[English][DC-Batman] Nana - Chapter 16. After Six years

The wind in Gotham felt colder than usual tonight.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXOycFf3ExC

Jason Todd—no, now he was the Red Hood—stood at the edge of a rooftop, cigarette burning between his fingers, the dim glow flickering against his black gloves.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4g6lk8L7ee

He didn’t take a drag right away.

He just stood there, silently watching the city in front of him—

as filthy, chaotic, and noisy as ever.

And yet, there was something about it he couldn’t let go of.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7FODZqh4gQ

When did life start to go sour?

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Q1dDTgYLH

He murmured quietly to himself, then finally took a drag.

The smoke curled around his face,

swirling like memories that refused to fade.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbqIxVfj9cS
262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQQJua5QOmJ
262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE2mBX0tedA

Six years ago.

Yeah. That show.

That hellish performance he would never forget.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ81HKVIW385

He nearly died.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLb1stMjBhQ

The Joker didn’t hold back.

That crowbar hadn’t come down on a kid—

it had come down on someone the world wanted erased.

His body had shattered.

His heart had nearly stopped.

He had only one breath left.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQsP2nxWadn

Then Batman came—

and guarded that one breath with his life.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPSjMIx3lBb

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlJOfckOfs5

Jason was in a coma for a whole year.

Time marched forward.

The world didn’t stop for him.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGbBUdmDpXx

Wayne Manor gained a new child.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡORlfFBJC7d

That kid’s name was Tim.

He was pretty, calm, methodical.

Smart. Disciplined.

He became the new Robin quickly.

When Jason woke up and found out about all this,

he thought he would be furious.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnsBDHcTuc0

But he wasn’t.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjEYUWAKxYF

He just laughed.

Laughed like the silent end of a nightmare.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlI9NIvsS9i

“Good for him. Tim suits the suit,”
he had said at the time,
not even sure if he meant it or if it was sarcasm.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpipddUiRrZ

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVIZLclvnke

He asked about the Joker.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQEGAnYkv0g

Batman simply said,

“He’s dead.”

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoh5RKj1wy5

Jason didn’t ask further.

He knew it wasn’t a lie,

but somehow, his chest still felt like an open, unstitched hole.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe2DAa6H83y

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCcUVWY3Xjq

He stayed at the Manor to recover.

He trained his body.

He rebuilt himself.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYNDIFJtwdw

He followed instructions.

He didn’t make noise.

He acted like a good kid.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbwVPxoBTXu

Then one day,

he left.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMew8WfxImd

Didn’t leave anything behind.

Just took a gun

and a name without a smile: Red Hood.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTb5B3cQcrs

He went to the East End,

built his own order in that dark, chaotic corner.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRjn9jXSCbU

Gangsters, dealers, killers, informants—

they all had to give him respect.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVuZdmiZ7RF

He became a king—

no, a dragon slayer wrapped in the skin of a dragon.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8JuDeP3vCS

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBpyHFw21fK

Batman was furious.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYzKISRZThE

But Jason didn’t know if he cared.

He didn’t feel like he belonged to that family anymore.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqw2VLLg2w0

No—

maybe he just didn’t know where he belonged at all.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ12jJeEbkAe

The worst part was the nights.

He didn’t like sleeping.

Every time he closed his eyes,

he jolted awake—

like something was trying to drag him away.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqwsSLMID8R

He’d sit up,

gasping,

heart racing.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnSneVAcapt

And sometimes, he felt like crying.

Not weeping—

just… wet eyes, silent, no sound at all.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKAWRH6AaVS

His chest felt crushed.

Not from nightmares—

from reality.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9mOP1myuWw

He tried to comfort himself.

“I’m just stressed. That’s all.”

“Everything’s fine. Everything’s… normal.”

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9RjH3KCbBI

But he knew it wasn’t.

He was just saying it for himself,

saying it to the empty air where no one listened.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2gbAA9mxMA

He didn’t know what he was missing.

Only that—

something inside him was hollow.

Too hollow for someone still alive.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcEMwUTG92o

Jason had a strange sense of dissonance.

Something felt off.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIHyAhy8AQ5

He wrote it down in his notebook—

the cover was worn beyond recognition,

edges of the pages curled,

some stained dark with old coffee spills.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtcSgVfZlmd

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6sUoecx1IN

The Red Hood sat in his usual East End hideout,

frowning slightly as he stared at the notes written in ballpoint pen.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV3RBH6HWR5

He wasn’t the superstitious type.

He believed in logic,

evidence,

forensics,

and instinct honed by training.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBUltekuEUF

But these things—

these things weren’t right.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdn82jWKqb6

First point — sign language.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7v671HDB5C

That day he was just standing on the street,

eating a hotdog while waiting for an informant.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFMWyguUChG

He had casually glanced across the street toward an Italian restaurant

and saw a mother and her son eating dinner.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV0VJzyWXeZ

The boy was signing.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8aRpi0UDDN

Not just basic signs like “eat” or “drink.”

A full sentence:

“I’m really happy today. The spaghetti is amazing.”

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe1DVAiFBl1

The translation had popped into his head,

word for word,

crystal clear—

as if he’d studied it for ten years.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWysfSF1XaR

But he hadn’t.

He was sure of that.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqvkmFbLj4U

He went back and dug through police training manuals,

Batman’s language database,

even borrowed a beginner’s book on sign language—

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo2Swc40uBf

Every sign he saw for the first time…

he already knew the meaning.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC3q2WsCr0c

He knew it wasn’t someone had taught him.

Not Dick either.

And definitely not something he trained himself to recognize.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS5A5Z7o8LU

So who taught him?

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaw2FvdEEgD

Second point — grapes.

This one annoyed him even more.

He didn’t like overly sweet fruits.

Grape skins always got stuck between his teeth.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡffhug1SRBa

But somehow, he kept buying grapes—

always during weekend supply runs.

Green ones, purple ones, didn’t matter.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg41QbMnahp

He’d put them in the fridge,

never eat them,

and toss them out days later when they rotted.

Over and over.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0wdqx804VJ

Third point — protecting himself.

Jason was the kind of guy who’d take a bullet to save someone,

who’d charge into danger first.

Even now, with all his heavy firepower and ruthless style,

he still instinctively avoided moves that would cause him major injuries.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAugmZygZ0I

Certain kicks—he stopped using.

Certain flips—he wouldn’t do.

Even if those would’ve helped him end fights faster.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXpbNJgXMBl

It wasn’t from training.

Not something Bruce taught.

And definitely not a tactical decision.

It was like the world didn’t quite fit.

He knew the process of uncovering truth—

evidence, deduction, logic.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsPqUTo8SlZ

But this time,

all the clues danced on the surface of water.

He could see them,

but he couldn’t grab them.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2rS0hFbcN8

He sighed, closed the notebook, and lit another cigarette.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv7XQLpx9ko

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK66AYlss5o

The city was still loud.

The night wind still smelled like motor oil and dust.

262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡagzewpBeHe

ns216.73.217.110da2

Reading Theme:

Font Size:

Line Spacing:

Paragraph Spacing:

Load the next issue automatically