Chapter 3
"Hey, kid. Wake up."
Roman called out to the sleeping mound on the ground as he nudged it with his foot.
It was early in the morning and Roman had just woken up, and he did not want to waste any time doing nothing. He had a lot accomplish today as he finally now had the money to so. Especially so since he finally had the cash to get new clothes!
But first, he still needed to take care of the sleeping brat. He couldn't just leave her in an abandoned warehouse to fend for herself; he wasn't completely heartless.
Roman stared at the unconscious body of the brat as he started to nudge her a little bit harder, eventually resorting to poking her head with his cane to wake her up.
"Hmm… uegh…?" The little girl moaned in her drowsy state as she finally noticed that there was someone trying to wake her up.
"Oi, brat, if you don't wake up in the next minute, I'm going to toss you in the ocean," Roman dryly commented as he stared at her languid form.
That should get her to wake up. Roman thought to himself smugly. Nothing like a good old threat of being thrown into the ocean in the morning to wake somebody up.
And if they didn't, well...
They drowned.
"Uah!" The brat jumped to full alert as his threat settled itself into her little head. The little brat waved her arms around in alarm, mumbling incoherent words as she sat up, looking everywhere for where the threat came from.
"Morning, kid. Up here. Have any nice dreams last night?" Roman asked her with a small smirk as he leaned on Melodic Cudgel.
The girl flinched at his words before shaking her head, shaking in her spot a bit as she stared at him before calming down.
It looks like she was still somewhat afraid of him, though not too much as she could at least look at him in the eyes without wavering completely. Their talk last night might have had an impact on that, but he wasn't completely sure.
"Well either way, get ready kid, because we're going shopping today," Roman told her as he began to clear out the small campfire with his foot, scattering the ash around on the ground.
"Ah, um… Mr. Roman, where are we going?" Eri asked Roman anxiously.
Still hesitant, eh?
She was still hesitant in talking to him normally, it seemed. But that shouldn't affect him that much for now. She'll get used to talking sooner or later, but for now there was something else in her question that somewhat annoyed him.
"First of all," Roman walked over to her with his finger in the air. He needed to clear up what she should call him first.
"It's Mr. Torchwick or just Roman; I don't really care which you pick. And secondly, we're getting new clothes. It would seem both of us are in quite the great need of new apparel, wouldn't you agree?" Roman said as he nonchalantly ruffled her hair, pointing at her small dressing gown as well with his cane.
If he was going to take her anywhere he went now, she at least had to be somewhat more presentable then what she wore right now, he wouldn't want to look like he just took a child out of a hospital now, would he?
That did bring a question to his head though. Why did she look like she just escaped a hospital. What were those gangster's going to do with her?
Eri shook her head away from Roman's hand as she looked down at herself and examined her gown.
"But… what's wrong with what I'm wearing now?" She said uncertainly.
Oh, you've got to be kidding...
Roman scoffed at her response before turning away from her.
"Y'see, the problem is that it looks like you just escaped the hospital. And that, would lead to unwanted attention just by walking around," Roman said as he twiddled with his cane. "Attention, that I do not want at all right now."
"Now, c'mon! We wouldn't want to be wasting any daylight; especially since we're going to be making more money after this," Roman chuckled as he started to make his way outside the warehouse, not waiting for Eri to get ready at all.
As Eri heard this though, it registered in her head just what Roman meant by making more money.
He was going to rob people again.
"W-what!? Why!?" Eri frantically called out to Roman as she had a look of horror on her face. Eri didn't want this; this is an act only villains did.
Eri quickly leapt up from the ground and followed Roman, the white jacket she wore still on her shoulders, the jacket dragging on the ground behind her.
Roman spun on his heal towards the girl, letting the brat stumble into his chest.
"Guh!" Eri fell down onto her bottom as she bumped into Roman,
"Hey, kid. Did you really forget who I was? And I had thought we bonded so well," Roman said mockingly. "Then let me remind you; I'm not a good person. I'm a thief. A criminal. A villain," Roman stated.
Villain. A word he would never have used in Remnant as it sounded cheesy as all hell. But here?
It sounded perfect.
He watched how her face morph in a myriad of emotions apparently recalling yesterday's memories. Her shoulder's then drooped like she just found out she was on death row. Completely resigned to her fate now.
A certain satisfaction lit up within Roman's mind as he watched her emotions show on her face. Though, if she was going to stay with him, he would need to teach her to hide her emotions better.
"B-but… can't you get money in a different way?" She asked timidly.
Roman eyed her for a moment as he thought of her question.
"Well…" Roman drawled, "I can, I can probably even get a job quite easily and make a steady amount of cash," he mused.
The little girl looked at him with some hope, hoping that he wouldn't rob from more people.
Oh, how wrong her naïve mind was.
"But I won't," Roman shook his head. "It's simply not my style. I would rather go out and rob people then be behind a register or desk working for hours on end."
He can barely even imagine himself behind a cash register. Well, he could, just not working behind it.
Even if robbing and stealing was more risky and dangerous, he still did it because it was what he did best. And it hadn't ever done him wrong.
He was a man that lived by a certain code,
Lie.
Steal.
Cheat.
And... survive...
Okay, maybe he should change up his code. It did do him wrong and lead to his downfall, and now look where it got him; in a different world with only his cane and clothes on his back.
But that was another day's problem, not today's.
Eri hung her head low as she heard his response.
"Now c'mon, brat," Roman once again ruffled her head, something she immediately recoiled from.
"Let's get some new clothes," Roman grinned and turned around.
Eri didn't respond, only frowning at him and his leaving form, right before following suit, no matter how much she didn't want to.
o – o – o – o – o
"Hmm… Hey, brat," Roman called out to the kid beside him.
They were in the mall right now, browsing in one of the many clothing stores within. Roman was almost finished with his shopping while Eri hadn't even chosen anything. Though, he did have the peace of mind to at least get her some shoes and get rid of the bandages off of her.
He did not at all want to explain why he had a kid that very much looked like he kidnapped her from a hospital.
Now she just looked like an orphan you would find in Mistral or Vale rather than a hospital patient. As for her gown, he can just say it was dress.
As for the clothes Roman bought, they were close to being the exact same clothes he usually wore, except his jacket being a light shade of grey now, and his hat having a ribbon tied around it instead of a feather.
Finding a pair of gloves was much harder than I expected...
Roman shook his head from that thought as he tried some other hats than his own.
"Which hat do you think do you think looks better on me?" He questioned the brat beside him.
In his hands were two other bowler hats, both of them almost the same as his original and the one he wore right now. The only difference between them was a polka dot ribbon and a green ribbon.
He might have had a thing for bowler hats.
He also wanted to see how good the kid's fashion sense was; he wasn't going to let the kid just choose willy-nilly and end up looking like a fashion disaster. That would cause a whole lot more unwanted attention than just looking like a street-rat.
Gods' he remembered when he and Eri had first entered the store, they gained the attention of many people, including the security guards, though none of them have approached them yet. And he couldn't really blame them for looking at them oddly; both he and the brat looked really suspicious in their worn-out attires.
But, now that he had changed into some newer clothes, the stares had somewhat lessened, but not completely. The reason for their stares also seemed to change, from suspicion, to curiosity of their clothing.
"Ah, uhm… I'm not really sure?" Eri said tensely, phrasing her own answer into a question.
Roman kept his face neutral as he mused to himself. Guess I'm choosing her clothes for her then.
If she couldn't choose between which hat obviously looked better, he was going to make the decisions himself.
"The red one then," Roman said as he put the polka dot ribbon hat away. Why was there even a hat like that anyway? It looked like something a clown would wear.
Now that he's gotten everything that he wanted, he really should start to buy the kid some actual clothes now.
Roman looked around the store for a few minutes before returning with a white button up shirt and a red suspender skirt as well as some underwear.
"Go change into this in one of the changing rooms and show me how it looks," Roman told her as he pointed to one of the stalls.
Eri nodded and hesitantly made her way to the stalls.
Roman waited right outside the stall in which Eri changed.
He hoped the girl knew how to put those clothes on, because he was unsure whether he would help her or not.
And he had to hope to the gods she knew how to change her own underwear. If she didn't, he was just gonna walk out of the store.
Roman nervously thought to himself of how this all looked to the people around him right now. He knew he was getting a few weird stares every now and then, and the fact that neither he or Eri looked like siblings didn't help.
A very well-dressed young man walking around with a young little girl that looked very poor and was obviously displeased and scared of him…
He didn't have to be a genius to figure out how that looked.
Once she came out, he breathed a sigh of relief. She looked hesitant, not really knowing if she put on the clothes correctly.
"So… how is it?" She asked timidly,
Roman eyed her closely, she looked fine enough, there were no mistakes in how she put it on, thank god, but she could still do better.
Roman walked away to one of the isles, surprising Eri for a bit before returning once again with a small red jacket, some boots, and a small red ribbon.
"Here, kid. Try it on with this as well. The ribbon goes into your hair by the way," Roman told her.
Eri once again entered the stall, and quickly came back out with the clothes he brought on her.
Roman soon grinned after he saw her walk out; she looked very good in it.
"Good, very good," Roman muttered happily as he eyed her, clapping his hands. It wasn't perfect, but it would do for now.
"Um… do I look okay, Mr. Torchwick," Eri asked hesitantly.
"Yes, you look much better now that you're wearing some actual clothes," Roman grinned as he patted her head, to which she recoiled from again, something that Roman ignored.
Roman then heard a few nervous whisperings that were directed at him and realized just how odd their conversation sounded.
"C'mon, let's go pay for your clothes. After this we can go eat," Roman told her quickly. He didn't want to stay here any longer than he wanted. At this rate, he was going to get arrested in the next few minutes.
At the mention of food, Eri's stomach grumbled almost perfectly in time, making her blink. She hadn't eaten anything since last night and it was already in the afternoon.
"O… okay," she whispered, her stomach grumbling again.
o – o – o – o – o
Under the cool sunny sky…
"So… how's it taste?" Roman asked as he held a fork in his hand, a piece of chocolate cake on the end of it.
They had left the mall a few hours ago and made their way here, much to the relief of Roman who had started noticing a few guards following them by the time they left. They eventually then wondered around town looking for a place to eat before stopping at a small cake shop in one of the smaller parts of the city.
Shame I still can't read shit in this world.
"It… it tastes… good," the little brat in front of him spoke, her eyes not leaving the cake in front of her as she chewed it in satisfaction.
"I've never had something so sweet…" she moaned as she closed her eyes, savouring the taste.
Roman's brow rose as Eri mentioned this. Just what type of life has this girl gone through?
As Roman thought of this, he recalled their meeting and just how little he even knew of his new companion. All he knew of her was that her parents didn't want her, the Yakuza had apparently kidnapped her, and only her given name, Eri.
"Really?" Roman asked inquisitively. "Just what type of food do you usually eat?" He probed.
The brat went stiff at his question as she thought for a bit, almost going glassy-eyed, as if she recalled something.
"Hm? Hey, kid," Roman waved a hand in front of her. "Something wrong?"
Eri's body shook as she came of her daze, her eyes shooting up to Roman before blinking.
"N-nothing," Eri faintly muttered, "Just… memories."
Memories? What the hell does that mean? He didn't like all this cryptic bullshit and riddles; he just wanted a straight answer.
Roman's brow slightly twitched, but he ignored it. He needed the kid to trust him more; and the best way to do that was to make her happy.
Kids were stupid like that; give them a piece of candy and they would do what you want.
"You should smile, you know," Roman dryly remarked, drawing a curve near her face with his finger, to represent a smile. He wanted to draw the conversation somewhere else since the last attempt failed.
"Kids your age should have smile on their face, y'know. Doing dumb shit that kids usually do," he commented while nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders.
Eri frowned sadly as he mentioned her to smile more.
"I… I don't remember know how to smile…" she faintly whispered, tears slowly forming in her eyes.
What? Roman's mind froze, a dumbfounded look coming onto his face.
How the hell did the girl not know how to smile? Even the saddest of street-rats can smile happily every now and then when you give them some cash and food!
Roman's thoughts came to a stop as he heard a disturbance in the distance.
Roman turned his head, witnessing a bunch of older teenagers bullying a smaller kid. By what they wore, they seemed to all be in the same school.
Roman leaned on his hand as he witnessed this, but ignored it, just like the other costumers outside the store. He didn't know the kid and he didn't particularly care what happened to them either.
Roman watched in amusement as the costumers whispered about the bullies and how bad they were, but they themselves wouldn't do anything to stop it. He would sometimes chuckle at just how ridiculous they were.
That's one of the parts of society that Roman didn't ever particularly like. They were just hypocrites. Rather than go on and help the bullied victim, they would rather leave it to someone else to help.
But when it happens to them, they'll whine and cry about no one helping them.
He had suspected this to change in this world, a world filled with heroes. But it seems it was a problem here as well.
Turning his head back to Eri, he observed how she also turned her head to the bullies, a frown on her face. It looked like she didn't like their bullying either.
Hmm… a smile… Roman thought to himself, a plan forming in his mind.
The girl in front of him didn't know how to smile for some reason. If he was going to be dragging the kid around to everywhere he went, he might as well do stuff that she would actually agree with, rather than forcing her to help him do his bidding.
He wasn't Cinder.
Turning his head back to the bullies, a small grin formed onto his face.
Roman stood up, much to the surprise of the girl as he walked over to them.
"Hey, hey, now," Roman called out to the bullies loudly as he wrapped his arms around their shoulders, much to their surprise and displeasure.
"Oi, man. What's the big-" Roman cut off one of the bullies before they could speak.
"C'mon, break it up now; you're making quite the disturbance here," Roman whispered to them, bringing their attention to the rest of the costumers.
"It wouldn't be the best for both your images to be stained because you were caught bullying a kid, right. C'mon you're better than that, or are you just gonna keep on picking on a weaker kid just to show how big and strong you are?" Roman lightly mocked them.
The bullies froze as they heard Roman's words, realizing that they were making a scene and the displeased stares of the other costumers.
"Get your hands off of us," one of the teenagers commented, pushing Roman away in disgust.
Roman let go off them as he held his hands in mock surrender, "No problem, no problem" he smiled evenly.
The two bullies scowled at him and made to leave, leaving the other kid they were bullying on the ground.
Roman eyed them as they left, before lending a hand to the kid onto the ground.
"Ah, t-thanks…" the kid said nervously, grabbing his hand.
"Roman," he politely introduced himself, "And it was no biggie, just take care of yourself more, don't listen to those bullies," Roman faked a smile to him as he lifted him up, before heading back to his and Eri's table.
As he took a seat back down, he noticed that Eri was looking at him with confused eyes.
"What is it brat?" Roman asked, the smile on his face gone now.
"Why did you do that?" Eri questioned him, making his lip quirk up a bit.
Looks like the kid isn't completely stupid. He thought to himself.
"Whatever do you mean? Do you suspect me to just not help him?" Roman remarked, playing oblivious to her question.
"Yes," she answered, a frown stitched onto her face as she answered him.
"Ah, looks like I was caught red-handed," Roman lightly shook his head, all the while revealing two new wallets in his hand.
"!" Eri squeaked in surprise as she looked at the wallets, realizing what he had just done.
"You! B-b-but – how!" The little brat cried out in surprise, not caring to keep her voice down.
Roman hid the wallets once again behind his hand as the other costumers looked at their table to see what the commotion was now.
"I'm a professional, sweetie, that's how," Roman leaned forward and whispered to her, a smirk present on his face.
Roman had picked the two bullies' pockets when he wrapped his arms around them. It was almost too easy; much easier than stealing from thugs and gangsters anyways.
Eri deflated in her spot.
"Oh, c'mon now. Don't look so bummed out. I didn't simply just help them because I wanted their wallets," Roman lied through his teeth as he leaned on his arm again, "Well, mostly – but I also helped the kid because nobody else would, because that's just how society is."
Confusion grew on her face as he said this.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
Roman's smirk died as he leaned in closer to her, tapping her forehead with his finger, "Life isn't fair sweetheart. Even when there are heroes to save people, the majority of people wouldn't do shit and would just sit and watch whenever there is something bad going on," Roman dryly remarked.
Eri glared at him as he said this. "That's not true."
Roman scoffed at her answer. She was just as naïve as everyone else, believing that there would be someone always there to save people. He had at least thought she was different because of her own experience.
"And why's that?" He snidely questioned her.
"Because you helped," She said, not backing down.
Roman blinked for a second at her answer before clicking his tongue in annoyance. Maybe the kid wasn't as stupid as he thought.
"Enough of that," Roman dismissed the conversation. There was a time and place for this conversation, and right now wasn't, much less in public where everyone can hear them.
Roman then leaned closer to the girl, keeping his voice down as he did so,
"Later on today, you're helping me rob people," Roman told her, much to her obvious displeasure.
Unlike this morning, she didn't scream this time, which he was very thankful for. Rather now, she just looked more resigned.
"Why?" She simply asked.
"Because kiddo, I'm not going to let you just leach off of me," Roman evilly grinned.
Eri's expression became downcast at that, but said nothing else.
"Eh, don't worry about it, kid. I'm only going to steal from bad people, m'kay? You'll also get your fair share of cash," Roman told her as he poked her head, making sure the other costumers didn't hear the last part.
It was a whole lot easier stealing from criminals than civilians. Not many criminals would go to the police or heroes because of the risk of being put in jail themselves.
Eri only brought her face up to look at him with a glare, a frown still in place.
"And remember kid, smile more. Makes you a lot less suspicious," Roman mockingly grinned as he picked up his fork, taking another bite of his cake.
o – o – o – o – o
"Um… Mr. Torchwick…? What am I supposed to be doing again?" The little girl asked him uncertainly again for the fourth time.
Roman's eye twitched erratically as he was trying to keep his cool.
Keep your cool, Roman. Keep your cool. Roman quietly repeated in his head over and over.
"Kid, how do you not get it?" Roman asked; a small frown on his face.
Before, back at the small cake shop, he thought the girl was actually somewhat smart.
Oh, how wrong he was at the time. She was just as stupid as he thought.
She was still a kid, and kids were still stupid, no matter how many times they say something smart by complete luck.
"Um…" Eri quietly looked to the side.
"Look kid, all you have to do is to look out for any heroes coming this way, got it? You're a lookout, simple as that," Roman angrily remarked.
They were now waiting inside an alleyway in broad daylight, waiting for a perfect opportunity to rob someone.
While Roman would rather rob people during the night, he couldn't always do that. He would need to eventually rob people during daylight as well. And now that he had someone else to help him, he could at least see how different it was compared to Vale.
She wasn't Neo, but she'll have to do.
"Now go, kid. Just wait outside the alleyway, got it? And if any heroes come, run back in to warn me," Roman sighed as he pointed outside the alley.
"O-okay," Eri quickly answered, before running away.
Roman watched as the brat left the alley as he leaned onto one of the walls; now all he had to do was wait.
And it looks like he didn't have to wait for too long, as lady luck was on his side.
Roman quietly watched as two young men came into the alley; one of them having a literal triangle as a head, while the other had green scaly skin.
He would have simply ignored and regarded them as regular civilians if it weren't for his keen eye in spotting things that were hidden from him.
Jeez, even faunus look more normal than these freaks. Roman thought to himself as a frown came to his face. While he didn't like the faunus particularly that much, he had at least liked them better than these freaks of nature.
"Hey, bastard," Roman was taken out of his musings as one of them called out to him.
"And what may I do for you, kind sir," Roman gave triangle-face a fake smile.
"What you can do for us? How about giving everything you own right now," the triangle-faced man drawled in an almost delinquent kind of way that made Roman almost scoff.
"Really, robbing someone in the middle of the day, aren't you scared I might call for a hero" Roman asked with an inquisitive smirk.
The scaly man seemed to take that as a warning that he would call out right then and there, and proceeded to take out a small knife to threaten Roman with.
"Don't say a fuckin' word. Just hand over all your fucking money now and we'll be gone," he threatened more quietly than his colleague, it looks like he was at least smarter than triangle-face.
Roman only grinned as he swiftly punched the scaly teen in the face, faster than any of them could react.
"Gah! Dammit!" The scaly man drew back in surprise as he was punched, it looks like those scales protected him somewhat from his punch, but that didn't matter to Roman.
Roman dodged to the left as the scaly teen lunged at him with his knife. As the teen's body passed to the side, he proceeded to retaliate with Melodic Cudgel, hitting that man in the back and into the wall.
Before Scaly could even think of getting off the wall, Roman swept the man's feet, forcing him onto the ground in pain.
"Stay down, Scaly," Roman called out.
"Why you…!" The other teen behind Roman shouted out and proceeded to pull out a gun at him
Roman turned around and swiftly grabbed the gun in the teen's hands, drawing it away from him and to his colleague.
Bang!
"Ahh!"
Roman's brow rose in humour as the man shot the gun in a panic, resulting in him shooting his friend by accident.
Roman then proceeded to disarm the man, before uppercutting him with Melodic Cudgel, knocking him out.
Roman then turned back to Scaly, who laid on the ground holding onto his leg. It seemed the bullet had only slightly grazed his leg as there wasn't even any blood.
"Oh quit crying, lizard-face," Roman snarked as he proceeded to kick the man in the head, knocking him out as well as his face hit the wall behind him.
"Heh, just a bunch of idiots playing around with weapons that they don't know how to use," Roman joked to himself.
Roman then examined the gun in his hand. How the hell did they even get a gun? As far as he knew, guns were close to being non-existent here with the exception of the police.
Before Roman could even loot their bodies though, the brat came running back into the alley, her face filled with nervousness and worry.
"Kid. What's up?" Roman asked the girl. He hoped this wasn't just another false alarm like last time, he didn't want to deal with her false alarms again.
The little girl though didn't share his sentiment as she looked at the bodies on the ground in slight horror.
Eri proceeded to shake her small head as she tried to get her words out,
"H-hero!" She cried out.
Roman blinked twice before his eyes widened, quickly dropping the gun onto the ground.
"Shit, we need to get out of here, quickly," Roman muttered to himself; the gunshot probably got the intention of a few heroes.
Even if he knew he could beat a hero, he didn't want to risk it. It was still in the middle of the day and there were many too many other heroes walking around as well.
Roman quickly picked Eri up into his free arm as he began to run away from the opening of the alley to the other side, ignoring the brat's cry of surprise as he ran. He didn't want to stay for too long.
And only a few seconds later, he could already hear footsteps behind him,
"Hey, you! Stop right there!" Someone from behind them shouted.
Roman turned his head to see who was behind him, and thankfully it was only one hero. The only problem was, was that they were fast. Way too fucking fast!
A figure covered in white armour raced after them, not letting up in speed at all. Their speed was fast but certainly not as fast as a certain red Huntress-in-training.
"Dammit," Roman muttered to himself as he shuffled Eri in his arms, right before he threw his right hand back, Melodic Cudgel in his hand as he fired a flare behind him.
Swish!
Boom!
The figure barely dodged the attack but it was enough to slow them down a bit, the explosion slightly distracting them as well.
Dammit. Only one dust round left. Didn't expect having to use it like this.
Roman and Eri finally escaped the alleyway and onto an open street, a place Roman really didn't want to be in; there was way too much attention if he went out this way.
He really was starting to regret robbing those two idiots in the middle of the day. Back then, he could do it all he wanted to with Neo by his side, but now?
It was just way too risky, a fact Roman had learned rather quickly.
o – o – o – o – o
Iida Tensei ran through the alleyway in a hurry, looking for wherever the villain went.
The villain had surprised him with a sudden attack that blew away the ground behind him, and because of that, the villain and his partner was able to get away into the much populated streets.
Iida ran out of the alleyway, arriving onto a populated street. Quickly looked left and right of the street, eventually spotting the culprit on top of a moving truck.
As for how they got there? He didn't know, but that didn't matter right now.
He activated his quirk and sped off, quickly manoeuvring around vehicles as he chased after his targets, his quirk making manoeuvring around the vehicles very easily as he started to catch up. Around 20 metres was he finally able to see his targets.
And they were –
A teenager and a little girl?
Tensei nearly tripped as he ran, but kept his composure.
Why was there a kid and a teen on the back of the truck!? He internally screamed in his head. He knew they were his targets by how they dressed, but this was a whole other problem. He couldn't just take them out like he would do to regular villains; these kids were much younger and could possibly get hurt, or worse, die.
Iida watched as the orange-haired teen brought a cane up and aimed at him; it was the same weapon he used to shoot an explosive at him.
"!" Iida quickly dodged to the right as the flare few past him. Unfortunately though, the flare hit the ground in front of a civilian car.
Bang!
The car's front exploded with a loud bang and red light, losing control as it swerved on the street and crashed into the other vehicles beside it.
Iida quickly skid to a stop, using his quirk to make a quick stop and turn around. He ran to the car in a rush to make sure everyone was okay.
Spotting that the driver of the car was still alive, he pulled open the door and lifted her out and brought her body away from the crash site.
The flare managed to destroy the front half of the car, but it luckily didn't strike the woman.
Iida turned his head back to the truck in the distance, only to find them completely gone from the top.
"Crap…" Iida muttered.
Just what the hell happened?
o – o – o – o – o
"Guuuugh…" Roman groaned as he lied down onto his back, completely tired from all the running he did, not to mention the fact he had to carry extra baggage with him.
As for said extra baggage, they were now looking at the view from inside the carriage they were in.
Both he and Eri were both inside one of the carriages of a ferris wheel, hiding away from the cops and heroes at the moment. He had decided that losing the cops and heroes in a large crowd was the best bet they had, especially since he didn't know what quirks the heroes had.
He had scaled the fence around an amusement park and got in. And from there, they simply hid in the large crowds and rides until the heroes and cops were gone.
Roman turned his head to the side, eyeing the little brat looking down from the carriage with amazement in her eyes.
"Like the view, brat?" Roman dryly commented, his bowler hat just barely hiding his eye.
Eri nodded her head slightly.
"Well enjoy the view while you can, cause we're jumping ship again once we get back down."
Eri didn't turn back to look at him, only keeping her eyes down at the beautiful sight of the city in the distance.
The carriage then descended into silence again, letting Roman think to himself on what they would do after.
Maybe I should register us into a hotel after this… I could do with a bath. Roman thought to himself. He dreamed of the day he can once again take a proper bath rather than just jumping into the salty ocean.
As the carriage descended down to the bottom, Roman instantly ran out of the carriage, making a break away from the ferris wheel with Eri in his arms as he quickly scanned the crowd, checking if there were any nearby cops or heroes.
Roman eventually stopped running once they managed to hide behind one of the other rides.
Roman peeked his head over the ride every now and then before sighing in relief.
They were safe for now it seemed.
Roman started to chuckle to himself as he realized they were free now, his chuckle eventually turning into laughter.
"Hahaha!" Roman laughed as he let Eri down.
As for Eri, she looked like she was in relief as well.
"Hohh… we are not doing that again," Roman remarked.
He had grossly underestimated how fast the law responded here. Not to mention the fact he didn't have any henchmen to help him either with any convenient bullheads.
Eri and Roman walked out of their hiding place soon after, quickly making their way through the amusement park.
"So, kid. What do you think about the robbery?" Roman asked her. He needed to know what she thought of it, because if he was going to let her help, he needed to know whether she would always cooperate.
Roman kept on walking, but soon realized that Eri wasn't with him anymore.
"Shit – where the hell did the brat go?" Roman quickly spun on his heel as he looked around, eventually spotting the brat a few yards away from him.
"Oi, brat. Don't do that ever again, I don't want to lose you in such a crowded place," Roman berated. He had too much on his plate to deal with, much less looking for a brat in an amusement park.
Eri ignored him as she dazedly watched the food and candy on display.
"They look so delicious…" she murmured.
Roman's brow rose at what she said. Turning his head, he took a look at what she was so entranced by.
Cotton candy? Roman mused.
In front of the girl was a cotton candy stand.
Roman looked between the cotton candy stand and Eri a few times, before eventually sighing.
If he was going to have to get along with the girl, he might as well get her something to commemorate their first robbery together, even if it did fail. He didn't even get their wallets.
Roman went over to the stand and bought a cone, right before turning back and walking up to the brat, eyeing her down.
"Here," Roman said rather un-enthusiastically as he handed her the cone.
Eri looked at it in surprise, then at him, hesitant in whether she should accept it.
"I-is it for me?" She stuttered.
"Well who else do you think it's for?" Roman asked condescendingly, but never the less handed it over to her.
Eri grabbed it with both her hands and looked at it, right before looking at him.
"… Thank you…" she faintly whispered, to which Roman only clicked his tongue at.
As Eri began to eat at the cotton cloud of candy, Roman noticed there was something different about her as she began eating.
She was smiling.
"This is the first time I've ever seen you smile before, you know," Roman remarked, a smug smile growing onto his own face.
Eri blinked before she brought her hand up to her face, touching her mouth, seeing if she really was smiling.
"I'm… smiling?" She murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Yes, now come on. I plan on staying in a hotel tonight rather than an abandoned building. I haven't taken a bath in a week and I will kill anyone who gets in my way," Roman darkly joked as he turned away from her and began walking away
"W-what!?" Eri screamed in horror as she quickly followed, her smile replaced with worry and nervousness.
It looks like the brat can't take a joke. Roman mused to himself, his smile slowly turning into smirk from her reaction.
"Oh nothing, let's go!" Roman ignored her, much to the little girl's distress.
Maybe having the kid by his side wasn't so bad after all; having someone he could talk to made this world just a bit more bearable.