Shopping trips with the Bakusquad were always wild. Denki and Mina brought hustle and bustle to every crowd. They stood together at a glass window and stared at baby rabbits. Katsuki had stood there for exactly one minute too. When Katsuki had broken away, Eijiro stood apart too. Then Kyoka and Kaede also joined them. What remained were Mina, Denki and Hanta, who hadn't been able to get away from the glass for ages. "You fucking extras, I'm not going to wait all day for you!" Kyoka walked back to Hanta and stood beside him. "Hopefully she'll get him to leave." Kaede, too, was beginning to lose patience. Something pulled at her leg, so she turned around. A little kid, maybe 6 years old, was pulling at her pants. "Hey little one, are you lost?" Kaede faltered when she saw the little one's eyes. She was pretty sure she had to touch to activate her Quirk, but even through her eyes she could see so much. The child was scared. Unspeakable fear and panic that it would even ask the first stranger for help. "Tell me, what's wrong?" The child allowed as Kaede crouched in front of him and stroked his cheek. After the touch, Kaede had an idea of why the child had run away. "Come here we-" "What's wrong?" Eijiro had noticed the child and came closer, but the child made itself very small and clung tighter to Kaede's leg. "Better stay back, it's scared." She released the child's hands from her clothes and stroked them until the child frantically freed itself from her grasp and hid behind Kaede. A man came towards them in slow steps. His eyes were cold. "I think you have found something that belongs to me. Give it to me." "It is a child, not something I will pass on like an object." The child trembled behind Kaede's back, but Kaede stroked it over the head. "Eijiro. Please get security or police, we need to sort something out here." The man's eyes narrowed as Eijiro left. "You don't have the right to steal my child. Come here now and everything will be fine and we can forget about this." Behind the man, other men gathered who had just come out of a casino. "Is everything all right here, Eddy?" The man was about to answer when Kaede intervened, "This kid ran to us under unexplained circumstances and my friend is just getting the police to sort it out." The men stepped closer without being asked. "There's no need to sort it out, just hand over the child." "I won't. We'll wait." The men moved even closer, clearly upsetting the child. "Leave the child alone or you will regret it." Katsuki smiled as Kaede glared at the men. The golden sparkles were in her eyes, clearly ready to defend this child behind her with everything. "This child has injuries all over its body. It's scared and panicked when you come this close, so I'm not asking you, no, I'm warning you: one more step and you'll regret it." The men just laughed. "With what authority do you girl want to threaten us?" One of the men came closer. Kaede looked at him, a deep look with her eyes and he lost consciousness. Incensed, the other men insulted her. As if she had been waiting for this all her life, Kaede pulled out her hero's badge. "My name is Empathy and you have just given me a reason to use my Quirk against you. Give me another and I will be merciless." The men stood stiffly in shock. "That's what I thought. So. you are the father of the child?" "Adoptive father." "What? I didn't hear you." "I'm the adoptive father." Kaede turned to the child and took it in her arms. It pressed itself against her chest. "Don't worry, they won't hurt you as long as I'm here. Is he your adoptive father there?" The child nodded tentatively. "Did he hurt you?" Another nod. "Then you won't have to stay with him any longer." The men knew they had lost. They tried to run away, but Kyoka and Hanta stopped them. Eijiro came back with several policemen. "That girl is a villain! She attacked us and tried to kidnap my child!" "First, the IDs of everyone present." Kaede showed her hero's licence. "The child came running towards us. I found out with the help of my Quirk that it was afraid of this man. It has injuries all over its body and so obviously cannot stay with its adoptive father." "That's a lie! It attacked our friend without hesitation!" The policeman sighed patiently. "Sir, I must ask you to come with me to the station for thorough investigations-" "But she-" "She has a hero's licence and is therefore allowed to use her Quirk if necessary. Your friend is fine, don't worry."
"We have requested another car to take the child away separately from the father. Can you tell me something about the condition of the injured man?" "He is not injured, just not conscious. I can wake him up at any time." "Then please do so." She woke the man up and after a few minutes returned to the policeman who was obviously struggling. "What's wrong?" "The child is afraid of us. I suspect of men altogether. Will it be a problem if you come with us to the station until everything is sorted out?" She glanced at her friends who were standing a little apart watching her. "I'll settle this for a moment."
"You did a really great job, like a real hero." "Yeah, a little bit maybe, thanks. I'm going to the station now, is that okay with you?" "Why do you have to go with them? They should lock the bastards up and put the kid in foster care, simple as that." "It's not simple. The kid's quirkless." They stared at her. Katsuki was especially quiet. Kaede stared intently at Katsuki as she continued to speak. "You know how they treat kids without Quirk these days, don't you? It's lucky if it gets a place in an orphanage at all. That's the reason the father mistreated it. It's afraid of men, and right now there are only male cops, so... I'll go with them." Mina nodded at her. "We'll tell Aizawa where you are and what happened." "Thanks guys." As Kaede left and the others whispered, Katsuki stopped thoughtfully.
The child sat on her lap while the father was interrogated and it wouldn't go down afterwards. "It should talk to a specialist to know-" "The child's feelings are difficult. It's scared, but it knows that a lot of things will change now, so the panic is gone. For now. Therapy is probably helpful. But not yet. Too much has happened today. It needs a female adult in its life, a pillar of support." "Okay, thanks, we'll try. A social worker is already on her way and it can go to a children's home for quirkless kids, as you pointed out." "Good." When the social worker arrived, Kaede took the child by the hand. "I was very happy to meet you. You'll be very well with her here, because she'll look after you. All the best, stay strong, okay?" The child cried and nodded. "Oh, don't cry, everything will be fine." "I'm not crying." The child wiped away its tears. "I'm just happy."
Aizawa was waiting for her outside. "You didn't have to pick me up personally, but thank you." He shook his head. "You kids really only cause me problems." "After all, life would be boring without problems!"