Zero Hero || MHA ||

6. Hero Musuem Event

"But what about you?"

He stifled a smile. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Now hurry, before they see!"

And so, that's how I ended up inside of a vent.

After calling the authorities, I tried to find a way out. However, the ventilation system was more elaborate than I anticipated. Although the way I came through was on the wall, I was able to climb my way up to the ceiling. Doing all this crawling made me sweat especially since I was inside an enclosed space. Luckily the AC was on so it wasn't too bad but my knees were growing numb.

While I crawled, I discovered that the entire museum was on lockdown. Groups of people were getting held hostage by these intruders. Along with that, they were breaking and stealing museum items. Every single one of them wore red: red bandanas, red jackets, red pants... They seemed more organized than your average thieves. They looked like a gang. I've seen villain gangs pop up every now and then, but they usually get taken care of pretty quickly.

I heard light pounding ahead. It sounded like something, more likely someone was crawling towards me. Halting to a stop, I waited for this someone to turn the corner. I had no idea who it could be and if it's a villain, it's gonna be difficult to out-crawl them in these vents. Either way, I was screwed.

Emerging from the corner was a boy. His hair reminded me of cotton, its color almost white. With every move he made, his curls bounced. His sweater was too large for him to crawl effectively, so his sleeves were rolled up. He wore leather biker gloves and slung on his shoulders was a backpack. Despite his eyes being covered by a pink sleep mask, he noticed me.

"Hello~! Didn't expect to run into anyone in these parts," he chirped. "Hey, did ya decide to use my backpack? Again, sorry 'bout the other one. But I'm sure mine works just fine, ha!"

Wait, his backpack? The one I use now is from the bag mix-up I had with that blond thief...which was him.

The boy held out a hand, introducing himself as "Mitsume". I wasn't sure what else to do, so I shook his hand.

"Nice to see you again, Rin!" he greeted.

I raised an eyebrow at him and asked how he knew my name.

"Simple: I overheard your big brother say it. Hiro, right? That sounds just like hero, haha!" We dropped hands. He explained to me that when the thieves broke in, he managed to escape his way into the vents. "You know what I heard? I heard that they're planning on blowing up the place once they steal everything. That's bad news."

Seeing the look on my face, he laughed. "Hehe, I'm just kidding~! There's nothing to gain from that, so Team Magma won't blow up the museum."

"Team Magma? Um, like from Pokemon?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yup! Well, that's not really the name; I just call 'em that 'cause the bad guys love wearing red. It's funny how all this expensive stuff is lying around. No wonder why they're robbing the place!"

Says the guy who robbed a bank last month!

He sensed my suspicion. "I'm not with those goons, pinky-swear! I was just here to have a look around."

I pointed a finger at him. "Yeah, you might not be with those other guys but that's not to say you're not here for other reasons."

He chuckled. "Awh, don't worry! Nothing nefarious happening here."

My eyes drifted to his backpack. I noticed that one of the zippers weren't closed all the way, and it looked like there was something shiny inside.