—Cole POV, Several Months Later—
After our outing at the zoo, things progressed quickly with the women and me. It took some persuasion, but they eventually agreed to be in my harem. With things set in stone now, I secured myself a personal residence and had the women and kids move in with me. Picking an abandoned dojo, I renovated it to be a perfect fit for us. Giving Rumi, Shino, Ryuko, and Tomoko the training room they wanted, Fuyumi got a very comfortable study, the children got an outside playset, and I made myself a workshop in one of the buildings on the property.
Once we were settled into our home I arranged a meeting with my entire family. Meeting the women in Heaven…well they were taken aback by things at first. Explaining the situation of my circumstances to everyone, Rumi and company looked relieved now that they knew the truth behind my strength. Eri and Kota took the news very well, they wanted to hear about all the journeys I had been on and everything I had seen which I was happy to share with them.
“That explains why you have been buying up all that land then.”, Shino said seeing the whole picture now.
With the threat of world-ending destruction approaching, buying up land in the wide-open areas of the deserts and plains of the US became a top priority. Securing land for a few dollars an acre, I quickly became a major landholder overnight. Using my powers to terraform the land into acceptable places for people to live, I started constructing villages and cities for people to inhabit so they didn’t have to sleep in tents or the elements.
“Correct, we will need a place for refugees to stay.”, I told them, “Right now we are running on borrowed time, correct?”
“Yes, the God of Reincarnation stopped his recruitment a few days ago. The Goddess of Life is aware of what is happening, but she can’t act till he makes a move.”, the Goddess of Fertility replied, “There is a lot of red tape preventing deities from acting because normally Gods shouldn’t meddle in each other's affairs as it can cause unforeseen problems.”
“Sounds like a stupid rule in my opinion.”, I grumbled in annoyance.
Nodding their heads in agreement, the Goddesses agreed but the rules were in place because of previous transgressions between Gods. The God of Time had, on several occasions, tried to stop tragedies from happening to his followers by manipulating things in Heaven.
“It resulted in some…unsavory entities being created that we are unable to remove.”, the Goddess of Love stated.
‘The Lovecraftian Gods…the ones I am going to look for.’, I thought keeping my goal to myself, ‘There is no room for forgiveness or peace with the God of Reincarnation. My family…our worlds…all of them suffered because of him. He will pay with his life for everything!’
“Cole?”, Ryuko said poking my cheek, “What’s the status of the Doctor and the Huntsman Family? They will be a problem for people given their disgusting hobbies.”
Dr. Kyudai Garaki and the Huntsman Family were on my mind as well over the past months. Keeping the doctor under 24-hr surveillance, I was monitoring him closely hoping he would lead me to former backers of All For One…like the Huntsman Family. They had gone completely dark since his death completely removing all traces of their online presence to avoid me. Now that the Hero Association and law enforcement were onto their games, the facial recognition software they used had been updated to compensate for Quirks like theirs.
“I am still looking for them, I don’t have any physical belongings of theirs and I haven’t met them in person to use magic to track them down. There are magics that I can use to track people by their faces, but…well they can change their faces. Unlike computer software, magic is very sensitive and has to be used precisely or the results can be deadly.”, I chuckled looking at Esmeralda.
“It happened only one time!”, she huffed crossing her arms.
“It may have been one time, but your magic completely erased an entire castle made of stone.”, I chuckled, “Your father…he…he was on the toilet when you did it, and fell into his own shit, HAHA!!!”
Laughing with me, she thought it was hilarious as well…even though she got paddled by him so badly that she couldn’t sit for a week. Giving everyone the full story of what happened, by the end of it, several of our children were on the ground laughing at her along with their mothers. Telling Eri and Kota more appropriate stories after that, I made sure to avoid the more bloody adventures I had since some things were pretty gruesome.
—Next Day—
Waking up early, I had breakfast plans with my parents who were in town for the opening of our first International Branch. My parents had insisted I bring my girlfriends so they could meet them, but I kindly declined because my research into my father’s past had turned up the ugly truth, the least of which was his gambling issues. Getting dressed in my usual Hero attire, Rumi sat up on the bed looking at me still half asleep.
“Heading out already?”, she yawned getting up with the other women.
“Yeah, I got breakfast with my parents remember?”, I reminded her.
Nodding her head, she said she remembered because I had an annoyed look when they called us while I was making dinner. That night my father had attempted to lecture me on hiring staff to take care of cooking or make one of the women do it for me. Telling me that since I was the breadwinner, they should do something to contribute like how my mother did the laundry and most of the cooking.
‘He had the stones to try, and ruin our relationship through petty things like that…’, I thought, “I will see you all this evening.”
Leaning over, I gave them a kiss goodbye before leaving our bedroom. Giving Eri and Kota a good morning hug in the kitchen, I told them I would be at the school to pick them up this afternoon. Telling me to have a good day, it was nice to see their smiling faces as I walked out the door.
Heading over to a restaurant near the Agency, I found my parents and grandfather already having a cup of coffee. Taking a seat next to my grandfather, I placed an order for some water and my meal since I already knew what I wanted to eat. Giving me a few minutes to get settled, my father was the first to speak.
“You have been doing well Cole, steadily moving up the International Hero Rankings isn’t an easy thing to do.”, he said with a smile.
“Thank you.”, I replied, “I hope you both had a good flight here.”
Telling me that the plane ride was very nice, my mother asked about Eri and Kota. Wanting to see photos of them, I showed her a few I had on my phone. Going crazy over them, she thought they looked adorable and wanted to meet them while they were in Tokyo.
“So Cole, have you kept in contact with Crystal at all?”, dad asked me out of the blue.
“No, I have had my hands full here in Japan and I am already with five wonderful women.”, I answered not skipping a beat.
“You know she was supposed to be your fiancee, right?”, he stated.
“Dad, I am twenty-one years old…I can decide who I marry without your interference. Just because you owe Herman a lot doesn’t mean you can marry me off to his bitchy daughter.”, I remarked with an irritated look.
Choking on his coffee, my dad looked at me in shock. Demanding to know why I would say that about her, I told him she had been a pain in my side since we first met. Reminding him what she did the first time I met her, I said that she had only gotten worse over the years since she thought we were a match made in heaven.
“Cole, Herman and I made the arrangement long ago. Are you going to-”, he started to say before I cut him off.
“I am telling you, I am not going to marry her or have anything to do with the Flints.”, I replied, “I am not going to be your cover-up or scapegoat.”
Looking at me with a confused look, grandpa asked what I meant. Sliding him documents I had copied, it clearly showed that the Flints had footed Dad’s enormous gambling debts for a stake in the Bolt name. Like Hawks, Herman’s father was a rather well-known villain so making any progress in Hero Society was difficult. Happening upon my father, who was kicking his gambling habit since my mother was pregnant with me at the time, Herman offered his financial muscle in exchange for having his soon to be born daughter marry me.
“David!?”, my mother gasped, “You told me he was a childhood best friend! Why would you lie about that to me!?”
“If I told you the truth, you’d have berated me for making the deal. I had large amounts of debt to pay off so it wasn’t like I had a choice. He had financial backing from the fortune his father left him behind and wanted to erase his family’s criminal past. I got my debts erased and he got a status boost for his family name.”, dad argued, “Nothing was illegal about it, everything was done by the books. It’s not uncommon for arranged marriages nowadays anyways, what’s the problem with it?”
“You idiot son of mine, your mother and I raised you better than this! Don’t use Cole to fix your own problems, you could have used some of the family money to pay off your debts instead of-”, grandpa started to say before I cut him off.
“Dad blew through every penny in the accounts within six months after receiving the Agency from you. That was the reason he accepted the offer from Herman, if I don’t marry Crystal the Agency falls to the Flints.”, I stated.
Dropping his coffee cup, grandpa looked at my father with a horrified look. Asking him if that was true, dad nodded his head stating that it was written in the agreement.
“That’s why he wants to have me take over the agency now…he wants to take his retirement out while he can. He’s known for a while that I don’t like Crystal hence the desperate need for me to take over. When it all comes crashing down, he doesn’t want to be holding the fucking pieces. He wants to drop it on my shoulders instead of his.”, I told them.
Reaching across the table, my grandfather smacked him across the face for doing this to the family. He was upset that my dad would set me up to take the fall in the public’s eye just so he could maintain his public status and retirement money.
“He’s your son!”, grandpa snapped, “We raised you to be better than this David. Stop using Cole to save your own hide, own up to your mistakes and fix this yourself.”
“Dear…I can’t believe you have been lying to me all this time. You told me you wanted to retire early to travel the world, I wouldn’t have agreed if it was at the expense of Cole’s future.”, mom said.
“Alright I am sorry, but there isn’t anything I can do now. If Cole doesn’t marry her, we lose something that has been in our family for generations. I know it’s my fault I got addicted to gambling, but it was the only option I had. The debt collectors were going to start coming around if nothing was done.”, dad stated, “I did what I had to for the family.”
Shouting at dad again, grandpa told him the only one that benefitted from this was him.
“Like hell it was, you were the one that forced me into becoming a Hero in the first place! Day in and day out you crammed your Heroing crap down my throat! Just like Cole, I found a great paying job using my Quirk that would have had my family living comfortably. You kept badgering till I eventually gave up my dream, I gave Cole the same treatment you gave me!”, dad spat in anger, “Now I am the one that will end up shouldering a burden I never wanted!”
Getting up from my spot, I stared at him in disgust.
“We have to be better than those that came before us. You had a chance to do better than your father, but you tried passing your pain onto me.”, I told him, “I won’t ever pass my pains onto my kids, they don’t deserve that. It’s our job as parents to protect our kids, not throw them to the wolves to fend for themselves.”
Telling mom that she was welcome to see Eri and Kota, I told Dad to never come to my home. If I saw him around my family I wouldn’t hesitate to send him to the ER.
“I have my happiness, don’t fuck it up to keep yours.”, I stated before leaving the diner.
—Cole POV, Several Months Later—
After our outing at the zoo, things progressed quickly with the women and me. It took some persuasion, but they eventually agreed to be in my harem. With things set in stone now, I secured myself a personal residence and had the women and kids move in with me. Picking an abandoned dojo, I renovated it to be a perfect fit for us. Giving Rumi, Shino, Ryuko, and Tomoko the training room they wanted, Fuyumi got a very comfortable study, the children got an outside playset, and I made myself a workshop in one of the buildings on the property.
Once we were settled into our home I arranged a meeting with my entire family. Meeting the women in Heaven…well they were taken aback by things at first. Explaining the situation of my circumstances to everyone, Rumi and company looked relieved now that they knew the truth behind my strength. Eri and Kota took the news very well, they wanted to hear about all the journeys I had been on and everything I had seen which I was happy to share with them.
“That explains why you have been buying up all that land then.”, Shino said seeing the whole picture now.
With the threat of world-ending destruction approaching, buying up land in the wide-open areas of the deserts and plains of the US became a top priority. Securing land for a few dollars an acre, I quickly became a major landholder overnight. Using my powers to terraform the land into acceptable places for people to live, I started constructing villages and cities for people to inhabit so they didn’t have to sleep in tents or the elements.
“Correct, we will need a place for refugees to stay.”, I told them, “Right now we are running on borrowed time, correct?”
“Yes, the God of Reincarnation stopped his recruitment a few days ago. The Goddess of Life is aware of what is happening, but she can’t act till he makes a move.”, the Goddess of Fertility replied, “There is a lot of red tape preventing deities from acting because normally Gods shouldn’t meddle in each other's affairs as it can cause unforeseen problems.”
“Sounds like a stupid rule in my opinion.”, I grumbled in annoyance.
Nodding their heads in agreement, the Goddesses agreed but the rules were in place because of previous transgressions between Gods. The God of Time had, on several occasions, tried to stop tragedies from happening to his followers by manipulating things in Heaven.
“It resulted in some…unsavory entities being created that we are unable to remove.”, the Goddess of Love stated.
‘The Lovecraftian Gods…the ones I am going to look for.’, I thought keeping my goal to myself, ‘There is no room for forgiveness or peace with the God of Reincarnation. My family…our worlds…all of them suffered because of him. He will pay with his life for everything!’
“Cole?”, Ryuko said poking my cheek, “What’s the status of the Doctor and the Huntsman Family? They will be a problem for people given their disgusting hobbies.”
Dr. Kyudai Garaki and the Huntsman Family were on my mind as well over the past months. Keeping the doctor under 24-hr surveillance, I was monitoring him closely hoping he would lead me to former backers of All For One…like the Huntsman Family. They had gone completely dark since his death completely removing all traces of their online presence to avoid me. Now that the Hero Association and law enforcement were onto their games, the facial recognition software they used had been updated to compensate for Quirks like theirs.
“I am still looking for them, I don’t have any physical belongings of theirs and I haven’t met them in person to use magic to track them down. There are magics that I can use to track people by their faces, but…well they can change their faces. Unlike computer software, magic is very sensitive and has to be used precisely or the results can be deadly.”, I chuckled looking at Esmeralda.
“It happened only one time!”, she huffed crossing her arms.
“It may have been one time, but your magic completely erased an entire castle made of stone.”, I chuckled, “Your father…he…he was on the toilet when you did it, and fell into his own shit, HAHA!!!”
Laughing with me, she thought it was hilarious as well…even though she got paddled by him so badly that she couldn’t sit for a week. Giving everyone the full story of what happened, by the end of it, several of our children were on the ground laughing at her along with their mothers. Telling Eri and Kota more appropriate stories after that, I made sure to avoid the more bloody adventures I had since some things were pretty gruesome.
—Next Day—
Waking up early, I had breakfast plans with my parents who were in town for the opening of our first International Branch. My parents had insisted I bring my girlfriends so they could meet them, but I kindly declined because my research into my father’s past had turned up the ugly truth, the least of which was his gambling issues. Getting dressed in my usual Hero attire, Rumi sat up on the bed looking at me still half asleep.
“Heading out already?”, she yawned getting up with the other women.
“Yeah, I got breakfast with my parents remember?”, I reminded her.
Nodding her head, she said she remembered because I had an annoyed look when they called us while I was making dinner. That night my father had attempted to lecture me on hiring staff to take care of cooking or make one of the women do it for me. Telling me that since I was the breadwinner, they should do something to contribute like how my mother did the laundry and most of the cooking.
‘He had the stones to try, and ruin our relationship through petty things like that…’, I thought, “I will see you all this evening.”
Leaning over, I gave them a kiss goodbye before leaving our bedroom. Giving Eri and Kota a good morning hug in the kitchen, I told them I would be at the school to pick them up this afternoon. Telling me to have a good day, it was nice to see their smiling faces as I walked out the door.
Heading over to a restaurant near the Agency, I found my parents and grandfather already having a cup of coffee. Taking a seat next to my grandfather, I placed an order for some water and my meal since I already knew what I wanted to eat. Giving me a few minutes to get settled, my father was the first to speak.
“You have been doing well Cole, steadily moving up the International Hero Rankings isn’t an easy thing to do.”, he said with a smile.
“Thank you.”, I replied, “I hope you both had a good flight here.”
Telling me that the plane ride was very nice, my mother asked about Eri and Kota. Wanting to see photos of them, I showed her a few I had on my phone. Going crazy over them, she thought they looked adorable and wanted to meet them while they were in Tokyo.
“So Cole, have you kept in contact with Crystal at all?”, dad asked me out of the blue.
“No, I have had my hands full here in Japan and I am already with five wonderful women.”, I answered not skipping a beat.
“You know she was supposed to be your fiancee, right?”, he stated.
“Dad, I am twenty-one years old…I can decide who I marry without your interference. Just because you owe Herman a lot doesn’t mean you can marry me off to his bitchy daughter.”, I remarked with an irritated look.
Choking on his coffee, my dad looked at me in shock. Demanding to know why I would say that about her, I told him she had been a pain in my side since we first met. Reminding him what she did the first time I met her, I said that she had only gotten worse over the years since she thought we were a match made in heaven.
“Cole, Herman and I made the arrangement long ago. Are you going to-”, he started to say before I cut him off.
“I am telling you, I am not going to marry her or have anything to do with the Flints.”, I replied, “I am not going to be your cover-up or scapegoat.”
Looking at me with a confused look, grandpa asked what I meant. Sliding him documents I had copied, it clearly showed that the Flints had footed Dad’s enormous gambling debts for a stake in the Bolt name. Like Hawks, Herman’s father was a rather well-known villain so making any progress in Hero Society was difficult. Happening upon my father, who was kicking his gambling habit since my mother was pregnant with me at the time, Herman offered his financial muscle in exchange for having his soon to be born daughter marry me.
“David!?”, my mother gasped, “You told me he was a childhood best friend! Why would you lie about that to me!?”
“If I told you the truth, you’d have berated me for making the deal. I had large amounts of debt to pay off so it wasn’t like I had a choice. He had financial backing from the fortune his father left him behind and wanted to erase his family’s criminal past. I got my debts erased and he got a status boost for his family name.”, dad argued, “Nothing was illegal about it, everything was done by the books. It’s not uncommon for arranged marriages nowadays anyways, what’s the problem with it?”
“You idiot son of mine, your mother and I raised you better than this! Don’t use Cole to fix your own problems, you could have used some of the family money to pay off your debts instead of-”, grandpa started to say before I cut him off.
“Dad blew through every penny in the accounts within six months after receiving the Agency from you. That was the reason he accepted the offer from Herman, if I don’t marry Crystal the Agency falls to the Flints.”, I stated.
Dropping his coffee cup, grandpa looked at my father with a horrified look. Asking him if that was true, dad nodded his head stating that it was written in the agreement.
“That’s why he wants to have me take over the agency now…he wants to take his retirement out while he can. He’s known for a while that I don’t like Crystal hence the desperate need for me to take over. When it all comes crashing down, he doesn’t want to be holding the fucking pieces. He wants to drop it on my shoulders instead of his.”, I told them.
Reaching across the table, my grandfather smacked him across the face for doing this to the family. He was upset that my dad would set me up to take the fall in the public’s eye just so he could maintain his public status and retirement money.
“He’s your son!”, grandpa snapped, “We raised you to be better than this David. Stop using Cole to save your own hide, own up to your mistakes and fix this yourself.”
“Dear…I can’t believe you have been lying to me all this time. You told me you wanted to retire early to travel the world, I wouldn’t have agreed if it was at the expense of Cole’s future.”, mom said.
“Alright I am sorry, but there isn’t anything I can do now. If Cole doesn’t marry her, we lose something that has been in our family for generations. I know it’s my fault I got addicted to gambling, but it was the only option I had. The debt collectors were going to start coming around if nothing was done.”, dad stated, “I did what I had to for the family.”
Shouting at dad again, grandpa told him the only one that benefitted from this was him.
“Like hell it was, you were the one that forced me into becoming a Hero in the first place! Day in and day out you crammed your Heroing crap down my throat! Just like Cole, I found a great paying job using my Quirk that would have had my family living comfortably. You kept badgering till I eventually gave up my dream, I gave Cole the same treatment you gave me!”, dad spat in anger, “Now I am the one that will end up shouldering a burden I never wanted!”
Getting up from my spot, I stared at him in disgust.
“We have to be better than those that came before us. You had a chance to do better than your father, but you tried passing your pain onto me.”, I told him, “I won’t ever pass my pains onto my kids, they don’t deserve that. It’s our job as parents to protect our kids, not throw them to the wolves to fend for themselves.”
Telling mom that she was welcome to see Eri and Kota, I told Dad to never come to my home. If I saw him around my family I wouldn’t hesitate to send him to the ER.
“I have my happiness, don’t fuck it up to keep yours.”, I stated before leaving the diner.
