Lost | Mha x Vigilante Immortal Deku

Chapter 10 | The Old Bookstore Owner

"Speaking" 'Thinking'

As Izuku was about to close his book, suddenly the back door opened up, startling him from his thoughts. He quickly looked up and found himself in a small staring match with the old owner. Izuku's mouth opened slightly, but quickly closed his mouth as he felt the slight pull of the stitches on his lips. At most times, his mouth was covered by the scarf, so he wasn't worried about others seeing them, but he'd taken his scarf off, so the old man had a clear view of both his scar and the stitches along his lips.

The old man simply stared at him in both confusion and understanding. "I'm guessing Mai left the shop to you." The old man questioned him. Izuku quickly put the book back on the shelf, little bits of dust coming up from the spot. Izuku quickly stood up and bowed slightly.

"You're fine kid, this isn't the first time Mai's ditched work." The old man told him, he came closer and Izuku slightly shrunk in on himself. "I'm guessing you can't speak?" The old man asked him. Izuku nodded slowly, hurriedly picking up his yellow scarf and wrapping it back around his neck. "I'll take that as a yes then." The old man spoke softly as he looked Izuku over. The old man was also shorter than Izuku, but not by too much.

Izuku nodded slowly, feeling mildly anxious about being caught. The old man sighed and looked around the place. "Well seeing as how you haven't taken anything..., why don't you take up a job here kid?" The old man asked him. Izuku looked at him in surprise. "Now I know you can't talk, I'm not asking you to do it alone either, that little brat of mine will deal with customers if any ever happen to show up." The old man told him. Izuku looked at him, still filled with surprise, he didn't exactly know what to do, on one hand, he apparently needed a job to get money..., but on the other hand, he was still technically on the run.

Izuku looked at the old man for a few more seconds, before ultimately agreeing and nodding his head. The old man smirked once more and looked around the place again. "Tell you what, if you can get this place cleaned up, I'll let you take some of the books home with you, you'll have to bring them back here after you're done though." The old man told him. Izuku smiled slightly, ignoring the tug of his stitches, he readily agreed, happy that he could bring them out of the store with him.

The old man went behind the counter and collapsed onto an old office chair, he pulled out a book and simply began reading, all the while, Izuku did a bit of exploring and found a couple rags and cleaning supplies in a small cabinet next to the front counter. He wasn't quite sure how to use any chemicals, but he did know how to wipe away dust. He's pretty sure that that alone would make the place look better than what it did now. Even the front windows were fairly dust filled, it was probably the reason that no customers came in, that and not a lot of people willingly read books anymore.

Izuku instantly got to cleaning, even if he wasn't the greatest at it, he was thrilled at the idea of being able to take the books back with him. On the other hand, he kind of worried that Mihori wouldn't like the idea of him working here. "Hey kid, while you're at it, could you organize some of the books onto their shelves, that damned brat never even bothers putting the books she throws around back onto the shelves." The old man told him. Izuku looked at him in confusion for a moment, he hadn't thought about the organization of them, he was also pretty bad at that.

Izuku nodded and looked at the shelves, noticing that they were divided into history, science, etc. He looked at the books, noticing that each of them had stickers that told him the section they belonged to, he couldn't even imagine the amount of work it took to go through every single book and decide which section they go to, all though, some of the books openly stated it.

It took nearly two hours to both dust the place, and organize the shelves, some of the books were still off of the shelves, those books were either copies, or extra's that the old man didn't bother placing stickers on. So Izuku simply stacked them up by a small table at the corner of the little bookstore.

As he'd finally finished, Izuku noticed that his legs were shaking. He looked over toward the old man and noticed he was utterly absorbed into his book, not even noticing the newly cleaned counter in front of him, Izuku had even tidied up the desk for him.

As he walked up to the counter, the old man finally snapped out of it and noticed that the place had been cleaned up. "Oh? Finished?" The old man asked him, Izuku simply nodded. The old man smirked and stood up, stretching out his body, Izuku cringed at the sound of the old man's joints cracking with every movement.

The old man yawned and checked the time. "Hey kid, I'll pay you a few extra if you go out and bring that brat back here, she's been out longer than what she said she'd be." The old man told him. "She'd probably be hanging out near the arcade, but I'm sure you don't know where that is..." The old man spoke, more so to himself than aloud.