Chapter 11: Vigilance

Luckily that mad brat didn't come to him for training every day.

When Aizawa offered to train Kakiru, if that was really her name, he didn't expect the physical and mental baggage that came with her hyperactivity.

The attitude deeply reminded him of Joke, actually, and Aizawa could only shudder at the implication.

She was enthusiastic, and Aizawa was glad to see someone actually take his advice seriously, but her thrill for adventure was just as big as her drive to improve herself.

That was a nice way of saying that she tended to get into trouble, and proceeded to decimate everyone in her way, often leaving broken bones in between.

Technically, Kakiru won't be arrested for vigilantism. She didn't use her quirk much because it required her to get hurt first. And if she does get hurt, then it will be counted as self-defense.

Aizawa supposed it was fortunate that her opponents were just mostly small fries that didn't have any notable physical fitness or were too reliable on their quirks. They can still be dangerous, but with her quirk, Kakiru could afford to get hurt a bit, and actually needed to get hurt.

Aizawa wondered if she has received quirk counseling for it, but judging by her brash attitude, it wouldn't amount to anything anyway. He just hoped she will be tamer in her approach in the future. At least her heart is in the right place.

Perhaps he will express these concerns at their next meetings, but Aizawa didn't count on it.

Thinking about Kakiru always makes him sigh like this. He's going to get gray hair if this problem child decided to become even more problematic.

But that's the problem for another time.

Tonight was rather peaceful, but Aizawa decided to continue patrolling just for a while more before Nedzu tried to hound him again. He didn't want to deal with that rat again so soon.

That was when he spotted the first troublesome encounter.

While he was skulking on the roof, a woman with knives was fighting a man with turtle mutations. She kept throwing knives at his shell with ferocity, although it ultimately amounted to nothing.

And she was looking quite frustrated, it seemed.

"Hey! Come out here, you coward!" Apparently, that's the eccentric heroine Blade, whose principle is beating criminals with shouts that wake up the whole streets.

Aizawa sighed in annoyance, jumping down to assist the hot-headed heroine.

Turned out, the turtle guy was drunk and kept using his shell to cause chaos in the street. After sticking a taser in the shell, that guy convulsed and immediately came out of his shell.

Kind of anticlimactic for a fight, Aizawa would like to admit.

"Thank you for the save, Eraserhead!" Blade beamed at him "Who could have thought you can use a taser like that? I haven't even noticed I had one!"

"Then you're an idiot." Aizawa sighed "Aren't you going to handcuff him?"

"Oh shoot, I forgot." She waved her hand sheepishly before finally deciding to do her job properly.

Aizawa decided to stay for a few minutes, just to make sure Blade didn't mess up…again.

Unfortunately for Aizawa, when Blade was done with catching criminals and contacting local authorities to clean her mess up, the heroine was a terrifying gossiper just like Midnight, judging by the way she etched close to him, whispering what she thought to be the secret of the universe.

"Hey, did you hear?" She smirked, giving him a sideway look

"Hear what?" Aizawa reluctantly answered in a bored tone.

Sure, it could be interesting to hear what kind of information the heroine dished out, but mostly it was mentally draining.

"I heard that there's a new vigilante in town. They said he's a demon!" She hushed dramatically "Any criminals who crossed his path get holes in their body. Scary, isn't it?"

Aizawa has never really liked vigilante, for lots of reasons. Most of them are hero wannabes or fame-seeking lunatics that sooner or later will get themselves killed. And the ones that really had the skill are usually a pain in the ass just like Stain.

Though, Underground Heroes sometimes decide to work with vigilantes to accomplish certain missions. Their alliance is a mutual distrust and only intensify after the Stain accidents.

"And your opinion?"

"Don't really care about it. It's not my business as long as he hasn't done any actual harm." She waved her hand dismissively "Besides, that guy's apparently very dangerous, and I don't want to risk it for nothing."

"You're actually afraid of a vigilante?" Aizawa asked, raising his brow

"He didn't get that sort of reputation from nowhere." Blade rolled her eyes "Who knows what kind of crazy ideology this guy has? He's virtually unknown, and I will be dead meat dealing with another Stain."

"At least you have some sense of self-preservation." Aizawa shrugged while Blade narrowed her eyes in response

"Okay, you make your point." She sighed, averting her eyes "Well, knowing your luck, you have a better chance of meeting him than I do. I will be cheering you on if you somehow manage to get into a fight with him!"

"Most unappreciative," Aizawa grunted in response

"You have to admit that's kind of true."

The way Aizawa didn't respond back from this point on only served to solidify Blade's victory.

It was just a joke, after all.

Right?

Aizawa hasn't really taken Blade's words seriously…he never did. So now in this predicament, he only got himself to blame.

Frighteningly accurate to Blade's prediction, there Aizawa saw a vigilante in leather armor with dark green straps. His face was obscured by a simple skull mask, by the look of it.

It seemed like the rumor was true, after all.

The vigilante, with a rapier in his right hand, movement fluid and precise, managed to incapacitate a villain with a dangerous acid quirk with ease.

Some of his movement was even too hard to follow, but he made sure to hold back, deliberately avoiding fatal blows.

As if he was dancing a hypnotizing dance of death.

The villain lying on the ground would be a testament to that.

Then behind his mask, his black eyes stared at Aizawa.

It was sharp, dangerously so.

Aizawa immediately sidestepped to dodge a knife aimed at his shoulder. Alarmed, he focused his eyes to use his quirk.

But nothing happened.

Aizawa at that moment felt a flash of panic and almost didn't notice the mysterious vigilante coming right at him.

With his instinct flaring, Aizawa managed to dodge the incoming stab at the last second and used his scarf, in an effort to restrain the vigilante's movement. It wrapped the vigilante's arm, and he hesitated, but a slash from his sword made Aizawa realize it wouldn't last long.

Aizawa tried to use his quirk again to no avail. Something was restricting his ability, and he felt a heavy sense of dread in his chest.

The vigilante looked surprised at how durable the scarf was, but ultimately he weaved through, using his rapier to pin the scarf down to the ground, and the restriction of movement ultimately worked against Aizawa.

He threw out a few move knives as Aizawa hastily took out two daggers from his belt, one blocking the knives, and one slashing off the scarf to give himself room to move.

He managed to block the lunge of the vigilante that came right after these knives, but it staggered him down. Within quick succession, the vigilante spins his rapier, hitting Aizawa in the wrist, and forcing him to drop one of his daggers.

Using the only one he had left, Aizawa tried to block the attack to no avail, as the force pried the dagger from his hand. With a sweep of the leg, now Aizawa is lying on the ground with a rapier right before his throat.

"Who are you?" The mysterious vigilante asked as his scrunting gaze fell on Aizawa

Despite the adrenaline pumping in his blood, Aizawa did his best to remain rational. There was nothing he could do, really, since he was completely at the vigilante's mercy.

Aizawa could only glare at him, expression unmoved.

"…wait." He suddenly said, retracting his rapier "You're Eraserhead."

Aizawa got up, but his posture was tense and his eyes blazed in alarm. However, it seemed that it wasn't the vigilante's intention to fight him at all.

"Sorry…I thought you were a villain. You did a good job staying hidden." He said, tone surprisingly apologetic

"Apparently, not enough."

"Again, sorry for that. My paranoia got the better of me." The vigilante sighed.

He wasn't hostile, at least.

"You must be skilled," Aizawa said, his eyes scanning, trying to find anything that would give off more information about the vigilante.

He found none.

"Of course, or I might as well get myself killed first." He chuckled darkly "Can't lose your head nowadays, am I right?"

Unfortunately, his flimsy attempt at humor didn't make Aizawa laugh. That was to be expected.

"You know about me, then?" Aizawa quirked his brow

"Not much. I know your hero name is Eraserhead, you have a very durable metal scarf, and that your quirk's making others' quirk unusable." He answered simply, but perked up his head soon after "Also, judging by your reaction in that fight, I guess your quirk's a sight-based one, right?"

The man was intuitive, that's problematic.

"Are you quirkless, then?" Aizawa asked, which made the vigilante flinch in surprise.

Aizawa wondered if he had touched a nerve, and quickly improvised.

"You didn't react to my quirk," Aizawa stated

"Oh." He said, scratching his head sheepishly "I guess it's because I have a similar quirk as you. I erased your quirk."

"You have an erasure quirk?" He could only widen his eyes in surprise.

Erasure is an incredibly rare quirk, after all, and apparently quite troublesome, too.

"Yeah. But I think it's inferior to yours." He said thoughtfully "I can erase quirks from a distance with my hand."

"Your hand?"

"That's right. Your quirk affects everyone in your sight, isn't it?" The vigilante asked, and Aizawa nodded in response

"Why do you ask?"

"Unlike yours, I can only take a hold of one quirk at a time, two quirks if I use both of my hands, but that will leave me pretty much defenseless." He explained, "That's actually why decided to use a rapier."

…that made a lot of sense, actually.

Aizawa's Erasure is useful no doubt, but it has limits and gives him dry eyes. However, it's a sight-based quirk, so it's quite powerful at anticipating multiple opponents at once.

Not like Aizawa has many opportunities to use it like that.

"You can hold onto them forever?"

"I think? It doesn't hurt me or anything if I hold onto a quirk for too long." The vigilante shrugged in response.

It doesn't have a time limit, but instead a limit on targets.

"You're a bad match for me." The vigilante didn't look surprised by his statements.

"I think. I had longer reach, the element of surprise that you didn't know my quirk, and my weapon pierced right through your capture scarf." He said, holding up his hand "Sorry about that, by the way."

"…I got careless," Aizawa grunted in annoyance

"You could say that. But it wasn't your fault, not really. My fighting style could be very hard to counter." He mused, looking at Aizawa "Oh. Did I hurt you too badly anywhere?"

"I'm fine." He could only reply with hidden irritation

"That's good." The vigilante said passively, but then took a moment to look at the clock on his hand "Uh, can you get this villain to the police station for me? I kind of have something urgent."

"Shouldn't you be arrested for vigilantism instead?" Aizawa raised a brow at the vigilante's obvious attempt to slip away.

"Firstly, I don't want to fight you. I haven't done anything particularly villainous, have I? Secondly, you weren't sure of your chance against me. You said it yourself, so it's only logical."

"…" Well, there was nothing Aizawa could say to that. When dealing with a vigilante this skilled, it was simply too risky. And so, Aizawa could only sigh.

"If that's all, goodbye, Eraserhead. I have a feeling we're going to meet again." The man said and disappeared into the darkness of the alley, leaving Eraserhead with an unconscious criminal.

Aizawa didn't see the vigilante again until the next week, but because of how secretive he supposed the vigilante to be, Aizawa wasn't in the least surprised. It just grated on his nerve that a vigilante with unknown motives, and actually had the skills to back it up still roaming around.

Fortunately, he didn't seem hostile. The world doesn't really need another Stain running around.

This time around though, the vigilante seemed to be the one in a predicament. He was fighting, but it seemed that his rapier didn't do much against a woman with tendrils for hair, each of them carrying a weapon of their own, and actually managed to control them decently.

Every time the vigilante tried to take out his hand, most likely to use his quirks, the woman attacked even more fiercely. His swordplay was good, but he was by no means invincible.

Sighing, Aizawa decided to jump in against his better judgment, and with a glare, the tendril on her head lost its strength and the clatter of the weapon with the ground can be heard.

The woman looked surprised at the new hero entering the fray, but that lapse in concentration cost her a kick to the face. She fell limp and didn't get up again.

The vigilante gestured for Aizawa to handcuff the girl, and he simply nodded in compliance.

And the vigilante did try to keep his distance, most likely still wary of him.

"…thank you for the assist, Eraserhead." He nodded, apparently sincere with his word "I knew we would meet again."

At least he was civil enough.

"What are you doing here?" Aizawa asked in skepticism

"Besides the obvious?" He answered in a confused tone, and Aizawa could only roll his eyes.

"Why did she attack you like that?"

"You see, that lady was trying to mug someone. Obviously, I tried to intervene". The vigilante explained, "But just as she was about to lose, she injected herself with something, and apparently got a power-up right away. I guess I was taken aback a bit."

"Trigger," Aizawa said simply

"Trigger? Is that some kind of drug?"

"Yes." Aizawa nodded in response "Nothing much is known about it, besides the fact that it gives a boost to an individual quirk, but lowers their sense of reason as a result."

"So that's why that woman was trying to stab me like crazy." He mused to himself "Again, thank you for that, Eraserhead."

"Try to be more careful next time."

"Not trying to arrest me anymore?" The vigilante asked in a curious tone, but Aizawa remained stoically silent.

"…"

"Hah…you too, Eraserhead." He sighed, turning in the opposite direction "Ah, the next time we meet, call me Shade at your convenience."

And then the vigilante disappeared once again.

Aizawa started to see the vigilante quite regularly after that.

It wasn't an easy relationship as they were wary of the others for a long time. Eventually, though, they learned to get around.

Aizawa realized he couldn't catch the vigilante outright and wasn't sure if he even wanted to catch him. Shade so far hasn't done anything bad, and he was surprisingly sympathetic to the victim he saved.

Someone with that kind of empathy couldn't possibly be evil.

Shade would help him if he spotted Aizawa in a sticky situation, so it's only natural that Aizawa did the same. They have become some sort of comrade-in-arm, one would say.

"Is that the last of them?" Aizawa asked after delivering an uppercut, knocking a guy out cold.

"I think," Shade replied, wiping the blood off his rapier. "I didn't expect to find a Trigger dealing ring of all things, three times in a row."

"They are getting bolder," Aizawa said simply, crouching to the ground to inspect the beak mask. "And we still don't know much about the one behind it."

"We should remain vigilant. Seems like it will only get even worse in the future." Shade sighed "You called Tsukauchi yet?"

"Yes, he will be here in a minute. Luckily we got rid of the criminals quickly before things escalated. It would be a mess to clean up." Aizawa answered with a heavy tone.

"I suppose so." Shade nodded, turning to leave. Aizawa made no effort to stop the vigilante. "Take care, Eraserhead."

Aizawa scowled but ultimately did nothing. He only answered with a nod before the vigilante disappeared once again.

Aizawa didn't want to admit it, but having someone to watch his back sure kept a lot of burden off his mind. Especially if it was someone skilled and didn't talk his ears off.

Outside of his questionable act of vigilantism, Aizawa could even say Shade was actually a good company.

Despite the difference in occupation, their ideology is surprisingly similar. Perhaps that was why Aizawa could tolerate talking with the vigilante. Shade didn't seem to mind much, either.

"Why don't you become a licensed hero? You certainly got the skills." Aizawa has asked one time.

Shade was sitting on the ledge of the roof, looking down upon the city. His eyes were obscured by a sense of sadness.

"I have thought about that before." Shade answered, "It's just…that life isn't for me."

"Why did you say that?" Aizawa raised a brow at the vigilante

"I'm a terrible person," Shade answered simply, looking down, his shoulder slumped

"You're not." Aizawa quickly said, "I know you long enough to reach that conclusion."

"Perhaps for you, Eraser." Shade only sighed

Aizawa was confused but ultimately decided not to question more. He decided to change the subject.

"Say…I never noticed you're a religious person." Aizawa could see Shade turning at him, his eyes wide

"Oh."

Once so often, Aizawa could spot Shade alone, his hands clasped together, seemingly unaware of his surroundings, whispering something Aizawa couldn't hear, only for Shade to tremble afterward, clenching his hand in frustration.

Shade was always mysterious in that kind of way, seemingly knowing something Aizawa didn't. Couldn't.

Shade remained silent for while, making Aizawa wonder if he would respond.

"I wanted to be in control." Shade sighed, closing his eyes "I didn't have the power to remain ignorant, to occupy myself with anything that could distract me from my thoughts, or to be brave enough to face my eventual death. I'm just a residue, a remnant, and everything is out of my control."

Aizawa blinked at the cryptic words, but seeing Shade appearing so vulnerable, he could only set every question aside.

Instead, Aizawa put a hand on Shade's shoulder, in a flimsy method of trying to console him.

"I don't know what you're dealing with, but I know your life is for to decide. You're in control already, Shade." Aizawa sighed at the obvious look of skepticism "The people you saved, you made the choice to step in, you already made a difference. Perhaps that didn't mean much in the grand scheme of things like you said, but it meant everything to them."

Shade's eyes widen in realization.

"I can't say I understand the problem you're going through, but it's okay to feel overwhelmed sometimes. What matter is that you're going to get over it, perhaps not now, but eventually."

"…"

"Uh…sorry if I said something wrong-" Aizawa started to panic, as he was not good at emotional support.

"Pfft." Shade chuckled, and Aizawa could only stare at him, flabbergasted "Never knew you were such a cheesy person, Eraser."

"…shut up." Aizawa groaned, slapping a hand over his face

"No, no, sorry about that. I feel…better now. Thank you, Eraser." Shade replied in an earnest tone "I guess I just never see it that way."

"There's a first time for anything. It took me a while to realize that, too. Uncertainty could have gotten the better of me." Aizawa said, "Regrets, too."

"I see."

They sit with each other in silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable at all.

"On the off chance, which gods you're praying to? It wasn't some kind of eldritch being, was it?"

Shade gave him an incredulous look.

"Not a god. Not necessarily praying." Shade answered, ambiguous as ever

"Okay, okay, keep it that way, Shade." Aizawa sighed, looking away

Shade only gave him an uneasy look, one Aizawa himself didn't notice

A different shade of colors.