Chapter 2 March 19th, 22XX

Izuku had hoped, with it being the last day of their second year, that Kaachan would have left him alone. He should have known it would be too much to ask, given that the spring break between years would mean that Kaachan would be able to knock him around for the next few weeks. Still, he'd thought a teacher would have held him back to compliment him on being top of the class yet again, or something similar.

But nope! Kaachan and his gang—the members had varied throughout the years, so Izuku didn't feel guilty about not knowing their names—decided to play one last game of Burn the Nerd, or whatever the reason was for them to attack him. Fortunately, years of being a target made Izuku fast and he was barely able to keep two steps ahead of Kaachan before losing him in the crowd. Izuku kept running though; Kaachan wasn't one to give up and would search the area for him.

Which led to Izuku's current predicament: he had no idea where he was. The area seemed run down, shabby but functional, as opposed to the rather modern look of Musutafu. So, he was probably in a different prefecture. He sighed. This was just great. Hopefully he had enough money to travel home again; this place was near the train station, so it shouldn't cost more than a few hundred yen.

Izuku winced as he walked around the neighborhood. Despite his best efforts, Kaachan had managed to get in a burn or two. Another uniform, ruined. Mom didn't have that much money! She couldn't afford to keep replacing all his uniforms every time Kaachan got testy and it's not like Izuku could repair fabric burns himself.

He sighed. Maybe one of the local establishments had a phone he could use so his mom would pick him up? But no, that would just cause trouble. At least, someone would be able to tell him where he was so he could get a train home. Looking around, Izuku realized he had wondered into an alley and the nearest business was a small shop with a red awning. Leblanc, Coffee and… Curry? Weird combo, but alright. Steeling his nerves, Izuku walked inside, bell chiming overhead.

The coffee shop was nice, homey and warm, with wood all around him. Instead of proper booths, there were tables in between wooden loveseats with red cushions, clearly all a part of a set but different enough to seem accidental and charming. Behind the bar was the most elaborate coffee maker Izuku had ever seen and the barista, an aging man—his hairline was receding but the color was still black, and he wore glasses with a pointed goatee. The man looked up from his newspaper and nodded at him without smiling the traditional "I'm in customer service, end my suffering" smile. "Welcome."

Izuku drew in on himself, his lips thinning. "Hi…" his voice was meek. He didn't feel like he belonged here, despite no one else being in the shop.

The barista gave him an unreadable look and put the newspaper down. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Ah! I'm…" He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm actually… lost. Could you tell me where I am? I-I won't bother you after that, I swear!"

"Don't worry about it, kid." He snorted, putting the newspaper away. "Why don't you sit down and I'll get you something to drink. I probably shouldn't offer a kid like you coffee, but I do have some sodas in the fridge if you want some."

Izuku hesitated. "I really shouldn't…"

"I insist. Besides," he looked Izuku up and down, his gaze lingering on the burned fabric of the white parts of his uniform, "you look like you need to sit down for a minute or two."

Well, he couldn't say no to that; his feet were really starting to ache. "Okay…" Izuku took a seat at the bar, at the far end away from the door. His hands fell awkwardly in his lap. "Thank you, Mister…"

"Sojiro Sakura," he answered, turning back into the kitchen area.

"Thank you, Sakura-san. I'm name is Izuku Midoriya," Izuku offered, glancing into the fridge as Sakura opened it. There were a lot of ingredients inside—for the curry?

"Nice to meet you. Unfortunately, I only have two types of soda on hand: melon and pineapple. Which do you want?"

"Melon, please."

Sakura poured it in a glass with ice and a straw and handed it over to him. When he did, their hands touched. Months in the future, Izuku would learn that Sojiro had used his quirk on him: a minor claircognizance quirk he called Insight. By touching the skin of another person, Sojiro could psychically learn information, specifically favorites. Usually he used it to learn other people's favorite flavors, so he could work it into their coffee somehow, but it only picks up whatever is relevant to the individual in that very moment so it isn't very reliable. Sojiro would tell him that, in that moment, he learned Izuku's favorite burn cream.

"That," Sojiro would say, looking like he needed a cigarette, "was the moment I decided to convince you to stick around. No one has favorite brands of medicine unless they use them a lot and have tried a variety. I don't know what's going on in your life, kid, and I'm not sure if I want to be involved, but… if you needed a safe place, I'm always willing to provide it."

That statement would cause Izuku to cry later, but for now, he simply took his drink and sipped on it. He wished he could take the ice out and rub it on his forehead. "Is it good?" Sakura asked and Izuku nodded. "Good, good… so, how'd you get lost here in Yongen-Jaya?" Izuku nearly choked, but Sakura continued talking. "I know there's a lot of alleyways around here, but it shouldn't be too hard to orient yourself with the train station and all."

"I ran all the way to Yongen-Jaya…" He muttered to himself, unknowing that Sakura—and almost as important, the electronic bug hidden under the counter—could hear him. Musutafu and Yongen-Jaya bordered each other, but Aldera Junior High had been in the center of Musutafu. He'd managed to run an entire district…? "I guess I'll have to take the train back…"

"You have enough money for it?"

His head shot up; he'd forgotten Sakura was there! "U-Um! Y-Yes, I think so! Musutafu is only a few stops over, so it should only be a few hundred yen." Though he didn't know if he had enough for both a train ticket and the drink, he now realized.

"That's good. If you need any more though, I'll lend you the money."

"You don't have to!"

"Consider it a loan; you'd just have to pay me back later." Sakura nodded his head towards the back of the café, where the bathroom was. "Why don't you clean yourself up? There's a first aid kit in there too, if you need it."

"Oh!" Izuku didn't know what to say. Sakura was already doing so much for him, and they'd only just met! Scrambling out of his seat, Izuku bowed and tried not to wince as his burned skin pulled. "Thank you very much!"

Sakura smiled, amused. "Don't worry about it, kid. Your drink will be waiting on you to get back."

Izuku took Sakura's advice and darted into the bathroom, finally getting a glimpse of himself in the mirror since he left school. He looked like he'd been tossed down a flight of stairs. He washed his face in the sink, wiping away dirt and sweat, before taking off his uniform shirt to observe the burn on his back. It stood out, pink among pale skin and paler scar tissue, but didn't seem too bad, his shirt having taken most of the damage. He found the first aid kit in the cabinet and, despite the disappointing lack of burn cream, patched himself up.

By the time he exited the bathroom, Izuku looked and felt human again. Waiting for him upon his return was his drink and, inexplicitly, a fresh plate of curry and rice, steam still wafting off it. He blinked down at the food. "I didn't order this…"

"You looked like you needed it." And, as if to punctuate Sakura's point, Izuku's stomach growled. "Don't worry, it's on the house."

"Thanks…" he laughed nervously. "I keep saying that, don't I? Sorry…" He slunk back into his seat.

Sakura chuckled. "You're a real nervous kid, aren't you?"

"I guess…" Izuku grabbed the fork provided and tried the curry. It was… far better than he was expecting, honestly. Probably even better than his mom's, though he hadn't had it in a long while; the law office got more and more cases as the weeks went by. "It's really good, Sakura-san."

"Glad to hear it."

Quickly eating his meal, Izuku's attention turned to the tv, which Sakura must have turned on while he was in the bathroom. It was turned to Hero News, the leading station that reported the most notable hero fights. The station was practically the only one used in the Midoriya apartment. At that moment, they were recapping a fight with—"It's Wash! The Laundry Hero!"

"Hmm?" Sakura raised an eyebrow. "You a fan?"

"Of his quirk, yeah." Izuku's eyes were glued to the screen. Oh, if only he had his notebook with him! Despite being such a high-ranking hero, Wash's fights were surprisingly hard to catch on film. He'd just have to memorize it then. "The only demographic that constantly likes Wash is young children, but his quirk, Rinse Cycle, is really fascinating! Not only is the water somehow generated from his head, but his most used attack—Rinse Cycle Turbo—is always in a spiral pattern, indicating a large amount of hydrokinetic control. There's also the fact that he can control the force of water expelled, as seen in one of his fire rescues early last year when he used his quirk as a fire hose and doused an entire city block in under a minute! I'm not sure how the water is created—beforehand I thought it was from his own internal supply, but after that fire I think it might be absorbed from the surrounding atmosphere—but his control over it is one that can't be underestimated!"

Sakura huffed a laugh. "You really like heroes. You want to be one?"

Izuku's face heated up with embarrassment. "Ah, sorry! I tend to ramble about quirks a lot… but yes. I do want to be a hero."

He expected some vague platitude about how nice that was or something, but Sakura just eyed him and said, "Alright. But you're going to need to put on some muscle if you want to get into a hero school."

"I know. But… someone once told me that putting on a lot of muscle before my final growth spurt would hurt me." Well, he said it in a more refined way, even looking up information to show him, but that was the gist of it. "So I decided to work more on building my stamina and agility before I start weight lifting." Hence, running away from Kaachan.

Sakura nodded. "A good plan. Make sure you're eating right too, and that you rest in between work outs."

"I will." Izuku ate the rest of his curry and finished his drink, feeling recharged and ready to go home. Despite originally feeling out of place, LeBlanc was nice. He felt at peace there, like he did at home, instead of like everywhere else when he had to keep glancing over his shoulder to stay away from Kaachan or any other Aldera student. He really wanted to come back. Maybe he could add Yongen-Jaya to his afternoon running schedule? It would be a bit of a stretch, but if he managed to get here by running from Kaachan, then he should reasonably be able to run without danger involved. He stood, leaving the dishes on the table. "Thank you, Sakura-san. For everything."

Sakura waved away his gratitude. "It's fine, kid. Get home safe, alright?"

"I will," Izuku said with a smile. "I'll stop by again soon!" He'd just found his favorite place, after all—one where no one from his normal life could find him. He wasn't about to give that up quickly.