? CAN YOU HEAR ME?! What's going on? Hang on, let me see if I can fix this.]

'Oh, you gotta be fucking kidding me...' Jason internally groaned.

-===-

Author's Note: If you can figure out the name of the "system" based on certain direct and indirect clues I've given before reading the next chapter or reading the comments, you're a Chad Gamer.

Also, you could call it a system, but that's pretty much what you can call any A.I. like support or power in webnovels. I'm just calling it a system for convenience's sake. As I said in the last sentence, it is a form of support for Jason's future missions and none of those include it having punishing and ridiculous quests or absurd gacha rolls that will give the main character overpowered items or abilities just because I want it to. I have another plan for that kind of fanfic.

If you're curious about what the system is for and what its features are, why don't you add my story to your library and donate a power stone or two? Think of it as an investment for your future entertainment and reading experience on this platform.

Definitions:

Gaijin - (in Japan) a foreigner.

Sauce for the characters: JK to Ero Konbini Tenchou