Monday – 5:31 PM
Ten Days until the UA Sports Festival
Ryuko focused on the hand-written scribbles.
Then slowly, methodically and suspiciously raised her eyes towards the run-down building.
"…this can't be the right place."
She wasn't the only one on the street. There were a couple of other people. An old couple out walking. A drunken businessman. A kid who'd been eyeballing her for the last three or four blocks. Other than that, the place was nearly empty. Something strange on a Friday afternoon. Something she probably should have noticed. But she didn't. She couldn't. Brows scrunched together, hair rustling in the spring breeze and goosebumps spreading up her thighs because she hadn't bothered changing out of her uniform, Ryuko lowered the scrawled address, reached for her phone, remembered Mako didn't have a cell phone and grumbled. She'd followed Mako's instructions to the letter. Hell, there was even the tree on the corner that looked like a poodle if she tilted her head in just the right way.
But the building was so worn-down and everything so dark and dreary this couldn't possibly be the right place.
The faded lettering on the old sign matched up with Mako's instructions.
Maybe she was in the right place, after all.
Ryuko didn't know how long she stood on the sidewalk, just that the punks who'd been sneaking up on her quickly retreated when she flashed her Quirk, "I guess this really is the –"
A sudden emptiness in her pocket caused her eye to twitch.
"Hey! Ugh! Let me go!"
Her fist already reared back to smash the pickpocket's nose into the back of their head, she grabbed the bastard's shirt, spun around and promptly lost any thoughts of vengeance. It was a kid. A bratty, snot-nosed kid. He couldn't be any older than six. Maybe seven. Brown hair. Brown eyes. Some cheap sandals. And her wallet, keychain and all, in his grubby little fingers like she'd caught him in the cookie jar, "I ain't your toy!" a long moment passed as she processed the juvenile pickpocket's language. And another when her wallet again found itself in his dirty fingers.
And once again, she took it back.
"I know that stupid skirt! You're from that hero prep school!" the thieving half-pint struggled, kicking air while trying, and failing, to escape, "It ain't heroic picking on innocent kids!"
"Innocent?" Ryuko kept a careful eye on the brat's hand, "That what you call pickpocketing me?"
He stuck his tongue out.
And gave her the finger.
"Alright," she hadn't wanted to do it. Hell, even thinking about it left a bad taste in her mouth, but the snot-nosed brat left her no other choice, "Let's go."
"Go!?"
The thief grunted and cursed, which accomplished absolutely nothing as she dragged him down the sidewalk, "Go where!?"
"Where do you think?" it was phrased as a rhetorical question, but from the pipsqueak's renewed panic, he knew exactly what she meant, which made everything significantly more bearable, "After all, I'm from that hero prep school, so I gotta arrest thieving punks like you."
"Screw you! I ain't breaking no laws!" unable to pry her fingers off his wrist, her prisoner resorted to grabbing everything within arm's reach – a telephone pole, a stop sign and even a chain link fence. None of which slowed her down more than a second, "Gah! How'd you know I was stealing your wallet, anyway!? My Quirk's foolproof!"
"Quirk, huh?" a semblance of a cocky smirk twisted Ryuko's lips.
That's right," seemingly proud with himself despite confessing to another crime, the half-pint tried shoving his foot up her ass only to realize his legs were shorter than her arms, "My Quirk's called Sticky Fingers! Anything I want, I get! No questions!"
She almost stopped.
Almost.
Until I came along," her free hand snapped out, catching the rock her prisoner hadn't been holding moments ago, much to his horror, "Right?"
"Yeah, until you came along, you smug, bedheaded bitch," terrified or not, the brat had a mouth on him, "Now let me go! When my big sis comes home, she's gonna show you!"
"I'm sure that sounded real tough in your head," Ryuko kept walking, "I ain't afraid of you. And I ain't afraid of your sis."
"Grr! Why – "
The pipsqueak had something rather vulgar on his mind.
But before he could say what it was, and really piss her off for stealing her wallet, a familiar brown blur violently tackled him out of her grasp.
"Mataro! You blockhead! How many times do I gotta tell you not to use your Quirk on random people you meet on the street!?" rolling head over feet down the sidewalk all the way back to the rundown apartment complex, Mako planted her knee against her little brother's back, grabbed his neck with both hands and pulled, "You got a death wish or something!?"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"This is the fifth time this month!" now she had his right arm between her knees, "What do you have to say for yourself!?"
"Forgive me! Forgive me!"
With an unconvinced huff, Mako reluctantly released her younger brother.
Who proceeded to run away, shaking his fist over his shoulder, "Screw you! I ain't got time for your heroics, dumbass!"
"Dumb, little jerk."
Uncharacteristically irritated for someone who, only a few hours earlier, spent lunch wondering where their principal bought his adorable little shoes, Mako huffed, then immediately smiled, "Sorry you had to see that! I don't know where Mataro got the idea to pickpocket anyone on the street," a branch fell out of her hair, "Anyway, it's a good thing you were his latest victim, otherwise we'd probably be finding his corpse in a back alley sometime next week."
"Err…yeah."
Not exactly shocked yet somewhat thrown out of balance by the last five minutes, Ryuko watched Mako's shitty brother peek around a corner, pull down his eyelid and throw her an insult before disappearing. Out of instinct, she pulled out her wallet and noticed one thousand yen missing, "That goddamn little…" she wanted nothing more than to chase him down and beat his ass, but forcing herself to calm down, she turned back to Mako, who was petting a small cat on the sidewalk, "So, this really where you live?"
The cat hissed when Mako tried picking it up.
"It's not fancy like those modern apartments, but home is home," strolling through the half-opened rusty gates, weeds poking between cracked concrete and pitted asphalt, Mako's expression was all smiles, "And thanks to UA's stipend, we finally managed to replace our dishwasher and get rid of the mutated rat living in the air vents. Of course, that means mom and dad barely had enough left over for this month's rent."
"Wait, wha – "
Mako's hand latched onto her wrist before she could ask what, exactly, that meant.
"Dad was really looking forward to meeting you," Ryuko found herself dragged up a flight of stairs, and then another, "But he's working late tonight, so it's just gonna be you, me and mom. Well, and Mataro, if he comes home before the truant officer tracks him down," underneath a flickering bulb casting yellow light on a black cat lounging on the bannister, one number missing with only a lightened patch of wood in the shape of a six evidence it had existed at all, stood the door to Mako's apartment.
A weathered yet sturdy wooden door installed decades before the majority of the population possessed Quirks.
"I know this was last minute," apparently working up the courage to enter, judging by the concentration in her eyes, Mako whispered, "But I'm really glad you came."
Ryuko awkwardly returned Mako's smile, "No problem."
And then the door was shoved open.
"Mom! I'm home!" kicking off her shoes before tossing her bag on the old couch missing a cushion in front of an antiquated television, Mako grabbed a broom and beat the black cat attempting to sneak through the door, "And I brought Ryuko!"
"Hey, sweety!"
Sukuyo Mankanshoku was just as friendly and warm as her daughter. Ladle in one hand, spoon in the other, a food-covered apron over a pastel pink and green dress, the Mankanshoku matriarch's welcoming smile radiated all the way from the half-kitchen, "Have you seen your brother?"
"Yeah, he tried pickpocketing Ryuko with his Quirk," drawn by the smell of food, Mako gently nudged Ryuko through the door, "But she caught him in the act."
Ryuko was confused.
"Well, I did tell him not to use his Quirk on random strangers, not that he ever listened to me," unfazed by her youngest child's criminal behavior, Sukuyo continued stirring the large pot on the stove, "Anyway, you're just in time, dear. Dinner's almost ready."
Now she was more confused.
Mako stared at the pots and pans on the stove, "Gosh, mom! How could you afford all this food?"
"With our rent, of course," Sukuyo laughed, yet Ryuko didn't find anything about that funny, "But it's worth treating your new friend to a decent meal."
Ryuko wasn't hungry.
Not at all.
"You…uh…I could…" she'd never appreciated how well-off her dad had been. Between the conferences, papers, lectures, symposiums and a dozen other things she couldn't begin to imagine, money hadn't been an issue. She wasn't rich like Yaoyorozu. Or Todoroki. But she'd never worried about paying rent. Or having enough food, "…if you want, I could pay you back for this…"
"Oh, heaven's no!" Sukuyo shook her head while flipping rice and vegetables from one pan to another, "You're our guest, Ryuko! We could never accept your money. Especially from an up-and-coming hero!"
"Don't worry about us, Ryuko," planting her butt in a chair probably scavenged from a thrift store or dumpster, Mako smiled, "We'll be fine! So have as much as you want!"
The next several minutes were a blur of sounds and colors. Ryuko didn't know what happened, just that she found herself sitting at a table with one leg missing and duct tape covering a large crack in the center. When her stomach growled, she looked at the bowl of rice, meat and vegetables Mako's mom had placed in front of her.
It was less than what she'd normally have for dinner.
Hell, it was smaller than UA's lunches.
The longer she looked at the paltry meal, cooked with love and care for her, the tighter her stomach clenched. She looked at Mako, who was devouring the food as if it were the last meal on earth, then at Mako's mom, who was the doing the same. And almost reluctantly, a bitter sourness in the back of her mouth, Ryuko forced herself to take a bite.
It was good.
It was really good.
