Oboro (or should he call himself Kurogiri? He's not sure) was still running even though he had already portaled away from All for One's thugs. They managed to grab his leg and drag him to their truck this time. Thankfully, the thug slackened his grip too early. The mist man didn't know where he was exactly; it might be another random rural area again?

At least it wasn't like last time when he ended up on top of a "random skyscraper". Well, he thought it was until he saw pro heroes coming out of it. Oboro had wanted to be a hero, and he still does. Rubble delayed that dream for him, he's yet to find time even to consider becoming one. Anyway, that random hero assumed he was a villain.

Kurogiri couldn't exactly blame them though. His entire body was covered in a dark-purple mist with menacing yellow eyes in a suit. That even screamed villain to him too! It might have also been how he got on the roof of a hero agency. The hero got their sidekicks to surround him. They didn't think about how he could just create a portal and teleport himself away. Some heroes never get the proper training to expect the unexpected.

Not expecting something could have been the reason he died, or it could have been the world playing some cruel joke on him. Next, the universe decided to join in on the fun when Doctor Garaki used his corpse for his "high-end nomu". That monster almost got rid of all of his memories, destroyed his original quirk, and gave him several scars. Oboro (what is his name now?) knew the only way to escape was to get rid of the doctor once and for all.

When Kurogiri was deemed obedient enough, the doctor foolishly undid the restraints. He had so much faith in his first successful nomu that it led to his downfall. Once the "nomu's" hands were free, he immediately teleported the doctor to a volcano (the doctor had also given him coordinates on where to dispose of enemies). The only problem Oboro faced now was All for One, a much scarier threat. He was practically the boogie man of the underground! Thanks to him and his minions, he's forced to sleep in abandoned warehouses every single night.

Freedom was worth it though. Oboro didn't take it for granted but never realized how much it hurt having none. Kurogiri on the other hand never knew freedom until he escaped (he was having terrible identity problems, ok!?). Almost everything was going wrong in his life ever since dying, and he was just so done with it! He could finally understand how Shouta felt all the time and why he rarely smiled. It's just so hard to smile when the world feels like it is caving in around you.

So right now, he was going to enjoy all of it, even when he was just walking down the street of that rural area. There wasn't anything special about it. Just the normal abandoned apartments and graffiti everywhere. The area was too dangerous for most people to live in, but Kurogiri wasn't just any person. If anyone tried to get in, he could just teleport them anyway.

When he heard a cry from across the street, he was broken out of his thoughts and looked over. Due to the lighting, Oboro couldn't see who was crying, so he followed the cries. He froze when he saw a child sitting on the curb. For a moment, he saw Shouta in the child's place. All he saw were the eyebags and the same look of resignation. No children should have that look, especially the younger ones. Oboro decided he was going to help this kid no matter what. He may not know what this kid had been through, but he'd try his best to understand. The former hero in-training walked over and sat next to the boy.

"Are you okay? It's a little too late to be outside right now." Oboro asked.

The kid didn't even register he was here and kept looking at the stars. Despite all of the tall buildings, the stars peeked through tonight. Kurogiri lightly tapped on the boy's shoulder and he violently flinched back.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I was just wondering if you were okay." Oboro said.

The kid had stopped crying and slowly shook his head. The mist man finally had a clear look at him. He had deep purple eyes and upward purple hair. Nothing that unusual in the world of quirks, and it wasn't what concerned Oboro. The bruises littering his skin did. They weren't too terrible, but it still got alarm bells ringing in Kurogiri's head.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Oboro asked.

The boy looked him straight in the eyes and sighed.

"You'll leave when I tell you my quirk. My parents did, and so did everyone else." the kid explained.

Those two sentences broke Oboro's heart. After escaping Garaki, he saw all the quirk discrimination people faced. If you didn't have a good quirk or had a villainous one, you were bound to face some kind of discrimination. Bullying, unemployment, assault, you name it. Quirks even lead to parents abandoning their kids. It wasn't even this bad with the Jim Crow laws; it was just more subtle. Not enough people were bringing awareness to this.

"Kid, it doesn't matter what your quirk is. What matters is your actions. Your parents shouldn't have left you over something as simple as a quirk." Oboro assured.

The boy looked at him with widened eyes. It's just heartbreaking how this child has never heard those words before. He could've only been 5 or 6 years old. A small part of Kurogiri was glad he got to die and finally have his rose-tinted view of the world shattered.

"You really mean it?" the kid asked.

"Really," Oboro assured. "Do you want a hug? It's okay if you don't."

The child hesitantly nodded, so Oboro wrapped him into a tight hug. He flinched at the touch but quickly hugged back and started crying again. He felt so small in Kurogiri's arms; his parents couldn't have given him enough food. They stayed like that for about 10 minutes before the kid broke the hug.

"Thank you, I haven't gotten hugs in a while." the boy sniffled.

"Don't worry, that's going to change. What's your name?" Oboro aske

"Hitoshi," he answered, "What about you?"

That question made Kurogiri pause for a second. What is his name? He's just been calling himself Oboro or Kurogiri. None of those names truly felt like his own anymore. Oboro represented his childhood and innocence. He only had a vague understanding of the world then; it was nothing compared to what Kurogiri knew about it. Though he knew several people in it needed saving.

Kurogiri represents him all grown up and traumatized. He's seen the world be cruel to anyone different. He was pretty much just a corpse brought back to life just to suffer. The doctor had been ruthless when it came down to "creating his masterpiece." Through all of that, he still kept all the memories of his days with Hizashi, Shouta, Tensei, and Nemuri. He remembered his drive to be a hero; it wasn't for fame or glory. It was to save everyone he could.

Saving people wasn't just about getting people out of danger; it was about making people feel safe. It could be something as simple as hugging someone. Hitoshi was worth saving; he could feel it. Even though aspects of Oboro were still there, it didn't feel like his name. His name wasn't just Kurogiri. He had a better understanding of the world but was Kurogiri too emotionless.

Instead, he was a new person. An aspiring hero wanted to make the world a better one step at a time.

"My name's Kuboro."