Having given Mosquito Girl her artificial blood injection, I returned to more important matters. Genus filled me in on the progress of his current developments, which included:
Regeneration-enhancing pills suitable for ordinary people, not among the superhuman.
A refinement of the rejuvenation method the scientist himself had previously used, to make it accessible to other people as well.
And of course the Simulation System, which was of personal importance to me.
The first two projects were moving along — slowly, but moving — while the last one, into which Genus was putting the most effort, was nearly ready to begin real trials.
Having confirmed that everything was generally going according to plan and that I would soon be able to test the scientist's work on myself, I said goodbye to him and Mosquito Girl — who tried to follow me out — and headed home. By the time I got there, heavy rain had started falling, so I ran inside without looking around at all... two seconds later, someone began actively pounding on the door I had just closed.
"Deceiver!" — a familiar female voice came from the other side. "Come whenever you're ready! My door is always open!... and then you shut yours right in my face? Left a poor girl out in the street, and in weather like this!"
"Keep yelling like that and I'll beat you again." — opening the door, I found standing there a completely dry yet extremely displeased girl with a full figure, in her customary green dress. "Hello, Fubuki. How's life?"
"Can't complain." — the esper immediately tried to walk in without an invitation, but I was still standing in the doorway, so nothing came of it. "May I come in?" — she finally asked, adjusting the fur coat on her shoulders with a smile and looking up at me from beneath her bangs. "I'm sure you're incredibly glad to see me and already trembling with joy that I..."
At those words of hers, I quietly sighed and closed the door in her face. After a couple of seconds of silence, fists began hammering against it again.
"Rude! Have you forgotten, there's rain out here!"
"First of all, you're shielding yourself from it with an esper umbrella." — shaking my head, I placed my hand on the handle. "Second, if you came on business, say so properly. There's no need to pretend I'm the one who needs something from you. Clear?"
"..." — silence settled again for a moment, then a quiet voice from the other side finally spoke. "Fine, I... I genuinely did want to talk."
"And?"
"And... I apologize. I shouldn't have started the conversation in that tone..."
"This is your last chance." — I gave fair warning, opening the door again and this time stepping aside to let her in. "Come in, make yourself at home."
"Thank you." — nodding gratefully, Fubuki stepped a little uncertainly into my home and, looking around, sat down on the same sofa onto which I had dropped her unconscious body at our first meeting. "Are you a minimalist, or do you just rarely have guests?"
"The second." — I immediately rejected her implication. "And besides, I basically only sleep here — everything else goes to hero raids, training, and... well, other activities." — for now I decided not to let my guest in on the former House of Evolution's affairs. "So..." — having settled into the computer chair, I looked at Fubuki meaningfully.
"Ahem, well, in short..." — uncertainly pursing her lip, the girl lowered her voice slightly. "It seems that... this... you were right." — finally overcoming herself and lifting her face, she met my gaze. "My whole idea with the Fubuki Group... was pointless. All this time I was just deceiving myself."
"They say acknowledging a problem is the first step toward solving it." — suppressing an "I told you so" smile, I gave a calm nod, then looked at my interlocutor again. "So and..."
"That's why I disbanded it." — lowering her eyes to her lap, Fubuki let out a heavy sigh — it was clear that both the decision itself and saying it aloud had not come easily. "Most of the members were against it, but I had already made up my mind. That group... maybe it helped some of us, but otherwise it just kept us from growing... and so now I'm here..."
"Humiliated and insulted." — I couldn't hold back and smirked.
"Maybe so." — to my surprise, the girl only sighed again, then raised her face to me. "This past week I've done nothing but push my powers to their limits, sometimes passing out from exhaustion. And you know — now I genuinely feel a little stronger. Maybe if I had been doing this from the start, instead of rallying B-Class heroes together... Garou." — suddenly pressing her lips together, she rose from her seat and stepped very close to me. "I promise you I'll move to A-Class and eventually surpass even Handsome Kamen... no, I swear I will!"
"Good mindset." — without a trace of sarcasm, I nodded again and rose to my feet alongside her. "So... did you come just to say that?"
"Well... there's one more thing..." — losing her composure for a moment under my smiling gaze, Blizzard nonetheless quickly pulled herself together and turned her face to the side. "You know, you said something about wanting to surpass my sister. Martial arts alone definitely won't be enough for that." — here I, knowing the canon perfectly well, could have argued — but decided to stay quiet and let her finish. "But if someone could teach you a few psychic techniques... you know, you don't have to be an esper to learn them — I managed to teach one of them to most of my group... so, if you had a good teacher... with experience in the field and a certain talent..."
"If you don't start speaking normally, I'll show you the door." — I reminded her calmly.
"I'm proposing that we work together." — quickly sensing which way the wind was blowing, Fubuki turned her face to me. "My knowledge and abilities could be useful to you. Let's join forces!"
"And you're fine with right here on the sofa?" — I looked at the only sleeping surface with the most serious expression I could manage.
"Wh-what?!" — the girl's eyes went wide. "Idiot, not in that sense! I'm suggesting we team up so we can grow stronger together! You'll help me and I'll help you, understood?... And besides! Where do you get the nerve to think that I... I have your personal file, at your age you should still be in school!"
"I finished early through independent study." — I brushed it off with a smile.
"That's beside the point!" — Fubuki did the same. "I'm a full five years older than you!"
"Now you've got a complex about the age gap? Relax, I like them a little older." — and before the girl could respond, I quickly steered the conversation back to serious ground. "So... I already understand what I'd get from you in this partnership. What do you want in return?"
"...Nothing like that." — overcoming herself and switching just as quickly to a business discussion, Fubuki slowly shook her head. "I have no interest in martial arts, but you clearly have a talent that makes you grow stronger at an extraordinary pace... ha! Yes, I took the lessons of the past to heart and started keeping up with information about you online!" — folding her arms across her chest, she delivered this with an extremely proud expression on her beautiful face. "You haven't been transferred to A-Class yet only because you didn't show up twice for the scheduled committee meetings. So if we team up, we can go there together and work side by side. I can easily teach you some psychic techniques, and in return I only ask to be able to observe you and — if you, well, notice that I'm missing something in my own training — just tell me what you think."
"That's all?" — I looked at my interlocutor with a suspicious squint.
"That's all." — she confirmed with a nod. "If you don't believe me, we can sign a contract — I have extensive experience drafting them!"
"I'll take your word for it." — extending my hand forward, I waited for Fubuki to place hers in my palm and, shaking it, shook my head with a resigned smile. "Well... as if my already packed schedule needed one more problem... in the morning do abs, go running... ahem, I mean to say:
Daily — practice in my primary style, Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist.
Two to three days a week — Void Fist style training with Suiko.
Once a week — sessions with Bomb, gradual mastery of the Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist.
Three to seven times a week — hero raids alone or in company with other heroes from various classes.
On top of all that, now — approximately one week after our second meeting with Hellish Blizzard — the following had been added:
Study of the nature of psychic forces and their applications, according to Fubuki's methods.
Testing of the Simulation System prototype, in Genus's and my laboratory.
The latter had, of late, been consuming more and more of my already rarely free time. The Simulation was an incredibly complex technical device, connected directly to the brain of the "test subject" and transmitting images so realistic — and more importantly, sensations so realistic — that distinguishing them from reality was extraordinarily difficult.
When plugged into the Simulation, I found myself once again in the trial room from the House of Evolution — the very one where Asura Kabuto had fought me. Then Genus, sitting at the control panel, would begin loading monsters of his own creation into that same virtual space. Their appearance and parameters could be adjusted however the two of us saw fit, but only at the moment of creation. After that, the monster would immediately attack my virtual copy... only for me, connected to the simulation, that creature was entirely real. It had a fully perceptible aura, strength capable of causing me pain. Yes, wounds from such battles existed only within the simulation — but the pain and all other sensations were completely genuine.
There was no denying it — creating such a "testing ground" had required Genus to put in considerable effort and push his genius mind to its absolute limit. And the result was worth it. No virtual battle could fully replace a real one, but it could partially substitute for it. And considering I could fight monsters in the simulation practically without limit, for my progress it was far more effective than trying to find a sufficiently strong monster in the city and test my skills against it.
Constantly fighting in this virtual environment, I honed my combat styles and trained new techniques against "real" opponents — engaging in battles that were simultaneously insanely difficult and completely safe. By loading and deceiving my brain with the simulation, I had finally obtained what I had been searching for so long. An opponent always at hand, possessing enough strength to be a genuine threat, yet not enough to kill me in a single blow.
The speed of my current progress was nowhere near what I had experienced during the battle with Asura — but at least it existed, and it was constant.
At a certain point, having defeated the virtual Asura Kabuto in his base form, I knew with certainty that some time would pass — a month, a year, it didn't matter in the end. And the sparring session against virtual Asura Kabuto in Berserk mode would also end with my victory.
And when monsters like him appeared on my path in the real world — I would be ready.