Chapter 5: Grateful for family

Hayato drives towards Snow's school and is deciding how to tell Saori about they're unplanned family outing. "I could just spring it onto her and she definitely deserves a break but the hard part is how do I tell her that I'm technically on duty." Hayato doesn't like mixing family and work and wants the two to be entirely separate to not worry Saori and to keep focus on one or the other. "I'm sure it'll work out.I hope." Hayato is nearing Snow's school and something catches his eye. Only for a glimpse he saw something happening in an alleyway. "It's none of my business but that looked way too suspicious. I have to check it out." Hayato parks his car and takes his mask and puts it on and walks out the car and hurries to the alleyway he passed by.

"GET AWAY FROM ME." Upon hearing the woman's scream Hayato picks up the pace and enters the alleyway.

"Hey, has anyone ever taught you how to talk to a lady before?" Hayato notices something silver and treads a bit lightly to not get the innocent woman injured or worse.

"Mind your own business pal and beat it. And what's with the dumb mask it's not halloween."

"Idiot's not even trying to hide the gun he has." Hayato starts to walk towards him and the thug takes out his gun and points it at Hayato.

"Take one more step and you'll be dead." Hayato rolls his eyes and decides to have fun with this poor fool. Hayato tilts his head to the side to see if the gun's safety was on and says

"Hey if you're gonna fire that thing make sure the safety is off."

"It's not on stop trying to distract me. I've killed tons of people before and you're next." The thug decides to check anyway and Hayato puts his hand on the gun aiming it down and goes for a quick jab towards the thug's head. Then he grabs him by the arm and tosses him to the ground while taking the gun off the thug,Hayato turns the safety off and points it at the downed thug.

"A rookie wouldn't make a mistake like that. Talking out your ass would work on someone else but not me." Hayato looks over to the woman making sure she is alright and then dismantles the gun quickly and tosses the pieces to the ground. The thug decides to get up and make a run for it but before he could Hayato froze his legs before he could even move. Hayato slowly walks towards the thug and quickly knocks him out. "Miss I need you to call the police and tell them exactly what you saw. Oh and here's 2 of my cards. It has my information for you to give to the police and give the second card to whomever gets here and say 2501 to them." Hayato hands over the cards and the woman looks down on them so she can properly thank her savior but notices his name is not on the card.

"Wait, your name isn't on…..here." Hayato vanished without a trace.

A couple of minutes pass by and Hayato is at the school and looks for Snow. "He should be around here somewhere." Hayato notices Snow by the corner of his eye from walking around and sees a woman near him. It's Haruka.

"Daddy!" Snow run's towards Hayato and Hayato picks up Snow and hugs him. Haruka walks towards Snow to greet Hayato."Oh where are my manners I'm Hayato,Saori told me about you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Hayato and please call me Haruka."

"Oh good I'm not sure how long I can keep up the formal talk."Hayato says while scratching the back of his head. "So how was Snow today?"

"Snow was a very good boy today and is very bright for his age."

"Daddy, what does that mean?" Hayato let out a small laugh and smiled towards Snow.

"It means you're very smart. But that's good to hear Haruka, I was kinda worried about how his first day would go. This is still an adjustment period for all of us."

"It's no problem at all. Saori told me this is all new waters for you three. I hope you all enjoy what Aptos has to offer."

"Thank you Haruka and we should start heading out Snow. We don't want to keep mommy waiting." Snow and Hayato wave bye to Haruka and walk off. 10 minutes pass by and Hayato is parking the car in front of their house and helps Snow out of the car. Hayato unlocks the door let's Snow in first. "Saori we're home." Saori gets up from the couch and gives Snow a hug and a kiss to Hayato.

"So how did your first day of school go Snow?"

"It was amazing!" Saori smiles at Snow; she's happy that his first day went well.

"Hey Saori, we need to talk about something really quickly."

"Sure Hayato. Snow, go and start your homework. I'll be right back to help you."

"Ok." Snow starts to take out homework from his backpack and places it on the coffee table. Hayato and Saori head towards the kitchen to talk in private.

"Is everything alright Hayato?"

"Yeah everything's great actually. It's just uhh how do I say this. I have to follow up on this case I'm working on but not in my "Usual clothes".

"Ok but what's the problem?"

"I have to go to a diner and do a small investigation as a detective and thought well we can kill two birds with one 'd be exploring Aptos and eating out while I was technically working. But you and I both agreed upon not mixing work and family." Saori starts to mull some things over.

"I'm glad he doesn't want to work while with us but since it's a follow up he needs to carry out this investigation. Hayato did say it'll be quick and it's not like Snow will be seeing him in his hero outfit or in action so this might work out." "Hey Hayato, what exactly do you have to do?"

"I'd be talking to the owner to get camera footage of a couple of nights ago and ask a couple of questions."

"Well if it's just that then it should be fine. Just try to be quick."

"Trust me I will and thank you for understanding Saori." The two hug and share a passionate kiss but Snow ruins the moment from the other room.

"Mommy, what does this question mean?" Hayato and Saori laugh in unison.

"I'll be right there in 1 minute Snow."

"Ok."

"So what time are we leaving?" Hayato checks his watch and says

"In 2 hours or so."

"Good gives me time to help Snow and for you to talk to the police."

"Why would I…."

"It's a small town Hayato word travels fast when a masked person wearing a dark blue plaid button up shirt and black pants saves someone from an attempted robbery." Hayato scratches the back of his head from the embarrassment and reaches for his phone to make a call.

"I'll be in my office if you need me."

Hayato takes a cable from his desk and connects it from his PC to his phone and runs a program from his desktop to make his call untraceable. "Let's see if I can find out who was at the scene of the crime before I call. I should check the city's website to get my answer there." Hayato goes to Aptos' website and goes to the message boards and finds the information needed."Detective Makoto Kobayashi of the 13th precinct was the first one on scene and spoke to the victim. Then he should have the other card." Hayato goes on Aptos' police department website and filters the list of contact information for the 13th precinct and finds Makoto's number. Hayato dials the number and awaits for an answer. On the other side of the line Makato looks at his phone perplexed and before picking up he decides to trace the call.

"Hello? Are you my masked hero from earlier."

"Before I answer your question, what set of numbers were you told?" Makoto draws a blank for a bit until he remembers that the woman said a specific set of numbers.

"It's 2501 right."

"Good I can trust you then Kobayashi. So I suppose you have some questions to ask so ask away and I'll answer them to the best of my ability."

"Alright then if you are a hero what's your hero name."

"Do you have the other card?"

"Yeah why do you ask?"

"I need you to spray some water on the card and shine a light on it and you'll get your answer." Makoto is confused as to why he has to do this but decides to play along. He grabs a half full water bottle from his desk and adds some drops of water on the card. Then turns on his desk lamp and puts the card in the light."Huh here I thought he was lying." The card has a picture of Hayato's face with the mask on,the agency he works at,quirk and his hero name.

"So Hyorinmaru is your name then. How come I've never heard of you or the agency you work at."

"I'm what you would call an underground hero. Can't really go into the specifics about my agency either."

"You're not making yourself very trustworthy but I can tell you have good intentions. A masked vigilante in casual clothing might I add wouldn't exactly call a detective, especially when I can track your call. Next question or rather confirm my suspicions, are you the one who called Eyepatch early this morning to clean up?"

"You are correct in your assumption it's best for heroes with a reputation to take full credit for what I do."

"Why's that?"

"I can tell you a little bit,I do what heroes won't bring themselves to do,cross a line that should be crossed when it's called for."

"Well considering there were no body bags that means the line wasn't crossed and I can't believe I'm about to say,I may agree with how you operate but I can't turn a blind eye when someone dies."

"I'm glad you won't look the other way. That tells me you know how to do your job, glad we have a mutual understanding. Is there anything else you would like to know.?"

"One more question: when will I meet you face to face?"

"In due time, detective if that's all I'll be on my way oh and before I go nice try trying to trace the call." Hayato hangs up before Makoto could respond.

"Dammit how'd he know I would trace his call. Guess I'll find out who he is soon enough." Hayato sits back in his chair looking up at the ceiling in thought.

"That was fun,but now I have 2 hours to do whatever I want before we head out." Hayato looks over to his left and notices his acoustic guitar and decides to get up from his chair and he wants to practice around Saori and Snow. Music was a way for Hayato to express himself and relax in times of stress, it was also the reason as to how Hayato and Saori met. Hayato takes his guitar and puts the strap over his shoulder and walks out his office and into the living room. He sees Saori over Snow's shoulder helping him check his homework and Hayato smiles."I can't believe this my life now after everything I've endured over the years,the pain and suffering was all worth it leading up to this point. Saori,Snow you two were the best things to happen in my life and you both mean the world to me." Saori sees Hayato standing in the hallway, smiles at him and says

"We were just finishing up Hayato."

"Oh good so you won't mind if I practice out here."

"Of course not Hayato. I love it when you play guitar."

"I do too, daddy. Can you teach me how to play guitar?" Hayato walks over to Snow and Saori and sits right in the middle of the two.

"Sure but when you're a little bit older." Snow has a big smile anticipating the day when his father will teach him how to play guitar. Hayato starts to play the guitar and the 3 enjoy the time spent together.

2 hours have passed and it's time for the family decides to change out of his clothes to not take any chances of a random person recognizing him as the masked hero. He puts on a simple black t-shirt and blue jeans and wears the matching locket that Saori has. The doorbell rings and Hayato leaves the bedroom to open the door and Kisara is standing on the other side of the door.

"Hey Kisara what are you doing here? Did something happen?" Kisara takes out something from her pocket and hands it over to Hayato.

"Yeah the fake ID."

"Right sorry about that must've slipped my mind. I was in a hurry."

"Don't worry about it and nice to see that you introduced yourself to local authorities already." Saori, curious as to who Hayato was talking to, takes a peek and sees Kisara. Kisara notices Saori and smiles at her and waves hello.

"Hi Kisara, how've you been?"

"Oh the same old y'know and you?"

"Bit of an adjustment to what we're used to but we'll manage." Kisara's phone vibrates in her pockets and notices an important message from Vagabond.

"Hey I have to go to you two,report your findings when you get the chance Hayato. It was nice seeing you two again. Hopefully I won't be super busy the next time we meet." Kisara hurries to her car and waves goodbye to Hayato and Saori and they wave back and Kisara drives off. The couple walks back into the house to see if Snow is ready to go and see him standing a few feet away from the door with a curious look on his face.

"Mommy, who was that?" Saori walks towards Snow and kneels down to his level.

"That was a friend of mine and Daddy's you'll get to meet her soon enough. Are you ready to go Snow?" Snow nods in affirmation and Saori picks him up and Hayato opens the door and the family walk towards Saori's car and drive off to the diner. Saori finds a spot to park in the diner's parking lot,once parked Hayato helps Snow out of the car and the two follow behind Saori making her way to the door. Once in they are greeted by the female receptionist.

"HI how are you welcome to Yamato's family diner, party of 3 I assume?" Hayato speaks up.

"Yep" The receptionist grabs 3 menus and ushers them to follow her. The 3 follow her to a booth and the 3 sit Saori and Snow sit together and Hayato sits on the opposite side.

"Here are your menus and there's a kids section on the back, your waiter will be right with you in a moment." Hayato and Saori say thanks in unison and the receptionist leaves. Hayato gets up and whispers into Saori's ear

"Hey I'll be right back." Saori nods and gives him a quick kiss on the cheek and Hayato heads to the back of the restaurant and notices an employee who just came out of the men's room and pulls out the ID from his pocket and shows it to the employee."Hi I'm detective Jin Hanamura do you know where the owner is I need to ask him a couple of questions."

"Uh yeah just follow me." The employee walks towards the office and knocks on the door and lets his boss know he's coming in with a detective.

"HI I'm Yamato and you are?"

"I'm Jin Hanamura. I'm a private investigator that works for APD."

"What brings you here ?"

"Well I'm enjoying a night out with my family and quickly wanted to get this out of the way. I have a couple of questions for you and I need a copy of your camera footage from a few nights ago."

"Well if you want the camera footage here you go."Yamato hands over a usb containing the footage of the last couple of days. "I usually keep the footage as a way to see if anything is missing. I had a run in with some damn teenagers who stole a bunch of food whom I am still waiting to be caught might I add."

"I'm sorry to hear that sir I'll see what I can do to get someone on that."

"I'd appreciate that but to go back on topic you wanted to ask some questions right?"

"Yes,aside from those teenagers, were there any suspicious men here the past couple of days."

"Now that you mention there was this really tall guy about your height wearing a long black trench coat and had a face mask on. I was working front of house that day and didn't really question his appearance. He came with money and didn't disrupt anyone so I didn't see any issues. Why is he a wanted criminal or something?"

"Well I have an eye witness that identified Ayabe's intimidator and his description matches with Ayabe's as well. Maybe the camera footage will get a positive ID on who this guy is."

"Well that's what I'm trying to figure out but with your cooperation and camera footage might be able to solve this case."

"Is there anything else you need to ask or need help with Hanamura?"

"Yeah not so much a question but more a request I need you to not share what we just discussed about with anyone unless they're law enforcement or a hero."

"Well that's easy enough, anything else?"

"No, that'll be all. Thank you for your time sir."

"No problem, happy to help." The two shake hands and Hayato walks out the office and heads towards Saori and Snow and enjoys the rest of the night with his family.

Author's Note:

Hey guys originally this chapter was gonna be really long but realized as I was writing that it would be much better to just use it for the second chapter. So the second chapter will be out in 2 days or so. I know this chapter(and the next one for that matter) has a heavy Hayato focus but soon enough I'll transition to Snow being the MC. For a quick character description on Makoto Kobayashi he has short purple hair and black eyes. Makoto will play a role later into the story once the focus shifts to Snow. I also owe you guys another character description because I completely forgot to give one to Saya,she has blonde hair liker mother,blue eyes,and she wears glasses. I think that's all I need to talk about for now, see you guys in the next chapter very care.