The First Glimpse into Despair.

Not all men are created equal.

That was a lesson Nezumi Yasuda learned ever since the day he was born.

Well, saying since the day he was born would be a bit of a stretch, but, eh, technicities. The point was, since a young age, he had seen first-hand the difference in how you are treated depending on how you are born, and sure as hell it hadn't been a gratifying life for him.

The stares.

The insulting remarks at his appearance.

I would say whispers, but it's been a long while since people stopped giving a fuck about pretending.

The discrimination that seems will never reach an end.

All in all, the whole package of what a mutant would deal with in their day-by-day life.

Sure, some lucked it out and their quirks only altered their bodies to minimal degrees. His parents, for example, only had their mutations on their ears, eyes, nose, and mouth. Nezumi doesn't doubt that they get mocked by a goddamn random on the street every now and then, but hey, at least it stops at just that.

The silver lining would've been if his quirk made him resemble a popular or approachable animal like a dog or a cat or a rabbit, perhaps? There's this pro-hero chick who's kicking it hard on the news whose quirk gives her some traits of that animal, so maybe even if he had a full mutation unlike her, there could've been some leniency, right?

In the end, though, that was nothing but wishful thinking for a rodent like him, and no, he wasn't speaking of the cute kind like a mouse or a hamster. At least for those, he would receive some pity and backhanded acceptance.

Nope, instead, he was a repugnant beast in the eyes of society, someone undeserving of the sweet side of their hypocrisy and should do everyone a favor and hide his ugly and large face from their eyes.

A rat, in all its ugly non-glory.

And if that wasn't enough, his parents, for whatever the fuck reason, decided that a single of his child suffering in this world wasn't enough and conceived other fives brats before closing the business. To nobody but his parent's surprise, each one of them was as ugly as him.

…Well, save for Yuta, but the kid was an old case of monkey's paw.

Nezumi would've liked to say his youngest brother got spared from the same fate, which he did…but it was more among the lines of escaping from one hell only to land in a deeper one. The poor bastard was quirkless, and if there was one thing society despised more than mutants, it was those who didn't had even that. He can't even allow himself to hope it won't be the same for the kid, that he won't suffer. After all, the reality was always ready to give him a slap outta those fantasies.

I checked the numbers on the internet again and again for fuck's sake. These people no longer make it past fourteen years old before it becomes too much for them.

…

He…he really tried. Nezumi truly fought tooth and nail into attempting to turn on a clog within the machine, or an 'exemplar citizen' as this hero-infested society would refer to.

Going through kindergarten all the way to junior high, he tolerated the hate his mere existence caused which, as time went on, shifted from crude and hurtful insults 'Kids can be so damn cruel when they set their minds into it…' onto people getting more and more physical with their methods of torment.

Despite that though, he persevered and brushed off 'More like attempted to…' all of it, proving to everyone that regardless of their expectations, or their lack thereof, he could strive. No matter what, no matter how much society worked against him, he could prove everyone wrong.

Then everything went to shit when high school came.

There was always an excuse. They didn't wanted a potentially delinquent to become a bad influence for their 'prestigious' institution, there were better options out there for him, or on the rare occasions that he got in, he didn't lasted more than a pair of weeks before they threw him out for whatever reason they could pull outta their asses. More often than not they hid all of that under polite words, but the implications under each of their words couldn't had been more obvious.

Yet, with a higher education out of the picture, he attempted to think it was for the best, that it would be more productive of him if he had all his focus into getting a job. After all, the next oldest of his siblings had a ten-year gap in-between, so it fell upon Nezumi to provide for the family.

Because expecting to rely on my old man for that was like asking melons to an orange tree, seeing that it was becoming harder for the bastard to leave the bottle.

Though for all those good intentions he had, that too went as badly as the education part.

Even for something like a cashier for a convenience store, a job among the lowest of the low, he was rejected of an opportunity. Not so surprisingly, for the same goddamn reasons as ever.

I…uh, sorry! This vacancy is already taken!

Someone with your qualifications doesn't have what we are looking for in our company…

I don't truly have any issues with giving you the job, but…erm, when it comes to our clients…

So, with all other bridges burned out, and the despair of not knowing what it would be of him and his brothers if he didn't acted fast looming on the horizon, he recurred to the last retort available.

Villainy.

Nothing grand, just your regular thief 'And yeah, the irony of it isn't going past me…', but then again, with this world's current system, he falls into the same category as the worst pieces of shit living out there.

But in any case, it had been four years already since he took into this lifestyle. He had wasted enough time recalling how things had come to this, which by this point, it was nothing but pointless shit.

More so when he should keep an eye out for his next target.

Most people would believe that four years of robbing people wasn't something worth flaunting about, which while he could partially agree, nowadays it was a big deal nonetheless.

Although Nezumi couldn't truly say he was proud of it, the reason he had thrived so far was that over the years he had learned to pick up on some things. Said some things include when to work, where to work, and knowing how to choose your target.

When to work might seem like the easy part, with most thinking the smart choice was always going for night scouts…which while technically true, things were more complex than what one might think at first glance.

Both day and night crimes had their pros and cons. The most obvious counterargument against going out at day was that even if there were more options where to choose from, not only one does get more exposure, but it was also the time when pro-heroes have the majority of their patrols. Meanwhile, while it was true that at night there wasn't anywhere as near as many heroes hanging on the streets, the thing most people forgot to tell you was that those few people consist mostly of underground heroes, and the problem with those type of pros was that they take they work way more fucking seriously than their counterparts.

Besides, apart from heroes, one has to take care of their fellow villains. Sure, more often than not heroes compete with each other with the intent of acquiring popularity, but it rarely goes too far.

With criminals, though? Now that was a fish-eat-fish world right there. The fact that villain's organizations were rarely heard of, and when they do, they don't last more than a month before disbanding, should tell you more than enough about how things run between them. Which brings him to the point of where the best places were and which ones should avoid.

It was true that these days the chances of finding a functional villain organization were lower than U. A's acceptance rate, but that didn't mean there weren't people up to the idea of teaming up with fellow criminals and forming their own turfs. There was also the Yakuza, which even if those bastards were almost extinct, they still were a force to reckon with when near their headquarters. Finally, it was also important to take into consideration which pros were working wherever you planned to make your moves.

Until a few weeks ago, Nezumi would say that his current spot on the border between Shizuoka and Musutafu was the ideal location. It was a highly developed area, the crime rate at night was low even without the presence of pro-heroes at said hours, which meant more opportunities for him, and although Endeavor's agency was located at the very heart of Musutafu, just behind Tokyo, that city was the largest in Japan, meaning that guy and his lackeys couldn't be everywhere. Besides, as pointed out before, this location in particular wasn't highly patrolled. It was a blind spot of sorts for the pros so long as he played it safe and didn't went around making unnecessary noise.

Although, just like everything in his life, it appears life was once again intended to mess with him…

The reason why?

All fucking Might.

Save for a few crazy bastards, ever since news got around that the big guy himself was establishing in Musutafu and villains began to fall like fireflies, in combination with knowing that All Might was a full-time day pro-hero, had made not only for villains of Musutafu and the surrounding cities as well, to prefer committing their crimes on the night, it also had led to few of them already beginning to fill the lack of competition his spot usually had. With said competition growing each passing day, Nezumi knew that it was just a matter of time before this gets into the radar of the pros and begin to relocate their attention here.

Sooner rather than later, he will have to move on to another city, perhaps another prefecture depending on how bad things go from now on.

My first option was Hosu City because it is still close to home, but…well, if at least half of the rumors circulating that city are true, then I should look somewhere else. Shit, these following months are going to be difficult, eh?

Whatever other grim thoughts could've plagued Nezumi's mind were put to a halt as he perked when the sound of a bell rang, and someone came out of the electronics store he had been stalking.

It was an admittedly attractive girl with large and fluff-looking strawberry pigtails.

Or alternatively speaking, tonight's target.

He had been following her all night, assessing whether he should go for it or not. Regarding what he had observed so far, he had already confirmed that she was alone, he also saw how from time to time she brought out her phone to mess with it without paying attention to her surroundings, sometimes going as far as attending a call while crossing the streets.

Based on that, he couldn't help but categorize her as naïve. A daddy's girl that had never suffered a complication in her life and was ignorant of the dangers the nocturnal cities' lifestyle leave for people like her…which in its own way was a good signal, as that would mean a good enough loot to make this long as hell chase worth it.

Although there was still the issue of self-defense that was bothering him. One of the small blessings his quirk had left him was that his rodent's nose wasn't big just for show. It worked just as well to detect and differentiate a variety of essences at large distances without a problem. Between one hundred all the way to two hundred meters if he puts in the effort for it and the smell was strong enough. Thanks to that, he already confirmed that she didn't have any pepper spray with her, and besides those bags from her purchases, it didn't seem like she had any pockets big enough to carry something like a stun gun.

So, leaving the self-defense equipment out of the picture, there was still the dealing of her quirk.

Just to make sure, he already discarded the possibility of her being quirkless, she looked too damn happy and full of hope to be one. However, that still left the problem that there wasn't any detail about her that could tell him a clue about what was her quirk.

So far, it was hard to believe it was a strong one. Something about how she carried herself…while confident, her posture and facial expression did not carry a superiority complex that usually comes from those born lucky in the genetic lottery. Besides, those with powerful quirks never miss a chance to flaunt about them. Even though public quirk usage was illegal, people always turn a blind eye so long as those who use it don't go over the top 'I have known this since way back to elementary school…', which is why the fact that this girl hadn't done even a minimal demonstration at least once, makes him confident in his assumption.

Whatever the case was, the time for observing and planning was over, seeing that she began to move.

Allowing an audible sigh to leave his mouth, he patted the right pocket, psyching himself up as he confirmed the feeling of his gun still with him. Then he waited a few seconds to gain some distance between himself and his target and began to trail behind her once he was away enough to not be noticed, but with her still within his line of sight.

It was time to get this done.

Today's most probably my last crime in this city, so let's hope it's worth it.

What's up with this girl?

Thirty minutes later and he couldn't prevent the frustration building up as that question rattled his head.

It's not like he wasn't used to playing the long game, but this girl was getting ridiculous! Every time he was about to make his move, she turned into a street where it had enough people to make it impossible for him to rob her without getting too much attention while at the same time it wasn't convoluted enough for him to discretely snatch her belongings. Worst of all it was always at the exact moment he felt confident in going with it. How goddamn convenient was that!?

…

…Does her quirk have something to do with it?

She hadn't looked back in his direction even once so she couldn't have noticed him through any conventional means. His footsteps couldn't have given him away either. As previously pointed out, with the number of people wandering around, hearing something like the steps of a person in specific was impossible, even for him, who had enhanced hearing thanks to his ears. Hell, he could barely keep up with what the strawberry-blonde was talking about on her phone.

Seriously, how careless can you be!?

In any case…

Should he call it quits, then?

This was becoming more problematic than what it was worth it and at this rate, he was going to end up chasing her way outside his comfort zone, which was a big no in his book. Besides, today he wasn't feeling particularly needy about the money, so he could afford it to spare one person.

…

…Yeah, he should give up on this brat, look for an easy sucker even if it wasn't as profitable as what this insufferable girl looked like and―

"Hm? Sorry, what did you say? Gee, there's too many people here! I'm gonna look for a spot where I can hear ya, 'kay?"

True to her word, as soon as he heard the strawberry-blonde say that through her phone, the girl took another turn, only this time he perked when he saw where did she go. With years of experience scouting these streets, he had already memorized them like the back of his paw, meaning he immediately recognized that his target had just made the mistake of entering a back alley. It would feel slightly ridiculous to go around praising something as banal as a backstreet, but this one in specific was one of the best spots there was. With its thick walls surrounding it, people could barely hear the noise going outside…or inside of them

If tonight he was only going to get one chance to assault this girl, it was now or never!

Allowing himself to throw away some caution for the benefit of making use of this opportunity, he picked up his pace and rushed towards the same alley his target went. Once he was about to get in, he looked to the sides and when he was sure he wasn't getting any interferences, he went in.

You caused me quite the trouble, bitch, but no more of that. I got you now.

The backstreet looked just the same as he remembers. As dirty and full of shit as ever that is. A pair of trash cans over there, some half-full bottles of either booze or piss varying on the sicko that left them.

All in all, it was a truly contrasting sight when you compare it to the girl further ahead of all this miserable view.

Speaking of her.

Just as expected, the strawberry-blonde back had her back turned on him meanwhile she was still using her damn phone, unaware of his presence. He briefly wondered why he wasn't hearing anything on the other end of the line even though he was this close to her, but as soon as the thought came, he waved it off and instead pulled the gun out. The sooner he finishes this business, the better.

"Alrighty you brat, make this shit easy for the both of us and gimme everythin' ya got!"

The first signal that told him something was off, was that instead of flinching, throwing a yelp, and snapping her head in his direction as he expected for someone to react in her position, she…just stood there. There were a few seconds in which it appeared time froze for her.

Did she enter in shock, perhaps…?

The second hint was that before he had the chance to snap at her to hurry up, she finally began to do as told, although she was taking her sweet ass time to turn towards him and pull down her phone.

Nevertheless, she was complying, so might as well make use of that "Good…now come here nice and easy. If ya know what's good for ya, I won't have to pull the trigger"

"…Fine" The third thing that was making him grow concerned was what she said. Nothing explicitly wrong with that…at first glance. Say what you will about him, what he was and had done, but how so sure of herself she looked as she walked with total calmness while being held at gunpoint was anything but normal.

He knew it was ridiculous, but with every step she took that put her closer in his direction, he couldn't help becoming anxious about it. There was just this…something, that every second he spends with her, more and more strands of his fur were standing on end. As if an instinct of sorts was telling him to run away from her and never look back.

"A-Alright, that's close enough!" Once she was at an arm's reaching distance, he snapped at her.

While not enough to do something as nonsensical as running away, he followed this gut feeling screaming inside him.

Even so…

This…this is bullshit! That's what it is! Why did I stutter like that!? Why…why I'm feeling so scared of this stupid girl, huh!?

Waving those concerning thoughts off and focusing instead on the task at hand, he gave her the final instruction "Now…hand over your things, but begin with that phone of yours. We don't want any funny business, do we?"

The final thing that told him something was wrong, was that the moment he said that…a smile, a goddamn smile of all things began to creep up her face.

"Sure thing…you can look at it" Was the response of this creepy girl as she offered her phone to him.

Any other time, he wouldn't had ignored the alarm bells this was sending him or the way she worded that. The thing was though, that he wanted to get this done with more than he had ever done in his life, so instead, he ignored all of that in favor of hurrying up and picking up the phone.

He understood too late what a mistake that was.

The moment he put a paw on the device, the strawberry blonde, with a speed and dexterity he could swear only someone with an enhancement-like quirk was capable of, turned the screen on and pressed her ring finger on an app that he briefly noticed had a monochrome bear as an icon.

Not like his mind was focused enough to understand its true meaning though.

T-This bitch! She's ditching me out to the cops!

Deciding that it was all or nothing now, he pointed his gun at the girl's head, put his index finger on the trigger, and prepared to…

…Prepared…to…

…to…

…

…

…

…What…wha is this…?

Rather than painting the walls with her brain matter like he thought of doing just a second ago, his hand just stood there. Hanging in the air and refusing to press the trigger. That wasn't all there was to it though; his entire body was following suit as if it was paralyzed by some unknown force.

But for all the bizarreness of it, he wasn't truly paying attention to that. Rather, his entire self was distracted by something else.

More specifically, his eyes were glued to what the screen on the strawberry-blonde's phone was showing. It was a mixture of colors rapidly shifting from one to the next one, giving it nauseous rainbow touch to it, with shapes of all sizes and forms interwinding with each other, though doing so without interfering with the strange figure claiming the most attention on the center of the screen. It was the head of a teddy bear, no different from…from what this had for an icon. Each detail on its own wouldn't be worthier than just brow-raising at best, but…as he basked in all of it together, he could feel something inside him going through a metamorphosis of sorts.

S-S-Seriously, what…w-what the fuck is this!? W-W-What is happening!?

Some inner corner of his mind tried to desperately fought whatever this was off, attempting to pry his gaze away from this and murder the blue-eyed girl…try as he might though, the harder he struggled, the more transfixed he became with it.

First, it was that.

Not so long after, the fixation turned into an addicting obsession mixed with a far from a small amount of horror that was doing nothing but increase exponentially with each passing moment.

And finally…

"Eh~? Did ya truly believe for a moment that it was fine for a rat to try to play the game of the cat and the mouse as the chaser?" The dread and terror reached their highest point as the strawberry-blonde began to mock him "Upupupu, you shoulda know that breaking the natural course of things was bound to have consequences~"

That was the last thing Nezumi Yasuda heard before his eyes laid upon the most despairful…and WoNdErFuL of SiGhTs~

Welp, that went as boringly well as she expected, much to Junko's inner dismay.

Such was the case, she had to make it known to his 'Assaulter' "…A lone girl in the middle of the night, without any clear signs of being equipped to defend herself, going without a care in the world into a shady alley, as she feigned talking with someone, which by the way, I know for goddamn sure you noticed with those ugly ears of yours…ALL those freaking red flags and more, and you still went with what that greed of yours told ya to do. You aren't doing any favors to those stereotypes people have your kind, you know?"

At first, the ugly abomination in front of her didn't do anything else other than blink with a dumb look on his face. After a while, some semblance of lucidity came back to him, and then…

"Ah! T-To I think just a moment ago I was thinking of shooting you…What was wrong with me!? I beg you to punish me, my goddess!"

Oh? "Goddess, eh? You're the first one to call me like that. At least around here. Considering that I'm using a waaay inferior version of it…Upupupu, you truly are amongst the lowest of the low, aren't you~?"

At that, Junko was greeted with a wicked ear-to-ear grin. As expectingly ugly from those yellow and deformed tooths of his "Yeah! I'm the scummiest piece of trash you could find! Should I kill myself to make up for that mistake!?"

What a tempting proposal…

"Now, now, while I like the initiative, I'm pretty sure I can get some use of someone as pathetic as you. Although…what to do with you? I could assign ya into one of the distraction squads, but…" While his enhanced hearing might seem useful for it at first glance, Junko knows that by the time this loser hears him, he already would be on his way to prison…or dead, depending on how fast he reacts. Those groups were already designed to be extra expendable, so another individual into it would be a waste of an already wasteless individual "Hmm, no matter how hard I think it, nothing comes to―Just kidding! I had your role ready way since the moment you began to stalk me like a creep! Don't tell anyone, but…your gonna be of help for a prank I'm working on~"

"A…prank?" The beast stupidly repeated.

"Yep!" Although it didn't do anything in souring her mood. After all, just thinking about what she had planned for a certain someone was filling her with a sweet doze of despair "It's gonna be a little, innocent jest from which you, I, and that person will end up laughing, so loud and hard that our brains will come out!"

"…Oh! I get it!" The dumb fuck didn't get it.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say…" While she did have the heart to break it to him, she didn't wanted to waste much of her time with this useless schmuck "In any case, let me give ya the instructions for it. There's some time left before it happens, so make sure to memorize enough of this stuff to not embarrass me in front him, yeah?"

Ignoring whatever eager response he would've given her, Junko pulled out a note and threw it to the ground.

As if I am gonna touch that thing's paw. Just recently I had enough contact with a low-life for the disgust to last me for a lifetime!

Like the obedient pet he was now, the mutant hurried to pick up the piece of paper as if it were the most valuable thing in the world. Then, he began to enthusiastically read the insides of it. Although, with every moment that passed, and he digested more of the contents within the letter, his eyes widened exponentially. A mix of elation, surprise, and despair flashed through his eyes "…W-Wha…this is…"

"Are ya liking what's written in there enough to be speechless? Can't say I blame you for it. Reading through every line of it is already despair-inducing enough!" She would know. It was written by her, duh!

"It is, my goddess! The despair this would cause me…hehe, I can't wait for it!" The fact that he fell this deep and so quickly was certainly unexpected when compared to the others. Sure, she picked him up because he was an easy prey, but…could it be that him being a mutant played a role here? It was because of the specific race he mutated into? Or was it something about how mutants had their genetics further altered in comparison to the other variations of quirks? Although maybe the cause was simply that mutants in general were more miserable.

…

…Meh, she will figure it out later down the line. Or not. She doesn't give enough of a shit about it, to be honest.

"Upupupu…just make sure the excitement of it doesn't gets to that ugly and stupid skull of yours. Oh, and to get rid of that note, yeah? You can eat it for all I care, so long as it's gone. For now, lay low, and…I dunno, do things your kind does in their free time. Like eating your relatives or something, you rats do that, right?" Or was she confusing it with hamsters?

...

Eh, whatevs.

"…Relatives? Oh, I…I…Hehe…Hahahahaha! I see! Of course, my Goddess requires a sacrifice with despair worthy of her despairful magnificence! I will make sure to not disappoint you, mistress!" That got him pumped up, eh? Good for him.

Anyhow, Junko didn't bother to hear more of this doofus, leaving him to his own devices to ramble for a little while more. If that leads towards a chain reaction that results in her plans ending this early…well, that by itself would be despairful~.

For now, though…

It was time to go home!