Chapter Text
Flying above the city, surveying everything like an omnipresent deity, was the Number One Hero, Nana Shimura.
Also known as The Smiling Hero, a symbol of the peace in their time and the light of hope for everyone.
But that was a lie. Just something to distract from all the shadows around you, slowly swallowing the world and engulfing you with it.
That's why she had to die. There was no other way.
From a fire escape 2,8 kilometres away, Kaina Tsutsumi waited. Getting her shot ready.
It wasn't anything against the hero, really. She actually was a fan of her resilience and that contagious smile. But just by existing, every single day people could tell themselves that the world was fine. That there was someone out there protecting them from evil.
Black and white is what they saw. But really, evil was something much more insidious, being able to hide in every corner because of the shadows cast by the symbols that the world decided to stick to.
This was the day she shattered that naive perception of the world.
It was a sad thing that the world would lose that smile, of a genuinely good person and an amazing hero.
Kaina herself had been amazed by how efficient Shimura was, solving crimes in seconds without ever breaking a sweat. It was something that even the commission could value, and she had admired her a bit from the shadows.
Her post in life really didn't leave time for them to ever work together or meet, and right now she appreciated it. Betraying the commission and what she had fought for most of her life was already hard enough, she didn't need any additional ties to break.
Now, it was time to end the ones she had made. To really end her life as Lady Nagant.
All for a more transparent world.
The deafening sound of the shot rang out through the sky as the bullet approached it's target.
But then, something happened. The heroine's hand stretched out in mid-air and Kaina couldn't believe what she was seeing.
Nana had caught the bullet. The remains of it laid crushed in her hand, barely breaking the glove. Her palm had what basically amounted to a small scratch.
But the thing that really made Kaina's heart stop, the thing that told her that things had really gone to shit was that
She was not smiling. There was absolutely nothing positive present in her expression, instead just a scowl which looked like it definitely didn’t belong there and was completely too fierce for her face.
Is this how criminals felt? The number one hero was staring in her direction, and she could barely breathe. This was not how the usually calm Lady Nagant felt when she was the one at the enemy’s crosshairs.
Had she been spotted? Could she really flee? Did her attempt to make a difference end this way?
Before panicking even more, she jumped lower onto the firescape and then onto the pavement. She had to run, every single cell of her body was telling her that if she was caught, that was it.
Street after street just went by in a blur. She couldn’t even feel her legs, but there still was that feeling of doom stalking her from behind, even if she never turned around.
After a frenzied dash that had somehow made it even harder to breathe, she realized that there was no actual way she could have escaped. There were less than three kilometers between her and the hero at the time she took the shot, and Shimura was known for fast flight. She could be anywhere at any time, that was the entire selling point of her as a hero.
So Kaina wasn’t followed. But why? Shimura had seen where the bullet came from, she could easily have found a shooter with her insane speed.
Unless she really didn’t feel threatened at all.
A random screen near her was showing the number one hero, again. Doing her usual, saving people from an average everyday villain.
But it was live. Shimura was punching out a villain in the span of two seconds and grinning so confidently. Like nothing had ever happened.
Like there hadn't been any real danger.
And just like that, a fire was lit under Kaina’s skin. Maybe because of the insult to her pride, or her reputation as practically infallible, or that goddamned smile looking even more sure of herself than she thought possible. Not even shaken up.
Whatever it was, it just cemented how this needed to end.
The heat in her chest told her that she needed to find a way to kill Shimura.
It didn't take long after that for her to return to the commission. More work always needed to be done. More "cleaning" required.
This time it was something about "opportunistic remnants of Destro's followers trying to take advantage of the void left by a former crime lord". A lot of that seemed to be happening lately, even if no one wanted to discuss that particular crime lord.
But somehow, the ambience seemed different. Everyone was actually working hard, even the bureaucrats, as if starstruck. It was really weird to see those leeches doing anything productive. The energy around was completely different to the dreary place she hated going back to every day.
When she arrived at her handler's office, she absolutely could tell what had caused that change. Again, her chest tightened up.
Why is she here!? She thought to herself because there, talking quite jovially to the person that held her life in his hands, was the woman she had tried to kill not four days prior.
"Welcome Tsutsumi-san! Your boss was just telling me about our first mission together!" Spoke that awfully cheery voice that unmistakably belonged to the heroine in front of her.
Maybe blowing up the Public Security Commission would also make the world a better place? It wouldn't hurt to try, right?