A once peaceful morning, soon interrupted by a boisterous individual whose goal was to wake his tired companion. "GOOOOOOOOD MOOOORRRRNNNIIINNNGGG SHOUTA!!!!" His voice alone shook the whole two-story house, waking those around them at the crack of dawn. The tired male just rolled onto his stomach, trying to ignore the obnoxious blond and the tempting aroma of breakfast awaiting in the kitchen. "Come on, Shouta! Get up! I made some breakfast especially for you with your favourite black coffee!" The blond started to shake his companion awake, shoving a cup of bitter black coffee in his face. "Drink up! You'll be up in no time."
Groaning in annoyance and tiredness, Shouta finally sat up with a huff, scratching his black bed hair and taking the cup of coffee. He sat and sipped at the drink as his friend headed back into the kitchen, the alluring scent of food bringing Shouta from his bed. He slouched down as he walked, the almost black rings under his eyes depicting how much sleep he usually gets. He placed his cup of coffee down onto the table and took a seat, slamming his head into the table with an audible 'thud'. "Hizashi... why the hell did you think it'd be a good idea to scream to get me awake...?" He tilted his head till he was resting on his chin, glaring up at the blond with cold, dead eyes. Hizashi only chuckled and pat his head, placing a plate of bacon and eggs down in front of him.
"How else was I gonna wake you? You spend most of your morning in bed asleep. I can't just gently shake you awake. Plus, what's so fun in that?" Hizashi sat down next to the grumpy blackette with his own plate of food, ignoring the annoyed groan that arose from Shouta. "Besides, I had something I needed to ask you," his face turned serious as he faced his friend. "You received another thumb drive from that vigilante, right? The one that's always wears either a green or black hoodie? What was his name again...?"
Sitting up straight, Shouta pulled out a grey thumb drive and placed it onto the table. "Oh, him. He goes by Blank. I received this thumb drive last night from him. Said it had coordinates to some villain's hideout or something. Also other information he's gathered on certain troublesome villains that have become more active this year," Shouta leaned back in his chair, taking another sip of his steaming coffee. "I was going to hand it to Nedzu later today. I'm sure he'd be interested in this. Might be able to figure out what's going on in that vigilante's mind."
The duo finished their breakfast in a matter of minutes. They cleaned their plates and showered, dressing in their normal attire before heading out. The more talkative of the two brung up all kinds of topics to discuss, though, only he really said anything. The subway station wasn't far by any means, so they arrived and waited with their tickets for the next train to come in. As Shouta heaved out a heavy sigh, squinting his eyes over the shelter of the station, he caught a glimpse of a dark green blur. His eyes snapped open as he rubbed away the tiredness that cling to his being at all times. But, the blur was gone as soon as it appeared. He chalked it up to his haziness, having gotten a few hours rest, four at most, and practically living off coffee for a few months now. The tension in his shoulders sunk and faded away, Shouta leaning back against the concrete wall.
"You ok Shouta? Did you see something?" Hizashi asked, concern lacing his voice as he glanced over at his sleep deprived friend. "You just tensed up suddenly."
Sighing both internally and externally, Shouta turned to Hizashi with his usual deadpan expression. "I though I saw a some green on the station roof, but I believe I was just hallucinating," he turned his gaze back to the tracks as the train pulled to a screeching halt. "Let's get going. Delivering this to Nedzu is top priority right now." They boarded the train and sat down, feeling the vibrations from the train as it started up again, taking off along the tracks. 'Was I just hallucinating? If not, that most likely was Blank. So he's moved off to the streets to hide from us. Damn. Should've been more quiet about that raid. Maybe then we would've actually caught him, instead of his useless computers that won't even turn on,' Shouta let out a deep sigh, resting his head upon Hizashi's shoulder as he thought. 'If we get this USB to Nedzu, maybe there will be some answers, or a clue of some sort as to where he is currently.'
Screeching to a halt, the train doors opened for more people to enter. Shouta closed his eyes as the train took off down the tracks once more, the familiar bumps that jolted down his spine long since bothered him. He relaxed in a comfortable position, trying to catch a wink of sleep as his friend tapped away on his phone, most likely contacting Nemuri. The two stayed like that the whole ride to UA, stepping off the train as they stretched their limbs. They trudged into UA with their colleagues, Hizashi talking animatedly with the others as Shouta walked on dead feet, expressionless deadpan face staying formed as they walked. He heard a few comments from his colleagues, some mentioning the raid that happened just two nights ago, hoping to fine and arrest Blank, but found only a nearly organised room full of computers and monitors, books of some sort and a trash-bin half full. There weren't any handprints of even footprints.
The police force had been working on this case for awhile now, and are now trying to restart the computers to find anything that may be of use, or a clue. So far, they've come up empty handed. There wasn't even a purchase date on the computers, so they couldn't track Blank down like that. He knew what he was doing. He's fast, skilled and incredibly intelligent, being able to evade heroes for six years when he made his debut, while still giving us information through random USBs on their window sills or in the mailbox, or other such places when he's feeling creative and cheeky. How he got their addresses, no one knew. He's an infamous hacker, so they figured it'd be simple for him to find them. As for an added factor, he does commissions for people, whether they be hero, civilian or villain. He doesn't care who he works for, as long as he's paid for his troubles. Then he'll do anything he deems possible to do.
Even though he works for anyone for money, he gives free information to the heroes randomly. There is no pattern to what he does, nor a way to think like him, as he's never doing the same thing. He's made a name for himself. Everyone knows about the hacker Blank, and everyone knows he'll do almost anything if he can get his money's worth. He always sticks to the shadows, and almost never comes out during the day, only having a few records of people spotting him coming back from a long job. No one's ever seen his face, or even his eye or hair colour, because he's always shrouded in shadows. Shouta sighed to himself once again, walking towards Nedzu's office as Hizashi, Nemuri and all his other colleagues headed into the teachers lounge room. He raised his hand and knocked loudly on Nedzu's office doors, entering when he heard the mouse-bear-dog creature on the other side answer.
"What brings you here so early, Shouta? Another message from Blank?" The animal asked, sipping on steaming tea as Shouta trudged over, placing the USB down on the table. Nedzu glanced down at it as he placed his cup aside, humming in acknowledgement. "I see. I'll just quickly check this. When did you receive this?" He grabbed the USB in his small paws and plugged it into his laptop, opening the file that came up.
"I found it on my window sill just last night. I tried opening the file, but a passcode stopped me. There's a little code that he put in. So I just left it for you to do. I'm sure he only meant for you to be able to get in anyway." Shouta grumbled, sitting down into the small lounge that Nedzu ordered not too long ago, sinking into the cushions. "Can you get in?"
Nedzu hummed, beady black eyes scanning over the little code. He let out a small laugh, typing in an answer, watching the box flash green as he was allowed access to the files inside. "It was simple," he mused, opening a file and skimming through its contents. '"All laws are bullshit. Twenty percent of the population has free access to so many benefits. Quirkless are just as strong as the quirked.'" Shouta cocker his head to the side, confusion mouldings over his once neutral face, as if physically saying, 'the hell does that mean?' Nedzu's face broke out in a grin, a low cackle raising from his throat. "It means, which laws don't abide to the Quirkless population? The answer is one through one hundred. Majority of the laws enforced by the government are only in place for the quirked. No one really cares about the Quirkless people." Nedzu explained, opening up a new file and searching through its contents.
Shouta leaned back into the cushions, crossing his arms over his chest. "Makes sense. Maybe that's actually an inverted clue from him. He does like to give small hints as to who he is and what his goals are. Maybe this suggests that he himself is actually Quirkless, meaning that all the theories on what his quirk could be are all false," heaving out a heavy sigh, he spoke up again. "But, that would also mean that the person that we're dealing with has and can make inventions, much like the support department, and use them effectively in battle. He isn't someone to be taken lightly. But now with this clue..." Nedzu nodded, pouring himself a cup of tea as he took in the new information, still sifting through the information he was given. "What did he give us this time?"
"The profiles of some S-rank villains that have been appearing lately. Stone Jaw, Infestation, Renegade, and others. This is information that has been in the police files for a few months lately, but also extra information that Blank has provided himself," Nedzu's eyes scanned over everything before he closed the files, downloading everything onto his computer before taking the USB out and placing it aside. "This information will be helpful when the time arises and they come out to fight. I'll distribute this information to the rest of the staff at the end of the day. For now, you should all focus on teaching and student studies. We can't let on that anything is happening with Blank," Nedzu took a sip of his tea, passing another steaming cup to Shouta who grabbed it and sat back down. "By the way. Have the police found anything yet on Blank's case? It's been a few days now, right?"
"Yeah. It's been two nights since we raided his apartment. Turns out that the guy was blending in as a normal civilian and no one suspected anything. But, no one has seen his face, or even his hair colour. They've never seen him leave his room or enter it. Except for the people who lived around the apartment complex. Though, they'd only seen black clothes and a mask. Nothing else. Though, about two months ago, he was out longer then usual, and seemed to come back with something, or someone, in his arms, at least, that's what someone from a neighbouring house said they saw," Shouta supplied, taking a long drink from his cup. "I have a question. It's been bothering me for awhile now. Why is it that Blank contacts us freely? You'd think a vigilante would wish to stay hidden and away from heroes, especially those that work for UA. Is there a particular reason to this? To get in contact with you, perhaps?"
Nedzu looked thoughtful, setting his cup down and placing his paws either side of the cup, humming lowly to himself. "I believe that is it. He's seemed plenty interested in me. We've actually had a few games of chess online," Shouta blanched, almost chocking on his drink as he stared at Nedzu wide-eyed, his once neutral expression wiped clean off. "Haven't I mentioned it before? I suppose not," Nedzu merely chuckled to himself, watching as Shouta composed himself, shoulders still tensed up. "He's quite a good player. We have a total of twenty three matches. He's won ten, I've won ten, and we've had three draws. I was actually hoping to have another game before the police force decided to raid his apartment. I guess you'll just have to catch him so we can have a match in person. Yes, yes. That'll be a fun and entertaining experience," Nedzu just grinned maniacally, sending shivers down Shouta's spine.
Nedzu cleared his throat, expression softening back to a grin as he leaned back into his seat. "Well, I suppose you better head off. Students will be arriving in a few minutes. I suppose some are already here. And I believe you have a bit of paperwork to sort out, am I right?" He Swire he heard Shouta grumble, "you're the one who gives us paperwork" under his breath, but made no comment about it. Shouta stood up, placing his empty cup on Nedzu's desk and thanked him, before heading out to the teachers lounge. Nedzu turned his attention back to his computer, pulling the files back up and sifting through them once more. He halted, eyes scanning a file he didn't see before. He clicked on it, opening the file. 'Good morning Nedzu! How's my chess buddy doing? Anyway, I'm sure you got the little hidden message in the passcode. You're welcome for that little hint! We should play more. I'll be signing in again in three days. Goodbye now!'
~=~=~=~=~=~=~
"Nii-chan! Can we go in there? Please?" Eri looked up at the teen holding her, pleading with her huge puppy dog eyes that held sparkles and the hints of tears forming. The teen looked down at her, viridian green eyes meeting wide ruby red. He sighed, holding her close to his chest and placing a small kiss on her forehead. She giggled at this, knowing that her puppy dog eyes worked yet again, being the teen's weakness.
"Alright, alright. We'll go in. I'm guessing you saw something that you wanted?" He replied, pushing open the door and hearing the little bell chime overhead. He placed Eri on the ground and held her hand, letting himself be dragged off to wherever the hyperactive child wanted to go. He'd been doing those for the past two days, seeing that he couldn't do anything else with his apartment room under police surveillance. He let out a soft sigh at that. 'I really shouldn't have gotten that many computers. Now they're all gone. At least I have a laptop and my phone with me. That's something at least. Though, I've canceled all 'hard' and long jobs.' He thought bitterly, watching as Eri grabbed a headband with horse ear and placed it on her head, looking up at the teen expectantly. "Aww, you're so adorable, little unicorn." He smiled, poking her nose, smile widening as she fell into a fit of giggles.
He looked around, eyes landing an a unicorn plushie. He quickly got up and grabbed it, much to the confusion of Eri, until she saw what it was. She squealed in delight, happily hugging the plushie close to her and burying her face into the soft stuffed animal. "I'll get you both of those, if you want. Oh! And this little unicorn charm. It says here that it's suppose to bring you good luck. And do you know what a group of unicorns is called?" She shook her head, taking the charm into her small hand with a smile. "Their called a blessing. And that's exactly what you are, little unicorn," Eri latched onto the teen again, happiness and giddiness practically radiating off her being as she thanked him again and again. He merely chuckled, lifting her up and taking them to the counter. "We'd like to buy these, please." The cashier nodded, taking their items and scanning them. The duo paid and headed out back into the city.
Eri wore the horse eared headband and cuddled the plushie close, the teen clipping the unicorn charm to his backpack. "Now then. Are you hungry? We can go get some crepes if you want." The teen asked, watching Eri happily nod her head before burying back into the plushie. The teen chuckled, heading over to a nearby crepe stand and buying two strawberry and vanilla crepes, paying and heading off. The two are their crepes in silence, watching the world go by around them. They continued on their way until a certain sound reached the teen's ears. He halted, head snapping towards the sound mid bite of his crepe, eliciting a look of confusion from Eri. She opened her mouth to ask, but was cut off as the teen suddenly took off in the direction of an alleyway. He quickly leaped up into the air, aiming a kick down and knocking a guy to the ground, sliding across the dirt covered ground.
The other guy there snapped his head towards the teen who's eyes were as cold as ice daggers. The guy froze, legs shaking uncontrollably as he ran off, yelling something about a 'demon' as he left, his friend scrambling after him. The teen sighed, smiled, and turned to face a teen laying in the dirt, staring up at him with wide-eyes. "Hey. How are you feeling? Are you alright?" He asked, kneeling down and setting Eri on the ground, holding out a hand to the downed teen. He nodded slowly, reaching out a shaky arm and grabbed the greenette's hand. He easily pulled the teen up, before taking hold of Eri's hand once more. "They didn't hurt you too bad, did they? Bullies are a pain to deal with. My guess is quirk discrimination. Am I right?" The purple haired teen nodded, keeping silent as though talking was a crime. The greenette caught on, a look of concern replacing the smile he once wore.
"Are you sure you're fine? You're not talking. Is it part of your quirk? Or are you mute? Oh, I probably shouldn't phrase something like that so casually, I'm sorry." He rambled, before he was cut short by a low chuckle from the purplenette. He instantly shut his mouth, watching as the teen waved his hand around as he chuckled lightly, as if saying, "it's fine, it's fine". The teen let out a sigh of relief, before recomposing himself. "That's good. I didn't want to accident insult you or something," he suddenly looked up at the sky, seeing the sun sinking down below the city. "Ah shoot. It's getting pretty late. I'm sorry I kept you so long. We should probably head off. Gotta find an apartment to crash at before they're all booked. See ya!" The teen easily and quickly pulled Eri into his arms and carried her out, waving goodbye to the purple haired teen. They walked off and were about to take a turn when the teen felt a hand on his shoulder.
He quickly turned to see the purplenette grasping his shoulder. "Yeah? Did you need something?" He asked, but was quite confused when the teen shook his head. "Then what is it? There won't be anymore bullies along the way to your home, will there? I could help you if that's the case." The purple haired teen just shook his head more, now staring into the greenette's confused viridian eyes.
"You said... that you needed a place to crash... you helped me... so..." he trailed off, voice quiet and hoarse, seemingly unused. "If you'd like... you can crash at my place..." he looked away, face tinted red in embarrassment as he let go of the teen's shoulder, fidgeting slightly. The greenette suddenly broke out into a smile, delight beaming off of him as he leaned closer to the purplenette, a "really?!" leaving his lips as he bounced on his feet. The purplenette nodded slowly, quite fazed by the sudden change in emotion. "Y-yeah... you did help me back there... I should at least help you out as well..." the greenette would've hugged him if he wasn't holding Eri, who was seemingly just as happy as the teen, sparkles appearing in her wide ruby eyes.
"Thank you! This helps us a whole lot, you don't even know!" The teen exclaimed, an illusion of sparkles surrounding him. 'This is perfect! This guy seems trustworthy, and if not, it won't be a problem. I'll actually be able to go out and do some commissions, earn more money, get Eri a phone and some unicorn stuff, and also get some other laptops and USB's. Finally!' The purple haired teen nodded, turning around and walking off with a 'follow me' gesture wave of his hand. They walked off, the greenette bouncing along with Eri giggling away in his arms. 'Man. I should really try doing this more often. This is a huge help.' They walked along the pavement, a calm and comfortable silence between the three. The purplenette halted outside a moderate looking house, average size, but a clean white exterior. Plants lined the outside walls of the house, bringing out a nice colour contrast between white and bright fluorescent flowers and greenery.
He turned around, hand unconsciously trailing up to scratch at the back of his neck as he looked to the side, face flushed in a light pink tint. "W-well... this is my place... my parents are currently out... so it'll just be us three... hope you don't turn out to be some robber or something..." he muttered the last part under his breath, but the greenette's keen ears picked it up. He made no comment on it as he smiled, stepping up to the front door as the purple haired teen held it open for them. They went in and gazed around as the greenette placed Eri down on the ground, watching as the little girl ran over to the lounge, climbing up and laying down on it. "It's not much... but it has all the essentials..." the purplenette muttered, fiddling with his hands. "I...I never introduced myself... I'm Shinsou Hitoshi... quirk... brainwashing..." he looked further away at that, looking like he was ready to be hit and yelled at.
The greenette blinked a few times, before he leaped over to the boy, excitement practically radiating off of his being. "That's such a cool quirk!" Hitoshi seemed taken aback, judging by the way to stumbled backwards as a look of surprise masked his face. He cocked his head to the side in confusion, his nervousness seemingly forgotten. "Do you know how many situations a quirk like that can help in? Hostage situations are the most prominent that come to mind, but you can easily get a villain to stop in their tracks and force them to turn themselves in! That's such an awesome quirk!" The teen blabbered on, not noticing as Hitoshi flushed red at his every word. He suddenly cut himself off, placing a hand over his mouth as a sheepish expression crossed his face. "Sorry about that. Old habits die hard, I guess. Oh! Yeah, I don't really go by any name right now, but I guess you can just call me Izuku or somethin'. And I'm Quirkless!"
Hitoshi's surprise increased, his jaw opening slightly as his mind and mouth stopped working simultaneously. Izuku just grinned, watching as the purplenette functionally stopped working, seemingly on the verge of collapse. "Haven't gotten a reaction like that in a long time. Close to a decade now." He chuckled to himself as Hitoshi tried to recompose himself. Key word, tried. His mouth just wasn't working with his mind at the moment. Izuku heard Eri break into a fit of giggles behind him, watching Hitoshi's mental breakdown. He poked his nose, trying to bring him back to the world of living. "It's a huge surprise, isn't it. Finding someone your age that's actually Quirkless in this day and age. But, it's honestly not a big deal to me. I do my own thing everyday and make a living for myself. Though, I guess that's kinda ironic, seeing as everyone I know thinks that I'm dead."
Hitoshi snapped back to life, shock and confusion mixing together on his face. "Everyone thinks you're dead? Why? What... what happened?" He asks, curiosity taking over him. Izuku laughed, grabbing his wrist and taking him towards the lounge and sitting down, Eri climbing into his lap and settling down. Hitoshi just stared Izuku down intensely, eyes drilling holes into his head. "Tell me what happened. I'm not going to let this go." He said, leaning forwards slightly, brows furrowing slightly. Izuku laughed, hugging Eri close as he opened his mouth to talk.
"Isn't that a little story?"