Guild Master here again, again.

This is the prelude with Momo's and Haru's past being revealed.

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Gamemastersden and then .com

It was another beautiful day for the city of Musutafu and Haru was relishing in the clean air and birds chirping to the fresh spring air. It wasn't often he would set his van in an upscale part of the city since there was barely a customer for him to attract, but this particular park was one he made an exception to. The neighborhood was less of a neighborhood and more of a concentration of Multi-million dollar properties that happen to be within a radius of several kilometers. The expensive and well cared for spread of greenery Haru was parked in front of was spread out to the size of a soccer stadium in terms of field coverage. It was ideal in looking over the urban downtown at the elevation it was at and the lush greenery of the local mountains to break up the horizon and offer different textures for the eye to indulge in.

Haru's first appearance to this part of the city was first met with a bit of resistance from the locals as they didn't want someone soliciting their business in an area meant for those who were taking up residence in the local area. Oddly enough all requests for his removal no matter how much influence any of the residents commanded were met with either indifference or ignorance to the food truck owner's presence. Some who saw him as less of an eyesore but held the presence of his business as an annoyance began to approach his eatery with caution and wariness. The first to bite and engage with Haru was the owner of an aerospace company and was at the park that day with his family. Haru noticed his wife dressed in an expensive summer dress and his son and daughter playing with her in the grass.

Apparently his wife wanted her husband to talk to the owner of the food truck and see if there was any way he could move his truck away from the park. The man approached Haru for polite conversation and was fully expecting to charm him into moving out of the area with his linguistic skills.

"Hello? Hi there, is this your truck?"

Haru just peered over to the man to his left and was quick to engage the well dressed and groomed individual.

"Fine day to you. If you would excuse my invasive question; but is that your family over there?"

Haru pointed to the trio still playing in the field over in the distance and the father of the children there did a flip flop with his head between looking at Haru and his family.

"Uh, yes it is. Why do you ask?"

"I just wanted to say how much it moves me to see someone of your caliber still making time for his family. Not only that but what I've seen so far tells me you make sure that you're seen as those children's father. It can't be easy to provide their needs and cater to the standards for them to recognize you're indeed the one that goes above and beyond for his own children."

That small bit of sympathy from the stranger was enough for the man to drop his guard and engage in discussion. With the bait taken Haru engaged the wealthy man in discussions of the current market where Haru threw some advice that reminded him of what his investors recommended but seemed to be much more specific and had a depth of information that made him feel like he should trust this random food truck chef rather than those he pays a hefty salary to who are supposed to be the ones to do the exact same thing this stranger was doing for free. From there they spoke about aeronautics and the current direction that the industry is taking with designs and sciences applied to those advancements. Their back and forth was so easy and enjoyable that he lost track of time and was brought out of the pleasurable discussion by his wife who had their younger son in her right arm and daughter's hand in her left.

"Honey, is everything okay? You've been over here for some time."

"Huh, oh my god! Goodness, I'm so sorry! H-how long have I been here?"

"You were here for half an hour, is this man giving you trouble?"

She eyeballed Haru with some suspicion as to why her husband was still over here for half an hour for as long as he was.

"Ah, you must be the misses! My goodness, your husband has been going nonstop in regards to who you were and let me say he has done quite the justice in recognizing the woman he has committed his love towards!"

Both the mother and the husband were caught off guard with the charm that was making this man more and more of a pleasure to speak with. Her response was the instant feelings of attraction that felt renewed by the reveal her husband was unable to contain his admiration for her even within basic conversation. His response was to be confused for a moment since the subject of conversation was not even about his wife or kids. The feeling of his wife rubbing up against his left and hiding her blush made him realize this man had made his wife smitten with him once more and did him a favor without even realizing it at first.

The family continued their enjoyment of Haru's company and when the children let their parents know they were restless due to being hungry again the food truck owner impressed even further. He spoke to both the children that made them trust him instantly and in no time at all he had promised to treat them to his special baking. The parents assumed that maybe he was after their money after all for a moment but he promised the baked goods for the family to be free just for today. Haru made it almost like a children's education show with all he was doing to keep their children entertained with all of his baking techniques. He even let them make their own pastries as he gave them a piece of dough each to mold into their own creations. ONce they went in he continued to make their children enjoy their time at the food truck and in what felt like a few short moments the pastries were done and with the light and flaky bread out he smothered his homemade jam in the right spots of each piece and presented them to the family for consumption.

Never in their lives had they tasted something so light and delicately sweet as Haru's baking. Even when they visited a world renown patisserie in France and reserved his services for a birthday event all of his cakes and desserts felt like eating concrete paste in comparison to these baked confectionaries. The day passed by so quickly and only with the tap of a shoulder by his security detail the father of the family was able to realize it was the afternoon already and the sun was amber and painting everything in a warm autumn glow. That instigating event led to word that Haru was not only welcome to the area, but to people actively doing their best to reserve his business for their own needs. Some were even bidding ridiculous amounts of money for Haru to become their own personal chefs. He turned down all offers and just kept serving the public as he did.

Haru enjoyed the sight of families enjoying his creations like those he served in the commonwealth. Kids and adults alike just enjoyed something so simple and it was all because of him. There would always be a few at the park shortly after Haru would come up and park in the same spot every time he showed up for the locals. Apparently his presence warranted a few people to hire patrols or sensors of all sorts to alert them when he arrived. By no means was he consistent with his menu, but always whether it was the family themselves or their servants; business always picked up after a certain amount of time every time he was there. Word even spread to their personal chefs and many were sent to the same truck and told to study Haru's techniques. Many appeared and seeing what was happening in that kitchen many recognized that they might be returning in the future to continue their observations in the future. Haru never stopped anybody doing what they wanted around his truck, but he was always adamant that those who came to observe wouldn't get in the way of his service.

Haru was quickly accepted into the community and was always offered something by someone there for him to become exclusively a part of their personal staff. And just like the last offer he shared his lack of interest in becoming just that and always kept an open invitation to those who wanted some of his cooking when he was there for them.

Some years after his first arrival many had given up in insisting that he become their personal chef, but none of them closed the offers they had given Haru when they did. The usuals that came to pick up several orders of whatever exotic or fanciful dishes he offered were easily identified and with his presence the park would peak in attendance and body count. Not enough to crown the place, but it felt like a park with families having a time of it and just enjoying being together. It may not have been a regular thing, but for Haru he considered it a win.

It was another day he had decided to stop by the park in a fleet of fancy and as usual he was swarmed with the usual bout of servants and security placing orders for their employers to enjoy at their leisure. The day slowed for the most part and Haru allowed himself a smoke break as he went over more emails and messages with his usual blinding speed and efficiency. He was interrupted as another few families who wanted to stop by the park had cut him a bit short but it wasn't any issue for Haru. He was quick and masterful as usual in serving the ravenous social elites and with their servings of impossibly soft and sweet serving of ice cream they all enjoyed the perfect weather in each other's company.

Haru looked out to the other families and the fun the kids were having with other kids and the friendships he was sure that would carry on well into their later years being forged now. It was just nice to be responsible for good, rather than the terrible things he had allowed from not too long ago. Haru was quick to snap out of it and return to his usual easy going mannerisms. A small voice from the outside and out of eyeshot from where he stood called to him.

"Nakamura-san, good afternoon!"

Instantly Haru knew where the voice was coming from and peeking over his serving bar he saw the young nine year old Yaoyorozu Momo bowing so respectfully and making herself known to Haru. She was by far one of the smartest and adaptable children he had the pleasure of knowing and she was always excited to see Haru whenever he managed to make an appearance near her. Haru caught Momo from outside this specific location on only a handful of occasions, but everytime her family and her were always amicable and even warm to him as he made something to satisfy the child's needs for something high in calories or sugar.

Momo's quirk was something Haru was aware of and from how bright she was he saw that it was a quirk that matched the gifted little girl just fine. Momo was quick to let Haru know she knew quite a bit and he was certain that even as adults those who were subject to her desires to compare levels of information that either she or the one she was challenging were comparing Momo would be the one to be the one to come out on top. She was rather proud of this fact and despite her genuinely respectful and genuine mannerisms of politeness she was a leg up from just being smart for her age. That is, she felt just that until she met Haru.

The first occasion they met Haru was well known amongst the community for being more than welcome by those who have met him already and her parents were never ones to judge harshly based on first appearances. The Yaoyorozu family just wanted to have a quick lunch and before they knew it they were on a first name basis in no time at all. Momo was shy as a young girl and was at first defensive and tried to hide behind her papa's leg from Haru. Haru approached her carefully and asked her all sorts of things she answered proudly with her expansive knowledge. They were quick friends and whenever she could she would say hello and want to talk with him about all sorts of subjects.

"Momo-chan! It is never a bad day when I see ya; how are things?"

Momo stood up and answered Haru with a twinkle in her eyes.

"It's been well! I got perfect scores from my tests and I was head of my class again! I have to say I'm doing a lot to make sure I'm as smart as I am, sooo…"

Her usual politeness was always nice to witness, but he could tell she had an agenda with him with the news of her success.

"Yes, yes; a double scoop dipped in cacao syrup with one pistachio and one vanilla, right?"

Momo was squeaking in excitement over her preferred version of soft serve from Haru's van. It was a little warm for that day and so one of his best sellers of late spring was his ice cream. The texture and density of his ice cream was like having artisan silk transformed into a cold dessert. There was such a soft and gentle texture and taste to his ice cream that a few owners of major dessert distributors tried over and over to get the secrets of his soft serve from him. He left them befuddled still and even when bringing perfectly preserved samples of his ice cream to their labs to reverse engineer they still couldn't figure out his process of making such a decadent product. Worst of all, any lucky sap who happened across his van when he was serving the ice cream by chance were the only ones who could taste something that went beyond perfection. Perfection was something that implied there were expectations; and his ice cream surpassed anything that people would expect out of ice cream.

Haru prepped the cone and with a swift display of skillful movement Haru had assembled the double scoop and was already coating the cone in the fudge that would insulate and preserve the ice cream underneath a silky layer of refined chocolate. The cone was ready faster than even a chain establishment could boast on their busiest day.

"Here ya are; the perfect cone for a perfect customer!"

"Yay! Thank you so much Nakamura san, I hope you have a wonderful day!"

She bowed again and took off across the still perfectly maintained grass back to her parents. Haru was still impressed that a girl as spoiled and well off as Momo was so mindful of her behavior towards others. Kids were so easily influenced by such petty things and often he would have a word against such children and even with the parents if they decided to get involved. It was hilariously often that he would have a family all on their knees in front of him and being lectured by him over proper behaviors and etiquette towards one's fellow man. Again, Momo was rather immune to such negative influences and much to Haru's amusement he thought her better off without having to worry about such petty things.

The day went on as normal and Haru continued to provide dessert for the park's patrons. Haru was done with another order when something in the distance coming in rather quickly was picked up by his ears. Two SUVs by the sound of it clocking over one hundred kilometers per hour on streets that barely warranted over forty. The massive vehicles were due any second from the farther street from where he was parked and just then two massive black vehicles matching his guess came thundering out and over the curb in front of the street leading to the park. There were few families but Haru was certain that if the park was more occupied whoever was caught wasn't a major concern for those driving.

The two SUV's came to a halt nearby the Yaoyorozu family and immediately some uniformed gentleman in armored masks exited the vehicles and one of the masked men took a canister of something and hooked it to his mask and deeply inhaled before his mask popped open by the jaw and a massive blue cloud of gas enveloped the frightened family and their security detail. There were six men in total who came out of the SUVs and they all went right into the thick plume of what smelled like sedative to Haru where he stood. In the cloud the men were shouting to one another and from what he heard Haru could guess hispanic spanish. They were trying to navigate the fog and in little time one of the masked men was lifting the daughter of the Yaoyorozu group in his right arm and all the men got back into their respective vehicles and tore out of there in record time.

This wasn't something Haru was made aware of. He was certain that whoever thought to commit an act of abduction on a wealthy family near his place of business where he was clear in communicating to the organization that he didn't even want to know about was something of concern to him. The second Momo came out of the cloud in the arms of the masked abductor; Haru leapt out the back of his van and pressed his hand flat on a part of the van opposite and lower than the more public serving area his van was usually occupied with. A line of light went back and forth and instantly a panel popped out and out on a set of guided rails a black motorcycle sitting on the rails slid out from the hidden compartment. He snatched up the helmet that was with the motorbike and slid it on in one single motion where sensors detected his head and expanded the internal cushions to grasp his head. Haru hefted the motorcycle up and with little difficulty from its resting position on the extendable rack. He revved the engine and with enough anonymity from the panicked witnesses running to safety around him he took off after the kidnappers.

The SUVs were very much lacking in speed in comparison and following the two vehicles was more of a challenge in maintaining appropriate distance than it was actually keeping up with them. The two black sport's utilities were clearly handled well as there was little in suspicious driving behavior and at one point the two vehicles split up. To anyone else they would have struggled in tailing since multiple sharp turns and making sure that possible tails wouldn't even be able to keep both cars in eyeshot without being suspiciously visible themselves were able to follow. Haru could see the miniscule details of both vehicles and knew which one grabbed the innocent girl like the two SUVs were painted in different colors altogether. Every scratch, every miniscule bend in the outer metalwork; they were far too visible for Haru to lose track of either vehicle.

The vehicle that took the girl turned into a more reclusive industrial neighborhood and soon the massive piece of black automotive work pulled into a garage that looked to be used for semi's and once in the door slid close. It was a massive building that was way wider than it had any right to being. Haru was a safe distance away from even a spotter that could have been posted up to check for tails in case one had kept up for the entire time they were trying to make a break for it. Har kept his distance and instead used his sense of hearing to see if he could catch a getaway vehicle that would more than less likely have Momo inside of it. These precautions taken were made by a team familiar with abduction work and even made it difficult for the most experienced tails to approach without lighting some kind of alarm on their side. He could guess based on the evidence so far that there was one group that fit his suspicions in terms of who it was that would operate from outside of japan and have this level of expertise for something like this.

For a few minutes there was nothing. The faint sounds of a metal gate being manually opened and the sound of a sedan moving from the opposite side of the building the SUV went into let Haru know that they were once more on the move. The weight that the car sounded like it was carrying for the make, age, and model sounded similar to the SUV so he wagered that the group migrated from one car to another and were now on their way to the actual drop off for the kidnapping. Haru wanted nothing more than to head into the building that housed the few associates to the kidnappers and spend some time to 'familiarize' himself with them, but this could risk alerting the team with Momo and he would have to find these invasive cockroaches at a later time.

Haru had to stay a good distance away and follow with just his sense of hearing for a good fifteen minutes until he felt it was safe enough to get close enough to see the car once more. A grey sedan and he could indeed see far too many passengers inside for any normal commuting vehicle in Japan. Haru felt it was close to the location of their final destination so he used the wireless function in his helmet to dial a number. A quick response and someone was already answering his call.

"Ebisawa Mobile Services, how can I assist you with your calls today?"

"I need information on any activities unsanctioned and running from or to a foreign entity that isn't our usuals. Send the information to me ASAP."

"Right away, is there anything else necessary?"

"... Have our contacts in Columbia and El Salvador sort through the data and get them to send me anything that might pertain to smuggling roughly in between fifteen and twenty people into the country. Tell them the first one to get me the correct data gets a fifty million pesos bonus."

"Right away."

"Last thing, have someone pick up my van and have it ready for me later tonight."

"Understood sir, we'll send a team immediately."

The call dropped and with that Haru kept tailing his target. There were those who felt it was easy to do as they pleased in his own house; but even worse than that, nobody has the right to just kidnap a child who wanted nothing more than to enjoy his company right in front of him. He was going to find the blood he wanted and paint the room with every drop of that same blood.

Two Hours Later

The sun was sitting low and the chase across cities and provinces finally ended in a construction project still early in its development and far removed from the bustling population of major cities. It was a developmental project that was hinted to be the first of thousands of properties that would expand out and cover the open unpopulated mountainous regions nearby. There was protest for the construction and a whole litany of legal paperwork that slowed the project, but unknown to those outside of certain circles; every single event that had taken place was intended to unfold as they did. The harsher truth was that with the public concerned for petty things like nature conservation and corporate intervention of public lands; the true reason that sites like this existed was because they existed as disposal sites for human remains, legal evidence, suspicious substances, etc. for the organization that Haru commanded with unquestionable authority.

Haru had received the information that his informants were so eager to provide and with him being much more involved with the selection process of foreign operatives all the data received was good information that all led to the same conclusion. He notified the appropriate authorities who deserved the pay bump and sorted the data to draw his conclusions.

So he was correct in guessing that the one that ran the operation wasn't someone familiar enough with Japan's underground operations and that they paid off foreigners brought in to conduct an abduction. It was likely whoever wanted to operate a kidnapping was denied from every single credible operation in Japan because of Haru's involvement with the area they wanted the kidnapping to happen in. They were clearly well off enough to hire professionals and with what Haru could gather professionals from Mexico. They spoke Spanish that fit the region and with the data he collected he saw that they were indeed from Mexico and were smuggled in through a route that made it far too easy to find the specific route they took.

So someone who was well off to pay off professionals from a foreign nation and not familiar enough with Japan's criminal enterprise to realize that they shouldn't have even done such a thing to begin with. Finally, someone who wanted the job to affect the Yaoyorozu group and from the amount of effort Haru felt that this was more than just a ransom effort from the one handing out the checks. Haru locked the mobile device and began his part in saving the child taken from earlier. He retrieved a handgun that looked to be a Glock with its box like frame and tan shell that made up every part of the exterior save for the top slide. Haru snapped the holster it was inside onto his belt and started walking towards the construction site some kilometers up the road and in the middle of nowhere.

Fifty-Two Minutes Later

Two hispanic men were sitting on a pile of expensive lumber and shooting the shit out of boredom since they were put on guard duty and all that had happened was a weird looking frog that had freaky eyes came and went after sitting on the wall for five minutes. The two members of the kidnapping were left with little to do and with nothing to occupy their time they chatted about their lives back home.

"Entonces que te dijo tu vieja acerca de ese pedo?"

"Quien sabe, sigue cagando el palo con eso. Cadavez que nos peleamos saca lo de su hermana, la neta ya me tiene hasta la madre".

They were both dressed in military garb from Mexico but the usual digital camo was flat black instead. They had their rifles leaned up next to their legs and rather than the standard model of most mexican soldiers they had G36's ready for their immediate use. One of the guards was smoking his own cigarette and was lighting one for his buddy sitting next to him.

"Vale verga, ya hablaste con sus jefes ? Los conoces de toda la vida alomejor ellos pueden convencerla".

The first drag from the guard in question began sputtering and coughing before looking at the other guard like he was an idiot.

"Quien chingados crees que le sigue picando la cresta con lo que paso? Ojala se los llevara la verga a esos rucos de una vez por todas, te aseguro que ya no tuviera que aguantar esas mamadas, que me esten echando en cara todas las veces que la he cagado. Dice que no me cojo solo porque no me alcanso".

The other guy just laughed at his buddy's expense and couldn't help but find it funny how fucked the guy was with his betrothed. His buddy just gave his friend a look of 'fuck you' and kept angrily smoking to calm his own agitated nerves.

"No mames cabron, todavia te la estas cojiendo no creo que te deje aunque te cojiste a su hermana. Cuando se te ponga pendeja hazle como yo ponte a chillar y hazle a la mamada dile que estas arrepentido y que te perdone, es mas dile que estabas pedo y no sabias lo que hacias"

The one to express his marital issues just chuckled at his friends attempts to make him feel better and took another deep drag of the cigarette he got from him.

"Andale pues, voy a echar una firma, ponte trucha cabron ahorita regreso".

The foreign mercenary grabbed his rifle and headed outside to find a bit of brush to urinate in. His buddy threw the bird to his back and just sat there waiting for him to return so that they could keep talking about the shit back home that bothers them. It was a minute or so and he felt that maybe it was a long piss or that he went out further cause he was feeling a bit shy. Three minutes later he was feeling that this was taking a while for just a piss. He tried to justify maybe that it turned into a shit, but he knew nobody ate anything since they landed in Japan. That was over twenty hours ago.

At the five minute mark he was feeling off about the amount of time his friend took and decided to follow his buddy into the darkness. He not only gripped his rifle by the handle but checked if the first round was chambered. It was. He was cautious and went into the dusk with caution in his heart.

"Miguel? Que pedo wey? Ontas?

No response. He inched out further into the darkness and kept an open mind on the situation. For all he knew his friend probably just went out too far or was caught by some beat cop and was already smooth talking his way out. Worst case scenario he got bit on the dick by some freaky ass foreign snake and was dealing with a venom filled penis.

"Migue-"

Out of the shade of a tree he was passing, a hand snatched him by the jaw and yanked him behind the cover of the forest that he was eyeballing for the presence of his friend. The amount of strength in the grip was startling as he had no way of even getting footing under him to try and get his bearing. He was thrown against a tree hard enough for quite a few leaves to come loose from the branches. He was seeing stars and on his ass underneath the tree before a hand covered his mouth again and the sensation of a knife burying itself into his knee and into his joint left him screaming in agony. None of his screams could have reached anybody who would save him as the muffle that covered his mouth kept the noise level down and his presence undetectable.

"A Miguel ya se lo llevo la verga cabron y tu sigues si no me dices lo que quiero oir".

He looked up at the man who had him at his mercy and saw eyes so soulless the devil himself would have felt a chill from how empty they were.

"Cuantos de ustedes son? Donde tienen a la victima ? Quien esta al mando y donde esta? Quien los contrato para venir a japon? Que carajos estan haciendo sicarios en japon?"

The most basic information Haru considered to be essential and with the interrogation underway he looked into his prisoner's eyes and waited for a response. The willingness to barter for their life was still absent and instead there was a defiance to protect his comrades that was still present in his eyes. Haru didn't even hesitate to drag the knife down and cut the joint loose even further. Like cutting into an apple Haru rotated the knife and blood gushed from the open wound. The torture victim was only able to scream into the hand that still kept him silent to anybody else who could save him.

" Me vale madres que tu novio te esta esperando para que se la mames, Si no me contestas te vas a morir en este lugar olvidado por dios tan lejos de tu hogar. Si no respondes esto te dolera...mucho"

Still there was no desire to answer. He was used to all sorts of fucked up shit back home and was even a part of some of that shit. If some foreign pendejo wanted to get his rocks off by killing him, he would accept whatever happened. His conscience was clear with his decision and in his eyes there was no give in his resistance. He relaxed into Haru's grip and it was made clear to him there was no point in continuing this.

"...Esta bien, arde en el infierno maldito secuestrador."

Haru sank the folding knife into the left lung of the prisoner in his grasp and left the man to drown in his own blood. Whatever thoughts that ran through the sicario's head meant nothing to Haru; he needed to save Momo and these kidnappers were nothing but meat for the grinder in his eyes.

Inside of the abandoned construction site there were six men huddled up next to each other and watching the screen of a large smartphone and looking at a live feed of the football qualifiers for nationals for a team they all supported. It was a critical part of the game and with anticipation mounting the ball sailed across the field from one team member to another. The ball was closer and closer to the goal and the six guards distracted by the event could barely contain their excitement as the goal to basically guarantee their win with so little time left on the clock was becoming a reality right before them. Their focus on the sports even made it far too easy for someone to just walk in and hide in the shadows and wait for their moment to strike.

The seconds counted down and as the ball sailed across the air and the announcer called it they all jumped and leapt for joy as the victory to make their team known was all but guaranteed and left them with the knowledge the game was nothing but a clean win. They all leapt and hugged one another and in their celebration they were ignorant of the hidden presence getting closer and closer to them. They were too far from home for comfort and this victory lent them the comfort that they needed to feel whole once again. Near the end of the celebration they all began to come down from their high and one of them began speaking in light of recent events.

"Puta madre ! Vamos a partirles su madre a todos! Tengo razon ? Eh-"

He looked back up and the sensation of warm blood spraying on his face cut him off. In front of him; half the head of his fellow squad member was missing and from the stump the tongue was wagging and searching for the missing roof it needed to remain calm. The rest of the group was made aware of the gruesome murder far to late as two other members were assaulted from the back. Some kind of assailant had buried his hands into the necks of two more members of their mercenary group and had severed the spine from the neck and had two limp corpses dangling from his hands. Some faggot with a bleach job had killed three of his squad mates and now it was registering how pissed he was.

It was just another set of dead bodies as Haru yanked his hands free from in between the vertebrae of his last two victims. The reactions of the other three in the room were slow since they were coming down from a positive emotional high. Haru was well aware that this was all to save the life of a young girl kidnapped from her family and from what he saw there was a different play possible in his head. So many guards on the bottom floor indicated to him that they were more focused in making sure that there was security for themselves and were confident that the girl they kidnapped was well hidden nearby. So a focus on their own safety over the hostage was enough of a flag to tell him that they didn't really care for the hostage, but are required to keep her alive for some reason. Her safety was never a concern because by the time they were to negotiate a trade they would have gotten their paycheck and be back home in Mexico without anyone being the wiser. In conclusion, they were here to drag out the situation for as long as possible and psychologically torture the Yaoyorozu family for however long they could. Before he could continue his line of thinking, Haru needed to take care of the rest of these guys.

The next one to die was killed with a punch that shattered and sent the leftover bits of his head into the wall. The first one to see his comrades die was the one to go in such a brutal manner. The last two were behind Haru and to the best of their abilities they tried to react and try to defend themselves. Haru was fast enough to clench the closer of the two and trap one of the two into a tight lock with one arm. The other one had his rifle in his hand at the time and was raising it to aim it at the newest threat. The muzzle of his rifle couldn't climb fast enough before Haru had his own gun out, aimed at the man's head. Two quick trigger pulls and it was over for him.

Six Minutes and Twenty Three Seconds Earlier

"Como estamos? Ya esta todo listo?"

The leader of this mercenary group was sitting in front of a laptop and hooked up to the laptop was another computer rerouting the signal and monitoring the traffic that the signal was going through to guarantee that the call they were making was untraceable.

" Todo bien, leas tomaran horas para atar los cabos, solo tenemos que hablar con ellos una fraccion de ese tiempo."

The leader felt confident in the competency of the tech savvy member of the group and was put at ease of their situation in being flown out to Japan. The job was something that was a bit of an open contract and any other day of the week he would have turned it down like everyone else was doing. Nobody operated in japan and for a very good reason. So in his greedy wisdom he saw it less of a red flag and more of an opportunity for profit. His team was flexible and nobody seemed to mind that they were going to a foreign country for a simple grab job. The instructions were rather specific but it looked to be that the client really didn't want the kid to be returned under any circumstance. Something so brutally callused and time consuming was not usual in the market but by no means foreign. Sometimes a standoff is all the client needed and whether or not the hostage lived or died was of no consequence for them. Their death was sometimes even necessary in rare cases.

When the job was brought up with his men, nobody had any reservations about letting a little girl of nine die with the price tag being paid out being their sole focus; they agreed to undertake the job and fly out to kidnap this girl. Very little was the amount of problems they ran into. A case or two of jetlag later and everything so far was nothing less than effortless. Getting the location of their hideouts, the procurement of vehicles, all of their belongings being shipped in; all of it was seamless and didn't give them the usual problems they dealt with when going through customs. He felt good about this job and if it all went right they would all be set up for life.

" Ya esta, prepara la llamada ya mero empezamos y no quiero que nada salga mal."

This was the first call in many that would send the family they had kidnapped their daughter from into a chicken race against an unwinnable opponent. They had to drag this family along for as long as a ride as possible and they would get their payday.

"Ya esta jefe...ya estamos conectados y comenzamos en tres dos uno..."

He gestured to his boss and the ransom call was connected.

" Hola como estan . Para ahorrar tiempo sere breve con todos los que se encuentran con ustedes. Lo que queremos es algo que el dinero no puede compensar..."

" ...entonces que quieren? Porfavor , lo que sea; solo quiero a mi hija de vuelta"

The translator for the family relayed the sentiments of what was being said rather well and from there the boss knew things were going exactly as planned.

"...Como el gobierno no reconoce el estado laboral que atormenta a sus ciudadanos, nosotros seremos los que-"

All of what he was reciting was bullshit and everyone who knew better was well aware of the scam that was going on. It was all a script sent by his employer and it was all meant to be white noise to be parroted into random calls to keep this family hung up on the safety of their kidnapped daughter. A daughter that might as well be dead now rather than whatever torture she would endure until later. The manifesto was read off as worth just as much as the cheap paper it was printed on as the leader of the group of foreign mercenaries kept reading. The script was read until something finally interrupted his disingenuous recital of some random crap writing.

"... Since the government shall not recognize the state of labor that torment's it's citizens, we shall be the ones-"

In that instance the sound of what sounded like two gunshots cut him off and made everyone turn to the doorway leading to the noise. They all could confirm what was heard and shortly after they got up more gunshots were heard. Quite a few came from the rifles the men were provided with but occasionally another gunshot distinctly would follow up and end the rapid sound of auto fire from their men. The men looking at one another looked to each other and nodded that there was something that was in need of their full attention.

"...tendremos que continuar esta charla en otro tiempo".

He tapped the space bar and with their attention turned to the front exit of the concrete room they were in they kept vigilant as the sounds of fighting and gunfire crept closer and closer to where they were. At first it sounded to be from the bottom level, then the second floor. The sounds echoing to them wasn't consistent with a pure firefight either. Often the sounds of screaming or gagging would follow one after another. They couldn't give up the advantage they had with the entry point covered already and were helpless to just listen to the symphony of death that their men were a part of. Closer and closer the sound became until the sounds of a man being strangled right outside of their door was there until it faded into nothing. A body dropped in front of the open entrance for everyone inside to see. A voice speaking perfect Mexican Spanish followed shortly after.

"Hola amigos, parece que los acontesimientos de esta noche se han puesto un tanto desagradables. Quiero que me entiendan cuando les digo que lo que queda de esta pandilla de mercenarios de pacotilla se les permitira volver a casa vivos si simplemente siguen este consejo, larguense de este pais y olviden todo lo sucedido aqui. Esta noche podra desaparecer para ustedes si simplemente..."

"Quien vergas te crees, piensas que nos vamos a largar sin antes desollarte vivo puta?! Antes muertos que nos hagas ver como panochas , puto!"

A pregnant silence before it was broken by the same voice that offered the remaining members amnesty out of the country.

"...Supongo que todos ustedes prefieren arder en el infierno. Esta bien. Discrutare de ver sus cadaveres pudriendose en el piso."

It was enough of a signal for the leader of the group to activate his quirk and send black wired shooting out of his body. So many of the wires sank into the concrete wall in front of him. Retracting these very same wires ripped the entire wall that led directly outside through the cutout of a door leading to the exterior balcony. The space was cleared of all obstruction and what they found in the absence of the wall was just the same corpse that was already lying there from the start. The panic hadn't even set in when they all felt the presence of something dangerous behind them. This wasn't an angry or passionate anger that they felt; it was like something that was happy it could spill their guts. This wasn't an exercise in controlling an urge; they were a treat for this thing to enjoy more than anything.

Haru was behind all three of the men left in this singular room. They were so focused on where his voice was coming from that they neglected everything else and let him slip in unnoticed from the back entrance and just watched as they tried to defend themselves. It was so painfully futal that he couldn't even justify dragging out their deaths. Besides, he wanted to get Momo out of whatever fresh hell she was forced into now rather than later.

The amount of time to register death after a fatal blow is a rather impressive amount of time. Some have gone instantly while others have been able to go through their entire daily routines before dying. A head completely smashed to bits was something that few could even operate with as Haru killed the leader first with a fist so quick it showered the floor in front of him in a tapestry of blood and gore; the odd piece of bone added a pop of white against the dank and drab colors already there. The other two in the room were no better off as their heads were blown to pieces in a similar fashion. The speed and force of Haru's swings left his hands smoking with the friction of the air alone.

All the headless ses hit the floor and blood pooled from out of the neck stumps that were left behind from his rather quick attempts of beheading. Tasking in things from around him he saw that the system that they had used to send in the ransom call was intact and was functional for him to use. There would be time for that later as now he needed to find Momo in this concrete maze of incomplete construction work. At the bottom floor Haru was in the emergency stairwell and with some certainty he was confident that whoever sent these sicario to this disposal site had at least seen the level two plans where the hidden passages were visible from the entry point at the emergency exits. More and more the irresponsible mistakes of his executive members became less tolerable with simple things like this becoming known to others outside of those he saw necessary. In a section of concrete that looked to be slid open like a swinging door Haru couldn't contain his immediate anger and ripped the concrete slab from it's hinge and went in to look for the missing Yaoyorozu.

Haru had a flashlight from his phone out in the pitch black and one by one he scanned the individual cells that had preinstalled steel bar doors for the containment of other disposal subjects. Any low level management was fully aware of hidden compartments such as this that would allow them to hold any unruly subject that were deemed necessary for disposal. This information was one of the more well known secrets and wasn't exactly something that was exclusive for many of the more veteran members. The fact that this information was available to foreign mercenaries to do with as they pleased was what concerned Haru. Another problem to add to the laundry list. I just didn't end for him.

Close to the end of the makeshift prison he could sense the warmth of a small adolescent body struggling to keep itself warm in this isolated dungeon. He went straight to the last cell and inside the cement cell he saw the missing Momo with her hands and feet bound and a blindfold over her eyes.

"Momo! Momo, it's okay. I'm coming in, okay?"

Haru reassured the scared child of his presence before bracing his hand against the wall and gripping the cell door in the other. With a quick tug the concrete that wrapped around the steel latch keeping the cell door shut cracked and gave away under his strength. The young girl still bound and blinded inside still flinched at the sound and was frightened even further as Haru approached the innocent prisoner.

"No, no; it's okay. See? It's me. It's Nakamura. I'm gonna get you out of here, okay?"

Haru immediately removed Momo's blindfold and snapped the zip tie bands that kept her limbs bound. He was sure to be gentle with the removal of her restraints and it barely registered to her with how gentle he was.

"...N-Naka… Nakamura?"

Her eyes focused and Haru felt some joy in seeing Momo still unharmed to a certain extent.

"That's right, it's me. It's the guy who keeps beating you at quizzes."

He reminded her of their usual interactions of asking basic trivia questions to each other that would usually end with Haru winning right at the end with a single question that would stump the girl and no matter how many times she studied there would just be another question to stump her after that. Something so innocent and juvenile helped to pull the child from the defensive withdrawal they were forced into and see that they were about to be saved.

"N… N-Nakamura…"

Momo wanted to cry and without reserve she wept into Haru's shoulder with wild abandon. He just let her have a good cry as she let her stress and fear out. For about five minutes he allowed the child to lean into her release of intense emotions before gently taking his jacket off and draping it over her shivering body. All she had on were tennis shoes, a red skirt. And a long sleeve button up shirt. The temperature inside this lightless holding cell was close to freezing and she's been down here by herself for some time. The warmth from Haru's jacket helped to keep the biting cold away from her. They couldn't stay here for too long so Haru gently pushed Momo up and spoke softly as he faced her. Her eyes and nose were rosy and her lips were pale from being down in the darkness for a while.

"Kiddo, listen to me and listen to me good. I'm gonna move us somewhere else, but while we're moving I need you to promise me something okay?"

Momo was confused about his sudden request but nodded while wiping her tears.

"I need you to close your eyes until I say you can open them, okay? Can you promise me this?"

Haru stuck out his right pinky to Momo and got her to play along with the rather childish gesture. Her own pinky dwarfed in size compared to Haru's as she and him locked their fingers together and she pinky swore to Haru.

"Atta girl. Okay, I gotta move us now, alright?"

His cell phone light was still on as he picked it back up. Momo covered her eyes with both of her palms shielding each respective eye. Haru lifted the child in a bridal carry and made sure that his jacket draped over her head and was wrapped like a blinder for the child. Her face was clear but she wouldn't be able to see too much of her surroundings. Even with a promise made he didn't want to risk her seeing anything else. He retreated back out but had one last bot of business to attend to. He reentered the massive partially completed construction project to retrieve the computer and hardware the kidnappers were using for their voice call. Haru saw that there had been an online call that had ended before he killed the last of the sicario, but wanting to find Momo first he kept it in the back of his mind. Now with her safe he was gentle in cradling the child as to not shake her up and keep her calm.

Past rooms and hallways that were littered in corpses and bullet holes; Haru snuck past pools of blood that were coming from the gunshot wounds made with his own gun. Over the edge of some of the walkways on the higher floors about three bodies were hanging by the neck by some kind of rope or cord that Haru found or snatched off one of the hanging corpses themselves. Finally at the floor he wanted he found the setup still intact as well as the three headless bodies of the men he killed. For Momo it was odd that she was being rescued by the guy who was known for making her favorite foods whenever she went to the park and he was there. This was still puzzling for the nine year old, but she felt better as with her sense of sight being temporarily disabled her other senses picked up the slack. Haru felt sturdy and his heartbeat felt strong as she put her ear up to his chest. His breathing was deep and even and it felt like he knew what he was doing in getting her to safety. Then the smell of his clothes was lightly sweet rather than odorous and manly like her father smelled when he would hug her. There was another smell that was very slight and was barely detectable. Something sour and metallic; like the jar of coins she had in her room. She thought nothing of it as she kept her eyes shut.

"I'm gonna put you down for a sec, ok? But keep your eyes closed. I'll only be a second."

Momo nodded with her hands still blinding her. He patted her on the head and began his work in grabbing the essentials. He shut the laptop and unplugged it easily enough. With the desktop he opened his knife and forgoing unscrewing it just sank the knife into the screws on the back and severed them by force. He removed the panel and inside he pushed away the tangle of wires and cables until he found what he wanted. He removed the ram sticks snapped in place as well as the SSD plugged in and sitting loosely at the bottom of the case. Once done he pocketed the memory drives and grasped the laptop in his left hand. He whipped his phone back out and dialed another number. The call was already applied to when the phone touched his ear.

"Kuruki Textiles Help Desk, how may I direct your call?"

"I'm sending in some files and information to the tech department. I want a report of what they found before the end of tonight. Also I need a trash collection at site MU15 right away."

"Right away, is there anything else I can assist you with tonight?"

"... Yeah, see what we have on this specific site as well. Some foreign mercenaries got a hold of level A information about the site and I want to know who it is that leaked it, intentional or not. Find them and take care of them."

"Yes sir, right away."

Haru kept his voice low and barely over the volume of a whisper. He turned back around and saw Momo still waiting patiently with eyes covered for him to finish his call. Thankfully it seemed that she respects boundaries enough to let Haru have his conversation in peace. Again, far too polite of someone her age.

"Alright, I'm done here. We gotta get out of here."

He lifted her up once more and kept the laptop in his left hand; balancing her on the flat surface of the bottom with little difficulty. They passed the same bodies and were out and heading down the dark highway road in no time. He checked around and saw that this should be safe enough for Momo to open her eyes.

"Okay, you can open your eyes."

Momo had to let her eyes adjust after keeping them so diligently closed. She rubbed them and saw Haru's face adorned with its usual mass of facial hair protruding from his jaw. She just stared and kept making sure it was him and that she was free from that nightmare because of him. She suddenly felt exhausted and began to nod off a bit, but she still wanted to make sure of something.

"Nakamura-san?"

"Just call me Haru. We're friends, right?"

He peeked out of the corner of his eye down at her and gave her a smile that puffed up his beard ever so slightly. She thought that it was kinda cute, like a shiba inu or something.

"Uh, okay… H-haru-san."

"Yes, Momo-san?"

"Um… Can I go home? I wanna see my mommy and daddy…"

Haru took a deep sigh and looked slightly somber before answering the little girl still in his arms.

"Unfortunately, not right now. The people who were kidnapping you did it in the middle of the day and out in the open. If you go back now they'll just try again, same as before."

That wasn't the answer she was looking for and made her have to contest with her tears once more. Before she could, Haru gave her more information to shed some light on the subject.

"If you give me some time, I can find the people who want to kidnap you and bring them down. Don't worry, I'll make sure you'll see your family again at home as soon as I can."

Momo remembered the heroine group (plus one man) Pussycats and could recall how amazing they were in saving so many people from natural disasters and fighting off all sorts of scary villains. Right now, all of that paled in comparison as she watched Haru swear her safety and return home with everything he had. It was the moment she realized that the title of hero in today's society isn't just about the license or feats of strength; but doing the right thing and going above and beyond because you care. Haru was her number one hero, and it would be like that for a while.

"Alright we're here."

Momo was finally let down and with the cold still being nippy she huddled inside the oversized outerwear she was still draped in. Haru waded into the bushes slightly and returned with a rather slick looking black motorcycle. Like something she saw in a racing magazine at one of her fathers friends' office lobby. Haru hiked the bike off the grass and onto the road. He got on and gestured Momo closer. Now she was feeling slightly antsy about getting on the two wheeler. She knew these things go fast and that it would be catastrophic for both herself and Haru if they were to fall off while going fast. She was fidgeting a bit where she stood and Haru spoke up to put her at ease.

"It's alright kiddo. I'll make sure you don't fall off; also you'll be wearing the helmet, just in case."

Her eyes widened imagining Haru riding around without anything protecting his head and that scared her even more. She shook her head but Haru kept firm on the decision.

"If anything happens while I'm watching over you, that's on me. By wearing the helmet you're making me feel that much safer. So it's okay, I won't crash."

More hesitation still, but eventually she accepted and approached the motorbike. Before lifting her on the seat behind him he made sure to zip up momo inside his jacket. Her hands were swallowed by the sleeves and the jacket even managed to go lower than her skirt. He then placed the helmet that looked five times too big for her and once inside he pressed a switch underneath the face shield. Immediately the cushions filled up and the helmet sat snug and comfortably on Momo's head. He even tapped his knuckle on the top twice and got her to giggle a bit. Once shielded from the cold and wind he hefted her up behind and sat her so that she could grasp his waste.

"Okay, are you comfortable?"

She nodded yes and shut her eyes closed in anticipation. On his back he felt the helmet shift in a nodding motion. With consent Haru turned the ignition and started the bike. He gently kicked off the curb and slowly came up to speed for the highway. Haru was a little further down the long stretch of freeway when he fished out his phone to make a call. Even with winds whipping around the riding duo, Haru wasn't one to skimp on tech specs and got something that could isolate speech without the background noise. He dialed another number and just as usual, someone picked up.

"Ebisawa Mobile Services, how can I be of service?"

"Send me the location of my van, I'm going for a pickup."

"Understood."

He hung up and slipped the phone back into his pocket. For momo this whole riding affair wasn't very pleasant. The wind was too strong and was loud, her arms were starting to get tired. And the parts that weren't covered by the jacket, mainly her legs, were freezing and being stung by the wind. Her eyes were sore from clenching them shut and she really just wanted a break to let her eyes stop aching. It got to the point where it felt like they were about to cramp and so she began to crack them open to stretch out her lids. When she did peek out she saw something she genuinely didn't expect. The cities were farther away and right now they were taking a mountain pass to return to Musutafu. The air was cleaner than in the valley the city sat in and so the night sky was completely saturated with more stars than she had ever seen in her life. Not only was starlight glistening and plentiful, but the subtle blues, greens, and purples that swirled and etched the space above was like a collage of space dust and liquid galaxies all combining onto one canvas. The speed they were at only helped her to feel as if she was riding through the universe on the back of a winged pegasus. She was still feeling a little anxious, but instead of being repulsed by it she embraced it and she felt excited for being here and seeing something she never had before.

They eventually got back to the city and with directions sent to him over his mobile they pulled into what looked to be a luxury dealership and approached the service drive. Haru slowed and came to a stop and helped momo dismount from her spot on the seat. There was quite the wind chill during their ride and so she had to shake out her legs a bit to get the feeling back in them. From inside the building through the glass front a man sitting in an office that was elevated high off the floor and in a glass box itself caught the sight of Haru and Momo. He clearly was either the owner or general manager and still he leapt up from his desk and made a mad scramble down the stairs and passed his other bewildered late night employees. He burst out the door and quickly tried to straighten his appearance from his short sprint.

"Nakamura-san! They told me you would be back in any minute for your vehicle! I'm so sorry I wasn't out here to see you, I had lost track of time and by no means is that an excuse. I only hope that-"

"It's fine. I'm just here to pick up my van and be on my way. I'm rather short on time so if you could?"

Without missing a beat the well groomed and dressed man snapped his fingers to which several porters nearby in immaculate white uniforms came and lined up shoulder to shoulder next to them.

"Please locate the vehicle located in the reserved VIP space. It will be a black Volkswagen van. When I say that the care of this van is the highest priority of the dealership, I mean it's the highest priority of the entire dealership."

A serious and sharp glare to the lined up laborers sent a shiver down their spines.

"Am I clear?"

"Yes Sir!"

With that they were on their way to retrieve Haru's van. The man then noticed Momo and how she was still just kinda peering at him from behind Haru's leg. He clearly knew how to handle children as he knelt down closer to her eye level and spoke softer than what he was at earlier.

"Hello there! Well, it looks like you've had quite a night and need something warm to drink. Would you like some artisanal hot chocolate from our cafe?"

Momo's eyes lit up at the prospect of having hot chocolate after such a long and cold ride. She peeked up at Haru for permission and he gave her a small nod to let her get something soothing after being in the cold.

"If you could actually keep an eye on her while I take care of something in my van, I'd appreciate it. It will just be a few minutes."

Momo didn't like the idea of being separated from Haru at all and let him know with a few tugs on his pant leg. He smiled and knelt down to speak to her.

"It's alright. I'll be right out here in my van if you ever feel the need to come see me. I just need to take care of something and you really do deserve some nice hot coco. Don't worry, he'll make sure nothing bad happens to you and like I said before; I'll be right out here until we leave, okay?"

That cup of hot coco was sounding more tempting as the seconds ticked away. Her desires eventually won out and she nodded and took the hand of the seemingly nice gentleman who guided her to their premium cafe and had the barista use the top shelf imports for the child. Haru could drop the smile a bit and turned back around the porters returned with his van fully detailed and shining like new. The one driving got out with shoe covers and white fabric gloves and gave the keys back to Haru and all of them bowed as they did so.

"Actually, if you could do one more thing for me."

They all stood to attention as he came up next to the drivers side panel and placed his hand on the mirror clean surface. A line of light scanned under his palm and the rack that had his motorcycle slid out. They were all impressed by the display as Haru removed his hand and left a handprint of the fresh wax.

"I need my motorcycle quickly detailed and placed onto this rack, as well as the helmet. If you could all take care of that for me I would appreciate it."

Nobody hesitated and bowed in agreement to the request. Haru went up to the bike to first retrieve the laptop from earlier. He locked the trunk on the back seat shut after getting his hands on the tech. He tossed the motorbike keys to one of them and they all got to work in revitalizing the motorbike. Haru was now left alone once again and was able to fish out the two RAM sticks and solid state out of his left pocket. He unlocked the back door and shut it behind him. The latch was down and not back inside his truck he got to work on the memory storage units. He unlatched a seat from a cabinet and locked the cushion into place for him to sit. He opened his spice drawers and with a touch of the bottom panel it slid over and revealed a laptop and several other accessories for the laptop. He pulled out the foldable slab of flawless black glass and opened it to a desktop. He grasped what looked like a bubble of some kinda gel glued to the top of a black brick of solid steel. He pushed a switch on the side of the black brick and an outlet came out for him to plug into the computer. He balanced the laptop on one leg as he got to sticking in the storage hardware he pulled from the sciario's computer. The contact pins on the RAM sticks sank into the blob and settled there. Much like the RAM he stuck the socket of the drive into the gel and in no time the pseudo gelatin softened and adhered to the inside of the input.

It was the laptops turn and with another push of a button a cable with a small amount of the same gel on top of the block came out where it was promptly inserted into the usb port. The laptop whirred alive as the computer was being accessed by his own system. The memory from the desktop were being opened as well and after letting the information load in he went through a perfect copy of the computers the kidnappers had used in their operations. There was some information that he could look over now but more than that there was the matter of the ransom call he had probably interrupted when he ambushed them all. He looked inside the IP lof and with minimal effort he found the system they were contacting. It was addressed to the Yaoyorozu private estate.

He assumed that the authorities were still over there trying to make heads or tails about why the kidnappers hung up on their own ransom call and it had been some time since the interruption. Before reopening the line he sent some messages and emails out to get some additional information about the measures the family were taking to get their daughter back. One email responded with the information on the officers assigned to the case and who were there at the estate right this second; as well as which ones were on the payroll and who weren't. There were significantly more cops he had an influence on more than those he had yet to touch. Another message back about recorded evidence found in the police investigation. It was significantly less than what he already knew but it would help him stay on the same page as the family and keep him from regurgitating redundant information. More and more information here and there and with enough info at his disposal he decided to make the call.

At the Yaoyorozu Estate

"Then what can we do right now?! Isn't there a sort of, I dunno, reverse hack you could do?"

"Mr Yaoyorozu, please refrain from losing your temper. We are doing all we can to get more information."

"Don't you see how much this is taking out of me already!? My daughter was snatched in broad daylight and you're telling me to not lose my-"

"Honey? Please, losing our sense of clarity now won't help solve things. I know how you feel; but the best we can do is to allow the police to do what is necessary."

He was still fuming and stomped out of the room to get some air. His wife felt for her husband and knew how horrible he must feel to have their child taken from them by force. Her daughter was everything to this family, and now it seems that their positions in society and immense wealth have only served to invite this terrible misfortune upon them.

"I'm hoping you could understand where he's coming from. This whole affair has left him feeling vulnerable and all he can do right now is act defensively at anyone close enough to hear."

A tilt of the hat and the officer nodded in understanding.

"It's no issue ma'am. We know that all of this is often something that makes people act out since most of the matter is left up to us. I hope you can trust us when we say we are doing everything we can to reunite you and your husband with your daughter as fast as humanly possible."

"... Thank you, that means a lot…"

Having said her peace, the officer turned around and left to meet up with her fellow officers in the husband's office. There were over twenty officers in total scrubbing through information on the whereabouts of the kidnappers as well as sifting through mountains of records and finances as to who would hire such brazen and experienced criminals from a foreign country for one kidnapping. There was something off about the speech in the head investigator's eyes and he felt that it wasn't really why the yaoyorozu's only daughter was taken and held for what seemed to be ransom. He was craving beer like crazy and worst yet before they could get anymore info from the first call the kidnappers sent in they suddenly hung up on the family. It definitely didn't sound like that was all they had to say and the pause they took as well as the sound of the speaker's head turning to another direction made it obvious to him that they were interrupted and had every intention to continue their melodramatic monologue.

But that was over an hour ago and still nothing. He had less to go on and the longer they sat around with so little to go off of his fuze was just burning with no cannonball in the chamber. He was feeling cagey in the crowded office and wanted to get some space outside. He tapped another shoulder in the room and motioned his box of cigarettes to the door telling them he was going out for a cigarette. They acknowledged and outside in the cold darkness he lit up and took a deep drag. The investigator emptied his head of all the random bits and pieces jingling around in there and just enjoyed the buzz of his nicotine. Tension from the past hour was finally melting ever so slightly and just as quickly disappeared when another officer came rushing out the front door insearch of him.

"Sir, you're gonna want to come back upstairs!"

A bit surprised from the sudden jump scare he snuffed the stick and followed his detective back up into the study. Everyone in the office got into position and the two Yaoyorozu were seated on the couch with a laptop in front of them. The reason everyone was in a mad shuffle was because the call they were waiting for was finally here. On the screen an incoming call notification for the chat request was going. The room started to go silent and the translator was ready. The officer on the tap signaled down from three and at the signal the husband hit the spacebar and opened up the call. It caught quite a few of the people in the room off guard when instead of a dead camera feed or modulated voice coming in; a man with white hair and a beard stood in front of the camera with his arms crossed and what looked to be a… Was that a kitchen? Mr Yaoyorozu and his wife immediately recognized him and could barely contain their shock.

"... You… You're-"

"Before you start throwing around accusations of betrayal or predatory stalking, I do want to let you know your daughter is free from captivity and is alive and well. Both physically and mentally."

Now who the fuck was this? He wasn't mentioned in any of the reports and there was nothing that indicated that a different party was involved in any way. Again the investigator felt a headache coming on as now he was put into a new ball game in which he didn't know which side was which.

"Where is she?! I swear to god if you touch her I'll be the one to-"

"You'll be the one to what, ? Rain down hellfire? Ash and brimstone, and all that nonsense? If I recall right now you're sitting in a room with twenty four-or-so officers of the highly esteemed task force and you still can't figure out which region your daughter was taken to."

That knocked the fight right out of the multi-billionaire. He collapsed back down on the couch where his wife tried to check up on her husband.

"Stop with the hell hath no fury act and just listen to what I have to say, understand? With that out of the way, I just wanted to lay it out there that your daughter is safe and well. That was the first thing on the list."

"But my daughter, when can I see her?"

The mother asked her question and it seems with a more level head she was able to get responses her husband couldn't.

"I'll set up a chat where you can speak to her and see her later tonight."

The mother felt the relief of so much stress off of her worn down spirit. She tried to contain her crying but was struggling, so her husband wrapped his arms around her to console her.

"Now, if I may ask the two of you to leave the room temporarily as I speak with the officers in the room; I believe there is much to discuss in what I found that you lack."

The Investigator was now intrigued and was rather interested in what this stranger had to say to him.

"Wait, no. We want to know-"

"Mr. Yaoyorozu. We will take it from here. If you really wish to know more at a later time I will disclose with you what I can."

Again the father was so helpless and felt rather useless in the whole grand scheme of things. All he has managed to do so far is lose his temper and get berated by Haru over an online chat about HIS daughter. He certainly needed a drink now more than ever. He exited his office with his wife and they both went down to the kitchen for some refreshments. Now it was the investigator's turn and with the now vacant seating he took the stand in front of the camera.

"My name is Uchihara Iba and I'm the lead investigator for the case of the missing daughter of the Yaoyorozu family. What business do you have to discuss with me?"

"Not just you, but yes."

Okay, that line was odd, but he ignored it for now.

"So far I'm guessing the amount of information you have on the case is equal to 'they are Mexican' and… No, that's about it. You aren't getting anywhere anytime soon, it would've taken you weeks to get half the information I have."

It was one thing working with what was basically a second kidnapper; being insulted and taunted like this was just rock salt on the wound.

"Listen here, you prick! I don't give a shit if you're jesus christ himself sent down to rub by fucking balls; who the fuck do you think you are running around and interfering with police work!? Huh?! What gives you the right to do whatever it is you want, huh?!"

Haru was a very patient man by many peoples standards. Even then, he took great joy as he did what he did next; despite his indifferent exterior.

"... This."

His right hand went up and with a loud snap of his fingers the inspector as well as three others in the room were suddenly pinned down by their fellow officers. Uchihara's face went right into the table in front of the computer, just barely avoiding his nose and hitting his left cheekbone instead. Another officer had three of his fellow detectives pin him on the wall with a floating hand holding him by the shirt. There was one on the floor where a horned officer was larger than she was and had her arms locked behind her. Finally the officer recording the conversation was pushed down from behind and had a gun to the back of his neck. The other officers that weren't actually pinning down someone had their quirks or weapons drawn and trained on all 4 of the unsuspecting police officers.

"YOU FUCK! What the hell is this?! Get off me! I am your commanding officer!"

"Yeah, but he's our boss. Sorry Sergeant, he outranks you. If it matters to you at all, we don't really want to do this. It is what it is; and what he says, goes."

This was actually unprecedented. What kind of terrible prank or nightmare was he in? In a room filled with twenty four officers; this one guy not only had twenty of those officers on some kind of payroll, but was able to get them to turn on coworkers that they had worked with for years with a snap of his fingers?

"Fuck off, detective! If you could even call yourself that, now!"

Was this a mind control of some kind? How was this possible?

"It ain't mind control, detective. These people are fully in control of their faculties and despite what you may think are still respectable representatives of the law."

"FUCK YOU! You won't get away with this you insane son of a bitch!"

Iba again tried to wrestle his arms free of the two officers holding him down with no avail. Haru took a good look at the sergeant and came to a choice after some self deliberation.

"Tell me inspector, for the past twenty five years or so; could you tell me what the crime statistics for the country was like?"

"Wha… The fuck are you saying?"

"You don't have to answer since I already know. In fact, that dip in the line from twenty five years ago all the way to the bottom of that nice little curve from twelve years ago was because of yours truly. I needed to set a new precedent for the public and how their public servicemen should make them feel safe walking the streets of this fine nation. So in the eyes of the public in today's society, being an officer that serves to protect its citizens is no longer something to 'settle' for against becoming a hero, license and all."

This all sounded like the rantings of an insane person off his rocker. One person can't be responsible for lowering the crime rates in Japan! It's impossible… but just then an image of All Might, arguably the greatest hero of the era, had done the same by doing what he did. Why was this a comparison? There was no way some deranged criminal would be anything like All Might! And still… He could only think of one thing that would explain the sudden comparison that popped into his head. For every angel flying high and proud, you had your devils digging through the ground and rot; pulling just as many down as the angel saved. There was no better way of saying it; this man crawled out of hell and hid his malice under the pretense that it's an act of charity.

"You. Are not. A savior! All you do is suck society dry while acting all noble that you threw out it's garbage. You just do this because you don't have the balls to admit that you are what you are, a fu-"

The officers keeping Iba pinned wrenched his arms further in and it felt like they would just slip from the socket if he were to sneeze. Another rough grunt through his teeth cut him off from the insult he was about to throw in Haru's direction.

"Watch your mouth, sergeant. We don't take kindly to shit being flung at the boss, understand?"

"Seriously sarge, let it go."

All those years he spent searching for justice in this city. He ruined himself so that people would be able to live better lives from his efforts. If it all just went to helping this parasite sink his teeth into this country's neck and suck it all dry for all it was worth… He couldn't remember the last time something wanted to make him cry. Not when his wife left with the kid. Not when his parents passed. Not when he became a sergeant in the MPD. At least it was all building to something, or at least he thought it was. He didn't want to accept that he just wasted his life to only hurt the people he was trying to protect.

"You didn't"

Trying to fight the tears, Iba turned back to Haru and looked at the image of him like he was trying to send his gaze through the monitor and burn a hole into his chest. What did this fucker want now? Isn't it enough that he was told he was working for a monster for years without knowing it? Did he really want to cut deeper than to the fucking bone? Haru looked at the immobilized officer with some sympathy as he clarified himself.

"I mentioned that the drop in crime was consistent up until twelve years ago, didn't I?"

Haru looked irritated as he was recalling things that should have never happened in the first place. His right hand was rubbing the tension building in the back of his neck.

"Well, to be fair I never wanted to be left in charge of this for this long. If I had my way I would have been up and away with everything being run as they should have been, and nobody would have been the wiser. By no means were the people I had left to keep the ship afloat fucking stupid. They were more than capable of turning things around and I let them do just that."

It was bizarre to listen to this man explain how he was reluctant to have this impossible level of influence over everything. People pay for far more to get a lot less. In no way was he backing down, but he was at least listening to a different perspective of things.

"... I put too much trust in the integrity of those who had it all. Over time they got lazy or greedy. Sometimes it was a combination of the two. Little white lies started to turn grey as they built up and started dragging on the floor. More and more each one of those stupid little parasites just kept eating and soon tumors were everywhere and anywhere in this country. I ignored it for a while as since my occasional requests were still being fulfilled and whether or not they sank themselves in their own gluttony I couldn't really justify bailing out people who turned their back on simple ass shit I taught them."

The more he listened the more it seemed that Haru was genuinely frustrated over everything. This control he seemed to have was more like a job looking after children than it was the means to power. Iba was relatively neutral so the two officers holding him down relaxed a bit.

"And then…"

Haru was silent for quite some time and just rubbed his eyes with his right hand like a migraine was pushing at the back of his sockets.

"Ah, and then they decided to fuck up so bad that I had to get involved again. You can thank the people you work for that are way above your paygrade for that… So, coming back in I took a look inside and it was all worse than I imagined it was. For your sector of the government, your beloved superintendents and generals started working on cracking down on so-called 'major' crimes that received all sorts of accolades and support that the public just ate up like starving flies to shit."

He did recall an increase in major crimes support at the time and many called it a golden era of sorts for Japanese law enforcement. What on earth really happened that would make this man talk about it as if it was nothing but a waste of time?

"Truth is your higher up's never disclosed that those 'major crimes' were operations they had a hand in and still allowed after running the prosecution. And those 'major players'? Fall guys. They probably didn't even know what was actually going on behind the scenes and took a cut for going federal."

A major part of criminal prosecution was nothing but empty calories? A waste of time and taxpayer money for brownie points and the paychecks of the enamored public. Was he right? It was hard enough to stay neutral on this and blindly accept it as truth; what would happen if he asked the very same people who had claimed that all of it was nothing short of true success? This honesty could be easily proven wrong with the right phone calls… So there was something to Haru and his story if he was so confident that his story would convince a detective of the police force. His whole job was to find the truth, and this man spoke like this was easy to confirm for himself.

"While the public rained down praise and gold for the leaders of this great time of history; all of the real damage was already taking hold and getting worse out of their neglect. Nobody took a second look around to really notice that their own neighborhoods; their place of living, it was far less friendly to those wandering alone at night."

Haru took a hard scowl to Iba and spoke like he was disappointed. Something so backwards from someone like him? Lecturing Iba, in this scenario?

"While your bosses were distracting everyone, including you it seems, they were beginning to pinch pennies and skimmed general police funding for the chump change. Your city streets you spent your entire career trying to save and allow to ruin your own life were starting to collapse into themselves without the protection you swore to uphold. The protection your superiors abandoned in favor of pocket money."

There were more calls around the time the major crimes department began pulling in all those arrests. More and more people were moved to major crimes per requests, promotions, and the simple needs to fill up the chairs in need of seating for the department. The amount of officers for emergency services as well as public patrols and beat cops were rather sparse whenever he would make a detour through the offices. A lot of his coworkers who still worked those stents had a lot more to say about how little they had and how much had suddenly shown up in terms of workload. There was so much public approval that now thinking back, Haru was right. He may not believe that's how things were at the time, but the events he talked about lined up and made sense as they were. There was cut funding and understaffing for other sections of the police force. Was it all just a waste of time? Did he waste his life in service of those who had no interest in actually helping those they were sworn to protect in the first place? Would anyone have done it better than those put in charge; based on the character judgement he made of those who were qualified at the time?

"So to answer in short; no, you didn't waste your life trying to protect people. This work you do; it's thankless and you get little out of it for compensation. You do it because it's right, and all I do is enable those who want the same…"

Iba could sense that this white haired stranger on the monitor was being honest. He didn't feel like Haru cared much for police work or the public in general; he felt that Haru understood how abused and lonely the job leaves you feeling after it's all said and done. Honesty. Something he was severely lacking in all this; he didn't even realize it until now.

"... Okay…"

"... What?"

"I said okay!... Whatever you are or what you do; I'll do it!"

Now this was a rather interesting development for Haru and the other officers. Haru was willing to put more on the table for the officer and even prove his point with a phone call; he decided to not look a gifted horse in the mouth and just roll with things.

"Just like that? Interesting."

"NO! Not 'just like that'! I'm damn sure whatever you said just now could be proven wrong well enough with the right people! So until I get the truth, You better watch yourself, you better-"

The whole room went cold for everyone inside the office. Uchihara was even made silent as some sort of malice was very much leering down on them from somewhere. On the monitor; whether or not their eyes were playing tricks or if the lighting was awkward enough, they suddenly couldn't see Haru's face. Through a monitor on an online call, Haru silenced the room with nothing but ice cold intimidation. Some had difficulty breathing and others felt like they were trapped underneath an iceberg with black ocean depths below. It dawned on the pinned lead detective that maybe this man's control over everything wasn't just because he was brilliant enough to manipulate those inside. Perhaps the reason nobody questioned him was because there wasn't anything they could do about it in any sense of the term.

"... Please, Detective Sergeant Uchihara Iba; continue that line of thought. What am I better off doing?"

It felt like a request that he wasn't able to refuse. He had to fight his body's response to continue speaking and choke back the words as doing so would be far worse than taking silence. A request made out of sarcasm and he was sweating like a pig. He may not be absolute evil; but his power, whatever it was, is nothing but.

"N-n-n-n-no… N-no, I misspoke… I-I-I apolo- I apologize."

The room could breathe again and for most in the room it was only a reminder about who it was that deserved loyalty equal to followers that were standing in front of their god. Obedience and loyalty hand in hand, nothing less.

"First thing you must realize is that I do not tolerate any sort of doubt or dissenting opinion towards me. I compromised such small things in the past and it cost me. I will not be making that same mistake twice, am I clear?"

Nobody could speak, so Haru took their silence as their form of consent and kept speaking. Since it was made clear what it was he did and now all that was needed to cement their loyalty was to provide the evidence necessary for them to see his words as truth. He pulled out his phone and dialed a number and soon he was connected. Nobody could hear the other side of the line as Haru spoke.

"It's me, I need some people to attend a meeting tomorrow and answer some questions for some officers tomorrow… I'll send you the names right now… Have them call me right away for the meeting time and location."

Haru hung up and just stood there looking at the floor in front of him for a minute or so. Still everyone else didn't dare speak up, even as Haru's phone alerted to a call and the phone was back to his ear on another call.

"Hello again… I need you at the Mustafu police department by twelve tomorrow for a meeting with a few of your officers; they have some questions for you two… Good, they'll be there. So be there on time as well, and we won't have any problems, understood?... Good."

Haru hung up and tucked the mobile back into his pocket before returning to those still in the Yaoyorozu office. The arms crossed again and the right hand went back up for another rather impressive snap; the officers were let up and assisted by the now passive team that had bound and threatened them in the first place. To say it was a bizarre experience was the understatement of a lifetime.

'You might want to get that, detective."

Iba didn't even have time to think of a question when his cell went off with a phone call. The caller ID was the administrative number and with a press of the screen he put his ear to the speaker.

"This is Iba."

"Good evening, Detective Sergeant Uchihara Iba; this is the office of the Commissioner's desk, how are you doing tonight?"

Why was the commissioner's office calling him at this time? How did Haru know that the call was coming in right then?

"I-I'm fiiine. Can I ask what this is about?"

"Yes, it seems your presence was requested by both the Superintendent General as well as the Commissioner General for a meeting at twinkle at noon tomorrow. This is a mandatory event, so if we are in need of transportation we shall supply one for you. Would you require accommodations?"

Those two titles were something that over ninety-nine point nine-nine-nine-and-so-on percent of the police force wouldn't even fantasize for themselves and they personally requested his presence? For a meeting? Tomorrow? At the time Haru asked the other person on the line for a meeting? For him?...

"... Uh… Yea… Sure…"

"Um… No, I should be fine…"

"I understand that there are a few other officers in your task force under your command. There attendance was requested as well; if you could we would appreciate the attendance of officers-"

"They'll be there…"

"Very well, we shall send an email containing their contact information just in case. Their attendance is just as mandatory as yours, would you happen to know if they would be in need of transportation accommodations?"

"... No."

"Very well. Thank you again for your services again, Detective Sergeant Uchihara. Have a lovely evening."

The line disconnected and Iba was still a little shaken from the call. Maybe it was clever timing and someone tapping into phone lines to send out a call? His phone chimed while he still had the phone to his ear and turned the device to him to check the notification it was an email from the head office. The same email that he had received other emails of great relevance to major updates from the higher command. He was one of the few here allowed a cell during their work, so to keep the others with similar circumstances as his he turned to them and updated them on certain events. They were still a little disheveled while they looked to their superior.

"... Generals want to meet us. Tomorrow. At twelve. At work. Tomorrow…"

They all had to pick up their jaws from the floor as the look Iba was giving his fellow officers was one that was certain that all of this was real. Everyone was silent and let the four of them take in the reality of it all.

"Just to be clear this is a courtesy. Most officers we have inside were put there before I took over or were put there by me. I don't hire from the outside for good reason and this is just me being nice… If anything I was going to blackmail all four of you into silence and wait until this was all over and have you all buried in the wild in four meter deep graves. Your officers will be under scrutiny and we'll monitor you just the same; but if you lot keep things close to the vest you'll see what it is we do."

Iba didn't know what to think anymore. His officers were not stupid and were certainly turned around by this crazy realization as well as the call for a meeting with the Superintendent and Commissioner Generals out of nowhere for tomorrow noon. They were usually involved with decisions of national matters and sorting out the general operations of all the police forces in Japan. It just also came to Iba that the meeting was in less than twenty-four hours from then. People as important as these two usually were booked up for the next few years with zero allowances for most sudden events. Only major tragedies that spread over the nation of Japan as a whole like terrorist attacks that take lives in the tens of thousands would be able to get them to break their schedules to do quick press conferences and national policy changes. If that phone call was what it was; they not only made time for this meeting for significantly lower ranking officers, but the amount of time they took to organize such a thing meant that they scrambled to meet Haru's request immediately. The scale of not only control but respect of those under him that they would put all their effort into pleasing him immediately scared him to the core.

"I… I, uh… If we-"

"Ask what you want of them, for answers to your questions of the history of what had happened in the nation's police force they were instructed to be courteous and patient with you all. Remember, this is all because of the Yaoyorozu. I would rather not send the parents into a descending spiral over questions as to what had happened to the lead inspector to their case as well as three random officers being replaced. They went through enough and their child wouldn't want their parents to suffer more than they are."

One last lingering question for Haru made itself prominent in the Sergeants head.

"One last thing, if you would allow it."

Haru could see that the detective was already placing respect towards him already. He kept silent and allowed Uchihara to speak.

"Why all this for one girl? You're clearly not predatory and have good intentions for the family; why are you doing all of this for them? To you, they should be like homeless beggars unworthy of any attention."

The question was not difficult for Haru; and still he left the silence to hand before answering.

"... People live their lives dictated by their decisions. Some of those less fortunate than those with the power of decision live their lives by choices made for them. I choose to care for those in my life and want them to live as they wish. If something were to come and take those choices away from those I have come to care for…"

Haru brought both his open hands in front of him and looked at them. Much like before a heavy cold that drained the air from the room flooded the room. Only difference now was the feeling of being squeezed like a soft fruit that made them all almost black out. Several officers even pissed themselves as what had come over them was the sensations or illusions of death; they were already dead and this was them experiencing the worst version of whatever sent them there.

"I will eat them…"

Some of the officers actually began falling unconscious and nobody could do anything to escape. Nobody had any right being this terrifying. Death would look the other way wherever he was and would only claim those he felled with his permission. All of this was hell. Not a representation. No likeness was being hinted at. This was a section of hell dragged out from the beyond and they were inside of it. All the air suddenly returned and those still awake were able to move once more. Everyone was trying to catch their breath or help those up who were out like a light. Iba slowly looked back to the monitor and for the slightest of moments he saw something he would never forget. It was a photograph he could recall with perfect clarity and if he were able to draw he could replicate it with photoreality it was so permanent in his memory. On Haru's face he saw something that actually made him feel sorry for this devil that could send humanity running for the hills. Without tears or crying displayed on their face; he saw Haru showing more sadness and loneliness on his face than all of the grief and pain he was on the face of others in his entire life. The expression was clearly unintentional since Haru took a breath and like it wasn't even there to begin with he was back to indifference like what he had displayed for most of time they exchanged words.

The officers collected themselves and began cleaning up the soiled spots with cleaning supplies retrieved from the squad cars. Those who finally regained consciousness changed clothes outside and like it never happened everyone returned to the study for the information Haru was there to share in the first place. They all took their spots in the room as Haru began sharing and sending files to the officers for them to study and observe.

"Let's get back to why we're here. The men who took their daughter were former sicario who were lending their services on the open market for about two years with prices that only those with Cartel amounts of wealth would seek out. They operated in higher demand fields of operations; such as sabotage, target elimination, and financial security. Their major sources of income were primarily terrorist groups, warlords, and Chinese government work. Their operations had quite the pedigree under the leadership of these four men…"

On the screen the faces of four of the men Haru killed at the disposal site he owned were shown on screen.

"They're no longer of any concern, but the financial trail they had up until a week ago is strange for a group so consistent in their patterns. Last year they were focused on moving up from South Africa all the way to Iran. when the edge of Europe and Southwest Asia approached they suddenly leapt the map and went to South Korea."

Haru again brought up a map that displayed the travel pattern of the Mexican Cartel hit squad.

"From there they sit for a few days in Chuncheon with no major activity before flying to a port located in Daepori. It's the second northernmost major commercial port in South Korea. They travel down the country through multiple ports and jumping ships through multiple brokers before landing in Japan. They made sure the paperwork cycled through so many different ships and ports that it made it difficult to trace it back to the origin of their first arrival into Asia. From there they go silent for quite a bit and from my resources head straight for their base of operations where they were holding the girl."

Another map replaced the previous map and a single line going to a single point of the continent of Japan. Iba was finding it harder and harder to keep his grip on the suspension of disbelief he had against Haru at the beginning of this affair. All of this information was way more in depth and accurate than anything that he had seen in the history of police work. It was like he planned the whole thing and even had someone tail the group of mercenaries in case they tried to do something unpredictable.

"It's here they sit for about four days before the kidnapping. From the communication that they made from this location no more than twelve messages went back and forth between their contact and themselves. The data was scrubbed from the drives, but I managed to piece together enough to please Mr. Yaoyorozu; I will have the lead inspector speak to you and update you with the situation with what he can share! I cannot have you nosing around and going behind my back and compromising your daughter's safety!"

The outburst was so out of place it was seemingly random to everyone until the sounds of footsteps outside clarified that there was an eavesdropper trying to listen in that nobody in this room of fully trained officers could pick up on. Over a subpar laptop microphone Haru was able to detect the anxious father when people who were actually in the physical room were incapable of doing the same thing. With the distraction out of the way the briefing continued.

"... The data retrieved from the kidnappers memory drives and laptop I was able to piece together enough to make out parts of the conversations. For you I have rerendered what was left behind."

On the screen there was a back and forth dialogue with much of the conversation redacted and distorted.

"Good afternoon Mr… d arrival into Ja… ease. As the representa… of... I must disclose that everything… confidential and w… nd."

In broken and fragmented sentences the response below was just as disjointed and corrupted.

"What is it that... sixty one million peso… te? Som… digree is rath..."

"Unde… etion was necessary since in the eve… as caught with such incr… egal foreign mili... to reduce the... involve him w..."

"... t the job is. We… hase."

"... of discreet and… fessionals such as you... an adolescent… a strategy… wn creation. The first necessary… capture of the Yaoyorozu's only child… of the description..."

Haru cut in and indulged the room of investigators in necessary information.

"Below the attachment had a corrupted file on Momo Yaoyorozu. Her physical description and other kinds of information to help the kidnappers identify their target."

Haru quickly scrolled past the image of the file the sicario received and it was obvious enough that it had the picture and descriptions of the young girl. The image scrolled off and the remaining parts of the conversation were revealed.

"Got it, you want us to ransom her off? How much is she worth?"

"That isn't necessary. Mr. Hamamura was very clear in letting you know he has no intentions in paying for the girl's return to her family. Your assignment is to capture and secure the girl and act as if you are intending to ransom her off as a group of liberal extremists from Mexico who have set your sights on the Yaoyorozu group. You are by no circumstances allowed by your employer to release the child back to the authorities or the family. Are these conditions understood?"

Some of the dialogue was kind of hard to make out for quite a lot of the officers. Some of the others were doubting the little they thought they could make out and were feeling rather trepid in what the kidnappers were to do with the young girl.

"We wouldn't… kid; rich or not. What is... to do?"

"Stretch out… put the family under psychological stress. We… the father to be as mentally unfit as..."

Haru looked to be rather agitated with more of the chat being revealed. It was still too broken up and illegible for the police to make sense of.

"... or rape exc… ve to clarify as... the clients comfort level."

"No. Do whatever... ensure that the process… stability of Mr. Yaoyorozu. Once… um of one billion and fifty milli… d on confirmation of capture. The rest… ave been met."

There was enough of a reaction in the minds of the officers present to the words 'whatever you wish' to catch on to the rather cruel implications of the girl's fate in the sicario's hands. Haru was now scowling at the messages now, though none of it was directed at the people in the office and saved them from having to clean up more piss from out of the expensive carpet. Still, everyone kept shut and said nothing to set him off.

"... else?"

"... l is at least two months. Failu… sociation from our client. If thes… tood we shall make arran… ediately."

"We'll… get g..."

"Belo..."

Haru closed out the image windows that had the conversations and turned to the detectives that still lacked what he had gleaned from the information.

"This was on the temporary memory drives in their setup. I pulled more from the other conversations and to save you all from a rather grim exchange there was intention to hold the girl for over two months in a sequence of exchanges with the parents resulting to the emotional and psychological torture of their daughter coming under abuse of this mercinary group."

No officer in that room wanted to let something so horrific happen to an innocent child for someone's agenda. Most were thankful that the details of the conversations were spared from their ears with Haru being the one to tell them what they needed to know without the ugly parts of the truth weighing them down. Iba was more blown away with how much information was retrieved from disposed data. Other cases he's been a part of could take weeks or months before something comprehensible became visible from their tech department. Dozens of analysts working around the clock with cutting edge hardware and a hefty budget to work with and still; less than twelve hours later a child was abducted and rescued and still her rescuer had enough time to decipher and extract an entire gameplan from pages worth of conversations.

"As I said, they aren't worthy of note since we got all we needed from them. I wasn't able to extract a name and from what they discussed there was roughly a sum of over five point eight billion yen negotiated to be sent after the completion of their contract. After which they spent two days prepping for their attempt and with their prep work done they were able to retrieve the girl and retreat to their intended base of operation."

Nobody except the four others who were not originally working for the organization were reeling at the fact that this was a case that would dwarf most major crime cases; and they were anything but such a major part of police work. They all looked to the others but nothing short of what they looked like during a usual briefing was showing. Such confidence in the face of a case that could blow open a conspiracy of this scale and it was another day on the job? Were they all secretly more competent than they appeared to be… Or was the one spoon feeding them all this information just in need of their signatures on the paperwork for him to do what he needed? Haru fed the last of the information he wanted the officers to know about the kidnapping and sent the copies of the files they would need to catalog for research.

"I want all of you to ignore the garbage they were feeding you about anti-capitalism or whatever bullshit they were feeding you. It's all nonsense and was a practiced speech provided by their client to throw you all off. I sent copies of their harddrives and you should all be getting any encrypted files or programs in the next few days as the specialists I had sent a copy of said files send you what they uncover. One of you go answer the front door and receive the package being dropped off for the Yaoyorozu, right now."

One of the other Officers close to the door left in a hurry to do just as Haru said.

"There should be a tablet and cellular device for me to contact them at any time. They can reach out to me as well through the device, but under no circumstance are they able to get a request to decipher the devices fulfilled. Understood?"

The room all confirmed the request and Haru was satisfied with what he heard from his loyal officers. He also clarified that the absent officer be let know what was shared and some of those close to him confirmed that they would do just that.

"Good. Brief the family about the scenario and that right now you're working to work with that information. Do not let them know the specifics of who kidnapped their daughter, the messages I had discussed, or the data and information you have been given. Is that clear?"

All the other officers besides the newly initiated four stood and bowed to the computer and gave a unanimous response to Haru, still low enough volume so as not to alert the Yaoyorozu of what was happening.

"Yes sir."

"Get it done and let me know if anything happens. And Sergeant Uchihara…"

Iba snapped to attention instinctively and looked down at the monitor at Haru. Haru looked into the lens and it was like he was there asking Iba face to face.

"Take care of the family, they went through enough and are still without their baby girl. Treat them well, understand?"

He was so caught up that he bowed and answered like he was his superior officer asking him to go above and beyond on a personal request.

"Sir!"

With that Haru looked to be satisfied enough with all that was said and done and hung up the call. Everyone stood in silence that was broken by Iba as he barked commands to the idle officers in his command.

"What are you standing around for?! Get to work!"

The room broke out into a bustle as they all got back to work and with the new information they started on their side of the work and Iba was already doing his part to help reunite a family with each other. He still had parts of him tossing and turning from within; unlike before, he felt a weight in his chest that he never noticed before lift and desire he had forgotten. Not for what he thought was right, but for what he knew was right.

Back With Haru

Haru closed the laptop and let out a sigh of relief. He truly was hung up about letting those random officers get whacked in the Yaoyorozu household while he wasn't there to personally handle the situation. The heel turn of the commanding officer was a lucky break from the blackmail and subsequent backwoods execution he was ready to approve of at the end of this affair. He broke down his setup and returned his personal electronics to their hiding places and had just thrown away the electronics he hacked and stolen from the dead sicario into his trash bin as a knock on the back let him know someone was ready to leave.

The door unlatched and from out the door Haru saw Momo in the arms of the Dealerships owner and looking to be much better off than before. He knew that this location had someone who was ideal for caring for a young girl since the owner himself had a family with three young daughters himself who he could trust to watch over Momo. Also it was close enough for his needs and so seeing her comfortable enough shortly after suffering so terribly left him satisfied.

"There he is! Well, I had such a pleasure getting to know you Momo. If you ever need anything from me just ask, okay? I'll never say no and I also hope you come visit me again, okay?"

"Okay, thank you! I really liked the hot coco and I think you're great!"

The two were quick friends and with one last goodbye Haru and Momo were on their way with the owner of the dealership waving goodbye to Momo who was still looking in the rearview at him until he disappeared around the corner. It was a little bittersweet moment making a new friend and having to leave so soon. She didn't regret the time and she was sure she would see the kind man sometime in the future again. Momo was finally able to forget all the terrible things that had happened earlier just that day and Haru wanted to keep that momentum of recovery going.

"Hey kiddo, guess what?"

Momo just looked to Haru from the passenger seat expectantly for the answer.

"I managed to contact your parents and we'll be calling them soon. I just gotta get somewhere further out and we'll be able to call them."

Momo lit up even more at the prospect of seeing her parents again so soon. She missed them so much and she couldn't imagine how much they both missed her. During her time at the park and seeing the scary giant cars driving right up to her and her parents she could feel her papa try to shield her with his body and pick her up as he tried to get her and her mother away from the bad men. The scary men came out with their scary masks and black uniforms and covered her family in a gas that made her super sleepy. Even when they pulled her away from her parents she could feel her father instinctively grab her arm as the hand was the last thing keeping her from being abducted. Even that was fleeting as her father went under and in the darkness she was so scared of everything she thought that she would never see her mom and dad. She would never be read bedtime stories by her parents before going to bed ever again. Having dinner with either her mom or both of her parents when her dad came home and spent the day with her. It was so scary to be alone.

The light and warmth that Haru gave her after she was rescued was so surprising it left her confused for some time. Why was the guy who worked from a local food truck that everyone in her neighborhood liked the one to save her from a bunch of kidnappers. Why did he make her close her eyes for so long after he had saved her? Similar questions floated around her head as she could feel herself relax into the supple leather seat she was buckled into. She tilted her head up to the night sky and the stars; and although she couldn't see as many on the more remote roads she would never take them for granted ever again.

Haru drove for twenty minutes into a mountainous region and pulled off onto a dirt trail for hikers and pulled up to an area for trailer camping. He checked his mobile for public activity and from the distance he figured this was far enough from any immediate roads for them to settle for the night. It was still the off season and so all the other neighboring clearings were pitch black. Haru turned on his interior lights and began setting up camp for them. There was no line of sight to the roads and he could listen for anyone trying to approach since this was far enough from the main road for anyone to wander into without a good reason. He turned on some american music with his phone and through the car speakers some good old R&B soothed the atmosphere as Haru began setting up everything for him and Momo to go to bed. He turned on his kitchen appliances and let the heating appliances come to temperature as he opened up a hidden panel near the rear driver side tire.

Out the compartment he unlocked there were his camping appliances he used when he went out with the other kids. A shower set, hammocks, folding chairs and even a TV and speaker set for entertainment. Further inside the back there was a selection of gaming consoles for when he felt like the kids were good enough; he never would tell them they were back there to avoid spoiling them. Haru unpacked the shower set and got the setup hooked up for immediate use. He opened the window, latched the showerhead setup into the slot, unfolded the shower curtain and attached the plastic sheet to the rings above, set the base for the occupant to stand on while they did their business, and finally through the opened window attached the hoses under the sink for both hot and cold water. Momo was just sitting in her seat while listening to the music playing while waiting for Haru to finish his fiddling of whatever he was doing.

It took a minute but Haru was able to set up a decent shower for the two of them in the middle of nowhere and with that he went back into his kitchen. Momo could see Haru from where she was as she peeked behind and saw Haru pull some clothes out of a cupboard close to the back door and approach her with said clothes.

"Alright kiddo. So, I don't have extra underwear for you and all I have is gray t-shirts and shorts for you to wear. Tomorrow we're going to some clothes stores and getting some fresh clothes for you to wear, okay? I'm so sorry to ask, but did you want to keep wearing your underwear?"

The embarrassment for the situation wasn't as bad as it could have been for Momo since she was so tired already and Haru was straightforward enough to make it feel like he didn't make it seem embarrassing at all for him to ask. She was still a little bashful since a lady needed to maintain her decorum but other than that she answered clearly enough.

"... Um, That's okay… I'll get clothes and… And other stuff tomorrow."

"Okay! First thing tomorrow we'll go shopping! I'll show you how the shower works real quick. Don't worry, I'll be on the other side of the van fishing, so I won't see anything."

He lowered her from the passenger seat and walked her over to the shower setup. It was easy enough to explain the hot and cold controls; and with minimal instruction she was able to get it and start cleaning herself. Haru pulled out a foldable laundry basket and put it next to the shower and retrieved some rubber slippers for her to use after she was done. Still, Momo was rather shy about letting Haru see her underwear in the hamper and picking up on her reservations of being rather exposed to a stranger he just told her that he once had daughters and that this was perfectly normal for a girl to feel. He even offered to throw away her old clothes or whatever articles she didn't want anymore. It let her trust Haru enough to use the shower and said that she was okay. He told her where the cleaning products were on the base and with that began whistling as he pulled out a fishing kit from the same compartment the other equipment came from and began setting up his fishing line for the lake they were parked next to. The whistling served to not only be a form of mild entertainment but to tell the young girl he was indeed on the other side of the van and was respecting her privacy.

She could still hear Haru's whistling moving around and finally settled into one spot as he sat and let his line do all the work as he waited for the nocturnal aquatic life to make itself known. Momo undressed and disposed of her garments into the basket left next to the opening of the circular shower curtain and with the final article surrendered she began cleaning herself off of the day's dirt and grime. Getting the water exactly perfect took a second for her but soon the water was steaming and sucking the chill out of her bones and relaxing the tired muscles in her tired body. The shower had a cute little duck sponge for her to use and child friendly products for her to use. She took her time to let the shower to help her relax and after thirty minutes she was clean as a whistle and ready to leave. She shut off the shower and reaching for the towel elft for her she dried herself the best she could with the fluffy cotton towel and left the towel in the hamper. She dressed herself in the shirt and shorts and stood in the similarly grey rubber slippers and felt complete once more.

The sound of the water shutting off was enough to let Haru know she was about done and moved to retrieve his laptop. Momo didn't seem to notice his presence inside the van as Haru retrieved the device from the hidden compartment and exited to set up the interaction between Momo's parents and herself he had promised from earlier. The device was on and with a network confirmed he sent the call request and waited for the inevitable response. It was two seconds into waiting when the face of Momo's mother popped up on the screen and began launching questions to Haru who was leisurely placing the personal computer on a small foldable side-table he had put out next to him.

"Hello?! Momo? Where is she? Is she there?"

"It's okay, she's finished cleaning herself up. Honestly I think it's overdue she had an opportunity to clean off."

The husband was right behind her in his usual manner of protective anger.

"I swear, if y-"

"Honey! Please!"

For her husband's sake Mrs. Yaoyorozu sent her husband off to the side to cool his still boiling temper. He was still stressed but was able to contain himself and remove himself away from the live feed until he was able to contain himself. The mother returned herself to the call and spoke with a much more tempered disposition.

"I apologize for my husband. He's still rather vulnerable over the issue. It's been hard for him."

"It's okay, any parent would be scared enough to lash out at somebody who claims their child was safer with them rather than their parents."

He lent her enough sympathy to settle the knot in her nerves she was struggling with. Haru knew that this wasn't easy for them, but he still cared more for Momo's mental welfare and not stressing the child over her parent's concerns.

"Although I must confess, I myself am rather restless for the sight of my daughter. Is she indeed there?"

The polite language was clearly a coping mechanism for the stressed mother. Haru lifted the computer camera to the sight of the shower curtains through the two windows from where it was visible. It was very little but served to be so much off her heavy heart. Haru placed the computer back onto the folding side table and continued.

"She'll be here in a minute. I understand what it must feel for you two and I still am working to figure more out and get this whole ordeal behind us."

"I see… Thank you… Regardless, I must ask; the police were quite short with what they told us so far and it seemed to be rather serious for what it was. Who would do this to us? Wen never compromised certain values to get to where we are and we try to establish relations where both parties could prosper. Who would do this to us?"

Haru was the only one he could trust with sensitive information regarding the family's relations to other possible suspects. The police were secondary in her mind to these individuals.

"That's kind of what I needed to talk to both of you about. Mr Yaoyorozu? Are you still there?"

The Father still rather wound up appearing over his wife's shoulder and still couldn't wrestle the tense facial muscles showing his stress loose from his face.

"Yes?"

"There are some rather serious things I must ask to confirm some of the information I have about suspects to the kidnapping."

The head of the Yaoyorozu group engaged in his professional mindset as he exchanged information with his daughter's supposed savior. Back and forth the questions and answers went and for the parents they learned that indeed someone who was a close business partner of theirs was likely behind the incident. For Haru he narrowed down the list of names he had in his possession and was now able to focus efforts in finding who it was that was intelligent enough to hide and be brash enough to do something so extreme and able to strike from their anonymity. It would still take time, but it was enough to cut down the time he would need.

"Haru-san! I'm all done!"

Haru peeked over his left shoulder at the girl approaching the other folding chair he had set up next to him on the lakeside shore. The two parents heard their daughter over the audio and were on the edge of their seats trying to see their daughter.

"Alright, I'll be back. She's been through a lot so be gentle with your questions. No reminding her of when she was locked up and no reminding her of the kidnapping, understand?"

Haru didn't want things to stick over the events of Momo's kidnapping and he was intent on keeping her distracted from making the events of today from being permanent. Her parents were still concerned but he trusted them enough to let their daughter talk to them unsupervised. Momo was nearby as Haru moved the conversation to her.

"Heya kiddo, I got some people here who want to talk to you…"

Before she could make sense of his words the computer was faced to the opposite seat where he set her and the separated family shared a heartfelt reunion.

"... Mommy?"

"Oh baby, Yes; it's me! It's momma!"

"My baby! Oh my god, oh my god it's you!:

Haru could hear their heartfelt words being shared and before going into the shower for his turn to wash off he snatched three beers from the fridge and downed the first two as quickly as he could while grabbing his nightwear and leaving the third for his shower. Once in he let himself take his time and let the family reconnect. They let the wave of intense emotions do it's work and after collecting themselves they were able to share more information between one another.

"Honey, are you okay? Mommy wants to know if you've been hurt or if anything else happened to you. You're okay right now, yes?"

"Uh huh, I'm okay. I'm not hurt and I think I'm a little hungry. I'm okay, momma."

"I'm making dinner after I'm done! You want tempura?!"

Haru shouted out of the shower and Momo turned rather surprised to the steaming column of steam she was just in herself. She couldn't help but respond to the question thrown to her by Haru.

"Uh huh!"

"All right! Mixed fried special coming up!"

Momo was rather allured by the prospect of having a basket of fatty fried food for dinner that night. She had Haru's tempura once before and it was some of the lightest and crispiest fried delicacy she ever had. Even at three other restaurants after that one experience tasted like what she imagined cheap frozen tempura to taste like. Now that she could have a whole assortment of different kinds of tempura? This night was just getting better.

"... Momo, papa needs to ask something right now…"

Her dad's voice was rather low in trying to keep the conversation private between just the available family members. His daughter's surprised gaze fell on her father's image on the screen behind her. After all that Haru had done to not only save her; all he had done to keep her warm and comfortable and this was the thanks he got?

"What? No! Haru-san saved me and protected me!"

They knew that their daughter was sharp and intelligent for her age and that she was gifted with a rather sharp sense of intelligence even as a toddler. Something that lent her to read the mood and the subtext of the conversation was more astonishing.

"H-honey, we never-"

"NO!"

This surprised the parents. They had more questions that were immediately answered by their daughter's frantic defense.

"Haru-san never made me promise to keep secrets! When he saved me he didn't want me hurt and even gave me his helmet! I was scared and cold and he was warm and safe! HE'S A HERO! HE'S MORE OF A HERO THAN-"

"Momo, they're your parents. Be respectful and don't yell."

Haru stopped Momo's outburst in his defense as he was dressed in a black shirt and grey basketball shorts in similar rubber sandals as Momo. The parents who were looking at the background that Haru came from couldn't see him as the image of a daughter who was forcefully stolen from them was yelling and screaming at them now. Didn't she miss them? What did they do to make her hate them after she was kidnapped? Were they so terrible parents they warranted such vitriol from their daughter?

"B-but, they…"

"They're scared and miss you so much it hurts. It's different for you because you're their daughter; but they love you so much it hurts. They don't know me and are trying to protect you from anything else that could hurt you. As much as I did, I think you need to apologize to your parents, okay? Can you do that for me?"

"... I… I-I… I'm sorry momma… Poppa… I'm… I…"

Momo was tearing up over the guilt of saying such harsh things to her dear parents and the two adults being broadcast over the stream were so guilt ridden for being such pawns to their fears that everyone was close to breaking down into tears.

A thunderous clap that startled both Momo and her parents startled them all and with all of their attention on him he broke the tension.

"Alright! Now that we're all done with all of that, I think we should learn to do some night fishing; eh, Momo-chan?"

A Santa Clause worthy toothy grin on Haru's face made Momo and her parent's embrace the rather harmless and mundane activity. He pulled another fishing reel out of nowhere and taught the child about what was needed for successful night fishing. He instructed the use of a reel, the proper application of a line into the reel, and all the basics of what a bite felt like against the pole. The family was still all there as Haru just angled the laptop off to the side so that both he and their daughter were visible as they were picking up fishing together. Haru was the more successful fisherman but Momo wasn't far behind as she was catching fish similar to Haru in no time. The previous tension was all but forgotten as they all enjoyed the nighttime fishing as a whole with all of their problems forgotten as the little girl kept relishing in catching fish in a random lake out in the middle of nowhere.

"Alright it looks like you got things from here, so just keep at it and I'll make dinner, ok?"

Momo was so in the zone she just nodded as she kept her eyes on the water and all of her senses in feeling the line pull in her hands. Haru chuckled and pulled the laptop with him as he placed it so that the two parents could see him prepare tempura and chat as he cooked.

"... Thank you…"

The mother broke the silence and Haru kept working to prepare the dinner for him and the child.

"For what?"

"For being the one taking care of her…"

Haru knew the father wasn't in the camera feed and had left for a bit to refresh himself. The parents were in the kitchen now and the mother was now standing in front of the oven with the tablet he sent them standing upright by it's stand.

"You two were the ones who raised such a polite and sweet girl. All I did was feed and clothe her."

The cheap attempt at shit humor got the mom to laugh and break the mood she was in regarding matters. Still, she wanted to tell Haru how she felt.

"Ahem… Still… I have to thank you for being so generous with keeping our little girl safe."

The two bowls dipped with proteins and vegetables were already at work coating all of the ingredients at work. Into the hot oil the breading for delicious and fluffy tempura grew from the light batter that coated the prime and decadent vegetables and seafood that went into the searing oil. The baskets that scooped out the fried delicacies were refried after a few moments and so created an even lighter and crispier breading for him and Momo to sink their teeth into.

"You're parent's who had their kid taken from them by cruel and unfeeling people. If I were you I would want her safe just like you. I'm just making sure that what happened today can be forgotten; despite how horrible it was for her."

The mother was touched by Haru's sentiment as he prepared the side dishes and rice for his and Momo's dinner. Mrs. Yaoyorozu could tell by her mother's intuition that this man truly wanted to protect and serve her daughter. On the other hand, there was a rather ugly curiosity rearing it's deformed head into her conscience.

"... Mr, Nakamura?"

"Hm?"

"... What happened to her kidnappers?"

Haru stopped plating the basket of fried goods and just stood still in the live feed.

"... Do you really want to know? How specific do you want me to be?"

He didn't even look into the camera and still the mother could see the shadow cast over his face. Haru left it up to the mother as to if she wanted to know what it was the men who had intended horrible things to her daughter had gone through as they died by his hands. The more she thought the less she wanted to know. She was gung ho to make those who would dare hurt her child suffer at the beginning; now with her daughter safe and those very same men dead by a man who was certainly not merciful with their end she couldn't bear the knowledge of their deaths.

"... N-no. I think, I think our family is better off not knowing such things."

In a moment of moral strength the mother resisted the darker impulses and left it all behind for her and her family. Haru couldn't help but smile at the resolve and just keep cooking for their daughter and himself. The father returned smelling of tobacco and Haru finished up dinner for himself and Momo. As he and Momo feasted on fried delicacies on a moonlit lakeside the Yaoyorozu stuck at home felt peckish themselves. The mother announced she wanted to start cooking again and gingerly asked Haru for advice for some good dishes. He asked for a list of ingredients that was inside their fridge and saw the potential for duck fat pasta. He walked her through every miniscule detail despite her absence from the craft and after she plated for her husband and herself they tasted a meal that felt far more savory and filling than what they were expecting. It was a nice and peaceful evening of fishing and cooking they all just took a part of and it felt far more comfortable than it had any right to be.

The night eventually got late and the young girl was yawning and tired from all the excitement and was nodding off. The parents requested that the live feed be kept open and Haru honored the request by angling the screen so that they could watch their daughter sleep in the pullout cot he had in his van. For about thirty or so minutes the young girl slept as the two parents began preparing for their night and just were happy to know their daughter was able to be healthy, happy, and well fed with their knowledge. After thirty minutes Momo began to grow restless and tousled in her sleep. She got up and was out of the bedding and out of the camera feed. The parents were somewhat concerned and soon the camera was moving and Haru was moving the device again.

"Yeah, she couldn't sleep by herself after today. She wanted to sleep with me in the hammock. There's enough for me to keep the feed open but if you want to keep it on from your end past the morning just use the charger that came with the tablet."

They remembered the package they received and eventually plugged in the charger for the tablet that was almost unnaturally long for a charger. The tablet was held up in between the two parents as they watched Haru help their daughter into his sleeping hammock and settle into his side. Haru just let his arm dange as Momo nestled in to keep things appropriate. The two parents in their bed and Haru just layed in silence for quite some time. Momo broke the silence with a simple request.

"...Can you tell… Bedtime story…"

The two parents were ready to sprint to the family library and flip through the whole inventory just then for their little girl before Haru responded to the sleepy child.

"You wanna know the story of 'The star that shone too bright'?"

Momo snuggled as she nodded and burrowed deeper into Haru's side. With that Haru told the bedtime story he suggested from memory.

"Once there was a star that was brighter and larger than any other star in the sky. He was so proud of being so big that he would always talk about how he was such an important star. People would always know where he was in the night and they would always point up when they could see him. He not only was the biggest star; he felt like the biggest star there was.

As more time kept passing more and more people began to appear; the light he made at night was still being talked about even then and he kept feeling important to every person who looked up at him.

'I'm the biggest star there is. I matter more than anybody else!' the star said. The other stars were much older and felt like he was too loud for a young star.

'Nobody cares!' said one of the older stars. 'We were all once as bright as you, and believe me; it won't last forever!'

The young star felt like the other stars were just jealous because they weren't as bright as him.

'You're just jealous you don't shine like I do! Admit it, you're just jealous!' the young star shouted to the other star's. Just then the oldest star that lived came up to the young star and spoke to the young being.

'Why do you think being brighter and larger than the other stars is all that matters, young one?'

The young star didn't understand. 'Shut up, old man! I'm so much bigger than you! I'll outlive all of you!' The old star could only look at the much stronger and younger star with pity.

'There is no doubt that such a star as large and as bright as yourself could outlive so many of us that lived millions if not billions of years before you would fade before you do. Why do you think living longer than everyone else with a brighter light than the rest of us is all that matters?'

Still, the young star tried to be rebellious. 'You don't get it! All you'll do is fade before I'll do! I'll be the only star there is! Nobody will be as important as me!' The old star could only look at the naive little light as if he felt sorry for him. The old light only said one thing to the little light.

'You may be the one to outlive everyone else, but I will be the last light alone with you until the end. Mark my words young light, by the end you will realize how wrong you were.

The young star could only laugh at the old star at the idea that he could live so long when so many stars were younger than him. All those stars were better than him; what could he do?

And so time kept marching and much to the young star's expectation he was always praised for being the brightest. Many people kept praising him and he still was proud of the light in the night sky he gave to others. He was strong. He was bright! He was meant for greatness!

More time passed and more people kept talking about him. He still liked the attention; but something else was starting to scare him. The other stars were much older and eventually one by one they began to fade away. At first he thought 'Ha, good riddance!' then more stars kept fading.

More time kept passing and eventually even people stopped talking about the stars. So many stars were already gone; why should they care about a few twinkling lights in the sky that were disappearing? The people below stopped talking about the stars that were once so bright and glorious above. The stars were still fading even when people forgot about them.

The young star was quite old after all that time and it was far too late for him to realize how lonely it was to be one of the last few stars in the sky. The many star's he talked down to and bragged towards had been gone for so long he couldn't even remember if they were even real to begin with. All that was left in the night sky were just him and a handful of stars spread too far and wide to talk to one another. The only star he could actually talk to was the same old star who swore they would be there after all the other stars would fade. The youngest star was no longer a young star and felt like the star who promised to be there after all other stars faded was there to mock him. The other stars far off all began to fade, and before that could happen people stopped looking up. Nobody talked about stars anymore. He was alone with just the memory of being remembered.

Still the youngest star lived. After a while people were gone and there were just a few stars left in the night sky and nothing else. Then there were four. Then three. Then two. It was just the youngest and oldest star by themselves.

The two of them barely spoke and now that they were so old the oldest of the two was reaching the end of his life. 'I ain't got much left in me anymore. I did my best, but this is the best I can do.' The young star began to panic. He didn't want him to go! He was scared that he wouldn't see him anymore! Why was he so scared to see someone he was sure he hated in the end leave him?

'Why? Why did you stay for so long? Don't you hate me? I'm all that's left! Why did you work so hard to like so long? Why did you make it this far?'

The old star wasn't angry or upset. With the last of his strength he told the youngest star the truth behind his long life.

'I was already very old when you were born. Nobody was as young as you for many years and everyone I knew when I was born was already gone. I knew how lonely you were going to be after everyone else was gone and I didn't know if anyone else was going to be there with you at the end. So I made sure to keep you company for as long as I could. I don't like being lonely and I know how much it hurts. So for you, because nobody knew about how much it hurt; I stayed. I'm so sorry I couldn't be there with you any longer. I really am.'

The young star was speechless. All these years he thought the one being in the universe that hated him the most was actually protecting him from something he was doomed to experience at the end? He didn't want him to go. He wanted to talk. He wanted more time to just be with him.

'Please, just a little more. I want to make things right! I'm so sorry! I can be better towards you! Please, please; just don't leave me!"

The old star looked at the young star with so much sadness in his eyes.

'No, I'm sorry. I should have been the one to talk to you. I was the one who needed to make things right. I needed to be better than I was and make sure you were okay for the whole time and not just leave you alone until the end… I'm so sorry. I hope that you can forgive me…'

The old star said his peace and faded away… The last star in the sky that was forgotten about long ago by those he felt mattered; and he would trade it all for just one more conversation with another star he misunderstood his whole life…"

Haru peeked down to Momo and saw her asleep against his chest. He knew she was asleep a long time ago, but for some reason he just kept on ranting and read off the silly story he remembered for the longest time. On the screen he saw only the father who was shielding his eyes from the camera. The mother was gone and was trying to contain her sobs and tears on the balcony to their bedroom. The father sniffled and wiped at his eyes before asking Haru a rather personal question.

"Um… Uh, ahem… Uh, I… I must apologize for my… Um, but… If I may ask… Did… Did you ever have… Have child… Children?"

Haru didn't react strongly, but the sadness in his eyes as he looked to the moonlit lake next next to him told the naive father everything.

"... I did…"

"... I… I'm… I'm so sorry…"

The live feed actually was cut off from the parents end just then and so Haru closed the laptop and tossed the durable piece of tech to the chair he was sitting on some distance away. Too much was happening for one day; so Haru closed his eyes and retired to leave all of it to the next day.

The Next Morning

The two campers who had spent the night on a hammock hung in the middle of two perfectly distanced trees were up and about brushing their teeth looking at the rising sun with a cup of water in each of their left hands. They timed the swig of water they both took at the same time and gargled. On the sand of the lake shore their rinse water bubbled a bit and so they felt their teeth were clean enough. Both reached up and stretched out their backs and with that Haru started packing up everything to get a move on. It was still early and with only ten or so minutes of cleanup everything was packed up and breakfast was hot on the grill. Eggs in a basket for each of them and soon they were off and on the main roads again. Momo was still sporting her sleepwear from last night and had her hair down with some bedhead roughing it up ever so slightly.

"Alright, today we're going into town and getting you some clothes and other things for the road. I gotta take care of some stuff to figure out what's going on and we're going to be moving around a lot for the next few weeks so be sure to tell me if you want something or need it, ok?"

Momo looked to the side of Haru's face and knew that she shouldn't be too demanding with everything since he's done so much so far for her. She racked her brain for a list and besides clothes and some small feminine products she wasn't really thinking of anything additional in specific. An alert caught both of their attention as it came from the laptop used last night and was blinking with a small red light near the built-in camera as it kept beeping repeatedly. Haru reached over the dash and retrieved the computer and opened it up to open the call Momo's parents were making.

They came up on the screen and said their good mornings and exchanged their greetings with one another. They talked about how she was and if Haru was still treating her well; all of her responses painted him as a saint and their pleasantries went on for a majority of the ride to their next destination. Close to passing the city limits Haru asked to speak to the parents once again and placed the monitor on the dash facing him over to the side.

"I'm meeting a contact of mine in another part of the country so I'll be getting Momo a list of things she may need. If I'm missing anything send it to me through the mobile I gave you and I'll get it done. And one last thing; Whatever you do don't plug either one into a computer of any sort. I had the place set up preventing any sort of surveillance broadcasting directly to whoever may be listening in or watching you, but I didn't block your hardlines. Wall charging with the chargers I gave you and nothing else. Your chargers could be bugged and buying a new one wouldn't do much if they are as close as I think they are. Just let me take care of things and follow my lead, ok? I'll get your daughter back home safe and sound, ok?"

The two of them were still unsure and a little bit out of their depth about the whole matter. They were restricted to listen and piggyback off of his advice. The call was cut and in the distance they could see the city limits they were heading right for. For another hour or so they went through neighborhoods and streets with quite a few people starting to thin as they got closer to their destination. The buildings were tightly packed and when they got to the street that the store they were due for an entirely different habitat revealed itself as they turned the corner.

The buildings were all incredibly designed and looked more like a sci-fi setting than a simple shopping center. All the places Momo had gone to shop for clothing were often in rather old looking buildings or some other type of grandiose design that would mostly be indicative of being a place where wealthy people came for their clothing needs. Finding herself in such an unfamiliar environment was extremely exciting for the sheltered little girl. Wandering the streets in this area she saw people walking about that looked like runway models displaying the latest in tasteful streetwear. The more she observed the more she wondered if clothes like those she was looking at right at that moment would look good on her. Eventually the van came to a shop that had its own valet parking and pulling up to the entrance Haru and Momo got out and Haru rounded the front of his van to toss his keys to one of the well dressed shirt and tie valets and without a second of hesitation he took the van to a VIP spot exclusive to Haru.

Momo was still rather nervous in this unfamiliar environment and it was kinda scary to go anywhere without Haru being there to give her confidence. He gave her smaller hand a squeeze as they passed the side entrance and entered one of the most beautiful interiors that Momo had ever seen. Inside there was a spiral staircase that looked like a black crystal structure that has a staircase carved into it with black metal hand railings to prevent accidents from occuring. The walls were the same uneven surface except instead of obsidian black it was a deeb cold blue with these complex and elegant metallic whisps still visible in the uneven surface of the walls. The floors were cut from slabs of such beautiful marble and were worth their weight in riches for how selective of a process it was to get these pieces. The second, third, fourth, and fifth floors were visible from the ground floor and on display were a beautiful selection of the most exclusive and leading designs of streetwear on the market. Momo was so distracted by the design of the interior architecture she was startled when an attendant dressed in a uniquely designed uniform of a grey pencil skirt, white blouse, and black high heels with an elegant bun came over to greet them.

"Good morning, Nakamura-san. Will you be needing Mistress Asuma?"

"Yes, thank you."

The attendant left for the elevator to the top floor to let the owner know he had arrived. With just a look the attendant realized who Haru was; this didn't go over Momo and she was both surprised and impressed with Haru's notoriety with such an exclusive looking business.

"Do you want anything, Momo?"

His question caught her a bit off guard and for a moment she forgot what he asked her. She shook her head and remembered what Haru asked and thought for a second for what sounded good that morning.

"... Do they have strawberry milk?"

They had passed a vending machine as they were driving here and she was never given the privilege to try the fruity dairy beverage since while at home she was mostly only privy to expensive teas and little else.

"I think so. Let me ask."

Haru raised his right hand and snapped his fingers. Another attendant dressed like the first one came out of a different part of the store and bowed in greeting.

"How can I be of assistance, Nakamura-san?"

"I'd like a box of strawberry milk, please. Nothing fancy, just something out of a carton or something."

She bowed again and went to the catering area to complete the request for some sweet strawberry milk. Haru could read the child and guessed that Momo wanted to try some of the strawberry milk she saw when they were passing that vending machine they happened across on their way here. So with that request set a middle aged woman dressed in a midnight blue suit and pencil skirt combo came out of the elevators opposite of the store and approached Haru and Momo. Her heels were at least five inches yet she walked so powerfully and elegantly even Momo was kinda taken with the woman's aesthetic. She had some streaks of grey hair and wrinkles on her face hinting at her age; it mattered little since she would still make men less than half her age fall for her by just walking past them. She approached Haru with a delicate hand which Haru took into his own hands for a handshake.

"It's always a pleasure to have you here, Nakamura-san."

"Same here; you look good as always, Arisu."

Asuma's cheeks were dusted pink at the compliment; she still had a job from Haru this morning and she didn't drop the professionalism she took in her practices.

"So, how can I be of service to you this morning?"

He tilted his head at Momo and looking down to the small girl dressed in pain grey she could wager a guess at Haru's visit.

"Her name is Momo and right now she's lacking some basic things like clothes and basic care items. I'd like you to supervise her and get her what she needs."

Asuma bowed to Haru as confirmation to the assigned task. Haru turned to the small child and knelt down to talk to Momo for a moment.

"Momo, I gotta go do something very quick. I'll be back in a bit, but I need you to stay with Arisu here while I'm out; got it?"

Again Momo could feel herself feeling anxious over being left in an unfamiliar place once more. She shook her head and pouted while not letting Haru's hand go from her much smaller ones. The older woman could read the situation and decided it would be best to try and gently coax the little girl to her side. She knelt down to Momo's level as well and approached the small child with her own inquiries.

"Hello there. It's so nice to meet you; my name is Asuma Arisu. You can just call me Ari-neesan if you want. What's your name?"

Momo was again charmed by the older woman and let her eyes lock onto the much more experienced and gentle stare of Asuma's deep ambers. It was almost like hypnosis how pretty her eyes were.

"... M… M-momo…"

"Momo? That's such a cute name! I love your name so much; I wish my name was as nice as yours."

Hook, line, and sinker. Momo was so taken by the woman that she didn't even notice Haru had left a little while ago and with little persuasion followed the woman to the upper floors to find her some new clothes for her extended road trip with Haru.

The Inner Mask Nightclub

The nightclub that the assigned leader of the organization Haru built from nothing was just down the block where the clothing store was situated and right now something that needed his attention needed some serious heavy lifting. He approached the front door where the two absolutely massive guards posted on each side of the entrance both opened the doors for Haru and bowed as he passed. Haru was familiar enough with the place and that every person that passed by would stop what they were doing to bow to Haru and pay their respects. There were double doors leading to the upper floors where management worked and before Haru got too close they automatically opened for him. The doors sealed shut behind him and with just a flight of stairs and a set of hallways between him and his destination he quickly made his way to the office of his number one employee.

Akihara Sato was an aged man who had leadership of the most powerful thing in Japan. The government was nothing more than another tool for the organization to use to keep their grip over the country. He was wrapping up some documentation he signed off on right as his front door opened unexpectedly and looking at the unannounced intruder saw the one person who didn't warrant a reservation to see him.

"N-nakamura-san!"

"Sit down, Sato. I just need you to look into something for me real quick."

Akihara had indeed shot out of his office chair to bow to Haru as he entered. He retrieved his chair from where it collided with the massive aquarium that took up the entire back wall of his office. He sat back down as Haru sat in one of the two chairs meant for guests at his desk and proceeded to flick out a cigarette for his lips to grab a hold of and lit the stick for a good smoke. Again, if anyone else in the world tried to start smoking in his office without his permission he would reduce them to a stain on the walls with his quirk. Only this man right here could do so without his permission and even more than that Sato had an emergency lighter in his personal storage space that was hidden away in the walls in case Haru needed a light.

"Of course, sir. What do I owe to the pleasure of your presence?"

Haru took a deep drag and ashed the cigarette onto the floor. Sato genuinely didn't mind this type of behavior from Haru and saw no reason to react to the ash on his floor. If somebody who even had permission to smoke in his office didn't put the ashes in a tray of sorts he would murder them. Actually murder them, mind you.

"... I need you to take a look at this and see what you can find for me."

Haru pulled out his phone and accessed the files he had on the mobile device and swiped up on the data. Sato's computer came to life and immediately landed on the desktop the files Haru sent him opened into multiple windows for his viewing. He sorted through the data and with some insight he commented on what he could speculate.

"So I'm gonna wager that whoever would torture a family for their money and assets is someone who's close enough to their money to let the zeroes do the thinking for them. The Yaoyorozu aren't one of our's, why would you go so far for them?"

Haru took another drag and sighed at the reality of the situation.

"Their kid is a nine year old little girl who frequents my van. So for now I'm just trying to get her home safely."

Sato took the answer and left matters there. He only worried for the only superior he had since last a child was his major concern… Regardless.

"Understood. I'll get everyone on this and make it our top priority. Was there anything else?"

Haru took one last drag from the almost finished cigarette and snuffed the remains under the heel of his shoe.

"Send me any leads you uncover and if anybody finds anything I am to be the first to know. That's all for now."

Sato stood up and just bowed as Haru exited the office through the entirely glass side of the office. Once gone, Sato now had another issue at hand to address. He hit page for his secretary on the touchscreen interface of his desk.

"Send up cleaning services to my office immediately."

"Right away, sir."

Thirty Seven Minutes Later

Haru was on his phone for the past fifteen minutes just reading through data and reports regarding the kidnappers and who it was who contracted them. It was still early but the amount of security that the client of the sicario had on every attempt of contact was enough to warrant the suspicion that they had a public image they paid extra to protect. It was narrowing still but he was rather keen on not nabbing the wrong guy. There weren't any reservations on being discovered or drawing attention since there was no threat of news actually spreading. The simple principle of not analysing the information enough and making a mistake was far more important to Haru.

Once that was done he reentered the clothing store and passing the attendants who bowed to him in greeting he sought out Momo and Asuma. The third floor had quite a bit of noise coming down to the ground floor and so he climbed up the winding stars in the center of the store and dismounted off the third floor to inspect the rabble gathered there. Once he got close enough to see who was causing all the rabble, the sight of the many advisors and attendants finding something for the excited Momo who was enjoying her time in the store was enough to keep Haru at ease. He felt that maybe Momo deserved another few hours of just enjoying her time here and just gave the girl her space. Rather than returning to the ground floor, Haru approached the top floor where Asuma's office was.

There was a security guard who had his own desk there and as Haru approached the guard shot up and bowed to him. Right before he unlocked the office he unlocked the door and Haru was able to freely enter the office and just lounge at the waiting area inside the elegantly ornate office. Another attendant was even called up to see to Haru's needs; he requested from beer to loosen his nerve and with that he had a few cases of his preferred brand brought up to him as he kept reviewing more information sent to him on his phone.

Three Hours Later

"...ura-san? Nakamura-san?"

There was a small hand on his chest trying to shake him awake and coming to he saw the hesitant look of Momo trying to wake him up from his nap. He got up and sat up to check his surroundings. Thankfully to Asuma's diligent staff the cans of alcohol he had left lying around the room as he was observing the information being sent to him were gone. Momo didn't have to come in and be greeted with the sight of Haru passed out from an excessive amount of alcohol. With that concern out the way he addressed the small child trying to get his attention.

"Oh sorry! I must've gotten too comfy here and passed out. What's up, Kiddo?"

He sat up and stretched out his neck to release all the tension he was feeling in his neck.

"... Um, me and Ari-neesan are all done. We have all the clothes and other things I need and she wanted to know if you were ready to go."

Now that he was back up he took another look at Momo and saw that she had been changed out of her gray ensemble and was wearing designer streetwear personally selected by Asuma. The ensemble was chic and tasteful with a letterman's jacket in her size with a button up short sleeve under the overwear in white and jeans with spartan sandals. He smiled and paid the girl a compliment.

"Well, I see she didn't have too much trouble in finding you something that looks good on you."

Momo blushed and just fidgeted as now Haru could see her hair back in her particular ponytail and some makeup touching up her features. He could wager a guess that the woman who helped Momo pick out her outfits threw in some cosmetics with the other stuff. He was up and going hand in hand with the little girl. They walked back downstairs where Asuma was waiting for them.

"Nakamura-san, all of your purchased items have been delivered to your vehicle already and organized for your convenience."

"Thank you, Asuma-san. Until next time."

Rather than going for a handshake the woman wrapped her right hand behind Haru's head and brought him in for a deep kiss which he returned. The little girl was blushing madly at the rather lewd display of affection this very mature and polite woman was engaging Haru in. They broke off and she stared deep into Haru's eyes.

"Don't keep me waiting…"

She let him go and returned to the elevators to resume her work at her office. Haru couldn't help but smirk at that woman's antics that he couldn't help but entertain. He just went right back into his usual act and looked down at the girl who was still rather flustered at what just happened.

"Alright, let's go."

When they exited the van was already pulled up and ready to go with the valet presenting the keys for Haru in two hands. They hopped in and with a fresh wardrobe as well as some other more discreet items for her other needs they took off once more for the open road.

Two Weeks Later

Their trip together on the open road was rather uneventful for the first two weeks. Momo was having the time of her life in comparison with all the new places and people she saw for the first time. They went north for some time and would set up shop occasionally where they assumed identities of being a man watching his friend's kid while the friend was out of country to get his family to move with him. This was corroborated by Momo who just played along seeing as Haru was still hard at work identifying whoever it was that wanted to hurt Momo. Whenever he wasn't busy with orders or making sure Momo was lacking in education on their extended, and somewhat involuntary, trip; he was on his phone or computer talking with a serious tone and looking over mountains of possible leads to identifying the kidnapper. Still, there was a bit of a pattern to things and her parents would call every day and during their chats their child would go off on the new and incredible things she saw that day.

Haru would always honor the parents requests whenever he could and for the most part it put the parents at ease for whatever little consolidation it offered in the bleak situation. They asked that Momo be provided a proper education while she was unable to attend her usual studies. He not only did so; he built a curriculum and had teachers personally tutor Momo while there was time for her to settle in and focus whenever necessary. They couldn't argue that it seemed like Haru seemed to be rather competent regardless if it came to saving children from kidnappers or making up a proper lesson plan for that same child after they had been rescued. Through all this, Momo was starting to think all those times she and Haru would compare their intelligence it may not have been as close of a call as she had first thought they were at.

"Okay then, Yaoyorozu; that ends today's lessons on grammar and usage of adverbs! Did you have any other questions for me?"

Momo shook her head no to the pretty tutor she had that day. The same personal laptop Haru used for his needs was used to stream her lessons and speak to the teachers she had for her many different subjects. The two of them said their goodbyes and with that she closed the laptop and returned the personal computer to the front dashboard where Haru requested it be when she was done using it. After returning the device she went back to collect her notebook and pencils to study for her next class. It was nice that she was given structure and a sense of normalcy through studying since it was as nice as it was to travel the country with her favorite food truck cook; the study of her school subjects made things a bit more grounded for her. She sat back down onto the stool and bar area with the help of a stepping stool she made with her quirk and was twenty minutes in when somebody tapped her shoulder right as she was getting stuck on the usage of a grammatical device.

"Hello? Hi there, sweetie! Can you tell me when your dad is coming back?"

Two hikers who looked to be young backpacking women were politely asking the girl while one of them was gesturing to the 'closed' chalkboard sign. She immediately understood the implications of what they thought and for some odd reason felt a bit defensive.

"H-he's not my dad!... Uh, sorry. I mean… H-he's my dad's friend…"

The sudden outburst could have been seen as suspicious if it wasn't for the fact Momo was acting rather shy and flustered over her sudden rude behavior. The two young women took a second to process the sudden display of absolutely adorable femininity and could tell why she was so defensive. They couldn't help but giggle on the inside and wish her luck on her endeavors.

"Um, let me go ask really fast."

In one single leap she dismounted the rather tall stool and rounded the van to where Haru was smoking and making a call to his contacts. Haru would have spoken up about her maintaining her dignity since she was wearing a knee length skirt with a baggy shirt and her hair down. She also had sandals showing off the other half of her nail polish she had on her toes; a cute shade of spring emerald. Haru actually coached her on how to apply certain makeups and even made it quite entertaining by using himself as a dummy. She giggled like a crazy witch looking at Haru with delicate strokes of mascara and eye shadow along with a light rosy blush and lip gloss. If anything it was quite competent cosmetology being done, the beard and jawline was what threw it off into the land of being ridiculous looking.

"... Okay. Send me all the account activities you got and I'll review the information tonight. If you can, look into any firms that haven't done business with them for the last four years. I don't think they're stupid enough to run on a warm trail…"

Haru felt the curious peepers of Momo just peeking from around the headlights and felt that he's pretty much done with his call anyways.

"Gotta go. Send me anything and everything you find."

He closed the call and took one last drag before flicking the ember dead with the other hand and flicking the butt into a bin some distance away behind the food truck. He turned to Momo who just flinched and hid herself behind the corner; despite the fact that she saw him see her and that her shadow was clearly visible on the floor.

"Yeeees?"

It was kinda cute how she thought she was invisible from him with such young perceptions of reality. As intelligent as she was, she was still a little girl learning new things about the world and herself. She shyly peeked back over and after confirming that it was indeed her he was speaking to she barely spoke over a whisper.

"U-um… Some people… Hungry…"

He had sharp ears and was even better at reading people. He just gave her a thumbs up and led them back around the front where the two women were just patiently waiting for their little friend to return with the truck owner. What they saw was enough for them to see what the little girl saw in Haru. He had a white long sleeve with the sleeves rolled up to right below his elbows and chino shorts in dark tan showing off his legs that were slightly hairy but very cut. A necklace of gold links and a silver watch on his left hand to accessorize and what they saw was a man who took care of himself and was both tall and wide enough in the shoulders to put most men they interacted with on a regular basis to shame. He definitely was older than the twenty-odd year olds but with the hair color and beard it made him look more middle aged than old. Even through the beard his features were clearly masculine and quite well sculpted.

"Sorry about that, ladies. What's your poison for today?"

The sign was erased and with a flourish of the chalk an 'open' was now on the sign in a nice script. They had to collect themselves after seeing him in an apron made it far too easy for them to see him in a very different scenario; preferably one that would take place after another type of 'adult' activity.

"Uh, sorry. Yes, can I have a BLT wiiiith… Greek salad please?"

"Can I also get the same thing? Also, can I get the summer lager?"

"Better make it two!"

It was incredible to see that he didn't write anything down and that he seemed to be the only one working the truck. He asked for id and without hesitation they showed him their cards. He gave a once over the both of them a look on his face and suddenly became contemplative.

"... I don't buy it."

They were slightly startled at the possibility he wasn't gonna serve them their drinks.

"Huh? Why not? It's my id, see?"

"No no, it's not that. These things are about to expire in a few months and by the pictures you guy's look no different from when you first got these things!"

The two of them felt their faces light up with a heavy blush over the sincerity of the compliment he paid them. They had to shield their bright red cheeks behind their wallets lest they become more embarrassed.

"I'll get you guy's your drinks right now."

He gave another warm smile and they were both seriously contemplating if they were okay with sharing this guy considering they were too good of friends to just steal dates from the other person. That thought was fleeting at best as they felt the ire of somebody glaring at them and saw the same little girl from earlier staring daggers at both of them from behind the front of the van. They decided against it and sent her a small mental apology as they moved to be seated at the bar area under the shade of the overhead extendable roof. The alcohol was served out of frosted glasses and had the perfect foam to drink ratio as Haru gave the two of them actual glasses. They took the glasses and let the biting cold of their drinks run through their fingers. They cheered and took the first drink like champs.

The bite was light and sweet without any sort of bitterness to clog up the experience. Half the glasses were done as the two young women were already feeling the buzz since their only nutrition of the day were some granola bars and water. They got topped off and at the same moment were served their sandwiches. Even for some simple grilled sandwiches Haru was rather fast in getting their orders. They were expecting cold sandwiches with premade salad and bacon as they gripped the half of their sandwiches they were starting with. The bacon was still sizzling a bit and the cucumbers looked colorful and firm all the way down into the middle. Even the bread felt warm from being slightly grilled in cast iron sandwich presses.

There was someone peeking at him from the open door in the back of the van and just out the corner of his eye he could see Momo still peeking around the entryway.

"You want one too?"

Momo was less shy and came out of her hiding spot to nod yes. He immediately started the next sandwich and a side of fries instead of salad for the child. The two other customers already bit into their orders and unbelievably it was the best sandwich they could remember ever having. Sourdough firm but still airy enough to prevent the bread from overwhelming the meal. Bacon was smokey and so flavorful despite how little they thought was in there. A level of savory and salty that was pleasant rather than coating the tongue in pork fat and nothing else. The veggies and tomatoes were seasonally fresh and had crispness and flavor unfathomable of lettuce and tomatoes. The sauce he used was complex and binds everything together as harmony rather than just being another flavor inside the two pieces of bread. Even the cucumbers and cherry tomatoes could have been eaten on their own; but the red wine vinegar dressing was so delicate it just helped accent flavors rather than fighting for dominance. The drinks they had was just the thing to wash everything down and enjoy a complete experience of gourmet flavors.

The third sandwich for Momo was ready and when he called to her to come eat at the table she just pouted and sat at the bottom step leading up to the kitchen. Haru could see the child was having mood swings around him that were becoming more and more sporadic and he could wager a guess or two over what it could be. He was the farthest thing from dense as you could get, after all. He placed the dish on the second step up on the steps and she still gave him a polite bow and thank you for the meal. Still moody and never did she fail in being mindful of others. He also grabbed the notebook and writing utensils off to the side of the current clientele and passed the study material to Momo guessing she wanted to return to busying her mind. She happily partook of the sandwich and a few fries right as Haru passed her a few napkins and she graciously took them and wiped the extra grease off to prevent her immaculate notes from being ruined. She went right back into studying but was reminded that she was stuck on a grammar concept before she met the two hikers. She really wanted to ask Haru for help understanding the problem but didn't want to disturb him while he was working. Even if he was working for some strangers that made her feel annoyed for some reason.

"You doing some homework there? Need some help?"

Momo turned back around and the lady sitting farthest away on the bar could just peek over the kitchen counter and see the child working on an open notebook. She wanted Haru's help, but it would have been rude to turn away help and still sit here struggling over one problem doing nothing. She begrudgingly nodded her head yes and after Haru let the office worker know that he was certain that her lesson plan was language arts she puffed out her chest in confidence.

"I was top of my class in language arts in high school! Don't worry, let neesan here help you out."

"Yeah, in high school. Remember when you hit uni and you-"

"-You shut your mouth."

She would rather not be reminded of such a time and just wanted to help a little girl with her homework. Haru picked up the sandwich she was working on off the steps and Momo rounded to the serving area and grabbed the chair next to the nice office lady. The sandwich was placed back down and with two women eating lunch and drinking merrily they helped the struggling child with her grammar studies. The one who was helping Momo couldn't help but point out that her curriculum was rather advanced and was closer to a second years course work in terms of difficulty. This would have been a point of contention for her since she remembered having to deal with too much schoolwork and didn't think a girl of what seemed to be nine should be exposed to such a thing. But it seemed like they were close to done and the little girl was grasping the more advanced ideas quicker than she thought was possible for a kid.

They studied for about twenty minutes where the women kept drinking and finishing off their plates and getting to know Momo. Momo had forgotten why she was so cross with them to begin with and was very much enjoying her time with the two neesans who were just amazingly nice. Meanwhile Haru was happy this was all happening; he couldn't help but notice a pillar of smoke coming from maybe a kilometer or less from where they were. He kept his eye on the smoke and after a bit the plume was thinning and so it looked to be under control. He felt himself relax only to pick up something from where the fire was roughly originating from with his hearing. It was coming in fast and sounded like a person with a flying quirk heading for their location. Either it was someone who had finally caught wind of Momo's location; or based on the fact that there were public restrooms and faucets for freshwater next to those facilities, he took a shot in the dark over what it actually could have been.

Suddenly a costumed hero with a yellow cape and red costume came tumbling into the parking lot and rolling around to try and get the spots on his costume still on fire. The three women sitting at the bar were shocked to see a hero suddenly drop from the sky and roll around to try and extinguish the flames that were still active on him. His costume was burnt in a few spots but it was clear the costume material was meant to be flame retardant. They were so caught off guard that they didn't even notice Haru was already scooping a handful of ice into a sizable water pitcher and exited the van towards the panicking hero who was trying to stumble to the water faucets. He wasted no time in using some of the water to douse the flames still burning on parts of his costume. The whole hero began steaming as his body was still burning hot from whatever he just came from. Haru gripped the cape and brought the hero under control and just kept pouring ice water over him until he cooled off enough to stop steaming. For everyone else looking on it looked really fucking stupid.

The hero managed to stand back up and regained his composure to see he had an audience for the little performance that had just happened. Being fireproof lent its advantages; but it still hurt like a bitch. Looking to his savior he saw a white bearded man look at him sternly with some amount of irritation.

"Uh, thank you citizen! My name is-"

"-Not interested! Do you have any idea how dangerous that was just now?!"

Now there were several things that just happened that Haru wanted to address, but he felt that even putting this moron out was enough of a waste of time.

"What the fuck are you thinking flying into a public area while your still on fire? Why didn't you take proper precautions to keep yourself from starting another fire? Are you that stupid?"

"Uh. I uh. I-it's my first day."

"I don't give a shit if it's your millionth! A single fuck up is one thing; but being as stupid as you were AND fucking up?! Jesus, if there were more people here you could have burned someone badly! Worse yet, you could have set other people and the area ablaze!"

Haru picked up the shorter hero by the hand that wasn't holding the pitcher and held the goggled hero so close to his face that the red tinted lenses were filled with nothing but his angry mug.

"I thought they trained you heroes better than that. Clearly you're anything but. Next time you do this; make sure you at least keep the casualties to just yourself, understand?"

The frosted tips of his hair shook some water loose as he nodded furiously. Haru just dropped the frightened hero and in a blink he was flying off back to his fellow heroes. It just fucked him off that some people who are far too stupid for their own good were capable of such destructively stupid shit. Well, it was over and the area with the fire was barely putting out smoke so he returned to the three shocked women. The van slightly dipped under his weight and standing back behind the counter he tied his apron off behind him. The women were still just staring in awe of him. Not only did he approach the dangerous situation without any hesitation, but he told off the one responsible about his shortsightedness that could have done more damage than anyone there could have realized. He was so confident and powerful in the situation that the two women now feeling the effects of the alcohol were feeling rather moist downstairs just looking at him.

Momo didn't have nearly as much of a reaction as the other two, it still made her admiration of Haru so much stronger since it reminded her of when he saved her. It was because of him that she's able to look back at one of the worst days of her life and remain brave; all because of Haru's rescue. He shielded her and made sure she wasn't just physically safe but emotionally unharmed. His heartbeat she felt when he carried her was still so familiar and warm. Haru may not have a license or a costume; but he was braver and more worthy of the title 'hero' than most other people being heroes in name only.

Three Hours Later

The open road was once again flying past their windows with Haru just paying attention to the road with Momo studying her math notes. She started feeling a little dizzy and rubbed her eyes a little. The fact that Haru was driving on a mountain highway did little to subtract from his observational skills.

"I told ya. You keep studying while we're driving; you're just gonna make yourself sick, kiddo."

She could only muster up a grumble of disapproval as she dropped the ream of spiral paper drop to the floor with a slap and just tried to lose the headache she felt coming on. She elected to just close her eyes and just relax until her head stops throbbing. Slowly but surely the blood pressure in her temples began releasing and she felt so much better. She was going to start up another conversation with Haru when a call suddenly came in on Haru's personal cell and with a flick and a peek he unlocked the device and spoke into the receiver.

"Inko! It's been a bit… Yeah, sorry I've been busy with something important… No no, I can talk…"

It was the first time Momo heard Haru address someone else with just the first name without honorifics. Besides her the whole time she was with Haru she would always hear him either speak with honorifics or outright dismissal. This was new in terms of treatment; also it seemed like it was a woman on the other side of the line. She had her eyes closed already so she decided to act asleep for a bit. Obviously Haru didn't buy it but he kept on going with the conversation.

"Uh huh… That's great! I'm so happy for you two… Yeah?... I think so…"

He pulled the phone off his ear and just quickly scanned his calendar app. It was filled up but still he trekked on.

"Sure, it should be just fine… Yeah, I'll be there at… Is eleven ok?... Alright, eleven it is…"

The next part was spoken with such honesty and an emotion she never heard from Haru's voice.

"I'll be there… Yeah… I know… I would be honored to… Absolutely, we should… Yeah?... It's good to hear your voice too; and I've missed you too… Okay, see you then… Bye…"

The phone just hung onto Haru's ear for a touch too long before he hung up and just stared down at the phone for a moment. A tender smile and gentle look in his eyes managed to escape his face as he was thinking about the person who had just called him from out of nowhere. In the corner of Momo's eyes she saw the expression and felt something bitter and tight clenching her sternum. Haru didn't treat her badly, but he never looked at her like he did that phone just now. It was so complicated for the young child and the more she thought about it the more the aching sensation in her chest hurt. Didn't he care about her like she cared about him? Why was he going so far for her just to do this to her? To her? The concept was weird to think about since Haru didn't actually do anything except take care of her and make sure that she was taken care of at all times. This was all too much for her adolescent mind and so she just curled up in the large passenger seat and elected to try and fall asleep.

"Kiddo? You ok?"

There it was again; the care and support that once made her feel like she was all that mattered to Haru. Now it just made her chest tight and made her feel guilty for being so bitter to a stranger. She didn't know anything about this Inko; why did she villainize her like she kicked her dog? It all hurt to think about so for now she was due for a nap. Since the weather was a bit warm for the springtime Haru had the air conditioning going and the sun was pretty much to their back for now and it felt just a touch too cold. Before she felt too uncomfortable a wool comforter was draped over her by Haru like he was reading her mind.

"... Sleep well, kiddo…"

It didn't make sense to her. She should respect and hold Haru to the highest regard for all he did. All she felt was hurt and bitterness at Haru for being so nice to her and making her feel like this. She fought the urge to cry with wet eyes and soon she was nodding off to neverland. The emotions that Momo was going through weren't lost on Haru. He was well aware of her little crush on him and truly didn't want to hurt the naive young girl over what was likely her first true love. He was reminded of a saying a long time ago; so long in fact that he couldn't remember where exactly he heard it from. When you're a kid; it's called a crush because sometimes you need to learn that when things don't go as planned you get crushed. He provided her some comfort but it still hurt to let Momo down like this. His heart wasn't hers and it would never be.

Four Days Later, Eleven AM

For now it was nice for Haru to revisit some familiar places and being back to this neighborhood was nice. Haru was wearing just a navy blue button up short sleeve with a white zigzag pattern speckling the fabric and sunglasses like those classic jazz players. A pair of lighter beige shorts with leather sandals completed the ensemble and gave the air of summer finally being here to stay. Honestly it was just a little warm today and some of their activities today were taking place outdoors. He was parked in front of a single home unit and didn't plan on staying for long. He took a moment to just enjoy being somewhere familiar. He turned back to the van and signaled to Momo in the passenger seat to follow him.

"Cmon, come say hi to the Midoriya family!"

The door popped open and slowly a girl dressed in denim shorts and white blouse with a baggy cardigan that sat behind her knees paired with a similar pair of leather sandals as she came plodding along up the pathway to the front door with visible reluctance. Her baseball cap was black and had the brand logo on the front above the curved bill to help keep the sun off her face. She was still a bit quiet but at least she wasn't as downright moody from a few days ago. He considered it progress since he was respectful of her space and in that short time Momo did manage to rationalize quite a bit of what she was feeling at the time. Her way through the emotions sticking to the inside of her ribs was mostly a case of just letting the time pass and allowing the more intense emotions of attraction she felt to just dissipate naturally. As of right now the last bit of tension in her head keeping her from being wholefully okay with her feelings being rejected was the mystery of who this Inko was. Haru didn't go out of his way to contact her and when she contacted him he never hesitated to answer either. So, who was she to get such a confusing reaction from Haru?

"Alright, here we go…"

Haru rang the doorbell and for a few moments they just waited side to side for a response. In the intercom a voice came through; the sound of the voice was rather soothing and very motherly in the tone it was at.

"Hello? This is the Midoriya household."

"Hey Inko, it's me."

After another few moments the front door unlocked and past the doorway Momo was faced with the most wholesome and caring woman she had ever met apart from her mother.

"Haru! Please, bring your guest in!"

Momo was still frustrated that not only did this woman also use Haru's first name casually; she didn't exclude Momo from her attention and held Haru accountable to guide Momo since she was the only stranger here. Her and Haru entered the home after removing their identical footwear and entering the threshold. In terms of height, Inko beat Momo since she seemed to be more developed than the girl. The woman looked to be quite youthful and was rather attractive for her age. The child had quite the active mind and it made it difficult to just let matters go when she began obsessing over details. Now in the living room the whole space felt claustrophobic as a home that people lived in. She would often sleep out under the stars with Haru and when she slept at home her room was easily able to encompass this whole apartment in itself. This woman was the unwilling recipient of the child's vitriol and it filled Momo with guilt that she felt the way she did.

"Izuku is just finishing up upstairs; he'll be down in just a minute. Would you two like something to drink?"

"Just whatever you have in the fridge for us, thanks."

Inko retrieved two glasses and from the pitcher she retrieved from the fridge she filled them with barley tea for Haru and Momo. He took his glass without hesitation and downed the glass in no time. Momo didn't want to offend Inko so she just sipped the refreshing beverage a little at a time. Inko reached out to Haru expecting the glass to be requested for a refill and just like clockwork he put the glass into Inko's hand for her to refill. Momo was clearly reading a bit too much into the situation and felt excluded from these two grown ups who knew each other so well. Haru finished off the second glass in record time as a voice from behind called out and made itself known.

"Haru-san!"

Haru turned to the source and saw the green mop of hair he hadn't seen in some time sprint towards him.

"Izuku! Oh my goodness, you just keep growing boy! You're going to leave me in the dust in no time at this rate!"

Haru lifted the boy into the air and both just let the other know how much they missed one another.

"No way! You're way bigger! You're like a giant, Haru-san!"

"There you go again; you're such a charmer you."

The boy just giggled as Haru roughed up the wild head of wavy green hair with his right hand. The more Haru let Momo into the more personal parts of his life the farther she felt from him. Right now she felt like a complete stranger in this home. By no means was Haru trying to forget about Momo; it was just hard to contain how much he missed these two when he wasn't able to see them for any extended period of time. Haru shuffled Momo closer to the son and mother to introduce her to them.

"Momo, this is Midoriya Inko; she's a good friend of mine. This is Izuku, her son."

This was her time to be brave and show how mature she could be in front of everybody. She put on the most mature and calm face she could muster when she went to shake Inko's hand.

"Goodday, my name is Yaoyorozu Momo; it's such a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh my! You are so polite and gentle; I wish I had such a charming young lady as yourself as a friend when I was your age. You definitely could have taught me a thing or two about being a lady back then."

Inko was just being herself paying the polite girl a compliment from the heart. Being so well complimented when she was trying to show off her maturity just made her feel even more complicated over the kind single mother. Momo was happy over being praised for her manners and it was hard to dislike Inko when the woman was so nurturing and kind to everyone around her. Her immature preconception of how things were likely to play out were coming apart at the seams.

"Izuku, this is Momo. She's a little shy; so be gentle, okay?"

The green haired boy was certainly spinning his gears over what he should say as to set the best example of a first impression. The girl wasn't put off at all as the two of them were just standing in front of each other; it was obvious Izuku was shy and he was working hard to say something so as to not offend the other child. He was a bit stiff but with a robotic hand being offered to Momo she gingerly took the offered limb and shook his arm in greeting.

"Hi, I'm Izuku. You're the prettiest girl I have ever seen..."

Now that was a thing to say for Izuku to the young Yaoyorozu. His mother and Haru were just mildly surprised over the rather tactless and straightforward compliment while Momo was feeling an inferno sweep over her face. The children had some difficulty processing the awkward atmosphere and the only thing that broke the two kids out of their stasis was Inko reminding everyone what was happening.

"Wow, the aquarium sure seems fun! I wonder what kinds of fish are waiting for you guys!"

The two children finally managed to snap out of it and with a turn of her heel Momo went straight for the front door and was going back to the van. The young boy felt so bad since it seemed that he said something that was rather offensive and wanted to apologize more than anything. He even feebly reached out for her to come back so that he could explain himself. Haru could recognize good intentions from Izuku and wanted to at least make it so that he wouldn't be so hung up over the seemingly poor first impression.

"Okay! We better get going, you and Momo will be in the front so get used to that; okay?"

"...Wait, wh-"

Izuku was already being shuffled out the door before he could elaborate that the 'front seats' were just the drivers and passenger seats. Thus the implication that he and Momo would be side to side sitting in the same seat the whole trip to the aquarium they had planned seemed a bit much for the shy boy. Haru was strapping the two of them into the same passenger seat before turning on the van and activating the AC to cool off the somewhat warm front compartment of the Volkswagen. It wasn't the last thing Haru did before taking off since he went back to the front door of the Midoriya household to speak with Inko one last time before they took off for their next passenger.

"Hey, Inko… I know I tend to be spotty when I just feel like it; I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate you for just… Understanding…"

When it came to Inko it was hard for Haru to talk his way out of it like he usually does for other situations. She was smart enough to know when something was going on when Haru left for an unexplainable period of time that it was hard for him to explain to her what it was that actually happened. The fact that he always gave her the time of day and returned her calls when he could was another testament to how honest he was when he said that he was sorry for being gone for longer than he wanted to be from this family. Inko could tell that there was something that he wanted to share with her; but until he told her himself she would just wait patiently and just be thankful he was here at all because of how much he cared about her and her son. She wrapped her arms around Haru's neck and just buried her face into his left collar bone. Only she knew what he smelled like when he would embrace her. A cologne she commented on for being rather easy on the nose since she didn't fancy the cloying scent other brands went for. He only wore it when he went to see her and every time she hugged him it was there for her. She truly didn't favor stronger smelling men's cologne in her older age; for Haru it was more about the preservation of his scent that she couldn't help but indulge herself in. Haru returned the embrace and took in the feeling of her body against his.

"Don't ever apologize to me. Just come back to me and I'll always forgive you."

For Haru it was incredible how kind and patient Inko was for him. When he would be gone for weeks on end he would just want to reach out and talk to Inko. She would always answer no matter the hour and it was never an unpleasant day when he could spare time to see her. Her body still felt elegant and firm against his chest and hips. He didn't need anyone to tell him that the woman was engaging in fitness and yoga while being on a diet regimen to maintain herself for Haru. The whole hangup he thought she was under for her physical appearance was addressed over a friendly cup of coffee. She said that she hadn't done it for her own self vanity; it was more for the reason that she felt it necessary that someone she cared for was someone she saw important enough to improve and maintain her health for. They knew that they were avoiding the main issue but for now they were okay with this. Haru gave Inko a hug back and just let the memory of the feeling of her against him just refresh itself.

"... Okay."

They lingered for a second before breaking off and just letting their eyes linger on each other as they separated. For this whole interaction Momo just stared out the window past Izuku and realized how feeble her feelings were for the older man. Someone already was there and able to understand Haru when all she could do was just accept that her life experiences were lacking for Haru. She just felt drained of all her energy and Izuku saw that she was going through a lot. He was always the observant one and could never leave anyone alone to their own devices if he could help it. It wasn't the time now to say something, but later he might be able to help her.

Haru was back in the driver's seat and off to their next destination with Momo hiding behind a false smile and Izuku still concerned for her emotional wellbeing. Haru could pick up that the atmosphere was getting denser as more time passed and just opted to let the radio play as they approached the last destination on their list. In front of an apartment complex not too far away from Izuku's neighborhood Haru parked in temporary parking and left the engine running for the kids.

"Alright, so I gotta pick up one more for our trip and I need you two to just hang tight until I get back. Can you two do that for me?"

Momo nodded while Izuku saluted. Haru just left things at that as he went inside to get their last passenger. For now Momo and Izuku were free to roam around as they wished but neither really moved from where they were originally seated at. Momo just reached for the glove compartment and pulled out the notebook of her lesson plans and just started answering her math homework. Izuku was rather stuck and limited in what his available options were to do in this situation. Momo was a complete stranger and was clearly upset with something; probably him for saying something so insensitive. Of all things that Izuku could be, he was an overthinker. He racked his brain for all sorts of answers but nothing was sticking for a conversation starter. It wasn't until something Haru said to him that he was able to slow himself down enough to think of something to say. The boy was rather perceptive but had a bad habit of holding on to all the information he produced in his head rather than filter out what wasn't useful. The brain had a bad habit of comparing and contrasting information when a lot of the information it was working with wasn't even important. So taking a breath and calming his nerves he just eliminated the white noise of his observations of this girl and arrived at a solution. In a moment of clarity and confidence her turned to Momo he said the one thing he felt would get the girl talking without her hating him.

"So, Haru san is pretty amazing; huh?"

Momo stopped scanning redundant information and turned to Izuku with an expression even Izuku couldn't figure out. Momo dropped her notebook on the floor and just expelled everything she had on Haru onto the poor boy.

"Amazing? Amazing?! He has all sorts of talents and is unbelievably stronger than you could even imagine! I mean, he eve-"

She caught herself from revealing more than what was necessary from the past few weeks. When the question of who could know of her disappearance came up Haru was rather straightforward in his response. He told her that until they found whoever it was that wanted to hurt her family they couldn't share anything about what was happening with anyone ever. At the end of his explanation he gave her he also disclosed that he won't force her to keep quiet after they get whoever it was who wanted her kidnapped. After this was all done she could be as vocal and as loud as she wanted to be about everything; including the fact that Haru was the one who saved her. He trusted her as much as he needed her to trust him. There were no hesitations to tell her the truth and he only blurred out information for the child when it was appropriate. Her parents trusted him and nothing he told her felt like a lie with all she's seen.

"He's honest, he's noble, he isn't even a hero and he's more amazing than any hero I know of!"

Her ramblings just kept rolling out and a few times she just repeated something that she already said about Haru's abilities of being an ideal person. Until she realized she was disciplining someone who knew Haru better than her she was ranting and raving like a madwoman. The moment she caught herself she was so embarrassed for being so rude and belligerent that she just wanted to crawl up into a ball and just fade away into oblivion. In the final parts of her passionate speech she realized that she was ranting to a stranger and wanted to erase everything she just said to the young boy. For Izuku, it wasn't anything as serious as Momo made it out to be in her own head.

"Haru-san is amazing! I mean he never lost a fight against Ka-chan; no matter how many times he does it!"

Rather than awkward silence or dejection; Izuku saw the opportunity to connect with the young girl and just share in their mutual admiration of the rather unassuming traveling culinary innovator. All the things she said seemed to have no bearing on the young boy as he showed nothing but wholesome wonder when it came to Haru.

"He keeps saying that he doesn't have a quirk; but I think that maybe he does! Maybe it's super speed with a combination of armored skin? Or maybe…"

Now Izuku was the one going off and rambling about all he could figure out of the enigma that was Nakamura Haru. It was a little overbearing at first to just sit by and just listen to the boy; the realization that she had just done the same to him was all that kept her silent. The information that Izuku was prattling on about actually was rather interesting and bit by bit she was engaged with Izuku by listening to what he had to say. It wasn't ranting like she had done out of fanaticism for Haru and her short time of knowing him; Izuku had years to get to know Haru and the information he shared was actually revealing of the man himself. Unfortunate for them that right as they were coming to a rhythm with one another they were interrupted by a blonde boy with hair that just went everywhere opening the passenger door and climbing in and occupying Momo's right side. Haru came into the driver's side at the same time as the blonde.

"Heya! I hope I didn't waste too much time. So Momo; this is Bakugou Katsuki. Katsuki, meet Momo."

Bakugou looked at the girl and in a rather distant and insincere greeting he just dipped his head and said his hellos.

"My name is Bakugou. Please treat me well…"

"Uh. Sure, of cour-"

The young Katsuki was just looking back at the window and just ignored the girl; much to her irritation.

"Hey, Ka-chan! How're ya?"

The blonde was unresponsive to Izuku's attempts to engage in conversation. He just kept to himself and just stared out the window. Haru started the engine and addressed the rather cold behavior coming from Katsuki.

"Bakugou, the least you could do is greet yourself. They are doing quite a lot to greet you, at least return the courtesy in equal value."

There was a rather large amount of reluctance from the blonde as he just stared at the others in the same chair he was strapped to and delivered a more complete greeting.

"Hello, My name is Bakugou Katsuki! You're Yaoyorozu Momo, and he's Izuku Midoriya. Happy?"

Haru was rather fed up from the harsh greetings and shot a look at Bakugou that was very much a last warning for him to deliver a proper greeting. The boy understood and wasn't challenging Haru's requests at this point.

"Hello, My name is Bakugou Katsuki. Please treat me well and I hope we can get along well enough."

Izuku was used to the cold treatment but Momo was taken aback from the constant displays of defiance from the strange boy. Never had she met someone so cold and rough. It looked like Haru was satisfied enough for now and everyone else fell silent and it felt as though she was the only odd one out. Again having to deal with another stressful social situation Momo felt it best to just keep silent and just listen to the radio. The music was entertaining enough to alleviate the trip from awkward to okay at least…

Half an Hour Later

All three of the children had passed the front gate and were so energetic to go and see all of the unique and new sights that Haru had to chase the three of them with wrist bands for entrance to the aquarium. Even the once steely Bakugou couldn't resist smiling and jumping for joy at the sight of the main building. He barely managed to snatch the three children by the back of their collars and admonish them for running ahead of him without their identification bands. He snapped on their bands and promised them all that they would all see what they wanted by the end of the day. For each child they each had a different interest and it was a bit of a clash for what they all wanted out of the experience. Momo wanted to interact and play with the seals. Bakugou wanted to check out the sharks and predators section. Izuku just wanted to touch and feel cool aquatic life. Not wanting things to erupt between the kids, Haru just had them play rock, paper, scissors for the order of today's activities.

They all played the game fairly and for the order of the day they had the schedule for their adventure. Momo was first and Izuku was second. Bakugou was left dead last and was just looking at the scissors he chose for the game like he wanted to melt his hand off with just his vision. Haru decided to make the last slot more enticing for the frustrated boy and whispered into the blonde's ear for a minute and once he finished Bakugou and Haru made a pinky promise with a thumb press for security that Haru would follow through with his promise. The young Katsuki was much more compliant and tame after that exchange and with that underway they all entered the aquarium for a day of just enjoying the aquarium.

First up was Momo's desire to see and play with the seals in the shows that the aquarium put on. She was just hopeful for the second part of the wish and mostly wanted to just watch the educational shows that the aquarium put on regarding the sea mammals. She saw the seals as so adorable and irresistibly cute for her to hold back trying to per their little fat bodies. They all walked to the seal show and from a sign that they passed it seemed that the seal show was cancelled. Momo was rather discouraged and Izuku felt bad for her seeing that she didn't get her wish fulfilled. Bakugou was indifferent at best as it was irrelevant whether or not the two other kids got their way or not. Haru just ushering the children to the exhibit and while there wasn't anybody inside the auditorium that wasn't their destination.

Haru led the kids through a side door in the back of the auditorium where an employee was already there to guide them through the backstage areas. They navigated the hallways and eventually they landed in the area where the seals actually hung out and socialized with one another. Some years ago wildlife in aquariums were mandated to some level of privacy so that they weren't too stressed over people staring nonstop during business hours. In the more private areas of the aquarium there was a section of the facilities that allowed the sea mammals to escape the stresses of the public and just be themselves. They were now in that hidden area.

Haru and the children were guided by the staff up and towards the seal's social area. Even Bakugou who was rather standoffish found himself giddy to meet and touch the seals. They all were at the seal's private environment and the staff there instructed the kids to remove shoes and socks as well as long sleeved outerwear to prevent their clothing from being wet. Bakugou and Izuku just removed their shoes and socks while Momo removed her sandals and cardigan.

They were all ready to meet the seals and the entrance of the seal's living area was partially submerged in water. Haru stood back as the kids just waddled through the cold water as the staff began calling up the seals that were now free to interact with the kids with the educational show being cancelled. Five of the thick blubbery sausages came popping out of the water one after another and as well trained animals with all their needs met they all came up to the kids and started sniffing their knees like a bunch of excited and friendly dogs. They all giggled and happily petted the seals and the seals all responded positively and just let the kids just pet them and enjoyed the attention of the children that was giving them all their attention.

It was such a precious sight to see the three kids forget their worries and just enjoy the company of some friendly seals. The atmosphere was jovial and peaceful and it was worth every bit of effort it took to let these kids have this day to themselves. The seals were just enjoying the petting and scratching the kids gave them and under the guidance of the aquarium stall it all went off without a hitch. Haru decided now was a good enough of a time to break off from the kids to see an old friend who resided at this very aquarium. The staff guided Haru to the area he requested and with that he disappeared from the area until he felt it necessary to move on with their day.

Momo was thirty minutes in and enjoying such a unique and amazing day of interacting and playing with seals she thought that was impossible for her. These animals were protected and even when she asked her papa it seemed hard to get a meeting with these blubbery and adorable mammals. Haru did it in less than two days and it was the best. Speaking of which Momo was curious where the white haired protector of hers was as she noticed that he was nowhere in sight.

"Where's Haru-sam?"

The question was asked aloud to her right and turning she saw the very same Izuku letting a seal nuzzle into his hands ask where Haru was. The two were noticeably distraught without Haru and Bakugou was still distracted with two of the seals who were playing fetch with a plastic ring he had. The staff noticed and approached the kids looking around.

"Hey, is something wrong? What are you looking for?"

Izuku was the first to ask the aquarium staff the question that both he and Momo were hung up about.

"Do you know where Haru-san is? I can't find him anywhere."

The staff didn't hesitate to help the two kids find their caretaker for the day and through a few metal doors Izuku and Momo finally arrived at a metal door that their guide was hesitant to open for them.

"So Haru-san let us know that your requests to where he was were requested to be honored. As one of the staff here I must warn you that he's interacting with someone super important to the seal exhibit at our aquarium. So if it's okay with you it would be preferred that you just watch from here in secret."

THat was a lot for some kids trying to find the guy who brought them here in the first place. They could only manage a blank nod and so the employee cracked the door open to the next area and what the kids saw was a version of Haru who they weren't familiar with. Through the crack of the open door they could see Haru just sitting at the edge of shallow water that was elevated from the slightly submerged incline and just interacting with a greying seal that had a numerous amount of scars on its face and body. The seal was rather mean looking with all the scars and size it was; Haru was just spending time with the mammal and it was so gentle and even purring under Haru's caresses of its fur. Next to Haru there was a container of sardines he plucked a fat and savory one from and fed the alpha of the herd here at the aquarium. He didn't reward the seal for a trick or anything like that; it was like these two just wanted to spend time with one another whenever they could as friends. It was such a vulnerable sight that both Izuku and Momo backed off and just gave Haru his space with an old friend.

Three Hours Later

The three kids were fully done with their fun with the seals and the blubbery sausages just left and swam away about five or so minutes ago. The day would have ended with just the seals and everyone would have left perfectly satisfied. Haru came back just in time as they were all putting their footwear back on.

"Sorry about that! I got caught up with something and I lost track of time. So, are we ready to go?"

Between Momo and Izuku they had their little secret over what they saw and they just smiled to each other and just enjoyed their shared experience. Haru guided the kids out of the private habitat and from there they spent the rest of the time the aquarium was open just exploring all the attractions and interacting with the sea animals. For hours they just went from one educational show to another and for the other hours they all just wandered around to enjoy the interactive exhibits. As the ever vigilant Haru he was always somewhere that was in eyeshot with all the children. Don't ask how he managed that when he escorted the kids to the bathroom. A hint; with much difficulty unknown to the kids.

At some point during their visit Bakugou and Haru were both looking at a jellyfish exhibit side to side and just talking to one another in relative privacy. Momo and Izuku happened to look at them at the same time from the cushioned seating they just happened to take a break at in front of a tropical fish exhibit. Momo felt rather envious with how close Haru and Bakugou seemed to be with their conversation. Izuku picked up on this like the perceptive boy he was and commented on the subject of her concern.

"Haru-san and Ka-chan are super close, huh? Sometimes I feel a little jealous of Ka-chan."

Momo looked at Izuku slightly startled and couldn't think of anything to say to the boy over her stumbling and non-answers. Izuku kept speaking since Momo didn't respond with an actual coherent answer.

"Haru-san's the only one Ka-chan talks to like that. I mean, it wasn't always like that… It's just… I think that people change… Sometimes…"

It was obvious for the girl that Izuku was hinting that he and Bakugou had a bit of a past that wasn't so cold as things were now. Izuku couldn't think of what to say next so she and him just stared at the colorful fish while sitting on the ottoman seating. It wasn't quite awkward, but Momo still couldn't hide her curiosity of the blonde and Izuku.

"... Izuku-san?"

"Hm?"

"... What were you guys like, then?"

The boy sheepishly scratched the back of his neck and felt a bit vulnerable under her scrutiny. He couldn't blame her for asking since he was the one who brought up the subject. Now she was feeling too nosy in asking and seeing Midoriya's hesitation. She was about to drop the question when Izuku answered and cut her off.

"Ka-chan was kinda the leader of our group. Me and two other guys followed Ka-chan all the time and he was the coolest. He wasn't scared of anything! It was like he could fight anything and win no matter what. I mean; he isn't as strong as All Might, but there were a lot of kids that wanted to be called strong too. A lot of kids came and picked fights with us and Ka-chan always protected us."

They were really good friends a long time ago and it showed in how much Izuku was praising somebody who was now acting as if he didn't even exist now. Momo politely listened and was genuinely invested in the retelling of Izuku's and Bakugou's falling out.

"I thought he was the coolest of all of us… But Ka-chan changed."

Izuku lost the sparkle he had in his eyes and was a little downtrodden remembering how things unfolded.

"He began pushing me away. I didn't know why. I still don't know why. I tried to talk to him but he just would get mad at me… And when he found out…"

The boy looked right into Momo's eyes with a serious look on his face that caught her off guard. It was a bit intense as she felt her cheeks being lightly rosy from the boy being so sudden with her. He was the one seeking safety from her judgement and he was unknowingly doing the same to her.

"I need you to promise me something? I need you to do that before I tell you!"

"Uh, uh, uh. S-sure! Yeah, okay okay!"

He stuck out his right pinky between them and was just as serious about getting a guarantee from Momo.

"Pinky swear! I mean it!"

The space left that separated their faces was getting smaller and Momo was rather flustered at the lack of personal space Izuku was depriving her of.

"Okay! I said yes!"

She snatched the tiny digit with her own and they interlocked. Izuku looked satisfied and sat back down straight; leaving the girl to try and calm down her racing heart. She had no time for that either since Izuku was waving her closer to him now. Momo swallowed and tepidly leaned in and Izuku leaned in to whisper into her right ear. His breath was warm against her lobe and it sent a shiver down her spine with how pleasant his voice was as he whispered to her.

"The truth is… I don't have a quirk."

In a moment Momo forgot her shyness and just turned to Izuku out of surprise for how serious it was for him to tell her himself. Had she been less kind or polite she would have judged or treated Izuku far more harshly than not at all. She felt sorry just as much as she felt surprised someone like him still existed. The general understanding she had her whole life was that everyone had a quirk by this point in human history. He must feel so left out and alone with nobody to understand him.

"H-how… Wh… I mean… I'm sorry…"

It was a somber look in his eyes as he smiled to try and tell the girl it was alright. There was not much she could do for him on that forefront and it wasn't as terribly lonely as she thought it was.

"You don't have to apologize. I mean people can be a bit mean, but I have my mom and Haru-san to make it feel less hurtful. Plus, Haru-san's just like me too."

Now that was something she wasn't expecting. Her eyes bugged out and her jaw dropped to the floor as she snapped her head closer to Izuku in disbelief. There was no way that was true; after everything they went through together and he was quirkless?

"No way! Haru-san can't be-"

The shushing that Izuku gave her made her realize she was raising her voice in a relatively quiet part of the aquarium and it was attracting the attention of the public in their vicinity. Momo caught herself and just sat back down where she originally sat and blushed embarrassed for acting the way she did. She tried to keep her eyes on the fish floating and weaving through the rocks in the tank while trying to will her face to lose all the blood that had pumped itself to the skin. Izuku just sat there looking at her until she calmed herself a bit.

"... There's no way he's quirkless. He just doesn't… He just can't."

At least she was just whispering now and not blurting out Haru's secret for everyone to hear. Izuku could guess that she saw Haru in action and told her the same thing again.

"He's super strong, right? I thought so too; but Haru-san really doesn't have one. His pinky toe bends and everything, he showed me and everything."

"B-but, how?"

"How is he so strong? Well…"

Izuku began fiddling with his shirt and avoided looking at Momo as he felt the sadness of retelling Haru's story for the curious girl.

"He was-"

"Hey guy's! Sorry about the wait; I got caught up explaining jellyfish biology to Bakugou here and we lost track of time. Did you two wait too long?"

They both snapped to attention and saw Haru towering behind them with Bakugou grabbing Haru's left pocket. The blonde spitfire was still just looking off to the side rather than looking at the other children. Momo wanted to give Katsuki a piece of her mind over what she had heard from Midoriya and was about to say something when Haru cut off the attempt.

"So; who wants lunch?"

Like a comedy act Momo's stomach gurgled and all three of them couldn't help but stare at the flustered girl. They didn't mean to and it was more of a reaction to the noise but for Momo it just made her feel mortified and want to teleport into the massive tank next to her and drown out of embarrassment.

"... Okay, one vote for lunch. Anybody else?"

Five Minutes Later

Haru was keeping the two boys up front in his eyeline and just held hands with Momo to keep her from getting lost in the crowds. They were outside now and were on their way to the food court to snag some lunch. Katsuki was mostly ignoring Izuku, who was talking more at Bakugou than actually talking to him. Haru could feel the girl's hang ups over the boy's current relationship and her desire to help the green haired boy find some common ground with the blonde. He knew that even with good intentions he should inform her as to why it was that they were like this now.

"So… I'm guessing Izuku told you about his past friendships with Bakugou?"

She didn't look at Haru but just opted to squeeze his hand in frustration for Midoriya.

"Yeah, those boys used to be the best of friends before things changed. Actually it was more like lackey and leader, but that's all semantics. Bakugou didn't start picking on Izuku because he was quirkless. It was something he made fun of him for it and the topic still hurts to talk about for the both of them. No, it was something else…"

Momo listened intently while her eyes were glued to the two boys still walking up ahead.

"Do you know what pakugou's quirk is? It's a quirk called explosion. The sweat that Bakugou produces from his hands can explode and produce flames at will. These explosions can range from firecrackers to massive fireballs the size of a large room. So it made sense that everyone told Bakugou he was gifted and ready to become a successful hero. Nobody cast any doubt on him and in the end it made him consider himself undefeatable. Really, he just felt as though losing would mean that he'd let everyone who told him how great he was to be down."

That was some rather backwards perspective on the situation. So he wasn't actually cocky, but was just scared of looking weak? Aren't those basically the same thing though? Momo still wanted to know more and saved the question for later; for now she kept silent and just let Haru finish his tale.

"So for a while he was being spoon fed positive feedback and no matter what I did I couldn't control the things that were being said to him everyday. Izuku still treated Bakugou the same as he did with everyone he cared about. Bakugou was so sold on the idea of his public image that when Izuku asked him when he was alright or if he needed help; Katsuki took it as an insult without realizing the differences of sympathy and pity."

"That's wrong! Why would he do that to his friend? That's not what heroes do!"

Haru looked at Momo and gave her an understanding smile. For someone as smart and compassionate as Momo, it was difficult to understand why Katsuki devolved to pity bullying.

"You're right, they don't… It was partially my fault that things got worse for them after I told Midoriya to tell his friends and trust that they would understand and still be there for him. I was wrong at the time."

Momo saw a look of hurt on Haru's face recalling the events of that day when he found out what was happening. It wasn't a pleasant memory for anyone there and it still gave Haru feelings of doubt over his judgement calls for the kids. It wasn't fair in Momo's mind that Haru was still feeling guilty for something that technically was not his fault.

"Nakamura-san! It's not your fault; if anyone is to blame it's that idiot Katsuki! He should apologize for everything…"

Her defense of Haru was endearing to the grown man but it lacked a key understanding that she didn't have because of her age. He gave her hand a tender squeeze as thanks and continued.

"Someday, when you get older and have to take care of somebody yourself; you'll understand how I feel. For now, just enjoy being a kid."

Again Izuku's mom popped up in her head and she felt alienated once more from Haru. She was so far from Haru and couldn't become closer and somebody who he likely is with was so much wiser and understanding of him. She couldn't even muster up the will to hate Inko anymore; after meeting the single mother she was so human and kind in Momo's eyes. It wasn't fair to either of them that she held a grudge for someone who didn't even know why she was embittered.

"But yeah, I caught them in the act and reported it to their parents. Things got better again and after some time had passed the group was back together just like before things got unpleasant. It was a nice time for all of them… But, something happened."

There was a bit of a pause before he continued. They were almost to their destination and even the smell of fast food could be picked up by Momo's nose.

"Katsuki… He, uh… He lost someone close to him. During an accident at a bank heist he and his father were in an explosion went off and he was the only one alive after. His dad… He protected his son and saved his life."

A few years ago she could remember seeing in the news as her mother and her were enjoying afternoon tea that there was some sort of robbery that had gone off the rails and claimed the lives of many people. Her mother could only look horrified at the carnage as her understanding of tragedy was too underdeveloped to properly understand the sheer barbarity of the bombing. Haru looked like he was hurt remembering the accident and it made Momo feel so helpless since she didn't know what to say to make him feel better.

"I tried to save both of them… I really did… It wasn't enough. When Bakugou recovered and returned home he just started getting into fights that kept getting more and more dangerous; one after another. He was almost killed when he tried to fight a gang and by the skin of his teeth he survived. After that he and his mom started to talk again and began their healing process. It's still not perfect and it's quite painful to talk about for them; but it's something."

So Haru was there at the event? He tried to save the boy's dad? So the mystery as to why Bakugou was so fond of Haru was partially answered at least. There was the desire to tell Haru that he shouldn't feel guilty and that he did all he could, but what Haru said earlier just kept her silent. She truly didn't understand his feelings and telling him to just forgive himself seemed too callous.

"I think Bakugou relates to Izuku more than he cares to admit. Izuku does what he can to talk to Bakugou; it's just that Izuku never knew his father and Bakugou lost his. They're so close yet too far apart. Bakugou envies that Izuku doesn't carry the same pain as him and in a way that small resentment is a part of the reason he won't talk to Izuku."

That was a lot. Haru could see so much into those two like he was both their fathers. In fact, a majority of parents lack insight and understanding of their children's conditions to the degree Haru had. Momo wanted to understand everything that was just shared in confidence to her from him; she was barely able to clutch at straws for how much she was actually getting a grasp of how he felt about everything. Bakugou and Midoriy grabbed a table with an umbrella in the middle of the food court as Haru and Momo were still a ways off until they regrouped. Haru had just enough time to ask Momo one thing before the others were close enough to hear them.

"Hey kiddo?"

She looked up and what she saw on his face was a melancholy smile that felt like he was trusting her with something.

"Promise me you won't hold it against Bakugou about what happened between him and Izuku. He may not look it but he truly is sorry for what he did and right now they both are struggling with their own issues. It'll take time for things to get better and at the end of it all they both are good people who try their best. Can you promise me that?"

It wasn't an immediate case of forgiveness and Bakugou was still rude and blunt with her and Izuku. She didn't want the boy's friendship right now; but she at least can understand that Katsuki had his own problems to get through and she could at least be mindful of that before she said anything too harsh to the blonde.

"... Okay."

Haru gave her hand a thank you squeeze and right then they approached the table to then go and order their lunches. Katsuki still was ignoring Izuku as he usually did when he noticed that the Yaoyorozu girl had stopped giving him the stink eye from earlier in the day and saw that it was more curious when she looked at him now. He bit into another fry and just gave up thinking too hard on the sudden mood change. After all, the girls he ran into already still confused his adolescent mind enough as it was.

After Business Hours

"Ladies and gentleman, the aquarium is now closing. Please make your way to the exits now. We hope you all have a wonderful evening and hope to see you again in the near future. We thank you again for your patronage."

The announcement was on loop and the few remaining visitors were migrating to the front entrance. Everyone was exhausted and very much wanted to return home for the evening. Everyone except for four patrons who were still inside of the nearly empty main building where it was now Bakugou's turn for what he wanted to do. Haru was leading them all deeper inside and with Izuku on his shoulders they eventually reached a pair of heavy steel doors guarded by two guards in security flak vests and a belt equipped with guns and everything. For everyone passing they would be correct in assuming that this level of security for an aquarium is suspicious at best. Well they were usually posted behind the doors during the day so this frontal demonstration of force was only ever out after hours. In reality, although this place was an educational facility to help the public and marine life come together through entertainment and exhibitions of real sea life; it's secondary function was kept from the public for very good reasons. In fact it was very much about to be utilized by Haru tonight.

The two guards immediately stood aside and opened the doors for them. Passing them it looked like the guard on the right was about to bow; his head was caught by Haru with an open palm on the forehead and randomly he began adjusting the guard's hat.

"Haha, sorry; I couldn't help but notice your hat was crooked. You gotta look good and I just wanted to make sure you don't get yelled at later."

He patted the guard on the sides of his biceps and oddly the kids thought that he looked nervous.

"Gimme a sec guys, you go in first and go see the staff at the end of the hall there. I'll be right with you, just gotta make a quick call I forgot about."

They looked at him as he took Midoriya off of his shoulders and pulled out the phone he had on his person all the time. They all shrugged to each other and did exactly as he said. They all were excited for the next part of the tour and didn't want to delay so they were around the corner in record time as the door slammed behind them. Once the coast was clear he dropped the smile and turned to the guard he stopped bowing. The other guard knew what was coming and didn't envy his coworker.

"Are you actually this stupid? Did I not say DON'T bow to me while the children were with me? Fucking answer me."

"S-sir. I swear I didn't-"

"Who the fuck are you swearing to for your petty excuses? I don't know where you get off on ignoring or just straight up getting such simple orders wrong. If these kids see you all start bowing to me out of nowhere; don't you think they would pick up on the fact that I'm not exactly who I say I am? Do you think so little of their intelligence?"

"No sir! I didn't mean anything-"

"Stop! You're lucky those kids are here; otherwise I would be dragging your ass to the back and taking care of you myself. Get your eyes and ears checked cause next time I won't even bother with a conversation. Understand?"

He saluted so fast it was like he just stopped time to then resume it with his hand in the salute. Haru followed the children in and contained himself so as not to damage the doors since they were going to exit this way after they were done. The guard who was almost executed right then and there wobbled on his feet and had to lean against the wall behind him. His coworker looked at the other guard who was in a cold sweat and just spoke his mind over the mistake he almost made.

"Yeah, I told you to double check the email before he came."

"Go fuck yourself! You're not helping right now."

Haru came through the sealed door after the camera picked him up and saw him approach the sealed lab. He went through the prep area for the marine biologists and entered the equipment prep area where the three children were attended by four staff members getting them familiar with necessary precautions they would need to follow before going out to the research shallows.

"So remember that when you touch the sharks that you do so gently; they can startle and although they are prepped for interaction we want to make sure you're safe."

"Ha, I can easily take on a shark! I don't need all this!"

Bakugou was demonstrating his quirk in a contained space in his hand to demonstrate his power. The same marine biologist doing the safety briefing was about to speak against the boy hurting the sharks when she was suddenly cut off by Haru who was still unnoticed by the kids from the back of the room.

"Bakugou, most of the sharks here are endangered species and cost the aquarium tens of millions in yen when they acquired them. I don't doubt that you could easily defend yourself and even take on one of these sharks if you wanted to. Besides the money and time you would waste from these biologists efforts to study the sharks; do you really wanna pick a fight with an animal that doesn't want to fight you in the first place? Could you kill a living thing that just wanted to be left in peace?"

Being rather embarrassed by the lecture Bakugou at least had the decency to take Haru's criticisms into serious consideration. Thinking about it now it seemed to be a bit mean spirited and cruel to just start blasting sharks that these scientists work so hard to help and study for their research. Also it was just gonna be a case of picking on them since the biologists told all of them that these sharks were mildly sedated to prevent accidents. They were well socialized and familiar with human interactions so they were not only drugged but knew well enough not to bite humans when humans have done nothing but treat them well. He was confident, not a killer.

"... No."

"Alright. I'm not the one you need to tell this to, though."

A small reluctant sigh was the least he was allowed in showing his frustration for being put on the spot like this. Although he felt embarrassed and slightly singled out, he knew better since it was Haru.

"I'm sorry. I promise to behave and I will follow the rules."

The marine biologist thanked the boy for his apology and continued through the safety briefing. The rest of it was just addressing what the researchers would be doing and when the kids would be allowed in to meet the sharks. After all was said and done it was now time to get ready for their meeting with the large predatory fish. Momo was the first to bring up the point that she was concerned with since the start of the safety introduction.

"Ummm, I didn't bring a bathing suit. Do you have any I can borrow?"

Momo still had some trouble making something as intricate as weaved fiber so it wasn't possible for her to make a swimsuit at the moment. The other two boys were in the same ballpark of concern now that they were at the age where their decency actually was a concern of theirs.

"No worries! We were told you were arriving some time ago so swimwear has been arranged beforehand. You're all good to go!"

They all breathed a sigh of relief as everyone except Bakugou and Midoriya exited the equipment room that was also a changing room for the biologists going into the examination pools. The boys were ready in no time by themselves and their clothes were gathered up by Haru who organized their wear to be reworn later. Momo was up next but had requested the marine biologist from earlier to help her get dressed since she always had help in the past. The scientist acquiesced and helped the girl slip into the swimsuit they provided. It took longer than the boys but eventually the door reopened and Momo stood there with a red two piece. The Adults thought nothing of it but for the young boys it was hard to deny their attraction to the sight of Momo in a swimsuit. Bakugou just looked to the side with a blush while Izuku spoke his mind while staring at her figure.

"... You're beautiful."

Everyone in the room, including Haru as a reaction that he realized he probably should have minded before doing it, stared at the boy and realized he spoke without realizing he blushed the same as Momo. She was now finding it hard to not react to the compliment since flattery wasn't anything new to her as she had come from a wealthy family that had a plethora of servants that paid their respect to her wherever she went in her family estate. Coming from Izuku it just made her feel rather vulnerable and strange towards the compliment that mirrored the many compliments she had been showered with for as long as she could remember. It wasn't new that she was praised for being beautiful; coming from a boy like Izuku just felt odd to the girl.

"... Um… Thank you…"

All the adults in the room were counting their lucky stars at seeing such an innocent display of young love budding right in front of them. Bakugou just got bored by the waiting around and asked that they get on with the night already. They all were reminded of what was happening and they all moved out to the research area. The shallow pool that the researchers used for the aquatic life in the aquarium was up to about hip height for a normal fully grown adult. Since the kids were still rather lacking in height they provided the children with life vests to help them float effortlessly and touch the sharks without having to struggle keeping themselves afloat enough to breathe.

Next to the pool a wide and deep canal of sorts that connected to all the tanks that had larger wildlife in them was connected to the canal. Over a bridge above the canal there was another pool that was a bit larger and far deeper than the one the researchers were using that evening. For now the researchers waited for the first few patients for their studies and from the canal scuba divers slowly led sharks gently into the shallow pool. The researchers were already in their wetsuits since this was a rather long process for them and began their tests on the mild mannered predators. All the children were buzzing with excitement at being so close and seeing these massive and majestic creatures. The researchers were swift and gentle with their recordings as they were trying to keep the sharks comfortable. After twenty or so minutes the researchers finished their work and turned to the children.

"Okay guys, just remember the rules and follow us."

This was far more exciting than they were all expecting and it was worth every minute they held back that very excitement. Momo had only seen sharks on tv or in the private fishtanks of other wealthy people she visited. To actually touch and feel the creature was such a different and far more intimate feeling. Since these sharks were being moved in a circle by the helping staff so as to prevent the sharks from suffocating with a lack of moving water through their gills, the children were just being carried around with the sharks in slow circles as they touched them. Izuku was in a relatively same school of emotion as Momo since he only saw sharks in aquariums or tv. He thought they were so scary and powerful that they would just eat him at the first opportunity they could get. What he felt was an animal that was twitching and moving as he began stroking it's uniquely smooth and rough skin. The shark responded to the feathery touch of Izuku and would push into his hand. It was when he went to pat the nose that the shark was actually egging him on for more patting on its face. This massive predator capable of tearing anything that crossed it's path into pieces was actually acting like a dog looking for more headpats. This very affection was something the young Bakugou was coming in contact with.

The look and perception of sharks for the blonde boy was that these things were fearsome and powerful. Like any other boy who played pretend or idolized heroes he was quick to embrace the idea that sharks were the ultimate ocean predators. He was more anticipating meeting these creatures than excited. He thought that there would be something that would happen where he would have to save the day and he would be able to brag that he fought a shark to the other kids at school. His hands were touching the nose of the shark and instead of it trying to bite his hands off it was actually nuzzling his palms and asking him to keep handing out affectionate headpats. The feeling he got from this was mostly feelings of conflict. These weren't the merciless killers he made them out to be; these things were asking for gentle treatment and affection like a dog or cat. He would never say out loud to anyone that for the entire time he was there with those sharks he felt guilty over the idea he was going to fight these amazing creatures.

Off to the side Haru was just leaning against the wall and seeing the kids learn from these sharks that the world wasn't as cut and dry as they first thought. To his left a staff member came up to Haru and whispered into his ear the news he was waiting for. He stopped smiling and turned to the employee informing him of the turn of events a little while ago.

"How long until they're inside?"

"Twelve minutes and counting, sir."

He left the children in the capable hands of the research department staff and exited the R&D section of the aquarium. Back in the hallway leading to the double doors he was halfway between the turn in the hall and the steel double doors and stopped at an unmarked door that was just a blank metal door. The door unlocked for him and past the door a corridor leading to the industrial loading bays as well as other sections of the aquarium. He turned to a door further down the massive hallway and turned right to a changing room for the regular staff in the aquarium. The locker rooms were empty since the general staff had already finished up and from the other door opposite to the one Haru entered; a female staff member entered with a uniform set complete with glasses, shirt, belt, pants, id badge, and shoes. She presented the package to Haru and immediately he began undressing to slip into the disguise he requested.

The employee didn't leave as Haru undressed and changed. It was known that Haru was not one to turn down the company of beautiful women in the organization; but recently it seems he didn't let things escalate from touching and teasing. Kissing was also something he had to be mindful of since it was easy to get dragged under when he got into it. He removed his shirt and from the beginning the female staff member ran both her hands down the ridges of his back muscles. She was a rather attractive woman with an almond shaped face and stern female features that made her look beautiful but intimidating for other men. Her figure was tight and had rounded and full breasts straining against the fabric of her shirt while her pants were completely capable of operating without a belt with her narrow waist and ass that was still firm and tight with rounded globes to sink one's fingers in.

Haru's body reacted to her touches and his arousal made his blood pump to other places. He just kept removing his clothes and turning around he gave her access to his front midriff. He was about to put on the shirt when the woman was bold enough to grasp the firm length of his firming cock. He left the shirt on the bench as he grabbed the woman by the throat and pinned her to the lockers to his right with a harsh slam. He was painfully aroused and she was playing a dangerous game with him. A game he still just wanted to tinker with.

"Don't! I swear if you do something like that again I'll fuck you so hard and long you'll only be wet for my cock only for the rest of your life!"

It was barely a threat as the woman was panting and licking her lips as her heavy and firm breasts heaved with every harsh breath. Haru was short on time and if he could he would already have this hungry bitch screaming non-stop while pounding an impression of her back into the metal of the lockers lined up all around them. For now he did her a favor and gave her something to remember next time she wanted to play back a memory when the desire to entertain herself came to visit. He let her go and finished dressing himself in the uniform. She didn't stop touching him since he still very much enjoyed the feeling of her petite and soft hands on his hardened muscles. Trailing the peaks and valleys of his chest and abs she just began memorizing the details of his body with her hands. Haru swapped to putting on the pants and shoes first before putting on the shirt; she took the opportunity to lick and suck on the front of his torso while the shirt was off. He took an extra few minutes during that time and eventually with enough time he was ready and with one last kiss to his neck the female employee left from where she came from.

He exited and like nothing happened he was dressed like an employee heading to the loading bay of the aquarium. The door leading to the loading bay was right next to these massive shutter doors lining both sides of the hallway. He entered the first door to his left leading into the loading bay and plucked the metal clipboard from a clear plastic file holder in the right hand side of the door and approached the steel shudder that had a blinking green light on the door controls. He hit a button on the control box and the gate began to lift up and reveal a white truck backing up and ready to be unloaded. There were some worker's standing by the truck on the asphalt that leapt up and began their job of opening and unloading the shipments of frozen fish product when the door was finished opening.

"Kinda late for the aquarium to get a transport of frozen goods this late, isn't it?"

"Well we got the request and now we're here. Are we doing this or what?"

Haru acted like he didn't want to anger the uniformed transport employee and just turned around with the clipboard and read down the shipment log. He flipped through the paperwork and just asked the worker a question as the other workers opened up the trailer.

"So what the hell is going on? You're coming in at the last minute when we only take in daytime deliveries for goods. How the hell did you guys manage to squeeze in at the last minute?"

Behind Haru the worker removed his latex glove and on his hands numerous holes were littering the appendage.

"Our boss has his ways."

With that said, from a few of the holes aimed at Haru he was engulfed in a massive cloud of toxic gas. The worker in disguise began shedding the uniform he was wearing alongside his other compatriots. They all shed the uniforms and began fishing out their quirk specific weapons from the stacks of frozen fish inside the truck. They were suiting up and getting ready for their infiltration of the aquarium as their leader briefed them once more of their job. The very boss that killed the first obstacle to their mission was suited up and standing beside the still active cloud of floating toxic gas was giving out the final mission details to his team.

"Remember, grab the kid and kill whoever sees us! We're tight on time and where she is are unconfirmed so do what you need to do if we divide up. Sano! Remember-"

"-Yeah, yeah; make sure comms are open and watch out for possible hostels. And once were in make sure tha-"

Just then he could feel his quirk activate. His quirk allows him to be an active radar to those he touches for over five minutes for five hours. He can distinguish who it is that was approaching potential danger or enemies and he can manage up to twenty five people at a time. He was invaluable to his team since they specialized in jobs requiring short planning time and stealth. It was several million yen and for one night it was a no-brainer when the job came across them. The sudden activation of his quirk meant that someone had revealed themselves just now with intent to hurt their boss. In fact; the source of the hostile energy was standing right behind their boss.

"Boss! Behind-"

Everyone was almost done up suiting up for the job ahead when the team's radar called out to their leader out of nowhere. They all looked to where their leader was and for a moment they saw their boss just stand there blankly staring at nothing. It was odd because what they could describe from what they saw was seeing a line going in a diagonal line from the top of his head to his left cheek. The man was just saying nothing until suddenly the part of his head above the line in his head slid down the line and hitting the ground they realized that their boss had a diagonal chunk of his head removed from the rest of his body. The exposed section began bleeding out on the floor as from behind their boss a person stepped out of the smoke and revealed himself to the rest of the hired mercenaries. It was the employee that greeted them when they arrived. He swiped the clipboard to the left and tossed the chunk of human head he sliced off his first kill to the floor. The rest of them launched themselves at the murderer of their group's leader with wild abandon to avenge his death.

Ten Minutes Later

The trio were now done interacting with the first group of sharks that were brought out when the researchers announced the next group of sharks to be brought in. The kids were brought out of the pool and while waiting for the next group of sharks Momo noticed something off about the space. She tugged on the female researcher's suit and asked the woman her question.

"Where's Haru-san?"

From the email and organization-wide announcement of today's events she played along with the girl's desires to find Nakamura.

"I'm not quite sure, do you want me to help look for him?"

The shy girl just nodded in response and with that both of them put their sandals back on and walked hand in hand to go look for Haru. The researcher went for the exit Haru was last seen near and from there she approached the guards posted at the public entrance. When they saw Momo with the researcher they were quick to admit that Haru hadn't passed by them at all since they first saw him enter. From there they went into the actual door he went through on the right hand side since it was the first choice and from there they again inspected the locker room for anyone who knew where he may have been. Nobody was in the locker room and going back and forth they checked all the doors they passed in the massive corridor. Momo was close to tears and worried that she may never find Haru again until they found a door near the loading shutters. The researcher peeked into the room and after a few moments she closed the door and turned to the worried child with a gentle smile.

"Okay, good news! I found him, but he was helping out some workers unload some fish and it got super messy. Give him a moment and he'll be right with you, ok?"

Momo had all of her worries squashed in a moment and she waited until Haru was able to come to the door. The door opened up from the outside and at the door Haru was covered with blood that he attempted to clean off his face but was still covered in with his hair and smell giving away the evidence. For a moment her heart leapt at the sight at first but recognizing her temporary caretaker she eased up.

"Heeeeyyyy, kiddo! I'm sorry for making you worry; I'll be right back. Just head on back and I promise if you give me thirty minutes I'll be there right away!"

Momo trusted Haru's words and followed the researcher lady's lead back to the sharks she was looking forward to meeting. Unknown to her the horrific gore Haru was blocking the girl's sight from was all over the walls and floor. One body had it's head split down the middle down to the bottom of the neck and was pouring blood to the floor before. The other bodies had similar treatments of brutality with bodies all over the place in bits and pieces. A torso here with it's guts pouring out a split down the middle, chunks of arms and legs all over the floor in puddles of blood, stab wounds the width of several inches littering other torsos. The tool he used to create a canvas of such ungodly death still in his right hand. He hid it well; the bloodied clipboard he used on all of the intruders was slathered in viscera and dripping down the door he pressed it against as he led Momo away with his words.

He closed the door and turned to the gore that littered the loading bay and alerted the staff to the cleanup needed. The mic box closest to him was switched on.

"Cleanup by sanitation."

In less than forty seconds the shudders lining the inner section of wall all went up at once and a team of cleaners in white hazmat suits started spraying foam solution and other cleaners worked to collect and remove the other human remains in the loading bay. It was both chaotic and precisely controlled by those leading the cleaning team. Haru and his clothes were caked with blood and with Momo he was thankfully able to play it off like he was covered in fish gore. A team lead of the cleanup approached Haru with a white shoulder bag filled with cleaning product to remove the human remains he was coated in. Haru took the bag from the kneeling man's hands and made one more request to him to relay to his superiors.

The soap and other chemical solutions in the bag given to Haru worked wonders to not only get rid of the stains on his skin, it also rinsed the smell off of him.

It was eventually all gone and with his shower done he dried himself off and swapped back to his own clothes. He returned shortly thereafter and was just in time to see the shift to the next batch of sharks. He hung around just keeping an eye open and throughout the medical examination things went smoothly. The kids had their fun after about two hours and after everyone said their goodbyes they were back in Haru's van and taken back to Izuku's and Bakugou's homes. The boys were dropped off silently so as not to interrupt their sleep and soon it was just him and Momo heading down the nighttime road with the girl sleeping in the passenger seat. Haru was just minding the road when the laptop started blinking again and with enough finess he snated it from the dash and opened it before the sound came on.

On the screen Momo's mother was wearing a terry cloth bathrobe with a glass of artisanal merlot. It was likely her one and only glass since she looked to be straight as an arrow still. She asked about the day and Haru gave her the brief version of events and skipping the long winded story he had told Momo about her new friends' sordid past. The conversation was a rather calming affair and once the mother ran out of things to ask she asked if she could just look at her baby girl as she slept peacefully. He set the laptop on the dash in front of the sleeping child and tilted the screen down enough for an ideal angle. She indulged herself with the sight of her child sleeping safely in the care of this bizarre man. It really didn't occur to her how she never noticed the smaller habits Momo had before she just started taking the time to just appreciate her daughter's presence. The girl was fast asleep and leaned up to the right as she quietly snored. She noticed that her daughter favored sleeping on her right side and would always toss and turn until she was both comfortable and on her right. Mrs. Yaoyorozu had always loved her daughter and was a very attentive parent like her husband was when he was home from work; but this was something new and strange to her life as a parent. She could get used to this feeling.

"... Nakamura-san?"

"Yes, Mrs. Yaoyorozu?"

"... May I ask something personal of you?"

Thinking it was another request for their daughter's accommodations he took the bait.

"Go ahead."

"... My… My husband, Momo's father; he mentioned that you once had children. What were they like?"

"..."

"... Nakamura-san?"

"..."

"Um, if I said anything too-"

"It's late. We're near our destination so feel free to contact us tomorrow."

"Uh. wai-"

The feed went dead as Haru shut the laptop and put it back in the center of the dashboard. She hadn't felt cut off from her time with her daughter since she was still visibly safe and didn't look distressed for the month or so time she had seen her every night. What she did feel was guilt for touching on a subject that she felt was still a bit of an open wound for the man protecting Momo. Back with Haru felt sick to his stomach. Nobody, not even Momo's parents with their daughter being hunted, could imagine the nightmare inducing amount of turmoil he was fighting. He was simultaneously trying to remember things he desperately wanted to know and fighting to forget memories better left nonexistent in the first place.

Two Weeks Later

"Hello? Anybody here?"

Momo was in a spring green summer dress that faded to white the further towards her shoulders it went. Strap slippers and a wide brim summer hat to protect her skin she was the epitome of childhood summer. She and Haru were deep into the country now and were visiting a snack shop they happened across in the rural town they were passing. Right behind her and ducking under the bamboo shades was Haru. Blue khaki shorts with a dark blue short sleeve button up was his poison of summer wear that day. A little bit of flair with sunglasses, leather sandals, and an ivory panama hat was all he needed to pull off the look.

"Ahem, Momo…"

Momo followed the direction he was pointing to and saw a sign that indicated the owner was probably a bit elderly and was napping during the summer heat. She put both hands on her mouth and nodded to Haru out of respect. He gave her a thumbs up and they began browsing the shelves brimming with sweets and snacks of all kinds. Momo had yet to visit a country sweets shop like in the tv shows and anime she watched back home and since the town was on their path they just made a pit stop in the town itself.

"What should I pick first? Ooo, this looks good! And this! And that!"

She was keeping her voice down for the nice shop owner but couldn't keep her excitement contained. It was mostly out of curiosity that she was so brimming to the tipping point of just buying one of each. Earlier outside Haru gave her a budget that would be determined on three games of rock, paper, scissors. She would get five hundred yen at first but would win an additional five to spend every time she won. Fire that was almost visible burst from her eyes as she winded up for the first round. With two out of three she now had fifteen hundred yen to spend as she will.

"Do you want something sweet or salty?"

"..."

Her brows furrowed as her gears really started turning. Her eyes latched to the different price tags and began running numbers over pricing of amount and what type of good it was she was getting. She thought hard and with a minute of thinking she began picking out her bundle of both sweet and savory snacks. When she started running around the room Haru grabbed a disposable plastic bag hanging from a bundle at the front. The bag started filling and it was roughly being dominated with sweets over the other selections. Momo was running down her numbers in her head going along and only stopped when she saw the freezer chest near the entrance she hadn't noticed at first.

Haru was lifting her by the waist as Momo dipped her head into the ice chest and rooted for the ice cream she wanted. He was sure to keep the dress covered her as his technique was to lower her down like he was lowering a log and had the dress wrapped in the crook of his elbow right below her knees. The bag was in his other hand for the minute and a half she was down in there; until she signaled she was done. She returned with three frozen treats and rosy cheeks. He put her down on her feet to let her use the bag and she was immediately trying to warm her hands after her extended winter stay.

She just looked at her bounty and approached the counter to make her purchase. She was cut short as she then saw the sign that she and Haru saw earlier that they could just leave the money on the counter for whatever they got. The problem now was that she had three five hundred yen bills and her total was an odd amount. There was a chilled slushie machine inside as well and she wanted to have ice cream now and the slushie as they went back to the van. She didn't want to leave too much money over losing out on other snacks; though leaving too little would be just as unethical. Truly a conundrum for the greatest of minds.

"... How much?"

"... Eight hundred and seventy two…"

Haru whipped out his change pouch and counted out the coins and broke the bills properly and left the one half to the store and the other half to momo while taking one of the five hundred notes back. She skipped merrily out the store and Haru was right behind her. In front of the store there was a park bench leaning up to the wall with a little toy egg machine to the right of it. Momo was already hopping in her seat with excitement as she took out one frozen popsicle and another similar popsicle in a different color for Haru.

"For me?"

She nodded as she was already working on her own popsicle.

"Don't mind if I do!"

They just looked over the farm fields and local river as the sun was shining bright with a comfortable summer breeze passing them by. The heat wasn't terrible, but this frozen treat was something one would crave for a day like this. They just enjoyed the sounds of the insects and glass chimes hanging by the entrance. The sun was shaded from the public seating by the building itself so that none of the patrons would find it difficult to hang by the store on a hot summer's day. The popsicles they each had were done in a flash; so moving onto the third and final popsicle, it was a double one and breaking it carefully down the middle Momo got it perfectly on the first try. She lifted it to Haru and he took it with a gracious bow and continued to just enjoy the peaceful day with the equally serene Momo.

"... Haru-san?"

"Mm? What's up?"

"... Did you get bullied?"

Haru could see from the nervous girl that she was curious about him and was aware asking something so personal like that was a touchy subject. He also could see that she had the same nervous tick as her mother by keeping her left arm tucked close enough to her that her hand was almost touching her chin. He figured that Izuku had said something to her about his sordid story and had been itching to ask for some time now. He took off his panama and just placed it on top of Momo's hat. The brim dipped a bit and readjusting she saw a gentle smile telling her she had nothing to be ashamed about. He looked back to the field as he retold the tale to Momo.

"Yeah. I didn't have a quirk as a kid and after everyone else got theirs they noticed that I never revealed mine to anybody. Everyone kept asking me for it and eventually I just told them… I never really got along with the other kids in the first place; this just gave them an excuse to treat me however they saw fit. At first it was kinda hard to manage things. I would get taunted and chased around and sometimes the other kids would just hit me with a water geyser or electric bolt for giggles.

For a bit I ignored it but inside I got angrier as time kept going. One day I tried to fight back; surprisingly I won that fight. I stood over the kid with his shirt in my hand and was ready to hit him again. He cried and begged for his mom and around me the other kids saw somebody they shouldn't mess with anymore. What I realized in that moment was something else entirely… Do you know what that was?"

Haru looked back at momo and just told her straight to her face.

"That these kids were just like me. It didn't matter if they could fling rocks or transform their bodies or even shoot ice and fire out of their hands; at the end of the day they were just people who functioned and acted like me. I felt angry and hurt because I did nothing to understand the situation. I kept everything bottled up and didn't look for a solution that would have made me feel better. I just wanted them to feel what I felt… And that made me realize that if I had been them looking down at somebody else; was I someone who would do anything to help that kid? Would I even be one of the bullies standing there that day?"

Unlike the light summer weather, Haru was revealing something rather heavy to the young girl. His eyes drifted back to the fields at some point during his explanation of events during his childhood tale.

"So ever since then I drew a line in the sand for myself. That I would be better than those who didn't know better. People may do or say something and be completely unaware why they do it. I wasn't going to do that anymore. I would work hard to understand and make sure that I knew myself well enough to answer the question of whether or not I would do… Because I want to."

They both had finished their ice creams and each had an empty stick for their troubles. Haru just shook it off and took the garbage that both of them had accumulated and tossed them into the nearby trash can.

"Alright, ready to go?"

Momo stopped them for one last thing and soon they were headed up the dirt road with a slush ice drink of different flavors. Momo was silent for a bit until it was lunch time. Before they returned to eat, Haru stopped by two or three stores for a few ingredients, hygiene products, and finally some fishing equipment. Haru said that he wanted to try and catch some fresh mountain salmon, but still got some odd looks from the store owner and Momo for purchasing so many reels and fishing line for some recreational lure fishing. Back at the van Momo was just thinking about how Haru's story had a lot of meaning to it. She was still struggling with some of the more difficult subject matter, this was when she realized that maybe a hero isn't a hero just because they have a powerful enough quirk or hero license. She wanted to be a hero that was like Haru. A hero that didn't do the right thing for people to look like the right thing to be; she wanted to be a hero who could be a hero who would do the right thing because she chose to.

Later That Night

Haru and Momo were camped out on a mountain trail and inside Momo was fast asleep on the cot that folded out from the floor. As she was knocked out cold; some distance away in the dark Haru leaned up on a tree with a beer and his phone up to his ear.

"How many do we have so far?"

Another long pause as the other voice finished up their long winded explanation.

"... No. I'll take care of it. I'm going to take care of things from here… I think it's about time we chum the waters a bit… I'll be sending instructions tomorrow. Have a tour bus meet me at my location tomorrow at thirteen hundred…"

Haru hung up the phone and finished off his drink before turning in for the night. Too long this mangy fleabag that was pissing and shitting in his country was put down. It's about time this stray mutt was due for a pack hunt.

Three Days Later

It was the dead of night and out in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a dirt road cutting through the forest. The pathway twisted and winded through dense forest to a campground that was the center of the densest part of the acre of trees it was in. Parked at the center of the clearing, Haru's van was sitting idle with all the lights turned off and the engine dead. It was so quiet that the smallest of crickets could be heard from the treeline as clear as day. All around the parked vehicle there were some rustling and snapping noises coming in from all around the forest. Anybody else who would have been at the campgrounds at that time would have been a bit frightened at the prospect that a pack of wolves were surrounding the innocent campers. Another demographic of more fearless backpackers would have just brushed off the noise as the wind or the forest settled once again.

In the dark and cover of the pitch black wilderness there was indeed a group of hunters ready to pounce on their prey. Not to feed or protect territory; they wanted to obtain one thing and one thing only. In that van they knew that their target was a small child that they were in need of capturing to complete their objective. Their secondary target wasn't as delicate of an operation as they were given more liberty with how they wanted to dispose of the girl's protector. There was a rather large bonus for the group by their employer if they were able to kill the man who was guarding the child. It was secondary to their original objective that if they failed to bring back the girl unharmed they would get nothing, regardless if the security was dead or not.

The leader of the ragtag mercenary group was a self proclaimed villain named Deaf Silence. His real name was Morimoto Yoshi. His quirk was to emit a cone of high intensity sound from his vocal chords that was silent to the naked human ear but deadly enough to burst the veins in a human head and cause them to fall dead in seconds of exposure to the sonic blast. He led a squad of different quirk users with different backgrounds and assembled over the years he's been in the business of contract work. There were about eleven people in the crew and all of them were spread around the circumference of the campground clearing. Four were at the chokepoint of the exit and were ready to stop the vehicle in case they tried to make a getaway in the van. The rest were spaced out and hidden in the brush to strike on their leader's mark. The air was thick and the tension high as the countdown was set for their interception of the van.

"Okay, everyone. Marker."

Ten other voices came in with a confirmation that they were all ready to start. The last one was all Yoshi needed to begin the operation.

"On my count...:"

Everyone activated their abilities and were tense to go in.

"Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two."

"One."

All of the members jumped at the voice that interrupted their leader at the last count. Nobody moved as their boss addressed the newest edition to this hidden op.

"Who was that? Did anybody say something? Respond!"

Yoshi was keeping himself below a whisper since there were still no signs that the operation was completely botched. It was just a new player on the field by the looks of it. Maybe there was a way to figure out a way out of this while getting the girl and leaving without unnecessary casualties.

"Good evening, folks. I hope you all are having a wonderful day so far; seeing that this is probably the last one you'll all live through after tonight."

"Boss, what's going on? Who is this?"

"Who the fuck are you!?"

"How did he get on this channel?!"

"The hell is going on?!"

"The fuck is this guy? Aren't we alone?!"

Yoshi was losing control of his mess as some of them were actually revealing where they were hidden with their sudden outbursts. He told everyone off to get them to understand that he was the only one who should have been speaking to the intruder.

"Everyone; sit your asses down, now! We're still on a job so let me handle it!"

Everyone stopped talking and went back to being silent for their boss to speak. Yoshi saw no movement in the van so he took a breath and spoke to the new voice through the earpiece.

"Who are you? Why are you stepping on our contract? You trying to skate us here?"

"Hm? Oh no, I'm the guy your employer wants dead. By the way; the kid isn't here."

His eyes scanned the van and realized that they may have a serious situation here. When he accepted the contract through the mediator they were initially drawn in by how seemingly easy the job was compared to the amount of zeros and commas following the single number on the advertised price. There were few taking the contract and some word went around that this thing was nothing but bad luck since it was rumored that the one who was posting the contract was unable to for weeks on end. Yoshi and his team took on the work and since this was their first major job they saw it as their first step into the big leagues. Strangely there was a sign on bonus to just accept the job and even that was twice the team's largest payout ever. It was creeping onto him that the realization he might have been too optimistic with this contract.

"Then, where is she? Word is that you're a solo op and right now it looks like we have you outnumbered eleven to one. You come out now and we'll let you tell us where she is before we start ripping off fingers."

There was a pregnant pause that nobody was willing to break until the other voice spoke again.

"... Are you sure about that?"

There was genuine confusion amongst the rest of the group since they were all sure that indeed there were others on the comms and at their posts. Even Yoshi asked him to clarify; seeing as this was just a move to scare the group.

"What the hell are you talking about? Of course we outnumber you; so stop fucking around and tell us-"

"No no, not that part. You see I understand that you think I just hijacked your comm signal and are talking from either inside my van or somewhere else posted up watching you all from a safe distance. That's more work that just isn't worth the effort… So I went with a cheaper and easier option; I borrowed one of yours."

A shudder ran through everyone as the implication of which was just not possible in their minds.

"Role call, NOW!"

Stealth was abandoned as everyone began to announce their call tags and eventually it came to number nine.

"Nine, respond!"

"..."

"NINE, RESPOND!"

Nothing. It was impossible; they did a radio check right before they began their countdown to start their operation. Within those sixteen seconds one of their own was snatched and taken somewhere else without them knowing?! Number nine was a quirk user with a radar quirk. She was able to detect temperature, sound, heat, movement, even moisture through her quirk. She was posted next to the group in charge of stopping the target from escaping so as to alert the team when another vehicle or group of any sort were using the road to approach the campgrounds. They were now blind without their radar and it was making everyone uncomfortable how exposed they were now. Yoshi knew that she needed to sit still and expose her skin to her environment to work her ability. She was almost naked when they agreed upon her level of sensitivity and so she was at the height of her ability when she was nabbed. So how could this guy sneak up on her without her alerting the team?

"Yeah, she's right here. I need to ask you all something before I let her talk to you lot…"

"... What? What could you possibly want to know from us?"

"At the start of all this, I said how many of you I intended to allow to live past tonight. Does anybody remember how many that was?"

They remembered. They all remembered what he said and nobody wanted to give him the satisfaction of hearing the answer coming from them. Not even Yoshi spoke up to the defense of his missing team member.

"My, how heartless. I didn't need an answer since either way I knew you all remembered. Just wanted to see who was ready to die tonight. Here she is."

The next voice on the comms was a woman who was choking and crying into the mic. They were all so horrified and some others furious at hearing the torment of their team member.

"Hic… Hic… P-please… Please don't k-k-kill meee…"

"I want you to ask them. Ask them to save you…"

"Silence, please! Please, I don't wanna die! Please, save me! Save me! Save me!"

Yoshi's stomach twisted and churned hearing his team member who he swore by his absolute leadership he would guarantee they were to live the life they always wanted, begging for her life at the hands of this sadist. Everyone in the team tried their best to be stalwart and unwavering; the visible signs of their fear and anger were still obvious by their facial expressions alone.

"That's it. Just like that."

A loud crack popped the earpiece mics of everyone listening in. Somewhere in the distance a similar sound echoed over the trees and scared some of the resting wildlife. Birds and animals scurried away from the section of forest that the sound originated from. The dense canopy of trees and what sounded like a silencer of sorts spread the noise of the gunshot everywhere. Nobody wanted to accept it. Their teammate was made to beg for her life from them and was heartlessly killed not a second later. Moments went by and soon they realized that nobody was leaving until this monster was dead. It wasn't a matter of money anymore. Whether they got the kid back or not, they wanted to rip apart this motherfucker.

"Now that we have that settled; I'm sorry to say that this is going to have to end with all of you dead. No way around it, unfortunately."

"... No..."

A pause amongst the group as they all prepared for war.

"... I will drink your fucking blood and turn you into a fucking hunk of jelly by the end of tonight."

The rest of the squad was already making their way over to the direction where the sound of the gunfire came from. They all gathered up in the dense treeline as one with all of them focused on bleeding this killer dry.

"... You can fantasize all you want. It isn't going to happen…"

" Everyone, comms off for now."

They all reached for their earpieces to remove them when again the voice interrupted them.

"They come off and another one dies right now. Don't believe me?"

The tree in between two members of the squad, one user who controlled six gears that flew out of his body and a user that could produce ice weapons, had a hole ripped into it all of a sudden right in the middle of its trunk. They all turned to the puncture wound and realized that cutting out the audio maybe wasn't much of a strategic advantage for the killer. He just wanted to keep talking to all of them as the night went by.

"... Fine. But you just made a fatal mistake just now, prick."

"You mean the direction of the shot? Please, I just don't have all night. So get a move on; I'm waiting."

Everything that came out of his mouth was just to infuriate him and his team members. With their resolve hardened they chased after the man that was hellbent on killing them all.

Five Minutes Later

They were running and pursuing the trail they had with their leader as the one navigating them through the thick brush. Nobody was aware of any sort of exhaustion or physical pain in response to their desire to hunt their team members' sadistic killer. So far there wasn't much in ways of finding him or whether or not he was even running away in the same direction they were giving chase in. Ahead there was a bit of space in the trees and a figure slumped up against a tree. Yoshi held up a hand signal and everyone stopped cold in their tracks. He signaled for them to stay as he took point to inspect. He snuck up and allowed his eyes to adjust to better see the shaded figure. Once close enough he saw that it wasn't the one they were after; rather, it was the reason they were after him. Against the tree was the body of their teammate with blood staining the left of her head in a trail that led down over her exposed left breast and down her left leg. It was mostly dried and from the smell he could tell she urinated herself in either terror or postmortem.

The rest of the team followed suit and paid her their respects as best they could in the situation. Yoshi closed her eyes and one other member offered their coat to cover body and head out of respect. This wasn't going to stop them; but the sight of their comrade was a bit of a demoralizer.

"Now that we've paid our respects, how about we get back to business and stop with the pussy footing?"

"You motherfucker! You enjoy this, huh?! You sick fuck! When we find you we'll-"

"This is why you're the only ones who took the contract. Because of shit like this."

This was an odd follow up to their leader's threats of killing the man torturing them like he was.

"Why do you think that the contract wasn't picked up by more competent people? Why did you take the contract despite the fact that you knew it was a bad idea? Why did you ignore all the warnings you got from similar people like yourselves; second rate teams who couldn't make the cut elsewhere? I'll tell you…"

There was no reason to listen. All this was doing was bringing down their morale. Only the fact that everything he was saying was true was all that was keeping them from cutting off his harsh criticisms.

"It's because you all are completely incapable of dealing with death. One of yours goes down and you let me drag you all into this forest for me to do what I want with all of you? The fact this girl was doing what she was doing and cried when threatened with death? You little brats treat this world like it's some kind of adventure where you can claim fortune and glory for every job completed. What you're supposed to do is get the job done and accept that shit will happen. So now it's all of your faults that you're gonna die here."

One of the team members shook with rage and ripped the earpiece out of his head and stomped it under his boot and grinded the microphone to pieces. He turned and began yelling into the dark.

"You don't make that choice for us! We are gonna find you; and when we do I wi-"

His head was hit with a projectile from the direction they were chasing their target. His head bobbled like he was hit with a strong breeze and from the hole in front blood trickled. He tilted back and landed on the floor where the larger exit would splattered blood and brain matter all over the dirt. His team members sprinted to his aid and began fruitlessly checking to see if there was any way he could have survived the headshot.

"You can take them off if you want. Either way I said all I wanted to."

The feed went dead and Yoshi felt far more enraged than before. Not only was his team being picked off like they were flies buzzing around a lamp; this fuck was telling them why they were unfit to be mercenaries and telling them they were helpless to save themselves. The team's morale was at an all time low and they were too late to go back.

"Team, we'll come back for him. Right now I need you all to remain focused."

They all looked at their leader who had a look of bloody murder in his gaze.

"He's gonna die. One way or another."

They said their peace and kept pursuing their target. They were becoming less and less confident that what they were doing really was going to be accomplished; or was just as hopeless as they were being told so by their opponent.

Thirteen Minutes Later

Yoshi had stopped the group once more to inspect the ground and surroundings for a way they could figure out more about their target. There were clear signs that this guy was running up farther ahead and making stops to just take smoke breaks and wandered around specific spots for no good reason. The others were checking for any details or tells left behind by the target so that they could perhaps find a way to corner or get a leg up in a fight once they got close enough. A part jaguar quirk user was sniffing the environment and was able to determine that he had wandered around a small bit of forest back and forth for quite some time. He was smoking so following the scent and footprints about four of the team was with her and investigating what he was doing. So far it was like he was just pacing while smoking and though that wasn't much to go off, it was something. Some even theorized that maybe they were getting closer and that he couldn't take them all in a straight fight. That was perhaps why he used hit and run tactics on them. So maybe his quirk was something that required isolation and distance. This gave them some hope that if they were to just maybe pick up the pace they could finally corner him and take him by force.

They were all about to start moving again when the Half Jaguar lady passed through the center of the area she and her team were sweeping for clues. There was a soft plucking noise that was picked up by her ears; almost like a cheap plastic guitar string that was muted. Suddenly her and the three others in the area were suddenly knocked to their feet by something and Yoshi was quick to run over and check on his people. He passed into the area and was cut on the cheek and nose by something incredibly sharp. Taking a step back and nursing his bleeding face he saw some sort of thread in front of him that had caught his blood. In the moonlight he saw that there were similar lines glistening with some covered in his men's blood. Another team member who wasn't caught in the incident followed one of the lines and came up to what looked like a fishing reel with it's line stretching to another point where it was anchored down.

He removed the line and saw that it was a fishing reel you could buy at any tackle store. What was different was that it looked like there were industrial bands wrapped around the axis and the reel itself to give it some torque on it's own. The wires were also coated in what looked like powdered glass to increase it's cutting power. Four of their own people were killed with cheap fishing equipment and there was little they could do to help them now. Yoshi still dove for the half jaguar and tried to keep pressure on her neck as she drowned in her own blood. She lasted just over thirty seconds before her eyes glazed over. This was starting to wear more on the leader than anyone else now that it was clear that this was a one sided endeavor. The consideration that they should just turn back was becoming more of an actual decision for the survivors.

"It's too late for that. You turn back now I'll just hunt every last one of you before you could even make it back to the campsite."

They jumped at the sudden voice that came out of nowhere. Following the source of the audio; Yoshi swept and tore at the brush until he found a radio with the white noise still going that led him to it's hidden spot. He was too conflicted whether or not picking it up was just another trap. That wasn't necessary now since he and his men were now close enough to listen in.

"Over and over I keep running into pompous and overconfident little shit's like you. No matter how many of you I grind under the heel of my shoe; you just keep popping back out like the vermin you are. So fucking full of yourselves; yet you fail to realize that you eat, sleep, and shit like any other human being."

The realization set in. He was never scared of them in the slightest to begin with. This wasn't an attempt to create any sort of space or escape into the forest while weakening them. He was taking out his anger and frustration on all of them. Everything up till now was just his way of slowly breaking them down and making them realize how feeble they were even with their quirks.

"I mean seriously. You all act like you're harbingers of destruction or some sort of unstoppable juggernaut with your little abilities. In the end you die just like the rest of them. You all bleed, suffocate, bruise, and break like every other human being. Still, I have to be the one to remind you of your weakness. Honestly… I'm sick of your weakness. All of you are so weak it makes me want to vomit. You forgot your fear, your vulnerability; and it's given birth to those that think that they're greater and better than the world around them… I'm sick of it… I'm sick of having to discipline those who know better. I'm sick of dealing with deluded retards who buy into their own fantasies. Worst of all; I'm sick of dealing with this constant infestation of insects that just keep fucking with me…"

Four loud bangs from behind Yoshi made his jump and turn so fast that he stumbled and fell on his ass. Standing there was a man in a full face gas mask with a tinted visor. The hood to his jacket was pulled over and the rest of his ensemble was just various bits of equipment and gear strapped to him carrying his arsenal. A rifle of some kind was hanging off his pack and in his right hand was a gun not familiar to Yoshi. The ban and control of weapons had rendered knowledge of firearms almost nonexistent in Japan.

There was no other sound or movement around them. The startled leader scanned around and saw three of his four remaining members of his squad lying flat on the floor in various states of collapse. The fourth wasn't visible, but it was safe to assume that they too were lying somewhere in the undergrowth dead as well. Yoshi's eyes fell back to the masked man and from the walkie he heard him speak once more.

"You aren't the first, and you certainly won't be the last…"

Without another second for Yoshi to react he pulled the trigger and punctured the neck of the scared amateur mercenary leader. The forest floor began to soak up even more blood as Yosho was now choking and losing blood out of an artery. He didn't want things to end like this. He knew that this wasn't how things were meant to be for him. He suffered and fought too much to die forgotten in the wilderness at the hands of this sadistic fuck. Speak off the devil, the same tinted visor stood over him and just stared at the man's desperate expression as the light began to fade for the bleeding victim. The last thing Yoshi saw was the masked man just let out a single soft chuckle; like he was disappointed and realized he was wasting his time here.

The eyes glazed over and the hands pressing down on the neck wound fell limp to the sides. Haru was done with his work and so moved on to the next part of his plans. He fished out the mercenaries' mobile devices and stuffed them into his pack. Now with that done he removed his mask and pulled out his personal mobile and dialed another number out of memory.

"Saito Pickup Services. Where may I help you today?"

"It's me. Send out a team into the campsite I've marked with green. Just need to make sure I didn't leave anything behind."

"Right away. Is there anything else?"

"Send me the location where I can pick up my lost goods, I think I'm gonna have to head back soon."

"Understood."

Haru hung up and hiked all the way back to the campsite his van was parked in. Before he left the vicinity he pulled a small device and twisted it so that it started to blink green. He dropped it in the middle of the cluster of dead bodies before moving on. He retrieved the mobile device off the one he shot in the head and dropped another of the green blinking devices with the two bodies there. He made good enough time and returning to his van he got to work getting access to the mobile devices he pulled from the bodies. One by one he cloned the phones onto his computer and reviewed the bits and pieces of information he could glance over as he did so.

Just as he expected from an amateurish group of gung-ho mercenaries they didn't scrub their devices properly and even did their important business on the same devices they used for daily life. After finishing up the cloning process he then did a proper scrub of contacts and information on the most recent contract they accepted before tonight. The data was far more intact here than it was with the first kidnappers and just showed to demonstrate the gap between successful and failing mercenaries. He managed to pull a few IP addresses when the campsite was suddenly occupied by two jeeps and a blank semi truck. Out the jeeps there were men dressed in military wear with full cover gas masks with tubes leading to filters. No visible skin was showing as they all dismounted and approached the trailer for their cleaning equipment. The trailer opened up to reveal a clean interior equipped with all sorts of tech and supplies organized neatly for the job set forth by Haru. The Team lead didn't go for his own supplies, but rather approached the van Haru was in and stood off to the side with the van to his left near the back. He waited there patiently for a few minutes until the door swung open and seeing Haru come out he bowed and waited til Haru descended before raising his head.

"Sir, We have our best on the task ahead and will ensure that any and all evidence will be scrubbed clean."

"Hm."

Haru just pulled out a flash drive and handed it to the cleaning team lead to take. He took it from Haru while bowing and with both hands.

"Send that up the chain and have them send the finished files to Akihara. I want him to send me what he has by the end of the week, is that clear?"

"Yes sir, right away."

The man carried out his task and sent the data to his superiors through the trucks built in computers and after doing so tossed the stick into the disposal designed to obliterate anything that happened to be tossed into the impute chute. Haru let the cleaners work and drove away with the final piece on the board ready and set to crack down on this mystery opponent that has evaded him for over a month. This was close to the end.

The Next Afternoon

The building that Haru was approaching was rather seedy as there were patrols and two guards next to the entrance doors that sat past a gated parking lot. He got into the parking lot without any interaction from the guard and even got bows from the two men standing to the left and right of the double doors. Inside the building it was much cleaner and far more presentable than it looked to be outside. The building aesthetic was the only visual improvement as the individual people inside were rather battle hardened and looked as though nobody would eat anything but nails and bolts for breakfast. Every person he passed they would rush to give Haru room in the hallways and bow to him with their eyes to the floor. There were no exceptions as even when he passed a group that was clearly following their superior every one of them was bowing all the same with Haru. He was finally to his destination and when entering some ten or so large men in suits and combat wear all turned to the open door and saw Haru just stand there for a moment before calling out to someone in the room.

"... Momo? You in here?"

From the couch where three other large battle hardened goliaths were sitting popped out a head that looked absolutely squirrel sized in comparison to the others. Momo's face lit up and she leapt off the couch like a firecracker. She sprinted to Haru and gave him a super hug with how much she missed him.

"Haru-san! I missed you sooo much!"

"Haha, sorry about that. I just got finished and now we should be good to go."

Momo broke off the hug for a moment with a look that was all the same, happy to be back together but with a tinge of reluctance. She looked back to the tv where she and the three other men she was on the couch with were playing a party game with their hands pinching their own controllers by the fingertips. Haru could see where this was going.

"Ummm, can we leave in juuust a little bit? I wanna finish this game really quick!"

He couldn't help but let the child have her game and just watched as she sat with her new friends on the couch and picked up where they left off. She and the three other men had a time of it as they went back and forth with one willing and then the other taking the game in a matter of minutes. Eventually Momo was the victor and with her leaping for joy everyone except Haru applauded her for the victory. She ran over to Haru who was seated at an armchair just checking his phone.

"Okay, we can go."

Haru stood up and took Momo's outstretched hand into his own. As they left Momo turned back to the men in the room she had come to know for the past few days.

"Bye-bye!"

All the men in the room returned her goodbye with a goodbye of their own that didn't match their rough exteriors at all. It was a little sad for Momo to say goodbye to new friends, but the men in the room were probably even sadder having to say goodbye to such a kind child that they absolutely adored. They exited and while doing so they talked about how much fun Momo had with the nice group of gentlemen she had hung around while Haru was gone. She adored everyone she spent time with and told Haru about all the cool and fun stuff they did while she was here. In no time at all they were back out on the road and just enjoying the time they had left on this strange journey of sorts with one another. The promise he swore upon Momo and her parents was to be fulfilled. Just a bit more time and things will finally be over.

A Week Later

Driving through the familiar upscale estates that both Haru and Momo were familiar with there was a bit of melancholy for the girl over what was happening now. The promise that Haru made to the Yaoyorozu family was to be fulfilled and by no means was he someone to let his word become just that; words. The closer and closer they approached the familiar estate that the young Yaoyorozu Momo called home the more she felt like staying on this endless journey with Haru. She was smart enough to know that all good things come to an end and that her parents were desperate to see her in person. Her similar desire to see her parents was the strongest of the many reasons she wanted to go back home, but it was a bit of a tipping scale over what her immature desires were leaning towards.

The long stretch of steel gates leading to the entrance of her family's property rolled on by and more she felt conflicted over returning home. Eventually the large wrought iron gates leading to the actual estate appeared and turning up into the extended driveway she felt her heart swell with desire and warmth being home. The familiar flower gardens and hedges she once ignored in the past were so beautiful and welcoming now. At the entrance of the mansion there were several people. Less notably the authorities there to make sure that the girl was safe. On paper they were there for the girl's safety; really they were there to make sure the family wouldn't be suspicious of their real function for Haru. At the bottom of the front stairs her mother and father were waiting with their arms wrapped around one another to just be with their daughter again. Momo was beginning to feel her eyes water and ears warm up as she was overcome with her feelings of desire to see her parents. Haru came to a full stop; and immediately Momo leapt from the passenger seat of his van and ran to the overjoyed parents running to her at equal speed.

"MAMA! PAPA!"

"MOMO!"

They all fell into a pile of hugs on their front drive and began crying in relief over being reunited after weeks of being separated and uncertainty if this whole affair was even going to end. Their tears ran free as they were again a family. The mother and father just wanted to hold their child again and just feel her safe in their arms after such an awful affair of evading and dodging criminals for weeks on end. Momo let out all her pent up grief and was again just their little girl again. No child deserves such terrible treatment.

Haru got out of his vehicle calmly and stood some distance behind and watched with pride that this family was again reunited unharmed all because of him. The father peeked over his daughter's head and just looked at the ivory haired man with gratitude in his eyes.

"Thank you. Thank you so much."

Haru just waved his hand in a gesture of saying that it was nothing for him. The mother picked up Momo and entered the large doors leading into the mansion while her daughter buried her face into her mom's neck. The father guided the duo inside so that they could all spend some proper time with one another. Haru and the authorities were left outside without prying eyes interfering with what they needed to discuss. The detective leading the case approached Haru and just looked at the man that had revealed to him the truth of his work all those weeks ago. Iba just looked at Haru for a moment before extending a hand in a handshake. Haru just returned the handshake out of respect.

"You know, this will be the only time I'll allow this kind of forwardness from anyone in my organization. So don't get used to it."

"No sir. I won't"

With a grin Haru broke the handshake and began speaking to him over the more business oriented part of their interaction.

"Are they in place? I can spot them from here, but if the other measures aren't in place…"

"They're in place. Anything happens, we'll stop it and alert you asap."

"Good."

Haru left in his van and was on his way to face the man responsible for the families suffering. There was a fate unlike anything he could have imagined possible waiting for him. Haru was ready to end it all.

Later that Evening

Inside one of Japan's most exclusive penthouses a man by the name of Masamura Kei let out a frustrated sigh as he entered the lavish living space he claimed for himself. The lights turned on as he walked past them and setting his coat and other outerwear into the spacious walk-in closet he then came into the kitchen where he was desperate for a drink. For the past two months or so a rather important investment fell through and now after spending so much time and effort he was left with nothing but losses so far. However, despite the constant losses and unforeseen factors his informant alerted him that tonight there may be another opportunity to gain back on his losses. For now he needed to just unwind for an hour before making the call. Kei dropped a cube of ice into a low-ball glass and began scanning his liquor cabinet for his whiskey of choice. Scanning the bottles there he couldn't find the scotch he wanted for his refreshment.

"Looking for this?"

He was startled by the sudden voice that spoke from his living room couch. On the expensive imported leather of his couch there sat a man dressed in an italian suit with the bottle of scotch that he was looking for dangling and swinging precariously in between his index and middle fingers. Another immediately noticeable trait was the white hair he had that seemed to be prominent on his head.

"Who the fuck are you?! Why are you in my house?!"

The intruder didn't answer him. Instead he yanked the cork off the whiskey and took a whiff from the open end.

"You know, I know someone who's partial to scotch like this. He even bid for five out of twelve of these bottles in the past. I'm more of a lager guy since I'm not really into the finer minutia of liquor this fine…"

He then began downing the bottle and just took a mouthful that he just swished around inside his cheeks for a minute. To Kei's horror the man then just spat out the whiskey back into the bottle and ruined the expensive bottle of alcohol that cost him an arm and a leg. This intruder's reaction then was to just look at the ruined bottle and stand up while approaching the kitchen. The bottle was tipped over to the floor and out poured the twenty year old whiskey all over the luxury wooden floor.

"Honestly? I wouldn't pay more than six thousand yen for something like this."

The kitchen was completely visible from the living room with the two spaces separated with a single kitchen countertop. The intruder rounded this countertop and kept approaching Kei.

"Guards?! GUARDS!"

"Yeah, you don't wanna do that…"

In the distance Kei could make out screaming and other questionable noises emanating from his front entrance. The silence that followed was only broken with the door opening and two sets of footsteps entering with their shoes on. Believing his guards had succeeded in subduing whoever it was that attacked his home, Kei turned back to the intruder with a confident smile that was abruptly knocked off his face when two different men stained with blood rounded the corner. They lifted their arms and in each of their gripped fists were the decapitated heads of his two security guards.

"Yeah, if you think this is bad; you should see the rest of them."

He snapped his fingers and the two assassins bowed in respect before leaving with their heads.

"Wh-what do you want? Is it money? Blackmail? What?!"

"... Do you really think I came all this way, broke into your penthouse, killed your two bodyguards, and dumped out a bottle of whiskey that costs over half a million just to extort money out of you? How the fuck did you manage to evade me for so long?"

Kei was certain that if he didn't at least arm himself he was probably going to be resigned to a fate worse than anything he wanted to imagine. He began inching backwards further into the kitchen as Haru kept slowly advancing while letting his eyes examine the delicate patterns of the marble countertop. His back hit the edge of the sink and while trying to be subtle he reached for a knife from his knife block. His quirk wasn't something he could use to defend himself; so his next best choice was to find a weapon.

"You know; I took a look around the place, gotta say I have never felt more sorry for anyone who owns their own penthouse suite as much as I do for you. Not only that, so much useless and expensive shit just takes up space here."

Haru pointed at the postmodern statue next to the fireplace with the same hand with the bottle in it.

"I mean, that thing alone costs three hundred fifty thousand euros. And that isn't even the most expensive piece of conversation starter here…"

Behind him he managed to clutch a decently long knife and conceal it behind him subtly. Haru was just a meter away when he finally stopped walking towards Masamura. Now it was just a matter of catching Haru off guard enough to bury the long piece of steel into his chest.

"What the fuck is your point? So what if I have some collector pieces?! I can do what I damn well please with my money!"

"I'm going to stop you right there. My point is that you really can't."

The cryptic assessment that Haru spat at Kei sank in and a feeling of apprehension about who this was began to creep up his back.

"That piece was auctioned off in France a month ago. I found three more in this penthouse that were bought in the past year as well. You're not an art collector by trade; yet you spend euros like you're allergic to the concept of money. You own a legal firm; there's no way someone like you could even hope to make enough money to keep up this ridiculous spending habit. The house, the cars, the artwork; I've met actual peacocks that are less peacock than you."

The knife behind Kei's back was gripped tighter and tighter. This man broke into his private domicile and was now giving him a psychoanalysis on his need to feed his vanity. Needless to say he was properly fucked off now. It certainly didn't help that Haru leaned in to deliver another scathing piece of observation he picked up on.

"How much longer until you bleed yourself dry of all your cash at this rate? A year? Two if you can control yourself, maybe? You might be better off than most others; but in reality you don't give a shit about the money itself. You're after something evel less substantial than that. Money is just a means to an end for you. The end being an image; the image you so carefully cultivated for years that everybody around you is fooled by. All you are is an adolescent teen stuck in the body of a grown ass man, desperately trying to make everyone around him admire or envy his empty shell of a life."

This was personal now. Kei snapped unlike any other time in his life. He screamed as he lunged at Haru with the jam knife he plucked from the knife block. Haru leaned back from the wild swing and yanked at Masamura's shirt before he could regain his balance. Kei went stumbling over into the edge of the countertop on his left and barely managed to catch himself from hitting the floor. His right arm caught the counter as he managed to grasp the edge of the surface with his left. By doing all of this he had his right hand stretched out and spread flat on the expensive marble. Before he could get his feet back under him his right hand was crushed flat. He screamed as the pain of all the smaller bones in his hand began to pop out of place with the amount of force coming down on it. He gazed at the object pinning him and saw that it was the empty glass bottle in Haru's hand that was beginning to maim his hand slowly.

"You can kick and scream all you want, asshole. Fact is that the writing on the wall points to you being an addict high on other's opinions."

Haru took out his pack of cigarettes and lit one up while the trapped Masamur was desperately trying to use his left hand to wrench loose the grip that held the bottle down on his damaged hand. He clawed and even tried to bite Haru's fingers. Nothing marred the skin of his hand no matter how hard Kei tried to cut into it. When the teeth came into the equation Haru didn't take kindly to Kei touching him with his mouth. Haru kicked the man's legs out from under him which then caused him to yank painfully at the broken hand still pinning him to the kitchen countertop. Screaming again he was beginning to lose his voice with all the agony he was enduring.

"Don't ever do that again. God, you're just as disgusting as I imagined you being. I'm surprised you were even able to get this far in life being the bottomfeeder you are."

Smoke clouded around Kei's head as Haru leaned in to exhale.

"Though I guess anybody willing to kidnap and torture children for money is as low as you can get in this world."

"I-I don't know what you're talking abo-"

Haru twisted the bottle he was using to keep Kei pinned and tore the skin underneath. Through the bottom of the glass the sight of an exposed bone peeked itself out as blood came leaking out onto the sleek marble. Kei grit his teeth and just tried to endure the pain that wasn't letting up. His hand was definitely broken and now bleeding.

"I spent way too much time and effort making sure I found you for you to play dumb with me now! Honestly the worst part was how clean you wiped everything down everytime you went out to look for hired help. Must've been a bitch trying to get someone to take the job when nobody worthwhile in the country was telling you off, huh?"

So it was him! Masamura was sure that there was no shortage of criminal employment in Japan who would have taken the job he had with the price tag he slapped on the bill. For weeks nobody even touched the job and he couldn't fathom how it was that nobody wanted the money for how simple of a job it was. It cost close to twice as much and was a higher risk to hire out of country to get someone to agree to his employment. All of that trouble was because of the man who had him trapped by his broken hand.

"Eventually someone bit and all you had to do was cash them out when they wrapped things up. Honestly it took some work, but I figured out your angle pretty quickly. Make it so that the Yaoyorozu family were made unfit to manage their estate and assets. Using their daughter against them and breaking them down by torturing their child and sending them evidence of the damage. It's rare to see monsters like yourself wandering the wilderness like you do."

"I'm… Ah! I'm sorry! I didn't think-"

"That you would get caught."

The bottle was pressing down so hard now that the marble underneath was now starting to crack. His fingers were cut off from blood circulation for some time now and were beginning to turn blue and swell up like sausages. Anymore of this and Kei was certain that he would lose the hand entirely.

"Don't. Bullshit. Me. You may have been careful, but you are far from being a ghost in this realm. I had to scrub hundreds of thousands in accounts to find the one you were gonna use as your personal piggy bank. Leaving an account dead in the water for years tends to stick out like a sore thumb when you're looking for one that hasn't been shut down even after all that time."

Haru took another drag and flicked the excess ash onto the countertop.

"I wondered why it was that the deadline was after two months. Most people usually give a deadline before a certain date. Looking into the timeline it was obvious you were aiming for the date when their daughter was to turn ten and be brought into the family's legal matters. Ownership of estate and assets, legal representation, it was all planned out that you would come swooping in as their legal representation and take charge of the matter of legal ownership and inheritance. You would bury the whole thing in legal loopholes and bureaucratic garbage to disguise the fact that you were signing things over to yourself. It wouldn't be hard since you've handled these types of affairs from them in the past; paying off and pressuring the right people was a cakewalk for your firm."

Haru leaned into Kei's right ear and whispered coldly to the sweating man.

"But you got desperate. You were running out of time and you needed the kid in your hands asap. You sank way too much time and money into this little plan of yours and walking away with nothing wasn't possible anymore. Not for you, at least…"

It was Haru that let the contract hit the open market suddenly. He had tried for weeks and still it was just out of nowhere that the job was taken by a mediator for open hiring. The only people who were actually taking the job were amateurs and nobody else. The experienced and preferable hires all kept their distance even after looking at the reward. He had to reluctantly give the amateurs a shot since now it was clear time was of the essence. He paid them a bonus and waited to see what would happen. Not a few days later it was reported to him they were all dead; just like his first hire. After that he was stuck in a limbo of trying to find a way into the Yaoyorozu coffers. That night he was debating just sending his personal security and just nabbing the girl from her bedroom since his intel told him the girl had finally been returned home. He had more pressing matters as it were right now.

"Hook, line, and sinker. My people found out where the money was going and with all that sifting my people did it was like the needle was pointing right at you. You're just a sick, little rat that's got its head stuck in the trap. The Merciful thing to do now would be to twist your neck and just end it."

Haru clasped at Kei's hair and wrenched his head up.

"But that's too fucking easy for something like you…"

In front of Kei the sight of someone walking into frame threw him off quite a bit. In front of him he was looking at what seemed to be his doppelganger. Like a mirror it was uncanny how much it looked like him. Not only that, it even acted and carried itself like he would.

"What… What is this?"

"What are you talking about? Can't you recognize yourself?"

Why was there a clone of him standing there? What was all this? Was this some sort of fever dream he couldn't wake from? This just kept making less and less sense as time went on.

"So, here's what's going to happen. 'You' are gonna be spending the next few months of your life in a downward spiral brought on by questionable business decisions and risky investments. After which you'll be left destitute and penniless as the company and image you spend your entire life building up will be just as worthless as you truly are."

He tilted Kei's head and looked into the man's desperate and terrified eyes.

"And you'll get to watch it all happen in real time; as I make you look at the only thing you've ever cared about rot and fester right in front of you."

Kei was scared. He didn't want this at all. He couldn't think coherently as now he wanted to beg for his life. To watch his life fall apart was too much for a narcissistic power hungry businessman like himself.

"P-please… Don't… Anything but that. I'll do anything. Just don't…"

There was an unreadable expression on Haru's face as he just stared blankly at the broken man.

"You know, there's only one thing I hate more than vermin like you…"

He let go of the greasy hair he used to make Kei look up at him. Instead Haru wrapped his grip behind Kei's neck and looked down at the husk of a man with a fury that would have sent the devil running. Kei actually pissed himself out of fear for what was to happen next.

"Start begging… I. Hate. Begging!"

He picked up the man and with no difficulty he slammed Kei face first into the cabinets behind them. Like indoor thunder there was an explosion of wood and debris that was overtaken by a dust cloud for a few moments.. The dust settled and in the center of the impact Haru had Kei by the back of his neck with the cabinets completely demolished and the head buried deep into the wall behind the cabinets. He left the man's unconscious body there as he washed his hands in the sink and pulled out one of Masamura's other liquor bottles with two glasses.

"Call in medical and have him prepped for transport."

The doppelganger of Masamura nodded calmly and pulled out his own cell to call in the emergency services on standby outside the penthouse. The medics came rushing in and after bowing to Haru as he poured out some gin into the low ball glasses; they got to work stabilizing the actual Kei and got him covered up by a sheet for the ambulance downstairs. After them some additional staff came in and began their work of restoring the apartment to its former state. The apartment was bustling as a contractor took down notes and cleaners were removing any evidence of blood and gore from earlier. Haru was given space to work as he retrieved seltzer and a lime from the fridge to make gin and tonics. After he finished he carried the chilled drinks to the body double and toasted with him before taking a sip of the light and delicately sweet drink.

"Now, I think it's about time we got to work."

"Yes sir."

He even sounded like Masamura. Haru returned to the couch with the lookalike in tow and opened up the paperwork and laptop left on the coffee table to begin their work of studying Kei and his mannerisms. Doubly they were also going over the plan Haru had to drag the legal firm and wealth Masamura owned into the ground as slowly and efficiently as possible.

Three Months Later

The Yaoyorozu family fell back into a pattern of sorts after Momo's return home. The parents were ever so grateful that their little girl was safely back home; besides that there was a noticeable change in her demeanor since she came back home. She was a bit more cagey and was a bit anxious if she was left to her own devices at home for any extended period of time. At times when she wanted to make a phone call with some boy she met out on her travels. Her father was obviously defensive; the more surprising reaction was when she told her father that she hated him rather than just honoring his decision to not allow her to make the call. Their daughter had found quite a bit of independence away from them and it was something they were not used to as parents over their once sweet and obedient little girl.

Another day of their daughter being rather angsty and rebellious left the family rather divided since her return to their household. Her father was left frustrated and isolated in his study to try and take his mind off his daughter's sudden bout of attitude. Momo was no better as she was locked in her room after arguing with her papa again. The mother was again left to try and mend things over once tempers had settled. It wasn't so much that the family was broken or facing difficulties; it was that the parents were caught a little off guard with how quickly their daughter had grown up while away from them. The parent's needed time to adjust to such a change and the best they could do was try and take things one step at a time. It was slow and they felt helpless; but it was the best course of action so far.

Momo was again laying down on her bed faced down on her pillow since she was denied the permission to call her friend Izuku. Ever since their meeting at the aquarium they would chat over all sorts of different subjects with a call to one another here and there. Izuku would talk about all sorts of things that would interest Momo endlessly since she hadn't experienced outside life as much as he did. Their conversations would carry for hours sometimes since she had so many questions and he had endless answers to provide her. For her Izuku was like a breath of fresh air. She felt trapped inside her home for the months she's been here. School and visits to other venues that were mostly meant for the wealthy did little to alleviate her feeling of being trapped. She got up from her bed and sighed heavily for how trapped her spirit was. The window out the front was the little respite from the oppressive atmosphere her parents wanted to keep her in. She was smart and knew that they wanted to just avoid another incident like the last one. It still didn't help how she felt. She looked out to the front of the estate when she saw something that began to fill her with excitement that she hadn't felt in weeks. She was setting new land speed records with how quickly she was heading downstairs to check what was parked right next to the front gate of her estate.

Forty Two Minutes Later

Both Yaoyorozu were trying to locate their daughter since she wasn't in her room when they called for her and they were panicking with every second they didn't know where she was. The servants couldn't locate her and so the parents were close to resorting to the police once more. Before such an extreme measure the mother was level headed enough to check the front entrance of the estate and out to the front she saw something rather familiar sitting out front of their property.

"...Honey? Can you come down here?"

Both the parents exited out the front and ran down the long drive down to the street where the street cutting through their land was and out front they saw Haru once more managing his food truck far away from the park that he had usually frequented in the past. In the passenger seat of his van the father could clearly see that his daughter was talking with someone on the phone. He went to say something but was stopped by Haru who was rushing to exit his kitchen to stop the confrontational father from interrupting the rather intimate call. He even managed to vault over his serving bar like a gymnast and leap in front of the distraught father to keep him from being overly harsh with his words.

"Whoa there, Mr Yaoyorozu! I think we're being a bit too hasty with what we want to say here."

"Don't tell me how to raise my daughter! How dare you tell me off when you don't know what it is I went through!"

Even Mr. Yaoyorozu's wife could realize how much of a mistake her husband made as he uttered those words. The father couldn't catch himself fast enough before Haru made a rather grave expression and squared off with the naive father.

"I don't know? You think I protected and made sure your daughter was safe for weeks on end because I don't know?! How fucking dare you. I asked for nothing; and this is how you-"

"Haru-san! I'm all done!"

Even Momo could pick up from her father's distress and kept Haru from reacting too harshly by calling out to him. He was able to reign himself in and calm the more malevolent part of his character by the sound of Momo's voice.

"... I apologize. I think I may have overstepped my bounds. Would you like to stay for a meal? My treat, of course."

The parents found it hard to reject the invitation to such a warm occasion and so later that evening both the wife and father dressed well enough for Haru's food truck that evening and dined at his expense. The meal was finer and more sumptuous than anything they had ever experienced at the other self-proclaimed 'fine dining' experience from other parts of the world. Haru never gave an opportunity to complain or find fault with their dining experience as he was nothing short of amicable and warm with the conversation he held with the family. It was here that he went from being a simple protector to being a part of the Yaoyorozu family.

XX Years Later

Coffee and bird's nest was Haru's preference for morning refreshment. He leisurely drank down the dark brew and scanned the day's news feed to keep up to date for current events. He was done with breakfast in a few short minutes and had cleaned off the dishes afterwards. He returned to his bathroom to do some last minute grooming before he left for his errands. A quick few snips with trimming shears and application of mild colognes was all that remained before he started for the exit elevator with his coat and other necessities.