"Ah-choo!"

Kirishima sniffled miserably, bundling himself against the chill of the evening's breeze. His stomach let out an undignified groan and he sighed, pulling out a meat bun he'd managed to swipe at the school's cafeteria earlier in exchange for his juice. Guess this would have to suffice for dinner. His dad had managed to snag the rest of his food money and after briefly rifling through his pockets, he came up with a grand total of enough change to maybe buy himself something from a vending machine and some pocket lint.

"I'm… really in trouble." He muttered to himself.

Cold, hungry, and homeless at his age. Who knew it could all spiral so fast? One second, he'd had a home and the next he was being evicted because of his father's crippling debt and incredible gambling habits. Sure, his home may have been… not great. In fact, one could even say it had been really shitty, complete with leaky roofs, windows that didn't completely keep the wind out, and a generator that only worked most of the time. But at least he'd had a roof, had windows, and had electricity. He'd even had the dwindling money left from his mother that he was always struggling to hide from his dad.

Now it was all gone.

At home, it had always been a battle over finances. Between trying to pay for rent and to provide a day-to-day living for the two of them while attending school, it was a constant struggle to stay afloat when he would always come home and discover his dad had once again found the location of his stash. By that time, he would have managed to already gamble it away or invested in another loan only to gamble that way too, every time insisting that he would surely win this time and they'd be able to repay everything - no worries! But it would all be gone within the day and no matter where Kirishima tried to hide the rest of their money - on top of the fridge, inside his clothes, under the loose floorboards - the man was like a bloodhound and would inevitably find it.

"For sure this time, Ei! Dad will repay all our debt when he wins!" His dad would say as he laughed giddily over a bottle of sake while Kirishima himself would be pouring over another budget he'd have to redo. And around and around they went until a couple of hours ago after school…

Going on a long journey. Sorry kiddo. Don't look for me. - Dad

Kirishima stared down at the hastily scribbled sticky-note with glassy eyes and had to re-read it several times before his brain could catch up. This had to be some kind of joke.

Then there had been a lot of banging at the door. When Kirishima went to answer, the landlady and some men in suits were there. The words "vacate immediately" and "repossession" were thrown around and then they were demanding to see his father. Kirishima could only stare at the pathetic note. The rest was history as all he could do was blankly watch as his house was stripped for all it was worth, which wasn't much, and in the blink of an eye he found himself on this park bench late at night with nothing but a small bag with the bare essentials.

And so here he was. With no shelter, no food, no money - and utterly alone.

"I can't believe that shitty old man!" Kirishima leapt up in a fit, shaking his fists at the sky. "What kind of adult runs away from home and leaves behind his son with so much debt and no other family! What am I supposed to do now?!"

He crouched over, spent, and buried his face in his arms. He was glad that it was so late because no people were around so they couldn't see how pathetic he must have looked. He felt pretty pathetic. It wasn't very manly of him of course, trying to hold back tears over his circumstances, but not even out of high school and he'd already reached rock bottom. Really, what was he supposed to do…

"Eek! Someone help me please!" A person shrieked in the near distance. It was followed by a loud series of barking.

A little ways down, Kirishima noticed a small dog had started to bark at a tree, but that wasn't what made him pause. It was the man clinging to the branches that made it an odd sight. The dog did a slight jump and the man cried.

"Someone please get that dog!"

Baffled, Kirishima jogged over to the scene and kissing his last meal goodbye, tossed his meat bun away. It worked like a charm; the dog quieted and leapt happily over to the offered treat, grabbed it, and then trotted away, content.

"Ah, what a relief." The strange man slid down the tree with a heaving sigh, even going so far as to wipe a tear. Kirishima eyed the odd man cautiously, but approached regardless.

"Are you alright?" Kirishima said and offered a hand. The man chuckled and smiled, his freckles crinkling.

"Yes, thank you for the rescue. I'm afraid I'm not a big fan of dogs." He took Kirishima's hand and allowed him to help him up. "I haven't come to this town for a long time so I'm afraid the locals don't recognize me… are you a local? Do you live nearby? It's not safe for one so young to be roaming out this late."

"Ah, I am a local but…" Kirishima attempted a grin. "Unfortunately, I don't have anywhere to live."

"Oh?" The stranger tilted his head, curly green hair rustling around his head. Then he sneezed loudly and shivered.

What a strange man, Kirishima thought but couldn't keep the chuckle from his lips. He retrieved the few coins he had from his pocket and smiled. "Can I treat you to something warm?"

~.~.~.~.~

"I see… so your father ran away from home." The man sipped at his cheap coffee. Though Kirishima was mourning the loss of his spare change, he was glad that some warmth seemed to be returning to the man's face. He didn't look so cold anymore.

They had relocated to Kirishima's bench and one way or another, he'd ended up spilling everything that had happened. He wasn't really one to burden strangers, but the man had seemed interested and he did feel a little better venting about it.

"You must hate him for running away right?" The man continued, hanging his head miserably and speaking through another bout of tears.

He cries a lot for an adult, Kirishima thought. But rather than saying that, he bashfully rubbed his head and chuckled awkwardly.

"Hate him? Nah… he was always troublesome for a long time, so…" He trailed off. His feelings on the matter were complicated at best.

"Listening to your story makes me ashamed to admit it, but I also ran away from my home a long time ago." The man tapped his coffee. "I wonder how everyone's doing. I'm sure Kacchan would attack me if I showed my face though…"

Kirishima blinked. Kacchan? Maybe a girlfriend or a wife…? He smiled absently all the same.

"I think… that it's still okay." Kirishima said, hesitating briefly. "Because that means you still have a home to return to. To have a home… is a blessing."

The man stared at him, green eyes glimmering thoughtfully. They were interesting eyes… the man himself seemed not that much older than Kirishima but his eyes previously innocent and weepy from tears now seemed to resonate with a deep wisdom and warmth.

"I mean - what I'm just saying is- I don't have a home right now." Kirishima said quickly, wondering if he'd been rude in saying that and hoping that he hadn't insulted the man. But instead of lashing out, the man smiled warmly and stood up.

"Then Kirishima… why don't you take my home?"

...Huh?

"It's been so long now." The man said without missing a beat. "And it can't be empty forever. If you're there, I would feel much better about it too. Besides,"

Before Kirishima could properly react, the man's hands were holding his face, his forehead pressed gently against his own. It was only for a moment, but something warm seemed to stem from the touch.

"You deserve to be this home's master more than me." And then he was drawing away as Kirishima's brain kick-started. He was frozen, face nearly as bright as his hair. What was that? Then he realized something.

"Wait. How- how do you know my name? Who are you?" Kirishima said.

A rational part of his brain was yelling at him that he might have just come across some kind of weirdo stalker and that he should probably high-tail his butt out of there, but something deeper kept him rooted. Against his better judgement, he felt like he could trust this man. It almost felt like he knew him somehow. It was a feeling akin to trying to remember a dream right after waking up; but try as he might, he just couldn't put his finger on it.

The man smiled and pulled out a small piece of paper from his pocket.

"Just follow the directions on this page. Tell them that Izuku sent you and I'm sure they'll welcome you as the new master."

...was what he'd said before walking away and vanishing into the night, leaving Kirishima alone once again. Now he found himself walking down a barely lit path away from town, and struggling to read the paper's directions in the dark.

This was crazy. To think he was actually going to this place, a totally random stranger's home. He was almost certain he'd never met an 'Izuku' before so the weird feeling must have just been a bad case of deja vu. For all he knew, he could be walking into some dangerous place, but it was too late now.

Besides, what exactly did he have to lose?

Ultimately, he had made the decision to at least check the place out. If at any point he felt unsafe, he would run away. If that turned out to be the case though, how surprised could he truly be?

His shoulders drooped.

He'd been thinking it a while, but maybe he just deserved all of this…

Lost in thought, he nearly tripped over the stone steps that appeared in front of him. And suddenly he found himself at the base of a rundown shrine. All the lights were extinguished and from what he could make out, the shrine's gate even appeared to be in a crumbling state.

In short, it appeared utterly abandoned.

The small page with Izuku's map fluttered to the ground as Kirishima fell to his knees in defeat.

"I was totally fooled… isn't this just like kicking someone when they're already down?" Kirishima's whines were muffled by the ground, but he didn't care. He just wanted to mope. He'd tried to keep it in mind that he could be deceived, but he had still found that his hopes were up. That Izuku guy had seemed so nice too… there really was no one to trust, huh?

"Master Izuku…?"

Kirishima's eyes flew open and the darkness burned red as he found himself surrounded by a hovering fire. It seemed to swirl towards him, flickering softly.

"Master Izuku, welcome home!" Said a voice from the fire.

Kirishima shrieked. In retrospect, it was probably not the most manly thing he's ever done.

"Ah, Master Izuku, please wait!" The fire seemed to call after him, but he had already dashed up the stone steps. He darted straight into the rotting shrine and slid the door closed with a crash behind him. His heart thundered in his chest.

"That fire… that fire was talking! Was it a ghost?" Kirishima muttered in horror. Where exactly had that guy sent him?

He was so distracted that he failed to notice a looming figure emerge from the shadows until it was just upon him. The air was illuminated with more bursts of fire, swirling around a lone man at the center of it all.

Red eyes glowed fiercely and Kirishima felt as if the eyes themselves could burn him. But that wasn't the only thing he noticed - in the swirling light, he was able to make out what appeared to be pointy ears atop the man's head and even the flick of a tail.

Something inhuman so...a demon ?!

"DEKU YOU PIECE OF SHIT! WHERE HAS YOUR SHITTY ASS BEEN THE LAST TWENTY YEA-"

As if doused, the fire died and the demon shut up as he properly looked upon Kirishima's petrified form, hopelessly pressed against the peeling shrine doors.

"You're not Deku…who the fuck are you?"