𝙃𝙀𝙍𝙊 𝙃𝙐𝙉𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙂

Chapter 3.

3一 not quite moonlight flirtations

༻𖥸༺

EVEN IF THE SKY HELD LITTLE TO NO stars, Jin-Woo felt as if this was a vast improvement from the constantly ash-grey sky of the Chaos World. It was nice, he surmised, to finally have stars to look at.

Perched on the highest building he could find, the Shadow Monarch watched with a barely there smile the world bellow him. There was a small sense of weightlessness permeating in the air surrounding him. Black hair tousled by the raging winds at the high altitude in which he sat, Jin-Woo looked down at the bustle of activity on the streets hundreds of meters below, his steely blue eyes glowed in a violet hue, crinkled at the corners.

His soldiers were dispersed all across Japan, and while he hadn't quite dared to send Beru over to Korea yet, he could safely monitor the activity all around the country.

(It was an irrational fear, one that he had grown to understand, yet accepting and overcoming it would take a while.)

For all the freedom he had sampled in the scant few days he has spent back on Earth, the Monarch of Death was at loss on what to do with his spare time. Clearing Gates would bring him neither monetary assurance nor enjoyment. He could just send one of his lower leveled shadows and it would be done in minutes at worst and seconds at best.

Sighing, Jin-Woo knew he had to confront his new-found boredom sooner or later. (Though he'd prefer sooner if possible.)

Heroes were interesting and all, villains even more so, but they just could not hold his attention. Fighting All Might could be interesting though.

Now there was an idea.

After giving it a moment's thought, he decided to scrap it. The satisfaction would be momentary and then he'd be back to square one. Not really all that appealing.

There was a ping against his senses and he straightened up, steely blue eyes watching with veiled fascination as a person sped towards him, quite literally flying.

This was one of the things that made coming back new and exciting一 the mutations that magic underwent were simply too fascinating to ignore. There was always new ways for this day and age to surprise him.

Lowering itself so it stood at eye level, the figure watched him with barely concealed curiosity as massive red wings flapped in a steady rhythm.

"Hi there!" The tone might have been friendly and the body language open and relaxed, but Jin-Woo was no fool. Friendliness to get his guard down and a relaxed body for an easier way to intercept attacks.

This person knew how to fight.

"Hello." He greeted back, as it was common courtesy, though the face of this person appeared quite familiar.

[The current Japanese number three hero, My Lord.] And there was Igris with the customary explanation. [His name is Hawks, if I'm not mistaken.] He felt really grateful for his shadows. He just wasn't that good with names, as he'd slowly learned over the years.

"Mind telling me what you're doing up here?" And there was good humour lining the younger man's voice. Interesting. It was clear that the hero regarded him as a possible threat, but he seemed non-committal.

"Breathing some clean air." If he was going to be in this situation, he might as well play along. It could prove to be worth his while.

The blond haired man tilted his head in a way reminiscent of a bird as he hummed. "And how'd you get up here?"

"I jumped." Came the blunt answer and Hawks nearly stalled his wings' movements as his brain rewired itself. 'What?' was appearing to be a reoccurring thought in this situation.

"You... jumped?"

"Yes."

Keigo didn't know what to make of this man. He was standing on what was 一quite literally一 the highest point in all of Fukuoka, and trust him, he'd checked. He was so nonchalant. Bored even. Hawks, for all his higher intellect, was getting a bit stumped.

"Would you mind coming down?" His voice might have been calm, be he was feeling quite a bit of apprehension. How in the world was he going to deal with this guy?

"Sure." The man said before jumping off of the lightning rod and ignoring every law of physics while gracefully landing on the rooftop. Without nary a sound, might he add.

The situation went from weird to interesting in the span of two seconds for Keigo.

Landing besides the dark haired guy, absent-mindedly noting that yes, he was a long way shorter than him, the winged man offered a hand. "I'm Hawks, but I believe you already knew that. What's your name?"

Reaching forwards, the number three hero was a bit surprised at the lack of wariness. This was new.

"I'm Sung Jin-Woo."

Sung Jin-Woo? Where did he hear that name? It sounded familiar. Foreign too. Korean maybe? His voice as well, now that the wind was letting up.

But he couldn't for the life of him place the name. He must have learnt it before, but where?

Sung Jin-Woo. Sung Jin-Woo. Sung Jin-Woo. Sung Jin-Woo. Sung Jin-Woo. Sung Jin-Woo. Sung Jin-Woo. Sung Jin-Woo. Sung一

Oh.

The Nation Ranked hunter watched with amusement as the hero froze in place while realisation dawned on his face. It seemed that he'd connected the dots. Smart cookie this one, given that few people knew what he actually looked like during this time.

"So, want to grab some food?"

That seemed to snap the blonde out of his mental processes, golden eyes watching him with both scepticism and an intense curiosity.

"I'm craving spicy chicken. Join me?"

"Only because I can't say no to chicken."

Chuckling at the response, Jin-Woo tilted his head as gave a small smile. "Know any place that's good?"

"Several, actually."

Scrapping the idea of summoning Kaisel, as that would put panic into anyone below (he'd learned his lesson from last time), the Korean born readied himself to keep up with the hero's fabled speed in the good old-fashioned way.

"I have so many questions." The twenty two year old admitted, a sheepish smile on his face.

"I'm sure you do."

✂------------------------------------------

me, preparing myself to dissappear for yet another month: