Does a Doll Deserve to Live a Happy Life? (Patreon)

Chapter 36: Not a Bad Way to End the Day

Looking at the gathered Heroes around me, I ignored them for the moment and focused instead on the Servant–Master connection I had established with Scáthach.

‘Teacher, can you bring Kiara and Eri to my location?’ I thought to her while glancing at Izuku, Aizawa, and Gran Torino. ‘There are some people here I want her to heal.’

‘So you’re helping them after all?’ she replied, amusement clear in her voice as I felt her already moving in our direction.

‘Yeah. Mostly on a whim,’ I answered, keeping my expression blank. ‘I felt sorry for them.’

‘You are the victor. It is your right to decide what becomes of your opponents,’ she replied calmly. ‘On another note, I’m assuming you want me to ensure no harm comes to the child?’ Her tone shifted, briefly slipping into that familiar teacher mode.

‘Yes,’ I answered immediately. ‘Anyone who comes near her, treat them as an enemy.’

‘Very well. I’ll be there shortly.’

The connection cut, and I turned my attention back to the Heroes, just in time to raise my hand as an explosion detonated directly in front of me.

KA-BOOM!

With a simple wave of my hand, I dispersed the smoke, revealing a collection of stunned faces staring back at me. The blast hadn’t even been strong enough to injure me, probably not even if I’d been a normal human.

“I have no quarrel with you,” I said calmly. “But if you attack me again, I will retaliate.”

Artoria stepped forward at once, positioning herself in front of me, guard at the ready.

“Then stop ignoring us!” Bakugo shouted, eyes narrowed as he took a threatening step forward.

“What did you do with Shigaraki?” the redheaded man demanded, fists clenched tightly.

“And I still want to know where Eri-chan is!” Mirio added forcefully, though notably, he was the only one who hadn’t taken an aggressive stance.

I turned to Mirio first, narrowing my eyes at him. Artoria mirrored the motion without even realizing it, she’d taken quite a shine to Eri herself.

“I thought I told you last time,” I said flatly. “That’s none of your business.”

Mirio flinched, but before he could respond, I turned to Endeavor.

“He’s gone,” I said simply. “All you need to know is that he will never return.”

Endeavor narrowed his eyes, clearly not liking my answer. “That’s not your call to make. Now bring him back so we can properly restrain and detain him. And I expect a good explanation as to why an unknown decided to interfere with Hero work.”

I rolled my eyes, something they very clearly noticed, judging by the tightening of jaws and hardening stares, and let out a tired sigh. “I see now that talking with you is pointless.”

“We are not here to fight,” Artoria declared, her voice firm as she met their gazes one by one, clearly trying to de-escalate the situation. “We can discuss this like reasonable adults.”

“Fuck that!” Bakugo snapped, refusing to back down. “Now tell the fancy bastard to hand over Shigaraki, you reject knight!”

Artoria blinked, then tilted her head slightly. “Did you just insult us based on our appearance? That’s rather childish, don’t you think?”

Bakugo looked seconds away from exploding again when I placed a hand on Artoria’s shoulder, drawing her attention.

“They’re here.”

A moment later, a purple figure descended beside us, carrying a brown-haired woman and a bundle of white in her arms.

Aside from Artoria and me, who had been expecting them, Mirio was the first to react. His eyes locked onto the white bundle cradled in the woman’s arms, and realization hit instantly.

“Eri-chan!” Mirio shouted, launching himself forward without hesitation, clearly intending to grab her from Kiara.

Kiara tightened her hold on Eri, already preparing to erect a barrier, but it wasn’t necessary.

The moment Mirio crossed a certain distance, he was sent flying by the heel of a long leg, crashing far away across the ruined street.

Scáthach stood where he’d been moments before, now dressed in her usual combat attire, her expression amused despite the chiding tone in her voice.

“Naughty children should really listen when they’re told something.”

To their credit, Bakugo and Endeavor reacted quickly, and launched an attack.

Endeavor surged toward me in a blaze of fire, clearly aiming to follow up a punch with a blast of flames. Instead, my pommel cracked against the side of his head. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed unconscious, his flames sputtering out.

At the same time, Bakugo didn’t even manage a single step toward Scáthach before Artoria appeared in front of him and struck the back of his neck with a clean chop. He let out a sharp gasp and dropped instantly.

“S-Sieg-san!”

Eri suddenly jumped from Kiara’s arms and ran to me, wrapping herself around my legs. She looked up with watery, worried red eyes, desperately scanning me for injuries.

“Are you okay? The bad guys didn’t hurt you, right?” she asked, hands trembling as she checked me over.

My expression immediately softened, a smile forming as I lifted Eri into my arms and cradled her against my chest, gently running my hand through her hair, a gesture I’d found always helped her relax.

“Don’t worry, Princess. I’m perfectly fine, and so are your Aunties,” I murmured softly with a smile. “The bad guys didn’t stand a chance against us.”

From the corner of my eye, I saw Kiara and Artoria step up beside me, both looking down at Eri with gentle smiles, while Scáthach remained a little farther back, keeping watch in case anything unexpected happened.

“Mmn… good,” Eri mumbled against my neck as she snuggled closer. “Sieg-san is my superhero after all, and the good guys always win in the end. Just like in all those comics and manga Sieg-san showed me.”

Months ago, wanting to introduce Eri to some good entertainment, I’d gone out of my way to show her older comics and manga alongside the movies we watched, back when stories still tried to subtly teach good moral lessons. Of course, Artoria and I had pre-screened everything carefully to make sure it was appropriate for her age.

Lately, I was starting to feel less like a brother figure to Eri… and more like a father, at least based on my limited experiences with my own.

What Eri just said though made me frown slightly. I knew from personal experience that life was cruel, and I knew there might come a day when I wouldn’t be able to stand by those comforting words. There was also the fact that perspective really skewed how a person viewed someone, and a hero to one was a villain to another.

But looking at Eri’s innocent expression, the complete trust she placed in me, my frown faded, replaced by resolve.

‘I guess I’ll just have to do my best to live up to your expectations, Eri,’ I thought with a quiet smile.

“Right.”

“Aww, did I miss all the fun?”

My foxy goddess made her presence known as she suddenly draped herself over my back, rubbing her cheek against mine.

“Tamamo, you’re just in time,” I said with a smile, turning my head slightly to give her a quick kiss on the cheek. She immediately swooned, giggling happily. “How was your fight?”

“Hihihi, I’ll never grow tired of my beloved’s kisses~” she gushed, her tails wagging behind her before she shrugged carelessly. “As for my opponents, they were pretty boring all things considered.”

“Opponents?” I asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion though then again my knowledge of My Hero Academia was spotty at best. “Was there someone else with that giant guy?”

“Yup~ There were some losers and a slightly weird girl who wanted my blood for some reason,” she replied casually, grinning. “I figured they might be important, so I went ahead and stamped them before putting them in our Pocket Space. I just left the giant behind.” She preened all but begging for me to praise her.

Smiling wider at her antics, I gave in and reached up and patted her head. She immediately melted against me.

“Good job, Tamamo. I’ll check on that later. For now… Kiara.”

Turning to the brunette, who was watching us with a hint of longing, I caught her attention. Eri climbed up onto my shoulders, and I held her legs to steady her as her hands rested atop my head, swiveling her head this way and that looking around the destroyed landscape with curious eyes.

“Would you mind healing some people?” I asked.

At the mention of the wounded, Kiara’s expression turned serious. She nodded.

“Of course, Sieg. Lead the way.”

It didn’t take us very long to reach the wounded, with only one of them still clinging to consciousness as he watched us approach with a wary eye, especially Tamamo. Given that she was the one who had beaten him up last time, his reaction was understandable.

Being cheeky as ever, Tamamo waved cheerfully when she noticed his gaze.

“Hiya~ I hope you behave today, unlike last time.”

Ignoring the man entirely, I turned to Kiara and pointed toward Aizawa, Izuku, and Gran Torino, who was lying a bit farther away from them.

“That’s them, Kiara. The others are in bad shape too, but nothing their own healers and doctors can’t handle,” I said simply.

“On it,” Kiara replied with a nod. She stepped forward and erected a barrier around Aizawa and Izuku. “Now please relax. You’ll be back to normal in no time,” she added with a reassuring smile.

Aizawa, however, had his gaze fixed on me, or more specifically, on the girl riding on my shoulders. Noticing his stare, Eri shyly tried to hide behind my head, tightening her grip on my hair nervously.

“Just so you’re aware,” I said calmly, narrowing my eyes to make sure the message landed, “if you try to take her from us, or even suggest we hand her over, you’ll receive the same treatment as the last person who tried.”

Aizawa narrowed his eyes in response but thankfully said nothing as Kiara spoke again.

“Aaand done~” she announced, stepping back as the barrier faded. She then moved away to repeat the process with the elderly hero.

“…What?” Aizawa finally muttered as he looked down at himself, only now realizing he was back in perfect health, his clothes even fully repaired. What truly threw him, however, was that his right leg, the one he had personally cut off to prevent the Quirk-destroying bullet from affecting him, was restored as if it had never been lost.

“Consider us even,” I said before he could start asking questions.

I then turned toward Scáthach, who was standing over the still-unconscious Izuku, examining him with a curious gaze.

“What is it?” I asked, noticing her focus wasn’t actually on Izuku himself, but on something within him.

Aizawa noticed this immediately and attempted to stand, only to find himself frozen in place.

“B-Back away from my student,” he forced out, clearly struggling against whatever technique Scáthach was using to restrain him.

“Relax. I have no interest in harming your student,” Scáthach replied calmly, not even bothering to look in his direction. She then turned her attention back to me, narrowing her eyes, a look that made me flinch slightly, memories of my training flashing through my mind.

“It seems I still have much to teach you, my beloved pupil, if you cannot even recognize the leeches clinging to this boy’s soul,” she said in a reprimanding tone.

Feeling phantom pains ripple through my body, I did my best to keep my reaction in check, though I couldn’t stop the nervous sweat sliding down my neck as I stepped beside her and examined Izuku more closely.

“…You’re right,” I admitted. “I knew the kid had multiple abilities from the people the power was passed onto, but I didn’t realize that some of their ego was still clinging on. Are they soul anchors?” I asked, glancing at her from the corner of my eye.

She nodded, a hint of approval in her expression, before shaking her head. “No. Not quite at the level of soul anchors yet, though that doesn’t mean they won’t reach that point in the future,” she explained patiently.

I nodded in understanding.

Artoria and Eri watched us with mild confusion as we discussed the matter, until Kiara finally returned.

“It’s done, Sieg,” she announced with a happy smile, breaking Scáthach and me out of our conversation.

“Thanks, Kiara. We should be done here in a bit,” I said, nodding to her. She returned the gesture with a warm smile.

Turning back to Scáthach, I raised an eyebrow when I noticed she had already pulled her attention away from Izuku’s soul.

“You won’t interfere, then?” I asked curiously.

Scáthach shrugged, turning fully away from the unconscious teen. “No. I was merely curious as to why the boy appeared to possess multiple souls at first glance.” She paused, then suddenly turned her head, eyes narrowing.

“All I will do is leave these words of wisdom. The dead have no business meddling in the affairs of the living,” she muttered, her voice low and ominous, clearly directed at the lingering egos within Izuku’s power rather than the boy himself.

She then straightened and looked at me again, her tone shifting back to normal. “Come. The day is still young, and I imagine you’ve already made plans for us. This is meant to be our last day in this world, after all. Let’s not spend it on a battlefield.”

Her knowing look made heat creep into my cheeks.

Regaining my composure, I nodded and gave Eri’s legs a gentle squeeze where she sat on my shoulders. “Yeah. We still have plenty of time to have fun. So let’s go, everyone, off to an amusement park!”

I pumped my fist, and Eri immediately copied me a second later.

“Amusement park!” she squealed. “Hihihi, do you think they sell candy apples there, Sieg-san?”

“Of course they do,” Artoria answered before I could, a bit of drool slipping past her lips, which she quickly wiped away, looking just as excited as Eri.

“We can always make some at home if they don’t, Eri-chan,” Kiara added gently, falling into step beside us as we began making our way out of the ruined city.

“Today might not have started well, but I knew I could count on my Sieg-kun to turn it into a day I can enjoy, just like always~” Tamamo gushed, looping her arm through mine and pressing close.

“Some excitement every now and then isn’t a bad thing,” Scáthach added, taking my other side with a satisfied nod.

As we left the destroyed city behind, a few Heroes and police officers attempted to stop us, only to quickly reconsider when met with the combined glares of all the girls… and myself.

They stepped aside.

‘It may not have been perfect,’ I thought as I looked at the people walking beside me, a small smile forming.

‘But it’s not a bad way to end our last day in this world.’