Meanwhile,
Shota had started to sneak out of his room, in search of some money.
He found a couple hundred yen under the couch and smirked.
Guess I don't need to search for her wallet. He placed the yen in his pocket and casually, snatching his scarf along the way for safety, exited his apartment, going down several flights of stairs before reaching the bottom. The boy had learned his way around and so this trip to the convenience store should be generally short, not to mention the streets were fairly busy, morning and night. He kept his hands in his pockets to make sure his money didn't get snatched(since that happened on his first day). He received a couple strange looks regarding the scarf since it was such an abundant amount of cloth draping a boy's shoulders and it was pretty hot out, he was also wearing a black sweater and black sweatpants and a backpack for storage. He would be lying if he didn't say he was sweating.
He passed by several alleyways, glancing at all of them and he wasn't sure why.
Heh, maybe I could call this a patrol. It'll be harmless as long as I don't end up hurt. He thought.
Shota finally reached the convenience store, though. He went in, bought the ramen and energy drink and placed it in his backpack, zipping it shut and then exiting the store without another word. He looked to his right and saw the heavily populated city, then turned to his left and saw the isolated and lonely looking street. Cars passed through but people no longer walked along that sidewalk.
The series of alleyways continued and Shota had his phone on but turned everything on mute as to not give away his location. He swallowed hard and, combining his hair with his clothing, he blended into the shadows with ease without even knowing it. He was terrified and shaking but kept reminding himself that this is the kind of stuff he'll do as a hero and he has to get used to it. His actions were irrational and foolish, he knew this. A child, with zero hero training, walking into danger was stupid and something Shota never thought he would do but his body was acting on its own, especially when he suddenly heard a shriek.
Sounds like a woman. Is she being robbed?
Shota darted towards the sound, turning to face the alleyway it came from, his eyes immediately flared red, hair shot up and his scarf instantly started floating around him. He was hoping to scare the bad guy and get him to run away then once he entered better lighting, Shota would call the police and be able to give a detailed description of his appearance if his capture weapon didn't work.
He found the man was forcibly stripping her and Shota knew what was happening.
"Hey! Why can't I use my quirk?! Are you a hero? She doesn't need saving. She deserved this." The man slyly grinned and Shota shuttered, about to try and use his capture weapon on him but he had to blink. He saw the teen's tall hair and floating scarf suddenly fall limp as he furiously rubbed his eyes and felt his quirk return. He easily put two and two together.
"A rather weak hero who's pretty damn short and can barely control his own quirk. Must've gone to one of the lamer schools. Is that scarf supposed to intimidate me?" The man laughed hartily.
He really doesn't know I'm a child? He'll definitely know I am if I speak, though. I need all the underestimation I can get.
"I can control my quirk fine, but all quirks have their limits." Shota chose not to answer the scarf inquiry since the answer was technically yes.
"Ah, so you're a kid playing dress-up? Cute. Now get lost!" The man was losing his patience. Shota calmly removed his phone and started talking.
"Yeah. There's this guy trying to rape a woman in an alleyway and-." Before the boy could finish his sentence, the man ran towards the boy in a rage. Shota leapt above him in order to avoid an attack and landed in front of the woman to guard and protect her. He glanced behind himself at the half-stripped woman and told her everything would be okay, then turned back to the phone in his hand and gave their location. He had to shut his eyes though.
"YOU LITTLE SHIT!" The man yelled.
Okay, I can't really capture a moving target with this by simply using my quirk alone but maybe-...
Shota didn't know what the man's quirk was but erased it anyway and leapt out of the way just as the man darted towards him again like a bull so he ended up running towards the woman instead. While Shota was in the air, he launched his scarf towards the man in remembrance to his practice in gym where he'd launch his scarf towards a railing at the ceiling, make it instantly swing over and shoot back to him. One of the many failed attempts to get the scarf to coil around his target but in this context, that failure to coil worked in his favor. It went right around him and returned to Shota's other hand, acting as reigns of perfect restraint, stopping the man right in his tracks and making him fall over. He gave the lady a small smile as he wiped the sweat from his forehead, finally blinking.
"Sorry for the scare. The police ought to be arriving soon." Shota told her calmly, panting a bit.
"Thank you so much!" She started tearing up. Shota abruptly started to drag the man a couple feet to throw off his balance when he started trying to stand up, then for good measure, kicked him in the stomach as hard as he could and finally sat him up a little bit so Shota could completely tie the man up with his scarf.
"This was eerily easy." Shota commented.
"His quirk makes his muscle strength increase times 10! I guess you can erase other people's quirks?" The woman asked, Shota nodded.
"Yeah but can you keep it a secret?" He requested and the woman nodded as well.
"Sure thing." She said.
Just then, sirens approached and before they knew it, officers had entered the scene and were quite confused to find that the boy who called to report the incident was the one who also took care of it since the man was already tied up, the boy holding onto the tail end of the scarf and, behind the boy was a woman, half-dressed. One officer came up to the boy, scratching his head.
"Uh, did you tie him up?" Shota nodded.
"Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if he's already being trained in heroics. He saved me." The woman tussled his messy black hair.
"This fucking brat just showed up out of nowhere with this floating scarf and standing hair and starts attacking me for no reason!" The bad guy tried to play innocent but received a kick in the side from Shota.
"You know damn well what you did! The second I pulled out my phone and called the police, he ran towards me. I dodged." Shota recapped, rolling his eyes, then proceeding to rub them. The nearest officer placed a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder.
"It's okay to cry, the situation was probably very frightening, we're sorry you had to go through-."
"I'm not crying." Shota lifted his head to look up at them with a raised eyebrow. They saw his eyes were rather dry and strained.
"It's his quirk." The criminal spoke up, chuckling and Shota jolted, scowling intensely at him.
"He can erase people's quirks and that's how the little shit beat me but the erasing seems to end when he closes his eyes." He mentioned and the boy had to restrain himself from beating the crap out of him. Once the handcuffs were placed on him, Shota took his scarf back, placing it back on and grumbled to himself then to the police.
"That bastard is probably going to tell everyone he meets in prison all about 'the little black-haired boy that can erase quirks'. Ugh." Shota pinched his temples then dragged his hand down his face.
"But at least you managed to be a hero, at least for one night." One officer told him.
"Villains are bound to eventually learn of your quirk and learn how to prepare against it." Another officer told him.
"Are you planning on becoming a pro hero?" A third officer asked. Shota nodded.
"Me and a close friend of mine share that dream." The boy said. The third officer then got on one knee so they could be eye to eye and gently grasped Shota's arms before speaking again.
"Well still, either way, there is very important the entire police force needs to tell you;
never do this again." The third officer stated, his smile; gone. In favor of intimidation to keep Shota away from their line of duty and make it very clear that using his quirk on others is, in fact, illegal unless it's in self-defense in which this case was but Shota shouldn't go looking for danger.
"It'll be great to work with a hero like you in your adult-hood but for now, it's not safe and we'd rather you stay out of trouble and at least try to live long enough to get your hero license." The officer told him.
"I'll let this one slide, but if this happens again, I'm gonna have to contact your parental guardian."
Shota sighed, flipped off the criminal, slouched his shoulders, pocketed his hands, then walked back to the convenience store simply in search of eyedrops while he grumbled to himself.
Jeez! I save a girl and get punished for it! Not to mention the fight was hardly even a fight! He didn't lay a finger on me and I just restrained him and gave him a couple kicks, I didn't punch him or knock his teeth out or make him barf up anything. It was a harmless fight, barely even counts as a fight, yet, just because I used my quirk, suddenly I'm the bad guy too, I'm just not AS bad as him! UGH! And not all villains would know what my quirk is if I avoid the spotlight but either way, society can go to hell.
He continued this angry thought process all the way into the store and while he searched for the cheap little bottle. Once he found it, paid, and used it, his eyes finally felt refreshed and he began his walk home, stomach growling, ready to eat that ramen and drink his energy drink.
You're right, Shota. The system is broken. But you can help us fix it.