A heroes work is never done. Toshinori thought in vexation as he stared down at the mugger whimpering in pain at his feet. No sooner than he'd stepped out of the grocery store, than he had heard someone screaming for help a short ways away. He'd gone to check it out and naturally had foiled a petty criminal attempting to mug someone.

And though he'd like nothing more than to haul the dumbass whimpering at his feet to the local police, he decided instead to tie him up and place a call to his friend Naomasa. A local detective, to let him know that there was someone in need of picking up before then turning to the elderly woman that the guy had attacked.

"Are you alright madam?"

"Oh, I'm fine!"

"Are you sure? I know that incident's like this one can rattle a person pretty badly. Do you need to be looked over by someone?"

"No, no, dear boy," The woman said awkwardly as she eyed the guy hog tied on the ground before quickly saying, "Thank you, for your help dear boy."

He nodded his head slowly, a smile curving his lips as he said, "You're most welcome madam. Please, be more careful in the future." She promised him that she would be before quickly wandering off to god knew where. Leaving him standing there, feeling torn.

Now he was wondering if he should make sure that the elderly woman got home safe instead. If only had could be at two places at once, He lamented as he move to leave the alleyway. Since he was now in his hero form, he would start drawing far more attention than necessary. But on the plus side maybe it would make things easier for him as far as making sure that the girl from before got home safely.

After all, everyone liked heroes. Right? He thought almost enthusiastically before the voice of the stranger echoed in his mind, ruthlessly squashing his enthusiasm like a bug.

"None of my kids have any desire to become heroes."

He still wanted to know why the kids the man had mentioned seemed to dislike heroes. Maybe he could try asking one of them once he found them?

Walking back to the grocery store, he paused for a moment upon realizing that the girl was already walking away and put on a quick burst of speed in order to catch up to her. Which was easy due to the use of his quirk. However what wasn't easy was trying to figure out a polite, if nonchalant way to engage her.

Finally after several minutes of careful thought, he decided to simply try the straight forward way. "Um, excuse me miss." He tried, careful to keep his normally booming voice soft so as not to startle her.

She wasn't wearing her headphones over her ears like she had been back at the store, so she was able to hear him quite clear. She didn't speak, but he did see her acknowledge his presence by giving him a small look over one of her shoulders.

"Um...t-those bags look heavy for a such a delicate young lady like yourself, so I was wondering if maybe you wanted some help carrying them?" It was as good an excuse as any to interact with her. Plus the bags really did look far too heavy to be very comfortable for her to carry on her own.

He was just a little bit surprised that she wasn't staggering under their weight any.

She still didn't respond to him verbally. But she did hold a bag out for him to take. So maybe he was making progress, however small?

Smiling, he took the bag from her and settled it in the crook of one of his muscular arms and then waited to see if she would hand him one of the others. She didn't, but he wasn't going to aggravate/spook her by pushing for more than she was willing to give.

The two of them walked along in silence for several minutes before she finally decided to inquire. "So...what's a hero like you doing in a neighborhood like this one?"

"O-Oh, well I was out patrolling-" He started to say when she cut him off at the knees.

"That's a lie, try again."

"B-But I wasn't lying-"

"That's a lie too. Try. Again."

He sighed, wondering how she knew that he was lying in the first place. Was being able to tell the truth from lies a quirk of hers? Was she like Naomasa? If so then she might just have a promising career as a police officer once she grew up as he reluctantly said. "Very well, I was following a suspicious person who came to this area. I'm to spy on him to see if he's a threat of some kind and report back to my boss for further instructions."

"Alright, that wasn't a lie." She sounded as if she approved of the fact that he hadn't lied to her this time before then saying in a business-like tone, "Now tell me about this suspicious person. Maybe if I know something about him I can help you figure out if he's a threat or not."

He goggled at her, his jaw hanging open in disbelief. Surely he'd heard her wrong. And even if he hadn't...did she really think that he would allow a civilian girl to place herself in possible danger? Just to help him?

Nu-uh. No way.

"No offense to you miss, but no thank you." He said as he gave her a stern look meant to make her back down. She didn't look impressed by it, but he couldn't let that stop him. " I'm a highly trained pro-hero, I can collect the intel on my own. Besides, you're a civilian child. I can't allow you to get involved in anything that could potentially hurt you."

She cast him a side eyed look as she said, "Sure you can."

"Huh?" He said as he gave her a weird look.

"As you said, I'm a civilian child. Suspicious people rarely think twice about letting their guard down around kids. Besides, I can go places that you can't and gather information more easily."

He gaped at her but couldn't think of any valid arguments to discredit her. Because technically she was right. Sure he still wasn't going to allow her to place herself in harms way to help him, but still...

"I thought so." She said more to herself than him as she nodded her head. "Suspicious people would flee from you on sight as you are now. Especially since you don't exactly blend in with everyone else. And I hardly think that just anyone would easily mistake you for any other Tom, Dick or Harry, now would they?"

He did his best not to visibly flinch, but she still noticed the subtle reaction to her words and absently reached out a small hand to rub his arm in what he supposed was meant to be a comforting manner for several minutes before finally dropping her hand away from his arm and saying, "I'm sorry. I don't mean to sound so critical of you. I know that you likely trained for many, many years to do things in a very specific fashion. And I understand that."

"But you're overlooking a valuable resource. Not everyone who offer's to help you with something is going to get themselves into trouble. And not everyone who tries to help you will be defenseless enough to need you to save them either."

He stayed silent as he listened to her talk. His mind going over her words carefully.

"I think, that as long as the person offering to help you understands the risks involved with whatever task you need done; and they are okay with things... Then they are making an informed decision based on that knowledge. Then it should be fine." She paused for a moment or so before then tacking on in a soft, slightly teasing tone, "It isn't like you wouldn't be close by anyways, right. Mr. Hero?"

He stopped walking, and reached out to grab her hand and pulled her to a stop too. He couldn't deny that there was a certain amount of truth to her words. There was, and though he hated to admit it. She had a valid point about everything.

"What's your name young lady?" He asked curiously. Some part of him wanted to know her name, among other things about her. But for the moment, he'd settle for just her name. He could figure the rest of the stuff out later.

"My name is Ichigo Kurosaki."

"And how old are you Ichigo?"

"I'm sixteen."

"And are you training to be a pro-hero?" He asked, hoping that maybe she was. Because if so then it would maybe give him a way to bond with her.

"No," She said as she carefully tugged her hand from his suddenly slackened fingers. "I have a lot of respect for anyone who can do such a difficult job and make a career out of it. But I have no desire to be a hero. Pro or otherwise."

He blinked at her, unsure of what to really say to that. It was rare to run into someone so young that could think like a hero could, but had no desire to be one. His curiosity piqued by her, he started to open his mouth to ask her something else, but he never got to since the man he'd followed before suddenly appeared behind the girl.

His grey eyes going from Toshinori's towering form, to the girl before he called out softly, "Ichigo," She turned around, her expression shifting a little bit from slightly perturbed to friendly.

"Kisuke, hey. I was just on my way back with food for everyone."

"I can see that." Kisuke said as he moved closer to her and took the bags that she'd been carrying, from her before shooting him a dark look of warning. "Orihime's cooking has already claimed two more victims. And it's my turn to cook tonight."

"O-Okay." Ichigo stammered out a little bit as she turned and carefully slipped the heavy bag that Toshinori had been carrying for her, from his grasp and politely thanked him for his help.

Toshinori didn't know what else to do or say, so her simply told her that she was welcome to use him as a pack mule anytime and then gave her a friendly little smile as he watched her turn and leave with Kisuke.