Chapter 318: News from Sato Shinichi
In the bedroom on the inner side of the second floor of the Hamano residence at night. A blond young man was sitting in front of a simple desk, doing his homework. However, his lack of interest and the fast-spinning water-based pen in his hand proved that the young man’s mind was not on his homework.
The water-based pen, spinning so fast it was almost a blur, was stopped by the young man. He lightly selected the third option on the last question of the practice book and slowly closed the notebook. However, there was no joy on his face from completing his homework. Instead, a deep worry was etched between his eyebrows.
“Sigh…”
Dejectedly, he threw himself onto the bed, placing his hands behind his head. Looking at the dark night sky outside, he couldn’t help but sigh.
Hamano Tsukasa was very busy.
Even though he had announced his retirement due to injury, the hero work of the Hero Association’s number one hero had never stopped.
Supernatural crime was indeed a difficult thing to curb. Even with such a complete system and standardized capability education, the task of maintaining the stability of the entire society and country was still very arduous.
One could imagine if every person, regardless of status, wealth, or class, could suddenly gain power stronger than a gun due to an accident.
The feeling of losing one’s footing brought about by that sudden immense power and the evil of human nature it ignited were truly difficult to restrain with one’s willpower, especially since the sudden activation of abilities often occurred during intense emotional states. And the consequences of allowing ability users who couldn’t control their powers to act wildly in the city were essentially no different from the explosion of a large-yield bomb.
Coupled with the schemes of various underground organizations, both legal and those completely opposed to the Association, it could be said that although this era had achieved temporary stability due to Hamano Tsukasa’s formidable abilities, with his retirement and aging, these enemies who had been suppressed underground had slowly begun to stir.
The Association had also done many things to address this, such as implementing the Hero Agency system, establishing local district heroes, and collaborating with police departments. These efforts had all yielded good results. But it was still not enough; ultimately, it was the scarcity of ability users who were heroes.
The old man himself was not one to sit idly. He had promised to retire and recuperate at home, but he still went out for meetings every now and then. This time, he had directly gone to the Lake District because of news from the Association. It was rumored that the [Dark] Organization had some major move.
“Isn’t this just like my work before?”
Sato Shinichi pouted unhappily. He actually knew how much Hamano Tsukasa valued his responsibilities. However, Hamano Tsukasa’s body had completely collapsed after that decisive battle, and he could now barely exert half of his peak strength.
And dragging such a body to travel nationwide using his abilities, and possibly engaging in combat with enemies, made Sato Shinichi very worried about his old man’s health.
“Besides, Uncle Shunmoku was also called by the Association. I wonder if something really went wrong?”
Pushing aside his worry for his master, Sato Shinichi thought of something else.
After completing the mission to support Hokuto for the Association, Shun Muto was also temporarily staying at Hamano Tsukasa’s house. And just a few dozen minutes ago, Shun Muto had come to Sato Shinichi to say that he had received a mission from the Association to investigate an anomaly in the northern part of Kyoto City.
Although Sato Shinichi really wanted to go with Shun Muto to investigate the anomaly, unfortunately, after the accident during his spar with [Crimson Flame], the young man’s hero activity qualification was directly revoked. Now, he had been sent to Nishihara by Hamano Tsukasa to re-comprehend the grassroots.
The sharp sword energy that had just broken through some kind of barrier, affecting the entire Kyoto, could be clearly perceived even by Sato Shinichi sitting in his room. For Shun Muto to unleash such an attack, it could be said that the enemy’s strength was also very formidable.
However, Sato Shinichi was more at ease about his somewhat unreliable uncle.
After all, this was Kyoto, and support from the Association and the police could arrive at any time. And to capture Shun Muto in such a short period, even Hamano Tsukasa would probably find it difficult.
What truly made Sato Shinichi constantly worried was the subtle sense of discomfort in his heart.
Because he was a physical ability user, the young man had strong control over his body. After diligent training, he could even freely control individual muscles, and even internal organs.
So, after initially sensing his body’s discomfort, Sato Shinichi quickly performed a thorough examination of his body, both inside and out, but still couldn’t find the cause of the discomfort. In the end, he could only attribute it to psychological issues.
Strong practitioners always had a sixth sense. Although Sato Shinichi didn’t know if he could be called a strong practitioner, his heart was constantly telling him: something bad seems to be happening…
But with just this vague guess, Sato Shinichi couldn’t do much.
He couldn’t just violate the house arrest rule and go there to cause trouble based on his own speculation.
“Eh, all the Association people are over there, why am I so worried.”
Patting his cheeks helplessly, Sato Shinichi didn’t know what was wrong with him.
Hero activities were inherently accompanied by high risks. And both Hamano Tsukasa and Shun Muto’s strength was enough to minimize this risk, let alone the support of other heroes from the Association.
If even they met with an accident, then the real concern would likely be the safety of the city, or even the entire country of Japan.
Knowing that his concern was causing him to overthink, Sato Shinichi stopped lying down to look at the stars and worry. He flipped over, picked up his mobile phone by the bedside, and planned to check the Association’s hero group chat to see what had happened in Kyoto tonight to cause such a commotion.
But his pair of bright blue eyes lingered on the small white skull avatar that was pinned to the top of the chat window. As if remembering something happy, the dejection that had enveloped him vanished, and he returned to being the little sun radiating scorching light.
“At this time… Kazumi should have just finished her first round of studying and be resting… I should be able to chat with her for a while.”
While looking at the time in the upper right corner of his phone, the young man recited the schedule of his girlfriend that he had written down clearly. As if he could see her reply, a hint of a happy smile appeared on his normally plain face.
Just as Sobakada Asada had told him, when he was unhappy, just thinking about Kazumi’s appearance was enough to cheer him up!
Finally, he sat up solemnly, his thumbs flying across the mobile keyboard, typing and deleting, and finally composed a sentence in the chat dialogue box.
[What are you doing? /Miss you/Miss you]
