Shouta sat in the rafters of a warehouse, watching with narrowed eyes as the drug lord they'd been trailing, Kinue Nasoma, paced. Currently, there were a plethora of police hidden around the building, waiting for Shouta's signal. But he couldn't give it until the buyer showed up.

"Where is this guy?!" Nasoma barked to one of his lackeys, echoing the question Shouta was thinking. The lackey, a guy with some sort of fish quirk, shook in place, but didn't answer. Nasoma continued pacing, sneering. "If he doesn't show up soon, the deal is off!"

Damn. He would have to move soon. They couldn't let this guy get away again. Half of their objective was better than nothing.

Just as Shouta tapped the communicator in his ear, ready to give the word, the door to the warehouse opened with a loud screech of the hinges. Shouta winced, squinting through the low light to see who it was. Nasoma did the same thing.

"Eraserhead?"

"Wait a moment." He murmured. The supposed buyer moved through some of the darker parts of the warehouse, and stopped right before the light, to Shouta's chagrin. He could make out a hoodie and something on the guy's waist, but that was it.

"You Nasoma?" The shaded figure asked. The voice was muffled, but the youth in it struck Shouta suddenly. It was familiar, that was for sure. A sinking feeling settled in his stomach as Nasoma puffed up his chest, trying to seem more intimidating.

"Depends on who's asking, punk."

"Now now, is that any way to treat your clients?" The figure teased, stepping into the light, revealing someone in a galaxy hoodie, blue chest plate, and grinning face mask. Starry Smile, a rather newly discovered vigilante, stood in the middle of the warehouse, hands on his hips. A crowbar hung from a utility belt on his waist. "Terrible customer service, 0/10, would not recommend."

"You." Nasoma hissed, paying his retreating lackeys no mind. Shouta whispered a command to catch them as they ran out of the warehouse, but otherwise made no move to intervene in the whole exchange. "To what do I owe the pleasure, vigilante?"

"I think you know exactly what." Starry answered, fingers dancing over the clasp for his crowbar. Nasoma bared his teeth, and shifted, ready to charge. His fingertips turned sharp and metallic. "Exactly! Let's get on with it then."

The two charged at each other, but Starry's gaze wasn't on Nasoma. He was looking up, right at Shouta. Son of a bitch.

"Move in." He ordered, cutting off Tsukauchi, who'd been talking into his ear. He jumped down to join the fight, sending his capture tape at Nasoma. He shredded it easily and lunged at Starry. "Don't hurt the vigilante."

"Awww!" Starry cooed, swinging his crowbar at Nasoma's head and then dancing out of the way of the metallic claws. "You do care!"

"Must you always intervene in my cases, brat?" Shouta asked, ignoring that. He jumped behind Starry and activated his quirk, turning Nasoma's claws back to fingers just as he went to plunge them into the young vigilante's side. Starry looked down at the surprised drug lord with a tinge of manic energy, immediately bringing his crowbar down on Nasoma's head.

The criminal collapsed to the ground just as the small police force swarmed into the building. A few officers took Nasoma away, putting a pair of quirk-suppressing cuffs on him for good measure. Shouta took Starry's moment of distraction as a chance to very quickly wrap him in capture tape before he could make a break for it.

"Rude!" Starry gasped, wriggling experimentally. Shouts shot him a look as Detective Tsukauchi approached. He huffed and stilled, waiting.

"Eraserhead." Tsukauchi greeted with a smile. He and Shouta had become more familiar with each other than ever before because of how much of a handful Starry was turning out to be. Shouta nodded back.

"Detective."

"Starry Smile." Starry added. Tsukauchi glanced his way but didn't instigate any more conversation with him, which Shouta appreciated.

"Nasoma is being taken back to the station for questioning. Thanks for your help with him. And.." He eyed Starry for a moment. Starry stared back, purposefully widening his eyes in a way that made him look vaguely insane. Shouta had a feeling that if he didn't have the face mask, he'd be making faces at Tsukauchi. "Good job catching a vigilante."

"No proble—"

"Hey, I did some of the work too!" Starry interrupted, a pout clear in his voice.

"You know, usually vigilantes try and stay quiet so the authority figures lower their guards." Shouta informed him. Tsukauchi gave a long suffering sigh and Starry nodded thoughtfully.

"I'll keep that in mind for next time." He assured. "But for now..."

The capture tape that had been keeping him in place suddenly slipped off of Starry's body, cut with a knife, and he took off. In the second it took for Shouta and Tsukauchi to catch up with this turn of events, he had already disappeared out the door, and, if the shouts were anything to go by, done some amazing feat to escape the officers waiting outside. Shouta sighed. He could feel a headache coming on.

"Well." Tsukauchi said after a pause. "I can't say I'm entirely surprised by that."

"He's a slippery brat." Shouta agreed. This wasn't the first time that they'd thought they had Starry in their grasp and he'd escaped. At this point, they were less concerned about catching him and more preoccupied with using his knowledge to their advantage. If there was one thing they could say about Starry, it was that he knew his shit.

Shouta's phone buzzed in his pocket. A message from Principal Nezu was revealed when he checked.

He definitely had a headache.

"Have to go?" Tsukauchi asked, sympathetic. Shouta nodded, slipping his phone back.

"Nezu." Was all he offered. Tsukauchi nodded. Nezu often times would work with the police on certain cases, so the detective was familiar.

"Good luck. You can file your report later, I'm sure they'll understand." Tsukauchi clapped a hand on his shoulder. "And as always, please make sure to talk to Detective Sansa. You're our sole information on the Starry encounter. You really should consider joining the case. He really doesn't let anyone else see him."

Which was true, and strange. No other pro hero Shouta had talked to had ever seen Starry, just the aftermath of his presence. Plenty of civilians and villains had, though.

"I'll consider it." Shouta promised. But for now, he had a meeting.