Chapter 30

The sky was as it always was, with neither wind nor rain.

On their usual route home, Uraraka Shige, Ochaco, and Terumi Genga had been pushed into the middle of the road by a sudden blast. From the house where the blast had erupted, a figure stepped through a gaping hole in the outer wall, shrouded in drifting smoke and dust. His leather shoes struck the ground with clear, distinct footsteps as he walked slowly toward the three of them.

"So there really are three brats..."

A voice reached the three from the direction of the figure. It sounded young and very gentlemanly, yet strangely unsettling.

"Ochaco, Genga, you two go on ahead. The moth's flown into the net. I'll explain later."

The moment Uraraka Shige saw the figure, he understood that this man was probably the fugitive "villain" planning to take revenge on him. His earlier unease, worry, and sense of danger did not grow stronger. Instead, they vanished without a trace the moment the "villain" finally appeared and attacked him, leaving Uraraka Shige much more relaxed and calm.

Ochaco and Terumi Genga had been startled by the "villain's" sudden appearance and had grown tense as fear quietly surfaced in their hearts. But Uraraka Shige's calm voice and words reassured them somewhat, and they instinctively turned questioning, puzzled gazes toward him.

Ochaco had grown up alongside Uraraka Shige and had been deeply influenced by him, while Terumi Genga's unusual family circumstances had made him a relatively mature child. Thus, although both were deeply puzzled by Uraraka Shige's words, neither asked any questions. Instead, they each answered and nodded, then turned and hurried away from the "villain," intending to leave as quickly as possible.

Their trust in Uraraka Shige went without saying.

The "villain" who had returned for revenge, however, did not seem inclined to let the two brats leave. Still walking toward Uraraka Shige at an unhurried pace, he reached into his clothes and rummaged around. Finally, he pulled out a long, cylindrical object wrapped in oil paper, with a fairly long fuse protruding from one end.

"Why are you in such a hurry to leave? Do I look frightening? Or have my manners been discourteous in some way?"

He asked in that same youthful voice, deliberately softening it to sound gentle and gentlemanly.

At the same time, the "villain" lightly touched the fuse with a finger of the hand holding the cylinder. The spot he touched silently caught fire without warning, and the fuse began to hiss.

"At least accept my gift. I spent a long time on it, so it should be enough to convey my feelings."

As he spoke, the "villain" gently tossed the cylindrical object he held... No, it was clearly a homemade explosive!

The "villain" tossed the explosive into the air, sending it flying toward the retreating Ochaco and Genga in the direction his finger pointed. He had judged his throw expertly: as it passed near Uraraka Shige, it was at the very top of its arc, too high for him to touch even if he jumped.

But Ochaco and Terumi Genga were running with their backs to the "villain" and had no idea the explosive he had thrown was flying toward them.

Uraraka Shige was not "Quirkless," however. Although he could not reach the explosive by jumping with his physical strength alone, that did not mean he could not intercept it or even send it back.

"Strike!"

Uraraka Shige jumped as high as he could, bringing the explosive within his Quirk's range. He then activated his Quirk, abruptly strengthening the gravity in front of the explosive and directing it toward the "villain."

The homemade explosive the "villain" had thrown suddenly reversed course and flew back toward him.

"Oh? Is that your Quirk? Repulsion? Telekinesis? Or something else?"

The "villain" extended a finger toward the returning explosive. The next instant, Uraraka Shige suddenly sensed intense danger coming from the spot in midair where the explosive was, even though its fuse had only burned three-quarters of the way down.

"Bang!"

Almost as soon as the sense of danger reached him, the homemade explosive detonated in midair. The shock from the disturbed air and the smell of explosive fumes reached Uraraka Shige, and the blast suddenly tipped him backward while he was still in the air.

The "villain," on the other hand, merely held one palm toward the explosive. The blast and heat did not affect him in the slightest.

Not even his clothes were disturbed!

"It seems your Quirk isn't telekinesis or repulsion..."

Seeing that Uraraka Shige had not used his Quirk to ward off the blast wave, the "villain" immediately knew his Quirk was not repulsion or telekinesis as he had thought. At the very least, it could not ward off the shock of an explosion.

"That's a relief."

The "villain" smiled as he spoke, narrowing his already long, slender eyes until they looked even narrower. At the same time, he turned the finger he had pointed at the explosive toward Uraraka Shige. Uraraka Shige immediately felt a powerful pang of alarm. In particular, the part of his body the finger pointed at seemed to prickle faintly, as though something would pierce it through the very next second.

"What the hell is this guy's Quirk?!"

Feeling his life threatened, Uraraka Shige looked stunned. The man had ignited the fuse without warning, detonated an explosive that should not yet have gone off without any visible action, and was now making him feel such intense danger from four or five paces away.

"How can there be such a dangerous Quirk?!"

Uraraka Shige could not help complaining, but as he did, he quietly activated his Quirk. He split the gravity he had used for "Strike" into "Fall" and "Level," accelerating his descent while moving himself slightly to the left, trying to escape the "villain's" pointing finger.

Just then, a surging blast of flame shot out of a nearby alley, straight toward the "villain."

It was Endeavor's attack!