Time Waits for No One

Leon flew above Hell's Kitchen through the pitch-black night sky.

The cold air from his high-speed flight made Leon hunch his neck and clamp his arms around his trench coat.

"This isn't even that fast! It hasn't even been that long! Those guys on skateboards, swinging around, swinging sledgehammers... oh, sledgehammer swingers were an exception."

"How were they not cold?! Shouldn't they at least put on some green coats?!"

At this hour, Leon would normally have already been lying warm and cozy in bed.

Why did he have to suffer like this!

"It's fucking almost dawn!"

This had been the busiest night Leon had experienced since crossing over.

First, his gift delivery had failed. Daredevil had rushed over to offer up his own head.

Then Leon had watched a righteous, kindhearted masked hero in leather tights collapse beside a dumpster. Unable to bear it, he had given him a little help.

And tested the Physical Anesthesia Technique while he was at it.

He had earnestly advised that kind man not to be quite so kind, and it had worked remarkably well!

Half the night had passed just like that, but who would have thought!

On his way home, he had run into that old classic: a hero saving a beauty!

Leon had thought this book surely wouldn't arrange such a good thing for him! Yet there it was.

A con artist! An agent! A bald man!

Misfortune and fortune depended upon each other.

After a round of maneuvers by Leon "Big Bullshitter" Collins, what had been a bad thing became a good thing.

That should have been something worth celebrating.

He had protected his currently weak self while gaining the freedom to do whatever he wanted without restraint.

"It's just too late. Or... too early?"

He touched his mask. It had done quite a bit of work today. Anyone who looked directly at it saw their own heart. Evil people who saw someone wearing the Rorschach Mask felt Leon was even more wicked than they were, while good people who saw its pattern felt that Leon was upright and trustworthy.

Though it was only a slight psychological suggestion, it was astonishingly useful when moving between the forces of good and evil, especially during negotiations!

"I hear sleeping too late and not getting enough sleep is bad for your skin!"

It was all fucking Kingpin's fault!

Sleep!

Back in his tiny rented apartment, Leon grumbled as he changed out of his clothes. What kind of superhero still had to clean his own home after getting back!

Sleep! Now!

He fell into bed and was out the moment his head hit the pillow.

By the time Leon woke up, normal people had already finished lunch.

Still groggy, he got up to wash himself, then groggily opened the refrigerator.

"Nothing in here. I should eat out."

After changing into ordinary clothes, Leon yawned his way to Aisha's authentic taco shop.

As usual, he asked Aisha for fennel beans and got nowhere. As usual, Aisha casually served him some sort of set meal.

"Did you hear?"

Hear what?

Leon was baffled. How did she always hear some kind of news when he never did?

Could the legend that taverns and restaurants also served as information hubs actually be true?!

Leon looked into Aisha's eyes, chewing nonstop as he signaled for her to tell him what she had heard.

"Did you... get plastic surgery?"

Aisha abruptly changed the subject and stared curiously at Leon's face.

This was the news you heard?!

Was the whole damn neighborhood spreading this now?!

How was I supposed to hear about something like that!

Rumors possessed terrifying power. Leon had understood that in his previous life. A chicken went missing at one end of the village, and by the time the tale reached the other end, it had become a missing cow. He happened not to return home that year, so the story at the village entrance became that he had stolen it. By the time it reached the other end, it became that he had stolen a cow and gone to prison, which was why he could not return for the New Year.

After he heard about it and went home, the village began saying he had escaped from prison. By the time it reached the neighboring village, someone who had actually lost a cow called the police to arrest him.

Indeed, when Leon had first arrived here, he had been frail from years of inactivity, while the original owner of this body had been mostly quiet and cowardly.

The difference between Leon and the original owner was simply enormous.

Leaving everything else aside, their personalities alone were so different that it was like swapping in another soul!

How amazing!

As for his physical condition, aside from the improvements brought by the system, Leon had kept up with exercise and training. And when it came to food, he did not make do.

He took eating seriously!

So compared to when he had first arrived, Leon had filled out considerably. His face no longer had that somewhat sickly gauntness, and overall, he looked far more vibrant.

But that was no reason to spread rumors that he had gotten plastic surgery!

Thinking this, Leon swallowed the tortilla chip in his mouth. "That's the news you heard?"

"What are you thinking about~"

Aisha rolled her eyes at Leon. Seeing that he did not want to discuss it, she tactfully shifted the topic again.

She picked up a tortilla chip from Leon's plate, tossed it directly into her mouth, and ate it.

And she even guarded the ketchup! How could a man be like this!

"Looks like you've really been busy lately. You don't pay any attention to your own neighborhood?"

"What should I care about? I'm just a tenant." This was something Leon had always found difficult to fit into.

The sense of community here was especially strong. Unlike the loose, disorderly residential compounds back home, the idea of a community here was far more collective.

"What do you mean, you're just a tenant!"

Sure enough, Aisha was unhappy.

"Let me ask you this: if the landlord renting you your place gets driven out, where will you sleep? Do you have money to rent another place? Do you think a new place will be better than this one? Cheaper than this one!"

That was true.

Apartments only got worse and more expensive the more you moved. There was absolutely no such thing as cheap and comfortable.

"Wait, what did you say? Who was driving out the landlord?"

Leon immediately seized on the key issue.

"Oh~ Now you're interested~"

Aisha found Leon amusing. He really was the sort who would not worry until the fire reached his own head.

"Don't rush. That, right! Hand it over!"

Reluctantly, Leon pushed the ketchup toward Aisha.

"This morning, that hot dog shop by the street, Mr. Brown's place. You know it, right?"

Leon did know it. He had visited pretty much every place selling food in the nearby blocks. Mr. Brown, who sold hot dogs and sandwiches, was a very decent old man.

"Mr. Brown's son, Little Brownie, was hit by a car and sent to the hospital. You know, hardly anyone in all of Hell's Kitchen has full medical insurance. He needs money."

Resting her cheek on her hand, Aisha narrowed her eyes. "What a coincidence... something happened yesterday, and this morning someone came to buy his building."

"What a coincidence..."

Leon listened without any expression on his face, but inwardly he had already begun sending Kingpin his blessings.

Using the enemy's mother as the center and eighteen generations of ancestors as the radius, he unleashed full firepower.

"Don't worry too much. I heard from a friend that the Big Apple seems to be launching some civilized-city and sanitation campaign recently. Something like this definitely won't happen again."

"Hahaha, you really are well-informed~"

"Of course! I'm Brooklyn Know-It-All!"

"Really?! Huh?"

"Absolutely!"

"What does that mean?"

"Huh?"

"Know-It-All!"

"It means someone who's well-informed..."

Aisha heard her mother call for her to serve the food. She answered, then said, seemingly to Leon and also to herself, "I hope your friend really is well-informed."

Leon stuffed another tortilla chip into his mouth.

"Time waits for no one..."

he murmured.

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