Atsuhiro hummed to himself as he straighten out his clothes, looking in the mirror he ran a hand through his hair before he placed on his eye mask and his top hat.
His costume had changed from his old flare and Atsuhiro certainly missed it but his new job required him to ditch his old look in case a hero decided to do their job for once and recognized him, his new costume wasn't much to scoff at though either with his charge's advice.
He got to keep a few of the old pieces like his hat and boots but his vest was turned to a long tail-coat one and the button up underneath had been replaced with a pin-stripe version, his pants were baggier at the bottom and had long bold stripe on the outer sides, he had also been forced to lose both of his old masks in favor for the simple domino mask.
All in all, it wasn't a bad look and he could still recognize himself in the mirror, the outfit was far more practical as well letting him hide dozens of marbles as well as other such things just about everywhere his hands could reach, the red sash his charge picked had fifteen throwing knifes alone safely tucked away.
The cloth to make his ensemble was even made of a hero grade material so that he could withstand explosions at point blank range, bullets went without saying.
Such a luxury was something he'd never dream of wearing, god forbid actually needing something like that but with his new job it wasn't anything short of absolutely necessary, it was his job now to guard the son of the Morozov.
Everyone in the underground knew that Morozov was not someone you wanted to mess with and Atsuhiro still wasn't too certain how he had even got on the man's radar, but Morozov was very interested in seeing him in person to "discuss" something.
The only thing scarier than that talk would've been meeting with All For One himself but Atsuhiro hadn't somehow pissed off the man as he feared, instead he had requested for him to guard his son, which the man apparently had.
And at nearly ¥800k a month and the protection of Morozov, Atsuhiro would have been a fool to refuse the offer, so he had been informed just who his new charge was and what his charge was and wasn't allowed to know.
Deku-Sensei, a young up and comer whose analysis near guaranteed whoever was willing to pay the strength to do whatever they needed, so long as they followed his instructions to the letter.
Atsuhiro had assumed Deku-Sensei would be just as intimidating as his father given his own reputation but the boy he met was almost nothing like Morozov, Atsuhiro had to assume the boy heavily took after his mother because Deku-Sensei was nothing short of an angel.
Deku gushed over him and promised him a nice little salary himself for "working" for him, Morozov had stressed the importance that Deku never found out he was actually hired to protect him or there would be consequences.
He was still nervous about that since Deku-Sensei was famous for his intelligence so Atsuhiro dreaded that Deku would wise up one day and he'd end up in a ditch somewhere, he could only hope that his cover story would be good enough for Deku wouldn't find him out right away.
Finished getting ready he texted Deku he was done and waited for the portal to open, it formed only a minute later and Atsuhiro took a deep breath and swiftly walked through the misty gateway, once he was on the other side he was on a stage and gave a grand bow to the audience of eager children.
While Morozov was correct that his son Deku would be taken with him for his quirk's possible uses he hadn't expected his background in magic to excite the teen, but the boy was over the moon as soon as Atsuhiro mentioned it and his former career in theater, then Deku asked if he wanted to get back into entertainment.
The desire for the stage was one that Atsuhiro had long thought would remain unfulfilled due to the nature of his life's work but Deku's idea was nothing short of brilliant.
"Greetings little ones! I do so hope you all are ready to see the show of your lives, for I am the great sorcerer, Robin!" Atsuhiro declared throwing up a few marbles that held colorful pops of sparkles, his eyes scanning the crowd and quickly finding Deku speaking with one of the parents off to the side.
Assured of his ability to watch over his charge Atsuhiro when onto perform his magic act performing the various tricks most of his family believed were useless and were a waste of his time, the children adored him as he showered them with miracles only possible through his thorough understanding of sleight of hand and years of theater.
Once his fifteen minutes were up Atsuhiro prepared to do what Deku had asked of him "Now for my next trick, I require a little help from you my dear little ones," he said tossing out a couple of marbles which were full of paper and crayons "I want each of you to draw me a picture of something you love, and I shall make it yours, so long as it isn't a person, place or an animal. I would need to use something much bigger than a paper to do that." He requested with a wink.
The children all happily got to work and were falling over themselves to give him their pages, glancing through the papers he wasn't surprised to see that Deku had correctly guessed what each child wanted "All right is that everyone? Good, now watch closely children." Atsuhiro instructed before he turned each page into its own marble then juggled them while chanting something Deku had told him was gibberish.
With all of the kids watching the marbles he carefully switched out the papers for the small things that they had drawn, he took off his hat and let all of the marble drop into his hat and gave it a light tap before he pluck one of the marbles out "Fumiko?" he called and a little girl rushed on stage bouncing from her excitement.
God there was no comparing how much his heart swelled seeing such delight on the girl's face, much less knowing he was responsible for it.
"A butterfly book for the lady." Atsuhiro calmly said placing the marble in her hands then snapping his fingers as he released his quirk on that marble, which promptly turned into the book and the girl hugged it to her chest with a cry of happiness.
Atsuhiro continued one by one giving out small gifts to each of the twenty-seven children, before turning his gaze to the parents "And for my final act, a gift for those facing hardships. Something I hope eases that great burden on your shoulders." Atsuhiro said before tossing out a couple of marbles, which turned into a large table with an assortment of preservable food and other supplies.
The adults looked shocked for a moment, and he got the feeling that Deku hadn't told anyone about this part of his act, but a quiet wave of realization swept the room, and the gratitude and joy was palatable, more than a few people stuck around after the show to thank him in person for this.
For not only giving their families something they needed but to let their kids be children for just a little longer and have hope.
Atsuhiro could hardly handle the attention with how right this moment felt and all but briefly his thoughts went to his grandmother, and if this feeling of euphoria was what she meant when she talked about his great-great grandfather's work, of helping those down on their luck just by doing what was right.
Atsuhiro was pulled from his musing by a hand on his arm "Are you okay Hiro-San?" Deku quietly asked with the innocently given nickname the boy had given him.
"Yes, yes Deku! Simply fine, merely taking it all in." Atsuhiro quickly replied flustered for getting lost in himself when he should watching his charge.
Deku smiled up at him knowingly "Yeah, it can be overwhelming the first time, and the tenth but it's worth it right? To see them so happy like this." Deku whispered to him before turning to the group of people with a content smile on his face.
Atsuhiro hesitated before turning to the people as well and watched as they all seemed to just be, not happier but better as they laughed and talked with one another.
Something he caused with Deku's help.
It was no wonder why Morozov was so protective of his son, or why people flocked to him like they did.
If this was what he did everyday... then he could not imagine how many people that had been saved by his kindness and were better off for it.
Not even fifteen and he was finding ways to help everyone without hurting anyone in the process.
One of the children rushed over and grabbed Deku's hands and dragged the boy over to play pretend with them and Deku flawlessly fell into the role of a knight and helped the children defeat the evil king who wished to kill all the dragons in the world.
Atsuhiro smiled at the sight and was happy to join in with the game of pretend when a different child pulled him into the game.
A week later Atsuhiro sighed after another satisfying day of work moving large crates of supplies for Deku and let himself stretch, while he could make an endless number of marbles the mental weight of jugging all of them could get to him after a while.
Checking the time Atsuhiro saw it was almost time for training and decided to get ready early, taking off his domino mask and replacing it with a mask that was much more like his old ones.
With the base being black as opposed to the white ones he brought cheap and painted designs on, the pattern wasn't overly complicated and just a light green bullseye with a white dot for the dead center, not the most elegant but it suited its purpose of concealing his face well and it came with a neat little visor on the inside that gained him night and heat vision.
There was a soft knock at his door ten minutes later and he made sure to check who it was outside before he opened the door, he was unsurprised to see the same person with a rabbit quirk from last week was on the other side and welcomed them inside "Raijin-San, pleasure seeing you again." Atsuhiro said.
Raijin smirked up at him "Won't be in few seconds.~" the man teasingly replied and Atsuhiro knew he was probably right, to be fair though learning martial arts with all of the Vespas always ended up with him on his ass and needing that hero grade makeup Raijin brought with him the first time they started his training.
He knew the physical training wasn't negotiable, but he had no idea why he'd need the makeup at the time, he learned real quick however that Deku was as scary as his father in the right circumstances, and that those circumstances were when "his" people were being hurt because he forgot about the makeup one time and Deku looked outright murderous when he saw the bruises.
The apple didn't fall as far from the tree as he thought it had but it was an excellent lesson to never underestimate his charge. The four gang fights he broke up this week was horrible for his heart though, who could think throwing themselves in between people shooting at each other was a good idea? Deku did apparently.
Atsuhiro had only just closed the door when the feeling of impending doom possessed him and he threw himself to the side just in time to miss Raijin's kick, Raijin grinned madly at him "Well your reflexes are getting better, let's see just how much better." Raijin declared before rocketing towards him another kick aimed for his head and Atsuhiro barely had the time to scramble out of the way.
God he'd be sore tomorrow but it would all be worth it, Deku was a good kid that let him do good things and he was being paid a lot of money to keep the fantastic kid in one piece.