Honesty (素顔 Sugao?) is the fourth chapter of Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court's Vigilante - My Hero Academia: Illegals.
Summary
Koichi Haimawari walks in the street and thinks about his livelihood, not wanting to let his admiration of Heroes cloud his daily responsibilities such as normal life and his job. Koichi sneaks off into an alley and uses his Slide and Glide Quirk to slide up onto the roof of a building. He arrives at his home which is an old beat-up penthouse on top of an old beat-up apartment; it is a five minute walk from Higashinaruhata Station.
Koichi enters his apartment and is startled to find an old man sitting and eating while watching his television. The old man puts on his mask, revealing himself to be Knuckleduster, much to Koichi's relief. Knuckleduster was able to get in through the window. As Koichi attempts to fix his window there is a knock on his door. He answers the door and sees a schoolgirl with messy hair. The school girl enters the apartment and fixes herself up, revealing herself to be Pop☆Step. Koichi is surprised that Pop☆Step's civilian appearance is rather pretty.
Moving along, Koichi asks if they were supposed to go patrolling this evening. Knuckleduster left work early and is waiting for nightfall while Pop☆Step has a live performance to hold. Koichi prepares to go to work, leaving the spare key for Knuckleduster and telling Pop☆Step where all the toiletries and the bath are. Pop☆Step thinks Koichi has an ulterior motive, but Koichi rejects that idea and gets depressed for some reason. Pop☆Step wonders why Koichi is sad.
Koichi tells her that back in April, he rented out the beat up old penthouse on top of an old building for a cheap price. At the time, Koichi thought it was a good penthouse to live in as it would easily kick start his campus life. One night after going out with friends, Koichi invites them to his penthouse. The next day, Koichi's colleagues thank him for inviting them, but they hurry off. Rumors about Koichi's penthouse on an old building fly around which cause Koichi to be seen as a perverted and dangerous student, making many of his colleagues to avoid him. As a result, Koichi's campus life debut was a failure. The college life he was looking forward was not the ideal experience he was hoping for.
Pop☆Step tells Koichi that he should head to work. As Koichi heads to work, Pop☆Step gives her live performance to her fans. Teruo Unagisawa tries getting closer to Pop☆Step, but another fan shoves him all the way back. Jube Namimaru tells Teruo not to jump the gun to Pop☆Step while Ichimoku Samazu informs Teruo of the proper etiquette of being a true fan. Ichimaru's passion causes him to accidental release his Meganetic Blaster into the sky, which causes Juubei to chastise him on being a man. Teruo tells them to keep quiet and injects Trigger into his neck, causing him to transform into a eel-like monster.
Teruo chases Pop☆Step, which Koichi sees as he leaves work. He puts on his costume and heads out while encountering Juubei and Ichimaru who have been chasing after Teruo. Knuckleduster arrives and formulates a plan: Koichi grabs the slug-like monster while Knuckleduster hits it from above. However, Teruo's slippery slime body causes Knuckleduster's punch to have minimal affect as his attack slides off while Koichi's hold slips off as well, causing them to bump into each other. Knuckleduster spots an udon shop while Pop☆Step hides in an alley.
Knuckleduster and Koichi talk Pop☆Step into letting the over-enthusiastic fan shake her hand, expecting that he will back off afterwards. However, Teruo is not satisfied and demands a hug and then a kiss as well, coiling Pop☆Step in his slime body. Suddenly, Teruo's slime-like body is covered in flour, which Knuckleduster got from the udon shop. The flour drains the moisture from his slime, nullifying his slimy defense. Knuckleduster beats up Teruo until he returns to normal. Knuckleduster and Koichi decide to leave while Pop☆Step decides to have a bath after all.
Back at Koichi's apartment, Knuckleduster and Pop☆Step tell Koichi to buy them beer and shampoo respectively. Koichi leaves to do these tasks as Knuckleduster and Pop☆Step argue over each other's living etiquette and immaturity. Outside, Koichi mulls over the fact that he did not get the college life he was expecting. However, as he hangs their costumes over a line, Koichi thinks that his life is not so bad with Knuckleduster and Pop☆Step around.
Characters In Order of Appearance
- Hizashi Yamada
- Koichi Haimawari
- Takeshi Kuroiwa
- Kazuho Haneyama
- Teruo Unagisawa
- Jube Namimaru
- Ichimoku Samazu