Chapter 15
The day after Ayle declared she would solve the problem.
Surprisingly enough, starting from that day, Niberna’s visits suddenly stopped.
It was clear she had pulled some strings, but I couldn’t help feeling joy at having regained my peaceful life.
Finally, she’s gone…
It’s all good if people come by with some knickknacks for repairs. After all, this is a repair shop, right? I opened this place with the intention to fix anything, so what they bring doesn’t really matter.
But… It was slightly problematic that the reason people came here wasn’t to repair valuable items, but simply to strike up a conversation with me—and even worse, to drag me into the Hero Association.
I already said I’m not interested in becoming a hero, so why are they so persistent?
There are always one or two people like that. Those who believe sacrificing oneself for the greater good is the highest virtue. And those who try to force that belief on others.
What they consider important is their own business. I have no intention of interfering. As long as they enjoy it, who cares…
Forcing others to uphold your interpretation of justice isn’t a good thing. Not good at all.
But still, what could have made that person, who kept coming, suddenly stop?
While I was puzzled, I shook my head. There was no way Ayle had actually killed a hero, right? Sure, she was a bit gloomy, socially awkward, and kind of a loser, but she wasn’t a bad kid who would hurt anyone.
…Probably not.
“Um… Is the owner here?”
“Ah—welcome!”
“Is it possible for you to fix something like this…?”
“─Of course. It’s a repair shop, after all; we fix anything.”
And before I knew it, I’d completely forgotten about Niberna while welcoming a new customer. It wasn’t until I saw her on the TV news that she popped back into my mind.
*
A-Class hero Niberna. To be frank, she wasn’t exactly a popular hero. With her bland suit and abilities that were nothing to write home about. She was strong, but not overwhelmingly so, often described as being better suited for a supporting role rather than a leading one in movies or dramas.
Of course, like any supporting actor, there were fans of this lesser-known hero. Some showed her interest, and she even had a few experiences doing interviews with reporters.
However, I’d bet my last penny that even if we fully combined all the fans and reporters she ever met, they couldn’t compare to the sheer amount of attention she was getting right now.
“Niberna! Look this way, please!”
“What do you think was the reason for the attack by the Evil Magical Girl?”
“What did you talk about with her!?”
A flurry of camera flashes assaulted her vision. Niberna, instinctively squinting against the blinding lights, realized that this expression would likely be plastered all over the internet as some sort of hero humiliation meme.
But she didn’t have the luxury to care about her facial expression at that moment. She wasn’t used to this situation.
How did I end up here…?
Niberna tried to remember why she was suddenly at a press conference. She had been going about her usual routine when, out of the blue, a villain had attacked her not long ago.
It wasn’t particularly rare for a hero to be ambushed by a villain. After all, the job description of a hero comes with a lot of resentment from villains, and while she might be an official hero, the number of villains she had captured was definitely in double digits.
Thus, it wasn’t abnormal for a villain to attack a hero, and there was no real reason for her to be getting this much attention just because she was attacked by a villain… except for one unique detail.
The villain that attacked her was the Evil Magical Girl, known for her nefarious deeds only in City H.
She was the first hero to draw any response from a villain who had shown absolutely no interest in anything other than magical girls.
Thanks to that, Niberna was now drowning in unwanted attention.
How awkward…
This wasn’t a good time for that.
She needed to get to the Fix-It-All Repair Shop quickly and work on building rapport with the owner.
She had to recruit him into the Hero Association as fast as she could…
With these thoughts running through her head, Niberna responded to the reporters’ questions in a kind and just manner, like a true hero.
“Running into the Evil Magical Girl was a coincidence. She seemed to have some grievance against me, but since it was our first meeting, I’m not sure what it was about. It probably stems from some incomprehensible ideology typical of villains… We didn’t really have a conversation. No need to chat with villains.”
The reporters scribbled down her words, letting out sighs of disappointment. The world’s conglomerates and nations were curious about the Evil Magical Girl. If they could find a connection between her and Niberna or uncover a unique characteristic of the Evil Magical Girl, it would be a sensational scoop collecting all the eyeballs in the world…!
Ultimately, the journalists realized that there was nothing to extract from Niberna and began asking loaded questions, trying to bait her into saying something controversial.
“You were attacked by the Evil Magical Girl, but don’t you feel frustrated that the Magical Girl Association isn’t taking any action?”
“─The Evil Magical Girl is a villain. As far as I know, she isn’t affiliated with the Magical Girl Association… It’s natural for heroes to deal with villains.”
Though Niberna answered diligently based only on what she had witnessed, she refused to fall for the reporters’ malicious leading questions. It wasn’t that she was accustomed to public opinion or particularly clever; her overly honest nature as a hero worked in her favor.
When the reporters realized that they wouldn’t get anywhere with Niberna regarding the Evil Magical Girl, they vanished altogether after a few hours. Alone in her hospital room, Niberna let out a dry laugh at the desolation surrounding her, collapsing back onto her bed.
Deep down, she longed to return to work and jump right back into her heroic activities, but alas, she couldn’t. Her suit had been completely wrecked in the battle against the Evil Magical Girl, and her injuries hadn’t fully healed yet.
This thought drew a bittersweet smile from Niberna.
Have I become too embroiled in this city…? I never thought I’d fall into this kind of trap.
In another city, it would be too natural for villains to ambush heroes or take their families hostage. That’s why heroes in other cities always band together, keeping vigilant, while their families remained safe at home.
But perhaps after spending such a long time in City E, where nothing like that ever happened—her mindset from when she first became a hero seemed to have rusted away completely.
I must be cautious and be cautious again. So I don’t end up dead when I leave this city someday…
“Niberna.”
As Niberna replayed her battle with the Evil Magical Girl in her mind, she heard a voice calling her, startling her awake. The person she never expected to see here now stood right in front of her.
“Mr. Raemon? What are you doing here…?”
“I saw it on the news. I heard you were hospitalized after a fight with the Evil Magical Girl.”
“Ah, you saw that. Quite the spectacle, isn’t it? The Evil Magical Girl showing interest in someone other than magical girls…”
“That’s why I came to check up on you.”
“How did you know I was here…?”
“I asked a nurse at the entrance, and she told me.”
Suddenly, the owner of the Fix-It-All Repair Shop appeared, murmuring something bizarre about feeling somewhat responsible for her injuries, before placing a fruit basket on the bedside table.
“So, Mr. Raemon. Your presence here means…”
“Oh, I didn’t come here to become a hero. I still have no intention of doing so.”
“Then why—”
“I just wanted to ask you something.”
“…Are you curious about the Evil Magical Girl too?”
Having been bombarded by the reporters’ questions, Niberna anticipated what the owner was curious about and asked first. Could he be like everyone else?
However, the owner simply smiled slightly and shook his head.
“─I want to know why you became a hero, Niberna.”
“…Why I became a hero?”
“Yes.”
It was something no one had ever taken the time to show real interest in.
Though Niberna felt a bit uncomfortable with the sudden question, the thought of needing to convince him to join the Association prompted her to open her mouth cautiously.
“Actually… I was a useless child.”
“…Pardon?”
He probably had no idea that such a heavy comment would come out as her first words.
Niberna recalled the moment she resolved to become a hero.
“A child no one needed. With no talent, charm, or special skills.”
Niberna was a supporting character.
Somebody who needed to be in the world but wasn’t anything special.
Just a cog in the machine to keep the world going.
An existence that no one needed.
“And so, after living like that for my whole life… I started thinking, perhaps if I became a hero, someone would need me. After all, being a hero isn’t a popular job, is it? Low pay, dangerous, and no future.”
“Most heroes are like that.”
“And yet, it’s a necessary job—someone needs to make sacrifices.”
As luck would have it, Niberna had the necessary skills for heroic activities. Not outstanding but sufficient for the role. Even here, her secondary nature shone through.
Thus, she became a hero and somehow managed to survive enough to reach A-Class, yet the public still never remembered her name. A minor, unpopular hero remembered by only a few dedicated fans.
And she was satisfied with her status.
“The notion that if I sacrifice myself, the whole world would have need of me. Isn’t that cool?”
“…Cool?”
“It’s just… It feels great that someone needs me, that I can be helpful to someone.”
The very fact that a person like her could be necessary for others.
That’s what made Niberna a hero.
That was her reason for continuing this low-paying, nerve-wracking, and uncertain hero gig.
Not out of some petty sense of justice or revenge or any heroics.
Simply for her own satisfaction.
“It’s kind of pathetic, isn’t it? Not something you’d call heroic at all…”
“No, it’s impressive.”
“…Do you really think that?”
“Yes. What’s wrong with being a hero for your own satisfaction? You’re not a villain after all.”
“Thank you. I’ve never heard that before…”
Niberna realized something was swelling up inside her. It was the first time she explained why she became a hero, but never had she thought that explaining it would earn her praise and understanding.
Yet, the owner before her recognized and even praised her thoughts. Thanks to that, a feeling of satisfaction she couldn’t quite define filled her from her lower abdomen up to her entire body.
“─Niberna.”
“…Yes?”
“If being a hero isn’t about a sense of justice or duty but rather self-satisfaction… would you be willing to do whatever it takes for greater success?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“If you keep my identity hidden from the Hero Association─ I’ll make you the star of this world.”
The owner said this while pulling out a belt. It looked just like the belt of her hero suit… She unknowingly took the belt and fastened it around her waist.
[Transformation Ready]
“…Transformation?”
[HENSHIN]
Bwoooong!
A sound echoed through the air.
A wave starting from the belt surged up through her entire body.
Moments later, Niberna realized she was now donning a hero suit.
“What is this…?”
“How does it feel? Now can you do what I’m asking?”
“What the heck is going on—”
It was genuinely unbelievable technology. Yet Niberna instinctively felt:
If she reached out to grasp the hand he was offering…
She could truly become the star of the world.
The protagonist of this world.
That figure everyone desperately desired to be.
I—I’ll do it—!
“Alright.”
“But is it really okay to just accept something like this…?”
“No problem. I didn’t start this to make a lot of money anyway.”
A scientist. In Eight’s eyes, Niberna was ‘damaged.’
So this was merely part of the Fix-It-All Repair Shop he started to fix everything.
It was nothing but a side gig.
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