Guild Master here again, again.

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

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It was a warm and lazy day where Haru decided to set up shop. Business wasn't great, but for how busy he was other times he did enjoy just being left with his thoughts with nothing but his kitchen to keep him busy. The menu that day was donuts; from eclairs to plain glaze he had a small but desirable selection of donuts. His attire reflected his relaxed attitude as he had his seat that folded into the cabinets out and had his legs kicked up onto an open cabinet door. A colorful polo paired with deep blue sailing shorts with gray skate shoes and a panama hat to cover up his face as he took a nap right there in his food truck without a care in the world.

It looked as though he was out cold and unable to sense anything happening around him short of an earthquake. Something that a rather mischievous little troublemaker was perfectly fine with. A rather odd sight for anybody paying attention; one of the stools at Haru's bar was squeaking and turning with the cushion indenting in on itself without any sort of apparent weight on the seat itself. Stranger yet, one of the donuts began to float and carry itself away. The apparition that whisked this confectionary treat away had quite the sweet tooth as a chocolate donut with sprinkles was its first target. Out of nowhere the donut began to disappear bite by bite. After the first bite the entity began to realize that these donuts were not like other donuts they had in the past. The bread was airy and light with none of the usual density that plagued other donuts. The chocolate wasn't ambiguously sweet like other frostings; it had a slight bitterness that added bite to the smooth sweetness of the coco. The sprinkles were by far the most puzzling part of the whole pastry. They weren just pieces of colorful sugar; each individual sprinkle seemingly had its own distinct flavor with the color corresponding to a fruit. It was like a sorbet compacted into a form never before realized.

The first donut went down rather quickly and with a wipe of its mouth, it felt bold enough to reach for another chocolate with sprinkles. It went down just as quickly as the previous one. It was finally satisfied with its bounty and decided that enough was enough. Hopping down carefully the ghostly presence circled around the back of the van to make it's getaway.

"Excuse me, where do you think you're going?"

That was enough to get a girlish squeal to come out of the little donut thief. Thinking that maybe it was someone else he was speaking to, they just froze and didn't utter a sound. The problem with this thesis was that not only was there no other person even walking by on the neighborhood street; he was looking them right in the eyes.

"I'm speaking to you, young miss."

He even could tell her gender and age without actually seeing her. In a panic she ran off in the opposite direction straight down the sidewalk and rounding the street corner where Haru was parked a short distance away from. Had the young girl looked back she would have also noticed that he just kept staring at her like she was wasting her time. Once gone, Haru just shook his head in disappointment and got back to his lazy afternoon activities.

Three Weeks Later

He was back. Not in the same spot or street, but he was within the same few blocks from before and she happened to stumble across him on one of her usual acts of young voyeurism. For once she acted cautious and hid behind a tree to better disguise herself to better survey her target. He was wrapping up another order of chili fries for a young girl and her mother. It didn't seem like he was actually as mean as she first made him out to be, seeing as he was giving the mother and daughter a cheerful wave that both of them returned with glee. Perhaps in her panic she imagined the encounter being far more aggressive than it had been in her head. Her usual regret and guilt became tenfold as it was visible to her that he really just wanted to make food for the public with how affordable he made his menu. Chili at any other American restaurant would have been easily twice as much for the same portion he practically gave away to his customers. Last time seeing the dish on a menu her eyes bulged at the amount that was only a plate of fries and chili without anything extra. She really wanted cheese on those fries that day, but acted as though she didn't out of courtesy to her parents.

That same courtesy was rather absent in her recent escapades of minor theft and voyeurism of other people. Recently she began to explore and satisfy her curiosity since her invisibility lent her such an opportunity to push the boundaries. At first it was just sneaking around and spying on random people in her neighborhood. Her acts of invading other people's privacy was such a rush for the child that she then took it to the next level. It started as just a single piece of candy from the convenience store; which then became a pack of gum a few days later. It was hard to let go of that first rush and so from there she found a food truck serving donuts and thought that since the owner was asleep she was likely home free with just one or two donuts. She couldn't have been more wrong.

Her outdoor excursions became less frequent as a result and it didn't go unnoticed by her parents. They thought she was just becoming moody as she was just about to finish primary school and was at the age where kids wanted to seek out freedom. They were clueless to the activities their daughter had begun to divulge herself into. In all honesty she just couldn't stop feeling paranoid since her encounter with the owner of that food truck. How on earth did he see her? Was it a quirk? If so, was he just looking at her as she stood there naked? If so she needed to confirm for herself. She wasn't going to let this pervert just oogle her whenever he was in the neighborhood!

Taking one step at a time while he was busy inside the van was her current approach as she was slightly nervous with every step. The street was empty enough for her to approach without having to worry about someone bumping into her. She was invisible, not intangible. For minutes on end she inched closer and closer till she finally was able to hide herself around the corner of his food truck and peek into the door where he was tending to a stock pot of the rich and succulent beef chili. Knowing from last time that if she were to stick her head out any farther he might see her with some sort of quirk he had.

"Did you come back to apologize?"

That was the second time she was frightened at this man's simple words. He wasn't even looking at her this time. Was it some sort of radar? Not that it really mattered in this context; she was sure that he knew she was there looking at him. This was confirmed with him turning to face her and once again looking into her eyes. For once in her young life she felt self conscious about her state of dress. Most people who spoke to her usually stared at her neckline as a reference for their eyes to follow when they spoke to her. Over the years this made her rather comfortable over exposing herself since there wasn't anything for anyone to see. Haru was looking her in the eyes and for the first time in forever she felt visible to someone.

Haru knew she was there for some time and could even tell that she was attempting to see how close she could get before he could notice. There wasn't anything on display this time around; so either she wanted to steal the plastic utensils and napkins, or she was trying to figure out how he knew a girl who was invisible from birth was there. He let out a sigh and just left the ladle he was using hooked onto the edge of the pot. He then reached for a different cabinet and pulled out a gray t-shirt and basketball shorts and presented them to the child who was rather frozen in fear over what was coming next.

"First, please get dressed. It isn't appropriate for a young lady to expose herself in public; invisible or not."

She went from embarrassed to mortified. She thought that it was indeed because he could see her and felt more naked than she ever had before.

Two Minutes Later

Haru flipped the sign closed and had the girl sitting on one of his stools. Much to Haru's relief she was now dressed in the clothing he gave her and by the neckline could tell her head was hanging down in shame. The tension was cut with Haru speaking to the girl about what this discussion was for.

"I want to come clean and say that I'm not gonna report you over two unpaid donuts. I'm more disappointed that you thought you could take advantage of me because you're invisible to the naked eye."

That stung quite a bit. In the past she was always a mindful and well mannered child around others. The justification she used to convince herself to take that first step was that she was only doing it in a way nobody would know. That eventually became an excuse that she didn't take that much and only took one of whatever she grabbed and only that one thing. Had Haru not caught her then it was likely going to result in some sort of snowball effect for the child. Past their introductions he now knew her name was Hagakure Toru.

"I know you thought that it was only two donuts, but that is far from what I'm upset about. Usually when kids like you start stealing it's just one thing at a time. You took two without hesitating; so either you were hungry, or you've stolen in the past already."

The hammer was flat and centered on the nail there. Being found out like this just made Toru feel sick to her stomach with guilt. Sometimes curiosity gets the best of us and now she realized how wrong she was in letting herself get away with everything so far. She bit back tears and pursed her lips together hard to keep from sobbing.

"You don't look like a bad kid, but doing something wrong is just that; doing something wrong. Do you think that heroes deserve to be heroes if they steal? Just because they seem like good people on the outside but did bad things without anybody noticing does that make it better?"

From the space above the shirt collar there were tears falling from Toru's eyes with hiccups now going off involuntarily.

"I'm sorry if it's hard to hear, but if you had kept on stealing there would be more than just two donuts being eaten without paying in the future. You wanna know how I know this? It's because when someone finds out something is easy they usually will keep doing things that way. You're still just a kid. You're nothing but somebody who's learning things about themselves and the world. So although I know why you did it and how it came to that; you're still in trouble. Understand?"

She didn't mean for things to get worse. She truly thought she was doing no harm with how small of an item or how inconspicuous she was going about it. The waterworks began to pour as she was now weeping openly with tears, snot, and saliva now visibly going down her face as she tried to apologize for everything.

"Aaaahhhh! I-I-I-I-I-I'm-I'm-I'm-"

Toru was interrupted by her own hiccups and was unable to do anything else but cry her little heart out. Haru didn't care for the few passersby and just took a stack of napkins and came out of his van to help clean up the bawling child's face. He wiped off the tears and drool that was coming out of her face and kept tossing napkins into the waste bin inside. He pinched her nose with a napkin in between his hand and her face.

"Okay, and blow…"

She cleared her nasal cavity of the massive amount of mucus that had accumulated. Taking another napkin Haru tossed that used napkin inside the other and tossed it in with the others.

"Alright, alright; no need to feel like it's the end of the world. It's not…"

Haru didn't take any joy in making the little girl cry. The truth of the matter was that this was probably one of the first few times she's been confronted with her actions and was now guilt ridden with herself. For what it was worth; a kid who cries this much over something like this was probably kind in nature, but even the best can fall without the right guidance. He hugged the girl and let her calm herself down on his shoulder. He patted her on the back to ease her out of crying, and for the most part it worked. Toru managed to stem the flow of tears down to some hiccups and a sniffle or two.

"There we go. Feel better?"

She nodded as he peeled her off his shoulder. Others may have been clueless to what she did, but Haru could notice well enough. He gave her a consoling smile for the fact that Toru was able to come to her own conclusion over her actions being inconsequential or wrong. Now comes the next hard part for not only Toru, but in some ways Haru as well.

Sixteen Minutes Later

The doorbell to the Hagakure residence went off as Mrs. Hagakure was finishing up the washing up of her husband's laundry. She stood up and approached the intercom to see who it was at the door. Unsurprising to Haru when he saw nobody on the screen next to him he just responded in pace.

"Yes? This is the Hagakure residence."

Haru took a second to clear his throat.

"Ah, yes. My name is Nakamura Haru and I have your daughter here with me. I'm afraid I have to speak to you in regards to something your daughter has been doing without your knowledge."

That was not something she wanted to hear, ever. Withholding judgments she opened the door and saw that indeed her daughter was standing next to him wearing none of the clothes she left the house in. Finding her in a rather drab outfit without shoes she looked at Haru's face with some scrutiny. Surprising the mother slightly he registered the look and had the decency to at least act a bit sheepish.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Hagakure. There's something that your daughter here would like to tell you. Toru?"

As a mother she had to keep from judging her daughter at just the face value of things. But her daughter fidgeting with the edge of her shirt and squirming slightly didn't paint her to be exactly innocent.

"... Hi mom. Um… I-I stole from Nakamura-san…"

The gasp from the mother was mostly visible by the pearl bracelet she had on her right wrist. Toru flinched thinking she was about to be hit by her mother. Nothing even close to that was happening, but Haru still felt it necessary to add some context to the confession.

"To be more exact, she had eaten two donuts I had on display on my food truck without paying. Although that's not the thing I was concerned about."

Out front of the family's home she could see a rather large van that resembled a short bus more than anything. Finding a stranger at your doorstep with your child confessing to theft was never a good feeling for any parent that cared. At the very least it seemed as though Nakamura wasn't here to demand compensation and looked to be more worried over the fact that the child was engaged with such things like shoplifting. She stood to the side to let her daughter and Nakamura inside the house. Nakamura kept up appearances and was as courteous as he could be as he discussed what it was that had occurred.

Thirty Minutes Later

At the coffee table, Haru was seated on the single with Mrs Hagakure and her daughter on the large couch. Toru was to her mother's right with Haru to the left and sitting ninety degrees towards her. Her mother made tea for Haru which he graciously sipped throughout the conversation. It shocked the mother that what she thought was an innocent girl who knew better was actually beginning to partake in a terrible habit that she tried to hide from her own family. If the world were to collapse, Toru hoped that it would take her first as she sat there feeling exposed. Throughout the conversation, Haru painted the actions of Toru in a way that was more of a reflection that she was curious and learning about what it meant to have an ability like hers. Not one to create misunderstandings he elaborated as much as he could about how her daughter had most likely done the same thing before elsewhere.

"Is this true? Toru?"

Looking down still she nodded her head. Haru and her mother could tell that it was confirmation that Haru was telling the truth. The mother covered her mouth and just wanted to cry. She and her husband did what they could to teach Toru that a power like theirs was something they should never take advantage of. Not only did she disobey her own parents; she did so in secret, thinking she was able to get away with it. The only silver lining Mrs. Hagakure could find that the saving grace of everything was that instead of calling the police or demanding something in return, he just returned the child with the intention of making sure that the young Hagakure was able to learn her lesson from here on out.

"... Toru, go to your room. You're grounded. Whatever other punishments after that will depend on me and your father."

That sort of anticipation was the worst for any child awaiting punishment. Toru only got up without arguing and made a beeline for her room upstairs. Haru spoke out in defense of Toru as she was leaving the living room.

"Mrs. Hagakure, I understand that this may be a bit of a shock to you since it paints a different image of your daughter in your mind. If I may, I would like to speak my mind over what would be more appropriate as a response to her actions."

The woman was aware that Haru had proven himself to be at least insightful and sincere enough to treat her daughter as she would have had she been the one catching her in the act. Perhaps she was giving herself too much credit as she imagined her reaction would have been far less civil that how Haru went about the matter. A short silence was enough permission for Haru to share his thoughts.

"Your daughter had clearly acted more out of curiosity rather than some sort of malicious nature or intent. I personally believe that perhaps being firm but fair is the course of action here. You're one of her leading figures in her life, alongside your husband. I would simply suggest that you don't try to instill fear over the possibility of what would happen if she were to repeat her actions."

It was a rather eloquent way he spoke to her. Whatever he had to share was from the heart and so far it made sense to her that it was perhaps better to keep things in a more transparent setting.

"Speaking with her right now and getting a gauge of her feelings before you tell her yours will be more than enough in my opinion. Punishment for me must be measured by the action as well as the intent; looking at one without the other may be a bit unfair in my opinion."

Now that was something that she had not expected from a stranger she had just met less than an hour ago with her daughter in tow. She was so caught up in figuring out how to address her daughter that she realized she actually forgot that there was another option; to actually address her daughter. It made too much sense to the mother that maybe speaking directly with her child before taking action may be of some benefit. After all, nothing would change that she was still her dear and beloved daughter.

"... I. I-uh…"

"You don't have to respond with a yes or no. At the end of the day she's your child and you're her rightful parent. I simply recommended what I wish you would consider as an alternative to straightforward punishment."

Haru finished the cup of tea and stood up to excuse himself.

"Thank you again for the hospitality. If you can excuse me; I better be on my way."

"W-wait!"

Haru turned back to the mother who had stood up in a hurry and had to take a second to compose herself once more.

"I mean… Thank you. I can't thank you enough for what you did when it wasn't asked of you in the first place. So, thank you for being so careful and courteous over my daughter's wellbeing."

She bowed and in response he bowed in return. Like he wasn't even there in the first place he was gone. Only the empty cup left behind being all that was left behind. Her troubles were not completely over since there was still another matter that needed her immediate attention. Up the stairs and down the hall there was a door with a small sign with pink wooden hearts skirting around the edge of the chalkboard surface. On that sign her daughter's name was written in a cute font that her daughter made up for herself. Mrs. Hagakure did the best she could to calm the frayed nerves before softly knocking on the door.

"... Toru? Sweetie?"

No response.

"... Honey, I'm coming in. Okay?"

The lack of a response was enough permission for the mother to enter her daughter's room. Opening the door it creaked ever so softly as she entered the dark room that had the curtains drawn shut. Light bled through the pink and yellow fabric with enough light to tell that it was daytime. The open bedroom door was the only thing providing proper light for the young girl. Toru didn't even bother changing when she laid down on top of her comforters. Her daughter's back was to the door; not that doing so would have hidden her expression of shame, she just wanted to feel a little safer than she did now. The mother simply sat next to her little girl and stroked the hair she knew was already there without having to guess like other people.

"... Toru? Can we talk?"

"..."

"... Please. I love you so much, but I also need to know what it is that you feel right now. I only want the best for you, but I can't do that if you don't speak to me…"

Still, there was no response. The most she got was some twitching in response to her mother stroking her hair. Feeling a little lost she fought her instincts to simply wait for her partner to get a second pair of eyes on the issue.

"I'll wait. You take as much time until you're ready to talk. I'll be sitting right here until you're ready."

This silence went on for a decent amount of time. For twenty three minutes the daughter just laid there letting her mother stroke her head. Near the end the mother was certain that her daughter was asleep after all this waiting.

"... I… I jus…"

"Yes, Toru?"

"... I'm s… I'm so sorry, mommy. Please don't hate me…"

Nothing more heartbreaking for Mrs. Harakure than her own child being fearful of losing their parents' love. What made her fight her own tears was the simple fact that she saw her daughter was hurting from something that shouldn't even be a concern for Toru. In one lift she got Toru to snuggle up to her and hugged her child with every bit of love she could offer. Toru kept crying against her mothers dress. Another few minutes passed and eventually she managed to get Toru to settle down enough to speak to her.

"Toru, I want you to know something. I would NEVER hate you. No matter what; you are our child, and we will always be on your side. Do you understand?"

They were like this for a while before Toru fell asleep in her mother's arms. The mother gently tucked in her daughter and kissed her forehead with the wish she would sleep away the stress of today. It took some convincing for her husband; but the father was also able to speak to his little girl the next day and tell her that it was two weeks without tv or internet while she was grounded, internet being used in the living room for homework only if necessary.

Three Years Later

"Thank you again!"

To the couple leaving his van with their orders he waved and sent them on their way. A menu with genuine tacos with pork was an instant hit with the public. He was set up next to a bunch of stores lining the sides of the wide road he was parked just close enough for his business. Now the main demographic for his customers were students either going home or to their next activities. It was good enough business and for students he offered a discount if they presented their student ids. He retrieved the other half of the smoked pig's body to be chopped up and sent to the grill for final cooking. Some people didn't order but still took a pause to see Haru almost perform as he cooked the next batch of pork for the public. This all went on for a while and eventually the streets petered down to a smaller trickle of lingering students and office workers. He was attending to his grill when he recognized a familiar sensation of being looked at by someone he knew.

"Good afternoon, Toru. Headed home now?"

"Aw, you're no fun!"

Again the floating uniform of Toru came out of hiding and revealed itself at the bottom of his van's kitchen steps. She went around and sat herself on a stool that was readily available. Without being prompted Haru placed a plate with two pork tacos topped with chopped tomatoes and cilantro. In a visual some people still couldn't really wrap their heads around, one of the taco's began floating and disappeared into nothingness.

"Mr, Hr-Srn. Hr r-"

"Chew then swallow, Ms. Hagakure."

It took some time and effort to work the rather large mouthful of corn tortilla and meat down her throat. As an aid a glass of water was given to her that she used immediately.

"Ah! Sorry Haru-san, I said how're ya? What u upto?"

"Same thing as before, kiddo. I ain't much for stories at this point in my life."

She was a little disappointed about the lack of an entertaining story, but the food was well worth making time for Haru's food truck. Not that it was the only reason. Without much else to say she took a half of the second taco and chewed thoroughly before drinking water to wash the rest of it down.

"Hey, Haru-san?"

"You know the rules; water or you pay full price."

"Bubu! Stingy!"

"You need hydration, not excess sugar."

While Toru was pouting, Haru was just smiling to himself over the girl's antics. Still it was like she was still a kid at heart and she embraced it. That sort of energy was refreshing for someone like him. After finishing her first order Haru got her one more plate with the same toppings. In no time she had polished the plate and began patting her belly satisfied. He wiped her space clean and after giving her another water she started talking about herself.

"Hey, Haru-san? Can I pass ya a question?"

"Shoot."

"You know which school I wanna go to for academy, right?"

"UA, if I recall."

"..."

Behind him he could tell that there was a rather rare moment of shyness from the usually ecstatic girl. He reduced the heat of his stove and turned to face Tour. From her sleeves it was easy to see she was fidgeting nervously over what she wanted to ask. Looking her in the eyes as he did the girl was prompted to forward her question to him.

"Do… Do you think I can make it?"

And there was the million dollar question. She was still due for another year or two in jr. high and even now she was thinking about her future. A rare moment of vulnerability from Hagakure Toru.

"I mean, UA has some amazing heroes; I just don't know if I can even compare to those guys. Right now all I have is my invisibility… Would that be enough? What do you think?"

He pondered for a second and answered as he turned back to his kitchen.

"If you wanna know my thoughts on the definition of enough, I think a dictionary would be a better place to look it up."

Feeling slightly dejected, she was about to stick it to Haru verbally when he stopped her by speaking first.

"Cause all I see is someone with everything they need to get to a starting point they already are at."

A twist after saying one thing. Haru certainly had a penchant for the dramatic.

"So it's not about if or if not. What I think you should do is just put in the work you want and see how much you get in return. Knowing you, sky might not even be the limit. Think bigger for better, kiddo."

One last grin shot at her and she felt instantly better. They had a bit more conversation before Toru had to go home. From then on Toru didn't have to second guess herself if she ever felt the need to do so. Just imagining big and working at it just the same was all she needed.

XX Years Later

All of his cooking ware was exactly where it needed to be as he was just about done with the prep work. He chalked up the menu with rice balls and a second option of ham and cheese grilled to perfection. He also offered coffee and other beverages for the more energy lacking students. He was all set to go. The first few students that arrived for their test date at UA couldn't help but pull out their allowances for some of the delicious yet affordable breakfast options Haru had to offer that morning.

"Good morning! What'll it be?"