Several days passed after the agreement between Junsei and Overhaul.
Junsei kept his word.
He remained in the area surrounding the house, quietly watching for any sign of approaching heroes or police forces. From the rooftops and shadows of nearby buildings, he observed the streets with cold patience. Whenever unfamiliar movement appeared in the distance, he investigated immediately.
At times, he left the area entirely.
Junsei would travel through the city or into the outskirts, hunting individuals whose life he could sense from afar. When he attacked, he made sure to do so far from the hideout, sometimes even in nearby towns or other cities.
He was careful. The heroes could not be allowed to trace the killings back to Overhaul's location.
Meanwhile, Overhaul remained faithful to his part of the agreement as well.
Inside the basement laboratory, he worked constantly. Day and night, he experimented with chemicals and fragments of Eri's quirk factor, searching for a method to mass-produce the quirk-erasing drug.
The interaction between Junsei and the Yakuza group remained minimal.
They rarely spoke.
However, silence did not remove the tension.
Many of Overhaul's subordinates watched Junsei stalking them silently and felt anger and fear at his presence. They had not forgotten that he had slaughtered several of their comrades.
But they knew very well that none of them could challenge the monster their boss had chosen to cooperate with.
So they endured his presence.
One week into his watch, Junsei sat quietly in the shade of a nearby building, observing the hideout from a distance. The afternoon sun stretched long shadows across the street as people moved about their daily routines.
Then something unusual caught his attention.
A small figure slipped through the gate of the Yakuza house.
A little girl.
Junsei frowned slightly as he watched her. Her hair was bluish-white, and a small horn protruded from her head. She looked around nervously before beginning to walk away from the house.
Junsei had been monitoring the area for days. He had never seen a child there before.
His thoughts immediately turned toward the human Overhaul was supposed to get the quirk factor from. It was a female named Eri. Was that child Eri?
Junsei moved.
Next, he stood directly in front of the girl.
Eri froze instantly.
She looked up slowly at the tall figure standing before her.
Two cold blue eyes stared down at her without blinking.
Her body began to tremble.
She took a step back.
"Are you Eri?" Junsei asked.
Eri said nothing. She took another small step backward and nodded weakly.
Junsei tilted his head slightly.
"Did Overhaul allow you outside," he asked calmly, "or did you sneak out?"
The girl's eyes filled with tears.
"S-sorry," she whispered quickly. "Sorry… I won't do it again."
Junsei watched her silently.
Only then did he notice the bandages wrapped around her arms, neck, and parts of her legs.
He remembered what Overhaul and his subordinate had explained.
They harvested blood and flesh from her body.
These bandages were likely covering the wounds from those extractions.
Junsei frowned as he continued observing her.
The trembling and the fearful eyes. The way she apologized instinctively. It reminded him of the children from the memories of AFO.
AFO had used helpless children as experimental material for his ambitions.
Junsei realized something uncomfortable. In a different way, he was doing the same.
He had allowed Overhaul to continue the process because it served his goal. The only difference was that he had not personally participated in the cruelty.
Junsei did not care about human life. Children and adults were the same in his eyes.
But seeing the girl now forced an unsettling thought into his mind, a thought he didn't consider before.
He was acting like AFO through a different path and that disgusted him. Even worse, he had to continue acting like him to achieve his goal.
While he was thinking about his own actions and choices, Eri watched him nervously as he remained silent in front of her.
"Are you… not going to make me go back?" she asked quietly.
Junsei said nothing.
Logically, he should send her back inside. Her quirk was essential to Overhaul's research. If she escaped, it would slow the progress toward erasing quirks from the world or completely stop it.
But forcing her back…means he is the same as AFO. Would claiming it was for the sake of life change anything? No, the act is the same.
If he let her go, he would be abandoning the chance to free Life from humanity.
If he forced her back, he would be embracing the same cruelty and greed he despised in humans.
Junsei felt an unfamiliar conflict stirring within him.
Either choice felt wrong.
Eri continued watching him, unsure what the strange man was thinking.
"Can I go?" she asked hesitantly, fearing the answer she would receive.
Junsei finally spoke. "I do not know what I should do with you."
Hope flickered briefly in Eri's eyes.
"I won't tell anyone you saw me," she said quickly.
Junsei looked down at her.
"You are needed for something important," he said slowly. "But I do not want to become human."
He looked upward toward the sky. "Why am I thinking like this? Why is it so difficult to find a solution?"
Eri hesitated for a moment before speaking again.
"Take what you want," she said quietly. "Then let me go."
Her voice trembled.
"It's scary inside there… and it hurts."
Junsei looked back at her in silence.
A thought appeared in his mind, one he had never considered before.
Could he take a quirk from someone the way AFO had?
He could enter the vestige world of a quirk.
But what would happen if he tried to consume it entirely?
Would he be able to replicate AFO ability?
Junsei's thoughts accelerated rapidly.
Then his hand moved.
He placed it on Eri's head.
The girl froze in fear and squeezed her eyes shut.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then she opened them again and they were glowing blue.
For several seconds, Junsei and the girl remained frozen in place.
Her eyes stared up at him without blinking.
Then Junsei removed his hand.
Eri collapsed immediately, her small body dropping to the ground, unconscious.
Junsei stood still, breathing slowly.
Something shifted inside him. A foreign presence settled deep inside his body, unfolding like a memory that had always existed, and at the center of his forehead, a small blue horn slowly grew.
Understanding flooded his mind. The nature of the quirk and everything that defined Rewind unfolded clearly within his thoughts. The horn flickered faintly as Junsei felt more familiarity with the quirk.
Then he looked down at the girl lying on the ground. The horn that had once grown from her head was gone.
She was now quirkless.
Junsei watched her quietly for a moment before bending down and lifting her unconscious body into his arms.
Then he walked toward the Yakuza house.
When he entered the building, he was welcomed by Overhaul and several of his subordinates; they had gathered in the front of the house, clearly preparing to leave.
Overhaul's gaze shifted toward the entrance and the first thing he noticed was the girl in Junsei's arms.
"You caught Eri," Overhaul said calmly. "That is good. We were just about to start searching for her."
Junsei walked forward.
"I reconsidered something," he said.
Overhaul narrowed his eyes slightly.
"I do not like the way you are using her."
The air grew tense instantly.
Overhaul frowned.
"Are you feeling sympathy for her?" he asked.
His tone remained controlled, but irritation crept into his voice.
"I am ensuring her survival while conducting my work. She is an essential component of our plan. Without her, we cannot continue. And even after we are done, I still need her safe and sound"
He paused.
"Or are you abandoning the goal you claimed to support?"
Junsei knelt and placed Eri on the floor.
Overhaul and his men tensed further. They were prepared for violence.
Junsei stood again.
"You are progressing too slowly because of your limitations," he said.
Then he added calmly,
"Here."
His right hand gripped his left arm.
Before anyone could react, Junsei tore the arm off.
The sound of tearing flesh made the Yakuza completely freeze. Some members stepped backward in shock.
Junsei tossed the severed arm toward Overhaul.
Overhaul caught it instinctively, staring at it with disbelief.
"I devoured her quirk," Junsei said calmly.
"From now on, I will provide you with the blood and flesh you require. There will be no limits."
As he spoke, blue smoke rose from the stump of his shoulder.
Before the stunned eyes of the Yakuza, a new arm slowly grew back in place.
Bone formed, followed by muscle and then skin sealed over it completely.
Junsei knelt again and picked Eri up.
"Focus on your research instead of wasting time restraining a child," he said.
"I will take her away from here."
He turned toward the door.
"When you discover a way to erase quirks from humanity… if you still require her, go and retrieve her yourself."
Then he left.
The yakuza remained silent for several seconds after Junsei disappeared.
Overhaul still stared at the arm in his hands.
Finally, one of his subordinates spoke.
"What… was that?"
Another man frowned.
"Did he feel sorry for Eri or was he simply frustrated by the slow progress?"
Overhaul remained silent for a moment before answering.
"I have no idea what goes through his mind."
Another subordinate asked nervously."What if he lied to us?"
Overhaul shook his head.
"I do not believe he did. If he wanted to take the girl by force, none of us could have stopped him. And he knows that. Not to mention he didn't need to let us know about this."
Overhaul's gaze hardened.
"That monster can steal quirks just like All For One."
He lifted the severed arm slightly.
"That explains why he possesses so many abilities."
Overhaul turned back toward the laboratory.
"Regardless of his motives, if he can provide the material I need, my work will become far easier and faster."
He paused.
"I can retrieve the girl later, once I succeed."
——————
Outside, Junsei moved silently through the streets with Eri resting in his arms.
He had reached a decision.
His goal remained the same, he would free life from humanity.
But he would not follow the path of All For One. He would not torture a child for his goal.
He would not resort to the disgusting actions of humans.
Instead, he would give from his flesh to achieve his goal. That is what life is about, a cycle of sacrifice and renewal.