"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH—!!"
The scream that tore out of Steel Boy's throat was so sharp it seemed to scrape against the street itself.
The moment Shigaraki's foot came down on his wrist, all the confidence, all the posturing, all the ugly certainty he'd been clinging to shattered like rotten glass.
Truthfully, Shigaraki didn't care in the slightest that this idiot had mistaken him for a Pro Hero.
That part barely mattered.
A fool was a fool. There was no point arguing with someone too stupid to understand what kind of person was standing in front of him.
But—
That smug, uncooperative attitude?
That did annoy him.
A lot.
Especially the part where Steel Boy kept babbling about laws, rules, and how heroes weren't allowed to do this or that, as if those things could protect him from everything.
It was irritating.
So Shigaraki decided to teach him something simple.
A lesson, really.
One so basic that even a moron like this should have been able to understand it.
When someone else held the knife,
you were the meat on the cutting board.
Unfortunately, Steel Boy showed no gratitude whatsoever for this educational effort.
Instead, writhing on the ground, he let out another ragged scream and cursed through gritted teeth, "Bastard! If you've got guts, let me go!"
The street went still for half a breath.
Then Shigaraki lowered his gaze.
The smile on his face didn't disappear.
If anything, it deepened.
Only his eyes turned cold.
"Wow," he said softly, almost admiringly. "You really don't understand your situation at all, do you?"
He tilted his head slightly, blue hair shifting across his forehead.
Then he smiled wider.
"In that case…"
"Let me help you wake up."
As soon as the words fell, his foot lifted again—
And came down even harder.
Crunch.
"GAAAAAAAHHHHHHH—!!"
Steel Boy's body convulsed violently.
The scream that burst from him this time was even worse than before—raw, desperate, stripped of all dignity.
Shigaraki listened to it with calm interest, then asked in a light, almost cheerful tone, "Feel that?"
His voice remained easy.
Almost playful.
"Right now, I'm the hunter."
He pressed down a little more.
"And you're the prey."
A faint smile curved at his lips.
"Do you understand now?"
This time, Steel Boy's arrogance cracked for real.
The fierceness in his eyes gave way to panic, then fear.
He hurriedly blurted out, "Yes, yes! I get it! I understand!"
His breathing was ragged. His face was twisted with pain. Cold sweat streamed down his temples.
"I'll talk! I'll tell you everything! Please—please stop stepping on me! As long as you stop, I'll say whatever you want!"
At that moment, his thoughts were racing wildly.
He still had no idea what Shigaraki had done to him.
Whatever that move was, it had left his entire body in a miserable state—his limbs barely responsive, his strength scattered, his control gone. Even activating his Quirk in this condition meant nothing. He couldn't protect himself.
And that terrified him.
If he couldn't move, couldn't fight, couldn't even curl up properly under the pain, then he was completely at the mercy of the blue-haired monster standing over him.
So Steel Boy made a decision.
Submit.
For now.
Cooperate first.
Reduce the pain first.
As for revenge…
That could wait until after he escaped.
That was the most practical choice.
After all, the law could protect him from heroes.
It could keep them from killing him.
But the boy in front of him—
No matter how he looked at him, no matter how Steel Boy tried to force the situation into familiar rules—
Didn't feel like a hero at all.
There was nothing warm about him.
Nothing righteous.
Nothing safe.
That smile alone was enough to make Steel Boy's scalp go numb.
He couldn't shake the feeling that if he kept resisting, this freak wouldn't just continue torturing him—
He might break his arms, crush his legs, or kill him outright.
Faced with that possibility, Steel Boy abandoned his earlier bravado with remarkable speed.
Dignity was worthless if you were dead.
"Oh?"
Looking at Steel Boy's tearful, snot-smeared face, Shigaraki nodded as if satisfied.
"So now you understand?"
He sounded pleased.
The kind of pleased teacher might use after a particularly slow student finally answered correctly.
Then, still smiling, he casually shifted his foot—
And brought it down onto Steel Boy's head.
The movement was smooth, natural, almost elegant.
Like something he'd done many times before.
"AAAHHHH—!!"
Steel Boy's scream turned shrill again.
His face scraped against the rough asphalt under the pressure. Pain exploded across his skull, and for a second his vision went white.
Above him, Shigaraki's voice remained gentle.
"That's funny."
"I don't think you understand at all."
He slowly ground his heel.
Not enough to crush.
Just enough to remind.
"If you really understood…"
His tone grew colder by the word.
"Then how dare you try to negotiate with me?"
Steel Boy's pupils shook.
Negotiate?
Shigaraki's smile sharpened.
"You're prey."
"Nothing more."
His crimson eyes looked almost amused.
"What gave you the idea that prey gets to set conditions?"
"AAAAAAHHHHH!!"
Steel Boy howled again, tears and mucus spilling freely down his face.
It was an ugly sight.
Pathetic.
Just minutes ago, this same man had been striding through the street like an executioner, casually trying to beat a schoolgirl to death.
He had looked savage then.
Dangerous.
Like a mad dog drunk on violence.
Now?
Now he looked like a broken worm rolling in the dirt.
There wasn't a trace left of that earlier ferocity.
Still, no matter how badly he was suffering, Steel Boy didn't dare curse Shigaraki anymore.
Didn't dare threaten him either.
The first stomp had taught him pain.
The second had taught him fear.
And this one had driven something far more important into his skull—
The boy standing over him wasn't normal.
He was insane.
Not the loud, sloppy kind of insanity that came from losing control.
No—this was worse.
Cold.
Calm.
Smiling.
The sort that could calmly torture someone while sounding almost polite about it.
In Steel Boy's eyes, Shigaraki Tomura was no longer some strong teenage hero.
He was a lunatic who enjoyed grinding people down.
And that made him dangerous in a way Steel Boy had never expected.
Because villains understood villains.
A hero might restrain himself.
A hero might consider procedures.
A hero might think about consequences.
But someone like this?
Someone whose eyes stayed calm while another person screamed beneath his foot?
That kind of person might actually go all the way.
Steel Boy's mind flashed with a horrifying thought:
If he kept refusing—
This bastard might really kill him.
The panic in his chest surged immediately.
"N-no! No, wait!" he gasped, his voice cracking. "You can't kill me! The law—"
He swallowed hard, barely managing to force the words out.
"The law says Pro Heroes can't kill! If you kill me, you'll be a criminal too! Your license—your hero license will be revoked!"
The moment he said it, he regretted it.
Because Shigaraki's expression didn't change.
Not even a little.
If anything, the look in his eyes became stranger.
Amused.
Interested.
Almost delighted.
Steel Boy's heart dropped.
Only now did he begin to realize the most terrifying part of this whole situation.
He had been betting everything on the assumption that the person standing in front of him was a hero.
That assumption was what had given him confidence.
What had let him posture.
What had made him think he still had room to resist.
But what if he was wrong?
What if—
From the very beginning—
This person had never been bound by any of those rules at all?
A chill ran straight down Steel Boy's spine.
For the first time since being knocked to the ground, real terror flooded his face.
Shigaraki looked down at him and smiled.
It was a bright, almost friendly smile.
The kind that should have made someone relax.
Instead, it made Steel Boy feel like he'd been dropped naked into ice water.
Then Shigaraki spoke, soft and slow, each word sliding into Steel Boy's ears like a blade.
"Still talking about hero laws?"
He gave a quiet laugh.
"No wonder you ended up like this."
The pressure on Steel Boy's head increased just a little.
Not enough to break him.
Just enough to make the threat unmistakable.
"You really should've figured it out by now."
Shigaraki's shadow fell over his face completely.
"I'm not the kind of person those rules were made for."
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