Sandwich

The best ingredients often needed only the simplest preparation. After a busy day, Master Matt took yesterday's leftover sandwich from the refrigerator.

A lawyer by day and Daredevil by night, Mr. Matt Murdock had been living quite well lately.

Kingpin had fallen.

Matt had been among the first to learn about it. Though he had just been ambushed, before his injuries had even healed, and then Kingpin's entire household had been wiped out, leaving him unable to take revenge himself.

Still, Matt felt that this wasn't so bad!

No matter what, if it had been him, he could never have done it so thoroughly, so... well!

When he learned that the Kingpin Group had disappeared, Matt had more or less known who had done it. After receiving more specific information—such as no survivors at the scene, Bullseye and Wesley's fates before Kingpin died, and Owl being sent off to receive offerings just for watching the show—that style of cutting weeds and pulling out the roots could only have been him.

Matt had also wondered: what if it had been him?

If he had been the one to storm Kingpin's home that day, what would the outcome have been?

If he could defeat Kingpin and Owl! If!

That was what Matt thought.

He would most likely still hand Kingpin over to the law!

Taking a bite of the not-very-tasty sandwich, Matt continued thinking. With Kingpin's methods and his ties to the upper echelons, most likely—no, definitely!

Kingpin wouldn't die. He would be released before long, and the whole thing would begin another cycle. Nothing would change...

"Luckily... haha, I wasn't the one who did it!"

Thinking that, Matt took another bite of the sandwich. Even the day-old sandwich seemed to taste much better!

At that moment, Matt heard someone walk up to the door, as though they were about to knock.

Thinking about the time, it was already past one in the morning. Who would come looking for him at this hour?

Silently rising to his feet, Matt lifted his cane and walked to the door.

There was no knock...

That person simply stood there, outside the door of his law office, without moving.

Someone I know?

A friend?

Or an enemy!

Matt tried desperately to recall the brief footsteps he had heard earlier.

Judging from the footsteps, it was a man, an adult man. Average weight, no heavy weapon, and alone...

Who could it be...

Matt raised his cane and aimed it directly at chest level.

Someone who came to a blind man's door at this hour and said nothing was unlikely to be a friend...

Outside the door, Leon stood there, scratching his head to himself.

It was the middle of the night, and when he'd just called Coulson, that man's tone hadn't been very pleasant!

Matt was also used to going out at night to do things. What if he wasn't home right now?

What if he knocked and it was Matt's roommate who opened the door?

Worse yet, what if it was that woman? What was her name again... Never mind. Why did Matt insist on living with ordinary people when he was a superhero?!

Right now, he was the one who knew Matt's identity. If it were Kingpin or Bullseye or someone like that, wouldn't that be disastrous?!

Come to think of it...

He had even lectured Matt about this sort of thing, yet now the enemy had discovered his identity first and even burned down his home...

How embarrassing!

Everyone who knew about this had to be taken out!

Coulson... Coulson could be spared. Only Loki would kill a good old guy like Coulson.

So, should he knock?

Or should he take off his hood before knocking?

Ugh, what a pain!

Why did Matt have to live with ordinary people?!

After thinking it over and over, Leon finally decided to knock. With his reflexes, if the person opening the door wasn't Matt, he should still be able to vanish immediately.

Hopefully Matt was home, preferably still awake!

Maybe Matt liked watching late-night TV or something~

Well, that was a little too difficult for Matt. Radio was more likely!

With such unreliable thoughts in his head, Leon raised his right hand, curled his fingers, and prepared to knock.

At the same time, Matt focused his mind and prepared to jab the guy outside in the shoulder with his cane...

Knock!

Leon's knuckles struck the wooden door, startling Matt, who had been intently listening to locate him inside. He nearly reflexively thrust the cane toward the man's throat.

Knock, knock!

The door sounded twice more.

Frowning, Matt stood to one side of the door and asked, "...Who's outside? Who are you looking for?"

There was silence outside for three seconds. Just as Matt raised his cane again, the person finally spoke. "Uh, Matt, is that you? Do you remember the person who treated your injuries?"

Matt froze inside. How was it him?

How could Daredevil, famous for his hearing, forget someone's voice?

It was him! That... what was his name again...

"You're... the doctor?"

Matt finally came up with a form of address.

"That's right!" The voice outside seemed delighted, completely failing to notice that Matt had forgotten his name. "It's you, isn't it, Matt! My god, I hesitated for so long before daring to knock. Luckily, you weren't asleep!"

No wonder you stood outside for so long without knocking. Do you know that one second later, my cane would have gone out!

Every single day! Never letting anyone relax!

Still, Matt was also frightened after the fact.

If that cane had gone out, he'd probably have gotten beaten up!

This guy had taken down Kingpin alone. Matt probably wasn't his match.

Realizing that his caution had nearly gotten him beaten up, Matt felt utterly wronged.

Why were you standing outside my house acting all mysterious, and I wasn't allowed to hit you with my cane?!

Shaking his head and driving away all the random clutter in his mind, Matt opened the door.

Things had already reached this point, and he had confirmed who was outside. Whether the door was open or closed no longer mattered. If this man, whom he'd only met once, truly had ill intentions, what could a wooden door do? He might even have to pay to repair it afterward.

To stop this man, he'd need at least a steel door!

Yes, exactly.

Thinking that, Leon entered the room and casually shut the door behind him.

Dropping onto the sofa for guests, Leon noticed that there were no lights on in the room, but there was food on the table. He thus knew that Matt was alone in the office.

"You haven't eaten?"

Matt couldn't adapt at all to this conversational style of immediately asking whether someone had eaten, and besides, couldn't he see the stuff on the table?!

"...I was just eating."

"Ah, this stuff has no nutrition!" Leon wrapped up Matt's half-eaten sandwich again and set it aside, then began taking items out of his space one by one.

"Come on! Let's have a proper meal!"

Because of the Single-Log Wine Barrel, Leon always had alcohol on him, though the amount each time was too little—just enough to get a taste before the cup was empty.

On top of that, due to Leon's Void Terror bloodline, he seemed to digest things much faster than normal people. His storage space wasn't large, but he had nothing much to put in it, so Leon kept huge quantities of food and alcohol inside. At any time and in any place, he could provide a feast for three to five people.

Because there was no air circulation in the system space and it was almost always motionless, the food and alcohol were nearly unchanged when taken out from when they had been put in.

Thus, Matt "saw" Leon conjure food after food and drink after drink out of thin air.

One moment it was a plate of hot food; the next, a glass of iced beer.

Matt could even hear the droplets on the outside of the glass falling onto the tabletop!

Before long, the long guest table was filled with a dazzling spread of food.

Coach, I want to learn this!

Then Matt thought of the sandwich he had been eating earlier.

I definitely don't despise it because it tastes bad! The doctor is right. That thing has no nutrition!

—Iron-Boned Matt Murdock

Please add it to your collection~~

—The Iron-Boned Author!