Transmigrated into The Boys, Starting as Soldier Boy

Kimiko didn’t answer right away.

She lowered her head, glanced at the tablet, then looked back up at Starlight and Benjamin in turn.

Her gaze stayed on Benjamin the longest. It was sharp, assessing.

And full of hostility and distrust.

In the end, Kimiko nodded.

She reached out and picked up the stylus.

The restraints limited how far she could move, but she could still reach the tablet.

After writing the last word, she turned the tablet around to face Benjamin.

A neat line of English appeared on the screen.

[I want to be a superhero who truly helps others.]

Benjamin looked at the sentence, and surprise flickered briefly in his eyes.

Kimiko knew the words were not entirely a lie, but they were not entirely true either.

A superhero who truly helped others. Those were Starlight’s exact words to her, the way Starlight had described the heroes of The Seven.

At the time, Kimiko had thought it was laughably naive. In this place, under this system, how could there possibly be a superhero who truly helped others?

What Vought produced had never been heroes. They were products, commodities dressed up as heroes and carefully packaged for sale.

She never would have agreed to this before.

But then she heard about the changes Benjamin had fought to make.

He had killed Edgar, the one behind it all, along with the others. Now the only people left inside the company were superheroes and administrators who genuinely intended to serve the public.

Vought had become a real superhero company.

Before she was locked in this cell, she had been part of The Boys. She and her companions had spent all their time fighting Vought.

Their bond had never been that deep, but at the very least, Kimiko knew the people in The Boys were decent. Sure, that bearded asshole was always using her, but the others were all right. Especially the Frenchman.

But Starlight had not given up.

The blond girl came to this cell again and again. Sometimes she brought food, sometimes medicine, and sometimes nothing at all. She would just sit in the corner and talk to Kimiko in a soft voice.

Starlight talked about her own story, about what she had seen inside Vought, and about the changes Soldier Boy had made.

At first, Kimiko refused to listen.

She turned her face toward the wall, closed her eyes, and used silence to shut those words out.

But Starlight did not stop just because Kimiko stayed silent. She kept talking. She came every time, her voice always gentle and steady.

Starlight believed in Soldier Boy, even though Kimiko thought Soldier Boy was a bad person.

In the end, Kimiko was swayed.

Not because Starlight was especially good with words.

But because Kimiko saw something in that girl’s eyes. Conviction.

Of course, the real reason Kimiko made her decision was Kenji, her younger brother.

Her brother was being held by Vought in the prison next door.

Kenji hated Vought and all Supes. He had been brainwashed by Shining Light.

That extreme anti-Vought, anti-Supe ideology had sunk into his bones.

She had no way to convince him.

But she could protect him.

That was the only thing she could do as his older sister.

If she joined Vought, she could negotiate with Vought and trade her loyalty for Kenji’s safety.

If Vought refused to spare Kenji, which she knew was very possible, that was fine too.

As long as she became one of Vought’s superheroes, as long as she gained enough authority and freedom to act, she could find a way to get Kenji out herself.

Once Kimiko truly made it into The Seven, or even climbed higher than that, maybe she would not need Vought’s permission at all. She would only need one chance.

That was why she wrote those words.

She wanted to become a superhero who truly helped others.

Those words were meant for Benjamin, but they were also meant for herself.

Maybe, in some distant future, Kimiko really could do that.

And maybe Starlight’s words were not all fantasy. Maybe changing Vought from the inside and turning it into a real superhero company truly was possible.

But right now, Kimiko’s first priority was protecting her family.

That was the only thing she cared about.

Benjamin stepped closer and bent down to unfasten the restraints around her wrists.

Kimiko’s hands were free. She moved her wrists a little.

She looked up at Benjamin. The hostility in her eyes was still there, but it had softened a lot.

Then Kimiko picked up the stylus and wrote another sentence on a new page.

[I want you to let my brother go.]

She held the tablet up, directly in front of Benjamin’s face.

Benjamin read it, then shrugged.

"I get how you feel, but that’s not realistic. Your brother didn’t choose to join Vought," Benjamin said slowly.

"And he doesn’t want to be a normal person either. All he wants is to kill Vought Supes. Shining Light got into his head, and you know that."

Kimiko fell silent.

Of course, she did not blame Kenji. She understood better than anyone where that hatred came from. She had once been the same way.

Kimiko lowered her head, the tip of the stylus moving across the tablet.

[Then use your Superpowers to take away his.]

This was the only compromise she could think of. If Kenji was no longer a Supe, if his powers disappeared, then he would no longer be a threat to Vought, and Vought would have no reason to keep him locked up.

Benjamin read the sentence and went quiet for a few seconds. Then he said, "I can make his Superpowers disappear."

Kimiko’s eyes lit up.

"But we can’t let him go."

The air froze again.

Kimiko stared at Benjamin, her brows knitting together.

What the fuck was the difference between saying that and saying nothing at all?

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